The Kills - "Satellite"

Hey readers. Amidst a whole host of things over the past week and a bit - exams, girlfriend being out of the country, family goings on, English football transfer deadline day - I've been either too busy or just feeling a little uninspired by the thought of penning another blog post. It's not been great because I've been on a really productive streak so far this year and throughout the end of last year. I'm still definitely trying to hold to my New Year's Resolution of writing at least 2 blog posts a week (and that means on THIS blog, not including my posts for Tympanogram, the awesome music blog you should totally like check out now dudes like yeah) so I'd been getting a little frustrated. I didn't want to just post for the sake of it and try to fabricate something new and clever to say about a topic or mention a track that didn't really do anything special for me.

I was waiting for a kind of musical breeze to waft in and tingle my bones afresh, all cold and life affirming. Instead, I was BLASTED when I listened to the new track from The Kills, "Satellite". Now I've not listened to a great deal of The Kills, but whenever I have I've always said to myself "hmm, I should listen to more of this stuff". The gorgeous Alison Mosshart (who along with Marina Diamandis, Alexis Krauss and Alice Glass joins a host of dark haired maidens in my make believe indie harem) has of course been prancing about with Jack White in The Dead Weather for the past couple of years, but she's now back with bandmate Jamie Hince, the other half of The Kills (so therefore we should have a White Strips reunion this year. It's only logical. Isn't that right Jack and Meg?...)

I listened to this track and gosh it was just what I needed. The only word to describe if my friends is PHAT. It churns and shudders and growls with a mahoooooosive rock grind. It's heavier than other Kills stuff I've heard, but gloriously so. It's just a huge, pulsating slab of blues rock steak, raw and bleeding, ripped by The Kills bare hands from the flank of some gargantuan behemoth which once roamed the mountains, devouring weary travellers in its merciless iron jaws. Like a badass Gruffalo.

The chorus is a terrify choral harmony that washes perfectly over the heavy instrumentation, and the vocals prove that male-female duets in indie rock will always be incredibly fun. Listen and hopefully enjoy below. This track sounds like it would be awesome live, so I shall endeavour to see The Kills live this year if the opportunity arises. Meanwhile, keep checking those White Stripe fan forums...

The Kills - Satellite by DominoRecordCo

The Tallest Man on Earth

I stumbled across The Tallest Man on Earth a few months ago. The man in question is not Sultan Kosen, the 8ft 1 Turkish gentleman you can find in the Guinness Book of Records, but a Swedish folk musician called Kristian Matsson. I have fallen in love with everything that I've heard from this guy. All of his music is just his voice and a guitar but he does unspeakable amounts with that combo. His voice is so rusty and particular, something I love in a vocalist; and it's probably aided by his Swedish accent. His guitar parts aren't all gentle, pensive pickings either- they're often hard and raw, or swift and deft. They occassionally have this huge, captivating air that is less "yeehaw, ho-down!" and more indie rock singalong (watch "King of Spain", below). The comparisons to Bob Dylan are obvious, but there's a lot more to this guy than just being "the next Dylan". His sound is possibly the most unique and heartfelt thing I've heard all year. His lyrics are personal and impressive for someone who uses English as a second language. There may occasionally be big, vague words and phrases like "golden highway", but Matsson infuses them with an honesty and frankness that you'd be an idiot to argue with. It would also be foolish to peg him as just another also-ran in the recent folk revival, somewhere behind Laura Marling, Mumford and Sons, Noah and the Whale et al (but their rise to fame may pave the way for an artists who deserves a much wider audience)His first EP came out in 2006, a good year or two before the aforementioned British acts released any material. He's 27 and carries an honest world weariness that I think is only matched by Laura Marling in folk music right now.

Below is a link to download the track "Like The Wheel" from his recent EP Sometimes The Blues Is Just A Passing Bird. I highly recommend his album from earlier this year, The Wild Hunt.

Like The Wheel: http://stereogum.com/498601/the-tallest-man-on-earth-like-th-wheel/mp3s/



Credit to Stereogum and Pitchfork for the link and video respectively.