Monthly Archives: February 2010

Album Review – Ardentjohn

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Ardentjohn – ‘On The Wire’ (Slow Train)

There’s no shortage of bands that have ended by dissolving into fistfights…but Ardentjohn actually began with a fist fight in an Isle Of Bute Primary school playground. Sorta. Two of the band had a fight as children -then met years later on Princes St, and decided to form a band. (Interestingly, neither the press release nor the myspace reveal who had the fight – clearly this could still cause trouble all these years later).

Now a six piece, this band have put pugilism behind them to produce a debut album that is so lovely, everytime I hear it, I am almost taken aback. Whilst I wouldn’t want to use the tag ‘New Fleet Foxes’ there’s a sort of scottish pastoralism throughout this album that makes it a must hear. It doesn’t rewrite the rulebook, attack the listener or cause revolutions (least, not at this pleasant time).

Hell, nice is an adjective that’s used almost as a form of abuse rather than a compliment. So, if I can’t use ‘nice’ then, your honour, I’d like to describe it as lovely, warm, comfortable. Opening tracks ‘All That We Need’ ‘Open Road’ along with recent single ‘Home’ make this an album to treasure. Great melodies, no showing off, just a fantastic wee album.

So next time you see two wee laddies fighting it oot, tell them they never know where it might lead…

****

On the Wire is out now.

Make friends on their myspace page

Stream the album here

Presenting…Julia and the Doogans

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I’ve been meaning to write about Julia and the Doogans for a little while now, and I’ve finally sat down and got round to doing it. They’re due to be releasing an EP in the spring, and the Glasgow band doing a rather fine line in acoustic pop. Think the missing link between Belle and Sebastian and Virginia Astley. Hell, if they were a food, you’d say they were ‘more-ish.’ As I: once you’ve tasted, you want more.

What can I say about Julia and the Doogans? Well, they might well be the perfect Sunday band. Gentle, laid back, and giving you something to think about and get away from the pressures of life. they make music for people to dream to. They consist of Julia (Vocals, guitar, banjo, flute), Alan (guitar, vocals), Renata (‘Cello), Carollann (flute), and Jennifer (piano). so I’m sort of guessing they don’t do surnames.

They’re playing lots around Scotland (see their myspace), particularly around Glasgow, but also taking in Ayr, Stirling, Inverness and Bathgate – though seemingly not Edinburgh in the forseeable future. Their best song might well be ‘New York City’ which isn’t a download but they have made a very cool animated video for. And you can download two tracks called ‘Hummingbird’ and ‘Glasgow.’

Julia and the Doogans -‘Hummingbird.’ mp3

Julia and the Doogans -‘Glasgow.’ mp3

Julia and the Doogans -‘New York City.’

Pop along and make friends at their myspace. They don’t seem like the sort of folks that will bite.

Does there have to be a reason?

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Well, in this case, yes.

Have recently been re-reading Rip It Up And Start Again, and for the first time, Totally Wired, which are the interviews that Simon Reynolds conducted to write the former book.

Utterly awesome and both are well worth it if you have any interest in the music that came from Europe and America after punk between 1978-1984. The years where the music was ‘post-punk’ and then evolved into ‘new pop.’ In fact my only gripe would be that the Cure and Kate Bush aren’t considered important in this period by Reynolds. And Gary Numan doesn’t seem to get much of a look in either. Other than that, great stuff, covering an era that shows Reynolds is right in saying that it vies with the sixties for quality and creativity.

So a few songs from the era concerned…

Propaganda -‘Dr. Mabuse.’ mp3 (This band bridge the gap perfectly between post-punk and ‘new pop.’ )

Human League -‘Being Boiled.’ mp3 (both ‘post-punk’ and ‘new pop.’)

Gary Numan -‘Cars.’ mp3

The Cure -‘A Forest.’ mp3

Kate Bush -‘Wuthering Heights.’ mp3

Gang Of Four -‘Damaged Goods.’ mp3

Delta 5 -‘Mind Your Own Business.’ mp3

Depeche Mode -‘Master and Servant.’ mp3 (in which the subversive ideas of wreckers of civilisation like Throbbing Gristle enter the top ten and Top Of the Pops)

Finally, one of the true pioneers, Green Gartside of Scritti Politti, deserves two entries, one for his none more post-punk and DIY and the second for being one of the best songs ever, bridging the gap between post-punk and new pop:

Scritti Politti -‘Skank Bloc Bologna.’ mp3

Scritti Politti -‘The ‘Sweetest Girl’.’mp3

Album Review – Shearwater

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Shearwater – ‘The Golden Archipelago’ (Matador)

The Golden Archipelago is the third in a series that began with Palo Santo and continued with the excellent Rook in 2008, looking at themes of the environment and humans’ impact on nature. Songwriter Jonathan Meiburg – he of a voice that holds its’ own with the likes of Jeff Buckley – has camped in many places as a researcher, and this impacts on not just lyrical themes but also on the album’s sound. Opening track ‘Meridian’ starts of with the strain of the Bikini Atoll anthem, sung by Bikinians in exile after nuclear tests left their island uninhabitable.

As always, there are those who will find the idea of such things being used on a rock record contemptible, pretentious and that this makes Meiburg another one of the Bono/Chris Martin ‘wear your heart on your sleeve’ school.That’s their loss. Like its’ predecessor, this is an album that begs for repeated playing. It’s quite sad in tone -definitely more an autumn/winter record than a summer one, but none the less for that. It’s also quite a pastoral record, think John Foxx’s The Garden, Pink Floyd circa Ummagumma/Atom Heart Mother/Meddle, or even Virginia Astley’s From Gardens Where We Feel Secure.

While it’s perhaps not as immediate as Rook, it certainly holds its’ own up against its’ successor, particularly when heading into the second play of the day alone (as I am). Also, in this day and age of cherry-picking, whilst there are certain standout tracks -‘Black Eyes’ ‘Castaways’ and ‘An Insular Life’ it isn’t an album that you will want just a few tracks by; it’s almost iPod proof, you will want to hear and listen to this album in its’ entirety.

One of the best albums so far this year.

****

Shearwater -‘Castaways.’ mp3

Shearwater -‘Black Eyes.’ mp3

And because it is so good, Rooks from Rook:

Shearwater -‘Rooks.’ mp3

Shearwater’s website/Shearwater’s myspace

The Golden Archipelago is released on February 15 on Matador.

Time for a Bryan Ferry resurgence? Discuss

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Although Lloyd Cole has been called the Orson Welles of popular music (due to his having peaked with his awesome debut, Rattlesnakes, in 1984), that title could just as easily apply to Bryan Ferry. As part of Roxy Music, their first two albums, Roxy Music and For Your Pleasure in 1972 and 1973 still sound phenomenal (I gave the second album another listen last night, and it’s still startling). However, after that – just like Welles after Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons there were moments of brilliance (Roxy’s ‘Love Is The Drug’ a counterpart to Welles’ performance in Carol Reed’s adaptation of The Third Man?) but a feeling of trading on past glories. Heck, the only person who seems to be doing more albums of covers than Ferry is Rod Stewart. When Roxy came back from their four year hiatus at the end of the 1970s, someone really should have pointed out that their covers of ‘Eight Miles High’ and ‘In the Midnight Hour’ really were not necessary. It seemed that the man once christened Byron Ferrari by the NME (ha! see what they did there?) would never quite hit the heights of coolness again.

…Until the last year or so, that is. Last year, German maestro DJ Hell’s album Teufelswerk kicks off with a phenomenal track featuring Ferry on vocals called ‘U Can Dance.’ Not only that, but Groove Armada’s forthcoming sixth album Black Light features Ferry’s vocals on an excellent track called ‘Shameless.’ And you can’t help thinking, could a man who played in a band with Bryan Eno, ferchrissakes, not realised long ago that making music that was uplifting and fresh was preferable to a lifetime of Bob Dylan covers?

DJ Hell -featuring Bryan Ferry -‘U Can Dance (Peter Kruder edit).’ mp3

Groove Armada -‘Shameless (featuring Bryan Ferry).’ mp3

DJ Hell featuring Bryan Ferry -‘U Can Dance.’ video

In the absence of a proper compilation…

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I would love to put together a compilation of what I consider to be the best new msuic coming out of Scotland. In the absence of this, though, I created a 50-track imix and put it up on iTunes. Seven tracks didn’t make it through, for whatever reason, but the ‘new music out of scotland’ playlist highlights stuff from Song, By Toad Records, Armellodie, Chemikal Underground and 17 Seconds Records.

Doubtless I will be left kicking myself about some of those I missed but hope someone out there likes it:

Follow this link to buy it

Oh, and I did make sure that it wasn’t just indie acts or bands from the central belt, too…here’s a visual taster!

Frightened Rabbit…an almost weekly update…and Twilight Sad!

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I know, I know…it’s been at least, what, a week at least since I mentioned Frightened Rabbit on here?

However, with Fat Cat sending me both the Twilight Sad’s remix of an Errors’ track (the remix of the opening track from Errors’ forthcoming album out on February 15, Come Down With Me), and the video for the new Frightened Rabbit single both arriving in my inbox today…how could I not?

To these ears, the Twilight Sad remix evokes Fuck Buttons (which is interesting, sorta, as the Errors played with Fuck Buttons in Scotland when they were both supporting Mogwai, whose label, incidentally, Rock Action, the Errors are signed to!)

Errors -‘Bridge Or Cloud? (Twilight Sad remix).’ mp3

Meanwhile, this is the video for the new Frightened Rabbit single ‘Nothing Like You’ out on February 22. I am fervently hoping that there is not going to be a backlash against Frightened Rabbit now they are getting the attention they so richly deserve.


Frightened Rabbit on MUZU

(Sorry I confused Frightened Rabbit with Twilight Sad earlier – a depressingly early senior moment at the age of thirty three)

Factory Kids’ debut release on 17 Seconds Records

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Yup, a mere week after the release of our last release, 17SEC14 hits the streets! Well, the internet, anyway.

‘They Used To Call Me Baby,’ the debut EP by the Factory Kids is available to download from iTunes and all good download services from today (except hmv.com, who seem to be redesigning their download bit, or something). It’s a five track EP, and just in case you haven’t heard it already, you can download the opening, title track:

Factory Kids -‘They Used To Call Me Baby.’ mp3

In other 17 Seconds Records news, we have a facebook group for ‘Buy the dirty cuts single’ here, as well as one for 17 Seconds Records here. Do not attempt to spam us (we still know what you did last summer).

We have had to reschedule the planned 17 Seconds Records night at Mono on february 28, but more news when we have it.

What is exclusive news, though, is that 17 Seconds Records have a night with X-Lion Tamer and Chris Bradley at Limbo in Edinburgh, with yours truly DJing! That’s April 17, so get it in your diaries. (Unless you’re already going to see the Dirty Cuts at Nice ‘n’ Sleazy’s, which is a fair enough excuse).

Forthcoming in two weeks’ time are the digital re-issues of The Wildhouse’s first two albums. It’s getting busy.

Album Review: The Postmarks

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The Postmarks -‘Memoirs At The End Of The World.’ (Unfiltered Records)

It’s quite a surprise to discover that The Postmarks are from Florida. The band’s sound and look owes much to Europe and the sweet indie-pop influenced by the sixties.

This is the group’s second album, and it starts off strongly with the song ‘No One Said This Would Be Easy’ which is a fine starting point. The problem is, though is that the record contnues in a similar vein, and by the time of the third or fourth track, attention is wandering to other things, instead of holding your attention. It picks up again with’For better…Or Worse?’ and, alas the same thing happens again. It picks up again towards the end of the record, but despite several plays I have found this album to be inconsistent throughout.

It’s a real shame because there are some great tracks here, but there’s way too much filler to keep your attention going over the course of the album. It feels like an album with some very strong singles where the rest of it is just filler…and in this day and age, if people buy their music electronically, they are going to be cherry-picking.

When it’s good, it’s very good, when it’s average…it’s just far too often.

***

Memoirs At The End Of The World is out now.

Hear tracks on myspace.

The Postmarks’ website/The Postmarks’ myspace