Teh best new band [S.C.U.M.]

teh lead singggerrr

S.C.U.M. is the most exciting new band I have heard this year. This is a bunch of teenagers from London combining a bunch of dark rock sounds. They sound a bit like their sisters in acronym T.I.T.S. but with a bit more commitment to a rock beat. Either way, both bands have definitely absorbed the Liars catalog...

Who knows what will happen with them in the future, but either way they should be pretty happy to have put out such a solid single. These two songs are very very good.

Big ups to Andrew Weatherall for putting this on his first "Double Gone Radio" mix, which is also awesome.

S.C.U.M. - Visions Arise
S.C.U.M. - Second Sea

Note: mp3s are bad quality because I grabbed them from their myspace.

Keith Tenniswood has one of my favorite names ever

It was hard to know what to make of Two Lone Swordsmen's last album, where after a steady career of electronic productions they proverbially "sold their turntables and bought guitars." Their cover of Gun Club's "Sex Beat" worked well, and a couple of other songs realized the industrial sound they were going for, but too many of the tracks were skippable. This is mostly because Andrew Weatherall and Keith Tenniswood got themselves into grooves that didn't have the snap to hold up to the repetitive song structure that they carried over from their electronic days.

This isn't the case with "Wrong Meeting II," a disc released on their own Rotters Golf Club label that's much better realized than "From The Double Gone Chapel." Even Weatherall's singing, which was more like a mumble on the last record, is much improved—although I still won't subject you to it. I like this track, "Shack 54," because apart from a bassline that's better than any off of "From The Double Gone Chapel," it's got an actual song structure! Two Lone Swordsmen have been around long enough to indulge themselves, but if they can keep this up this standard it will be unfair to say that they're "dabbling" with instruments. When does the show hit the road?

Two Lone Swordsmen - Shack 54 [mp3, direct download]