Under Review - [NEeMA Live @ Bush Hall 07.07.11]
NEeMA with support from The Robbie Boyd Band @ Bush Hall 07/07/11
Canadian singer/songwriter NEeMA took to the stage in Shepherds Bush last week at Bush Hall, and is now at the end of her European Tour. NEeMA’s latest album ‘Watching You Think’ was co-produced by Leonard Cohen and Pierre Marchand, with the cover art hand drawn by Cohen too. If you haven’t been to Bush Hall as I hadn’t before, it is beautiful and on this night it was seated.
The Robbie Boyd Band were on first, a band who usually play as a seven-piece played with a few less members, but still brought their poppy/funky folk stylings to the 350 capacity venue with great grace. With the surge in the populatiry in British folk over the last few years this band still had a lot to give. A particular highlight for me in their set was the fantastic ‘Never Ever Land’ see the offical video for it below.
With a short break, NEeMA took to the stage, with incredible warmth of character and charm by the bag full she regailed stories of the greart north of Canada, about dancing circles among other things between songs. NEeMA’s introspective brand of folk came together beautifully on stage at Bush Hall, the atmosphere was intensely warm. The band was tight from start to end.
Her set was really touchingly beautiful which included many highlights such as a A beautiful rendition of ‘Dire Straits’ Romeo & Juliet, Elsa’s Lullaby (a song written for her dog), Masi (a really inspiring prayer song) and a truly mind blowing cover of Leonard Cohen’s own Avalanche (see below, taken from her Dublin at the Sugar Club, video taken by DabbyNoNA).
Speaking about NEeMA, Leonard Cohen once said “In the midst of all the static, a voice of true feeling arises - a rare event” This can be especially true in the hustle and bustle of London, and it was a real treat to see this beautiful show and gave me a real sense of serenity. Although the tour might be over now, if you want to feel emotionally and spiritually quenched go see NEeMA play in the future.
Verdict: 4/5
You can buy NEeMA’s album here: Watching You Think (Amazon)
Interview with Christian Lewis (Guitarist of Evaline)
Interview with Christian Lewis (guitarist of Evaline)
This Californian 6 piece has been making waves over recent years, having slowly growing a following, the band have just released their debut album 'Woven Material' as yet unsigned, they insist at the level they're at they get all the support a label would give them from their management. On Sunday 26th June, the day before their 'Woven Material' came out, I spoke to guitarist Christian Lewis about the bands origin, the recording and touring among other things.
Check out the interview below. You can also check out my review of 'Woven Material' here. You can buy the album from: Evaline's site, or at iTunes, Amazon
So for people who don't know you guys could you tell how and when Evaline got formed?
Christian Lewis(CL): It's been kind of a long process, Dominic, Steve and myself (Christian) have been friends since childhood and we just started jamming and playing together and then decided to get more serious. A few years into that we found Perry our singer, and our drummer Greg Petersen and Dan(Petersen) joined the band a few years later, and it's just been one of those kind of things where it's only been a serious deal in the last five years.
If you can remember what was the first album you ever owned and loved?
CL: The first album was on cassette, I think was Michael Jackson, I can't remember what it was exactly. It might have been 'Bad'.
Who would you say are your musical heroes?
CL: I think personally and maybe collectively have 'The Smashing Pumpkins', 'Nirvana', was a huge one and lets see more around the 90's 'Bush' was a huge influence on me starting getting into music.
So 'Woven Materials' is coming out tomorrow, but how does it feel this close to release?
CL: It's so exciting; it was actually a pretty amazing experience coz we got to see the album and hold it in our hands for the first time with our producer Dan Austin. He came out to the show, so it's been growing with excitement. We got to hold it, see it, be with our producer, we haven't seen him for over a year, and it just so happened on that night we were all together. Everybody is just so excited; it's still a bit surreal. It's just a really good feeling.
How long did it take to put together and when did you actually finish it?
CL: Actually we finished recording it at the end of 2009, and then it took awhile for the mixing and after everything happened we wanted to wait till a late spring / early summer release. So it kept getting pushed back and pushed back which turned out being a good thing because we ended up rerecording a few tracks, both our singles. So the timing has been good to make a stronger campaign, a stronger release.
What was it like working with Dan Austin, who's worked with some great acts such as 'The Doves' and 'Biffy Clyro'.
CL: Yeah, he's great. He's an insanely hard worker, and an amazing person and we had a lot of fun getting to know him, it's like a big family really. Seeing him the other night was awesome he brought his parents out to the show and we got to meet them. It was just a really good experience; we miss him a lot when we don't get to see him.
What was the writing process like for the album?
CL: It was long. Mainly how we write, and we've always done it this way, we just get in a room together and kept having ideas and jam it out. Build things up, write a song, tear it down, and replace parts, whatever. We just go in there every day, put 8 hours and sometimes walk out with less than we started with. Just constantly changing, rearranging, and trying to make things better, trying to make everything perfect. We did that on our own, so finally when Dan Austin came in we got to sit back and let someone take the reins. We have all this material, and have him go 'right, that's it', or 'that's it' helped us so much.
I know you're not supposed to, but do you have any favourite tracks on the album?
CL: Yeah, I think one of my favourite tracks is 'Beneath the Fire' the first track. I really like 'There There' actually, our single. I enjoy that listening and playing it. It's one of my favourite tracks to play live.
I know quite a lot of you guys are into your 'Post Rock', so were you ever tempted to put on a full on instrumental post rock song on there?
CL: That's what's funny, actually 'Beneath the Fire' was meant to be instrumental. It was before we went into the studio we recorded all the instruments and it was going to stay that way. One day we came back and Perry (our singer) was just doing vocals on it. It was one of those things, it was just so incredible and everybody was just so floored by it. We just kept adding to it, to the song it is now. But initially it was just going to be an instrumental track.
So you've just come back from a series of shows in Europe, but what can you tell me about your recent shows like 'Hurricane Festival', 'Download' and 'Hard Rock Calling'?
CL: Yeah 'Hard Rock Calling', we did that yesterday and that was crazy, such a good show. I don't think it could have gone better really, I mean we had a great crowed, played well, had management and everybody from London, had that big family atmosphere going on.
The shows in Europe went well. Germany it rained both festivals we played which kind of put a little harsh spin on everything. They were still good, just crazy raining sideways. Having to cover up our gear the best we could. The kids still came out in the rain, which is awesome, the Germans are crazy.
So you're playing two shows in London in the coming week at 'The Lexington' supporting Planes (Steve Forrest's side project) and 'The Bull & Gate' so how are you feeling about playing your first shows with your album out?
CL: Yeah it's feeling good, just playing shows trying to stay relevant and we've had the record forever we've been sitting on it and now we finally have something to promote and release, it really helps so much to keep the momentum. 'If you come to this show you can check out our CD here' you know it helps so much, and is really excited.
And it must be nice supporting Steve (Forrest) and his new project (Planes) too.
CL: Yes it is it's amazing. We've been hanging out with him a lot. I stayed with him for a few days and he was at the show yesterday too (Hard Rock Calling). Yeah it's going to be fun.
What would you say has been your most memorable show to date?
CL: I think the one we all commonly agree on is when we were in the States. We were on our way to Baltimore to do a gig, and we got caught in traffic, there was this huge accident and the helicopters came in and everything, it was bad.
We basically were speeding down a one way street, the wrong way parked our van, got our gear and went straight on stage, checked our instruments and just started playing. It was a big crowed, and was just one of those moments where I think we were just sitting in a van all day and cooped up. The crowed was so good it was just one of the memorable shows with tones of energy and good vibes.
How do shows in the States differ from those in Europe and the UK?
CL: That's the thing; the States is so big, so you get different varieties. LA and London have a little more of an 'impress me' vibe to get the media. But it seems like in Europe and England we like the music scene a lot better here, we feel like the kids understand the music more. In America if you're not Pop or some sort of heavy metal, there's not like a spot for us and don't know what to make of us.
While you're over here, do you get homesick much?
CL: Not especially, where we come from is pretty boring. I think the only thing we get homesick about is the food like in California we get great Mexican food, and you don't really get that anywhere else; I think that's about it. But we love it here in England and Europe. London's like our second home basically, we spend a lot of time here.
What would you say your highlights of the last 12 months have been?
CL: Well we did 'South by Southwest', and the festivals we've been doing here, and we were in Thailand & Singapore playing some gigs over there. I just think all of the shows we've been playing have been highlights. Everything's going really well, we're playing a show at the Roundhouse with 'My Chemical Romance' for the iTunes festival, haven't done that yet but that's going to be an honour and a big deal. There seems to be a lot of things of exciting things to come, so things are going to keep growing.
So there's an argument going on in the 'industry' about whether the album format is becoming less and less relevant, both in the physical format sense and also in the sense of the number of tracks on albums compared to that of a EP or even to just Singles. So what's your take on that?
CL: It's one of those things; it's hard for me because I get both ends of it where as I do enjoy just downloading things on iTunes and putting it on my iPod and you know have it all on your iPod everywhere. But when you've worked so hard on something, like we've worked so hard on this album and if we didn't get to have something physical to look at and hold in our hands we would have been so disappointed. We would love people to have that same feeling, when you put so much of yourself into it that you just want that physical thing with the artwork. I don't think fully understand the amount of effort that's put into it.
I know, personally for me there's nothing better than coming back from a record shop with an album in your hands and just waiting to put it in your CD player or Vinyl player.
CL: Yeah just sit there and flick through the booklet, it's always fun.
Evaline Christian Lewis, Greg Petersen, Dominic Di Ciano, Richard Perry, Daniel Petersen & Steven Pedersen
News: New Video from Bella Spinks - Words (Debut Single)
Check out Bella Spinks on her facebook page here
Under Review [Evaline - Woven Material] 4/5
Woven Material is the debut album from the Californian 6 piece rock act Evaline. The band originally formed in 2003 fresh out of school with a slightly different line up of Richard Perry, Dominic Diciano, Christian Lewis, Steve Pedersen and Steve Forrest. The band saw its debut EP release Post Mortem Modesty which they recorded with The Used’s guitarist Quinn Allman and saw a relatively large scale release through Maverick Records. They spent the next years touring extensively supporting acts like Placebo. A change in line up for Placebo meant that Steve Forrest joined them in mid 2008. Greg and Daniel Patersen joined Evaline shortly after to form the current line up.
Evaline finished recording Woven Material back in 2009 and was produced by Dan Austin who has worked with bands like Doves and Biffy Clyro. Their long awaited début is finally here as of 27th June 2011, with includes ‘Hours’ and ‘Beneath The Fire’ which also featured on the Patterned EP and 10 new tracks. Opening with the spectacular ‘Beneath The Fire’ the bands love of Post-Rock bands like Explosions in the Sky really shine through, with Perry’s vocals seemingly igniting the track with explosive passion, the strings bring this high energy song to a perfect end.
‘There There’ which is going to be one of the single for the album is heavily percussion and bass driven. The vocals have a almost choral element to it, and fits perfectly with the drum and bass grove. At just under three minutes its one of the shorter tracks of the album, but the energy of it all makes it simply electric and fun.
‘Ascend’ starts of with a clapping and some strange guitar effects and launches into something of an anthemic rock song nature. It’s a very vocal/guitar led track, with Perry’s vocals having a sort of Julian Casablancas (Strokes) quality to it at times. Ascend is a song essentially about coming to terms with death.
‘Picking It Up’ starts off with some chimey guitars and is drum and vocal driven. I have to say this is probably my least favourite track on the album, which is not to say its bad but just doesn’t feel as good as the rest of the album. However saying that it has some killer vocals from Perry at parts with a lot of power.
‘Equally’ starts off with a very laid back beat and Perry’s soaring vocals. The guitars come in more with the chorus with the same soaring feeling to them, and throughout the song it gradually gets more ‘Led Zeppelin-esque’ guitar heavy.
‘Feeding On The Congregations’ is one of my personal favourites along with ‘There There’ and has some really interesting guitar sounds giving it an almost percussive sound. The song is structurally interesting, with its many parts leading to some great riffs, it’s busy but is never lost in a sea sound. It’s probably the most experimental tracks on the album and finishes much in the way it starts with the percussive guitars, but with a little extra brass outro.
‘Hours’ has a almost ambient feel to it at certain points which build into the more rockier sounds giving it a quite intense sound. Perry’s melancholic vocals still possess that same soaring quality in a number of the songs on here, and gains real power throughout the song.
‘Who Are You’ is a keys, bass and vocal led track, though the subject of the song seems to be about being caught out and being on the defensive there is a real beautiful melody here and really works well as a real turning point in the change of tone of the album.
‘Rapture’ comes in where the previous track left off both lyrically, calling the subject of the song from the start "Don’t you dare forget your place with me" and musically. At times this feels like a dark Beach Boys song with the ‘Oh wee oh wee oh’s in there, giving it a real cool vibe.
‘Overwhelming Shapes’ starts Perrys low vibrato which is almost a whispers, accompanied with some dark sounding guitars and bass. It’s the track the album takes its name from in one of the lyrics, which is repeated over and over again.
‘No Time To Breathe’ at a little over a minute is a little intro into the albums finale, comprising mainly of what appears to be a xylophone.
‘All In My Mind’ is a great closing track for the album and starts with what sounds like a muted guitar giving a sense of a galloping horse. It’s melancholic tone is one held throughout, and builds up and breaks down into some really interesting sounds with echo giving the song a great depth and closing the album with a droning guitar. A perfect end to a great album.
‘Woven Material’ is an album of two halves, the later is a lot darker than the first and is full of really atmospheric sounds and a wide range of influences. It’s a well balanced album without any significant lulls in attention, and a lot of thought in the ordering of the tracks.
They have been described as a mix of Radiohead and Janes Addiction, and I wouldn’t disagree with that assessment on a whole though there is a whole lot more going on I think, and has a lot of potential. I think we’ll see a lot of interesting things coming from this band in years to come.
After a number of listens to the album I find myself getting more into it, and am very much looking forward to seeing them play live again and seeing them bring it to the live stage.
Tracklist:
01. Beneath The Fire 6:56
02. There There 2:54
03. Ascend 4:03
04. Picking It Up 3:30
05. Equally 4:24
06. Feeding On The Congregations 5:38
07. Hours 4:04
08. Who Are You 4:50
09. Rapture 3:57
10. Overwhelming Shapes 5:32
11. No Time To Breathe 1:05
12. All In My Mind 6:43
Released:27/06/11
Verdict: 4/5
Stand out tracks: Beneath The Fire, There There & Feeding On The Congregations.
You can by the album from: Evaline’s site, or at iTunes, Amazon
by Bob Pritcahrd
Interview with Ric Hollingbery of Pengilly's
Pengilly’s are Leed’s based a six piece band who make an experimental mix of electronica with orchestral instrumentation. Pengilly’s is fronted by Ric Hollingbery, with Lara Verney, Georgie Jackman, Charlotte Taylor, Jim O’Doherty, and Joe Pearson.
This Leeds based sextet formed three years ago, Ric and Lara are the only members of the original line up, and met the others while studying at Leeds University. They released their debut single Ode VIII in January which saw a lot of radio attention from Tom Robinsons show on BBC6 Music.
Pengilly’s are releasing their debut EP, Toby’s Hill through Good Foot Records (the label started by the bands bassist and drummer) and they having their London launch party tonight (14/06/11) at The Lexington. This four track EP includes the title track ‘Toby’s Hill’, ‘g a p s’, ‘Writing Things Down And Thinking Things Over’ and ‘Stillness Is Digging For Worms’, and is availble to buy and listen on their Bandcamp page.
Watch their performance of ‘To London’ here.
Pengilly’s - To London from L E - T ▼ C K S H O P on Vimeo.
As well as being the singer songwriter of Pengilly’s Ric Hollingbery also plays bass sometimes in Emmy The Great’s live band, and I caught up with him before one of their St. Pancras Old Church mini-residency shows last week to talk with him about his band. Which you can watch below:
Under Review [The Magic Lantern - A World in a Grain of Sand] ★ ★ ★ ½
The Magic lantern are a 5 piece Chamber-Folk band from London and they are a part of the legendary F-IRE Collective (other F-IRE bands include Polar Bear and Basquiat Strings). They have released their debut album ‘A World in a Grain of Sand’ through their own Hectic Eclectic Records. With influences spanning from contemporary classical, to Jazz and funk, their collective tastes and talents make for interesting results.
(You can see our interview with them here)
A World in a Grain of Sand - Album Preview by TheMagicLantern
The World In A Grain Of Sand is a beautiful album that sees their various influences fused together into an 11 track audio journey full of beautiful harmonies, plenty of colour and some really enchanting clarinet playing. They describe themselves as being Chamber-Folk, and quite rightly so as each instrument plays their own distinct part, which meshes together with great synergy.
The World In A Grain of Sand will have you swaying along gently one minute and suddenly throw you about like hitting a rough patch of sea, but Jamies soft dulcet tones are the perfect guide through the rough, the calm and everything in between.
Highlights of the album for me would be, the somewhat crazy ‘The Ship That Washed Away’, the Jazz/Reggae fusions of ‘Shine A Light On’, the beautiful Karachi and the sublime almost A capella ‘The Bridge’.
Tracklist:
- Somebody Told Me
- Cut From Stone
- Laura’s Song
- The Ship That Washed Away
- Guilty Hearts
- Shine A Light On
- Patriots
- A Man & His Dog
- Karachi
- The Bridge
- Romeo and Juliet (III)
Cut From Stone from tim travers hawkins on Vimeo.
Released:
Verdict 3.5/5
News
Come see London’s one of premier tourist destinations Trellick Tower. (Click on image)
Interview with Brigitte Aphrodite
Brigitte Aphrodite (her real name by birth) is a singer song writer from Bromley. Her song writing style stem from a sense of parody with a honest core and whose love of glitter really comes through in her live shows.
Brigitte who initially began as a solo artist in Hastings, and took a comedy show to Edinburgh fringe festival in 2009. Brigitte toured her show and at her London show, Kate Nash (who Brigitte had an association with through mutual friends) turned up and loved. When Nash set up her new Record Label ‘Have 10p’ records, which Brigitte was the first artist signed to.
It wasn’t until September 2010 when Brigitte put together the band which consists of Olli Carter, Zach Hunt & Jay Canagasabey who are are the ‘Visions of Beauty’ or (VOBs). Around Christmas last year they released a special single and video for ‘Merry Kissmas’ which was a funny and direct reaction to people’s ‘Scrooge-like’ anti Christmas views. They released their latest single in April ‘I Dream Myself Awake’, which you can see the video of here.
I caught up with Brigitte before her show in Islington last week, check out the interview bellow.
Interview with The Wave Pictures
The Wave Pictures are a three piece rock band formed in 1998 under the name Blind Summit whose original line up is David Tattersall, Franic Rozycki & Hugh Nobel. When Nobel left the band found a new drummer Jonny Helm, and with him a new name ‘The Wave Pictures’. The band are signed to Moshi Moshi and at the start of may brought out their latest album ‘Beer in the breakers’
(Interview/The Wave Pictures talk Technology)
I caught up with the band before they took to the stage at London’s Scala near Kings Cross on the final night of the UK tour, just behind the venue. We talked about the bands origins, who they grew up listening to, who they’re listening to now, influences, their new album ‘Beer In The Breakers’, what’s next for them, the impact of technology on the industry and the importance of music physicality. Check out the interview bellow, for the later two subjects in a separate video at the bottom or here.
David Tattersall & Franic Rozycki talking their origins and their new album ‘Beer In The Breakers’
David Tattersall & Franic Rozycki talking about technology in music
Interview with Frank Byng & Ben Cowen of Snorkel
Snorkel are collective of live-minded musicians who make experimental improvised music. Lead by Frank Byng the collective who first formed the collective over a decade ago. The current line up is Frank Byng, Ben Cowen, Tom Marriott, Ralph Cumbers (aka Bass Clef) and Roberto Sassi. Although the core of what snorkel do is improvised they have a number of ‘written’ songs they can call upon, and released their first album ‘Glass Darkly’ back in 2008 though Slowfoot Records, which is co-owned by Byng. Earlier this month the band released their second album ‘Stop Machine’
Watch:(Introducing Snorkel/Talking About Their New Album)
The Undercurrent: How did the Snorkel Collective come to be? Who makes up the collective and what’s the dynamic like?
Frank Byng: Essentially we got together with some people and played, probably around 10 or 11 years ago. Then it was with a Tuba player called Lauren Marshal, a bass player called Nico Gross, me and a guitarist called Lucas Suarez. We just started playing, I think we did one gig together. Then sporadically sort of from then until 2007, a studio sessions or a couple live dates.
I’m really the only one still in the band now, the current line up. So that was really where it stated, we came up with the name because we did a gig and everyone became very busy and it became a name to cover a certain kind of improvised activity within the label. I can’t remember when you first played (to Ben)
Ben Cowen: I did a gig in ninety six, with Lucas, Frank and Nico yeah and I knew Frank from that but we didn’t play until 2005, we done a few things but 2005 was the new condensed Snorkel.
Frank Byng: That was when we really started treating Snorkel as an ongoing concern. Which lead to the first album in 2008.
Ben Cowen: That was basically me, Frank, Jeremy, Charles and Tom, and that’s kind of been the core of it, but I don’t know a few people came into it since then. Charles and Jeremy aren’t in the band. Kind of similar instramentation, but slight modifications.
Frank Byng: There are a few people who were involved and still get involved, and there are gigs we can’t do the full five piece, sometimes a four piece, and sometimes as a six piece so its partly practical, whose around to do stuff.
I always think of Snorkel as its own organism, it has its own rules which everyone who plays within it adhere to, to a certain degree for the people who we want to get involved, who understand what its about.
The Undercurrent: You (Frank) started and co-run slowfoot records, but how and why did you start it and how has it grown to what it is today?
Frank Byng: I’m just a huge fan of music, we set it up because I was in another group called Charlie Marlow at the time. We wanted to release an EP, which we could then use to get a deal, that was in 2001. It sort of lay dormant for a couple of years, so it’s slow by name, slow by nature really, it just built up over time. I always loved the idea of releasing music and curating stuff to a certain extent, and that’s where it started.
The Undercurrent: How would you describe your music?
Frank Byng: The press release that went out for this that has been picked up is perhaps slightly wordy. We kind of just jumbled a whole lot of genres together because it is really hard to say what we do. The core of what we do is improvise, and its the certain sort of idea about instrumentation and how you plug into something thats picking up on electronic music, live stuff, instramental music. It does pick up on all sorts of stuff like Jazz and african and funk inspired. Then theres the use of electronics and cheap drum machines so it really pulls on a lot of different stuff.
In terms of working method, groups like CAN and Soft Machine are defiantly big influences for me. I don’t think we sound like them, but the methods we employ which is to say you improvise and in the studio and the editing process brings it all together, but also takes it in different directions at times. In a way although the studio process is often much longer, it’s still that same kind of process of reacting to what’s there and you’re letting that guide you rather than trying to impose some songwriting strategy.
Ben Cowen: We do write things occasionally, set things but they’re usually things that have come from improvising. We never sort go this is exactly what it is, there’s always leeway. It’s a refreshing change from just improvising, but it doesn’t feel like its set.
With improvising we do a bit of Dub and Jazz but it’s not like we’re doing standards where somebody does a solo with set chords or everything is dubbed like an old Roots record. It’s just a process of doing it, reacting to it and listening to what we do.
Frank Byng: I think the Dub thing is almost more of what happens in the studio. It’s the idea of stripping things out and revealing what’s underneath. Live we use the classic Dub tools, the echo’s, the shifting reverb spaces but it’s more about the studio. Somehow you’re presented with what you’ve done, and if you take that thing out what’s underneath it? Is it maybe more interesting, more minimal.
The Undercurrent: Your music is very multifaceted, layered and a real sonic experience but how do you translate that to the live stage and bring it to life?
Ben Cowen: A very mysterious X-factor process, we don’t want to know about. I think one of the things maybe you nodding at, we have a sense that because of the instrumentation there’s a lot of overlap with our sound. Sometimes one of the nice things about Snorkel is that we’re improvising and listening as well, and there’s a different space you inhabit when you all sense that it is an immersive state and you’re all in it together. Because of our instraments overlapping, you can’t tell who’s playing what.
Frank Byng: It’s a sound engineers nightmare. They have no idea who’s making what sound.
Ben Cowen: There’s a lot of syncopation, within that there’s a lot of layering just because somebody is doing something physically at a certain time. With improvising you’re not so conscious of knowing where it fits sometimes it can get messy.
Frank Byng: The thrill of it is it can totally fuck up. But for me what I think musically are the best gigs, in terms of audience and the buzz of the gig. Sometimes there’s an anomaly there, because for us to really listen and tune in to what we’re doing, it’s good not to have such a noisy crowd. We do try and call upon a limited selection of set material like Stop Machine.
The Undercurrent: Do you ever feel pressure put on yourselves in performing improvised works together?
Introducing Snorkel:
Frank & Ben talk about the new album:
Under Review [The Fierce & The Dead - If It Carries On Like This We Are Moving To Morecambe] ****
The Fierce & The Dead (TFATD) are an indie/prog/post-rock band trio formed of Matt Stevens, Kez Feazy and Stuart Marshal. On May 16th the band brought out their new album “If It Carries On Like This We Are Moving To Morecambe”, though for the purpose of the review I will simply refer it to ‘Morecambe’ for simplicity sake as ‘IICOLTWAMTM’ just seems a bit too much for an acronym. Acronyms aside ‘Morecambe’ is an impressive body of work which really has a great sense of flow and is not simply a collection of songs but more a musical instrumental Post-Rock journey.
(Available to buy download & physical here)
Firstly I’d like to say that ‘Morecambe’ is a uniquely sounding sonic landscape full of wonderful effects and wildly shifting musical contours full of highs and lows, and I don’t mean that in a quality of music sense but the energy of the songs.
The journey begins with ‘Flint’, which emerges from a series of odd sound effects which slowly builds and gains momentum until around one and a half minutes in where a distinct bass line rears its head from the sea of sound. The song emerges from the central bass line with a beautiful simplicity.
Next port of call is ‘Part 2’ which starts off slowly again and launches into a highly energetic punchy mid section before switching back down a step again. Giving a real sense of a musical narrative of some kind is playing out with its various sections filled with some sublime guitar work here.
‘The Wait’ is a short song little over two minutes in length which is a very pleasing little melody that isn’t quite an interlude yet leads on to the next track quite well, which is ‘H.R’ which is another slow building but highly atmospheric well textured track, that leads into a fuzzy climax.
Next up ‘Hotel No.6’ with a creepy haunting organ-like intro with effects layering on top, the album takes a odd twist in the journey. With a very ambient yet always creepy vibe continuously building, there is something to be said for TFATD’s ability to build tension and atmosphere into their music.
If the rest of the album so far has taken you down a long and winding journey ‘Landcrab’ really grabs you and takes you somewhere else, akin to a chase sequence in some mad imaginary landscape.
‘Daddies Little Helper’ is another little musical oddity with a really strange otherworldly saxophone piece which somehow fits the piece brilliantly with all its madness. The track fades with some crazy cool distortion into the next track ‘Woodchip’ which is another short track just under two minutes in duration, again full of strange and wonderful effects, including lots of echo towards the end.
The penultimate track ’10x10’ is probably my favorite track on ‘Morecambe’ no small part to some incredibly cool arrangements going on this track really is full of energy and builds upon layers and layers. Each component is then almost stripped away and kicks back into full throttle for a high energy finish.
Final stop on this crazy ten tracked musical adventure is ‘Andy Fox’ is a really cool atmospheric slow building track, and it sees the brief return of the mad otherworldly saxophone coming into play. Before fizzling out.
For me the ‘Morecambe’ is a wonderfully wild journey you’re never quite sure of where it’s going to take you. My only real criticism is the the whole thing feels like its building up to something, and then just fizzles out a little which leaves you a little unsatisfied. However the album flows excellently and is full of texture and colour and ofcourse FX peddle galore. On a final note if you like bands like ‘Explosions In The Sky’ I think these guys will be right up your alley, and hell even if you don’t, they’re well worth a listen. Which you can do bellow.
Released: 16 May 2011
Verdict: 4/5
News
She Makes War’s Pledge Campaign is going strong, but needs a little bit more of a push. So have a listen to what she does and decide for yourself if you want to give her a hand to reach that 100% barrier. (Click here or click on image bellow to visit her Pledge Music Page)
Pledge Music is an alternate way for artists to fund their projects be it an album, a tour, a DVD release. Laura Kidd aka She Makes War has been waging a pretty successful Pledge campaign to raise money for her second album, but there are only 23 days left to get involved and help her cross that all important 100% threshold. As well as raising money for the artistic endeavours, Pledge Music also donate a portion of the money raised to charity. So why not have a listen to her debut album and see if this is something you would like to help get made.
You can listen to her debut album ‘Disarm’ here:
Click on the bellow image to visit She Makes War’s Pledge Music Page:
News
I Survived, Did you? (Click on the image if yes and bask in the afterglow of rapture)
Image taken from http://www.redbubble.com/people/kombicam/t-shirts/7096561-i-survived-the-rapture-may21
Under Review [Young Rival - The Ocean Single] ****
From Hamilton, Ontario in Canada a vibrant Surf-Rock trio by the name of ‘Young Rival’ have emerged. They released their self titled debut album in Canada last year and have brought out their new single ‘The Ocean’ to the UK through ‘Buy Yourself An Education’ Records. The trio are Aron D’Alesio, Noah Fralick & John Smith.
‘The Ocean’ is a song that screams the summer, with a catchy chorus that will have you swaying and dreaming of sun, sea and sand. D’Alesio’s vocals remind me a bit of Julian Casablancas with a bit more fun and at a beach party. Best thing I can say is just listen to it and feel that smile hit your face.
The B-Side ‘Another Nobody’ is a perfect accompaniment, it brings the grittier, punchier and all together rockier side of the band to the table. The guitars are fuzzier, the drums are heavier and the riff in the bridge is jam packed with awesome.
Watch the video for ‘The Ocean’ here.
Released: 4th May (UK)
Verdict: 4/5
News
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Announce New Album ‘Hysterical’
Check out the teaser video:
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah / Hysterical from CYHSY on Vimeo.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (CYHSY) are a Brooklyn NY/Philadelphia based American Indie Rock band formed in 2005. CYHSY are Alec Ounswort, Robbie Guertin, Lee Sargent, Tyler Sargent and Sean Greenhalgh. Hysteria will be the bands 3rd studio album and their first release since 2007’s ‘Some Loud Thunder’ which personally was one of my favorite albums of that year.
The band are coming to London’s Scala near Kings Cross in September.
Upcoming Shows
- Aug 12-14 / Outside Lands Festival / San Francisco, CA / Tickets
- Aug 28 / Sunset Junction Festival / Los Angeles, CA / Tickets
- Sep 2 / End of the Road Festival / North Dorset, UK / Tickets
- Sep 6 / Queens Social Club / Sheffield, UK
- Sep 7 / Scala / London, UK
- Sep 9 / Berlin Festival / Airport Tempelhof, Germany / Tickets
- Sep 12 / La Maroquinerie / Paris, France / Tickets
- Sep 13 / Melkweg / Amsterdam, Holland / Tickets
- Sep 14 / Gebaude 9 / Cologne, Germany / Tickets
Interview with City Reign
City Reign are a four piece indie rock band based in Manchester, formed up of Chris Bull, Mike Grice, Michael Glaze & Same Jones. Bull and Grice are the principle song writers and met at a Ryan Adams concert. The name ‘City Reign’ comes from the Bryan Adams song ‘City Rain, City Streets’ but the band decided it didn’t look so good on paper so changed Rain to Reign.
Though none of the band are originally from Manchester, it is where they each call home. The early days saw them cut their recording teeth recoding some demos with Grammy nominee Dan Parry in London’s Metroplis Studio. The band went on to create their own record label ‘Car Boot Records’ to release their material. They have released three singles so far ‘Making Plans’, ‘Out In The Cold’ & ‘Daybreak’ and plan to release and EP later in the year.
Check out the interview I did with them before they played a gig at the Watershed in Wimbledon, London.
Under Review [The Wave Pictures - Beer in the Breakers] ****
The Wave Pictures 6th Studio album Beer in Breakers is out now (2nd May) through Moshi Moshi Records. This masterful album was produced by Darren Hayman of Hefner and Darren Hayman & The Secondary Modern. The album was recorded in Hayman’s gouse in just one day, which Tattersal describes as being “the happiest record experience we have ever had”.
Beer in the Breakers is a charming 12 tracked album fully equipped with plenty of character & wit with hints of moments of darkly poetic lyrical undertones. A personal highlight for me is the single ‘Little Surprise’ also out now. Grab yourself a copy here.
Other personal highlights would be Blink Back A Tear, with simply sublime guitar riffs reminiscent of the great bands of the 60’s & 70’s. In Her Kitchen is another stand out track and is apparently one of the oldest songs on the album, originally written when Dave Tattersall was just 17 years old.
Since the album was recorded live Tattersal expressed his hope that the album captures “the strange and glorious spontaneous moments that musicians create together, that no one could do on their own, and that you can only get with a live performance” and these ‘moments’ certainly do shine through right throughout the album.
All in all Beer In The Breakers is a warm, charming poppy record that will be perfect playing on a sunny afternoon sat in a park somewhere. It is a real gem and you should go and have a good ol’ listen for yourself.
Listen to ‘Little Surprise’ here:
The Wave Pictures - Little Surprise by moshi moshi music
Released: 2nd May
The Verdict: 4/5
News
Emmy The Great recorded this for the Guardian on behalf of all the women all over the UK who are broken hearted over the impending royal wedding this coming Friday (29/04/11).
Emmy is bringing out her sophomore album ‘Virtue’ on the 13th June which you pre-order now here Pre-Order Virtue at Play.com and here Pre-Order Virtue at HMV. ‘Virtue’ was funded by fans through Pledge Music and reached 332% of the target with the support of just under 1000 ‘pledgers’.
Full track list:
1. Dinosaur Sex
2. A Woman, A Woman, A Century Of Sleep (free download via rcrdlbl.com)
3. Iris
4. Paper Forest (In The Afterglow Of Rapture)
5. Cassandra
6. Creation
7. Sylvia
8. Exit Night / Juliet’s Theme
9. North
10. Trellick Tower
Other artists to utilize the services provided by Pledge Music include the likes of ‘Fun Lovin’ Criminals’, ‘The Subways’, ‘Funeral For A Friend’, ‘Viv Albertine’ (of the Slits fame) and many many more, check it out and show your support.
Interview with Tom Williams and the Boat
Tom Williams and the Boat are a 6 piece unsigned rock band from Tunbridge Wells, Kent formed of Tom Williams, Chris Stewart, Anthony Vicary, David Trevillion, Josh Taylor & Geri Holton. The band formed around late 2007 but stemmed from Tom Williams’s original solo work and have steadily grown since the bands inception.
They released a few EP’s since forming in 2007 but in February 2011 they released their debut Album ‘Too Slow’ with 11 fantastic songs including ‘Get Older’, ‘Concentrate’ and ‘90MPH’ and is well worth checking out, you can get it here on their official site. Personally this band is one of my favorite new bands I’ve heard for some time, it’s really refreshing listening. With a sound somewhere between the Pixies and Bob Dylan, they really have the potential to go far and I really hope they do.
I caught up with Tom, Josh, Chris & David before their show at London’s Borderline near Tottenham Court Road to discus their music:
Questions:
- How and when did Tom Williams & The Boat come to be?
- What were the first albums you ever owned and loved?
- What was the first song you ever learned to play
- So who do you listen to now and who influences you?
- What drives you to write music?
- How do your songs take shape?
- So you released your debut album ‘Too Slow’ in February:
How long did it take to record and put together? - And what would you say are the themes in the album and your writing in general?
- So what’s been the general reception to the album?
- What can you tell me about your next single ‘Concentrate’? (out may 9th)
- You’re in the middle of a tour right now, so how’s it been going so far?
- Have you got a favorite place to play?
- So what are your plans for the year ahead?
- How many songs have you written for the next album so far?
- Being as it is record store day today, have you had a chance to get anything?
- Is there anything you really would have wanted?
‘Concentrate’ / Tom Williams and the Boat are:
Interview in full.
Tom Williams And The Boat (Live @ The Borderline)
Bit of trivia the sound checking in the background from 11:10 is She Makes War/Laura Kidd who was the first person I interviewed of the year.
Interview with Standing On Giants
Standing on Giants are a four piece indie rock band from Kent. Formed in 2009, by Simon Briley, Ant Grant, Alex Gettinby & Daryl Crowley and released their debut EP last year ‘No A Medias’, the band have seen their fan base steadily grow.
Last year they supported Kid British, Bloc Party, The Crookes, The Holloways, and Kid Harpoon, and over the last month have played many shows including headlining the Tunbridge Wells Forum in Kent and the Islington O2 Academy. They had a radio interview/acoustic session on KMFM with the legendary Tony Blackburn and Adam Dowling. In February Chapel Club’s promoter asked them to open up for them at their album launch party show. They have been spending the past few weeks in their home studio laying down some new tracks.
The band have also recently started making a series of podcasts on their youtube channel so far they put out two podcasts and have also been keeping a video studio diary, check it all out here.
I caught up with them at their Queen of Hoxton show to discus what they’ve been up to since their formation and their future plans. See below:
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