news from the frontline

All City are back with the third instalment of their 7x7 series. The latest seven inch in the Beatstrumental series sees them take a trip across the water to enlist the services of French beatmaker, Fulgeance. It's a much more low key affair than the previous releases. The a-side Revenge of The Nerds rips a sample from a movie character in American Splendor, a movie about little known comic book writer, Harvey Pekar. The b-side is a very laid back affair and I was sure that I had it on the wrong speed. I had to check on Fulgeances MySpace to make sure that it sounded like it sounded. All City also bids farewell to another bloke who liked to hang around the shop a bit over the last few months. The guy in question was Steve Powers, a graff artist who was over here on a Fulbright scholarship. Rather than go over old ground Cheebah have covered it here.

I finally got my hands on The Notwist album, 'The Devil, You and Me', that I've been reading reviews of for weeks. I'm liking it on first listen but I expect its going to be one of the growers that I'll like even more in a few weeks time. Hailing from Germany, The Notwist released one of the album highlights in 2002, Neon Golden. The band members have been knocking around for years and have turned up in other musical projects such as the brilliant Lali Puna

Whilst on the subject of new music purchases it behoves me to tell you about the album Silent Movie by Quiet Village. Quiet Village happen to be two blokes called Joel Martin and Matt Edwards. Joel is apparently fairly fond of digging in the crates , a bit like myself. Matt is somewhat handy in the studio so the two of them decided to doff their hat to past musical glories and create an album full of new old sounds. They've reworked older stuff by the likes of The Chi-Lites and Alan Parsons and created a new soundscape for it. In truth its not a million miles away from the likes of Air, Lemon Jelly or The Avalanches.

News on the seven inch front includes the new release from Swedish songbird Lykke Li which is called 'I'm Good I'm Gone'. It's got a great piano hook that reminds of some other tune from some time back. It's a pretty upfront pop tune with a nice melodic chorus. It's bloody great. The remix on the b-side is by UK band Metronomy. It's great too.

Another newish release on seven inch on the Kitsuné label comes from German electro popsters Digitalism. It's called Pogo and its more pop. It's a little bit of indie, a little bit of electronica. Just enough to appeal to both audiences. Check out the video here. As if that wasn't pop enough to satisfy the kids they've put a remix by Brazilian band CSS. You can catch Digitalism at the Electric Picnic later this year.

I picked up a couple of other sevens including 'Do you Love Me' by Lee Fields & The Expressions on Truth & Soul Records. It was released in 2004 but its a bit of a timeless classic. The flip side 'Honey Dove' is another slice of soul funk. In keeping with the soul funk theme I also picked up an old seven from 1969 by The Johnny Otis Show called 'Country Girl'. It features a guitar solo by the son of Johnny Otis, Shuggie. Shuggie's dad was a pretty versatile entertainer and is very famous in his own right, and rightly so. This copy of the tune is the original on the Kent Records label but it was reissued on the Modern Oldies label fairly recently. The last seven inch i picked up is another oldie, this time from 1972. It's called Git it All and it's by those funksters Mandrill. It really is funky but the guitar riff also has a touch of the Led Zeppelin about it. It's best described as tough funk. It's the business.

Also picked up on vinyl in Oxfam were the following, but I'm not arsed writing about any of them. Sugar is Sweeter by CJ Bolland, Break from the Old Routine by Oui 3 (check this video of them being interviewed by Dave Dorrell on BPM. Interestingly, Dave Dorrell sold my mate a gold Mercedes.), No Government by Nicolette (which has a great Plaid Remix on it) and the album Please by Pet Shop Boys which includes their really good early stuff like West End Girls.