Category Archives: New Music 2014

DUM DUM GIRLS-TOO TRUE.

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As I’ve not gone into work today (I’m ill..and I’ve lost my voice) I should probably do something productive like sleeping- which I will do. I fell asleep around 4am and woke up 3 hours later. I feel as if I’ve been hit by something bigger and stronger than me, not really hard to beat that to be honest but anyway.

Next week a record I’ve been beyond excited about comes out. I was going to stay away from the streaming of it because I wanted the excitement to stay there. I was silly to think it wouldn’t. As I listen to Too True I can hear no resemblance between this and I Will Be and Only In Dreams. This is when you know a band are phenomenal. If they’re going to keep making the same record over and over, you lose interest. I don’t need to mention how brilliant their past releases are, because I won’t stop. Each one has sentimental value to me, I guess that’s why Dum Dum Girls mean a little bit more to me than other bands do. It’s Dee Dee honest and vulnerable lyrics that hit me right in the same place Morrissey’s lyrics do.

Too True is a relaxed record that from start to finish makes you feel as if you are not where you currently are. Even the most stable human beings wish they were somewhere else. Loathe where you are but use the hate to change your surroundings.

The record starts with Cult Of Love which sounds like something from the Goth era of the early 80s mixed with a James Bond soundtrack. Evil Blooms keeps up that energetic pace that is in Cult Of Love. Both songs feel as if you are running into the unknown but this uncertainty will become a state of bliss that you simply cannot do without. “Why be good? Be beautiful and sad. It’s all you’ve ever had.” If anyone else sang or wrote this line I’d probably regard them as being a miserable git, and that’s coming from me! But the way in which Dee Dee sings it makes you feel okay with feeling low on those days where getting out of bed is the same as climbing a mountain.

Rimbaud Eyes is brilliant and I hope it becomes a single. The video would probably be as hypnotic and as debauched as Lost Boys And Girls Club. Rimbaud Eyes is a gorgeous plea to love and fascination. Personally I love this song because of the reference to the greatest poet ever. A troubled poet with innocent eyes, but most of the great ones are like that. Troubled but innocent in some ways; it all fits together somehow.

Are You Okay is one of the few that make me teary eyed, but the hazy feel to it fills the listener with some reassurance. I learnt very early on that with Dum Dum Girls songs that they have songs that can break and mend your heart in one go. I’ve leant on some of their songs for many reasons, and I guess I can sort of stand up straight now feeling alright. Are You Okay is beautiful live. When I saw them play this last month, this was the one that made me keep my eyes shut and just sway. I don’t know where I was in that moment, but music helps you create your own personal moments that nobody can take from you.

Too True To Be Good feels like a dream. Dee Dee’s words sound as if she is recalling a dream she once had. A dream that is taking her away and making her feel something. We all have those days where we are left numb, and Too True To Be Good is like a longing of wanting more. You get more but is it what you want? “I remind myself it’s gonna be fine.” That’s a line to keep hold of. Most things are too true to be good. It’s alright.

The intro to In The Wake Of You reminds me of White Wedding by Billy Idol- just the guitar. In The Wake Of You really projects how fragile Dee Dee’s lyrics can be. You can runaway with the guitar on this song; just keep on running. It doesn’t really matter where you go. I think it is pretty obvious that Too True is a record that assists with you escaping and discovering. It’s making my ill day off work less awful. Dum Dum Girls have the power to be the soundtrack to your life, but if you’re a fan you’d know this already.

Lost Boys And Girls Club is for those who don’t care for direction, they just want to go. Half the time it doesn’t matter where you’re going or what you’re doing, so give it no thought. I’ve already written my thoughts on this song a few times but I’m not ever going to be tired of hearing it. It’s alright to be lost.

Little Minx has a Punk beat to it. If Joey Ramone was alive, and how I wish he was, he would sound perfect singing this with Dee Dee. There’s something about it that just makes me imagine Joey putting his vocals on it. Of course it sounds just perfect with Dee Dee’s haunting voice. What I love about this record is that you can hear how they’ve been experimenting with different sounds which has led them onto creating this beautiful record. I’m not going to love any other record as much as this one all year. I just know it.

The last two song on Too True; Under These Hands and Trouble Is My Name are my favourites. I can’t pick just one favourite, I think my mind would explode if I had to even try. But these two are lyrically my favourite. There’s something about them that make you just want to roam the street with no means of contact upon you. Leave your phone at home and go outside for a while. I’d do that if I wasn’t ill. They are the perfect songs to end the record on because it feels right to just hit play again when the record finishes. Trouble Is My Name is the one I know I’ll be playing over and over, the one I can’t go a day without listening to.

When it comes to writing about Dum Dum Girls I find it easy to be honest about how their music makes me feel. I don’t feel bad for admitting that I’ve cried to some of their songs or that some of them just sum everything up for me. If music can’t give you hope, then what’s the point? I’ve read no reviews about Too True, and I don’t want or need to. I just want to listen to it and keep up the excitement that my favourite band have put out a full length record. Too True is nothing like I Will Be, Only In Dreams, He Gets Me High and End Of Daze. If you’ve listened to all their records you will have heard how each is nothing like the previous. A band that plays around with their sound is a band that lasts. With Dum Dum Girls you know that music is everything to them, and that’s why their music means a hell of a lot to me and others. Dee Dee’s lyrics are like poems for the soul. She doesn’t need to be aggressive to make a point or to be heard.

Too True is undoubtedly going to be the one record I play religiously this year. It embodies everything you want in music; freedom, lust, comfort and confidence.

Stay in a dream, in a daze and blast out Too True.

DUM DUM GIRLS-RIMBAUD EYES.

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Everything I’ve written about Dum Dum Girls and will ever write about Dum Dum Girls is just me reinforcing my love for them over and over again. All my the words I have written are repetitive and more than likely boring for anyone who has the misfortune of reading it. But, it’s not for them. It’s not for anyone.

Rimbaud Eyes was a song I heard on Andrew Wyatt’s show on East Village Radio in June last year. I heard it a few days before I left home for good. In my mind, I took it all as a sign. I’m not sure what, but I like to connect music to sentimental moments. Everything about Rimbaud Eyes of course just sums up why I love Dum Dum Girls. Any band that can mention probably one of the greatest poets of all time in a song is just fine in my eyes. If any band is going to do it, then Dum Dum Girls are the ones to do it.

I really cannot put into words how bloody excited I am for Too True. It’s a shame I’ve used all my holidays up at work because I’d seriously think about taking the day off to just sit at home and play it over and over. Last month I saw Dum Dum Girls in Hoxton, and the new songs they played were just perfect. A divine band live and on record they flawlessly capture their ethereal sound live in a way that not many can do. There is something effortlessly enticing about this band, and I really don’t understand why anyone could ever saw anything negative about this band.

I’ve had Rimbaud Eyes on repeat for some time now, and I can’t help but fall in love yet again with how Dee Dee writes songs. The way she puts certain words together, the way she sings them, the way this band sound..they are my perfect band. I’ve said it so many times, and I’ll say it again; Dee Dee is my generations Patti Smith. How come? Well think of why you love Patti and you’ll understand.

WARPAINT-WARPAINT

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Lazy hipsters are wetting themselves over the new Warpaint record; how could they not. One of the most exciting bands to have come out in a long time, so if you’ll lacking excitement for their new record then well…you can’t please everyone can you? That’s why I love Warpaint. They don’t make music for everyone to be pleased about, they make music for themselves THEIR own way. The Fool was a brilliant debut that of course reduced me to tears when I heard it. Their EP beforehand, Exquisite Corpse composed over several ethereal gems that could melt the coldest of hearts. Burgundy and Stars are my go to songs. What do I go to them for? That’s easy. For what I can’t get out of anything else. But I don’t seek much.

How can they top The Fool? I mean that was one of the best things to happen in 2010. I can’t recall much from 2010, but I know that Warpaint played a huge part in it not being spectacularly shit. They make a lot of things less shit, easily. An interview with them 4 years ago, they day before their record came out was one of the best things I’ve ever done. I’ve not done many great things in my life, I’ve not made a difference in others lives but why should it ever be about that? You cannot live through other people trying to please them as you slowly feel the life being sucked out of you.

This is meant to be a review isn’t it? Thing is, you’ll have read all of them by now about this record and you’ll all have seen that everyone pretty much loves it. People are fawning over it like a cute puppy. I don’t blame them. I listened to it yesterday at work whilst trying to concentrate. As I listen to it now, I have no hints of being focused about me. Warpaint do that to me. Everyone has one (or maybe more..I’ve got more) band that just makes them lose their shit. Music is freedom. Warpaint’s second record is like a declaration of that.

The Fool consisted of hypnotic grooves and chants (does anyone else still struggle to work out what is said at the start of Composure?!) Their second release has a cult feel about it. You’d imagine outcasts (don’t waste your time trying to fit in) in forests huddled round singing these songs in unison grateful to be alive. Of course you can just experience this by going to a Warpaint show. I finally saw them live last year and I felt like something had been lifted out of my body. I have no idea. It was out of this world and beyond words. You need bands to have a tight grip on you to make you aware of all you feel, but you don’t need to questions why you feel it.

The best way to listen to this record is how you should have hopefully have listened to their previous releases; with your eyes shut in the dark swaying your body in a gentle fashion and truly feeling certain parts of certain songs. If the bass-line to Biggy doesn’t make you want to just flail your limbs about in a carefree fashion then I have no idea what you are listening to.

When listening to the record it is so important you don’t go with the intent of finding this record’s version of Lissie’s Heart Murmur or Shadows etc. There’s no point because it is obvious that Warpaint are a band that do not have set sound. Why would they want to make the same record again? Bands that do that are bands that do not last. Bands that don’t do that make you feel something that words can never justify. It doesn’t matter what kind of music it is at all, when a band can get you really excited for what they are going to do next, that’s when you know something good is happening. It doesn’t matter if it was the likes of My Chemical Romance giving hope to hopeless kids or pre-pubescent kids getting psyched for a One Direction record. Music should make you excited and glad to be alive.

For me I feel Warpaint’s second release is a lot more gentle (who knew!?) in some ways. Take the song Teese; it’s just like some kind of mantra for the soul. But then you have the likes of Disco/Very which makes you want to dance. I’d get up and dance now if I wasn’t so tired. I adore both songs, I can’t pick a favourite. I can’t even try to pick a favourite off this record. I’d be foolish to even try. I’m fully aware that this is a ramble about nothing but I hate writing conventional reviews. If you want that, go read something like Pitchfork. I have no idea. Warpaint just make words spew out of me and the words just make no sense.

All I know is that their live shows are just going to get more and more intense and glorious with songs like this. I really hope they play Disco/Very when I see them next month in London. I just think it’d be the strangest yet brilliant moments in their set. I know I said you shouldn’t compare their records but I must say this- The Fool was the monster rising out of the water. Their second record is the monster mellowing out. That’s the only way I can put it. As I head into a thousand words, I realise that what I just wrote may have just been enough. I’ve had this build-up for this record for so long; all Warpaint fans have. Now it is time, you sort of can’t believe something as beautiful as this record has been released. I know when records come out at the start of the year they seem to have been forgotten about before the summer hits. The thing is, this one is probably going to top all lists in November/December. The same will go for Dum Dum Girls record, Too True when it comes out at the end of the month. I have more sentimental value attached to Dum Dum Girls, but Warpaint have easily put out a record that others aren’t going to stop playing. I still listen to Exquisite Corpse and The Fool; it doesn’t feel right if I don’t listen to them.

If you’re looking to alter your mind state or to have lucid dreams, buy this record. If you need a reason to start your own band, buy this record. Just buy this record. I know I’ve missed out certain things ranging from how Stella KILLS the drums on Feeling Alright to how angelic Theresa’s voice sounds to how Jenny makes me wish I could play the bass because the way she plays is as if she is taking me on some weird trip and how haunting Emily’s voice is- but these are the things I already know. They are the reasons as to why I love them and why I wear my Warpaint tattoo with complete and utter respect and love for them. If anything, their second record just reinforces my love for them.

Warpaint are the band you want to sing you to sleep and to wake you gently in the morning when your eyes sting from the sun’s rays creeping through the curtains.