Friday 2 October 2009

Recent Music Purchases - Jack Penate and Friendly Fires

I recently bought a few new CDs.

Jack Penate - Matinee and Everything is New - I first came across Jack Penate whilst waiting for Franz Ferdinand to appear on the BBC's Glastonbury coverage - He was playing 'the John Peel Tent' and I found his live set lively and highly enjoyable with hints of ska and (as my daughter says) 'a Male Kate Nash'. Matinee is quite the latter, whilst Everything is new, his second album has more elements of the Ska feel and feels an altogether more polished and 'grown up' album. I'd recommend both, but if you buy only one, I'd pick Everything is New.

Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires - Stumbled across these guys on WE7.com (where you can listen to whole albums online - surely someone's going to stomp on this soon?). I was especially taken with 'In the Hospital', which sounds like a Talking Heads track to me. It's a bit of a mixed bag, in my opinion, with some great tracks (Lovesick, Hospital, Paris and Skeleton Boy) and some that don't work so well (Jump in the Pool, for example), but on balance, it's more good than not so and I don't often skip any of the tracks. Intelligent dance music (not the incessant bass and drum of the likes of Basshunter), Friendly Fires will be a band I'll watch and listen to with interest.

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