Inside Nokia Music

When I’m not in the gym pumping iron, tinkering with the transmission of my pick-up truck, hunting game or otherwise proving my immense, hairy-chested masculinity, there’s nothing I like more than watching the gloriously touching, moving and inspirational Twilight movies. Go Team Edward!

Well, maybe not. But I did recently sit through Eclipse, the latest instalment in the tale of a broody bloodsucker and his boring bird (I had to take my good lady wife to see it, you see. Honest.). Also featured this week: more neck-bitin’ antics with True Blood, cross-burning shenanigans with Against Me! and some good ol’ fashioned toil with Elizabeth Cook.

Various Artists – Eclipse Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Whatever I think of the film, there’s no arguing that the soundtrack album is pretty worthwhile. Despite the movie to which it’s tied, it’s a pretty mature collection of tracks, some of which are exclusive, so if you’re put off by the faces on the cover you’ll be missing out. Highlights include Sia’s ethereal ditty about troubled romance, My Love, and Beck and Bat For Lashes teaming up on the fuzzing, clinking, steam-building Let’s Get Lost. There are also exclusives from UNKLE, The Dead Weather, Vampire Weekend, Cee Lo Green, and Florence + The Machine, among others. In fact, about the only disappointment is Muse, who again drop an exclusive track to follow their contribution to the New Moon album.  Sadly this film’s outing – Neutron Star Collision – is a non-starter, sounding like the worst sort of Queen-esque excess.

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There’s not much to being in a boy band, surely? Look pretty, make sure you don’t wear the same outfit twice and lip sync along to the backing track and that’s about it. Right? “There’s a lot of hard work and thought that goes into our music,” disagrees Jay (far left in the photo above), one fifth of new boy band challengers The Wanted. The last six months, he says, have been frenetic, writing material for their upcoming album, meeting co-writers, doing promotional work and then recording the songs themselves. And I end up believing him, despite the fact that I’m talking to Jay while he’s backstage at a Saturdays gig and sounds like a 14-year-old who’s just been told he never has to go to school ever again.

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You’d be forgiven for thinking that to be part of Scissor Sisters – a band known as much for the on-stage antics of its flamboyant vocalists Jake Shears and Ana Matronic as its infectious glam rock and pop songs – an insatiable desire to be in the spotlight is a must. But not so says Del Marquis, lead guitarist with the New York band. “I’m so thankful that I do not have to be front and centre, because that’s not where I want to be. I love to be in the shadows. If I’m in a pissy mood, and if I want to sulk and hide, I can do.” At first glance, it’s not an admission to set the pulse racing, whether you’re a writer after a story or a music fan keen to gain a peek at the inner workings of one of 2010’s most-anticipated album releases. But Marquis’ satisfaction at taking a backseat to the high-profile duo of Shears and Matronic masks his private joy at living a dream, though at times the past two years and the eventual release of Scissor Sisters’ third album, Night Works, have been harder than anyone in the band would have anticipated.

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If last week was the widely-lauded (at least within my household) Wooden Week, this week it’s Comeback Week. We have no less than three – count ‘em – three bands with important new releases. And yes, one releasing their debut album, but hey: f**k you. Feeder are about to unleash Renegades, the band’s first album in two years and an important return to their roots. Devo, 80s-era electronic pop-rockers, return with their first proper album in 20 years, while Underworld get back to business with the first single from their upcoming album, their first in three years. Makes me kind of nostalgic, actually. Oh, and the newbies spoiling my finely crafted theme this week? Sound Of Guns. Damn their eyes.

Sound Of Guns – What Came From Fire

Ah yes, this is anthemic stuff – the sort of thing you’d be forgiven for wanting to wave your cigarette lighter at (or fling a p**s-filled bottle at, depending on your persuasion). Sound Of Guns are the next big thing, if the music press are to believed (don’t think for a minute that I include myself as part of that group) and as they’re usually the ones who determine this sort of thing, you’ll probably hear loads about them. Luckily for me I quite like What Came From Fire. Apart from a few Coldplay-esque forays into the middle of the road with tracks like Architects, Collisions and Starts With An End, it’s a record boasting a few genuine fist-pumping party numbers – Alcatraz and Bullets In The Bloodstream being the standouts.

Underworld – Scribble

Not an album, this, but the prelude to one: Scribble is the first single from Underworld’s upcoming album, Barking, which is due out in September, and should put the dance duo back on the popular map. They’ve had criticism from some of their old-school fans (Scribble has memorably been described as ‘Moby on Prozac’ by one less-than-impressed forum poster at Stereogum) but it’s a sunny slice of drum and bass lite that’s easy to nod your head to. And, even better, you can download the radio edit for free from Underworld’s website. If that’s too nancy for your tastes, check out the fizzing Netsky remix on the virtual B-side.

Devo – Something For Everybody

I was worried for a minute that this was an ill-considered change in direction for Simon Cowell’s operatic boy band, but actually Devo is a synth-pop band whose heyday was the late Seventies and early Eighties. Which goes to prove that you really do learn something new everyday. Anyway, to Something For Everybody, an album that’s in turns laughable (laughing with, rather than laughing at, though – it’s an important distinction to make) and admirable. Rooted firmly in the 1980s, it’s a mix of electronic bleepery, rock guitars and programmed drumbeats that’s wonderfully nuts. And nothing whatsoever to do with faux-classical vocalists.

My album of the week:

Feeder – Renegades

Feeder are back and boy, have they been putting away the pies. Renegades is a far heavier collection of tracks than Feeder have become known for and that’s no bad thing – this is a 40-odd minute slab of prime beef that should go down a treat live. Don’t think for a minute that more heavy equals less catchy, mind – several of the tracks here are veritable butchers’ hooks (don’t worry, that’s the end of the meat-metaphors). Boasting a brand-new drummer, Renegades sounds downright invigorating and it no doubt was as refreshing to record as it is to listen to. Tracks like The End, Sentimental and Home drive and thud their way into your ears with sledgehammer surety, while the Call Out shows Feeder haven’t lost any of their finesse for a more radio-friendly guitar-led pop song. Renegades is out on July 5^th and has to be a contender for rock album of the year…

Have at it. All the music featured here is available now, apart from Renegades by Feeder, which is out on July 5th, on Nokia Music Store now and is free to Comes With Music members.

Quite unintentionally, two themes emerged in the batch of new music I pulled from the mailbag this week: firstly, there’s a preponderance of album covers that are brown. Secondly, there’s an old world feel to most of the albums I picked out. All the music this week feels as though it’s been lovingly hand carved from a single piece of wood. There’s quite an organic quality to it all – certainly no digital sequencers, effects or overdubs – and nary an electro beat in sight. Anyway, what this all means is that from henceforth this week will be called Wooden Week.

Jamie Lawson – The Pull Of The Moon
Oh those crazy kids with their nocturnal imagery. If it’s not vampires then it’s moody, pensive, stripped back acoustic rock songs about mysterious love, bottomless despair and killing folk. Well, sometimes. But it’s certainly applicable to Jamie Lawson who, according to the gushing press release, lives in a caravan by the sea in Cornwall. It’s funny to think that other places in the world like that can give rise to the sunny contemplations of a Jack Johnson; judging by the tone of The Pull Of The Moon, Jamie’s seen more than his fair share of wet and windy summertimes. Still, it’s done with a certain panache and, if you fancy some well crafted, mellow folksy vibes to accompany your sullen introspection, this pulls all the right heartstrings.

Pete Molinari – A Train Bound For Glory
Molinari, for his part, brings a 1960s US rockabilly style to Wooden Week proceedings, which is a little weird if you’ve ever been to Chatham in Kent, which is where he’s from. But hey, it’s all good fun, right down to the backing singers adding vocal harmonies to the chorus on tracks like the opener, Streetcar Named Desire. Some of the ballads are rather saccharine for my tastes (which is saying something, given my fondness for old Dean Martin records), but they’re authentically twangy. Heck, you can probably smell the denim, dungarees, cowboy boots and teary-eyed good ol’ boys from there.

Ed Harcourt – Lustre
This is Harcourt’s fith studio album and first one on his own label. And the experience shows – it’s a polished, almost unbearably lightweight sound that might drift out the window if it weren’t tied down to your speakers. That’s not to say it’s without substance – there’s a twinkly, ethereal quality to the first single, Do As I Say, Not As I Do, which combines what sounds like a xylophone, jangling guitars and tinkling piano keys. But listen to the lyrics and you’ll soon understand that there’s more to it than a four minute fluff track. It was recorded in Washington state in the US and a kind of bleakness does overcome some numbers. But Harcourt’s gentle, persuasive voice pulls you in regardless, despite your better judgement and the niggling thought that on a couple of tracks (most notably Killed By The Morning Sun) he does sound like a male version of Norah Jones.

My album of the week:

Ska Cubano – Mambo Ska
Maybe it’s the sun burning strong in the sky outside. Maybe it’s the fact it’s Friday. Maybe it was the mojito I had for breakfast. Or, quite possibly, it was that this album had been lying around unopened for a couple of weeks and its cover was brown, enabling me to tenuously carry on with my self-declared Wooden Week. Whatever, Mambo Ska is the Mike’s New Music Medley official Record Of The Week. It’s a great big scoop of toffee fudge ice cream on the wafer cone of life and can’t fail to make even the most neglected back garden feel like a little slice of Cuba. Well, alright, that might be stretching a bit but Ska Cubano’s latest release is so infectiously sunny and fun that it will at least make you forget about mowing the lawn for ten minutes. If you’ve not heard of Ska Cubano before, the band’s name tells you everything you need to know – it’s a heady cocktail of Ska and Latin music with the focus firmly on catchy, party-friendly tunes that don’t require taking too seriously. Even if you wouldn’t normally turn your ear to this sort of thing, the music seems almost genetically programmed to be appealing like a young puppy or kitten. Yes, not liking Ska Cubano is like kicking a kitten. There, I’ve said it.

And with that, I declare Wooden Week open. As ever, feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments. All the music mentioned here is available on Nokia Music Store now and is free to Comes With Music members.

Preconceptions are a funny thing. When the ever-considerate Shazza got word that I’d be interviewing Kele Okereke, she emailed over a quote from an interview he did with the San Francisco Chronicle a couple of years ago that made him out to be a difficult customer. Thanks. Then, in the same week that I’m due to give Okereke a call and see what’s up with his soon to be released solo album, he’s all over the front of NME and labelled the most fearless person in music. Great.

So, when I phone at the allotted time only to discover I’ve interrupted his lunch, I’m not feeling terribly optimistic. But within minutes it becomes clear that Kele Oekereke is in fact softly-spoken, given to bouts of introspection and seemingly anything but the arrogant rock star that some journalists have painted him as. ‘I’m not fearless,’ he explains, ‘I just don’t take anything too seriously.’ Asking him if whether what the press say about him and his work matters, he’s eager to explain himself better. ‘I shouldn’t have said that really. I take my job very seriously but, you know, I’m only striving to be honest and to do what is right and make something I’m passionate about.’ Unprompted, he goes on to address the idea that he’s somehow abrasive. ‘I’m not trying to be difficult, contrary, or rub people up the wrong way. I’m just trying to do something I enjoy. When people hear the record or when they see me perform, it’s coming from a genuine place.’ Read the rest of this entry »

Being at Nokia Music means I get to listen to loads of new music. Not just downloads from the store, but the occasional new release that I’m sometimes privileged to listen to before it hits the streets. And there’s a lot of it, so I thought I’d start rounding up some of the cool new stuff that comes my way. I’ll try and make this a regular weekly thing, but as this is the first one I’ve got a bunch of recently released stuff worth checking out.

My album of the week:

Neil Cowley Trio – Radio Silence
I couldn’t remember why Neil Cowley was a familiar name to me when this dropped on my desk. One swift Wikipedia later, I was reminded – he was one half of chilled-out beatmeisters Fragile State. An underappreciated downbeat electro combo, they put out a pair of great instrumental albums before record label trouble spelled the duos’ end in 2004. Cowley, a dab hand on the Joanna (he played keyboards for Zero 7’s live shows and released the album Soundcastles under the name Pretz) went jazz. As the Neil Cowley Trio (with Richard Sadler on bass and Evan Jenkins on drums), Cowley released Displaced in 2006, picking up a BBC Jazz Award for best album the following year. Radio Silence is the trio’s third long-player and it’s a stomper. In the best jazz trio tradition, it’s a tightly arranged masterclass in interplay, with all sorts of sounds, licks and melodies on offer. The thumping opener, Monoface, sets the tone – this isn’t the sort of album to stick on as quiet background music somewhere. Audio wallpaper it isn’t; just check out Gerald and you’ll see what I mean. Read the rest of this entry »

‘How cool is that?!’ exclaims Sophie Ellis-Bextor, a mix of excitement and disbelief in her voice, even though she’s heard the story before. I’ve managed to get 20 minutes of telephone time with the singer during the hectic publicity schedule preceding the launch of her new single, Bittersweet, on May 3^rd, and we’re talking technology. Specifically, the fact that Groovejet, the single which catapulted her into the public consciousness in the summer of 2000, was the first track ever played on an iPod, on a prototype in Apple’s labs. ‘I love that story! Can you tell your friends that I don’t think enough people know about that.’ She laughs, an infectious sound somewhere between a giggle and a chuckle. ‘I think that’s really cool,’ she adds. A self-confessed gadget fan, she’s just bought her first Apple iPhone and is enthusiastically praising it when I mention that I write for the Nokia Music blog. ‘You know what, I’ve kept my Nokia, don’t worry,’ she playfully reassures me. ‘I’ve been using Nokias since I was 18, so there you go. 13 years of Nokia use.’

It’s also been 13 years since Sophie Ellis-Bextor first appeared in the charts, singing with Theaudience. That single, I Got The Wherewithal, and the subsequent self-titled album, didn’t make the impact the band was expecting. ‘Theaudience was very hyped when we first got together and then nothing really happened, so it was over before it began,’ she recalls. ‘No-one really knew about Theaudience. It was a wonderful time for me and a very steep learning curve, but I was aware that we didn’t really break out of music industry circles and the Camden scene.’ While it might not have been the success that Ellis-Bextor and her three bandmates had imagined, the then-18-year-old was able to learn from the experience. ‘That stood me in really good stead, so I can always take everything else with a pinch of salt. That’s meant I’ve kind of kept part of myself back, I suppose.’

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“Steam rooms,” says Jamie Cullum, with a grin on his face. “I really love steam rooms. It’s almost unknown, but Frank Sinatra used to travel with his own steam room and he loved spending time in it with his cronies and gossip. I think that’s one of the reasons he could smoke, drink, stay out late and yet still be able to sing very well.” Anyone hoping for reports of Rat Pack-inspired bacchanalia will be disappointed, however. Cullum, the UK’s biggest-selling Jazz star, is far more likely to be found with his nose buried in a book or tinkering with musical instruments.

“These days we have this great opportunity to travel with so much fun gear, I’ve got loads with me. I like to make funny electronic music and play on my laptop with this Akai USB keyboard I have, or do non-music stuff like taking photos,” Cullum says, revealing that he takes a lot of camera equipment with him when touring. Meanwhile, his love of reading led to several songs on his 2009 album, The Pursuit, being inspired by Nancy Mitford’s novel, The Pursuit Of Love, a romantic tragicomedy set against the backdrop of World War Two. “It’s actually Sophie’s favourite book,” Cullum says of his wife, the author and cook (and ex-model), Sophie Dahl. “She’s read it hundreds of times. Some parts of my album got their inspiration from the book. Now I’m reading this big heavy book, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, which I’m really enjoying.”

His happy home life permeates his work, and while his work also permeates his home life, it’s a balance he enjoys. “I’ve got a piano practically everywhere in my house,” he says enthusiastically. “I have a piano in my kitchen because it combines my three favourite things, cooking, eating and playing music. My cat often sits on it and helps me get some inspiration for my work. I realised that there were also some things we couldn’t recreate in a studio, so the kitchen it is.” This homely, intimate vibe infects a couple of songs on The Pursuit, particularly I Think, I Love, one of Jamie’s more typically skewed love songs. But if anyone was in doubt about the debt Jamie owes to The Pursuit Of Love, the album cut “Love Ain’t Gonna Let You Down is probably the first love song I’ve ever written without a joke in it,” he admits. “The only pure love songs I’d sung before were by George Gershwin, not my own. It is totally written for one particular person,” Jamie adds, with a look in his eyes that radiates contentedness.

The Pursuit by Jamie Cullum is available to download at Nokia Music Store. If you’ve got Comes With Music you can get it and a world of other music for free.

So Slash’s latest solo project has dropped (anyone remember the Snakepit?) and, as expected, it struggles to live up to what we Velvet Revolver and G’n'R fans had been hoping for – but that’s what happens when you’ve been spoilt rotten with such great stuff. Anyway, it still rocks and is a good listen while VR sort themselves out a new singer.

And, listening to Beautiful Dangerous, which features Fergie (yes, her of Black Eyed Peas fame) on vocals, I can’t but help thinking… That Fergie could be the voice that Slash, Duff, Matt and Dave have been looking for.

Granted, she does sound a  little like Axel Rose lite at times, but there’s no denying she’s got a set of pipes on her that could carry the likes of Slither or She Builds Quick Machines with equal ease. And she’d certainly be easier on the eye than a sweaty, drawn Scott Weiland or other, similarly drug and drink ravaged middle aged rocker when you see ‘em live. So peeps, fingers crossed.

Slash is available to download at Nokia Music Store. If you’re a Comes With Music member you can get that and a world of other music for free.