Jabberwocky Pops: Chapter 2

Beach House – Norway
This song is quicker and more instantly uplifting than the band’s previous efforts. If you haven’t already been seduced by their sun-drenched harmonies then take advantage of the free download on their official website.

http://www.beachhousebaltimore.com/

Le Sherifs – Errors

I have not experienced the kind of cold emotion unleashed by ‘Errors’ since first hearing ‘Dummy’ by Portishead in 1994. Adam Le Sherif hails from Egypt but is already making an impression on the British Music Scene. Click on the link below to find out why.

http://www.myspace.com/lesherifs

Hot Chip – One Life Stand

Hot Chip’s third album of the same name is about to enjoy a meteoritic rise through our charts. The band have smugly claimed that there are at least 5 anthems in the vein of ‘Over and Over’ on the new album. If this track acts as a yardstick for the rest of the album then there may be some substance in Hot Chip’s cocksure assertions.

http://www.myspace.com/hotchip

Monarchy – Gold In The Fire

Newly singed to hotter-than-thou label, Neon Gold, Monarchy are set to leap into the public consciousness. An underbelly of electro-pop is complimented by smooth vocal delivery. It would be lazy to tag them as the British Cut Copy but that is exactly what I’ve just done. Interested?

http://www.myspace.com/monarchysound

Emalkay – When I Look At You

Dub is a musical treat that I allow myself all too rarely. This is partially because, were I to perpetually delight in head-bending bass and relentless beats, I would go clinically insane. In moments of mischievious weakness I am presently sweating to this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mwL6R-Z1e4

Schools For The Unnaturally Gifted

Before anyone gets overly excited, I am not referring to Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. On the contrary, I am highlighting the regularity with which certain ‘muggle’ educational facilities seem to churn-out musical starlets.

I have trawled through the dusty alumni records of my old school and I have failed to locate one contemporary musician of note. This galls me. It is almost as if, because my dear parents sent me to an institution famed for producing clergyman and accountants, I was destined to fall on the creative scrapheap. For someone who spent many of his early adolescent years caressing Jim Morrison posters, this seems like a gross miscarriage of godly justice. Had I attended a so-called ‘rock school’ I might now be playing synthesisers one-handed whilst Agyness Deyn look-alikes hung flirtatiously from my free arm; doubtful admittedly, but still possible.

Let us begin by examining Elliott School in South London, which counts the XX among its most recent progeny. Usually, playground pastimes include exchanging soggy Marlboros or sniffing glue. However, for the pupils of Elliott School, break-time activities are of an altogether more refined nature. My wild imagination tempts me to picture the arrival of new teachers at Elliot School. Although perhaps initially puzzled to find Four Tet and Burial positioning microphones to record hopscotch contestants, they would soon be actively facilitating their protégés pursuit of the percussive ideal. Meanwhile, assembled before the Headmaster’s desk one might encounter, not uncontrite truants and bullies, but the future members of Hot Chip and the Maccabees facing suspension for guerrilla gigging. How can one school serve as the breeding ground for such an array of precocious, pimply talent? There must be something funny flowing through the communal water fountains at Elliott School.

Interestingly, such high concentrations of budding talent are not unheard of; Kings College School in Wimbledon spawned electro-kid triplets, Patrick Wolf, Tom Vek and Jeremy Walmsley. It might surprise many to learn that Phoenix and Daft Punk were school-yard chums. Ultimately, schools exist which promote an environment that is conducive to musical creativity. Forget the Brit School. Take my advice and enroll your unborn children into one of the 'real' rock academies.