The Line Of Best Fit

[World Exclusive] The Twilight Sad premier new video on TLOBF

Rich Thane — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:01:02 +0000

The Twilight Sad have finally announced the details of their hugely anticipated sophomore album Forget The Night Ahead. Trailed by opener ‘Reflections Of The Television’ – which dropped on Pitchfork during May, and forthcoming single ‘I Became A Prostitute’ which is out on August 3rd, the new album will be released in the UK on 5th October via FatCat Records. The full track list is as follows:

1. Reflection Of The Television
2. I Became A Prostitute
3. Seven Years of Letters
4. Made To Disappear
5. Scissors
6. The Room
7. That Birthday Present
8. Floorboards Under The Bed
9. Interrupted
10. The Neighbours Can’t Breathe
11. At The Burnside

As long-time supporters of The Twilight Sad, TLOBF have been given the video to the new single ‘I Became A Prostitute’ days before anyone else. Along with ‘Reflections Of The Television’ (which you can stream here), ‘Prostitute’ marks a visceral return for the Kilsyth quartet. According to sources close to the band, Forget The Night Ahead material is even more harrowing than predecessor Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters – so if you think lines like “the kids are on fire in the bedroom” were dark, prepare to scared shitless.

The video for ‘Prostitute’ is, unsuprisginly, harrowing in it’s own right. A montage of what looks like 1920’s footage of Burlesque clubs from Eastern Europe set against the unmistakable backdrop of James Graham’s Scottish howl and primal force of rhythm section Andy MacFarlane, Craig Orzel and Mark Devine. Never have the band sounded so vital.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Speaking to The Skinny at the start of 2009, James Graham cautioned; “We have definitely moved on from Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters, musically and lyrically. One thing that I can promise is that the lyrics are very dark, but you might have to look into them a bit to realise [that]. They are mainly based around things that have happened to me over the past two years, revolving mainly around losing people and being none too proud or happy with myself about my antics and situations I’ve found myself in.” Guitarist Andy MacFarlane concurs, “It is a step forward from the first record, the song writing and the sound of the band has moved on from that time, which is something we’ll always try and do, we don’t want to ever stand still and make records that sound like each other.”

Forget The Night Ahead was produced and mixed by ex-Delgados’ man Paul Savage and guitarist Andy MacFarlane at the legendary Chem19 Studios in Glasgow.

Any London-ers out there might be interested to know that The Twilight Sad are headlining a FatCat / One Little Indian label night at ICA on 9th July. Support for the evening comes from fellow Scots We Were Promised Jetpacks and One Little Indian’s latest signings Kill It Kid.

Placebo – Battle for the Sun

Andy Johnson — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:00:37 +0000

It’s been a long time since Brian Molko and co started their journey as Placebo, in that time they have earned something of a reputation as a band which, more than most, divides people into different camps – there is the dedicated fanbase and the similarly dedicated anti-Molko naysayers, put off by the man’s infamous androgyny and vocal mannerisms. But there’s a third group, as there is with any band – those who, like myself, have mostly been passed by the band’s five albums up to now. When it comes to Battle for the Sun, the first group will buy it, the second will not. But what about the third, the floating voters, so to speak? Will the much-touted diverse instrumentation and new direction of this album draw them into the fold?

Personally, I seriously doubt it. It’s not because of Molko – the average man in the street has embraced figures far odder than him in the past, and it’s not as though he’s new on the block – but just because under all its faux-drama and bluster, Battle for the Sun is ultimately a very ordinary electro-tinged rock album, hamstrung by a severe lack of ideas and decidedly uninteresting lyrics. Take ‘Ashtray Heart’ for example – the converted will be satisfactorily preached to by its reference to the band’s original name, but the song’s repititious nature and uninspiring riffage won’t help the band accumulate new fans. Only the hardcore (or music reviewers) will enjoy Molko’s insistence on singing the last word of every line multiple times on the title track, even if it does overcome its dirge of an opening to coalesce into something a little more interesting eventually, Molko singing about a “dream brother” – a Jeff Buckley reference perchance?

All too often, this all feels like pretty wrapping paper around an empty box, to borrow an expression. A lot of the album’s problems are well demonstrated by ‘For What It’s Worth’, which has that diverse instrumentation – a trumpet – making a fig-leaf contribution, a toy piano shoehorned in in the most startlingly incongruous way, and one of the record’s worst lyrical passages. When these songs are over, it’s a struggle to remember any lines from them, to replay any of the riffs or synth lines in your mind, such is the artificiality and theatricality of all the attempts at drama and an epic, cathartic feel. Alas, in the end Battle for the Sun will sound to many less like a battle and more like a trial. There are just far too many superior albums out there for this to be a credible contender.
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Placebo on MySpace

Alessi’s Brain Bulletin #1

Alessi Laurent-Marke — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:00:23 +0000

I thought I had well and truly put my pen away after the ninth issue of Brain Bulletin. Having enjoyed putting together the zine for a few years I turned my attention to playing music but I truly take my hat off to Rich Thane for giving me a kind shove and a monthly task. Here, I’ll write about music, new and old and some recommendations. The first recommendation would be to look up a master brain and comic author, Anika Mottershaw, who first brought the band I’ve chosen to home in on, Scary Mansion, to my attention.

After giving Scary Mansion a listen a jigsaw puzzle began to piece together. The whispery, haunting vocals belong to Leah Hayes – the girlfriend of Michael Leviton who I had the pleasure of playing with two summers ago when I split a bill with him at a bar in New York. Ryland of This Is Ivy League pointed me in the direction of Leviton and his ukulele riches. I was looking for somewhere that I could play with my friends Magic Magic and Ryland thought Mr Leviton could help us out. It was a very special evening of music in Alphabet city at Mo Pitkins bar which is now sadly closed. A delayed flight and an almost lost guitar caused my folks and I to land in New York late, too late to join Michael & Leah at one of their monthly get-togethers at their apartment. Friends and locals join them, playing music into the ‘wee hours and I felt in my bones I’d missed something rare that evening as well as not getting to meet Ms Hayes.

I listened to Michael’s album The Perfect Place To Drown, for a good few months. He was quite the comic during his set at Mo Pitkin’s – tall, slight, sweet and curious like an Edward Gorey drawing. On record however, his songs are sentimental and dreamy. Ryland wrote a list of recommendations when he visited London last February and the highlight of the list, was Bad Lobotomy – Leah’s, he explained, latest project. The dark songs were curious, creepy and delicate. I didn’texpect anything less from one half of such a rare, creative couple.

These days, Scary Mansion seems to fill Leah’s time and I’m happy her and Michael’s creations keep weaving in and out of life and conversations.

Be sure to give Scary Mansion’s page a visit and excuse the pun, book a room early! Oh and it’s not all new – my favourite golden oldie at the moment is ‘Frozen Smiles’ by Graham Nash and David Crosby – have a look for it!

Army Navy – Army Navy

Catriona Boyle — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:00:32 +0000

Remember that Channel 4 show, Teachers? Aside from Bob, the best thing about it was the soundtrack. Full of those post Brit pop, pre-whatever-came-next anthems that perfectly augmented the dishy Andrew Lincoln riding his bike through the streets of Bristol in an ‘inevitably life’s shit but at least we can go to the pub’ kind of way?

Well it’s a damn shame Army Navy weren’t around then, because the makers of the show would’ve been set with the soundtrack. This album has exactly the kind of jangly guitars, bittersweet lyrics, and nostalgia-tainted sounds as Ocean Colour Scene, Dodgy, Shed Seven – the bands that are classed as Brit pop but essentially just rode on it’s coattails.

Common lyrical themes are, of course, being unlucky in love - “Remember when I’d call and I’d say/The best girls that I love won’t be a shame” (’Saints”) , nights out, and occasionally both, all packaged in a lovable scamp sort of way. What makes the whole set up slightly odd though is that Army Navy are American, although you’d certainly be hard-pressed to tell, as there’s a definite Manc twang to the lead singer’s vocals.

The up-tempo tracks gallop along well, but the slower numbers, particularly ‘Pocket Boys’ and ‘Golden Pony’, stick out like sore thumbs, and draw unwanted attention to the somewhat less-than-amazing vocals.

At times this album is like a trip down a very recent memory lane, which makes the whole thing slightly unsettling – a bit like when you get those horrific flashbacks of the night before the next day. There are some older sounds creeping in though, ‘My Thin Sides’ is distinctly Kinks-y, and take away the synth like guitar sounds on ‘Saints’ – and you’ve got yourself a La’s song.

So, life is inevitably shit, Army Navy probably aren’t going to make it much better with this album, and now Teachers has finished they’re not even going to get on the soundtrack. But stick it on at one of those ubiquitous summer bbqs with beers and friends, and it’ll jangle away in the background perfectly.
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Army Navy on MySpace

Eagles of Death Metal – Princess Pavilions, Falmouth 25/06/09

Laura Snapes — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:55:05 +0000

“Literally, the coolest phrase I’ve ever heard is ‘alright my loverrrs,” drawls Eagles of Death Metal frontman Jesse Hughes to a rammed Princess Pavilion. With the Pavilion’s quintessentially English tearoom charm usually home to such greats as the St Stythians Band, T Rextasy and Sgt Peppers Only Dart Board Band (oh yes, really) it’s pretty fair to say that the crowd and the band are equal parts bemused and enraptured by their respective cultural heritages. The look on Hughes’ face when everyone starts shouting the local rallying cry of “Oggy oggy oggy! Oi oi oi!” to pay their respects to the free love smoulder of ‘Now I’m a Fool’ is priceless – flabbergasted, yet clinging to his grizzled, snarled cool by trying to look nonchalant – and the audience’s giggles at the band’s wide-legged posturing, biker bar talk, and habit of introducing songs via rhetorical questions made out of titles (“Are you just 19?!” he leers at one front row minor) suggest just how long it’s been since our musical G-spots have been tickled.

Strutting onstage to Kool and the Gang’s ‘Ladies’ Night’ whilst cloaked in the St Piran’s flag, it becomes clear quite quickly that subtlety doesn’t feature anywhere on former Republican speechwriter Hughes’ radar. His bullish smarm is well matched by that of certain wags in the audience who insist on shouting out “Josh!” between numbers – Joey ‘The Sexy Mexy’ Castillo is on drums tonight, and his ripped destructive playing is a machine-like two fingers up to those who came celeb crawling. Despite the rarity of decent gigs in Cornwall, they don’t always sell out, so it was eye-rollingly disappointing to talk to a guy in the bar afterwards who complained that he felt ripped off due to Homme not putting in an appearance (EoDM didn’t say why), despite having loved the gig and been full of praise for Castillo. The heckles subside as ‘Bad Dream Mama’ deploys a riff that’s Hunter S Thompson reincarnate shortly before the irresistibly sexy paean to youth and young corruption that is ‘I Gotta Feeling (Just Nineteen)’, all girlishly high falsetto and snake hips.

Around the middle, a few songs start to drown in the bombast of the set, but after Hughes downs a pint and introduces his extraordinarily young looking mum and brother, suddenly we’re back in a gay cowboy bar shaking it to a cock rock cover of ‘Stuck in the Middle’. They play less an encore, rather than an entire solo set from Hughes – ‘The Boy’s Bad News’ sounds like a crazed b-movie zombie chase with sexy consequences, his cover of ‘Brown Sugar’ is perhaps a little half-assed and could do with Dave, Brian and Joey to back it up, and the only problem with ‘Wannabe in LA’ is that this evening, Falmouth’s where rock’n’roll hedonism is laying its addled head.

Moby – Wait For Me

Chris Marling — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:00:49 +0000

He’s been in the business for almost 20 years, but it’s been a decade since Moby became absolutely massive with the wonderful Play – since which he has spent most of his time in the musical wilderness. It’s anyone’s guess where it all went wrong, but Wait For Me shows there might be life in the old dog yet.
This, his ninth album, was apparently inspired by one of his heroes, David Lynch. He saw a speech by the king of mad film and television in which he eschewed the virtues of creating art for one’s self, without the restriction of worrying about what others will think of it. This comes as no surprise from the mouth of the maverick behind the likes of Eraserhead and Twin Peaks, but it’s not what you expect to turn the head of Mr TV Ads himself. So what has the new non-commercial Moby created?

Well, in truth, something of a return to form. Recorded at home with friends (not ‘rock stars’) adding guest vocals, and with a friend mixing (even if that friend happens to be Ken Thomas from Sigur Ros), Wait For Me is obviously a personal record. It’s a rediscovery of what Moby does best, but while it has some truly fine moments it doesn’t move him forward.

You can certainly see the Lynch fetish in the instrumentals that litter the disc (more than half the tracks). There’s an epic soundtrack feel throughout, with beats ranging from mid tempo to non-existent – this isn’t one for the dance floor. The single ‘Shot In The Back Of The Head’ stands out a little, ‘Scream Pilots’ builds suggestively towards the panoramic before being cut down in its prime, while ‘A Seated Night’ is a pleasant enough atmospheric choral piece. But ‘Isolate’ is the only instrumental to really shine, closing the album with majestic strings.

The real find of the album has to be vocalist Amelia Zirin-Brown (better known as New York cabaret loon Lady Rizo), who sings recent single ‘Pale Horses’ beautifully and is perfectly suited to Moby’s style. Early on there are some tunes that are Play-era good: ‘Study War’ is a bit Moby by numbers, preacher sample and all, but it works, while ‘Walk With Me’ is slow, strong and hymn like. Late on, ‘Wait For Me really’ shines with lovely overdubbed female vocals and a striking single violin. Sadly, the rest is pretty uninspiring.

Overall Wait For Me is melodic, mournful and dark, with plenty of religious overtones and signs of promise. It just never really gets going, although it’s certainly on the right track. Let’s just hope he can build on it, instead of buggering off on a tangent.
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Moby on Myspace

Greymachine = Jesu + Isis

Rich Hughes — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:39:39 +0000

Greymachine is set to be one fucking brain smashing heavy band. Let’s look at the evidence: Justin Broadrick, Jesu main main and former Godflesh frontman, has teamed up with Isis leader Aaron Turner to form a band called Greymachine. Not only that, but they’ve recruited Diarmuid Dalton (of Jesu / Godlfesh) and Dave Cochrane of Head of David.

To give you a feel of its black hole sucking heaviness, you can download the 10 minute track ‘Vultures Descend’ here. Beware, this is not for the faint hearted.

The track will be part of the album Disconnected, set for a 3rd August release via Hydra Head.

Disconnected:
01 Wolf at the Door
02 Vultures Descend
03 When Attention Just Ain’t Enough
04 Wasted
05 We Are All Fucking Liars
06 Just Breathing
07 Sweatshop
08 Easy Pickings

Jamie T announces UK tour for October

Rich Hughes — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:40:17 +0000

Jamie T has announced he will play his biggest tour to date in October 2009, with a twelve date tour of the UK followed by two dates in Ireland.

Jamie T has just finished a sold-out tour of the UK, his new EP ‘Sticks ’n’ Stones’ is out now. His second album Kings & Queens is scheduled for release late summer.

October
01 BRISTOL O2 Academy (0844 477 2000)
02 SOUTHAMPTON   Guildhall (023 8063 2601)
03 BIRMINGHAM O2 Academy    (0844 477 2000)
05 NEWCASTLE   Northumbria Uni   (0844 826 2826)
06 NOTTINGHAM Rock City   (08713 100 000)
07 NORWICH UEA    (01603 508050)
09 GLASGOW Barrowland (08444 999 990)
10 PRESTON Uni 53 Degrees (01772 893000)
11 SHEFFIELD O2 Academy (0844 477 2000)
13 MANCHESTER Academy (0161 832 1111)
14 LEEDS O2 Academy (0113 245 4650)
15 LONDON Brixton O2 Academy (0844 477 2000)
23 BELFAST Limelight (0870 243 4455)
24 DUBLIN   Wheelans (0818 719 300)

Wilco – Wilco (The Album)

Steve Lampiris — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:00:54 +0000

With Wilco, it’s all about the (classic rock) swagger. Look at the cover: It’s a goddamned camel. On a balcony. With a party hat. Then there’s that title, Wilco (The Album). It’s redundant. It’s redundant because it can be. There doesn’t have to be a reason. It’s a joke, as if the camel isn’t enough of a clue. Yet, underneath all that superfluous nonsense is the band making a point: Wilco is the shit. That’s all. It’s a tad smug, yes, but it’s also true if you consider its rich catalogue.

Wilco finds the band writing a set of mature songs. Not that Wilco has ever been sophomoric or amateurish, but here the band lets the songs speak for themselves meaning that there isn’t much besides the actual song structures to explore. Wilco understands its own ability to craft songs that don’t require extraneous material in order to be valuable – that’s swagger. Few songs have anything beyond what is absolutely essential for the song to be complete. Wilco isn’t expansive or the defining statement of a band like Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. It also isn’t a reaction to said album type like Sky Blue Sky. Instead, Wilco is the middle ground between the two extremes: an acknowledgement of the fact that the studio can be utilized as an instrument itself while concurrently an affirmation that songs need to not only be constructed, but also be allowed to exist on their own. Case in point, ‘You and I,’ a duet with Feist, is a gentle country-rocker about true love featuring only minimal background keyboard and guitar effects to emphasize the space between lovers in the song. Likewise, the piano ballad ‘Country Disappeared’ contains just enough guitar reverb to decorate lines like “I won’t take no/ I won’t let you go/ All by yourself/ Oh no you need my help” and “Hold out your hand/ There’s so much you don’t understand/ So stick as close as you can/ all of the best laid plans…”

Wilco’s swagger spills into the lyrics, as well. The quasi-title track ‘Wilco (The Song)’ contains the not-conceited-at-all line “Have you had enough of the old?/ Tired of being exposed to the cold?/ Put on your headphones before you explode/ …Wilco.” The song basically discusses Wilco (the band) as a way to deal with the outside world. It’s both self-deprecating and true simultaneously. Meanwhile, ‘Bull Black Nova’ is the funkiest thing that Wilco’s done in years, maybe ever. It struts around for four minutes and then takes the last ninety seconds to let a guitar duel reach hysteria while Jeff Tweedy imagines a man mourning the loss of his girlfriend that he just killed: “There’s blood in the trunk/ I can’t calm down/ I freak out/ I black out.” It’s danceable, dark, honest, and powerful every single time.

Wilco’s never put out a bad record, and Wilco (The Album) furthers this thesis. What’s more significant is the fact that the band knows as much. Wilco’s command of its own songwriting is as adept as any band in music, then or now. This record is no odd departure from its tried-and-true country/folk-rock that’s been perfected over the last decade and a half. It’s Wilco, you know what you’re gonna get if you have any transitory knowledge of their work. And the band knows it doesn’t have to be different or strange in order to be great. It’s rather arrogant, to be sure. But if you’re that skilled what’s the harm in admitting it?
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Wilco on Myspace

TLOBF Interview :: Tortoise

Matt Poacher — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:00:30 +0000

I can’t think of another band like Tortoise. They’re a one off. Effortlessly straddling multiple genres (dub, jazz, hip-hop, electronica), and revelling in their sense of experimentation they still manage to retain a sheen of cool, and more to the point still function as a capital R Rock band. What’s more, they seem to be well and truly in it for the long haul – if Beacons of Ancestorship, their dazzling new record, is anything to go by, then they are still very much bursting with ideas and new sonic angles. They sound more vital, and younger, than ever. Well, I say younger…
I met Doug McCombs – Tortoise bassist and glabrous gentle giant – in the troglodytic cavern of the Thrill Jockey offices on The Grays Inn Road. As I walked up the stairs into the shadows, I could see Doug, Kurtz-like in the damp light, with his head in his huge left hand, twirling a packet of cigarettes in his right. It was half past five and after flying in late the previous evening, he’d evidently been talking to the press all day. He looked shattered. It was hot too; the heat lay across London like another layer of clothes… Mercifully, we were shown into the safety of a nondescript boozer on the far side of the road where we could escape the fug and where the cold beer suddenly made the day more attractive.

TLOBF – It feels like you’ve been away for ages. What have you guys been up to?

Doug - Yeah, I guess it seems like Tortoise disappears for periods of time but mostly we’re really active all the time. It’s true that we all play in other bands outside of Tortoise and that takes up a certain amount of our time but we also are pretty consistently working on Tortoise – whether it’s going on tours or working on new material and so to us it feels as though we’re always pretty active. We try to do as much live playing as we can, even if it’s not a tour. We get lots of offers to do one off shows or festivals and even without a new record it’s vital for us to go out on tour and play live as much as possible as it’s part of being in a band that we like a lot.

We did a tour two years ago in the spring that was a whole tour of the US despite the fact that we didn’t have a new record out and it was one of the best tours we’ve ever done! I don’t know it seemed like that, maybe it’s something to do with the fact that you get used to people only being interested in the band when you have a new record out and for us it was great to get that validation, that people were coming to our shows even when we didn’t have a new album. It really gave us a lot of confidence for the longevity of this band and that we could work at our own pace.

So about the new record – where does the title, Beacons of Ancestorship come from?

Well, because we’re an instrumental band, when it comes to time to title songs or albums, we’re usually trying to draw on different things in our lives that we interested in. It can be anything from literature or art or whatever. Beacons of Ancestorship1 is an avant-garde, I guess you’d say ‘novel’, or it might be considered an artwork. Basically it was this piece of literature – and I don’t even know the author’s name – that’s one paragraph repeated over and over again for something like 700 pages. That’s not necessarily why we chose it as an album title, and I’m sure each member of the band has his own reasons for wanting to choose this title, but essentially, it was a title we all liked. To me personally, what the title invokes is how we see our place in the continuum of popular music, or at least the music we’re interested in. It’s a reflection of all of our influences and how we see ourselves and where we might take the band in the future.

The way you describe the repetition of the piece seems to fit in your aesthetic too.

That’s true and also anything that’s even vaguely cryptic fits into our aesthetic too [laughs].

It feels like a very direct record for you, there might even be what are considered a couple of ’songs’ on there.

Sure. I think the second song ‘Prepare Your Coffin’ might be the most conventional rock song Tortoise has ever played. Which wasn’t really anything conscious. Things that we were conscious of when going in to make this record were, thinking about our last album It’s All Around You, I think we were trying to, at least in retrospect, refine and perfect everything we had done before and get it to some sort of compositional ideal or something, or at least try to become better as songwriters. So this time we may have unconsciously tried to push away from that a little bit and make it a little more rough around the edges, more scrappy, and more open ended – not as compositionally direct. And it feels that way to me – more direct and looser at the same time. More natural. The songs flow and don’t feel as constricted. And I can’t speak for everyone in the band but I think that may have been what we were trying to achieve.

The other thing is, as the band has gotten older and more experienced we’ve become a much better live band and I think we’re more conscious of using dynamics in our live shows, and about being a more powerful rock band. When we first started we might have been a little tentative and not sure we could perform this music in front of people and have it be interesting, and so we’ve slowly grown into this thing where we’re now pretty powerful live and also have moments of delicacy. I think we wanted to reflect some of that on this record.

We used the same compositional techniques to get to that. We didn’t perform any of the songs live in the studio and we wrote most of the material the same way which is a slow process of bouncing ideas of each other and arriving at something we like by a process or subtraction or addition or cutting up or rearranging. So we didn’t perform any of it live but to me it reflects more what we can do live.

How much of that goes back to the ATP shows you did, where you played the whole of Millions Now Living Will Never Die from start to finish? Was that part of the confidence building process?

No, that’s different. Playing Millions… live from start to finish was a completely separate challenge because we’d never attempted to play parts of those songs live ever. For instance ‘Djed’ which many people see as the cornerstone of the record, we’d never played that in its entirety in a live situation. So that was a real challenge as that song is really a tape edit or a collage. That’s not really what I was talking about – I was more getting at the fact that when we started the band a lot of the music was so delicate that we felt if we were going to rock out on it we’d almost do it a disservice so we eventually grew into the thing of not being afraid to rock out. So even though we all came from rock bands in the first place it was almost as if we were treating the Tortoise music with too much reverence.

I was listening to the first album again recently and I’d forgotten how many delicate, essentially ambient moments there were on there. There’s little of that on the Beacons…

The new album has moments…. The other direct thing about the album I think is the rhythm patterns on the songs, even though some of them are contrapuntal and interlocked, most of the songs are in 4/4 time signature. And we’ve always done stuff in 4/4 but we’ve also used a lot of semi-convoluted time signatures and I think that lends a certain directness to the record. There’s only 1 track, ‘Minors’, which jumps from phrases of 3 and 4 to phrases of 7. That was all sort of a compositional experiment – Jeff wrote the melody to no time signature at all and then put the chords under it after the melody had been laid down and he realised the chords slipped into weird times.

A couple of the tracks seem to have an almost dubstep inflection to them, ‘Northern Something’ and even ‘Gigantes’. It made me think of D/J Rupture.

‘Northern Something’ for sure references some of that stuff – it’s almost like a dancehall or dubstep samba. I think that was a conscious nod. ‘Gigantes’ was also a song that was based around a rhythm before anything else – the interlocking drum patterns came first before the melodic content.

And what about ‘Yianxianghechengqi’?

[Laughs] I don’t actually know how to pronounce that word! I think it’s Chinese. Someone told me it was the first synthesiser ever manufactured in the country. Anyway, that song was another experiment. We were in the studio talking about modern composition and someone said wouldn’t it be hilarious to try twelve tone and hardcore which is basically what that is.

So you’re mixing Schoenberg and Hardcore? It’s been done millions of times, I don’t know why you bothered… The track though is really falling apart under its own weight, splitting at the sides.

That’s probably actually the oldest song on the album and we’ve probably recorded 5 or 6 different versions of it and that version on the album is two wildly different versions spliced together with really different feels. The first part has this sense that we can barely play feel to it, and then it kicks into the real version.

Has the way you’ve recorded changed at all? You’ve said that at times things do get in the way – other projects, band members having families etc.

Our first two albums were recorded almost all analogue, on tape machines; only on the second album, a little bit of digital editing came in – just some cross fades or something. This was right when digital recording programs first came in. So from the third album until now, it’s been in the digital age where, we do record on analogue tapes, but we’ll bounce back stuff from tape to pro-tools or vice versa. So, our recording process since the digital era has been pretty much the same. We’ll go to the studio, start throwing around ideas and recording them as we go. On a more practical level since some of the guys have children there are times when not all of us can make it to the studio at the same time. But then it’s not always that important for us to be in the studio all the time – as long as everybody is there some of the time to agree on any major changes. It can become frustrating when we’re in a particularly creative period and someone doesn’t show up – I’ve been that guy too – but it’s just the way it has to be.

Does one of you take charge in the studio, as it were?

John [McEntire] does most of the recording and mixing. He’s the one with the real experience as far as being a recording engineer goes. John Herndon and Dan Bitney have home recording set ups of their own, and they can do stuff with tape machines and pro tools. But John can do it with a remote control – just walk into a room and hit play and away he goes. As far as what you would call production, that is the group effort and John is sort of the conduit. He’s able to interpret everyone’s ideas and translate them into what’s going to work in terms of recording. For someone like me, who’s not really familiar with a lot of the equipment, it’s really awesome to have someone who understands what I mean when I describe how I want something to sound because he can do it. It’s a really amazing thing to have in a band, to have that autonomy, and to have that total confidence in someone to realise those ideas you have. It’s a privilege really.

Can we talk a little about A Lazarus Taxon? What was behind the decision to release that box set?

The main impetus was sort of a compulsive need to gather things together. I felt like the material in that box set represented a side of Tortoise that people weren’t that familiar with. I think our albums represent one side of Tortoise, then we have this other side, which is when someone asks us for a track for a compilation, or we make a 7” to sell on tour, or someone asks us to do a remix. A lot of that stuff involves a different working process for us as a band, and some of the results are quite different to the stuff that ends up on the albums. And there was so much floating around out there in different places, and I’d been pushing it for a while to gather it all up so people could hear this other side to the band.

It’s a fantastic artefact, just as an object – but I read somewhere that it was like a tombstone.

I heard somebody say that too, like ‘this band is over’! That’s not really what it was meant to be. Maybe they got the idea from the imagery on the front.

Those Odermatt photos are incredible…

He was an Austrian, and an employee of the police, and part of his job was to document car accidents. Most of his photographs don’t seem to be documenting tragic events – I mean most of them are just fender benders, it doesn’t look like anyone died in them. But they are beautiful photographs. And since then there’s been another book, of his colour work [Arnold Odermatt: On Duty], featuring loads of Austrian police cadets doing callisthenics, and there’s one series of broken tail lights, all melted.

They struck me as so Ballardian – not just the obvious car crash element, but the affectlessness of them, they’re so clean. Going back to …Lazarus, I also read someone describing it as a time capsule.

That’s a better way of describing it! To me, that box set documents a totally different side to Tortoise – recorded much quicker, less structured, making less decisions, doing it out of necessity.

I was listening to Rhythms, Resolutions and Clusters EP on the way up here [the third CD in the A Lazarus Taxon box] and there is some very strange stuff on there…

For sure. Rhythms, Resolutions and Clusters was after our first album and we were definitely into the idea of our songs never being finished, or that there was potential for them to go in different directions there didn’t have to be a definitive version. So we thought it would be cool if there was a different version of the album and all of the people on the EP were friends of ours. It was never a situation of ‘let’s find the hippest producers’ – it was more like ‘let’s give these tracks to some people we like and respect and see what happens’. Later on, after our second album all those remixes were done by people we did and didn’t know and after that we just weren’t really interested any more. It was more like at that point we felt our songs were standing on their own.

That period is often seized upon as a kind of zenith for Tortoise in terms of output, which I guess must be quite frustrating for you guys? What do you make of that whole ‘godfathers of post-rock’ stuff?

I don’t really know how I feel about I. A couple of years into this band I knew that we had potential to be a band for a really long time – just from the chemistry, and that’s the way I still feel. The strength of this band isn’t going to be how we peaked in the ‘90s; our strength is going to be how we continue to be band, and what comes in the future. We’re working through some of those things now. I definitely know that some members of Tortoise are not really that thrilled with Millions Now Living Will Never Die – I mean it was pretty ambitious and we did a good job of it but it was never really completely finished, we didn’t have the resources. There was a sense of ‘this is what we have and this is going to have to do.’ There are some successful experiments on it and some loose ends. And I feel like over the years we’ve got way better at tying up those loose ends and not having any extraneous, unnecessary material on our albums.

So is there another vaults-worth of stuff waiting to come out?

There are odds and ends floating around but no, no vault [laughs].

I’m intrigued by what you said about Beacons earlier, and you’re place in a continuum of music – who are the other beacons along the line?

There are too many to mention! I guess our ambition is to be part of the continuum, be part of what makes music move along. Our only hope could be that we might inspire people to make music, the way the music we all love has inspired us.

As a final question, going on from the last one I suppose: how do you explain your position as a rock band in that the general response to Tortoise’s stuff seems to stand outside the usual clichés of rock music – the simple build and release and the emotional response. How does sit with you? How does it work?

I think people have become used to hearing music in a certain context, and only if they become really interested in music do they eventually seek out a band like us. Even somebody as successful as Sonic Youth for instance still is not on the radar of your average person. They’re an insanely influential rock band and yet they’ve never reached a kind of universal acceptance. The average person has never heard of Sonic Youth. So I guess there’s a certain kind of music listener who eventually finds out about a band like Tortoise and that’s fine because those people who do find out about us will carry it with them.

What do you make of the fact that Sonic Youth have started coming in for some negative press recently? That they’ve become part of the nostalgia industry and cool for their record collections rather than their music?

Somebody’s always going to run you down for something. I’ve never known Sonic Youth do anything with anything less that total integrity. And as for the nostalgia stuff, well, the whole Don’t Look Back Thing isn’t something we’d ever get involved in again – and Sonic Youth did a whole tour of it so must feel even worse about it! I mean, playing Millions was kind of fun but really, as a rock band you want to be playing you’re new stuff. I think we’d have been infinitely more entertaining playing our new stuff…

So when are you coming over to the UK again?

We might be here in August or September but nothing is confirmed. Other than that it might be November or December. We’ll let you know for sure… [TLOBF: Unless you've been living underground, you must have heard the announcement of the 10th Anniversary ATP show in December. My word, what a line up. If Tortoise come over before that you'll read about it here first.]

Cheers to Doug for his time and to Rowan at Thrill Jockey for setting up the interview.

TLOBF Interview :: !!!

Laura Snapes — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:34:44 +0000

Photograph by Rich Thane, taken at ATP 2009

There aren’t many bands that can whip a tired Sunday afternoon festival crowd into a throbbing mass of pheromones and adrenaline, but NYC by way of Sacramento gents !!! did exactly that at ATP The Fans Strike Back this May, and will undoubtedly wreak the same sexual wrath next Tuesday (7th) when they play Camden’s Electric Ballroom. Over email, exuberant frontman Nic Offer discussed a refreshing devil may care attitude to money, being grabbed in the biscuits, and whether the Reducing Americans’ Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act has taken any ostensible hit on the scene…

We have a pair of tickets to giveaway for the Electric Ballroom show on 7th July courtesy of the lovely people at ATP. To be in with a chance of winning them AND a load of !!! goodies (t-shirt, album) email contact@thelineofbestfit.com with the subject line CHK CHK CHK. Please include your name, phone number, address and T-Shirt size please. Closing date is Friday 3rd July @ 2pm GMT

This is probably a fairly common response, but your set at ATP was one of the most ecstatic gigs I’ve ever seen. How was the festival for you, did you get to hang around and catch many other bands?
Paul bought me a massage during Spiritualized and it was worth every pound he paid for it. The Jesus Lizard was for dickheads with clean rooms, but I bet David Yow’s room is dirty. The only time I ever heard Sleep was years ago on an acid trip and they were not quite as slow as they seemed then, but just as amazing. Killing Joke was kinda funny.

Considering that you formed to play an all-night party in Sacramento, it wouldn’t appear that you’ve changed your live approach that much – do you miss the debauchery of those more intimate settings in comparison to sanitized venues?
We bring the debauchery. I never noticed it was gone.

Do your parents ever come to watch you play? What do they make of your shows?
The first time my mom watched us, I thought she left early but finally at the end of the show I spotted her, she had made her way to the front and was dancing. I just tracked my dad for a vocal part on the new record yesterday. It was a part only he could sing, you’ll have to wait for the record to find out why that is.

Is !!! a full time job for you all? What were your last jobs?
I was a babysitter, or as they’re called in NY, a “manny”. Most of us still have real jobs, but I don’t ‘cuz I think spending money is tiresome and I need to save my energy for the stage.

It’s been two years since ‘Myth Takes’ – how far are you into the next record? Do you know where you’ll be recording it?
1/3 in Berlin, 1/3 in Sacramento, 1/3 in NY. I have no idea how finished it is. Pretty finished, but not totally. More finished than it was yesterday, how’s that?

Have you managed to perfect a method of cross-country collaboration yet, or does putting the record together still take its time?
We don’t perfect.

I heard you use audience response to determine the future of new songs – have you had to change anything based on their reactions so far?
Response has been good, and yes, there was one part that wasn’t slammin’ enough and you could feel the audience want more, so we slammed it up.

From the fairly cheap crude recording origins of ‘Myth Takes’, has its success given you more money to spend on recording, or is that primitive recording process something you’re keen to retain?
Success has not given us anything that we can count.

You said previously that after ‘Louden Up Now’, the criticisms spurred you onto your next record, but ‘Myth Takes’ was acclaimed pretty much across the board. Have you felt any pressure in writing its follow-up?
Myth Takes was slammed pretty much across the board in England, what board do you read? (Metacritic, which puts it at a pretty solid 8.1)

You have such a vast frame of reference, from James Brown to Sonic Youth. Before you start making a record, do you actively spend time with the kind of records that influence you?
Kinda. I always consider that what I’m listening to may end up an influence and I try to have a broad palette subsequently. Did you ever hear about the record Peter Murphy [of Bauhaus] made after a year of listening to no music but his own? It still sounded like David Bowie, bless his heart.

What are you all listening to at the moment?
Tones on Tail [Bauhaus side project].

You once said in an interview that you hoped African music would become the new hip thing. What did you make of the supposed Afrobeat phenomenon last year, with everyone from Vampire Weekend to Franz Ferdinand appropriating it? And which records would you recommend as starting points for people unfamiliar with the real genre, as opposed to Urban Outfitters’ appropriation?
I think it was as refreshing as I had hoped, though not quite a musical revolution. I mean, Vampire Weekend caught a lot of hype, then flack, but I thought they were kind of fresh. They sound a bit like a Shins record or something, but without the African influence it would have been rather bland, now wouldn’t it have? I’m hoping they got just enough flack to scare them into making an even better record. They’ve got a great pop sense and I’d like to see them go even deeper. I think the Golden Afrique compilations are pretty great, especially Vol. 1. My summer jam is “Sweet Music” by Dizzy K. “Excuse Me Baby” might be easier to find. He kinda sounds like a Nigerian Ariel Pink, not just ‘cuz of the reverb on his vocals, but the freeform cheesy ‘80s sense of melody as well.

Pitchfork remarked that the abandon of Nic’s behaviour makes people forget themselves in the crowd, and totally let loose. Have there ever been situations jumping into the crowd where someone’s tried to get a little too fruity, or does anything fly?
There’s always that one girl who grabs me in the biscuits and is surprised to find out the yeast hasn’t risen. But that’s fine, if you feel can do that, do it. If you feel like doing something else, do it.

Considering the craziness of your gigs, much like people thinking actors are their characters, do you find that people expect you to be wired all the time?
Yeah, sometimes I feel like I’m disappointing people when I’m mellow. Like Iggy doesn’t read a book sometimes?

Do you ever consider changing your name? Does it ever get to the point where you want to make up a new story about its origin?
Yes. Yes. Yes. Actually, no to the first question, but the record company does. Wait a minute, they did.

The ‘Reducing Americans’ Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act’ has seen a number of New York clubs shut down in the past couple of years, for seemingly tenuous links with drugs – selling water at large prices, or even glow sticks. Particularly given that as a bill it was sponsored by Biden, who’s now VP, has there been much of a noticeable influence on the scene?
I don’t look as often as I used to, but last time I needed it, I found it. But drugs like that have always been more underground in the States compared to the UK and Europe.

Finally – were there any legal repercussions of throwing the piano into the river?
Shhhh.

You can catch !!! live at the following dates:
July
05 Ruisrock, Finland
07 Electric Ballroom, LONDON
08 Whelans, DUBLIN
09 Coalition, Brighton
10 Les Ardentes, Liège
11 Paradiso, Amsterdam
12 Cactus Festival, Bruges
14 Torino Spazzio, Torino
15 Vrahan Theater, Athens
16 Neapolis Festival, Napoli
18 Melt Festival, Feropolis, Berlin
19 Latitude Festival

Catherine MacLellan – Water In The Ground / Dark Dream Midnight

Ro Cemm — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:00:36 +0000

Hailing from Prince Edward Island, Catherine MacLellan is quickly becoming one of the most respected names in the Canadian roots scene. Previous album Church Bell Blues topped the Canadian Roots charts and saw her mentioned alongside the likes of Jenn Grant and near name sake Melissa McLelland. A glimpse at the contributors list to the album shows that already MacLellan can pull out some of the finest roots musicians to lend a hand.

Album opener ‘Take A Break’ gives an indication of what is to follow for the rest of the record. An upbeat poppy take on Country, Maclellan’s vocals coming across with a slight jazzy tinge. With a walking bassline so trad it sounds like it could be the preset on a Casio keyboard, it sees familiar country tropes trotted out once again- working hard out in the fields, chiding errant lovers.

For the most part Water in the Ground follows along these very traditional lines, swinging along pleasantly, getting toes tapping in all the right places. ‘Hotel Stairs’ is a jaunty number, liberally doused in Nick Cobham’s twanging guitar lines. The shuffling ‘Something Gold’ manages to move MacLellan away from the country by numbers and the mostly acoustic ‘All Those Years’ continues this trend, her delicate emotive voice haunted by the ghosts of her past, to the sound of a gentle acoustic guitar and a subtle cello part courtesy of Phil Sedore.

It doesn’t last long however and the twang returns for ‘Set This Heart On Fire’ and ‘Not Much To Do (Not Much To Say)’ serves up a shuffling jazzy boogie, with sweet harmonies and trite lyrics: “not to much to do not much to say/ would have been yours to the end of the day/ You’ve gone off but here I stay.”

Also included in the Water In The Ground package is a copy of MacLellan’s mail order only debut Dark Dream Midnight. Where the latest record is full of bright, breezy pop with more than a hint of the country swing of Eddie Reader, MacLellan’s debut is presented mostly in the minor key. It suits MacLellan well, allowing a lyrically more open and emotional approach, without sacrificing her knack with a melody. The melancholy ‘Until One Of Us Goes’ is a real highlight, and shows a depth absent on Water In The Ground. There’s even an experiment with guitar feedback squalling in the background of ‘February Song’.

Water In The Ground is undoubtedly a well performed and realised album, but it lacks any of the edge that can occasionally be glimpsed on its predecessor. While fans of straight up country may well take it to their hearts, too often the familiar structures and ideas reduce it to little more than pleasant background music.

Water in The Ground :61%
Dark Dream Midnight: 65%

Catherine MacLellan on Myspace

BLK JKS to release debut album in September

Rich Hughes — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:14:33 +0000

BLK JKS highly-anticipated debut album, After Robots, will be released on 21st September on Secretly Canadian. This is the follow-up to their initial EP, released last year, which quickly became a favourite at TLOBF Towers.

Following highly-praised sets at SXSW, BLK JKS have gone on to share stages in North America and Europe with a disparate array of artists including Femi Kuti, Dirty Projectors, Santigold, Michael Franti and Cody Chesnutt.

More info when we get it folks…

Ten City Nation – At the Still Point

Andy Johnson — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:00:54 +0000

I like Ten City Nation. Obviously that has something to do with their music, but it’s also helped by the fact that up until now they’ve given it all away, which has always been a pretty effective means to try to win me over. I originally discovered them through REPEAT Records, a small label attached to a “Manic Street Preachers-inspired mini zine”. Ten City Nation’s self-titled debut album, the single “Exhibition Time Again” and a small selection of live tracks all got a listen from me because of that alluring freeness, and their music has proved entertaining enough in the past for me to quickly decide to investigate further once I realised that this second album, At the Still Point, was on the way.

If Ten City Nation was an album of scuzzy, lo-fi, abrasive garage rock, then At the Still Point is… an album of scuzzy, lo-fi, abrasive garage rock. Admittedly there are a few more quieter songs here, more guitars that are trying to sound like guitars than chainsaws, but generally this is still a sledgehammer-subtle riff assault that hasn’t moved on a huge amount from the band’s previous work. These recordings still sound crude, but that has the effect that this album is a document of a rock band rather than the sanitized studio product that most albums are by comparison. Things have moved on a little though – besides those quieter songs like “Take Me Down” and “Ten Years Older” there is an almost elegant segue between two of the songs early on the album, and among other small advancements, the backing vocals have improved a bit from their sometimes cringeworthy nature on the first record.

What Ten City Nation have going for them here is that they play solid songs in a raw, earnest way. They’re not driving their genre forwards leaps and bounds, but as their guitars growl and as their singer vocalizes slightly amatuerishly over them, there’s something involving and grimly inviting about everything they do. It’s helped by that warm, crude recording and production, too. Yes, “A Butcher in Silks” may be driven by an almost worryingly familiar riff (is it just like a Nirvana one, I ask myself…) but it’s never to the detrimental to the song. The best moments come quite frequently, from the gripping instrumental climax of “Silent Disco” to the confident swagger and blistering finale of “Battle Lost Battle Found”. Gradually developing, Ten City Nation are an uncommonly naturalistic and gritty band in this day and age and freeness or no freeness, are well worth a listen.
70%

Ten City Nation on MySpace

Peter Wright – Snow Blind

mapsadaisical — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:00:47 +0000

Sometimes a record comes along that is just so vast in terms of its scope and ambition that it jars up my cogs and completely prevents me from listening to anything else for weeks. Such a record is Peter Wright’s Snow Blind. I’ve been a fan of Wright for some time now; both live and on record, but nothing could have prepared me for this, not even someone holding a big sign aloft which read “Peter Wright is about to release a record so vast in scope and ambition that it will jar up your cogs”. Well, maybe that would have helped. But no-one did it, did they?

Peter Wright has been threatening to release Snow Blind for such a long time that it was beginning to acquire some sort of mythical status in his discography. This double CD, recorded in 2007 when New Zealander Wright was sojourning in London, seems to have taken its time to find a home: which is utterly bizarre given its absurdly high quality. Thankfully Install have now picked it up, although quantities are distressingly limited. In fact, I wouldn’t waste time reading the rest of the review. It’ll be a long one. Trust me; go there, buy one now, and then come back and finish this later. I’ll wait for you, honest.

Got one? Excellent, I’ll press on with disc one. It all begins with a most familiar sound to us Londoners: a drunk ranting while police sirens wail all around. From there, Wright combines abrasive Kevin Drumm drone, spooked Miasmah atmospherics, hazy shoegaze, dense Richard Skelton style composition, and even bursts of Godspeed guitar grandiosity to complete his masterpiece. Most of my favourite elements, then. ‘The Drunken Master In His Crumbling Citadel’ clears the drunk off the streets with some increasingly harsh and heavy feedback which falls like torrential rain by the end. Reverberating metallic rhythms, like distorted steel drums, lead into the long ambient organ drone of ‘Apakura‘, whose still surface occasionally dapples, briefly breaking up into luminous patterns. “Truth Serum” is constructed entirely from scrapes of whining guitar, and is dense, muffled and emotionally fraught. Following that, the building guitar strum of ‘Follow The Leader‘ couldn’t do more to signify an imminent eruption into huge white noise if it held aloft a big sign which read…um I’ve done this one already haven’t I? But when it finally comes, the ear-pummelling which follows is particularly intense, the sound is ravaged beyond all recognisability. Utterly excoriating.

The second disc begins with pulsating Spacemen 3 type ambience, before the oppressive, rainy, hissy atmospheres of ‘The Distopian National Anthem‘ descend; since hearing this, I’ve cancelled my forthcoming trip to Distopia, and am even considering suspending all diplomatic relations. ‘Cruise Missiles’ gently reprises ‘Akapura’ drone, being a mere calm before the torrential electric storm entitled (somewhat bizarrely, if no doubt truthfully) ‘With Teeth Like That You Can’t Help But Succeed‘. Brutally serrated fragments of guitar distortion crackle from the speakers, forming billowing clouds of skin-shredding metal. The album descends gently to a close with the restrained chord sequences of the title track, leaving you to reflect on the huge sonic experience that was Snow Blind the album, let your ears rest a little, then skip right back to the start of the first disc. Before you know it, you’ll have lost weeks of your life to this album. Don’t say no-one warned you.
90%

Peter Wright on Myspace

Originally posted on the mapsadaisical blog

Bon Iver – Serpentine Sessions @ Hyde Park, London 30/06/09

Catriona Boyle — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:53:31 +0000

Photographs by Annah Legg

So you’re having a bunch of shows in Hyde Park, during the (brief) height of the Great British summer, and what do you do? Why stick it in a tent, of course. Granted, everyone would be eternally grateful if, true to form, it was pissing it down tonight, but it’s not and it seems a damn shame having to shuffle inside a big old circus tent when it’s so nice lazing around outside on the grass. Which may explain why there’s a fairly small crowd for folk-tress Alela Diane, tonight’s main support act. Those who did head inside were rewarded though, as she delivered a warm, glowing rendition of highlights from her debut To Be Still. With her dad on mandolin duties, and a full band, she pulled of a gloriously golden sound that rivalled soaking up the sun outside.

The tent did, of course, fill up though, as Bon Iver took to the stage around 8:45pm. Opening with a long, anticipation-building intro to ‘Lump Sum’, it was a fairly low-key beginning to the proceedings, even by his low-key standards. But after he’d eased in gently he whipped out that battered old steel guitar and smacked the audience round the face, dropping what must’ve been the track most them bought their ticket for – the trademark ‘Skinny Love’. It wasn’t wasted early on in the set though, but set a very very high bar for the rest of the show, which Bon Iver cleared easily. And, of course, it was bloody beautiful. There was a rare outing for’ Brackett, W9’, featured on the Dark Was The Night compilation. The warm, fuzzy guitar sounds combined with swelling vocals were lovely to hear live, and then progressed surprisingly well into ‘Blood Bank’, as though the two songs were brothers.

Generally a man of few but always kind a humble worlds, Justin said the past two years had been ‘indescribable’, so he therefore wasn’t going to attempt to describe it. A solo ‘Re:Stacks’ was definitely one of the most heartbreaking moments of the evening, with an entire tent brought to it’s knees by the beautiful rubato delivery on the chorus. ‘Babies’, from the Blood Bank EP was also surprisingly epic, building towards a huge, all-encompassing final chorus. Ending on the warm, amiable tones of ‘For Emma’, the band leave stroll off the stage to rapturous applause. It seems they’re picked up a few bad rock and roll habits, as there’s more than a pregnant pause before they return. Covering the classic Jayhawks track, ‘Tampa to Tulsa’, Mike Noyce takes over vocal duties, and it’s a full and accomplished voice that comes from this delicate, still-wet-behind-the-ears slip of a boy. ‘Creature Fear’ sends the audience off into the (still light) park, with huge reverberating drums sounds and a final cacophony of sounds, giving this track a new lease of life.

This show is yet another dollop of icing on the Bon Iver cake. Consistently good, consistently challenging, consistently pushing themselves - they truly are an audience’s bands, and they certainly knocked this show out of the park.

Richmond Fontaine announce eighth album, give track-by-track guide

Rich Thane — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:16:48 +0000

Richmond Fontaine have announed the release of their eighth album We Used to Think The Freeway Sounded Like A River. The album is to be released on Décor Records (American Music Club, Franz Nicolay) and will be followed by a full UK tour in September. Willy Vlautin will also be over playing a set at the Latitude Festival on July 19th.

Since the bands last album Thirteen Cities (Feb 2007), Richmond Fontaine have been writing what they say is their strongest work yet with their most memorable tunes to date. The album is all written by singer/songwriter, Willy Vlautin who has already released two fiction novels to great acclaim in the past two years ‘The Motel Life’ and ‘Northline’ on Faber & Faber and his third novel ready for release in Feb 2010. The album will be preceded by the 7” single “You Can Move Back Here” out July 20th.

Willy’s rough guide to the tracklisting:

‘We Used To Think The Freeway Sounded Like a River’
Living next to an abandoned house that once had a grand swimming pool, the romance of a couple having their first place, and the romance and cost of living in a bad neighborhood.

‘Northwest‘
Instrumental feature Collin Oldham’s cellomobo

‘You Can Move Back Here‘
Getting a call from an old pal drowning in a city

‘The Boyfriends‘
A mom’s series of boyfriends and the kid who has to see them. Features trumpet by Mr. Paul Brainard.

‘The Pull‘
The anxiety and struggle of trying to stay sober. The man in it is so angry and hopeless that he begins boxing, and it works until he gets hurt then it’s taken away as well.

‘Sitting Outside my Dad’s Old House‘
Instrumental

‘Maybe We Were Both Born Blue‘
A high school romance and a neighbor who ruins both of them

‘Watch Out‘
Instrumental

‘43‘
Debt, a paint store, and a basement full of weed.

‘Lonnie‘
Running into your friend’s aunt at Safeway and having her give you a list of all the horrible things her nephews has done.

‘Ruby and Lou‘
A romance and a couple believing there’s a place where the darkness of the world doesn’t exist. The Portland room they get is at the St. Francis Hotel. It’s where Drug Store Cowboy is set and is where I used to stay when I visited Portland.

‘Walking back to our Place at 3AM’
Instrumental

‘Two Alone’
In a new town with a job as forklift driver and a pregnant girlfriend who loves credit cards and doesn’t have a job.

‘A Letter To The Patron Saint of Nurses’
A nurse having a nervous breakdown while drinking wine coolers and listening to Mariachi music.

Catch Richmond Fontaine on tour throughout September including an appearence at The End Of The Road festival…

July
17th The Social London (Willy Valutin solo set)
19th Latitude Festival Suffolk (Willy Valutin solo set)

September
Fri 4th Ireland – Electric Picnic Festival
Sat 5th Pontypridd – Muni Arts Centre Festival
Sun 6th – Winchester – SXSC Festival
Mon 7th – Leicester – The Musician
Tues 8th – Newcastle – The Cluny
Wed 9th – Glasgow – Stereo
Thurs 10th – Leeds – The New Roscoe
Fri 11th – North York Moors – Band Room
Sat 12th – Bedford – Civic
Sun 13th – End of the Road Festival
Mon 14th – Bristol – St Bonaventures
Tues 15th – Nottingham – Maze
Wed 16th – Manchester -Academy 3
Thurs 17th – London – Garage

Anathallo – Canopy Glow

Angus Finlayson — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:28:37 +0000

In their earliest EPs, dating from the early noughties, Anathallo occasionally sound like a sea-shanty inspired Mars Volta tribute act; or, in their (even) darker moments, a kind of crass pop-punk band with mildly proggy tendencies and a trumpet or two. Ok, so maybe I’m being a bit harsh, but what’s abundantly clear is that this band have come a long way in the last 8 or so years. In Canopy Glow, their second label-released full length (and first on the Anticon label), teenage angst is replaced with…well, adult angst. Which is something we all have, innit.

Opener ‘Noni’s Field’ is a prime example; musically, it erupts with an agile beauty which prevails through much of the album. Lyrically, however, we are launched straight into the meat of human preoccupation; “How will you go?”, reads Matt Joynt’s lilting vocal, “Out through your mouth in a sigh? Into a space we don’t know”. Heavy stuff, I’m sure you’ll agree.

That’s not to say that this album is particularly hard work, though. From the outset the clarity of sound is of the highest order; pianos, guitars, strings, brass – everything sparkles in a way that is a pleasure to the ear. In ‘Northern Lights’, 3-part vocal harmonies are imbued with just the right amount of imperfection, while the twinkling xylophone and cello passages in ‘The River’ are unabashed ear-candy. There are hints of some more left-field production techniques as well – in the clicks and clatters of the intro to ‘Cafetorium’, for example – which would compliment the band’s sound well, but for now they seem satisfied with a rich, largely acoustic soundworld.

Musically there’s a great deal of delicacy, too. Often complexity hides beneath the surface, lending depth and finesse to what could otherwise be dull or predictable; as in the quasi-gamelan cross-rhythms of ‘Bells’. Structures are subtly detailed, and the odd unexpected twist makes for an engaging listen. Throughout the album, Anathallo leap between quiet poignancy and stomping climax with satisfying ease; though there are a few lapses into out-and-out jubilance – most notably in ‘All The First Pages’ – which seem to cheapen the whole experience a little.

The fact is that, in spite of the vast assortment of instruments available to this band (most of which seem to be used on ‘The River’), Canopy Glow is a fundamentally vocal-led record. And therein lies, perhaps, its main weakness; the lyrics have real clout, but Joynt’s super-light delivery often obscures them beyond recognition, and Erica Froman’s near-constant harmonies can sometimes feel unneeded. Aside from a few standout tracks (particularly the hook-saturated ‘Italo’), hopping, birdlike melodies are often lacking in something recognisable to hold on to; conversely, in tracks such as ‘Sleeping Torpor’ and ‘John J. Audubon’, strong vocals struggle to conceal a slight directionlessness in the music. By the time closer ‘Tower of Babel’ is reached, its simple clarity is a much-needed tonic. But too little too late, perhaps.
62%

Anathallo on MySpace

Taken By Trees announce new album

Rich Hughes — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:32:36 +0000

Rough Trade records have announced the release of East Of Eden, the new album by Taken By Trees. It will be released on September 7th. The album will also come with a short film that was shot in Pakistan while recording.

Taken by Trees is the nom de plume of Victoria Bergsman, previously known for her work with The Concretes and Peter Bjorn & John’s worldwide smash hit single ‘Young Folks’. This new offering follows in the footsteps of Taken By Tree’s acclaimed debut album Open Field which was released in 2007.

Tracklisting:
1. To Lose Someone
2. Anna
3. Watch The Waves
4. Greyest Love Of All
5. Tidens Gång
6. Wapas Karna
7. My Boys
8. Day By Day
9. Bekännelse

Maximo Park announce trio of Autumn dates

Rich Hughes — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:29:24 +0000

Maximo Park have announced a set of tour dates for Autumn:

October
07 Glasgow, Barrowland
08 Manchester, Apollo
09 London, Royal Albert Hall

Tickets go on general sale at 9am on Friday 3rd July from:
www.seetickets.com, www.gigsandtours.com, www.gigsinscotland.com

Download: Oh! Canada Volume 2: Canada Day Edition

Ro Cemm — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:00:42 +0000

While some of our writers can be found skating around Trafalgar Square this afternoon (Good luck Shain!), TLOBF are celebrating Canada Day by bringing you Volume 2 of our Oh! Canada compilations featuring the very best of new Canadian talent. There’s some old friends in disguise (Silkken-Laumann feature a familiar vocalist and his room mate, guesses in the comments section!), new material from The Most Serene Republic, Ford Peir and Hannah Georgas, a track from the soon to be reissued Wintersleep back catalogue and a bunch more besides. As ever keep your eyes out for interviews and reviews from featured artists in the coming months in TLOBF’s Oh! Canada Column. There’s even a few nice surprises hidden amongst the links!

Happy Canada Day!

Oh! Canada Volume 2:
1. The Rural Alberta Advantage – Don’t Haunt This Place
2. Japandroids – Young Hearts Spark Fire
3. The Got To Get Got – Gettin’ Dirty In The Afterlife
4. Royal City – Bad Luck
5. Deep Dark Woods – All The Money I Had Is Gone
6. Snailhouse – (Not) Superstitious
7. Melissa McClelland – God Loves Me
8. Ford Pier – Sick Of The Good Times
9. Elliott Brood – Write It All Down For You
10. Hannah Georgas – The Beat Stuff
11. Ryan Driver – That’s Which Way The Water Falls
12. The Superfantastics – Lullaby Punches
13. Said The Whale – This City’s A Mess
14. The Most Serene Republic – Heavens To Purgatory
15. The Olympic Symphonium – Intentions Alone
16. Immaculate Machine – Sound The Alarms
17. Wintersleep – Fog
18. Geoff Berner – One Shoe
19. Silkken-Laumann – Soleil Moonfrye
20. Years – Are You Unloved?

DOWNLOAD
[mp3] Oh! Canada Volume 2
PC: right click and choose “save as…”
MAC: CTRL + click and choose “save link as”

TLOBF would like to thank all of the bands and labels who have given us their music to share with you. If you like what you are hearing, get in touch and let us (and them) know.

Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue

Angus Finlayson — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:00:52 +0000

After a long tenure on Mush Records, Bibio (born Stephen Wilkinson) was brought into the prestigious Warp fold on – so it’s said – the recommendation of Boards of Canada. Having such a respected name sing your praises is any musician’s dream, but it’s conceivable that the West Midlands-born artist might have been best off staying where he was. In any case, a Warp release is sure to see him reaching whole new audiences; the words ‘make or break’ seem to be hovering ominously over this release. Let’s try to ignore them.

The album’s backbone is a kind of pastoral haze – highly reminiscent of The Beta Band at their folkiest – which has become Bibio’s trademark sound. At their best, the guitar and vocal-led numbers which promote this sound are gems of simplicity and beauty; take the ‘The Palm of your Wave’ for example, where the fragility and character of Wilkinson’s voice (which, it must be said, isn’t always the most striking) comes to the fore, or ‘Haikuesque (When She Laughs)’, perhaps the album’s highlight. The chief appeal of these tracks is that they do just one thing, but they do it well; a creative approach which is sadly underrated in our bigger-harder-faster culture (when did I get so old and ranty?). Unfortunately, doing one thing, it becomes apparent, is precisely what this album fails at.

Case in point: ‘Fire Ant’. Of course, it’s always nice to see producers keeping their ears to the ground – this track could feasibly be an offcut from Madlib’s Beat Konducta series, with its fragmented, soulful vocals and skittering breaks – but the late entry of a vocoded voice comes across as an attempt to add something to what is already a fully mature style; just not Bibio’s own. Further sleeve-worn influences are revealed in Sugarette and S’Vive, where the gloopy aqua-crunk-step sound of labelmate Flying lotus is exploited to its fullest. Don’t get me wrong, these stylistic forays are executed with skill and creativity; but there’s something disingenuous about such an established musician as Wilkinson tapping into a contemporary trend in such a blatant way.

And while these tracks may be standalone successes, they sit uneasily alongside the established Bibio sound. Ambivalence Avenue is saturated with soundscape passages and obstructively long silences between songs; tried and tested methods for cleansing the palette before a major change in style or mood. Sadly, the sheer frequency of these interludes detracts from their success, and the constant changes in pacing make for a fragmented, dissatisfying listen.

After so many releases (five albums by my count), you’d think Wilkinson would have learnt some self-discipline. Unfortunately, Ambivalence Avenue seems to be the work of a producer who wants to have his cake and eat it; he strives to be welcomed on both the soggy fields of WOMAD and the ketamine-dusted dancefloors of London’s hippest clubs. Unfortunately, the result isn’t quite enough for either. I’ll refrain from making a pun on my ambivalence towards this release. The proof is in the pudding. (And by pudding I mean percentage mark).
62%

Bibio on MySpace

Tours update! Bat For Lashes / Franz Ferdinand / Dananananaykroyd

Rich Hughes — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:24:04 +0000

O2 venues across the country are being put to good use as a raft of new tour dates have been announced for some of TLOBF’s favourites artists.

Bat For Lashes has announced two dates for October, expect more soon:
10 – O2 Academy Liverpool
13 – O2 Academy Leeds

Franz Ferdinand have also confirmed a date at London’s Brixton Academy on 24th October.

One of the best live acts of the moment, Dananananaykroyd, are set to play some of their biggest shows to date, playing the London Scala (27th Oct) and O2 Academy 2 Oxford (25th Oct).

Remember, if you’re on O2 you can get Priority Tickets to any of the above shows 48 hours before general release.

Tickets on sale now. Click here to register. Terms apply.

SUNN O))) confirmed for Supersonic 2009!!

Rich Hughes — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:42:31 +0000

Oh. Yes. This has made my week.

Those lovely people organising the Supersonic Festival have pulled one out of the bag here. SUNN O))) have been confirmed as extra special guests at this years festival!!

Look out for an interview with the people behind Capsule, the promoters of Supersonic, in the coming weeks.

In the meantime:

TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM:
http://www.theticketsellers.co.uk
24 hr order line – 0844 870 0000 – Calls cost max 5p per min from BT landline

Rough Trade East – London
Swordfish + Polar Bear – Birmingham
Plugd Records – Cork

DAY TICKETS NOW ON SALE

Weekend tickets – £70

Friday 24th July 9pm – 2.30am
Day Ticket – £15
includes Army Of Flying Robots / Atomized / Drum Eyes / Kylie Minoise / PCM / Scorn / Taint / Venetian Snares

Saturday 25th July 4pm – 3am
Day Ticket – £35
includes Dialed In – Bobby Previte vs VJ Benton-C Bainbridge / Corrupted / Diaganol / Flower/Corsano Duo / Growing / Iron Lung / Kim Hiorthoy / Light Trap / Marnie Stern / Master Musicians Of Bukkake / Monotonix / Nisenenmondai / Remember Remember / Rose Kemp / Skullflower / Tartufi / The Accused / Thought Forms / Thorr’s Hammer / Tweak Bird / Zu

Sunday 26th July 2pm – 12.30 am
Day Ticket – £35
Includes 65 Days Of Static / Arbouretum / Caribou / Chris Herbert / Earthless / Goblin / Head Of David / Jarboe / Khyam Allami / Nancy Wallace / Pontiak / Pram / Pre / Theo / The Memory Band / zZz

British Sea Power – Man of Aran

Matt Poacher — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:00:43 +0000

At first glance this seems like a bit of an odd choice for British Sea Power – to soundtrack a silent film from 1934. Yet on reflection, the fact BSP have always been a somewhat capital R Romantic band, the chance to meddle with a classic of Romantic documentary film making must have been too much; and add to that that it was a documentary about man working against the forces of nature, and in reality you have the perfect match.

Man of Aran was first released in 1934 and was the work of maverick and pioneering documentary maker Robert J. Flaherty. It was controversial for a number of reasons: that Flaherty shot it as a documentary at all when in fact the film was highly stylised featuring a central family handpicked for their looks and ruggedness, that it showed hunting techniques that were the best part of a 100 years out of date, that he recklessly put lives in danger for the films central dramatic scenes. What is certain is that in the 500,000 feet of film Flaherty shot, there were some extraordinarily powerful shots of the sheer bleakness of the island’s landscapes and the destructive force of nature. And despite the slightly fabricated lifestyles, some sharp insights into how the islanders survived in the harshest conditions.

A very basic question to ask is does the film need a soundtrack? There is a real tension here, as with a silent backdrop the focus is all on the imagery, the awesome forces of nature and Flaherty’s considerable expertise as a cinematographer. As such, it would be very easy to step in with huge size nines and make a right mess of the delicate balance of the film. That BSP mostly don’t is a testament to their inherent understanding of dynamics. Generally speaking they enhance what is on offer here, or at least paint in light brush strokes and don’t draw attention away from the visuals.

In the soundtracks quieter moments there are some genuinely beautiful moments. The opening track, ‘Man of Aran’ is little more than a delicate piano figure overlain with the softest of string sections; ‘Come Wander With Me’ (a song that originally featured in a Twilight Zone episode) is quietly epic, the drama all in the suppressed horns; ‘It Comes Back Again’ ( a re-working of True Adventures’ from Open Season) is an epic – a chamber quartet buried under a sea of treated guitars; ‘Woman of Aran’ reprises the piano figure of ‘Man of Aran’ but introduces a faint trill of guitars – they sound at their most Sigur Ros like here. It’s a beautiful track that adds real gravity to the visuals – the Aran women waiting, sometimes for days, for the men to come back from perilous fishing trips. These simply painted tracks work, but it is when the band try to compete with the immensity of the forces of nature that the project is less successful…

Now it’s clear that BSP’s visit to the legendary Hotel2Tango loft space in Montreal – one time haunt of Godspeed You! Black Emperor amongst others – to record Do You Like Rock Music? was an obvious turning point in the band’s history – it gave that album the huge sound they’d been seeking, and it also drew forth a not-quite-dormant strain of post-rock that had lain behind their sound up until that point. On Man of Aran they get to indulge that strain to the full. And to be honest it’s the tracks where they most explicitly nod to Godspeed and the like that the soundtrack falls down, as the temptation to try to match the power of nature with the power of post-ROCK is too much, and well, it just doesn’t work. The two main offenders are ‘The South Sound’ and ‘Spearing the Sunfish’ both 11-minute tracks and both marred by a sort of by-numbers rendering of drama in sonic form – as the on-screen dramatic tension increases so does the volume and pace of the music, the former ending in a string driven bounce along, the latter in a thrash of squalling guitars. When you consider that ‘Spearing the Sunfish’ soundtracks an expedition to capture a 30-foot basking shark there is almost an intrinsic absurdity to the endeavour of attempting a soundtrack at all.

Which I guess is partly the point – Man of Aran was a challenge the band couldn’t turn down. There’s probably a certain amount of hubris involved but for the most part the band carry it off which is testament to their intelligence and sense of grace. It’s worth tracking down, and to me, if it makes anyone see the film then it’s done it’s job as the film is the real star of the show.
71%

British Sea Power on MySpace

There Will Be Fireworks – There Will Be Fireworks

Matt Poacher — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:27:54 +0000

When the narrative comes to be written for standout albums of 2009, there’s going to be a whole heap of Scottish bands involved. And they just keep coming: The Phantom Band, My Latest Novel, Meursault, We Were Promised Jetpacks, the live Frightened Rabbit Album, Broken Records… There Will Be Fireworks are the latest to well up from the fertile Scottish plains, and I suspect, come the end of 2009, they’re going to be somewhere near the top of that ragged heap, if not at the very top.

The facts are these: There Will Be Fireworks are four Glaswegians – old school friends – Adam Ketterer (drums, glockenspiel), David Madden (bass), Gilbran Farrah (guitar, violin, piano) and Nicholas McManus (guitars, vocals, organ) and this is their first record, though it has been a fair while in the making. It was recorded pretty much live in a huge 17th century mill in Stratharven and it’s hard to miss the fact that the circumstances of the recording have invaded the record’s very weave – it sounds huge. What the band have done is taken the dynamics of a certain strand of post-rock (think Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky) and squashed them into throbbing, explosively passionate songs, and in doing so have channelled something of a new sound – a propulsive, widescreen sound that seems at once born of the organic live recording situation and something else, something deeper. There are lives packed into these songs, and at times it feels as if the skin is close to ripping.

The album begins with a poem written specially for the album by the Stornoway writer and poet Kevin MacNeil. His writing is full of heat and fire, often frayed at the edges – quite a coup for the band and just the perfect fit. His lilting yet powerful monologue (”for there will be fireworks/and they will light up your eyes/and you will feel more alive than ever before/just as your sister would wish for you…”) is consumed by an immense firewall of howling guitars. It’s a powerful statement of intent. Somewhat surprisingly it fades into the calm of ‘So The Story Goes’ – a vast sounding track, but one built around a bare skeleton of distant guitars and understated brass. It’s here and on ‘Midfield Maestro’ that you get a real sense of that recording base the band used – the gaps between the instruments seem almost unnaturally huge at times, and whilst the production isn’t always perfect it’s great to hear such an honest and live sound.

‘Midfield Maestro’ is also where you get a real sense of the band’s emotional punch – and it’s the first of a trio of songs that give the album its narrative heart. As ‘Midfield Maestro’ builds to a huge close (and Ketterer’s drums sound immense here) McManus is bleeding into the mic ‘we’ll set these tapes on fire as your heart breaks in my car/you’re unravelling in my arms’ and you can hear his intakes of breath as they vibrate against his taut vocal chords. The track melts into ‘Guising’ a gorgeous vignette detailing a trick or treat incident, which in turn becomes ‘Off With Their Heads’ – a genuinely epic track which is the band at their very best: raw, ambitious and adept in weaving emotion into dynamic sonic patterns. The closing moments make me want to bust through the top of my head.

You could say, though it would be unfair (what of the broad sweep of ‘A Kind Of Furnace’, the strung-out drama of ‘We Sleep Through The Bombs’ and ‘We Were A Roman Candle’, with it’s blizzard of guitars and aching refrain of ‘I could have been more cautious!’?), that the record never recovers from this highpoint But in truth, and this rambling review is testament to this, the record is ambitious and detailed enough to hold the attention – you can get lost in shadowy corners, listen for buried references to earlier tracks, and all of the while feel a part of the thing. It’s a truly inclusive record. Christ only knows what they’re like live.

For information purposes, the Fireworks record is available from the band themselves as, mystifyingly, they’ve not yet been signed. You can buy from their website here. Do it.
84%

We have FIVE copies of There Will Be Fireworks’ album to give away.
Email your name and address with the subject line ‘Fireworks’ to contact@thelineofbestfit.com and we’ll pick 5 names at random.

Closing date 7th July.

There Will Be Fireworks on MySpace

Jens Lekman catches nasty Swine Flu virus

Rich Thane — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:46:07 +0000

"When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Hog"

Oh no! Poor Jens!

Mr Lekman has contracted the nasty “swine flu” virus. Hero of TLOBF caught the virus whilst out on tour in South America earlier this month. He’s currently recovering at home in Sweden.

As he does with most things, Lekman first revealed his illness on his blog:

“I picked home one last souvenir from South America, it’s called the H1N1 virus. Wrongfully known as the Swineflue.

“I was crossing the Atlantic when things started getting really bad, the fever was hallucinogenic and shaking me like a leaf and I grabbed the sleeve of the Air France steward. ‘I’m not feeling well, I should see a doctor’ I said and the reply came as a brilliant mix of death anxiety and french rudeness: ‘Uh, yes… Terminal D… go there maybe… when we land’. After that the stewards and stewardesses took long detours. A ring of empty seats formed around me. Peoples eyes were kind but determined, they read ‘Poor you, I really wish you all the best but if you come near me or my kid I will have to stab you with this plastic fork’. I got up and went to the bathroom where I fainted.

Now I’m in quarantine for ten days. I can see the summer through my window and it’s just perfect. Summer is always best through a window.”

Lekman is still scheduled to play Norway’s Træna Festival next month, as well as a pair of shows in Portugal.

Get well soon Jens! If you get bored, why not make us another one of your mixtapes? Two Thousand & Fine is still on heavy rotation round these parts.

[Competition] Win a pair of tickets to Loop festival!

Rich Hughes — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:40:54 +0000

We’ve got a pair of tickets to Brighton’s premier live festival – Loop, which takes places around the City between the 10th and 12th July. The line-up is really impressive, featuring such acts as Fever Ray, The Field, Fanfarlo and The XX.

Full line-up:
Fever Ray / Matthew Herbert Big Band / Squarepusher / múm (live & DJ) / Telepathe / The Field / The Juan Maclean
The XX / Datarock / Esser / Joakim and the Disco / Fujiya & Miyagi / The Glimmers / We Have Band
Emilíana Torrini / The Invisible /Tunng / Plugs /Zomby /The Qemists / Riton / CasioKids / Fanfarlo
Mirrors / Man Like Me / Hatcham Social / Thomas Truax / The Sian Alice Group / James Yuill / Elizabeth / Battant / John the Savage / Win Prizes/ Caspar C / Linus Loves

For a chance to win, just send an email to competition@thelineofbestfit.com with “Loop the Loop” in the subject line. Winners will be announced, and the competition closed, on the 6th July.

For a taster, he’s the official Loop video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

There’s more info on the Official Loop site plus, if you’re not lucky enough to win a pair of tickets, you can still buy some on the ticket website.

Johnny Foreigner unveil album title & offer free download of new tracks

Rich Hughes — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:39:54 +0000

The follow up to their storming debut Waited Up ‘Til It Was Light, Johnny Foreigner have announced the title and release date of their much anticipated sophomore album: It’ll be called Grace And The Bigger Picture and it’ll be released on 26th October.

This week also sees the release of ‘Feels Like Summer’ – a taster track from the forthcoming album, and the band are offering a FREE 3-track download available now from their new website including ‘Feels Like Summer’ and two brand new exclusive tracks.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Don’t forget you can see them live in October at the following dates:

OCTOBER
05 – Nottingham – Bodega
06 – Oxford – Jericho
07 – Birmingham – Flapper & Firkin
08 – Exeter – Cavern
09 – Brighton – Audio
10 – London – Garage
12 – Sheffield – The Harley
13 – Manchester – Deaf Institute
14 – Leeds – Brudenell Social Club
15 – Glasgow – King Tuts
16 – Liverpool – Korova
17 – Cambridge – Soul Tree

Deastro – Moondagger

Laura Snapes — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:00:46 +0000

There is no possible redemption for any band that names one of their songs ‘Daniel Johnston Was Stabbed In The Heart With The Moondagger By The King of Darkness And His Ghost Is Writing This Song As A Warning To All Of Us’. Come back, Panic! At The Disco, all is forgiven. Even if Moondagger were as sublime as Veckatimest or as revolutionary as L’Histoire de Melody Nelson, that title alone would be suffice to guarantee them a lifetime’s entry in the annals of indie wankerdom, but their music’s practically a fast-track pass to the front of the queue.

Hailing from Detroit, Randolph Chabot Jr has probably never heard The Enemy or even been to Coventry, yet Moondagger sounds suspiciously like Tom Clarke and his mullet-topped brethren frotting with Deerhunter to the tune of the Tesco Value version of Merriweather Post Pavilion. All the requisite synth-pop elements are there – disco beats, programmed kids’ toy beats, and tsunamis of haze – but intermixed with the musical equivalent of breadcrumbs and pork starch. Opener ‘Biophelia’ might border on poignant, were it not for a ‘heard it a million times’ Pikachu bleep and the numb urgency of its soaring chorus, all sterile rockets and fireworks taking off in quick succession. It dives into ‘Parallelogram’ (I wonder where he got the idea for that song title), with vocals straight out of MPP – saccharine and rushing atop an all-enveloping wall of tropical sparkle and stormy crashes – but it never builds to those same euphoric climaxes that Animal Collective do so well.

‘Greens, Grays, and Nordics’ makes plain that Deastro needs to attend lessons alongside classmates VHS or Beta, The Departure and The Bravery about why some musical trends were left in the ‘80s for a reason, and the offensively garrulous paean to Daniel Johnston mines the same grating vein. Despite starting in the same bland, dreamy way as a number of other songs present, it builds into what’s possibly the worst chorus of any song this year – think Tom Clarke joining PoP!, Hugh Grant’s fictional band from ‘Music & Lyrics’, attempting to write a Thatcherite protest song. Wincing yet? Try the chorus for size – “We’re gonna build this town / We’re gonna build it right / We’re gonna save this world / We’re gonna make some right”. It’s almost enough to make John McClure (Reverend & The Makers) sound like Dylan.

I said almost.
18%

Deastro on MySpace

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We have FIVE copies of There Will Be Fireworks’ album to give away. Email your name and address with the subject line ‘Fireworks’ to contact@thelineofbestfit.com and we’ll pick 5 names at random.

Closing date 7th July.

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Email your name and address with the subject line ‘Fireworks’ to contact@thelineofbestfit.com and we’ll pick 5 names at random.