Chimpomatic

Sebadoh

III

Who are Sebadoh? Well, Ill let them introduce themselves, courtesy of Showtape 91 the 11 minute spoken-word epic that closes side 2 of the re-issue of 'III', the aptly titled 3rd album, from this Massachusetts 3 piece.

Amongst other things, Sebadoh are:

- "Your new favourite dope-smoking renaissance threesome"
- "Your post modern folk-core saviours"
- "Featuring that guy who played bass in Soul Asylum, Lou Barlow"
- "3 more reasons to leave your boyfriend. Way to Go, Sebadoh!"

So there you have it; cynical, sarcastic, funny, confident and impossible to pigeonhole. Whilst III was their third album, it marked something of a starting point for the band. Previous albums The Freed Weed and Weed Foresting were self released cassettes that unashamedly wore (literally) their creative influence upon their sleeves. For III Lou Barlow and Eric Gaffney were joined by Jason Lowenstein, and whilst not compromising their taste for musical extremes, produced an album that heralded the introduction of 'lo-fi' in the midst of the Grunge Explosion.

Barlow, freshly liberated from a traumatic stint in Dinosaur Jr. (not Soul Asylum) used III as something of an exorcism, wasting no time in having a dig at J Mascis on track 1, The Freed Pig "You were right, I was battling you, trying to prove myself". From then on, the album takes the familiar shape and form of a typical Sebadoh album, ie. all over the place. Track 2 is a blistering cover of Minutemen's Sickle & Hammers, the heavily distorted bass (a signature sound) and blood curdling screams of Scars, Four Eyes is followed by the delicate Truly Great Thing "Make it easy and I'll hold it against you, Make it hard and I'll run away". Back to their herbal muse for Smoke a Bowl, a song which wouldnt be out of place on the Black Lodge Jukebox in Twin Peaks. How do you follow that? With the country hoe-down tinged Black Haired Gurl of course.

The album continues in this vein before closing with As The World Dies, The Eyes Of God Grow Bigger which captures the split personality of the band perfectly; acoustic singalong, followed by distorted screamalong, all ending with the cheery farewell "BLOOD ON THE WALLS, BLOOD ON THE WALLS." Hey, a trip with Sebadoh isn't ever easy, but you go to some interesting places along the way.

Disc 2 of this re-issue is immediately a winner, in that it includes the Gimme Indie Rock EP - the title track of which, is possibly the finest 3 and a half minutes this prolific band ever laid to tape. The rest of the extras all add to the whole; unreleased songs from the recording sessions, raw 4-track versions of old songs and the bizarre closer Showtape '91. At a hefty 41 tracks, the new 'III' might help solve that terminal puzzle: 'What to get the Sebadoh fan who has everything?'

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25th Oct 2006 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Brakes

The Beatific Visions

After 2004's Give Blood, Brighton's Brakes are back with their second album The Beatific Visions - and the bets are on. Where Give Blood was an eclectic and electrifying collection of tracks, it certainly wasn't without it's problems. It showed great promise however and the threat of a more permenent band (The Electric Soft Parade is another band featuring two of the Brakes) spending more time focusing on a new Brakes album was a tasty prospect.

Opening track Hold Me In The River fulfills the early promise right fom the start. The playing is sharp and focused, with the song quickly shifting up through the gears. The guitars are high on the priority list, with a sliding screech like a muscle car burning rubber. Although the song is more focused tha some of the more comedy elements of Give Blood, there's still plenty of room for wit - with Scarlett Johansson being amongst this song's topic of fun.

There's no drop as we move on with Margarita and the album's already sounding like an old favourite. The country-punk element of their sound is one of the band's strong points - making for taught and engaging songs without the constraints of sounding like everyone else at the moment. This aspect to the Brakes sound has evolved and matured with this album - no doubt helped by the fact that the album was recorded in Nashville with a who's who from all over the record industry. Recorded by Stuart Sikes (Cat Power, White Stripes) at The House of David studio (as used by Elvis amongst others) and featuring David Briggs (of Muscle Shoals, and Elvis' 70's band). If I Should Die Tonight showcases all of these elements to full effect, creating a superb modern country sound layered with guitars and piano under a simple but engaging lyric.

My main gripe with Give Blood was always the under-developed feeling of some of the songs, which seemed to end just as they got started. That has been addressed on several songs here, but unfortunately Mobile Communication, No Return and title track Beatific Visions are the least successful songs this time round. The songs seem to flatten out into a far more conventional sound and structure, robbing the band of much of their originality. It's a small niggle however, and things pick up again with Cease and Desist and the excellent Porcupine Or Pineapple? - distilling recent wars to a few simple words. Spikey, spikey, spikey. At 1.04 it's the shortest track on the album, which still only clocks in at 28 minutes for 11 songs.

The balance seems a bit lost on the album, which could possibly be rectified different sequencing... although I think from now on I'm just going to shut up and keep my opinions to myself, as if this is any evidence to go by Brakes can do a good job of moving things on by themselves. There are some fantastic songs on this record and it just adds further evidence that the band are heading in the right direction, making great music along the way.

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24th Oct 2006 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

The Blood Arm

Lie Lover Lie

They're a confident bunch, The Blood Arm. One would suppose you don't get nominated for Best New Band in LA (2004) through modesty and reticence. "I told you before, when I was young and obscure, it takes more than an ocean, to keep me ashore" proclaims singer Nathanial Fregoso, on album opener 'Stay Put!' a White Stripesy number, that has forceful pianos accompanying Fregoso, before being joined by crashing cymbals and distorted guitars.

Confidence, doesn't necessarily mean substance though. The piano hammers and cascades, driving all the songs along at a brisk tempo, so that as a whole, the album sounds like a collection of Show Tunes; 'Blood Arm: The Musical' if you will. Here's our hero proudly announcing that "I like all the girls and all the girls like me." 'Suspicious Characters'. Here's the chorus-line, linking arms and belting out an ode to the Road Trip 'Going to Arizona'. Like its theatrical cousins from the West End, 'Lie Lover Lie' isn't going to change the world, but for those times when you just want to get drunk, forget about thinking and have a good time, this could be what you need.

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20th Oct 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Brakes

The Luminaire, London

Brighton's Brakes dazzled a Myspace friendly crowd at Kilburn's The Luminaire last night with their country-punk antics. It was a night of great new music with Blood Red Shoes providing a truly memorable performance before hand, but when Brakes opened with the 30 second punch in the face of Hi How Are You you knew this was a band with more experience and confidence than anything that had gone before. Their timing was tight, their guitars loud and the shaved head of front-man Eamon Hamilton repeatedly displayed a near to bursting vein. Although old favorites like Heard About Your Band and All Night Disco Party from Give Blood sounded fantastic and caused frenzied cheers from the crowd, the songs from the new album Beatific Visions seemed fuller and more focused in comparison.

Album openers Hold Me In The River and Margherita had might and weight that made the blink-and-you'll-miss-them punk ditties seem like musings of a band long gone, but the soon-to-be live favorite was the vein throbbing, spit propelling onslaught of Porcupine or Pineapple?. Introduced as one of the songs they recorded on a recent trip to Nashville the line "Who won the war, what the fuck is it for?" was delivered with such jaw dropping venom that you wonder how these boys were received in those hallowed lands.

All in all Brakes displayed an energy and urgency that was great to behold in such an intimate venue and with a band full of look a-likes ranging from Goldie on vocals, an allergic Pete Doherty on guitar, Will Ferrell on bass and Chris Martin on drums Brakes put on one hell of a show that will keep your ears ringing and bleeding for some time to come.

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17th Oct 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Black Keys

Le Trabendo, Paris

October 5th 2006

In a postmodern world where everyone sounds like someone else, The Black Keys are pretty easy to pigeonhole. Sitting somewhere between The White Stripes and Wolfmother, they take heavy blues and run with it. And thats about it. "I woke up this morning" nah, nah, nah, "Tied up my shoes" nah, nah, nah. They don't have the inventiveness of The White Stripes to make only being a two piece their selling point, and they don't have the punishing power and speed change fun of Wolfmother - preferring the slower heavier, sound.

None the less, it was an entertaining show. Although there is little variation between their songs, and there was little stage chat or interruption, that one hour long smoky-blues-jam that they played was a good one. They obviously love what they are doing, and they do it well. There was power and passion and the venue was electric with the enthusiastic, well behaved, civilized Parisian crowd. Hats off to opening band and Black Mountain side project Blood Meridian too. They warmed things up nicely with their own band of bluesy rock ...and they spoke a bit of French.

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6th Oct 2006 - 4 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Blood On The Wall

Awesomer

Recently bands like Brakes and Blood On The Wall have opened the floodgates and made albums like department stores, there's something for everyone. They don't claim to specialise in anything but as a whole they create a record that reflects our current state of pluralism. This is the second full length from the New York trio and the pace and furious energy is maintained here as it was on their self-titled 2004 debut.

As their name may suggest Blood On The Wall don't create Gwar style death metal, instead Awesomer is a medley of furious punk, rolling indie-pop and ominous stoner rock. Vocal duties are shared between brother and sister duo Ben and Courtney Shanks and their styles couldn't be more different or more complimentary. Courtney delivers slow, brooding, breathy vocals not unlike the Cowboy Junkies while Brad takes the less subtle approach, screeching and wining like Frank Black's little brother.

Courtney's opener Stoner Jam is exactly what it claims to be until brother Brad comes in and scratches his nails down the blackboard of your ears with Reunite On Ice. You start to think how annoying this voice should be but it's not. Though Brad is certainly given the dirty work while Courtney is there to give the record weight she plays him at his own game on the dirty little number Can You Hear Me and Brad, not to be outdone, turns out some very listenable indie-pop gems like Right To Light Tonight and You Are A Mess. His finest moment is the short but sharp Gone, while she shines on Dead Edge Of Town.

Though it doesn't always work the eclectic nature of this band recalls early Beastie Boys, throwing in some truly pulverising punk interludes. If you chuck enough ideas around you are bound to end up with something exciting and that is what Awesomer is, it's one idea after another coming at you fast and with out care to the point where it seems so packed full that you find yourself amazed it only takes up 31 minutes of your time.

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14th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Peter, Bjorn & John

Writer's Block

Writers Block is the third album from this Swedish power-pop trio and its summer release could brighten up many a cheery bbq or dinner party. Young Folks is the obvious single here; it's a jovial little number featuring Concretes vocalist Victoria Bergsman. Somehow it manages, by the skin of its teeth, to remain on the right side of cheesy-we're-as-happy-as-The Magic Numbers-pop, but treads a very fine line. The whole album tends to tread this path, never crossing the line but coming dangerously close on occasions.

Up Against The Wall starts off this way but then seems to drift off into almost New Order territory with the last 4 minutes taken up by a glorious beat/guitar instrumental. This really picks the album up only to be dashed by the appalling Paris 2004. I would like to amend my earlier statement about how they never quite cross the line into Magic Numbers stomach churning happiness. They cross it here with the chorus "I'm all about you, you're all about me, we're all about each other." Thankfully this doesn't herald a halftime descent into puke, and we resume proceedings with The Cure-sounding Lets Call It Off and the even more Cure sounding The Chills. This obvious influence is not a criticism and it works very well creating 2 of the more interesting tracks on the album.

This isn't a bad piece of work. It's one of those records that demonstrate such clear influences but as those influences come from great sources it tends to work. But at the end of the day, the fact that they are so glaringly obvious is their ultimate undoing.

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10th Aug 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Diableros

You Can't Break The Strings In Our Olympic Hearts

This is the debut full-length offering from the Toronto based sextet and it further goes to show that the mighty talent that has been flooding out of this country for years is not looking like subsiding. Their sound has been compared to the baritone seriousness of Interpol but The Diableros bring a welcome change to this style injecting furious urgency and a passion that leaves Interpol's Paul Banks' vocals sounding slightly laboured and sluggish. For me this album continues the good work already done by bands such as Interpol but take the music to places I always want Paul Banks and his merry men to go every time I listen to them.

One of the stand out tracks, Push It To Monday, saunters in with a Springsteen-esq "Born To Run" bass line and with the introduction of Pete Carmichael's vocals we soon have a true 'hands in the air' classic The Boss would be proud of. While Tropical Pets has an arrogant swagger worthy of Oasis in their Supersonic heyday.

The Diableros have more in common with The Wedding Present than any of their countrymen. As on albums like Bizarro or Seamonsters the vocals here are so under produced they are barely audible over the 'wall of sound' guitars that frequently attack your ears. At first I thought this was going to be a problem but then realised what effect this under-production had on the overall feeling of the record. It gives it a certain immediacy and rawness that is only found when a band play live and the audience is left stunned by the sheer energy of what they are seeing. You really feel exhausted at the end of each song, as so much emotional ground seems to have been covered in such a short and frantic space of time. This is quite a rare feeling with a lot of indie music these days as if the bands don't quite have it in them to grab you by the scruff of the neck and kick your arse.

I could go on and list so many instances where this is happens on this record but none so satisfying as on the album closer 'Golden Gates.' It starts off with a marching drum beat and simmering vocals then, as if shifting up to a hidden gear, it accelerates to a stomping finale that really evokes the defying sentiment of the albums title, "You Can't Break The Strings On Our Olympic Hearts," and for a glorious moment you profoundly believe this to be true.

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7th Aug 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

The Forum, Kentish Town, London

We've been loving the Clap Your Hands album this year, so were looking forward to this gig at The Forum (high on the favourite venues list). Support band The Boy Least Likely To... sucked, following the recent "branding+website+aren't-we-wacky, c'mon sing along=boy least likely to be bought by me" formula of quite a few UK bands. Once they were out of the way and most of the balloons had been popped the show really started. Clap Your Hands were kind of as expected (with the exception of the Scarecrow hat and actual country styles) - serious but not too serious, straight down to business and thoroughly holding the crowd's attention. They were soon onto the one of my favourites, In This Home On Ice - and the crowd were loving it. Almost every song seemed like your favourite, including several new songs - all sounding good. The band few us a few red herrings, starting songs with a bit of blues finger picking before rolling into Is This Love, or stretching things out. The sound didn't seem to do much to lift the muffled lyrics out of the music at first, but pretty soon everyone was picking out the zeitgeist (sub: please check my grammar) highlights, like sex, and drugs, and rock and rock and rock and rock and roll. Lead singer Alec Ounsworth didn't have much to say, but the couple of the other guys chipped in now and then with some banter and a couple of song introductions.

One thing I did overlook when anticipating this gig was my own rule of not seeing bands with less than three albums under their belt - and that's where these guys loose points. They were undoubtedly great performers, putting in amped up performances of nearly their entire album, many of which are already near classic songs.... however, take away the two skimpy ditties and the entire album clock in at barely 35 minutes. A not-enough-songs scenario ensued, with the band huddling between nearly every song to discuss how to proceed. They did everything you'd expect, and while the new songs were certainly good ("Satan Said Dance" in particular) they were still unknown, not bringing anything like the same crowd response as Details Of The War or The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth. A harsh critic may say it was like seeing Radiohead in support of Pablo Honey, where they were playing mystery songs of their forthcoming album second album. A more generous one may say it was like seeing Oasis just before Definitely Maybe.

The awesome Upon This Tidal Wave Of Young Blood has always had the promise to be stretched out as a 10 minute Free Bird -style jam, and it looked briefly like that might close the set, however an enthusiastic stage diver managed to unplug Alec Ounsworth's guitar, bringing that dream to an somewhat abrupt conclusion.

The band came back on with a new song (or was it a cover?) and although the encore was padded out with the un-listenable Clap Your Hands even that song sounded good live, before Heavy Metal finished the set and upped it's position on the grid.

Looking forward to the "Sophomore Plus" world tour of London.

Click here for pictures.
www.clapyourhandssayyeah.com

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11th Jul 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

The National

Koko, Camden

"The English are waiting and I don't know what to do." Sings Matt Berninger of The National at Koko last night. This line seemed all too true for the charismatic lead singer who looked visibly stunned and overwhelmed at the rapturous applause that greeted him and his band. While cracking open a bottle of champagne he admitted, "this is the first time we have played to this many people who have just come to see us." I too was quite surprised at the frenzied response to every song and the general hysteria that resided in the hall that night. And it was well deserved.

Opening with the glorious Secret Meeting and just about playing every song they know, as well as a few new ones, this soon evolved into a truly stunning and memorable gig. It's such a treat these days to see a front man with a personality, who is genuinely reacting to the passion and emotion of the songs - rather than assuming an act. On songs such as Daughters Of The Soho Riots, Berninger whispers into the mic as if he was holding his lover, his hands gently yet firmly clasping the neck whilst he pours his heart out as if they were the only two in the room. In between verses and songs he would pace around nervously, biting his nails like a troubled man waiting outside his lovers door, rehearsing the devastating words he is about to utter. After screeching the repeated mantra 'My mind's not right' on Abel, Beringer looked genuinely shaken at the power of his own voice.

As is often the case at great gigs, the crowd is treated to revamped and reworked versions of familiar favourites. The achingly beautiful Wasp Nest smouldered like the cigarette permanently burning between Berninger's clasped fingers, then gradually rose to a mighty crescendo that morphed into the awesome Murder Me Rachel. The highlight of the set, and the moment that brought this gig into four-star territory, was the mighty Mr November. If much of the night saw Berringer straining to keep his emotions under wraps, this was the point where he lost the fight. Clearly feeding off the crowds unified and deafening chant of "I'm the new blue blood, I'm the great white hope," the front man gave it all he had, screaming over and over "I wont fuck us over, I'm Mr. November." Fantastic. And all this while being flanked by two twin hobbits from Lost's Driveshaft.

Click here for more pictures, and here for a review of November 2005's gig at ULU.

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1st Jun 2006 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

United Sounds of ATP

Camber Sands Holiday Centre, Sussex

Before going to the All Tomorrow's Parties music festival (at Pontin's Holiday Camp) I wasn't sure what to expect - and leaving a few days later I'm still not sure what I made of it all. Staying in a chalet as opposed to a tent had it's obvious benefits, especially as the rain was fairly relentless the entire weekend - making those swimming trunks I packed optimistic at best. But the constant grey skies and rundown look to the place gave it an Apocalypse Now feel - a surrealness not lightened by having to negotiate 'Funland' to get to the bar (my funland). The winner of ATP however, is that it truly is all about the music. Each headlining act allowed to choose their favourite bands to play bill - so the opportunities to discover something new were high.

Day 1
So heading to stage 2 (downstairs) on the Friday and lifted by the news that Guinness was coming in at a reasonable £2.70 a pint, The Magik Markers were a good place to kick things off. I'd read a bit about this Hungarian/American three piece and was definitely loving the fact they only played two songs in their 40 minute set (I preferred track 1) allowing me to catch up with mates, whilst dipping in and out of their (at-times) fairly rocking jam sessions. I was told however, that Dead Meadow upstairs (stage 1 of 2) were awesome, with a particularly excellent drummer -a vital ingredient for any self-respecting rock band. So upstairs we went -happy with the fact you could walk to a fairly good spec in the crowd relatively hassle free. Broken Social Scene were excellent -the surprise package of the weekend. I'd heard the name, but didn't really know their sound - they reminded me a bit of Mercury Rev - how they would allow a euphoric brass section to creep up and get you grinning by the end of each song. Also, it's the sign of a great band when you are thinking 'There's no way they can top that tune' then halfway through the next you've already forgotten the previous one (if you know what I mean). We were also treated to an early glimpse of Friday's curator J. Mascis - with long grey hair, shades and adidas shell suit. The man is a hero. He came out for a bit of a guitar duel with Broken Social Scene. Odds were stacked heavily against BSS though, as J's guitar sounded like it was turned up to 14, drowning out allcomers. Still, that whetted the appetite for Dinosaur Jr. later. Next up, indie stalwarts Teenage Fanclub. Although they opened up with personal favourite 'Mudhoney' I thought I'd go and check out The Brian Jonestown Massacre instead. Shouldn't have bothered. I liked their music in Dig!, but they were a bit boring really. I guess I was as guilty as many others, down there for the 'Car Crash' effect - waiting to see if Anton Newcombe was going to crack and kick anyone in the head (he didn't). I was told that Teenage Fanclub were great though - fair play to those lads.

A drum kit flanked by 10 Marshall Stacks; Dinosaur Jr made their intentions clear from the off. They were extremely loud, but equally awesome. What happened to Lou Barlow? From nerdy Sebadoh boy, to some sort of pumped up uber-bassist - he easily promoted himself to Lead Bass in my fantasy super group. A fairly healthy split between Lou's and J's songs - with all the 'hits' in there, they are certainly a band I'd make every effort to see whenever they are in town. A blinding set to round off day one.

Day 2
The day started with a hair of the dog in the pub at twelve and ended 17 hours later being kicked out of the ATP disco. As a result, my memories of Saturday's bands are sketchy at best. The Fiery Furnaces were pretty good. Spoon reminded me of Wilco, but didn't really do enough to lift me out of my stuper. Main act Sleater Kinney were really good though (I think). They certainly rocked the house, with some powerful drumming being a prominent recollection. Worth checking out more of their stuff to plug those holes. Highlight of the day though has to be R Kelly's bizarre Hip-Hopera 'Trapped in the Closet' - showing on the ATP TV Channel (each headliner also gets to create a days schedule of TV). A 40 minute epic with R. Kelly lending his golden tones to the story of various dudes getting caught with each other's girlfriends and threatening to blow everyone away and shit. Was it for real? Who knows - but he did rhyme Bridget with Midget (the midget in question, was uncovered hiding in a cupboard by a policeman returning home early to his wife - bizarre indeed, but try and check it out).

Day 3
With the rain still coming down and the hangover a large one Sunday was always going to be about re-grouping. So, finding a spot on the back wall to nurse some beers was the order of the day (although this is obviously much more pleasant on a sunny last day of an outdoors festival, as opposed to an airtight bingo hall after a three day rock festival). To be fair to the bands, it was going to take something special to rouse me from that position. Aussie band The Drones had a good stab with their better than average pub-rock. The Decemberists were clearly a crowd favourite, reminding me a bit The Levellers, Placebo and the Polyphonic Spree - but not at all as bad as that sounds. They did manage to get the whole crowd to sit down for a quiet number (no problems for me) then getting them back up for a rousing finale. The lead singer of 70's style rock Dungen also played a flute. Then the highlight of the weekend, The Black Keys. Two songs in and I was up off my ass and into the crowd. The drum and guitar two piece played heavy blues and once again made me wonder what all the fuss is with the White Stripes. Following them was going to be extremely tough and so it proved for biggest disappointments The Shins. The band I was most looking forward to seeing, as I'm a great fan of both their albums, were let down by a number of circumstances. Following Black Keys, early sound troubles, being shy and too quiet. They almost lifted it a couple of times but not enough. Maybe I hit a wall, but I never thought I'd be walking out of The Shins early. That was that - some serious drinking and some damn fine bands. The music-first policy is clearly a winner, could do with a bit of sunshine though.

Probably worth a 4, but the rain and my own laziness in not checking out other bands knocks it down a half.

Top 5
1. The Black Keys
2. Dinosaur Jr.
3. Broken Social Scene
4. R. Kelley
5. The Chappelle Show

Bottom 5
1. Rain
2. Hangover
3. Eating too many crisps
4. The smell of the main room Sunday night
5. The disappointing Shins.

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26th May 2006 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Stadium Arcadium

While Blood Sugar Sex Magic had some (I'd say 3) great songs, it's funky-monk overtones make it sound dated, recorded as John Frusciante say's "back when we were assholes". The Dave Navarro version of the band obviously sucked, but after Frusciante kicked his drug habit and crawled back to the Red Hot Chili Peppers things really started to take off. Californication had some great tracks, but was quickly overshadowed by version 2.0 - By The Way. Frusciante had found his sound, releasing the awesome solo albums To Record Only Water For Ten Days and Shadows Collide With People and clearly shaping the direction of the revitalised Chili Peppers. After another 6(!) solo albums from Frusciante last year - all peppered with great tracks - the promise of a new full-spec double RHCP album was good.

Things kick off well with single Dani California. Using all the best elements of the RHCP signature sound - catchy, stripped down, funky bass, roaring guitar solo - it sets the pace.... and the rest of the album carries on from there. All the same. Every song is good, most contain a bit of all of their styles and all are in the 3-5 minutes / 3.5-4.5 star range - and that is where the problem lies. While the album is apparently 'based' on the planets (Disc 1 Jupiter, Disc 2 Mars) there is no obvious theme or progression over the album and not much difference between the two discs. It becomes totally homogenized and just seems like a collection of 28 randomly sequenced good songs.

Torture Me is not one of the best, but it stands out for merely being a bit more punky. Strip My Mind threatens to be like a Frusciante solo track - but ends up being not as brave and falling back into line. Even the bass-funk workout tracks pull their socks up to be not nearly as bad as some of the 90's era stuff. The excellent Desecretion Smile and Animal Bar have so far floated to the top of the pile, although I'm sure more will grow on me if I give it time. 28 tracks is a lot of time though, and in the age of CD a double album is more like 120 minutes than The White Album's 90. The lyrics also take the score down a notch, as the band have never been that deep, and that doesn't change here. There's plenty of lyrics of the horny-coyotes-prowling-around-michigan variety.

Time will tell whether this becomes a sprawling masterpiece or self-indulgant monolith, but for a band who should have been at the peak of their powers it currently seems that they are on more of a plateau.

UPDATE: As of August 9th '06 I'm updating this to a 4. It's 80% genius, and the finale of Snow (Hey Oh) and Frusciante's scream at the end of Wet Sand are worth the price alone. It's only losing points for the length and lack of sequence, but is undoubtedly the closest thing to their masterpiece (to date).

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4th May 2006 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Morrissey

Alexandra Palace, London

I think I could see Morrissey live every time he is in town, it is such an experience. Musically it is impeccable, but half the enjoyment comes from watching the type of fans he attracts and the effect he has on them. His music has the ability to reduce hardened middle-aged men to the mushy, teary-eyed romantics and it is fascinating to watch. Queuing up outside Alexandra Palace last night you’d be hard pushed to guess the band we were all waiting to see. It was a veritable melting pot of misfits, mods, Goths, England fans, dweebs, dickheads and righteous dudes. Beer guts were proudly displayed and back pockets adorned with wilting daffodils (Gladiola’s obviously not in season just yet), a sight to behold indeed.

After waiting at the front of the massing crowd through two support acts (one being Domino’s Sons And Daughters which were very good), the time had arrived and the lights dimmed. Amid deafening “Morrissey!” chants that would put the crowd at Stamford Bridge to shame the excitement was awesome. On walks the man himself and with the words “For what you are about to receive I am truly sorry.” The band explode with The First Of The Gang To Die. This was particularly ironic as my girlfriend very nearly was. The crowd erupted and surged back and forward with such pressure from the back and sides we struggled to keep our feet. So after waiting at the front for 3 hours it took less than 1 song for us to be at the back of the hall.

But without fearing for your life you are able to appreciate the show a bit more. And what a show it was. The man is notoriously private and sedate for the press, so it really feels like a privilege and an honour to see him so animated and vocal when in front of his fans. As usual the set list was mainly comprised of his new material but he did treat us to Girlfriend In A Coma and the show highlight How Soon Is Now? The super-extended rendition of this Smiths classic was greeted with absolute euphoria and a sea of worshipping hands in the air, stuff to make your spine tingle. The other highlight was Life Is A Pigsty which, in my opinion, is the best track off the new album. It was also interesting to notice how the songs off 2004’s You Are The Quarry, especially the encore of Irish Blood English Heart, are treated by the fans as classic Morrissey now.

The combination of such a legendary personality and a truly fantastic backing band (who strangely resembled Jonathan Ross’ ‘Four Poofs And A Piano’) made this performance truly live up to one of Morrissey’s opening statements “Welcome to the lost art of live music.” I can’t give it a perfect score because my girlfriend nearly died.

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2nd May 2006 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

King Kong

(dir. Peter Jackson)

The biggest chimp of the all, revamped by the LOTR crew.

For some reason it's taken a while to get round to this super-ape outing here at chimp HQ, so it's nice to finally open up the DVD (although there's 2 bullshit ads included as part of the "extras" on my R3 copy).

Like what Peter Jackson's done over his career, and there's some nice touches to his monster/gore past which I wasn't expecting in the Skull Island bits (been so long since I saw the original that the plot was basically new to me).

Jack Black's money-making movie director works well in the first half, although you do get the impression that Jackson sympathises with his blagging skills and general enthusiasm for getting a film made, which does seem to jar a bit with the second half in New York, with Black then the evil maestro putting on Kong's Broadway debut.

Naomi Watts does the most with her scream and faint routine, and gets the compassion for Kong over without saying too much. It's much more of a human getting on with a wild animal relationship than some inter-species romance. She's like a friendly zoologist with juggling skills that he's stumbled across. You feel like Kong's pretty lonely on the island without any other giant apes around, and that Naomi's better company than the local savages who seem more interested in keeping in chucking him the occasional sacrifice from behind a wall. Adrien Brody's ok, but a bit sidelined towards the end.

The Kong animation/acting from Andy "Gollum" Serkis (who's also the ship's cook) is pretty cool, wasn't expecting so much dinosaur bashing which seemed like Jackson having fun with some Godzilla-style showdowns, and the crew of the Venture are at least pretty wowed when they first come across all these huge mythical beasts running around. All the whooping natives stuff is a bit odd, not quite sure where they're going with that.

Enjoyed it overall, but it did feel a touch overlong for what's essentially a pretty simple B movie plot - although holding off on Kong's entrance works, and all the on-board scenes build up to Skull Island's sighting.

Could have been a much more intense, wham-bam experience at 20 minutes shorter: just because it's a really big monkey doesn't mean it has to be a really big epic… but hey, it's a big monkey smashing up New York and punching out dinosaurs - that's always going to go down well here.

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#chimp71

30th Apr 2006 - 3 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam have a knack of sounding like a muscle car cruising down an empty road in Montana. Masters of the key/pace change, they often shift up and down gears, speeding up and slowing down but always sticking to the road.

While Life Wasted and World Wide Suicide are great openers (except for the title "World Wide Suicide" - definitely a case for 'keep the title out of the lyrics') rocking all the shift change tricks, it's not until six songs in that we get a real change of style - with Parachutes. Similar in tone to the Stones' track of the same name, this great little number is much more in the vein of 1996's No Code.

Things get more more varied on what would have been side two in the vinyl days, with Gone being the gem on the album. It's Pearl Jam at their best, using a simple quiet start to build up the emotion and sound into an awesome wall of noise.

Army Reserve is one song that doesn't quite click, somehow sounding like the U2-style jangling guitar was written separately from the lyrics, but the album finishes with two excellent tracks. Come Home sounds like a cover of a lost classic by Smokey Robinson or Otis Redding and is the band at their best. Inside Job, written by guitarist Mike McCready, is a moody slow burner. Staying just the right side of Dire Straits, the song would fit well on a movie soundtrack and brings the album to a worthy close.

The album is definitely a democratic effort and the input of the entire band leans the sound down the more conventional end of the Pearl Jam spectrum - generally sounding more like Yield or Riot Act than Vitalogy or No Code. That's never a criticism with these guys however and although not as lyrical as some of their work it's a solid, thoroughly enjoyable rock album from a band totally assured of their craft.

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25th Apr 2006 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

This album took a few plays to really get it but then it just seemed to click and I went from finding it slightly annoying to thinking it was the greatest thing I had heard for ages. And it is. Granted it starts off bad but the second song gets the greatness well under way. A lot of bands have emerged recently that quote Talking Heads as their main influence but none sound as similar as this one, yet despite that it is one of the most original records to grace my eager ears. Details Of The War was a stand out track from the start. As is quite common throughout the album the song construction is the interesting thing with its lack of any verse/chorus/verse structure and the lazy ‘I really can’t be bothered’ vocals building up slowly on a rolling bass line to a fantastic peak. The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth follows on nicely. It has a certain nostalgic sound to it with a very New Order bass line and towards the end it threatens to disappear off into a mammoth Wedding Present style guitar solo but sadly not many bands have the balls for this.

I really could go on to talk about each track as there is something to note about every one but I may as well skip to the last one as it simply rules. Upon This Tidal Wave Of Young Blood is an awesome piece of work. It starts off with a guitar strumming pace that will get every head nodding and foot tapping in audible range. Alec Ounsworth’s vocals glide in with expert ease and we are off. The pace stays the same to the very end as the vocals trail off into what should be a very grating repetition of “child stars, child stars, child stars…” This song sounds like it could go on at this pace for another 15 minutes at least and really it should but instead it stops abruptly as if your mum has come into the room and can’t stand any more of this guys voice and pulls the plug.

And really that is what we should all be doing but we aren’t. We love it despite our brains yelling how annoying it should be. This band has received so much word-of-mouth hype and for once it is all well placed. Clap your hands and say fuck yeah. (sorry for the cuss word but I feel it was necessary..)

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#BC

24th Apr 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Show Your Bones

Wichita

This wasn’t an album I was anticipating with baited breath, but it has slowly made its way to the top of my recent purchases pile.

Show Your Bones is the follow up to 2003’s critically acclaimed debut Fever To Tell which never seems to impress me as much as it does everyone else. It's a bit like the album equivalent of Reservoir Dogs. While I consider it a fantastic piece of art and have the utmost respect for it, it’s not something I am likely to stick on over lunch. There is only so much pummelling I can take and Show Your Bones has impressed me for this very reason (the Tarantino comparison stops here, Show Your Bones is no Pulp Fiction) It has retained the grit and muscle of its predecessor but seems to give a gracious and subtle nod towards commercialism. It is more rhythmical, more melodic and just more appealing.

This is evident from the opening track Gold Lion, with its acoustic strumming being slowly obliterated by the inevitable wave of dirty guitar. Way Out follows a similar pattern and Fancy finds us in more YYY familiar territory with the Karen O’s trademark growl/banshee wail scratching its grubby nails down the wall of guitar and percussion. But the stand out track has got to be Warrior. It starts like a song you might stumble across on some far off obscure stage at an alt folk festival but soon picks up its feet and starts running with the line “this road’s gonna end on me.’ I’m sure it will at some point, but on this evidence there seems to be a lot more road ahead.

This album smacks of a follow up that will make die hard YYY fans scoff at people like me for preferring it but as Brakes say in Heard About Your Band, “You shared a cab with Karen O, OO,OOO,” roughly translated means ‘I don’t give a shit.’

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#BC

5th Apr 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Sala Heineken - Madrid

Halfway through their set, support band Dr. Dog announce that this is the last date of their European tour with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and give thanks for the opportunity of getting overseas and on the road with the lengthily titled headliners. And then it makes sense. They must be knackered. Having been pretty much blown away the last time I saw Dr. Dog, I couldn’t figure out why this show seemed so flat. The audience were smiling along, clearly amused by the idiot antics of the goofy frontmen kitted out in shades and woolly hats. But there was something missing, this was a performance that suggested ‘Just one more, then we’re out of here’.

The same could apply to the hugely anticipated CYHSY. Desperate punters, begging for tickets outside in the rain, hinted that the levels of hype already witnessed in their native New York and more recently London had spread to Spain. Opening with the first ’song’ on the album (not the eponymous vaudevillian number) and finishing with its closer and highlight Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood, with a few new tracks in between, they put on a solid show. But that was it: solid. A large part of the album’s appeal is the sense of character and fun running through it and I imagined the live show would capture this. But a largely static backing band flanked tired/shy singer Alec Ounsworth, as they worked through the numbers. This is not to say it was disappointing; the songs themselves are strong enough to grab and hold the attention, his unique vocals certainly captivate and being joined onstage by Dr. Dog and friends for the encore was definately a high point (quite literally as a Dog guitarist performed an exemplary solo from the shoulders of a burly roadie). Overall, would be worth checking out again - just to see how they operate with a full tank of gas.

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#Gig
#chimpovich

28th Feb 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Brakes

Give Blood

I've been reassessing the Brakes album Give Blood on the back of Clap Your Hands' recent acceptance into chimp rotation. The good news is, I was hasty in dismissing them so early. It's a mixed bag sounding a bit like Pavement, a bit like Galaxie 500 in places, a bit like Clap Your Hands, and even a bit like Operation Ivy - but still retaining something quite English... she was earning 10 grand, p.a.

It's not a heavy concept album, but it is just a bit like a bunch of guys playing fun songs and having a good time.

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15th Feb 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Wolfmother

Wolfmother E.P.

One of the hot tickets at this year's South By South-West music thing, Australia's Wolfmother are kicking out retro proto-metal - a la early Black Sabbath, with a tinge of Zeppelin and a psychadelic haze of Iron Butterfly. Like no-doubt every garage band of the late 70's was trying to do.

The first couple of tracks are properly proto-proto metal, with thumping riffs and not many lyrics. Apple Tree still has few lyrics, but is a bit more interesting and makes you realise how metal the White Stripes sometimes are. The White Unicorn is the stand-out track, which actually builds up a bit and changes pace - where the others are mainly one thundering wall of sound. Looking forward to more. Would like to see these guys live.

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21st Jul 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet

Empire Records

(dir. Allan Moyle)

A bunch of wacky "Generation X" types working in a record store race to find $9000 to save the store from a corporate takeover.

I watched this hoping for some good soundtrack action in the vein of Pretty In Pink or High Fidelity. Instead I got a couple of shit covers and Gwar. The closest thing to cool was a Rhino Records sticker on the toilet wall.

Renee Zellweger, Maxwell Caulfield and Liv Tyler are amongst the cast members embarrassing themselves, plus Rory Cochrane from C.S.I. Miami (AKA ROn the stoner from Dazed and Confused) and Anthony LaPaglia from Without a Trace. Bruckheimer obviouly liked this movie.

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29th Dec 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet