DIY, November 2014

DIY set music free free / issue 35 / november 2014 diymag.com

it’ s al bum time ...

superfo od fo o f ig hte rs run the je we l s ho ok worm s k iesza + loads more

the british are

bastille e xclu s ive

coming...

how to break america VS. HAIM! LIZZO! ANGEL HAZE! THE NEW MIXTAPE REVEALED 1

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diymag.com

N O V E M B E R

GO OD VS EVIL WHAT’S ON THE DIY TEAM’S R ADAR?

Victoria Sinden Deputy Editor GOOD The DIY bunker is no more - we’re off to a new home with - gasp windows.

EVIL Who wants to help us move? ..............................

Emma Swann Reviews Editor GOOD The Christmas Diet Coke bottles this year have reindeer names on them.

Today, I am Vixen.

EVIL Learning I’d been using a camera with a broken focus and shutter for a couple of months isn’t the best... ..............................

Louise Mason Art Director GOOD Eating great cake (in America, backstage with Bastille).

EVIL Failing to get to Canada by

getting kicked off their tour bus at the last minute. ..............................

Jamie Milton Online Editor GOOD The world’s best videographer, Dyle Duckley, finally joining Twitter (@ dyleduckley).

EVIL Peter Crouch hasn’t replied to any of my direct messages yet. ..............................

EL HUNT Assistant Online Editor GOOD The large amounts of new album-related hope instilled in me by the leaked Rihanna memo.

EVIL I’m still waiting for Dyle Duckley to announce his involvement in the Twin Peaks revival.

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EDITOR’S LET TER When we first put Bastille on the DIY cover back in March 2013, we had no idea about what would happen next. Yeah, things would go well for them, but the last year and a half has been something else. One of the most remarkable parts of Bastille’s success has been the way they’ve taken their home form to the USA. They’re in good company too.

In the last couple of years all kinds of British acts have been making waves Stateside.

This month, we flew over to Boston to regroup with Dan, Kyle, Will and Woody to find out how to break America. Feel free to copy them; send our cut to the usual address.

Stephen Ackroyd GOOD Sleater-Kinney are back! There’s a new album in January.

EVIL BRITs Critics Choice, BBC Sound of 2015 - so many polls, so little clue who I’m going to nominate.

LISTENING POST What’s on the DIY stereo this month?

Menace Beach Ratworld

After their appearance at the DIY London all-dayer, Menace Beach arrive with a fuzzy frustrated feast in this debut LP.

Parkay Quarts Content Nausea

It’s not an album. It’s not an EP. They’ve changed their name. They’re more elusive than ever. But as expected, Parquet Courts (Parkay Quarts)’ latest is ace.

TWEET OF THE MONTH @petercrouch

New hero ! The fella from future islands going for it on #laterjools The Stoke striker has got good taste for a big lad.

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C O N T E N T S

NEWS 6RUN THE JEWELS 10KIESZA 1 2 # S TA N D F O R S O M E T H I N G 16ARIEL PINK 18DIY PRESENTS TOUR 20THE XCERTS

NEU

22DIY READERS POLL

24IBEYI

23DEERHOOF

26DEMOB HAPPY 28TOBIAS JESSO JR.

10 32

44

50

30DEERS

54 76

FEATURES 32 BASTILLE 44 SUPERFOOD

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50 DEPTFORD GOTH 5 4 F R YA R S 58 GLASS ANIMALS 62 HOOKWORMS

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REVIEWS 66 ALBUMS 76LIVE

Editor Stephen Ackroyd Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden Associate Editor Emma Swann News Editor Sarah Jamieson Art Director Louise Mason Head Of Marketing & Events Jack Clothier Online Editor Jamie Milton Assistant Online Editor El Hunt Contributors Alex Lynham, Charlie Mock, Dan Carson, Dominique Sisley, Hugh Morris, Huw Oliver, Kyle MacNeill, Stuart Knapman, Tim Lee, Tobias Maguire, Tom Connick, Tom Walters, Will Moss Photographers Carolina Faruolo, Mike Massaro, Nathan Barnes, Sarah Louise Bennett For DIY editorial info@diymag.com For DIY sales rupert@sonicdigital.co.uk tel: +44 (0)20 76130555 For DIY online sales lawrence@sonicdigital.co.uk tel: +44 (0)20 76130555 DIY is published by Sonic Media Group. All material copyright (c). All rights reserved.

This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of DIY. 25p where sold.

Disclaimer: While every effort is made to ensure the information in this magazine is correct, changes can occur which affect the accuracy of copy, for which Sonic Media Group holds no responsibility. The opinions of the contributors do not necessarily bear a relation to those of DIY or its staff and we disclaim liability for those impressions. Distributed nationally.

Cover photo by Mike Massaro - Agganis Arena, Boston

the lost b rother s

l ykke l i

m otop ony

eve nt i m ap o l l o ham m e r s m i t h, l o nd o n t hu 1 3 nov

d i n g wa l l s , l on d on f r i 1 4 n ov

b roncho / purpl e

b anks

j oey b a d a $ $

november 17 c a stle h o te l , m anc he ste r 18 sebr igh t arm s , l o nd o n 19 th e pr in ce al b e rt , b ri g hto n 20 th e exc hang e, b ri sto l 21 th e sh a c k l ewe l l ar m s , l o nd o n

november 1 7 bi r mi ngham i nsti tute 1 9 O 2 a bc gl as gow 23 O 2 a c ademy br i x ton 25 ma nc hester ri tz

n ove m b e r 1 9 r i ve r s i d e, n ewc a st l e 2 0 i n st i t u te, b i r m i n g h a m 2 1 a c a d e my 2 , m a n c h e ste r 2 2 co n co rd e 2 , b r i g h to n 24 m a r b l e fa c to r y, b r i sto l 2 5 O 2 s h e p h e rd ’s b u s h e m p i re

b al let sc h o o l

rag n b o ne m an

t h e n at i on a l

the lex in g to n , london wed 19 n ov

st ar t t he b us , b r i sto l s at 22 nov

t h e O2 , l on d on we d 2 6 n ov

wal ki ng o n c a rs

j ac k g ar rat t

a r ke l l s

di ngwa lls, lo n do n thu 27 n ov

november 29 brudenel l s oc i al c l ub, l eed s 30 the c a stl e hotel , ma nc heste r december 02 the pri nce a l bert, br i ghton 03 hare & hounds , bi rmi ngha m 0 8 the l oui s i ana , br i stol 0 9 bodega , notti ngha m

sebright arms, l on d on t u e 02 d e c

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heaven , lo n do n tue 02 de c

he ave n, l o nd o n t hu 0 4 d e c

b ord e r l i n e, l on d on s u n 07 d e c

samari s

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d a n c i n g ye a r s

hoxton squ a re b a r & kitchen , lo n d o n mon 0 8 de c

ro und ho us e st ud i o, l o nd o n t ue 0 9 d e c

os l o, l on d on m on 1 5 d e c

jam es ve c k- gilo d i

f i r st ai d ki t

t h e we e k s

january 2015 19 deaf institute, manchester 20 norwich arts centre 21 bush hall, london 22 louisiana, bristol 23 joiners, southampton

january 2015 16 symphony hall, birmingham 20 city hall, newcastle 21 royal concert hall, nottingham 25 uea, norwich 27 eventim apollo, hammersmith

january 2015 18 the green door store, brighton 20 O 2 academy, birmingham 22 the garage, london

st pancra s old chu rc h , lo n do n wed 12 n ov

buy tickets at li venati on.co. uk 5

NEWS “These times seem more insane every day.�

Killer Mike

6

diymag.com

Cool Runnings From political commentary to cat sounds, El-P and Killer Mike are tackling it all. Words: Huw Oliver.

“E

ver smoked dope, gotten into a race car and hit the gas pedal while filing through a crowd of furry animals, children and nuns, all the while weeping?” Nope? Well, that’s how a jabbering El-P (real name Jaime) describes ‘RTJ2’, the latest album from Run The Jewels, his zappy, piss-taking hip hop partnership with Killer Mike.

Mike, also on the line, is stoned. There’s no way around it.

Throughout, he punctuates his silence with intermittent guffaws and the odd incoherent ramble, usually about “the social control by the government.” It’s kind of like he’s trying to perform an audio caricature of himself - and succeeding, while high.

The double act are opposites on the phone, and also on record. Indeed, their spunky, critically acclaimed debut ‘Run The Jewels’ was defined first and foremost by the oppositional pairing of Mike’s bottomless Atlanta drawl with El-P’s burly, quick fire flow; second, by what El-P describes as their “punch-you-in-the-face hilarious shit.”

They continue the latter on ‘RTJ2’, confronting heavyweight topics such as dope, punching people and “teabagging”, which El-P expands on with the thoroughly wholesome line, “I dipped my nutsack into a piranha tank,” he quotes. But there’s another dimension to the lyrics this time: “The stuff which is not so serious,” he jokes. “Like bad policing, the destruction of our soul, religion… The silly stuff. Actually, there’s a little bit more anger, and maybe even a little bit more thought on the record.”

When he’s not giggling or garbling, Killer Mike rails against the police brutality witnessed in Ferguson. “I mean, look at the times, man.” He briefly mentions something about street rebels, before launching into a semi-comprehensible tirade.

“Nothing seems sane,” he hollers. “These times seem more insane every day. If you watch television, it’s like an assault on your peace of mind. They give you a new reason to be afraid about everything all the time. I think that has come out in our music in some ways. I think our music is in line with the times.”

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NEWS

At this point, it’s worth adding bulk to Mike’s argument by referring to his persuasive appearance on CNN, or his studied comment piece for Billboard. “The police have the power of life and death in their decisions,” he wrote. “They need to know that Americans hold them to a higher standard than these examples [the deaths of Mike Brown and Eric Garner], of American men laying lifeless like deer. Slaughtered hogs in the street.”

“This record does have a bit more of a ‘Fight The Power’ feel to it,” says El-P, perhaps taking cues from his long-time pal Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine, who guests on the album. “When you have just two regular dudes saying ‘fuck you’ to the most powerful things that we know, it’s not like we know we can do something about it, it’s just ‘Fuck you, OK. You might be the most powerful thing in the world, but hey, suck my dick, how about that?’ There’s something powerful about that, you know. If you walk up to a king and say ‘Suck my dick, King’, and he beheads you? You still said ‘Suck my dick.’ And even in just saying that, you are reducing the power of the person in front of you.”

A nuanced analogy, sure. But back to the funny stuff – Run The Jewels hit the headlines earlier this year as Meow The Jewels, a one-off remix album which El-P pledged to record if gifted a trivial $45k. The clue was in the title: there would be cat noises instead of raps. Inevitably, one particularly zealous fan got in on the act, setting up a Kickstarter to raise the funds.

“I had the Meow The Jewels idea just as a joke, because I was stoned,” says El-P. “And I was sitting there writing a bunch of joke pre-orders and I thought, what’s the stupidest thing I could possibly put on here? Meow The Jewels seemed perfectly stupid.” But he had no idea it would take off like it did. “I’m preparing,” he says. “I might actually have to make a rap album made out of cat sounds.” But he should count himself (un)lucky he doesn’t have any multimillionaire enemies; for $10 million, Mike and El-P have also pledged to retire from the music industry altogether.

In another fine attempt to put fans first, ‘RTJ2’ was released on their official site last month, with no advance previews for press. Speaking ahead of its release, El-P reveals ‘Angel Dust’ to be the album’s killer anthem, apparently scrutinising the divergence between the existence of God and that of the church, as well as “the control system that is instated and that has been projected onto our world through that sort of façade, through the manipulation of man under the guise of holiness.” Mainly, though, Mike is keen to emphasise, they’re just “rapping [their] asses off.”

It’s certainly what they do best, but will Run The Jewels now continue indefinitely? “Absolutely,” says El-P. “But I’ve got a few demands, you know.” He seizes the opportunity for some sarcasm: “I need to only be shot from my left side.

That’s where my double chin looks the best. And I would also like a separate dressing room; I’m never going to talk to Mike again. This whole charade of us being friends is exhausting and ridiculous. But if my criteria are met, then yeah, I’ll reconsider it.”

Run The Jewels’ new album ‘RTJ2’ is out now via Mass Appeal. DIY

“I might actually have to make a rap album made out of cat sounds.”

El-P

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DEPTFORD GOTH 19 | 11 | U2014 T

ICA LONDON DO SOL

NEW SHOW ADDED

26 | 02 | 2015

HEAVEN LONDON The Arches, Villiers Street

FEBRUARY 2015 26 BIRMINGHAM INSTITUTE TEMPLE 27 MANCHESTER DEAF INSTITUTE 28 NOTTINGHAM BODEGA

MARCH 2015 02 BRISTOL THEKLA 03 GLASGOW KING TUT’S 05 LONDON HEAVEN 07 BRIGHTON THE HAUNT

deptfordgoth.com songkick.com AXS.com | heaven-live.co.uk NEW ALBUM ‘SONGS’ OUT 3 NOVEMBER A Goldenvoice presentation in association with Coda

TICKETS AVAILABLE ONLINE AT AXS.COM | SEETICKETS.COM SONGKICK.COM

f/YEARSANDYEARS

t@YEARSANDYEARS

A GOLDENVOICE PRESENTATION IN ASSOCIATION WITH CODA

Deptford Goth gratefully acknowledges support from the PRS for music foundation

A LIVE NATION, METROPOLIS MUSIC, DF CONCERTS AND TAYLOR JOHNSON PRESENTATION IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE AGENCY GROUP

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JANUARY 2015 WED 14 BATH FORUM THU 15 CARDIFF ST DAVIDS HALL FRI 16 BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY HALL SAT 17 CAMBRIDGE CORN EXCHANGE MON 19 EDINBURGH USHER HALL TUE 20 NEWCASTLE CITY HALL WED 21 NOTTINGHAM ROYAL CONCERT HALL FRI 23 MANCHESTER O2 APOLLO SAT 24 BRIGHTON DOME SUN 25 NORWICH UEA TUE 27 LONDON EVENTIM APOLLO HAMMERSMITH TICKETMASTER.CO.UK | LIVENATION.CO.UK | THISISFIRSTAIDKIT.COM

NEW ALBUM ‘STAY GOLD’ AVAILABLE NOW

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NEWS

Kiesza is bit-by-bit coming into focus.

no hiding 10 diymag.com

As Kiesza gears up to release her debut album, she’s ready to put herself on the line. Words: Sarah Jamieson.

K

iesza is no stranger to excelling in her field. After all, the singer – full name Kiesa Rae Ellestad – went from being a classically-trained ballerina to joining the Royal Canadian Navy, then from being approached to become a sniper to penning tracks for the likes of Rihanna, Kylie and Icona Pop. Now, after her debut single ‘Hideaway’ went stratospheric earlier this year, the multi-instrumentalist is stepping out into the limelight on her own, her first album in tow.

“It was like a door opening,” Kiesza begins, on the first single that was to become the catalyst for her career.

“It kinda forced itself into the world: it was one of the quickest songs I’ve ever written and then it just went!

Once it was complete, it created its own path. From the first person that sang to it, people just wanted to share it right away.”

Not only did ‘Hideaway’ blaze a trail across the internet, it became a permanent fixture on radio, before topping the UK charts with over 100,000 copies sold. “It really opened up a door and allowed for a lot of the things that I create to have a pathway into the world.

It’s amazing that it gave me an audience that are really looking forward to the music that I make and that’s the best thing you could ever hope for as a musician.”

while coming from a modern place, while also just sort of exploring sounds which we’re both passionate about, that we both really love. That sort of urban production, R&B, the Chicago House sound. It was just about mixing and matching our passions into one project. We both have very much of a similar taste in music.

“We weren’t giving ourselves any solid direction though. It was all inspired by ‘Hideaway’; that gave us an overall vision of what type of album we wanted to create. We both really liked the idea of Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones doing an album together, so we wanted to do this album together and really make it not just an album full of singles. To make an album that tells a story. that has ups and has downs, has fast and has slow. It’s a real body of work.”

As for the album’s bold title, ‘Sound of a Woman’, it’s what Kiesza feels is really encapsulated on this record; her finally finding the strength to be herself through music. “I think I was able to write about my life because this was the first time I felt like I heard myself as an artist. I had been writing and always wrote with the idea that I was a songwriter for other people, but there was something about ‘Hideaway’ that I just couldn’t give away. I couldn’t imagine anyone else singing it. When I wrote that song, I started opening myself up as an artist and I had the desire to let the world know who I was, whereas I hadn’t really had that desire before in the same way. It just tapped into something in me and opened things up.

“I H A D T H E D E S I R E T O L E T T H E WO R L D K N OW W H O I WA S .” K I E S Z A

For those expecting her debut to be thirteen tracks of the same, they’re going to be in for a surprise. Not only does Kiesza dwell in 90s club vibes, she’s unafraid to dip into groove-infused R&B and soulful beats. “I’m a songwriter and to just work within one category would just leave me without anywhere to go,” she says of the album’s diversity, “and it would give me nowhere to explore.

“After we [along with collaborator Rami Samir Afuni] wrote ‘Hideaway’ together, we realised that we both had a very strong vision of how we wanted the album to unravel. We really wanted to pay homage to that 90s era

“The title’s kinda about somebody finally finding the strength to speak their mind, and as a title for the album, it encompasses all of the emotions that I was revealing throughout the album. It’s me finding myself as a tmusician, a writer and an artist and I felt like the title was a really strong representation of the whole body of work.”

Kiesza’s debut album ‘Sound Of A Woman’ will be released on 1st December via Lokal Legend / Virgin EMI. DIY

11

NEWS

STILL TO COME ON THE

#STANDFORSOMETHING TOUR 2014

With the London bill announced and three gigs still on the horizon, it’s all go on Dr. Martens’ #STANDFORSOMETHING Tour in association with DIY.

DON BROCO + LONELY THE BRAVE

TO PLAY the BLACK HEART, Camden, london

The old saying goes that good things come to those who wait and, at least in this case, it’s true. We’re proud to announce that the final three acts joining the Dr. Martens #STANDFORSOMETHING Tour in association with DIY will be Don Broco, Lonely The Brave and Sserpress.

Set to get up close and personal in London’s teeny tiny venue The Black Heart, Don Broco are already excited about the prospect after spending the majority of this year working on their new album. “We’ve just been writing non-stop,” the band’s Rob Damiani reveals. “It was really nice to get to go out with You Me At Six [back in March] to break things up a little bit, because when you are doing it day in, day out, you sometimes forget what it’s actually about. Doing that tour and then coming back into it gave us a new lease of life.

It’s been awesome, we’re pretty much finished now.

“We’ve got a lot of songs: more than we’ve ever written for an album so we’re gonna have to choose from them. It’s

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the most prepared we’ve ever been going into the studio. We normally just kinda wing it. We might’ve played the song a few times in practice and then go record it, but this time we’ve definitely thought about things a little more. We should be going in during the next few months and getting it recorded by the end of the year.”

Not only will the London four-piece be causing a storm, they’re going to be joined by the brilliant Lonely The Brave, who are currently in the swing of their own headline tour and are already itching for more. “This band started off in tiny venues,” drummer Gavin Edgeley explains, “and I’ve been watching bands in them for years so they always hold a special place for me. We’ve played some big shows in the last few years but we always like doing the proper sweat box ones. And any time that we get to hook up with the Don Broco boys is something we look forward to! They took us out on our first big tour so we love those guys to bits.”

THE DATES

WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR, DON BROCO?

“You should take opportunities when they come and live for the moment.

Being in a band for a few years now, we’ve learnt to appreciate the moments we do have and we’ve gotta enjoy them while they’re around. Focus on the positives, take chances and always move forward.”

WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR, LONELY THE BRAVE

“We stand for being honest through our music. Whether it be about how we’re feeling personally, or just generally in life. I’ve always found that the best type of music is the brutally honest type.”

22/11/14

LOS CAMPESINOS! + Johnny Foreigner The Flapper, Birmingham 28/11/14

DON BROCO

+ Lonely The Brave London, The Black Heart 05/12/14

TONIGHT ALIVE + Only Rivals Cluny 2, Newcastle

WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR, SSERPRESS

“We’re not driven by current sound, if we want to play heavy we play heavy, if we want to play soft... We do the same.”

L

os Campesinos! mark the halfway point on the Dr. Martens #STANDFORSOMETHING Tour but have no fear, it’s not slowing down just yet. Whilst the likes of Funeral For A Friend, Eagulls and We Are The Ocean have already trashed venues across the country, now comes the turn of Birmingham: and it’s going to be a memorable evening.

PREVIEW

“I think, what with the show coming shortly after festival season, it’ll be a really nice move from big outdoor audiences to a sweaty, indoor club vibe,” offers the band’s frontman and ringleader Gareth Campesinos. “They are different sort of thrills, playing to massive crowds and to intimate, whitesof-your-eyes style audiences, and if I had to pick, I’d go for the latter. When you’re practically chest to chest with your audience, you can form a real connection that’s so much harder to replicate with a barrier between you.”

LOS CAMPESINOS! + JOHNNY FOREIGNER

BIRMINGHAM, THE FLAPPER

Having spent summer playing a handful of festivals “we had our first ever visit to Brazil, playing a massive outdoor gig in Sao Paulo” - the band are still having fun playing around with their newest songs, from latest record ‘No Blues’.

“We’ve always been very lucky to have a massively supportive fanbase, and they always seem to take to new material with a similar fervour as we have to play it. We’ve five albums in our arsenal now, so it’s tough to juggle what songs to play live, but judging by reactions from the audience, we manage it okay. It’s a year since we recorded the album now, and we’re all still fond of the songs, no embarrassing regrets, which is a nice assessment to be able to make!”

I

t’s been an incredible few months but sadly, all good things must eventually come to an end. The final show of the #STANDFORSOMETHING Tour will take place in the tiny confines of The Cluny 2 this December and it’s set to go off with quite a bang. That’s right Newcastle, it’s time to leave your coats at home and venture out to witness Tonight Alive.

“We just got back from the UK and America after doing possibly the two best tours we’ve ever done,” the band’s Jenna McDougall says, towards the end of their relentlessly busy touring schedule. “All Time Low in the UK treated us so amazingly, and we couldn’t have asked for anything more.

Things are definitely catching on there so it’s always such a great time when we travel over.

PREVIEW

TONIGHT ALIVE + ONLY RIVALS

the cluny 2, newcastle

“After that tour we hit the states with Tacking Back Sunday and The Used which was definitely a tick off the bucket list. Obviously they’re two bands that we grew up listening to so to be a part of that tour was a huge honour for us and we had such a great time.”

Even after two massive sets at this year’s Reading & Leeds Festival, the band can’t quite get their heads around the success they’ve been treated to on our shores. “The UK has embraced Tonight Alive in a way I didn’t think possible. It’s mind blowing seeing the growth every time we come back. We are very lucky!”

Needless to say, they’re already eager to return; with this year’s Dr. Martens’ #STANDFORSOMETHING show, they’re going to be playing one of their smallest gigs in a long time and they can’t wait. “Small shows are our favourite. There’s something so special that happens when people cram into a room together for the same thing, sharing sweat and voices. Obviously it’s amazing to play big shows but sometimes it’s really good to go back to where it all started and feel that passion again.”

13

NEWS

REPORT

FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND ALBUM DUE IN JANUARY Funeral For A Friend have announced details of their new album, ‘Chapter and Verse’, due through Distiller Records on 19th January.

“I guess you can say there’s loose themes and threads working their way through the record,” vocalist Matthew Davies-Kreye explains, referencing both the album’s title and that of lead track, ‘You’ve Got A Bad Case of The Religions’.

“I guess that’s what happens when you write material all together in the same time frame and mindset. We chose that particular track pretty much because of its energy and intensity,” he continues, “yet it still has the hallmarks of a Funeral song.”

Recorded in two weeks with Lewis Johns, ‘Chapter and Verse’ came together quickly. “It was an absolute joy to make this record under those constraints. You had to go with your gut instinct pretty much all the time which led to some pretty inspiring performances.”

“I think the only thing we wanted [when starting the album] was to have a record that didn’t feel like it had a billion things going off all at once. We wanted it to be two guitars, drums, bass and vocals.

Quite pure really. All we care about is making a record that makes us feel connected and gives us a reason for making music.”

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FUNERAL FOR A .

FRIEND + GOD DAMN.

EDINBURGH, CABARET VOLTAIRE

T

here’s an autumn chill in the air as the Dr. Martens #STANDFORSOMETHING Tour in association with DIY, arrives in Edinburgh for the first date of the 2014 leg, but that’s not stopping anyone.

First up, bestowed with the duty of kicking off proceedings at Cabaret Voltaire are Forty Four Hours. Having driven all the way from their native Manchester, they may be far from home but a warm welcome still awaits the trio. In fact, tonight is one of their first twelve shows - the band are just nine months old - but their brand of guitar-driven pop proves promising in the live environment already.

Next on the bill, God Damn are quick to show that they’re not messing around. Having already spent most of 2014 doing the rounds on the festival circuit, earning a record deal with One Little Indian in the process, they’ve developed quite a reputation. Tonight, despite being hindered by a rogue microphone stand, they’re brash and noisy in all the best ways. Packed with a heaviness that’s both insatiable and a little bit unhinged, the two-piece know no limits.

By the time Funeral For A Friend hit the stage, there’s sweat dripping from the walls. With the crowd crammed forward into the tiny venue, a roar goes up as the five-piece’s first chords roar out of the PA. The next hour or so sees them rip through tracks from their last fourteen years, each with the same power and energy that they possessed when they were first aired. Songs like ‘Roses For The Dead’ and ‘She Drove Me To Daytime Television’ cause chaos in the crowd, while their newer efforts sound great in this small space.

It’s not long until the confines of Cabaret Voltaire start to burst at the seams: it takes just a few songs for the barrier to buckle, and - after a crowdwide chant for fan favourite ‘Juneau’ is answered - it finally collapses with just one line to go. Halting the show for a few minutes, it’s a welcome breath before the quintet plummet headfirst into ‘Hours’ cut ‘Streetcar’ and begin the home straight. Final track ‘History’ provides the most spine-tingling moment of the night though; after a night of chaos and noise, things close with the crowd raising their fingers in salute for its last chorus, and as the band drop out for the last few moments, they leave just a sea of voices and ringing ears.

REPORT

EAGULLS + MAZES

CARDIFF, CLWB IFOR BACH

A

fter a triumphant start to the Dr. Martens #STANDFORSOMETHING Tour in association with DIY in Edinburgh, this week it’s Wales’ turn to get in on the action.

Landing in Cardiff, this evening’s show sees hometown boys Samoans take to the stage for the first round. Showcasing their impressive breadth of skills for controlling noise, they’re a massive sounding band; one who teeter on the edge of fragility and explosiveness with every few notes.

Next up Mazes are effortlessly great, their set a melding pot of krautrock, scuzzy indie and post-punk which buries its way into the audience’s brains.

Their offerings feel blissful in their jaggedness, not least thanks to set closer ‘Skulking’ with its satisfying bassline and disruptive vocals. Their set flies by and before the crowd knows it, it’s time for our headliners.

The screen that covers the back of the stage flickers with the static of an on-standby television invaded by poltergeists. It moves quickly to images of marches, riots, black-and-white shots of carnage in the streets. Eagulls emerge against the stark imagery on the projection clips.

Their set follows as a mix of psychedelic melodies and post-punk tendencies which twist and turn with frontman George Mitchell’s body, as he - still shadowy against the ever-moving backdrop - sways to the music like he’s possessed. His vocals are smooth over the repetitive thud of the bass and it’s hard not to be mesmerised.

Hitting the halfway mark, their set jolts back to reality with the projection behind the band quickly transitioning to their recently controversial video for ‘Hollow Visions’. Riotous tides ripple through the crowd and all of a sudden mosh pits emerge, with bodies pushing and shoving. The responsibility of drawing the night to a close is left up to their infamous nerve-pressing ‘Possessed’ and, just like David Letterman after their live performance, Cardiff is left in sweat-drenched amazement. DIY

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“i just want people to

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aincoats, Jell-O and dinosaur Care Bears. Not many artists would dare broach such troubling topics, but for Ariel Pink this is just everyday chitchat. The offbeat rock and roller from Beverly Hills is back, and this time he’s got a new name, a new record and a new sense of self-worth – all very impressive considering the difficulties he has had to face in the last couple of years. “My ex-bandmate, the person who took out the lawsuit [on me], I should send him a postcard really,” he says merrily, “Because everything that’s happened since then has been great.”

In case you weren’t aware, it’s former drummer Aaron Sperske who is the exband-mate in question. Coinciding with the release of 2011’s ‘Mature Themes’, a lawsuit was filed due to disagreements over royalties and songwriting credit. It’s a subject that Ariel is still quietly exasperated by. “To have someone claim that they owned you or that they owned a quarter of you, and to actually, like, have a court system entertain the claim, was ludicrous to me because I just didn’t understand how that could happen.” He exhales slightly. “It was a waste of a year.” As a consequence, he realised that some things had to change. His latest album, ‘pom pom’ sees his official recording name change from Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti to just Ariel Pink. “I made it very difficult when I started the project in the 90s, making it out to be a band... it was always a solo project... it has always been a solo project.”

Despite the difficulties with his last album, Ariel is extremely hopeful now. There is so much excitement that his voice is practically sizzling – “‘Mature Themes’ I can’t even listen to because of the memories, [but ‘pom pom’ is] a total, happy celebration and it’s a great time,” he beams, “the approach I took on this record was vastly different from the approach I took on ‘Mature Themes’ – or any other records for that matter.” With the 69-minute runtime and extra-abstract wordplay, that news comes as no surprise.

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love me” Ariel Pink just can’t seem to stay away from controversy. Words: Dominique Sisley.

“I wanted to make it feel like an event, you know? Make it hard on everybody to endure.

A little nod and a wink to the double record that’s gone the way of the dinosaurs.”

And ‘pom pom’ is without doubt a celebration. Seventeen tracks of eccentric lo-fi, triumphant rifts and bizarre lyrics (“it’s all bullshit”) make it one of Ariel’s most ambitious records yet, with some tracks shamelessly straying into a more commercial, radio-friendly territory. Is this a conscious choice? “The goal is to make the thing bigger than yourself, to blow up and hopefully speak a universal language that people can relate to.” Surprisingly, when discussing the topic further, he doesn’t flinch at the words ‘accessibility’ and ‘conventionality’ – quite the opposite, in fact. “I’m far more conventional now, just by virtue of the fact that I’ve been somewhat absorbed into the mainstream,” he explains.

“I’m surprised anybody likes it. I’m surprised I’m not dragged into the street and beaten by today’s youth… The world is a lot weirder and I’m less weird as a consequence. The world has accepted the weirdness.”

It was a slow and steady acceptance, however - Ariel has been making music for

26 years and was only discovered and signed to Animal Collective’s Paw Tracks in 2003. It’s been a long slog, and his growing

success now has certainly been earned. “I was a very, very disturbed child. I came from a broken family,” he remembers. “[This success is because of] circumstance and conviction and belief on my part... But I’m not bitter about it. I was planning on doing it forever, I just didn’t expect the world to come around.” When talking about where he thinks the music world is headed next, Ariel places a heavy emphasis on the “kids” before breaking into a calm rendition of Whitney Houston’s ‘The Greatest Love Of All’ – “I believe that children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way.”

Ariel is light-hearted and chatty, it’s only when the subject turns to recent controversies that his tone drops. The problem is, he’s almost becoming as known for his divisive political statements as he is for his music. “I can’t help but be political! I’m politically incorrect. There’s still an angry five-year-old in me to beat his chest and make a fool of himself,” he says, sounding a little dejected.

“It’s embarrassing and it’s humiliating to actually be on trial, it seems, for who I am... I wanna be able to say anything I want without being held accountable for it. I honestly just want to run my mouth, and not have to apologise for what I say, because I’m not trying to say anything that is trying to make any sense or any point. I can’t help it because I’ve invested so much of my sense of self and identity into what I’ve done for so long, that I don’t have another personality...”

“ I WA N N A B E A B L E T O S AY A N Y T H I N G I WA N T WITHOUT BEING HELD AC C O U N TA B L E F O R I T.”

This flash of sadness is actually quite disarming, but he perks up again quickly. It’s clear that he’s starting to learn from his mistakes, and this new wave of positive thinking is what he’s set on focusing on. “People like me are called mentally retarded or they’re called genius. I don’t know which one I am,” he states, proudly. “I just want people to love me. I’m only happy if other people like me.”

Ariel Pink’s new album ‘pom pom’ will be released on 17th November via 4AD. DIY What a tit.

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DIY Presents Tour 2014 rolls into Reading Flyte and Shy Nature take to the road for the DIY Presents Tour 2014 in association with PledgeMusic. Words & Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett.

I

t may be a drizzly October night but it’s also the second date of the DIY Presents Tour 2014 - there’s no time to let the weather put a dampener on proceedings.

Brighton’s fresh-faced High Tyde have the task of setting the tone for the evening, carefree track ‘Karibou’ providing a particularly sunny indie pop distraction as Reading folk trickle in.

Next up, in their short but oh so certainly sweet set, Shy Nature prove to be deceptively named, dropping a number of humungous, potentially arena sized choruses amongst sparkling guitars. Not that there aren’t more delicate moments too, vocalist Will Blackaby’s delightful croon providing another highlight, even if his inbetween song banter may need a little work. When performing a track from their soon to be released ’Birthday Club’ EP, Blackaby corners himself saying,

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“It isn’t out yet…you can buy our old EP which is even better than our new EP.” Tonight they prove that they’ve set their own bar mighty high.

There is a genuine squeal of excitement from the crowd as Flyte squeeze on to the modest stage and with good reason. Not only does their brand of retro inspired pop demand to be danced to (and dance the Oakford does), but tonight the melodies that hold it all together are allowed to shine and sound utterly ethereal. It’s probably impossible to not be having the loveliest of times when this London four piece is playing in your vicinity.

With bright eyes and the broadest of grins Flyte look as charmed as their audience. This remarkably being only their first proper headline jaunt, it’s clear that Reading has been treated to something rather special tonight indeed. DIY

The DIY Tour 2014 in association with PledgeMusic culminates with an all-day event at The Laundry, London on 1st November, where Flyte and Shy Nature will be joined by Jaws, Telegram, Deers, Spring King, Blessa, Menace Beach, Blood Knees, Palace and Wyldest. Tickets are on sale now, visit diymag.com/diypresents2014 for details.

Dig Me Out

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Early October there were rumblings of a new album following a mysterious white 7” appearing in Sub Pop’s discography box-set release for the band’s ‘Start Together’, emblazoned with the date ‘1/20/15’. On that was the new track ‘Bury Our Friends’, which you can watch a lyric video for on diymag.com featuring director/artist/actress/author Miranda July.

The aforementioned date marks the US release of a new album - their first in ten years, ‘No Cities to Love’, which will drop in the UK on 19th January. The record is produced by John Goodmanson, who worked on ‘Call the Doctor’, ‘One Beat, Dig Me Out’ and ‘All Hands on the Bad One’. “We sound possessed on these

IN BRIEF

HOW MENACING

One of the most important bands of their generation, after an almost decade-long hiatus Sleater-Kinney are back with a new album.

ep, it’s true. SleaterKinney are back.

NEWS

songs,” says Carrie Brownstein, “willing it all - the entire weight of the band and what it means to us - back into existence.”

Speaking to NPR about the album, Brownstein further added that she “spent a lot of time writing choruses for this record. Melody is was what I was most picky about. I really drove Corin crazy sometimes. We would have choruses that we would work on for hours, days, maybe on and off over a matter of weeks. And we’d think we had solved it, but then I would listen to it later on and decide to discard it, that it wasn’t good enough.”

The band are also set to play North American and European tours early in 2015, including shows at the London Roundhouse (23rd March), Manchester Albert Hall (24th), Glasgow O2 ABC 2 (25th) and Dublin Vicar Street (26th).

Tickets are on sale now. DIY

Menace Beach have announced plans to release their debut album early next year. The pair’s first work is due to come out on 18th January via Memphis Industries. It features previouslyunveiled tracks ‘Tennis Court’, ‘Fortune Teller’ and ‘Lowtalkin’’, plus a newly shared opening track ‘Come On Give Up’. Listen to it on diymag.com.

GETTING TWIGGY WITH IT FKA twigs has announced details of her biggest show to date. Tahliah Barnett – who released her debut ‘LP1’ back in May - will perform at London’s Roundhouse on 19th February, with tickets on sale now. The show will follow on from her new conceptual video piece #throughtheglass. Watch it on diymag.com now.

GOING DUTCH Dutch Uncles have announced plans to release their new album, ‘O Shudder’ on 23rd February via Memphis Industries. The record was recorded with Brendan Williams in Wales and Salford and it features guest spots from Liverpool band Stealing Sheep.

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NEWS

turn

of

After four years, The Xcerts return with their most comfortable and accomplished album yet. Photo: Emma Swann.

the The Xcerts challenge YOU to not love their new album. Try if you dare.

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Tides

S

ometimes it just doesn’t matter how prepared you try to be; life has a way of telling you it has other plans. Having spent almost three years solid on the road in support of their second album ‘Scatterbrain’ - a schedule already longer than they had anticipated originally - The Xcerts finally got down to work on its follow-up. With all of their new experience and knowledge right at their fingertips, the trio were determined to make the best record of their career thus far.

That, they undoubtedly managed.

It just wasn’t quite the album they thought they were making…

NEWS “I set out to make these lyrics more relatable than I’ve been in the past,” Murray admits. “With ‘Scatterbrain’ it’s all masked in distortion, all the vocals are distorted and you can’t really make out what I’m saying on that album. This time, I just wanted to write simple, relatable but very personal lyrics and I’m just really proud of the words that I’ve written on this record. I think it’s quite obvious what the record is about, but it’s weird because it wasn’t about the situation that I found myself in.”

IN BRIEF

FOR THE GOOD OF...

HEALTH have announced plans to return to the UK and Ireland for five dates, supporting Interpol for their February European tour. They’ll play London Roundhouse on 6th and 7th February before arriving at Manchester’s Albert Hall on 8th February, supporting the New Yorkers who returned to form this year with their fifth album ‘El Pintor’.

Despite the hardship that Murray found himself facing towards the

“ I wa n t e d t o w r i t e s i m p l e , r e l ata b l e b u t v e r y p e r s o n a l ly r i c s . ” M u r r ay Macleod

“I know some people thought it was a break-up record,” offers frontman Murray Macleod, in the midst of a conversation about the band’s third album ‘There Is Only You’. “But it’s not. It just all sounds like a break-up.” In actual fact, their new full-length tells the story of Murray struggling with the decisions and mistakes of his past, before finally realising that he was ready to spend the rest of his life with his other half. Unlike the movies, that wasn’t where the story was to end.

Halfway through their recording time, the trio took a short break.

It was then that, in an ultimate twist of fate, he returned home to the news that his aforementioned other half no longer wanted to be with him. “It was such a turning point in the recording for us,” explains bassist Jordan Smith, “in terms of what we all thought the record was and what it turned out to be.”

end of the record, he was adamant that the closing song should still channel his original intentions.

Having admittedly made a few lyrical changes “to make it a bit more current”, the essence of the song remains the same, ending on a much more cathartic note than reality maybe allowed for. “By the end of the album, I personally thought it should be joyous and I feel like that ending still is,” he confirms, “but there is a bit of a twist to it just for me personally.

That’s the nice thing about it now; when we wrote that last track, and by the end of the record, I was like, ‘Everyone’s gonna think this is joyous’ because they know what the concept of the whole record is.

Now, I feel like people can see it in both lights, and I like that.”

The Xcerts new album ‘There Is Only You’ will be released on 3rd November via Raygun Music. DIY

BIOPHILIAC Bjork has revealed that her forthcoming new album is due out in 2015. Up to now, we’ve heard precious little detail about the release, which is set to follow-up 2011’s’ ‘Biophilia’, but in a recent interview, London-based producer Arca has confirmed that he’s working on the record.

LIVE & KICKING Los Campesinos! have announced plans for four live shows this December. The dates, which follow this month’s #STANDFORSOMETHING show and are some of their only headline dates this year, will take place in Manchester, Leeds, Norwich and London between 4th and 7th December.

WON’T DO IT AGAIN Norwegian DJ duo Röyksopp have announced plans to release ‘The Inevitable End’, their final album.

In what will be their last traditional release on album format, the pair of Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland will release twelve-track record on 10th November.

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The DIY 2014

Readers Poll is now

open!

It’s almost the end of the year, so we want to know what you (yes, you!) think has been good, bad and a bit weird in 2014. Fill in the form opposite, email it to us at readerspoll@diymag.com and have your say. The closing date for votes is Friday 14th November.

Best Song _________________________________________________________________________ Best Album ________________________________________________________________________ Band of the Year __________________________________________________________________ Breakthrough Band _______________________________________________________________ Best Cover Version _______________________________________________________________ Most WTF Lyric ____________________________________________________________________ Best Comeback ____________________________________________________________________ Best TV Appearance ________________________________________________________________ New Band Most Likely To Be Amazing In 2015 ___________________________________________ Best Video ________________________________________________________________________ Best Live Act ______________________________________________________________________ Best Festival (Or ‘Festival Like Event’) ________________________________________________

SEND YOUR NOMINATIONS TO:

email: readerspoll@diymag.com post this page to: DIY, Unit 9, The Laundry, 2-18 Warburton Road, London, E8 3FN tweet: a photo of this page to @diymag or vote on: diymag.com/readerspoll2014 22

diymag.com

DIY

“It’s A Tough Game,

Making Hipster Music...”

WHAT’S COOKING? MARIACHI EL BRONX

As The Bronx hand the reigns over to their alter-ego once again, Mariachi El Bronx run through the list of the ingredients that went into making ‘III’.

LOCATION

Deerhoof’s newest record is as predictably unpredictable as you’d hope. Interview: Louise Mason.

S

aying that Deerhoof like to experiment is like dramatically crying out that the sky is blue.

If there’s one thing the band have perfected over their last eleven albums, it’s their penchant for all things outside of the musical box. Their twelfth full-length is no different, but as the band’s Greg Saunier points out, there were a few changes of plan when it came to ‘La Isla Bonita’.

“Our intention with this record,” he begins to explain, “was to make the most slick record we could. That was our plan; overproduction, an homage to Jimmy Jam producing Janet Jackson.

Slick, sheen, avant garde, decadent music. I was like, ‘We’re quitting this DIY nonsense, we’ve had enough’.”

Somewhere along the way, their ideas changed. “We were making rough demos to send to the producer to make this slick record,” confirms Saunier, “but by the end of ten days [in the studio] we’d come up with this concept we liked more – of using the demos, the most rough, trashy thing we’ve ever done. [It was] the complete opposite, but it just ended up being the record.”

It’s that sense of unpredictability and ease of wandering into the unknown that’s kept each of their records feeling unique. “Deerhoof records don’t really progress from one to the next, we just start over from scratch again. It feels like every new record is our debut as whatever band we’re pretending to be at that moment. It’s not like they’re not related, but each record is trying to erase the one the came before it.

We decided to go to Charlottesville, VA to a place called Haunted Hollow which was literally a ranch in the middle of nowhere, with all these wild metal statues everywhere, where we lived and recorded. Vince [Hidalgo] fell through the ceiling one night, and almost everyone peed in the woods. True rebel styles...

JAM ROOM

There is nothing better then letting off some steam after a long day of tracking.

The studio had a jam space, so Vince and I started a band called GROOVY TUESDAYS. We tried to get a gig at a place called Guzzlers in downtown Charlottesville and we mostly played drum and bass versions of Limp Bizkit jams, but the losers at Guzzlers never returned our calls. So, we’re still looking for the perfect venue to unleash our material. We’ve decided we play only on Tuesdays as well.

“When we set out to do something on a record, the way it turns out is something else completely. If I’m honest it’s a little bit intentional, if I think about examples in music history - David Bowie or something - acts that reinvent themselves, they’re great role models for us. It’s a tool for longevity, which is hard to do in a trendy music world. Our strategy is, if it seems like a music writer is about to figure out what we do, we better contradict it as soon as possible.”

Being so far away from anything that has food, we were very happy that there was an amazing kitchen at the ranch.

Turns out Keith [Douglas] is a pretty good cook. The only bummer was that once we knew this info he had to cook for ten people every day. I think he started to get angry because after a while everything he made was in the shape of cocks.

Deerhoof’s new album ‘La Isla Bonita’ will be released on 3rd November via Upset The Rhythm.

DIY

Mariachi El Bronx’s new album ‘(III)’ will be released on 4th November via ATO / PIAS (Cooperative) Records.

DIY

FEEDING TIME

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NEU

Ibeyi From ancient teachings to modern electronics, these French-Cuban twins bring a modern pop hybrid. Words: Jamie Milton. Photo: Emma Swann.

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L

isa-Kainde and Naomi Diaz make up Ibeyi, French-Cuban twins producing music with XL Recordings head honcho Richard Russell at the helm.

Earlier this year Russell helped out on Damon Albarn’s solo debut ‘Everyday Robots’, a project that’s been a long time coming but was practically forced into existence. Ibeyi, on the flipside, come off like something eager to career into view, the first step of an act that’s only just beginning to evolve.

The pair’s basics build on the teachings of the Yoruba culture, which in their own words believes in “energy”, not necessarily spirits, “love and life and death”, but not strictly life after death. Musically, Yoruba teaches the importance of dance and percussion, the latter of which their late father, Anga Diaz, became celebrated for.

It’s not something that strictly runs in the family, mind you.

“Oh no, I’m bad at percussion!” proclaims the afro-sporting Lisa-Kainde. “But I appreciate it so much. When you’re a child you must have to learn how to dance with rhythm. It’s one of the most amazing things.”

Traditional instruments weave their way into Ibeyi’s music - amounting to a debut album due out in early 2015 - but the focus is more on the present day.

Electronics and a hip-hop influence fall centre stage.

“I listen to hip-hop every day,” says Naomi, while her sister sticks to more old school staples. “Nina Simone is my goddess,” she declares.

Sink or Swim Ibeyi are just as much about the visuals as they are head-turning tracks. For ‘River’, the twins can be seen submerging their head in water, a little like Thom Yorke for Radiohead’s ‘No Surprises’, only slightly less disturbing… “People wanted to see us. And this is perfect. You see only us.

And it’s powerful and it’s simple,” they explain. “Everybody’s told us that the hand behind us is quite freaky. It scares them, the tattoo. It’s two dancers - they were there to help us. They were helping us! Without the hand we wouldn’t float.”

Before they went into the studio with Richard, they didn’t know their MPC from an MP3 - now, fancy gadgets are as big a part of their live show as the traditional chants they often open with. It forms a pop hybrid that comes off as a new strand.

Everything’s kept very simple - the piano-led

melodies, beats that crash into view - but it’s this mix of old teachings and oh-so-2014 production that finds a winner. “We always say that working with Richard makes us listen to music differently. Now we listen to every single detail, like a producer would,” says Lisa-Kainde. “We knew that this was the right thing to do, and we were not afraid to do it.”

Sessions for the album would see them working with the producer from 9am until midday for consecutive weeks. Often they’d be handed an alien-looking gadget or a set of sounds to play with, before being left to their own devices. “Basically Richard used to say to us everyday, ‘Try this sound and see what you think.’ We felt like we were producing our own album, which was not totally true. But he was guiding us without saying ‘I can do it for you.’” “ W e

k n e w

t h i s

wa s

t h i n g w e t o

t o

w e r e d o

t h e

r i g h t

d o ,

a n d

n o t

i t.”

K a i n d e

t h at

a f r a i d

L i s a -

D i a z

“Sometimes he’d say, ‘Hmm, we need to make a bridge’,” Lisa-Kainde continues.

“And it changes the whole song. And this is magical. When you find the little element that makes the song and you listen to it for the first time and you feel your whole body go, ‘This is it!’”

Each of their songs so far feels like a eureka moment in itself. Debut ‘Oya’ lurked in dark corners, asking for refuge in the Goddess of Death of the same name. ‘Mama Says’ is even more touching, appearing to directly address the death of the twins’ father.

“There is no life without him,” they sing, but beyond the broken beats and sorry cries there’s an underlying message of hope - Ibeyi are continuing the family’s musical legacy. “I feel like our father is looking over us,” Lisa-Kainde claims at one stage. And if there’s one defining quality to Ibeyi’s music, it’s this steadfast, untarnished belief in what they’re doing. DIY

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Black Honey

Demob Happy H o t o n t h e ta i l o f 2 0 14’ s b l u e s r o c k b r e a k t h r o u g h s , D e m o b H a p py a r e r e a dy i n g a 2 0 1 5 d o m i n a n c e w i t h their new single.

I

t breaks down the hatches, storms through the door and makes itself at home in an instant - Demob Happy’s music is both the product of heavyweight rock staples and a resurgent assault on the senses in 2014, led by chart-toppers Royal Blood. These guys stem from the same Brighton home, too, and it’s not foolish to declare that 2015 could be Demob’s turn at thrashing their way towards the top.

First thing’s first: New single ‘Succubus’, an all-thrills take on blues that checks in to Josh Homme’s darkest thoughts and Superfood’s sarky choruses. Hailing from Newcastle, these Geordies relocated to Brighton a couple of years back, but it took another trip to Wales in order to get their creative juices flowing. Hitching up to an isolated cottage, five of them spent “next to nothing to rent the place and we begged, borrowed and stole all the equipment,” remembers lead vocalist / bassist Matthew Marcantonio. Together with producer Christoph Skirl, they recorded an EP’s worth of material, with ‘Succubus’ arriving at the end of a sleepless, often boozy session. “We had spare time. It was in a really unfinished form, and we had this really basic idea and a chorus melody. We worked that song up from zero to what became a hero in like four hours, I think.”

A couple of triumphant moments later (“There was a momentous occasion where we found five year old coconut rum in a little cupboard,” Matt remembers) Demob Happy drove the long journey home with a forthright, dagger-sharp EP under their belts. Couple ‘Succubus’ with the downright disgusting ‘Suffer You’ and 2015’s anxiously peering round to see a devilish new band heading its way.

Demob Happy’s new single ‘Succubus’/’I Wanna Be A Hippy’ will be released on 17th November via Milk Parlour Records. DIY

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diymag.com

This text-happy Brighton bunch can taste the future.

About Black Honey: They’re dosed up on ‘90s staples, taking notes from Wolf Alice’s recent heady ascent. They’ve made it three out of three in the ‘promising demo stakes’.

They’re remaining anonymous, but anyone remotely intrigued can text them for a cheeky chat (07578 533359). DIY’s own Kyle MacNeill gave them a buzz (see an excerpt of his conversation below).

As for the music, their third track ‘The Taste’ takes the strung out, woozy quality of ‘Teenager’ and ‘Sleep Forever’ and aims for the skies. Early-Howling Bells comparisons ensue, but there remains a distinct sense of intrigue backing this partsleazy take on impassioned grunge.

Listen: ‘The Taste’.

For Fans Of: TV static, seedy WhatsApp conversations.

17:58 Kyle MacNeill: What’s your first name?

17:59 Black Honey: Full name - engelbert game station the third.

17:59 Black Honey: Wanna fuck?

18:00 Kyle MacNeill: Engelberts aren’t my type sorry about that.

18:15 Kyle MacNeill: Are there more quality demos on the way soon?

18:16 Black Honey: Yeh no shit Sherlock! We have a bank that we have had for a while there’s a lot to look forward too [sic].

NEU RECOMMENDED

Schultz and Forever

On Copenhagen newcomer Schultz and Forever’s early tracks, it sounds like he’s picking out snapshots from every hangover he’s ever experienced. All coupled with the odd fragment of the night before. Queasy stomachs best avoid this - but for anyone remotely invested in the weirdo pop of Ariel Pink and his oddball ancestors, here’s a Dane worth taking notice of. Recent single ‘Silvia’ is Jonathan Schultz’s woozy daydream anthem. After flirting with self-indulgence, it breaks into the kind of nostalgia-laced chorus that’s been sapped straight out of a handheld radio set from the 60s.

LISTEN Debut EP ‘Broadcast Dynamics’ is out now.

FOR FANS OF Connan Mockasin, listening to Foxygen backwards.

Sylas

GL

ENO KNOWS: THIS CHORAL, ELECTRONIC LONDON DUO COME READILY-APPROVED. Sylas is a new London via Frankfurt production duo stepping straight out of the shadows with their luscious debut ‘Hollow’. Released with the approval of Brian Eno (the legendary producer met Sylas at a local singing group), their first 12” dives straight into the dark, bubbling up quality permanently etched into Darkside’s ‘Psychic’. Standout ‘Shore’ trickles by with all the intent of someone gradually awakening on a lazy weekend morning. It’s a sweet, intimate song that wraps tales about family, love and tragedy in the warmest tones.

SYDNEY-BASED SYNTH POP FOR THE MORE ROMANTICALLY-INCLINED. GL’s take on a bubbling-up sound - never short of chancing musicians having their go at woozy synth pop - involves a slick, perfectly executed take on ‘80s-indebted romance. Graeme Pogson and Ella Thompson provide a sparkling synth wash, which sits somewhere between Chairlift and Washed Out. A chilled out aesthetic defines their debut EP - it harks back, and Thompson’s vocals are similarly struck by the past. Halcyon days are long gone, she’s admitting, but there’s an alternate escape in giddy songwriting.

Listen A debut 12” is out 24th November on Aesop.

For Fans Of An ether-effect James Blake.

LISTEN GL’s debut EP is out now on Plastic World.

FOR FANS OF TOPS, 80S DISCOS.

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Tobias Jesso Jr.: always prone to a bit of soul searching.

Tobias Jesso Jr. T h e r e’ s n o m ys t e ry t o t h i s Va n c o u v e r v i a L o s A n g e l e s s o n g w r i t e r - i n f a c t, h i s b r e a d - b a k i n g , m u s i c - m a k i n g r o u t i n e c o u l d n ’ t b e a n y m o r e d i r e c t. w o r d s : j a m i e m i lt o n .

U

sually when a musician turns heads without showing their face, there’s a reason. They’re taking their time, executing step one of a grand plan, matching mysterious music with an equally enigmatic aura. When it comes to Tobias Jesso Jr., this now Los Angeles-based newcomer is the very definition of direct. “I like to cut to the point a lot. In life and in song,” says the Canadian in one of his first ever interviews. He’s the opposite of an enigma.

Instead of hiding under a comfy reverb blanket or opting to lay out musical clues as part of an online treasure hunt, Tobias sings songs about real stories, real people. “I have songs that are about what it would be like to be a performer at sixty. I have songs about an artist struggling in situations that I might not have been in,” he lists off. Whatever he’s writing, there’s a nagging familiarity. A track like ‘True Love’ could’ve been lifted straight from a series of lost recordings from the sixties, slightly detuned vocals dancing with simple piano lines.

Debut ‘Just a Dream’ opens with the line “yesterday, I had a baby - now she is one day old, and looks just like her old lady.”

And off he runs with this distinct tale of his, stories etching into the conscience.

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It sounds like a tired cliché stripped of fact, but Tobias Jesso Jr. comes off like so many existing songwriters at once, without provoking any direct comparison. John Lennon’s been cited a few times, but it’s fairly wide of the mark. He isn’t trained in piano - sheet music “doesn’t make any sense to me at all” - and his first big break came after struggling as a “bassist in a back-up band for a pop singer that no-one’s ever heard of.”

When Girls broke up, he had producer Chet ‘JR’ White’s email on file, and fired over a quick message: “‘Sorry to hear about the band. I’m a big fan of your production.’” Attached were a couple of songs, including ‘Just a Dream’. “After that, just two hours after, he wrote back and said: ‘Please call this number’.

He asked if I had any more songs, I only had the four. He asked me to write more and from that point on I was playing piano about twelve hours a day. He called me and was like, ‘Just stop’ by the time I had forty-five,” he laughs.

Two years on and there’s an album on the way. “I think I’ve spent a lot of time trying to get comfortable with the fact I have to sing in public,” he admits, but his first shows take place in tiny Airbnb rooms, booked out in London

LIVE R E P O R T

“You’re a wizard, Jack” “No I’m not, I’m just Jack!”

“I LIKE TO CUT TO THE POINT A LOT. IN LIFE AND IN SONG.” TOBIAS JESSO JR. Tobias Jesso Jr. completely defies the idea of hearton-sleeve songwriters being reclusive, or elusive artists being tight-lipped.

He’s a completely different prospect to an Elliott Smith or a Keaton Henson. “When I was in Vancouver I worked for my friend, he owns a moving company,” he remembers. “This friend was the first person who I got to see the reaction of when I showed him the song that I was proud of at the time.

He just said, ‘This song is complete garbage.’ He did not like it one bit.

“It’s a strange thing to have two separate lives going on.

One is in LA, with a team and friends who know about my music. And then Vancouver, with the people I grew up with and never really shined for them at all. I was kind of a rusty boot.” Given a little shine, this previous unknown is just a few steps away from being universally loved. Expect him to take the direct route. DIY

JACK GARRATT

Photo: Carolina Faruolo

and housing just thirty guests per night. These are intimate, homely affairs to warm him up for the real deal. “I need to find a good sourdough starter,” he says, deadly serious. “Then I’m going to bake up some bread and everyone’s going to have some. The bread is a good back-up. It’ll be like, ‘This guy doesn’t look like he’s enjoying the song. Take his bread away.’”

London, The Basement

“I

was gonna walk off for the encore, but I just wanna keep looking at you guys,” chokes crooner Jack Garratt, through a tangle of russety facial fluff. “I hope you had a good time tonight,” he continues, to deafening applause, the loudest hollers from the back of the room belonging to his mum and dad, sporting their son’s merch proudly. “Then my work is done,” he grins, before taking one last plunge into his ocean-deep pop-soul repertoire with the pulsating ‘Worry’, his deep, rasping utterances peeling away to reveal that remarkable falsetto again - at once quivering and completely controlled.

It wasn’t the easiest of journeys to this point of rapture for Jack tonight, though. Stooping over keys - he handles all the other instrumentation on his own, too - for browbeaten torch-song opener ‘I Couldn’t Want You Anyway’, Jack cuts an imposing, if a little shaky figure. He’s slicked with sweat and wailing, “don’t need reminding I’m your worst mistake” over a soaring wash of garbled atmospherics and synths which sear and sting like love turned sour.

Plenty of beats flutter in and out of time tonight, but that’s part and parcel of being a one-manband; especially one which has played only a handful rooms as bustling and tropically sticky as the London Edition’s swanky basement. He’s plagued by technical issues, too: “I literally don’t know what I can do because I don’t know what it is that’s broken,” he groans, strapping on his guitar for ‘Water’. It’s safe to say no-one else is perturbed. Picked notes flutter like bees’ wings, flanged basslines wob-wob like sweltering jelly, and the audience writhe along with Jack’s lyrical hooks - screwed-up and raked-out like scorched coals, burning with desire and subsequent rejection. (Dan Carson)

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NEU

deers S t a r s o f t h e D I Y L o n d o n a l l - d ay e r , Madrid’s Deers are bringing broken kazoos and unlimited enthusiasm to the U K . N o p r ay i n g r i t u a l s , t h o u g h .

W o r d s : E l H u n t.

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here are few experiences in life quite like watching Deers on stage. A hurricane of raucous tinny melodies, and yowled, somewhat improvised vocals, wherever Deers land, things invariably turn a little loco. It’s been a busy summer for the Madridbased band, and along the way Deers tragically lost a kazoo to the unpredictable ways of the road, and doubled in size to become a four-piece.

Founding member Carlotta Cosials and new recruit Ade Martin are enjoying a pit stop in Madrid, and they’re delighted with how things are going as a quartet. “It was impossible before, to play as a two,” laughs Carlotta, who formed the band with Ana Perrote. “We had this thing we created with parts of drums, so when I was playing guitar I was pushing with my feet at the same time,” she says, giving a quick demonstration. “It made no sense.

We want to be a band, and to be four pilares.” “Columns,” translates Ade. They’re not a particularly high maintenance bunch, Deers. “We don’t need no violins or gospel choir in the production,” states Carlotta, “and we don’t have these kind of superstition things, we don’t pray.” Apparently the band have a ritual of slapping each other on the arms before going on stage – the reasoning behind this is unclear – and other than that, Carlotta says

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all that she demands is “her lucky knickers. That’s it. Enough.” ”Then she’s got the luck with her,” Ade adds.

Whether they’re losing kazoos at Bestival – “[Carlotta] swallowed it! Not the whole thing but a little bit,” explains Ade - or plotting their dream video, which would apparently feature an oven capable of producing unlimited pasta, the band always seem to be loving every minute of being Deers. “We’re not,” jokes Ade, “we’re crying inside.”

They’re excited about finally having enough time to record their debut album once they get off tour, with sessions planned for April, and Deers are also incredibly excited about what they’ve dubbed the “DIY party” – our all-dayer on 1st of November.

“It’s the first time we are going to be elegant!” announces Carlotta, with an air of extravagance. “We’re going to wear all in black, right? Shoes, not sneakers. We are very excited about that.” Deers are also planning to play some new material for the first time, they reveal. “We are going back with three new songs,” says Carlotta.

“We’re very very proud, going back with something new.”

Deers play the DIY Presents in association with PledgeMusic all-dayer at The Laundry, London on 1st November. Their new single ‘BARN’ will be released on 3rd November via Lucky Number. DIY

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CONSTELLATION

THIS MONTH IN

EPS

There’s enough last-minute releases to feast on this month, whether it’s in the form of a head-turning taster or a debut to rule them all. As talk turns to 2015, here’s a rundown of the best EPs to look out for this month.

FOUNDED: 1997 KEY RELEASES: Ought, ‘More Than Any Other Day (2014), Godspeed You! Black Emperor, ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!’

(2013).

Constellation Records has overseen every technological change and possible obstacle for a label to run into, since its emergence. But instead of fading out or settling into a rhythm, its past two years have arguably been its most successful, with a Polaris Prize winner amongst its recent discography. A new Ought EP (‘Once More With Feeling…’) is round the corner, so they’re not done with 2014 just yet.

Answers from co-founder Don Wilke, who formed the label with Ian Ilavsky.

You’ve been going since 1997 - if you were to start the label from scratch tomorrow, what’s the first thing you’d do?

Stockpile canned goods.

If you could pick out one moment from your history as a highlight, what would it be?

Staring down and surviving oblivion in 2006. After liquidating our nest egg to acquire [with Hotel2Tango and Grey Market Mastering] the building in which we all currently work, our longtime distributors went down, the record business was in free fall, costs were rising and prices falling, and Canada had transitioned to a petro-currency, slicing 1/3 from the value of every record we sold outside of Canada (which is about 95% of them). Not the best of times, but climbing out of the hole to fight another day was pretty goddamn satisfying.

When you’re looking for new music, do you have any strict criteria?

We have no musical criteria per se, other than we need to care about, and be excited by, a record or a batch of songs. Just as important though are the people making the music. If the fit between an artist and the label isn’t there, it’s unlikely to be a very fulfilling relationship for any of us and we will pass irrespective of whether we like the music. DIY

BEA

Good Thinking

Stirring, strange Amsterdam artist BEA has spent the summer warming up to her debut release ‘Good Thinking’. Out now, it contains the ghostly pop of ‘Breadwinner’, plus the dogefriendly (for evidence, just watch the video) ‘We’re Like the Hard Born’. Nothing about this first work is remotely normal.

Oceaán The Grip

Oliver Cean’s second EP cements the Manchester producer as more than a safe bet follow-up to the James Blake / Jai Paul pack.

‘The Grip’ - out 17th November on Chess Club - brings this youngster’s production to the forefront. His voice remains a source of strange wonder, but he’s come on leaps and bounds already in making eerie electronics his own, distinct game.

DNKL

Wolfhour

Swedish electronic pop with the darkest core, DNKL is a curious trio of gloomy-minded musicians making music that treads familiar ground without going too far into the unknown. Debut EP ‘Wolfhour’ is misty-eyed and more-than-promising. It’s out 17th November on US label Sugarcane Recordings, backed by remixes from Keep Shelly in Athens and Seekae.

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hoW to break

meric 2014 has been a big year for Brits abroad. From Sam Smith and Disclosure t o R o ya l B l o o d a n d A r c t i c M o n k e y s , U K a c t s h av e b e e n m a k i n g d e n t s o n t h e o t h e r s i d e o f t h e p o n d . F e w h av e m a d e a b i g g e r i m p a c t t h a n B a s t i l l e , w h o r o l l e d t h e i r e p i c 2 0 1 3 i n t o a n a l l o u t a s s a u lt o n t h e U S A . W e j o i n e d them in Boston on their biggest North American tour yet to find out h o w t o m a k e i t t o t h e t o p s tat e s i d e .

Wo r d s : S t e p h e n Ac k r oy d. I n t e rv i e w: Lo u i s e M a s o n .

Photos: Mike Massaro.

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merica started really badly. Our first ever show was at Popscene in San Francisco, loads of UK bands do their first shows there. The night before we’d played Benicàssim [in Spain] and I’d lost my voice completely. For the last four songs I had to hold the mic out to the crowd and hope they knew the words, luckily they did. We got to San Francisco, I had no voice - I couldn’t talk, couldn’t sing… our label were there, first time we met the team - everyone expecting everything. This quack doctor came along with a Starbucks bag full of drugs. He gave me a steroid injection in my bum, my left bum cheek. I was like, ‘Dude it’s my throat!’ My whole leg went into spasm, so not only couldn’t I sing, I couldn’t walk. I just saw my manager’s face drop from the side of the stage, it was like - welcome to America guys…”

D

an Smith’s first experience sounds straight out of a perverse black comedy, but from an unsteady start there’s no doubt - Bastille have broken America. They’re not the only ones, either. It’s been a great few years for UK acts stateside. From Adele’s universal domination to Sam Smith’s Billboard-topping antics, Arctic Monkeys converting their domestic form to the world stage and Disclosure becoming the poster boys for electronic music there as well as here - the British aren’t just coming, they’ve set up shop.

Established home grown acts like Calvin Harris are the de facto touch points for EDM, idiosyncratic oddballs Alt-J have found their fair share of love, Charli XCX is playing it fancy and ruling the airwaves while Royal Blood smash them into tiny pieces, hanging out with rock’s ruling elders. And that’s without One Direction, Coldplay or Radiohead - all able to legitimately make claims in one way or another as The Biggest Band In The World. It makes it sound so easy. Spoiler alert: it really isn’t - but maybe it’s getting easier than it once was.

So the story had it: the biggest bands in the UK could roll up in America, used to huge tour buses, sold out enormo-domes and endless magazines covers, only to find they’re right back where they started. Relative nobodies forced to start from scratch, but this time in a country so massive it makes old Blighty look positively minuscule in comparison. It’s no wonder the poor blighters would find themselves slinking back home to their creature comforts with their tails firmly between their legs.

Some of our most revered acts have failed to make the same impact Stateside; not exactly unheard of, but not the larger than life superstars they are back home. At the height of their powers, the US wasn’t that interested in the fundamentally British Blur, sending them back home with battle wounds to lick clean. Later they’d make amends, even inviting them to headline Coachella in 2013, but to a certain audience they’ll always be ‘the band with the woo-hoo song’. For every Spice Girls, there’s a Girls Aloud, Busted or Take That - a chart dominating pop sensation who remained chained firmly to the UK. There’s one thing that can’t be denied, though. The world is getting smaller. Not physically smaller of course, but technology has made communication instant. A band can release a song in one place, and find it’s blown up worldwide. Especially if it’s the kind of immediate, anthemic super hit that sticks in the brain for months. Y’know, like ‘Pompeii’.

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“

We’ve never set our expectations high. We didn’t imagine getting out of the UK or Europe.”

Dan Smith

“As we were doing stuff in the UK, things were trickling through over the internet,” Bastille’s Kyle Simmons explains. “When we came here we expected to be driving across America in a tiny little van, but we seemed to have skipped a level, which we really felt weird about. In the UK we were used to playing pubs to no one, when we came to the States, we felt we’d established the big first step via the net.”

“The album came out loads later in America,” Dan recalls, “but obviously if it’s online anyone can have it. When we first started in the UK it went from a ‘borrowing a friend’s mum’s car to tour’ level, through to releasing songs on Hype Machine. Because we’d built up such a strong fan base ourselves in the UK, we came to the USA as a band with a Number One album.”

To suggest that every band - even those who make an impact in America - needs to have a ‘Pompeii’ would be somewhat demanding. This is a monster hit which peaked at Number Five in the Billboard Hot 100, and even at the time of writing, more than a year after its first appearance sits just outside the Top 40. It’s a triple platinum track, with sales of almost four million and a video with more than 100 million views on YouTube. The logic holds whatever, though. We live in an international world. The internet doesn’t have boundaries - and those it has are easily circumnavigated with a bit of technological jiggery pokery. If a song is out there, it’s out there, and with word of mouth through social networks, an

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act can almost be huge everywhere just as much as it can anywhere. Trying to put the internet into territorial boxes simply doesn’t work.

So a great song and the right buzz online can open doors that previously would remain locked. As a country, we’ve always punched above our size.

From The Beatles and The Rolling Stones through to today’s heroes, for such a small country our musical output, pound for pound, is a match for that of any other. If great music is the leveller, that’s where UK acts find themselves holding all the keys.

I

t’s those open doors that have led Bastille to their current North American jaunt. A couple of days ago the band played a two night stand at New York’s Radio City to a combined audience of around 12,000 people. Tomorrow they’ll head to Canada for shows in Toronto and Montreal before returning to play a month’s worth of sizeable shows around the US. Tonight is Boston’s Agganis Arena. The Killers, Arctic Monkeys and Queens of the Stone Age have all graced the 7,200 capacity venue in recent years. For comparison, London’s

Brixton Academy - seen by many as a sign of ‘making it’ in the UK - is a touch under 5,000.

Stateside, their album ‘Bad Blood’ has shifted over a million units. While just how huge the band became back home was, to some, a surprise, their ability to translate it to the global stage shows it was no happy accident. ‘Pompeii’ opened up a path to success, but it took hard graft to reach the promised land.

“Radio is king here,” Kyle insists. In a country this large, getting people to hear a band’s music is vital. A show can be hundreds of miles away from home for some. The airwaves make a huge difference.

“It’s a totally different beast,” Dan continues. “In the UK we were so lucky to have the support of Radio 1 and XFM. Here it’s so vast, it’s state by state. You need to establish relationships with all those people. Not that it’s not fun, but it’s really hard work. Multiple stations, multiple states.

“We were lucky. We had ‘Pompeii’, but that had a life of its own before we got here, so we were able to come in with a

song they liked, and build from there.”

Still, if there’s one moment that’s always going to stand out on a band’s check list, it’s Saturday Night Live. The iconic US programme has one band an episode. Because of that, to take that slot still means something. A slot on a major network show is a big deal in anyone’s book, but SNL is iconic.

In pop culture terms, it’s something that remains influential - talked about, shared, watched online. When there’s a new Arcade Fire, Kanye West or Justin Timberlake album, you can be sure they’ll show up there. And so did Bastille, because that’s how they roll now.

“I think Saturday Night Live is pivotal,” Dan agrees. “It’s unique, you have to commit a week to it, with rehearsals and stuff. They invite you all, say goodbye - they really make you feel like you’re part of it. I think people really look to it in a tastemaker way - they have huge pop acts - we were sandwiched between Lady Gaga and Kings Of Leon or something. It was a huge deal for us.

It can be the thing that tips things. Sam Smith had it really early.”

But the US commitment to music on telly doesn’t end there. “There’s loads more late night TV shows,” he continues. “Music on TV is much more prevalent. That’s brilliant, that’s why you see loads of UK bands on TV here.

It’s terrible back home. There’s Jools, and if they don’t choose to back you, there’s not really much else.”

S

ome bands, mentioning no names (*cough* Arctic Monkeys *cough* - Ed), head over to America, get a taste for the LA life, and decide to stay - but for all their arena sell-outs and chart busting singles, at the heart of it Bastille are still a British band.

“We all massively identify with London and the UK,” Dan admits. “Whenever we have time off we go home.”

“We just had two weeks off,” Kyle adds.

“They asked where we wanna record - we can go to America or anywhere - and we’re like, Elephant and Castle!

Straight away. That’s where our heads are.”

“I’d love California but the idea of driving forty minutes to get milk puts me off,” jokes Will Farquarson.

Yet Bastille visually don’t always come

across as a British band. Smith’s love of David Lynch is well documented, but don’t read too much into that. “I never really felt a South London aesthetic would fit our music,” he explains. “I was more thinking about the films I love.

We did two or three trips to America before we toured that leant towards developing our aesthetic. There’s a degree of our music that’s really personal, but also a lot of fantasy and fiction that feeds throughout the videos and art.”

If there’s one thing you could take from Bastille’s first DIY cover in March of last year, it’s that they’re humble sorts.

Back then, Dan Smith sounded like a man who, if he had the choice, would probably rather not be thrust into the limelight at all. What followed was a whirlwind of Number One albums, sold out shows and general mayhem.

In American culture, that would be celebrated - and rightly so - but Bastille have remained down to earth. There’s no lording their success, no falling out of clubs at 3am or tabloid gossip. In typical style, they’re always eager to play it down.

Lorde, to much heavier rock. We exist quite well in the alternative sphere here. If you have a song that crosses over into the mainstream - the UK press [#notallukpress - Ed] would be like, ‘Urgh, it’s gone mainstream’ and back away. Whereas here they dig their claws in; ‘No, you’re ours, we don’t care if they’re gonna play you on pop stations, we don’t care if that song is gonna blow up and be massive, you’re ours, we got you from the beginning’, and they hold on to you. Hopefully we’ll have that for a while. It’s just a really nice mentality, a way of thinking.

They’re more welcoming of success.

“If ‘Pompeii’ was a weird fluke, that’s way beyond anything we expected.

If this is the biggest or best it ever is, we’ve a had a fucking weird time. Weird but fun. The last two years have blown our expectations out of the water.”

“I never thought about it,” Kyle muses, “until we were at a conference and this artist kept referring to themselves in the third person - like someone being sycophantic about something they liked - but it was themselves!”

“What we’ve come to understand is that, for Americans, if you’ve achieved something it’s not arrogant or embarrassing to talk about it. I’m the opposite,” Dan laughs. “We never talk about success. Until recently a lot of our friends were so patronising. ’How was America? Did you play to empty rooms?’

And we were like, ‘Actually we sold four million singles’, through gritted teeth.

“But it’s not how we are, to blow our own trumpet. With Americans, it’s just a pride in what you’ve achieved.

But people find it odd, that we’re not tooting our own horn.”

“We’ve never had time to sit back and reflect,” drummer Woody agrees.

“We’ve been in a bubble. Happy and content.”

“The only thing with our career,” Dan continues, “is we’ve never set our expectations high. We didn’t imagine getting out of the UK or Europe.

America’s very genre driven. Very formatted. Radio here’s amazing: us alongside Nirvana, Arctic Monkeys,

space jam “We were passing through and we got a message from this guy who works at NASA, who designs parachutes for the landing shuttles. He said, ‘I’m a huge fan, would like you to come along and I’ll show you round’. We were like, ‘Yes please, that’s insane’. We spent the day with these geniuses - it was like, ‘You’re cooler’. ‘No, you’re cooler!’

“But NASA can’t advertise, because they’re a government agency, so they were asking us to help boost their visitors! Crazy.

“We were invited to the launch of Orion 3, the first manned flight in three years. It will go to Mars one day.”

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the

rise & rise

March 2013 • First DIY cover.

• ‘Pompeii’ reaches Number Two in the UK Singles Chart, beaten only by Justin Timberlake’s ‘Mirrors’.

• Release ‘Bad Blood’, which goes to Number One in the UK. • Play SXSW: “The week we played SXSW literally the day after our album went to Number One. It was just six of us, we couldn’t get cabs, it was back to square one.

We were forced to get a lift with a drunk stoned red neck with a smashed windscreen.

It was how most horror films start. His way of saying goodbye was to do a burnout in a car park - that was our welcome to America.”

Kyle Simmons • Two sold out headline shows at Shepherd’s Bush Empire.

May 2013 • Support Muse across the UK, including two dates at the Emirates Stadium.

June 2013 • Play the John Peel stage at Glastonbury.

July 2013 • US headline shows: play both San Francisco, and the 3-400 capacity Troubadour in West Hollywood.

August 2013 • Perform at Reading & Leeds Festival, including a secret set on the BBC Introducing Stage.

September 2013 • Play another US headline tour, including the 550 capacity Music Hall of Williamsburg in New York.

• Perform ‘Pompeii’ on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

October 2013 • UK headline tour, including the nearly 5000 capacity O2 Academy Brixton.

December 2013 • Christmas shows in the US, including the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas alongside Arcade Fire, Lorde and Phoenix.

• Release reissue of ‘Bad Blood’, ‘All This Bad Blood’ with new original songs (Just in time for Christmas! - Ed).

January 2014 • US shows, including a date at the 1500 capacity Webster Hall in New York.

• Saturday Night Live TV performance, alongside guests Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and Michael Cera: “We were in the dressing room next to Jonah Hill who kept popping in in all his different outfits,

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chatting to Leonardo DiCaprio and we were like, ‘What the hell is going on? What is this?!

Why are we here?!’” Dan Smith February 2014 • Win Best Newcomer at the BRIT Awards.

• UK headline tour, including a date at the 7500 capacity Alexandra Palace, supported by Angel Haze.

March 2014 • ‘Pompeii’ peaks at Number Five in the Billboard Hot 100.

April 2014 • Begin US tour, including a date at the 2300 capacity Warfield in San Francisco.

• Play Coachella, hang out with Haim and decide to work on a song together.

May 2014 • Play more US tour dates, including the 3000 capacity House of Blues in Florida.

Visit NASA. September 2014 • Second performance on Jimmy Kimmel this time on outdoor stage.

• Play a few US festivals, including IHeartRadio Music Festival with One Direction, Iggy Azalea, Lorde and Ariana Grande.

October 2014 • Put finishing touches to new EP ‘VS’, featuring Haim, Angel Haze and Lizzo.

• Begin current US tour, including two nights at the 6000 capacity Radio City in New York: “This tour is ridiculous. 6-7000 people every night, and everyone knows the words.

Except Will, he struggles. I just see him mumbling along. And the album’s already there behind it - it’s not that people just know the singles, they know the album, its good to know it’s already been accepted.”

Dan Smith • Nominated for two American Music Awards, New Artist of the Year alongside Sam Smith and Iggy Azalea, and Favourite Alternative Rock Artist alongside Imagine Dragons and Lorde.

of Bastille

“

“We came to the USA as a band with a Number One album.”

THINGS THAT SOME

FANS SAID As the arena quickly filled with fans, DIY accosted a few to find out who they were, where they’re from - and what they think of Bastille.

Dan Smith “Where the fuck did I leave my phone?! Could be anywhere.”

Julia & Kayla, Boston Favourite Song? ‘Flaws’.

Anything you want to say to the band? Tell them we love them and and if they want to hang out they should call us. We wanna hang out with them.

Euan, Salvador What’s your favourite song? ‘Pompeii’.

Are you looking forward hearing any new material? No. I like the old songs.

Aliya, Sammy & Caroline, Boston What are your favourite songs?

‘Flaws’, ‘Haunt’, ‘Weight of Living’.

Have you seen them before?

No. Are you excited? Yes! We’re so excited for the show and hearing new stuff. We’re pumped!

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Transatlantic

Broadcast

U

K bands often have to look overseas for their big break, especially if they’re achieving this through television sets. Over here, we’ve one flagship music show in Later… With Jools Holland. Despite being a staple and host to debuts from Adele, Laura Marling and more recently Kwabs, there are seven episodes per series, two series a year. That’s a quarter of a year reserved for budding newcomers hoping to strike gold on the screen.

Risks have to be taken elsewhere, then.

The US boasts Letterman, Kimmel, Conan, Fallon, Seth Meyers, right up to a daytime host like Ellen DeGeneres.

These shows host one music guest per show every night and day of the week - coupled with SNL, that makes for countless more slots to fill.

Just this year, Eagulls forced themselves into the consciousness on Letterman, Temples found an unlikely fan in Ellen and Glass Animals made their worldwide debut on Seth Meyers. With Sam Smith, he became the first artist to arrive on SNL pre-debut album.

“There’s been quite a lot of UK artists on there over the past year, but I’m the first without an album out. The first in the entire world” he remembers.

“I’m just so happy it went well,” he says. “I feel like I did a good job and I’m never really happy with television performances. There’s a lot of pressure.

With SNL there’s 7 million viewers.

Sometimes you’re too worried about tripping up on your face.”

The UK lacks a range of shows and even a high-profile equivalent like SNL. Gigs that can sway opinion on a mass-scale include an appearance on Jonathan Ross or Graham Norton.

For the latter, George Ezra’s interview and performance led almost directly to his first ever Number One album.

Telly makes a difference, but the U.S. remains more capable of providing a game-changer.

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“

People find it odd, that we’re not tooting our

What Bastille

did next...

How do you follow up one of the biggest albums of the last eighteen months? By roping in some huge names and recording a brand new mixtape.

own horn.”

Dan Smith

B

efore releasing debut album ‘Bad Blood’ back in March 2013, Bastille released two mixtapes. Titled ‘Other People’s Heartache’ parts I and II, they’re a fantastical stream of cover versions and ideas, drifting in and out of focus, that gave birth to ‘Of The Night’ - the mash up of 1992’s ‘Rhythm Is a Dancer’ by German group Snap! and 1993 hit ‘The Rhythm of the Night’ by Italian Eurodance act Corona. Arguably some of the band’s most interesting work, they show a depth and talent for production and ideas beyond their peers. Never officially released by the band’s label, you’ll be able to find them fairly easy using your friendly neighbourhood search engine.

Now, with the end of their debut album’s international hijinks finally in sight, they’re returning to the theme, but with a difference. With Haim, Lizzo, MNEK and Angel Haze amongst the cast list, ‘Vs. (Other People’s Heartache Pt. III)’ isn’t a mix of covers and samples, but all original work - collaborations that send the four piece into new places like never before.

“It was meant to be a bit of fun,” Dan explains, “stuff that’s been coming together over the last year. Genre hopping, making songs with people we’d met, were friends with and had toured with. We want to keep releasing music as a fun parallel to our actual albums, as suggestions to other genres we love.

We don’t give a fuck how we’re perceived. Our interest in music is broad, we want to reflect that.”

With parts recorded wherever possible at various points on the band’s constant worldwide trips, there was no Live Aid style meeting of minds in a single studio. Instead, vocals and ideas would be recorded in dressing rooms and at festivals, whenever time allowed.

“Angel Haze,” Dan recounts. “We toured with her, and recorded it backstage at Ally Pally, back in March. Haim, we decided to do that track at Coachella. We’re good mates, we see them all the time. After a few drinks me and Danielle were like, let’s do it.

“When it comes to working with people. it’s about making room for others. There’s no egos involved. It’s never like, ‘Fuck you I want two verses’. When Haim came in, they all sang, Danielle played guitar because she’s wicked at it. Este did some bass stuff, we did some programming, I wrote it but it all actually happened in one evening. Three or four hours.”

“Lizzo is an explosion of energy,” he continues. “I love her. She’s amazing, hilarious. Really easy to work with. ‘bad_news’ was with MNEK. He has one of the most incredible, craziest voices around at the moment. I can’t imagine how weird it must sound! It’s a mad cast list. Why would we get

41

cover

four rappers? It’s a not a Bastille album.

I don’t know what it is. Before we were liberally sampling from films, but for this one, it’s all original and no samples - so less of the suing.”

And yes, there has been talk of legal proceedings (“There were letters.

Rather pointed ones,” Kyle reveals).

That’s why you won’t find ‘Other People’s Heartache’ parts I and II on your usual streaming services and download stores. In fact, they were so problematic the band’s label wanted nothing to do with them.

“Someone suggested it was a ploy by the label not to market them,” Dan recalls. “I was like, ‘Fuck off’. But the label didn’t want anything to do with them. They were worried about what they would bring. So I had to buy my own URL, host it myself. It was something we did off our own backs.“ With an A list cast, one would be forgiven for expecting the next Bastille

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“I can’t imagine how weird it must sound!

It’s a mad cast li s t.”

Dan Smith

album to be a who’s who of modernmusic. Rather than a hint of where the band are going though, this latest release is simply letting off some steam.

“Our proper albums are very closed off,” Dan explains, “just us and our producer.

A lot of people were asking who was on our hit-list to work with, we were like no one. We want to develop and change our sound but we don’t to want bring someone in to develop it for us, we’re capable of doing that ourselves.”

R

egardless, any band that’s had the success Bastille have had with their debut album are going to have to answer questions about the follow up. The curse of the second full length may be a cliche, but it still sits heavy on the horizon. Most would either rush out something quickly, or leave things ruminating just a bit too long.

“The writing process never stopped from the last album,” Dan explains, revealing the band’s fairly unique

solution. “There’s already some songs which are a couple of years old. Mark [Crew, producer] came out to work with us around UK and Europe. So we can keep writing and recording. He’s coming out again, as soon as this tour’s done. We’ve got as much time as we want.”

Though Will describes the album as “very fledgling, very young,” with only “one real week of recording in south London,” he’s also confident that the band have it nailed. “We were worried, looking at the tour diary,” he explains.

“But I feel like we broke the back of the album back in March.”

“It’s not frustrating being on tour,” Dan admits. “We’re not the kind of band who need days in a studio to write a song. A lot of the songs come from bits I’ve sung into my phone, hiding behind bins and stuff.”

“In Salt Lake City, we tried a song in soundcheck, and people heard it from outside the venue. It went up online, we got loads of messages - people knew it - it wasn’t even finished. It’s mad. It’s nice there’s an appetite for new stuff.”

“The second verse was ‘doo dee dee dum dum do do. Scoo dee dee di da da.

Scat’,” Woody recalls.

“It’s gonna feature Scatman John,” Will jokes. “We’re gonna bring him back.

That’s the title track of the album.”

“We try not to put pressure on ourselves,” Dan continues, before anyone gets too hung up on resurrecting dead musicians. “I don’t think my songwriting will change.

I’m not going to write seven minute rambling monk chants. I don’t think we’re playing to our audience at all. We love our fans so much, but we want to evolve the sounds. We want to be more experimental, and if we take people with us, if they like it, great.

“I think our live show reflects where we’re going.

There are minimal tunes, big epic endings, electronic stuff. There are bands that play one instrument each and have a bunch of songs within that sound, that’s not us at all. We have no intention of repeating ‘Bad Blood’.” DIY

Bastille vs.

everyone With new original songs, ‘Vs. (Other People’s Heartache Pt. III)’ may not be a new Bastille album, but it’s definitely an indicator of a band who refuse to sit safely inside their genre defined box. Nine songs long, here’s what to expect from just some of the tracks.

‘BITE DOWN’ (VS. HAIM)

What’s it like: Swapping from an intro that sounds like The Rapture at a barn dance, ‘Bite Down’ quickly drops down into a glitching, grinding jam before soaring into a chorus that’s pure ear worm. Vocal duties are shared, with Haim’s distinctive melodies adding a sunny LA tint that steers Bastille’s epic British pop. Expect this to be A Big Deal.

Key lyric: “Bite down, bite down into me. You better sink your teeth before I disappear. Bite down, bite down into me.”

‘BAD_NEWS’ (VS. MNEK)

What’s it like: ‘bad_news’ recently appeared on the band’s ‘Oblivion’ EP, but this version is a completely new working. Sharing vocal duties with the so-hot-right-now MNEK adds whole new levels, the production taken to the next level alongside a truly remarkable vocal. You’d struggle to imagine any of Bastille’s peers being able to pull this one off so seamlessly.

Key lyric: “Bad news, it beats you black and blue before you see it coming.”

you’ll hear from the mixtape, as ‘Torn Apart’ is a game of two halves. A lovesick dancefloor anthem with Smith and Lizzo playing the part of cheated and cheater, the former clings on to the relationship before the latter swoops in on a last minute breakdown to deliver hands down the verse of the year. From here on in, any record anywhere not featuring Lizzo should be seen as an actual crime.

Key lyric: “It hurts like hell to be torn apart, and it hurts like hell to be thrown around.”

‘WEAPON’ (VS. ANGEL HAZE VS. F*U*G*Z VS. BRAQUE)

What’s it like: Bastille and Angel Haze have actually performed this one live before, at the same time it was recorded when the pair played together at Alexandra Palace earlier this year. Big beats and soaring choruses, as a centrepiece for the whole mixtape, this one rolls hard.

Key lyric: “Your voice is a weapon, and we’ll do with it what we can.”

‘TORN APART, PT II ’ (VS. GRADES VS. LIZZO)

What’s it like: The second part of the first new material

43

superfood

lemon

W party

44 diymag.com

S u pe r fo o d wi ld, o f

ca p t u r e

we i r d

S ay

i m ag i n ati o n

e v e ry

day d r e a m e r .

Th at ’

wo r ld

a

th e

u n o r th o d ox D e b u t

a i m s

to

‘D o n’ t

m a ke

th e

lit tle

s tr a n g e r .

Wo rd s :

Jam ie

M ilto n ,

Ph oto s :

M ike

Mas saro.

W anna believe, wanna get out here,” runs the mantra of Superfood’s debut ‘Don’t Say That’. It’s a calling card for the itchy feet city-dwellers, the kids who want escape from mundanity. On this first work, the Birmingham four-piece extract oddities out of every situation imaginable.

According to their script, flowers can talk, raisins are mysterious and lemons get bullied. “Forget what you know! Forget what you’re told!” shouts frontman Dom Ganderton in the same track, ‘You Can Believe’. This lot inhabit a strange alternate reality, and their first work is a means of getting casual daydreamers on board.

Arriving two years on from their debut gig - at which point they nose-dived into the public eye,

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superfood

RAISIN THE STANDARD

“Some people have way more press shots than they have songs”

Dom Ganderton writes lyrics about the strangest things.

Fruit, flowers, everything under the sun. Some of these phrases require some explaining, so we put the frontman to task about ‘Don’t Say That’’s standout ‘WTF’ moments.

“Little lemon why so red? The flowers in the garden said, ‘You’ve no family. You can’t even read.’”

It’s about a little lemon. That’s what it’s about! I met Ryan at the train station one day. We had to write a song. It’s an actual story about a lemon, in a garden, being bullied by the flowers. And the flowers are like, ‘Join in, we’re not so bad.’ And they all start singing to you in the morning.

That song is the most out there. I’m surprised we put it on, in the end.

(Ryan: “At the time, we were a bit high… “) “Raisins are like mysteries, gang of ten.”

It’s a gang of ten raisins…. I have no idea why they’re mysterious. That is documented as the first lyric of our band ever. We didn’t know each other enough to start talking about our feelings together. Again, pretty high.

I saw a video where if you soaked a raisin in a glass of milk and you put it in the microwave, it turned back into a grape. I’ve tried it like ten times and it doesn’t work. Ten mysterious raisins. That’s the lyric! We’ve cracked it!

“You wanted to see what it felt like to be lost in the drain” That one’s more about something to do with relationships and stuff.

It’s about trying to be in love when you’re a bit fed up, I think. How it’s not possible to love someone if you’re not there yourself.

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Ryan Malcolm

snowballed into the conscience - ‘Don’t Say That’ marks the first step of Britain’s strangest new band. Ganderton, guitarist Ryan Malcolm, drummer Carl Griffin and bassist Emily Baker might not translate as much in everyday mannerisms, but take them on tour or hang out after-hours and out steps the real Superfood - a bunch of brilliant weirdos.

“When we were on the Wolf Alice tour, these guys kept telling us we had “stamina”... Oh god,” remembers Ryan.

“Going out and going to a bar up the road, getting really drunk and waking up in the van - you shouldn’t do it every night,” claims Dom, before glancing over to his bandmate. “Emily always drags us out though.”

The songs on ‘Don’t Say That’ link arms to form a sharp assault on the senses.

Razor-like guitars burst into the frame.

Hooks latch on in their masses like a bunch of octopus tentacles, sucking out the dull and injecting poisonous fun. The whole thing sounds so refined.

Solos step in without a moment’s hesitation, choruses arrive in spades. There isn’t a single mis-step.

Apparently things were a little different in demo form. Superfood started as a bedroom project between Dom and Ryan (“We’d talked about it for years and we finally knocked our heads together and did it,” remembers the latter) where scrappy beats clash heads with simple guitar hooks. A little alcohol helped, too. When asked how the early demos might sound to the naked ear, Dom replies with one damning word: “Magaluf!”

Emily beams thinking back to the scrappy first takes. “There was loads of “ooh ooh ooh” chants,” she says, as if the band have the potential to pen Ibiza EDM-bangers in their troves.

Dom’s wild ideas don’t stop there. “I’d love to do a new song like that where we invent a new language. Or just Pig Latin for the whole song,” he ponders.

‘Don’t Say That’’s full of plenty of curveballs. The 90s-nodding embrace

of early tracks remains, but opener ‘Lily For Your Pad To Rest On’ sounds like Beck on Sesame Street, while ‘Pallasades’ pens a haunted house vibe.

Make no mistake - the strange world of Superfood helps them stand out in a busy crowd.

When they emerged with ultra-sharp, clear as day songwriting, part of their inception was a reaction against scenechasers from Birmingham. “There was just so many bands around at the time that were just writing music that was ‘current’,” remarks Dom. “My Bloody Valentine put out their last album and it was just putting a fucking reverb pedal on. We wanted to do the exact opposite. To actually test ourselves and write songs. Rather than going for a look and a sound.”

Ryan echoes the sentiment. “Lots of people get in bands for the sake of telling people you’re in a band, rather than actually getting into making and creating music. Some people have way more press shots than they have songs.”

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superfood

“The energy that we’ve got writing these last few years, we want to keep putting stuff out.”

Dom Ganderton

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This debut alights the hype train from the first stop. Nothing’s intentionally cool or box-ticking. In fact, Superfood are most often tagged with reimagining Britpop, a 90s staple that chin-stroking snobs don’t tend to get on with. “When we got together to start this, it meant a bit more to us than just being popular and cool for ten minutes, I think. It’s about developing as musicians, learning our craft properly,” states Dom.

SUPERFOOD’S GUIDE TO WRITING A ‘MASSIVE TUNE’ ‘Don’t Say That’ is full of #bangerz - here’s how to write one.

DO open yourself up to possibilities - “It was a case of bringing an instrument to the studio that we’d never used.

Ryan brought that melodica. It was a jam, wasn’t it? [‘Lily For Your Pad To Rest On’] is a cool opener.”

DON’T place restrictions - “It’s just where it feels natural, with us. It doesn’t have to change every twenty seconds.”

DO let things progress on their own - “We’re wanting to let a beat and a groove develop.

Standing back and letting it do its thing.”

DON’T big yourself up - “I don’t think we’re that far advanced to try and think of a catchy melody.”

Prior to turning heads in their current form, all four members hung out and saw each other getting somewhere in different bands. Ryan was making songs with his brother and Swim Deep drummer Zachary Robinson, while Carl was on the brink of getting signed with another group, Tantrums. “We got quite far… Island Records paid for us to do an EP, and then after we recorded the EP we split.” A inter-band relationship was the blame for that bust-up. One plus from the experience was Tantrums’ own house, which became the friendship group’s go-to drunken destination after a night out. “Tantrum Towers!” bursts Dom, remembering the place. “You’d go out on a night out, go to the Rainbow, then there’d be a party going on at Tantrum Towers. I remember going there after a New Year’s Eve party, being a bit twisted, thinking the rooms were all massive. I was in the corner of a room shouting, ‘This place… This place is massive!’ Getting up, running round the rooms.”

Tantrum Towers ended up being a source of regrettable booze-filled experiences for every Superfood member. Carl fell asleep on the stairs, while Emily freaked out at a “weird wooden room with gym equipment and mattresses” this one time. Clearly the source of ‘Don’t Say That’’s oddities stems in part from batshit crazy nights out at this old haunt.

Rock and roll antics might’ve died down a touch since then, though Dom’s quick to admit “we still fuck ourselves over a lot, to be fair.” Most of that stems from an unspoken rule in everyday circles where if one band bumps into another out of coincidence, they’re obliged to get wankered. “If you see another band out and about, it’s like ‘Alright, let’s get really drunk and regret it in the morning,’” says Dom, part-sighing. They’re best mates with Wolf Alice

and Gengahr, although things didn’t immediately spark off with the latter. “I poured a full drink over [bassist] Hugh Schulte’s head that night, because he was just being a pain in the arse,” Ryan laughs, thinking back to the first night of their tour together earlier this year.

“He loved it…”

It’s back to the road following ‘Don’t Say That’’s release, although Superfood’s heads are still firmly planted in the studio. They’re hoping to bring a laptop back after gigs each night on forthcoming tours, with the intention of recording scrappy demos when the iron’s still hot. “Whether we stick to it or not, I don’t know,” admits Dom, but talk keeps turning back to future material, as if it’s first on the agenda. “Hopefully it’s not long before we put more songs out after this. We never want a huge gap,” he says. “The energy that we’ve got writing these last few years, we want to keep putting stuff out. You know when a band doesn’t put anything out for a while?

We just want things to keep going.”

Momentum’s on their side, and it’s been with them from the beginning.

Together, they call the past two years “bittersweet”, where they’ve developed under a spotlight, releasing music from day one. “We haven’t had those three or four years to learn each other or write loads of songs,” says the frontman. “What you hear on record from us - that’s us developing, that’s what we’ve got. It seems honest.

“You’re going to see different things happening,” he sparks. “We always have so many different ideas. It’s just honing it all in so we’ve got a really clear idea of where we wanna go.

Or maybe we should do the exact opposite… ” he ponders, clearly excited at the possibilities that lie ahead. With ‘Don’t Say That’, Superfood haven’t just made a great start - they’ve produced one of the debuts of the year, a record like no other to be coming out in 2014. What happens next is anyone’s guess, but given the breakneck speed of both these first two years and their own songs, they’re unlikely to waste any time.

Superfood’s debut album ‘Don’t Say That’ will be released on 3rd November via Infectious Music. DIY

49

deptford goth

From a primary s chool in S outh Eas t London, to b lus tery s eas ide

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t ow n M a r g at e: D e p t fo r d G o t h ta l ks l i f e a f t e r ‘L i f e A f t e r D e fo’.

Oh My

Goth

I

Wo rd s : El H u nt. Ph oto s : Mike Mas saro.

t wasn’t all that long ago that Daniel Woolhouse was working as a teaching assistant at a Deptford primary school in South East London. Spending his days having poster paint thrown in his beard by miniature human beings, and his nights hunched over a laptop and four-track in his living room, Deptford Goth quickly became Daniel Woolhouse’s full time passion, and he soon packed in his job at the school accordingly. What followed was ‘Life After Defo’, a beautifully precarious debut that spent much of the time tentatively edging around its own pockets of silence. Tensioned carefully between sparse, open production, and diving headfirst into a sea of bleeding textured sonics, it was also one of the stand-out records of 2013.

“It was pretty surprising to be honest,” says Daniel of the sudden success enjoyed by his debut as Deptford Goth, and the first full-length album he had ever made as a musician. “It gave me a confidence boost, but then I still went through stages of crisis and just wanting to not do it. I kind of presumed that wouldn’t happen [this time around], because I know it doesn’t really matter. It’s one entity within everything else that’s going on.”

Calling this second album ‘Songs’ is a bit like calling canapés and a six-course banquet followed by cheese and wine ‘dinner’, but then again Daniel Woolhouse is forever underselling himself. Stripping back the ideas behind ‘Life After Defo’ to barer bones still, ‘Songs’ is a blank canvas that does basically what it says on the tin, describing the contents in the simplest terms possible. ‘Songs’ is an album of songs, then? “I ‘spose most albums are,” laughs Daniel quietly.

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the beardiest of them all?”

“Those songs are the record,” he adds. “’Songs’ is sort of clean without necessarily having any associations. It doesn’t lead you anywhere apart from into the record.” As you’d expect, ‘Songs’ is

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deptford goth

an insular, inward-looking endeavour. While ‘Life After Defo’ had a kind of enjoyable bracing coldness to it, like getting brain-freeze on a lonely, blustery walk through the city, ‘Songs’ is warmer and more spacious.

Daniel Woolhouse isn’t one to give it the big chatter about anything. He doesn’t see his music as bringing anything conceptual or clanging to the table, either. “It’s not asking any grandiose questions from a conceptual angle or anything,” he says, “but I guess if people are interested, that’s a nice thing, it’s a sign it hasn’t been a waste of time.” The traditional lyrical mirroring that crops up in ‘Do Exist’ and ‘The Lovers’ – two singular, powerful forces of songwriting – Daniel simply calls “something I automatically do without really thinking about it” – and he adds, laughing “also it means you don’t have to write as many lyrics.”

As self-deprecating as Deptford Goth might be, ‘Songs’ isn’t an album defined by self-doubt. Since his first EP, ‘Youth II’, Daniel Woolhouse’s voice has been tentatively making its way further up the mix, partly thanks to the encouragement from friends – “go on!” demonstrates Daniel, complete with a fist pump. On ‘Songs’ he is at his most prominent yet. “They’re gradually creeping up,” laughs Daniel. “I think maybe the reality of what I was doing…” he starts. “I’m maybe more accepting that [my vocals] are a key part of this. Regardless of how I feel listening to my own voice, I have to kind of just go with it. I felt like it was the right time to bring it up a tiny bit more, rather than having it bleed in.”

There is less washy haze for Deptford Goth to retreat into. “The first record, [‘Life After Defo’], I think is minimal,” explains Daniel. “There’s way too much sonically going on in a lot of points [though], which, when you come to mix something, can be a bit of a nightmare. I had in mind…” he pauses. “Actually, there doesn’t need to be layer upon layer of things doing the same thing. I was concentrating more on separate, distinct elements rather than a wave of stuff that would just wash over.”

This time around, Daniel felt freer to experiment, too. “I’ve been more open to going with an idea and seeing it through rather than just discarding it,” he nods, “which I think resulted in more straight-up songs.”

Much of ‘Songs’ is built from sonic experimentation, but comes from traditional, almost folky foundations. Despite this, when Deptford Goth first entered the public consciousness, he was hailed as a honoury member of South London’s rabble of experimental R&B peddlers. Perhaps it was because he lived in Peckham. Maybe it was down to James Blake and How To Dress Well setting a whole new tone for electronic music. Either way, Daniel doesn’t really see himself as fitting within that movement.

“I do get a lot of questions about R&B and stuff,” says Daniel, “and I don’t really know - I listen to it on the radio. This hasn’t been made from that place. I think labels are generated depending on the contemporary phrases that are being thrown around, and they get stuck on things,” he goes on. “They can be really problematic.”

“I’m not militantly saying no genre - ‘Oh god, don’t label me’ - but I think it can be detrimental to a lot of music,” adds Daniel, more assertively. “Any snobbishness within music should be avoided. [It’s] some form of elitism; cite your references, what do you know about that area of music. Not a lot, you know? I’ve always thought I’m just making songs,” he says, returning to the thinking behind his album title.

Deptford Goth is obsessed with making songs. Sometimes it can border on taking over everything else, and Daniel frequently refers back to having to remind himself that it matters, but it’s not everything. At times, he says, he had to step back from the record. ‘Loop’, he explains, is a song about precisely that. “I got sort of lost inside the record and what I was doing,” he says. “I took a few weeks of not doing anything and then looked at it again a bit more philosophically. I thought, it’s not everything; I should be in control of it. Otherwise you get to the stage where you’ve got parts of music that you’re working on going through your head constantly,” he adds. “You’re slightly distracted all the time, thinking suddenly, ‘Oh shit I’ve got to go, I’ve just got a great way to solve that problem, I need to do it now’. That urgency can become a little bit controlling.”

Looking ahead, Deptford Goth has his first live show of this album cycle at London’s ICA, and it’s fast approaching. He’s nervous, he admits readily. “It’s been a year since I did a show, and certain doubts creep back in, unknowns.” This time round,

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though, Daniel is filled with the kind of nerves that he can channel. “Now things are in motion it’s an excited nervousness rather than ‘Oh shit, I don’t want to do it. I’m working with a couple of musicians so it’ll be me and two other people on stage as a permanent line-up. Getting other musicians in takes away some of the anxiety that comes with doing this job,” he adds. “I’m trying to embrace the scenario a bit more rather than trying to just get through it.”

Daniel Woolhouse doesn’t seem to have a single inkling when it comes to how extraordinarily good his music is, but, like ‘Songs’, he seems to be less self-doubting; more willing to believe that his way is the right one. While his debut was one that revelled in loneliness, the follow-up celebrates love. Getting married and moving to out of London to Margate does that, even to the most dedicated Deptford goth.

“

“

Any snobbishness within music should b e avo i d ed.

Daniel Woolhouse

“Sea air,” he smiles. “I go down to the penny machines, I like that repetition, that process. When you’ve run out of money you have to leave.” He’s being slightly tongue-in-cheek, but escaping the claustrophobia of the city mayhem has moved Deptford Goth into a different mindset. “I think I had more room to reflect on things.

There’s a lot of sky, there’s a lot of sea,” he ponders. “I know it’s really cliche, but you can sort of readjust things a little bit easier. You can just get on with your own thing, and work to your own clock a little bit, rather than that crazy London world. You feel less obligated to go and do stuff, you know, ‘I can’t come to your night, I’m going down the arcade,’” he laughs. “It’s more peaceful.”

Deptford Goth’s new album ‘Songs’ will be released on 3rd November via 37 Adventures. DIY

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f r ya r s j e s s i e wa r e

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F

ryars’ ‘Power’ is an ultra-detailed, complex beast of a record. Ben Garrett’s put relentless work into it. A few years ago, for example, he created several Twitter accounts based around characters central to the album’s concept. Don’t think for one second that this Londoner’s left a stone unturned.

The record consists of sixteen tracks, including five transitional / interlude pieces.

Fryars is calling his second album a “body of work”, which usually translates into meaning it’s a ‘bit wanky’ - but ‘Power’ is anything but.

It’s an album that dives into intentionally different worlds, scenes extracted from lurking corners of Garrett’s fantastical mind.

But it’s taken years of contracts, lawyers and wrangling to see the light of day.

I’ve Got The Power

After years of wrangling, Fryars has finally been given license to release ‘Power’, a record that makes all the behind-the-scenes nonsense worth it.

Words: Jamie Milton, Photos: Mike Massaro.

On the eve of its eventual release - following a tumultuous couple of years that Garrett can only sum up as “bizarre and frustrating” - there’s a balance of emotions between excited and understandably anxious. “I had to come back with something that’s grandiose,” he admits, thinking back to his brief spell as a hyped up teen for 2009 debut ‘Dark Young Hearts’. “I wanted it to come out in one go. Turns out that’s not really how major labels like to do things.

“It’s a super eclectic album too. Which again is deliberate. I think that makes it harder for people to buy into as a whole. Maybe each track is reaching a different audience. I’ve always ensured that until the album comes out, people aren’t going to understand it. And god willing people are going to understand it once it’s out.”

It makes for curious timing that Fryars’ record is coming out now, just after a sniping debate’s been set loose about the actual value of an album. Here exists an intensely thought-out, meticulously-constructed LP. Had it come out when Garrett initially hoped, it might’ve been absorbed differently. But this is an age of fragmented discovery, of playlists and loose association. Fryars is fighting against that.

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f r ya r s

He asks the prominent questions to himself. “What’s the point of an album?

Or is the album dead?” he lists off. “I don’t really agree with that, but the idea of an album as just a bunch of tracks is an outdated concept - you may as well put out those tracks separately. And the whole point [with ‘Power’] was doing something that was one body of work, with the songs relating to each other.”

Which isn’t exactly what happened.

‘Love So Cold’, a drifting standout from ‘Power’, was shared online two years ago, marked with the “new Fryars album coming soon” hoo-hah.

The level of detail that’s gone into this record is frightening. ‘Power’’s striking front cover sees Garrett portraying a focal character, a man “who’s built his big machine. It’s essentially a power station. He lives in this tall building with his pushy wife and that’s his balcony.”

The orange sky behind him is the apocalypse, the “impending doom”.

He laughs a little at just how ridiculous that might sound, but this is a musician who’s been struck by cabin fever’ed recording sessions for as far back as he can remember.

As with the ‘Dark Young Hearts’ debut, he worked with former Clor member Luke Smith for the most part. He cites Luke as one of his closest friends, but he does admit that they’d often come to loggerheads. “Often we’d have a day where we’d just go back and forth arguing about one tiny thing. We spent fucking ages doing it. And one of the best, most important parts is having those arguments,” he claims. “[Luke] was my ally in bringing it to life.”

Smith’s been at the frontline of seeing Ben’s career experience a see-saw effect. In 2009, he was barely eighteen, touring a debut that landed him a big record deal - which he then spent on making this ambitious, ridiculously professional follow-up. “I’ve realised what a fragile condition it was,” Garrett says, thinking back. He cites A&R meetings (“they love their lunches”) and magazine features as something he got “so caught up” in. If he was to dish out advice to anyone in his buzzy situation today, he suggests the “blind faith” route. “I thought it was going to be great. I was going to blitz this thing...

Now, if I were to tell someone in the same position every step of the way, ‘You’re in a fucking precarious position.

It could all go horribly wrong. You’re potentially wasting your time.’ But the fact is you need to have the opposite

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URL Bandman attitude, and you need to believe in what you’re making.”

It’s untainted self-belief that’s clearly led Fryars to where he is today. He forked out goodness knows how much on bringing in professional musicians, learning string parts himself. “I didn’t want to sit at home and make it on a computer” was rule number one.

Thereafter, he spent months with Smith in a studio, under zero further supervision. ‘Power’ was his own playground, toppling over with heady concepts and bright ideas. Some of these fell by the wayside, but despite everything, Garrett’s succeeded in making a record that concedes nothing: an uncompromising triumph worthy of all the behind-the-scenes drama.

Besides, the majority of those getting swept up in ‘Power’’s emotional punch won’t need to know about the lawyer meetings, the delays and the release compromises. What they’re left with his a sharp-witted, often hilariously overblown work.

“It was nuts, looking back,” Garrett reflects. “It’s fairly obvious the majority of the world has not heard a Fryars song. I spent a ton of money on what could have been a fire in the dark. And looking back, that’s crazy. I’m hoping that when it does come out, there’s a level of excitement. Ultimately, it’s about people hearing it.” Very few records take this much time and sheer effort to emerge - then again, very few records are anything like ‘Power’.

Fryars’ debut album ‘Power’ will be released on 17th November via Fiction. DIY

Back in July of this year, Garrett was brought in to help Lily Allen with her Latitude 2014 headline set, where she was drafted in to replace Two Door Cinema Club. He brought in two members of Theme Park to help arrange a last-minute tribute to Alex Trimble, whose illness forced the band to pull out.

“I had to put together that Two Door Cinema Club cover [of ‘Something Good Can Work’],” Ben remembers. “In order to get that going on, I had Marcus and Miles [from Theme Park] joining her for that on the main stage. Then all the professional band turned up about half an hour before the gig. Not having learnt it, reluctant to do it.

“It was pretty crazy actually telling grown men, getting paid really well to learn this song. They were like, ‘It’s not professional’.

This kind of thing. Lily understands the crowd. They did that song and it just went off. It was a great gig and she had everyone on side after doing that. It was completely vindicated. It sounded slick. But it was a weird half an hour.”

s

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glass animals

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“Hang on, when did those palm trees get here?�

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Palm Trees, Naked Fans And Sold Out Shows: Glass Animals’ Peanut Butter Tribe lass Animals’ 2014 doesn’t follow the traditional pattern. For the average hotly-tipped UK band, typically it’s a case of building the hype, putting a debut out, making the most of the attention before repeating the process with a follow-up. When it comes to this Oxford four-piece, this country’s lagging behind slightly. Back in January, when their reputation was built from whispers on these shores, over in Australia they were playing sold out gigs to hundreds. Just last month, the band’s worldwide ascent hit North America, coupled with a slot on Late Night with Seth Meyers and more sell-outs this time in the thousands. As they arrive back in their native land, the moment’s finally come to take on old Blighty.

Following a “pretty fucking crazy” US run, full of “exotic happenings” according to frontman Dave Bayley, DIY finds a band gaining momentum by the second. Hints of their gradual conversion arrived during their Latitude set earlier this year, where a 30-degree-plus tent swayed and grinded in unison to the rainforest vibe of Glass Animals’ debut record ‘Zaba’, which came out this June. Dave thinks back to that very show. “It totally caught us off guard,” he remembers. This time it’s a succession of packedout venues with over-subscribed crowds. Bigger dates are already booked for 2015 - there’s no sign of this run slowing down one jot.

En route to Brighton for an appearance at The Haunt, they’ve likely had a collective ten hours sleep between them in the past 24. The day before was their only time off for weeks - Bayley spent the hours “working”, “focusing on other projects”, while the others share a sleepless but excitable mood. The frontman claims drummer Joe Seaward is experiencing “anti-jetlag” on the journey down South. Instead of dozing off when they can, Bayley has his laptop open focused on work, while Seaward, Drew MacFarlane and Edmund IrwinSinger add songs to their pre-stage playlist. There’s not a moment’s pause, and the next 48 hours only adds further force to the whirlwind.

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During shows at The Haunt and London’s Oval Space, together they constantly discuss tinkering and refining a process that’s already clearly working wonders. “I think we’ll always have somewhere to go,” says Bayley. “We’re all very sceptical and picky people. We’re always going to find things we need to change.” And so it proves. Soundchecks are meticulous affairs that span hours. It’s all worth it - Oval Space in particular bursts into a sweaty swarm, exactly the kind ‘Zaba’ intended. The stage is decorated with real palm trees, bought specially for the occasion. Back in the US, the band recount “people climbing over the speakers, dancing on stage.” When go-to anthem and set closer ‘Pools’ steers, venues threaten to morph into similar sights.

In between the gigs, there’s a pit-stop in Central London for a BBC Radio 6Music session with Nemone. After another sleepless night, again they’re being asked if they’re exhausted, but there’s a calm, excited enthusiasm shared between them. Before performing acoustic renditions of ‘Hazey’ and ‘Black Mambo’, Noel Fielding peers round to say hello. “That’s a good name - The Glass Animals,” he says without introduction. “I’ll check you out, cool.” he says, before wandering off in his fur coat. It’s about the only time the band look at all shellshocked or baffled at how surreal everything’s getting, save for the nervous huddles and high fives that arrive just before they hit the stage.

Madness it might be, but it’s all explainable.

For one, Glass Animals successfully managed to steer past the potential perils of being a hype act. They took their time, from putting out curious debut tracks to working with Paul Epworth, right up to an eventual early summer release. “We made the record we wanted to make. That was our philosophy when we started the band,” says Dave. “We put some music up quite a long time ago, up online. We weren’t really ready to be a band. We were in different cities, we couldn’t rehearse. We didn’t have any time to be a band. We took everything offline for about a year, put it back on again when we knew more about the music industry... Some bands release two tracks and then they don’t have any more. They have to write new shit. And the live show is rushed.”

‘Zaba’ began to set in from Latitude onwards.

Blame the exhaustive heat, or the slightly cuckoo sleepless festival crowds. As the summer neared its end, the hypnotic pull of this debut started to have its way. Bayley remembers a stoned monitor engineer at Bestival that might’ve taken ‘Zaba’’s woozy quality too far to heart. “We went on about forty-five minutes late. Some people were pissed in the crowd. It was like, ‘Turn on something so we can hear’, and he didn’t know how. He probably saw eight knobs for each one. That’s a fuckload of knobs. He got fired on the spot. I feel really bad for the guy.”

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Hazey Memories Glass Animals choose their three standout moments from the past few months of relentless touring.

LATITUDE 2014

“It was so hot that day, I thought everyone was gonna be completely out from the heat.

But everyone wanted to dance.

We had to change our entire perception, boost the energy levels. Tempos a bit quicker, drums a bit louder.”

GIGS FOR MORMONS

“The American gigs have been totally nuts. If I had to choose one, just because it was a really bizarre gig, it’d be in Salt Lake City. It was in someone’s garage, this show. We turned up; two speakers; the stage as big as two of me lying down. We were spilling off. And they didn’t serve alcohol there. It was a Mormon place. But it went off. There were people on the speakers, people on stage. It was so weird. And everyone was sober! There was a bar - a massive bar - and it just said “Water”. They run that place for the love of it. It’s just some dude’s garage. But they sold 250 tickets and there were people that definitely couldn’t get in, standing outside looking in through windows.”

AUSTRALIA

“At the beginning of the year, it was crazy watching it happen.

We did three shows in a week.

The first show kind of sold out a few days before we got there.

The second one sold out the day of the show. And the third show, they bumped it to a bigger venue. And it was massive. It was weird seeing the spread over the course of a week. The third show was totally off, in Brisbane.

We had no idea it was coming.

We thought they’d be half the number of people in Sydney but it was like double. So that was amazing.”

Strange characters keep cropping up as life on the road continues. Drew MacFarlane is the band’s resident “heart throb,” as attested by Bayley. “I look at him and get palpitations - he’s very handsome.” Alongside good looks, MacFarlane also has poor sight, and when walking through San Francisco last month he managed to walk straight into someone sleeping on the street.

Instead of getting a torrent of abuse, the band’s keyboardist received quite the opposite. “This guy was like, ‘Hey sexy!

I love you, you wanna come back to mine!’ And this guy wasn’t wearing any pants. I think Drew might have touched his penis and he tried to run away. Poor Drew. He gets it a lot.”

When shows wind down and fans spill out of venues - plenty swarm to the front

“We’re all very s cep tical and picky people. We’re a lw ay s g o i n g to find things we need to c h a n g e .” Dav e B ay l e y

when the music’s up, just to get a quick encounter, plenty sporting the band’s ‘Gooey’-inspired “Peanut Butter Vibes” tote bags - the band reconvene in the van to discuss the days ahead. They talk venue upgrades, plans for 2015, means of improving. If their schedule is endless and everlasting, it’s their own choice. It’s been “ridiculous”, they collectively agree. But ‘Zaba’’s wheels are only just beginning to turn. “As we play to more crowds, we learn what type of thing works in different situations. Like if you have an early show on a Monday night, you know… It’s a science, but at the same time that science is totally imperfect and can fuck you over sometimes,” Dave says, almost overthinking the process. But that’s how they got here - figuring out how things work before leaping headfirst into a world tour that doesn’t look set to end. DIY

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u n d e r Hookworms hadn’t expected the praise nor the fans that came with

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inister, biting and potent from start to finish, ‘Pearl Mystic’ was one formidable debut album.

With touchstones ranging from krautrock, to Suicide and Spacemen 3, Hookworms’ influences read like a who’s-who in filthy, dirty, psychedelia; the kind that moves into your garage without asking, bringing an amp stack, a rusting organ, and a blatant disregard for anything undistorted in its fuzz-blitzing wake. The praise for their debut record was almost universal; words like perfect liberally thrown around. It’s an unpredictable final destination for an album that Hookworms didn’t expect anybody to listen to.

their debut, ‘Pearl Mystic’. ‘The Hum’ is a worthy successor, explains frontman MJ. Words: El Hunt.

P r e s s u r e

“We didn’t really think anyone would really want to hear it,” admits MJ, the band’s frontman. “We were just making it for the sake of making a record, and didn’t expect everything that came after it.” The ethos of Hookworms remains much the same now. Several of the band still have day jobs working in education - they insist using mysterious initials so that kids can’t Google them. Meanwhile MJ runs a recording studio in Leeds - Suburban Home - and it has become something of an epicentre for the city’s music scene. Leeds-based bands Pulled Apart By Horses and Eagulls have both gone there to work with MJ, and the studio doubles up as Hookworms HQ. Anyone who has witnessed the spectacle of Hookworms unleashed and live will know that they are a force of nature, and an altogether different monster to when they’re contained in a record. ‘Pearl Mystic’ and Hookworms’ onstage onslaught are two distinct things, and going into album number two, this was a bit of a stickler for MJ. “I feel like we had a real problem after our first album,” he assesses, bluntly.

“We’d made a studio record where we recorded loads of extra stuff on top. It was kind of naïve at the time because we didn’t really think about how to translate into playing that live. This time that really influenced how we approached making our new record. We all wrote it together in the live room at my studio, and we could play the whole thing from start to finish, 63

hookworms

right now, if we wanted to.”

The major challenge of making ‘The Hum’ was the insane pressure Hookworms felt to equal its predecessor. “Before we just made records that we knew our friends might listen to, or say they’ve listened to,” MJ laughs. “I was really aware of how many copies of ‘Pearl Mystic’ we’d sold, and the weird, kind of overly positive reviews it’d had. Then there’s the theoretics; we didn’t want to make ‘Pearl Mystic Part 2’. ‘Pearl Mystic’, at the time, felt like the best thing we could do. ‘The Hum’ sounds different, but it’s from the same world, I think.

There was that fear that we didn’t want to repeat ourselves; we didn’t want to not be Hookworms. It was a strange thing, because you start kind of second guessing yourself all the time.”

The roman numerals in the tracklisting for ‘The Hum’ pick up where ‘Pearl Mystic’ left off – but apparently it’s not a nod to the band doing the same musically, at all. “I know we’re not an inherently funny band,” starts MJ, “but I thought it was funny. It was a joke that spilled over into the actual record. You have stupid songs, you know; if you had a song that sounded like Sleater-Kinney, you’d be like ‘that’s the Sleater-Kinney song’. It was the same with the drone tracks,” he laughs. “What I found funny about it was that I knew track three was going to be called ‘iv’, and I think I’m the only person who finds that funny. I think sometimes we might come across as a little bit po-faced,” MJ laughs, “but we’re not.”

While writing their second album Hookworms discovered a new, surprising facet to their sound. ‘The Hum’ has a very specific pop sound that’s less Mariah Carey and more ‘Soon’

by My Bloody Valentine, or Suicide at their most melodic. It all started when the band recorded a single for Too Pure as a one-off. “We knew we had to write a song that would fit onto a 7”, and we didn’t just want to do a drone track for four and a half minutes,” jokes MJ. The resulting single, ‘Radio Tokyo’, ended up on ‘The Hum’, and influenced how Hookworms went about writing the rest of the album, too. “It was by far the poppiest thing that we’d done – at the time,” agrees MJ. “People reacted to that song really well, and it was the kind of song where when we played live, people got excited when we played it, so…” he pauses, “we were thinking about how your audience influences your music and becomes the context.”

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“It felt like a clean break,” MJ continues, referring to ‘Radio Tokyo’. “It’s much like the other stuff we’ve been doing since, where we’re more confident in our instrumentation, and the way that we all play. We have a more coherent way of operating. I think the new record is slightly more minimal than the first one, less down in the dumps than ‘Pearl Mystic’. ‘Radio Tokyo’ was the first time that we’d done that, and it’s definitely a confidence thing, being able to play our instruments and songwriting.”

“I feel l i ke w e had a real p r o b l em a f t er o u r fi r s t a l b u m .” mj Despite any initial worries the band may have had about needing to produce something that would move forward from ‘Pearl Mystic’ without alienating it, ‘Radio Tokyo’ was something of a breakthrough, and it set the tone for ‘The Hum’ as a whole. “I think we’d have made the same record whether we’d made ‘Pearl Mystic’ or not,” MJ concludes. “I’ve been asked if we made a more poppy record because it was coming out on a big label [Domino imprint Weird World],” he adds, “[but] we had total artistic control. In our minds, nothing’s changed.”

Hookworms are heading out onto the road in support of ‘The Hum’ soon, and they’re touring the album before it’s even out. “Two of us work in education,” explains MJ, “so we’re using the holiday in October to go on tour. We’re going to try and do some one-off shows and a few little tours, too,” he adds.

Looking back over the last whirlwind year, there’s a one-off show in particular that stands out. Hookworms were booked to play ATP’s Jabberwocky, but the festival was infamously slain at short notice. The response from

London was to rally together in the face of disaster and to book as many shows as possible. Hookworms played at DIY’s own Jabberwocky fallout show at The 100 Club, alongside Speedy Ortiz and Cloud Nothings. Perhaps it was the low ceilings and crammed audience, or maybe it was the hasty spirit with which the show was assembled – either way, it clicked with Hookworms. “It didn’t feel like a normal show,” enthuses MJ, “we were grateful to get a show, and then it turned out to be two bands that I really like, which is great.” As for Jabberwocky itself, Hookworms are happy to let it go. “In the end it cost us nothing not to play,” he reasons. “We didn’t end up any worse financially.”

Looking forward, things are only set to get more exciting. “We’ve been talking about doing split 7” with Vision Fortune, and Faux Discx, and we’ve been talking a lot with Richard Formby, who produced Wild Beasts, Ghostpoet and Spacemen 3 - he’s a friend of ours - and we’ve been talking about doing a collaboration with him. He’s got this great big modular synth that he’s going to bring down to my studio,” gushes MJ. Modular synths aside, Hookworms can’t wait for Christmas to arrive. Most offices lay on a couple of supermarket traybakes and some box wine, MJ and co. have something spectacular planned instead. They’re supporting Slowdive – one of the best and most iconic shoegaze bands in the history of, well, ever. No biggy, then.

“It’s going to be our work night out,” jokes MJ. “We’re going to try and take our girlfriends and have our work night out.” The Hookworms Christmas party?

“Yeah,” he sniggers.

Hookworms have a reputation for being a very serious band, MJ is right.

In many respects, Hookworms are a very serious band indeed. There’s an intensity and sheer focus that pours into everything that they make or do, but by shaking free of the expectation hanging off ‘Pearl Mystics’, Hookworms seem to have come alive again, in a different way. ‘The Hum’ is no throwaway record, and it lingers in no shadows. Lightning might not strike twice, but Hookworms most certainly do.

Hookworms’ new album ‘The Hum’ will be released on 10th November via Weird World. DIY

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2:54 / ARIEL PINK / AXES / CARIBOU / DAMIEN RICE / DEAN BLUNT / DEERHOOF / DELS / / GROUPER / HONEYBLOOD / HOOKWORMS / IAMAMIWHOAMI / KIESZA / LES SINS / / RYAN HEMSWORTH / SAVAGES & BO NINGEN / SOUTHSEA FEST / STARS / SUPERFOOD / THE

a w e alt h o f m u s i ca l treasure.

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FOO FIGHTERS Sonic Highways

(Roswell Records/ Columbia Records)

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W

alking into an album with a concept as complex and lofty as that of Foo Fighters’ latest, ‘Sonic Highways’, was always going to be tough. Yet somehow, some way - and maybe it’s just because they’re Foo Fighters - they pull it off.

Not only is their eighth album to date going to be released as a regular, run-of-themill album, it has its own eight-episode HBO television series as a companion. There have been trailers, previews, tiny shows and residencies on late night US television, and all in the name of preparing fans for the journey that the band went on to make it.

“This is a musical map of America,” says Dave Grohl boldy, in the trailer for the band’s forthcoming series. There’s not a hint of insincerity in his voice as he says it: that’s because it is, at least to some degree, the truth. Recorded in eight cities across the US, all of which lay claim to a certain part of the band’s collective heart, ‘Sonic

DEPTFORD GOTH / DIRT Y BEACHES / FRYARS / FOO FIGHTERS / GIRLPOOL / GNARWOLVES MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA / MARIACHI EL BRONX / PAUL SMITH & PETER BREWIS / ROYKSOPP HORRORS / THE VOYEURS / THE XCERTS / THOM YORKE / T V ON THE RADIO / WOMAN’S HOUR

TRACKLIST 1 Something From Nothing 2 The Feast and The Famine 3 Congregation 4 What Did I Do?/God As My Witness 5 Outside 6 In The Clear 7 Subterranean 8 I Am A River

Highways’ is an album which attempts to reflect the musical styles, influences and inspirations of each city and it does, in some respects, succeed.

Granted, the task they set up for themselves was more difficult than first considered: how does a band manage to make an album that channels rock, funk, the blues, hardcore, country, hip hop, go-go and punk all while still making a record that sounds like their own? Foo Fighters knew the potential pitfalls but they weren’t to stop them. There’s a nuance here, a guitar tone there. Inviting Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick to play on opener ‘Something From Nothing’ wasn’t just their fanboy dreams coming true, it saw them bring the song a whole new

dimension and spirit, even for just one solo.

Each song on the record stands as its own vignette – its own Foos-tinged ode to the city they were staying in at the time but together, the tracks very much make a whole. Go into this album unknowing and unaware, ‘Sonic Highways’ is still a Foo Fighters record, but dare to delve a little deeper and there’s a wealth of musical treasure to unearth. Foo Fighters are providing the map, it’s up to the audience to explore. Therein lies its beauty. (Sarah Jamieson) LISTEN: ‘Something From Nothing’

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reviews

a f e ro c i o u s ly good pop album. eeee DEERHOOF

u n c ov e r t h e c ov e r

La Isla Bonita (Polyvinyl)

When Deerhoof make a new album, they’re not continuing a sequence; they’re having a conversation. Their twelfth album, ‘La Isla Bonita’ is no exception, and was made during a week long sleepover in guitarist Ed Rodriguez’s basement; during which the host claims they spent most time “arguing over whether to try and sound like Joan Jett or Janet Jackson.” Deerhoof have always had this knack for putting a trampled-on fret board into their magi-mix melting pot of ideas and ending up with something that clicks together like a hitch-free game of Tetris: ‘La Isla Bonita’ is a ferociously good pop album. (El Hunt) LISTEN: ‘Last Fad’

eee

2:54

The Other I

(Bella Union)

If Dark and Stormy wasn’t the name of a rum-based cocktail, then it could be that of this second album from London-based sisters, 2:54. For, with ‘The Other I’, Hannah and Colette Thurlow have created one hell of a gloomy atmosphere. Drums and guitars crash against each other like the North Sea at its most winterly – except while that conjures up some pretty uncompromising scenes, this followup is a little, well, tame. Where the energetic ‘Crest’ creates a bluster, much of the rest of the record is – as moody as it is – able to pass without much more than a mild wind. (Emma Swann) LISTEN: ‘Crest’

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The cover image of ‘La Isla Bonita’ is by Sara Cwynar - a visual artist / designer working in New York. It’s from a series of chromogenic prints made by scanning old darkroom manuals, marked with digitial noise.

“A friend of mine saw her work in an exhibition and took a photo and texted through to us, as he thought we’d would like it.

And we did!” Greg Saunier, Deerhoof

ee

STARS

No One Is Lost

(ATO Records)

Somewhere along the line, Canadian indie mainstays Stars have got the impression that all you need to write a great pop song is... a synth. Not an actual chorus, bridge or any vaguely memorable part of a song’s structure – but some sweeping electronic noises as employed at their best by The Killers’ ‘Hot Fuss’ and to an infinitely lesser extent by frat-pop specialists Foster the People. Sadly, this is not the case. ‘No One Is Lost’, possibly because the album is wholly unmemorable.

(Tobias Maguire) LISTEN: ‘No One Is Lost’

eee GROUPER Ruins (Kranky)

Grouper’s music always lends itself to introspection and whatever moment’s peace people can get a hold of. ‘Ruins’, however, appears to be the first time Liz Harris’ output has emerged from the same intimate silence. Recorded in Portugal in 2011 in a trip defined by daily peaceful walks, out steps a record defined by emotional breathing space. Faint piano lines merge with the odd microwave beep (in ‘Labyrinth’). The idea of making a record while cooking up macaroni cheese on a few days off sounds idyllic, but the strength of Grouper is how she makes peace come off like a source of unease at the same time. (Jamie Milton) LISTEN: ‘Clearing’

More confident t han e v e r . eeee DAMIEN RICE My Favourite Faded Fantasy (Atlantic Records)

Damien Rice is a bit of an enigma. Having established himself as one of the world’s finest singer-songwriters, selling millions of records worldwide and winning awards to boot - after only two albums, he disappeared and to most, he was expected never to be seen again. On ‘My Favourite Faded Fantasy’, there are more layers than his previous sparse efforts: the crashing crescendo of the the title track, the luscious piano beginning ‘It Takes A Lot To Know A Man’. This record still feels raw, it still feels intimate, but a little more bold in its sentiments. It’s in those moments of bravery and risk that Rice still stands worthy of his heart-wrenching troubadour title. (Sarah Jamieson) LISTEN: ‘Colour Me In’

eeee AXES

Glory (Big Scary Monsters)

Axes rise out of the mush of instrumental guitar bands with ‘Glory’, a debut that’s leaps and bounds ahead of the self-titled mini-album that made their name. They’ve always been a band with an over-developed sense of fun, but here it’s writ larger than ever. You might expect a nod to muscular riffs that echo tour buddies Cleft, but you might not expect the bright, major-key, piccolo-snare pseudo funk of ‘Real Talk’. Both opener ‘The One’ and single ‘Junior’ carry the same sense of playfulness. For those who dabble in instrumental rock, ‘Glory’ is about as accessible - and as good - as it gets. (Alex Lynham) LISTEN: ‘Chun Fai Pang’

eee SAVAGES / BO NINGEN words to the

Blind (Stolen Recordings / Pop

Noire Records)

As far as collaborative matches go, Bo Ningen and Savages go together like rhubarb and custard. They’re different bands cut from the same cloth. A Sonic Simultaneous Poem, ‘Words to the Blind’ is one 32 minute track based around the idea of different languages colliding head on, over the top of violent, nonlinear bass lines that sound like they’ve been composed by hitting the instrument with a taxidermy badger. Deep, dark sonic ear-mud with no emergency exit. (El Hunt)

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LAST RECORD I BOUGHT...

By Tom Heron, The Xcerts:

t h e xc e r t s a r e ma s t e rs o f their genre.

The War on drugs Lost in the dream

“The last album I bought was ‘Lost In The Dream’ by The War On Drugs. I just love how it has a steady pulse that runs throughout the album, like a comforting heartbeat overlaid with catchy Don Henley-esque melodies.”

eeee THE XCERTS There Is Only You (Raygun Music)

Polished it may be, but ‘There Is Only You’’s sheen only highlights the rawness of The Xcerts’ craft - the jagged edges are whittled down to a fine point. The trio’s time on the road with Brand New has given them a little more confidence in going all-out bombastic, but while their tour mates are renowned for droning their melancholy in waves of fuzz, The Xcerts aren’t afraid to keep things crisp. It’s not quite a flawless collection, but the band are masters of their genre, deserving of both the radio play and wider success that, until now, have stood just out of the trio’s reach. (Tom Connick) LISTEN: ‘Teenage Lust’

eee KIESZA

Sound of a Woman

(Virgin / EMI))

After a new artist has had a runaway hit with their first single, it can be easy to guess what might be in store on their debut album: luckily, Kiesza’s not one to be written off so quickly.

While her debut album ‘Sound Of A Woman’ starts big with her Number One single ‘Hideaway’, her full-length is anything but a collection of songs following that same pattern. ‘Losin’ My Mind’ shows her more soulful side, ‘So Deep’ shimmers with old school R&B touches. Kiesza’s got a whole lot of tricks up her sleeve. (Sarah Jamieson) LISTEN: ‘So Deep’

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eeee LES SINS michael

(Company Records)

The latest project from Toro y Moi’s Chaz Bundick sees him take on the moniker Les Sins, and this record has his prints all over it.

‘Michael’ is an album that’s less of a side project and more of an extension of sounds Bundick has already played around with as Toro y Moi, taking all the pristine warbles and wobbles that made tracks like ‘Say That’ so infectious. ‘Michael’ is Bundick going flat-out funky, and pairs of feet on dancefloors everywhere are about to become horrendously hypnotised and sweaty as a result. (Tom Walters) LISTEN: ‘Call’

eee DIRTY BEACHES stateless

(Zoo Music)

Dirty Beaches’ (aka Alex Zhang Hungtai) sixth album is without words.

It’s about feeling adrift, without a home, lost in limbo: atmospheric, ambient soundscapes ridden with longing. ‘Stateless’ clearly has lofty goals. It’s not surprising to find that Hungtai has been recently involved in scoring films. But while intriguing and often beautiful, it’s also a little frustrating. There’s a sense that this is only half a story, half a tale told. (Tim Lee) LISTEN: ‘Displaced’

Q&A eeee THE VOYEURS

Rhubarb Rhubarb (Heavenly

Recordings)

For their second album, The Voyeurs have taken all that time and energy from every time they ever had to say, write or type the words ‘Charlie Boyer and’, and used it to expand on their sound.

2013’s ‘Clarietta’ was a brilliant exercise in discordant post-punk; here, on follow-up ‘Rhubarb Rhubarb’, expanding that doesn’t mean adding strings: if there’s a line to be drawn between T-Rex and Bowie, The Beatles and The Kinks, then it’s possible to continue it right through to this album. A delightfully fun record. (Emma Swann) LISTEN: ‘The Smiling Loon’

eeee THOM YORKE

Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes

(self-released)

If it wasn’t already clear, ‘Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes’ is less an album, more an experiment. There’s a running counterpoint to Thom Yorke’s increasingly experimental release methods. By intention or default, they distract from the record itself: BitTorrent chief Matt Mason’s come out and said that there wasn’t going to even be an album without this novel release idea, that ‘Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes’ was constructed as a response to the objective. This admission, in itself, betrays the record.

But if this is indeed a mere experiment, it’s one which sparks beautiful results. Beyond the hoo-hah is a record that cements Yorke’s continued progression as a songwriter, even if he’s relying on familiarity this time round, ‘Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes’ is a mini-triumph that’s only occasionally tarnished; it’s one hell of an afterthought. (Jamie Milton) LISTEN: ‘The Mother Lode’

The Voyeurs’ frontman Charlie Boyer explains a little about the band’s new release.

You’ve said your new album is more of a ‘London record’ than your last how so?

Yes, well a London record or an English one, because of its themes. There are people with concerns, like love or paying the rent. There are also frightening things and exciting bits and some tasteless or embarrassing ideas. We wrote it in London so that’s what it reminds me of. I guess there’s nothing to stop it coming from Hull though.

Did you start work on this one with a different approach?

We had a little more time, and spent it in Limehouse, the whole band worked on the songs. We had about 15 of them, and made dozens of versions of each and argued for days until we were all happy. This time we put an emphasis on tone and structure.

Especially drums. I think it makes it colder and stricter… Maybe that’s why it’s English too.

What drew you to using more ‘domestic themes’?

I think I’ve just become more interested in story songs. I used to want to write escapist songs.. I think the the music I’ve been listening to and the books and TV are affecting me… Some nice short stories and of course Ray Davies.

Do you have a favourite song on the album?

Yes, it’s called, ‘May Will You Stop’ followed by ‘Pete The Pugilist’. In fact there are only two I’m not completely happy with, that’s pretty good for me.

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t h e c lo s i n g of a chapter.

FINAL SPRINT Comebacks and re-united tours meddle with the idea of “the end”, but here’s a look at bands that join Röyksopp in bowing out with a brilliant record.

LCD Soundsystem This Is Happening’ Not strictly considered his best, James Murphy’s final record does however encompass the brilliant madness of his New Yorkstamped trade. It packs some of his best songs, too - ‘Drunk Girls’ and ‘All I Want’.

The Smiths - ‘Strangeways, Here We Come’ Morrissey and Johnny Marr agree on two things - that they’re never (ever) getting back together and that ‘Strangeways, Here We Come’ is their best record. Opinion’s split on the latter, but there’s no doubt this final record represents The Smiths’ rich, textured peak.

Nirvana - ‘In Utero’ Their last by default of tragedy, Nirvana’s ‘In Utero’ remains a classic, a brutal “what if” as to the potential Cobain and co. still had in their locker for the future.

The White Stripes - ‘Icky Thump’ A reunion isn’t on the cards, but this final thrashing effort takes the band back to their bare (rag and) bones. It’s everything but the sound of a band simmering out.

Girls - ‘Father, Son, Holy Ghost’ Had Girls continued, perhaps we’d have been spared of Christopher Owens’ YMCA-style album covers. Still, this was primarily his project, the first manifestation of his religious cult alt-pop.

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eeee ROYKSOPP The Inevitable End (Dog Triumph)

With ‘The Inevitable End’, Norwegian production duo Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland are giving in to finality. This is Röyksopp’s final album, but it’s less the sound of the grim reaper knocking, more the closing of a chapter. When death creeps in from all sides, it manifests itself into anger, not sadness. ‘The Inevitable End’ accepts its own strengths and faults in one fatal blow, just like any last gasp should. If there was ever a final motif of Röyksopp, it was their ability to make the risky and surreal sound simple. Long may it continue, regardless of form. (Jamie Milton) LISTEN: ‘Rong’

eeee

GIRLPOOL

Girlpool (Wichita)

Angry women who are not afraid to raise their voices often end up being described as shrill and screechy. Make no mistake though, Girlpool should be taken seriously.

A whirling tirade of pissed off and bratty lo-fi rock, and spitting out lines like “I don’t wanna get fucked by a fucked society” over fuzzing barre chords, ‘Girlpool’ takes cues from the snarling bite of L7, Bikini Kill and Bratmobile, and the result is this relentless and immediately likeable debut. (El Hunt) LISTEN: ‘Slutmouth’

eee

IAMAMIWHOAMI

Blue (To whom it may concern)

The Swedish project’s third full-length, ‘BLUE’ is best viewed as a complete package – the visual narrative continues from the last release ‘kin’, and it moves away from the surreal leanings towards a clean and slightly detached form of glacial electronica. iamamiwhoami is increasingly stepping into lighter, more uplifting territory, at the expense of the fearsome impact that earlier releases packed in the shedload. (El Hunt) LISTEN: ‘Chasing Kites’

ee

ARIEL PINK Pom Pom (4ad)

Essentially the sort of soundtrack that’d be found on a new Adult Swim TV show, ‘pom pom’ is a record of eschewed Saturday morning cartoon emulations and unintelligible nonsense. No matter what angle it’s approached from, it’s hard to think of any situation where a good time can be had from listening to it apart from a drug-fuelled gathering consisting of nymphomaniac Tumblr addicts.

A record that needs its fat well and truly trimmed. (Tom Walters) LISTEN: ‘One Summer Night’

eeee FRYARS power

(Fiction)

Scattered with interludes and culture shock instrumentals like the first half of the grandiose ‘China Voyage’, ‘Power’ succeeds in exposing a side to Fryars’ work that’s been kept under wraps despite the behind-the-scenes record label drama. ‘In My Arms’ and ‘Love So Cold’ - dramatic, sweeping numbers that flip the pop formula - have instead been out in the public domain for years.

It takes a few listens to stop seeing ‘Power’ as a collection of occasionally recognisable tracks, jumbled together.

Once a formation falls into place, out steps a special record. (Jamie Milton) LISTEN: ‘Prettiest Ones Fly Highest’

eeee PAUL SMITH & PETER BREWIS Frozen By

Sight (Memphis Industries)

Both Paul Smith and Peter Brewis have been celebrated songwriters for some time now, so the fact that ‘Frozen By Sight’ is good isn’t really a revelation to anyone. What is, though, is that it would be quite so exquisite as this.

To allow songs to float freeform is no rarity – to know precisely when to reign them back in is. Like a film soundtrack in waiting, it’s clinical – but still teeming with emotion. (Emma Swann) LISTEN: ‘Barcelona (At Eye Level)’

eee

DELS

Petals Have Fallen (Big

Dada)

“Man I should have been a blizzard ‘cause I’m that cold,” claims London MC DELS on his second album ‘Petals Have Fallen’. Despite being a headrush of industrial, electronic blasts, the follow up to debut ‘GOB’ packs a warm heart. It’s most evident in a seven-minute long, closing title-track, which mixes lush orchestration with the distant, London-accented slurs of Tirzah.

As well as being DELS’ best work, it also showcases a host of bright sparks, from Micachu and Kwes on ‘RGB’ to Rosie Lowe’s graceful addition to ‘Burning Beaches’, offering a glimpse of a brave new side of UK music. (Jamie Milton) LISTEN: ‘Burning Beaches (Feat. Rosie Lowe)’

Nap time for sleepy Ryan.

eeee SUPERFOOD Don’t Say That ( Infectious Music)

If you were born long enough to have your 90s survival kit, you’re going to need your spotters badge for Superfood’s long awaited debut album. There’s the broken, baggy beats of Black Grape, the storytelling of a tour bus full of Britpop kitchen sink veterans - the Brummie crew’s magpie like tendancies are in full force.

But most importantly of all, if you can single out those influences and sneer, Superfood probably aren’t for you. This isn’t a retread of old ground, but a shot of elixir - a gloriously trashy triumph.

Standout track ‘You Can Believe’ says it all. Grumpy guts can shut the door as they leave, Superfood’s gang is the coolest in town. (Stephen Ackroyd) LISTEN: ‘You Can Believe’

A TRASHY TRIUMPH.

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eeee

DEPTFORD GOTH Songs (37 Adventures)

eee

MARIACHI EL BRONX III (ATO Records)

The Bronx are not just a punk band with a sideline in Mariachi music, but a genuine act in their own right, and the results are spectacular. Joby Ford`s guitar work is as authentic as it gets, providing a perfect backdrop to Matt Caughthran’s surprisingly clean vocals, a far cry from his trademark rasp. What’s changed is the execution: on ‘III’ Mariachi El Bronx are fully in their element, appearing at ease with the traditions and intricacies of Mariachi music. If you’ve enjoyed ‘I’ and ‘II’, or you want to hear something a bit different then Mariachi El Bronx III is well worth a listen.

(Stuart Knapman) LISTEN: ‘Wildfires’

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eeee

TV ON THE RADIO

Seeds (Harvest Records/

Virgin EMI)

‘Seeds’ is explosive, stampeding and incapable of throwing caution to the wind. Remarkable, given this is TV on the Radio’s first album since the passing of bassist Gerard Smith at 36. Instead of allowing his death to dictate subject matter, they’ve attempted to create their most triumphant record to date.

This is a patchwork record: the band extract the best moments of ‘Dear Science’ and ‘Return To Cookie Mountain’. Repeated formulas don’t make for quite the same highs, but there’s a sense of a band regaining their momentum.

(Jamie Milton) LISTEN: ‘Love Stained’

Since leaving behind the streets of South East London for sunny, sandy Margate, Daniel Woolhouse seems to have a happier, more confident disposition.

Without wanting to stretch his new-found Margatification too far, ‘Songs’ sounds like a warmer, sunnier record, too. Finally comfortable with minimalism, Daniel Woolhouse is surely the only one left underestimating his sound.

He might’ve given ‘Songs’ an overly modest title, but moments like the strippedback vulnerability of ‘Dust’ and the lyrical mirroring of ‘The Lovers’ show Deptford Goth at his minimal best.

‘Songs’ might be missing the fragmented, clouded anxiety of his debut record ‘Life After Defo’, but it’s intriguing to hear him basking in the light.

(El Hunt) LISTEN: ‘The Lovers’

‘songs’ basks in t h e l i g h t.

eeee

RYAN HEMSWORTH

Alone For The First Time (Last Gang)

‘Alone For The First Time’, the second solo studio album from Canadian producer and DJ Ryan Hemsworth, arrives only a year after his first. But, despite a seemingly speedy turnaround, he who surmounted SoundCloud has pulled out all the stops.

For those who have known and loved Ryan since the start, this is everything you could wish for and more: an album of sheer artistry encompassing all the trappings and tinkerings that have since become archetypal of his work. For those who are unaware, this is the perfect place to begin. (Charlie Mock) LISTEN: ‘Surrounded’

eeee

DEAN BLUNT

Black Metal (Rough trade)

Dean Blunt is a deceiver by trade. Part of the elusive Hype Williams, his solo work exists to surprise, mixing harsh concrete blows with gorgeous field recordings. Following last year’s scattered patchwork ‘The Redeemer’, he’s offered the biggest shock so far by settling down into something of a groove. ‘Black Metal’ is a beautiful record that captures a scatty conscience. Sweeping guitars mix with monotone vocals. Its second half is abrasive to the extreme, but by this point the hypnotic album’s already worked its charm. (Jamie Milton) LISTEN: ‘Heavy’

eeee HOOKWORMS The Hum (Weird World)

Hookworms have gone a little bit pop for their second album. That’s not to say they’re set to collaborate with Taylor Swift on her next album – there are many kinds of pop music, after all - but there’s a definite pop persuasion to ‘The Hum’, anyway, in the same darkened, menacing sense way as Suicide or Spacemen 3. ‘Beginners’ and ‘Radio Tokyo’ lead the way in the clout department, and increasingly, Hookworms sound like a band comfortable with being immediate as well as complex. It’s not every day drone tracks sit next to extended periods of organ-mashing solos, but then again, this is no throwaway album. (El Hunt) LISTEN: ‘Don’t Go Now’

this is no t h rowaway album.

COMING

UP

Here’s what’s gonna be worth squealing like a guinea pig over in the coming weeks.

CHARLI XCX sucker

(26th january)

Yes, ‘Sucker’ was supposed to be out last month. Yes, we’ve already heard it all - the review is in the bag, the score locked in stone.

With her bratty, snotty punk pop in full voice, Planet Pop should prepare for an almighty wake up call when it finally drops early next year - Charli XCX doesn’t do quiet.

MENACE BEACH Ratworld

(19th january)

Menace Beach may be based out of Leeds, but their off kilter blasts lend just as much to dischordant, feedback frenzied guitar fuzz pop the world over.

With an eye for a less than obvious hook and a band of fearsome talent to back it up, expect great things. You won’t be disappointed.

PEACE tbc

(Early 2015)

Remember when Peace proclaimed a then unheard of Superfood as the great new hopes of B-Town? Now their comrades in arms have dropped a debut album, and the ball is back in Harrison and co’s court for that difficult second full length. Delayed from a 2014 release, the band have been polishing away for an early 2015 unveiling.

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live reviews

The Horrors Troxy, London, photo: carolina faruolo

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T

he idea of change and transition is a marked fixture of The Horrors’ story so far. They went from goth hellraisers to krautrock-chuggers in the space of one album, before filtering their expansive approach into something more allencompassing on ‘Skying’. There’s a big difference between their first three LPs and this year’s ‘Luminous’, but it’s not as startlingly, obnoxiously obvious until the whole thing fleshes itself out live. From the mind-blowing crash of opener ‘Chasing Shadows’ onwards, their UK tour send-off at Troxy eventually reveals a new, blossoming side of this mop-haired five-piece.

Bit-by-bit, they’re gradually morphing into an all-out dance act.

We’re not talking one of Guetta spacebars and non-tactful drops. This is a set devoted to ascent, and true to form, it’s a performance that only gets better and more enrapturing as it progresses.

The band cite Detroit techno as a foremost influence on ‘Luminous’, but that’s only in the sense that they’re employing repetition and movement in similar ways. Tom Cowan has his way with every synth in existence, sure, but The Horrors are still an undisputed rock force. On the one hand they’re today’s finest representation of MBV-esque noise-employers. On the other, they fuse electronics and soaring guitar lines like the two worlds were always destined to meet. Not one speck of nostalgia arrives during tonight’s show. This is future music, destined for higher climes.

d es t i n e d f o r h i g h e r c l i m es .

It’s a truth that’s cemented in their near ten-minute climax of ‘Moving Further Away’, a song that sees Joshua Hayward edge towards near-godlike level. His customised pedals start the storm, but throughout this closer he motions between finite solos and a screeching, never-ending sense of furore. The same theory’s applied in ‘I See You’, a song that threatens to never end, simply because with each raised note and decibel level, it keeps getting better. Nobody in attendance wants it to finish.

Within this great, hypnotic ascent, this set isn’t short of the odd blip. ‘Endless Blue’ and ‘Change Your Mind’ are fine on their own, but when following an opening section that includes ‘Luminous’ highlight ‘In And Out of Sight’ and the peerless ‘Sea Within A Sea’, The Horrors prove they’ve still a little way to go before becoming the full package. As they continue to expand, however, this already fully-formed routine will become something unforgettable. They’re one or two game-changing songs away from becoming one of this decade’s seminal bands. And as they progress, with Faris Badwan’s slim frame commanding for the whole ninety minutes, it’s clear they can practically smell how close they are to the big prize. (Jamie Milton) 77

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a h i g h ly e n j oya b l e day.

SOUTHSEA FEST 2014 various venues, portsmouth Photos: Carolina Faruolo

T

through their recently-released debut album in the crammed and extremely tiny venue. Likewise for Mazes, whose newly refound indie pop mentality have heads nodding all the way from the front to the top of the stairs.

One of this year’s strongest line-ups comes from one such collaboration, between FatCat Records and Southsea’s Pie & Vinyl Record Cafe. Taking over the Wine Vaults, they provide invigorating performances from Manchester’s Mazes and the aforementioned Honeyblood who, after gaining a replacement drummer last minute, seem more than comfortable tearing

Over at the DIY-curated Wedgewood Rooms, Happyness take to the stage to deliver their take on 90s revivalism. What makes this three-piece stand out from the crowd on record is their eclectic lyricism and knack for hooks, and that translates aptly for the busy venue. Never ones to truly raise the roof, their jangly guitars are a welcome change of pace from the rest of the day - that is, until Pulled Apart by Horses take over to headline. Considering they’ve just come off the back of a European tour, the guys are as raring to go as ever, and their pedal-to-the-metal attitude is a blast to watch unfold as ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ sparks massive moshpit action. There’s a reason they’re playing festival main stages now, and this allthrills performance proved impossible to miss. (Tom Walters)

here’s nothing like rounding up some of this year’s best new acts right at the end of the summer, especially when the setting is as accessible and enjoyable as Portsmouth’s Southsea Fest. Over the course of twelve hours, punters waver between one kooky pub and the next, gorging themselves on acts as established as Pulled Apart by Horses and Dinosaur Pile-Up as well as treating themselves to the hottest tips like Happyness and Honeyblood. All in all, it’s a well-organised, highly enjoyable day, but the brilliance of Southsea is just how well locals and labels alike collaborate to showcase the bands they love so much.

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Dan Snaith unveils his inner Johnny Borrell with the all-white look.

Now, where’s that cowboy hat?

CARIBOU

koko, London Photo: Carolina Faruolo

close to an all e n c o m pa s s i n g triumph.

D

an Snaith is balancing the strange complex of making his most intimate record to date in ‘Our Love’, before taking the triumph to bigger venues than he’s ever played before.

O2 Academy Brixton awaits in 2015, and even tonight’s London location of Koko could prove a tricky environment given the themes that define

this latest LP. ‘Our Love’’s title-track is a dirty, thick and mushy contrast to the bulk of the record’s more smoothed-out splendour.

But tonight’s show sees this song forming the base on which to build on. Numbers like the frenetic ‘Mars’ and the house-nodding ‘Your Love Will Set You Free’ acclimatise to become fuller forces with extra intent. Venues needn’t matter when everything is this forceful and fully-charged. From the get-go, fans on the balconies look the most enraptured.

It’s a double-edged sword that the set begins so well.

‘Our Love’ into ‘Silver’ is enough to rank Caribou’s latest LP alongside 2010’s ‘Swim’. And yet when ‘Can’t Do Without You’ eventually arrives, it’s minutely close to being the all-encompassing triumph it ought to be. Snaith’s given himself no easy task in topping this record and this kind of occasion. But given his masterful live translation, harsh thuds and sheer force will see him through to a higher calling. (Jamie Milton)

WOMAN’S HOUR Village Underground London photo: carolina faruolo

A

fter something of a lacklustre set from support act Farao, Woman’s Hour launch with ‘Unbroken Sequence’, the opening track from their debut album. Burgess’ voice sounds as soft and intimate as on record, yet in a live setting is somehow lent extra power despite its gentle nature. Her vocals are the focal point of every track - pitch perfect and never faltering, while the backing instrumentation also fills the venue with sound far more than the minimalism of the album would suggest. Their cover of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Dancing in the Dark’ (it’s also The Boss’ birthday) nestles in amongst the album tracks perfectly, lending a new depth of emotion to such an iconic track. Unlike Springsteen, however, Woman’s Hour - with just one album to their name - are limited to a set length of a far more regular fifty minutes. If anything, though, this simply leaves the audience hungry for the band’s next work. And judging by tonight’s performance, when that new material does appear, it’s almost certainly going to be worth the wait. (Will Moss) 79

reviews

GNARWOLVES

t h e r e ’ s m ag i c i n t h e s t i c k y, s w e at y a i r .

The Black Heart, London Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett

L

ast month Gnarwolves played the main stage at Reading & Leeds. That in itself is a dream-come-true milestone for any rock band, yet this Brighton trio made it on to that mind-bogglingly ginormous stage while yet to release a full length album.

They may have released a nice little trio of EPs and undertaken an almost constant touring schedule over the past two and a bit years, which has certainly gone a long way in keeping their fans’ appetites’ satisfied, but the sight of a packed out and impossibly sweaty Black Heart on the selftitled album’s release day stands as proof just how hungry the masses have been for that first proper record.

Seconds into their chosen opener, ‘Melody Has Big

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Plans’, and the party is well and truly underway; the first of countless stage divers has leapt into the crowd as every word is yelled back. The band crack out a good mix of their discography with newer tracks including single ‘Smoking Kills’ and ‘Hate Me (Don’t Stand Still)’ met with the same ferocity as fan favourites such as ‘Community, Stability, Identity’ and ‘Tongue Surfer’.

The torrent of crowd surfers only stops when a skateboard takes their place, making its way around the room to the front, before the pit opens up for the crowd to pull a few impromptu tricks, kickflips and all!. It may sound gimmicky but there is genuine magic in the sticky, sweaty air.

Things rightly show no sign of slowing down for Gnarwolves or the increasingly exciting shape of UK punk to come. (Sarah Louise Bennett)

MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett

M h o n e y b lo o d will keep on g o i n g s t ro n g .

HONEYBLOOD

H

Sebright Arms, London Photo: Nathan Barnes

oneyblood have barely started and they’re already on drummer number three. Which in itself is not completely without precedent: a brief flick through the annuls of history, indeed a brief watch of Spinal Tap, and you’d learn something about the temporary nature of those destined to sit on a stool through their musical career.

Although there’s no direct reference to McVicar’s departure here, there is a moment where Stina Tweeddale announces she’d like to “introduce someone very special” before pointing at Myers. Still. Everything moves on.

The concern is that the promise they’ve shown to date would be derailed by what has occurred, but thankfully, this show doesn’t suggest that. It suggests that these songs have enough to keep Honeyblood going strong.

The jangly ‘Fall Forever’ is pleasant, vaguely reminiscent of The Sundays. ‘(I’d Rather Be) Anywhere But Here’ offers a twisted take on wistful reminiscing.

As they themselves sing on ‘Choker’, “What doesn’t kill you / makes you stronger”. Honeyblood may have lost a member, but they’ve not shed any momentum. (Tim Lee)

anchester Orchestra are no longer the shy, emotionally troubled indie emo outfit they used to be. The band’s new album ‘Cope’, a balls-out, no-holds-barred distortion opera that barely pauses for breath, is testimony to this, but it’s in their live shows that the transformation into headbanging rock magnates is most abundantly clear.

At Shepherd’s Bush tonight they start with long-time opener favourite, ‘Pride’, which shakes the venue with its dirty, pained grunge riffs. Lead singer Andy Hull, who once seemed such a gentle soul singing about sad stuff happening to nice people, holds a determined and gritty composure.

The band smash through ‘Shake It Out’, ‘Pensacola’ and ‘Pale Black Eye’, clearly taking pleasure in how brutal their live show can be.

An encore of the painfully stirring ‘Where Have You Been’ and a strippedback ‘The Only One’ further confirm their comfortable stride and suggest this band may well be playing arenas next time they return to the UK. But while they’re in slightly smaller venues, let’s savour one of the most endearing moments of the evening: when starting the encore with ‘Deer’, Hull sings “Dear everybody who has paid to see my band...” For all Hull’s new-found steeliness, he can’t not afford a childish grin. (Hugh Morris)

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INDIE DREAMBOAT Of the Month

DARA KIELY girl band NICKNAME We make up a lot of nicknames in the van, for a brief period I was called Donatello Swords but am now affectionately referred to as ‘Mother Fucking Loner’.

STAR SIGN Taurus.

PETS My only pet was fish called Quack. It ended on bad terms. He was a wanker.

FAVOURITE FILM I saw Pink Flamingos the other day and haven’t been the same since, don’t know if that’s a good thing.

FAVOURITE FOOD Chicken fillet roll.

DRINK OF CHOICE Gin and tonic.

FAVOURITE SCENT Physio sport.

FAVOURITE HAIR PRODUCT I’ve been using Red Dax since I was 10, real babe magnet.

SONG YOU’D PLAY TO WOO SOMEONE The Cranberries, ‘Linger’.

CHAT-­U P LINE OF CHOICE ‘Do you like the Sugababes?’ And just go from there.

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I FORGET WHERE WE WERE BEN HOWARD

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