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Capsula – Rising Mountains
Capsula
Other than selected single tracks here and there from long-dead sixties bands I don’t reckon I’ve heard much by Argentinian rock groups. For what is I think therefore justifiably classifiable as a first this, the second album from Capsula (late of Buenos Aires, now waiting to conquer the world from Bilbao), succeeded in grabbing my attention right from the start.
Aleksandra leaves Los Campesinos!
Los Campesinos!
In somewhat of a shock announcement, Aleksandra from Cardiff seven-piece Los Campesinos! has left the band, leaving a posting on the band’s blog.
“I don’t really know how to start this. I’m not sure I can really find the right words to express how I feel about leaving the band. Not in a vaguely coherent manner anyway so I’m sorry if this all comes across as either overly-sentimental or strangely detached.
Making the decision to leave was very difficult and even though I’m excited about what the future has in store for both me and the rest of Los Camp! (once they unveil their bright spangly new line-up), I still get a lump in my throat every time I think about my time in the band coming to an end. Trust me, I’m gutted. The past 3 years have given me some of the best times of my life full of incredible experiences and wonderful people. I am really grateful to have been a part of the Los Campesinos! story. I’m going to miss so much about the whole thing and no doubt regret this move a thousand times over when I’m stuck in some dark corner of a library, while the band are busy playing to thousands in some paradise location… … Continue Reading
Stag and Dagger, Glasgow: Take Two
Selkirk's Frightened Rabbit
May 23, 2009
Following on from successful legs in London and Leeds, with better line-ups than Glasgow, some might have you believe Stag and Dagger’s final UK stop was Glasgow (another review can be found here). With acts like Wintersleep, Evan Dando and King Creosote at both Leeds and London, you’d be forgiven for thinking they had a point. But as I briskly stride uphill to collect my wristband, I decide that anything Leeds or London can do, Glasgow can do just as well. Armed with my schedule, notepad and ink-filled vessel, the saga begins.
First stop, NME Stage at the Captain’s Rest, and I indulge in some 5pm drinking, as I will do many times before my student status is cruelly rescinded in July. I catch the last song of Over the Wall, whose mix of electronic drums, keyboards and guitar has attracted a bumper crowd despite it being early in the day.
Next up is Glasgow’s very own French Wives who since I reviewed them eight days ago, leave little new to report. Stuart’s had a haircut, they still sadly don’t count Sarkozy’s missus or that one out of the Clio ad among their number- though they are still undeniably brilliant. Deliberately detaching myself from what I generally look for in their performance, I notice drummer Jonny’s exemplary bass pedal work and Stuart’s superb lyrics. The lyrics really speak as a snapshot for the city which shaped him. Each song stands as an image as iconic as the Clyde tower, The University of Glasgow or the Kelvingrove art museum, they speak for the city, almost as well as Alex Kapranos did on Franz Ferdinand’s debut. … Continue Reading
Sonic Youth – The Eternal
Sonic Youth
When it was announced that Sonic Youth, having honoured their contract with Geffen Records, had signed with much-admired independent label Matador, many of us came to the same conclusion: after the concise, streamlined accessibility of 2006’s Rather Ripped, it was time for the Youth to renew their love affair with the underground and pursue the avant-garde aesthetic that first inspired them.
Deerhunter – Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP
Deerhunter - Rainwater Cassette Exchange
Modern musicians tend to get a bit of a bad rap for not being as prolific as their counterparts of years gone by. Bradford Cox and his mates in Deerhunter, however, give massive lie to this reputation. By my reckoning, since the start of 2008, they have released four albums between them (two under the Deerhunter guise, one as Atlas Sound and one as Lotus Plaza). As well as this, dozens of songs, virtual singles and EPs have been given away for free download on Bradford’s blog.
In spite of the accusations of a lack of quality control which have been slung at the band, their prolific outlook is welcome, as is their relaxed attitude to giving their music away. It’s exciting to be able to chart an artist’s progression so readily. And, as anyone’s mother would tell you, it’s a bit churlish to turn your nose up at something that’s being handed to you for nothing
The latest ‘proper’ Deerhunter release is the Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP. It opens with the title track which is an immediate example of the impact of Bradford’s recent Animal Collective fixation. The band take the underwater production feel of some recent Animal Collective songs and enhance it with a bassline which creates a real groove, making the song both woozy and stirring at the same time.
There’s something a bit child-like and heart-warming about the way Bradford’s influences seep into his band’s music. He’s clearly as much a fan as he is an artist. Where the genius of Deerhunter lies though is in their ability to create something completely original, in spite of wearing their influences firmly on their sleeves. … Continue Reading
Eels – My Timing Is Off/Fresh Blood
Eels - My Timing Is Off/Fresh Blood
Hurrah! Eels are back! In that respect it has been a long four years since the release of the epic Blinking Lights and Other Revelations.
In the vein of the afore mentioned Blinking Lights… and Daisies Of The Galaxy rather than the more distortion heavy Souljacker period, ‘My Timing Is Off’ tells a tale of bad luck and unfulfilled love familiar to most Eels fans from tracks such as ‘If You See Natalie’ and ‘It’s A Motherf**ker’.
The clean electric guitar and soft drumming make you feel immediately welcome, and E spins his yarn as if he’s the slightly drunk man on the bar stool next to you in a quiet bar.
He is unabashed in his lament however – “My timing is off/Sometimes that’s how it all works/Believe it or not/We don’t have choices in matters of the heart” … Continue Reading
The Music Industry Is Great! by Holy Roar
Rather than being completely unoriginal and moaning about illegal downloads, how independent music press is dying (we will miss you Plan B!) and so on, I have decided to write about how fun running a small independent music label/management company can be and the fun things that happen to me! Hopefully it will be insightful and informative and not too self-indulgent or gloat-tastic on my behalf! I just think that a bit of positive mental attitude in today’s music industry/economic climate doesn’t go amiss……and, to be honest, I’m a firm believer in the theory, or ethic, that the more you say or do something the more you believe in it and the more it comes true! So here goes….
The biggest myth that a lot of people seem to hold about Holy Roar and other small independent labels is that we must have an office in London and be sat here with at least 5-7 employees. This, unfortunately, is very far from the truth. Ellen Godwin and I run the label, with occasional help from an intern called Max. I ‘work music’ full-time, splitting my time between the label and the three bands I personally manage (Rolo Tomassi, Youves and Throats - with no involvement from Ellen or Max on the management stuff). Ellen has a full-time job and so contributes to the label as and when she can, with all business decisions being made equally between us. Max was doing one day a week for us until recently, but due to geographic problems for both him and me, he is temporarily out of the picture. There is no office – all of this is run from wherever we happen to live. Hopefully this goes some way to showing that we do not have oodles of money or cash reserves. I literally scrape by, regularly maxing out my overdraft, whilst Ellen has never drawn a penny from the label, and Max the intern gets expenses/lunch paid on his one-day-a-week, when active.
So you’re probably thinking right now ‘why bother?” when you consider the current profile of some of the bands we have worked with, such as Ghost of a Thousand, Rolo Tomassi, Gallows, Devil Sold His Soul, Dananananaykroyd et al. Well, admittedly, it really is a labour of love and you truly have to love the bands you work with, as there are no realistic big financial incentives. We are a label built upon personal relationships in the vast majority of cases. We have made a lot of good friends and artistic (artwork, screenprinting, promoters, the list goes on….) contacts through the three years we have run Holy Roar, and this outweighs any financial gain tenfold. It’s a nice feeling to know that I always have a place to stay with people in various bands on the label, or that I can go for a beer/coffee/shopping with many of them and have a great time as friends and not even have to talk about the label or their band.
There are and have been a multitude of other perks and praises too, which makes it all the more worthwhile and exciting on a tangible level. Very early on we had a whole page label feature in Dazed and Confused magazine which was both flattering and an early indicator of people understanding what we are trying to achieve. In other words, we are not just some ‘heavy label’ – we like to think we can be appreciated by a wide cross section of people who may not naturally approach the heavier end of the music spectrum. We have tried to strip away the macho bullshit by putting care into non-clichéd involving music, visuals, packaging and presentation. Dazed and Confused was not a one-off though – we have done label features for Drowned in Sound, Plan B, Rocksound and a load of webzines. It’s consitently an amazing and humbling thing to do.
This year it feels like this awareness and acceptance of our wide-focus, non-genre specific approach has reach the live arena too, with a good portion of Holy Roar or affiliated acts playing Offset Festival in September (lets not forget their motto is to “take risks and put on credible, forward-thinking music to passionate audience”, which is certainly something we feel a kinship with), being asked to co-curate a stage at South-East In East festival in late August in London (again, being based in South-East London we certainly felt at home with this idea!) and finally the icing on the cake – being asked to curate a stage on the Saturday night at The Great Escape in Brighton. We were worried that with this being a predominantly indie festival and with us being hugely overlooked in any festival preview articles, that we might have had a disaster on our hands putting on Ghost of a Thousand, Throats, Youves and Battletorn. These fears proved to be unfounded with a queue of people waiting to get into our stage (despite a choice of about 30 or so venues) before doors opened, and all the bands playing to a packed, enthusiastic audience. Lets chalk that up as another forward-thinking success. … Continue Reading
In conversation with Dananananaykroyd
Dananananaykroyd
Earlier this month in Brighton, we caught up with two of the finest live acts in the UK, let alone central Scotland, before they performed on the Levi’s OnesToWatch stage at Audio. First up were Dananananaykroyd’s Laura and Duncan.
Muso’s Guide: So were you here last year for The Great Escape?
Duncan: We were asked to come down but we didn’t have the money so had to pull out quite late which was a real shame so we are doubly excited for it this time.
It was my first time last year, so much going on that you usually have three or four options to go elsewhere if you can’t get in to something. … Continue Reading
Viva Voce – Rose City
Viva Voce
The major downside to being a music lover in the digital age is that it sometimes feels like there aren’t enough listening hours in the day. You can try to cut out mundane trivialities, like work and sleep, but there will still be bands who don’t get the attention they might deserve.
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