£3.50 October 2009 www.iheartau.com
Iss
59
THE CRIBS
Band of Brothers
BATS Boys’ Noise
Yeah Yeah Yeahs Affirmative Action
Wild Beasts Let’s Dance
The Bug Intensity In Two Cities
&
Gang Of Four / Hockey / The Longcut / Cat Malojian / The Dodos No Age / Times New Viking / Pocket Promise / Morrissey / Heliopause AU Big Magazine— The xx / Ugly Megan / Nosaj Thing / Liquid Vega /—1The Pink
our inspiration The Stone Roses
I can feel the earth begin to move I hear my needle hit the groove and spiral through another day I hear my song begin to say.... The Stone Roses
She Bangs The Drum
The Stone Roses 20th Anniversary Edition
our inspiration selection made by John Leckie, Producer of the seminal album ‘The Stone Roses’, to mark the 20th anniversary of its release.
Photography by Ian Tilton (www.iantilton.net)
—2 issue 59—
SHE BANGS THE DRUM by Ian Brown & John Squire. @ Imagem Music. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Iss
AU Magazine —Feature Contents
59
—38 Yeah Yeah Yeahs “There’s a strange, unspeakable chemistry that enables us to make music that none of us would be able to make on our own.”
—42 The Cribs “The whole process felt inspired right from the first five seconds that we started playing together.”
—48 Wild Beasts “I’m still in love with that notion of pop being open to everyone. Anyone can have a go.”
—50 The Bug “The idea of misanthropic, anti-social violence? Yeah, that’s alright for me.”
—52 BATS “In our heads we wanted to write metal songs, but in our hearts we just wanted to party.”
Breaking Through —20 Gold Panda
Editorial So here it is, our first full redesign in more than two years. Sure, we tweaked and amended the look of the magazine and made improvements as we went along, but this is the first time we’ve had such a drastic overhaul since way back at Issue 33. We haven’t gone totally crazy, though. Rather we’ve taken what was an already good-looking magazine and made it drop dead gorgeous. Well, when I say ‘we’, I really mean Tim Farrell, Stuart Bell and Luke Carson. They’re the design team who work so hard month in and month out to make sure that each issue of AU looks so darn great. Without those guys AU just wouldn’t look so damn sexy. And I know you’re not meant to single people out for praise too much, but Tim deserves a special mention here. He’s been a real driving force behind the visual aesthetic of AU, helping keep it at the forefront of design and always pushing it forward. We’re all really proud of the way AU looks, and we hope you all like it too.
Stupid Things Said This Month They’re not even one of the worst bands – they’re one of the worst things. Syphilis, genocide, Scouting For Girls. Mass infanticide, Scouting For Girls. Stencil my bag I heard the words ‘big ego’ and I thought you were talking about me. I need the bubble. Tell goodcamera.com to piss off. Ha! I knew cows were evil. He was a prick, and enjoy your omlette. “How come you’ve got such a tan?” “I was in Wales” I’m looking at your dog and thinking ‘if you were a girl, wow’. Stop trying to eat in on my awesome, dick. Would you let someone hit you for a car? You love her. I forgot what the question was. Does ‘whatever’ answer it?
—Issue 59 Contributors Publisher / Editor In Chief
Jonny Tiernan
Editor
Francis Jones
Sub Editors
Chris Jones
Contributing Editor Ross Thompson Senior Contributor
Edwin McFee
Contributors
Philip Byrne, John Calvert, AilÍs Corey, Neill Dougan, John Freeman, Lee Gorman, James Gracey, David Hamilton, Andrew Johnston, Aaron Kennedy, Ailbhe Malone, Nay McArdle, Kirstie McCrum, Edwin McFee, Kenny Murdock, Joe Nawaz, Steven Rainey, Shain Shapiro, Jeremy Shields.
Design/Illustration
Stuart Bell, Luke Carson, Tim Farrell, Neil Gillespie, Elissa Parente
Photo Editor
Richard W Crothers
Photography
Loreana Rushe John Adams
Kim Barclay Promotions And Marketing Assistant
—4 issue 59—
AU Magazine —Contents (continued)
6 7 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 18 20 22 24
The AU Stereo – Therapy? In Bosnia The Longcut Cat Malojian / Times New Viking The Dodos / Jade Jagger Pocket Promise Hockey In The Studio: Heliopause Five To One: Unbelievably Bad Duets / Manly Jobs Incoming: The xx / Nosaj Thing Breaking Through: The Hickey Underworld / Ugly Megan / Gold Panda / Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros / The Rayographs / Liquid Vega Hey You! What’s On Your Ipod? On The Road: The Answer
25 26 30 34 36
Flashback: President Ford pardons Richard Nixon History Lessons: Gang Of Four A To Z: Egomaniacs Respect Your Shelf: Gus Van Sant Classic Album: The Slits
55 Album Reviews 64 Unsigned Universe 65 Live Reviews
Sc
71 74 75 76 77 78 80 81
Most Wanted Screen Games Books Comics Back Of The Net In Pictures: Four Live / The Meat Market #7 The Last Word – No Age
To advertise in AU Magazine contact the sales team Tel: 028 9032 4888 or via email Jonny@iheartau.com The opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the editor or the publisher. Copyright remains with the author / photographer / designer. Send demos / mail / material to: AU Magazine, 56 Bradbury Place, Belfast, BT7 1RU For more info contact: info@iheartau.com For all general and editorial enquiries call: 028 9032 4455 AU Magazine graciously acknowledges funding support from the Arts Council Of Northern Ireland
Incoming—19 Nosaj Thing
—5 AU Magazine—
The AU Stereo
Upfront
The AU Stereo
The Sounds Rockin' The Office Airwaves This Month... the HILLs have eyes
Maps Let Go Of The Fear (Mute)
James Chapman caught us somewhat unawares when he burst out with the Mercury Prize nominated We Can Create. That debut was a relatively unheralded, stealth attack success. Still, as ‘Let Go Of The Fear’ proves, foreknowledge is no defence against his devastating charms. The opening salvo from new album Turning The Mind mixes cerebral commentary with primal urge tapping electro and it blows us away. FJ
Beth Jeans Houghton Hot Toast (Static Caravan)
Oh, how we love the Geordie folk priestess. Now ably backed by the The Hooves Of Destiny, this is the standout title track on her effortlessly bewitching new EP. Fuelled by a frolicsome plucked violin and Houghton’s super-pure vocal, ‘Hot Toast’ skips along like an acid-folk nursery rhyme, weaving its magic across your cortex. Apparently inspired by our heroine finding out she was wheat intolerant. Damn those YorkTest thingies. JF
VITALIC POISON LIPS ([PIAS] RECORDINGS / DIFFERENT) After a long hiatus, Pascal Arbez has gone a little bit disco on the second Vitalic album, Flashmob. It makes for a more colourful experience than the heavy duty slabs of uncompromising electro and icy atmospherics of 2005’s OK Cowboy, and ‘Poison Lips’ is an undoubted highlight, invoking that staple of achingly cool electronica, the femme fatale. Deliriously, dangerously danceable stuff. CJ MAY68 LAST MILE (WHITE) Had your fill of the retro Eighties synth renaissance? AU is sure you can make space for just one more; Manchester newbies May68 are snapping at the heels of Karen O and company. ‘Last Mile’ tears arses out of speakers, with singer Jude Wainwright positively snarling “I’m too much” over a hyperactive retro electro beat.
—6 issue 59—
Exhilarating, in a bippety disco pop song sort of way. Casiotone for the joyfully alone. JF NOSAJ THING CAVES (ALPHA PUP) Like trailblazers Flying Lotus and Hudson Mohawke, LA’s Jason Chung operates in the field of so-called ‘wonky’ – essentially fucked-up instrumental hip-hop with dubby effects, serious bass weight and disorienting rhythms. His new album Drift is well worth a listen and this track is key – when the surging bass locks with the crisp claps, you won’t be able to sit still. CJ IAN BROWN STELLIFY (FICTION) King Monkey swings back into action with this cosmic love song, the lead single from his forthcoming long player, My Way. The antiwar rhetoric and preacher man persona that dominated 2007’s The World Is Yours have largely evaporated, and instead Brown dips into
Lightning Bolt Colossus (Load)
From this month’s ‘Ronseal’ section comes this towering new track from noise rock behemoths Lightning Bolt, whose new album Earthly Delights is out in October. Initially a sludgy slow-burner, it soon blasts into life with metallic riffola, mind-bending wah-wah bass and the inimitably frantic drumming of Mr Brian Chippendale. It’s been too long but the Bolt are back. CJ
the well of personal experince to bring up bucket loads of feeling and testimonials to the power of love. Burbling club synths, celestial blasts of brass and that street worn vocal have us instantly enamoured. FJ LIQUID VEGA HEARTBREAK DANCER (WHITE) We’re getting all hot under the collar about The xx at the minute – such grace, mystery and restraint. And if they are indeed doing the business for you as well, give this lot a go too. There’s two of them, they’re from London and this track is the perfect introduction – a gorgeous slice of bruised and beaten disco, perfect for deserted dancefloors. CJ HAR MAR SUPERSTAR DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL (DILETTANTE RECORDINGS) Are you ready to be seduced again? Five years after The Handler and Har Mar is back on the
prowl with new album Dark Touches. Its super smooth blend of disco, funk, electro and R&B grip the listener like so many grubby fingers. Needling guitar, dabs of electronica, shaken maracas and cocksure croon make this an offer that’s impossible to refuse. FJ GIRLS LUST FOR LIFE (FANTASY TRASHCAN / TURNSTILE) With intuitive melodies rubbing up against feelings of insecurity and irrepressible romance, San Fran duo Girls (both male, incidentally) sound like the voices in Brian Wilson’s mind. “I’m just crazy and fucked in the head,” states Christopher Owens with disarming honesty as ‘Lust For Life’ articulates an idealised existence that’s always just beyond his grasp. Their astounding debut – the imaginatively titled ‘Album’ – lands in September. Consider this your invitation to one of the year’s most intriguing new acts. FJ
Upfront
Lead News
photo by carrie davenport
Therapy? In Bosnia
We’ve done this for nearly two decades. Playing live. Not only is it part and parcel of what we do, we also happen to love it. It might come as no shock to people that, of course, you should enjoy what you do, playing music and travelling, but believe me – more than half the bands I know hate touring. Really hate it.
A Dispatch From Rock's Front Line
Growing up in County Antrim meant that as culchies, we had to travel to ‘that’ Belfast to get our records and concert tickets. I’m also convinced that growing up during the ‘Troubles’ meant that, as punters, we were extremely grateful for any act that made their way across the sea or up the border.
Writing exclusively for AU, hard-touring Therapy? frontman Andy Cairns packs us in his suitcase and takes us to a corner of Europe that he has never before visited – the formerly war-torn Bosnia-Herzegovina.
When the band eventually got to the position of touring, it was natural to us that we’d want to see as much of the world as we could. It’s always exciting for us when a country is suggested that we haven’t played before. We’d confirmed the show in Bosnia the day we got offered it. Thursday 23rd July Outside of the media reportage, we know very little about Bosnia-Herzegovina. The country itself, bar a few kilometres on the Adriatic coastline, is virtually landlocked. It is situated (or should that be suffocated?) by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east and Montenegro to the south. Since the Second World War, the country had been in constant turmoil and flux with socialist Yugoslavia, followed by the dreadful Bosnian war. We tend to approach these engagements at face value and leave the past in the past. Years of travelling the world as a Northern Irish band subject to such questioning as “So, have you ever seen anyone being blown up?” have made us somewhat sympathetic to any country trying
to steer their people, politics and culture in a more positive direction. A couple of years ago, we embarked on a tour of the Balkans which included Belgrade, Serbia. Arriving in Belgrade, we were stunned by how much bomb damage was still visible from the UN raids in the Nineties. Inside the concert hall, however, we could have been anywhere in Europe. A few weeks before we leave for the show it’s decided by the promoters that to get to the Bosnian town of Banja Luka (where we’re due to play) it would be advisable not to fly to Sarajevo (scene of much butchery and misery during the Nineties war) at night time. This seems incongruous to what we’d been led to believe of the current political climate, but nobody wants to take any chances. We fly to Zagreb, Croatia and then bus it over the border to Bosnia-Herzegovina. The flight to Zagreb has been completely dreadful. None of us are great flyers but the turbulence was absolutely terrifying. The plane was shaken like a model aeroplane – overhead lockers opened, bags fell out and road crew had their wine spilled (for some, the last straw as far as flying goes...). It seemed to go on for a long, long time. To stop from having a panic attack I tried to zone in on the various coping mechanisms that people employ to deal with their fear. One of the crew in front of me started hyperventilating and sat bolt upright, claws dug into thighs. I was jealous of our tour-manager Richard who decided to treat the whole ordeal like the big dipper at Portrush and struck up a lively conversation with a like-minded Croatian gent across the isle. Their “woo-hoo” and “way-hey”-peppered banter only added to my issueless misery. Myself and Neil (Cooper, T?
—7 AU Magazine—
Lead News
Upfront
drummer) eventually calm ourselves down by talking about the turbulence scene in the movie Almost Famous. Eventually, it calms and the captain refers to passing the edge of “the beast”. I stick the Clubroot album on my iPod and hope for the tarmac.
“The plane was shaken like a model aeroplane – overhead lockers opened, bags fell out and road crew had their wine spilled”
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
—8 issue 59—
On the ground, we’re met by our easy-going Bosnian rep, Jasmina, who will take us over the border to Banja Luka. She has brought sandwiches, water and beer and is in great spirits about our concert tomorrow. Driving into Bosnia, we’re asked to be very well behaved as the guards can be heavy-handed if they don’t like the look of you. We’re still so shaken by the bumpy flight that on presenting the passports to the officers, none of our white, drained, defeated faces bear similarity to the gloating overlords of our 10-year-old passport photos. Still, it goes smoothly and in next to no time we arrive at Banja Luka at 1am. The hotel is right in the centre of town overlooking a square and Soviet-styled buildings. Bars are still open and it’s very, very hot. Myself and Michael decide to call it a night; Neil and the crew hit the site where we’re playing tomorrow. Lenny Kravitz has been in town and the locals are anxious to see if he’ll grace their nightlife. Friday 24th July Gorgeous day. Not a Kravitz in sight. We’ve a press conference pencilled in for 10 in the morning which seems waaayy too early, but if that’s how they do it here then who are we to argue?
The press conference is quite typical for gigs off the beaten track. Lots of people turn up but nobody really knows what to ask. Eventually, a few rote exchanges over, nearly everyone comes forward wanting autographs and photos and, with the selfconsciousness of the press conference over, people can relax. Judging from the CD album sleeves we’re asked to sign, quite a lot of the people are aware of a lot of our albums, including the most recent one. No foreign press conference would be the same without the obligatory nutter and this time we’re obliged by a gent in what can only be described as ‘Russian gangster chic’ (shabby adidas tracksuit, chunky gold neck chain) who corners us and with full Pinter menace and gravel utters these words: “Tonight’s concert... (pause) some old songs... (longer pause) off Nurse. The delivery and unyielding eye contact suggested that if we didn’t play anything off our Nineties opus, the band would be visiting the titular character after the show. Later that day, we head to the concert site which is a beautiful old castle courtyard.They’ve set up stage and lights in front of the castle and our dressing room is in the castle itself. Tonight the support acts will be a slew of locals who get a chance to ‘demo’ two songs each. Everything goes to plan and the show that evening is fantastic. The crowd are from all walks of life and are very appreciative and very much up for it. The hot evening and the stage lights add a feverish
Lead News
"A huge memorial to the dead stands in the square, but the general feeling is one of optimism” atmosphere to the dusk. Our set has tunes selected from all our 12 albums and it’s heartening to see people singing along with the new ones too. We chuck in a few from Nurse, just to be on the safe side. Arriving back in town after the show, we could be anywhere. The bars are heaving, boys and girls dance to modern pop in packed masses, elderly people walk at their leisure and stop for wine. The streets are alive and the people are very chatty and curious about the black-clad indie types that have swarmed on their town for the evening. Earlier that day, our guide Jasmina and a driver had taken Michael and Neil around the town and touched on the misery and unhappiness that had befallen the town in the Nineties. A huge memorial to the dead stands in the
square, but the general feeling is one of optimism. Saturday 25th July On our way to Cologne for a show we have to fly, by day, from Sarajevo. The three-hour journey from Banja Luka has been through plush valleys and mountains offering us some lovely vistas. Nearer to Sarajevo, however, we notice more bullet holes in buildings and more pock-marked shell damage. The airport itself had been a nightmare during the conflict and seeing Sarajevo, surrounded by mountainous terrain, we could hardly begin to imagine how claustrophobic and hellish it would have been when surrounded by armies. What stays in my mind, though, is a great concert in a wonderful town in a beautiful country. If asked, we’ll be back. Andy C
—9 AU Magazine—
News
Upfront
The Second Cut Is The Deepest The Longcut To Release Heartfelt New Album photo by shirlaine forrest
Two full-fat cokes and a pint of strong continental lager: The Longcut are a cheap date. AU are cosying up to the experimental rock trio in a back street pub in their home town of Manchester. At the top of the conversational agenda is the band’s blazing new album, Open Hearts – for which, intriguingly, some of the vocals were recorded in a shower. “Most of the vocals actually!” singer/drummer Stuart Ogilvie admits. “There was a really great sound in there. It sounds like a weird situation, but it didn’t seem like an odd place to record.” And it was a dark shower. “In that bathroom when you put the light on, the extractor fan came on too,” explains guitarist Lee Gale. “So, we had to have candles.” Hardly Abbey Road, but Stuart wasn’t fazed at all. “I sing quite a lot in the shower, anyway, so I’m used to it!” The boys are clearly pleased with Open Hearts, an album that captures their live energy in dense, vibrant slabs of skewed rock and dance. Lee is buzzing: “I’m absolutely over the moon with it, to be honest. We didn’t have any label that was going to be releasing it so we were just making it for ourselves.” Stuart agrees, “The fact it has been released at all is a great thing, as there was never
that guarantee. We started writing a couple of months after the first album, and at the time things were very uncertain but we kept writing, recording demos and doing new stuff.” After promoting their debut album, (2006’s A Call And Response), The Longcut split from their label Deltasonic, a subsidiary of Sony. The lads now agree they are more suited to working with a smaller outfit. “The way that major labels work is that if you want to do something a bit different from the accepted way, then you just end up freaking out a lot of people who work quite conservatively,” bassist Jon Fearon explains. “There were certain things we suggested that they [Deltasonic] had to have a meeting about and six months later we’d hear a response.” “We’re quite a hands-on band as well; we like to control things – well, everything – we do. That’s a big reason why we really didn’t suit being on a major label,” Lee adds. The new album’s opening track ‘Out At The Roots’ is shockingly good. It’s violently severe and sounds the way a migraine feels. And that’s a very good thing.
Stuart explains its genesis. “It’s a way of addressing the frustrations that we were feeling on the first album. It kind of wipes the slate clean for the rest of the record.” The band will tour the UK in October in support of Open Hearts, and they also have a track on the imminent John Cooper Clarke compilation album. Lyrically, Open Hearts is more upbeat than Stuart’s previous offerings. “A lot of the lyrics were coming from a perspective of being much happier, and about positive things and good things happening. A lot of people say ‘Are you this dark indie band?’ and I don’t want that.” “But there’s no way me and Jon would play a completely happy tune!” chips in Lee, smiling from ear to ear. It’s great to see The Longcut haven’t lost their sense of humour. John Freeman
OPEN HEARTS IS OUT NOW ON DOWNLOAD, AND FROM OCTOBER 5 ON CD AND VINYL VIA MELODIC WWW.THELONGCUT.COM
Heartwork
Hello My Name Is
Hello My Name Is... Megadeth After Dave Mustaine was given his marching orders from Metallica, he boarded a bus bound for home. Pulling a pen from his tight denim jeans and a flyer from the pocket of his studded leather jacket, he inscribed these words: “The arsenal of megadeath can’t be rid no matter what the peace treaties come to.” And lo, Megadeath were born. Romantic, eh? Later, there was a slight name change – the ‘a’ from ‘death’ was dropped due to Pink Floyd, of all people, whose old band name was The Megadeaths.
—10 issue 59—
Heartwork In Praise Of Random LP Art
Everybody's Welcome At Mrs. Mills Party (1963)
Ok, let’s get the poor taste and terrible joke out there first. “What party is it that we’re welcome at, Mrs. Mills? Is it the Les Dawson lookalikes party? ‘Cause yr a winner lady!” Phew, got that out of the system. Anyways, the real beauty of this cover is actually on the back, and more specifically in a six-paragraph explanation of how Mrs. Mills got discovered. It starts off with the line, “In this day and age when teenagers would appear to hold sway in the world of light entertainment on discs…” Come on, what kind of mentalist actually talks like that? It also points out that she has made personal appearances “as far apart as Torquay and Glasgow” (that’s a whopping 462 miles). To give her credit, she seems to have done quite well, and she was on Parlophone Records, which is all the more amazing when you consider that she was discovered at a Woodford Golf Club Dance at the age of 40. All round weirdness.
Upfront
Do You Remember What The Music Meant?
With Adam Elliott From Times New Viking PHOTO BY GRAHAM SMITH
A New Dawn Cat Malojian Stretch Their Sinews On ‘Weirder’ Second Album
Electronic beats, eight-minute epics and samples from classic films are not what you might expect from graceful indie-folksters Cat Malojian, but that’s precisely what we get on majestic new album The Dawn Chorus. Rather than play it safe and produce a faultless facsimile of their acclaimed debut, the duo – Stevie Scullion and Jonny Toman – felt compelled to colour outside the lines. “It would have bored the fuck out of us to make the same type of record,” states Scullion. “The aim for us is to make an album every year and if you were pumping out the same sounds all the time you’d go mad. The buzz we were getting when we were recording it, and Mudd [Wallace, producer] too, he was calling it ‘future music’! As long as you have that… After all, we’re never going to make millions from this.” Their untainted enthusiasm for the very act of making music is perfectly illustrated when Toman reveals that his bandmate has “20 albums’ worth [of songs] stockpiled”. In fact, the band have already begun retooling their sound as they seek to incorporate Toman’s sister, Rachel, into the set-up. “She’s just got a different take on things, like percussion,” says Jonny. “And we’re getting into the idea of looping sounds as well.” This restless questing to write and create is not without its drawbacks, however, as Stevie explains. “We have to rein ourselves in and stop messing about in practice. We’re supposed to be launching this record and yet we’re going
flat out on the third album. I sent Jonny an email the other day asking him to remind me to wise up!” Back to the matter in hand then and The Dawn Chorus, an album that will surely alter perceptions of the band. With its ruminations on death – note ‘Where Do We Go?’ – it’s darker in places than its predecessor. What’s more, as Scullion observes, “We wanted to go a bit weirder.” Jonny quickly points out that this decision to turn and face the strange “wasn’t done just for the sake of being different.” The “weirder” cuts include the Kelly’s Heroes sampling ‘King of the Quagmire’, its cargo of bizarre electronics quite unlike anything the band have delivered to date. The title track, meanwhile, stretches over eight languorous minutes, ebbing and flowing like the ocean tide. However, for all their excursions into strange new terrain, they have also maintained a bridge to their earlier work with the likes of ‘The Alphabet Song’ and ‘The Mating Game’. “I feel this record will appeal to a greater variety of people,” muses Toman. “Like ‘The Mating Game’ could tie in perfectly with the first album, but if you listen to the lyrics you’d soon realise it’s anything but your typical country song. It’s folksy, almost, it caters for the old and new fans.” Although utterly professional in the way that they go about their business, there is also a pleasing lack of cynicism to Cat Malojian. They hope that The Dawn Chorus will cajole a new audience into listening to their music, but know that the priority is not that others enjoy their music, but that they themselves do. “It all just comes about very naturally,” says Stevie. “It starts off being something for us, like on the first album we thought it would be good to get Mark [Reihill, creator of the band’s distinctive artwork] to draw magic mushrooms! It’s just nuts. I sent him an email recently saying, ‘Could you draw a monkey on a donkey?’ and he was like, ‘Are you serious?’. That’s all part of the fun.” Francis Jones
What was your first musical memory? My first musical memories are of Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions and, also, ELO’s Greatest Hits being played in my mum’s car. Another memory that really stuck with me was from a music video for ‘Dear God’ by XTC. Like, I remember watching it and it sounding like it was totally from outer space for some reason. Who was the first band you saw live? I’m pretty sure that the first band that I saw live was my brother’s band, 84 Nash. In the end, they had a really big influence on me wanting to make music. I was 12 or 13 and I figured that if my brother could do it, then I could do it too. Ha ha! What three records could you not live without? The Shaggs – Philosophy of the World Sonny Sharrock – Black Woman The Velvet Underground – Loaded What record would you use to seduce someone? It’d probably be Nick Drake’s Pink Moon. It’s worked for me before, ha ha! Do you have any records that you are embarrassed about owning? Elton John, the entire catalogue right up until ‘Candle In The Wind’. Are there any new bands that you’re listening to that you’d recommend? I like the Eat Skull album, Wild & Inside. Really, though, I like pretty much anything on the Slit Breeze label and I’m really, really into Wooden Shjips at the minute. Who is your all time favourite band or artist? The Velvet Underground If your life was a movie, what song would be playing as the end credits roll? ‘Psychotic Reaction’ by The Count Five.
BORN AGAIN REVISITED BY TIMES NEW VIKING IS OUT SEPTEMBER 21 ON MATADOR. THE BAND PLAY AUNTIE ANNIE’S SEPTEMBER 18 AND WHELAN’S, DUBLIN SEPTEMBER 19.
THE DAWN CHORUS IS AVAILABLE NOW ON BAD PAW RECORDS. WWW.MYSPACE.COM/CATMALOJIAN
Shorts Snow Patrol have announced details of a live extravaganza due to take place this December. With 16 musicians and copious guests, their five date Irish ‘Reworked’ tour will not only incorporate alternate takes on classics from their 15-years strong back catalogue, but will also include songs from The Reindeer Section – the Gary Lightbody fronted collective that features members of Belle & Sebastian, Idlewild and Teenage
Fanclub. Check snowpatrol.com for further details. They wear black on the outside, because black is how they feel on the inside. Yes, indie-rock gloom and doom merchants Editors are back. The quartet release their Flood-produced third album, In This Light And On This Evening, on October 12. The accompanying tour will find them playing a trio of
Irish dates – St. George’s Market, Belfast on October 7, the Olympia, Dublin on October 8 and Dolan’s, Limerick on October 9. Remember The Bravery? Well, the band who brought us ‘An Honest Mistake’ have confirmed that they’re all set to release album number three. We didn’t even realise there was a second album. The New York electro-rockers will
release the as-yet-untitled long player in early November. Congratulations to irrepressible indie-rockers Strait Laces, who have been chosen as winners of the EMI endorsed 30/30 Competition. Besides securing recording time at the Roundhouse EMI Studio, the Coleraine three-piece will also be competing to perform at the prestigious Emerging Proms in October.
—11 AU Magazine—
Upfront
News
Three Is The Magic Number The Dodos Add New Member And Release Third Album
It’s all change in The Dodos’ camp as the American indierockers welcome vibraphone player Keaton Snyder into the fold and unveil the rhythmic folk-pop of new album Time To Die. As drummer Logan Kroeber informs us, having achieved a breakthrough with their second album Visiter, the band were determined not to end up in a creative culde-sac. They decided against working with producer John Askew for a third time and instead recruited Phil Ek, the acclaimed knob twiddler for acts including Fleet Foxes, The Shins and Built To Spill.
"Phil [Ek]’s not the kind of person who’ll reassure you, or say, ‘Don’t worry, it’s gonna sound cool’. You just have to trust him.
“Working with him was interesting. At first, maybe I had a bunch of preconceived ideas of what I thought it [Time To Die] should sound like, simply because we’d been working on the songs for so long. Phil’s not the kind of person who’ll reassure you, or say, ‘Don’t worry, it’s gonna sound cool’. You just have to trust him. He brought that style to it, and did an amazing job on Meric’s [Long, vocalist and guitarist] vocals on this record, they’re totally up in front and present. You can hear every syllable of what he’s singing.” It is the recent addition of Snyder, though, that has made the most immediately discernable difference to The Dodos sound. However, Logan is adamant that the band are only beginning to explore the potential they have as a three-piece. “On the record, you hear a lot of Keaton’s harmonic ability on the vibraphone and there are a few tracks that showcase his rhythmic ability to play some pretty crazy stuff, like on ‘Longform’. But a lot of it is his ability to create these beautiful chords behind what we’re doing. We’re working on a bunch of other songs for an upcoming release and those are definitely on the more energetic side of the vibraphone.”
Jade Jagger
We managed to grab a quick chat with the designer, former model and daughter of some guy in some band when she was in Belfast recently for the launch of the new long drink Smirnoff Mule. Jade currently runs Jezebel (actually her middle name), a lifestyle concept that brings together music, fashion, parties and more. —12 issue 59—
One expectation that Kroeber is happy to dispel is AU’s belief that the album title is a nod to Blade Runner and replicant Leon Kowalski’s immortal line, “Wake up. Time to die”?
This new material will probably be released in EP form, though Logan is unsure when it’s likely to come out. He’s equally uncertain as to how Time To Die will be judged alongside the lauded Visiter, but insists that, ultimately, the only expectations that matter are the band’s own.
“Ah! It had nothing to do with it, but it has revealed something for me. One, that’s an awesome quote, because I do love Blade Runner and, secondly, I heard a Guns N’ Roses live track where Axl starts ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ and he says that [assumes Axl growl], ‘Wake up, baby, time to die!’” Francis Jones
“I think it’s a burden to have those raised expectations, but at the same time you may work extra hard to achieve
TIME TO DIE IS OUT NOW ON WICHITA. WWW.MYSPACE.COM/THEDODOS
When and how did the concept for Jezebel come to life? We started Jezebel about 10 years ago by doing club nights in Ibiza. We kicked off in the Manumission Motel, The Pink Pussy, which has now been knocked down. Then we moved onto Pasha for seven years, and finally ended up in Amnesia last year. Now we’re taking it to the beach. It’s time for Ibiza to have a bit of a revolution, get out of the discos and back to the outside spaces where it all started, so now we’re working with bars on the beach.
Did you consciously avoid getting into music? I consciously try not to be the DJ. It’s such a boys’ world, DJing in particular. I’m much more visually pushed. I’m not saying I don’t play music at home or DJ badly at home, but I think I’ll leave music to my dad.
How did you bring the fashion and design into Jezebel? I’ve always been a designer so we’ve just brought that element into it too. I’m doing the t-shirts and fashion side of it and all the merch and we travel it round, with Dan [Williams, her husband] DJing. We call it the mummy and Dan show.
A Quickie With
something at least on a par with what you’ve done previously. It’s a weird thing, something we’ve never had to deal with before and I think that we’ve done a pretty good job. While we were writing and recording the album, we tried to make sure that none of those thoughts affected us. We let the music happen the way it should, rather than trying to match anyone’s expectations.”
Where have you taken the show to so far this year? This summer we’ve been doing a European tour around Amsterdam, Berlin, Moscow and Rome. How did you get into the world of fashion design? I started off by painting – that was my first trait. Then I applied decorative design onto jewellery and accessories and then moved onto the t-shirts and stuff. I think as a designer it’s just something you can apply, like a musician. Whether you’re DJing or making music it’s something you can play around with, how you apply your art or the discipline you are working within. Was being a designer something you naturally fell into, or did you set out wanting to become one? Because I came through the art world I think it was the desire to apply it to a more mass media, more pop art type of thing. Art doesn’t have any boundaries anymore, so I think getting into fashion, which is something that people use all the time, is quite interesting.
Did the fact that your dad is such a well-known figure in music put you off, like you didn’t want to be judged against his achievements? I think often people come from families that do the same thing. If you want to take the example of some big old classical singer, they usually come from families with that background, that’s what they’re taught and they all follow in that. In a way, with my kids, I’m quite excited to give them the design element and see it followed through. But, yes, I think my dad’s just up there so big, that it’s not something I want to tread on. People consider you a style icon, how do you feel about that? I don’t really spend that much time thinking about it. I just sort of dress up. The more you dress up, the more you can be playful with it and have fun. Maybe that gives you the status of being iconic, I certainly don’t sit at home thinking about it. Do you have any of your own style icons? It’s mostly my own work. There are people in history that can inspire you, but often I don’t try to and emulate it. I think it’s really important for people to think of themselves as their own style icon. Do you wear your own designs at work? I wear my own stuff most of the time, and I make my own stuff, I think I get to live my own dreams. Sometimes I feel like a granny when I say I make my own clothes, sitting at home tossing it together, like Cinderella. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON JADE JAGGER AND JEZEBEL VISIT WWW.IWANTJEZEBEL.COM
News PHOTO BY GRAHAM SMITH
For You? What’s In It
) l (Sept 25 a i c e p S t h g Culture Ni
Coming Of Age Pocket Promise Make Debut Bow Joe Laverty is in his parents’ house in Stewartstown, taking a break from rehearsals with his band Pocket Promise, whose rather good debut album I’ve Been Here For Ages has just been released on Stop:Go Music. The residential rehearsal room is an apt locale for four childhood friends from Tyrone. As a group, Pocket Promise started to take music seriously in 2005, a decision, Joe admits, intended to ward off the rock ‘n’ roll kryptonite that is a proper job. “We’re one of those bands that got together at school. We’d always played together and when we all left school to go to university we still kept in touch and during the holidays we’d mess about on a four-track. When we finished university in 2005 and the real world started to loom, we had to make a decision. We knew that our music was worth taking seriously, so we moved to London as a band.” The real world’s loss is local music’s gain, as I’ve Been Here For Ages boasts the kind of melodic, melancholic twists and sweeping romantic imagery that puts them in serious danger of being labelled bastard heirs to Snow Patrol’s crown.
During their time in London, drummer Joe, singer Cormac Fee, bassist Ciaran McKenna and guitarist Dominic Coyle shaped the songs that would eventually comprise I’ve Been Here … Joe says that the band gained invaluable experience during their two years in the big smoke, but admits that it was only by taking the not very rock ‘n’ roll step of moving back to their parents’ houses that they were able to afford to selffinance the album. “You could say we came back with our tail between our legs,” he laughs, “but we’d done our time in London and played a lot of gigs. We really wanted to make an album of the songs we’d put together, and rather than wait around for a record label to wave a magic wand, we decided to get it done ourselves. And that meant coming home.”
For more info on any of the above: Phone: 02890310845 | Online: www.ohyeahbelfast.com Oh Yeah Music Centre | 15-21 | Gordon Street | Belfast | BT1 2LG
The album was recorded with Dave Odlum, formerly of The Frames and onetime producer of dEUS, a link which Joe says resonates with the band. “Dave was great. He understood that if we’re getting too comfortable with a song, then we’ll take it in another direction. We don’t believe in an easy ride musically and Dave helped with that. He made the black bits black and the white bits white! It’s nice that he’s worked with dEUS, as we see some comparison with them and what we do.” Pocket Promise certainly aren’t short of confidence, or conviction, and when we put it to him that somewhat incongruous comparisons have been made in the media to the white boy groove stylings of the likes of Soulwax and Franz Ferdinand, Joe pointedly retorts that with I’ve Been Here … the band’s intention was to produce a “timeless” album. “Of course we want as many people as possible to hear the album, but we didn’t want to follow current fads or fashions, be it for disco-y or dance-oriented stuff. We want people to pick up our album and not know exactly what period it was made.” No mean ambition for a first album, and one that defines the agenda for a band going places other than back to their parents. Joe Nawaz
I’VE BEEN HERE FOR AGES IS OUT NOW ON DOWNLOAD AND ON CD FROM THE BAND’S MYSPACE. WWW.MYSPACE.COM/ POCKETPROMISE
BEN ALLEN ARTIST & SCULPTOR
casting in bronze & aluminium design & commission award work undertaken www.myspace.com/benallenjeweller email: benallen7@hotmail.com —13 AU Magazine—
We Must Hide
Upfront
The Band Don't Give A Puck Hockey Unconcerned By Critical Response
We Must Hide... Patrick Wolf!
Hockey have been riding an avalanche of critical hyperbole since releasing their debut EP, Mind Chaos, last year. They’ve since added major label muscle [Capitol in the US and Virgin in the UK] and are all set to release their full length debut – also titled Mind Chaos – this month. This moment has been a long time coming for a band that first got together back in 2002, but frontman Ben Grubin seems pretty relaxed about their recent achievements and the reaction that their first album might receive. “I feel proud of what we’ve done,” he says, in his languid drawl. “There are maybe a few things I would change, if I could, like a mix on a few songs. But, it’s finished and whatever is gonna come, well, we can’t do anything about that. I’m just curious about the response.” His curiosity is shared by early fans of the band, intrigued as to whether or not the group have fulfilled their early promise. They’ve changed remarkably since the very outset, when they were peddling piano-based ballads. Grubin, for his part, is confident that Hockey can only continue to get better. “I wasn’t always as good a singer as I am now!” he says, with a gentle chortle. “A lot of hard and unglamorous work went into this. We’ve been constantly changing and getting better. I’m sure there are some 20-year-olds out there who are already brilliant, but it wasn’t like that for us. However, we wanted it and so we just kept doing it.” Their perseverance appears to have paid off; with gushing critics looking to convince us that Hockey have found the hallowed land that exists between LCD Soundsystem and The Strokes. Pertinently, neither band is namechecked by Ben as being particularly influential to the Hockey sound.
—14 issue 59—
“Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, Talking Heads – those are some of my favourite bands and kind of relate to what we’re doing,” he suggests. “I’ve liked Radiohead all my life, albums like Kid A and Amnesiac, where the sound is very different on each track. We’re kind of going through the same thing right now – where we’re unafraid to have each song have its own sound.” It’s certainly a little premature to suggest that Hockey belong in the exalted company of Bob or Lou, but there is an undeniable allure to their music – they know their way about a chorus and, in Grubin, they have a lyricist who’s unafraid to say it with feeling. “Being onstage, there are only certain things that I feel comfortable saying. I need to feel like I believe in it and that it’s worthwhile. I put a lot of work into the lyrics. A lot of it is pretty personal and the lyrics fuse that personal psychology with things that I’ve come across and just storytelling. We’ve lived in a bunch of different places in the States and met a bunch of different people. It’s almost a travel album in places, it’s about different mental states and how the people we’ve met have influenced the songs. As Ben bids us adieu we fire him one last question: what is it that he most enjoys about being in Hockey? “Hmmm… definitely the travel, well, that and the free jeans!” Francis Jones
MIND CHAOS IS OUT SEPTEMBER 14 ON VIRGIN. HOCKEY PLAY THE SPRING & AIRBRAKE, BELFAST ON SEPTEMBER 21 AND THE ACADEMY, DUBLIN september 22. WWW.HOCKEYBAND.CO.UK
You can’t keep a good diva down. Just ask Patrick Wolf – or rather don’t, as he is liable you plug you a new eye socket. Last month at the C/O Pop festival, Cologne, feather-donning, fancy dress tufty chops himself wrecked the mic – quite literally. He went completely fruit loops when a sound engineer allegedly turned off the monitors a few tinkles before the end of the set. Incensed with powder puff rage, the lupine singer informed the crowd they should “Have a riot, okay?” (presumably, if you seriously intend to have a full-scale riot, you should not ask for permission first) before throwing a paddy (arf arf), along with the entire stage’s contents and a mouthful of pristine spittle, at said sound engineer. One blue cloud of Mother Hubbards and female dogs later, and Master Wolf left the premises in a flurry of sequins and mascara. Vowing not to apologise for his ninny fit, he nonchalantly offered a mewling retraction the following day. In the non-sequitur filled lament, the pauvre artiste lamented about an early start, a hectic schedule and too much singing of Shakira – admittedly, she has that effect on us too. So now you know: Patrick Wolf throws like a primary school girl at sports day. Let us know if you find him huffing within the pages of AU and you could win a six month subscription. Send contact information along with details of what page you spotted Wolfie on to info@iheartau.com The winner will be chosen at random from all correct entries.
Top Ten Patrick Wolf Songs 1. The Replacements Don’t Turn Me Down 2. Gomez Make No Sound 3. Radiohead Sulk 4. Jamie T Calm Down, Dearest 5. Snow Patrol Spitting Games 6. Morrissey Used To Be A Sweet Boy 7. Frank Black I Think I’m Starting To Lose It 8. Chemical Brothers Out Of Control 9. The Beastie Boys Here’s A Little Somethin’ For Ya 10. The Offspring Smash It Up
Upfront
In the studio - Heliopause
In the Studio Heliopause
Photo by Richard W Crothers
What: Debut album Title: TBC (tentatively, Let The Silence Go). Producer: Ben McAuley Studio: Start Together, Belfast Track titles: ‘Little Ashes’, ‘Save For Me’, ‘City Of Glass’, ‘Dead Ends’, ‘Epilogue’. Release Date: January 2010 Label: Furious Tradesmen Records
Following an acclaimed EP in Dark Matter and the recent single ‘Moment Of Recognition’, Belfast trio Heliopause have become the latest Northern Irish band to record a long-awaited debut album at Start Together Studios. AU went down to have a nosey at what they were up to. Words by Chris Jones
Why did you decide to record the album in Start Together with Ben McAuley? Richard Davis (vocals, acoustic guitar): We’ve recorded with him twice [before] now and I personally have noticed, the third time round, that why we choose him is because we know him, he knows us, he knows our music and he’s into it, which really helps. He’s like an honorary member for the time we’re with him. He’s really good for making decisions and suggestions, or just telling us that it’s pure bullshit. It’s really good guidance. And not only that, [it’s] the level of comfort that I feel when I come in here.
Chris’s guitar parts are really great in the sense that there’s a lot of noise and loudness and experimentation in there, but it melds so much better with the acoustic stuff and ideas that I come up with. It’s created a new dynamic.
How many new songs will be on the album? Richard: Most of them will be new songs, I think. ‘Moment Of Recognition’, the single, will be on it – it and [extra single track] ‘Mon Peu Rimbaud’ – and we recorded a third song in that session, ‘The Moon And Sixpence’, and held it back, so it’s going to be on the album. And then we were thinking of re-recording songs from the Dark Matter EP because we’ve got a new guitarist [Chris McCorry] since then. One of the songs we are bringing across is ‘Dead Ends’, but we’re rerecording it with [acoustic duo] Albrecht’s Pencil, so it’s going to be a very lush acoustic version.
Recording in Progress
The last single was softer and more acoustic than the EP, which had its share of noisy moments. Have you continued in that vein on the album? Richard: We’ve really branched out so that we’ve got a good handful of low-key songs and also upbeat songs. I think this is going to be a really good balance of both. Chris McCorry (lead guitar): I think we’ve been a little bit more eager to explore the noisier side of things, without letting it be full-on rock or anything. You’ve been around for about three years but seem to have built up quite a bit of momentum in the last year or so. Would you credit that to Chris joining last year? Richard: Yeah, definitely. It was a big change because there was a point when Michael [Kinloch, original guitarist] left where we were a bit lost and we didn’t have a clue what we were doing. So whenever Chris came on board, we just kind of collected ourselves back together and re-found that enthusiasm. We were really excited about what we were doing and really enjoying it, and
Do you have any plans to tour the album? Richard: Yeah, I’d really like to. We have a gig booked in London for the end of October, so we really need to get ahead with booking dates around that. But then we provisionally have January booked for releasing the album and we’ll coincide that with a proper tour, hopefully.
Wavves man Nathan Williams is putting his infamous onstage meltdown at Primavera Sound well behind him, and has been spending time in the studio with Zach Hill, the mind-bogglingly powerful drummer from Hella. Think Brian Chippendale from Lightning Bolt, but more so... Quite frankly, the two songs that have leaked so far sound awesome. Excitement! We might be a bit premature with this one, but sod it. A new supergroup is in existence that we think you ought to know about, and rumour has it that they are planning to record an album. The name? Them Crooked Vultures. The members? Josh Homme, Dave Grohl and Led Zep bassist John Paul Jones. Yeah, we know, most rock ’n’ roll rock band ever. A couple of kick-ass teaser videos are floating about online, putting this one squarely in the ‘Watch This Space’ category. Belfast’s sparkliest electro-pop duo, Oppenheimer, went back in the studio at the end of August to record their third album, and they want a bit of help with it, going so far as to invite fans to email ideas for song lyrics to them at rocky@oppenheimermusic.co.uk. Said Rocky O’Reilly on their MySpace blog, “If you want us to write a song about the time your friend fell asleep in a taxi cab on the way to watch a boxing match, and then you slapped them in the face so many times they lost feeling in their cheek for month, we'll do it! If you want us to write a song about the tall ships visiting Belfast once every 19 years, we'll do it!” What obliging chaps. —15 AU Magazine—
Five to One
Upfront
5 to 1
TH
Unbelievably Bad Duets
Manly Man Jobs
Words by Philip Byrne
Gareth Gates and The Kumars at Number 42 – ‘Spirit In The Sky’ Combining the worst singer in Britain (Orville made flesh) with its worst comedy family (“oh goodness, gracious me” etc.) was a plan so devious that Ming The Merciless himself could have conceived it as a weapon against sanity. Though this was an effort for Comic Relief, the only comedy is in throwing eggs at the radio, and the only relief is in the song finally ending. And who actually likes this bloody song anyway? Apart from substitute teacher-alike Alison Goldfrapp of course, whose entire career is based on its hokey sub-'Spiders From Mars' riff.
Miner The dark, cramped, dusty world underground holds no fear for the miner, for truly he is the unsung – and unseen – hero of manlydom. Miners often break up coal by headbutting it, or simply staring it down until it quietly falls to bits and puts itself in their cart. Some famous miners include the dwarves from Snow White, rock band Elliot Miner and John Mineralwater, the inventor of mineral water, who also discovered lemons.
TH
K.O.s ft. Michael Buffer – ‘Let’s Get Ready To Rumble’ If you thought it was a bit odd when footballers get wheeled out to the mic to perform with a band, how weird is it when they do the same thing with a boxing referee? Buffer is famous for his long, drawn-out catchphrase, but in this frankly bizarre slice of Europop, he simply shouts the names of various boxers while some tarts sing his catchphrase back at him. It’s like getting a brain injury, listening to this. But less sexy.
Prison Officer If going to jail is an intimidating and frightening experience for any man, how hard would you need to be to do it every day? These butch lads spend every day within grabbing distance of villains, grasses, slags, bitches, nonces, ponces, pimps, cutthroats and gangbangers, but they never bottle it and run screaming from the clink like we would. Plus, in the past they had carte blanche to hose inmates, abuse them and to beat people with learning disabilities to within an inch of their lives. Good old times.
RD
Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder – ‘Ebony and Ivory’ What better representatives of racial harmony are there than carrot-botherer Paul and the first man of funk, Stevie? When they get their egos together, sparks fly – but sadly not good sparks, more like the sort of sparks that set fire to orphanages, hospitals and wedding receptions with no fire exits. The song is a bit of a toe-tapper, but we dare you to watch the video – complete with giant keyboards – and not want to pull your eyebrows off with rusty fish hooks.
Lion Tamer Hitting a lion over the head with a chair, as tamers did back in the day, takes guts, chutzpah and cojones. These days, however, it’s all about being mates with the furry beasties, gaining their trust and teaching them neat tricks, which is also a scary and demanding job. AU met a lioness once at Dublin zoo, and she seriously looked like she wanted to tear our head off, were there not a mesh doorway between us. Good luck to the man willing to offer her a toffee, we say.
ND
Madonna and Justin Timberlake – ‘4 Minutes’ When we first heard this song, we thought it was some sort of Flash Gordon tribute, where funky Timberlake and his golden oldie companion were going to save the world in their own danceable way; then we realised it was telling us how soon JT would be off the radar again. In that way, this was eerily accurate. And does anyone need to see Madge proving once again that she can still wear tight clothes, though only carbon dating can now age her accurately? No, no one does. Here’s hoping she launches a range of knitwear soon and covers up all them ropes.
Bomb Disposal Expert Despite wearing ludicrous lead clothing, men who edge up to explosive devices and tinker with them are in serious risk of being blown to soup, but they don’t really care. They know that if the kilo of plastic explosive in front of them goes up, they’ll merely have to dust themselves down, put their sunglasses back on and finish eating their giant Yorkie bar, levering each chunk off with one corner of their gigantic square-toothed mouth. We have no idea what we’re on about.
Bono and Frank Sinatra – ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin’ This mismatched squawking match is the sonic equivalent of velvet and sandpaper. He may have been ancient, but Ol’ Blue Eyes still had the pipes that made him famous, while Bono’s hopeless showboating makes the limits of his vocal talents embarrassingly plain. At points it sounds like Captain Sinatra is trying to take the joystick away from his shrieking, egomaniacal copilot, but it’s too late: this song has crashed into the side of the mountain and those who survived the carnage must feast on the icy buttocks of the dead to survive.
Lumberjack He cuts down trees, he eats his lunch, he goes to the lavatory – and he’s a man’s man. Using big, dangerous saws to ruthlessly deforest tracts of land is no nancy boy’s job – it takes a burly, firm-jawed male to dodge a falling redwood or look a crying native child in the face and laugh while flattening his village. That’s the kinda man we wanna be when we grow up, pa.
ST
—16 issue 59—
www.laverysbelfast.com Laverys Bar | 12 - 16 Bradbury Place | Belfast | Bt71RS | 028 9087 1106
NEW D N M BRA LLROO G BA NCHIN LAU ND OF R E BE M E T SEP
bUNKer clUb NIGHts weeKly eveNts moNDays
KITSCH
Classic pop, disco and rock
tUesDays
MUSICOLOGY
Eclectic student club
weDNesDays
OMGWTFDISCO
Cut and paste shenanigans
tHUrsDays
RADIATION
Emo, punk, goth and hardcore
frIDays
GIGANTIC
Clutting edge indie and electro
satUrDays
DECKADANCE
Alternative party hits
lavery’s bacK bar free aDmIssIoN every NIGHt moNDays
UPRISING
Reggae ska & dub club
tUesDays
CIRCUS OF SOUND
The roots of rock
weDNesDays
PERFORMANCE
Acoustic sessions
tHUrsDays
YETI
Expanding the underground
frIDays
VINTAGE
Classic alternative music
satUrDays
ECLECTIC ELECTRIC
Genre jumping hits
sUNDays
SOUL SOCIAL
Real r&b, funk and soul.
—17 AU Magazine—
Incoming
The xx Members: Romy Madley Croft (vocals, guitar), Baria Qureshi (keyboards, guitar), Oliver Sim (vocals, bass), Jamie Smith (programming, samples). Formation: London, 2005. For Fans Of: Cocteau Twins, Mazzy Star, Associates. Check Out: Debut album xx out now on Young Turks. Website: www.myspace.com/thexx
Oliver Sim is having some difficulty articulating exactly how The xx come to create their hauntingly sparse soundscapes. Exceedingly deliberate when it comes to describing the quartet’s music, he measures his words out with a miserly slowness. He says how “strange” it’s been of late and admits that he’s tentatively coming to grips with the promotional duties that come with releasing a much anticipated debut album. “Everything has been quite gradual, but since finishing the album there has been a definite speeding up of things,” he notes with a wary tremor. “As for interviews,
—18 issue 59—
The xx
well, I won’t lie, it’ll take time to get used to. Mostly, it’s just a case of not Googling yourself.” When Oliver and fellow vocalist Romy first began making music – one balmy summer four years ago – they had no grand aspirations towards obtaining critical adulation. “We never saw it as a fully intentional thing,” he says. “We didn’t sit down and think, ‘We wanna make this type of music, with this kind of tempo’. It started off in a very jokey way, with covers of Wham. We were doing all our songs to this one funky house beat that we’d got off the Internet.” Aided by the acquisition of a multi-tracker – a birthday present for Madley Croft – they began to instil a little seriousness into proceedings. They signed with feisty – not to mention “nurturing” – indie label Young Turks two years ago and became a quartet with the addition of beats maestro Smith. Previously the group had worked with the likes of Diplo, Riton and Kwes, but it would be their latest recruit who produced debut album xx. “Jamie understands what we want and how every instrument should sound,” asserts Sim. “There is a lot of space in the songs and he appreciated that that wasn’t to be filled. Other producers would have viewed that space as somewhere they could put their own sound.” The xx’s determination not to be unduly influenced by
external influences – be it producers, or other bands – has lent their music a remarkably self-assured and singular quality. It’s hard to detect the taint of other bands on their freak-pop skin. That’s not to say that they have no particular influences, rather that the scope of their inspirations is so broad and varied that any effort at deconstruction becomes futile. Still, for the record… “Baria is quite into drum ‘n’ bass, Jamie likes dubstep and electronica, Romy is quite into disco and I’m really into a lot of Nineties American R&B. So there is a bit of a jump, but we find the middle ground with bands like CocoRosie. However, I don’t think I was particularly engrossed in any one artist whilst we were recording the album.” Whilst you’ll struggle to spot their influences – Cocteau Twins are a notable exception – what you will be able to ascertain listening to xx is a definite sense not only of space – each instrument seems to inhabit its own continent within the xx world – but of duality. Note the group’s male/female dynamics, the entwined vocals of Sim and Madley Croft, those subtle sonic fluctuations between light and shade, sweet and sour. “That’s definitely something that we’ve thought about,” acknowledges Oliver, “that transition and the descent into darkness.” Take AU’s advice, and come join The xx on their long day’s journey into night. Francis Jones
Incoming
Nosaj Thing Real Name: Jason Chung Formation: Los Angeles, California. For Fans Of: Flying Lotus, Hudson Mohawke, J Dilla. Check Out: Debut album Drift, out now on Alpha Pup. Website: www.nosajthing.com
Jason. Nosaj. Nosaj. Jason. See what he’s done there? Pretty clever on the part of young Mr. Chung, we think you’ll agree. At least, that’s what we keep telling ourselves since it took several weeks to clock the origin of the stage name. By then, of course, the 24-year-old from LA had reeled us in with his quite exquisite debut album, Drift, a record that’s ensured that his card is marked as one of the best young hip-hop/electronica producers around. The man himself describes his music as “emotional electronic music with a hip-hop backbone”. Others might
Nosaj Thing
use the horrible term ‘wonky’, but in truth it’s enough to let Chung do what he does without getting too bogged down in genre names. Drift belongs to the spectrum of hip-hop and electronica that is touched by dubstep in atmosphere and an emphasis on bass (see also emergent acts like Hudson Mohawke, Mount Kimbie and Rustie) without fully committing to the strict norms of the genre. So Drift sounds expansive, sleek and futuristic, with plenty of gleaming, luxurious synths and wide open spaces, while also boasting some juicy sub-bass and Dillaesque hip-hop beats. It’s an intoxicating mixture. Chung says that he “got into dubstep late” and denies that it’s a significant influence, though he does single out Martyn and Burial as the producers that he’s “feeling” the most. More significant in his development, however, were “mainstream hip-hop, Nineties music, and bands like Radiohead and Cornelius” as well as family and friends. The latter comment perhaps gives away the most, because Chung doesn’t just have any old friends. Chief among them is the current golden boy of avant-garde hip-hop, fellow LA native and Warp Records artist Flying Lotus, to who Nosaj Thing is often – justifiably – compared, even though his sound is much less busy
and claustrophobic than that of his more illustrious counterpart. “He’s a friend of mine and [has] also been an inspiration,” says Chung, and with the success FlyLo enjoyed off the back of his Los Angeles record last year, that’s no surprise. And according to Chung, there’s more to come from the city, as he namechecks Free The Robots, Gaslamp Killer, My Hollow Drum Crew, Brainfeeder Crew, and Dibiase as acts to check out. Although it might seem facile to bring his hometown into it too much, Chung insists that it was the making of him. “I believe so,” he says. “My parents enrolled me in an after-school program when I was in fourth grade and the bus driver that picked us up from school always had on one of LA’s local hip-hop radio stations. This was when the Beat Junkies were the resident DJs. I used to record their mixes at home and listen to them all the time. Lots of West Coast hip-hop.” In his own individualistic way, then, Nosaj Thing is continuing that tradition. Chris Jones
—19 AU Magazine—
Incoming
Breaking Through
The Hickey Underworld »
Ugly Megan »
Gold Panda »
The Hickey Underworld
Ugly Megan
Gold Panda
Members: Younes Faltouk (guitar), Jonas Govaerts (guitar, vocals), Jimmy Wouters (drums), Georgios Tsakiridis (bass). Formation: Antwerp, Belgium 2005. For Fans Of: Nirvana, The Bronx, MC5. Check Out: Debut album, The Hickey Underworld, out September 21 on Naïve Records. Website: www.thehickeyunderworld.com
Members: Kathi Burke (vocals, synths, percussion), Orlando Fitzgerald (vocals, guitar, synths, drum machine). Formation: Waterford, 2007. For Fans Of: Psapp, Mates of State, YACHT. Check Out: The Gavin, Megan and Oisin EP on Well Wicked Wecords. Website: www.myspace.com/iloveuglymegan
Real Name: Unknown. Formation: East London. For Fans Of: Boards Of Canada, Mount Kimbie, Four Tet. Check Out: The single ‘Quitter’s Raga’, out now on Make Mine. Website: www.iamgoldpanda.com
As any responsible parent will tell you, if you want your child to grow up big and strong you need to ensure they get plenty of nourishment. With its founder members weaned on a diet of Dischord Records releases, it’s little wonder that The Hickey Underworld would turn out to be an absolute beast of a band. Working their way through a succession of short-lived and inconsequential high school groups, teenage friends Faltouk and Govaerts slowly honed their sound before welcoming Jimmy and, lastly, Georgios into the fold. Line-up solidified, in 2006 the quartet entered and won the country’s biggest music competition, Humo’s Rock Rally. This helped bring them to the attention of electro-pop act Das Pop who subsequently offered to produce their debut album. Mastered by Nevermind engineer Howie Weinberg, their self-titled long player sets the band’s outré interests – just check out their videos, artwork and Masonic symbolism for evidence of how out there they can get – against a barrage of napalm riffs, bathed in acid vocals and cluster bomb rhythms. And what about this by way of a manifesto: “No scene haircuts, no false American affectations, no horrible emo posturing.” THU you had us at “No scene haircuts”. Francis Jones
Named for a former You’re Only Massive member, Ugly Megan have been making waves down south for over a year. Combining a lo-fi pop aesthetic with toytronica and, ahem, gangsta stylings… Enough of the press release stuff, though. Let’s talk about the band. Kathi and Orlando met, fell in love, and formed a group, then released an EP or two (Three Whole Funs, The Gavin, Megan and Oisin EP). With their sights set on recording an LP by the end of the year, they’ve honed their set on the support circuit – the barely-legal duo have supported basically every major alt. act to pass through Dublin (Crystal Castles, Yo! Majesty and Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, to name but a few) and headlined shows of their own to boot. It’s easy to see why. Live shows are like an explosion in the kitsch factory – Ugly Megan perform from behind a table covered with light-up toys, and programmed drum beats undercut lyrics such as ‘I love you, I do’. Beneath the sugary exterior though, lies an eye for a killer line. ‘Bobby Orlando’ is based on, well, legendary disco producer Bobby Orlando, and ‘The High Life’ boasts that the duo have been seen ‘at all the right parties, doing all the right drugs’. Such hipster posings could prove irritating, if not for the sweet counterpoint between Kathi’s girlish voice, and Orlando’s low Ian Curtis-tones. Three Whole Funs? More like three hundred. Ailbhe Malone
—20 issue 59—
Dontcha just love backstories? At least, you do when they are as entertaining as this guy’s. Mr Panda (his real name is a well-kept secret) is from Essex but lives in East London. So far, so mundane. More interesting, however, is the fact that he used to work in a sex shop, and is obsessed with Japan to the point that he used to infuriate his art teacher by drawing Manga in class, then went on to study the language, spend a year there and make plans to go back. At this point, it would be lovely and neat to talk about how Panda’s Japanese fixation and experiences of the brown paper bag business have influenced his work so far, but it doesn’t really work like that. At least, not overtly. In fact, pinning down his sound to any kind of neat soundbite is nigh-on impossible, so varied are the morsels we’ve heard so far. Aside from a raft of highprofile remixes for the likes of Bloc Party, Simian Mobile Disco, Little Boots and Telepathe, his own material is an eclectic stew of dream-like electronica, dusted with hip-hop, techno and pop. It often sounds organic and welcoming like Boards of Canada or Mount Kimbie, but there’s an energy and a sense of exuberance there as well, especially on the new three-track single ‘Quitter’s Raga’. The title track is, as the name suggests, a joyous but tantalisingly brief foray into Bollywood, while ‘Fifth Ave’ is a slow, glitchy head-nodder and ‘Police’ is positively frantic, a nagging synth line going round and round in your head like a siren. Pigeonholes be damned, celebrate the individualism. Chris Jones
Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros »
The Rayographs »
Liquid Vega »
Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros Members: Edward Sharpe, Nico ‘Baby Clothes’ Aglietti (genius baby), Aaron Older (zen master), Tay Tay (accidental hero), Jadey (blazing sun), Christ Child (foundation man), Nora (sister goldenhair), Orpheo (skytrain tracks), Josh Collazo (easy wisdom), Pico Cole (a man of many needs). Formation: Los Angeles, California 2007. For fans of: Arcade Fire, Ennio Morricone, The Polyphonic Spree. Check out: Debut album Up From Below out now on Rough Trade, Desert Song short film at http://bit.ly/desertsong Website: www.edwardsharpeandthemagneticzeros.com Alex Ebert is a man not given to insularity. As the ringmaster of the 10-man travelling circus that is Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, the Californian is a firm believer in demystifying the relationship between performer and fan, or as he puts it “we just like hanging out with our audience.” And who can blame him? The band have just spent a very long time holed up in the studio perfecting their debut longplayer Up From Below. A lush, psychedelic daydream of an album, it won’t fail to put a dopey, lop-sided smile on your face. And fittingly enough, it’s been garnering the kind of buzz Stateside normally reserved for the latest generic indie hope. They’re now on the road – in an old Greyhound bus driven by a guy called, naturally, ‘Cornfed’ – taking the message across the States, with reports suggesting rapturous, quasi-religious receptions. “It’s been unbelievable,” says Alex. “It’s more like providing a service to people rather than performing and I feel really privileged. We don’t keep the audience at arm’s length – it’s really important to connect with them” And although Edward Sharpe is Ebert’s alias, it’s no simple Ziggy-style stage persona. “It’s really about a discarding of self-censorship both on and off stage as well. It gives me a much more positive slant now. I used to be quite reclusive and buy into all that rock star bullshit. All that gets quite tiring. Now with this band, there are no limits and I’m not constantly posturing.” Joe Nawaz
The Rayographs
Liquid Vega
Members: Astrud Steehouder (vocals, guitar), Jessamine Tierney (bass, vocals) and Amy Hurst (drums). Formation: London, 2003. For Fans Of: The Breeders, Loop, Ultra Vivid Scene. Check Out: The single ‘Francis’ out now on Everyone We Know. Website: www.myspace.com/therayographs
Members: Vincent Gomes (music, vocals), Genevieve Duprie (vocals, music). Formation: Paris, 2008. For Fans Of: Glass Candy, The xx, The Cure. Check Out: Tracks streaming at the band’s MySpace page. Weblink: www.myspace.com/liquidvega
Astrud Steehouder, lead singer and guitarist of The Rayographs, describes their sound as “dark, atmospheric, voodoo garage – with a smattering of dreamlike surf-guitar.” AU couldn’t have put it better. Formed as long ago as 2003, this startling London trio have taken their time (amidst their day jobs) to hone their alluringly subversive noise. “We found some early demos the other day actually – some of the elements of the music are inescapably present; melodic basslines, bluesy atmospheric stuff, joint harmonies,” Astrud explains. “I’d say everything has just become richer, tighter, more polished.” Second single ‘Francis’ is magnificent – a tense, pulsing incarnation of The Breeders, with spectral harmonies flitting between sweet dreams and torrid nightmares. The Rayographs understand the power drawn from a minimalist approach; Astrud is a believer in the ‘less is more’ mantra, “We’ve all learned to play our instruments better, but I think we’re pretty deliberately restrictive, or rather appreciate the simplicity of certain songs.” The band are currently adding the finishing touches to their debut album, which Astrud is finding thirsty work. “We have eight or nine new songs recorded and some improvised curiosities that may, or may not, develop into album tracks. We’re having a great time writing music, playing shows in different cities, meeting nice people in indie record shops, speaking to goats and horses on the farm at No Recording [studio]. Our main objective is to finish this album and make sure it’s good, then we’ll have a cup of tea and a biscuit probably and stick on the 13 minute version of ‘Return to Innocence’ by Enigma to wind down.” We’ll drink to that. Milk, no sugar, please. John Freeman
Liquid Vega are the very definition of enigmatic. An unsigned duo who claim to be “from London via various other places” and who met at a party in Paris, they are still to release a note of music through official channels and yet they are already the subject of a raft of glowing articles in some well-respected organs, online and in print. And here we are, joining in. But believe us when we say that we would leave well alone if we weren’t completely smitten with their delicate yet darkly erotic sound, a blend of Disintegration-era Cure’s dramatic sweep and the sinister glamour of the excellent Italians Do It Better label – Chromatics, Glass Candy, Desire. Vincent and Genevieve call it “ghost disco”, and a more apt term we couldn’t imagine. “We mean a certain kind of music that is of the night, that’s almost translucent, where you’re not sure what exists through what you’ve heard,” they explain. It’s hard to pin down what exactly is so intoxicating about this band, but more than the songwriting, the atmosphere is key – teardrops on the dancefloor, a slow dance in the moonlight, the sweet ache of longing. “To have that elusive something is crucial, we think. But there is a longing in the music that results from our relationship. We’d be lost without it.” The precise nature of that relationship is ambiguous – they say that they initially “got talking over spilt wine, records and kisses in the night,” and they claim that they are mainly inspired by “each other,” but this isn’t the kind of band where you need or want all the biographical details. Maybe it’s best if they remain unknowable, floating in the ether, haunting our dreams. Chris Jones
—21 AU Magazine—
Words and Photos by John Adams
Hey You!
Upfront
Joan Mccloskey Nouvelle Vague – Dance With Me Talking Heads – Making Flippy Floppy Belle & Sebastian – The Boy With The Arab Strap
What's on your Ipod?
Interesting Fact – Claims to be an authority on US television show The Brady Bunch. We actually felt a little bit sorry for Joan when she told us this.
What’s On Your Mind? Insight and Insanity From the AU Forum RE: WHAT'S THE LOWEST A BAND HAS SUNK? Zenma says: Any of the identity line guests on Never Mind The Buzzcocks. Miss O says: Johnny Rotten (John Lydon) and butter? Uncle Peco says: I’m guessing that classical band that played on the Titanic.
Nadia Duffy
Sarah Quinn
Peter Lilburn
RE: ARE THERE ANY MUSIC GENRES THAT ARE ENTIRELY WITHOUT MERIT?
Empire Of The Sun – Walking On A Dream M.I.A. – 20 Dollar Pearl Jam – Black
Passion Pit – Sleepyhead Ladyhawke – Professional Suicide Queens of the Stone Age – I’m Designer
Venetian Snares – Abomination Street Lemon Jelly – Soft Elliott Smith – Rose Parade
Pandora’s Peaches says: Nu metal, jazz
Interesting Fact – Nadia has a phobia of teaspoons. Well, that’s just silly!
Interesting Fact – Sarah has a phobia of belly buttons. Really, what is wrong with these people?
Interesting Fact – He wants to be Hugo Stiglitz. Yes, that’s right, world-renowned Mexican actor Hugo Stiglitz.
Chris Jones says: You say nu metal, but don't deny that ‘Break Stuff’ by Limp Bizkit is a TUNE! Johnnyholywood says: Gonna have to go with metal and jazz too. Steven Dedalus says: Yeah, jazz is rubbish. I mean, how can any type of music with as much history and inventiveness as jazz be any good? Desus says: Donk
Kate Mcilwaine
Darrell Coyle
Tynnan Coyle
Frankmusik – 3 Little Words Florence & the Machine – Cosmic Love Robert Pattinson – Never Think
Four Year Strong – Beatdown In The Key Of Happy Enter Shikari – Juggernauts Alkaline Trio – Calling All Skeletons
Sleepyhead – Really Alkaline Trio – Hating Every Minute Billy Talent – Where Is The Line?
Interesting Fact – Kate once ate a full packet of Chewits for a £10 bet. That’s nuthin’, AU once paid its younger brother 5p to eat a spider.
Interesting Fact – Darrell is the youngest member of his band and, according to him, their best musician. Ooooh, get her.
Interesting Fact – He loves John Adams. We’re guessing he’s referring to the television series rather than the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer (or, indeed, me).
Johnnyholywood says: So we have agreed that jazz is without merit. Excellent. RE: BELFAST GOSSIP BLOG... Jonny AU says: Anyone else seen this yet? Entertaining stuff. Reckon there will be scandal abound... Callmekatya says: I was pretty convinced I knew who this was, but then they wrote about an event the person I was thinking of didn't attend. Unless it's a sophisticated kind of double bluff... Miss O says: This is basically just an anonymous blog for someone with ideas of being Belfast's Carrie Bradshaw only with some vindictiveness thrown in for good measure. Has the potential to be great but it will undoubtedly turn into a bitchfest.
Daniel Gavigan
Joseph Duddy (JD)
Toni McGowan
Silverchair – Point Of View Muse – I Belong To You (Mon Coeur S'Ouvre à ta Voix) Sub Focus – Citizen Kane
The Temper Trap – Sweet Disposition The Rumble Strips – Not The Only Person Coheed And Cambria – Wake Up
Prodigy – Voodoo People (Pendulum Remix) Flogging Molly – If I Ever Leave This World Alive Taking Back Sunday – Sink Into Me
Interesting Fact – Although 19, Daniel only tried his first curry a month ago. What a deprived life he’s led. —22 issue 59—
Interesting Fact – Joseph claims he can tell the difference between butter and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. Wow!
Interesting Fact – Toni is absolutely terrified of pigeons. What they gonna do, poop on you?
Ant says: What a total pile of shite.
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The Digital Arts Studios is devoted to the development of in house production and training. Primarily grounded in the Arts this facility provides a programme of Digital Artists Residencies, innovative training programmes and invaluable open access to resources. This city centre facility promotes the convergence of art and technology while meeting the expanding need for skills gaining and training in this rapidly advancing field. Digital Workshops DAS are dedicated to providing affordable professional training for artists in the field of new media. Each participant will have their own workstation and will have an opportunity to discuss any specific areas of interest they may have during the course. Workshop Timetable Creative Filmmaking
20-22 Oct
Dreamweaver Beginners
24+25 Oct
Graphic Design
27+28 Oct
Sound Recording
3-6 Nov
Flash Beginners
7+8 Nov
Final Cut Pro
17-19 Nov
10:30am - 4:30pm £90/£60
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6.00 - 8.30pm £60/£40
6.00 - 8.30pm £90/£60
10:30am - 4:30pm £90/£60
6.00 - 8.30pm £70/£50
Dreamweaver Intermediate
21+22 Nov
Digital Photography & Photoshop
24-26 Nov
Digital Drawing
1+2 Dec
10:30am - 4:30pm £90/£60
DAS Residency Programme Our Residency Programme provides professional multi-media facilities for artists working in new media. Residencies are programmed for four-month periods.We provide each participant with a personal workstation with G5 Dual Processor Apple Mac computer programmed with relevant software. DAS are currently seeking applications for the following residencies:
3February – May 2010
Application deadline: Thursday 3 December 2009
3June – September 2010 Application deadline: Thursday 25 March 2010
Occasionally residencies are available for shorter periods. Full information can be found at the digital arts studios website.
Digital Services The Digital Art Studios also has a wide range of digital imaging, sound recording and video equipment that is available for rental. Workstations are also available for use with technical assistance.
6.00 – 8:30pm £70/£50
1.00 - 4:30pm £60/£40
Flash Intermediate
5+6 Dec
10:30am - 4:30pm £90/£60
To book a place on a workshop email or call the studios on 028 9031 2900
Digital Arts Studios 37-39 Queen Street Belfast. BT1 6EA
Contact: e: office@digitalartsstudios.com t: 028 9031 2900
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Upfront
The Answer Tour Diary
On The Road With The Answer
This month, drummer James Heatley loses all sense of time and space, and reflects on his Spinal Tap style existence.
Strip joints, tattoo parlours, night clubs and sleazy bars... that’s what you would expect from a rock band on the road – right?! But looking back trying to remember what’s happened since my last instalment, it seems the last few months have been more an endless stream of dressing rooms, stages, long drives, and late night tourbus drinking sessions (okay, maybe there was a little bit of the former as well – but who am I to tell such tales?). What I am getting at here is to say that after a while the days start to turn into one, so much so that sometimes you have no concept of where or when you are. For instance... Recently, in Gothenberg a friend of ours from L.A. came down to see us on our day off. In conversation she asked, “Where were you playing yesterday?” It took three of us four or five minutes to work out where we had just been the night before! Another example, sitting in tailback traffic for three hours coming into Amsterdam to play at the Amsterdam ArenA (home of AFC Ajax), we started to get a bit demoralised. Micky, trying to pick up the spirits, said, “Come on boys, we are nearly there. Saturday night in Amsterdam.” We all laughed hysterically when the tour manager pointed out to him it was Tuesday. Worst thing was – it was actually Monday!! During this time, we finished the European leg of the AC/DC tour, getting to play some of the biggest and most famous stadiums in the world including the Stade de France in Paris and, most memorable of all, Wembley. We even got home to Ireland, playing at Punchestown twice in two weeks. First with AC/DC – it didn’t rain so much as it poured from the heavens through our set, but the fans were not disheartened and we got the reception we had long been waiting for from the Irish crowd – the best in the world. Then, just two weeks later, we returned to the same fields outside Naas to perform at Oxegen and... it rained again. Oh, the Irish summer. We squeezed in a few other festivals along the way, such as the legendary rockfest that is Download and somehow managed to play a couple of shows of our own including a glorious homecoming gig at the Mandela Hall in Belfast, where we closed the night with an attempt at [Ike and Tina Turner’s] ‘Nutbush City Limits’, with Cormac screaming wildly on the outro “I love you, Belfast city limits!”
—24 issue 59—
A few days off at home in July – the time passed too quickly and before we knew it, it was time to head off once again. Sunday, July 26 to be exact, Paul texts me early that morning with the question, “Are we flying from the City airport to Stansted?” After consulting my computer, I reply, “No, we are flying International to Heathrow.” The more you do this, the more blasé you become about such things. I mean, I remember us being nervous about going to London for the first time. Now we don’t even know what flight we are on, what time or evidently, what airport! What’s more, we don’t care. I think we need a reality check. We started back with AC/DC in the USA – this time outdoors. The first stadium gig was blinding! The sun was shining right in my eyes the whole time. I jest, what I mean is that the gig was very good. The Americans sure do love their rock ‘n’ roll. A few days later, we got to play at the Giants Stadium, New Jersey, despite a tornado warning – the show must go on and it did. It had rained constantly for about seven hours, but with the luck of the Irish on our side, just as we were walking to stage it stopped, the sun came out and both us and the fans were thankful for it – together we tore the place apart. That night, sitting in the dressing room after the show the door at the back of the room swung open and standing there was [AC/DC drummer] Phil Rudd. “Where’s James?” he asked. Do I need to explain how bizarre my life has turned out when Phil Rudd comes into your dressing room looking you for a chat, just minutes after he has come off stage playing to 70,000 people at Giants Stadium? I love it! For a few shows we also had the pleasure of Anvil supporting – with their amps turned all the way up to 11. Now, I must admit, in every band there are Spinal Tap moments. I mean, you only have to read some of The Answer stories I have documented above. We had watched the Anvil movie on the bus during the last tour, and, for anyone who has seen the movie and thought it was a pisstake... it isn’t. These people are serious! But despite all the clichés, they really do just wanna rock and somehow that helps me sleep better at night, knowing we are not on our own out there.
James Heatley
Flashback
Rewind
Years ago
President Ford pardons Richard Nixon, September 8, 1974
Words by Steven Rainey Illutration by Elissa Parente
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Perhaps this is what was going through President Gerald Ford’s mind when he made one of the most controversial and career-defining decisions of his entire life. America in the mid-Seventies was a train careering out of control, and this man was supposed to be in the driving seat. Instead, he decided to forgive the unforgivable.
unearthed a web of damning illegal activity, carried out in the name – and with the complete authorisation of – the American President. Burglary, conspiracy, espionage, sabotage, wire tapping, money laundering… all of these actions linked back to Nixon. To say that public faith in the government was shaken would be an understatement.
Richard M. Nixon had been elected President in 1969 after the previous President, Lyndon Baines Johnson, had announced he would not stand for re-election, having become embroiled in the rapidly escalating Vietnam War. Nixon had already been a controversial figure, having served as Vice President in the Fifties, and lost out in the Presidential race against John F. Kennedy. Following his defeat, he announced his retirement. So his election victory in January 1969 can be seen as something of a spectacular comeback.
The upshot of the Watergate investigation was that the nation was thrown into complete turmoil, with their President having to publicly declare, “I am not a crook.” Many were prepared to disbelieve him, and impeachment proceedings were implemented to remove Nixon from the seat of government. Nixon resigned before they could come into action, making him the only American President to ever resign whilst still in office. Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in on August 9, 1974, his nation in upheaval.
Nixon had won the election by portraying himself as a figure of stability in a time of chaos. Appealing to the conservative right, Nixon tapped into the fear of the counterculture movement, and promised a return to good, old-fashioned values. He also promised to win peace in Vietnam, “peace with honour”.
Ford’s decision to give Nixon a full Presidential pardon for his involvement in Watergate would prove to be the defining action of his political career. Although he presided over the American withdrawal from Vietnam, shepherded the country through one of the worst economic crises since the Great Depression, and made significant moves towards the end of the Cold War, Ford will most likely be remembered for turning a blind eye to the crimes of Nixon. He lost the next election to Democrat Jimmy Carter, and the Republican Party suffered a dramatic fall from grace. Whilst not exactly disgraced himself, his pardon of Nixon was regarded by many as a black mark against his name, something that helped shake the public’s faith in their elected officials.
In his attempt to win this peace with honour, he stepped up the war effort and began a secret bombing campaign of Laos and Cambodia. Eventually he was instrumental in scaling back America’s war effort, leading to the eventual withdrawal in 1975, but his actions led many to accuse him of a credibility gap between what he did and what he promised to do. However, Nixon will forever be remembered for the events of June 17, 1972, when five men broke into the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC, home of the Democratic National Committee. The story, uncovered by reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein,
One man’s attempt to heal the scars of a nation have led to decades of suspicion and mistrust between the American people and their government. The era of “Trust No-one” began here.
Tricky Dicky on the Silver Screen
Wounds like this just don’t go away and, as with many things, America has tried to deal with the implications of the Nixon era by turning to cinema. Here are a few of the most memorable depictions of Nixon in the movies.
All The President’s Men (1976)
Alan J Pakula’s film tells the story of Carl Bernsten and Bob Woodward, the crusading Washington Post journalists who broke the story of the Watergate breakin. Part detective story, part conspiracy movie, Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford played the part of decent everymen trying to uncover the truth behind a corrupt administration, where behind every lie, there was another one waiting to be found.
Nixon (1995)
After the controversial JFK, Oliver Stone turned his attention to his once rival, with Anthony Hopkins portraying Nixon in a biopic which took liberties with the truth to portray the downfall of Nixon in tragic terms. Tragedy requires the fall of a hero, but few found much heroism in Stone’s portrayal of Nixon…
Frost/Nixon (2008)
Showing that public fascination with Nixon has still not gone away, the adaptation of the successful stage play portrayed an intellectual showdown between British journalist David Frost and the disgraced former President. The film’s success largely hangs on the decision not to portray Nixon as a cartoon bad guy, but as a real man, something frequently absent from other portrayals.
—25 AU Magazine—
History Lessons Gang Of Four
Rewind
History Lessons - Gang Of Four
—French film-maker extraordinaire Jean-Luc Godard once said, “It’s not where you take things from – it’s where you take them to.” On the eve of the 30th anniversary of their classic debut album, Entertainment!, it occurs to AU that Gang Of Four – who are huge Godard fans – were the Year Zero, the Big Bang. Nothing sounded like them in 1979, and without them the funk-rock of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jane’s Addiction and the wired freneticism of Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party would not exist. AU asks guitarist Andy Gill and singer Jon King to guide us through their seminal musical creation.
We meet in Gill’s compact Camden apartment – recording studio downstairs, effortlessly stylish living quarters upstairs. After the recent death of his father, he looks understandably weary, while his body language belies a nervous energy. King, on the other hand, is tanned and relaxed, his neat shirt and chino combination masking his status as a post-punk elder statesman.
Words by John Freeman
Both men were the creative and driving force behind Gang Of Four, who rose out of the ashes of punk and welded driving funk and reggae beats to jagged, crunching guitars to create a new musical genre. Eulogised by Flea (who has said the track ‘Not Great Men’ shaped the sound of the Chili Peppers), Kurt Cobain and Michael Stipe as a “major influence”, and more latterly pilfered by a new legion of indie big-hitters, Gill instantly dissects the legacy of Gang Of Four. “Lots of bands have borrowed, to varying degrees, the sound of Gang Of Four. For us, it was [about] creating a new type of music and starting from first principles. We went into extreme detail with drumbeats and everything to make a new sound. I think people have recognised that [it] was exciting and original.” Jon is more concise; “One thing we always wanted to be was a white rock band that had a groove to it.” Gang Of Four formed in 1977 (King on vocals, Gill on guitar, Dave Allen on bass and Hugo Burnham on drums), whilst at Leeds University. However, King and Gill were schoolmates, as the former explains. “We met at about 14, we were at school together in Sevenoaks, Kent. There was an incredibly original art department there, which was packed with the non-conformists. [Film director] Paul Greengrass was in our year, and Kevin Lycett and Tom Greenhalgh from The Mekons were also there. We were this little crew of 14 to 17 year olds, who were constantly competing in a creative way with each other to be more interesting.” King and Gill shared musical tastes as teenagers, which encompassed an eclectic mix. “We liked everything from Bob Dylan, reggae (and particularly Bob Marley), Jimi Hendrix, the Stones, Velvet Underground and we liked funk stuff like James Brown and Funkadelic. We got into Dr Feelgood in the early part of the Seventies,” Gill says. King nods in agreement, “We didn’t have really obsessively narrow tastes, like some people only liked one flavour of rock, or dance music.” Predictably, the kindred spirits began to dabble in making music, as Gill fondly recollects. “Jon and I were in a band, and did a couple of shows. We were called The Bourgeois Brothers, which was tongue-in-cheek. But it was us feeling our way around what you might do if you were not fooling around and being serious. When we were at Leeds [University] we would sit around with acoustic guitars, writing silly lyrics about people who we knew. And then, occasionally, we would do something that was a bit more serious. The process of making Entertainment! was weeding the silly ones out, as we wrote new stuff that we thought was really good.” As well as being inspired by a plethora of musical styles, King and Gill were fascinated by how an art form could
be posed to an audience. “There were also ideas that we stumbled across in books and films,” Gill explains. “Jean-Luc Godard’s films were quite influential in the way we thought things could be presented, in the way there were internal dialogues going on.” His bandmate nods, “We were massively into films. Godard would have a split-screen device, which we’re now familiar with in programmes like 24, but he was the first person to have the same scene shot from different angles.” “That was a big influence on us for things like [the song] ‘Anthrax’, on which we’ve got someone saying something and then someone else making a passing comment on what has just been said,” concludes Andy. The track, from Entertainment!, is extraordinary, as walls of feedback detonate into a two-channel vocal; in one, an anti-love song, while on a second channel Gill recites a monologue about the technical equipment used on the track. It’s completely disconcerting and utterly brilliant. Gang Of Four were also highly political; a number of anti-establishment (the aforementioned ‘Not Great Men’) and anti-war songs (‘I Love A Man In Uniform’ was released during the Falklands war) were borne out of the buzz of rebellion. “I think we did have strong political views, relatively speaking,” says King. “But it was also very exciting. When I was 13 and 14, I thought the revolution in Paris in 1968 looked like an incredible adventure. I felt the same when I listened to Bob Dylan. When I was 11, listening to Highway 61 Revisited, I wasn’t sure at all what Dylan was singing about but I knew he hated all the squares and the bores. So, the idea of wanting to be a troublemaker was very exciting.” Gill takes up the thread, “We’re probably one of the most political bands of the last 30 or 40 years, but it wasn’t about party politics or addressing issues. A lot of it was about how we felt, and still feel, stuff is posed to you. You are asked to take things in as a given, an accepted fact. We would say these are merely political inventions designed to give certain people power.” Another concept within Entertainment!, the tension between art and entertaining an audience, was fleshed out during a surreal evening in Cumbria. King starts the story, “We were bizarrely put on at Carlisle Art College with a stripper. There was a sexist, racist comic as well, and Andy said something like “Fuck off Adolf” to him. The guy said, ‘Why you giving me all this grief? We’re both in the entertainment industry and we should give the audience what they like’. “At the time, I thought, ‘Bloody hell, we are in the entertainment industry, we should give people what they want. This racist, sexist comic is absolutely right’. The stripper said to us, ‘I earn much more than I would in a nine-to-five job’. Listening to what the comic and the stripper were saying was the crux of Entertainment!.” The actual recording of their seminal work was strained, as they were left to their own devices and “argued about everything”. Their label EMI provided little guidance, as Gill recalls. “Chris Briggs [legendary A&R mogul], who signed us, came down once. He’d say, ‘Play me —27 AU Magazine—
—28 issue 59—
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History Lessons
One thing we always wanted to be was a white rock band that had a groove to it
something’ and then go, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah’ without listening. He’d take us out for drinks and tell us stories, and barely listen to anything.”
of my mouth, than he was on the phone booking flights,” Gill says. “It was also at the height of Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party ripping us off to the millionth degree.”
Entertainment! contained the single ‘At Home He’s A Tourist’, which provided Gang Of Four with that most notorious of experiences, being banned from Top Of The Pops, due to the lyrics referring to “the rubbers you hide in your top left pocket.” Lordy, may the saints preserve us. “That whole ‘rubbers’ thing was trying to find an excuse,” says Gill curtly. “From doing the rehearsals for Top Of The Pops, and we were pissing about and we’d had a few drinks, and they just hated us. They had to have us on because the single was rising and the rules were we had to be on, and they were trying to find a reason to chuck us off. So they said, ‘You’ve got the word ‘rubbers’ in the song. You can’t have that, it’s a family show’.”
After a number of sell-out shows and festival appearances, and a new album in the offing, it would seem Gang Of Four are happy to be back. “What has been most fantastic since 2005 is to be treated like a new band,” says King. “My daughter, who is 15, has mates who treat what we do as if we were a new band as it doesn’t sound like corny music, and I really found that thrilling.” So, you’re officially a cool dad? “In that respect, yes. But she thinks I’m a wanker in every other way!” After the interview, King badgers Gill on how he might get some tickets for said daughter for an imminent Gang Of Four ‘secret’ show.
Further albums followed: 1981’s Solid Gold, and Songs Of The Free a year later. Gill provides his own critique. “There are some steps forward on Solid Gold in that there’s an improvement on Entertainment!. As far as the stuff on Songs Of The Free, if I’m being very hard, it was kind of a mixed bag.” During the late Seventies and early Eighties, Gang Of Four gained huge popularity (“We’d do about 6,000 tickets, that sort of size,” recalls Gill), especially in America. The “demented funk” of Entertainment! had started something. “A lot of people were very inspired by how far out there we were. If you stretch the possibilities in one direction, then people can fill all sorts of slots up,” reflects King, with a tinge of pride. Among their adoring fans were Michael Stipe and Flea. Many bands wanted to tour with Gang Of Four, as King recollects. “R.E.M. were our support band for a year-and-a-half in America. When we were in America, we would partner with up-and-coming US bands. So we had Mission Of Burma, Bush Tetras and R.E.M., of course. Bands like that became friends of ours.” The Chili Peppers would use Gill to produce their debut album, which proved an onerous chore for him. “Flea always shot his mouth off, without thinking very much about anything, but that’s fine. I spoke to him a few weeks ago and it’s now good.” After a number of personnel changes over the next decade, Gang Of Four began an extended hiatus in 1997. “For my part,” says King. “I just wanted a break from doing these sorts of things. Andy was also a very successful independent producer [he’s now worked with acts like The Futureheads, The Young Knives, Killing Joke and Michael Hutchence – he is godfather to Hutchence’s daughter] at that point, so it just turned into a long gap of about 10 years.” However, in 2005 the rock grapevine started to twitch with rumours about a reunion of the original line-up. “A lot of people started saying, ‘Why don’t you do some shows?’. At the time we were being managed by Jaz Summers, and one day I mentioned it to him and barely had the words come out
D’ya Wanna be in my Gang? AU's guide to infamous gangs from the world of entertainment Kool And The Gang
Disconcertingly successful purveyors of mainstream soul. Think ‘Cherish’, think ‘Celebration’, think the god-awful ‘Ladies’ Night’. Only the fleeting inclusion of ‘Jungle Boogie’ in Pulp Fiction earns them any kudos points.
Press Gang
Superb Eighties TV show featuring a group of feisty teenagers running a local newspaper. Starring a host of now famous actors, and including a staggeringly good Julia Sawalha (swoon) and a hormone-packed Dexter Fletcher, Press Gang was years, nay decades, ahead of its time.
The Sugarhill Gang
Old style rap crew, best known for their seminal, Chic-sampling ‘Rapper’s Delight’ single. In fact, that’s probably the only thing they’re known for. [What about ‘Apache’?! – Ed.]
So what about the new album, which is due out early next year? “It’s pretty good actually. Flea might be playing something on this new record. Might be quite interesting for old times’ sake,” says Gill. King lounges even further back in his sofa with the air of a confident man “You’ll see that it’s the same band that made Entertainment! and Solid Gold.” An opportunity to make some money from Gang Of Four would seem just rewards for a group who had previously, at best, experienced bad luck, or, at worst, displayed bad judgment. “We had a very unhappy experience with our first label,” King explains. “They never paid us! We never earned any money from that 100,000 selling [Damaged Goods] EP.” After signing to EMI, (who were surprisingly compliant – “they saw us as untameable”) the band then fell prey to an unscrupulous manager, as Gill explains, “In the mid-Eighties we had this manager who stole every penny from us, sadly. He used to manage Frank Zappa and he was a bit of a crook.” “He did go to prison, which was a bit of a giveaway,” King interjects, before continuing, “What you do need, and it’s a bit of luck, is having someone who cares for you as a manager, like Paul McGuinness with U2. You can then end up with a great band with a great career, which is both artistically fulfilling and you can make a living out of it. We didn’t have that.”
The Red Hand Gang
Genre-defining Seventies TV show in which five young kids solved ‘crimes’ (usually clothes being stolen from a washing line) with their dog Boomer. Only latterly surpassed by The Wire as a consistently gripping crime drama. Cough.
Gang Gang Dance
Experimental art-rockers from Manhattan. Even though they liked the word ‘gang’ so much they used it twice, they’re probably even less scary than The Red Hand Gang.
Both men seem sanguine about potential lost riches, and seem to regret their human failings more. “We often weren’t as nice to each other as we could have been,” admits King. “It’s being wrapped up in the intensity of the thing. We took it too far and got into this weird thing where every single thing is constantly worth questioning. It’s sort of a madness. On the other hand, if you are a well-balanced human being you probably wouldn’t have done [music] in the first place.” Gill laughs for the first time during the interview, “I can see the title of the article now – ‘Jon King Admits He’s Not Well-Balanced’.” Well maybe not the title, but a footnote. After all, it’s not where you take things from – it’s where you take them to. WWW.GANGOFFOUR.CO.UK
Sex Gang Children
Deeply disturbing Eighties cabaret Goth rock group. Lead singer was called Andi Sexgang. We’d like to be able to admit we made that last bit up, but it is indeed true. Pity the poor kids. —29 AU Magazine—
AZ to
Egomaniacs —A little self-confidence, a bit of self-esteem, is no bad thing. It can help you in job interviews, for example, and other important social encounters such as attempting to chat up members of the opposite sex in bars. However, it’s a perilously fine line between exhibiting just the right amount of swagger and cockiness – just enough to make people think, ‘yeah, this geezer’s alright’ – and displaying an intolerable degree of self-interest, arrogance and chutzpah. That’s just going to get up people’s noses. With that in mind, look ye now upon the following list of people who have found themselves very much on the wrong side of that line, and weep, for they truly are a bunch of pathologically self-involved shits.
Words by Neill Dougan Illustration by Elissa Parente
Rewind
A is for Idi Amin
Dangerously unstable Ugandan dictator who took power in a military coup and ruled the country from 1971 to 1979, during which time anywhere between 100,000 and half a million people were the victims of extrajudicial killing. Amin was certainly no shrinking violet, giving himself the rather grand title of (deep breath) ‘His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Conqueror of the British Empire’. Also said to have fathered up to 45 children. Say what you like about the vicious, murderous tyranny, but that’s some good procreation.
B IS FOR JOHNNY BORRELL
The preening, obnoxious Razorlight frontman is fast on his way to becoming the most unpopular man in rock, through such antics as slagging off loads of other bands, comparing himself favourably with Bob Dylan, getting his top off at every available opportunity and generally being a bit of a tit. Also fancies himself as something of a commentator on global current affairs, helpfully stating (on 2006’s number one hit ‘America’): “Whoa-oh-oh… panic in America / Whoa-oh-oh… trouble in America” – an analysis so piercing and insightful that a career on Newsnight surely beckons once the hits dry up.
C IS FOR
NAOMI CAMPBELL
A to Z - Egomaniacs
F IS FOR
K IS FOR ROBERT KILROYSILK
‘Big George’ is his nickname and, even though it’s a reference to his hefty physique, it could also apply quite easily to his ego. The former heavyweight boxing champion turned low fat grill entrepreneur has five sons and – get this – he named them all after himself. That’s right – five sons, all named George. Oh, and one of his daughters is called Georgetta. Georgetta, for Chrissakes! That’s not even a proper name! In fairness, it can possibly be attributed to one too many blows to the big fella’s head.
This perma-tanned fulminator once presented Kilroy, a daytime chat show which regularly saw him hector unfortunate members of the public. He lost the gig in 2004 after an ill-advised rant in the Sunday Express in which he recommended that “Arabs” should “get down on their knees and thank God for the munificence of the United States.” Subsequently sacked, he re-emerged as a member of the UK Independence Party and, later, the first leader of Veritas. Has been an MEP since 2004, which is somewhat alarming – but hey, at least he’s not still on the telly.
GEORGE FOREMAN
G IS FOR MEL GIBSON
Antipodean actor-director whose movies exhibit a distinct strain of hubris, whether it be casting himself in the role of uber-heroic William Wallace in the bombastic, unnecessarily graphic Braveheart, giving ol’ Jesus himself the bombastic, unnecessarily graphic treatment in The Passion Of The Christ or covering the journey of a Mayan tribesman in the (and you might spot a pattern emerging here) bombastic, unnecessarily graphic Apocalypto. Indeed – and this is true, fact fans – Gibson’s middle names are, quite literally, ‘Bombastic’ and ‘Unnecessarily Graphic’. Seriously, check the guy’s birth certificate.
Supermodel Campbell is notorious for flying off the handle when things don’t go her way. Somewhat bizarrely, her weapon of choice appears to be the handheld telecommunications device: as far back as the year 2000 she faced charges for allegedly attacking her assistant with a hotel phone, and in 2005 she was charged with assault and battery after allegedly beating another assistant about the bonce with a Blackberry. Then in 2006 she was arrested for allegedly battering her housekeeper with her mobile. Not just any old mobile, mind you: a jewel-encrusted mobile. That’s supermodels for you: even when they’re pummelling you in a fit of violent rage, they’ve still got class.
H IS FOR
D IS FOR TROY DUFFY
I IS FOR I, ME, MINE
Aspiring screenwriter, musician and monstrous egotist who became the subject of 2003 documentary Overnight, which was meant to chart his meteoric rise as Harvey Weinstein buys his first screenplay, gives him a $15 million budget to film it and commissions his band to write the soundtrack. Instead, it follows his descent back into obscurity as he gradually alienates everyone he encounters with his brash, obnoxious persona and complete lack of tact and manners. Miramax passes on the movie and the recording contract is cancelled. If you’ve not heard of him, trust us, you’ve dodged a bullet. Not since the last Coldplay album has seeing someone fail so spectacularly been so satisfying.
E IS FOR
NOEL EDMONDS The real-life Alan Partridge seems to have a pretty high opinion of himself for someone whose TV shows traditionally involved someone getting ‘gunged’. In recent years his behaviour has become particularly erratic, with Edmonds taking a very public one-man stand against the TV licence and using the platform of his Sky One show Noel’s HQ to embark upon an absolutely astonishing rant against, erm, Wealdon District Council’s press officer (check it out at www. tinyurl.com/noelgoesnuts – but be warned, it’s almost too embarrassing to watch). Hard to believe that this pompous eejit is the same man responsible for the work of comedy genius that was Mr Blobby.
ADOLF HITLER
Loopy old Adolf believed that Germany needed more lebensraum (literally, ‘living space’) and, in order to achieve this, had to expand aggressively to create a Grossdeutschland. Of course, modest fella that he was, Hitler also believed that he was the very man to bring about this glorious result, his conviction resulting in the invasion of Poland, the Second World War and 17 million civilian deaths. Sheee-it. Also gave wearers of small, square moustaches everywhere a bad name.
This George Harrison composition appeared on the final, flawed Beatles album Let It Be and, according to its author, was about “the ego, the eternal problem.” Apposite indeed since, at the time it was written, the Fab Four were at each other’s throats and had more or less split up, due largely to an irreparable clash of egos. Indeed, things had reached such a low point that John Lennon is not even present on the recording. Not that you’d ever notice, mind you. Maybe old Johnny Boy wasn’t all he’s cracked up to be. Well over-rated, that Lennon.
J IS FOR JORDAN The former glamour model known to her mum as Katie Price just won’t leave us alone. Every time we go to pick up a newspaper from the corner shop there she is, staring at us from the covers of innumerable gossip magazines with her dead eyes and enormo-boobs. We can hardly even turn on the TV without happening upon some feast for the senses such as Jordan: Living A Dream, Jordan: The Truth About Me or Jordan & Peter: Laid Bare. Attention, adulation and exposure apparently being as necessary to her as oxygen, over the years every illicit tryst, love drama and tearful break up has been mercilessly and shamelessly rammed down our throats. And, sure, we could just turn off the TV or not read the magazines, but the sad truth is that Jordan even haunts AU’s dreams.
L IS FOR
LIAM 'N' NOEL
The brothers Gallagher have spent their entire careers engaging in ill-advised acts of braggadocio, younger sibling Liam in particular being prone to a bit of “We’re the best band in the world”-type selfaggrandising. Sadly, although they’re well capable of walking the swaggering walk, they haven’t quite talked the talk. Not since 1995 anyway, which was the last time Oasis released a decent album.
M IS FOR JOSE MOURINHO The self-proclaimed “Special One” swaggered into Stamford Bridge in 2004 and led Chelsea to a few years of unprecedented success, before flouncing out in a huff in 2007. In his three years in England he became involved in numerous spats with opposing managers, players and even the police (being arrested for obstructing Her Majesty’s finest in a row about his dog), and made himself a household name with his mixture of charisma, dashing dress sense and outlandish statements. The Premier League is a poorer place without him, for sure; as manager of Inter Milan it’s now Italian footie fans who find themselves simultaneously fascinated and irritated by the big-mouthed git.
N IS FOR NIMROD
Mesopotamian monarch, reputedly a great and mighty leader who built many a fine city. Sadly, he was also the dude responsible for the Tower of Babel. Yep, that’s right, this silly bugger was arrogant enough to try to build a tower reaching to the heavens, not to praise God, but to celebrate the glory of man. Didn’t end so well, an angry Jehovah making an appearance to confound Nimrod’s people by making them incomprehensible to each other and scattering them across the earth (hence nations and languages). Probably not the result old ’Rodders was looking for, to be honest.
O IS FOR MICHAEL O'LEARY
It’s fair to say that the Ryanair supremo’s pronouncements are not made with the intention of endearing himself to the public. Describing the British Airports Authority as “overcharging rapists”, decrying travel agents as “fuckers” and deriding environmentalists as “another bunch of lemmings shuffling towards a cliff”, he also recently mooted the idea of charging customers for using the toilet on flights. Clearly the abrasive Irishman doesn’t care if he’s liked or admired as long as the cash keeps rolling in. Which is fortunate for him, as he appears to be a complete bastard. —31 AU Magazine—
Rewind
P IS FOR P DIDDY
Hip-hop mogul who apparently believes that nothing is beyond his awesome capabilities. Rapping, singing, producing, acting, fashion designing, perfume creating… What’s next, Diddy, a spot of walking on water, perhaps? The general public can’t seem to get enough of him either, and over the years the man formerly known as Puff Daddy has made a veritable mint from his various endeavours. Which is a bit mystifying, really, as every single thing he has ever done in his entire life has been absolutely terrible. Still, he gets points for perseverance.
Q IS FOR
QUINCY, M.E.
Titular hero of the daytime TV show beloved of housewives and students, there’s no doubt that Quincy had a pretty high opinion of himself. Waltzes in to the scene of a recent death, spots foul play when even the police are calling ‘natural causes’, has a massive shouting match with some bureaucratic figure obstructing his sleuthing, before inevitably solving the murder. The fact that such activities were clearly beyond the remit of a coroner seems to have completely escaped the show’s makers. Do your bloody research, fools. A disgrace.
R IS FOR CRISTIANO RONALDO
Self-admiring Portuguese winger who once described himself as “the first, second and third best player in the world.” His time in English football will be remembered as much for his petulance, play-acting and tantrums as for the goals (42 in one season) and the glory (three Premier League titles, two FA Cups, a League Cup and the Champions League), which is why, at a price of £80million, many Manchester United fans were fairly content to wave him a cheery “ta-ra” when he hotfooted it to Madrid in July. British retailers of hair gel and blingin’ jewellery, however, were heard to weep inconsolably at news of his departure.
History Lessons
T IS FOR HENRY TUDOR
Better known as Henry VIII, this mediaeval king of England had an absolutely rampant ego, going to ridiculous lengths to indulge his whims, including marrying six times (and beheading two of his unfortunate spouses) while simultaneously juggling a bevy of mistresses. Also got himself excommunicated by the Catholic Church for failing to toe the Papal line. In fairness, being brought up to believe that you’re intrinsically far superior to the vast majority of lesser mortals is bound to go to anyone’s head. Just ask Bono. Speaking of whom…
U IS FOR
U2
The Dublin four-piece don’t really go in for modesty. The massive, globe-devouring tours, the ludicrously expensive and elaborate stage designs (massive hydraulic lemons and all that), the huge marketing kerfuffle that accompanies every release, the archetypal mouthy frontman, the soaring, heart-on-sleeve anthems… of course, many acts of a similar stature share the same virtues, but U2 have something that all their peers lack. And that is a magical, non-ageing drummer whose appearance has remained completely unchanged since the early 1980s. That’s something money just can’t buy.
V IS FOR
VICTOR VON DOOM
Nemesis of The Fantastic Four, the gifted but fatally arrogant and vain scientist Victor Von Doom (aka Dr Doom) loses the plot when he accrues a small scar on his cheek, fleeing to Tibet and creating a suit of armour for himself (as you do). Sadly he dons the suit’s iron mask before it can fully cool, scarring him horrifically and sending him quite, quite mad. Coincidentally, a similar effect can be achieved simply by forcing unsuspecting victims to sit through the truly abysmal Fantastic Four movies.
X IS FOR XAVIN
Xavin is a Skrull, a shape-shifting race of extraterrestrials (originally created by Marvel Comics geezer Stan Lee) who can change their appearance and gender at will, and a particularly irritating one at that. Appearing in Marvels Runaways series, he/she is rash, warlike and obnoxious, often choosing to stay in a ‘male’ incarnation just for the sake of appearing intimidating. Sort of like Marilyn Manson, in other words.
Y IS FOR YAHWEH
Also known as God. Man, check this guy out. Not enough for him to create the universe in seven days, invent mankind and then send his son down to save us all from ourselves when the whole project goes tits up. Oh no. He also – if the rumours are to be believed – watches over our every waking moment and then, when our time comes to shuffle off this miserable mortal coil, sits in judgement over us to decide if we can join him in Heaven or be banished to the fiery pits of Hades. Talk about letting power go to your head.
S IS FOR M. NIGHT
W IS FOR
Z IS FOR DEREK
Pretentious filmmaker who appears to have totally lost the run of himself after his second feature, 1999’s The Sixth Sense, was nominated for six Oscars. Let’s face it, that movie wasn’t even that good, and his efforts since have ranged from the mundane (Unbreakable) to the downright shameful (the critically mauled Lady In The Water). Oh, and if by some freak of nature you’ve managed to avoid watching The Sixth Sense before now – the twist at the end is that Bruce Willis is a ghost. There, just saved you two hours.
Former Take That heart-throb who quit the group at the height of their success in 1995 for a solo career, rarely missing a chance thereafter to publicly slam his former bandmate Gary “the talented one” Barlow. Subsequently, the worryingly self-regarding Williams spared us no detail of his various personal demons such as his battles with drink and drugs and his yo-yoing weight. In an unexpected turn of events, the reformed Take That are now massive again while Robbie is said to be a reclusive UFO-spotter. Barlow must be pissing himself.
2001 comedy Zoolander focuses on the eponymous Derek, a model whose self-obsession is matched only by his dim-wittedness. Creator of such classic looks as ‘Le Tigre’, ‘Ferrari’, ‘Blue Steel’ and of course ‘Magnum’ (a pose of such awesome power that it can stop a shuriken in its tracks), Derek is – until he redeems himself at the film’s denouement – oblivious to the needs of anyone else, perfectly content in his little bubble of self-interest as long as he remains the top male model in the world. Pretty amusing – for a Ben Stiller movie, that is. Everything’s relative.
SHYAMALAN
ROBBIE WILLIAMS
ZOOLANDER
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Words by John Calvert
Respect Your Shelf - Gus Van Sant
Respect Your ShelfThe AU Buyers’ Guide Gus Van Sant — There are only a handful of directors who have carved an impression of America that’s all of their own, fewer still who have done it over the course of 30 years and 15 features, and only one quite like Gus Van Sant. Guardian of counterculture cinema, one-time Hollywood populist and avant-garde maverick, his is the gritty poetry of the itinerant, the unclaimed and the discarded. So imbibe these, his selected works; a rites-of-passage dream; a mainstream masterpiece; not one but two generationdefining indies; and part two of a ‘death trilogy’. Wherever. Whatever. Have a nice day.
Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
My Own Private Idaho (1991)
Under the dreary pall of north-western skies, Matt Dillon’s classic anti-hero Bob and his posse live amongst the squares, posing as a family in dowdy Portland suburbia. To stay high, they undertake daring raids on dispensaries, taking stock of their Technicolor booty on a grubby kitchen table.
The strange and lyrical My Own Private Idaho all but whispers the story of street hustler and genteel narcoleptic Mike (an iconic turn from the late River Phoenix) and wayward mayor’s son Scott (Keanu Reeves), who bid farewell to their family of fellow rent boys and escape Portland in search of Mike’s estranged mother. The tagline went: “Wherever. Whatever. Have a Nice Day.” – the film’s freewheeling, hazy, ineffable tone in a nutshell.
Trading in stylised beatnik jargon and druggy proverbs (“When you’re hot, shoot the world”), Bob and his slacker bandits have an unapologetic commitment to bohemian exile. Their philosophy was completely out of sync with the decade’s obsession with citizenship, meritocratic ambition, standard of living and goal-orientated mineral water. Bleakly funny and doused with an insouciant cool, Drugstore was a bona-fide missive from a surviving counter-culture, twitching with jazzy energy under a patina of dopamine sweat. The right-wing press was aghast at the film’s irreverent take on drug addiction. Interspersed with the crew’s misadventures, serene sequences have an addled Bob relating the ecstasies of chemical adventuring, while his eventual change of heart is more pragmatism than repentance. In the end, got by “the TV baby”, he travels by ambulance on the State’s buck, towards the largest drugstore in town, devilish hunger intact. The film foreshadowed Trainspotting by depicting abuse as a lifestyle choice for non-conformists, rather than the plague of put-upon have-nots. Not only that, it chimed with alternative rock’s deification of drifter outlaws as modern day punk retreatists. The set flooded their aesthetics with elements of folk and country, equating the chief tenets of redneck mythology – rootlessness, isolation, weary romanticism – with Generation X’s suburban ghost towns and ennui-afflicted folk-heroes. Best Bit: William S. Burroughs makes a fitting cameo as junky clergyman Tom The Priest, who – after a period of bonhomie with a reformed Bob – is gifted the score of his life. La Triviata: Seven years before Trainspotting, Drugstore got into similar strife for its scenes of “instructional drug use”. —34 issue 59—
Van Sant’s defining film, Idaho typified independent cinema’s fixation with anomie, rural surrealism and bleary-eyed waifs. Wholly displaced from the forward momentum of everyday life, Mike roams a nexus between loneliness and existential freedom, at once banal and poetic and evoked with a transportive combination of time-lapse photography, extreme close-ups and sprawling, 35mm wide shots. Refracted through the fuzzy synapses of Mike’s perspective, the dislocated structure abets Idaho’s unparalleled expression of liminality. The two part ways in Rome where Mike’s fits – presaged by home-video memories of his mother – return him to the road in Idaho alone, stranded and asleep. Unlike a conventional road movie in which the protagonists repatriate to normality after a process of self discovery, there is no final destination for Mike, only Idaho. “This road will never end…” he narrates. “It probably goes all around the world.” My Own Private Idaho betokens alt. culture’s brief entry into mainstream America just as vividly as Nevermind, released three weeks later in October 1991. Best Bit: The most peculiarly filmed sex scene in cinema (until Fight Club), Mike and Scott’s threesome is conveyed in what first appears to be still photography, but which is actually a series of held poses. La Triviata: The title was taken from The B-52’s song of the same name.
Good Will Hunting (1997)
Elephant (2003)
Challenging Shawshank and Jerry Maguire for the title of feel-good great of the Nineties, Van Sant saw Good Will Hunting as his contribution to “anonymous community art”. Suppressing his experimental tendencies and aided by Jean-Yves Escoffier’s autumnal lensing, no one could have predicted how intuitively Van Sant would craft the kind of Hollywood all-rounder that verges on story-telling perfection, urging you to involve your friends and family in an uncomfortably protracted group hug. The story is of troubled blue-collar genius Matt Damon’s Will (another of Van Sant’s lost boys) and widowed psychiatrist Sean (a neverbetter Robin Williams), tasked with thwarting Will’s path of self-destruction. If that all sounds a little Hallmark for you, the threat of schmaltzy insincerity is eradicated by a down-to-earth script, sold by a gallery of pitch-perfect performances. Mainstream drama has rarely since been as rich and rewarding. Portlandian Elliott Smith populated the soundtrack, cutting a lonely figure onstage at the Oscars in the most uncomfortably sincere performance the ceremony has ever entertained.
As with Van Sant’s Last Days, Elephant is a stark, impressionistic reconstruction of a hysterically reported media event; in this case, Columbine. A self-contained world, the school is made wholly three-dimensional with arterial tracking shots, so much so that by the time the boys (Eric and Alex) undertake their miserably banal rampage, these somnambulant odysseys, filmed in an oppressive 1:33 aspect ratio, have built such a vivid impression of the school’s schematics, and furthermore the location of the various characters within that matrix, that the shootings become queasily close at hand.
Best Bit: Dawn breaks as Will and friends drive home from their night out. Van Sant matches the mood with Smith’s quietly devastating ‘No Name #3’, to divine effect. La Triviata: Sean’s story about his beloved wife’s flatulence was improvised and Matt Damon isn’t the only one corpsing, with the frame trembling as the camera operator loses it.
Best Bit: In a scene replayed a second time from a diametric perspective, the camera passes the killers as they near the school. They address the character Van Sant has been tracking, warning him to "get the fuck out and don't come back." La Triviata: The title was taken from Alan Clarke’s acclaimed film about violence in Northern Ireland.
Bullying, gun culture, violent video games; Elephant alludes to very nearly all the common theories as to why American teens resort to mass murder. What most consistently emerges, however, is the dull drift of alienation. On the morning of the massacre, Eric tells Alex that he’s never kissed anyone before and they have an exchange in the shower, in a mundanelylit, static long shot that frames them in their mutual isolation. Ultimately though, the climate of atomisation is conveyed most potently not in the lonely ways of the killers, but in a scene in which nerdy-girl archetype Michelle crosses a deserted gymnasium.
Paranoid Park (2007) You wonder why it took until Paranoid Park for Van Sant to make a rites-of-passage film. Coming to terms with his part in a horrific tragedy, skater teen Gabe relays the events in jumbled succession. Typically of the director, it’s a solipsistic, vague and weightless depiction of childhood at its end. As cinematographer Christopher Doyle vapour-trails the polyurethane poetry in Super-8, Van Sant captures Gabe as he sits on the lip of the ramps and the cusp of adulthood, unsure whether to drop in. He tells his friend he isn’t ready for Paranoid Park, to which his friend replies: “Yeah, but no-one’s ever really ready for Paranoid Park.” It’s been widely speculated that the film also presents a portrait of burgeoning homosexuality, with the graphic death scene at its centre symbolising the alien trauma of Gabe’s first gay experience. There are the lingering shots of Gabe’s friend as Gabe seems to peer at him with curiosity and tentative lust, the hint of sexual danger when he’s befriended by an older teenager at the titular skate park, and so on. After the pivotal event, he removes his clothes, followed by a protracted shower scene in which he seems to retreat into himself with shame. As he loses his virginity to his girlfriend, Van Sant's deft composition creates the effect that Gabe feels nothing.
Guided By Choices: The Au Defence There are the also-rans – Van Sant’s debut Mala Noche, his most recent (and disappointingly conventional) Milk and the deliciously caustic neonoir To Die For. Then there are the mis-steps – Even Cowgirls Get The Blues, the Psycho remake – and of course the stinker (hey, even Spielberg has Hook) – the Good Will-a-like Finding Forrester. But Gerry and Last Days were the most difficult to purge from a starter-pack for curious Van Sant virgins (a new generation of mid-adolescent Idaho fans will have come of age, born after it was made). Two reasons: primarily because, out of the losing contenders, both expand on the auteur’s signature themes, but also, whilst many condemned them as faux-artistic twaddle, there is much to recommend of both films – bookends to his so-called ‘Death Trilogy’. From Gerry, the tracking shot of the car with Arvo Part’s ‘Spiegel Im Spiegel’ played almost in its eight-minute entirety is one such jewel. It’s as awe-inspiring an opening as any in cinema history, recalling Kubrick’s ominous approach to the Overlook Hotel.
Best Bit: Gabe’s journey through the school corridor slomos to a virtual standstill to Elliott Smith’s 'The White Lady Loves You More'. La Triviata: The young, untrained cast was entirely recruited through MySpace.
—35 AU Magazine—
Rewind
Classic Album - The Slits - Cut (1979)
Classic Album The Slits – Cut (1979) —“Silence is a rhythm too!” exclaims vocalist Ari Up, and it’s hard not to believe her. Behind her, all manner of sound and fury crashes into itself, and sound becomes a blank canvas upon which these ‘typical girls’ spill their imaginations. Apparently the beauty of punk was that anyone could do it. The Slits showed that not everyone should do it. Words by Steven Rainey Illustration by Elissa Parente
—36 issue 59—
When punk exploded in London in the mid-Seventies, its impact was seismic, hordes of discontented, alienated kids flocking together to this banner of… what, exactly? For some, like Johnny Rotten, it was about anarchy and destruction of the old order. For others like the idealistic Joe Strummer, it was a chance to express his beliefs, and to try and effect real change. For others, like The Damned’s Captain Sensible, it was the foot in a door that would otherwise have remained forever closed. With people tearing up the rulebook, it becomes increasingly difficult to pin-point exactly what one means when we say ‘punk’, and perhaps no group typifies this more than The Slits. Their debut album, Cut, remains a masterpiece, perhaps one of the finest albums ever to come out of punk, but it is hardly typical of what one would expect ‘punk rock’ to sound like. Crashing reggae rhythms, jagged guitars, throbbing bass, and wild vocalisations, this is the sound of creativity gone wild. And whilst it might not be typical of a generic ‘punk’ sound, The Slits’ punk rock credentials are beyond reproach. Initially, punk was a very London-centric movement, centered on a small nucleus of people all looking for a way out. Founder members Ari Up and Palmolive were right at the heart of this, forming connections from the very beginning with some of the people who would come to define this decade. Indeed, several of the band were in the near mythical band, The Flowers of Romance, fronted by the young Sid Vicious before he joined the Sex Pistols. But whilst projects like The Flowers of Romance remained in the realm of the imaginary, The Slits emerged in 1976 as something wholly unique – a radical slap in the face to anyone who scorned punk as just re-hashed old rock and roll riffs. The striking presence of this initially all-female band was enough to be shocking in the male dominated London punk scene, but that’s before one hears the music. Erupting with ideas, all of which are pulling in different directions, the music initially sounds like a complete mess, an easy justification of the ‘amateur’ tag so often labelled at the punks. But upon closer inspection, the complexities and subtleties of the music were quick to reveal themselves. Coupled to this was an uncompromising performance manner, which found the girls quite prepared to give as much back as they got from the frequently hostile punk audiences.
When Cut arrived in September 1979, it was – and remains – a revelation. Dub reggae is the most prominent reference point, but even that is subsumed within waves of sound and noise. The songs deal with sexism and a girl’s place in society, disapproval of drug use, punk machismo, and having fun. Having lots of fun. It’s an oft-repeated point, but for all the radical nature and intellectual back-bone presented here, Cut is still loads of fun to listen to, full of memorable moments, humour, and excitement. Part of the key to the album’s success is that it reminds us that the avant-garde can still be fun. Coupled to this notion is the idea that the avant-garde can be tackled by anyone, musical ability not being an essential. For The Slits, creativity is the key, and they attempted to interpret their ideas as best they could, with limited means. To describe them as virtuoso musicians would be a stretch of the imagination, but so fuelled by artistic possibilities were they that this didn’t stand in the way of them capturing their vision with 100% conviction. In spite of all its radical musical departures, perhaps the most enduring aspect of Cut is in the inspiration it provided to a whole generation of aspiring female musicians, and how it cemented the patronising but necessary idea that female musicians were to be taken seriously. The Seventies was still a time of Neanderthal sexism, where female musicians – regardless of their talent or ability – were categorised as either the sultry sex-kitten, or the sensitive folk singer. The Slits were neither and broke down the barriers in a way no-one had done before. After the release of this album, women were free to make whatever sound they wanted to, casting away any suffocating stereotypes. It’s telling that a high percentage of the most accomplished postpunk music was made by women, rarely fitting into any specific category. For a long time, women were at the vanguard of new music, whilst many of their male counterparts busied themselves with reverting to a primitive state, churning out album after album of Oi! punk, with diminishing returns. Cut opened the door to a new world for female musicians, encouraging them not to be treated as ‘female’ musicians, but simply as ‘musicians’. 30 years later, it remains an essential text, providing us with a lesson that is not only valuable to learn, but insanely fun.
—37 AU Magazine—
—38 issue 59—
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The Ayes Have It The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have sold a million records, headlined Lollapalooza and hung out with Scarlett Johansson… But the surest sign of global superstardom is when you start checking into hotels under assumed names. AU caught up with ‘Johnny LaGuardia’ – better known as impossibly skinny, heroically bouffanted guitarist Nick Zinner – to find out about illegal downloading, DIY and how the last time they came to Ireland they very nearly didn’t make it out alive… Words by Andrew Johnston
The Ayes Have It Our interview with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs gets off to a shaky start. The New York City trio are on tour in Canada and have booked into their Toronto hotel under assumed names. Drummer Brian Chase is ‘Bobby Ganoush’, guitarist Nick Zinner is ‘Johnny LaGuardia’ and enigmatic singer Karen O is… well, no one is sure who or where Karen O might be. After a bit of accentrelated back-and-forth, the hotel receptionist finally connects us with Nick’s – sorry, Johnny’s – room, and we ask him about the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ imminent Belfast debut at St George’s Market. “We’re really, really, really excited to come,” he gushes, after chuckling his be-quiffed head off about our apparently impenetrable Ulster brogue. “It’s going to be a great night. We’ve never been up there before but we’ve always been so close. It seems like it’s time we got there. The people deserve a Yeah Yeah Yeahs show.” The group’s previous Irish gig was at this summer’s Oxegen festival in Co Kildare, where their main stage appearance was greeted with a torrential downpour that threatened to turn their set into an electric shock-riddled nightmare. “It was definitely memorable,” laughs Nick. “I have to say, it was one of the most intense experiences of my life as a member of a band and a performer and a musician. We were literally rained on for almost all of the set and I had just never seen anything like it. It’s definitely a thrill when half of you is thinking that you’re going to be electrocuted and die at any second and the other half is just really in the moment and excited. It was pretty intense up in my little brain.” The Oxegen escapade followed on from the band’s appearance at 2006’s Electric Picnic in Co Laois and shows in Limerick and Dublin much earlier in their career. “Limerick – ‘Stab City’,” reminisces Nick. We point out that if Limerick is famous for knives, then Belfast could arguably be nicknamed ‘Bomb City’. He laughs. Nervously. By the time you read this, the St George’s Market show will have been and gone, another successful stop on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ ongoing world tour to promote their third album, the exciting and bombastic It’s Blitz!. The record was rush-released in March after an online leak put it into some unscrupulous fans’ hands for free. AU asks Nick if this kind of thing pisses him off. “You know, it does when it’s happening,” he sighs. “I don’t know if it’s outright anger, or maybe, like, passing resentment and then, ultimately, surrender.” One positive side effect of the digital leak is that fans have been singing along with the new songs since the very first show of the tour. “They know all the words and are really excited by the music,” says Nick. “Ultimately, that’s what we want – to have what we’re doing reach people.” Still, all this file-sharing malarkey hurts sales and has the potential to derail a band’s career. Nick: “On one hand, there’s absolutely nothing we can do about it, and then on the other hand a lot of people get to hear our music, which is ultimately what we want anyway. I think it balances itself out in the end. It kind of gets taken out of your hands. It’s definitely a disappointment – more so when it happens so early. We all knew it would happen, but we didn’t think it would be two months before the record was supposed to come out. Now, six months later, it’s not really an issue.” We mention a recent blog by Nine Inch Nails leader Trent Reznor in which he said that new bands should forget about selling their music and simply give it away for free on the Internet. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist – who came up through New York’s tough DIY punk scene – agrees, and says: “It’s a super-exciting time for new bands. Now, you can do absolutely everything yourself. That’s how a lot of punk rock bands that people still wear patches of and write on their jackets got started anyways. In a lot of ways, it’s full circle.” He concedes that for some acts it can be useful to have a label behind them. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, for instance, are signed to Geffen offshoot Interscope, which isn’t exactly a flog-the-records-out-the-back-of-the-van affair. But Nick believes the most important thing for all musicians is “to be in control of what you’re doing and to not have your message or your passion diluted. For a lot of bands, —39 AU Magazine—
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The Ayes Have It
It’s not really pop, it’s not really punk – it’s not really one thing. I’m sure if we tried to dissect it, it would work against it. We’re a weird band.
it really makes sense to have a machine in power behind you. That can be great, but it’s entirely possible to do everything yourself – at least up to a point where you can decide if you want to work with a label or not.” Industry headaches aside, It’s Blitz! finds the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in maturation mode. The three-piece are still dealing in the dancefloor-friendly post-punk that is their trademark, but with bigger hooks and more edge. “It’s amazing that we could take this different direction on this record and have the reaction be so overwhelmingly positive,” says Nick. “We’re incredibly happy about that.” The album – which has already sold more than 60,000 copies in the UK and is on its way to going gold in America – has been almost universally well received. The worst review AU can dig up is a two-and-a-half-star job on the Tiny Mix Tapes webzine that describes It’s Blitz! as “half of a great record”. Nevertheless, despite their status as press darlings, Nick chooses not to read reviews. He says: “I tried to log out of the Internet world – especially the Yeah Yeah Yeahs Internet world – before the record came out, but I know there are bad reviews out there on message boards and blogs.” As with many other acts, good reviews and strong sales don’t cut it alone any more and the band have been on the road for much of 2009, with plenty more slog to come. The gig immediately prior to Belfast is a headlining slot at Lollapalooza, where the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have been booked to replace an illness-stricken Beastie Boys, whose MCA is being treated for cancer. “We’re incredibly honoured to be asked to take that slot,” comments Nick, “but no one can replace the Beastie Boys or fill those shoes. We’re trying to look at it as being thankful for the opportunity to play there. We’re just going to have an amazing time, put on a great show and send all our thoughts and love to MCA and the Beasties.” After Lollapalooza, the group will hit festival stages in Reading, Leeds and Paris. In fact, Belfast is the only club show on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ summer European tour – that is, if you can call the 3,000-capacity St George’s Market a ‘club’. Does this mean Northern Ireland fans are getting a special, extended performance? Nick says: “We write the set-list about half an hour or an hour before every show, be it a festival or a club. For the most part, we play a lot of the same songs, but we definitely change it around and pepper it up with a mood that’s suited to that evening.” In addition to the usual European and North American jaunts, the band have also travelled to some more offbeat
—40 issue 59—
places. Nick is especially enthused about their recent visit to China. “That was absolutely incredible,” he says. “We played this three-day indie festival and it was organised in such a way that tickets were really cheap – the equivalent of 20 to 25 dollars for three days. Usually, when bands come to China, tickets are unaffordable by most of the kids – either that or it’s super-underground. But this particular festival was 99 % Chinese and Southeast Asian bands – and us! It was an eye-opening experience to be the Western representatives that were invited over and to see all these amazing bands from all over Asia.” Nick reveals he also encountered first-hand the restrictions that artists in many foreign countries still have to deal with. “It’s crazy,” he says. “Pretty much everything in musical culture that we take for granted is a real fight in China. It seems like things carry so much more weight – even the act of playing in a band, or singing a lyric that’s against the government. These things actually could put you in jail.” Still, it must be gratifying to experience countries and cultures that, if you weren’t a professional musician, might remain alien. “Totally,” agrees Nick. “That’s been one of the biggest rewards for us.” Warming to the theme, the guitarist explains that although the Yeah Yeah Yeahs help to plan out their tours and have the final say on where they’re going to play, some places are still out of their reach. Nick’s own dream spot is the Southeast Asian archipelago of Indonesia. “It’s pretty tricky getting over there,” he says. “But we’re still going to try to do it.” As for New York City, Nick feels that his, Brian’s and Karen’s home city is crucial to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ vibe and sound. “I can definitely say that the Yeah Yeahs could not have existed in any other city or really at any other time,” he proclaims. “There’s just something about the madness and energy and amount of talent and variety of people and cultures there that keeps it feeling like home.” Nick and Brian still live in New York, while Karen – who has been based in Los Angeles for the past few years – is moving back in the near future. The trio have become so respected since bursting onto the scene with 2003’s Fever To Tell that in 2006 they were invited to curate a day of the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival at Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex. “It was so much fun,” remarks Nick, “that we almost didn’t want to play at the end of the night. We got all our friends to come over and play and were so blown away by all these incredible bands. The atmosphere and the
climate and the level of appreciation and the mixture of bands and fans and that sort of crossover in there makes it just so awesome and a really unique event.” Happily, the band are returning to perform at ATP’s 10th anniversary celebrations in December. Outside the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Nick keeps busy with a variety of side projects. He plays guitar in an extreme hardcore punk band with members of The Locust and The Blood Brothers and has collaborated with everyone from Ronnie Spector to Scarlett Johansson. Right now, though, he’s focused on the day job and is finding it hard to check out fresh artists. “Sometimes when I want to find new music it’s totally overwhelming,” he says. “There are so many bands out there I don’t know where to start and have to ask friends.” In the past, Nick has admitted that among his influences are metal acts such as Mötley Crüe and Danzig. It’s this clash of styles and genres that is one of the most fascinating things about the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. They have taken niche sounds like jazz, punk, art-rock and metal to a mass audience. “We were actually just talking about that last night,” says Nick. “I’m not really sure how we’ve done it but we’re so fortunate to be where we are. We have different musical inclinations, but there’s a strange, unspeakable chemistry that enables us to make music that none of us would be able to make on our own. It feels really good, but none of us can put our finger on it. It’s not really pop, it’s not really punk – it’s not really one thing. I’m sure if we tried to dissect it, it would work against it. We’re a weird band.” Indeed, and one of the weirdest things about them is their lack of a bass guitar. We wrap up the interview by asking Nick the age-old, boring question that he must have been asked a thousand times by now – do the Yeah Yeah Yeahs ever miss having a four-string? “You know,” the guitarist drawls, “we actually do have someone [former Slint and Tortoise man, David Pajo] on tour with us helping out with all the additional instrumentation. There are a few songs with bass on them, so, if we want it we can have it. For the most part it’s not there, but when it’s needed it’s ready and willing!” IT’S BLITZ! IS OUT NOW ON POLYDOR WWW.YEAHYEAHYEAHS.COM
—41 AU Magazine—
The Cribs
The Ties That Bind
The Ties that Bind January 2008, and the news that indie guitar icon Johnny Marr is making music with The Cribs is greeted by a dull thud as the music industry’s collective jaw hits the floor in disbelief. 20 months later and the only cause for incredulity is the sheer magnificence of what the quartet have created together. Gary, Ryan and the latest addition to the family, Johnny Marr, talk us through the careerdefining Ignore The Ignorant and explain why they’re bound by a desire to subvert the mainstream. Words by Francis Jones
There is only one factor that causes division in The Cribs’ camp – distance. Today, we will speak to threequarters of the band individually; Ryan in London, Gary and Johnny in Portland, Oregon. Geography aside, in all other regards The Cribs present a united front, bonded in their belief in the redemptive power of music and in their collective enthusiasm for the craft. They also share what Johnny describes as a determination to continue exploring “off the beaten track”, leaving the map at home and disregarding the boundaries of expectation and genre as they venture wherever their love of music compels them. There is much to talk about, but one question that demands to be asked first… So Johnny, just how did you come to be a fully paidup, card-carrying member of The Cribs? The revered guitarist replies with a succinct, one word answer: “Destiny.” Brilliantly, Ryan will later dispel any sense of romance by describing the circumstances in which Marr joined the band in gloriously matter-of-fact detail. “I was in a commercial park in the middle of nowhere – I can’t even remember what city I was in – but I was in a pizza shop and Gary sent me a text to say that he’d met Johnny Marr in Portland. I was really buzzing, because I had always been a fan of The Smiths and especially Johnny’s guitar playing. Then I met him in Glastonbury in 2007 and he was just really nice. Next time I saw him was at the Q Awards and I got kinda drunk – I just feel pretty stupid being at awards ceremonies. I got talking to him and asked him if he’d like to write some songs and he went, ‘Yeah, alright’.” And so, at the beginning of 2008, the three Jarman brothers found themselves in a Manchester rehearsal room, idly jamming with Johnny Marr. “We weren’t planning on it leading anywhere,” recalls Ryan. “We thought, ‘Well, maybe we’ll release a single’. We wrote four songs in four days and thought, ‘Well, we can’t stop now’. There were obviously loads more songs to write. And after a bit he [Marr] just said, ‘I can teach you all my guitar parts in case you want to play them live, or want to get someone else in’. And we were like, ‘No, of course we don’t want to get anyone else in’. And he was like, ‘Well, if you don’t want to get anyone else in, then I don’t want to be in any other band’. And then we were all like, ‘Alright, fine’. It was after dinner at Johnny’s house that we made it official. It was all very casual. Maybe we were being a bit presumptuous, but once we started playing together, we understood – ‘Johnny’s part —42 issue 59—
of the band now’. We didn’t even need to say anything to each other, it just felt right.” As Ryan argues, what was truly serendipitous was not that Marr joined The Cribs, but when he joined The Cribs. Fate propelled him into the Wakefield band’s orbit at just the right moment, at a time when they felt compelled to shake themselves out of the creatively suffocating grip of routine. “Johnny has a lot of the same principles that we do. It’s good that he thinks the same as us and that he holds a lot of the same opinions. That’s reinvigorated us. We’d become very comfortable as a three-piece. As soon as you become very comfortable, you need to do something to throw things into disarray. Bringing in someone else was the perfect way of doing that. As a band we always do things on our own, we never look to court people’s favour, like radio. Having someone else come in who felt like that [too] has made us feel more unified than ever.” Still, as Gary admits, the band were initially worried that critics would fixate on Johnny’s presence and not judge their work together for what it is, the product of a seamlessly integrated and cohesively functioning unit. “It’s true. I think it concerned Johnny and it concerned us. I don’t want to downplay anyone, y’know, but the bottom line is that The Cribs would have done something a bit different anyway. Obviously, with Johnny coming on board, he influenced a part of every song that was written, but we had definitely wanted to take it in a different direction in any case. I wouldn’t want people to attribute that change in direction solely to Johnny, but obviously he was such a core part of our sound as a four-piece that the band wouldn’t have been the same without him. I’d rather nobody got special treatment; I don’t want anyone to get overlooked, or anyone to be done a disservice.” The imminent release of a new album is apt to trigger a mild panic attack in most musicians. Not so The Cribs. For them, there is an overriding sense of relief that Ignore The Ignorant is about to be loosed into the wider world. As Johnny explains, the album’s release will mark the end of a year-and-a-half of “conceptualising” and move the story on from what is – for its protagonists at least – an already tired narrative and shift focus back to what’s truly important, the music. “My being in the band is just a story; an interesting story, yes, and we understand that,” acknowledges Johnny, “but
it stops being conceptual once people hear [Ignore The Ignorant] and that’s what music’s for, innit, for people to hear. It only takes 10 seconds to realise that it sounds like a group and that you can hear all four members.” Blood may bind the three Jarman brothers, but it is something deeper, something more profound that unites them and Marr. Ingrained at some molecular level, the four share a belief in the power of music that is touchingly pure. “It’s funny,” begins Gary, “but you know the way that you felt as a kid when you would finally be able to buy a certain record you’d been waiting for, or how you would learn to draw band logos and write them on your schoolbag? Well, that’s all that Johnny and me seem to talk about. All these little things, that’s what excites us the most. Obviously, the band have got some strong values and that’s sometimes dogged us a little bit, we’ve probably rubbed some people up the wrong way and sabotaged some of our bigger opportunities to break into the mainstream. But, the band has always taken pride in the fact that we had something of a cult following and it’s funny, talking to Johnny, he’s so excited about those things also.” “None of the band are cynical about what pop music can do,” affirms Johnny. “None of us are casual about it. You can’t expect people to talk about you on the school bus and write your name on their school books and single out your band with passion unless you are passionate about what you like and try to do. It’s fine to just be an entertainer and just be kind of professional about it, but that’s not simply what we do. All the band have a passion for, and ideals about, music. We know we’re not doing the job of a nurse, or a fireman, say. But, with all respect to firemen, ever since I was a little kid, it has been music that has got me through life. I get things from music that I can’t get from other art forms, there are so many aspects – it’s a communal experience, it affects the way you think, it can dictate the way you dress and it can take you back to a certain time. I don’t get that from painting. I’ve made so many friends because of a shared interest in types of music. That’s something I get from The Cribs. First and foremost, before we plugged in, we started hanging out together because of a shared ideology.” Some fans had feared that the ‘been there, done it’ Marr might lay his hand on the tiller of the good ship Cribs and navigate the group away from the thrillingly stormy high
"As soon as you become very comfortable, you need to do something to throw things into disarray. Bringing in someone else was the perfect way of doing that."
—43 AU Magazine—
"Johnny provokes us to be more bloody-minded than we ever were in the past"
—44 issue 59—
—45 AU Magazine—
The Cribs
We have nothing in common with a lot of these skinny, 18year-old, hip kids from London, who just want to be famous
The Ties That Bind
seas they’d sailed before and towards the relatively placid waters of the mainstream. However, as Ryan relates, the reality could not have been more different. “In some ways, Johnny provokes us to be more bloody-minded than we ever were in the past. I expected that he might be a bit of a calming influence on the band, but he most definitely isn’t.” Asked what he brings to the band that wasn’t there before and the ever-modest Marr states simply, “My guitar playing, really. Ultimately, that’s what it all comes back to.” Moving the focus of the conversation away from himself, he prefers to highlight what he’s learned from the others. “That you can be great in any era. The Cribs would have been a great band at any time. Gary’s a really great musician. That’s really good to be around, he’s just a really natural songwriter. Ryan’s really poetic, more so than people give him credit for. Ross is a really great band person, he’s always thinking about the fans, he’s very creative, having ideas for releases, how the band should be presented, everything from putting the set lists together to mastering a live record. Again, it’s that DIY thing. They have all these individual qualities, but work so well as a team. I kind of learn lots of different things from them on an almost daily basis.” The process of learning has been a two way street. Ryan admits that he thinks about his riffs “a lot more” and that Johnny provides “a lot of really good and valid musical ideas, all the time. It’s good for us and provides that jumping-off point – he’ll be playing something and then we can write a song around it.” Certainly having Marr onboard has broadened horizons, providing the basis for what he calls their guitar-based, “full-on, twin ear assault” and allowing the band to explore oceans of sound that they couldn’t have contemplated as a three-piece.
—46 issue 59—
“It can be difficult to generate the power out of the three instruments, it takes a lot of energy to do that,” muses Gary. “Johnny gave us the space to explore other ideas, the more romantic aspects of the band, because we didn’t have to rely on just the three of us to generate the power any more. It allows us to be more expansive.” Browse through the early reviews of Ignore The Ignorant and you’ll see that much has been made of the politically engaged content of the record. The Cribs are, of course, an astute and socially switched-on band, but more than anything this is a record that is wreathed in romance, one whose hallmark is emotional honesty. “I want there to be a sense of romance to everything we do,” asserts Ryan, “and we have always tried to be a conscientious band. For example, on the last record [2007’s Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever], dealing with gender issues. On this album, it’s more about selfcritique and being self-conscious. It’s not something that we’d planned, though. It’s just the way that we are. But I’m glad that people get that from our music. The bands I’ve always liked have those qualities.” Gary, too, talks of a shift in emphasis with this album, moving on somewhat from the overtly confrontational material that was evident on each of the three previous records towards more contemplative subject matter. “It’s about trying to be as open and sincere as possible,” he suggests. “I didn’t want to address anything too specific, just to be honest about some of the things I think about. All my lyrics would be personal rather than political. It’s quite a subtle thing and you don’t want to ram it down anyone’s throat, otherwise you end up sounding really hackneyed, or really pretentious. The only agenda I had was that I didn’t want to look back and think, ‘Why was
We know we’re not doing the job of a nurse, or a fireman, say. But, with all respect to firemen, ever since I was a little kid, it has been music that has got me through life.
T S A C POD
Hello. The AU Podcast is on a roll. For the latest instalment we have Francis Jones riffing about The Cribs, an exlusive acoustic session from Calories, music from The Big Pink, Vitalic and more, plus a few extra goodies thrown in too. It will be available to download from Monday, September 14 via www.iheartau.com.
I so shy?’ Even if I just stick things down and feel stupid, I’d rather do that and just be honest than try and be cool. Trying to be cool, what’s the point? It’s just vacuous and people are tired of stuff like that. I’ve never felt like a cool person.” Long-time fans of the band may fear that talk of a more expansive sound, of greater emotional honestly and romantic intent equates to a quelling of The Crib’s punk-rock instincts and feistiness, but the dismissive way in which Gary spits the word “cool” suggests not. The band continue to despise the hipper-thanthou brigade and those who consider conforming to fleeting trends a higher prize than enduring honesty. “We’ve been painted as having an outsider mentality, but it’s simply because we have nothing in common with a lot of these skinny, 18-year-old, hip kids from London, who just want to be famous,” reasons Gary. “We just had nothing in common with these people. We were in our twenties, from the north, with no concept of what’s hip and what’s not. We’ve been careful to keep our distance from all these scenes. Rather then ride these bandwagons, which would have been the easier route, we spurned them at every possible opportunity. A lot of people thought that was dogma on our part, but it wasn’t. We just didn’t feel any affinity with those bands and scenes and we’ve ridden a lot of them out.” Ryan is of a similar mind but, conscious of the band’s outspoken reputation, is reluctant to say too much about his contemporaries, save that, “I think that British guitar music is on the wane but, of late, indie music, in particular, is a lot worse. Everything’s going the way of really produced electro-pop, the kinda stuff you got in the late Nineties, which was terrible. People always see our band as complaining about other groups and their music, but I just think it’s a bit crap, that’s all. I just don’t like what’s going on at the minute, definitely not. I think it’s got even worse, but if I talk about it then people will just go, ‘There they go again, mouthing off about how shit other bands are’.” For Johnny, the band’s refusal to be prodded into action by fashion’s fickle finger is a great virtue. “If you’re not careful you can just start designing your band and designing
your career. It seems like you’re making moves. You start making bespoke music to fit your image. One of the things that I’ve got in common with The Cribs is in being willing to take risks and react on instinct. The band have done that throughout their career and I’ve always done that and, especially, since I’ve gone out on my own. Even if you get it wrong, at least you’ve still got your own integrity.” That willingness to “take risks and react on instinct” was essential to the creation of Ignore The Ignorant, an album that Gary and Ryan – pride instilling a ticklish tremor in their voices – describe as their best to date, another milestone in the ever upwards and forwards progression of the band and the pinnacle of what they currently feel capable of achieving. The high regard in which the brothers hold the record is, to these ears, well justified. Given his decorated musical past, not least those seminal albums he created in The Smiths, Johnny’s verdict on his first full-length creation with The Cribs is also telling. “I think it’s as good as anything I’ve done. Definitely. The whole process felt inspired right from the first five seconds that we started playing together. I like to let inspiration in, to let it physically kind of lead me. In the past that’s puzzled people, but I have to go with that instinct. I think you can hear that on this record. Collectively, we all just trusted that instinct. That was regardless of whether I’d just joined the band, or been with them for five years. We just started making this record and there was this spark to it and we followed it through bleak freezing nights in the north of England through more bleak freezing nights in Oregon City, to sound checks in Mexico City. We just followed this spark, trying to keep it alive and not analyse it too much. We just got led by that spark of inspiration – hopefully that’ll always be there for the group and we’ll just keep following it.”
Pretty tasty.
VT AL IC
TH E B IG P IN K
IGNORE THE IGNORANT IS OUT ON WICHITA ON SEPTEMBER 9 THE CRIBS PLAY THE MANDELA HALL, BELFAST ON SEPTEMBER 22 WWW.THECRIBS.COM
TH E CR IB S
—47 AU Magazine—
to be called narcissistic and decadent is far better than being compared to the Housemartins.
Where The Wild Things Are
—48 issue 59—
Wild Beasts
Where The Wild Things Are
—Wild Beasts have come in from the woods, and become domesticated. From the opening slinky tones of lead single ‘Hooting And Howling’, a different class of Beast emerges. Gone are the manic squawks and turns of whimsy that gave their debut Limbo Panto its mercurial, schizophonic character. Instead, Two Dancers is sleek, mysterious and velvety: a grown-up record. The group have grown up too, or so lead singer Hayden Thorpe would have AU believe. Words by Ailbhe Malone For a start, they’ve gotten better at dealing with attention from the press. “I think we’ve gotten better at doing interviews. The first time round, I had a hell of a lot to get off my chest. [Limbo Panto] was five years in the making, and we were a bit naive about what to say, and what not to say. They probably made for quite good interviews.” Mind you, they’ve had plenty of practice. Formed in the Cumbrian town of Kendal in 2002, Wild Beasts immediately leapt onto the ‘One to Watch’ lists. The Guardian’s new music blog touted them as “the best New Band Of The Day since White Rabbits or Fleet Foxes”, while their blend of panto-opera-pop (pantoppop?) both divided critics and garnered them fans in the strangest of places. One such unlikely fan is Dave. For those unfamiliar with the UK-based TV station, its schedule consists mainly of blokey favourites such as Top Gear, Red Dwarf and situations in which one’s survival is tested to the EXTREME. Odd then, to see Kevin Day from Dave, chino-clad, interviewing and propounding the skinny-jeaned and pencil-moustached foursome. Hayden, however, is quite pleased to count Dave viewers in their fanbase. “It’s important that things are turned on their head a little bit. I kind of like the fact that we are maybe put in situations in which we don’t belong. It makes people question things.” Though their public image is that of being erudite and slightly ‘above’ their indie peers – co-vocalist Tom Fleming says “to be called narcissistic and decadent is far better than being compared to The Housemartins” – the group are oddly normal in person. No capes, only t-shirts. No obscure references, only polite answers. When conversation comes to touring and the festival circuit, Thorpe slips into generic soundbite mode. He is excited to bring new tracks to the fore, and is looking forward to playing in front of a different crowd. “I think the energy of the new songs and the rhythms are naturally really infectious. It’s really nice because we can watch people get energised, and that energises us. It feels great.” And when asked if their new record was named for the wellknown Degas painting, Thorpe replies, “It was sort of a happy coincidence that we noticed afterwards. Maybe from now on we should just say it is.” Wild Beasts’ sound is difficult to pin down. Primarily based on the conflict and harmony between Hayden’s falsetto and Tom Fleming’s lugubrious bass, the former has been the main selling point for critics, and fans. Despite male falsetto being big in pop since someone stood on the collective toes of the brothers Gibb, Thorpe’s voice is the most frequently-mentioned aspect of the group’s sound. Yet, says Thorpe, people forget that Wild Beasts have two vocalists. “I think myself and Tom are a match made in heaven in a way. We naturally complement each other. It adds a diversity to the record, and it has a duality – those two parts of those two voices
– two dancers, you know? We bounce off each other and it makes it easier to listen to.” The group meld pop elements with dramatic shifts in tempo, dynamic and even theme. However, without the swooping, growling vocals, or obscure lyrics, some of their tracks could easily be dismissed as just ‘indie’. The band see themselves in more concrete terms. “We think of ourselves as a pop band in the classic sense. We make three-minute long songs that have a pop structure. You know: verse, chorus, verse, chorus, middle eight, chorus. So we try very hard to make it compact and streamlined.” The ‘science bit’ put to one side, Hayden continues. “I’m still in love with that notion of pop being open to everyone. Anyone can have a go. Pop has also given us everything. It has no boundaries, which is, I suppose, why we like it. We don’t have to say what we are. If we just say we’re pop then it adds a lot of freedom.” However, Limbo Panto was far from most people’s concept of pop – songs ran circles around themselves mid-chorus, and subject themes were at best cryptic, and at worst, opaque. A sample lyric from debut single ‘Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants’ scans as follows: “Swig the bottle, bottle / Slap the face of Aristotle / Race me, race me, race me, race me / In your fourth hand jalopy.” It was an ambitious record in every sense, a mission statement for the group. The second time around, Wild Beasts have calmed down. While aspects of their debut remain, Two Dancers is an easier listening experience in every way. “It was a conscious decision making this record more accessible,” reveals Thorpe. “After the first record we made our statement, our impact, kind of like a manifesto. We wanted to shout from the rooftops that this was something different. I suppose we didn’t have to do that again, and we could all relax a bit into the record. That raw energy had died away a bit, and we could be a bit more composed.” Two Dancers is a big step for the group. Influenced mainly by electronic music (specifically Kate Bush’s Sensual World and Junior Boys’ So This is Goodbye), the band “approached it more as an electronic piece played by humans.” Does this new electronic basis mean that the group would be interested in doing a remix album? Because if so, AU offers, they could call it Wild Beats. Thorpe giggles, clears his throat and replies: “I’m a little bit dubious of remixes, myself. They seem to be a cheap and easy way of eking out a record. We will do remixes on this record, and we’ve done a few remixes of ‘Hooting And Howling’. We’re slowly becoming more open to it. The first record, we wanted to protect our little songs from the outside world.” Thorpe frequently references the insular approach to their debut. In the interim, he appears to have left criticism to one side – he’s stated before that their songs aren’t written with an audience in mind. Rather, they’re
launched into the world, open to all who want them. In a way, this approach is a direct product of Thorpe’s main influence for Limbo, Panto’s follow-up. The ‘raw energy’ needed to form Two Dancers didn’t come from Thorpe directly this time, but from a different source: 17th century French poetry. “I think on this record, the biggest influence for me was Rimbaud. His poetry is translated from French in the 1800s. He was 18, 19. He was a teenager, and was such a ball of energy. He had all this uncontrollable emotion and it just fell out onto the page. He was literally [sic] spilling his guts out.” Rimbaud, during a short and torrid life, died before he was 40, but managed to not only write some of the pioneering poems of the Symbolist movement, but also fit in an affair with older poet Verlaine. What appealed to Thorpe, specifically? “I like the openness, and the ‘say it now, worry about it later’ aspect of it. He says what he feels, and he might have to answer to it later on, but the important thing is to be honest on paper.” French Symbolist Poetry isn’t typical pop song fodder, unless you’re Rufus Wainwright. Nor, to return to an earlier point re: Dave, is it an accessible starting point for the average listener. That shouldn’t be a problem though, according to Thorpe. In fact, it’s something that should be explored further. As an all-male group, composing songs about the modern male experience, Wild Beasts feel compelled to offer an alternative viewpoint, one that embraces if not sensitivity, then certainly vulnerability. “There’s a very stereotypical male viewpoint in music. There’s a lot of bravado in a way, you know. It’s quite aggressive. I think that we try to be in a different headspace. There’s that vulnerable side, there’s a soft part beneath the armour, you know. I suppose we try and unpick those aspects of the male character.” Thorpe is then quick to add that “we confront that sort of blokeyness. In a way, we don’t feel better or too different from a male sort of testosterone-filled-music. I think it’s a different aspect of it.” ‘Viewing and expressing the ordinary through abstract eyes’, could be a quick way to paraphrase Wild Beast’s appeal. But perhaps a better idea is to look to the founders of Fauvism – the movement that gave the group their name. Fauvism was a form of Post-Impressionism that favoured style over realism. In 1888 Gauguin said to Paul Sérusier, “How do you see these trees? They are yellow. So, put in yellow; this shadow, rather blue, paint it with pure ultramarine; these red leaves? Put in vermilion.” Voicing the banal with the colours of the sublime, Wild Beasts aren’t just making music: they’re creating art. TWO DANCERS IS OUT NOW ON DOMINO RECORDS. WWW.WILD-BEASTS.CO.UK
—49 AU Magazine—
The Bug
Beastie Boy
An uncompromising, underground hero for nearly 20 years, Kevin Martin found a new audience when 2008’s London Zoo album was showered with critical bouquets. Now, ahead of what promise to be two seismic shows in Belfast and Dublin, the digital dancehall pioneer gives AU an insight into what makes him tick. Words by Chris Jones “It’s not easy listening, it’s not a smooth, segued disco set – it’s fucking all over the shop. It’s meant to be confrontational but it’s meant to be physical and it’s meant to be enjoyable.”
didn’t want to play Ja-fake-an [sic] music – I wanted to try and find a sound for myself which was indebted to my own personal roots. That was what I wanted with The Bug – to make very heavy dancehall that was modern.”
So says Kevin Martin of the Bug live experience, which he brings to Belfast and Dublin this month. For the trip from his London base, Martin’s digital dancehall beats, depth charge bass and sonic chaos will be fighting for supremacy with rapid-fire ragga MC Daddy Freddy, and it promises to be loud, punishing and intense. But then intensity has always been Martin’s watchword. He’s spent the last two decades as a musician exploring extremes of noise, creativity and experimentation, forging a reputation as one of the UK’s foremost underground auteurs in a variety of genres. And although he has committed time and energy to a blend of free jazz and noise with first band God, hip-hop and soundscapes with Techno Animal and now industrial strength dancehall tinged with dub and grime as The Bug – to name three of his many projects – Martin is able to elucidate the common impulse that has driven him from his very earliest days.
Of course, dancehall is a niche genre in these islands and therefore often subject to preconceptions drawn from the outrage its lyrical content can attract. Martin mentions at one point in our conversation that there are aspects of the genre that he “wasn’t keen on”, so it seems fair to ask his views on the genre’s reputation for violence, sexism and homophobia. As it turns out, he’s referring to a lack of basslines and the “cheesy” nature of some traditional dancehall, not the lyrics.
“My post-punk background continues to influence everything I’ve been involved in,” he says in a West Country burr little polished by years in the capital. “Growing up as a kid, I was really inspired by the likes of Joy Division, The Birthday Party, 23 Skidoo, Throbbing Gristle – a lot of very interesting music that fused lots of different styles and took delight in being original and individual. The musical time that I grew up in was one of experimentation and trying to find fresh sounds and fresh ideas and doing something political – in the broad sense, not in the soapbox sense – and independent.” Martin continues to dabble in side-projects (namely King Midas Sound and Cult Of The 13th Hour, collaborations with spoken word artists/MCs Roger Robinson and The Spaceape respectively), but his main focus for most of this decade has been The Bug. The first release under that name was 1997’s Tapping The Conversation, an experimental, unofficial soundtrack for the 1974 Francis Ford Coppola film The Conversation, but The Bug proper began with 2003’s Pressure. Last year, the third Bug album London Zoo blew up off the back of two fearsome singles, ‘Skeng’ and ‘Poison Dart’, and ecstatic reviews everywhere you looked – the album was 2008’s best received, according to review aggregator Metacritic.com. To go back to the beginning, though, the project was born of a new passion. “I was obsessed by dancehall and ragga,” he says. “I was hooked on buying seven inches from Jamaica, and I thought there was room for an electronic form of dancehall that was intense, confrontational, frictional and just in-your-face, really. I didn’t want to just fake it – I
“So often, dancehall and hip-hop are scapegoats for crimes that are committed in every other area of music,” he argues. “For some reason, probably because it’s black music, it’s an easy target. I steer clear of homophobic lyrics in The Bug tunes, but the idea of misanthropic, anti-social violence? Yeah, that’s alright for me, I don’t mind that being raised as an issue or an emotion. It’s very much part of where I come from musically, which is music as a catalyst for emotion, and a soundtrack to change. To me, that was a really important part of post-punk music and I see it echoed in dancehall.” The Bug, then, is music with fire in its belly. Both Pressure and London Zoo are all-out assaults on the ears and mind, particularly the latter with its abrasively articulated 21st century nihilism, exploring Martin’s love/ hate relationship with the city that’s been his home for most of his adult life. “London’s an amazing city if you can afford to take advantage of what it’s got to offer,” he says, “but if you can’t it’ll just torture you day in, day out.” It’s also the city that spawned dubstep, a genre that Martin has in recent years become popularly associated with. It’s no mystery why, as London Zoo featured tracks that share some of the same rhythmic and bass-driven DNA as dubstep, just as the genre was going overground. However, Martin is keen to distance himself from it, decrying the current scene. “I feel very separate from it,” he says. “I like music within that scene, and for sure at first there was a lot of really interesting music within dubstep. But for me, London Zoo is just an extension of what I was already doing with Pressure, before dubstep. I don’t in any way, shape or means want to accept any responsibility at all for dubstep. Those people on that scene, apart from [Hyperdub label boss and leading producer in his own right] Kode9, had no idea who I was. It was just coincidental that they were interested in doing similar things with sound as what we were doing with Techno Animal and maybe Mick Harris was doing with Scorn. Personally, I feel it peaked two years ago as a genre and it’s got really predictable now
and primarily very boring, but there’s been some amazing music made within dubstep.” He goes further, arguing that it’s not just dubstep that’s had its day, but much of modern music. Not that Martin comes across as the kind of guy to stick his head in the sand – the thrilling, forward-thinking music he’s making with The Bug should be proof of that – but he isn’t happy with what he’s hearing. “What I miss about music, particularly at the moment when so much music is really vacuous, is a reason for it to exist,” he says. “The genres I normally look to have been really disappointing in the last couple of years. I like to be inspired by music. I like to have music around me that’s making me work harder, and at the moment I’m finding it difficult. I’ve been talking to friends in recent months about it, and I can’t remember a time when it’s seemed so barren. I always like to look to the next thing and be inspired by new experiments in music, but everything seems to be going backwards. It’s like, fuck that.” Martin’s ears remain open, and he speaks passionately about doom metal bands Corrupted and Thorr’s Hammer (“fucking intense and belligerent and heavy as hell”) as well as avant-garde hip-hop producer Flying Lotus (“fucking incredible”), but it seems he craves a scene to get his teeth into, in the same way that dancehall fired his synapses and inspired The Bug. “There are always going to be minor things,” he allows, “but it’s nice if there is a cluster or a group of new explosions of ideas, and at the moment that just doesn’t seem to be happening as much.” With Kevin Martin, a burning intensity is ever-present. It’s in The Bug, it’s in his musical tastes and it drives everything he does. It’s even in how he speaks – quickly, confidently and at length. And as he makes a passionate call-to-arms of his fellow musicians, it’s pretty obvious that he is willing to carry the fight. “A lot of the music that I told you about that I grew up on, there’s a really fierce anti-control, anti-system, anti-apathy approach or mindset which for me is still very much part of how I feel. You know, question everything – the purpose of everything, the structure of everything. And, for me, that’s becoming rare at the moment.”
THE BUG AND DADDY FREDDY PLAY THE TWISTED PEPPER, DUBLIN ON SEPTEMBER 18 AND THE BLACK BOX, BELFAST ON SEPTEMBER 19. WWW.MYSPACE.COM/THEBUGUK WWW.MOVINGONMUSIC.CO.UK
Addicted to Bass No matter the genre, Kevin Martin and punishing bass go hand-in-hand. Here’s why. “It’s huge physicality, it’s a direct impulse, it bypasses the intellect, it moves you physically and mentally. Bass, volume and extremity in music is what I’ve been interested in continually. For me, making a bassline isn’t a revolutionary statement – it’s what you do with it, the context you put it in, how you work with it. Basically, I’m heavily attracted to grooves and basslines and always have been. The sound of bass, the effect of bass, the impulse of bass… Yeah, crucial.” —50 issue 59—
“I thought there was room for an electronic form of dancehall that was intense, confrontational, frictional and just in-your-face�
BATS
A Quantum Leap
BATS
— BATS advocate leaving fear and superstition behind and advancing towards a clean future. In their debut album Red In Tooth And Claw, the Dublin five-piece throw down the theoretical gauntlet: can humanity take control of its own evolution and progress from exploration to mastery? Is there more to life as we know it? Who are the bands with crystal wings? Notebook at the ready, AU meets up with BATS ahead of the launch for an exclusive first group interview.
A Quantum Leap
Words by Nay McArdle
—52 issue 59—
Someone needs to stand up for science in the face of pseudoscientific bullshit and crippling superstitions
“We are mega-prepared. We all have new amps,” Rupert Morris fizzes with anticipation. “The live sound has grown to beast proportions.” “Like idiots, we stupidly wrote better songs that are harder to play. I think the next album will have to be of a stoner rock vibe.” Drummer and new father Noel Anderson sounds slightly exhausted but perks up at the mention of ‘Vermithrax Pejorative’, a live favourite now incarcerated on the album. “‘Vermithrax’ is probably the most fun song in the world to play” , says bassist Timothy Moran and Noel agrees. “Yeah, it's weird; no matter how worn out we are, we always get a little lob-on when it comes to that song in the set, even when it's at the end.” Also home to Adebisi Shank, Not Squares and Enemies, independent label the Richter Collective released Red In Tooth And Claw on August 31. And an audience awaits the album, 2007's Cruel Sea Scientist EP having pricked the ears of gig-goers and left them hungry for more. BATS know to feed them little and often: a one-minute promotional video was released in mid-July, followed by a free download of new tune ‘Credulous! Credulous!’ as the release date drew closer. “You can’t fight digital,” says Rupert, matter-of-factly. “That’s just the way it’s going. You’re less likely to make album sales, but at the same time more people will hear your music and that’s more important. But there’s nothing like holding a CD for the first time, having never heard it. Being able to look at the artwork and just take it in properly.” “Personally, I’m not worried,” says guitarist Craig Potterton. “The more people who hear our music the better and I'm happy that they will give us the time of day. The amount of variety and experimentation available will influence and contribute to future bands in a much healthier way. Music is a new world and it's up to bands to find an effective business model if they want to make money back. You cannot control the Internet. The sooner people understand this, the sooner we can develop a supportive system for bands.” With the backing of the Richter Collective, BATS’ system of support has been a regular succession of gigs every few months, covering new ground and revisiting old haunts. Rupert claims this island is a great place to be a musician. Local artists Jape and Sarsparilla have worked on a remix version of Red In Tooth And Claw, which also features a surprise track from Passage of US hip-hop label Anticon. With all this new music to spread, a long time on the road beckons. “Yeah, Ireland is great,” Rupert laughs. “You can drive to any part of it in under six hours!” “We've started playing quite a bit in Northern Ireland, there's such a thriving underground scene,” smiles Conor McIntyre. “So many great promoters and bands are coming from Belfast, I can barely keep track! Not Squares, Latex Spider Monkey and LaFaro to name but a few.” “Super-cool weird-core bands rising on crystal wings,” says the more abstract Rupert. “We've become best buds with Not Squares.”
“One of the major differences going on around Belfast is that guys like [independent promoter] Spirit Of Division hold music nights rather than shows.” continues Conor. “In a lot of places it's time to go home as soon as you've finished playing, whereas bands in Belfast catch a DJ set and just relax a bit when the gig's over.” “We ended up at some warehouse party in Belfast in July which was a good laugh,” adds Timmy. “There are a lot of cool bands there like And So I Watch You From Afar, Continuous Battle of Order... It's quite diverse and makes a good match for the Dublin scene.” 2009 has been quiet. Taking the risk of releasing an album in the lull of recession worked for ASIWYFA, who filled the gulf of silence with their stunning selftitled debut in April. However, the flow of home grown albums has lessened considerably which means extra attention for those which come to light. BATS knew their album would have to be flawless and called on the skills of producer and Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou in Salem, Massachusetts. “Our decision to work with an American producer had nothing to do with who or where he was. It was purely based on the fact that we loved the sound on the records he's produced and thought it would complement the songs we wrote,” says Conor decisively. “He is the man when it comes to recording guitars. He even went as far as recommending that I play a souped-up custom version of my favourite amp before I told him I already played one! He was insistent that we never slipped off rhythm and that the tempo never raced ahead. We're talking milliseconds here. That devotion to rhythm definitely had a huge effect on the final sound of the record.” “The click track has a lot to do with that,” says Rupert. “Kurt was the one who suggested it.” “That nearly broke me!” groans drummer Noel. “As far as being tight in performance, whatever Kurt says goes!” On listening, it's easy to see why the band chose to go to Salem. The EP's primitive dagger has been sharpened into a knife of bright metal. Well acquainted with the music of Genghis Tron, Beecher and Mastodon, all bands that Ballou has worked with before, BATS needed his discipline and precision to up the heft and free their twinkling guitars. “We never set out to be a dance-metal fusion band,” says Timmy. “I guess in our heads we wanted to write metal songs, but in our hearts we just wanted to party. The EP has some dancey bits as well, but we made the hooks catchier and the heavy parts heavier. We really felt an obligation to ourselves to make the album we've always wanted – poppy but crushingly heavy.” “Some parts are so crushing,” agrees Rupert. “I think the songs are more confident, more definite. The trick is to find a balance between poppy and sharp. Hooky but interesting. They sound more like real songs now. I guess I got a bit better at singing too.” “We've evolved and tightened up our sound,” asserts Conor. “We've gotten better at structuring the sprawling messes we write and realised the importance of having verses and choruses. There was only one recurring verse on the whole EP!”
Rupert's always enjoyed the creative aspect of songwriting more than performing. “Lyrically, I’m most proud of ‘Star Wormwood’, ‘Credulous! Credulous!’ and ‘The Cruel Sea’. I’m mad about ‘Vermithrax’ too though." “‘Star Wormwood’ is a gem,” says a proud Noel. “Its rhythm break-down and build-up is the best part on the album for me, plus I sometimes cry when I hear Rupert singing ‘I feel welcome’. But that's his gayness coming out through me.” Rupert's “gayness” in the bright chimes of ‘Star Wormwood’ is a longing to explore the true extent of the universe. “It's my favourite,” he says. “It’s about extradimensional theory and quantum physics. The count up to 11 relates to M-theory and the 11 dimensions involved. It’s about the majority’s disinterest in the power of science in favour of ancient notions. I feel really strongly about it.” “We've always felt Rupert's voice and lyrics are what make us a unique band,” says a modest Timmy. Musically and lyrically, BATS have made a very exciting record. Naturally, Noel's impending fatherhood affected a band who play songs about biology, urging them forward to birth their album into reality. As far as he's concerned, God was then, this is now. Harking towards nature's brutal instinct for survival, which in mankind's case now hinges on religion's decline, Red In Tooth And Claw is a discointellectual roar. “People believed there was once a talking snake... even now, chimps can't talk or drink tea.” Noel's wit is sharp but true. “Being fundamental in belief deserves ridicule, if only for arrogance alone. They're trying to make a game show in Turkey in which four religions battle for the faith of a different atheist each week, but the frickin’ Muslims won't give them an imam for the show. Jerks... talk about wasted opportunities! They gotta get their rep back up.” “It astounds me that people can be suspicious of real science and embrace crackpot ideas when it has so many tangible proofs, achieved by gathering empirical evidence and the quest for knowledge. People always hark back to the atom bomb, but the atom bomb was a product of war. I really want to promote the idea that science is something really special and inspirational. There’s a girl in Utah who likes BATS and says she’s gonna become a scientist. Someone needs to stand up for it in the face of pseudoscientific bullshit and crippling superstitions like astrology, faith-healing, homeopathy, fuck, there's loads…” Rupert takes a breath in disbelief. “All I can hope for is people might hear the tunes or read the lyrics and think, ‘I never thought about science in this way, in a poetic way. I might check some out...’” Science is a tool and its responsibility lays with the people who use it. Babies are born to ‘Star Wormwood’, kids dance to ‘BATS Spelled Backwards Is STAB’, people leave parties still discussing the Higgs Boson Particle. It's strange there was no talking snake... but that scientific tool created singing BATS. RED IN TOOTH AND CLAW IS OUT NOW ON RICHTER COLLECTIVE. WWW.MYSPACE.COM/ LEATHERBEATSFEATHER
—53 AU Magazine—
Reviews
Monsters Of Folk – Monsters Of Folk
pg 54 Record Reviews | pg 64 Unsigned Universe | pg 65 Live Reviews
Monsters Of Folk Monsters Of Folk ROUGH TRADE
If Santa was working through his Christmas list and checking off who had been naughty or nice, one wagers that quite a lot of musicians wouldn’t be receiving anything in their stockings but a lump of coal and a handwritten message to wise the bap next year. Particularly those self-aggrandising artists who form so-called ‘supergroups’: ‘Hey guys, our fans just haven’t heard enough of our beautiful music. We must find new ways of sharing it with them. It’s our humanitarian duty!’ The very thought of pye-dog outfits like The Power Station, Zwan and Velvet Revolver is enough to shake the most deluded of indie waifs out of their skinny jeans and winkle-pickers, and send them sprinting to the hills in search of a hermitage and beeswax to plug up their ears. That all might change with Monsters Of Folk, the new super… the super… sorry, let’s discard that wretched term – the collaboration between My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, Conor Oberst, M. Ward and producer Mike Mogis. Less of a vain indulgence and more of a group of likeminded friends doing what they love, the band started out with a series of legendary secret shows and low-key performances five years ago, vowing that a fulllength album was forthcoming. It’s finally here, and the results are startling: they may claim to be folk, but this is a few Aran jumpers removed from songs about beloved goats. The shimmering nu-soul of opener ‘Dear God’ immediately wrong-foots the listener with harps, drum loops and keening falsetto, and bears no sonic relation to the acoustic glam stomp of ‘Say Please’, which in turn bears no relation to the 12 bar boogie-woogie of ‘Whole Lotta Losin’’.
—54 issue 59—
Or so it might seem. What is most impressive about this eponymous debut is just how cohesive it is. Most albums of this ilk are stitched together from studio floor offcuts and tracks which the singer’s regular band vetoed – it makes for a jelly-legged Frankenstein who can sing and play an instrument, but not necessarily in time or tune. This is more like a jigsaw where the pieces are cut to slot together neatly, but all their faces are from different pictures. The quality, however, never wavers. We’re in folk territory, so it it’s a democracy where each artist involved gets equal input, trading vocals and sharing songwriting credits. Oberst donates the desolate yet lovely Americana of ‘Temazcal’, and ‘Ahead Of The Curve’, each of which is far more pleasing than anything from his recent yawns. James, already prodigiously prolific, writes with the same flair as he does for My Morning Jacket, and M. Ward, no stranger to working with others, fares just as well as his compadres. It’s not all rocking the casbah, mind you. Bromances will undoubtedly be founded and dashed on the honeyed dream slide of ‘Slow Down Jo’, which achieves the impossible by making you wish that more songs had steel drums. Just one of many surprises on an album which might just give supergroups a good name – Santa will be pleased, and you should be too. Ross Thompson
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘WHOLE LOTTA LOSIN’’, ‘SLOW DOWN JO’, ‘MAGIC MARKER’. FOR FANS OF: THE BAND, THE BYRDS, TRAVELLING WILBURYS.
Vitalic Flashmob [PIAS] RECORDINGS / DIFFERENT Four years is a long time in dance music. When Vitalic’s magnificent OK Cowboy came out in 2005, its hedonistic electro drew breathless comparisons to fellow Frenchmen Daft Punk, but in the silence that has followed (except for an under-the-radar live album), Pascal Arbez has found his thunder well and truly stolen by Justice, Simian Mobile Disco et al. Then again, it’s not like he’d burst from nowhere anyway – that first album featured tracks dating back to 2001 – and so the slow follow-up is hardly surprising. As to whether it’s worth the wait? Er, not really. What OK Cowboy did perfectly was to blend all-out dancefloor H-bombs like ‘La Rock 01’ and ‘My Friend Dario’ with some eerie, almost Kraftwerk-esque atmospherics and a real sense of cohesion, giving the whole album a lasting replay value that’s difficult to achieve. On Flashmob, though, you can tell that the last few years’ developments have given Arbez pause for thought, and there are too many trashy, disposable bangers like ‘Chicken Lady’ and the frankly irritating title track. Arbez is still capable of wheeling out the heavy artillery to jaw-dropping effect – to wit the jet-engine roar of ‘Terminateur Benelux’ and the euphoric ‘Second Lives’ – while ‘Poison Lips’ introduces a hint of shimmering disco to proceedings, but this follow-up is not quite in the same class as the debut. Chris Jones
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘POISON LIPS’, ‘TERMINATEUR BENELUX’, ‘YOUR DISCO SONG’. FOR FANS OF: JUSTICE, SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO, CRYSTAL CASTLES.
Yo La Tengo Popular Songs MATADOR Over 14 albums, as Yo La Tengo, the Hubley/Kaplans have matured into one of indie-rock’s greatest song-writing teams, their success built on an ability to fuse a multitude of influences into an ever-changing, yet always relevant, style. 1997’s I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One was a brilliant krautrock opus; 2000’s And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out, a gorgeous, modern-soul classic. For Popular Songs, the band seem to focus on the classic song-writing and soundtracks of Burt Bacharach. Opener ‘Here To Fall’ is a triumph of arrangement with organ and strings, complemented by a pounding snare and building atmospherics that will have Hollywood appeal. ‘I’m On My Way’ is a devastatingly simple ballad, with Kaplan’s delivery reminiscent of ‘Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head’. ‘Nothing To Hide’ is an update of ‘Sheena Is A Punk Rocker’ for the download generation, but the standout is ‘Periodically Double Or Triple’, a sassy Sixties romp through the Austin Powers soundtrack with the snap of vintage Spoon. Final track ‘And The Glitter Is Gone’ paints a vivid picture of bleak desolation with Ira Kaplan cooing “please think of me” over an aching acoustic lament and gently throbbing bass. Another classic. Kenny Murdock
Arctic Monkeys Humbug DOMINO Album number three and the Arctic Monkeys have decided to put their passports to good use and travel beyond the quaintly English worldview and musical isolationism that defined their first two long players. Recording sessions in Brooklyn with Simian Mobile Disco’s James Ford and in the Mojave Desert with Queens Of The Stone Age’s Josh Homme have played their part, lending Humbug an expansive sound and attitude. Staking out – by their standards at least – virgin territory, they’ve pitched camp in heavier, lustier, but utterly fertile ground. Alex Turner, for one, has a fever to sweat out, with ‘My Propeller’ finding him pleading for someone to come along and kickstart his carnal engine. At times, the psychosexual tension of songs like ‘Crying Lightning’ and the frenzied, QOTSA-aping ‘Dangerous Animals’
calls to mind Tennessee Williams – Monkey On A Hot Tin Roof, anyone? Base impulses co-exist alongside bastardised notions of romance. ‘Cornerstone’ is at first glance tender and wryly funny – “My chances turned to toast / When I asked could I call her your name” – but is soon careering to a jolting close. Elsewhere, ‘Pretty Visitors’, replete with carnival Wurlitzer sounds, reaches a hellish crescendo as Turner reprises his stroppy little islander act from albums past. Whilst the place names and colloquialisms have been quelled somewhat, the acid observations still find employ – “What came first, the chicken or the dickhead?”. It’s an all-incident 40 minutes, coated in lust, the dense rhythms, distorted riffs and wilfully weird noises evidence of the Monkeys’ determination to keep evolving. Humbug should give both long time fans and sceptics alike plenty to chew over. Francis Jones
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘MY PROPELLER’, ‘CORNERSTONE’, ‘DANCE LITTLE LIAR’. FOR FANS OF: QOTSA, THE CORAL, MARK LANEGAN.
Vowels Pattern Prism
Killa Kela Amplified! 100%
LOAF
Like a male La Roux, Killa Kela at first listen seems to have finally found the cultural zeitgeist on this, his third studio record. A beatbox hero with fans in Pharrell Williams and Prince, there's less of his special skill on show here and more of the sort of sleazy electronic pop that the youngsters are loving these days. On Amplified!, his star ascends with single ‘Everyday’, but the exuberance is short-lived, as the appearance of Hadouken! on ‘Get A Rise’ comes on like Linkin Park in a food processor with Fischerspooner. Not pretty. Kirstie McCrum
Once upon a time, free-form experimentalism and interstellar odysseys were the stuff of legend, welcomed with arms akimbo. Today, however, if the listener is not on the right astral plain or wired-in correctly, they can be as welcome as a fart in a space-suit. So it is with this release from Vowels. ‘On Up’ is a groovy little workout, but as for ‘Appendix’… The will to live is lost barely two minutes into an over-indulgent 10-minute saga of clanking and banging that sounds like a fight in a cutlery drawer. There might be something here for space-rock aficionados, but it’ll take you a while to find it. Jeremy Shields
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DOWNLOAD: ‘PERIODICALLY DOUBLE OR TRIPLE’, ‘NOTHING TO HIDE’. FOR FANS OF: SMOG, BACHARACH AND DAVID.
DOWNLOAD: ‘ALL KILLA NO FILLA’, ‘EVERYDAY’, ‘CARDS AND CHEQUES’. FOR FANS OF: LA ROUX, PRINCE, CALVIN HARRIS.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘TWO WIRES’, ‘ON UP!'. FOR FANS OF: SYD BARRETT, JULIAN COPE, CAN. —55 AU Magazine—
Reviews
The Dodos Time To Die
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WICHITA Having made one of 2008’s best records with Visiter, Dodos are returning to the fray armed with one of 2009’s. Far from merely churning out Visiter part two, the San Fran duo have largely eschewed the absorbing experimentation of their second record and instead focussed their heavily percussive folk into nine concise songs. It’s a brave move, one that they pull off with aplomb, the increased use of layered choral vocals and vibraphone chimes ensuring that what they lose in variety they gain in greater resonance and accessibility. Indeed, the likes of ‘Fables’ and ‘Small Deaths’ could see them deservedly mop up fans from the Fleet Foxes and Grizzly Bear stables, while ‘Troll Nacht’ retains enough of the previous record’s questing spirit to appease their existing followers. Lee Gorman
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘FABLES’, ‘SMALL DEATHS’, ‘TROLL NACHT’. FOR FANS OF: GRIZZLY BEAR, DJANGO DJANGO, NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL.
Pocket Promise I’ve Been Here For Ages STOP:GO MUSIC Recorded in France, this debut album from talented Tyrone troubadours Pocket Promise is an accomplished blend of va va voom and oh là là. It’s a hugely confident offering, with six of the 10 tracks coming in at over five minutes long. Taking listeners on a veritable emotional rollercoaster, the album cleverly juxtaposes tender ballads like ‘Something Unreal’, alongside ballsier, get up and get moving efforts such as ‘I Burnt The Roller Disco’. Throughout, the band’s expansive sound is impressively showcased as Cormac Fee’s soaring vocals are enlivened by layers of beautifully swirling strings, boisterous riffs, laser-guided keys and clattering percussion. A fine miscellany of songcraft, I’ve Been Here For Ages signals the arrival of what we hope is an enduring talent. Ailís Corey
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘I BURNT THE ROLLER DISCO’, ‘TALKOVERTALKING’, ‘DÉJÀ VU’. FOR FANS OF: THE FRAMES, ELBOW, THE POSTAL SERVICE.
Yim Yames A Tribute To ROUGH TRADE Yim Yames is a pseudonym taken by My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James for the purpose of this tribute to George Harrison, a man he describes as a “prime example of the healing power of music”. The featured tracks were recorded at the time of Harrison's death in 2001 and it is obvious that Harrison's music had long been a source of comfort and catharsis to James. Judging by the simplicity with which the songs are recreated here, James’ priority was to celebrate the personal connection he felt with Harrison’s music. There is little instrumentation other than James’ guitar and vocals; the songs themselves and —56 issue 59—
James’ trademark lush reverb do all the talking. This is an unpolished, rough diamond of a record that is haunted throughout by a spirit that will warm your soul and remind you of a great and sadly-departed talent. Aaron Kennedy
DOWNLOAD: ‘BEHIND THAT LOCKED DOOR’ (FROM YIMYAMES.COM). FOR FANS OF: MY MORNING JACKET, GEORGE HARRISON.
Blitzen Trapper Black River Killer
their city’s musical history surging through their veins. Upping the ante, second album Open Hearts is as subtle as a sonic boom, combining a torrent of Joy Division adrenergic paranoia and 808 State-style nasty beats, with drummer/ singer Stuart Ogilvie’s King Monkey-style vocals. Opener ‘Out At The Roots’ is diabolically good – it’s the sound of pent-up aggression, a song standing an inch away, eyeballing its listener. ‘Evil Dance’ is what it says, a massive churning choon to chase the smileys away. Apparently their ‘happy’ album, Open Hearts never releases its grip and knows little of grace or delicacy. But in a year of harps, Eighties electronica and thoughtful indie-folk, The Longcut are a breathtaking kick in the musical bollocks. John Freeman
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘EVIL DANCE’, ‘OUT AT THE ROOTS’, ‘MARY BLOODY SUNSHINE’. FOR FANS OF: SPACEMAN 3, FRONT 242, VERY EARLY STONE ROSES.
SUB POP Blitzen Trapper are one of the more successful bands when it comes to blending alternative country with contemporary indie, in such a manner as to coagulate both the urban and rural. And in doing so, past albums have impressed. But this stop-gap EP, complete with songs from last effort Furr, sounds more like a rehash than an attempt to introduce anything unique. The best song is the title track, which already appeared on Furr, and the final six are average folk-rock ditties, with the best one being the psychedelically infused 'Going Down', a languid gem that floats through spacey synthesizers complete with strummed acoustic guitar. While the next Blitzen Trapper album may be otherworldly, this seems like an excuse to release more music for the sake of it. Shain Shapiro
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘BLACK RIVER KILLER’, ‘GOING DOWN’. FOR FANS OF: WILCO, WHISKEYTOWN, ROY RIECK AND THE MEDLEY BAND.
InMe Herald Moth
The Cave Singers Welcome Joy MATADOR This second offering from The Cave Singers is a more rounded effort than last year’s likeable but basic debut. The ‘ex-Pretty Girls Make Graves’ tag is misleading, as Welcome Joy finds the trio exploring similar territory to The Dodos, mixing lively percussion with stripped-back folk, fingerpicking and plaintive vocals. It’s an affecting, occasionally exhilarating ride, the sparse instrumentation giving Pete Quirk’s shaky croak room to soar on the introspective ‘Summer Light’ and ‘Beach House’, yet finding the drive necessary to power backwoods stomps ‘At The Cut’ and ‘Leap’, while ‘Shrine’ combines the two approaches brilliantly. After the breezy ‘VV’ the final three tracks are disappointingly nondescript, but the brilliance of the rest makes this a more than worthwhile purchase. Lee Gorman
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘LEAP’, ‘SUMMER LIGHT’, ‘VV’. FOR FANS OF: THE DODOS, FOREIGN BORN, BON IVER.
GRAPHITE According to the press release for this, their fourth album, InMe have "always divided opinion". In fact, given such carefully worded declarations it seems safe to surmise the Brentwood lot have a face that even their record company struggles to love. Like Simple Minds fronted by Panic At The Disco's Brendon Urie, the frenetic guitar breaks of nearYngwie Malmsteen proportions make them A Guitarist's Band. As a general rule, when the music is more fun for the band playing than the people listening, it's time to bail, but only after you've heard the hilariously pompous ‘Nova Armada’. Kirstie McCrum
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘NOVA ARMADA’, ‘THE ART OF MODERATION’, ‘A MOUTHFUL OF LOOSE TEETH’. FOR FANS OF: MUSE, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE.
The Longcut Open Hearts MELODIC Ian Brown once stated that “it’s not where you’re from, it’s where you’re at,” but Manchester’s The Longcut have
Alberta Cross Broken Side Of Time ARK Alberta Cross’s name (and, in truth, their appearance – beards and paisley shirts all round) suggest some kind of Lynyrd Skynyrd-esque southern rock revival act. And, sho ’nuff, there’s a fair dollop of blues traditionalism in there. But fear not, because Broken Side Of Time is no mere throwback – for one thing, guitarist Sam Kearney has clearly worshipped at the altar of The Verve’s Nick McCabe, which makes for one or two otherworldly slabs of guitar noise (as on ‘Rise From The Shadows’). Then there’s Petter Ericson Stakee’s bravura vocal performance, his remarkable, tremulous howl variously recalling Perry Farrell, Band Of Horses’ Ben Bridwell and the late Shannon Hoon. Basically, it’s what Kings Of Leon might sound like if they weren’t utterly atrocious. Neill Dougan
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘ATX’, ‘RISE FROM THE SHADOWS’, ‘THE THIEF AND THE HEARTBREAKER’. FOR FANS OF: BAND OF HORSES, NEIL YOUNG.
Relation Fear Of Night URBAN TORQUE Southend’s Relation bring a scholarly sophistication to their quaintly danceable synth-pop. For a debut, Fear Of Night oozes quality, prowess and maturity, but it isn’t exactly what you’d call fun. Tuneful and encompassing all the correct reference points, any creative abandon or predatory edge is stifled, and the enervated vocals evoke nothing so much as David Byrne fed on quaaludes. The trancey ‘Superenlightened’ temporarily enlivens the pinched meticulousness with a post-acid sense of merriment, but this won’t set your world alight. John Calvert
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘'SUPERENLIGHTENED', 'LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR', 'YOUR TINY MIND'. FOR FANS OF: TALK TALK, HUMAN LEAGUE.
David Daniell & Douglas McCombs Sycamore THRILL JOCKEY Wow. What seems like an hour-long intro into a song that never happens. It’s symptomatic of an album that never raises itself above the level of a glorified jamming session. Sure it has an atmosphere of sorts, but one that is dry and forbidding. All tone and no tune, it’s difficult to conceive when or where you’d willingly want to play Sycamore. We get five songs in total, ‘Vejer de la Frontera’ alone lasting in excess of 15 minutes. This might seem overly long for a single track, but really – given its repetitious nature – the whole album may as well be one big song. Narcolepsy inducing. Richard W Crothers
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘F# SONG’. FOR FANS OF: TORTOISE.
Damon & Naomi The Sub Pop Years 20.20.20 After the re-release of the acclaimed More Sad Hits, Damon & Naomi release a compilation of songs from their Sub Pop albums. Having won over many listeners with their unique take on the folk genre, this album is a fair representation of the duo’s output between 1995 and 2002. However, while musically interesting it’s the vocal delivery that grates and regularly sounds out of tune. This element spoils what are otherwise well-written and engaging songs. While some may appreciate the DIY nature of the recordings, they veer too close to the edge vocally to remain endearing. A hit and miss affair. David Hamilton
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘JUDAH AND THE MACCABEES’, ‘I’M YOURS’. FOR FANS OF: ACID-FOLK, LOW, RYAN ADAMS.
BATS Red In Tooth And Claw RICHTER COLLECTIVE BATS flew their Dublin belfry to Salem, Massachusetts to record this torrid clusterbomb of a debut album, and though it would be trite to draw too many conclusions from the place it was recorded, staying at the site of those infamous witch trials can’t have lightened the mood very much. These BATS attack without mercy, their three guitars leading the charge, ably supported by the deranged vocals of Rupert Morris and a rhythm section that’s the very epitome of tight. And shall we mention that it was produced by Kurt Ballou of metalcore legends Converge? This record is not to be fucked with. All that said, though, Red In Tooth And Claw isn’t as all-out scary as you might imagine. The band’s spastic
Wye Oak The Knot AFFAIRS OF THE HEART Hailing from Baltimore, Andy Stack and Jenn Wasner (aka Wye Oak) return to the fore with their second album, another luminous and potent trek through the realms of shoegaze and exquisite folk-rock composition. With The Knot, the duo once again expertly layer throbbing guitars with fuzzily droning synths and expressive vocals to create a pleasantly discordant and full-bodied sound that is immense in its scope and enrapturing in effect. Boasting an apt title, this record
sound owes as much to the dance-punk of Gang Of Four and latter-day standard bearers like The Rapture as it does to the hardcore and metal traditions, while lyrically, you’re never quite sure how serious Morris is being with his many odes to scientific endeavour. His stated aim is to turn people onto the joy of science, and with an arsenal of sonic bullets like opener ‘Higgs Boson Particle’, he just might manage it. The album reaches its apex with the ass-shaking, dance-metal mayhem of ‘Credulous, Credulous’ and ‘Gamma Ray Burst: Second Date’, as well as the questing ‘Star Wormwood’, which displays a lightness of touch that, if we’re honest, is lacking for much of the rest of the album, the exhausting ‘Lord Blakeney’s Arm’ being a particular culprit. A liedown is recommended for afterwards, then, but this is a formidable debut. Chris Jones
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘CREDULOUS, CREDULOUS’, ‘HIGGS BOSON PARTICLE’, ‘STAR WORMWOOD’. FOR FANS OF: CHROME HOOF, ASIWYFA, CONVERGE. contains a collection of songs that revel in visceral emotions that float, evolve and morph in a cacophony of melodic sound. The likes of ‘I Want For Nothing’ and ‘Siamese’ also incorporate gorgeously sweeping violins to caress the twanging guitars, soften the crashing drums, and effortlessly create harmonious rock-lullabies imbued with a rich Americana feel. Tracks such as ‘Tattoo’ are more content to wallow seductively in a dirge of cataclysmic noise. A wonderfully textured and atmospheric record. James Gracey
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘I WANT FOR NOTHING’, ‘MILK AND HONEY’, ‘TATTOO’. FOR FANS OF: THE BROKEN WEST, WHITE HINTERLAND, THE WARLOCKS. —57 AU Magazine—
Reviews
Greg Davis Mutually Arising KRANKY Davis has put his name to some wonderfully deft music in the past, but Mutually Arising will be a daunting prospect for even the most ardent ambient aficionado. Each of these two 20 minutes-plus tracks consists of a single, unbroken drone chord, very gradually and subtly changing in tone and resonance to explore all its sonic possibilities. It’s a laudable idea, absorbing on first listen, but the absolute concentration required to enjoy these lengthy pieces renders their replay value almost zero. Lee Gorman
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘HALL OF PURE BLISS’. FOR FANS OF: LOSCIL, LABRADFORD, STARS OF THE LID.
Jay Reatard Watch Me Fall The Big Pink A Brief Introduction To Love 4AD A feat of fear-pop genius, ‘Velvet’ – The Big Pink’s introductory single – suggested a preamble to a futureshock debut poised to take us a couple of steps into the unknown. It’s a halogen-lit climb to Elysium, carried on panoptic sustain, industrial bass pressure and digi-punk tropes, and culminates in an art-din fizz that advances like sheets of acid rain; Depeche Mode meets Cocteau Twins meets NIN. Not only that, but ‘Velvet’ and second single ‘Stop The World’ (not featured here!) came accompanied by a host of bad-vibe B-sides for the despairing to get all unnecessary over. Alas, the LP haemorrhages intrigue every time the cosmic feedback meets beige, space-rock
nostalgia; retro by comparison to the singles, nullifying the air of chromed modernity. While each have their own middling charms, ‘Too Young to Love’, ‘Crystal Visions’, ‘Love In Vein’ and several others suck the noirish atmosphere from the dystopian highlights, too often recalling (brace yourself) Kasabian, only a little more dead-eyed. In their defence, the title track is quite special; ‘Golden Pendulum’ can lay claim to the most disquieting sound in recent memory, a pained bellow from a dying Hydra; and ‘Dominos’ would be an anthem if it didn’t idle in between its earworm of a chorus. Ultimately, though, these Londoners lack that extra dimension that no amount of reverse-reverb can summon. John Calvert
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘VELVET’ ‘A BRIEF HISTORY OF LOVE’, ‘GOLDEN PENDULUM’. FOR FANS OF: MY BLOODY VALENTINE, SPACEMAN 3, COCTEAU TWINS.
Imogen Heap Ellipse
Ramona Falls Intuit SOUTERRAIN TRANSMISSIONS
MEGAPHONIC
The multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter genre is a freakin’ crowded one, as seemingly half the population of twentysomething American males seem to fit the description. Amongst this month’s contestants is Brent Knopf, who (as is de rigueur) brands himself as Ramona Falls (cool name – we like) on his first solo offering Intuit (cool title – so far, all good) which comes enshrined in lovely ethnic art (cool cover – he’s on a roll). Unfortunately, apart from the feedback scuzz of ‘I Say Fever’, Intuit contains barely a single memorable moment; a kaleidoscope of instruments and Knopf’s reedy vocal amounting to a big fat nothing. There’s nothing to hear here, move along. John Freeman
Occasionally a musician or band emerges that inspires almost unanimous respect. Imogen Heap is one such artist. Building on an already impressive back catalogue, Heap returns with Ellipse, the hotly anticipated follow-up to Speak For Yourself. From the opening surges of ‘First Train Home’, the mood is set for a record characterised by Imogen’s sense of rhythm and space. Treading the fine line between creativity and accessibility with impressive ease, Speak For Yourself is a record that will appeal to a wide audience. While remaining relatively low-key throughout, there is an inherent intensity that is impressively affecting. With a strong DIY ethos, Heap mixes swirling vocals and textured beats, referencing styles from electro-pop to Phillip Glass-esque minimalism. A strong album that deserves to be heard. David Hamilton
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘I SAY FEVER’, ‘SALT SACK’. FOR FANS OF: LECUBE, CHRIS GARNEAU, TELEKINESIS. —58 issue 59—
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘FIRST TRAIN HOME’, ‘LITTLE BIRD’. FOR FANS OF: BJORK, CAT POWER.
MATADOR Could it be that Jay Reatard has started to believe his own hype? Listening to the latest album from the intimidatingly prolific “punk wunderkind”, you can’t help feeling that he has become a spoilt prima donna who surrounds himself with sycophants. This is turgid stuff, which is all the more galling given the quality of Reatard’s previous output. The tunes are dull, lightweight powerpop affairs with each one bearing more than a passing resemblance to the last, while the lyrics aim for ‘dumb but fun’ yet hit ‘stupid and annoying’. ‘There Is No Sun’ would like to be this generation’s ‘No Future’ rallying cry but it just sounds whiny and pathetic. This is punk in the same way that Toyah was punk and is essential in the same way that toothache is essential. Kenny Murdock
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘IT AIN’T GONNA SAVE ME’ FOR FANS OF: GENERATION X, BILLY IDOL.
La Coka Nostra A Brand You Can Trust SUBURBAN NOIZE Talk of an American hip-hop supergroup may have some listeners foaming at the mouth, but despite the impressive roll call of La Coka Nostra – including Everlast and Ill Bill – A Brand You Can Trust is more prosaic than punchy. With a myriad of cultural – although not always entirely contemporary – references, there are plenty who might be offended by the lyrical content, including women, Americans, Saddam Hussein, David Koresh and Phil Spector. Worth it for Snoop's turn on ‘Bang Bang’, but not much else. Kirstie McCrum
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘BANG BANG’, ‘BLOODY SUNDAY’, ‘CHOOSE YOUR SIDE’. FOR FANS OF: SNOOP DOGG, CYPRESS HILL, HOUSE OF PAIN.
Various Artists Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs Of Mark Mulcahy MEZZOTINT This record is soaked through with tragedy. Mark Mulcahy is perhaps one of the most underrated singer/songwriters of the last 20-plus years. Not that you’d know it from the tracklisting of this star-studded tribute album, featuring the likes of Thom Yorke, Michael Stipe, Dinosaur Jr., Frank Black, and The National, all of whom seem to be clambering over each other to praise Mulcahy to the heavens. It seems that no amount of celebrity endorsement can raise this man’s profile, leaving him to toil away, crafting his piercing songs in that heavenly voice of his. But a cursory glance at the record reveals the real tragedy of this particular release; it’s a tribute album not to the music of Mulcahy himself, but rather a hymnal to his wife, who died suddenly last year. So each of these songs has become a lament to lost life, as well as to ignored talent. In such circumstances, it’s tempting to completely ignore the music on display, and just go for the sentiment, praising what could be a worthy but dull compilation of songs unfamiliar to a vast majority of listeners. Let’s face it: most of the copies of this album that will be sold will be done so on the desire to own new solo material from Thom Yorke and Michael Stipe, rather than any celebration of Mulcahy’s legacy. And frankly, the tracks by Yorke and Stipe are merely interesting curios, rather than any mind-expanding revelations of new directions. Instead, the true power lies in the wonderful details and melodies of Mulchay’s songwriting, all of which just compel you to seek out the originals. Like ‘Micon the Icon’, who’s “waiting in the wings to get his wings, so he can fly on,” or ‘The Quiet One’, of whom Frank Turner enquires, “What kind of drugs did you do tonight, ‘cos you got a face like a lava light.”
Various Artists Mary Anne Hobbs Presents Wild Angels
Hopefully everyone who comes in search of Thom Yorke and Michael Stipe goes away with Mark Mulcahy in their hearts – anything less would be a tragedy. Steven Rainey
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PLANET MU
DOWNLOAD: THE 20 ADDITIONAL TRACKS AVAILABLE FROM WWW.MARKMULCAHY.COM. FOR FANS OF: BEAUTIFULLY CRAFTED LYRICS, WONDERFUL MELODIES, PAIN AND SADNESS.
For those not able or inclined to listen to Mary Anne Hobbs’ radio show every week, her Planet Mu compilations are fast becoming indispensable. Third time round, Hobbs’ picks have shifted slightly from dubstepdominated Warrior Dubz and Evangeline to reflect more of the broad palette of experimental electronica, with five exclusives among its 18 tracks. In a slightly obtuse move, it opens with the hazy drone of Mark Pritchard’s ‘?’, before settling into a diet of skewed hip-hop (Hudson Mohawke, Mike Slott, Rustie, Nosaj Thing, Architeq,
We Insist! The Babel Inside Was Terrible EXILE ON MAINSTREAM Alas, not a critique of Liverpool FC’s hapless winger, The Babel Inside Was Terrible is nevertheless a massive leap forward for the Parisian math rockers. Blending angular riffs, byzantine rhythmic patterns and dissonant sax runs with urgent vocals and some neat new electronic flourishes, the quintet’s constantly fluctuating, tensionbuilding arrangements are now strong enough to bear comparison with their Dischord heroes. With better lyrics than most native English-speaking acts, there’s no excuse for not giving this Babel a run-out. Lee Gorman
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘EFFICIENCY AND BAD HABITS’, ‘DÉJÀ VU’, ‘OAKLEAVES’. FOR FANS OF: SWEEP THE LEG JOHNNY, 90 DAY MEN, FUGAZI.
The Polyamorous Affair Bolshevik Disco MANIMAL VINYL Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner depicted a dystopian version of Los Angeles in 2019. City residents Eddie Chacon and Sissy Saint-Marie, aka The Polyamorous Affair, provide the soundtrack to match that vision. They’ve teleported into the past, pilfered a pocketful of glam from Bowie’s make-up bag and sprinkled it over some extraterrestrial electronics. The ‘retro-fitted’ forward-thinking sounds on the husband and wife duo’s second album are just the type of thing you can imagine being played in neon glare discotheques, where humans shimmy alongside their replicant look-alikes.
Teebs), mixed with work from the boundaries of dubstep (the techno-inflected Hyetal, Gemmy and Brackles with their bright neon synths), and some stuff that’s completely uncategorisable, such as Mono/Poly’s hyperactive ‘Red And Yellow Toys’, Irish act Legion Of Two’s dark and heavy ‘And Now We Wait’ or Darkstar’s haunting reworking of ‘Videotape’ by Radiohead. As ever, Hobbs shows that her ear is among the best in the business, and anyone with the slightest interest in the more esoteric end of electronic music will find more than the odd track to fall for here. Highly recommended. Chris Jones
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: HYETAL – ‘WE SHOULD LIGHT A FIRE’, HUDSON MOHAWKE – ‘SPOTTED’, DARKSTAR – ‘VIDEOTAPE’. FOR FANS OF: BASS-HEAVY ELECTRONICA.
‘Face Control’ tells of the door policy of a nightclub in which face fascists grant entry to only the most beautiful. A cover of ‘Satellite of Love’ is rendered suitably strungout thanks to Saint-Marie’s delirious vocal, whilst carbonated keys add plenty of fizz to the intoxicating ‘White Hot Magic’. Chacon assumes vocal duties for the sleek ‘Fashion’ before the missus joins him to duet on the love lost and found again double whammy of ‘New York City’ and ‘In Love’. That invention goes hand-inhand with a sense of fun makes The Polyamorous Affair a brilliantly seductive prospect. Get ready to spread the love. Francis Jones
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: 'FACE CONTROL’, ‘WHITE HOT MAGIC’, ‘EASTERN’. FOR FANS OF: GIORGIO MORODER, T-REX, GOLDFRAPP. —59 AU Magazine—
Reviews
Times New Viking Born Again Revisited
MATADOR I hate British music. Endless ballads of un-inspired twitter-entry bleatings from a generation of Kelly Jones wannabes. It's dull, it's formulaic and it's piss-poor! Meanwhile, across the pond... Times New Viking combine the DIY ethos of late Seventies New York with the brilliant cacophony of Bogshed. The songs are immediate and memorable. ‘No Time, No Hope’ is The Velvet Underground jamming John Otway's ‘Really Free’, the chaotic title track sounds like the oft-forgotten Pyjama Slave Dancers and ‘These Days’ will remind you of the legendary first Moldy Peaches album. Times New Viking are a righteous retort to those who argue that the producer is the most important individual in the studio. The last couple of years have brought us Times New Viking, King Khan and Crystal Antlers – God Bless America! Kenny Murdock
highs give way to sombre lows as banjo twangs alongside buzzing electronics. Pondering our mortality, ‘Where Do We Go’ doles out an early dose of their contemplative side, before the city versus country themed ‘Alphabet Song’ introduces a more playful aspect. Bringing together piano, strings and gorgeously plaintive voice, ‘Made In America’ is full and warm, whilst ‘King of the Quagmire’ – with its Kelly’s Heroes samples – recalls the glorious silliness of Trouser Jazz-era Mr. Scruff. This fluctuation in style and tone might unsettle fans of their early material and certainly there is less compact, radio-friendly fodder here than on previous releases. However, whilst they make greater demands on us, the pay-off proves ample, not least on a multi-faceted title track which stitches various movements together to create an elegant indiefolk symphony. Francis Jones
James Yorkston & The Big Eyes Family Players Folk Songs DOMINO The concept is worth applauding. Folk rocker James Yorkston, from Fife, has paired up with traditional folk musicians he met on tour to rearrange a set of old exercises rich in tradition, history and of course, pre-conception. As such, he provides acoustic renderings of folk revivalist tunes, taking a stab at tracks from Nic Jones, Lal Waterson and the great Peter Kennedy. The result, however, does not produce any reasons to hold this collection in higher esteem than its predecessors. Yorkston’s contemporary approach to the individual melodies – preferring to take each breath of rich tradition out of the country and inject much of it with a more modern swagger – depreciates the collective endeavour. Moments do enthuse, the opener 'Hills of Greenmoor' or the desperate and gorgeous 'I Went to Visit The Roses' for example, but too little is presented to warrant crediting this as much more than a tribute collection to artists we should all know more about in the first place. Shain Shapiro
DOWNLOAD: ‘WHERE DO WE GO’, ‘KING OF THE QUAGMIRE’, ‘THE DAWN CHORUS’. FOR FANS OF: THE BAND, GRANDADDY, BRIGHT EYES.
The Temper Trap Conditions INFECTIOUS Quite a year our friends down under are having, what with international contagion Empire Of The Sun and now this arena-bound export from Melbourne. Do you recoil on hearing the words ‘epic’ and ‘U2-influenced’ in the same sentence? Fear not, young death-punk goblin. Although they are as edgy as a space-hopper and have their sights forever trained on that endless horizon, The Temper Trap will have you crushing madly, wrongfooted by a loving, lambent kindness. Overseen by Björk producer Jim Abbiss, the setting is as fragrant and balmily welcoming as the Melbourne night air, with a humility intimated by twinning the gravitas with Dougie Mandagi’s keening, David McAlmont-esque falsetto. Worthy of special mention is ‘Sweet Disposition’, which wells with longing before exploding in all directions for a chorus of blinding romantic brilliance. Prepare for universal ardour. John Calvert
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘SOLDIER ON’, ‘SWEET DISPOSITION‘, ‘SCIENCE OF FEAR’. FOR FANS OF: U2, COLDPLAY, THE LITTLE ONES.
Taken By Trees East Of Eden
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘I WENT TO VISIT THE ROSES’, ‘HILLS OF GREENMOOR’. FOR FANS OF: ELIZA CARTHY, LISA HANNIGAN, MARTIN TAYLOR.
Cat Malojian The Dawn Chorus BAD PAW Cat Malojian move on from the off-kilter alt.folk loveliness of last year’s self-titled debut into more sonically and emotionally complex terrain. Here, giddy —60 issue 59—
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘TO LOSE SOMEONE’, ‘GREYEST LOVE OF ALL’, ‘BEKÄNNELSE’. FOR FANS OF: HEADLESS HEROES, ALELA DIANE, EL PERRO DEL MAR.
Lovvers OCD Go Go Go Girls
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: 'NO TIME NO HOPE’, ‘HALF DAY IN HELL’. FOR FANS OF: GUIDED BY VOICES, NO AGE.
accompaniments by traditional Sufi musicians which perfectly capture the vitality of the culture in which they were recorded, with all its inimitable colour and life. An enchanting and intoxicating record for solitary twilight wanderings. James Gracey
ROUGH TRADE Taken by Trees is the solo project of Victoria Bergsman, former member of The Concretes and vocalist on some song or other by Peter Bjorn and John. The gentle mood evoked on this, her second solo record, belies the turbulence experienced whilst trying to write and record it in Pakistan. Amidst hostility due to her Western origins and the fact that she is a woman, Bergsman withstood adversity to concoct an exotically beautiful and intimate record that spills sultrily into the ears and sends shivers up the spine. With her tantalisingly sweet and clear voice fluttering through the uncluttered arrangements, Bergsman is careful not to flood the record with too much production; instead, each track is allowed the space to bloom organically and to flow freely. The songs all incorporate chants and
WICHITA Lovvers probably won’t appreciate the comparison, but their debut long player OCD Go Go Go Girls, from its Malcolm McLaren-lite moniker to the salvo of two minute blasts of biscuit tin-produced fury, smacks of 1976. Vocalist Shaun Hencher is barely audible in the mix, but that isn’t really important – this is a fun, pre-historic clatter with more hooks than an angler’s lunchbox. This album simultaneously evokes and provokes the spirit of the Pistols, very early Joy Division, the Buzzcocks, The Stooges and (god help us) Generation X. It’s a real slab of authenticity, a word that should probably have no place in music. As a slavish reconstruction it may be a timepiece, but it’s well done and nails the spirit and energy perfectly. And I bet they’re very good live. Joe Nawaz
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘CREEPY CRAWL’, ‘OCD GO GO GIRLS’, ‘HUMAN HAIR’. FOR FANS OF: BUZZCOCKS, JAY REATARD, ANY BAND WHO PLAYED AT THE ROXY IN ’77.
The Victorian English Gentlemens Club Love On An Oil Rig THIS IS FAKE DIY With a moniker so smugly and achingly arch – even Victorian English Gentlemen would balk at naming their club thusly – TVEGC of Cardiff have luckily made up for that by producing one of the albums of the year so far. Here are a few carefully assembled nouns and adjectives to further explain: primal, twitchy, catchy, startling, singalong, scary, Ant-ique, insane, stomp, relentless, irresistible, insidious, beautiful. ‘Worker’ has the Pixies kicking the shit out of Magazine with its chilling repetition of ‘work’ in the chorus whilst in the background it sounds like civilisation itself is collapsing. Songs get in quick, mess you up then bugger off. Nothing is wasted here and Love On An Oil Rig is never boring. Shame about the handle, though. Joe Nawaz
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘DRIVERS COMPANION’, ‘GOD SAVE ME FROM BEING SO GOD DAMN PRIMITIVE’, ‘WORKER’. FOR FANS OF: BLOOD RED SHOES, PIXIES, ROYAL TRUX.
Lokai Transition THRILL JOCKEY Confusion is our instinctive reaction when listening to Transition. It teases us with the promise that something epic is bound to arrive. Unfortunately it’s a case of never delivered rather than delayed gratification. It’s a lights down, smoke floating past your fingertips in the midnight hour album. Still, its ominous ambience would probably induce nightmares. Opener ‘Roads’ – one of the creepiest things we’ve ever heard – sets a sinister benchmark. Throughout, there is a real sense of flux as the songs crawl to crescendos, only to fall away again into the depths. However, much of the appeal here is negated by an overall lack of dynamism. Richard W Crothers
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The Cribs Ignore The Ignorant
DOWNLOAD: ‘ROADS’. FOR FANS OF: BRIAN ENO, SIGUR ROS.
Monotonix Where Were You When It Happened? DRAG CITY AU has a question for you, readers: just how dirty do you like your rock n’ roll? If the answer is stinking, greasesoaked, roaring diesel engine dirty, then Monotonix may well be the band for you. Sounding like it was recorded in a packed, sweat-dripping basement, Where Were You When It Happened? warps your speakers with seriously overdriven guitars, spontaneous background whoops, pummelling drums and the kind of feral howls usually reserved for a mid-month bank balance check. There aren’t really any songs to speak of, but the band sound like they’re having a blast anyway. Lee Gorman
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE’, ‘MY NEEDS’. FOR FANS OF: JSBX, ROYAL TRUX, CONDO FUCKS.
WICHITA “I’m a realist / I’m a romantic,” proclaimed The Cribs back in 2007. On Ignore The Ignorant the emphasis is on the second part of that declaration. The band always were more than the snarling sloganeers that some tried to paint them as, their passions – either personal, or political – displayed with blood raw conviction. Now, however, with Johnny Marr joining the brothers Jarman, there is more room to manoeuvre both musically and emotionally. Ryan and Gary have surrendered to their feelings with fearlessness, although just occasionally it threatens to pull them under. On the sublime ‘Save Your Secrets’ Gary acknowledges that, “You are far more likely / To be devoured than empowered / By your sense of romance.” This is primarily a work of self rather than social critique. Where once they would have fixed their sights on external targets, here – on the likes of ‘Cheat On Me’ and ‘Emasculate Me’ – their aim is turned more fully inwards. Of course, the band’s deep-rooted sense of conscience means that they cannot help but pay
Mixing back-in-the-day beats with smooth languid vocals is nothing new. Elevators have been playing that stuff in between floors for years. But add in some tape hiss, and things get interesting. The debut album from Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti collaborator Nite Jewel pays homage to Eighties club kids such as Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam, but using a four-track rather than a mixing desk. Think ‘The Cover Girls’ with the volume not working correctly. ‘Suburbia’ is the standout track – warped vocals slide over a backbeat that circles and stutters, while synths dawdle with intent. Ailbhe Malone
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘SUBURBIA’. FOR FANS OF: ARIEL PINK, ITALIANS DO IT BETTER.
And what of Marr? Well, he is the consummate team player here. He’s spoken of his joy in having two guitars sing like one instrument and that entwining of effort with Ryan Jarman elevates these songs. On the brutish ‘Hari Kari’ the duo combine to deliver the aural equivalent of a double-barrelled shotgun blast. They are even more devastating when they bring some refined melancholy to bear, as on the sweeping ‘We Share The Same Skies’ and – best saved for last – ‘Stick To Yr Guns’. The great irony of Ignore The Ignorant is, of course, that its inevitable success will see the mainstream attempt to co-opt one of the last true keepers of indie’s DIY flame. It’ll be intriguing to see where The Cribs go from here – let’s just hope the quartet heed their own advice and stick to their guns. Francis Jones
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘WE SHARE THE SAME SKIES’, ‘EMASCULATE ME’, ‘SAVE YOUR SECRETS’, ‘STICK TO YR GUNS’. FOR FANS OF: HEFNER, MAGAZINE, THE CLASH.
Nudge As Good As Gone
Nite Jewel Good Evening NO PAIN IN POP
witness to the injustices they observe around them, as they do so poetically on the title track. ‘Victim Of Mass Production’, meanwhile, shows that they’ve still got some venom left for the world’s cookie cutter clones – “Well he’s a creature without a care / Except for the fact that he'll only wear / The things he sees in magazines.”
Chris Garneau El Radio
KRANKY
FARGO
In the cut-throat world of perversely inscrutable ambient, Nudge can be happy with a corner office and keys to the executive toilets. The most indefinable creation since Gang Gang Dance woke up and decided to do something a bit different, are they ever perfect fodder for Pitchfork to lavish with ornately rendered praise decipherable only to wankers and Paul Morley. On rickety, busy tracks that turn as slowly as Jupiter, organic and virtual textures conflate for an uncooperative cloud of randomness, with not one dubby, tropically-scented cut establishing a discernable nucleus or even a vitality approaching that of a depressed eunuch. John Calvert
Chris Garneau is not Sufjan Stevens. But the Sufjan Stevens comparisons are easy to make – same soft tenor voice, same baroque-folk sound, they both even have songs about men molesting young boys while dressed as clowns (Stevens’ ‘John Wayne Gacy’ and Garneau’s ‘Dirty Night Clowns’). And while Garneau lacks Stevens’ scope, he invests his songs with a delicate simplicity. ‘No More Pirates’ is joyful, and ‘Fireflies’ maximizes Garneau’s voice to its full potential. The LP is divided into four sections, each based on a season. However, fading, sleepy and wistful, this sounds like autumn the whole way through. Lee Gorman
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DOWNLOAD: ‘HARMONICA’, ‘WAR SONG’. FOR FANS OF: GANG GANG DANCE, MORCHEEBA, TALKING HEADS.
DOWNLOAD: ‘NO MORE PIRATES’, ‘FIREFLIES’. FOR FANS OF: SUFJAN STEVENS, AMANDA PALMER, RYAN ADAMS. —61 AU Magazine—
Reviews
Mariachi El Bronx Mariachi El Bronx WICHITA Nope, this is not a wind-up, and nor is it a joke on the part of its creators. In the last couple of years, LA hardcore fiends The Bronx have taken to donning traditional Mexican regalia and performing as a mariachi band, and this album is the result of that love affair. Growing up in largely Hispanic neighbourhoods, the band members have been immersed in the style their whole lives, and the album even features Vincent Hidalgo, childhood friend of frontman Matt Caughthran and the son of Los Lobos star David Hidalgo. So, you know they are for real. As for the music, you’ll forgive us if we’re short on reference points, mariachi being something of an AU blind spot, but the album has much to recommend it. Speaking to AU last year, guitarist Joby Ford proclaimed it “the most beautiful music we’ve ever created” and he’s not wrong. It’s lovingly produced and played with real joy and verve, while the songwriting is strong – full of romance and intrigue – and Caughthran’s throaty croon is a revelation. You have to wonder who it is for, but record sales clearly aren’t the point – El Bronx’s audience may be mainly made up of slightly bemused hardcore punk fans, but the fun that the band obviously had in creating it is probably its own reward. Chris Jones
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘SLEEPWALKING’, ‘SILVER OR LEAD’, ‘CLOWN POWDER’. FOR FANS OF: MARIACHI MUSIC, THE BRONX.
Wild Beasts Two Dancers DOMINO It seems that Wild Beasts have recoiled from the bright stage lights of their debut Limbo Panto and crept into the shadows behind the stage door. Recorded in the heart of the Norfolk countryside, Two Dancers balances precariously between Saturday night and Sunday morning. Detailing nights out and sexual conquests, it’s a hedonistic record, but Wild Beasts have never been more restrained. While Hayden Thorpe’s coiling falsetto sings of booty calls, and “girls astride me, girls beneath me, girls before me, girls between me”, the music beneath it saunters and smirks.
7 Worlds Collide The Sun Came Out COLUMBIA Last Christmas, seven years after the live album debut from his 7 Worlds Collide project, Crowded House frontman Neil Finn assembled another stellar collection of musicians – including Johnny Marr, KT Tunstall, and assorted members of Radiohead and Wilco – at his Auckland studio in order to record 24 original compositions, with proceeds going to Oxfam. The resultant output suggests this was no festive jolly – The Sun Came Out is seriously good. There’s life-affirming wonder in the spontaneous collaborations; Finn, Marr and Jeff Tweedy combine perfectly with Lisa Germano’s violin on the shimmering folk-pop of ‘Too —62 issue 59—
Co-vocalist Tom Fleming terms it “erotic, downbeat music”, but it’s too energetic to be called “downbeat” and too menacing to be called “erotic”. From another band, lines like “dancing late / like young reprobates” would ring of youthful vigour, yet when laid above a provocative bass line and a guitar riff that runs down your spine, it sounds like a precursor to despair. Sexual encounters take on a list form, mechanising the supposedly erotic. Thorpe sings of “girls from Hounslow, girls from Whitby” with faint scorn, and obvious desire. An early Morrissey would have killed for this stuff. But he was never this talented. Ailbhe Malone
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: THE FUN POWDER PLOT’, ‘HOOTING AND HOWLING’, ‘WE STILL GOT THE TASTE DANCIN’ ON OUR TONGUES’. FOR FANS OF: PATRICK WOLF, OF MONTREAL. Blue’, while Tunstall and Kiwi chanteuse Bic Runga vamp it up on ‘Black Silk Ribbon’. Finn duos with son Liam on the intricate ‘Learn To Crawl’ and indeed the album is truly a family affair – as well as Liam, younger brother Elroy Finn also features along with Nile Marr and Spencer Tweedy, while Sharon Finn, Neil’s wife, provides honey-sweet vocals to the excellent ‘Little By Little’. Elsewhere, Radiohead drummer Phil Selway debuts a fine voice and bandmate Ed O’Brien unleashes his guitar genius on ‘Bodhisattva Blues’. Although the general bonhomie prevents Finn from completely culling the excess chaff, The Sun Came Out is a joyous, and charitable, triumph. John Freeman
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘TOO BLUE’, ‘LITTLE BY LITTLE’, ‘DON'T FORGET ME’. FOR FANS OF: CROWDED HOUSE, LIAM FINN, RADIOHEAD.
The Stone Roses The Stone Roses (Legacy Edition) SONY The invention of the wheel, the creation of bread slicing devices and the birth of the Internet were all seismic moments for mankind. In the music world, one equivalent to such epoch-defining events came with the release of The Stone Roses’ self-titled debut. First unleashed a jaw-dropping 20 years ago, The Stone Roses now receives a grandiose second coming in the guise of a ménage à trois of discs, encompassing a re-mastered version of the seminal album, a fascinating collection of lost demos (which includes some B-side gems and hitherto unheard track ‘Pearl Bastard’) and an awing DVD of the band’s legendary Blackpool Empress Ballroom live show, alongside a selection of original videos. Although most discerning music lovers will already have a copy of The Stone Roses in their record collection, the extras available on this re-release are worth investigating. The lost demos provide a rare opportunity to hear how the alternative Fab Four sounded prior to the preening and polishing of the studio, while the majestic Empress Ballroom footage shows how magical it would be if that much talked about reunion was ever realised. So grab your baggy trousers, stick some fivers to your t-shirt and go mad for it. This is the resurrection. Ailís Corey
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: 'I WANNA BE ADORED’, ‘SHE BANGS THE DRUMS’, ‘WATERFALL’, ‘I AM THE RESURRECTION’. FOR FANS OF: FLARED TROUSERS, MANCUNIAN ATTITUDE, PSYCHEDELIC POP.
Hecuba Paradise MANIMAL VINYL Los Angeles duo Hecuba (aka Isabelle Albuquerque and Jon Beasley) are a rum proposition indeed. Defying easy categorisation, their electro-tinged songs are by turns dramatic, witty, unsettling, and really quite unlike anything else you’ll hear. Much of this is the result of the otherworldly sounds that Beasley conjures up, while a succession of bizarre lyrical non-sequiturs (“I have a wandering mind / I bought a house for the first time / My brother thought it was a good idea”) serve to amuse and baffle in equal measure. Alburquerque’s ennui-laden vocals are never less than enticing, and even in the midst of the general weirdness there’s a firm grasp of off-kilter pop melodies in ‘Miles Away’, ‘Suffering’ and the slinky ‘Extra Connection’. Quite odd, in a pleasant sort of way. Neill Dougan
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘HUMANIZE’, ‘EXTRA CONNECTION’, ‘SUFFERING’. FOR FANS OF: SUICIDE, YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS, FEVER RAY.
Julian Plenti Julian Plenti Is Skyscraper MATADOR There’s something slightly suspicious about Julian Plenti, the pseudonym for Interpol singer Paul Banks’ first solo foray – as if an alter ego is required to mask him from instant scrutiny. Gone is the Armageddon-hailing Curtis-like yowl, as Banks (sorry, Plenti) explores textures and lightness with mixed success. While the orchestral splendour of ‘Skyscraper’, the eerie wonkiness of ‘Madrid Song’ and the evocative balladry of ‘On The Esplanade’ are fine, much of Julian Plenti Is Skyscraper (the missing ‘A’ will be forever mourned) is pleasant but strangely lacklustre. Interpol’s next album will cast light onto whether Banks has purged this new musical whimsy, or whether it starts a new, brighter chapter for the New York doom-merchants. John Freeman
are cagey, Forget The Night Ahead is the aural equivalent of walking through wet muck, melancholically. Stereo-sound instrumentation abounds – the drums on ‘Seven Years of Letters’ are ominous, marching into an unrelenting, guitar-fuzz chorus. But while it trundles meaningfully on, the LP doesn’t really go anywhere. The point of climax comes halfway through – ‘The Birthday Present’ is a punchy five minutes of driven post-rock, which filters into the ill-advised ‘Floorboards Beneath the Bed’ (spoken word meets piano ballad meets MBV) – and the record, disappointingly, slows to a halt. Alas, though The Twilight Said have produced a record that’s grounded in grit and reality, they’ve forgotten to add the bite. Ailbhe Malone
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The Twilight Sad Forget The Night Ahead FATCAT Forget The Night Ahead is a record about Scotland. Not just any Scotland though. It’s about the Scotland of The Twilight Sad. Recorded at studios near the group’s home town of Kilsyth, the songs focus on, and here’s a direct quote from frontman James Graham, “finding and losing people, friends and loved ones.” Taking its subject matter from the group’s direct experiences, often verbatim, it’s a heavy record in every way. Soaked in reverb and layers of guitars, and dealing with issues about which the group
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘PAINTING AND KISSING’, ‘THE GREEDY UGLY PEOPLE’, ‘DAY THAT THATCHER DIES’. FOR FANS OF: PULP, THE GO-BETWEENS, LLOYD COLE.
Rodrigo y Gabriela 11:11
DOWNLOAD: ‘I BECAME A PROSTITUTE’, ‘THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT’. FOR FANS OF: IDLEWILD, BIFFY CLYRO.
Hefner We Love The City
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘MADRID SONG’, ‘NO CHANCE SURVIVAL’, ‘ON THE ESPLANADE’. FOR FANS OF: INTERPOL, WINDMILL, THE DRUG MODELS LOVE.
but puzzlingly unloved Dead Media a year later, pissed off the fans and never recovered. Although We Love The City sags a little in the middle, at its best it’s a nakedly personal (literally in the case of the lovely ‘Don’t Go’) and sweepingly romantic (in a stained-sheets kind of way) document of love and the city. We Love The City is a timely reminder of a good band who somehow slipped through the cracks. Joe Nawaz
BELKA With a songwriter as deftly astute as Darren Hayman, Hefner always stood a fighting chance. And on 2000’s We Love The City, their third and most successful album, they produced a treatise on modern love that was damn near as perfect as guitar ‘indie’ gets. Now re-released as a double disc with a host of extras, it’s a chance to re-examine what went so right and so wrong for Hefner. Hayman was in love at the time of writing and it shows. Although ostensibly a perfume-scented letter to London, on listening, the city is really the glorious, grievous backdrop to a love rather than the subject of it. Brett Anderson spent years trying to achieve that synthesis, but seemed to get sidetracked with the “canines in the a-lines and the teens sipping gasoline”. The album is capped off with the joyous, insurrectionist Jagger-swagger of ‘Day That Thatcher Dies’. Sadly, this was as good as it got: they released the beautiful
RUBYWORKS Rodrigo y Gabriela follow up their half million selling eponymous 2006 release with an album of as much electrifying intensity as it’s possible to produce with two acoustic guitars trying to break the land speed record. This is amphetamine flamenco, a suitable accompaniment to a night on the tiles or any other activity when your trousers are likely to catch fire. At the heart of the Rodrigo y Gabriela experience rests the interplay between Rodrigo’s lead work and Gabriela’s rhythm play. It’s the flawless chord duelling that stands up to repeated plays. Folk fans will enjoy the musicianship, metal-heads will love the dark, heavy, fret-chopping. ‘Buster Voodoo’ owes more than a passing nod to Hendrix, and the guitarist from Testament solos on ‘Atman’. It ain’t a musical frappuccino, that’s for sure, but I’d defy anyone to insist that its dark, mysterious sensations aren’t pleasurable. Jeremy Shields
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DOWNLOAD: ‘HANUMAN’, ‘HORA ZERO’, ‘BUSTER VOODOO’. FOR FANS OF: RICHIE HAVENS, JONI MITCHELL, SANTANA. —63 AU Magazine—
Unsigned Universe
Maguire & I
InFocus ACT: MAGUIRE & I LOCATION: BELFAST-BASED MEMBERS: ANDY GOOD (GUITAR, VOCALS), EMMA HOPLEY (PIANO, GLOCKENSPIEL, VOCALS), ANDREW ELDER (BASS, VOCALS), ORLA MCKEEVER (VIOLIN), BRIAN GROGAN (DRUMS). FOR FANS OF: IAIN ARCHER, JOSH RITTER, VETIVER. RELEASE: MEANS OF DEMONSTRATION DEMO. With little fanfare, alt-folk alchemists Maguire & I have arrived bearing the excellently accomplished Means of Demonstration, a three-course demo that’s bound to delight even the most jaded of palettes. Here, Richard W. Crothers interviews Andy to give us some background on the band.
The group hasn’t been around very long, but already you’ve created some very accomplished songs. Do the members have musical backgrounds? Thanks. We first got together almost accidentally about two years ago after a couple of small shows and realised we might be onto something. Since then we've been diligently locked away in a practice room developing our sound. Our final member Emma joined around Christmas last year at which point we decided to pursue some higher profile gigs. Our backgrounds are fairly diverse, ranging from classically trained to musically ignorant, but overall we seem to strike a good balance. The demo is a brilliantly realised showcase of the band’s talents. What can you tell us about its creation?
Dan’s clapped out Fiat Punto and headed up to Derry for a weekend of recording. The location was an easy choice; Andrew had somehow convinced his Mum and Dad (the Bishop) to let us invade their residence. We moved all the furniture out of the huge drawing room and got to work. As for mixing and mastering, we worked pretty closely back and forth with Dan, who has been steadily building a modest recording empire under the name of Studio 5 back in Belfast. When you started the band did you have certain preconceptions, or ideas as to what type of act you would be?
Well, he'd like you to think that. The story was written by our bass player Elder. He's a man of many talents, including storytelling, which all too often gets us into trouble at gigs.
We originally recorded a demo two years ago with Daniel Black [Before Machines] in the School of Music at Queen's. That process turned out to be a long and painful one, a thought that left us determined to try a more energetic live recording for our next demo. So a couple of months ago we packed 14 tons of recording gear into
I think I speak for the rest of the guys when I say I originally avoided bands at all costs. The thought of not being in full control of what I was doing was a scary one, but this little project came about very casually and we seem to have very similar ideas about what we want to achieve. There wasn't really a master blueprint and each of the additions was very effortless, but I think we've hit on something that is pretty original and still has a lot of room to develop.
Gacys Thread Savour Your Scars
Maguire & I Means Of Demonstration
Furlo Signature
Gacys Threads offer a decent indicator as to their live power on this debut EP. The title is fine shorthand for what to expect, as this is a band not given to delicacy, nor to addressing anything but the most primal human emotions – guilt, sorrow, hate, anger. That said, the lyrics booklet – though a help in deciphering the Cookie Monster vocals – doesn’t do much to pin down exactly what these songs are about, as the band have a tendency to communicate in slogans. But maybe the lyrical content isn’t the point. Fans of Converge, Norma Jean and even Enter Shikari will feel at home thanks to the throatshredding vocals and serrated riffage, while the title track even starts off like early Metallica before descending into all-out mayhem. A cautious endorsement, then, for fans of metalcore and related genres. CJ
Maguire & I here set a course that showcases their supple musicianship, easy charm and exquisite arrangements. The three songs have a warm, organic sound, as if they were written during a two week timeshare holiday in Bon Iver’s log cabin. On ‘Hold On Pet’ strings stab the heart, whilst the male and female vocalists circle each other in a wary, almost somnolent dance. Similarly, the sublimely forlorn ‘John Song’ exhibits an understated elegance, however, it is ‘On Time’ that makes the best play for our affections. An assortment of instruments gently dab the canvas, but it is guitar that provides the real colour, providing muscular counterpoint to the emotional literacy of the sentiments. An excellently assured outing. FJ
Furlo’s latest EP will remind you of a million other bands – mostly English, successful and nonetoo-leftfield. However, such is the quality of the songwriting, playing and, most noticeably, the punchy, clear production, it doesn’t matter too much. Jonny Everett has a hint of wide-eyed desperation (and an ersatz English accent) that’s redolent of (gulp) The Kooks’ Luke Pritchard, but whereas that band’s songwriting is so often trite and clichéd, Furlo manage – for the most part – to keep things powerful, fresh and occasionally affecting. CJ
WWW.MYSPACE.COM/GACYSTHREADS
WWW.MYSPACE.COM/MAGUIREANDI
Judging by the MySpace story concerning the origin of the band’s name, it seems that someone in the group is an aspiring writer?
—64 issue 59—
WWW.MYSPACE.COM/FURLOTHEMUSIC
Live Reviews
Photo by Loreana Rushe
&
Deerhunter Whelan’s, Dublin A few years back, Deerhunter were a contentious lot. Unafraid of controversy, when they weren’t calling their first album Turn It Up Faggot, they were posting pictures of their own poo on their now-notorious blog. Their live shows followed suit, lead singer Bradford Cox inevitably the centre of attention, whether he be smearing himself in fake blood or (as he did at a previous Whelan’s show) spitting directly into the mouth of ex-guitarist Whitney Petty. That was then, though. Nowadays, perhaps mindful of the risk of such antics overshadowing their music, they seem to carry themselves in a more low-key fashion. If this gig is anything to go by, it’s a smart move, as tonight Deerhunter stroll onstage with minimal fanfare and deliver a devastating blast of noise-pop. The title track from 2005’s Cryptograms begins proceedings, with the majority of the set given over to last year’s Microcastle. ‘Never Stops’, ‘Little Kids’ and ‘Nothing Ever Happened’ are each immense, their fragile vocal melodies masked by vast swathes of reverb and delay. The mutant funk of ‘Saved By Old Times’, meanwhile, is a particular highlight. The band’s sober presentation is summed up by Lockett Pundt, surely rock’s most understated guitarist – not once does he even look at the crowd, his boyish features remaining steadfastly deadpan throughout. Indeed, he doesn’t appear to particularly enjoy the experience. Thankfully, Cox is on hand to enliven proceedings. Uncharacteristically quiet to begin with, he soon warms up and, after a frankly confusing attempt at audience banter falls flat, he bitches, “Well, fuck trying to talk to you guys!” Anxious-looking guitarists and slightly miffed frontmen aside, a thrilling gig concludes with a brilliant encore of ‘Cover Me (Slowly)’, ‘Agoraphobia’ and a monstrous ‘Cavalry Scars II/Aux. Out’. No outlandish antics, no fussing or fighting; just exhilarating, intense rock music. There’s no need for anything more. Neill Dougan
The Swell Season Millennium Forum, Derry Oneida Black Box, Belfast
Conway Savage Black Box, Belfast
Oneida are on their 10th studio album, and it’s a triple, so only a fool would have come to the Black Box expecting anything close to restraint or concision. And, true enough, after a cursory greeting of “We’re Oneida, see ya round,” the Brooklyn band (normally a quartet, but swollen to five tonight) launch into an opening instrumental of patiencetrying proportions. The band are well known for their love of monotony and repetition, but only when you experience a track that takes several minutes to meet its first sonic shift do you really understand the extent of that fixation. In the end, the subtle, drummer-led alterations every few minutes drag you along just as you’re starting to become infuriated, but its near-20 minutes of head-down, linear power come across more clever-clever than anything else; a band staring its audience out – literally, in the case of the keyboardist.
Conway Savage is on fine form tonight. As he introduces the band from the floor of the venue, it’s clear he’s more than a little hammered, and I can’t help feeling a little envious because tonight’s show is infuriatingly incidental to the chattering classes. Not that the Black Box has a monopoly on this problem. This is a blight on Belfast’s live music circuit. Ask Mogwai!
In truth, it’s a slightly disappointing show. The sound doesn’t help, the band’s crisp Krautrock jams getting lost in the echoey room, and because of that it’s hard to be too critical, but even aside from that, there’s a lack of nuance that renders the whole experience exhausting. Nearly every song blasts into view at high speed and keeps on accelerating, and while the drumming especially is a marvel, it starts to feel like aural – and physical – punishment. But then, in a moment of pure serendipity, they introduce ‘Up With People’ – the best track from 2006’s Happy New Year album – and it becomes the perfect closer, its neoprene-tight groove as irresistible live as on record, provoking dancefloor joy among those left at the end. It’s fair reward for sticking with an occasionally trying show. Chris Jones
Conway is, thankfully, unaware of the indifference. He’s come, armed with a clutch of cautionary tales of the perils of love, the destructibility of hope and the glorious oblivion of solitude, all wrapped up in gorgeous melodies and a bottle of old No. 7. There are similarities with the early output of Tom Waits like ‘Trail Of Broken Hearts’, a seemingly innocuous ballad masking some trademark Savage wisdom – “Flattery will fuck you up, every time.” Between songs, however, he appears more like Rowley Birkin QC, rambling and indecipherable, forgetting the running order and, on one occasion, the intro to his own song. It’s a little clichéd, but endearing nonetheless. Although it all gets a bit cabaret on an excruciatingly dull rendition of ‘Que Sera, Sera’, the evening has many highlights. ‘The Cross’ is dark and atmospheric and reminds you of Nick Cave, who is, of course, Conway’s usual employer, but best of all is ‘What Ya Gotta Do’, a sublime paean to unrequited love (“who ya gotta screw, what ya gotta do round here, to get noticed by you”). Some nights, nothing seems to work. Kenny Murdock
Truly great gigs teeter on a pinprick, poised precariously between an impeccable rendering of the album versions and total chaos. The songs which raise up the hairs on your arms and buzz the nape of your neck are those which could at any moment collapse into the chaos of broken strings, snapped mike stands and a hasty exit stage right. They might not be perfect, but they are exciting. Tonight’s show, the first of a brief tour of Ireland north and south, comes from that hallowed place. At first it seems as if the setlist is back to front: ‘When Your Mind’s Made Up’ and ‘The Moon’ are napalm-filled-crackers which other outfits would reserve for their finale, but Glen Hansard and his cohorts play them first. There’s a Don Paterson poem in which a musician crafts an ocarina from an egg, plays the most beautiful melody, then casually crushes the instrument in his hand. That pretty much sums up how it feels to watch The Swell Season. In a good way. Hansard has the same knack for spilling out a heartbreaking song, with shades of Will Oldham or Nick Cave, then casually breaking the mood with a joke or a bad disco pose. Perhaps this is because during more intimate tracks like ‘This Low’ and new ones ‘In These Arms’ and ‘Back Broke’ from forthcoming album Strict Joy, he seems to be two emotional sheets to the wind. It’s as if the meanings behind his lyrics are getting to him, and he’s about to topple off the tip of that pin. And so he should: it must be painful up there. It’s quite a thing to watch a man walk across an invisible tightrope, while the audience, as silent as a wake, hold their breath for three minutes at a time. They’re waiting for the performer to fall, for the egg to break, for the music to end. It does, of course, but only after two hours of defying gravity. Ross Thompson —65 AU Magazine—
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The Cylon And Winding Road Battlestar Galactica Reaches The End Of The Line
Most Wanted
Like it or not, science fiction will forever be associated with spoddish social miscreants who happily spend three days on a non-stop Starcraft binge. Upon hearing the term, it’s unavoidable to indulge tired gags about grown men designing their own Tron costumes or engaging in lively debate about who they would rather date: a Romulan or a Betazoid. However, dating an alien life form or, Zod forbid, an actual human being, is a pretty remote possibility given that it involves leaving the house and interacting with the general populace. So says the stereotype. Which brings us to Battlestar Galactica, the recent remake of the campy but popular Seventies series. Quality science fiction shows come along as often as full price DFS sofas, so this really is a milestone in television history. The funny thing is that it isn’t really like SF at all. Or, to use a cliché as worn as Captain Kirk’s elbow pads, it’s SF, but not as we know it. Whereas the original was a shameless, self-parodying Star Wars rip-off whose most notable achievement was that it starred Dirk ‘Faceman’ Benedict, the reboot is tightly scripted, hugely engrossing and for the most part about as bleak as mainstream television gets. The premise can be summarised pretty simply: in the future, the last dregs of humankind have been forced into exile by the Cylons, the cybernetic slaves they created. Their fleet of ships must continually warp to avoid capture and extermination by their hunters, meaning that their lives, such as they are, are locked in a permanent state of anxiety. The early big reveal is that a new breed of Cylons have been genetically modified to look, sound and act like human beings. Living, breathing, thinking and perhaps even loving, they are indistinguishable from
their human counterparts, even to their own kind – most of them are not aware of their true identity. This neat plot development allows the scriptwriters to comment on the fall of the same American empire detailed by David Simon in The Wire. Where the heaviest stuff in most other dramas amounts to a tacked-on message that you shouldn’t smoke or cheat on your girlfriend, Battlestar Galactica openly scorns the Bush presidency and everything for which it stood. Blatant references to Guantanamo Bay, religious fundamentalism and suicide bombers abound, and the persistent fear of the other always leads back to the same problematic question: how far would you go to weed out the stranger in the midst? Just as political as The West Wing, albeit minus the liberal wish fulfilment, the show is subversive without ever resorting to hollow tub-thumping. This is entertainment, after all. And how entertaining it is. Battlestar Galactica is a masterwork of sustained tension. As bedraggled fighter pilots wait for the call for yet another skirmish, the crew are exhausted and suffering from cabin fever, and the chiefs are truly lost in space, they turn inward, against each other, to detect the Cylons hiding within. There are allusions to McCarthyism or, to be blunt, the inherent xenophobia on which the American States, united or otherwise, were built, but this is film noir with a bitter twist. It just happens to be set in space. Ross Thompson
Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series is released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 21.
—67 AU Magazine—
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PROFESSOR LAYTON AND THE DIABOLICAL BOX
Riddle Me This
The most surprising surprise hit of last year, Professor Layton And The Curious Village remains one of the smartest and most enjoyable titles available for the DS. A peculiar hybrid of a quaint French cartoon interspersed with over 100 mathematical puzzles and brainteasers sounded as tempting as a safety match sandwich, but by golly it proved to be charming, witty and engaging gaming. The sequel, The Diabolical Box, centres on yet more nefarious goings on, this time on a train – verbal reasoning on the Orient Express, if you will. With over 150 conundrums, plus multiple secrets and unlockable features if you own the first game, it’s guaranteed to appear on many wish lists this winter. Professor Layton And The Diabolical Box is released on Nintendo DS on September 25. Words by Ross Thompson TAKING THE PITH
MOUNTAIN SCAREHOUSE
Cannons don’t come much looser than Evan Dando. The man is more than capable of writing brilliant albums but has been absent without new material for several years. Expectations were barely sated by Varshons, a tossed-off collection of bizarre and not very good covers released a few months back. Elsewhere, the through-other Lemonhead is notorious for not turning up for gigs or for playing gigs so bad the crowd wish he hadn’t turned up. But on those occasions when Dando is sound of mind and body, he plays the best shows of his life – and perhaps yours. Here’s hoping that he feels like competing when he plays in Belfast later this month. The Lemonheads play The Speakeasy, Queen’s University Belfast on September 12.
Mountain climbing. Slipping between parallel worlds. Fleeing from a crazed quasi-religious cult. Though it might sound like a day in the life of Tom Cruise, in actual fact it’s the forthcoming Wii exclusive Cursed Mountain. Taking its cue from survival horror classics like Dead Space and Resident Evil, the game has an intriguing plot: after a renowned but devil-may-care mountain climber goes missing in the Himalayas, his brother sets out to scale the icy peaks and find his errant sibling. Little does he know that by doing so, he is unleashing an ancient curse and invoking the wrath of those who guard this remote world. Cursed Mountain looks creepy, immersive and, along with the forthcoming Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, pushes Nintendo’s wonder box further away from its reputation as a console for kiddies.
GET CAPE. WEAR CAPE. DIE.
Cursed Mountain is released on Wii on September 4.
Journalists have a bad habit of dispensing hyperboles with the same regularity as Cheryl Cole bursting into tears. If you believe that every new release is either the best thing or the worst thing ever, then you should probably put down this magazine and head out for some fresh air. But here’s the rub: prepare yourself for another fistful of hyperboles, because, frankly, no other words are fitting for this pair of graphic novels from Titan Books. Particularly when you consider the calibre of talent behind the Whatever Happened… stories: Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Curt Swann and Andy Kubert, plus added material from the likes of Dave Gibbons, Brian Bolland and Simon Bisley. These world class writers and artists have in their own way leapt buildings and flown bullet-fast, having produced more universally revered series than The Blob has eaten hot dinners. Here they tackle the ‘final’ instalments in the lives of Superman and Batman, and comic writing has rarely been as eloquent and elegiac. These deluxe hardback editions are replete with extra content, featuring bonus tales, sketches and paintings, but it’s the prose that will have you alternating between weeping and gasping in equal measures. Hyperbolically, no doubt.
INSPECT YOUR GADGET
Whatever Happened To The Caped Crusader? and Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow? are available now from Titan Books.
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Technophiles will split their own atoms at the very thought of a new piece of kit emerging from the top secret laboratories at Apple HQ. It has to be said that advance pictures of the Mac Tablet, essentially a cross between an iPhone and a MacBook Air, look pretty sweet. Not a great deal is known about the Tablet at the time of going to press, but it is variously rumoured to a portable media device, a new breed of palm pilot and a fully functioning computer with 3G connectivity. Even leaked (and soon to be deleted videos) don’t reveal much other than it advances existent touch screen technology and it looks very good indeed. The Apple Mac Tablet may (or may not) be released later this month. CURB APPEAL The entertainment world’s second favourite “selfloathing Jew” (after Woody Allen, natch) returns for another suck of the lemon in the seventh season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Due for broadcast on HBO in a mere few weeks, fan prayers will finally be answered with the news
Most Wanted
CURSED MOUNTAIN
Dot Dot Dot...
The Best Of The Rest In Live Music Monday, September 7 Oscillations: Damo Suzuki Black Box, Belfast Electric Wizard Whelan’s, Dublin (September 8, Spring & Airbrake, Belfast) Tuesday, September 8 A Wilhelm Scream Spring & Airbrake, Belfast Subhumans, 1000 Drunken Nights, The Lobotomies, A/Political Auntie Annie’s, Belfast Wednesday, September 9 Oscillations: Gnod, Slomatics, Boys of Summer Black Box, Belfast
that the original cast of Seinfeld are all on board for an ongoing subplot involving the actors trying to organise a reunion. Whether they will take a pop at Michael ‘Kramer’ Richards’ bungled attempt to embrace cultural diversity during his infamous gig at the Laugh Factory remains a mystery, but knowing Larry David’s love of edgy material, it’s unlikely that he will be able to resist. Curb Your Enthusiasm Season Seven starts on HBO on September 20. AN OPEN INVITATION Now in its 11th year, the Open House Festival once again brings an enticing bill to the city’s Cathedral Quarter. Fresh from a recurrent role in The Wire (yes, that again), Steve Earle offers up his unique brand of politically charged, provocative, funny Americana. Elsewhere, Laura Marling, Beth Orton and Noah And The Whale represent the new folk contingent, with the latter promoting their new album The First Days Of Spring, whilst local talents Captain Cameron, The Lowly Knights and Foy Vance are sure to be a major
More Beatles For Sale If anybody could be accused of barrel scraping, then it’s The Beatles. The loveable mop tops are the kind of sacred cow you just don’t bash, lest angry McCartney acolytes storm your house like a troop of ill-fed zombies to demand an apology written in your own blood. Still, in the past years they have released everything from the Apple vault, bar an hour-long piccolo only version of ‘Penny Lane’. Guess Ringo has to make his money somehow. However, this month sees a range of Beatles products that are actually worth buying: all of the original albums from Please Please Me to Let It Be are being re-released in digitally remastered form. Disregard the band’s descent into bitter acrimony, because their immense back catalogue of songs should speak for itself. Now it has a chance to speak much more clearly. The Beatles remasters are released on September 9.
draw. There are also sets from the likes of Alabama 3 and Andrew Weatherall, not to mention a raft of traditional Irish events, making this one of the most varied mini festivals around. The Coors Open House Music Festival runs from September 23 to September 27. MAN OF CONSTANTINE SORROW Scottish writer Ian Rankin may be best known for creating the hard-drinking, washed-up policeman Rebus, but here he turns his talents to a very different detective: John Constantine, protagonist of the longrunning supernatural series Hellblazer. With gorgeous art from Werther Dell’Edera, the especially created graphic novel Dark Entries pitches the self-destructive cynic into a reality television show gone wrong. Sceptics might think that Rankin would be out of his depth in this field, but with a seal of approval from Brian K. Vaughan and Warren Ellis, he seems to have nailed it bang on. Dark Entries is released on October 2.
Thursday, September 10 The Tallest Man On Earth Speakeasy, Belfast (September 11, Whelan’s, Dublin) Friday, September 11 Oscillations: Silver Apples Menagerie, Belfast (September 12, Whelan’s, Dublin) Sunset Rubdown Spring & Airbrake, Belfast (September 12, Crawdaddy, Dublin)
Saturday, September 19 Codes, The Jane Bradfords, Push Borders Stiff Kitten, Belfast Hot Chip (Alexis Taylor DJ Set) Spring & Airbrake, Belfast Messiah J & The Expert Cyprus Avenue, Cork Monday, September 21 Hockey Spring & Airbrake, Belfast (September 22, Academy, Dublin) Tuesday, September 22 The Cribs, Adam Green Mandela Hall, Belfast The Jesus Lizard The Button Factory, Dublin Wednesday, September 23 Bob Log III Black Box, Belfast (then touring) Beth Orton Empire, Belfast Thursday, September 24 Foy Vance Custom House Square, Belfast
Redneck Manifesto Cyprus Avenue, Cork
Nodzzz Roisin Dubh, Galway (September 25, Whelans (Upstairs), Dublin)
Saturday, September 12 The Lemonheads Speakeasy, Belfast
Saturday, September 26 The Hotrats (Supergrass spin-off) Spring & Airbrake, Belfast
Monday, September 14 Coldplay Phoenix Park, Dublin
Director Purty Loft, Dun Laoghaire
Tuesday, September 15 The Specials Olympia, Dublin A Plastic Rose (Single Launch), Dutch Schultz, Tapasia The Menagerie, Belfast Wednesday, September 16 Kasper Rosa (EP launch), Skip Moses, Tapasia, A Plastic Rose Vs. Panic Dots DJ set Spring & Airbrake, Belfast Dirty Projectors Whelans, Dublin Thursday, September 17 Two Step’s 4th Birthday: Desert Hearts, Kowalski, Yes Cadets & Mucho Danke DJs Limelight, Belfast
Sunday, September 27 Steve Earle Custom House Square, Belfast Tuesday, September 29 The Boxer Rebellion Auntie Annie’s, Belfast BATS Cyprus Avenue, Cork Wednesday, September 30 Pixies Olympia, Dublin (also October 1, 2) Friday, October 2 Baddies Auntie Annie’s, Belfast Enter Shikari Mandela Hall, Belfast (October 3, Academy, Dublin)
Friday, September 18 Times New Viking, Lovvers, Girls Names Auntie Annie’s, Belfast (September 19, Whelan’s, Dublin)
Speech Debelle Stiff Kitten, Belfast
The Bug & Daddy Freddy The Twisted Pepper, Dublin (September 19, Black Box, Belfast)
Saturday, October 3 Panama Kings Mandela Hall, Belfast
David Kitt Whelan’s, Dublin
Peter Bjorn and John Tripod, Dublin
DJ Yoda Twisted Pepper, Dublin
—69 AU Magazine—
Sc Subbacultcha
Screen
Big Screen: All Yesterday’s Parties: New Documentary Charts The History Of A Festival
Words by Ross Thompson
GRIZZLY BEAR
First staged a decade ago, the All Tomorrow’s Parties music festival takes place each year at the unlikely location of holiday camps in East Sussex and Somerset. Built on the belief that the perfect event should be shorn of corporate backing, ATP focuses first and foremost on the one thing that matters: the music. Each year’s shindig is curated by a guest artist or musician - previous dignitaries have included Mogwai, Mike Patton and Steve Albini. Meanwhile, past line-ups read like a who’s who of alternative rock history: Sonic Youth, Modest Mouse, The Shins, The Fall, TV On The Radio, Teenage Fanclub, Deerhoof, Nick Cave, The National, Okkervil River… the collected setlist stretches downwards like Pete Doherty’s rider. To mark the anniversary of this groundbreaking hooley, Warp Films have released a feature-length documentary stitched together from footage captured by dozens of attendees. It’s a fitting testament to the festival’s broad appeal and longevity. We spoke to the film’s co-director Jonathan Caouette about what makes ATP so magical…
What first attracted you to the idea of making a documentary about All Tomorrow’s Parties? I received an email from Luke Morris at Warp Films about the possibility of making a film one day. It was during a time when I was at the end of what seemed like a never-ending promotional schedule for my last film, Tarnation. I was looking for a diversion from promoting something as personal as that was. The prospect of doing a film on ATP was a perfect fit. I had sort of heard about the festival years prior to this. When I first moved to NYC, one of my odder jobs was at this really cool punk rock hair salon in the SoHo neighbourhood. This tattooed chick named Jo Blackwell owns the place, and she hired me to do odd jobs like walking her pit bull Jezzabelle, shampooing clients like Diamanda Galas etc. Keith Foti, who was off and on the road with Jeff Buckley, was one of the hairdressers there. I was young and it was a really exciting little job to have at that time in my life. It was a totally musician centric atmosphere. Jo’s clients were mostly in the music industry. In 1999, I heard about this quirky festival in England from some British folks, along with the phrase “Holiday Camp”. I had only connected that to Tommy: The Movie, not knowing what that really meant at the time. Later on, it occurred to me that someone had actually talked to someone I was hanging out with about The Bowlie Weekender, the one off music festival that Belle And Sebastian had created – it eventually became the seedling/prototype that we now all know as ATP. It’s a brilliant idea and I hope that they can one day put on mini versions in several cities in the States. How does ATP differ from the umpteen music festivals which take place during the year? To be quite honest, I’m not much of a music festivalgoer. I do know people who go to several each year, and that’s a big part of their lives. I can tell you though, that out of the handful I have attended, I have never experienced any as cool. ATP is completely devoid of any big
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corporate sponsorship. It’s completely 100% grass roots in spirit and has remained that way since the start. Placing it in an old holiday camp is an amazing idea. There is no divide between the artists who are performing and the fans who attend. During the weekend, you can literally bump into Iggy Pop just walking around. As someone once put it, “No one is trying to sell you anything” at ATP. The shows are put on in large rooms where the Redcoats perform when the camps are functioning. The chalets sure beat a muddy tent. It’s so funny… when I screen the film to many of my American friends who have no idea what a holiday camp is, it looks like a festival is being held in some random apartment complex. All of them are like, “Where is this?”. One of the most interesting things about ATP is that artists are invited to curate the line-up each year.
J MASCIS
Screen I believe it was Thurston Moore who once said that ATP was like the particular curator taking their record collection and putting it on the stage. The curating aspect is so cool – it actually does predicate the entire vibe of the festival. I remember when one ATP was curated by the fans of ATP and – because a lot of them range in age – it was cool to see Patti Smith and bands like Echo And The Bunnymen perform alongside a bunch of forty-somethings and twenty-somethings at the same time. Festival documentaries can be pretty dry, emotionally remote affairs. How did you set about capturing the spirit of ATP? Yes, they are dry and rather a dime a dozen these days (with the exception of two or three really great ones that I consider to be pretty iconic), and I really tried to avoid that. My one objective in making the film was to convey to the audience just what it was like to be there and try and emulate an almost dizzying POV of what it’s like to run around ATP. All in all, I have to honestly say that to convey the experience cinematically is tough – the film gives you a sneak peek but really and truly, you gotta attend one to feel what it is really like. Were there any acts in particular that you wanted to feature but weren't able to? There were so many great bands that were shot and who
did have wonderful performances that for one reason or another didn’t make this particular cut of the film. There were also some great bands who felt that their performance wasn’t up to par as well, so things like that became an issue. Who knows… perhaps one day there will be a longer version or a whole other film put out that’ll have some of the bands that didn’t make this cut. ATP has been running for a decade now. What do you think it is about it that has ensured its longevity? I think it’s a festival that will have a long, long life as long as the good folks who run it keep running it. As far as I am concerned, it’s the one festival where one can hear an array of real music coming from the hearts of some of the most talented, unprecedented artists of our time. Just when you think the 21st century version of music sucks, and music is too dictated by a formula (even in the indie music world), and there are no great musicians or singer songwriters around… take yourself over to a holiday camp and you’ll witness a great profusion of some of the most transcendental sounds of our time.
“There is no divide between the artists who are performing and the fans who attend. During the weekend, you can literally bump into Iggy Pop just walking around”
A SCREENING OF ALL TOMORROW’S PARTIES TAKES PLACE AT THE QFT ON SEPTEMBER 12, AS PART OF THE OSCILLATIONS FESTIVAL. WWW.OSCILLATIONSFESTIVAL.COM WWW.QUEENSFILMTHEATRE.COM
Little Screen: The Dead Will Walk The Earth…
YEAH YEAH YEAHS
Shorts FRIENDS REUNITED… Hot Fuzz stars and former flatmates Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are currently filming a project they co-wrote, simply entitled Paul. The British actors, who share more onscreen chemistry than 1000 Matthew McConaughey movies (not that this is much of a compliment: 1000 x 0 is still 0), play Graham and Clive, fellow geeks who pick up an alien hitchhiker (Seth Rogen) on their way to San Diego’s Comic Con. GEEK AND YE SHALL FIND… Speaking of Comic Con, attendees at this year’s event were treated to preview footage from Iron
Man 2 (Scarlett Johansson included), Tron Legacy, Astro Boy, Jonah Hex and Kick-Ass. The latter, based on Mark Millar’s bonkers comic book, features a foul-mouthed, 11-yearold heroine, Chrisopher “McLovin” Mintz-Plasse and buckets of “sickening violence: just the way you like it”. Sounds like a day in the life of Phillip Schofield. GET BACK IN THE CORNER, BABY! If rumours are to be believed, then remakes of both Dirty Dancing and Footloose are soon to sashay up to the big screen, watermelon and all. There’s only one way to resolve this: a dance-off!
SHOCKING NEWS… The industry glitterati rag Variety reports that Gore Verbinski has vacated the director’s chair for the long-in-gestation adaptation of videogame Bioshock. He will likely be replaced by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, previously responsible for 28 Weeks Later. To translate: it’s never going to happen. ASSAULTING PEPPERLAND… Refusing to let it be, Robert Zemeckis is allegedly considering a motion capture remake of the psychedelic Beatles classic (read: not very good) Yellow Submarine – a tricky proposition, given that half of the band
are now dead, and they didn’t provide the voices for the original anyway. A more viable project is Nowhere Boy, a biopic of the young John Lennon before he encountered the Fab Three. DON’T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME… John Hughes, the muchloved director of seminal Eighties films like The Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, died of a heart attack on August 6. Though Hughes had not helmed a picture in some years, his contribution to cinema is such that he will undoubtedly be missed.
The big whoop for gogglebox fans this month is the news that Frank Darabont is close to signing a deal to adapt the long-running comic The Walking Dead for television. Now up to its 11th graphic novel, it catalogues the individual stories of a ragtag band of survivors in the wake of a zombie apocalypse. As you might expect, it makes for pretty grim reading, and some issues are particularly brutal, but the tone is leavened by shots of dark humour and a touching depiction of fractured family life. The campy vampire frolic True Blood, soon to be broadcast on Channel 4, has proven that horror-themed telly can work, so if handled with the appropriate intelligence and care, The Walking Dead could work very well indeed. For once, Zombie fans would be happy if it ran and ran.
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Games
500 Plays Of Summer: A Good Season For Gaming
The ancient Romans believed in the god Janus, an omniscient dude with two faces – one observing the year gone by, and the other looking towards the future. If only he had also been gifted with two sets of hands then he would have been able to play two consoles at the same time. Or watch Jessica Chobot on IGN whilst simultaneously telling his wife, "Yes dear, I'll take the bins out in a minute." Janus certainly would have needed the extra eyes and digits to get through the woolly mammoth collection of titles released this summer, let alone the bumper crop of games due for release this coming autumn and winter. It has, as the header states, been a good season for gaming. Here’s a rundown of just some of the titles you should check out. Words by Ross Thompson
BORDERLANDS
RIDDLERS AND FRET FIDDLERS There were plenty of big boys jostling for attention this summer, but undoubtedly the main contenders for the champion’s belt are Arkham Asylum (Eidos, Multiformat) and Guitar Hero 5 (Activision, Multi). The former is the troubled Batman title, now liberated from what seems like years confined to development perdition. After being the subject of much woe and dubious speculation, it is fitting that this stealth, action and ass-kicking crossbreed has received universally glowing reviews. And rightly so: whereas the graphic novel on which this is loosely based was subtitled A Serious House On Serious Earth, this could be tagged a serious game for serious gamers. Batfans will lap up the manifold references to comic lore, while more casual players will find much to treasure in the diverse levels, villains and slew of meta-challenges. Meanwhile, the new Guitar Hero is guaranteed to sell more copies than actual guitars. It has been tweaked slightly, but it’s not exactly revolutionary. Then again, when you have a franchise this fun, and so slick even penguins couldn’t walk upright on it, why tamper with the format? GH5 has an impressive tally of 85 tracks – it’s more diverse and less orientated towards the kiddly-winks this turn around the fretboard: My Morning Jacket, The Bronx, Wolfmother, Muse and TV On The Radio are all on there. Rocktastic! BEAT-EM-UPS AND HEAT-EM-UPS Devout acolytes of Final Fantasy will be surprised to learn that Square Enix is celebrating the series’ 20th anniversary with a fighting title. Dissidia (Square Enix, PSP) is similar to Super Smash Bros. in that it takes heroes and villains from the game’s history and pitches them against each other in recognisable arenas. The battle system is unique and well-balanced, the build to special moves is challenging, and the whole thing is crafted with the company’s usual meticulousness and sense of fun. Equally surprising is the downloadable platformer ‘Splosion Man (Twisted Pixel, XBLA), which
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is imbued with more humour and invention than most identikit titles cluttering the shelves right now. You know, the ones where you play gangsters running around, blowing shizz up and stealing cars. Yawnsville. The premise is simple but immediately addictive: you play as the titular character, a cross between Earthworm Jim and the anthropomorphic meat stick from the pepperami adverts who has been invented by foolhardy scientists and gifted with “splodalicious abilities”. You guide ‘Splosion Man through level after level of heinous traps and frustratingly placed platforms, ’sploding any boffin who gets in the way. The multiple levels grow ever more fiendish as you progress, where all that stands between you and a quick dip in an acid pool is a matter of split second timing. Get it wrong and you’re toast – and not even nice, buttered toast. SHOOTERS AND LOOTERS Easily the best value for money since Radiohead offered listeners the option to choose their own price for In Rainbows, the Metroid Prime: Trilogy (Nintendo, Wii) gathers together latest instalment Corruption with its Gamecube predecessors. It’s amazing how well all three Metroid chapters hold up, not only because they’ve been updated with motion sensitive controls, but also because the mind-bending level design, world architecture and sense of scope are as potent as they always were. The sense of immersion and isolation is so strong that you really do feel as if you are exploring alien planets and encountering hulking, screen-sized golems. Metroid understands the rhythm of challenge and reward implicitly – make it through the innumerable epic battles and inhumanly difficult sections and you will always be treated to a new power up, thus opening unexplored territories. Put simply, if you own a Wii, you must own this. Equally tempting is the double whammy of Bioshock and Oblivion (2K Games, Multi), squeezed together into one package and practically given away for a few weeks’ pocket money. Two of the best games from the current generation, you would be a few marbles short
Games of a full bag to pass them up. First up, if you’re thinking of giving Oblivion a shot, best set aside around two months of your life – it’s the kind of RPG that becomes more of a religion than an obsession. It’s both beautiful to look at, and to play. In comparison, Bioshock is basically a first person shooter, but that is akin to saying that a black panther is kind of like a big cat. The way in which it interweaves a noir-esque narrative with elements of sci-fi, steam-punk and Ayn Rand’s headcase philosophy makes the playthrough wholly engrossing. As does the sense of atmosphere, which is claustrophobic and oppressive – it’s remarkable that a lowly videogame can give you the chills, but Bioshock does it with aplomb.
up spooky soldiers. If that sounds hokey, that’s because it is, but it is also immensely good-spirited. The game has two good handfuls of missions which stem from a hub world, à la The Darkness, each of which is chockfull of secrets and shortcuts, and are rich in terms of replayability. It might seem linear at first, but this being an id title, wandering off the beaten track pays dividends. Wolfenstein doesn’t take itself too seriously, but that is part of its appeal. Shadow Complex (Microsoft, XBLA) can be placed in the same beefy, testosterone-swilling bracket. Pitched as a cross between Castlevania and Metroid, it’s notable for its heritage alone – it was co-developed by the bods behind Gears Of War.
PLUMBERS, RUNNERS AND GUNNERS
BRAINS, TRAINS AND NEW TERRAINS
Sequels to Bioshock, Splinter Cell and Red Steel may all have been delayed until next year, supposedly to make way for the all-conquering behemoth that is Modern Warfare 2 (Activision, Multi), but nonetheless the market will still be saturated with enough quality titles to choke a Christmas stocking. The permanently chirpy Super Mario puts his relationship problems (“Today on Jeremy Kyle: ‘My girlfriend was abducted by a firebreathing turtle’.”) aside to pop up in two titles: New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo, Wii), which promises a four player co-op, the kind of platforming merriment on which the franchise was established. There’s also the small matter of the contentious Demo Play feature, an option which allows gamers to switch to autopilot for the more trying levels. Mario And Sonic At The Olympic Winter Games (Sega, Wii / DS) is another release perfect for jazzing up family parties. If you ever wanted to see Donkey Kong in a toboggan, this is your chance. The aforementioned Modern Warfare 2 is a couple of months away yet, but it’s a safe bet that it will remain at the top of the charts well into next year, but this is for good reason: developers Infinity Ward are masters (and commanders) in their field. They have polished the online multiplayer modes until they are so shiny that even the most curmudgeonly drill sergeant would wiggle his little moustache with delight.
Another title ensured to clean up at the tills is Halo: ODST (Microsoft, Xbox 360), an expansion pack for Halo 3, a game which has now sold roughly enough copies to construct a Babylonian tower to the moon. ODST expands upon the universe’s mythology by introducing a new playable character, The Rookie. His storyline is said to cross over with that of the Master Chief, but how exactly this will happen is still shrouded in mystery. Those hankering after a very different type of mad-paced shooter should check out Dead Space: Extraction (EA, Wii), a prequel to our number one release of last year. The spinoff reveals just how the occupants of the USG Ishimura were transformed into rabid, slavering Necromorphs. The on-rails first person shooter looks fantastic, pushing the Wii hardware about as far as it will go – and then a good bit further. In a similarly blood-filled, gloopy vein is Left 4 Dead 2 (EA, Multi). In certain quarters, news of a follow-up to the brains and bedlam fuelled multiplayer zombie slayer has gone down as well as a sputum sandwich – many sourpussed gamers are balking at the thought that they are being ripped off. However, developers Valve are holding firm that L4D2 is a quality game in its own right. And frankly, who wouldn’t believe them? They may not be known for their prolific output – a snail with a sore foot moves faster – but they are known for their quality. Taking its cue from Fallout 3, Borderlands (2K Games, Multi) may be cel-shaded but it is far from cute. Though it might be overshadowed by other, more recognisable brands, this post-apocalyptic RPG will be one to watch this winter. And to play. Endlessly. Lastly in this section, and for those who prefer their gaming to be confined to little handheld tablets of joy, The Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Nintendo, DS) will be another unmissable outing for the little green elf with a penchant for chasing after fairies. No, not Louis Walsh.
MYSTICS AND BALLISTICS Absent for the guts of a decade, Wolfenstein (Activision, Multi) goosesteps onto consoles with a charmingly oldschool blaster. This boy’s own tale of B.J. Blazkowicz (yes, that is his real name) features comedy Nazis harnessing supernatural powers, Raiders Of The Lost Ark style, in order to drown the world in a sea of souped-
ARKHAM ASYLUM
DEAD SPACE EXTRACTION
WOLFENSTEIN
LEFT 4 DEAD 2
“Batfans will lap up the manifold references to comic lore, while more casual players will find much to treasure in the diverse levels, villains and slew of meta-challenges”
And The Rest... Other titles we didn’t have room to discuss in full include Free Realms (Sony, PC), a character-driven MMOG currently signing up thousands of new players each day. As the title suggests, it’s free (www.freerealms.com), so what are you waiting for? In sport, there’s Forza Motorsport 3 (Microsoft, Xbox 360) and Colin McRae DiRT 2 (Codemasters, Multi), along with the annual FIFA (EA, Multi). Both Max Payne 3 (Rockstar, Multi) and Wet (Bethesda, Multi) look deliriously overthe-top, the latter coming on like a hyperactive grindhouse blend of The Matrix and Tony Hawk. Speak of the devil, for he will appear in Ride (Activision, Multi), replete with a skateboard peripheral. Guaranteed to sell by the shedload are the much-anticipated Assassin's Creed 2 (Ubisoft, Multi) and movie tie-in Avatar (Ubisoft, Multi). If that wasn’t enough candy, try sucking on Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (Capcom, Wii), Lego Rock Band (Warner Bros., Multi) and… and… In brief, best start exercising those thumbs. They’ll need it.
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Books
Mozipedia
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Morrissey And The Smiths But Were Afraid To Ask Words by Francis Jones
“As a teenage Smiths fan he was the best teacher I ever had. Nobody in school taught me about Oscar Wilde or Shelagh Delaney. Morrissey did.”
With the Mozipedia, Simon Goddard has created what is surely the definitive portrait of the controversial, influential and enigmatic figure that is Steven Patrick Morrissey. Very few cultural icons would be worthy of such scrutiny, indeed – until the publication of this veritable “fan’s bible” – only Bob Dylan had enjoyed the honour of having his life and career studied in this encyclopedic manner. However, the complex persona of Morrissey is more than deserving of such fervent analysis. This is the music biography as undertaken by Hercule Poirot, the almost 700 individual entries that comprise the dossier exhibiting the author’s forensic attention to detail. Almost every conceivable aspect of Morrissey’s career and life is covered, with write-ups on the seminal albums and songs nestling alongside examinations of the everyday, be it Morrissey’s penchant for particular types of food, or sartorial preferences. Not for the casual fan by any means, but the hardcore contingent will find the Mozipedia both informative and entertaining. Here, Goddard tells AU about the making of his masterwork. Did the idea for the Mozipedia grow out of work on your previous book, Songs That Saved Your Life, or had you already been planning this project? Mozipedia suggested itself as a separate entity. It is the summation of everything I have to say about Morrissey, and The Smiths. One reviewer described it as “the undertaking of a maniac” which tickled me no end because that’s absolutely the case. In your opinion, what is it about Morrissey that makes him worthy of such examination? If I could answer that in a single sentence then I wouldn’t have had to write a 350,000 word encyclopedia. But, in brief, he warrants an encyclopedia because he’s always been an encyclopedia. As a teenage Smiths fan he was the best teacher I ever had. Nobody in school taught me about Oscar Wilde or Shelagh Delaney. Morrissey did. I even remember stealing a Wilde book from the English store cupboard because our class was doing Macbeth and I was
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more interested in reading The Importance Of Being Earnest so I might better understand and get closer to Morrissey. Which got a bit confusing come exam time. “Is this a handbag I see before me?” etc. The Mozipedia is a mighty tome, how did you go about researching the book? It’s been constant since I was about 12 or 13. Morrissey was 13 when he went to his first pop concert, which was T.Rex, and it changed his life. I was 13 when I went to my first pop concert, which was The Smiths, and it changed mine. There were many old articles I used as reference in Mozipedia which my 13 year-old fingers had ripped from the magazines at the time. They’re careworn and brittle but I still have them. I’m 38 this year so Morrissey has been in my life more years than he hasn’t. Was there anything you uncovered whilst researching the book that particularly surprised you? The fact that ‘You’re The One For Me, Fatty’ is, apparently, written about Chas Smash [Cathal Smyth] from Madness. Producer Clive Langer was the first to alert me to this fact and then when I interviewed Smash he casually confirmed it. Smash and Morrissey were great friends around that time and it all tallies as true. Smash also suspects ‘Certain People I Know’ to be about him. I thought it was funny and fascinating. It’s very easy to stroke one’s chin and speculate and get carried away and over-intellectualise that certain Morrissey lyrics may be veiled allusions to literary figures or obscure films when more often than not they’re probably clever and cutting in-jokes directed at those in his immediate social circle for his own amusement. Well, probably. Only he knows. What was it like to be so immersed in the world of Smithdom? I’ve always believed The Smiths to be the greatest pop group of all time so it’s always a pleasure. Saying that, it can get a bit heavy. I’ve interviewed Johnny Marr several times now and he always jokes about it, shaking his head and saying “poor Simon, writing about us lot again”. About
Books
“He’s an artist and artists are complex human beings and rightly have no obligation to be what is conventionally called ‘nice’.”
PHOTO BY TRAVIS SHINN
two years ago I mentioned to him that I didn’t think I had any words left in me about The Smiths. He shouted “hooray”, shook my hand and said “finally, Simon’s left The Smiths!” And then I go and write Mozipedia. I’ve been practicing sheepish expressions for when our paths next cross. With new snippets of information and news occurring so regularly, I imagine that it was difficult to actually sign-off on a project such as this? It was. There are just under 700 entries in the book from a working list of 900. The things that didn’t make it weren’t essential, mostly other authors or groups who have influenced him in minor ways beyond the core canon of Wilde, the Dolls, Dean et cetera. Naturally, as Morrissey continues to write and record there is an obligation to expand and update but I stand by Mozipedia as it is. Time has been fortunate in that it comes on the back of, for me, his best album in 15 years. Years Of Refusal is outstanding. That ‘Something Is Squeezing My Skull’ never made the UK Top 40 is beyond a travesty. Morrissey is a persona to whom a sense of mystique and romance is essential. Do you think that, in a way, such examination threatens to rob him of that intrigue?
I think it probably increases it. The point of Mozipedia isn’t to pull back the curtain and reveal the old man working the levers behind the great, mystical Oz. Quite the opposite. I wanted to show how vast a subject, how great an artist, how unscrupulous a mind he is. As I say in the preface, the more you find out then the more intriguing he becomes. It was surprising to read that so many of the disputes that Morrissey has had with band members seem to come down to money. Yes, but I don’t judge Morrissey for that and it’s easy for people with no understanding of the business side of pop to take a harsh view. The truth is that pop is a business and a cutthroat one at that. The history of rock ‘n’ roll is testament to those great creative minds who have been ripped-off and duped by corrupt managers and accountants. So in that sense it’s not surprising. Nor does he hide it – ‘Why Don’t You Find Out For Yourself’ spells it out for all to hear. I can’t comment other than reporting in the book those grievances that I felt were of interest purely to explain why he ceased working with particularly talented individuals. But that’s just their side of the story and he has his. And besides, he’s an artist and artists are
Shorts Legendary punk fanzine Sniffin’ Glue gets a new lease of life with all 12 original editions gathered together in a new paperback title by Omnibus Press. Echoing the DIY spirit of the bands it featured, the magazine was fired by a no hold barred sense of enthusiasm and had a certain rough and ready charm. It featured most of the leading punk practitioners of the day, including the Sex Pistols, The Ramones and Blondie. Alongside the reproduced
fanzines are interviews with Sniffin’ Glue creator Mark Perry and contributor Danny Baker. September will be quite a momentous month for Beatles fans, with the Fab Four’s remastered catalogue set for release. But, just why has it taken so long for the spruced up editions of the albums to see the light of day? The answer can be found in Peter Doggett’s You Never Give Me Your Money: The Battle For The Soul Of The Beatles. Deviating
from the normal narrative of Beatles biographies, Doggett seeks to trace the personal and business rivalries that have marked the group’s history once they ceased to work together in 1970. Douglas Coupland, the novelist who sought to capture the early Nineties zeitgeist with Generation X, propels us into the not too distant future of 2024 with Generation A. Through his quintet of lead characters, Coupland explores
the dehumanising nature of the digital age, the increasing cult of celebrity and the redemptive power of storytelling. Speaking of the dehumanising nature of the electronic age, Birdsong author Sebastian Faulks also covers this terrain in his latest offering, A Week In December. Told from the viewpoint of seven different characters, Faulks examines the rampant greed and self-duping mindset of contemporary urban society.
complex human beings and rightly have no obligation to be what is conventionally called 'nice'. Beethoven was an absolute nightmare to be around. The fact that he was a musical genius doesn’t excuse his appalling behaviour but it does explain it. I’m not saying Morrissey is a similar nightmare but great art is often the work of troubled if not 'flawed' individuals. Ultimately, we have to ask ourselves does Morrissey’s history of money writs and wrangles detract from or lessen his art? The answer is, of course, ‘no’. Given Morrissey’s propensity for excommunicating those who say, or do something to displease him, were people wary of being interviewed for the book? Yes. The weirdest scenario was when I arranged an interview with somebody at their house and, in the days that passed before I turned up, they were advised not to speak to me. Unfortunately they forgot to tell me so I still turned up as arranged. Their behavior was extraordinary, veering between saying “I’ll still talk because nobody tells me what to do” and then acting extremely paranoid and twitchy, so much so that they pestered me with phone calls for weeks afterwards, always pretending to be ringing about something else but then casually asking “so when’s the book coming out?” in an odd trembling voice. But one of the most enlightening comments came from a former musician who told me “Morrissey is a lovely bloke, it’s the people around him who act and make him paranoid.” I’m sure that’s true. Have you heard any murmurings from Morrissey regarding the Mozipedia? I imagine he’ll be partly tickled by the idea and a little bit horrified! No murmurings yet. Being Morrissey he’s the last person who needs to read an encyclopedia about himself. It’s for everybody else, especially his audience and so far the reaction from them has been gratification enough. His audience are the most devoted in pop history and ruthlessly discerning. I’ve had some incredibly touching messages of support already from the most die-hard of apostles. That means more to me than anything because we are one and the same. —75 AU Magazine—
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Comics
Iron And Whine Ol' Tin-Head Writer Tells All It’s been a year since we last checked in with Invincible Iron Man scribe Matt Fraction, so we thought it was high time we caught up with him again for a natter. This month he talks movie sequels, natural nemeses and why it’s not always a good thing being Tony Stark. Words by Edwin McFee
“The Green Goblin is Salieri to Tony’s Mozart and also he’s absolutely crazy and Tony is under his skin in a way that no one else has ever been”
Earlier this year, Norman Osborn (aka the Green Goblin) replaced Iron Man as the world’s top cop. Somewhat bizarrely, Stark got booted out of S.H.I.E.L.D. for failing to successfully deal with the skrull invasion and Spidey’s nemesis was appointed head of homeland security. Needless to say, it isn’t a good time to be the Armoured Avenger and this autumn things go from bad to worse as Fraction begins his ‘Stark Disassembled’ arc. First things first, Matt – how much do you hate Tony Stark and how bad can things get for him? Also, what can you divulge about Invincible Iron Man: Stark Disassembled? Trust me, things can always get worse. Tony Stark is taking a fall and now all the king’s horses and all the king’s men aren’t capable of putting Humpty Dumpty back together again – but maybe Humpty doesn’t want to be put back together again. Has anyone ever thought of that? Without getting into too much of the ending of ‘World’s Most Wanted’, both Tony and Norman come out winning. Tony runs his race and Norman has a problem solved. This next arc deals with the immediate fallout from ‘World’s Most Wanted’ and you’ll get to see who is left standing. The questions remaining involve Tony and what sort of state he’s going to be in. Where is he? What is he? How is he? Again, Tony is going to survive ‘World’s Most Wanted’ and he’s going to cross his finish line – wherever that finish line may be. The quick answer to all these questions is keep reading. Stark has some pretty powerful friends (well, he used to have anyway). Who can readers expect to see in this new arc? You know, all kinds of people are going to come out of the woodwork for wakes or vigils (maybe ‘vigil’ is the right word). This vigil is going to bring out all kinds of friends and allies…
—76 issue 59—
How will the events taking place in Invincible Iron Man fit into Norman Osborn’s plans that come to fruition next year? Interestingly, you’ll notice that there is no Iron Man: The List book coming out, and both Tony and Norman kind of win. If you can sort of beam that into your minds, what exactly is a ‘win’ for either of these men? Even though it seems like victories for everyone, Norman considers that his Tony problem is now solved. It’s comforting to know that Tony has enough friends and family who would like to politely disagree. So will we get to see Norman and Tony kick each other’s ass? “Absolutely. Irrevocably. Exactly. Powerfully. It’s all in issue #19. That’s the end – the ultimate Rocky Balboa versus Apollo Creed confrontation and it’s the note that ‘World’s Most Wanted’ ends on.” What makes the Green Goblin such a great baddie for Tony Stark? He’s everything that Tony isn’t. He’s a thief, he’s a coward, he’s a bully, he’s intellectually dishonest, he lacks real innovation, he’s stolen or taken or seized every bit of power he has. He’s not earned a single thing is his lifetime. He’s Salieri to Tony’s Mozart and also he’s absolutely crazy and Tony is under his skin in a way that no one else has ever been. Tony is who Osborn wants to be – who he’ll never be. I mean, wearing that Iron Patriot suit, that’s good stuff. Osborn has a special hate for Spider-Man but he’s got a special envy for Tony Stark. How difficult is it to plan a story like this when the next Iron Man film is slated for the summer? Is there ever a moment where you progress a character like Iron Man a step forward only to have to take two steps back?
Comics 'World’s Most Wanted’ in particular was the pitch that got me the book. It was the story that everyone wanted me to get to and wanted to see, so Marvel knew it was coming. It was actually quite fortunate that everything kind of fell right into place. My plans were fluid enough that I could grow and contract things in such an organic way. I wanted ‘World’s Most Wanted’ to be a larger tour of Tony’s life because the ramifications of the events in the story are so big. I really wanted to tell a larger story. I’ve been influenced quite a bit by Brian Bendis’ Daredevil stuff and Ed Brubaker’s Captain America stuff. I might have labelled each part of the story as “one part of 12” in retrospect but, you know, it is one big story that has been leading up to #19. With the natural way that stories tend to ebb and flow, you can take these first three arcs and then add ‘Disassembled’ which will end with issue #24. Then you’ll have #25 which will begin a brand new arc in May of 2010 which is when the movie comes out. It was kind of blind dumb luck, actually. If you look at the first three arcs and include ‘Disassembled’ it forms this loose three-act structure for Tony – these things just sort of happened. I’ve been very lucky, I haven’t had a lot of, ‘Well, this is how things are going to be with the movie coming out...’ My story, in its entirety, has remained sacrosanct. It’s really been kind of a dream gig. Are there any other characters in the Marvel Universe that you would like to “disassemble”? No. I’m kind of looking forward to everybody starting to rise up. It’s been kind of a ‘Peter Parker year’ for everybody, you know? I think it’s time for everyone to kind of become focused. That’s how I see my work in the next year – I want to move everything forward. Besides,
I think all the good guys have been ‘Disassembled’ at this point in some sort of way. You obviously have plans for Iron Man after Stark Disassembled, but can you tell us if you’ve any ideas or thoughts you’d like to give fans of the series to chew on for a while? Well, it’s Tony’s book first and foremost and you can’t forget that. The most gifted actor of his generation, Robert Downey Jr., plays the guy in the most anticipated movie of next year. This is Tony’s story and we never take our eye off that particular ball. This is an Iron Man story, this is it. This is Tony at his moment of crisis and I’ve never enjoyed writing him more. The stakes have never been higher and things have never been darker; but, at the same time, Tony’s never been better. This is him at his strongest.
Rachel Wood will star as Mary Jane and Alan Cumming is slated to be the Green Goblin, which we’re sure is nice if you’re into that kinda thing... Some raw (and legally iffy) footage of Iron Man 2 has reached the web. The five minute package features Tony Stark sitting in the middle of a giant donut, lots more Nick Fury, the debut of the Black Widow, Whiplash and Justin Hammer and a pretty on the money version of War Machine. Have a sneaky look here – http://bit.ly/7s9S7
Bill Hader
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN IS PUBLISHED BY MARVEL COMICS. FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT WWW.MARVEL.COM.
“This is Tony at his moment of crisis and I’ve never enjoyed writing him more”
Shorts Anyone dreading the release of the up-coming cringe-fest that is Spider-Man: the Musical (with music courtesy of Alan Partridge’s BFFs Bono and the Edge) can sleep a little easier this month as apparently it’s hit some cashflow problems. Spider-Man, Turn off the Dark, to give it its official title, was due to debut on Broadway next March but insiders now reckon it’s unlikely to happen. Although Peter Parker hasn’t been cast yet, Marilyn Manson’s main squeeze (check us out talking like it’s the Fifties) Evan
My Favourite Comic
In a few short months the annual Dublin City Comic Con will be upon us once more. The dates for your diaries are 13, 14 and 15 of November and we’ll confirm more details once we have them. With a rumoured appearance of Marvel’s EIC Joe Quesada and DC über-scribe Geoff Johns on the cards, we’re already excited about the best weekend in comics. In the meantime keep checking www.dublincitycomiccon.com for more updates.
Dark Horse Comics have announced that Jim Shooter (former head honcho over at Marvel) has joined the company to help relaunch old school characters such as Turok, Doctor Solar, Magnus Robot Fighter and Mighty Samson. Expect more details on creative teams soon. Congrats to Jeff Parker who landed the writing gig for Thunderbolts. If anyone can rescue the title it’s Jeff (who assures us he’s not related to Peter).
“Like many kids, I enjoyed Batman and Superman and things like that when I was growing up, but when I became a little older I really got into EC reprints of Tales From The Crypt because I liked horror stuff. I didn’t really get back into superhero stuff until I discovered Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One. Then I dropped out a little bit and in ‘97 or so I discovered the DC/Vertigo stuff with Preacher and Sandman, and a little later on, Hellboy and Mike Mignola. When I first read Hellboy I was like, ‘Oh my god’. It seemed like it was directly written for me. “I’m on an Ed Brubaker kick at the moment and I’ve been reading Criminal. I dug the Sleeper trades too. I just love his crime stuff and I’ve just bought the Authority trades as well. Black Summer (that Warren Ellis thing) is pretty cool and crazy too. What else am I reading? Hmmm, let’s see. If I ever see any Hellboy shit I’ll like that and anything Neil Gaiman or Alan Moore are doing will be guaranteed to float my boat.” BILL HADER IS AN ACTOR, COMEDIAN AND REGULAR CAST MEMBER OF SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE.
—77 AU Magazine—
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Here's Looking At You(Tube) / Weird Wide Web
Here's Looking At You(Tube) Prop Me Up
Everyone’s favourite rubbish band U2 caused a bit of a stink recently with their gargantuan ‘claw’ stage, purportedly the largest and most expensive live set-up ever. Words like ‘decadent’ and ‘hypocritical’ were thrown at the Dublin do-gooders for preaching charity on one hand while pissing money away on this ludicrously overblown backdrop on the other. But should we really have been surprised? Big bands love elaborate stage props. As sure as day follows night, once a group reaches a certain level of commercial success (commonly known as the ‘more money than sense’ level), they’ll almost inevitably start to incorporate evermore-outlandish stage scenery into their shows. More cynical commentators than AU might suggest that this is mainly to hide the fact that their new tunes are bollocks.
GUYS AND DOLLS To be fair to inexplicably popular Aussie rockers AC/ DC, they’ve never claimed to be anything other than unreconstructed, beer-swillin’, wolf-whistlin’ blokes. Still, feminists might want to give this clip a miss, seeing as it incorporates the guys blasting out one of their goodtime party tunes, ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ while, in the background, a massive, scantily-clad, buxom, blonde sexee laydee lying in a decidedly seductive pose is inflated. What’s that you say, fellas? Just a bit of harmless fun? Yeah, try telling that to Germaine Greer. She’ll eat you for breakfast. WWW.TINYURL.COM/AC-DCROSIE TONK OF THE TOWN
Words by Neill Dougan
Weird WideWeb Browse That? THE U.S. OF NO WAY The United States of America is, as we all know, a pretty weird place altogether. For further confirmation of this incontrovertible fact, check out this series of pictures taken by Danish photographer Jacob Holdt. It’s quite hardhitting stuff, pretty much focusing entirely on the poor, the downtrodden and the wretchedly unfortunate – as suggested by the title of one of the categories, 'Underclass Despair, Hunger and Apathy'. The bits on the Ku Klux Klan are ruddy mental too, especially a truly shocking shot of a victim of a lynching. Worth a look, if you’re feeling a tad too cheerful of an afternoon and need to depress yourself a little bit. God Bless America, indeed. WWW.AMERICAN-PICTURES.COM/ GALLERY/INDEX.HTML —78 issue 59—
Perhaps the grandfathers of unnecessarily intricate stage design, the Rolling Stones spared no expense for their Bigger Bang tour a few years ago. But perhaps they should have put a bit more thought into this slightly underwhelming interlude. During ‘Honky Tonk Woman’, the whole band (apart from the backing singers and horn section – they’re not important, you see) get onto a little platform. It travels slowly on a track out
into the crowd as the song plays. Then it slowly comes back. And, er, that’s it. Like, wow. In fact this clip is more notable for Mick Jagger’s inexplicable use of one of those crappy little in-ear mics, presumably chosen to give him greater freedom to prance about like a man a third of his age. WWW.TINYURL.COM/STONESHONKYTONK KISS THIS Okay, so having a go at Kiss for being over-the-top is like criticising a bear for pooping in the woods, but we’re going to do it anyway. During their 2008 tour the ever humble masters of under-statement started their show behind a giant curtain bearing their name, which (following a thoroughly self-effacing announcement heralding them as “the hottest band in the world”) dropped to reveal the members of the band being delivered onto stage from above, like some kind of aliens of rock, on a futuristic, smoke-billowing platform. Cue several thousand classic rock fans going totally apeshit. Actually, forget what we said at the outset about bands having more money than sense – this is awesome. WWW.TINYURL.COM/KISSPLATFORM
TURNING JAPANESE Japan is awesome. It’s like a trip to the not-too-distant future with its shiny skyscrapers and fancy gadgets. And to prove it, here’s the awesomely-named Tokyoflash. com, purveyor of all things Japanese. Check out the ‘Fire’ wristwatch, for example – it might not do anything so prosaic as actually tell the time, but it does promise to “set fire to your wrist”! Or funkify your house with the amazing “ambient square LED light”. Even the wallets are spectacular. If only Japan would invade our country, we could live like this all the time. WWW.TOKYOFLASH.COM SHOP AROUND Used correctly, Photoshop is a very handy tool. Especially when you urgently need to remove some unsightly blemishes, scars or generally just make the subject of your pictures appear less horrifically ugly than they actually are. However, it’s all too easy to get Photoshop wrong – oh so very wrong. The results, like gorging on too much ice-cream, are likely to leave you feeling a little queasy. Bizarrely mis-shapen legs, missing arms, people with three hands… Every feasible digital deformation is here for your delectation. The horror, the horror. WWW.PHOTOSHOPDISASTERS.BLOGSPOT.COM
Words by Neill Dougan
Story Of The Video / Get Your Clicks
Get Your Clicks Our Guide To The Best Online Places For The Things You Need THIS MONTH: FURNISHINGS BUDDA BAG
Story Of The Video The Hickey Underworld
TITLE: ‘BLONDE FIRE’ DIRECTOR: JOE VANHOUTTEGEM
Punk rocking Belgians (yeah, that’s right) The Hickey Underworld are bound to cause a stir with the twisted, disturbing video for new single ‘Blonde Fire’, which sees a shady Dr. Frankenstein-type figure getting bloodily creative – and destructive – in a deserted garage. In typically continental fashion, though, Jonas Govaerts from the band doesn’t quite see what all the fuss is about…
Having just finished watching the video seconds before writing these questions, I am still in shock. Is that what you aimed for? No, not at all. To us, it's a very poetic and even funny video. It wasn't meant to shock, we just wanted to create a certain mood that we thought would fit well with our music. There are some very graphic scenes, especially for a music video – have you been watching too many horror films? Sure, we love horror movies, but once again, to us there's nothing really that shocking or offensive about this video. Primarily, we make what we ourselves would like to see; we don't make music or videos worrying how it will go over with, for instance, a 12-year-old. There are probably going to be some issues with broadcasting this video. Can it only be screened after the watershed? Actually, most countries don't have a problem with the video at all. But to be honest, we think the Internet is probably a more suited place for this kind of work anyway. It's where most people go when they want to see exciting or weird stuff like this. Where did the idea for the video stem from, and what went into developing it? The concept was thought up entirely by the director, Joe Vanhouttegem, who came up with it after listening to our album and looking at our artwork. We only suggested some minor things, like the painting in the background (which is an image we use a lot in our photos and artwork) and the flying pyramid at the end. This is actually the very first music video Joe has ever directed; he usually does (very impressive) commercials. Putting your trust in a director is important, but can also lead to the final product not being what you wanted. How close was this to your vision and are you impressed with the final cut? We couldn't be happier with the end result. We feel Joe really 'got' what our band is all about. We would really love to work with him again in the future.
Chairs? Ugh, those are, like, sooo last century. What you really want is a massive bean bag, except that it doesn’t have any beans inside it but rather an “ultra-comfy memory foam”. Sounds good. These bad boys range in size from the rather cute, two-foot ‘Didi Budda’ to the eyepopping, eight-foot ‘Mega Budda’, so that whether you live like a squatter in a pokey, rat-infested student hovel or swan about a palatial mansion filled with gold fittings and willing concubines, you’ll find one that’s right for you. They also come in a range of nifty designs, which you can mix and match to your heart’s content as all the covers are removable and machine washable. Truly the next step in the evolution of slouching around. WWW.BUDDABAG.COM FAT FURNITURE It was Mr Burns from The Simpsons who said, “From the mightiest Pharaoh to the lowliest peasant, who doesn’t enjoy a good sit?”, and how right he was. The decrepit oligarch might well have been talking about the wares on offer at Fat Furniture, which offers a pretty light-hearted approach to the world of seating, from the ‘boxing glove’ sofa (as seen on Big Brother… er, not that we watch Big Brother, honest) to some kitschy retro-style seats and even a throne for those times when you’re feeling particularly regal. Which, if you’re AU, is pretty much all the time. WWW.FATFURNITURE.CO.UK EMMA LOVES RETRO Of course, if you’re planning on lazing about for any significant length of time, you’re going to need, at the absolute minimum, one extremely soft and comfortable cushion. Time, then, to check out Emma Loves Retro, a one-stop emporium for lovingly crafted vintage cushions, handmade from recycled fabrics. The ‘Emma’ in question is one Emma Glibbery and, goddamn, does she know her cushions. There are some pretty stylin’ designs up for grabs here – indeed some are so gosh-darned lovely that it almost seems a shame to park your fat behind on top of them for hours on end while you pig out on Doritos and afternoon telly. We said ‘almost’. WWW.EMMALOVESRETRO.CO.UK
The video is amazing – it’s as much a short film as it is a music video. It’s going to be a very hard act to follow – are you worried that coming up with another idea like this is too much of a tall order? Not really. Every song conjures up different images, so it's just a matter of keeping an open mind and finding the right people to collaborate with. Also, the next video doesn't have to be dark or morbid necessarily. It might as well be very light and psychedelic. We'll see! WATCH THE VIDEO ONLINE BY HEADING TO WWW.BIT.LY/HICKEYUNDERWORLD Interview by Richard W. Crothers
WWW.THEHICKEYUNDERWORLD.COM —79 AU Magazine—
Sc In Pictures
Four Live @ Shadow Rooms
Addy, Ryan & Jordan
Dave & Carla
Clare & Rachel
Lee, Mr X & Mark
Andy, Beckett, Leah & Craig
Four Live Presents: Cutaways, The Cahier Collection, The Varionis, Ended 31st Shadow Rooms, Carrickfergus
Neil & Grace
Becca
Jack & Arran
Whitney, Steph & Victoria
When you think of Carrickfergus, it’s doubtful that ‘new music hub’ is the first thing to spring to mind, but a new venue and venture are hoping to change that round. The recently opened, ultra modern Shadow Rooms are now playing host to a monthly live music event called Four Live. On the third Thursday of each month, four emerging bands take to the stage and peddle their musical wares to a captive audience. For the opening night Ended 31st, The Varionis, The Cahier Collection and Cutaways made up the bill, all playing blinding sets, and the crowd were loving it too. A successful opening night that has pumped some much needed blood into the veins of Carrickfergus’s live music scene. Roll on September’s show. Words and Photos by Ross Metcalfe
—80 issue 59—
Laura, Annabelle & Carla
Robbie & Omar
Keith & Kathryn
The Meat Market #7 Featuring Radioactiveman @ The Menagerie
The Meat Market #7 Featuring Radioactiveman The Menagerie, Belfast This was the seventh instalment in The Meat Market series of events, a partnership between Hydroponic Music and Corona Extra. They’ve put on shows at a slew of venues around Belfast and tonight brought the much respected and revered DJ/Producer Keith Tenniswood – AKA Radioactiveman – for a ‘Rockabilly to Rave’ party at The Menagerie. One of the last DJs to exclusively use real vinyl, he played an eclectic set that spanned plenty of genres and kept the crowd bopping and dancing. Keep your ear to the ground for future announcements of these exhilarating guerrilla gigs.
Venus & Cathleen
Samantha & John
Colin & Ed
Words and Photos by Richard W. Crothers
Fearin, Jess & Skye
Steven & Holly
Lucy, Adam, Taryn & Enya
C.J. & Claire
Keelan & Aaron
Caroline & Jim
Johnny, Myla, Hilary & Naomi
Fionnula & Clodagh
—81 AU Magazine—
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The Last Word
The Last Word No Age "I got chased by the cops for pissing in the street. They chased me in the cop car – they were driving the wrong way down one way streets, they probably chased me for five blocks, but I got away."
When was the last time you were in hospital? Dean Spunt (drums, vocals): Back in 2005, I had compacted bowels. Ewwwwwww. Randy Randall (guitar): I dislocated my shoulder recently. It was the most horrific pain I have been in for a long time.
R: A couple of weeks ago when I was super wasted I threw up all this pizza.
What was the last thing you laughed out loud at? D: Last time I looked in the mirror. R: I just saw District 9 and laughed all through it.
What was the last thing you downloaded? D: A virus. R: A picture of this Triumph Bonneville motorcycle I wanted to buy.
If you were on death row what would you want for your last meal? D: Brown rice, hijiki seaweed, Kale, black beans, liquid aminos and tahini. R: Some kind of cake with a file baked in or some sort of casserole with a bomb buried in it. When was the last time you cried? D: Last time I looked in the mirror. R: Today when I got turned down for this awesome apartment because my credit sucks!
Famous Last Words Arnold Judas Rimmer, Red Dwarf “Gazpacho soup!” King Gustav III of Sweden (1746 – 1792) “I feel tired; a short time of rest would do me good.” (He had been shot at a masquerade ball two weeks earlier.)
This Issue Was Powered By... The transfer window, jerking knees, astro-turf heroism, the sunny south of France, the rainy north of Ireland, viable devices, the Pet Shop Boys live, the running routine, studly Rik, interview debuts, back behind the wheel. —82 issue 59—
When was the last time you got angry? D: I don’t get angry; it sends bad energy to the universe. R: I got angry last night when the Dodgers lost to the Cardinals and someone stole my Kemp bobble head when I went to take a piss. What was your last expensive purchase? D: Pressing the White Shit LP. R: A Sirius satellite radio. Where did you go on your last holiday? D: Barbados. R: Tonight I am having a ‘Stay-cation’ and staying in and watching Glengarry Glen Ross, The Americanization of Emily, The Blob, The Guns of Navarone. What was the last record you bought? D: Finally Punk LP. R: The Best of Nick Lowe. When was the last time you threw up? D: In Rome, I think I got food poisoning. I was on the bathroom floor all night.
What was the last good thing you saw on television? D: Weeds. R: The test pattern.
Where is the last place on earth that you’d want to go to? D: Utah. R: Uhhhhhhhh… I have started hating all airports. So, I’m going with the last place on earth I wanna go is the airport. What does the last text you received say? D: “Dude, I just called the girl from Times New Viking a shitty DJ and she punched me in the face.” R: “Are you gonna ask me to go to dland?” What was the last bad job you had? D: Bike messenger R: Being a bouncer at a bar and getting punched in the face. When was the last time you broke the law? D: In New York we were playing for the Dan Deacon, Deerhunter, No Age round robin and I got chased by the cops for pissing in the street. They chased me in the cop car – they were driving the wrong way down one way streets, they probably chased me for five blocks, but I got away. R: Giving Shannon a ride on the back of my motorcycle without having my license yet. If the world was about to end, what would your last words be? D: Last time I look in the mirror. R: Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO AGE’S NEW EP LOSING FEELING IS OUT ON OCTOBER 5 ON SUB POP. NO AGE PLAY CRAWDADDY, DUBLIN ON OCTOBER 24. WWW.NOAGELA.BLOGSPOT.COM
—83 AU Magazine—
DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER.
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