Sweet sounds

Sweet Sounds

April #1

interview news reviews discoveries discover our music festivals survival guide!

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welcome

Sweet Sounds

Ho, Hello!

Welcome in our world! Sweet Sounds is no ordinary magazine. It is a new way of loving music. Here, we try to make you discover new artists, to make you dream about new horizons and new sounds. In this issue, you will find a very nice interview of the Arctic Monkeys and a portrait of Cloud Nothing, a little band that you must absolutly listen to.

We have also dedicated several pages to our ultimate music festivals survival guide! Many tips are proposed and a selection of the best festivals of this summer is waiting for you. We hope that you will enjoy this issue.

With all our love, Sweet Sounds

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h April#1

news . 4

Interview . 6

Julian Casablancas The Black Keys Blur The Horrors

The Arctic Monkeys

Music Festivals survival guide . 12 music festivals selection . 14 Outfit ideas and fashion tips . 16 What to pack? . 17

discoveries . 10 Cloud Nothings

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reviews . 18 Tokyo Police Club Angel Olsen Temples Foster The People

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news

What’s new

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'’I’m sure we’l play again at some point '’

The Black Keys Announce New Album 'Turn Blue'

Fans have been busy analysing a video released

by The Strokes frontman earlier this week, in which he introduced his new band The Voidz and premiered new music. One scene from the clip was screengrabbed by a fan on Twitter with the date «26.05» clearly visible in the background.

This has led to an assumption that the album may well arrive toward the end of May. That date in May falls on a Monday, the day on which albums are traditionally released in the UK. Earlier this month, Julian Casablancas + The Voidz premiered five songs from their forthcoming album at SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. The tracks were entitled ‘2231’, ‘Biz Dog’, ‘The Phantom Of Liberty (Arabic Jam)’, ‘Dr Acula’ and ‘Ego.

ThetrHorrors share f i r st ack from'Lnewumialnbous’um The Horrors’s fourth album, titld Luminous, will be released on May 5. The band has shared the first track to be taken from the record: ‘I See You’. Fans who pre-order the album, co-produced by the band alongside Craig Silvey, will get an instant free download of the song ahead of the album release.

Damon Albarn dispells rumours that the band Blur have played their final shows, saying they would be «mad» to never perform together again.

On Friday, the Black Keys announced their new album, Turn Blue, through Mike Tyson’s Twitter account. The follow-up to 2011’s El Camino comes out May 13, and today you can hear the first track.

It’s called « Fever ». The band has also shared Turn Blue cover art and tracklist. The Black Keys’ new album was produced by Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney with Danger Mouse. According to a press release, « Turn Blue could refer to: A: Suffocation B: Sadness C: Numbness from extreme cold D: A Cleveland late night TV host from the 1960s named Ghoulardi E: All of the above. »

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Fans find potential album release date hidden in Julian casablancas video

© Pitchfork © Emi Images: © Pinterest / Soundofviolence

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interview

ng Followi ver st-e their be e U.S. g in th showin ew record or n charts f ritish band B AM, the ut heroes o talks ab e), villains omm (Josh H nds), and (almo Drake.

The Arctic

W

Monkeys

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hen it comes to the Arctic Monkeys matching their astronomical UK success over in the States, bandleader Alex Turner is choking. Literally. While speaking on the subject in the lobby of N.Y.’s Bowery Hotel last month, the singer mistakenly inhales an almond-- and is momentarily vexed. «Almonds can fuck off,» he says with a grin, catching his breath as he knocks back a swig of his drink to wash down the troublesome nut. «I’m developing an aversion to them, so fucking dry.»

In fact, about a decade after forming in the early 2000s, the Sheffield natives just achieved their highest-ever American chart position with their fifth album, AM, bowing at #6 on this week’s tally. It’s a fitting turn of events since the band is now living in L.A. which shows: Sitting across from me, both Turner and drummer Matt Helders are displaying the kind of tans that are unfathomable to most Brits. And their glossy, off-the-rack style is reminiscent of a faded 1960s garage-rock album sleeve,

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the teddy-boy fashion choices an apt reflection of the slithery desert rock featured on AM. The look is as much of an admirable pose as when the boys grew their hair out and fired up the smoke machine during the tour for 2009’s stoner-rock move Humbug, a record that was seen as a detour upon its release, but now plays as the first step towards the band’s current creative mood. Talking about that album now, Turner says: «That’s when we really started to get interesting.» •••

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interview Though the perfect coifs and duds suggest rock’n’roll invincibility, the Arctics’ impeccable sense of self-deprecation is still there. It’s a trait that excellently plagues AM’s romantic aggressors, as well as the band itself: Throughout our conversation, both members gamely fight rockstar fatigue to crack wise, have a few laughs, and exude a certain level of sheepishness-- right down to admitting that, yes, they still regret the name.

go make it, but we started the band to have something to do and then figured all that stuff out-and arguably, we still are. But when I told Clarke our band name, he was one of the only people who was like, “Oh, that’s such a great name. It’s a picture of trauma.»

think there’s a bit of truth to that. I don’t know if «indie band» is how any band should think about themselves, though. For this record, I didn’t even think of us as a band at all-- we became much more. Sometimes I don’t want to be in the confines of what a band seems to provide.

What’s the biggest lie either of you have told someone to get out of being recognized?

Alex Turner: It’s all about the girls; I just can’t bring meself to write about the mountains yet.

I’m still banging on about the same shit I was in the beginning, I suppose, but perhaps I’m directing it differently now. Same story, different director.

Alex Turner: You’re absolutely right. At the end of the 90s, every band in our neighborhood was 35 or older, so we just listened to Roots Manuva and Dr. Dre. Lately, it feels similar. There aren’t that many bands I’m that excited about at the moment. We’re here, though! [laughs]

What’s the best hotel swimming pool you’ve been to?

Moreso than any other Arctic Monkeys album, AM seems to be especially focused on women.

«I would’ve called the new record Arctic Monkeys if we weren’t called the Arctic Monkeys-- it’s such a terrible name,» Turner says with a laugh.

«I was sitting next to this girl on the plane the other day, a Latin orator. She was like, ‘What’s the band called?’ It was really hard to tell her. They’re two words that really fucking shouldn’t be together.»

« Someone said to me, «You’re the indie band that rappers and metal bands like.» I think there’s a bit of truth to that. »

In terms of popularity, it seems like rock music is experiencing a lull in popular culture, especially in the U.S.

Matt Helders: There was one in Argentina that had a giant crown in the middle of it, for some reason. It was a giant crown fountain.

Alex Turner: A crowntain. • © Pitchfork / Images: ©Melty & Les Inrocks

Alex Turner: Because his tune’s about getting drunk and calling his old bird? I’m sure Drake and I aren’t the only people to have done that, though.

AM closer «I Wanna Be Yours» features lyrics written by British punk poet John Cooper Clarke. How do you relate to him as an artist?

Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, who co-produced Humbug, sings some backups on AM-- what would you say is the biggest thing you’ve learned from him over the years.

Alex Turner: You don’t even wanna hear the lyrics I was writing before I got into him-- aimless nonsense. I used to work at this bar in Sheffield where bands would play seven nights a week in a 500-person capacity room; one night would be the unsigned bands, another night would be a Thin Lizzy tribute band. The Fall played one night, and Clarke opened for them. I was pouring pints and he walks on-- wearing little blue spectacles and his hair everywhere-- and pulls out a plastic bag with paper and starts reciting “Chickentown”. It blew me mind. I was still pouring the pints, Guinness spilling everywhere. It was a ray-of-light moment.

Alex Tuner: Utilizing the dramatic pause was the thing that Queens of the Stone Age taught us the most about. If I could play guitar like Josh, I fucking would, but I don’t know how he gets where he goes. His mind works backwards, I can’t play shit like that.

When Arctic Monkeys started, the tag «indie» was thrown around a lot, which is funny considering the level of popularity you guys have reached.

I met him later that night. This was when we had just started, before we knew what kind of band we were gonna be. A lot of people have an idea of the music they wanna make and then they

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«Do I Wanna Know?» reminds me of Drake’s «Marvin’s Room».

Matt Helders: We were somewhere in France, and a barman asked what we did. I told him we were travelling around Europe testing swimming pools in the world’s best hotels. Thankfully, they didn’t have a pool in the hotel the barman was working at. He was like, “We’re hoping to get a pool out here soon.”

Alex Tuner: Someone said to me, «You’re the indie band that rappers and metal bands like.» I

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discoveries

Cloud Nothings

i Silent Shout

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istoric levels of frustration swept the U.S. last October, as the federal government shutdown put the nation on pause.

It was then, in Hoboken, New Jersey, that_Cloud Nothings_were holed up in the no-frills Water Music studio, honing their own brand of pummeling catharsis. The studio is scattered with art and books that look plucked from a thrift store; the band jokes that it feels haunted. The trying conditions all befit this Cleveland band, which has spent the last few years staring down nostalgia, expectation, and the noise of daily life, and then unleashing a palpable inner-turmoil through guitars and drums and throats. Cloud Nothings always sound like they are fighting, even if it is not exactly clear what they are fighting against.

did Kirk’s hair plugs look like in 3D?»—to the possibility of heading to rebel rapper_Danny Brown’s show that night. (Baldi and Brown once toyed with the idea of making a record together.)

The bored-looking singer is recording vocals for what will become the gloomy track «Giving Into Seeing». He scratches his head and ruffles his hair for the duration of his honestly-frightening scream session, repeatedly growling the word «SWALLOW» over an anxiety-laced riff.

The song could have come from the band’s 2012 Steve Albini-helmed_Attack on Memory, the record that found Baldi rejecting his past as a lo-fi bedroom-pop prodigy for a visceral rebirth, morphing Cloud Nothings into an abrasive full-band effort that evokes early emo along with the introspective doom of the_Wipers.

A few days later, Baldi writes me an email from Paris to explain how jazz influenced his use of space on the new album. «The energy in the music that I like is derived from the space between the notes—actual silence, as well as the way the chords themselves are formed,» Baldi writes. «Over-thinking is the most dangerous thing for me, because I’m definitely capable of it,» he writes.•

Frontman Dylan Baldi, 22, bassist TJ Duke, 31, and drummer Jayson Gerycz, 27, are working a final eight-hour day to finish their fourth album,_ Here and Nowhere Else. Cloud Nothings are all endearing smart-asses; they’ve spent a portion of their studio time dialing prank calls to_Ken Tamplin, a vocal coach who advertises «the world’s best singing lessons.» Studio talk ranges from Metallica’s recent film_Through the Never—»What

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"Over thinking is the most dangerous thing for me, because I am definitely capable of it" © Pitchfork Image: © Desoreillesdansbabylone

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It’s almost music festival season,

with Coachella, Glastonbury, Tomorrow Land and Sziget Festival all coming up. Here are some tips to get the most out of your music festival experience.

Plan your day

Music Festivals Survival Guide

Unless you’re going solely to see the headliner, you might as well head along early. The key to navigating set-times is understanding the simple truth that you probably won’t be able to hear full sets from everyone you want see. Take a chance on unknown bands: you might discover your new favourite band that day – or, a couple of years down the track, when you’ll kick yourself for missing them. If you’re looking to see as much music as physically possible, we recommend bouncing between stages like the Energizer bunny. Also, if you want to be super organized for maximum awesomeness, it’s usually a good idea to craft up your own custom schedule including who you want to see and where they’re playing, before the festival.

Be practical and be prepared

A backpack filled with festival-going essentials “will be your best friend”. “A lot of the stuff will seem unnecessary, but you’ll be glad you have it with you if you need it. We recommend packing a $2 shop rain poncho in case of a sudden downpour; a hoodie or cardigan for later in the evening;

and an empty or sealed water bottle and snacks. Sunscreen, a hat and sunglasses – not one or two of the three – are a must.

Even in the summer months, the weather can be unpredictable, and hot days can take a rapid turn for the chilly when the sun goes down. If you’re catching public transport to and from the venue, you could be in for a long wait, so it pays to be prepared for all conditions. And you’d think it goes without saying, but wear comfortable shoes.

Your own posse

Arrange a meeting place and time with your friends before you part ways, because your phones will inevitably run out of battery or reception. But friends can hold you back from experiencing all that the festival has to offer. If you want to be up the front for a particular act, be prepared to put in the hours to secure your spot. Rope in a couple of friends to take it in turns saving your spot. Don’t be afraid to go on your own if you really want to catch everything.

Be nice

When you’re going to a music festival, you have to understand that people attend for different reasons. Not everyone’s experience will be exactly like your own. People have different musical tastes, different dance moves, a wide-ranging spectrum of fashion choices. It is a celebration of music and a place where everyone should feel accepted and free to express themselves.

The most important piece of advice we can gift you all is this: Be nice and have fun. Just remember, if you’re going to hug any giant oak trees—makes sure no one is watching.

Dream for sunshine, pack for rain © Thewireless Image: © Pinterest

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festivals

Our selection of the best

music festivals

Coachella

Sziget festival

When: April 11-13 Where: Indio, CA

When: August 11-18 Where: Budapest, Hungary

2014 Lineup Highlights: OutKast, Muse, Arcade

2014 Lineup Highlights: Queen of the Stone Age,

Why You Should Go: Taking place in the middle

Why You Should Go: It’s a fusion of culture,

The Prodigy, Skrillex, Macklemore, Stromae, Jake Bugg, Klaxons.

Fire, Queens of the Stone Age, The Replacements, Skrillex, Beck.

art, sports and music. As if its headliner and award history isn’t enough to make you crave the craze, Sziget activities include volleyball, bungee jumping, life-sized foosball, slip ‘n’ slides and water fights along the Danube River.

of the desert, Coachella is a top-notch festival experience. It provides an argument each year that its lineup is king among all festivals, and 2014 is no exception. Organizers snagged the first confirmed OutKast reunion appearance, the Replacements are playing only their fourth show since 1991 and the rest of the headliners are killer.

Glastonbury

Tomorrow land

When: June 25-29 Where: Pilton, UK

When: July 18-20 Where: Boom, Belgium

2014 Lineup Highlights: Arcade Fire, Blondie,

Metronomy, MGMT, The Black Keys, Massive Attack, Skrillex.

2014 Lineup Highlights: Steve Aoki, Afrojack, Paul

Kalkberner, Vitalic, The Magician, Kaskade, Pretty Lights.

Why You Should Go: Having featured The Rolling

Why You Should Go: If you live to find peace, love,

unity and respect, check this out.In 2013, the festival claimed quite an international crowd, with attendees from more than 214 countries — more nationalities than that of the London Olympics participants.

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© Fuse.tv / Elitedaily / Image : Huffpostmaghreb

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Stones, Arctic Monkeys, Mumford & Sons and others in 2013, this festival shows that Brits are down to unleash their inner Jimi Hendrixes.

You’ll find no shortage of folksy hipsters in maxi skirts and cropped tops at this five-day festival that also raises money for charity.

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festivals What to pack?

Outfit ideas and fashion tips Indie

Rock

Hippy

Being indie means you’re independent. What does independent mean? It means you do your own thing. It doesn’t matter what current fashion trends are, were, or will be -- you just do whatever you feel like. So don’t even worry about dressing indie -- if you’re dressing like you want, that’s it.

First and foremost, forego all color and– for the most part– stick to basic black. Other acceptable options include striped shorts, something ripped (tights, shirt, jacket), and giant black sunglasses– the key to throwing off that essential mysterious vibe. Maintaining a slightly androgynous look can only work to your benefit.

When it comes to music festivals, you prefer going with the flow. So long as you pin a few flowers in your hair and sway to the beat of your favorite tunes, you’re golden.

If you’re a fan of psych rock or the Boho look, you like staying comfortable and classic. It’s no surprise that you’re into flowy dresses, sandals, and hats.

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© Getfesty Images: © Pinterest

A good old pair of wellies I’ve tried the Dr Marten thingreally I have. But with the game of ‘if I step here, will this be a puddle or steady ground’ game played year in and out at festivals- I don’t like taking risks. I need something easy on, easy off and up to my knees- and I ain’t talking about the mud.

Mini beauty Products Let’s be real here. The only thing you’ll really need are obscene amounts of wet wipes and antibacterial hand gel, but, if like I always am (and you’re off to Benicassim where the showers are surprisingly refreshing) than it’s nice to pack mini shampoos/washing bits to try and keep clean.

Dry foods and secret snacks I’m not specifying bananas and butterscotch biscuits (although they won’t go amiss), but dry foods are always nice to have handy when curled up in a field- think cereal bars, dried fruit, crisps (cough, Kettle chips, cough) and basically anything that won’t look grim if neglected.

Disposable cameras and retro phone It’s a nice idea, taking your iPhone and DSLR to a festival, but it’s not sensible. Whether you’re sleeping in a tent, jumping about until you sweat to Biffy Clyro or running from field to field in search of the next big thing, it’s not worth risking it.

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Plus, if the ‘90s are really back then what better way to make a statement than this? Plus, at about £10 (phone) from aforementioned Tesco, you can’t go wrong.

But do not forget the obvious Tent, roll mat, sleeping bag, tights and leggings for night time and festival tickets. Also! If you can- take a Clash Finder, with big festivals it’s hard enough as it is to see the bands you want, but by printing one off beforehand you can save yourself the programme money too. •

© Whatoliviadid

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reviews Foster The People

Angel Olsen

« Supermodel »

« Burn Your Fire For No Witness »

Tokyo Police Club « Forcefield » ‘Forcefield’ may as well be titled ‘curveball’: anyone expecting the brash, hyperactive, “your English is good!”-yelling Tokyo Police Club of yore is best looking away immediately. This, the Canadian quartet’s third full length just isn’t that band.

At a guess, bar playing other people’s songs, since the release of 2010’s ‘Champ’, the Ontario gang have been hard at work listening to a lot of Phoenix alongside honing their skills. Because much of ‘Forcefield’ sounds just like it could’ve been made by Thomas Mars and pals. And it’s really, really good.

What they’ve not lost from the old days is the ability to write a hook: whether it’s ‘Feel The Effect’ and its repetition of the title, or the brilliantly paced ‘Gonna Be Ready’ and its “upset / incredible headache / how bad / I’m calling a medic” that reads like it shouldn’t work but does so effortlessly; ‘Forcefield’ is full of them.

But the former breaks down quickly enough in to something that’d fit in perfectly on The Strokes’ ‘Comedown Machine’.

So while fans of the band’s more lo-fi beginnings may stare, open-mouthed, bemused at the central role played by synths on ‘Forcefield’, there’s every chance they’ll be gaining a whole slew of newbies, should these many choruses be set loose.

© Pitchfork / Images: Dumdum / Rollingstones

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As all marketing people know, angels sound like Susan Boyle or the young Charlotte Church. If only they all had the voice of Angel Olsen instead.

This 27-year-old from Chicago has a voice that’s all kinds of beautiful: sometimes bruised and sweet, sometimes fierce and blazing, with an unblinking calm or a wracked country tremor.

Olsen’s sparse 2012 debut ‘Half Way Home’ was served up solo on acoustic guitar. On ‘Burn Your Fire for No Witness’ she’s joined by drummer Josh Jaeger and bassist Stewart Bronaugh, and her sound blossoms into raw and bright, Breeders-esque grunge pop (‘Forgiven/Forgotten’) and warmly echoing torch songs (‘Dance Slow Decades’).

But these 11 tracks still feel like soliloquies.

Born out of a year of ‘heartbreak, travel and transformation’, they are straight-to-the-knifepoint meditations on love, pain and existence caught in the raw spotlight of aloneness.

Fans of Bill Callahan and St Vincent, attracted by the involvement of producer John Congleton, won’t be disappointed with ‘Burn Your Fire for No Witness’. This is the sound of all manner of things – hearts, a career and occasionally the world – catching fire.

Foster The People’s Mark Foster has made it perfectly clear in the run-up to release that ‘Supermodel’ is “not the record that people are gonna expect”, and in that sense the band’s second full-length certainly delivers. The synthesised, catchy hooks devised by the former music jingle writer were the calling card of 2011’s ‘Torches’ but here, they’re few and far between.

By contrast, this is an album that has been ushered in with ‘Coming of Age’ as its single. Precociously indicative of the step-change the band are hoping for, it’s already enough to make you think twice about pressing ahead.

Railing against social conformity in a track like album opener ‘Are You What You Wanna Be’, only highlights how sanitised their music has come to feel.

It’s also only made worse by those tracks that do stand out. Acoustic album closer ‘Fire Escape’ makes for a nice, genuinely reflective change, while ‘Best Friend’ and ‘Pseudologica Fantastica’ actually seem capable of bringing together the elements that sit disparately throughout the rest of the album with a flash of the band’s former promise. And you can’t help think that this is an album that suffers from having altogether too much surface and not nearly enough substance.

Temples « Sun Structure » James Bagshaw needs to get out more. His band Temples recorded their debut album in his mum’s spare room in Kettering, and although it’s a hugely impressive record of warm, retro psychedelic pop, there’s something a little too neat about it.

Other psych revivalists, such as Australian groups Tame Impala, balance their knack for immersive production with the thrill of the wig-out live show. Temples go for a more tasteful approach.

From what we can tell, they’ve spent countless hours doing two things: a) bidding on vintage kaftans on eBay; and b) painstakingly perfecting ’60s-style drum sounds and crafting melodies that channel The Byrds, The Zombies and early T-Rex. To some extent this approach pays off: there’s a definite time-warp charm to ‘Sun Structures’s array of booming tom-toms, psychedelic organs and chiming guitars. Early single ‘Shelter Song’ kicks off the album with an impeccable Beatlesque melody, whereas ‘Keep in the Dark’ and ‘A Question Isn’t Answered’ are punchy glam stomp-a-longs with nifty vocal harmonies. It’s enough to make you wonder exactly what’s the point of the whole enterprise. ‘Sun Structures’ is a Fabergé egg of an album: it’s glorious and gleaming and the level of craftsmanship on display boggles the mind – but what exactly can you do with it?

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