Zoloto

Brown Brogues’ new EP, Zoloto, is an eight-track glam rock mini-album featuring four brand new tracks on side A, plus two live tracks and two brand new demos on side B. The first few tracks, including ‘Shit In Your Eye’, convey as much sentiment as you would expect. Resonantly guttural, they are typical of the Brogues’ unpolished and tamelessly raw punk aesthetic.

The latter half of side A softens slightly, with tracks like ‘Getting Caned’ exhibiting an experimental psychedelic side to the Mancunian duo, only to be followed by the live tracks that come in raucously screaming. ‘I Drove For Miles’ features vexatious sprawls of noise that show the pair in their natural environment and clear the way for the surprisingly breezy final demo, ‘I’m A Man’.

It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but rest assured it will receive an avid response from the duo’s cult following.

FUJIYA & MIYAGI

The electro duo that is Fujiya & Miyagi formed in Brighton in 2000 during the peak of the city’s rave scene before becoming a four-piece in 2008 on moving to Yep Roc Records. A chequered discography saw the band sampling a spectrum of different sounds before returning to their roots for Artificial Sweeteners. Track titles such as ‘Rayleigh Scattering’ and ‘Tetrahydrofolic Acid’ outline an academic side to electronic music that has become somewhat tarred in recent years in the era of the ‘press play’ DJ. As the LP develops I can’t help but see resemblances to Hot Chip. Both bands develop complex instrumentals with somewhat gimmicky vocals. The title track is an exemplar, with Blondie-esque synths relayed against the softly spoken lyrics.

A Britpop side to electronic music is refreshing in the current house orientated climate, but I can’t help feeling the melodies would be more at home in the preceding decade.