If you haven’t heard of DRC Music yet, it’s basically Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz) getting together with a bunch of famous producers and artists, flying out to the Democratic Republic Of Congo, and hooking up with local artists and musicians to record an album, and this is the first video of their meeting for the track “Hallo”.

Did you wait five years for this album? You might be disappointed.

The story, for those who don’t know it, goes like this: in 2006, around a year after releasing his well received debut album “We Have Sound”, Tom Vek disappeared from the music scene. No new singles, EPs, collaborations or even remixes. Not a peep was heard from the man until Zane Lowe announced he had an exclusive new single from him earlier this year. Turns out Vek was busy in his five year absence, building himself a studio in East London, teaching himself production techniques and writing tracks for his new album, “Lesiure Seizure”.

As you’d expect from a record that’s had a lot more work in much more expensive surroundings than his first one, Vek’s production values have vastly improved. Opener “Hold Your Hand”, however, immediately reveals that, despite the time, not much has changed: synths immitate organs, beats are skittish, guitars are largely absent except in their bass form and Vek’s vocals drawl over the top of the mix. If you were hoping for a radical progression in sound, as you might well feel entitled to given the delay, “Leisure Seizure” has nothing to offer you but frustration.

So the album’s not revolutionary. The thing is, though, for the most part the songs are so damn good. “Hold Your Hand” is actually a fantastic tune, and it’s just the first of a hot streak. “Aroused” has probably the most accessible beat of all Vek’s songs and begs to be danced to, a fitting single. The 21st century fatigue that informs the lyrics of “A Chore“, on which we’re told that “what you perceive as life is no more than a chore”, may make Vek sound like a professional cynic but, to borrow a turn of phrase from the similarly sardonic Damon Albarn, his heart’s not in it: the thumping drums and throbbing bass are delivered with total conviction. The stabbing synths of “Seizemic” rise and swirl into perfect chaos, so that when Vek delivers the borderline nonsense title line, “I’m envisaging a leisure seizure of seizemic proportions”, you’ll somehow know exactly what he means. No mean feat.

All hot streaks have to end eventually, though, and so it is on “Leisure Seizure”. While Vek’s low vocal tones and elongated syllables are bearable for much of the album, and even enhance the lazy, Generation Y message of tracks like “We Do Nothing”, they become tougher to put up with as the record enters its saggy third quarter. Love has never sounded less exciting than on the impressively dull “Someone Loves You”. “Close Mic’ed”, a ballad and therefore a departure, is palatable for a couple of minutes, but at 5:27 is just too long. Luckily the spark returns for “Too Bad”, a track that’s overflowing with rhythms and closes the album with some retro cheek.

Some have claimed that the sonic similarity between “Leisure Seizure” and “We Have Sound” is unforgivable, that this is not a record that should have taken five years to make. Perhaps that’s true, but in a year which has seen a band as big as Radiohead gather praise from many, myself included, for an album that returned to a beat-driven, electronic sound they first peddled ten years ago, it would be churlish to condemn Tom Vek for pulling a similar trick on only his second record, particularly when so many of the songs are so strong. Maybe just get them to us a little quicker next time, Tom. You can stream the whole album below.

Connect with Tom Vek: Myspace | Website | Last.fm

Click on the image to listen to the entire album for free.

Click on the image to listen to the entire album for free.

Click on the image to listen to the entire album for free.

Connect with Damon Albarn - Facebook | Myspace | Last.fm

The wonderful thing about music is its ability to cross national boundaries and yet still appeal to the listener. Since writing for Listen Before You Buy I’ve reviewed music from Romania (The Pixels), Belgium (Hermanos Inglesos), Germany (Malente), Italy (Herr Styler), Sweden (MF/MB/), Mexico (Colateral Soundtrack) and Turkey (Fuji Kureta) as well as the good old US of A and homeland UK. Who’d have thought I’d been doing that when I signed up?

Today it’s Poland’s turn and the fabulous L.Stadt. Incredibly they’ve been around 8 years and I’m ashamed to say that I’ve only just discovered them. The four members Lukasz Lach (vocals & guitar), Adam Lewartowski (Bass), Andrzej Sieczkowski (Drums), Piotr Gwadera (Drums) released their debut album back in 2008 and another album “EL.P” last year which I’ve just been listening to. Their style is an interesting mix of old school rock and roll and modern rock. One French critic had so much trouble labelling them he ended up describing it as “alternative-pop-garage-noise-rock”.

Whatever you want to call it this is good old fashioned guitar and drum driven rock that is going to sound just as superb at a gig as it does on record. The use of two drummers gives the music a nice twist fusing the songs with an energy that you just can’t help nodding along to. Lach’s vocal range has him sounding at times like Prince, Damon Albarn and Billy Idol! They’ve travelled just as much in their 200 gigs as I have in my reviews including sharing the stage with White Lies in the USA and appearing at the 25th anniversary SXSW. I think we’re going to see more of this band over the coming years.

I’ve included the first track off the album, “Death Of A Surfer Girl” as a little taster. Right I’m off to grab my passport to see where I end up next.

Connect with L.Stadt: Website | Facebook | Jango | MySpace | Last.fm

L.Stadt – “Death Of A Surfer Girl”

Hailing from North London, Alice Gun is a classically-trained, self-taught multi-instrumentalist who can play guitars, glockenspiel, double bass, cello, E-bow, accordion and a lopsided upright, apparently.  Oh and she can sing, boy can she sing! Alice records at her home and in an isolated farmhouse in one of the only places in the UK that I would move to (if money were no option), the Lake District, where she writes much of her music.

Having worked with such names as The White Stripes and Ed Harcourt as well as doing house music vocals for the money (well why wouldn’t you?), Alice previously released an EP, “The Swimmer” which saw none other than BBC 6 Music’s Tom Robinson wax lyrical, describing it as “beautiful and profoundly affecting.”  She has now released the second single from her album Blood and Bone, a track called “Metal Spider” which is one that should see her take her place as a musical force to be reckoned with.  Ably assisted by her mother on French Horn, Damon Albarn-collaborator and Ambiguous label founder Al Mobbs on double bass, Robbie Jarvis on drums and Sam Campari, another multi-instrumentalist, who is also responsible for much of the Gun artwork.

I suggest that when you are ready to listen to this track you find somewhere quiet and free of distractions so that you can fully appreciate what you are about to experience.  From the beginning simple piano intro, “Metal Spider” creeps along, suitably imitating the creepy crawly that Alice is rhythmically chanting about.  The hypnotically stripped backing track of cello, piano and guitar, all played by Alice, builds into a multi layered, multi instrumental crescendo before ending in a completely unexpected fashion that just leaves you wanting more.  If only more artists listened to music like this the world would be a better place.

It’s been a while since I got this excited by a female performer, the last one being PJ Harvey, whom Alice has drawn some comparisons to.  I would just like to go on record as saying, thank you Alice Gun, I am glad that I’ve discovered you.

Check out Alice Gun on the web: MySpace | Web | Facebook

Alice Gun – Metal Spider (A) by ambiguousrecords

Alice Gun – Minty Fresh (B) by ambiguousrecords

Last week Gorillaz (or at least Damon Albarn and a bunch of people from the band) stopped by the BBC’s Live Lounge with Jo Whiley and recorded a few songs for her, one of which is a piano-led and more sullen (if you ever thought that was possible) version than the original, as well as a couple of tunes from their hit album “Plastic Beach”.

Grab the MP3 below and watch the live video of it too.  Damon’s looking old, but the dude’s still one of the most talented in the bidniss.

Gorillaz – “Crystalised” (The XX cover)

A few days ago Blur announced that in celebration of Record Store Day they had recorded a brand new song and were going to release it as a limited edition 7″ (only 1,000 copies were being pressed).  That got everyone excited as not only did it add fuel to the fire about them reuniting proper (they should), but it’s their first new material since they released “Battery In Your Leg” back in 2003.

AntiQuiet posted a radio rip of the song that was (by the sounds of it) ripped from a U.K. radio show this morning, but Blur have since announced that they’re going to release the song as a free digital download at midnight U.K. time (7pm EST). Listen to and download the “Fool’s Day” radio rip legit version below and head over to their official site tonight to download the good version.

Update: The song that Blur have uploaded to their site appears to cut off at 2:25 when it’s supposed to continue until 3:27.  I have the full-length version so you’re better off downloading it from me, at least for the time being.