Tag Archives: the shins

The new The Men song ‘Open Your Heart’ is fucking great

The Men’s 2011 noise rock album Leave Home was one of my favourite records of last year. So it was with some excitement that I discovered the band are already planning to release a follow up on March 6th. New song “Open Your Heart” is the title song from said forthcoming album. And it’s fucking brilliant. Much like on Leave Home, the guitar sound is a key element and here it kicks you in the teeth right from the get go, sounding a lot like the opening bars of The Buzzcocks’ “I Don’t Mind”. No band has ever done themselves any harm by taking notes from The Buzzcocks, so this is a very good thing indeed. Also, while Leave Home was all about guitar texturing and analogue distortion with songwriting taking a back seat, here they’ve stepped things up with a really solid, urgent melody as well. Open Your Heart … Read more

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Mike’s Top 10 of 2010 – ALBUMS

What a great year for music. Here’s my take on the what I thought the best albums of 2010 were. Best Albums Wavves – “King of the Beach” Scratchy guitars and shouty songs about going to the beach and being an idiot. This album is irresistible – it’s impossible not to get excited by Wavves’ energy. Definitely the album I’ve listened to the most this year, I really can’t recommend this highly enough. Best Coast – “Crazy for You” It’s unashamedly pop music – which is perhaps why it was missing from a lot of people’s end of year lists – but that’s what I like about it. Sunny melodies, guitars and giant pop hooks. A breath of fresh air, and a great summer soundtrack. Broken Bells – “Broken Bells” A supergroup made up of James Mercer from The Shins and star producer Dangermouse was always going to turn heads, … Read more

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