It was a disturbing, sleep-depriving experience, and one that pretty much explains why it’s taken me over a decade to listen to the band again, as well as my excessive collection of earplugs.

For those who don’t know, NoMeansNo basically sound like what a normal person would imagine when you say the words “sleep deprivation torture”, but they’re actually pretty damn good – and behind the fast, intense, off-kilter hardcore are some seriously decent musicians with a sense of humour.

Basically, it’s the kind of mind-f*** that would happen if Frank Zappa hijacked the Buzzcocks.

So if you’re a) a fan of 80s Matchbox B-Line Disaster, the Dead Kennedys or the album ‘Incesticide’ b) mental, c) twisted, d) Scott, then I will see you at Sound Control, Wednesday at 8.

‘The Village’ is the brilliant, billowing new single from Tunng – from their forthcoming, fifth album, ‘Turbines’ released on June 17^th on Full Time Hobby (www.fulltimehobby.co.uk)

Bands as individual and enduring as Tunng don’t come around too often. Across their decade together, the group have gone from newcomers, experimenting in the basement of a Soho’s women’s clothing boutique, to acclaimed sonic masters, expertly threading electronic influences with unhinged, off-piste pop.

A warm, sophisticated record, ‘Turbines’, is moving, addictive and impossible to categorise with its eclectic range of instrumentation and ideas combining to make something as unique as you’re likely to discover this year, or any year. It’s also a more nuanced, reflective and mature album which has uncovered a new power in the Tunng sound, already winning a well-deserved wider audience.

See Tunng live:

Mon July 8^th 2013 – The Lexington, London

Tue July 9^th 2013 – The Lexington, London

Tue October 8^th 2013 – Heaven, Under the Arches, London

Fri October 11^th 2013 – Colston Hall, Bristol

Sat October 12^th 2013 – Brewery, Kendal

Sun October 13^th 2013 – Broadcast, Glasgow

Tue October 15^th 2013 – Manchester Band On The Wall, Manchester

Wed October 16^th 2013 – South Street Arts, Reading

Thu October 17^th 2013 – Apex, Bury St Edmunds

Sat October 19^th 2013 – Trades Club, Hebden Bridge

Sun October 20^th 2013 – East Village Arts Club, Liverpool

Mon October 21^st 2013 – Old Market, Brighton

POLIÇA’s debut album ‘Give You The Ghost’ was one of 2012’s breakout debut albums with every single released being playlisted at 6 Music and with ‘Dark Star’ and ‘Lay Your Cards Out’ getting playlisted on Radio 1, as well as ‘Record Of The Week’ accolades coming from Zane Lowe, Huw Stephens and Fearne Cotton.

Having notched up two US TV performances on Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel they played a bewitching set on Later with Jools Holland and were championed from all corners of the press hitting ‘album of the year’ lists in The Guardian, NME, Sunday Times, Drowned In Sound and many more.

The band return to the UK this summer for three very special shows, playing the XX’s Night and Day Festival (23^rd June), Jodrell Bank with Sigur Ros (30th Aug) and the End of the Road Festival (31^st Aug).

www.thisispolica.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IOUCSo0-tM

MONEY comprise of Jamie Lee, Charlie Cocksedge, Billy Byron and Scott Beaman. They formed in Manchester and embody the passion, creativity and optimism of a new generation of artists and musicians from the city.

They have had sold out shows before they’d even released a single, and MONEY have also drawn devoted fans to strange, beautiful and passionate gigs around the city over the last year or so, with much mythologised shows in the Sacred Trinity Church and a crumbling building known as the Bunker: an abandoned factory in the shadows of Strangeways.

MONEY will be playing UK shows in June and July. Dates/info below:

Sunday 9 June – BIRMINGHAM – Hare & Hounds

Monday 10 June – GLASGOW – King Tuts

Tuesday 11 June – LIVERPOOL – Leaf

Thursday 13 June – LONDON – The Waiting Room

Friday 14 June – HEBDEN BRIDGE – Trades Club

Friday 12 July – MANCHESTER – Festival Square & Pavilion Theatre

Saturday 13 July - MANCHESTER – Festival Square & Pavilion Theatre

I have to say, I don’t see it, nor I do it hear it. For me, the songs that start off Trouble Will Find Me might well have carried straight on from the end of High Violet, neatly spliced to form one coherent double album. So instead, what we actually have with the 13 tracks on this album is, essentially, more of the same. And that’s absolutely dandy. I eagerly bought High Violet, on the recommendation of friends with impeccable taste, and have played the bejees out of it. So more of the same… well that’s just fine by me.

The National have a solid, rounded sound: shimmering, distorted guitars, breathy vocals, heavy percussion and the kind of tightness you might expect from a five-piece band containing two sets of brothers, and one of those sets twins. It’s a family affair. To accompany the release, The National premiered a film, Mistaken For Strangers, at the recent Tribeca festival. Documenting the stresses and strains on the High Violet tour, the film was made by Tom Beringer. Yes, the brother of the one member of The National who doesn’t already have a brother in the band.

Across the album, the guitars range from the more gentle sound of tracks like ‘Fireproof’ and ‘I Need My Girl’, to the more upbeat ‘ Don’t Swallow The Cap’, whilst elegiac notes ring out in the halls of ‘Heavenfaced’, space opening up within the music. Vocals are low-slung, understated, and so smokey it’s as if they had been recorded over burning peat. That technology is more likely to be found at a whisky distillery than the Clubhouse studios in Rhinebeck, New York, but certainly, the music evidences that kind of texture. The lyrics across Trouble Will Find Me thankfully keep up the brutal bawdiness of High Violet, and are equally contemporary and original. At one point, for instance, Berninger explains how “there’s a science to walking through windows”.

In the parlance of malt whisky, the tone, or the expression of Trouble Will Find Me is gentle and folksy yet urbane, edgy. After several listens, the album is still yet to move me in the way High Violet managed, but like those smoky malts of Islay, that complexity of response may come, with time.

Release Date 20/05/2013 (4ad)

The Leeds-based quartet Just Handshakes formed at university over a shared love of the C86 music scene. After a series of low-key singles and DIY cassette releases, which have finely honed their sound, they have now, via the Californian based label Bleeding Gold, delivered their debut album, Say It, which sees them drop a little of their earlier catalogue’s brightness for a darker, more angular approach.

It should come as no surprise that the band is a firm favourite of the soon to be missed lo-fi and DIY loving club night Underachievers Please Try Harder. The album clearly demonstrates their nostalgic indie-loving influences, not least on the Joy Division-esque opening bars of bassline heavy single ‘London Bound’, a fine gem of a tune with pummelling drums and shimmering guitars.

Fortunately, they are much more than mere indie copyists and a definite asset is the singer Clara Patrick whose coos-and-trills singing style adds a touch of panache throughout. This is no better highlighted than on the songs ‘Cut and Run’ and ‘Bright Lights’ with the latter reminding me of the much-missed Broadcast with the gorgeous combination of vintage keys and the hushed fragile childlike vocals interweaving to deliver a bittersweet lullaby.

Elsewhere dissonant guitars drive the melodies throughout to give a hue of darkness and are never better than on ‘Kiwi’, a song which wouldn’t feel out of place amongst Albini-era Wedding Present and the album, like all good music (in my opinion), has a searching, yearning quality to the music and lyrical themes.

The record deserves a wider audience and the greatest compliment I can give is that it updates the C86 melancholic beauty with a contemporary modern twist to add a vibrant dark edge to the album. One hopes that it will not be too long before they play Manchester, as their songs will definitely be appreciated.

Release Date 20/05/2013 (Bleeding Gold Records)

]]> http://www.silentradio.co.uk/05/20/album-review-just-handshakes-say-it/feed/ 0 http://www.silentradio.co.uk/05/19/album-review-cloud-boat-book-of-hours/ http://www.silentradio.co.uk/05/19/album-review-cloud-boat-book-of-hours/#comments Sun, 19 May 2013 17:33:56 +0000 Lizzie Ahye http://www.silentradio.co.uk/?p=17573 Book of Hours is the debut LP from Cloud Boat. This London based duo already has quite the buzz building up around them and their forthcoming release. If you are a fan of The XX, Bon Iver, James Blake, Zero 7, Alt-J or any other group that emulate pure magic on record, then read on.

This LP is quite the masterpiece. It feels like a journey, an experience for the listener. With a running order of 11 tracks this is certainly about quality over quantity.

The opening track, ‘Lions On The Beach’, is a mesmerising cross between Alt-J, Bastille and Zero 7. There is often a distinct lack of vocal on this record, and yet it seems as though nothing is missing. Everything fits perfectly and captures your attention throughout.

The second track, ‘Youthern’, is outstanding. Its beginnings have the hauntingly beautiful, and ethereal feel of a hymn. It is simple, the vocal shines through the darkness here with a desperate quality and a longing to the lyrics: “I’ve never felt love, because of the state of us. Love me, until I go, Love me, until I die”.

Many of the tracks, much like ‘Drean’, are rather morbid, focusing on death and endings. Lyrics, “death is coming…it’s knocking on everyone’s doors”, ring out through the abyss, and yet this is not a sad song. It is not depressing it is beautiful, moving even.

Tracks 9 and 10 are a two part song, ‘Pink Grin I / Pink Grin II’. ’Part I’, an intro almost at only 1 minute 50 seconds, combines a repetitive guitar pattern with a lingering howl in the form of a vocal. ‘Part two’ is the main event with a running time of over 5 minutes. This is not a pretentious, narcissistic piece, this is an art expression with a constantly changing and evolving soundscape. This begins where it left off from the folk rock ‘Part I’ track morphing into a full-out electro, house piece, with detailed synths and an energy that makes you want to explore – the sort of track you never want to end.

‘Kowloon Bridge’ is the final piece of this puzzle, and is probably the most uplifting of all the songs. The story of a boy who goes to sea searching for more afraid of what will be left upon his return, the guitars distorted, turbulent. Yet hopeful tones accompany this young mans journey wonderfully.

This LP is brought to life by the stunning vocals, precise acoustic guitars and haunting effects that this duo has on offer. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. Some may find it too slow or boring, but if you take the time to listen and appreciate the beauty that is being sculpted in front of your eyes and in your mind throughout this record, the musicality of those involved and the soul that every sound, every note seems to have then you will enjoy listening to this.

Release Date 27/05/2013 (Apollo)

With the release of their long-awaited new album ‘Desire Lines’ on June 3rd via 4AD, Camera Obscura have revealed another song, ‘Fifth In Line To The Throne’.

A sonic foil to recent single ‘Do It Again’, ‘Fifth In Line To The Throne’ sees the Glasgow fifth-piece in full balladeer mode and features backing vocals from Neko Case.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G50ak0JGMEw

Catch Camera Obscura on tour this summer:

MAY

22nd – CARLISLE, The Brickyard

25th – BARCELONA, Primavera Sound Festival

JUNE

4th – EDINBURGH, Liquid Rooms

5th – MANCHESTER, Academy 2

6th – LONDON, Heaven

7th – LEEDS, Cockpit

8th – NEWCASTLE, Northumbria University

9th – LOCH NESS, RockNess Festival

JULY

27th – RIPLEY, Indietracks Festival

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB29CI1a704

Clemens Habicht (Friendly Fires, Bloc Party, Delphic) is back in the director’s chair and even makes a short appearance in the video… along with 40 or so other faces, including but not limited to: Jack Ladder, Sarah Blasko, Kirin J. Callinan and Mrs Pike (yes, Laurence and Richard’s mum), but don’t blink or you might miss it.
It is one of those complicated PVT tracks that would be impossible for anyone but them to play and what makes them such a great performance band, seeing them actually make this music live on real instruments. So the idea is to make anyone else improbably able to play it.
PVT’s ‘Homosapien’ is out now worldwide on Felte, Modulor in France and in Australia/New Zealand on Create Control.
PVT have worked their way across Europe throughout May and finish off with a live date on 30th May @ Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen, London.

Keston Cobblers’ Club formed in 2009 with sibling duo Matthew and Julia Lowe joining old Keston School friends Tom and Daniel to write and play music together. Over the years the band has shuffled around its members, climaxing with a Cobblers’ 60 piece fan orchestra recorded live last year.

 Based on the Folklore of the old, penniless Cobbler of Keston who threw barn dances for the villagers, wearing their soles thin and thus creating business…The modern Keston Cobblers’ Club have brought this ethos back and thrive on getting different people involved: singing, dancing and making music.

After the release of their debut single ‘You-go’ , which gained national radio play and critical acclaim for its unique video, the band went on to release a five track limited edition physical EP ‘Welcome to the Club’ which sold out in under five months.