Niki N. Phaser

                 Scottish grunge revelation, Biffy Clyro, are about to release a new single from last year’s successful Only Revolutions . After the well-received singles That Golden Rule, The Captain and Many of Horror, it’s time for Bubbles (no connection to The Powerpuff Girls, I was told) to persuade another wave of listeners to check out this band. With some ‘backing’ guitars by Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme and a feelgood-in-a-small-town Thin Lizzy vibe, we are sure that Bubbles will do its duty. With honors (or horrors ?).

                 If indeed, you jump on board of the Biffy craze, you’ll get plenty of chances to see them rock out their heavy complex arrangements at this summer’s festivals. And from what I gathered, they do it quite nicely. But first, get a taste:

Chase and Pop BUBBLES here

              Mazzy Star’s best known song, Fade Into You, is not a very complicated track, it hardly ever crosses the acoustic border. Hope Sandoval’s vocals are also pretty steady all over. The structure is simple, the production minimal. Yet maybe it’s just these things that make Fade Into You the perfect soundtrack for that moment we all take once in a while, those few minutes when we just stop. It provides the distance we all need sometimes when looking at our lives. It might be mistaken for a love ballad, but Fade Into You just seems more like an ode to closeness. Lyrics like “I look to you and I see nothing, I look to you to see the truth” are as truthful and cynical as any relationship, no matter what are the circumstances. The demystifying of love is exactly what gives it strength and before happiness there is the warmth of a comforted heart. But then again, I’m really just guessing here, hear for yourself:

FADE INTO HERE

               Australian indie-rockers Expatriate are releasing their debut album, In the Midst of This, in the UK, this very day. The album was initially released in their homeland back in 2007 and it certainly did not go unnoticed. It received enough indie attention to keep the band’s gig schedule quite busy and for Rolling Stone to name them “one of the most important new bands of 2007”. In 2009 they toured with fellow Riverman band, Placebo, thus being exposed to an even broader audience, which payed off, as shown by this UK breaktrough, as well as by a string of headlining gigs around Europe. As for the album, if you are into rock mythology, you should know it was recorded in Seattle, in the studio where Nirvana did their last sessions. Even though Ben King sings “A dream’s a dream, Leave it at that” on Times Like These (maybe the best track on the album), Expatriate keep on working on the architecture of their own dream and, with a second album in the demo phase, they might just become one of those bands who inspire others to dream.

Download Info HERE