(Indie) Houdini Dax - You Belong To Dax Darling - 2011, MP3 (tracks), VBR~263 kbps

Artist:   Houdini Dax
Title:    You Belong To Dax Darling
Label:    See Monkey Do Monkey
Genre:    Indie
Bitrate:  263kbit av.
Time:     00:33:14
Size:     65.83 mb
Rip Date: 2011-06-06
Str Date: 2011-06-20
01. The Magicians                                                 2:32
02. 1929                                                          3:39
03. Robin You Lie                                                 3:07
04. Green Gate                                                    3:16
05. Texas Export                                                  2:38
06. You're A Ghoul                                                4:19
07. O.L.L.                                                        2:59
08. The Trend                                                     3:47
09. Tank Man                                                      3:29
10. Fizzy Moon                                                    3:28
Release Notes:
Summer 2011. And the nippers are still making good honest rock ’n’
roll. Take Cardiff’s Houdini Dax, who have an average age of 19. What
are they doing digesting records, writing songs and rehearsing when
they could be playing Xbox or texting friends from the back of the bus?
Weren’t “the kids” supposed to have tired of analogous music? Wasn’t
the house music craze of the late ’80s supposed to have killed rock?
Heck, thinking about it, weren’t the synth bands of over 20 years ago
viewed as the only way forward?
No my dear music lovers, valves are not dead, rock ’n’ roll is
blossoming and “the kids are alright” (as Pete Townshend so neatly put
it 46 years ago). The Noughties has seen great success for young bands.
The Libertines and then Arctic Monkeys paved the way post-Brit Pop and
now still barely out of the shadows come Houdini Dax, your soon to be
favourite new band.
Hearing ‘The Magicians’ for the first time it’s impossible not to think
of Alex Turner and his band in their early stages. Jack Butler’s edgy
vocals, sharp wordplay and the stop-start, spiky New Wave tendency of
the playing certainly share similarities with early Arctic Monkeys, but
it’s not what defines them.  A video of a live acoustic performance for
Huw Stephens’ Swn Festival ‘Swn is Sound’ video series of ‘Struggling
In The Sand’ show Houdini Dax playing in a stripped back setting with
acoustic guitar, bass, brushed drums and harmonies to the fore. It’s
tight, honed and timeless. Yes, they have major talent. They can sing
splendidly, they throw in some deft bridges and could very well sound
like one of those great old acts. Yet they don’t! And when quizzed
about their favourite bands, ’60s touchstones (The Beatles, The Kinks,
The Sonics, The Stooges) meet latter day acts (Blur and Supergrass) and
new bands (The Black Keys, The Raconteurs and White Denim). Yet You
Belong To Dax Darling sounds nothing like any of them. It’s the sound
of teenagers discovering what they can do.
“Recording the album was amazing,” Jack reveals. “Having Rich from The
Method [another of the See Monkey Do Monkey coterie] as producer was
special. We’re friends, so he won't shy away with his opinions. And he
always got the best out of us.”  Mentioning how the production had
elements of ’60s guitar heroics, post-punk rhythms and an element of My
Bloody Valentine about it, Jack beamed back at me as if their mission
statement had been achieved.”I’m glad you hear those things clashing,”
he eagerly states “because we love that retro '60s style, but it’s been
done so much before. It’s important for us to mix older styles with
newer ones… We were aiming for a really strong debut that doesn't
really let up in energy and excitement,” closes Jack. “We tried to
capture this by recording in a really live way.”
And live and exciting is the order for the day for the teenage world
view of Houdini Dax. Their second album may well feature strings,
ballads and mellotrons but for now let the revolution begin as these
youngsters play it their own way with what they have learnt from
Hendrix, Syd, Gaz and co. They should be famous!