Assembly Now on XFM (live in the studio)

Download: Assembly Now - "It's Magnetic" (Live in the XFM Studio)
Download: Assembly Now - "Cool To Be Kind" (Live in the XFM Studio)

Here are some MP3's of British post-punk revivalist (Post-Post-Punk?) band Assembly Now performing live in the XFM studio, where they were recently invited to record some songs. I was sent these MP3's by someone associated with the band, so I believe these may be exclusive to the MFR website (if not, they're still very good tracks, filled with all kinds of rambunctious energy that can only come out live).

At first listen, I thought the band to be too derivative of Bloc Party, particularly in the vocal/barking rhelm. That said, Bloc Party doesn't really sound like Bloc Party these days (for better or worse, they're is trying to be U2). Part of what made the first Bloc Party record great was that it sounded raw and unpolished, but still had great hooks and a raw energy. I hear a lot of those qualities in Assembly Now, and a little bit of American Proto-Emo bands like Jawbreaker. Perhaps unintentionally, I think that "Cool to be Kind" sounds a little like Pavement, musically speaking.

Their last single, "Leigh-On-Sea," was selected as an NME radar single-of-the-week, and their new one, "Graphs, Maps and Tree's" will be out August 6th on Kids Records, with a tour to follow throughout the summer. We'll keep you posted as to how the band develops.

At the very least, you have to love a band that posts a graphic like the one above (re-posted on this site) on their website.

(Jonathan Graef)