Swanton Bombs

The UK's answer to Vampire Weekend? No, no, no. Shame on you, The Guardian and BBC, for rubbish comparisons. If anything, Swanton Bombs are the UK's answer to [Jeff Hardy]. Or a bit of a hybridised Mystery Jets/White Stripes mish mash. Although I guess comparing a guitar-drums two piece set up smacks of journalistic sloth. Lucky I don't consider myself a journalist then.


Anyways, songs like 'Leave The Boy' and 'Sorrysayer' certainly have an air of the raw garage-blues ethic that The White Stripes popularised in the earlier years of this decade. 'Turnstile' is more reminiscent of the harmonies and melodies of the new age Mystery Jets. Put it this way, this isn't indie by numbers. And if you're going to pick two bands to emulate then those two aren't half bad. I imagine you'll be hearing more about them on this blog in the future. In fact, let's be hyperbolic, THEY ARE THE FUTURE.

SWANTON BOMBS - LEAVE THE BOY ALONE (BBC INTRODUCING SESSION)
SWANTON BOMBS - SORRYSAYER (BBC INTRODUCING SESSION)
SWANTON BOMBS - TURNSTILE (BBC INTRODUCING SESSION)
SWANTON BOMBS - VIKTORIA (BBC INTRODUCING SESSION)

Swanton Bombs are Dominic McGuinness (Eugene's bro) and Brendon Heaney. Dominic lives near where I grew up, in the top right hand corner of the tube map. They used to be called Jimmy The Moonlight. You can download their free 12 track demo album, 'Smoke Over Swanton' on their [MySpace] and buy their 'Mammoth Skull' EP on [iTunes].

Micachu And The Shapes

Despite Mica Levi's best attempts to sound like a Pokémon, her musical background is anything but cartoonish. Having studied composition at both the Purcell School and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, as well as composing a piece performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, she's not exactly the next Katy Perry or La Roux. Obviously, that's a good thing. Her activities in hip-hop and grime circles has resulted in an unusual combination of influences that's developed into a reinvention of 'pop' for the 21st century.


With the saturation of female singer-songwriters in the last few years, Mica recruited Raisa Khan (keys) and Marc Pell (drums) to form [Micachu & The Shapes]. Mica remains the creative driving force behind this project but by bringing in a band, she's wisely moving away from associations involving messrs Nash, Allen, Tunstall etc. Not that there's anything wrong with those artists but it's refreshing to see a more leftfield pop ideal emerging.

Post-modern experimental electro pop is one way to describe Mica's music. I guess that's a bit pretentious though. It's minimalist. It's glitchy. It's captivating. 'Jewellery', the debut Micachu & The Shapes album comes out tomorrow (9th March) and my [Twitter] mates, Carl (from Illegal Tender) and Jamila (Fucking Dance) both gave it a massive thumbs up. Critical adoration is all well and good but will it make a dent in the pop charts?

MICACHU & THE SHAPES - CURLY TEETH (BBC 6MUSIC SESSION)
MICACHU & THE SHAPES - EAT YOUR HEART (BBC 6MUSIC SESSION)
MICACHU & THE SHAPES - GOLDEN PHONE (BBC 6MUSIC SESSION)

Buy 'Jewellery' from [Rough Trade] to get a bonus Micachu mix cd.

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Had my first Blogger takedown/DMCA notification for my Feb 2nd Futuresounds post. I've had some horrendous luck lately (debit card cancelled, phone in washing machine, coat stolen) but this was unexpected. Considering the post only contained radio session mp3s and complimentary remarks, I was surprised to say the least. Heavy-handed and unnecessary. I've been a big fan of Blogger but maybe it's time to move over to Wordpress.