The Cold Cut

Twisted Wheel- She's A Weapon (Link 2)

Twisted Wheel. Wow. How have I not heard of you? I'm fairly sure its a combination of my aversion to the NME, and my brief hiatus from blogging. Either way, I'm sorry I missed you.

Raucous. Raw. To the point. These were the first words that sprung into my mind when listening to 'She's A Weapon'. It's unfortunate that often, we immediately associate these with poor lyrics and musicianship, but we do have reason. Twisted Wheel are an exciting exception.

The latest from Sony BMG, Twisted Wheel are definitely moving in the right direction; they have heaps of attitude and have been picked up by record label that will surely market them to hell and back. The band are currently on tour with The Rascals, another band making moves (largely due to 'The Large Shadow Puppet's popularity, it has to be said), and have a series of dates with Oasis lined up in October. My view is slightly tinted, though, in that the band immediately reminded me of a fusion of The Twang and The Courteeners. Memories of hype. A huge build up. And then, the album drops, flat as a pancake.

I do have a good feeling about this one, though, and those feelings are going to be put on hold... permanently. With both of the aforementioned bands, I just let the hype carry me along, and I wasn't particularly fussed when the resultant album's fell short. This time around, though, I'm going to indulge. Get involved.

Let us say, Twisted Wheel are to those bands what The Verve were to Oasis and The Stone Roses. A perfect combination. And I just hope they can emulate Mr. Ashcroft's success.

[Myspace] ['Lucy The Castle' out 10.11.o8]

I don't want to take credit for the content of this post: upon recommendation from my friend Mike, I had a quick listen to Scouting For Girls... I was fairly surprised by what I heard, and felt compelled to write something brief about them. I can't quite understand why this band aren't already huge: they've been around since 2005, crafting numerous pop gems, three of which are available for download at the bottom of this post. Having just released their debut three track EP- It's Not About You- to commercial success (at it's highest point it was #31 in the charts), it seems a full length album is on the way: their catchy songs ensure that they stay in people's minds even after they've forgotten the bands name (which I think is prety damn cool: a play on words of Girl Scouts?). I- and Mike- would recommend you listen to the stand-out track on their EP, It's Not About You: I can't remember any other pop-rock song which uses harmonies so memorably. In fact, now that I think about it, this band is pretty memorable in general; they have a catchy name, some great tunes and a sound which appears to be fully mature, even when they haven't released an album yet. This full sound could be the band's selling point: there is no variety in terms of their song-quality: all three I have heard so far have been of the same calibre, whilst being different in both style and sound.

Unless something goes seriously wrong, I'm sure you will be hearing much more about this band over the next few years: given the fashion in which people bought their 10 minute long EP, a feature length album will no doubt sell well. You can download all the tracks from this project, or by clicking the links below individually. Let me use this opportunity to ask if anyone out there has been lucky enough to see this band live? Were they any good?

Scouting For Girls- It's Not About You
Scouting For Girls- Keep On Walking
Scouting For Girls- Mountains Of Navaho

Check out the band's myspace page for updates on tour dates and their latest releases...