29 May 2013 (Day 149) – More New Acts To The .Youth Collection

Nothing much happened today.  I had a full day at work, nice dinner wiith “M” and precious few opportunities to listen to stuff.  I was given access to couple of albums by acts I’d not heard about preciously starting with;

(# 386) Pony Face – Hypnotised (2012)

Pony Face are a band from Melbourne and this is their second album.  On first listen, I wrote in my music journal that they sound like a less claustrophobic version of Interpol.   It’s a reasonably valid comment but on second listen, I was entranced by the other musical influences that have been added to this basic template.  Opening track, Silver Tongue, initially uses a backing of the sort you would find on some of classic 70S German experimental bands such as Neu!,  Alabama has a distinct Joy Division feel to the way the vocals and bass are treated and Stripper employs a nice droney quality that makes you want to dig out your Velvet Underground albums.  This is destined for my iPod and I suspect it will bloom with repeated listening.

(# 387) Frightened Rabbit – Pedestrian Verse (2013)

This Scottish band can rightfully claim to have the very worst band name that I’ve ever heard.  “Frightened Rabbit”?  I’ve saw a few once when I went rabbiting with ferrets a few decades ago.  More often than not, the rabbits would simply hide deep within their burrows, relying on a complex web of tunnels to lose their pursuers.  Otherwise, they would shoot out of their hiding place like a shot from a cannon.  Either way, none of this describes this band’s music, a sonically dense sounding combination of British bands such as Elbow and Coldplay.  Backyard Skulls and Holy personify their approach.  It’s not bad but a little more light and shade across the entire record would be welcomed.