AU Magazine Issue 65

Black Francis A Pixie's lot LaFaro On tours, touts and Tuppenny Nudgers Paramore Bible-bashing hillbillies or familyfriendly rock stars?

Holy Fuck Profane in the brain Korea A defector's experience

Bow down to the gritty shaker

Flying Lotus / Surfer Blood / The Continuous Battle Of Order / Villagers / Bloggers Under Fire / Malcolm McLaren —1 AU Magazine— Girls Names / Clint Eastwood / Refused / Delorean / Festivals / Tom McShane / The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster

my inspiration Hot Chip

I met him on a Monday and my heart stood still da doo ron ron ron da doo ron ron somebody told me that his name was Bill da doo ron ron ron da doo ron ron One Life Stand The Crystals

out now

Da Doo Ron Ron

Photography by Bevis Martin and Charlie Youle.

DA DOO RON RON by Jeff Barry, Phillip Spector and Ellie Greenwich.

Published by Abkco Music Ltd., Carlin Music Corp. & EMI Music Publishing.

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65 AU MAGAZINE

FEATURE CONTENTS

38/ KOREA

“When I was young, economic disparity in North Korea was basically those families that had the next meal and those that didn’t”

40/ HOLY FUCK

“I don’t ever see us programming things on laptops, because…. I don’t know how to do that!”

42/ DAVID HOLMES

“As long as you’re doing it from the bottom of your heart, no one can take that away from you, whether they like it or not”

48/ PARAMORE

“If you have a gun, cool – just be responsible with it”

50/ LAFARO

“People have taken pity on our haggard faces and thought, ‘I want to wash those boys and give them somewhere to sleep and maybe feed them in the morning.”

52/ BLACK FRANCIS

“I don’t think I’ve ever gotten out of my vagina phase”

IMAGE:

50/ FEATURE: LAFARO

PHOTOS BY CARRIE DAVENPORT

—3 AU Magazine—

EDITORIAL Without realising it, David Holmes was largely responsible for the onset of my wayward youth, and what turned out to be a massive influence on my musical life. Way back in 1994, at a mere 14 years old, I snuck into the Art College for his Sugar Sweet club night, passing for legal age by keeping company with a group of older mates. It turned out to be one of the most amazing nights of my life. I’d never experience techno music before, and the euphoria and buzz of having a crowd of hundreds of people dancing and roaring in unison was unlike anything I had ever experienced, then or since. It felt like a special, revolutionary time. Something new, dangerous and exciting was taking place, and everyone in the room was just lucky to be there. It sparked a long-time love affair with dance music and a passion for club culture that has kept burning to this day, leading me on to get my first set of turntables and start DJing, eventually promoting club nights as well. From then on I knew exactly who David Holmes was, and took a real interest in the music he made. It has been a marvel watching the development and evolution he has gone through, and few artists can boast such an original and diverse back catalogue. Bow down, indeed. Jonny

STUPID THINGS SAID THIS MONTH Ulster Bank! My mum works for Ulster Bank!

Do you see Two Door were slagging off Kanye West, and now they’re working with him?

I’ve always wanted to go to Denmark.

I heard a rumour about here. It’s haunted.

How lost has a Knighthood got, to go from Sir Lancelot to Sir Elton John?

Jonny Black said I looked good in there.

It’s quite addictive trying to throw a rope into a bucket.

That’s not chocolate, that’s a twig.

Did you say stray nipple?

I don’t get it.

ROLL CALL Publisher / Editor In Chief

Jonny Tiernan

Editor

Chris Jones

Contributing Editors

Francis Jones Edwin McFee Ross Thompson

Contributors

Kiran Acharya, Keith Anderson, Virginia Arroyo, Barry Cullen, Neill Dougan, John Freeman, Lee Gorman, Niall Harden, Matt Hazley, James Hendicott, Lisa Hughes, Andrew Johnston, Adam Lacey, Ailbhe Malone, Nay McArdle, Gerard McCann, Darragh McCausland, Kirstie McCrum, Kenny Murdock, Lauren Murphy, Joe Nawaz, Steven Rainey, Kyle Robinson, Eamonn Seoige, Jeremy Shields.

Design

Stuart Bell, Tim Farrell

Illustration

Stephen Graham Rebecca Hendin Shauna McGown Mark Reihill

Photography

Carrie Davenport Chris Flack Mark Leetch Ryan Martin Ciara McMullan Gavin Millar

Distribution Manager

Kim Barclay

If you’d like to stock AU in your business, or you live in an area where AU isn’t currently stocked, but you’d like to see it available, then drop kim@iheartau.com a line. She’ll sort you out.

—4 issue 65—

AU MAGAZINE | CONTENTS (CONTINUED) UPFRONT

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 20

24

The AU Stereo The Death Of MySpace?

Five To One: Scream Queens / Band Maths The Continuous Battle Of Order Girls Names / Heartwork Do You Remember What The Music Meant? With Kormac Flying Lotus Bloggers Under Fire Talulah Does The Hula / Tom McShane Delorean The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster / My First Band Incoming: The Crookes / Young British Artists / Ganglians / Surfer Blood / Villagers / Active Child / The Joy Formidable / Silver Columns Hey You! What’s On Your iPod?

REWIND

25 26 28 32 34

Flashback: The Trial Of Varg Vikernes History Lessons: Malcolm McLaren A To Z: Cameos Respect Your Shelf: Clint Eastwood Movies Classic Album: Refused

REVIEWS

57 Album Reviews 62 Live Reviews 63 Unsigned Universe SUBBACULTCHA

67 70 72 74 76 78 80

81

Most Wanted Screen Games Arts Comics Back Of The Net In Pictures: Local and Live @ The Playhouse / Skruff’s Final Gig The Last Word: Chrome Hoof

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.

IMAGE:

21/ INCOMING: SURFER BLOOD

Send demos / mail / material to: AU Magazine, The Marquis Building, 89-91 Adelaide Street, Belfast, BT2 8FE 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 —5 AU Magazine—

The AU Stereo

Upfront

Future Islands

Tin Man(Thrill Jockey) This track is one of the standouts on the barking Baltimorians’ new album In Evening Air. An electrifying melody matched up with sandpaper vocals give the song its immediacy, but it’s the underlying ebb of melody that hangs around long after it finishes. DMc

THE AU STEREO

Ikonika

Idiot (Hyperdub) Hyperdub have the Midas touch and this bleepy dubstep corker is a perfect example of their stock in trade. On this track from her album Contact, Love, Want, Have, Ikonika combines the perky Commodore 64 aural aesthetic of arcade gaming with a lolloping bass, ridiculously catchy melody and a playfulness that belies the misconception of pofaced chin-strokery in this most vital of genres. AL

Veronica Falls

Beachy Head (No Pain In Pop) Had your fill of kooky lo-fi bands yet? Tough, here’s London’s answer to the Vivian Girls, and a single to make you perk your ears right up – a breakneck, harmony-laden tale of suicide at the notorious Sussex beauty spot. Deliciously dark and sinfully tuneful, it’s just the kind of twisted little springtime anthem we like. CJ

WOLF GANG BACK TO BACK (ACTIVE CHILD REMIX) It’s not just Pat Grossi’s falsetto-laden original material that’s setting faces to stunned. He’s also a dab hand at remixing, as evidenced by this track, where he improves on London newcomer Wolf Gang’s ‘Back To Back’ with strafing synths, chopped-up vocals and a more minimal – but no less glorious – approach than normal. CJ PERFUME GENIUS NO PROBLEM (ORGANS/TURNSTILE) Mike Hadreas, the genius behind the perfume, would appear to a deeply —6 issue 65—

troubled soul. The singer-songwriter’s debut album Learning, released next month, is mesmerisingly sad. We’ve fallen for the utterly beautiful ‘No Problem’; heavily treated keyboards shroud Hadreas’ despairing vocal, sounding like Michael Stipe if he’d recorded ‘Let Me In’ alone when he was about 17. It’ll reduce even the most hardened cynic to tears, as it shoots a perfumed arrow through their heart. JF MITCHELL MUSEUM WARNING BELLS (ELECTRA FRENCH) From their headquarters above the city’s infamous Nice N Sleazy venue, Glasgow quartet Mitchell Museum have

been plotting. What would happen if you took the surging melodies of Teenage Fanclub, added dollops of spicy guitars and a glimmer of The Flaming Lips’ impudence? Debut single ‘Warning Bells’ is pretty close to the answer. You can almost smell the sweat dripping off the Sleazy walls. And what’s not to love about a band who have a drummer called Raindeer [sic]? JF MALE BONDING ALL THINGS THIS WAY (SUB POP) As we hurtle towards what’s bound to be a meteorologically-catastrophic summer, why not cast your eyes back to the hazy Nineties with a little help

from fuzzy newcomers Male Bonding and this pulsating minute-and-a-half of fuzzy clatter? There’s even a backsideshakingly sexy drum breakdown towards the end. It’ll make you misty-eyed for No Disco and cheap cans. AL GALAXIE 500 SNOWSTORM (DOMINO) Galaxie 500’s long players were recently re-released, and their back catalogue is a consistent display of wistful slowcore perfection. On Fire is the best of the reissues, and its key song ‘Snowstorm’ plays so deep, liquid and sad that it’s hard to listen to it without a quick dab or two to the eyes. DMc

The Death Of MySpace?

Upfront Feature

STRAIT LACES

ACCEPT OR DECLINE The Death Of MySpace?

Generating more hype than the Great Gold Rush, the story of MySpace is one of fame, fortune and friend requests in 20 languages. Behind the boardroom wars and ‘Thanks For The Add!’ glitter-GIF tackiness, however, the site’s combination of digital media and social networking was a powerful mix. But the promised digital revolution never arrived, as the site saw itself overtaken by sleeker competitors like Facebook, Twitter and the rest. Have the floodgates burst already or does MySpace still hold water? The new bosses think so; its members are not so sure.

Words by Nay McArdle Illustration by Stephen Graham

Launching the careers of data cowboys, pop stars and opportunists like bedroom models the Suicide Girls, there’s no doubting that at one point, MySpace was the coolest thing ever to hit the web.

It fuelled net addictions and fetish groups, was banned from schools and, ironically, was blamed for anti-social behaviour as in the case of the houseparty bulletin message that went wrong and landed one member a £20,000 vandalism bill. Allegations of fraud, cyber-stalking and even murder can be traced back to the familiar blue and white logo of ‘A Place For Friends’. From shady origins in post-dotcom free hosting, spam and spyware targeting, MySpace accelerated out of control when web users realised that not only were there no limits to the amount of content they could upload, but no limits to the new people they could meet.

This was the draw for musicians and to date, their meticulous upkeep of MySpace Music accounts have kept the site afloat through the slowest period since it began. Becoming the world’s largest music network was never a goal; created by Intermix Media in 2003 as a direct competitor to fledgling social network Friendster and the premium blogging service Xanga, the only aim of MySpace was to collect as much content and data from users as possible. That it was completely unprepared for such high-ranking popularity amongst musicians is evident to this day – the only music development since MySpace sold to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. for $580 million in 2005 was discontinuing

free downloads from its basic, low-quality player in order to implement a paid download service.

At its peak, over 200 million people checked into MySpace accounts every day: now that number is believed to be closer to 120 million log-ins a week.

However, in terms of music discoveries, this ballpark figure does not account for the unique traffic of those seeking out new bands and songs. Thankfully for MySpace, in this respect the site is still considered the most popular and convenient way of checking out new music and it is here that its hopes for the future rest. But not for long, unless the developers get a move on.

“It’s all about Twitter now, I actually feel sick checking our MySpace,” tweeted Richter Collective label boss Mick Roe recently. “Everyone jumped ship from MySpace,” agrees Brian Cash of Dublin band Halves, and this statement is proved correct by the real-time Google results for ‘MySpace’ which throw up a sad scrolling list of bewildered users wondering where the action’s gone.

At its peak, over 200 million people checked into MySpace accounts every day: now that number is believed to be closer to 120 million log-ins a week.

—7 AU Magazine—

The Death Of MySpace?

Upfront Feature

statement is proved correct by the real-time Google results for ‘MySpace’ which throw up a sad scrolling list of bewildered users wondering where the action’s gone.

However, many artists still use the system faithfully. Independent musician Patrick Kelleher successfully handles his own correspondence and promotion through a single MySpace account.

“I still find it useful,” he tells AU. “I can’t be bothered with Facebook,

“I think it’s still the go-to site for a quick listen to a new band, but what do people really want when they visit now?”

Jessie Ward, Talulah Does The Hula I already spend too much time on the internet. I know this is where people will look if they need to know when a band is playing.”

The general consensus amongst musicians towards the future of MySpace is uncertain. “Do bands and fans still find it useful for reach and interactivity?” asks Talulah Does the Hula’s Jessie Ward. “I think it’s still the go-to site for a quick listen to a new band, but what do people really want when they visit now?”

Interactive features would be a start.

Popular new sites like Bandcamp allow full album streams and downloads, SoundCloud enables artists to move their music anywhere on the web and the more established Last.fm has been cited as the perfect model of a musicians’ site, complete with detailed charts and statistics that are vital for tracking and predicting listeners’ interests. Equipped with a wealth of data, the gold so eagerly sought in modern California, instead of developing user trends into the ultimate personalised music networking service, MySpace sold out. At the beginning, high standards of content management attracted users as it delivered what no other site could. Power corrupts, however, and MySpace’s $900 million deal with Google in 2006 meant a massive decline in standards.

Online Music Alternatives Not only have MySpace been outflanked by Facebook and Twitter for the social networking market, their domination of online music is also under threat. Here’s why.

Bandcamp

Founded: 2008 Subscription: free A simple and fast streaming and download site. Personalised band profiles include album artwork and information along with customisable settings to allow purchases or free downloads. Immensely popular amongst independent labels thanks to its non-licensed agreement.

Musical aggregator which ‘scrobbles’ playcounts from iTunes or online sources and builds detailed charts of users’ music library and artist profiles including extensive bio/discography/ upcoming shows and free downloads.

Also recommends music and local events, calculates compatibility between members.

SoundCloud

Blip.FM

Founded: 2008 Subscription: free Audiovisual streaming service based on the now-defunct News Corp. acquisition iMeem, ‘DJs’ can sync accounts with Twitter to share mp3 or video files, follow and ‘re-blip’ other users’ tracks, build playlists and favourites.

Founded: 2007 Subscription: optional, from €29 yearly Recognisable by its unique waveform presentation, allows easy transmission of music across the web via embed code or profile plays. Members can ‘follow’ artists and receive updates on new songs, share, favourite or add comments to any section of a track.

The Hype Machine

Grooveshark

Founded: 2007 Subscription: optional, $30 yearly Visually stunning streaming and upload service with an interface similar to iTunes. Users can build playlists and rate songs. Premium customers get API desktop platform, ad-free service and can scrobble to iTunes.

Last.FM

Founded: 2002 Subscription: optional, free in UK/US/ Germany, €3 monthly elsewhere MySpace CO-FOUNDERS Tom Anderson & Chris De Wolfe

—8 issue 65—

Founded: 2005 Subscription: free Streams new mp3s from respected music blogs and generates charts of ‘loved tracks’. Works in conjunction with Last.FM and Soundcloud.

Upfront

Under its terms, MySpace implemented a prominent Google search bar and ads on every page, collecting users’ data and redirecting to the respective profiles via Google search. News Corp made almost double the money they paid for MySpace as a result and so had no incentive to provide users with an engaging service, as they’d already recouped all money incurred in buying out Intermix.

It made sense then to sit back and allow Facebook’s novelty to wear off, buying time before a features relaunch lured bored users back to the site. 2010 sees the end of the contract, and so in order to ensure new profits, this will be the

flagging network? Plans for the year ahead include:

k Better profile customisation tools without the security risks which enabled devastating spam and phishing attacks. k Stream publishing to enable rapid sharing of links, updates and video from anywhere on the web. k The MySpace Music Dashboard with a wide range of detailed statistics, play patterns and ‘reputation’ updates.

Patrick Kelleher: still a MySpace fan

year that new features are finally implemented.

Drastic measures have already been taken to reinvent the site. Geeky Tom Anderson is no longer the public face of the company – in fact, his role as president was allegedly a PR gimmick to give the hardline business more personality. Cofounder Chris DeWolfe has also left, along with ex-Facebook COO Owen Van Natta, who fired 30% of the workforce before resigning after just nine months. Now the site’s future development is overseen by two men, Jason Hirschorn and Mike Jones. In a recent interview with social media guide Mashable, Hirschorn said, “Going back to the roots of what made MySpace MySpace early on is important. “I think at some point it lost its way, and we’re basically just tying it back to that.”

So what aces can MySpacers expect to lure them back to the

k “Visually cool” trend maps tailored expressly to match personal profiles. k ‘Like’ functions similar to Facebook which eventually predict and recommend new interests based specifically on users’ personal data preferences. k Refinement of existing features such as the calendar, offering highly personalised suggestions of local and national events and improved audio-visual or text-based content from external sources such as Twitter and YouTube.

All of these developments are in the final stages and some are already being implemented along with a general site upgrade. While it sounds like just the boost MySpace needs, is it too little, five years late?

Only time – and revenue – will tell.

—9 AU Magazine—

Upfront

Words by Andrew Johnston

Five To One / Band Maths

FIVE TO ONE // SCREAM QUEENS

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LINNEA QUIGLEY Of Linnea Quigley’s 100-plus horror films, very few warrant repeated viewing – The Return Of The Living Dead, Night Of The Demons and A Nightmare On Elm Street 4, maybe.

But Quigley’s commitment to B-movie trash makes her an all-time genre icon. Sorority Babes In The Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama. Hollywood Chainsaw Cheerleaders, Corpses Are Forever…. The list goes on. Quigley holds the record for the longest screen scream (90 seconds) and penned an autobiography entitled I’m Screaming As Fast As I Can. This is one woman who loves her job.

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Jamie Lee Curtis In the early Eighties, Jamie Lee Curtis – daughter of Psycho star Janet Leigh, and cast for that reason in Halloween – was the go-to gal for horror filmmakers. Curtis brought The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train to life, and was the best thing about three Halloween sequels. Now retired from horror, Jamie Lee’s appeal was that women wanted to be her, men wanted to be with her and maniacs wanted to chase her around with a meat cleaver.

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Sheri Moon Zombie She might not be the best actress in the world, but Sheri Moon Zombie is the modern-day queen of horror.

Whereas most slasher starlets simper for 75 minutes, then fight back in the final reel, no-nonsense Moon Zombie’s characters mean business from the get-go. In House Of 1000 Corpses, she lures young lovers to their deaths. In The Devil’s Rejects, she terrorises a family in a motel room. Even her seemingly sympathetic mom in husband Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake is a serial killer-spawning stripper.

Janet Leigh Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho was arguably the first slasher flick, predating The Texas Chainsaw Massacre by 14 years. The mixture of sex and violence was something new in 1960, as was Hitchcock’s trick of killing the heroine in the first half-hour (later aped in Scream).

The shower scene in which Janet Leigh’s sexy thief Marion Crane is murdered by Norman Bates is still shocking today. Leigh resisted being typecast in horror movies until her later years, when she cropped up in everything from Halloween H20 to Bad Girls From Valley High.

FAY WRAY Fay Wray was the original scream queen. In just two years – 1932 and 1933 – she starred in horror classics Doctor X, The Most Dangerous Game, The Vampire Bat, Mystery Of The Wax Museum and, of course, King Kong. Wray lived long enough to meet with Peter Jackson about making a cameo in his 2005 Kong remake, but died (aged 96) just weeks before shooting began. The lights of the Empire State Building, where she had grappled with the giant gorilla some seven decades years earlier, were dimmed for 15 minutes in her memory.

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BAND MATHS NO.1: U2 95% BONO’S EGO 1% MARKETING 1% FETISHISATION OF AMERICA 1% LARRY MULLEN JR’S BIG STRONG ARMS 1% EDGE’S ‘RINGING’ GUITAR 1% ADAM CLAYTON’S COCK

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The Continuous Battle Of Order

LOOPS OF FURY

The Continuous Battle Of Order on John Coltrane, Buddy Rich and not writing it down.

PHOTO BY MARK LEETCH

SIX HANDS GOOD, FOUR HANDS BETTER

Blame The White Stripes: four acts also taking the twoman approach

Run, Walk!

Belfast jazz-rock duo The Continuous Battle of Order follow the launch of debut album PTTRN SKRS with a one-off show in the Brixton Windmill and a performance at Belfast’s trans festival in July.

Though their first album has just been released, they’re readying new songs for the follow-up.

upon a compilation entitled The Gentle Side of John Coltrane in the Virgin Megastore, then on Royal Avenue.

“We’re playing two new songs at present,” says guitarist Hornby. “There are three more, one of which isn’t likely to be an album track. They’re a lot more confident, though it’s strange to think of any Continuous Battle songs as not being confident.”

“There used to be a separate room with the jazz and some world music. I remember looking in through the doors thinking, am I allowed to go in there? It was like a whole other world.

“I remember putting the album on and being utterly captivated. Not understanding what it was, why it was, what it was doing – but just knowing that there was something in it, and that I needed to be with it.”

“The first album is like an attack on the senses,” says drummer Kearney. “I’d like the second to retain the immediacy, but for people to be able to say, ‘I want to listen to Continuous Battle, but one that I can relax to, or tap my foot to’.”

“In terms of musical heroes,” says Kearney, “Buddy Rich is the greatest drummer of all time.

When you hear the man, he’s astounding, but it’s nothing until you actually see footage of him. You can see enjoyment, aggression, passion, everything.

The talk of new songs takes on a different dimension when you discover that Continuous Battle write nothing down. No riff reminders, not even a setlist. The lack of scaffolding explains the urgency; the seat-of-the-pants responsiveness that’s quickly becoming their hallmark. “Sometimes having nothing written down makes it a little hairy,” says Hornby. “You’re looking at each other going, which one now?”

Hornby also points to Belfast’s own 1990s industrial metal trio Indust as an inspiration.

When he first saw them, they had released the Bewildermental EP and full-length Nosebleed, and shared the stage with The Sultans of Ping FC in a benefit for Africa.

“We’ve had the guts to go for a lot more improvisation onstage,” says Kearney. “At the album launch in Cork, it wasn’t so much improvisation as manipulation. During the title song I was 99.99% sure of what Hornby was going to do, and it was exactly what he did. For me, that was a crowning moment. Suddenly, simpatico had evolved in the band.”

Continuous Battle’s high-wire approach comes from their shared passion for jazz. As a 16-year-old in Belfast with his first guitar, Hornby stumbled

“I remember watching Indust play, standing there completely stunned,” says Hornby. “But I also remember thinking, here’s a guy who lives round here, making music onstage. I could do that. That was a big thing to me, realising that there’s no mystery. Only time and effort.” Kiran Acharya PTTRN SKRS IS OUT NOW ON RICHTER COLLECTIVE. CHECK WWW.IHEARTAU.COM FOR MORE ON THE MAKING OF THE ALBUM, INCLUDING FREE DOWNLOADS AND AN EXCLUSIVE VIDEO.

The aggressive drums and bass (not drum ‘n’ bass) duo set off on a UK tour with Richter Collective’s BATS in July. www.myspace.com/runwalk

Tweak Bird

Brothers Caleb and Ashton Bird perform with Continuous Battle in Brixton, before taking off to open for Tool in the summer. www.myspace.com/tweakbird

Middle Class Rut

From Sacramento in California, Middle Class Rut have become one of alternative rock’s most popular duos, with the ‘Busy Bein’ Born/All Walks of Life’ UK 7” selling out almost immediately. www.myspace.com/middleclassrut

Chas ‘N’ Dave

With more than 27 LPs and a career spanning 30 years, Chas ‘n’ Dave are the unacknowledged forefathers and secret inspiration for every emerging contemporary two-piece. www.chasndave.com

—11 AU Magazine—

Girls Names / Heartwork

Upfront

A POSTCARD FROM BELFAST Girls Names: Pitchfork-approved and becoming a 'real band'

PHOTO BY KIM MCALEESE

Here’s a question: how did Belfast’s fuzzy noise-poppers Girls Names, barely a year old and with only a handful of tunes under their belt, manage to hit the indie jackpot, receiving the blessing of no lesser site than Pitchfork for their delightfully gloomy track, ‘Graveyard’?

“I dunno,” drawls main man Cully, “I was just on Pitchfork one evening and it was there.” That’s that then.

This lethargic attitude is reinforced in their dreamy pop: Cully’s brooding swoon and dark romanticism lazes atop their distinct Eighties influences – jangling Postcard Records riffs mix with the innocence and simplistic song structures of Beat Happening to create forlorn paeans to teenage abandon. Due to the cheap, homemade production, their music is what the general press (and twats) now refer to as ‘lo-fi’.

However, their heartfelt tunes rise above this nothing genre; the perfect soundtrack to a wasted summer fraught with love lost.

the sole reason for her addition. “It kind of felt like a gimmick with just the two of us,” he says.

“We got away with quite a lot of amateurisms, especially on my part. We were maybe a bit scared to get another person – well I was, anyway – because with the three of us we will be a ‘real band’, and people will judge us a bit more harshly. But it’s definitely been a lot better.”

Having achieved more in the space of a year than most Belfast bands do in their meagre lifetimes – their first ‘proper’ release was a 12” on effortlessly cool US label Captured Tracks (“They were the only label we ever contacted!” proclaims Cathal), and NME Radio made ‘Don’t

—12 issue 65—

“We don’t have any management or booking agent or anything. We’re just finding everything out as we go along.” Only once is this laidback veneer pierced, when AU brings up the possibility of playing abroad. “I wouldn’t mind being big in Japan,” quips Neil. There’s ambition hidden among those fashionable frowns.

Kyle Robinson WWW.MYSPACE.COM/GIRLSNAMES

Heartwork In Praise Of Random LP Art

Hastily formed as a two-piece to support Wavves in February 2009 (“Looking back, it was rubbish,” says Cathal), they blazed a shambling trail throughout Ireland that year, winning over and bemusing equal numbers of people while supporting acts such as Sic Alps and Times New Viking. Without a bassist to steady the sound, their overawing scuzz often washed over apathetic audiences, their pop sensibilities getting lost in the mix.

In order to beef up these live shows, earlier this year they recruited their mutual friend Claire on bass, but as drummer Neil clarifies, this wasn’t

Let Me In’ their ‘Track of the Week’ – what does the future hold for the trio? “We hope to record an album next month,” says Cathal. “Record it ourselves, then see how it goes.

THE CASH MAKER ORCHESTRA MUSIC FOR ORGIES

There is surprisingly little information available as to the origins and story behind either this LP cover, or the Cash Maker Orchestra themselves. Which is annoying really, because we have a lot of questions.

I mean, how offensive is this cover? Look very closely at it. Skin is a precious thing, and to have it on display like this is simply appalling. The practice is socially frowned upon for a reason. It’s degrading, insulting, exploitative and wrong. Using a living being for nothing but their outer appearance just isn’t something that we can condone. You need to ask yourself, how would you feel if this was you?

How would you react if you were forced against your will to take something off that you didn’t want to? We should be encouraging respect for our fellow beings, not taking advantage of them. On the other hand, that naked bird is a bit tasty, and we’d definitely tap that ass. If only they could have left that fur coat off the cover, then we wouldn’t have felt any outrage at all. Schoolboy error. JT

Kormac

DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT THE MUSIC MEANT? With: Kormac

What is your earliest musical memory?

Probably ‘When The Going Gets Tough’ by Billy Ocean. Played on my little brown Fisher Price tape recorder, of course.

What is the first record you ever owned, and do you still listen to it?

Well, the first release I ever owned was the Greatest Hits Of 1986. I seem to remember Billy Joel featuring.

The first vinyl record was probably Platinum Breaks by Metalheadz.

What piece of music moves you to tears?

‘The Frog Chorus’ by Paul McCartney used to make me cry when I was a kid!

Probably Paul McCartney, but not in a fanatical way. More in a ‘you’ll get yours!’ kind of way. Not impressed with him creating that bloody Frog Chorus.

What record would you use to seduce someone?

Not the Frog Chorus... I would lose all my cool.

What was the first band you ever saw live?

Guns N’ Roses with my dad at Slane when I was 12 years old.

What about the worst band you’ve ever seen live?

Tough question. I saw James Blunt once....

What three albums would you force a total stranger to listen to?

Maxinquaye by Tricky, Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth and, well, I suppose my album if I was at it!

What would be your desert island album?

The Ethopians – Train To Skaville. I never tire of listening to it.

Who was the last band or artist that you became obsessed about?

KORMAC’S NEW ALBUM WORD PLAY IS OUT NOW ON SCRIBBLE RECORDS —13 AU Magazine—

Flying Lotus

Upfront

FLYLO, BEAT CHARIOT

Flying Lotus on catharsis, Bjork and making you dance

Some people operate at a different pace of life, so when Flying Lotus answers the phone to an edgy fanboy AU, it’s no surprise to hear him drawl, “I’m just snugging out right now. It ain’t bad, I tell you that.”

We bet it ain’t. With third album, Cosmogramma, currently garnering rave reviews from all quarters, it’s clear that 26-year-old Steven Ellison has a specific vision, whilst simultaneously progressing faster with his music than anyone could have expected. “With Cosmo, man, it’s getting closer to what I’ve been trying to do,” he explains. “Closer to the original vision of what I wanted my music to be.”

FlyLo, as he is known, went through a lot when preparing to record this album and finishing it seems to have proven somewhat cathartic for him. “I feel like it closed off a big chunk of confusion, you know?

At one end I’d just finished the Los Angeles thing and I didn’t know what was gonna happen after that.

Then my Mom passed away and that was a crazy thing that happened – I went through a lot, man, trying to understand and cope with that, and a lot of that came out in the record. I mean I can hear it, at least. I can hear phases of grief through the record.”

With 2008’s sublime Los Angeles proving such a hit in critical circles, Ellison was conscious of upping his game again for this album, his third. “I felt like this record had to have a sense of urgency to it,” he says.

“It’s all happening and you have to catch up. People have gotten used to my stuff being more downtempo but I wanted this to be urgent because that’s how I felt.”

RADIOHEAD'S THOM YORKE CONTRIBUTES GUEST VOCALS TO COSMOGRAMMA 'S 'And The World Laughs With You'

—14 issue 65—

Ellison’s great-aunt Alice Coltrane (wife of John) left her impression on Cosmogramma and he explains that as her music started making sense to him at last, he also realised that his songs needed the input of something outside of himself, which led to the

various collaborations. “More than any time in my life, I was moved by my aunt’s work and I felt like I understood what could make someone have to create those sounds. I also felt that the sounds needed to expand and I wanted it to be more of a musical invention than a technical invention – I didn’t want the focus of the conversation to be about geek stuff; I wanted it to be music, not some technical fucking, ‘What’s hot right now?’ stuff.”

And with a tour supporting Thom Yorke’s Atoms For Peace (with a legion of po-faced fans watching) behind him and a European visit beckoning, Ellison is keen on the element of fun at his shows. “It’s weird ‘cause we don’t want to do any visuals that are so defined that it distracts people from dancing but I also don’t like to play to zombies. People have been working all day - I want them to let loose.”

So, what next for the man being mentioned as the current vanguard of electronic music? “I’m probably gonna do some dates with DOOM when I come to the UK, man,” he offers. “As for recording, I think Jay Electronica wants to do something, but y’know he takes a while… and as for Björk [rumour has it FlyLo has something coming up soon with the diminutive Icelandic legend] she’s in my crosshairs right now, man.”

There are worse places one could be. Adam Lacey COSMOGRAMMA IS OUT NOW ON WARP RECORDS WWW.FLYING-LOTUS.COM

IMRO - Bloggers Under Fire

THE CAST OF CHEERS PULLED OUT OF AN IMRO GIG IN PROTEST

The Musicians' View Dublin band The Cast Of Cheers – who have built a fanbase on the back of releasing their music for free – pulled out of an IMRO showcase gig in protest at the planned changes.

Their manager, Adebisi Shank drummer and Richter Collective boss Mick Roe, explains why: “We had a serious problem with the LOEL being applied to non-profit blogs and artistrun websites. It simply made no sense for us.

The Cast of Cheers pulled from the gig and we withdrew support for IMRO until this issue can be resolved. The Cast of Cheers are the ultimate proof that these blogs are nothing but a help to Irish musicians.”

MICK ROE

benefits at the expense of the music industry – an industry which they claim is crippling under the weight of online piracy, not a failing, out-dated revenue model.

STRAIT LACES

BLOGGERS UNDER FIRE

Under a new proposal, Irish music blogs – mostly run by amateurs – will be forced to pay out large sums of money for the right to host music provided to them by bands and labels. Belfast-based blogger Keith Anderson examines the plan – and the potentially devastating impact it could have on blogging and independent music in Ireland.

“mp3 blogging is the great leveller when it comes to music promotion – it places Irish artists alongside the best in the world”

Villagers, The Cast of Cheers, The Continuous Battle of Order and LaFaro are all bands currently setting fire to the music blogosphere worldwide, never mind on our little island. And that’s because mp3 blogging is the great leveller when it comes to music promotion. It places Irish artists alongside the best in the world, but this is set to change if the Irish Music Rights Association (IMRO) get their way.

That’s because mp3 blogging is the great leveller when it comes to music promotion. It places Irish artists alongside the best in the world, but this is set to change if the Irish Music Rights Association (IMRO) get their way.

The solution? A tax on blogging which ranges from between €150 and €720 a year.

I spend roughly £50 a year maintaining my personal blog – a nominal price to pay for something which is more of a hobby than a business. Other blogs opt for free hosting from services like Wordpress and Blogger.

I write about Northern Irish politics and culture, local music and Belfast events/gigs. Sometimes I get mp3s from bands and if I like them, I blog them. I get enough hits to keep me going, but nowhere near enough to cover the £50 cost if I sold advertising.

IMRO have drawn up an agreement called ‘MCPSIMRO Limited Online Exploitation Licence (LOEL)’ which covers the use of music online by “small-scale/non-commercial companies and individuals, providing services in Ireland, whose gross revenue is less than €7,000 per year” – or music bloggers as you and I would know them.

If LOEL had been in effect this year, I would have had to pay out €300 for the mere five mp3s I hosted by bands registered with IMRO. And it doesn’t even matter if those bands gave permission to use their tracks. IMRO argue that this is out of their hands and Dublin-based record label Richter Collective have even been asked to fork out for tracks they host on their own site… from their own bands

They argue that well-established blogs like Nialler9, The Torture Garden and Asleep On The Compost Heap are not promotional vessels for artists and bands to help spread portions of their work, but an established part of the music industry, with a responsibility to pay royalties.

I’ll probably stop covering music if IMRO get their way, but it’s not us poor bloggers who will be hit by this. We’ll just find something else to write about.

Sadly, it will be the bands who will lose out. The silence online will be deafening.

In their eyes, people who host mp3s on music blogs are giving away content for free and reaping the

Keith Anderson is a freelance journalist and blogger at keithbelfast.com

—15 AU Magazine—

Talulah Does The Hula / Tom McShane

Upfront

HAWAII FIVE - O

got four new ones we thought we may as well put them out,” says Paula Cullen from the band’s practice space in Dublin.

Keeping it DIY with Talulah Does The Hula

In contrast to Paula and Caoimhe’s former band The Chalets, who were signed and constantly touring, things are happening more slowly – and independently – for Talulah Does The Hula.

Unfortunately, circumstances dictate that it has to be that way. “When we were in The Chalets our aim was to get signed, go on tour, leave our jobs,” says Paula. “We’re all a bit older in this band, so some people are home-owners and have mortgages. We have to be part-time, unless someone offered us a shitload of money – which I don’t think is going to happen in this day and age. But we’re happy enough.”

In the meantime, then, it’s a case of carrying on, recording more choice indie-pop and seeing what the future brings. “It’s kind of difficult, but we’ll play as many gigs as we can, and we want to do an album, but I think that’ll be a long way off.”

Chris Jones

After 11 months of radio silence, Dublin’s finest four girls/one guy indie-popsters are back with a new single, ‘Don’t Panic’/’Real Friends’ – two brand new songs of eminently tuneful loveliness.

The tracks are the first fruits of recent sessions that will see another double A-side follow later in the year. “We’ve kind of been playing the same set for the last year or whatever, and now we’ve

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL Tom McShane to record album in front of his fans

THE SINGLE ‘DON’T PANIC’/‘REAL FRIENDS’ IS OUT NOW WWW.TALULAHDOESTHEHULA.COM Tom had the idea after becoming disillusioned with the process of recording alone, with all the endless multitracking and overdubs that that entails. In order to get his mojo back, as it were, he went on a pilgrimage to the USA, gigging all over the country and visiting iconic studios where the likes of Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Chet Atkins recorded. “You really get a sense in those places of how it must’ve been to record in the days before multitracking,” he says, “to have it all depend on the performance for the both the musicians and the engineers. That idea really excited me.

“And I really started to appreciate the relationship between an audience and a musician. There can be a really special sort of energy between the two and normally that doesn’t exist in a studio environment. I want to see if that can be captured.” Chris Jones

In this age of supposed music industry meltdown, musicians are often to be found coming up with new and creative schemes for getting their music out. This is almost always to be applauded, and never more so than in the case of singersongwriter Tom McShane, who plans to record

his new album in two completely live sessions at Belfast’s Oh Yeah Centre on July 3. Tom and his band will play the album once through in each session, with the best of the two takes of each song being used on the album. And the biggest twist? A live audience.

Tickets are available from the Waterfront Hall box office and include a copy of the finished album and your name in the credits www.tommcshane.co.uk

NEWS SHORTS Remember Clone Quartet?

Indie-electro, 2007 vintage?

Course you do. Well, they are back. Or rather, Andy Henry is back. After a sojourn in London, he is carrying on the CQ name on his own with a new album, Broken Spectre. Completed with the helping hand of Gregory Ferguson (Jupiter Ace, AJ Suzuki), previews on the CQ MySpace indicate a full-on electro sound.

Expect a release later this year.

—16 issue 65—

A couple of issues ago we dribbled excitedly about Derry indie-popsters Wonder Villains in Unsigned Universe and things have been going swimmingly for them ever since.

So much so, they’ve been picked to play Radio 1’s One Big Weekend festival in Bangor, North Wales on May 22. Exciting times.

release albums by The Redneck Manifesto, The Continuous Battle Of Order, Jogging and Worrier and now Enemies have confirmed the release of their debut album. We’ve Been Talking is out on June 11, and guitarist Lewis Jackson promises “intricate, upbeat, almost tropical rock”. Yum.

that is, who has wasted no time in forming new band Malibu Shark Attack! Oppenheimer helper-outers Hornby and Angie McCrisken are on board, as is Californian rapper Dizzy Dustin. No, that’s not a joke. Tracks are available for download via the band’s Bandcamp page, and an album is underway.

Richter Collective must be the busiest label in Ireland right now.

This year has already seen them

Fear not, Oppenheimer fans, for the Rock is back! Guitar/synth/ production maestro Rocky O’Reilly,

Always-controversial electro stars Crystal Castles are touring their new album in October, and Irish

fans will get the first look at the pair. The tour kicks off at Belfast’s Mandela Hall on October 8, before hitting the Academy in Dublin the following night.

Interpol have unveiled the first fruits of their as-yet-untitled fourth album – ‘Lights’ is available to download free from their website.

The band posted the following message on their Facebook page, and it’s all we have to go on so far:

“Hello everyone. We’re stirring. We will be posting important information and dates in the coming weeks.”

Ooh, mysterious.

It’s solo records a-go-go for the class of 2001-2005. Following efforts from Julian Casablancas and Paul Banks (as Julian Plenti) last year, and the announcement of Kele Okereke’s solo debut, Brandon Flowers’ Flamingo has also been confirmed, though there’s no release date yet. Soz.

Delorean

SILVER MACHINE

The sleek, sun-dappled basques that just want you to dance

Latin Lovelies

The Spanish acts ready to follow in Delorean's wake El Guincho

Before Delorean, El Guincho was the great stranger in its own land. While Pitchfork gave his debut Alegranza an impressive 8.3, Spanish people barely knew him. The mix of tropicalia, dub and Afrobeat with rock tropes are the key to his success. www.myspace.com/elguincho

We Are Standard

Club music with guitars is nothing new nowadays but it’s unusual to perform this kind of music as authentically and brutally as these guys do. www.myspace.com/wearestandard

Lori Meyers DELOREAN

As AU is based in Belfast, home of the ill-fated Delorean car, a band of that name is always going to pique our interest.

The fact that they come from the Basque Country only adds to the intrigue (how many other Basque bands do you know?), but that’s not all we like about them. Oh no. New album Subiza – their third – is set to break the band far and wide, brimful as it is with giddy synths, housey pianos, delirious choruses and trippy, Balearic vibes. AU met up with frontman Ekhi Lopetegi in Barcelona after the band’s tortuous, volcano-disrupted trip back from touring in the States.

Interview by: Virginia Arroyo How does it feel to fill Texas festivals and Manhattan venues before doing the same in Barcelona or Bilbao?

Ekhi Lopetegi: “Well, it’s a bit weird and not weird at the same time. In Spain, you’re a local thing, while as an outsider you’re something more special; you’re a stranger and that gives the audience a different feeling and expectations. Anyway, nowadays, the concept of “local” doesn’t make much sense. I mean, our MySpace songs can be heard in Barcelona as well as in Seattle or Japan. Music has become a global phenomenon and so it has global mechanisms and consequences.”

Some of your previous records had a more linear progression, while in Subiza there’s no obvious seam running through the album. What do Subiza’s songs have in common?

Lopetegi: “In a lot of our past records, songs were a

unit by themselves. Each song was independent from the others on the album, with a coherency between them, of course – each one was a closed history with a beginning and an end. However, while Subiza has a strong unity between songs, it is not obvious or chronological, it’s thematic. All of them had the same musical subject: the search for light and colour, and the will to sound bright and intense.”

The media insist on comparing this album with Animal Collective. You must be sick of it…

Lopetegi: “Yeah, kind of… [laughs]. I understand what they mean but, well, it’s not like Animal Collective invented that sound: fuzzy guitars, layers, tribal influences, pop spirit… There are lots of bands who do that as well, for example The Ruby Suns.”

This is what the Spanish have always done best: pop music. Lori Meyers is a good example of the typical Spanish indie-pop band with great songs, great lyrics, good production and lovely live performances. Best in class. www.lorimeyers.net

Marlango

Popular thanks to frontwoman Leonor Watling’s cinematic success, this trio delivers a nice blend of jazz and pop beneath Watling’s charming voice.

Plus, she’s hot and usually gets partially naked in her movies, which I’m sure is cool for all you dude readers, right? www.myspace.com/marlango

So, if it’s not Animal Collective, then what are your major influences?

Lopetegi: “Well, anything, actually. Pop, rock… anything, but with a focus on danceable beats.

I’d say house, techno and dubstep are some of the musical styles we’ve been most influenced by, but to be honest I think we’re based on anything that one can dance to.”

You’re playing several Spanish festivals this year, but probably the most prominent is Primavera Sound [in Barcelona]. During your life as festivalgoers, have you been fans of Primavera or the much bigger Benicàssim?

Lopetegi: “Primavera, definitely. Primavera is usually more experimental and risky. Plus, we’re not the kind of guys who like camping and stuff. We prefer going to a bunch of shows, sweating the night off and then taking the metro – come back home, have a good night’s sleep and come back the next day for more.”

SUBIZA IS OUT ON JUNE 7 VIA TRUE PANTHER SOUNDS WWW.MYSPACE.COM/DELOREANDANZ

THE BLOWS

The Blows

They’re good. The bad thing about it is that they know they’re good. Anyway, theirs is a Franz Ferdinand-esque sound so awesome that it makes you forget their excessive ‘attitude’. Good indie music for the dancefloor as well as for a metro ride. www.myspace.com/theblows —17 AU Magazine—

Eighties Matchbox / My First Band

Upfront

DISASTER AVERTED

Eighties Matchbox Are back – but where have they been?

With Paul Wolinski From 65daysofstatic Band Name: Tuesday Afternoon Age: 10

The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster spent the first half of the last decade as one of the UK’s most cherished – and outright entertaining – rock bands. Debut album Horse Of The Dog was a blistering 25 minutes of psychobilly madness, while 2004’s The Royal Society saw them record in the Californian desert with stoner rock big cheese Chris Goss. Entry into the big league seemed assured but then… nothing.

Six years on, the band are back with their third album, Blood And Fire, and so we must ask frontman Guy McKnight: what the hell has taken you so long?!

“A lack of discipline for some of us was a major issue,” he says from his home town of Brighton.

“And the whole dole culture is the beginning of a descent down a slippery slope for a lot of people.

If you don’t take responsibility for supporting yourself and you’re just existing, but under the pretence that you’re writing music, and getting a lot of people shoving drugs in your face all the time, it’s very easy to get distracted.”

Not surprisingly, drug and alcohol problems took their toll, and led to bassist Sym spending time in rehab. “Drugs have definitely been a significant part of the journey,” McKnight admits. “There’s a really studenty argument that mankind has always used drugs as part of ritual and ceremony, but I don’t really buy into that bullshit. I just think that there’s a huge drug culture in Britain and it’s because people are unhappy.”

So it wasn’t just down to the availability of narcotics, then; did internal factors nudge the band down that path? “I think it’s fair to say that we all started off experimenting with drugs from a standpoint of changing your perspective. I was always interested in psychedelics, but when it —18 issue 65—

starts taking over your life and completely twists your mind, it’s no fun being an addict.”

Now largely clean and sober, McKnight credits his long-held commitment to Buddhism for pulling him through. And as well as the band members’ personal travails, there has been upheaval within the camp – guitarist Andy Huxley left after The Royal Society and has since been replaced twice, while Marc Norris left after the completion of Blood And Fire. All of which begs the question – how has the band not imploded?

“I think we always had a kind of unspoken, shared feeling and belief that we hadn’t completed the task yet. That we hadn’t fulfilled our potential yet; finished our mission.”

McKnight insists that there is more to come after Blood And Fire, an album of which he is rightly proud. There has been limited carping from hardcore fans that little of the material is brand new (the band gigged regularly throughout the gap between albums) but those that have lost touch in the last six years will find that the energy and vitality remains. In fact, it improves on The Royal Society by jettisoning some of its comic book schlock – the band sound galvanised by all that has happened, even triumphant.

“A fucking miracle,” is how McKnight describes it. “I’m delighted to still be alive and still able to make music with my friends. I think it’s a testament to persevering against all odds.”

Chris Jones

“It was towards the end of primary school, and it was me and my three friends. We only ever had four songs – one of them was called ‘Heavy Metal Rocker’, which was written by the drummer, and I played some pretty sharp synth. We had another song that was basically ‘Summer Of ‘69’ by Bryan Adams, except the guitarist told us that he’d made up the chords himself, so we thought that was our own song. And there was one called ‘Waiting For A Bus’, and I was on the piano, Jim Steinman-style.

In my head, I wanted to be Jim Steinman when I was 10 years old. I was a very, very big Meat Loaf fan – my diet of music was exclusively Meat Loaf and New Order, which you can probably still tell.

"I wanted to be Jim Steinman when I was 10 years old. I was a very, very big Meat Loaf fan" “We played the school leaving assembly – for our very first band, that was quite a high point.

And then secondary school started – three of us went to the same school and the sometime extra guitarist went to a different school, and our musical differences began to emerge… It all got a bit complicated. We’re still really close friends though. One of them still does music – he goes around the world playing blues with his wife, who’s also the singer. And the drummer is the cleverest guy I know and is now doing political studies at a university, teaching kids why people lie!”

WE WERE EXPLODING ANYWAY BY 65DAYSOFSTATIC IS OUT NOW

BLOOD AND FIRE IS OUT ON MAY 31 VIA BLACK RECORDS

THE BAND PLAY THE MANDELA HALL, BELFAST ON MAY 14 AND CRAWDADDY, DUBLIN ON MAY 15

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/EIGHTIESMATCHBOXBLINEDISASTER

WWW.65DAYSOFSTATIC.COM

www.laverysbelfast.com

12-16 Bradbury Place, Belfast, BT7 1RS, 02890871106 On The Top Floor: Every Thursday and Friday night: A request friendly poolroom soundtrack featuring classic tracks and up to the minute future hits. The combination of high class pool hall & a razor sharp playlist leads to an experience unique to Belfast and guaranteed good times. Make no mistake this is the best place in town to shoot some frames, hang out with your best friends & boogie on down when the lights go out.

Request-friendly DJ set by Dave F While you play pool

On The First Floor: Every Monday:

SHUFFLE

Every Thursday:

An eclectic Monday night mix with DJ Dave F. Doors 10pm. Adm £3 An across-the-board playlist featuring everything from Florence & The Machine through to AC/DC, taking in The Beatles, N.E.R.D., Pink Floyd, The Strokes, and loads more inbetween.

RADIATION

EMO / PUNK / HARDCORE: Dj Darren Craig Doors 10pm. £3 Playlist includes….+44, 30 seconds to mars, afi, against me!, alkaline trio, angels and airwaves, ash, bad religion, bearvsshark, biffy clyro, billy talent, black eyes, blink 182 ….

Every Tuesday:

TA'PP

Eclectic Student Club: DJ Panda Hearts Pineapple Doors 9pm. Adm £3 TA'PP is a new weekly club brought to you by Panda//Hearts//Pineapple. Guest DJs, drinks promotions and give aways every week.

Every Friday:

Every Wednesday:

OMGWTFDISCO

Cut n Paste Disco: FAUX DJs Doors 10pm. Adm £3 FAUX play a wide variety of genres whilst pushing the Ableton boundaries with quick mixing and loop based trickery in this dance floor focused set.

Indie & Electro: DJs Jonny Tiernan Doors 9pm. Adm £3 Brought to you by the man behind AU Magazine - Jonny Tiernan. You will hear modern classics, cutting edge underground tracks and unheard remixes,

RESIDENT DJs:

EVERY SATURDAY AT LAVERY’S Resident DJs:

GREGZ McCANN JONNY TIERNAN DARREN CRAIG

TWO FLOORS OF ALTERNATIVE SOUNDS

IN THE BUNKER AND THE BALLROOM!

DOORS:8PM/ADM:£5

On The Ground Floor: Every Monday & Tuesday

Live Traditional & Folk Sessions

Hosted by Buana, all musicians are welcome.

This is an open session and all musicians of all standards are invited to play. Bring along your fiddle, flute, tin whistle, accordion, bodhrán, guitar or uilleann pipes and play along and Laverys will fill your cup.

Mondays: UPRISING Reggae, Ska and Dub with residents Leon D & Cozzie Tuesdays: CIRCUS OF SOUND Classic Rock and Soul from deep in the vaults of time

Fridays:

VINTAGE

Alternative sounds from the last century with Gregz McCann Saturdays:

ECLECTIC ELECTRIC

Every Wednesday - Saturday

Wednesdays: PERFORMANCE Singer-songwriter sessions with featured artists and open mic.

Genre-jumping mix of underground hits

Classic Chart Hits The Retro Disco every Friday and Saturday night with its playlist of the hits of yesteryear for those who love to party to the sounds of the 50s, 60s, 70s & 80s.

Thursdays: COUP D’ETAT Upbeat music mix with Rory McConnell

Classic Funk, Soul and Rhythm & Blues with Paul Mod Revival

Sundays: The RETRO DISCO TWO FLOORS OF ALTERNATIVE SOUNDSSOUL SOCIAL

—19 AU Magazine—

Incoming

The Crookes, Young British Artists, Ganglians

THE CROOKES

YOUNG BRITISH ARTISTS

GANGLIANS

MEMBERS: George Waite (vocals, bass),

Alex Saunders (guitar), Daniel Hopewell (guitar),

Russell Bates (drums).

FORMATION: Sheffield, 2008.

FOR FANS OF:The Smiths, Larrikin Love, The Housemartins.

CHECK OUT: The single ‘Bloodshot Days’ is out now

on Heist Or Hit. WEBSITE: www.myspace.com/thecrookesmusic

MEMBERS: Leo Scott (vocals, bass),

Sebastian Mariner (guitar), Simon Walker

(keys), Ben Phillips (drums).

FORMATION: Manchester, 2008.

FOR FANS OF: Sonic Youth, Loop, Trail Of Dead.

CHECK OUT: The single ‘Lived In Skin’ is out now

on Red Deer Club.

WEBSITE: www.myspace.com/youngbritishartists

Birthed in the Sheffield studentland of the same name, The Crookes are four beautiful boys who evoke the long-lost romance of downbeat Northern Englishness – chiming melodies frame their ‘kitchen-sink’ dramas, like a Shelagh Delaney script set to ‘The Boy With A Thorn In His Side.’

“Our influences are largely English-based literature and music,” singer George Waite explains. “I wrote some lyrics and George told me they were just like The Smiths,” guitarist/lyricist Dan Hopewell adds.

“I had no idea. I was just trying to be poetic. I’m into similar books and plays as Morrissey was, so maybe the original source echoes through.”

Remember the scene in Jurassic Park in which a glass of water begins to ripple as a Tyrannosaurus Rex approaches? Well, when Young British Artists’ raging new single ‘Lived In Skin’ (their second release after last year’s Small Waves EP) kicks into gear, your blood may start to wobble.

The song seethes with angst, “It’s about the trials and tribulations of everyday life – the slog,” singer Leo Scott tells AU.

MEMBERS: Ryan Grubbs (vocals, keys, guitar), Kyle

Hoover (vocals, guitar), Adrian Comenzind

(vocals, bass), Alex Sowles (drums).

FORMATION: Sacramento, California, 2007.

FOR FANS OF:Beach Boys, Grizzly Bear, Fleet Foxes.

CHECK OUT: Debut album Monster Head Room is out now

on Souterrain Transmissions.

WEBSITE: www.myspace.com/ganglian

A cursory glance at Ganglians’ MySpace page suggests that they are not your conventional sorts. Under band members they have listed, “The whole of the Ganglian race. The squirrels in the walls that bounce acorns across the ceiling in the dead of night.” Hmmm, ok. However, if the Ganglians were a race, they’d be a long undiscovered one, lost in the Amazon for aeons only to be discovered by Ray Mears and a BBC camera crew. Dragged blinking out of the deepest jungle, their minds befuddled by psychoactive drugs – the band have confessed to dabbling with the senses-deranging ayahuasca – they’d be sent doolally at the sights and sounds of the modern world. If you think that sounds far-fetched, wait until you hear Monster Head Room.

The Crookes are a heartwarming antidote to the endless stream of taste-making American bands.

“We said from the start that if we all started to wear tight jeans and leather jackets and took up smoking, we’d never be able to pull it off because we’re not the coolest guys in the world,” says George. “It’s just about playing music we’re most comfortable with and enjoying it.” There is a refreshing, oldfashioned romance to current single ‘Bloodshot Days’. “I’m a bit of a dreamer, and a lot of the songs are about running away and escaping. I guess that idea is romantic,” says Dan. As for a debut album, George admits the band are struggling to agree on a batch of songs. “We wrote a track-listing in January and none of those songs are on it anymore.” “We keep writing songs that are better than our last,” Dan says. “It’s quite a nice problem to have.”

John Freeman —20 issue 65—

Driven by a love of “Trail Of Dead and American alternative rock”, the band hunkered down in a rehearsal room for a year and “hammered out” their sound. The results are huge; walls of guitars, a rip of feedback and Ben Phillips’ pummeling drums – imagine a tribal, testosterone-fuelled My Bloody Valentine. “It’s big and full because we have an unwritten rule that we don’t write without the whole band,” synth dude Simon Walker explains. “We want to be energising,” adds Sebastian.

The band say a debut album will follow – when they are ready – but admit that they’re struggling to capture their intense gig experience. “We battle a lot with recording our sound,” admits Sebastian.

“If you see us live it is a big sprawl of noise, and it’s just about trying to inject as much of that onto a record, which is proving to be quite difficult.”

And is there a softer, introspective side to Young British Artists? “I fucking hope so,” Leo admits.

“But we don’t do quiet very well.” John Freeman

With magic seeping from each of its sweaty pores, their full-length debut is a work of glassy-eyed majesty, boasting dreamy reveries galore and entrancing tribal scenery – animal noises, water a-trickling etc. It’s quite a contrast to their very first outing, the self-titled 12” that came out in 2009 and found them bracketed with lo-fi, scuzz-rock artisans such as Times New Viking and Wavves. Apparently, both records were being worked on at the same time. Personally, we prefer the more languidly psychedelic sounds of Monster Head Room, a work its creators describe as an oldschool headphones record. So get ‘em wrapped around your lugholes and get the peyote in, its Ganglians time. Francis Jones

Incoming

SURFER BLOOD MEMBERS: John Paul Pitts (vocals, guitar),

Tyler Schwarz (drums), Thomas Fekete

(guitar), Brian Black (bass).

FORMATION: Palm Beach, USA, 2008.

FOR FANS OF: Dinosaur Jr, The Drums, Weezer.

CHECK OUT: The album Astro Coast is out

on June 7 via Kanine.

WEBSITE: www.myspace.com/surferblood

Pitts’ childhood was spent in Palm Beach, Florida – home of sun, sea and retirees. “South Florida itself does not have a whole lot of young people, and doesn’t have the same level of culture,” he admits.

“But I grew up with some really cool people; some friends on my school bus introduced me to The Smiths and they were one of my favourite bands growing up; there was a nice little local scene there.”

Blood, sweat and salty water – Surfer Blood are a young Floridian quartet, whose lo-fi, melodic, mutated surf rock has made them the busiest of buzz bands in their homeland. With a spanking debut album, Astro Coast, out over here next month, singer JP Pitts acknowledges that he’s riding the crest of a wave. “So far, 2010 is shaping up to be a lot of things I’ve wanted to come true for most of my life. Stephen Malkmus of Pavement asked us to play All Tomorrow’s Parties in Minehead, and it is pretty exciting to be asked by someone you’ve looked up to for so long – not only has he heard your music, but he likes it enough to ask you to play!” The band, who played in Dublin in April, are in the UK this month for a series of dates ahead of the Malkmus-curated festival. Live, they are a bundle of hormonal energy. “We play off each other and people see that and get drawn in.”

Pitts played in a number of “heavy and noisy” rock bands with childhood friend Tyler Schwarz, before the recruitment of guitarist Tom Fekete sparked Surfer Blood into life. “Tyler and I had songs, but we were just sitting on them. The first time Tom ever heard any of them he was like, ‘Yep, I wanna play in this band’.

We all really believed in it from the very beginning.”

Lazy journalism may file Astro Coast merely under ‘surf rock’, but there is more going on than merely beach bum guitar chops, be it the retro Who-like crunch of ‘Floating Vibes’, the flirting Afrobeat of ‘Twin Peaks’ or the hazy pop on the standout ‘Harmonix’. “We get compared to The Drums a lot and, while they are friends of ours and we like them, we are not too similar,” says Pitts (although AU begs to differ). “Our album gets dark in the middle and when you flip the record the songs are more drawn out and directly emotive and epic.”

Since the US release of Astro Coast earlier this year (which received gushing reviews from Rolling Stone and Pitchfork), Surfer Blood have been living with a surge of hype, and while the singer is aware of the downside to such intense scrutiny, Pitts has cocooned himself from the constant stream of feedback. “It’s a pretty amazing feeling going around the country playing to people who actually want to see you and don’t just happen to be in the bar where you’re playing,” JP says. “As far as backlash goes, that pretty much happens to every band. I try not to read that much press and Twitter is an awful thing. We pick ourselves apart enough, without worrying about anyone else. I’d rather not know.”

While they may be simply a neat amalgam of all your favourite Nineties guitar bands, it would seem that 2010 is the year that Surfer Blood blast into our consciousness. JP is ready. “We have no objection to being liked, or having a lot of fans, but in 12 months either no-one in the world could care about us, or we could be gigantic.” Where’s your money? John Freeman

—21 AU Magazine—

Villagers

Incoming

VILLAGERS REAL NAME: BASED: FOR FANS OF: CHECK OUT: WEBSITE:

Conor O’Brien Dublin, Ireland.

Nick Cave, Elliott Smith.

Debut album Becoming A Jackal, out now on Domino. www.myspace.com/wearevillagers

There were many sad faces in Ireland when The Immediate, one of the country’s most promising indie-but-not-quite-indie groups, announced their disbandment in mid-2007. Never fear, however, because almost three years later, frontman Conor O’Brien has put together an entirely new project.

Following the break-up of The Immediate, O’Brien took himself on tour with Cathy Davey and, well, couldn’t stop writing – even from day one. Says O’Brien, “The first track was one that I wrote the day after The Immediate broke up. The morning after, in fact. I got very drunk that night; it was a bit like the musical equivalent of puking. That became a B-side called ‘Transitional Confessional’. But over the course of touring, I learnt a hell of a lot, from playing with new people. And any time that I was free, if I had a month off or something, I’d just stay in, not spend any money, and just write. I guess it was from this period that most of the songs were written.”

So far, so cathartic. But why no plugs and cables? O’Brien shrugs, and responds. “I was a bit tired of playing electric guitar. I think that as soon you pick up a wooden, or acoustic instrument, it’s branded as folk, or whatever. But for me, it was like a new toy to play with. I liked the idea of giving the songs a backbone, which was the natural rhythm of an acoustic guitar, and the dynamics of it, and then building that, by using different instruments and layering. It was quite a natural thing.”

The songs of which he speaks are both delicate and robust.

Lyrically opaque, but covering grand emotions, it’s both painfully introspective and blatant at the same time. Think Elliott Smith, with Owen Pallett on production. Lead single, and the album title track, ‘Becoming A Jackal’ sings of betrayal and revenge – although it’s not certain which of the characters in the song is betrayer, and which is betrayee. Purposefully vague, O’Brien sings, “And each time they found fresh meat to chew / I would turn away and return to you / You would offer me your unmade bed / Feed me till I’m fed.”

What inspired the tone of the record? O’Brien is reluctant to pin down any one thing, but upon reflection, offers a vignette of background music. “When we were writing the songs, I was listening to a lot of Nina Simone, Robert Wyatt, early Randy Newman stuff. I’m a big fan of atmosphere and melodies. I had a home recording, demo-like thing that Nina Simone had done, of songs that she had written herself, and it was beautiful. She kind of inhabits other personalities.”

The idea of standing behind a distant narrative, or taking on the character of another, enthralls him and, in a way, it’s the aim of the entire project. He muses, “There’s one Nina Simone song called ‘Everyone’s Gone To The Moon’, and by the end of it, you can’t tell if she’s a woman or not. It’s just this crazy, beautiful creature singing at you, in a messed-up way. I guess I was inspired by that – the fact that she managed to transcend her own personality in some way.’ Ailbhe Malone —22 issue 65—

Incoming

Active Child, The Joy Formidable, Silver Columns

ACTIVE CHILD REAL NAME: BASED: FOR FANS OF: CHECK OUT: WEBSITE:

Pat Grossi Los Angeles M83, The Knife, OMD. Curtis Lane EP, out May 24 on Merok Records. www.myspace.com/activechild

We may be more adventurous in our musical tastes than ever before, but despite all the music at our fingertips, when can you honestly say you last heard something genuinely original?

Active Child might just be the artist to fill that gap. The alias of young Los Angeles native – and former choirboy – Pat Grossi, the new six-track EP Curtis Lane is a jaw-dropping portal into his world, a world where skyscraping choral melodies are seamlessly stitched into the fabric of grandiose synth-pop. If the shoegazers think they have a monopoly over the term ‘sonic cathedral’, Grossi should have a word – Active Child is the sound of light streaming in through stained-glass windows.

The aptly-named ‘I’m In Your Church At Night’ is the breathtaking mission statement – pulsing bass, a plucked harp and diaphanous synths piled high underneath Grossi’s peerlessly beautiful harmonies – while ‘When Your Love Is Safe’ is the Big Pop Song, but most extraordinary is the haunting ‘Wilderness’, which closes the EP with shuddering beats and a thick, cloaking atmosphere, fading out in appropriately ominous fashion. Others will call it pretentious, overwrought or faintly ridiculous. Maybe so, but this marks the arrival of a truly prodigious talent. Chris Jones

THE JOY FORMIDABLE

SILVER COLUMNS

MEMBERS: Ritzy Bryan (vocals, guitar), Rhydian Dafydd (bass), Matt Thomas (drums).

FORMATION: Mold, North Wales, 2007.

FOR FANS OF: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Sky Larkin, The Breeders.

CHECK OUT: Mini-album A Balloon Called Moaning out now on Pure Groove; as-yet-

untitled full-length debut due out this summer.

WEBSITE: www.thejoyformidable.com

MEMBERS: Adem and Johnny Lynch (The Pictish Trail) FORMATION: London, 2009.

FOR FANS OF: Arthur Russell, Hot Chip, Bronski Beat.

CHECK OUT: Debut album Yes, And Dance is out May 31 on Moshi Moshi.

WEBSITE: www.silvercolumns.com

Let’s face it: any band from a town called Mold wins an automatic pass to Awesomeville in our book. Besides their quirkily-named home town, though, Welsh trio The Joy Formidable are notably cool for their loud, rough and raucous indie-rockers: in other words, not exactly an apt soundtrack for a quiet Saturday night in front of a wine bottle. We stumbled across them quite by accident at The Great Escape festival last year; playing a grotty little venue in Brighton, their tunes were so vigorous and energetic that they may have caused permanent auditory damage to the front row.

Their recorded material may not capture the raw power of their gigs, but it’s a mighty fine listen, nonetheless. Serrated guitar lines saw through Ritzy Bryan’s seductive tones before tumbling headlong into single ‘Popinjay’’s guttural chorus; ‘Whirring’’s steady thump crosses a melodic trail that’s stickier than a vat of Super Glue, and the brilliant ‘Cradle’ is lo-fi in the most blissfully scuzzy way imaginable. These are well-paced concoctions laced with taut rock ‘n’ roll, hazy shoegaze and screeching punk riffs that erupt from your stereo speakers and demand to be turned up to 11. Best put the earplugs in first, though.

Formidable? No better word. Lauren Murphy

When the pleasingly bangin’ sounds of Silver Columns’ debut white label single ‘Brow Beaten’ were unleashed last year, every blogger and half-baked musical sleuth in the land had their magnifying glass out as they attempted to unmask the unnamed perpetrators of this lethal slice of disco goodness. The suggestions ranged from Erasure through to a reformed Bronski Beat – ‘Brow Beaten’ geddit? – and onto DFA disco dollies Hercules And Love Affair. And those were just the sensible guesses. No matter what their original intentions, Silver Columns’ deliberately cultivated air of mystery became a PR hurricane.

After all, everyone loves a good ol’ whodunit. When they eventually handed themselves in, the masterminds of this hi-octane dance heist turned out to be the unlikely pair of Adem and Johnny Lynch.

Previously best known for their Nick Drake-alike, nu-folk meanderings (Adem) and gentle folktronica (Lynch, as The Pictish Trail), this reinvention was both most unexpected and enjoyable. The tease of those early singles is fully delivered upon with debut album Yes, And Dance, a record partly informed by the influence of the duo’s London-based friends – Hot Chip, Caribou and Four Tet. That their music is comfortable amongst such distinguished company should tell you all you need to know about Silver Columns. Francis Jones —23 AU Magazine—

Upfront

Hey You!

What's on your iPod? •

AU FINDS OUT •

Saorla Boyle Lady GaGa – Like it Rough Foo Fighters – DOA The Cardigans – My Favourite Game Interesting fact: Could it be that Saorla quite holds the record for the most nicknames for one person? Sally, Sukie, Dora, Seerly, Sally-Anne... Endless....

Clodagh Devine Diana Vickers – Once Florence and the Machine ft. Dizzee Rascal – You’ve Got The Dirtee Love Scouting For Girls – This Ain’t A Love Song Interesting fact: Clodagh has been spending these Spring evenings bottle-feeding baby lambs. Altogether now, ahhhhhh.

Zoë Warnock Lady GaGa – Vanity Katy Perry – Mannequin Laura Marling – Night Terror Interesting fact: She can touch her nose with her tongue. Saucy.

Cónal O’Mianáin Aphex Twin – Girl/Boy Song Biffy Clyro – Asexual Meat Kitchen Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip – Angles Interesting fact: Since the last time Cónal had his photo taken for AU, he burst his eardrum with a breadstick. Clever boy.

Darren Harkin Glassjaw – Motel of the White Locust Mastodon – I Am Ahab Vampire Weekend – White Sky Interesting fact: Darren is a medical miracle with a pristine left arm – he never got his BCG injection.

Kane Caesar Leighton Meester – Birthday Cantebury – Peace And Quiet Creedence Clearwater Revival – Bad Moon Rising Interesting fact: Kane’s party trick is being able to suck the chicken off a drumstick in one go. That’s both impressive and utterly disturbing.

Oliver Harper Tinie Tempah – Pass Out Linkin Park – One Step Closer Five Finger Death Punch – Hard to See Interesting fact: Oliver once kneed himself in the forehead, just to prove a point. Hope it was worth it...

Rachel Mc Monagle The Dooleys – Wanted Eamon – I Don’t Want You Back Elton John – Can You Feel the Love Tonight Interesting fact: Rachel drives a yellow Mini Cooper. Beep beep.

Paul Kavanagh The Herbaliser – The Blend Broken Social Scene – Canada vs. America Burning Spear – Social Living Interesting fact: Paul puts brown sauce in his soup.

He didn’t specify which kind of soup. Surely not pea…

Cathal Bradley Pendulum - Watercolour Nine Inch Nails – Mr. Self-Destruct Metallica – Fade to Black Interesting fact: Cathal had his large intestine removed.

It would appear you can live without it. Who knew??

Connor Norris Every Time I Die – Wonderlust Johnny Cash – Ain’t No Grave Misfits – Bullet Interesting fact: Connor once played with Krist Novoselic, the bassist from Nirvana. ‘Played with’?

—24 issue 65—

Flashback

Rewind

melting pot of Germanic folklore, Norse mythology, paganism, atheism, Satanism and pure nihilism myriad different viewpoints and ideologies were brought into conflict with each other, creating a ticking philosophical time-bomb, which was sure to have devastating results.

Flashback

When the black metal onslaught finally came, it was relentless. Less a musical scene, and more of a militant underground army, over 50 arson attacks were carried out on churches between 1992 and 1996. Whilst the UK punks may have sung about anarchy, and smashing the system, the black metallers of Norway were out on the streets, taking matters into their own hands. Aside from churches, another potential target was the Blitz House, an anarchist stronghold in Oslo.

Vikernes assembled an arsenal of 150kg of explosives and 3,000 rounds of ammunition, and planned to destroy the leftist punk commune; an act that would bring him into direct conflict with his now bandmate in Burzum, Euronymous.

16 Years Ago

Given the mix of personalities that were coming into contact with each other in the increasingly dangerous world of black metal, it was arguably only a matter of time before the divisions within the scene would come to the surface, with deadly consequences. Ahead of the proposed attack on the Blitz House, Vikernes and Snorre Ruch, of Thorns, set off to meet Euronymous at his home. Upon arrival, a confrontation immediately broke out, resulting in the fatal stabbing of Euronymous.

The Trial Of Varg Vikernes, May 2, 1994 Words by: Steven Rainey

Standing in the dock, a smile spreads across the face of Varg Vikernes, aka Count Grishnackh, as his sentence is passed. The crime was murder, and the verdict is ‘Guilty’. And in that moment, the Norwegian black metal scene goes from being a minor curiosity to front page news.

In many respects, Norwegian black metal is the ultimate outsider music. No light escapes from the cracks, just shards of pure darkness. Attracting the alienated and dispossessed, this most unholy of musical forms coalesced around a record store in Oslo called Helvete, Norwegian for ‘Hell’. Opening in 1991, the store was founded by Øystein Aarseth, and it quickly became the nucleus of the burgeoning black metal scene. Bands such as Mayhem, Burzum, Emperor and Thorns had been making crushingly aggressively metal for a number of years previously, espousing extreme political opinions and indulging in Satanic practices. In a genre frequently derided for ‘play-acting’ and theatricality, the Norwegian black metallers were the real deal, living extreme lives without any compromise to conventional society.

Rumours abounded of a black metal Inner Circle, a cult-like cabal, running things behind the scenes.

It was probably apocryphal, but it all added to the mystique and unsettling appeal of the scene. Things

took a more serious edge when Mayhem vocalist Per Yngve Ohlin was found dead, with a self-inflicted shotgun blast to his head, as well as slit wrists.

Discovering his body in the house he shared with his bandmates, Aarseth, who went under the stage name of Euronymous, took photographs of the body which eventually ended up on the cover of a Mayhem live album. Once again, the rumour-mill went into overdrive, with stories circulating that Euronymous had made a stew out of Ohlin’s brain, and wore a necklace made out of parts of his skull.

Ohlin’s suicide would prove to be a catalyst, the first step on a path of destruction and death. The politics of the Norwegian black metal scene are complex and difficult to unravel, with some of the key figures, including Aarseth, identifying themselves as Communist (or, more accurately, Stalinist), whilst others such as Varg Vikernes of Burzum proclaimed themselves Nazis. Allied to these political schisms was the inherently contradictory nature of Satanism. In a

Vikernes’ motive for the slaying remains unclear.

Various accounts have speculated that the killing took place over a girl, or a dispute over a recording contract.

There’s also the possibility that it was the end result of a power struggle over leadership of a Satanic cult. Or perhaps, given the conflicting political bias of the two men, perhaps this was a politically motivated murder.

Vikernes himself claimed that Euronymous had been plotting to kill him first, and that the murder had been in self-defence.

Vikernes was sentenced to 21 years in prison for the murder of Øystein Aarseth, and the arson of four churches. He served 15 years of his sentence, before being released in May 2009.

In the aftermath of the trial, the scene came under intense scrutiny from the media, with many of the stories being exaggerated and distorted in the public eye. The intense political, social and philosophical aspects of the scene were overlooked, in favour of labeling everyone involved ‘Satanists’. By 1995, the scene had fragmented, with media attention moving elsewhere, whilst Vikernes served his time in prison, releasing two albums under the Burzum banner from behind bars. Eventually, bands such as Darkthrone and Dimmu Borgir would release albums giving the genre a previously unthought of level of critical acclaim.

Arguably, this couldn’t have happened anywhere else. The cold and unforgiving climate of Norway, with its liberal culture, but strong sense of conformity, led these men to find an outlet for their alienation.

By adopting taboo and extreme belief systems, these educated and intelligent young men found a route of expression which allowed them to be outsiders in the ultimate ‘inclusive’ society.

—25 AU Magazine—

History Lessons

Malcolm McLaren Words by: Edwin McFee Illustration by: Rebecca Hendin

“Rock and roll doesn’t necessarily mean a band. It doesn’t mean a singer, and it doesn’t mean a lyric, really. It’s that question of trying to be immortal.”

Malcolm McLaren

—26 issue 65—

Rewind

On April 8, 2010, Malcolm McLaren, the clown prince of punk rock, passed away aged 64. The self-proclaimed inventor of the scene (and manager/ architect of the Sex Pistols) had been suffering from a rare form of lung cancer called mesothelioma since October 2009 and died in a hospital in Switzerland with his partner Young Kim and son Joe Corre by his bedside. This is his story.

Born in Newington Green, North London and raised by his grandmother, Malcolm McLaren was always a square peg in a round hole. His father (a war deserter) left the family home when McLaren was two and by all accounts he was awkward as a child. According to his manager, his grandmother used to tell him, “To be bad is good… to be good is simply boring” and it was a motto that seemed to stick with him all of his life. Malcolm spent his teens working at various jobs, until he tried his hand at being an art student. However, largely due to his legendary issues with authority, he was booted out of several art colleges, leading him to briefly join up with the Situationist movement who promoted absurdist and provocative action as a way of enacting social change.

In 1971, McLaren and his then-girlfriend Vivienne Westwood (you may have heard of her) opened up Let It Rock on the King’s Road, and they flogged Teddy Boy clothes to people who should frankly know better. A year later, the shop changed its name to Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die and the outlet provided his favourite band the New York Dolls with their stage-wear. He briefly managed the band for a time, but even McLaren couldn’t control one of the most self-destructive groups in the world and in 1975, when the Dolls were just about to implode, he returned to London, renamed his shop Sex and hatched his plans for world domination.

Later that year, the carrot-topped self-publicist started to manage The Strand. While they had a shit-hot guitarist by the name of Steve Jones, they weren’t going anywhere until McLaren successfully convinced the band to boot out Wally Nightingale and draft in bassist Glen Matlock instead. The final piece of the puzzle, however, came when his assistant Bernie Rhodes (who later looked after The Clash) spotted a green haired urchin with a homemade ‘I Hate Pink Floyd’ t-shirt in their shop one day. Straight away, they decided to hire him as the band’s singer. His name was John Lydon, but McLaren renamed him Johnny Rotten and the band became the Sex Pistols.

“I always wanted them to sound like sexy young assassins,” McLaren once remarked about his band and while they certainly weren’t sexy, bless ‘em, they did manage to kill off a score of tired old prog rock bands and give music back to the fans by way of their debut Never Mind The Bollocks and their riotous live shows. During this era, Malcolm was like a mad puppeteer, frantically pulling strings (and

Malcolm McLaren

people’s legs) with outrageous publicity stunts, and his vision helped create the look and attitude of what the mainstream would normally associate with punk.

During McLaren’s time as the Sex Pistols’ mentor, two specific moments defined him forever. Firstly, there was his arrest in May 1977. During the height of the Queen’s silver jubilee celebrations, he hired a boat to sail up the Thames and had the Pistols play the seminal ‘God Save The Queen’ at an ear-bleedingly loud volume. Needless to say, the lyrics “God save the Queen / The fascist regime”, coupled with the sight of a dozen punks getting pissed on a boat, got the local police a bit narked and chaos ensued, with McLaren gleefully painting himself out to be a modern day Guy Fawkes. Of course, it was all a carefully orchestrated publicity stunt and his arrest made him the hero that he always wanted to be.

On the other hand, though, one of McLaren’s low-points was hiring John Simon Ritchie (aka Sid Vicious) to play bass in the band. As if showing the door to Glen Matlock (the musical muscle of the Sex Pistols) wasn’t bad enough, he moulded the easily-led young punk into a pin-up for the blank generation, with Vicious all too eager to indulge in whatever bad behaviour his manager wanted. When the Pistols eventually split up in 1978 during their infamous mismanaged tour of the Bible Belt in the States, Sid became addicted to heroin, and he died of an overdose in February 1979 after allegedly stabbing his girlfriend Nancy Spungen to death. “All’s I can tell you is I could take on England, but I couldn’t take on a heroin addict,” Lydon tearfully remembered during Julien Temple’s turn of the century documentary The Filth And The Fury.

During the Eighties, McLaren was involved in a bitter legal dispute with Lydon over royalties, which the singer later won in 1987. Unfazed by the events, Malcolm later praised his former band in an interview: “Rock ‘n’ roll had three things in the 1950s. It had sex, style and subversion. Elvis Presley had those three elements, and the Sex Pistols were England’s answer to Elvis Presley.”

Lydon was also later keen to play down the stories that the Sex Pistols were unwilling participants in McLaren’s merry dance by sneering, “No-one made me do it” during The Filth And The Fury.

While McLaren’s name will be forever linked with the Sex Pistols, during his life-span he also managed Adam and the Ants and Bow Wow Wow, he made albums (such as the genre-splicing Duck Rock) which laid the blueprints for the majority of Damon Albarn’s post-Blur work and he continued to be a commentator on the arts (and society in general) up to his passing.

On April 22, 2010, Malcolm McLaren was given a typically flamboyant send-off in London. His coffin, which was transported by a horse-drawn carriage, had “Too fast to live, too young to die” spray-painted onto the side and at midday,

What They Said

Never less than controversial, McLaren nevertheless garnered plenty of affection “For me Malc was always entertaining, and I hope you remember that. Above all else he was an entertainer and I will miss him, and so should you.” John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten “When we were young and I fell in love with Malcolm, I thought he was beautiful and I still do.

The thought of him dead is really something very sad. We hadn’t been in touch for a long time.”

Vivienne Westwood, McLaren’s ex-wife “Malcolm opened up the doors for punk music around the world. He was a visionary and took what was going on in New York City and made it global.” Sylvain Sylvain, New York Dolls “I hope he’ll be remembered with fondness.

He was a complex character, a contradictory character. He could be very charming, he could be very cruel, but he mattered and he put something together that was extraordinary. He was a revolutionary.” Jon Savage, music journalist

mourners were encouraged to indulge in a ‘minute of mayhem’ rather than a minute of silence.

As Sid Vicious’ version of ‘My Way’ blasted out on rotation, even the Sex Pistols offered their condolences to a man who helped shape a generation.

“Dear Malcolm, did you take the money with you?” joked guitarist Steve Jones during his eulogy. “Is it in the coffin? Do you mind if I come back tomorrow and dig you up? I always had a soft spot for you. You showed me a lot when I was 17, and I owe you a lot for showing me a different side to life.”

The typically stern-faced Lydon added, “For me, Malc was always entertaining and I hope you remember that. I will miss him and so should you.”

R.I.P. Malcolm.

—27 AU Magazine—

A-Z

CAMEOS It was that great of Russian theatre, Constantin Stanislavski, who once famously said: “There are no small parts, only small actors.” Sadly for Constantin, this – like the majority of what comes out of actors’ mouths – is actually completely rubbish, for there are, demonstrably, small parts. Bit parts. Cameos.

Those blink-and-you’llmiss-‘em moments where a famous face pops up and then – whoosh! – is gone, leaving you wondering if the whole thing was just a figment of your imagination, or perhaps some kind of terrifying acid flashback. And it’s not just cinema: literature, music, popular culture – the cameo is a universal phenomenon. So, in your face Stanislavski, you massive git.

Words by Neill Dougan Illustration by Mark Reihill

—28 issue 65—

Words by Neill Dougan Illustration by Elissa Parente

Rewind

A is for

PAUL AUSTER

In his existential detective novel City Of Glass, Auster pops up in his own story as both ‘Paul Auster the writer’ – a character in the tale – and also ‘Paul Auster the detective’, a character who may or may not exist. You don’t get that with a Cecilia Ahern novel.

B is for

THE BAND

As farewell gigs go, The Band’s – documented in Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz – takes some beating. Over a dozen musical superstars of the day – including Neil Young, Bob Dylan and a fantastically obstreperous Van Morrison – pop up for a song or two in order to pay homage to Robbie Robertson and co. Certainly beats Kings of Leon: Live At The O2, that’s for sure.

C is for

ELVIS COSTELLO

Some cameo appearances are stranger than others.

Indeed, there are a few that are downright baffling.

Step forward Elvis Costello, who for reasons best known to himself decided to make a guest appearance in that cinematic masterpiece, Spice World. Yes, that’s right. Spice World. Starring The Spice Girls. For the love of God, Elvis, why?

D is for

EVAN DANDO

The louche Lemonheads frontman penned the quite lovely ‘Bit Part’ on 1992’s It’s A Shame About Ray, pleading plaintively for a modicum of attention from the object of his affections: “I just want a bit part in your life / A walk-on would be fine”, then he forgot about that idea and went off and took a load of drugs for a few years instead.

E is for

EXTRAS

A to Z - Cameos

even – shudder – Jack Black. Did we say ‘faintly irritating’? We meant massively irritating.

G is for

GORILLAZ

The three Gorillaz albums have racked up a remarkable array of guest appearances, from Del Tha Funky Homosapien and De La Soul to Shaun Ryder and MF Doom, among many others. Some of the cameos are better than others, and the most pointless has to be Mark E Smith’s, who pops up at the start of ‘Glitter Freeze’ asking, “Where’s north from here?” before proceeding to do very little for the remainder of the song. What a waste – if you’re going to get Smith in, at least let him go on a massive nonsensical rant or something.

H is for

ALFRED HITCHCOCK

Rotund cinematic genius Hitchcock was famous for his fleeting appearances in his own films. Indeed, so frequent were his cameos that they became a miniphenomenon in their own right, and Alf had to start inserting them earlier and earlier in his pictures so that his audience didn’t spend the entire movie trying to spot him. Should’ve thought of that in the first place, eh fella?

I is for

ILL COMMUNICATION

The Beastie Boys’ fourth album featured a few guest spots – Biz Markie, Q-Tip and Money Mark among them – but pride of place has to go to comic actor Manton Moreland who appears on ‘B-Boys Makin’ With The Freak Freak’ – in the form of a sample from one of his comedy records, declaring: “Shit, if this is gonna be that kind of party, I’m gonna stick my dick in the mashed potatoes!”

Classy.

STAN LEE

The Marvel maestro regularly pops up with bit parts in the big screen adaptations of his comics.

Somewhat unbelievably, on the back of his brief appearances in these highly successful superhero flicks, Lee is currently the 22nd highest ranked actor ever in terms of box office takings. Which just goes to show that the spending power of the comic-book nerd is never to be underestimated.

M is for

STEPHANIE MEYER

The author of the wildly successful Twilight vampire/romance novels later appeared briefly as a diner in a cafe in the movie adaptation. Rumours that she turned up on set just so she could join the rest of the females in the cast in ogling R-Pattz remain unconfirmed at the time of writing.

N is for

LEONARD NIMOY

Notable for being one of only four celebrities to have had a cameo in both The Simpsons and Futurama (the others being Mark Hamill, Conan O’Brien and Stephen Hawking), Nimoy also appeared as an aged Spock from a parallel universe (or something) in the most recent Star Trek movie.

To be honest we’d kind of lost interest by the time he appeared but suffice to say it was all very futuristic and sciencey.

MICHAEL JACKSON

Ricky Gervais’s post-The Office luvvie-fest saw the celebrities lining up to make one-off appearances, portraying themselves variously as lecherous sleaze-bags (Patrick Stewart), cowardly wimps (Ross Kemp) and brazen careerists (Chris Martin).

Gervais, meanwhile, just essayed an annoying David Brent variant, as he has done in every one of his roles since. Yeah Gervais, you’ve been rumbled.

F is for

K is for

Faintly irritating gang of modern day Hollywood comedians who love nothing more than to pop up briefly in each other’s movies, mugging furiously for the camera as they go. Dubbed the ‘Frat Pack’ by some genius hack, we’re talking Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, Luke and Owen Wilson and

L is for

J is for

Popped up incognito (credited as John Jay Smith) in The Simpsons in 1991 playing a brickie called Leon Kompowsky who’s banged up in a mental hospital for thinking he’s, um, Michael Jackson. To further muddy the waters, the actual singing in the episode was done not by the King of Pop himself, but by impersonator Kipp Lennon. Strange then that the tune in question – ‘Lisa, It’s Your Birthday’ – is actually one of MJ’s better songs. Yeah, he’s well over-rated, that Jackson.

FRAT PACK

which point Mark E Smith reportedly informed him: “Thanks Arthur. That’s superb. That’s just what we wanted. You can go home now”, thus ending his stay in the band. Now that’s a cameo!

ARTHUR KADMON

Throughout the chequered history of The Fall, many band members have come and gone, but for sheer brevity no-one matches the unfortunate Kadmon, who reportedly turned up for the Room To Live sessions in the early Eighties and spent approximately 15 seconds tuning up his guitar, at

N O is for

FRANK OZ

Puppeteer, director and actor Frank Oz is perhaps best known as the voice of Yoda in the Star Wars films. He also made a brief cameo as a corrections officer in Blues Brothers and Blues Brothers 2000, —29 AU Magazine—

choosing on these occasions not to deliver his lines in the tortured syntax and sing-song voice of the miniature Jedi Master. A shame, as a bold gambit such as this would have improved both those films immeasurably.

P is for

PICKLES THE DOG

Plucky mongrel Pickles briefly became a national hero in the UK after he found the World Cup trophy, which had been stolen mere months before the kick-off of the 1966 tournament. On the back of his stunning find, Pickles got a part in a movie (The Spy With A Cold Nose) and made numerous TV appearances before tragically choking after his lead caught on a branch while chasing a cat. Truly a hero’s death.

Q is for

QUESTLOVE

U is for

Y is for

You’re probably aware of YouTube star-turnedteenage R&B sensation Justin Bieber, who’s currently owning the pop charts stateside. What you may not know is that he is a protégé of supersmooth nu-soul star Usher, who signed the young prodigy to his label and even popped up with a singing cameo on the lad’s debut album. Thanks for that, Usher. Thanks a fucking bunch.

The Radiohead frontman is a frequent collaborator, lending his dulcet tones to songs by PJ Harvey, Bjork, UNKLE and Modeselektor. He’s also on the new Flying Lotus song ‘…And The World Laughs With You’ which, like the rest of Yorke’s oeuvre, is a jovial, happy-go-lucky knees-up about lollipops and teddy bears.

USHER

THOM YORKE

V is for

VIOLENT FEMMES

This jangly US outfit had a rather strange taste in cameos, appearing to have a thing for children’s programmes in particular. They appeared on Sabrina The Teenage Witch and also turned up on Nickelodeon performing a self-penned musical advertisement for Spongebob Squarepants. Altogether now: “Guess who’s coming to weeknight TV? / Spongebob Squarepants!” No? Oh, ok.

The acclaimed drummer for The Roots likes a guest spot or seven, popping up on records by Erykah Badu, Dilated Peoples, Blackalicious, Jay-Z and many more. Not satisfied with his musical cameos, he’s also appeared in the movie Dave Chappelle’s Block Party and several skits from Chapelle’s TV show. Hell, he even features as a playable character in no less than three separate NBA Basketball computer games. At this rate he’ll have to change his name to ‘Guestlove’. Cos he loves being a guest, yeah?

R is for

KEITH RICHARDS

Richards made an appearance in Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End, which was appropriate since Johnny Depp based his character – the slurring, dishevelled Jack Sparrow – on the debauched Rolling Stone. Sadly, even the heroic Keef couldn’t prevent the film being a pile of old pish.

S is for

MARTIN SCORSESE

Taking a leaf from Hitchcock’s book, Marty has given himself slight roles in many of his movies, most memorably as a paranoid nutter with murderous intent in Taxi Driver. He was also fond of giving his late parents walk-on parts – which is all very sweet until you consider the disconcerting nature of several of his films, which may well have made for some quite disturbing experiences for Ma and Pa Scorsese.

Children can be so cruel.

T is for

QUENTIN TARANTINO

Another director who likes to give himself small roles in his own movies, Tarantino has popped up in Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Death Proof and Kill Bill. Sadly for Quentin, as any of his speaking roles prove, he is to acting what the band Muse are to understated restraint. We’re saying he’s not very good at it.

—30 issue 65—

W is for

Z is for:

Legendary mover and shaker on the Manchester music scene who popped up to play a TV interviewer (basically himself) in 2005 Steve Coogan comedy vehicle A Cock And Bull Story.

Evidently, there were no hard feelings over Coogan’s previous portrayal of Wilson in 24 Hour Party People, which he made the former Factory Records boss out to be, well, a bit of a tit.

Ben Stiller comedy that boasts an eyebrow-raising 39 cameos, from David Bowie and Lenny Kravitz to Tommy Hilfiger and the Trumps. And all 39 of them are less annoying than Ben Stiller.

TONY WILSON

X is for

X-FACTOR

Horrendous primetime telly mulch that each year throws up a few hapless hopefuls who briefly flicker into the public consciousness before mercifully sliding from view. For every Leona Lewis or Alexandra Burke there’s a Shayne Ward or, er, Steve Brookstein. Still, we’ve had our fun with them, eh? And that’s all that matters.

ZOOLANDER

—31 AU Magazine—

Rewind

Respect Your Shelf - Clint Eastwood

Respect Your ShelfThe AU Buyers’ Guide

Clint Eastwood

When it comes to essential Clint Eastwood films, we could easily pick 25 rather than just five. With his trademark gravelly tones and uncanny ability to kill with the steeliest of looks, Eastwood’s impressive filmography spans six decades and dips its toe into genres as distant from each other as spaghetti western and romantic drama. From his breakthrough role in TV’s Rawhide to his work behind the camera, most recently with the acclaimed Invictus, no one pulls off ‘action hero’ quite like Clint, even at the grand old age of 78. One of a minority of actors who have made a seamless transition into directing, Clint Eastwood is almost always incendiary and never afraid to show his softer side. In many ways an anti-hero, Eastwood steers clear of the Hollywood machine and remains as elusive in real-life as he is on screen.

Words by Lisa Hughes Illustration by Shauna McGowan

—32 issue 65—

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND DIRTY HARRY EVERY WHICH WAY (1971) DIR: DON SIEGEL BUT LOOSE (1978) DIR: JAMES FARGO THE UGLY (1966) DIR: SERGIO LEONE As with many classics, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly received a critical beating when it opened.

As the title suggests, the film follows three men in pursuit of buried treasures, in this case hidden in a mystery grave. Eli Wallach’s Tuco (the Ugly) and Clint’s Blondie (the Good) are tenuously partnered on a mission to recover treasure, while the not-so-holy trinity is completed with Lee Van Cleef as Angel Eyes (the Bad). With Clint’s presence looming large throughout, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly is a prime example of a movie gem that took years to be fully appreciated, the spaghetti western genre having been something of a Hollywood pariah. Under Sergio Leone’s directorship, all actors spoke their native language so when it came to the film’s Italian release, the Americans were dubbed into Italian, while the opposite happened for the worldwide release, leading to some of the most criminally bad yet hilarious dubbing this side of Bollywood. What can we say, it just adds to the Sergio Leone experience.

Best Bit: Ennio Morricone’s famous score and theme tune of gunshots, whistles and occasional yodel thrown in for good measure.

The first of four instalments, Don Siegel’s movie sees Clint take on the role of SFPD Inspector Harry Callahan. Bestowed with the moniker ‘Dirty’ in homage to his fondness for flouting convention, the film tracks Callahan as he tries to catch a Zodiacstyle sniper, Scorpio, who kills randomly whilst attempting to extort the city. Often as brutal as the bad guys he is trying to convict, it’s sometimes hard to reconcile Harry’s actions with his thirst for justice, making him significantly more three-dimensional than today’s brain-dead action heads. Dirty Harry is now recognised as the blueprint for a thousand cop movies which have followed – particularly those with a bad-tempered, but good hearted, man of the law.

Unsurprisingly, this one has dated in places but it’s still slick and effortlessly cool in the way that only 1970s detective movies can be. More than anything, Dirty Harry heralded a new type of action movie, and it unleashed Eastwood as a bona fide A-list talent.

Best Bit: It’s impossible not to pick the “Do I feel lucky?” scene, really. A defining slice of cinematic history.

La Triviata: The film’s original title was I Due Magnifici Straccioni which translates as The Two Magnificent Tramps. Screenwriter Luciano Vincenzoni was the bright spark responsible for Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo .

La Triviata: Although he later made the part his own – and one of cinema’s landmark performances – Clint was at the bottom of a lengthy list of actors considered for the role of Callahan. First choice was Frank Sinatra, but when he declined the studio had Marlon Brando in mind before offering it to Steve McQueen, and then to Paul Newman, who finally suggested Eastwood.

MILLION DOLLAR BABY

GRAN TORINO

(2004) DIR: CLINT EASTWOOD

(2008) DIR: CLINT EASTWOOD

Showing that he’s now more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it, Clint again donned his directorial shoes for 2004’s multi-Oscar winning Million Dollar Baby. Acting as world-weary boxing coach Frankie Dunn, Clint excels himself in the grumpy old man stakes. When his path crosses that of aspiring female boxer Maggie Fitzgerald (played by a fiercer-than-fierce Hilary Swank) and after mammoth pestering, Dunn reluctantly takes her on.

Narrated March Of The Penguins-style by Morgan Freeman as Dunn’s employee Eddie Dupris, the movie follows the father-daughter bond fostered between the pair. Despite the rough ‘n ready subject of boxing, Million Dollar Baby plays with our perception of masculine boxing movies so it is fitting that, through his personal battles, Clint’s character also fights against type – a position which is now Eastwood’s comfort zone. Full of big themes and loaded with sentimental moments, Million Dollar Baby straddles a fine line between poignancy and pure cheese, but the acting makes it essential viewing.

In many ways, Gran Torino is standard ‘one man against the world’ fare. Eastwood plays a newly widowed Korean War veteran whose mint condition 1972 Gran Torino is the apple of his eye. A quintessential grumpy old man, Walt Kowalski just wants to be left alone and is increasingly disillusioned by the multicultural changes in his neighbourhood – menace and vitriol ooze from his every pore. Regardless of his issues with his neighbours, though, when Walt sees one of them – Sue – being harassed by a group of teenagers, he steps in with his Colt 1911 pistol, and soon finds himself embroiled in streetlevel politics. Like Harry Callahan, Kowalski is an angry but principled man and he is unafraid to stand up for what he believes in. It may be too soon to label this movie a classic but its impact is huge – and growing. As it is rumoured to be Eastwood’s last in front of the camera, we can’t think of a better way to top off a life in front of the lens.

Best Bit: When Dunn whispers to Maggie on her hospital bed the real meaning of Mo Chuisle, the motto he had emblazoned on her boxing attire (AU wipes away a tear).

Best Bit: Gran Torino is a treasure trove of oneliners, uttered with Eastwood’s usual acidic force. Lines like, “Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn’t have fucked with? That’s me” – along with his powerhouse performance – takes the movie from being a neighbourhood drama to a full-on tour de force.

La Triviata: Comeback queen Sandra Bullock was the first actress approached to play Maggie, and she wanted Shekhar Kapur as the director. By the time a studio became involved in the project, Bullock was contracted to Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous and so she couldn’t do the film. Slow clap for Ms Bullock…

La Triviata: Despite winning armfuls of awards and accolades, Gran Torino was controversially snubbed in the 2008 Academy Awards.

Stealing scenes from Eastwood is no mean feat, but critics and fans alike will agree that the rug was firmly pulled from under the film hero by his orang-utan companion Clyde. In one of cinema’s more memorable (and unlikely) pairings, Clint plays laid-back truck driver Philo Beddoe, who wins his simian sidekick on a bet. Playing against type in an unconventional comedy role, Every Which Way But Loose was one of Eastwood’s top grossing flicks and it is testament to his pulling power that it was turned into such a massive hit. Despite the advice of producers not to accept the part, the movie also proved to the world that Clint could do much more than spaghetti westerns and it’s now one of his most recognisable parts (some credit to Clyde for that…). So what if it’s dated badly, is incredibly cheesy and has awful music – only Clint could retain his badass machismo with a monkey hanging off his neck. Respect!

Best Bit: The redneck gags, fist-fighting scenes and bad acting – all of which barely disguise the fact this movie is plotless and, for the most part, ridiculous. And yet we still love it. Baffling.

La Triviata: Every Which Way But Loose was originally written with Burt Reynolds in mind.

It was the surprise hit of 1978, becoming the second highest grossing movie of that year, just behind Superman.

GUIDED BY CHOICES: THE AU DEFENCE Even the staunchest Clint fan would struggle to choose their top 10 Eastwood movies, never mind narrowing it down to just five. Notable exceptions like Play Misty For Me (1971), Kelly’s Heroes (1970) and Where Eagles Dare (1968) are almost as synonymous with Clint’s legend as the choices here but, his typically top notch performances aside, they haven’t exactly been career-defining roles. So while we hear you cry, ‘Every Which Way But Loose over Bridges of Madison County?!’ we know that Clint and Clyde is a more irresistible (and unconventional) duo than Clint and Meryl.

Never one to just take the money and re-hash Dirty Harry ad nauseum, Clint has sought roles that challenge his art and also his audience’s perception of both himself and the role at hand. With a helping hand in raising spaghetti westerns out of the mud through to making us re-consider boxing dramas and everyday racism, Clint has churned out more modern classics than any other surviving film legend. Whether it’s as angry war vet, gold-hunter, unruly cop, laid-back trucker or embattled boxing coach, we’re pretty sure we’ve got his best bits covered.

—33 AU Magazine—

Rewind

Classic Album - Refused

Classic Album

REFUSED

The Shape Of Punk To Come (1998) After two albums of abrasive metalcore, in 1998 Swedish hardcore kids Refused – David Sandström, Dennis Lyxzén, Kristofer Steen and Jon Brannström – flipped punk on its head, created an entire new sound, and then almost immediately disappeared.

Like fingering a perverse Rubik’s Cube, they altered and refined their previous influences and intellectual ideas, and in the process produced an album of furious intent and unrivalled reactionary beauty. Truly a Chimerical Bombination in 12 Bursts.

“I got a bone to pick with capitalism, and a few to break” Rather than the online squawking of a bearded, greasy bedroom Communist, this is the immortal line that ferociously kicks in the door to Refused’s seminal 1998 hardcore punk odyssey, The Shape of Punk To Come. Although it was widely unrecognised at the time, the album’s influence and critical reception have been slowly simmering to the boil ever since its makers’ demise at the end of that year. Through the continual rippling effect of word-of-mouth and the Internet, it has engulfed everyone from rebellious teenagers to the disheartened solitary vets of punk’s heyday with its pick-and-mix concoction of genres and warped political ideals.

Formed in Sweden in 1991, Refused released two albums – This Just Might Be The Truth and Songs To Fan The Flames Of Discontent – before they arrived at TSOPTC. Caustic, ambitious affairs, these two records laid the foundations for their masterpiece, exploring the musical techniques and left-wing revolutionary dogma that would later come to fruition.

Upon first listening to TSOPTC, idiots may interject with, ‘Yo, this isn’t punk!’ and initially it seems that they aren’t far wrong: simpleton power chord riffs are replaced with staccato, drop-D guitar bludgeons; the drums eschew standard fare for spontaneous jazz fills and upbeat ride cymbal rhythms; Dennis Lyxzén’s voice dances between spoken word pleas and vocal-chord tearing, bleak screams; and the lyrics

—34 issue 65—

resemble a party political broadcast by a drugged-up Karl Marx. Somehow, this horrific-sounding list of musical ingredients works: TSOPTC deconstructs the specifications of punk, and is a revolution in itself.

Despite Refused following both vegan and straight edge lifestyles, TSOPTC avoids self-preservationist credos and deals almost exclusively in deformed socialist and situationist ideas. In an echo of Joe Strummer’s obsession with communications, ‘Liberation Frequency’ tackles the monopolisation and manipulation of radio by huge corporations, its airy guitar ushering in Lyxzén’s sinister demand: “We want the airwaves back / We want transmission for the people, by the people.” It’s not all agitprop though – flanking the often militant, anarcho lyrics are motivational, empowering numbers, with the sprawling ‘Protest Song ‘68’ reminding us that “we could be dangerous – art as a real threat.”

Backing up this creative, expressionistic mindset is ‘New Noise’, undoubtedly the band’s anthem.

Its alternate-picking riff and regimented snare rolls assemble themselves as part of a gallant march, before an ambient, glazed interlude signals the calm before the storm: Lyxzén’s eternal bark, “Can I scream?” hacks down the restraining barrier, and a gargantuan distorted riff takes over, carrying the song through myriad peaks and troughs. Like Gorilla Biscuit’s hardcore classic Start Today, TSOPTC gives you the

Words by Kyle Robinson

incentive to sidestep procrastination, and makes you believe you can personally incite change through creativity: “How can we expect anyone to listen if we are using the same old voice? / We need new noise, new art for the real people.”

Disillusioned with the music industry, the band echoed the sacrificial words of ‘Summer Holiday vs.

Punkroutine’ (“Rather be forgotten than remembered for giving in.”), and burnt out with the blaze of a million exploding suns. TSOPTC disfigured and distorted punk, stretching this comatose genre to its limits at the end of a decade that had succumbed to second-rate detritus and the harrowing throes of US pop-punk.

With the tact of a gangrenous back alley hooker, last month Epitaph Records batted their come-to-bed eyes, uploading an ambiguous website that stoked the fires of a full-blooded Refused reunion. Alas, we now know these rumours were untrue – Epitaph are simply re-releasing TSOPTC – and it seems unlikely that these principled reactionaries will ever go back on this, their closing, vitriolic battle cry. Still the disaffected, politically intoxicated hardcore kids they always were, the members are now in other bands, out there somewhere making noise, sleeping on floors, and probably knowing that TSOPTC will never be topped; by themselves or by their imitators. Make no mistake, Refused are fucking dead.

—35 AU Magazine—

Korea

A Defector’s Experience

1

KOREA A DEFECTOR’S EXPERIENCE Communist North Korea will always have a problem when it comes to the world’s attitudes.

With the two halves of the Korean peninsula long embroiled in a bitter propaganda war in which neither side can be trusted to any real degree, the democratic South Korea comes out on top by virtue of having the louder, more internationally respected voice. Here, AU speaks to one of very few people to have any kind of genuine perspective on the situation: a North Korean woman who has defected to the South.

Words and photos by: James Hendicott

—36 issue 65—

1. The re-unification statue in the Demilitarised Zone at the border.

The Korean border is a blockade. Over 50 years ago, a line in the sand – now a heavily fenced sea-to-sea stand-off – was drawn, instantaneously splitting families in half and tearing a once powerfully united country into two. At the time, North Korea was the marginally richer half of the country, a trend that continued for several years, with the South’s poverty at the time comparable to some of the poorest countries in Africa.

Now South Korea’s capital Seoul is not all that different to Tokyo, a glittering neon jungle that’s home to some of the world’s foremost technological companies and littered with big name chain stores. Just 50 miles north, over the 38th parallel, aid agencies estimate that several million people recently starved. With the two countries seemingly ever closer to coming to blows over the past few years, only a few thousand people have ever escaped from the North, and opted – by choice – to settle in the South. Still fewer are prepared to risk their new-found status in order to tell us about it. On the condition of anonymity, however, we did find one.

Lee (name changed at the request of the interviewee) lived in North Korea until the age of nine, and – after escaping the country with her mother via China – now studies in South Korea, attending a major university. She’s one of around 20,000 North Korean refugees currently claiming residence in the South, as well as being one of an impressively small number of people who can claim genuine life experience on both sides of the border,

especially once the very elderly ‘North Koreans’ (who never lived under the current North Korean regime) have been discounted.

Lee lives a life of not insubstantial prejudice, with the tag ‘North Korean’ forever following her around the South, and has since returned to her homeland – by way of bribery at the northern border with China – a number of times. For this act of governmental insubordination, she could be shot on arrival, though the tendency of the local force is to overlook this is far as possible. When Lee arrives home, she brings with her news of a world that’s often utterly incomprehensible to those she left behind.

Lee grew up as the daughter of a doctor, getting along fairly well north of the border until 1996-97.

“I knew we were going through a rough time,” she says. “I saw classmates gradually stop coming to school. I heard that some left the country, and others couldn’t come to school because they were starving. The teachers stopped coming, too, and so the school faded away.”

Lee is referring to the mid-Nineties famine which – with Kim Jong-il focusing all his funds on nuclear development – left many ordinary people starving.

“They stopped giving us food rations, and people were not used to the hunger and did not have the means to survive. People were literally passing out in the streets, but I was young, and I just thought that was life.”

2

NORTH KOREA: A POTTED HISTORY

NEED TO BRUSH UP ON YOUR KOREAN KNOWLEDGE? ALLOW US TO FILL THE GAPS. Post World War II: The US and Russia agree to jointly administer Korea, a long-time Japanese colony.

1950: The South declares independence. The North immediately responds by invading.

3

1950-1953: The Korean war sees – at various times – both sides take almost the entire peninsula, the South with the help of the Americans and the North with the assistance of China.

1953: The ‘38th parallel’, a heavily guarded sea-to-sea border, is established between North and South Korea, and a propaganda war gets underway.

1968: North Korean infiltrators almost reach the government ‘Blue House’ building in South Korea, and almost 100 people die in the ensuing carnage.

1970s: South Korea discovers four underground infiltration tunnels under the border demilitarised zone.

Some suggest there are as many as 17 in total.

2. A symbolic ‘portrait’ of Kim Jong-il. 3. A bridge (now closed) crossing the Demilitarised Zone Lee saw North Korea’s social disparity – presumably with the exception of the leadership – as being far less than that found in the South. “When I was young, economic disparity in North Korea was basically those families that had the next meal and those that didn’t. Now it is between those select few who get to go abroad and have foreign currency, and those who don’t have anything.” Life in North Korea was notoriously sheltered. Lee remarks that her history books were “so distorted they sounded like legends, like prophecies from the Bible. People don’t believe them anymore, but they used to. The books are still written that way, though.”

North Korean defectors face a number of issues living in the South. Lee arrived via a period in China, and experienced South Koreans’ animosity towards her immediately on arriving at the airport.

Asked why she had come to the South, Lee’s mother told officials, “We want to have a good life,” to which the immigration staff sarcastically replied, “Good luck.” Lee has been wary ever since.

“South Koreans assume that people from poorer countries are not well educated,” she argues. “Some South Koreans assume we’re naïve and goodnatured. The older generation don’t like us because of communism, while the younger people didn’t grow up with a specific ideology, but see us as foreigners from a poor country, who don’t have much.”

Perhaps the biggest issue Lee has to face is what she describes as South Korean “indifference”,

though she does also lay some blame at the door of North Korean refugees. “There are only a limited number of people who take the time to spread the word about North Korea. If all the defectors worked together to endorse and promote, wouldn’t that draw attention?”

South Korean life operates at a manic pace compared to the North, and even Lee’s buffer time in China hadn’t prepared her entirely for what was to come. “If you miss a day on the Internet in South Korea you feel like you’re behind on trends. South Korean students talk about sitcoms all the time, and I find them rather silly. There’s an extreme pressure surrounding post-university jobs, so I cave in and start looking for one early. Also, watching the news is hard for me. Everything is bad news. Subconsciously it stresses me out.”

Lee risks being shot as a traitor every time she tries to return to North Korea, but despite the issues, she does get regular information through her North Korean contacts, on top of her own trips. Things are very different from the days of famine now. “These days, many North Koreans talk secretly to people in China to learn Chinese. They also learn to type in school, on a limited number of computers with no Internet access.”

Perhaps due in part to her reception in the South, Lee recently wrote a poignant essay summarising her role in South Korea as that of “an exchange student”. “It is based on the belief that I will return to North Korea to live in the future,” Lee says.

1994: Kim Il Sung dies, leaving his son Kim Jong-il as the new leader of North Korea, though Kim Il Sung maintains the title of ‘eternal president’ even after his death.

1997: Serious food shortages due to a combination of the collapse of the USSR (who heavily supported North Korea) and flooding leads to the death of an estimated three million people, around 12% of the population. mid-2000s: The South Korean government’s ‘sunshine policy’ towards North Korea sees a tentative relationship develop that is strong enough to allow cross-border tourism and manufacturing of South Korean products in North Korea.

2008-2010: A new South Korean government hardens towards the North. Cross-border tourism closes after a South Korean woman is shot on a tour. Korean businesses manufacturing in North Korea quickly follow. Controversy surrounds nuclear weapons testing in the North.

Speculation is rife that Kim Jong-il is in fact dead, and that a body double is being used in public.

Korea

A Defector’s Experience

4

4. Seoul, the capital of democratic South Korea. 5. North Korean propaganda etched into a mountainside. 6. A tower praising North Korean ‘Juche’ ideology.

“It is obvious that I love North Korea more than I love South Korea. I continue to educate myself on North Korea and collect information here, in the hope that I can play a role in North Korea’s economic and social reform.”

North Korea’s economic and social reform – isn’t it a bit early for that? “Frankly speaking, the North Korean regime can’t survive in the modern world.

Countries are opening their doors, but North Korea’s doors remain closed. Also, Kim Jong-il is not going to live forever, so a change is going to come. People think of reunification as the two governments coming together, but for me reunification is when Koreans

the language [which in the South has become contaminated by English], for one.

“There are differences that will be challenging.

Confucianism is so deeply rooted in South Korean society, as opposed to China or North Korea that are influenced by socialism. Women and men play the same role in the workforce in North Korea. In that sense, North Koreans are more forward.”

Lee has views on communism that – should she choose to be more vocal about them – could even lead to arrest in the South. Asked to describe what communism means to her, Lee replies, “Utopia. I’m

“North Koreans do know that a change ought to come. They do want it.” from both sides of the peninsula can travel to and fro without constraints. I think it’s possible. People want political assimilation. The political aspects of reunification will be an arduous task, but I don’t think that’s impossible either.

“People talk a lot about how South Korea’s GDP will drop by 50%. However the money that South Korea spends on its military — most of which is for protection against North Korea — can be invested into her economy. This is not a task that can be accomplished in a decade or two, but in the long run it is definitely possible. I believe it will be an opportunity to revive traditional Korean culture; —38 issue 65—

5

not a philosopher, but from what we know of human nature, communism cannot be achieved. Perhaps, as Marx said, if socialism came after capitalism and all the countries were wealthy, then maybe…”

The key factor in change when Kim Jong-il passes away, of course, may revolve around how much North Koreans actually want it. Lee’s response is unequivocal. “North Koreans’ definition of change may not be quite the same as in the South, but North Koreans do know that a change ought to come. They do want it.” People like Lee, isolated from their homeland, will no doubt be pivotal when that day arrives.

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NEW ‘N’ IMPROVED WEBSITE If you go down to iheartau. com today, you’re in for a big surprise. Yep, our little old website has had a sexy new revamp, making it nicer to look at, easier to use and more in keeping with the fine magazine you’re currently reading.

As well as providing you with top-notch eye candy, you can expect all this: NEWS// The latest local, regional and international music news BLOG// Free downloads, brand new videos and anything else that tickles our (and your) fancy REVIEWS// Loads of web-exclusive album and gig reviews, plus the best of the mag ARTICLES// Fresh interviews with your favourite acts, and plenty of archive goodness GIG GUIDE// Stay up-to-date with the best upcoming gigs in your area SHOP// Get yer subscription here!

—39 AU Magazine—

Holy Fuck

—40 issue 65—

The Canadian instrumentalists are back with a new album – Latin – and as Brian Borcherdt explains to AU, they’re quite happy to leave the fancy technology to the boffins and keep it strictly analogue. And as for writing “hits”? Pffft.

Words by: Lauren Murphy

Brian Borcherdt is single-handedly destroying his band’s reputation as a carefully managed, well-oiled and complex music-making machine. “Rehearse?” he asks down a phone line from New York. “Nah, we don’t really rehearse. It’s one of those odd things about our band. From the moment we first started, we knew that there was a lot of spontaneous energy happening in the rehearsals, and we decided that we’d rather save that for the stage.”

Well, it does make sense when he puts it like that.

If you hadn’t already guessed, Holy Fuck are no ordinary band. The Toronto natives (although drummer Matt Schulz is currently Brooklyn-based) specialise in the kind of instrumental groove that’s usually lazily classified as ‘electronica’, but which dips and glides through soundscapes far beyond an electronic palette.

“We’ve never strived to be part of any particular genre,” he agrees. “I am a little concerned about the ‘electronica’ thing. Electronic with an a at the end? It’s a silly word, and we listen to all different types of music, in any case. I think ‘electronica’ implies a certain amount of expertise in the field of a certain type of music, and we’re just not coming from that level of expertise – nor are we trying to.”

Borcherdt sounds tired, but happy. Fresh from an unexpectedly long trip in Europe with bandmate Graham Walsh, he has been building up to the release of the band’s new album, Latin. It’s the third full-length outing for Holy Fuck, which originally started as a project for Borcherdt in 2004.

Although he and the rest of the band undertake ventures outside Holy Fuck (both solo and with other musicians), he admits that he never thought that the band would become as big as they have over the past few years.

“I couldn’t have predicted what would happen with the band, but I think I always had this naïve idea

that there’d always be room in my life to do more than one thing,” he muses. “Most of the time, I find myself able to commit to Holy Fuck, and outside the band, it’s like… clean the kitchen, or take out the garbage, or hang out with my girlfriend! But that, for me, is really cool. There’s a kid in all of us that wants to know they can play more than one game; that they don’t have to play hide-and-seek for the rest of their lives.”

Since they released the superb LP in 2007, Holy Fuck’s name has been uttered with a reverence amongst musos that’d cause your average religious nut to burst several blood vessels. That album’s success was arguably due to the brilliantly addictive tracks ‘Lovely Allen’ and ‘Milkshake’ – catchy, euphoric numbers that enticed curious observers into the world of the Fuck. This time, Borcherdt says, the focus was on creating something more like a set-piece than a collection of individual and very distinct songs.

“We wanted it to be just a continuation of the same kind of expression that we’ve been seeking all along,” he explains. “But there’s definitely a moment when you’re done, and you put it on the stereo before you’ve released it or given it to the record label, where you’re like, ‘Is this gonna be exciting for anyone else in the world other than us?’. I mean, hopefully it will be. You wanna be able to have these dips and valleys and hills in a record. So we actually did kind of put a bit of effort into it, in that respect. We thought we had to sequence this record in a way that it’s dynamic.

We can’t just bludgeon people over the head with the same kind of droney, bashed-up rock songs over and over again. And yeah, you’re right – I don’t think there is a ‘Lovely Allen’, per se. There’s no ‘…

Teen Spirit’, no big hit. And that’s okay with us – hopefully it’ll just allow the whole record to shine, rather than specific tracks.

“We didn’t really try to do anything differently to the last album, but we did want it to be a complete, concise record that was enjoyable to listen to from beginning to end,” he adds. “We are kind of aware of some of the quirks of our band – I don’t wanna call them shortcomings, ‘cos these are the very things that excite us – but we’re an instrumental band. We don’t like typical pop songs, we kind of do our own thing very uncompromisingly, and so at the end of the day, we’re aware of this notion of listener fatigue. We don’t wanna just bore people, because there really isn’t a hook or a melody. There’s no lyrics and there’s no big chorus that everyone can sing along

to; nothing that’s gonna become a summer anthem.

So the solution to that is just to make a really good record from start to finish, and that’s it. Something that’s a complete entity.”

Holy Fuck’s propensity for using a variety of instruments to craft their sound – none of them laptops – is something that sets them apart from their peers, and Latin marks a further nudging of the boundaries that can be achieved without programming beats and loops into a sequencer or a laptop.

“It really is just us trying to do our own thing, and we thought it’d be fun – and funny – to try to make music with Casios and toys, and things. That’s how we started out in the beginning. I think in the end, there’s a lot of things we can do, but I don’t ever see us programming things on laptops, because…. I don’t know how to do that – it’s a skill I simply don’t have!” he chuckles. “People can do really exciting, crazy things with synthesisers and laptops, and I’m sure it’s really fulfilling for them. For me, I’m doing things that I scrapped together myself, and hopefully it therefore bears some unique mark of my personality. No other person probably has a set-up exactly like the one I use, and even if I were to change it night to night, it would probably be always unique to what anyone else is doing. And that’s satisfying.”

Their improvisational ethos may be a key component of the band’s sound; it also means that their reputation as a ‘shabbily-dressed Kraftwerk’, as one waggish journo put it, is safe for now.

“I liked that,” he laughs. “I tend to be pretty forgiving of what people will say and write about us, because I’m glad people are saying anything at all. Sometimes some of the worst descriptions comes a lot from the blog world - there’s a lot of attitude on the Internet, let’s face it. And I think a lot of times, people will make their mind up before they even hear us at all, or people thinking our name means that we’re jerks, or whatever. It’s frustrating. But we’re happy to keep doing this.

Like I said, I wanna be able to do everything – we all wanna continue to have very diverse lives that are exciting and unique. But this band is not such a gimmick, as some people might think. It’s more about just expanding our creative horizons, and I see us having a tremendous amount of potential to just keep making records.”

LATIN IS OUT NOW ON YOUNG TURKS. WWW.HOLYFUCKMUSIC.COM —41 AU Magazine—

—42 issue 65—

—43 AU Magazine—

Words by Neill Dougan

DJ, producer, soundtrack maestro, solo recording artist and genuine Norn Iron hero David Holmes is back with a brand new best of. The Dogs Are Parading compiles 16 of his finest tracks, plus a bonus disc of rarities and winning remixes from the likes of Kevin Shields, Andrew Weatherall, Mogwai and more. Needless to say, it’s pretty fine. But, as the man himself tells AU from LA, he’s not exactly thrilled with the whole ‘Greatest Hits’ idea to begin with...

DAVID HOLMES / BEST IN SHOW

Best In Show

David Holmes

There’s a word to describe David Holmes. Well, there are probably several, but the first one that springs to mind is ‘loquacious’. Truly, the man could natter for Ireland. And, as soon becomes clear, he’s not averse to speaking his mind. Thus, when he’s asked why he chose this particular moment to release a career-spanning best of, he’s somewhat frank.

“I didn’t want to!” he exclaims. “Universal basically said, ‘We can do it with you or we can do it without you’. I had no choice. If you ask me a straight question – did you want to release this album? – the answer would be no. But if I didn’t... comply, God knows how it would’ve ended up. So at least I could choose what went on it and I could choose the order it went in and the artwork and all that. Y’know, what did Jarvis Cocker say? ‘The cunts are still running the world’? Hahaha, I’ll never get a record deal again!”

Quite. AU would imagine that calling your paymasters the ‘c’ word might, indeed, have that effect. Holmer, though – he just don’t care, happily moving on to talk us – album-by-album – through his stellar career to date. It’s been quite a journey.

THIS FILMS CRAP LETS SLASH THE SEATS (1995) After earning his stripes as a teenage DJ and the brains behind two seminal early-Nineties Belfast club nights (Sugar Sweet and Shake Ya Brain), Holmes made his full-length debut with this awesomely-named, dark, foreboding slice of techno-noir. Admittedly somewhat of its time, it’s no real surprise that only one song (the icily atmospheric ‘Gone’ with St. Etienne’s Sarah Cracknell on vocals) makes the cut on the new album. What is a surprise is just how far Holmes’ debut has fallen in his own estimation.

“I just felt that record has dated so much,” he says.

“It was very much at the beginning of my career.

At the time you think you’re great, everything’s great, but the more you learn, you look back and you go, ‘Actually, that record was rubbish’! Y’know, the track ‘No Man’s Land’ that didn’t make it on [to the best of], that was responsible for me getting

my first film work, so I’ve got a lot to thank that record for. But at the same time, as a piece of work, I think the best thing about it is probably the title.

“I think a lot of my music has a point of reference,” he continues. “I mean, I’m a DJ, that’s how I got into producing, and all my music has always been a point of reference, and over the years I think I’ve just got a bit more cunning with it. I’ve been digging deeper for my musical references and influences and I’ve tried not to be so obvious as maybe some of the references are on This Films Crap...”.

Luckily for Holmes, with his next album he was ready to forge a style all of his own.

LETS GET KILLED (1997)

The breakthrough album for the Belfast boy saw him hit the streets of New York to record the deranged pronouncements of a host of freaks and

WHAT DAVID DID NEXT // NOT A MAN TO REST ON HIS LAURELS, HOLMER HAS BEEN KEEPING BUSY...

SOUNDTRACKS! Cherrybomb, the debut feature from long-time muckers and creative partners Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa, features Holmes on music duties (read an interview with stars Rupert Grint and Robert Sheehan on p.xx).

He’s also involved in Leyburn and Barros D’Sa’s next project, Good Vibrations, about the legendary Belfast music store/label run by Terri Hooley.

—44 issue 65—

MORE SOUNDTRACKS! “I’m doing another Soderbergh film called Knock Out with Michael Fassbender, Michael Douglas and Ewan McGregor,” says David. Indeed, he’s become the director’s go-to guy for musical accompaniment – this will be their fifth collaboration.

PRODUCTION! A long-time champion of homegrown music, Holmes

positively raves about the forthcoming album, which he’s produced, from Belfast’s great white hopes Cashier No.9. “It’s fucking brilliant,” he says emphatically.

“I’m really, really, really proud of it and Danny Todd, as a songwriter...

I’d be really shocked if something didn’t happen for them with this record – there’s about four singles on it, it’s so colourful and full of life and I think people are going to be really surprised when they hear it.”

MIX ALBUMS! Holmes already has a number of mixes under his belt (including the frankly brilliant Essential Mix from 1998 and 2002’s Come Get It I Got It) and he is currently working on a compilation for B-Music. “It’s a really good comp of just really good music that I’ve been collecting through the years that probably isn’t available on iTunes!” he laughs. “Tracks that I just know a lot of people don’t have, and I think people should hear them.”

“No Man’s Land’ was responsible for me getting my first film work, so I’ve got a lot to thank This Films Crap... for.”

—45 AU Magazine—

David Holmes

Best In Show

“I wanted to make my own samples, and that led me to hitting the streets of New York with my DAT machine and recording every freak I could get my hands on!”

PHOTO BY GAVIN MILLAR

reprobates, setting their pearls of wisdom to a heady brew of classic soul samples and irresistible beats.

A commercial success, it spawned two UK Top 40 singles in ‘Don’t Die Just Yet’ and ‘My Mate Paul’, as well as the should’ve-been-massive, stone-cold classic ‘Gritty Shaker’. Over 10 years on, it remains a highly rewarding listen.

Recalling the New York experience, Holmes laughs: “It was one of those times where when you get back, you just have to go to bed for a week! It was just like four days here, four days there. It was just so intense, hitting the streets, and you can imagine everything that came along with that... it was just quite messy, haha!

“There was about four or five of us and we were all completely gone, we were out of it. I was just focused on seeing if the red light was still on on my DAT recorder. And people were starting to get freaked out and I just said, ‘Fuck it, let’s get killed!’. And at that minute I went, ‘That is the name of the record!’.

“I was searching for a sound that was more my own, and that really felt original and fresh, because at the time there was this huge sort of ‘trip-hop’ thing going on with the Chemical Brothers and DJ Shadow and all that stuff. But I think rule number one is, don’t be ripping off your contemporaries. I wanted to try and find my own style, so I started looking into those records from my past, and with modern day technology and my knowledge of sampling, I realised, ‘Hey, no-one’s hit upon this yet’. And then going to New York and capturing all those moments – my head was still very much locked into cinema and using that as an influence.

But on This Films Crap... I think it was a rather direct musical influence, whereas on Lets Get Killed, the cinematic influences came from the street and me not wanting to sample people from movies. I wanted to make my own samples, and that led me —46 issue 65—

to, y’know, hitting the streets of New York with my DAT machine and microphone and recording every freak I could get my hands on!”

The record certainly opened doors for Holmes, putting him in touch with film director Steven Soderbergh, with whom he has collaborated on the soundtracks to Out Of Sight and the Ocean’s franchise. Suddenly, he was big-time. But rather than capitalise with Lets Get Killed Part 2, our David was ready to throw another curveball.

BOW DOWN TO THE EXIT SIGN (2000) Holmes’s film work informed his third solo album, a murky trawl through dark soul and funk, influenced – he tells us – by the 1970 Mick Jagger movie Performance, and featuring a host of bigname guest vocalists including Bobby Gillespie, Jon Spencer, Martina Topley-Bird and scarysounding beat poet Carl Hancock Rux. Another success, it spawned what is for many his signature tune, ‘69 Police’.

“To me, Bow Down... was very much like a soundtrack album,” he says. “You had your little interludes, you had the weirdness, you had these really diverse songs that could only really fit together on a soundtrack album.

“Basically, I had this hugely ambitious idea, which was to try and write a script and make the music at the same time, and for the script and the soundtrack to evolve simultaneously to the point where we could actually make a movie and Bow Down...

would be the soundtrack to that movie. Now, that didn’t happen! [laughs]. It was way too ambitious.”

Well, it was a nice idea.

DAVID HOLMES PRESENTS THE FREE ASSOCIATION (2003) For his next trick – and you might be starting to note a pattern here – Holmes again confounded expectations by totally changing direction, unleashing a fully formed band, complete with a nationwide tour. In AU’s humble opinion, The Free Association is sadly underrated, not least by its maker: only two of the band’s songs – ‘(I Wish I Had A) Wooden Heart’ and the non-album track ‘Sugarman’ – make The Dogs Are Parading. Full of slinky, psychedelic soul and enlivened mightily by the presence of madcap MC Sean Reveron and bluesy chanteuse Petra Jean Phillipson, it still stands up today.

Holmes himself, though, appears to regard the record as little more than a stop-gap. “I did that with my mate Steven Hilton,” he explains. “We actually just did that as a laugh. We made that record in a month and it was all basically from my record collection. The whole thing was pretty much samples. I was over in LA and I got a load of players in who were working with me on a film, and on my downtime we just threw on overdubs for the background, and got Petra involved, and she got Sean Reveron involved, and then suddenly we were a band! It wasn’t even meant to be a band!”

And from the sound of things, Holmes wasn’t particularly enamoured with the whole band

experience. “It was another one where I felt slightly manipulated by the record company,” he says. “Before we knew it we did a couple of shows, and then there was a tour. And I gotta say, the whole touring aspect – I absolutely hated it. I wasn’t 20 any more, I’d never been in a band before. I was used to turning up with my record box and getting a taxi home or getting on a plane the next day. I kind of very selfishly missed all those luxuries that I took for granted as a DJ. When you’re on tour, anyone will tell you, it’s 95% waiting around and 5% actually performing, and I just found myself getting drunk every day! ‘Cos you’re just bored waiting around! You’re on the tour bus so you go, ‘Ah, I’ll have a drink’, then you wake up and go, ‘Aagh, I feel shit, I’ll have another drink, that’ll sort me out’. So it just didn’t really appeal to me.”

THE HOLY PICTURES (2008)

Five years on from The Free Association, and eight years after his previous solo album, Holmes was back. He had hardly been resting on his laurels in the interim, completing a host of movie soundtracks, but The Holy Pictures was a stunning comeback – an intensely personal paean to his late parents and his home town, featuring his own vocals for the first time ever. Musically informed by Krautrock, Brian Eno and The Jesus And Mary Chain, it’s undoubtedly his best album since Lets Get Killed, and a record of which he’s rightly proud.

Of his decision to sing, he says: “There were times when I was toying with the idea of working with different singers for that album, and for one reason or another it didn’t happen. And then my daddy died. And then...y’know, I’m always collecting phrases and titles. Like, I hear stuff and think, ‘That sounds cool’ and I write it down and build up notebooks. After my dad died I just sat down at the microphone one day and something came out, and I was like, ‘I can do this myself’.

“I started writing more, and putting these collections of words and phrases together. And they just started having these real profound meanings to me. I just said, ‘Fuck it’, and I remembered Andrew Weatherall saying to me, ‘The worst thing anyone can ever say to you is they don’t like you. And so what? Not everyone’s always going to love your work. There’ll always be someone who thinks it’s crap, that’s just life. So just do it yourself’. And that gave me real confidence.

“Obviously, I was saying some very personal things, things that meant the world to me, much more than music ever will,” he continues. “Stuff about the people who have been with you your whole life and who are now no longer there. If you stop and think about that for a second, you can’t put anything above that in terms of importance and how much they mean to you, your parents. And it felt really good, it was really cathartic, and that means more to me than what anyone thinks of the record.”

THE FUTURE Which brings us pretty much up to the present day. Notwithstanding his reservations about releasing a best of at this particular moment, Holmes sounds energised and optimistic about the future. “I’m still as excited now as I ever was,” he says. “In fact I’m more excited, because I’ve got lots of ideas and I’ve been working with other people, producing, and that’s been going really well. So I’m feeling really good at the minute.

“Not everything you do is going to be a masterpiece, I don’t believe that for a second,” he continues. “All you can do is the best you can and follow your heart – as long as you’re doing it from the bottom of your heart, no one can take that away from you, whether they like it or not.”

As a summation of the approach of David Holmes to date – inventive, endlessly restless, challenging and shot through with sheer love of the music – we couldn’t have put it better. Long may it continue.

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THE DOG ARE PARADING IS OUT NOW ON UNIVERSAL WWW.DAVIDHOLMESOFFICIAL.COM —47 AU Magazine—

THE PARADOX OF PARAMORE

—48 issue 65—

Paramore

Noel Gallagher once said, “When it comes to music, you can’t fool the kids,” but you couldn’t necessarily apply that logic to Tennessee’s finest pocket rockers, Paramore. Coupled to a squeaky clean God-fearing image, their sanitised brand of Disney punk-pop has sold by the truckload. Surely a gazillion teenagers must be getting duped? Always up for a challenge, AU decides to find out the truth.

Words by John Freeman

AU is searching for Paramore somewhere in the bowels of the Manchester Evening News Arena.

And they are gut-like; huge silver air-conditioning tubes decorate the breeze-blocked underbelly of the soulless venue. We’ve passed the band’s shiny tour buses, and are ushered into a large, halogen-lit room which is empty save for two seats. We begin to worry that we’ve been kidnapped and taken to an interrogation chamber, when in walks Josh Farro – Paramore’s lead guitarist, and one-time boyfriend of the band’s elfin singer, Hayley Williams. From his website biography we know Farro describes himself as “simple” and that he “loves Jesus”. In the flesh, he’s tiny and looks younger than his 22 years, but he’s awfully polite and his media training ensures that it’s a struggle to get behind his veneer.

Williams was supposed to be here too, but as a bout of laryngitis forced the cancellation of several recent US concerts, she’s keeping any talking to a minimum on the day of a show. We are to communicate with her through the medium of telepathy or, failing that, by email.

Paramore are a seriously big deal; they’ve sold millions of records, and their track ‘Decode’ (featured on the Twilight OST) blasted them into the major league. The recent chart-topping album, brand new eyes, has become their most successful album yet, and Hayley Williams even has an avatar on Guitar Hero World Tour. “I feel infinite!” she says. “Let’s be honest, my boobs are way bigger in the game than in real life, but I’m not complaining.”

remarkable, if surreal, spectacle. Over 18,000 teenagers freak out when merely the support band You Me At Six come on stage. In total, four bands play the show: at £20, a Paramore ticket is £15 cheaper than any other ticket for any other MEN Arena concert. You have to be impressed by such a display of inclusive benevolence.

What’s also hugely impressive is Paramore’s active commitment to specific charities. Prominent on their official website, these include Love146 and Invisible Children, two organisations that seek to help children either trafficked into the sex industry, or those whose lives have been devastated by war in Uganda. “We are passionate that innocence shouldn’t be taken away from anyone by force,” says Hayley. “Kids and teenagers are ripped from their homes all over the world.”

Later, by the time Paramore wander on stage, our ears have started to bleed, pierced by the screams from thousands of Hayley-wannabes. The show is basic; there’s virtually no theatrics and Williams is clad in a simple t-shirt and jeans combo – Lady Gaga, she is not. The music is a tad one-dimensional puppy-punk for AU’s taste, but they are competent musicians and Williams has a strong voice – the highlight of the show is when the band slows things

Deciding to get stuck in, we ask Josh about the Godsquad stuff, and put it to him that religion has caused terrible divides in many parts of the world. He swats away the notion. “Some of the worst people I know are Christians and some of the nicest, sweetest people I know are not religious at all. The fact is that we’re all sinners – everyone has an evil side to them, I guess. They [fundamentalists] give Christianity a horrible reputation. It makes teenagers, or anyone, shun Christianity.”

Things begin to unravel when we broach the subjects of guns and firearm ownership. Paramore have described themselves as “Southern hillbillies” and use the description to partly explain their love of shooting and hunting. Although AU’s biblical knowledge is a little rusty, we don’t remember the passage that read ‘And Jesus said thou shall shoot skeet’. When Josh is asked how he aligns his Christian faith to his views on guns, he deflects any hint of criticism. “I don’t think there is a problem with it. There’s a problem if you go and shoot someone. A few of us like to go hunting – I think it’s okay. Just because I have a gun, doesn’t make me a horrible person or that I’m going to shoot someone.”

But isn’t that missing the point? Surely a society in which gun ownership is the norm is likely to incur more suffering through irresponsible firearm use, than one in which it’s extremely difficult for the average citizen to get hold of a gun? The logic is not washing with Hayley. “I don’t bear arms but I’ve shot

“I despise what religion has become” down for the excellent acoustic ‘Misguided Ghosts’.

But, and there is a but, Paramore seem so, er, sappy.

Their music is a soundtrack to the slamming of teenagers’ bedroom doors the world over. They don’t smoke, drink or (heaven forbid) do drugs, and they love God. While AU has no beef with Godlovers, maybe we like our rock stars to be a little more edgy.

seems as if the new album ‘saved’ the band. “Writing brand new eyes was completely cathartic,” Hayley admits. “If not for some of those songs, I think we’d be a different band. This record forced us to be brutally honest with each other. Not as a band but as friends.”

What we do become convinced about is how much Paramore care about their fans. At one point during the show, Williams enquires as to whether anyone in the audience is at their first Paramore gig, before welcoming them “to the family”. Even to a cynical hack she seems to mean it.

But it is Paramore’s desire to ‘protect’ their fans (or keep them focused on the music) which meant that the relationship between Farro and Williams was largely kept secret. Only now, three years later, does Josh seem comfortable to talk about the subsequent break-up. “It was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done in my life, besides my parents divorcing, which was probably the most difficult. But it is right behind that,” he says, and his openness is a surprise.

The band are from Franklin in Tennessee; a town firmly rooted in America’s Bible belt. The dogma of a devoutly Christian upbringing is hard to shake, but Hayley seems more jaded by society’s interpretation of religious ideals. “If I’m being totally honest, I guess I could say I despise what religion has become.

To me, to have faith in God is to have a personal relationship with him. It’s not about showing up for church at the right time and meeting a quota of conversions every year.” It’s a fair point.

“You usually break up with a girl or a boy, and you don’t see them. You try to avoid them at all costs, because it’s awkward. Hayley and I had a good friendship before we dated. Our relationship was not found on just boyfriend-girlfriend, it was founded on friendship, and that’s what really got us through it. It still awkward at some points, but we try not to think about it. We don’t want our fans to think about it, or dwell on it, that’s for sure. That’s why we kept it hidden for so long. We didn’t want them to talk about it, as it had nothing to do with our music.”

That night’s gig at the MEN Arena is Paramore’s biggest ever headline show – and it’s a pretty

However, personal relationships and the music are inevitably linked. Paramore were nearly no more; it

a gun before,” she says. “Actually, I had shot a gun by the time I was nine years old. If you have a gun, cool – just be responsible with it. If you choose not to [own a gun], that’s cool too.” Josh nods, “If Obama tried to ban guns from American citizens, they’re gonna find a way to get ‘em, you know.” It seems that however big a global rock group they become, Paramore’s ‘Southern hillbilly’ convictions are deeply entrenched.

So, by the end of the evening AU is confused.

Although their sanitised angst-rock is not exactly pushing back the boundaries of music, and their views on religion and gun ownership seemed shaped by their Southern upbringing rather than a more rounded worldview, it’s hard not to like Paramore.

Here are some young adults (three albums in and they are still only in their early twenties), who seem to genuinely care about their fans, and are both passionate and active in their charity work. Maybe Noel Gallagher was right after all. To that end, AU salutes Paramore – we’ll just try to forget about the gun thing.

WWW.PARAMORE.NET PARAMORE SUPPORT WWW.LOVE146.ORG AND WWW. INVISIBLECHILDREN.COM

—50 issue 65—

As their self-titled debut album gets its long-awaited release, AU meets up with NI punk rock royalty in the making LaFaro to talk touts, tours and Tuppenny Nudgers.

It’s 2pm on a Tuesday afternoon and three quarters of LaFaro are sitting in a poser-filled pub and talking about performing fellatio on the boys in blue. As you do.

“Dave sucked off a cop once and he loved it,” laughs LaFaro bassist Herb Magee, much to the embarrassment of some of the be-suited businessmen behind us.

Now, before any Mary Whitehouse types in training begin to get up in arms with the story, we hasten to add that the band are having a laugh and are explaining why they always seem to avoid getting their collars felt by the peelers whenever they’re in England.

“We keep getting pulled over when we’re on tour,” explains Dave, Herb’s guitarist brother. “The first time it happened was outside Buckingham Palace.

When the police opened the back of the van they saw Herb and Alan sitting there holding cushions and looking like refugees and we got a fine. We got pulled over in Liverpool recently, too. I stopped at the lights and saw a cop car beside me and I get this fear whenever I see them, even though I’m doing nothing wrong, and I couldn’t get into first gear. As soon as that happened I think they decided to give us a hard time and I had to put the charm on them.

We’re prepared to face the wrath of the cops any time we go to England, though.”

While it’s entertaining to hear the boys (who are sans tub thumper Alan Lynn today) talk about their road stories, the real reason why we’ve met up with them is to talk about their long-awaited self-titled debut album which, by the time you read this, will be sitting in record shop shelves primed and ready to pervert your ear-drums with songs that could score a dance-off at a mutant disco in Buttfuck, Alabama.

“We’re just really relieved to have it out there,” confesses Jonny. “We’ve been sitting on it for the guts of a year. We recorded it with a view to putting it out ourselves, but when we got the masters back we gave it to a few people to hear and one of them was Smalltown America who really wanted to put it out for us, so we let them plan their strategies and fit us into the release schedule. We’ve been like kids who know that the ice cream’s coming after dinner and we have to wait for it. It was for the best though.”

While the likes of ‘Tuppenny Nudger’ (more on that later) helped LaFaro carve a name out for themselves in the UK and Ireland, the record offers many nuggets for listeners to sink their metaphorical teeth into. For AU, the highlight has to be the fantastically named ‘Chopper Is A Fucking Tout,’ though and it prompts us to ask: what did poor old Chopper ever do to them?

LAFARO Words by Edwin McFee Photo by Carrie Davenport

“‘Chopper Is A Fucking Tout’ is named after the best bit of graffiti in Belfast,” says Jonny of the legend which appeared around South Belfast around two years ago. “We sat one night drinking and tried to come up with stupid stories about who Chopper might be and what he might have done to deserve that. He’s been a source of endless hilarity.”

Eventually we decided to make the band a fourpiece and that was it.”

“It got to the stage where when we were recording tracks we didn’t have names for we’d call them things like ‘Chopper Dead Man Walking’ and things like that,” grins Dave.

“I get very depressed when I go home,” admits Jonny. “On the last tour I got really down for about two days before the end because I knew I was going home.”

When LaFaro formed in 2004 they started tongues wagging almost immediately with their bass-heavy sludge, muffled vocals and take-no-prisoners live show. However, it wasn’t until 2008 (when the Magee brothers replaced former bassist Anna Fitzsimons) that they really turned into the sultans of the sledge-hammer riff. When we ask them about their admittedly murky past, they share a few nervous glances with each other before telling us their official origin story.

“You do get this weird feeling – Jonny particularly – and it all affects us in different ways,” continues Dave. “We know the end is coming and we all act differently. The last few days, there’s almost like a giddy nervousness and we’re talking about getting back to Belfast, but then when the day the tour ends, you think, ‘Crap, I don’t wanna go home’.

Then for the first few days when you get home you’re sitting in the house crawling up the walls.

It’s fun being on tour. We’ve been really lucky and

Since then, the four of them have been slogging their guts out on the road, but when we ask them about the hard work it seems like it’s worse coming back home than it is sleeping on people’s floors.

“WE SPENT A LONG TIME AS ALSO-RANS” “OK, I’ll tell the truth,” says Jonny. “Anna got the sack. Before that, I’ll be honest about it, when I was trying to get a band together I originally asked Herb to be in it and we had a couple of practices but then he stopped answering my phone calls…”

“You always phoned me and asked me to play bass and told me Alan Lynn was also in the band. I thought that could be good,” interjects Herb. “So I show up for practice and there’s this useless oddity behind the drums who can’t even play 4/4 time and I’m like, ‘This isn’t Alan’. Then I went to your house once and you said Alan was gonna be there and as we were going in to practise in Auntie Annie’s we walked past Pizza Hut and Alan was in there and I thought, ‘Hang on a minute…’. So I just decided no.”

“So yeah, we got Anna instead and then after a couple of years she had to leave for a number of reasons, and one of them was that she couldn’t play,” offers Jonny, sporting a devilish grin.

“I’d been in Fighting With Wire during this time and we had played loads of times with LaFaro and there were moments where I thought, ‘I could have been in this band’ – no offence to Anna – ‘I really wanna be that person’,” continues Herb.

“Then, whenever Jonny got rid of Anna he phoned my brother Dave and asked him to play bass!

people have taken pity on our haggard faces and thought, ‘I want to wash those boys and give them somewhere to sleep and maybe feed them in the morning’.”

As we turn our attentions towards the band’s future, it seems like the perennial plucky contenders are now ready for the big leagues and with almost universal praise from the press (including this very magazine voting ‘Tuppenny Nudger’ the best track by an NI act in the last five years), we can’t help but wonder how the self-deprecating four-piece are handling it all.

“It’s ridiculous, isn’t it?” concludes Jonny. “To be quite honest, we felt a bit weird when we heard the news about ‘Tuppenny Nudger’. I’m not going to take away from people voting for us and it’s great that people have caught on to it, but it’s just supposed to be a bit of fun and a wee story about where I grew up. The good press is a bit overwhelming though. We spent a long time as an underground band and also-rans and now things are taking off and that’s something we’ll all have to deal with.”

LAFARO IS OUT NOW ON SMALLTOWN AMERICA WWW.LAFARO.CO.UK

—51 AU Magazine—

Black Francis

Being Frank

“I’m not complaining, but there is a different dynamic,” says Black Francis. He’s talking about the new generation of Pixies fans. “They are coming as curiosity seekers, it’s very reverential. It’s nice.” He leans towards us, conspiratorially, “But back in 1988 it was nuts. We couldn’t get into our van because people would be grabbing our clothing, not because we were pop idols, it was just more of an [clutching AU by the wrists] aaaarrrgh!” We nearly faint with excitement. “I’m not complaining, I’m just reminiscing.”

Black Francis is promoting his 16th solo album, NonStopErotik. Released last month, the record is dedicated to his love of “the vagina” (his words, not ours), so AU swots up on the subject matter before heading off to meet the iconic Pixies frontman.

Our rendez-vous with Charles Thompson, aka Frank Black – and currently going by the Pixies-era moniker of Black Francis – was set for the top-floor bar of a London hotel. Glorious sunshine streams through the floor-to-ceiling windows illuminating a mix of lunching business-types and tourists. When he wanders over, 10 minutes early, no-one gives Francis so much as a second glance. He’s dressed all in black and it is only his expensive-looking man-bag, and the fact he is wearing sunglasses indoors, that perhaps mark him out as a rock star.

His handshake is firm and he plants a double-kiss on AU’s cheeks – there is a lot of stubble-onstubble contact.

Acutely aware of the subject matter for our conversation, we decamp to a secluded booth.

Black Francis wrote the press release for NonStopErotik, and he is very insistent – the record is dedicated to his love of vaginas. In hushed tones, we ask if this is really the case. “Yes, I don’t think I’ve ever gotten out of my vagina phase. At some level, I’m still an 18 year-old boy,” he says matterof-factly over a coffee.

“I started working with overriding concepts a few years ago. I needed an overriding concept for this [album], and I had a title for this record for a few years – and that usually doesn’t happen. So I decided that this was the NonStopErotik album, that’s the door that opens.”

It’s no great shame when he takes a detour from talking about lady parts, to chat about the glorious early days of the Boston legends. “It’s usually what I bitch about when I’m on a Pixies tour now.

Everyone is like, ‘Wow, that was a great gig, it was sold out, and did you see all the people singing?’

And I’m like ‘You guys, do you remember what it was like in the late Eighties?’ The roof was just coming off. When you start out and there are all these young boys who are coming to see you and they really ‘own’ you. You belonged to them, and nobody else knew about you. The atmosphere was so charged.” We stop short of admitting to being one of those boys.

Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV was born in Boston in 1965. His parents split up when he was a young child, and he spent his early years constantly moving between Massachusetts and California. At college he spent a year in Puerto Rico – the Hispanic influence runs deep throughout his music – before dropping out to form the Pixies, taking the stage name of Black Francis. The Pixies were arguably one of guitar music’s most significant bands; their lifespan meteoric and brief.

—52 issue 65—

After the Pixies’ initial demise, Thompson rebranded himself as Frank Black, and embarked on a solo career with mixed success. Albums were regularly churned out, but he seemed weighed down by his back catalogue – the new body of work was constantly judged against Surfer Rosa or Doolittle.

A couple of years ago, he reverted back to his Black Francis alter-ego in a move that seemed to hark back to former glories. “I remember once, with my therapist, I had to write a letter to myself with my left hand – I’m right-handed – from myself at a different age,” Francis says. “What happens is that you go to someplace that you wouldn’t go before.

Suddenly, something happens and data is received.

“It’s the same thing with going back to my original stage name. It’s much artier, more edgy. That was a moment when something different was going on in my life. Was it because I was younger? I don’t know. You can’t go back in time, so all you can do is some sort of symbolic gesture to the universe, to the muse. It hopes that I’ll tap into something. Hopefully, as a result of doing that, I’ll subconsciously move in the direction I consciously want to move to.”

NonStopErotik was recorded in Brooklyn, Los Angeles and a haunted London studio. As ever, Francis’ long-time collaborator Eric Drew Feldman (once of Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band) coproduced and contributed his consummate keyboard skills. The results are pretty goddamn exciting. The name change from Frank Black to Black Francis seems to have rekindled his fire and rage.

After 2008’s form-returning Svn Fngrs, NonStopErotik is possibly Black Francis’ finest work in a decade. ‘Lake Of Sin’ is full of menace and that wonderful trademark snarl, while ‘Dead Man’s Curve’ contains the ferocity and drama of some of his finest work. In fact, NonStopErotik sounds as close to a new set of Pixies songs as we may dare to dream of.

Set against the constant clamour for new Pixies material, and the fact their 2004 return enables annual festival appearances to become a cash-cow for Francis and his bandmates, where does his solo career fit on a list of priorities? He reaches for his wallet and pulls out a £50 note. “Here is my solo career [points to the money]. I’m gonna make some art and invest a lot of money – a 50. I’m gonna put it out there in the world, and the world hopefully hands me back a 50. And then I get another 50 from my Pixies royalties. That’s how I view my solo career. That’s the first way I visualise it. So, if I have any ambition, it would be to get 60 back.”

Isn’t that a little unromantic, measuring it predominantly in cold, hard cash? “Well, my whole solo career is good, because it’s all about art – so it’s pure in that sense. My other art is funding it, so

I stay afloat. I get to do what I want to do, but it isn’t successful. It exists, it doesn’t die – it’s there, it’s in print. It is a little bit of a sacrifice, it’s like, ‘I just spent $75,000 on this, and no one can sell any records any more’. So, I just hope for the best.”

Black Francis does seem to have accepted the legacy created by the Boston quartet. “What I’m known for in this world is my association with my earlier stuff on the Pixies records. That was my moment. It was my moment of commercial success or whatever and, for some people, artistic success.”

While the rise of the Pixies was rocket-fuelled, and their influential reach galactic, the acrimony of the 1993 split – legend has it that Francis informed his bandmates by fax – cast long shadows over friendships. Even though the band reformed to play gigs six years ago, they will surely cease to be relevant without any new material – we’re trying to conveniently forget 2004’s horrible ‘Bam Thwok’ aberration.

Francis seems happy to let time shape the band’s destiny. “It’s just hard to get everyone in the same room to go down that path [of writing new songs].

It’s so hard just to get us together to go on tour. It’s not natural anymore; we’re not a band anymore, we’re sort of a big, long encore performance right now. We’re trying to change that, but it’s just taking a really long time – which is fine,” he says with an air of genuine warmth. “I think there is some resistance from the band to doing new material coming from all of us, even myself.”

One of the standout tracks on NonStopErotik is ‘Six Legged Man’, which sounds like the bastard offspring of ‘Tony’s Theme’ from the seminal Surfer Rosa album. We wonder if, while writing his solo material, a song ever pops up which could be a new Pixies song? Francis shakes his head (and a little part of AU dies), “I was trying to explain this to the Pixies. They are more focussed on [asking me], ‘What’s the song, Charles? Are you gonna write some Nashville country song?’.

I think – and I could be wrong – that they are focussed very much on the song, which is natural enough, because even I have to focus on that.

I gotta write the song first. But, I don’t know if they realise how much it is going to sound like the Pixies. It doesn’t matter what the song is – the song is part of it. But the way we play it will decide if it sounds like the Pixies.”

And where would Black Francis find the time?

Over the last couple of years he has a hand in many musical pies. He has produced Art Brut’s third album, Art Brut Vs. Satan (“I’m a workaholic, ‘Let’s play it, play it again, and play it again’ kind of producer”), scored music for the film The Golem and released an album with his wife, Violet Clark, as the band Grand Duchy.

Words by: John Freeman

—53 AU Magazine—

Delphic Black Francis

Spin bottle Beingthe Frank

Is it fair to assume that each Grand Duchy recording session was the epitome of marital bliss?

not really a musical thing yet – it will be soon. If someone asks me for an autograph, the kids are like, ‘Do you know that guy?’. They are into some cool stuff, for a while they were into Paolo Conte; we had his record in the car and they were starting to sing along.” It’s a lovely mental image – Paolo Conte is an Italian pianist in his sixties.

“It was very exciting; there was a lot of creative tension,” Francis admits. “She has all kinds of parental guilt when she’s recording. When we tried to work together at the same time in the studio it

that some other rock musician likes me. What’s important is that for some 15 year-old kid, you changed his life. That’s the phenomenon, not that a rock musician liked another musician. No shit, we’re all a bunch of music geeks.”

In reflection, it occurs to us that Black Francis has

“It’s not important that some other rock musician likes me. What’s important is that for some 15 year-old kid, you changed his life.” turned into this whole polite thing. It’s like, ‘Let’s do your idea?’; ‘Oh no, you’re the genius, you go first!’; ‘No no, you go’. So we don’t do anything.”

Francis is a father to five children – two with Clark and three from a previous marriage – who must think it’s pretty neat to have the Pixies frontman as their dad. Not quite. “They’re just starting to get impressed that I’m somebody. It’s

—54 issue 65—

Amiable, animated and hugely good company, Francis is unrecognisable as the truculent tyrant portrayed in the past. There must be something that still pisses him off? He nods, his eyes widening, “What I don’t appreciate, or give a shit about, is the whole, ‘Charles, Kurt Cobain said that ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was a homage, or a rip-off of ‘Debaser’’. That’s not a diss of Kurt Cobain, it’s just that it’s not what’s important –

found a level of contentment. He seems to have rationalised his solo career against the albatross-like legacy of the Pixies. And a new Pixies album will happen – if it is meant to be. Just don’t expect it anytime soon.

THE ALBUM NONSTOPEROTIK IS OUT NOW VIA COOKING VINYL. WWW.BLACKFRANCIS.NET

Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record

Reviews

pg 58 Record Reviews | pg 64 Live Reviews |pg 65 Unsigned Universe

Illustration by Mark Reihill

Broken Social Scene Forgiveness Rock Record CITY SLANG

Forgiveness Rock Record – if that quasi-religious title isn’t enough of a statement of intent, then just check out the sleeve art of Broken Social Scene’s new album. It looks like a pamphlet that the Jehovah’s Witnesses may have delivered to your door in 1995. This, undoubtedly, is Broken Social Scene’s big statement, the point in their career where they let the world know that they are a band of ‘importance’. It is also the point where it is critically viable to ask whether things might have gone to their collective heads. Let’s run that album title by us once again... Forgiveness Rock Record.

The first thing that stands out about it is its busyness. The jostling lead guitars on album opener ‘World Sick’ bring Ghostbusters to mind, and its immortal advice to not cross the streams. When the song hits its heady climax, it’s obvious that the guitars are reaching out toward a ‘Marquee

Moon’ blaze of interacting beauty, yet they end up sputtering and tripping over each other in a howling glory hunt. ‘World Sick’ is a song that sets out the album’s manifesto, and the word that springs to mind is ‘maximalist’.

when they wrote ‘Chase Scene’; indeed, the song is probably the most polished piece of work on Forgiveness Rock Record. However, it sounds like something unfortunate shat out of the back end of 1960s musical Hair.

Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning and their million mates and collaborators have decided that the kitchen sink isn’t enough; they are throwing extra shit into this one. It’s not necessarily a bad thing.

While ‘World Sick’ suffers from the amount going on, ‘Art House Director’ positively bulges with the collaborative talent behind it. Similarly, ‘Ungrateful Little Father’ feels like a song that was created at a board meeting for wonderful music as opposed to the usual ‘dude alone in his bedroom’ template, and it succeeds because of this.

So where are we with this album? The maximalism succeeds in places and fails in others; a little like their last, self-titled offering. Like that album, it is also a grower. Finally, like previous Broken Social Scene endeavours, it has an utterly sublime quality that reveals itself only when the three ring circus fades away. The album’s central song ‘All To All’ is missing the insane guitarage that runs rampant elsewhere, and it’s a beautiful thing indeed; a pulsating, gorgeous disco hymnal sung byLisa Lobsinger and drenched in the human heart. It’s hard to listen to this fabulous song without thinking how magnificent Broken Social Scene could be if they forgot the guitar hegemony. Kevin Drew, you secretly know it, you are at your best when you compose without guitar. Embrace it. Darragh McCausland

Yet, the busyness doesn’t work across the record.

There are too many points where listening to Forgiveness Rock Record feels like consuming a stew cooked by far too many chefs. A case in point is ‘Chase Scene’. It is a song clearly designed to playfully appropriate 1970s movie music, but which fails terribly because of how seriously it takes itself and, ironically, because of the amount of talent it actually required to construct it. There is no doubt that Broken Social Scene were on a talented jape

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘ARTHOUSE DIRECTOR’, ‘ALL TO ALL’.

FOR FANS OF: SUFJAN STEVENS, MY BLOODY VALENTINE. —55 AU Magazine—

Reviews

The Fall Your Future, Our Clutter DOMINO

This shouldn’t be possible. The Fall should be long gone. After a lifetime of hard living and inter-band turbulence, Mark Smith should be retired, ranting at kids who kick footballs into his garden. That he’s still making music at all is a wonder; that it’s as visceral, bizarre and thrilling as this is nothing short of a miracle.

Conventional song structures are disdained throughout. Consider the superb ‘Bury Pts. 1 + 3’: For a good 90 seconds we’re treated to a muffled rendition of the song as it might be heard through a bedsit wall. Then it kicks in, an irresistible garage stomp featuring Smith’s paean (of sorts) to the titular town.

“I’m from Bury,” he snarls comically, “Don’t mess around!” Smith’s one-liners are frequently hilarious: ‘Mexico Wax Solvent’ features a brilliantly absurd pronunciation of the word ‘Mexico’ (“Mekigo!”), a rant about medical mishaps (“Clicky shoulders make me wince... fresh-faced physician gives a note based on lies”) and the bald statement, apropos of very little: “There goes old Archibald Yates”.

It’s not all laughs, though: the foreboding ‘Chino’ finds our hero contemplating ageing and retirement (“When do I quit this hell?”) while surprisingly touching closer ‘Weather Report 2’ recalls ‘Time Enough At Last’ and ‘Living Too Late’ in giving us a rare glimpse of vulnerability: “Made a very, very, very big mistake... You gave me the best years of my life” – before dissolving into a four-minute drone. For most bands, Your Future, Our Clutter would be a career highlight. For The Fall, it’s business as usual. Neill Dougan

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘BURY PTS. 1 +3’, ‘MEXICO WAX SOLVENT’, ‘WEATHER REPORT 2’.

FOR FANS OF: CAPTAIN BEEFHEART, LCD SOUNDSYSTEM.

The Lowly Knights The Hollow EP SELF-RELEASED

The folky earthiness promised by The Hollow EP, with its evocative subtitle To the hum of distant voices, is delivered pretty convincingly by this, The Lowly Knights’ second release. Those familiar with their Pied-Piper-style rallying cries and footstomping provocation will be glad to know that the Knights haven’t stood still since The Rifles EP. This is a more focused, more thoughtful, and perhaps even more charming batch of tunes.

The best way to appreciate this beautiful thing is with a bit of mood lighting, and without any distractions: sink back, peruse the lyrics, and let the Knights tell you stories of life, love and loss.

Aaron Kennedy

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘WEIGHT ON MY MIND’.

FOR FANS OF: THE ARCADE FIRE, MUMFORD AND SONS, THE AMAZING PILOTS.

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion Dirty Shirt Rock ‘N’ Roll: The First Ten Years SHOVE

It’s also a really complete music geek’s experience: the record is packaged in a silvery, autumnally illustrated cardboard box, which also includes a lyrics sleeve and the beautiful illustrations of Six Star Hotel’s Neil Gillespie. And the music doesn’t disappoint; the Knights have – as anyone with even half an ear for a good tune in their native Northern Ireland (and now much farther afield) knows – a compelling pathos and verve that recalls the energising warm-fuzziness of The Arcade Fire and Mumford and Sons.

—56 issue 65—

Snake-hipped, curl-lipped and erm, svelte-tipped, Jon Spencer has never been a man to mince his chords. Grabbing all shades of American roots by the roots, ripping them up and reforming them in his own electrifying image has always been a speciality. You can see it in the umpteen musical guises he’s adorned over the years, but most especially in his most enduring outfit – the one that bears his own name.

This ‘casual’ introduction to The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s first decade is a timely collection of highlights from the forthcoming lavish reissue series of that band’s early albums.

There will be no surprises here for anyone who’s followed the Blues Explosion since they scissor-kicked their way into the nascent US post-grunge scene some 18 years back. For newcomers, the deliciously toxic stew of blues, punk, soul and garage on offer is an excellent introduction.

From the Exile-era Stones-y shimmer of ‘Magical Colours’ to the lascivious lollop of enduring live favourite ‘Bell Bottom’, the trio of Spencer, Judah Bauer on guitar and Russell Simins on drums have always delivered a committed template of righteous, scuzzy rock ‘n’ roll at its filthiest, funniest and freshest. This compilation is all the evidence you’ll need. Joe Nawaz

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘MAGICAL COLOURS’, ‘WATER MAIN’, ‘TALK ABOUT THE BLUES’.

FOR FANS OF: BOSS HOG, PUSSY GALORE, IGGY AND THE STOOGES.

Albums

LCD Soundsystem This Is Happening DFA

So this is it then, is it? The end has arrived, if James Murphy himself is to be believed, and that’s a shame. But just remember this: LCD Soundsystem IS James Murphy – as long as he is around, he’ll be making music. And so This Is Happening isn’t really a swansong – just the end of an era. And a very good one at that. Cards on the table time: it isn’t quite as good as Sound Of Silver, but not much is.

It may not even be as good as the self-titled debut, but as Murphy has few peers, that’s okay. He could record himself singing in the shower and it would be listenable. Thankfully, though, This Is Happening is several notches up from that.

If you’re a fan, you’ve probably already heard it, as it has been streaming online for some time. But its shiniest treasures are worth pointing out, because this album contains a clutch of Murphy’s best ever tracks. He continues his genius for openers on ‘Dance Yrself Clean’, which tip-toes in before unleashing a synth riff capable of razing buildings to the ground. Later, ‘Pow Pow’ is a textbook dancepunk jam –sparse and taut and with a classic ‘Losing My Edge’-esque rant from Murphy. And then there’s ‘Hit’; hypnotic Kraut-disco which cheekily nods at the lack of big pop songs on the record – “You wanted a hit / But maybe we don’t do hits / I try and try / It ends up feeling kind of wrong”. Fortunately, James Murphy doesn’t need hits. In three albums, he’s secured his legacy. Chris Jones

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘ONE TOUCH’, ‘POW POW’, ‘HIT’.

FOR FANS OF: THE JUAN MACLEAN, DAVID BOWIE, TALKING HEADS.

Surfer Blood Astro Coast KANINE

A cursory glance towards Surfer Blood – four prototype indie dudes from Palm Beach, Florida – would suggest a group of chaps who’ve meticulously plundered their older brothers’ faultless Nineties alternative rock record collection. Debut album Astro Coast is a bevy of doe-eyed nods to their selfconfessed influences; a surge of Nirvana, a tangential wobble of Pavement, and the bristle of the Pixies – indeed, ‘Neighbour Riffs’ sounds like the laid-back (or can’t be arsed) son of the Pixies’ bone-crushing ‘Vamos’. However, on closer inspection, Astro Coast contains enough youthful bluster and joie de vivre to set them apart from the maddening alternative crowd. ‘Swim’ is a nailed-on sweatbox anthem, ‘Harmonix’ is dextrous surf-pop, and there is a real primal menace to ‘Slow Jabroni’. By the closing ‘Catholic Pagans’ – a rock hymn bemoaning the perils of teenage drug use – Surfer Blood have well and truly proved their mettle. John Freeman

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘FLOATING VIBES’, ‘SLOW JABRONI’, ‘HARMONIX’.

FOR FANS OF: WEEZER, PAVEMENT, THE DRUMS.

Flying Lotus Cosmogramma WARP

If Steven Ellison’s goal is for his work to evolve from what he terms ‘headphone music’ and move towards a full-bodied, ADD-infused form of laptop/live band, space jazz, beat-laden affair, then he can consider his job done.

In an interview with AU for this issue, FlyLo elaborates on what influenced the making of his third album: the music of his great-aunt Alice Coltrane, grief, the pursuit of a more expansive live band sound – there are distinct moods and feelings enveloping the whole of Cosmogramma.

For the sheer ‘what’s coming next’ factor, mixed with a deft execution of sonic experimentation, texture and tempo, FlyLo strikes gold and continues to mine it for the whole album. ‘Nose Art’ is dizzying, ‘Zodiac Shit’ is like an IDM full-body massage and the guest star turns from Thom Yorke and Laura Darlington only serve to enhance a trippy, dreamy-yet-abrasive, swirling, collaborative masterpiece. Adam Lacey

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘NOSE ART’, ‘ZODIAC SHIT’, ‘...AND THE WORLD LAUGHS WITH YOU...’.

FOR FANS OF: APHEX TWIN, BOARDS OF CANADA, DAEDALUS.

LaFaro LaFaro SMALLTOWN AMERICA

Ok, forget the fact that the album has been delayed for so long it could almost be NI’s answer to Chinese Democracy (only, y’know, good). You can also forget the fact that there are quite a few songs on the record that have been kicking around in some shape or form for half a decade (‘Tuppenny Nudger,’ ‘Mr Heskey’). You see, none of these things matter as soon as the metallic slice of lunacy that is ‘Chopper Is A Fucking Tout’ kicks off with that seriously spiky riff, and you just know that the record is a killer.

The National High Violet 4AD

Shuffling beneath the shadow of their own personal rain cloud, The National are the Eeyores of rock, a band who conjure magic out of misery and make a virtue of vulnerability. High Violet is typically them, the Ohio five-piece sounding as sensitive to life’s slights as they ever have.

What would a psychologist make of ‘Sorrow’ and Matt Berninger’s gloomy declaration that “sorrow found me when I was young”? Clearly, sorrow continues to accompany him and his bandmates.

They revel in its company, roll around in the murk and savour the pain. There is paranoia, too. ‘Afraid Of Everyone’ is quietly wracked with terror, guitar buzzing like flies round a ripe corpse. And what of love? Well, it’s here, but they aren’t stocking yer Mills & Boons brand, this is ‘Terrible Love’, lusts and affections that are misshapen, sadness making and which haunt us, ‘Anyone’s Ghost’.

All these emotions are ladled out with a careful hand, the sounds intricate and elegant; note the orchestral flourishes of ‘Runaway’, or the tendrils of ethereal harmonies on the self-lacerating ‘Conversation 16’.

They glide in blue to the close; violins and piano meshing sublimely with that weary baritone on ‘England’, and then on ‘Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks’, darkness descends for the final time as the tender melody slowly dims. As works of melancholy go, High Violet is magnificent, so please, don’t ever start taking the anti-depressants boys. Francis Jones

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘AFRAID OF EVERYONE’, ‘ENGLAND’, ‘VANDERLYLE CRYBABY GEEKS’.

FOR FANS OF: TINDERSTICKS, R.E.M., EELS.

Harlem Hippies 4AD

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Harlem’s second album reinforces the current US underground’s fascination with Nuggetsinfluenced pop. The songs are short, riotous blasts of psychedelia with choruses that echo Phil Spector’s Sixties girl group recordings. There’s humour in ‘Friendly Ghost’, a tribute to America’s favourite dead gal-pal Casper, and ‘Three Legged Dog’, where Curtis O’Mara reassures the unfortunate pooch’s distraught owner, “It’s cool, he’ll come back soon.” ‘Be Your Baby’ could be a straightforward Ramones cover and ‘Stripper Sunset’ sounds like an improvised jam that thankfully sneaked its way onto the record at the last minute. The only gripe is that it might be five or six minutes too long, but then again, would you rather spend that time listening to Jason Pierce droning on about how he nearly died? Me neither! Kenny Murdock

KEY TRACKS: ‘CHOPPER IS A FUCKING TOUT,’ ‘THE BALLAD OF BURNT DAVE,’ ‘GIRL IS A DRUMMER’.

FOR FANS OF: THE JESUS LIZARD, FUTURE OF THE LEFT, PANTERA.

KEY TRACKS: ‘PISSED’, ‘STRIPPER SUNSET’.

FOR FANS OF: THE SEEDS, BLACK LIPS.

Comprising 10 tracks, LaFaro have crafted an impressive opus that’s full of caveman rock songs that club you over the head as soon as you hit play. It’s sludgy bass riffs, muffled nasal vocals and thunderous tub-thumping a go-go, with the closest they come to slowing down being the venomous ‘Girl Is A Drummer.’ Yeah, lyrically and melodically the record is about as big and clever as a midget that’s been held back at school, but that was never the reason we loved LaFaro in the first place. We adore them for riffs that can crack open the sky and their ability to provide pure sonic catharsis, and their debut has both in spades. Edwin McFee

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—57 AU Magazine—

Reviews

The Continuous Battle Of Order PTTRN SKRS RICHTER COLLECTIVE

Following the demise of math-rock three-piece We Are Knives at the end of 2008, guitar virtuoso Hornby and drummer Craig Kearney proceeded to formulate the looser, almost wilfully esoteric and unbound by convention beast that is TCBOO. The debut album from the Belfast pair is an avant-rock symphony whose mindset owes much to free jazz and which teeters delicately on the musical spectrum between The Mars Volta and Charles Mingus.

Having previously titled tracks in binary code, they have here dispensed with the formality of titles altogether; instead we are asked to accept this album as a sequence of maniacal crescendos, a nameless tsunami, ebbing only fleetingly before it crashes back towards us time and again. We start with a wash of static, Morse code blips and bleeps and discernible sounds bleached out. Slowly, surely, from this wasteland of metal machine music come the drums, pounding through. Then the guitar, twisting like a lunatic trying to escape his straitjacket. As riffs and rhythms slip in and out of focus you’ll agree that PTTRN SKRS (or Pattern Seekers) is an album aptly named.

It is a work of elemental power, as savage and unruly as nature itself. It can be a confusing maelstrom to find yourself in and, just when you think you’ve found something to cling onto – be it a needling looped riff, or cyclical roll of drums – that sense of solidity is inevitably snatched away.

The odd yell from Hornby, samples and the clap of hands help embroider the basic fabric. Throughout the technical proficiency of the twosome is pristine, even as they play at breakneck speed.

And eventually, as you immerse yourself in their ever-changing soundscapes, you realise the meditative power of the music. It’s a trait that is associated with free jazz, music that fizzes with self-reflective power, energy music that shows up the meaningless of time and asks us to throw ourselves into the moment. So, what are you waiting for? Come lose yourself. Francis Jones

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘001-2’, ‘002’, ‘006’.

FOR FANS OF: BATTLES, SUN RA, JOHN CALE.

Jamie Lidell Compass WARP

Chameleonic soul-funk-electronica hero Jamie Lidell has changed it up again. Whereas 2008’s Jim (great as it was) wore its classic soul influences on its sleeve, Compass sees Lidell forge a dark, minimalist sound all of his own.

There are ideas in abundance: ‘Completely Exposed’ sees sparse atmospherics give way to a crunching riff-heavy refrain, while the daftly-titled but irresistible ‘Your Sweet Boom’ features one of Lidell’s most alluring hooks. And anyone who can resist busting some moves to ‘The Ring’ and ‘Coma —58 issue 65—

Chameleon’ is probably dead. The one weak point is half-baked R&B pastiche ‘She Needs Me’, which tends to drag. But Compass’s second half is stupendous, particularly the title track (wherein a lonesome acoustic lament gives way to spaghetti Western horns and a thumping, discordant outro), the foreboding throb of ‘Big Drift’ and romantic, lo-fi closer ‘You See My Light’. Jamie Lidell’s compass continues to point unerringly in the right direction. Neill Dougan

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘YOUR SWEET BOOM’, ‘THE RING’, ‘COMPASS’.

FOR FANS OF: CARIBOU, PRINCE.

The Hold Steady Heaven Is Whenever ROUGH TRADE

Upon first listen, it’s business as usual for album five, from the religious title to the vaguely ‘baptist’ theme of the artwork. The choruses will have fists pumping in the air, the riffs are thick and punchy, and Craig Finn sings lines like, “And you say you said prayers / But it was too inconvenient / You just didn’t have the patience.” And all the while, the sound is bathed in the neon light from the bar, as we order up just one more drink, our own face reflected in the glass.

But there’s something else going on here. Heaven Is Whenever really does stake out a territory all of its own. These songs are full of a sense of encroaching responsibility, of things that we used to do, and can’t get away with anymore. This is fully realised, mature rock and roll – the sound of what happens when punks start to grow up. Steven Rainey

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘THE SWEET PART OF THE CITY’, ‘WE CAN GET TOGETHER’, ‘A SLIGHT DISCOMFORT’.

FOR FANS OF: HUSKER DU, THE REPLACEMENTS, WILCO.

Holy Fuck Latin YOUNG TURKS

Elsewhere in this issue, Holy Fuck’s Brian Borcherdt admits that his band’s new album lacks a “hit”, and that they have instead prioritised the album as a whole It’s been an entirely successful endeavour. In one sense the Canadians have played it safe with a familiar sonic palette (bass, drums, analogue electronics) but they have allowed themselves some wiggle room. To wit, the opening ‘1MD’, a vast drone that sounds like the coming of the apocalypse before leading seamlessly – and very skilfully – into the choppy funk of ‘Red Lights’.

The first half is undeniably strong, bolstered by the stately, widescreen melodies of ‘Latin America’ and the sunny, carefree ‘Stay Lit’. Later in the album, it’s more a case of variations on a theme as we cruise through ‘Stilettos’ and ‘Lucky’ until we approach our destination: ‘P.I.G.S.’. A minute-and-a-half in, the clattering drums, bass and throbbing synth make way for a monumental, sky-darkening melody line,

and from here on in we are rendered subservient, waiting agog for the riff to crash back in. When it does, it’s hands-in-the-air time. Like a techno DJ, this band understands pacing; peaks and troughs; tense breakdowns and euphoric drops. And that’s why Latin is not a collection of songs, but an experience entire. Chris Jones

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘LATIN AMERICA’, ‘STAY LIT’, ‘P.I.G.S.’ FOR FANS OF: FUCK BUTTONS, ERRORS, NOT SQUARES.

Villagers Becoming A Jackal DOMINO

There’s something wonderfully creepy about Villagers. It’s a standing-outside-the-windowwith-the-curtains-drawn creepy, the creepy from which obsessions form, and night terrors grow. It’s the creepy that begets beauty. Ex- The Immediate, Conor O’Brien’s soft, almost wheedling voice ekes out the thoughts that fill one’s head between closed eyes and slumber. Singing of revenge, lost love and rituals, above the knock of an acoustic guitar, it’s at its best when it whispers. Though it loses its way into M Ward territory on ‘The Pact’, it’s but a slight detour, and the album soon returns to form.

There’s a line in the title track which speaks of the space “in the seam between the window frame.” The space in question is the locale from which Villagers operate best – on the outside, but just close enough to touch. Ailbhe Malone

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘THE MEANING OF RITUAL’, ‘BECOMING A JACKAL’.

FOR FANS OF: ELLIOTT SMITH, SPENCER KRUG.

Avi Buffalo Avi Buffalo SUB POP

For anyone blessed with the name Avigdor ZahnerIsenberg it’d be wise to a) shorten it, and b) excel at something cool. This particular Avigdor scores on both counts. Rebranded as Avi Buffalo, he recruited three of his Long Beach schoolmates and started writing beautiful tunes, which take the delicate elegance of Goldrush-era Neil Young and leave it to bake in the Californian sun.

Signed to a spellbound Sub Pop while still at high school, Avi Buffalo’s resultant debut is dazzling.

‘What’s In It For?’ wraps Avi’s quivering falsetto around perfect stoner pop, while ‘Jessica’ is one of those jaw-droppingly simple ballads you’ll immediately assume must be a cover of a lost Beatles track. Fair play to Mr Zahner-Isenberg. John Freeman

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘WHAT’S IN IT FOR?’, ‘SUMMER CUM’, ‘JESSICA’.

FOR FANS OF: NEIL YOUNG, BIG STAR, BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE.

Albums

Future Islands In Evening Air THRILL JOCKEY

In the face of Brooklyn’s apparent domination of indie-rock, it’s always reassuring to see that a bit of geographical diversity remains when it comes to musical scenes in the States. Wham City, the Baltimore-based collective swirling around electrogenie Dan Deacon, is one of the most exciting, creative and productive scenes outside of the dreaded New York borough, churning out release after quality release from the likes of Ponytail, Weekends and these guys, a delirious-sounding electro-pop outfit with a singer who sounds like he eats lit packets of Benson and Hedges for breakfast.

While Sam Herring’s extraordinary, morphing voice – perhaps best described as being capable of moving through the continuum of Tom Waits’ entire singing career in one verse before deciding to be Ian Curtis in the chorus – is the most immediately striking thing about their second album In Evening Air, it provides only one of the album’s many strange rewards.

The group peddle a propulsive, New Order-style electro sound that’s alternately overlaid with melodic euphoria and seething, ornate weirdness.

Songs such as ‘Vireo’s Eye’ are lent their darkest shades from Herring’s grand guignol vocals, but when the rasping angst lets up there are moments of soft atmospheric beauty, such as the wavering intro to ‘Long Flight’ and the rinsed-out Disney soundtrack stylings of ‘In Evening Air’.

All this light and shade adds up to a heavyweight long-player that will undoubtedly land Future Islands and their skronky-voiced marvel of a singer wham bang (geddit?) into the centre of 2010 in a very big way. Darragh McCausland

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘WALKING THROUGH THAT DOOR’, ‘TIN MAN’.

FOR FANS OF: DAN DEACON, CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH’S FIRST ALBUM, NEW ORDER.

Dadahack TAP3 SERVICE AV

This debut long-player opens with a fairly uncomplicated collection of pleasant electronic loops and sequences which sadly don’t have much to distinguish them from a ton of other productions; slowly these tones become more interesting as the duo add filters and modulation effects. As the album plays on, layers of noise creep into the mix and the beats and synths take a funkier, stinkier direction.

‘Burnt Fox’ is a prime piece of electro-hop suitable for after-club fun. The most dancefloor-friendly tracks win on production values not hooks, but they will get feet tapping. The album’s final track, ‘The Strong One’, puts a soulful vocal over warm IDM sounds, smoothly drawing this warm collection of analogue and digital sounds to a close. Barry Cullen

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘BURNT FOX’, ‘MADE IN CHINA’, ‘THE STRONG ONE’.

FOR FANS OF: MICRONAUTS, BOVAFLUX.

CocoRosie Grey Oceans [PIAS]

Before Tim Burton’s 3D Alice In Wonderland extravaganza, a CocoRosie album was the closest thing to a full mind-bending, acid-fried fairy story.

Their astonishing brand of ‘freak folk’ – including harps, beat boxes, toy instruments and a fullygrown woman singing in a baby voice – seduced and dismayed in equal measure. After the indulgent hit and miss of 2007’s The Adventures Of Ghosthorse And Stillborn, sisters Bianca ‘Coco’ and Sierra ‘Rosie’ Casady’s fourth album retains their gleeful sense for uninhibited experimentation, but this time delivers finely crafted tunes.

The Casadys’ nomadic existence resulted in Grey Oceans being recorded in Buenos Aires, Melbourne, Berlin, New York and Paris, and this wanderlust shines through on the exotic Eastern beats of ‘Fairy Paradise’ and the French opera of ‘Undertaker’.

The band have acquired a new member, jazz pianist Gaël Rakotondrabe, and he is immediately put through his paces dovetailing with Sierra’s harp on the opening ‘Trinity’s Crying’; a song

Miracle Bell Light Shape Sound SELF-RELEASED

Labelling a band’s sound as ‘radio-friendly’ is often a character assassination of the highest order. But for synth-popsters like Miracle Bell – and their army of electro ilk – carving a three minute pop number is a rare jewel on an overly-derivative crown. Masking their Kildare origins with a cleverly international sound, Light Shape Sound is well produced and guiltily likeable in places. As is de rigueur at the moment, Miracle Bell are a mosaic of all things Eighties, with enough samples and dark basslines to make tracks like ‘You And I’ and ‘Future Kings’ more danceable than they rightly should be.

steeped in gentle paranoia. Elsewhere, the excellent ‘Lemonade’ welds a far-off trumpet to a jolt of iridescent electronica, before Bianca’s soaring chorus punches a hole in the ozone layer. The girls even slap a phat gangsta groove to Rakotondrabe’s delicate piano on the ludicrously-titled, but very good, ‘The Moon Asked The Crow’.

Those who have remained unconvinced by CocoRosie’s allure may still struggle with the often pretentious nursery rhyme lyrics. However, Grey Oceans possesses songs of huge emotional depth – both ‘Gallows’ and the aforementioned ‘Undertaker’ are sumptuously forlorn (the latter sounds like it was indeed recorded from beyond the grave) – which feels a little like finding out that the fairy at the bottom of your garden is actually a depressed alcoholic. However, while still charmingly eclectic and seriously unhinged, CocoRosie now seem comfortable in their own skin – Grey Oceans is undoubtedly their finest album to date. John Freeman

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘LEMONADE’, ‘THE MOON ASKED THE CROW’, ‘GALLOWS’.

FOR FANS OF: BJORK, DEVENDRA BANHART, ANTONY AND THE JOHNSONS.

Keeping a steady, reliable pace through all 10 tracks, this debut is unlikely to ignite your iPod, but it has enough beats, poppy melodies and catchy choruses to make it pleasant summer listening.

Taken as a whole, though – and despite a spark of promise – everything here has been heard before.

Lacking the ingenuity of peers like Sleep Thieves or the sheer conviction of Dark Room Notes, it’s difficult to see where a band like Miracle Bell can really go (even with a strong debut under their belt) in a climate where this brand of electro-pop has all but caved in on itself. Lisa Hughes

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘FIT FOR LOVE’, ‘YOU AND I’, ‘LOVE SOUNDS’.

FOR FANS OF: GARY NUMAN, DARK ROOM NOTES, SLEEP THIEVES. —59 AU Magazine—

Reviews

Patrick Kelleher You Look Colder OSAKA

Patrick Kelleher’s album You Look Cold broke into view from some beautiful outsider place, leaving ripples in the shape of breathless critical reviews, vocal support from members of the old guard of Dublin’s underground scene (such as David Kitt), and an exciting flurry of DIY activity emanating from his loose collective of musically talented friends. Now, before those ripples have even begun to ebb away, the album returns, remixed in its entirety as You Look Colder.

There are always worries with this sort of project, such as the chance that remixed work won’t stand up to the source material, the inevitable whiff of vanity, and the potential for the whole thing to come over scattershot because of the number of individuals involved. Thankfully, and somewhat miraculously, You Look Colder avoids all of these pitfalls. Whether it has something to do with the original album’s magnetic charms or simply a fluke, its remixed cousin doesn’t merely work as a standalone record but sounds remarkably coherent to boot, with a luminous Kraut vibe all of its own.

You Look Colder also succeeds as a pick ‘n’ mix showcase of Ireland’s burgeoning underground (especially if you like your pick ‘n’ mix basted in LSD). The artists involved have mostly spun Kelleher’s original tracks into forms that succeed in communicating what their own work has to offer.

For example, Hunter-Gatherer’s subterranean nineminute remix of ‘Blue Eyes’ leads listeners into a cavern of rising dread that will be familiar to any fan of his ghost-riddled electronica, and Jape’s take on ‘Wonder’ sparkles and bounces with the same exuberance that runs right through Ritual.

Elsewhere, the album drips with intriguing offerings from less well-known musicians in Kelleher’s orbit such as Hulk and School Tour – artists who are currently flying well under the radar but who deserve the exposure afforded by this project. You Look Colder is a brave, strange, and, most importantly, successful project which is an essential purchase for anyone interested in beardy music of an Irish stripe. Darragh McCausland

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: UNTIL I GET PAID (SCHOOL TOUR REMIX), BLUE EYES (HUNTER-GATHERER REMIX).

FOR FANS OF: KRAUTROCK, JAPE.

The Futureheads The Chaos NUL

Despite being entitled The Chaos, The Futureheads’ latest is only vaguely chaotic. It is, however, a tight, well-constructed indie-rock album whose most anarchic aspect is its subtle political undertones.

The Chaos is rammed full of high-speed tracks that could make you want a break for tea and biscuits half way through. Relentless though it is, the band’s fourth effort does deviate from the band’s well—60 issue 65—

worn trail – energised, intense and repetitiously melodic – in tracks like closer ‘Jupiter’, which has an intro like a Queen B-side and is followed by a ballad-esque hidden track. The album’s first single ‘Heartbeat Song’ is the standout; poignant, catchy and full of lyrical quips that you’ll still be picking from the bones after several listens. In fact, after a few times through, you start to cotton on to how rich this album is, despite its shallow, pop-rock veneer. It’s pointedly political underneath, not least in the title track, and expresses a verbose, palatable take on the world that manage to be ballsy, brisk and emphatic. Not their best, perhaps, but an interesting direction nonetheless. James Hendicott

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘HEARTBEAT SONG’, ‘SUN GOES DOWN’, ‘THIS IS THE LIFE’.

FOR FANS OF: MAXIMO PARK, THE PIGEON DETECTIVES.

Walter Schreifels An Open Letter To The Scene BIG SCARY MONSTERS

It’s to Walter Schreifels’ immense credit that two decades of kicking against deadheaded hardcore convention in revered acts Gorilla Biscuits, Quicksand and the recently-revived Rival Schools haven’t dimmed his fire, even if his musical vehicles have mellowed by degrees. This first solo collection takes the template of his most recent outfit Walking Concert to its logical conclusion; it’s the sound of a man comfortable in his own skin, doling out wisdom and wry humour over mature, yet playful semi-acoustic pop. It’s top-notch stuff, and there’s a real treat for long-time Schreifels aficionados in the form of pre-Rival Schools track ‘Requiem’, from the superb, much-bootlegged World’s Fastest Car demos. As if we weren’t gagging enough for the new Rival Schools material, he’s gone and raised the bar again. Lee Gorman

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘ARTHUR LEE’S LULLABY’, ‘REQUIEM’, ‘OPEN LETTER TO THE SCENE’.

FOR FANS OF: ONELINEDRAWING, FRANK TURNER, WALKING CONCERT.

The Kiara Elles Slide Over VANDAL

A four-piece from Leeds, The Kiara Elles are five strangers who met and then made this debut record – and let’s thank our lucky stars that they did. A cross between Shampoo and The Pipettes, ‘Routine’ hurtles from the speakers like it’s running for the night bus home, all chaos and cool. With a sound poppier than Florence and rockier than Girls Aloud, The Kiara Elles are rocking a ‘girl group’ sound for the Ting Tings generation. ‘Savoir Faire’ is a little self-regarding, but it’s straight back to staccato-vocalsand-crashing-cymbals power pop with ‘Odio’. Closer ‘Webcam’ is a great study of the whole record – more ‘yoof’ than the Skins soundtrack. Kirstie McCrum

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘ROUTINE’, ‘THE BET’, ‘NINE LIVES’.

FOR FANS OF: LUSH, THE PIPETTES, THE TING TINGS.

Mike Patton Mondo Cane IPECAC

Mike Patton, y’know, the howling-at-the-moon frontman of Faith No More, mainstay of Mr Bungle and ensemble player in the insane dramas of Tomahawk and Peeping Tom amongst others.

Well, the very same fella has only gone and recorded an album of Italian language covers, many of the compositions dating from the Fifties and Sixties. And mamma mia, is Mondo Cane one spicy meatball. A 40-piece orchestra gives considerable oomph to these swaggering tunes.

On the vibrant ‘Che Notte’ he summons the irrepressible spirit of Fred Buscaglione, whilst the cover of Fred Bongusto’s ‘Ore D’Amore’ is intoxicatingly romantic. A little punk spirit is instilled into proceedings with a raucous cover of Sixties civil rights number ‘Urlo Negro’, but it is his supremely elegant version of Morricone’s ‘Deep Down’ that proves the pick of the pack.

The very concept of Patton doing this sort of thing might be hard to fathom, but the end results are easy to love. Francis Jones

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘CHE NOTTE’, ‘DEEP DOWN’, ‘TI OFFRO DE BERE’.

FOR FANS OF: ENNIO MORRICONE, GOGOL BORDELLO, BURT BACHARACH.

65daysofstatic We Were Exploding Anyway HASSLE

Formerly the noisiest kids on the post-rock block, a period of soul-searching following clunky third outing The Destruction Of Small Ideas has led 65daysofstatic to fall headlong into the welcoming arms of commercially viable dance music. Opener ‘Mountainhead’ is a perfect snapshot of 65days 2010, featuring complex yet focussed house beats, melodic, sinewy guitars and building synth layers, carving out a fertile path midway between Errors and Fuck Buttons.

As the soaring melodies of ‘Crash Tactics’, ‘Dance Dance Dance’s savage tribal thump and the dense, twinkling and evocative ‘Piano Fights’ follow, Exploding is skirting end-of-year list territory, so it’s a shame that it then loses its way. Of the next four tracks, ‘Weak04’ and the trance-tinged ‘Debutante’ are solid but unspectacular filler, ‘Come To Me’s climb to rapturous release is sabotaged by a bafflingly ineffective Robert Smith guest vocal and album nadir ‘Go Complex’ recalls electro dad-rock horrors Pendulum.

The stunning Fuck Buttons-style build of epic 10-minute closer ‘Tiger Girl’ claws back respectability, but also emphasises the scale of opportunity missed here. It coulda been a contender. Lee Gorman

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘MOUNTAINHEAD’, ‘CRASH TACTICS’, ‘PIANO FIGHTS’.

FOR FANS OF: ERRORS, FUCK BUTTONS, DELPHIC.

Albums

Javelin No Más LUAKA BOP

NYC dance duo Javelin are a veritable sonic sponge and No Más their heroic tribute to the vast musical spectrum. In essence, it’s a rollercoaster ride, pitstopping at the houses of funk, soul, pop and just about everywhere in between.

‘Tell Me What Will I Be’ is heavily informed by archetypal retro funk, ‘On It On It’ a straightforward cut of warm hearted popelectronica, while ‘Shadow Heart’’s horn-driven, handclap rhythm has a timeless soul sensibility.

The continuous stylistic switching is impressive, but can equally grate on repeat listening.

Incredibly, though, No Más is sample-free, a testament to the endless evenings George Langford and Tom Van Buskirk must have spent crafting this worthy long player. Unpretentious and unashamedly fun. Eamonn Seoige

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘SHADOW HEART’, ‘VIBRATIONZ’, ‘TELL ME WHAT WILL IT BE’.

FOR FANS OF: THE GO! TEAM, THE AVALANCHES, JUSTICE.

Cathy Davey The Nameless HAMMER TOE

The coy femme fatale vocal, nestling beside a jazzy, minimalist accompaniment, is by no means a new sound sensation; in fact it’s de rigueur for any self-respecting chanteuse. Cathy Davey has a little something extra, leaving her a cut above the wine bar tedium that hampers some female vocalists.

‘In He Comes’ two-steps to an imaginary Italian vista and the single release ‘Little Red’ finger clicks along to a snappy rhythm. Neil Hannon drops by for some backing vocal assistance on ‘Army of Tears’ and there’s a touch of cosmic ambience via ‘Universe Tipping’ as the album reaches its final curtain. No apologies for the theatrical comparisons; it’s that kind of trip – a warm and unpretentious sojourn. Jeremy Shields

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘LITTLE RED’, ‘LAY YOUR HAND’, ‘IN HE COMES’.

FOR FANS OF: MISS PAULA FLYNN, JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN, GEMMA HAYES.

Harvestman Trinity NEUROT

Steve Von Till: vocalist and guitarist of crushing metal legends Neurosis; ambassador of solo dark, minimalist folk; and elementary school teacher.

He resembles a lumberjack; and he has the scowl of one who has just been confronted by a throng of stinking Greenpeace hippies. Try telling that man the dog ate your homework. Von Till’s third release as Harvestman, Trinity is all swirling ambient backdrops, plummeting drones, and

delayed single-picked guitar rings juxtaposed with haunted acoustic picking. The 16 tracks lumber at a snail’s pace, its moments of barren beauty being constantly crept upon by bleak drifts of noise and static. The expansive swathes and sparse soundscapes seep into each other, allowing it to envelope and submerge the listener. Headphones definitely recommended. Kyle Robinson

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: AMONGST THE HEATHER, DEAD FLOWERS, REFLECTIONS FOR FANS OF: EARTH, TIM HECKER, YELLOW SWANS.

Anodyne Corrosion PSYCHONAVIGATION

Colin Cloughley is one of Ireland’s unsung heroes.

Returning to his Anodyne project after a 14-year hiatus, he unveils his latest opus to the world via the delightful Dublin-based cottage industry that is Psychonavigation Records.

To say that the album is a journey of sorts would be an understatement. Corrosion comes over like the memoirs of an experienced electronic mind and despite what the name Anodyne suggests, this is far from a tame or colourless offering.

Blending deep, minimalistic textures, Cloughley offers a serious sonic experiment, projecting his own twisted vision of techno via dark soundscapes and deeply absorbing basslines. His use of melody, while subtle, provides a solid backdrop for the elements of acid and breakbeat that he blends here with clinical precision. Corrosion’s collision of dark ambience and austere beats will appeal to any future-obsessed raver. Matt Hazley

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘CHEMICAL SUNSET’, ‘WALK INTO DARKNESS’.

FOR FANS OF: AUTECHRE, THE BLACK DOG.

Steve Mason Boys Outside DOUBLE SIX

Boys Outside is a reminder of how much folktronica pioneers the Beta Band are missed. The band may have been defunct for six years but their influence remains solid. Former Band member Steve Mason returns to a stripped-down sound after largely electronic-based projects and there are treats aplenty to behold. ‘Yesterday’ has an instrumental backing reminiscent of low-key early New Order.

‘Understand My Heart’ and ‘Am I Just A Man’ are infectious and poignant in equal measure, the perfect accompaniments for late-night contemplations or ambient road-trips. Album closer ‘Hound On My Heel’ drives with a pulsating certainty and leaves you wanting more. Strong and subtle in all respects, and not just for the folkies. Jeremy Shields

Jogging Minutes RICHTER COLLECTIVE

Bored of liking those pesky Richter Collective bands yet? No? Good. Jogging arrive onto a scene crowded with a plethora of face-meltingly kick-ass bands (who all tend to gig together at some point or another… which is nice) while their label, the aforementioned Richter Collective, is carefully honing a reputation as a force to be reckoned with when it comes to really getting great bands out there, in this country and as far away as Japan.

The Dublin-based trio of Jogging (Darren Craig, Ronan Jackson and Peter Lee) are a tight-as-fook unit, full of confidence, carrying buckets of chunk, rumbling bass, hooks, verses and all that good stuff – there’s even a nostalgic hint at times of Girls Against Boys’ Scott McCloud in the vocals, all raspy and alluring. The DC hardcore urgency of each song is intoxicating – tracks like ‘Cleft Chin’ and ‘Shape Up Shakedown’ come off like real classics from that glorious scene, while tracks such as ‘Threadbare’ and ‘Shattered Knees’ should have you up at the front grasping your sweaty flannel shirt in your hands, eyes raised to a dirty ceiling, screaming every word along with the trio. Adam Lacey

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KEY TRACKS: ‘SHAPE UP SHAKEDOWN’, ‘CLEFT CHIN’.

FOR FANS OF: RITE OF SPRING, FUGAZI.

Silver Columns Yes, And Dance MOSHI MOSHI

So it was Adem and The Pictish Trail what done it and, at last, with the hullaballoo about Silver Columns’ identity put to one side, it’s time to see whether they’ve got the tunes to match the tease.

For the most part, the answer is yes. They get off to a storming start, the high-octane ‘Cavalier’ springing out of the traps like Russell Brand chasing a bit of skirt. The champagne pop of ‘To Wake Up’ goes instantly to the head, a barrage of skittering rhythms and glitchy keys. The title track, meanwhile, plays dress-up in Hot Chip’s artful electronica, before the full-throttle beats bonanza of ‘Always On’.

They apply the brakes for ‘Columns’, its slow motion crash of keyboard thwomp, floating-inspace textures and ethereal vocals making it the record’s most wow-inducing track. Still, the latter part of the album has its moments, not least the electro balladry of ‘Heart Murmurs’ and dynamic exit music of ‘Way Out’. Those early singles were enchanting and with such standards to maintain – and the initial air of mystery evaporated – Yes, And Dance could easily have proven a disappointment.

However, this isn’t The Wizard of Oz and, though we now know who’s pulling the levers, the magic remains. Francis Jones

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

KEY TRACKS: ‘UNDERSTAND MY HEART’, ‘AM I JUST A MAN’, ‘HOUND ON MY HEEL’.

FOR FANS OF: THE BETA BAND, THE FOLK IMPLOSION, BLACK AFFAIR.

KEY TRACKS: ‘YES, AND DANCE’, ‘COLUMNS’, ‘HEART MURMURS’ FOR FANS OF: FOUR TET, ERASURE, HERCULES AND LOVE AFFAIR. —61 AU Magazine—

Live Reviews

LaFaro, Jetplane Landing / The Duke And The King / Autechre / Josh Ritter

trying to cavort and flirt her way around a tiny cluttered stage. The King is Bobby Bird Burke, a multi-instrumentalist who together with Haskins provides backbone and honeyed harmonies.

The star of the show however is Felice, The Duke, a rock star who doesn’t take himself too seriously.

He has the crowd eating out of his hand throughout, whether it be leading the crowd in a mass singalong of Neil Young’s ‘Helpless’ or, much to everyone’s amusement, playing the lunatic during a storming version of Pink Floyd’s ‘Brain Damage’.

Live, The Duke and The King are a revelation. Ten out of ten. Gerard McCann

LIVE LaFaro, Jetplane Landing Menagerie, Belfast The last time I reviewed a headline gig by LaFaro was three-and-a-half years ago, at the launch of their first EP in Auntie Annie’s, Belfast. How times have changed since then. That night, the band – then a three-piece – were supported by newcomers Saint Dude’s and And So I Watch You From Afar, and the venue was half-full. In the intervening years, Saint Dude’s have released an album and then split, while ASIWYFA are now arguably one of the leading instrumental rock bands in the world. And in all that time, LaFaro have released just one more EP. But it looks like their time is now. An album has finally been recorded, and the UK music press are on board. The stage is set, and tonight is the first of three album launch shows at the Menagerie in Belfast. 100 tickets each night – no grand gestures, just a chance for the faithful to stick their heads in the jet engine once more.

It’s a nice bonus that Jetplane Landing offered their services as support. Long dormant while frontman Andrew Ferris has gone about making Smalltown America one of the best indie stables on these islands and guitarist Cahir O’Doherty has been embarking on his own rock star fantasy with Fighting With Wire, anticipation for their set is as fevered as for LaFaro. Drawing mainly from the bug-eyed post-hardcore of Once Like A Spark, Ferris and O’Doherty (and his FWW bandmates Jamie King and Craig McKean in place of Raife and Jamie Burchell) go some way to proving that the fire will never leave them. Each song more intense than the last, it’s Ferris’s onstage sermonising and haranguing of the crowd that will live longest in the memory – index finger jabbing the air, eyes on stalks. It’s all superficially tongue-in-cheek, but you can tell that Ferris is relishing his return to the stage, and it would be no great surprise if JPL did make a proper return before too long. Tonight proves that they’ve still got it.

LaFaro have got it too, not that their support band has made it easy for them. Jonny Black questions the wisdom of having Jetplane along, and comforts himself with the knowledge that it’s “only” Fighting With Wire tomorrow night. Chuckles all round. But while Jetplane are all rise and fall; quiet —62 issue 65—

Autechre Button Factory, Dublin LAFARO PHOTO: CARRIE DAVENPORT

and loud; sharp angles and big choruses, LaFaro are a less cerebral beast. They could demolish a house just by looking at it.

The set is heavy on songs from the album, including stalwarts like the chugging ‘Leningrad’ (close your eyes and it’s Josh Homme on rhythm guitar), a feral ‘Cold Dog Soup’ and – of course – the immortal ‘Tuppenny Nudger’. It’s also the first chance for many to wrap their ears around newer album tracks ‘The Ballad Of Burnt Dave’ (a deranged rave-up that sounds like Sons & Daughters with a rocket up their collective arse) and ‘Not A Song’, while at this point ‘Mr Heskey’ and Great Conversations Remembered…’ are rightfully welcomed as bona fide anthems. There is also a welcome outing for the astonishingly good ‘All Of These Things’, which somehow missed the cut.

The encore sees a concession to the old faithful in the room. Screams for the lascivious ‘Big Kevin’ are acceded to and when they close with the neverreleased ‘Climate’, we come full circle – it’s the song they opened with at that EP launch back in 2006.

But LaFaro have come a long way since then and in some respects, this is just the beginning. Chris Jones

The Duke And The King Auntie Annie’s, Belfast Nothing Gold Can Stay was one of last years Americana highlights, nostalgic yet full of hope, and earning Simone Felice’s new project justified plaudits.

There is barely breathing space in Auntie Annie’s, and as the band kick into opener ‘If You Ever Get Famous’ we could be forgiven for expecting a polite runthrough of that album. However, we are in for more of a treat than anticipated.

The Duke and The King are the rarest of bands, four mavericks who possess fine qualities; personality, humour, stunning talent and incredible voices. Drummer Nowell Haskins (aka Rev. Loveday) has the appearance of a man you wouldn’t want to upset, yet a blast of Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ is delivered in an angelic gospel howl which leaves the crowd in awe.

Simi Stone does not sport the typical Americana look; a glamorous Seventies soul sister with a fiddle, she never fails to entertain as we watch her

It’s hard to know where to begin – Autechre’s live set is, to put it simply, an immense sonic projection.

Opting to play in pitch dark, they deprive the listener of one major sense, encouraging them to lose themselves in the sound and disengage from their surroundings. One half of the Mancunian duo revealed recently in an interview, “[Touring is] like its own project. We love it. It’s not like playback, we make new material to play out...” and the one-anda-half hour performance holds true to this, consisting almost exclusively of unrecognisable material. The set itself seems, at first, completely unconnected to the dance-floor as complex, detailed melodies intertwine with ever-shifting timings. It eventually emerges as a shimmering collage of sublime textures and surprisingly groovy rhythms.

For anyone not attuned to Autechre or their sonic philosophy, I take no pride in saying that a performance of this nature may just be enough to break you. For electronic aficionados and open-minded audio junkies on the other hand, a presentation of melody and rhythm this complex is a joyful glimpse into the mind of a pair of geniuses who will never cease shaping the future of experimental music. Matt Hazley

Josh Ritter CQAF Festival Marquee, Belfast Watching Josh Ritter perform live, one is reminded just what an accomplished back catalogue he has built up during his career. His winning smile as he bounds onstage can only belong to a man with five critically acclaimed albums behind him. Records which inhabit a beguiling offshore island where gunslingers rub wings with angels, and talking animals foretell the future. Part folk, part alt. country, it’s difficult to pin Ritter’s music down, but then butterflies tacked to a display case have always looked particularly ugly. What makes his music, influenced by musical deities like Springsteen, Dylan, Prine and Cohen, so attractive is only partly due to the carefully spun lyrics and ear-worming melodies. It’s more to do with the enthusiasm with which Ritter and his band deliver them, turning the black canvas tent roof into the night sky, the fairy lights into the stars. The generous twohour set may be a little too reliant upon songs from the just-released So Runs The World Away, played almost in full and clearly still a stranger to some, but the whole show is delivered with such love and gusto that it doesn’t take long to get to know them. Pretty soon we’ll be old friends. Ross Thompson

The Ambience Affair / Demo Reviews

Unsigned Universe

Words by Chris Jones

More Than Conquerors More Than Conquerors This young Belfast band’s name has been on a lot of lips so far this year, and this EP gives a sense of why. Opener ‘I’ve Done Nothing / I’ve Done It All’ is unpleasantly whiny emo, but thereafter things get much more interesting. ‘Go On Go On Get Out’ is a hook-punctured treat, ‘A Crooked Old World’ a little folk ditty that comes on like a low-key Lowly Knights (banjo and all) and the best is saved for last with ‘Home Is A Red Dress’. There’s that banjo again, but this time the gentle plucking eventually gives way to a thwacking great riff and a yell-along anthem. Definitely ones to watch.

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/MORETHANCONQUERORS

Team Horse Here Come The Hurricane Geoff Topley (aka Cruz and Foamboy) will be a name familiar to many watchers of Northern Ireland’s underground experimental scene, and this latest effort is more than worthy of your time.

Employing nothing more than a bass guitar and an analogue drum machine, Topley conjures up a glorious shitstorm of space-rockin’, head-meltin’, bowel-loosenin’ noise. He cites Lightning Bolt as an influence, but in truth this is much more rigid and groove-based in nature, and the reliance on bass doesn’t mean a lack of tunes – presumably it’s a bunch of pedals making all those intoxicating melody lines. Gigs please, now.

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/TEAMHORSEMUSIC

The Ambience Affair Patterns The Ambience Affair’s antecedents are many – they provide an extensive list of their influences on their MySpace page – but with this second EP they succeed in forging an entirely thrilling sound all of their own. Jamie Clarke’s voice is the star – wracked with emotion, full-throated and powerful, there are hints of English folk (or versions thereof like The Decemberists’ Colin Meloy) in its timbre, but the arrangements beneath it are wholly modern. Clarke and drummer Marc Gallagher build up the songs by looping their instruments, constructing an orchestra of acoustic sound, underpinned by hypnotic, throbbing drum patterns. Four songs here, each an organic, handcrafted gem.

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/THEAMBIENCEAFFAIR

THE AMBIENCE AFFAIR

InProfile

and probably won’t, I feel that it always ends up dictating the tone of the songs.

ACT: THE AMBIENCE AFFAIR LOCATION: DUBLIN, 2008 MEMBERS: JAMIE CLARKE (VOCALS, LOOPS, GUITAR, PIANO) MARC GALLAGHER (DRUMS, PERCUSSION) FOR FANS OF: THE DECEMBERISTS, THE ANTLERS, NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL. WEBSITE: WWW.MYSPACE.COM/ THEAMBIENCEAFFAIR

You’re a two-piece but manage to create a very full sound on the recordings – how does it work live?

At first, we were very wary of doing anything on record that we couldn’t do live but the experience we gained from recording meant that we realised that the songs were going to be limited in sound if we stuck to exactly how they are performed live. Now we’re not afraid to make the two things a separate entity.

The Ambience Affair’s music is a bracing thing indeed. An acoustic act they may be, but when Jamie Clarke’s remarkable voice is pitched and tossed over a raging torrent of drums, acoustic guitars, pianos and effects, it’s anything but serene. In effect, they are the yin to so many other acoustic acts’ yang – we’re a long way from the Fleet Foxes here. The Dublin duo have just released their stunning second EP, Patterns, and had a song featured on CSI:NY. Clarke himself answers the questions.

The EP is beautifully packaged – how much importance do you place in your visual presentation?

Both of us are music fans first, and one of the things we enjoy is the artwork on the cover of a CD or vinyl.

Artwork can often be someone’s first experience with a band and so it was important for us to do something we both really liked and suited the music inside. It also made of our EP a bit more tactile at a time when other packaging can be somewhat disposable.

How and when did The Ambience Affair get together?

We met two years ago in a music shop in Dublin.

I had been playing solo for about a year previous to that. I felt there was a need for something extra as the songs weren’t progressing in a way that I wanted. I invited Marc to one of my solo gigs and we soon decided to form the band.

There’s a real intensity and a dark undercurrent to the music – what inspires the songs?

The songs are generally inspired by things that happen to me and people around me. It’s all pretty self explanatory in the lyrics, as I don’t try and hide what it is I’m writing about. I guess because of the nature of what the songs are about, there will always be an angst to the way I deliver them.

Since the subject matter hasn’t changed much

‘Parting Patterns’ was featured on CSI:NY – how did that come about, and has it opened any doors for you?

There are some songs that we recorded on the last two EPs that didn’t really find their feet until we started touring with them and have since evolved and become really popular at our shows. So we want to re-record them as they are now, as they should sound. But there’ll be a lot of new material that will really expand our sound too.

What plans do you have for the rest of the year?

The rest of the year will involve doing a support tour of Ireland in July and our own headline tour in October. This, together with a few festivals, should keep us going. We’ve just started recording and demoing for the album so we hope to have it completed by the end of the year.

—63 AU Magazine—

Annual Subscription to AU Only £13 (€27) Yeah, that’s right, £13.

Right now you are thinking one of two things.

Either a) Hey, I picked this copy of AU up for free, and can do every month from now on, why would I pay, douchebag? Or b) Sweet! I can still get AU delivered straight to my door, and it’s even cheaper than before.

Personally, we prefer people who respond with b). They know where the smart money is. They know that time = money, and by saving the time you’d spend going to pick up your copy of AU, you’ll actually be better off financially. Plus, they’ll get the download link to an exclusive subscribers’ compilation of new music.

If you want to join the clever people in what we are now calling Column B, all you have to do is pop a cheque for £13 (or €27) made payable to Alternative Ulster Ltd in the post to AU Magazine, The Marquis Building, 89-91 Adelaide Street, Belfast, BT2 8FE. Alternatively, you can send the payment via PayPal to info@iheartau.com.

All prices include postage and packing. In fact, the price pretty much just covers P&P, that’s how dead on we are.

AU Subscription Form Name: Address:

Postcode: Email: Preferred Starting Issue: —64 issue 65—

Sc AU’s Irish Festivals Guide 2010

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AIR

AU's IRISH FESTIVAL GUIDE 2010

Over the next five pages, we’ll pick out the highlights from the bumper crop of festivals on offer throughout Ireland this summer. From city centre arts festivals to rave-ups in the country, there’s plenty to get your teeth into. Diaries at the ready!

DJ S

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trans It’s the same every year. As soon as Belfast is blessed with even the slightest glimpse of sunlight and blue cloud, people immediately bust out the vest tops and high factor lotion and zip to the park as fast as their flip-flops can carry them.

It’s perfectly understandable. After months lumbering beneath a panoply of dour, dreekit rainclouds, it’s a welcome relief to spend some time outdoors. This period is also popularly known as festival season. One could spend every weekend of the holiday inside a sweaty tent watching Skinny Jeans and the Talentless Hopefuls, or eating overpriced burritos in the vain hope that you won’t be juddering from a severe case of food poisoning two hours later.

Thankfully, there are other events that dare to do something a little differently, and Northern Ireland is particularly fortunate to have the likes of trans. Rather than sticking its claw into your pocket to pilfer your wallet, this non-commercial arts festival offers several weeks of gigs, exhibitions and seminars purely out of goodwill and a desire to see the city centre come alive with the arts. It might sound like hokum, but this ideology, refined over the past five years, drives a dedicated band to organise such a rich variety of activities. This year’s trans, which runs from July 3 to 23, is just as diverse as in recent years. Not only are there courses in photography, journalism,

broadcasting, animation, puppetry and web design to name but a few, there are also concerts from the likes of Not Squares, Heliopause, Kowalski, Cashier No.9 and The Continuous Battle Of Order, whose recently released debut album is creating more ripples than an anvil falling into a duck pond.

Amidst all the book fairs, music quizzes and ping-pong championships (yes, seriously), there are performances from some seriously big names in the music business. Sure to be extremely popular will be DJ sets from Gilles Peterson and Hydroponic, who round off the festival at the Waterfront Penthouse Bar. Elsewhere, French sonic sailors Air bring their cool-as-getout electronic vibes, while the always value for money DJ Shadow fills the Ulster Hall with a unique and interestingly strange take on hip-hop.

See him play live and you’ll understand why everyone from Thom Yorke to Mike D are paid in full members of his fan club. Ross Thompson In A Nutshell: Making July in Belfast fun since 2006.

Don’t Miss: Air, DJ Shadow, Gilles Peterson.

Where & When?

Various venues in Belfast, June 3-23 How Much? £varies – each event is ticketed separately.

More Info: www.transbelfast.com

—65 AU Magazine—

Sc Subbacultcha

AU’s Irish Festivals Guide 2010

AU's IRISH FESTIVAL GUIDE 2010 Celtronic

Every year in June, Northern Ireland’s second city plays host to all manner of debauchery, as for five days its finest venues are given over to the Celtronic Festival. 2010 is Celtronic’s 10th anniversary, and as ever they’ve put together a crack line-up of big-name DJs and ferocious live acts – among those peddling their own wares are NI’s very own Phil Kieran, Boxcutter and Space Dimension Controller, while the DJing line-up features Andrew Weatherall, David Holmes and Scuba.

Get your rave shoes on.

In A Nutshell: Like Ibiza, but really really not.

Don’t Miss: Andrew Weatherall, Scuba, Phil Kieran (live).

Where & When?

Various venues in Derry, June 23-27 How Much? £30 for entry to every event.

More Info: www.celtronicfestival.com

CELTRONIC

Willowstone When the organisers of the Innishfree Festival decided they’d had enough of lugging everything you need for a festival to an uninhabited island in Donegal, they looked closer to home. Thus Willowstone was born. It’s a teeny-tiny affair in picturesque Co. Down, with lots of art installations and local food and drink, but this year’s line-up has a heavyweight feel to it, headed by hairy muthas The Answer. From stadiums in the USA to a park in Killyleagh. Nothing like a change of scenery, eh?

In A Nutshell: Garden fête, Co. Down style.

Don’t Miss: The Answer, Cashier No.9, John, Shelly & The Creatures Where & When?

Killyleagh, Co. Down, July 3 How Much? £26/£32 More Info: www.willowstonefestival.com

Glasgowbury The Big Daddy of Northern Ireland’s independent festival scene, Glasgowbury keeps rolling on, a decade after Paddy Glasgow first put on a charity gig under the name. Nestled deep in the Sperrins near Draperstown, the festival has a cosy vibe but big ambition – small but MASSIVE as they like to put it. This year’s line-up is yet to be announced, but expect a shedload of quality NI bands as well as (we hope) the best of the rest of Ireland.

In A Nutshell: A cross between Glastonbury and a Duke of Ed expedition.

Don’t Miss: Buckfast on a Co. Derry hillside at 3am.

Where & When?

Eagles Rock, Draperstown, July 24 How Much? £TBC More Info: www.glasgowbury.com

GLASGOWBURY

—66 issue 65—

AU’s Irish Festivals Guide

THE FUTUREHEADS

Take It To The Bridge Brand new on the scene is this impressive-looking shindig outside Banbridge, Co. Down. I say impressive because for a small start-up festival to attract headliners of the calibre of The Futureheads is really quite something. A one-day event, it also features festival favourites And So I Watch You From Afar, The Complete Stone Roses (stop sniggering at the back) and a host of choice NI upstarts – Panama Kings, Strait Laces and A Plastic Rose to name three of them. And it’s going head-to-head with nearby Willowstone – FITE!

Sea Sessions Surely the most relaxed of all the festivals on these pages, this one takes place near the beach at Bundora, Co. Donegal. Surfing country, in other words. If the weather is good, Sea Sessions is a no-brainer. We’ve seen stronger line-ups, but it has its moments, including David Holmes, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and Andrew Weatherall, as well as festival perennials Fun Lovin’ Criminals, who still appear to pull in the crowds. Really though, it’s as much about the laid-back party atmosphere and the setting. Lovely.

In A Nutshell: Beach bums and Donegal sun.

Don’t Miss: Hypnotic Brass Ensemble.

Where & When?

Bundoran, Co. Donegal, June 25-27 How Much? €79.95 More Info: www.seasessions.com

In A Nutshell: The start of something big?

Don’t Miss: The Futureheads. In Banbridge. We know.

Where & When?

Corbet Lough, nr Banbridge, Co. Down, July 3 How Much? £25 More Info: www.takeittothebridge.info

LE MB NSE E S HYPNOTIC BRAS

SEA SESSIONS

—67 AU Magazine—

Sc AU’s Irish Festivals Guide 2010

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CASTLEPALOOZA

Castlepalooza

Pigstock

Is this Electric Picnic’s shy little brother?

Castlepalooza has the beautiful setting – Charleville Castle in Co. Offaly – the ‘boutique’ credentials and the extremely tidy line-up (headed by Mercury Rev and bolstered by lots of top Irish talent including Fionn Regan, The Cast Of Cheers and Tu-Ki) to make it a viable alternative. And how many festivals do you know of where you can wander around an old castle while you’re there?

Tempting, to say the least.

Co. Down is well-stocked for tiny little festivals and here’s another one – this time in Killinchy.

From the video posted on their website of last year’s event, it looks like quite the cosy party, and the line-up isn’t bad either. Original headliners LaFaro had to pull out due to touring commitments, but A Plastic Rose have stepped into the breach, supported by Axis Of, The Lowly Knights and more. At £20 for the day you can’t go far wrong.

RE V

In A Nutshell: Small but perfectly formed.

Don’t Miss: Mercury Rev, Adebisi Shank, the castle.

Where & When?

Charleville Castle, Tullamore, Co. Offaly, July 31 - August 1 How Much? €99 More Info: www.castlepalooza.com

Y

R CU MER

—68 issue 65—

PIGSTOCK

In A Nutshell: Punching above its weight.

Don’t Miss: The Lowly Knights.

Where & When?

Killinchy, Co. Down, May 29 How Much? £20 More Info: www.pigstockfestival.com

AU’s Irish Festivals Guide 2010

Dot Dot Dot...

The Best Of The Rest In Live Music Monday, May 17 Pendulum Ulster Hall, Belfast (May 18, Olympia, Dublin) Kele Spring & Airbrake, Belfast Tuesday, May 18 Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed & The True Loves Speakeasy, Belfast (May 19, Academy, Dublin)

LIFE

Electric Picnic

Life

As it has expanded, so the brickbats have started flying around, but Electric Picnic is still an exceptional festival, one that benefits from an imaginative booking policy as well as an enormous variety of attractions, not just the music. Having said that, you’d want a lot of bang for your 240 bucks and this year you definitely get it. Frankly, the line-up is stellar, with its usual mix of veterans, curios and acts at the top of their game. It’s shaping up to be a hell of a weekend.

Ireland’s answer to the English Glade festival boasts a stunning setting at Belvedere House Gardens in Co. Westmeath, and an equally stunning line-up, headed by techno superstar Ricardo Villalobos. But the festival caters for all manner of electronic and dance fans – LTJ Bukem, Mad Professor, Ben Sims and Surgeon, Joker and Japanese Popstars all put in live or DJing appearances over the weekend.

In A Nutshell: Ireland’s best festival line-up.

Don’t Miss: LCD Soundsystem, Fever Ray, Roxy Music.

Where & When?

Stradbally, Co. Laois, September 3-5.

How Much? €240 More Info: www.electricpicnic.ie

In A Nutshell: Electronic madness in genteel environs.

Don’t Miss: Ricardo Villalobos, Joker, a wander in the grounds.

Where & When?

Belvedere House Gardens, nr Mullingar, June 4-6.

How Much? €105 More Info: www.life-festival.com

Wednesday, May 19 The Brian Jonestown Massacre Spring & Airbrake, Belfast (May 20, Academy, Dublin) A Sunny Day In Glasgow, The Jane Bradfords Speakeasy, Belfast (ASDIG: May 17, Roisin Dubh, Galway; May 18, Whelan’s, Dublin) Faithless Olympia, Dublin Venetian Snares, Sunken Foal Crawdaddy, Dublin Villagers Set Theatre, Kilkenny (then touring) Thursday, May 20 FM Belfast, Uber Glitterati Stiff Kitten, Belfast Wolf Parade Vicar Street, Dublin Hurts Whelan’s, Dublin Friday, May 21 The Lowly Knights No Alibis Bookstore, Belfast In Case Of Fire Nerve Centre, Derry (May 22, Cellar Bar, Draperstown; May 28, Auntie Annie’s, Belfast)

BEN THE FROST JAPANESE POPSTARS

Cork; May 23, Auntie Annie’s, Belfast) Wednesday, May 26 Marina and the Diamonds Speakeasy, Belfast (May 27, Tripod, Dublin) Thursday, May 27 Duke Special An Grianan Theatre, Letterkenny (then touring) Friday, May 28 Frank Turner Mandela Hall, Belfast (May 29, Academy 2, Dublin; May 30, Cypress Avene, Cork) Chic Tripod, Dublin The Joy Formidable Academy 2, Dublin (May 29, Spring & Airbrake, Belfast) New Young Pony Club Cypress Avenue, Cork (May 29, Button Factory, Dublin; May 31, Stiff Kitten, Belfast) Saturday, May 29 Annie Mac Presents: Annie Mac, Delphic, Skream, DJ Zinc, Greenmoney Ulster Hall, Belfast The Cast Of Cheers, The Alice Kona Band Lavery’s Bunker, Belfast Friday, June 4 Shine: Ricardo Villalobos, Phil Kieran, John McIver & Daniel Simpson QUBSU, Belfast Saturday, June 5 Snow Patrol, Lisa Hannigan, Band Of Horses, General Fiasco Ward Park, Bangor

Ganglians Whelan’s, Dublin (May 22, Menagerie, Belfast)

Tuesday, June 8 Rage Against The Machine, Gogol Bordello, Gallows O2 Arena, Dublin

Dan Sartain Crawdaddy, Dublin (May 22, Myrtleville Pine Lodge,

Thursday, June 10 Devendra Banhart Button Factory, Dublin —69 AU Magazine—

Sc Big Screen

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BIG SCREEN

BOMBS AWAY

Belfast movie explodes onto the big screen

Words by Andrew Johnston

RUPERT GRINT AS MALACHY

Despite award-winning directors and a score by David Holmes, Northern Ireland-shot-and-set teen flick Cherrybomb sat on the shelf for nearly two years.

Stars Rupert Grint and Robert Sheehan tell AU how an online petition by fans helped get the film in cinemas.

“On Harry Potter, it’s a scene a day, or sometimes a scene a week. On this, we shot 11 scenes on the first day.”

Rupert Grint —70 issue 65—

Cherrybomb seemed like a sure thing. The comingof-age drama had award-winning directors (husband-and-wife team Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa) and a trio of hot young leads (Rupert Grint, Robert Sheehan and Kimberley Nixon – aka the ginger one from Harry Potter, the mouthy one from Misfits and the bitchy one from Angus, Thongs And Perfect Snogging). Middletown man Daragh Carville wrote the script, and superstar DJ David Holmes did the soundtrack.

seeing their Harry Potter hero sans shirt, bumping uglies with Kimberley Nixon’s femme fatale. “The sex scene was quite daunting,” laughs Rupert. “It was probably a lot harder for Kim, because a lot more of her is seen! We got through, but it wasn’t easy.” Nights out in Belfast helped the cast get to know one another, but Rupert says there wasn’t much time for partying: “The whole shoot was about three weeks, so there wasn’t a lot of time for anything.”

Yet Cherrybomb, which was filmed in Belfast and Newtownabbey in the summer of 2008, sat on the shelf for nearly two years. Sheehan, who plays troubled teenager Luke in the movie, explains: “In the hard economic times, there weren’t a lot of small films being picked up by major distributors.

They were just going with all the safe bets. But the fact that Rupert’s fans started this petition, and got 10,000 people to sign it, made Universal sit up and go, ‘There’s a huge market for this film if we bring it out’.”

For an actor more used to the multi-million-pound Potter franchise, the low-budget Cherrybomb was a wake-up call. “Everything felt a bit out of my comfort zone,” says Rupert. “Because I’m so used to working with a crew that I’ve known since I was 10, it was like stepping into the real world. On Harry Potter, they can shoot all day on one shot and it doesn’t make much difference to them. It’s a scene a day, or sometimes a scene a week. On this, we shot 11 scenes on the first day.”

Grint, better known as bumbling Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films, stars as straight-A student Malachy in Cherrybomb. He says, “The petition really blew me away. It makes you think how important the fans are, and how powerful the internet can be.” Rupert, who, with average annual earnings of £2.6million, is one of Britain’s biggestgrossing young stars, recognises the importance of the fans. “They’re vital,” he says. “They’re the people who buy the tickets, and now they’re also helping us get the film out there.”

Grint’s followers (and he has at least five fansites’ worth of them) were enticed by the prospect of

Sheehan, who was virtually unknown at the time of filming, is now a major name courtesy of E4 series Misfits. He recently shot his first blockbuster, the Nicolas Cage-starring Season Of The Witch.

“That was a monster,” says Robert. “It was a huge picture, and you don’t feel like any part of it. You’re just called in, sat on a horse and told ‘Go!’ You ride up 20 yards, and then you give the horse back to the wrangler and you piss off back to your trailer for an hour. You think, ‘Have I done any work on this movie? Am I even in this?’”

Robert has fond memories of working on Cherrybomb. On his first day in Belfast, he met Ulster actors Lalor Roddy and Paul Kennedy

Cherrybomb

LITTLE SCREEN

it called from the south

David Simon’s new drama Treme hits our screens

RUPERT GRINT, KIMBERLEY NIXON AND ROBERT SHEEHAN IN CHERRYBOMB

“Belfast has changed and it’s a wonderful city to live in and play in. Cherrybomb is a story that could be set anywhere.”

Robert Sheehan (who play Luke’s father and brother respectively), expecting to work on scenes and rehearse dialogue.

Instead, they went for a pint. “We went down the pub and drank for a few hours and had a laugh,” says Robert. “They made me feel very much at home.”

Now that Cherrybomb is out there, all involved are hoping audiences will turn up to see it. The story is certainly edgy enough. It’s that old chestnut of boys meet girl, girl encourages a ruthless

ROBERT SHEEHAN AS LUKE

competition for her heart and it ends in a mess of crashed cars, split heads and James Nesbitt boffing teenagers in a leisure centre storeroom.

Although Cherrybomb takes place in Belfast – and the three leads pull off respectable Northern Ireland accents – there are no references to the Troubles.

This appealed to Grint and Sheehan. “When I first saw the script and saw that it was called Cherrybomb and it was set in Belfast, I assumed it was going to be centred around the Troubles,” says Rupert. “But there’s not even a hint to it, or to religion at all.”

“We wanted to make a fun film that is the polar opposite to that miserable time of the Troubles,” adds Robert. “Belfast has changed and it’s a wonderful city to live in and play in. The good thing about Cherrybomb is that it’s a story that could be set anywhere.”

Cherrybomb is in cinemas now.

How do you solve a problem like Maria? Who wants to be a millionaire? Where are you, Scooby Dooby Doo? Just some of the weighty existential questions asked of television viewers in recent years. To that list one might add the problem of how to follow up the greatest programme of all time. To abbreviate, The Wire. David Simon’s majestic exploration of a Baltimore buckling under the weight of crime, drug trafficking and deprivation has been all but trademarked as the finest drama seen by mortal man.

And deservedly so: speak to anyone, no matter their age, occupation or credo, and they will most likely happily expend an hour parping about how wonderful it was. What then, as a writer and director, do you do next? Where do you turn for inspiration when you have covered the moral dissolution of the police force and the education system?

That’s one question which has been answered.

With Treme (pronounced “Tra-may”) Simon and his team once again set their sights on the state of the nation, focusing in on another largely ignored community. The setting is the titular neighbourhood in New Orleans, “the city that care forgot”, which is still coming to terms with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Thanks to the government’s grotesquely inept mishandling of the catastrophe, many of the folks who live there have seen their lives and livings decimated. The loss of homes, jobs and loved ones is aggravated by the presidency’s lack of concern.

But this isn’t a show about tub-thumping or settling political scores. Treme remains a place of food, friendships and culture. Music is integral to both the location and the culture, most notably the brass band featuring several actors recognisable from their turns in The Wire. The casting right across the board is fantastic, from Kim Dickens (Deadwood) to John Goodman, who is as authoritative as ever.

But where Treme really works is in its slow-burning depiction of an area which you won’t see featured in a Lonely Planet guide. As with its predecessor, the show demands that you ‘lean in’ to become accustomed to the unfamiliar parlance and a broad cast whose mutual connections are not yet made clear.

It’s another assured, compassionate piece of writing which speaks with painful insight about a country with many more victims than a democracy should allow. Ross Thompson —71 AU Magazine—

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Games

JUST CAUSE 2

Console Yourself!

Our regular round-up of the new releases: how to tell which game is a sonic boom and which is a damp squib...

Words by Ross Thompson —72 issue 65—

SPLINTER CELL: CONVICTION (Ubisoft, PC / Xbox 360) Wham bam thank you Sam...

A popular savoury snack was recently rebranded as ‘Man Crisps’, so-called for their oh-so-masculine ridges and intense meaty flavours. Similarly, the latest incarnation of Tom Clancy’s long-running stealth-em-up could be marketed as a proper ‘Man Game’, as it’s packed fuller than Beckham’s jockstrap with broken noses, cracked knuckles and enough swearing to burn out an industrial beep box. You once again are thrown into the distressed combat duds of Sam Fisher, a no nonsense tough nut whose rigorous Black Ops training has moulded him into the perfect killing machine. His desire to kill is fuelled by the death of his daughter Sarah three years previously. Fisher hungers for revenge, and will stop at nothing to hunt down the gun runners and inside agents responsible. The acrid-tasting emotions of loss and bitterness add a welcome human side to a character who could otherwise become a clichéd cardboard cut-out.

However, this sweetness is cleverly balanced with the gruff doffing-up sequences, such as the playable flashback in which a bonding session of bedtime stories is rudely interrupted by an attack on your home.

After a few introductory levels which function as basic tutorials, such as an assault on a kingpin’s

mansion, Conviction plays fast and loose with a format that was in danger of growing stale. The interrogation sequences, in which you bang skulls off toilet bowls and plant faces into mirrors, are a nice touch, more so because the sickening sound effects will cause even the coldest of consciences to judder. So too is the ingenious way in which objectives and directions are projected onto the sides of buildings and billboards. Elsewhere, rather than encouraging the player to burst into rooms all guns blazing, you are rewarded for working out alternate routes: shinning up drainpipes, skulking around in the dark or setting off car alarms to attract lackeys. Fisher has a kitbag of guns and gadgets at his disposal, but like Jason Bourne he can dispatch whole battalions of baddies with nothing but his wits and his bare hands. It’s in moments like this that the game really excels, making you feel at once invulnerable and empowered. Fisher is no superhero – you might be able to snap necks like twiglets and pull henchmen out windows but suck up more than a few bullets and you’re toast. Conviction might have a slower, more thoughtful pace than most games of its manly ilk, but it’s no less enjoyable for it.

"The sickening sound effects will cause even the coldest of consciences of judder"

Games

BATTLEFIELD: BAD COMPANY 2 (EA, PC / PS3 / Xbox 360)

Loving the Battlefield...

If the very public legal pow-wow between Activision and Infinity Ward has thrown the future of Call Of Duty into jeopardy, then the Battlefield franchise will more than happily fill their army boots. The single player campaign, another frantic tour of duty in which the trouble-happy privates stumble across a supposedly mythical secret weapon, may be good if slightly workmanlike, but the online multiplayer is tweaked to perfection. Whereas Modern Warfare 2 suffers from forcing inexperienced players into a die, respawn, die, respawn rhythm, Bad Company 2 is much friendlier to noobs. Larger maps and more evenly pitched team-based play allow you to get to grips with the game on a less punishing learning curve, but that isn’t to say that it lacks intensity. On a vast desert littered with marooned battleships, you can drive tanks, pilot choppers, grab bazookas and jump right into the fray; or you can camp like a cowardly custard and pick off enemies from a safe distance with a sniper rifle. These skirmishes, essentially Capture The Flag and King Of The Hill with lots of bells and whistles, are tremendous fun, leading sessions which stretch into the wee small hours. Be prepared to lose huge chunks of your life to this. As company goes, it’s not bad at all.

NIER (Square Enix, PS3 / Xbox 360)

So Nier and yet so far...

Like trying to catch an icicle, it’s difficult to get a hold on Nier, the latest RPG to be published by the Square Enix stable. After an opening level where you battle will-o’-the-wisp ash demons in a snowblanketed city, the game abruptly shunts forward around a thousand years where your character performs perfunctory fetch quests in a village lifted straight out of Tales Of Phantasia. Just as you’re getting a handle on the titular character’s purpose in life – hunt sheep, visit the library, deliver magical

BATTLEFIELD: BAD COMPANY 2

NIER

herbs – you meet a foul-mouthed hermaphrodite and a talking spell book. Frankly, Nier is absolutely crackerjack, which is fine by me, but won’t necessarily appeal to the average gamer who doesn’t appreciate the weirder aspects of Japanese culture.

As with Sega’s Bayonetta, the designers have thrown every colour of paint at the wall, hoping that the resultant splats will make a pleasing pattern. A riot of ideas is all well and good, but Nier is sorely let down by graphics which look decidedly last generation, especially when compared with the breadth and richness of the palette in Final Fantasy. However, those who persevere will unearth an unusual, offbeat title which is hard to dislike, albeit equally hard to rave about.

SUPER STREET FIGHTER IV (Capcom, PS3 / Xbox 360)

Ken you feel it...

Last year we frothed and mewed about the wonders of Street Fighter IV, a sequel to the classic fighting game which seemed designed to prove exactly why human beings have opposable thumbs. It was challenging in the way that only Capcom games can be, with a difficulty level balancing on the very tip of infuriating, but it was immensely satisfying at the same time. When you mastered stringing combos and pulling off finishing moves you felt like a seasoned

pro. A year later, and we have a reboot of the game, causing some freckled whelps to whinge that they’re being ripped off. That accusation is quickly KO-ed by the modest price tag, not to mention the fact that Capcom have made amendments to every aspect of the game. Not only do we have a raft of fan favourites and new characters (most notably Hakan, a lobster-red Turkish madman who oils himself up before each match), new modes and the prodigal return of the level from SFII where you beat up a car for no particular reason – perhaps it’s a Toyota.

The more time you spend with SSFIV, the more you realise just how thoroughly it has been play-tested.

The whole thing perches perfectly on a fulcrum of pure entertainment, from the gorgeous, cartoonish graphics to the just-the-right-side-of-maddening soundtrack. Enter an online bout and you will soon realise just how much depth there is to this fighting title, how the stats have been juggled and calibrated to keep everything fair and square, thus dramatically reducing the risk of broken controllers. Top drawer, old school gaming, SSFIV gives your adrenal gland a real workout.

BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM (Eidos, PC / PS3 / Xbox 360)

The Dark Knight strikes again…

Another brilliant game bags itself a much deserved re-release. Developers Rocksteady spent a fair bit of time dawdling with the Batman licence, leading to much speculation that the game was a mangy dog in need of being put to bed. We couldn’t have been more wrong, as the end product was worth the wait, and worth its weight in gold. Innovative, reverential of the Caped Crusader mythos and brilliantly scripted, it spliced genres with whatever Bruce Wayne calls gay abandon to startling effect.

Jaws dropped, hearts were cheered and the genes which respond to videogames did a merry little dance. This ‘Game Of The Year’ edition is essentially the same game – though that is no bad thing, much in the same way pizza does not grow progressively less yummy with each slice – but with all the DLC packs included. Further, the game has been smote by the curse of Avatar and re-jigged in ‘Anaglyph’ 3D, a clever bit of technological hokey-pokery which works on all televisions. It’s gilding the lily, really.

If you’re a games fan and you haven’t yet picked up Arkham Asylum, you really must be crazy.

—73 AU Magazine—

NEIL HANNON, WHO IS TO APPEAR AT THE DUBLIN WRITERS FESTIVAL

AN OPEN BOOK

How the literary festival is connecting readers and writers Words by Steven Rainey

—74 issue 65—

Dublin Writers Festival

Festival season is almost upon us, so it’s time to start unpacking the wellies and waterproof gear in anticipation of another glorious Irish summer. But for those of us who don’t fancy watching the Black Eyed Peas whilst waist deep in mud, there is another option – the literary festival. With a well-thumbed copy of Brave New World in one pocket and some reading glasses in the other, AU gets the lowdown on the Dublin Writers Festival from director Liam Brown.

To many, the notion of a literary festival may conjure a somewhat off-putting visual image of academics in their crumpled suits, being highbrow with each other and looking down upon the illiterate, unwashed public. In reality, the literary festival has come a long way, a reflection of the changing way in which people are reading. As ‘blockbuster’ novels impact upon popular culture, so the festivals have changed, eager to connect with the public and make the whole idea of ‘literature’ more inclusive.

The Dublin Writers Festival kicks off on the June 1 and aims to celebrate the grand literary history of the city, as well as showcasing some of the best writers in the world. Over the week, a series of readings, workshops, and musical performances will occur across various venues in the heart of the city, hoping to offer something for everyone.

“I’m not even sure how long the festival has been going!” laughs Liam Brown, director of the festival.

“Certainly, I’ve been programming it for four or five years now, but I really think this year is the best festival we’ve had.”

the writers spend time together, they eat together, and forge friendships with each other. Literature has such a strong relationship with the city, and we want to celebrate that literary heritage – it’s not a cliché to say that.”

The notion of some of the most accomplished writers in the world ‘hanging out’ with each other, and possibly checking out some of the local music scene is an endearing one, although perhaps a little unlikely. Music and literature do mix at the festival, however, and one of the ‘fringe’ events is a look at the relationship between the two art forms with The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon. Strabane’s Paul Brady will also be on hand to discuss his songwriting, looking at his influences and inspirations. Events such at these are potentially a way to expand the appeal of the idea of a literary festival, drawing in people who might not have necessarily deemed something like this to be suited to their tastes.

“One of the things we want to do is extend the notion of writing,” he explains. “What is it that constitutes a ‘writer’? There’s a real overlap between writers and music, and events like this allow them to talk about their own work and place it in a different context. It’s the kind of thing that doesn’t happen all that much, and it’s obviously not for every songwriter!

Crucial to the success of a festival like this is the ‘one-on-one’ nature of the events. There’s a distinct sense that writing will be ‘demystified’, and that this most private of art forms will become more accessible. For something that is largely a solitary pleasure, the literary festival has expanded the appeal of reading and writing, bringing readers into direct contact with writers, and getting a glimpse into the creative process that would hitherto have remained unseen.

“50 or 60 years ago, you wouldn’t have had the chance to do something like this with Hemingway or Kerouac, but now we’re in a position where the best writers in the world see this as a part of writing the book – engaging with their public,” enthuses Brown.

“All the performances are about that relationship with the audience – people meet each other there, and have that shared identity and pleasure. It’s like a gig! The image of someone reading at a lectern for 30 minutes is completely outdated.”

One almost doesn’t want to say it, but could writing be the new rock ‘n’ roll? Probably not, but it’s a sure bet that the Dublin Writers Festival offers a different experience of literature, and one which could have an increasingly attractive appeal for more and more people.

Maybe it is time to hang the welly boots up after all?

“And of course there’s the hope that it helps get people into other things. Literature as a public event can seem stern and foreboding, but that’s changing.

The success of other literary festivals shows that there’s something right in the way these events are happening.”

The Dublin Writers Festival takes place from the of June 1-6 at various venues across Dublin. See www. dublinwritersfestivaL.COM for more details.

Far from being empty rhetoric, the line-up bears this sentiment out. For a week in Dublin, the likes of Ian McEwan and Hanif Kureishi will be rubbing shoulders with Anne Enright and David Mitchell, whilst Neil Hannon and Paul Brady look on.

“There’s a huge advantage to having the festival in Dublin,” says Brown. “Aside from the obvious hospitality the city offers, for any writer coming from outside Ireland, it means they’re probably going to stay in the city and get a feel for the festival. This is really important for us as it means

arts SHORTS Resounding Rivers will take a look at the significant Belfast rivers of yesteryear, which now flow underground.

Six installations will be placed in the city, above or near to the river routes that once existed, and the sound of the water sources will be projected onto the streets. As artist Matt Green of the Sonic Arts Research Centre at Queen’s University explains, “Each of the installations is surrounded by a different body of noise –

ENGLISH WRITER HANIF KUREISHI

by Adam Lacey

some loud and some quiet. All of the sound is supposed to mingle with what is around, never assert to itself.”

Resounding Rivers was launched on May 6, and the six installations will remain at their city centre sites until June 5.

As a prominent entertainer in his day, Percy French wrote internationally popular songs, was a successful poet and painter and during

1889-90 he edited and contributed to The Jarvey, a weekly comic newspaper. A new exhibition by The Percy French Society, will detail the exhaustive restoration process the society went through, with copies of the restored Jarvey on display alongside examples of French’s work.

Percy French: The Jarvey Years runs until June 5 in the Linen Hall Library, Belfast.

Kenneth Montgomery is to conduct the acclaimed Ulster Orchestra in a performance of Glinkas Overture: Ruslan and Lyudmila, Mozart`s Piano Concerto No.26 - Coronation, and Tchaikovskys Symphony No.5. The orchestra will be joined by Louis Lortie playing the piano. There will be a pre-concert talk with Kenneth Montgomery at 7pm with the concert itself

beginning at 7.45pm.

Ulster Orchestra Mozart and Tchaikovsky takes place on May 21 in the Ulster Hall.

Tickets are between £8 and £23.50.

Katya Sander’s A Landscape of Known Facts is a newly commissioned artwork where the artist’s landscape is projected like a lighthouse, a beam that

scans the circular room in a slow, continuous, 360 degree evolution. The exhibition brings to life the history of the panoramic spectacle, while also layering the projected image with iconographic matte painting and textual metaphors.

A Landscape Of Known Facts runs until June 26 in the Project Arts Centre in Dublin and admission is free.

—75 AU Magazine—

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Comics

sympathy for the devil AU gets the skinny on Shadowland – the new mini-series for Marvel’s man without fear

For the last ten years, Marvel’s Daredevil has been put through hell and back. His secret identity as attorney-at-law Matt Murdock was outed in the press leaving him a fugitive; he went to prison; he watched the love of his life get brutally murdered in front of him; and now his home in Hell’s Kitchen, New York has been utterly destroyed in an explosion, leaving hundreds dead. This July ol’ Hornhead begins his fight back in the new mini-series Shadowland, which sees DD blur the lines between good and bad forever. We caught up with series writer Andy Diggle to talk about Matt’s increasingly dark future.

Words by Edwin McFee

Since you inherited the title last year from Ed Brubaker, you’ve focused quite a bit on Daredevil’s new role as leader of the Hand. Can you give us a little background on why Matt has decided to build this underground prison called Shadowland?

Andy Diggle: “Matt Murdock’s personal life has never exactly been a bed of roses, but recent events have taken their toll. We’ve seen him beaten down and pick himself back up again in the past but this time it’s different. This time it isn’t just the work of a lone villain. This time, everything Matt believes in has been undermined. The justice system itself, the cornerstone of his chosen profession, has been turned on its head by the appointment of Norman Osborn to run H.A.M.M.E.R. They say all it takes for evil to prevail is that good men stand by and do nothing, and recent events have forced Matt to acknowledge the fact that the world has gone to hell while he’s been wrapped up with his own little problems. So now he’s going to do something about it. He’s forced to become a player in the wider Marvel universe at long last.”

How do you feel about Matt leading the Hand, from a story-telling perspective? They are his mortal enemies, after all.

Diggle: “Matt’s always been a very driven, self-righteous character but of course every villain believes himself to be the hero of his own story. Matt is walking the road paved with good intentions, but we all know where that leads. So putting Matt in charge of the Hand is a great way of

—76 issue 65—

addressing these fundamentally dramatic questions.

Where is the line between good and evil drawn?

How far is too far?”

We see that according to the upcoming solicits DD is going to be meeting the Avengers this summer...

Diggle: “The Avengers do appear in the story, but the focus is on the so-called ‘street level’ heroes rather than the world-savers. Daredevil has declared martial law in Hell’s Kitchen, enforced by his army of Hand ninjas and that means the NYPD have been kicked out of the neighbourhood.

Obviously this raises a few eyebrows, but given the temporary security vacuum that exists after the

Comics

My Favourite Comic Bill Bailey events of Siege, the powers-that-be are willing to let it slide... for now. But the Avengers are keeping a close eye on the situation, and they ask Danny Rand [Iron Fist] and Luke Cage, as two of Matt Murdock’s oldest friends, to have a quiet word with him. Matt’s reaction to their friendly ‘intervention’ sets the stage for what’s to come.”

With the five issue Shadowland mini series running concurrent with the main Daredevil title, are you planning to write it all yourself?

Diggle: “I’m writing Shadowland myself, but co-writing Daredevil with my friend Antony Johnston. I tend to be rather slow and disorganised, whereas Antony’s fast and disciplined, so we complement each other well.

There will also be various spin-off one-shots and

minis featuring characters from the series, from some top-secret creative teams Marvel won’t let me reveal quite yet too.”

Finally Andy, can you tell us any teasers about the up-coming mini-series? We’ve heard issue 1 is going to have the world talking in the same way the death of Captain America did...

Diggle: “The very last page of Shadowland 1 will get people talking, I can guarantee it. It’s something that’s been building up for a long time. Years, in fact. It’s a character-defining moment, and something that Matt Murdock will have to carry with him forever.”

ISSUE ONE OF DAREDEVIL: SHADOWLAND SHIPS THIS JULY. CHECK OUT WWW.MARVEL.COM FOR MORE DETAILS.

“To be honest, I can’t enough of comics. Unlike other fans, though, I came to the medium quite late and I got into them again through the Dark Knight film. My son’s also crazy about Marvel comics and I’ll read a lot of his too. Some people may already know this, but the Bill Bailey logo I originally had on my t-shirts was a rip off of Bastard Bunny. Bastard Bunny is probably my favourite comic ever. It had this great logo with a rabbit with floppy ears and stuff and it was a riff on the Warner Bros logo and I got into comics through the guy who did that [Dave Anderson].

“I’ve a very modest comic collection though. I’ve been approached to write comics before and I’d love to do it. This year I’ve decided that I’m going to really focus on my writing, so you never know, I may end up doing one myself. I love the way you have completely free reign with your imagination and you can allow yourself to go into a realm you can’t realise in stand-up.”

BILL BAILEY IS A STAND-UP COMEDIAN, MUSICIAN AND KEEN BIRD ENTHUSIAST (no sniggering at the back).

SUPER SHORTS By the time you read this we’re sure you all have seen the big screen adaptation of Mark Millar and John Romita Jnr’s Kick-Ass and news reaches us that a mint condition first printing of issue number one is starting to sell for around $80 already, so if you find one in a back issue bin then make sure you pick it up as it’s only going

to increase in value. However if you were daft enough to miss out on the comic the first time around and ignored our Kick-Ass spread from two years ago (doesn’t time fly?) then you deserve all you get.

Good news for fans of the original Allan Heinberg and Jimmy Cheung run of Young

Avengers. The super-star scribe and penciller are to team up for the long awaited Avengers: the Children’s Crusade and sees our heroes search for the utterly mental (but still quite foxy) Scarlet Witch. The mini-series lasts for nine issues and begins in July.

In the month since we last

brought you our comics section, some of the cast for the upcoming Captain America: the First Avenger has been revealed. Playing Steve Rogers himself will be Chris Evans (the American dude who played the Human Torch in the Fantastic Four films, that is) while Bucky is played by Sebastian Stan (Gossip Girl), Hayley Atwell

(Mansfield Park) is Cap’s love interest Peggy Carter and Hugo Weaving (Lord of the Rings) will be the Red Skull. The film will be released on July 22, 2011 in America and a UK/Irish date is to follow.

Staying with Marvel movies, Buffy creator Joss Whedon is mooted to look after the

Avengers film once Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America all hit the silver screen. Slated for a 2012 release, the film is also set to feature Nick Fury, the Incredible Hulk, Hawkeye and more, and we don’t know about you, but we’re already excited about the prospect of ol’ green genes handing Thor’s ass to him on the big screen. Excelsior!

—77 AU Magazine—

Sc Here's Looking At You(Tube) / Weird Wide Web

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Here's Looking At You(Tube) The Kids Are Alright

‘Youth is wasted on the young’, so the old saying goes. Too true – when your AU correspondent was a nipper his folks tried to introduce him to karate, minirugby, swimming, piano, French lessons and any number of other potentially life-enriching pastimes. Sadly, all AU wanted to do as a child was lie on the settee and watch cartoons. The result?

The grown-up AU is now an expert at precisely nothing. Except cartoons. If only we’d shown a bit of gumption and followed the example of these dedicated youngsters, maybe we too could’ve been a contender. Of course, the main difference is that these kids actually have talent. The little bastards.

Words by Neill Dougan

TALLAN LATZ

WEIRD WIDE WEB Surf Far, So Good UN-TRUTHS A nifty parody of Wikipedia (even laid out exactly in exactly the same style), Uncyclopedia bills itself as “an encyclopedia full of misinformation and lies”, and rather amusing it is too. The best way to get your teeth into this world of made-up guff is to simply click on ‘random page’ and wonder at the nonsense that appears. Among the random pages thrown up during AU’s exhaustive research were articles on ‘Cowbear’ (awesome), ‘Kitten Huffing’ (completely insane) and ‘You’re Trapped’ (even more insane). And you have to love a site that prefaces its more risqué pages with the disclaimer: “WARNING! This article is designed to offend. If —78 issue 65—

DAVES HIGHWAY

GRACE IS THE WORD Here’s fresh-faced Christian vocal group Daves Highway (consisting of three chirpy American siblings) performing gospel standard ‘Amazing Grace’, and pretty impressive it is too. Not only is their sweet harmonising enough to almost bring a tear to the eye of a grown man, but they’re unfailingly polite as well, thanking everyone at the outset for watching their videos. It’s also an interesting incongruity watching the angelic trio deliver the line about saving “a wretch like me”. Great stuff, then – but could they do ‘Raining Blood’ by Slayer? Not bloody likely.

TINYURL.COM/DAVESHIGHWAY

THE BOY CAN PLAY Have you ever actually watched a children’s football match? Well AU unfortunately has and it’s not entertaining. The ball’s always too big for them, for one thing, they get knackered easily and they have frankly no understanding of the offside law whatsoever. But, crikey, check this kid out – a sixyear-old French lad with quite unbelievable skills.

It’s actually quite amusing to watch, as the pint-sized

you are not offended by it, please edit it so you will be in the future.”

Pele’s opponents literally cannot get the ball off him.

Step-overs, drag-backs, outrageous flicks – this youngster makes Cristiano Ronaldo look like Carlton Palmer.

TINYURL.COM/FOOTBALLKID

WOKE UP THIS MORNIN’... HAD TO GO TO SCHOOL “When he’s up on stage, he’s anything but a normal kid.” So says the father of Tallan Latz, who at eight years old is a phenomenal blues guitarist. Check out the amazing footage of the young fella playing in clubs with proper blues outfits, and more than holding his own. Pretty unbelievable, and endearing too as an animated Tallan excitedly describes what the guitar means to him and his plans for the future.

Of course what Tallan doesn’t realise is that by the time he’s of age to earn a crust, all music will be made by robots and piped directly into our brains via a specially-implanted microchip, thus rendering all musicians superfluous. Sorry to crush your dreams, sonny.

TINYURL.COM/BLUESKID

WWW.MYPARENTSJOINEDFACEBOOK.COM WHAT A LOAD OF TWIT

WWW.UNCYCLOPEDIA.WIKIA.COM FACE-OFF As every teenager knows, parents are a nightmare.

Oh sure, they raise you, feed you, subsidise you and give you lifts everywhere like your own freakin’ personal taxi service. But do they have to be, like, so uncool and embarrassing about it all the time? And if you think your folks are mortifying in real life, just imagine the public humiliation in store for you when they join Facebook and – horror of horrors – want to be your friend. Here are some classic examples of parents getting into the swing of the social networking phenomenon – with chastening results for their unfortunate offspring.

And while we’re on the subject of social networking, how rubbish is Twitter? Who the hell wants to read some git’s moronic ‘tweets’ (ugh, that word – someone shoot me) about their mindnumbingly banal life anyway? What, exactly, is the point of it? If you happen to share these views, why not pop over to the Anti-Twitter website, where you’ll find a list of reasons to hate the infernal invention, the ‘Stupid Twitter Word Of The Day’, and shout-outs to celebrities who refuse to ‘tweet’ (ugh – that word again). Props to Tina Fey – 23,000 followers and not a single, solitary ‘tweet’ (aaaaaagh!).

WWW.THEANTITWITTER.COM

Words by Neill Dougan

Story Of The Video / Aaaaaagh! My Eyes!

"aaagh! my eyes!"

The column that tracks down strange images from the deepest bowels of the internet, so that you Words by Neill Dougan don’t have to.

Story Of The Video Axis Of

TITLE: ‘PORT NA SPANIAGH’ DIRECTOR: TRISTAN CROWE Hailing from the North Coast but based in Belfast and London, political punks Axis Of are one of Northern Ireland’s most talked about young bands, with a string of riotous live shows and an ethos that echoes their compadres And So I Watch You From Afar. Their first video is a dark, twisted affair, directed by filmmaker Tristan Crowe. He talks us through its making.

Was this your first time shooting a performance video?

My first ever music video was about three years

ago for ASIWYFA for a song called ‘Holylands, 4am’ which had quite a bit of performance in it.

Having the performance part takes the pressure off and means you have something to fall back on if the other parts don’t work out like how you imagined. Plus I think it’s good for the band to be shown if they are an up-and-coming act so that the likes of promoters and labels can see them perform.

This plucky defender gets more than he bargained for in the form of an unfortunate ass-to-face interface.

TINYURL.COM/ASSATTACK

Did you use any films or other music videos as reference points?

The whole idea came from discussions about the film The Wicker Man. We loved the old murmur masks that were in the film and the whole tribal ritual idea behind it. That was the basis for the idea.

Did the band have much input into the imagery and treatment in general?

Axis Of were amazing. They had millions of ideas throughout the filming process and were fully involved. The bit at the end where they start eating their equipment was all their idea. There were a few bits which didn’t make the final cut as well, such as [guitarist] Niall’s hairy toes working a mixing desk… lovely.

Love tattoos or hate them, you have to agree that this midriff-sized depiction of a bottle of Hurricane malt liquor can only be described as a horrendous, life-wrecking blunder.

TINYURL.COM/TATTSNOTRIGHT

Did you encounter any mishaps or problems during filming?

Some of the filming was done on top of a cliff near the Giant’s Causeway and things did get a little ropey at times. The masks that the guys were wearing were quite hard to see out of and I had them running along a cliff top… Plus, flammable liquids, punks and cliff edges are not a good mix generally!

Words by: Chris Jones

WATCH THE VIDEO ONLINE AT BIT.LY/AXISOF

Wouldn’t you just love to punch this guy?

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/AXISOF

TINYURL.COM/IDIOTHAIRDO —79 AU Magazine—

Sc Local and Live feat. Kasper Rosa, More Than Conquerors & more @ The Playhouse, Portursh

In Pictures

More Than Conquerors

Conor & Chris

Ruth & Finbar

Jamie, Chris, Iain & Danny

Amy & Michelle

Helen, Aaron & Ciara Kasper Rosa

Lyndsey & Mark

Kyle & Lee

Lucian & David

Local and Live The Playhouse, Portrush The first three bands up at the Playhouse were north coast acts Revallagh, Peter Cheuk and Friends and Bulbous Head, all of whom went down really well with their home crowd. Next we had More Than Conquerors, who went down a treat. And last but not least we had Belfast-based instrumental band Kasper Rosa. The crowd were loving it and the band seemed to really thrive on the energy from them.

Words and Photos by Ciara McMullan 63— —80 issue 65—

Justin, Lilly, Eddy & Erin

AJ & Meghan

Gordon

Axis Of single launch @ Limelight, Belfast

Axis Of, Robyn G. Shiels & Visceral Attack Limelight, Belfast For a band that carries a lot of hype, Axis Of never cease to amaze, reducing the crowd to a flurry of limbs and hair within seconds. By the time single ‘Port Na Spaniagh’ starts the mosh pit is in full swing, only lulling for the crowd to chant along to tracks like they’re well forged classics. With this atmosphere the band easily show why they’ve become such a force in the local scene. As the gig drew to a close, Niall Lawler jumped down into the crowd, shredding the last few bars amongst a sea of elated faces, leaving us all craving one more tune.

Words and people shots by: Ryan Martin Live shots by: Chris Flack (www.punksatonyphil.com)

Colette & Michael

Jackie & Tree

Allan, Ross & Dane

Conor, Ross & Declan

Jordan & Peter

Andrew & Lonan

Neill & Charley

Steven & Phillip

Nikki & Rebekah

Christine & Gareth

Axis Of

Robyn G. Shiels

—81 AU Magazine—

Sc Subbacultcha The Last Word

The LastHoof Chrome Word

The Last Word With Tigs of:

Chew Lips "I love Googling serial killers. Chances are, any venue in any city, in the endless hours waiting to sound check I’ll be there on Wikipedia, perusing.

The Last Word

When was the last time you doubted yourself?

No memorable conscious moment of doubt, existence is more of a tightrope; you sort of wobble and lean towards these feelings from time to time, without acknowledging them. I contain doubt and self-belief simultaneously.

With: Lola Olafisoye from Chrome Hoof What was the last thing that annoyed you?

My last relationship, and I’m not going any farther than that!

When was the last time you doubted yourself?

Oh, I doubt myself all the time because I’m a singer. I’m kind of doubting myself at the moment, but I’m trying to look past that. Music can make you feel great about yourself, and at the same time it can make you feel incredibly shit about yourself.

When was the last time you felt vulnerable?

Oh god, I had a nightmare this morning and I was vulnerable when I woke up. [laughs] It was quite a bad one. It’s the end of a relationship and I’m still having the traumas off it.

Famous Last Words When was the last time you felt guilty?

IPhilip did something Larkin, poetbad the other day, but then the (Augustcame 9, 1922 – December 2, 1985) karma back quite quickly.

I kind of stole “I am money, going to but the inevitable.” some I didn’t intend to! I knew I shouldn’t have done it but then it all happened Unnamed Medic in Call of Duty too fast and the person had gone and I felt guilty “I'm sorry! I'm sorry! It's just...so many about that.

I was at aout cash machine and I saw guys are gettin' killed there...it's the money come outshootin' at me and took it when I just...oh, God, they're medics shouldn’t have done. That’s the biggest bad thing too! Oh, God...”

I’ve done. Maybe I shouldn’t say these things…

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What was the last piece of good advice you were given?

This afternoon, my girlfriend said, ‘Lollie, try to take some quite breaths and do some deep Office moves, Jack Frost, Mini Eggs, new breathing exercises –passing it helpsdriving you overcome the threads, multi-jobbing, trauma that you’re going through at the moment’. tests (and failing them), charidee, mass

When was the last tine you did you It’s regret?

Action potential, because I’msomething in a library. to I don’t believe in regret. do with synapses and nerves. I’m doing anatomy at college at the moment and I was just Googling When was the last time you felt guilty? synapses!

Summer. Summer is for naughtiness.

What wasthe the last meal you advice had? you were given?

What was last piece of good Salmon and seaweed, it was in James a Japanese “Have a word with yourself” – from [Watkins, bandmate], regularly. restaurant - £7 for a bento box. It was delish!

When was time you book cried? you bought?

What wasthe thelast last good my nephew and niece were born IProperly, boughtsolidly? one lastWhen week which is You Are a Spiritual last year. Just so overwhelmed.

Being Having a Human Experience by Bob Frissell.

It’s thewas lastthe book three.

I’ve read the other two – When last of time you were embarrassed? the one is called Nothing Newfirst Year’s Eve... it’s a long story. in This Book Is True, But It’s Exactly How Things Are. It’s a really good What was last read argument book, youyour should it. about?

Something stupid and small about the details of the single cover. These intricacies are seemingly endless.

When was the last time you set something on fire?

When was the last time you time you had a fistfight?

Probably my spliff earlier on today.

It’s never happened.

When was time you threw up?

What wasthe thelast last injury you sustained? birthday December.

I wasI don’t like IMy don’t reallyinhurt myselfSambucca. that much.

ALLEGEDLY sleepingiton bathroom floor under pain so I try tofound minimise as the much as possible.

I fur coats. Allegedly. have period pains… That could be an injury.

What was the last good record you bought?

If about to end, what would I’mthe notworld much ofwas a record buyer.

I know that sucks, butyour you last words just get givenbe? so much... Anyway, last record I acquired was The to Biggo Pink, and I like it a lot. I’ve been five or “I want to New Zealand!” six times but I want to live there, so if the world What was the last thing you downloaded? was about to end I’d want to catch a plane and die Colin Farrell sex tape. No joke. It’s pukey. in mid-air, or on New Zealand soil.

What was the last thing you Googled?

CRUSH DEPTHI BY OUT JUNE 7 ONare, Serial killers. loveCHROME GooglingHOOF serialISkillers.

Chances SOUTHERN RECORDS any venue in any city, in the endless hours waiting to sound

recycling, the cut and run.

check I’ll be there on Wikipedia, perusing.

What was the last thing you Googled?

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/CHROME HOOF

—82 issue 65—

What was the last meal you had?

Earlier this evening I had vegetable chilli and broccoli, followed by homemade flapjacks.

What was the last good book you bought?

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk, but it was a gift.

What was the last good movie you watched?

Pretty In Pink on a gals’ night. For fashion warm fuzzies.

What does the last text you received say?

“Just to check you remembered its Dad’s birthday today” (I hadn’t) “Does this make up for me missing yours?!” from my brother. We’re not so hot with birthdays in our family.

DI ME BA GD ARR ELL

When was the last time you offended someone?

Not for a good long while, unless I’ve done it unknowingly.

I’ve always been plain speaking but you learn how to be less of an idiot as you grow up.

What was the last bad job you had?

I used to temp. Good money, extreme boredom, but it ain’t factory packing meat so I can’t complain.

When was the last time you set something on fire?

I accidentally set myself on fire when I was 18 or so. I had problems sleeping and one morning, just before dawn, was lying in bed trying to sleep, smoking a joint. I obviously fell asleep smoking it, as when I woke up the entire bed was on fire. It was a very close call. I burnt the eyelashes off one Dimebag Darrell eye. I’ve been pretty wary of fire – candles etc. – ever since.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS (August 20, 1966 – December 8, When was the last time you were in hospital?

2004)

I had meningitis in my late teens. That was an absolute riot.

“Van Halen!” (uttered on stage while When was the last time you broke the law? playing with Damageplan, a short I never, ever break the law. time before being shot and killed) When was the last time one of your heroes

disappointed Matt Damonyou?

Have you seen the World Iggy Pop commercial? He’s not selling Team America: Police car insurance, he’s selling time, apparently. Also Patrick Swayze, for dying.

“Matt Damon!” (the only words he ever says film) When wasin thethe lastentire time you bought a band shirt at a show?

I haven’t. But I’ve been given a few, from doing gigs with other bands. The Veils one is particularly good.

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If the world was about to end what would your last words be?

“TIGGO!!!!!!!!!” In an Australian accent.

Fatigue, volcanic ash,ALBUM election fever, IS OUT CHEW LIPS’ DEBUT UNICORN Greek anarchists, Gareth Bale, NOW ON KITSUNÉ rapidly disappearing magazines, WWW.CHEWLIPS.CO.UK Active Child, Eyewitness, snooker, the demise of Gordon Brown…

—83 AU Magazine—

—84 issue 65—