Rival Schools

United By Fate

Rating:4/5

I'll admit, I'm pretty late to the whole Rival Schools party; in hindsight it seems almost like sacrilige that a band so close to the bands I like the most should have so wholly and totally missed my attention, but ho hum, there it is. Anyway, a lot of words have presumably been penned about this record at one point or another, and I have no desire to add a huge number more to them. What I will say is that if you're into any number of vaguely interesting or experimental bands that namecheck post-hardcore bands from the late 90s, you'll probably love Rival Schools. Except of course you already know this; it's only me that's late to the party.

So, Travel by Telephone, the opener is a brilliant trainwreck of rock attitude and pop melodies, a theme that extends to oft-checked highlight High Acetate. Used for Glue is very much at the other end of the Rival Schools spectrum; heavy and emphatic, it's probably the sort of track that inspired so many emo bands to list them as a reference (and probably help towards me not checking them out at the time). That said though, I actually kind of prefer that full-tilt sound. Tracks like Good Things may have a seductive groove and an attractive post-grunge single chorus, but in truth when I want that I'll go to Silverchair instead, thanks.

Right then, Rival Schools. Get a copy, introduce yourself to the four named tracks above and then delve deeper if you like; I'll post a review of their long-awaited follow-up Pedals on here soon. 

Jetplane Landing

Once Like a Spark

Smalltown America Records

Rating: 4/5

Like drop-D? Like early Biffy Clyro? A fan of At the Drive-In, pissed off that they never made a follow-up to Relationship of Command? Well, I've just the thing. Once Like a Spark is looking a little dated now; the band's second release on Small Town America back at the opening of the last decade, it's more of a contemporary piece to the work of the aforementioned bands than some kind of imitation piece, and it's that crucial detail that makes this worthwhile.

Where a lot of the post-hardcore bands putting out records in the early two-thousands seemed to delight in a kind of obstinate, stubborn lo-fi, it's almost refreshing that Jetplane Landing eschew that approach and instead opt for a higher-standard production. The rich guitar tones in opener 'The Violence' and 'Brave Gravity' are a delight to the listener, and for all the moments of scratchy guitar, there's at least as many that boast a huge, full rock sound fit for banging your head along to.

'I Opt Out' is kind of like if Canadian alt-rockers Our Lady Peace discovered Incubus and alternative tunings. Thick and heavy on the choruses and swaggering in the verses it nevertheless distinguishes itself with an unusually modal melody that for some reason recalls OLP's dabbling with Eastern-flavoured chromaticism. 'Calculate the Risk' is straight back to ATD-I territory, while 'Do it... Now!' and 'Writing the Ways Down' are the token ballads.

Ultimately you may have heard it all before, but Jetplane Landing still have plenty to offer if you're a fan of this particular brand of post-hardcore. Listening to the angular attack of tunes like 'There Is No Real Courage Unless There Is Real Danger' and taking them as they were intended, Jetplane Landing are simply a great rock band with no frills attached; enjoy them as such and you won't go wrong.

County Champion with Trojan Horse

Islington Mill, Salford

Thursday 20th October

Rating: 4/5

I'm sure by now everyone's tired of me periodically emerging from hibernation to pen words about Trojan Horse, but well, fuck off. Tonight on an incredible bill topped by Circles and Secret Chiefs 3 (who I was regrettably destined to miss) were County Champion and Trojan Horse. The latter - if you have ever read this blog before - you will know already, but the former may be somewhat more enigmatic. 

Well, without further ado let me lift the veil. As perhaps the more acute and tuned-in of you will have noticed, the picture is of Charlie Barnes and Ste Anderson from Charlie Barnes & the Geekks... and that's because County Champion is the new name for that very band. At 2000 Trees this year they effectively announced their arrival with a new set of tunes contributed to by every bandmember, and Charlie finally assumed the frontman role he'd hitherto never quite grown into. Out was glitch-pop and in was drop-D (though fear not, he will continue to perform that under his own name). 

Even though their set was blighted by technical difficulties, you know it's a good sign when Mike Vennart and Gambler from Oceansize turn up to see your first show, and with a setlist that included 'Nasty Bastard', '18' and 'Balloons', County Champion certainly played to their strengths. Their sound is a concise blend of math and progressive, shot through with a slight post-hardcore edge. It sounds, if I were to boil it down to a single song by another band, kind of like the heavier passages of 'Only Twin', off Frames. There's that same epic abandon, the sense of the vocals riding a wave of previously contained, but now unleashed energy.

After the totally brilliant Champion boys had shuffled back into the crowd, it was time for the 'Horse to kick off their second show in as many days. They've always been an exceptionally hard-working band, and these days it seems there's not a week that goes by without a slew of Trojan Horse gigs. As they grow in stature, I'm gradually becoming one of a number of familiar faces at their gigs, and lest it smack of me laying out my wares smugly for all to see, I've got to say that it feels great to have seen a band grow from being a completely underground entity to being a major force on a local scene. That it should be a band as capriciously brilliant as TH is just icing on the cake, really. Here's to Prog Nouveau. Vive la revolution!

Casino Zone - Heart of a Dog = Sub Animal Noises

I swear the older I get, the more I enjoy this band. Like The Crocketts meets Yourcodenameis:milo or At the Drive-In. Sick, in other words. Check out their new track, 'Heart of a Dog = Sub Animal Noises'. Pretty funny video too, let's hope that the EP is as good as this single. 

Yourcodenameis:milo

Ignoto

Rating: 4/5

YCNI:M are a band that if I'm honest I've known a little about for a long time, but only got into recently. Besides their first EP (which is generally the most fan- and critically- lauded of their works, or so I gather), Ignoto is the only thing of theirs that's really fully worth taking the time over. Like The Cooper Temple Clause they seem to have kind of gradually burned out and then given up before their chance to record a 'return-to-form' album. Then again, to use the 'cult band' clause (lest I be the recipient of internet hate), this is only my opinion. 

From opener 'I Am Connecting Flight' it's clear to see where their angular post-hardcore will take them, and the tone is set for much of the record. In fact, a lot of the guitar sounds that would make Oceansize so influential in certain circles are also present on Ignoto in spades, and that's hardly surprising; early tour partners and ascendant during the same period, they were presumably ripping each other off a little. Just as 'Amputee' recalls Vex's 'Clone Jesus', there are equally sonic touchstones between Ignoto and Effloresce. 

Single '17' is clearly their attempt at the prize; with only about twenty seconds of verse, it certainly doesn't fuck around, and the chorus is a masterclass in the anthemic collision of guitars that will be perfected on the latter half of the record, when they make forays into Slint or Mogwai- informed post-rock (or at least extended structures). 

'Rapt Dept' sounds uncannily like 'Interglacial Spell' from Amp's Octopus, and that's fitting; just as Amp were feeling the weight of their Soundgarden ancestry, 'milo occasionally have to pay their dues to the Seattle scene, and do so most clearly on this track. Their stab at the heart is 'Team Radar', which manages to have a certain pop sensibility about it despite its layers of distortion and dischord; it's this side of 'milo that In Casino Out would later channel so effectively on their seminal 2011 Victims & Vultures Alike EP.

However, it's tracks like 'Fivefour' that really show off YCNI:M's true strength. When the first guitar enters in the left ear, you're expecting a Fugazi grinding punk onslaught, but then a guitar enters with a counterpointing sweet melody and you're suddenly wondering if a) if that's Justin Lockey, b) if that's the first instance of the sound that would define White Belt Yellow Tag, and c) whether it's really a surprise that they couldn't come out with another album of this brilliant traincrash of playing styles, sounds and atmospherics. 

Other great tracks include the axiomatic on/off, pop-chorus/verse grind of 'Empty Feat' and the colossal menace of the closer, 'Audition'. Whilst I'm not going to pretend that at heart this is anything other than a great post-hardcore record, when situated within the broader canon of the last great wave of british guitar rock, it's truly special. 

Trojan Horse

Live at the Good Ship, Kilburn

17/7/2011

Another day, another Trojan Horse gig. Except this one is different- it's their first foray into our capital for a while, and by a quirk of fate I'm freshly returned from post-prog-math fest 2000 Trees and able to attend. A crushing blow was being unable to attend the Kites/Snear/Horse billing in Manchester last night (though I would suggest being made up for in the form of Charlie Barnes, Three Trapped Tigers and Amplifier, but I digress...), so a chance to see the 'Horse and Kites is most welcome indeed. 

From the word go it's an assured performance of songs that by now will be familiar to anyone that's been following the progress of this band. 'Fire', 'Disciplining the Reserve Army', 'Laces and Racists' and 'Mr. Engels Says' all get played, with 'Laces and Racists' being very much the standout of the material tonight. Nick ends up entangled in his guitar on the floor (was that a wince of pain I saw of beard caught on hardware, I wonder?), and a suitable degree of hardcore chaos encroaches upon what was, until their set at least, quite a civilised event. 

More than usual what is apparent tonight is TH's rock pedigree. Of the bands on the 'Prog Nouveau' scene, they are without a doubt the most 'classic prog' in style, and I'm not the first commentator to come to that conclusion. However, lest we forget, their background lies broadly in the punk scene, and it's a testament to the sheer eclecticism of their album that by choosing different material from it they can remind even as frequent a visitor as I to camp Horse of that fact, topped by a strange pang of surprise. 

Unfortunately, times run behind and I'm unable to stay for Kites' set, instead running down Kilburn high street for a train, making that two Sundays in a row that I catch my train at Waterloo with a minute to spare. Oh commuter belt, you are a harsh mistress. 

Trojan Horse's opener, 'Fire'.

In Casino Out

Victims & Vultures Alike

Out Now

Rating: 5/5

 

If Shields was the sound of a band mixing a plethora of alternative rock influences through a Yourcodenameis:milo™ blender, then Victims & Vultures Alike is the sound of them adding a shot of White Belt Yellow Tag, two measures of awesome and finally “kicking the engine to overdrive”, as I'm sure Sel Belamir would say.[1]

 

For whilst this is still definitely the sound of In Casino Out, complete with the obvious YCNI:M, Biffy and 'Size comparisons, there's something just elusively different about this second outing. I can't pin it down to any particular riff or instrument, so I'm tempted to put it down to something like a more fixed line-up, for it feels like it's the band dynamics that are the make-or-break here.

The songs themselves are more of a mixed bunch as well; more atmospheric than Shields, there are backing vocals, subtle synth sweeps, and on the exceptional 'Hospital Drama Season Finale' even what I would call (shock horror) 'pretty' melodic riffs. That's just it really; where Shields was all top-drawer rock, it never really made the emotional impact that to be honest is where a lot of music really takes flight.

 

No such problems on V & V, however; from the word 'go' it's heart-on-the-sleeve vocals clawing their way to the top of cascading riffs. Opener 'Light from the Cars' is the closest we get to early ICO, but still manages a pretty sweeping chorus. 'Windows' is, oddly enough, slightly reminiscent of 'Window' off of Grey Noise, White Lies by Exeter; that is to say, it's monumental space-rock in the vein of Fantastic Planet-era Failure, which can only be good. In fact, if you listen carefully you might hear Failure again in the chorus of 'Rocky V', but maybe that's just me chasing after space-grunge ghosts.

 

The highlight of the set is doubtless the breathlessly brilliant 'Empires Expired'. From the verse you could be forgiven for thinking it'd somehow been leftover from Shields, but the pre-chorus wrong foots you with effects and catchy rhythmic devices that leave you utterly unprepared for the sheer sonic assault that is the chorus. Oh no, make no mistake: they are not fucking around this time. If you're a fan of heavy rock and this doesn't get your head banging then you need to get it examined, seriously.

 

[1] I'm not certain that Sel would quote his own lyrics in casual conversation, but fair play to him if he does. 

You're not in Manchester any more....

Axis Of

with Battleships

Always The Quiet Ones

This Is Two

Zanzibar, Liverpool

10/2/2011

Rating: 4/5

There was a kind of pleasing symmetry about tonight; my first (and last, unless you count the fiasco that was collecting an eBay-purchased drum kit last year) trip to Liverpool was nearly two years ago, and in a roundabout way that's exactly why I'm back. That night, supporting My Vitriol were a cracking band called Connectingflight doing that whole Oceansize/Biffy thing. I bought an EP, liked it and so occasionally checked back in to see what they were doing. That band was soon toast, but out of its ashes came In Casino Out, and through them I discovered Battleships, hence the trip over tonight (though I should add that Metamusic Phil also introduced me to Axis Of recently, which was basically "cashback", as Partridge would say).  

The problem was that I didn't see Battleships. Through nobody's fault that I can tell, the gig started pretty late (which was just as well really, as it gave the venue time to fill up), so I only had a chance to see This Is Two and ATQO, whose EP I bought and will review later (incidentally also my second pay-it-forward moment; the first was ripping up and binning a bank mini statement somebody had accidentally left in an ATM). 

Anyway, enough bullshit. First up were This Is Two. Honestly, I don't know how old these dudes are, and I think I'm probably underestimating, but they've got a pretty solid sound for their years. Yes, they need to drop that faux-Biffy intro, because everybody in the room has heard 'Living is a Problem...', but apart from that I actually rather liked what they were doing- at the end of the day, it's always very welcome with me to see any band having the balls to play real guitar rock these days. At first their singer's voice really did not click, with alternate howls and overdramatic wails being a bit much, but once they found their groove I couldn't fault it any longer. In general (my nitpicking aside), their set was killer, they had swagger (but not in the cuntish Oasis way) and I'd happily part with cold hard cash for an EP.... except it's not out yet, so I guess I'll have to wait. In the meantime google them and decide for yourself; it's 1:30am and I cannot be fucked to find a link. 

Second up were Always the Quiet Ones, who I'd heard briefly before and thought "hmmm yes, a little bit Soundgardeny, this is alright...." Live though, they are fucking ace. Like fucktacklarly brilliant. Like, they just made all the ladies in the front row pregnant. Fucking A, motherfucker. At the risk of hitting a critical mass of swearwords, I'm gonna assure you here that they really are that good; turned down is the post-2000 arbitrarily jagged style one might attribute to the Biff or the 'Size (or, equally I spose ATD-I or YCNI:M), turned up is the rock, and it's like fucking 1992 again. Except it's not, because there's lots of textures, atmospherics, math turns, post-rock turns and just really interesting shit thrown into the song structures to show you that it's a throughly contemporary sound. Besides that, the songs are all fucking long, and who ever heard of prog grunge (outside of my practice space, I mean)? The venue's also filled up, and it's been possibly four years since I've seen a room this full to see an unsigned rock band. Conclusion: I need to move to Liverpool. Anyway, like you give a fuck, their best song was 'Freak Show' which, by a cruel twist of fate, is not on the EP I bought before I had to bail back to the train station. I got there with a minute to spare, so fucking go me. 

If I were you, I'd check out every band I've mentioned here, including the ones I didn't see (and I've included a player below so you can hear the ATQO Headcase EP; if I were me, I'd fucking go to bed. Which reminds me.... 

 

In Casino Out

Shields EP

Released September 2010

Rating: 4/5

I guess a little preamble wouldn't be such an evil in this instance. Way back in May 2009 (feels like a long time ago, right?) I caught a band opening for My Vitriol on their fan club tour called Connectingflight. Now, Connectingflight were kind of the style of music I thought Manchester would be full of- influenced by Biffy, Oceansize and a general desire to be as forward-thinking with a guitar as it is possible to be. Unfortunately, shortly after releasing the Fix EP (I've still got a copy around here somewhere), they broke up. Sometime later, they came back with a new band, with only singer/guitarist John Murray and (superb) drummer James Lorenzo retained from their old outfit. A few months later, they saw fit to grace us with this EP, and it's much to my discredit that I haven't reviewed it before now. 

Well, as I touched on before, it's influenced by that whole At the Drive-In post-hardcore sound, and at times it's pretty heavy going, certainly more so than Connectingflight, which was rather more lush in a kind of Effloresce sort of way. Opener 'This Year's Noise' is the obvious 'single' (read introductory) track, and serves as a kind of concise almalgamation of the various parts of their sound; the triple-guitar attack of Radiohead, the band interaction of Oceansize's 'Catalyst', the atmospherics of second-album Coopers, and the vibe of all those turn-of-the-2000s southern rock bands (Reuben, Redefine and Vex spring to mind). In fact, though it's only been released since then, their heavier moments (particularly on highlight 'Megan Fox') sound nothing so much as The Octopus; MF in particular has the same deep rumble as 'Fall of the Empire'.  'Plans' in all honesty sounds kind of like those scratchy, early Rage-inflected b-sides from the first Muse record, as well as obviously early Biffy Clyro. Belying their bandname, if they take from their post-hardcore uncles, I'd say the influence is more the raw energy of Acrobatic Tenement, even if I will concede to this being hidden under quite exceptional production values. Seriously, I often bitch on here about the unfashionability of heavy rock, but as long as musicians continue to make such exceptionally challenging loud music, who gives a fuck?

Keep an eye on this band- Oceansize are 12 years in, these guys are only the one. Who knows where they'll end up?