Hello Keep It Fast fans!

After much work and several all-nighters, the design team of KIF towers have successfully completed the updated site! Yes, very soon (perhaps tomorrow) the old design of ‘massive killer robot threatening humanity‘ will be swapped for…..ah…you’ll have to wait and see!

Due to this design change, there may be a few teething problems involving words not being in the right place (i.e. falling off the screen,) pictures moving up and down all over the place. It would be great if I could blame my grammar and spelling mistakes on this as well, but alas no. Basically, if things aren’t working 100%, it’s due to the layout, which will be sorted asap.

Stand by for upcoming posts which include:

- The second part of the nu-metal recap.
- Mad Mac returning to give the indie music scene another beating.
- Album reviews.
- More dodgy cover songs.
- Free cake.*

That’s all for now, hopefully my internet will stay connected long enough to post this. I tell you, wireless internet is about as reliable as Michael Fish.

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Ross Macdonald.

*a lie.

I realise that everyone with a working Internet connection or access to broadband probably knows this already, but this is interesting news people! L.A. punk rockers, The Bronx have a new track up on their myspace entitled ‘Knifeman’ and it can be downloaded as a lovely low-quality encoded mp3. Yeah!

Rocket From The Crypt fans will be pleased to hear the ‘Bring Us Bullets’ riff being used like a cheap whore on a Saturday night, whilst current Bronx fans will greet Matt Caughthran’s trademark vocal yelp like an old friend.

 ‘Knifeman’ will feature on the band’s new record, (self-titled of course) which is out September this year. They’re also working on a ‘Mariachi El Bronx’ album, which will probably be out at the same time. A video of them playing a Mariachi track live is on their myspace. Also, two new members have been added to the ‘El Bronx’ side, notably Brad Magers on trumpet and Vincent Hidalgo from The Drips.

The band is currently on the Vans Warped Tour, making them the first punk band to ever play there (Oooooh BURN!) and several dates in August around the U.S.

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Links

The Bronx
El Bronx
Official Site
The Drips
White Drugs

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By Ross Macdonald

It is with great sadness that I inform Keep It Fast readers that London’s Cutting Pink With Knives have come to an end. The synthesiser-heavy pop/hardcore scribble have this (snippet taken from their myspace blog) to say:

“We are splitting up. No drama, no hatred between us . We’re just calling this shit to an end.
It’s hard to know how to say goodbye to something thats been the most important thing in our lives for the past 3 or 4 years, nothing i say can really encapsulate what this has meant to us and how odd it will be to not have it around anymore.
We’ve done a lot of things that we’re all really proud of, played some amazing shows, released lots of records and generally had a great time, but its time that we go our cute little separate ways.”

The band will play 6 7 final shows (3 on our fair shores, before playing in France and 3 2 dates in Belgium.)

I was lucky enough to see Cutting Pink With Knives several times and I can honestly say they were one of the most entertaining, wild and amusing bands I have seen. They will be missed. I wish Alex, Chris and Eddy good luck with their future projects.

Their 2nd album, ‘Populuxxe‘ (reviewed here) is available from Holy Roar Records. Their myspace blog also reveals details of a final release of their last recordings.

(I wish bands I really like would stop splitting up, it’s giving me a bad omen complex!)

Sounds

If you fancy sampling some CPWK pop-fun, click below to listen to ‘Airz‘ from ‘Populuxxe.’

Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player.

Links

Cutting Pink With Knives Myspace
Label

(I know this is a bit late, but meh.)

Rejoice! Those of you who favour Eastpack resistance backpacks, flannel shirts and black thick-rimmed glasses and bands like The Promise Ring (“proper emo”) then you’ll be pleased to hear that Rival Schools have reformed! Led by ‘I’ve been in lots of good bands’ frontman, Walter Schreifels, the emo/post-hardcore supergroup will be visiting our fair shores this year for several live dates, which run as follows:

June Tour!

11 London King’s College (very nice place, has upstairs toilets)
13 Donington Download Festival (LOL)
17 Birmingham Academy II
18 Leeds Cockpit
19 Glasgow King Tut’s
20 London Radio One Rock Show Session at Maida Vale
21 Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms

They are also expected to release a new album sometime this year, details to be confirmed sometime in the future. After the band split in 2003, a second album was rumoured to be circulating the information super-highway and was at one point available from Schreifels’ website. Although, it is thought to have been a b-sides compilation. Those unfamiliar with the work of Schreifels should note that he played in 80s New York hardcore bands, Youth of Today and Gorilla Biscuits as well as emo-types, Quicksand.

Also, I’ve decided they do sound a little like Bush, but y’know…. a good version of Bush.

*Awaits being stoned to death by die-hard Rival Schools fans*

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Video

Here’s a video of Rival Schools playing ‘Used For Glue.’ Proper good.

Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player.

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Links

Rivals Schools last.fm
Wiki Page
United By Walter (fan site)
Record Label

As promised in the mixtape post, yet another installment of ‘Mad Mac Reviews’. It’s been quite a while since the last, so he’s pulled out the stops to make this one extra harsh. He’s putting me out of a job with this quality of writing, seriously.

(If you want your band reviewed by Mad Mac or anyone else on the writing team, drop us an e-mail/carrier pigeon/shout really loudly.)

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Foals - Cassius (Transgressive)

The opening bars brought me back to the days of George Formby with his ukulele; I wish it hadn’t. I long thought those days were dead and gone - fortunately hearing the rest, I realised they had. On two occasions I thought mercifully that the CD had stuck, but it moved on to a thankful finale. The lyrics took very little learning as it seemed to be the word ‘Cassius’ repeated over and over. I’m not sure why, but at least it gave the song a title.

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This Will Destroy You - Threads (Magic Bullet Records)

When this track started, I felt finally that there would be a track that I could listen to. This was a completely different type of music, which turned out to be one long session of opening bars. A bit like sex with lots of foreplay and no grand conclusion. I did wonder if the sound man had put his pizza on the controls and if this had caused the music to accidentally blur, which gave them the sense of improving it, not so! (I’ve no idea what this means. - Ross)

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Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - DIG, LAZARUS, DIG! (Mute)

The phrase ‘Lazarus dig yourself‘ is repeated throughout the track and I’m not sure why. It reminded me of some songs I heard at discos in the late 70s - very heavy bass thumping in the background. One can imagine this will be popular played very loud in a small car driven by a youth with a backward facing baseball cap. In addition, as the car drives up the street the driver trying to look cool as the heavy base thumps out, causing the car to lurch forward and back like a demented heartbeat. Even so, I quite liked it, as long as I didn’t have to listen to it played on a car stereo.

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MGMT - Time To Pretend (Columbia)

The opening sequence seemed to have been recorded in a bath with the occupant farting into the mic. The start of the lyrics seemed to be promising until the volume of the synthesiser is just loud enough to drown out all but a few of the words. It would be the sort of music played by that annoying neighbour during one of his dreadful late night parties. This track is ideal for annoying all those who live around you. This works on some level, I am just not sure what that level is.

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Future of the Left - Manchasm (Too Pure)

When this track started, I thought that the player had developed a fault, the one note repeated throughout the sequence only started to become annoying after the first ten seconds. This developed into a crescendo of unintelligible noise masquerading under the guise of lyrics. A row usually heard at the end of long nights clubbing when the management want you all to go home so that they can pack up.

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The Mountain Goats - San Bernadino (4AD)

By far the most pleasant track of the collection. It does seem that the musicians can in fact play and are not hiding their lack of talent by producing a cacophony of noise. The singer has a voice for karaoke, and the lyrics can be heard, and in keeping with the tune. The type of music to play while enjoying a cup of coffee late at night, just before going to bed.

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Links

See above! I’m going to watch The Shield and try to perfect ‘Manchasm‘ on the stylophone.

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Intro: Ross
Words: Mad Mac

Hey everybody do you like:

1) Wearing Hawaiian shirts all the time, even when it’s -25 and raining like a bastard?

2) Saying “pick it up, pick it up, pick it up, yo!” and dancing like a coked up windmill?

3) An abundance of trumpets/trombones/saxamaphones in your music?

4) Bands with ‘wacky’ tripled barreled names and songs about travelling?

Well then you will be pleased to hear that Gainesville ska punk metalheads, Less Than Jake are re-releasing their back catalogue through the record label Cooking Vinyl and their own label, Sleep It Off Records. So if you missed getting hold of their first album ‘Loser Kings and Things We Don’t Understand‘ like I did, you can buy it now (released 3 days ago) with all new brand-spanking artwork and a bonus dvd (which I think features footage of the album being played in it’s entirety.) Also, ‘Pezcore‘, the b-sides album ‘Goodbye Blue and White‘ and the DVD entitled ‘A People’s History of Less Than Jake‘ will see full re-release.

The band are apparently working on their 9th studio album (I know, pretty impressive for a band that sing about pez, leaving towns behind and some guy called Mike) which, according to punknews will combine ‘third wave ska and pop-punk in each song.’ Hmmm… we shall see. Seriously though, I can’t help but feel a little excited about this; I mean anything has to be an improvement on the songs I heard from ‘In With The Out Crowd‘ - urgh.

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Video

Here’s some footage of Less Than Jake playing ‘My Own Flag‘ at Reading Festival 2002 (yeah, I was there….)

Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player.

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Links

Less Than Jake
Less Than Myspace
Cooking Vinyl
Sleep It Off

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By Ross Macdonald with help from punk news.

Those of you interested in the exploits of industrial metallers Nine Inch Nails will be pleased to hear that an instrumental album can be downloaded from their official site as of now. It is entitled ‘Ghosts I-IV‘ and is a compilation of four nine track EPs. The first, entitled ‘Ghosts I‘ can be downloaded free from the band’s website and the entire 36 song epic can be purchased for a mere $5. (This also includes a 40 page PDF booklet and various other extras such as icons, wallpapers, etc.)

Obviously the success of Radiohead’s ‘free’ album ‘In Rainbows‘ and Saul Williams‘ ‘The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!‘ (Which Trent Reznor worked on) has paved the way for this bold and lucrative decision by the NIN frontman.

According to the NIN site, the album contains “almost two hours of new music composed and recorded over an intense ten week period last fall.” Reznor goes on to explain that:

“I’ve been considering and wanting to make this kind of record for years, but by its very nature it wouldn’t have made sense until this point. This collection of music is the result of working from a very visual perspective - dressing imagined locations and scenarios with sound and texture; a soundtrack for daydreams. I’m very pleased with the result and the ability to present it directly to you without interference. I hope you enjoy the first four volumes of Ghosts.”

Wow. Download/payment options can be found here. Recently, Reznor disbanded the live incarnation of Nine Inch Nails, which featured infamous guitarist Aaron North and drum-wizard, Josh Freese. He is apparently seeking new ways and alternative means to perform Nine Inch Nails songs live.

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Links

Nine Inch Nails Home
Nine Inch Myspace

If the rumours are true, i.e. the tour dates they have posted on their myspace; then the self-proclaimed ‘greatest band of all time’ ArnoCorps (pronounced ‘ArnoCore’) are to return to the UK for what they call ‘The Sequel’ in July. Expect thunderous amounts of hardcore-action adventure rock ‘n roll and songs about ‘Predator’, ‘Total Recall’, ‘Commando’ and ‘Last Action Hero.’ - Ballsy!

Those unfamiliar with the Austrian/Berkley/California-based 5 piece (2nd bassist Der Wolf left the band recently) can have great fun reading their ‘Arnosynopsis’ here and check out the band’s bio here. Their only album, the 15 track masterpiece entitled ‘The Greatest Band Of All Time’ is well worth �10 of your hard-earned cash, if only for the epic-sounding intro.

Any self-respecting hero should make his or her way to any (if not all) of their UK shows this summer. In the words of the great man himself; “DO IT! DO IT NOW! GOOOOO!” *riff*

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Video

A taster of what you can expect at an ArnoCorps show. See you at the party Richter!

‘Collateral Damage‘ (note how the drummer picks people up as if they’re made of paper!)

Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player.

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Links

Arnocorps
ArnoSpace
AntiCulture

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Words - Ross Macdonald

Photo by Tanner, AAP. (Taken from Arnocorps Myspace)

It is with a heavy heart that I report the demise of Surrey’s, Meet Me In St. Louis. After the departure of vocalist Toby in late 2007, the 4 piece decided to continue, playing instrumental sets and inviting audience participation/sing-a-longs on some occasions whilst they searched for a new set of lungs to fill the vacant frontman slot. However, after a particularly emotional gig on Monday night, the band issued a statement on their myspace, giving reasons for the split. It reads:-

“Hi,
I’m writing with great regret to inform everyone that Meet Me in St. Louis has reached its end. This is due to a loss of another member (Paul) and the agreement that the band would not be the same if that member were replaced. It came as a shock to the rest of us as our plans for the next few months were extremely positive after such a bumpy ride at the end of 2007.

When Toby left, we all felt pretty low but we got through it because we knew that the music would be written by the same 4 people and essentially be the same. Although he had input musically it was minimal and was mainly focused on vocal melodies and lyrics. We were able to carry on with confidence and either get a new singer or continue instrumentally. Unfortunately, the same could not be said in this instance.

I cannot tell you precisely what the reasons for Paul’s decision are. I think it was a snowball effect of events over the past 3 years that made being in a band extremely hard to deal with and eventually became too much. So that’s it.

On a positive note, I personally have had the most exciting 3 years of my life. I think that we’d all agree on how proud we are to have been able to create music with each other and perform it to so many people. Writing and playing shows, whether it be to 20 people or 200, was what we lived for. It was what we were, for 3 years. At times, it was fucking gruelling but overall, incredible.

It wouldn’t have been possible without the help and encouragement of so many people: Our family and friends, fans (a lot of whom have become friends!), BSM and Xtra Mile, promoters, every band we’ve ever played with, everyone who’s put us up for the night or more, anyone who’s given us a review, anyone who’s ever taken pictures for us, every sound man that let us play really really loud, even those who didn’t I guess… Without these people, we wouldn’t have an album and playing live would have been really fucking dull. Although the band has come to an end, I’m pretty sure we’ll never stop playing music and hopefully other projects will be as exciting if not more.

So once again huge thank you’s and many apologies to everyone.

The end.

Oli and MMISL”

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There we are…another promising young band bites the dust after just 1 album and 1 EP. Meet Me In St. Louis were one of the most hyperactive and interesting bands I’ve seen…their presence, sound and general attitude was so fresh and vibrant. They will be missed. Good luck for the future guys. (Past feature on the band with an MP3 can be found here.)

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Links

Big Scary Monsters

Meet Me In St. Louis

I love Raiders of the Lost Ark. It’s the definitive action film - always immitated but never bettered. I had to make some dubious reference to the 1981 archaeologist-fest for this feature. The quote in the title is taken from one of the most famous scenes where young Satipo, one of Indy’s guides, begs him to throw the idol across the gap, in return for Indy’s whip. Needless to say, he leaves Dr. Jones to die, only to become impaled on several very sharp spikes moments later. I guess he got the point.

What does this have to do with music though? Well, Seattle ‘Indy’ (heh) types Throw Me The Statue seem to share a tenuous link to the Harrison Ford vehicle, if only in their bizarre name and not their music or message.

Seattle’s Throw Me The Statue is the project of Scott Reitherman, with fellow musicians Aaron Goldman, Will Cone, Joe Syverson and Jarred Grimes. Their sound is somewhat far removed from the usual cacophony of noise we usually listen to on Keep It Fast - combining intricate keyboard loops, electronic drum beats as well as elements of techno. Throw Me The Statue are a disjointed but fascinating musical project. The vocals range from a flat spoken-word attack that then develops into a melodramatic croon. Those familiar with the music of

Germany’s About, will see the subtle comparisons between these two artists. The delicate electro-pop both make is one, the withering, oddly-pitched vocals being another. Unlike About, Throw Me The Statue steer clear of the layers of warped feedback that the German favours, adopting a more ramshackle, summery outlook. Throw Me The Statue have taken the stencil for making “unadulterated, catchy pop music’ and smacked it clean out of the park, like a batsman eager to prove his worth.

It’s a shame that these guys are possibly restricted to the blogsphere world, as tracks like the glitchy 90’s rock stomp of ‘Yucatan Gold‘ and ‘Lolita‘ draw comparisons to the heady days of spry guitar licks and buoyant drum beats. The perfect soundtrack to summer (here’s hoping we get one this year!)

Currently, Throw Me The Statue are doing several dates in America through January-March time. They re-release the album ‘Moonbeams‘ on Feb19th on Secret Canadian Records (a slightly tweaked version on the album they released through Baskerville Hill Records back in April last year.)

Sounds

To listen to ‘Lolita‘ by Throw Me The Statue, click on the player below.

Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player.

 

Links

Throw Me The Myspace
Secretly Canadian