Band – New Miseries
EP – I Am Without Me
Label – None
Release date – Now (available for free download on bandcamp/last.fm)
Sounds like – gritty, determined hardcore punk

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It seems big shoes need filling in the hardcore community. We all know who and what I’m talking about – perhaps 2011 is the re-emergence of throaty, thrash-up destruction? To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised; what with the dominance of straight metal in the heavy scales the past few years it’s about time we saw 5 shirtless blokes in massive shorts jumping up and down, spitting soundbites about brotherhood and/or how fucking tragically moribund their love life has become. Well, I doubt New Miseries will be doing that, because from their facebook picture, they wouldn’t want beer/sweat/other bodily fluids messing up their stylish asymmetrical haircuts.

Right, that’s the rather tedious dig out the way, now on to the music. New Miseries aren’t doing anything remotely new – they’re more dredging the lake of hardcore; salvaging that old, guttural sound, rewiring it, slapping on a new coat of paint and seeing if the wheels still turn. The opening track (’11:11’) is a short instrumental piece; lasting just over a minute, beginning with a melancholy guitar tone and some badly recorded drum taps before launching into some crunching, intrepid post-hardcore stomp, which sadly cuts off all too soon just as it gets going. What comes next made me contemplate the thought I’d left shuffle on. ‘Black & Blue’ bolts forward like Hobbes greeting a newly home-from-school Calvin. The sudden burst of brutish aggression is obviously designed to knock the listener back; to wake them from whatever trance the brooding instrumental opener attempted to create. It’s wrought dammit – an uncomfortable snarl of scrappy, dilapidated noise. From the snotty vocal delivery, this never seems to let up, to the supposed slower moments, which still put you on edge to the crunchy, standard meathead plod. They even manage to throw in a sneering “UUURRRRRRRR!” for good measure just before the big breakdown. ‘Rain’ begins along a similar path, sliding somewhat into that brutish, fist in the air “OI! OI!” style of brackish anger. The delivery is akin to that of The Hope Conspiracy; the brashness and the fusion of the strangely melodic guitar lines (which are blink and you’ll miss them) owe a lot to Kevin Baker’s hardcore mob. The last track, ‘Deathbeds’ is a churning wash of sound, staggering first with pent-up hardcore standards, bleeding into a Hatebreed style beat-down attack, before falling back into the shredding whirlwind. At times, it feels as though it’s going to go all trendy-metalcore, which New Miseries skirt around, VERY delicately, however the overall raw intensity of this demo, as well as the muddy hardcore guitar lines gives it at least some heart and passionate determination that this Pennsylvania five-piece have in bucketloads. ‘I Am Without Me’ is a promising and gutsy start.

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Links

New Miseries
New Miseries Bandcamp

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By Ross Macdonald

Band – James Marsters
Album – Like A Waterfall
Label – Brave Vessel Publishing/Self Released
Release date – 2007 (bought on Halloween at a convention)
Sounds like – Blues-rock, by the way of any act that has appeared at the Bronze between seasons 1-3 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

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Appearances can be deceiving and none-more-so than James Marsters, who I always had down as a British punk rocker thanks to his brilliant performance as the peroxide blonde vampire Spike from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. When I found out several years ago that he was actually an American and led a band called Ghost of the Robot, who were Bronze material through and through, I was quite shocked and obviously a massive idiot for realising that this man wasn’t of British descent. Nowadays, Marsters looks less like Billy Idol, and channels the look of a hip-university Dean with a stylish perm, but still has those magnificent cheek bones that you could ski down.

‘Like A Waterfall’ is Marsters’s second solo album and sees the former trenchcoat wearing bloodsucker mix his college pop-rock shenanigans with a heavy dose of the blues. Although from hearing opening track ‘Not A Millionaire’ it seems former-William The Bloody has been listening to far too much Los Campesinos. Handclaps? Check. Twee-as-hell choruses? Check. Gentle soft-rock, bouncy pop melodies that are as catchy as hell? Check. The complete unexpected nature of this opener lends a certain charm and youthful exuberance to proceedings that are quite out of character, yet rather brilliant. Even the little “yeaaahhh yeah!” harmonies inject a lazy, summery vibe. On ‘Don’t Worry Son’ and ‘Birth of the Blues’ Marsters attempts to emulate Jon Spencer. To some extent, he achieves this by exuding the similar arrogance and strut of the Blues Explosion frontman. The rather bizarre garbled vocals on the latter (which I’m guessing are Marsters’ attempt an emulating a professional blues musician) however should have been cut – they lack any real meaning and add a cringing element to proceedings. However, the melody and guitar-work, whilst a standard blues-riff, is admirable, especially ‘Don’t Worry Son’ which sounds like something that would soundtrack a sleepy cop drama series, blasting from the speakers of the grizzled protagonist and his quest for order and peace in a small mining community.

‘Looking At You’ has a She & Him vibe – soft indie rock, with Melissa Giattino (stage performer according to google) providing some pleasant female-backing vocals to the country-twang of Marsters’s almost Southern-drawl and Creedence-instrumental backing.

The intro to ‘White Hot Girls’ shares many similarities to ‘Kick Out The Jams’ (and strangely ‘Love Everybody’ by POTUSA), albeit sounding cleaner and tighter, whilst the main body of the song has Marsters take on the suave, debonair nature of a strutting rock star and appears to channel the cocky arrogance of a certain blonde vampire.

‘Louise’ is Radio Sunnydale to the max; featuring the kind of catchy, bouncing guitar jaunt that is infectious as it is cheesy. However, when the song finally kicks into gear with its 70s riffs, wailing chords and stubborn drum patterns it’s ultimately rewarding, if a little short.

‘When I Was A Baby’ steers the listener back on to the ‘blues’ element, with the song’s subject matter focusing mainly on the discovery of the genre and getting to grips with playing and adapting to it’s style. Marsters does a fair job; his voice hums with the same drive and passion, dipping from a deep sombre rumble, to a yelping, strangled wail. Although, I can’t help feel if his voice was a little harsher, more ragged in its delivery, then it would send shivers up the listener’s spine, rather than a faint tingle. The laid-back surf-guitar riff, heavy-saxophone parp and scattered drum beats give the track a jazz-vibe of improvised meandering and complement the vocal lead.

It might just be my imagination or my want for Marsters to dip into his English accent again, but ‘London City’ certainly has that Brit-twang bubbling on the surface, especially the opening verse. It’s again, another relaxed affair, showing the smooth, gracious tone of his voice, offset by gentle pop-harmony. ‘Up On Me’ follows a similar path, albeit less atmospheric-pop, but with the addition of a well-crafted guitar solo.

Ultimately, ‘Like A Waterfall’ is a strong second album from James Marsters; containing the right amount of hooks, memorable choruses and some interesting variations in style that could divide the opinion of the fans of his earlier work, but I guess this is the process a musician goes through in order to develop and expand their sound. Recommended (if you can find it that is!)

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Sounds

To listen to ‘White Hot Girls’ from ‘Like A Waterfall’ click on the player below.

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Links

James Marsters Homepage
Ghost of the Robot (site no longer updated)
IMDB Page

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By Ross Macdonald

Artist – Various/Youth Brigade
Album - Let Them Know: The Story of Youth Brigade and BYO Records (CD/DVD Documentary)
Label – BYO Records
Release date - Now
Sounds like – Crusty So Cal punks reminisce the good times of high fives, stage dives and their influence on the L.A. punk scene from the 1980s until the present day.

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I’m not particularly up on the dizzying heights of the L.A. punk scene back in the 80s; being from the UK, most of my time around then was spent learning to walk, falling down the stairs, trapping my cat’s tail in the door and painting my face blue. Now that I’m older and wiser, I’m still not 100% sure of it all, but luckily the good folks (that’s brothers Shawn and Mark Stern) at BYO (that’s Better Youth Organization) have decided to release a boxed set to pay tribute to their 25 years of service to the punk rock community. BYO was all about promoting the attitude and music of punk and other youth cultures in a positive light, encompassing their idea of “youth is an attitude, not an age” and this release, gives those that weren’t around back then a chance to experience it in 3 different formats; book, DVD and CD.

The DVD itself is a 90-minute affair, consisting of various interviews with the punk rock and hardcore elite (Ian Mackaye, Fat Mike, Kevin Seconds, The Bouncing Souls all adding their own positive thoughts about the label and the Stern brothers) and documenting the rise of Youth Brigade and BYO coming into existence.

‘Let Them Know’ is in most parts, a chronological build of Mark and Shawn Stern’s progression from their humble, surfer beginnings to mentors for punk rock’s continued existence and growth in Los Angeles. Surfing, which was another portal to push the thoughts and actions of teenage rebellion and angst, seems to play a big part in Shawn’s life, having been someone who embraced the non-conformist lifestyle and mentions the notion of slacking off, not going to work, avoiding the clichés of life. Surfing was the escape into making your own pattern. Shawn and his brother Mark then discover punk rock (they go see the Dickies and decide this is the new outlet for rebellion to be focused on) and the rest is…well history.

Below is a selection of highlights and things that can be learned from watching ‘Let Them Know’:

-Forming a new-wave pop-rock group called The Extremes in an 80’s punk rock scene is going to get you noticed (for all the wrong reasons) – thusly described as “all over the place.”

-Ian Mackaye has the strangest voice. He sounds like someone who should be giving advice on your next dice roll in a game of Dungeons & Dragons and not the owner of one of the greatest underground record labels of all time.

-Youth Brigade were originally destined to be a two-tone ska band, but the only band-geek horn players they could find refused to shave their heads. Plus, they read music – losers.

-More people should pursue Shawn Stern’s idea of a swing punk rock band.

-Shawn Stern sounds like a drunken, swaggering Elvis and Youth Brigade were strongly influenced by Sham 69 and many other British acts, particularly in the realms of Oi-punk.

-Staying in a place called ‘skinhead manor’ could well lead to loss of food, your mind and dignity. Described by Matt Skiba (Alkaline Trio) as “a punk rock crackhouse.”

-Back then, people would drive 100 miles for shows. Nowadays, if it’s not happening directly within your field of vision we’d barely turn our heads.

-“Better Youth Org – Organisation of Youth that’s going to better their own being.”

-“Promotion of positive things to do on our own” – an outlook that was very different from the current supposed corruption and negativity.

-Fat Mike states how romanticised people make the LA Punk scene – his vision is that it was scary, violent – cops seen as the worst perpetrators.

-Steve Soto from the Adolescents looks like a reanimated corpse (sorry Steve).

-If you’re a punk, the cops weren’t your friend.

-Naming your club after a giant Japanese, fire-breathing dinosaur is a very good idea.

-Getting TSOL, The Adolescents, Social Distortion and Youth Brigade together for the biggest punk show in LA at that time (Youth Movement ’82)will end in a smashed box office, destroyed bar, people fighting constantly, cops being assaulted and a girl breaking her leg falling off of a balcony.

-Word of mouth was the most powerful tool – caused an explosion in the punk scene.

-Bands would put on shows who had no label, no records, were never played on radio, yet the venues would be rammed.

-The first ‘Someone Got Their Head Kicked In’ compilation is regarded as definitive by a number of punks, including Kevin Seconds, Fat Mike and Ian Mackaye. I still haven’t heard it, but I’ll take their word for it.

-Old school buses – cheap and easy to cruise to shows in, prone to breaking down constantly. – United as a big crew under the BYO banner.

-BYO, Alternative Tentacles and Dischord all had the same philosophy – “fuck major labels, we’ll just do it on our own.”

-The tour documentary, ‘Another State of Mind’ – proved that punk wasn’t a dirty word, rag-tag touring at it’s finest.

-Brian Swilley is the godfather of slam-dancing.

-Never record at Mystic Studios -  “horrible, terrible place to record and it shows in the mix.”

-‘Sound & Fury’ by Youth Brigade – top 100 punk records of all time. I haven’t heard it.

-7 Seconds – positive hardcore punk – “best band of the BYO scene” – Fat Mike

-BYO were underground entrepreneurs – not looking for flavour of the week, everyone had a chance.

-Reviving swing music is a good idea until you and your bros get kicked out of the band.

I could go on forever listing the highlights, because it’s pretty much all gold, in what is an incredibly well-crafted, informative and honest sounding collection of thoughts, flashbacks and sound-bites from a time that I would have loved to have experienced (although the constant fights and having the shit kicked out of you, yeah I’ll pass). The special features include interviews regarding media attention punk rock attracted, a music video to The Brigade’s ‘It’s A Wonderful Life‘ (very U2 meets Spandau Ballet) and many, many other features cut from the documentary about the last show at Godzilla’s, the bad times, origins of the logo – fuck it, there’s loads of extras on here just waiting to be checked out.

The Stern brothers talk with such passion and love for what they have done and are continuing to do, emphasising this constant endorsement of “bettering yourself”, all woven together with this brotherly, DIY ethic that extends far and wide throughout the punk community at that time. If you have even a slight interest in three chords, stage dives, and a complete disregard for authority, then ‘Let Them Know: The Story of Youth Brigade and BYO‘ should be in your collection.

“BYO Records is the founding father of the independent punk rock label” – Steve Soto, Adolescents – trut’ so pure.

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The accompanying CD is also a delight, straining at the belt with 31 tracks provided by past and present artists from BYO’s roster. Instead of original contributions, each artist has chosen to cover another artist’s track.

Highlights include:

Leatherface roaring their way through ‘Doublewhiskeycokenoice’ with distorted punk rock gusto and a vocalist who seems to be singing like an enraged bear and drinking neat whiskey at the same time.

Off With Their Heads deciding 80’s hardcore punk is a logical crossover in their pummelling oi-fury of ‘Headlights…Ditch.’

NOFX’s version of ‘No More Lies’ harks back to their roots when they chucked out 1 minute blasts of scrappy, thrash-punk but yet still pasted the floor with any other punk band that came within 10 feet.

I’m still kicking myself for not getting into Youth Brigade sooner, as their swaggering swing-punk exuberance is infectiously brilliant, especially on their cover of ‘Misfortune’ which sounds like Richard Cheese fronting Tiger Army.

The concentrated, screaming rage of Young Governor on ‘Domination’, with percussion that is akin to someone playing the drums on an anvil.

Both Pulley and The Briefs do a sterling job with their Adolescents covers; the former taking the anthemic sing-along approach of scrappy pop-punk, whist the latter favour dense instrumental work and a snotty attitude.

The brilliantly named Filthy Thieving Bastards and their jaunty, summers-day sounding folk punk. American Steel also favours a mellower path, combining a gentle acoustic introduction, before launching into melodic punk rock, which despite making ‘Dead and Broken’ sound far too much like the original, it’s a faithful and passionate cover.

The Bouncing Souls’ song ‘The Ballad of Johnny X’ is given a punk-ballad makeover by the aptly named Johnny Madcap and the Distractions, taking all the patchy urgency and replacing it with melody and spirited sing-along charm.

But like the DVD, there’s so much packed into this, my best recommendation is to get this right away and get educated and more importantly, get entertained.

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Sounds

Click on the player below to listen to Youth Brigade’s cover of ‘Misfortune‘.

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Links

BYO Records
Youth Brigade

To buy the ‘Let Them Know‘ boxed set, click here.

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By Ross Macdonald

When The Mad Capsule Markets moved to temporary quitsville, a town that currently houses Reuben, System of a Down and Fugazi the annoyance level was palpable. The chilling words: “we can’t decide when we can re-start again as the band, at this point” had a nail-in-the-coffin-vibe of  “MCM are dead.” There’s no denying that their heavily synthesised/techno-punk, nu-metal-gabba freakout was perhaps an acquired taste. Several acquaintances have turned their noses up at hearing ‘Tribe’ and ‘Pulse’ mistaking the heady rush of sound as Slipknot being fed backwards into a gameboy. Unfortunately, my experience and knowledge of The Mad Capsule Markets extends only as far as the last 3 albums; 1999’s ‘OSC-DIS’, 2001’s ‘010’ and 2004’s ‘CiSTm K0nFLiqt’ so I have very little knowledge of their previous 8 efforts, all of which were exclusive only to Japan. However, with the band currently residing in Hiatus Heights, this wasn’t the end…

Hiroshi Kyono, The Mad Capsule Markets’ gruff-sounding vocalist had been working on a solo project. Stemming from his DJ sets in Japan, to a range of clothing he’d created, called Wag Dug, as well as contributing music to the Death Note soundtrack, Kyono had been at work on his new venture…Wagdug Futuristic Unity. This solo experiment, which features a plethora of guest musicians (Justice, Chino Moreno, DJ Sid, Shitdisco, DJ Starscream to name a few) led to Kyono releasing a mini album named ‘Nu Riot’ in 2007. The full length, ‘Hakai’ in July 2008, then followed this.

Wagdug Futuristic Unity is a project that walks on a very thin tightrope. It totters and teeters with uncertainty, yet always manages to find its balance and escape the tortuous drop into the bottomless pit of ‘unlistenable chaos’. Kyono’s liberal use of blasting synthesised noise saturates the Wagdug sound. It’s drenched in colossal thumping drumbeats, held together by the kind of grimy bass work last heard in the breakcore work of Dev/Null, Drumcorps and other assorted Cock Rock Disco acts. Some moments appear to be the noises made by an X-Wing as their engines power down, mixed with a cacophony of ear-raping grime that is reminiscent of a factory of gameboys being set on fire. Kyono’s vocals are similar to his MCM-days in places, but tip to the scale of ‘almost incomprehensible’ – it’s as if he was taught English in a wind tunnel by Danny Dyer shouting through a toilet roll. Of course, a lot of what is being screamed could very well (and most likely is) in Japanese!

It’s not all terrifying, eardrum destroying punk-rock breakcore though. ‘X-Stereo’ is a reworking on ‘Waters of Nazareth’ by French electro-oddballs Justice. Whilst it may at first just appear to be the original song with Kyono’s distorted, garbled rap placed over the top (hang on…it is just that!) there’s an element of a warped, feedback-drenched layer of fuzz created specially to contort the track through Wagdug’s disturbing musical psyche.

‘Weapons of Wag Distortion’ comes across as a Prodigy meets *insert name of popular rap-metal band from the 1990s* in some nightmarish, Soulfly-gone-techno mash up of clattering steel drums, deep synthesised rumblings and a swirling aura of reverberating dread.

Obviously The Mad Capsule Markets influence is going to force it’s way through like the alien bursting out of Kane’s stomach. It does so to great effect on ‘Mad Saturator’, sounding similar to ‘Mob Track’ from the band’s ‘OSC-DIS’ release. The synthesised rise-and-fall swirls the track like a cement mixer constantly changing speed, whilst the clattering percussion and Kyono’s rapid fire delivery give the track a much needed metallic bite. ‘Got Life’ also takes the MCM template a royally fucks it through a chaos dimension of spiralling noise-drenched mayhem – Atari Teenage Riot would have been proud; fuck, if they were still going (properly) they’d probably demand Wagdug joins them on their next tour or at least organise some kind of collaboration that would no doubt destroy the fabric of reality.

‘WALL’ featuring Chino ‘BACK TO SKOOOOOOOOOL’ Moreno of Deftones is an unrelenting attack on the senses. Moreno and Kyono’s vocals meld into a deformation of unholy terror that would leave Mike Patton to remark: “that isn’t right you guys.” Whilst this howling bloodlust takes place, the music delves into the realms of darkness, taking on an unsettling and sinister tone, encompassing droning synthesised washes that are bludgeoned to a gruesome pulp by the erratically destructive drum machine. The closest Wagdug gets to pure white noise.

Ever wondered what the sound of someone fucking a synthesiser would sound like? ‘Why?’ just about does that. The strange barking background sounds, which give the impression that this track was recorded inside a kennel, Amen-drum break splatters, alongside the abnormal and persistent pounding beat and pogo keyboard smashes are reminiscent of some sadistic rave that would cause a ‘clawing at the walls’-style mental breakdown.

‘Chaostic Radio’ is the closest Wagdug gets to creating a song with a trace of a ‘pop’ element. The rolling keyboard lines are soon obliterated by the wave of pulsating crashes and snarling cymbal crashes. There’s a nod towards ‘All The Time On Sunny Beach’ in the way the chorus progresses, with it’s jaunty, summer-tinged rise and fall.

This is probably the kind of music that induces seizures in lesser people. The intensity of Wagdug’s sound is that of 100 of those coma-inducing, colour saturated techno-robot shows. Heck, I’ll wager that Kyono has lent his musical talents to soundtracking these kind of shows – and why not; his sound would fit them perfectly. In fact, ‘Systematic People’ is the soundtrack to an anime show called ‘Kurozuka’, a series based on Japanese swordsman Minamoto no Yoshitsune.

A pounding, crunching, barbaric disco-destroying, techno-mash of furious breakbeats and obnoxious rap-metal posturing – an absolute winner in my book and fills that empty Mad Capsule Markets hole in my heart perfectly. All hail Wagdug Futuristic Unity: the underground Japanese digital hardcore king!

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Links

Wagdug Myspace
Wagdug Official Site
Mad Capsule Markets

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By Ross Macdonald

What we need is some really fucking harsh noise, right? Also, lyrics? Who needs them? All you really need is some maniac who wears a mutilated ski-mask with a telephone-microphone jammed inside his gob, bashing the shit out of a drum kit and a bass player, who’s tuned his instrument to that of a giant bow-stringed instrument and a truck-load of effects pedals.

Thank god then that Lightning Bolt have released a new track. Music-website-in-the-know aka, Pitchfork, premiered the track on Monday and it’s available for free download! The track, ‘Colossus’ is from their new album, ‘Earthly Delights’, which will be released (or no doubt file-shared long before) on the 13th October via Load Records. The artwork (see Pitchfork site) is predictably insane, coming across as a load of multi-coloured vomit covering a Jackson Pollock, with some flowers stamped over it for good measure. Excellent work! Tracklist (taken from their myspace blog):

1. Sound Guardians
2. Nation of Boar
3. Colossus
4. The Sublime Freak
5. Flooded Chamber
6. Funny Farm
7. Rain on Lake I’m Swimming in
8. S.O.S
9. Transmissionary

Shit, I can’t tell you how much I want to hear ‘Sound Guardians’; that’s easily the best name for a track in the history of ever.

Does ‘Colossus’ sound different from their previous work? Well, it’s certainly much more sinister. It would appear the two Brian’s have been indulging in Kyuss and Fu Manchu albums, as the vibe is one of stoner-noise rock, that stamps and staggers with all the grace and dexterity of a wounded mammoth. Chippendale’s voice is lost in the haze of droning bass and pounding drums, breaking through every so often in the form of an unhinged Gregorian chant that echoes with churning dread. At about 5 minutes in, ‘Colossus’ starts to feel really chewy and thick, the bass is distorted to that of almost inaudible mush, hanging between the boundaries of ‘someone’s left the washing machine on’ to ‘hey, you’re bass sounds a tad clunky mate.’ The driving build at the end, which fails to explode, is reminiscent of the sudden cut-off as seen on ‘No Rest For The Obsessed’ from 2005’s ‘Hypermagic Mountain’.

Stream/download/go out of your gourd to ‘Colossus’ here.

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Links

Lightning Bolt
Lightning Bolt Myspace
Load Records

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By Ross Macdonald

Artist – Mr_Barbs
EP – The Dead Man’s Hand
Label – none, self released via myspace (£3)
Sounds like – Sublime gone folk-rock whilst conversing with an acoustic cowboy.

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There are many positive points to being a solo artist. One that springs to mind immediately is complete freedom to create songs about whatever you want and in any style without someone in the background saying “yeah…we could do that, or….” – i.e. the constant nagging voice of the perpetual underminer as all your brilliant song ideas and witty lyricisms are cast aside for something with the depth and emotion of a depressed puddle. Another is the fact you can never break-up. Well, you can stop playing music, but there’s none of the “no, YOU suck” rivalry, unless you have an acrimonious disagreement with your guitar and dash it to pieces against the nearest wall. I suppose because of this, there are a lot of musicians choosing to do their own thing now without the struggles and shackles of being held down by a band. Going it alone armed with your acoustic (or in Mr_Barbs’s case, 2 acoustics (1 which resembles what a car made of saucepans and a vintage lute would produce if they had sex) and a ukulele seems the way forward. Mr_Barbs (as previously featured here) is the work of Chris Barbour, a one-man guitar-fest of sombre acoustic whispers, Hawaiian upstrokes, loss and regret (as depicted on his myspace) and songs that may or may not reference card games.

Fitting to its name, ‘The Bargeman’s Rest’ opens proceedings with the tone of a mournful sea-shanty. The sorrowful string arrangement creates a melancholy backdrop to the rapid guitar-strumming, whilst the layered, echoing vocals wash over the mix like some ghostly, hastily drawn breath. It’s the kind of track that would suit sound-tracking a panning shot of a cosy, yet dank, fisherman’s pub, possibly in a lost scene from one of those Pirates of the Caribbean movies, if you catch my drift.

The light-airiness of ‘Buckled’ has a kind of ‘Island In The Sun’-vibe to it. Whilst it doesn’t sound like this Weezer classic in a tune sense; it contains the soothing calm within its tropical sound – mostly thanks to the atmospheric backing track of stuttering strings and glitchy-Caribbean noises. Certainly one of the strongest tracks on this EP and one that I find myself replaying the most. The soundtrack to sitting in a garden on a summer’s day, quaffing a nice cold pint. I don’t know why, but after listening to ‘Buckled’ I want to watch some laid-back, 1960s-style light-hearted cop drama set in a village featuring Nick Berry.

The upbeat change of pace is out of context, but a welcoming in the form of third track, ‘Now I Know What I Know’, which sounds like George Formby (instrument-wise thankfully!) gone calypso, whilst channelling the ska-lite licks of Bradley Nowell. The song tells the familiar, yet sweet story of boy-meets-girl by the medium of seeking out a girl at a gig and chivalrously offering her his coat. It even features a little maraca shake at the end – more ‘skacoustic’ (new genre for NME to lap up) please Mr_Barbs.

‘Nights Like These’ is bookmarked by two passages of quick-guitar strumming that bring to mind American guitarist, Sir Richard Bishop. It has that same choppy, rhythmic quality and features a similarly stark, isolated sound. The track is fleshed out in the mid-section with the introduction of some bare percussion and the return of the haunting, looped vocals somewhere in the background. The xylophone touches in the end section add a nice twee-touch to the whole affair.

‘In The Shadows’ gives the impression of being recorded inside the back of a car, or possibly near the beach – the tender rush of what could possibly be waves or wind in the background filters through at the 40 second mark, before the studio recording kicks into life, shifting into a faster tempo. My interpretation of the lyrics is that of a woman triumphing over a man, whilst the listener is told to side woman, in the line “you’ll think that he’s a disgrace” or maybe it’s a subtle attempt at putting the idea into the listeners head to see the man as ‘being in the wrong.’ However, the impression in the next part is that the woman is the one who is the real disgrace, as she’s accused of ‘betraying the man.’ In any case, it comes across as quite a bitter track, both vocally and through the dark instrumental sections, despite what sounds like the happy tones of the ukulele hidden beneath the layer of guitars.

“It’s never going to tame me, it’s only going to shame me, but it’s comforting to know that someone cares…” sings Mr_Barbs on ‘Buckled’ – you’ve got nothing to worry about; with songs of this quality,  rest assured people will, should and do care. This is a splendid and well crafted selection of songs that vary in style and tone as they progress.

You can purchase ‘The Dead Man’s Hand’ from the Mr_Barbs myspace by clicking here.

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Links

Mr_Barbs Myspace

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By Ross Macdonald

Band – Bikini Black Special
Album – The Grim Mathematics Of Intercourse
Release date – now now NOW
Sounds like – The world can be bleak in a seductive kind of way

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Last year my ears were given the Royal Duke of Blessings in the form of Lancashire’s 5 piece Bikini Black Special.  Even then I hoped they would become massive and appear on mugs, t-shirts and your mum.

To my pleasant surprise they have just released their debut album ‘The Grim Mathematics Of Intercourse ‘ to the masses.

However I did have a strange feeling in my stomach, which was either last night’s  curry (probably made from cat’s livers ) or the worry that they had evolved into something that would turn out… Well shit..

This worry was taken away from the bombastic beats of title track ‘Schrodinger’s Bomb‘. These beats initially reminded me of the “bad times” when garage music became massive and hit our upper school like a bag of manky meat. But before you stop reading;  they actually use the beats to their full advantage.

The results blend into their own bikini brand, as  vocalist Kim beautifully intertwines her grim but strangely seductive lyrics, which leave you humming along for hours afterwards. Keyboard/guitarist Paddy mixes his own barks, raps and riffs, making  you eager to hear what is up next in the Bikini song pot.

What really stands out is the light and shade each of the tracks possesses. You find yourself listening and considering every song- the lyrics and the beats. Unlike all the modern idle wank that is out there, this spookalicious team are bringing music back to how it should be.

The best example for this is ‘El ango Del Hombre Diablo‘. The track  sloshes around your headphones like an alcoholic in the hot summer heat looking for the meaning of life. You become tangled in Paddy’s  slow persuasive banter. If that isn’t enough, Kim starts breaking down into a sobbing mess which seems a little odd at the start but then becomes extremely eerie.

It’s not all doom and gloom as upbeat track ‘Nagasaki‘ brings in the drum and bass mixed in with a twist of 50’s sci’ fi and punchy guitar, which I can see being their single if they are picked up for a record deal.

Listening to their tracks compared with their output a year ago, here is a band that seem to have been dismantled, examined under a giant microscope and neatly tweaked to give a even more bleak look at the future, still retaining their original sparkle.  Whether of not they have lost or gained fans through the process I cannot say, but the end result is tasty.

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Sounds

Click on the player to listen to the upbeat ‘Nagasaki’ from ‘The Grim Mathematics Of Intercourse.’

Links

You can buy/listen to the full album here
Visit their myspace page

As Alec Empires infamous ‘the past, the present, the future’ tour creeps closer into our ‘awesome, radical’ gig calendar, keep it fast would love to give the grand news that the forthcoming record ‘Shivers‘ will be released on May 8th.

The track titles for this 7 track mini album (estimated playing time over 30min Alec has added) are:

Control Drug

Shivers

Baby Skull

Vampire State

t.o.t.

If You Live Or Die (2009 version feat. Robbie Furze/Big Pink on guitars)

1000 Eyes (The Golden Foretaste of Heaven Film version 2009)

Note: iTunes will have a full concert as a bonus available. (more infos soon)

The first dark, controlled, electronic riot track ‘Control Drug’ can be played from the player below:

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You can also watch a 5 minute taster how the track ‘Shivers‘ will sound from the player below:

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Last but not least if you are one of those Nic Endo fans who is still bidding on that poster of her and haven’t even looked up when Alec and Nic are playing, the dates are below:

30.04.2009 Vorselaar (B) – Edma
01.05.2009 London (GB) – The Underworld
02.05.2009 Manchester (GB) – Satan..s Hollow
03.05.2009 Glasgow (GB) – Ivory Blacks
05.05.2009 Norwich (GB) – The Waterfront
06.05.2009 Amsterdam (NL) – Paradiso
07.05.2009 Hengelo (NL) – Metropool
08.05.2009 Reutlingen – franz.K
09.05.2009 Jena – Kassablanca
23.10.2009 Berlin – K17
24.10.2009 Cottbus – Gladhouse
28.10.2009 Linz (A) – Stadtwerkstatt
29.10.2009 Wien (A) – Szene
30.10.2009 Ingolstadt – Paradox
31.10.2009 Leipzig – Lagerhof

More dates to come soon!

If you can I would go for the London gig as that evening will be 10 years to that day since the Atari Teenage Riot was in a huge Berlin Riot!

My internet isn’t working properly at the moment since the modem was moved, so my connection to the web is the same as an ADD kid playing with a light switch – sometimes he gets bored and leaves it be, other times he flicks it on and off so much I’m at the point where I headbutt my monitor.

There’s a band called We Versus The Shark, who over the course of last year, recorded and released 1 cover song each month. These tracks have been compiled together as an album called ‘Murmurmur‘ and are available as a free download from this site. As I’m kind of running out of stuff to review, I thought a track-by-track breakdown would be a good idea: plus, from what I’ve heard, it’s a damn good compilation.

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1. Right Away (by Pattern is Movement)

Sitting at almost the opposite end of the scale, instead of the tremulous warbling of the original, We Versus The Shark laden heaps of scrawling feedback and unstable clatter into the mix under a solid post-punk ramble – a cracking start.

2. The Greatest Gift (by Scratch Acid)

I like this, it sounds dirty and incredibly raw. The vocals have that scratchy, barbed quality as though the singer has just eaten a whole packet of crackers washed down with vinegar. Quite dark and sinister sounding guitar drones under a solid drumbeat and pretty faithful to the original.

3. Dirt in the Ground (by Tom Waits)

I reckon I’ve only ever heard about 1 Tom Waits song. It was pretty good though. Anyway, this is the kind of track you would imagine being played over some heart-wrenching montage on an American cop show when someone important has died, or pumped through the speakers of some solitary, backwater booze-hole. A delightfully shambolic swagger of drunken exuberance.

4. See No Evil (by Television)

Christ, this has Dungeons and Dragons ‘4 stam 4 strength leather belt level 18’ written all over it. The word ‘NERD’ sits nicely next to this is 100ft high letters of solid gold. Blatant early 90’s-American indie rock janglefest that I absolutely love with all my heart and the kind of track you’d do that funny ‘swaying your head and shoulders back and forth’ dance to if you heard it in a club. – Ellen Page probably digs it.

5. Mow You Down Then Put You on a Pedestal (by The Matt Kurz One)

This is quite grungy. Has a nice crunching opening riff and kind of reminds me of a ‘There Is Nothing Left To Lose’ Foo Fighters. Pretty straight forward rock song, with an unusual vocal slur that suits the music. I was also amazed to find out that The Matt Kurz One who originally did this song, is a one man band who plays the drums, guitar, bass and keyboard all at the same time!

6. Suddenly It’s A Folk Song (by Future of the Left)

So this is what Future of the Left would sound like minus the bile! Mad props to WVTS for this which is essentially a folk cover of a song about folk songs. Confusing? It’s hardly Back To The Future II. Shakers, handclaps, that familiar bass line, great multiple vocal spread and something that forms a picture of several people dressed as extras from the Dukes of Hazzard playing on a back porch.

7. Dog Like This (by Drakkar Sauna)

This is quite bizarre. Very low-fi rock; lots of crazy wailing guitar slides and some brilliantly sloppy drumming, with a heavy use of gang-vocals all the way through, making ‘Dog Like This’ sound like several drunk dudes shouting over a wave of badly recorded garage-punk. Excellent!

8. Regrets (by Ben Folds Five)

The jaunting swagger of this track is in opposition to the quite sorrowful sounding title, focusing on a slight sneering nature in the singer’s quite flat, almost monotone voice over a heavy wave of slow burning rock n’ roll. Nice bit of throaty wailing at the end.

9. Dummy Discards a Heart (by Deerhoof)

Trumpets! Hooray! Despite being aware of Deerhoof I’ve never heard any of their stuff. I’ll be though it’s not as good as this interpretation of one of their songs though. Sounds like a ska band being pulled apart whilst they try and hold on to each other for dear life. The vocals are pretty incomprehensible, but that doesn’t really matter, considering the zest and energy this track has. It’s the kind of thing you’d play loudly from your car speakers as cruised around trying to pick up chicks.

10. Idiotheque (by Radiohead)

After a mournful, doom-laden beginning; things don’t get any more cheerful.  However, despite this being a Radiohead song, it sounds pretty good. It bounces from morbid, languishing post-rock bleakness into an almost Gregorian chant in the closing minute, which is kind of spooky and a touch unsettling.

11. X-French T-Shirt (by Shudder to Think)

Absolutely fucking love the drumming on this – even after the beats have subsided the sound still rings in the air. Oh yeah the rest of the song: pretty much flawless, loud, brash, post-hardcore rock with some superb grooves that rise and rise and crunch down with all the power and intensity of the original.

12. Head Over Heels (by Tears for Fears)

The original track featured in ‘Jesus Christ it’s some fucko in a rabbit costume’ wacky cult film Donnie Darko in one of its many time-filling music montage scenes. It’s a decent 80’s tune and We Versus The Shark inject a scuzzy guitar-screeching vibe into the toned-down electronics they’ve sparsely, but cleverly used in conjunction. A decent end to a superb collection of covers that We Versus The Shark have truly made their own.

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Links

We Versus The Shark
Smalltown America Records (to order a copy of ‘Dirty Versions‘)
Quote Unquote Records (absolutely brilliant record label)
Hello Sir Records

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By Ross Macdonald

Some of you may remember this feature on weird cover songs from July (back when it was sunny, probably) and I didn’t have to wear 6 layers in order to stop my blood from freezing. It got me thinking; I should really start creating the concluding parts to these posts otherwise KIF will become a graveyard of unfinished features, when really I want each one to have a slightly inferior (or in the case of Aliens) superior follow-up post.

Due to the fact Christmas is just round the corner, here are some suitably festive cover songs/possible originals for you to enjoy, because let’s face it, I think we can do without The Pogues or Noddy ‘Worzel Gummidge with a guitar‘ Holder for one year, yeah?

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Peter Wright – ‘White Christmas‘ 

Taken from a 3″ mini CD I was given at a Down I Go gig last year, Vessels guitarist Peter Wright does his best ‘depressed drunken uncle at a karaoke bar’ impression to Irvin Berlin’s classic festive hit. In some places he sounds more like Noel Coward eating toffee and sax solo at the 1.30 mark is a sobering icy slap in the face.

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Run DMC – ‘Christmas In Hollis‘

As featured on the best Christmas movie ever – i.e. Die Hard; DJ Run, D.M.C. and Jam-Master Jay splice their funky, off-kilter rap beat with the season of goodwill. The first verse details how Run finds Santa’s wallet – apparently he’s minted, whilst D.M.C busts some fresh poetry involving preparation for the big day. Aww. “The rhymes you hear are the rhymes of Darryl’s, Each and every year we bust Christmas carols!” Indeed.

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The Reverend Horton Heat – ‘Jingle Bells‘

Surf rock and Christmas – odd bedfellows? Try telling that to Reverend Horton Heat. Although it sounds like the kind of tune soundtracking some straight to dvd film entitled ‘Surfing Santa Goes To Hawaii’, there’s no denying that this song about types of tree decoration has been dragged kicking and screaming into the world of sunny, psychobilly rock ‘n roll. A modern day Surfaris if you like.

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Cousin Wizardface – ‘In My Room Of Requirement (It’s Always Christmas!)‘

Possibly the strangest Christmas song ever. If you can get over the ear-bleeding, extremely shrill singing voice and the overall smothering twee-ness of practically everything about it (especially the lyrics), then this insane, but unique treat from ‘wacky’ sock-puppet misfits, Uncle Monsterface (under a pseudonym because it was on a christmas album) could be for you. Perfect wizard rock to bring in the New Year whilst you get suitably intoxicated on butterbeer.

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The Muppets – ‘It Feels Like Christmas’

Presenting, on lead vocals….The Ghost of Christmas Present! Definitely the best spirit. The little pixie one was annoying and the other one shopped at the same stores as the Grim Reaper – no originality. I nearly didn’t include this for the soppiness factor in brings, but it’s such an uplifting song from what I consider the best Muppets film. Apparently Michael Caine is a big fan of this one.

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Sounds!

Click on the player below to enjoy the above Christmas tunes!

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That should keep you entertained for about 10 minutes. From everyone on the Keep It Fast team (including Mad Mac), I wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! You can go stuff your gob with mince pies now. Go on, hop it.

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By Ross Macdonald