THE ANTLERS – Hospice (Frenchkiss) – The recent single had us anticipating something rather special and, yes, Hospice reveals the recent single wasn’t a one off piece of gorgeous beauty. Something rather good emerging here. The Antlers are one of those new bands that seem to be on everyone’s lips right now, they live up to it all, the word of mouth is right. The Brooklyn band have so much depth in there with their fragile restraint, restraint that now and again gives way to more of that glorious sky-touching and yes, it would be very easy to just slip in to music review cliché with Hospice, so so easy.... You see they’re not being radically different, they not re-inventing the indie alt.rock wheel here, more that they're just there inline with a lot of current things in such a gloriously beautiful and cleverly detailed and rewarding kind of way. These Antlers are just loading with tingling songs that are so alive and just so good, it’s be impossible to not just go with it all and let it flow... Alive with emotion and heart-tingling goodness, and that song Two is just better and better every time, the kind of thing you just have to grab and share with people and this all bares repeating again again and...  All open doors and ways to get through, so many ways to tell the story and so so much heart-swelling hope in here – all in here whatever the subject, Two is one of the songs of the year, has to be? Surely? Lyrics that fixate and tunes that pull you in, all kinds of glowing restrained light and shade - and always brought back to the simple beauty of hope. Just everything right and alive like the now of Efterklang or Animal Collective or... oh look, just really really good, who needs all this review nonsense? Sometimes it really is as beautifully simple as life, death, absence, guilt and all those other things - www.myspace.com/theantlers          

JOHN BLUM – In The Shade Of Sun (Ecstatic Peace) – Extremely rewarding traditional free jazz that just now is sounding, for a brief minute or two, very Stravinsky. This is excellent free jazz that just heads off in all kinds of awkwardly angular ways without ever losing the flow. Impressively difficult yes but never difficult to listen to. Relentless piano-led free jazz then never descends in to experimental no-wave areas - no hard-boiled noise here, just highly accomplished playing, classic free jazz, classic bass lines, pin-point precision, rapid forward movement, delicious drumming, intuitive jumping from one idea to the next without ever losing the flow or the thread.  Majestic, sometimes disturbing (in that brilliant Stravinsky way), relentlessly good, a constant jazz rush, alive with colour, alive with energy, just excellent structured jazz improvisation. Don’t ask me to tell you who it sounds like, I’m told there’s bits of Harlem stride, that we can hear Art Tatum, Bud Powell and such, I’m not qualified to confirm that, I know when I hear something satisfyingly good though, this is very very satisfying, this is Jazz that just really works, that hits the spot in such a satisfying way – www.ecstaticpeace.com
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19th NOV '09:  GORGOROTH – Quantos Possunt Ad Satanitatem Trahunt (Regain) – Standard issue extreme death metal, all competent and well played and riffing and growling away with all the gusto you’d demand from yer death metal band.. Problem here is that they just bluster along without adding any kind of personality, colour, identity, they may as well be making baked beans, this is just decently played decently produced standard issue fast food extreme death metal and with so many other extreme bands doing genuinely interesting things is there really any point here...? At least curry the beans a little, add some spice, ah hell, ninety percent of extreme metal is a pointless waste of everyone’s time, we’re here for the other ten percent - www.gorgoroth.info

VARIOUS - ROUGH TRADE SHOPS: INDIEPOP 09 (Rough Trade) – Twenty five slices and mostly twee, mostly polite, lightweight indie pop. Gone back several times now, flicked through it all and make damn good use of the fast forward button... Gone back again and again... The only thing that really does grab anyone’s ears in any kind of positive way around here is that Sad Day For Puppets track, they’re always good. The Manhattan Love Suicides have a track called Clusterf**k but that just made us want to reach for the Butt Trumpet album, The Legends are alright on here but we really are uninspired by track twenty two... Twenty five slices all gathered together, these things work best on seven inch singles, singles are the vehicles for indie pop, singles in hand made covers, made with a smile and a bit of personality. Really don’t know if they’re all bringing each other down as they sit next each other on here... all this tweeness and lightweight nicey nice could well make a normally stable person want to shout and break things, or at least reach for something with a bit of bite... 

BULL SEE RED – A Girl Called Murder (Lockjaw) - Keep hearing little hints of things at they pick themselves up dust themselves off and get back on their horse, busy side of amore basic straightforward Muse, hints of The Jam (along with the referenced lyric lines), bits of Smashing Pumpkins, just a touch of Refused, all in there with their vibrant attack and their tuneful energy. It maybe generic punky indie guitar rock, they do have a touch of quality and a bag load of energy though - an angry bite or two in there with the melodic restraint and the sometimes rather predictable, sometimes slightly frenetic moves. They’re from the South West of England, this is their debut album, sounds like something to maybe build on... – www.myspace.com/bullseered

ISLAND THREE – Dark And Empty Spaces (Self release) – Six track debut mini album that kind of suffers in terms of production values. They cite Muse and Tool as influences, not hearing much in the way of Muse, but this Birmingham band will be of interest to those with a taste for 90’s sounding neo prog and bands like Shadowland, Arena, Jadis and such. Bit of Porcupine Tree in there. Now and again they’ll hit on a sublime neo prog guitar riff, like that gloriously anthemic start to second track Dial 51... only to have it pulled down by poor production and at times, not the greatest vocals/lyrics ever... A band for the future maybe? If they can get their sound, production and vocals together a little more - but only for those of you who like your slightly epic and rather melodic neo-prog – www.myspace.com/islandthree
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16th NOV '09: SAMSON & DELILAH – Samson & Delilah (Little Red Rabbit) – Gorgeously rich songs, mellow tones, beautiful creations – quiet simple folk-flavoured warmth, layers of colour. Less is more piano, classical touches - melancholy, delicate euphoria, unspoken truths, room-silencing whispers. A very personal, almost private, set of songs from a duo who are partners both in terms of life and music – Sam Lench and Anna Zweck with their intertwining glow. Intriguing, warm, uplifting, quiet and all rather beautiful – www.myspace.com/thesamsonanddelilahshow or www.littleredrabbit.co.uk

BONAFIDE – Something’s Dripping (Black Lodge) - More than decent AC/DC flavoured no messing hard driving hard rocking hard edged melodic hard rock. How much more AC/DC could it be? The answer in none, none more AC/DC. They’re not quite in Airbourne’s league, they do it well enough though – locked and loaded, peddle to metal, pass the beer, turn it up... They’re from Sweden, not a hint of anything like an original moment anywhere near the eleven track album. They rock, we like it – melodic heavy metal – www.myspace.com/bonafiderocks
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TRUE BEAT – Back To Square One (self release) – Rather decent London Ska pop, they probably kick a storm live in as back street pub with their skanking and their oi oi chants and such – these street-ska bands always do. This is a decent enough Ska album for you Madness, Specials or the bands of now - Imperial Leisure, Sonic Boom Six... nothing you haven’t heard before, decent enough band, well worth seeing live I should imagine -    www.truebeat.co.uk

MAMA KIN – In The City (Leon) – Rather decent melodic hard rock from Sweden. Think Thin Lizzy melodies/harmonies, a touch of Skid Row attitude (US glam band, not Gary Moore’s old outfit), those vocals have a touch ok Kiss about them, Paul or Gene? Can’t decide.  They look like your typical 80’s US tattoo-covered long-haired glam metal band. Harmless enough radio-friendly melodic guitar driven hard rock for those who like it that way, they're not claining to be doinganything revolutionary, just doing their thing - www.myspace.com/mamakin

PROJECT SKYWARD – Moved By Opposing Forces (Rocket Girl) – Creamy shoegazing electonica and gently washing female-voiced flow ‘n swirl. Flowing electronic textures, forward-moving wistfulness and Cocteau Twins flavours, all very pleasantly soothing and here you go – www.projectskyward.com or www.rocketgirl.co.uk

EVERYTHING ON RED – Rotator (Lockjaw) – God damn, another one of those tedious “uplifting” poppy indie-guitar emo rock bands who make you want to break things, what did we do to deserve this? I know, I know, we got a policy around here that involves us just ignoring these things and not taking up your time and our space. All harmonised emo-boy vocals and light-weight wimpy keyboards and let’s just turn this off now before something does get broken... And don’t get me started on this press release here that’s telling us that they’re tacking punk rock tedium... Pass me a hammer, pass me that disc, we got ways of tackling this kind of tedium. Do not send us anymore of these bed wetting emo boy band albums, go take your happy poppy preppy wannabe Americanisms and your tedious as far away for anything that resembles anything anywhere near and idea of punk rock and stuff it somewhere dark and painful. “Unique sound”? You really do take the piss with these press releases don’t you! Pass the Rat Attack album, an antidote is needed.  This might just be even worse than that dreadful Enter Shikari band - “full of massive hooks that just beg you to stand up and sing along” says the press release, yeah sure, that’s what we’ll be doing, standing up and singing along... – www.myspace.com/everythingonred
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THE JOKERS – Big Rock & Roll Show (Top Two) – Slick hard rock from the North West on England, The Jokers touch bases with classic bands like Aerosmith or AC/DC, like Thunder, like Aerosmith again (lot of Aerosmith in here), they maybe brush with Led Zep’s more conventional hard rock moments... They have a dash of Mott The Hoople in there, a sprinkling of The Who, a hint of Uriah Heep, The Beatles (and maybe just now and again we can detect a liking for some Aerosmith in there, just a touch mind you...). Touching bases with some classic hard rock bands and doing it in a very slick very professional faultlessly good way.  If classic melodic tuneful slick hard rock be your thing, then these Jokers from Liverpool do it very very well indeed. Spot on production, slick looking artwork, slick vocals, slick everything, slick slick big rock & roll show hard rock, hit the links if you want some, we merely point signposts... www.myspace.com/thejokersmyspace or www.the-jokers.co.uk

SUBARACHNOID SPACE – Eight Bells (Crucial Blast) - First release from Portland’s Subarachnoid Space since 2005’s The Red Veil and more in that rather familiar heavy lysergic vein of theirs...  “Narcotized jamming” and big slabs of slow moving sound that, without really being that obvious about it, is somewhere in a dark moody field near Neurosis. Heavy churning guitar sculptures, big instrumental soundscapes, slow moving and graceful in their oversized monsterously psychedelic kind of way – drifting towards a reflective kind of this is The End feel and some kind of Doors-like lost up the river territory, heading way up the delta and off the map. They’re pretty much instrumental all the time here once more, they’re pretty much full on all the time, even during the quieter reflective bits and all the calm before the next all enclosing storm they’re pretty much full on. Never anything but full on with that metallic crunch and those riffs that build and build...  If you know them already then this latest line of Subarachnoid Space are pretty much in the same heavier territory as they have been now for their last few albums, they’ve got their own finger prints all over it, no one else quite like them – those sky-streaking guitars freekouts and the joyous euphoria that breaks up the paranoia and the claustrophobia. Opening with a piece called Lilith and not letting up until the closing note and that moment of silence that comes afterwards, this is serious left-field mind-moving progressive psychedelic metal – www.crucialblast.net or www.myspace.com/subarachnoidspace
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MY ROBOT FRIEND – Soft-Core (Double Feature) – Let’s not beat around the bush here, this is excellent. My Robot Friend will make you smile, they’ll make you touch your toes, make you dance – they’ll have you up all night, asleep all day, and you’ll only have yourself to blame. Silky pop alive with expansive emotion, classic 80’s synth goodness with a touch of northern soul. If Pet Shop Boys had been from New York and had a slice of Devo about them and everybody was a robot robot... Infectiously catchy and just perfect (alternative) pop.. Delicious melodies, soul, questions about relationships with technology, lush lush silky sounds and just slightly eclectic and eccentric and learn to follow those rules and be repressed and your parents will be so proud of your success – choose failure and regret, do not go off like a match with a constantly burning head... Sometimes pop music is just brilliant – www.myrobotfriend.com

GLASS GHOST – Idol Omen (Western Vinyl) – Their debut album, fragile falsetto experimental new wave pop and something near to Animal Collective playing with the buttons on Deerhoof’s shirt while strange hip-hop influenced new wave This Heat rhythms dance by in such an efficiently modern weird-ass manner. Crafted and different, otherness in those drum and keyboards experiments that are always within the frames of songs... Sometimes fragile, sometimes magical, occasionally just a little sinister, their slightly strange crystalline musical world is well worth investigating. The two of them were once part of New York outfit Flying, now Eliot Krimsky and Mike Johnson are obviously enjoying the space and freedom this two piece set up affords  them... www.myspace.com/glass1ghost

9th NOV '09:  SPACE – The Best Of (Nang) - Once upon a time, in a land way before Daft Punk, lived a disco-synth band called Space. One part Kraftwerk Kraut rock, two parts hooky we are the robots Euro synth-disco. They wore spacesuits a;; the time, including those big 70’s helmets. They released four albums and sold twelve million records between 1977 and 1981, before imploding in a clinch of bitter lawsuits and holed oxygen tanks   - and you probably don’t know a thing about them do you? I bet you know Magic Fly though, you’d know it if you heard it, ah yeah, that one, that still sounds as fresh as ever here as opening track on this best of collection of 70’s futurism and robotic dancesynth. Thing is nothing can really follow Magic Fly and while some of the material here still sounds good, some of it sounds rather dated and cheesy (especially when they bring in the disco-diva vocals rather than sticking to the instrumental work). Still the good bits make this collection worth it, you’ve got those classic syn drums and those brilliant old school synth sounds, that mix of Kraut-ish electronica and funk... There’s a couple of spot on perfect bits of euro-synth plastic pop on here and Magic Fly will always be as cool as... Space were great (this Space, not the later Mid 90’s Brit pop lot), they deserve a little more recognition, a little more of place in history - and this could be where Daft Punk got most of their best ideas... Some of it is really is maybe just a little bit too cheesy though – www.nangrecords.com
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VIOLET VIOLET – The City Is Full Of Beasts (NR One) – Feisty spiky goodness and a second album follow up to that all round well received debut Bitchbox. This is a step or two up, things are sounding good, on their toes from the start with those edgy duel-pronged vocals, Cheri Violet on vocals and guitars, Violet Fliss on vocals and drums, aided by a polyphonic octave generator (whatever the heck that is). The spiky spiky duo deal in pointy quirky urgent indie pop that really is rather refreshing thrilling - all juddering and biting and slightly angular and tales of c-c-c-cats and vultures and other beasts. They’re from Norwich, they’re feisty fun, this isn’t throwaway though, more than just feisty fun and DIY attitude here - this is accomplished song-making, music-playing goodness... Oh oh oh... swallow it whole... put it a locket...  put it in your pocket, it’ll break in to your head and play all day - c-c-c-cats rule, you know that. They’ll break in, they’ll get inside your head with their inventive rhythm-making and their word-trickery, their now rather strident dynamics and their smile-inducing thrill of the chase... Coming ‘round, coming ‘round – shouty spiky pop art bruts and all weak at the knees, fresh boned good...  www.nrone.co.uk or www.myspace.com/violetviolet1
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TERRY EDWARDS & THE SCAPEGOATS – I Didn’t Get Where I Am Today (Sartorial) – Reissue of the 1997 album with bonus tracks that appeared on singles and one previously unreleased track - a track that was left off the original album, a track ironically called Stop Trying To Sell Me Back My Past – “a song commenting on the plethora of Edwards’ contemporaries plundering rock’s back catalogue and presenting it as their own”. Well those were the days of Brit pop and Oasis and... The Scapegoats are only trying you sell us their own past, well, with help of a few familiar riffs and such with this one rather good track... You have here, for those who don’t know the album or Terry Edwards, an edgy mix of sax driven back-room jazz, scuzzy garage punk (great version of Iggy Pop’s Dog Food on here), wired low-life lurch, a touch of funk, some Archie Shepp approved warm tones, things that adventure down experimental side streets now and again, things that just explode with glorious jazz-noise. Almost mellow jazz one minute driving Stooges the next, walls of no wave freeform noise, you’re never quite sure what they’re going to hit you with next. They always manage to sound like no one but The Scapegoats, does it get a little too disjointed to really flow as one album though? Something to cherry pick depending on your mood? Whatever they’re coming at you with, they almost certainly did/do it better than most. This album just might have been ahead of time back there in 1997. Back then when the mainstream media had a stranglehold, the www hadn’t really kicked in and ideas weren’t flowing back and forth around the globe like they do now. Things flowing around the glove and the net, opening up the ears and minds of music makers/listeners to the real possibilities and the real cross-pollination that up until then was isolated and stuck in individual cities, not really escaping beyond local scenes and zines and out beyond...  Things are a lot more open now, everyone a mouse click away and who needs the music press? Time for the rest of the world to know what we’ve known here in London all along, Mr Edwards rocks. And this sounds as fresh now as it did back then, sounds like something made six months ago. If you’ve never heard Terry Edwards go check this out, if you have then you know and you probably need it for all the extra bits and that excellent plundering of rock’s back catalogue and those ‘borrowed’ riffs and who’s the eggman? www.myspace.com/sartorialrecords
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LYDIA LUNCH – Lydia Lunch’s Big Sexy Noise (Sartorial) - How much does that opening vibrate your foundations? Is That how to start an album or what? Right down to the bone. That is the filthiest opening to an album since Saint Silas Intersession crashed right out the door in a hail of bruises and spilt body fluid ... Low slung dirty groove and soul-shaking blues that move everything is what we have here, big sexy noise indeed. Lydia Lunch accompanied by three slices of Gallon Drunk  - Terry Edwards, James Johnston and Ian White...  “Big Sexy noise is the primeval bump, grind and holler of White’s thuggish drums, Johnston’s moronic low-tuned riffing and Edwards’ brutal organ and sax interventions led by Lunch’s take-no-prisoners vocals” – we stole that from the press release, they explain it all so well themselves with their banging on the door. Six songs, a vinyl only album divided nicely, The Sexy Side and The Noisy Side. Four tracks written by the band, one cover of Lou Reed’s Kill Your Sons and a track called The Gospel Singer, a song that’s apparently been on the back-burner for a while, since Lydia co-wrote it with Kim Gordon during some Sonic Youth downtime. Vinyl only, unless you’re satisfied with a mere download that is... Another Man Comin’ (While The Bed Is Still Warm) is that filthy wet, warm, stained, spilt opener, Lydia in control of it all, clearly no one f**ks with Ms Lunch unless she wants them to...  beautiful filth, brutal blues, very big sexy noise, got it bad... www.myspace.com/lydialunch or www.myspace.com/sartorialrecords or www.myspace.com/bigsexynoise

THE BANSHEE – Your Nice Habits (Suiteside) – They’re from Italy, they sound like yet another Franz or maybe another Klaxons or a mix of the two, or occasionally a not so sarcastic version of Art Brut or maybe that other band, you know, the one the NME had on their cover the other week... The Banshee sound like a lot of current (are Franz still current?) new wave flavoured indie pop things... Things that sound like a watered-down collection of bits of things current bands have borrowed from far better bands from back there, things like Wire, XTC, Devo and such. Nothing really wrong with the things The Banshee do, they do their thing well enough - decent songs, good production, good singer and things... Not hearing anything here that doesn’t sound like something we haven’t already heard somewhere sometime someplace on daytime alternative indiepop radio or late night mainstream TV or... They do it well enough, I guess they’re having fun, I guess that’s the point? I guess there’s some point in telling you all this? I guess there is? I guess that’s why someone sent it in...? I guess.... things... guess...um.. www.myspace.com/thebanshee or www.suiteside.com

SOUND STORM – Twilight Opera (Rising) – Full on storm of cod-classical cram-everything-in histrionic operatic Euro metal. You’ve got a full on metal band with all their piercing guitars, pounding drums and everything you’d expect from a full on technical neo-prog Euro metal band, you got it all accompanied by a string ensemble and an eight-piece choir. You’ve got a concept album, you’ve got a packed-to-bursting sledgehammer-to-crack-a-nut onslaught of busy modern classical neo-prog metal that never stops. You’ve got nothing that’s anywhere near anything that could be considered subtle or progressive in the real sense, the classical angle is slick and mechanical.... Oh look, this really isn’t doing much for any ears around here, if it sounds interesting to you then go hit the link and explore the thing for yourself – www.myspace.com/powerofsoundstorm or www.risingrecords.org
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THE RAINCOATS – The Raincoats (We Three) – You know, haven’t really listened to The Raincoats properly for years... Sure it’s well documented just how influential they were back there, well documented through the 80’s/90’s – the first wave of post-punk, the Nirvana years, the Riot Grrrl days. When this debut album originally came out back in 1979 it was rightly recognised as a ground-breaking piece of post-punk feminist art. There hadn’t really been an all girl rock band quite like The Raincoats before - Girlschool were doing it in a parallel musical universe, doing their punky metal t-shirt and jeans just get out there and play with Motorhead, The Damned and the rest kind of way, besides Girlschool, there hadn’t really been a serious all girl rock band doing it all on their own terms. That’s almost a distraction though, sure there was the strong feminist statement and their stance in terms of gender politics was (and still is) important, but that is a distraction – The Raincoats were simply one of the very best post-punk bands of their time. And after all these years, this sounds as fresh and now as ever (wonder if it did five years ago? Has it all come around again?). Scratchy angular, awkwardly fluid and always demand of an ear both in terms of the music and the lyrics. Right up there with the very best post-punk bands that flowed through the door opened by the possibilities that were suddenly there – The Fall, P.I.L, the new independent labels, people doing it themselves, Rough Trade the whole brave new independent music world – a kick up the establishment in so many ways  The Raincoats really do sum the whole thing perfectly with this debut piece of work. 
       The Raincoats version of the Kinks classic Lola is a piece of genius, with all those I’d never ever kissed a woman before twists, their own songs are where they really come to life though. Hard to pick out a stand-out track, this debut album was packed with good stuff and back there in 1979 they were just about to set out influencing a whole generation of  pro-active music makers. One listen to the current crop of underground bands, bands like Vile Vile Creatures, Anarchistwood, will tell you instantly how long their influence has lasted.  The Raincoats is a classic piece of post-rock positivity that stands up as well today as it did back then when it first came out (or when we first heard it back somewhere there - The Raincoats really were one of those underground bands you just kept hearing about). If this was a new album from a new band coming out for the first time this week we’d be raving about it, fresh, timeless and important... www.theraincoats.net

“I really don’t know much about The Raincoats except that they recorded some music that has affected me so much that whenever I hear it I’m reminded of a particular time in my life when I was (shall we say) extremely unhappy,  lonely and bored. If it weren’t for the luxury of putting on that scratchy copy of The Raincoats’ first record, I would have had very few moments of  peace.”   (Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, June 1993)

“It was The Raincoats I related to most. They seemed like ordinary people  playing extraordinary music. Music that was natural that made room for cohesion of personalities. They had enough confidence to be vulnerable and to be themselves without having to take on the mantle of male rock/punk rock aggresion... ...or the typical female as sex symbol avec irony or sensationalism.” (Kim Gordon, Sonic Youth,1993) 

“We just really loved what The Raincoats were doing, they were a really exciting band. I think the thing that was good about The Raincoats simply wasthat the tradition that they were playing in was their own and so they had an original voice. You couldn’t ignore them - they were undeniably fascinating - the interplay between the two voices and the sound of the group was something original and that was what was exciting about them.” (Geoff Travis, Rough Trade Records, February 2009) 
 

27th OCT '09:  WHITE OUT with JIM O ROURKE and THURSTON MOORE – Senso (Ecstatic Peace!) – Double CD set, two rather long pieces of evolving experimental music on two discs. A live recording from 2004 when both O‘Rourke and Moore joined the White Out duo of Lin Cullberton and Tom Surgal on stage at the Tonic Club in New York City. Experimental avant improvisation that’s been droning and quietly screeching and scraping and jazzing and no waving and buzzing away here for what seems like days. Just two tracks over the two discs, two forty minute pieces. Not so freeform that it feels out of control or without some kind of vague structure or framework, do wonder how much of this is a case of the emperor’s clothing though. This is good, as improv sound art/no wave goes it kind of feels like a lot of things that have flowed through here many times before. Nothing too abrasive or hardboiled, just controlled, pleasant, decent, slightly jagged, No Wave contemporary improvised jazz that’s challenging and rather enjoyable without really pulling up any new trees or opening any new wounds or doing any of those abrasive thing you kind of expect from things like this. Soothing noise that breathes with elegant restraint  – www.whiteoutinc.com or  www.ecstaticpeace.com
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