They went in two by two....
Glassjaw
Imagine being at the end of your tether, feeling as if everything you've worked for, every time you've been polite, lovely and charming individual has been for nothing because the tall fucker with a unhealthy disrespect for women has grabbed that gorgeous, intelligent girl you were getting on with. Now imagine your mind being torn asunder by Pretty Lush - the first track on Glassjaw's debut album Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence. Suddenly the world makes more sense. The rage, the misogyny (never something I approve of in any context, but for this band I make the exception because the anger would not be fully formed without this utter, self-destructive contempt for Daryl's imaginary evil female), the brutal spiked melodic guitars, the incredible vocal delivery - this album basically napalmed my entire late teenage life. It's still unbelievably potent - it is like being pummelled by ill feeling and righteousness. Worship and Tribute stripped the focused anger and spread it over lots of topics (notably war and 9/11)and proved that glassjaw only make records when they feel the need and enough reason too. That's why this band are one of the most influential and emotionally strident of my life. Perhaps the most stinging moment comes at the very end of the debut album's title track. After screaming his heart out, Daryl sounds like his breath is hitching - perhaps he's in tears? I've always imagined him to be - while the guitars feedback and crescendo around him. A few seconds later and he's pleading: "You don't need another one do you?" to the engineer. Sobering.
When One Eight Becomes Two Zeros
Tip The Bartender (sound bad, energy off the Richter scale)
Mixtape:
1) Pretty Lush (from Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence)
2) Piano (from EYEWTKAS)
3) You Think You're Fucking John Lennon?(listen at Glassjaw.com - after about 2 minutes of percussion)
4) Radio Cambodia (from Worship and Tribute)
5) Two Tabs of Mescaline (fron Worship and Tribute)
6) Babe (from EYEWTKAS)
7) Pink Roses (from Worship and Tribute)
8) Lovebites and Razorlines (from EYEWTKAS)
9) Ry Ry's Song (from EYEWTKAS)
10) Tip The Bartender (from Worship and Tribute)
Gossamer Albatross
This lovley, charming bunch of youngsters make dramatic, orchestral tinged and slightly barmy music that appeals to the eccentric in all of us. Well, in me at least. The disarming vibrato of the vocals, the subtle string melodies and the disturbing lyrics all compounded by the fact that these guys are still doing their A Levels makes for one of my favourite new bands. Yep.
Whispered Thoughts
Live at This Ain't No Picnic 2008
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