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All you need to know about the music scene this week.....

Red Stripe Recommends

Red Stripe Tracks of the Week:

So many utterly dazzling tracks released this week one can barely differentiate between all their enormities; Johnny Flynn’s ‘Leftovers’, Be Your Own Pet’s ‘Black Hole’ and British Sea Power’s glorious 10” ‘No Lucifer’ to name-check but a few. The following however really stood out to us here at Red Stripe…

The Futureheads – ‘Beginning of the Twist’ (Nul Records)

It’s the strident, thunderous and aggressive come-back single to the bands third album we dreamt of in the brief gap since their last, commercially forsaken, long play record. Now on their own ‘Nul Records’ imprint, this is the sound of Britain’s best alternative guitar band back in the driving seat of the six-string English dream. ‘Beginning of the Twist’ has a massively anthemic verse which collides into the tracks’ forcefully frenetic chorus without a care in the world for the melancholy, The Futureheads representing the northern anti-scene in all its chaotic radiance.

Foals – ‘Cassius’ (Transgressive)

With possibly the most important album since ‘Unknown Pleasures’ doing the underground rounds just now, this single demonstrates Foals as a band who have fun playing with the bare bones of music to amass a sound like nothing else you’ve ever heard. Be it multifarious math-rock or angular indie-jazz, Foals have rallied a unique sound that has captured the hearts of a post indie-pop scene with a degree of excitement and emergency not observed since Public Image Ltd leapt from the downturn of punk. Anybody exhausted by this bands abrupt mass-appeal need not worry as Foals are still very much a group on the rise, with ‘Cassius’ a dynamitic example of what happens when the radicals get it spot on.

Red Stripe Album of the Week:

Young Knives – ‘Super Abundance’ (Transgressive)

Although tempted to transmit the wonderful offerings from Get Cape Wear Cape Fly and MGMT, ‘Super Abundance’ was one album released this week which was so imperative to our ears it had to make our top spot for pop pickers. It’s, and at the risk of ushering in a storm of cliché, the more mature second album any avant-garde outfit should strive to launch on their second LP submission. ‘Turn Tail’ and the enlivening ‘Terra Firma’ are inarguably gleaming pop songs that belt Young Knives’ reasoned articulation for the obscure with a more rounded degree of musicianship than most will be used to, their vocals here being communicative and the track listing open-minded. Those wee bits of surreal twee which divined ‘Voices’ as the adventure it was have been replaced by lucid guitars and anthemic lyrics which may stun those overly familiar with the kings of geek-chic, taking them into 2008 with a newly discovered sense of how to accomplish their destiny as the revered anti-heroes of rock ‘n’ roll. Disregarding the rule-book and wearing it as a suppository, this album simply outdoes every other indie release this week by being what all other albums should be; an explosion of entertaining and ingenious musicality.

Red Stripe Tour of the Week:

Unsigned Doncaster rock ‘n’ rollers The Wallbirds are heading back onto the road this spring with a menacing agenda of live performances planned. They’ll be staging the below shows over the coming weeks, climaxing in an exclusive charity show at London’s infamous Embassy Club in Mayfair. Not to be missed in these smaller venues, The Wallbirds will surely be sought after rock royalty by the years’ end.

14 March: Shepherds Crook in Portsmouth

15 March: Unit 22 in Southampton

28 March: Doncaster Beer Festival at The Hub in Doncaster

29 March: Escobar in Wakefield

1 April : Out of the Frying Pan at The Embassy in Mayfair, London

Red Stripe Band of the Week:

The All New Adventures Of Us

Northampton ’s TANAOU are the stuff of genuine indie legend, showing how truly outstanding musicianship and poetry can feel coming from the mouths and minds of the articulate English youth. Their sound is charmingly nestled between the enchanting realms of Stars, Arcade Fire and Bright Eyes, their songs being the result of poetic brutality and unfathomable beauty in sound conflicting on stage like two harmonious hurricanes, emitting real songsmanship and lyrics so poignant they’re testament to a coherent generation.

Their debut album, ‘Best Loved Goodnight Tales’, is a four chaptered jump into the human psyche via verse. It’s about making people see clearly with their eyes closed, vivid imagery and attention to detail firmly intact. The goal is simple; to tell a story through song. No hidden agenda. And in poetry cooed in the sweetest of contexts, explanations are what TANAOU stand for.

Although their records display a classic song writing ability rarely seen on our shores, it’s the live show which really knocks you to the back of the room with a tremendous sense of awe. They’re not a band to be treated lightly, no matter how instantly approachable their music. TANAOU are not for the short attention spanned innocent, rather the caught up obsessive who strives to obtain only the best from what we derisory mortals can convey through strings and skin.

- Alex Lee Thomson