Their new single is a clear indication to why most critics
tipped the North London outfit to succeed in 2015. The dreamy vocals float along
in this Modest Mouse meets the The Cure number. You wouldn’t call this anthem
but it’s not far off as it slowly builds layer upon layer into the warped
guitar solo.
Powder
This was the band’s debut single in late 2014. For anyone
wanting some middle ground between The Vaccines guitar playing and Alt-J’s
studio wizardry, well, look no further. The guitar solo will have Graham Coxon
dribbling over its simplicity, fuzz and confusion.
Bathed In Light
Slow verse and a euphoric and catchy chorus. What’s not to
like?!? The production on this track is the best of the three here. The track
really is as simple as they come but listen after listen (we’re pushing about
70 now) you will notice something new. There is the odd trippy Horrors guitar
lick and the crescendo has some keys which sound like a LSD trip at a Blackpool
pleasure beach. Well played.
Hooton Tennis Club are a 4 piece from Liverpool who are
currently on tour of the U and everyone should be champing at the bit to see them
and here two reasons why (tracks can be found via this Spotify link Hooton Tennis Club
– Jasper / Standing Knees ).
Jasper
This single is packed with driving guitars reminiscent of
Teenage Fanclub. There is a good dose of Pavement aswell but, make no mistakes,
this is a very English song. It has that overcast sense of gloom throughout
which, when combined with their clear talent for guitar melodies creates a
glorious pop single.
Standing Knees
This is a fuzzy and slightly twisted take on the new garage
scene which has been on the underground in recent times (with Ty Seegal in
every band it seems). The lo-fi vocals have a brilliant ‘anyone can do this’
attitude and the spiraling guitar solo around the 2minute 20 secs mark maybe
short but, is incredibly powerful for such a fledgling outfit.
The hotly tipped Worcester four piece returned in Feb to release their highly anticipated second album ‘Happy People’. Is it an album where they come of age or is it just another indie album?
Here’s what we thought.
Their debut ‘In Love’ was a hazy affair with nods to Primal Scream and The Who. Those sun drenched psyche elements are still present, particularly on ‘Gen Strange’ where, they have taken cracking work of Tame Impala’s ‘Lonerism’ and pumped it full of funk and pop music basslines.
Immediately following is the former single ‘Lost On You’. Here they combine their indie charms with Disco to create one hell of a floor filler that Noel Gallagher seems destined to search but never find in his solo career.
‘In Love’ featured the odd lyric for people to cling to (‘it’s not about a generation / It’s not about our education’ – Sugarstone) but ‘Happy People’ is littered with them. The title track is tinged with melancholy and has not been put as well since the great scene between Egg and Anna in This Life:
The second single ‘Money’ is a scathing attack on the money orientated folk among us stating ‘Do you need it? / Do you eat it when you’re hungry?’ The inclusion of more meaningful lyrics were a conscious effort according to their interview with the Guardian recently (http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/feb/07/peace-im-a-girl-happy-people) and at TT towers it’s welcomed with open arms.
Rock and indie music needs this kind of resentment and angst lurking in the background again. It needs people like Peace to stand for something once more, otherwise, it will never be more than someone’s vanity project. This is why we loved their live performance on Made In Chelsea. What a fantastic piece of art and juxtaposition. If this was the heady days of guitar music this would have been talked about in the same vein as the Pistols’ boat trip during The Jubilee.
‘Perfect Skin’ is perhaps the most interesting track on the record though. Throughout this album and the first, the influences sneaking through always sound British. Here though, there is more than a hint of Nirvana. The nihilistic lyrics, the guitar solo towards the end are a great homage to Kurt Cobain an co.
What is also great is the way it never feels like a Nirvana rip off, it feels original and fresh but with a nod to one of the greatest bands of all time in the same manner ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’ never felt like T-Rex plagiarism.
This is not a huge leap forwards for Peace but this is definitely a big stride towards becoming the most important band in the UK today. Musically they have diversified into new styles but without losing the essence of why people fell in love with them first time round.
This autumn they will embark on their biggest UK tour to date. We strongly urge you attend as this will be the tour when things start to go crazy for them.
Simon, Oscar and Steve played to a sold out Royal Festival
Hall to celebrate their 25th birthday. As ever, they do not
disappoint.
The semi-acoustic gig allowed for more of their underrated
folk numbers ‘She’s Been Writing’ and ‘Village life’ to get an airing. The
accompaniment of the string quartet heightens the beauty of these Fairport
Convention inspired numbers.
Fans always remark upon Simon Fowler’s voice and Steve
Craddock’s guitar playing when they see them live but this environment
highlights just how great they are and why, as a partnership, they should be
considered one the best of all time. Fowler can switch between heartbroken
English folk music to an energized mod in a heartbeat whilst Craddock, having
to reduce the tempo, ramps up the psyche elements of his guitar playing to
create something special.
Usually at this point, we’d describe the highlights from the
set. However, this is a career spanning set which we’re certain everyone has
read a review of before. So, we asked ourselves in the office, what makes OCS a
band who continually sell out big venues every year?
Other than the obvious answer that the songs are effing
marvelous, TT feels it’s the common touch Simon Fowler’s lyrics have so often
provided. The mid 90s was an era of working class bands breaking through for
various reasons. Oasis were brilliant and an example of just how special people
from humble backgrounds could be. Blur and Pulp wrote fantastic social commentary
about lives people recognised and Suede were superb at turning squalor into
beauty.
Whereas, OCS always felt like an extension of their fans on
stage. ‘So Low’ depicted how so many people felt and feel about getting up for
work (good or badly paid) and ‘Travellers Tune’ could have been any group of friends
in the UK on a weekend away. Perhaps best of all though was line from ‘Get
Blown Away’:
‘And Monday she'll go down town standing naked in the road /
You may know what I am / But who I am you don't know’
This line epitomised how they were always one of ‘you’ on
stage. The normality of them probably shortened their careers in the mainstream
(one only has to look at how albums 5-7 were overlooked) but year in and year
out big venues are sold out. This isn't just an annual nostalgia trip either,
any new album tour is supported by an always respectful crowd.
We only hope and pray that a few bands starting out today
follow their mantra.
The Proper Ornaments, are primarily made up of Veronica
Falls’ guitarist James Hoare and Argentine singer-songwriter Max Claps. They
returned in 2014 to deliver their second album ‘Wooden Head’. It may not have
been the most exciting of releases but it should be a staple part of everyone’s
record collection and here’s why.
For the most part, ‘Wooden Head’ combines Roger McGuinn’s
Byrds jingle jangle and Andy Bell’s shoegazery in Ride. The album opener,
‘Gone’, is a slower and gentler Mary Chain number which, rather than sounding
like a drug fuelled night out, acts more like post-comedown tonic and the
realisation of what the protagonist needs to do to succeed.
‘Ruby’ merges Mark Gardener-esque vocals with some spritely
acoustic guitars on this track. To begin with it lightens the mood but, the use
of the same riff casually builds a suspense which suggests all is not right.
There are some deviations from the Bell and McGuinn school
of guitar playing on ‘Now I Understand’ and ‘Always There’. ‘Now I Understand’
has a catchy and repetitive guitar riff which borrows from Hoare’s Veronica
Falls via David Tattersall’s Wave Pictures. ‘Always There’ could have been
lifted from a number of great records released by Sub Pop in the past decade
with its brooding seaside tones. ‘Step Into The Cold’ meanwhile, ends with a
blast from the guitar worthy of Stephen Stills’ Manassas era.
None of these tracks are a big shift in direction but they
do allow the introspective shoegaze numbers to breathe and prevent the album
from being monotonous.
For TT, the highlight of this collection is ‘Stereolab’. Sonically,
it slots in with the rest of album, but the vocals are what make it special.
The harmonies are spot on throughout and the key change in on the line ‘I’m going out with the tide’ is
sumptuous.
The dad of TT’s editor, used to spend Sundays playing vinyl
and relaxing at home. We urge you to do the same with this record. It doesn’t
have the energy to make you want to get up and change the world but it does
have the power and beauty to make you sit and contemplate it for a while.
In
1992, rock journalist Paul Moody was due to release his bands debut album
‘Portabellohello’. Dodgy accountants, a police raid and 22 years later the album
finally got to see the light of day. Here is TT’s view on things.
There
seems to be two types of song on this album. There are the upbeat mod-psyche
numbers which would have every proper music pub rocking. The other side, sadly,
simply don’t stack up the former.
‘Goodbye
Baby and Amen’ and ‘Doubledeckerbus’ are two of the aforementioned more upbeat
mod-psyche numbers. Both tracks see the Hammond organ getting a workout worthy
of Rob Collins during his Charlatans pomp. ‘Doubledeckerbus’, has a riff from
Steve Craddock’s locker which will inevitably fuel good moods. Furthermore,
both tracks witness some fine Edwyn Collins crooning which is never a bad
thing.
The
album also has small successes with ‘Mrs Choudhrey’ and ‘In A Broken Dream’.
‘Mrs Choudhrey’ is a joyous cross between the heady days of Britpop and the
trippy side of Small Faces. Meanwhile, ‘In A Broken Dream’ is an instrumental
drenched in 60s acid which has more than a hint of ‘House Of The Rising Sun’ to
it.
Unfortunately,
there are too many songs on this album and as a result the quality does dip on
the likes of ‘Rollin Machine’, ‘Just Say The Word’ and ‘Portabellohello’. These
tracks stray into the drearier areas of the genres they chase but ultimately,
this heightened because elsewhere, the quality is high.
It’s
a genuine pity Studio 68 didn't get their 15mins of fame back in ’92 but the
album is out now and one for all Mod collections.
In the summer of 2011 London's Dogs split and left a hole in many fans lives. Well, fret not, the bands key components are back in the shape of Apeman Spaceman. Here is our track by track rundown of their new EP:
1. YWM4ME
Opening with crashing drums and their trademark visceral
guitars will have fans of Dogs salivating. On their last outing they were leaning
towards a more lo-fi guitar sound which features here as they begin a new era.
2. This Is A Low
This is a melancholic tale of a dreary Kent seaside town in
the dead of winter. Jonny Cooke’s lyrics depict the situation in an Orwellian
style which should be marvelled at. Despite the despondency, there is a nagging
beauty to this song which, we guess, part and parcel of loving these strange
shores we inhabit.
Further enhancing their new creative mission are the high
pitched vocals in the chorus. Similar to The Black Keys in style but they carry
far more weight combined with the songs bleakness.
I Make Shadows
This song has fearlessness about it, which rock purists will
love. Presumably, this was made on a low budget, one wonders what the results would
be if, financial backing in the studio was to come their way.
Mazes
‘Mazes’ instantly made us think of the Frank Turner line ‘For
guitars and drums and desperate poetry’. It’s an underdog anthem which has that
great rock ‘n’ roll ability to sound like it could fall apart at any minute but
never does.
20.8.14
Twisted electronics straight from the Dan Le Sac catalogue
further the bands credentials yet again Cooke rattles through the bad, the
negative and the atrocities of the world today.
