The Fly December 2013 / January 2014 by The Fly

Issue n째167

December 2013 / Januar y 2014

Sky Ferreira

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Local Natives ‘Hummingbird’ “A thoughtful album that provides great rewards" -8.1, Pitchfork "Airy, heart-jolting harmonies... a brilliant comeback" -8/10, NME

Cloud Control ‘Dream Cave’ "Epic in both sound and ambition" - Q Magazine “A wonderful album” - Line of Best Fit

ALL AVAILABLE ON CD / DL / LP WWW.INFECTIOUSMUSICUK.COM

[REGULARS] IN THE STUDIO O4 STOP’N’CHAT O6 JOHN KERRISON’S GRAPHIC CONTENT 12 ONESTOWATCH 14 [FEATURES] THE TOP 5O ALBUMS OF 2O13... TOY 2O SMITH WESTERNS 28 DARKSIDE 34 PARQUET COURTS 38 THE FLY AWARDS 4O SKY FERREIRA 42 [REVIEWS] ALBUMS 48 LIVE 56 SIX SHOTS 66

Welcome to the end. But also the beginning. This month’s edition is a joint December/January issue that has room for both a Top 50 Albums Of 2013 and a look ahead to the new bands we’re excited about for 2014. In the meantime, there’s the small matter of The Fly Awards – nationwide shows and a ceremony in London on 6th February. Turn to page 40 for more. JJ DUNNING, EDITOR TOY, shot by Louise Haywood-Schiefer for The Fly in London, November 2013

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Metronomy “Terrible guitarist” Joe Mount tells us about the making of new album ‘Love Letters’...

Title: ‘Love Letters’ Studio: Toerag, London Label: Because Music Due: March 2014 The first press shot to be released alongside the album announcement was just of you. Are Metronomy more of a solo project again? Ironically, given that the first picture was just of me, the band are actually much more involved than they were on the last one. It’s just that the band photoshoot we did didn’t really work out! I guess the thing is with the THE-FLY.CO.UK

records that I’m the one who’s writing everything – it started off as just me on my own. I suppose this is a reintroduction to that, especially the first song being an electronic affair. We’ve got some new shots of the band though, so don’t worry! ‘The Upsetter’ is an acoustic guitardriven campfirestyle song. It’s very different-sounding to what you’d expect from Metronomy. What made you want to write like that? I remember once I was in a pub and people were handing

round a guitar. They were playing the songs they knew. The only thing I know how to play on the guitar is the intro to ‘Ziggy Stardust’. Once the singing starts I don’t know the chords or anything! So I thought it was quite a nice thing to have a song in my repertoire that I could sit down and play around a campfire. How would you rate your general guitar ability? I’m terrible. I’m really bad! Apart from the campfire sounds of ‘The Upsetter’, you have an electronic

instrumental, ‘Boy Racers’, while ‘I’m Aquarius’ and ‘Love Letters’ sound very 60s. What inspired such diversity in style? On any of the records up until now there’s never been one particular style. By now it feels like it’s part of my arsenal or something! The slightly 60s influence comes from me trying

to record something in the same way that people did before I was born. We hoped that old-fashioned techniques would make for a new sound. I love The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Byrds - I’ve always liked the idea of making a slightly psychedelic record, but doing it in a way that is modern. If you listen to the record

it doesn’t sound like I’ve been doing acid or anything – and I haven’t! What song are you most excited for people to hear? ‘The Most Immaculate Haircut’ has a soundscape breakdown in the middle. I was thinking about Connan Mockasin’s haircut [when I wrote it]. I thought ‘Oh God, I

should do a duet with Connan!’ So I got in touch with him. He was like ‘Yeah, yeah, sure!’ But he was on the wrong side of the world at the time, so the duet never happened. What it left was a verse empty, which was going to be a keyboard solo. Now, though, it has a sort of Tuscan pool-side scene in the middle of it.

BONUS FA C T O I D S When we spoke, Joe was about to get fitted for a spacesuit. Owing to a misunderstanding, at one point Joe thought we were asking him if he “tossed himself off”. Joe accepts that he is “the Bono of Metronomy”. THE-FLY.CO.UK

S T O P ‘ N ’ CH AT

CHARLOTTE OC “I BECAME OBSESSED WITH FREDDIE MERCURY...” She talks like Blackburn but she sings like Kate Bush. Charlotte OC talks to XFM’s Jo Good about her earliest musical memories, and the songs that mean the most to her... What’s your earliest memory of music? Watching Wayne’s World. I was about eight-years-old. The first time I heard ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ not only did I fall in love with Freddie Mercury but I became obsessed. When did you realise that you had some lungs on you too? I was in the choir at school and I heard myself one day and just remember thinking ‘Wow, that sounds alright!’ I didn’t want to show off about it, but from that moment I had a kind of self-belief. Later, my mum bought me a karaoke machine. Both my parents are so supportive. I’ve been doing this since I was 16 so, to them, and to my friends, it just feels like the right time. What do you hope to achieve as an artist? I just want to be around for a long time and I want to make important music. It’s so much THE-FLY.CO.UK

fun making it that you wonder whether it even matters if people like it. Somebody I look up to is Stevie Nicks. I love how she’s got that respect both for her own work and for what she did with Fleetwood Mac. Tell us about your record collection? I have a lot of vinyl; a wide and varied collection. I’ve got all my mum’s vinyl: Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Buddy Holly. I still buy vinyl myself. It just sounds better and it’s lovely to see it and hold it. I can’t wait to hold a vinyl copy of something of mine. I’ll probably end up sleeping with it in my bed. Something Old: Talking Heads ‘This Must Be The Place’ - it’s the soundtrack to my childhood. It reminds me of my mum and dad dancing in the kitchen. Something New: The Preatures ‘This Is How We Feel’ - I’m really into The Preatures. I saw the video recently and just loved the whole thing! Something Borrowed: James Taylor ‘Sweet Baby James’ - this came from all the music that my dad passed down to me. I grew up listening to Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, John Martyn, and a lot of soul music - Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday. ‘Sweet Baby James’ is one of the most important songs in my world. Something Blue: Joni Mitchell ‘Case Of You’ (from the album ‘Blue’) - along with the Talking Heads track this is my favourite song in the world. It’s on the soundtrack to the film Practical Magic, which I love, even though it’s not that great. That soundtrack introduced me to a few of my favourite songs. You can listen to Jo Good’s interview with Charlotte OC in full on xfm.co.uk.

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A New Dimensio n In Sound Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke, Bobbie Gordon and artist Kate Moross bring the curtain down on BACARDÍ Beginnings’ boundary-pushing year...

This past December has seen Kele Okereke and Bobbie Gordon release ‘Down Boy’, an original collaboration, through the creation and opening of the world’s first 3D printing record store. The release marked the final of three BACARDÍ Beginnings mentoring projects to take place in 2013, with all sales proceeds going to Nordoff Robbins, the national music charity dedicated to transforming the lives of vulnerable adults across the UK. ‘Down Boy’ was released in tandem with 3D printing technologist Amanda Ghassaei THE-FLY.CO.UK

and acclaimed artist and designer Kate Moross, who designed four different sleeves for fans to choose from. BACARDÍ Beginnings was created in 2012 to give up-and-coming artists the opportunity to be mentored by established acts and showcase their sound to a wider audience. Last year saw Joe Goddard (Hot Chip), Friendly Fires and Mylo work with Jessie Ware, AlunaGeorge and Ronika respectively. Says Kele:”I’d heard about the BACARDÍ Beginnings campaign before I was approached to take part, so you can say it’s been really successful if someone like me who wasn’t even

paying attention noticed it. Bobbie has a lovely quality and fresh energy to her voice which works really well with the up-tempo dance track we’ve created. I hope this project makes people take notice of her.” Vocalist Bobbie Gordon who has already worked with the likes of Adele, Cee-Lo Green and Noisettes, says: “I’m proud to have provided the lead vocals on this track. And to then release it on 3D printed vinyl – that’s just brilliant!” The BACARDÍ Beginnings campaign in 2013 saw six artists take on unconventional briefs around the creation, production and

experience of music, as well as releasing original tracks together. The first project saw Rudimental and Bipolar Sunshine embark on the A&R process in 24 hours – writing, recording, releasing and performing a track all within a day. The second project saw Toddla T and Roses Gabor release an original track solely via social media. As for the future? At least two of 2013’s collaborators will come together again in the coming year - Bipolar Sunshine will support Rudimental as part of their 2014 tour. Proof positive that BACARDÍ Beginnings is helping to forge truly artistic relationships. THE-FLY.CO.UK

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This year, Beck’s Live offered you, the readers In July, Stealing Sheep stole the hearts of all x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x of The Fly, thex chance toxpop questions to who xattended their EVAC gig, while electrosome of yourx favourite acts and win tickets poppers Man xLike Me brought the party vibes x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x to see them perform at London’s Barfly and to Camden with tracks showcasing their recent Liverpool’s You responded with some ‘Pillow x x EVAC. x x x x x x x xMikex Skinner-produced x x x album x x x Talk’. x of the weirdest and most wonderful enquiries Again at the Barfly, Tall Ships took their fizzx x x x once x and x for all x what x a x x ingx post-rock x xto a sold-out x x venue x inxSeptemx x imaginable, proving peculiar bunch you are. ber. “Their songs have big hearts and even bigx x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x As well as offering valuable insights into ger riffs,” we noted approvingly at the time. just month, x what x goes x on xin musicians’ x x heads x x x x x x The xfollowing x x x Aussie x psych x x (Kate Nash thinks she’d lose in a outfit Cloud Control spirited us away “KATE NASH fight x with x 50 duck-sized x x xhorses, x x x x x x xto dreamland x x with x their x colourful, x x THINKS SHE’D for instance), the series has given reverb-soaked songs, while closing LOSE x x great x performances x x x x x xIN Ax x outx the series x xin high x style x wasx VV x usx a clutch of FIGHT WITH 50 throughout 2013, kicking off in Brown, whose reinvention from x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x April with a show from Sheffield retro-soul queen to icy synth-pop DUCK-SIZED duo been one memox Slow x Club. x x x x x x HORSES...” x x x xdiva has x x x of the x more x x x “For a while now, Slow Club have rable transformations of recent months. been things in A finex conclusion x going x about x x x their x own x modx x x x x x for Beck’s x x Live, x x est and charming manner,” we wrote in our which made its name as a great platform to x x“Tonight x x x x x x x x showcase x x independent x x x x x xThe x review. really highlights just how bands and artists. eminently cherishable they are.” series also carved a path for fresh talent with a x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x Next up, in May, Tribes rattled through host of amazing support acts including Holly highlights from what would prove x x x x x x xto bextheir x x Walker, x xMausix and xCoves. x Oh,x and xin case x x swansong, ‘Wish To Scream’, while June saw any of you are still wondering how much that fiery — x songstress x x Kate x Nash x show x offxthe riot x x xgoose x weighs x x the xanswer x is 1kg. x x x grrl-inspired new direction she debuted on x x x x herx full x x x x x x x x x x x ‘Girl Talk’, bringing circle xfromxthe x sarcy pop of her debut. x

It’s time to recap the artists who played for Beck’s Live in 2013. Oh, and how they dealt with your crazy, crazy questions...

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»John Kerrison’s Graphic Content 2014: A Space Oddity

In 2014, Lady Gaga will become the first artist to perform outside of Earth’s atmosphere. Depending on your viewpoint this is either a giant leap for mankind or the most perfect example of what an unimaginative, over-funded, self-parodying, cynical, marketing circle-jerk pop music has become. While you’re entertaining that potent-yet-unnecessarily-sexual image, here’s a rundown of some of the industry’s other notable publicity stunts: MADONNA, BRITNEY AND AGUILERA GET TONGUES WAGGING Can you believe it was 10 years ago that Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera shocked the world by having a three-way snog with their mum live at the VMA awards? Cynics may say that this was simply mindless titillation designed to whip up a media frenzy, and an act that marked the beginning of the blurring of lines between the music industry and extremely bland pornography. Other people, quite rightly, don’t care. MTV reenacted the famous kiss in 2011 using cats in the place of the three performers, because there really is no limit to where the words ‘Why the fuck not?’ can take you. JOSH FREESE’S KICK-ASS KICK-STARTER Back in 2009 former NIN drummer Josh Freese was an early adopter of the crowdsourcing business model. For a mere $75,000 he offered to record an EP of the bidder’s life story, join their band or be their personal assistant for a month, and get high on shrooms and use a Ouija board with them. Also up for grabs were a trip to Tijuana and a flying trapeze lesson, all of which are probably the perfect antidotes to bankruptcy, druginduced paranoia, and being possessed by demons. KISS’S BLOODY COMIC Pantomime rockers Kiss are no strangers to publicity stunts, and in 1977 were rumoured to have placed their own blood in the ink used to draw their first comic book. Because, you know, rock n’ roll and whatever. Considering KISS’s frontman Gene Simmons claims to have slept with almost all of the women there ever were, clinicians believe the remainder of the ink would have to have been made mostly of penicillin for any of the issues to survive. JOHN AND YOKO’S MASSIVE LIE-IN In 1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono spent days on end in bed as a form of peaceful protest. A less-reported feature of this event was the time the two spent in a gigantic carrier bag - an act which they called “bagism” - in an attempt to illustrate how one cannot be judged on physical appearances in the event of being in a gigantic carrier bag. Fair point. Unfortunately the couple didn’t stop to think that in such circumstances you can still very much be judged for being stoned out of your mind and acting like shopping. Drugs, eh? If you’re not in bed or in a bag you’re probably having an okay time.

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Space Bodice-y PIE-GESTED READ - Gagaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Space Suit Unveiled Headgear designed to protect noggin, filter harmful UV rays, and hide poker face. 90% owl heartache, 10% lead

Device for understanding and communicating feelings of disenfranchisement and otherness no doubt experienced by alien beings

Insanely catchy chorus generator for emergency peace-keeping

Areola hole

Walkie-talkie button complete with vocoder

Belt made of kitten paws, ennui, and synthetic post nuwave androgyny-core

Arbitrary outfit meat for the purpose of unsubtle social commentary ...in space

Pocket for storing the regret amassed from dry humping R Kelly on SNL Piping made purely of teen angst enabling other species to understand the torment of musicians in their mid-twenties

Phonebox as a leg, obviously.

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O N E S T O

WAT C H

2 O1 4 1. 5.

A new year doesn’t signify a watershed for breaking talent. Some of the artists featured here have appeared in these pages before, others haven’t. This isn’t a prescriptive list, rather an illustration of The Fly’s excitement about a collection of acts that give us that familiar, skinpricking tingle that only a new artist can. We can’t wait to write about them (and more) throughout 2014. Happy listening... THE-FLY.CO.UK

Chlöe Howl Miss Howl’s name is already everywhere, but buried under all the fuss is frill-free attitude and swagger that we reckon will result in a refreshingly different assault from pop’s lady in waiting. Now:

A debut LP is due in the summer.

Listen: chloehowl.com.

FKA Twigs Now: Firmly under the wing of Young Turks and recording her debut LP, twisted R&B singer Tahliah Barnett’s approach

is minimal. Imagery, soul, provocation and songs undermine the Gloucestershire girl’s barely-thereness though; hers is a stirring presence. An album is due soon.

Listen: wwwater.me

Tobias Jesso Jr. Now: He’s spent 2013 holed up writing timeworn lullabies with former Girls man JR White and has already won fans in Smith Westerns and DIIV. Stay tuned to this Canadian’s warming frequency throughout 2014.

His label’s lips are tightly sealed.

Listen: facebook.com/ Tobias-Jesso-Jr.

Fat White Family Now: Since frontman Lias Saudi got his tackle out for our photographer this summer his band of grotty scrotes seem to have grasped that they can really make an impact with their revolting, morality-free noise. Next: A split EP with Tamanshud is released on Trashmouth Records on 25th December. Listen: facebook.com/ FatWhiteFamily

1 Chlöe Howl 2 FKA Twigs 3 Tabias Jesso Jr 4 Fat White Family 5 Real Lies

REAL LIES Words A LEX D ENNEY Photo M ED L ACOSTE Real Lies sit in a pub on Holloway Road, where they’re on familiar terms with the landlord’s dog. The dance-pop outfit began when neighbours Kev Kharas and Tom Watson started making music at their digs in north London - Kharas heard the music Watson was making next door, and decided to muscle in.

“Those sounds were better than anything else I was listening to,” he says. Bringing in friends Patrick King as producer and Johnny White on bass, the group released their AA-side debut, ‘World Peace’/‘Deeper’, which dreamt up smart new ways of putting present-day dance culture into a pop package. “That sound palette is abused by a lot of shit musicians,” says Watson. “especially in London.” “Bands round here are sloppy,” adds Kharas. “They just sit around eating frozen pizzas all day.” With a poetic new track,

‘North Circular’, cementing their MO of soulful pop seemingly written in the afterglow of an MDMA comedown, Real Lies should spend 2014 coming up rather than down. “When we were teenagers we’d listen to drum ’n’ bass in our mates’ cars, swerving round country lanes at 70 miles-an-hour, stoned. You’d be thinking there was a tractor round the corner and you were going to die, you had to surrender yourself to it. I don’t think Friendly Fires have ever done that.” Next: ‘North Circular’ is released in February Listen: Facebook.com/RealLies

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RALEIGH RITCHIE

Words M ICHAEL C R AGG Photo T OM O LDHAM Jacob Anderson is conflicted between acting under his birth name and making intensely personal songs under an assumed one. “Making music is fun, but it’s more than that,” explains the 23-year-old R&B experimenter known as Raleigh Ritchie. “It’s the best way for me to work through my shit. I’ve been to a therapist and I’ve tried different ways to punch walls.” So why the pseudonym? “It’s not a character at all, it’s selfish. More than anything it protects me when I write.” If this all sounds a bit intense then that’s because it’s supposed to. The epic ‘Stronger Than Ever’, for example, is about missing the life he couldn’t wait to escape when he left Bristol for London, alone, at 16. “I just went ‘I can’t do this, I need to be looked after, I need my mum, I need to see my little sisters and I’m in this mad place on my own.’” A combination of pop edge and emotional angst mean he’s on most people’s tip lists. Not that he’s a big fan of those... “I think they’re dangerous. I prefer the idea that people won’t know what to expect from me. I want people to be surprised.” ‘Black And Blue’ is out now. Listen: raleighritchie.com

1 SOHN 2 Seoul 3 Courtney Barnett 4 Jungle 5 HSY

SOHN

Bruised and hurting in a similar vein to James Blake, 4AD’s new producer’s bottomless compositions are starkly affecting. May he make us quake all year.

soon.

Now:

SOHN’s debut will be released on 4AD this year.

Listen: sohnmusic.com

An album is due

Listen: facebook.com/

SeoulMTL

Courtney Barnett The Australian’s knock-kneed, pin-sharp wit and mellifluous songwriting have the potential to create a shambling and endearing underground hit this year. Now:

‘History Eraser’ is released on Marathon Artists in January.

Seoul Slick, inwardlooking pop haze from the Wild Nothing school of shimmer. Some big US indies are rumoured to be chasing these Montreal youngsters. It’s obvious why.

Now:

Listen: courtneybarnett.

com.au

Jungle Now: Fortunately for Jungle, whoever they

are, their shifting, textured beats would be just as arresting if we knew everything about them. Expect a revelatory debut at some point, probably.

Listen: www.junglejun-

glejungle.com

HSY Now: Enjoyed how METZ made your ears rot last year? Welcome HSY, who will do the same in 2014. The Canadians’ bloody noise is outstanding. In a crowded field, they’re already ahead. Next: Expect new music soon on Buzz Records. Listen: facebook.com/

hussynoise

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JAAKKO EINO KALEVI

W ORDS B EN H OMEWOOD P HOTO H ARLEY W EIR

SOME YOU K N O W. . . Merchandise Apparently an album is ready to go. Finally. Childhood Their Dan Careyproduced debut will kickstart a compelling coming-of-age tale. Wolf Alice The grungy foursome’s debut is due in the summer.

1 Calvin Love 2 Perfect Pussy 3 Adult Jazz 4 Jaakko Eino Kalevi

Calvin Love His stoned disco has been grumbling below the radar for a while now. This improbablynamed scruff is finally ready to break out of Edmonton. That’s where Mac DeMarco’s from, you know. Next: Get ‘New Radar’ on Autumn Tone Records now. Now:

Listen: facebook.com/ IamCalvinLove

Perfect Pussy Now: Led by singer Meredith Graves, Captured Tracks’ latest signings offer a brutal

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pulp of noise and honesty. A thrilling punk prospect. Their debut LP is in the works.

Listen: perfectpussyb-

and.tumblr.com

Adult Jazz Now: These Leeds boys sound difficult. Slippery and minimal, their sprawling cleverness will seduce Dirty Projectors fans – and probably make Alt-J cry in the process.

‘Springful’ is online now.

Listen: adultjazz.bandcamp.com

Telegram These improbablystyled noiseniks will race Temples in an unmissable revivalist relay. (One of them even looks like a 118 man.) BANKS Jessie Ware in waiting. Astral Pattern Expect a seismic debut. Superfood Harry who? Midlanders will set out to usurp Peace et al.

NAMES T O WAT C H

Axxa/Abraxas, Menace Beach, Jensen Sportag, Kelela, Lucius, Pup, Eyedress, Circa Waves, Juan Waters, Skinny Girl Diet, Hockeysmith, Naked (On Drugs), Wet, Quilt, Amazing Snakeheads, Skin Town.

Look at Jaakko Eino Kalevi. Dressed in a borrowed girls’ jumper, he is a Finnish musician and part-time tram driver in his late twenties. His music exists in the subaquatic lair occupied by Ariel Pink and Connan Mockasin and is daubed with disco and dance. Speaking from home a few weeks before a November visit to London, Jaakko (pronounced ‘Yah-ko’) has “just had the breakfast”. “I’ve released quite a lot of music; my first seven inch was 2001.” His latest EP, ‘Dreamzone’ made him Domino’s first Nordic signing and is laced with sedatory melody. Before that, ‘Dragon Quest’ and ‘Modern Life’ (influenced by Aerosmith and Dream Theater and using Fruity Loops to make hip-hop beats) helped make him a cult figure in Finland. He likes Chris Rea now, “he’s popular with mums here too, I can’t explain”, and is heading in a decidedly poppier direction. Jaakko’s history and back catalogue are hardly known here, to the extent that we mishear his story of playing London’s Alibi bar. “A lady bar? No, no it wasn’t that! It would be cool though.” Pleasingly, aspirations to play in front of nude ladies in perspex stilettos aren’t even

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the oddest thing about Jaakko. “I’ve been driving the tram six years, only one day a week though. Like a hobby,” he says, adding that his uniform “used to be fancier, I liked that, now it is more

casual wear”. He laughs, for no discernible reason. “I just moved to the suburbs, I can’t tell you what’s special about here [Finland]. I’d like to live somewhere else.”

We end on the blue jumper. “I borrowed it for the photos. I didn’t want to keep it, I ruined it.” Jaakko’s debut album is released on Weird World later this year.

Listen: facebook.com/jaakko-eino-kalevi

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T H E F L Y ’S T O P 5 O A L B U M S O F 2 O 1 3 Welcome to our list. These are, as far as we’re concerned, The Top 50 Albums Of 2013. There’s no Arcade Fire. No Atoms For Peace. No Daft Punk. No David Bowie. Instead, this is a list of the albums that made the greatest impression on us in the past 12 months. Pretty simply, they’re the ones we think are the best, in order.

JJ Dunning, Editor Words: R OBERT C OOKE , M ICHAEL C R AGG , R HIAN D ALY , A LEX D ENNEY , JJ D UNNING , W ILL F ITZPATRICK , B EN H OMEWOOD , N ICK L EVINE , J AZZ M ONROE , L OU R EED ( RIP ), D ANIEL R OSS , K EVIN S MITH , J AMES U BAGHS , L ISA W RIGHT

#50 TOY ‘Join The Dots’ (Heavenly Recordings)

Prolific psych crew expand their horizons... Words: Alex Denney Portrait: Louise Haywood-Schiefer With their 2012 debut, TOY managed to pull off the improbable: achieving escape velocity from their own past. It was a daring, not to say unlikely, feat — as all the stories dutifully reported at the time, psychedelic London group TOY was formed from the ashes of Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong, aka the band that broke the mid-00s indieband boom. It was a crash-and-burn story that proved liberating for the new group, who won admirers simply by making the music they wanted to make. Now they’re back with a second album a little over a year on from their debut, a pace of work frontman Tom Dougall says they’re keen to maintain. “We really want to keep up the momentum,” he says. “We don’t wanna ponder too much. I think ‘TOY’ was recorded in a rush of excitement, we were all desperate to make it work. We were a bit more confident this time, there wasn’t quite as much uncertainty as to whether we’d get it done in the way THE-FLY.CO.UK

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we wanted it or not.” If ‘TOY’ was a feat of escapology in the face of vanishing gravitational odds, ‘Join The Dots’ is free to plunge further into deep space. That’s not to say it’s a totally different beast to its predecessor: on the contrary, the record trades on the same mix of pop songcraft and freewheeling Krautrock tropes. But, as well as a “certain uneasiness which we all felt, a slightly melancholic feel”, ‘Join The Dots’ possesses a self-confidence that allows the band to really run with their ideas. Says Dougall: “We had more time to arrive at the sound that we wanted, where the first record was pretty much a representation of our live thing. But we haven’t played many of these songs live yet, so when we recorded it we played around with gadgets, effects pedals and strange noises.” Instrumental in making these “strange noises” was producer Dan Carey, who helped translate the band’s more abstract ideas into sound. “Often we’d talk about what we wanted in a metaphorical way, and Dan would help us get there,” says Dougall. “In ‘Join The Dots’ we tried to get a sort of ‘screaming baby’ feel with some of the

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Photo: Louise Haywood-Schiefer

guitar playing, though I think we actually went back from that slightly. Or on the second verse of ‘Too Far Gone To Know’, there’s this weird sound that’s like Super Mario collecting coins.” Meanwhile on the subject of stretching out, for their next effort, Dougall says the band fancy putting out a record of long, ambitious tracks à la Can’s ‘Future Days’. “There’s talk of us doing that with an EP, and I think we’d do that before making the next album,

just quickly go into the studio.” Don’t you risk getting on each others’ nerves, though, touring and recording at such a rapid rate? Especially since some of you are former schoolmates? “Not really. It’s intense, but it’s intense for any band I think. I suppose it’s quite romantic in a way.” Bromantic, perhaps Tom? “Hmm. I’m not sure I like that.” ‘Join The Dots’ is out now on Heavenly Recordings. THE-FLY.CO.UK

T H E

F LY ’ S

#49 Fat White Family

‘Champagne Holocaust’ (Trashmouth)

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#48 The Child Of Lov

‘The Child Of Lov’

(Domino Recording Co.)

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#47 Mazes ‘Ores & Minerals’ (FatCat)

‘Champagne Holocaust’ introduced 2013’s most dysfunctional (and nudity-prone) new family in some style. AD

Cole Williams’ debut album as The Child Of Lov recalled the varied likes of George Clinton, Cee Lo Green and OutKast. AD

The clatter of debut ‘A Thousand Heys’ morphed into something more closely resembling The Fall and Can on this, Mazes’ second full-length. WF

#46 Jagwar Ma

#45 Daniel Aver y

#44 Cr ystal Stilts

(Mom + Pop/Marathon)

‘Howlin’’

(Phantasy/Because Music)

‘Drone Logic’

‘Nature Noir’

On ‘Howlin’’s release, we noted that “a relentless, gurning glee pervades the whole album”. The months since June have not dulled its appeal. KS

Daniel Avery stepped up as a producer-auteur of the highest order with the trippy techno and acid-house flights of ‘Drone Logic’. AD

Crystal Stilts’ previous records crackled like electrical storms, but this dreamier, more subdued effort hinted at something even darker still. Shadowy and great. WF

#43 Drenge

#42 Ty Segall

#41 Splashh

‘Drenge’

‘Sleeper’

(Sacred Bones)

‘Comfort’

(Infectious Music)

(Drag City)

(Luv Luv Luv)

Brothers Eoin and Rory Loveless’ rattling two-man punk came together on this eponymous debut; an assault of sharp noise and withering lyrical put-downs. LW

Ty claimed this record of bluesy downers and portentous balladry would “push the walls of the universe out”. A failure, then, but only in astro-physics terms. JJD

Like Tame Impala blinking their way through a permanent caffeine-high, Splashh’s debut was a jittery interpretation of modern psych. WF

THE-FLY.CO.UK

#40 Foxygen

#39 inc.

#38 Mount Kimbie

‘We Are The 21st Centur y Ambassadors Of Peace And Magic’

‘no world’

‘Cold Spring Fault Less Youth’

(4AD)

Foxygen’s ridiculously-titled second LP was a heady mixture of romance, wit and fantasy. BH

Brothers Andrew and Daniel Aged used to be session musicians for Beyoncé and Pharrell. Their debut LP as inc. is a collection of sultry and seductive R&B. NL

#37 The Holydrug

#36 Föllakzoid

(Jagjaguwar)

Couple

‘Noctuar y’ (Sacred Bones) This Chilean group’s full debut conjured vivid, dreamy psych that could reduce even Alan Sugar to a stoned reverie. BH

‘II’

(Sacred Bones) In April, fellow Chileans Föllakzoid delivered this exercise in mind control. The 15-minute ‘Pulsar’, in particular, delivers lobotomy after lobotomy. BH

#34 These New

#33 California X

‘Field Of Reeds’

(Don Giovanni)

Puritans

(Infectious Music) This oblique and delicate album is a musical suite devoted to the islands of band leader Jack Barnett’s home county, Essex. JM

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‘California X’

It might have been as modern as loincloth, but California X’s fissurecracking debut was a magnificent rear-view mirror on classic American grunge. JJD

(Warp)

At the centre of the London duo’s ornate second album lay ‘Made To Stray’ – their most accessible track yet. BH

#35 Connan Mockasin ‘Caramel’

(Phantasy Sound) With ‘Caramel’, peroxide boyking Connan provided a record of irreducibly strange R&B slow jams. AD

#32 Vampire Weekend

‘Modern Vampires Of The City’ (XL Recordings)

The band’s familiar snap and bounce took in a weirder scope of sounds on album three. MC THE-FLY.CO.UK

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#31 Swim Deep

#30 The Men

‘Where The Heaven Are We’

(Sacred Bones)

(Chess Club)

Swim Deep’s debut was drunk on positivity; heartfelt, emotional, amorous and stuffed with teenage joie-de-vivre. RD

THE-FLY.CO.UK

‘New Moon’

More diverse than we’ve grown accustomed to from this Brooklyn crowd, ‘New Moon’ proved that The Men are as excellent as they are consistent. BH

#29 Palma Violets ‘180’

(Rough Trade) Named after the house number of the South London squat where it was made, ‘180’’s depth of sound proved there was more to Palma Violets than merely hype. RD

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#27 Janelle Monae

‘Totale Nite’

‘The Electric Lady’

(Night People)

(Wondaland/Bad Boy)

Considered a full release by the band (rather than the EP the rest of us mistook it for), ‘Totale Nite’ contained ‘Anxiety’s Door’, one of the songs of the year. BH

It was impossible not to be immersed and enthused by this quite-frankly-mental jazz-funk, Prince-and-Erikah-Badu-featuring R&B odyssey. Bonkers. DR

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#26 My Bloody Valentine ‘m b v’ (m b v)

On which Kevin Shields & co surprised us all with an oceansdeep masterwork to rival even ‘Loveless’. AD

Janelle Monae: “Bonkers” is fine, but it only gets you to 27th.

#25 Earl Sweatshirt ‘Doris’ (Tan Cressida/Columbia)

Photo: Tom Oldham

The debut proper from Odd Future’s prodigal son was tough yet tender, putting Earl’s majestically lazy flow centre-stage. AD

#24 Chelsea Light Moving

‘Chelsea Light Moving’ (Matador)

This album is too loud. BH

Thurston Moore will receive the Living Legend award at The Fly Awards in London on 6th February 2014.

#23 Kanye West

#22 Four Tet

‘Yeezus’ (Def Jam)

‘Beautiful Rewind’

“With this album,” the late Lou Reed told thetalkhouse.com, “it’s [Kanye saying] ‘Now that you like me, I’m going to make you unlike me.’ It’s a dare. It’s braggadocio.” LR

Here, Kieran Hebden doffed his cap to the heyday of hardcore in typically idiosyncratic style. It was the sound of him cutting loose in bracing fashion. AD

(Text)

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#21 Queens Of The Stone Age

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#20 James Blake ‘Overgrown’

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#19 Hookworms ‘Pearl Mystic’

‘...Like Clockwork’

(Atlas/Republic Records)

(Gringo Records)

Dave Grohl, Alex Turner, Trent Reznor, Nick Oliveri, Jake Shears and Sir Elton John all appear on this diverse, and at times surprisingly tender, sixth album from the masters of massive riffery. Despite the revolving cast of cameos, Queens Of The Stone Age remained the same peerless band, indebted only to themselves. LW

The Mercury-prize-winning ‘Overgrown’ was the sound of James Blake relaxing into the role of a singer-songwriter, drawing on aspects of house, gospel and R&B. Unlike his contemporaries in minimal (mainly nocturnal) dance music - chiefly The xx, let’s be honest - Blake didn’t further minimalise his sonic palette. He absorbed new influences into his unique sonic framework. MC

Hookworms emerged as one of the best new bands of the year when their debut smashed texture and rhythm together like they were particles in the Large Hadron Collider. Furious howls are almost entirely obfuscated by reverb, pouring your consciousness into euphoric anti-matter that recalls Spiritualized at their most zonedout. The perfect soundtrack to lose your mind to. WF

#18 Disclosure

#17 Factor y Floor

#16 Iceage

‘Settle’

‘Factor y Floor’

‘You’re Nothing’

Howard and Guy Lawrence’s debut album touches on 90s garage, house and UK funky and utilises a cast of guest vocalists including Jessie Ware, Jamie Woon and Eliza Doolittle. Single ‘White Noise’ went in at number two in the charts, but there was more to ‘Settle’ than just that one song - its cohesive, sweatinducing rave made it a number one smash. A consistently thrilling debut. MC

A long time coming, Factory Floor’s first full album cemented their mutation from post-industrial experimentalists into purveyors of aggressive (but seriously danceable) dance music. Veering from crisp minimalism to gargantuan, Donna-Summerechoing pop and acid house, this was music that demanded to be played loud and often. Even if, as they admitted to us, they couldn’t work out who was doing what. JU

From controversial use of ancient runes to birds of prey in one fell swoop (quite a good joke, that) Copenhagen itinerants Iceage proved that there was more to them than just combustible nihilistic punk. This second record made room for melodies, an upbeat sensibility missing from their debut and, most shockingly of all, a piano. Not that it was anything less than full-tilt throughout, of course. RC

(Matador)

(PMR)

THE-FLY.CO.UK

(DFA)

(Matador)

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mindblowingâ&#x20AC;? - The Independent on Sunday â&#x20AC;&#x153;An absolute gemâ&#x20AC;? - The Guardian

- DELUXE EDITION WITH 4 NEW TRACKS! -

WWW.TOKILLAKING.CO.UK WWW.XTRAMILERECORDINGS.COM

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#15

Smith Westerns ‘Soft Will’ (MOM+POP)

A story of sadness, told by a band who almost forgot how to smile... Words: B EN H OMEWOOD Portrait: T OM O LDHAM Smith Westerns could have played the 02 Arena. In autumn 2011, riding the success of their second LP ‘Dye It Blonde’, the Chicago trio were due to open on Arctic Monkeys’ UK arena tour. But family circumstances and tour burn-out forced cancellation. Two years later, they’re back in London. Disillusioned malaise forced brothers Cullen and Cameron Omori and their best friend Max Kakacek into hiding. Without a record deal and near-bereft of inspiration, they took a vacation. Now, pushing limes into Coronas in a members’ club full of stuffed animals, they’re lifting the fog with their third album. ‘Soft Will’ sounds like a blissful sigh. It glistens and swells, basking in its own beatific beauty. The atonal punk of their self-titled debut and ‘Dye It Blonde’’s hooky cuteness have blossomed into a glossy, layered package of XXL guitar lines and lyrical sweetness. “England is everything we remembered,” Cullen begins, as Max and Cameron titter about bad gas. His sarcastic eyes suggest

Smith Westerns haven’t changed. Piss-taking, insular, gross-out gags and carefree attitude prevail. But as my time following this stoned, sarcastic group and their hired red van full of McDonald’s wrappers unfolds, so does a sense of maturity. “We’ve lost a live member [Ziyad Asrar] and Max’s guitar broke immediately. But it happens. Things go wrong,” Cullen continues. The 23-year-old in fluorescent tracksuit bottoms is describing Smith Westerns’ first London show in years, but his words fit their entire career. “We’ve done this for so long; it started out as a joke. Some young bands think they’ll be popular, we were never like that. That’s probably why we’ve had some pretty negative responses to certain things, saying stupid shit.” Cameron groans. “Now that time’s up. We’re evaluating whether we’re musicians or just bros with some guitars.” And? Cullen: “I’m playing it by ear right now.” Cameron: “It’s touch and go.” It isn’t, ‘Soft Will’ proves that. It was completed after adjusting to adulthood and the fact days of hanging sausages from their THE-FLY.CO.UK

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flies at drunken house shows are gone. Smith Westerns is not only a living but a cherished band. Success afforded them the time off “completing video games and enjoying dismal bars” they needed to learn that. Tour life has changed too. Now, it means gut-rot, movies and weed. Between fantastical hypotheses about Benny Goodman and voracious consumption of Hollywood blockbusters (“Why doesn’t anyone wanna watch Angels & Demons again?” – Cameron) Smith Westerns have played their worst ever show – at a Vegas pool party, in front of no one. Cameron even ate a sandwich during it. “A guy in Speedos with an elephant-size dick walked past before we started,” tour manager Kevin surmises. It replaced a gig in front of a dog and some children in Spain as number one.

“YOU CAN’T SHIT OUT OUR RECORDS...”

Two weeks later, we’re in a dressing room in Oslo. It’s the last night of tour. Red wine is making everyone maudlin, emphasising the importance of that break in Chicago. “We’ve always been all about Chicago. It’s a sad place. We’d been on the road since 2009, that’s three years growing up,” says Cullen. “Things happened. Max became a player! We both got girlfriends and, if you feel it down here, [points to his crotch] you can play it up here.” You wouldn’t know it from that explanation, but ‘Soft Will’ was deliberately made “super nuanced”, something perhaps lost on some. “The immediacy of our ‘hits’ like ‘Weekend’ or whatever the fuck isn’t there, we didn’t think about that until we played and saw people half asleep during the new songs,” Cullen says. He describes it as “the underdog” and isn’t happy with ‘Soft Will’’s reception. They concede that it isn’t “our Pet Sounds – we’re THE-FLY.CO.UK

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growing the balls for that,” but this is an important album for a band who have fought to release all their records. “We’re always on the brink of falling apart. Sadness and disillusion come and go. It always sucks after a while, no matter how good it gets.” An ensuing reflective silence is broken by mention of One Direction, and somehow the conversation veers to Cullen gunging teenage celebrities with ejaculate. Smith Westerns’ survival hinges on such puerility. They take their music seriously, but everything else with a kilo of Saxa. It makes the bad luck and instability tolerable. “It’s a grind; we know no one will give us a break. Labels suck some bands’ dicks, then they disappear. That’s not us. This heart still beats, we’ve always been on our own,” Cullen says. Barely into their twenties Smith Westerns see their three albums as milestones. They’ve also forced Chicago under a spotlight that The Orwells and Twin Peaks should be thankful for. Cullen admits realisation that they have the right to be here. “This job isn’t like serving burgers. The customer is gonna eat it and shit it out, that’s it. You can’t shit out our records!” With the wine gone we enjoy a surprisingly tasty Asian meal in a morose restaurant. Cullen pees into the wine bottle before the show, Max worries about buying a gift for his girlfriend. Despite an amorous crowd the last show doesn’t go with a bang. But it wasn’t supposed to. There’s an early flight home soon, plus Angels & Demons to watch. As the van pulls away I remember Cullen’s story of rejecting a fan’s request for a photo at an early show. It explains why the growth spurt their sumptuous third album represents hasn’t yet been matched by recognition. “We thought he’d Photoshop dicks in our mouths. We’ve always had that mentality. We’re pegged as pretentious or ungrateful, but I don’t feel like a musician or some star or cool bro. We’re just a bunch of dudes from Chicago.” ‘Soft Will’ is out now on Mom + Pop

Photo: Phil Smithies

Smith Westerns at The 100 Club, London, September 2013. Left to right: drummer Julien Elrich, Cameron Omori, Cullen Omori, Max Kakacek.

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#14 Peace ‘In Love’

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#13 Jon Hopkins ‘Immunity’

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#12 Foals ‘Holy Fire’

(Columbia)

(Domino Recording Co.)

(Warners/Transgressive)

A vibrant, open-armed ode to youth, romance and life itself, Peace’s debut LP combined killer hooks and festival-baiting choruses. From the psych strut of ‘Delicious’ to the pure pop of ‘Lovesick’ to the filthy riffs of ‘Follow Baby’, every song could be a single. While, in ‘California Daze’, the quartet managed to concoct a timeless indie ballad that swooned like the sound of love itself. LISA WRIGHT

If you’d heard of Jon Hopkins before ‘Immunity’, it would most likely have been for his work with Brian Eno, or for ‘Diamond Mine’, his Mercury-nominated collaboration with Scottish folkie King Creosote. But really, nothing could’ve prepared you for the staggering immensity of ‘Immunity’. The culmination of the London producer’s12-year solo career takes in churning techno epics and cinematic post-rock. ALEX DENNEY

The first and last tracks on ‘Holy Fire’ hinted at the totality of Foals’ evolution. The former is an undulating slow-build that segues into ‘Inhaler’; the latter, a minimal piano lament. They bookended an album that, with the likes of ‘Late Night’ and ‘Milk & Black Spiders’ in particular, showed Foals could go in any direction they pleased, without compromising on quality. LISA WRIGHT

#11 Sky Ferreira ‘Night Time, My Time’ (Capitol Records)

THE-FLY.CO.UK

Peace, left to right: Douglas Castle, Harrison Koisser,

Only now are the clouds beginning to clear for Sky. First, a whole debut album was scrapped. Then came a drugs bust. However, this album’s flawed pop and caustic lyrics, plus Gaspar Noé’s provocative cover image, created intrigue (the whole thing screamed ‘You shouldn’t be seeing me like this’), making for a voyeuristic and captivating celebrity debut.

Dominic Boyce, Samuel Koisser.

JJ DUNNING

Turn to page 40 to read our cover feature.

Haim, left to right: Este, Alana and Danielle.

#10 Unknown

Tom Oldam x 2

Mortal Orchestra

#09 Mazzy Star

#08 Haim

‘Seasons Of Your Day’

‘Days Are Gone’

‘II’

(Rhymes Of An Hour)

(Polydor)

(Jagjaguwar)

After a more than a decade away - during which time their canon had passed into the realms of legend - Mazzy Star re-emerged. Pleasingly, Hope Sandoval and David Roback’s fourth album bypassed all forms of disappointment, more than holding its own with their highlyrevered back catalogue. Die hard fans were delighted by the pair’s paring away of the shoegazier aspects of their sound, revealing the haunted, folk and bluesinspired heart that had always lay underneath. ALEX DENNEY

When Este Haim shouted “That was for you, DC, it’s all about you!” to our nation’s pink-faced leader on the set of The Andrew Marr Show back in September, it was clear something notable was happening. A band was crossing over the threshold, boldly careening into normal people’s lives. The album that supports the sisterly three-piece’s charming japery is no mere backdrop either – it’s a relentlessly popinclined selection. Like Haim themselves, ‘Days Are Gone’ is colossal entertainment. DANIEL ROSS

Ruban Nielson, the insular personality behind Unknown Mortal Orchestra, blossomed with ‘II’. Live, UMO offer tremendous proof of the value of modern psych, but the outsider fragility of Nielson’s songs seems to exist only to be marvelled at. On record, the sad unease of his songs is exposed. But after the romantic pit of single ‘So Good At Being In Trouble’, desperation eventually grows into happiness. Hearing Nielson’s reinvigoration was a limitless pleasure. BEN HOMEWOOD

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#07

Darkside ‘Psychic’ (Other People/Matador)

Opposites attract on this proggy curio... Words: JJ D UNNING THE-FLY.CO.UK

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Few of 2013’s musical projects forced together such disparate ideals as DARKSIDE. The duo’s debut fulllength ‘Psychic’ seized the opportunity to explore its creators’ vastly opposing skillsets. Yet Nico Jaar – celebrated wunderkind of the EDM fraternity

34 09/12/2013 21:17

– and Dave Harrington – a bassist by trade whose languid guitar style conjures notions of a louche, unbuttoned Mark Knopfler – combine to make an album that is not only cohesive, but seamless. Despite exuding togetherness, the record was recorded in three different locations over a period of two years. Likewise, when I catch up with Harrington and Jaar, it’s by means of a three-way phone conversation. Nico

is in Toronto, spending Thanksgiving with his girlfriend (actress Lorraine Nicholson, daughter of Jack), while Dave is skulking in the car park of the Dia Art Foundation in New York State. I ask how an album recorded in such a disjointed way can maintain such a consistent atmosphere; the eager answer comes from Dave. “Wherever we were, it was always just the two of us – it was always just me and Nico.

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The sounds we gravitate towards, the way that our minds work and the things that happen when the two of us are working together can be influenced by place, to a degree - some things that got made in my barn studio wouldn’t have been possible to make in Paris, for instance. But it’s just the two of us - the continuity is the product of the reality.” For the celebrated Chilean-American Jaar – not always the easiest interviewee, it must be said; he’s a serious musician in every sense – DARKSIDE is a pronounced departure. One review, on the authoritative dance site Resident Advisor, was particularly lukewarm: “DARKSIDE answers a question that no-one was asking: what would Nicolas Jaar sound like if he hooked up with Eric Clapton?” Even for those who’ve been receptive to it, there remains a pervading sense that ‘Psychic’

“WHEN YOU’RE DRUNK, YOU’RE PLAYING AT A DIFFERENT SPEED...”

inhabits a space between audiences; too prog for fans of Nico’s work at the frontiers of dance music, too terrifyingly cool to be an Xmas gift for the ageing Pink Floyd fan. Just by merely existing, does the project express a desire within Nico to break from the genre that made him his name? “Not a single bone in my body is moving away from dance music,” he says firmly. “I like dance music as much as I’ve ever liked it. This is just the other side of things – the music that I make is mostly indebted to house music and techno. I’ve always been excited by those things and I’m not going to move away from them. At least, not for the time being.” Does he see himself as a psychedelic artist or an electronic one? “I don’t think they necessarily go against each other. I think you can be electronic THE-FLY.CO.UK

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and psychedelic – most of the time I think that’s the most exciting combination. They don’t oppose each other – often they’re most exciting when they’re joined together.” It’s this harmony of opposites that combines to ensure that, standalone, ‘Psychic’ does more than merely stand up. It is a record with a deep sense of space and rhythm, capitalising on Nico’s intricate understanding of both those aspects. “What was exciting for me at the beginning of the project was knowing that Dave and I were excited by different things,” he says. “[‘Psychic’] wasn’t so much of us trying to make things work, more just seeing what would happen - what happened is what you’re hearing. In a way there’s very little manicuring of it.” Though Harrington’s style can occasionally be glibly compared to any number of guitarists that your Dad used to like in the 80s, his slick, shiny and metallic note-bends squirm above Jaar’s endlessly-eerie undertow – ‘Paper Trails’ is where he sounds most Knopfler, a comparison that he receives warmly. “I’ll take it!” he says, delighted. “I love telecasters and those kinds of bends – in a rock way, that kind of sound is branded, but it’s a vibe way of playing guitar – it’s not just that you get the feeling of the notes between the bends, but the slow three-chord moves. You hear the chord being created and changed – you can’t do that on piano or organ. There’s stuff that happens on a microscopic level – when you can create space for one note to bend into another note, that’s cool.” What’s surely not cool – I am nervous about telling them a secret – is that I got drunk and played the album at the wrong speed. Worse still, I didn’t notice for a whole side... “Cool,” says Nico flatly. “It makes sense that you didn’t notice. I guess it doesn’t really matter. It’s all the same in the end. If anything, when you’re drunk, you’re playing at a different speed. Right?” As you can see, DARKSIDE look at things very differently indeed. ‘Psychic’ is out now on Other People/Matador. DARKSIDE are on tour in March 2014.

Savages, left to right: Jehnny Beth, Fay Milton, Ayse

Photo: Tom Oldam

Hassan, Gemma Thompson.

#06 King Krule

#05 Savages

#04 Kurt Vile

‘6 Feet Beneath The Moon’

‘Silence Yourself’

‘Wakin On A Pretty Daze’

(XL Recordings)

(Matador)

Grunting and crooning his way through 14 soupy tracks, Archy Marshall’s long-awaited debut delighted and perplexed in equal measure. The overspills and smoke-heavy sequences suggested that perhaps he had overfilled his brain with couplets, beats and sequences. This plethora of ideas defied criticism though, especially as ‘6 Feet Beneath The Moon’ placed the listener directly into the bleak inebriation and headachey frustration that constitute its creator’s south London existence. BEN HOMEWOOD

Savages’ debut was as wired and explosive as their live shows. Early missives ‘Husbands’ and ‘City’s Full’ were present and undiminished, while the band was able to add quality material like ‘She Will’ and surprisingly effective closer ‘Marshall Dear’ to make this a superbly realised effort. And if their bloody-minded conviction could sometimes be mistaken for self-importance — those liner-notes probably didn’t help — then it was a small price to pay for 2013’s most visceral and unrelenting release. ALEX DENNEY

This is 70 minutes of languorous, golden sunlit meandering. It’s an album indebted to Neil Young and the musty smell of dust burning on valve amps. It doesn’t belong anywhere near an internet – it’s about as digital as an ear of corn bending in the breeze and as downloadable as a hill-top picnic on a gilded summer’s day. Moreso than previous Kurt Vile albums, you feel that this one doesn’t exceed sauntering pace because it’s taking in the view. True class from a troubadour out of time. JJ DUNNING

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#01 Parquet

Courts

‘Light Up Gold’ (What’s Your Rupture/Mom+Pop)

Arctic Monkeys: not bad, really.

#03 Arctic Monkeys #02 Cass McCombs ‘AM’ (Domino Recording Co.)

‘Big Wheel And Others...’

With ‘AM’, Arctic Monkeys secured their place as one of the best bands in the world. Having evolved from teenage trackie beginnings to this – a prowl full of dirty winks and illicit fumbles – it seemed frankly ridiculous that, five records in, the quartet could still surprise and scintillate with such ease. From Matt Helders’ opening drum claps on ‘Do I Wanna Know?’ to Alex Turner’s Lennon-esque wordplay on ‘Arabella’ to the hooting harmonies of ‘Knee Socks’, ‘AM’ was the sound of a cocksure band in total control. LISA WRIGHT

An album whose impact extends far beyond its 84-minutes, McCombs’ seventh LP conquered with intense majesty. His fascinating writing was typically provocative. Most remarkable was the blissful drift that permeates these 22 (neither happy nor sad) songs. That such a significant record revealed nothing new about him is testament to the idea that Cass McCombs exists only in song; as he sings on ‘The Burning Of The Temple, 2012’, “Free to go wherever the winds may blow”. BEN HOMEWOOD

THE-FLY.CO.UK

(Domino Recording Co.)

Following our April cover story, relations with the punk outfit went a bit askew. Nobly, frontman Andrew Savage agreed to set the record straight over email... How do you feel about ‘Light Up Gold’ being The Fly’s #1 record of 2013? Thanks a lot man, it’s a nice gesture, seriously. I suppose one thing that is important to point out is that ‘Light Up Gold’ actually came out in 2012, but it seems that the lifespan of this record didn’t truly start for most folks until it was reissued by What’s Your Rupture. I’ve always thought that ranking art is a bit silly. What makes a #4 record better than the #5 record? It’s a popular media trend, you see it in magazines and TV shows. We like giving things arbitrary value. When was the last time you listened to it? I don’t ever listen to it, but it finds me. I’m glad that people have responded to the record as positively as they have. A glowing endorsement isn’t always a great thing though... it really depends on the source. And that’s not to sound ungrateful. Once the record got more popular in indierock circles, earlier this year, we got a lot of comparisons to other bands that we don’t really identify with. There seem to be a lot of endorsements of ‘Light Up

Parquet Courts, left to right: Andrew Savage, Sean Yeaton, Austin Brown, Max Savage.

Photos: Tom Oldham

Gold’ that praise it as some sort of triumphant indie rock saviour album. I don’t like that kind of stuff; it’s cheesy. I’d gladly take well constructed criticism over blind-endorsement any day. Have Parquet Courts been presented fairly in the press? For the most part. Obviously, wether I agree with it or not, when people write about the band it opens us up to new fans. But I don’t necessarily think that the press and the bands it covers have the same interest. The way that bands gets covered, especially in magazines, is frighteningly similar to gossip tabloids; fairly shallow and I think the sort of coverage that mirrors the uglier side of media. I don’t think I can get used to being cast in that sort of light. It’s a rare treat when we are asked questions that deal directly with our music, lyrics, artwork, etc. We get asked a lot of questions about fame, and

then a lot of questions like “Why don’t you like doing interviews?” or “Why don’t you like having your picture taken?”. Well the thing is, I actually really do like doing interviews. When you get a really good interview, where somebody treats you like an artist and not a “celebrity” in a petri dish, a character, it is stimulating and a lot of fun for both parties. Sometimes it’s hard to hide your disappointment when you feel like you are being patronised. But we have no interest in being indie rock saviours, DIY punk outsiders or pushed into any similar box. We’re just another band. What are your memories of and reflections on The Fly’s cover story earlier this year? You guys were kind of pioneers in creating the narrative that has followed Parquet Courts, especially in the UK. I guess it kinda stung because I was getting ya’ll drinks and letting you smoke my weed,

and I kinda thought we were all having a good time hanging out. Me and Austin can be a bit dry, but I don’t think unfriendly. Definitely not belligerent, as your phrasing puts it. Thinking for oneself shouldn’t be confused with tedious self-regard. I dunno, it seemed like you needed a sexy angle and chose to go with the whole enfant terrible spin. It was a great article besides the whole character assassination bit. Several journalists have alluded to prickliness in Parquet Courts interviews, is this justified or indeed relevant? A lot of that is the result of power of suggestion, I think. Is there anything you’d like to say in print that you might, for whatever reason, not have been able to so far? I think that the early work of Sheryl Crow is due for reassessment. THE-FLY.CO.UK

2 O I 4

A W A R D S 2 O I 4

Vote now! Who should win the Best Live Band of 2013 award? Who deserves the Label Of The Year accolade? Who is your Artist Of The Year? Head to www.the-fly.co.uk/awards from 19th December to have your say. All voters will be entered into a prize draw. Our first-ever awards ceremony is taking place next year in London, and you’re invited. Performing on the night will be The Horrors, who are being awarded the Outstanding Artistry Award in association with War Child, and Thurston Moore, who is receiving the Living Legend award. Peace, a nominee in several categories, will also be performing on the night, which is to be hosted by compères Keith Murray and Chris Cain of notable beat combo We Are Scientists. They might even be funny - just

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imagine how good that’d be. Our media partner XFM is hosting the Best Live Act category, while our ticketing partner Ticketweb will be hosting the Label Of The Year Award. The Fly Awards are taking place at The Forum, London, on 6th February 2014. Tickets for the event are priced at £15, inclusive of booking fee. More artists will be announced in the coming weeks. Visit our website and Twitter feed @theflymagazine for the most up-todate information.

Thurston Moore will receive the Living Legend award at The Fly Awards ceremony in London on 6th February.

THE-FLY.CO.UK

“I’ve

never been in trouble like that

before ...”

Nauseous in Paris at the end of a torrid year, Sky Ferreira looks long and hard in the mirror... Words B EN H OMEWOOD Portraits T OM O LDHAM

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SKY FERREIRA Joe Goddard is holding some grapes. The swarthy man from Hot Chip is standing by a dressing room marked ‘Sky Ferreira’ inside a building that was once a cattle market. Backstage after playing Pitchfork Festival, Sky Ferreira looks dazed and oblivious. It’s the end of “the biggest week” of her life. ‘Night Time, My Time’ has just been released and the 21-year-old hopes it will etch an indelible line under a troublesome year. Still, Sky’s presence in a warren of festival dressing rooms with the likes of Hot Chip feels dangerous, exciting and weird. ‘Credible musician’ is the last thing many are inclined to think of her. Exhibitionist. Attention-seeker. Criminal. Drug user. Industry pawn. These are the tags Sky’s trying to shift. She admits as much the previous evening, sitting inconspicuously in a hotel dining room.

“I WAS STRIP-SEARCHED AND TREATED LIKE A CRAZY PERSON...”

“I thought the album would get overshadowed by other things in my life. I’m used to being attacked.” But the reaction to its vampy, clever pop has been overwhelmingly positive. For a musician, that should be enough. It seems different for Sky. The outlets that reported her arrest on drug charges ran glowing reviews that have positioned her credibly. But she’s resistant to positioning: “I’m acting as my own label, but because I’m attached to a major I have to work harder so people don’t say ‘she’s been told to do that’.” Having been consistently misdirected, she now stresses independence is her only viable option. “I recorded the album in August. I paid for everything, even publicity and videos so I’m pretty broke. There’s been no label promotion and the UK [Polydor] went silent.” Slightly bunged up, Sky speaks quickly between THE-FLY.CO.UK

sips of mint tea. Her answers form one long sentence punctuated with “like”. The confident sass of her record is only evident in moments of sudden realisation that she’s saying something impactful, that she is in charge. The impression is of someone near the end of a period of tumultuous self-discovery. She’s under a microscope. It has always been this way. Sky Ferreira attracts everything. A story that began with image changes and failed albums turned first to success that appeared to hinge on Dev Hynes and ‘Everything Is Embarrassing’, and then to illness, drugs and sexuality. “In one month I got a vocal haemorrhage on my biggest tour yet, I didn’t know what was going on with my album, no one was helping besides my publicist and managers, like, then the arrest was everywhere and suddenly everything I did was turned into something else.” Casting its versatile star as a pop starlet and beaten down rock chick – who is “so inspired” by Cass McCombs and says Ariel Pink “used to give me relationship advice, we’d have girl talk and watch Whitney Houston movies” – ‘Night Time, My Time’ contains much of Sky’s recent trauma. It illustrates the changeability of her mood and character just as her conversation does. Of the self-explanatory ‘I Blame Myself’, she says “I’m still gonna do [what people think I do], it’s partially my fault but also you guys are assholes for trying to turn me into something I’m not. But why should I have to change?” With ‘Drogues’ printed across her tattered t-shirt it’s hard to have sympathy, but Sky’s answers begin to reveal intelligent self-awareness, albeit smeared with innocence. Explaining the petulant, neon-bright thrill of ‘Nobody Asked Me (If I Was Okay)’ she continues, “It’s like a kid falling and waiting for someone to see them crying. When I wrote that I felt like a crazy person. I worked in four different continents in four days; there was nowhere to stay so I wouldn’t sleep. Cole [Smith, her DIIV-fronting boyfriend] was on tour and his phone was off. It was ‘nobody cares about me, I’m just a machine’.” Her now-infamous album cover was shot the same

147 YEARS OF WHISKEY. ONE REALLY BUSY SMALL TOWN. It might not look that way, but things move pretty fast down here. With every single drop of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey made in Lynchburg, we have lots to do. Of course, making Jack properly takes time. And for the past 147 years, time is something we’ve had. So, while our defi nition of fast might be a little different from yours, go ahead and take a sip. We think you’ll agree that we’re moving at just the right pace.

J A C K D A N I E L’ S

TENNESSEE WHISKEY

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SKY FERREIRA week, “I was losing my mind and it shows.” This jars with her ritzy Parisian accommodation, and it’s hard to imagine this in-demand singer and model not having a pre-booked room, but it’s a disconsolate story. It’s one of many. Sky describes her years of depression, being deserted by her friends, not leaving the house and not speaking for two years in high school. She cries a lot. Her mother even nicknamed her ‘Cry’. She alludes to the absence of a mother-figure or older female role model – she was looked after mostly by her grandmother (with whom she used to visit family friend Michael Jackson) and left home at 16. Her mother and father, a hairdresser and shop owner respectively, don’t appear to alleviate her loneliness, which peaked on Friday 13th September 2013. A month before their year anniversary, Sky and Cole were arrested after his pick-up was pulled over. Cole openly discusses his drug use, Sky is often tarred similarly and both idolise Kurt Cobain. An arrest on drugs charges was all it took to string fact and superficial assumption into a story that casts both as junkies. Smith was charged with two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance (42 decks of heroin). Sky was arrested on misdemeanour charges of criminal possession of a controlled substance (ecstasy) and resisting arrest. “She physically fought the officers,” Chief Joseph Sinagra told the New York Post. “I thought ‘this is a dream’, but it wasn’t at all. I’ve never been in trouble like that before,” she says. “Obviously I didn’t feel like I got away with it, it was the craziest, worst, [most] traumatising experience of my life. I was stripsearched and treated like a crazy person, [the police] were like ‘Don’t cry or they’ll put you in a mental institution’. I thought ‘Jesus Christ, I’m never getting out. I sucked it up and didn’t cry.” Hesitantly, she continues: “I probably shouldn’t say this, but I’ve never been someone who’s fucked with the police but now… It was really about power. What happened shouldn’t really have happened to me, I mean it did, but it was totally unfair.” Why? “Wrong place wrong time. They saw I was

freaked out so they scared me to prove their point.” Did you resist arrest? “That’s… I don’t like being touched, I don’t care who you are. There’s only so much I’ll let someone do to me, that’s my personality. So I fought back a bit. It was a long night.” Sky learnt a lesson, but not the one you might expect. “You can choose not to do or be around certain things or people, and I do, but there are certain people I like to be around and they’re… Sometimes it’s fun.” Sky explains this animatedly and says she still lives a normal life. The night after the arrest Sky joined DIIV onstage and covered Cat Power’s ‘Nude As The News’, prompting Chan Marshall to call. “She said let me know if I can help, she was super supportive and nice.” The new friendship was welcome. “I don’t know if I’d call her a mentor but it’s nice to have another woman who’s been through it all.”

“I HAVEN’T EATEN EGGS FOR THREE YEARS...”

The next day outside her dressing room, having vomited after brunch (“I haven’t eaten eggs for three years, I know why”) having been hounded by journalists all morning, Sky seems slightly maudlin, speaking romantically about those close to her. Cole was due to join her in Paris (his plane fare was her birthday present to him) but missed his flight. “It sucks, but we practically live together, his room has become my room. We’ll survive a few days!” Publically, they seem pretty loved up. Sky backs up the schmaltzy photos. “Not many people know me like he does, we like all the same stuff.” Sky’s manager is now hovering alongside Hot Chip, so her one long sentence evaporates with a story about a day at David Lynch’s house. It’s unexpected and strange, symptomatic of someone to whom, deliberately or not, everything seems to happen all of the time. ‘Night Time, My Time’ is released in the UK on Polydor in 2014 THE-FLY.CO.UK

ALBUM OF THE MONTH

Warpaint ‘Warpaint’ (Rough Trade)

LA foursome’s groove-heavy return...

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Download: ‘Love Is To Die’, ‘Keep It Healthy’, ‘Biggy’

War and peace: Emily Kokal, Jenny

Photo: Tom Oldham

If Warpaint’s debut ‘The Fool’ had been released four centuries previous, it would’ve been burnt at the stake as a witch. Luckily for them it came out in 2010, when its spellbinding mix of noirish shoegaze, Siouxsieesque guitar pop and whispered, hex-like vocals was greeted with rather less suspicion by the public — but will they float or drown at a second time of asking? The first thing to note is that, while not making a quantum leap from ‘The Fool’, album two is markedly less soaked in the sort of goth-tinged, shoegazey guitars that prevailed before. In fact, for a band with two guitarists, it sometimes feels like there’s hardly any guitar here at all. Instead, ‘Warpaint’ smartly switches the emphasis to make the band’s secret weapon — the

telepathic interplay between bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg and drummer Stella Mozgawa — the star of the show. This much is evident from terrific lead track ‘Keep It Healthy’, whose moody syncopations call to mind Radiohead’s ‘In Rainbows’ — no big surprise, since Nigel Godrich mixed the record — through to ‘Love Is To Die’’s spooky bass-led groove and the ESG-like no-wave dub of ‘Disco// Very’. ‘Biggy’, meanwhile, perfectly encapsulates the group’s ability to transfix without resorting to big choruses or flashy instrumental parts. On the other hand, Warpaint are prone to meandering when their muse deserts them — ‘CC’ is a brooding jam that nonetheless shades into anonymity, while ‘Drive’ seems to drift before rallying with a gorgeous outro. ‘Son’ closes the record unexpectedly on a Cat Powerish, piano-led weepie — a fine conclusion, to a well-rounded second album. Not a broomstick in sight. ALEX DENNEY

Lee Lindberg, Stella Mozgawa and Theresa Wayman in contemplative mood.

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The Jicks, left to right: Mike Clark, Joanna Bolme, Jake Morris and Stephen Malkmus.

Stephen Malkmus And The Jicks ‘Wig Out At Jagbags’

(Domino Recording Co.)

Pavement man’s wit is ever-sharpening... Ah, the old How To Have A Credible Career After Being In One Of The Most Important Bands Ever conundrum. Where Pete Doherty and Billy Corgan have failed, Stephen Malkmus has succeeded. Having come out the other side of 2010’s Pavement reunion, authenticity unscathed, he remains in the lucky position of rarely hearing demands for new material by his old band. In general, people seem happy enough to let Malkmus be Malkmus. The truth is, he’s never strayed that far from the definitive indie-rock sound he helped shape in the THE-FLY.CO.UK

nineties. ‘Wig Out At Jagbags’, his sixth album with The Jicks, might lack the edginess of twenty years ago, but it still serves as an enjoyable platform for Malkmus’ singular songwriting talent. Sure, there’s clunky country passages (‘Houston Hades’), brassy crooning (‘J Smoov’) and Cream-y jams (‘Cinnamon And Lesbians’), but Malkmus’ wit is sharpening as he approaches 50 – “Come and join us in this punk rock tomb / Come slam dancin’ with some ancient dudes” the 47-year-old sings on the fierce ‘Rumble At The Rainbow’. ‘Lariat’, meanwhile, is about as perfect a pop song as he’s ever written, so while Pavement might be long gone, Malkmus’ future remains bright. ROBERT COOKE Download ‘Lariat’, ‘Rumble At The Rainbow’

ALBUM REVIEWS

Beastmilk

bEEdEEgEE

Big Ups

‘Climax’

‘SUM/ONE’

(Svart)

(4AD)

‘Eighteen Hours Of Static’

Finland, from where apocalyptic post-punks Beastmilk hail, is renowned for its severe conditions. No wonder then, that it seems to be the world’s biggest exporter of theatrically bleak goth bands – HIM, Nightwish et al. Likewise, Beastmilk, a glacial confluence of The Misfits, Bauhaus, The Jesus & Mary Chain and Public Image Ltd revel in windswept melancholia with a mountain-peak-sharp pop edge. There are plenty of tearstreaked melodies and shimmering synths - see cinematic opener ‘Death Reflects Us’ and the tribal catchiness of ‘Love In A Cold World’ - to keep the world’s Point Horror fans happy (or, indeed, sad). JAMIE SKEY Download: ‘Death Reflects Us’

We know from Brian DeGraw’s day job in Gang Gang Dance that he’s a modern pioneer of electronic music. We don’t need a solo album to tell us that. Still, his debut record as bEEdEEgEE – which veers from the summery sobriety of ‘Empty Vases’ to the pingponging ‘Overlook’ – is a dizzying, disorienting reminder of DeGraw’s meticulous attention-todetail. Even potentially off-putting appearances by Lovefoxxx and Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor don’t distract from the ambition and seductiveness that make ‘SUM/ONE’ a more than impressive listen. Sometimes it’s good to be reminded of what you already know. ROBERT COOKE Download: ‘(F.U.T.D.) Time Of Waste’

Broken Bells

(Tough Love)

After The Disco

“Everybody says it’s getting better all the time,” ventures Joe Galarraga through a brattily righteous scream, “BUT IT’S BAD!” This just about sums up the mood of Big Ups’ debut LP. Whether taking on religion, disposable culture or the unbearable shitness of being – they’ve got bones to pick clean. The riffs come thick’n’fast, whether abrasive (‘Disposer’) or doused in post-punk lurches (the none-more-Minutemen ‘Grin’). So what if they occasionally resemble an overly-earnest Mclusky? At their best, they’re magnificent. Eighteen hours of static? Ok. Twenty-seven minutes of awesome? Fuck yes. WILL FITZPATRICK

It’s been four years since the first Broken Bells record and that time, for James Mercer, has delivered nothing but a slightly disappointing Shins album. But this second full collaboration with Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse) has reignited Mercer’s knack for a killer single at least a few times on ‘After The Disco’. Some of the longer workouts could’ve been halved and immeasurably improved, but ‘The Changing Lights’ and the title track are lean, brassy and stocky enough. Key to their success is their brevity something that separates the very strongest tracks here from the overblown. DANIEL ROSS

Download: ‘Goes Black’

Download: ‘After The Disco’

(Columbia)

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ALBUM REVIEWS

CYMBALS ‘The Age Of Fracture’ (Tough Love)

Dum Dum Girls

East India Youth

‘Too True’

‘Total Strife Forever’

(Sub Pop)

(Stolen Recordings)

Split EP (Trashmouth Records)

CYMBALS took the name of their new album from the work of a brainy American historian. Some of its lyrics are in French. The singer’s actual name is Jack Cleverly for Christ’s sake – we get it, they’re a bright bunch. And when their ideas about the over-complexity of the modern age result in ‘Like An Animal’, an immersive nine-minute disco epic to rival ‘Reflektor’, we aren’t going to indulge in any inverse snobbery. On the contrary – the problems arise with the dumbed-down ‘Empty Space’, which enters uncomfortable areas of ‘80s wackiness. The lesson? Don’t be afraid to be a smart-arse. ROBERT COOKE

Anyone hoping for another ‘Jail La La’ should look away now. ‘Too True’ sees Dee Dee Penny stepping outside the garage to elaborate on the 80s motifs of 2011’s ‘Only In Dreams’. Hints of menace puncture the melodies of ‘Rimbaud Eyes’, but her songs now build melodies that truly soar. There are Proper Rock songs here, albeit brushed with the lo-fi new wave charm of previous Dum Dum Girls albums – occasionally it all feels like Stevie Nicks making faces at The Cure, but by power ballad closer ‘Trouble Is My Name’ Dee Dee’s bold new vision has come sharply into focus. WILL FITZPATRICK

Download ‘Like An Animal’

Download ‘Rimbaud Eyes’

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Fat White Family/ Tamanshud

Citing influences as diverse as Can and Shostakovich, William Doyle’s debut as East India Youth is abrasive, complicated and demanding. In a good way. There are ambient synth washes, Fuck Buttons-ish drones and ominous organs, as well as four noninstrumental tracks that sketch portraits of damaged people and disappointments. Gliding effortlessly between ghoulish techno (‘Hinterland’) and sad-eyed Kraut-pop (‘Heaven, How Long’), ‘Total Strife Forever’ (thanks, Foals) is an ambitious, absorbing debut, and still probably only a glimpse of what Doyle is capable of. GEMMA SAMWAYS Download ‘Heaven, How Long’

These dirty, druggy south Londoners are enjoying a purple patch. The music industry has joined the crowd at their crossdressing, gear-stealing gigs and they’re now bizarrely poised to make some actual money from their smash and grab rock. Their portion of this dog-eared split with labelmates Tamanshud (who sound just as misguided) is ragged, loud and horrible. ‘Wet Hot Beef’ - a tryptych varies in pace, attitude and tone, but its three parts are throatgrabbing monsters. This is the kind of music you should feel guilty for liking. BEN HOMEWOOD Download ‘Wet Hot Beef

(Part I)’

R. Kelly: quite a big fan of sex.

R. Kelly ‘Black Panties’

(RCA Records)

A pointless ejaculation from this ageing dr y-humper... As R. Kelly slinks towards 47 years of age, you’d be forgiven for assuming the virile young man behind those sex-obsessed slow jams that dominated debut album ‘12 Play’ would be a fading memory. His tenth and eleventh albums, 2010’s ‘Love Letter’ and last year’s ‘Write Me Back’, suggested he’d traded in globulous R&B sex-chat for vintage soul and motown stomp. Not so. ‘Black Panties’ – the deluxe version of which arrives with a pair of the titular under garments – is a non-stop smut-fest, all smirk-inducing innuendo and graphic single entendres (one moment of sexual intercourse

on opener ‘Legs Shakin’’ is described thusly: “she threw it up her alley”. Charming.) As you’d expect from an album with titles including ’Crazy Sex’, ‘Marry The Pussy’ (“I wanna go down on my knees and ask that pussy to marry me”) and ‘Every Position’, sex dominates (even the unintentionally hilarious haters-riposte, ‘Shut Up’), to the point where you’re completely knackered after an hour. Some of the slow jams are exquisitely constructed - especially recent single ‘Cookies’, TheDream-esque ‘Crazy Sex’ and the cashmere-soft, Kelly Rowland duet ‘All The Way’ – but the pace becomes stagnant after a while, and Kelly dry humps his way to climax. MICHAEL CRAGG Download ‘Cookies’, ‘Crazy Sex’, ‘All The Way’

THE-FLY.CO.UK

ALBUM REVIEWS

Jaakko Eino Kalevi ‘Dreamzone’ EP (Weird World Records)

Loom ‘Lice’ (Hate Hate Hate Records)

Menace Beach

New Desert Blues

‘Lowtalker’ EP

‘Devil’s Rope’ EP

(Memphis Industries)

(Communion)

This fantastical EP makes brains bubble and hips writhe. ‘Memories’ is a magical and adventurous voyage that warrants the hiring of an LED colour-changing dancefloor, just so its Tina Weymouth bassline can be suitably strutted along to. Although, if you’re looking for Jaakko at his most proficient, look no further than ‘Uu uu uu’, which comes across like Sebastien Tellier whacked out of his freaky Gallic mind on pills, driving that stupid fucking Eurovision golf buggy on a safari through Ariel Pink’s harshest and most vivid acid flashbacks. None of which is even possible. Nice one Jaakko. JAMES WEST

Congratulations, Tarik Badwan. You’ve stepped out of your brother Faris’ shadow and formed a band which, surprisingly, don’t just sound like a secondrate Horrors. Loom do, however, seem to have been spending an awful lot of time listening to Nirvana’s ‘Bleach’. The influence is clear from the way Tarik turns the familiar Badwan baritone into an ear-curling Cobain howl on this EP’s title track. ‘Acid King City’’s chainsaw psych, meanwhile, is basically ‘School’ without the “NO RECESS” bit. Loom need to worry less about shaking off family ties and more about wearing their influences too plainly on their sleeves. ROBERT COOKE

Menace Beach are basically an indie supergroup plucked from the coolest pockets of your record collection. A Hookworm here, a Sky Larkin there, with Pulled Apart By Horses and Mansun members thrown in to cement their status, it’s unsurprising that ‘Lowtalker’ is both a) brilliant and b) supremely widelyinfluenced and musically dense. ‘Fortune Teller’ does American alt. rock fuzz, Pavement melodics, Pixies vocal coos and ever-so-slightly psych organs all in one. ‘Lowtalker’’s other four offerings are equally brilliant. Menace Beach may have their sonic ingredients already established, but the result is even better than the sum of their parts. LISA WRIGHT

So their online manifesto states, “Reuben Cogburn would be proud.” In truth it’s a mite presumptuous to assume that the ruthless lead from iconic western True Grit would be up for this - he strikes us as more of a Birthday Party fan. Though they’re nowhere near as cinematically atmospheric as they would have you believe, this Hampshire fourpiece do manage to instil a sense of smallscreen awe with their debut EP. Each of the four tracks are given a boy’s name for reasons unknown, and there’s enough mystery and heft to hold the attention across them all - but there’s no way a whole album of this would fly without more invention. DANIEL ROSS

Download ‘UU uu uu’

Download ‘Lice’

Download ‘Fortune Teller‘

Download ‘Zachary’

THE-FLY.CO.UK

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ALBUM REVIEWS

Rosie Lowe ‘Right Thing’ EP (37 Adventures)

Samantha Crain

September Girls

‘Kid Face’

‘Cursing The Sea’

(Full Time Hobby)

(Fortuna POP!)

TOY ‘Join The Dots’ (Heavenly Recordings)

Rosie Lowe’s debut EP may be laid-back, but easy listening it most certainly isn’t. Phrases like ‘postdubstep’ are likely to be bandied around without anyone having to feel embarrassed, particularly concerning the clicks’n’crashes that punctuate the title track. Producers Kwes and Dave Okumu deserve kudos for the ominous beats that tie Rosie’s creeped-out vocal manipulations to elegiac piano chords (and the odd subtle womp here and there), but even the glitchy climax of standout ‘Me And Your Ghost’ is merely decoration, superbly fleshing out these haunting, heart-stopping songs. Trust us: she’s a keeper. WILL FITZPATRICK

Before folk became a byword for affluent smug-pop a la Mumford et al, its early-2000s revival seemed the proud progeny of alt. country, which sought to strip the unnatural polish of 90s Nashville back to something more raw; a framework on which to build new ideas. Samantha Crain’s debut seems inextricably tied to that spirit, with its simple melodic warmth trumping contemporary notions of waistcoat-wearing ‘authenticity’. Her voice is the highlight – all bruised-beautiful and heavy-hearted defiant, imbuing ‘Paint’ and ‘Ax’ with a graceful charm that’s all the better for its unpretentious simplicity. WILL FITZPATRICK

We’re not sure at what point it became law for bands with the name *Something* Girls to worship at the altars of Phil Spector and 60s noir pop, but we’re up for giving the authority responsible a pat on the back. More Dum Dum than Vivian, September Girls (who actually take their name from a Big Star song) have produced an alluring debut LP that is sassy and reverb-ridden. ‘Left Behind’ coos sweetly as torrents of guitars distort and twist around it, while ‘Heartbeats’ orbits 60s drum patterns before a nonchalant kiss-off. Revolutionary? No. Do we care? Also no. LISA WRIGHT

Download ‘Me And Your Ghost’

Download ‘Somewhere All The Time’

In the last few years, psychedelia has reflowered. Alongside east-London pals The Horrors, out-and-proud crate-diggers TOY stand out among their cosmic peers in an everexpanding psychedelic global commune. Their motorik-powered debut captured the imagination of inner journeyers for its raw delivery and sharp songwriting nous. ‘Join The Dots’ makes good on the band’s promise to deliver a new album every year, though you can’t help but feel certain songs were neglected in favour of more sophisticated production values. Yet, when their stars align, TOY sound mesmeric, like on the swirling stomp of the title track. JAMIE SKEY

Download ‘Heartbeats’

Download ‘Join The Dots’

55 FlyDecRussfinal.indd 55

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09/12/2013 21:40

THE-FLY.CO.UK

The Reflektors by Wunmi Onibudo

LIVE REVIEWS

The Reflektors London, Roundhouse 11/11/2013

These guys seem familiar...

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last six months (and, to be honest, they’ve been scribbling their cryptic pentagrams on those too), then you’ll know that The Reflektors are in fact Canadian indie behemoths Arcade Fire. Look to the page on your left: Hey, Win Butler! But, as tonight attests, their decision to perform under the least secret pseudonym in recent memory is more than just a glitzy PR stunt. From the disco balls and brilliantly tacky sparkles that adorn the venue, to the band’s carnival-esque attire, to the immaculately decked-out crowd, instructed upon purchasing their tickets to go ‘fancy dress or formal’, everything about tonight is designed to create a spectacle. Far from the jaded social observations of ‘The Suburbs’ or the soaring hopefulness/ helplessness of ‘Funeral’, this Arcade Fire are trying on some new tricks for size. And, for a band that have never tried to

play along with the norm, it makes sense that their new sonic preoccupations would manifest themselves elsewhere too. Tonight, we get ‘Reflektor’ in almost its entirety - an album of sprawling length, live its every nuance is unfolded. The title track is a low-key disco sermon, while ‘Flashbulb Eyes’’ skanking beats undulate and groove. ‘It’s Never Over (Hey Orpheus)’ proves itself to be one of the group’s finest moments to date and ‘Here Comes The Nighttime’ forces the entire suited and booted throng to dance throughout. Not moshing or nodding, but proper, shimmying dancing. Of course there’s a special space reserved for the oldies, and there’s barely an unsung word when ‘Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)’ appears, or a dry eye when a rare outing of ‘Crown Of Love’ pops up in the encore. But tonight isn’t really about Arcade Fire. They’ve had their limelight, now it’s time to let The Reflektors shine. LISA WRIGHT THE-FLY.CO.UK

THE-FLY.CO.UK

Band Of Skulls by Nick Redman

LIVE REVIEWS

Band Of Skulls Paris, Zenith 13/11/2013

Southampton trio show off their range of mountainous new songs... It takes a certain amount of gumption to agree to a support slot with Queens Of The Stone Age, touring one the year’s most impactful records. By aligning yourself alongside a band that beloved, you’re setting the bar pretty damn high. And if there’s one thing you don’t want in the run up to a new record, it’s to fall embarrassingly below that bar. It’s a position that Band Of Skulls, despite forming nearly a decade ago, couldn’t have filled until recently. But, since the release of 2012’s ‘Sweet Sour’, the Southampton trio’s stock has soared and, with forthcoming third album ‘Himalayan’ champing at the bit to be unleashed, it feels like the band are a few small steps away from becoming a pretty big deal in their own right. Tonight, they play like headliners. Despite the Zenith’s cavernous, warehouse-like space (think The O2 Arena, if it was designed by Ikea) and its resultant hit-and-miss

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sound quality, Band Of Skulls sound undeniably huge. Even more promisingly, it’s in the new offerings that the trio really flesh out to the fullest. The glam stomp of ‘Hoochie Coochie’ shimmies along like a lost 70s gem with a promiscuous twinkle in its eye, while ‘Brothers And Sisters’ is all Black Keys strut with a hefty payoff of a chorus. Forthcoming title track ‘Himalayan’, meanwhile, grinds by on gravelly riffs and a confidence befitting of its epic title. The older White Stripes rumble of ‘The Devil Takes Care Of His Own’ and ‘You’re Not Pretty But You Got It Going On’ (a kind of reigned-in QOTSA-esque affair in its own right) make for a timely reminder of why their last album pricked up an impressive number of ears. By the end, Band Of Skulls have made everyone in the room forget who they’re here to see. There could be no greater compliment. SARAH POPE THE-FLY.CO.UK

09/12/2013 21:42

1. Danny Brown, 2. Spector by Emma Swan 3. Unknown Mortal

Orchestra by Priti Shikotra, 4. Warpaint by Wunmi Onibudo

Pitchfork Music Festival Paris Paris, Grande Halle De La Villette 31/10-02/11 2013 Deerhunter and Ariel Pink’s no show is immediately made up for by Iceage. It turns out a massive former cattle market is the perfect place for the Danes. At the bar afterwards, you realise that this festival is Pitchfork.com in festival form – perfectly curated and immaculately conceived, everything looks spotless from every vantage point. Once accustomed to the no spirits bar policy, it unfolds into a pretentious cheeseboard of 9.0s. Savages are slick and No Age ruddy noisy; while a crowd-surfing Mac DeMarco and a psychotropic Darkside provide wildly different reasons to be cheerful. Danny Brown is the highlight though, eclipsing Panda Bear and Disclosure with a freakishly exciting set whose memory seems a million miles away THE-FLY.CO.UK

to those horizontal and stupefied on the floor when Todd Terje and A-Trak close a festival that has fun almost in spite of itself. BEN HOMEWOOD

Spector London, Birthdays 26/10/2013 Last time Spector took to a hometown stage, it was at a sold-out Shepherd’s Bush Empire, rounding off a triumphant headline jaunt with the kind of giddy, brilliant show that left the front ten rows looking like they’d just dived headfirst into a particularly bad-smelling pool. This time round, the band have teamed up with Dr. Martens for something altogether more intimate; a chance to road-test the material they’ve been holed up for the last six months writing, and to remind London exactly how it’s done. “Carpe DM,” grins frontman Fred MacPherson, his usual Hawaiian shirt/ Miami Vice suit combo swapped for a more demure monochrome affair, but sense of humour still clearly intact, before launching

into a succinct hour of indie gold. Recent Dev Hynes-produced newie ‘Decade Of Decay’ makes for one of the band’s more subtle moments, its hook-ridden guitar lines underpinned by synths so 80s they should come with… well, a Miami Vice suit. ‘Reeperbahn’, too, shows the quintet haven’t lost their knack for an earworm, while the more familiar bounce of ‘What You Wanted’, ‘Chevy Thunder’ and ‘Friday Night, Don’t Ever Let It End’ are welcomed back with open arms and flailing limbs. It shouldn’t be long until Spector are back on the big stages where they belong. CHARLIE KELLY

Unknown Mortal Orchestra Manchester, Academy 2 08/11/2013 On the surface, UMO’s fuzzy psychedelics appear to be influenced by every cool band you can think of. ‘No Need For A Leader’ checks in

with Sabbath and The Stooges, ‘The Opposite Of Afternoon’ feels like it might have been knocked off when Syd Barrett fooled around with The Zombies during an afternoon jam session, ‘Thought Ballune’ could be Jimi Hendrix, ‘How Can You Luv Me’ zings off The Seeds’ ‘Pushin’ Too Hard’, while they even throw in a Can cover (‘Vitamin C’) for good measure. The noise the trio make is abundant and fierce, and there are definitely points during the gig when frontman Ruban Neilson is drawing sounds from his guitar that resemble various wounded animals. However, it’s the juxtaposition of his sombre, silken vocals with this beautiful noise that makes UMO such a distinctive draw. An acoustic encore featuring recent single ‘Swim And Sleep (Like A Shark)’ and highlight ‘So Good At Being In Trouble’ ends proceedings with rapturous applause from an audience who still feel like UMO is their little secret. In reality though, the secret got out a long time ago. PETER WILD

LIVE REVIEWS

Warpaint

London, O2 Academy Brixton 30/10/13 Three years after ‘The Fool’, Warpaint are finally back. Armed with more synths and drum machines than before and with a minor shift in staging (bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg now hangs back with her rhythm section cohort Stella Mozgawa on the drum

riser), these minimal changes are a sign of what’s to come. ‘Keep It Healthy’ is the first new offering, maintaining the heavy drumbeats, deep bass lines and eerily haunting vocals of their older material, but throwing in a far more electronic sound. ‘No Way Out’, meanwhile, makes for a new highlight, kicking off slowly with Theresa Wayman’s brooding

vocal before building into a blend of intricate guitar melodies and undulating basslines. The song begins to fade slowly, almost as though by accident, but snaps back again with a growing urgency, finally culminating in a breakdown of steady, rhythmic grooves. Latest single ‘Love Is To Die’, too, is one that receives a pulsing, extended outro. Of course, old

favourites ‘Undertow’ and ‘Billie Holiday’ are greeted rapturously, while ‘Elephants’’ delicate opening is propelled into a chaotic blend of psychedelic melodies and intense drumming. But between the comfort of the old, the thrill of the new and a canny cover of Patti Smith’s ‘Because The Night’, Warpaint barely miss a beat. KIERAN FROST THE-FLY.CO.UK

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Who: Eagulls When: 05/12/2013 Where: Sebright Arms, London

S I X S H O T S

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