a head like a sieve

I was listening to a lot of the stuff that I've bought and blogged about in recent days. All sorts, from the Numero compilations to a whole host of new seven inches. And there they were; two other seven inches that I'd completely forgotten about. I bought them last Thursday in Road Records but I stuck them on the shelf when I got home and I forgot to listen to them. The items in question are the new releases from The Death Set and Vampire Weekend.

The first tune is 'Negative Thinking' by The Death Set. It reminds me a little bit of the Irish band The Chalets but with a slighty rawer feel. It's all urgent guitar riffs with a little bit of shouty vocal thrown in for good measure. It's a pop-punk sensation to be honest. It even ends with an obligatory random guitar chord that doffs it's hat to old crappy punk recordings. The b-side is a tune called 'Intermission' and its more of the same with a bit of Gary Numan style keyboard and techno bass thrown in. For some reason I thought of the old Irish rock band called Interference. Intermission, Interference, that's how my mind works. They only released one album and I can't remember too much about it. I did see them play live once and I thought they were deadly. What sticks in my mind is that the guitarist/singer, Fergus O Farrell, was in a wheelchair. I think they reformed a couple of years back but I'm not sure what became of the reunion. Anyway, I don't know anything about The Death Set because I've never seen them or heard of them until now.

The other tune is called Mansard Roof and its by Vampire Weekend. When it starts out it sounds like its going to be some poor Beatlesque quality music but instead it turns into a string laden, ragga beat groovin epic. It's the business. It sounds like they've been hanging around with Baaba Maal. It appears that the 7" was supposed to be released in November 2007 here but I never saw it until Thursday. In the meantime (i.e. since November) they've released an eponymously titled debut album and I reckon it could be worth a punt if you're in an adventurous mood.