The Cold Cut

CSS- Rat Is Dead (Rage) (Link 2) (Link 3)

It seems as if everyone is trying to get a piece of the 'free music' pie nowadays. Radiohead and NIN cashed in, but everywhere you turn, there are more generous bands offering their latest song free, requiring very little effort on our part.

The Long Blondes did it with 'Century'. Coldplay have now done it with 'Violet Hill'. CSS are the latest group to jump on the bandwagon, with much better results than the previous two examples.

CSS have put a new song up for grabs on their website, and it rocks. Hard. Now reduced in numbers (since Ira Trevisan left), the Brazilian five-piece have been hard at work for their second album. I'm predicting a slightly more mellow affair... Lovefoxx's english has really come on, and considering she's now shocked by her lyrics from their debut, the x-rated stuff will no doubt be found in less abundance.

Their new album, entitled 'Donkey' (how very CSS!), is released on 21st June, but this new cut (not the lead single) is a revealing look at how the album will sound. It's very punkish, much less synth focussed, and a little bit less wild; lyrically at least... no 'music is my beach-house' here!

People are quick to disregard CSS as just a party band, but I just can't kick the feeling that they're going to be important- crucial even- to breaking down the barriers for international music. Even since they made it big I've recieved emails from bands like Nancy and Bonde De Role who are receiving far more attention than they would have in previous years.

You can download the track via the band's newly updated website, or above.

James Murphy has done extremely well out of his electro-pop hybrid style of music: chances are you won't know he is but his latest musical project LCD Soundsystem has produced two great albums which were both well received. On top of this he runs his own music label, Death From Above, and is constantly in demand as a DJ. Don't forget the fact that in 1992 he was asked to write the script for a small new show called Seinfeld, but turned it down, citing a busy schedule as his excuse. So.... you might call him multi-talented then, what with dabbling (successfully, mind) in different projects. Unfortunately, his mettle is about to be tested by Matthew Dear, the latest contender for the multi talented go-to guy crown. And the way in which Dear is challenging him? Well, you could say imitation.... Asa Breed, Dear's new album, is very similar to the latest LCD Soundsystem release, Sound Of Silver.

Matthew Dear is an Texas-born music producer from the same mold as Murphy, although so far he hasn't managed to emulate Murphy's success. Also the owner of a record label, Ghostly International, Dear has had many successful songs and remixes but has found it hard to translate the success across to a full album. I'm not lying when I say Matthew Dear is one of the most prolific artists I've ever come across, remixing and recording hundreds of tracks under different aliases (Matthew Dear, Audion, Jabberjaw and False) and surprising everyone by constantly flitting between styles and genres of music (check out his wikipedia page if you don't believe me). The last few years have been highly exciting for his followers, who have patiently watched him changing into a first class musician/producer- there were hints of this but his style quite defined yet, so this process was a metamorphosis if you like. With his latest album, Asa Breed, I can happily say that he has found his sound, although its still hard to identify what different elements it is made up of. And there you have the fundamental reason why his music is so interesting to listen to: across Asa Breed there is a varying pace, sound and style to every track, and Dear has obviously come to terms with the fact that his most successful music has been impossible to define: genre tags like hip-hop/electronica/garage/dance are commonplace with his music, and also means that in theory, some elements of each song should appeal to everyone.

This really is a fantastic third album, and in my opinion Dear has really come into his own. If he keeps up his producing and DJing he could be a serious threat to well-established people like Murphy. The only problem is that Dear has to learn when to stop slicing and dicing music, or he could end up alienating his main fan base: Asa Breed is good because it subtly puts together the best elements of many styles of music, although on some tracks there are points where he is close to the edge in terms of how much variety you can stuff into 3 minutes. After I've listened to the album a bit more I will probably do a review of it, probably later this week. There are a couple of tracks available for download below, you should know the drill by now.

Matthew Dear- Pom Pom
Matthew Dear- Deserters

Weird Album Cover?