Wednesday, 20 August 2008The Nacional on art goes pop records Artist: NACIONAL TELEPHONE / YORKSHIRE Label: art goes pop Country of Origin: United Kingdom (UK) Quantity Pressed: 300 Release Date: 18th Aug 2008 The Nacional are the standard 5 piece band, they're not using any gimmicks... they aren't riding on the latest combination of genres, the latest technology. But that's what makes it even harder to figure out why it's working so well. What's the difference between all the rock bands out there and bands like the Nacional. I can say it sounds classic, but they're using what's always worked, drums guitar and bass...so it's the songwriting, the lyrics and way they're delivered. For example, the A side 'Telephone' has an urgency that is held together by this great continuous bassline with stops and starts from the guitars... they don't stick to the crafted catchy rhythms which would be too easy to just repeat, instead they change, adding or subtracting previous directions just enough to bring something new to the chorus. 'Yorkshire' opens a little quieter at first, but soon a quick strumming turns into another dance-rock number. The drums have this huge booming room sound that I love. On this side the a mother is mentioned again and that makes me think this is some kind of conceptual single about a very specific narrative...maybe we'll find out in the full length. Both sides are catchy, optimistic and danceable, in that way that poprock like this should always be. This is just the plain good songwriting and expert instrumentation that bands like the Smiths were made of. It's a shame there's only 300 of these being pressed....I suppose that's standard for a new band like this...but that seems awfully low on the strength of both of these sides. Labels: art goes pop, nacional
posted by Jason @ 20:48
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Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Warning! Heat Ray! on Warning records
Artist: Warning !Heat Ray!
Title: Spit it out
Label: Warning Records
Country of Origin: United Kingdom (UK)
Quantity Pressed: 500
Release Date: 18th Aug 2008
Samples typically get used a lot just for aesthetic effect...random sounds of ministers preaching, or government speeches are typically used as atmosphere for industrial stuff in my experience....808 state, severed heads, front 242....at first just in hearing these racist samples it didn't hit me right away that was directly related to the vocals and drawing attention to the British immigration problem as directly as they are. These clips are no less disturbing now as they probably were around the time of the '58 Nottinghill Riots...or maybe Warning! is saying the feelings are still there today, but it's more hidden, people know better then to publicly say those things to a reporter. The only thing they learned is how to hide the racism.
Of course it's always tricky to combine politics and music, it's hard enough to create something that's new and interesting, and catchy to listen to everyday, but to then attach a political belief to the track...well you're alienating huge groups of people right away. Or the other problem
like the US hardcore groups of the 80's is they're subjects are easy targets....the Reagan administration, nuclear war etc, there's nothing enlightening about the subject matter, you're preaching to the choir.
Warning! Heat Ray! bringing this sampling back is new, and completely appropriate given the subject. It fits the moody looped electronics, and vocals by Robert (Bob) Curbishley underscore the history of the ignorance and misunderstanding of the situation, that unfortunately, 50 years later, may never change.
The B-side 'Life less ordinary' completely changes gears with acoustic guitar strumming and is much more folk singer here with Bob doing a lot of harmonizing with himself and providing a harmonica solo for good measure. Not that it's really related to Dylan or that tradition of protest music...it's just done in a nice storytelling way...a somewhat lighter song about breakup that's coming from a coffee house open mic character.
Just as a side note, I've been enjoying the 7" guitar mashup available from their myspace...go check that out as well...
Jason Dean
Labels: warning heat ray, warning records
posted by Jason @ 22:51 1 Comments
1 Comments:
Jason, thanks for these comments. I really appreciate the time you've taken to listen to the songs - and I'm glad you're enjoying the mashup. I'm going to start work on another one soon.
Best wishes,
Ash
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Saturday, 9 August 2008
Magic Arm on Switchflicker records
Artist: Magic Arm
Title: Widths and heights / Ballad of Melody Nelson
Label: Switchflicker
Country of Origin: United Kingdom (UK)
Quantity Pressed: 500
Release Date: 14th Jul 2008
Mechanical Arm is Marc Rigelsford, hailed as 'Master of the loop pedal' is taking a variety of influences and sounds and creating masterful pop experiments along the lines of Beck's Odelay.
What is it about being able to put all these varied influences together? Is that where this music is headed? This appropriation of influences... well it's actually already there the initial novelty is long gone. Mechanical Arm is making the case for where it will go.
What is it about a blip or snare sound that is so much better than another? That's where the DJ/Engineer can be invaluable, to sort through the mountainous material that's been created up until this point. Girl Talk's Greg Gillis distilled the last decade into a bite size piece on Night Ripper for the short attention span set. The greatest moments of a dance/hip hop culture held together by a common BPM and pitch controlled all together.
Mechanical Arm is doing what Beck started with Odelay and Paul's Boutique before it. Bring the sample to rock music, using existing elements of prerecorded material to move forward. It's gone from a substitute for a sound to becoming it's own tool. Something with it's own right with it's own inherent set of rules.
The difference between Mechanical Arm and anyone with a laptop and garageband is the impeccable production and the crystal separation of sound. It's clear he knows exactly what he's setting to hard drive. You can hear the deliberation, the care in every sound. They are manipulated to the edge of recognizability and organized to surprise with headphones. There's nothing muddy or haphazard in any measure.
It sounds like it took months, which it did, after his successful EP, Marc Rigelsford, spent 10 months locked away in various studios finalizing these rest of these tracks, and it shows.
Mechanical arm demands attention to the ornate details.
Meanwhile there is a sing-a-long deliberate pop song working on top of this reduction with a verse and chorus of substance. It's one of those great new worlds still being charted, the combination of created and found sounds in cleanly exciting pop.
Widths and Heights takes you everywhere from industrial rave to folky twee, surrounded by a web of electronic instrumentation and layered vocals.
from his myspace:
The b-side to ‘Widths and Heights’, ‘Ballad of Melody Nelson’, is a cover of the Serge Gainsbourg classic which has now become a regular in his live show. Marc was invited to perform a song at an evening celebrating the French singer, and he proceeded to leave his unmistakeable stamp all over the classic, to a fantastic response.
Jason Dean
Labels: magic arm, switchflicker records
posted by Jason @ 10:28 0 Comments
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Friday, 8 August 2008
The Ruling Class on Club Fandango Records
Artist: The Ruling Class
Title: Flowers / If You Wonder
Label: Label Fandango
Country of Origin: United Kingdom (UK)
Quantity Pressed: 700
Release Date: 28th Jul 2008
I was in a bar recently where someone had played the Happy Mondays 'Step On' maybe 5 times in a row, I thought it was accidentally stuck. That period of dance rock English fusion hasn't been forgotten, it's still very much alive in the reissues of these now classic albums and by bands like The Ruling Class. Influenced by a who's who list of early nineties distinctly brit-pop voices, Verve, Suede, Blur, Cocteau Twins, Slowdive, Ride and the Stone Roses among others, they are working very much within this border less sound, shoegaze set.
The Ruling Class thrive on those little single note guitar melody, repeating, echoing....with a lot of different percussion layers. It's not intentionally fast or forceably danceable but it's the double-time shaker and muted strumming scrapes that pushes it over the edge into that can't-help-but-move territory.
'Flowers' is the big sounding hit song that starts out right away rocking in that middle ground, at home just as easily in clubs as driving around in your car. Jonathan Sutcliffe's reverb vocals flicker around and bounce off in every direction in that great dream like way, as you wade through the depth of sounds.
The B-side 'If you wonder' starts with a little chorus-y riff that blows up after the bassline sets the tone, and changes up to find that Happy Mondays groove, the foundation for the shimmery guitar washes and rim shot near funk. It's a bafflingly full sound that in the end is informed by this decade but with heavy nods to this anti-grunge era of dense guitar textures.
Jason Dean
Labels: club fandango records, the ruling class
posted by Jason @ 01:32 0 Comments
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