chunka chunka

The Early Years, "All Ones And Zeroes" (demo) - In light of the fact that I spent damn near every second of 2005 curled in a rictus of anticipation for a defining moment of music only to be delivered with three freakin' days to go, it might not be all that surprising that my musical 2006 has been a little turned-down so far. I mean, there's plenty of stuff waiting in the wings to get savagely excited over (White Rose Movement's Kick, the news-to-me Black Leotard Front album [!!!!!!!!!], the rumored full-lengths from the Guillemots & Long Blondes, more stuff from the under-the-radar American indie-pop hydra, etc), but all that's in the future, and my musical present at the moment mostly involves dealing with the fact that every song in the world doesn't grab me by the nuts and swing me over its head like "Trains To Brazil". I'm thinking that this is at least partially responsible for my burgeoning addiction to the Early Years' recent debut single "All Ones And Zeroes"; it manages to pull off the neat trick of sounding modern as all living fuck without demanding your participation - manna from Heaven for someone like me who spent an inordinate amount of time last year clinging to the life-preserver of Paul Epworth's aesthetic of relentless engagement. Obviously, its main weapon has to be that infectiously blase motorik beat; the Early Years' make an aesthetic out of not having drum fills comparable to the way Maximo Park made one out of having little else, and it lets them get away with dicking around with echo and feedback and relatively simple (albeit incredibly infectious) hooks without sounding anything at all like some douchebag jam band, and I say that as a man who's been saving one bullet for Trey Anastacio for over a decade. I do have to say that I can't see this taking off as volcanically as the Epworth Studio stuff, but oh well; I suppose that's why the words "smart" and "stupid" have different meanings. (Click here to buy the "All Ones And Zeroes" single from Amazon.co.uk)

Kubichek!, "Taxi" - Of course, there's still plenty of frantic supercharged pop music going on; take, for instance, this (supremely shitty rip of) the latest offering from the erstwhile Kubichek!. I have to admit that it's one of those singles that makes me think more about which producers I wish the band were working with, but fuckin' hell, dude, I don't even want to think about what a fully-realized version of "Taxi" might sound like - every single element already practically bashes itself into existence with maximum indie-pop urgency, from the howled vocals to (go on, guess) those glorious, glorious hi-hats that make the last bit all the more compulsory. To be brutally frank, there's so many killer hooks in this song that it almost feels like a wad-shot; fortunately, Kubichek! look to have a full plate in 2006 (most immediately a spot on the looming second sampler from Dance To The Radio), so at least we should be able to sleep easy on it. (The "Taxi" single has been sold out for a while, but you can still pick up a used copy at VinylExchange.co.uk)