Tuesday 21 December 2010

The Decemberists - The King Is Dead



As any hardcore fan will tell you the imminent release of a new album by your favourite group brings with it both hope and trepidation. You want to love the new songs. But you want to love them because they're exciting, fresh and brilliant not because it's [insert favourite band here] and they can do no wrong in your eyes.

When this group happens to be The Decemberists and they've already set the bar very high, their last two albums 'The Crane Wife' and 'Hazards of Love' both rated 5/5 by this reviewer, the danger for 'The King is Dead' is heightened further as the only way is down. It's an impossible dream to think they could better or at least maintain their brilliance. Isn't it?

Actually it isn't. 'The King is Dead' marks a much heralded return to the simplicity of former glories following the dense songwriting narrative of Hazards and peeling back the songs to their basics emphasises further Colin Meloy's knack for creating a hummable tune.

Referencing American guitar music through the ages from Neil Young, The Byrds and REM - musical guest Peter Buck an obvious reference point for the guitar picking on 'Calamity Song' - the album's focuses on musical tradition for inspiration. With tender voiced Gillian Welch for accompaniment throughout Meloy narrates tales of love and loss with typical storytelling flair and recent single 'Down By the Water' reaches any previous peak with ease. There are fewer moments like this than I’d like personally but it's never a chore to listen to and simple songs or not they possess a complex heart withstanding repeated plays for a long time to come

www.thedecemberists.com
www.mekongdelta.co.uk

Bookmark and Share

Monday 29 November 2010

David Lynch - Good Day Today - Single



Godfather of weird and purveyor of all things cult David Lynch has a single out. Yeah you heard! The director has long been into his music, soundtracking his films and collaborating with composer Mark Frost and other musicians including his recent Dangermouse/Sparklehorse collaboration 'Dark Night of the Soul' so it's no biggie to hear he's produced his own single finally.

Until you hear it of course...as it's nothing like the echoey scrapes and experimental rattles of his previous output, this is a full on Electo-beat pop/dance single complete with (heavily treated) vocals from Eraserhead himself.

Listen via the Guardian here and purchase via iTunes now.

--

And stop the presses here's another new tune from Mr Lynch named 'I Know', courtesy of Rob da Bank's Youtube Channel Sunday Best Recordings

Tuesday 23 November 2010

Top Ten Albums of 2010



1. The National - High Violet

The National spent far too long on the peripheries, gaining their widest exposure with 'Boxer' back in 2007, but it's taken High Violet to push them into the mainstream completely. Ohio Bloodbuzz also claims my best single top spot too by virtue of being a simply brilliant slice of bitter sweet love pop. The gloom and laconic humour combine perfectly here to finally bring these guys the plaudits they've deserved for years.



2. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

After a build of extraordinary anticipation (in my head at least) Montreal's greatest exponents revealed another beautiful slow burner of an album. They have an awful lot to live up to musically and The Suburbs saw them touch on those magic moments from Funeral and Neon Bible once again.



3. Salem - King Night

Okay so that's mainstream well and truly covered. Salem take third place due to the perverse music they make, the weird shit they say, the way they're seemingly so anti band sometimes and yet manage to create stunningly original tunes with a dark centre. Witch-core is the worst descriptive term ever but they have a black voodoo in their hearts and this time next year they'll either be dead or lauded as Gods.



4. These New Puritans - Hidden

Just like Salem, These New Puritans don't give a flying fuck about scenes, what's hot or not, they just rip music a new asshole and pile up the tunes laden with Taiko drums and Samurai blades clashing over haunted vocals. Rumbling echoes in the darkness. This album creeps you out and draws you close simultaneously. Remarkable. The most exciting new band of 2010 without doubt.



5. Liars - Sisterworld

From newcomers to established old hands (sort of) Liars have been around for a decade anyway and with Sisterworld they smoothed out the uncomfortable sounds of earlier albums to deliver an abrasive album you could still cosy up to. Just be wary of the knife behind their back.



6. Glasser - Ring

A sparkling debut from Cameron Mesirow in the Fever Ray, Florence Welsh, Bat For Lashes vain, i.e. stunning vocals, weird visuals, thrilling sounds. It may struggle to maintain it's own high standards throughout but as a debut album it showcases her innumerable talents and points the way to greater things to follow. She's also on True Panther Sounds the coolest label anywhere right now.



7. Jonsi - Go

Stepping out from the shadow of epic tunesmiths Sigur Ros, Jonsi benched his dreamy, mysterious vocals and opened up a bit, singing more clearly on his newest songs. He took the album on tour with a visual/audio extravaganza, dressed as a native American Indian, looked like he was having the best time of his life and pulled (No. 6) Glasser along for some of the ride. This is sublime pop music despite the artsy context and the songs from 'Go' stack up very well against anything his revered back catalogue might muster.



8. Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be

Girl rawk made a return this year - it probably never went away - and Dum Dum Girls brought some of that nostalgia for 'chicks' and guitars (Runaways, Raincoats) and the 60's girl groups with the Spector sound - particularly The Ronnettes. But 'I Will Be' is about as far from a cliche as it's possible to be, this album upped the ante with bitchy and ballsy songs in full effect. Essentially a solo project expanded to play live Kirsten Gundred aka Dee Dee Penny kicked monumental ass on stage and on record. Bow down fey indie boys and worship.



9. Effi Briest - Rhizomes

By virtue of being completely uncategorisable in any genre Effi Briest make the top ten with their debut album. They're pop, they're rock and they're weird, in the best possible sense. The only way to know what the fuck they're like is to listen to Rhizomes, a lot. It's a remarkably rewarding experience.



10. School of Seven Bells - Disconnect From Desire

From the ashes of former dream-electronica outfits On! Air! Library! and Secret Machines this trio of twins Alejandra and Claudia Deheza and Ben Curtis shine on 'Disconnect From Desire', their second album. It coalesces the promise of their debut into a more direct set of songs with actual radio play hit potential. Unusual and unorthodox but ethereally beautiful too.

Honorable mentions: Shearwater - The Golden Archipelago, Errors - Come Down With Me, Beach House - Teen Dream, LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening, Gayngs - Relayted, Zola Jesus - Stridulum II.

Monday 22 November 2010

Laboratory Noise - When Sound Generates Light



Post-rock. Shoegaze. Noise pop. All descriptive terms which have pretty much had their day. They all, seemingly, belong to another era. At least they do if you're me and have lived through them numerous times before in the inevitably cyclical musical landscape, so I’m like 'Oh, yeah, Lab Noises why don't you just evoke the re-invigorated spirit of My Bloody Valentine or Ride or Spacemen 3 or the blissed brutality of A Place To Bury Strangers - see if you can do that for me...'

And you know 'When Sound Generates Light' starts promisingly enough with 'Mae' warping it’s distorted guitars and reverbed vocals all over the place like a disoriented drugged lurch. My woozy head of uncertainty swirls into 'She Dies Screaming' and the drugs are feeling like they’re beginning to work, yes thank you - pretty vocals only temporarily bursting my tremolo created bubble.

Okay enough drug talk, because it's not big or clever, but as analogies go never was anything more apt because midway through third song 'Lost in Battles' the chemical balance is perfect and you know it could be these new headphones I bought for my MP3 player which make the drumming sound so intense and the guitars chime with the clarity of church bells on an autumn evening. Or more likely it's the brittle contrast of light and shade in this song that fills my heart with joy. But something has happened. I am changed.

Barely ten minutes in I'm sold. I want to hear everything Laboratory Noise will ever create, witness every gig they'll play. This album has been on repeat for almost a week. It’s intoxicating, unashamedly, uncomplicatedly, L-O-V-E, LOVE.

www.myspace.com/laboratorynoise
www.mekongdelta.co.uk

Bookmark and Share

Saturday 9 October 2010

Glasser- Ring



From the opening tribal thrum of 'Apply' it's apparent that Ring is going to be a listening thrill and as the enchanted music unfolds into the rest of this debut from Glasser (a one-woman army of ideas Cameron Mesirow) the magic just continues to build.

There are numerous 'kook's and crazies' on the scene right now who mix the bizarre and weird with vocal and visual dexterity - see Joanna Newsom, Bat For Lashes, Fever Ray for instance - that attention is tricky to come by. But the more listens I manage, particularly to standout tracks such as 'Apply', 'Mirrorage' or 'Home', the more the albums distinct qualities come to the fore.

The care and class and attention taken to craft its songs, to create an ethereal world, inviting you in for an adventure is immediately evident. It's a deliberate all-encompassing experience.

The fact that Fever Ray producer Van Rivers brushes his influence here and there is a double-edged sword as the album feels spectacular as a result but draws obvious comparisons by default. Still it's not like this overshadows Mesirow's ambition and uniqueness it just means she's right in the mix and shooting for much bigger things.

www.myspace.com/glasssser
www.mekongdelta.co.uk

Bookmark and Share

Friday 8 October 2010

The Vatican Cellars - The Same Crooked Worm




Sometimes you take a bit of a punt and prepare yourself to be surprised by a band or an album you're unfamiliar with, hoping against hope that you could add to your library of tunes and 'discover' something fresh, this was supposed to be one of those occasions but it's not actually turned out that way. Why not?

The Vatican Cellars hope to evoke the 'quintessentially English, folk-noir' sounds of Nick Drake, The Lilac Time or Tindersticks, which is odd as these three performers/bands sound nothing like each other and evoke little 'folk-noir' between them. Okay Tindersticks are gloom-mongers of epic proportions but here UK singer-songwriter Simon Hughes and California born and ridiculously named The Birthday Girl, augmented by a dull as dishwater rhythm section, don't even come close to sounding as despairing, as lost or as intense.

Singing about loss and death whilst strumming minor chords on your acoustic guitar with sweeps of cello or harmonium and melodica swirling around does not a heartfelt sound make, well not in this instance. Isolating individual tracks is pointless as they're all so similar. Whatever it is the band think they’re shooting for they're a long way off the mark.


www.myspace.com/thevaticancellars
www.mekongdelta.co.uk

Bookmark and Share

Monday 13 September 2010

Manic Street Preachers - Postcards From a Young Man



It's remarkable given the solemnity of the Manics previous album, the suitably reflective ode to Richey that was 'Journal for Plague Lovers', that they have, this time around, managed to raise themselves out of the funk to create an exuberant album filled with lush orchestration and fantastic, sing-along tunes.

From the off with the raucous '(It's Not War) Just the End of Love' you begin smiling and the feeling doesn't wear off through title track 'Postcards From a Young Man' or 'Some Kind of Nothingness’ either, the latter being augmented on vocals by Echo and the Bunnymen's Ian McCulloch.

This leaves the overt politics of some former albums - 'The Masses Against The Classes' and 'This is My Truth, Tell Me Yours' - in the background, although not gone altogether and instead the trio's aim is squarely on entertainment. Direct hit.

This newly replenished zest harks back to the daft punk thrills of 'Generation Terrorists' in some ways but the weight of maturity they also imbue their songs with is what makes them stick in the mind. They still have a huge enthusiasm for their art and – despite the occasional jarring Nicky Wire lyric (hey it's not a Manic's without a couple) - this latest addition to their cannon is as fine as they’ve ever been.

www.manicstreetpreachers.com
www.mekongdelta.co.uk

Bookmark and Share

Friday 13 August 2010

Crippled Black Phoenix - I, Vigilante



"Lupus Pilum Mutat, Non Mentem" – The wolf may change its fur, but not its nature.

With an opening gambit on 'Troublemaker' featuring a dead language proverb and a decidedly 'prog' album based around the concept of standing up for your beliefs and learning from history 'I, Vigilante' may already be dividing opinion as you read this. But hold your ferrum (horses), this isn't some clever, clever band lording it over the plebs. Well I can't be certain, but the album itself doesn't give out a condescending vibe.

Instead you just get a flowing, almost wistful, ride around a combination of beauty and nostalgia, perhaps tinged in places with regret – hear their peon to WWII 'Bostogne Blues' and I defy you not to hear echoes of GY!BE's 'Dead Flag Blues', another track of epic sadness and melancholy.

'I, Vigilante' is difficult for the right reasons I guess. It's not a series of easy to dismiss songs and you can't 'dip into it' easily. The very notion of listening to something from start to finish is perhaps anathema, but if your not of that opinion there's a rewarding listen here and you get the impression a CBP live show would be scintillating stuff.

www.myspace.com/crippledblackphoenix
www.mekongdelta.co.uk

Bookmark and Share

Wednesday 11 August 2010

DD/MM/YYYY - Black Square



DD/MM/YYYY (that's Date Month Year, pronunciation fans) are a spunky, punky mix of all and no styles at the same time. Verging on the musically shambolic at times but maintaining a vice like grip on core beats, the chaos at the heart of Black Square is best summed up in the No Age blitz which is 'No Life', the mad jerk of 'Sirius' or frankly insane 'Lismer'.

Combining math and experimental rock with glitch core, spazzcore and generally grinding everything to hand into a two or three minute burst of occasionally painful Crystal Castle cast-offs, the bulk of the songs here are urgent workouts which belie the musical dexterity the group clearly possesses.

As a testament to the versatility they switch the pacing and drama around over the course of their thirty five minutes. It's not all blistering, heads down charging at the listener in contempt for the usual conventions. Subtler tunes like the coolly reflective 'They' and the Grizzly Bear gone berserk, jazz-referencing 'Birdtown' demonstrate their willingness to try something different, not that the other tracks are too normal in the first place.

Black Square is a genuinely mixed bag and deliberately so, but that automatically means DD/MM/YYYY's debut won't be everyone's cup of curdled milk.

www.myspace.com/ddmmyyyy
www.mekongdelta.co.uk

Bookmark and Share

Tuesday 3 August 2010

Cours Lapin - S/T Album



As a music reviewer it's sometimes easiest to stick within familiar parameters when assessing the merits of a bands musical output for fear of getting the judgement horribly wrong, offending those 'in the know', or not grasping the scope of the intent and giving the band, the album and mostly your own ignorance what for with both damn barrels. In the face!

But hell it's worth the risk to step outside the comfort zone and breathe in the heady delights of the vast musical landscape where you’ll discover Cours Lapin (Rabbit Run) and their self-titled album.

On paper it sounds like a conceit too far, four Danish film composers conspire to write a timeless album of French songs that could well be a lost soundtrack from New Wave cinema or David Lynch depending on the song playing at any particular point.

French being a rudimentary skill for me, there's limited grasp of the content they're singing about, but that genuinely doesn’t matter as you sit back and absorb the otherworldly visions and theatrical nuances their music conjures up.

Understanding little is a bonus as the mind wanders to fill in the blanks. This is a beautifully gloomy album worthy of your time.

www.myspace.com/courslapin
www.mekongdelta.co.uk

Bookmark and Share

Tuesday 13 July 2010

Effi Briest



If I'm speaking to the converted then apologies, but for anyone who doesn't already know Effi Briest that are the best band to come out of New York since fey boys in cardigans tried to reclaim post-punk as their own, let me explain why.

Their fascinating debut album ‘Rhizomes’ has a heady atmosphere reminiscent of other timeless debuts like Murmur (REM), Unknown Pleasures (Joy Division), Yeti (Amon Düül) or 77 (Talking Heads) that inhabit their own claustrophobic spaces and define a universe for their creators. Of course the fact that the brilliant ripple of Talking Heads Tina Weymouth bass are in the mix throughout, along with a dash of Siouxsie Sioux vocal and atonal Can beats doesn't hurt either, but the combination is an off-kilter parade of space-rock and krautrock. Hold on, don't just roll your eyes.

If your seeking a melancholic X-factor the Effi Briest have it, whether this has it origins in the fact that the band are a sextet of women or that their musical affiliations flirt with bygone eras (mostly) without being remotely retro. Perhaps it's the bands name origins in a typically teutonic nod to classic German literature where the heroine is a doomed adulteress. Madame Bovary with less smiling!

Whatever it is which sets Effi Briest aside from most bands they undeniably rock to their own skewed beats and aren't beholding to male-orientated histrionics. In an otherwise boring field of inert rock music they have the balls (excuse the reference ladies) to forge their own wonky path and I'm happy to follow along in their footsteps.

www.myspace.com/effibriest
www.mekongdelta.co.uk

Bookmark and Share

Monday 14 June 2010

Larsen B - Muskateer



Right from the off Larsen B set out their stall with the exuberant burst of wistful melody that opens their debut album in ‘Codeine’. It’s difficult to put you finger on it but it is simultaneously uplifting and woozy like a party drunk, the good kind, who’s funny and charming and the life and soul of the party.

The pace and pop credentials are maintained as ‘Marilyn’ zips by before the mood turns casually reflective with ‘Atlantis’ and this triumvirate has pretty much set up the tone of the album as a whole. Snappy tunes with occasional brief dips into melancholic reminiscence’s. There’s a childlike sense of wonder at the heart of the album that revels in the sensation of new experiences and less demanding times.

The tunes that don’t rely on gimmicks or stylistic meanderings there’s just a stream of honest pop songs well executed and hummable. Sounds dull to you? Well maybe you’re seeking your thrills in the wrong place. It’s true that Muskateer isn’t likely to set the world alight but for a brief spell it makes the soporific, hazy sunny days we’re supposed to call Summer appear real, rather than the cold drizzle we get instead.

www.myspace.com/wearelarsenb
www.mekongdelta.co.uk

Bookmark and Share

Saturday 15 May 2010

Delorean - Interview



Delorean are a band in great demand at the moment but I'm tenacious enough to pin the Spanish foursome down in their home city of Barcelona long to ask a few questions and the logical place to begin with Ekhi Lopetegi, vocalist and bassist, is how much attention they’re receiving and the fact that they’ve just signed to uber-cool New York label True Panther Sounds.

“We’re really happy to have achieved some things that we've always wanted, like being with a good record label such as TPS or touring worldwide. But we always say that we’ve built our career step by step and we try to continue working that way.”

“It’s been a long time coming hasn’t it?” I ask, “You’ve been together for ten years, did you think this level of success might have passed you by? Or is it not something you care too much about?”

The band is very humble in reply, “We don't care much about it. It’s like starting over in many senses. Of course it's not, but the way we work, the friends with whom we work, all of this is new and feels fresh. I don't see ourselves having the band forever, but we just like creating music and trying to make good songs.”

Which prompts the question, “Why record the “Subiza”, the new album, now?”

“It has been four years since the last album, we also did the Ayrton Senna EP so we were already writing stuff and had the album in mind. You need an album to survive (at least in Spain). If you want to get reviews and get booked for shows its mandatory to have an album. Plus, you want to make an album if you're in a band right? And we were doing tons of remixes and producing a lot and it's just natural for a musician to make an album.”

Indeed they’ve recently produced remixes for the likes of The Big Pink, Cold Cave, El Guincho and John Talabot.

I say I initially thought the band was a remix project “Does this confusion happen often?” They gracefully skip over my ignorance, “We’ve always been a band since day one, actually all the remix stuff started pretty late, like two years ago. So we’re surprised that people think that we were a remix project, but that’s normal if you've never done anything relevant outside of your country.”

With the EP’s plaudits behind them they concentrated on trying to “do things better and try to reach a different sound for the new tracks. By the time the EP was gaining media exposure “Subiza” was 90% done. So they decided to move away from their own Barcelona studio. “What prompted this decision?”

The blunt answer is, “Our gear is not good enough and also I think that we still have to learn and improve a lot to record an album properly by ourselves, mixing and engineering is not easy. So that's the main reason is to work with someone that is able to do what you can't do and also because you like the work that he's done before.”

The person in this instance being Hans Krugüer with Chris Coady taking mixing duties.

So having confided that the band are yet to enter the phase were they can luxuriate in the space of a tour bus, having previously toured the US for five weeks in a van stuffed to the gills with equipment, band members and suitcases, how easy is it to write new material?

“Everybody in the band has the beat in his mind, we always build tracks around a strong kick driven break, and the intensity is another important part of the songs. We used to jam, but for the last record everything is computer based because we wanted to get a 100% electronic production for the new tracks, and you can’t get that with real drums. It’s also easy and cheap and you can see the idea of the song really fast.”

“And where do the lyrics come from in the writing process?”

“The lyrics are basically about love, not about 'love' in general but about a certain love that pulls you and challenges you to keep up with it, to resist and stand for the love and your loved one as you face difficulties.” Which sounds really dramatic until you hear the cool dance tones of the album and consider what a juxtaposition this is. Closer investigation is required maybe?

So how do the band try to relax on tour in a cramped van? “What’s on your stereo?”

“It depends on who is the driver and his iPod, the driver has the authority to put what he wants cause he’s making the effort of driving. Usually Cocteau Twins or Prefab Sprout and Ariel Pink are enjoyed by the whole crew. The secret is to travel with the right people, traveling with close friends and people that you love, that make things so easy.”

It’s a great attitude to have for a band about to launch into whole heap of touring. Following some festival dates in Spain and an upcoming US tour they are making plans come to UK shores in August when we could have the kind of weather which will compliment Delorean’s blissful music so well we can all imagine we have the balmy Mediterranean sun at our backs.

www.myspace.com/delorean
www.mekongdelta.co.uk

Bookmark and Share

Saturday 8 May 2010

We Are Scientists - Barbara



Whilst there are more obvious things to hate about Razorlight than their drumming the defection of their former tub-thumper Andy Burrows to join We Are Scientists last year has seen his new employers saddled with La ‘Lights uninspired flat sound and a mood vacuum of epic proportions - comparing “Barbara’s” turgid fare to former glories like 'The Great Escape' or 'Nobody Move...' tells you everything.

‘Barabara’ moves away from their dynamic sound and is so imbued with sub-par 80’s production, that where once they held my heart with their vim, vigour and humour, now all I’d be willing to give WAS is a good kicking.

Languid – or 'shit' - efforts like 'Foreign Kicks' or the vom-inducing, Crowded House with chiming guitars, effort of ‘Ambition’ make you pine for wit or melody. 'Break it Up' and 'You Should Learn' are incessantly catchy but that’s not necessarily a good thing and no excuse for the rest of the album.

The lead single 'Rules Don’t Stop' or even 'I Don't Bite' should have been their templates but instead they reside in the toilet bowl of mediocrity. Someone flush and put us out of our misery.

www.wearescientists.com
www.mekongdelta.co.uk

Bookmark and Share

Monday 26 April 2010

She And Him - Volume 2



Sweet music. Even sweeter Zooey. Ahhh.

As actors-turned-singers albums go this is pretty sharp. It's not trying to be something so new and cutting edge that it faces ridicule or failure in any great way. She & Him - the aforementioned Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward hook up again to give indie pop-folk another airing following their successful first collab back in 2007.

What Volume 2 brings is a sense of comfortableness (not boring) and tradition, some of the cover choices for instance, that give the listener a ward fuzzy glow. You can pick out some tunes here and they'd happily sit on the soundtrack of a Zooey film with just the correct amount of twee-irony-wonky humour whatever...but the truth is these simple ditties are a breath of fresh air in otherwise cynical world.

www.sheandhim.com/
www.mekongdelta.co.uk

Bookmark and Share

The National - High Violet



As a fellow beard wearer I can empathize with Matt Berninger's ponderous, whisker-stroking take on life, love and all likely absurdities in between. And whilst it's also true that I was a bit late to worship at the The National alter (previous album The Boxer being my personal introduction!) I've since immersed myself fully in the bands back catalogue and can rightfully claim that High Violet is where cult following and critical acclaim will take a back seat to TV fame, radio airplay and bigger touring venues.

Not that this 'material' stuff might mean too much, but they are the deserved rewards of producing an album like 'High Violet' that touches on familiar beguiling, atmospheric folk moments but that also bites back in places with a fervour and glee that sets the band up for all the accolades due to come their way.

And while Berninger's doleful vocals chime at the forefront it's still the skittering drumming of Bryan Devendorf which gels the whole thing together - perhaps the most compelling drummer around right now (I'd say). In isololation The National's parts may not possess the drama and vigour of the whole but it's on High Violet that this whole excells itself finally.

Lead single 'Bloodbuzz Ohio' is possessed of a simmering energy which seemingly doesn't know whether to fuck or fight whereas 'Terrible Love' and 'Conversation 16' probably deal with weightier themes but feel less likely to pull you under as the band wallow in their collective despair.

If this sounds a bit dreary and portentous and not at all uplifting then you should maybe take some time to listen to the album yourself as at some point during High Violet's 50 minutes it is all of these things and much more, including wry humour and sarcastic asides aplenty. Trust me they now hold the spot as album of the year contenders - without doubt!

www.americanmary.com
www.mekongdelta.co.uk

Bookmark and Share

Tuesday 13 April 2010

PLANK! - EP



PLANK! are a three piece who play (mostly) instrumental music. Repetitive, hypnotic music which flirts with Krautrock and in particular stalwarts of that 'genre' Neu! and Amon Duul II. They've even nicked Neu!'s punctuation.

It's within this context of heavily patterned drumming and bass melodies, of trance-like grooves and repeating loops, that each song finds its own heartbeat and forms a structure out of seemingly nothing. There's a buoyant but melancholic arc to the (bad)punningly entitled 'Arse Nick' whereas '1001 Nacht' toys with 'kosmische' avant-gardist psychedelia by throwing a bit of experimentalism the listeners way.

Once 'Phlaa' gets going the song's similarities to Neu!'s seminal 'Hallogallo' are too obvious to be coincidental. They clearly have an affection and appreciation of the musical legacy to which they are adding their own stamp.

Personally I could do with more, a lot more, the songs on the EP are way too short and at an average of four minutes that's a rare thing indeed. The impetus just about begins before the music levels off and ends with an often abrupt flourish. Sadly. I'd happily take a full length album of this music if they're willing to spend time putting one together. EP closer 'La Luna' is a beautiful example of spaced ambiance that is treated with the throwaway frivolity of a band easily bored with the rhythms they've discovered. Pity.

The musical interplay throughout comes from the synchronous drumming and bass although the occasional guitar riff gets a look in particularly on 'Arse Nick' which creates musical spirals which reach into each other and draw out some interesting results.

It's arguable where PLANK!'s music sits within the current musical context, it's certainly not populist and deliberately so but it's also drawn aside from the plethora of post-rock, psyche-rock bands of the last ten years or so. PLANK! could be viewed as custodians to this marginal sound and one which is much deserving of rediscovery. Bloody good ones too.

www.myspace.com/plankuk
www.mekongdelta.co.uk

Bookmark and Share

Tuesday 6 April 2010

Dum Dum Girls




Okay forget everything you've been fed over the last year or so about the return of electro and synths and girls with their machines and disco voices clogging up the pop charts because Dum Dum Girls are leading the migration well away from that kind of thing. Completely.

They're the bad influence your momma done told you about and if you ain't careful they're gonna land you in a whole heap o'trouble.

Kicking back the years to revel in 60's soaked fuzz beats and menacing bubblegum pop Dum Dum Girls lift off where girl groups like The Shangri-Las gave up the ghost.

Soundtracking their own Beyond the Valley of the Dolls-style movie with a rip roaring Runaways vibe they blister through a host of luridly familiar sounding and maddening catchy songs 'Bhang Bhang, I'm a Burnout', 'Jail La La', 'I Will Be' and 'Everybody's Out' and despite the retro feel this is definitely going to be the music of the very near future.

Hey, that sulky chick from the Twilight flicks is playing Joan Jett (you know from The Runaways) in a movie real soon and that kind of thing is just gonna make girls step away from their keyboards, strap on a geetar and rock like lady-bastards, whilst singing about boys, booze and bad behaviour!

Mark my words.

www.www.myspace.com/dumdumgirls
www.mekongdelta.co.uk

Bookmark and Share

Tuesday 30 March 2010

Jonsi - Go



Most people will know Jónsi Birgisson either as the singer/songwriter with Icelandic dream pop purveyors Sigur Rós or by his most recent collaboration in Jónsi & Alex. What I'm saying is that most people will know what to expect with this debut solo record (and by solo I mean chocful of guest collaborations and cameos).

Well forget what you're expecting because Go is not the album you think it might be. The languid, elongated pace of Sigur Ros songs, drawn out over time and stately in tone are eschewed in favour of more up tempo, even poppy, songs with opening track 'Go Do' a foot stomping rallying cry for the album being a fine example.

What Go delivers is nothing short of stunning. Aside from the great singable songs - the aforementioned 'Go Do', 'Boy Lilokoi' and 'Tornado' to name but three - at it's heart though Go isn't really such a radical departure, the delicate glockenspiel, bowed guitar, flutes and ethereal vocals balance atop the quicker bleeps and more rugged beats that's all. By the time we reach album closer 'Hengilas' we are very much in Sigur Ros territory but that's besides the point. To feel that sense of wonder and experience rushes of joy few other artists can stir in the listener is magical.

The fairytale feeling of mythical stories being re-told is obviously set fast in Jónsi's genetic make up for no matter what changes he makes this remains at the core and it's certainly something for which we should all be very thankful.

www.jonsi.com
www.mekongdelta.co.uk

Bookmark and Share

Saturday 20 March 2010

The White Stripes - Under Great White Northern Lights



About ten years ago I somehow stumbled across The White Stripes music. On the radio or in a club or reading about them somewhere, I'm not sure exactly how. But they had a a fascinating enough look and story for me to check out the music further and I bought an imported copy of their eponymous debut album and the ramshackle mix of punk and blues had me hooked.

It's fair to say that I became pretty obsessive. Tracking down rare 7" singles on tiny labels (even going so far as to buy pre-White Stripes Jack White oddities), reading everything about them I could and telling friends how great this band were, usually to very deaf ears! By the time the wider public had latched on in the UK around 2001 with third album 'White Blood Cells' my interest was beginning to peak and following fourth release 'Elephant' in 2003 with phenomenal 'breakout' single 'Seven Nation Army' I'd had my fill. Fickle as I was.

So coming to this film of the duo's 2009 tour of every Canadian territory was an opportunity to fill in the missing years for me. Covering their career to date including a wonderfully observed tenth anniversary gig and featuring some great live footage - hey I'm a sucker for rock-umentaries anyway - this brought back to me the thrill of hearing the band in their early days. The rawness and the power that Jack and Meg generate. Plus there are some really candid pieces caught on camera, perhaps none more so than when the pair are sat at the piano at the film's close with Jack playing and singing and the (obviously silent/quiet) Meg brought to tears by his rendition of 'White Moon'. It's a touching moment indeed.

It's a joy to see bands who genuinely find pleasure in playing and making music and I suppose, despite whatever else Jack White has done in his extra curricular musical endeavours, The White Stripes will always be the most deeply felt and meaningful of these - both for them and for me.

www.whitestripes.com
www.mekongdelta.co.uk

Bookmark and Share

Thursday 18 March 2010

Liars - Sisterworld



I've long held a fascination with Liars. One which is continually difficult to pinpoint as they do perversely keep doing a volte-face with each successive album release. I think what I like is the utter lack of genre and seemingly 'outsider' feel the trio bring to their music. And whilst occasionally there are notes to draw some reference from more often than not they conjure up something bewilderingly out of step with the musical times that simultaneously manages to remind you of all sorts of great bits from bands and artists you should listen too more.

So it is with Sisterworld their fifth album except the things I find myself referencing most is Liars own wide reaching discography. Not that they're repeating themselves God forbid! Sisterworld most definitely occupies its own space - a sullen, mysterious place evoked from the very first haunting wails of opening song Scissor. A disturbed tale of attempted suicide or murder where the victim is still barely alive. And it just gets creepier, laden with portent and puckered in the seedier side of life (ie better) from here on in.

They've ditched the regained joy of guitars from Liars and returned to something akin to the experimentation of They Were Wrong So We Drowned whilst holding onto melody and a recognisable song format (without being predictable). Just to get everything in the mix they still contain the odd thrill which made Drum's Not Dead such a fantastic record and the sparse rhythms which peppered They Threw Us All In A Trench...

You see. Self reference has never been such a rewarding experience. I'd argue til I'm blue in the face that Sisterworld is their best album to date but then tomorrow that would change and I'd be forced to choose another of their albums for this honour.

How great it must be to have raised the bar so high and still manage to hurdle it each time. Sister they're on fire, sister!

www.liarsliarsliars.com
www.thesisterworld.com
www.mekongdelta.co.uk

Bookmark and Share