The Dirty Dozen – March 2012

The Drums – Days (Moshi Moshi, 5 Mar)
Jenny: I'm liking this so far.
Jill: It's kind of got that brassy California sound.
Jenny: I like the drums. Ha!
Jill: It reminds me of a poppy Sea and Cake... This is one of those hype bands you just can't get away from, which starts to give you a bad impression. I was hoping I could say something negative about it...
Jenny: I can't think of anything bad to say about this.
Jill: I'm finding this pleasing. I'll say eight. It makes me want to float on a waterbed in space. It's sunny without being sickly.

Pinkunoizu – Parabolic Delusions/Hooded Fang – Clap (Full Time Hobby, 5 Mar)
Jenny: Pinkunoizu has a tonne of reverb. There's a wee bit of The Flaming Lips as well. But it's inoffensively nice. Oh shit, that's a horrible thing to say.
Jill: Yeah, you're right, Jenny, you're horrible. I would agree though! It's pleasant to listen to, if you were, say, chopping an onion. It's not lifting me out of my emotional state of depression, but it's not making me feel any more depressed.
Jenny: Hooded Fang are going more for performance than perfection, I like that a lot.
Jill: The Pinkunoizu side was giving me jazz-hands, but this one is giving me dancing feet. I want to shake my booty. I'll say six and a half.

Sweet Lights – Endless Town (Highline, 5 Mar)
Jill: This is a bit auto-historical. Say, like, in '94 when I was getting very excited about bands and wearing converse. I probably would have been like “this is so cool”. Now that I'm older I can appreciate it, but I already know what it is.
Jenny: That's a kick-ass harpsichord solo, though!
Jill: It's like Roy Orbison mixed with The Smashing Pumpkins, but without the excitement.
Jenny: I'm sitting at a five. I would sit listening to this in the car and not even know it was on.
Jill: I'll give it a five too, I feel the same way.

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Look Around (Warner Bros, 12 Mar)
Jenny: I already dislike the Red Hot Chili Peppers a lot, because I work with kids and they all want to play Under The Bridge every single night.
Jill: (laughs) You know what that is? A pelvic thrust guitar solo.
Jenny: Yeah, the Joe Satriani-face.
Jill: These guys are too comfortable; they've been living in L.A. for far too long. It's regurgitated shit; there's just no reason to keep this up.
Jenny: You know they've got their tops off, right? That's not necessarily a bad thing – I'm just pointing that out. Oh look, it's a little bit the crowd can join in with.
Jill: Anthony Kiedis sounds bored as fuck.
Jenny: I'm not going to give it a one, because I've heard worse.
Jill: You are too nice. I'm giving it a one because I am like “stop, you are killing me. Just do something else.”
Jenny: I'm giving it a three because I quite like the handclap.

Martyn – Hello Darkness (Brainfeeder, 19 Mar)
Jill: I feel like I'm too out of the loop to even say anything about this.
Jenny: (reading press release) It's a “sci-fi-enhanced joy-ride”, Jill.
Jill: Now that you put it that way...
Jenny: The top-line sounds a bit cheesy. It reminds me of when I was sixteen and wasn't supposed to go to clubs but did anyway.
Jill: I never went to clubs...
Jenny: I did. I snogged a thirty year old fireman when I was sixteen.
Jill: Eugh!
Jenny: It's true! Anyway, that's besides the point. I'm gonna give it an eight.
Jill: Could you just go with Jenny's score on this one? I've never even left the house, ever, so I can't really say anything about this.

Dog Is Dead – Two Devils (Your Childhood Records, 5 Mar)
Jenny: I like this already, just based on the cover.
Jill: It changes quite a bit... I'm still trying to figure it out.
Jenny: They've got a bit of an Arcade Fire vibe going on. The production's great. I'll give it a seven... Oh, is that too generous?
Jill: I think there was a lot of great stuff going on in there. I like how it wasn't too overproduced. I'll give it a six. I'm not a huge fan of that big overflowing chorus, like, “we're lifting people!”
Jenny: That's fair – let's go with six.

Single of the Month: Liz Green – Bad Medicine (Play It Again Sam, 12 Mar)
Jill: Oh, I know Liz Green. She's incredible live, she's practically a comedian. She wears a huge, massive bird head. I love her lyrics.
Jenny: I really like the way that she's choosing to place her melodies.
Jill: She's evocative of an almost imaginary world. She pulls you out of reality. And it's creepy. I'll give this an eight.
Jenny: I was gonna say a nine, I really like it. She's kind of like a more upbeat Karen Dalton. It sounds simple, but it isn't.

Alt-J – Matilda/Fitzpleasure (Infectious, 5 Mar)
Jill: A bit of Devendra Banhart in the vocals.
Jenny: This is doing nothing for me. I mean, his voice has got a lot of character, so it seems a shame to me that it's swamped in this bleepy, trip-hoppy beat. It's like he can't decide what his sound is.
Jill: I like when he's being emotive, and that's when the drums aren't taking away from it.
Jenny: I'll say a six.
Jill: Yeah, I'll say six... Are we gonna get death threats?

Zulu Winter – We Should Be Swimming (Play It Again Sam, 5 Mar)
Jill: You know what this is? This is oversized T-shirts, boat shoes and tight-fitting trousers... Do you think that falsetto thing is the result of the really tight trouser-trend?
Jenny: I can imagine they've got quite nice hair. It's almost going for that Tears for Fears thing, who I think are awesome. But this is just so smooth. If you asked me to sing this in five minutes? Not a hope.
Jill: It's the kind of thing Zane Lowe would call [impersonates] “a triumph”. Fair play to them if people like it. I'm just gonna say a six.

Soap & Skin – Wonder (Play It Again Sam, 19 Mar)
Jenny: (reading press release) I have a problem with when it's a female songwriter, instantly the words 'haunting' and 'beauty' get used. How many times have you heard that?
Jill: It's unfortunate for her. It's a character portrayal, not actually talking about the music, because the music is too dull. I guess it's just marketing. That's what makes it so horrible.
Jenny: Yeah, but come on. She's putting her face on the cover, that's really unwise.
Jill: If I saw this live, I'd be shifting from foot to foot quite a bit.
Jenny: I'd be scratching my bum.
Jill: The person who wrote this press release obviously had a dart board with a couple of female singers and some adjectives. I'll give her a six, and the press release a two.
Jenny: It just annoys the shit out of me. I'm going to give her a five.

Young Guns – Bones (Live Forever, 6 Mar)
Jenny: That's taking it up a gear! If they made a video, they'd be on a rooftop with a wind-machine.
Jill: Or there'd be that scene where the girl with the long hair is running and she's been battered about, and you can't tell if it's spousal abuse or just her inner demons coming through.
Jenny: It's angsty. The kids I work with, they would love this.
Jill: It reminds me of Nickelback.
Jenny: For what it is, they're doing a good job. It's a wee bit tongue-in-cheek, it's quite fun. I'm gonna give Young Guns a seven. Some of the other singles just dulled me out so much that this is quite refreshing.
Jill: I'll say seven too, just for shocking me.

We Are Augustines – Chapel Song (Oxcart, 5 Mar)
Jenny: I've heard this before, or something very like it.
Jill: If we picked up our guitars right now, we could go along with it.
Jenny: It feels like people who are passionately writing music just get put through a machine, and there's a big sausage at the end... A big flaccid sausage.
Jill: Ugh, six...
Jenny: It's just all so fucking safe, isn't it... six. it's not good or bad, it's just a six. I hope I never meet any of these guys in the not-too-distant future!