We’re still terrified of Entrepreneurs, but with each release he puts out, we’re finding ourselves falling for what Abeano has called his ‘intelli-tronica’. Can’t argue with that. Double A-side ‘Fuck Tactics/Bubblegunk’ stitches together the dark production of Entrepreneurs, FOE’s deranged pop and the quick wit of Ghostpoet, and based on that description, it definitely should have been a very London-based disaster but… What can we say, except that our words can’t do this anything approaching justice; so we’ll just have to call it the finest single we’ve heard all year. And it really is.
It was out yesterday via Fear & Records, fittingly on the same day as FOE’s ‘Hot New Trash’ EP surfaced on Stella Mortos. The synth-laced ‘Bubblegunk’ has been on repeat ever since the ‘U’ve Been Robbed, Joking But Not’ EP was released last year, but once you get your head around the off-kilter swagger of ‘Fuck Tactics’, it emerges as one of those rare moments in pop music where ambition and accessibility are perfectly balanced. A moment of originality and brilliance. He still absolutely terrifies us, but from, very, very far away we’re admiring everything that he’s doing. He even used a swear word in a song title, don’t tell us that guy’s not crazy.
Nobody’s had this much fun in the North-East since Maximo Park released a decent single. Many a year, in other words. It’s not much to go by in the way of cementing a long-term career, neither does it suggest an album of decade-defining proportions is on the way – it’s just an immensely catchy tune, and an insanely likeable single and we just can’t argue with that. We’re hoping that the release of “Borrowed Time” in April is going to coincide with the national fixation on the Geordie accent caused by Cheryl Cole, and take over the country. For now, though, insanely like-able and immensely catchy just is enough.
For those of you who felt like Part I just wasn’t enough, here’s Part II to calm your nerves – because all of the best series are duologies, just like… … The Miss Congeniality series and… the world wars? Struggling for evidence here, maybe the following music will prove that I’m right.
Without a doubt this is one of the strangest mixture of bands that I’ve ever put together, and shows a eclecticism in music taste that may make me slightly worried for my mental stability. However, fans of organisation, don’t be scared off, my OCD-like tendencies have forced me to put them into some sort of logical order. Closer to these words you will find the most obvious or accessible, and the more left-field, obscure and unlikely are towards the bottom. As if I even need to mention it, but they’re all predictably brilliant, in my personal opinion, so if you don’t agree then just assume that you’re wrong and move on (for the avoidance of doubt, my tongue is in my cheek). I should also say that I’d love to write many a rambling paragraph on all of them, but one of the things about time is that there is just simply not enough of it. Fact. Over the year, though, we’re going to be following these artists and letting you know whether they prefer Frosties or Corn Flakes, why they chose the name that they chose, which other artists they sound like, and all of those other little details that any music lover needs.
Just to be clear, there were absolutely no criteria, with the one exception that Brother, Mona, and anyone else who is written about purely because men in suits threw cash at them had to be excluded, deleted from my iTunes, and their drum kits stolen to stop the noise. The final measure did not quite go according to plan, though. So instead, fill your ears with the below to keep them safe; 18 new artists who have the potential to make our years. And if they don’t Radiohead will, so it’s win-win.
I could go on forever, so I should stop. If this shows anything, it’s just that posting 10 new acts for 2011 that you’re excited just can’t be enough because, in reality, no matter how good 3 demos are, nobody could have really known that the Drums’ record would turn out more tepid than… tepid water. Or that Sleigh Bells’ album would have turned out to be one of the best of the year. If anything, that just makes the prospect of how things are going to turn out this year just that bit more exciting… Following them all closely… But not as menacingly as that sounds…
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