The Old Romantic Killer Band

I mentioned them a few posts back so I thought it would only be fair to give The Old Romantic Killer Band one of their own.
I interviewed the bluesy, rocking duo earlier this year for Drunken Werewolf magazine (out now, GO GET A COPY) and I was impressed by the visceral, intense performance they unleashed on stage. It was very loud. Guitar, and vocal, strings were pushed to their limits by Harry and Greg battered out an powerful and insistant drumbeat. Combined, they create an emotive and aggressive sound which comes across on record too.
The guys' debut album The Swan With Two Necks comes out in December on Bad Sneakers and they are giving away the first single off it, Lover's Pass, for free for a limited time only. Go here to get it or buy it from November 17th.
As another sneaky peek, here's another track from them

The Old Romantic Killer Band - The Resolve

TORKB are playing The Metro in London this Saturday. I urge you to go, it'll be ace.

The Brighton Port Authority

The press release talks of long lost tapes and mysteries but The Brighton Port Authority and its members are definitely off our times and some are pretty damn well-known.
The BPA is the new project from Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, and he's collaborated with a rich wealth of musicians from Talking Heads' David Byrne and Iggy Pop to Dizzie Rascal and funfunfun fav Emmy The Great.
The first track released by the Authority is Toe Jam, feat David Byrne and Dizzie and its a upbeat, horn-lead track that has all the immensely enjoyable qualities of Fatboy Slim at his best. Its quirky, extremely danceable and has a sense of silliness about it and then add a Dizzie rap into the mix and its one of the best pop tracks I've heard in the past few months.
The video is really clever too, as always seems to be the case with Mr Cook, with its liberal use of censor bars (see above). Watch it here.

The BPA feat. David Byrne and Dizzie Rascal - Toe Jam

Scabs

I've been sitting here in bed listening to Scabs on repeat for about half an hour and I still can't work out a word to describe it that would do it justice. Taken from their debut LP, Hysterics, Rolo Tomassi have created a morphing, thrilling, incredibly intense track that doesn't seem to stay still for a second. It almost feels as if the act of listening to the track could change the way it is heard.
Its not an easy listen with fractured guitars and scratched vocals at its forefront and the off-kilter keys and rapido drumming make it frenetic and erratic. The plethora of ideas in the track's four and a half minutes is dizzying and the manner in which they have been realised is terrifying in its accomplishment.
So my excuses for being unable to describe Scabs. Too giddy or too scared.

Rolo Tomassi - Scabs

Hysterics is out now on Hassle Records.
Photo by Justin Evans

Eskimo Twins

Having been grown, simmered, scraped and rehashed over the past 6 months, it must feel good for Eskimo Twins to finally get some music out. Their first two influences mentioned on their myspace are Slayer followed by Kraftwerk which gives some indication as to the direction of their sound, which is on the darker side of electronic dance music. Sounding at times like Justice, at others like Daft Punk and at the rest like a fist-pumping, brooding, stomping, skewed dance machine, the three tracks on their myspace sound like their spent a large number of hours crafting each sound to perfection.
The best of those on offer is Insidious, which features Harry Johns from bluesy rockers The Old Romantic Killer Band (who I've been meaning to feature on funfunfun for a while). Its agitated beats and grubby bass-line, added to Harry's stuttering, fiery vocals about burning witches, created a atmosphere as tense and dark as all good dance music should be.
Eskimo Twins are starting a DJ residency at a new club/bar in Leeds in a few weeks so be sure to visit their myspace for all the details. And to give you a flavour of what you in for, you can download a free DJ mix there too, or from HERE.

Eskimo Twins - Insidious (feat. Harry Johns)