Swiss Lips - Carolyn

Streaming and available for free download for your listening pleasure today we have a new song from electro / indie / pop five-piece Swiss Lips. Some things / thoughts about Swiss Lips.

1. They're not really a new band anymore, although a lot of people will have never heard of them and therefore refer to them as a new band. That is, if they get to hear them.

They seem to have been around as a ‘new band’ for quite a while now. We’re wondering if we should stop referring to them as a new band. But when does a new band stop being new? And what do they then become? Swiss Lips are certainly not an old band (hello The Rolling Stones and U2), they’re not even a mid-age band (hello Coldplay), so maybe they’re what Scroobius Pip once described as ‘just a band’.

2. They need to get off the internet and on the radio if they want commercial success. (Assuming that they want commercial success)

If Swiss Lips are at the ‘just a band’ stage then this means that they should be progressing from internet / blog love to stuff like radio, especially as they have an album due next year. And we don’t mean the likes of minority new music radio, but proper Radio 1 type playlisting. This hasn’t happened yet but if it was going to then Carolyn could be the song to do it. Although if all the 'guitars are coming back' type articles are to be believed Swiss Lips could be in trouble because although they do have guitars, they're pretty electronic as well. Personally we don't care if the music is guitar based, synth based or played by two fat Dutch grandmothers banging coconuts on each others wobbly rotund backsides. As long as it's good.

3. There's still sometimes a big divide between blog-pop and real-life commercial pop.

Swiss Lips remind us a lot of Fenech Soler, another all male electronic pop band who never seemed to quite connect with the public with their debut album in the way that quite a few internet / blogger types thought they would. Our conclusion to the above is that just because the blogosphere thinks a band is ‘good pop’ doesn’t mean the wider public thinks it is good pop. Sometimes the two groups are looking through two very different windows. For example in the UK right now Olly Murs is number 1 in the singles chart. He's not as far as we are aware 'blown up on the blogs' or been 'a buzz act.'

4. Olly Murs must have a smug grin on his face.

Mind you, Olly Murs has been on the TV / Radio an awful lot recently. We’d be fascinated to see if Swiss Lips had the same amount of exposure as Olly Murs had if 1. They would have had a number one single. 2. The blogosphere would have liked them as much.

5. This is the bit where we actually say what we think of Carolyn.

Carolyn is actually a very good pop song. Taking a leaf out of Bruce Springsteen's repertoire and singing about cars and girls certainly appeals to most hot blooded men (and quite a few women too). We first heard it live earlier this year at Gathering Festival and it made us feel quite sprightly. It only took one play of the studio version to confirm that Bambi skippy like feeling again. So, basically Swiss Lips' Carolyn makes us feel like a hot blooded baby cartoon deer. 

Download it for free below.

Swiss Lips - Carolyn

Swiss Lips - Danz (Video)

The iconic image of The Smiths outside the Salford Lads club was used on the sleeve of the Queen is Dead vinyl album. Now who is this chap in this video outside the same building and other locations? It’s certainly not Morrissey returned, although he does pull some nifty dance moves that we’re sure Mozza would be proud of.

Whoever this long grey haired groover is he certainly seems to be enjoying the sounds of Swiss Lips and their dancetastic version of hooky electronic pop that will probably find favour with those who enjoy the likes of Fenech Soler or first album MGMT. Whilst the video is new, a demo version of Danz has been on line at Soundcloud for some time and this new version certainly doesn’t show any radical changes; the if it ain’t broke don’t fix it rule applies here. 

We’re not sure about the spelling of the word dance by the band – it either suggests lack of attention at school that has led to very poor spelling skills or alternatively that Swiss Lips are misspelling on purpose to show how cool and edgy they are, rather like Prince who we can all agree was the master of bad spelling. Remember Take Me With U? Or Gett Off? Eye Hate U? U Got The Look? Terrible, terrible, spelling that deserved to find Prince at the back of the class if it wasn’t for the fact that his music at its best was absolute genius. In fact Swiss Lips also have a track U Got The Power so it seems very possible that they’re big Prince fans as well.

For now we’re letting them off as well. What do U think kidz?

Swiss Lips - Danz (Video)

The Camden Crawl 2012 - Review (Saturday)

The cold wet streets of Camden are awash with drunken hordes tonight, but that’s just a typical weekend here. Thrown into that mix is a bunch of wristband wearing music seekers who are staggering their way between the pubs, clubs and venues of north London’s pleasure streets. Yes, you know it can only be the Camden Crawl.

The legendary multi-venue multi-gig festival may be the oldest swinger in town these days, imitated by many others that have arguably become more prestigious (Brighton’s Great Escape now lays claim to being the UK’s biggest and best of these sorts) but the Camden Crawl still packs some weight. Maybe it’s because of expert advance planning, maybe because of the double-dip recession or maybe that this year’s bill doesn’t hold so many must-sees as previous years, but the criticisms past of over long queues and crammed in likes sardines venues don’t transpire.

“This is really unhealthy to be playing this early,” announces frontman Denis Smith of Imperial Leisure for their 1pm set in The Wheelbarrow. You wouldn’t think it though. The 8-piece, brass wielding band may be crammed on to a tiny stage but they give it everything. It may be as subtle as a Katie Price underwear photo shoot, but their mix of sweaty shouty ska-rap-rock mix goes down a treat, especially with the two loons dressed as dancing monkeys po-going in the front row.

Up at the other end of town hard-touring Peace take to the stage and look every ounce the indie band. There are floppy fringes, fur collars, leather jackets, converse boots, skinny jeans and pale boyishness a-plenty and some half decent tunes that flourish with a crowd that is not yet too drunk to pay attention. They’re followed by Elle King who imports her songs about heartbreak, love and crap towns in Ohio with gravelly country vocals, banjos and trumpet sounds and who is gorgeously affecting.

Destroying the ideology of the Camden Crawl, a short bus ride rather than a long walk takes us to Koko where The Milk are packing as much as they can into their day with three shows. With this half hour set they’re like DJ’s with guitars – there’s no break for applause, just a continuous stream of music until the end. The Milk can play. They don’t need to soak their sound in reverb to hide their inadequacies like so many bedroom groups today. Instead there’s tight playing and great songs full of call and response vocals, slabs of 60’s r ‘n’ b influences and straining soul. Their best song Chip The Kids doesn’t even get an airing and yet they still sound on top of their game.

The Crawl is not all about indoor gig venues though. Camden Gardens hosts the Red Bull Bedroom Jam Outdoor Arena whilst down at the Roundhouse a tiny dome canopy has been erected on the outside terrace. It’s here amongst the palms, patio stonework and over large sunshade that the Melodica Melody and Me coax the sun out for a short while with their twee folk sound and We Were Evergreen charm with cute xylophone led French pop melodies. However by the time it’s over it’s become as cold as Christmas and the warmth of a grotty Camden boozer seems very welcome.

It’s at the Monarch where we get a dose of Lo(ish)-Fi  indie guitar work from Fear of Men. Vocalist Jess sings some lazy but lovely pop melodies like The Primitives or The Shop Assistants with slippers on and it’s all quite pleasantly appealing. The addition of a new female backing vocalist fleshes out the bands nostalgic sound somewhat and it’s only a lack of interaction with the audience that lessens the groups regency a little.

By now things are starting to get a little messy and Polarbear, Brum’s answer to Scroobius Pip, has to battle with the chattering drunk masses in the Earl of Camden. There may not be a raised stage but Polarbear creates one with a mix of spoken word, beats and on one track the use of the word bum-hole repeatedly. Giving out free records to the crowd and taking the p*ss out of MC’s who rap about girls “when technically they’re women,” he’s funny and endearing. His rhymes about teenage snogging in the park perfectly capture the excitement and confusion of a first kiss, his words strangely romantic and evocative.

There’s a gaggle of girls at the front for Swiss Lips (yes, it’s slang for vagina) whose short, sweet , synthy set shows a band with much promise - file under ones to watch. The band might be from Manchester but their sound doesn’t take any reference from their home cities past. Instead there are hints of Fenech Soler, The Killers, MGMT, The Bravery and Passion Pit in their catchy sound. “We’ve never seen so much movement in a London crowd,” they announce. They’re lucky to get that, some people here can hardly stand up let alone move.

Willy Moon finishes us off for the evening and the hope is he’ll answer some of the questions we’ve been asking about him, namely is he a one-trick pony? Is it all clever studio trickery? Is he actually some sort of record industry in joke?

With his sharp white suit and slicked back hair, Moon and his band look like they’ve stepped straight out of a magazine photo shoot. His guitarist is a seductively vampiric looking lady and behind them is a legs-apart-hit-‘em-hard drummer in space age bra-top and black and white striped trousers. Hidden away in the corner is a DJ who seems to have forgotten to dress for the occasion and maybe as punishment his sounds seem somewhat turned down in the mix. Moon’s studio releases to date have found a niche that mixes 50’s rock-n-roll with daft hip hop beats. Live his set is rawer, rougher and leaves us as perplexed as we were at the beginning of his set. My Girl sounds like a potential hit in the making whilst Yeah Yeah predictably gets the biggest audience response. He walks into the crowd, does some of THAT crazy dancing. It’s momentarily ridiculous and brilliant and by the end we’re still none the wiser if his blend of retro-modern cartoon pop is genius or rubbish. It’s probably a bit of both.

Listen to some of the bands mentioned in this review below.

Elle King - Good To Be A Man

Fear Of Men - Green Sea



Swiss Lips - Grow