Thursday, January 26, 2006

Missing Songs

One of my favorite records of last year was A Certain Trigger, the tight and taut debut from Newcastle's Maxïmo Park. I had approached the record with some trepidation - yet another Brit combo pushing the new wave of post-punk thing, and on Warp Records? A few spins later I was sold. It's catchy, filled with energetic and frenetic songs, with an unbelievably tight rhythm section and loads of sharp, angular riffage and a smattering of tasty keyboards. The record still gets regular airplay at home and work, and many of my co-workers have gone on to own copies of their own to play. This week I got a lovely package in the mail from Warp Records and contained within was a Maxïmo Park record called Missing Songs. It's a collection of nine b-sides from their UK/Euro singles as well as a few demos of songs that made it onto the album, most of it previously unavailable in the US. It has been out in the UK since last fall, and gets it's US release on February 21st. Hammer Horror was the b-side to Graffiti, and it is pure Maxïmo deliciousness, but with one great addition - vibes. Part of the melody is played out on the vibes, and it sounds freaking great. A nice stop gap release to tide us over until a new LP appears.

No comments: