(Credit: Ian West)
Hyped on: Sound Bites; Vintage; Drowned in Sound
Official site
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Who: David Brewis is one-third of Field Music, a hard-to-categorize band from the northern English town of Sunderland with two well-received albums to its credit. In 2007, Field Music announced a hiatus so that its members could pursue other projects—one of which is Brewis’ even more hard-to-categorize School of Language.
What: Brewis writes quirky but deceptively simple little pop songs, then dirties them up with noisy guitars, lumbering drums and leftfield electronics. His most heavy-handed experiments, like the four-part song cycle “Rockist” and its incessant, cascading vocal loops, are sonically fascinating but tend to obscure the really solid songcraft underlying them. Better are more straight-ahead numbers like “Poor Boy,” which sounds like a Paul McCartney tune played through blown-out speakers, and the Floydian psych-folk of “Keep Your Water” and “Ships,” which rely more on unexpected chord changes and shifting tempos than studio trickery to keep listeners on their toes. None of it departs radically from the blueprint laid out by Field Music, but there’s a consistency here that the fussy music of Brewis’ main gig sometimes lacks.
Made for: Fans of the noisier and more psychedelic efforts of other Brit-rockers like Super Furry Animals and Gomez. Lovers of extreme falsetto (Brewis’ can take some getting used to). Erstwhile prog-rockers—dig those crazy guitar lines on “This Is No Fun.” People who actually use the word “rockist.”
X-Factor: “Disappointment ’99,” the album’s heaviest track, features members of fellow Sunderland rockers the Futureheads. – AH
Carl Craig, "Sessions" (!K7)
Hyped on: I Prefer the Obscure Remix; Earworm
MySpace
Who: Innovative electronic music producer Carl Craig my be the very definition of “under the radar.” Working under a litany of aliases (Paperclip People, Innerzone Orchestra, BFC, 69), Craig has been quietly releasing seminal (and often genre-inspiring) beats from techno’s home base of Detroit since the late ‘80s, culminating in his first Grammy nomination in 2008. Coming up under the tutelage of DJ legend Derrick May, Craig has explored everything from improvisational jazz to menacing tribal drum circles.
What: This collection of tracks from every phase of Craig’s career ranges from dazzling moments of brilliance (the slow-motion jazz of “Bug in the Bass Bin”) to hypnotic and hysterical dance-floor party-starters (minimal disco queen anthem “Throw) to more traditional and even pedestrian grooves (“Sandstorms”). But at its best, like on his robotic rework of Bandulu’s “Guidance” into the track “Rushed” and the thumping, piano-powered version of Francesco Tristano’s “The Melody,” Craig’s status as one of electronic music’s true pioneers is blindingly evident.
Made for: Ex-ravers who remember when amazing music was the main draw. Newbie electronic dance fans looking for the sounds that inspired the likes of Aphex Twin, Daft Punk and all of this four-by-four electro dominating the current club scene. Anyone who thinks they know what “techno” really sounds like. Your next DJ set.
X-Factor: Legend has it that the “jungle” and “drum & bass” genres were the result of crafty U.K. DJs spinning Craig’s “Bug in the Bass Bin” 12-inch at 45 rpm instead of its intended 33 rpm. – STS
Magnetic Morning, "Magnetic Morning EP" (DH)
Hyped on: girl about town; Sound Bites; Have Your Heard?
Official site
MySpace
Who: Swervedriver is the much-adored British shoegaze band (is there any that isn’t?) ten years removed from their last album. They shared a label with My Bloody Valentine and Ride. Interpol—you know Interpol—is the mope-rock collective whose members are most certainly influenced by, among others, Swervedriver. So when Big Takeover editor Jack Rabid introduced Swerve frontman Adam Franklin to Interpol drummer Sam Fogarino over a plate of empanadas in New York’s East Village, there was a bit to talk about.
What: The meeting led to tape trading which led to a session at Electric Ladyland studios with Interpol engineer Claudius Mittendorfer laying down the duo’s literal nascency—an obscure Kinks cover, “The Way Love Used to Be,” was the first time the dudes had ever played together. “Cold War Kids”—recorded twice for the EP and not a reference to the SoCal pop-rockers—features Fogarino taking charge of the guitar hooks, a collection of sharp lines that wrap around Franklin’s acoustic playing and spare lyrics. “Don’t Go to the Dreamstate” is both a loose studio jam and haunting ghost story, rich with production trickery (beats, echoes, haunting vibes), though less committed than morose masters Black Heart Procession.
Made for: Swervedriver fans not satisfied with Franklin’s current band Toshack Highway. Sam Fogarino fans who rock vintage Holy Terrors shirts to Interpol shows and creep out the band’s 19-year-old fans in the process.
X-Factor: The band used to be called Setting Suns, but switched to Magnetic Morning due to “an already existing entity with a name too close for comfort.” Google points to an experimental pop group from Upstate New York called Setting Sun (sorta close) and, of course, that aggressive Chemical Brothers song from 1997. – MR
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