he benefit of the doubt, because on the evidence of the two demo tracks on their soundcloud page, these guys could well have a bright future ahead of them.
I’ll be interested to know what you think -but I’m loving these two tracks, and want to hear more.
Don’t let their description of them being an Engli
Driving into work this morning, there was a discussion on the local radio about which decade would you most have liked to have lived through.
The fifties were winning -but more to do with people’s perception of fifties America which has been shaped by Grease and Back To The Future, apparently; and absolutely sod all to do with living in a Britain where rationing wa
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s still in place, and austerity was the name of the game (don’t laugh folks, cos all cliches turn full circle).
I on the other hand, rang in -and got to hear my dulcet tones on air (apparently I sound much more scottish on air than in real life, according to my friend Keith who heard me) -and said the seventies.
Now, I’m well aware that the seventies had their downsides – and I don’t mean fashion either – but for music it would have been awesome.
Well, not Tony Orlando and Dawn or Peters and Lee or Demis Roussos (like duh) but this would hav
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The last time that Gang Of Four released a new studio album, in 1995, Britain was in thrall to Britpop, Tony Blaire seemed like the promised Messiah, and the internet was something that seemed almost like a novelty. ‘Post-punk’ seemed so long ago. And yet, there were bands who had gone on to become amongst the biggest in the world, all of whom were indebted to Gang Of four, and amongst them were Red Hot Chili Peppers, REM and U2.
Fast forward sixteen years. Politically, so much has happened that the final page of Animal Farm resonates ever harder. the internet -mostly for the good –
is a powerful force in most people’s lives. And musically? Well, just as at the end of the eighties music critics and journalists started to suggest that Revolver was a better and more important album than Sergeant Pepper, so they have started to argue that post-punk was actually more important than punk; crucially that Metal Box was actually the album that Lydon should have made just two years previously and that Nevermind the Bollocks wasn’t all that important.
And Gang Of Four? Well, Entertainment! sounds ever more like a blueprint for much of what has come under the heading of indie-alterntaive (often morphing into stadium filling) over the last thirty years. It still sounds phenomenal thirty years on. The aforementioned Chilis, REM and U2 have continued to be high profile acts, but along with them, bands like The Rapture, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party and Editors have a clear influence that can be traced back to Gang Of Four.
So Gang Of four have their place in the history books. And it’s gre
at to report that their comeback album looks likely to cement rather than detract from that. It isn’t Entertainment! part 2. However, it is better than the pointless rehash that was the Return the Gift album.
What’s great about it is that it is a great album that sounds like a rejuvenated Gang Of Four. Founder members Jon King and Andy Gill have come back with an exc
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ellent album that sounds like Gang of four with innovations. ‘It Was Never Gonna Turn Out Too Good’ uses a vocoder
to surprisingly but surprisingly good gothic effect. ‘She Said You made a Thing Of Me’ sets out its’ stall as an album opener with impressive effect and ‘I Party All the Time’ sounds like a loud cough to remind U2 where the blueprint for Achtung B
The song titles sound classically Gang Of Four, too. This is not the sound of a band desperate for a comback at any rpice or a last hurrah. Rather a band who are reenergised and rejuvenated adding another album to their already fine cannon of work. At thirty five minutes this may seem a short album to so
f forty bloggers who have been chosen to be the judges for the Emerging Talent Competition taking place at Glastonbury this year, which also includes none other than Matthew Young over at Song, By Toad.
Now I don’t know if these guys -Surreal -are going in for the competition, but I do know they have already got the thumbs up from both Steve Lamacq and Tom Robinson. Surreal are Laurence Allen, who writes and performs all the vocals, and producer/multi-instrumentalist Tim Rowkins, wh
This was the first track of theirs that I played and it blew me away. Excellent use of samples, and nice to have a band who a) were not being sycophantic in their email and b)actually gave me something more than just a myspace address to follow (which is really quite irritating).
British Sea Power -‘Valhalla Dancefloor’ (Rough Trade)
It’s quite impressive to be able to report that BSP are five albums and ten years into their career.Whilst sometime labelmates like Messrs. Casablancas and Doherty (and their respective merry men) have seemed to hog the limelight at times (not always for the music in the case of the latter, either), BSP have got on with the business of being a great act on vinyl and live.
ve done over their previous albums, they give the impression that they are having far more fun than they have ever done before. Their songs are becoming ever more anthemi but -and this is the really good part -a)never descending into bombast and b)never soundling like a meat and 2 veg rock band.
BSP have always understood that experimenting and writing songs are not mutually exclusive ideals. Thus the first two tracks on the album ‘Who’s in Control’ and ‘We Are Sound’ tear the place apart, there are also tracks like ‘Baby’ and ‘Once more Now’ that are more reflective.
It’s not to say that this will be the album to catapault them to being a stadium-filling band, but I truly hope that this album will take them up another rung or two of the success ladder. It certainly deserves to.
I think if you’ve been reading this blog for a while now, you’ll know how awesome I think Penguins Kill Polar Bears are. Last year’s debut EP Dawn was pretty flaming excellent, they’ve supported the likes of Twin Atlantic, The Xcerts and Nine Black Alps, and made the 17 seconds Festive Fifty with ‘Home.’
Well, the good news is that the word is spreading. The Scotsman reckons that they ‘ deservedly follow in the footsteps of groups like Aereogramme, Biffy Clyro and newer friends and contemporaries like t
The band are just about to release their second EP, entitled Vessels & Veins, which will be released on February 21. And doing the rounds now as a free download from the forthcoming four track EP is the song ‘Lungs.
Not only that, but they are heading out on tour again as well:
February 24th: Mad Hatters ,Inverness
February 25th: Tunnels, Aberdeen
February 26th: Vessels & Veins EP Launch, Sneaky Pete’s – Edinburgh
March 3rd: The Green Door,Brighton
March 4th: Chichester Inn, Chichester
March 5th: Blueroom, Blackpool
March 7th: Tommy’s Bar, Cardiff
March 8th: Boogie Lounge, Cheltenham
March10th: Bull & Gate, London
March 11th: Milo, Leeds
March 12th: The Captain’s Rest,Glasgow
Signed to Biphonic Records, the label which brought us the fine electopop styling of Seafieldroad and Swimmer One (both acclaimed and featued on this very blog), they are set to release their album When I Was Good on February 28.
They make perfect sense on Biphonic, and the music is both stylish electro and hauntingly acoustic (and if I hear one more idiot mention the ‘f’ word, I’ll deck ’em!), as exemplified by the two tracks that have been made available to download ahead of the album’s release: ‘I Play the Guitar’ with it’s gorgeously stuttering, glitchy intro into a fine pop song and the heartfelt, forlorn ‘Shame’. Think The Blue Nile. Think Boards Of Canada. Think Errors…and think it in the same act.
Entitled Valhalla Dancehall, the indicators are that they are on fine form and they have even told NME that they’re finally learning to enjoy themselves. Glad to hear it. Though they’ve never had quite the level of coverage that some of their labelmates (particularly the Strokes and the Libertines) got, they’ve continued to grow.
The fine foliage-botherers have made ‘Who’s In Control’ available to download.
Who’s In Control
We Are Sound
Georgie Ray
Stunde Null
Mongk II
Luna
Baby
Living Is So Easy
Observe The Skies
Cleaning Out The Rooms
Thin Black Sail
Once More Now
Heavy Water
parts -in no small part due to Karn, they became commercially successful, releasing some of the most haunting and evocative music ever recorded. The three tracks posted below give a small idea of just how special and unique Japan were. ‘Ghosts’ must be one of the most unusual -but brilliant son
gs -ever to break into the top 5 and parent album Tin Drum is one of the classics albums of the period.
As well as his solo career, Karn collaborated with Gary Numan, Kate Bush and Peter Murphy of Bauhaus (with whom he formed the one-off project Dali’s Car). He had a
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successful solo career, and even a hit duet with Midge Ure ‘After A Fashion.’ He also joined Rain Tree Crow, the band that were to all intents and purposes a reformed Japan.
ing a solo arist. ‘Baker Street’ became an AOR classic, and the rumour -started as a joke by Stuart Maconie that the saxophone solo had been played by Bob Holness stuck around for many years. In the 1990s, the use of Stealer’s W
