"I Prefer Their Old Stuff"

Bloody hell, another month gone already, it’ll be time to do my top 50 of the year again before I know it! Here are a few things that I’ve been enjoying here at IPreferTheirOldStuff this month;

Austra – Feel it Break A glorious album of melodic electro-pop in the vein of The Knife or Ladytron. I am off to see them live at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds tonight and I’m looking forward to hearing how her voice translates to the live arena (the Brudenell is about as far from an arena as it’s possible to get but you know what I mean!)

Altar of Plagues – Mammal I’ve been going through a bit of an Atmospheric Black Metal phase these last few months since I got into Agalloch at the start of the year. This lot from Cork came to my attention via the DrownedInSound message boards and this album is amazing! Long, bleak slabs of aggression mixed with post-metal guitar-scapes, it is beautiful in its brutality, a definite contender for a place in the end of year top ten!

Feather and Bone – [audio http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23533589/02%20Feather%20and%20Bone.mp3]

Fen – Epoch There was me a few weeks ago decrying the lack of heavy records this year and here’s a second one to come to my knowledge in a month! This is the British Atmospheric Black Metallers second album. I’m still penetrating it (ooer) but there are some gorgeous guitar melodies amongst the blast beats and growls. Loving this and it will also no doubt appear again at the end of the year.

Of Wilderness and Ruin – [audio http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23533589/03%20Of%20Wilderness%20And%20Ruin.mp3]

Dananananaykroyd – There Is A Way A band whose name I always have to think about when typing! This is the Scottish band’s second album and is another joyous collection of what they themselves dub “fight-pop”. A mighty fun album, similar to last month’s highlight “Nursing Home” by Let’s Wrestle but with a bit more of a twangy bite, and a Scottish accent!

Fucked Up – David Comes To Life Who said the rock opera was dead? Canadian prog-punks expand on 2008’s “The Chemistry of Common Life” with an eighty minute, 18 track album revolving around a fictional British lad called David. The meaning of the whole thing is pretty impenetrable and to be honest listening to the whole thing in one sitting is a bit exhausting, lead vocalist Pink Eye (Damian Abraham)’s throaty roar gets a little tiresome over eighty minutes. But the band say the album was designed so the listener can listen to it in four separate “acts“. Some rollicking good tunes in there (especially the one below), but it’s taking me some time to get to grips with the whole thing!

Brontide – Sans Souci I watched these guys doing one of their very first gigs in Sheffield as a support act for Red Sparowes in 2008 and have been keeping my eye out for something from them ever since. This, therefore, is the instrumental band’s debut album released on Holy Roar records and it’s yet another lyric-less album that could well find itself on the list come December.

Dutch Uncles – Cadenza The Manchester indie band’s second album perked up my ears when recommended by BBC and ex-DrownedinSound editor Mike Diver’s blog From Sinking. It’s a hook-laden album of infectious, if undemanding indie pop that could very well soundtrack the summer (if it ever arrives, what do you mean last weekend was it?!), check out Mike’s BBC Review.