This past weekend, I was gracing the UK seaside town of Brighton for The Great Escape. I spent most of the weekend checking out acts for my dayjob as well as stumbling into the closest venues for a music fix. I did have a shortlist of acts that I was desperate to see and one of those features on this Jacques Greene track. How To Dress Well performed a beautiully haunting and emotionally charged set which warmed my ice cold heart. On this track HTDW joins Montreal producer Jacques Greene for a mix of House and R&B which all the kids are calling future garage. Whatever you want to call it, we can all agree that it's pretty amazing.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
In Pictures: Field Mouse at Larimer Lounge, Denver
This was my first encounter with Field Mouse. I'd heard the name before, but since I was without a doubt seeing them open for Laura Stevenson, I waited to listen. In a lot of ways, I'm glad I did because a live introduction is one of the best you can get to a band. And I was impressed. Field Mouse is lovely, fuzzy indie pop that fits right in with Laura and many of the other things I listen to. I recommend you check them out as well.
Continue reading "In Pictures: Field Mouse at Larimer Lounge, Denver" »
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The Front Bottoms - Talon Of The Hawk
The Front Bottoms' Talon Of The Hawk is a series of vignettes, memories of adolescent adventures underscored by catchy beats and ultimately driven by Brian Sella's heartfelt vocals and Matt Uychich's undeniably solid, play-for-the-song rock drumming. The addition of Tom Warren on bass and Ciaran O’Donnel on keys/trumpet/guitar adds more of a complexity to the arrangements than seen in their (much loved by everyone at The Ruckus) self-titled debut.
The album kicks off with a snarky sendoff, closes with an ode to an inevitable end, and touches on everything from drugs to road trips to regrettable tattoos to abortion in between. "Lone Star" is a punk rock "Brick," one of those upbeat downers that catches you with its unexpected heaviness (The past few months were pretty rough / A couple times, wished we both were dead) and hooks you with its driving melody.
It's the lyrics that get me the first time I hear "Twin Size Mattress," the first publicly released track from the album. This is for the lions living in the wiry broke down frames of my friends bodies... is a tattoo perfect line, and the rest of the track follows suit. I play it on repeat for the better part of two weeks. This is a love song, a friendship song, a regret song carried perfectly by Brian Sella's acoustic guitar and fervent vocals.
The Front Bottoms - Twin Size Mattress
This is for the lions living in the wiry broke down frames of my friends bodies.
When the flood water comes, it ain't gonna be clear. It’s gonna look like mud.
But I will help you swim.
I will help you swim.
I'm gonna help you swim.
"Back Flip" gets a special mention here for its hazy, stream-of-consciousness lyrics and nod to America's Wang:
I'll move to Florida, and I'll buy a brand new pick-up truck
And I'll tint all the windows including the driver's side
Now you can't see me, so you can't touch me
When I sit at the red light and watch your boyfriend wonder if I'm inside
If I am dead inside
The rest of the songs are just as strong, easy fodder for road-trip mixtapes and sing-a-longs, and undeniably begging to be heard live. Talon Of The Hawk is a solid, rocking album that proves without a doubt that The Front Bottoms are indeed a band who are coming into their own.
Track Listing:
1. Au Revoir (Adios)
2. Skeleton
3. Swear To God The Devil Made Me Do It
4. Twin Size Mattress
5. Peach
6. Santa Monica
7. The Feud
8. Funny You Should Ask
9. Tattooed Tears
10. Lone Star
11. Backflip
12. Everything I Own
Talon Of The Hawk is out today. The Front Bottoms are on tour starting May 31.
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The National - Trouble Will Find Me
This record tells a story. Perhaps it's not meant to be such an overt chronicle of a broken relationship, but few albums have felt like such a self-contained narrative to me. Trouble Will Find Me weaves a tale of loss, loneliness, and a touch of closure, tied together with beautifully melancholy melodies and frank lyrics.
I'm sure a million reviews have expounded on Matt Berninger's gifted voice, and this one is no different. His baritone is simply gorgeous and I admit that I spent the first couple listens just getting lost in the sound of it, and missing the words entirely. But the lyrics are where the real magic comes out, a perfect fit for Berninger's haunting tone. "Every day I start so great / then the sunlight dims," he laments in "Demons," getting at his absolute graveliest.
There's plenty of mood-setting on the instrumental side too. Devendorf's drumming is somber and restrained, while Dessner's hazy guitar rarely gets forceful enough to take the forefront. The result is a pervading gentle gloom that highlights the emotional heart of this album. A few songs do break through that reserved tension. In "Sea of Love," the melody starts off heavier, while the song continues to build with echoing background vocals and a strong drum beat, as Berninger pleads "tell me how to reach you." The bright guitars and brisk drums in "Graceless" gives it almost dance tune status, at least in comparison.
If this is a journey through dealing with heartache, "I Need My Girl" is the bargaining stage. One of my immediate favorites, Berninger admits "I know I was the 45 percent of then / I know I was a lot of things / but I am good I am grounded... I need my girl." Likewise, "Pink Rabbits" is the acceptance, "I'm so surprised you want to dance with me / I was just getting used to living life without you around;" "You said it would be painless / it wasn't that at all."
Trouble Will Find Me is out now. It's a definite contender for album of the year, so this is one you do not want to miss. The National are touring extensively this summer in support of Trouble. Check out the full list of dates to find one near you.
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Satisfying The Bloodlust Of The Masses In Peacetime: Half Man Half Biscuit at The Grand Pavilion, Matlock Bath
Half Man Half Biscuit are not the most prolific of artistes. They fastidiously avoid the usual treadmill of touring and press schedules that beset most bands in this day and age. Having famously turned down an opportunity to appear on television because Tranmere Rovers were playing that night (the producers even offered to fly them by helicopter, but they still said no), Half Man Half Biscuit answer to no one. Instead we get but a handful of shows every year, an album once in a blue moon, with interviews and promotional exploits being as rare as hen’s teeth. It is also quite unusual for them to venture down to London, so if you want to see them, you need to travel.
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Track Premiere: Dave Hughes - Livin' On A Prayer (Bon Jovi Cover)
With his latest album, 'In Death Do We Part?', almost ready for it's physical release - I said it was good back when it was released digitally earlier this year - Dave Hughes has cracked on with doing a few rough and ready covers for the extended edition of the aforementioned album.
Despite his general disdain for all things Bon Jovi, Dave has recorded a cover of 'Livin' On A Prayer'. One of the the New Jersey band's biggest hits, it's sung up and down the country (very badly) in karaoke bars by drunken businessmen who don't know any better (probably) on a daily basis. Dave has reworked the song slightly to turn the 'rock classic' into something a little more folky and, for my money, a whole lot more listenable.
Check it out below and be sure to head over here and get your hands on a physical copy of 'In Death Do We Part'. The 'Expanded Edition' comes with a covers CD - on which this gem can be found - as well as four new songs that are only available in this package.
Dave is also playing on the Scottish dates of Ben Marwood's forthcoming UK tour.
- June 4th - Cerberus, Dundee
- June 5th - Pivo, Edinburgh
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Dave Hause (w/ Jonny Two Bags) at The Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city I’ve only been to once before. It was in 2009 during the Frank Turner/Fake Problems/Beans On Toast tour and, whilst that show was rad, I never really took to the city itself and having been given a little time to check it out again before the show started, my opinion hasn’t changed. Alas, this isn’t a travel blog. I was there for the music and I’m glad I was.
As you may have been able to tell from my musings about this year’s Groezrock festival, I’m a pretty big fan of Dave Hause. One of the most energetic solo performers I’ve ever seen, he never fails to impress and this night was nothing different.
Howvever, before all of that, it was time for Jonny Two Bags. Like Dave, I’d seen Jonny play just a few days prior in Belgium and he was great. His rock and roll infused sound is different from a lot of people playing acoustic music, but the crowd in Wolverhampton didn’t seem to care; chatting throughout and drunkenly shouting at the Social Distorition guitarist during his pretty short set.
He struggled through it and joked about how none of us could buy his music yet. The one 7” Two Bags has released as a solo performer is long sold out, but he assured us that ‘Salvation Town’, his solo full-length, was coming soon. It’s a good job too, because I really can’t get enough of Jonny. He puts a new twist on an old school sound and I really dig it.
Unfortunately, I think Jonny was struggling here. I don’t know what it was, but he didn’t look himself: He looked slightly frail as he persevered through his set, trying his best to please the braying masses waiting for Dave to take to the stage.
The thing is, when he did, this didn’t change. Throughout the night I had various groups of people talking loudly around me, which begs the question why even come to the show in the first place?!
Regardless, Dave smashed it yet again. Even a drunken woman in the front row - who seemed to be offering herself to Dave during every break in the set - couldn’t put the Loved Ones frontman off. He played hit after hit, with the crowd singing along (when they weren’t too busy in conversation) and, just like in Belgium, the new songs were going down really well.
The crowd didn’t ease up on him one bit though, but he handled it like a pro. He took it all in his stride and used his ‘chats’ with various rowdy audience members to bridge the gaps in his set.
Loved Ones songs, a nod to both Joe Strummer and The Hold Steady (in one fine medley no less!) and his own solo tunes closed out the night and, again, left me with the feeling that Dave Hause is one of the finest purveyors of this ‘acoustic punk’ thing out there.
It’s just a shame that the crowd weren’t as on form as he was.
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