I get a number of submissions for 17 Seconds, and it’s sheer luck that I happened to be online when an email from a band called ‘Be Like Pablo’ came into my inbox.
In their own words ‘Be Like Pablo make catchy guitar-based powerpop music with bright girl/boy vocal harmonies. Think the Beach Boys with Scottish accents, Moog synthesizers, noisy guitars and a healthy dose of nerdy enthusiasm.’ I think if you like Fountains of Wayne and early Weezer, for example, you are going to love this band.’
I got an email from a member of the band called Ewen, so I emailed him back to find out more and this is what he said in reply:
“We are based in a small little-known town called Forres (nearish Inverness) and our band comprises Ewen Watson (vocals, synth, guitar), Ross Watson (guitar, vocals), Jen Blackburn (vocals, synth), Jamie Murphy (bass, even more vocals) and Blair Stewart (drums, samples, no vocals). We have recorded a full-length album at Ca Va studios in Glasgow for which we are currently looking for a label (hence the videos etc. to gather interest.)”
This is their most recent single:
This double AA side came out last year:
Here are the videos for the single:
Surely we will be hearing more from these guys soon…
We Were Promised Jetpacks, Edinburgh Liquid Rooms, 6th October 2011 .
Wow – Two days have now passed since this gig and my ears have not long since stopped ringing! It may have been a cold wet night in Edinburgh but half of Corstorphine ensured that a sold out Liquid Rooms was turned into a sweatbox for local boys We Were Promised Jetpacks and the band repaid them by turning everything up to eleven.
Two dates into their tour and with new album In The Pit Of The Stomach only a few days old, the band were clearly up for it as they produced a wall of sound that relentlessly pounded anyone who had any doubts about them into submission.
With their latest offering arguably their strongest to date, WWPJ played new songs like their explosive opener “Circles and Squares” and single “Medicine” with the pride and joy of a child showing off his new toys at Christmas. Although it was the more familiar songs such as “Quiet Little Voices” which saw the crowd at their most frantic, new songs sat beside old songs well in a set that proved that the band now posses an impressive catalogue of songs, which should see them expand their fanbase and finally fulfil the promise they showed back in 2009. Songs like the anthemic new album highlight “Pear Tree” suggest that the band are ready to step out of the shadows and give their peers a run for their money. Buy the record, see the tour and hop on for the ride before this band hit the big time and leave you behind.
****
Many thanks to Laurent Gauffre, the other half of 17 Seconds Records, for his review of this gig
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been kinda taken aback when meeting up with friends I was at school with -and have thus known for decades rather than years – who have told me that they hardly listen to music anymore. Not just ‘Oh, all my CDs are in the attic/sent to a charity shop’ or ‘I haven’t been to a gig/club in ages’ or ‘I don’t really listen to much new stuff’ but just that they seem to have stopped listening to music. This certainly doesn’t make them bad people – but as someone to whom music is just so integral, the thought of not listening to music is hard to understand. I’ll be 35 next month, and the thought of not listening, not going to gigs, not to continue to have that hunger for it is something that’s completely alien.’ John Peel said that for him it was a case of ‘I just want to hear something I haven’t heard before.’ And I still have that.
And one of those things over the last ten years has been investigating ‘folk’* music. I’ve been blown away – twice- by watching Richard Thompson live at Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall, interviewed Roy Harper (er, did I mention that?!?) and utterly fallen in love with Thompson and Sandy Denny-era Fairport Convention. And I know that’s just the tip of a big iceberg.
Another name is June Tabor. I first heard her thanks to Steve over at Teenage Kicks, with his posts on John Peel’s Festive Fifty and hearing her version of ‘No Man’s Land/Flowers of The Forest’ ( a cover of a song by Eric Bogle**, that was also later covered by The Men They Couldn’t Hang as ‘The Green Fields Of France.’) In the last week I’ve (finally) picked up on the fact that she has released two albums this year. One, Ashore contains a cover of Elvis Costello’s ‘Shipbuilding’ (as first recorded by Robert Wyatt) and the other, Ragged Kingdom, is a collaboration with Oysterband. It contains a cover of PJ Harvey’s ‘That Was My Veil,’ ‘The Dark End Of The Street’ and a fantastic re-working of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart.’
So I post here for your enjoyment – but please go and buy them if you like them.
June Tabor -‘Shipbuilding.’ mp3
June Tabor & Oysterband -‘Love Will Tear Us Apart.’ mp3
June Tabor -‘No Man’s Land/Flowers Of the Forest.’ mp3
*yeah, I l know a dissection of that term could be an entire post; it’ll have to wait for another time.
**Amongst Bogle’s other songs are ‘And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda’ which was covered by The Pogues and ‘My Youngest Son Came Home Today.’ He deserves a post dedicated to him sometime, too…
Every so often, along comes someone who just exudes star quality and self-belief, yet stays in touch with reality enough to come across as being warm, down to earth and not arrogant. One such person Is Matthew Phillips, AKA Matthew Kites, frontperson of a band recently hailed as the best unsigned band in Britain, picking up plaudits not just across the blogosphere but also from Music Week and veteran indie DJ Gary Crowley. When I call him up, he’s making his way home in Brixton in the early evening.
After exchanging pleasantries, I begin by asking how Kites came together as a band.
‘It’s a deeply personal project for me, ‘ he explains. ‘It wasn’t just something that I just fell into. I developed demos over a period of time.’ Though even in the photos he has a strong personal presence, it’s clear that he views Kites very much as a band.
‘I met Rick (Kites, electronics, synthesizer) quite randomly,’ he says. He’s clearly in awe of his bandmate’s way with electronics ‘I’m a complete luddite!’ he admits cheerfully. ‘Jack and Jasper (drummer/instrumentalist and guitarist) I knew independently. They hold the glue of Kites together.’ The age spread is also something he thinks reflects the diversity within the band. ‘I’m 26 years old, Rich is 32, Jack’s 19, and Jasper’s 24. Even in our ages we reflect that diversity.’
Kites are London-based, though Matthew was actually born in Helensburgh. ‘I had a very Nomadic childhood,’ he explains. ‘I moved to London to explore an artistic direction, but I didn’t know quite what it was. It wasn’t a ‘eureka’ moment.’
Given the myriad of influences that Kites seem to have both musically and seemingly non-musically as well, I as ask him about the influences on him. He reels off an impressive list of those who feed into what he does. ‘Folktronica, lyrically Billy Mackenzie, Marc Almond in terms of lyrical projection. And Love and The Doors from my Parents’ music collection.’ As for the non-musical influences, he tells me that he’s ‘often been described as quite dandyish and foppish. It’s mainly authors like Evelyn Waugh and Oscar Wilde. ‘I’m not afraid to draw on these when we play live.’
With this in mind, I question whether people have formed any misconceptions about the band so far. ‘We’ve been lucky,’ he states, gratefully, explaining that people so far seem to have grasped what the band are about. However, he adds ‘I know that we’re going to offend some people along the way of our journey. I can see criticisms being thrown our way.’
Speaking of criticisms, I take this moment to confess to him that when I received an email about Matthew describing them as being the new Morrissey, I was extremely cynical – until I heard the music, and realised that they weren’t another Smiths, but pretty damn good in their own right. He takes this in good humour. ‘I’m trying to distance myself from the Morrissey comparisons,’ he says, referring to the iconic Smiths’ frontman. He adds: ‘We both adore language – but in terms of our life stories, we’ve lead completely different paths!’
And what about his plans for the band for the next twelve months? ‘We’d really like to play outside of London,’ he says. I put him on the spot about coming to Scotland – and he reels off an impressive knowledge of gig venues in Glasgow. ‘We will play anywhere!’ he tells me. The single ‘Brother’ is imminent, though there are tracks in circulation. ‘At the moment, I just want to put out material. We haven’t officially released anything ‘til now.’ Brother will be a self-released single, but the band are hoping to do a release with a record company soon. They’ve also been approached by a couple of big-name producers, though he doesn’t reveal who.
He’s clearly ambitious and with big plans, and even on the ‘phone he seems like a star in the making. Yet despite this, he doesn’t come across as arrogant or egotistical, but as a man with his eye on the prize who is getting ready to take the spotlight for his own.
Now, Hiatus is set to follow up that song with a collaboration with a singer called Shura (real name Aleksandra Denton) on an awesome song called ‘Fortune’s Fool.’
The video again shows just how, well, cinematic, the whole of Hiatus’ work is, both visually and on record.
The b-side to the collaboration is called ‘River’ and the video for that can be seen here:
Finally, they have made this track available as a free download:
We Were Promised Jetpacks -‘In the Pit Of The Stomach’ (Fat Cat)
Two years on from their rather fine (and IMHO rather underrated) debut These Four Walls, Edinburgh’s We Were Promised Jetpacks have returned with an album which shows them moving forward, without compromising what made them so exciting in the first place.
They certainly still have the ability to rock like bastards (I mean that in the best possible way) in a post-hardcore/emo sort of way, but now there is an aspect of post-rock (for want of a better term) entering the mix. Tracks like ‘Act On Impulse’ and ‘Hard To Remember’ see the two aspects combine to brilliant effect. Given that they recorded the album at Sigur Ros’ studio in the wilds of Iceland, it would appear that this has had an effect.
Hopefully by now you’ve heard the brilliant single ‘Medicine’ – it’s one of many excellent tracks here, my favourite may well be ‘Pear Tree’ which closes normal editions of the album. They’ve been bracketed in with the likes of Twilight Sad and Frightened Rabbit – both of whom they have played with- but while there may be similarities, it is clear that WWPJ are moving confidently in their own direction, and their fanbase must surely expand with this album.
****1/2
In The Pit Of The Stomach is out now on Fat Cat. The band play Edinburgh’s Liquid Rooms on October 6 and Glasgow’s ABC on December 16.
Roy Harper -‘Songs Of Love and Loss’ (Science Friction/Union Square)
Let’s start off by making something clear. Firstly, this is a compilation. However it is not intended to serve as an overview to the entirety of Roy Harper’s Forty-year plus career, but rather to focus on the love songs and laments he has recorded. So: no, there is no ‘When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease,’ no versions of ‘Have A Cigar’ and nothing off Stormcock.
I should emphasise that this is not to criticise this compilation for a lack of those; on the contrary, it serves as a reminder of just part of the ouevre of Roy Harper. Because if you haven’t heard some of – God forbid -ANY of the songs on this compilation, you need these songs in your life, and this compilation is as good a place to start as any.
I first heard ‘Another Day’ as covered by This Mortal Coil, which was a beautiful version, but not as mind-blowing as the original. ‘South Africa’ was written at the height of Apartheid; with the benefit of hindsight it is possible to see how far the country has come and how far it has still to go. There’s also ‘All You Need Is’ – one of the most perfect love songs ever written, his version of the traditional ‘North Country…’
Yes, I’m a fan of Roy Harper. Thing is, I came to his work quite late on, and I’m happily making up for lost time. The great man celebrates his seventieth birthday this year -and these 23 tracks stand as a monument to just part of his undisputible genius.
*****
Songs Of Love and Loss is out now on Science Friction/Union Square. This is part of the re-issue programme and more reviews will follow here shortly.
Sonny Marvello are Stephen (vocals, above), Mick (guitar), Craig (bass), Walker (keys) and Bryans (drums). It would appear that they do not do surnames. But what they do do is make curious quirky videos for their rather stirring songs.
Take this video for ‘Tiny Little Sparks.’ Looking like it was mostly filmed in an Edinburgh graveyard, it’s like one of my nightmares – yet utterly compelling watching.
The video for ‘Fire Went Out’ is more performance based – but the song is a lovely one:
Both of these are taken from the Tiny Little Sparks EP will be released by Ignite Records on October 3.
I think their name sounds like a minor character in the Harry Potter series…
They are also involved in this event of a gig up in Loch Lomond very shortly…
…and they say that musical protest is dead. Rubbish! Taken from their debut album Greater Inventions, this track looks at the state of Britain and, as they sing Britain in 2011 looks like a scene from 1989.
For Abel are making serious inroads with the coverage and airplay they’re getting, and I hope that this turns into record sales pretty damn soon. With a song as strong as this it may well be the song that helps them to ‘cross over’ (cringe), as they say. With a love of the Wedding Present writ large on its’ sleeve, this is one of the strongest singles this year.
