BATS Preview Album!
Posted by Chris on June 30th 2009 with 0 Comments »
We love BATS. Ever since seeing them support Chrome Hoof in Dublin last year, we’ve been borderline obsessed with them - their EP Cruel Sea Scientist completely slays and their live shows were getting better and better. But then, towards the end of last year, the prog-post-punk-metal quintet from Dublin jetted off to the States to record their debut album with Kurt Ballou from Converge, and not a peep have we heard since.
UNTIL NOW! Alright, alright, there’s not a lot here to get your knickers in a twist about just yet, but the news is good. First off, the album is called Red In Tooth And Claw (typically awesome) and it’s apparently coming out on Richter Collective on August 31, with a launch gig on the 29th at Andrew’s Lane Theatre in Dublin with Adebisi Shank (who will give them a run for their money) and Jogging. And if you click on the wee video below, you will get a very, very (actually ludicrously) brief and pretty hilarious taster of what you can expect. Is it okay to laugh at crying children?
BATS ‘Red In Tooth & Claw’ Promo from Rupert Morris on Vimeo.
Video: Sonic Youth - ‘No Way’ (live on American TV)
Posted by Chris on June 23rd 2009 with 0 Comments »
You should know by now that Sonic Youth’s new album The Eternal is really rather good. And by all accounts, their recent live shows have been pretty damn mind-blowing too. So put the two together and take a wee look-see at them performing ‘No Way’ from said album live on American talk show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last night. Lee Ranaldo’s windmilling never fails to raise a smile.
(Tip of the hat to Pitchfork for the link)
Listen: The New Jack Peñate Album
Posted by Chris on June 17th 2009 with 0 Comments »
There’s been much fanfare about the new Jack Peñate album Everything Is New - a new, credible producer in Paul Epworth and talk of “ripping it up and starting again”, no doubt in an effort by Peñate to distance himself from the LDN crowd he became associated with the first time round. Well, judge for yourself, as Peñate’s label XL has offered us the chance to stream the whole album. It’s certainly adventurous and diverse, but as a pitch for credibility, the jury is yet out. Anyway, make your own minds up and let us know what you make of it.
Download: New Twilight Sad Track
Posted by Chris on June 16th 2009 with 0 Comments »
The Twilight Sad return on September 21 with their second album Forget the Night Ahead, the follow-up to 2007’s excellent Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters. As before, the record will be released on Fat Cat Records. The first track off the new album is ‘Reflection Of The Television’, James Graham sounding bruised and battered - but defiant - over the churning guitars and steadily rolling drums. Download it below - its bruised majesty bodes extremely well for the record.
Exclusive: Panama Kings Tour Diary Pt.3
Posted by Chris on June 11th 2009 with 0 Comments »
In the final part of his tour diary, Panama Kings guitarist Stuart Bell takes onto a party boat in Bristol before heading north for a trip up hill and down dale. It’s grim oop north…
DAY NINE:
Tonight’s venue - the Thekla in Bristol - is slightly different to other places we’ve played on this tour (or ever for that matter) in that it’s a boat. Not a waterside or pier-based venue but a straight-up honest-to-goodness boat, where you load in the gear over a plank and set up in the hull, which is conveniently fitted with a bar, dancefloor and stage. It’s a club show tonight so we’re the only band on and are treated to a lengthy soundcheck before seeing what the town has to offer. Bristol is certainly one of the nicer places we’ve visited and does a mean vege burger. Back at the boat the crowd tonight is an unusual one - it seems like no-one is expecting a band to play but after some initial trepidation we get the party well and truly started. Props to the female DJ whose name I didn’t get for playing really awesome tunes all night, including our boy Alex Metric.
DAY TEN:
Darlington, it seems, is a party town. We’re playing another club show at Inside Out and from the get-go the place is buzzing. It’s a multi room type affair and we’re playing in the downstairs bar which is decorated in a style similar to children’s TV’s Bitsa (anyone?) which I thought was pretty cool. When we hit the stage there are barriers put in place to stop the crowd getting onstage, initially we thought this was a bit presumptuous but no sooner have we done about 10 seconds of ‘Universes’ than Lil’ Chris himself is onstage rocking out like a bad thing. By the end of the set they have done nothing but encourage people to try and get in - and us to try and get out. After the show we head to Leeds to get some kip at our mate Sarah’s student halls.
DAY ELEVEN:
We’re still reading Get In The Van when we have a spare minute and one the recurring themes of the book is Black Flag’s blatant contempt for the police. We can relate to this because over the course of our time touring we have developed an unbridled seething hatred for traffic wardens. It’s not like we don’t try. We always make the effort to ensure the van is parked legally and that there’s a enough money on the meter but still the one thing we can rely on on the road is succession of clamps and fucking parking tickets. When we get up in Leeds we’re greeted with a fine for parking for about 30 minutes too long in the back-arse of a student halls at eight in the morning when there is literally about 100 empty spaces around. This is the second ticket of the tour on top of at least one congestion charge fine – fuck you Boris Johnson!
After a disgusting lunch in what can only be described as a poor man’s Wetherspoons (no, really) we hit the road for a last minute gig in Accrington by way of dinner at our pal Dek’s home in Blackburn. Dek treats us like rock royalty and offers us a bed for the night so we’re all in good form en route to the gig.
Playing a gig in Accrington is like playing a gig in Last Of The Summer Wine. it’s a peaceful little northern village but people still turn out to see bands. In my experience of northern England, and I realise this may a bit of an unfair generalisation, people like their meat-and-potatoes rock ‘n’ roll. There’s a really endearing sense of pride for their northern heroes (Oasis, The Stone Roses, Kasabian [actually from Leicester in the Midlands - Pedantic Ed] et al) which we could all learn from at home but despite all this and the fact that our music is more akin to the Pacific northwest, they give us a warm reception.
DAY TWELVE:
After a great night’s kip at Dek’s we make a move for Madchester. The weather is glorious, we’ve all recharged our batteries and we’re looking forward to an NI-fest for the last day of this leg of the tour. Ed Zealous, The Jane Bradfords and Strait Laces are all playing in the afternoon/evening preceding our gig so we head down to represent and in my case join in as I jump on with the Bradfords to add some extra guitar/keys/drumming. Once we’re done we head up to the Dry Bar to get organised for our own show and have to endure two of the worst bands I’ve honestly experienced. At this point we realise we’ve been booked for the ‘pity gig’ stage so are determined to rip it up.
And rip it up we do. With about 20-odd NI people getting the crowd riled up we tear through the most aggressive (and hottest) gig of the tour, finshing up with Niall and Franko [bassist Luke] in a pile on the floor mid-crowd. Once all the music is taken care of we get back to doing what we all do best – drinking. Merriment ensues and despite the fact that the other three bands have enormous fancy hotel rooms that we were offered to stay in I find myself pished and crosslegged in the hotel car park desperately trying to reassemble my camp bed whilst begging for mercy from the security guard who is threatening to ‘fuck me up’ for the large stream of piss rolling down his car park from just outside our van. Rock ‘n’ roll.
Quote of the tour so far: “If I saw my mum right now I’d punch her in the face.” (long distance travelling by this point had taken its toll)
Video: Tortoise - ‘Prepare Your Coffin’
Posted by Chris on June 9th 2009 with 0 Comments »
Instrumental rock veterans Tortoise release their sixth full-length album on June 22, the 11-track Beacons of Ancestorship (check the new issue of the mag for Steven Rainey’s review), and the band’s label Thrill Jockey have been good enough to offer up the first video for us to share. The track is ‘Prepare Your Coffin’, and it’s a beauty - charging steadily ahead in rather a stately manner before it reaches its denouement in a concise 3:38. Arguably more interesting than the song, though, is the visually stunning video directed by Andrew Paynter + JUICE - a black-and-white study in geometry, beautifully filmed and edited. Enjoy.
Tortoise - Prepare Your Coffin from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.
Download: Escape Act Remix
Posted by Chris on June 4th 2009 with 3 Comments »
With the ink from their new deal with Edinburgh’s 17 Seconds Records barely dry, Belfast indie-rock trio Escape Act have released a new EP, ‘God Says’, with two exclusive remixes. The first, an electro-pop stomper, comes from brand new duo Uber Glitterati, while the other takes the track in a different direction altogether, as Exmagician (aka James Smith from Cashier No.9 and Three Tales) gives it a gorgeous downtempo reworking, replete with liquid piano and a some lovely, languid guitar.
Escape Act have been good enough to share it with us and you, so get onto the link below to download it. The EP, featuring all three tracks, is available now on iTunes, Emusic and other online stores.
Summer Jams: AU’s Spotify Playlist
Posted by Chris on June 3rd 2009 with 2 Comments »
Summer’s officially here, so while you may be dusting off your sunhat and reaching into the back of the wardrobe for those long-forgotten T-shirts and flip-flops, we’ve put together a Spotify playlist to soundtrack the whole thing. Click here to download what we’ve come up with so far, and we’ve made it collaborative so you can add your own tip-top summer tuneage. We find that smooth pop, laid-back hip-hop and scuzzy noise-pop work particularly well, but it’s all subjective innit? Go wild.
Picture by naomi.carson @ Flickr.
Sir Bloody Alan Bloody Sugar
Posted by Chris on June 2nd 2009 with 0 Comments »
There’s not much funnier than making self-important twonks say a load of stupid shit with clever editing (this is arguably the pinnacle), and Brighton cut-up geniuses Cassetteboy are better than most at it. Marvel as Suralan boasts about his £8 wealth and B in GCSE French, makes arrangements for the contestants to view his enormous package, laments some pretty alarming digestive problems and eventually says “You’re hired” on the basis of who is most willing to snog him.
There’s plenty more where this came from on their Youtube page. Guess who’s not going to get much done today?
Exclusive: Panama Kings Tour Diary Pt. 2
Posted by Chris on May 26th 2009 with 0 Comments »
In his second missive from the Panama Kings’ UK tour (part one is here), guitarist Stuart Bell (far left with the rest of the band and manager - and former Dodgy drummer, fact fans - Math) takes us through some very high highs and some hilariously crushing lows…
Being on tour, in case you’re wondering, is pretty awesome. It’s the full spectrum of highs and lows - the breadth of life experience - that really makes it great. After spending DAY FOUR, a day off, ripping it up round Brighton at the Great Escape and catching everything from Mick Jones (The Clash) to The Joy Formidable and even Justin Hawkins’ Hot Leg (who were actually really good), we make our way up north.
DAY FIVE:
If you’ve ever seen any of those ‘Booze Britain’ style documentaries, that’s where we are. The venue is Stealth in Nottingham which is joined onto the Rescue Rooms and Rock City in a Limelight/Katy Daly’s/Spring & Airbrake kind of deal and while we’re having our tea in the bar, ASIWYFA turn up to play in Rock City, completely unbeknownst to us. After some food and a bit of craic we catch the guys’ set and hear Tony tell the audience about walking into a sleazy backstage-videocamera-orgy last time they played here, and no sooner is their set finished than I’m standing outside the only toilet cubicle in Stealth waiting for two emo boys to finish buggering each other. Realising it’s probably best just to hold it in, we hit the stage to play to 3 people, 2 of whom are definitely on pills. This is the low point, by the way. To make matters worse, Niall’s voice is completely shot so Ricky fills in what he knows (and a lot of what he doesn’t) from behind the kit. Since it doesn’t really matter a damn, we play a completely brand new tune that we’ve never managed to get 100% right in practice and for the first time since we started a year and a half and 100-odd gigs ago, we don’t play ‘Children’. We’ve all been reading Henry Rollins’ Get in the Van over the last lot of days, so despite everything, we still can’t be beaten.
DAY SIX:
After making our way back down to London, our manager Math invites us to a fundraiser for Crisis, a homeless charity. Dodgy and The Bluetones are playing and the skinny one from Horne and Corden is djing. We’re taking it easy though, in preparation for an early start the next day.
DAY SEVEN:
This tour has been pieced together with a mixture of standard gigs, club shows and festival dates, mainly to promote the single but also as a vehicle for us to play the Great Escape and our session today, which is for BBC 6 Music in London. We arrive at Western House in central London at 9am to set up for a chat and two acoustic tracks. We’ve never done a fully live session before and rarely play acoustic so we’re all pretty excited. Radio 1’s Bobby Friction is standing in for George Lamb and the whole thing goes smoothly (you can watch a video of it over on our Myspace) including some banter about previous tour shenanigans which we think nobody found out about - he’s clearly done his research! No sooner are we packed up and in the van than Paul from the label calls to say the ‘Golden Recruit’ vinyls have arrived and he’s just around the corner. As is typical with duplication companies, they muck the order up and don’t cut the records on white vinyl but thankfully they look great anyway. Once all the business is taken care of, Math takes us and Sladey (our radio plugger) out for lunch. Everyone’s in great spirits -these are the high points by the way.
DAYS SEVEN AND EIGHT:
With the session behind us and four dates still to do we have a few days off to hang out. On the Tuesday, we go and see The Bronx at ULU in London who, while not exactly really being my cup of tea, are incredible live and the following day we stop off at Math’s idyllic Wiltshire manor for some R&R en route to Bristol.
Quote of the tour so far: “She danced in a way that led me to believe she would be good at sex.”
PANAMA KINGS LAUNCH THEIR SINGLE GOLDEN RECRUIT IN BELFAST’S LIMELIGHT TOMORROW NIGHT (MAY 27). SUPPORT COMES FROM TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB, SIX STAR HOTEL AND ED ZEALOUS DJS.
Exclusive: Panama Kings Tour Diary
Posted by Chris on May 21st 2009 with 1 Comment »
As the Panama Kings tear up and down GB, guitarist Stuart Bell (far left) gives us the inside track on what has been going down. Clearly, what goes on tour doesn’t always stay on tour…
DAY ONE:
Having just managed to buy, insure and tax the new PK mobile (officially christened ‘Mild Terror’) less than 24 hours before the ferry was due to leave for Holyhead, we’re ready to rock. Spirits are high until about halfway to Dublin when we’re a split second away from a 70mph head-on collision in the middle of some mind-bending roadworks. We only have a cassette player in the van so we’re stuck listening to mixtapes [mate and driver] Toner made when he was 17 - dying in a car crash listening to Bryan Adams’ ‘Please Forgive Me’ is frankly not the way I plan to bow out. The upside to all this is that the memory of me crashing ASIWYFA’s van into the back of a Tesco lorry when I drove on the last tour doesn’t seem quite so bad now…
DAY TWO:
After a good night’s kip in London at [Six Star Hotel's] Ian, Neil and Tim’s gaff (and a sneaky listen to some ace demos for the new Six Star album), we hang out east for a while then soundcheck at 93 Feet East, which is conveniently 30 seconds away from the flat. Once we’re sorted we head round the corner to Rough Trade to catch an instore by Kasms (ex-Test Icicles) then pick up a dodgy curry on Brick Lane.
The gig turns out to be pretty awesome. I’ve played countless shite, soulless gigs in London over the years but tonight was a proper party with a great crowd - would you believe people actually danced?? Once we get wrapped up we get a chance to catch up with a load of NI ex-pats and Paul and Chris from our label who seem genuinely elated that, after spending the last two months working on our new single, we’re not shit live.
DAY THREE:
After staying up half the night going nuts on absinthe and Spotify, we get on the road early for Brighton. We’re playing at the Great Escape Festival, which is like a mini South by South West by the sea, and our first show of the day is a last minute set outside on the beach. The sun is shining and the beer/Relentless (fake Red Bull) is free flowing and by the time we head for the Speigeltent at lunchtime, Toner and Franko [bassist Luke Carson] are already pissed as farts. We get a chance to catch up with the ASIWYFA boys then off to the Ocean Rooms for soundcheck, which is bizarrely the third time I’ve played a gig in a strip club and the third time there haven’t been any strippers. Just my luck.
Before showtime, we make our way to the Rock Sound curated venue for ASIWYFA and get our face completely melted by The Computers. They’re so badass, the singer actually gobs on himself as much as the crowd. They’re also pretty funny, like a cross between Peep Show and The Bronx, but even so they’re no match for ASIWYFA, who absolutely demolish the place within the three songs we manage to catch before hitting the road.
The gig tonight probably trumped the last one on the dancefloor and despite testing stage sound, we still ripped it up. The best thing about it, though, was that Niall [Kennedy, vocals/guitar] managed to shoehorn jokes about the potato famine, the credit crunch and swine flu between songs. I think that’s a record…
Quote of the tour so far: “I hope you get run over in a train crash”
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