Yeti Lane

The Echo Show

Sonic Cathedral

Rating: 4/5

Fucking hell. Has it really been a month since my last post? Okay, I mean I have been writing stuff for Prog and DIY but that does seem like quite a while even for me. Sheesh. Anyway, it's time for an album that nobody else was foolish enough to let me have a crack at - Yeti Lane's difficult second, The Echo Show. Now, I'm going to spoil the ending by pointing out that nearly every review has been overwhelmingly positive about this record, and I'm not about to break that trend. I am, however, going to talk about something other than the stunning first track, 'Analog Wheel'. Yes it's brilliant, kosmiche, swirling, physchedelia, Neu! etc., but there's also like an hour of other music on there that isn't getting mentioned. 

Without wanting to get into a track-by-track style review, an example of this would be the title track, (and track two) 'The Echo Show'; as more consistently found on the rest of the record, though it's fair to draw krautrock comparisons, perhaps more relevant sonic touchstones would be The Beta Band and (latterly) The Aliens. I'll grant that the drums do come very much from that heritage, but the spindly electronic fragments and ethereal vocals that define the record are of an altogether more modern pedigree. 'Logic Winds', for instance has the ring of The Flaming Lips or Nice Nice about it, while 'Alba' is like Jason Lytle's finest post-Grandaddy downtempo offerings. 

For me the real elephant in the room however is The Secret Machines - I mean, once you get over the obvious fact that Josh Garza isn't in the drum stool then there's definitely something beyond a simple liberal referencing of influences. I listen to 'Faded Spectrum' and hear the noisy wig-out that could have occurred if... wait... hang on... how did the beginning of 'First Wave Intact' go?

Anyway, whatever bands it sounds like, the record is sort of what everybody says it is; a great alternative record that touches playfully on the most tongue-in-cheek electronic sounds while still having the nous to accomodate a good, old-fashioned guitar wig out now and then. Brilliant. 

Andrew Danso

f i n d

Self-Released

Rating: 4/5

I have a slightly dumb-sounding question to put to you – what would you get if you took Steve Vai's Fire Garden and invited ambient remixes? Well, not Andrew Danso, but I think that's a reasonable jumping off point. Throughout f i n d you get the impression that there's a veritable torrent of playing ability dammed back for the sake of aesthetic effect, whether it's the pleasant trip-hop of opener 'Go Again' or the '80s R.E.M.-lite 'Walk Walk Sunshine'. 

'Liar MD' has some of The Three EPs about it, while 'Rain, Go' is more of a Porcupine Tree sketch;  it's worth mentioning at this juncture though that due to the general brevity of the tracks on this album there's a lot of scope for Andrew Danso to experiment around with style and influences. In doing so, he creates a rich tapestry of sounds that on balance are actually best enjoyed without the tracklisting, without clicking over to your iTunes, without monitoring the progress of the record. 

Ultimately it's probably best described as new age progressive in the mould of the great Mike Oldfield, nevertheless f i n d's expansive sonic landscape prevents it from being a one-trick pony. Experimental yet fluid, engaging and accessible, this highly melodic work is a must for all 'progressive' fans.

Cyril Snear

with Trojan Horse, Douga and Black Market Serotonin

Night & Day, Manchester, 6/11/2011

Rating: 4/5

Right, so first up were Black Market Serotonin. I'm not going to dwell on their set long (mainly as they're on SSD), but from their live show it's evident that Andy in particular has grown greatly in confidence as a frontman over the last year. On the other hand, various things remain more raw about their nascent prog-industrial music; the tunes themselves may be polished, and an album may be on the way, but a refusal to dumb down the music live is both a strength and a weakness. 

Slaved in the past to DAVE (or Digitally Automated Vibe Engine, a laptop), they now find themselves in the hands of a marginally less harsh Juno synth; nevertheless this band of exceptional musicians are still occasionally wrong-footed by the samples, and it does beg the question as to whether a fluid live show or fidelity to the record should be a band's number one priority. For my part, I don't know what the answer to that conundrum is.

Second were Douga; on the record there's a hint of the folktronica-come-alternative pop of the Beta Band, but live that's very much the dominant impression that's carried away by the pleasantly off-kilter indie rock on display (and I mean 'indie' in the sense of '90s US bands, not four-piece bands of dickheads from Shoreditch). With two strong sets of songs under their belt (a single and EP) already, as well as some decent shows, Douga's fortune looks set to improve even further from here on in. 

Third were Trojan Horse. Look, I'm not even going to bother. Here, their album is free. GO LISTEN. The only thing really worthy of mention is that they trashed the stage rather more comprehensively than usual, and I had to dodge a flying Yamaha keyboard. Nice. 

Finally Cyril Snear were ready to tear it up. This marked the first time I'd seen the 'Snear live since hearing the pre-masters for their new record, The Riot of Colour, and live tracks like 'Confabulation' surely rank far above all of their work thus far, both in terms of quality and sheer hard rock whallop. At the moment there's only one band on the scene that look poised to claim the Manchester prog mantle ere vacated by Oceansize; while the 'Horse may be the truer sons of Prog, there's only one home grown post-prog band that can challenge the likes of the Kscope stable in the modern progressive stakes... with their Amplifier support slot and Tool-esque hammerfalls, that band is surely Cyril Snear. 

Given that 2011's not even spent yet it may seem premature to be making bold claims for next year, but let me be the first to suggest that The Riot of Colour will make at least this lowly scribe's 'Best of 2012' list. Fuck yes. 




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