Big, big electric shoegaze. Sophomore release from a band taking bunches of cues from Oasis and The Stone Roses (minus the jangle-pop), but playing a bit more with industrial beats this time around. These tracks are meant to sound enormous. Huge layered sound, strong anthemic Brit vox, sky-wide choruses. For better or worse, this sounds an awful lot like their first record, and the songs (mostly) all sound the same.

RIYL: Oasis, The Stone Roses, Alberta Cross, the title track on "Battles On", Duran Duran in a bad mood

try: 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9
FCC: 10

*1. the single. draggy determined beat, headbanging snare hits. fantastic. essentially the same song pattern as "dominos" (off their last record). an out-and-out anthem.
*2. messy unplugged strumming (cough oasis) gives way to funky low-reg piano swagger, cool jagged samples, reachy chorus. repetitive but effective.
3. languid jazzy r&b beat. big brassy shimmer disco synth. (think: this is tarantino's r&b) maybe it's just me, but any r&b beat with britpop vox is gonna sound like the gorillaz.
4. starts soft. delicate vibes (a la 'gassenhauer'), cute scratching. darting flutey synth. subdued vox. nice sway.
*5. mid-fast. cool interplay between eerie jungle synth and soaring, teetering-on-minor vox -- which sound most like the roses on this cut. massive drum break with deep layers. seemingly crashes to a close 1:20 to end, then drum-kits its way out.
6. difficult beat, at first. deliberate but generic stadium shoegaze. the same line (which is good, mind you) is vamped ad nauseum throughout the track. able and poppy. i don't want to mention the naked and the famous… but i just did.
*7. edgy slashy goth-industrial overlay a la the most recent handsome furs. mid-fast. i like the electric riff and high-reg vox. this makes me miss blue mondays at boardner's.
*8. great verses: brassy & witchy downcycling riff over a cooking beat. casually drops "i wanna be adored" in the lyrics. inexplicably slows and thuds for a too-big chorus and electric solo. but: redeems itself in the last minute by serving up a great secondary melody.
*9. downtempo, jagged moody guitar. tight and sharp kit over accordion-ish synth. random insidious revving noise. very doom and gloom.
10. FCC "fucked up" the sad and slow confessional. the expanded title is "77 ways to say no". wah-wah.
11. pleasant, midtempo ode to england. no fuzz here, just a straight britpop tune. smooth slurry electric riff.