Kisses Premiere "Funny Heartbeat"

The press release begins with "finally." Agreed. Not in a negative manner of course, as Kisses, (and Jesse Kivel's band Princeton) have been touring and writing for the past 2 years. But, in blog years, 24 months is nearly a lifetime. Nevertheless, today is a good day, as the new Kisses tune "Funny Heartbeat" is an infectious ear worm of a late-summer gem. Produced by Saint Etienne's pop wizards Pete Wiggs and Tim Larcombe, the new track is a positive sign of things to come on Kisses' new LP. Their excellent debut The Heart of The Nightlife is out now.

New Saint Etienne "Tonight"

Admittedly, we missed Saint Etienne in their prime (not our fault) - but have reaped the benefits of their amazing catalog due to the recent re-issues and crate digging through various "used" piles. Luckily, we have a taste of new music from them for the fist time in 7 years. Via P4K:

St. Etienne's Bob Stanley (who has contributed to Pitchfork) says the track is "about the anticipation of going to see your favourite artist. For some reason, I imagine this show is at the Forum in Kentish Town. The whole album is about the power of pop, how it affects and shapes your life. People talk about the problem of landfill indie, but there's so much landfill pop around at the moment - we're trying to do something about it."

Saint Etienne - "Good Humor"

Saint Eitenne was at the forefront a 90s, electro-dance pop outbreak in the UK, while most of us in the States were riding the garage-rock wave created by Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Green Day et al. So here we are, older and wiser, digging back through the annals to re-discover Saint Etienne. Our first foray into this London-based electronica sensation came in the form of their sophomore release So Tough (1993/Warner Bros). It was the creativeness of their sound that sold us; combining cliché house beats, with interesting rhythmic-vocal lines, forward-thinking pop riffs and overlaid cheesy, yet tantalizing, movie quotes/sci-fi sounds (insert Strong Bad techno video here.) -- we were hooked. Front-woman Sarah Cracknell's voice recalls JJ, Neko Case, and Basia Bulta...got the sound? Good.  So what did we expect when we bought 1998's Sub Pop-released (whatttt?) album Good Humor? More of the same? WRONG. (PS - iTunes doesn't have this one folks.)

After some afternoon beers, we sat down and put this record on. What came through the speaks was a well-produced, well-mixed and tightly engineered, soulful-pop album; shedding electronic beats for a full band sound, Saint Etienne dip well into the 1960s psyche-pop  realm and pull out a winner. While a bit front-loaded, this album was a pleasant surprise equipped with jazz flute, crackling snare hits and spot-on vocals. You can do a different type of dance to this record; save the Jersey shore fist pump and repleace it with a twist, or hell, a shout. Roll your head in a circular motion, arms akimbo and dance. We were happy with this buy. Very happy. Go forth and find this record, buy it and love it.