Phew. Today has been bloody exhausting, but at least I've put a decent dent in my reviews pile. I've got one more bit for y'all before I pack up for the day though: Air Cav have kindly put up their first two singles for free download from their bandcamp. Click below to get at them, that is all.
Showing posts with label post-rock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label post-rock. Show all posts
Friday, 27 May 2011
Day For Airstrikes
Into the Comet
Self-Released
Out Now
Rating: 4/5
Judging by their more recent material (the Adam, Wez, Ian, John, Danny, Rita, Sue and Bob Too EP), I was rather expecting a similar experience when returning to their first album Into the Comet as a recent convert to the band. Instead there's actually more of a guitar-led approach to the compositions, and to bastardize a famous quote, “is that a looper I see before me?” Yes, ha fucking ha indeed (spot the reference for +10 EXP, it's been a long day), I hear you cry; but on tracks like the densely-layered 'Quiet!!!!! Warmbear' and 'Cosmonaut', the interplay between the guitars is definitely front-and-centre as the er, selling point of this band (as if they needed something so crass). Like fellow Manchester progsters Cyril Snear, they're not above the inclusion of brass here and there, and I'm totally down with that.
Personally, my favourite cut is 'Reichstag', possibly the most timbrally interesting, not to mention arguably the most epic in scale; though I'll admit that 'Cosmic Horse' is a strong contender for the crown. In terms of honourable mentions, you've got to bring up 'Honestly Honesty Bosun Smee', which is definitely the most massive-sounding if you're listening on speakers. In particular, the combination of thick fuzz-bass and staccato drums driving through the guitar figures in the first section of the song are a clear highlight of the album. The track as a whole bears some comparison to Steven Wilson's 'No Twilight Within the Courts of the Sun' from Insurgentes, except, y'know, without a vocal.
Overall, it's an accomplished first record. Let's be honest, most bands are sensible enough to stay clear of instrumental music unless they know they can do it well, and Day For Airstrikes are no exception. It's also worth elaborating that whilst this record is clearly the result of a considerable amount of effort well-spent, their newer material shows signs of a highly gratifying development of their sound, and I rightly have high hopes for album two.
Rumour Cubes
We Have Sound Houses Also
Self-Released
Out Now
Rating: 4/5
Imagine 'Where I End and You Begin' from Radiohead's Hail to the Thief, shorn of all bass and drums and that's roughly what greets you upon first hitting play on Rumour Cubes' excellent EP. Before long a kit and bass enter, and whilst the drumming is perhaps a little unimaginative, the rhythmic hook on the bassline more than makes up for it. For some reason I'm put in mind of Yes, but that could simply be because I listened to The Yes Album three times yesterday and can't get 'Wurm' out of my head. Nevertheless, it's when the E-Bow gets shelved and the distortion pedal kicked, that the track ('The University is a Factory'; Foucaldian power analysis or anti-fees critique, I wonder?) really gets going.
After the extended post-rock of the opener, the punchiness of 'Rain on Titan' (Blade Runner reference?) is unexpected, to say the least, and the violin leads counterpoint the violin figures nicely. Again, there's a crescendo and fade; though the track is surely more concise, it's no worse for it.
For my money though, the best track is the third, 'At Sea', which is kind of like some crazy folk-shoegaze crossover, like Air Cav if they decided to adopt the evil atmospherics of Trent Reznor, I don't know. It builds to a gentle peak and then that's that, the end of the EP. I hear more material is in the pipeline, so it'll be interesting to see where the band take their sound next: hybrid anti-folk or post-rock both beckon, and from this first offering, it's hard to see exactly which path Rumour Cubes will take.
If It Carries On Like This We Are Moving To Morecambe
Self-Released
Out Now
Rating: 4/5
As one might expect from having heard their previous efforts, TFATD's record is for the most part an exhilarating blend of krautrock, space rock and upbeat progressive motifs that owe as much to Neu! as they would appear to be beholden to say, Portishead. The overall effect is something like a kinetic, instrumental take on the first Secret Machines album with a rather greater degree of electronics and somewhat cleaner production.
The first track, 'Flint' begins with washes of auto-oscillation before a driving motorik rhythm kicks in and carries the piece from start to finish, aided by sparse guitar figures. On 'Part 2' there's initially a continuation of the theme before an abrupt sturm-und-drang turn to loud post-rock two minutes in that's somewhat reminiscent of God is an Astronaut. Other tracks like 'The Wait' are more consciously sparse post-rock, but there's a great degree of variation; 'H.R.', for instance sounds like nothing so much as The Bends-era Radiohead, and 'Landcrab' is kind of like the older, thrashier, fuzz-bass, alternate-tunings fare that Placebo used to deal in so well.
Recent single '10x10' makes a welcome return, and the collection closes on 'Andy Fox', a brass-laced atmospheric number that builds round a bass hook to something sinister and brooding that just about recalls first-album Muse b-sides (seriously, go have a listen if you don't believe me). Though I've done a lot of name-dropping here (even by my standards), that's mainly because I'm always nervous about describing instrumental music to anybody, and I particularly don't like slipping into wanky 'palaces of sound' style writing (though sometimes it's unavoidable), so I'll close by referring you to the score, the fact that I took the time to write this, and the fact that it's a very enjoyable little record. My usual caveat remains: it's instrumental music, so if you're not into that then too bad. If you are, then have a listen and decide for yourself. There are plenty of ideas here to keep a leftfield music fan interested, and if you're not up for an album-length experience, I refer you back to their excellent last single 10x10.
Sunday, 17 April 2011
10x10
Out Now
Rating: 4/5
Instantly more insistent than anything I've yet heard from the group, 10x10 kicks off on fine form with the lead track. '10x10' morphs through sections of post-progressive volume swells, harmony-math guitars and then electronics, never losing its way or the driving backbeat which pins the whole together. Not really motorik enough in execution to strictly be krautrock, it nevertheless reminds of the genre and its more modern exponents like Secret Machines. My only criticism would perhaps be its lack of a clear melody at some points, but then again with post-rock you kind of know what you're signing up for from the get go, so it's not a major concern.
The b-side, 'Foreign Languages' is to me the highlight of the pair. Trip-hop in feel with a solid bass hook, Gameboy sound effects duel with sparse guitar lines for the listener's attention, and though their drummer never quite commits to the ride cymbal, it's classily understated throughout. Again there's not a melody per se besides that of the bass riff, but the samples thrown in are pitch-specific enough to counterpoint the guitar figures and effect a pleasing sonic whole.
Possibly only one for the post-rock hardcore, but a pleasant deviation from identikit delay-abuse nonetheless. The track lengths do not permit a surplus of self-indulgence, and I hope this pair drum up an appropriate degree of support for the full album, due in May.
Sunday, 3 April 2011
Pilots and Starlets EP
Out Now
Rating: 4.5/5
I know what you're thinking- another fucking band from Liverpool? Well, if there were less great bands from there, I'd have fewer to cover... and it's not like I haven't given Manchester a look in; the best we've currently got to offer (Black Market Serotonin, Trojan Horse, The Narrows, Patterns, Cyril Snear, From the Kites of San Quentin, Charlie Barnes [honourary Manc], Casino Zone, Advances, With That Knife, the Modern Painters, The Steals and Air Cav) have all been covered on here, and that's not even including the bands I only quite like, just the ones I really fucking like.
Anyway, on to Pteropilot. Another band from the ICO/ATQO/Battleships scene, this is probably the most accessible of the lot. Yep, there are still riffs aplenty, but there's also a bunch of really melodic stuff in the mix courtesy of delay-and-reverb heavy guitars and occasional bursts of electronics, or even (on occasion) strings. The vocals are for the most part quite restrained and buried in the mix, but given the more post-rock stylings (I'm not fucking going to say 'cinematic' or 'epic' because I'd like to believe I'm not that much of a hack) of this band, this works within the confines of the overall aesthetic. Though the verses are often quite complex and dense, for the most part the choruses are big, chordy, and well welcome for any fans of any music that came out of Seattle around 1990 (amongst whose ranks I definitely consider myself).
So, individual tracks. The Biggest Chorus of the EP award goes to 'Harakiri', while Most Structurally Interesting goes to 'Wolf Cries Wolf'. Most Catchy Main Riff for Fans of Zwan goes to the opener, 'Each the Others World Entire', and Most Bloody Massive and Sprawling definitely goes to the closer, 'The Next of Amber', which if I'm honest has a little bit of 'Music for a Nurse' about it- this obviously is no bad thing. Coincidentally it's also not a bad accompaniment to a train journey across the country, which is the setting for my scribblings today.
As I find is the case with most of the Liverpool bands I've heard, the production values are top-drawer throughout, and all of the subtle little tricks of filters or deep-in-the-mix guitars, vocal yelps, male-female vocal harmonies et al are definitely not lost on this listener. The attention to detail is fucking fantastic, and as one of those sentimental fucks that loves the album format, I especially love the feeling of being taken on a journey, of musical progression, that underpins the tracklisting and development of ideas within the narrative of the EP. It may be comparatively short, but insofar as a twenty-five minute running time can be truly immersive, it is.
Sunday, 26 December 2010
A late Christmas present....
Time for a story. Twelve years ago, five students met at music school in Salford. Forced to collaborate on a group project, they played set of covers at a concert together, and began to sense potential in the air. A Mogwai concert under the influence of acid was all that remained to form Oceansize, the most famous British experimental band of the last ten years behind Porcupine Tree. Three albums and several EPs in, they've returned with a new offering, Self Preserved While the Bodies Float Up. With the record as musically outspoken as they themselves have been at times, HV caught up with frontman Mike Vennart in between his duties as Biffy Clyro's touring guitarist to discuss it.
How would you describe the new album vis-à-vis your previous efforts?
“Vis-à-vis? Nobody's ever said that before. Erm, I guess it's more mature sounding. It's probably the most melodic. Rather than me writing all the vocal melodies this time I actually got the rest of the band involved and we worked on things. It was much more working in factions, two or three of us rather than all five of us jamming all the time... all the old stuff is written almost entirely of jams, since we record absolutely everything we play. For a long time, I didn't think we'd ever top the second album, because I held it in such high regard. I know that it was the most unafraid, don't-give-a-fuck sort of record, but now I can hear the holes, hear a bit of immaturity which I don't hear on the new record. If I didn't think this was the best, I wouldn't put it out.”
Have side projects affected the sound? I know Gambler recently put out a record, and there's also Steve playing in Future of the Left, not to mention the guys in Kong. You're touring with Biffy Clyro at the moment, and my first thought upon hearing the new record was 'ah, that makes sense'...
“Er, the album was recorded and finished before I jumped on. I literally went from finishing the record to the next day rehearsing with Biffy, and Steven wasn't in Future of the Left at the time. I like to think that Gambler brought a lot of his solo album to the table. If you listen to 'A Penny's Weight', then there's all kinds of little things embedded in there that you might not spot for fucking ages, all of these weird textures buried in the mix. That was all him sitting there with a laptop while we were recording vocals or whatever- he kept flying in these wild sounds. He just 'sprinkles the fairy dust on', to quote the Troggs.”
The first release (before Self Preserved...) to be recorded in your studio was the Home and Minor EP, which was quite a departure from your last album, Frames. Self Preserved... is similarly a jump from that sound, so was there a conscious decision to go 'soft record', 'loud record'?
“We didn't plan it that far in advance. The whole Home and Minor thing was an experiment to see if the studio thing was going to work... it was a necessity. [The record company] needed something pronto and we were like 'fuck'. It was all pieced together- there were never two people playing at any given time. It was all one at a time and edited together on screen. We'd been talking about an ambient record for fucking years, so it was like 'right, cool,they want an EP, let's do it now. As soon as I came up with the music for 'Part Cardiac', it was like 'that's got to be first'... it's to keep people on their toes I guess, fuck with their heads a bit, and make them wonder what we're going to do next. We don't really know what kind of band we are, but we've tried to stop worrying about that.”
Have you got to the stage that it's... not irrelevant, but not something you can worry about anymore then?
“I've always said that if we did kind of know what we were supposed to be doing then that's when we'd fuck it up. If you start writing to a blueprint, if you start thinking 'oh, we're this kind of band, we've got to write this kind of music', then I think we're going to come a cropper.”
Do you feel it's taken a long time to get to where you are today?
“Well, not really. Maybe what comes with this history and this body of work is people going 'fuck, are they still going?', but you get a bit of respect, I think. [We've been going] twelve years, and I'm not sure it's something we should be shouting about.”
There were quite a few bands that emerged at the same time as you- My Vitriol, Vex Red, Cooper Temple Clause- but yourselves and Amplifier seem to be the only ones left standing. Do you see yourselves as survivors?
“It sounds like a cynical and nasty thing to say, but over the years we've seen so many people in bands who get their first album out and it doesn't hit the top ten, so they quit, or jump into another band because they think that'll be the one that hits the big time... it's so careerist. We've never been like that, it's just a compulsive need to do it [that drives us]; it's a fundamental requirement to each of us. I'm married, I've got a nice home life, a cat, but I don't think about anything else. It's not a matter of wanting to do it, but that you have to do it.”
The talk then diverted briefly to his friend Sel's band, Amplifier, and their white whale, the double album Octopus, with Mike laughing,
“I'll fucking believe it when I see it. I've been singing on it for about four years. It's Chinese Democracy, man. Y'know, back in the day, in like 1992 I had tickets to see Guns n' Roses. He [Axl Rose] showed up five days late, played for an hour, and it was fucking awful. That was it, I never listened to them again. As it happened, it was Faith No More supporting, and I was like 'this is the greatest band in the world, where have I been?'”
Speaking of Amplifier- Sel talks a lot about being 'entrepreneurial' as a band. Do you think today's bands need business sense where perhaps they didn't before?
“Well, I think Sel is going completely DIY. There's a lot of stuff to consider, like paying the right amount of tax. All this kind of stuff I don't have any idea about, it's why we have a manager. I just write songs, put them out, go out and play gigs. I couldn't even tell you how much it is to book our band. No idea.”
What would you say are your biggest influences, musical or otherwise?
“Tim Smith from Cardiacs. Just that unwillingness to do anything other than what he does. He's a friend of mine, but I can't get over the fact that he's so fucking talented. He's the only genius I'm ever likely to meet. To me, he's created another language.”
Have you got any hard-won advice to give your younger self?
“Don't start smoking, I've stopped now... I think that when I started doing interviews, when we first got signed, I regret a lot of the shit that I talked. I came across as really bitter and cynical, and I'm actually not; I'm really settled these days. Back then I was a really pissy little guy, but it's that hangover from being a teenager. 23 was when I just went 'I don't have to behave like this anymore'. It just takes a while for you to know who the fuck you are and accept who you are.”
Do you listen to any contemporary bands?
“Rolo Tomassi. That's probably my favourite album of the year so far. The new album by the Walkmen...[pause] The Vessels album is fucking great... [checks his iPod] Atlas Sound. The Books. Deerhoof. I Am Kloot. Jesca Hoop. The Melvins' new album, the new Mogwai live album, Part Chimp, St. Vincent... and it sounds so patronising, but however fucking good Charlie Barnes is now, imagine how good he's going to be in five, ten years' time. Oh, the new Autolux album too...”
It seems that at the moment there's an explosion of progressive, or 'eclectic' music at the moment, from a shoegaze revival to bands like Anathema, who are reworking the prog-rock template. Do you see yourselves as a part of this?
“We don't get invited to any parties, we aren't in any particular gang. I can't even say we have an affinity with band A or band B, because it might be insulting to them... I'd love to think that we have a lot in common with Rolo Tomassi, but they're fucking incredible, from another planet. We're slowly growing into our own skin, but we don't know what it is. I think when we do work out what kind of band we are, that's when we're going to be shit, start making shit records.”
Kind of like that guitarist's feeling where, looking back, you feel you were better when you started out than when you actually learned how to play properly?
“Yeah. That's absolutely true.”
What's your favourite bit of kit?
“Kit? Really? Erm, I just got a new amp- an Orange custom shop real Bad Motherfucker, I paid actual hard cash for it. It's fucking amazing. It's the amp that Steven Malkmus uses, I'm such a Pavement fanboy. It was like, whatever's making that guitar sound, give us it. Sel used to lend me his Green Big Muff back in the day, because they sound so big. Now I use a clone, because they take up so much fucking space- it's that huge bass end, the 'hoover guitar' as Mark calls it. I still play the same guitar my mum bought me for Christmas when I was 11.”
Everyone has a guitar soulmate, right?
“Yeah, absolutely!”
Can you remember the best show you've ever played?
“We played the Lowlands festival in 2004. We were on first, at one o' clock in the afternoon. Five minutes before we went on, there was nobody there, but when we walked on there were ten thousand people there who seemed to know all the songs, even though we hadn't even sold ten thousand records in Holland.”
Do you think downloading helps or hinders a band?
“If I ever found out that anybody [leaked our album], and I found out who it was, I would fucking decapitate them, it's such an abuse of power. The iTunes logo used to be a CD, now it's changed because iTunes reckon they will be outselling CDs in twelve months' time. If they're predicting it, it's probably going to happen... [but] even if the record companies all go under, people will still make music.”
How important is Manchester to the band?
“I don't we'd have got anywhere without it. I think it's a bit of a cliché to talk about how the rain there affects the mood... bands like the Smiths with a dark aesthetic... I don't know if we're a part of that, but certainly in respect of the fact that when we started everyone was ripping off Oasis or The Verve- the bad Verve, anyway- and we reacted against that, because we just weren't interested in that kind of stuff. None of us were into the Stone Roses or the Happy Mondays. It's been good to us, Manchester, even if we have never really been embraced by the 'cool' crowd.”
Could you have done as well in another city?
“No, I don't think we could have. Maybe Glasgow...”
Anyway, official looking guys from Biffy Clyro's management were hovering, and it was time to be closing up; I posed Mike my last question: what do you love about music?
“Everything. Ultimately, when you're walking down the street, there's a beat in your head, there's a melody in your head. It's literally the fucking fabric of my existence. I hear music in everything, absolutely everything.”
How would you describe the new album vis-à-vis your previous efforts?
“Vis-à-vis? Nobody's ever said that before. Erm, I guess it's more mature sounding. It's probably the most melodic. Rather than me writing all the vocal melodies this time I actually got the rest of the band involved and we worked on things. It was much more working in factions, two or three of us rather than all five of us jamming all the time... all the old stuff is written almost entirely of jams, since we record absolutely everything we play. For a long time, I didn't think we'd ever top the second album, because I held it in such high regard. I know that it was the most unafraid, don't-give-a-fuck sort of record, but now I can hear the holes, hear a bit of immaturity which I don't hear on the new record. If I didn't think this was the best, I wouldn't put it out.”
Have side projects affected the sound? I know Gambler recently put out a record, and there's also Steve playing in Future of the Left, not to mention the guys in Kong. You're touring with Biffy Clyro at the moment, and my first thought upon hearing the new record was 'ah, that makes sense'...
“Er, the album was recorded and finished before I jumped on. I literally went from finishing the record to the next day rehearsing with Biffy, and Steven wasn't in Future of the Left at the time. I like to think that Gambler brought a lot of his solo album to the table. If you listen to 'A Penny's Weight', then there's all kinds of little things embedded in there that you might not spot for fucking ages, all of these weird textures buried in the mix. That was all him sitting there with a laptop while we were recording vocals or whatever- he kept flying in these wild sounds. He just 'sprinkles the fairy dust on', to quote the Troggs.”
The first release (before Self Preserved...) to be recorded in your studio was the Home and Minor EP, which was quite a departure from your last album, Frames. Self Preserved... is similarly a jump from that sound, so was there a conscious decision to go 'soft record', 'loud record'?
“We didn't plan it that far in advance. The whole Home and Minor thing was an experiment to see if the studio thing was going to work... it was a necessity. [The record company] needed something pronto and we were like 'fuck'. It was all pieced together- there were never two people playing at any given time. It was all one at a time and edited together on screen. We'd been talking about an ambient record for fucking years, so it was like 'right, cool,they want an EP, let's do it now. As soon as I came up with the music for 'Part Cardiac', it was like 'that's got to be first'... it's to keep people on their toes I guess, fuck with their heads a bit, and make them wonder what we're going to do next. We don't really know what kind of band we are, but we've tried to stop worrying about that.”
Have you got to the stage that it's... not irrelevant, but not something you can worry about anymore then?
“I've always said that if we did kind of know what we were supposed to be doing then that's when we'd fuck it up. If you start writing to a blueprint, if you start thinking 'oh, we're this kind of band, we've got to write this kind of music', then I think we're going to come a cropper.”
Do you feel it's taken a long time to get to where you are today?
“Well, not really. Maybe what comes with this history and this body of work is people going 'fuck, are they still going?', but you get a bit of respect, I think. [We've been going] twelve years, and I'm not sure it's something we should be shouting about.”
There were quite a few bands that emerged at the same time as you- My Vitriol, Vex Red, Cooper Temple Clause- but yourselves and Amplifier seem to be the only ones left standing. Do you see yourselves as survivors?
“It sounds like a cynical and nasty thing to say, but over the years we've seen so many people in bands who get their first album out and it doesn't hit the top ten, so they quit, or jump into another band because they think that'll be the one that hits the big time... it's so careerist. We've never been like that, it's just a compulsive need to do it [that drives us]; it's a fundamental requirement to each of us. I'm married, I've got a nice home life, a cat, but I don't think about anything else. It's not a matter of wanting to do it, but that you have to do it.”
The talk then diverted briefly to his friend Sel's band, Amplifier, and their white whale, the double album Octopus, with Mike laughing,
“I'll fucking believe it when I see it. I've been singing on it for about four years. It's Chinese Democracy, man. Y'know, back in the day, in like 1992 I had tickets to see Guns n' Roses. He [Axl Rose] showed up five days late, played for an hour, and it was fucking awful. That was it, I never listened to them again. As it happened, it was Faith No More supporting, and I was like 'this is the greatest band in the world, where have I been?'”
Speaking of Amplifier- Sel talks a lot about being 'entrepreneurial' as a band. Do you think today's bands need business sense where perhaps they didn't before?
“Well, I think Sel is going completely DIY. There's a lot of stuff to consider, like paying the right amount of tax. All this kind of stuff I don't have any idea about, it's why we have a manager. I just write songs, put them out, go out and play gigs. I couldn't even tell you how much it is to book our band. No idea.”
What would you say are your biggest influences, musical or otherwise?
“Tim Smith from Cardiacs. Just that unwillingness to do anything other than what he does. He's a friend of mine, but I can't get over the fact that he's so fucking talented. He's the only genius I'm ever likely to meet. To me, he's created another language.”
Have you got any hard-won advice to give your younger self?
“Don't start smoking, I've stopped now... I think that when I started doing interviews, when we first got signed, I regret a lot of the shit that I talked. I came across as really bitter and cynical, and I'm actually not; I'm really settled these days. Back then I was a really pissy little guy, but it's that hangover from being a teenager. 23 was when I just went 'I don't have to behave like this anymore'. It just takes a while for you to know who the fuck you are and accept who you are.”
Do you listen to any contemporary bands?
“Rolo Tomassi. That's probably my favourite album of the year so far. The new album by the Walkmen...[pause] The Vessels album is fucking great... [checks his iPod] Atlas Sound. The Books. Deerhoof. I Am Kloot. Jesca Hoop. The Melvins' new album, the new Mogwai live album, Part Chimp, St. Vincent... and it sounds so patronising, but however fucking good Charlie Barnes is now, imagine how good he's going to be in five, ten years' time. Oh, the new Autolux album too...”
It seems that at the moment there's an explosion of progressive, or 'eclectic' music at the moment, from a shoegaze revival to bands like Anathema, who are reworking the prog-rock template. Do you see yourselves as a part of this?
“We don't get invited to any parties, we aren't in any particular gang. I can't even say we have an affinity with band A or band B, because it might be insulting to them... I'd love to think that we have a lot in common with Rolo Tomassi, but they're fucking incredible, from another planet. We're slowly growing into our own skin, but we don't know what it is. I think when we do work out what kind of band we are, that's when we're going to be shit, start making shit records.”
Kind of like that guitarist's feeling where, looking back, you feel you were better when you started out than when you actually learned how to play properly?
“Yeah. That's absolutely true.”
What's your favourite bit of kit?
“Kit? Really? Erm, I just got a new amp- an Orange custom shop real Bad Motherfucker, I paid actual hard cash for it. It's fucking amazing. It's the amp that Steven Malkmus uses, I'm such a Pavement fanboy. It was like, whatever's making that guitar sound, give us it. Sel used to lend me his Green Big Muff back in the day, because they sound so big. Now I use a clone, because they take up so much fucking space- it's that huge bass end, the 'hoover guitar' as Mark calls it. I still play the same guitar my mum bought me for Christmas when I was 11.”
Everyone has a guitar soulmate, right?
“Yeah, absolutely!”
Can you remember the best show you've ever played?
“We played the Lowlands festival in 2004. We were on first, at one o' clock in the afternoon. Five minutes before we went on, there was nobody there, but when we walked on there were ten thousand people there who seemed to know all the songs, even though we hadn't even sold ten thousand records in Holland.”
Do you think downloading helps or hinders a band?
“If I ever found out that anybody [leaked our album], and I found out who it was, I would fucking decapitate them, it's such an abuse of power. The iTunes logo used to be a CD, now it's changed because iTunes reckon they will be outselling CDs in twelve months' time. If they're predicting it, it's probably going to happen... [but] even if the record companies all go under, people will still make music.”
How important is Manchester to the band?
“I don't we'd have got anywhere without it. I think it's a bit of a cliché to talk about how the rain there affects the mood... bands like the Smiths with a dark aesthetic... I don't know if we're a part of that, but certainly in respect of the fact that when we started everyone was ripping off Oasis or The Verve- the bad Verve, anyway- and we reacted against that, because we just weren't interested in that kind of stuff. None of us were into the Stone Roses or the Happy Mondays. It's been good to us, Manchester, even if we have never really been embraced by the 'cool' crowd.”
Could you have done as well in another city?
“No, I don't think we could have. Maybe Glasgow...”
Anyway, official looking guys from Biffy Clyro's management were hovering, and it was time to be closing up; I posed Mike my last question: what do you love about music?
“Everything. Ultimately, when you're walking down the street, there's a beat in your head, there's a melody in your head. It's literally the fucking fabric of my existence. I hear music in everything, absolutely everything.”
This interview was originally conducted for High Voltage shortly before the release of 'Self Preserved While The Bodies Float Up'. I've posted it as the link I used to it the other day doesn't seem to work anymore. On a more christmassy note:
Thursday, 9 December 2010
Then and Now: a year in Oceansize gigs....
with Tubelord
Manchester Academy 3
15/11/2010
Rating 5/5
Wow. There are a lot of great gigs happening this month. The latest in the spree I've been to comes courtesy of Oceansize, and boy, was it welcome.
But first, there was Tubelord. Whilst they did put on a mighty effort, and their songs showed some interesting twists and turns, it was all rather business as usual in the we've-bought-some-post-y2k-Sonic-Youth-albums-and-want-to-play-prog camp. Their better passages were reminiscent of the guitar howl of Biffy around Puzzle, with some Errors-esque electronics thrown into the mix, but my overriding impression was of a band not yet fully there. Nevermind.
Of my regrets (and there are many...), in recent times one stands above all else- my rather lukewarm review of the new Oceansize album, the verbose Self Preserved While the Bodies Float Up. On repeat listens of a appropriate quantity (a minimum of twenty, in case you wondered), all of its subtleties really do unfold, and, let's be honest, for 'Silent/Transparent', 'Pine', 'Oscar Acceptance Speech', and 'It's My Tail...' even from play number one the quality was obvious.
This isn't an album review however; this is a live review. After a serious setback to my day, not to mention the unwelcome rain, I arrived in the lowest of spirits only to find the venue had been downgraded from Academy 2 to 3; a venue I really have spent too much of my Manchester life in. I felt a little sad that a band with as extensive a back catalogue and ostensibly as loyal a fanbase hadn't grown in size since their last album, the expansive Frames. Their new album even got 8/10 in the NME, for chrissakes, so where were the punters?
I needn't have worried though, because Oceansize provided an answer to all of my questions. Point by point, it went something like 'Part Cardiac', the rarely-played 'Music for a Nurse', 'It's My Tail...', 'Pine', 'Ornament', 'Women Who Love Men Who Love Drugs'. Let's be honest, I could quote the entire setlist, but those were the highlights. In purest reviewing terms, 'It's My Tail...' won hands down for its frantic, spitting vitriol, echoed in gestures and shouting from the crowd, and framed by a meltdown of strobe lighting. Emotionally, however, it was clear that their lighter-in-the-air moment was 'Music for a Nurse'; looking around, everybody was singing along, and there were even tears in a few eyes. Well, why not? They scarcely come more moving than that. For 'Unfamiliar', some moshing started at the front, whilst handclaps were the order of the day for 'New Pin'. By the time that the circle pit had worn itself out in 'Ornament', it was abundantly clear that both the crowd and band were playing off each other in that special chemical way that only sometimes manifests itself.
Encoring with 'Women Who Love Men...', the band departed one member at a time, and spurred on by the audience keeping a regular clap where the beat had been, their three guitarists kept playing the outro riff. One minute passed. Two. Three. Four. The crowd and band gradually became less distinct as the notes became simpler, less defined, somehow hypnotic; the band were unmoving, the crowd transfixed. Then, suddenly, it was over; like a well-executed crossfade, the guitars left, replaced by cheers that lasted long after the band had left the stage.
I said of the new album that it wasn't the work of the same band that made me decide to move to Manchester. Maybe, maybe not, but that band was definitely the one I saw on stage tonight, and I'm glad I came.
Oceansize
With Vessels & And So I Watch You From Afar
Manchester Academy 3
2/2/2010
Rating: 4/5
After less than two minutes of the first band on tonight, And So I Watch You From Afar’s set, I already can’t believe that I haven’t heard of them before. Their math rock-meets- heavy grunge sound is so heavy that it rattles the bones, making a mockery of metal posturing, and yet their attitude is still identifiably alt rock, busting out the Sonic Youth stage moves and post-rock delay freakouts. Their last song sounds a little like a post-rock version of Radiohead’s ‘The Tourist’, but it’s ace anyway, so I’ll let them off.
Band two, Vessels, are rather less exciting. The stage becomes crowded with an additional member, and there’s a sense that the five-piece always has one person who is surplus to requirements. They go for a more pronounced math-rock sound, using fewer chords and a lot of modal riffs, blending it with a 65daysofstatic style electronic/shoegazing wall of sound. At times it’s very compelling, but in equal measure it sometimes falls completely flat.
Finally the band of the moment take the stage. They play most of the new Home and Minor EP, as well as some songs off their upcoming album. The best of these is a slower number that gradually builds to a washed out, echoing crescendo, and also worthy of mention is a more downtempo number called ‘Ransoms’ that even features a traditional-style guitar solo. Playing from their extensive back catalogue, the band reach for all three albums, playing ‘Unfamiliar’ from Frames, ‘Massive Bereavement’ from Effloresce (and live a reminder of why this band rightfully deserved more attention than their first record brought them), as well as ‘You Can’t Keep a Bad Man Down’, set highlight ‘Calm Offensive’, and penultimate song ‘A Homage to a Shame’ from Everyone Into Position. Bizarrely, they chose to end on a newer song, that whilst not bad really felt like sticking two fingers to the eager crowd. The two previous times I’ve seen the ‘size, they’ve closed on fan favourites ‘Catalyst’ and ‘Ornament/The Last Wrongs’, so when they left without an encore, the crowd having chanted ‘Catalyst’ excitedly at the band for the last fifteen minutes of their set, the mood in the room definitely took a turn. Even with the disappointing end, it was nevertheless a great set. Roll on album four!
with Stuart Warwick and Plank!
Deaf Institute, Manchester
14th November 2010Deaf Institute, Manchester
Rating: 4/5
Apparently I missed the first band on. My bad, really. Worse than that, I actually got chatting to them by accident at some point, and have since forgotten their band name and failed to look them up. I suck.
Right, so apologies out of the way, let's talk Plank! As luck would have it, they are actually about as essential as the exclamation mark that concludes their bandname; from an unconvincing start, their songs became gradually more and more interesting, until with a righteous guitar solo in their penultimate number, they'd completely won me over. They are great, and if you're into that kind of looping, math-meets-prog thing, they are definitely the band you've been waiting for. They even did a kind of stadium rock flourish in their last song that was distinctly Who-like. Excellent!
Now, when you go to a lot of gigs, you're eventually exposed to a little of pretty much every genre out there, and you quickly become very hard to be surprised by anything. The most pleasant surprises of all are when sheer musicianship wins through and somebody merely doing what they do incredibly well becomes the greatest virtue, ahead of originality, stagecraft or whatever.
That's not to say that Stuart Warwick doesn't have an original sound- he has, but at the same time it's definitely from that same bizarro-world of popular music from which Imogen Heap and Charlie Barnes have descended. Simply, it's one man and a piano (or, for one song, two men and one guitar) playing post-rock-pop, with a lot of loops. Stuart's voice is definitely of the Buckley school, and it's very compelling, to say the least. The songs themselves are occasionally bitter, occasionally sweet, and rather more often, bittersweet.
The crowd is finally won over when Stuart abandons an out of sync loop and cashiers a track, saying “I guess this is God's way of telling me I shouldn't play that song”. I think I speak for everyone present when I say we were sad to see him leave. If you're reading this, open up another tab and go and find him on teh internets. It's not hard (I managed to) and you will be rewarded.
Finally it was Vessels' time in the spotlight. I've actually had the good luck to see this band a surprisingly large number of times, both at festivals and in support slots, sober or too-drunk-to-remember, and everything in between. The thing I can't help thinking tonight as I sit in the strange theatre seat section of Deaf is how much better this band get every time I see them. My first impression, way back when, was of a band rather too mathy for my tastes, but today they are on fine form, sprawling and dramatic.
I'm not going to go into the nature metaphors; it's post-rock done well, and you should know what that sounds like (hint: Hammock or 65daysofstatic). Most encouragingly of all, the tracks I don't recognise (the newer ones) are much stronger than the ones I do, suggesting that their impending album is going to be a corker. Stuart obligingly hops back up to the stage to sing recent single, 'Meatman, Piano Tuner, Prostitute', and again reminds me of that little itch I felt when first hearing it and wishing that this collaboration would become more permanent. Oh well.
That dispensed with and the audience satisfied, Vessels cracked out a hammer-of-the-gods finish and then made their exit, but not before thanking the crowd for actually being arsed to come down. Nice.
Right, so apologies out of the way, let's talk Plank! As luck would have it, they are actually about as essential as the exclamation mark that concludes their bandname; from an unconvincing start, their songs became gradually more and more interesting, until with a righteous guitar solo in their penultimate number, they'd completely won me over. They are great, and if you're into that kind of looping, math-meets-prog thing, they are definitely the band you've been waiting for. They even did a kind of stadium rock flourish in their last song that was distinctly Who-like. Excellent!
Now, when you go to a lot of gigs, you're eventually exposed to a little of pretty much every genre out there, and you quickly become very hard to be surprised by anything. The most pleasant surprises of all are when sheer musicianship wins through and somebody merely doing what they do incredibly well becomes the greatest virtue, ahead of originality, stagecraft or whatever.
That's not to say that Stuart Warwick doesn't have an original sound- he has, but at the same time it's definitely from that same bizarro-world of popular music from which Imogen Heap and Charlie Barnes have descended. Simply, it's one man and a piano (or, for one song, two men and one guitar) playing post-rock-pop, with a lot of loops. Stuart's voice is definitely of the Buckley school, and it's very compelling, to say the least. The songs themselves are occasionally bitter, occasionally sweet, and rather more often, bittersweet.
The crowd is finally won over when Stuart abandons an out of sync loop and cashiers a track, saying “I guess this is God's way of telling me I shouldn't play that song”. I think I speak for everyone present when I say we were sad to see him leave. If you're reading this, open up another tab and go and find him on teh internets. It's not hard (I managed to) and you will be rewarded.
Finally it was Vessels' time in the spotlight. I've actually had the good luck to see this band a surprisingly large number of times, both at festivals and in support slots, sober or too-drunk-to-remember, and everything in between. The thing I can't help thinking tonight as I sit in the strange theatre seat section of Deaf is how much better this band get every time I see them. My first impression, way back when, was of a band rather too mathy for my tastes, but today they are on fine form, sprawling and dramatic.
I'm not going to go into the nature metaphors; it's post-rock done well, and you should know what that sounds like (hint: Hammock or 65daysofstatic). Most encouragingly of all, the tracks I don't recognise (the newer ones) are much stronger than the ones I do, suggesting that their impending album is going to be a corker. Stuart obligingly hops back up to the stage to sing recent single, 'Meatman, Piano Tuner, Prostitute', and again reminds me of that little itch I felt when first hearing it and wishing that this collaboration would become more permanent. Oh well.
That dispensed with and the audience satisfied, Vessels cracked out a hammer-of-the-gods finish and then made their exit, but not before thanking the crowd for actually being arsed to come down. Nice.
Thursday, 9 September 2010
Dean McPhee
Brown Bear
Hood Faire
Rating: 4/5
Soon to be released on CD, this collection of tracks from virtuosic solo guitarist Dean McPhee builds upon his Chapters Split 7" ('Water Burial'), offering three new cuts, 'Sky Burial', 'Stony Ground' and 'Brown Bear'. It's much of the same really, both in terms of content and quality, which can only be a good thing. Recently I stylistically compared James Blackshaw's opus All is Falling to Dean's style, but for my money Dean's the more interesting player; for sure, Blackshaw has more layers to his compositions, but then he's working with other instruments and players.
McPhee's strength on the other hand is in simplicity and being able to carry the pieces on just his guitar work alone; moreover, both are quite different propositions musically, even if I have been spending far too much of this review comparing the two. Dean's playing is more indebted to classical guitar figures, filtered through some traces of the blues and obviously the given modern inflection that an obsession with tube amps and high-end effects will lend. If you sit still and pay careful attention, the myriad twists and turns will keep you engaged, but equally it's also great music to chill out to. Employ as you see fit.
Insurgentes
Kscope Records
Out Now
Rating: 4.5/5Now, I wouldn't say that Porcupine Tree's most recent offering, the 55-minute Incident, was a disaster, but it was no Deadwing either. Its central conceit was that the album contained only one fifty-five minute cut; however, those of us excitedly waiting to see what this would entail found that it was actually subdivided into about 13-or-so (off the top of my head) passages. I have a name for passages of music that feature as part of a larger body of work- songs. Indeed, whilst at times tracks did flawlessly flow into one another, and there was an effort to riff on concepts or motifs to link the disparate passages, it simply was not a one hour song as we were promised.
Anyway, enough bitching, for Mr. Wilson has made good with this, his solo effort. Once again, he reminds the listener why he's such an ever-present and prolific force within modern progressive rock; when he's on form he is the best in the world at what he does.
The album kicks off with the soaring early- PT monster 'Harmony Korine' before moving into Bass Communion territory with 'Abandoner'. There follow a number of atmospherics-led post-rock numbers, sparsely constructed of distant piano lines, guitar slides and washes of his inimitable vocal harmonies before 'No Twilight Within the Courts of the Sun' shudders into view. It's essentially a melange of dissonant noodling over virtuosic drums that shift through patterns while the guitar tangles itself up, chases its own tail, and finally crashes and burns into a chorus so brilliant that it remains the best break on the record.
Closely followed by 'Significant Other', marked by transcendant operatic guest vocals from Clodagh Simonds, the album peaks before a mood change back to more drone-based space rock on 'Only Child', 'Get All You Deserve' and the title track.
The key to this record is that while Steve is clearly free to experiment as he sees fit, he's always drawn back in to occasional sharp focus by the supporting musicians (the regular cast of Porcupine Tree, as well as Theo Travis, amongst others), making this album as eclectic and exciting as any Porcupine Tree release; indeed, it's probably more experimental and fresh than anything his main project has done in a decade.
In fact, it's scarcely not a PT record (looking at the musicians' credits in the sleevenotes). By the side project moniker Wilson simply bought himself the ability to forego using his bandmates, even if he didn't in practice. With this, he was able to end up with 'Harmony Korine' next to 'Abandoner', and a fantastic LP into the bargain.
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Meursault
All Creatures Will Make Merry
Song,
by Toad Records
Rating: 4/5
A lot of reviewers (to me) always seem unduly concerned with what they term 'consistency'- i.e. all the songs on the record sounding the same. To me, consistency is not about sound, it's about quality- although sometimes it may not work, unexpected variation that delivers without fail will add value to a record. Case in point- the new TPT album, where 'Barely Breathing' and an acoustic 'Nothing at Best' sit well amongst the modern progressive nonsense (in a nice way).
This is, I guess, how I would approach the new Meursault album, All Creatures Will Make Merry as well. Because here, showcased alongside the a cappella folk of 'One Day This Will All Be Fields', you'll find the Beta Band-via-U2 driving electronica of 'Crank Resolutions', the post-rock of 'What You Don't Have', and the almost Nine Inch Nails-esque industrial of 'New Ruin'. What's more, whilst these deviations from the norm (that is, a pleasant and eclectic mix of folk, rock and electronica) represent the high points of the record, there is a consistent quality to it that means it's impossible to get bored.
It's on tracks like 'Song for Martin Kippenberger' that this becomes obvious- it might not win over a new fan with the first ten seconds like 'Crank Resolutions' will, but it is just as good. And few bands manage that.
So, all in all, a great first record. Let's hope the second is just as quirky and exciting. Three thumbs up, as they say.
Also, if you're interested, check out the BBC Glastonbury footage of them here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/glastonbury/2010/artists/meursault/
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