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Billy Goodbye. Franz Ferdinand
With Billy Goodbye Franz Ferdinand may have shared its most poppy track to date, leaving out all the punkfunk, dance and other influences that typified the sound of the band from my introduction to 'Take Me Out' in 2004. Still their best known song in this country by the way. Billy Goodbye is not going to stop that fact. It is an extremely welcome song though to the repertoire of Franz Ferdinand. It has a nice bounce and is definitely danceable and great fun. The guitar riff is simply great and makes the song stand out immediately. Looking at the video there's only one question: Where's drummer Paul Thomson? He left this October and is replaced by Audrey Tait. So then there were only two of the original four. There's no new work coming up but a greatest hits set and tour.
Midlake for me will always be that one song, 'Roscoe'. Looking at the Spotify streams the world agrees with me. The band was silent for most of the 10s, with unclear signs whether they would ever return to a recording studio. perhaps it was the pandemic that made them record new songs. Who knows? With Meanwhile Midlake aspires to create some of that old 'Roscoe' magic. Unfortunately this magic passed the band by, for them, for us. Meanwhile is a worthwhile try though. Midlake captures a mood somewhere between The Beatles and Electric Light Orchestra. A more modern version where all the acoustic strings have been replaced by synths, with a vintage sound, making it an almost indeterminable song. Dreamy, a lightness with a deeply melancholic vibe. A place where happiness is not present yet remains within grasp, if the musicians want to go for it. A mysterious song, but good? I haven't decided yet.
City Mouse has toured the U.S. and beyond for over a decade but does not have a that many records to its name. With this EP the band adds another one to its oeuvre, working towards a second full length album. Singer/guitarist Miski Dee Rodriguez leads the band that has changed line up several times. The current one delivers a nice trio of punky rock songs, led by the tough voice of Rodriguez. It starts with the title song. Rodriguez is howling to the moon in a quite convincing way. Like they should in punkrock it is the guitars that are leading in the sound of City Mouse. Tough and tight in close cooperation with drums and bass. The tightest song is the final one, 'Get Out Of Here', also the one with a blistering guitar solo, far removed from what regular punk bands would produce. The Magnitude EP is a nice introduction to City Mouse.
Some more punkrock today. The monthly single project of Boston's The Chelsea Curve brings us Top It Up, a fast punkrock song in an oh so familiar style. Of the kind there can't be enough of, as long as they have the playful characteristics Top It Up has. Melodic, nice melody, great guitar solo and following the ground rules that Blondie provided around 1978 and playing it a little faster to make it more punk/garage rock. The Chelsea Curve is on its way to produce a great album going by the singles it has been releasing at this steady pace. Undoubtedly they will be collected at some point in time. A song a month, more bands should try it, as long as it leads to this amount of fun.
Boston also delivers the final single for this week. The Shang Hi Los top it off nicely, even louder than The Chelsea Curve just now. Jen D'Angora's voice is simply rougher, more road worn and the guitar sound matches it. It is not a nice voice in the traditional conception of a nice singing voice. It is the right voice for Plymouth Rock. The song immediately sounds convincing. The Shang Hi Los mean it. Both guitarists, D'Angora and Dan Kopko, have recently released a great record with their principal bands, but this collaboration is getting more serious by the song. Having your cake and eat it to is an impossibility in real life but not when you're a fan of Watts, The Dents and The Shang Hi Los. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.
Wout de Natris
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