Losers - Mixtape 1
I was rather delighted to return home from work today to find, carefully nestled in the postbox, a parcel from rock-dance-remix supergroup Losers. In this parcel was a rather spangly badge and a CD.
Losers are comprised of Tom Bellamy (synths,vocals,guitars - formerly of The Cooper Temple Clause, sometime drummer for White Belt Yellow Tag, and also a member of Veins (see also Midi Midis), Paul Mullen (Guitars, vocals - also of YCNI:M, Young Legionnaire, The Automatic), legendary XFM Jockey of Discs Mr Eddy Temple-Morris (bass guitar, synth), Mark Heron formerly of Oceansize on drums.
As you can imagine, the range of musical stylings thrown together by the quintet makes for a formidable mash up of awesomeness. Although, it might be a little dismissive of me to say that that said stylings are thrown together, more carefully crafted together.
Their first album ‘Beautiful Losers’ was a roller coaster of massive beats, intestine-troubling bass, scorching synth lines and excellent guest vocals (check out Summertime Rolls with Brian Molko). It seemed to me however, much more dance floor orientated, which is fine….. but…..I really like the direction of the newer material with Mr Mullen joining in with proceedings, adding an extra helping of guitar and a little more dynamic to the vocals.
Open Up chimes in with a melancholy guitar, squelchy saw tooth synth, giant four to the floor drums and a vocal line that powers through over everything else. Also ’burn hollywood burn’ is my current favourite lyric.
The next track, Be Quiet and Drive, scales everything back with a sort of ‘floaty’ feel. A soft bassline reminiscent of The Knife, gently tumbles in the background as reverb-laden vocals with some delicately layered harmonies massage your ear drums.
I will be the first to admit that I was mainly interested in this band to hear some original material, but they are also purveyors of some great remixes. The two included on this cd are Take Me To The Hospital by The Prodigy and For What It’s Worth by Placebo. Both are great takes on the originals, fitted with the necessary kick drum and sub bass ready to seriously tear up the dance floor at your local rock/dance cross over night.
Half Built House (DEMO) is constructed (see what I did there) fromarticulated, weaving drumbeats (sounds like live drums mixed with some nice programmed samples), layered guitars and the best vocal melody amongst this neat little collection of songs. It builds (did it again, sorry) really nicely and rounds off with some spacious piano chords and panned, distorted kick drums.
DNA (DEMO) starts with some double tracked spoken word vocals then builds in a great synth hook, I can imagine this being a real highlight when played live.
This cd is a great teaser for what is to come from the new ‘band’ incarnation of Losers - I really look forward to hearing the new album “So We Shall Never Part” and also catching them very live soon.
You can find Losers online here. I also highly recommend listening to this. Do it right now. You will thank me for it.
