DIY Weekly, 10th March 2014

W E E K L Y

DIY

THE FREE MUSIC WEEKLY| THIS WEEK... BLACK KEYS & DIY FOR LATITUDE,|

DAN CROLL EMBRACES POP, JULIAN| CASABLANCAS ENTERS THE VOIDZ| AND LOADS MORE! |

I S S UE 5 0 / 1 0 TH MARCH 201 4

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LOCK YOUR DOORS! .

THE. ORWELLS.

HIT LONDON .

BIG UPS.

UP THE STAKES .

MØ .

ELBOW .

JOHNNY FOREIGNER .

AND MORE REVIEWED .

METRONOMY F R O M

P A R I S

“ WE’LL FIND OUT IN THE CHARTS HOW ALIENATING WE’VE BEEN.”

W I T H

L O V E

“ H AV I N G A B A BY I S A G O O D T H I N G T O TA K E YO U R M I N D O F F T H E L E S S I M P O R TA N T T H I NG S . I ’ D R EC OM M E N D E V E R YO N E D O I T. ” JOSEPH MOUNT, METRONOMY

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NEWS EDITED BY

BY SARAH SARAH JAMIESON JAMIESON EDITED

BLACK KEYS FOR LATITUDE MORE BANDS BANDS ANNOUNCED ANNOUNCED FOR FOR THIS THIS SUMMER’S SUMMER’S EVENT, EVENT, AND AND DIY DIY WILL WILL BE BE THERE THERE TOO. TOO. MORE

SOHN: “I CAN’T BELIEVE ANY OF THIS IS HAPPENING!”

S

T

he latest batch of names for this year’s Latitude Festival have been revealed, with The Black Keys confirmed as the third headliner for this summer’s event.

The duo, who also headline Bilbao BBK earlier in July, will join Damon Albarn and Two Door Cinema Club as bill toppers.

Other new additions include Lykke Li, SOHN, Mogwai, Kelis, George Ezra and Tom Vek, who are joined by James, Crystal Fighters, The Afghan Whigs, Tinariwen, The War on Drugs, Clean Bandit, Hozier, Teen, James Vincent McMorrow, Hiss Golden Messenger and Ry X. That’s not where the announcements stop, either. DIY is teaming up with Latitude this year to bring you all the best coverage before, during and after the event. Stay locked in for more details.

Latitude takes place between Thursday 17th and Sunday 20th of July. Tickets are on sale now via latitudefestival.com. DIY

OHN is already looking forward to this year’s Latitude. Having made his first ever UK live appearance at the Suffolk weekender last year, the Austrianbased producer clearly made an impression on the organisers. “I can’t believe any of this is happening,” he enthuses. “I’m releasing an album.

I’m signed to 4AD. I’m living as a musician. I’m playing shows.”

Indeed, he’s unafraid of translating his work to the live environment, but understands the importance of pushing the boundaries and being compulsive. “Most of the show we’re just all on synths. So I’ve got an old one and Albin, the bald guy, has four on stage. We’ve got a live bass player too. It’s come together quite nicely.”

“You shouldn’t really plan for live when you’re writing,” he adds. “The possibilities should be endless. Do the music, whatever comes. But Albin the synth genius, he’s been involved all along.

So it’s always been a conversation. ‘If we have to do this live, do you wanna do it with me?’ He’s helped out on end mixes anyway so he’s been quite involved.”

And if you’re wondering whether he’ll don his trusty hooded cape for the occasion, it seems that not even the Great British summertime is set to stop him. “It’s actually good for keeping me cool, because the sun only gets my face. I definitely didn’t wear this much at SXSW last year but I was in LA recently and had this on. It’s good!”

Latitude will take place from 17th - 20th July at Henham Park, Suffolk. DIY

TUNE-YARDS ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM

T

UnE-yArDs has announced details of her third album ‘Nikki Nack’. The new LP follows on from 2011 release ‘W H O K I L L’.

Released on 5th May, as a preview Merrill Garbus has put all the record’s songs into a MegaMix, which clearly shows the 4AD’s signing’s crazy sample-heavy routine hasn’t shifted one jot. Check it out on thisisfakediy.co.uk and see her play London’s Village Underground on 12th May.

Mac DeMarco Announces 7” Singles Club

M

ac DeMarco and his label Captured Tracks are teaming up to release a new 7” every 6-8 weeks to hardcore fans / “lunatics”, in DeMarco’s words.

Running separate to the Canadian’s new album ‘Salad Days’ - out 31st March - the 7” will feature live recordings and rarities, some solo, some featuring the whole band. Each single also comes with a portrait of Mac. The first two have been crafted

by Captured Tracks founder Mike Sniper and Nic Greasy, with each 7” coming on coloured vinyl.

“I’VE COME ROUND TO ACCEPTING I MAKE POP MUSIC” DAN CROLL HAS BEEN TAKING OVER THE AIRWAVES ONE TRACK AT A TIME, BUT AS HE RELEASES HIS DEBUT ALBUM, IT’S CLEAR THERE’S MORE TO HIS GLORIOUS POP DITTIES THAN FIRST MEETS THE EAR.

and nod their head to it - whilst the most ridiculous poly-rhythms and time signatures are going on. That’s what I try and do.

or anyone halfway familiar with Dan Croll’s musical offerings, he’ll conjure up visions of swooning melodies and multiinstrumental madness.

Inspired by the likes of Paul Simon and Beirut, and their forays into different musical layers and landscapes, it turns out, however, that they’re not the only artists to have helped craft his new album.

F

“It’s weird that, at a time when Paul Simon and his sounds were inspiring ‘Compliment Your Soul’ to be a bit of an African track with djembes and all this traditional percussion in there, at the same time, a metal band like Meshuggah were telling me to make it a bit technical.

People think that song is in 4/4 time, and people will nod their heads, but in fact the drumbeat is in 6/8. It’s that weird thing when often people think, ‘Oh yeah, it’s all very African..’ and it is, but at the same time, a really brutal metal band inspired me to do that as well.”

“There are bands like Meshuggah, who I absolutely love,” Croll reveals enthusiastically. “Technically, it’s ridiculous. They’re famous for it, as a tech metal band. They’ll play music where people will nod along - which is such a great thing to have, for people to find a clear beat and feel like they can move

Never one to typically conform to what you might expect of him, that’s something that’s been carried through with his debut, ‘Sweet Disarray’. Whilst he’s had to come to terms with the fact he does make pop music in its purest form, he’s not ready to give up the more experimental side of his musical

NEWS IN BRIEF A SECOND SLAM DUNK We Are The In Crowd, State Champs and Less Than Jake are the latest bands to be added to this year’s Slam Dunk Festivals. The events, which take place over May’s Bank Holiday weekend, have also announced the likes of Hit The Lights and Marmozets, who will join All American Rejects and letlive at the Leeds, Hatfield and Wolverhampton fests.

upbringing.

“I’ve come round to accepting that I make pop music, but because I listen to all these alternative genres, it’s weird.

Before I was signed, I was trying to be in math-rock bands and I was very much against pop music and formulaic music.

I still am in a way, but I’ve come to accept that I’m making pop music that has a lot more to it than just a simple formula and simple instrumentation.

“I’ll be in my studio and a song might only need guitar, bass, some drums and a bit of vocals but then, out of the corner of my eye, I’ll see an instrument and think, ‘I’ve got to put it in’. I feel like I’m being too normal, or that I’m conforming to something if I keep it to just drums, bass, guitar and vocals. I feel like it’s too simple, in a way. Often enough, I take it all back again, but at least I know I’ve tried to fit something in.”

Dan Croll’s new album ‘Sweet Disarray’ is out now. DIY

MUTUAL BENEFICIARY Fresh from his first UK show last week, Mutual Benefit has announced plans for a further five live shows, across the UK and Ireland. Jordan Lee will return in May to play at: Dublin’s Workmans Club (19), Manchester’s Deaf Institute (20), Glasgow’s Mono (21), Leeds’ Brudenell Social Club (22) and London’s Union Chapel (23).

THE FIRE STILL BURNS Angel Olsen already has two visits to the UK planned, and now she’s confirmed a third. The ‘Burn Your Fire For No Witness’ singer will be heading to our shores in September, to play an additional two shows at Manchester’s Deaf Institute (23) and London’s Electric Ballroom (25).

CONTINUE THE FEAST Hercules and Love Affair have announced their return.

The Andy Butler-led project will release a follow-up to 2011’s ‘Blue Songs’ with new album, ‘The Feast of the Broken Heart’. It’s out 26th May on Moshi Moshi, you can hear a new track, ‘Do You Feel The Same?’ now over at thisisfakediy.co.uk.

BARE BONES: MØ AS MØ RELEASES HER INCENDIARY POP TRIUMPH OF A DEBUT ALBUM, ‘NO MYTHOLOGIES TO FOLLOW’, SHE DIVULGES THE ESSENTIAL DETAILS THAT LAY AT ITS CORE. What’s the theme of the album?

The theme of the album is very much about how social media is becoming the new bible. It preaches about the perfect life, how you have to look good and young and fresh. You have to be perfect at so many levels. It’s very much about wanting to try to find your own path, no one can be perfect. I think the most beautiful thing about people is when they admit they have flaws. ‘No Mythologies To Follow’ is about being angry on society that it’s preaching how your life should be.

Do you have to be in a certain place to write and record?

I have to record my vocals on my own. I’m very bad at being in a studio with someone pushing a stop button all the time. I can write everywhere, though.

Some of my greatest - not, greatest, but… - lyrics have been made on the train, when you’re going from one point to another, in this bubble. The inspiration can come from anywhere. When the inspiration’s there, you have to write. Not to sound like a typical artist, ‘ooh, when I’m inspired’ etc.

How do you keep yourself motivated and excited?

It’s [the] fans, but it’s also the urge to make new songs. Since I started making music, making songs has been the way to express myself. You always feel there’s this song that you have to catch. You strive for it all the time. You strive for a song where everything will make sense. But since I’ve been so lucky to have this opportunity, it’s always the thing that gets me going. ‘This is what you’ve dreamed about all your life. So f**king get up and do this stuff.’

MØ’s ‘No Mythologies To Follow’ is out now on RCA. DIY

20 SECONDS WITH...

JOHNNY FOREIGNER AS JOHNNY FOREIGNER RELEASE THEIR NEW ALBUM ‘YOU CAN DO BETTER’, THE BAND’S ALEXEI BERROW FACES OUR RANDOM QUESTION ONSLAUGHT. What’s your favourite pizza topping?

Seafood, but proper seafood with anchovies.

What is the worst job you’ve ever had?

Spent a day selling merch for Disney.

Shameful. I quit after a day when I realised the manager was so coked up he’d paid me for three days.

Who was the last band you saw live?

5 Seconds Of Summer. Kill me now.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Astronaut / Brian May. Do you have any pets?

Nah, I’m not home often enough.

What did you have for lunch yesterday?

Breakfast. Toast. Marmite toast.

What’s your favourite ever song?

‘Doom Doom Doom’ by Latterman.

If you could be any celebrity, who would it be?

Miley.

What is the one thing you’d like to become better at?

Magic.

How do you like your eggs?

JUST RIGHT. Johnny Foreigner’s new album ‘You Can Do Better’ is out now via Alcopop!

Records.

INTO THE VOIDZ JULIAN CASABLANCAS IS BACK, WITH A NEW ALBUM DUE ‘SOON’.

Having dropped a few hints on his website late last year that another solo record could be on the cards, Julian Casablancas has now flung open the doors on his next solo step. A brand new album preview has appeared online, listed as ‘Julian Casablancas + The Voidz’ and coming complete with a mesmerising, 70s-infused, Space Invaders-laced video clip for company.

Maybe he’s building upon the foundations of The Strokes’ opiniondividing 2013 single ‘One Way Trigger’ or has been taking notes from those French robots in Daft Punk, but the few snippets of music range from punchy, grubby basement rock’n’roll to stirring cinematic pieces, and all buried under a weird and wonderful layer of synth-fuzz.

With a host of festival appearances planned for this summer – including a double-duty run at New York’s Governors Ball in June – it’s no wonder that his latest record is ‘coming soon’. How soon, no one knows but whatever is set to follow-up ‘Phrazes for the Young’ should be an interesting listen at the very, very least.

‘Julian Casablanacas + The Voidz’ will be released later this year via Cult Records. DIY

KENDAL CALLING 2014

K

endal Calling has announced its first batch of acts for 2014, led by headliners Suede - who released new album ‘Bloodsports’ last year - and Frank Turner.

They’ll be accompanied by a number of newer acts, including Clean Bandit, Bondax (pictured) and Ella Eyre, as well as festival staples De La Soul, 2manydjs and Zane Lowe, amongst others.

The event will take place across eight stages in the Lake District’s Lowther Deer Park, from 1st - 3rd August. This year’s fancy dress theme is Kendal Calling Goes Beyond The Stars.

UNCOVERED WHAT’S HIDING UNDERNEATH MUSIC’S DIRTY SHEETS?

LISTEN

UP!

WE HEARD IT ON THE GR APE VINE In addition to a new Foo Fighters album, drummer TAYLOR HAWKINS has unveiled details of his own, brand new project. Having recruited the likes of bassist Wiley Hogden and guitarist Mick Murphy, Hawkins has formed The Birds of Satan and they’ll release their selftitled debut on 14th April.

Taking to her Facebook page, SKY FERREIRA has issued a statement to fans and followers about the state of online misogyny, damning expectations of what’s required to be a pop star. “I’m exhausted of (more than some) people telling me how I should look or be if I want to be a “pop star,”” she wrote.

Something may be afoot in camp GERARD WAY: the ex-My Chemical Romance frontman recently took to Twitter to make a statement about the past year, following the band’s split. Ending on the note, “I’ve got a lot of work to do this year, and I would love it if you joined me,” it’s hard not to wonder if he’s got something up his sleeve...

BEACH HOUSE are back with something out of this world: their latest track is made up of samples put together during Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes. Their aptlytitled ‘Saturn Song’ was created for the Lefse Records compilation, ‘Space Project’, which will be released on Record Store Day.

OUR WHOLE LIVES IT’S BEEN TEN YEARS SINCE THE HOLD STEADY’S DEBUT, ‘ALMOST KILLED ME’.

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ater this month, The Hold Steady will release a brand new album – their first in four years – ‘Teeth Dreams’.

But first, the band have something slightly different to celebrate: it’s ten years since their debut full-length hit shelves.

Having first unveiled ‘Almost Killed Me’ back in March 2004, the band have since performed its songs many-a-time.

However, as frontman Craig Finn reveals, when they took to the stage earlier this year to pay homage to their debut effort by performing it in full, there was no amount of practice that could’ve prepared them.

“We did our first tenth anniversary show in Brooklyn,” he begins, “and it was really actually emotional. You know,

there was all kinds of chaos: unfortunately there was a bunch of counterfeit tickets, but the people that got in were going absolutely crazy.

“The first two songs, we f**ked up pretty bad because it was so crazy.

These were the songs that we had played a million times and we were screwing up! Finally, we settled into it, but coming back with this new record, people seem to be really ready and excited for it. It’s a really positive feeling.”

It’s hard not to be reflective at times like these, so it’s no wonder that the idea of having an album that’s turning ten years old feels a bit surreal. “It’s weird, you know,” Finn laughs. “I’m 42 now and the one thing is that - it sounds like a

cliché but it’s true - as you get older, the years just start flying by. When we were making our first record, there was this whole different crew of people hanging around, so like everything else in your life, it just grows and changes.”

The excitement hasn’t yet died down, with fans more than ready for their newest record to drop.

“There’s so much energy around everything right now, it’s really exciting.

The shows have been absolutely spectacular and have felt really celebratory. There’s certainly a connection to the ten years prior, but it feels a little bit new, and like there’s a new energy.”

The Hold Steady’s new album ‘Teeth Dreams’ will be released on 24th March.

DIY

HAVE YOU HEARD? THE BEST NEW MUSIC FROM THE PAST SEVEN DAYS...

NEWS IN BRIEF

GREEN SALAD DAYS Green Man has announced its second batch of names, with Mac DeMarco leading the way.

The Welsh fest takes place from 14th - 17th August and has also confirmed Bill Callahan, The Walkmen’s Hamilton Leithauser, Caribou and Simian Mobile Disco.

IF IT AIN’T BROKE...

Newly signed to Rough Trade, Brooklyn’s finest Parquet Courts have confirmed a new single ‘Sunbathing Animal’. Due out for Record Store Day 2014 (19th April), there are also plans for a UK tour, to take place this June.

TRACK OF THE WEEK

LYKKE LI LOVE ME LIKE I’M NOT MADE OF STONE

‘I Never Learn’, the newly-announced third album from Swedish singer-songwriter Lykke Li, is, according to the woman herself, chock-full of power ballads. But ‘Love Me Like I’m Not Made Of Stone’ isn’t quite moussed-up hair, shoulder pads and smoke machines – it’s a far more understated beast, pairing Lykke’s emotion-filled vocals with simple acoustic guitar backing.

Album ‘I Never Learn’ is released on 5th May 2014 via Atlantic.

Christopher Owens It Comes Back To You Rejoice! For the former Girls head honcho has ditched his Watership Down pretensions, rid himself of the woodwind and rediscovered the joys of the gospeltinged, organ-featuring, slide-guitar bothering melancholy on which he made his name. ‘It Comes Back To You’ is nothing short of gorgeous.

Teleman Lady Low Less of an immediate fix than singles ‘Cristina’ and ‘Steam Train Girl’, ‘Lady Low’ is a quieter affair, channelling both 80s soul and Kinks-esque vocal patterns in equal measure.

Album ‘Breakfast’ is released on 26th May 2014 via Moshi Moshi.

Archie Bronson Outfit Two Doves On A Lake The lead track from the band’s first album in four years – and first without founder D Hobday – is a blistering glam-infused freak out, veering towards mayhem at times, but never quite losing it.

Album ‘Wild Crush’ is released on 19th May via Domino.

Albert Albert Get Outta Jail Few new bands could follow up an earworming pop gem with another so quickly, but then not every new band features members (former or otherwise) of Kaiser Chiefs, Howling Bells and Black Wire. ‘Get Outta Jail’ is a dual-vocalled beast of the type that’ll have anyone humming along.

Sharon Van Etten Taking Chances The first teaser of Sharon Van Etten’s fourth album comes in the shape of this direct and restrained number, ‘Taking Chances’.

Defined by muted guitar lines that eventually morph into monstrous beings, it’s a divine preview.

Album ‘Are We There’ is released on 26th May via Jagjaguwar.

White Lung Drown With The Monster Two minutes of brutal, in your face punk marks the signing of White Lung to Domino, with ‘Drown With The Monster’ their first release. It’s Mish Way’s commanding vocals that take centre-stage, with the rest of the band firing at top speed to keep up.

It’s brilliant stuff.

HEAR THEM ROAR F**ked Up’s epic ‘Year of the Dragon’ was first performed last year. At 14-minutes long, it’s a track indebted to the Toronto punk scene, and it’s gaining a physical release this spring alongside two covers: Cardboard Brains’ ‘I Wanna Be a Yank’ and The Ugly’s ‘Disorder’.

SIX IS THE MAGIC NUMBER Wales’ Portmeirion village is to host its third year of Festival No. 6, with Beck and London Grammar confirmed as headliners. Other acts playing the event, which takes place from 5th - 7th September, include Los Campesinos!, Temples, Neneh Cherry and Arthur Beatrice.

V FOR VIBES V Festival has announced headliners in the form of The Killers and Justin Timberlake. The 16th - 17th August event is asking festival-goers to “Bring The Vibe” for a weekender featuring Lily Allen, Elbow, Bastille and Chic ft. Nile Rodgers on its bill.

FASHION VICTIM Iggy Azalea has outdone herself with her latest video. Accompanying the track ‘Fancy’, the rapper recreates 90s cult sensation ‘Clueless’. Watch Azalea channelling Cher Horowitz on thisisfakediy.co.uk.

neu

EDITED BY JAMIE MILTON NEW MUSIC.

DISCOVER MORE: THISISFAKEDIY.CO.UK/NEU

NEW BANDS.

RECOMMENDED

JUCE

JUCE’s debut track ‘Call You Out’ arrived in good time. Heads were low, skies were gloomy, but this was the cure. Taking influence from the 90s and then some, the London trio are like All Saints without too many cups of ‘Black Coffee’. Smooth, seamless vocals fizzle away, with soulful basslines and chopping percussion each doing their thing.

It’s at once an all-smiles night out in South London and a chunky speakerbox coming to life.

RECOMMENDED EP

LE1F

RECOMMENDED

DOUGLAS DARE

Douglas Dare is a London songwriter specialising in haunting, floating piano pieces. His debut album ‘Whelm’ (lovely title) is out 12th May, with lead track ‘Nile’ setting an impressive stall.

Defined by clipped, barely there electronic percussion and a woozy piano lead, Douglas’ voice gives off the pained expressionisms that many would expect, but not in an overly-sensitive, cliched sense of melodrama. It’s a gorgeous albeit concise piece that knows its limits (four minutes, 37 seconds, to be precise).

Check out our recommended bands and more on thisisfakediy.co.uk.

K

HEY EP

halil Diouf aka LE1F isn’t a rapper requiring much of an introduction. Based in New York, he’s the latest in a string of exciting, prodigious talents capable of shifting the norm. Angel Haze’s intense, confessional stance has shaken the system, while Mykki Blanco remains an unsigned, transgender artist asking countless questions in the space of three, free-flowing minutes. LE1F takes about forty seconds before delivering the line: “Ask a gay question / here’s a black answer.” This transitionary release ahead of a debut album on XL/Terrible puts gender and identity in the foreground, in a five-track EP even more notable for its

cutting production and neon-lit fizz.

LE1F’s production credits include the aforementioned Mykki Blanco and back in 2008, Das Racist. Each of ‘Hey’’s tracks achieve similar feats in peering ahead.

It’s not just the themes he’s tackling that give the EP its forward-lean. ‘Boom’ recalls Blanco’s ‘Wavvy’ in placing LGBT themes in customary in-the-club surroundings.

“I’m the elephant in the room,” he declares, practically forcing his way through crowds. Even amidst the talk of drugs, fast cars and photoshoots, not a single second feels wasted. If hip-hop ever required a surprise, LE1F is a jack-inthe-box.

BRING THE HEAT London songwriter Marika Hackman has announced a new EP, ‘Deaf Heat’. It’s out on 14th April 2014 and the lead track ‘Deep Green’ is streaming right now.

Her UK tour begins this week at Glasgow King Tuts, 11th March.

YEARS & YEARS THE UK’S NEXT BREAKTHROUGH DANCE ACT? IT’S A CASE OF COUNTING DOWN THE HOURS, NOT YEARS.

Y

ears & Years’ Olly Alexander spent last year - and the beginning of 2014 - with Belle and Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch, working on the God Help The Girl project.

Cut to the present day and it’s difficult to equate Murdoch’s sweet-as-can-be songwriting with the dance-centric trio Olly fronts, but some similarities flicker beneath the surface.

The London trio’s vocalist cites simplicity as a common ground. “I remember Stuart wrote a song for my character to sing at the beginning of the film. He wrote the song in [just] one morning. It had three chords in it - we all had it in our heads for the rest of the shoot,” he recalls, backing it up by saying he learnt that “simplicity is the key in music.”

Sure, Murdoch has “decades of experience” to boot, he admits, but “I feel like I always over-complicate and stress over everything.”

That might’ve been the

case in the months before now, where Olly, Mikey Goldsworthy (bass), Emre Turkmen (synths, production) fretted over details and experimented for the sake of it. New single ‘Real’ is a complete step to the other side. Complexities rinse around, but ultimately it’s a song as booming, immediate and universal as Disclosure’s ‘Latch’. Simplicity comes into that, even if the whole thing’s dressed up as a clever sod.

As for an album, they’re promising “an emotional electro-dance roller coaster,” which sounds like the kind of catchphrase you might hear in an after-hours version of Deal or No Deal. Still, if it’s packed full of songs linking up to their recent single (they’re making a record with “ups and downs,” in a good way), there’s little doubting the trio’s chances of stealing the summer. One simple step at a time. DIY

No doubt Years & Years boast intricacies behind their instapop. Olly calls the project “an all-encompassing obsession,” picturing producer Emre as a permanently tuned-in bandmate (“[He] listens to the songs more than anyone when he’s producing.”)

Out last month, ‘Real’ was a turning point. It showed obsessions being channelled into something genuinely game-changing. Suddenly the band has cropped up supporting Say Lou Lou and MØ, selling out headline shows in the process.

NEED TO KNOW + Olly’s actor friends include Ben Whishaw [Q from James Bond], Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and Tuppence Middleton.

All three appear in the disturbing but brilliant ‘Real’ music video. + Emre joined the group through findabandmate. com, while Mikey heard about Olly through a friend who’d heard him singing in the shower. + ‘Real’ is out now on go-to singles label Kitsune.

A RARE SOPHIE SIGHTING A #JUSTJAM event set to take place at London Barbican last weekend was cancelled at the last minute by police. This led to the organisers hosting the event in a tiny room with the same acts - with everything broadcast online.

Alongside Mount Kimbie and Omar Souleyman, Pictures/Numbers signing SOPHIE made an exciting appearance, running through an 18-minute set that included last year’s contender for single of the year ‘Bipp’. It stands out as a highlight from the night, which was watched by a peak of 35,000 at one time.

Beat that, The Bill.

MAKING A MOVE Movement is an Australian trio consisting of Jesse James Ward, Lewis Wade and Sean Wadler. Signed to Modular, a new self-titled EP lands on 28th April in the UK, arriving just after a couple of support dates with Nico Jaar and Dave Harrington’s Darkside.

‘Like Lust’ from the new EP basks in trip-hop style percussion and crooning vocals that float beneath the surface like a lucid dream. The track’s produced by both Movement and Illangelo. Stream it now on thisisfakediy.co.uk.

FROM PARIS WITH LOVE Gone are the pressures of being a

twenty-something in London: Metronomy’s Joseph Mount is taking a more laid back approach.

Wo r d s : H u w O li v e r . P h oto s : E m m a Swa n n .

G

azing out of his record label’s office window down onto an oddly sunlit Shoreditch street, Joseph Mount is giggling. Giggling hard.

“When you’re doing a fourth album, there are clichéd things which you, like, have to do, or avoid doing, depending on your perspective,” he reflects on Metronomy’s new single, ‘Love Letters’, which is just about to be unveiled to the world. “One is adding horns, another is adding backing vocalists to make you sound better. And I got them both.”

The biggest shock is when a trumpet solo enters the fray courtesy of Parisian jazz musician Airelle Besson.

“It’s funny because originally there were a lot of horns over ‘Love Letters’,” he reveals. “There were horns in the main part of the song, but in the end it was like, this feels too kind of, this feels too far. But like, to do a song with a Motowny rhythm like that seemed kind of, ‘Why would I do that?’ But then I ended up thinking, ‘Why wouldn’t I do that?’ A trumpet solo seemed perfectly normal.”

As all four of their albums (and the contrasts between them) show, Metronomy are constantly changing, nay radicalising their sound. This time, they’ve metamorphosed from the massively accessible synth-pop act we all knew from ‘The Look’ and ‘The Bay’ into a brilliantly weird, 60s-influenced funk-psych crossbreed. The outcome is the band’s career-high masterstroke, and it features some of the bravest tunes they’ve ever cut. “It’s one of those things that if you like us as a band and if you like the music, then part of what you like is the fact that it’s not predictable and that it’s not supposed to be predictable,” Mount explains, then sniggers, “but I guess we’ll find out in the charts how alienating we’ve been.”

On this record, he felt more confident as a songwriter, and

more comfortable in his own skin.

Tellingly, with the intention of releasing a double record, he laid down twenty tracks but ended up streamlining it to ten. “I was really convinced it was a good idea. But then, I guess what happens is that when you’re compiling a record like that, a kind of feel emerges out of, like, quite disparate things, and out of the ten tracks which I felt should end up on the record, I mainly tried to write about being away, or travelling, stuff like that. Quite a lot of these songs have got this theme of being out of touch, being away from something, hence ‘Love Letters’.”

The songs are also linked by the retrograde way in which they were recorded. They were laid down at London’s legendary Toe Rag studios, where The White Stripes recorded ‘Elephant’ ten years before. This in turn impacted on Mount’s songwriting. “The thing was, to record a record like that really changed the way that I had to write songs,” he says. “The main purpose of recording like that was so that it would force me to be a much more organised songwriter and much more well-planned.”

Taking a step back in time, he and his bandmates (Oscar Cash, Anna Prior and Gbenga Adelekan) had to totally rethink their creative process.

As he explains, “In a very oldfashioned way, I did lots of demos and tried to arrange all the songs and have the songs finished. So, when I went into the studio I could just record and not have to write too much at the same time.”

Appropriately enough, Mount became absorbed in 60s hippiedom and that era’s dichotomous relationship between funk and psychedelia. “For a long time now, I’ve enjoyed listening to Sly & The Family Stone, The Zombies, and obviously The Beatles, The Kinks, people like that,” he says enthusiastically. Using these as ‘reference material’, he dissected the classics bit by bit, seeing what the masters did in a quest to imitate

the quirks of the period. “I guess, on each record, I feel like I kind of open up,” he states.

“I listen to a lot of different kinds of music and I always have. And each time I do a record, I feel like I open up a little gate to a different part of the music I like. Or at least, allow it to influence the song I’m writing more than previously. On the one hand you had people like The Beatles, The Kinks and The Byrds making this kind of guitary, psychedelic music in the late 60s. But at the same time, you had the beginnings of funk music and there are nice points where those genres cross each other.”

This oddball overlap can be heard on ‘Love Letters’ itself. That is, after a stripped-back acoustic singalong in the form of ‘The Upsetter’ gets the album underway, things consequently swerve from trippy wah-wah rock (‘Month Of Sundays’) all the way to brilliant, caterwauling synth-funk (‘Reservoir’). Though some songs hint nostalgically at earlier moments from Metronomy’s career (notably the Tom Tom Clubesque ‘Boy Racers’), this is mainly novel territory for the band.

But it remains divisive. Despite claims from fans that it seemed too simple and understated, Mount still believes groundbreaking lead single ‘I’m Aquarius’ is “genuinely the best thing” he’s ever done. In fact, he says, “I’ve kind of always wanted to release a song like that, and I’ve always wanted to write one. Before, I’ve tried and tried and I’ve never quite done it.”

The song was released for one week only via the Night Sky app, which allows users to identify planets, galaxies, constellations, ad infinitum. All fans had to do was scan the sky in search of the Aquarius constellation, and the single would play automatically.

“The funny thing,” says Mount, “is nowadays you get properly overblown campaigns leading up to records, to the point they can

“ H AV I N G A B A BY I S A G O O D T H I N G T O TA K E YO U R M I N D O F F T H E L E S S I M P O R TA N T T H I N G S . I ’ D R E C O M M E N D E V E R YO N E D O I T. ” JOSEPH MOUNT

make you so disappointed in the record when it finally arrives. But when they were talking about the Night Sky thing, I was thinking, like, it’s actually pretty cool. When are you ever going to be able to tie in a song with a stargazing app? I guess it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Aside from the intergalactic lead single, another standout comes in the form of gloriously way-out, slightly offhand guitar jam ‘The Most Immaculate Haircut’. But whose ‘do was he actually referring to? “It’s Connan Mockasin’s haircut,” he confirms, “but I think he’s slightly let it go a bit. I think he’s taken his eye off it.” The song was the leftover scrap of a botched collaboration between the pair. Delving deeper, he explains, “It definitely applies more widely than that. I was talking to someone about how there are people who become kind of iconic, people who have something about their image which is often their haircuts which makes them kind of instantly recognisable.

You get scenester people like that in London.

“Anyway, I’ve always been slightly upset that I’ve never really cultivated my image to the point where I’m recognisable and people are, like, ‘uhh, it’s the guy with the cool haircut.’ I think when I first started playing in bands, that was always my dream, to be part of a gang that has a look. Do you remember Bromheads Jacket? Anyway, the singer had cut himself an incredible kind of Jerry Ramone haircut and I was like, ‘f**k me, that’s amazing. I wish I could do that.’ But I couldn’t.”

It soon transpires that getting old and growing up are having their impact on Mount. Having a child, making a proper livelihood from music, living in a foreign country… this has all exerted influence on Metronomy the band. “When I started playing music, and certainly the first band I was in, I was under the impression that you had to get shit done before you were, like, 20. Before 20 probably, and certainly before you were 25. And if you still hadn’t done anything by the time you were 30, you were fucked.

You best start doing something else.

“In my personal life, the more I realise is that the opposite is true. Like, I think there is a point when you’re too old for people to really get on board, or whatever, but I’ve really enjoyed not feeling the same attachment to what is going on. Any of the kind of competition I would have had, or felt in the level of band I’m in, versus other people, it’s just kind of drifted away.”

How come? “Having a baby is a good thing to take your mind off the less important things,” he laughs. “But the weird thing that that does is that having a baby, in a much more positive way than I imagined, has made me think about what I do in a very different way and be able to just look at it from a third person point of view. I think about it as a job. It’s like, OK, well, I have to make an album and it has to be really good. It’s just quite a nice leveller, having a child. I’d recommend everyone do it.”

Since he came off tour in 2012, he’s lived in Paris (in the 18th arrondissement, just above Sacré Coeur), but he finds it all a bit yummymummy and “probably a bit too grown-up for me.” However, he does relish the city as a carefree creative space. “I think when you do anything creative in London, you’re really aware of what other people who are doing the same thing are up to,” he expands.

“If you’re not succeeding at what your job is or what you want your job to be, then people will just forget about you. I think, by contrast, I’ve got none of that feeling in Paris. It’s a much more kind of relaxed atmosphere. I think there are songs on the record I wouldn’t have made if I hadn’t been living there.”

After all, it is where he met all of Metronomy’s recent artistic affiliates.

Namely, video directors Edouard Salier (helming ‘I’m Aquarius’) and Michel Gondry (‘Love Letters’), as well as renowned graphic artist Leslie David, who had a baby at the same time as Mount’s girlfriend. His label, Because Music, also has roots in Paris. “They were the first to show interest,” he says. “They were like, ‘We love what you do and we love what you’ve done up until this point. Why don’t you come and make records

with us?’ And I think part of the reason that they’re so accepting is because they’re French and the French are much more accepting of interesting instrumental music. World music isn’t called world music there, it’s just music which is very popular. It’s just quite a refreshing attitude that they have. I think they understand different types of music much better than most people.”

With this in mind, the band are bringing their famed live show to equally massive venues both sides of the channel this year (London’s O2 Academy Brixton and Paris’ Zénith).

But the date they’re most excited about is headlining Field Day festival in June. “That is going to be a real event for us,” Mount declares. “The first place we played in London was a club called Trash. We’ve played at all kinds of places here, and to end up headlining a festival, you know, it’s an incredibly big deal for us. At Brixton a while ago, we did this NME tour when we were supporting Two Door Cinema Club, and I think at the time we felt a bit like, ‘Oh f**k, I wish it was us on top of the bill’. So, it feels like a real nice thing… And I don’t think it’s going to be the last thing we headline either.”

Metronomy’s new album ‘Love Letters’ is out now via Because. DIY

“I GUESS WE’LL FIND OUT IN THE CHARTS HOW A L I E N AT I N G WE’VE BEEN.”

JOSEPH MOUNT

NEW YORK FOUR-PIECE BIG UPS MADE THEIR FIRST VISIT TO THE UK LAST WEEK AS ONE OF THE MOST TALKED-ABOUT NEW BANDS FOR SOME TIME. NOT BAD FOR FOUR GUYS WHO JUST GOT FIRED. WORDS: JAMIE MILTON PHOTOS: CAROLINA FARUOLO

THE

UPPING

STAKES

W

hen Brooklyn band Big Ups hitch up to London for the first time, there’s an intense sense of occasion surrounding their live debut. It’s strange, given that ‘Eighteen Hours of Static’ is a couple of months post-release. Songs on their first record are some two, three years old too. But that’s how these things work. Even when releases are key and timing’s sacred, great bands get their moment eventually.

Fellow New Yorkers Parquet Courts are an obvious comparison, just in terms of how their self-released ‘Light Up Gold’ took some twelve months and a re-release before it became this vital, acclaimed debut. Big Ups’ take on things opts more towards posthardcore than garage punk, but further down the line it’s easy to imagine the newly arrived four-piece making world tours a regularity, not a token novelty.

Sitting upstairs at The Old Blue Last surrounded by old decor - they sport a sound capable of tearing the scenery into shreds - Joe Galarraga (vocals) and co. couldn’t be much more relaxed.

They joke to themselves about Kanye’s famous interview with Zane Lowe. They peer outside and chat about Oyster cards and the backwards-thinking New York subway system. Small talk turns to their sound, which they claim they’re still yet to fully “discover.” Someone needs to jolt them by the shoulders and tell them they’re one of the most talked about new bands going.

“We’ve always been motivated but when we first started all we wanted to do was play shows,” says Joe, getting down to the serious stuff. “We had all these small victories of playing at these places we’ve always wanted to play at.

[But] our songs used to be really, really silly.”

Joe was raised in Baltimore before meeting bandmates Amar Lal (guitars), Brendan Finn (drummer), Carlos Salguero (bass) at an NYU summer class. Drummer Finn is the only member to have been brought up in Brooklyn. Together they admit it’s tough getting by in an expensive state (“If you’re not making money being in

a band you have to hold down a job,”) and things just got a whole lot tougher, potentially. They just quit their jobs.

Well, technically they got fired. They cite a decision to go on tour as the reasoning. “That was a decision we sooort of made. It was a risk that we knew we were taking,” admits Joe, all smiles. Any knock on the head from financial strain doesn’t seem to be getting the band down. They’re on their first world tour, after all. “Now it’s definitely getting more serious,” Joe states. Judging by the show they later play, they’re on the brink of seizing something huge and they’re fully aware of it.

On stage Joe cries, creeps and commands. His performance is exactly that: A performance. Calculated but nonetheless breathtaking, he gets swept up by the songs. More often than not he’ll end up a topless skinny frame. “I’ve always wanted to be as entertaining as possible,” he claims pre-gig. “That’s sort of the point, so that when people leave they get their money’s worth.” We point out that tonight’s gig is a freebie. “But time is money!” he jokes in response.

The UK’s responded very positively to Big Ups. “It’s really satisfying to have people you’ve never met in a country you’re not from say that they like your music,” enthuses the frontman.

Sometimes the band go off stage thinking they’ve “played like s**t,” they collectively admit. “‘Oh my gosh, noone liked it, you think,” says Joe. “You breakdown your gear and you’re hiding your face a little bit, but there are always two people going ‘Hey that was good.’ That’s the best feeling.”

It’s been a slow and steady process.

Although not technically casual by any means, the guys only released an album in the first place when they found out Derek from Dead Labour records wanted to put out something of theirs. But even from the beginning, Brendan says, “We thought we played pretty well together, the four of us.”

Confidence is getting in motion.

Attention’s turned to new material - and why blame them when a monstrous song like ‘Goes Black’ is three years to the good - where they’re

“I’m trying to self-edit a little bit more” JOE GALARRAGA

being more “critical” of what they put on tape. “I’m trying to self-edit a little bit more,” Joe says. “I’m being critical of myself, instead of being like ‘this is done, let’s put it on the record.’ Maybe that’s a bad thing. Maybe it’s selfdoubting.”

Even amidst this flurry of attention, this talk of them being one of punk’s new saviours and everything else under the hyperbole rainbow, Big Ups aren’t bigging up themselves too much just yet.

Big Ups’ debut album ‘Eighteen Hours of Static’ is out now in Europe through Tough Love. DIY

NEW YORK I LOVE YOU, BUT… Big Ups’ favourite things about New York are the friends they’ve made (“we’ve met so many bands,” says Joe) and the simple fact that it’s a crazy city with a “saturated” scene.

But they’re happy to get away. “New York can get really overwhelming when you’re playing so many shows out there,” says Brendan. “It’s easy to get lost there,” agrees Carlos, with Joe concluding: “It is slightly overwhelming. A crazy city to live in. And I think a lot of people move to New York because of that.”

REVIEWS EDITED BY EMMA SWANN

eeee

MØ

No Mythologies To Follow (RCA)

M

Ø’s alternate, fractured take on pop isn’t a musical mainstay (it’s been going for only a couple of years in its current form), but the Denmark-based Karen Marie Ørsted has few to zero rivals rivalling her blustering, brash take on things. In ‘No Mythologies To Follow’, there’s the sound of giddy excitement running alongside chart ambition, like a wannabe star seeing their childhood dreams becoming reality in an instant.

This is a debut devoted to ambition, trying new things and seeing what sticks. As a result, it’s fairly splintered as a first work, but it succeeds in the sense that it’s showing off every exciting side to MØ. There’s the trashy beats of opener ‘Fire Rides’, the Diplo-produced ‘XXX 88’ and ‘Pilgrim’’s thumping, hand clapping punch-fest. Then there’s ‘Never Wanna Know’, which is essentially a Christmas single in disguise; jingle bells clanging around alongside longing vocals. Half Lana Del Rey, half talent show ballad, dressed up in the Dane’s staples it somehow works.

‘No Mythologies To Follow’’s parts shouldn’t stick, then. ‘Glass’’ glimmering synths and cheerleader chants shouldn’t be seen near ‘Don’t Wanna Dance’’s all out attempt at a smash-hit. Still, instead of being judged as a careful, calculated first work, it’s best viewed as a stampede of crazed ideas, each brimming with life.

The energy of this debut is tangible.

It’s the equivalent of jumping round a bedroom and ending up in the stratosphere. Loose-footedness pays off, in an album that wins out through sheer enthusiasm. Jamie Milton

eeee Metronomy

Love Letters (Because)

PHOTO: MIKE MASSARO

I

t’d be easy to say that ‘Love Letters’ may surprise Metronomy fans, such is the sonic shift from previous album ‘The English Riviera’. Gone is the minimalist, smart synthwork to be replaced by a new sound (well one that borrows from the 60s and 70s). That is until you realise that life as a Metronomy fans means accepting that there’s no one style that defines Joe Mount’s band.

‘The English Riviera’ was Metronomy’s most successful album yet – Mercury-nominated and critically lauded. Yet even that was nothing like their previous two. And so ‘Love Letters’ is something different again, influenced predominantly by the 60s and 70s, psychedelia and Sly Stone. It’s also an album that could see them go stratospheric.

Because its lack of slickness and idiosyncrasies are where its charm lies. It’s an album which veers between 70s gospel and primitive electro and drum machines. Part of the reason for this is the decision to decamp to East London’s famously retro Toe Rag and record on analogue. It has lead to a record where there’s nothing you could call a central style but somehow it hangs together as their

most cohesive.

It begins with ‘The Upsetter’s’ story of listening to Deacon Blue and ‘Sleeping Satellite’, an acoustic strum mixing with a battered drum machine, Mount singing falsetto. It’s an unexpected yet touching start.

If that was unexpected, then the 60s and 70s inspired singles, ‘I’m Aquarius’ and ‘Love Letters’, should have prepared you. It’s Metronomy at their simplest and most streamlined but also their most odd. ‘Love Letters’, in particular is an irresistible honky tonk 70s dance number, just done in Metronomy’s distinctive way. It basically demands its own Saturday Night Fever-inspired dance routine. It even has a sax breakdown.

Then there’s the computer game electro of ‘Boy Racers’, which could have been taken from ‘Nights Out’, ‘Never In A Month of Sundays’ with its Motown choir outro and ‘The Reservoir’, all squelchy synths and nautical metaphors about ‘heartbeats drifting together’. All of this shouldn’t really work, but it really does. There’s even an ode to Connan Mockasin’s hair on ‘The Most Immaculate Haircut’ which was originally planned as a duet with the interestingly-coiffed Kiwi singer.

Metronomy may have left the English Riviera but where they’ve landed now is somewhere only they could find: cast adrift, following their own path, and as ‘I’m Aquarius’ suggested, only having the glitter of the stars in the sky to guide them.

Danny Wright

eeee

elbow

The Take Off and Landing Of Everything (Fiction)

R

ecorded over a six week period in New York, ‘The Take Off And Landing Of Everything’, Elbow’s sixth studio album sees band member Craig Potter once again retain production duties. Opener ‘This Blue World’ is classic Elbow, a vivid kaleidoscope

of images which catapults the listener into the story the dawn of creation before descending earthbound.

Such reflective calm is quickly shattered by the more uptight ‘Charge’ which is tempered somewhat by a wonderful string interlude and surprising falsetto touches. What greets you next is possibly one of the most heart wrenchingly fragile songs the band has ever recorded, ‘Flying Boy Blue/ Lunette’, a contemplative tale of friendship and alienation that sees Guy Garvey (who turns 40 this year) grappling with the bigger questions as he reflects upon “reaching the age where decisions are made on life and living.”

Elbow sound revitalised here with Garvey proving himself once more to be one

of the most eloquent British songwriters around. While ‘Build A Rocket Boys’ was merely fleetingly brilliant, ‘The Take Off and Landing Of Everything’ is consistently strong. It may not quite be the experimental record the band had hinted at but it’s unlikely to see them installed as X-Factor guest performer perennials any time soon. Greg Inglis

eeee

johnny foreigner You Can Do Better (Alcopop! Records)

B

y their fourth album, Johnny Foreigner have achieved that rare talent that few others ever

get the time or support to achieve - becoming very, very good at being, well, Johnny Foreigner. That’s no bad thing.

All angles and pointy bits, from frantic opener ‘Shipping’ (“If I stop shipping you / you stop shipping me!”), theirs is a masterplan perfected to a tee.

And yet it never gets old - ‘You Can Do Better’ is packed tight with ideas, peerless influences, sneak attack hook lines and infectious sugar rush energy.

‘In Capitals’’ breakneck pace changes, from 100mph to standstill and back again; ‘Riff Glitchard’’s winding, serene build; the wining, slacker rock guitar intro to ‘Wifi Beach’ standout tracks change by the listen. Being Johnny Foreigner sounds nothing short of f**king brilliant. Stephen Ackroyd

eee Joan As Police Woman The Classic (PIAS)

D

espite her personal history and contribution to the work of artists such as Antony and the Johnsons and Rufus Wainwright, Joan Wasser, under the moniker Joan As Police Woman, has forged through four albums a fanbase built on merit and appreciation for her unique alternative sensibilities and seeming enthusiasm for variation. Her fifth album, ‘The Classic’, continues in this vein.

Taking in a number of musical styles and emotional highs and lows, it’s another hit for an oft-overlooked but important figure.

‘The Classic’ is intentionally a mixed bag, designed to cover the spectrum of Wasser’s repertoire. This means that there are inevitable highs and lows, and rather than a solid trajectory it instead drifts from hits to misses wildly. For instance, the title track is an a cappella standout, but it’s followed by a seven-minute slog in the form of ‘Get Direct’.

Thankfully though, even on the lesser tracks what is important is the spark of individuality and inspiration that is truly impressive considering Joan As Police Woman’s rich back catalogue.

Existing as it does in our current age of prioritising individual songs over the full album experience, ‘The Classic’ comes as such a rich treat simply because although its songs can be cherry picked and undoubtedly some hit stronger than others, listening to it in full is a unique adventure.

Although Wasser has perhaps sounded better in the past and too many of the songs stretch past their welcome, ‘The Classic’ is a welcome addition to Joan As Police Woman’s repertoire and a recommended addition to any album collection due to its impressive ability to surprise

and innovate as it moves forward. Charlie Ralph

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ee

Sweet Disarray (Deram)

Ava Luna

Electric Balloon (Western Vinyl)

I

n opener ‘Daydream’, Brooklynites Ava Luna have a near post-punk masterpiece. Channelling geographical neighbours Talking Heads and at points the fevered yelps of LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, it’s every bit as angular as anyone could hope. And there’s handclaps. It’s followed by the curiously-named ‘Sears Roebuck M&Ms’ with its repeated “the most sweet thing” refrain, which continues the theme. It possesses a brilliantly insistent disco riff.

Essentially, it’s oddball in all the right ways.

If only the rest of ‘Electric Balloon’ followed suit.

With this second full-length, the five-piece have somewhat haphazardly meshed together these sounds with slices of sleazy, smooth soul. Like two records playing simultaneously, it’s as if they couldn’t quite decide which band to be, so threw in everything they had at once. From ‘Crown’ onwards – save the synthy title track and first two minutes of ‘Plain Speech’ – it’s mostly R&B vibes.

And, like with the Spanishsounding ‘Aquarium’ and the structureless ‘Genesee’, it’s stream-of-consciousness put to tape.

At best, it’s eccentricity gone wild – there’s no shortage of weird noises creeping in throughout – and at worst, just confusing. Emma Swann

eee

Tense Men

Where Dull Care Is Forgotten (Faux Discx)

A

nyone who’s familiar with Cold Pumas or Sauna Youth, two bands to which Tense Men’s

dan croll

A

fter the ubiquitousness of ‘Compliment Your Soul’ last year, you’d be forgiven for assuming Liverpool-based singer-songwriter Dan Croll would offer up an album’s worth of soaring indie-pop; a sort of Bastille-lite-with-guitars, if you will. It probably doesn’t help that his name’s Dan, and he’s got big hair and glasses too. Debut long-player, ‘Sweet Disarray’, is quite the opposite: Croll and gang subtly veer from the Paul Simon-indebted afro-pop (‘Always Like This’) to the R&B-tinged (‘Can You Hear Me’) via the stunning M.Wardesque warmth of the title track and closer ‘Home’.

It’s gorgeously (self-) produced, too. ‘Only Ghost’, with its acousticled melodies could quite easily be ‘A N Other bedroom folk singer’, but the subtle synths save it from boredom. The terribly-titled ‘Thinkin Aboutchu’ channels

number also belong, will have some idea of what to expect with this minialbum. If that didn’t already suggest it – the gorgeously brutal artwork would act as confirmation. ‘Where Dull Care Is Forgotten’ features six tightly-wound tracks, veering between insistent post-punk, doom-laden repetition and the glorious punk explosion that is closer, ‘Opiate Glow’.

“No control” (‘RNRFON’), “I’m tired of sleeping”

Darwin Deez in its eclecticism, but reigned in. It’s far less confusing than the curly-haired American’s output.

The Metronomy-styled synths of opener ‘From Nowhere’ and arrhythmic ‘Maway’ show off a post-xx, post-Alt-J use of all kinds of strange sounds done quietly – it’s arguable that while Croll’s songwriting is accomplished, ‘Sweet Disarray’ would be half the record it is without the perfectly-pitched instrumentation.

And, despite this variety, not once does the record feel disjointed, or out of place. It’s a skill, but Croll’s soothing vocals, as well as he and his team’s spot-on engineering of the whole lot means it can slide from that soaring single to Croll’s inner Justin Timberlake via steel guitars and ukelele without missing a beat. It’s pleasantly pristine stuff from the still relative newcomer.

Emma Swann

(‘Nonentities’), “I don’t wanna know” (‘Opiate Glow’), whether screamed or muttered, the usually distorted vocals spew constant frustration; that these men are tense is no surprise. Whether it’s the minimalist beast that is ‘Lie Heavy (Desperate Times)’, the droning title track, or the scrappy post-punk of opener ‘Stages of Boredom’, Tense Men capture this decade’s recession-hit angst perfectly. Emma Swann

LIVE EDITED BY EMMA SWANN

THE ORWELLS

I

100 Club, London

t’s absolute pandemonium. Chicago young punks The Orwells burst onto the scene early last year with the raucously melodic ‘Other Voices’; an enthralling, thrill a minute, no holds barred introduction to their brand of messily memorable garage punk. Their career trajectory has been on a pretty steady incline ever since, seeing them sign a record deal with Atlantic, release two hit-packed EPs, and make THAT infamous appearance on Letterman.

Tonight at the 100 Club, it’s clear nothing has changed from The Orwells’ early days.

They’re still ridiculously young and reckless, they’re still just the right amount of arrogant, and they’re still an irresistible, charming mess. They’re exactly what you’d hoped they would be, basically.

Opening with the instantly recognisable howl from ‘Other Voices’, singer Mario Cuomo commands the stage with the unabashed confidence and carefree abandon that belies his 18 years of life experience.

Never one to shy away from eye contact, he frequently glares at the audience with an unwavering stare and devious

grin. It’s difficult to know whether to be terrified or mesmerised.

And that’s only the beginning.

Cuomo continues to strut and patrol the stage with increasing ferocity, now swigging liberally from a bottle of cheap red wine. Fans begin to storm the stage during a rendition of ‘Mallrats (La La La)’, shortly followed by bassist Grant Brinner throwing himself into the crowd unannounced (bass and all), as Cuomo opts to hoist up a female stage invader and proceed in a full five-minute makeout session.

It’s absolute pandemonium.

Amid such pure, unadulterated chaos, it’s easy to forget The Orwells actually make superb music. ‘Other Voices’, ‘Who Needs You’, and ‘Blood Bubbles’ all sound huge tonight, and showcase their brilliant knack for blending edgy, punk instrumentation with memorable pop melodies. They’ve absolutely got it in spades. It makes their covers of ‘Build Me Up Buttercup’ and The Stooges ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ seem surplus to requirements, but they suffice in keeping the crowd entertained nonetheless. Nathan Standlee

SAM SMITH

Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London

N

PHOTO: CAROLINA FARUOLO

eedless to say, tonight’s expectations are sky high.

Ahead of this evening’s show, Sam Smith’s stock has risen with his every move: just a handful of days ago, the singer was awarded with his Critics’ Choice Award at the BRIT Awards. It’s probably propped up against his BBC Sound of 2014 trophy.

The great part about that? By the time that he steps onto the stage at the packed out Shepherds Bush Empire, the crowd are already in love. Yet, rather than sitting back and coasting like he no doubt could, the singer is entirely on form. Visibly ecstatic and a little taken aback from the get-go, the 21-year-old eases us through a sampling of songs from soon-to-be-released debut ‘In The Lonely Hour’. A human melting pot of smooth jazz and slick R&B, his tracks – mostly unknown by the crowd, admittedly, but that barely makes a difference - provide a much more rounded glimpse of his talent, with his voice remaining mightily impressive throughout.

From his spine-tingly cover of Arctic Monkeys’ ‘Do I Wanna Know?’ to his re-imagination of Disclosure’s ‘Latch’, there’s not a move pulled wrong. He remains controlled but endearing, walking the line between performer and entertainer perfectly. It’s the smile on his face that’s the greatest part of tonight though, because it just can’t be shifted. And rightly so, as this is just the beginning of things to come. Sarah Jamieson

PHOTO: MIKE MASSARO

GIG GUIDE

GIG OF THE WEEK

Fall Out Boy MOTORPOINT ARENA, CARDIFF SATURDAY 15TH MARCH

MONDAY 10TH MARCH Birmingham CHVRCHES, Institute Liverpool Maximo Park, O2 Academy London Sky Ferreira, Oslo Portsmouth Bombay Bicycle Club, Guildhall TUESDAY 11TH MARCH London Angel Haze, Heaven Manchester Drake, Phones 4U Arena Newcastle We Are Scientists, O2 Academy Nottingham Maximo Park, Rock City Sheffield Haim, O2 Academy

It might not be the MOMENTOUR coming our way (just yet, at least – Europe still holds out hope for the Paramore co-headline to head over here), but Fall Out Boy are back to terrorise arenas with their anthemic pop-punk, inciting many a scream-a-long and mosh pit along the way.

WEDNESDAY 12TH MARCH Bristol Bombay Bicycle Club, O2 Academy Cambridge CHVRCHES, Junction Glasgow Haim, Barrowland Glasgow We Are Scientists, O2 ABC Manchester Drake, Phones 4U Arena THURSDAY 13TH MARCH Cardiff CHVRCHES, University Leeds Maximo Park, O2 Academy Liverpool Metronomy, O2 Academy London Bombay Bicycle

Club, Brixton Academy Nottingham We Are Scientists, Rock City Sheffield The Men, The Harley FRIDAY 14TH MARCH Birmingham Maximo Park, Institute Brighton The Men, The Haunt London CHVRCHES, The Forum London Franz Ferdinand, Roundhouse Manchester Metronomy, The Ritz SATURDAY 15TH MARCH Birmingham We Are

Scientists, Institute Cardiff Fall Out Boy, Motorpoint Arena Glasgow Drake, Hydro London CHVRCHES, Forum London Fear of Men, The Old Blue Last London Franz Ferdinand, Roundhouse Manchester Maximo Park, Academy SUNDAY 16TH MARCH Birmingham Fall Out Boy, NIA Cardiff Bombay Bicycle Club, University Glasgow The Notwist, Mono Norwich We Are Scientists, Waterfront