R.I.P Jerry Fuchs

A very sombre post indeed. Jerry Fuchs, drummer from bands such as !!!, LCD Soundsystem and Holy Ghost tragically passed away yesterday. I had the pleasure of seeing him perform with !!! a few years ago and I cannot impress upon you how great a drummer/performer he was. He will be sadly missed by myself and many within the music community.

Below are two examples of this man's incredible talent.

Good Other People

A bit of publicity for some incredible blogs to anyone that hasn't already heard of them.

http://ellipticaledits.blogspot.com/ - Awesome film blog based from a post-grad. Real good technical knowledge and a genuinely well-informed opinion. For connoiseurs of film study.

http://castlegreyskullz.blogspot.com/ - Another film blog, this time written by two friends of mine. Their film, Boiling Point, is awesome and you can view the whole thing for FREE on the site.

http://drtchockii.blogspot.com/ - Insane ramblings from the quasi-fictitious Dr Tchock II who spends most of his time dipping from metaphysics and post-rock and general madness.

Check ya heads!

The Sly-Tones - The Sly-Tones

Cabaret has, in recent times, become a bit of a dirty word. Blame Dita Von Teese; suddenly a performance tradition that has been around since the early 18th Century is now accessible to all who can afford entry-level Anne Summers’ nipple tassles. It is, then, quite refreshing to see a band embrace the macabre, eery side of this hallowed art form. The Sly-Tones, dressed in Shoreditch smoking apparel and sporting facepaint that’s half Norweigan black metal, half Insane Clown Posse jugallo, are not afraid to wear their influences proudly on their cuffs, and this, their first major E.P, is promising in both it’s execution and its confidence.

Lead singer Ashley Edwards is best described as Tom Wait’s with less of a nicotine dependency, a growl that would sound awful normally but coupled with the atmospheric, carnival of horrors accompaniment channels all of the madness and horror of cabaret and acts such as Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and Lord Sutch. This potent delivery is most superbly showcased on final track ‘Shake The Cage’, where the whole tone becomes far more sinister, channeling that most important of musical influences, mental illness. The angular, erratic guitars crash beautifully into honky-tonk piano, washing the listener in a sea of crushed velvet, sharp leather and opium smoke.

What’s perhaps most astounding with this band is that, unlike much music, they are not following a current or vastly popular trend in modern music; the only two bands I can think of who are in anyway similar are the Dresden Dolls and Darling’s Cabinet Of Sundry Horrors, neither of whom have gained that significant an audience in Europe. Songs such as ‘Run Rabbit Run’ and ‘Silver Harpoons’ show that the Sly-Tones are as much substance as they are style, and now that the Horrors have departed to fulfill longstanding shoegaze fantasies, the Sly-Tones might well be the next band to bring the spectacle and the macabre into the modern musical climate.

8/10

Weezer - Raditude

Time to put on your geekiest sweater, most comfortable chinos and develop an unnatural fear of the opposite sex: it’s new Weezer album time. A band that throughout it’s career has unashamedly embroiled itself with the cool-uncool dichotomy, Weezer are a fan’s band through and through. Their new album, with perhaps the most perfect Weezer-esque album title yet, is one of their most engaging yet, blending their characteristic pop/grunge /indie hybrid with new musical directions that seem both intriguing and perverse at the same time.

First things first; yes, there is a song with Lil’ Wayne, and sadly, it is awful. The buttock-clenchingly cheesy ‘Can’t Stop Partying’ is really, really bad. A horrible, cheap sounding backing track that shows none of the musical talent that is so apparent with Weezer, coupled with lyrics that sound like they were written on a 14 year old girl’s Bebo profile, it’s just really, really upsetting. Lil’ Wayne’s rapping sounds lazy, reflecting none of his characteristic wit or delivery that was present on the frankly brilliant ‘Tha Carter III.’ If you are a certified mentalist and the idea of a Weezy/Weezer crossover sounds appealing, then may I direct your attention to a free remix album called ‘Weezyer - What Lil‘ Wayne’s Rock Album Should Sound Like’ (www.weezyer.com) which is surprisingly refreshing and showcases a similar level of craftsmanship to that which went into arguably the Holy Grail of ‘mash-up’ album’s, Dangermouse’s ‘The Grey Album.’

Throughout the album, there are definite signs of musical experimentation. A key example is the refreshing and charming ‘Love Is The Answer’, which features a stunning Bollywood sample and sitar work by Indian legend Nishat Khan. Where the success of such ventures is at times debatable, such as the unnecessary level of synth on ‘Put Me Back Together’ that strays into Cyrus-sibling territory, it is nice to see the band attempting new things with an already successful formula. There are several songs on the album that are classic-Weezer, notably the ones where the production was solely in the hands of lead singer Rivers Cuomo. ‘Let It All Hang Out’ is McLovin in a Marshall amp and ‘In The Mall’, although somewhat cheesy, is still one of the best Weezer songs from their past 3 albums.

Weezer have produced an album that will both entertain existing fans and attract others, mainly with the presence of celebrity names such as Jermaine Dupri and Lil’ Wayne. Although at times hit-and-miss, ‘Raditude’ is a very strong album that shows the band retaining their trademark sound and ethos whilst at the same time continuing to move forwards.

7/10

Tubelord - Our First American Friends

Tubelord - ‘Our First American Friends’

Hassle Records

In a music scene which frequently finds itself turning somewhat stagnant, it’s truly refreshing when a band comes along that breathes new energy into it’s genre whilst at the same time happily acknowledging it’s predecessors and influences. Kingston locals, and Banquet darlings, Tubelord, are a band that are generating a lot of interest in exactly the right areas, mainly because of the quality of both their song-writing and their musicianship. Their eagerly anticipated debut has had many scenester-types doing all sorts of sex wees in their super-tight jeans, and now that it’s finally out, it’s easy to see why.

Each song on the album has been meticulously crafted; choosing to openly ignore the verse/chorus/repeat structure that so many bands happily fall into, their appreciation of all things mathematical create meandering, shifting songs that constantly challenge the rigidity of 4/4 time scales and guitar solos. The guitars layer and clash at exactly the same time; I’ve heard it described as 4 different people playing 4 different songs, but don’t let this put you off. The songs work; I don’t know how, and quite frankly I don’t care. Tubelord are a band that haven’t made this album to become yet another Vice ‘Do’, but to write songs that evoke a menagerie of emotions in just 3 or so minutes.

A key example of this is ‘Somewhere Out There A Dog Is On Fire’ (the band have a penchant for Fall Out Boy-esque song titles), which recently featured on the sublime compilation ‘Music Sounds Better With Huw.’ The narrative, if that’s the correct term, of this and every song, is beautifully exclusive. The music isn’t there for empathy, instead it’s there to appreciate the craft that’s been put into it. This isn’t a band that sets it’s goals at your heart, it sets them at your brain.

Lead singer Joe Prendergast has a stunning, ethereal and downright androgynous voice that contrasts the sometimes raucous music perfectly. The drums are as tight as a duck’s arse and the guitar playing is an enchanting mix of Bombay Bicycle Club and a less crack-addicted At The Drive-In. ‘Night Of The Pencils’ is the song that sums up what it means to be 20+ years old: an acceptance that teenage frivolity is over, but that fun is still possible and perhaps now far more worthwhile. It’s an embracement of youth without sounding twee or childish. It’s a stunning soundtrack to being ‘twenteen’ in London and quite simply one of the most charming, seductive debuts in a very, very long time.

9/10

A little bit of prose, for a change.

I wrote this after taking 20mg of Adderall and 2 5-htp's. Sometimes, prescribed medication really can get the creative juices flowing. As Brendan puts it so well, it's a 'stream of subconcious conciousness.'

We'll hang them, those holy ghosts, from the highest tree we can find. But then again, it's never enough. They rise as frequently as the sun y'know. They're the Hydra, they're the fear of the Hydra. I am your Hercules. I am your Perseus. When you look into the eyes of your lover, there I'll be. I am the face of that which you covet, that which you long for. It courses through our veins like souls in the Styx . Pay me the gold; I'll paddle us out. We'll look up and watch the stars die together. We'll watch it all turn to dust and we shall laugh in joyous rapture for we are enlightened and so we are cursed.

The XX-xx

The xx – xx

Very rarely does a band come around that completely stops me in my tracks. Even more rare is this achieved on the strength of one album. The XX, however, are that band. Possibly one of the most interesting bands to have come out of the past 10 years, the four piece perfectly convey the isolation and loneliness one can feel in such a sprawling city as London (originally from Putney, the XX attended the same school as Micachu, Hot Chip and dubstep-hero Burial.) The concept of ‘maximum-minimum’ is bandied about with much abandon, but on their self-titled debut, The XX manage to accomplish it with aplomb. If you were to strip down the band to its key elements, you could hardly believe that the intensity and prowess of the music could come from such simple beginnings. The most glorious aspect of the band are lead singers Romy Croft and Oliver Sim’s dueling, symbiotic vocals that never reach more than a gentle hush. It’s almost as if the Moldy Peaches removed their shambolic elements, took singing lessons and then spent all of their time listening to The Jesus and Mary Chain.

The goth influence, glaringly apparent in their strict all-black attire and ‘Pornography’-era Cure haircuts, does not mean that the album is gloomy. Songs such as ‘Basic Space’ and ‘Night Time’ are genuinely uplifting, with percussionist Jamie layering simple, atmospheric drum samples that sound like a tranquilized Aphex Twin or DJ Shadow. The stand-out track on the album, ‘Basic Space’, sounds like it’s been found on an old tape deck, where the sound quality has aged beautifully. The band’s simplistic attitude make for such delightful hearing when a lot of contemporary music these days seems to be striving to be intentionally garish. Yes, I’m talking to you, Muse, Mika, Hockey, etc. Thank god for the XX, who seem to triumphantly distance themselves from the pretense that is modern music and instead carve their own path without relying on massively over the top production. In fact, samplist Jamie is the producer, and his flair and talent can be seen on the numerous remixes the XX have produced; one to certainly check out is their reworking of Florence and The Machine’s cover of ‘You’ve Got The Love.’

Quite simply, the XX are a band that I have not stopped listening to since I saw them at Reading earlier this year. If you’re going to buy one album, let it be this. It will prove to be one of the most satisying decisions you’re going to make.

10/10