Dance To The Radio - 4 x 12” Vol. 4
Posted 29th Jan 2010 in Single Reviews by James Lawrenson | Dance To The Radio | 
Dance to the Radio has developed quite the reputation, fostering Leeds talent before expanding outwards – Grammatics, The Pigeon Detectives, iLiKETRAiNS and Sky Larkin have all passed through, as well as ¡Forward, Russia!, whose guitarist Whiskas started the label.This is the final installment in a series that has included tracks from Esben and the Witch and Pulled Apart By Horses, and three of the tracks here suggest Dance to the Radio are yet to lose their way with talent spotting. Philadelphia's Drink Up Buttermilk make a kind of psych pop, 'Even Think' full of organs and a bulbous rolling beat. It promises much for the future, kids with an eye for melody and form.
The elaborate orchestration of the opening of Milk White White Teeth's 'The Calendar Will Crawl' brings up Misty's Big Adventure comparisons before a Wild Beasts-esque busy bass line and shimmering guitar replace them. It's perhaps a bit too derivative to inspire any love, but pleasantries will get you far.
Super Extra Bonus Party make that synth heavy electronica sound the kids like, with the ghost of Ian Curtis crooning away over the top, making this some kind of troublesome zeitgeist smashing monster. They then decide to add more genres by smoothing brass and guitar into the mix towards the end of 'Who Are You And What Do You Want?' Normally these multi-genre pieces turn into an over-egged cake and collapse in on themselves. Super Extra Bonus Party somehow make it work. Congrats.
Singer songwriters are the perennials of music, always making a living for themselves in some back room bar somewhere on the other side of town. Paul Thomas Saunders tries to channel My Morning Jacket, and succeeds, but by that point most people will have gone to listen to something more interesting. While he heads off to his regular Wednesday night slot at The Red Lion, raise your glasses to Dance To The Radio.
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