Spectrals - Bad Penny

There have been a lot of bands springing up this up year with surf-rock tinged guitars, and whilst many are fun, few are as intimate as Spectrals on their new album, Bad Penny. The fact they hail from West Yorkshire gives the album a real sense of day dreaming, evoking a longed for escape which, in today’s political climate, is always welcome.

Spectrals’ withdrawn approach to the hazy beach sound often lends itself to comparisons with the San Francisco band Girls’ 2009 debut ‘Album’ (no, really, it’s called Album) as they plod gloriously through their sunshine grooves. However, scratch the surface and all is not as happy as it may first appear as the entire album centers around Louis Jones’ ex and how she consumes his every thought and action. Behind every whimsical riff lies a lyric of confusion and unrequited love.

Standing head and shoulders above all is the track Big Baby. This is an out and out Phi Spector masterpiece. Sometimes an act comes along and mentions influences which leave you thinking “you don’t get it at all”. Well, not here. The spirit of the Shirelles and Ronettes will have a long and prosperous future due to the Spectrals’ flare to combine 60s girl groups with indie pop.

Lockjaw and Many Happy Returns show their Yorkshire heritage with a nod to Richard Hawley’s recent work on Coles Corner and Lady’s Bridge. TT believes that the Yorkshire connection is crucial to why Spectrals are great. They are the link between the Arctic Monkeys to the surf rock trends of today that many have been looking for.

Yes, escapist beach anthems are great but history has proven that British folk love their pop music with grit and heartache like the Monkeys served up on their debut. That is exactly what the Spectrals deliver.

 

Spectrals - Big Baby by Spectrals

Spectrals - Get A Grip by Spectrals

To Kill A King - My Crooked Saint

Communion Records continue to discover acts reinventing the folk wheel and To Kill A King are the perfect example. Championed by Laura Marling, the queen of folk herself, TKAK release the highly emotive EP, My Crooked Saint, on the 17th October.

On the opener Bloody Shirt, TKAK have taken The Cure at their downbeat best on Lullaby and twisted them with the bittersweet melodies of John Martyn. This approach feels so fresh it is going to make the big industrial noise of Editors and White Lies a thing of the past. 

If Bloody Shirt feels like a smooth gear-shift away from the big indie bands around, then We Used To Protest/Gamble is like getting a mushroom on Mariokart away from them. Ever wondered what it is about the Chapel Club that’s missing? Well, it’s this. Chapel Club are a good band - make no mistake, but To Kill A King don’t need a rabble-rousing chorus to convey their love and hurt. Straight from the off, they are tugging on the heartstrings and then subsequently building on the nagging feeling they place in your hearts.

Family is TKAK's epic number which builds and builds until a crescendo of beauty at the end. On the surface, this track is most likely to be the newcomer’s way in due to its great simplicity, but the lyrics are on a whole other level. The words on this track will have fans shouting "Yes! Yes! This is how it is for me!" as they convey the underlying (and rarely spoken) love/hate relationships people have with their families. The music press will never recognise this as a social commentary of the same ilk as Cigarettes & Alcohol or London Calling but Travellers Tunes is sure this will resonate with most people.

In an interview recently, Paddy Considine said he would definitely direct a film with Shane Meadows within the next 10 years. TT hopes they listen to My Crooked Saint when they do so. The amount of warmth and pain conjured up on this EP is enough for the gritmasters of film to sink their teeth into and create something equally as pure and compelling.



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Sissy & The Blisters @ Tooting Tram and Social

XFM’s John Kennedy hosts the free gig tonight and is clearly beaming from ear to ear in anticipation of Sissy & The Blisters headliner slot. It takes no time at all to see why as they rattle through their set, often sounding like an aggressive stripped-back Interpol with the pop sensibilities of Dennis The Fox’s ‘Piledriver’.

It is hard not to be immediately drawn to singer James Geard as he bounds back and forth from the organ to the microphone. His deep vocals suit the organ leg garage rock anthems perfectly, and none more so than on the new single Let Her Go. This is a joyously raucous number with fragile lyrics about not being able to move on, evoking memories of Doors' Love You Two Times but fuelled by the urgency of The Buzzcocks.

In a venue where there are far too many sofas on display, the crowd find space to dance like there is no tomorrow to previous single We Are The Others. Geard is clearly buoyed by this and opts to throw himself into the front of the crowd for a little dance of his own. Many new bands have singers with dreams of stage-diving and being the iconic wildman but very few are authentic. Geard thankfully falls into the latter category with his ‘kid on cherryade’ enthusiasm.

In an era where synth bands are ruling the indie airwaves, people are about to get one hell of a guitar and organ-based kick in the plums. This band ooze sex and danger, yet have the great quality of being humble as they chat away at the bar afterwards. With radio play from Zane Lowe, Huw Stephens, Lemacq and XFM already under their belt, it truly seems only a matter of time before the world knows about Sissy & The Blisters.

Bestival 2011 may have been marred by one or two disgraceful acts this year but Traveller’s Tunes will not let this tarnish the finest festival in the land.

Here are our highlights from the weekend:

Yuck

Opening the Main Stage after an hour’s delay may have given fellow
bestivillians a reason to go elsewhere. Much to Yuck's delight though, a packed crowd turned up for their Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jnr tinged delights. Yuck is most notable for their bass player, Mariko Doi, standing front and centre, shades on, looking more despondent than Cobain and Yorke on a hangover. An absolute princess of cool.

Young Rebel Set

A set filled with bluegrass, folk and Springsteen-esque numbers would
have suited the sunshine so much more than the chilly 22:45 slot. Nevertheless, the boys from York had the Sailor Jerry's stage bopping away from start to finish. Not content with releasing their debut album, Curse Our Love, to critical acclaim earlier this year, they unveil three new tracks tonight, Hooligan being the highlight of the three.

Diplo

Arguably the greatest thing about Bestival is the energy and buzz created by never having gaps in the schedule. So many festivals treat the gaps in-between live performances as a chance for folk to go to the overpriced bars or be subjected to adverts. None of that tripe here! Bestival hands over to top class dj's which have crowds dancing as if their lives depended on it. No-one is better this weekend than Diplo. What a set. He tore the Big Top crowd a new one on Saturday night whilst many stood watching The Cure be self indulgent on the Main Stage. Great band or not, nobody should be playing for two and a half hours. Yawn fest.

Diplo has the tent shaking from the start when he drops Scrillex. Seriously, Scrillex must get through a laptop a week with the filth he pumps out! To chill things out (only a little, mind you) Diplo spins Joe Goddard's new single Gabriel to a great reaction. This thrills TT as it's an awesome tune! One of the most important things for bands and dj’s festivals is recognising the crowd are shagged out and the need to get people’s adrenaline flowing. So when Promises is played, it is met with a rapturous reception. This spoke volumes about Diplo's set. A crowd hungry for the new and underground has been whipped into such a storm for forty mins, that this Number One hit felt like the door being kicked open for all that had gone before.

Frank Turner

Well, TT is running out of superlatives for Turner without changing our blog title to WE LOVE FRANK. Being billed as a special guest didn’t prevent a big crowd cramming around the tiny Sailor Jerry's stage. Tonight saw just Frank and his guitar rattle through his back catalogue to a boisterous yet friendly crowd. TT remarked to our dear self-titled friend, the Duke of Greenwich, how this gave his a set a warm feeling akin to Nancy singing in Oliver. It was at this point we knew it was time for bed!

SBTRKT

If you imagine Burial awakening from his sullen slumber to see a sunset in San Antonio then you are on the right path to SBTRKT. They combined dub, soul and electro to great effect in the early afternoon slot, acting as a musical Bloody Mary for many a sore head. The gifted nature they have to mesh these styles still has TT dumfounded as to where their Mercury nomination was.

Two Wounded Birds   

Cool as fuck. Surf-rock is on the rise in 2011 and here we have
Margate's answer. Ok the surf probably isn’t up to much but their Beach Boys/Ramones tunes are. These are defo ones to watch in the forthcoming months.


Public Enemy

After the farce of Brian Wilson (see next post) TT was worried about the emergence of more legends on the Main Stage this weekend. Fret not though, Chuck and Flava were a joy to behold. They had all the wit and outlaw persona of 1988's It Take's A Nation Of Millions To Hold US Back and then some. Flava in recent years became a bit absurd with his appearance on celebrity big brother in USA but today showed thirty thousand he is still a force. His rapping was never in doubt but his bass guitar and drumming skills allowed a crowd to recognise that he was, and always will be, on par with Chuck in the creative department.

Ultimately though, the thing TT admires about them most is their message of one love and racial equality. In an age which has handed Jay-Z godlike status for being consistently boring with his lyrics, Public Enemy's ability to connect with the average punter stems from their simple and right on values.


 

Primal Scream  
So, to the highlight of the weekend, Primal Scream. This is no ordinary Scream set, playing Screamadelica is never a run of the mill feat. The seminal album pinned dance and rock music together perfectly in 1991 and is ultimately what Bestival is all about.

Gillespie has always had a great sense of showmanship about him, and playing Screamadelica in his preferred live order heightens this. Ending on Come Together was one of the most beautiful things TT has ever witnessed via live music. The crowd sing for five mins in perfect harmony before they return for a triumphant encore which included Country Girl and Rocks.

Damaged was the set highlight however. On an album full of the spirit of 88’s second summer of love, this little bluesy love song sits there as a slice of reality. Whether coming up or down, relationships remain a constant and Gillespie has everyone in love beaming and anyone suffering from heartache recalling every tear.

The power this album still has after twenty years is mesmerising. Apart from the NYE show in Edinburgh, this is the last performance of the album on British shores, so we can only hope they rattle off another gem in 2012.

An Underdog God Walks Among Us!

Watching Frank turner (sadly on bbc3) at the Reading Festival this weekend brought tears to our eyes at TT. Working alongside the mainstream music industry for 4 years now, I have heard important people claim he is nothing, he has no hits and he will fall by the wayside several times. GET FUCKED!

Watching live and then re-watching another 43 times on the iplayer his performance of Photosynthesis was like hearing it for the first time all over again. The song has virtually become the mission statement for Traveller’s Tunes so imagine our glee when we see 30 thousand people watching, most of which were singing along. We always knew he was a genius and this is the ultimate proof!

In a year where Adele and XL Recordings have smashed the major labels out of the park, the independent scene is a joyous thing to be a part of. Frank’s story is the complete opposite to Adele’s and one that is more likely to cast Sam Riley in the biopic adaptation for the big screen in years to come. Touring almost non-stop since 2005 since the ugly break up of his band Million Dead, FT has scratched and clawed his way to the main stage at Reading. He has played every stage at the festival over the years, so to see a massive turn out felt like Wimbledon beating Liverpool in the 88 cup final.

If the chumps at Radio 1 want to continue to break artists like Tinchy Stryder and Taio Cruz who have worst lyrical content than ITV’s Loose Women then so be it. Frank should be an example of just how far hard work will get you. Don’t take no for an answer, fret not when the playlist rejections keep coming. There will always be a Traveller’s Tune blog willing to write, a Steve Lemacq ready to spin your single. In the words of our dear Frank “something as simple as rock ‘n’ roll will save us all.

Baxter Dury - Happy Soup

Lyrically the album is littered with promiscuous gems his old man would be proud of. Lead track ‘Isobel’ dives straight into this world proclaiming “I think my mate slept with you when you were in Portugal”. Combine this with a mature sounding Jamie T guitar lick and it’s winner winner chicken dinner time folks.

Trellic is probably the most Blockheads-esque of all tracks on the album but the accompaniment of Madeline Hart on vocals gives the song its own sumptuous identity.

You would be forgiven for thinking that Graham Coxon co-wrote this album with Dury. It has all the hallmarks of his early Blur guitar parts. Catchy enough to pull it into mainstream consciousness but quirky enough to know your not being sold a Menswear.

Without question, the standout track is ‘Claire’. It has a tender fragile feel which gives the impression Dury is making a desperate plea to someone he cares for deeply. It is one of those great songs which is seemingly just a catchy pop song but scratch deeper and you will find something to cling to for a life time.

Anyone lucky enough to get tickets to Pulp at Brixton academy over the bank holiday get there early to see Baxter in full flow!

Male Bonding – Endless Now

All the way from America via the immense Sub Pop label is Male Bonding……..what?.........their from DALSTON!!!!!!!

That’s right folks, a trio from North London are releasing an album (their 3rd) on Sub Pop. Unsure as to how that happened, well so are TT but from the opening riff of ‘Tame The Sun’ its not hard to see why. Embodying Sonic Youth’s ‘Goo’ and Jesus and Mary Chain’s ‘Upside Down’ the album is an instant hit. I mean melody and distorted guitar sounds, what’s not to like?

Carrying and Seems to Notice have such sumptuous guitar licks it beggars belief that The Drums are even bothering with a 2nd album. the aid back nature of The Drums ‘I Wanna Go Surfing’ is made to look futile with MB’s emphasis on urgency and energy.

Since the emergence of Wavves the renaissance of music similar to Pavement, Sonic Youth and the Mary Chain is becoming more and more prominent. Christ, even Sebadoh are touring again! With a little luck Male Bonding look as though they are about to time their assault of the airwaves to perfection. Plus, with Howler’s debut release round the corner they are the perfect prelude.