A quick blog to fufil my occasional blogging quota. I hope to do this a lot more often pretty soon. Basically: I've had a few major disasters this year, the most critical being the malfunction of my precious 350GB external hardrive, with pretty much everything I've ever written or taken a photo of trapped inside, inaccessible to anyone but a group of people who can get the poor blighters out for the price of around £400 - £800. Also ensconsed within is every shard of the 120 GB of music I had stored on there. As a result I've had to get the hard copies out and start burning them back to my PC. However, while doing this, I've realised just how many amazing records were released this year and how little attention I've given them all. It's been a tough year to hear everything I've wanted to and it's only now that I'm forced to listen to snippets as they replicate themselves onto the internal storage device inside this renegade computer that I've missed out on some astonishing listening. So have you lot. Don't lie. I know you have. So a quick sentence about each...so far.
!!! -Myth Takes
Funk that actually rocks, !!!'s third record is a loose, passionate, vibrant record.
Emmure - Goodbye To The Gallows
While everyone was pissing themselves over a band me and my cohorts were talking about last October, Emmure came out with the heaviest album I've heard all year. Aggressive and peerless.
Dog Day - Night Group
A review appears somewhere early on in my blogging exploits. It's not gonna change the world but it will certainly remind it how much power the Pixies wielded in 1989.
Tiger Force - A Wasp In A Jar
About ten minutes long. Eight tracks. Fun in extremely small doses. Excellent.
Apostle of Hustle - National Anthem of Nowhere
I haven't even listened past track 2 and it's already turning out to be one of my favourite records this year.
65DaysofStatic - The Destruction Of Small Ideas
Glitching, distorted post rock that sounds as clinical as it does destructive.
Explosions In The Sky - Suddenly, I Miss Everyone
OK so no one forgot this, especially as they're curating ATP next year, but just for The Birth And Death of the Day, this deserves t be forgotten, then rediscovered each time you listen to it.
Desperado - Thugs
Hardcore Refused style - and it's as brutal as it is melodic
The Narrator - All That To The Wall
I know nothing about this apart from it's hyperactive and brilliant
Prinzhorn Dance School - S/T
No one talked about this band despite it being on DFA. It's minimalist, mornic and intense. I love it.
Cutting Pink With Knives - Populuxxe
Maybe you didn't even know about it. Possible the most invigorating record this year.
There's so many more. Also, look out for a lovely blog entitled Bands You Should Avoid In 2008.
Hurridly signing out. Brad....
Monday, 26 November 2007
Sunday, 30 September 2007
Meet Me In St Louis
So, I don't think I've waxed lyrical enough about the Meet Me In St Louis album.
Here's my subba-cultcha review: http://www.subba-cultcha.com/article_album.php?id=5989
But in addition:
I have spent the last thirty to forty minutes just sitting here and admiring the Kalashnikov noise that stutters and spits out from minute one of Variations On Swing. Math rock is the term that would probably best describe what they do, but unlike some other exponants, there is very little screaming and very little repetition of ideas within songs. In fact, there aren't many moments that could be called typical song structures.
Even the token acoustic song, Sorry, I Beat Up The Bathroom, sounds like no ballad I've ever imagined. It's brutal, meancing, harrowing, beautiful and utterly beguiling. Fuck Foals. They are unbelivably overrated. Maps and Atlases are great but MMISL have captured my imagination far more than those Americans. It's like Million Dead all over again - innovative guitar work, a thundering rhythm section and a brilliant vocalist. I never thought I'd say that.
When all is said and done, when my day has been tiring and frustrating, when my week has been a series of ups and downs, this can soundtrack my mind's pulsating schizophrenia.
Now to listen to Smiling At Strangers On Trains.....
Here's my subba-cultcha review: http://www.subba-cultcha.com/article_album.php?id=5989
But in addition:
I have spent the last thirty to forty minutes just sitting here and admiring the Kalashnikov noise that stutters and spits out from minute one of Variations On Swing. Math rock is the term that would probably best describe what they do, but unlike some other exponants, there is very little screaming and very little repetition of ideas within songs. In fact, there aren't many moments that could be called typical song structures.
Even the token acoustic song, Sorry, I Beat Up The Bathroom, sounds like no ballad I've ever imagined. It's brutal, meancing, harrowing, beautiful and utterly beguiling. Fuck Foals. They are unbelivably overrated. Maps and Atlases are great but MMISL have captured my imagination far more than those Americans. It's like Million Dead all over again - innovative guitar work, a thundering rhythm section and a brilliant vocalist. I never thought I'd say that.
When all is said and done, when my day has been tiring and frustrating, when my week has been a series of ups and downs, this can soundtrack my mind's pulsating schizophrenia.
Now to listen to Smiling At Strangers On Trains.....
Tuesday, 14 August 2007
Stupid Names In Rock Should Be Culled
While our British summer collapses under the weight of blanket rainclouds, I just thought I'd ward you off from this band....
I'm just gonna quote this piece of eloquent put down by yours truly - to be seen in it's entirety in the current Artrocker issue in my part of the Latitude review - about a band and I'd like you to take it on board.
"Joe Lean and his (sigh) Jing Jang Jongs are a terribly mediocre but (apparently) stylish outfit. Joe Lean is one of the weakest frontmen this correspondent has ever seen. To hear that they have been signed to a major is, frankly, worthy of a riot. Which this lot aren't."
Now, if you choose to, go see what the NME wrote in last week's issue and dismiss it entirely. The rot MUST stop here. I am sick, sick, sick of untalented men dressed like The Strokes (or how they think The Strokes might dress in 2007) making music that was boring when it was popular first-time round. I could rant about so many bands, but this one we can stop early. We can cut them off at the pass. How? By never, ever, mentioning them again...unless you use my quote, in which case, go nuts.
More vitriol to come. Please brace yourselves, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.
Also, for those of you I mentioned a blog entry called Thurston Moore Is My Dad to, well it's been put on hold til I make it better. It deserves to be better. ALSO, aswell as my band ranting and occasional reviews here I have another project taking shape very slowly. It's gonna be fun though.
Finally, read Artrocker (Underage Artrocker coming this Saturday with the usual standard one!), Notion (fine work this month lads and ladies, specifically Rene and Lucy), Rock Sound (100 this month!!), www.subba-cultcha.com (look out for Minus The Bear and Liars features) and Playmusic PICKUP, for my stuff. But don't read Tuned. That shit is awful (just look at their current cover, seriously).
I'm just gonna quote this piece of eloquent put down by yours truly - to be seen in it's entirety in the current Artrocker issue in my part of the Latitude review - about a band and I'd like you to take it on board.
"Joe Lean and his (sigh) Jing Jang Jongs are a terribly mediocre but (apparently) stylish outfit. Joe Lean is one of the weakest frontmen this correspondent has ever seen. To hear that they have been signed to a major is, frankly, worthy of a riot. Which this lot aren't."
Now, if you choose to, go see what the NME wrote in last week's issue and dismiss it entirely. The rot MUST stop here. I am sick, sick, sick of untalented men dressed like The Strokes (or how they think The Strokes might dress in 2007) making music that was boring when it was popular first-time round. I could rant about so many bands, but this one we can stop early. We can cut them off at the pass. How? By never, ever, mentioning them again...unless you use my quote, in which case, go nuts.
More vitriol to come. Please brace yourselves, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.
Also, for those of you I mentioned a blog entry called Thurston Moore Is My Dad to, well it's been put on hold til I make it better. It deserves to be better. ALSO, aswell as my band ranting and occasional reviews here I have another project taking shape very slowly. It's gonna be fun though.
Finally, read Artrocker (Underage Artrocker coming this Saturday with the usual standard one!), Notion (fine work this month lads and ladies, specifically Rene and Lucy), Rock Sound (100 this month!!), www.subba-cultcha.com (look out for Minus The Bear and Liars features) and Playmusic PICKUP, for my stuff. But don't read Tuned. That shit is awful (just look at their current cover, seriously).
Thursday, 5 July 2007
Tirade Against The Converted
Listening to Drive Like Jehu's 'Turn It Off', it's scouring, angular rhythms perfectly soundtracking the end of one HELL of a day, it reminds me that there is so much in the music world which helps me, heals me, makes me feel alive that would, in other people's eyes, be switched straight over to something safer like Chris Moyles' inane drivel. Whether that's safe or worthy of a government ban is a debate for another time.
Funnily enough Chris Moyles was briefly referenced earlier today by a young lady when hearing a most amusing song being played on Radio 1. She heard it, imagined it to be Chris Moyles doing his hilarious (read deathly boring) pastiches (read lame re-write) and left it at that. In fact, it was Gorgol Bordello's 'Start Wearing Purple'. How could she dismiss this, admittedly ridiculous sounding, but awfully fun, gypsy punk riot as, well, a shamefully tired DJ ridiculing some far superior talent?
Easy.
It's not aimed at her. So, will people stop going on about how their favourite bands have gone 'commerical'. I fear this to be the crybaby holler about Liars' new self-titled effort (commercial? well, only in the way that The Stooges or the Icarus Line is commercial). There is no chance that your favourite band will appeal to many music listeners outside of your little circle of Pitchfork, Cokemachineglow, Drowned In Sound friends.
People don't want to be challenged or confronted. They want to escape and dance and laugh and shoot rainbows out of their eyes. They don't want to feel like society is being ground underfoot by cogs of death or be shocked into action by yet another ambient (read boring) independent thinker.
Hell, if you're so bothered stop saying Slint's Spiderland is your favourite record (please never say this in my presence....that is bollocks) and start doing some charity work. I mean REAL charity work, where you go build schools and houses and toilets and provide running water for third world countries.
Don't force people into thinking they are inferior for their music tastes - they are just as valid as yours. You just happen to want to explore music's 'outer regions' rather than warm your cockles to the newest Coldplay heart-warmer.
I count myself as someone who likes to hear noise, sonic manipulation and fierce experimentation but sometimes, you know, I'm quite happy to hear something beautiful like Low's 'Breaker' or the gorgeous soul stylings of Jeff Buckley's 'Everybody Here Wants You'.
Really I just want to rant about unreliability of people, their unrealistic expectations and the fact that they can only blame themselves for their mistakes, but I'll save that for a poor unsuspecting friend's ears instead.
Funnily enough Chris Moyles was briefly referenced earlier today by a young lady when hearing a most amusing song being played on Radio 1. She heard it, imagined it to be Chris Moyles doing his hilarious (read deathly boring) pastiches (read lame re-write) and left it at that. In fact, it was Gorgol Bordello's 'Start Wearing Purple'. How could she dismiss this, admittedly ridiculous sounding, but awfully fun, gypsy punk riot as, well, a shamefully tired DJ ridiculing some far superior talent?
Easy.
It's not aimed at her. So, will people stop going on about how their favourite bands have gone 'commerical'. I fear this to be the crybaby holler about Liars' new self-titled effort (commercial? well, only in the way that The Stooges or the Icarus Line is commercial). There is no chance that your favourite band will appeal to many music listeners outside of your little circle of Pitchfork, Cokemachineglow, Drowned In Sound friends.
People don't want to be challenged or confronted. They want to escape and dance and laugh and shoot rainbows out of their eyes. They don't want to feel like society is being ground underfoot by cogs of death or be shocked into action by yet another ambient (read boring) independent thinker.
Hell, if you're so bothered stop saying Slint's Spiderland is your favourite record (please never say this in my presence....that is bollocks) and start doing some charity work. I mean REAL charity work, where you go build schools and houses and toilets and provide running water for third world countries.
Don't force people into thinking they are inferior for their music tastes - they are just as valid as yours. You just happen to want to explore music's 'outer regions' rather than warm your cockles to the newest Coldplay heart-warmer.
I count myself as someone who likes to hear noise, sonic manipulation and fierce experimentation but sometimes, you know, I'm quite happy to hear something beautiful like Low's 'Breaker' or the gorgeous soul stylings of Jeff Buckley's 'Everybody Here Wants You'.
Really I just want to rant about unreliability of people, their unrealistic expectations and the fact that they can only blame themselves for their mistakes, but I'll save that for a poor unsuspecting friend's ears instead.
Monday, 2 July 2007
When Did DIY Get Marginalised and Marketed?
1. Rihanna - 'Umbrella'
2. Kate Nash - 'Foundations'
3. Enrique Iglesias - 'Do You Know?'
4. The Enemy - 'Had Enough'
5. Lee Mead - 'Any Dream Will Do'
6. The Hoosiers - 'Worried About Ray'
7. Jack Penate - 'Torn On The Platform'
8. Kelly Rowland ft Eve - 'Like This'
9. Calvin Harris - 'The Girls'
10. Reverend and the Makers - 'Heavyweight Champion Of The World'
What is this you ask? The top ten worst songs this year? The ten artists Brad would most like to exterminate to make a better world?
No, inevitably it's the UK chart top ten. Now, everyone knows the singles charts mean NOTHING anymore. So why the hell have I posted it up here like it's all significant and interesting?
Well, because the NME told me it is. NME.com to be precise. I'm told by those wise people that this is "an exceptional week for the DIY London scene".
Erm.........okay. Kate Nash (villified and lampooned in that extremely worthy effort 'LDN Is A Victim', justifiably) and Jack Penate are from London. That's it. Is THAT an EXCEPTIONAL week for the LONDON DIY SCENE? What the FUCK is the London DIY scene anyway?
They cite The Enemy, Reverend and the Makers and miss out The Hoosiers entirely. Despite the fact the first two acts are two of the worst, most tedious boring acts I've ever heard come out of this country.
This is not exceptional. This is a travesty. To report that there are ANY acts involved in ANY London DIY scene in the chart is bad, bad journalism. This actually makes me furious. On this showing (and I will admit that the NME really does know better) it seems as if these news writers wouldn't know DIY if it painted their entire fucking house. There is a huge amount of bands in London that have trudged across their home city and the rest of the UK playing to anyone and no one, putting on club nights of their own for other bands to play, playing free shows, playing (on rare occasions when promoters are utter cunts) pay to play shows, recording their own demos/EPs/singles and releasing them with money saved from part-time jobs and not eating. There are fanzines promoting these bands, bands that have been playing for YEARS, where mainstream magazines (or elitist, sniffy websites) won't promote them because, well, they weren't fucking looking hard enough.
THIS is DIY. Hell, I'm not gonna come across all high and mighty and list them, because, frankly, I don't try hard enough either. All I know is that Kate Nash and Jack Penate have nothing to do with DDD, Tim Ten Yen, Popular Workshop, Bolt Action Five, Das Wanderlust, Fight Like Apes, Cuckoo's Nest, The Sailplanes, Untitled1961 etc. (yes I know not all of these are London bands, and also know these are all pretty popular - yet THESE bands/artists are more indicitive of a DIY scene than those in the chart).
What would be truly exceptional would be if Popular Workshop's 'William, It Was Really Something' hit the Top Ten in October. Then we could all celebrate.
2. Kate Nash - 'Foundations'
3. Enrique Iglesias - 'Do You Know?'
4. The Enemy - 'Had Enough'
5. Lee Mead - 'Any Dream Will Do'
6. The Hoosiers - 'Worried About Ray'
7. Jack Penate - 'Torn On The Platform'
8. Kelly Rowland ft Eve - 'Like This'
9. Calvin Harris - 'The Girls'
10. Reverend and the Makers - 'Heavyweight Champion Of The World'
What is this you ask? The top ten worst songs this year? The ten artists Brad would most like to exterminate to make a better world?
No, inevitably it's the UK chart top ten. Now, everyone knows the singles charts mean NOTHING anymore. So why the hell have I posted it up here like it's all significant and interesting?
Well, because the NME told me it is. NME.com to be precise. I'm told by those wise people that this is "an exceptional week for the DIY London scene".
Erm.........okay. Kate Nash (villified and lampooned in that extremely worthy effort 'LDN Is A Victim', justifiably) and Jack Penate are from London. That's it. Is THAT an EXCEPTIONAL week for the LONDON DIY SCENE? What the FUCK is the London DIY scene anyway?
They cite The Enemy, Reverend and the Makers and miss out The Hoosiers entirely. Despite the fact the first two acts are two of the worst, most tedious boring acts I've ever heard come out of this country.
This is not exceptional. This is a travesty. To report that there are ANY acts involved in ANY London DIY scene in the chart is bad, bad journalism. This actually makes me furious. On this showing (and I will admit that the NME really does know better) it seems as if these news writers wouldn't know DIY if it painted their entire fucking house. There is a huge amount of bands in London that have trudged across their home city and the rest of the UK playing to anyone and no one, putting on club nights of their own for other bands to play, playing free shows, playing (on rare occasions when promoters are utter cunts) pay to play shows, recording their own demos/EPs/singles and releasing them with money saved from part-time jobs and not eating. There are fanzines promoting these bands, bands that have been playing for YEARS, where mainstream magazines (or elitist, sniffy websites) won't promote them because, well, they weren't fucking looking hard enough.
THIS is DIY. Hell, I'm not gonna come across all high and mighty and list them, because, frankly, I don't try hard enough either. All I know is that Kate Nash and Jack Penate have nothing to do with DDD, Tim Ten Yen, Popular Workshop, Bolt Action Five, Das Wanderlust, Fight Like Apes, Cuckoo's Nest, The Sailplanes, Untitled1961 etc. (yes I know not all of these are London bands, and also know these are all pretty popular - yet THESE bands/artists are more indicitive of a DIY scene than those in the chart).
What would be truly exceptional would be if Popular Workshop's 'William, It Was Really Something' hit the Top Ten in October. Then we could all celebrate.
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
Walletsnatchers of the World RE-Unite!!
We are all drowning. Drowning in a sea of yesteryear, populated by the sharks (that were jumped) and tired old fools of bands long since passed on from this mortal coil. Suddenly, we are beseiged by the soft spongy flesh on clammy hands of resurrected bands desperate to reclaim their abdicated thrones. What are we to do, fair citizens of the planet?
It seems another attempt at breaking down our defences has arisen. A band known as The Verve have set aside their differences (or rather the differences between one slightly skeletal ego-maniac with a failing solo career and one arrogant, proud overrated guitarist who has done nothing since Urban Hymns) for a short tour of these isles.
Where will it end? The Police, The Stooges, The Smashing Pumpkins, Rage Against the Machine, Gang of Four, Pixies - all with their own wave of rancid hype and expectation, soon to come crashing down on us poor, originality-starved saps so willing to endure the sounds and ways of the past. How we mutilate our bank accounts to see these fallen bands attempt to relive past glories! How we suffer the bleatings of 'long-term' fans who claim that they were indeed there first! How we skewer and garotte the hopes and dreams of brand new, exciting young bands willing to play anywhere for no money in order to be heard, by supporting these bloated has-beens!
When will the revolution start dear brothers and sisters? When will it come to pass that the people of Earth stop asking for the ability to download Beatles songs onto their itunes or for their favourite band when they were 12 to reform for a few forty-quid-per-ticket shows? When will sneering nay-sayers cease the endless chattering in defence of these actions, such as: "Why deny new fans the chance to see a band before their time?" Why? Because they have their own future has-beens to cling to, bands that mean more to them than life itself. If we deprive these kids of their right to a modern musical journey, could it be that they lose interest in music altogether? Maybe they will start disowning bands with the disheartening slight: "I've heard it all before." What will become of music?
I implore those who have the ability to stop reformations of these kinds - use your powers, your will and your strength to save music and stop it becoming this endless quagmire of underachievers and glory-hunters.
Do the right thing. Kull the old guard and restore the balance.
It seems another attempt at breaking down our defences has arisen. A band known as The Verve have set aside their differences (or rather the differences between one slightly skeletal ego-maniac with a failing solo career and one arrogant, proud overrated guitarist who has done nothing since Urban Hymns) for a short tour of these isles.
Where will it end? The Police, The Stooges, The Smashing Pumpkins, Rage Against the Machine, Gang of Four, Pixies - all with their own wave of rancid hype and expectation, soon to come crashing down on us poor, originality-starved saps so willing to endure the sounds and ways of the past. How we mutilate our bank accounts to see these fallen bands attempt to relive past glories! How we suffer the bleatings of 'long-term' fans who claim that they were indeed there first! How we skewer and garotte the hopes and dreams of brand new, exciting young bands willing to play anywhere for no money in order to be heard, by supporting these bloated has-beens!
When will the revolution start dear brothers and sisters? When will it come to pass that the people of Earth stop asking for the ability to download Beatles songs onto their itunes or for their favourite band when they were 12 to reform for a few forty-quid-per-ticket shows? When will sneering nay-sayers cease the endless chattering in defence of these actions, such as: "Why deny new fans the chance to see a band before their time?" Why? Because they have their own future has-beens to cling to, bands that mean more to them than life itself. If we deprive these kids of their right to a modern musical journey, could it be that they lose interest in music altogether? Maybe they will start disowning bands with the disheartening slight: "I've heard it all before." What will become of music?
I implore those who have the ability to stop reformations of these kinds - use your powers, your will and your strength to save music and stop it becoming this endless quagmire of underachievers and glory-hunters.
Do the right thing. Kull the old guard and restore the balance.
Tuesday, 26 June 2007
The 'Next Album' Dilemma
More and more this question keeps popping up: I have Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth. What do I buy next?
You could apply this to any artist with huge kudos and critical acclaim with a massive back catalogue. However, Sonic Youth really ARE a problem.
So you've got their most fawned over, commercially viable release....where the hell do you go from there? Well let's try and come up with a scientific formula shall we?
There are twelve tracks on DN. For simplicities sake though lets take just four of them. 'Teen Age Riot', 'Silver Rocket', 'Kissability' and 'The Sprawl'.
Now these tracks are going to determine where to head in your SY journey next. It's simple. Giving them a rating one through four with 4 being your favourite and 1 being your least favourite (there are no bad tracks on Daydream Nation) you can then decide which way your heart is telling you to turn. It's like one of those adventure books where you choose which door to take and turn the page it tells you to go, only less fun and more rewarding.
So say 'Silver Rocket' is 4 and 'Kissability' is 1. I determine from this that you prefer their more direct approaches, with punk sensibility and the occasional noisy interlude, whereas 'Kissability' has Kim Gordon's vocals on it.
So, I'd say Rather Ripped (despite having Kim on it) is easily your next choice. However, if it is reversed I would probably head towards Goo - simply because it has 'Kool Thing' on it.
Now, if you enjoyed 'The Sprawl' and it's extended noise passage, this is a VERY good thing because this is probably 7/10ths of the whole of their output. I would point you towards Sister or any of the 'New York' triology (NYC Ghosts & Flowers, Murray Street and Sonic Nurse).
If you're well into 'Teen Age Riot' head towards Dirty or Evol.
Now if you find yourself awarding 'TAR' and 'SR' a 4 and 3 respectively - definitely hit A Thousand Leaves and Washing Machine while giving 'The Sprawl' and 'Kissability' the same marks will leave you in the corner of the more noisy and experimental Bad Moon Rising, S/T debut or Confusion Is Sex.
For the record, the hardest LP to listen to is NYC Ghosts and Flowers. Both Goo and Dirty have 'pop' hits as does A Thousand Leaves. Their most complete albums are Murray Street, Rather Ripped and Sister.
So this is how it goes.
TAR - Teen Age Riot SR - Silver Rocket TS - The Sprawl K - Kissability
The only ones used in an equation are the two highest marked albums:
TAR + SR = ATL / WM
TS + K = BMR/SY/CIS
TAR + K = G/BMR
TS + TAR = MS/SN
K + SR = E/RR
and so on...
Of course what complicates matters is that there is one more major SY album (namely Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star) to be heard. So let's just say this - buy something by Sonic Youth, give it three weeks of your precious listening time and, if you never listen to it again, you are a Sonic Youth fan and should proceed to buy all the albums in any order you like so you can fill up your CD rack and show off your collection to your mates.
You could apply this to any artist with huge kudos and critical acclaim with a massive back catalogue. However, Sonic Youth really ARE a problem.
So you've got their most fawned over, commercially viable release....where the hell do you go from there? Well let's try and come up with a scientific formula shall we?
There are twelve tracks on DN. For simplicities sake though lets take just four of them. 'Teen Age Riot', 'Silver Rocket', 'Kissability' and 'The Sprawl'.
Now these tracks are going to determine where to head in your SY journey next. It's simple. Giving them a rating one through four with 4 being your favourite and 1 being your least favourite (there are no bad tracks on Daydream Nation) you can then decide which way your heart is telling you to turn. It's like one of those adventure books where you choose which door to take and turn the page it tells you to go, only less fun and more rewarding.
So say 'Silver Rocket' is 4 and 'Kissability' is 1. I determine from this that you prefer their more direct approaches, with punk sensibility and the occasional noisy interlude, whereas 'Kissability' has Kim Gordon's vocals on it.
So, I'd say Rather Ripped (despite having Kim on it) is easily your next choice. However, if it is reversed I would probably head towards Goo - simply because it has 'Kool Thing' on it.
Now, if you enjoyed 'The Sprawl' and it's extended noise passage, this is a VERY good thing because this is probably 7/10ths of the whole of their output. I would point you towards Sister or any of the 'New York' triology (NYC Ghosts & Flowers, Murray Street and Sonic Nurse).
If you're well into 'Teen Age Riot' head towards Dirty or Evol.
Now if you find yourself awarding 'TAR' and 'SR' a 4 and 3 respectively - definitely hit A Thousand Leaves and Washing Machine while giving 'The Sprawl' and 'Kissability' the same marks will leave you in the corner of the more noisy and experimental Bad Moon Rising, S/T debut or Confusion Is Sex.
For the record, the hardest LP to listen to is NYC Ghosts and Flowers. Both Goo and Dirty have 'pop' hits as does A Thousand Leaves. Their most complete albums are Murray Street, Rather Ripped and Sister.
So this is how it goes.
TAR - Teen Age Riot SR - Silver Rocket TS - The Sprawl K - Kissability
The only ones used in an equation are the two highest marked albums:
TAR + SR = ATL / WM
TS + K = BMR/SY/CIS
TAR + K = G/BMR
TS + TAR = MS/SN
K + SR = E/RR
and so on...
Of course what complicates matters is that there is one more major SY album (namely Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star) to be heard. So let's just say this - buy something by Sonic Youth, give it three weeks of your precious listening time and, if you never listen to it again, you are a Sonic Youth fan and should proceed to buy all the albums in any order you like so you can fill up your CD rack and show off your collection to your mates.
Monday, 25 June 2007
Review: Reuben - In Nothing We Trust
Out today Reuben's third album In Nothing We Trust is quite simply one of the most surprising releases of 2007. From the opening strains of 'Cities On Fire' you have no idea what to expect. It's loose, clear guitar clashes seem to waver on the brink of falling apart. Suddenly Jamie's fiercest venom is hacked up with some volcanic chord shapes. The track exhumes some long forgotten art of tearing your face off. An opener to be reckoned with. Within a couple of minutes it's changed tack to a solid, chilling singalong, something you'd never have thought Reuben were capable of if you'd only listened to second album, and rather laboured anchor record, Very Fast, Very Dangerous. "Where are your books and your memories?" Jamie asks while his guitar spins out a web of triplet notes, as if firing hundreds of tiny barbs toward your ears. "We BURNED them all......We BURRRRRRRNNEEEEEEDDDD!!!!!" It's all shockingly good. And that's only the first four minutes of the album.
We then get the unassailable 'We're All Going Home In An Ambulance'. I guess you could call this typical Reuben from 'Blamethrower' or 'Freddy Kreuger' era singles. Except it's close to six minutes long. Screams, violent kick drums, disjointed chord stabs all break out into a riff that sounds like a juggernaut about to flatten your house. A terrace chant to rival the skull crushing thuggery of a Millwall gang jeers before a heavy metal, palm-muted breakdown defies any time signature. At this point we're barely three minutes in. A quick drum flourish leaves the bass grinding away while Jamie's pained arpeggios slip over the top. Before long we're back into a singalong that establishes itself into an outro of gobsmacking adrenaline.
These two songs are indicitive of what you should expect - Racecar Is Racecar Backwards on synapse wrecking steroids. And yet so much more. It is the best Reuben album by a long way. The other surprise on the album is the beautiful acoustic lament 'Good Luck'. With a lyrical approach that references itself as childish and "not progressive", it's left all that more poignant. If you've ever been sacked or dumped or just plain disappointed (that's all of us then), this will have you chanting the pay off line "If you hurt me, I will hate you, If you hurt me, I will erase you."
There are songs here which sound utterly ridiculous at first: 'Deadly Lethal Ninja Assassin' initially sounds like an Offspring song, but it's undeniably catchy and has YET another excellent outro. Frank Turner joins in seamlessly with the final lines and it's another triumph for the British underground rock troupe.
'Crushed Under the Weight of the Enormous Bullshit' starts as a horror movie stabbing (listen and see what I mean) while namechecking Everytime I Die and Glassjaw's Worship & Tribute while Jamie points out that your initial excitement about music is so hard to recapture.
Agony/Agatha has Jamie explaining the song as the band play, bit by bit. "Just a big bass line and drums, got guitarists sucking their thumbs for a bar or two that's how to do it...." It's almost like some sort of post-modern songwriting course for rock fiends. It's brilliant.
Perhaps the highlight, paradoxically, is the very Reuben-esque 'An Act of Kindness'. It propels itself along familiar lines and rhythms but with all the confidence and learned approach of a band who've been doing this for more than long enough. A final mention must go to 'Suffocation Of The Soul', Reuben's 'Kashmir'. An epic seven minute track that suffuses drum machines, molten guitars, blended vocals and an intense final rock out to match, and thump into the ground, pretty much any American metal band you can mention.
So, what we have is Reuben finally delivering an album that can encompass all we thought Racecar... promised and the fury of their I-can't-believe-there's-only-three-of-them live show. It's been a long time coming but we can finally embrace them as we always should have.
What's surprising is that we ever doubted them at all.
We then get the unassailable 'We're All Going Home In An Ambulance'. I guess you could call this typical Reuben from 'Blamethrower' or 'Freddy Kreuger' era singles. Except it's close to six minutes long. Screams, violent kick drums, disjointed chord stabs all break out into a riff that sounds like a juggernaut about to flatten your house. A terrace chant to rival the skull crushing thuggery of a Millwall gang jeers before a heavy metal, palm-muted breakdown defies any time signature. At this point we're barely three minutes in. A quick drum flourish leaves the bass grinding away while Jamie's pained arpeggios slip over the top. Before long we're back into a singalong that establishes itself into an outro of gobsmacking adrenaline.
These two songs are indicitive of what you should expect - Racecar Is Racecar Backwards on synapse wrecking steroids. And yet so much more. It is the best Reuben album by a long way. The other surprise on the album is the beautiful acoustic lament 'Good Luck'. With a lyrical approach that references itself as childish and "not progressive", it's left all that more poignant. If you've ever been sacked or dumped or just plain disappointed (that's all of us then), this will have you chanting the pay off line "If you hurt me, I will hate you, If you hurt me, I will erase you."
There are songs here which sound utterly ridiculous at first: 'Deadly Lethal Ninja Assassin' initially sounds like an Offspring song, but it's undeniably catchy and has YET another excellent outro. Frank Turner joins in seamlessly with the final lines and it's another triumph for the British underground rock troupe.
'Crushed Under the Weight of the Enormous Bullshit' starts as a horror movie stabbing (listen and see what I mean) while namechecking Everytime I Die and Glassjaw's Worship & Tribute while Jamie points out that your initial excitement about music is so hard to recapture.
Agony/Agatha has Jamie explaining the song as the band play, bit by bit. "Just a big bass line and drums, got guitarists sucking their thumbs for a bar or two that's how to do it...." It's almost like some sort of post-modern songwriting course for rock fiends. It's brilliant.
Perhaps the highlight, paradoxically, is the very Reuben-esque 'An Act of Kindness'. It propels itself along familiar lines and rhythms but with all the confidence and learned approach of a band who've been doing this for more than long enough. A final mention must go to 'Suffocation Of The Soul', Reuben's 'Kashmir'. An epic seven minute track that suffuses drum machines, molten guitars, blended vocals and an intense final rock out to match, and thump into the ground, pretty much any American metal band you can mention.
So, what we have is Reuben finally delivering an album that can encompass all we thought Racecar... promised and the fury of their I-can't-believe-there's-only-three-of-them live show. It's been a long time coming but we can finally embrace them as we always should have.
What's surprising is that we ever doubted them at all.
Friday, 22 June 2007
Live Review: Silversun Pickups - Water Rats Theatre
*this was their first ever show outside of North America*
It's only about halfway through the show when a companion whispers to me: "I don't like the way his eyes cross." I nod my head with a vague smile on my lips which suggests that I know exactly what she is talking about. It's only then that I look deep into those visual receptors. Goddamn, he's eyes ARE crossed! Brian Aubert is blindly flailing at his guitar and grinning as his band practically burst into flames in trying to anchor the smothering fuzz crawling through the speakers.
Clamping a vice around our ears and heads with a noise so vibrant and penetrating that we can forgive oncoming deafness, it's clear this highly textural experiment in popmusic is reliant on noise and volume as much as melody and harmonies.
Gobsmacking use of brief recycled feedback and tremelo effects threaten to subsume the songs but they are always saved once Brian and bassist Nikki Monninger's disarming vocals are glued together in some kind of beautiful siren song. This band have been playing for a loooooooooong time now and it shows.
Treated to album cuts such as the resplendent 'Well Thought Out Twinkles', the audience here all leave once SSPUs are finished, leaving headline band Windmill with a half empty venue to play to. I guess the eyes have it.......................(sorry).
It's only about halfway through the show when a companion whispers to me: "I don't like the way his eyes cross." I nod my head with a vague smile on my lips which suggests that I know exactly what she is talking about. It's only then that I look deep into those visual receptors. Goddamn, he's eyes ARE crossed! Brian Aubert is blindly flailing at his guitar and grinning as his band practically burst into flames in trying to anchor the smothering fuzz crawling through the speakers.
Clamping a vice around our ears and heads with a noise so vibrant and penetrating that we can forgive oncoming deafness, it's clear this highly textural experiment in popmusic is reliant on noise and volume as much as melody and harmonies.
Gobsmacking use of brief recycled feedback and tremelo effects threaten to subsume the songs but they are always saved once Brian and bassist Nikki Monninger's disarming vocals are glued together in some kind of beautiful siren song. This band have been playing for a loooooooooong time now and it shows.
Treated to album cuts such as the resplendent 'Well Thought Out Twinkles', the audience here all leave once SSPUs are finished, leaving headline band Windmill with a half empty venue to play to. I guess the eyes have it.......................(sorry).
Billy Corgan 'Adore's the dollar: foregos credibility and fans
Zeitgeist will be released in four different versions through major corporate outlets. There are specific editions for Best Buy, Target and itunes and a normal boring version for everyone else. Each of the three special editions will have a specific bonus track on each one. Excellent. Now THAT's value-for-Billy's-wallet right there. I cannot enthuse enough about how disgusting this is. It's hard enough for poor, struggling music fans without a new Smashing Pumpkins album being released. I mean, we were already devoid of originality and talent being pushed by major labels, and what with independent record stores closing down, our choice is becoming ever, ever limited.
So this is what we do - don't buy Zeitgeist. It'll teach baldy a lesson. Instead buy Handsome Furs, Silversun Pickups, Shellac, Asobi Seksu, Girls Aloud ...anything but this. This goes double for fans in the UK (because of the exchange rate - it's like depriving him of the average weekly wage of a New Orleans waitress per album). Of course no one is reading this, but it'd be funny if they were.
So this is what we do - don't buy Zeitgeist. It'll teach baldy a lesson. Instead buy Handsome Furs, Silversun Pickups, Shellac, Asobi Seksu, Girls Aloud ...anything but this. This goes double for fans in the UK (because of the exchange rate - it's like depriving him of the average weekly wage of a New Orleans waitress per album). Of course no one is reading this, but it'd be funny if they were.
Review: Dog Day - "Night Group"
Oh how I've missed Pavement. It took me until Brighten the Corners before I understood Malkmus and co's entwining American threads but once I followed them, I appreciated the warmth and comfort their skewed pop afforded me.
Now, you are more than likely hearing the tinpot, lo fi buzzing, wiry guitars and half-spoken American drawl almost regularly. This is testament to Pavement's gargantuan efforts, originally perceived as laziness.
Arguably the same could be said of Dog Day's new effort. Jangling and jiving like the Pixies and Husker Du crossing swords with Dinosaur Jr, it's all very familiar. Still, when it's familiar in a way that makes you want to listen to this alongside Doolittle or Bug then that's not necessarily a negative.
'End of the World' is rightfully placed in the front of the record meshing harmonies, scathing guitars and a simple three note bass line - it's like a welcome home party. It's an album that warns you exactly how it's going to go and then follows that path rigidly and never stumbles off the edge. Safe? Undoubtedly. Unexciting? That's in the ear of the beholder. Personally, the little thrill I get from a well placed melody upon a clever little chord sequence maybe shows me up for the easily-pleased music critic charlatan I really am. Pfft. As if I care what you think.
Now, you are more than likely hearing the tinpot, lo fi buzzing, wiry guitars and half-spoken American drawl almost regularly. This is testament to Pavement's gargantuan efforts, originally perceived as laziness.
Arguably the same could be said of Dog Day's new effort. Jangling and jiving like the Pixies and Husker Du crossing swords with Dinosaur Jr, it's all very familiar. Still, when it's familiar in a way that makes you want to listen to this alongside Doolittle or Bug then that's not necessarily a negative.
'End of the World' is rightfully placed in the front of the record meshing harmonies, scathing guitars and a simple three note bass line - it's like a welcome home party. It's an album that warns you exactly how it's going to go and then follows that path rigidly and never stumbles off the edge. Safe? Undoubtedly. Unexciting? That's in the ear of the beholder. Personally, the little thrill I get from a well placed melody upon a clever little chord sequence maybe shows me up for the easily-pleased music critic charlatan I really am. Pfft. As if I care what you think.
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