ISSUE 30
Aug / Sept 2008
E FRE
FEATURING
NOAHANDTHEWHALE RATATAT
FRIGHTENEDRABBITS THEMAYBES RUBYSUNS DELPHIC MUMFORDANDSONS BROKENRECORDS THEBRIGHTLIGHTS NOMADJONES
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14 ISSUE 30
16 Aug / Sept 2008
features Page 6 -- Introducing… Delphic & Broken Records Page 7 – Introducing… Brightlights & Nomad Jones Page 9 – The Ruby Suns Page 10 – Frightened Rabbit Page 11 – The Maybes Page 12 – Mumford & Sons Page 13 – Ratatat Page 14 – Noah & The Whale Page 26 – Festivals, they are a changing
regulars Page 5 – Manchester news Page 16 – Single reviews Page 18 – Album reviews Page 20 – live reviews Page 23 – New Noise Page 24 – Manchester gig / club listings For more reviews, interviews, comment and info on all High Voltage activities log onto www.highvoltage.org.uk.
theteam
See www.highvoltagesounds.co.uk for label info and High Voltage releases
Editor >> Features Editor >> Reviews Editor >> New Band Editor >> Live Editor >> Contributors >>
Richard Cheetham Adrian Barrowdale Fran Donnelly Stephen Eddie Mike Caulfield Gavin Kendrick, Sophie Parkes, Denise Tench, Michael Roberts, Gareth Roberts, Andy Porter, Liam Pennington, Megan Vaughan, Benjamin Thomas, Phil Daker Design / Layout >> Adam Farmer
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NIGHT & DAY CAFE PRESENTS JULY
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HAveN wiTH SpeCiAl gUeSTS gUiTAR geORge BOROwSKi / MiKe gARRY AS MC wiTH gUeST pOeTS AND eX HAppY MONDAYS TOUR D.J. JAM Nel 8PM - 2AM
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Gone to seed…
Aug/ Sept _News... Like it or not the holiday peace will come to an end this issue when all the students come back, bringing all of life’s crushing inanities with them. So until then, what else is there to do, half-baked in the fully baking sun with only a tin of Stella and an Elbow record for friends? Well if you wanna get smashed and dance, Contort Yourself (not having hibernated) have many top Saturdays coming up, the pick of which being an album launch party for the fantastic Autokratz on August16th. Or if you’re missing your fix of D:Percussion then get down to Castlefield between 4th6th September as the Becks Fusions event will only have Massive Attack, Hercules & Love Affair, The Presets and Das Pop playing amongst others. Not bad as far as consolation festivals go…
Getting local, on 4th September idolised Oldham trio Twisted Wheel play another momentously mental homecoming at the Academy whilst more delicately, The Maple State play Music Box for a change on 25/09. But the highlight this time comes when Cats In Paris release their delightfully bizarre synth-prog-pop catastrophe in full album form. Expect a kooky Akoustik Anarkhy launch party, 5th September. Weirder still, top leftfield night WOTGODFORGOT have another creepily eclectic Retro Bar soiree, this time bringing the hotly-tipped Zombie Zombie and Working For A Nuclear Free on 10th September.
Eventof theMonth... We can’t help ourselves. The ballsy organisers have become a staggering Manchester institution and the envy of UK clubbing. Warehouse all-nighters wreak devastation on following days, endangering jobs and health and thus it was no small news in the office when the 2008 lineups were announced. This month Eat Your Own Ears stage the official In The City launch party featuring The Whip, Late Of The Pier, Tricky and the one and only Will Tramp! Then the likes
Sure enough, the tours will soon be finding their way back to Night & Day. Worth checking out is the dark pomp of White Lies (22/09), or a little more subtle is the Canadian indie of Islands (24/09). Combining both of these qualities, if you didn’t catch Frightened Rabbit with HV last time then you’ve a second chance on 5th September. Lastly, N&D (along with everywhere else) is set to be busy over the first weekend of October when In The City returns once more with the schmoozers and suits booking their Midlands Hotel rooms already. This year is set to feature a series of high profile showcases including NME, popjustice and Piccadilly Records amongst others. Manchester – bringing you the music of next year, next month.
the warehouse project ‘08 of Black Kids and Florence & The Machine see TWP at its indiest yet, whilst HV faves come thick and fast with Hercules & Love Affair, The Presets, Justice, Fake Blood and Squarepusher all lining up. A suspiciously colossal looking Simian Mobile Disco live night could be the end of us. For another year this city is theirs and they’ll bring the very pinnacle of electronic music to the Store Street shelter for the final time. But where do we go from here?
words: Fran Donnelly
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introducing
Broken Records are not the ‘new Arcade Fire’ ok? Music hacks can be both boring and lazy and this hack is at Latitude: HV emerges from a rammed Sunrise Arena, having witnessed another triumphant performance from the band EVERYONE is talking about... It’s an exciting time for Scottish bands right now, what with Frightened Rabbit, The Twilight Sad, Glasvegas...enjoying the spotlight? “It’s just nice to get some recognition for music coming out of Scotland. The bands you’ve listed are all Glasgow based, but we’re quite proud that things seem to picking up on the Edinburgh scene too. We’ve had a really good time touring with The Twilight Sad and I’ve loved the last two Frightened Rabbit albums - it’s quite nice to feel that our contemporaries are putting out some excellent music and we seem to be a part of that.” And the comparison?
Arcade
Fire
“We do find it an increasingly frustrating and lazy comparison to make. The media see 7 people on stage using strings and an accordion and they jump to that conclusion. I think everyone’s common ground is a love of people like Tom Waits and Nick Cave, but our influences range from Yann words: Phill Daker
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Tiersen, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Calexico, Broken Social Scene...as well as traditional Scottish Folk and Klezmer music.” Debut single ‘If the news makes you sad, don’t watch it” is truly glorious – its tribal drums and angry bass riffs build into a frenzy of violins and heart laden vocals. “I don’t think Britain is broken, but I guess the apathy referred to in the single was more trying to explain the fatigue you feel when trying to work out who is lying to you and who is telling the truth. Unfortunately, I get the feeling most of time it is the latter.” As we head off into the sunset to find ice cream and pink sheep, we pose one last question: The record they would most like to break is... ‘Mercy’ by Duffy: a fine choice. She needs snapping in half. www.myspace.com/ brokenrecordsedinburgh ‘If the news makes you sad, don’t watch it’ is out now on Young Turks.
Since last year’s parting of local heroes Snowfight In The City Centre, former members Rick Boardman, James Cook and Matt Cocksedge have been holed-up planning their next move. Now as Delphic, you might just not recognise them. “We spent three months just rediscovering stuff we listened to growing up… big beat stuff like The Chemical Brothers,” recounts Matt. “There’re a lot of indie bands calling themselves dance and they’ve that disco beat, but nobody’s doing the beats like The Propellerheads used to.” “Then we found this drummer completely randomly,” continues James. “He doesn’t listen to bands, just trance and house. It was a perfect coincidence.” Surprisingly reminiscent of Orbital’s stratospheric techno as well as The Future Sound of London or the more ambient stints from LFO, Delphic’s sound began to evolve. Given twist by the thrusting guitar effects from Matt or James’ vocal, it results in a refreshingly soulful dance, something absent amid neon-clad cockneys, ageing DJs and German minimalists. Combining woozy hedonism with flickering melodies, it’s a far cry from their days of FM guitar pop, but regardless the A&R attention is fizzing. Anybody having seen Delphic will know what the fuss is about; sprawling tracks are words: Fran Donnelly
segued into each other precisely, riding a wave of momentum that makes the band’s set unforgettably immersive and unique. “It’s probably the most fun part,” says Rick. “Whenever we swap a song round in the set we have to prepare a different mix. I can’t think of another band that has done it in this way.” True enough, it’s hard to recall a live band that has Delphic’s dynamic pulse, and it’s an asset that’s gonna pay off in awesome style when they hit the clubs… “There’ll be people in there already dancing and we’ll let them just carry on,” imagines Rick. “It will be so much fun – hopefully they can buzz off it and cos it’s got a beat they can dance to it…” “…and if they’re on drugs that will help them immensely,” inserts Matt dryly. James smiles at him; “We’re actually going to hand them out. Like sweets at a pantomime.” Joking or not, the most original new indie-dance outfit around are guaranteed to make nights halcyon from now on and on… www.myspace.com/delphic Delphic play Joshua Brooks on August 9th
Nomad Jones
From Grimsby by way of Kentucky, The Brightlights won last year’s Road To V competition with a mix of dirty riffs, howling rock-god vocals and a twist of heartstring melody; Lincolnshire’s answer to Kings Of Leon. Undeniably deserving their top rating from HV for previous single ‘Inspired By’, The Brightlights are back with ‘3’, further evidence of their songwriting talents and sweetass rock’n’roll showmanship. We sat down with Leon, Luke, Adam and James, who quickly revealed an almighty passion for, erm… Coldplay? At first, were you expecting the Caleb Followill comparisons? Leon – No. When we were recording, I never tried to sound like him. It’s just natural. We’ve not really been influenced by that band. We like them, and we’ve listened to them more since people’ve been making the comparisons, but it is getting a bit boring now. Who has influenced your timeless sound? Luke – Well, when we were dead young we went to see Coldplay, on their Twisted Logic tour. It was just life-changing, if you know what I mean. Leon – It was one of those gigs that you go to and think ‘if we can be anything like that…’ Adam – The thing that bugs me is that people think it’s not cool to words: Megan Vaughan
mention Coldplay. Leon – Yeah, ‘that’s not very rock’n’roll’ for a ‘rock’n’roll band’. For many bands, playing the Pyramid Stage is a sign that they’ve made it. Clearly, you’re already way ahead of them on that count, even if it was March... Leon – There’s no-one watching us though! Maybe in a few years time… It’d be so good to be back on that stage for real. Do you feel a lot of pressure when it comes to backing up the live reputation with an album? Luke – We’re half way there. It’s sounding good an’ all. It’s been our first proper studio experience, where we’ve gone in to do more than one track. It’s a proper piece of work. Leon – Three of us lost our girlfriends and so we wrote new tracks that are now our best ones. We want to make something where you don’t want to skip anything; you just wanna hold it and love the whole thing… www.myspace.com/ thebrightlightssound New single 3 is out now on Distiller
Nomad Jones has been steadily building his profile in and around Manchester for the last few years, playing gigs with local heroes Badly Drawn Boy and Elbow, and answering emergency calls from promoters when he should have been doing split-shifts at work. “That one was for Tom McRae, so I rang up work and told them I wouldn’t be in…” Having now assembled a band that includes Liam Frost (and everyone one else) associate Pete Marshall and an emotional rollercoaster of a string section, he has recently self-released The TV Lights EP, his first, and its earnest acoustic lullabies nod to Damien Rice, David Gray, and broken hearts worldwide. Jones is forthcoming about his influences, but neither does he hide his own drive to succeed. “I wouldn’t be in the position I am in now if it wasn’t for people like David Gray because they’re inspirational, but I haven’t achieved what I want to achieve and I haven’t sold millions of albums and I haven’t played in the venues that these guys have. It takes a long long time. I’ve been gigging for nearly three years and when I look back I think to myself that I’ve done well, but I can be really impatient. Sometimes I want everything at once.”
sings of love and confusion and politics and more love, while the sweeping orchestration of the band’s passionate arrangements is nothing if not powerful. At HV, we want to know how much of his woeful charm comes from genuine life experience. “The experiences that you go through weave into the fabric of what you write. They’re little documents of your life and every song that I’ve written, I can go through it and it takes me back to the time that I wrote it. When I write songs, it’s like someone has a reservoir of songs above my head and every so often, when you’re not expecting it, someone’ll turn the tap on and you have to catch whatever comes out. The EP is like my little baby. I’m extremely proud.” www.myspace.com/ nomadjones The TV Lights EP is available now through www.myspace.com/ nomadjones
The EP is the sound of a man with ambition. Jones’s folkie lilt words: Megan Vaughan
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INTERVIEW
RUBYSUNS sea lying Whilst the world slowly goes loopy over the sunshine-prog of MGMT, one band are plugging away at the real sound of summer and making waves in their own way. We chatted to the superbly-monikered Ryan McPhun, the main man behind New Zealand’s The Ruby Suns, and found out all you’ll need to know about the slow-burn genius of the feel-good album of the year.
It’s been a busy year for the Ruby Suns, cramming in a record release, a European tour, and an American tour coming up. Are they always this busy? Ryan says ,”I wouldn’t say we’re an extremely busy band, but this year we’ve been doing a lot of touring. That’s mostly because it is so expensive to fly here from New Zealand! We’re trying to make the most of being in the northern hemisphere.” So, does that mean the creative stuff like working on new songs is on hold? “As far as recording goes, it’s definitely a more sporadic thing. It’s hard to be creative whilst on tour so I’ll probably try to work on some new stuff when we get some time off next month.” The band started off as Ryan McPhun & the Ruby Suns, and Ryan is still the creative force behind the band, but do they feel that now, with the second full album, that they’ve settled in someway on what makes The Ruby Suns tick as a band? “No way! The line-up is always changing and I’m constantly changing the way I think about creating music and how to perform it. I’m just trying to get better at what we’re doing. I think the band is always going to change in some way, whether it be styles or line-ups or whatever.” The new album Sea Lion sees the Suns move their sound on a little, heading into more use of world music, providing a darker edge to counter McPhun’s natural sonic cheeriness. Was this a conscious mission? Ryan says, “I’d say the main mission was to do something different from the first album. I was a little tired of the style we were doing and the setup of the band so I just wanted to try something a little different. I guess that same sentiment would be my goal for our next record, whenever that happens…”
If you ever need to kill a couple of hours, it’s worth checking out Ryan’s history of travel – the man has been about a bit, that’s for sure. McPhun is an ex-pat American, born and raised in the seaside town of Ventura, California, who travelled, via Africa and Southeast Asia, to his current home, Auckland. Is the travel bug firmly instilled in him? And does it make the music of The Ruby Suns? “Well one bummer about touring is that you don’t get much time at all to explore places, although some of the songs from Sea Lion were written while I was overseas in ‘05 and ‘06.” Ryan continues, “I think I got the travel bug from my dad. He and my step-mom have lived in a few different countries and they took me and my sister a lot of places when we were younger. I’m pretty appreciative of that. I usually collect sounds when I travel. I put some of those sounds into some of the songs on Sea Lion which helps to give them a different kind of vibe.” That ‘vibe’ really is something to pay attention to with this band – it’s impossible to ignore the fusion of Spector-style 60s pop, African rhythms and just about everything else that you could imagine in between. It’s a sound steeped in the traditions of both Brian Wilson and
LadySmith Black Mambazo, often at the same time, as on the incredible ‘Tane Mahuta’ and the pun-tastic and fabulously epic ‘Kenya Dig It’. But such complicated descriptors don’t necessarily sit with Ryan so easily, who prefers a more direct approach. “I guess a “summery” band is not a bad one to be. I’ve always like catchy bands and cheesy pop songs and things like that so I guess that influences what we do. I guess I just see us a pop band.” And so do we. Words: Adrian Barrowdale
www.therubysuns.com Sea Lion is out now on Memphis
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INTERVIEW
FRIGHTENED RABBIT
“Some of my favourite lyricists have a dark sense of humour, y’know like Nick Cave, Bright Eyes…” Scott Hutchison is talking about NTrance, specifically the cover of ‘Set You Free’ that his band recorded as a B-side to their ‘Heads Roll Off’ single in March. “Within the songs themselves I think there’s a lot of sadness, but I do try to balance that out with a sense of humour. It was quite tongue-in-cheek, but I just love that song.” Frightened Rabbit are no old-school rave revivalists though. Their sophomore album, The Midnight Organ Fight, is a heavyweight breakup record. It is sometimes harrowing, often dark and always brilliant, Hutchison’s warm Glaswegian burr mourning his crippled heart and considering a leap off the Forth Road Bridge amongst other jolly subjects. “Everyone’s gone through it at some point or other and so they can relate to that part of it. But for some people the album just came along at exactly the right time, and I get it quite a lot; people wanting to tell me about it. That emotion has gone for me now, so when I’m singing live I try to channel whatever emotion is happening in that point in time into the song.” Hutchison may have found himself a reluctant Agony Uncle, but in no way is this crybaby music for the clinically
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wimpish. Now a four-piece, second guitarist Andy has joined Scott, Billy and Grant to recreate the new album (“we’d had a fourth member before and it didn’t work out so we didn’t rush into anything and that’s paid dividends”), and partly thanks to the epic production of Peter Katis (Interpol, The National, Mercury Rev), their guitars are as loud as their hearts are big. “I was definitely nervous,” he says of the band’s time with Katis, “but at the same time I was mindful of the fact that he’s worked with loads of bands at the same stage as us. He started up in his own bedroom, recording his friends’ bands, so he’s still got that in him. We lived in his house and all had dinner together. It makes for a much more social experience, and it becomes more focussed because we can get up, have breakfast and go upstairs to record for the rest of the day.” Hutchison began working as Frightened Rabbit whilst at art college, enlisting brother Grant and Billy once a handful of songs had been road-tested. Recording debut album Sing the Greys under their own steam in 2006, it was later remastered once the band had signed with Fat Cat. “I think it was probably the last chance we’d have to do it. It was almost like our way of leaving that part of the story behind. I don’t know if you’ve ever actually heard the
Words: Megan Vaughan
original version, but it’s rough as hell. Even the wee tweaked version is still kinda lo-fi, but I was pretty pleased.” It wasn’t just these early recordings that first pricked up ears though. At 2007’s SXSW, the band appeared on stage swinging at a Mexican piñata, showering the collected industry cattle with sweets and confetti. Their profile on either side of the pond has risen steadily since, but Scott understands the significance of the SXSW shows. “It was really important, the first time we went out. We didn’t know what to expect, and it is kind of a zoo out there. Everyone within the press and industry who wants to come and see your band can. Second time around
it felt like people had actually heard of us, and Andy hadn’t played in the band very long, so for him to go out there and play eleven shows in a week was good training. It was work in that sense, but mostly it’s just good fun. At festivals, people tend to be a lot drunker, so as long as you’re loud and half-decent, you go down quite well…” www.frightenedrabbit.com The Midnight Organ Fight is out now on Fat Cat Records, and Frightened Rabbit play Manchester’s Night & Day Café on the 5th of September
INTERVIEW
theMAYBES Words: Neil Condron
Some people start bands because they think it’s cool. Some join one because it’s a laugh. For others - like Nick Ellis, songwriter and driving force behind The Maybes? - something much more powerful pulls them towards the light.
Looking up from his coffee in the Night & Day as the Oldham Street sun (yes, sun!) pours in from behind him, he points to crowds passing by the window and explains: “I look around and see the desperation in humans and feel they need some help and escapism. I’m lucky enough to be able to figure out a way to communicate that. It’s gone beyond past the point of having a choice. Now, I’ve just got to do it.” Much like The Courteeners in Manchester, The Maybes? have a huge hometown following, but the Liverpudlians are yet to take the next step and gain recognition beyond those narrow confines. It’s a frustration at which they batter away with every sweat-soaked gig and festival appearance they deliver, with the knockout blow soon to follow with the release of epic debut ‘Promise’. As anyone familiar with the band will testify, it’s been a long time coming. Nick admits: “’Promise’ is like a couple who are finding it hard to conceive, going for a lot of IVF treatment. It’s
been a process of falling in love, getting married, then having a baby. It’s the child of our first marriage - or maybe our third marriage.” The sighs of experience are there to be heard; while optimism pumps through rockers such as ‘Boys’ and new single ‘Summertime’, it is longingly absent from the loveweary ‘Talk About You’. Closing with 11 heady minutes of prog disco, ‘Promise’ shows wisdom and mastery where many debuts rush blindly in. HV puts this to Nick, who agrees the LP is not just a case of teenage kicks. “Rock and roll is primarily about being 17 and being really into something artistic - it’s a way of expressing one’s emotions - and it’s at its purest at 17,” he says. “I don’t play rock and roll. I’m an adult in his 20s, trying to find what love is about, and struggling to find the answers. “But when you’re 17, you’re not looking for the answers, you’re just going out and expressing yourself in your own special way. Anyone
past the age of 17 who says they’re making rock and roll is lying - it’s just one true form and it comes at one time, when you’re jumping around and acting mad, loving your music to the point that you’ll argue over it!” It’s true, he’s not 17 anymore (try 28) - and Nick and his band mates are all the wiser for the mistakes they have made. A few years ago, the industry was bustling with talk of a self-produced EP by The Maybes? that featured a half-hour dub track called ‘Zombie Nation’. At the time, it seemed the world was spreading its legs in anticipation of this scouse guitar-twanging salvation. Then nothing. “We got a lot of offers, but we were certain that we wanted to make it ourselves, produce it and mix it. We wanted to learn what we were doing. It’s in the can, but it’s half an hour long - you’re talking about a time when The Libertines were out! It was too mad for a lot of people. I probably agree with them, it was too heavy a concept.
“It was entirely our fault. We wanted to learn! But we did learn.” Having turned down deals from at least one major label, The Maybes? have found a home at Xtra Mile Recordings and Nick has no regrets. “The record industry would never let us do what we do in our studio,” he laughs. “Music should be a truthful form of expression in its most basic way. That’s my first step in music, that’s what I’ve always wanted to discover - truth. With music, you can go anywhere, do anything - there are always capabilities.” Feeling inspired yet? www.myspace.com/ themaybesliverpool ‘ Single ‘Summertime’ is out via download on August 25th and limited edition 7” on September 1st, followed by the album ‘Promise’ on September 15th through Xtra Mile Recordings.
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INTERVIEW
There was never any idle twiddling of thumbs before Mumford & Sons took shape. Having been key members of Laura Marling’s backing band, as well as contributing to songs by new vintage-folk starlet Alessi, the band are happy to be “giving up the days jobs in September” however much fun it was. “It’s a different vibe”, says Marcus. “We all do session stuff but this definitely feels like our band. For me, it’s not so much about the difference between drumming and being a frontman, it’s more being a session player and being in a band. We’re singing songs we’ve all done together and created together. “
What with established session careers and a Radio 2 Record of the Week under their belts already, Mumford & Sons don’t need our help to take over the popular music universe. Tipped by the national press mere months after forming in a north London pub, HV caught up with the band fresh from a triumphant EP launch and looking for a party… “We like to have a bit of an adventure when we’re on tour,” says Ted, “it’s not always straight to bed.” This attitude may explain the recent River Rat Pack Tour (also featuring SixNationState and Jay Jay Pistolet), where they crashed their boat within forty-eight hours and spent most of the time singing old slave songs to one another and drinking, “except instead of a campfire we had a sticky table”. Mumford & Sons’ rich Appalachian folk’n’roll owes more to the musical traditions of old than your average new band singing about shopping for trainers. “We all love country music,” explains Marcus, “but we’ve come from different roots. I bumped into Winnie when he was playing in a bluegrass band called Captain Kick and The Cowboy Ramblers.”
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Winston is the Seasick Steve of the band; the man who arrived on Ben’s doorstep in a pair of dungarees and with a banjo on his back. “Even in the city there’s a lot of country and bluegrass and folk. You come across it and you pick it up and you just love it.” And that, believes Ted, “is the great thing about making music today; there’s such a vast back catalogue of inspiration to draw from. We throw all sorts of elements in there, but at the end of the day, it’s just soul, and young people are waking up to the fact that they don’t need to be sweated on to have a good time. We do sweat on each other though; there’s enough sweat for everyone.” Onstage, there is nothing gentle about Mumford & Sons. With Marcus hammering a kick drum and all four heads thrown back for huge yearning harmonies, this is folk music that slaps you in the face and yells “PAY ATTENTION!”. The band are already enjoying playing new, balls-to-the-wall opuses,
one of which has a touch of dark prog about it. “It’s a really melodramatic song,” says Marcus, “but there’s nothing pretentious about it. The songs we write are about things that have happened to us, good things and bad things. Being in different cities is good because soundchecks are awesome for writing. You’ve been driving all day and you’re really keen to play, and you’ve got a bit of time to do it.”
Although Winston wants to “go through it together with a red pen”, the first EP has already proved a big success, thanks to the gorgeous 10” vinyl and their ever-growing live reputation. Now that new songs are being road-tested, the band are keen to get back into the studio and Ben is confident that the next recordings will be better still. “I think we can hear elements that are slightly disjointed because we didn’t have the amount of time we wanted to invest last time. We’re really excited about being able to record an EP in a set period of time.” As for Marcus, he’s already looked ahead to hitting the road again. “Well, Laura’s done a church tour, so we want to do a barn tour!” www.myspace.com/ mumfordandsons The debut EP is out now on Chess Club. Words: Megan Vaughan
INTERVIEW
Couple Thousand Short Films About Glenn Gould’, which were recently exhibited in this very city’s Castlefield Gallery. On stage, however, Ratatat are most certainly not lacking in focus. In the course of a set that encompasses not only tracks from their latest release,
Words: Benjamin Thomas Hips shaking, head held high, I practice my best I’m With The Band walk as I head towards The Roadhouse alongside the three members of Ratatat and their tour manager. But before getting down to the serious business of an interview with this Big Apple electro-rock trio, there’s a man waiting outside the venue to ask some questions of his own: “Tickets? Buy or sell tickets? Any spares?” Yes, this band are so far below the mainstream radar that they remain incognito as they are touted for their own show. But why? Having recently released their third acclaimed album, ‘LP3’, and in the course of an epic European tour, surely the only way is up for their popularity? This issue does not seem to be the cause of too many sleepless nights. Success is dismissed not as an aspiration, but as a mere inconvenient necessity, something which secures the financial and commercial resources which allow them to follow their own artistic agenda. Signed to XL Recordings,
which is also home to a diverse and brilliant roster of artists that includes Dizzee Rascal, Beck and Radiohead, they must enjoy an unrivalled degree of creative freedom and be preceded everywhere they go by the reputation of a their label which serves as a solid guarantee of quality? With a devilish glance in the direction of their executives and paymasters sitting mere metres away in the same room, they unleash a furious flurry of four letter words. They are experts at avoiding any given subject. I try to turn the conversation towards the sounds of their hometown: LCD Soundsystem, Hercules And Love Affair, The Rapture, and their Death From Above siblings. Do they consider themselves to be noteworthy in New York City’s history of punk, hip-hop and disco? Quickly rejecting the question with a comment on how such scenes exist only in the imagination of journalists, the conversation somehow turns to obscure digital artist Cory Arcangel,who is best known for his works ‘I Shot Andy Warhol’ and ‘A
“A heated debate ensues on the topic of the most effective ways to torture Slow Hands, with Chinese burns and making cruel jokes about his dead son being selected as weapons of choice.” but also from their self-titled debut and its successor, ‘Classics’, they orchestrate miniature symphonies with random precision. Synthesisers and drum machines, the fundamental elements of modern machine music, are combined with autoharp, sleighbells, and tribal percussion. The human voice, however, is shunned, as these instrumental songs speak only the Esperanto of rhythm and melody. And all of this is backed by harrowing CGI visuals, created by the band’s very own multi-instrumentalist Evan Mast, which seem to respond telepathically to changes in the tempo and volume of the sounds. Afterwards, an inebriated interloper stumbles uninvited into The
Roadhouse backstage area to express at the top of his voice the opinion that Ratatat are way better than Billy Idol, the ageing pantomime punk playing at the Apollo Theatre on the same night. And whilst this is true, they do pay respect to their musical elders, declaring their intentions to remix Rod Stewart and drawing upon influences from 1970s progressive rock in particular. Mike Stroud’s playing is heavily under the influence of the guitar hero histrionics of Jimi Hendrix and Brian May. As an aside, I recall the anecdote of the aforementioned moptop Queen axeman performing the national anthem on the roof of Buckingham Palace, offering the fictitious example of Eric Clapton playing the Star Spangled Banner atop the White House as a cross cultural comparison. A heated debate ensues on the topic of the most effective ways to torture Slow Hands, with Chinese burns and making cruel jokes about his dead son being selected as weapons of choice. And, once again, we’ve lost sight of the original line of enquiry in an instant. Too unique, too offbeat, and too intelligent by far, Ratatat are forever destined to remain members of the endangered species of audio experimentalists. This is not music for the masses, and for that we must give thanks. www.ratatatmusic.com LP3 their, erm, third LP is out now on XL Recordings
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INTERVIEW You probably already know a little bit about Noah & The Whale. They’re the ones that Laura Marling sometimes sings with, whose live reputation sold out La Scala before any record deal, and whose chirpy summer hit ‘Five Years Time’ is being played on the radio about fifteen times per hour right now. But did you also know that their album is two parts death to every one part sunshine? That they’ve recorded a punk album which sounds like The Clash and Stiff Little Fingers? Or, depending on who you believe, that they stole Tom the fiddle player from a pizza delivery shop, and Urby the bassist is allergic to sunlight? HV caught up with the band’s chief songwriter, Charlie, to separate fact from fiction…
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Words: Megan Vaughan
“A lot of the stuff that you’d think would be lies about Urby is probably true. I tend to elaborate about him because there’s so much to say! Truthfully though, if you’re asked about stuff you’re genuinely interested in, you’ll be honest about it. It’s when people are asking about the band name, blah blah blah, you just get bored and come out with whatever entertains you.” We take this opportunity to alert Charlie to the perils of mistruths, with a story of Take That, who received dead rats in their fan mail after some fabrication about a pet snake. “Aaaah…” says Charlie. “Note to self: no snakes.” Of course, Charlie Fink does not need to fall back on adventures with pizza or snakes or any such embellishments. Only just in his twenties, he has been a musician for as long as he can remember, absorbing his mother’s folk records and discovering Bonnie Prince Billy while briefly at university in Manchester. “Music is basically all I’ve ever known how to do really. It’s the only thing I’ve ever been extremely passionate about. I always found formal education quite difficult, so it’s literally all I’ve known. There’s some pretty awful stuff in the back catalogue, but we try to keep that quiet…” The new album, of course, is the exact opposite of awful. Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down, also the name of its most darkly affecting track, is alternately poignant and quirky, more evocative than a thousand listens to ‘Five Years Time’ would have you believe. “We’ve always seen ‘Five Years
Time’ as an introduction to Noah & The Whale. It’s the way in. It’s always been the most instant of our songs and I guess people can hear that and come to the album to hear the broader spectrum, or that’s what I hope will happen,” says Charlie. “Although it’s quite joyful or whatever, the subject matter isn’t all enduring love. That’s part of what we do; try to put and optimistic slant on things you can perceive as being quite melancholy. The whole album is about love, death and time; death and time are two of my biggest fears in the whole world. It was about a year and a half in the writing, those were the subjects that completely preoccupied my thoughts and it was always the idea to make the album about similar subject matter so it was a coherent piece. A lot of the songs are written as antidotes to fear, or however you want to describe it, and while it’s not necessarily that the song becomes the cure or whatever, I think the process of writing is therapeutic. At my most optimistic, what I’ve hoped is that if you played the songs to a younger version of me, a few years ago, they’d change my life or at least change my perspective or calm me down.” If you have had the pleasure of seeing Noah & The Whale live, you’ll know that their shows can cheer the coldest of hearts, put a smile on the stoniest of faces. That warmth naturally comes across on the record, but a recording studio allowed them to become a different band altogether. “We’ve always been firm believers that making a record and being a live band are very different disciplines, and when you make a record, you’re
kinda liberated from all the limitations. We were like, ‘right, we can make the songs sound exactly how we want them to sound’. Onstage, at maximum we’ve only got seven people – I say only, that’s quite a lot – but you can add parts that you wouldn’t normally be able to have; subtle, intricate percussion things.” Charlie has high hopes for the album, and understandably so. As well as the snowballing popularity of Noah & The Whale, and the brilliant reviews that have met the release of Peaceful…, he is enjoying acclaim as the producer of one of this year’s Mercury shortlist. At the helm of Alas I Cannot Swim by ex-squeeze Laura Marling, he has helped to craft one of music’s most touching and mature debuts. “I’m very proud, and I’m proud for Laura, but it all just seems very, very weird. Although it’s incredible, it’s never been our ambition to get here. All this stuff just seems so surreal. In a way, because everything else has happened, we were almost like ‘oh right, okay…’ This stuff is so absurd.” Similarly bizarre is the American car advert currently bringing ‘Five Years Time’ to several million homes daily. “It came to us at a weird time,” explains Charlie, “and in America it’s pretty much the only way to expose your music. Radio is effectively dead, and as I’m sure you can imagine with a song like ‘Five Years Time’, we get more advert offers than you can believe. A lot of the offers we were getting were for things we didn’t want to do and things we didn’t want to support, but then this came through; a hybrid car, a good thing to support.
I’m not keen on doing adverts at all, but without radio there aren’t many alternatives.” There is one more question that we simply cannot bring ourselves to omit. (Nope, not the one about what they’d rescue in a flood…) Where will Noah & The Whale be (cringe) in five years time? “I have literally no idea. I never have any idea. Although we don’t reject the position we’re in now, it’s almost come to us by fluke. I guess I’d just like to be in a similar position really; still making records, maybe have made three or four albums by then. We’ve already started working on the next one, which I find really exciting, having a blank canvas again and being free to do what you want. It’s sort of album number three though because we’ve recorded a punk album as well. I don’t think it’s gonna get a full release because we just did it in two days when we went into the studio to record some B-sides but hopefully it will be available in some way with this album, as a free download or a small vinyl release or something. It’s a cross between Jonathon Richman & The Modern Lovers, The Clash and maybe Stiff Little Fingers. Some people say it sounds like Dinosaur Junior. I love it. I think it’s our best work to date.” Somehow, we don’t think Charlie Fink is lying this time… www.noahandthewhale.com Peaceful the World Lays Me Down is out August 11th on Mercury. The band play Manchester Academy 3 on 27th October.
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singles singleofthemonth The Wave Pictures >> Just Like A Drummer EP >> Moshi Moshi
You might think you've heard this vocalist before. He possesses a warm vibrato too affected to be wholly natural, too nonchalant to be the produce of years of classical tuition. It's idiosyncratic enough to be torn apart yet still sounds strikingly familiar. But, unless you've come across
The Wave Pictures before, you haven't. Darren Hayman, of Hefner fame, has been raving about The Wave Pictures and it's understandable. The six songs on this EP are too ugly and plain to be called beautiful, but speak with the intuition and honesty that Hefner fans so loyally adore. Single guitar chugs, two, three vocals chime
Reviewer: Sophie Parkes
The Verve
Ladytron
The Shortwave Set
Quite clearly, Richard Ashcroft has not lead his band down the dark satanic mills of his solo career’s maudlin moments, “Love Is Noise” being more a return to celebratory rock for the sake of having something to say.
Ladytron have enjoyed a mini-resurgence of late. The Liverpool quartet’s Velocifero LP (their fourth) has enjoyed significant exposure thanks to some huge support slots with everyone’s favourite gloomrockers Interpol, but mainly as a result of the band realising their potential for writing despondent electro-pop as shown by lead single Ghosts.
Summer, as usual, came and went in early May. However for those suffering inopportune bouts of seasonal affective disorder, there is the much needed light and airy rays of proverbial poptastic sunshine provided by the Shortwave Set.
>> Love Is Noise >> Parlophone
Ashcroft is deeper in tone than before, and there’s more of a dance-beat than before which brings to mind the “You Stole The Sun” single from the Manics. The unusual vocal samples and strings are mixed well if somewhat misplaced towards the tail-end fade out, but given the shrugging shoulders which followed the latest Coldplay effort, the return of a band with some genuine attitude is to be welcomed. Reviewer: Liam Pennington
>> Runaway >> Netwerk Group
This latest single to be lifted from the LP carries the band’s trademark sound;Helen Marnie’s snearing vocals battle against a minimalist electro dirge, that builds and builds, creating a tense atmosphere that few bands are able to This LP could be the making of a band first billed for great things in 2000. With a hectic touring schedule till the end of the year it would be good chance to catch a unique band in their prime Reviewer: Richard Cheetham
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together in close harmony. Silence and pause are as important as pitch. And it'll have fans of no-frills thrilled.
>> Now Til 69 >> Wall Of Sound
'Now til 69' is lifted from the trio's second album, and evokes simultaneous feelings of unadulterated happiness co joined with yearnings for the kind of weather that I can only assume must have been abundant in 1969 (Bryan Adams anyone?). In short, it's a glorious concoction of the Polyphonic Spree and Joy Zipper, just listening to it causes involuntary excretion of Vitamin D. Reviewer: Gareth Roberts
Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip
>> Letter From God To Man >> Sunday Best
The latest offering from this dynamic duo sees the excellence continue as these underground innovators continue their trailblazing pop assault in style.
Bloc Party >> Mercury >> Wichita
Bloc Party are quickly becoming something of a musical conundrum, the kind of band that refuses to rest on its laurels in favour of trying something new (I believe the official
Magistrates >> Make this work >> SWF
Magistrates are a clash of Prince, Talking Heads and David Bowie, which in the case of 'Make This Work' results in smooth, old fashioned soul-pop.
Does it Offend You, Yeah? >> Dawn of the Dead >> Virgin
What is going on with DIOYY??? The hype generated from their enthralling demos was justified, leading to industry A&Rs falling over themselves to sign a band with the
Mashed up future funk stop-starts as the seamless tempo changes of Scroobius Pip's flow waste no time infiltrating the mix. 'Letter From God To Man' literally explodes into life off the back of Le Sac's head-mashing stomp whilst the Essex MC's words of wisdom are dropped first person from the Kingdom of Heaven, thus offering (by way of an apology) an exploration of God's vulnerable humanity.
Cerebral, caustic and tongue-in cheek, Pip remains true to the rhythms of speech as the panic attack vibrations threaten breakdown amidst the breakbeat. This epic track gathers momentum until a glorious rant takes hold. This dynamic duo have another compulsive pop masterpiece on their hands. Brilliant
term is Radiohead envy). A brave and bold tactic to employ, and whilst it is laudable in many ways, there is always the danger that valiant attempts can be construed as illadvised, perhaps even pretentious displays of neglect for a fan base weaned on chart friendly 'hits'.
appreciative of their efforts yet also appreciative of the fact that free will dictates that I will never have to listen to it again. Make of that what you will.
Reviewer: Michael Roberts
Reviewer: Gareth Roberts
I must admit that my opinion is yet to crystallise where this pressing issue is concerned. I am simultaneously
Their sound is something quite unique at the moment. It's undeniably pop, with a laid back feel – no need for loud, bouncy choruses this is much easier on the ears. Lead singer Usher's, voice is comparable to Justin Timberlake, with an added shot of passion. The mix of organ, relaxed bass and jittering hi-hat manages to sound futuristic and retro at the same time. There's definitely something you
haven't heard before in here.
potential to be the next Klaxons.
since. Sadly Dawn of the Dead doesn’t stop the rot. It’s a deadweight slab of electro-indie goo that catches the band treading water.
Sadly the debut LP was a massive let down. Built around several huge tracks (lets not forget that Lets Make Out scored 5/5 volts back in Sept 07) the recordings were undermined by their major label backing. They deserved a spot on the NME Awards earlier in the year, but they have taken a serious nose dive
But that lack of familiarity does give it certain disposability. There's no real hook to pull you in and keep you. It doesn't have the catchy sing-along bit of a good pop song that we've come to expect. This makes for an easy listen, but there's something missing. Reviewer: Sophie Parkes
DIOYY need to regroup and get back on form asap. There’s a great band here but tosh like this isn?t doing them any favours. Reviewer: Richard Cheetham
ALSOOUTSOON… Transgressive Record’s latest solo-act signing Esser is rather hotly tipped if you speak to people in the know. Headlock, his new single is chirpy and warm sounding, and a decent introductory single. It’s available to download for free from his myspace site, as well. Though it may take something with a bit more depth to win over these ears Compared to Esser, Thomas Tantrum are elder statesmen of jangly indie-pop. ‘Walk It’ precedes a self-titled LP due out in early September and is a cheerful but
unmemorable track about nothing in particular. Also out – you guessed it – soon, is ‘UFO’ by teenage girlies Poppy & The Jezebels. It floats and shimmers like a piece of 60s doo-wop, not in a naff way like the Pipettes, more like an interesting Duffy. That’s not saying much but P&TJ might be worth keeping an eye on. Remember Turin Brakes? Figureheads of the NME tagged New Acoustic Movement? Well if you do then Broadcast 2000’s
Run may raise a stir. For 99.9% of the rest of Britain the track’s blandness with offend like nothing else you’ve heard before… God bless Kong for raising the bar, and decibel level, with Blood of a Dove. Out on the delightfully titled Brew Records sometime soon it’s a crushing mely of white noise guitars and frantic drums. This is just how Biffy Clyro started after all and it hasn’t done them any harm. Well, somewhere along the way Simon Neil began singing rather than shouting,
catapulting the band from alt-rock chancers to Radio 1 daytime plays. ‘Moutains’ treads the line between absolute carnage and delicate melody like few other bands can. Speaking of melody the debut single from Manchester’s Run Toto Run Your Face, on Lost and Lonely Single Club, is choc full of em. Rachael Kichenside’s beautiful vocals fill the track with a breezy charm. The flip side of the 7” from Stickboy is also worth a butchers, and makes up a tasty introduction into two talents for the future
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albums Friendly Fires
albumofthemonth
>> Friendly Fires >> XL
Like fine French wine and your favourite pair of jeans, Friendly Fires prove the old adage that things improve with age. Bursting onto the scene what feels like decades ago with the DIY disco blast of 'Paris', a solid grounding in German techno and a slightly less solid association with the nu-rave crew, the St. Albans trio were the unsigned band to love one week and toss aside the next. Some may have viewed the tardy release of their eponymous debut as missing the beat, and despite the backing of Paul Epworth and XL, it was going to take something a bit special to reignite their initial flame.
Crucially, the new tracks show where the band has grown. 'In The Hospital'
has the funk groove of their sophisticated DFA peers, a Jethro Tull panpipe bit, the vital and perfectly used clap and Ed Mac singing like a born again new romantic over the top. 'White Diamonds' could easily be classic Kylie, while the Epworth produced 'Jump In The Pool's' angelic extravagance offer conclusive evidence that this record is the result of two years' hard graft and creative maturity, not blind laziness. Reviewer: Andy Porter
Simian Mobile Disco
Vessels
For Sample And Hold, SMD's debut album remixed, the concept takes on the more DJ-friendly comps by actually having every original track in place but madeover by a wide selection of producers. No lazy stacking of the few singles in house, jungle and electro forms here, but an album in reperspective.
Breaking out into snow storms of expansive post-rock expression and mathscore weather patterns, Leeds based Vessels justify the excited chatter about them by producing an intricate, beguiling album.
>> Sample And Hold >> Wichita
>> White Fields And Open Devices >> Cuckundoo Records
Simon Baker's remix of 'Sleep Deprivation' has had DJs foaming for his minimal techno version that bears no resemblance to the original ? just ten minutes of popping, vibrating brilliance that shares the album opener's tension management, albeit in a somewhat different style.
The complex White Fields and Open Devices throws open the doors of the shoegaze phenomenon to invite anyone in the area to wander around, admire the wallpaper, check the smooth runners of the cutlery drawers, that sort of thing. This open house policy knocks down most of the inner walls, expands the garden, considers converting the attic, and then lets rip with all the subtlety of the band throwing open the pedals deep in the cellar.
With a more familiar hook, 'I Got This Down' comes off nicely with a disco cooling down, but then for experimental producers, DFA's Shit Robot and Joakim both turn in surprisingly pedestrian disco-punk remixes. Nevertheless it's accomplished stuff and wouldn't have sounded amiss in the Tramp! heyday.
The album is a superb tour around constantly changing soundscapes and ideas, the New Weird America suggestions in 'Happy Accident' and yourcodenameis:milo perkiness in 'An Idle Brain and the Devil’s Workshop' being just two of the clear influences away from the undercurrents of Explosions In The Sky or Godspeed.
The interesting highlight comes late when Erol Alkan's Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve actually turns in something half-decent for once with its tribal rave spacing-out of 'Love', distorting its hyperactive whine into a crusty pagan dance-off at the stone circles.
At their best, they’ll sweep away any worries in a flurry of powerhouse layered melodies, loosening the fixtures and fittings with the microbeats underpinning the immense 'Trois Heures'.
One of the few concerns about Attack Decay Sustain Release was its curt, radio-edit slinging together of SMD's dancefloor slayers. Sample And Hold is a refreshing take on the remix album ( listenable from start to finish ) but save for a few prime cuts it ultimately fails to recapture the momentum that Ford and Shaw should be synonymous with. Not a bad time to mention the Fabric mix the duo have out in August. Reviewer: Fran Donnelly
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Cynics may view the inclusion of 'Paris', the shoegaze techno of 'Strobe' or the Rapture vs. Adam and the Ants jerky punk funk of 'Photobooth' as something of a safety net, sticking to the tested tracks without pushing forward. The cynics may be right. The songs haven't progressed from the early demos, still being recorded in singer Ed Macfarlane's parents' garage, but they still possess the sound of impassioned abandon that made FF 'ones to watch' in the first place.
As much an extension of the post-rock scene invigorated by Sigur Ros as they are compelling in their own right, Vessels prove false the maxim about empty vessels making the most noise. This show house should come with very high interest rates indeed. Reviewer: Liam Pennington
James Yorkston & The Athletes
delivery means at least one witticism per verse will be missed.
nine tracks of an intimately self-produced album.
Rolling up against the eastern coast of Scotland, 'haar', trivia fans, is the particular and very specifically Scottish sea fog. Singer, songwriter, and commentator on the intricacies of modern days in the isolation of the frozen north, James Yorkston is a difficult man to get into. His compositions deserve repeated listening not just because the rolling lyrical
Amongst the spoken-voice delivery and light touches of guitar, a community of instruments springs up in the c?ilidh tradition. Yorkston is intense, a poet of regret and remorse, "all the big questions I cannot answer". His heart, and undoubtedly his soul, is in the highlands and islands, the tales of the people peculiar to the windswept world. His phrase "the descendents of descendents" is an effective description of the people close in his writer's world, an intense loyalty which is sewn across the
The maudlin mood is characteristic of a man whose pathos weighs as heavy as clouds over the Small Isles, breaking lights of sun through the passing storms in the traditional folk sound behind 'Midnight Feast', or the warm resignation in 'Tortoise Regrets Hare'. In its entirety the album is heavy going, but he was never going to release throw-away pop, repaying the perseverance in its broader moments.
>> When The Haar Rolls In >> Domino
XX Teens
fashioned one of the best debut albums of the year.
XX Teens have always been one of those bands for whom retaining their integrity and dignity, in both their music and their public persona, has been of utmost importance. That's all very noble but the trick is of course to honour these principles without becoming surly creators of sub-standard nonsense. Thankfully these guys are far too knowing to fall into that trap, and to prove it they've
Welcome to Goon Island is awash with songs brimming with ideas, energy and wit, and what's more, each and every one sounds like a bona-fide hit. Instruments battle to the death for supremacy whilst remaining expertly coherent, meanwhile Rich Cash's drawl pitches somewhere between Mark E Smith and Iggy Pop, in short; it's riveting stuff. 'Onkawara' is the audible personification of frustrated youth lashing out, "lost my confidence, I didn't know who I was", whilst the Buzzcocksesque 'Only You' sounds destined to become a favourite for the faithful few who will go out and buy this record
The Week That Was
are a Field Music signature, as are the compressed guitar sounds.
>> Welcome To Goon Island >> Mute
>> The Week That Was >> Memphis Industries
The long-awaited solo album from former Field Music maestro Peter Brewis begins with an air of confidence that’s somehow transparent. Opening with the tense, urgent ‘Learn To Learn’, giddy with crashing percussion, the record descends into synth fuelled skank and back out again, simply refusing to settle. The stop start drums
“Is this an accident”? Brewis asks midtrack, and no-one can really be sure, especially as the surfing jazz piano intro to ‘It’s All Gone Quiet’ flowers into a string symphonic ode to picking up on the bits and pieces in true ‘waste not, want not’ fashion. Emulsified, petrified, the layered vocals sit too deep in the chamber music mix – this is ‘Tones Of Town’, but half-assed, ambient and unsure. Split a winning combination at your peril, miss the mark by a mile, or simply pass by unnoticed. Poignant, grown-up 8T’s highlight ‘The
Reviewer: Liam Pennington
(probably the frustrated youth). 'My Favourite Hat' and 'Darlin' now feel like old classics, having been originally unleashed under the guise of Xerox Teens two years ago, and it's these songs that perhaps epitomise XX Teens most neatly; pop perfection infiltrated by mayhem – the result being a sound so endearing as to convince you you've found something very special indeed. Original, exciting and covertly accessible; there's something for everyone here. Reviewer: Gareth Roberts
Airport Line’ just about sums it up: those vocal hooks. ‘Contend with the new/I fail to recognise/ So unsure of, but only now and then’ matched with Africa/Free the world cymbal crashes and haughty cello breaks. Ho-hum. A celebration of it’s own inadequacy as a record, consider this as a toe dipped into solo creative waters, tentative, hesitant, and quickly withdrawn. A record of understated highlights, aptly titled, ‘That Was The Week That Was’ presents as what it is: half of a half-decent whole. Reviewer:
Michael Roberts
ALSOOUTSOON… Citing Kate Bush and black metal as influences may seem a strange admission from Rose Kemp (One Little Indian), but it makes perfect sense over the course of her manic LP Unholy Majesty. Drony guitars and wailing vocals are underpinned with sinisterly mixed violin parts to create a crescendo of melodic noise. ‘Bitter and Sweet’ straddles the divide between art-rock experimentation and tenderness with unease as it swoons and soars. LP opener ‘Dirt Glow’ gets things off to a monstrous start and by the time closing track ‘The Unholy’, a 9 minute epic, closes you can’t help but feel that Guillermo del Toro will be in touch soon to license a few tracks for his next horror-fantasy flick.
By comparison, the jangly indie-pop of Welsh quintet Hot Puppies (THP Records) album numero dos Blue Hands shimmers with Scissor Sisters-esque proportions. Well, that might be overstating things slightly, but the graduation from debut LP Under The Crooked Moon is really something to behold. Blue Hands is clever, ambitious and evidence of a criminally underrated act. The new album by Pivot shows similar level of ambition. But despite the label (Warp), recent support slots (Sigur Ros) and influences (Can, Battles, Kraftwerk) ticking all the boxes the results are sketchy. Pivot create a world of distorted electronica that is
far from unique in 2008. I’d choose the Holy Fuck or Fuck Buttons LPs over O Soundtrack of My Heart any day of the week, but I wouldn’t rule out these guys putting on an awesome live show... Stereolab should score a big fat nul points for servicing promos of Chemical Chords (4AD) with poxy edits rather than full length versions. However, there’s something rather intriguing about cutting off Lætitia Sadier and co in full flow. The 1.35 off ‘One Finger Symphony’, for instance, could have evolved into haunting pysch-pop workout. Stereolab die hards will entertain this idea, though everyone else will struggle to understand this band’s consistent acclaim.
Such experimentation is contrasted by the sophomore LP by Volcano (The Leaf Label). Whereas their debut LP Beautiful Seizure sounded like a band unleashed, Paperwork is a more precise and calculated follow up which will have many of their fans perplexed. If stop-start angular rock is your thing then this LP may raise an eyebrow. Richard Cheetham
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livereviews Tom Waits
>> Edinburgh Playhouse
It's a strange sight; one of the year's most eagerly anticipated long soldout gigs, a guaranteed moneyspinner, and there isn't a single tout to be seen! Though given the stringent measures put in place (each patron required to bring their passport, credit card and name tagged ticket) by the headlining relative tour recluse you'd have a better chance sneaking into Area 51. Taking stance before a collection a bygone-aged megaphones on a dust covered box and donning trademark porkpie hat; it doesn't take long before Waits is orchestrating his own rabid applause. Stomping his way through rustic polkas, dust-bowl barroom blues and Weill-esque sinister shuffles each narrated through an emphysemic
Beck with guests Yeasayer >> Apollo
If everybody's favourite loser Beck Hanson's musical output has been getting more streamlined recently, choosing a return to the garage-fuzz of his youth, then he's more than ably compensating by having one of progressive-pop's recent finest discoveries, Yeasayer, open these "warm up" shows. Given the intricacies and complexities that make up their fantastic debut All Hour Cymbals you could forgive the New York four-piece for staring holes in their shoes whilst basked in the spotlight, but the group prove just as compelling to watch. Focal point and emotive vocalist Chris Keating spasms and stalks throughout, whilst the fret-less bass air of Ira Wolf Tuton gives their eastern-tinged atmospherics a sturdy, yet inventive, jumping point.
The National
>> Birmingham Academy
The National's world tour recommenced in Britain's 'Second City' and the mute welcome to the Birmingham Academy must've been hard to take after their rapturous finale at Glastonbury just 24hrs earlier. If the band are insulted by this, lead singer Matt Berninger doesn't show it. In fact, he uses it as a prime opportunity to flaunt his boyish charm - on enquiring if anyone was at the John Peel Stage yesternight just five sorry arms were lifted - his pride in them is real, his cheeky smile is unveiled and the music begins. Each song begins quite innocuously - perhaps a guitar intro followed by a line of verse. Yet in the space of a few bars the rest of the ensemble, jostling for their place, erupt in frenzy. Berninger transforms into a dervish
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guttural bark, Waits' command of each style, and his backing line-up, is as masterful as his eclectic backcatalogue has always suggested.
higher before he's off again into the night and back to his garage to orchestrate further junkyard symphonies.
Amongst recent favourites 'God's Away On Business', 'Lie To Me', 'Hoist That Rag' and a peculiar reimagining of 'Eyeball Kid' - complete with brief change of hats to something closer resembling a mirrorball -, there's a stunning piano-led interlude as Waits returns to his bruised balladeer days for 'Innocent When You Dream' and a heart-wrenchingly wistful 'Tom Traubert's Blues'.
If the excruciating delays between his British visits are too much for diehard fanatics this gig should live on in memory for quite some time. Reviewer: Mike Caulfield
Whilst little is needed from Waits to coax a standing ovation the on stage tongue-in-cheek hokum glitter shower that brings 'Make It Rain' to a conclusion raises the good cheer yet
By the time of set closer '2080' the initial crowds collective armsacross-chest-try-and-impress-me stance softens completely, and the group leave with quite a few more fans than they started with. But it's unfortunate that tonight's main draw isn't able to push the evening's good cheer higher still.
revered back catalogue such as 'E-Pro', 'Lost Cause', 'Loser' and 'Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime' are still lovingly devoured by his hardcore devotees. Reviewer: Mike Caulfield
Appearing to have regressed to his 90s long hair-flannel shirt slacker days, it's obvious from opening salvo 'Devil's Haircut' that Hanson simply doesn't want to be here, though his fifteen-plus years as the consummate alternative ironic-showman has left him with a pretty impossibly high standard. Little appears from his more eclectic output, but treats from sections of his
as he goads his players on, the piece then directed by any number of exchanges between band and vocalist. The drama is acted as well as sung like Opera Grande, with Padma Newsome's violin bow slashing into Aaron Dessner's bass guitar. The ingenuity and strength with which The National are able to compete with the guitars, drums, violin, keyboard and brass is dazzling; no other band would allow its brass section to continue a part introduced by a double-stopping violin, only for the violin to build a climactic outro (standout track, 'Green Gloves'). The National really can anything. The performances much less restricted self-conscious than the albums
play are and and,
with embarrassed blushes and violent assaults always at the ready, much more enjoyable. We can't wait until we see them again Silence and pause are as important as pitch. And it'll have fans of no-frills thrilled. Reviewer: Adrian Barrowdale
NEWNOISE Send your new band tips to GIG of the month stephen@highvoltage.org.uk to appear in the next New Noise round-up…
Tramps & Horses
The Bottomfeeders
Metonia
Fightfightfight
GladEyes
They don’t sound like they’re from Manchester but Tramps & Horses are one the city’s finest folk acts, and there are a lot of good ones at the moment. Vincent Taylor’s raggle taggle collective take the vast sweep of American folk and country music on their mellifluous album ‘The Golden Tapestry’, from the deep gothic sounds of the excellent ‘River Rising’ and ‘Solo Man’, to the sunkissed, Californian vibes of ‘Fats Flying Plane’ and ‘Roxy Town’. The North West’s Fleet Foxes, any one?
The Bottomfeeders are not just a band; they are a spectacle. Making dark, boudoir lounge rock with elements of PJ Harvey, Captain Beefheart and glamorous surrealism, their unhinged jazz'n’roll covers subjects from adolescent disillusionment, horse-riding and pies. Regularly inviting audience members to contribute coconut percussion, The Bottomfeeders combine trombone flourishes, haunting cello and musical saw with singer Natalie’s fiery wail and a whole load of glittery latex.
After giving their demo 4/5 on the website last month it would be foolish not to include Manics-meets-Foos three-piece Metonia here. Formed in 2004, Paul Brogan, John Lawless and David Widder have been hard rocking and hard working around just about every venue in Manchester and got to the finals of some of the biggest unsigned bands contests across the country. Hard rocking that is, apart from the delightful ‘Brakewalls’, which combines their shared love of Doves and Broken Social Scene with Grohlian hooks.
Back after touring France and Spain, Liverpool’s Fightfightfight are becoming the stand out band in a scene that already includes the likes of Married To The Sea, Voo and Puzzle. Not only that, but they’ve impressed the likes of We Are The Physics and Marvins Revolt as well. Less noodly and more direct than some of those other bands, FFF’s impassioned, first wave emo style rock will give you goose bumps. See them at the Kro Bar on August 31st.
Key track: ‘Skinny White Boys’
Key track: ‘Brakewalls
Manchester’s newest supergroup, featuring members of Bone-box, Polytechnic and The Earlies as well as acclaimed Canadian composer Gabriel Minnikin, GladEyes are fast making their presence known on the UK’s live circuit. Coming to HV’s attention after a startlingly good set for ‘Manchester Does The Last Waltz’ in June, their electrifying post-country twang is part Gram Parsons and part psychedelic groove machine, thanks to brain-melting synths and deep double bass. If musical justice is served, GladEyes will be headlining Nashville hootenannies before 2008 is out.
Key track: ‘Solo Man’ Web: www.trampsandhorses.co.uk Words: Stephen Eddie
Web: www.myspace.com/thebottom feeeders
Web: www.myspace.com/metonia Words: Stephen Eddie
Words: Megan Vaughn
Key track: ‘Uh Oh, A River’ Web: www.myspace.com/fightfightfi ghtrock Words: Stephen Eddie
Key track: ‘Country Song’ Web: www.myspace.com/gladeyes Words: Megan Vaughn
Spokes
Locally-based Tynesiders Spokes are understandably tetchy about their post-rock tag. Where reviews throw out a lazy Explosions In The Sky reference here and a Sigur Rós mention there; a witness to the strings-laden, noise-cascading band on stage would see that the five-piece don't do things by halves. Shoe-staring, fiddly indie this is not. There's a vivid and tenacious sense of purpose about Spokes' grandiosity and melody architecture. Having toured all of the smaller and weirder venues across the north, they are now set to build on their majestic live reputation. Catch them in cathartic throes soon whilst it's still somewhere intimate. Key Track: 'We Like To Dance And Steal' Web: www.myspace.com/spokessound Words: Fran Donnelly
Crazy 808
Twisted beats and rock grooves twist and combine with unsettled ease under the experimental guise of Lancashire’s Crazy 808. Striking a blow against the pigeon-hole attitudes of these troubles times, the lads dare to bring different styles together in mesmerising and stunning ways, the techno and dance beats wrapping around rock guitars and cut-throat melodies. Crazy808 have a live set to shake fillings from the teeth, unpredictable and unwieldy expression thrown open to all the elements. From the most pounding of neon-light dance sounds, to the considered instrumental, each song is a fusion of the dance and rock influences of the three members Joe, Stuart, and “Pish”. Tearing apart the tried and tested formulas for something worth nodding your head to, there is a good chance these guys aren’t so crazy after all. Key Track – “Trojan Horses” www.myspace.com/crazy808band Words: Liam Pennington
listings Aug - Sept GIG LISTINGS August Friday 1st The DN5 + Burn The Mona Lisa @ Night & Day Café Brigade @ The Roadhouse Bromheads Jacket @ The Ruby Lounge Saturday 2nd A Day At The Races Festival presents MUM + Adem + Bearsuit @ Night & Day Café Glamour of The Kill @ Music Box Sunday 3rd Play Your Part presents The Great Fury + Elevaters @ Night & Day Café Tellison + Tubelord + The Maple State @ The Roadhouse Screaming Lights @ The Ruby Lounge Tuesday 5th The Icarus Line @ The Roadhouse Citizen Fish @ Star & Garter Camera Obscura @ Club Academy Wednesday 6th The Bleep This! Tour + Lioness @ Music Box The Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir @ The Ruby Lounge Thursday 7th The Last Loft + Inertia @ Night & Day Café Friday 8th Hot Leg @ The Roadhouse The Cruxshadows @ Academy 3 Reverend Horton Heat @ Club Academy Saturday 9th The Backhanded Compliments @ Night & Day Café Those Dancing Days @ The Roadhouse Drive By Truckers @ Academy 2 The Script @ Club Academy Sunday 10th Glamour For Better Vs Partyshank @ Club Academy Yashin @ Satans Hollow Tuesday 12th Manchester Radio Presents an Evening with Jealous @ The Roadhouse Evita + The Eyes of a Traitor + NATO @ Music Box Flamboyant Bella @ Academy 3 Selfish Cunt @ The Ruby Lounge
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Wednesday 13th Make It Better Later & Skatch Summer Tour @ Music Box Thursday 14th Salacious + Stupid Cuba @ Night & Day Café Go: Audio @ The Roadhouse School of Language & The Week That Was @ The Deaf Institute Friday 15th Sex Radio + Stupid Little Cars @ Night & Day Café The Warlocks @ The Roadhouse Bells For Rene @ Club Academy Saturday 16th The Spectres + Hayley Faye + Echoes @ Night & Day Café Monday 18th Azriel @ Music Box Taio Cruz @ Club Academy
Friday 29th The Dealine Fever + Pilot Wings @ Night & Day Café Bombay Bycicle Club @ The Roadhouse Yacht @ The Ruby Lounge Acousticfest- Dylan Weekend Special @ M19 Bar
since their inception some ten plus years ago, and on the eve of studio album number four, the group bring their bittersweet, thoughtful pop back into the spotlight.
Frightened Rabbits @ Night & Day Café, Sept 5th
Saturday 30 Merchant Four + Hangfires @ Night & Day Café Acousticfest- Dylan Weekend Special @ M19 Bar th
Sunday 31st Acousticfest- Dylan Weekend Special @ M19 Bar
September
Tuesday 19th Kate Rogers @ The Ruby Lounge
Wednesday 3rd HIFI Handgrenades @ Night & Day Café Tinmen @ Music Box Old Crow Medicine Show @ Club Academy
Wednesday 20th The Kingway + The 1,2,3,4’s @ Night & Day Café Louis XIV @ The Roadhouse Our Innocence Lost @ Music Box Tokyo Police Force @ The Ruby Lounge N*E*R*D @ Academy 1
Thursday 4th Clare and the Reasons @ Night & Day Café Gomez- Bring It On Tour @ Academy 1 Twisted Wheel @ Academy 2 American Music Club @ Academy 3
Thursday 21st Subhumans @ Star & Garter
Friday 5th
Friday 22nd Eskimo Smile @ Academy 3 To The Bones @ Club Academy The Aftershow @ Moho Live
Club Academy, Sept 5th
Camera Obscura @
For something a bit more stripped back and driving, the chin-in-chest downbeat strumming of Scott Hutchinson’s Frightened Rabbit (not nearly as meek as meek sounding as the name suggests) four-piece promise to keep things emotional. Given the unfortunate nearindifference that greeted their debut release, recent hard-hitting form has found many having to play catch up with its follow up ‘Midnight Organ Fight’, which has had the group take in some high profile shows Stateside and has shaped the Scots into a formidable live favourite.
Saturday 23rd Detroit School Club @ Deaf Institute
Catch them before you have to share them with the unwashed masses.
Tuesday 26th The Gaslight Anthem @ The Roadhouse Jay Brannan @ Night & Day Café
Voodoo Six @ The Roadhouse Gary Numan @ Academy 1 The Virgin Marys @ Academy 3
Wednesday 27 Black Lungs @ The Roadhouse Soft Toy Emergency @ Music Box All Time Low @ Club Academy th
Thursday 28th Pavillion + Thomas Western @ Night & Day Café All Shall Perish @ Music Box The Faint @ The Ruby Lounge Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band @ Academy 2
Saturday 6th The Sound Marshalls @ Night & Look out Manchester the Day Café Glaswegians are coming back! Underoath @ Academy 2 Though it’s unlikely this Scot, Belle Downtown Rag @ Academy 3 & Sebastian-approved, sextet troupe are going to cover business Sunday 7th and shop fronts in 90% proof piss. The Dodos @ The Roadhouse Backyard Babies @ Academy 3 With a classy back catalogue that caught the ear of harbinger of good Monday 8th taste John Peel, the mainstream Regurgitator @ Academy 3 shy group have been moulding Modey Lemon @ The Ruby into a lean and confidant live Lounge proposition through various line up Wildbirds and Peacedrums @ changes over the years. Deaf Institute Ponytail + Cats In Paris @ Satans Regularly deflecting such tags as Hollow twee, earnest and sentimental
Tuesday 9th Little Man Tate @ The Roadhouse Meshuggah @ Academy 3 Stevie Wonder @ The M.E.N Arena Wednesday 10th
The Acorn @ Night & Day Café, Sept 10
th
Sunday 14th The Academy Is @ Academy 3 Monday 15th Bon Iver @ Academy 3 The Jeffrey Lewis Band @ Club Academy Nickleback @ The M.E.N Arena Tuesday 16th Gym Class Heroes @ Academy 2 Hue and Cue @ Club Academy Eileen Rose @ The Ruby Lounge Wednesday 17th Rose Kemp @ Night & Day Café Fighting With Wire @ The Roadhouse Hayes and Call @ Club Academy
With the sonic stretching experimentations of Rolf Klausener and company came last year’s brilliant ‘Glory Hope Mountain’, finding regular comparisons to festival/ arena slaying phenomena’s Arcade Fire through the varied timbres that burst from speakers and stages. Thematically and lyrically it’s said to be written as an ode to his mother Gloria Esperanza Montoya-with Glory Hope Mountain the closest English translation- though you’d be hard pushed to spot an obvious This Is Your Life big red book fanfare moments in its lyric sheet. Sure to be an exotic antidote to summer end. Golden Silvers @ The Roadhouse Thursday 11th Sun Kil Moon/ Mark Kozelek @ The Roadhouse Stay Cats @ Academy 1 Gotye @ Academy 3 Friday 12th Lach @ The Roadhouse Dear Superstar @ Club Academy The Aftershow @ Moho Live Saturday 13th Jake Shillingford @ The Roadhouse Megadeth UK @ The Ruby Lounge Crystal Castles @ Academy 2 Nearly Dan @ Academy 3 Emmylou Harris @ The Bridgewater Hall
Thursday 18th Royworld @ Night & Day Café Attack Attack @ The Roadhouse Wolfpac (ex Bloodhound Gang) @ Dry Bar Friday 19 The Vortex @ Academy 3 Cobra Starship @ Club Academy th
Saturday 20th The Score @ Academy 3 Sunday 21 Beggars @ Night & Day Café Scars On Broadway @ Academy 2 Acousticfest- Gig For Peace @ M19 Bar The Fun Box- George Borowski + Atilla The Stockbroker @ Matt & Phreds st
Monday 22nd White Lies @ Night & Day Café Infadels @ The Roadhouse Flobots @ Academy 3 Wednesday 24th
Islands @ Night & Day Café, Sept 24th
through the poetry of Leonard Cohen (and our credit cards are feeling a little low too), then we’re being sent light headed through the dizzyingly uplifting sounds coming out of Montreal from groups like Islands. Recent album ‘Arm’s Way’ might not have been embraced with quite the same gushing praise that greeted the group’s debut ‘Return To The Sea’, and since the departure of founding member and former Unicorns man Jamie Thompson, but the grand ideas and eclectic instrumentations are still likely to melt hearts. The Moody Blues @ The Apollo Firewind @ Jillys Rockworld Thursday 25th The Maple State @ Music Box One Republic @ Academy 1 Spears of Destiny @ Academy 3 Heavy Trash @ Club Academy Friday 26th Dragonforce @ Academy 1 Sam Sparro @ Academy 2 Devon Allman’s Honeytribe @ Academy 3 Frank Sidebottom & Charlie Chuck @ Club Academy Teddy Thompson @ The Ruby Lounge Acousticfest- September Special @ M19 Bar Saturday 27th Iglu & Hartley @ Night & Day Café Longview @ The Roadhouse Sunday 28th Hamfatter @ Night & Day Café Ladyhawk @ The Roadhouse Millencolin @ Academy 3 Monday 29th In Flames @ Academy 1 The Duke Spirit @ Club Academy Tuesday 30th Bob Log III @ The Ruby Lounge
Club Listings Monday Revolver @ The Roadhouse 11pm2am Monday @ The Ritz 10pm- 2am Up The Racket @ Joshua Brooks 10pm- 2am Tuesday Sex With Robots @ The Roadhouse 11pm- late Way Back When @ Po Na Na 9pm- 2am Click Click @ Font Bar 9pm- 1am The Alternative @ The Venue 11pm- late Wednesday Retro @ 42nd Street 10pm- late Klub Knowhere (3rd p/m) @ Joshua Brooks 10pm-2.30am Tramp @ Club North 10pm- 2am Thursday From Manchester With Love @ 42nd Street 10pm- 2am Don’t Think Twice… @ Font Bar 9pm- 1am Romp @ One Central Street @ 9.30pm- 3am In The City @ The Venue 11pmlate Risky Business @ Joshua Brooks Friday Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll @ The Roadhouse Friday Feeling @ 5th Avenue 10pm3am Keys, Money, Lipstick @ Star & Garter Glamorous Indie Rock n’ Roll @ 42nd Street Popscene @ The Brickhouse 10.30pm- 2.30am Relief @ Club Alter Ego 11pm4am Another Planet @ South 10pm3am Homoelectric @ Legends 10pm4am Twist and Shout @ The Venue 10pm- 3am Don’t Miss This @ Retro Bar Guilty Pleasures @ One Central Street 10pm- 3am Club Clique @ Mint Lounge Dirty Tourism presents Bigger Than Jesus (last Fri p/m) @ Joshua Brooks Locked (2nd fri p/m) @ Joshua Brooks Audio Salad (3rd fri p/m) @ Joshua Brooks
As exporting countries go Canada’s trade couldn’t be higher at the moment, if we’re not wallowing in a shared melancholy
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FEATURE
Festivals, they are a changing Drowned In Sound called it “astoundingly good”, Uncut declared that the crowds “won’t forget this in a hurry”, the Sunday Times labelled it “musically rich”, and the HV online review gave the line-up an average of four stars. In a festival season that was blighted by controversies, cancellations and the inexcusable racist abuse of Lethal Bizzle at Download, the Latitude Festival in Suffolk was a beacon of positivity, the only complaints being that the comedy tent was too small, plus hopes that the festival’s capacity doesn’t get in bigger (10,000 people attended the first Latitude in 2006 compared with 25,000 this year). Allegations that it’s a middle-class, Guardian-reading, “smug-fest” (the Times again) are exaggerated: tickets weren’t the dearest of the summer (£130); the audience was as mixed as I’ve seen at a festival; and in the woods the most ‘liberal’ thing was the dancing. But with other festivals, old and new, have folding this summer; ZOO8 in Kent being called “the worst festival ever” for its poor organisation and cancelled acts (including coheadliner Dizzee Rascal); and even Glastonbury’s reputation being called to account prior to Jay-Z’s exhilarating performance, how have Latitude and a handful of other ‘boutique’ festivals managed to come out of the summer not only unscathed but with almost universal praise? Jon Dunn, who booked the acts to perform on Latitude’s four music stages, puts their increasing success over the past three years down to having a top quality line-up and a clear sense of mission from the off.
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“The first year we made sure we had the right headliners which mirrored the kind of event we wanted to run, like Mogwai and Antony & The Johnsons. It was a statement of intent: it wasn’t about how big the bands were but the type of event we wanted to run,” he says. “Then last year Arcade Fire took us up a level and the reviews were so good it almost didn’t matter who the headliners were. But Sigur Rós are probably the one headliner of the nine that really capture what we’re trying to do” Festivals like ATP, End Of The Road (Dunn’s pick) and Latitude seem to know their audiences perfectly, complementing the literature, poetry and theatre tents with artists that are, well, literate, poetic and theatrical. Meanwhile other festivals, according to Dunn, can take a while to work out their own identity: “We try and book what we think will work while other festivals try and book a little bit of everything, they haven’t really found their audience yet.” Having guest curators on some stages, or in the case of ATP the whole event (this year Explosions In The Sky, Pitchfork, Mike Patton and the Melvins have put the line-ups together for the Butlins based bash), also helps to pin down the identity of the festival. This year at Latitude saw Huw Stevens and Mark Lamaar host stages, while the exceptionally talented Luke Wright co-booked and compared the poetry tent. While the festival knowing the audience and the audience knowing the festival are key to selling tickets and everyone having a good time,
the best events also seem to feature performances that polarise audiences and spark debate. Messageboards and overheard conversations suggest it was Franz Ferdinand, Sigur Rós and Blondie at this year’s Latitude; while it was obviously Jay-Z at Glastonbury. Reading/Leeds too, despite the accusations of playing it safe (25 of bands on the bill played last year), usually throw up a few divisive performances. It also helps to have experience and some financial or media backing. While it’s only three years old, Latitude is run by Festival Republic (née Mean Fiddler), the company behind Reading/Leeds and who are involved in Glastonbury. Other events such as Bestival, ATP and End Of The Road are run by people who clearly know what they’re doing; have built good reputations through reviews and word of mouth; and, in the case of Bestival, have support from Radio 1. This apparently wasn’t the case with Z008 and the cancelled Wild In The Country event, which was abandoned after Battles withdrew, followed by headliner Björk, allegedly because the organisers had not met her production requirements. It’s a lot of hard work to create a good festival, and those that get it right deserve their five star reviews. It helps of course to have money and experience, but ultimately it’s about picking the bands people want to see and getting them to bring their mates next year. Words: Stephen Eddie
THE DODOS Visiter OUT NOW - CD / 2LP / Digital CONOR OBERST Conor Oberst 04/08/08 - CD / LP / Digital SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO Sample and Hold: ADSR Remixed OUT NOW - CD / 3LP / Digital THE DODOS Fools 15/09/08 - Ltd 7" / Digital EUROS CHILDS Cheer Gone 15/09/08 - CD / Digital PETER, BJORN AND JOHN Seaside Rock 15/09/08 - LP / Digital THOSE DANCING DAYS In Our Space Hero Suits 06/10/08 - CD / LP / Digital
ALSO COMING SOON GREG WEEKS “The Hive” HER SPACE HOLIDAY “The New Kid Revival” LOS CAMPESINOS! “We’re Beautiful, We’re Doomed” LOVVERS “Think” Visit the brand new Wichita shop for all our releases, rare items and label merchandise www.wichita-recordings.com/shop