Le Diamant Brut: Young Knives & Ghost of the Russian Empire

YOUNG KNIVES

What’s the Deal: They are a trio of geeky rock and rollers from England, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire actually. They’re already winning over warm bodies on their native isle, where they’ve cracked the charts and were nominated for the Nationwide Mercury Prize in 2007. All dressed up in tweed jackets and trousers with ties, the three give a professionally stuffy yet silly slant to their post-punk, catchy rock and roll. Their second full-length, Superabundance, is set to come out in America on April 22nd.

“Up All Night,” one of the songs on the upcoming album, is full of sharp guitar squeals, tight and danceable song structures and pronounced British accents proclaiming, “We’re not sleeping. We are staying up all night.” They’ve already completed a video for the song where the band goes kung-fu on a crowd of hecklers. “Terra Firma” is another track off the new album and one for which there is also a video. Maybe it’s the addition of the whip cracking sound, but the song is reminiscent of Devo. There’s a new wave sound to this dystopian, jostling rock tune.

Something Interesting: To understand how truly geeky this group is, you need just to watch the video displayed on their MySpace page called, “The Band Answer All Of Your Questions.”

Other Tracks Worth Checking Out: “Turn Tail” and “Here Comes the Rumour Mill”

Young Knives Official
Young Knives MySpace

Image from MySpace

GHOST OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE

What’s the Deal: They’re a eccentric, local spectral rock foursome with some gorgeous arrangements of fuzzy and ringing guitars circling doleful and melodic vocals. Their sound is heavy enough to leave an imprint on your mood, but light enough to spend a considerable amount of time floating in the atmosphere. Cheers to the local music guru over at the River Runs Red radio show at BreakThruRadio.com for reminding us over here at the Le Diamant office about these guys. GOTRE’s upcoming album is called The Mammoth, and it’ll be out May 13th. Judging from the handful of songs available for listen already, the music isn’t much of a departure from the EP released prior. Resonating, shoegazing guitar sounds play wildly hypnotized along with the rhythm section and Brandon Whitten’s voice echoes for a great distance, like he was singing across the vacuum of space (that is, if you could hear a voice echoing in a vacuum).

That best describes one of the tracks off the upcoming disc, “A Decade Without A Death,” which is a great song for blaring while driving through desert at night with the windows down or walking through the dismal, post-apocalyptic ruins of a once-great city. “Hammer Hands” has the same echoing lyrics, but this time it’s over acoustic strings and a rising marching beat.

Something Interesting: You can go to their MySpace, rock out to some new songs, then scroll down and help do your part to help end world hunger, fight illiteracy, or save some animals with adorable faces by linking to one of the sites listed.

Other Tracks Worth Checking Out: “August 1914"

Ghost of the Russian Empire Official
Ghost of the Russian Empire MySpace