New Music

JIM CARROLL'sguide to future sounds

The Drums: bang on the mark

It’s about to become a little frenzied for childhood friends Jonathan Pierce and Jacob Graham. The duo are The Drums, a band so new that they’ve still got the plastic wrapping on, but who have wowed everyone who has set eyes and ears on them since their first show in May.

Surf-pop vagrants and beach-bum dreamers with a fine taste in retro, post-punk sounds, they cite some under-appreciated releases on the late, great Tony Wilson’s Factory label, as well as 1950s and 1960s pop-culture, as influences.

The wowing for those of us who haven’t seen them yet can begin with their debut EP. Summertime! has infectious tunes bursting with sunny joie de vivre, every cut a-jangle with euphoric, giddy pop spirit and somewhat more melancholic, broody moods.

Catching both the expectation before and the comedown after a great day at the beach, each tune is as smart and dapper as you'd expect from two clean-cut minimalists channelling vintage US teen style. Think of them, then, as your favourite Mad Menheroes getting their teenage kicks before Madison Avenue came calling.

Hailing from Florida, Pierce and Graham first met as kids at a Christian summer camp in Pennsylvania. Both pursued individual musical notions until it made perfect sense to join forces.

When they started, their aim was to emulate Scottish post-punk band The Wake. "We heard their song Pale Spectreand went crazy," says Pierce. "Maybe our music didn't turn out sounding too much like The Wake, but we're really just like everybody else, chasing that perfect pop song."

No doubt that chase will continue well into 2010. The band’s debut album is due for release early next year and, if the current EP is any indication, expect it to be on the receiving end of a lot of love.

www.myspace.com/ thedrumsforever

Mount Kimbie: maybe baby

Mount Kimbie’s debut release could well be the most gorgeous thing you’ll hear all year.

While it might dwell in the dubstep department by virtue of its release on Scuba's Hotflush label, Maybessounds more like music from another time and dimension than what happens when you tweak your bassbins. It's as if all the machines on the planet have stuttered to a halt and these beautiful, emotional, atmospheric, neo-classical sounds are the last notes you hear.

The MaybesEP was no fluke – their second release, the four-track Sketch On GlassEP, was just as finely turned out. This time, the duo behind Mount Kimbie, Peckham-based youths Dominic Maker and Kai Campos, pushed another set of buttons and focused more on sculpting the kind of liquid groove usually associated with Flying Lotus or Burial.

It’s obvious that Maker and Campos are mining some very deep and innovative seams. Where the duo will go next remains to be seen, but it’s clear that there are some new dons in town.

www.myspace.com ountkimbie

The Dispatches

Lisa O’Neill

Cavan-born singer- songwriter whose Has An Albumdebut is chockablock with kooky freak-folk tunes.

www.myspace.com/lisaconeill

Yes Cadets

Sparkling indie-pop with plenty of squawks from the Belfast band who play the Hard Working Class Heroes fest in Dublin next month.

www.myspace.com/yescadets

Cities

High-calibre instrumental rock and 'lectronics from Ennis trio. Satellitesis one hell of a tune. See them at Hard Working Classes Heroes 2009.

www.myspace.com/citiesmusic