Glass Ghost - Idol Omen

The members of Glass Ghost are very fond of Deerhoof, and so is whoever writes their press releases. The keyboard and drums duo toured with them frequently as both as part of their old band, Flying, and will set out on the road again with them this year. They label them as a primary influence, and go a little way to actually imitating the un-imitatable. Though, obviously, they’re not in the same league.

Deerhoof’s genre classification has always been hard to pin down, and so too is that of Glass Ghost. A mix of real jazz drumming and fake hip hop beats, fuzzy electro synths and weird proggy keyboards, annoying falsetto vocals and more pleasant choral “aaaah”s all combine in to a pretty eclectic mix for a half-hour album but, somehow, despite the sheer weight of additional performers adding strings, horns, organs and the like to each track, a lot of it sounds a little limp and unfinished. Like they’re waiting for the crushing, noisy guitars to be added. It’s a bit weird, and results in an album that sounds sparse and paranoid, where every little noise makes a difference because something is eerily absent.

But, y’know, Deerhoof seem to like them.

(Also published on the Bearded website.)

Damnation Festival 2009

Leeds University is much bigger than ours. Big enough, at least, that the Union building can play host to a one-day, three stage metal festival that promises big names in both legitimately good music and ridiculous dudes with long hair.

We descend in to the bizarre subculture that is the metal community, surrounded by denim jackets, silly beards and indecipherable band t-shirts, as the unpronounceable Nazxul is black-metalling all over the Terrorizer stage, complete with robes and face paints. We take in as much as we can bear before going to watch And So I Watch You From Afar on the Rock Sound stage. Shuffling on stage, the Irish four piece prove themselves to be the best band of the day before we’ve even seen anything else, with post-rock foundations set to jerking mathy rhythms and the occasional glimpse of metallic power behind it all. As they throw themselves about the stage, the small crowd is blown away, and they prove that they deserve a much better slot than the middle of the afternoon.

Before long, we head to the main Jäggermeister-sponsored stage, where girls in orange dresses attempt to sell us test tubes as we wait for Electric Wizard to come on stage. Crushingly heavy marijuana-themed doom metal fills the room and the floor is a rolling sea of hair as Jus Osborn breaks out solo after solo. I am torn between finding the whole thing hilarious and getting caught up in the relentless sludge.

Back at Rock Sound, A Storm Of Light’s faux-Neurosis sound is far from engaging, so we wander around, bumping in to members of Napalm Death (we saw two!) and don’t return until This Will Destroy You who, unfortunately, are plagued by sound issues which meant that most of their beautiful guitar soundscaping was lost underneath a distorted bass feedback. Jesu, however, manage to save the day as, despite main man Justin Broadrick’s failings as a performer, he is an incredible musician and one of the UK’s true legends. Backed by a bassist and a laptop, he twists his guitar in to all sorts of shapes, all of which are rib-rattlingly, room-shakingly loud.

We end the day with grindcore supergroup Lock Up (with members from Napalm Death and Cradle Of Filth) who have the greatest stage banter I have ever heard (something along the lines of “Do you guys know about tractors? Because this song is called Christ Virus!”) and inspire an absolutely epic stream of reckless stagedivers knocking out themselves and anyone else unlucky enough to be in their way as they crash to the floor. An awesomely bizarre day.

(Also published in the Huddersfield Student.)

Luke Leighfield Interview

Luke Leighfield is the UK’s biggest underground pop star. And I mean pop star in, like, the Madonna sense of the word or something. Melodramatic both in music, personality, press releases and merchandising slogans, his stadiums are living rooms across the world, although his slightly unnecessary Greatest Hits album is only available in Japan. You’d be hard pushed to not fall in love with his charm or his tireless DIY ethic, playing over 500 shows in over twelve countries and recording and releasing two albums off his own back in the past three years.

This year, Luke has, as ever, recruited all of his friends to help him make his third album, ‘Have You Got Heart’. We can expect wonderfully over-the-top pop, led by Luke on piano and stuffed with strings, horns and all of that nonsense. And the best part is, he’s giving it away for free!

Why did you decide to release the album for free?

Basically, I feel like my two older albums were full of great songs but were recorded fairly badly, and that this has maybe created a negative impression of my music with some people. I’m really proud of my new album - Pete Miles did a really great job of recording it, plus everyone played a lot better, and the songs are stronger - and I really want everyone to be able to hear it and see how far I’ve come. I don’t want people to have written me off and not be prepared to try out my new stuff, so I’m trying to entice some people back in by offering the songs for free. I also want to try to spread this album worldwide and get everyone listening.

Why do you have SO MUCH MERCH?

I don’t know that I really have SO MUCH, it’s just that in the early days of touring I was playing a lot of shows, and if you sell five t-shirts every show you need to keep getting new ones made. I don’t like having to look at the same t-shirt every night so I tried to get fresh ones every few months. It also means that I get to try out loads of cool designers who are all trying to get their work out there and make a name for themselves. I think DIY artists need to support DIY designers and vice versa.

What’s your view of the ‘male kate nash’ tag?

I’m fairly sure that’s died out now! I don’t sound like Kate Nash at all; I don’t have a stupid London accent and I can actually play piano. Just because we’re solo artists who play piano, it doesn’t make us the same!

What made you decide to start your own label instead of signing to one?

Most indie labels operate on a 50/50 split after costs between label and artist, and I simply can’t afford to throw away half the money from every CD I sell. A record label often sounds like a grand term, but it basically means that I organise all the artwork myself, get quotes from the CD manufacturers, then send all the artwork and everything away myself and pay the bill at the end of it. Then, when the CD is made, I try to get a few reviews, interviews, and a bit of radio play. I don’t want this to seem at all offensive or arrogant, but I feel that there’s not a huge amount more that any of the small independent UK labels could do for me. Obviously each label has a dedicated group of people who are likely to buy, or at least seriously consider buying every release, but having weighed up the positives and negatives of doing it myself as opposed to attempting to get an indie label on board, I feel like doing it myself is the best route for me personally. I think that’s only because I’ve been blessed with quite a good work ethic, and I’m also a control freak, so getting someone else onboard would just frustrate me! If you’re in a band just for the love of making music and you despise all the business side of things, then obviously it would make sense to get the backing of a label to handle all of that for you. However, I love all the aspects of releasing a record, even though it’s often painfully stressful, and it’s nice to know that when I get the finished product in my hands it’s because of my hard work.

How did you start working with Get Cape? Have you ever felt unfairly labelled as the ‘get cape violin guy’?

I think in 2006 when I started properly touring it was maybe a tag that got used a lot. However, it was really useful for me back then for getting gigs and making a name for myself. I didn’t particularly mind it because Sam’s a good guy and his work ethic and attitude to music is something I identify with, so I’m happy to be associated with him.

What are your touring plans for the coming year? You tour near-constantly, do you think you’ll ever take a break?

Funnily enough I’m thinking of taking a tiny break in 2010! There are plans afoot for some dates in Australia, Russia, China, Korea and Japan but other than that I want to take a few months out to spread the word about the new album and maybe do a bit of conventional work. I’m in a bit of debt from this album so I need to try to make that money back!

What will the first single from the new record be, and will there be a suitably awesome video, like for your previous singles?

The first single, at some point, is going to be ‘60,000 Miles’. There’s an amazing video which was shot half on tour in Spain last autumn, and half in Southampton this spring but it’s kind of a slow work in progress. Nick Bentley, who directed both of my previous videos, is like one of those brilliant geniuses who takes his sweet time over things. This video is literally mental, like a trippy ecstasy-fuelled dream sequence. It will be pretty confusing for everyone.

(Also published on The 405. This is easily the least amount of input I’ve ever had on something I’ve written!)

Colourmusic - Yes!

I was ready to hate this EP before I even heard it. The press release described it as AC/DC meets Flaming Lips made by people who met in a commune. I literally shuddered and prepared to think of negative ways to describe it. The Yes! EP, though, is yet more proof of how it’s great to be surprised.

The Oklahoma based four piece (with one member from Yorkshire) very fortunately do not attempt to play a weird hybrid of cock-rock and psychedelia. No. Instead, they create a bizarre, chanting, almost ritualistic pop music, heavy on pounding repetition and uplifting tunes. Opening/title track and lead single ‘Yes!’ chugs to life and piles on either multi-tracked vocals or multiple vocalists that build to a fuzzy guitar solo which validates the Flaming Lips comparisons, whilst ‘You Can Call Me By My Name’ powers on with a relentless rhythm that reminds me of the unstoppable force found on Queens Of The Stone Age’s Songs For The Deaf, but with higher-pitched vocals and acoustic guitars. ‘Spring Song’, however, is as springy and upbeat as the connotations of the season, with playful horn sections. A curious little EP, and a band to keep an eye on.

(Also published on the Bearded website.)

The Northwestern - Ghostrock EP

Were you sad about Hope Of The States abruptly breaking up a few years ago? Well, don’t fret about it for much longer, because The Northwestern, the new-ish band from States main man Sam Herilhy and drummer Simon Jones are finally putting out their first EP.

Ghostrock is literally the least surprising thing you will ever hear, following the trend of Hope Of The States morphing from a strongly post-rock influenced indie rock band in to a vaguely post-rock tinged post-punk band. Featuring little to none of the extra-curricular instruments the former UK favourites employed, The Northwestern play incredibly accomplished, but also incredibly standard three minute poppy post-punk tunes. Although ‘What Did I Do’ features the odd blast of horns, and ‘House Of Bees’ has a wailing organ intro, things are very much guitar based, with catchy, thumping drum beats and weighty bass grooves. You’ve heard it all before, but it’s rare to hear it done this well, and without such a forced accent.

Although it’s far from the standard of Hope Of The States at their peak, Ghostrock still has a very familiar sound that focuses on doing one thing very well and, as a result, never reaches any dizzying highs or dismal lows. A pretty good re-start.

(Also published on The 405.)

The 405 Radar - Chrik

There’s a lot to be said for the ‘back to basics’ approach. Often, a band or a scene or a genre will lose its way, get too bogged down in the details, and lose track of itself somehow. But how does Math Rock, a tag that pretty much anyone can find themselves labelled with these days, and a genre supposedly built on musical complexity, get back to basics?

Enter Chrik. Guitar. Drums. Ace.

With Chris on guitar and Rik on drums (get it? That’s where they get the name), the duo are mainly based in the frozen wastes of the North, but partly thanks to tour buddies Itch and closing this year’s BSM Unsigned Compliation, they’ve been spreading out across the UK a little.

Jangly American Football-esque guitars jerk all over the shop, locked in battle with jittering drum beats. There’s no synthesizers, very few stupidly long song titles, and no faux-clever/pointlessly obscure lyrics or Tim Kinsella-aping vocals. Just good, old-fashioned, Math Rocking the fuck OUT. Although it’s still a little pretentious (how can it not be?), it’s about as unpretentious as the genre gets.

See for yourself, check out the video below of one of their less frantic live shows (I’ve seen them get pretty intense later at night when everyone’s far drunker), or head over to their MySpace for a clearer listen and a look at their tour calendar.

(Also published on The 405, and will soon disappear until the new site design is released with a proper Radar archive.)

The Drums - Summertime! EP

Repetitive and irritating, or the catchiest thing you’ve ever heard? It’s a tough choice that I’m still making for myself, but The Drums’ Summertime! EP is relentlessly fun and frantic to the point that it’s all a little juvenile, stuffed with whistling, handclaps, simple drum beats, bass parts that sound like they’re made by a children’s toy and songs about surfing and stuff.

You’d have to have a heart made of stone, or have no patience with forced-kooky post-punk influenced indie pop, to not warm to at least one moment on Summertime!, whether it’s the soft female vocals that come in to duet on ‘Don’t Be A Jerk, Johnny’, or the fingerclicking breakdown that accompanies it, the Young Folks-up-to-11 intro of ‘Let’s Go Surfing’, or the awesomely cheesy synth stabs on opener ‘Saddest Summer’. Then there’s the airy fuzz of closer ‘Down By The Water’, the one place where the EP finally slows down. Otherwise, things are non-stop stupidly danceable. I dare you not to like it.

(Also published on The 405.)

Cymbals Eat Guitars - Why There Are Mountains

You’d be hard pushed to dislike Cymbals Eat Guitars. Despite band, album and track names that suggest some kind of post-rock nonsense, Why There Are Mountains is indie rock to the core, and blasts you with a finely crafted blend of the best of the genre from the word go. A band like this relies heavily on its influences, and they’ve picked some good ones.

Mew and Built to Spill or Pavement are the most obvious ones, as we are blasted with Mew-style screeching and fuzzy guitars that battle with 90s indie rock melodies and synth parts from the instant the album opens with ‘…And The Hazy Sea’. Why There Are Mountains then pretty quickly settles in to a pattern of Pavement-style guitar pop, occasionally mixed up with something different, such as the Ben Folds-y piano of ‘Indiana’ and the Mew or Slowdive influenced spacy shoegaze sound on seven-minute ‘Share’.

Even though there’s nothing here whatsoever that will catch you by surprise, or even sound unfamiliar, it’s still a good record. Just not really a great one. If you’re looking for a slightly more shoegazey imitation of ‘Wowee Zowee’ fourteen years on, though, then you need this album.

(Also published on The 405.)