‘Never Never’ is the first release from Bear Driver’s forthcoming as-yet-untitled debut album.

Taking influence from bands such as Sparklehorse, The Flaming Lips and Yo La Tengo, Bear Driver write loved-up, fuzzed-up pop.

After making their debut at this year’s SXSW and a chance encounter with Yo La tengo the band returned to the UK to record their debut album.

Self-produced by the band, the album was recorded live in three days in an old swimming pool in east London, favoured by Nick Cave and Graham Coxon, then mixed in a flat in Ealing on a home-made computer.

“We wanted to record live so we went up to the Lake District to work on all the new songs before we recorded them. When we got to the studio in London we just played through them all really fast and then listened back to see what we’d got. Most of them ended up being just one take. We found some cool old keyboards there too, a dusty old Wurlitzer piano that we used on ‘Never Never’, and a bright red Farfisa organ. We took the tracks home and spent a week mixing them, trying to keep as much of the live sound as possible, all the hiss and noise that you get from old mics and amps, and before we knew it we had our album”

www.beardriver.com

Never never is available now to download from the band’s Soundcloud page.

Bear Driver – Never Never by Bear Driver

93MillionMilesFromtheSun (93MMFTS) are two hugely likeable men from Doncaster and they have recorded an album of songs that sound very much like one Kevin Shields spent £250,000 and had 18 different engineers craft.

You want orchestral guitars? You want feedback drenched lyrics of loss and loneliness, all buried in a beautiful mess of feedback? Well good, because that’s what you’re going to get. And plenty of it. If you have ever felt the need to enter a Sonic Cathedral; come and pray with the 93MMFTS.

This, their second CD, has some real highlights of the genre and it is most definitely a genre. It’s the musical equivalent of a well thumbed Agatha Christie novel, but what better way to revel in the death of the music industry, than to gaze at your shoes and coo sweet nothings into each other’s ears. This is my own personal plan for 2012.

“The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you’re uncool.”
Lester Bangs, some point in the 1970’s

The Psychogeography of “Northern Sky”

What could be more uncool than coming from Doncaster?

A rather strange but rather fine thing about 93MMFTS is the lack of place in their music. This record could have been created anywhere in the world. In fact if they were from Brooklyn via Gothenburg, then this would no doubt sell far more copies than it will.

This lack of geography is probably what stops the people of Doncaster from acknowledging them as their own. Do many Doncaster bands of their stature even get to release a second album, never mind have obsessive fans all over Europe, have offers of West Coast tours, or have a Brazilian fan with the band logo tattooed on his arm? 93MMFTS are the perfect example of the “long tail” phenomenon. I imagine two or three people could adore them in every town in the world. 93MMFTS have the unenviable task of linking up those people.

Anyway where was I, the record sounds magnificent. The personnel involved, Nick (Voice, Guitar, Drones, Noise) and Rob (Bass, Drones and Noise), both well past their prime physically, have managed to record a beautiful, peaceful, yet, alarmingly noisy album.

The standout track is “Time Lasts Forever”, which sounds like it could have been on an early Ride EP and if that sounds like faint praise, I can assure you it’s not meant to be. The crooning, “I want you back, and I want you so bad”, sounds like the saddest and tenderest of love songs. Who knew that they had it in them? And all from the mean streets of South Yorkshire.

Other notable tracks are “Before You Leave”, a particularly lovely tune with a bass line like a rambunctious sexy plaything. “All you’ve left behind” is an attempt to channel the death rattle of the Jesus and Mary Chain as they are slowly licked to death by kittens.

The last track, “Sonic Assault” is factually correct. It is a “Shoegazing” cliché but this is most definitely the wall of noise that My Bloody Valentine did so well during “You Made me Realise”. It’s a terrific way to end a special hour in the company of 93MMFTS.

“If it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing.”
Ayn Rand

Enlightened Self Interest and Postscript

So, what next for 93MMFTS? Ten years ago, they could have had a mediocre career of two four track EPs, a Peel session, a fairly well received debut album, a well attended support tour and a sparsely attended headline tour before imploding in acrimony and record label debt without even breaking sweat.

As far as I can tell, two options artistically stand ahead:

1: Embrace dance floor culture – see the electrifyingly awesome Factory Floor. If this album needs anything it’s a bit of a kick up the arse with the drums.

2: Revel in the new gold dream of the 1980’s – see The Horrors. “Time Lasts Forever” could be “Still Life”. Yes it’s that good.

And two business options: Gamble or Stick.

1. Scrape together some cash – Hire a PR. Let the world know about 93MMFTS.

2. Plod along as they are and treat this as a hobby. Release the music and play the odd gig, now and again.

They could always find a sugar daddy to fund the PR for their next release – And on that note, a special message to 93MMFTS:

“Hello boys from 93MMFTS, my name is Bryan Crane and I’m about to be made redundant. Come and sit on Papa’s knee…. “

In the mean time, go and buy this rather wonderful album.

The album Northern Sky is out now on In At the Eye Records.
www.93millionmilesfromthesun.co.uk

Words and pictures by Bryan Crane (bryancrane@yahoo.co.uk)

“What surprises me after seeing them live is that Nick has a lovely voice, but why does every song sound like there is a vacuum cleaner on in the background?”
Eleanor Skillington, the voice of youth. October 2011

Massive apologies for the late run on this… I have loads of excuses but you don’t care!

Here’s a smashing pile of photos from Rob Burns. Rob is a Doncaster native and can be found by clicking just about here.

Rob will be heading out to Doncaster Live again this year to catch some of the sights and sounds that Doncaster’s free music festival has to offer so we shall keep you posted…

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Photos by Jamie Bubb. Check out Jamie Bubb’s portfolio at JamieBubb.com

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Sometimes, something lands in your inbox (it’s never the doorstep these days…) that makes your day…

Today I received an email from from New Yawker Scott Delbango – attached was a short note saying he and his buddy had recorded four tracks of stripped-down, bare-bones indie rock and simply wanted to spread the word. The title alone made me laugh out loud and immediately separated it from the usual “I manage a band and would love for your fine website to mention them in a complementary way please, thanks” bleurgh.

Taking their cues from some prety big hitters (Fugazi, …trail of dead, Polvo, Braid) they appear fearless and a force to be reckoned with – even as a two-piece. Why a two-piece? Well, same story over there as over here, band members fall to drink, drugs or are generally unreliable forcing the two (Scott and Chris) to make every noise count.

Scott promised no marketing bullshit, just a self released, label-free offering from two New Yorkers making a self-recorded, self-satisfying racket.

This made my day – thanks Scott!

Click here to check out NAHH on Bandcamp

Track list:
1.Awesome Welles
2.Follow The Crowd
3.Meat ‘N Cherry Pie
4.Gunk
5.She’s a Fortress
6.Sucker Punch

The winner of ‘Most Aptly Named EP’ has come in early this year. Much like its namesake, this is thick, sludgy and vaguely unsavoury. Steel Trees have vomited out six tracks of barnstorming, guitar shredding nastiness: the likes of which have not been seen around Doncaster since Groop Dogdrill returned to the steaming hellpit that spawned them. Coming on like the mutant sons of the Melvins and Therapy? playing to a destruction derby, they make the most unlikely label-mates possible for In Fear Of Olive, sacrificing restraint for finger flaying guitar and full on rock and roll mayhem. Expect to see the words ‘Dinosaur Jr’, ‘epic’ and ‘noisemongers’ in a lot of reviews, including this one.

Beneath the thunder of guitars and drums there is a real tunefulness that may surprise too. The chorus of ‘Awesome Welles’ is custom-designed for chanting by sweaty fiends in a moshpit, and ‘Gunk’ deserves to become a stoner anthem as it drops down to a confused muttering of “I’m totally tripping out” before ripping into another solo. On the subject of solos, there are a lot on this record. A lot. There’s a refreshing lack of irony or muso pretension about them though, with no reliance on perfect flashy technique or foot on monitor heroics we instead get the howling feedback on the verge of collapse thing that Dinosaur Jr (see, we told you) do so well.

The EP isn’t breaking any new ground it has to be said; many other bands have taken this path before them and many have done it better, but the songs are still furious and played with an intensity which means they deserve no less praise for being firmly within familiar territory. Steel Trees are clearly playing for a certain audience and this will satisfy the slavering rock masses with no trouble.

Richard Cook

Links:
BUY EP ON iTUNES, BANDCAMP or…
Contact the band directly through their website : Steel Trees Website

Photos by Rob Burns

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So… the plan was to review the band on tonight’s performance, putting aside any preconceptions… however, when a band launch onto the stage and tear into “You Love Us” the history of this outspoken band all comes rushing back. It takes some serious attitude to carry off an opener like that and MSP manage this with total disregard for any opinion you may have had of them.

It’s difficult not to get caught up in the wave of love for this band being generated by the devotees filling the O2 Academy tonight – they believe, and you start to question if you should too?

From You Love Us, MSP went head long into Your Love Alone Is Not Enough and then ripped through their comprehensive catalogue in two-song bursts.

Motorcycle Emptiness sees the crowd again unite in religious chorus – Slash-esque riffs cutting through what must be one of the finest rock vocals of a generation. James Dean Bradfield is in fine voice and fine form. New single It’s not war… shows off the maturity of song-writing in contrast to the Generation Terrorist riffing but you soon start to notice the void presence that backing track string sections leave. In some cases it seemed an age between the swathes of strings starting and the band participating. The sound is pretty good although the drums sounded a little flat and didn’t cut through JDB’s heavy riffage.

A flurry of songs follow, highlights including This is Yesterday, Tsunami and the rabble-rousing Motown Junk dedicated to “the legend of Richy Edwards”. The early songs are played with such urgency they are in clear contrast with the mellower newer material. Nicky Wire recalls Sheffield having some amazing memories for the band, Richy disappearing for hours on end and returning with amazing tattoos before the show…

Little Baby Nothing and You Stole The Sun From My Heart see JDB solo and acoustic – more of Bradfield’s solo efforts should take this acoustic style, his voice is better than being lost amongst strings and keyboards. The quiet is very quickly shattered with the opening riff of Faster, an absolute screaming return for the whole band. There’s a marked sobering moment as the band play Suicide is Painless - a song that sounds every bit as if it was written for them, fitting perfectly in their set tonight.

“James Dean Bradfield is an amazing guitarist but sometimes he also writes great lyrics too” shouts Nicky before JDB lead them into Ocean Spray before closer Design For Life lifts the crowd for a final time.

No encore, no apologies. The point is, they don’t give a f*ck what you think – they don’t care if you ‘prefer the earlier stuff’ or hate their politics – they aren’t paying attention and it makes a perfect antidote for the bed wetting indie-kids of recent years.

Photos by Rob Burns

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Setlist – 6 October 2010

You Love Us
Your Love Alone Is Not Enough
Motorcycle Emptiness
It’s Not War (Just The End Of Love)
Peeled Apples
Roses In The Hospital
Postcards From A Young Man
This Is Yesterday
Everything Must Go
Autumnsong
Some Kind Of Nothingness
Tsunami
Motown Junk
If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
Little Baby Nothing (acoustic)
You Stole The Sun From My Heart (acoustic)
Faster
Empty Souls
Golden Platitudes
Suicide is Painless (Theme from M*A*S*H)
Sleepflower
Ocean Spray
A Design For Life

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We’re still collecting images so if you have some that we’ve missed – Click here to email us!

Click here to head to the forum and have your say on the weekends festivities…… or leave a comment below…

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We’re still collecting images so if you have some that we’ve missed – Click here to email us!

Click here to head to the forum and have your say on the weekends festivities…… or leave a comment below…

[View with PicLens]

We’re still collecting images so if you have some that we’ve missed – Click here to email us!

Click here to head to the forum and have your say on the weekends festivities…… or leave a comment below…

Stuart McLamb

The Love Language
Nightlight
Chapel Hill, NC
April 17, 2010

A lot of buzz has been following the Love Language ever since the undeniably catchy “Lalita” hit the internet. It was just a few summers ago that frontman Stuart McLamb was living with his parents, suffering through an all-time low and finding an escape through a four-track machine in a rented storage room. (At least that’s the story that he’s been tellin’). A messy breakup, a great songwriter, and a little luck can go a long way these days. Demos of what would become the self-titled debut album made their way into the a small independent record store in the beach town of Wilmington, NC and it was here that an “executive” at Portland’s Bladen County Records heard it playing over the stereo. Bladen County would eventually release the arresting debut album by The Love Language. Meanwhile, a live 7 piece band consisting of close friends and Stu’s brother was quickly thrown together.

Having seen the original lineup, which had a magical on-stage chemistry, 7 times over the past year and a half, I was a little concerned that Stu wouldn’t be able to capture lightning in a bottle twice. Well, I’m very happy to report, in all honesty, that he did.

The Love Language

They opened with “Blue Angel”, a beautiful song off the forthcoming record that has a bit of a waltz to it. After replacing the snare that couldn’t even make it through the opener, Jordan counted off the fastest and most energetic “Providence” I’ve ever seen. At this point, it was clear that everything was going to better than fine since this might just be my favorite Love Language song, and they killed it. The bluesy ballad that is “This Blood Is Our Own” allowed the packed and sweaty crowd to catch their breath and sway collectively. Another breezy tune called “Anthophobia” on the setlist followed, but this one was new to me. This one has a summer beach feel, and it very well could have been written at the beach last summer since he was in Wilmington then. They pick the energy level way up with the psychedelic pop of “Sparxxx” which features some of the most powerful wailing you’ll ever hear, courtesy of Stu’s golden pipes. The anguish of the breakup can be felt in “Stars” and many couldn’t help but join in on the chorus. Stu’s first collaboration with BJ Burton occurred on the next song, “Horophones”, which was originally released on the excellent compilation of Triangle bands titled Hear Here.

And finally, 8 songs deep into the set, they break out “Lalita”, the infectious breakup song that started all the buzz on the internet last year. This song will never fail to disappoint. More times than not, Missy Thangs gets possessed by the beat and takes her tambourine into the crowd as she did tonight, as if there’s no way the stage could possibly be a big enough to contain the energy of the song. “Nocturne” and the 60’s infused and very danceable “Brittany’s Back” followed and here’s the video evidence:

The 45 minute set concluded with the upbeat “Heart to Tell”, the lead single off of Libraries. This was the first time I’d seen this song live and it’s an easy choice as the first single. After a few minutes off the “stage”, which meant chatting with close friends at the bar, they came back on to do a cover of Fats Domino’s boogie “The Fat Man” and closed out the show with an even higher energy song from the new album titled “This Room”. You can watch the encore here:

The Love Language

Stuart was feeling the love from the audience all night and to reciprocate he offered free shots to anyone and everyone as he left the small stage at the Nightlight. In many ways, this felt like a celebration of the signing to Merge Records and a homecoming. Up until last winter, Stu was living in the Carrboro/Chapel Hill area. But after signing to Merge, recording the new album with BJ Burton at Flying Tiger Studios made the move to Raleigh a must. With a lot of familiar faces in the crowd in about as intimate of an art space as you can get in the Nightlight, it seemed more like a party (and in fact, it was something of a birthday party for a friend) than a show. There’s no doubt in my mind that The Love Language is going to become a national act with the summer release of the new album, and many new fans will stumble upon a gem when they dig into the back catalog. But for now, Stu and The Love Language are still very much a part of the local music community and I think shows like this will always remind him and the rest of us how lucky we are to call this home. As for fans of the original lineup, this is a win-win because the new lineup is fantastic AND we now have The Light Pines to give us even more of the psychedelic pop that you crave.

Eric Chen

Click here to download the lead single “Heart to Tell”

Setlist:

Blue Angel
Providence
This Blood Is Our Own
Anthophobia
Sparxxx
Stars
Horophones
Lalita
Nocturne
Brittany’s Back
Heart to Tell
Fat Man
This Room

Returning to the UK for the second time in twelve months, Dinosaur jr take their ninth studio album ‘Farm’ on the road again – this time bringing some old friends in the form of the legendary Built to Spill.

Doug Martsch – Built to Spill

Built to Spill are highly regarded by almost all indie-rock fans and peers alike – their skillfully sculptured guitar noise is embedded in the psyche and its influence can be found in many contemporary bands. Tonight they look every bit the aged-rockers you would expect, fantastically un-touched by modern life.

The first twenty minutes of Built to Spill’s set tonight is forgettable – mainly because I missed the first twenty minutes… (who puts on a grown-up rock show at 7:30!?) – however, walking in to a swathe of orchestrated feedback is a joy. Watching a band so content in themselves is really soothing and the crowd stand in respectful silence at the alter of BTS. As you would expect, a mixture of old classics and tracks from their latest record “There is no enemy” get an outing tonight but “Car” is the song that we’ve been waiting for and it hasn’t aged a bit.

Heading to the bar in the interval I was greeted by a polite lady seemingly asking me for £3.60 for a pint of lager in a plastic ‘glass’… She didn’t even apologise.

J Mascis appears to be intent on deafening the whole of West Yorkshire tonight with 26 twelve-inch speakers and 4 amplifiers (that I could see) pointed threateningly at the assembled. They stroll on stage and without saying a word or a tentative tune-up launch into the guitar soaked indie rock we have come to expect. Although Lou Barlow made a few brief comments and thank-yous it was essentially a back-to-back wall of songs from start to finish, just as it should be. Classics like “Freak Scene” , “Out There” , “The Wagon” and a careful selection of tracks from their two latest records were played with a ferocity that many current bands half their age would give their unlaced plimsolls for…

Dinosaur jr

Mid-set, Barlow takes a moment to announce that the long time band member Murph has been taken ill and to make his replacement feel welcome. Although he didn’t hit as hard as Murph he was tight and an impressive last minute replacement… (anyone know who he was?)

Ears ringing, I left content, as drunk as I could afford and with a feeling of sweet nostalgia. It seems Dinosaur jr can do no wrong. Still riding high on their victorious return they are still turning out the best ear splitting indie rock money can buy and with the average age of the first ten rows under 25 it’s clearly not just nostalgia that is filling the venue tonight.

Rob Che

Built to Spill official site

Dinosaur jr official site