DIY Weekly, 31st March 2014 by DIY Magazine

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THE FREE MUSIC WEEKLY

ISSUE 53 / 31 ST MARCH 2014 thisisfakediy.co.uk

FALL OUT BOY “THE PLAN IS TO KEEP MOVING”

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THE FREE MUSIC WEEKLY / 31ST MARCH 2014 / ISSUE 53 / THISISFAKEDIY.CO.UK

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462 KINGSLAND VIADUCT, 83 RIVINGTON STREET, LONDON, EC2A 3AY EDITORIAL: EDITOR: Stephen Ackroyd stephen@thisisfakediy.co.uk DEPUTY EDITOR: Viki Sinden viki@thisisfakediy.co.uk REVIEWS EDITOR: Emma Swann emma@thisisfakediy.co.uk NEWS EDITOR: Sarah Jamieson sarah@thisisfakediy.co.uk ART DIRECTOR: Louise Mason louise@thisisfakediy.co.uk ONLINE EDITOR: Jamie Milton jamie@thisisfakediy.co.uk ASSISTANT EDITOR: El Hunt el@thisisfakediy.co.uk SCRIBBLERS: Ben Marsden, Emma Cooper, Fabiana Giovanetti, Gareth Ware, Johan Alm, Matthew Davies, Mikey Reynolds, Shefali Srivastava, Tim Lee, Tom Morris SNAPPERS: Carolina Faruolo, Nathan Barnes, Sarah Doone, Sarah Louise Bennett COMMERCIAL: PRINT / WEEKLY : Rupert Vereker rupert@sonicmediagroup.co.uk (+44 (0)20 76130555) ONLINE: Lawrence Cooke lawrence@sonicmediagroup.co.uk (+44 (0)20 76130555) HEAD OF MARKETING & EVENTS: Jack Clothier

FALL OUT BOY

THIS ISSUE... NEWS

THE ORWELLS, PIXIES, GRUFF RHYS, TIMBER TIMBRE, LIVE AT LEEDS, BASTILLE, SLOW CLUB & MORE

NEU

ANG LOW, TOVE LO

FEATURES

FALL OUT BOY “This is the four musketeers” MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA “We really worked our asses off.”

REVIEWS

MAC DEMARCO, CLOUD NOTHINGS, KAISER CHIEFS, BAND OF SKULLS, ANGEL OLSEN, EDITORS & MORE

‘Save Rock And Roll’. That was a hell of a big statement for a band like Fall Out Boy to come back with; even more so when, it turns out, they were actually doing something all together different. See, looking at it now, that’s not a rock record at all. Sure, it has the guitars, but its scope is so much bigger. In 2014 Fall Out Boy actually reinvented everything and pop. It worked too. Last week they returned triumphantly to Wembley Arena ahead of a summer where they’ll join up with the other titans of pop punk Paramore for one of the biggest co-headline tours in years. Leave rock and roll to someone else, Fall Out Boy saved themselves. Stephen Ackroyd, Editor

DIY is published by Sonic Media Group. All material copyright (c). All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of DIY. While every effort is made to ensure the information in this magazine is correct, changes can occur which affect the accuracy of copy, for which Sonic Media Group holds no responsibility. The opinions of the contributors do not necessarily bear a relation to those of DIY or its staff and we disclaim liability for those impressions.

WHAT’S ON THE DIY STEREO THIS WEEK?

THE ORWELLS ‘Disgraceland’ (Album) These scruffy Chicago kids were born for a life of booze-soaked rock ‘n roll. If anyone ever doubted them, here’s their extreme, precocious response. CHROMEO ‘White Women’ (Album) Chromeo’s disco, funk and soft-rock are now firmly in vogue thanks to ‘Get Lucky’ - the pair haven’t shifted their formula one jot, and this might be the album of the summer.

NEWS EDITED BY SARAH JAMIESON

DISGRACELAND

THE ORWELLS RELEASE THEIR DEBUT ALBUM THIS JUNE.

PIXIES ANNOUNCE FIRST ALBUM IN TWENTY THREE YEARS

ack in June last year, Pixies released their first new material in almost ten years. Now, they’ve an album on the cards, comprised of comeback song ‘Bagboy’, the eight tracks from ‘EP-1’ and ‘EP-2’, out in September and January, plus three from the just-released ‘EP-3’. Recorded in October 2012, with Gil Norton at Wales’ Rockfield Studios, the band have confirmed they will follow up 1991’s ‘Trompe Le Monde’ with new full-length ‘Indie Cindy’. Set for release on 28th April, the album will be available through the band’s own label Pixiesmusic.

To celebrate the release of their first album in over twenty years, the band will also make a series of live appearances in the UK this summer, including their headline slot at this year’s Field Day, which takes place on 8th July. PHOTOS: CAROLINA FAROULO

hicago kids getting their kicks The Orwells have announced details of their debut album, ‘Disgraceland’. The Mario Cuomo-fronted five-piece are releasing their first work through Canvasback & Atlantic on 2nd June (UK - US, 3rd June). Dave Sitek, Chris Coady and Jim Abbiss are on production duties, with the LP featuring fan favourites ‘Dirty Sheets’, ‘Who Needs You’ and ‘The Righteous One’. The band return to the UK in June for a short tour, kicking off in Liverpool before calling at Edinburgh, Nottingham, London and Manchester. DIY

TRACKLISTING What Goes Boom Greens and Blues Indie Cindy Bagboy Magdalena 318 Silver Snail Blue Eyed Hexe Ring the Bell Another Toe in the Ocean Andro Queen Snakes Jaime Bravo

WORDS: GARETH WARE

DIY Teams Up With Live At Leeds Festival 2014

IY is delighted to bring you the news of an official partnership with Live At Leeds, taking place from 2nd - 5th May. As an incredible bunch of acts invade the city this spring, we’ll be hosting a stage at the Brudenell Social Club, featuring Pulled Apart By Horses, The Amazing Snakeheads, Woman’s Hour, Solids and more. Other acts confirmed so far include The Hold Steady, Wolf Alice, Drenge, Chlöe Howl, F**k Buttons, Yuck, George Ezra, and Blood Red Shoes. Tickets are priced from £25 and are on sale now. DIY

aim awards return for 2014

he Association of Independent Music (AIM) has announced the initial details of its 2014 Awards, taking place on 2nd September. Last year, gongs were handed out to the likes of The xx, Vampire Weekend and Frankie and the Heartstrings. For 2014, DIY’s once again hosting voting for the Golden Welly Award for Best Festival. Last year’s winner was LeeFest. XFM’s John Kennedy and BBC Radio 1’s Alice Levine will be presenting the ceremony on the night. Tickets for the awards are on sale at musicindie.com/awards. Voting details will be announced shortly. DIY

GRUFF IN THE WILD OF ALL THE IMAGES TO EMERGE FROM SXSW THIS YEAR – AND THERE WERE THE ODD ONE OR TWO – ONE OF THE MORE SURREAL SIGHTS WAS THAT OF GRUFF RHYS BEING FLANKED BY A THREE-FOOT TALL FELT PUPPET (OR ‘AVATAR’, TO USE RHYS’ VERNACULAR)… The dynamic duo were using the Texas festival as a launchpad for the forthcoming ‘American Interior’ project (featuring album, book, film and app) telling the story of a Snowdonia farmhand – and Gruff’s distant ancestor – John Evans, who embarked stateside on a seven-year voyage in order to locate a reported tribe of Welsh-speaking native Americans. “I decided to do a tour of America following the journey taken by John Evans between 1792 and 1799 – though it only took me about three weeks,” explains Gruff, with a nonchalance that suggests such a decision is a veritable picture of normality. “We started writing songs for the record to go with that tour, so we had some ready to go and then I wrote some

others while I was actually on tour, then also recorded most of them while I was there as well. I stopped over in Omaha in Nebraska and laid them down there.” But with the tour spawning the film, which in turn grew to incorporate the making of an album, how did the project develop to a stage where it incorporated a book and an app as well? “I never really had an ambition to write a book, but the tale seemed to be in need of one and the idea just grew into a 300-page book,” opines Gruff almost self-deprecatingly, before continuing; “the app ties everything together and it features some unique bits of film in it. “It’s also geographical, and using the song ‘100 Unread Messages’ from the album it follows John Evans’ route. With the film we had to keep it quite tight to the narrative of his life, whereas with the app Dylan Goch has done a series of mini documentaries – some are quite political, others are about American life. So, the app is different again but, at the same time, it also ties everything together.”

NEWS IN BRIEF THE END IS NIGH End of the Road has announced some new additions for their 29th 31st August event, with The Gene Clark No Other Band - a new group consisting of members of Beach House, Fleet Foxes‘ Robin Pecknold, Grizzly Bear and Fairport Convention – St. Vincent, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, Black Lips and Mazes all now set to appear. SLIGHTLY MIFFED RABBIT Frightened Rabbit have announced that they have parted ways with their guitarist / keyboardist, Gordon Skene. In a statement, the Scottish band say that the decision was mutual, with creative differences cited as the reasoning. As well as being another of Gruff’s biographical records, it’s definitely one which touches close to home. “It was a story that’s been in the family for a very long time, and he was a pretty serious guy, so I hope I’m not destroying his legacy by depicting him as a three-foot high felt avatar. His adventure was very real so I do feel a sense of responsibility! It’s almost an incredible story in a way, because it’s so unusual. I like the idea that there will be some people that might think the whole thing’s made up.” Yet, despite both an imminent series of shows in Soho Theatre in May (“I’ll tell the story in between songs, along with my Powerpoint presentation machine”) and the scale the project has grown to, Gruff doesn’t feel it’s a huge departure. “Apart from the unifying theme I didn’t really approach the record any differently than I would a normal album. I quite like the idea that it’s a world that you can dive into and lose yourself in for a summer.” Gruff Rhys’ new album ‘American Interior’ will be released on 5th May via Turnstile. DIY

LAST CHANCE DUNKIN’ Kids In Glass Houses have been confirmed to perform at this year’s Slam Dunk Festivals. The band, who announced their split earlier this year, will be performing their debut album ‘Smart Casual’ in full. Elsewhere, Gnarwolves, Save Your Breath, Mallory Knox and We The Kings have been added to the Leeds, Hatfield and Wolverhampton events. THE FUTURE IS OURS Future Islands have planned four UK headline dates, set to take place in June. The band will be crossing the pond for this year’s Field Day and will be making four stops ahead of it: Leeds’ Brudenell Social Club (03), Glasgow’s SWG3 (04), Liverpool’s Kazimier (06) and Brighton’s Concorde 2 (07).

BARE BONES: mac demarco EVERYONE’S FAVOURITE ODDBALL, MAC DEMARCO GIVES AN INSIGHT INTO HIS NEW ALBUM, ‘SALAD DAYS’. Has the new record always been in the back of your head? I did have to take a little time off. We toured so much, I was trying to write songs in all these weird pockets and it wasn’t really working. Eventually I was like, ‘You’ve gotta block off so many months, otherwise it’s never gonna work’. A couple of the songs are ideas and melodies that were formed before. Calling your album ‘Salad Days’ and releasing it on 1st April, some people thought it was gonna be a joke... Yeah, I mean we still may do some kind of joke for April Fool’s. It is called ‘Salad Days’, it does tap into that. I think it’s funnier that people think it’s a prank in the first place. I already did that one prank when I said the album was called ‘Eddie’s Dream’ and then all these blogs were like ‘Mac DeMarco’s new album coming out in five years’. I was like, ‘Oh my god they actually believe this s**t’. I could go, ‘Next album’s called ‘I pooped my pants’’ and people would believe it. On this new album, it almost feels like you’re showing your sweeter side. The whole past year of s**t has been pretty crazy. ‘Let My Baby Stay’ is actually about my girlfriend living in the States. For a long time she was here as an illegal alien so I was like, ‘You can stay with me, but I hope you don’t get kicked out of the States’. The album is weird. I’m keeping the pop song mentality but there’s a couple of things that are really dark. Listening back to the songs, I’m almost terrified by the prospect of showing this to everybody. Mac DeMarco’s new album ‘Salad Days’ is out now via Captured Tracks. DIY

A PERFECT FIX

s a new month rolls in, DIY will be celebrating down at The Social for another of our shows with FRUKT. Although this month’s gigs falls on one of the more infamous dates of the year (1st April), have no fear: no one at The Fix this month will be branded a fool. Headlining will be Southern – a brothersister duo from Liverpool – to ring in April, blowing away the cobwebs of winter with some jagged blues. Fresh from announcing the release of their new EP, Lucy Southern gives a few clues about what to expect from their forthcoming ‘Where The Wild Are’. “We wanted to experiment more with developing our sound and showing our versatility with genres,” she explains. “Our track ‘Where The Wild Are’ itself incorporates mixed elements of pop and blues, however, with ‘Four Days’ we wanted to stick to a stripped back rootsy, bluegrass feel. With ‘Oh Won’t You Go’ we tried to show the softer side to Southern.” The duo have recently been introducing their sound to audiences across the UK. “First we played some shows in the north of England and then we drove down south to Cornwall. They went really well. Playing on the beach in Cornwall was amazing. Our tour bus got stuck in the sand and we had to be towed out by a tractor. “We’ve also been playing a few new songs off the next EP. It’s great playing new material, it’s more of a challenge, so when the songs go well you feel like all the hard work in the rehearsal studio is paying off.” So, what can be expected from their set at The Fix? “Some raucous rock’n’roll.” Southern play The Fix alongside Roman and Iraina Mancini on 1st April at The Social, London. DIY

deep in the desert

TIMBER TIMBRE SPENT TIME IN LA’S LEGENDARY LAUREL CANYON DURING THE CREATION OF THEIR NEW ALBUM. WORDS: JOHAN ALM.

imber Timbre’s music often mimics film: Taylor Kirk isn’t the kind to stick to just one of the senses. Sure, this wouldn’t appear at Sundance in its current form, but it’s a crime that he isn’t being signed up to score films, like Nick Cave, or soundtracking hit shows like True Detective. The process - which has stayed resolute right up to ‘Hot Dreams’, the band’s fifth LP - involves a process of mining “the commonalities between a lot of ideas and images.” He cites literature alongside music as a primary influence. Instead of writing with specific images in mind, “it’s more like I’m collecting things,” he says. “I think it certainly influenced the record,” begins Taylor, referencing the time they spent in Laurel Canyon, and how the scene - of Neil Young, The Byrds and Joni Mitchell - filtered into “the kinds of words

and images that I wanted to sing about. Not that I was listening to a lot of the music, more that I was thinking about the lore of that place – and that music has been very important to me before, in different times of my life. Not so much now, but I actually became kind of obsessed with The Doors, my friends used to make fun of me, but I got on a huge The Doors kick. That was just an isolated thing. I do think there was something that happened, being there. There’s some kind of power in that place. “Laurel Canyon definitely influenced the writing and the whole history of LA, the whole Hollywood thing,” again, hinting at the cinematic influences he bears. “The Golden Age of Hollywood, or the second Golden Age, I guess, with Polanski, Woody Allen and all that. There were a lot of films that I was very interested in when we were arranging the record, although the songs

had for the most part been written pre-Laurel Canyon, and then it was just assembling them. Los Angeles is very exotic to me, and to Canadians in general, I believe.” It wasn’t just the atmosphere of their surroundings that aided inspiration; Kirk cites a few more tangible sources. “There were a few big things; Nick Cave’s record had just come out – the new one, ‘Push the Sky Away’ – it seemed very exciting to me and I saw the live show a couple of times as well and I thought it was really beautiful. I was generally quite new to the Bad Seeds so that might’ve made it more exciting as well. There was Sunn O))) as well, they’re an experimental metal drone group and they’ve done some very interesting things over the last year.” Timber Timbre’s new album ‘Hot Dreams’ is out now via Full Time Hobby. Read the full interview online at thisisfakediy.co.uk. DIY

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

LISTEN

UP!

WE HEARD IT ON THE GR APE VINE Outkast’s ANDRÉ 3000 is busy again: this time, it seems he’s teamed up with soul legend ARETHA FRANKLIN. “I think André 2000 - is it two or three? - 3000 is going to be doing some of the tracks,” Franklin said of new material she has in the works, at her 72nd birthday party in New York. ARCADE FIRE ran into some bad luck last week, when one of their papier maché heads was stolen. Richard Parry’s oversized bobblehead mask – which the band all wear during the performance – went missing after their live appearance in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The band have also asked that anyone with information on the theft get in touch, via info@quest-management.com. In further surreal news, it seems that KANYE WEST hasn’t just announced a European tour this week: he’s also purchased ten European Burger King branches as a wedding present for Kim Kardashian. To think, some couples just get each other crockery... Following on from its airing on TV last year, the ‘Biophilia’-inspired documentary ‘When BJORK Met Attenborough’ will be given an official release on DVD and Blu-Ray. One Little Indian will be releasing the film – as narrated by Tilda Swinton – on 5th May.

ALL SYSTEMS GO BASTILLE ARE ALREADY THINKING ABOUT THEIR SECOND ALBUM.

astille are one of the busiest bands around right now. Fresh from performing (and winning Best British Breakthrough Act) at last month’s BRIT Awards, it took Dan Smith et al only two or three days before they had crammed themselves back into their tour bus to embark upon another UK tour. Drawing to a close at the cavernous Alexandra Palace (“This could be our only experience of playing a room that big!”), it’d be easy to assume that this is where the band put their feet up, put up some shelves to house their new BRIT, and maybe even begin work on the follow-up to last year’s ‘Bad Blood’. For Bastille? No chance.

“After Ally Pally we’ve got Europe,” begins Dan, as he lists their schedule for the next few months, “two months in America and Australia, then it’s festivals. Then we’ve got some time in at the end of the summer to properly record the album.” Never ones to waste time though, they’ve already got a plan to make quick work of writing their second full-length, which could be landing sooner, rather than later. “So between now and then, Mark [Crew], our mate that I wrote the album with, is coming out on the road with us so we can hopefully get most of it done over the next few months on tour.” As a man who prides

himself on enjoying the process of writing songs, it’s no wonder that Dan is seeing this as a bit of a challenge, but it’s one he’s looking forward to undertaking. “I think we’ve got a few things in the pipeline, as well as the album, so it’s quite fun juggling being creative and writing new songs, and working with people, while being on the road as well. We’re just trying to find a happy medium. I still absolutely love being in the studio and making songs, so it’s about trying to make that sit alongside being off on tour the whole time. It’s a nice challenge to have. I’m complaining at all!” Bastille’s debut album ‘Bad Blood’ is out now via Virgin EMI. DIY

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

NEWS IN BRIEF

BACK IN BLACK Fresh from announcing a headline slot at this year’s Latitude, The Black Keys have unveiled plans for a new album. Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney follow up 2011’s ‘El Camino’ with ‘Turn Blue’, released on 12th May. There’s also a new single, ‘Fever’, which you can listen to on thisisfakediy.co.uk.

TRACK OF THE WEEK

SLOW CLUB COMPLETE SURRENDER The title track from the Sheffield duo’s third album, ‘Complete Surrender’ has them channelling all kinds of 60s pop vibes, from the Bond-esque strings to the girl groupinspired backing vocals via Rebecca’s instantly recognisable – and yet even more velvety than usual - vocal. One hell of a teaser for the pair’s forthcoming third album, Slow Club have never before sounded this massive. Album ‘Complete Surrender’ is released on 14th July via Caroline International. THE ORWELLS LET IT BURN With album ‘Disgraceland’ due this June, The Orwells will be one of this summer’s festival must-see acts. More of the raucous garage punk the Chicagoan tribe are wellversed in, ‘Let It Burn’ is a prime singalong number. Album ‘Disgraceland’ is released on 2nd June via Canvasback/Atlantic. THE BLACK KEYS FEVER The Black Keys are looking to take over the dance floor, if ‘Fever’, the first teaser of new album, ‘Turn Blue’ is any indicator. Bombastic, pulsating and as swirly as the accompanying artwork, it’s evident co-producer Danger Mouse has had his disco-fuelled way. Album ‘Turn Blue’ is released on 12th May via Nonesuch.

DAMON ALBARN HEAVY SEAS OF LOVE Nicking more than a smidgen from ‘Daydream Believer’, the latest track from the Blur frontman’s solo debut, ‘Heavy Seas Of Love’ is the kind of gem that could only come from one mind, mixing his unmistakeable vocals with all manner of sounds. Album ‘Everyday Robots’ is released on 28th April via Parlophone.

Album ‘Hour of the Dawn’ is released on 12th May via Hardly Art.

LA SERA LOSING TO THE DARK La Sera’s Katy Goodman has suggested new album, ‘Hour of the Dawn’ represents a step up in pace for the one-time Vivian Girls vocalist, and if ‘Losing to the Dark’ is joined by a handful of tracks in a similar vein, it’ll be one hop, skip and jump of a record.

SWANS A LITTLE GOD IN MY HANDS Seven minutes long, disorientatingly funky, all kinds of curious noises clattering, clanging and swooshing their way around like a dystopian Studio 54 – it could only be Swans. Right? Album ‘To Be Kind’ is released on 12th May via Mute.

HAUNTED HEARTS JOHNNY JUPITER Given that it’s the musical partnership of Dum Dum Girls’ Dee Dee and Crocodiles’ Brandon Welchez, that ‘Johnny Jupiter’ is smack-bangfull of fuzz, feedback and 1950s eerie cool should be of suprise to precisely nobody.

THAT’S CHEATING Cheatahs are already looking ahead to summer with plans to play a one-off London show firmly in their schedule. The band, whose self-titled offering was released through Wichita earlier this year, will be taking on The 100 Club on 21st May. CREATING CARNAGE Drenge have announced dates for a June/July headline tour. They’ll be stopping at: Hull’s The Welly (03 June), Oxford’s O2 Academy 2 (04), Cardiff’s The Globe (05), Coventry’s Kasbah (07), Derry’s Nerve Centre (30), Cork’s Cyprus Avenue (02 July) and Galway’s Roisin Dubh (06). WE SURRENDER London duo Slow Club have confirmed plans to release a third album. They’ll follow up 2011’s ‘Paradise’ with their new offering ‘Complete Surrender’. Due out on 14th July, it’s headed up by a triumph of a title-track, streaming now on thisisfakediy.co.uk. YEEZUS WALKS A Kanye West ‘Yeezus’ European tour has been confirmed: he’ll be stopping at Montpellier, Frankfurt, Cologne, Brussels, Copenhagen, Bravalla Festival, Oslo, Berlin and Amsterdam this June. FILL THE VOIDZ Julian Casablancas + The Voidz have been introduced in an eightminute long video, containing new music and plenty of conversation about a debut album out this summer.

neu

EDITED BY JAMIE MILTON NEW MUSIC.

DISCOVER MORE: THISISFAKEDIY.CO.UK/NEU

NEW BANDS.

RECOMMENDED

ABHI // DIJON

Maryland production duo Abhi// Dijon (that’s not anything cryptic, it’s just their names - Abhi Raju and Dijon Duenas) cut the mustard with their last track, ‘Twelve’. R&B rooted, full of shuffling synths and Frank Ocean-style vocals, every single box was ticked, and then some. Follow-up ‘Let You Know’ sees the pair refining their craft even more. Percussion’s sharper, bass notes hitting the spot without any prompt. Steered up to the heavens, this is late-night energy bottled up into a three and a half minute track that everybody’s going to have on repeat this summer.

RECOMMENDED EP

TOVE LO

RECOMMENDED

WUNDER WUNDER

Australia via California duo Wunder Wunder have all eyes set on the months ahead with their debut single ‘Coastline’. The pair of Aaron Shanahan and Benjamin Plant link up to Cut Copy in making synthdrenched anthems, and Painted Palms in having this optimism backed by an odd, lurking sense of melancholy. Even if the vibes are sour, the sun’s always out with music like this. ‘Coastline’ isn’t the ultimate summer anthem, but it’s the sound of a band getting very close to striking gold. Check out our recommended bands and more on thisisfakediy.co.uk.

TRUTH SERUM

f Tove Nilsson ever ends up approaching the pearly gates of the charts for an old-school interview procedure, she has an impressive resume to boast.

Her background involves going to a music-centred school (not a fancy one - just one devoted to playing songs instead of meddling with algebra), before penning numbers for the likes of Icona Pop. Sure, Charli XCX has bragging rights on ‘I Love It’, but if there’s anyone capable of keeping up Scandi-pop’s winning streak, it’s Tove Lo. On ‘Truth Serum’, her debut EP, the best sides of the increasingly splintering subgenre come to life. There’s an onus on darkness; the heavy, thick stuff, like getting

high to ignore a relationship crisis, or boozing up until you lose track of time. Give these songs to a shiny Mickey Mouse Club prodigy and it wouldn’t work. Straight down the line pop this most definitely isn’t. The results are explosive. Opener ‘Not On Drugs’ is more ‘I Hate It’ than ‘I Love It’. There’s blistering emotion, violently expressed with cutting passion. ‘Out Of Mind’ again makes excess its central backing. The same applies for the outstanding ‘Habits’. Throughout, Nilsson gives the impression that she’s lost her way, that she’s been overcome by deadly sins. That’s clearly not the case - she’s an expert behind excitable, sharp-witted pop. It takes serious clarity to achieve this at such an early stage.

ANG LOW

ANGELO WHITEHEAD TRIES, AND SUCCEEDS, TO SHOWCASE THE ENERGY OF SEVERAL COUNTRIES AT ONCE IN GENRE-BENDING POP SONGS. INTERVIEW: FABIANA GIOVANETTI.

“M

usicians, hipsters and families”: that’s the crux of Brooklyn, which also happens to be the ideal setting for Angelo Whitehead to make music under the name Ang Low. He’s been writing and recording for four years, but it took a casual upload late last year of debut track ‘Life Goes Down’ to set the wheels in motion. This guy wasn’t a rookie - clearly. Possessing a flooring voice, smooth as can be, bloggers fawned but it was instantly obvious Ang Low had his heart set firmly on the charts. Out of Brooklyn he arrives, then, with an EP handed the same title as Whitehead’s stirring debut track. Anything but a blink-and-you-missedit fad, the EP shows his songwriting chops expanding into darker territory with ‘Voodoo Woman’ and all-out romance with ‘Win Back Your Love’. It’s “always been my goal” to dodge genres and

conventions, he says. The “scene is always jumping” in Brooklyn too - hence the ideal location. If standout track ‘Voodoo Woman’ hones in at a more sinister side - lusted-up lyrics might tell a different story - when writing the track Angelo was more swayed by African influences. “I worked up the drums pretty quickly and every time I played it back in my studio I was taken to Africa,” he explains. “It reflected tribal and such so I decided to take it further into that space and lyrically write from that perspective.” When it comes to the romantic side, he’s keen to insist that his songs “don’t relate to anyone in particular.” Sorry, anyone listening in hoping to be the subject of Angelo’s affections. An Ang Low song is all about “pushing an abstract view”, he says, but placing it within the confines of something that’s fun

and relatable - a “pop song essentially.” His life began with a scattered albeit exciting upbringing. Angelo’s father had a position in the army, which took the family from Tacoma to Washington to Germany, with visits in Mexico and the now beloved New York scattered in between. Now Ang Low is well and truly settled - years jet-setting and penning pop triumphs have finally reached a point of no return. Trust the guy’s first step to be followed by something colossal. DIY NEED TO KNOW + The ‘Life Goes Down’ EP is out now on Luv Luv Luv Records. + When growing up, Angelo was only allowed to hear Christian or Christmas music. + His biggest influences are Miguel, Wilsen and the Mariah Carey Christmas album.

UNLEASH THE GODDESS Currently midway through her headline UK tour, LA songwriter BANKS is using the opportunity to preview new material. Bouncing on the back of her ‘Brain’ single, she played a track at Bristol Trinity called ‘Goddess’, beginning with a speech about how “it’s so important for women to embrace themselves and feel like goddesses.” Watch footage on thisisfakediy.co.uk. Her UK tour concludes on 31st March and 1st April at London Koko. DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER Hannah Diamond’s initial tracks have provoked a more divided reaction than anything else in recent memory. Some love her, some loathe her - either way, her first live show’s been hotly-anticipated for what seems like a lifetime. The first gig takes place this week, 4th April, at London Basement. Diamond supports the equally curious producer Sophie for a showcase alongside A.G.Cook. Entry is RSVP only at party@msmsms. com. BEATING HAERTS Brooklyn’s HAERTS are steadily working their way towards an album. Debut ‘Wings’ came out back in 2012, eventually backed up by the ‘Hemiplegia’ EP last October. ‘Call My Name’ is a song that’s waiting for an 80s high school movie to soundtrack, Nini Fabi’s vocals soaring above lines about finding solace in being alone. Listen on thisisfakediy.co.uk. A debut album is due out later this year via Columbia.

RETURN OF THE TITANS

WHEN FOUR MEN GET A SECOND SHOT AT SAVING ROCK AND ROLL… WORDS: SARAH JAMIESON, PHOTOS: SARAH LOUISE BENNETT.

he first time the curtain dropped on Fall Out Boy at London’s Wembley Arena, they were approaching the end of a long promo stint in support of album, ‘Folie à Deux’. The band’s arena shows in late 2008 and early 2009 marked both the height of their popularity in the UK - at least, so it seemed from the outside - and the beginning of the end. During some of their biggest live appearances on our side of the Atlantic, the four piece may have been putting on a massive show every night, but they couldn’t have been further from the top of the world. “I mean, honestly,” begins Pete Wentz, bassist and, arguably, the face of the band, “so much of it was a blur. Some of the rooms, I totally remember - like Wembley - but there are some where... Honestly, it had gotten to the point where we were burned.” Looking back with the gift of hindsight, the shows they played over those six months fell upon tumultuous times for the band. In the throes of their fourth album and its missteps, the band – also made up by vocalist Patrick Stump, guitarist Joe Trohman and drummer Andy Hurley - were being forced onto bigger stages to showcase bigger cracks in their defences. The audiences were there and, for all it was worth, they really cared, but

the band seemed to have gotten their heads a little lost in the haze. “You don’t appreciate the idea that there are thousands of people that are coming,” Pete continues, thinking back. “I mean, you appreciate it but I think there’s a difference in taking it in. Our heads - my head, in particular - were not in that game enough. We had just done too much at that point. I think there’s a thing where, if something special happens to you every single day, it has to be on the level of being Number One or playing the President’s Inaugural Ball, it has to be like that to find the special moment. After that, it stops being special.” By the time the band’s following US tour – the ever so slightly ironically titled Believers Never Die Part Deux tour – the group had ground to a halt. Halfway through 2009, the foursome were ready to pack it in and concentrate on other aspects of their lives for once. Fall Out Boy was to be put on the back burner, until four years had passed. “That’s one of the great things about getting a second chance to do this again; having that appreciation,” offers Pete, on life after ‘the break’. “Every day, we’ve made a big deal about getting out and seeing wherever we are, and I think that’s important: not taking any of this stuff for granted. Not just with our band, but in our lives in general. We have a real appreciation for how we’re doing it this time. We’ve

the reformation, but it seems to be a genuine sentiment. When they announced their return back in February 2013, the shows were little more than 500 capacity rooms to test the water. Even after their first show back in the UK at Camden’s Underworld, the band kept things fairly small, with shows at Glasgow’s O2 Academy, and Islington’s O2 Academy being their only headline ventures last year. In fact, it was only at Reading & Leeds Festival that they really showcased their new material to a larger crowd, which was where their newest full-length really came into its own.

MONUMENTOUR THIS SUMMER, FALL OUT BOY AND PARAMORE ARE TEAMING UP FOR THE ULTIMATE TOUR OF NORTH AMERICA. WE’RE JEALOUS, YOU’RE JEALOUS. PETE WENTZ IS UNDERSTANDABLY EXCITED... “It just felt like, for rock bands, there should be big iconic events that people can be like, ‘I was there’. That’s what it seemed like. It’s one of the reason we got together with Paramore to play together this summer. That was the idea. “The interesting thing is that we have so much in common, but we have really separate legacies. We’ve never even really toured together: we’ve played maybe a few radio shows with them, but we’ve never really played shows together. It’s like two separate legacies coming together and doing it for a summer. I’m stoked on it.”

really thought it through. I think last time, we were the first band of our management company that got to this size over here, so we didn’t even really know how to do arenas here. We probably didn’t make the smartest decisions, but we just didn’t know. No one gives you a handbook on these kind of things, it just happens. This time, we’re better grounded to do it. “I feel like having that time off and putting out a piece of music that we were really not sure how people were gonna react to was important to the process and important to us as people in general. Not only do you need to not let special things become kind of mundane, but you also have to make things special. A day can be special just because of who you’re spending your time with, or how you’re spending your time.” He laughs. “It doesn’t need to be a moment that they can put into your Wikipedia page.” It may be easy to assume that Pete and his bandmates are being insincere when they claim to have had few expectations when it came to the reaction on

“I think that was one of the ideas of the whole album. The whole idea of ‘Save Rock And Roll’ and being a rock band, and projecting the idea of rock music. These are kids who are maybe growing up with different types of music, and have different ideas of what rock music can be, so to be able to get out there and play music that’s loud and see mosh pits is awesome. When you picture an idea that’s so big and dangerous as ‘Save Rock And Roll’, you wanna put it in the biggest form that you can. Picturing it at festivals and the way it would sound and the way it would translate was super important to us. Just in the way that rock and roll is thought of on those levels; that it doesn’t have to be a relic of the past.” That’s another reason that their recent return to our shores this time feels so triumphant. Gone is the lethargy of their last stint in these venues; the band are urgent and aggressive. Emerging onstage clad in balaclavas, the songs of ‘Save Rock And Roll’ have their sheen scuffed up. While the tracks are just as anthemic as on record, they’ve grown to become more diamond-in-the-rough affairs, shining bright but cutting deep. “It’s been insane,” concurs Pete. “I dunno… I feel like it’s been a while since we were in Wales, but that show was kinda pretty mental. We didn’t really know what to expect after playing only festivals and smaller shows here. It’s been cool because one of the things that we really wanted to do with this was be able to take the tour that we did in the US and take it around the world, as much as possible, in as big a kind of capacity. It just seems like, whenever you watch stuff on the internet, you’re

like, ‘Oh man, I wish I could see the band doing it that way’. We’re trying to bring as much of that stuff, and recreate it. We even shipped the set out here. For us, it’s been a big undertaking, but the pay off has been awesome. It’s great to see all the kids having a great time.” Their audiences aren’t the only ones having fun. One of the most integral parts of their return is the band’s own solidarity. They know all too well the strain of being on the road, so this time around there’s a level of respect and support for one another, and a certain camaraderie that’s been feeding into both the band’s performance, and their live backstage. “I think it’s important to know when enough is enough, Pete begins. “It’s a strange balancing act because our band needs to perform, in order to progress what we’re doing, but at the same time, we all have different home lives now and stuff that we need to get to. “For me, it’s been made easier by stuff like FaceTime and things like that. Also, [it’s about] understanding that everybody has that something back home. When we go home in April, we have the whole month off. For me, when I go home, I’m just gonna be a dad. I’ll go to pre-school and stuff. But, making sure we have that balance is really important and everybody’s been pretty aware of it with each other. I understand that this is the four musketeers,” he adds, trailing off. “Or the three musketeers and d’Artagnan!” He laughs. “That it’s the four of us and we’re in this together, and [we’re] making sure that everyone’s doing alright. Everyone’s been more aware of that.”

“THIS IS THE FOUR MUSKETEERS” PETE WENTZ

It’s not just that: when the band regrouped, Patrick was adamant that they needed to stay creatively stimulated, even if it only meant practicing. Is that something they’re sticking to? “We’ve been playing new songs every day in soundcheck,” confirms Pete. “Not ‘new’ ones,” he laughs, stopping the rumour mill in its tracks, “but ones we don’t usually play; we’ve been practicing those. Then, beyond that, creatively I think we’ve got new stuff that will surprise people who were surprised by ‘Pax Am Days’. I don’t know that it’s necessarily all in music form, but sometimes it’s like Fall Out Bird. Just keeping your mind stimulated!” The question on everyone’s lips, especially as summer approaches and 2014 threatens to disappear altogether, is what could come next for the band beyond their upcoming tour with Paramore. With their return so successful, they’ve been catapulted back into the public eye, but now their lives are different. The last thing they’d want to do is let all of this slip away, but push too hard, and who knows how long their second wind might last. “To me, and this is just maybe because I’m a ‘whatever’ guy, but I feel like we’re halfway there. I feel like we’re halfway through the process. It feels really good and a lot stronger than I would’ve expected. I feel like we’ve still gotta see [music video series] Young Blood Chronicles all the way through, and there’s things we still need to finish, whether they be called loose ends or not. We have a documentary that we’ve been editing for a really long time. We have just a lot of stuff that we need to do something with, in order to finish out the process that is the ‘Save Rock And Roll’ album cycle. So, at this point, at least we’re halfway there and we’re very humbled by the way that it has gone. “I feel like we have a plan through the end of Monumentour. I don’t know beyond that if we have one. I know we all have our own ideas, but we haven’t really talked as a band about what we’re doing and when we’re doing it next. The plan is just to keep moving, like sharks! I would be surprised if we didn’t do something within the next year…” Fall Out Boy’s new album ‘Save Rock and Roll’ is out now via Island Records. Monumentour will kick off this June. DIY

COPING OUT LOUD WHAT DO YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU HEAR THE WORD ‘COPE’? ASK MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA. WORDS: SARAH JAMIESON.

“S

ome people would say drugs,” begins Andy Hull, the frontman of Manchester Orchestra, who have brandished that very same word across their forthcoming album. “Some say trying to be happy, some are trying not to be sad. It’s all different things, and that was so cool to me, that word is so interesting to me. “I wanted to call the record ‘The Way That We Cope’,” he further explains, ahead of their fourth record’s release, “from the last track on the record, but that just never sat right. Then I had this idea to have a t-shirt that just said ‘Cope’ on it, in black, bold letters on white. Once we saw what that looked like we saw the power of this sort of propaganda. Then, we asked people what the word means and every single person gave a different answer.” Manchester Orchestra are no strangers to bold sentiments. With their debut album ‘Like A Virgin Losing A Child’, the young Atlanta group delved into issues of mortality and religion; with ‘Mean Everything To Nothing’, their lyricist attempted to deal with the troubles of responsibility, and becoming a man. Their last offering ‘Simple Math’ was, in his own words, “cut the chest open and see what’s inside.” With their newest full-length, they make things a little more universal, but just as bold as ever. “The lyrics are based on much bigger, larger thoughts; bigger life things and relationships. With ‘Simple Math’, there was way more detail, but this is far more broad strokes. With these lyrics, I wanted them to mean a bunch of different things to a bunch of different people.” Just like the title emblazoned on the album’s sleeve. That wasn’t the only challenge that the band set themselves. Following on from their last effort, a meandering journey through intricate soundscapes which showcased their skills above and beyond their rock’n’roll gusto, this time they were going to go big; they were going to go loud. “We’ve always really prided ourselves on making the exact record that we want to make without compromises,” Andy explains. “’Simple Math’ was a record that was exactly

how we wanted it to sound. We were really specific with trying to broaden the palette of instruments and movements that we hadn’t really done before, and it felt really fulfilling. I think it was a kinda confusing record for some folks at beginning - it’s certainly a growing album and we knew that. So, when it came time for this new record, we felt that the thing we really hadn’t done was create something that was incredibly aggressive and straight forward, but that was still complicated. This record is almost the anti’Simple Math’. “Our second record ‘Mean Everything To Nothing’ was certainly an aggressive record, but it still sounded very crisp. The drums were loud but the guitars were really never where they are when we play them live. It really had a lot to do with our live show, and the fact that we would listen to our old records and say, ‘Oh, this is what people think that we sound like’, but actually, if you’ve seen us live, we’re far more aggressive, and sort of brutal. People aren’t used to hearing records with guitars turned that loud, and for us, we wanted to push the boundaries and make something that doesn’t sound like anything else.”

“WE REALLY WORKED OUR ASSES OFF.” ANDY HULL

Returning to their home of Atlanta, Georgia back in 2012, the band bought themselves a house, gutted it and set about making it into their official headquarters. Taking the reigns on producing the album themselves also allowed for their vision of volume to lie more within their own hands. “The way we did it was that we recorded four different guitar parts for each part and then blended them all so at any given time, there’s like ten guitars playing on this record!” he laughs. “We tried to use the guitars as much as percussion and as much as the beat as the drums were. We wanted it to be this really moving, syncopated wall of sound.

“When some bands decide that they’re going to go and make a record by themselves, it can kinda get weird and spacey. For us, it was like, ‘Let’s get to the first verse immediately, let’s get to that chorus immediately, let’s make sure that intro, that verse, that chorus are the best that we’ve ever had.’ We really worked our asses off.” Despite having never fully ventured into territory so loud – so “nasty” - before, Hull was clear upon one thing: he wanted the lyrics to remain just as important as the sonics. That was something he was going to do through the art of subtlety. “For me, one of the wonderful juxtapositions of the album - while recording the vocals and writing the lyrics - is that it would’ve been easy to scream all over these songs. I screamed a lot in ‘Mean Everything To Nothing’ but I really wanted the vocals to have this wonderful volume and performance to them, that sounded like really great singing. We doubled every single vocal on the record to try and give it that crazy feeling.” And that’s where it comes full circle for ‘Cope’. Named after a word so intricate yet so direct, it’s an album that’s loud on the surface but bears many different elements. Something that provokes so many different reactions and interpretations, but is as simple and instinctual as coping itself. “We have the luxury as a band to actually enjoy our first three records, so there’s pressure to continue a legacy with a fourth album. I think that there’s some part of us as human beings that, when you’re challenged, or when things don’t seem like they’re going well - especially for this band, when we’ve been kinda stuck in a place where we’re unsure about what the future’s gonna be - I feel like that’s when the best stuff happens because there’s pressure. For us, it was like, we could try and make another ‘Simple Math’, but really, what we should do is make what we want to make, and what gets us excited.” Manchester Orchestra’s new album ‘Cope’ is out now via Lomo Vista / Favorite Gentlemen. DIY

REVIEWS REVIEWS EDITED BY EMMA SWANN EDITED BY EMMA SWANN

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Mac DeMarco

Salad Days (Captured Tracks)

fter a year of smiling for the camera, Mac DeMarco needs to rest his eyes. Goofing around comes naturally, but don’t go thinking that facet of his personality comes out of nowhere. ‘Salad Days’, Mac’s first record since breakout LP, 2012’s ‘2’, sticks to a traditional routine of ‘musician gets famous, musician isn’t sure if they like it’, but there’s more to it than that. If ‘2’ saw in the party, ‘Salad Days’ is the first thing in the morning aftermath, where the line between uproariously drunk and life-threateningly hungover is foggy. Terrible jokes still prompt fits of laughter, but the floating/drowning sensation tells a different story. The record’s opening, title track might as well be a direct response from Mac to being told he has another tour to take off on. He sings of “rolling through life, to roll over and die,” like a guy trying to knock down a tower of beer cans. ‘Passing Out Pieces’ is explicit in saying that those ‘... Pieces’ belong specifically to the 23 year old who, post teens, hasn’t spent a moment out of the spotlight. Ok so he’s not a Kardashian, but that gap-toothed grin has a price on it, these days. Thankfully there’s hardly any wallowing, ‘poor me’ mentality on ‘Salad Days’. Mac barely backs away from the cheery, cheeky alternative rock of his last album. In fact the songs only sound sleeker, more melodic, more intensely stoned. That’s DeMarco in sum, and thankfully he’s not retreating into his shell just yet. ‘Salad Days’ also shows a wholesome soft side. Sexist jokes and crude fart noises from live shows are nowhere to be seen. ‘Treat Her Better’ doesn’t back down in making domestic violence a source of complete scorn. ‘Let Her Go’ tells a guy to grow up if he’s not taking his loved one seriously. And ‘Brother’’s chorus of “go home” is something every obnoxious lad should have tattooed on the back of their hand. Exit the oddball, cometh the sweetheart. Mac’s sick and tired of being the crazy ringleader, but not to the extent that he ends up being some boring, holierthan-thou arsehole. Jamie Milton

TRACK BY TRACK

CLOUD NOTHINGS HERE AND NOWHERE ELSE

GET A FULL TRACK BY TRACK RUNDOWN ON ‘HERE AND NOWHERE ELSE’ FROM CLOUD NOTHINGS’ DYLAN BALDI. NOW HEAR IN This song started as an acoustic guitar part about a year and a half ago. I wrote it in France on a guitar I borrowed from a friend of mine, and it kind of kickstarted the whole writing process for the record. The guitar was a piece of junk, but the weird idiosyncrasies of it made me play a little differently than I had previously, opening up doors to the way I play throughout the record. QUIETER TODAY Being in a band means often dealing with people who have supermassive egos and like to hear themselves talk. This song isn’t really inspired by one specific experience, but is about generally knowing when to shut up and let someone else do the talking. That’s a lost art in the Twitter era. PSYCHIC TRAUMA I have a tendency to over think if I spend too long ruminating, and this song addresses that. The tempo change at the beginning took forever to get right in the studio, because John Congleton (the producer) kept trying to get it to sound perfect. But it ended

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cloud nothings

Here And Nowhere Else (Wichita)

loud Nothings’‘Attack On Memory’ was one of 2012’s finest; Dylan Baldi’s angsty scuzz resonated

up sounding better when we just played it normally and sort of fell into the next part, rather than being right on time. We struggle with steady tempos! JUST SEE FEAR This song originally sounded too much like a Strokes song, and it bothered me, so I put it away for a while. But eventually I realised it was alright and we started to play it again. The build-up towards the end of the song is my favourite part of the whole record. It’s cool that my job is to scream at people. GIVING INTO SEEING Actually, the build-up at the end of this one is my favourite part of the record. I wanted it to sound like the Feelies, but of course it ended up totally different. I say “swallow” a few times on one section of this song because I couldn’t think of any other words. My girlfriend is French, so I asked her what her favourite English word is and she said “swallow.” And history was made. NO THOUGHTS This is the oldest song on the record. We’d been playing this one for about six months before we recorded it. I kind of wanted to make the breakdown in this one have audience cheering sounds, just because I really think that’s

so brilliantly with Steve Albini’s distinctive production (or lack of it) style, the thrashing guitars as controlled (or not) as they needed to be, Baldi’s angsty screams, yelps and sighs flowing in and out of focus in a way that seemed somehow beyond natural. It’s odd then, that after just a minute of follow-up ‘Here and Nowhere Else’, it has already paled in comparison. This is more pop, more punk, more chorus-filled; more... song-y. The band – for that’s more evident now than on previous recordings – shift speeds from fast to faster, and veer from brilliantly grungy to

funny. But I never voiced that, so it never happened. This record could have been great. PATTERN WALKS This one is pretty long. We like to jam, and when we organise those jams on a record they end up sounding pretty cool sometimes. I think everyone likes when bands jam, even if they don’t know it. A good band making a bunch of noise together is fun to listen to. Anyway, fun fact: the end of this song is sort of a response to ‘Wasted Days’ from the last record. Instead of saying “I thought I would be more than this,” I just say “I thought.” Which is a pretty succinct way of summing up the way I’m doing things these days. I’M NOT PART OF ME This song was written in five minutes one day before we went to the studio. I just cranked it out, Jayson played drums on it, and it was an immediate hit. This is totally the one that kids will hear and be like, ‘Sounds cool! then hear the rest of the record and be like, “This sucks!’ - I’m into that though. You’ve gotta have one super pop song. It’s about finding yourself through all of the things you’ve experienced - taking little pieces of everything you’ve done and figuring out what makes you happy and fulfilled. Diy

cacophonous noise without breaking a sweat as the adrenaline-fuelled organised chaos takes hold. Whether it’s the archetypal millennial musing “you don’t really seem to care and / I don’t even talk about it” of ‘No Thoughts’, the exhiliarating cacophony of full-throttle stand-out ‘Psychic Trauma’, or the seven-minute-plus (SEVEN MINUTES!) of ‘Pattern Walks’ playing feedback against feedback without once stepping into post-rock bore territory, ‘Here and Nowhere Else’ is relentless in the best possible way. Emma Swann

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band of skulls

Himalayan (Electric Blues)

or those who’ve been paying attention to Band Of Skulls, there’ll be nothing surprising about album number three. ‘Himalayan’ tracks a similar blues-rock template to that followed on their earlier records: plenty of crunch, plenty of grind, lots of swinging hair and the odd moment of introspection. It could be a recipe for a plod through something formulaic.

Thankfully, ‘Himalayan’ doesn’t come over like that. Although, it is not a record that requires overthinking. Indeed, overthinking could lead to problems. Overthinking could require pontification upon the title of ‘I Feel Like Ten Men, Nine Dead And One Dying’. A tumble into questions over exactly where the accentuation should fall and therefore exactly what the meaning is, a debate over the word ‘feel’ that hasn’t raged with such vigour since Shania Twain’s ‘Man, I Feel Like A Woman’. That would be a tragedy. As would missing out on ‘Cold Sweat’, which is going to be the most convincing Bond theme of the year unless Shirley Bassey perfects time travel and convinces Adele to go back and get one more score out of John Barry, or failing to experience the galloping drama of ‘Toreador’, or neglecting the opportunity to

sway your hips to the boogiewoogie strut of ‘Hoochie Coochie’. While it kicks hard, there’s a finesse and subtlety on display that helps to elevates it further. ‘Himalyan’ is loud, raucous, massive amounts of fun and it has style, swagger and teeth. And in the world of rock’n’roll bingo, that’s pretty much a full house. Tim Lee

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TimbeR Timbre

Hot Dreams (Full Time Hobby)

anadians Timber Timbre return to tell another sobering and unnerving tale, Taylor Kirk’s brooding croon serving as a glimmering torch through the moody and unsettling atmosphere, a forest of haunting memories and

forgotten terrors. Opening proceedings is the comfortingly familiar ‘Beat The Drum Slowly’, a sorrowful tale of a “celebrity century” at a marching pace that gently descends from a lullaby tone into a stuttering electronic seizure. ‘Hot Dreams’’ brightest shining jewels in its crown is the bluesy and hypnotising ‘This Low Commotion’ and later a sinister beast lurking in the background is front and centre for the effortlessly eerie ‘Run From Me’. Kirk’s irresistible vocals lend the album all the quality it needs, and their lighter touches and some inspired choices really add depth to the monochromatic and claustrophobic formula. The title track sticks out like a sexually-adventurous sore thumb, but aside from that it’s a moonlit stroll through dark and intimidating territory. Matthew Davies

eee Coves

Soft Friday (Nettwerk)

eartache and revenge. It’s amazing how often those come up as the major influences on an album. You’d think, just once, a record might be informed by a period of great stability, of the decision to get a joint account and spend weekends at B&Q looking at paint swatches for the spare room. But no. ‘Soft Friday’ covers the end of Beck Wood’s (singer and lyricist) last relationship and is an album with doomed romance writ large over it. Still, when it’s not your own, doomed romance can sound pretty great. Particularly when it’s a doomed romance that ends with the kind of soft focus noise-pop that Coves muster. A noir-y take on break up. One done, albeit with a blanker expression, by Lana Del Rey the other year. It’s an aesthetic which Coves seemed to have perfected on last year’s cover of ‘Wicked Game’ and one which is stuck to pretty firmly here. There’s bits of Mazzy Star in here, bits of the Velvet Underground and hints of the Jesus and Mary Chain - at least in the way that anyone who over the last twenty years has used fuzz as an artistic device hints at the Jesus and Mary Chain. But also, peaking out from under the cover of those influences, is an album that is atmospheric, distinctive and very enjoyable. It’s a fine debut. Make that long term relationships 0, heartache and revenge 14,367. Tim Lee

eee Jamaica

Ventura (Control Freak)

rench electro-rock duo Jamaica haven’t got the memo that the indie discos have all been lost to recession, The Wombats are “back in Liverpool” and Black Kids never taught that girl’s

boyfriend how to dance. They’re more than happy to be playing a style of music that is deader to most than VHS and they radiate a refreshing enthusiasm and security in what they do. Opener ‘2on2’ is weirdly reminiscent of early 2000s American sitcom themes, with its sunny disposition and jaunty but driving pace. The swaps between synths and guitars are made deceptively seamlessly and the smooth vocals of Antoine Hilaire make for consistently listenable popflavoured tracks. Consistent and satisfying without being in any way shocking, the pair blow the whole thing apart with ‘Turbo’. They abandon vocals, discover their inner 65daysofstatic, and send a bubbling bassline through some screeching synths, no doubt terrified. It’s possibly one of the most interesting tracks of the year so far, as ridiculous as that sounds. While all too many bands are dressing up their largely uninteresting core concepts in tenuous philosophising or ill-fitting culturally admirable references, Jamaica are pretty happy just to appreciate the honesty of all at face-value. In every aspect the duo use a charming simplicity and integrity to craft a light but consistently entertaining experience. Matthew Davies

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Lucius

Wildewoman (PIAS)

t first, a casual listen to the album’s opening title track suggests the songwriting ideas on Lucius’s ‘Wildewoman’ are that bit too classic. Clip-clopping percussion accompanied by a delicately melodious third-person narrative makes for warm nostalgia, but little else – think The Staves, with a slightly richer, earthier tone. But come two and a half minutes in, a sudden crescendo and chanting of “we’ll only be bound by the things

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Kaiser Chiefs

Education, Education, Education & War (Fiction)

band should be allowed to be just that. Not a series of pre-conceptions, backlashes against past glories or perceived pigeonholes. The truth of Kaiser Chiefs never sat true to the accepted line. Their perfectly pitched debut album may be an undoubted high, but since then it’s not been the solid decline some may suggest. That oddball pop still bubbled away. Of course, since then things have changed. The smart money would have been on Nick Hodgson’s departure being the end of Kaiser Chiefs. Smart, it seems, is overrated. There’s an edge of political backbiting throughout ‘Education, Education, Education & War’ - and while the targets aren’t exactly difficult, this isn’t lumpen pub banter

we choose”, and we’re in completely different territory, with a steely grit that doesn’t so much surprise as make you question why you hadn’t seen it coming. This balance between a sweet, butter wouldn’t melt surface and a resolutely ballsy undercurrent means that, over the course of eleven tracks, the album is never predictable. It’s ‘Go Home’ which is the stand out track here. This is a seductive waif of a slow-dance that beguiles you effortlessly with a human doll metaphor, only to erupt into an anguished, unrepentant rejection of “I don’t need you, go home”.

or sixth form rhetoric. Instead, it’s channelled into what Kaiser Chiefs do best. Or at least for what they’re best known. Lead single ‘Coming Home’ could well be pulled apart as a relatively straightforward but effective lighters-inthe-air anthem, but that would miss the vital ingredient - by its end you’re ready to sign up to whatever chest-thumping idealism Ricky Wilson wants to sell. ‘Education, Education, Education & War’ is unlikely to change that previously mentioned script, but worrying about that shouldn’t bother anyone. For those willing to listen, Kaiser Chiefs do still have something to say. Let those who are make up their own minds. Preconceptions are rubbish. Ben Marsden

It’s heart-breaking and victorious all at once, and it’s to Jesse and Holly’s great credit that their vocals are what tie these performances together so neatly. Unfortunately, their predominance is part of the album’s only real problem. Somewhere in the background there are a couple of guitarists and a drummer who are undoubtedly proficient and, when they’re allowed to shine on tracks like ‘How Loud Your Heart Gets’ and ‘Don’t Just Sit There’ absolutely nail it to the wall. The trick would be getting them to do it for a whole album. Tom Morris

LIVE EDITED BY EMMA SWANN

angel olsen W Dingwalls, London

hile Honeyblood may have been picked to support Angel Olsen this evening at Camden’s Dingwalls for their Americana-infused single ‘Bud’, the real similarity between the two acts lies in their strong, fearless presence on stage. Unassumingly and with no introduction they launch full throttle into a track with slurred, grungy vocals and follow up with a half hour of energetic garage rock often with a catchy chorus thrown in. There’s a comfortable, unspoken flow between the duo, exchanging wry smiles, they’re entirely at ease and give a great performance.

It’s natural to liken Angel Olsen to other fantastic singer-songwriters and there have been plenty of comparisons knocking around already - Joanna Newsom, Sharon Van Etten and Cat Power to name just a few. But if Bonnie ‘Prince’

Billy, who employed Olsen as a backing singer, was one of the first to recognise her raw, agonised vocal talent as something particularly special and unique he certainly won’t be the last. Opening to earlier material the full force of Olsen’s voice only just begins to creep through for ‘Free.’ She employs a steely demeanour as she sings, but in between songs is relaxed, joking with her drummer to take his shoes off if he wants to and bantering with the crowd when they shout out words of encouragement. There’s no need for theatrics with Olsen, the drama is all plain to see in her mesmerising vocal talent and grip-like stare. That she has talent beyond her years is clear as day at ‘Forgiven/ Forgotten’ as she injects an electrifying amount of power into the chorus.

If producer John Congleton made ‘Burn Your Fire For No Witness’ a palatable, softer Olsen, she shakes off any of its whimsy on stage. Live, there is a rawness to her that leaps out at you from her icy gaze and a palpable anger as she sings, “If only, if only I had nothing more to say” in ‘High and Wild.’ For all her insistence that the new album is a collaborative effort, it is Olsen’s voice that is the star of the show. This is at no detriment to her band-mates, swooping from a tender country drawl to at times a powerful cry her voice is swathed in spacey, psychedelic guitar and dusty, warm drums beats that build around it to glimmering effect. For the second part of the evening Olsen is left solo with her guitar and the crowd is treated to a deeply personal performance.

A fitting encore, the band re-join Olsen for ‘Stars’. As she wails, ‘I wish I had the voice of everything,’ there is something incredibly haunting about seeing the stage lit up in flashing red lights with winding guitars and her ferocious voice and unblinking stare as a mesmerised crowd looks on. Surely when someone is this impressive, there is no need for comparisons. Emma Cooper

PHOTO: SARAH DOONE

PHOTO: NATHAN BARNES

‘White Fire’ is a dreamy, introspective look into her head, “I laughed so loud inside myself it all began to hurt” she purrs. Though she has been cited as meaning the lyrics as having a joke with herself about where she was conceived, it’s hard to think of anything light-hearted in this incredibly intimate setting. Then again, there is that wickedly dry sense of humour to remind us that with Olsen, not all is as it seems.

Banks O2 ABC2, Glasgow

here’s something very powerful about BANKS’ performance. It could be the effortless cool that radiates from her on stage: it could be the mature, modern pop she produces. Whatever it is, it’s a very potent mixture, and one that explains the heavy weight of expectation. It’s that expectation that brings the crowd into what feels like an undersized venue, but it’s a near-perfect performance that will ensure BANKS graduates to much larger venues than the clubs she has performed in on this tour. Her eyes portray an unrelenting determination, and though flanked by the two members of her band, there’s no doubt who is in charge. Don’t mistake her sense of purpose and cool exterior for aloofness though - as she eases into the set, her intense performances become punctuated by moments of genuine gratitude towards the crowd on this first UK tour. For the entirety of her forty-five minutes on stage, it’s a performance with intent. Glimpses of tracks from BANKS’ forthcoming album hint at the sort of pop stardom her polished, genre-smashing sound befits while an impressive chorus of fans are already able to sing back every word of the material she’s released thus far. Her career may have been born of some dark times, but it’s because of those circumstances that her music feels like a liberating experience. For now, it’s crowds of 350 on a Sunday night in Glasgow, but it doesn’t feel like it’ll be long before she’s performing to audiences almost ten times that. Mikey Reynolds

Editors

Roundhouse, London ark and light, despair and elation, orchestral and electric; on the first of a two-night, sold-out stint in Camden, the Black Country doom-mongers bring their invigorating misery business to a sold-out Roundhouse, and what follows is a performance that runs high on passion – but never misses a beat. Contrary ain’t even the word. Appearing on stage as dramatic silhouettes to the bass-heavy strut of ‘Sugar’, Editors zigzag through their various incarnations over the course of 90 minutes. Present are the wiry, squealing riffs and neurotic pace of early career gold ‘Munich’, ‘Bullets’ and ‘Racing Rats’, the last one seeing Tom Smith punching out a meaty piano accompaniment, that predictably garners the biggest crowd reaction. The Eds’ synthy phase gets a look in too, heard best in the campy Casio keys of ‘Bricks and Mortar’ and industrial oddness of ‘Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool’, featuring one angry robot duck, and the stage drenched in murderous red. The nifty light show effectively adds to the atmosphere all round, whether flashing in time to drums, or completely strobing out like an early 90s rave. Light on talk but big on gusto, Smith weaves and flails across the stage like he’s doing drunk ballet to a tune only he can hear, even climbing atop the piano during the encore. The big, unashamed stadium rock-out of ‘A Ton of Love’, all 80s U2 and jangly guitar lines, has such OTT emoting from the frontman that it’s impossible not to yell out “Desire! Desire!”, and the similarly anthemic ‘Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors’ is radiant. It’s an admirably energetic show with moments that sit right on the edge of thrilling – but never quite get there. For all the impassioned performance, it still comes off as controlled, leaving you impressed rather than euphoric. Editors have got the arena-ready sounds; they just need the spontaneity to deliver them with now. Shefali Srivastava

PHOTOS: SARAH LOUISE BENNETT

GIG GUIDE

GIG OF THE WEEK

You Me At Six ALEXANDRA PALACE, LONDON SATURDAY 5TH APRIL

MONDAY 31ST MARCH Cambridge Wild Beasts, Corn Exchange Glasgow Howler, King Tut’s Leeds Tokyo Police Club, The Cockpit Leicester Manic Street Preachers, De Montfort Hall Manchester You Me At Six, O2 Apollo Newcastle Elbow, O2 Academy TUESDAY 1ST APRIL Birmingham Marmozets, The Institute Glasgow Klaxons, King Tut’s London Tokyo Police Club, Scala London Wild Beasts, Brixton Academy Manchester Manic Street

With the Surrey quintet’s latest, ‘Cavalier Youth’, hitting the top spot earlier this year – not to mention the band’s massive gig at that other north London behemoth, Wembley Arena, at the end of 2013, there’s little surprise that the pop-rockers are taking on the might of Alexandra Palace as the crowning point (groan!) of this current UK tour.

Preachers, O2 Apollo Norwich Deaf Havana, UEA WEDNESDAY 2ND APRIL Brighton Big Deal, Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar Leeds Howler, Belgrave Music Hall London Klaxons, Oslo Manchester Marmozets, Deaf Institute Plymouth You Me At Six, Pavilions THURSDAY 3RD APRIL Birmingham Big Deal, Hare & Hounds Edinburgh Manic Street Preachers, Corn Exchange London Marmozets, 100 Club London The Amazing Snakeheads, Bethnal Green

Working Men’s Club London Woman’s Hour, Purcell Room Manchester Klaxons, The Ruby Lounge Nottingham You Me At Six, Capital FM Arena Sheffield Johnny Foreigner, The Harley FRIDAY 4TH APRIL Glasgow Manic Street Preachers, Barrowland Leeds Deaf Havana, O2 Academy Liverpool Johnny Foreigner, The Shipping Forecast London Forest Swords, LSO St Luke’s London The Wytches, Bussey Building Manchester Big Deal, Band

on the Wall SATURDAY 5TH APRIL Birmingham Elbow, LG Arena Liverpool British Sea Power, East Village Arts Club London You Me At Six, Alexandra Palace Manchester Deaf Havana, Academy Workington Johnny Foreigner, Lounge 41 SUNDAY 6TH APRIL Edinburgh British Sea Power, Liquid Room Glasgow Elbow, SSE Hydro Oxford Howling Bells, Jericho Wolverhampton Manic Street Preachers, Civic Hall