holeytonal.com » Experimental

Don’t Piss on My Toothbrush Esser

Rylan — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:30:43 +0000

Part III? Deserved? Yes. I just saw Esser live for the first time. Fantastic. It was a Transgressive Records event, and no one was a patch on Ben Esser with his band (although Liam Finn came close).

Also found out the new video for the super tune and new single Headlock was on YouTube, so here it is:

If any of you ladies ever sleep with this dude, keep your dental gear safe. Favourite lyric so far this year: “Pissing on your toothbrush helps to relieve the pain”. Pure filth. Listen out for it in the this punk pop megathon:

Esser – Long Arms

Previous Esser Post: Get Esser’s Foot Out of his Mouth and Throw it at Alphabeat

Lovely Bowl of Luke

Rylan — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:50:05 +0000

Fear flashes across my face when the often tiresome pair of singer with acoustic guitar walk to the stage. At Insideout in Kingston, I couldn’t have been more scared when the singer introduced himself saying he’s ill and might collapse half way through his set. How I trembled.

Then he played. He sang. The world rejoiced. Well, maybe not the world, but 30 people in a church west of London did. Luke Sital Singh stole the show.

Despite having a bad case of man flu, his voice and lyrics were mesmerising. His melodies and harmonies catchy and clever. His performance wiped the fear from my face. Only to be replaced by a glare reading something like ‘ok, so this guy is good, bloody good’.

Luke Sital Singh is being modest when he compares himself to ‘a lovely bowl of soup’. Then again my favourite dish is a Vietnamese soup called Pho. So maybe he’s not so modest after all. Soup or no soup, he’s certainly not soupy, proven in the demo he kindly agreed to share. Its a fantastic song on tape. Even better live.

Luke Sital Singh – A Mile on Broken Legs (mp3)

Through the Peephole

Rylan — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:47:35 +0000

Anyone got a ticket to Brooklyn? I need to go. I can’t take it anymore. I have to find out how so much good music can come from one place. Here is yet another great group from the Big Apple.

I peeped Peephole through Bell’s MySpace. Glad I did. Their main man is called Kent Odessa. What a name. Its nearly as good as mine.

Aside from great nomenclature, their music is really where its at. The currently unsigned, Peephole, draw from the legends Prince, Bowie and Serge Gainsbourg. MGMT aren’t too far from their imaginations either, with some great driving and distorted bass lines a la Electric Feel. Peephole’s USPs are their experimentalism, with some interesting use of minimalism, as heard in their song Traitor. They also receive counseling from fruit.

You can download all these and more MP3s from their MySpace, but if you’re too lazy to go there, then just listen to these:

Peephole – Strawberry Told Me (mp3) Counseling from Dr. Strawberry and Dr. Cranberry.

Peephole – Half a Soul (mp3) Can you hear Serge?

Peephole – Traitor (mp3) Minimalist piano freak out

Get Esser’s Foot Out of His Mouth and Throw it at Alphabeat.

Rylan — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:04:48 +0000

I was too abrupt. The boy wonder, Esser, deserves part two.

Esser fuses tuneful trippy electro experimental pop with raw lyrics that rub the underside of your skin. Call it what you like, but lets hope Esser continues to write the best pop in ages.

Alphabeat, just stop now! In fact, I wish you never started. Esser is going to eat your heart out.

Formerly the drummer in the defunct Ladyfuzz, Esser has re-signed to Transgressive Records. Tickets are available to see him on the Transgressive Summer Tour, I’m looking foward to his Cross Kings gig in London. Especially after hearing session tracks from his appearance on BBC Radio 6 over at the The Daily Growl. His upcoming second single, the fantastic Headlock, can be heard at Esser HQ.

Those skin crawling lyrics I mentioned? Well taste this, “I have a habit of getting my foot stuck in my mouth, you are the only person I know who can help me get it out” . Reads about as well as anthrax, but maybe its the cheeky cockney accent that makes it sound like Wordsworth. I love it, but you can make up your own mind…

Esser – Lets Work It Out (mp3)

Leon Jean-Genrebender

Rylan — Sat, 17 May 2008 19:31:26 +0000

Can a passion for kit cars lead to assembling great music? Well it seemed to work with Leon Jean-Marie. The east Londoner, who’s family originate from St. Lucia is certainly starting to get a lot of attention. Island records plucked up the uber talented multi-instrumentalist and the world now waits in anticipation for his debut album Bent out of Shape to be released on 7 July.

For some reason Island are trying to genreise Leon Jean-Marie as Wonky Pop. He is better than that. Much better. Alphabeat is Wonky Pop, and they are awful.

His first single Scratch proves this man makes no ordinary music. I’m not sure how to define it, maybe Prince meets Skunk Anansie? Decide for yourself.

Bed of Nails, his latest single, produced by Mark Ronson, is completely different to Scratch, but also brilliant. Its more like the Beatles meet Blur. Check out the vid:

Chaps can be interesting

Rylan — Sun, 11 May 2008 15:20:12 +0000

Do you like experimental? Well The Chap are about as wacky as you can get. They are about to release their third album, Mega Breakfast, at Hoxton Bar and Kitchen on 13 May. I reckon they might even be too cool for Hoxton. Some blogs, like Keytars and Violins are already hailing this as an album of the year.

Keys, cello, violin, computers and melodica are amongst the north Londoners’ instrumental forces. Lyrically, you won’t find many others singing “Come on, come on cloner; clone me another me, my generation needs another me”.

It all makes sense really. Especially on their new single Fun and Interesting (mp3).