The Fly February/March 2014 by The Fly

Issue n째168

Februar y / March 2014

Thurston Moore

Free

[regulars] In The Studio 04 john kerrison’s graphic content 08 stop’n’chat 10 OnesToWatch 12 [features] Thurston moore 18 the fly awards 26 metronomy 34 temples 38 warpaint 42 [reviews] albums 46 live 58 six shots 66

Welcome to the February/March edition of The Fly. Last month was a big deal for us, as we managed to pull off our first-ever Awards ceremony at The Forum in London. Respect is due to the bands on the night; Bombay Bicycle Club, Wild Beasts, Peace, The Horrors and Thurston Moore – all were amazing – and our hosts Chris Cain and Keith Murray, but the biggest thank yous go to those behind the scenes who made it happen: Lucinda Brown, Laura Akam, Laura Astley, all at XFM , War Child and TicketWeb. Read all about it from page 26... JJ DUNNING, editor Warpaint, shot by Tom Oldham for The Fly, London, December 2013

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I n T h e St u d i o

Peace Harr y Koisser on his band’s “explosion” of a second album... Producer: Jim Abbiss (Arctic Monkeys) Studio(s): Farm Studio 2 in Ladbroke Grove, west London, Dean Street Studios, central London. Due: Summer 2014 Hi Harry. What are you up to? I’m just recording an idea. It’s a demo to play the label tomorrow. How many have you got finished? We’ve got six songs fully recorded - done for the record - and then about 30 demos. Are they songs you’ve had knocking around for a while, or did you start afresh after ‘In Love’? the-fly.co.uk

We started afresh. We had about 10 left over from the last album but we didn’t use any of them. We just wanted to write new stuff. Peace aren’t a band who run out of ideas, then? No, we’ve been very fortunate in that we’ve had too many. Whittling down the ones to put on the record has been really hard. The six we’ve recorded so far are probably the catchiest. Those kinds of songs are always the ones that are good to just finish, so you can get on with experimenting during the second half of the recording process.

What sort of direction is it heading in? The whole record is an explosion - every song is a completely different direction. Peace are a mixture of styles, aren’t they? It’s better to respond to passion in what you write, rather than what you want to write or what ideally should be written. I wouldn’t write down on paper the idea of what a record should be and then write it. It’s better to go with it; with whatever’s most stimulating. There’s some really weird stuff that doesn’t really sound like a band, plus some straightforward stuff

that does. You’re sharing the making of your album on Tumblr by posting short videos - the most recent one has Doug [Castle, guitarist] doing something weird over some weird drums. Is the album weird? I was just filming Doug doing some noodling! You can’t tell a song by these snippets. People want to see behind the

scenes a bit. I know I do. When I was younger there was always a big mystery about how you made an album - I wanted to smash that a little bit. Sharing it takes the pressure off a little bit, too. When I was younger I would have loved to go to the studio to see a band I liked recording. You only really see it on documentaries. I just thought we should

take a really realistic approach to it. What’s the favourite so far? Possibly the one that’s going to end the album - it’s in two parts. The first half is a bit gritty - it reminds me of dirty kerbs or an unwashed car - the second half is more massive mountains, loads of bombast - and then what links the two is bordering on

a bass solo. Well, it is a bass solo. So it has a bass solo in the middle bridging the gap between a wheely bin and a beautiful mountain range. I don’t think it sounds like you’re being very ambitious. This is what happens. Everything does sound quite together this time around. It’s more settled.

Bonus F a c to i d s Harry passed Seal recently when the ‘Killer’ legend held the door open for him. Harry said, “Thanks”, but not, “Thanks, Seal”. Harry thinks his phone number would fetch “about £6” on eBay.

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w i n s t u ff

Win: Entry To Bilbao BBK Live! You could take a friend to a three-day Spanish festival this summer, all for the cost of a plane ticket... Our good friends at Bilbao BBK Live are offering you two tickets to their festival this summer. Headlined by The Black Keys, Phoenix and MGMT, the festival takes place over 10th-12th July in the mountains overlooking the Spanish city of Bilbao, home to the European branch of the Guggenheim museum. Also performing over the three days are White Lies, Franz the-fly.co.uk

Ferdinand, Foster The People, The Lumineers, The 1975, Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls, Future Of The Left, Conor Oberst, Chet Faker and Jack Johnson. To enter the competition, head to www.the-fly.co.uk/ competitions. Alternatively, Early Bird tickets are available priced ÂŁ90 (plus booking fee) via SeeTickets, Eufest and Ticketweb until the

25th March. The beach, city centre and airport are all within easy reach of the festival site. Air fares start from ÂŁ160pp, with the city served by airports all over the UK including Glasgow, Manchester, Edinburgh, Exeter and London. Flights are also available to Santander, which is only an hour away by bus. For more information, visit www.bilbaobbklive.com.

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»John Kerrison’s Graphic Content And The Winner Is…

February saw the inaugural Fly Awards bash, where we celebrated the bands we felt were worthy of a prestigious, and at this point very rare, gong. Or trophy. I presume it was shaped like a Fly. I don’t know, I wasn’t there. In honour of this momentous occasion, here are five things you can expect from all awards events:

The Graphic Content Awards for pie-gested Read the Best Awards Show Moments

Reunions Award shows are an especially good time for a reunion, as illustrated at this year’s Grammys where everyone’s fourth favourite Beatle, Paul McCartney, was reunited with everyone’s third favourite Beatle, Ringo Starr, to receive a lifetime achievement award presented by everyone’s second favourite Anne Hathaway, Julia Roberts. Unfortunately The Fly Awards’ attempt at a similar reintroduction was thwarted – we were told there was no feasible way we could reunite Dappy with the horse that kicked him in the face, as sadly it had been highfived to death shortly thereafter. Gushing Speeches It’s not uncommon that a recipient of an award will, despite their surprise at winning, have come prepared with a scroll of Kerouacian proportions full of acknowledgements. The reading of said scroll will most often be accompanied by tears, hand-fanning, and an eventual interruption from the house band when a stage manager realises the world is in danger of missing out on a Bruno Mars performance. Personally I prefer the blubbering and sycophancy, but each to their own. In such circumstances there’s at least a 50% chance that God will be thanked, giving credence to my theory that he is in fact a very talented producer.

The Kanye West Award for Overwhelming Douchebaggery

1990

The Award for the Most Obvious Mistake In 1990, ludicrous breakdancing duo Milli Vanilli had their Grammy revoked when it was discovered they HADN’T RECORDED THEIR OWN SONGS – which is only the second most surprising part of that sentence, after the bit explaining that Milli Vanilli once won a Grammy.

Arses Yes, that’s right – arses. Whether it’s Jarvis Cocker hoping on stage to waft his during a Michael Jackson performance, or Sacha Baron Cohen planting his firmly in the face of Eminem, dalliances with the derriere seem to be oddly prevalent at award shows. The inception of this curious trend can be traced back to 1992 when nemesis of subtlety, antidote to sophisticated wit, and infamous shock-jock Howard Stern attended the MTV Awards in a chapless spandex outfit under the pseudonym ‘Fart Man’. No one was to know at the time that this 38-year-old man, oddly obsessed with scatological humour, would one day grow up to be a 60-year old man, oddly obsessed with scatological humour. Fashion Faux-Pas There has been no shortage of words written about how Madonna has continually changed her style to keep up with evolving trends and maintain an aura of ‘youth’. Just like there has been no shortage of sartorial slips at music awards. This year Madge wore gold teeth to the Grammys - you know, like the gangsters do - which is the celebrity equivalent of your gran slut-dropping at a wedding. See also: Gaga’s meat dress, McGowan’s invisible outfit, and the time Britney wore a snake. Maroon 5 They’re just always there, aren’t they? Like something ointments don’t work on. the-fly.co.uk

This award could go to Kanye West for interrupting a teenage Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the VMAs 2009, or it could go to Kanye West for storming out of the AMAs when he didn’t win in 2004. It could even go to Kanye West for rushing the stage at the EMAs after not winning ‘Best Video’ in 2006. But ultimately it goes to Kanye West for being filmed backstage ranting about not winning another award in 2007.

2009

Most Accidental Narcissism Just 12 years later MJ was on stage again, clutching an award and declaring “If you had told me I would win the Artist of the Millennium award I never would have believed you.” Unfortunately, he would have been right not to, as it was only 2005, the award didn’t exist, and he had actually just become confused when Britney Spears was trying to give him a birthday cake. Pretty awkward.

1994

The Misplaced Confidence Award In a bold move, King of Pop Michael Jackson orchestrated a public display of affection in 1994 with then wife Lisa Marie Presley, kissing her on stage at the VMAs and declaring, “nobody thought this would last.” How cynical we all were. The marriage did last, an entirety of 24 months.

2005

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s to p ‘ n ’ c h at

Jared swilley BLACK LIPS

“I was embarrassed that we got kicked out of india...”

Hi Jared. You sound a bit throaty? Yeah, I just woke up. You’re as hard working as Prince. Congratulations. Today’s first task is to tell us your biggest regret. Not joining the army. What kind of person do you think you’d be now if you’d joined the army? Disciplined. Although I’m actually pretty disciplined. Black Lips is an authoritarian organisation – we discipline ourselves. Everyone is accountable. Would getting Phil Spector to produce your new album have been in poor taste? Completely. That’s one of the reasons why – aside from the logistics of him being in prison – we decided not to. It wouldn’t have been funny. Has a situation you’ve been in ever gotten out of control? I was really embarrassed getting kicked out of India. It wasn’t our intention to make everyone angry [the band were deported for urinating on each other during a show in Chennai in 2009]. Nobody told us we had to restrict our behaviour - we thought we were doing what we usually do – what we were allowed to do. We weren’t going over there to be jerks. People take you a bit more seriously these days though, don’t they? We’ve been at it for so long that it can’t be one the-fly.co.uk

long-running fart joke. Who is the most opposite person to Black Lips that you can think of? [thoughtful pause] Bruce Jenner? The Kardashians’ dad? I’m obsessed with his face. Who’s your hero? Ted Turner. He’s an Atlanta-based media owner who became a millionaire from nothing. He founded CNN and challenged Rupert Murdoch to a boxing match [twice – News Mogul Ed]. He drunkenly wrecked his yacht in the Americas Cup. He owned the Atlanta Braves, Cartoon Network and wrestling franchise WCW. He married Jane Fonda. He saved a species of wild buffalo [he also created the Captain Planet and the Planeteers cartoon – 90s Cartoons Ed]. He sounds like Ron Burgundy. What’s the bigger threat: terrorism or global warming? I don’t think either are a big threat. Terrorism doesn’t affect me where I am and I’m not convinced by global warming. Who would play you in a film? Denzel Washington. Why? Because he’s strong and sincere and he can stare at the camera and make a single tear roll down his cheek. What’s the most expensive thing you own? I’ve got a wild boar mounted on my wall. My dad shot it a few years ago – those things cost about $6k to mount. I have eight big pieces in my house: I’ve got four deer, a fox, two pheasants and a wild boar. Are you surrounded? They’re all in the front room – there’s a lot of eyes on you when you’re in there. What’s the most boring fact about you? I like recreating Civil War battles with toy soldiers. I have a room set aside in the house for that. I’m loyal to history – I’m not a revisionist. I don’t ever think ‘what if Hitler had won the war?’. ‘Underneath The Rainbow’ is released on Vice on 17th March.

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puffer At home with freewheeling noise... W ords B en H omewood P hoto S ophie H all

Welcome to Puffer’s living room. Between power tools, extension leads, baccy pouches and a blackened saucepan of mulled wine, they’re at their table. It’s cold outside their waterside warehouse in the shadow of the Olympic stadium in Hackney Wick. There aren’t enough mugs for everyone to have tea, but their hospitality is warm. The band – brothers Glenn and Sean Wild and their friends Kurt Hamblin and Conrad Armstrong – are laughing at a piece of paper in Sean’s hand. “We were drawing things with our eyes shut, that one’s ‘Intergalactic Pig’.” Conrad points to a weirdly accurate porcine figure. It’s easy to imagine them under a cloud of smoke and fantastical conversation. Their music is wide-eyed, heavy and loose; the product of their artistic funhouse. Prior to the trip east, we sit round a smaller table before their first show of 2014. “Living together helps. We know each other’s moods, attitudes, good and bad sides. the-fly.co.uk

Seeing someone run across the room in a towel after a shower, scuffles... it makes us quite free when we’re together,” says Glenn. They’re free on stage too. Their throbbing outrage is difficult to forget. Dense and pummelling, they provide enjoyment at a cost. Living in a non-residential area where midnight angle grinding is common means they have an acquired appreciation of noise. Glenn doesn’t think they realise how loud they are. “Yeah, ’cos we’re all partially deaf,” Sean says. Volume is a product of their interests. They believe gigs should offer more than spiritless song run-throughs. They enjoyed being sensorially battered by Dorset doom band Electric Wizard so much that they had to leave: “Violated might be the word. It was ears, eyes and body. We were a bit stoned though...” Sean remembers. That spirit soaks into Puffer’s songs. They’ve found structure within abandon. “Not wanting to stop” comes naturally; eye contact dictates

what happens on stage. These things have led to progress: at their first show last summer, we saw them make up a song on the spot. Now, they’ve made an LP. Glenn reckons they’ve “harnessed” their influences and adventure. Sean still can’t define their sound (“It’s heavy, but how heavy?”). The album was recorded over two days with their friend Patrick Constable of Selfish Cunt. They plan to press it using money they got for recording an improvised 25-minute jam for a fashion designer. They’ll probably call it ‘Groth’ after the genre they dreamt up. Their name came from an episode involving laughing gas, but they like the word’s neutral weight and didn’t want it to be a label. Sean: “Take... Iron Fist – you’d think they were a metal band. Or you can tell an indie band... 1975s or The Courteeners or whatever.” Kurt speaks for the first time: “Iron Fist is definitely a band... or a sex toy.” Puffer’s album will be out soon. They don’t have a label.

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PERFECT PUSSY Hate expectations... Words J azz M onroe Photo D rew A lterman “I feel so bad for interviewers that catch me first thing,” sighs Meredith Graves, evidently relishing our 8am the-fly.co.uk

chinwag. “If I sleep eight hours, I’ve stored up eight hours of shit I hate – I’m really sorry!”

No apology necessary: like her riot grrrl forebears, Graves makes an art of hate-talk, albeit fuelled by compassion. Accordingly Perfect Pussy, the fivepiece she fronts, tap up the timeworn alchemy of heavier music: turning shit they hate into sounds you love. “People find fictional accounts of oppression comforting,” she

says, “but in being direct I leave no room for error. I don’t give a fuck who I piss off anymore.” Seems bolshy? Sure, but she’s hardly unprovoked. The band sprang from Syracuse, New York, where balletand-opera-trained Graves cut her teeth combating the “abhorrently apolitical, flagrantly racist” hardcore scene. Perfect Pussy meanwhile, confront righteous themes (“whiteness, ableism, gender”) with vocals that thrash like netted sharks. “People who say you owe your scene something are the same people who think you’re obligated to visit family for the holidays, even if they’re shitty and abusive,” says Graves. “You don’t owe anybody shit. Especially if they’re mean to you. Which [Syracuse hardcore bands] are to me, so fuck that. I don’t wanna play.” In the outsider tradition, Graves and gang rebuffed local rejection by expanding outwards: after conquering CMJ in a hail of 10-minute sets, they exhausted five 100-cassette runs of debut EP ‘I Have Lost All Desire For Feeling’, soon joining Brooklyn indie label Captured Tracks. They’ve since tooled up with debut ‘Say Yes To Love’, an experimental, sometimes melodic, feedback-wired LP, and it’s a firecracker. With a sonic fortress of hailstorming noise, righteous scorn and direct tunes, Perfect Pussy are just what explicit hardcore enthusiasts have been waiting for.

FEAR OF MEN A compelling phobia... Words Gemma Samways Photo Louise Haywood-Schiefer “Generic, romantic songs upset me,” Jess Weiss confides over the phone from the British Museum. “We definitely strive to do more.” So speaks the former artist in residence at Surrey University’s Psychology Department, and a frontwoman who found her band’s name whilst, “researching strange mental disorders and phobias.” Though based in Brighton, Fear Of Men formed at Goldsmiths in London, after guitarist Dan Falvey attended Weiss’ exhibition. Numbers and mixtapes were swapped and shared influences quickly became apparent: “We both love Deerhunter, Grouper, Neutral Milk Hotel and early 4AD artists,” says Falvey, with Weiss elaborating, “Musicians making twisted-pop with textured, collage-y effects.” From 2012’s ‘Hanna Schygulla’ demos to last year’s ‘Early Fragments’ compilation, the band (completed by drummer Michael Mills and bassist Becky Wilkie) have always shown an impressive gift for melody. Their forte, in fact, is sculpting gauzy layers of guitar and percussion, plus the odd spoken-word sample and the soft swoon of Weiss’ voice. “I don’t write songs when I’m feeling content, they come out of a very anxious, lonely, introverted place.” Combine this with cultural reference points ranging from Philip Larkin and Anais Nin to “the psychological dimension of art”, and it’s little wonder their compositions come charged with existential dread. ‘Loom’ – their full length debut – is due this month, and is soaked in the oppressive atmosphere of their bunker-come-studio. “We wanted to capture that sense of claustrophobia, so it’s densely textured with guitars and distorted classical instrumentation. It was a difficult process,” Falvey says solemnly, before adding mischievously, “We really enjoyed it.” ‘Loom’ is released on Kanine Records on 21st March.

‘Say Yes To Love’ is released on Captured Tracks on 17th March.

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first on 1.

wat c h

5. 1 JUCE 2 NOTHING 3 Tense Men 4 Holy Wave 5 Quilt

KEEL HER Meet lo-fi’s Florence Nightingale… Words R obert C ooke Photo V ic L entaigne “Last year I had three surgeries so I was pretty ill the whole year, but we did the album in between that. It took the whole year to record but I’m pretty happy with it.” Rose Keeler-Schäffeler needn’t sound so apologetic. Even with the delays caused by having her tonsils out and some pretty serious back problems, her work rate the-fly.co.uk

as Keel Her is impressive. Like, 21-releases-on-herBandcamp-site-since-2011 impressive. “It doesn’t feel like I’m prolific at all,” she says. “You get people saying, ‘Yeah, she’s really prolific’, but they’re not finished songs. They are just demos so I feel like a bit of a fake when people say that. “There’s all these talented

people that have written tons of songs, that are really good and have done really well, like R. Stevie Moore.” Keeler-Schäffeler has more than respect for the bearded lo-fi legend. They first worked together in 2012, and Moore remixes a track on the self-titled LP. The rest of the dreamy noise-pop whirlwind comes from KeelerSchäffeler’s bedroom studio sessions with her collaborator Andrew Barnes. Unsurprisingly, the pair are already preparing tracks for a new EP and another album (the latest demos went online in January). But even at full productivity, music isn’t a

full-time pursuit for KeelerSchäffeler. “I’ve been training to be a nurse healthcare assistant for people with eating disorders because my sister had anorexia,” she explains. “I feel really strongly about that, so I want to do something that I’m not going to be bored of, where I actually feel good about work instead of hating it.” Not that it’ll be the end of Keel Her: “I might start painting or something. I don’t know, but I’m always going to have to do something creative.” Just try and stop her – in sickness or in health. ‘Keel Her’ is out now on Critical Heights.

Tense Men have made First On’s favourite release of 2014 so far: the overwrought, noxious thrash and drone of ‘Where Dull Care Is Forgotten’. Out on limited 12” on Faux Discx on 10th March. Philly band

Plymouth miserablist Thomas Crang moved to Manchester and recruited a full band to add brawn to Gorgeous Bully’s brittle cuteness. The

The Reverberation Appreciation Society. These tough punks are nothing like the boring quinoa-guzzling graphic designer their

brilliant Art Is Hard have just released his new EP. Mexican Summer’s

Creative Adult’s bruising ‘Psychic Mess’ now, on Run For Cover.

NOTHING’s collision of shoegaze and metal teeters on a precipice of violent explosion. Their debut full-length, ‘Guilty Of Everything’, is released this month. ‘Call You Out’

Quilt offer a hairy, dreamy trip that would perfectly soundtrack a lovely hot air balloon ride. If that’s your thing, check out their billowing album ‘Held In Splendor’. Psychedelic Texans

is JUCE’s first song and a sign London might have produced a girl band to rival Haim. Facebook.com/ jucelovemusic.

Holy Wave sound just as dozy and odd as they look. Their lysergic new LP ‘Relax’ is out now via

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NA M E s to w a t c h Tove Lo Gengahr Public Access TV Twin Graves Prolife

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thurston moore A stoned teenager is behind the wheel of a Volkswagen Beetle. It’s 1976 and he’s driving from his home in Bethel, Connecticut to 213, Park Avenue, New York City. His passenger is a “fellow freako”, his destination - Max’s Kansas City. After bunking school and taking six hours to drive 68 miles, they arrive at the famous club. They’re not hip enough to be there. Sat drinking cokes in the downstairs bar, the driver wonders aloud where the bands are. “They play upstairs,” sneers the bartender. Thurston Moore and his companion sprint for the stairwell. “I met this kid at school who I knew read the same magazines I did, with pictures of Talking Heads and Blondie. He was flamboyant and kind of legendary for listening to David Bowie, nobody openly did that,

“Disco was the cocaine-addled enemy...” you might as well have just said you were homosexual, which nobody was gonna do. He said ‘Let’s go to Max’s’, we smoked joints and cigarettes in my Beetle bug on the way. We got upstairs right before the first band. It was The Cramps. They had no notoriety then. No one knew what that was, that rawness - it was crazy to see. They were fascinating in their crudity. Then Suicide played; pummelling synthesisers and Alan Vega with a scarred face and an old ladies’ wig, crying into a microphone and walking through the tables strangling people with its lead and screaming in their faces. We were quiet on the way home, put it that way. We’d discovered something.” 37 years later, a slightly craggy 55-yearold is eating grapes in a dressing room above The Forum in north London. Dispatching this story at the start of our conversation, Thurston Moore quickly threatens musician/journalist interview dynamics. I’m inclined to assume the role of awestruck youngster, perched before the-fly.co.uk

an unfathomably cool oldie. Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Patti Smith and Richard Hell (the latter is staying at Moore’s flat on a sightseeing holiday when we meet) mingle easily in his lengthy answers, which often turn into compelling orations. Happier talking about his favourite subjects than himself, he’s a music historian who moves, spiky yet content, deep inside counter-culture. Yet the ease with which he operates – catching buses and going to the pub unaccompanied by publicists or label staff – is hardly illustrious. Interrupting doesn’t feel appropriate. But this is the first meaningful publicity Moore has done since moving to London after the revelation of his infidelity and the break-up of his marriage and Sonic Youth. We meet on the day he will be presented with the Living Legend award at The Fly Awards. Before describing his own memorable Volkswagen drive, Thurston Moore was crammed into another one – my colleague’s Golf – with his girlfriend Eva Prinz and guitarist James Sedwards. A new friend and collaborator, the couple have previously lodged in Sedwards’ Stoke Newington flat and now live round the corner. Carrying a guitar and a folded Guardian, Thurston Moore walks out of his house and offers a handshake. Richard Hell is asleep upstairs. Sedwards apparently “has The Knowledge”, so we weave through shortcuts, evading the 9am traffic and talking about the tube strike and the merits of Boris Johnson as an historian. Thurston nearly bought his book on ancient Rome recently and, buoyed by Sedwards’ praising the Mayor’s writing, says he may go back for it. After soundcheck, Thurston’s story segues into safety pins. Richard Hell started the ripped clothes aesthetic, he says, stressing that it wasn’t created to become an “emblematic sensation”. His trip to Max’s prompted a relocation to New York permanently, aged 18. A literature obsessive who now teaches at Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School Of Disembodied Poetics during summer, he went in pursuit of the poetry scene around St. Mark’s Church. His favourite writers, Verlaine, Hell and Smith, were also making music and he became enthralled by it and

JACK DANIEL WAS A MAN OF COMMITMENT. AT LEAST WHEN IT CAME TO HIS WHISKEY. When it came to whiskey making, no man was more dedicated than Jack Daniel. It’s the reason he’d wait patiently while his whiskey mellowed through 10 feet of packed sugar maple charcoal, and why he’d watch over every batch with a discriminating eye. Though he never married, Mr. Jack remained forever faithful to his one true love. Unfortunately for the ladies of Lynchburg, Tennessee, that happened to be his whiskey.

J A C K D A N I E L’ S

TENNESSEE WHISKEY

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thurston moore the “underground society inspired by that expression”. “It was a new rock‘n’roll that was identifying itself from the war-torn hippy country rock that was then so in vogue. Hippies were stupid, but disco was the cocaine-addled enemy,” he says. “I never related to the idea of escaping to the country and sitting on a porch with David Crosby, though it sounds romantic. Patti Smith holding her notebook on a subway platform was much more resonant.” He sketches an outline of a young, literate punk obsessive. Explicit detail prompts meandering tangents. His New York history lesson ends in review of Television’s irregular coiffures. “They had short hair and didn’t wear flares. Even The Ramones had long hair. Being a short-haired youth was really radical, it was

“I’ve had some life issues...” definitely messing with people’s minds. They looked so weird! Every young person had long hair - unless you were a math geek or in the military.” Thurston admits to feeling “very proud to be alive” and puts being a Living Legend down to “living long enough and continuing to do work that has some kind of effect on people”. Idol-turned-friend Richard Hell will present him with the award. Thurston is comfortable with the idea that his name will follow Hell’s in rock history books. “I’ve crossed paths with a lot of people who were inspirational to me. I’ve worked with Richard, Patti, Iggy, Bowie... When Sonic Youth came to some kind of prominence a lot of [those] people certainly recognised it as a progression of work they’d already established. For me, that’s one of the greatest things, to know them. Sonic Youth became part of that fabric, that lineage. That’s all I really ever wanted.” His mind darts off again and he’s halfway through explaining that he’s a “musicologist” the-fly.co.uk

who knows more about his idols than they do, when Eva Prinz walks in. There’s a drawled “hello” and she sits down, fiddling with a banana. Sedwards is next to her, texting. Presently, we’re distracted by their whispering. She gathers her bag and says she has an appointment. “You’re going away? OK, see you,” Thurston says. A discussion about how long they’ve been at the venue gets gradually more heated and awkward as the couple move towards the door. “I’ll be right back,” he says. The room falls silent. Sedwards leans forward and arranges the fun-size chocolate bars on the table into a grid according to colour. Then he counts them, mouthing numbers to himself. At a loss, I turn the Dictaphone off. “Sorry about that, we had to find a taxi,” Thurston offers from behind a friendly smile later, “we’ll finish the interview soon.” Venue staff walked between them as Prinz became increasingly frustrated exiting the building earlier, but he doesn’t acknowledge the couple’s spat. Momentary awkwardness is forgotten as evening arrives and with it Richard Hell and the boozy free-for-all of the ceremony. Thurston is constantly gracious, posing for pictures and chatting happily to anyone who wants to know. The other bands present are obviously enthralled by his presence. Of his mordant performance, one guitarist says “it was a fuck you, it was cool”. Thurston offers another one downstairs at Flashback Records the next night. He clambers on the racks as noise stampedes from two guitar amps. Even the reserved Sedwards drops to his knees. It’s not bad for an in-store. Promoting his new 7” ‘Detonation’, Thurston looks happy. Prinz wrote the lyrics to a song based on Stoke Newington activists and the artwork was directed by the Ecstatic Peace Library, Thurston’s publishing arm that takes its name from his label whose releases include Be Your Own Pet and Magik Markers. On the way home afterwards, a steady, contented picture of his London life emerges. He feels moving here was “pre-ordained” and cites the improvisation movement around Derek Bailey and Evan Parker and London’s

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thurston moore progressive, sexually equal punk scene as the first things that attracted him to it. If he’d come when he first wanted to, uninformed in the late 1970s, he “would’ve landed at Heathrow and started walking!” Now, enjoying the music scene (DIY girls Trash Kit are a favourite), he appears happy – which seems impressive given recent events. On 14th October 2011 his label, Matador, announced Thurston and Kim Gordon’s separation; by 2013 Sonic Youth had dissolved. Now he’s in London, Gordon remains in Northampton, Massachusetts and their daughter is studying in Chicago. In April, Gordon spoke of the divorce in an interview with Elle: “It ended in a kind of normal way – mid-life crisis, star-struck woman. Thurston was carrying on this whole double life with her. He really was like a lost soul.”

“I feel like the indie rock grandpa...” Broaching the subject is awkward and, fittingly, comes after a tale about the power of radical rock music and the Sonic Youth song ‘Radical Adults Lick Godhead Style’. “Things happen so quickly in music now, I feel like I’m from another time. But to become someone who’s seen as a stalwart of something, I like that. I wrote the song about how, for me, Neil Young and Yoko Ono were still expressing the most radical things in rock well into their 60s and 70s.” He’s on track to mirror their achievements, but recent years have threatened that. “I’ve had some life issues. In your 40s and 50s things can change in ways that upset the order of things that have been established over 25 years plus of marriage. It’s really distressing. You have to work through it, it’s very personal and I don’t really talk about it so much.” It’s quiet in the taxi and the easy atmosphere is darkening. Sedwards directs the driver by pointing his gloved hands dramatically, so as not to interrupt. “It’s the-fly.co.uk

extremely... it’s just something I work through in my own world,” Thurston continues. “I’m involved in a really sweet relationship and it really does make me happy, it truly does. But I’ll always have that experience of sadness that a separation brings, especially one that was as important, not just to me but everybody around us. There have been some fall-outs, but that’s to be expected. It’s pretty heavy.” He admits that Sonic Youth’s immense body of work and memories makes things more complicated but says “there’s not much you can do about it.” He prefers to look forward. “I’m in a really romantic place with Eva; we’ve kinda been a couple for close to six years. A lot of those years nobody was very aware of it except us. The cat’s been out of the bag a while now, that’s kinda where I’m at.” Will he speak about Gordon’s interview with Elle? “I’d rather not. We don’t have stipulations with each other about who we talk to or what we say, we’re our own bosses. It’s not about people having a right to know, it’s how much you want to publicise it. I choose not to, besides what we speak about here.” He says he won’t ever talk to the press about it in a personal way, that his reflections will remain private. The idea of discussing revelations with Gordon provokes laughter. When asked if we will ever see a Thurstonbares-all style interview he says: “Thurston will never do that interview. To me it’s not news.” “Pull over right here, the amp is heavy! I don’t want to walk too far!” He laughs at himself as the cab stops. “I’m getting old.” The elephant in the room has been prodded and poked and it’s hard to tell if a mark has been overstepped. Apparently not. I’m asked to carry a guitar and invited up to his flat. We hover awkwardly in the small hall. On the wall the letters ‘t’ and ‘e’ hang on nails among photographs and artwork. There’s a skateboard deck depicting nude figures. He fetches cigarettes and says, “Pint?” He walks off to speak with Prinz on the phone and it seems plans may be changing. Another tense moment is followed by relief. He returns to order his favourite ale at his

favourite pub and the conversation turns back to music. He doesn’t anticipate more explosive life events and is cultivating a musical life in London. “I can do whatever I want. Whatever I present live or on record, I will be the responsible factor.” Current incubation of a new solo record is inspired by his pop sensibility, Japanese noise bands, New Zealand’s Dead C and the “fun dangerous, liberation of the idea of noise as complete rock‘n’roll.” “The ideas are coming from my own guitar playing. I’m taking ideas to James, he’s remarkable and we met through Eva. It’s local happenstance.” Recording time with Steve Shelley is booked; he wanted to get involved after the Sonic Youth men reunited when Thurston supported Lee Ranaldo in London. But the plan is loose, players are uncertain and the name Thurston Moore UK, used recently “to have fun”, will change to something else. He enthuses about Merchandise, the newly-signed 4AD extroverts who toured with Thurston’s Chelsea Light Moving last year. He says the signing is “very cool” and stresses the importance for bands to define themselves outside major labels, using Muse as an example. “I didn’t know what Muse was for a long time. I saw their name and thought they were an adventurous indie-rock group people were digging, that maybe they had some galvanising Oasis vibe. Then I saw them on TV and it was this huge theatrical event of light, broad gestures and heroic vanilla rock! I couldn’t figure it out! That had no resonance for me as a rock‘n’roll experience. The idea is not to be a superstar. If it is then God bless you...” He laughs loudly. Thurston Moore isn’t a superstar. He’s spent each day since that night at Max’s being anything but. Sonic Youth were more prolific than profitable. His music has enabled him to joyfully approach the dotage of his career, supping pints and going to charity shops – and that’s enough. It makes him cherished and important, but he doesn’t need to hear that. He’s happier living near a Wetherspoons where the Sex Pistols once played. The “local happenstance” mentioned earlier could apply

to everything Thurston does at the moment. He’s eager for his life to be unassuming, organic and easy. When he says “I feel like the indie rock grandpa,” the feeling is of a man who just wants to be left alone to look forward. Though he’s not inclined to talk about himself, he greatly appreciates accolades and compliments he gets in the street, recently more so than ever. “Some of the lowest moments of my life have come in the last few years. I’ve been distraught, and people saying ‘you did this thing that really helped me in my life’ has made me realise that that’s what I should be focusing on, that exchange of positive energy. That’s helped me quite a bit.” It’s difficult to consider him as a man that needs help; he seems too happy for that. Thurston Moore is a hero, an innovator, a rebel, a music encyclopaedia and now a divorcee who has made a new start. The freedom he’s found in London is underlined by Sedwards shuffling wordlessly towards our table with a hands-free kit and a tap water as the interview ends. Thurston Moore is a 55-year-old living legend happily pottering around London. Or, as he puts it: “I always dreamed of going somewhere else. I’ll be here a while. God only knows what’s gonna happen.” Thurston Moore will release a new album on Matador Records later this year. the-fly.co.uk

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Booze theft! Cornershop’s ‘Brimful Of Asha’! A man in his pants! (Not to mention the wall-to-wall punk rock royalty...) It’s The Fly Awards 2014 in review... Photography: T om B unning , T om O ldham & N ic S erpell -R and Words: A lex D enney , JJ D unning & B en H omewood London, Thursday 6th February 2014. The city is grumpy. The slump of winter still lingers, as does the foul weather, rain ricocheting off every awning and pavement like sprays of machine gun fire. On the plus side, there’s no flooding. On the down side, there’s a tube strike. These are dismal days. But while the city is grim, grisly and grey, there is one hearth-like glow to the east of Camden. At the Forum, just up from the barely-functioning tube station, is a portal to the-fly.co.uk

positivity and warmth .Yes, that’s right! It’s The Fly Awards 2014 – coined the “Camden Grammys” by none other than the Mystery Jets! – and it’s a sell-out. Ten awards were given out on the night, while there were live performances from Bombay Bicycle Club, Wild Beasts, Peace, The Horrors and Thurston Moore. We grabbed a few words with the winners and performers on the night...

Foals Congratulations on your Artist Of The Year Award! Yannis Philippakis: “We didn’t even know what we were nominated for. We don’t ever want to know. I thought we were nominated for best live band.” Did you have a good 2013? Y: “Definitely. Every year has felt pretty great since we started, last year was definitely special in terms of the amount of alcohol we consumed.” Jimmy Smith: “Every record we do is a step up. The crowning moment was Glastonbury, that’s when it sunk in a bit. I’m reliably informed that we played well. We thought ‘fuck this is going pretty well’. We might be in it for a few more years. We’re thinking about the new album already!” Have you had a fun night? J: “It’s been pretty surreal. Burgers were a nice touch, man.” Y: “I used to pick up The Fly when I was 1718 and waited for the day we’d be in the Ones To Watch section. I remember when that happened it was a really big deal. Some of our friends got in it too, bands like Youthmovies. I was so happy for them. So a few years down the line to be getting an award, even for The Fly to have an awards show and still be a great read and to still be free, is a really special achievement.”

Wild Beasts Have you enjoyed your Fly Awards experience? How do you think the new songs went down? Tom Fleming: “I think they were going down well. We felt happy playing them and I didn’t spot anyone leaving?” Neither did I, but then it is dark. Hayden Thorpe: [referring to the menu] “Nobody wants to leave a burger behind, do they? It’s just a piece of fried chicken away from being the perfect meal.” Have you had a good night so far? T: “We watched Bombay Bicycle Club and then played our thing. We’re looking forward to relaxing now.”

From top left, clockwise: Wild Beasts, Peace’s Harry Koisser nailing it, Sister Ray Records win the Local Hero Award, the team from The Leadmill with their Venue Of The Year Award, Peace in full flow, Hayden Thorpe plucks another facewobbler, and Thurston gives a gracious acceptance speech. This page, clockwise from top left: Happy Thurston, Bombay on stage, Richard Hell, Keith and Chris prepare a few LOLs, Wolf Alice and Fat White Family celebrate, the BBC’s Jen Long wonders what the hell is going on, Mystery Jets on the red carpet, and Faris gets his shaman on.

H: “There’s something nervy about playing to a sea of tables. It all feels incredibly businesslike. You want to go for it but it’s a bit like being at a conference.” It’s ironic that you say that, because most of the people downstairs are actually regional window salesmen who’ve been bussed in to fill it out. T: “Ha ha! They’re our target audience; they’re most of the people who buy our records!” H: “There’s a reassuring level of darkness out there anyway. You can’t see the scowling faces!” T: “In all seriousness, it was really fun. It could have gone a hell of lot worse anyway, ha ha!” H: “One guy I looked at was halfway through a joke! The people around him were anticipatory, waiting for the punchline... and then it came. I was looking at them at that moment - I just thought ‘You know what, mate. I’m giving you my heart up here...’“ T: “Ha ha! Here, have a bass synth and some lyrics about a dog dying!” There was a lot of bass. It was reverberating around. H: “That’s good. It aids digestion. Especially after a burger. It’s Actimel in audio form!” Did you see who stole Bombay Bicycle Club’s booze? H: “No, but I heard it was another band? This is the result of downloading! Musicians don’t know what ownership is – they’re used to their possessions being nicked. You give what you get.”

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The Horrors

Congratulations on the Outstanding Artistry award! Rhys Webb: “It means something to us because we’ve always liked the idea of experimenting, moving forward and trying our new ideas. Hopefully it’s celebrating that.” Josh Hayward: “We’re never gonna win biggest selling single of the year or anything like that, are we?” How’s your evening going? Faris Badwan: “It’s fun more than anything else. Some of the awards ceremonies I’ve been to haven’t been fun. When they’re done right they’re cool. The thing I’ve always liked about The Fly is that it’s very much in the spirit of a fanzine. That’s the journalism that I like.”

Peace

You’ve just played, how was the show? Harry Koisser: “Fucking brilliant. It was good on and off stage. We’ve not played an awards ceremony before. I’m glad we did a short burst of a set, rather than a quarter of a normal set.”

How did the Thurston Moore collaboration happen? J [The Horrors’ biggest Sonic Youth fan]: “Hilariously, the band asked him and didn’t tell me. I found out through someone else that it might be happening and then it suddenly happened. It felt like the soles had fallen out of my shoes.”

What’s happening on your table? H: “Everyone is getting their drinking done, eyeing each other up. I’ve not really seen anything weird yet. What’s the weirdest thing we’ve seen?”

F: “He came to our studio, to practice ‘I See You’, he was very cool.”

Sam Koisser: “Today or in general?”

Was he the most famous musician that’s been to the studio?

Doug Castle: “Today I went to a cafe and two people behind me just described what they wanted. One thing was a pie and the person couldn’t think of the word ‘pie’ so they said ‘pastry, sort of spherical and it’s got meat or something in it...’ The waitress asked if she meant the pie of the day and she said ‘yeah’.”

R: “I can’t think of anyone else at all.” Tom Cowan: “Tom Jones popped in by accident and swiftly left.” F: “We were talking to Thurston about stuff he was into when he was a kid, around the same age as when we started The Horrors. He went to the early Suicide gigs. We just talked about records.”

H: “I can top this. There was a guy eating a McDonalds in a greasy spoon. Picnicing in a cafe.” Have you spoken to Thurston Moore yet?

He described you as “psychotic psychedelia collectors”...

H: “Not really no. He’s obviously a legend. It’s funny seeing him walking around. Fair play. Good to see you, to see you good. He did an art thing at my friend’s shop, it was lovely.”

R: “That sounds about right! I wanna know what the record is on the award, it definitely looks like it has something on it. Have you played it yet? I was hoping they’re all different songs, that we might have an ABBA 45 or something.”

What are you doing for the rest of the night? H: “Drink, chill, see what happens. New friends, old friends...”

F: “It’s probably ‘Spirit In The Sky’.”

Thank you for playing our first awards ceremony...

J: “Awards ceremonies can be weird but the atmosphere is pretty relaxed, it feels like a gig.”

How do you feel about playing later?

H: “The Fly is probably the only music magazine I actually read before I was in a band, which is quite nice. We did the first interview we’d ever done with you.”

F: “We’re just so desperate to start playing the new record. This is one of the first times we’ve played ‘I See You’, and obviously the first time we’ve played with Thurston.”

D: “We’d been written about in The Fly prior to that, apart from the local newsletter, it was the first publication we were in.”

R: “Looking around the room you get a sense of youth which is sometimes lost at awards ceremonies. Thurston is young, in terms of the average Living Legend. It’s your first Awards and it’s nice that it’s celebrating exciting new music, that’s what it should be about.”

H: “What local newsletter? [Sam mumbles something Midlands-specific] Oh yeah. If you look at The Fly as a magazine it’s the longest supporter of ours, and kinda likewise, we’ve always kept a good relationship. Playing tonight was straightforward! It means a lot to us, having the support from way before Peace was a thing.”

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Did you enjoy your dinner? F: “It was very good. The vibe at the table is very chilled out. There are a lot of jelly beans.”

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Bombay Bicycle Club How was it for you?

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Jack Steadman: “We got really excited about four songs in. The only trouble is we only we played four songs. The gig gave us blue balls, basically.” I beg your pardon?

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J: “Blue balls is where you’re about to have intercourse with a lady and at the last minute she says no. That’s what happened tonight onstage.” Guys, we’re in danger of striking a unnecessarily negative note here.

Clockwise from above: The Horrors celebrating, Summer Camp on the red carpet, Thurston having a go at guitar, some reprobates from Rough Trade, Glastonbury’s Robert Richards with the Festival Of The Year Award, Thurston performs with The Horrors. Opposite: Jack Steadman unleashes his BO.

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The Winners Festival Of The Year

Glastonbury

Anyone you’re excited to see tonight? J: “I want to see The Horrors play, I think they’re a fantastic band. I’ve only seen them once before.” E: “Wild Beasts have just finished a new album as well, I’m excited to hear their new songs. They were mixing while we were recording, but I haven’t had chance to listen yet.”

Album Of The Year

J: “They played a lot of ping-pong down the studio.”

‘Light Up Gold’

E: “They kind of hogged the ping-pong table, actually.”

Parquet Courts Venue Of The Year

The Leadmill, Sheffield Song Of 2013

Arctic Monkeys ‘Do I Wanna Know?’ Ones To Watch 2014

Wolf Alice

Best Live Act in association with XFM

Haim

Label Of The Year in association with TicketWeb

Rough Trade

Outstanding Artistry Award in association with War Child

The Horrors

Local Hero Sister Ray Records Artist Of The Year

Foals

Living Legend

Thurston Moore

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Ed Nash: “Nah, we don’t mean it! I had a really good time playing. I just felt a bit bad for people, like I was ruining their dinner!”

J: “Honestly, they must have played six, seven hours a day.” We heard a rumour Harry Styles is coming to the aftershow party later on. What do you think about that? E: “Yeah, I gave him a call and told him we’ve got a spare seat.” Do you think Harry is a good guy at heart? Some people seem to have the idea that he is a bit of a bounder and a cad. E: “He seems like a genuinely nice person. He’s taking the same amount of advantage, perhaps less, even, than anyone else would take in the same position.” So you would do the same as Harry, would you? E: “No, no. I’m far too boring for that.” OK, thanks for talking to us! Have a brilliant night. E: “No worries. [turns to Jack] What happened to our drinks then? I was looking down at our table while we were onstage and they had literally all disappeared.” J: “I heard a rumour about it on Twitter, actually. [We leave quietly in full knowledge that it was Fat White Family who stole all their drinks...]

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M E T RO NOMY

How does Joe Mount go about leaving ‘The English Riviera’ behind? Metronomy’s main man confides in Alex Denney... Words: A lex D enney Photography: J im E yre It’s a delicate business, trying to top what sounds suspiciously like the best thing you’ll ever write. For Joe Mount, starting work on the followup to Metronomy’s much-loved 2011 opus ‘The English Riviera’, the answer was to think big. “At that point it felt like the only thing left to do was make a double album,” he says over drinks at a pub near London Bridge. “Not a noodly, overlong one, but one where all the songs were killer, almost like a Greatest Hits album, really.” Mount, who recently became a dad and now splits his time between Brighton and Paris, is easygoing company. Sometimes, musicians the-fly.co.uk

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metronomy

“The BRIT Awards has become something that celebrates itself...” have a weird intensity that makes interviewing them about as fun - and conversationally one-sided - as a trip to the dentist’s. Mount has none of that, but there’s no mistaking his ambition. “I was trying to think what would make people sit up and take notice,” he says. “So I brought 20 songs into the studio, I was determined not to be swayed by anyone who said, ‘You know what? This is good, but it’d make a brilliant single album.’” In the end, however, the idea to downsize was his own. Deciding it would be “more impressive to pare the record down”, Mount wound up submitting Metronomy’s fourth album, ‘Love Letters’, at just 10 songs and 42 the-fly.co.uk

minutes long. Still, you can see how the temptation to grandstand might have arisen: in ‘The English Riviera’, Mount had concocted a synth-pop classic whose laid-back, genial air - much like its author’s - could hardly disguise its vaulting ambition. Live shows with his backing group of Anna Prior, Olugbenga Adelekan and Oscar Cash seemed to confirm Metronomy as a great British pop band in the slightly kitschy, parochial tradition of early Bowie, ‘Village Green’-era Kinks, Pulp and Blur, to the point where ‘Love Letters’’ announcement in November last year felt like a big deal indeed. But what kind of album have Metronomy ended up with, anyway? Well, a “modern psychedelic” one, for starters: inspired by 60s bands like The Zombies and Love, Mount wanted to make a record “that was like a little storybook in a way, I wanted something that was quite enveloping”. Swapping the endless possibilities of his laptop for an eight-track (so he was “forced to think about what I valued in a song”), Mount

took his music to Toe Rag in London, the bare-essentials studio where the White Stripes recorded ‘Elephant’. For the psychedelic part of his brief, Mount was keen to avoid genre trappings (“When people think of psychedelia they have this image in their head of people in funny headdresses giving the peace sign, ‘Sergeant Pepper’s’, horns or whatever,”), and several tracks were scrapped because they felt too clichéd. To his eternal credit, he even fought down temptation to use a sitar which had been left lying around in the studio. Sequencing the record was a painstaking process, though Mount confesses he’s not entirely sure people will listen to the album as it was intended, a point he is resigned to being philosophical about. “I’m not someone who thinks the old ways are the best ways or anything like that, but I think a lot of musicians around my age want to make proper albums because that’s what they remember growing up,” he says. “It’s like paying tribute to the idea, almost. They still carry this idea of being in a band and putting out a single - an actual CD single - and going on ‘Top Of The Pops’ or whatever.” Adding that the magic of the album format lies in its ability to “nutshell where you’re at musically or otherwise as an artist”, Mount uses two recent singles used to trail the new album, ‘I’m Aquarius’ and ‘Love Letters’, as an example of how songs can sometimes fail to give the bigger picture: “When ‘I’m Aquarius’ came out people were a bit surprised by it, a little bit taken aback, then ‘Love Letters’ came out and people seemed much more at ease. And I think you can’t really build up a picture of an artist without listening to at least five songs.” Certainly, ‘Love Letters’ (the album) is a less embracing affair than ‘The English Riviera’. Recalling at times Bowie at his most strung-out and Young Marble Giants in its drum-machine minimalism, there are also moments - the title track and ‘The Most Immaculate Haircut’ among them - that remind us why Mount is one of the best pop songwriters to spring from these rain-swept

shores in a long time. Indeed, if it’s a true measure of where Mount’s soul resides you’re after, try asking him if he’d rather win the Mercury Prize or a BRIT, and watch him squirm: “Ha ha! I think I wouldn’t - I dunno... Probably I would rather - um, I dunno - it depends, doesn’t it? But I don’t think... I don’t think they have any inherent value. The idea of winning a BRIT, unless you won it in the 90s or something, it seems like the BRIT Awards has become something that celebrates itself, something that celebrates talent that has been created and nurtured by the music industry...” But? “But I guess it would be nice to win. I probably prefer the idea of being up against Tinie Tempah and winning, that to me is more exciting than being up against... er...” Insert name here? “Yeah. Exactly.” ‘Love Letters’ is released on Because Music on 10th March.

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Photography: T om B unning

Words: R obert C ooke

Noel Gallagherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s already a fan, but will English Heritage give them life memberships? Temples tell Rob Cooke why theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re more than just the best-dressed band in Kettering...

Temples

temples

“There isn’t a vibrant fashion scene in Kettering...” Temples come prepared. They arrive at Fly HQ for their photo shoot ready for any fashion emergency we might throw at them. Teeny mini-break-in-Bruges size suitcases full of velvety vintage garments come trundling behind them, along with enough cans of hairspray to sedate Gene Simmons. We’d expect nothing less from the UK’s most obvious arena rock stars-in-waiting. They’re little over a year in to their career, but they’ve looked the complete package from the start. Even now it’s hard to believe that the first Temples track the world heard – ‘Shelter Song’, a blissful synthesis of George Harrison jangle and mind-altering imagery which opens their debut album ‘Sun Structures’ – wasn’t made in some iconic, romanticised 60s drug den, but a bedroom in Kettering. The truth is, Temples had to be born ready, to make the most of the little time they’ve had to write and record. “It’s been quite strange I suppose because we’ve toured all last year but

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we’ve only managed to record in segments,” bassist Thomas Warmsley explains. “I guess most bands would go to a studio and book out a month or two, and completely immerse themselves in the process of recording. We’ve had to go out and play shows and come back, which has been an unusual way to go about it, but it’s completely worked for us and our setup because we’ve recorded it all ourselves.” Temples – that is, Warmsley, frontman James Bagshaw, drummer Sam Toms and keyboard player Adam Smith – have been playing in bands around Northamptonshire since they were teenagers. Warmsley ran a zine, Siren, to document the breadth and depth of Kettering’s music scene, but as the town’s principle songwriters drifted off to university, all signs of any band breaking out of the quiet market town faded. (Fun fact: Warmsley’s ambitions in music writing actually took him to the dizzying heights of a week’s work experience at The Fly when he was 17. “I think I was doing reviews,” he vaguely recalls. “I wasn’t doing the tea, so I was quite fortunate.”) Strangely though, all four members of Temples eventually found themselves back home in Kettering and, in the summer of 2012, Warmsley and Bagshaw started writing and recording together. “That’s something I

can’t really explain, as to why we were all back in the place we were born. That’s quite odd in a way but it worked out quite well I guess.” What followed was as close as bands come to a music industry fairytale: they put some songs online, got signed, and Noel Gallagher slated Radio 1 for not putting Temples’ songs on the playlist. Now Heavenly Recordings have released ‘Sun Structures’ – a rich recipe of heady melodies (‘Shelter Song’, ‘Colours To Life’), West Coast bombast (‘Sand Dance’, the title track) and giant stomps of sheer psychedelic madness, like ‘A Question Isn’t Answered’ and ‘Mesmerise’. “I guess at first glance that might be people’s perception of what we do, that it’s rooted it 60s psychedelia,” says Warmsley, on the retro brush Temples have been tarred with. “But we’ve learned from the more experimental stuff of the 70s, the synthesis of the 80s and the sampling of the 90s. We don’t necessarily say our approach is restricted to one sound or one decade. Then again, it is quite guitar-led and perhaps our style of songwriting is more rooted in that traditional sense that was quite prominent in the 60s.” There is a Summer Of Love spirituality that runs through ‘Sun Structures’, from the band’s name itself to the title of their bedroom

recording space (Pyramid Studio), to the odd triangular building that appears on the record’s sleeve, caked in sacred symbolism. “The building you see on the front is an English Heritage site – it’s a 1600s folly built by English noblemen in Northamptonshire,” Warmsley explains. Not that Temples are cardcarrying members of the history-preserving public body, though they do thank English Heritage in the ‘Sun Structures’ sleeve. “It’s quite expensive isn’t it? But maybe they’ll sign us up. Members for life perhaps. We did think about having the English Heritage logo on the label of the vinyl.” Hmmm… We’re not quite sure Temples’ carefully cultivated, boutique apparel would fit in alongside members of the rambling community. Does the way they dress make them stick out in Kettering? “Yeah, I suppose [we stick out] but it’s the kind of place where no one bats an eyelid really anyway,” laughs Warmsley. “I can tell you now that there isn’t a vibrant fashion scene up here or any particular sub-culture that really leads the way. We just dress ourselves in whatever we feel like.” Still, we can’t imagine James’ hair doing too well in the rain? “Yeah… He wears a hat.” ‘Sun Structures’ is out now on Heavenly.

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Warpaint Warpaint’s second album is a journey into minimalism and darkness. So, what’s up exactly? Daniel Ross speaks to Emily Kokal… W ords : D aniel R oss P hotogr aphy : T om O ldham When Warpaint’s first single, ‘Undertow’, slid on to national radio with surprising regularity back in 2011, it was to send the Californian four-piece on a dizzying tour that didn’t stop for two years. With no member really seeing their own bed for that whole time and with, frankly, little experience of being in a proper touring band, the upshot was predictably exhausting. But, despite the draining, continent-traversing schedule that sprang forth from ‘Undertow’ and its parent album, ‘The Fool’, they were artistically and creatively undimmed. In September 2011, drummer Stella Mozgawa blabbed to the NME that the band was already toying with new material composed in an egalitarian, democratic fashion for the first time, with all members contributing ideas. The result is ‘Warpaint’, and it’s about as far from a traditional written-on-the-road grab-bag of reminiscences as you can get. It’s a charred, careful, sparse exploration of what four people can do in a room with rock instruments. Guitarist and founder member Emily Kokal sounds so enthusiastic about the new record that it’s like they didn’t have any time off at all, despite what she says. “I think we got a good amount of time off, even though when we got home we started working right away,” she says, talking of the band’s (completed by guitarist/vocalist Theresa Wayman and bassist/vocalist Jenny Lee Lindberg) almost-immediate relocation to the Joshua Tree National Park to work with legendary producer Flood. “We’ve never actually worked with a proper producer before,” Kokal begins. “We’re always directing everything that’s happening, so the idea of working with a producer [Flood] was kind of intriguing, but we were apprehensive.” So how did they decide that Flood was the one for them? Who made the first move? Turns out it was a the-fly.co.uk

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warpaint typically showbiz connection - Kokal’s ex-partner and Red Hot Chili Pepper John Frusciante: “Back when we were finishing ‘The Fool’, John suggested Flood as a producer, and maybe at one point the Chili Peppers wanted to work with Flood, so I think it was more like a dream of his.” So: high-end, expensive producer works with exhausted and road-tired band on songs written collaboratively for the first time ever. Doesn’t sound like a recipe for instant success. Indeed, Kokal was nervous of an interloper. “Traditionally a producer can come along and move your sound in a direction or try to mould you into something more palatable. We’re pretty unorthodox in a lot of ways, so if anyone wants to come in and expedite our process that wouldn’t work for us.” Fortunately, the collaboration was an instant

“If you tried to describe music, you would butcher it…”

hit with all parties. “From the get-go he was never a ‘let’s bring the chorus in!’ guy,” Kokal enthuses. “He was on board right away and said it was refreshing to him to hear us write and play music the way that we did. He really just became a band member.” With harmony restored and a perfect collaborator in place, you would expect ‘Warpaint’ to sound flawless. Or perhaps not: the first thing heard on the record is a muted splurge of muddy guitar and introductory drum patter that - very importantly - is completely fumbled. There’s a yell, a “Sorry!”, and then Warpaint and, indeed, ‘Warpaint’ are underway. Why leave in a mistake? “You get attached to certain ways of hearing things,” Kokal explains. “You hear rough the-fly.co.uk

mixes with that stuff in there from the very beginning, so that taking it out of the album seems contrived. It becomes part of the song and the experience.” Musically, there is a homespun purity to the band’s approach. But it’s a high-wiretense listen; on first reception, some listeners felt that the whole record might be some sort of sonic representation of carnal intimacy. Contrary to the screaming headlines in a recent Guardian interview, however, ‘Warpaint’ is not all about shagging. “That [interview] was slightly out of context. I was actually talking about sensuality rather than sexuality,” Kokal asserts firmly. When pushed on what it really is all about, she’s evasive and keen to let people make their own minds up (music journalists: look away now). “Music is a way of describing things without words. If you tried to describe music in words, you would butcher it.” With everything about Warpaint sounding so obtuse at the moment, so difficult to get a handle on, it makes you consider exactly what, practically, they’re going to get out of this record. It’s a far more mature affair than their already-quite-grown-up debut, ‘The Fool’, but there’s a distinct lack of an ‘Undertow’ - an entry point into their rapidly-darkening musical world. Does the distinctly un-commercial sound cause any concern whatsoever for the band? “It would be nice to make some money, obviously,” Kokal admits. “With the grind of touring it’s nice. You know what it is? It’s not necessarily about selling records, it’s about us hitting the spot of what we’re trying to accomplish, and I feel like people come along with us on that.” Those people, who have very definitely grown in number over the last couple of years of touring, touring and touring, will surely be enough to guarantee Warpaint a future beyond their second record. ‘Warpaint’ is out now on Rough Trade.

a lb u m of th e mo n th

Bombay Bicycle Club ‘So Long, See You Tomorrow’

HHHHn(Island) Fourth outing from indie-pop’s politest rebels...

Bombay Bicycle Club prevail. At the time of writing, ‘So Long, See You Tomorrow’ has already become a number one album – the first of their career. It represents the culmination of an ongoing success story – a British band who have been steadily ascending since their 2009 debut ‘I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose’. The next two records broke the Top 10. This one now sits at the summit. ‘So Long, See You Tomorrow’ is more or less flawless BBC; their music has always been polite, erudite and winsome, and that beat does not skip here. Jack Steadman’s dextrous way with melody and loops is prevalent once more, as is his fondness for gilding everything with female vocals. In Lucy Rose, touring vocalist Amber Wilson the-fly.co.uk

and, latterly, Rae Morris, he has fostered a trio whose uncommonly pure voices conspire to make the atmosphere even more genteel. Evolution comes in the form of extra percussion: ‘Carry Me’ is all electronic nuance and blustering world music rhythm, ending with an ear-worming looped refrain. ‘Feel’ is a bit of bhangra that could have been choreographed by Danny Boyle, while Rae Morris’ backing vocals lend ‘Luna’ a true sprinkle of moondust. However, Bombay Bicycle Club continue to be contradictory – they are chart-toppers who rarely make a good photo. They are young, but their music is so oppressively mature you feel it wants to sit you down and give you mortgage advice. Perhaps if they were a pop act with amazing hair and bleached-white teeth, one would not criticise – or feel outright disappointment at – the fact that they brandish guitars with a chronic lack of snarl. Bombay’s own rebellion is that they are steadfastly polite: being number one proves nice guys don’t always finish last. JJ Dunning

“We only have permission to stand near this wall, not sit on it”: BBC push their luck.

DOWNLOAD: ‘Luna’, ‘Carry Me’, ‘Come To’

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Wild Beasts: All for one and one feral.

a lb u m reviews

Actress

Black Lips

Eagulls

‘Ghettoville’

‘Underneath The Rainbow’

(Partisan)

(Ninja Tune/ Werkdiscs)

Tom Oldham

HHHH

Wild Beasts ‘Present Tense’ HHHHH n(Domino Recording Co.) More animal charm on this spirited fourth offering... Wild Beasts have been busy smoothing out the edges of their sound ever since ‘Limbo, Panto’ pitched up as one of the more bizarrely theatrical debuts in recent memory six years ago. Three albums on, and ‘Present Tense’ arrives as their cleanest, most thoughtfully understated effort yet: if ‘Smother’ was Wild Beasts’ wracked study of desire and its aftermath, ‘Present Tense’ takes refuge in reaffirming the simple pleasures of love. As ever, bassist/frontman Tom Fleming weighs in with a handful of cryptic narrative numbers, the typically brooding ‘Daughters’ being the most compelling. But the album’s real pleasure lies in the-fly.co.uk

Hayden Thorpe’s increasingly succinct, aphoristic songs, especially when sung in duet with Fleming. On ‘Sweet Spot’, ‘Mecca’ and ‘A Simple Beautiful Truth’, the band cut to the quick of their perennial theme — essentially, finding a truce of sorts with our animal nature — with newfound ease. The music, too, benefits from the same directness of approach, gleaming with a hard, polished-stone intensity. Occasionally, the bare-bones production can underline shortcomings in the songs, and the synths can sound a little half-cooked. But such quibbles are far outweighed by the thrill of a record as concise and spirited as anything this great band has authored to date. Alex Denney DOWNLOAD: ‘Mecca’, ‘Sweet Spot’, ‘Daughters’

Nothing about this record is palatable. ‘Forgiven’, its disastrous seven-minute opener, offers a horribly slow mauling. If, as he’s implied, this is Darren Cunningham’s final outing as Actress, perhaps it’s for the best: ‘Ghettoville’ bleakly presents a man in despair. The fluid appeal of his previous work appears in flashes; ‘Skyline’’s tempo struggles for air, the up-tempo ‘Frontline’ can’t quite shuffle free. The ‘fun’, such as it is, lies in the challenge of penetrating Cunningham’s bombed-out landscape and picking away at the bleak mania that birthed this breeze-block wall of blackened, fragmented electronics. Ben Homewood Download: ‘Skyline’

‘Eagulls’

Gardens & Villa ‘Dunes’

(Vice)

HHHHHn

HHHH

(Secretly Canadian)

Three years on from their early 7”s, Eagulls’ debut album finally appears. It’s worth the wait: sounding bigger and better than ever, psycho-pop rants like ‘Nerve Endings’ practically boil over with wide-eyed intensity and furious urgency. George Mitchell’s deranged yelps are a freaky thrill, imbuing ‘Tough Luck’ and the knockout ‘Possessed’ with an unnerving volatility, while the band channel Killing Joke, PiL and even the ominous chimes of The Cure at their gloomiest. There’s not much in the way of dynamic variety, but who really gives a shit when this much frazzled delirium fits neatly into 37 minutes? Eagulls rule. Will Fitzpatrick

Traditionally, goths and hippies don’t mix. Amid Gardens & Villa’s dreamy, synth-slathered sound, however, they mingle freely. At times on ‘Dunes’, the Santa Barbara quintet, led by flute-wielding singer Chris Lynch, invoke the patchouli-scented spirit of the Summer Of Love ‘67 (‘Bullet Train’). At others, they insinuate clouds of hairspray and running eyeliner, via the Curelike ‘Echosassy’, with its pulsing bass and ‘Disintegration’-era guitars. They tie these seemingly disparate threads together with Talking Heads-like percussive funk, which makes for an oddly charming listen.

Download: ‘Possessed’

Download: ‘Echosassy’

While Black Lips’ last album, ‘Arabia Mountain’, was coproduced by Mark Ronson, this one nearly had a more famous producer. Had guitarist Cole Alexander convinced Phil Spector to work on it from his California prison cell, ‘Underneath The Rainbow’ would have thrown up a thorny philosophical conundrum. Issues of morality aside, the core message is that Black Lips are now hell-bent on pop music. Having nearly disappeared up their own four track with 2009’s ‘200 Million Thousand’, 2011’s ‘Arabia...’ and now ‘Underneath...’ better reflect their insatiable desire to entertain. JJ Dunning Download: ‘Boys In The Wood’

HHH

Jamie Skey

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a lb u m reviews

Katy B

Urban safari: Cheatahs paws for a breather.

Keel Her

‘Little Red’

‘Keel Her’

(Rinse/Columbia)

(Critical Heights)

HHHH

Craig David must be pissed off. Languishing muscularly in pop wasteland, he’s had to watch his former guitarist sprinkle stardust on the careers of others. Fraser T Smith has written for Adele and now Katy B, who has all the BBC Breakfast appearances and chart successes of a proper pop star. Robbie collaborator Guy Chambers also worked on ‘Little Red’, a rich pop collection that retains Katy’s appetite for sweaty raves and realism. It positions her as an earthbound star: one who still has to navigate pavements scattered with fried chicken remains on the way home. Enjoy the gym, Craig. Ben Homewood

Rose Keeler-Schäffeler is relentless. As Keel Her, she’s already uploaded billions of brilliant bedroom pop songs to the web, 18 of which make up her debut album. Bleached out and brisk, ‘Keel Her’ spans a stunning spectrum of avant-garde guitar sounds, from No Age art-punk (‘Riot Girl’, ‘Wanna Fuck’) to sentimental dream pop that would get Galaxie 500 welling up (‘Total Control’, ‘Roswell’). In effect, KeelerSchäffeler’s the heir to ludicrously prolific DIY god R. Stevie Moore, who she’s got on board to remix ‘I’d Be Your Slave’. And best of all, there’s no sign of her ever slowing.

Download: ‘5AM’

Download: ‘Riot Girl’

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Robert Cooke

Let’s Wrestle ‘Let’s Wrestle’

‘Blue Film’ (4AD)

(Fortuna Pop!)

HHHH

Baroque pop is awash with annoyingly accomplished, classically trained multiinstrumentalists. Being all of the above, L.A.’s Matthew Hemerlein is powerless to disprove the stereotype, but he does breathe real emotion into a notoriously arch genre with ‘Blue Film’. The symphonic prettiness of ‘#88’ is blackened by a reference to “the cancer that destroyed your mother’s skin”, and there’s a brooding take on Grease standard ‘You’re The One That I Want’ that’ll have hen parties weeping into their Lambrini. Elsewhere he’s conjuring hip-hop loops out of digital glitches and tics, and displaying an innovative pop nous not seen since Sufjan’s ‘The Age Of Adz’. Gemma Samways

A new Let’s Wrestle record means it’s time for more rough ‘n’ tumble fun times with the terminally inebriated and distraught Wesley Gonzalez and friends. It’s as knockabout and chaotic as ever, but there’s such maturity and bleakness to the lyrics that, while the record may sound superficially like jangly indie-pop, it actually feels like a terribly important journal entry from someone who recently died alone. In fact, the whole thing is worth it just for the line, ”Codeine and marshmallows have an aftertaste of sick and blood and loneliness.” Magical and horrible in equal proportion. Daniel Ross Download: ‘Codeine And Marshmallows’

Lo-Fang

Download: ‘#88’

Cheatahs ‘Cheatahs’

HHHH

(Wichita Recordings)

Not the new Nir vana - in a good way... There are two schools of thought on originality in rock. Either a song is only of value if it’s in some way unique, or there’s the less fussy position which accepts that you’ve got to go back to the Deep South in the 19th century to find a sound that’s truly without precedent. London-based four-piece Cheatahs aren’t for fusspots. ‘Northern Exposure’ is a Dinosaur Jr. song in every sense except the literal, and ‘Leave To Remain’ has whitewashes of Kevin Shields wiped all over it. But you know what - who fucking cares? When

you’ve got a melody like ‘Geographic’ that makes you feel like you could run a marathon, when ‘Cut The Grass’ slurs and scatters ideas like a Hunter Thompson essay, and when early cut ‘The Swan’ continues its campaign to be the most exciting, infectious and invigorating guitar track of the decade, what is there to complain about? ‘Cheatahs’ is no game-changer. The London quartet aren’t the new Nirvana and this isn’t any outsider commercial contender. What it is though, is a tight 45 minute onslaught of hooks so stupidly good that you’ll want to quit your job and live out your own dream of a 90s grunge revival forever. Robert Cooke DOWNLOAD: ‘The Swan’, ‘Geographic‘, ‘Northern Exposure‘

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Honest Joe: Mount has a think about life.

a lb u m reviews

Lorelle Meets The Obsolete ‘Chambers’ (Sonic Cathedral)

HHHH

Metronomy ‘Love Letters’ HHHHH n(Because Music) Joe Mount may be down, but his songwriting’s on the up... When we hear Joe Mount’s voice on the opening track of his fourth album as Metronomy head honcho, he can barely reach the notes. It sounds terrifyingly thin, desolate save for an unsympathetic, fuzzed organ. Importantly, the words he sings are “Back out on the Riviera, it gets so cold at night.” The Riviera is, presumably, the English Riviera that gave name to Metronomy’s previous album — a seaside haven that Mount wrote about as if it was LA, with all the glamour, sharp suits, relationship uncertainty and cars that it suggests. On ‘Love Letters’, that the-fly.co.uk

glamour has completely faded, leaving Mount with, seemingly, very little to shout about. That the album is so downbeat shouldn’t be seen as an indulgence or a criticism. In fact, the opposite is true: it’s opened Mount’s songwriting up in ways we couldn’t have dared to hope for. The maturity of mid-divorce ABBA and the sleekness of Godley & Creme are big signposts, with only the title track and ‘Month Of Sundays’ really forming a musical link to Metronomy’s previous guise as four-to-the-floor merchants. ‘Love Letters’ is, appropriately, a desperately loveable listen, as bold as it is sensitive, and very possibly the band’s best work yet. Daniel Ross DOWNLOAD: ‘Month Of Sundays’, ‘The Upsetter’, ‘Love Letters’

Maxïmo Park

Milagres

Nothing

‘Violent Light’

‘Guilty Of Everything’

(Memphis Industries)

‘Too Much Information’

HHH

(Daylighting)

HHH

California has enjoyed a psych renaissance of late, with Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees and Mikal Cronin all churning out records at frightening speed. But what of their brethren over the border? Mexican duo Lorelle Meets The Obsolete, originally from Guadalajara but now relocated to (yep!) California, look to redress the balance with this clattering collection, their third and best to date. ‘What’s Holding You’’s death-rattle drone is mightily addictive, while ‘The Myth Of The Wise’ makes us nostalgic for a time when Deerhunter brought the thunder to match their dreamy reveries. Alex Denney

You’d expect a crisis of confidence from any band that’s five albums in and selling fewer CDs than they used to. And in fairness, the leap from the minimal pitterpatter of ‘Brain Cells’ to the scrappy, chatty ‘Her Name Was Audre’ does give the impression that, musically, Maxïmo Park are spreading themselves a little thin on ‘Too Much Information’. That said, as long as they’re crafting electro ballads as elegant as ‘Leave This Island’, and composing spindly post-punk poetry as charming as ‘Midnight On The Hill’, they’ll remain a band worth backing. Robert Cooke

Download: ‘What’s Holding You’

Download: ‘Midnight On The Hill’

(Relapse)

HHHHn

With 2011 debut ‘Glowing Mouth,’ many critics set Milagres side by side with Coldplay. But while both bands embrace surging choruses, stately tempos and falsetto vocals, Milagres take more risks than Chris Martin and co., sharing instead more DNA with fellow cinematic miserablists The Antlers. Where their debut explored human frailty through a Vicodin-induced haze from a hospital bed after a climbing accident left lead vocalist Kyle Wilson incapacitated for months, ‘Violent Light’ is an ecstatic air-punch, a celebration of being alive. ‘The Black Table’ conjures this mood best, with its Queen-esque drum stomps and Brian May-aping guitar solo. Jamie Skey

Doesn’t come as much of a surprise to learn that Nothing frontman Domenic Palermo served time in prison: the Philadelphia foursome deal in riffs and rhythms that isolate their sweetly reflective melodies, cold and confining like cell walls. ‘Hymn To The Pillory’ growls at the midway point between Slowdive and Smashing Pumpkins, whereas ‘Bent Nail’ and the elegiac title track tug tenderly at the tear ducts amid towering, deafening chords. Regardless of whether this debut feels more impressive than vital, it’s a fascinatingly tense battle between muscular, overdriven textures and a dreamlike state of woozy fragility - the calm and the storm. Will Fitzpatrick

Download: ‘The Black Table’

Download: ‘Bent Nail’

the-fly.co.uk

Rail Estate: “Excuse us, is there a West Cornwall Pasty Co. at this station?”

Angel Olsen

patten

‘Burn Your Fire for No Witness’

‘Estoile Naiant’

(Jagjaguwar)

HHHHn

HHHH “The time will come, for everyone to go,” sang Angel Olsen on 2013’s ‘Sweet Dreams’, something in her tremor conveying real proximity to death. Now the Missouri-born songwriter nestles that spectral quality among rumbling alt-country riffs and full-band backing. Still, her second LP remains bleakly candlelit. The brilliant ‘Forgiven/ Forgotten’ speeds skyward into the light, contrasting with Leonard Cohen-esque songs like ‘White Fire’, as wickedly sparse as pages torn from a Cormac McCarthy novel. Throughout, Olsen stays in the shadows, watching yellow rays crack the dark. Jazz Monroe Download: ‘Forgiven/ Forgotten’

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Perfect Pussy

(Warp)

‘Say Yes To Love’ (Captured Tracks)

Quilt ‘Held In Splendor’ (Mexican Summer)

HHHHn

It’s fair to say that mysterious Warp producer patten (known simply as ‘D’) keeps the world at arm’s length. The Londoner’s fourth record, ‘Estoile Naiant’, suggests a tour of abandoned art warehouses; its flashes of industrial exotica illuminating a maze of bare brick walls and frozen pipes. It’s a twisted listen, but you get the message: as he zips through the dustier pages of Aphex Twin’s catalogue, with influences spanning Sonic Youth and magicrealist author Borges, patten crafts a dark mirror of our conflicted era. His music envisages a time when nonsense becomes logic’s highest form. Jazz Monroe

This is an album to hide from. Hissing tape reel holds Perfect Pussy’s debut together. When the antagonistic, agendadriven nosebleed abates and it’s just you and the hiss, it’s tense. It’s a race to the end; next time you’ll know what’s coming. Behind the bullying ‘Driver’, the creepy ‘Interference Fits’ and ‘VII’’s horrific punk vortex is the sinewy magic to provoke repeated listens. Still need relief? Consider this: the LP shares its name with a Hindi romance film about a shy boy named Vijay who develops a fear of falling in love after being molested by a prostitute. Ben Homewood

While it’s tempting to yell ‘get yer kaftans out!’ at the top of your voice and make jokes about the smell of patchouli when listening to Quilt, it’s easier to accept that just because they make stupid hippie music it doesn’t mean they belong on the ‘Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas’ soundtrack. And, thankfully, their debut manages to not sound like it was recorded in 1968. Frankly, there are rather a lot of clichés that would invite such comparisons, but there’s also a degree of melodic sense and clever song structuring that works, no matter how much your rainbow-patterned cape stinks. Daniel Ross

Download: ‘Drift’

Download: ‘Interference Fits’

Download: ‘Mary Mountain’

HHHH

Real Estate ‘Atlas’ HHHHH n(Domino Recording Co.) Yet more goodness from New Jersey’s hottest property... Close pals who love hymning their New Jersey childhoods, Real Estate are the aural answer to bittersweet, coming-ofage flicks like ‘Stand By Me’ and ‘The Kings Of Summer’. Their intricately woven jangle-pop ditties conjure sweet, glowing memories of youth, often tinged with suburban-living sadness. So what’s befallen the gang in the interim period between 2011’s ‘Days’ and now? Principal songwriter Matt Courtney got hitched, guitarist Matthew Mondanile’s Ducktails dropped an excellent album and EP, and the original trio enlarged expanded to a quintet.

Has any of this dramatically affected their sound? Barely. Chiming guitars and plain-spoken melodies take centre stage on ‘Atlas’ and beautiful lead single ‘Talking Backwards’. But this time round, perhaps due to Courtney’s settling down and the addition of Girls keyboardist Matt Kallman, the band sounds fuller and more mature, with a tendency to look forward rather than harking back to the past. ‘Atlas’ was partly written while cruising through the Arizona desert; you might call it their ‘roadmovie’ album. Seemingly, 70s soft rockers like America dominated their car stereo as much as The Smiths and The Byrds. But whatever the minor tweaks along the way, ‘Atlas’ is prime Real Estate. Jamie Skey DOWNLOAD: ‘Talking Backwards’, ‘Atlas’, ‘Primitive’

the-fly.co.uk

Feeling blue: What mood is Beck in this time?

St. Vincent ‘St. Vincent’ (Loma Vista / Republic)

HHHH

Beck ‘Morning Phase’

HHHHn(Fonograf/Capitol)

Which Mr. Hansen will turn up for album number 12? Who’s your favourite Beck Hansen? Is it the smirking postmodernist prankster of ‘Odelay’? Or the more somber, reflective character of ‘Mutations’ and ‘Sea Change’? If it’s the latter, ‘Morning Phase’ is for you - billed as a sequel-ofsorts to ‘Sea Change’, it’s a largely acoustic affair free of the smash-and-grab pastiche that remains the LA veteran’s calling card. Personally, we’ve never been persuaded of Beck’s merits as a straight-up singer-songwriter - his voice is too thin and reedy, his lyrics too ordinary when shorn of the self-conscious Dadaist jive - but the-fly.co.uk

give a fella his due, he knows his way round a melody: ‘Blue Moon’ and ‘Blackbird Chain’ offer solid songs with uncommonly pretty arrangements; dreamy vocals, mandolins, pedal steel and all. ‘Heart Is A Drum’ is an up-tempo stand-out with hints of the quiet majesty of Nick Drake in his ‘Bryter Layter’ period, while the striking ‘Wave’ pits Beck’s vocal against a lush, sad string arrangement by his dad - but there are moments where the quiet, contemplative tone becomes a bit of a snooze, too. Apparently there’s another album due for release in 2014; maybe that’ll be the one to see the other Beck get his goof on once more. Alex Denney DOWNLOAD: ‘Blue Moon’, ‘Heart’, ‘Wave’

Temples

The Men

‘Sun Structures’

‘Tomorrow’s Hits’

(Heavenly Recordings)

(Sacred Bones)

HHHHn

HHHH

Annie Clark hit a sharpheeled stride on third album ‘Strange Mercy’ and ‘Love This Giant’, her 2012 collaboration with Talking Heads frontman David Byrne. Now signed to a major, the Oklahoma songwriter is back with some of her most ebullient, ambitiously styled music yet on ‘St. Vincent’. ‘Birth In Reverse’ revisits the weird sexual mores of ‘Strange Mercy’ over mangled guitars, while ‘Digital Witness’ put a great modern spin on Devo’s alienated pop. Throughout, there’s a weird, clinical funk feel that’s a plumb fit for Clark’s detached musings - but on ‘I Prefer Your Love’ and ‘Prince Johnny’, she connects as directly as she’s ever done, too. Alex Denney

Temples’ debut album is both old school and modern. The Kettering four-piece’s fondness for using ancient equipment means ‘Sun Structures’ has an almost-smellable quality - ‘Shelter Song’ and ‘Keep In The Dark’, particularly, reek of the dust burning on vintage valve amps. But ‘Sun Structures’’ mustiness is misleading: its songs belong more to Tame Impala’s sepia-tinged grandeur than the trippy whims of The Byrds. But as much as this is psych viewed through an Instagram filter, it’s also indicative of a shift in the genre itself: Temples, and their peers, are more in tune with the revivalists than the originators. JJ Dunning

Here are eight more reasons The Men are essential. Coming a year after crazed barn-dance ‘New Moon’, this album was recorded over two days during what was supposed to be a break. Its ragged eight song sweat-storm is fat with horns and piano, lending a chintzy edge, particularly on the neon-bright ‘Another Night’. But still they sound like a band about to burst. The six-minute ‘Pearly Gates’ is rabid. The Men are about strain. ‘Tomorrow’s Hits’ is a bulging, threatening rush. To call it punk is too limiting. It blows a bullet hole through the word. That and everything else. Ben Homewood

Download: ‘Prince Johnny’

Download: ‘Shelter Song’

Download: ‘Settle Me Down’

The War On Drugs ‘Lost In The Dream’ (Secretly Canadian)

HHHH Adam Granduciel felt acutely disorientated and isolated after his last album, ‘Slave Ambient’. Here, that struggle translates to a tellingly titled but beautiful followup. Opener ‘Under The Pressure’ is stunning; a piano motif and ragged vocal riding waves of echoing guitar. ‘Red Eyes’ and ‘Eyes To The Wind’ will please rock historians, fist-bumping Springsteen and Dylan respectively. Recorded with a full band, then painstakingly subjected to Granduciel’s controlfreakery, ‘Lost...’ offers myriad reasons to bask in its beatific atmosphere. Hopefully it gives its creator a similar release. Gemma Samways Download: ‘Under The Pressure’

the-fly.co.uk

Foals by Michelle Roberts

live reviews

Foals Liverpool, East Village Arts Club 02/02/2014

The Fly Awards get under way with this intimate Liverpool show...

Since the release of ‘Holy Fire’ at the top end of 2013, it has become increasingly normal to find yourself watching Foals – a band raised on hedonistic box-room gigs – play in spaces that could comfortably house a reasonable sized aircraft. Later in February they will play their biggest shows to date, including two sold out nights at Alexandra Palace (the band have sold over 55,000 tickets in the UK just for this string of gigs alone), while a headline appearance at Bestival beckons. Whether they intended it or not, Foals have practically become an arena band, one of the tiny top bracket capable of translating to crowds of an overwhelming size. But Foals are also connoisseurs of the sweaty club gig, and tonight they pick a set of the most immediate cuts from across their arsenal. ‘Prelude’ kicks things off, building into a jam so colossal it feels like it could blow the Arts Club’s walls clean off, while the familiar groove of ‘Total Life Forever’ the-fly.co.uk

bridges the gap between the band’s cerebral and physical ends of the spectrum. ‘My Number’ is as crowd-pleasing as they come, yet it’s in the middle section that Foals show the full variety of their catalogue: ‘Milk & Black Spiders’ is spine-tinglingly mesmeric, ‘Providence’ has feral bite, while ‘Spanish Sahara’ remains their lovelorn, lightersaloft pinnacle. ‘Inhaler’ roars out of the traps like a rabid mongrel before they return for a nostalgic encore of ‘Hummer’ – unplayed on UK shores since 2010 and all but abandoned by the band for years – and first album track ‘Two Steps, Twice’, with frontman Yannis Philippakis vaulting through the venue for a customary crowdsurf. Concisely spanning their seven-year back catalogue, tonight’s set is a righteous justification of why Foals have graduated from venues like this to become one of the biggest bands in the country. Lisa Wright the-fly.co.uk

Real Estate by Sophie Hall

live reviews

Real Estate London, Bush Hall 19/02/14

These bedtime stories are far from soporific... “This is not the same place I used to know, but it still has the same old sound.” The words Martin Courtney sings on ‘Past Lives’, the second track on Real Estate’s third album, cannot be applied to his band. Real Estate have changed. Tonight they’re playing their first show in London since adding drummer Jackson Pollis and keyboardist Matt Kallman to the fold; so, two more unassuming men are onstage. The music has grown too. Where their transportive, rickety self-titled debut offered the warm comfort of a timeworn threadbare blanket, ‘Atlas’ is a Gore-Tex sleeping bag. Proper Millets stuff. The idea of weaving unwaveringly pretty melodies through kissable jangle remains, but it’s a far more sumptuous package. Musicianship and natural growth have seen to that. The New Jersey band have one setting, so why not turn the dial up? Their set, featuring eight of the 10 songs on ‘Atlas’, is the-fly.co.uk

predictably immersive. And what can be predicted is immensely rewarding. It might be brave to include so much new material, but these songs have immediate and flirtatious power. ‘Past Lives’, ‘The Bend’ and ‘Talking Backwards’ are so unwaveringly enjoyable that the inclination to describe them as devastatingly mellifluous doesn’t feel inappropriate. They coalesce with the sumptuous meander of ‘Green Aisles’ and a rendition of ‘All The Same’ that unwinds like a bedtime story. The handful of tracks from the debut are gratefully received; a reminder of what early fans thought couldn’t be improved on. ‘Beach Comber’ is a perverse hit – people begin to dance and then remember their surroundings and think better of it. ‘Suburban Dogs’ offers no option but to stand in still wonder. Idling pace and lyrics about dogs that probably once lived near the band shouldn’t add up to something this impactful. The mundane never sounded so vital. Ben Homewood the-fly.co.uk

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