2:54 - You're Early

I don’t know the exact moment when 2:54 stopped being an exciting prospect and turned into every also-ran grunge band that ever lived rolled into one big ball of meh. You’re Early has it all: the mock dreamy vocals that turn from enigmatic to wailing in the most hideously laboured way possible , the guitars that jangle and build without ever really going anywhere and the clipped drum sound that appears to be competing with all the other elements to see which can sound the most obvious and unchallenging. It’s the perfect soundtrack to a thirty second trailer to a particularly edgy episode of Hollyoaks. With the thrillingly rough edges of their early output now completely gone, 2:54 have completed the challenging feat of destroying all the good they promised in two succinct tracks. And if this is what the singles sound like, I’m quaking at the depths of mundanity that their forthcoming coming album’s filler tracks will reach.

Ned Powley 

Porcelain Raft - Unless You Speak From The Heart

Taken from his latest album, Strange Weekend, ‘Unless You Speak From The Heart’ is the latest single to be dropped. For reference, I’m a fan of Porcelain Raft, but I wasn’t really feeling this one. It’s in sync with his style enough, the 4/4 simple beats, the repetitive chord progression and the atmospheric reverb over the airy synth. However, I didn’t think it had that much flavour or stand out moments to make it truly memorable. There is a slight hint that Mauro Remiddi’s trying to be more consistent as a musician, and appeal more to people who like Yeasayer and other mainstream downbeat electro artists like that, but in doing that, I don’t feel like I’m listening to a Porcelain Raft track. As is the way with a lot of debut proper releases from artists, they often decrease in quality, and seem very clean and very ‘professional’. Unfortunately this just feels a bit over produced and plain. Even the vocals are repetitive and uncaptivating. Sadly not a fan of this one. It was okay, but nothing I’ll be returning to, I’m afraid.

Eliot Humphreys 

M83 - Reunion

I considered leaving this review as ‘not as good as Midnight City’, because ‘Reunion’ doesn’t seem like an obvious choice for a single, really. It’s good, but it’s not really single material. ‘Reunion’ starts off well, with jangling guitars and cowbell-sounding percussion. The vocal may sound at first a little over-produced, but once the full backing of the track kicks in, it works. Not that I know what he’s saying most of the time, but it sounds euphoric.

Just as you are starting to get used to the track, however, there is a slightly pretentious whisper-y section which, I must admit, made me cringe slightly on first listen. With lines like ‘my body is like a lightning rod’ and ‘in the back of your parked car I could build a fort’ it all seems a little teenage, a bit hipster-tumblr. But even this bit didn’t get on my nerves as much after several listens.

‘Reunion’ seems to be channelling the same sort of 80s revival style that the soundtrack of ‘Drive’, but this song isn’t nearly sexy enough to be in that league. It’s good, but not as good as ‘Midnight City’…

Holly Read-Challen

Young Magic - Melt

‘Melt’, the debut album from Young Magic is essentially what it says it is. A musical documentation of the expedition that the trio embarked on, spanning the globe and recording wherever they went: Mexico, London, Rome, Rio de Janeiro, to name only a few. Along the way, Young Magic seem to have picked up an innumerable amount of influences, there are hints of hip hop and rap, African tribal sounds, and of course like every other new and upcoming band, electronica and dubstep beats. The culmination on paper sounds like it should be painfully eclectic, but true to the construction of the album, rather than piling them all together, the elements are collected like souvenirs from their travels and fused together into one smooth, fluid record.

The haunting chant that filters through a backing of hazy chillwave vibes turns from something ethereal to something powerful with the tribal drums, warming your pallet to the taste of the album as a whole.

Unfortunately, it seems to do that almost..too well really. The second track ’Slip Time’ follows on with another heavy reverberating beat that loops itself, accompanied by an echoing chanting of some sort, it does blend itself into the previous track. Things pick up considerably with ‘You With Air,’ one of the most memorable songs on there, possibly because of the fact it wouldn’t sound out of place soundtracking a jungle game on a gameboy. There is something to be said for that however, there is an edge to it that is missing from a lot of the other songs and is one of the examples where Young Magic really seem to have pushed themselves rather than letting the synthesisers, loops and samples take over. From there on, the next couple of tracks seem to have welded into one, forced onto the album as if they’ve been stitched together like a patchwork quilt, ‘Watch For Our Lights’ breaks the repetition with stuttering drums and again, a bit more energy than the previous “filler tracks” seem to bring.

It’s a shame to say it but the marvel and allure seems to end three tracks too soon before the end of the album with ‘The Dancer’ with some sort of combination between the chanting that is so prevalent here and rap which sets it apart from most of the indiscernible wailing that takes up most of the album. That isn’t to say it isn’t good, no it’s certainly very good but the slippery, warped sound of melting musical influences isn’t anything new, as foreshadowed by the title, it just merges into one big sound flowing and ebbing with throbbing reverberation illuminated by synthesisers. It’s not painful to listen to, it’s just lacking some magic. 

6/10 

Bella Roach

The Kabeedies - Interview

It’s half an hour before the first band of the night, Onions, are due do go onstage at the Deaf Institute, and The Kabeedies have just found out that they don’t have a promoter. ‘Craig [band manager] has just told us we have to promote it ourselves, so Rory is having a bit of a panic…’ drummer Fab tells me, as he leads me through the maze-like corridors to the backstage band flat.

It’s the last night of the ‘Soap’ tour, and fab and guitarist Evan are pretty positive. ‘The last few [gigs] have been amazing, London, Brighton, Leicester, Leamington Spa.’ Evan tells me. I’ve never been to Leamington Spa. ‘It’s actually really nice! We were quite worried about it but it’s like really posh’ fab assures me, ‘there’s this massive group youths that are actually interested in making it better’ adds Evan. ‘But they do all wear Hollister and Jack Wills’ adds Fab. Well you can’t have it all, I suppose.

I first encountered The Kabeedies’ through hearing one of their early singles, Lovers Ought To on Huw Stephens’ old late night show on Radio in 2008. I saw them supporting Esser at Lancaster Library in October of that year and fell in love with the infectious choruses and harmonies that define their early sound. I’ve been a fan ever since. The name? A word made up by a friend used to name anything from cigarettes to money. However, when supporting CSS they found out it meant more than that. ‘They told us that ‘kabeedie’ in Portuguese means ‘coat hanger’, so our name to them was The Coat hangers.’

As it is the last night of the tour, I ask them if they have anything special planned for the evening.

Evan: ‘Oh yes. I’ve got serious plans.’ 

Fab: ‘But they’re not particularly acute. You’ve haven’t really got ‘plans’ just the general plan of ‘let’s get really pissed!’’
 
Evan: ‘I’m going to see if I can lose my mind. Like actually; people say that a lot but I’m really going to try and lose my mind.’

Fab: as soon as this show’s over I think we will probably descend into an alcoholic nightmare and run around Manchester.

Evan: ‘I’m going to be doing a lot of shouting tonight- friendly shouting, though, not aggressive.’ 

‘Soap’ is their second album to date. I have just asked them how making the second album was for them, and whether they encountered the stereotypical ‘Second Album Syndrome’. But we don’t get far. ‘I can’t think about anything else apart from what Evan has just put on the computer now.’ Fab apologises. The distraction is a picture of a man wearing ‘a dick suit’ as Evan so eloquently puts it. A bodysuit covered in a multitude of fabric phalluses. ‘They’re quite red aren’t they…apart from that one. That one’s just really sad. Poor guy,’ muses Fab, pointing to a fabric penis which is placed just below where the man’s nipple should be. ‘That one’s his real one, that’s why it’s not red!’ quips Evan, which, if true, would be very anatomically confusing.

Evan: ‘Erm, what was the question?’

Fab: ‘Second Album. I found it so much better. Because the first album was just a collection of all the songs that we had, and this one we kind of had, as Evan put it last night, Carcasses of songs, and we built them in the studio around string sections and brass sections. It was so nice to work with so many more musicians, and have really accomplished players on it, rather than us complete idiots who don’t know how to play any of our instruments. It felt bigger.’

Evan: ‘It did. And they’re more songs. The first album was kind of ideas that we didn’t really know how to make into songs, and the new album they’ve become, without sound like an… idiot, piece of work that we’ve made together. So yeah it feels like it’s kind of just… better. It’s just better.

Did you change the song writing process on the second album?

Evan: ‘In parts, like, the last track on the album I made just on a computer. There’s electronic drums and a reversed mandolin part…’

Fab: ‘Our producer was a massive, massive influence. He would help us with the song writing

Evan: ‘Yeah he was a… what’s the expression?’

Fab: ‘Guide, philosopher and friend.’

Evan: ‘no… filtering out the crap.’

Fab: ‘A crap filter.’

Evan: ‘He was our quality control, I think. So if you don’t like the album it’s his fault!’

One of my favourite lyrics from the first album, Rumpus, is from Petroleum Jelly: ‘And even in a villain’s glove, you’ll find Vaseline’, which is a reference to Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck. Are your lyrics influenced a lot by literature?

Evan: ‘That’s a really weird coincidence, someone mentioned that today! Yeah, I’m probably--’

Fab: ‘It’s really funny as well because you would probably the last person to use literature in your lyrics.’

Evan: ‘Yeah, I don’t read very much, just cos I’m really ADHD. I read a page, then pick up another book. I’ve read the first 20 pages of a thousand books but probably finished a handful. I think that came from the movie, with John Malkovich.

What else inspires your lyrics?

Evan: I think we get inspired by different things. Fab’s lyrics are quite heavily political, Rory’s lyrics tend to be about hating people and I’m the only one who really writes love songs. A lot of my lyrics tend to be based on things I see, like the smallest thing, I’ll try and see if I can make it into a song, and then while I’m trying to make that thing into something, I end up getting a massive opinion on it, but I may put in love as well, kind of accidentally… but my songs are about to get depressing…

Fab: You came and said to us once: ‘I’ve just noticed that old men and women, you don’t see them making out on the street.’ And I was like that’s a pretty weird thing to notice and you were like ‘YEAH! I GOT REALLY ANGRY AT IT! WHY DON’T THEY DO IT?’

Evan: ‘I like when you see an old couple that’ve clearly been together since they were kids, so many years, and they’re sitting eating a meal, and they don’t speak. I love it. Like, they’re comfortable with each other. He’s wolfing down his food, and she’ll just watch him for a bit.

Fab: ‘And she wipes away a bit of food from his mouth

Evan: I love it, I think you don’t have to talk. And they’ll just occasionally have alook at each other. See, there’s the next song, right there!

So what about the tour bus? Who’s the most annoying? (that old chesnut)

Fab: ‘You. (Looking at Evan.) Definitely.’

Evan: ‘Me. Because I’m very ADHD, so I can’t sit still,’

Fab: ‘As you can note by the way he’s just playing with his fingernails and rocking on his chair! [Evan folds his arms and tries to sit still.] You said the infamous quote of ‘I don’t really deliberately annoy people it just sort of happens’. When he’s sort of beating round the head with a chair it’s like ‘I’m not doing it deliberately, it just sort of happened… this chair just fell in to my hand and then into your face.’

What’s on the stereo on tour?

Fab: constant afrobeat.

Evan: Lots of afrobeat. And… Turbo Fruits- we were listening to today’

Fab: ‘Really good band. Um… We have mostly really bad music in our car at the minute.’

Evan: ‘But I’ve been putting a lot of Toots & The Maytals on at the moment’

Do you think that influences your music?

Fab: ‘Definitely.’

Evan: ‘Yeah. We’re a bunch of middle-class white boys playing the—‘

Fab, interrupting: ‘I AM NOT MIDDLE-CLASS!

Evan: ‘Yeah, African music influences us definitely. But so does all that stuff, like Turbo Fruits and garage rock and stuff. Because… I dunno. They’re well good at… bridges. That’s what I like. Riffin’. They’re good at Riffing.

This influence can clearly be seen on Soap, an album which shows a progression in the band’s sound. They have become tighter as a unit, and their sound has matured from the very charming but possibly rather naïve sounding 2 minute jangly indie-pop songs of the first album. But some reviewers haven’t liked the change so much. ‘I don’t like, with reviews where if you’ve changed too much, it’s shit, I hate this expectance of reproducing the same crap. And then people say ‘It’s the same as the first album!’’ Evan tells me. It’s almost as if a band can’t win in that respect. ‘I constantly, constantly Google myself’ admits Fab, ‘I could go through a hundred reviews and if one is bad, then it’ll piss me off.’ Evan has a different take on it though, ‘This is going to sound like nihilism or something, but I don’t really take good or bad reviews on board, because it’s just someone’s opinion, and the whole thing with music is- I mean, look at what the best song in Britain was last year. One Direction, and it just make it clear that the majority of people are idiots…’

Towards the end of the interview, Evan is distracted by the guitarist from The Covelles’ (the second support band of the night) guitarist, who is showing off his huge tattoo of a pole dancer. ‘If you look closely you can even see her camel toe’ he reliably informs us. This leads a long discussion and comparison session about tattoos (including the word ‘PIZZA’ written on Evan’s arm in ‘old pen’- ‘that’s my next tattoo’).

The night unfolds to be a highly enjoyable one, and there needn’t have been the panic about promotion that there had been earlier. The Deaf Institute is one of the nicest venues I have ever been to, covered in quirky wallpaper, with the staged decked in classic red velvet curtains (one of which Evan uses as a towel at one point during the gig). The crowd are up for dancing and The Kabeedies are on top form, really looking like they want to be there, with lead singer Katie dancing all over the stage and Evan doing his trademark jumpy-shuffly dance. Highlights of the set are South-American infused ‘Santiago’ and ‘Come Out Of The Blue’ which both get everyone dancing. Oh, and there is plenty of friendly shouting.

The Kabeedies seem like a band who, though wanting to gain some critical acclaim for what they do, are having a damn lot of fun doing it. Their new sound shows that they are able to evolve as a band too, and make some awesome music in the process. ‘Soap’ is out now and highly recommended. 

Holly Read-Challen 

Divorce / Ultimate Thrush @ The bay horse, Manchester 05/03/12

So, I’m just upstairs after Ultimate Thrush have played their set. I witnessed a fury of sporadic, yet seasoned blast-bursts, all held together by carefree fun artistry. They open the set with low lights, and the vocalist sliding across the floor, his back to a skateboard, free styling on a clarinet. 

When you witness something like this, you know how little of a fuck the band give, both for convention and appearing pretentious. The following half an hour is a barrage of thrash hungry power violence punk and some more clarinet.

A slight interlude was given to pay mock-homage to mosh-heavy breakdown scenecore. In the right way. Playing mostly new and unheard tracks, Ultimate Thrush are chaotic and unpredictable in every way, except they turned up, played loud music and were a bit weird. No costumes either. Devils.

 

Then there's Divorce: Lesbian hardcore grrl punk at its best. Chug heavy and my lips are chapped. Tightened thick with post punk tendencies, distorted power, throaty growls and punk shouts. In a Divorce show, the people with the most balls are them. The crowd are headbang heavy and we’re all friends together here. Not as sporadic or thrashy as UT are, but certainly as carefree and just as loud. There is more sludge, there is more grunge, there is more meat on these bones. They're also very tight, and well rehearsed. I overheard a fat gent say ‘they’re possessed, but in the best way’ that’s certainly a good review, if I ever heard one. And I’ll leave you with that.

For more photos click here

Eliot Humphries

Bleeding Knees Club - Nothing To Do

 

It’s hard to call garage rock monotonous. The thing’s been trundling on since the 60’s and the continued success of bands like Black Lips show that it’s unlikely to call it a day any time soon. And generally, I don’t really mind. Most garage rock is endlessly listenable in its endearing simplicity and damn-the-man sentiment. But what happens when this attitude becomes the norm and the slacker image is absorbed into pretty much every aspect of culture? Stupid-on-purpose becomes uncool and outwardly-dorky-but-still-cooler-than-thou is in. We’ve seen it happen a hundred times before, be it in New Wave’s embrace of synths in order to cleanse punks rapidly falling stock or the re-purposing of urban music by the XX, James Blake and the rest of their South London ilk.

But right now we find ourselves in a situation where this music is in demand only by the absence of a notable left field. This crowd pleasing trash becomes the alternative. So we get unimaginative runs through well-worn paths because no-one’s travelled them for a while. It’s aesthetically suiting to a culture of beanies and trashy gifs. People are going to like this album because it capitalises on a mindset predicated on laziness and half-arsed nostalgia, and wowee if this isn’t half-arsed nostalgia at its worst.

Yes it’s breezy and dumb, but it’s wrong. The sound and image is jarringly try hard, the scuzzy sound is blatantly aesthetic in its presence (as opposed to being a budgetary necessity). Every song has the same sub Phil Spector chord progression and trebly drums, the lyrics are a master class in trying too hard, best exhibited Problem Child’s refrain of “He’ll throw rocks at your car, he’s always drunk in the park, he always late for school, this boy he’s just a fool”. Sniff hard enough and you’ll smell the piss they’ve drenched on the graves of every 60s girl group.

Wavves have the choruses and the skewed sense of melody and Vivian Girls learnt to put some meat on their music’s bones, sometimes not giving a fuck translates into pretty decent music, but it’s got to bring something new to the table. With Nothing To Do, BKC have managed the rare feat of crafting a record so vapid and tasteless that it can’t even be taken as a joke. Long live being pretentious, the campaign to keep this shit in the basements and bedrooms starts here.

1/10

Ned Powley

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - Tapes & Money

Oxford’s Orlando Higginbottom has made dance music extremely fun with his prehistoric-based act ‘Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs’. Single ‘Tapes and Money’ manages to blend a plethora of dance genres together in a light-hearted manner, in order to create this infectious tune. Even though it may seem like just another enjoyable song, it has a decidedly more heartfelt side to it. 


 Orlando sings ‘it’s all lies/tell me another one’ which acts a snide comment on the nostalgic repetition of relationships. With its perfectly timed build ups and choruses, ‘Tapes and Money’ should soon become a dancefloor and festival favourite. The synthy bleeps and dubby wobbles keep the track pounding along, and Higginbottom’s vocals contrast well over the music. The backing shouts of ‘feet don’t fail me now’ feel as if they’ve been lifted straight from an 80s house tune, again highlighting more diverse dance influences. Although it’s hard to take him seriously in that dinosaur costume, you certainly feel some sincerity in what he’s doing. Just like the dinosaurs themselves, I think TEED will be around for a long time.


Hannah Bettey

Rae Morris Live @ Edinburgh Sneaky Pete's

“Speechless”

I contemplated leaving the whole review with simply that one word. Describing the 25 minutes of pure perfection experienced, while rising star Rae Morris graced Edinburgh’s Sneaky Pete’s stage on Wednesday. No words in any review, I feel personally can give justice to Rae live, or can praise her work highly enough. But here goes.

She may have come across perhaps a little nervous from first encounter, however as soon as she hit the keys, her passion for performing shone out, and her personality left everyone with a smile on their face. After the first song it was apparent the crowd were in so much awe of what they had just heard, clapping proved a difficult task, due to the fact we all longed for her voice to be preserved within the atmosphere; and making any other noise would spoil the peace. But then at the same time clapping didn’t seem enough to get across our total enjoyment and love. 

 
It was her track “Day One” now famously recognised from Watch Listen Tell’s Youtube Channel, that left Sneaky Pete’s in total mesmerised shock. Along with tracks such as  “Back to Front”, and her finishing number “Walls” which showed off her enchanting and skillful vocal range, that she uses with total ease; another admirable quality of Rae’s raw talent. Then there is my personal favourite “Wait a While”, now featuring on Burberry Acoustic sessions that left me in a state; bringing a little trickle of felicity to my eye. Honestly she has the power to turn a room into a pool of joy; it has been done!

The gig reinforced my opinion that she has an amazing writing talent, and it was clear the lyrics obviously meant something personal to her, unlike a lot of generated rubbish churned out by the industry on a daily basis. Also throughout the gig, while I tried to compare her to other maybe similar artists around, I believe Rea’s songs have no aspects when I think to myself “This is boring”, which others do such as Laura Marling. Again another commendable credit to her for jumping that huge hurdle.

Not only are Rae Morris’ unique voice and lyrical compositions mesmerising, she genuinely is one of the most truly lovely girls I have ever met. Charming the crowd by thanking them throughout her set and making clear she would love to chat to everyone at the end. Bless her.

There is no debate that in a very short space of time her career will rocket. In a cheesy sense I feel really lucky to have witnessed her magic in the perfect little venue while she moves up the music ladder. I predict, whether a small crowd in an alley way gig venue in Edinburgh, to a sell out show in the heart of London; she will always have the power to leave the crowd - speechless.

Ailsa Morris