The Music Magazine by The Music Magazine

themusicmagazine Your favourite free national music magazine

Issue #1 | Free

Red Light Company Why theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re the best thing to come out of everywhere...

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Issue #1 Passion Pit pg10

Red Light Company pg24

Dan Black pg8

Absent Elk pg28

7 Editorial

Join our editor as he pretends that people care about what he has to say.

8 Who needs new bands anyway?

In amongst all this chat about the “new this” and the “new that”, it’s quite easy to forget that we do have some pretty decent bands already...

13 But if you must listen to something new...

...however seeing as everyone else is doing it we might as well too.

18 Spotify: the future of music?

The music industry is changing. We take a look at one of the newest free music services to make an appearance: Spotify. We give U2’s new album the track-by-track treatment via Spotify.

21 Money and music: no longer an item? Is there a way to make money from music? Frankly we’re not sure.

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23 A quick word with: Athlete

Everyone used to like Athlete. Fact. That’s why we’ve interviewed them when they’ve got nothing to promote.

24 Red Light Company interview

They’re pretty cool, and we reckon they’ll be the biggest band on the planet one day. So we grabbed the band for a chat.

28 A quick word with: Absent Elk

They’re supporting Girls Aloud soon. Does it get much cooler than that?

31 A quick word with: Will And The People We couldn’t resist.

33 Reviews

We wouldn’t be a credible music magazine if we didn’t tell you what to listen to and what to avoid.

42 Live reviews

One of the advantages of being in print is that we can publish stupidly large A3 size photos of gigs.

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E d ito r i a l

editor-in-chief scott goodacre senior editor scott goodacre editorial assistant scott goodacre managing editor scott goodacre creative director scott goodacre art editor scott goodacre designer scott goodacre associate editor scott goodacre front section editor scott goodacre picture director scott goodacre picture research scott goodacre senior copy editor scott goodacre online editor scott goodacre entertainment editor scott goodacre

A dv e rt isi n g

director of men’s scott goodacre head of men’s entertainment scott goodacre brand director scott goodacre music executive scott goodacre film executive scott goodacre consumer executive scott goodacre media planner scott goodacre head of inserts scott goodacre regional business manager scott goodacre group ad production manager scott goodacre account director scott goodacre

The m u p sta i rs

managing director scott goodacre consultant editorial director scott goodacre marketing manager scott goodacre marketing executive scott goodacre trade marketing manager scott goodacre direct marketing executive scott goodacre project manager scott goodacre account manager scott goodacre business analyst scott goodacre production manager scott goodacre live event producer scott goodacre

Co n tact us

The Music Magazine PO Box 236 Washington Tyne and Wear NE37 2LS Tel 07912 523 549 E-mail info@themusicmagazine.co.uk

Welcome to the first ever paper edition of

themusicmagazine

If you’re clued-up on your internets and your magazines, you may know that we’ve been existing online for some time now. The website will continue to run, however this brandnew, recession-bucking magazine will hopefully serve to compliment our already-highly-successful website/zine/ whatever the kids are calling them these days. I’ve been involved with the site from day one, designing and founding it in December 2006, and what you’re holding in your hands is the culmination of a lot of hard work and money. When we first started, none of our contributors were being paid for what they were producing, and it’s those people we have to thank for the subsequent physical product that now sits proudly alongside the myriad of paid-for publications that grace the magazine market. So why, in these down-on-your-luck times, have we decided to launch a free music magazine? The answer is simple. Apart from one other publication, there aren’t any. The market is full of local newspapers and magazines that are distributed freely in venues, but these tend to be nothing more than glorified listings. That’s not the aim of The Music Magazine. It’s also not our aim to preach to you in a holier-than-thou fashion. Who cares if Rick Astley went out of fashion back in 1987? Who cares if Depeche Mode have never been any good? If the new material is worthy of a listen, we’ll tell you. We’re not bound by any restrictions or ulterior motives, we exist purely to tell you what we like. If you don’t like it, that’s fine by us. Music in its very nature is subjective. It’s the classic Marmite scenario. What we do ask though, is that you support the artists you like. The music industry is in quite a lot of trouble at the moment through a loss of revenue, and if you’re serious about the bands you like then please, buy the record. We’re here to supplement the music industry, and separate the wheat from the chaff - whatever that means these days. So, without further ado, simply turn the page over and begin. And thanks for reading.

Scott Goodacre Editor-in-chief, The Music Magazine scott.goodacre@themusicmagazine.co.uk

Recognise this band? E-mail us and let us know who they are and we’ll pick one entry at random to win a copy of their second album

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Who needs new bands, anyway?

The BBC’s annual attempt to find out who’ll be playing on our stereos this year has been completed, but where have all the guitars gone? Scott Goodacre mourns the loss of the traditional rockers’ main instrument, and tell us who we should be listening to instead.

he BBC’s annual backslapping award - otherwise known as the Sound of 2009 (we’re still jealous that we don’t get asked to contribute) - has become a bit of a tastemaker as far as the music industry is concerned. Way back in 2008, they foresaw the emergence of MGMT, Glasvegas, Adele, and Duffy, and this year they’re looking to do the same. And by the same, we mean literally the same. Step forward MGMT-lite Empire Of The Sun, faux-Glasvegas White Lies, and eventual winner Little Boots who, admittedly, is quite good. But the BBC are still churning out like-forlike identikit bands. We’ve highlighted two

of these later on who, tragically, weren’t included in the Beeb’s top five despite initially making the longlist. Dan Black and Passion Pit could be labelled for being not quite mainstream enough for the emerging talent section, so we’ve already written enough about them for now. What we’re going to do though, is highlight three very good reasons as to why you should have faith in the guitar once more. Forget La Roux. Forget Little Boots (try to, at least). Forget Empire Of The Sun. Instead, it’s the old dogs who will be teaching the new hounds a few interesting tricks with albums this year. Three of TMM’s classic, favourite bands feature over these two pages. You’ll have

GREEN DAY

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Has there ever been a band loved so widely, and discarded to quickly, as Green Day? Their incredibly popular and highly commercial album American Idiot - released in 2004 - brought accusations from hardcore fans that the once punk trio had finally decided to sell out nearly 20 years after their formation. They hadn’t, it was just that the mainstream was more open to guitar-based music than ever before. Super-stardom beckoned, and the band subsequently migrated into pop territory as far as the national music press was concerned. The political messages of the album were seemingly lost as they were lauded for tracks such as American Idiot, Wake Me Up When September Ends, and

heard of them, and you’ll probably love them, but that’s no excuse as to why we can’t bang on about them a bit more.

ou see, in all this “new band” flurry, we’re forgetting the stalwarts of music. We’re not talking U2, who churn out the same kind of predictable dadrock every single time and label it the “best thing we’ve ever done”, and nor are we talking “the best thing since Definitely Maybe” Oasis, who seem intent on filling the press with their lies when an album is on the horizon. No, instead we’re championing the exisiting. As you’ll see, sometimes the old can be even more fashionable than the new.

the nine-minute long Jesus Of Suburbia. In 2008 the band released a short EP under the pseudonym Foxboro Hot Tubs and nearly literally set the internet on fire. The EP featured all three members, plus several of the live band, going back to very basic rock’n’roll. The new album, entitled 21st Century Breakdown, apparently won’t be like this - lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong has likened it more to power pop than punk rock - however there’s a damn good chance that it’ll be just as catchy and successful as American Idiot. It’s out in May, so you now have something to look forward to at the beginning of the year. www.myspace.com/greenday

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The Teignmouth trio. The Devon delights. The Cornish pasties. Maybe we made that last one up, but there’s no denying that the mad threesome produce some of the most interesting prog/post/alt/experimental rock music that simply refuses to be labelled, despite our futile attempts. Channelling the absurdity of the Flaming Lips isn’t exactly easy, but Muse frontman Matt Bellamy seems to do it with consumate ease. In fact, it all looks a little too easy, if you ask us. The follow-up to 2006’s hugely successful Black Holes And Revelations is apparently due at the end of this year,

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MUSE

with the band admitting to producing “symphonic monsters” and verging down an ever more classic route. Like Pink Floyd for the digital age, tracks such as Plug In Baby, Stockholm Syndrome, Supermassive Black Hole, and Sing For Absolution are the pinnacle of music from the past decade. The new album will be their fifth, and with their constantly evolving sound showing no signs of sobering up, it’s going to be an absolutely incredible year if this even comes halfway towards matching our expectations.

www.myspace.com/muse

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ARCTIC MONKEYS

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Now that Alex Turner is done moping around in monochrome with the Rascals lead singer Miles Kane, perhaps he can return to his true calling: producing the epitome of British lad rock. More mainstream than their Teignmouth bretheren, the Arctic Monkeys were an overnight success back in 2006 with the historically-quick-selling debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I Am Not. Success quickly followed, and the band followed it up exactly a year later with Favourite Worst Nightmare - a more evolved and considered sound that was perhaps a sign of things to come. Turner then scarpered off to release The Age Of The Understatement under

the guise of side-project the Last Shadow Puppets; narrowly missing out on a Nationwide Mercury Music Prize after being nominated for three consecutive years. This year will, apparently - if their previous output is anything to go by - see another Arctic’s record hit the streets. They’ve tested out a few new songs at resent festivals (sadly to a lukewarm reception), and hopefully they’ll get their act together in time for the end of the year at least, and we can celebrate Christmas listening to both the Yorkshire likely lads, as well as some Muse-style epic nonsense. www.myspace.com/arcticmonkeys

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But if you must listen to new music...

If you have to get excited about new bands, then follow our tips for some of the acts that the BBC missed out of their final top five. They may not be as big as the previous three, but they may be soon...

Dan Black

Dan Black, former lead singer of indiepop band the Servant, is one of the early frontrunners for “most eclectic artist of the year”. His current singles range from HYPNTZ - a Rhianna-sampling Notorious BIG cover - to Alone - a stomping bass-fuelled injection of pop - and he’s showing no signs of slowing down with the release of Yours - a more radio-friendly slice of bass-ridden funk. The tracks we’ve heard so far are all extremely promising, and with a debut album due to be release in Spring 2009 we’re sure that everyone else will be get-

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ting excited about Dan Black as well come the summertime. And it’s not just TMM who are buzzing about the former-frontman of one of our favourite bands; the BBC were so impressed that Black even made their longlist for the annual Sound Of awards. Naming him as a “leftfield singer-songwriter who uses samples and beats as his backdrop instead of guitars”, they perfectly highlighted the Londoner’s talents. A recent “acoustic” performance for the Fly saw Black using MIDI samples to recreate his sound, with his familiar vocals becoming resonating fantastically within

the confines of their courtyard. However it’s his Marmite vocals which have divided critics, and it remains to be seen whether or not the general public are able to put up with his extremely nasal way of singing. We think it’s briliant though, and can’t wait for the album to drop. Have a listen, and let us know what you think at the usual address. You can check Dan Black out on Myspace at the following URL: www.myspace.com/danblacksound

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Passion Pit

There’s a slight theme to bands that are being recommended left, right and centre at the moment - their reliance on samples and electronic beats to create their sound. Whilst that’s a charge that could be levelled at Boston five-piece Passion Pit - the brainchild of Michael Angelakos; a songwriter drawing influences from the classic pop of Randy Newman to the synth work of Giorgio Moroder. Chunk Of Change, their debut EP, was originally put together as a belated Valentine’s Day present to Angelakos’ girlfriend, which he then decided to distribute to friends and fellow students at Emerson College. Entirely written and recorded by Angelakos, Passion Pit now play live as a fivepiece, and have so far supported Death Cab For Cutie, Girl Talk, and These New Puritans to rave reviews in their homeland.

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Chunk Of Change was released originally in America at the end of 2008, however saw a release in UK during February that included two bonus tracks - Better Things and Sleepyhead - the latter gaining the band airplay and making appearances during club nights. The release of Chunk Of Change comes before the band’s full-length album Manners, due to be released in May 2009 in both the US and the UK on Frenchkiss and Columbia records. Another hotly tipped BBC Sound of 2009 band, they combine the sonic soundscapes of MGMT with the geek-chic of Hot Chip to make “colourful and cerebral electronica, combining layers of sunny vocals, warped samples, glitchy beats and euphoric effects with a sturdy rhythmic backbone”. Passion Pit have also managed to attract the eyes and ears of the Guardian at last

year’s CMJ festival in New York, and look set for a decent mainstream release due to the collaboration with Columbia. Says Angelakos: “I like painfully beautiful, euphoric, blissful, sad, hopeful, and completely honest pop music.” And it’s clear for all to see. Cuddle Fuddle and Smile Upon Me are full of euphoric hooks and blissful synths, whilst Live To Tell The Tale is full of the kind of hope and honesty that is too often missing from pop music. The band are completed by Ian, Hultquist, Ayad Al Adhamy, Jeff Apruzzese, and Nate Donmoyer. You can listen to Passion Pit on Myspace, at the following URL: www.myspace.com/passionpitjams

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Casiokids

These Norwegian funsters sing in their native language, and use shadow puppets in their live shows. Said live shows have been performend in front of nursery children, senior citizens, and in the more traditional rock venues. So what’s so good about them? Well, there’s the melodies for a start. Casiokids use old school casio keyboards (the clue’s in the name) to concoct their obscure sounds, so you can expect to be both amazed and amused by the results. Born out of a desire to make electronic music more visual, Casiokids draw influences from afro, techno-beat, as well as outand-out-pop. They were also the proud creators of the first ever Norwegian-language pop song to be released in the UK. So there you go. You can listen to Casiokids on Myspace, at the following URL: www.myspace.com/casiokids

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Spotify: the future of music? I

f you’ve been having a browse around several music-orientated websites, including our own, you may have heard talk of a music application called “Spotify”. If not, we suggest having a look and taking the time to check it out. “But what is Spotify?” I sense you shout. Well wonder no longer, for I’m about to explain. “Spotify” comes from a blend of “spot” and “identify”. That’s as interesting as it gets, sadly. Fortunately though, the actual application is a lot more interesting. Spotify, you see, isn’t like any old web-based last.fm or Myspace style tool - it’s a completely separate application that requires downloading onto your PC. For 1mb, and an initial outlay of £0, you can have access to an increasingly expanding selection of music. At least 90% of the music we attempted to search for was there, and not just

Spotify has been described as “God’s iTunes” by some users - and after having a play around with the software it’s not difficult to see why

the more well-known bands too. A search for the Killers’ recent Day And Age album proved fruitful, so did one for Glasvegas’ self-tifled debut. Perhaps surprisingly, Youthmovies’ Good Nature LP popped up, pretty much all of Idlewild’s catalogue did too, and even the words Pull Tiger Tail prompted a response consisting of the bands’ few recorded tracks. Not only this, but the creation of an account (necessary to gain access to the service in the first place) results in access to your favourite music from any PC or laptop. Once the application is installed onto a device, then the simple act of logging in also loads up any playlists you may have created, which can then be shared. In the same vein, you can also share links to individual albums and artists - which is what we’re currently

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There’s no doubt that the internet has redefined the music industry. Illegal downloads are the bane of any record label, but with a new, free, online music application in the works the industry could be about to regain some lost territory. Scott Goodacre takes a look at Spotify to find out if it really is the future. doing alongside our album and EP reviews.

adly though, the application isn’t perfect. With the rapid success they’ve achieved, the downside has been users reporting some connection issues over the past few days. That’s not a good sign, especially as the application isn’t technically widely available yet, however their status feed is updated regularly and they seem to be aware of any issues pretty quickly. But anyway, lets talk about the application itself. The interface window is very similar to that of iTunes, however with a much darker colour scheme. On the left you have navigation options, the last five searches you’ve launched, and a list of all the playlists saved on your account. When you do search for an artist, you’ll be greeted with a window like the one above. From here you have several options. You can either click the song name, to listen to it. The artist name to be taken to that artist’s discography, or the album name to go direct to that album. The popularity list doesn’t seem to do much more than tell you how popular a particular track is (the clue is in the name), however it’s unclear what use this actually is. You can also see a list of related options at the top, which brings up a list of artists and albums similar to what you’ve searched for. Our test of “Dananananakaroyd” didn’t bring up any results, however we were instructed that we may have been searching for “Dananananaykroyd“, which sounded better so we went with that. Unfortunately though, the

choice of songs by that artist wasn’t particularly helpful. Sceptics have chimed up with the valid excuse that they currently own whatever music they want to listen to - which is all well and good if you don’t plan on expanding your horizons any time soon. For the rest of us though, the system seems to be more geared towards a try before you buy mentality. They’re going to be introducing a system soon which enables you to right-click on any artist or album and buy it through an affiliate scheme, which obviously helps keep the application going.

here are three pay plans currently in operation for users - free, daily, and monthly. Free users will be subject to audio adverts - 30-60 seconds every half an hour by our reckoning - whilst daily or monthly subscribers will obviously get an uninterrupted service. One day of unlimited music costs £1, whilst a month costs a princely £10, which isn’t really a large amount of money given the service on offer here. Anyone with a broadband connection will be simply able to load the application, search, and play - there’s no visible buffering for music, and we’ve never waited longer than two seconds for a song to start.

o what are you waiting for? It’s all as simple as that, and we’d advise getting in early while all the good usernames are available. Be sure to visit the site and share your playlists with everyone else!

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Spotify: the playtest

Time for the proper test. We listened to the new U2 album No Line On The Horizon using Spotify, and reviewed both the album and the application. No Line On The Horizon: Begins just like a U2 song generally does - all reverb and feedback. Bono starts early, all growly voice and singing about the universe. A bit classic U2, which is no bad thing. Very simplistic, as U2 music generally is, and nothing technically proficient about the guitar work - just layers and layers of echo. Bono starts to sound old at the end. Doesn’t sound like this song’s going to be a hit. Lasts a bit too long. Magnificent: Beginning is just Bono shouting “magnificent!” for a while, like some kind of subliminal message to make you feel like you’re listening to something good. Layers of reverb and some power chords. Very similar to the opening track, and Bono sings “only love can leave such a mark / only love can leave such a scar” before bursting into more anguished cries of “magnificent!”. Not impressed. This one again lasts about a minute longer than it should, with an underwhelming solo thrown in for a laugh too.

Moment Of Surrender: They have a bassist?! Startling revelation aside - showcased by a catchy riff - this seems destined for a Comic Relief montage. There’s some church organ and background guitar work that tries a little too hard. Quite morbid, although attempting to be uplifting. Not as much reverb on this one. More underwhelming guitar work. Seven and a half minutes long - at least three times longer than it needs to be. Unknown Caller: Have you played the Brian Eno game Bloom on the iPhone? If you have then you’ll probably recognise the opening as it sounds as if that’s where it was made - no surprise really, considering Eno helped them out. This is six minutes long and I’m bored after two. Layers of reverb. Some bizarre chanting. Leave well alone. More organ near the end, and this doesn’t go anywhere even after some more half-arsed guitar wankery. Advert: We got interrupted at this point by an advert for the new War Child album - wouldn’t be surprised if it’s pre-planned. Let us know if it happens to you at this point too. Unfortunately it ended too soon and the album started again.

I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight: Bono sings the last half of the title in a painful falsetto, and does the whole quick-singing thing again, as if he’s building up for Get On Your Boots’ rap. We’re aware that it’s the next song. This is slightly better than the preceeding four songs, but still nothing to write home about. So far this is the only redeeming effort. Not as many layers of reverb. Plus it’s only four minutes long and we’re now halfway through - bonus! String section, powerful finish, another pathetic solo. It’s all becoming a bit formulaic.

but seems to last twice as long as the rest.

Stand Up Comedy: I was half-hoping this would be a spoken word comedy routine from the bespectacle’d frontman, but alas. An interesting drum breakdown kicks things off, and can’t complain about the guitar work. Shame we’ve just heard Bono singing about “crossing the road like a little old lady”. We’re also told to “stand up for your love”. Bono thinks that his ego isn’t really the problem, and it’s like an eight year old boy crossing an eight-lane highway on a road to self-discovery. No, we can’t comprehend it either. Also; since when did they have highways in Ireland?! Is there a solo… yes, there is. About two and a half minutes through (this is another sub-four minute song) the Edge wakes up and plays a little ditty before going back to sleep. FEZ - Being Born: Tommy Cooper? What? Some background noise, then a fairground attraction, and it’s beginning to sound like this may be an instrumental. Edge wakes up after a minute, and the song changes completely to sound like one of the hero-running-away-dramatically sequences from a big budget action movie - complete with more anguised screams from Bono. Seriously. Oh, he’s singing. More reverb. Bono screams as if he’s giving birth. Over five minutes of U2 being awful. Advert: A Gaza Crisis appeal. I bet Bono’s had a hand in this… and not good promotion for Spotify - two annoying adverts and we’re only up to track nine.

White As Snow: “Where I came from there were no hills at all” croons Bono, and more talk of highways. More Bloom-esque Eno handiwork by the sounds of things. Painful harmonies, and Bono tries to be sorrowful. It fails. Picks up with some trombone, hopefully in place of a guitar solo. One of their worst efforts, which is in itself some achievement. I was right - trombone in place of a guitar solo. Score. Breathe: Begins with some tribal drumming, and then some crashing chords come in. Bono sings too quick to make sense of what he’s saying,

which is probably a good thing. He sounds like he needs to breath himself, as some lines threaten to suffocate. They only threaten though, sadly. More group therapy-style singing for choruses, and they use the reverb effects they’ve probably been saving up throughout the album. Possibly more here than any other song. We’ve just heard him singing about Chinese shares going up as he comes down with a new Asian virus… and the band “in my head play a striptease”. Remind us not to go to any U2 afterparties. Slow build up to a chorus about two-thirds of the way through, before Edge bottles it in favour of some violin. Then he decides to go for it, using those four notes he’s learnt to great effect. Oh listen; layers of reverb. At least we’re nearly done. Cedars Of Lebanon: The last track. Salvation. Never have I wanted an album to finish more than this one. Sadly, there’s another four-and-ahalf minutes to sit through. Oh look, Eno’s playing with Bloom in the recording studio again. Seriously, I’m going to try and recreate some of this album later on. Bono’s started, it’s very spokenword, which is both a blessing and a curse. He’s tidying children’s clothes and toys, which is nice of him. All this singing has clearly worn him out, and he’s gone a bit Leonard Cohen. A child drinks some dirty water, a soldier fetches some oranges, and he watches the sun go down in Lebanon. The band chime in with some backing vocals, and Edge presses the reverb button again - presumably the one marked “layers”. Bono rhymes “cigarette” with “minarette”, and tells us to choose our enemies carefully. More guitar reverb. And it’s over. The Verdict: Well, for a start, the album is awful. If you haven’t figured that out by now then you obviously haven’t been paying attention. Bono and co have once again aimed firmly towards the stadiums and arenas, and the result is disappointing. Spotify, however, performed amicably. There were no blips in the service, and no delays in song loading times due to buffering. Legal p2p music seems to be the future, and on this form Spotify will be very hard to beat.

Get On Your Boots: We’ve been waiting for this. Does the song fit into the context of the album? Well, yes and no: it’s awful, so it’s in good company; but it’s far too heavy compared to everything else, so no. It’s as if, halfway through, they thought “let’s just make the stupidest, most annoying song we can” and had it rapped (ha!) up within 10 minutes. And I STILL haven’t got a clue what the hell he’s on about. Contender for the worst song of the year. Not as much reverb as the rest of the album. Half-arsed solo. Beginning to see a pattern here? Shortest song on the album, www.themusicmagazine.co.uk

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Music and money: no longer an item?

With the music industry looking dead on its feet, and more and more labels falling by the wayside, how can the situation be turned round? And, more importantly, is there any way that music can be sustained in an increasingly digital age?

ver the past few months, the music industry has battled against itself in order to reclaim some ground from the pirates and freeloaders who have been infecting it. Independent labels have been struggling in the wake of the whole YouTube/PRS [Performing Rights Society] battle, and there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight that would benefit both the consumer and the artist. It’s a shame as well, because without the artist there’s no music, so who wins then? The answer? No-one. It’s that simple. If PRS continue to choke YouTube and stiffle their hosting of music videos, then people will simply give up and move on. YouTube,

tried to combat this more recently by making all of their music DRM-free, however with a three-tier price structure of 59p, 79p, or 99p per song - with the highest price reserved for bestsellers and new releases.

t begs the question though: if Amazon can afford to sell music - including new releases - for 29p per track, and still make money, how much have consumers been getting ripped off over the years? Although the comparison isn’t as straight forward due to the cost of manufacturing and distributing CDs, it means a ten-track album in physical format costs three times as much. It’s no wonder people turned to illegal downloading instead of shelling out

Pete Waterman recently claimed to have only made £11 from YouTube’s showings of Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up, despite co-writing the song, and it being viewed more than 154 million times thanks to the success of rickrolling.

despite being the most visited internet video site, will crash and burn without music videos.They make money from their targetted adverts, however some of the highestviewed videos on the site have been removed in the wake of the ongoing struggle. It’s easy to see PRS’ point though, as music mogul Pete Waterman claimed recently to have earned a grand total of £11 (that’s ELEVEN pound) from YouTube’s showings of Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up, despite co-writing the song and it being viewed 154 million times thanks to the wonder of rickrolling. We tried to work out how much that amounts to per viewing, but the calculator exploded.

o what can be done to combat the problems? For a start, YouTube could pay more - although parent company Google have baulked at PRS’ proposed cost increase of 50%, claiming that they’d actually be working at a loss. Meanwhile, online MP3 websites such as Amazon have started selling individual MP3s for 29p, completely free of Digital Rights Management [DRM]. iTunes have www.themusicmagazine.co.uk

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£10 per album, so the industry only really has itself to blame.

efore you break down and cry though, and mourn the decline and subsequent death of the music industry, turn back a page and have a gander at our feature on Spotify. The new service, which works like “God’s iTunes” - to quote one user - has agreed a deal with PRS, as well as London-based 7Digital. The company are similar to Amazon’s MP3 store, as well as iTunes, and should provide a perfect compliment to Spotify’s service for example, you can buy the new Bat For Lashes album (release three days previous) for a mere £4, after listening to the entire thing on Spotify to see if you like it. It’s this kind of tying-in of services that will be the saviour of the music industry. Although it isn’t clear how much Spotify is paying PRS for the rights to songs, it’s probably a bit more than YouTube were prepared to stump up. YouTube’s loss is Spotify’s gain, and hopefully this will help kickstart the industry and keep it afloat.

How much does music cost? Yes, we’re clued-up enough to know that if you want to download an album you can either find your favourite torrent site, or just search for the many music blogs available online, but what about the people out there who aren’t? It’s fair enough trying to explain to an older relative that the latest Neil Diamond CD is available online for free, if you know where to look, but the notion of stealing something doesn’t ring true with a lot of people. This isn’t a holier-than-thou approach to music, it’s just us saying that music isn’t as expensive as it used to be. Many “fans” these days use the excuse that music is too pricey to continually buy, and for the amount of music some people consume that can be quite true. For the casual music listener though, looking to try something new, it isn’t all that expensive to head out and download a new release from the internet, in a safe, easy, and compatible manner - you’ll be able to listen to it as many times as you want, and on as many different devices as you want too. So, without further ado, here’s TMM’s guide to downloading legally, and cheaply. All prices are correct as of April 9th 2009. Bat For Lashes Two Suns 6th April 2009 Amazon: £4.99 iTunes: £5.99 7Digital: £4.00

Doves - Kingdom Of Rust 6th April 2009 Amazon: £7.99 iTunes: £7.99 7Digital: £5.00 Yeah Yeah Yeahs It’s Blitz! 3rd April 2009 Amazon: £7.99 iTunes: £7.99 7Digital: £5.00

Royksopp - Junior 22nd March 2009 Amazon: £6.49 iTunes: £7.99 7Digital: £7.99 Pet Shop Boys - Yes 22nd March 2009 Amazon: £6.49 iTunes: £7.99 7Digital: £7.99

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Five things that influence: Alessi’s Ark

A quick word with: Athlete Athlete were once one of the biggest bands on the planet. Inspired by the single Wires, which peaked at #4 in the singles chart, their second album Tourist managed to chart in the top spot on its release in 2005. Their most recent album, Beyond The Neighbourhood, divided critics on release, and the band were released from their label at the end of the their contract. When the promotional tour led them to Newcastle, Scott Goodacre caught up with them for a quick chat. With three albums worth of material to choose from do you struggle when it comes to deciding what to play? C: We argue about it a lot. We’ve basically got about 20 songs together and then we work out which ones we’re going to play. There’s probably a core 12 or 13 that you’re always going to do – which is nice because afterwards you can change it about a bit.

Vehicles And Animals was a happy summer album, Tourist was the more laidback album, and now Beyond The Neighbourhood has a huge arena sound – was that a conscious decision to make? Because I know you did it all in your own studio this time round. C: Well that was a conscious change – to record it ourselves. The sound change wasn’t as much of a conscious change, however we did talk about making songs more guitar based, and we discussed some of the beats. It wasn’t until we started writing that these things started to become exciting.

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call this album because we’ve always just named them after a song on the album and we didn’t really want to do that again. This album is about the world and things that are a little bit more ‘out there’ – so that’s where the name came from.

And did recording it in your own studio help? C: It definitely helped when making the record. Producing a song is something we’ve done since the beginning. Recording it ourselves is not something we’ve ever done to a particularly good standard, however as we started doing it more for this album we found that by creating sounds ourselves it was going more places. There’s nobody sitting there saying “I think you should do this”. We just record something, spend four or five hours on it, and if it’s no good it doesn’t matter because we didn’t have a timescale to record stuff. I think it was nice not having those constraints, and I definitely think it’s made a big influence on the sound of the album. Have you thought about setting up your own label? Or maybe following Ash and not releasing anything physical? T: I wouldn’t do it the way they’ve done it. For me I think an album is a journey, and there should be songs on there that aren’t singles and shouldn’t get on the radio. C: I don’t like how even iTunes lets you download every single song. I think you should either be able to download the singles or the album – and that’s it. An album is a piece of art. We argued for days over the order of the songs. We’re all fairly strong opinionated people and we had to properly fight it out because it makes a difference to how the album works.

Eighteen-year-old singer-songwriter Alessi is set to release her debut album in May, after inducting us into her world with her EP The Horse at the end of 2008. Combining the best elements of folk and pop, the Londoner shows signs of being the new Joanna Newsome (or faux-Julia Stone) with her gravel-induced tones and otherworldly sounds. We invited her to tell us what five things influenced her most when writing both the album and EP, and this is what we found out: #1: Omaha, Nebraska A lot of beautiful art and music is made there and it is home to some lovely people who helped to make the album what it is. It’s a wonderful town and worth a visit. Bring plenty of layers for the winter and a well of water for the summer! #2: Weather I hadn’t ever experienced snow or heat like I did last year in Omaha and I think it played some part in the thinking behind the album. The change of seasons there is something special. #3: Mix Tapes I was listening to a lot of music at the time, most of it has become my favourite music. A friend made a mix tape which kept me good company too - it had on it some real treasures; T-Rex, Sam Cooke, Neil Young, his own band Neva Dinova (tremendous) and this one song in particular - Madonna Of The Wasps by Robyn Hitchcock. I never got bored of that song. Day in, day out. #4: Reading I read a few lovely books - The Prophet by Khalil Gibran, The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.

#5: America I was lucky that just before starting the album I’d been travelling with my family around the states. We made visits to friends on the east and west coasts and it set us all in a good frame of mind. There is something amazing music being made in that country. I met Magic Magic and Coal Beautiere during that trip and I held, and still hold, their music very close.

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It’s always exciting when the major label debut from a previously unknown band lands on our desks. Have they hedged their bets correctly? Is this band the latest in a long line of failures? Or are the latest signings simply destined for mediocrity?

Red Light Company are one of those bands that fit perfectly into the first of the three, and the result - Fine Fascination - is a fantastic 10 track LP that suggests that the best may yet be to come from the multi-national band. Lead singer Richard Frenneaux was our contact, and we got in touch to find out a bit more about what makes them tick.

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So, what are you guys up to at the moment? At the moment we’re practicing on acoustic guitars for a session later on. We’re just trying to figure out how to play our songs acoustically. We’re doing loads of promo, and just getting ready for the tour we’ve got coming up.

Are you looking forward to it? We spent most of last year touring and building things up from there, so it’s something we’ve had a lot of practice with. We’re really excited about playing London as well. We’re playing the Borderline, and we sold it out a lot quicker than we expected to, so that’s exciting. It’ll just be nice to see the country again. We spent last year travelling around, so it’s going to be good to go back and see if the audience has grown! We’re

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then going to Austria to play Snowbombing, then around Europe, and later on we’re playing Summersonic in Japan – so that’s really exciting too.

Isn’t one of your members from Japan? Shawn [Day, bass] is yeah, he was born in Osaka. It’s nice to go back to places, it gives you a good excuse. You must go a lot of places then, because the band seem to be from all over. Is there any place that you all feel at home? I think London, to be honest. The band was started in London and is very much influ-

ing to audition for us. We weren’t looking for a guitarist and the time and he had never played keys, so we decided that he should learn [laughs]. He learnt in about two or three weeks, and when he came in was able to play pretty much everything. Paul [Mellow, guitar] was just another friend of a friend. You were writing the album before they got involved then, so had you and Shawn writing any keyboard parts up until that point? Yeah. We’d written all the parts for the record and demoed everything, so it was all

else, you know. We didn’t have them on the original album because of the running order. I like debut albums to be about 10 tracks and that felt comfortable. What we put down on the record felt comfortable and exactly like the record we wanted to make. The other tracks, although some are some of my favourite tracks, wouldn’t fit on the record so we gave them away separately. It’s like an a-side and a b-side – we structured it like that. The first five tracks run in a certain order and the last five do as well. But you’ve also got one or two that don’t appear anywhere apart from earlier sin-

“For me, the majority of the excitement of being in a band is actually being creative and writing. It’s always fun going off on tour, but I like being creative. If I haven’t got that outlet I feel a bit suffocated.”

enced by that. Me and Shawn were writing at the time and everything was very new to us. We wanted to record the album in London and we wrote it out here. If there’s anywhere for this band to call home it’s London.

So how did you all end up coming together? It started with me posting an ad on a UK site just looking for musicians, as I wanted to start a band. I gave a list of influences and Shawn saw it. He was living in Wyoming [America] and wanted to leave because there wasn’t much music there. He flew over immediately and unfortunately he got kept at the airport because he didn’t have enough funds. He flew back to Wyoming and then back here once he got the money together, so it was a bit of a weird start. It was that level of commitment which was very important to me when trying to find musicians. We all take it very seriously and I think you don’t have to give up everything to be in a band but it definitely shows that you’re committed.

Has that commitment helped the band come along as quick as it has since 2007? Yeah. We tried to keep control over things, and we’ve been working really hard for the past couple of years. Myself and Shawn spent a year writing the album around 2006, and then we got the band together, so probably the start of ’07. We kind of went straight into making the record after that. What about the rest of the band then? How did you meet them? They’re kind of friends of friends. I worked with James [Griffiths, drums] for a while in a band in Cardiff, so he came from there. Chris [Edmonds, keyboard] we met when we were going to the Sony offices, we had a publishing deal at that point, and he had an acoustic guitar on his back as he was want-

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finished. We just needed someone to do it live, yeah. So you and Shawn are the chief songwriters in the band? That’s right, yes.

How do the band feel about that then? It sounds as if, for all intents and purposes, that they’re a backing band? In a way. It’s one of those situations where you’ve got a vision of what you want from a project, and people either buy into it or they don’t. They were just really excited about the music and the opportunity to be playing it. It’s our first record, and I think with your first record you’ve got to do it how you feel comfortable doing it, and not have to compromise that for anyone. It was one of those where we were “this is how we want to do it, so this is how we’re going to do it”. Are there any plans to involve the rest of the band in writing new songs? To some extent. I think it’s a luxury which time can afford, and there’s very little time to be writing when you’re touring so much. I try to grab moments when I can when I’m not touring and I’m at home, but it’s difficult. These things evolve over time, and we’re just taking it one step at a time. Right now we’ve got a couple of ideas floating around for the second album, and it’ll be nice to get into a rehearsal space and work through them as a band. You’ve started on the follow-up already? For me, the majority of the excitement of being in a band is actually being creative and writing. It’s always fun going off on tour, but I like being creative. If I haven’t got that outlet I feel a bit suffocated.

You can tell from the album; you’ve released a limited edition version of it with a second CD and another five tracks. We wanted to give people a bit something

gles, like Let’s Get Together. Yeah, that hasn’t come together really. It was very much one of those tracks that was floating around as a demo for a long, I don’t know where that went. How did you get hold of it? It’s on Spotify, along with Personally Breaking Or Making Words Up. That’s interesting because they were both demos, so it was just us playing around in the flat and that’s what we came up with.

No plans to put them in another album? No, I think it’s nice to have a clean slate. I think the interesting thing about Fine Fascination is the track New Jersey Television that made it on there – that was written way after we’d actually finished making the record. It was all mixed and we’d started writing for the second album and everyone got excited so we put it on the first one.

Are you happy with how it’s eventually turned out? Absolutely. We went in with Adrian Bushy and he agreed to co-produce, there wasn’t any ego involved with that and he was very willing to go along with our ideas and my production and build on that. It’s one of those things where we didn’t rush into making anything, we had enough time to go and make the record we wanted to make and I couldn’t be happier with it as a debut to be honest. Do you think it helped that Adrian has worked with bands with a very similar sound to yourselves? That’s we wanted to go for. I didn’t want small production; I didn’t think it suited the type of music we were making to be honest. I wanted something that was suitably emotive, and I think big drums have that effect. It was just about the suitability for the music, and I think that’s the type of music we make.

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What did you think about the album getting leaked? It’s one of those things: it happens to every band at some stage of their careers. You look at U2; they’re the biggest band in the world and their album gets leaked somehow. There’s not much you can do about it. To be honest, if it gets bums on seats as far as the live shows go, and if it makes people listen to it who wouldn’t normally get into that kind of music then I’m happy about it. People are going to steal music whatever happens so it’s absolutely fine with me as long as they come and see us live [laughs].

with Lavolta which was a subsidiary of Columbia, but then that moved into Columbia halfway through the recording process. It’s nice to have a team of people you can bat ideas back and forward with but still have control over what you’re doing. You want to be working with people who can help you reach other people. They’ve never pushed you in a different direction or made you do something you don’t want to do then? No, it’s something I’m very driven with and I keep on top of it all the time. Videos, artwork, it’s all presentation of the band and

back of that, which was really good for us. So you were signed before even playing a gig? Yeah, it was a bit of a weird way of doing it but I wanted control and enough time to make the record that I wanted to make.

What’s planned for this year then? We’re just touring as much as we can. I’m excited to see new places, and the prospect of going to Japan, the prospect of going to Austria, and doing a load of gigs in Europe and America. These are all things which keep you excited with music. At the same time writing does as well. Travelling is as

“If you’re one of those bands that doesn’t give a crap about videos and artwork then you deserve not to have good artwork. I think it’s vitally important for this band to make sure that every aspect of it is presented well. “ I’m glad to see you’re not too hung up on album sales. You can’t get wrapped up in that. I think as an artist you can’t get too involved with album sales and stuff like that. All you can do is try and make something that you’re proud of and then the rest will hopefully follow.

You’re signed to Sony though, are you not worried that they’re going to be more reliant on album sales as a way to measure success? We wanted the biggest opportunity to reach as many people as we could and wanted to be on a label that that could support that. We didn’t sign with Sony initially, we signed

it’s very important. If you’re one of those bands that doesn’t give a crap about that stuff then you deserve not to have good artwork. I think it’s vitally important for this band to make sure that every aspect of it is presented well. How did the label come about? When did you get signed? We didn’t play any live shows, we just asked labels to come and see us in the rehearsal space. I didn’t want to be one of those bands that is courted by labels and then has to turn a record round in three to six months. I didn’t want that. We did loads of showcases at the start of 2007 and got signed off the

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exciting as writing, and I hope to be writing as much as I can whilst travelling, although it’s a bit difficult trying to do both at once.

Any festivals in this country coming up? Hopefully one or two, I just don’t know anything yet. I’m not sure to be honest, but they should be getting confirmed fairly soon so hopefully we’ll be doing as many as possible. We did Glastonbury last year and I’d love to go and play there again, it was one of the most amazing gigs. It’s also an excuse to get really, really, really drunk! As a new band you go on really early and you have the rest of the day to have fun, so it’s good.

Red Light Company: Fine Fascination Lavolta

f, at any part in the past few months, you’ve paid attention to any of the 2009 “buzz” bands doing the round, you’ll undoubtedly have come face-to-face with Red Light Company. The London five-piece seem to have bucked the trend of up-and-coming bands - preferring to rely on two guitars rather than keyboards, although they still have a keyboard player - and from the off appear intent on announcing their arrival a bloated music scene. Words Of Spectacular is as good of an opener as you’re likely to hear all year, and Scheme Eugene is one of last years’ standout singles. After the first two tracks you get the feeling that you’ve got a winner on your hands, with third track Arts & Crafts doing little to dispel that notion. Lead singer Richard Frenneaux is the driving force behind this album, along with bassist Shawn Day. Between them, the pair who managed to get signed without playing a single gig or having any other band members - craft intricate melodies and glorious pop patterns throughout tracks such as Meccano and Where Everyone Is Everybody

Else. Although the rest of the band - Paul Mellon on guitar, Chris Edmonds on keyboard, and James Griffiths on drums - didn’t have much of a say in the album’s writing, they all play their parts perfectly. Drumming is tight, lead guitar riffs are inspiring, and the keyboards haunting; particularly on album closer The Alamo

hroughout this ten-track debut the band seem to be shooting for the spectacular rather than the comfortable - and it’s an approach which brings varying results. One the one hand we have the fantastic New Jersey Television, the aforementioned Scheme Eugene, and The Architect. Sadly though, tracks such as First We Land and The Alamo do little more than make up the numbers - the latter featuring an annoying staccato guitar effect that resonates for three minutes at the end of the album, and does nothing else. Flat attempts at grandeur aside, Fine Fascination is a high-quality debut album that will burrow into your subconcious for many months to come.

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A quick word with: Absent Elk

They’re the band who have already won TMM’s inaugral prize for the most outlandish name of 2009, so we thought it’d be only right to catch up with Absent Elk lead singer Kjetil Morland to find out more about his merry collective.

First of all, how and when did the band come together? With a bang! We all met at Shoreham’s famous beer festival after the rest of the boys had been introduced to my acoustic demo some days before. My girlfriend, which I met studying in London, had gone to school with the boys and knew they were on the lookout for a front man. Everything just clicked straight away at first rehearsal, and we ended up playing a festival just a couple of weeks later. Why did you pick the name Absent Elk? Absent Elk we picked as a nod towards our Scandinavian influence. I’m from Norway – where the elk is known as “the king of the forest”. Initially we just wanted a name that was different to anything else. There was a time when I was really missing home. I was living practically on top of the rail tracks just outside Paddington station, and woke up to a brick wall view every morning. So that’s somehow how that name ended up in the big pile of many other suggestions on the floor in the rehearsal room. Is there anyone in particular who is a driving force behind the band? I think now that it’s become our job, everyone in the band are really pushing it. We all want to get as far as we can with this, and are very passionate about Absent Elk. I do www.themusicmagazine.co.uk

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write a lot of the songs, but we all work hard finding the best arrangements for them.

What are your plans for 2009? First of all, we’re supporting Girls Aloud on their arena tour starting 24 April. We’ve got 11 dates with them all over the UK, so we’re going to get to play to masses of people! Our first single ‘Sun & Water’ is released 18th May and our debut album is expected to be out just over the summer. So we’re hoping to make some firm footprints in the UK charts during this year! Are you nervous about playing to thousands of people on the upcoming tour? Not at all – just really excited! We really can’t wait for that tour. It’s a massive opportunity for us to get our music out there, so we’re going to grab it with both hands.

Prior to this, what’s the biggest crowd you’ve ever played to? Probably either The Brighton Centre or Brixton Academy supporting the Hoosiers last autumn. Think it was just over 4000 people there. Why did you choose to cover The Loving Kind in the first place? We did these covers (we’ve now also done Poker Face by Lady Gaga) just to get some attention prior to release really. We thought if we’d go through the charts and pick some popular songs to cover, it would potentially generate some publicity – and it sure did! Both those covers fast became hits on YouTube. We thought it’d be best to choose songs that were very different to our style to start with – that way we could make it

our own. The videos for these covers are very tongue in cheek and were done really quickly just in our living room. What’s been the highlight for the band so far? I think recording our first music video, (which had an exclusive preview at The Sun website) was definitely one of the highlights so far. It puts things in perspective when you start seeing the visuals. Also getting the Girls Aloud tour must be a highlight! Although, it hasn’t quite sunk in yet…

Finally, is there anything interesting we should know about yourselves? Ric [Wilson - drums/backing vocals] has a belt obsession - he has them in any shape and colour. He used to work as a cardio physiologist testing peoples’ hearts. James [Penhallow - bass] is a bit of a wizard on the bass – he always records in one take. James is by far the longest in the shower! His crazy dancing on stage coordinates him and makes him play in time. He also had a black belt in Karate. If it wasn’t for Ross [ Marting - guitar/keys], we might not have had our record deal now. He spent countless hours networking with industry people promoting the band. He used to have dreadlocks and worked in a lab testing drugs. Mike [Hillman - guitar/vocals] ran over a squirrel on his driving test and passed. He used to be a choirboy and has toured round Europe playing trumpet in an orchestra. I spent one year in a compulsory army camp in north Norway. I also designed the graphics on the Russian A1 race car for the world cup race.

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Twitter with the stars

A quick word with: Will And The People

We’ve met the interestingly-named Absent Elk already, and now it’s time to meet the slightly-more-straight-forwardly-named Will And The People - fellow support band on the upcoming Girls Aloud tour (although they won’t both be on the same nights).

First of all, how and when did the band come together? Can you introduce us to “The People”? Well… The People are basically everyone and anyone I have ever played with, or even to get a little cheesy. Anyone who’s been to see us play. The name really came through being in Brighton and having a disjointed band which seemed to change line up all the time. So in the end it became Will And The People! That was four years ago but there have been a few meandering side projects since, until about two years ago when we got serious. The signing to RCA was obviously a big turning point…

What are your plans for the band in 2009? Festivals are calling our name, I feel we are a summer band right now and I suppose this year we will be cementing ourselves where we belong, up on stage. We are doing loads of gigs this year.

You’ve been selected to open for Girls Aloud on their 2009 tour – are you nervous about playing to thousands of people? To be honest I’m more excited than nervous; we have been dreaming about playing to that volume of people for so long, it’s going to be mental. We will all probably swallow our own tongues upon meeting Cheryl! And I am sure there will be a fair few nerves before the gigs… Butterflies are good though! How did the support slot come about? It came through their management hearing www.themusicmagazine.co.uk

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our tunes and asking us to do it… We are so flattered.

Prior to this upcoming tour, what’s the biggest crowd you’ve ever played to? We supported the Script a few months back, some of the crowds were 3,500 strong and all sold out. That was mental! But the Girls Aloud tour is going to be another story. I think some of the capacities are 25,000! Err…

What’s been the highlight for the band so far? Definitely getting onto Radio 1. Hearing Jo Whiley say our names was very weird to say the least. Or supporting the Police at Hyde Park last summer; that was a complete dream come true, never in a million years did I think that would happen, and it was our first real gig since being signed. That was nerve-racking but our skin is a little thicker now! You’ve been known in the past to record material yourself and put it straight up onto YouTube: is the internet a blessing or a curse for independent artists? And what does your label think about you putting music straight onto the internet in this way? They love it. I think all labels are embracing the fact that the internet is a fabulous marketing and promotional tool. And we love making our own videos so yeah, we are peas in a pod!

Finally, anything interesting we should know about yourselves? Erm… Well I don’t know if it’s interesting but I like odd shoes! And weird people… and as an ethos we embrace unconventionality, but not in an “I’m so mad” kind of way! And Dan the bassist is called Stig. We think he actually is THE Stig.

There’s a new craze in town which has got all the kids in a flutter, and it’s called Twitter. Twitter, for those not quite in the know yet, is labelled as a “micro-blogging” platform in which you post updates - not unlike those used on Facebook - to inform your “followers”. It’s not some crazy cult though, as these followers are simply people who have clicked on your profile and decided to track your updates. For Mr Average Joe, you’re probably not seeing much use in telling the world that you’re currently munching on Insert-Generic-Cereal-Brand-Here or that you’re waiting for the bus to Sunderland, God help you. You’d be right, in a way. Unfortunately, no matter how much people may argue otherwise, we’re simply not bothered about what you’re eating/listening to/thinking about. And likewise you’re probably not concerned about the whereabouts and current activity of the TMM scribes. That’s OK, we don’t mind. What Twitter is quickly becoming used for though, is providing an easy way to get something through to a celebrity. Think that Russell Brand (@rustyrockets) is an arrogant prat? Tell him. Think Jonathan Ross (@ wossy) should march into the Daily Mail (@mailonline) headquarters with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch? Tell him. Not that there’s any evidence they’ll reply, of course. Celebrities are notoriously difficult to get hold of at the best of times, but you’ll be able to join the massing hordes of deluded followers commenting on Philip Schofield’s (@schofe)every move and feeling infinitely smug when he comments back. Not only that, but you’ll also be able to award yourself with a well-deserved pat on the back that you’ve successfully followed the latest social craze sweeping the www. and conformed once again. So what are you waiting for? Head to www.twitter.com and sign up for another pointless time-wasting exercise. Oh, and if you do, be sure to start following @_musicmagazine for regular updates on your favourite free magazine. Other not-as-interesting people on Twitter include: Stephen Fry @stephenfry Peter Serafinowicz @serafinowicz Holly Willoughby @hollywills Demi Moore @mrskutcher Ashton Kutcher @aplusk Jimmy Carr @jimmycarr Mike Skinner @skinnermike

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Reviews

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album of the month

The Boy Least Likely To The Law Of The Playground

f you’ve been anywhere near a television since 2005 you’ll probably already be familiar with the Boy Least Likely To, whether you know it or not. Be Gentle With Me, from their debut album The Best Party Ever (the titles alone should tell you what kind of band you’re dealing with here) has been used to soundtrack both furniture and finance, and the album even managed to be included in Pitchfork and Rough Trade’s top albums list for the year of release. A US release followed a year later, that saw Rolling Stone describe them as sounding like “what would happen if all your childhood stuffed animals got together and started a band”. It’s not an unfair accusation either, and certainly not malicious. The Boy Least Likely To are Pete Jobbs and Jof Owen, two musicians who seem unable to grow up, and in all likelihood probably still play with their childhool stuffed animals in their spare time. After all the success of their debut album, the follow-up has been a while coming. Introductory single Every Goliath Has Its David is in a similar vein to the playfulness of Be Gentle With Me, but slightly lacking the charm of their smash hit. It’s something that can be levelled at the entire album - their halfhearted aim at remaining as twee as the debut is quite apparent. For all intents and purposes though, this is an album that winds up being stronger than the debut, showing a much darker side to childhood innocence shown first time round. That’s not to say that they’ve lost the ability to have fun though. Whiskers could have been lifted straight off The Best Party Ever, with the line “he rubs his paws together, and it begins to snow” seeming to come straight out of a children’s story book, complete www.themusicmagazine.co.uk

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with a banjo rhythm. It’s songs such as When Life Gives Me Lemons I Make Lemonade that show how far they’ve come since their debut though - it’s a much fuller song, packed with insanely catchy hooks that provoke a fear of embarrassment in case anyone sees what a good time you’re having.

he darker side to the album comes in the form of A Balloon On A Broken String, which begins jauntily enough with the line “I’m not a boy / I’m a big fat balloon flapping in the wind / floating over the tree tops, on a broken string / I’ve never been tied down”, however following a doo-wop

two hearts / and there is only so far / I can be stretched before / I come apart” - which again continues Jof’s lyrical themes of isolation and a worry that he’s not quite fitting in: “I know I’m not much fun to be with / but you love me all the same / and someday hopefully I can just go back to being myself again”. It makes for painful listening, especially as it’s one of the only slower tracks on the record, and brass bands have a habit of making even the happiest of songs seem downbeat. The finale is typically strong though, bouncing along through I Keep Myself To Myself - “the world is made up of boxes that I don’t fit in” - a tail of being

Richer, more vibrant, and a more rewarding listen; The Law Of The Playground shows why it always pays to keep in touch with your inner child.

chorus line and muted guitars ventures into “I can feel myself deflating all the time”. This child-like way of approaching subjects is where Owen shines, revealing more about his emotional state of mind than some of the best songwriters have managed with a much wider vocabulary. “I know I look shiny and bouncy but I’m all empty inside and I worry that if I was to burst suddenly then nobody would even notice me” is the breathless parting refrain, but it’s set alongside such up-tempo madness that you don’t even notice. Marching drums and xylophone distract you from the subject matter throughout the album’s 13 tracks, with a full brass band entering like a Wallace And Gromit soundtrack on The Boy With Two Hearts - “I am the boy with

afraid of love but wanting to be loved. It’s when the lyrics are kept as simple as this, with a chorus of “I want a cookie, and I need a hug”, that they’re most effective. Again, there’s more twee madness as Jof skips along hand-in-hand with his innermost thoughs and fears, and wears his heart “uncomfortably on my sleeve”.

he Law Of The Playground may, at first listen, appear to be lacking the melodies of The Best Party Ever, but bear with it. After a while, when the lyrics hit home, it’s an album deeper and more meaningful than the throw-away nature of the first. Richer, more vibrant, and a more rewarding listen, it shows why it always pays to keep in touch with your inner child.

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Take That’s Circus is back on the road

Love them or loath them, Take That are without doubt one of the most successful British bands of the past twenty years. Their recent reunion was highlighted by a best-selling album containing some of the best songs they’ve ever written. Can they do it again? Take That: The Circus Polydor

As the band you could probably point more than a finger of blame at for kick-starting the whole “90s reunion” phase, it would have been easy for Take That to simply sit back and rest on their laurels. Unlike most of their freshly reunionised peers, the five-now-four-piece managed to produce an album of such remarkable quality upon their comeback that it was almost like having a brand new band to marvel over. The age of the boy band may be long forgotten (and long may it remain that way), but there’s definitely still room for Take That in this world. Because, whilst their colleagues seem quite happy to re-release older material and churn out any old rubbish, there’s a sense of craft over the band’s work. Gary Barlow, despite penning some of the group’s most memorable tracks of the last decade, has now taken a step back and included the rest of his bandmates in on the act. The results, whilst not as incredible as 2006’s initial comeback album Beautiful World, are still remarkable. Although they’re classified in some areas as a “man band”, this isn’t the 1990s anymore. Take That have realised that and, although their stage shows pay homage to those initial roots, they’ve definitely navigated through the tricky waters of change. Unlike the classics such as Could It Be Magic, Pray, and Never Forget with their overthe-top dance routines and stage shows, newer material along the lines of Patience, I’d Wait For Life, and recent single Greatest Day have seen the band mellow with age and settle into something vaguely resembling a comfort zone. The dancers may still be there, but the band are now fully honed musicians, rather than just being straight-

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up singers. Right from the off this point is drilled home, with the dreamlike The Garden. Laced with reverb and some soothing background noise, Mark Owen kicks off proceedings in an impressive fashion before being overtaken by Gary Barlow for the song’s initial chorus and remaining verses. The theme appears to be redemption, and a sense of a successful return for one of the world’s most successful acts. “This is the life we’ve been given, so open your heart and start loving” is the triumphant exclamation, in a not dissimilar manner to the following song, the album’s taster track Greatest Day - a catchier than expected ef-

refrain of “‘I love you’ was too many words to say” and the haunting combination of piano and what sounds like a badly out of tune circus showtune sets the track apart. How Did It Come To This brings yet more upbeat pop shenanigans to the party, before Up All Night kicks in. Again led by Owen, it’s the high point for him as soft-rock guitars join the show and the band do their cheesy-background-vocals bit for added effect. However, like Hello earlier on, there’s more than a hint of Shine present in its subtle change of direction. Going back a track though, How Did It Come To This is a by one of the other members of the

fort. Greatest Day doesn’t really go anywhere, and never progresses beyond the same few lines repeated throughout, but builds up to a fascinating finale that serves to highlight the band’s incredible return. Hello starts off sounding like last year’s Morrisons-approved Shine, with Owen again kicking off the lead vocals - the rest of the band relegated to the role of bearded barbershop quartet. It’s songs such as these and Julie, the album’s halfway point, that he comes into his own. Owen may not possess a ballad voice like that of Barlow, but when the pace is upped he’s the preferred voice. Barlow gets plenty of chances to showcase his own particular skill though - that of singing slower songs in the most sincere fashion. The highlight of the album is his rendition of the title track, a similar sounding song to I’d Wait For Life but with far more emotion and falsetto. His

band. Frequently overshadowed by their other two companions, Howard Donald and Jason Orange have made a surprise re-appearance as songwriters on the last two albums. This one is Jason’s though, and he holds the fort admirably. It’s the shortest song on record, but presents one of the album’s more average moments. His fellow former-background-singer Howard also gives it a go on the moving What Is Love? Containing some of the album’s deeper moments - some achievement when it’s at least 60% ballad - he sings “if love it truth then let it break my heart / if love is light then lead me to the dark / if love is a game then I’m playing all my cards”, and there’s real emotion there. This attempt may not be as good as 2006’s comeback, but it’s certainly destined to be one of the most popular and successful albums of 2008 - and with good reason.

The age of the boy band may be long forgotten, but there’s still room for Take That in this world.

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Keane’s version of perfect pop is a sure-fire hit

It’s no secret that the band have had their problems - namely Tom Chaplin’s addictions and not actually wanting to be together - but you’d never know when listening to their new album. Keane: Perfect Symmetry

Having began life as a fresh-faced piano band singing annoying yet catchy songs about love and loss back in 2004, and getting to #1 at the first attempt, Keane have pretty much secured their careers. Their troubles following their first and second albums (both reached #1) were well documented and, after a radically different sound in Under The Iron Sea, they’ve shaken off their main sound and image in favour of something a little more retro and abstract. The result is Perfect Symmetry, an 11 track pop sensation that bears an uncanny resemblance to the work of Alphabeat - however given a darker edge following their up and down history. The keyboard may still be the main instrument here,

the overshadowed drummer. If you’ve heard Spiralling (the most broadcasted song in the world on the week of its release) then you’ll be halfway there to being prepared for Perfect Symmetry. The free download was the song in radio form, and the extra minute added on the album tries valiantly to undo that initial hard work. There’s an annoying addition to the middle-eight, as well as a feeling that it’s being drawn out far longer than it needs to. For a pop album that lasts 50 minutes, dragging out your biggest song to date isn’t one of the greatest ideas. Thankfully, next single The Lovers Are Losing promises to be even bigger. The full-length album cut weighs in at just over five minutes, and is relentless in its pursuit of the perfect pop groove. “You took the pieces of the dreams that you had / cos you didn’t like the way they seemed to be

but with synthesiser effects laden on top they’ve well and truly gone the opposite direction to what many predicted. Tom Chaplin looks to have overcome his demons and discovered his true voice, Tim Rice-Oxley is crafting some of the finest songs this decade, and Richard Hughes is still

going” sings Chaplin, over surging synths and more than a hint of the Keane sound of old. Better Than This opens with what sounds curiously like an old Samantha Mumba track (that one where she killed Bowie), with weird echoes that aren’t unlike that of the Verve’s disappointing Love Is

Island

Keane have shown that there’s more to them than meets the eye.

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Noise - although without sounding like a Teletubbies introduction. It’s a complete body swerve, and wires itself straight into your feet. Their hold on old-school dance doesn’t end there either. Again And Again sounds like it would be most at home in the late 80s - which ties in nicely with their new image and artwork. The title track is pure Keane. A build-up of some supberly crafted piano work kicks off proceedings, before the darker edges engulf the song. “Who are you? What are you living for?” asks Chaplin here, showing more of the kick present in Under The Iron Sea. It gives a deeper meaning to the alt-pop that Keane are trying so hard to create. This isn’t your average throwaway sunshine stuff, they’re trying extremely hard to provide a contrast of meaningful lyrics and music you can tap your foot to. Playing Along ups proceedings slightly, and is far rockier than their initial efforts (helped somewhat by immersing the piano lower in the mix and featuring what sounds curiously like an electric guitar), and Pretend That You’re Alone is a very late highlight. Sadly, Black Burning Heart - with a cringe-inducing French verse - could do with being skipped altogether, and Love Is The End is a rather lacklustre attempt to squeeze a ballad in right at the death. For the most part though, they succeed in completely avoiding any of the initial guesses about the sound of their new album, and any fears expressed when Spiralling was released can be dispersed - the band know exactly what they’re doing. The best part of Keane’s output to date is that there’s an entirely new sound coming out of every album. Like Bloc Party, who have admitted to devoting a whole album to each members’ main influences - and as such a whole new sound - Keane have shown that there’s more to them than initially meets the eye.

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The Phantom Band: Checkmate Savage Chemikal Underground

Glasgow’s the Phantom Band realise this, their debut album, after slipping under most people’s radars for the past year. That such a band appears to have arrived more or less unnoticed, save for a noteworthy mention in Mojo, is a peculiar situation these days - especially when what they’re coming out with is so bloody good. If you remember Snow Patrol from their very beginning, way before A Final Straw and the subsequent commercialisation of anything they put out, then you’re halfway to understanding what Glasgow’s the Phantom Band sound like. Lead singer Rick Anthony sounds like a battle-scarred Gary Lightbody, with hints of a weary Malcolm Middleton (more so than usual) in his delivery. Songs such as Island are carried along by his vocals, and tenderness runs throughout its nine minute runtime. Yes, you read that right, nine minutes. For all its accessibility and early-Snow Patrol comparisons, this is no pop album. Sure tracks such as Folk Song Oblivion may hint towards the casual listener with their mere four and a half minute length, but these few and far between “short” tracks have the least to offer. Take Island again for example - it takes at least six minutes for anything other than Anthony’s voice and the same basic guitar playing to be heard. And when they’re accompanied, it’s by luscious harmonies that make you want to dive in and enjoy the atmosphere they’re creating. All nine tracks on here are special in their own right. Take the rhythmic chugging of closer The Whole Is On My Side for example; when it passes that magical four minute mark it transforms into a chugging beast of a tune, and you’re never sure which direction each track is going to turn. When ambitious artists liken their efforts to journeys you tend to switch off, but the Phantom Band have accomplished a journey akin to a runaway mine-cart - always swooping, exciting, and a little bit dangerous. There seems to be little to no guidance to any of the songs, and it only serves to enhance the quality of this record. You’re also never sure what to expect. Opener The Howling kicks off

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with a hook-laden techno ryhthm, accompanied by synths, before the guitar kicks in and we get the first introduction to the harmonies that lace this recording. It’s another fine example of a track that refuses to lie still - halfway through it’s still building and building, before the pace slows and the bass is brought to the fore. We’re joined by some marching band drums and some howls from various band members. Anthony’s vocals kick back in after a brief instrumental, and the howls stick with us until the finale. The Howling is just one of many fine, haunting, examples of great musicianship present on Checkmate Savage, and the Phantom Band’s debut is just begging for a place in your record collection. File these guys under “ones to watch”. TMM

Sky Larkin: The Golden Spike Wichita

It’s a tricky thing, the first album. On one hand, you’ve got your whole life to work on this effort and can take your time. On the other hand, if the buzz picks up too early you’re in danger of missing the passing scene if you take too long. And by long we mean Chinese Democracy long. However, if you’re a group of talented individuals then this shouldn’t pose a problem. Take the Arctic Monkeys for instance: yes they’d been going a little while, but the pressure of releasing a debut album amongst all the sudden buzz didn’t deter them one bit. They’re a little Toronto four-piece the Coast

bit special though, as they managed to arguably better it a year later. Leeds’ new buzz band, Sky Larkin, are possibly in a similar position. Although the buzz around the three-piece pop funsters isn’t quite as palpable, they’re now entering their fourth year as a band. A label didn’t come knocking until 2008 (indie champions Wichita, no less), however an album now follows. After putting their initial efforts out on Leeds-based Dance To The Radio, there was already an air of expectation surrounding The Golden Spike - and from the word go it’s clear to see why. Fossil, Eye is as good of an opener as you’re likely to hear this year - all fast-paced guitars and catchy vocals. Then in Antibodies lead singer Katie Harkin yelps her way through some of the finest pop music ever committed to record. Pica is another hit, including the line “I’m eating all this coal because I’m trying to make a diamond” and yet more superlative guitar work. One Of Two (a song which has been doing the rounds since 2007 - a slight disadvantage when a band has waited this long to put out an album is that you may have heard a few tracks before) is probably one of the more annoying songs here, and the closest that any track on the album comes to being labelled “filler” due to the fact that you’ll spend four minutes listening to it chasing its tail before anything interesting actually happens. “I’m sure that / you’re not a doormat” sings Harkin on Matador, one of the album’s catchiest efforts, and it’s these kind of lyrics which provide the highlight of the album. Take Keepsakes as well, the album’s penultimate track save for 30 seconds of static: “gonna put you in boxes and jars and keep the bigger bits in the boot of the car / just so I know you’re safe / and sound” she sings, and you can almost believe it. The most frustrating part of The Golden Spike is that each and every song is painstakingly crafted to perfection. It’s highly unlikely that

you’ll hear a better collection of songs in the near future, and when one track ends you find yourself wishing that the next will feature some kind of dramatic flaw - maybe a misplaced drum beat, an out-oftune vocal, or something which just doesn’t quite fit. Happily for both the band and your music-appreciating ears, this moment never arrives. The closest thing to criticism that you can level at the band is that in Somersault you can’t quite make out what Harkin is shouting. Nodes? Nerds? No? We haven’t got a clue, but it doesn’t really matter as by this point you’ll be too busy wishing everything in your life was this finely tuned. The Golden Spike is 13 tracks of pure pop perfection, and well worth waiting four years for. TMM

The Coast: Expatriate Aporia Records

What is it with summer sounding albums hitting our shelves while we’re still in the midst of winter? Although the snow is arguably worse back in the Coast’s hometown of Toronto, they’ve managed to produce an album of such brilliance that the summer must surely be just around the corner. The pure excitement that radiates from almost every track on Expatriate hints at bigger things to come, and looks destined to cement itself firmly within the subconcious for the upcoming warmer months. Tightrope kicks off proceedings brilliantly, with the chorus line of

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“what are you waiting for?” building up to a grand finale in which every band member does their bit to bring the opening song to a triumphant conclusion. Nueva York is a brilliant follow-up, which progress from piano to soaring guitar riffs effortlessly. Leading with “I’ve got a bone to pick with you”, and ending on the sorrowful “why do I keep coming back to you?”, it’s a three minute journey of self-doubt, and wanting to tear yourself away from what clearly isn’t working. Not that you’ll be tearing yourself away from this record anytime soon though, as The Moon Is Dead ups the tempo once more before No Secret Why - which sees lead sing-

All The Boys - where the band do their best early-Athlete impressions amidst a whole host of electronic soundeffects. It’s a shame too, as early-Athlete was a joy to listen to. The Coast though, tend to not quite reach those heights during the latter moments. All things considered though, this is a remarkable album that deserves wider acclaim than it’ll probably get due to the band being relatively unknown. These days that may not be enough for a band to be given a second chance, which would be a massive shame. It’s still one of the most listenable albums to reach our ears in the first few months of 2009 though. TMM

in the six years they’ve been together. Out Of Control is Girls Aloud’s fifth (count ‘em) studio album in that relatively short time - released a mere fourteen months after their last one. The girls themselves are credited as writing four of the eleven tracks on offer here, with a little help, and previous hit-makers Xenomania only figure on the notes for final track We Wanna Party, despite their obvious influence. Out Of Control sees a new direction for the group, and the album sounds a lot more grown up than their previous efforts. There’s also an interesting foray into the 80s sound that Keane managed to pull off recently, with

for Love Machine, although there’s a little too much going on here for any respectable indie band covers in Radio One’s Live Lounge. It’s got a pretty cool finale though, which is well worth hearing. Johnny Marr also lends his guitar work to Rolling Back The Rivers In Time, one of the mellower tracks here and the opposite to the penultimate Live In The Country, in which the girls make a reasonable attempt at some drum and bass. Girls Aloud have definitely earned their stripes in their quest for chart dominance, and this album is yet another reminder that they’re here to be taken seriously. The only problem I can foresee is whether or not they’re using up all their tricks far too soon in their career. Every member of the group is guaranteed fame for the rest of their lives, so surely there’s no harm in slowing down a bit between albums? TMM

Travis: Ode To J Smith Red Telephone Box

Girls Aloud. As if we needed to tell you

er Benjamin Spurr doing his best Conor Oberst impression - and then Floodlights; a song which keeps the vocals low down in the mix and allows some fantastic guitar work to do the talking. The track ends on the wistful “maybe I’ve been wasting my time”, and we’re then treated to the powerful We’re The Ones. The album’s standout track is the Kings Of Leon sounding Killing Off Our Friends - a track which features on an EP of the same name that hit the UK late in 2008 - a peculiar track detailing the perils of being in a touring band whilst trying to maintain a social circle. It’s a perfect highlight of the band’s sound - which helps you to understand the descriptions of their music as “hooky guitar pop melodies on lush, layered electrorock backdrops”. Sadly this is one of the album’s last high points, with the remaining three tracks blending together and not providing anything different from one another. The penultimate track, Play Me The Apostle, is the best of an average bunch, before we wind down to completion with www.themusicmagazine.co.uk

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Girls Aloud: Out Of Control Fascination

Who’d have predicted, way back in 2002, that a reality TV show would produce one of the biggest girl bands of the 21st century? Popstars: The Rivals wasn’t exactly groundbreaking - Pop Idol had produced Will Young a year earlier - but the effect that one of the groups it created (don’t forget that they came up with One True Voice as well) would have couldn’t have been forseen. As it happens, they’ve come up trumps with 19 consecutive top ten singles

plenty to dance along to on the way. Lead single The Promise kicks off proceedings in a thoroughly recognisable Girls Aloud manner before merging with the Blankety Blank theme tune for the 60s style chorus. What this lead single won’t prepare you for is the unrelenting synths and disco lines that lace the album. The Loving Kind (co-written with The Pet Shop Boys) and ‘Untouchable’ won’t need touching up by any faceless DJs before gracing the speakers of your favourite night time haunts as they’re pretty much there, and this 90s disco theme continues throughout, with Love Is Pain being another one of those dancefloorfodder tunes that you’ll no doubt be hearing soon, and Fix Me Up adding some fantastic funk guitar to an already successful mix. Like any good pop album, there’s plenty of chart-worthy singles here too. Miss You Bow Wow, for all it may have a stupid title, is the best of an above-average bunch and surely warrants release. This is the closest they come to achieving the kind of recognition they got

Back in 1999, a little known Scottish band released their second album. The album was panned by the NME (nothing surprising there) and, after initially debuting at a strong no 7, slipped straight away down to 19. Here, it stopped. A definitive single was released, and the rest is history. Why Does It Always Rain On Me? saved the band. Awards were won, and by 2001 a reputed one in eight households had a copy of the album. Travis have spent the last eight years trying to capture that same success. Their third album, The Invisible Band, was released and spawned singles such as Sing, Flowers In The Window and Side this time leading to critical acclaim (and more awards) from the very beginning. You’d be very much forgiven for thinking the band haven’t done much since then. Ode To J Smith is their sixth album overall, and the fourth since The Man Who way back when. In that time they’ve had a sharp decline (12 Memories), an attempt to recreate the turn of the millennium (The Boy With No Name) and, now, a full circle transition to attempt to bring back their debut album. 1997’s Good Feeling was a ballsy, rock’n’roll affair that captured the mood of a much more upbeat nation. Now, in 2008, with the country in a much worse state, are Travis still relevant?

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Seeing that most of their last album was about the optimism in the late nineties, early 2000s, it’s only fitting that they should return to their roots for their latest effort. There’s a definite improvement over 2007’s The Boy With No Name in album openers Blue Chinese, Ode To J Smith and Something Anything, with electric guitar being well and truly the order of the day. After those first three we are treated to one or two tracks which could have slotted in effortlessly amongst their earlier work - Last Words and Quite Free are the main offenders here. Excitingly, there are actually one or two more songs that show a different side. The sublime Before You Were Young shows that Fran Healy can still tug at heart strings, and Long Way Down comes dangerously close to reliving those earlier glory years and the excitement of All I Wanna Do Is Rock. As a fan of Travis since those early days, its sad to see that the band may slowly be coming to the end of their lifespan. This could have been the album of their career, they just need to slowly phase out their old sound. That’s not to say that it isn’t any good, but were this to be released to a more optimistic nation then the results could be more fruitful. As it is, Ode To J Smith falls slightly short. Someone needs to remind the band that it isn’t 1999 anymore, as next time they may not be so lucky. TMM

Innerpartysystem Island/Fallout

It must be annoying to be Bloc Party - just when you think you’ve got the market cornered by coming up with the album of your career, some cheeky young upstarts appear and give you a damn good run for your money. Innerpartysystem may lack the musical experience of Kele and crew, but they’re not short on the tunes. Recent single Die Tonight, Live Forever aside, this is an album brimming with quality. First single Don’t Stop - lifted from a previous EP - is an absolute classic. Containing one of the most addictive lyrics - “I’ll feed the rich and fuck the poor” - that feeds into a dancefloor destroying chorus, it kicks in early and creates an adrenaline rush that, while never bettered, doesn’t let up for a second. There’s also evidence of deeper musical ability, such as Everyone

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Welsh rockers the Automatic

Is The Same and Obsession which veer away from the stomping electro-indie that starts off the album, with the latter bringing moments of heartbreak - “I want you to notice / what you’ve been missing” screams Patrick Nissley with an element of dependency not normally seen in the genre. This Empty Love follows immediately after, and is seemingly presented as Obsession Pt 2 with Nissley moaning that “this empty love leaves us alone”. Maybe you were better off without her mate. New Poetry threatens to bring us back to the sounds from the beginning of the album, with some solid bass work and retro guitar, before the words “you know I love you but you’re gonna be the death of me” drag us back down. Despite the similar themes running through the previous three songs, there’s a different approach to the scenario each time that keeps the formula fresh. They could probably have done with spacing them out slightly though. Thankfully, This Town Your Grave appears and saves the day. There’s definitely parts of Pendulum lurking here, and as the drum beat speeds up you find your feet following suit accordingly. By the time the rest of the band appear and mellow things out with some dream-like backing vocals, they’re in danger of falling back into the depressive sounds of former songs, before some screams kick in and normal service is resumed. Pendulum (I’ll mention them again) tried this on the disappointing In Silico, but Innerpartysystem have ended up beating them at their own game. It’s just a shame that they end on the forgettable wall of noise that is Soundscape. It fleshes the album out to just over the 50 minute mark - which is rare for a debut - but with

no vocals and Matrix-sounding endof-the-world effects it stands alone as being one of the worst ideas ever committed to record. Luckily for Innerpartysystem though, it doesn’t drag the album down. Look at the last three minutes as being your cooling off period - something that may just be necessary if you whack this one up to full volume. TMM

The Automatic: This Is A Fix Polydor

Despite only actually having one previous song (I jest), the Automatic have managed to tour their previous album for nearly two whole years. The follow-up, This Is A Fix, marks a welcome release from the sound of old - due to the grateful departure of founding member Alex Pennie. So what does this mean for the band? Well, for starters, there’s no incessant screaming behind every vocal line - which is a good thing - and an obvious absence of any synth work - which isn’t necesarily a bad thing. They’ve moved away from the electro-disco-punkrock phase, and instead there’s a hearty dose of good ol’ fashioned guitar for us to deal with instead. This is partly due to the addition of yourcodenameis:milo guitarist

Paul Mullen, and party due to the band’s own admission that “what he [Pennie] did on the first album, the screaming thing, there’s only so far you can take that, really”. Their intentions are clear right from the off as well. Responsible Citizen is a rip-roaring introduction, followed up so quickly that they’re almost indistinguishable by lead single Steve McQueen. It’s hard hitting, infectious, and it doesn’t let up for a second. So much in fact, that by the time the slightly slower Magazines comes by you’re actually welcoming the chance to catch your breath. The theme of Magazines is one which sums the album up - anger at the media (Magazines), anger at the general lack of personality in the record industry (Accessories), and anger at people in general (Bad Guy). Luckily for the Automatic though, they don’t enter into any kind of preaching and manage to maintain a believable level of frustration throughout. The guitars are heavier, the lyrics do enough, and the vocals are delivered in earnest. Moments like Secret Police show that they’re still capable of a catchy hook, without venturing down the in-your-face addictiveness of Monster, and they’ve obviously matured a notch or two. So all in all, not a bad return for the part-Welsh part-Washington foursome. There’s only one or two defining moments, but it’ll do enough to keep you entertained for a while. If they can continue this fine form into a third album, then the Automatic could be huge. TMM

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13/05/2009 16:29:51

I’ve previously spoken at considerable length about whether or not there’s a place for the good-natured Travis in the current music scene. For a band who made their name projecting a happy-go-lucky feeling across the turn of the millenium, it was always going to be difficult to attempt a change in direction. Thankfully, it is live where Travis shine. Their well-honed musicianship shines tonight in a very-nearlyfull university basement. Looking around, its clear to see that the majority of people in attendance tonight aren’t university-goers - they’re all distracted with the DJ set by a well-known name in the room above, and the £20 a ticket price is sure to put off one or two. Parents who, quite frankly, should know better, swoon over Travis’ enigmatic frontman and sing along to all the well-known words. Sing, Side, Driftwood, Turn - all of the gang are here. Where the gig falls slightly flat is all of the post 2001 material - namely Colder and Closer from The Boy With No Name, Love Will Come Through

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Travis

Newcastle University, 2 October 2008

from the disaster of 12 Memories, and new songs such as Song To Self which were only released upon the public a few days previous. However, whilst the new stuff (I’m talking the last three albums, Travis are a band who reached their peak in 2001) sits alongside the old stuff perfectly well, there’s a feeling that here is a band who could be doing so much more. In Andy Dunlop they have a more than capable lead guitarist, who makes the most complicated of fretwork look like child’s play, and Fran Healy - a lead singer capable of putting so much emotion into vocals that he transports you along with him into the very situations he’s singing about. So why can’t I get the feeling that their time has been and gone? Namely because its the older stuff that attracts the biggest cheers. Why Does It Always Rain On Me is saved for the very, very end, and - to Fran’s insistence - is finished off with a mass pogo. It is these kind of moments that a Travis gig is special. Fran’s connection

with the crowd is something else. At one point he’s promising to give a plectrum to a child in the front row, then he’s on the barriers strumming furiously, he’s launching into a harmonica solo during Colder, and he’s leading the proceedings with a smile it should be criminal to broadcast in public. There’s also an acoustic cover of I Kissed A Girl between the two guitarists that is well worthy of a mention. It doesn’t matter that last time I saw the band (following The Boy With No Name) they were full of the same trick during the final song, what matters is that the band’s enthusiasm is as fresh as ever. Fran declares his love for the Geordie accent, and insists that “whether you buy or download it illegally” we should be sure to get their newest, self-released album. Travis are a band that are all about the live performance. It wasn’t a fantastic night - those times have been and gone, sadly - but it was a more than enjoyable performance that shows there’s life in the old band yet.

Travis lead singer Fran Healy

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13/05/2009 16:29:59

“Like a band possessed by the Gods of rock’n’roll” was how one member of the crowd summed up this performance from America’s the Hold Steady - and it’s not far from the truth. The sold out crowd crammed into Academy 2 this evening got one of the best shows to grace the upstairs venue, with the room being witness to one of the most electric atmospheres Newcastle has ever seen. Craig Finn parades round the stage with schizophrenic grace, preaching from the edges for most of the performance, with his guitar hanging despondent from around his neck. He wears it

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The Hold Steady

Carling Academy 2, Newcastle, 11 July 2008

like an accessory, only occasionally deciding to add his input to numbers such as Chips Ahoy, Stuck Between Stations and new single Sequestered In Memphis. It’s a habit which works though, mainly due to the talent of lead guitarist Tad Kubler who proves his dominance during the solo of Lord, I’m Discouraged whilst Finn watches on in amazement. The vocal lessons undertaken by Finn are evident here, with pitch perfect delivery throughout most of the numbers. The audiobook feel from Boys And Girls In America is gone, and in its place is a vocalist at the top of his game. It’s great

to see a band enjoying themselves so much, and the enthusiasm was spread out amongst the crowd as Finn paraded around weaving his tales of love, loss and addiction. There’s a major variance in age amongst the Hold Steady’s fans. Dads fight with their children at the front of the stage to get the best spots, and the range of ages across the floor is staggering. It’s testament to the mass appeal of the world’s best bar band, and shows that despite their advancing years they’ve still got their fingers well and truly on the pulse.

The many faces of Hold Steady lead singer Craig Finn

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Lead singer Jof Owen goes with the music

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13/05/2009 16:30:09

The Boy Least Likely To

A tangible swell of excitement greeted the Boy Least Likely To’s entrance to the stage. Their live line-up has changed since TMM last saw the band, including the introduction of an “over-excited” new drummer who appeared intent on doubling the speed of every single song on the normally laid-back setlist. With the exception of My Tiger My Heart, which was performed sans drummer, violinist, and banjo player, every track was screamed out at break-neck speed. They still managed to play for an hour, and had the songs been delivered at their usual ganter then tonight could have been much later than it was. The increase in pace seemed to spur on frontman Jof Owen though, and the singer was more animated than the music would suggest: feet were stomped, hands were clapped, and triumphant fists were raised in defiance along with some of the most chidlike tunes to have graced Newcastle since their last visit. A curious omission was of new single Every Goliath Has Its David, with breakaway hit Be Gentle With Me saved right until the end. Dispersing with the traditional encore “in

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Cluny, Newcastle, 19 March 2009

case you don’t shout for more and we don’t get to come back out”, Owen managed to keep the crowd entertained more than their particular brand of flowery country disco already was - with three members of the crowd deciding to liven up proceedings by launching into an odd dance shuffle in front of the stage. It was duly noted by Owen, who declared that one would lose out as there was a ballad coming, and invited the crowd to share in the discarded dancers’ misery. It was all in jest though, and both Owen and Pete Hobbs (the band’s other proper member, who plays all the instruments on CD) did a brilliant job of carrying out faithful renditions of both their own songs and the one cover version - a previously released version of George Michael’s Faith. Despite the prominent and over-enthusiastic drumming, their sound was clear and enjoyable, capturing the playful nature of their music perfectly. The Boy Least Likely To have built up a very passionate and loyal following nationwide, and after performances such as these it’s clear to see why.

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