New Band: Broken Records

If you prefer your music to walk on the Arcade Fire side of epic, then Broken Records are the band for you. Using every musical instrument under the sun bar the kitchen sink, each song this Edinburgh seven piece create sounds like a symphony for the twenty-first century combining traditional folk with modern alternative music. Their album, titled 'Until the Earth Begins to Part', is slated for a release on 1st June on 4AD Records, whilst a single of the same name will be out on May 11th. In the meantime, content yourself with a free download of album track 'If Eilert Loevborg Wrote A Song It Would Sound Like This' and bask in the smug satisfaction that comes with the fact you heard them before anyone else.

Broken Records can be found on MySpace here

"Did Someone Say 'Fire Sale'?"

What comes around more often than Christmas and is just as exciting for music geeks like moi? That would be the seasonal play.com sale. Now there are internet ‘sales’ and play.com sales, and to tell the difference, bear in mind that the former will generally take account of profit, artist royalties, the ‘inherent value’ of the music etc and the latter won’t . Therefore in a play.com sale, when you see a great big juicy link stating ‘albums from £1.99’ such a list will include some actual bangers and not just Gary Barlow’s influential masterpiece ‘Twelve Months Eleven Days’. After a trawl through the bargain bucket here’s a selection of five albums that should be on your shopping list:

1. Weezer – Weezer (£2.99)

- One of my all time favourites, worth it for ‘Only In Dreams’ alone

2.Stone Roses – The Very Best Of (£2.99)

- Close your eyes, play this through a knackered stereo at volume 11 and it’s almost as though the reunion is happening in your bedroom

3.The Cribs – The New Fellas (£2.99)

- If history ignores The Cribs, he’ll have me to contend with

4.Joni Mitchell – Blue (£2.99)

- Another stone cold classic

5.Girls Aloud - The Sound Of Girls Aloud: Greatest Hits (£2.99)

- Because if it was ever going to be excusable...

If you dislike all of these choices, bear in mind you have a selection of 100s of other CDs to choose from. So go on, forget that hideous overdraft and spend your economy out of a recession here. It’s the patriotic thing to do!

The Great Auto-Tune Debate

I may not be a huge follower of pop but I know a bandwagon when I see one and it’s been hard not to notice the increasing grip of Auto-Tune on the charts. Even Bon Iver has got in on the act recently with Woods on his Blood Bank EP.

I won’t claim to be any expert on the subject, this article from the New Yorker sums up the debate better than most, however, I do share the writers sentiment that it’s the imperfections in music that make the whole experience worthwhile. It’s hard to imagine the fragility of Joni Mitchell or Fleet Foxes being served any great favours after their vocals have been pumped through a magic synthesiser. At a base level, the whole process carries a distinct undertone of laziness, whereby an artist can clock off early instead of putting in a couple of extra hours at the studio.

Of course, alt-rock isn’t really the natural arena for Auto-Tune, you’re more likely to hear the technique on ‘Believe’ by Cher, ‘Lollipop’ by Lil Wayne or any track with T-Pain featuring. Still though, the sight of Kanye West freewheeling through ‘Heartless’ on American Idol does seem to fly even in the face of a manufactured pop show, where talent is supposedly judged on a candidates vocal performance rather than simply their showmanship.

Either way, I don’t think Aretha is going to be looking over her shoulder in panic anytime soon. The most likely outcome of this phenomenon is that it’s going to seem pretty dated pretty quickly. Kudos though, goes to T Pain for realising the inherent ridiculousness of this mini-genre and self-parodying himself to perfection with The Lonely Islands’ ‘I’m On A Boat’. It takes some serious balls to utter with a straight face, “Never thought I'd see the day / When a big boat comin my way / Believe me when I say, I fucked a mermaid.”

Personal Pick: The National

I always like to think that I keep myself up to date with the latest musical trends but inevitably some bands will slip through the net. Therefore, come November/December time I keep a keen eye trained on the lower echelons of the end of year lists in search of any hidden gems. It was through this method in fact that The National first caught my attention with their fourth LP ‘Boxer’ hitting no.30 in Q magazine’s Best Of 2007 list, whilst influential American indie website Pitchfork placed the album at no.17. Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, this indie-rock four piece have released four albums and two EPs to date beginning with 2001’s self-titled ‘The National’ eventually and most recently their ‘Virginia’ EP in 2008.

Their music is deliberately downbeat taking in a wide sphere of influences from Joy Division to Bruce Springsteen to create a sound laden with sparse instrumental arrangements and morbid vocals. Think ‘Hospital Beds’ by Cold War Kids but with slightly more understatement. Lyrically, lead singer Matt Berninger’s social commentary extracts maximum misery from the concept of broken US suburbia where middle class families are occupied by misogynistic husbands, bored housewives and wavering children. On paper this may all seem a bit unremarkable but if you take the time to get to know The National you will find them one of the most rewarding indie-rock bands of recent times.

If you’re looking for somewhere to start, for instant classics ‘Mistaken For Strangers’ and ‘Slow Show’ alone, ‘Boxer’ probably represents your best point of entry. If you’re feeling a bit more adventurous though, 2003’s ‘Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers’ holds my favourite song by The National ‘Slipping Husband’.

The National can be found on Myspace here

‘Boxer’ is currently available for £8.98 from Amazon.co.uk here