Dieter Schöön - Lablaza

(Muso's Guide, March 31, 2009)

Album review

From the dirgey opening of ‘Manuel’, Swede Dieter Schöön marries the denseness of Berlin-era Bowie with the artifice of stylish rockers Roxy Music.

‘Manuel’ pays homage to Bryan Ferry’s London artrockers right down to the mangled free jazz saxophone section which splits the track, while the rest of the record dives headlong into a pool of influences included with, but not limited to, Beck, Pavement, Sonic Youth, Can and the afore-mentioned alter-ego of David Jones. If that list make Schöön’s début Lablaza sound largely inaccessible, than you’re right on the money, but that’s not to say it is without merit.

The icily cool Germanic consonants of Schöön complement the industrialised electronic beats of single ‘Mary Jane’, a song incongruously introduced by mariachi trumpets which call to mind Mark Morriss’ ‘I’m Sick’ or Hello Saferide’s ‘High School Stalker’, but what follows is simply more challenging than those other tracks. Ironically for an album which contains the track ‘Warm Hearts’, there is a coldness to the recording that makes it hard to connect with Schöön.

That track is heralded by a Casiotone-style intro and, with a juddering waltz beat, offers a repetitive, vocally-experimental pop song sounding for all the world like a slightly stoned Kraftwerk. The lyric, “Our faces were all just stupid I guess/But with warm hearts”, which becomes so mangled as to end on a slightly disturbing note.

Electronic ‘The Harbour’s Cold’ has a chill through it, with Schöön staring out to the sea in search of something. “Smoke a spliff in the afternoon”, he reveals, which is a clue to the feeling of this complex record, and so seemingly removed from human feeling. A much-needed injection of emotional realism comes in the form of the atmospheric, tragically-theme ‘Soft and Slow’. This Gideon Coe favourite builds to a heart-rending crescendo with the lyric, “Where you been so long?”, prompting the listener to address a world of hurt and unaddressed breakdown.

But as quickly as the tears come, they are banished again, by the ruthlessly efficient ‘I’ll Go There’ and ‘Auf Wiedersehen’. Multi-lingual and multi-talented, nonetheless Schöön’s express intention seems to be to evade categorisation, which gives rise to words like ‘unique’ and ‘indefinable’. The most evocative influence here would be Beck, but even that pop-friendly name falls short of explaining the division between Schöön and accessibility.

Lablaza is certainly intriguing, but the next album will show if it’s really got something brighter to offer - or if it is just a flash in the pan.

The Dykeenies - Are You With Me Now?

(Muso's Guide, March 30, 2009)

Single review

Having been around for the best part of five years, The Dykeenies are one of those indie bands who make superfans - small, kooky, excitable people with button badges on their chests and the fulfilling the hair colour pre-requisite of at least one unnatural colour per 100,000 strands.

But bands do not make success by scene alone, so what of their mainstream impact? It’s not been massive, granted, but ‘Are You With Me Now?’ could be about to change all that.

Drums start slow and lead into a guitar part that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on the Manic Street Preachers‘ 1993 sophomore record Gold Against The Soul.

The American accented vocal which has infiltrated the even the once-stoic British independent scene is never more prevalent than in the Glaswegian boys’ delivery.

The titular enquiry is howled, heartfelt, over soaring guitars and a recurrent melody, a grandiosity which marks the track out for inclusion on the soundtrack of an episode of Smallville.

More questions follow, “Are you fading in and out?/Where did it all go wrong?” but the Dykeenies never offer an answer, spurred on the insistent beat continuing like a marathon runner.

Ending on a electronic note, this swollen anthem of youth shows that The Dykeenies are clearly ready for the next level of fame.

Are you with me now?

Post War Years: “can’t help but bust a groove”

(Musos Guide, March 30, 2009)

Interview

Post War Years: A simple vocal underpinned by an insistent piano, for all the world another singer-songwriter with angst on his mind.

But suddenly, a pounding drum beat comes in, and the atmosphere takes on a dance groove. It’s a shock to the system, but ‘Black Morning’ is a perfect example of the shock to the system that Post War Years offer. An ambient band shot through with purest indie, they’re here to save us from musical boredom by charming and disarming by any means necessary.

Living together in a little basement in Dalston “starved of light and oxygen” - that’s how frontman and singer Henry describes the crazy topsy turvy world of Post War Years. “We’ve been in this place for about a year and a half,” he says. “I wouldn’t say it’s healthy for a band to spend quite as much time together as we do.”

Something of the Monkees about the arrangement, no? “Well, we’re not there yet.” Henry laughs. Henry, Tom, Simon and Fred - Leamington lads - met the way bands do - through friends of friends. The university diaspora scattered them, but the will to rock together drew them back in and, post-tertiary education, as Henry puts it, they were all ready to “give it a push”. And pushing they are, with sensational single ‘Whole World On Its Head’ out now. Like their other songs, it’s a curious mix of indie sensibilities and electro atmosphere, ambient ideals and melodious verses.

Is the single a good example of PWY?

“I’d like to think the single is a mid-point between all this stuff we do, because there’s definitely a melancholic side as well as some really sort of brash, exciting, really upbeat, driven stuff. We like to experiment with sounds a lot, so ‘Whole World On Its Head’ has got plenty of different stuff to wrap your ears around. We thought it was a reasonable representation of what we do, which is hard because we’re quite a varied band.”

So varied that it is tough to pigeonhole their exciting, often experimental sound. Does that put people off?

“We certainly don’t want to alienate people - we want people to enjoy it, but we do want to do something different. We get very easily bored, so from song to song it really varies. If we ever realised that we were completely alienating our audience, then we’d probably have to rethink it, but so far, people seem to stick around when we play!”

Stick around in droves, it seems - and audiences are sticking around this week at South By Southwest, where the Leamington boys are setting out their varied stall. “There are loads of bands we know or like playing out there - and also Gomez are playing, and I haven’t seen them for years.”

As well as enjoying what essentially sounds like an elongated work night out with musical colleagues in Austin, the boys are hurtling towards the release of their debut record. How’s that coming along, then?

“It will come out sometime in May, hopefully. We’ve written something stupid, like 30 or 40 songs for this album, and obviously only 11 or 12 make it, so you start to lose perspective. You swing through differfent emotions - one minute I love it, the next I start to question, but I think we’re fairly settled with it - I’m really excited about it.”

What tracks are still setting Henry alight at this stage?

“We’re still working our way through some of the stuff from the album, currently I would say ‘Black Morning’ the first single, which won’t feature on the album, it’s always quite euphoric. Can’t help but bust a groove to that occasionally. When we get onstage you just get into a mode and carry on with that. I wouldn’t say that anything specifically that I favour - hopefully it’s all good!”

What influences are really write large across the Post War Years catalogue, then?

“Before we started recording, we definitely listened to a broad range of stuff, which we still do, but I think we have noticeably stopped listening to music as much. In the past we have been guilty of taking maybe a little too much influence from stuff, and then we became aware of what we were doing. There are a few things that always stick around - we’re big Talking Heads fans and big fans of Bjork, and we do keep up with the London music scene - we’re good friends with a lot of bands from here.”

Personally speaking, Henry’s got a musical hero who may come as a shock to Post War Years fans. “Some people try and make me feel embarrassed for this, but I am a massive Prince fan - I think he’s amazing.”

Post War Years - the surprises just keep on coming…

Art Brut - Alcoholics Unanimous

(Muso's Guide, March 27, 2009)

Single review

Sometimes it takes a real event to blow the socks off the music world.

In 2005, Art Brut released their début record Bang, Bang, Rock & Roll and UK music fans knew true happiness thanks to an Anglo-Germanic ethos of rocking and, indeed, rolling. It was a Real Event, holding back no capital letters, and at the centre of the artrock hurricane, the angles, the musical jags and melodious mayhem was Eddie Argos.

An extreme-eyebrowed, self-effacing savant with a nice line in dynamic onstage zaniness, making use of props like vacuum cleaners. His frankly personal lyrics cover everything from DC Comics to impotence, but always with a wry glance and a cock of those eyebrows.

Long-awaited and much fêted thanks to a net leak, the third album Art Brut vs. Satan is continuing in the same vein, and guide single ‘Alcoholics Unanimous’ is a stunner; Argos’ trademark vocal cuts through the jaggedly musical melée with confidence. His style - of more speaking than singing - very much complements the Art Brut sound, and creates in him an off-kilter but utterly convincing frontman.

Here he’s telling the traveller’s tale of the drunken night out that hasn’t gone so well. All the usual ingredients are here - perfectly formed guitars, hewn directly from solid ‘cool’, as well as Argos’ inimitable lyrics: “There’s so many people I might have upset,” he explains. “I apologise to them all with the same group text.”

The video is set up as an Art Brut documentary - with the title Drunk: A Documentary - all serious straight shots of band members looking concerned. Argos stumbles blithely into an ‘Alcoholics Unanimous’ meeting and wreaks having, hollering “Bring me tea! Bring me coffee!” as the other attendees tell him he isn’t hiding his hungover state very well.

In truth, it’s what the music world’s been waiting for, and heralds the forthcoming album as staunchly and proudly as any fan could have hoped.

It’s unanimous.

Real life: "My autistic children are amazing"

(Somerfield magazine, March 2009)

Mumford & Sons - The Cave/But My Heart Told My Head

(Muso's Guide, March 26, 2009)

Single reviews

Perhaps best-known for being in the top 15 for the BBC’s Sound Of 2009 abomination (eventual winner: Little Boots), Mumford & Sons are second place to no one. And certainly not 15th place.

Singer Marcus Mumford has been known to moonlight on drums for Laura Marling, which should give an indication of the sort of thing on offer. To whit, ‘The Cave’ - a sweetly finger-picked ditty with a delicious taste of gentle acoustopop. Then the vocal - a straightforward, full-vowelled English accent with heart. It’s unexpected in this sort of Americana-tinged folk, but delightfully welcome.

A minute in, a bassline comes in, but the beefier sound does nothing to deplete the loveliness. Percussion and backing vocals go some way to making the sound complete, but the star is that great strong voice - part-Guy Garvey - for sheer bass meat - and part something altogether more refined. The lyric is very personal - “I need freedom now/I need to live my life as it’s meant to be” he asserts, all the while tremendously atmospheric backing underpinned by a skilled banjo.

The Frightened Rabbit-vein of soulful vocal-meets-folk backing is richly ploughed here, but the unique marriage of banjo and that low Mumford voice put ‘The Cave’ on another level. ‘But My Heart Told My Head’ is, if anything, more striking than ‘The Cave’.

A warm, comforting, densely musical intro soon drops off, leaving that signature banjo backing Mumford’s luscious tones, “As the winter winds litter London with lonely hearts” he begins, like an old-school fairy tale.

The vocal here is strained and emotional, but the words keep on giving, thrusting romantic images and standards into the listener’s mind. “Oh, for every kiss your beauty trumped my doubt” Mumford tells it, although this is no happy ending - he follows that with a nod to the song’s theme of heartbreak, the repeated lyric, “And my head told my heart let love grow/And my heart told my head this time now/This time no”.

The decision to surrender oneself to love is too much for Mumford, and the brass building up in the mix is a Christmas carol, a colossal great mix of hope and haunting. By the strength of these songs, Mumford & Sons have something incredibly special. The crushing simplicity of their music stays with the listener long after the record has finished, while the lyrical themes put everyday feelings into poetry.

A surefire family favourite.

The Hot Melts: “We don’t feel the need to live up to The Beatles!”

(Musos's Guide, March 25, 2009)

Interview

The Hot Melts are a pretty awesome bunch of guys.

A four piece from Liverpool who meld the very greatest parts of 1950s rock with a severely rock-ready collection of noises. It sounds like - and is - the best part of rock heaven - frontman Will Bayliss is an angel with the devil’s tunes. “I suppose we kind of mix the 1950s and the 1990s, like rock’n'roll and grunge, we try and mix that kind of sound - good old rock’n'roll.”

The Hot Melts’ list of influences is long and distinguished, which makes Will a whirlwind to speak to. “I’m a big fan of Weezer and lots of old rock and roll, people like Chuck Berry and Elvis and people like that.” He could go on, but there’s more to discuss, like The Hot Melts’ much sought-after support slot - with the Eagles of Death Metal.

Kicking off the UK tour on March 28 in Portsmouth, the boys stand to make a lot of new fans - not least the headliners. Or are they already fans - is that how the slot came about? “I suppose we asked them if we could support them and they said yes? I don’t really know what happens with those kinds of things. I just write the songs and play them,” Will demurs.

Regardless, it could be seen as something of a step up compared to their last major support slot - with classical emo boy band Elliott Minor. Were they to the Melts’ liking? “It was really good - they’re lovely lovely guys. We come from different musical backgrounds,” he says, very diplomatically. And what about the screamo fans EM attract? “Most EM fans are quite young, which is great, because I want everyone to be our fans. I’m just interested to find out how other fans take us.”

By Will’s account, there are already Hot Melts superfans, following the boys up and down the country. “There are loads of people we see over and over at gigs. Good on them! Some of them have been to ten gigs! I don’t think I’ve ever seen any band ten times.”

Any ideas who Will would see ten times given the opportunity? He gives the question a lot of thought. “It would have to be over the years, you wouldn’t want to go and see them ten times in the same tour. You’d have to go and see them ten times if they’d done ten albums. I’d like to see Weezer, I’ve never seen Weezer. I’ve never seen them live, but I hear they’re great.”

Will and the boys are about to find out how good the Eagles are live - albeit from a different viewpoint to the usual punter. Just days away from a triple-threat event at the SXSW festival in liberal corner of Texas - Austin - there’s plenty on the boil for the boys.

Their debut album is set to hit the public in the summer, an event which has all the boys excited. recorded last year in Chicago with Mark McLusky, Will says that he still loves all the songs - not least current single, ‘Edith’. A riff-driven slice of raucous rock, it finds Will in great form, channeling ever-howling frontman from Bono to Jason Perry and everyone in between.

Being from the Merseyside does carry with it a certain weighty musical heritage. Does Will think of the spectre of the Beatles at all? “I was a Beatles fan when I| was younger - I suppose Beatles are really a kids’ band - but I don’t know whether it’s a pressure. There are great bands from every city in the world - for any band, there’s always going to be a legendary band from their city. I don’t feel the need to live up to the Beatles! But I’d still like to be the biggest band in the world, that would be nice.”

The Hot Melts do have the world is at their feet…

“I don’t think any band will have the same impact as the Beatles again because I just don’t think things are the same, really. I like what the Beatles are - I like that they are more than just a band, that they made films and were almost cartoon characters.”

Do the Hot Melts haver the capacity to make that sort of leap?

“I like characters in bands and I always have ideas for things, like Hot Melts comics or Hot Melts TV shows, I love that kind of thing. I heard once that Supergrass were offered a Monkees-esque TV show, but turned it down. I would never turn that down, I love the Monkees, I love that kind of thing. I’d love to do a TV show!”

Having ascertained that the Hot Melts are available to film the next sleeper TV hit, it’s important to address the band’s imagery. Bright and striking, the impact of the band’s MySpace page and sleeve art is memorable. Do the band have a hand in their artwork?

“They’re all our ideas. I love that kind of 1950s artwork. I think we’re going to start working on artwork for the album soon.”

One of the Hot Melts’ most unique features is their dedication to the medium of podcasts. Choosing their favourite music, each member takes turns in presenting their fans with a smorgasbord of the influences which have made them the band they are. What is the thinking behind the podcast?

“I feel like there’s a lot of bands who you mention to people and they don’t even know what you’re talking about,” Will explains. “The type of stuff that we play on the podcasts are the sort of thing that influenced us anyway. I’d love to hear the songs of bands that influenced my favourite bands.”

It’s like a musical education…

“So much stuff you hear on the radio, you just don’t know what to make of it, but there are so many great albums. There are even great albums that I don’t know that well. There are legends of music that I still, occasionally, someone will play me something that I’ve never heard before and should have done and it just rocks like it should and it just blows you away.”

Just like the Hot Melts. The Hot Melts’ single ‘Edith’ is out now. Their support slot with Eagles of Death Metal kicks off in Portsmouth on March 28, and tickets are available here.

Belfast city guide

(Bookshelf Boyfriend, March 25, 2009)

After many years of seeming off-limits to tourists, Belfast has become a must-see in the British Isles. Packed with terrific bars and friendly people, the Ulster capital is just the place to go if you're in search of some "craic".

Climate

Belfast has a temperate climate, with daily temperatures ranging from a January average of 6 °C (43 °F) to a July daily average of around 18 °C (64 °F). It is known for being pretty damp - the average annual rainfall of 845.8mm (33.3 in) is less than the Scottish Highlands - but more than Dublin in the Republic of Ireland.

Getting there

Belfast is an incredibly well-connected city and many budget airlines serve its airports. You can fly direct into Belfast International Airport or Belfast City Airport from many European locations.

Belfast International Airport is situated approximately 17 miles north west of Belfast City Centre, while George Best Belfast City Airport is about three miles east of the city centre.



By sea, regular scheduled ferry services operate between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. From Stranraer, Troon & Cairnryan in Scotland, and Fleetwood & Liverpool in England - bringing both foot passengers, cars and other vehicles into the area through the two ferry ports of Belfast and Larne in Co. Antrim.

Accommodation

You'll find plenty of accommodation in Belfast, from budget to luxury. Staying in and around the city centre is best situated for nights out, but for those with transport or who want to explore, you'll find hotels, hostels and bed & breakfasts from the centre outwards. Boutique hotels for romantic getaways include the always trustworthy Malmaison and the beautiful and ultra-trendy Ten Square.

Visit the official Northern Ireland Tourist Board booking portal at www.discovernorthernireland.com to find somewhere to suit your needs.

Sights and activities

Belfast Cathedral The Cathedral Church of St. Anne is truly breathtaking.

Parliament Buildings, Stormont Home of the Northern Ireland Assembly and an iconic piece of architecture.

Queen's University A stunning redbrick building right in the heart of the student-dominated cultural area called Queen's Quarter.

W5 - Who What When Where Why An interactive discovery centre for education and fun.

Titanic Dock The former maritime centre of the world, Belfast's Harland & Wolff shipbuilders are best known for the Titanic.

Ulster Museum Located in the Botanical Gardens near Queen's University.

Crown Bar Old and visually arresting pub.

Cave Hill A basaltic outcrop which overlooks the city.

City Hall A baroque revival building which faces the city's main shopping thoroughfare, Donegall Place.

St. George's Market Heaven for foodies every Saturday.

Belfast Zoo Home to more than 1200 animals and 140 species.

Shopping

The city centre has plenty to offer - the usual high street fare is available on Donegall Place, right down to the city's first major shopping centre Castle Court. The new and impressive Victoria Square development is located just off Donegall Place through Cornmarket, and boasts many of the more exclusive nationwide retailers, including House of Fraser, All Saints and Urban Outfitters.

Out of the centre, there are any number of independent trendy boutiques and delis on the Lisburn Road.


Food

The John Hewitt pub beside St Anne's Cathedral serves above average food. Eat to a jazz accompaniment on Friday evenings.
Bishop's Chip Shop at Bradbury Place has marble tables, open fires and tasty food!
Clements Coffeehouse on Donegal Place serves great lunch - have the soup and a hot panini. There are several Clements branches in the city.
The famous Crown Liquor Saloon not only serves great drinks - they also have a great value menu of simple but hearty dishes.
The Water Margin is a huge Chinese restaurant on the Ormeau Road, located in a converted church and always crowded at weekends.
Rain City Café Grill on the Malone Road is an upmarket diner with a great atmosphere.
Villa Italia on University Road is always packed and serves great Italian food in a lively and unpretentious atmosphere. Sister restaurant Scalini on Botanic Avenue is every bit as enjoyable.
Belfast's only Michelin-starred restaurant is Restaurant Michael Deane. Perfect for serious foodies and priced accordingly. If you're on a budget, Deane's Brasserie downstairs is a cheaper and quality alternative.
Harbour View Restaurant at Lanyon Quay is quite an experience, where Teppinyaki chefs stir fry your food at your table over flaming grills - a performance not to missed.

Going out

As a capital and as a city which loves to socialise, Belfast is not at all short of nightlife! There are great pubs like the already-mentioned John Hewitt and Crown, as well as the Ormeau Road's Errigle Inn and the trendy Botanic Inn.

Clubbers can track down big names at Shine or Milk, while alt. sorts may prefer gothy Stiff Kitten or the indie Auntie Annie's on Dublin Road.


More information

www.discovernorthernireland.com
www.gotobelfast.com
www.belfasttourist.com
www.goireland.com

Shunda K & Kotchy - Le Passion, Yo!

(Muso's Guide, March 24, 2009)

EP review

Shunda K & Kotchy - Le Passion, Yo!

Hip hop gets a bit of a bad rap, if you’ll pardon the expression.

Not naturally a residency for romance, its ranks seem to be swollen with testosterone-laden hulks and, at best, fighty, mouthy women whose guy has done them wrong - through virtue of being a ‘scrub‘ or otherwise undesirable.

But what is fun about conventions is when someone comes along and refuses to conform to them.

Shunda K is someone who likes to kick against the curve, and it shows.

As a member of Yo Majesty, along with singer Jwl B, both she and Miss K, aka LaShunda Flowers are openly lesbian and christian, and hailed critically as a breath of fresh air.

This free four-song download teams Shunda K up with Brooklyn-based producer Kotchy, who has previously worked and toured with artists like Tricky, The Walkmen and Joan As Policewoman, to name but a few.

Named ‘Le Passion, Yo!’, the download takes steps through a relationship - from the initial meeting, through the first blushes and out the other side.

Opener ‘First Encounter’ is a steamy one. Tough-talking, real-rapping Shunda K makes a meal of the come on, with “Take me away to your private place” and warning the object of her affection “don’t get your panties in a twist”.

It’s hot to say the least, in and out of Shunda K’s world - “When you look my way/I warm up by ten degrees”, soothing into a cooldown with the repeated refrain “Let’s make it more than a dream”.

On ‘You Are’, the praise of beauty continues. A sort of post-modern ‘How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…’, the track sees Shunda K rolling words of lust around her tongue, treading a fine line between romantic adoration and out-and-out harrassment.

By ‘We Feelin’ Each Other’, the relationship is more relaxed - “This is only the beginning”, or so we’re told, but with this accelerated relationship’s trajectory, it seems hardly long before there’s nothing left.

The grimy beats and barely contained bitterness of ‘Holla’ is a societal comment for the world in which Shunda K and Kotchy find themselves. “If you’re not a trust fund baby, holla… Our culture must be in a coma/And I’m not a doctor”.

Shunda K is taking the work here in some really interesting directions - the almost radio-friendly hip hop beats of ‘You Are’ makes a real impact, and the laidback raps on ‘First Encounter’ really mark out the impressive talents on show.

Must be le passion…

The Bluetones - Expecting To Fly (Expanded Edition)

(Muso's Guide, March 23, 2009)

Album review

There’s a heavy weight bearing down on bands when it comes to naming début albums.

It could make people pick up or turn away - it could make the difference between a lasting career or a brief day basking in the warming sun of musical success.

The Bluetones’ 1996 début was named Expecting To Fly, which spoke more volumes about the band than they could have with their music.

It was a record that tied up their fearful ‘dare to hope’ attitude with a small amount of self-assurance, well-placed in their understanding that they had talent, dammit, and people would see that.

And they did, for a time. Expecting To Fly fired Oasis’ (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? from the number one spot, which was a grand measure of popularity indeed.

Now, 13 years later, The Bluetones are out on the road again and a new revamped version of this Britpop classic has been unleashed. So, is it a must-have for the diehards, a might-have for the newbies? Or essential listening straight outta Hounslow?

From the initial bass rumble, opener ‘Talking To Clarry’ is a leader. giving way to confidently crashing indie guitars, it was clear that The Bluetones were going to be smarter than the average indie band.

And smart they were, nodding to Brit poet Adrian Mitchell and his poem Celia, Celia with the memorable lyric from single ‘Bluetonic’ - “When I am sad and weary/When all my hope has gone/I walk around my house and think of you with nothing on”.

A lovely dark slice of infatuation, it retains its uniquely minor-key misery even now, perhaps thanks to singer Mark Morriss‘ easily-recognisable, uniquely tremulous vocal.

In the old days, ‘Carnt Be Trusted’ was the first track on the second side of the Expecting To Fly cassette.

Now, it still forms a change of pace in the record. A lovely, melodic ode to the pitfalls of relationships, it boasts delicious harmonies that would make Brian Wilson blush, and does the business in under four minutes. That’s proper songwriting.

Closing on ‘Time And Again’, it stays with the band long enough to exhibit a darkly sweet menace that says, “We could never really hurt you - but we might shake our fists a bit”.

The new material which adds to this expanded edition includes a whole other disc of Bluetones paraphernalia like previously unreleased live tracks and BBC archive material.

Aside from the inclusion of the undisputed single of 1995, (’Are You Blue Or Are You Blind?’, in case you’ve forgotten), it doesn’t do a terrible amount of new stuff, more augmenting the glory of the original album release, but that’s worth it just to get Expecting To Fly back on the shelves again.

Ejaculated by a genre which had already sounded its death rattle with the likes of Menswe@r and Heavy Stereo, The Bluetones were unfortunately timed. Were Expecting To Fly released anew in 2009, there is no doubt that its vast landscapes of melodious melancholy would rocket, and Mark Morriss would be smiling his ever-enigmatic smirk across the music channels.

As it is, this LP signifies a fantastically well-presented selection of incredibly intelligent, heartfelt songs for which 1996 should always be remembered - that ‘daring to hope’ frozen in time.

Peter Doherty - Grace/Wastelands

(Choon Online, March 22, 2009)

Album review

It must be an accident that the artist formerly known as Pete Doherty has named his album twice. But as he appears to be in the throes of a somewhat pretentious identity crisis, perhaps his duelling duality required it.


As the first Pete(r) Doherty solo effort, it’s not that solo - that’s what occurs to anyone who scans the sleeve notes. Collaborators include Peter ‘Wolfman’ Wolf, Dot Allison, Graham Coxon, members of Babyshambles and even a co-writing credit for his old mucker Carl Barât, intimating maybe that the talents of others are still propping Pete(r) Doherty up.

As far as the music behind the myth, it starts out well enough. Opener ‘Arcady’ is a folk-flavoured, country-tinged road song. “In Arcady, life trips along,” he offers, with a nod and a jaunty tip of his hat. In all honesty, Pete(r) Doherty’s fag-ravaged voice sounds a little too grimy for the clean melodic rhythms on show, but he makes a nice fist of the ditty, and keeps alive the idea that everything he writes is about Carl with lyrics like “Now you know more than your teacher“.

In fact, lyrically speaking Mr. Pete(r) ‘it was all fields round here’ Doherty hasn’t moved on terribly far from his days with the Albion-citing Libertines and Babyshambles. He actually seems to live in an England of Camberwick Green and Hancock’s Half Hour - a fantasy in keeping with his self-styled Byron posturing.

The fixation is first reinforced with the aptly-named ‘Arcady’, but followed so closely by single ‘Last Of The English Roses’, the whole thing starts to whiff of nostalgia porn. By the time it comes to ‘1939 Returning’, you’re begging for him to reference modernism in some shape or form. The noirish co-Barât penned ‘A Little Death Around The Eyes’ has something, but it’s fleeting at best until ‘Broken Love Song’, the album high point.

Fostering the same tragic intimations as Neil Diamond’s ‘Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon’, it is tragic and lovely and right right right - and proof that Pete(r) Doherty does have something. It’s just often buried under the facade of the ‘artist’.

Pete(r) Doherty’s portrayal of himself as the raconteur, the gent, the badinage artist with a twinkle in his eye is sorely lacking, an artless artist. Grace/Wastelands has some skill, but the overriding feeling is of a collection of offcuts and also-rans dumped carelessly on a record-buying public who are here to listen.

Like all efforts of style over substance, it has been found wanting.

Lemar - Weight Of The World

(Music Medication, March 17, 2009)

Single review

Smooth and soulful, sexy and stylish - never mind David Sneddon, Lemar was the real star of Fame Academy 2002, and garnered a true music education at the knee of experts in the field.

Oh, sorry... are we not supposed to mention that?

Regardless of how he came to the attention of the great British public, Londoner Lemar is blessed with a pretty striking voice.

This, unbelievably, marks the boy's 12th single. Mature, slick R&B with a heart, his singing is imbued with the sort of lovelorn desperation that he has honed so well throughout hit career. "It feels like the weight of the world/Have the angels turned their back on me?/ Because I still remember how it felt when you loved me," he delivers plaintively, and there's a special heartstring tug that goes with the lyric.

Vocally, Lemar is beyond great. His strong, assured voice is rounded and deep, making soulful singing sound effortless with a really quite expansive range.

Unfortunately, there are errors with the song - not least its tempo, which jars slightly with the emotional content - but the whole enterprise flows much American R&B which is too often so over-stylised that the real feeling is drained from the lyrics with aplomb.

Go to the top of the class, Lemar.

The Days - No Ties

(Music Medication, March 17, 2009)

Single review

This music business thing, this obsession that grips and drives so many - when it comes down to it, the intro is the most important part of it all. It's a 15 second window that any band has to persuade listeners.

Pounding drums lead the way into chugging guitar on No Ties from Devon four-piece The Days. It's pretty good - rocking like Heavy Stereo - a spot of rock, a spot of glam.

And the the vocals come in, and it all goes off the boil.

Singer Luke makes a meal of the lyric, which is really just another take on an indie boy's boredom with his life. Vegetating in an office and planning his escape, Luke's world view stretches as far as a night out... and then he thinks about getting away from it all for a holiday.

If this all sounds a little pedestrian, that's because it is. "It's there that I start over/'Cos I can do much better" he asserts of this well-earned rest, before an upbeat guitar break.

A feelgood radio hit for the summer months No Ties clearly is - it's positive and relentless, much like S Club 7's Reach.

But it'd sound like so much more if only they'd stopped at the intro.

Illegitimate Sons Of The King - ISK EP

(Music Medication, March 17, 2009)

EP review

A London band who show a staggering devotion to style-over-substance is hardly a headline grabber - meaning that Illegitimate Sons Of The King are firmly page five news.

Make no mistake, the four-piece are a real study in what it takes to get noticed - using E4's 'Voiceover Man' as an announcer, packing their new EP with social comment and punchy rhythm.

There's a real mix of genres, which is ISK's prerogative, but it makes for cluttered and confusing listening.

The plinky plonky almost jazz piano on Go You Let Me is melodious and leads in to a tuneful vocal, "Go tell your mother you've been crying on the phone". The skill on the chorus is apparent in the harmonies, "Go, go, you just want to let me go" singer Danny Wilder hollers, and there's real passion in his voice, a real insight into human feeling.

But from that sublime, it's a speedy tumble to the jagged pseudo-Arctic Monkeys ska-style I'll Do It, all shouted vocals and a narrative on societal problems. Rather problematically, the social comment could be outwitted by Alex Turner, and while the chorus line "I'll Do It" is supposedly anthemic, it blurs into a meaningless shout-fest about getting drunk and peer pressure.

The nadir of the release, though, has to be Running In The Family. An ode to the sort of family that ITV2 devotes whole hours of "stranger than fiction" television to, it is lyrically concerned with the trappings of "modern life". In ISK's view, that is neighbours from hell up to all sorts. They flag up drug dealing and neglected children in an incredibly patronising, nauseating fashion, and all for the sake of a pop song. It is ill-advised, to say the least.

Talented and doubtless deserving, ISK have potential for success if they stick with quality - strong, well-written pop songs. It's up to them to go away and write some.

Dieter Schöön - Lablaza

(For The Record, March 17, 2009)

Album review

An explosion into a Beck-style percussion landscape is the inimitable introduction to Swedish psychedelic pioneer Dieter Schöön.

Multi-lingual, multi-instrumental and sincerely multi-talented, the vocal is icily cool, Germanic consonants which call Berlin-era Bowie to mind.

Opener 'Manuel' is a swish Roxy Music-meets-Scissor Sisters electronica affair, but loses its way and runs about a minute too long.

The mariachi trumpets of laidback 'Mary Jane' call to mind Hello Saferide's 'High School Stalker', and with Schöön's trademark Julian Casablancas-style vocal, the references flood in throughout the record.

Although each track is executed with a degree of musical professionalism that evades some, there is a distinct lack of warmth to the sound.

'Warm Hearts', which pays homage to nothing so much as a stoned Kraftwerk, is laden with Schöön's heavily-accented english, but even its classic waltz rhythm and synthesized melody can't bring the much needed human touch.

A much needed injection of emotion comes in the form of the atmospheric, tragically-themed 'Soft And Slow', building to a heart-rending crescendo with the lyric, "Where you been so long?" bringing the listener into a world of hurt, but it's quickly business as usual with the ruthlessly efficient 'I'll Go There' and 'Auf Wiedersehen'.

Schöön shows talent and promise, but there's something lacking in the execution. Perhaps the next record will see Schöön shine.

The Rakes - 1989

(For the Record, March 17, 2009)

Close your eyes and imagine Gina Yashere.

Yes, yes, just do it.

You can only see her head, and her lips are flapping away, saying something like, "It was such a happy moment," or something equally profound, about Scott and Charlene's wedding, or the day Samantha Fox's 'Touch Me' went to number three with a bullet.

Well, Yashere was actually the star guest in I Love 1986.

What we want to see is I Love 1989. Which didn't have Yashere present, but did feature Frank Bruno, Judy Finnegan and Leslie Grantham.

Or, oh look, The Rakes. They love 1989. So much that they penned this little ditty about the wonder of the year.

Rocking in a very angular, indie sort of a way, the melodic guitar line seems to bow to Bowie's 'China Girl' and The Vapors' 'Turning Japanese' (neither of which were 1989 singles, so that could be imagined), crystal clear and chiming.

Alan Donohoe's curiously flat voice cuts through the jangle, intoning his memories of 1989; "Punks were hanging out in the park/While someone practised electric guitar" apparently.

Other people remember shell suits and home perms, but The Rakes have retained only the coolest events of the fag-end of the second worst decade since the birth of rock.

Slicing through the rose-tinted recollections, the "lala la la la" chorus smacks of radio-friendly pop brilliance, and the parting shot of "1989... It was 1989" wavers Donohoe tremulously.

I love 1989.

Favours For Sailors - Furious Sons

(Muso's Guide, March 17, 2009)

Album reviews

One can only guess at what sort of bonuses Favours For Sailors are offering to seamen.

But when their music is as upbeat and glorious as this, who cares? A mini-album from a maxi-talent, Furious Sons couldn’t help but succeed, containing as it does the best feelgood hit of the non-summer, ‘I Dreamt That I Dreamt That You Loved Me In Your Dreams’.

A gorgeous pop single, it turns out to be a sensationally good pick to trail the wonder of Favours For Sailors, perfectly reflecting as it does the poppy, sunny, essentially Weezer-ness of what it is that Favours For Sailors have to offer. Opener here, ‘Erode My Empire’, is certainly showcasing the good side of tunesmiths like Weezer before they lost it, starting out with a melodious guitar part which cannot be derailed by a hollered “BOOM!”.

An enthusiastic vocal from frontman Jon covers the disappearance of one man’s land thus; “Empires erode from the coastline in/And I’ll be left in a square metre in the middle/Probably in Nottingham”. ‘No Room At The Buffet’ is POWER POP, holding back no capital letters. The sweet harmonies are there again, something like Silver Sun from back in the day, and with a guitar part informed by J Mascis’ classic on Dinosaur Jr’s ‘Feel The Pain’, it is a standout track and no mistake.

All of Favours For Sailors’ songs seem to be over too soon - although the flipside of that is that they leave you wanting more, always an enviable position to be in. ‘The Nihilist Prays’ is just such a song - a nicely complicated musical arrangement with with requisite melodic harmonies.

On ‘Shy Times’, a skittery pop song with dance pretensions, the skill is in the vocal, paying more mind to Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci than anything else and leading to a punchy, interesting chorus. Finishing up on ‘Our Name’, Furious Sons does something quite insane for the first 20 seconds, offering a set of swollen strings for the intro sounds more suited to Kanye West’s latest single release than in this arena of tuneful indie pop.

The pomp gives way to well-judged chart-friendly pop goes some way to explaining the boy’s unusual moniker. Starting off, “I was pushed from the cliff by a jealous man and his hands” and a nice chorus line of “oh ooh oh” which gets the foot tapping, giving way to “Even your lover’s come to save you/When you’re tied to a chair doing favours for sailors”.

So now you know. Ask yourself - what favours would you do for a sailor? With music like this at stake, the answer is; pretty much anything they favour they damn well pleased.

Lilies On Mars - My Liver Hurts

(Muso's Guide, March 17, 2009)

Single review

After a tough night out, who can honestly say that their liver doesn't hurt? It's almost the mark of a success.

Lisa Dply Masia and Marina Cristofalo are two lovely young Italian ladies who have seen fit to write a whole song about such an hepatic concern.

OK, so that’s a lie. It’s not about that at all.

Who knows what it’s about - there’s not much of a clue as a subtle, mid-tempo drumbeat ushers in a simple guitar line with a minor twist.

The female vocal arrives with an ethereal beauty and something ghostly to boot. “You make me sick,” it goes, before a girlish lullaby “La la la” takes over.

All the while, the guitar gets brasher and more in control, but by contrast, the vocal is even more like a child’s, “Listen to me/My little friend/You found me/Now let me free”.

The vocal is spooky and unnerving, but not more so than the accompanying video.]

Opening on a shot of the moon, the shot shifts and closes in on what seems to be a ragdoll.

The ragdoll stands and wanders through what looks like a toy scrapyard, pausing to look at a bear with an eye missing and ambling desolately through this place of horror.

The ragdoll stares at the moon, thousands of miles out of reach, and then happens upon a moth. Fluttering and flying, the ragdoll is mesmerised by the creature, and take it upon her hand, befriending it.

Unfortunately, it is shortlived, as the next scene sees ragdoll Red Riding-like with moth wings sewn to her back, and the moth struggling for survival having had its body rent asunder.

The ragdoll ends her tale attempting to take flight with her ill-gotten wings, the giant moon filling the shot and her hopes.
Creepy and unusual as the video is, the song matches it, building to a crescendo as the hideous act takes place.

It truly is a jaundiced view of the world.

BM LINX - Kids On Fire

(For The Record, March 15, 2009)

Single review

Another day, another effortlessly cool NYC beat combo. Is there some sort of factory churning them out at such a rate, so exquisitely formed and without flaw?

Well, obviously not, because these BM LINX musicians spring to attention thanks to the efforts of Brit producer Alan Moulder whose breathtaking CV includes work with Depeche Mode, Gary Numan, The Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine.

Take that, Yankees.

'Kids On Fire' starts as if with a sonic boom, all fur flying and exclamation. A relentless beat plunges the ear straight into indie dance territory, but this is no old retread - exhilarating to the last.

Vocalist Tony Diodore spits the lyrics with a venom which braces, and the charisma positively leaps from the speakers with each note. It's hard to pick out the actual poetry on show here - why the kids are on fire is actually anybody's guess - but with Diodore's great vocal invoking Dandy Warhols howler Courtney Taylor, the whole thing packs a terrific punch.

The relentless electro beeps give birth to a chugging behemoth of cool, sounding for all the world like a Men, Women and Children-meets-The Rapture love-in - meaty, heavy and not to be messed with.

The second track on the single is more of the same, a grimy underground dance hit with a penchant for synths. Lovely indeed.

Starsailor - All The Plans

(Muso's Guide, March 13, 2009)

Album review

If anyone has been holding their breath for the new Starsailor record, here’s some exciting news for your respiratory system.

Four years since the last, James Walsh and his compadres have emerged from their recording cocoon with a long-player which does nothing to break down social barriers but plenty to soothe your ailing record collection, rife with passion and sex and all that dangerous stuff. Starsailor are here to blandify everything!

Sorry, that is needlessly cruel and playground bullyish.

In truth, Walshy’s familiar warble striking up on opener ‘Tell Me It’s Not Over’ is a welcome sound. His voice exudes a mournful quality which makes the fool of expressionless vocalists like Julian Casablancas or Bob Dylan - adding exuberant expression to the simplest of lyrics, and marking Starsailor out from their contemporaries.

‘Boy In Waiting’ starts up like ‘Unchained Melody’ and offers an over-appreciation of sleighbells, but by the time ‘The Thames’ kicks in, there’s a real sniff of rock in the air. A twangy guitar that would make Duane Eddy blush, awash with James’ melancholy, “Is love just a big mistake/Just a risk that we all take/Trying to keep the blues away” - as a track, it is really strong, but there’s unfortunately nothing that makes it a possible single release.

The title track boasts some of the delicious flavour of their 2001 debut Love Is Here, the band’s strongest record, while ‘Hurts Too Much’ is the ‘Alcoholic’ of this outing, jampacked with loss and heartache, explaining, “We all get burned sometimes”.

The joke of this all is that bands like Starsailor and Embrace laid the hefty foundations in emotional rock, which made it possible for young pups like Keane and Snow Patrol to scamper in and appropriate it for themselves, so now the old guard have to fight for their position.

Speaking of which, it would be remiss not to point out that Starsailor have been taking notes at the Keane series of lectures on ‘The Gravity of Piano’, adding portent and knowing to the first bars of ‘Tell Me It’s Not Over’ with pounded ivories.

The woozy, boozy piano of ‘Change My Mind’ is all their own, as is the miserable ‘Stars And Stripes’ - more’s the pity because lyrically it’s a bit of a horror, invoking patriotism gone awry, “Stars and stripes won’t keep you warm at night/Keep those evil empires from your door’”.

By and large, Starsailor - more so than Embrace - display a skill at ‘this sort of thing’, and in Walsh, they have some of the most interesting and creative vocal work around, this year or any year.

But it all seems just a little bit limp, and there’s nothing on display here that will make you a fan if you weren’t already, you can breathe easy on that.

War Child - Heroes

(Muso's Guide, March 11, 2009)

Album reviews

Everyone should buy Heroes. This isn’t an end-of-review spoiler, or a statement that affirms the bringing together of musical heavyweights such as Rufus Wainwright and Elbow can only go well. The main reason to buy Heroes is War Child, the charity behind the record.

Wait! Keep reading! The music bit comes soon! But this is important too! You should know that 66% of people who die in conflict are children, and War Child is a 16-year-old attempt to help protect them. No guilt-tripping, honest, but that surely has to be the best reason you’ve heard this year for parting with a tenner.

So, to the music… Heroes pulls no punches from the off, starting out with Beck and a version of Bob Dylan’s ‘Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat’. A mist of fuzz rock guitar and a familiar Hansen vocal suffice to prove that Beck doing Dylan sounds a lot more like Beck than Dylan. Roxy Music may be upset to find that Scissor Sisters have buggered up ‘Do The Strand’ beyond recognition. Shrill and soulless, it is what can only be termed the ‘Comfortably Numb’ effect, and leaves Roxy fans gasping for breath with insult.

Critics’ choice TV On The Radio make a good fist of disturbing Bowie’s old bones with an electronica-heavy version of the titular ‘Heroes’, which owes more to Talking Heads than the Thin White Duke, as per most of their output. On the plus side, Franz Ferdinand taking on the angular might of Blondie’s ‘Call Me’ is a wet dream for anyone who hoped for a world where the perfect artrock splice might occur. Alex Kapranos approaches the whole thing with the air of a man who knows camp becomes him, and it does.

Or there’s Peaches pulling on her Iggy Pop suit for a right rumpus with the unfeasibly filthy ‘Search And Destroy’, smearing her scent on it like a stray cat. The accomplishment of the album is, on balance, fair. It offers a great opportunity to hear some irrefutably interesting music, and that is what being a fan is about. But regardless of what it sounds like, there can be no argument against buying this record at this time. Do it for the kids.

Lady Of The Sunshine - Smoking Gun

(Muso's Guide, March 11, 2009)

Album reviews

Fresh from the tender A Book Like This album recorded with his sister Julia, Aussie Angus Stone shows once again that there isn’t a musical style that he cannot turn his hand to.
On opener ‘Silver Revolver’ - rest assured, the predilection for firearms titles ends here - the guitar speaks volumes, while the slightly dispassionate vocal fails to ignite. Presently, a poppier side to the track makes itself known, but the self-flagellating nature of the lyrics - “All I’ve ever been to myself is my own enemy” - makes for a heavy listen.

From there to ‘Home Sweet Home’, Angus morphs casually into a sort of Jack Johnson/Jason Mraz hybrid, and all would seem to be lost - until ‘White Rose Parade’.

Bizarrely, considering the the high points of A Book Like This, Lady Of The Sunshine’s strength lies, not in the gentle guitar strumming which he made his own on the familial hit from the year, but in the sort of bluesy, rocky tracks of which ‘White Rose Parade’ is the jewel.

Rocking in gently - think Bon Jovi circa ‘Midnight In Chelsea’ as opposed to Lemmy - the bluesier side of Angus really builds up, and the whole thing quite pleasantly rollicks along, sort of like Mark Owen singing for the White Stripes.

‘Jack Nimble’ shows Angus contemplating the darker side of life, where the character catches his wife “messing with another man/He got his gun and shot them down”. The mention of the nursery rhyme character invokes Don McLean’s ‘American Pie’, and there’s some pretty heavy guitar distortion which renders the whole thing very dramatic indeed.

The slightly schizophrenic ‘King Black Magic’, brings both sides of the Stone coin together, sort of like Turin Brakes getting down with a jagged antisocial buzz saw of a tune, but even on this one track, it’s clear where Angus’ strength lies.

When Angus does it right, he damn near kicks off a rock revolution; the title track crashes in out of a feedback wilderness, with a yowling vocal that would make Jon Spencer Blues Explosion proud.
But without Julia’s intriguing vocal to lift the acoustic numbers, some of the gentler tracks like ‘Anna’ wind up being little more than gentle little hiccups, momentary diversions, without any real staying power.

Perhaps Lady Of The Sunshine is a mere dalliance for this talented singer songwriter. If we’re lucky, Angus will see the rock direction as more than that, and return to the scene of the Smoking Gun very soon.

Fucked Up - Year Of The Rat

(Muso's Guide, March 10, 2009)

Single reviews

A timely release from some very calendar-conscious youngsters, ‘Year Of The Rat’ is here to mark our liberation from the year of the rat, which crashed to its ending on January 25.
Despite being saddled with an altogether offensive and distracting moniker, Fucked Up are more than just needless expletives.

Canadian, but hardcore, so not at all dull, ‘Year Of The Rat’ sees the sextet firstly easing their way atmospherically into an 11-minute guitar and percussion-driven freak out.

As what was known in the old days as an ‘A side’, ‘Year Of The Rat’ is staunchly inaccessible, but tremendously exciting for it, a testosterone-heavy, axe-smothered, drum-engorged epic, with harmonious guitar sounds falling somewhere between Blind Melon and … And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead.

Anyway, that’s all good stuff, but there’s an elephant in the middle of this review which needs to be addressed: Fucked Up vocalist Pink Eyes. Not to imply Pink Eyes is an elephant, although clearly an elephant would have more of a grasp of a tuneful vocal, even an elephant who takes up the mic in a hardcore band.

Suffice it to say, you either enjoy the torturous screaming/shouting/anger noise thing, or you’re over 15 years old.

Although it’s been mooted that lyrically ‘Year Of The Rat’ is primarily concerned with political statements and overthrowing the shackles of modern society’s all-pervasive ills, the vocal is unfortunately so mangled so as to prohibit identification of actual subject matter, save for the end quote of a man referring to how the secretary of state told him once “You’d better be prepared to pull the trigger”.

One would assume more Condoleezza Rice than Hillary Clinton because these young beatniks like going head-to-head with cold-blooded Republicans considerably more than with fluffy-wuffy Democrats, regardless of which side will be guaranteed a soundtrack of the devil’s own music in the blazing hereafter.

Musically adept and criminally rocking, there’s a small part of Fucked Up who should be very proud of what they’ve achieved with ‘Year Of The Rat’. Let’s hope they club together for the other part to get some singing lessons.

BLACK LIPS - 200 MILLION THOUSAND

(Choon online, March 9, 2009)

Album review

As far as mythology goes, the Black Lips have one of the greatest rock’n'roll tales of the modern era. A band that was brought together by circumstance, has been plagued by controversy and death, and still managed to produce five excellent studio albums. That’s quite something.

Opening track - rabble-rousing rocker ‘Take My Heart’ - sees the Atlanta, Georgia quartet channelling the best work of Jagger, all guttural vocal yowls and the best sort of rock - tinged with rockabilly rhythms and characterised by twanging guitar.

On the doo-wop dalliance of ‘Drugs’, the band are on tuneful form, with singer Cole Alexander invoking the Ramones’ shambolic vocal style, and sounding for all the world like a gang of hoary old punks instead of the bright-eyed youngsters they are. ‘Starting Over’ , meanwhile, offers shades of Exile On Main Street’s ‘Tumbling Dice’ - all swagger and posturing.

The Black Lips do tend to sound like a band 30 years out of date, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a sense of humour. On ‘Trapped In A Basement’, they have a wry edge - “I’m trapped in a basement and my food is running out” - but the ghostly female backing vocal and mournful guitar make it a real horror of a tack, imbued with despair.

‘Short Fuse’ has a jagged guitar part that would make any artrocker swoon, from Television to Franz Ferdinand, while ‘I’ll Be With You’ turns into a slower tempo romance record.

The spirit of the 50s and 60s is strong in the Lips, which all goes to make some breathtaking records, with humour and heart, but, wonderfully, the ability to rock. It’s one thing carving out the rock’n'roll myth on a personal basis, but making the music is something else again. Black Lips have been judged first and foremost for their accomplished recorded output, and that’s what could make this band truly legendary.

Still fresh the second time

(Muso's Guide, Friday 6 March, 2009)

FROM the very first chiming chords of Men In Prison and folk singer-songwriter Jackie Leven's trademark Scottish burr, the magic of this record cannot be denied - even though it is almost a decade since its original release.

Winter is the first in a series of double albums entitled The Haunted Year from Leven, originally released earlier in his illustrious career but dusted off now to be enjoyed anew.

The delicious eight-track Men In Prison still sounds fresh, recorded live in Bergen Men's Prison in Norway only adding to its depth. The wonder of Leven is profound here, with songs like An Extremely Violent Man pressing all the most emotive buttons.

Munich Blues, from a live performance 2002 in the southern German city, shines throughout, but the particular poignancy of I Saw My Love Walk Into The Clouds proves that Leven's work is blessed with a multilayered genius which only blooms and blossoms with repeated listens.

War Child - Heroes

(4ortherecord.com, March 6, 2009)

Album review

Duffy's usually unfeasibly husky voice cracks cracks on Paul McCartney and Wings' 1973 classic, it all becomes clear - this is what War Child is great at.

Yeah, sure, there's all that helping out kids in war zones stuff - good work - but what we hear when the record goes on is the unmistakable sound of musical history being made.

One of the artists of the year covering a song written by one of the most successful British songwriters of all time = priceless.

Duffy isn't the only one to confound and astound here - other modern acts given their chance to shine are Elbow, with a pretty great version of U2's 'Running The Stand Still', TV On The Radio with a unique take on Bowie's 'Heroes' and Beck with his own inimitable stamp on Dylan's 'Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat'.

Oft-maligned The Kooks make a really great fist of The Kink's 'Victoria' - not Ray Davies' boys' greatest moment, but given a really nice treatment from the wonky-voweled Brighton beat combo.

Karen O shows how she is the great lost Ramone on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' 'Sheena Is A Punk Rocker', offering the perfect balance of 'fuck you' cool and vocal histrionics.

Perhaps the greatest event on the record is Estelle's version of 'Superstition'. Her honey-smooth vocals bring the Stevie Wonder classic bang up to date with the merest hint of cheek, proving how soulful her voice can sound with the right material.

The icing on the cake has to be Peaches doing Iggy on 'Search And Destroy' - although it's tough to see how anyone could make Ignacious sound any dirtier, the Berlin-based bawd makes it her business to rip into it.

If you buy one album this week, wouldn't you prefer it to be packed with quality tracks brought to life by the very cream of the musical crop?

Go on. It's for charity.

Julian Lloyd Webber’s In Harmony with the kids

(Muso's Guide, March 5, 2009)

Interview

Music is a relaxant and a treat - the right music can make you smile at the end of a tough week or even make you weep when you need to get it out. And, says classical solo cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, music is all it takes to drag society out of the grip of its vices - drugs, knife crime, gun crime, to name a few.

Julian is speaking to Muso’s Guide about the newest government-backed programme to help soothe societal ills. Called In Harmony, it is currently a £3 million experiment, but the professional musician and brother of Andrew Lloyd Webber is positively giddy about its possibilities.

“It’s a very exciting project as far as I’m concerned because it is not really a music education project, it’s a social project which is using music as a catalyst to bring about change in very poor communities.”

Julian insists that In Harmony is unique in this country, having been inspired by the successful El Sistema project in Venezuela. The Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, which exists thanks to that project, was phenomenally successful at Edinburgh Festival and the Proms, and Julian sees the installment of a similar project in the UK as a beacon of hope - and a harbinger of change.

“We have just over two years to prove and to show this, and that to me is the most important thing - that by April 2011, we can clearly demonstrate that communities have been helped hugely by this project. I want to see the project expanded and taken out into other places as well as being continued in the three areas where it started.”

The three areas are West Everton in Liverpool, Lambeth in London, and Norwich, and projects are well underway there, aiming to provide children with the tools to grow and learn, both socially and musically. Julian explains how the areas were chosen:“We interviewed eight submissions out of 100. They were very detailed submissions and all eight were excellent, but these three had something a little bit special. I’ve seen first hand the Lambeth one - I’ll be seeing the Liverpool and Norwich ones very soon - and it’s very impressive and very exciting, and just wonderful to see the children so involved and so happy playing.”

In 2003, Julian became involved in the Music In Education Consortium, and has since then been noted for his efforts to widen music education in the UK.

“It did start with myself, Evelyn Glennie [percussionist], Jimmy Galway [flautist] and Michael Kamen [composer], who unfortunately is no longer with us, going in to see Charles Clark and David Miliband at the time.”

Thanks to their efforts, the government injected £332 million of funding into an ailing UK music education, which is where the £3 million for In Harmony has been sourced.

“The government asked me to do In Harmony because I was particularly passionate about it and after the Venezualan orchestra came over. They asked me if I would lead it.”

Make no mistake, in spite of his busy schedule as a solo ‘cellist, Julian is hands-on with the In Harmony project. “Having chosen the projects, I could have taken more of a backseat than I do, because I’m very passionate about this project, and I want to make sure that it goes on. I want to give it every possibility that I can.”

The kids who In Harmony aims to help are from disadvantaged neighbourhoods, aged between four and nine years old. Julian says that the best bit for him has been watching the children at work.

“It’s wonderful to see their enthusiasm and excitement when they’re given an instrument. It’s quite possible they’ve never been given something in their lives, and suddenly they’re given something that’s theirs and they’re given free tuition and it really makes a difference in their whole way of thinking.”

As a man who has made his living in classical music, Julian is irritated by the impression that children can get about it from the media.

“What’s so great about getting these children so young is that they haven’t yet been told by adults that classical music isn’t ‘cool’, and they come to it with no preconceptions, and they really enjoy it. Where this ‘uncool’ business comes I don’t really know. It certainly doesn’t come from the music itself.”

The expansion of their chosen art form into more populist circles is one interest that the Lloyd Webber brothers share, with Julian’s older sibling Andrew making his mark on varied reality talent shows such as How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? and Any Dream Will Do on BBC1. What does Julian make of the criticism that has been levelled at Andrew for these manoeuveres?

“When Andrew started doing the first one, …Maria, he got quite a lot of criticism from people saying “This isn’t the way to cast a West End show”. On the other hand, look what it’s done for the West End! And Connie Fisher who won it, is brilliant, so it actually helped somebody launch a career and filled the theatre as a result. The winners of these programmes have been really talented, and it would be lovely to be able to do the same with classical music.”

For Julian Lloyd Webber, music is more than a mere entertainment - it signifies the possibility and promise which lies open to everyone. All you have to do is pick up an instrument and start playing.

Amazing Baby - Bayonets

(Muso's Guide, March 5, 2009)

Single review

The musical cascade that is ‘Bayonets’ explodes from the speakers like an Amazing Baby RPG, with a split second of electronic bleeps and then suddenly a bequest of deliciously knowing vocals.

The swooping strings which season this delicious single from the oh-so-now Brooklyn combo are just part of the reason why ‘Bayonets’ rocks - a mouthwatering cross between ABC and ELO, with a whole lot of T.Rex thrown in.

The glam pounding of the single keeps on through string-soaked choruses and pared down verses, a tale of the beautiful and the damned, out with their “guns and bayonets tonight”.

The guitars strut into the chorus as the vocal demurs, “Oh baby, I’ve heard it all”. Of course you have - it’s glam rock with a modern twist, and there’s only so many times to tale of the dirty, pretty things can be retold. Except it’s not been told in this glorious a technicolour for many moons.

The lavish strings and opulent production only add to the musical depth here, and for a world apparently starved of riches and buckling under the weight of recession, there flows a rich vein of musical blood indeed.

Cruising to a finish with a repeated refrain - “The kids are alright,” it softly intones - ‘Bayonets’ is a short sharp shock to the brain. The final line “I want you to remember me” is all at once disarming and knowing, because how would anyone forget?

Amazing Baby are growing up into something very special indeed.

Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work

(For The Record, March 5, 2009)

Single review

A filmic band with a love of the chiming indie guitar, Two Door Cinema Club are a real treat.

The Northern Irish trio have been trailing up and down the UK with their own brand of punky pop and if 'Something Good Can Work' is anything to go by, they've only just begun bewitching music fans.

Starting off like so many rays of musical sunshine, the magic of 'Something Good Can Work' is really on show when vocalist/guitarist Alex's sweetly accented voice chimes in with a clarity and youthfulness which perfectly matches the clean guitar.

The positivity of the lyric is just right for these gloomy days - "Let's make this happen now/We've got to show the world that something good can work/And it can work for you" - and the light-hearted optimism really carries the listener along with a buoyancy and a giddiness which is all too rare in modern pop.

The uncomplicated melody strides by, and with about a minute to go, a vocal breakdown breeds a real party atmosphere, complete with the whoops of backroom boys and making it a real feelgood hit of the summer.

From the uptempo rhythm to the guileless lyric, 'Something Good Can Work' really stands out as a terrific, uncomplicated indie record.

If you like a lot of jangle in your indie, join this 'Club.

Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band - Mama's Fried Potatoes/Can't Pay The Bill

(For The Record, March 5, 2009)

Single review

Genuine man of religion the Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band kicks off 'Mama's Fried Potatoes' with a straightforward enough sentiment - "I wanna thank you all for the food you made us/But it don't hold a candle to mama's fried potatoes".

Then, like the house band in Deliverance, there follows a pounding old rendering of some good-natured, down-home, country-tinged blues.

The uncomplicated lyric is brought with gusto by the vocalist Reverend, as he grinds his gravel voice over the top of some nifty slide guitar and washboard, courtesy of his wife, Washboard Breezy.

A band with a backstory to rival Kyser Soze, there's quite a following for the Rev, his wife and his brother Jayme on drums in their native States. 'Mama's Fried Potatoes/Can't Pay The Bill' is the debut single in the UK, and brings the very essence of the band alive for a nation who have about as much experience of this side of America as Paris Hilton.

'Can't Pay The Bill' is a stringpicking affair with stomping percussion. The washboard makes its presence known, and the whole ethos of the song is very much in keeping with the money problems which seem to be knocking on everyone's door these days, making the Reverend a very shrewd recording artiste indeed.

With the current vogue for stripped-back blues as offered by Seasick Steve, there's a bright shiny future indeed for Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band. Quite a blessing.

Official Secrets Act - Understanding Electricity

(Muso's Guide, March 3, 2009)

Album review

Erudite, intelligent British bands with a nice line in self-effacement who know their way round lovelorn poetry. They’re a dying breed, and it’s a real shame, but rejoice, friend, because Official Secrets Act are here to swell their dwindling ranks.

Hailing from London village via Leeds university, OSA are a snazzy four-piece who know what a hefty debt their style of music owes to the 1980s.

Decked out in button-down Oxford shirts and waistcoats with side-parted mops atop their heads, their passing sartorial resemblance to Blaine and Stef from Pretty In Pink is not the only John Hughes invocation on display here.

Understanding Electricity is a record packed with songs which would gladly soundtrack any one of the swathe of ‘Bratpack’ flicks the erstwhile director ejaculated oh-so-many years ago.

From opener ‘Mainstream’, it’s an enjoyable daytrip through the musical merry-go-round of a really quite delightful bunch of chaps. “Faith, take me away/as far as you possibly can,” goes the lyric, vocalist Thomas Burke leaning on a little bit of Bolan meets Moyet, with a great selection of electronic bleeping in the backing. “John, you’re a hero/you’re a thief… Friday night is the only thing left to rely on,” speaks the voice of youth.

‘So Tomorrow’ canters along, instrumentally bound tightly by drummer Alexander MacKenzie’s stick work, while ‘The Girl From The BBC’ channels the sort of unrequited love that Jake Shillingworth made My Life Story’s stock in trade, darkly harmonious and Smithsian in its self-doubt, “I like her/She likes me,” the lyric offers simply.

On ‘Little Birds’, a tempo change offers a more introspective, melodic and stripped down sound. Burke is more Alex Kapranos on ‘Eleanor Get Your Boots On’, intoning the woeful, “You cry for the night to arrive and you cry for the morning“, before the pace picks up and a whole new song squeezes its way out of the speakers.

As far as album highlights, there are many, but for special note, check out ‘Hold The Line’, a radio-friendly piece of indie delight, all the pop punch of a breakthrough single. A complex guitar melody in no way detracts from a great lyric worthy of Hefner for its referential cultural comment and skewed love story element - “I like to watch her do these things/I like to watch her as she sings/ And as the world collapses around our ears/I play guitar to Tears For Fears“. It’s all you can do not to imagine John Cusack’s kooky high school loner leaping about his room with thoughts of the unattainable Ione Skye.

If you like the sound of yesterday, when we were all outsiders at the average American high school and wondered how Molly Ringwald managed to dress so well for so little, Official Secrets Act are a revelation.

VV Brown: a bit of a rant

(Muso's Guide, March 2, 2009)

Interview

“What a lot of people don’t realise sometimes is that sometimes people are on the grind for years and years and years and people get different opportunities at different times…”

What a lot of people don’t realise is that VV Brown is off on a bit of a rant. This one is about being compared to other female vocalists, but who can blame the 24-year-old for wanting to secure her place in this hazy crazy world of music?

Read just one column about the sassy 1950s-inspired singer-songwriter and a mention of Amy, Duffy, Adele et al is de rigeur, darling (even here!) but in truth, there is so much more to this swell-singin’, rule-breakin’, trend-settin’, flat-toppin’ songstress.

VV wasn’t always this doyenne of Brit cool. A few years before she became a must-watch for 2009 (© All newspapers), she had a very different musical career ahead of her. Signing to a major label at 19, VV went to LA to work with big producers and even sang backing vocals for the Pussycat Dolls’ debut album. But somewhere along the way, VV realised that something was missing.

“I think sometimes when you’re young, you get swept away with the lights and the glitz and the big recording studios and the LA sort of lifestyle. You lose yourself, and I think when you’ve got very strong influenial people around you, you trust their instincts when really as an artist you should speak up and trust the instincts of yourself.”

Luckily, VV’s own instincts kicked in, and that chapter of her life quickly ended. Stoney broke, she arrived back in the UK and started again, but this time she made her mark her way. Firstly by writing for other artists - hey, when the names include sassy pop princesses Sugababes, it’s not to be sneezed at - and then by writing for herself, from her own heart.

The single ‘Crying Blood’ is a fast-paced, bouncy pop record, with shades of ‘Monster Mash’ and a stylish 1950s heart. It’s great, in other words, and all about a nasty break-up with a nasty guy.

“The whole ‘Crying Blood’ situation came from such an honest place where I think the first time round it was quite synthetic. With my music now, it was a very indie-esque process of doing all these shitty gigs and evolving rather than just signing a big record deal and writing massive songs with a big producer.”

Anyone who doubts VV should turn their callous ear to ‘Leave’, a slice of raw, emotive pop with her own unique stamp right there in the middle of it. Ahead of the debut record, this veritable wunderkind is nothing but gracious in the praise which has been lavished upon her.

“I’ve been in this industry for a very long time, and there’s nothing more powerful than the music, so I just want to make a good record and see what happens - and whether I sell a million records and fulfill the prophecies of what everyone’s saying or sell two records, I know that I’m happy and I’ve made something that I can be proud of.”

Make no mistake, though - VV hasn’t left pride in her work to chance. She had quite a handle on the debut record, as she is only too happy to admit.

“I did 70% of the production on the album and I was petrified to give the other 30% over to these two lovely gentlemen. They’re so lovely, but I was so petrified to give over the work I had done! I wanted to have complete creative control, and Island Records are a fantastic label, they gave me that artistic control. I think it’s important.”

As for the future, VV is clear on one thing - inspiration for her sound can come from anywhere.

“It would be very arrogant of me to think that I had reached a peak. I’m a huge fan of many different kinds of music and this is just the beginning, this is an introduction to me. I think on the next album maybe I’d like to fuse different styles - there’ll always be a 1950s element, but maybe 1950s and African world music or something. I’m always evolving and always learning and trying to improve myself. I think that’s the beauty of art. As long as your experiences are changing, your music will evolve and change alongside it.”

For a girl with already quite a story behind her, VV seems determined to edit her own page in rock history. And it’s got success written all over it.

Shrag - Shrag

(AU magazine, March 2009)

Album review

Where It's At Is Where You Are

The music world is perma-braced for the next big thing. Holler! Younger than your kid sister and twice as stroppy, Shrag are IT, holding back no capital letters. From the Art Brut-style opening chords of 'Pregnancy Scene', these five young pups exhibit a grasp of the snappy lyric, the infectious hook and the melodic bridge that leaves bigger bands reeling from the pungency of youth. From tales of teens in the family way to inept sexual encounters - 'Talk To The Left' - delivered by Helen King, an erudite vocalist with all the lusty nonchalance of Lush's Miki Berenyi, this is a roll call of adolescent dramas, but executed with a lightness of touch and deftness of wit that seem unlikely from a band twice their age.