The Rubber Room column is a weekly look at recent and notable releases that don’t fall into the rubric of traditional reviewed material—namely 7”’s, 12”’s, 3” CDs, EPs, cassette-only, DVDs and MP3-only releases.

Coldplay
Talk (future b-side)
[Parlophone, 2005]

I’m not saying where I got it from, but if you know where to look and who to ask, it’s there. Guitars, ambience, beautifully recorded, but nary a piano in sight, and is that opening riff familiar? Is it “Computer Love” by Kraftwerk? Almost (well, note-for-note actually). Have Coldplay evolved? This is only a b-side. If “In My Place” did something for you then this probably will too, but… “Talk” says nothing and goes nowhere, but it does it in a very pretty manner. People I know who’ve heard material from the album say it’s beautiful, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and they’ve very rarely struck me as beautiful. It’s vaguely spacey, vaguely vague, Chris Martin hums inanities while his band (and make no mistake, it really is Chris Martin & The Coldplays - this is one man’s vision) make a beautiful sound that you’d be hard pressed to remember. In the end though, his words sum up his music better than I can. “In the future / In the past / Going nowhere much too fast / When I go there / Go with me / Cos I don’t know where I’m going and I wanna talk / I feel like I’m going where I’ve been before…” Coldplay have never surprised me and I doubt they ever will.
[Nick Southall]

The Woes
Coalmine EP
[Blacksand Recordings, 2004]

Every now and then you hear a sound that’s so out of the ordinary that it stops you in your tracks. That’s how The Woes were for me. The music is mélange of blues, alt-country, funeral dirge, ragtime, and through it all the unique voice of Osei Essed guides the proceedings with a steady hand. The easy comparisons will place Essed’s voice squarely in the territory of the throaty growl of Tom Waits, though Essed is able to bend his scorched vocal chords into far more melodic corners. Songs like “Pity” and “That’s All, Goodnight” seem familiar and completely new at the same time. The songs move ponderously with nods towards such bleak hearted souls as Joe Pernice, Nick Cave, and the aforementioned Waits. Coalmine EP is a deeply rewarding listen.
[Peter Funk]

Bloc Party
The Marshalls Are Dead (DVD and vinyl-only b-side to “So Here We Are”)
[Wichita, 2004]

Hidden away on their crankily recorded debut single, “She’s Hearing Voices”, was this gem of a tune, fuzzy and inept sounding, a little bit furious and a little big beautiful. Drums snap four square and Kele snaps like a drill-sergeant - “Attention! / Unbelievers! / Fashion victims!” Who are the marshals? Is this the end of hipsterism? The end of genre? Re-recorded here in the sharp, dynamic manner that typifies Silent Alarm, “The Marshalls Are Dead” threatens to be one of those tunes that sits in the depths of an artist’s catalogue, buried from sight, furtively defining them. There’s something in the guitars, that double-quick melodic fall at one point, two points, three points, which reveals Bloc Party’s postrock debt – they’re secretly like Mogwai but faster and with all the boring bits replaced by hooks.
[Nick Southall]

Soulwax
E Talking
[PIAS, 2005]

Such a simple sound, so hard to describe It’s thick and chunky riffage makes it not danceable; it’s got too much sequencer and synth to be robot-rock. It’s catchy, though, and the remixes take it closer to the floor. The key to the aesthetic is best explained by their punched up Daft Punk tribute, “Teachers (Pupil Mix)”. The phasing oscillates more wildly, and their namechecks include Monster Magnet, Roxy Music, The Muppets, Cheap Trick, Motorhead, ELO, T-Rex, Van Halen, Urban Dance Squad and Grand Funk Railroad. “ZZTop are in the house, yeah, the Clash are in the house…” Who isn’t?
[Dan Miron]

Sweet Billy Pilgrim
Stars Spill Out Of Cups
[Self-Released]

Sweet Billy Pilgrim are just starting out (their previous claim to fame was remixing David Sylvian), and information is thin on the ground, but the title track here should be enough to earn converts already. All three tracks tend towards the image of an angelic Tom Waits, voice half-restored, singing over the sweetest bits of Deserter’s Songs. Of course, when a writer resorts to that sort of shorthand you know what it really means is that the music here defies description, and it does; “Stars Spill Out Of Cups” may start like another pastoral folk rock band, but give it a few minutes and it blossoms into something altogether more strange, shapeless and wonderful. The b-sides are more conventional and so not as wondrous, but beauty can still be found lurking in their outlines.
[Ian Mathers]

Toro
Phantom Drive
[My Best Friend, 2004]

Built from 'larger than thou' handclaps and a rollicking bassline, Toro's a-side "Phantom Drive" continues My Best Friend's jaw-dropping trek through the genre-orgy of italo-electo-disco-house. Toro, consisting of Jorge Gebauhr and Riley Reinhold (Triple R), also lay down "Ohio 69," which trades the hand-claps of "Phantom Drive" for drum machines as well as the fat bassline for off-kilter clangs of a melody. Always driving between expansive and visceral, "Phantom Drive" is simultaneously hypnotizing and provoking throughout.
[Nate De Young]

Architecture In Helsinki
Do The Whirlwind EP
[Bar/None Records, 2005]

This four-track taster for the Melbourne octet’s forthcoming sophomore release, In Case We Die, is dominated by two versions of the title track, and what a joy it is! Literally. It’s a crying shame this single didn’t come out in June or July, because it has “lightweight summer hit record” written all over it. Featuring a bouncy 80s-style sing-songy electro-pop groove (think Culture Club’s “War Song” or Human League’s “Fascination”), “Whirlwind” is a feel-good record in an era when there isn’t all that much to be feeling good about, and that deserves some props. And just try to get that melody out of your head... catchy as herpes it is (hey! Another thing that was big in the 80s!)
[Todd Hutlock]

Ying Yang Twins
Wait (The Whisper Songs)
[TVT, 2005]

This is the most enjoyable nightmare I’ve had in a while, and I’m pretty into nightmares. “Wait” turns the club anthem white as a sheet, and if “Drop It Like It’s Hot” was stripped bare, this takes off the skin. A bass drum bounces back and forth in woozy syncopation punctuated by a single snap- that’s about it, save a little processed hi-hat during the chorus. Of course, the draw here is the fact that this is a rap song delivered entirely in a whisper, with a lonely howl trying to find its way in the background. The gimmick runs pretty well though, in part because it’s completely thrilling to actually imagine people dancing to a song whose music is at least one-third silence, all shushing the sound of grinding thighs around them. Other than that, “Wait” is pretty much standard high-octane misogyny boiled down to the most blunt Luddite anti-poetry, i.e. “you got a sexy ass body and your ass look soft. Mind if I touch it and see if it’s soft?” The shining reward waits in the shadows of the chorus: “wait ‘til you see my dick, I’m’a beat dat pussy up.” Truly spine-tingling, however, is the “non-suggestive” radio mix, which not only removes the expletives, but removes a heap of the sexual references, turning the chorus into “wait ‘til I show you this, you will never get enough,” which could be, I guess, anything from religion to heroin to television. Can you say micro-crunk?
[Mike Powell]

Anechoic
Just Like You (CD single)
[Deadpop Records, 2005]

Embrace have been dragging Anechoic around the UK on tour with them like little brothers, exposing the Leeds quartet to two-thousand-strong crowds almost before they’ve got out of the bedroom they surely first formed in. Live, Anechoic (Korg, guitar, drums, keys, occasional bass, squiggly electronics, MBV, Aphex, Elbow) are like having your brain cleaned with noise and echoless pastures, a sensation I am very keen on as my brain is busy and messy. On record they’re more delicate, given to subtlety and minute detail. “Just Like You” threatens to erupt in a squall of redemptive clatter like its live incarnation, but instead meets an abrupt close. “Be Patient Please” though has the decency to thrash for it’s life after two and a half minutes, before “Clockwork” winds a forlorn and minimalist piano elegy. Something very special is brewing here. Keep an ear out.
[Nick Southall]

The Sways
I Will Not Follow the Sways EP
[Fellon Records, 2004]

The Sways are a three-piece outfit from Southampton, which is on England's southern coast (not too far from London). Their music is a mix of oddball folk (think Neutral Milk Hotel), melodious pop (think Crowded House mixed with Richard Thompson bitterness), with the occasional stab of electronic noise thrown into the mix. The music on I Will Not Follow the Sways EP is not as good as Neutral Milk Hotel, Crowded House, or Richard Thompson, but it's engaging and unusual and a lot of fun. I particularly enjoy "Comedy Song," which basically combines Johnny Cash's sense of rhythm, Tom Waits' love of weird vocals, and Brian Setzer's love of rockabilly. It's an interesting and unusual mix from an up and coming English band.
[Michael Heumann]