ISSUE 3 // DEC 2016
That’s...
We’ve all been blitzed with bad news since the year began, so in this December issue we’re going to try and point out some of the positives of the last twelve months. We’ve pulled together our usual team, plus some guest writers, to pick out their favourite films, TV Shows, albums and sigles from the year. We also scored our biggest interview yet with the iconic Frank Turner who played his 2000th gig this month, as well as announced exclusively with Intertainment the possibibility of not one, but two new albums for 2017. Intertainment has grown much faster than any of us here expected and we’d like to take this oppurtunity to thank everyone involved from our readers, to our interviewees, to the people who take their time to help create our content and put together these issues. It’s cliche, but we really do have some big plans for 2017. Enjoy and stay tuned. - Jack Holmes Editor-in-Chief
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New Stuff Our new site is now up and running, complete with a festive snow effect. Look how smooth it looks! We’ve also got some new leaflets heading out across Manchester, the site of our base of operations.
Editor-in-Chief: Jack Holmes Editors: Evelyn Sweeney and Corey Davies Writers: Corey Davies, George Haigh, Jack Holmes, Kieran Askew, Kieran Bowie, Wes Bowie and Zac Gardiner Design and Page Layout: Jack Holmes and Katina Petrou Photography: Lotte Shrander and Rockets are Red © All Rights Reserved. All Material in Intertainment Magazine may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the magazines ownership. Intertainment Magazine cannot accept any liability for reader discontent arising from our features. Intertainment Magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any article or material supplied for publication or to edit this material prior to publishing. The opinions expressed or recomendations given in the magazine are the views of the individual author and do not necessarily represent the views of Intertainment Magazine. We accept no liability for any misprints or mistakes and no responsibility can be taken for the content on these pages.
Rogue One
Moana
Your Name
Geroge Haigh’s Top Five Films of 2016
Kieran Askew’s Top Films of 2016
Corey Davies’s Top TV Shows of 2016
Frank Turner Interview
Blossoms Live Review
Frank Turner’s 2000th gig review
Zac Gardiner’s Top Five Albums of 2016
Jack Holmes’s Top Five Albums of 2016
Childish Gambino Awaken, My Love!
Jack Holmes’s Top Singles of 2016
Director: Gareth Edwards Starring: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna and Mads Mikkelson Studio: Lucasfilm and Walt Disney Studios By Wes Bowie It’s been a year since ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ was released and in that time it seems to have established faith in the franchise once again. Whilst the 2015 blockbuster wasn’t perfect and blatantly borrowed plot points from ‘A New Hope’, it was a great palette cleanser to the Prequel Trilogy. And so, onto ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’. It’s safe to say that ‘Rogue One’ continues to establish and reaffirm that the Star Wars franchise is not going to disappoint. It is the first of what will be a series of standalone stories set in the Star Wars universe, separate from the anthology series. However, where some things seem familiar to past films and carry the same trends, there are also striking differences. It’s clear that this is done intentionally to separate the standalone from the anthology films. Particularly for the opening sequence absent of the iconic rolling yellow text, as this sets the tone for the rest of film and serves as a warning: This is the Star Wars that you know, but not the Star Wars you’re familiar with. Set just before ‘A New Hope’, the story follows Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) and her struggle to retrieve design plans for the Empires ultimate weapon of mass destruction, The Death Star. There’s the usual Shakespearian family issues that have become a common plot thread in any Star Wars film and the assembled rag-tag team that comes together to try and save the day. So, is it any good? Yes. Is it the best Star Wars film as some critics have been stating? No, and here’s why. The plot is tight and the pace is fast, especially within the first twenty minutes. I lost count of how many new planets we are introduced to within this time alone. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it does mean we are introduced to characters very quickly with little time to get know them. The anthology series can take the time to introduce characters to the audience because their stories are told across multiple films. This isn’t the case with ‘Rogue One’, due to it being a
standalone film, you need to pay attention. I found myself interested in the character’s journey more than the characters themselves because if I’m honest, I didn’t feel any connection to them. This is a far cry from the original trilogy and ‘The Force Awakens’. With these films, I was invested in the characters through the dialogue and interaction with other characters. They cared for one another. Dialogue, whether it’s humorous or not, should be used to create interaction and chemistry. In ‘Rogue One’ the dialogue delivers very little chemistry and not much in the way of the humour and one-liners that we have become accustomed to in a Star Wars film. As a result this leaves the characters feeling sterile and distant. I simply didn’t want to get to know them. That said, this Star Wars film took me out of my comfort zone. It’s taking away the safety blanket that I used to wrap myself up in as I watched the original trilogy when I was a child, and handing me a beer telling me to grow up. It’s gritty and contains very few light-hearted moments throughout. The epic battles between X-Wings and Tie-Fighters (as well as a few new model additions) are included, as are the blaster sound effects. The sets and new planets help to expand the Star Wars universe even further. As I watched ‘Rogue One’ I had to remind myself that the change in tone was something the film was always aiming for. Throughout there are nostalgic references to the original films. Some are integral to the plot and serve to drive the film forward or simply as an ode to the Star Wars fan base, but not to the point where they feel forced or included simply to keep fans happy. The films score deviates from the original more than any other film in the franchise which helps to reinforce that ‘Rogue One’ is something familiar yet different. Overall ‘Rogue One’ is a more mature entry for the franchise and may disappoint some younger fans hoping to see the new BB8 style character. However, it’s Star Wars……and who doesn’t love Star Wars right?!
Director: Ron Clements and John Musker Starring : Auli’i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson Studio: Walt Disney Animation Studio By Corey Davies I love cartoons. I have a particular fondness for Disney films; and I’ve yet to find one that follows what I’d consider the ‘Classic Disney formula’ involving a female lead, an animal companion and musical numbers that I don’t enjoy on some level. So knowing this I went to see ‘Moana’ with high hopes, and I’m glad to say in the end I’ve not been disappointed. Saying that, we’re going to start with what I didn’t find particularly engaging about the film before I get lost ranting about all the things I enjoyed. First and foremost, I’m disappointed to say the worst thing about the film is Moana herself; paradoxically with the setting and story as large as they were ‘Moana’ just doesn’t have room to grow. Don’t get me wrong, she’s entertaining and her story is compelling; but with the world around her being full of detail and the story being so huge her development as a character gets forgotten and she finishes the film exactly as she began it without having grown or changed. Instead, everyone around her changes to fit her point of view. As an example of this same idea executed really well, I’d compare it to ‘Lilo and Stich’, the other Disney film set in Polynesia; over time every other character changes to Lilo’s point of view, but Lilo herself still changes and gains something through the course of the film. Moana, in contrast, is introduced to us as a fully formed character who’s good at everything; she can run the village; she can sail well enough; she’s as confident in her choices without ever being arrogant enough to not like (she does have a brief wobble in the final act but honestly, blink and you miss it). This never changes, the Moana we see in the first ten minutes is the same as the Moana in the last ten minutes of the film; she is, however, the current
to the plots ocean, moving every piece along to its final conclusion, she’s a great plot device, I’m still not convinced she’s a great character. Secondly, I’m not sold on the song ‘How Far I’ll Go’. It feels too much like an effort to recapture the lightning in a bottle that was ‘Frozen’’s, ‘Let it Go’. While the song is still enjoyable, it’s not nearly as enjoyable as the rest of the songs in the film. The soundtrack is penned by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the man behind the Broadway show ‘Hamilton’, and it’s abundantly clear why ‘Hamilton’ is such a runaway success. Miranda has a talent for making songs that are fun, memorable and advance the plot. His skill really comes across, for me, in two of the songs; ‘You’re Welcome’ sung by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson establishes the second half of a world creation saga and sounds as if Johnson was well and truly loving every second of being Maui; and ‘Shiny’, sung by Jemaine Clement (of ‘Flight of the Conchords’ fame), not only involves some stunning visuals, but clues us into a hidden aspect of Maui’s story, and is so well suited to the mannerisms of Clement it’s almost unreal. The cast overall is wonderfully chosen and as a consequence voice acting throughout the film is consistently great, Clement being a personal highlight where every line is solid gold in its delivery. As previously mentioned The Rock delivers a stellar performance that’s made so enjoyable by the fact he seems to be enjoying himself so much. Auli’i Cravalho brings passion and comedy to her role as the title character. I’m also going to mention the fact Hei Hei the chicken was voiced by Alan freaking Tudyk of all people because I just found that out and I need to tell everyone. Overall, while I came out of ‘Moana’ initially underwhelmed thinking it’d be forgettable, it only grew on me over time and I found I couldn’t get the songs or the story out of my head. It is one hundred percent a film I recommend to go see when you get a chance and I’ve probably already recommended it at least once to everyone I’ve spoken to since I first saw it.
Director: Makoto Shinkai Starring : Ryunosuke Kamiki Mone Kamishiraishi Masami Nagasawa Studio: CoMix Wave Films By Kieran Askew So, I should pre-face this review. I like Anime. Over the years I’ve watched quite a bit of the medium, so I didn’t have the initial problem that some might have had getting over some of the animation choices, such as the typical big eyed character design, and so was able to settle into the utter treat that was, ‘Your Name’. It’s the first film that former graphic designer turned director, Makoto Shinkai has been able to secure a wide release for, despite being a well-established filmmaker (his directorial debut was in 1999). ‘Your Name’ has certainly crushed the Japanese box office, grossing $172 million so far, ranking it as the fifth highest grossing film the country has ever seen. The film itself justifies those figures. On face value this body-switching drama-romance presents itself a relatively straightforward piece of work, however as it progresses the film clearly has some grander ideas at work.
In the beginning, the two main characters carry the film with their antics; switching back forth. Watching how the duo and those around them deal with this is a lot of fun, and gives us some nice re-occurring gags. But after a monumental realization (and some wonderful foreshadowing) the film takes a far more interesting turn as it enters its second act. There’s little to no warning of what eventually transpires, and the less I say regarding it, the better. What I can say is, that for a fun-dramatic-romp it comes with a level of thematic depth that I found pleasantly surprising and impressive in its vision. It demonstrates Shinkai’s talents as a filmmaker, and with ‘Your Name’ being the first anime not directed by the legendary Hayao Miyazaki to make over 100 million at the box office, it’s unlikely this will be the last time we hear Shinkai’s name. Male and female, masculine and feminine, nature and technology, love and loss, these contrasting themes, and more, are explored and the film reminds us that through all of these, we’re all still connected. Its target audience of young adults will certainly enjoy the film, but those just generally interested in engaging with Cinema should not skip over this one. This complex movie has a lot going for it, from the many readings of connection and love to more complex interpretations including the impact of Japan’s 2011 Tsunami disaster. Simply put, ‘Your Name’ is a fantastic example of what’s capable in the anime genre, that makes full use of the concepts it presents, whilst being a highly enjoyable and artistic experience. It gets the highest of recommendations from me.
George Haigh’s Top Five Films of 2016 When 2016 starts off with the death of one of the great musicians and popular culture figures of the past 50 years in David Bowie, it now seems scarily fitting that such dismal events would follow. Cue Brexit, Trump and a train wreck of terrible affairs that would follow, it’s relatively safe to say that plenty will be finishing off the year etching for a fresh start. This hasn’t had too much of an effect on cinema releases, however, and it would be undermining of the many brilliant films released in 2016 to suggest otherwise. Although, it has been somewhat of a mixed bag. It’s rare a film packing the emotional calibre of Lenny Abrahamson’s indie-gem ‘Room’ comes along. However, Hollywood heavyweights such as ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ and the ‘Ghostbusters’ remake are starting to feel all too tediously familiar. Of course, the year kicked off with the usual ‘festival favourites’ such as ‘Spotlight’, ‘The Big Short’ and ‘The Revenant’ all deservedly being prominent at the Academy Awards in February. It’s soon approaching the awards season again, a proverbial watermark for cinema releases. Andrea Arnold’s ‘American Honey’, an audacious envision of life on the road in the American mid-West recently picked up the BIFA award, with close competition from Ken Loach’s scalding ‘I, Daniel Blake’ and Babak Anvari’s ‘Under the Shadow’, a British-Iranian chiller that some are considering to be a modern classic. Whilst hotly-tipped Oscar favourites such as ‘La La Land’, ‘Moonlight’ and ‘Silence’ are yet to be released here in the UK, there has been plenty of choices to indulge in. Honourable mentions: ‘Nocturnal Animals’ (Tom Ford), ‘Creed’ (Ryan Coogler), ‘Room’ (Lenny Abrahamson).
5. Arrival
‘Arrival’ is the kind of film that is immediately shoehorned as a sci-fi, and even though it is conventionally science fiction, there’s a real human element to the film too. Along with ‘Nocturnal Animals’, Amy Adams cements herself as one of the finest actresses working today, and it soon becomes easy to forget that she also played, unfortunately, Lois Lane in ‘Dawn of Justice’. Full credit to director Denis Villeneuve too, pushing another genre piece that is completely intimate for something with such sweeping scale. ‘Arrival’ an alieninvasion film not to be confused with the likes of ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’, and perhaps the most interesting and intelligent blockbuster of the year.
4. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Easily the most surprising release of 2016, this New Zealand buddy comedy packs a big heart for a small film. The performances by Julian Dennison (Ricky) and Sam Neill (Uncle Hec) carry the film a long way, even when it occasionally seems to be getting swamped in its own jungle. The humour is carefully placed in the relationship between Ricky and Hec, as the two actors ricochet off one another effortlessly. Waititi’s direction balances the actors on a careful tightrope throughout the narrative, but the humour never feels overbearing, or jarring to the emotional bond in the character development. Instead, ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ by far the funniest film of the year, and oozes for repeat viewing.
3. The Revenant The story of fur-trapper Hugh Glass is brought to the big screen through the poetic vision of the always exciting Alejandro G. Inarritu. The film is a visual masterpiece, with acclaimed cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki only filming in natural light, testing both the mental and physical endurance of the cast and crew involved. It did, however, win lead actor Leonardo Dicaprio a first Best Actor Oscar for his role as Glass. Grunting and crawling through unbearable (mind the pun) conditions, Dicaprio is at a career best here, and is supported by an exceptional cast, including an ice-cold Tom Hardy. This is a film that demands patience throughout its lengthy run time, but is as riveting as it is resonant as the film draws to an unforgiving close.
2. Hell or High Water
A contemporary Western that has the grit of The Coen Brothers and the intensity of Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Sicario’. ‘Hell or High Water’, and ‘Sicario’, both share screenwriter Taylor Sheridan, who conjures a tightly written script that doesn’t feel too distant to Terrence Malick’s ‘Badlands’. Like Malick’s 1970’s classic, it’s film which depicts two people in a life on the run situation, but this time it feels more like ‘Robin Hood’ than ‘Bonnie and Clyde’. Ben Foster and Chris Pine are sublime as two brothers stealing a living from an unfair banking system, both chasing and destroying the idea of The American Dream as Jeff Bridges’ Southern Sheriff Marcus keeps a close call of them. The film is characteristically robust, and the conflicts between Tanner (Foster) and Toby (Pine) assert this a tougher than nails road movie that is blisteringly consistent. It also has one of the best soundtracks of the year, offering brooding desert rock that is perfect for its gutsy feel.
1. I, Daniel Blake
The stand out film of the year, Ken Loach’s comeback is undoubtedly the most important release in 2016. At now 80 years old, this could very well be Loach’s swan song. However, it has enough relevance and recognition to be considered in the pantheon of his great films such as ‘Kes’ and ‘The Wind that Shakes the Barley’. Featuring almost perfect performances from newcomers Dave Johns and Hayley Squires, Loach captures the British working class with such verisimilitude which is staggeringly poignant. A powerhouse of political filmmaking, ‘I, Daniel Blake’ is a must see socialist drama. It demands to be seen not just by those angry with austerity and a ridged benefits system in a post-Brexit Britain, but the Downing Street MP’s that the film asks questions of.
Kieran Askew’s Top Five Films of 2016 I could start this wrap-up by talking about how terrible 2016 was with the cultural genocide that the universe has decided to throw upon us this year. But, I refuse to focus on that, and instead focus on the films, as 2016 was actually a pretty great year for them. Now this is a list but it’s not really in highest-lowest order, I just personally find it too hard to put these fantastic films in any such condescending order. So this is just wrap up of some great movies that I think are very much worth your time.
The Nice Guys
Written and Directed by one of the finest filmmakers out of Hollywood, Shane Black. ‘The Nice Guys’ is a 70’s Buddy Cop comedy that feels like something to come out a few decades ago, but instead it came out this year and we should be so thankful for that. Starring a surprisingly enigmatic Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe the two main leads back and forth banter, a staple of Shane Black movies is on point as usual, but I was surprised just how much chemistry there was between the two of them. A perfect companion piece to Shane’s previous work (such as the equally fantastic ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’) it’s funny, intelligent and a highly enjoyable experience, and so it made its way here to my top five.
Nocturnal Animals
I still find it hard to believe that this is the second feature made by Director / Fashion Designer Tom Ford. I will say that this is probably my favourite feature of the year, not by much, but this is my favourite type of film. From the second you start watching the film you can see that everything has been meticulously designed, it evokes Kubrick, Lynch or Fincher and that is about the highest praise I can give. Everything has a purpose, even if it’s not initially clear why everything was shown is for a reason. For example, the movie opens with a scene of some large naked women dancing, odd, but it serves a purpose. It’s movie direction at its finest.
I, Daniel Blake
Now if you’re reading this you’re more than likely a UK Citizen, and if that is this case, I would go as far to say this is essential watching. Ken Loach (now 80!) paints a bleak portrait of the faceless benefits system in the UK. I think the thing I love this movie so much for is this one of the purest forms of purpose for cinema, social action. It does a wonderfully painful job of showing just how bad the situation has gotten, there is a scene at a food bank that really shows this for what it is. Although I should be keeping this objective, I just wanted to bring something up; I’m from Cumbria and the movie is set in Newcastle, just about a 2-hour drive from where I live, but if you had told me this was set in my hometown, I would have believed you. The main character of the film Daniel could be swapped out with my Grandad (who was also a carpenter) and nothing would change, and that scares the living shit out of me.
Your Name
I wanted to include ‘Your Name’ on this list for a couple of reasons, firstly, ‘Your Name’ is a true example of just why you shouldn’t just subtract anime for stereotypes that are associated with the medium. Presenting far more intelligence than I even expected, it takes the previously underutilised body-swap idea and really uses the most of it, to say would be to spoil it, so I’ll just leave it at that. Personally, I think that this is Makoto Shinkai’s best piece of work to date, as most of his movies, though beautifully animated, tend to be far more face value than ‘Your Name’, which comes with a thematic richness that makes the stunning animation just as good as the film craft.
American Honey
One thing I hope that I demonstrated with this list is a variation in film styles with this list. From a Hollywood mainstream to foreign animation, something that I think that ‘American Honey’ has the others don’t, is that it comes with a certain poeticism. It’s hard to objectively criticise, but through its use of ethereal visuals and somewhat unusual characters, it just feels real. Although it took a very different route, I found that I was having a very similar experience to ‘I, Daniel Blake’ where it all just felt real. There are things to the film that I can say contributed to this; for a few examples the amazing constant handheld camerawork creating documentary realism, or the pop-music soundtrack or maybe the editing with a lot of long drawn out takes, but it just had a pulse to it that made it feel alive and here it is on the list.
Corey Davies’ Top TV Picks of 2016 Stranger Things (Netflix)
D&D references; 80’s film references; a wonderful soundtrack; and pseudoscientific sci-fi/horror? ‘Stranger Things’ was tailor-made for pop culture lovers and is a joy start to finish. Following four kids, a mother and two teenagers trying to get their friend/son/brother back from ‘the upside down’ and a ‘Demogorgon’ Stranger Things is tense, exciting and above all interesting. From a series that is based entirely on pop culture bygones, it’s amazing that it never feels reliant on nostalgia and only ever uses it to accompany and enhance an already wonderful story. It’s no surprise at all ‘Stranger Things’ was renewed for a second season and I personally look forward to its return (and the inevitable justice for Barb).
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (BBC America and Netflix)
BBC has a long and storied relationship with the fantastic works of Douglas Adams, ‘Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency’ is yet another chapter in this. Based on his lesser known series of books by the same name, this is the second attempt at putting it onto the small screen. Starring Samuel Barnett and Elijah Wood the series follows an interwoven web of stories that move across time and space with Dirk (Barnett) and Todd (Wood) clinging on for dear life as they’re dragged across Dirks latest case. Anyone who is familiar with Adams’ work will know it’s irrelevant whether it matches up to the source material, and would’ve tickled Adams more if it not only ignored the books but actively contradicted it. ‘Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency’ (there has to be a faster way to say that) is a fantastic fun from start to finish and goes out of its way to deny any sort of logical thought beyond ‘everything is connected’. It’s a wonderful series for anyone, such as myself, who over analyses everything to have the opportunity to switch off, and let the story sweep you away.
Easy (Netflix)
Another series from Netflix, ‘Easy’ is an anthology series of loosely connected stories about love relationships and sex following several couples. There are a couple of questionable moments throughout and an annoying lack of LGBT men as characters, but no series can be quite perfect and having one try this hard to showcase diversity is a step in the right direction for media representation. ‘Easy’ is far and away director Joe Swanberg’s most notable work but despite this he attracts considerable star power; James Franco and Orlando Bloom both make appearances to star in an episode (even two in Franco’s case). Overall, ‘Easy’ is very much something you can enjoy any number of ways: with enough thought to provoke reflection; enough drama to engage; and enough comedy to make for relaxed watching. This multifaceted nature is much improved by it being an anthology series allowing each episode to be viewed completely differently.
Luke Cage (Netflix)
Despite one lackluster villain in a stupid costume and over frequent use of the ‘n-word’ for my taste; ‘Luke Cage’ was still a fantastic continuation of Marvels ‘street level’ series in anticipation of the upcoming ‘Defenders’ series. Filled with references to the comics and classic hip-hop alike, it’s of the high quality we’ve come to expect from Marvel/Netflix. The series is definitely worth a watch for anyone who enjoyed the previous two shows in the Marvel/Netflix arsenal, ‘Daredevil’ and ‘Jessica Jones’. ‘Luke Cage’ also drops a few references to the impact of black people in the history of America which served to ground the series in a realistic setting, serving as great juxtaposition to watching someone bazooka a building to the ground in the middle of Harlem.
Westworld (HBO)
A series about robot cowboys featuring Anthony Hopkins. If that didn’t do anything for you I don’t know what else I can say; except that the series is clever, engaging and filled with enough tantalizing references to what’s ‘really going on’ to keep viewers on the edge of their seats throughout its ten-episode run. A reimagining of the 1973 Michael Crichton film viewers will have no doubt seen referenced or parodied if you’ve not seen the actual film; ‘Westworld’ is one of a plethora of reimagining’s we’ve seen recently that brings a decades old franchise out of storage. Unlike others, ‘Westworld’ is never overly reliant on nostalgia, instead mostly making veiled references that only the keenest eyed enthusiasts will notice, and probably enjoy all the more for putting in the added effort.
Frank Turner Interview By Wes Bowie and Kieran Bowie With this week’s announcement of ‘Frank Turner’s Lost Evening’s’ four-day event at the London Roundhouse, his documentary ‘Get Better’ due for a special one-night screening on December 13th, and as we discovered in our interview, not one, but two potential albums on the horizon, the future’s looking bright for one of the hardest working punks in the business. We caught up with him before his show in Scunthorpe, to talk life of touring and what’s in store for 2017. You have just this morning announced Lost Evenings in Camden in May, It’s basically your own little Ozzfest, Frankfest so to speak.
I’m excited the news is out.
Originally we were talking about doing a festival in a field and, firstly I feel like that’s kind of been done quite a lot, there’s a lot of festivals now. I feel like The Levellers have Beautiful Days, and I don’t really want to compete with that. I mean I’ve played there and I think I’m playing there again next year and I love The Levellers and all the rest of it. Also financially it’s a lot riskier setting up an outdoor festival, and I think I mentioned it in the announcement, I’m kind of an adopted son of North London, I feel very strongly about the music community there. I mean the Roundhouse is an amazing place so we called them up like “Can we get some dates” and they were like “Fuck yeah”. So it’s gonna be like a festival, we’re gonna have two, maybe three stages in the Roundhouse, we’re gonna have workshops throughout the day, I’m taking over four or five bars around the Roundhouse where we’re going to have side events going on. There’s loads more information to come, the line-up for a start. I’m gonna be playing a different set every night, we’ve got four fucking mental main supports which I can’t tell you about (laughs). If it goes well, then we might do it next year in London, Manchester and Glasgow, or maybe Boston and New York, or maybe Cologne and Berlin, it’s a portable concept. It’s actually quite a simple way of putting it on, from a logistical point of view, we’re just doing four shows in the same venue, which actually makes my crew’s life easier, we don’t have to install toilets or track or anything. I’m really excited about it, we’ve been planning it for a good six months or so and
It sounds like you’ve got a night for everyone? I’m glad you think so, that’s the idea, kicking off with the greatest hits thing, it’s the 10th anniversary of Sleep is for the Week around then, which makes me feel old. Then another night and an Xtra Mile night which will be fun.
How do you decide a specific set list for each of your shows? With a lot of thought, I spend a depressing amount of my day thinking about set lists. Generally speaking, the set lists evolve over time, it’s a bit like seeing the same photograph of someone over a period of time. Sometimes I worry we’re repeating ourselves, but like our sound guy on this tour was away for a few months, he hasn’t been with us since February and the first night of the tour he was like “That was a 100% different set to what you were doing in February” and I was like “Was it! Oh, that’s a relief”. We have pillars in the set, and there’s so much to think about, I want to play something off every record, keep every constituency happy, but you’ve gotta start in a certain way and finish in a certain way and tell the story. I take requests from emails, about a quarter to a third of the set is made up of requests every night. In all honesty when someone requests a song I was gonna play anyway I’m like “Yesss” because it kills two birds with one stone. That does happen quite a lot, but I want to play some more obscure stuff and I know there’s some people that come to a lot of different shows and I don’t want to play the same show every night for them. So yeah, it evolves. Speaking of one of your recent shows, in Doncaster you played a cover of a Counting Crows track. You mentioned your sister was a massive influence, are there any other albums from that era that influenced you? I got into thrash essentially, metal and thrash, and that got me into my brief sojourn in grunge, that got me into punk and hardcore. Throughout all of this my older sister was this lone, tempering voice on my taste of music, Levellers - ‘Levelling the Land’, actually she got me into Tori Amos and I think Radiohead - ‘The Bends’ maybe? But that was the only non-thrash stuff I was listening to for a good decade. She does also listen to an awful lot of toss, I remember she got the 4 Non Blondes single, you know that What’s Up song and she quite literally played the cassette till it broke. To this day that sound brings me out in hives. What was the last album you bought or downloaded? I buy all my music on ITunes generally speaking, I’d love to be a vinyl guy but I live out of this (pats his suitcase) and there’s no way I’m carrying a vinyl collection around in that, it’d make my back worse than it is. I think the last record I last bought was the new Jamie T record, Jamie’s an old pal, haven’t seen him in fucking years, but we started in a similar sort of area, I think he’s hugely talented. Just this morning I was listening to the new AJJ record, Andrew Jackson Jihad, their new album’s called ‘The Bible 2’, it’s fucking amazing. Their singer Shaun is a good friend of mine, they always crash at mine, in London when they’re on tour, we’ve toured together in the past, he’s one of the most original lyric writers I’ve ever heard in my life.
You’ve got your 2000th show on the horizon, you’ve had a book out recently and a film coming out soon. How far do you think you can go? Do you see show 3000? I mean, 3000 is pretty likely. It’s funny, people keep asking “How many shows do you think you’ll do in total”, which is kind of a morbid question, it’s either asking me how long I think I’m gonna live, or by extension how long I think I can sustain a career in music, neither of which are questions I’m enormously keen to address head on (laughs). But it’s funny because I started to think about it, ”Ooo I wonder if I’ll ever get to six figures, 10,000”, and it’s extremely unlikely actually if you do the maths of shows per year and how long I’m likely to live and indeed, how many shows a year I’m going to want to do because you can do 250 shows a year when you’re in your 20’s and I’m 34 now and we’re gonna end up 196 this year and it’s been a fucking hard year. Hold on, that’s 200 a year, if every year was this hard (does the maths in his head) that’s like 40 years of touring without a break, it doesn’t seem likely. I mean I’d love to say yeah, fuck yeah. Now we’ve got the festival, film, book, blah blah blah, I do feel like I’ve been trying to diversify what I do, partly because it’s fun and it’s interesting and all the rest of it, but also because I think that it’s self-interested, in the sense that if I wish to continue to make a living in this world I think you can’t keep doing the same thing over and over again. I mean the film isn’t really my piece of art it’s Ben Morse’s film, I mean it’s about me, obviously, and it makes me want to crawl inside a duvet and die watching it. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad film, it just means it’s a film about me which is like “What the fuck”. Like the book, I really enjoyed writing a book and I actually want to write a book about something other than myself, because that book required zero research, it’s just “Here’s what I remember from the last decade”, piece of piss. I’d like to do a book I’d actually have to do some research to work on. Talking about the book, it was based on the first 1000 shows, how did you pick which particular shows you were going to write about? Well, I just tried to pick the ones that were interesting. One of the things about writing a book was that I was struck by a moment of hubris in the sense that I was just like “Ahhh it can’t be that difficult to write a book”, it entirely can, it’s really hard, writing books is hard. I enjoyed the experience and I learned a lot but it was a lot tougher than I thought it was going to be. First thing I did was line out all the shows and put a little note next to all the ones I thought I could remember an interesting story from, once I actually started getting into it I started trying to theme, like if there were certain points I was trying to make, it was like you make that point with that story and that point with that story. Another thing is people ask if I’ll ever do another book about the same thing, I doubt it is the short answer. I mean never say never, but the interesting point to me about the book was it was about how you get from playing fuck all no one in a bar to playing an arena show. The story of how you continue to be a sort of mid-level reasonably successful artist and sort of doing O2 Academies quite a lot is not as interesting, I mean there’s still a bunch of anecdotes I could tell sure, but it’s like, there was a degree of functionality to the book in the sense that I wanted people who don’t
know about touring who are interested in it to read it and understand what it’s about, or at least how you do it. At your Wembley gig, just before Four Simple Words you mentioned you’d love the crowd to spontaneously burst into a dance routine. Did you know someone is planning one for your 2000th show? I was not aware (laughs) I have seen the dance routine it’s by a girl called Sophie Hocking. What’s your main response to that? I think it’s cool as fuck. I’ll be impressed if it comes off simply because as many people as are planning to do that that’s a song that generally gets the kind of the mosh pits just bleargh so I feel like people who try and line up and do moves are gonna get cleared out, like sandcastles on a beach. I think they’re planning it just for the intro but I’ve noticed you’re not really playing that I don’t want to disappoint, although I have to say, what we were talking about set lists earlier, for the 2000th I’m not taking any requests because it’s my fucking show. But also we’re filming for DVD that will be out sometime next year. The last DVD was 2012. I don’t watch my own stuff regularly but I watched part of the Wembley show the other day and, with all due respect to it, it was a very special show I was watching thinking, goddamn, we’re a better live band now than we were then. You’d hope so, over four years and 800 odd shows, you get better at what you do. I really want to document what we’re doing right now as a band. My favourite live DVD is ‘Live at the Burton Cummings Theatre by The Weakerthans’. They made that and then two years later The Weakerthans broke up, they didn’t do anything special or weird for the DVD it’s just like “This is who we were”. I’m not trying to imply that I’m going to stop or we’re break up as a band or anything like that, but it’s kind of cool to have those moments when it’s like “that’s what we were doing then” so that in 30 years’ time we can go “There I was”. Touch wood. You’re playing the Agganis Arena in Boston next year, it’s understandable that your music resonates in the UK but did you expect it to do so well across the pond? Not when I first went over, I was a bit nervous before I first went over to the States actually thinking like “Here’s a bunch of songs about me being sarcastic about suburbia in England, why would anyone give a toss on this side of the Atlantic?” But I think two things I hadn’t taken into account with that, one of which is that American’s, and particularly American punks, have a very strong strain of anglophilia, like Joe Strummer is God in America in a way that he isn’t over here, and I mean I’m a big Joe Strummer fan, don’t get me wrong, but he’s Sainted there, you can’t say a bad word about Joe Strummer in the States. I mean like so many of my American’s friend like Cock Sparrer as their favourite band and I’m just like “Cock Sparrer?!” I mean I like Cock Sparrer they’re alright, but like… “Cock Sparrer?” Like Laura Jane Grace, for example, favourite band, of all time, Cock Sparrer. I was like “Ok… Really?” I mean to be slightly less mercenary about it, I
think there is actually more that unites people than divides them and if you write about human events and experiences then they tend to resonate with, humans (laugh). The other thing, Boston in particular, we’ve toured with the Dropkick Murphy’s a lot, and wonderful, wonderful, wonderful people they are too, an amazing band. Once you’ve done Boston with the Dropkick’s a few times, which we have, it’s kind of like being handed the keys to the city, you’re alright with Boston then. That’s our first ever headline show in an arena outside the UK and I’m really excited about that, but there’s a bar called McGreevy’s in Boston which is run by Ken from the Dropkick’s, and everyone’s like “Are you going to do the off show there” and it’s like “No, because it’s going to be fucking rammed full of people”, everyone thinks we’re going there, I’m almost keen for people to keep thinking that’s the case, as much as I like hanging out with people and stuff, it’s the end of the American cycle for this album and I kind of want to just go and have a chill with my American crew and have a beer. So maybe not at McGreevy’s. When you’re on tour, what brings you back down to reality, or who? Well, the who question is easy, my girlfriend, she’s constantly knocking me back down to size (laughs). It depends on what you mean by reality really, I’m being slightly contrarian by answering your question in this way. I try very hard not being self-important in what I do and in that role my crew are very good at that. I probably do the least work out of anyone on the crew and I’m painfully aware of how hard they work and the main thing I do with my day is trying to stay the fuck out of their way and trying to make their job easier by doing things like getting the set list in early so my lighting guy can program what he’s doing or something. It’s funny, like every now and then when someone takes time out of their day to be angry with me on the internet, which happens, they go “Well you don’t understand us, because you don’t live a normal life” and I’m kind of like “It’s normal to me, this is what I’ve done since I was 16 years old, this is fucking normal to me”. I understand their point but what fucks me off is that they’re so self-important that they haven’t realised what they do isn’t normal to someone that lives in Somalia or Venezuela. In fact, I don’t think there are masses of use or mileage in self-declared normality. It’s like “What I do is the median and therefore I’m going to judge the rest of the world by it” is a bullshit thing to say regardless of who you are, so this is normal to me and I know it’s not normal to that many people. It’s a minor gripe of mine, but I think it takes a fair bit of narcissism to declare yourself the midpoint of human existence. Is there a song idea you’ve had for a long time that you haven’t quite been able to get right but you’re still determined to finish? Yeah loads, fucking loads. Some songs come fast, the example I was thinking of with that ‘If Ever I Stray’ I straight up wrote that in 30 minutes, it started me dicking around at the start of the sound check and then we didn’t really do much of a sound check because we spent the rest of it shouting “Shut up, shut up” and writing stuff down and then we had a song which was cool. Probably the most tinkered with song I have is ‘The Way I Tend To Be’, I wrote that song long before it came out and there’s about 900 different versions of it, and I’m still not 100% convinced the version we released is the right one, for the record. ‘On The Third Three Years’, there’s a piano and vocal version of that song which I suspect might be a better version than the one that’s on the album. I had the name Christa Mcauliffe in a notepad for a good five years before I
finally figured out how to come at that song (Silent Key) in a way that made sense. Shit, loads, is the short answer to the question. My favourite songwriter Loudon Wainwright the Third, has been touring since like 61, and he’s like, the greatest songwriter of them all, I actually own his old guitar and it’s the greatest thing I own. But he has an amazing tune that he always plays second last in the set, called Tip That Waitress because he generally plays bars that have table service, and it’s just brilliant, the songs like “She’s been up on her feet half the fucking night, make sure you tip that waitress” and it’s great, means he’s popular in every bar he plays in. I’ve got an ode to the bar stuff that I’ve been working on for a while, it’s partly because most of my friends work in bars and I respect what they do and I’m always that prick that turns up five minutes before closing and tries to buy a round for like 20 people and they’re like “Fuck you” and they’re like “Can we have a lock in” and they’re like “No I have to do things tomorrow, go away” so I wanted to write an ode to the bar staff and it’s nearlyyy done, so maybe that’ll be on the next record. That leads us nicely on to the next question, songs for the next album. We’re guessing you’ve started, how much progress have you made? Well, I’m in a dilemma at the minute. This is a sort of mildly exclusive piece of information, I just wrote a concept album, I wasn’t intending to write one, I wrote two or three songs that were in the same vein and then it all sort of made sense. It’s eight women in history who’ve been forgotten by the historical record and I’ve written 15/16 songs in that vein, and then I suddenly went “wait a minute”, I’m not ditching those songs, they will get released, but I’m not sure if that’s the next album I’m going to do. I feel like the world in 2016 is demanding a rather more contemporary comment, and it’s funny because I have strayed away from trying to be any kind of current affairs songwriter, like deliberately for a long time, but it’s sort of hard to. I mean the world is going to shit and I strongly don’t believe music will save the world because its artist commentary and commentary is entirely valid but, people who think Bob Dylan caused the civil rights movement really need to read some books. I do think it’s difficult to be a human and not say something about it, there’s something kind of ostrich-like about, at this moment in time, releasing a record about women in history. I’ve got about five or six songs in pile two, but I was actually writing last night and I didn’t get to sleep because I was writing, so you know, we’ll see. The project for next year for me, aside from everything else going on, is to write another record, but exactly what form it will take has yet to be decided. So if it’s not the concept album, will we see a huge shift in tone? Definitely, in fact, there was a feeling I had when we were creating Positive Songs (For Negative People) that I was emptying a particular creative cupboard. In fact, correlative with that is, I don’t really have any criticisms of Positive Songs and whenever that happens, which is rarely for me, that to me is a signal that I need to do something radically different, because I’ve done “that”, whatever “that” was, there’s no more tinkering to be done. For example, I always feel ‘Love Ire & Song’ was a sort of attempt number two at ‘Sleep is for the Week’. The songs are about roughly the same thing but they’re better presented but when ‘Love Ire and Song’ was done I was like, ‘Cool, done, now move onto something else.’ I feel I need to justify my continued existence as an artist. There are a lot of new bands coming out, album seven by anyone isn’t inherently an interesting thing, so I’m quite into the idea of trying to do something radically different actually, what exactly that entails I don’t know.
Trying to take yourself out of your comfort zone? Yeah absolutely. The practical side of all that is that there are various producers I’m trying to work with. Some producers will turn up and put a microphone in front of you and let you do what you want to do, which is what Butch Walker did, which is what I wanted. I want somebody who is going to fucking deconstruct me as a human, do you know what I mean? I mean I’d love to make a record with Brian Eno, I’m not sure I could afford to, but something along those lines, with someone who is going to tear me apart and make me rethink everything I do. It’s funny because it’s difficult to explain because that doesn’t mean the producer is writing the songs, that’s not what I’m talking about, it’s more about someone who is going to challenge you and rearrange you as a person and then put you in front of the microphone again and you go ‘Oh my God’. Someone who is going to push you? Yeah definitely and Rich Costey did a fair amount of that for us on Tape Deck Heart but I’d like to go harder again down that road and if we end up making a fucking techno drum and bass record then so be it, but it’s unlikely. If you had to pick an all-star band to be a part of who would be in it? I can make this very easy and pick The Band (Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Van Morrison). You watch The Last Waltz, it’s the greatest fucking rock and roll band in history, every single version of the songs they did on The Last Waltz pisses on the original, it’s remarkable. The version of Helpless is so much better than the original it’s kind of embarrassing. Not least because Neil Young is so high when he comes out he can’t remember the chords and there’s only three of them, and yet they still nail that song into the fucking floor. Considering the way 2016 has gone who is one person you would keep in a protective bubble? Because we have lost a lot this year. We have, it’s funny I have different opinions on them. The most keenly felt loss for me in terms of the impact they had on my life was Leonard Cohen. But at the same time, he was an old and ill man and had a long and very fruitful life. I feel like Prince and Bowie perhaps had rather more left to give. Special thanks to ‘Rockets are Red’ for their permission to use their iconic art work for this issue. We’ll be interviewing Jeffrey Everett the mastermind behind the design agency in our January issue so keep an eye out and in the meantime check out his site at www.rocketsarered.com
Blossoms @ Albert Hall, Manchester Date: 3rd December By Kieran Bowie
Off the back of announcing their biggest show to date at the Castlefield Bowl, where they will play to 8,000 people supported by The Coral, Blossoms played two sell out shows at Manchester’s Albert Hall. It is fair to say that the Mancunians have taken the Stockport band in as one of their own, with their devoted fan base selling out every gig the band have played in Manchester throughout 2016. It is yet to be seen whether or not the Castlefield Bowl gig will sell out, with tickets still on sale at the time of writing, but for a band to be playing such a high capacity with only one album released so far is an impressive feat. They follow in the footsteps of bands such as Catfish and the Bottlemen and Courteeners who’ve both played the iconic venue this year. Catfish and the Bottlemen have additionally gone on to play Wembley Arena this year and Courteeners will play Old Trafford Cricket Ground in May. If Blossoms follow a similar trajectory to either of these bands, they will have done extremely well for themselves. The Stockport five-piece recently released an extended edition of their No.1 debut album, which included the b-sides that didn’t make it onto the original release of the album. Following this, the band decided to incorporate some of these songs into their setlist. ‘Across the Moor’ has long been a part of Blossoms’ setlist, but of the b-sides the band played the one that was the most well received by Manchester was ‘Polka Dot Bones’, with lead singer Tom Ogden even turning to drummer Joe Donovan and commenting, ‘This for a b-side?’ Over the course of 2016, Blossoms have played 150 gigs across the UK and Europe, including numerous festival appearances. The band’s live set has benefitted from this massively, and the band comes across as a very tight knit unit on stage. The setlist the band has put together is strong; opener ‘At Most A Kiss’ was a highlight, along with the band’s biggest hit, ‘Charlemagne’, which caused chaos down at the front, with around 15 people tumbling to the floor when the chorus first hit. With it being December, lead singer Tom Ogden added a rendition of ‘Last Christmas’ within his solo performance of ‘My Favourite Room’, alongside Oasis classic ‘Half The World Away’. Ogden is skilled at controlling the crowd, with the atmosphere at a Blossoms’ gig one of the best I’ve seen all year. It’s been a whirlwind year for the band, with the size of the venue and crowd growing each time. Long-time fans of the band will know that Blossoms are set to be much more than a flash in the pan, having worked extremely hard to get where they are today. Touring extensively before and after the release of their debut album is likely one of the reasons their debut was recently awarded the title of best-selling debut album of the year in the UK. Not bad for an indie band from Stockport.
Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls’ 2000th Show @ Rock City, Nottingham Date: 15th December By Kieran Bowie Image Courtesy of Lotte Shrander
To play 2000 shows is a major feat for any artist. When you take into account the nature of Frank Turner’s concerts, this seems all the more impressive. Nottingham’s Rock City was chosen by Frank himself as the venue for this special occasion and it is easy to see why he did as Rock City is one of the best venues in the country. The acoustics are great and is one of a select number of venues that is small enough to still feel intimate whilst still allowing a sizeable crowd without feeling too packed in. Joining Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls on this special occasion was Jay, otherwise known as his stage name, Beans on Toast, a long-time friend of Frank’s, whom Frank discovered playing in the Nambucca bar that he references in a number of his songs. The other support for the night was The Tailors, a band that Frank claimed was his favourite ever band. This was the band’s first live performance for nearly a decade and Frank joined them on stage to mark the occasion. Frank welcomed Jay back on stage during his own set to perform a crowd surf, which started out on the stage, saw him travel all the way to the bar to pick up two shots of Jameson’s. From there, he continued to the back of the crowd past the sound desk and to the other corner, where he shared the Jameson’s with a member of the crowd, before surfing back to the stage. All of this happened during ‘If Ever I Stray’, which is one of the songs that gets the crowd going the most at a Frank Turner gig. Very Rock N’ Roll indeed. When we interviewed Frank, he said that he was not taking requests for this show and on the whole, this seems to have paid off. After 2000 shows you get to a point where you know which song works in a set at which time and nobody is more qualified to create the set than Frank himself. There was a strong mix of songs from his newest album Positive Songs For Negative People, stretching all the way back to 2008’s Love Ire & Song. The set was quite a long one at 25 songs with a cover of ‘Ace of Spades’ even thrown in for good measure. The tickets for this show were put into a ballot to ensure that all tickets went to fans and this is probably the fairest way of distributing the tickets. We met one person who had travelled all the way from Italy just for the gig, showcasing just how dedicated the Frank Turner fans are, with no distance too far to see their favourite artist. Those long journeys made by the fans were worthy, as the concert itself was a fantastic way to celebrate 2000 shows and a fitting end to a gruelling 2016 for Frank and the Sleeping Souls, this being their 193rd concert of the year. Frank will take a short deserved break over Christmas before heading straight out to the States to play his biggest tour to date across the pond. We’re impressed he’s still standing after his career so far, let alone pulling off shows like this. Long live Frank and his Sleeping Souls.
Zac Gardiner’s Top Five Albums of 2016 5. Aphew Twin Cheetah
Finally I had to include an Aphex Twin album on this list; he’s one of my favourite electronic music producers and continues to push boundaries on his 2016 album ‘Cheetah’. The brilliant percussion programming returns, as expected with a Richard D James album. The album was teased on his SoundCloud ‘user18081971’ account a year previous and it was eventually released on 8th July. A music video followed, directed by 12-year-old fan Ryan Wyer, who was discovered on YouTube by Richard. Stand out tracks from the EP include ‘CHEETAHT7b’ and ‘CIRCLON3 [ kolkhoznaya mix ]’.
4. Com Truise – Silicone Tare
I found ‘Silicone Tare’ was somewhat unexpected; I had only really got into Com Truise a year or so before this album came out, this was nonetheless a pleasant surprise. Com Truise (a character of producer Seth Haley), is humanity’s first synthetic astronaut; the albums so far follow his journey throughout the vast expanse of space. This album continues that story brilliantly; using excellent deep synth and making fantastic use of percussion to put this album on my top five list. Stand out tracks are ‘Diffraction’ and ‘Du Zirconia’.
3. Tycho – Epoch Epoch was somewhat hyped for me due to Tycho (otherwise known as Scott Hansen or ISO50) posting the progression of recordings and producing on his snapchat. Released on September 30th, it lived up to the hype. The album is beautiful in design and sound, taking a lot of inspiration from the likes of Boards of Canada and other electronic ambience groups and artists. It stands up well when compared to Tycho’s previous album ‘Awake’ which was also a solid album. Its highlights include ‘Epoch’ and ‘Continuum’.
2. Childish Gambino – Awaken, My Love!
‘Awaken, My Love!’ is Childish Gambino’s third full album, released December 2nd, and it’s managed to be right at the top of my 2016 list; not only due to it being fantastic for the most part (I found ‘California’ to be a weak point of the album), but also due to it being so far from Gambino’s last record. The album is incredibly brave and I give it insane props. I also really enjoy the album itself, with the songs ‘Redbone’ and ‘The Night Me and Your Mama Met’ standing out as highlights.
1. Radiohead – Moon Shaped Pool
‘Moon Shaped Pool’ is an amazing comeback by Radiohead after their previous album ‘The King of Limbs’ failed to meet the hype. Released on the 8th of May and produced by long time Radiohead collaborator Nigel Godrich, ‘Moon Shaped Pool’ is a cinematic piece that hits all the right notes. It opens strongly with ‘Burn the Witch’, which carries you with it’s almost sharp, attacking yet hypnotic strings, from there moving to ‘Daydreaming’ and continuing to flow brilliantly throughout the album. The songs ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor…’ and ‘Burn the Witch’ stand out as favourites. Radiohead are easily one of my favourite bands, so my opinion is somewhat biased this year, but this is definitely one of my top albums of 2016, if not the top.
Jack Holmes’ Top Five Albums of 2016 5. White Lung Paradise
Between White Lung and the Norwegian metal band Kvelertak, they pretty much have the pure noise side of 2016 tied up in a neat little bow. The Canadian threepiece have been around for a decade now and since 2014’s ‘Deep Fantasy’, have been pumping out a steady stream of pure punk fun. Drawing on influences from the 90’s Riot Grrrl movement, thrash and metal from Metallica to Trivium, and the wealth of talent Canada has released in the 10 years since they formed, from Death From Above, to Metz, to Greys and more. White Lung feel like the Canadian band that managed to push the bar further than any of their other brothers and sisters from the North. Wish Way-Barber’s voice is simply stunning throughout. To be able to hold her own with such a relentless, riffs and loud soundtrack on ‘Paradise’ is one thing, but to be able to manage to come off as the most memorable aspect of the album is entirely another. There aren’t many great punk albums anymore, plenty of good ones, but as for album’s that take that pure ferocity and manage to cram it all into one studio album effectively is a rare feat and one that White Lung managed to pull off better than anyone else in 2016.
4. Honeyblood Babes Never Die
Honeyblood’s second album, ‘Babes Never Die’, only dropped at the start of November so is one of the newest album’s likely to make a top albums list. It’s testament to the album itself then that it’s been able to make such a quick impression on so many listeners. The Glaswegian duo have had a lineup change since their self-titled debut album back in 2014. Their sound seems to finally have found it’s sweet spot however, presenting an empowering anthology focusing on the theme of ‘strength in the face of adversity’. The album has an almost protest anthem feel, it’s title track for example, will have you fist pumping right up to the tracks final second, and leads straight into ‘Ready for the Magic’, yet another onslaught of rapid hi-hat and soaring vocals that will have you throwing up your middle finger to every ex and authority figure who you feel has ever wronged you.
3. Whitney Light Upon The Lake
A debut album in a top 5 of the year? Sounds like Whitney are making some impressive opening moves. Having only formed last year in the wake of Smith Westerns demise, guitarist Max Kakacek joined with Unknown Mortal Orchestra drummer Julien Ehrlich to form the core of Whitney. The Chicago rock band’s debut ‘Light Upon the Lake’ is a late night/early morning treat, designed for long drives, late nights and sunrises. There’s an element of atmospheric magic to every track as it effortlessly flows from the delicate opening piano notes of ‘No Woman’, to the final chorus of ‘Follow’ slowly fading out. To say the album is relaxing would be to ignore the fact that it demands to be listened to, it’s light and breezy, yet wonderfully rich at the same time. ‘Light Upon the Lake’ fills a space in the current music scene that no other artists seem’s to even be attempting to fill at the moment. We’re not sure if there’s likely to be a mass influx of artists attempting to emulate Whitney’s classic southern rock stylings, but if they release material anywhere near the calibre of ‘Light Upon the Lake’, we’re in for a solid 2017.
2. Souls Release
One of the most original albums we’ve heard all year. ‘Souls’ is the creation of David Gledhill, a London music producer who has fused long lost audio recordings from the 1920s and 30s with modern rock, soul and drum & bass beats. The result is stunning, and an original sound that simply hasn’t existed in this form before. Sampling has been used for years but has never been focused upon in the way ‘Release’ does. Each track is built around the particular voice it features, each becomes a piece of history refined for a modern audience. The mood of the album jumps regularly because of its mix of voices and styles but this is simply a reflection of the focus and dedication Gledhill has placed into each individual audio recording. From the hauntingly beautiful ‘I Wait For You’ which is given an added atmosphere from it’s fine, clean picked guitar notes, to the the deep growling vocals of ‘No More Water’ that are matched with hard rock and grunge inspired drum and guitar riffs. The whole album is made of hits written for a lost generation that have now been dragged into the 21st century, and sound just a good. Might sound cringy, but what a time to be alive.
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1. Jamie T Trick
Since Jamie T’s hiatus ended with a bang back in 2014 with the release of his third EP ‘The Man’s Machine’, and followed it up later in the year with his third album ‘Carry on the Grudge’. The latter was an epic album that topped the lists of ‘album of the year 2014’ and now two years later it’s follow up ‘Trick’ is back to see if there’s any room for improvement. Comparing Trick to Jamie T’s earlier releases is a treat, the screams of “lightweight prick” have been left in the past, and replaced by a more refined, yet just as imaginative instalment in his already packed catalogue of anthems. Singles include the eclectic ‘Tinfoil Boy’, the first track and single from the album, boasting beaty choruses followed by electronic winding breakdowns before ramping the tensions back up over and over again. A roller coaster ride of a single, and it’s not the only stand out track from the album. ‘Power Over Men’ fills the quota for well-rounded rock songs and flourishes both within the album and on the 18 date UK tour that followed ‘Trick’’s release. It’s funky core riff feels reminiscent of Arctic Monkeys ‘AM’ in the way it inspires a sultry sway, especially with the inclusion of back in singers helping add to the mood. ‘Trick’ stands out from the competition due to it’s focus to detail, it’s imaginative song structures and styles, and it’s wide array of track sounds, from the chant-inducing ‘Dragon Bones’, to the wonderfully British ‘Tescoland’. Jamie T has evolved like no virtually no other artist, and ‘Trick’ is clearly the product of a lifetime of songwriting, touring and life experiences. A fitting best album of the year if I do say so myself.
2016 has been an incredible year for Donald Glover; his TV show ‘Atlanta’ was a huge critical success; he was cast as Lando Calrissian in the upcoming Han Solo film, as well as being confirmed for a yet to be announced role in the Spiderman reboot ‘Spiderman: Homecoming’. To top a stellar year off, Glover has released ‘Awaken, My Love!’ under his stage name Childish Gambino, a follow up the gamechanging ‘Because the Internet’. From the off, it is vital to mention that ‘Awaken, My Love!’ is vastly different from anything Gambino has released to date. After multiple listens of the album, it is difficult to place Gambino’s latest work within a particular genre. There are clear R&B, funk and soul characteristics within the work, but the way Glover has combined them feels fresh by any standard. There is even a strong gospel feel to a lot of the tracks, such as ‘Have Some Love’ and ‘The Night Me and your Mama Met’ featuring
Childish Gambino - Awaken, My Love Genre: Hip-Hop Jazz Soul Label: Glassnote Records By Kieran Bowie glorious floating gospel harmonies. Whilst this lack of easily identifiable style from the off can mean that ‘Awaken, My Love!’ isn’t the easiest listen through, the way Gambino seamlessly weaves styles gives the album a unique feel that you just don’t hear that often. In a year where a lot of artists could be accused of playing it safe, continuing to release material that barely differs from their previous work, Childish Gambino has done anything but. Gambino has made a brave move straying so far from his typical hip-hop sound for ‘Awaken, My Love!’, fans of his previous two albums can in no way expect to enjoy ‘Awaken, My Love!’ in the same way. But it’s risk takers like this that eventually move a genre forwards, and it’s relevant to point out that ‘Awaken, My Love!’ could very easily become the catalyst for a full movement incorporating a jazz, soul, and gospel sounds for an entirely new generation. It’s a mixed album in itself as well, no two tracks take from the same inspirations, and feel like individual pieces tied together by an intro and outro track that are the clear high points of the album. Other stand out’s include ‘Boogieman’ complete with the heavy guitar riff providing a groove that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Prince record. It was said about Jimi Hendrix that he would make his guitar talk, and the guitar in the outro track of the album, ‘The Night Me
and your Mama Met’, is powerful and allows the song to tell a story despite there being no lyrics. In this sense, it contrasts with the way the album opens with ‘Me and Your Mama’, which was also the first single from the album, and feels like three songs in one. The first with a slow tempo and vocal stabs opens the album slowly, creating a foundation on which the rest of the album is built. The middle section dominates the track, exploding into a kind of white-hot rage around, complete with a guitar that feels like it was lifted straight from a Black Sabbath record. This is accompanied by Gambino showcasing his impressive vocal range. The final section is a stark contrast again, having a stripped back feel with the synth soloing over the top. ‘Me and Your Mama’ is a paradigm of the album as a whole, as its three contrasting sections exemplify the variety of genres and styles that are on show across ‘Awaken, My Love!’ Gambino isn’t one for modesty, with lyrics from previous albums declaring ‘Gambino is a mastermind’. Whilst many older Gambino fans will argue that he has released better music than Awaken, my Love!, the fact that it is so different from anything he has released before and yet is still to such a high standard proves that Gambino might actually be as talented as he regularly claims. No matter what it is Glover is doing, you won’t find many people better at pulling it off.
Jack Holmes’ Top Five Singles of 2016
Some came from the best albums of 2016, some came from the most disappointing, but they all have one thing in common; they’re phenomenal tracks that have stood out from all the rest this year. It’s tricky to pick just five, but I’ve had a good go. Have a read and let us know if we missed something we simply have to hear.
5. Warpaint – New Song
Warpaint began as band known for their XX-style, hazy indie tracks. They were tracks that washed over you and although created a great ethereal atmosphere, certainly never demanded attention. A lot has changed since that 2011 debut, and their 2016 album ‘Heads Up’ boasts techno funk with an indie soul and vocals to match. ‘New Song’ presents an interesting blend of the same haunting vocals frontwoman Emily Kokal was making her name with half a decade ago. They’re matched by an almost dance club-esque beat and drum riff, occasionally breaking down into spaced out melodies before ramping back up for a chorus that feels as suited to packed clubs as it does to a personal late night soundtrack.
4. The Kills – Doing it to Death
The Kills have worked hard over the past six years to release five albums of grade A content. Their latest album, ‘Ash & Ice’, landed in June and had a kind of ‘greatest hits’ feel. This was no re-release of old material by any means, but it felt as if The Kills picked the best moments from each of their last four albums and finally meshed them together to create a real masterpiece. The first track from the album, and overall highlight, was ‘Doing it to Death’. Merging the heavy drums of ‘Blood Pressures’ with bass lines of ‘Midnight Boom’ and pulling it all together with Alison Mosshart’s iconic vocals. Another gem in The Kills crown.
3. Angel Olsen – Shut up Kiss Me
“Do I need to give more attitude or?” Olsen asks her director come the end of the video released for ‘Shut up Kiss Me’. The track is lacking in anything but attitude, with Olsen addressing an on/off relationship screaming “shut up, kiss me, hold me tight” with a desperate anger that’s delivered particularly originally through kind of melodic, yet monotone, vocals. I’m not sure how a voice like that exists either, but it does.
2. Catfish and the Bottlemen – 7
Catfish and the Bottlemen’s second album dropped in late May this year and frantic fans and newcomers alike dived on it. Now at the end of the year they’ve sadly been snubbed by most top albums of the year lists, narrowly missing out on a place in my own. It was a slightly mixed affair that seemed to play it a little safe. One prime exception to that was their single ‘7’. ‘Soundcheck’ was the first single from the album and was more of the same glorious Catfish sound we’d grown accustomed to from their debut album ‘The Balcony’. However it was the second single from ‘The Ride’ that perfected their sound into a glorious heartwrenching epic of lost love, complete with foot tapinducing bass and drum lines. It’s frontman Van McCann’s brutally honest exploration of his long-distance relationship that gives the single it’s timeless feel. Just don’t listen to it heart broken and you should be able to maintain your cool.
1. Childish Gambino – Me and Your Mama
Oh, to be Donald Glover. Star of the cult TV show ‘Community’, he’s the creator and star of FX’s ‘Atlanta’ which has just been renewed for a second season, he’s been cast as Lando Calrissian in next year’s Star Wars movie and that’s without even mentioning his musical accomplishments. Under the moniker “Childish Gambino”, Glover released the boundary pushing ‘Awaken, My Love!’ Earlier this month, in fact the review is in this very issue. Although the album didn’t always hit that perfect mark, the opening track was the freshest thing myself and just about every music lover I knew was listening to when it was released in late November. Coming in at a gloriously bold six minutes and 20 seconds, the opening track to ‘Awaken, My Love!’ is one of the biggest risk takers of the year. The track itself moves from soulful gospel tipped choruses to a blues funk inspired mid-section that’s almost bordering on hard rock. It’s intense and aims just as high as we’ve come to expect from the ridiculously talented Glover. It’s a track that was born to change the course of music, it proves that there are still directions we can take with existing music to help it feel fresh. Glover’s outside of the box thinking and eclectic mix of influences has created a masterpiece that won’t soon be forgotten.
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