The Juan Maclean

May 10th 2009

Perhaps one is familiar with The Neverending Story (you know, that one about the boy and the flying mutt), well, I’ve got another one.

Yes, the set last night of electronic act The Juan MacLean only lasted about an hour, not anything to get rapturous about, but when they started with ‘Happy House’ there was no stopping the New York foursome, for this live occasion including Nancy Whang (LCD Soundsystem), excluding Holy Ghost! drummer Nick Millhiser, including Jerry Fuchs with a nifty moustache. They did an extended version of that twelve minute epic for arguably less people.

It seems as if the band has just arrived from the airport, luggage actually begin carried through the small hall of Paradiso during the soundcheck. Sunday nights are not the most popular ones for Dutch concertgoers, as probably a higher percentage of the students can travel for free during weekdays, not so much weekends (you can choose one of the two to travel for free). Even the ones that can travel for free, or are willing to pay up (tripling the original ticket price, which says something about both, but more about the fare) aren’t really there. The start time is bumped to 23:00 officially, an additional twenty minutes later unofficially, meaning that unless you live in Amsterdam, you just won’t be getting home (and thanks for that…). So if the crowd, part fans, part early birds for the club night Zonde!, look kind of few in numbers, well, there you go. All the more room for dancing then.

Dancing, namely, is not merely a possibility, but it is almost a must as the band is a house machine non-stop. One track after another just hits the dancefloor, with only the melancholic and slightly slower paced ‘The Station’  giving a slight rest for legs and flailing limbs. Songs from the new album, including the most recent single ‘One Day’, are put alongside songs from the first album, Less Than Human. One of those older songs is a vicious rendition of ‘Give Me Every Little Thing’, which gets a particularly raucous response from the gathered crowd. Curiously, the title track seems absent, but plenty of other new songs are played, perhaps less manically than the aforementioned older song, but danceable no less.

Then John MacLean makes a rare trip to the mic stand for some very slight banter, mainly introducing the last song of the set as being called ‘Seven Gateways To Hell’, which to the more perceptive is rather quickly unmasked as the 2008 single ‘Happy House’, the closing track on The Future Will Come. And really, that one leaves most other bands slightly embarrassed. If you had not yet exhausted your body fully on the previous songs, this one will do the trick with a twenty minute electronic bliss coming over you. It induces mass dancing, or more aptly put, it demands it, and in such a way it is just a moustache short of leading a totalitarian regime. Just when you feel your legs giving way and you hear the tempo drop, the band builds it right back up again (mind you, this is after they already have been playing it for a quarter of an hour), and everyone gives dancing another go. Oh yes, and there was an encore to boot.

This gig was the last date of a European tour, and if you fancy a bit of dancing you might want to wonder why you were at home when they were playing a venue near you the, and you better make a post-it reminder to make sure you are there the next time around. The whole set was a treat, danceable and the way they extend the songs is very tight. It is a party, a carnival with no end. And when you think it has, they just build ‘Happy House’ right back up again to make sure the party goes on. Actually, if you live near, pop on by, I actually think they might still be playing that ‘Happy House’ tune. And be sure to bring your kid so you can witness it growing up during the song.

A Place To Bury Strangers

April 7, 2009

Everyone knows that A Place To Bury Strangers are the loudest band in New York. Who told them that? Were they tested by way of some sort of open audition? Is the statement/award temporally constrained or does it mean, like, ever? Well never mind that, this writer can’t work out whether she’s suffering from tinnitus or whether it’s the sound of her brain recoiling into itself.

A Place To Bury Strangers can be compared to Psychocandy-era JAMC and pretty much everything J. Mascis has spewed out not just in their choice of pedals and amps, but also in the way they grind through sound through Oliver Ackermann’s self-designed and built custom-effects pedals.

It’s giddying, constantly upending into a new cataclysm so as to completely take you in, only with more musicality than the Suicides and MBVs of the music world. There’s tender gothic undertones set against subman sonics, a megalomanical mixture of Television-style prog, New Order bass and Joy Division-esque startled drums.

‘Missing You’ has the sound of a world-sized kaleidoscope, framed by terrifying head-down concentration. ‘To Fix The Gash In Your Head’ conveys the perfect amount of self-indulgence in its population of tantric, dense tremolos. And ‘Don’t Think Lover’ is accompanied by aurally imbalancing visuals, sounding altogether more inviting than anything on the self-titled LP.

All in all, the vocals are stronger and the elements come through in a far more pressing way than on record – it’s like a million opuses within one take, drum sticks vibrating in the air against hyperbolic strobe lighting. And the greatest shock of them all is the way the set evoks such a broad spectrum of artists: Kraftwerk, The Slits, The Cure and The Velvet Underground. It’s in a the bass lines, the groove.

The set gets heavier as it progresses, echoing what happens when you listen to the album in its entirety; an intense, often isolating yet all the more mesmeric experience. The drums get harder, the guitars are thrown around and projectile vomited back out to some almighty feedback and earth-shattering effects emit from the pedals. The band look deranged and it’s thrilling, a spectacle.

Don’t mistake A Place To Bury Strangers for sheer noiseniks – they’re melodists at heart, an all-consuming must-see.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!

The third record from New York’s Yeah Yeah Yeahs is one of 2009’s most anticipated releases. Early reviews say it’s a bit of an about turn, but what do our resident Musos think?

BRIAN OTTEN
From the opening pulses of It’s Blitz! it’s blindingly apparent that this Yeah Yeah Yeahs album is totally different from anything Karen O and the boys have done before. If you had bet your sweet ass that it still sounds like the YYYs, as their website suggests, you’d be kissing it goodbye. It does nothing of the sort.

It’s trying to be more Goldfrapp than ‘Gold Lion’ but there is a real lack of menace and danger here amongst the electro whipcracks and lush pads. ‘Zero’, the worthy first single, and ‘Heads Will Roll’ show that they’ve got their heads round the techno kit well enough. ‘Dull Life’ bustles along but the rest of the tracks see the band experimenting with their new sound on our time. ‘Runaway’ is no throwaway though, and it proves that Karen O can evoke some real tenderness despite having to rise above the corny tremolo string arrangements and breathy synth backdrops.

REBECCA SCHILLER

Despite a bump in the road known as Internet leakage, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have digitally released their third studio album, It’s Blitz!. And thank goodness for the leak, because we get to enjoy this album earlier than anticipated. “Dance, dance, dance ‘til you’re dead”, orders Karen O’s signature smoothly-shrill vocals in ‘Heads Will Roll’, and there is nothing more you will want to do whilst listening to these ten tracks of non-stop party. Kicked up a notch on the badass scale (just look at the album cover), Karen O and her Yeahs bring on the electro-rock fit for any synth-lover’s music collection.

David Byrne

Darn AND blast. With the growing trend for band reunions in recent years, and the unthinkable happening with Blur and even Spandau Ballet (ha), we’d crossed our fingers really tightly that the Talking Heads would go down the same road.

No such luck, however – the cynics amongst us say that these Surprise Surprise-style comebacks are money-fuelled, and Mr Byrne has quashed rumours by saying that he’s doing alright for cash at the moment, thanks.

Content with appearing on collaboration albums such as Dark Was The Night and in Brighton’s The BPA project, as well as re-releasing previously recorded material with Brian Eno, Byrne told today’s Metro: “I’m not keen and it’s unlikely to happen. I don’t need the money badly enough.”

If that’s how he sees it then we sort of hope that the Talking Heads DON’T reunite, as these sort of projects are tarnished by the money-grabbing, aging one-timers. If it’s for the right reasons however, then go right ahead -  there’s certainly a plethora of amazing, influential tracks to choose from for their stadium/arena tour.

Bishop Allen

Bishop Allen, Grrr…

It’s a mystery why Bishop Allen aren’t more popular. They’ve been churning out breezy, harmonious indie rock classics since 2003. Their lack of shows this side of the Atlantic would explain their low profile here, but even in the States their music hasn’t found the big audience that it deserves.

Grrr… is the third long player from the Brooklyn-based band. Led by Justin Rice and Christian Rudder the group are certainly prolific, self-releasing 12 EPs in between their albums Charm School and The Broken String.

Rice and Rudder both have a nice sideline in acting, with Rudder playing the male lead in the indie film ‘Funny Ha Ha’, while Rice put in a memorable turn in ‘Mutual Appreciation’. But the music is the duo’s main project. The album starts with ‘Dimmer’. A pleasant enough opener with dancing strings, although the ‘Olly, olly oxen free’ refrain is perhaps a bit twee for its own good.

‘South China Moon’ has an uplifting feel to it and the most singalong chorus on the record. The album’s highlight is the fourth track ‘Dirt on Your New Shoes’. With lyrics like this there’s no denying the band’s whimsical nature. “Take the shells that you collected/Sew them with your favourite silver thread/ Now you jingle, now you rattle with every step.”

Rice and Rudder’s intelligent lyrics are all over this long player. Wrapped in with the melodies, percussion and harmonies are stories of heartbreak, revenge, love and loss. ‘The Ancient Commonsense of Things’ is a jolly, upbeat tune while ‘Don’t Hide Away’ tells the story of a boy’s persistence in not allowing the girl of his dreams to get away from him. The cuteness of the lyrics always makes it seem like quite a sweet thing.“Well you know I’m gonna write you a letter every day like you were a debtor/So you might as well pick up the phone and give me a call.”

Grrr… is a joyful, intelligent record with much to commend it and the patient listener will probably find lots to enjoy. It won’t, however, win them legions of new fans, no matter how much they deserve them.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

New York superstars Yeah Yeah Yeahs have released details of three low-key UK gigs in April.

The shows, in support of their impending third album It’s Blitz!, out on April 13th, will happen in Manchester and London. The shows are as follows:

APRIL

22, Manchester Academy
25, 26, London Shepherd’s Bush Empire

The album is preceded by a single, ‘Zero’, on April 6th.

Click here to check ticket availability from Friday 27th February.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

Taking in all the twee 80s British indie you can think of (The Vaselines, The Field Mice, Shop Assistants, 14 Iced Bears, etc) and more besides, New York’s The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s debut full-length is an impressive serving of bedsit indie rock for the 21st century.

As if the band’s name wasn’t an obvious enough pointer as to what to expect, the album is littered with references to its influences – ‘This Love is Fucking Right!’ is a dead ringer for My Bloody Valentine’s ‘Paint a Rainbow’ (albeit in slowed-down form), whilst the song’s title tips its hat in the direction of The Field Mice’s ‘This Love is Not Wrong’. As pleasant as all that sounds, it’s for the best that The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have enough tricks in their locker to ensure they don’t slide aimlessly into retro fanboyism.

Lead singer Kip Berman certainly sounds the part, his studiously British vocal mannerisms falling somewhere between Morrissey and, curiously, The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess, with the odd hint of Ride’s Mark Gardener thrown in. Although he sticks resolutely to the C86 blueprint, his self-consciously fey affectations feel totally at home here, aided and abetted by some (though more would perhaps be welcome) lovely backing vocals from keyboardist Peggy Wang.

Wearing your influences on your sleeve is one thing, but it can be a killer if you don’t have the tunes to hold the listener’s interest. Luckily, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart boasts plenty of them, though the best come in a clutch of three. ‘Come Saturday’ is instantly thrilling, propelled at breakneck speed by drummer Kurt Feldman’s fine Colm O’Ciosoig (My Bloody Valentine, for the uninitiated) impression. Not enough drummers do that, I say. The excellent ‘Young Adult Friction’ is another upbeat highlight, whilst the ‘The Tenure Itch’ is more introspective but no less effective, all tense, jangly guitars and nervy vocals coming to the fore.

There is the odd occasion where the band strays into the formulaic, though. ‘Stay Alive’, although pleasant enough, is too close to Going Blank Again-era Ride for comfort, and ‘Contender’, the weakest song here, is a peculiar choice for an album opener. ‘A Teenager in Love’, whilst not the schmaltz-fest the title might imply (it’s a about ‘a teenager in love with Christ and heroin’, so, y’know), is also pretty skippable.

It’s unlikely to appeal to anyone who isn’t already well-versed in this sort of thing, but if you wish My Bloody Valentine’s entire career had sounded like the Sunny Sundae Smile EP, you will almost certainly love The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Even those who are slightly harder of heart won’t necessarily be immune to its charms, and there are precious few bands who do this sort of thing this well. Worth a few spins, for sure.

The Virgins - The Virgins

It’s a shame for New York’s The Virgins that Josh Schwartz’s career is going so well. The TV wunderkind garnered acclaim in 2003 for his series The O.C., which took as its focus the overprivileged teens of Orange County.

Thanks to The O.C.’s success, Schwartz upgraded his productions, and is currently working on hit comedy spy series Chuck, The O.C. a distant memory.

To clarify…

In Orange County, the characters liked to drink, take drugs and fall into bed with one another - and after all that, they liked hanging out at ‘The Bait Shop’ watching tuneful indie rock. In season two, cool venue of Newport, The Bait Shop, played host to alt. combos such as The Walkmen, Modest Mouse and Death Cab For Cutie… and, if there were any justice in this world, The Virgins would have been there too.

This is no insult – there were some great bands on The O.C.’s soundtracks, who stood to gain a lot of recognition and success thanks to Schwartz’s patronage. Unfortunately, Johnny-Come-Latelys The Virgins formed the year that Schwartz’s pseudo-fictional world was on its way out, and more’s the pity, because here are a band who would pack The Bait Shop wall-to-wall.

It’s easy to imagine doe-eyed little rich girl Marisa bopping along without a sense of irony to tuneful pop rock slice ‘She’s Expensive’, struck by its INXS-style pizzazz and enthusiastic 80s-aping.

With a swift change of camera angle, Marisa’s gaze would settle upon star-crossed boyf Ryan to angular Duran Duran-esque ‘Teen Lovers’, their lingering glances packed with meaning and soundtracked with this delicious new wave tune.

Meanwhile, Ryan’s wingman Seth tries not to stare too fervently in the direction of on-off love interest Summer in the arms of another – probably interloper Zach – to the strains of ‘Private Affair’, which owes more than a little to the harmonious guitar vein of Elvis Costello. In fact, influence from Talking Heads, Red Hot Chili Peppers and more is on show throughout the record, the band’s first.

Made to sound like five fellas with a lot more experience than they actually have, “The Virgins” is packed with swagger – ‘Rich Girls’ – and heartache – ‘Love Is Colder Than Death’ – and even a little homicide – ‘Murder’. There’s plenty here to please – great tunes, fantastic lyrics and bags of style.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Everything With You/The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

Seems to be the time of year for bands with names that need reducing to acronyms … TPOBPAH hail from New York, and ply their trade playing a brand of indie that harks back to the shoegazing of early-Ride, Slowdive etc. Fair took me back to my schooldays, so they did.

Everything With You features breathy male vocals and sweet female backing over a continuously overdriven guitar riff, before a good trebly guitar break at about the two minute mark. ‘The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart’ is more of a thumping tune, being driven along mostly by the drums. Currently touring with The Wedding Present before a few smaller dates of their own in the middle of the month (I’m thinking of checking them out at Sneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh on December 11th on the strength of this release) they deserve all the success they get in winning over new fans with this new take on an old idea. Unfortunately I haven’t a clue when their album’s coming out but with a dozen or so songs of this quality they should get some decent recognition from the likes of the NME etc.

Check out the band’s live dates here!

Amazing Baby

The hottest thing straight outta Brooklyn, Amazing Baby, are now tearing up the UK after a rip-roaring tour with MGMT.

 They are epic and exciting, and sound a bit like an American Suede, and have the same massive wall-of-sound ambience as UK favourites Glasvegas. With Guitar Hero-worthy riffs and electro-fuzz to make that MGMT a bit jealous.

Well, that was my pithy attempt to pigeonhole them, but you really are best off finding out for yourself.

A free download of their ‘Infinite F***ing Cross EP’ is available by clicking here.

If you’re as desperate as we are to catch these boys live in the flesh, then head to London’s The Lexington this Monday (17/11/2008), where they are playing their only scheduled UK date.