I’ve had these tunes in my possession for a few weeks now with every intention of writing a review but as life is good I’ve spent very little time sat in front of this damn screen – today however, after my umpteenth listen I’m compelled to put pixels to screen for this review, because – it’s good! Really good!

Roseanne’s Town opens the show with understated guitar twang but soon builds to a Sprinsteen-esque  heights of layered guitar and horns. Quite trad americana in places it still has English quirks to latch onto. I’m bucking the trend here and avoiding mentioning Mumford & Sons… shit! never again…

“…raising a middle digit to bands without their staying power.”

Saluting Magpies shuffles into earshot next and  skips, jumps, shouts, rattles and bawls around for close to five minutes but you’d never know. With so many time changes, production subtleties and changes in direction it’s a really nice piece of songwriting raising a middle digit to bands without their staying power.

Maybe it’s the change to electric from acoustic but the band have certainly turned everything up to match the new sound. Arv is a hell of a drummer but he now gets to hit harder which really adds to the amplified sound with Jake stretching his vocal chords into a growl that their previous gentle meanderings would not have coped with.

The next track up is Beast in name only, a gentle vocal led acoustic track owing more than a nod to of Dylan, Buckley and Drake.

Mountebank takes a step back into the land acoustic but is no less immediate, building very quickly and wasting no time with a drawn out intro. All the band’s voices blend in fine style for the obligatory ‘shoop shoops’ and this EP is brought to a fitting close.

It might be a bit early in the game for matching iFoo scarf and t-shirt but I’m on board. The folk that have this EP have it on heavy rotation, so do yourself a flavour and get on the wagon.

Official site: http://ifoo.get-ctrl.com
Label: Wire Sound / http://www.wire-sound.com
Recorded by: Keith Angel @ http://www.wavelengthstudios.co.uk

Padriag Whelan makes delicate, brittle music on a beautiful Gretsch guitar.

It’s raw, naked modern folk music – touching briefly in early 20th Century American roots music passing through the late 60′s before landing sure-footed in 2012. The sound is traditional but never muddy and the quality of the recording makes for an unintrusive, almost apologetic soundscape.

Padraig’s first EP was released to great response. Rough Trade Shops featured the package as “strong lyrics, softly sung on four gorgeous, slow-burning songs. For fans of Elliott Smith, Cass McCombs and Richard James’ (from Gorky’s) solo work”

Off and On could have been penned by a 1960s Fleetwood Mac and the space around the track is refreshing with no attempt to fill every void with noise. Romantic but never dreary it’s the Sunday morning come-down you see only in movies.

The single Off and On will be released on Easter Sunday, April 9th 2012.

Catch up with Pat on his Facebook Page here

More tracks and free downloads on the Padraig Whelan Bandcamp Page

‘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

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

9 years on and 3 albums later (’00s The Art of Drowning, 03′s Sing The Sorrow and 06′s Decemberunderground) not to mention a considerable amount of mainstream success AFI release new single “Medicate” taken from their forthcoming 8th album “Crash Love”.

The first thing that strikes me about the song is how familiar it sounds, I wont go as far as to say its half arsed but a band like AFI should by now be able to knock a song like this out in their sleep, and maybe they did? It ticks all the right boxes in its genericness, Rocking intro?:Check, Shout along chorus?:Check, quiet middle eight that builds into yet another shout along chorus?:check big solo at the end for kids to impress their friends when the song inevitably ends up on the next Guitar Hero?:Check and don’t get me started on the clunky lyrics, sample line ”Can you describe what it’s like? I feel nothing.Can you feel this? Does its thing”

I guess the good news is that this is only a taster of whats to come from the new album so it remains to be seen if AFI are still a creative force or just another in a long line of bands that put an album out every few years because “its about that time to do so”. I still have my fingers crossed.
Crash Love is released September 29th.

Geoff Rogers

Above Them – Those Who Paved The Way

Inhaler Records

Recently named by The Guardian as the frontrunners of the ‘Northern Grunge’ scene, Above Them are bound to come with a few demons. Labelled as the Biffy Clyro/ Hundred Reasons band from Pontefract, the group have been fighting upstream in a time where synth led indie dominates the live circuit.

Therefore it comes as a surprise to find ‘Those Who Paved The Way’ the most polished, perfected track the band have created so far. Laminated in a glossy production ‘Those Who Paved The Way’ is a slice of anti-rock which screams to its contemporaries. With a perfected vocal growl and a guitar hook to convert any conflicting fan, ‘Those Who Paved….’ is a track which swells with ease, and is about to present Above Them with their biggest fanbase yet.

Ruth Offord

Links
Inhaler Records Above Them page
Above Them Myspace

Split Single / Inhaler Records

I love vinyl records – I love the feeling of having a tangible, proper ‘record’ in your hand. It’s a romantic ideology that vinyl is the best format to release music to the masses, but the truth is that vinyl can be expensive and to be honest, even the vinyl freaks I know are buying CDs as their laziness of unwrapping a record sets in. People just sling CDs on a player – if you did this with vinyl, certainly in my house, you’d be doing three laps of the shrubbery in your pants.

Anyway… the Cocean track on this split starts with the familiar crackle and fuzz of a diamond tipped stylus hitting wax and it is a beautiful noise. Why is this noise on a CD? I don’t know, but it works and sets the scene for Inhaler’s latest DIY release perfectly.

This Cocean song starts with a fragile guitar that is so restrained that it stops you dead, worried that you might break the tension that is clearly building (if I say it reminds me of Foo Fighters ‘The Pretender’ really quickly, nobody will notice, will they?) and this tension lasts throughout the song. The depth and space in the production reminds me of Explosions In The Sky or maybe Codiene; the song could be twice it’s 3 minutes30 seconds and still be as demanding of my attention. I’m almost a little disappointed when the fuzz pedals are kicked, as I was enjoying romanticising over the tinkle-tinkle guitar SO much…

A great start to the split and, having heard track two, not the obvious opening track and all the better for it.

Lines in Sand’s offering on this CD lashes out from the first chord and follows Thick as Thieves perfectly… Listening to this, I can almost feel the pipe condensation dripping on my head at Leeds’ The Royal park Cellars such is the reminicent sound. It was around 1999 I first saw This Aint Vegas (masters of this genre of english emotional punk) and the sound of this song takes me right back to those days so this could be a little rose tinted maybe, but this is another song that could just go on-and-on for me. The production by Steve Ellis (Orion Studios) on this track is damn near perfect, blending the harsh abrasive guitar stabs with the harmonics of the post-emo (yuk!) balladesque chorus giving this call-to-arms a real edge when put next to many DIY offerings. I’m tempted by so many close band-a-like references but I’m going to resist – this song stands alone as a great song in its own right.

The DIY scene regularly comes under scrutiny for being dismissive of the mainstream but I don’t feel that is the case here, these songs aren’t introvert and could be Radio One playlisted and be enjoyed by millions of spotty yoofs in no time – all Inhaler needs is a disposable income of thousands, a plugger (or 5), major label backing… oh wait – this isn’t right.

Please buy the single and support the true indie labels.

Inhaler Records
Lines in Sand
Cocean

For your viewing pleasure…

Three Torches

!_Archive Post_

Originally published in Doncaster Live Magazine 2007

Analogue Recordings is a studio known for its back to basics approach. For refusing to resort to computer technology for recording, its unique traditions attract a variety of bands. Tonight promises to display some of the best talent to have walked through the studio’s doors with six bands taking the stage in The leopard.

Trio Walker are the first to step up, with an epic, progressive set. Their powerful sound has surprising depth, and the band are striking, with bassist and vocalist Jack radiating a Warhol-esque air of mystery. next up is Skullbone’s much anticipated set, featuring members of legendary Doncaster band J*R. There are only two members – the (stand in) drummer plus Rob on guitar yet they deliver an energetic and hard rocking number. It is just the one unfortunately, making the afair short and sweet, but if this outfit can build a bigger repertoire then they have a very promising future indeed.

UV Pop and the Listeners are a much mellower affair however. The first, despite some obvious nerves provide provides the decent crowd with some poignant and beautiful ballads while The Listeners perform some impressively dark yet warming folk songs, with lead singer Emma providing an effortless performance.

The Listeners

The highlight of the night, however, is undeniably the power pop trio The Fontanelles. How this band have not been signed is a mystery, such is the strength of their catchy melodies, delivered with passion by lead singer John Fell, clearly enjoyinh the occasion. As if that wasn’t enough, the night is further kindled by Three Torches , whose set is a mixture of ambient moments and hard, angry riffs.

Credit: Ben Hales.

Three Torches
Fontanelles
The Listeners
Walker

“It is with great sadness that we are reporting some major changes here at Touch and Go Records. Many of you may not be aware, but for nearly 2 decades, Touch and Go has provided manufacturing and distribution services for a select yet diverse group of other important independent record labels.

Unfortunately, as much as we love all of these labels, the current state of the economy has reached the point where we can no longer afford to continue this lesser known, yet important part of Touch and Go’s operations.

Touch and Go will be returning to its roots and focusing solely on being an independent record label. We’ll be busy for a few months working closely with the departing labels and scaling our company to an appropriate smaller size after their departure.”

This news, just three years after celebrating 25 years of indie-pendence, is sad news even in the current climate.

Touch & Go founder Corey Rusk:
“The current state of the economy has reached the point where we can no longer afford” to provide manufacturing and distribution services for the labels, including stalwarts such as Chicago-based Drag City, All Natural, Overcoat. Flameshovel and Atavistic Records; Delaware’s Jade Tree; and Kill Rock Stars in the Pacific Northwest.”

Mac McCaughan (Superchunk main man and co-founder of Merge Records) said. “If a company that did everything the right way can’t survive in this environment … then who can?”

The good news is T&G will continue to operate as a label, with releases planned for the foreseeable future. Here’s some highlights from the lost labels:

Superchunk – Hyper Enough (Merge)

Stereolab - Les Yper Sound (Drag City)

Alkaline Trio – Calling all Skeletons (Jade Tree)

The labels we’re talking about here are important to the worldwide music scene but remember – Supporting independent music starts at home!

Available on the _DbR_ Jukebox

For what feels like the umpteenth time, Doncaster mainstays Geoff Rogers and Mark West, both formerly of feedback merchants Bright Paper Werewolves and the blink-and-you-missed-it Self Destruct Sequence, have reunited.

This time Bri Waller (ex Uninvited and Former Child Star, another of West’s projects) is along for the festivities, bringing his trademark off-kilter drumming and subtle bleepy laptop effects to compliment the discordant racket that permanently eminates from Rogers and West’s amps. The noticeable – but thankfully subtle – electronic additions give Copycat Vigilante an accessible pop edge and breathe life into the traditional three-piece hardcore setup that could have otherwise sounded a tad dated. If Rogers can give his vocals the same aggressive edge as his razor-sharp guitar work, Copycat Vigilante will grow into a formidable outfit that any discerning rock fan would be a blithering idiot to miss.

Rob Malton