Jarock

The Singles Monkey- 18th August

2008-08-19T22:59:00.000+01:00

The Singles Monkey #4

August 19, 2008 by The Singles Monkey (Edit)

Britain’s had more Gold than I’ve had sweet monkey loving these past few days (Mrs. Singles is on the menopause); but that doesn’t mean your trusted, now slightly erotically charged, Singles Monkey isn’t going to be running the rule over this week’s motley selection of singles; truly this ragtag mix is enough to de-erect any sort of animalistic excitement from mine throbbing loins. Drop the sail!

First into the firing line, swooning and preening like a bunch of rather over-zealous cockatiels, are Magistrates (‘Make This Work’, XL Recordingds) whose recent bout of NME coverage and appearance at dull-as-Dermot O’Leary festival V will no doubt push them into a nicely bloated crevice with all the other bland, indie-by-numbers pop groups. Look at them all in there, arguing over jean waist sizes and whose turn it is to score the ching. It’s poor form I tell thee and not for me, so instead I’ll turn my mangy head over to canny mackems The Week That Was, if only to momentarily rise gasping and wheezing from the cesspit of derivative guitar-based slurry circling my ears (‘The Airport Line’, Memphis Industries). The Week That Was have done well for a group hailing from a city that apparently stands ‘beyond re-generation’ (clearly none of the taskforce have visited Ipswich of late; now that’s irretrievable), and it’s a pleasant return from ex-Field Music man Peter Brewis. Good show!

Sticking with musicians from the North East for a minute, it’s with a heavy heart that ex-Yourcodenameis:Milo man Paul Mullens defection to one-hit wonders The Automatic is giving hitherto diminishing returns (‘Steve McQueen’, B-Unique); like Paul’s native Gregg’s pasties, The Automatic’s new single still lacks enough meat to really be digestible; ho hum. I’ll tell you what though oh grizzled readers of the interweb, compared to lad-crowd gathering shitboxes The Fratellis they sound like the ruddy Beatles (‘Look Out Sunshine’, Island). Managing to do worse than their debut album clearly takes some doing and for this dubious achievement brothers Fratelli I tip my hat to you. A band who are far more worth your most valued and treasured attention are the cutesy but irresistible Thomas Tantrum (‘Work It’, Sindy Stroker’s); if they’re not one of the success stories of this year’s In The City unsigned convention then I’ll design myself a large hat with a theme depicting the Boer wars of the 19th century and devour it whole (I will as well).

There are a couple of heavy hitters flanking the sides of this ramshackle group of past-it before they made it indie bands and small fish-in-large-ocean type groups; Basement Jaxx are back with an extremely limited vinyl (‘Planet 1 EP’, XL Recordings) whilst Black Eyed Pea Will.I.Am still doesn’t realise that the only reason he made it in the industry in the first place was because no one could take their eyes off Fergie (‘One More Chance’, Interscope). Strange that. Stranger still is that it takes The Shapeshifters to resuscitate this dying week of singles; you know the fellas, ‘Lola’s Theme’? Little kids milling about on a rollercoaster? Yup, that’s the ones. Well they’ve come back sounding like something straight out of late 1980’s Manchester and you know what? It’s pretty good (‘Chime’, Nocturnal Groove) and so as long as you can zone out the brain cell defyingly poor Faint (‘The Geeks Were Right’, blank.wav) then this week really isn’t looking too bad for you at all. Congratulations on that!

Filed Under: Features, The Singles Monkey
Tagged: The Singles Monkey

Vessels- White Fields And Open Devices

2008-08-19T22:58:00.000+01:00

Vessels: White Fields And Open Devices

August 19, 2008 by Simon Catling (Edit)

All of this Olympic talk; imagine if you will that there was some form of new music version where countries sent their best groups and performers to compete against each other. If there were such a thing, and Britain sent a team, then surely the Leeds music scene would be the equivalent of the current British cycling team. A veritable feast of exciting sounds has spread from the white rose heartland this year; from the ridiculous yet divine Wild Beasts to the frenetic Pulled Apart By Horses with a hell of a lot more in between, and now you can add the slow burning success of Vessels to that list thanks to a delight of a debut album that’s been a long time coming but well worth the wait.

Dare it be said, but it seems the spark is coming back into progressive instrumental music at the moment; it wasn’t so long ago that reviewers were crying out for a change from yet another group of timid but accomplished musicians wearing their Explosions In The Sky and Mogwai influences on their sleeves with little else to add. Yet this year it’s been noticeable of a great many reviews starting out just like this one; a cry out for something new and then the admission that the reviewed album in question is in fact really quite good. That’s very much the case here, because in ‘White Field And Open Devices’ there is depth, passion, and most of all edge and excitement in abundance. For this look no further than the now familiar and excellent ‘Yuki’; a track that’s been around since the earlier months of 2007, yet it’s presence here is welcome and a great encapsulation of what this album offers as a whole, with murmuring and humming electronic percussive bleeps and stutters never forcing the gently building piano melody and vocal aside like other bands of their ilk sometimes do; but encouraging and whipping up a brief whirlwind of rhythmic glitches and throbbing guitars.

To focus purely on this song would be to sell Vessels debut LP short however as every track on this album manages to vary from the others and yet still retain a thread that sews its way through the entire patchwork of sounds and emotions portrayed here. In some cases this can mean harking right back to some of the forerunners to what became known as the post-rock genre; bands like Slint and Bark Psychosis. Second track ‘A Hundred Times In Every Direction’ in particular manages to contain that very hostile, rough separation between vocals and sparse instrumentation that much of Slint’s eponymous album ‘Spiderland’ featured, as well as the sudden gear changes from raw and empty to dense sound and frantic pace. ‘An Idle Brain At The Devil’s Workshop’ meanwhile starts off tight and jagged (did someone mention Foals there? Hush at the back!) In truth it’s not a massive jump in imagination to see the similarities between the current darlings of the indie scene and Vessels on this track; perhaps as if realising this though the Leeds group release the trigger and suddenly the whole thing explodes into a roaring, rumbling monolith of a storm before just as quickly subsiding into a silky, hushed finale.

The influence of math-rock does feature quite heavily throughout ‘White Field And Open Devices’, and it’s this that’s key to taking Vessels’ sound above that of “just another post-rock band”. It’s there right from the beginning; ‘Altered Beast’ with its multiple time signature changes and off-beat drumming is a measured and carefully crafted introduction to an album littered with such intriguing fragments. Production plays a part also, it’s rare to hear an album that can veer from sounding so vast and expansive to suddenly appear so intimate and compact; a good example of this is midway through fifth track ‘Walking Through Walls’, where gaping reverb suddenly gives way to a clear and concise acoustic guitar. It’s added subtle touches like this that constantly conspire to surprise the listener just when there’s the threat of predictability seeping in.

Because believe it or not, there a couple of pointers for improvement. ‘Happy Accident’, whilst not a bad track, certainly adds nothing new to the canon of the Leeds group and reminds of peers Maybeshewill, yet sadly lacking the urgency and attention tugging hook that the Leicestershire group manage so well on their own impressive debut. ‘Look At That Cloud!’ is another song that suffers from the exalted company it finds itself surrounded by; an eight minute stab at greatness that only really breaks through into such realms in the final quarter. Yet, aside from these trifles, it’s a stirring and fantastic debut, rising to rapid crescendos before settling into dreamlike atmospherics in the second half of the album in particular. Like all captivating dreams though the final twist comes at the end as closing track ‘Waves Those Arms, Airmen’ creeps and slivers into focus, imposing an air of sinister undertone that wraps up and smothers the softly dozing animal of the previous few tracks. Sparse, but with a gradual sense of anxiety that they couldn’t quite pull off earlier on in ‘Happy Accident’, it’s a beautifully dark epilogue that builds and builds on the back of burbling electronics before crashing into a tumultuous heap leaving only wavering feedback as a token that it was ever here in the first place.

Vessels then have created a quite wonderful debut that successfully manages to leap off cliffs and soar up to the stars without ever losing its path so that at the end, once all the pieces finally fall into place, it can give its listener one final twist. Whilst at times it can struggle to truly envelope and captivate your emotions, White Fields And Open Devices remains an album that’s personality and ambition is there for all to see; and if there’s personality to be seen within a record then surely you’ve got to be doing something right.

Date Released: Out Now
Label: Cuckundoo Records

Filed Under: 8, Albums, Reviews
Tagged: vessels, white fields and open devices

The Nearly Men- Bedhead (Audioscribbler)

2008-08-15T20:20:00.000+01:00

The Nearly Men: Bedhead

August 14, 2008 by Simon Catling (Edit)

It takes a pair to cover a Smiths song; only a select few have really ever managed to pull it off, and The Nearly Men are probably well aware of this. But we’ll get to that in a minute. The opening, title track, of this EP is a jaunty jangle fest of acoustic guitars, organs and 60s beat percussion; sounding pretty promising no? At a snug fitting two minutes and seventeen as well it seems an excellently crafted opening track; that is if you discount the horribly yowling vocals of lead singer Paul Ashley Drake, who sadly doesn’t see the need to remove the frog from his throat throughout the entire four track EP. This will come back to haunt him.

Despite its title, ‘Melancholy’ is in fact only marginally less chipper than ‘Bedhead’; there’s a certain ramshackle quality to it in contrast to the opener that warms the cockles and the subtle added nuance of piano is a welcome touch. Once again though Drake’s vocals make it nigh on impossible to decipher what he’s on about and you just want someone to take him home, give him a lemsip and pack him off to bed in the hope that he can get over this seemingly incurable touch of manflu. Sadly this is the lasting impression that will remain from ‘Bedhead’; all three original compositions fit together with a breezy joy de’vivre and yet all are almost entirely undone by poor singing; and when it comes to THAT Smiths cover (‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’), sadly all five of the group only have themselves to blame; sound levels are all wrong, the now painstaking vocals threaten to drown out everything else, so to combat this everything else is turned up loud as well and what is an attempt at a skiffle-pop cover of an enduring classic ends up sounding like a bit of a painful dirge (If you want to hear a good cover of this check out David Ford’s wonderfully poignant version.)

It’s a shame really that such an obvious weakness has been allowed to fester and get in the way of what could really be quite a delightful five piece; but then the other four probably can’t hear what they sound like anyway.

Date Released: Out Now
Label: None

Filed Under: Demos, Reviews
Tagged: Bedhead, The Nearly Men, The Smiths

Deerhunter- Microcastle (Audioscribbler)

2008-08-12T22:54:00.002+01:00

Deerhunter: Microcastle

August 12, 2008 by Simon Catling (Edit)

Deerhunter are an important band to have around at the moment, and it’s a shame that a leak has overshadowed their third LP ‘Microcastle’ and warranted its early release; there are but a handful of bands really striving to push the boundaries in the increasingly confined space that time and musical evolution have inflicted upon those of the predominantly guitar-based persuasion. Having got their raw phase out of the system with the release of debut ‘Turn It Up Faggot’ in 2005, the Atlanta five piece (although four on this record) put out arguably one of the most forward thinking albums of the last few years twelve months later with the superlative ‘Cryptograms’. On their debut, Deerhunter had given a hint of what might have been to come with ever changing dynamics, lyrics fading into the background, drums forcing their way to the front of songs and heavy bass lines forcing guitars to regress into mush. Only on ‘Cryptograms’ however did Bradford Cox manage to realise the intentions of the year before; sweeping ambient instrumentals linked songs that themselves seemed to drift in from the ether before stealthily returning to whence they came. The whole tone of the album was that of something completely shapeless and yet perfectly crafted. Despite not featuring in the charts, the album was recognised enough for Pitchfork to award the album a ‘Best New Music’ mention and for numerous other critics to garnish it with high praise.

Fast forward two years and the makeup of Deerhunter has changed markedly. An increase in popularity in their native USA has culminated in a support slot for industrial pioneers Nine Inch Nails and in between albums Bradford Cox has released his own stellar solo album under the moniker of Atlas Sound. In a recent interview Cox also alluded to the fact that he would be returning to more straight ahead pop sensibilities after his previous two spaced-out panoramic outings, stating that ‘Cryptograms’ in particular was “narcissistic [in] how much it dwells on adolescence and the whole ambient-droney-experimental side of things and creating soundscapes and things, it just got really tired and old.”

Any worries of a complete abandonment of the formula that made their previous album such a captivating listen can be laid to rest thankfully; opener ‘Come For Me (Slowly)’, whilst tighter and clearer in production, remains a vast and sweeping statement of intent. The following track ‘Agoraphobia’ though is a startling step in a different direction; a mellowing, insecure sounding track that seems to harp back to the 60’s and simple acoustic flower pop as much as it does from anything surrounding it in the present. ‘Never Stops’ too recalls the Velvet Underground’s hard, senseless percussion juxtaposing the vocals before a steady strain of distortion and noise briefly uncouples the song from its tracks; a further indication of Deerhunter’s step towards the accessible and cemented yet further in the more formulaic structure of quiet/loud/quiet/loud verses and choruses. It’s not until ‘Little Kids’ in fact that we hear something warped away from its linear point a hollow loose sound is engulfed by showers of concentrated noise and changing pitches submerging the percussion, and gently melding the vocals into the wall of sound that they’re creating. Once again however the temptation to allow the whole thing to drift and merge with the next track on the album is checked and the title track is another of bleak and isolated beginnings that eventually kick starts into life with a whirlwind of sleek guitars and wistful murmurings; a beautiful and poised ending that contains that bit of valium to take the edge off the distortion.

At this point the listener could be forgiven for noticing a touch of, not disjointedness, but certainly something a little stop start in the opening half of the album- at least in comparison to their previous ventures. This seems to partly be what’s intended though; in trying to dumb down the perceived excess of the previous album, Deerhunter are chopping up their sound and presenting it in small segments of carefully pored over noise. In cases of tracks such as the short ‘Calvary Scars’ and ‘Activa’ this can seemingly cut them adrift from the other tracks on here; yet in arguably the focal point of the entire LP, ‘Nothing Ever Happened’, this decision seems inspired. The track’s pulse lies in Josh Fauver’s simplistic driving bass and Moses Archuleta’s stoic drum line that sticks to its task rigidly throughout, allowing the myriad of guitars to gently simmer and burble in the background as Cox’s vocals cut through the two. The key theme throughout ‘Microcastle’ seems to be of life’s relentless pace and the realisation that nothing lasts forever; ‘Nothing Ever Happened’ certainly rings true of this as the lead vocalist murmurs, “nothing ever happened to me, life just passed and flashed right through me”; there’s a definite sense of maturity to the singer’s lyrics and perspective, something far removed from previous releases at times adolescent themes.

From then on in it’s nothing other than a delight as a catchy, pop laden guitar hook joins the percussion and gradually allows the hitherto bubbling feedback and overdrive behind it to rise up and scrawl a tapestry of graffiti over the central melody and set in motion an equally succinct but soaring passage of music that leaves you breathless. It’s here that the idea to keep the tracks apart makes perfect sense and ‘Saved By Old Times’ pleasingly veers back towards the mellow 60’s ambience heard earlier on in the album. Ironically it’s at this point that the group throw caution to the wind and hence the final three tracks on ‘Microcastle’ are the most comfortably positioned of the entire LP. The aforementioned ‘Saved By Old Times’ compliments perfectly the shimmering, swaying ‘These Hands’ that in turn cools right down into a muffled piano that bleeds perfectly into the album’s closing effort, ‘Twilight at the Carbon Lake’; a grandiose finale that imitates sincere balladry before letting loose in a blizzard of sound. It’s as though the toll of staying disciplined and reigning in the previous eleven tracks has finally proven too much for the group, who unleash an unhinged frenetic attack that still manages to stay eerily comforting; this truly is Deerhunter at their best.

‘Microcastle’ then is in many ways the sort of record you’d expect to hear from the Atlantans and yet something quite, quite different. The seamless shift between emotions and soundscapes isn’t necessarily always strong on this album, and it does at times seem a pity that Bradford Cox felt the need to dissect, separate and section off his ideas away from each other. Yet on the other hand, this is an album as painstakingly deliberated over as ‘Cryptograms’ was, and an even further step away from the ramshackle rawness of ‘Turn It Up Faggot’. Within each cluster of sound comes the same range of emotion, poise and beauty that was whitewashed all over both their second LP and Atlas Sound’s debut; the difference this time is that the listener is delivered it in more manageable, digestible chunks. While the result means that it may not stand up quite as well as their previous effort in future years, it shows yet again that Deerhunter are a band refusing to accept their limits and for this reason alone we should be more than grateful.

Date Released: Out Now (Physical release 28th October)
Label: 4AD Records

Filed Under: Albums, Reviews
Tagged: Deerhunter, Microcastle

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/LISTEN/
Deerhunter- Agoraphobia

/PURCHASE/
You can buy 'Microcastle' by Deerhunter from iTunes.

The Singles Monkey 11th August (Audioscribbler)

2008-08-12T16:29:00.000+01:00

The Singles Monkey #3

August 10, 2008 by The Singles Monkey

Not since Apollo Creed decided that incensing an Iron Curtain programmed steroid-packed Ivan Drago with cheap street dancing and creaking James Brown crotch thrusting was a sure fire psychological advantage ahead of a fight has there been anything looking as battered and bruised as the UK singles chart. Never fear though because like the Beijing smog engulfing the Olympiad (why didn’t we just send athletes from the Middlesbrough region? They’d be sure to thrive in the conditions,) so we have some heavyweights about to drift in an all encompassing manner upon the charts. I may be high from smoking coconut powder (in fact I’m pretty sure I am) but that’s not stopping me from hopping up and down with excitement about this week’s bag; or in fact endlessly salivating out the corner of my mouth…

Fresh from being down-sized in Cardiff, R.E.M try to regain their stock by throwing a two and a half minute pop assault at the charts (‘Man Sized Wreath’, Warner). Don’t worry lads the Millenium Stadium may be ten times the size of the Cardiff International Arena but at least you’ve got a roof now in case of the inevitable Welsh torrents, take that Millenium Stadium!…oh, wait…it could be worse though Stipey; wipe your beady eyes, mop that beady head. I’d cover your ears though because that repeatedly convulsing cat over there in the corner is in fact The Cure’s Robert Smith (‘Perfect Boy’, Geffen).

Maybe it’s my golden African tan, maybe it’s my four grams of coconut powder, but I’ve never been enamoured with Smith and his pasty bunch of band mates, lurching around the place like a load of Pirates Of The Caribbean extras. Please Robert, have a throat lozenge, hire a builder in to take all that plaster off your face and settle yourself down for a lifetime of hearing ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ sung drunkenly and poorly by a load of pissed up students down any number of our good and green country’s indie nightclubs.

Talking of which, remember that band from Wigan? They had that song about symphonies and being a slave to the sterling all your life; (I should know, the sheer number of times people have tried to train me into a butler, for less than minimum wage too I might add; it’s all good fun until you accidentally drop the tiramisu and then its straight back to Chester Zoo!) yeah, I though that song was overrated too, but pressing on like Jason Manford through a Peter Kay routine they’re back with a new single (‘Love Is Noise’, Parlophone) which incidentally features my 2nd cousin Herman on backing vocals; he always was a chancer.

Stepping away from all things major label funded and mammoth for a minute, your trusted fur ball of filth has trained his dilated and bloodshot peepers onto Edinburgh’s Broken Records (Slow Parade, Fandango), who throw a huge, hairy blanket of luscious sweeping choruses over my head, interspersed with some soaring impassioned vocals and well placed piano. Good on you chaps, good on you. For Pete’s sake, like not mentioning the war to the Germans, never mention ‘Welcome To The North’ to The Music; they continue to actively wipe away the oozing puss of their second album with a return to their hi-hat/snare thumping, disco rocking ways of old (The Spike, Polydor). With sexy results.

Talking of which, the power trio of sex, Nelly, Akon and Ashanti, will be voice modulating their way into the charts this week (‘Body On Me’, Island). Maybe it’s just me, but the way Nelly incessantly raps on about doing the horizontal shuffle seems to be rather akin to that one kid in your class at school who claimed he was having sex five times a week even though he was only 12.

Now then, what’s that mosquito buzzing around my ears? Oh sorry! It’s merely the helium-voiced Delays brothers desperately trying to attract the general public’s attention with their honest-to-god good 80’s throwback pop songs (‘Keep It Simple’, Polydor). This time they’ve even enlisted Keith from The Office to give them that last sweat-ravaged push over the mainstream line; trouble is guys the Mystery Jets have simply hop-skipped and jumped over what you’ve been trying to do since the release of ‘You See Colours’. Sorry about that. They’re much better however than the cock-posturing (or make that just cocks) Ok Tokyo, who wear sunglasses, display wanton exposure of tacky synths and throw a tacky falsetto around like it were a crudely hewn, handmade Frisbee (‘Sums’, Split). So why’s it so fucking catchy!? Oooh I’m mad; where’s my pipe?

Santogold was tipped by the mighty Drowned In Sound no less as being a one to watch this year (‘Lights Out’, Atlantic). In the ensuing months she’s gone on to prove just this, not that her champions would notice, what with them discussing the apparently inevitable musical apocalypse and generally ripping each other so many new arseholes that sewing equipment companies worldwide are announcing massive profits thus levering themselves above any current global economical downturn. Well done sewing companies and well done Santogold! What with all these hyped huge and hung artists knocking about, Kids In Glass Houses no doubt thought that their tepid brand of five years past its sell-by-date American teeny punk metal had escaped the senses of your increasingly brainstormed Singles Monkey (‘Saturday’, Roadrunner). Little did they know that I’ve a keen eye for shit, lord knows I’ve thrown enough of it in my time (isn’t that right editor?) and the Kids have unfortunately been found out.

Nothing this week however can prepare you for the sheer baffling absurdity of Bloc Party’s new “effort” (‘Mercury’, Witchita). When historians look back on the first decade of this millennium they may to decide to christen it as ‘the decade of shit, second rate, primary school Casio (other brands are available) keyboard brass’, what with all the Ronson-esque horrorshows floating about the place at the moment like particularly unwanted floaters. I wouldn’t be surprised if the scrawny gimp had got his double-neck guitar wielding hands on this effort, such are the terrible trumpet sounds emanating from this unholy stench; quite frankly I’d be surprised if the other three members of Bloc Party even bothered turning up to record this. Sorry Kele, this record really does make me feel ‘like eating glass’ (I’m sorry but I had to get just one in readers.) With all this flotsam now drifting pleasingly behind me there’s nothing left for me to do other than crack out the pipe, winch my moderately-priced office chair back and pop in an episode of ‘Human’s Do The Funniest Things’ (The 10 o’clock news.) Bonjour!

Les Valentine- Nervous

2008-08-09T16:47:00.001+01:00

Les Valentine: Nervous

August 5, 2008 by Simon Catling (Edit)

What’s all this? Porno sax? MOR piano? Banal, repetitive lyrics? Why it seems that The Feeling’s influence truly is all conquering as Brightonians Les Valentine concoct up a decidedly rancid brew that sounds like it should be tacked onto the end of one of those crap early 90’s family movies that end up being shown on ITV2 in the afternoon..

Almost as disappointing is the realisation that Les Valentine isn’t just a rather exotic name for one man but in fact the name of the band. It’s clear the four piece are aiming for the perfect anecdote to summer with a cheerful and uplifting pop song but this effort sadly falls woefully short of the mark. If they’re feeling “so damn nervous” then they have every right to be; destined to be forgotten.

Date Released: September 29th
Label: Crash Records

Filed Under: Reviews, Singles
Tagged: les valentine, nervous

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/WATCH/
Watch the video for 'Nervous' at Youtube.

/PURCHASE/
You can purchase the single 'Nervous' by Les Valentine from September 29th at Crash Records.

Lapels- Painted Skeletons (Audiocribbler)

2008-08-09T16:46:00.001+01:00

Lapels: Painted Skeletons

August 5, 2008 by Simon Catling (Edit)

For those first few seconds of ‘Painted Skeletons’ the heart wishes that the band were about to break into Virginia Plane by Roxy Music as the piano intro promises something big. What we get is a tired sounding guitar hook and some pretty loose musicianship. Shame.

Wakefield’s Lapels then seem like yet another band jumping on indie’s vastly oversubscribed bandwagon; the Libertines garage sound’s here, the mumbled lyrics, the “raw” production style. What narks about Painted Skeletons, and indeed probably about many a British four piece at the moment, is that these are bands trying to sound like what they see in front of them and not what they hear in themselves.

It goes without saying that influences are inevitable but it’s what you make with them these days which marks your talent as a band; Lapels haven’t really made very much of there’s despite their attempt at lyrics which are, according to them, about “cannibals, nautica, ashes, and authors”. B- Side ‘Last Great Civilization’ is more of the same but sped up a bit, which is a shame because Yorkshire currently has a thriving and creative music community at the moment, Lapels are a poor representation of this.

Date Released: Out Now
Label: Louder Than Bombs

Filed Under: Reviews, Singles
Tagged: lapels, painted skeletons

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/PURCHASE/
You can buy 'Painted Skeletons' by Lapels from their record label Louder Than Bombs.

The Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir- Ten Thousand (God Is In The TV review)

2008-08-04T01:11:00.002+01:00

Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir - Ten Thousand (Bailing The Jack)
Simon Jay Catling

I’ve got to hold my hands up and be honest: my knowledge of American country music doesn’t run particularly deep; obviously I can cite the Tom Waits and Johnny Cash’s of this world as being unique and fantastic artists who influenced and continue to influence not only musicians within their own genre but a great many others as well (why only the other week I saw classical and jazz pianist Joanna McGregor perform a rousing version of Cash’s gospel song Spiritual.) I’ve never really scratched beyond the surface though, which helps Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir in that their music is being thrown at an open mind and eager ears.

‘Ten Thousand’, the quartet’s third album, is I guess what you’d expect from a country and blues band; rag tag banjos, slide guitars and yelping vocals are all par for the course here with some songs occasionally seeming so ramshackle that at any point it seems the wheels could fall off. The Canadians, whilst lyrically weak, do possess a certain charm about them, all four band members seemingly pitching in with the vocals to create a real sense of gang mentality. Songs like ‘You Got It Wrong’ and ‘Never Be Dead’ rattle on with a real purpose and could certainly ignite a countryside barn dance; in fact there’s rarely a let up in the banjo twanging and frantically picked acoustic guitars throughout the fourteen tracks, most of which weigh in at around the three minute mark. ‘Rainstorms In My Knees’ is perhaps the biggest contrast on the LP, a gospel track that thuds along methodically with the foursome yodelling along to a steady twelve bar blues. The great trouble with country and western music however seems to be that musically its pretty limited; if you can rattle out a deft tune with 7ths and blues scales on a banjo with some loose percussion that seems to be all that’s required; it’s lyrically where the genre seems to come into its own and sadly Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir possess lyrics and subject matters far too vague to ever really draw the listener in. ‘Nehemiah’s Fortune’ is a pretty straight ahead plea by the narrator to end the misfortune that apparently plagues him, whilst other subjects seem to base themselves around arguments with other people such as in ‘Dumb It Down’ and the aforementioned ‘You Got It Wrong’. This is all well and good except that ‘Ten Thousand’ possesses no single memorable lyric to place it in a separate place from any of its peers or contemporaries; which is a shame because despite the limits of the style they’re pedalling, the Canadian quartet still do it rather well. However, country music without personality isn’t really country music at all and sadly they leave me no more of an urge to dig deeper than I had before listening to this LP.

Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir Myspace

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/DOWNLOAD/
The Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir- 'Go Back Home'

HERE

/PURCHASE/
You can purchase 'Ten Thousand' by The Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir from Amazon.

The Singles Monkey- 4th August (Audioscrib)

2008-08-02T19:34:00.001+01:00

The Singles Monkey #2

August 2, 2008 by The Singles Monkey

What with Audioscribbler now as unrecognisable as Jordan is from Katy Price, it seems that the times are a-changing, and no sooner had your faithful furball ‘the Singles Monkey’ dug himself a nice niche at Audioscribbler towers than it seemed he was to be usurped.

They didn’t count upon my super sapien will power and extra strong coconut juice however; after weeks of barricading myself up in the tallest turret, greeting any would be usurpers with barrages of mud and monkey faeces, the editor had no choice but to let me continue with my new found role as the soothsayer of all things b-sided and singular. A quick ring to give Mrs. Singles the good news (she thought I’d popped out for the paper,) and I scurried eagerly towards the bag of singles like Russian athletes would to a private pharmaceutical..

So the big hitters this week in terms of ‘fellas wot hold guitars and that’ are The Futureheads (’Walking Backwards’, Rough Trade), the North East’s finest export since it’s Greggs Bakery franchise, and merciless soul stealers Scouting For Girls (’It’s Not About You’, Epic). Unsurprisingly it’s a resounding 1-0 to the ‘heads, possessing hooks and harmonics that are surpassed only by the increasingly impressive and tight fitting lower garments they’re managing to fit into these days, especially you Ross; good on ya. As for Scouting For Girls; well, to say that they’re the musical equivalent of our good green earth’s greenhouse gases, increasingly smothering our musical landscape and slowly choking the nation’s appreciation of creativity and innovation, would be pretty much spot on. Horribly wooden.

Talking of massive wood, the 12” highlights this week are large meaty and dripping with…quality. Scottish sorts Winona decide to rope in their knob twiddling chums to do all the hard graft whilst they sit back, have a deep fried mars bar and rake in the profits (’Without You: The Remixes’), whilst Brightonians Alloy Mental tuck themselves into a hearty meal of thudding electronica grooves (’I Am’, Skint). Apparently DJ Zinc still kicks around these days as well, his 12” teetering about on some typically jungle styled stilts (’Snipers Den/Take Me With You’, Bingo).

It may be looking like a surprisingly warm summer at the moment, but don’t think the Levellers are taking a day off from protesting and fighting for the common man (’Before The End’, On The Fiddle); oh no sir, which is handy, because we can take in the sun nice and easy knowing that Chapman and co. are still toiling away shouting for causes which we’re all clearly totally behind. There’s isn’t a lone voice croaking across an otherwise ambivalent and passive nation however; for London folky punk types the King Blues are telling socialist stories themselves..and doing it a little better than the Levellers are currently doing at that. (’Let’s Hang The Landlord’, Island) But guys it’s the summer! Kids have broken up for holidays, ice cream vans are working good and hard to ensnare the young un’s and me and Mrs.

Singles are off to Tanzania to see relatives (ok then..Cheshire Zoo); we don’t need this sort of rapt and biting social commentary for a good month or so yet, why don’t you just buy yourself a Screwball (other ice creams are available), reach the bubble gum at the bottom and let your mid year days drift by in a delightful hybrid of brain freeze and sticky goo filled fun. New Adventures seem to be struggling to get into the spirit of the holidays as well (’In Our Hands’, Faded Grandeur), trying to get all angsty and downbeat on us; not going to work though my glass half-empty peering fellows, not when twee scamps Noah & The Whale are getting all corduroy on our collective asses (’5 Years’, Cherry Tree).

Finishing me off with a pubescent orgasmic squeal then are spotty little oiks Late Of The Pier who bombard the senses with something part 1988 and part 2008 (’Heartbeat’, Parlophone); although we all laughed and derided the Klaxons two years ago (ok, well I did, last time nu-rave was pumped into the zoo enclosures at Chester Zoo, Larry the Elephant was on heat and this tragic combination of glo-stick waving choonage and randy elephant loving caused the death of six tucans, a couple of cockatiels and a sloth), it seems that the genre, if such a one exists still is inching towards respectability, and why shouldn’t we applaud that? Why shouldn’t we?

Air Cav- Embers/Picking At The Bones (audioscribbler)

2008-07-27T17:26:00.001+01:00

Air Cav: Embers/Picking At The Bones

July 27, 2008 by Simon Catling

Next year should be the one that ‘Air Cav’ step away from their role as one of the Manchester scene’s finest stalwarts and spread their wings further a field; this double A-side provides a rather fine gateway for the members of the Chorlton four piece to peer confidently through onto the surrounding world. ‘Embers’ and ‘Picking At The Bones’ are the results of a band content to do things their own way without rushing out wanting and ill-prepared for their fifteen minutes of fame; no, this is a band who are building from the foundations up and if this sometimes causes the more impatient of us to yearn for more widespread touring and more readily available releases then so be it; in the long haul it’s surely going to be worth it.

Like previous double a-side ‘Alliance/Branches’, the latest offering from ‘Air Cav’ is another infectious, sparkling, atmospheric twin attack on the senses. ‘Embers’ is a resolute, relentless beast of a song; that aching that you can feel on your face is a smile by the way. The folk-shoegazers don’t deal in the murky depths of despair, instead relying on simple but constant guitars and straining, heartfelt vocals that far from getting lost amidst the tumult of noise surrounding them, join forces to provide a solid unit of noise that pushes your serotonin levels up and up. ‘Picking At The Bones’ burbles and grows out of a vast expanse before taking a slightly greater contrast than its brother with a sudden roaring chorus that bursts out of a contrastingly held back verse. The rest of the song flies gorgeously on, the sound of ‘Air Cav’ using a big butterfly net to try and catch the swathes of noise that they’ve let out of their bag; which they do except for the violin that flutters and darts about in the air tantalisingly out of reach with the low-end booming percussion and frantic guitars.

All of which makes the band’s second release on ‘Surbia Records’ one of the singles of the year; limited to 500 copies there’s a chance you won’t be able to get your hands on a version of this but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bust a gut trying; alternatively you could just hold tight for a few more months because ‘Air Cav’ are a band who are about to take off into the stratosphere.

Date Released: Out Now
Label: Suburbia Records

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/WATCH/
See the video for 'Embers' at Youtube.

/Purchase/
You can buy 'Picking At The Bones/Embers' from Surbia Records.

Fights Like Apes- Lend Me Your Face (Single Review GIITTV)

2008-07-17T00:12:00.002+01:00

Fights Like Apes - Lend Me Your Face
Simon Jay Catling

Let’s forget about the A side to this for a cotton picking minute because the first thing I saw upon seeing this release was that the B side was none other than a cover of McLusky’s cult classic ‘Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues’. One has to give the Irish four piece some props for covering such an untouchable classic at the very least, especially as a butchering of it would most like be looked upon pretty sternly by a large section of their existing fan base. Yet, mainly thanks to the orgasmic shrieks of lead singer MayKay as she spits out the vocals, Fights Like Apes manage to heroically pull it off, in fact why not use this as the a-side? Falkous and co. could most definitely do with the royalties that’s for sure.

Lend Me Your Face itself is short, catchy and hook laden; keyboard synths jab and poke at each throughout like errr..angry apes, and in a time when no one under the age of eighteen wants to hear a band who haven’t sticky taped on a few synthesised noises here and there it’s quite likely that Fights Like Apes are on a pretty sharp trajectory upwards. Time will tell however whether they have enough in the tank to avoid the downward trajectory that seems too eager to follow most of bands of their ilk these days.

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/WATCH/
Fights Like Apes video for the single 'Lend Me Your Face'

/PURCHASE/
You can buy Fight Like Apes single 'Lend Me Your Face' from iTunes.

RasKatarsis- s/t (GIITTV)

2008-07-16T12:24:00.001+01:00

rasKatarsis - rasKatarsis (K-20)
Simon Jay Catling

Nice as it would be to believe that the current swell of post-rock/instrumental/minimal acts has brought with it an increase in the quality of the stuff that’s out there; sadly, as many musical movements past have taught us, this isn’t always the case. Post-rock (I’m going to run with this name despite the kicking it receives) does not feel the burden of such a saturated market, for in this writer’s opinion it is one of those genres that has its opening height way and above other contemporary music of the moment. Yet on the other hand it is of course a lot easier to make poignant and passionate opuses when you’ve seen dozens of bands do the same before you.

And so Estonian group RasKatarsis find themselves in the unenviable position of dipping their toes into the wider world at just the time everyone’s beginning to tire of endless long haired guitarists staring at the stage and aiming to reach for the emotional stars with the aid of their instruments alone. This doesn’t make the Baltic’s choice of style a foolish one but it does set them at a slight disadvantage; thankfully for RasKatarsis, they come from a country which has thrived on being the underdog since it gained independence at the beginning of the 90s, and this band are no different. Their self titled LP manages to understatedly meander and climb its way into a niche that manages to sit comfortably amongst its constricted peers. Yes, the Explosions In The Sky comparisons can be fairly levelled at the four piece as can the Mogwai, Bark Psychosis likenesses et cetera. It would however be a shocking disservice to this LP to dismiss it as another jump on the bandwagon; why? Simply because unlike a lot of the groups shuffling about at the moment, RasKatarsis have stamped their identity all over these thirteen tracks. It’s the subtle things that make the difference, the jumps in key signature during fourth track ‘Lapsepolve Ja Tagasi’, the slight but affecting use of saxophone throughout that recalls the spaced out ambient jazz music of the likes of Jan Garbarek more than it does any post-rock band. Maybe, like with Sigur Ros, we as Brits could read too much into the titles of their songs; yet the spaghetti alphabet of the Estonian language portrays the music marvellously here: distant and otherworldly. The sparse ‘Ex Kaskaad’ fits this idea perfectly, two guitars striding simultaneously together through an otherwise bleak, vast expanse of space. Percussion on this album is almost an afterthought; brooding noises and rumbles push the music along far more effectively than the drum section here, which admittedly gives the some of the tracks a lack of focus and direction as you sit and wait for something to happen. For the most however the sheer thought evident in most of RasKatarsis sees the band shining through with poise and composure, never allowing themselves to fully put the throttle down and risk losing track of where they started from. Not even in the swirling, epic thirteen minute ‘Nomadia’ do they fully relinquish control; holding each intertwining melody on a leash as they threaten to break free without ever quite doing so; it’s also notable for one of the few times that the percussion does come into its own, putting the groundwork in steadily so as to gradually raise the pulse of the soundscape breathing above it and giving the track much needed depth.

The blissed out tempo of the album as a whole does mean that tracks can bleed seamlessly into each other almost without you realising, the similar themes too can at times show this to be an LP that retreads ground a touch too often and in a contemporary landscape where jumping out and arresting attention is becoming key it’s perhaps something that this slow burner of an album struggles with. Yet, because a slow burner is exactly what it is, RasKatarsis is a collection of music that ultimately does deserve your attention because with a bit of your time and focus the Estonians have provided a debut worthy of addition to any instrumental music fan’s collection.

rasKatarsis Myspace

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/DOWNLOAD/
RasKatarsis- Nomaadia

/PURCHASE/
RasKatarsis's self-titled LP can be purchased from rada7.

On the search for free music...The Depreciation Guild

2008-07-10T12:17:00.003+01:00

Following a hearty recommendation from the Drowned In Sound boards, my quest for legal free music took me to Brooklyn two piece The Depreciation Guild. Apparently using only guitars and a Nintendo Entertainment System 2A03 sound chip, Kurt and Christophe made available the arresting album In Her Gentle Jaws available for free last year. Combining elements of shoegaze with a poppier edge offset by the sharp tones of the chipsets, In Her Gentle Jaws is a wonderful album that'd be a must get even if you had to pay for it; handily you don't!

Download the album from: http://www.inhergentlejaws.com/

If you need persuasion have a listen first:
The Depreciation Guild- Sky Ghosts

DOWNLOAD

The Depreciation Guild's Myspace

The final PlayPauseStop :(

2008-07-08T22:50:00.004+01:00

And so sadly PlayPauseStop, the free magazine from Manchester University's Indie society sadly folded along with the society itself. Without it I wouldn't be writing for the likes of God Is In The TV Zine and (hopefully, after an email from the editor) The Fly or just have the confidence to get reviewing and put my writing up there to be either lauded or ridiculed. Reviewing should be just all about the records of course but I defy you to show me a single music writer who doesn't try to leave a bit of themselves in a review. Anyway, PPS was ruddy excellent for the few issues it was around for; sure we all had different tastes thus making some of the articles pretty contradictory but overall the standard of writing really was excellent and I'll definitely miss it, I feel writing for the far more image conscious and right on student newspaper will not bring with it similar enjoyment next year; we can but hope...anyway, a couple of my articles made it in to the final issue; no Singles Monkey sadly, although he is back on Audioscribbler...

Click on the articles to read them. They include: a biographical piece on the quite fantabulous Manchester band Air Cav, a live review from way back in March when The Music returned to save us all, and finally a gushing icon article on ex-Suede man Brett Anderson, which I have to admit I'm really quite proud of. Do have a read! and Play Pause Stop? R.I.P.

The return of the Singles Monkey

2008-07-06T14:54:00.003+01:00

Following the sad folding of Play Pause Stop it seemed like the end of the road for that loveable scamp The Singles Monkey, however this afternoon on Audioscribbler...

Feature

Editorial Gibbon Grief: The Singles Monkey #1

Lo’ and behold - what’s that unholy odour emanating from the dark underbelly of the basement that is Audioscribbler HQ? Why fear not readers for it is I, The Singles Monkey; here to digest and bring to you each week’s bag of single releases as the format tries to kick and squirm with a desperation appropriate for the dying animal that it is (just to put this article into some sort of context). Never fear though single lovers, because in these troubled times there are always diamonds just waiting to be ensconced from the rough that they hide in. What’s that? The Kooks have a new single out this week? ..shit..

Date: 07/07/08

The last band I remember who had a single called Shine On, Jet, were undeniably shit, and disregarding all that we already know about Brighton’s finest skinny jean clad indie bandwagon jumpers, this is as good an indication as to how The Kooks (Shine On, Virgin) new ‘un is going to go down. “Biting the hand that feeds”, oh if only they would and suddenly release an album full of soaring nine minute instrumentals and angel kissed poetic lyrics; they’d still manage to balls it up no doubt. Who cares though; because when your trilbies are that firmly fixed upon your head whose going to loathe you? Not the average sixteen year old in today’s Indie Britain that’s for sure.

Sticking to all things jangly and NME favoured for a moment, The Last Shadow Puppets (Standing Next To Me, Domino) are clearly everyone’s favourite pocket rockets of the moment and this release ahead of their debut shows is a great deal more impressive than either of cheeky young scamp Turner or cheeky young scamp Kane’s band outputs; how about packing in the day jobs fellas? No? Never mind, solace can be found in Metronomy’s continuously queasy yet catchy 80s sound (Holiday, Because). Happiness never lasts long though when Portishead (The Rip, Island) are in the room; look, there they are, all smouldering and dark. Youtube user XxTheeHeadXx claims that The Rip “is the shit”, and who am I, a humble jungle feline, to disagree with such a knowledgeable totem of all things minimal? No one that is whom, and it’s left for me to quietly purchase a 2 litre bottle of White Lightning, snort some poppers up my nose and flail wildly to the comeback SUMMER SMASH from former number 1 artist Basshunter (All I Ever Wanted, Hard 2 Beat); for your danceable goodness this week instead turn to the often underrated Junkie XL (Cities In Dust, Artwerk) who throws a sleazy house curveball the size of Andre The Giant’s fist at our collective ears. Hercules & Love Affair (You Belong, EMI) sounds positively tame in comparison, the much hyped act taking us all on a trip back to the 90’s so it would seem. If this was the 90s however we wouldn’t even be giving these chaps a second thought; and why would we? Not when the likes of Dr. Albarn, JX and Corona were still cheesing up dance floors nationwide! All together now: “it’s my life, my problems,” they sure are Dr A, they sure are..

N.E.R.D (Everybody Nose, Polydor) really are a bling encrusted world away from the delightful She Wants To Move; their latest offering dripping with about as much charisma as an Andy Murray pre-match interview (check out the up to the minute contextual metaphors there..) Dizzee Rascal (Dance Wiv Me, Dirteestank) fares little better; a rapper with prodigious talent slipping comfortably into the generic world that most successful UK hip hop artists inherit, sometimes I really do think that Scroobius Pip fellow’s right you know. So sadly it looks like the first weekly Singles Monkey is to come to a disappointing end…but wait, what’s that ramshackle ball of noise reaching these finely attuned lobes? Why it’s those loveable scamps Let’s Wrestle (I’m In Fighting Mode/Let’s Wrestle, Stolen) here to save us from the mundane with a glorious double A-side; the fact that one of the songs name checks both Hulk Hogan and Giant Haystacks is surely worth the purchase alone, and the chirpy singalong leaves your faithful Singles Monkey feeling as warm as he did when he took a bath with a hippo...until next week folks!

Words: The Singles Monkey

Yes it appears the flea ridden furball is back and this time it's weekly! Be sure to head to Audioscribbler every weekend for his latest musings on the upcoming singles.

Gig pictures at Audioscribbler

2008-07-05T16:23:00.003+01:00

Forgot to mention that a few weeks ago Audioscribbler included some pictures I've taken from past gigs. They're not really proper professional styly pics because a) my cameras just a humble Sony Digital and b) I've never really been into photography, but they're up there and might interest you. Have a browse:

http://www.audioscribbler.co.uk/html/gallery.htm

More reviews and MP3's will be on the way soon including the new Mogwai track as well as the possible return of The Singles Monkey...

Glastonbury Headliners- Radiohead '03 vs. Muse '04

2008-06-30T13:06:00.005+01:00

All the talk over the weekend has been about Jay Z's supposed jaw dropping performance on Saturday night at Glastonbury, which to be fair is a description not too embellished. The Brooklyn rapper's decision to come on performing Wonderwall with the quotes of a scorning Noel Gallagher in his ears was an inspired one and set the tone for a set that seemingly had the crowd in the palm of his hand. Some have even said it was one of the best Glastonbury headlining performances ever. Having watched the following two sets (although I'll admit being must be an entirely different kettle of fish), I can't see beyond Radiohead and Muse when it comes down to the greatest Pyramid headline set this millenium (and that includes David Bowie in 2000). Splitting Muse and Radiohead however is a task I can't do. Radiohead in 2003 returned to headline the stage for a second time and in a complete volte face from their rapturously received 1997 OK Computer dominated set, lurked into the deepest darkest corners of their back catalogue to provide a chilling and intense main show that...was once again received rapturously.

Muse on the other hand headlined for the first time ever and the talk before was that they weren't a big enough act to be given such a slot. However the Teignmouth trio blew these mumblings out of the water with an awe-inspiring metal show that suddenly made the gigantic Pyramid Stage seem small and homely as it struggled to contain their massive side. Stockholm Syndrome and it's five minute outro was the icing on the cake to close a show that people will be talking about in years to come. Which one was better though? I have no idea; however you can watch both below (gathered from accumulated Youtube videos- all decent copy, BBC/DVD rips) and decide for yourself.

Radiohead- Glastonbury 28/06/03
There There
2+2=5
Lucky
The National Anthem
Talk Show Host
Where I End And You Begin
Climbing Up The Walls
The Gloaming
No Surprises
Fake Plastic Trees
Sit Down Stand Up
Go To Sleep
Sail To The Moon
Paranoid Android
Idioteque
Everything In Its Right Place
Just
Karma Police
Street Spirit (Fade Out)

Muse- Live at Glastonbury 27/06/04
01. Hysteria
02. New Born
03. Sing For Absolution
04. Muscle Museum
05. Citizen Erased
06. Piano Interlude
07. Apocalype Please
08. Ruled By Secrecy
09. Riff + Sunburn (piano)
10. Butterflies and Hurricanes
11. Riff Heartbreaker (Led Zep) + Bliss
12. Time Is Running Out
13. Plug In Baby
14. Blackout
15. Stockholm Syndrome + Outro

Glastonbury Headliners 08- Kings Of Leon

2008-06-30T12:41:00.004+01:00

If ever I was going to go to my first Glastonbury, this would have been the year to do it; easy to get tickets, nothing much else planned for summer and a stream of people I know who went. Yet I didn't...blame the credit crunch (or at least my credit crunch) and the fact I was seeing Radiohead in London the day before it kicked off. Never mind. Anyway, Kings of Leon didn't impress me much when I saw them at Leeds in 2005, however since then they've released a wonderful 3rd album and if I'm honest I was cringing enviously all the way through this performance by them. They're not great showmen, barely moving about the stage, but the sheer power and immediacy of their songs wins over most crowds. The BBC refused to show their new songs and in fact asked them not to play any (boo the BBC) whilst some other links I've not found yet, but here's the setlist and the videos that are available from the weekend. Enjoy!

KINGS OF LEON - LIVE @ GLASTONBURY 27/06/2008
'Crawl'
'Black Thumbnail'
'Taper Jean Girl'
'My Party'
'Razz'
'King Of The Rodeo'
'Wasted Time'
'Fans'
'Arizona'
'Milk'
'Four Kicks'
'Molly's Chambers'
'California Waiting'
'The Bucket'
'On Call'
'McFearless'
'Pistol Of Fire'
'Spiral Staircase'
'Trani'
'Knocked Up'
'Manhattan'
'Charmer'
'Slow Night So Long'

'My First Radio - Progress' God Is In The TV Single Club Review

2008-06-18T17:05:00.002+01:00

Review

My First Radio: Progress

Type: Single

Label: Gizeh Records

Progress is available as a free download NOW from the God Is In The TV Singles Club at http://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk.

Your Rating:

Unrated

Simon Jay Catling

With ‘Progress’, the latest release to come forth via the excellent God Is In The TV’s Singles Club, you get the feeling that every nuance of this four minutes has been pored over and finely combed for an absolute age. Nothing feels out of place, everything comes in at exactly the time you’d expect it to and strings, guitars and pianos build together steadily but surely to create a rousing thunderstorm of noise. Sounds pretty robotic ey? You couldn’t be more wrong, because right from the get go passion bleeds through this shoegaze ballad from every orifice.

Right from the lonesome, melancholy piano introduction it’s clear that this is a song that will tug at your heartstrings and pull them this way and that. The vocals soar powerfully over the gentle of addition of strings that stealthily and gorgeously widen the sound without you even realising. You should know at this point that ‘Progress’ is only going to go one way, and so it does with a sudden eruption of drawn out strings, ringing guitars and crashing chords and symbols, shattering the peaceful ambience that’s come before it; funnily enough for a sound reminiscent of ‘Black Dollar Bills’ by Hope Of The States this track does indeed feature Mike Siddel of ‘States and Lightspeed Champion fame wielding his violin. Just like that however the noise melts away leaving us alone in an empty space with just the piano for accompaniment: stunning stuff.

LISTEN

My First Radio - Progress

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DOWNLOAD
My First Radio's free download single 'Progress' can be accessed at God Is In The TV.

Wild Beasts- Limbo, Panto album review

2008-06-18T11:00:00.003+01:00

Wild Beasts - Limbo, Panto (Domino)
Simon Jay Catling

Wherever Wild Beasts came from, surely it isn’t Kendal. Cumbria always feels a bit detached from the rest of England sure, but not like this. The fact that most of the county’s a National Park means no mobile phone masts, and this alone gives you an indication of its isolated feel. Additional to this are the rolling, guard-like hills that surround and watch your every move, and the lakes that cover miles of the mostly unblemished countryside. Even a decampment to Leeds does little to pour light upon the influences of this extravagant four piece. Kaiser Chiefs? Elland Road (although funnily enough I might not be far off on this one)? Skinny jeans and trilbies? Sure I’m doing ‘the Northern London’ a discredit by pigeonholing it so generally, but the feeling remains; most bands debut LP’s allow the listener to get some semblance of where the music they’re listening to comes from, not so Wild Beasts.

What is it that we’re dealing with here? A pop band? The melodies are certainly there, the tightness and immediacy is all there, but to merely call Wild Beasts a pop band is to greatly neglect the sound that they’re creating. No; ‘Limbo, Panto’ comes across more as a 21st century opera. Catchy enough to keep hold of our increasingly short attention spans with songs about late nights, gaudy sex and growing up, yet possessing an amount of pompousness and grandiosity that’s far too much to absorb from one listen alone. Who can we call their peers? Lyrically the group’s nearest peer would surely have to be the Arctic Monkeys and bands of their ilk; this LP consists of nothing other than songs of 18-30 working class Britain, but unlike Alex Turner, Wild Beasts lead singer Hayden Thorpe lyrically paints a scene far beyond the simple romance that the Arctic’s man aims for. Thorpe instead takes these apparent everyday and unremarkable environments and adds backing dancers, costumes, garishness and drama to the most camp level. And what a falsetto he delivers it in; not since Mr. Mercury will a voice split opinion so neatly. Like the band’s music (and we’ll get to that in a minute), Thorpe’s is a voice of ridiculous pretension, knowing of critical provocation; let’s face it, there’s not many male voices about at the moment confident enough to deliver in such an overblown and indulgent manner; Matthew Bellamy sure, but even on Muse’s debut ‘Showbiz’ his vocals were reined in and censored. Not so here, Hayden Thorpe imprints his mark right from opening track ‘Vigil For A Fuddy Duddy’, swooning across the 70’s sounding disco ballad as he describes a sexual encounter with more smut than Mills & Boons, “flaccid, I asked for this bellow spit rich belly pit moan and blush with hot hormone”. ‘The Club of Fathomless Love’ meanwhile is a lyrical delight, exploring a young man’s preparation for a night out and it’s eventual happening, describing the club poetically, “we bellow baritone to our favourites, like life depends on it!/ I hold my brothers in breathtaking clinches/ this is my heart’s hub, the hot, wild, fug of the club of the fathomless love”, it’s a scene we’ve all seen before many a time and yet Wild Beasts tell it as one might describe a scene from A Clockwork Orange; and why shouldn’t they? If ever there’s a time in your life when everything you do is achingly important then it’s surely at the onset of manhood; dressing up such a night musically is no different than what we do in our minds every time we go out, get drunk and fall down at the beginning of our alcohol led lives.

It’s this lyrical content and subject matter which prevents ‘Limbo, Panto’ from truly taking off for the sun and bursting in a blaze of its own unrepentant egotistical bravado. ‘The Old Dog’ is a lesson in the pitfalls of casual sex, graphically describing the unwanted birth as “a human is hauled from the wombs wired jaw”, whilst ‘Please, Sir’ is a naughty schoolboy’s plea to be allowed back into class following a series of misdemeanours. Fourth track, ‘Woebegone Wanderers’, is another of note; taking leave of the burlesque cabaret sound that the previous two songs contained, and reverting back to the 70’s disco of the opener before sending each verse off into an exotic waltz. Thorpe meanwhile passionately soars above the toe tapping bass and jangling guitars to painstakingly portray something as common as supporting a football team “we’ve been lumbered with the losing life for far too long/ the ground bellows like the belly of a sleeping whale”. The band even operatically recreate the standard chant of ‘Who are yer’ to good effect. Yet this is not an album all about the lead singer and his lyrics, for it’s as a band that Wild Beasts excel and not as individuals. Drummer Chris Talbot ties the whole album together with percussion that ranges from the straight ahead stomp of ‘Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants’ and ‘The Devil’s Crayon’ to the slower, more subtle hi-hats and symbols seen on ‘The Old Dog’. Ben Little’s guitar contains the tone that takes the Wild Beasts far away from their peers in terms of any musical similarity; seemingly coming as he does from a time when every guitarist was required to have a quiff and a suit, whilst Tom Fleming’s bass weaves its way through ten songs of patterns ranging between swing, funk and a whole lot more in between. Such difference in styles sounds like a recipe for disaster, but miraculously it holds together as well as any pop punk band. Perhaps the epitome of the LP is ‘Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants’; together with final track ‘Cheerio Chaps, Cheerio Goodbye’, it provides an almost happy final scene, an epilogue if you will, describing the characters who have come before as those who need “to make the most, before we turn to ghost/ swig the bottle, bottle/ slap the face of Aristostle”. Meanwhile an eminently danceable rhythm not unlike Hot Chip juts through the exotic, dreamy funk-filled haze. Whilst maybe not the best track on the album, it is perhaps a song that could be described as the opera’s programme notes, giving an overview of the album. The aforementioned ‘Cheerio Chaps, Cheerio Goodbye’ is the encore for this ten part stage show and, as you’d expect from this album, works as a deliciously indulgent closer for what is as much of a diverse, ambitious and purely ridiculous an album as you’ll hear all year.

Yes, Wild Beasts are going to have their haters; any band who nails their colours to the mast so blatantly as this foursome have done are going to have their critics, be it the marmite voice of vocalist Hayden Thorpe, the 70’s throwbacks of some of the tracks or just the sheer absurdity of the entire album. Are they taking this seriously or are they just taking the piss? Perhaps before answering that you should take a look at your own life. How often as a youth have you viewed a night out as an event of utmost importance, what does it feel like when the team you support loses 3-2 from a penalty after going 2-0 up? How much did you build up the losing of your virginity? How risqué and dark did some of your early sexual encounters seem? Wild Beasts are merely playing out the importance of all these events that have already occupied a similar level of priority in your mind at some point or other. So before you mock or deride this band, take a stop and realise that to do that you are forgetting a part of your life that’s either happened or is currently taking place. You don’t have to be The Enemy or Hard-Fi to empathise with the common man; when listening to ‘Limbo, Panto’ drop the “too cool for school” attitude and you’ll hopefully find yourself engrossed in one of the albums of the year. And they’re from Kendal!?

Wild Beasts Myspace

18/06/2008

/WATCH/

Wild Beasts video for their current single 'Devil's Crayon' can be seen HERE.

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/PURCHASE/
Wild Beasts debut album 'Limbo, Panto' can be purchased from Domino Records.

'Obviously 4 Believers- Then I'll Be Leaving You' Audiocribbler single review

2008-06-16T19:06:00.005+01:00

Review

Obviously 4 Believers: Then I'll Be Leaving You

Type: Single
Date Released: 01/08/08

Label: Shifty Disco (download)

Your Rating:

Unrated

Simon Jay Catling

Obviously 4 Believers (a canny play on a Bob Dylan song title there you see readers?) are a four piece with a sound rooted in the 90’s; oddly this isn’t as bad as you would at first think. For whilst it’s a familiar path that the Lancashire based group furrow, they possess enough artistry and passion to ensure that ‘Then I’ll Be Leaving You’ doesn’t merely slip into the realms of Arctic Monkeys wannabes.

With an opening reminiscent of ‘Country Boy’ by The Charlatans this is definitely a band who are unafraid to wear their influences on their sleeve, and in this case why shouldn’t they? Lead singer Sam Hayward possesses a true rock n’ roll screech that cuts nicely between Manchester mainstay Tim Burgess and White Stripes front man Jack White. Adam Hartley’s guitar meanwhile sprawls summery blues riffs throughout this two and a half minute indie stomp.

Granted, it might not be the most original song in the world but it does the job of an immediate, energetic pop number well; the four piece clearly know their way around a catchy hook and show a tightness that at the end of the day is the key in creating this type of music. Indeed if anyone’s in need of a pick up, a quick blast through this pleasing nod to British rock’s linearity should leave rather a broad grin on your face.

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/PURCHASE/
'Then I'll Be Leaving You' can be purchased from the band's Myspace from August 1st.

Yaaaaay, more free downloads on this blog

2008-06-15T22:24:00.005+01:00

Yes, for whilst my podcast is on an indefinite hiatus, I've decided to offer at least something for you chaps to take away with you as reward for courageously forcing yourself to read through over zealous review after over zealous review. Basically, where possible, I've gone back through most of the reviews that are on this blog already and added a track by each band featured for either streaming and/or downloading! This is a trend I'm going to continue (as well as scouring for Free EPs, Albums and whatnot that bands and artists are throwing up on the internet). So dig in!

Talking of which, a band I reviewed a couple of months ago called, A Word Like Attack, have made their debut EP available for free on their Myspace (in fact they did this quite some time ago). The tracklisting runs as thus:

A.Word.Like.Attack - Everyday I Start Running
Chapter I: Thursday Morning
Chapter II: The Detective
Chapter III: They Will Hunt Us Down Like Dogs
Chapter IV: The Guilty Don't Stand Still

You can download this EP from www.myspace.com/awordlikeattack

In other news, I got pretty bored this afternoon and decided to concoct up a muxtape. Muxtape is a wonderful idea that will hopefully become even more so once they allow you to upload .m4a's and get more bandwidth. Anyway, I've included 11 tracks for your listening pleasure, no real theme, just songs that go together before twisting off on a noise-rock tangent towards the end..

Listen at http://jarock87.muxtape.com

As ever, thanks for those who read this.

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/PURCHASE/
A.Word.Like.Attack's new EP 'Ships That Hung In The Sky' is available from the band's Myspace

The Hop- God Is In The TV Review

2008-06-15T18:56:00.004+01:00

Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man, Grammatics, Napoleon IIIrd, Daybreakers, The ABC Club
Bradford Hop., 31st May 2008
Simon Jay Catling

The Hop (Part of Bradford Music Week)

The acts on the bill merely had to turn up today, because the overall winner of Bradford’s Hop is the city itself. It’s a simple idea: round up the best of the areas best up and coming bands (plus a few from Leeds), cram them into two of the city centre’s best loved venues (The Love Apple and Delius), and charge an eye-poppingly cheap £5 for the whole day. This reviewer missed the likes of Sons and Daughters, Johnny Foreigner, This Et Al and more, yet is about to write paragraphs waxing lyrical on the quality of the acts that he did see; as good an indication as any as to the quality of this event.

First into the fray at the darkened, intimate surroundings of the Love Apple are Bradford six piece ‘Daybreakers’; their set brings to mind the potential result of Mark Ronson deciding to remix all of Led Zeppelin IV. Put bluntly there’s brass sections and guitar solos fucking everywhere; a shrewd choice by the organisers to open up with an energetic and full blooded act, but as the vocalist and lead guitarist fret-wanks his way through yet another piece of 70’s hair rock it seems he’s a little oblivious to the pretty much universally accepted formula that brass band + Jimmy Page = a little bit jarring. Nevertheless one has to commend his energy as he growls, thrusts and noodle’s his way through half an hour of thirty year old rock n’roll roll champagne. It’s a mere shimmy through the bar to get to room 2 in the Love Apple although at first it appears that a couple of young scallywags have broken into the venue and are about to nick off with the upcoming performer’s instruments; stop thief! Oh wait, sorry its only room two’s opening act ‘Alt Track’. The duo surprise on two counts; firstly, telling them to act their age and not their shoe size would probably see little difference in behaviour; secondly, their on stage confidence and performance is that o two performers way and above their age. Drowning out the inevitable ageist gags with a sweeping, IDM backed, atmospheric opening track, it’s clear that Alt Track are a band with bags of potential; seeing the route lead by the likes of 65 Days Of Static, Errors et al and thinking “yeah we’ll have a slice of that”. One ill-advised rap aside from the younger looking of the two, this is a set high on ambition even if at times they fail to quite reach the heights they’ve set themselves. Even so there’s plenty of time for the duo to grow and develop and exciting times are set to be ahead for them.

A change of scenery’s needed in the form of the gruelling ascent up the road to Delius; in reality its just a couple of minutes stroll up the hill but in this fat reviewer living inside a thin reviewer’s body it’s not long before the sweat comes cascading down my forehead like the Niagara Falls. However, once I get to Delius, essentially a large and friendly (and cheap!) pub, I don’t look too foolish as Tom Nova, the lead singer from ‘Redwire’, is positively doing front crawl in his own perspiration. Let’s not take too much away from him though as he leads his four piece through a frantic and energetic set. On record one suspects that Redwire follow the British rock linearity that threads through the Sex Pistols, Oasis and the Arctic Monkeys, yet live they not only play twice the speed (in fact looking at it, guitarist Joe Parkinson could pass out at any moment), lead singer Nova is absolutely everywhere: bashing synths, in the crowd, on the floor. It’s an inspired performance from the locals and easily draws the best reception of the day. Captivating in an entirely different way is ‘The ABC Club’s’ lead vocalist Zandra Klievens; slenderly put together and holding herself awkwardly in a cardigan and jeans, the singer stares vacuously out at the crowd through two gorgeous large eyes, causing at least 50% of said crowd to fall in love that instant. It helps that in the four other members behind her she has a band who touch on shoegaze whilst retaining a very pop-like charm; Jordan Radcliffe and Sam Marns compliment each other instead of going to war in trying to build up soaring yet familiar sounds. Highlight of the set is the song ‘43’, Klievens mournful vocals sweep across the venue with a power that belies her stature. It’s quite simply a performance of absolute brilliance.

The bar’s been set for ‘Grammatics’ then; a band very much making waves of their own. In Owen Brindley they too possess a lead singer of the gorgeously captivating variety; a man straight out of the Brett Anderson school of front man attitude. Today though slight problems with the percussion (problems it has to be said that seem monitor related) mean the band struggle to truly show their undoubted class. ‘Shadow Committee’ and ‘Polar Swelling’ seem to fill the entire room with their avant-garde (am I allowed to say math rock?) slants, but frustratingly ‘D.I.L.E.M.M.A’, the bands new single and arguably strongest pop song, malfunctions as the off-kilter percussion drifts in and out of time. Cue grim faces all around at the end of the set; nevertheless this too is another band with huge potential, and potential which will most likely be realised. At the very least they’ve made yours truly question his own sexuality, not bad for half an hour surely guys? Back in the Love Apple, ‘Napoleon IIIrd’ has invited all of his mates into room 2 for his performance; that’s how it feels anyway as a warm and familiar crowd sing along and smile to tracks from Napoleon’s album ‘In Debt To’. It’s a relaxed and assured performance from a singer who looks set to become an unlikely hero over the summer. Thunderous noises from next door cause me to abandon an interval pint just to see what all the fuss is about; when I get there it’s to see that four piece ‘Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man’ are whipping up an epic, smouldering concoction of all things dark and beautiful. Despite clearly misjudging the spirit of your average Yorkshire crowd (“We really love Bradford, it’s a wonderful place” is greeted by a large amount of laughter from those in attendance, ) OELM are yet another standout performance in a long line of them today; singer Frederick Blood-Royale’s voice staccatos and booms its way through the venue with songs about fatherhood and Adam & Eve, whilst drummer ‘Edward Quarmby’ thunders on behind in a way that can’t fail to force the guitarist and bassist to fight back in a rampaging cacophony of deep, dark noise.

The final name on the bill I see today couldn’t possibly be more of a contrast. ‘Paul Marshall’ sits contentedly holding his acoustic guitar with only an electric cellist for company. Whilst I stand thinking about how excellent but unlikely it would be to describe myself as such one day, the recently signed Rough Trade artist starts strumming and the room melts away. Adding to the Love Apple’s already established cosy atmosphere is the fact that during the set almost everyone is sat on the floor, staring up engrossed in the singer’s performance. Comparisons with ‘Nick Drake’ are as obvious as they are unavoidable but Marshall, through his performance, allows his songs to reach through to a crowd a touch more than I could ever envisage Drake’s doing. In a journalist, talking-out-of-my-arse roundabout way I guess I’m trying to say that Marshall’s songs have a very mainstream accessibility; but that’s nothing to be sneered at because if you go to the heart of them all they share the same beat as their creator. Don’t be fooled by these songs either, for underneath the gentle strumming and hushed vocals lie lyrics of relationship breakdowns, lost loves and murder.

Indeed, if ever there was any evidence that the white rose of Yorkshire is currently handing out a sound musical drubbing to the red rose across the Pennines then The Hop is surely it. Whilst Manchester rumbles incessantly on, searching for the next flash in the pan success stories and ignoring its genuinely talented artists, the east is currently host to a huge number of acts that may not be hitting the mainstream subconscious quite yet, but who are nevertheless going to be remembered for a long time after the likes of ‘The Courteneers’ and ‘The Ting Tings’ have started picking up their benefit cheques.

Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man Myspace
Grammatics Myspace

DOWNLOAD
Alt Track - Pedestrianised

Napoleon IIIrd - Defibrilator

Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man - The Drowned And The Saved

The ABC Club - 43

Grammatics - D.I.L.E.M.M.A

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/PURCHASE/
Alt Track's debut EP 'A Nation Is On Fire' can be purchased from the duo's Myspace. 50% of the cost goes to Amensty International
Napoleon IIIrd's debut album 'In Debt To' can be purchased from RecordStore.co.uk
Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man's latest EP 'The Lay Of The Land: The Turn Of The Tide' can be purchased from HMV.
Grammatics new single 'D.I.L.E.M.M.A' is available from Dance To The Radio.

A Classic Education- First EP

2008-06-11T23:33:00.003+01:00

A Classic Education - The First EP
Simon Jay Catling

When, like me, you are sitting outside in the glorious sunshine with nothing to do in the foreseeable future other than turning over to make sure that your back gets a good browning (and this is in the North East folks! Who said global warming was a bad thing?), then bands like A Classic Education are pretty the only type of music you ever need listen to at this point in time. The Italian-based three piece (six when performing live), release their first EP only a year after forming, and for such a fledgling effort the five songs in here contain cohesion and poise that can only come across as a pleasant surprise.

Support slots with the likes of Arcade Fire and Modest Mouse have clearly rubbed off on A Classic Education, their sound falling somewhere in between the two and with traces of underrated Swede’s Last Days Of April thrown in for good measure. ‘Stay, Son’ is the rousing, foot tapping opener, with lush strings shaping and moulding four minutes of orchestral tinged pop. Don’t mistake this for some band who’ve merely seen Canada’s finest make it big and decided to hop on the bandwagon though; the lead vocals come across as emotional and heartfelt and the EP as a whole tugs at the heart strings with real passion. ‘Lovers Barricade’ drifts into murkier territory, the percussion and guitars meeting somewhere down in the depths before a crescendo rises out of the mist. ‘Victories At Night’ very much follows the path of the lead off track; settling itself down into the rootsier areas of American alternative indie as hauntingly deep, booming drums settle into the background, allowing the vocals to soar and cut through the atmosphere before another slow build up leads into another emphatic ending. A Classic Education could be criticised here for following a similar pattern a little too often, finding an agreeable sound and sticking to it rather too resolutely, and it’s something that might begin to tire in the context of an entire album. Here though it does just fine and the dreamlike saunter through ‘Badlands & Owls’ really allows the percussion and strings to work in harmony to provide the most straight ahead pop song on the EP. ‘Wartime’ provides an understated end to proceedings, sounding like iLiKETRAiNS if they stopped singing about history for a bit.

For a first full EP this is extremely promising, and with an appearance at Indie Tracks Festival coming up this summer, it could be that A Classic Education prove to be one of the hits of the weekend. ‘First EP’ is a collection of songs that whilst at times suffer a little from over similarity, clearly show a band with their hearts and passions in the right place. And on a delightful summer’s day what more could you want?

First EP is available from

A Classic Education Myspace

12/06/2008

/LISTEN/
A Classic Education - Stay Son

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/PURCHASE/
A Classic Education's debut EP 'First EP' is available from the band's Myspace.

Jacob Golden Interview

2008-06-03T19:18:00.005+01:00

This was supposed to be for God Is In The TV but they don't seem to have put it up. Here it is for your perusal anyway.

Jacob Golden

For a man who possesses a singing voice of quite startling power and energy, it comes as a bit of a surprise to find Jacob Golden a quiet and at times shy presence on the other end of a phone line. The Californian solo artist is currently on a brief tour of our green and pleasant land in support of Sarabeth Tucek before a headlining show at the famous Troubador in London, famous for being the first venue in our delightful capital that Bob Dylan ever played at; a fact not lost on Golden, who confesses to being particularly excited about playing at the venue; “it’s certainly got a lot of history. It’s a place that harks back to the 60’s and the cafes of Soho, the whole English folk scene and artists coming from America coming across to play- a real romantic time. I'm honoured to be playing it; there's a certain energy about the place."

Yet his live shows don’t always take place in such salubrious backgrounds. In America, the Sacramento-born artist has become well known for his ‘house concerts’- taking time out during his touring schedule to play in fans living rooms in whichever town he happens to be in; it’s a concept he warmed to instantly and views some of his best performances as those taking place away from the confines of a stage. “There’s no PA, no stage- it’s just about the songs. I think my music works best when there's nothing between the song and the room, that’s probably how I prefer the way of doing it." That’s not to say Jacob doesn’t enjoy playing more conventional venues, and it’s an area he thrives in. On one of the times I’ve been lucky enough to catch him live, he’s successfully managed to turn a chattering, disinterested crowd into one of thunderstruck awe; never possessing anything more on stage than his acoustic guitar, the singer manages to engage a crowd simply with the conviction and dynamic of his voice. Heart wrenching emotional deliveries of lost love ballads such as ‘Love You’ contrast with softer, more up tempo “pop” songs like ‘Shoulders’- both from his excellent second album ‘Revenge Songs’, released last year. Without seeming to be the type to blow his own trumpet, Golden nevertheless recognises the diverse quality of his music and what he can do with it live: “My music does have different shades,” he comments: “Live, I don't change the melodies much, but I like to take the dynamic to different places depending on the venue. Solo-wise it’s always a bit of an experiment and I want to keep things that way; I don’t want to stick to a formula, for me the performance is as much a part of the art as writing the songs,” he muses before, fearful of heaping too much praise on himself, he laughs, “but I suppose when it does becomes formulaic I’ll know it’s time to try something different.”

If maybe a little bashful, there’s no doubting Jacob Golden’s passion and vision for his work. When he speaks about his music, it’s with a very clear direction and feeling; a lot of artists can feel at odds with their muse, but the acoustic troubadour is happy and at ease when discussing his own work. Interestingly for a man who freely admits on his own blog that he’s “certainly not banging down the doors of the mainstream”, he has in fact collaborated with a rather impressive array of talent; notably Chris Martin and Michael Stipe for ambient electronica DJ Faultline, as well as composer Nitin Sawnhey amongst others. For a singer who live seems so confined in his intimate surroundings, his positive words on such collaborations come across as a surprise; “I do like the idea of stepping into different roles, and when I do it with different people they get different aspects of my personality. I have a side project called ‘Little Foxes’ which hasn't made its way out to the world yet, but is much more experimental and electronic than what I do by myself. The cool thing about doing collaborations is that I'm able to bring back little aspects of that and add it to my own music so it works both ways.”

What to expect then in the near future from him? Well for starter’s, copies of a live EP will be available from the London gig and there seems to be an intent for more to come. Recorded at RAK studios in the capital, the artist invited thirty people into recording and played live in front of them, an idea that reminds him, again, of the 60s: “I like that you can listen to Jimi Hendrix records and there's times when you can hear people hanging out in the studio and getting into it; there’s a certain vibe to that. The EP’s like a volume one; the idea is to keep putting out live recordings. I think there's something different that comes out when you’re singing in front of an audience instead of by yourself. But doing it in a studio means it’s the best of both worlds because I do like having the space to experiment in the studio and the solitariness of that.”

Also to coming out on May 26^th is new single ‘On A Saturday’; a track that gained attention in America after appearing on the final ever episode of Californian teen drama the OC. To merely attribute that fact to the song is to do an injustice however. The song concerns a time earlier in Golden’s life when he first came over to live in London; and indeed it is a city he still enjoys despite eventually returning to the West Coast. “When I first came everything was brand new, and there was an energy to that which was very exciting. Now I've been a lot, it does lose that brand new quality. But in some ways it’s my second home, I feel a little bit more on the inside: I’ve experienced it and have friends here. I’ll never be the kind of person who becomes so infatuated with a place that they actually want to become part of it, I like to be a bit on the outside; but at the same time it’s different than just being a tourist.” And of the single itself? “On a Saturday's a little bit sweeter, slightly softer than my other stuff. It’s also my catchiest pop song at the moment; it’s not entirely fashionable and goes

back to my love for the Beach Boys and also 70’s folk music, which isn’t necessarily the stuff that’s on the radio at the moment”, and then, in a rare instant that allows him to bring the confidence he possesses within to the surface, he promises “but it will find its way out there.”

A folk-influenced singer sitting on the outside about to break in? I think there was a certain artist in that position when he played The Troubadour in the 60s wasn’t there?

Jacob Golden plays The Troubadour in London on 3^rd June.

/DOWNLOAD/

Jacob Golden - Hold Your Hair Back

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/PURCHASE/
Jacob Golden's latest album 'Revenge Songs' is available from Rough Trade

MAPS Festival Review at Audioscribbler

2008-06-01T14:01:00.001+01:00

Review

How's My Pop?/The Ending Of.../The City Joy Cons/Little Engines/El Condorez: Maps Festival, Joe's Bar, Manchester

Type: Live
Date: 24/05/08

Your Rating:

Unrated

Simon Jay Catling

To say that Manchester has an abundance of live music going on this weekend would be akin to suggesting one of their football clubs was a bit happy with the result on Wednesday. With Eurocultured taking place down Oxford Road, and the Warehouse Project back for a “final” farewell this weekend, it seems an odd choice for the city’s bohemian trendy Northern Quarter to throw a festival. However, that they have and with 20 venues taking in the likes of the Ruby Lounge, Night & Day, Roadhouse and more, it makes sure that it more than holds its own against the competition. Tonight however I’m in Joe’s Bar; not the most obvious place for a live music venue, there’s a hotel upstairs and the bar itself is filled with a mixture of daily commuters, tracksuit clad scallies and bizarre old ladies in leather jackets.

This doesn’t seem to phase El Condorez in the slightest. The three piece have clearly played together for a long time; the bassist’s sandpapered facial hair shows the odd fleck of grey and the lead singer’s shredded jeans and white vest top look a little silly on him. Their music however, which is relentlessly cheesy 70’s rock n’ roll, is delivered with an emphatic energy. It’s all there: the poses, the drum rolls, the sprawling riffs, the sexually ambiguous use of guitars. To say that El Condorez belong in a different era is no understatement, especially with the other fresh faced acts on tonight’s bill forming most of the crowd here; yet their live show is undoubtedly tight and entertaining and does its job very nicely. In contrast, Little Engines look like they won’t be doing a job at all tonight; the three piece, with a combined age of about fifteen (probably) turn up completely wasted and minus amps and cymbals.

A quick whip round conjures up the required equipment, yet the drummer sets up the hi-hat with the speed of a sloth on vacation, staring hard at the borrowed cymbal as though willing it to arrange itself. Somewhat irritatingly though, when Little Engines finally do get round to their set they turn out to be rather good. Sure the bassist looks like he’s in another world and the drummer appears to be toppling off his stool every other song but when you possess the type of afro influenced pop songs as Engines do it’s easy to get away with. Added to this is that their singer, who surely could be Kele Okerele’s younger brother, possesses the kind of Alex Turner-esque voice that could quite easily attract the attention of “the people”, whoever they might be. There’s a very real sense of Manchester that oozes out of these young gentlemen, not the swaggering cocksure attitude of the Gallagher brothers, but something that’s undoubtedly ingrained in the youngsters from the whole spectrum of the city’s musical heritage.

If Little Engines look like they’d merely taken time out from getting stoned in the park to turn up tonight, the same can’t be said of The City Joy Cons. Daft name maybe, but the five piece possess three synths, two guitars and more pedals than a Coronation Street sewing factory and set about using them to good effect. Hailing from Essex, the Cons rip their way through a bristling 25 minute set that throws the synth into the middle of two frantic guitars and watches to see whether it can fight its way out again. The lead singer’s voice comes across a bit lightweight at times for sure, but overall The City Joy Cons have the look of a very polished looking outfit. Tight musicianship seems all the rage tonight in fact as follow up act The Ending Of play a longer than anticipated set that starts off a touch heavy on the angst ridden side, but rallies to whip up a stirring emotional climax of noise around a lead singer who possesses charisma in abundance. My easy-guide-to-journalism book tells me to place his voice somewhere between Gerard Way and Robert Smith so that’s where he shall go, and rightly deserved too; this three piece managed to create a sound worthy of band’s possessing twice their number and they proceed to thunder to the end of their set.

Headliners How’s My Pop? (pictured) have been lurking about the venue all evening, hiding in the shadows all pale and ghoulish. Eyeing them up, it seems unsure what to make of them; the task of following a couple of high octane acts seems like it might be enough to send them off into the land of nod. To be fair though they’ve only been here all night because everyone else is using their bass amp and that was a tribulation in itself. Turns out we needn’t have worried anyway as the Lancashire foursome provide a powerful and full blooded sound that allows subtlety and melodic sound to seep in without compromising any of its dynamism.

A Hammond organ turns everything all Cold War Kids but the lead singer/guitarist simply refuses to let the music to lull into anything remotely resembling constant; scattering the keyboards and percussion with short, sharp solos and wrapping his excellent playing around a sound that in a strange juxtaposed way feels as much as though it belongs to the past as much as it portrays a gateway into the future. Lyrically they’re excellent; laments about “the red stain on the English flag” rub shoulders comfortably with more typical lovelorn efforts. The small but appreciative crowd will them on and as the final chords crash down on a forty minute set that takes in summery pop, 60’s rock’n’roll, country-ish tendencies and a whole lot more in between, it’s clear that How’s My Pop? have successfully managed to steal the show. And coming on top of what was a pleasantly surprising bill that’s no mean feat.

El Condurez

Little Engines

The City Cons

The Ending Of

Hows My Pop?

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Hows My Pop? - Laura Laura

Lesson Learnt..

2008-06-01T11:34:00.005+01:00

An 'anonymous' commenter has continuously drawn reference to the fact I have my details wrong on the vocalists who perform on Maybeshewill's album. Obviously it's an absolute necessity before you can even write a review to get your facts right and in this case I haven't. Made me realise how dependent writer's can get on the press releases that are sent their way with a new release; I reviewed Maybeshewill after buying it so I had to find out all the blurb myself, clearly the source I found it from was incorrect which as the delightfully succinct 'mr anonymous' puts makes it a 'poorly informed review'. Lesson learnt and in future I'll be making sure I get all my facts right before getting my review down!

To make up for this, here's a couple of tunes for downloading. First is from the aforementioned Maybeshewill album; the title track of the album Not For Want Of Trying- a truly spine tingling track that features a brilliant exert from the film Network, starring Peter Finch.
Maybeshewill - Not For The Want Of Trying

The second song I'm giving to you is by a band who I only heard about and saw for the first time yesterday at the excellent Bradford Music Week mini-festival The Hop. A full review will be up at some point hopefully, but in possession a lead singer who was utterly captivating, the four piece played a half hour set that contained ethereal guitars and mournful vocals yet with a percussional urge that stopped it from wallowing entirely in the depths of emotion. Brilliant stuff, although this demo doesn't really do the live performance justice it's still a fine recording.

The Debuts- White Lies

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Coming up in the next few days...a new Angry Teenager, a feature on Jacob Golden, live reviews of Bradford Music Week and Maps Festival..Thanks for reading!

The Music- Strength In Numbers album review

2008-05-20T01:34:00.001+01:00

The Music - Strength in Numbers (Polydor)
Simon Jay Catling

Six years ago, things were a lot different. Nu-metal was on the way out, The Libertines were on the way in; I was but a multi-octave voiced fourteen year old dusting myself down after getting used to the idea that Limp Bizkit weren’t really that great, and that owning the Ministry Of Sound Annual didn’t equate to possessing a ‘diversity in music taste’. On my pubescent voyage through music, I took with me Muse, Placebo and (somewhat ill-fatedly) My Vitriol. There was another band though who didn’t make it all the way through. Upon leaving school two years ago Muse were bigger than ever and Placebo were still grudgingly receiving regular airings on my speakers. For Leeds four piece The Music however, it looked like the end of the road. A self-titled debut album of startling energy and baggy-era joy de vivre had become the soundtrack to an otherwise dull year 10; and when I finally got to see the group live in 2004, they sent the creaking Northumbria University venue into delirium for almost two hours. With ‘Welcome To The North’ showing a step forward for the group, it seemed in my then naïve sixteen year old eyes that The Music were going to be huge. But then, just as quickly as they rose, they fell away and went silent. I grew up, left school, hit my indie elitist phase and went to University where I started listening to bands who never sang, and for whom a song less than seven minutes long would be deemed a potential single.

It’s with the air of an old flame then that The Music return in 2008. A band who could quite rightfully claim that they were “nu-rave” a long time before such piss poor genre names were dreamt up are back to find the likes of the Klaxons earning praise for marrying dance and rock in a far flimsier manner than the Kippax group managed to do so over half a decade earlier. What marked The Music’s debut out as such a crossover success was that they managed to bottle the atmosphere they created live and contain it in the studio: no cheap casio keyboards, no needless squiggles and bleeps and no fucking glo-sticks- just rhythms and riffs. Fast forward a bit and fans of the band will be pleased to know that it appears Rob Harvey has come out of hiding with an intent to revisit those days, as the title track opens the album with a sharp, glitchy snare that punctuates Adam Nutter’s jagged guitar. It’s a great return for the band and can’t fail to put a smile on the face. Better yet is ‘The Spike’, which simmers and bubbles before bursting forth into the kind of chorus that can surely be classified by now as ‘The Music stomp’. Harvey’s lyrics throughout the album focus very much on trying to leave the past behind, moving forward and finding unity; a simple message and one which admittedly sometimes comes across a little elementary (“how can I fly if you won’t give me wings”). The conviction of his delivery rings through however- after all, this is a man who has faced more than his fair share of demons in the intervening years between albums: drugs, deaths and depression have all left their mark on the lead singer who, at still only 25 years old, comes across as a far more composed and measured person. In tandem with this outlook, the band aren’t scared to attempt new things either- ‘Idle’ lurks in the depths; all hushed vocals and deep bass, to portray a very ambient vibe of techno.

However, the best bits on ‘Strength In Numbers’ remain those that recall The Music at their early, thrilling best. The aforementioned title track and ‘The Spike’ aside, there’s plenty of other standout moments that’ll please fans old and new. ‘Fire’ doesn’t hang about: a three minute dance floor filler that surges through your brain and out again before you even have time to take breath; perhaps even topping the heady heights of ‘Take The Long Road’ and co. ‘Get Through It’ jitters and shudders its way through the verse to once again launch an all-or-nothing epic of a chorus upon our ear drums, allowing Harvey’s voice to leap and soar through the tight riffs and driving percussion. ‘No Weapon Sharper Than A Will’ meanwhile really does turn time back to those house parties and late summer nights of youth- a simple snare and hi-hat keeps things steady before erupting into an all encompassing call-to-arms that pisses all over The Whip in the art of providing rock ready rave music. Sadly, like the return of all lost loves, things don’t always feel quite so right; because for every great moment on this album, there’s another song just round the corner that tries to ape it just a little too much- as though The Music, having nailed down a sound of their own, are desperate to ring every last drop out of it. No one was expecting them to return with another ‘Too High’ or ‘Human’, but with such a relentless pursuit of an energetic and accelerated sound, the band at times retread familiar paths a tad too much. Hence why ‘Drugs’ goes on a minute or two too long, and why many of the songs- ‘The Vision’ and ‘The Last One’ to name but two, share the same tempo and rhythms as others on the album. The idea is clear: the percussion holds the album together, but the execution is such that it can come across as repetitive. Added to this is the unsatisfactory ‘Inconceivable Odds’ closing the album out; whilst an acoustic ballad is a welcome change of direction, its place at the finale of the album is deeply misplaced. Breaking up the endless snare/hi-hat disco rhythms of the album’s mid section would have been ideal; tacked on as an afterthought is not.

As with all reunions then, I am filled with a confusing mix of emotions. Yes, this is The Music who I fell in love with way back when; when to me great music previously consisted of little more than heavy metal and guys with red caps on backwards rapping and fitting as many ‘fucks’ in a song as their record label would allow. At their best on this album they are at their absolute best yet. ‘Fire’ is a three minute electric shock to the senses; ‘The Spike’ drives in and forces your heartstrings to dance just as much as it does your feet. Yet at times this is an album a little short on ideas; having a great sound is one thing, developing it and evolving it is another matter. The heart wants to praise this to high heaven, but the head says ‘not quite there yet’. Let’s make one thing clear though: given time The Music could and should finally realise the potential that’s been fermenting inside them for years. This may be just a stepping stone, but as first ones go, it’s a mightily pleasing one.

19/05/2008

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BUY

The Music's third album 'Strength In Numbers' can be purchased from Amazon.

Maybeshewill- Not For The Wanting Of Trying revew

2008-05-20T01:31:00.002+01:00

Review

Maybeshewill: Not For Want of Trying

Type: Album
Date Released: 12/05/08

Label: Field Records

Your Rating:

Unrated

Simon Jay Catling (14.05.08)

Since when did Leicester become the hotbed of all things post rock and instrumental? Her Name Is Calla are making ripples and are soon to be heading up to Leeds, where an undoubted increase in attention awaits them; and now we have the debut full length LP from four piece Maybeshewill. The band showed promise in 2006 with the EP Japanese Spy Transcripts- four tracks undoubtedly indebted to 65 Days Of Static but containing enough originality, pitch and emotion to hold their own unique sound. ‘The Paris Hilton Sex Tape’ makes another, re-recorded, appearance here as does a follow up to ‘He Films The Clouds’. Yet this is a group who’ve grown since then and whilst the glitchy, IDM influenced percussion and effects are still there, they’ve been allied by new sounds and greater expanse so as to provide a terrifically exciting, energetic and diverse album.

The quietly disarming introduction of ‘Ixnay On The Autoplay’ does little to prepare the listener for what is ahead, and is hence swiftly split apart by the atmospheric rumbling drums of ‘Seraphim & Cherubim’; a song that seems by its nature of full throttled riffs and ceaseless energy to be tailor made for a live setting. The ear searing guitars fall away however to be replaced by simple yet effective keyboards, before the two contrasting armies of sound come back together in a crashing crescendo of a finale. The redone ‘Paris Hilton Sex Tape’ comes with additional added muscle and an increased emphasis on a fuller sounding, heavier track. Its age does tell however in that it remains Maybeshewill’s most telling nod to their contemporaries taking in both Mogwai and 65 Days Of Static on its electronically charged, ear-bludgeoning three and a half minutes. In contrast ‘I’m In Awe Amadeus!’ fails to live up to its title, proving one of the weaker tracks as Maybeshewill opt to play it safe with a slow gurning melody hiding itself behind some overly frothy layering.

Form is regained though with the Slint-esque spiky brilliance of ‘We Called For An Ambulance But A Fire Engine Came’ that drills away at the brain in sharp, angry bursts; before a calm descends with soaring strings bringing giving respite. Indeed it’s in the quieter parts of this album that Maybeshewill manage to play their trump card: when shorn of the vacuum of sound building up behind them, the four piece opt for the simple options and intertwine them together instead of fidgeting around with unnecessary time changes or piano-wankery. Whilst it can mean subtlety goes out of the window, its effect is such that the calming beauty of its emotion shines through as strongly as any of their powerfully moving walls of sound. Then delightfully, during ‘Heartflusters’, we hear a most surprising but wonderful thing: vocals! And not just thrown in as an afterthought either. As John Helps asks ‘are you feeling the walls closing in?’ you can feel the wonderful juxtaposition to the uplifting, fragile music behind him- not unlike Thom Yorke’s solo title track ‘The Eraser’. Helps in fact provides an uncanny impersonation of the Radiohead man but just as the music appears to be drifting up towards somewhere untoward, the electric storm returns as the chanted refrain ‘stop, do not engage’ is submerged under a torrent of fuzz and glitch before ‘C.N.T.R.C.K.T’ roars into life with an unrelenting power and intensity.

In the consequence of all this, the final three tracks come across as an extended finale to the entire album. ‘He Films Clouds Pt. 2’ allows to bassist Tanya Byrne to take the lead on vocals after a suitably epic build up, as the piano and percussion build ominously behind her and the familiar hook from Japanese Spy Transcript’s ‘Pt. 1’ returns as a haunting presence. Title track ‘Not For Wanting Of Trying’ is something else though. The sound is of the group expending every last ounce of energy that they have, as though they’ve reached breaking point yet refuse to yield. Once again its simple but effective; raging metal gives way to isolated splendour, xylophones and, curiously, Peter Finch’s ‘Mad as Hell’ speech from Network. Readers may be aware that the already mentioned 65 Days Of Static have a collection of bootlegs floating round known as ‘Unreleased/Unreleasable’. Take the best of that, saw off the rough edges and what you get is ‘Not For The Wanting Of Trying’ which, even amidst such exhorted surroundings, comes across as nothing short of a masterpiece and is in effect the final track, short of the slow, winding down outro of ‘Takotsubo’.

Maybeshewill are a band with awesome potential; but what comes across from the above few sentences is that we’re dealing with an epic, sprawling, long haul of an album. Yet as the final strains of ‘Takotsubo’ fade out, the whole thing has clocked in at under forty minutes. The range of the pallet that they’ve created in this album is worthy of attention, that they fit it all into such a compact timeframe whilst losing none of their expanse and gravitas is nothing short of startling. In a year which has already seen a slew of stellar albums released right across the board, ‘Not For The Want Of Trying’ is an LP that rightly deserves it’s place right amongst them- daft song titles and all.

DOWNLOAD
Maybeshewill - Not For Want Of Trying

Matthew Bourne- The Molde Concert Live CD Review

2008-05-13T14:42:00.003+01:00

I was browsing through the website of one of my favourite pianists Matthew Bourne today and on browsing through the views was rather stunned to see a rather poor review I'd written about his live CD 'The Molde Concert'. Released last summer the album is a live recording from a 2005 concert that took place at the Molde Jazz Festival in Norway. I wrote a piece about this CD on this very blog last summer (before I gave it a big revamp this last January). Anyway, Bourne's offical website has seen fit to include it with other press cuttings off his work. Enjoy:

"And now for something completely different. Leeds College Of Music lecturer Matthew Bourne is probably one of the most unclassifyable musicians in the world. Lumped in with a Jazz crowd that bares little or no resemblance to the pianists freestyled, avant-garde way of doing things. Nevertheless Bourne is beginning to build a cult following in Jazz circles, his compositions a refreshing breakout from the rules and restrictions that define even such a free genre as Jazz. It would not be so far fetched to say in fact that Bourne shares a lot more in common with the likes of rock contemporaries the Mars Volta than anyone from the Jazz world with his erratic displays of random soundbursts, percussive use of the piano and sprawling, fastpaced performance. This live album taken from his performance in Molde, Norway during 2005 showcases exactly what Bourne is all about. Playing in reaction to a series of sampled visual and audio aids on a large screen behind him the best comparison to make of the Leeds pianist's arrangements is to that of old Disney cartoon music as the melodies followed the buffoonery actions of Tom and Jerry et al. Indeed thats what this is, mood music as opposed to a conventional construction. Bourne shows that as long as something is played with feeling and meaning it can be as effective on an audience as anything else out there. Highlights include the track Sim, as Bourne picks up a spoken sample from Homer Simpson and follows the pitch of his voice on piano, and following track America which bastardises the 'Dicks, Pussies and Assholes' speech from Team America to whip a frenzied, tortured piano movement that becomes angrier and angrier each time. Bourne's wit and humour are clear throughout the gig, ironically making track Stupidity the most coherent and sustained period of piano playing throughout whilst Beaty is exactly what it says on the tin as the artist decides to use his piano as a percussion instrument. This is an album that portrays a man flowing with ideas, perhaps a DVD would have been more accessible to first time listeners but then Bourne has never really been about accessibility. Either loved as a free thinker striving to explore new boundaries or hated as a some sort of lame joke whose compositions bare absolutely nothing in common with music whatsoever he'll always be controversial. If you can embrace the notion of the Molde Concert as emotion and reaction over standard convention however then these set of recordings really are something to inspire and change your whole perspective on how you view music as a whole.

Jarrock, Jarock87.blogspot.com

iLiKETRAiNS Live review

2008-05-07T11:56:00.001+01:00

iLiKETRAiNS, Kyte
Roadhouse, 30th April 2008
Simon Jay Catling

It takes a bold and often foolish band to try and upstage iLiKETRAiNS, yet Kyte are five young men from Leicester who seem hell bent on doing just this. Taking the piss somewhat by arriving to set up some fifteen minutes late, and then going on to play almost ten minutes overtime; the support act aren’t so much as trying to pull the rug from under the headliners feet, more rolling up the rug, hi-tailing it to a local bazaar (although to be fair, urban Manchester features few of these) and selling it off for twice the price it’s worth. Their audacious attempt to steal the show almost comes off as well; soft but searing synths wash over the audience like a gentle breeze whilst the lead vocalist half whispers his vocals so as to lose them in the now increasing gale of sound that is building up around him. Opener ‘Planet’ is sublime, and things get better as the fresh-faced musicians sweep and glide their way through four more songs of powerfully moving beauty. No wonder then that as Kyte proceed to immerse us and themselves in ‘Stars On TV’, one of iLiKETRAiNS frantically comes out of the changing room wielding a polite notice asking the band to stop stealing their audience and come down off the cloud that we’re all currently sitting upon. Or words to that effect; the gauntlet has been set.

Turns out we needn’t have worried. iLiKETRAiNS walk on sombrely; dressed, as ever, in matching white shirts and skinny black ties - when The Hives wear such items it comes across as frivolous and comic, but iLiKETRAiNS have never looked more serious about anything in their lives and as the opening, deep timbre thud of the bass drum announces ‘Twenty Five Sins’ one can almost feel the lick of flames around our feet and the screams of terror coming from distraught and terrified women and children, as the Great Fire of London begins to emit itself through iLT lead vocalist Dave Martin. The Leeds-group grab the listener’s heart and wring it tight like a spunge, then sit back and watch the blood spill forth without ever having to reveal so much as a syllable about themselves; living through history’s more tragic figures offers up a wall between them and their music, which on record can sometimes hinder, but live adds an additional cold, calculated and unnerving intensity to their performance. ‘The Deception’, the tale of sailor Donald Crowhurst who went mad out on the Atlantic, roars and rumbles stoically and resolutely, making the tiny Roadhouse venue feel like the MEN Arena down the road, so vast and expansive is its sound. By the time ‘We All Fall Down’, the fourth or fifth track tonight, rears its apocalyptic head, I realise that I’ve not stopped shaking since the set began; completely absorbed and drawn in as I am to the history lesson taking place on show in front of me. I have to extract myself for a breather as emotions soar and swell up inside me with no respite. Resistance is futile though and I return for more heart wrench and despair; feeling Nigel Tetley’s anguish at being hoodwinked by the aforementioned Crowhurst, and the sense of failure that consequently stems from that, in the stirring ‘Victress’; and feeling utterly helpless as the incessant witch hunt of Salem drives on with a bloody mindlessness in the monolithic ‘We Go Hunting’. The best is saved till last, however, as TRAiNS take the 200 or so people in attendance tonight up to the Arctic, 1912, to pray witness to Captain Scott’s terrifying realisation that he has led a crew of explorers to an impending death that neither he nor they can do anything about. I’m talking of course about the soaring, nerve shattering post rock of ‘Terra Nova’. As if overseeing the torturous death of Captain Scott isn’t enough, the band decide to really turn the thumbscrew with nine minute opus ‘Spencer Perceval’, Martin playing the role of the former British Prime Minister’s assassin John Bellingham in a sneering, mocking tumult of words directed at his fallen victim. The dual guitars gradually build up a sense of foreboding and menace before Martin reaches the eye of the storm with the cold, heartless decree to Perceval that “your position can’t save you now” and, just when the audience can’t take it anymore, the song slowly releases in a whirl of noise and energy.

So… quite good then. Whilst it’s hard to imagine iLiKETRAiNS will ever venture far from their chosen path, so deeply ingrained as it is, to see them live remains, and will continue to remain, a wholly exhilarating experience. Truly, few other bands can play with the crowd’s emotions and senses with as much ease and potency as the Leeds five piece. Coming out of the venue I feel tired and exhausted and I’m not the only one; but by God, I loved every minute.

iLiKETRAiNS Myspace
Kyte Myspace

'Doing A Radiohead', or should it be 'Doing A Trent'?

2008-05-05T19:11:00.005+01:00

Last Autumn everyone sat up and went 'wow, gosh!' as Radiohead released In Rainbows in a seemingly ingenious 'pay what you want' deal. Once all the dust settled and everyone realised that in fact it was but a cunning marketing ploy what with a physical release of the album also coming out earlier this year and with a hearty £50 a ticket tour being announced to make Oxford's finest richer than sin. Indeed it was a bold move but merely the act of a band with no label restrictions and lead man Thom Yorke has recently admitted that the group won't be doing anything of the sort again.

However...

A certain Trent Reznor, the creative input behind industrial metallists Nine Inch Nails, really seems to be taking the idea and running with it. Only a month after releasing the instrumental only Ghosts I-IV, Nine Inch Nails return with another album, The Slip. Commenting upon the band's official site, Reznor leaves a simple but gratifying statement: "thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years - this one's on me". A man re-knowned for keeping fans waiting, it's excellent to see Trent hitting a creative mine and allowing his disciples the chance to hear it for free. Let's not forget that last month's Ghosts offering came in several packages in varying prices, yet the first CD of the four was offered as a free download. Better yet, Nine Inch Nails seem positively buoyant again, refreshing to see after they slid frustratingly into the mundane towards the end of their record deal. The links for both FREE downloads are below:

THE SLIP- new album from Nine Inch Nails.

GHOSTS I-IV- a four-CD instrumental set with prices varying from FREE (Ghosts I only) to $75 (deluxe edition).

Still not convinced? Here's a track from the new album to whet your appetite:

Nine Inch Nails- Discipline (large file- Apple lossless M4a format)

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This got me thinking of other free albums and EPs made available online. This blog has already featured free albums from shoegazers Time. Space. Repeat and The Crimea as well as a free EP by London's Super Tennis (click Downloads under 'peruse these' to find.) But my friends there are more and I'll provide a small selection of links here, although oddly enough let's start with a single, Coldplay's new track.

Coldplay- Violet Hill

DOWNLOAD

Now; funnily enough having mentioned Radiohead, what should pop up a couple of months later than an album of In Rainbows remixes by producer Amplive. Resisting a 'cease and desist' threat from the group's publishers, Amplive has gone ahead and made the album available for free anyway, to get it just click below.
Amplive- Rainydayz Remixes

And here's a track from the album if your not sure:

Amplive- 15 Stepz

Contemporaries of the same time frame if not musical styles at least, The Charlatans also took advantage of label freedom and decided to offer their new album, You Cross My Path, up for free on independent radio station XFM's website:

The Charlatans- You Cross My Path

The Charlatans- Oh! Vanity

The Kabeedies single review

2008-05-01T14:25:00.001+01:00

A single review for The Kabeedies, who I gave a higher mark to than Grammatics. However on further listens I really should have knocked Grammatics up a few marks. In podcast news I'm still having bother with the software hence the lack of action on that front, just hold tight I'm afraid, it's looking like I won't be back podcasting till the summer what with exams. Reviews and downloads will continue to be forthcoming however.

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The Kabeedies - Lovers Ought To (Cherryade)
Simon Jay Catling

Straight out of the Norwichcore scene, apparently, come The Kabeedies; a group of young rapscallions whose ages range between sixteen and eighteen years old and who appear to have quite a pleasing penchant for producing the kind of inoffensive summery two minute pop songs that are very much enjoyed around this time of year.

Lead track Lovers Ought To is easily the standout track here, moving jauntily along whilst male and female vocals swap back and forth with the vibe of a more chilled out Los Campesinos!, before coming together in a sharp, punchy harmonious chorus. It certainly doesn’t set the world alight but it does do exactly what’s required of it; provide immediacy, energy and a damn good foot stomp within a short period of time. Second track Mythical Beast opens with a rather cheesy bluesy rock n’roll piano slide before jangling its way through a repetitive ‘we are all beasts, we know everything’ chorus which admittedly leaves you going ‘huh?’ but is undeniably catchy if somewhat unimaginative. The ridiculously short 90 second piece of filler that finishes off the group’s debut single pretty much sounds like most other high school bands of their ilk. This is a shame because from the opening two tracks it’s clear that the four piece have a knack for writing catchy hook laden pop songs that belie they’re years. If you’re after anything innovative here you’ll be disappointed, but if, like me, you’ve finished University/work early and enjoyed a gloriously sunny evening outside then this band are the soundtrack to it. A surprising success.

01/05/2008

The Music are back! Remix to Download

2008-04-26T18:23:00.003+01:00

One of the best about from these fair shores a few years back, The Music, recently announced the release of their third album, Strength In Numbers, on June 16th. Preceding that will be a single of the same name on 2nd June and the band are undertaking a full UK tour in June. Hurrah!

Furthermore, they've put out this download for free. Does It Offend You Yeah? tweak the knobs to new track Fire, a minute long clip of the original song is also available on Youtube (and is sounding much better than this remix admittedly). Nevertheless having seen them play MoHo in Manchester this month it appears that the group are back and strong, good to see that Rob has got his ego back and hopefully they'll be around for a couple of albums yet.

DOWNLOAD Fire (DIOYY? Remix)

Grammatics- D.I.L.E.M.M.A review

2008-04-25T01:04:00.003+01:00

Grammatics - D.I.L.E.M.M.A/Polar Swelling
Simon Jay Catling

Grammatics are a band who sure know how to make themselves contentious; featuring the kind of Foals influenced sharp, angular percussion that’s starting to be the focal point of rather a few too many bands at the moment, and coupled with vocals delivered so sincerely that they’re almost certainly going to be revered or ridiculed, D.I.L.E.M.M.A is nothing short of a bold statement by the Leeds-based quartet.

Which side of the fence am I going to fall on then? Well let’s get some hasty plus points put down here shall we; don’t worry about the Foals thing for although possibly taking influence from the Oxfordshire group, Grammatics display enough know-how to realise when they might apeing Britain’s latest big things a tad too much. In this case it means a roaring, beast of an outro takes the song into an altogether different territory that (whisper it) Panic! At The Disco could probably appreciate. Unique too is lead singer Owen Brinley’s voice; swooning and bleeding across the tapestry of the music behind him, and showcasing an impressive falsetto delivery which again takes the song as a whole into somewhere a bit more bombastic than most of their “math rock” (if such a genre exists) peers. Let’s not get too carried away though, for whilst for the most part the fairly tight, compressed production works on this song, it somewhat lessen the effect of Brinley’s vocals, and when the band choose to whip up a cacophony of noise behind him towards the end it feels like that they could have perhaps stepped it up a couple of notches further in order to provide a bit more contrast between the wistful, resigned verse and the blustering, playful finish. Polar Swelling is again a different animal from the lead track on this double A-side, all crisp hi-hat and chorded synths slowly building behind Owen Brinley’s vocals and even some rather darkness inducing violin. At over six minutes long it is a bit on the long side but its refreshing to see a band willing to show two sides of themselves on the same single.

Grammatics are certainly a band with plenty to give, possessing as they do a certain amount of diversity and willingness provide a challenging yet accessible sound. Now all they need to do is explore some of the less discovered aspects of their sound and we could be onto something very interesting indeed.

Grammatics Myspace

DOWNLOAD

Grammatics - D.I.L.E.M.M.A (BBC Radio 1 Session)

Pendulum- Propane Nightmares review

2008-04-25T01:04:00.001+01:00

Pendulum - Propane Nightmares (Warner Brothers)
Simon Jay Catling

Dear Pendulum,

There was once a time, when I was younger, when listening to you seemed to be the definitive of being ‘cool’. Your willingness to move drum n’ bass out of the dark, urine-soaked rooms that it had previously inhabited was commendable and as well as making jungle beats that were damn good fun to dance to, you also managed to create some genuinely good music, adding musical genres from outside the typical underground sphere and marrying alternative metal and driving beats the likes that hadn’t been done so successfully since The Prodigy came out firing in the mid-90’s. It is to my disgust then that what I am listening to now, in the form of your new single, is nothing but an over-produced, over-ambitious attempt at a jungle ‘pop’ song. As if heralding the start with a trumpet section nicked from Ronson’s studio isn’t bad enough, you’ve also brought in one of the most generic and uninspiring vocalists these ears have ever had the misfortune to hear. All could be forgiven however if you’d at least provided us with a damn good energy rush when bringing the bass in. However, such is your sleek and shiny production; its addition into the song barely registers, leaving the whole thing pulsating aimlessly through five minutes of absolute mediocrity.

Whilst I am sure you believe that in trying to be different from your peers you are creating new and exciting sounds for us all “rave” to, but please Pendulum could you decide whether you wish to be a band or a drum n’ bass act, because at the moment all you’re providing us with is a horribly half-baked and shoddy form of neither. Yours sincerely.

Simon Catling

Future Of The Left Live review for God Is In The TV

2008-04-22T00:28:00.001+01:00

Future Of The Left
Roundhouse, 14th April 2008
Simon Jay Catling

Over a year on from their first release and mentions of Jarcew and Mclusky in the same breath as Future Of The Left are becoming increasingly far and few between. Whilst Andy Falkous in particular will probably never be able to completely escape the shadows of his imperious former group, he is at least proving that he is a man for the challenge. Tonight, ably assisted by his increasingly prominent sidekick Kelson Mathis and the man mountain Jack Egglestone on drums, the front man rips through a blistering hour long set that is deserving of a crowd far greater than the seventy or eighty souls dotted around the Roadhouse tonight.

Opener ‘The Lord Hates A Coward’ blisters through the venue and, for all we know, out into Manchester, rounding on those who thought of turning up tonight, only to stay in and do their hair instead. Follow up ‘Plague Of Onces’ builds and builds, hoisting the audience up onto a hook and watching them squirm and wriggle to get free as it pummels relentlessly. It is frankly terrifying that just three men are creating this noise. However, It’s the likes of ‘Small Bones Small Bodies’ and ‘Manchasm’ that really show how Falkous has progressed with his song writing; managing to streamline and filter his rage and energy into three minutes of what could possibly, maybe, if you imagined a bit, be described as pop songs. Certainly they sound more commercial, and in the rousing “Colin is a pussy!” coda of ‘Manchasm’ there contains a line that can be sung over and over again by crowds nationwide. Stopping for some typically non-PC banter in blaming the Kooks for the poor attendance (“I hope they die of AIDS…the nice AIDS though”) is about the only respite we get from this absolute blizzard of sound and to be honest, with this band, that’s exactly how you’d want it. The snarling sarcastic delivery of lines like “real men hunt in packs, that’s what’s expected of us” and “hats are essential for travel in climates of conflict and temperate conditions” married with pulsating percussion and sharp biting guitar makes for a great set list full of energy.

The promoters at the venue should have been roundly flogged for calling a 9:30pm curfew in order for a club night to take place afterwards (“I predict Beastie Boys followed by Rage Against The Machine” Falkous quips) and certainly the crowd let their displeasure show. Whilst bands like Future Of The Left are deprived of widespread acclaim by default of the music they make, those few that do give them an inch will find that they’ll take a mile; rewarding you with energy, passion and plain fun in abundance. As Kelson ended up playing his bass in the crowd and Jack relocated his snare to the top of the PA amps in front of the stage it was hard to imagine that any of the handful of people in attendance tonight haven’t gone away so much as been blown away.

Future Of The Left Myspace

Boy Kill Boy review for Student Direct (University of Manchester student paper)

2008-04-16T22:33:00.002+01:00

Boy Kill Boy: Stars And The Sea

Vertigo

http://www.boykillboy.com/

Simon Catling

Pick: Do I have to? Promises I guess.

Rating: 3/10

Seriously, who actually listens to Boy Kill Boy? The blurb accompanying this threatens that it’s a record that ‘fans will love, but also one that’s liable to earn them a whole raft of new supporters.’ Sadly upon listening to this it’s likely that the much anticipated raft will most likely be about turning and swimming upstream quicker than you can say “generic indie band”.

A very nagging problem with Boy Kill Boy is that from listening to Stars and the Sea, the signposts leading to their peers and influences are far too obvious; bands who struggle to cut the mustard themselves. The repetitive chorus’s of Kaiser Chiefs? Check; the limited but chart-friendly power chord domination of Maximo Park? In abundance. People began to realise that copycat bands like this were terrible a couple of years ago, thus the world was finally rid of the likes of Larrikin Love, Bromhead’s Jacket and The Others. Please, please let’s consign Boy Kill Boy to the same scrap heap.

A Word Like. Attack. review on Audiocribbler

2008-04-16T22:30:00.000+01:00

Review

A Word Like. Attack: Ships Hung In The Sky

Type: EP
Date Reviewed: 12/04/08

URL: www.myspace.com/awordlikeattack

Your Rating:

Unrated

Simon Jay Catling

Whether the outside world is aware of it or not, “post rock” is suddenly a big thing. Ever since pioneers Mogwai disowned the term, the genre has expanded to incorporate a large range of styles, to the extent where the question of it being a genre anymore is a hotly debated one. A Word Like. Attack are a five piece group from Hampshire and upon to listening to this, their second EP, it appears that the harder edge of post rock has been grown from a seed, allowed to flower and then been fused with a very heavy, hardcore type of plant, to form a beast that occasionally focuses on excellence, but for the most ends up chasing its own tail.

Opening track The Last Man In Europe begins replete with 65 Days Of Static glitchy drums and chillingly isolated piano arpeggios that set the hairs on end, only for the group to fall somewhat flat on their face with the vocal interjection of the lead vocalist, who turns a potentially spine tingling epic into the kind of thrashcore perfected by the now defunct Bear vs. Shark; all well and good except the jarring gear change that heralds this is enough to make you wince. Second track Women Need Not Be Afraid Of Man Eating Sharks is far less schizophrenic- pulsating through a brain drumming, passionate couple of verses and chorus before stripping everything back and building up to a rousing wall of sound finish, in which the vocals are yelped and screamed like a man after Frank Carter’s heart. The midway point is reached with a title track that manages to excite the listener more in its 1 minute 49 second interlude than the rest of the EP as A Word Like.

Attack show that in terms of building up soaring peaks to heighten emotional and hard edged falls, they have a talent. Indeed it has to be said that the musicianship throughout the EP is good; tight percussion and bass allows a monolith of a guitar to let rip throughout the five tracks. The trouble is that the band currently lack the poise to completely implement what are undoubtedly ambitious ideas; the quieter bits can tend to remind you a little of (whisper it now) Linkin Park whilst the switch between instrumental escapism and straight ahead thrash metal is sometimes done at a rate of knots that suggests the work of two different bands within a song. Final track I’ve Seen Dragons With Feet Like Rabbits brings in a synth line towards the end of what is otherwise a track afflicted by that dreaded genre/fashion of Emo, and merely reinforces the fact that at times A Word Like. Attack don’t quite have enough quality control.

This does sound rather overly critical yes, but only because when getting it right, this is a band who will fully deserve our attention, and if they can just form a more cohesive unit in their minds to match their technical skill and broad ideas, we could see something really special. As it is, this isn’t quite it.

Kevin Kane Audioscribbler review (I'm back!)

2008-04-14T13:05:00.002+01:00

Ello everyone..

Sorry it's been a while; a quick uninteresting recap for you: I was home for just over three weeks during the lambing season working 7am-5pm every day which meant obviously that writing took a wee bit of a back seat. I returned to uni last Sunday faced with assignments galore so that explains the lack of a podcast last week..it'll be all stations go again this week though I hope although I may be changing it from its Wednesday evening publishing slot. Keep your eyes peeled. However, back I am and writing once again, Audioscribbler included my review of Kevin Kane's current album which I'll put below this drivel and PlayPauseStop should be appearing on Manchester's independent music store shelves again this week. Oh and I'm seeing Future Of The Left tonight which will then morph itself onto paper in the form of a review for God Is In The TV..good to be back!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review

Kevin Kane: How To Build A Lighthouse

Type: Album
Release Date: 28/04/08
Label: High Voltage

Your Rating:

Unrated

Simon Jay Catling

Kevin Kane, ex-singer of The Grapes Of Wraith, returns with a third album that couldn’t slide on a dressing gown and pair of slippers more nonchalantly if it tried. A curiously chosen cover version of Pink Floyd’s See Emily Play aside, How To Build A Lighthouse is a set of songs that do little to dissuade the notion that there is a dearth of talent in the singer songwriter genre at the moment.

If one was too root around for a name to hoist Kevin Kane up against these days (as seems the wont with most of us music writer types to do these days), one probably needs look no further than the harmless American college rock of a few years ago; Semisonic, The Posies et al. Kane possesses a voice that’s as competent as it is radio-friendly and dull; indeed upon searching through the English lexicon in order to pluck up suitable vocabulary to describe this album we need delve no deeper than non-descriptive, emotionless adjectives like ‘fine’, ‘alright’, ‘ok’. This will be, to all and intents and purposes, a lazy review; but then this is a lazy album. Opening track Last To Know sets the tone with a typical (for the genre) upbeat chord driven opening with listless vague lyrics about women, relationships and love. When slowing things down and supposedly opening up to us, the singer still fails to grab onto our ears and pin them down.

For Closer, read a typical breaking up song; file Late Night under unrequited love ballad. It takes until the admittedly passable rendition of the early Floyd hit to give this album a much needed set of jack leads, as burbling feedback and noise build up to turn See Emily Play into a simple yet effective American alt. rock stomp of a song that continues to build right up until its finish. This is the catalyst for a rather pleasing pick up in quality as Kane finally let’s go of his desire to drag out three minute pop songs with needless, over produced and stilted instrumentals (see No Postcards). No Black Dots hits with a sharpness and aggression that leaves you wondering if this is still the work of the same seemingly impassive and lacklustre artist. Sadly we’re not out the woods yet, final track Sputnik is as forgettable as it is long and bringing the album to an underwhelming conclusion.

This is an album that changes from being merely bland to actually quite annoying, armed by the end with knowledge, as we are that Kane can, if pushed, create moments that possess emotion and depth. Sadly these are too few and far between and the only thing this album really does is continue to over saturate a market that’s begging out for a new troubadour to drag it out of the gutter- and they do exist: the likes of Jacob Golden and David Ford will reward your listening habits far more richly than the likes of Kevin Kane ever will, and it’s rays of light like this that allow us to shrug our shoulders and turn the other cheek to uninspired releases such as this.

Jarock Weekly Podcast 7 (April 2nd)

2008-04-02T19:33:00.003+01:00

Tracklisting
1. Troubles- 4th National Account
Myspace
2. Kyte- Secular Ventures
Myspace
3. Radiohead- Nude (Single Of The Week)
Official Site
4. The Mae Shi- Run To Your Grave
Myspace
5. Pulled Apart By Horses- I Punched A Lion In The Throat (Myspace Of The Week)
Myspace
6. Jonquil- Magdalen Bridge
Myspace
7. Four Tet- Ribbons
Official Site
8. The Keyboard Choir- Thinking Won't Help
Myspace
9. Suede- Killing Of A Flashboy (B-side Of The Week)
Brett Anderson Official Site
10. Foals- Two Steps, Twice
Myspace

Jarock Weekly Podcast 6 (26th March)

2008-03-27T18:28:00.003Z

Tracklisting
1. Duels- The Furies
Official Site
2. 65 Days Of Static- Dance Parties (Distant) (Myspace Of The Week)
Myspace
3. The Officers- Disarm
Myspace
4. Frank Turner- Photosynthesis (Single Of The Week)
Myspace
5. Future Of The Left- Manchasm
Myspace
6. Shout Out Louds- Tonight I Have To Leave It
Myspace
7. That Fucking Tank- Making A Meal For Beethoven
Official Site
8. Travis- Good Feeling (Lost Classic)
Official Site
9. Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip- A Letter From God To Man
Myspace
10. The Conway Story- A Drug
Myspace

A post on Post Rock (65 Days Of Static new music download-centric)

2008-03-24T17:15:00.007Z

65 Days Of Static are back next month with The Distant & Mechanised Glow of Eastern European Dance Parties EP, featuring two re-workings of a previous album track of the same name (taken from their third LP The Destruction Of Small Ideals) and two completely new tracks, one of which they have excellently made available for free to download. Anyone who saw the Sheffield group in their Autumn tour will recognise Goodbye 2007 as their storming set opener. Eschewing their more metal influences in favour of the more electronica-based sounds that hark back from debut album The Fall Of Math, it sets the band up very promisingly for this year, in which they've already played their biggest career dates yet in supporting 80s new wave goths The Cure:

Goodbye 2007

DOWNLOAD

Post rock is a term that is becoming a looser and looser description for the genre of music it's attempting to portray; indeed many of the pioneering bands of it, such as Scotland's Mogwai openly reject the term. There's a pretty apparent reason for this, namely that as the genre unrelentingly evolves and grows more and more styles are added to it; what started out as "using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes, using guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures rather than riffs and power chords," (Simon Reynolds reviewing Bark Pyschosis's album Hex for The Wire in 1994) has now come to facilitate as great deal, particularly with the growing influence of dance music on the genre. Post rock now basically seems to categorise anything that's instrumental music- an extremely vague description.

This isn't always the case however; bands like iLiKETRAiNS and the sadly defunct Hope Of The States take aspects from the early advances of post rock like the walls of sound made prominent in the shoegaze era by the likes of My Bloody Valentine as well as the hallmark unorthodox chord progressions and slow gradual build ups of the now recognised pioneers of post rock Mogwai, Black Psychosis et al, and marry it with potent lyrics and vocal delivery. Both remain post rock acts, because as electronica bleeds into drum n bass and dubstep and as R'n'B bleeds into Hip Hop, post rock has become, and arguably has always been a mixture of other types of music. In Britain there's currently somewhat of a post rock renaissance going on: the following few acts are all classed as post rock but vary greatly:

The Hearing- Absent foundations
Coventry-based group, released a mini-album last year; straight ahead indie instrumentals.

DOWNLOAD

Oceansize- Catalyst (Live)
Manchester group with a heavy industrial edge, formed in 1998.

DOWNLOAD

Vessels- The Beast (Radio 1 Session)
Up coming Explosions In The Sky-influenced group from the South East. Album expected later this year.

DOWNLOAD

Youthmovies- If You'd Seen A Battlefield (Live @ ATP 18-05-07)
Hotly tipped Oxford group featuring Andrew Mears (ex-Foals), fantastic debut album Good Nature was released last week.

DOWNLOAD

Sona Di- Dawn
Newcastle-based group, building a sure but steady fanbase with their American-tinged post rock.

DOWNLOAD

i Concur- Exits Are Blockades
Leeds-based group heavily influenced by the shoegaze era but with a handy knack for a melody that's all of their own.

DOWNLOAD

You Slut!- Roofio Shoots Roofio Scores
Derbyshire group who add a sharp, aggressive streak to their instrumentals. Debut album Critical Meat is finally out in the UK after being available in Japan for over a year.

DOWNLOAD

'Youthmovies- Good Nature' review for Audioscribbler

2008-03-23T19:29:00.001Z

Review

Youthmovies: Good Nature

Type: Album

Label: DrownedInSound
Date Released: 17/03/08

Your Rating:

Unrated

Simon Jay Catling

When Magdalen Bridge, the opening track on Youthmovies (née Youth Movie Soundtrack Strategies) debut offering, takes over four minutes to build up in a stream of burbling noise and strained sound, you just know that either you’re about to listen to something utterly incredible, or something that will completely fall flat on its face. This debut album has been a long time coming from the Oxford five-piece since their formation back in 2002. A couple of EPs not withstanding, it’s been in the live arena that they’ve mainly been learning their craft- supporting the likes of 65 Days Of Static and lead vocalist Andrew Mears old band Foals. All the while the hype around them has slowly built and built, much like their songs: rumours abounded of a heavier sounding Foals, of fusions of different styles, of soaring eight minute epics. Well finally we’ve reached the point of no return; do any of those pre-conceptions ring true? You don’t know the half of it.

Right from preceding single The Naughtiest Girl Is A Monitor it’s clear that this band are onto something special. Within its four minutes forty six seconds lies more creativity, more musical diversity, than a Courteneer could come up with in a career; even more impressive is the ease at which the band seamlessly switch gears between styles; from post-rock to power punk via a good staple of danceable rhythms and po-going verses. It’s astounding. Next track Soandso & Soandso (which in fact happens to be one of two eight minutes plus epics on this ten track album) splashes us with tight angular guitars, thrown like paint, against a wall of background scuzz and distortion; however added to this mix, is a brass section! And you know what? It really works- the arrangements compliment rather than smother the rest of the music, and this is a trait regularly seen throughout the album. A lot of bands attract praise for displaying ideas and styles in abundance, but where many fail is in managing not to overload the listener with all of them at once; Youthmovies carefully pick and choose where they’re going to go next in their sprawling epics. However, they do this with much more warmth and feeling than their more pop-tastic but colder blooded peers Foals- what will give this more energy? What’s going to compliment the previous three minutes I’ve just played?

This set of songs come across as being loveably and painstakingly created, akin to a fine piece of art though as opposed to an Airfix model. This is not to say that Youthmovies can’t keep it short and direct when needed though; there’s enough short bursts of energy here to supplement the longer tracks like the aforementioned Soandso & Soandso and Something For The Ghosts. The Last Night Of The Proms simmers and seethes, sounding as though it’d find favour with Kerrang! readers as much as it would with those of the drain pipe jean wearing NME loving variety. It helps of course that they’re all excellent musicians; drummer Graeme Murray switches time scale easily, providing both subtlety and drive in equal measure when needed, with Stephen Hammond on bass stoically giving a helping hand, and allowing Mears and English on guitar with Stephen Scott on brass free reign to cut and shape the twisted, beautiful journey they choose their music to take. This is never more apparent than on sixth track, and arguably the pinpoint of the whole album, If You’d Seen A Battlefield which writhes and thrashes around in so many different directions that you couldn’t possibly expect it to fit together, and yet, somehow, it does.

As Mears wearily claims ‘it’s not going well it’s not going badly, it’s just going on’ he’s joined by simple but effective drums, bass and a solitary guitar, before all of a sudden all hell breaks loose and once again we’re off into angular art rock territory; yet how can art rock bring to mind the likes of Fall Of Troy? By throwing all of their influences into the cauldron, Youthmovies actually manage to come out with something better: 65 Days Of Static but with more direction, Explosions In The Sky with more bite, Foals with greater depth- and a human, handcrafted feel that’s all of their own. Something For The Ghosts even explores the avant-garde mysticism of the Mars Volta, its nine minutes filled with sprawling solos, howling feedback and vast soundscapes- all the while though it’s kept from crashing into the sun by solid percussion and burbling bass lines. All of this and I’ve not even mentioned the frantic Archive It Everywhere, the methodically brilliant Shh! You’ll Wake It or the rousing closer Surtsey.

What we are dealing here essentially then is a classic, the only track that leaves this short of the full ten marks is the rather uninspiring and mono-paced Cannulae, but then every hurricane has an eye. Youthmovies give us everything here; extravagant prog metal for those who are too cool to admit they like prog metal, shoegazing post-rock for those who like to stare at their feet and absorb the noise thrown at them, undeniably catchy pop punk choruses, and searing rhythms to get the indie kids dancing. All of this is encapsulated in one tight, hour long, coherent package. What am I talking about? This is a masterpiece.

'Winona- Rosebud' God Is In The TV Review

2008-03-21T16:46:00.000Z

Winona - Rosebud
Simon Jay Catling

Who remembers ‘Monkey Dust’? Created by Shaun Pye and the late Harry Thompson, the animated series satirised many aspects of modern day Britain and featured twisted comedy that cuts open the dark and seedy nature of this country. Some of the more controversial sketches included the training of terrorists in the West Midlands, paedophile witch hunts and our nations increasing obsession with fame and celebrity. Wrapped around this warped, nocturnal world was a soundtrack of quite remarkable potency; the minimal electronica of ‘Boards Of Canada’, the down tempo ‘Nithin Sawnhey’ and the murky, ethereal world of early ‘Goldfrapp’ regularly punctuated scenes and dragged each episode further down into a black hole of humour. The reason I mention Monkey Dust is because, upon listening to ‘Rosebud’, the listener is reminded instantly of that same dark, otherworldly music.

‘Winona’ are a rather complicated mixture of film composers, lyricists, musical programmers, actresses and vocalists. Winona herself acts as the lyricist, whilst programmer Scott Fraser and score writer Craig Armstrong provide the music. French actress Laurence Ashley contributes spoken word lyrics that melt into the velvet voice of singer Lucy Pullin. Confused? Don’t worry; whilst on paper this concoction sounds like the proverbial too many cooks, in practise the whole thing comes across bearing a lot more fruit than could be expected. Starting off with the atmosphere building ‘The White Room’- a song that brings to mind ‘Felt Mountain’-era Goldfrapp, Winona are clearly a group who wear their influences on their sleeve; this isn’t to their detriment too much however as throughout this album they pluck inspiration from a range of the finest electronic musicians spreading over the annals of time. ‘Without You,’ featuring the sensual vocals of Pullin, brings to mind late 90’s Massive Attack; the simmering, burbling bass and rhythm provides a sinister but subtle drive under the echoing vocals and vacuous synths. Second track ‘Celebrity’ meanwhile evokes a very 80s electro feel, as Pullin’s vocals are modulated and pulled out of recognition to fall in line with the sirens and squiggles; it’s on these vocal lead tracks where Winona excel. However, when they decide to go further down the minimal route there’s still riches to be had. ‘De Nada’ is a haunting, maimed creature of a song: using falsetto vocal and string samples with (yes another name drop,) Kraftwerk styled low synths to create a soundscape that’s bleak, and isolated almost entirely from the rest of the album. Songs with a bit more urgency to them include the rather Jarre-esque ‘You Can Dance I Can’t’ and the bold, brash ‘If Only’. The album finishes with the epic, slow build up of ‘Winona Falls’- a piece that gradually builds from a sparse background inch by inch before slowly exhaling and thus bringing the album to an awkward but brilliantly uncertain conclusion. It’s this kind of sinister magic that can make ‘Rosebud’ a compelling listen.

But, there are criticisms to be had. With such obvious debts to their inspirations, it seems at times that Winona can veer into the unimaginative and plain dull; it could be argued for instance that ‘Indigenous’ is a Nitin Sawnhey song in all but name, whilst elsewhere the ghosts of electronic past constantly resurrect themselves to the point where it can get a bit, well, obvious. There’s also a fair bit of filler here, as there is can be with a lot of this type of music; holding suspense and atmosphere for an entire album is a very tricky thing to do and for the most part Winona do it well. However, at times on some of more synth driven songs there can be a bit of a one-paced feel, and on the likes of ‘De Nada’ there’s an argument to be made that it could be shortened. However, these flaws aside, there’s no denying that this is a solid, at times beautiful escape into a dream-filled, wistful world that shows a dark underbelly- combining both the familiarity and peacefulness of nightfall but also the insecure, isolation in the darkness that comes with it. Now if only they had a TV series to put it to…

21/03/2008

The Crimea- Secrets Of The Witching Hour

2008-03-20T22:08:00.004Z

The Crimea- Secrets Of The Witching Hour
(2007)
1. Several Thousand Years Of Talking Nonsense
2. All Conquering
3. The 48A Waiting Steps
4. Raining Planets
5. Man
6. Bombay Sapphire Coma
7. Don't Close Your Eyes On Me
8. Loop A Loop
9. Light Brigade
10. Requiem Aeternam
11. Wierd

DOWNLOAD (zip file)

A good few months before Radiohead caused a hullabaloo with In Rainbows, another English band went against the grain by throwing out their album for free. With a lead singer with a style reminiscent of Billy Corgan and a nocturnal fantastical touch to their music, The Crimea aren't the most commercial of acts and sadly despite the free download their profile increased little. A very good album it is however, and the band are finally enjoying some recognition as Loop A Loop is currently appearing on a National Tv ad for chewing gum. Hurrah! If you're not sure whether you want to download, have a listen to a couple of the tracks below. At the end of the day though, its free!

The 48A Waiting Steps (2007)

DOWNLOAD

Loop A Loop (2007)

DOWNLOAD

Jarock Weekly Podcast 5 (19th March)

2008-03-19T20:57:00.003Z

Tracklisting
1. iLiKETRAiNS- We Go Hunting
Official Site
2. The Winchell Riots- Histories
Myspace
3. The Whip- Trash (Single Of The Week)
Myspace
4. Granby Row- Regret
Myspace
5. The Mosaics- Runner (Myspace Of The Week)
Official Site
6. Bitter Ruin- Trust
Myspace
7. You Slut!- Roofio Shoots Roofio Scores
Myspace
8. The Hearing- This Is The Way Home
Myspace
9. The Auteurs- Junkshop Clothes (Lost Classic)
Luke Haines Official Site
10. Errors- Salut France
Myspace

Time. Space. Repeat.- The Early Transmissions Of Time

2008-03-15T21:39:00.012Z

Time. Space. Repeat.- The Early Transmissions Of Time (2006)
1. Joy
2. Hush
3. And The Ghost Of A Thousands Dolphins Hangs In The Air
4. Blues Skies And Rain
5. Future Song
6. Meditation No. 1
7. Blue Sky
8. Notting Hill
9. The Fear
10. World Awake

DOWNLOAD

Time. Space. Repeat are a London shoegaze band who cite a wide range of influences throughout literature and music. They write the kind of atmospheric and epic soundscapes that seem to be getting lost amongst the endless slew of nu-ravers, lad rockers and electro clashers carting their wares around our fair British Isles these days. The album The Early Transmissions Of Time was made available for free back in 2006 and is a stunning album of soaring highs and bleak lows. The download link will take you to a rapidshare link. Below you can listen to and download two singles that the band made available for free: No Laces and The End Of The World (included as the opening track on Jarock Weekly Podcast 4). For more information on the band visit the Myspace link at the bottom of the page.

The End Of The World (2007)

DOWNLOAD

No Laces (2007)

DOWNLOAD

Time.Space.Repeat's MYSPACE

Super Tennis- Super Tennis EP

2008-03-14T17:43:00.012Z

The blog has hit a new dimension! Yes downloads and streams are now going to be made available. The tester for this is the excellent self-titled EP from Super Tennis. This is also available to download free from the band's Myspace

I aim only to offer music for download that is already LEGALLY free elsewhere on the internet. For more on this just have a look at the top right hand side of my blog. Anyway, enjoy! And hit me with some feedback.

Super Tennis- Super Tennis EP

1. Super Tennis Theme

Download

2. Deuce Love

Download

3. The Pacific Has No Memory

Download

4. European Hunny Babies

Download

5. Gin Tronix

Download

To download, simply left-click 'Download'. You will be a lead to a page featuring a media player and a list of options on the right hand side. Click 'Download Original' and your download should start automatically.

Jarock Weekly Podcast 4 (12th March)

2008-03-12T20:06:00.003Z

Tracklisting
1. Time. Space. Repeat- End Of The World
Myspace
2. Brides Of Neptune- Seven
Myspace
3. Stagecoach- Hang That Head
Myspace
4.Johnny Foreigner- Our Bipolar Friends(Single Of The Week)
Myspace
5. Jason Wakefield- Farewell Liberator
Myspace
6. i Concur- Exits Are Blockades (Myspace Of The Week)
Myspace
7. The Victorian English Gentlemen's Club- Stupid As Wood
Myspace
8. Tom Baxter- Tell Her Today
Site
9. Mansun- Take It Easy Chicken (Lost Classic)
Myspace
10. maybeshewill- In Another Life (When We Are Cats)
Myspace

'The Angry Teenager #3' on Audioscribbler

2008-03-12T15:08:00.002Z

Having been on a bit of a sabbatical whilst my esteemed editor added some other (very good) features and interviews, the Angry Teenager is back for a third installment on Audioscribbler, ranting and raving about the NME awards. Have a browse why don't you:

Feature

Editorial The Angry Teenager #3

By the great lords of Clearasil! I truly am the angriest teenager alive. Sure, they claim to remove spots within 48 hours, but the current round of Mt. Vesuvii (Vesuvius- plural) currently unleashing almighty pyroclastic flows down my cheeks and forehead suggest otherwise. Whilst making me popular amongst Geography students eager for a cheap field trip, they leave me rather less popular amongst PE students eager for a cheap punching bag. The joke’s on them though; I doubt they can even spell PE, or A&E- which is where I ended up after one too many beatings. High School is a tough mistress - that it is - but with a cheap £2 bottle of cider and a park bench things will be right with the world again of that I’m sure.

Date: 12/03/08

What I’m not sure about is the latest NME Awards; following hot on the heels of the BRITS (Blatantly Rigged Inbred Tossing Off Spectacular) where the nu-raving, drain piped wearing, neon face painted, lad rocking, supermodel screwing, powder snorting (I could go on like this for some time) masses descended upon the decidedly un-rock’n’roll O2 Arena. Sniveling, gawk-eyed NME journalists laughed loudly at anecdotes they didn’t really understand, complemented Jonny Klaxon (one of them must be called Jonny right?) on how fucked he was looking and generally acted like arse lickers for the night, complete with rubber tip at the end just to reach that bit further up the D-listers rectums.

It made for quite a sickening sight for sure- and this was just the pre-awards party. Once started, it became blatantly apparent that the NME had only heard of six bands in the last year, as those well worn names Arctic Monkeys and Babyshambles were joined by seemingly endless nominations for ‘hand me that fifteen year old casio keyboard and a bag of E’s; hey presto! A new genre!’ types Klaxons. Then there's the “geniuses” (more about this later) The Enemy, admittedly quite-good-really The Cribs, and admittedly very-good-really Muse. Still though, when every award is being contested by the same six bands out of a pool of thousands it’s enough to make yours truly rip up his battered porn mags, raise his hands to the sky and text my best mate Daz “OMG!! I iz fk1 wl pisd of!!!!” (I did in fact do that, he didn’t reply…Daz is actually 34; he works for Barclays; he didn’t understand what I was trying to say.)

Sad moments of the night included Muse constantly being referred to “The Muse”, firstly by the evenings presenters- that guy off Gavin & Stacey and some fat bloke (who WAS he!?), and then by Kelly ‘I can’t believe you're showing your face again after THAT Brits debacle with the rest of your family’ Osbourne. Matt and co. couldn’t have looked more embarrassed to be there even if Beth Ditto, in another trademark fit of feminist principles, had decided that, following last year’s nude front cover of her on the front of the NME, she would in fact become a nudist because it, like, was empowerment, and had thus pranced into the O2 Arena wearing nothing but her birthday suit (possibly the only birthday suit that had to be custom fitted- oof! Low blow.)

Standing In The Way of Control? Standing in the way of any bleedin’ natural light more like. Meanwhile, the Arctic Monkeys trundled on up to collect their obligatory Best British Band award whilst hundreds of ex-musicians around the country sighed at the demise of their own bandwagon jumping bands (see Larrikin Love/Milburn/The Paddingtons) and turned the gas ovens on at the McDonalds they were currently working the late shift at.

What really grabbed my pubescent ginger beard however was the backslapping between ‘band of the people', and by 'people' I mean those Oasis fans with slightly skewed vision, and thus are prepared to believe that it's just the Gallagher brothers releasing new material, instead of a rat-faced gimp and his ASBO mates taking the nation for a ride’ band The Enemy’s Tom Clarke and “Godlike Geniuses” the Manic Street Preachers. As already mentioned, Nicky Wire described Tom Clarke inaccurately as a “fucking genius” onstage, with the devious rodent returning the compliment later on in the night. The funniest words have to go to current real band of the people - wannabes Reverend & The Makers and their slack jawed lead man John McClure:

“It's a privilege to be sat on a table with The Enemy tonight,” he said, “because post-9/11, they're one of three bands worth caring about.”

“And that's us, The Enemy and MIA. They (The Enemy) should win Best Band, Best Album and Best Live Band because they don't give a fuck.”

*Insert jokes/disbelief/scorn here*

Until next time readers when we discover where Johnny Borrell’s teeth are Inter-railing to this year and whether that really was The Bravery’s Sam Endicott serving guests at the NME Awards at the bar last week.

Good day!

Words: The Angry Teenager

'Youthmovies- The Naughtiest Girl Is A Monitor' God Is In The TV review

2008-03-11T21:07:00.001Z

Suitably hyperboled review of Youthmovies new single. But my gosh they are just a little bit exciting. If you enjoy ridiculous superlative with minimal musical critique then read on! Nah I'm jesting, it's not a bad review but not great, I need to pick up my game concerning reviewing singles, I seem to be struggling a bit on them.

Youthmovies - The Naughtiest Girl Is A Monitor (Drowned In Sound)
Simon Jay Catling

Well, here we are now; entertain us. Youthmovies have become yet another name to be hyped, enlarged, spun sideways and rammed down our throats in 2008- the year of overblown predictions. It’s just as well for them that they can follow most of their peers and deliver on their promise, and what a delivery it is. The Oxford quintet featuring Andrew Mears, yes from THAT band Foals, manage to combine more creative ideas in under five minutes than many of the latest crop of NME Award winners could come up with in an album.

Beginning with a series of squiggles and beeps is hardly the most audacious of starts to a song, but here it works well as a calm before the storm, with little hint of what is to come. The slow gradual build up continues into the verse with Mears almost laidback delivery suddenly giving way to tumultuous guitars delivered with rushed passion, before the whole thing releases with a big breath and turns into something else. What does it turn into? A damn catchy pop song with foot tapping quality that catches the listener completely by surprise that’s what; it’s not the fact that Youthmovies have welded together two very different styles in the space of the opening three minutes, it’s the ease and fluency that they manage to do so, changing gears smoothly, and repeating the trick a minute later as a wonderfully unhinged instrumental comes in replete with a romping brass section, providing amusing imagery of the band rocking out at a nearby park bandstand. The range in styles undoubtedly shows a debt to their influences, and yet by throwing them all into the cauldron, Youthmovies have actually come out with something better- 65 Days Of Static but with vocals and a keener knack for melody, Foals (sorry) but with a harder hitting edge that will doubtless leave indie club revellers the nation over confused as to whether they should mosh or dance- hell just do both.

As Andrew Mears almost whispered refrain ‘it’s becoming clearer that it’s not the end of the world’ fades out it’s quite apparent that something special has taken place within these four and three quarter minutes. Never mind taking us from A to B, this is a single that picks us up at A and bypasses most of the known alphabet before dropping us somewhere very rarefied and very new. What makes this even more exciting is that ‘The Naughtiest Girl Is A Monitor’ isn’t even the best song on the album, and if that doesn’t leave you salivating for more then I don’t know what will.

Watch the video here.

Youthmovies Myspace

Band Of The Day!

2008-03-10T18:32:00.004Z

The sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed a new section on my blog page courtesy of Hype Machine. I've titled it band of the day because each day it will search music blogs from across the web and come up with tracks from the artist chosen by me each day. By clicking on the tracks you can play them and download them. Today I've started with my favourite band Muse just to get things started. Enjoy!

'Tom Baxter- Tell Her Today'- Audioscribbler review

2008-03-08T11:47:00.001Z

Review

Tom Baxter: Tell Her Today

Type: Single

Label: Charisma Records
Date Released: 17/03/08

Your Rating:

Unrated

Simon Jay Catling

It’s fair to say that Suffolk’s Tom Baxter has had an up and down experience with the music industry since he first made himself known with a self-titled EP back in 2004. The singer songwriter was signed to Sony in time for the release of his debut album Feather and Stone, only to be dropped rather unceremoniously by the major last year. Brushing himself down, the 34 year old wrote a composed and varied second album, Skybound, that was released independently and this, his second single, is a perfect example of the diversity that Baxter manages to put in to what is a very open and closed genre.

Tell Her Today sets its stall out very early with a flamenco-esque bass line leading the way over a soft but rhythmic percussion. The key to this song is in its slow build up- the strings are brought in early but are never allowed to break rank until towards the end, instead simmering and allowing Baxter’s throaty drawl to take precedence, as he urges those of us too afraid to admit our love to a favoured someone to just grow a pair and let them know. Obviously, the man puts it in a far more sensual and poetic way than I just have, but as he pleads with us to ‘take the time, drop everything, tell her’, his sentiment remains the same; it’s conventional but tidily done and rather more, allows the whole thing; strings and all, to erupt in a frenzied outro reminiscent even of Muse’s own overblown latino epic City Of Delusion.

Baxter is no doubt fully aware that the male singer/songwriter market is rather over-saturated at the moment, but there is no denying but he is bringing something a little different to the party which no doubt will make Sony feel very foolish, and a couple of our more generic shuffling, songwriter friends give a little glance over their shoulder.

'The Whip- Trash' review on Audioscribbler

2008-03-08T02:33:00.001Z

Review

The Whip: Trash

Type: Single

Label: Kitsune
Date Released: 17/03/08

Your Rating:

Unrated

Simon Jay Catling

We all know who The Whip are by now right? The Manchester-based electro-pop band have been making (new) waves for almost a year now, culminating last year in a successful slot on one of Manchester’s infamous Warehouse Project bills. Things are rapidly gaining momentum for the four piece this year as well with a headlining tour to come in May and new album X Marks Destination also on the way. Preceding all of this is a single release of one of their most established live favourites- Trash.

The Whip are a band who wear their influences on their sleeves and so the electro-grooves of both Simian Mobile Disco et al. are extremely prominent here. Where the band manages to add their own imprint onto the genre however is by taking said filthy electro beats and adding very sneering, sleazy rock rawness over the top of it. There’s no other way to describe it, it’s very Manchester. When vocalist Danny Saville sneers ‘I wanna be trash’ as the song goes into its overdriven, bit shaking chorus, you can picture a million seedy, dark nightclubs reverberating to this the country over. The Whip aren’t necessarily doing anything new and this is by far their strongest track to be released thus far, but in terms of the here and now they fit in very nicely indeed. Time will tell whether they don’t come unstuck.

LISTEN
The Whip- Trash

'Neon Neon- Stainless Style'- God Is In The TV review

2008-03-07T09:06:00.001Z

Neon Neon - Stainless Style (Lex)
Simon Jay Catling

It’s a glorious coincidence that in this, the thirtieth year since Jean-Michel Jarre released his electronic masterpiece ‘Oxygene,’ electro seems to be more prominent than ever as act after act give their own interpretations on a musical genre that many forget has a long and diverse history all of its own. However, when Super Furry Animals front man Gruff Rhys decides to have a stab at it then you know it’s time to sit up and pay attention. Rhys is a man with few inhibitions creatively- a random trawl back through the ‘Furries back catalogue should tell you that, not to mention his recently acclaimed solo venture. Here he teams up with Los Angeles producer Boom Bip, and numerous other collaborators; implores us to don our RELAX t-shirts, dye our hair a weird shade of acid green and gyrate about like it’s the 80s all over again. At this point readers you can be forgiven for thinking this sounds less promising than when Dexy’s Midnight Runners man Kevin Rowland made his return to Reading festival in 1999 wearing a dress and wheeling out slushy love ballads. However, this is Gruff Rhys we’re talking about- a creative well that as yet shows no sign of abating, and in Neon Neon we have something a lot better than just a side project.

‘Stainless Style’ possesses both the style and sheen that befits an album documenting the life of successful car engineer John DeLorean, (oh did I forget to mention it’s a concept album too?) and wastes no time luring the listener in with the rather Jarre-esque ‘Neon Theme’; featuring enough rhythmic percussion and sliding synths and bleeps, this would take us all back twenty years if it didn’t sound so fresh and modern at the same time. The heavily thudding ‘Dream Cars’ follows next with Rhys’ unmistakeable vocal narrating on how DeLorean got to the top of the car industry. Those thinking that all there is here is some re-hashed electro and tired synths though, don’t be fooled; spiky, jagged guitars cut through the electric drum beat and writhing noises here to give a pre-conceptually dreamy song a real bite and edge. This is a trick that’s repeated to good effect throughout the album and allows the songs to explore a depth and diversity that one might not expect, and Neon Neon really do span those genres here, from the euphoric, pulsating energy of ‘I Told Her On Alderaan’ to ‘Trick For Treat’- a real ear opener that marries the album’s overriding 80’s shimmer to (and you’ll probably slay me for this,) the pop R’n’B sensibilities of Justin Timberlake, thanks to an impressive vocal collaboration by US rapper Spank Rock. At the other end of the spectrum comes ‘Steel Your Girl,’ which comes as close to bog standard indie rock as your likely to get on this LP, and is definitely one of the albums more forgettable tracks. All is forgiven however with forthcoming single ‘I Lust U,’ featuring the deliciously seductive vocals of Welsh singer Cate Le Bon in a purely retro slice of electro pop that, had it been released a couple of months later, would surely soundtrack this year’s summer. Le Bon and Rhys duet in a wonderfully laidback manner; gently nudging each other on, whilst Bip provides electronic hooks that bore their way into your head just as successfully as any pop song. With such a raised bar it’s inevitable that the rest of the album doesn’t quite match up, not to say that it doesn’t try. ‘Sweat Shop’ comes out grimey, bass heavy and reminiscent of expert DJ David Holmes own Free Association. ‘Belfast’ tells of DeLorean’s DeLorean Motor Company setting up in the exotic climbs of Northern Ireland, whilst ‘Michael Douglas’ appears to be strangely unhinged ode to the ageing actor’s sunglasses; finally comes the hip-hop influenced ‘Luxury Pool,’ an eulogy do DeLorean’s controversial life which saw success and millions before entrapment and court cases lead to his eventual downfall.

Neon Neon prove that writing intelligent pop never has to come at the expense of catchy hooks and danceable rhythms. Moreover, the duo managed to convey a depth and musical diversity here that elevates the album above that of ‘just another electro-pop record’. The accolades thus far in this review have gone to Gruff Rhys, but the influence of Boom Bip cannot be underestimated as he shapes and moulds his squiggles and squeaks into a coherent, atmospheric and, most important of all, memorable stylistic model- much like a certain Monsieur Jarre did some thirty years ago.

Neon Neon Myspace

Jarock's Weekly Podcast 3 (5th March 2008)

2008-03-06T01:10:00.002Z

Tracklisting
1. Holy Fuck- Super Inuit (Live)
Myspace
2. Clark- Volcan Veins
Site
3. Meatsuit- Prayers (Myspace Of The Week)
Myspace
4. Kathryn Williams & Neil MacColl- Come With Me (Single Of The Week)
Myspace
5. Super Tennis- Super Tennis' Theme
Myspace
6. The Music- Let Love Be The Healer (Live) (Upcoming Event Of The Week)
Site
7. Angus & Julia Stone- Just A Boy
Site
8. Youthmovies- Last Night Of The Proms
Myspace
9. Winona- Without You
Myspace
10. Cardiacs- Is This The Life? (Lost Classic)
Site

Older stuff...part 2

2008-03-04T01:19:00.008Z

December saw the debut of a certain Singles Monkey at Play Pause Stop. Delightfully, during a meeting last week, one of PPS's more "colourful" writers took a great exception to the Singles Monkey which has delighted me no end. The Singles Monkey is only ever meant to be an embellished release listings. Yes, I do listen to every song I mention, normally on their Myspace, and this allows me to give a good FIRST IMPRESSION of the song. However, the main goal is to get a few cheap laughs and for it not to be taken seriously. Rather wonderfully the person in question let this rather simple point fly way over his head providing me with great joy.

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A band who I often prattle on about, not just because I'm on good terms with a couple of them, well partly admittedly, but I was a fan before I was a friend I promise, Fear Of Music were published in December's PlayPauseStop with a profile of the band. Hopefully their album (recorded last SUMMER) will be out by the end of this year...a band who don't believe in rushing things...

www.myspace.com/fearofmusic

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A rather rushed live review of 65 Days Of Static also made it into this edition. Not my best, but my god it really WAS that good; and the good news is, they're back next month. I'll be there and that's a stone cold fact.

www.65daysofstatic.co.uk

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And finally, a little piece on my favourite album of the year from 2007. Pleasingly everyone on the staff had a different album in mind for their choice of the year which showed what a diverse bunch we are at PPS. Some folk who know me may be surprised at my choice.

During this brief lull in updating I'd like to thank everyone whose read this page and has uploaded the first two podcasts. The first one in particular was a big success, reaching over 90 downloads. The latest one's lagging behind a bit on about 40 but it's still a hell of a lot more than I thought, so I'd like to thank all those downloading. I'd love it if folk started contributing comments and emails on this site, I know there's people who read this so come on, make yourself known, it'd be nice to hear from you whether you have nice OR nasty things to say. Anyway, new podcast on Wednesday and with Youth Movies new album sent me way today as well as an Angry Teenager to catch up on there should be plenty of action on here over the next few days!

Older stuff...part 1

2008-03-04T01:06:00.006Z

The post I stuck up about 10 minutes ago made me realise it's been a few days since I last put up a full review for your browsing pleasure. So I thought until the next lot (should be appearing in dribs and drabs over the next 3-4 days) I'd stick up one or two bits and bobs I did pre-christmas.

All of these come from the Society magazine Play Pause Stop, which strangely isn't publishing a March edition, so sorry about that. It will be back in April however. Anyway, here's some of the stuff I wrote for the first two editions of it.

Article discussing the relative merits and negatives of Radiohead's decision to release In Rainbows online for an unfixed price:

Of course since the furore has died down it's become clear that this wasn't really such a revolutionary new move- proven by the fact the album made number one on physical sales anyway; I hope you'll find it an interesting read however.

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A short 200 word review on ex-Mclusky man Andy Falkous' new band Future Of The Left- an absolute tour de force if ever there was.

Levellers single review in Student Direct

2008-03-04T00:25:00.003Z

Well I entered Manchester University's student newspaper with a whimper rather than a bang this week. A MIGHTY 65 (count 'em) word review on lovable ageing hippies Levellers new double A-side. The word limits are ridiculously tight in the Music section but I guess this makes good practise trying to fit into a word limit because on the internet there are no restrictions and therefore the temptation to wonder off for hundreds and hundreds of words becomes very strong indeed.

In better news, I received an absolute plethora of promo CDs from God Is In The TV to review this week and most of them are damn excellent- very excited about Neon Neon and Youth Movies albums. It's going to make Wednesday's podcast an absolute treat (I must confess I was becoming a bit at loss as to what to play). Until next time!

Levellers- A Life Less Ordinary/Cholera Well

(On The Fiddle Recordings)

Simon Catling

5/10

Once upon a time the Levellers were big. No, seriously they were, Glastonbury ’94 anyone? No? Twenty years since their debut album Mark Chapman and co. rattle on with another pair of call-to-arms protest anthems. Whilst remaining excellent live, this, like all their recent releases, is Levellers by numbers and thus will no doubt be subjected to much scorn- which is a real shame.

DOWNLOAD
Levellers- A Life Less Ordinary"

Air Cav @ Manchester Roadhouse Review for Audioscribbler

2008-02-28T21:52:00.003Z

Was delighted the other week when after putting up a review of Air Cav's single Alliance I received an email from the violinist of the band thanking me for the kind words! Well after that I had no choice but to go down and see them play at the Roadhouse last Friday...I meant to introduce myself but it was pleasingly busy and me being a shy, retiring type an all sadly lacked the confidence to do such a thing..big regrets! Never mind though because they put on a quite wonderful live show; to read just how wonderful simply read below:

Review

Air Cav: Roadhouse, Manchester

Type: Live
Date: 22/02/08

Your Rating:

Unrated

Simon Jay Catling

The alternative music scene in Manchester often gives the impression of being a bit of a proverbial sleeping giant. Whilst in recent years music from Sheffield and Leeds has been making headlines, Manchester has been allowed to drift into the background- always acknowledged as being there, but never really focused on. With one or two exceptions, Nine Black Alps spring to mind, many of their bands seem in a similar mindset. Polytechnic and The Nightjars play at the same venue as tonight’s gig on Thursday; both were big tips for a breakthrough as far back as 2005 and both seemingly have made little headway. Yet, as goes the question with all sleeping giants, are they really struggling to breakthrough or are they merely biding their time? This is a question that goes through my mind upon watching another Mancunian band, Air Cav, who are celebrating their first record deal tonight.

The four-piece have been making waves around this city for around two years now, without anyone outside the North West really taking much notice. However, tonight proves they clearly know what they’re doing; you can tell it from the fact that the Roadhouse is over three quarters full, and you can tell it from the fact that Air Cav’s set tonight is tight, concise and most importantly loaded with great songs. Anticipation in the crowd is high so that even fellow up and coming act Lead Balloons are offered only the most cursory of applause during their solid support slot. Air Cav stumble onto the stage, clearly having been celebrating hard throughout the support, and almost shyly launch into set opener A Call To Arms; and in those opening few guitar lines the band instantly change from reluctant, withdrawn individuals into a confident, collective, dominant force. A Call To Arms has been knocking about since they began but it is testament to its enduring nature that the band still use it to open their set; its cacophony of guitar and violin hints at a sense of melancholy underneath the soaring spirit of the song, which is driven with simple yet effective drumming. Branches, taken from their recent single, follows next with a definite nod towards the Arcade Fire in it’s wailing, full frontal introduction before settling into something fluent and hazy thanks to Sophie Parkes violin.

What makes Air Cav such a joy to watch is the enjoyment they have of being on stage; how it transforms them and radiates out to those watching them. When future single Embers malfunctions, the band merely laugh and happily advertise their current releases, before striking back up again. Meanwhile, telling glances throughout the set show that, yes they’re performing exactly how they want to and yes, they really wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Where they really excel however is in providing what seems initially like a wall of sound, before allowing themselves to carefully pick out and remove bricks from within the wall; this gives them a range as poised and beautiful as it is powerful and full on.

Perhaps the best example of this comes in the form of current single Alliance, which jumps and bounces along with a frantic energy before being let out of its shackles and allowed to drift and meander around the venue, before being dragged back and fitted together again for a rousing finish. Furthermore, they do so in such a way as to fit all of their ideas and sprawling expanses into less than five minutes at a time, giving each of their songs a very anthemic feel. This is surely due to two years of hard toil around their native Manchester instead of swapping the practise room for lengthy tours in toilet-venues. The only sad thing is that a curfew puts a 45 minute restriction on a set which many would loved to have gone on much longer, and as final anthem So Others May Live there’s a genuine disappointment that the night has to come to an end.

So tonight is certainly evidence that Manchester is still alive and well and doing just fine thank you very much. The aforementioned Polytechnic and The Nightjars both released excellent albums last year, as did Nine Black Alps. This year the likes of Fear Of Music, The Ting Tings and Twisted Wheel are all expected to release debut offerings; and of course there are the dubious talents of The Courteneers. However, on tonight’s performance Air Cav may just be the best of the bunch, and one hopes that they can build on the strong fan base they now have in their hometown and start to reach out nationwide.

http://www.myspace.com/aircavmusic

Comment on this article

Jarock's Weekly Podcast 2 (27th February)

2008-02-27T14:28:00.003Z

TRACKLISTING

1. Dananananaykroyd- The Greater Than Symbol
Myspace
2. Clockwork- Glow (Myspace Of The Week)
Myspace
3. Jacob Golden- Out Come The Wolves
Site
4. Les Savy Fav- Patty Lee (Single Of The Week)
Site
5. Sons & Daughters- Split Lips
Site
6. Polytechnic- Won't You Come Around (Upcoming Event Of The Week)
Myspace
7. The Boggs- Arm In Arm
Myspace
8. Puressence- This Feeling (Lost Classics)
Site
9. Transformer- Cinema Car (Caged Baby Remix)
Myspace
10. AmpLive- 15 Stepz (ft. Codinay Holiday)
Myspace

The Angry Teenager 2 @ Audioscribbler

2008-02-27T10:22:00.001Z

Editorial The Angry Teenager #2

Well give me my My Chemical Romance CDs and allow me to feel more angst and pain than you EVER could, I truly am the angriest teenager on the planet. I’m here to ruin your income tax by applying for higher education only to drop out midway through first year after being disappointed to find the student Union doesn’t sell pints for under £2. Read your bills and weep working class..

Date: 26/02/08

Last week was annual backslap-athon, the Mastercard sponsored Brit Awards, ( I saw Amy Winehouse chopping something up with a Mastercard although I may have been mistaken.) A whole platitude of things irk me about the Brits, maybe its that all the winners come from their own (questionable) talent school or maybe it’s the fact that all those Mika CD’s that were sold in order to make him ‘Best British Breakthrough Act’ could have been used, in the right hands, to slice his yowling, banshee-like self up into more pieces than my derisory state school education taught me to count up to, (that’d be eight incidentally.) With this in mind I thought I’d write a little top five of things that plain pissed me off about the Brits. Enjoy!..or don’t, it’s up to you really:

5. Take That winning Best Live Act

A personal gripe this one what with my beloved ‘look we’re an alternative band but we sold out Wembley Stadium twice which hang on makes us not very alternative at all..actually’ Muse barely being even mentioned in this category, defeated as they were by a “boy”band currently sitting in their mid to late 30s and possessing a lead vocalist in Gary Barlow who looks like he’s carrying about 30lbs too much. It’s widely acknowledged that the only fat people in memory to make a successful live show are Meatloaf and Solomon Burke. Fact.

4. Fearne Cotton

Just in general really; presenting Top Of The Tops as it laboured around like a dying fox waiting to be put out of it’s misery by a group of angry hounds (oh sorry they don’t allow that anymore do they, although I see little evidence of change) does not make you a worthy spokesperson on music; be it sensationalised tripe or otherwise. At one point I thought she had her head so far up Mark Ronson’s arse that she might suffocate and reach an untimely end. Sadly seconds later out she popped, yet more unbelievably still sporting that ‘made on Children’s TV’ styled sickly, patronising grin.

3. Paul McCartney winning Lifetime Achievement Award

Not so much his win, although one has to argue that his creative output since the Beatles is somewhat similar to his daily excrement output. No, what grated me was the baffling amount of people even younger than me down the front squealing away as “Macca” ,as he’s known in some sections, croaked and fumbled his way through his usual staple of hits. It could have been Mick Jagger for all they knew instead of the Beatles-milking, recently lighter of pocket ex-superstar. Do yourself a favour and let the folks more deserving of sharing in his dubious glory get down the front.

2. The Osbournes

Any explanation needed?

Mark Ronson

Ahh Ronson, the man who takes a track, puts a Lake Windermere sized amount of brass over the top of it like a six year old putting far, far too much chocolate sauce over his ice-cream, and calls himself a producer. We all know what happens when that’s the case dear readers- we feel queasy and have to lie down for six hours because if the mouth (or in this case) ear freeze doesn’t get us the sickly sweetness will. Not only did the famous knob twiddler manage to bag himself best British Male (what? No Lee Ryan?), he also managed to put in a what could generously be described as a ‘mediocre’ performance onstage, complete with his baffling doubled necked guitar.

Presumably the second neck was insurance to prevent his own neck from going on the block, because he sure as hell didn’t play a note on it. There’s only one place for Ronson; a place where people constantly have the horn and where old legends are regurgitated years after they were first successful- yes, maybe Mark with sleazy good looks and constant fixed smile should make a name for himself in the adult film industry. To cap it all he’s also a massive penis. Match made in heaven.

Until next week readers when we find out what happened when Johnny Borrell stuck out his tongue to the Doge of Venice, whether Gareth Campesinos really can spell ‘hahahaha I destroyed the hope and dreams of a generation of faux-romantics’ and what kind of fabric softener Mika uses. Good day!

Words: The Angry Teenager

Podcasts and Press Releases

2008-02-23T13:31:00.005Z

Just a couple of bits and bobs to explain here:
Somewhat amusingly my Podcast is now on iTunes so you can go on there to subscribe to it if you so wish, they must allow any old tat on there. Just have a look for Jarock on the iTunes store search engine, I'm sure there's a site URL but I'm not sure what it is to be honest! You can also go the old skool way and hit this Switchpod link and subscribe from there...again, if you so wish...Apparently people have been downloading it rather scarily, so for those 22 that have thank you very much! And spread the word, hopefully it'll get better.

Just to remind y'all as well the podcast's getting updated every Wednesday whilst all my corridor are out having a jolly good time at the AU social in M2 (a terrible, terrible night) and I'm stuck on my todd.

Other things: There's a comments thing on each of my articles on here so it would appear, so leave me some comments and feedback here why don't you, it'll be lovely to read for sure it will.

I'm not posting up press releases anymore because I'm doing them about 3 times a day, if you'd like to see 'em just go to God Is In The TV and have a look at the latest news. That'll be me.

'Los Campesinos!- Hold On Now, Youngster' God Is In The TV Review

2008-02-22T19:28:00.004Z

I reckon I've written about 1500 words on Los Campesinos! this week and probably listened to them about as many times. Good as they are I think I might be directing my ears elsewhere next week. Anyway, was kindly asked to write the review for their album (out on Monday), and as I enjoy them, I did. 4/5 possibly a bit generous, so between you and me if it was out of 10 I'd give it 7.

Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster (Wichita)
Simon Jay Catling

Now that all the New Year hype and bluster is out of the way, 2008 is finally starting to unfold and reveal which of those acts lauded at the beginning of the year are truly going to live up to their potential. Among those first out of the blocks was female talent Adele; with the likes of These New Puritans and Sons & Daughters following suit. With Duffy’s album also out imminently and Foals anticipated offering due out in March, the race to best the rest is truly on; and so arriving in another storm of media plaudits and fresh radio airplay come plucky underdogs, Cardiff seven-piece Los Campesinos!

Starting out initially as a three piece back in 2006, Los Campesinos! have expanded both in personnel and in sound since their first gig back in May of that year. Many of the songs compiled on this album have been drifting around since those early days, both on their demo- also named Hold On Now, Youngster, and on last year’s promising EP Sticking Fingers Into Sockets. The band rely largely on the vocal chemistry that lies between Gareth and Aleksandra Campesinos, whilst the rest of the band rattle on in the background mixing the ramshackle energy of the likes of the Arcade Fire with some shorter, punkier pop sensibilities. It’s hard to explain how one can feel exhausted whilst listening to an album but if ever a description fitted the opening five tracks of Hold On Now, Youngster.. then it can only be described as thus. Recent single Death To Los Campesinos! opens up with a lonely guitar that’s quickly submerged with more, driving guitars and bass, whilst a singular glockenspiel patters away over the top, echoing the contrast between Gareth’s passionate strangled cries and Aleksandra’s laidback, poised vocal delivery. As pop songs go it’s catchy as hell and likely to attract the ears of early pubescents just as much as it will people many years they’re elders. There’s no respite as a shouted ‘1,2,3,4’ intro leads us straight into the frantic 'Broken Hearts Sound Like Breakbeats', as Gareth laments of being ‘the beacon of hate that you’d always expected’. It’s as though Aleksandra is trying to calm the excitable male singer down in this and throughout the album; indeed we don’t get a respite until sixth track 'Knee Deep At ATP', where the band finally decide to take a rest and allow the bass and a delightful meandering violin take control and allow the listener to get their breath back, before a slow build up leads to an anthemic chorus. It could be argued that this is the end of part one.

“Part two” begins with live favourite ‘This Is How You Spell “Hahaha, We Destroyed The Hopes and Dreams Of A Generation Of Faux-Romantics” which brings with it a slightly more measured tone before throttling head first once again into a irresistibly catchy chorus. One argument that can be levelled against the septet is that the overload of energy can at times make Hold On, Youngster.. rude towards the listener. The production doesn’t always help either, with all the guitars seemingly turned up to full volume so as to lose some of the more subtle elements of the band in its onrushing presence. Likewise, on songs where Gareth dominates the vocals one loses Aleksandra’s more docile, easy on the ear lyrics. There can be no criticism that Los Campesinos! don’t possess boundless energy, it’s just that at times it needs to be reigned in a little to stop the album becoming one big blur as can easily be the case upon first listen. When they manage to get it just right, the results are wonderful; ‘Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks’ manages to provide both a wonderfully controlled yet infectious mid section, where the bass and violin once again take prominence, before erupting into an outro ever so slightly reminiscent of ‘Wake Up’ by Arcade Fire. Final track ‘2007, The Year Broke (My Heart)’ repeats the trick with a composed offering that is quite at odds with most of what has gone on before.

So; a certifiable success? The answer would have to be yes as Los Campesinos! possess both the straight ahead pop punk appeal to entice a younger generation and an underlying subtlety that conveys influences far wider than at first meets the eye- names like Architecture Of Helsinki, Pavement and Broken Social Scene are often thrown around upon describing this band and the album does little to dissuade those comparisons. The main criticism of this album has to be that relentless layers of noise coupled with an occasionally muddy production can at times make for an uncomfortable listen, whilst also at times the group disable a good pop song by trying to throw too many ingredients into the cauldron. However, a handy knack for an infectious hook can’t help but leave you to persevering with what can only be described as a very good debut offering; translating the energy contained on this album into the live arena should see Los Campesinos! become justifiably huge over the coming months, and with the competition surrounding them that there is this is no mean feat. The ball’s in their court.

Los Campesinos! Myspace

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Los Campesinos!- Death To Los Campesinos!