Round-Up Tracks: Death From Above 1979, DZ Deathrays & More

Back to reclaim their rightful place at the head of the table in the great hall of all things noisy, Death From Above 1979 have decided that ten years is plenty of time to leave us with baited breath. Whispers of more music from them have circulated every once in a while - but finally the rumors are true. With this week seeing the first track from them in what feels like a lifetime, ‘Trainwreck 1979’ announces itself in style. Screaming feedback catapults us into the bass that is so synonymous with the band - a tone that could be picked out of a line-up by die-hard DFA fans in one fretted note. It’s a relentless onslaught; a possessed muscle car careering around a city, obligatory slow motion jumps included. The drums have been given a good seeing to and have the same untamed ferocity as the bands debut, but with a brilliant depth that only reinforces the notion that this is one of the most hotly tipped albums of the month, year and yeah I’ll say it: the last decade. (Joe Dickinson)

Sometimes songs and bands have a habit of coming along at just the right time. In the case of DZ Deathrays, it usually comes crashing into mundane routine, landing defiantly on the table right at the moment you pick up a glass from your coordinating IKEA tumbler set to sip on your 100% organic fresh orange juice with no added sugars or preservatives. Your hand becomes possessed by an invisible force, thrashing about like a puppet on fuzzy string, recklessly scribbling “strawberry nesquik, strawberry nesquik” all over your carefully budgeted shopping list of wholesome ingredients for the week ahead. DZ Deathrays are the kind of band that make you want to postpone responsibility and haul your safety pin covered school blazer out of storage. ‘Less Out of Sync’, a roaring, jaggy-edged beast of a track, is their summoning cry. (El Hunt)

The first thing you notice about ‘Eyes Of The Muse’, the lead track from guitar pop hero King Tuff’s forthcoming second album is the most glorious guitar line you could ever wish to hear. From only the first five seconds you know this song is a bit special. The song itself sees Kyle Thomas, aka King Tuff, stretching his sound out into slightly more psychedelic 60s influenced pastures on his most impressive bit of songwriting yet. Be sure to listen out to the moment at 1 minute 40 when he hits the fuzz pedal and the guitar kicks up, it’ll make your heart swell with joy. (Martyn Young)

Staple artists like The XX and James Blake have played a monumental role in redefining the boundaries of electronic music in recent years; reams of experimental crossover projects like Forest Swords and Purity Ring are the result. Hailing from pebbly Brighton, La Leif is a young producer that comes from the same lifeblood. ‘Forest’s piano plinks along with the same kind of calculated creepiness as the soundtrack to Stanley Krubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut. Despite all of its foundations in electronic tombloopery La Leif’s vocals remain eerily, oddly human, fighting against, and eventually giving way to the swerving electronic breakdown, getting eaten up and mangled by manipulation. Locating the mortal pulse of electronic music can be hard, but the case of ‘Forest’ the blood rushes right up to the surface. (El Hunt)

Melvin Bliss’ ‘Synthetic Substitution’ is one of those samples. It shows up quite a lot, but it doesn’t matter. Ultramagnetic MC’s, Wu-Tang Clan, and Danny Brown have all made the sample their own, and Los Angeles-based rapper Cozz is doing the same. ‘Knock the Hustle’ is only Cozz’s third released track so far, but he already sounds like a veteran. Passion like this isn’t the easiest thing to come across. (Joe Price)

Damn fine track! And hot considering it’s from Twin Peaks, the Chicago buzz-band making waves in blogospheres and cups of black coffee alike for their blend of roasted garage-rock and spoonfuls of fuzz. It’s certainly oozing with the usual brilliant cacophony of distortion, but Twin Peaks do seem to have found a slightly new way of doing things. From its urgently-delivered vocals to the swaggering, hip-shaking riff that drives the whole track, it’s brimming with a newfound directness that gives it an added caffeine kick and a pinch of hooky melodies. Sure, by the end of the track the vocals are as acidic as a packet of Sour Skittles tripping to Primal Scream and everything is as fantastically haphazard as usual. But there’s also something far more infectious about it. One sip of its moreish garage-rock leads to another, and the track certainly stays hot for many-a-listen; proving it to be a quality brew from a band yet to peak. (Kyle MacNeill)

For all the wonderful, endless possibilities of musical invention and experimentalism sometimes all you need is a straight up shock of punk rock thrills. That’s exactly what Savannah Georgia punks Sauna Heat provide on the careering freight train boogie of ‘Gimme Sedatives’. Riotously good fun. (Martyn Young)

It’s weird to find something as hard to describe, yet so strangely captivating as Triad God’s ‘So Pay La’. The London-Cantonese artist murmurs solemnly over plaintive production that lingers, and it’s hard to describe why it’s so inviting. There’s no hook, no melody, no lyrics to latch onto, but regardless it produces a sound that’s fascinating. Accompanied with its equally as minimal Jim Alexander-directed video, it begins to make more sense: it’s about a feeling that few other tracks can evoke. The feeling of being ridiculously tired, knowing that you’ve still got more to go. No words can describe that feeling as perfectly as ‘So Pay La’ does. (Joe Price)

The guitar pop sound popularised by Real Estate has been often imitated over the past few years but few have delivered anything quite so affecting as Northampton Massachusetts resident Jimmy Hewitt with his new project Lost Film. Formerly of Orca Orca, Hewitt has delivered a quietly stunning debut with ‘Our Town’. It’s a piece of lovely dreamy melancholia that sets Hewitt’s quiet and subtle voice against a gorgeous plaintive and pure guitar that evokes lost memories and images of a kind of suburban utopia. (Martyn Young)

Tags: Death From Above 1979, DZ Deathrays, Listen, Features