Posts Tagged ‘Post-Punk’

The Bordellos (with Dee Claw) / Neon Kittens – Half Man Half Kitten

Posted: 21 February 2025 in Albums, Reviews
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Cruel Nature Records – 21st February 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

This split release has a lengthy backstory, which is given in full on the label’s Bandcamp page – but the short version is that when York’s Neon Kittens (how had I not heard (of) them, given that they appear to be from round my way and absolutely my bag? I feel ashamed, and fear I cannot even remotely claim to have the finger on the pulse of my local scene right now – but still, better late than never, right?) approached The Bordellos about a collaboration, the latter, having taken an eternity to only half-finish their current album-in-progress, some ten years after the release of will.i.am, you’re really nothing, offered everything they had for a split release. And lo, this is it.

I suppose the eight songs Neon Kittens have contributed here provide a solid starting point to their rapidly-expanding catalogue, and being paired with The Bordellos works a treat. Both espouse the same lo-fi DIY ethic, with a certain leaning toward indie with a trashy punk aesthetic.

That the cassette edition sold out on advance orders hints at the anticipation for the release: for, as The Bordellos describe themselves as being ‘ignored by millions, loathed by some, loved by a select few’, when you’ve got a small but devoted following, they get pretty excited for new material.

‘Set Your Heart to the Sun’ is perfectly representative of their scratchy, harmony-filled indie – kinda jangly, a tad ramshackle, but direct, immediate. Dee Claw’s airy vocal contributions really lift the sound and raise the melodic aspects of the songs. Not all of the songs have full drum-kit percussion, often favouring tambourine or bongos or seemingly whatever comes to hand, and more than any other acts, I’m reminded of Silver Jews or really, really early Pavement – those EPs that sounded like they were recorded on a condenser mic from the next room with more tape hiss than music, but still undeniably great tunes. And yes, they really do have great tunes – overall, they’re pretty laid-back in their approach to, well, everything: remember when ‘slacker; was a thing? Yeah. In place of polish, they have reverb, and these songs tickle the ears with joy.

Neon Kittens bring a rather denser sound and a greater sense of urgency with the buzzy, scuzzy ‘Better Stronger Faster’. A hyperactive drum machine stutters and flickers away beneath a sonic haze of fuzzy guitar: there are hints of Metal Urbain crossed with The Fall and Flying Lizards in the mix, while ‘All Done by Numbers’ brings Shellac and Trumans Water together in a head-on collision – and one suspects any similarity to Shellac’s ‘New Number Order’ is entirely intentional from a band who recently featured on a Jesus Lizard tribute. ‘Cold Leather’ presents a spoken word narrative over a lurching, lumbering morass of discord, held together by the whip crack of the snare of a vintage-sounding drum machine.

The majority of their songs are around the two-minute mark, and crash in, slap you round the chops, and are done before you really know what’s hit you. ‘Deaf Metal’ is a work of beautiful chaos, constructed around a thick, rumbling bass and rolling drums., while the rather longer ‘White Flag’ is almost a stab at a grunge-pop song, while the discordant clang of ‘Sailing in a Paper Boat’ is absolutely The Fall circa Hex Enduction Hour: lo-fi post-punk racket doesn’t get much better than this.

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Watch: ‘Delusional’ by Leatherette

Posted: 21 February 2025 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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As they near the end of their UK and European tour, Leatherette are back with their latest single ‘Delusional’, the follow-up to the cathartic breakup anthem ‘Itchy’.

‘Delusional’ is a powerful song that explores the complex emotions of yearning for connection while feeling disconnected from the world around you. A song for those caught between the urge to dance and the desire to leave without saying goodbye. The track encapsulates the struggle of wanting to fit in with someone you love while feeling like an outsider in their world.

Musically, ‘Delusional’ weaves together elements from different eras and genres, fusing the gritty sound of ’90s alternative rock with modern influences drawn from hip-hop and electronic music. The result is a dynamic and engaging sonic experience that reflects the longing for connection and acceptance.

After testing the songs live during their second album Small Talk tour last year, they decided to record them spontaneously at home, in messy rooms and using cheap instruments (including unlikely ones such as mandolin and bouzouki).

“Being eternally dissatisfied, but also tireless explorers, we decided to return to our origins, seeking the expressive freedom that can be found in DIY”. The result was then entrusted for mixing to the usual collaborator Chris Fullard (Idles, Boris), and for mastering to Maurizio Baggio (The Soft Moon, Boy Harsher).

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Watch: ‘Unisex Games’ by Astari Nite

Posted: 20 February 2025 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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ASTARI NITE is delighted to announce the release of their vivid & unapologetic new video for the track, ‘Unisex Games’.

The video and single for ‘Unisex Games’ can only best be described in the words of ASTARI NITE’s vocalist, Mychael: “’Unisex Games’ was written as a sort of tongue in cheek to the max song. I mean, relationships often find an invasive way of telling you how you’re going to spend your time whether you like it or not, right? So, make it worthwhile, have an imagination or get a hobby and try your luck at painting. For what it’s worth, anyone I’ve ever come across has helped define my unusual ways to this very day and for that, I will always be thankful.”

Regarding the music video for ‘Unisex Games’, Mychael goes on to say: “The start of the year was a f**king horror story. My therapist recommended doing something amusing and so I did. My bandmates met me at my hotel, and we played pretend for an hour or two making the ‘Unisex Games’ music video. There is a certain kind of magic that takes place when you can find comfort in the people you surround yourself with. Being obnoxiously silly comes naturally for the four of us. The happiness that is displayed in the video may help some people put a smile on their face for a moment during these chaotic times. This is why I chose to release the video a few weeks before the actual single that comes out on March 14th.”

Watch the video here:

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The Awakening – The Awakening

Posted: 15 February 2025 in Albums, Reviews
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Intervention Arts

Christopher Nosnibor

While eponymous debuts are commonplace, apart from artists who name all of their albums eponymously, it also seems to be a thing for long-established bands to release a self-titled album well into their career, and, to my mind, it seems somewhat strange. Nevertheless, Killing Joke have in fact done both, and Interpol have also managed two eponymous albums (if you count album number five, the anagrammatic El Pintor). Have you run out of ideas or something?

The Awakening has been a thing for a good quarter century now, during which time Ashton Nyte has also released a number of solo albums, a brace of books, and been a constant feature in the lineup of industrial / goth collective Beauty in Chaos. He’s a busy man.

The twelve tracks on The Awakening represent something of a revisiting of the classic goth template, and in this context, the title makes perfect sense. It’s a return to the beginning, treading the ground where it all began, and feeling that spark once again: an awakening, indeed.

‘Shimmer’ creates the atmosphere with dolorous bell chimes and slow, deliberate, ceremonial percussion, before single cut ‘Mirror Midnight’ thumps in with a sturdy bass groove melded tight to a relentless, solid drum machine beat. Laced with delicate traces of brittle, chorus-laden guitar, it provides the backdrop to a crooning baritone vocal delivery. Lyrically, it’s rich in esoteric imagery and it’s classic goth – mid-80s in style, md-90s in production. And this is essentially The Awakening: it’s dark, brooding, espousing the doomed romanticism that was central to The Sister of Mercy’s genre-defining debut album, First and Last and Always.

‘Through the Veil’ goes epic, and if its arena aspirations seem somewhat removed from the claustrophobic confines of the first phase of goth, it likely owes something of a debt to Floodland, while the acoustic-led ‘Your Vampire’ evokes The Mission circa Children (I’m thinking ‘Heaven on Earth’, but perhaps a little less bombastic), although ‘Island in a Stream’ is an equally valid reference point.

‘Haunting’ – also a single – and an obvious choice, it has to be said, is a burly burst of muscle-flexing guitar propelled – again – by a throbbing bass and pumping drum beat, draped with cool Cure-esque synths, culminating in a climactic rush of a finale. ‘See You Fall’ stands out as another quintessential goth banger: the instrumentation again is reminiscent of early Mission songs, and the drumming, with its dominant snare is absolutely cut from the same cloth as The First Chapter, although Nyte’s vocal reminds me – quite happily – of Andrew Eldritch demoing vocals on ‘Garden of Delight’.

Things take a turn for the heavy – and the political – on ‘Fallout’. It’s a reminder that the music of the 80s emerged from a time of terror, a political lurch to the right, and living under the shadow of the bomb. And here we are again. We can never escape history: it simply repeats. And so, it stands to reason that music is also cyclical.

‘Not Here’ hints at Bauhaus, while the thunderous ‘Cabaret’ – which seems to take certain cues from ‘Dead Pop Stars’ by Altered Images and The Psychedelic Furs’ ‘Soap Commercial’ in terms of its spindly lead guitar line – is a modern goth classic.

The Awakening mines a seam of trad goth which straddles the first wave and the 90s revival, or second wave – which is precisely the starting point of The Awakening. This album feels rather like time travel, in the best possible sense, and, in context, it’s less a case of homage as revisitation and renewal.

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The Awakening 1 - photo by Ashton Nyte

Then Comes Silence – Boxed

Posted: 13 February 2025 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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Metropolis Records – 21st February 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

If one nation really loves its rock and it’s goth stuff, it’s Germany, and there are a fair few UK bands who, while they fair ok at home, are absolutely massive in Germany: the fact The Sisters of Mercy have continued to headline major festivals there well into the 00s, while at home, apart from Reading in ’91, they’ve never really featured in festival lineups gives a fair indication of the difference. So it should be of no surprise that it’s in Germany that Swedish post-punk/goth act Then Comes Silence grew their fanbase first in Germany, before expanding across mainland Europe after sharing stages with artists such as A Place To Bury Strangers, Chameleons and Fields Of The Nephilim.

Boxed should probably have been retitled Unboxed for this edition, being a digital reissue of tracks included in a limited and long-sold-out box set edition of their 2022 album Hunger, Consisting of two songs in Spanish, two instrumentals, two remixes and one outtake from that album, its reissue lands coincidental with the completion of a US tour in support of their seventh album, Trickery, released last year.

As one may expect from the summary, it’s more of a mixed bag of novel odds and ends than a serious or coherent EP release, and the presence of the songs sung in Spanish remind me of when The Wedding Present released ‘Pourquoi Es Tu Devenue Si Raisonnable?’, a French-language recording of ‘Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now?’ Sung in Gedge’s flat, Leeds accent, it sounds like… The Wedding Present, of course, and I’m sceptical about the translation given just how nearly the lyrics fit the melody.

Anyway. Boxed. The Spanish language versions of ‘Dias y Años’ and ‘Cebo’ are solid, but obviously don’t really bring much to the table, especially for the non-Spanish speakers – beyond a novel spin, that is. But make no mistake the ultra-percussive, stony goth groove of ‘Cebo’ (or ‘Worm’, as it is titled in English) is a killer cut in any language.

The first instrumental, ‘Spökenas Intåg (Walk-In)’, which in fact lifts the curtain on the release, is a somewhat spooky, atmospheric composition, imbued with filmic qualities, and it would sit comfortably on the soundtrack of a movie or maybe even a docudrama about a serial killer or something.

‘We Only Have So Long’ is a thrusting, energetic, guitar-driven song, packing groove and force into two and a half minutes, and while its offcut status is because of how it doesn’t really sit in the framework of the album, it might have made a standalone single, because, why not? It’s certainly not weak.

Although remixes rarely mark an improvement on the original – although there are notable exceptions – the H Zombie Remix of ‘Blood Runs Cold’ does at least bring something different.

The final track – amd second of the instrumentals – ‘Skuggornas Intåg’ bookends the EP and strives to give it some kind of cohesion, some kind of shape, being a clear counterpart to ‘Spökenas Intåg’. It’s atmospheric but inconsequential, and does feel rather like a space-filler or odd-end outro.

Ultimately, this release is simply what it is: a reissue of some bonus cuts for the benefit of the fans who missed out on the limited version of the album. It’ll no doubt make for a tidy addition for the new fans they accumulated on the tour, too, and it’s decent – but by no means their most essential offering.

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Watch: ‘Dancing With Ghosts’ by Pink Turns Blue + Tour dates announced

Posted: 8 February 2025 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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European post-punk stalwarts Pink Turns Blue present their new single ‘Dancing With Ghosts’ and accompanying video, confronting the agonizing reality of toxic relationships, those soul-draining connections we often share with the people closest to us.  It’s a raw exploration of the struggle to escape the "ghosts" of the past and the arduous, but ultimately liberating, journey toward self-preservation.

This is the third offering from their forthcoming album Black Swan, a term used for an unexpected event that, in retrospect, is rationalized as if one could have prepared for it. This record is set for release on limited edition vinyl, CD and digitally via Orden Records on February 28.

Earlier, the band shared ‘Stay For The Night’, a celebration of the postpunk – goth rock – darkwave community, and the lead track ‘Black Swan (But I Know There Is More to Life)’, the album’s only ballad, which delves into profound questions about existence, life’s purpose and the beauty of the world.

Today made up of Mic Jogwer (vocals, guitar), Paul Richter (drums) and Luca Sammuri (bass), Pink Turns Blue – named after a Hüsker Dü song – emerged in 1985 in the first generation of gothic rock. Their debut album If Two Worlds Kiss advanced the darkwave sub-genre while becoming a seminal post-punk album. Emerging from the fear and uncertainty of a divided Cold War Germany and inspired by Joy Division, The Sound and The Chameleons, they have since released a dozen full-length LPs and have become known for their trademark blend of post-punk, alternative rock and new wave.

Mic Jogwer shares, “An exclamation to escape a complicated relationship, ‘Dancing With Ghosts’ is a song about our difficulty of breaking out of an unhealthy bond. Some last a lifetime – and are not good for us at all. They suck all our energy, never give, always take. And whatever we do, it’s never right and never good enough. And since it’s often our best friend, mother, or sister, it feels like we owe them something, but every time we try to do something good for them, we just feel miserable and used. There is no easy way out, because whatever we do, we lose. These spirits will haunt us forever unless we challenge them and eventually manage to leave them behind. We’re Dancing With Ghosts.”

Watch the video for ‘Dancing With Ghosts’ here:

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TOUR DATES


Apr 04  Hamburg, Germany @ Fabrik
Apr 05  Münster, Germany @ Gleis 22
Apr 11  Leipzig, Germany @ Moritzbastei
Apr 12  Cologne, Germany @ GEBÄUDE 9
Apr 25  Stuttgart, Germany @ clubCANN
Apr 26  Hannover, Germany @ Musikzentrum Hannover
May 09  Rüsselsheim, Germany @ Das Rind
May 10  Bochum, Germany @ Bahnhof Langendreer
May 16  Bremen, Germany @ Tower Musikclub
May 17  Berlin, Germany @ Lido
May 23  Nuremberg, Germany @ Club Stereo
May 24  Munich, Germany @ Hansa 39, Feirwerk
Jun 28  Izegem, Belgium @ Cultuurhuis De Leest
Aug 28 – Philadelphia PA @ Milkboy
Aug 29 – Brooklyn NY @ AMOC – Brooklyn Made
Aug 30 – Boston MA @ Sonia
Aug 31 – Montreal QC @ Casa Del Popolo
Sept 4 – Toronto ON @ Baby G
Sept 5 – Detroit MI @ Smalls
Sept 6 – Chicago IL @ Bottom Lounge
Sept 7 – Columbus OH @ Rumba
Sept 10 – Nashville TN @ East Room
Sept 11 – Atlanta GA @ The Masquerade
Sept 12 – Charlotte NC @ Snug Harbor
Sept 13 – Orlando FL @ Conduit
Sept 14 – Miami FL @ Gramps
Oct 31  Whitby, UK – Whitby Pavilion Theatre

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Photo by Daniela Vorndran

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The Legendary Pink Dots – So Lonely in Heaven

Posted: 4 February 2025 in Albums, Reviews
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Metropolis Records – 17th January 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

The arrival of So Lonely in Heaven marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the existence of The Legendary Pink Dots. And it’s a concept album. Edward Ka-Spel sets it out as follows: ‘Way way back in the early days I used to say a lot about ‘The Terminal Kaleidoscope’, a concept comparing the fragile planet we live on to a drowning human being with life flashing before his or her eyes, the images constantly accelerating. It’s 2024, a little over two decades since the turn of this unbearably turbulent century and the concept appears to have become an unlikely soap opera where we are the cast.’

It’s their second post-pandemic album, and it’s weighted with a sense of impending doom and biblical destruction spun in a suitably grand fashion whereby prog meets avant-garde and electronica.

It can be a bit of a gamble opening an album with a long song – the risk being losing the listener before things have even got going. But it’s a calculated risk, on an album where most of the songs are pretty long.

Some of it’s Ka-Spel’s tone and enunciation, but the title track which is that first long song, carries hints of an electronic reimagining of Suede, circa Dog Man Star. That is to say it also sounds a bit Bowie, and a bit Kraftwek, and with some weirdly bits of glitchy noise and reverby piano, it has echoes of Outside.

Thereafter, there are big sounds and big moods and big concepts in abundance, and it’s by no means an easy album to pigeonhole. Space and environmental issues are woven through the twelve tracks, which, as I fumble for a context, evoke equally the whimsical hippy trippiness of Gong and the inventiveness of The Young Gods. ‘Choose Premium : First Prize’ delves into tense electro territory, and presents a rather harder edge than the preceding songs, and it’s here we really begin to feel the sense of the ‘machine’ which is a central focus of the album’s thematic content:

The machine is everything we are. It sees everything, hears everything, knows everything and feeds, speeds, drinks us down, spits us out – we lost control of it at the instant of its conception. You may cough, curse and die, but the machine will resurrect you without the flaws, at your peak, smiling from a screen, bidding someone in a lonely room to join you. It’s an invitation from Heaven, where anyone can be anything they want to be, but it’s a Nation of One. You’ll be everything we are. You’ll be a shadow of yourself. You’ll repeat yourself – endlessly. You’ll be desperate for some kind of explanation. You’ll be lonely. So very lonely…

This is nowhere more apparent than on the sparse, acoustic-guitar centred neofolk bleakness of ‘Wired High : Too Far To Fall’, which swells and soars and expands to immense proportions, as well as plunging to dark, sonorous depths over the course of its seven minutes. Elsewhere, ‘How Many Fingers In the Fog’ has a more post-punk feel to it, but still spun with a proggy haze, and there’s a lingering wistful melancholy which clings to it.

That there are whimsical, light-hearted moments of plinky-plonky keys and segments of So Lonely in Heaven sound more like wide-eyed stargazing in pure awe shouldn’t trick you into thinking this isn’t a serious album. The medium is the message, and entertainment is a diversion, a distraction, the ultimate lie that it’s ok to sit, sedated, and forget the world. The shit that’s gone down in America is the absolute proof of this: while everyone has been entertained by the circus, a coup has been taking place. This isn’t hyperbole, and this isn’t simply some scuffle in a small third-world republic. Meanwhile, people, especially here in the UK, are largely preoccupied with the current season of Love Island or whatever instead of trembling in fear for the future.

For all the buoyancy and quite enjoyable moments – ‘Blood Money : Transitional’ offers a quite accessible, easy groove beneath its darker surface – ‘business is business’, Ka-Spel sneers over a quite Depeche Mode-like accompaniment.

So Lonely in Heaven is varied, and sometimes sounds as if belongs to another era – but at the same time, it’s unexpectedly and shockingly relevant and now, and is well worth your time – whatever time you have left.

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Cassels – Tracked In Mud

Posted: 27 January 2025 in Albums, Reviews
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Human Worth – 7th March 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

I hate to moan, I really do. No, really. But January has a tendency to be pretty shit, being cold, and dark, and bleak, and twice as long as any other month and having to turn on the lights at midday and crank up the heating and just wanting to hibernate, and the bills keep on coming but payday is still a lifetime away. But this January, January 2025… just fuck January 2025. It felt like the end of the world even before Trump took office, and now, as California burns and the UK is hammered by one of the worst storms on record, the end of the world looks positively appealing.

I’m not one to pray, but if I was, I would be praying for just one sliver of good news – and this would have been the answer to my prayers. Because a new release on Human Worth is always good news.

Things have happened in the Cassels camp sin the three years since their last album, A Gut Feeling:

“Close to burnout from heavy touring, the brothers Beck returned to their Harringay warehouse practice space. Jim, tired of his last record’s overtures at pop culture, got very into Converge. New songs came: heavy, and weird. Gone are the sharp-tongued character sketches, replaced with a heady cocktail of philosophy and body horror. Ditched, too, are the flirtations with mid-aughts indie rock and electro. On Tracked in Mud, we’re treated to something bigger. Wilder. More… elemental. This is a record about humanity’s disconnection from nature, after all.”

You might be forgiven for thinking that the cover art, so similar to that of A Gut Feeling signifies a neat continuation. It does not. While the sharp angularity of their previous works remains present, Tracked In Mud marks a distinct departure, and the newfound weight is immediately apparent on ‘Nine Circles’, which brings the riffs. Not that you’d necessarily describe their previous output as jaunty, but this hits hard, bursting with disaffection and blistering noise and collapsing into a protracted howl of feedback.

‘Here Exits Creator’ crashes in like a cross between Shellac and Daughters (thankfully minus the dubious allegations) – sparse, twitchy, drum-dominated spoken-word math-rock with explosive bursts of noise, before locking into a sturdy motorik groove.

The songs tend to be on the longer side on Tracked In Mud, with the majority extending beyond the six-minute mark. This feels necessary, providing the space in which to explore the wider-stretching perimeters of composition, and to venture out in different directions. Each song is a journey, which twists and turns. Midway through ‘…And Descends’, there’s a momentary pause. ‘Can someone change the channel, please?’ asks Jim, with clear English elocution, which could be straight from a 70s TV drama – and then spurts of trebly guitar burst forth and lead the song in a whole other direction. It lists and lees and veers towards the psychedelic, but then slides hard into a monster sludge riff worthy of Melvins.

‘…And Descends’ spits venom in all directions, and it’s tense as. The headache that’s been nagging at me half the day becomes a full temple-throbber as I try to assimilate everything that’s going on here. I’m not even sure what is going on here, but it’s a lot. ‘Two Dancing Tongues’ is almost jazzy, but also a bit post punk, a bit goth, its abstract lyrics vaguely disturbing in places… and then, from nowhere, it goes megalithic with the sludgy riffery.

Tracked In Mud is by no means a heavy album overall in the scheme of things – it’s as much XTC and Gang of Four as it is anything else, but equally Therse Monsters and early Pulled Apart by Horses – but it is an album that packs some weight at certain points, and explores the full dynamic range. There are moments which are more Pavement than Converge, but it’s the way in which they bring these disparate elements together that really makes this album a standout. The stylistic collision is almost schizophrenic at times, but, to paraphrase the point rendered in the most impenetrable fashion by Deleuze and Guattari in Anti-Oedipus, schizophrenia is the only sane response to an insane world, and this has never felt more true.

Tracked In Mud is crazy, crazed, disjointed, fragmented. It’s not a complete departure from what came before, but it is a massive leap, a gigantic lurch into weightier territory. It’s a monster.

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Blowing Up the House #3 – The York Vaults, York, 6 December 2024

Posted: 7 December 2024 in Live, Reviews
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Christopher Nosnibor

As was the case with the previous instalment of Blowing Up the House, an event curated by local legends Percy, the lineup on the night bears almost no resemblance to the one advertised when the event was announced, but the one we got was perhaps even better. Certainly, no-one’s complaining, and plenty of people have turned out despite the early stages of a storm bringing some heavy rain.

Tonight is a night of mixed emotions: it’s the penultimate gig hosted by The York Vaults, a grass roots venue within spitting distance of the train station with a capacity of around 100, which has hosted some great, great gigs, hosting out of town touring acts as well as local bands cutting their teeth and building fanbases. It’s also a magnificent celebration of the quality and range of acts on the York scene, the likes of whom have been mainstay features of the venue’s listings – alongside the inevitable tribute acts, who, love them or loathe them, are major draws and bring essential revenue to this type of venue.

The fact the Vaults is closing is a major blow to live music in York, and is just one more example of the painful collapse of the grassroots circuit.

Relative newcomers and homegrown talents Deathlounge, who pitch themselves as exponents of alt-rock / emo, serve up a grungy alty rocky racket, and there’s a hint of Fugazi, a dash of post-hardcore. As much as they do incorporate elements of contemporary alternative, there are times that they sound like a band you’d hear on John Peel in the early 90s. The mid-set slowie, I’m convinced, had the same chord sequence ‘Two Princes’ by The Spin Doctors. They’re far and away at their best when they’re on the attack, whacking out infectious riffs nailed to a solid rhythm section, and as openers, they’re hard to fault.

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Deathlounge

The same can’t be said in all honesty of The Sound of Glass… One man, a guitar and a machine that does the rest. Last time I saw ‘them’, back in 2010, they were a full band going simply by the name of Glass. It’s not clear what happened to the rest of the band, but Alexander King, sporting a vest, delivers some terrible posturing, some terrible lyrics, some terrible American affectations, and a terrible mix with the drums almost completely buried. Unfortunately, his chat between songs isn’t: “We are The Sound of Glass… All of us. This is a song about mad cow disease. Sing along if you know the words….” To make matters worse, some ultra-wanky guitar solos interrupt the flow of some cringe AOR cack and the occasional power ballad. It may be forgivable to an extent, and there is absolutely no questioning his technical proficiency – the guy is clearly an outstanding musician: the main issue remains that as a performer and songwriter, he’s just not nearly as good as he thinks he is.

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The Sound of Glass

Fat Spatula sit at the opposite end of the spectrum and are completely devoid of pretension. The start of their set is delayed a few minutes by a pedal malfunction, which turns out to be confusing the input and output. Their brand of US -influenced indie rock is definitely best experienced at high volume, and tonight they deliver a rambunctious set with decibels. Singer / guitarist Neil looks like he has to really concentrate to sing and play simultaneously at a hundred miles an hour, and it’s endearing to see such effort going onto a performance – and his level of effort is matched by the rest of the band, who are sounding their tightest yet. It’s indie played like it’s punk, fast and hard. A song that may or may not be called ‘Jesus in my Bed’ resembles The Vaselines’ ‘Molly’s Lips’ (as popularised by Nirvana). Bassist Presh leaps and bounces and pogos endlessly and Jamie’s drumming is so hard-hitting it takes the top off your head, and the band’s energy is infectious.

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Fat Spatula

Knitting Circle have been getting out and about further afield in recent months, and there’s a certain pride in thinking that they’re going nationwide representing York as an act of such outstanding quality. They’re still relatively new, but have everything absolutely together, and they’re straight in with jarring guitar lines and thumping bass and drums. The sparsely-arranged songs are played hard and loud. The guitar is a smash of treble, and they push a single chord to its limit. A lot of their set sounds like The Fall circa This Nation’s Saving Grace, and there’s a strong dose of Gang of Four in there, but a whole lot more besides: they sit comfortably in the milieu of math-tinged noise-rock that’s been emerging from Leeds in recent years – think Thank, perhaps.

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Knitting Circle

“Is my guitar too loud? I’ll turn it down”, says Jamie Wilson as he switches instruments. There truly is a first time for everything, and to hear a guitarist volunteering to turn their amp down is proof that Knitting Circle are a bit different. The ‘no guns, no borders’ call for peace is genuinely affecting, while the choppy angularity of ‘I Am the Fox’ brings a rush of dynamism and a tight groove.

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Knitting Circle

They really earned the calls for an encore, which they obliged with a tidy instrumental cut to round off a top night, the likes of which only happen in venues like this.

Stuck record be damned, you can pay fifty, sixty, a hundred quid – or, indeed, several hundred quid – to see a major-league artist in a massive, massive venue and watch them from afar, or perhaps on screens, but you simply cannot beat the experience of standing within feet of the band, surrounded by people who are deeply passionate about real live music, who shut up and watch the bands instead of gabbing loudly through performances, and where you’ll probably recognise a number of faces, likely some well enough to chat to between acts, and feel the warmth of community. And you cannot put a price on that.

The Bricks – Modern Mirror EP

Posted: 29 November 2024 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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28th November 2024

Christopher Nosnibor

I’ve been bigging up The Bricks for some time now, and I would count myself as a fan from the moment they snared me with their early doors set in January 2022 opening for The Kut and Healthy Junkies.

They’ve always been pretty swift at getting their material recorded, with a four-track demo laid down in the summer of 2021 containing the songs that provided the basis for their early sets. Since then, while ‘Picket Fence’ has largely remained a well-deserved feature of the set, they’ve been busy with new material, with the five-track Reverse Alchemy EP landing in February 2023, and now, with six new cuts, Modern Mirror is their most expansive, and perhaps definitive, statement yet.

It’s clear from their live shows that there’s a musical chemistry between the four of them, but equally, the tightness they demonstrate is the kind that comes from disciplined rehearsal. The fact that they got these six tracks done – even though they are succinct, with only ‘Snake’ exceeding three minutes – in two days is a fair indication of their proficiency. This is particularly important for a band who are strong live, because the challenge is capturing the essence, and the energy of the live sound in the studio. So many solid live acts make a hash of things in the studio, going either one of two ways – either they’ll polish the songs to within an inch of their lives, slicken things off with production to the point that they sound flat and lifeless, or they’ll simply fail to convey the live experience with rushed, muddy recordings that fail to do justice.

Here, the production is just right for the band: with a sound that’s from the heart of the gothier end of late punk – think early Siouxie, Skeletal Family, but also with more overtly punk leanings at times – theirs is the sound of 1979-81, and where so many contemporary exponents go wrong is applying 21st century production values in the studio. So here, we have songs which are fiery, choppy, edgy, and the recordings convey the energy and the raw dynamism, but without sounding rough.

The title track is a solid opener, with an intro that builds, and builds, and builds, then everything bursts into life, a chunky bass groove bursting with nifty runs sits tightly with the uncomplicated drumming and come together to provide a solid backdrop to Gemma’s commanding, full-lunged vocals. ‘What’s real? Does it matter?’ she roars.

It’s another snaking bassline swerving around thundering drums which provides the backbone of ‘A Lie’, where the guitars switch from choppy stutters to full-on thrashabout and it’s all over in under two minutes, a powerful short, sharp shock.

‘Snake’ has become a feature of the set as the slower mid-set breather, and it presents something of a more soulful side – as well as the opportunity for a guitar solo. It feels as if they’ve made the most of the slower tempo to explore more broadly, and it works well. It’s also catchy – in that the chorus grabs you by the balls and squeezes, but not too hard.

There’s almost a psychobilly feel to the full-throttle ‘Contraption’, with its sneering punky putdown, ‘Nice try, you’re boring / Nice try, I’m yawning’.

Lyrically, The Bricks always achieve more with less, with snappy, declarative couplets consisting of the fewest words possible and uncomplicated but effective rhymes. And so it is that the EP closes with ‘Meantime’, another songs that’s well-established and road-tested. ‘Trickle trickle… you’re so fickle’ may well not be TS Elliot or Milton, but it’s all in the delivery, and to hear Gemma belting out the dismissive flick of ‘fickle! FOOL!’ with her immensely commanding voice is enough to wither even the most cocksure and arrogant of bastards. With Guy’s magnificent weaving guitar-line and rock-solid rhythm section, it’s a powerful finale.

The Bricks have always been great, but they’ve never sounded more solid, or more confident than here.

AA

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