New Ears

Music blogs have gone stale

2009-10-30T20:46:00.001Z

...and this is no exception.

Thanks and bye!

Let's. Make. Breakfast!

2009-10-17T20:48:00.011+01:00

Auntie showed a more than decent documentary about synth music's beginnings in depressing 70s Britain last night. The Sheffield bands along with Throbbing Gristle in London existed primarily as a reaction to the staleness of punk, musically at least. It reminded me in many ways of what was happening in New York amongst a troupe of nihilists and deconstructionists (aka the No Wave scene) at about the same time. The main difference, paricularly with Phil Oakey, was No Wavers completely rejected any idea of success or careerism, back then at least. My current favourite No Wavers are impLOG, part of the scene by association rather than musical definition, who were primarily the work of Don Christensen from The Contortions.

impLOG's most lasting track from their three releases is 'Holland Tunnel Dive' and it is awesome, but I prefer the charm served up with their ode to the most important meal of the day. No black pudding though.

impLOG - 'Breakfast'.mp3 [YSI]

impLOG - 'Holland Tunnel Dive'.mp3 [YSI]

myspace.com/impLOG

Words: SS

"Where's the stash?"

2009-09-14T21:34:00.008+01:00

Ever wondered quite why SALEM's music is so dark and dank? This picture of a coked-up, deranged and physically abusive Melissa Joan Hart, aka Sabrina The Teenage Witch, tells more than words ever could.

SALEM have a new limited release ('Frost'/'Legend') coming out Stateside via Audraglint. UK visit plans can't be too far off being announced either (hopefully).

SALEM - Frost

SALEM - Trap Door.mp3 [YSI]

s4lem.com

Words: SS

ESQUEEZY EXPLAINS IT ALL: THE NEW-NEW RAVE

2009-09-07T23:45:00.010+01:00

'Old Rave'

E's are Good, E's are Good, He's Ebeneezer Goode! Rave is back, and we’re not talking the fashion indie-electro obsessed New Rave Class of ’06 & ’07. No, a classier rehash which is a lot more musically minded and much less about getting hysterical over Hadouken and looking like a glo-stick has puked on your face. Think of it more like an episode of Hitman & Her minus dodgy men from Bradford telling us how good of a dancer they are as Michaela Strachan chews her own face off. New Rave was bad music which took on a similar life journey as constipation. It passed through a couple of channels with little to offer, but still insisted on lodging itself in a dark little place. It took a lot of effort to get rid of and left behind a really bad smell. We don’t want a repeat of that.

In simpler words - it’s more about the music this time. With the sounds of the Summer of Love ‘88/‘89 as inspiration even drum & bass producers are flocking to a more synth-etic, euphoric, house driven kind of sound. DJ Zinc is now making what he describes as ‘Crack House’ - stand out tracks include Killer Sound (feat. NoLay) and Submarines which have underlying sounds that are so reminiscent of early 90’s house.

Producers that were probably buzzing off fidget house this time last year are reworking old stompers including the Prodigy’s Warrior Dance which takes a slice of Final Cut & True Faith’s Take Me Away not to mention Crom’s dirty bootleg of DJ Flavour’s Your Caress. Bowlers reunion anyone?

You can also feel the flavour of 80s-90s house with anything by ROB THREEZY. You can hear the elements and inspiration of tracks like HEX – ALRIGHT TO LOVE (EXPOSURE MIX) and XPANSIONS – MOVE YOUR BODY smuggled in there. Backed by colossal electro bass label Nightshifters and with the likes of AC SLATER and HOSTAGE as label-mates Rob Threezy is going far. He’s been big in ‘09 but he’ll be pissing all over the skills of many other electro producers by next year. Keep an eye and an ear out for him.

P Diddy finds out the meaning of 'booty call'

MC’s and rappers are clamouring for a housey collab, even the most flossiest of them all, P Diddy appears on DJ Hell’s The DJ. I blame it on Ecstasy. Strange things happen when rappers get their hands on it, and apparently Diddy has been indulging in it. He stupidly got caught buying it on cameraphone by some weird Spanish dude. Diddy’s not alone though. B.G., Bone Thugs & Harmony and Lil’ Jon have blatantly all been there. Hip-hop tracks are getting the re-mixture treatment from top-dog electro producers, most recently the Kid Cudi, Kanye West and Common jam Make Her Say, which has been given a housey lick by Nadastrom in his MP3 DOWNLOAD: 88 DUB. [Taken down by the good douchebags at the IFPI]

You can breathe a sigh of relief, as my 2009 rave lecture draws to a close here. Hope you enjoy the bounty of videos and sites I’ve left in those carefully constructed HTML links. It took me bloody ages.

Words by ESQUEEZY.

Slewwwww dem!

So Much To Answer For: Cottonopolis Top 20 LPs

2009-09-05T21:51:00.016+01:00

We were asked to name our top 20 albums by Manchester-based artists for a forthcoming feature for SoundProof magazine. We limited ourselves to two LPs per band and based our selections purely on what our favourite records were, i.e. we're not suggesting it's definitive. Sadly there was no room for Proud Mary. Obviously this has given us the perfect excuse to post a load of great music [in alphabetical order]...

1. Autechre – Tri Repetae (Warp) [1995]

2. Buzzcocks – Love Bites (United Artists) [1978]

3. A Certain Ratio - The Graveyard and the Ballroom (Factory) [1980]

Do the Du.mp3 [YSI]

4. Diagram Brothers - Some Marvels of Modern Science (New Hormones) [1981]

5. Electronic – Electronic (Factory) [1991]

6. The Fall – Live At The Witch Trials (Step Forward) [1979]

Industrial Estate.mp3 [YSI]

7. The Fall – Hex Education Hour (Kamera) [1982]

8. A Guy Called Gerald – Black Secret Technology (Juice Box) [1995]

9. Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures (Factory) [1979]

Disorder.mp3 [YSI]

10. Joy Division – Closer (Factory) [1980]

11. New Order – Power Corruption Lies (Factory) [1983]

12. Magazine – Real Life (Virgin) [1978]

13. Magazine – The Correct Use Of Soap (Virgin) [1980]

Because You're Frightened.mp3 [YSI]

14. Morrissey – Vauxhall and I (Parlophone) [1994]

15. The Smiths – The Smiths (Rough Trade) [1984]

16. The Smiths – The Queen Is Dead (Rough Trade) [1986]

The Queen is Dead.mp3 [YSI]

17. The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses (Silvertone) [1989]

18. Von Südenfed - Tromatic Reflexxions (Domino) [2007]

Fledermaus Can't Get It.mp3 [YSI]

19. World Of Twist – Quality Street (Circa) [1991]

20. 808 State – Newbuild (Creed) [1988]
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Thoughts etc. welcome.

Oasis Split

2009-09-03T18:58:00.006+01:00

Personally, I thought they were about as relevant as the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, but others have not taken the split so well...

DIY Bank Holiday

2009-08-31T10:44:00.004+01:00

We're rapidly reaching the point of saturation with lo fi/DIY. Nathan Williams' personal implosion appeared indicative of a sound pushed beyond its own sustainability (Wavves' new output suggests this is something he's fully aware of). But no, we're not there quite YET. Mainly because the emerging bands (Teen Sheikhs) and releases (Manchester's Mazes via Sex Is Disgusting) are still ace enough to hold our attention.

But the best reason to revive your interest in this sound is Leeds' Spectrals, who ride similar surf waves to Ducktails and Arch M, but atop their own 60s pop waxed board. They've coined it "faux beach psychedelia", which kinda fits. An LP is forthcoming on Captured Tracks and the band arrive in Manchester on 25 November to support Wavves at the Deaf Institute.

Get involved.

Spectrals - 'Leave me be'.mp3 [YSI]

myspace.com/spectralspectral

Words: SS

A date which will live in infamy

2009-08-22T10:02:00.002+01:00

Yeah that's right, these guys hung out together. It's a stark image, one of the starkest.

It's something which Richard D. James can only aspire to create himself. The best he could do, when he played under Piccadilly Rail Station back in December 2007, was three professional gurners giving it their all up on stage with him, a good effort, but it dosen't imprint on your soul the way this picture does.

We'll soon see what RDJ can come up with next as Kevin & Perry Go Large returns to Manchester this September (unfortunately minus the uncontrollable erection gags every five minutes). Yes, The Warehouse Project is back and in amongst the insipid once-a-year-pill-taker dance fodder (and Jack Penate) lineup, you'll see Aphex Twin's name shining like a two pound coin in a dog turd.

The 2007 show was truly special, so I'd advise you to add your voice to the sound of the crowd on 2 October. Got it? Good.

The Tuss - 'Rushup I Bank 12'.mp3 [YSI]
AFX - 'Laughable Butane Bob'.mp3 [YSI]

Aphex Twin - 'Inkey$'.mp3 [YSI]

rephlex.com

Words: SS

Disco-noir

2009-08-18T19:35:00.001+01:00

Contracting ‘Swine Flu’ really sucks.

I mean for a start you have to let someone else pick up all your food/medication/washing and do pretty much everything for you round the house. Even your employers aren’t looking to rush you back to wellness and work, advising instead to ‘just come back when you feel ready’ and ‘give us a call later on in the week’.

Luckily it’s not just a licence for complete domestic negligence and enforced leisure; believe it or not there are actually a few perks to it as well. Aside from allowing you to stock up on Tamiflu tabs to sell on at attractive profit margins it also allows for significantly increased time online to discover new music while intermittently refreshing your facebook homepage.

That’s the story of how I came to discover Nite Jewel anyway.

Nite Jewel is the musical project of LA dweller Romana Gonzalez who records all her work on an eight track tape recorder (without that ever sounding as clichéd as it otherwise might in this post-Wavves world). I can’t tell if her music is really happy or really sad, but it certainly gives me the same kind of goosebumpy feeling I got when I heard Telepathe and Salem for the first time. It’s euphoric and wistful in equal measure, the sound of sequencers and drum machines mourning their own sense of industry from the dancefloor, the finely textured sonic minimalism of the music always secondary to the reverberant space in which it exists.

There’s no UK shows till October, but hopefully the mp3’s floating around the blogosphere [and if you're real keen her LP, Good Evening, out now on NPIP] should keep you sated till then.

Could someone book a Manchester show please? [We can't afford her] Ta.

Nite Jewel - 'Weak For Me'.mp3 [YSI]

myspace.com/nitejewel

Words: Billy idle

Grammar Rodeo

2009-07-17T17:22:00.003+01:00

Seemingly out of nowhere, London's Dave I.D. has released an ace double single of dark electronic pop on new label, Off The Uncertain Button. Get your mits on it here.

Dave I.D. - 'ILikeTheSoundOfThemWithoutMe'

myspace.com/daveidspace

Hollerin' the rinsin' sound: New Pictureplane!

2009-07-16T11:40:00.013+01:00

Back in June 2008 we wrote about this amazing electro grime chap we’d just discovered in HEALTH’s top friends. Travis Egedy, aka Pictureplane, had self-released this ace album called Turquoise Trail, he’d remixed the likes of Crystal Castles and HEALTH and he ran a DIY art space/gig venue, which was also his home, called Rhinoceropolis in Denver, Colorado. Naturally he was our hero and we pulled him tight to our collective bosom, naming him our favourite artist of 2008.

Since then he’s toured the States in support of HEALTH, which he’s about to do again (in the U.S. and Europe), and signed to the same label, Lovepump United. His first LP release with Lovepump, Dark Rift, is out on 4 August and showcases more of that killer amalgamation of 80s pop, 90s dance and 00s grime, shot through with complete gay abandon. I highly recommend you buy it. We caught up with a super excited Travis for a quick bit of Q&A:

Dark Rift
“I think people will enjoy it. The record has more of a 'dark' sound to it, I was listening to a lot of grime and funky while I made it. Dark Rift is a conceptual album (is that a bad word?) about galactic alignment, and the position of our earth travelling through the centre most point of our galaxy in the next few years. Otherwise known as the galactic centre, or the DARK RIFT. I can talk for days about this stuff, but if you are interested just start googling, it’s fascinating stuff.”

Mainstream media attention
“I really try to not think to hard about that kinda thing (see Pitchfork's words). It can distract you from what is really important, which is the art. It is nice for sure, I would be lying if I said I didn’t use to daydream about shit like that. I still daydream about being in The FADER magazine. FADER, where you at??”

Touring with HEALTH
"We get along really well. I love those guys, they’re really down to earth regular bro dudes! I think the dynamic of our sound, while being totally different, really works well together in a live setting. They would call me the party starter. I was like a hype man or something before their sets, getting the kids ready to freak out. It meshed really well. I can’t wait to get out on the road with them again. Kombucha, splash.”

UK autumn visit plans
"I don't know the dates for sure yet. I have never been outside of the USA before. I am terribly excited; I know that I will fall in love with it out there. I have heard that vegetables are hard to come by out there, and that makes me nervous haha. I want to go clubbing while I am there, is that even what you call it there? Raving? DANCING! See you soon!”

Some blogs have been erroneously promoting some of Travis’ old songs, from the distortion friendly Slit Red Bird Throat LP, as new material. For shame. This is the real stuff right here...

Pictureplane – ‘Transparent now (thin veil)’.mp3 (YSI)

Pictureplane – ‘Goth star’.mp3 (YSI)

myspace.com/pictureplane

>>>Update: Pictureplane will be playing with HEALTH at the Deaf Institute on 7 October 2009.

Words: SS

Gotta get Thru this

2009-07-09T09:24:00.002+01:00

The good people over at BreakThru Radio, an internet radio station based in New York which focuses on independent and unsigned artists, were kind enough to nominate us as their 'Blogger Of The Week'. Yay! You can listen to an hour of New Ears music (unfortunately no local stuff) online by following these easy steps:

1. Visit breakthruradio.com
2. Click on 'Multimedia Archive'
3. Select 'DJ DoseU' and 'last 30 days' and click 'Search'
4. Click on '06/25/2009 - Anatomy of a Blogger'.

Playlist:
Lesser Panda - 'Carousel (Drums of Death RMX)'
Pariah - 'Detroit Falls'
Ganglians - 'Lost words'
Telepathe - 'Chrome's on it'
Vivian Girls - 'Where do you run to'
Samps - 'Magnetic thys'
Abe Vigoda - 'Don't lie'
Wavves - 'Weed demon'
Baby Venom - 'Frank'
Salem - 'Whenusleep'
Black Dice - 'Glazin'
Patten - 'Grey gold (test mix)'
Baby Venom - 'Moms and dads'
Pictureplane - 'New mind'
Samps - 'Mashed skins'
Patten - 'Version (test mix)'

Big thanks to Isaac Stonberg (aka DJ DoseU) for arranging this.

Best In Show

2009-07-07T15:52:00.005+01:00

Mike Sniper (aka Blank Dogs) has been spending a lot of time in his bedroom this year. And I’m not about to tell a rude joke. Sniper - the misleadingly solo Brooklynite - it turns out is a musical machine of real pedigree, whose dedication to all things drum machine, analogue synth and reverb guitar has sent Blank Dogs and his side project, The Mayfair Set, leaping into New Ears’ sweaty lap.

As he freely admits to being "an avid conspiracy theory junkie" you'd be forgiven for thinking he was barking mad. But he can explain damn it, "they're pure entertainment, I don't believe any of it...I also love documentaries that freak me out”. Hence why his enchanting bicoastal collaboration with LA’s Dum Dum Girls is named after an Adam Curtis documentary series about a sinister group of capitalists in 1960's London. The Mayfair Set’s output thus far has combined Blank Dogs' dark baritone with DDG's bright, shimmering melodies to striking effect; a sound they've coined “sad prom music”.

His Blank Dogs material occupies similar ground to the L Train scene’s other leading lights, see Vivian Girls and Crystal Stilts (some of the members of which appear on the excellent recently released LP, Under and Under). Synth and guitar melodies like that of The Cure dominate, albeit filtered through a smorgasbord of grinding fuzz; it's too arresting to be inaccessible, but far too filthy to be labelled plain old pop.

I recommend you lap this up. Wow, managed to do all that without once mentioning Joy Divis...

Blank Dogs - 'No compass'.mp3 (YSI)

The Mayfair Set - 'Desert fun'.mp3 (YSI)

myspace.com/blankdogtime

myspace.com/themayfairset

Words: Jake Richards

Glastonbury 2009

2009-07-03T11:47:00.009+01:00

My favourite overheard conversation at this year's (almost too) sunny festival was, "I think I saw Annie Mac earlier, but it might have just been a girl with curly hair". I know, a real corker! If the BBC's suffocating, insipid and neverending coverage of this year's Glastonbury has not yet bored you to tears, prepare to leave base camp for that summit by the end of this post.

Sadly the festival will mostly be remembered for the death of Michael Jackson, not because there was some sort of outpouring of emotion in homage to him as the media would suggest (this article is particularly misleading), but just because it happened at all. On Thursday night people spoke of nothing else, yet despite my frequent requests I couldn't find a single place that would play me 'Earth Song'. Apparently that's not what he'll be remembered for. Other rumours of celebrity deaths started to circulate too: Bubbles, Timmy Mallet, Jeff Goldblum and Steven Wells (sadly true). By Friday morning t-shirts emblazoned with "R.I.Paedo" were on sale and proudly worn by only the most tasteful of revellers.

Apart from the experience of trying to find some solace for a random guy in the midst of a k-black-hole by sneaking him into the Silent Disco, what will stay with me from Glastonbury 2009 are the performances of Animal Collective and Hudson Mohawke. Glasgow's Hud Mo blew everything else I saw in the Dance Village out of the water and exposed just how dated most 'dance' music sounds in comparison to his diverse instrumental electronic hip hop, even if he was given a lame afternoon set time.

There's little that can be said about Animal Collective that's not already been said, except that they're well good! Although someone may have written that before. Their, now predominantly electronic, set at The Park stage on Friday night was simply the best live show I've seen all year. The crowd were, by and large, reduced to mumbling lovesick idiots, kind of like when an aunt leans over a pram giving it the babytalk and making fart noises like they're a cute sound - but in a good way! If you haven't paid even the slightest attention to their latest LP, Merriweather Post Pavilion then you deserve tarring and feathering for being a sonic imbecile of the most deranged kind.

Most worrying this year was The Levellers lack of presence. Not even a poster in the urinals saying there's a gig in Guilford coming up. I'm concerned. Anyone have any news?

Words: SS

Amerika-ka-ka

2009-06-23T13:45:00.007+01:00

Well this sucks.

I just found out about the Adam Curtis - Punchdrunk Theatre Company collaboration, part of the Manchester International Festival, and it's completely sold out. The interactive theatre production features Curtis' new documentary, 'It Felt Like A Kiss', across five floors of a derelict building in Spinningfields.

In theory this is the sort of thing I would normally shy away from, but Adam Curtis' involvement has me more than intrigued. Curtis is a documentary filmmaker whose work questions the way we look at the world we live in - and not in some faux-religious conspiracy theory type way - but by examining the motivations and actions of powerful individuals and how their decisions have shaped our values and politics today. I first came across his work through his excellent series about an unscrupulous and sinister group of capitalists in 1960s London named 'The Mayfair Set' (streamable here).

'It Felt Like A Kiss' focuses on how the American ideals of the 1950s and 60s became instilled in our psyche and the unforeseen consequences this has had on the world and in our minds. Basically it's a film about how the American Dream has come back to haunt us, but cut to music from the golden age of pop.

Alas, unless you already have a ticket, you'll have to wait untill it appears in the cinema or on the BBC. You can find out more about the event here, but it's the trailer below which has really whet my appetite...

>>>Update: 27/07/09 - 'It Felt Like A Kiss' is now streamable for a limited period at Adam Curtis' BBC blog.

bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis

Words: SS

Gang Time

2009-06-20T13:45:00.015+01:00

Shalom shalom shalloo. It's Dan Szor here! It's been a while but I've been 'darn sarffff' in Londinium, sewing the seeds of a velvet revolution from the inside - and yes, I live on Kingsland Road, the main artery from Shoreditch to Dalston, so basically I'm living on the front line. It's so trendy you know, everyone's grown a moustache, is in a band and uses times new roman type face for their one-word or too many words band name. These are challenging times I hear them cry over their sub post pump, no wow(wow) distorted guitars, but cheer up kidda, you'll be fine. After all you can all return back to Mummy and Daddy's house in Richmond once you get tired of being cold in your squat just off Balls Pond Road.

Anyway, rant over, what I really wanted to talk about was my discovery of a band named Ganglians. Once again we turn our eyes over the Atlantic (let me know if you see any Air France debris [too soon?]) and the States towards the Pacific shores of Sacremento, California. Maybe it's got something to do with the eternal sundrenched landscape, but it just seems that America can do psychedelia so much better than us Brits at the moment. The slacker mentality over there seems to bare fruits far beyond the realms of human consciousness, unlike here where it boils down to a couple of cans of K Cider and a self elevated sense of superiority. Imagine Love, The Beach Boys and Animal Collective having a barbecue at Charles Manson's ranch and you get Ganglians.

Right, I'm off to Stonehenge for the Summer Solstice - I just found the perfect soundtrack in their song 'The Void' - Julian Cope ain't getting played this year as the bugger didn't reply to any of my emails. Check them out pronto!

Ganglians - 'The Void'.mp3 [YSI]

Ganglians - 'Candy Girl'.mp3 [YSI]

Ganglians have a new LP, Monster Head Room, out on Woodsist, seek it out here.

myspace.com/ganglians

Words: Dan Szor

NEW EARS BBQ: HOLIDAY!

2009-06-18T17:40:00.007+01:00

Next month, Saturday 11 July to be precise, New Ears takes over the upstairs terrace area at Trof in Fallowfield to bring you an afternoon (12-8 in the pm) of sizzlin' summer jams and BBQ treats. Expect classic hip hop, 90's dance and beach party anthems all afternoon...kinda like this...

Naughty By Nature - 'O.P.P'

Livin' Joy - 'Dreamer'

Come come, there's a dear. Oh, and bring a can of Lilt.

FB event here.

Cloudy and then clearing

2009-06-16T11:28:00.008+01:00

The good people over at No Pain In Pop are getting rather hot under the collar over London's emerging young beat collective, with Joy Orbison, Floatingpoints and Pariah getting muchos kudos. And with good reason. But New Ears has been drawn more to the palls of crunk clouds drifting over the Atlantic from North America, yeah I'm talking about the much blogged and much ace SALEM, but I also want to highlight the fresh bare atmospherics of Canada's Babe Rainbow, which currently has me bonered into next week.

Babe Rainbow is the project and product of Cameron Reed, a music marketing consultant who puts on huge shows and festivals in Vancouver and owns a hat collection to make even PJ green - and I don't mean with paintballs. A remix of SALEM appears to be on the cards shortly, but nearly every mp3 Cameron has ever sneezed in his Babe Rainbow moniker is available here. I strongly suggest you go fetch them.

Wavves - 'Weed Demon (Babe Rainbow's Surf-Step Edit)'.mp3 [YSI]

myspace.com/bbrnbw

SALEM - 'Redlights'.mp3 [YSI]

myspace.com/jjhhmm

Words: SS

Cycling shorts are mandatory

2009-06-05T14:45:00.009+01:00

Manchester Velodrome, 2 July 2009, is a must.

Rumour has it that Manchester International Festival and Kraftwerk have something much more than your average gig planned. Word has reached New Ears that this includes the crowd watching the show with 3D specs and the GB Olympic cycling team riding around the Velodrome's track during 'Tour de France'. Crikes!

Kraftwerk - 'Tour de France (1983 version)'.mp3 [YSI]

kraftwerk.com

"Stick your enemies in front of daytime TV"

2009-05-15T09:02:00.018+01:00

is Mark E. Smith's advice this year via his annual missive to his fans, which in the wake of the public's disgust with our political nomenklatura could result, if we all accepted the advice, in the erection of an enormous outdoor screen in Westminister broadcasting Jeremy Kyle's bile 24 hours a day. I don't know for sure, but claiming expenses for their kit kats while "and now for those DNA test results!" reverberates like thunder across SW1 will probably be more difficult.

My own advice this weekend is to stick your friends in front of Zomby, playing live for the first time in Manchester this Saturday (16 May) at Club Underground as part of the anually (usually naff) Futuresonic Festival. Zomby's superb genre-shifting debut LP, Where Were U in '92?, merged elements of dubstep, hardcore rave, piano house and, on standout track 'Tears in the rain', dialogue samples from Blade Runner.

Zomby, along with other ace producers like Rustie, Hudson Mohawke and Joker, has been lazily fenced into a genre called "wonky", the fans of which according to former clued-up music journalist, Simon Reynolds', recent ill-conceived theory are all ketamine users. Clearly annoyed at the article, Zomby thankfully provided a short riposte (found here) to the Guardian's anachronism, who's evidently not been to a club since people stopped shouting "oo-ee, oo-ee!"

Support comes from a bunch of people I've never heard of and headlined by dubstep stalwart Kode9. More info for the night can be found hither.

Zomby - 'Tears in the rain'.mp3 (YSI)

Zomby - 'Float'.mp3 (YSI)

also check out Zomby's amazing 'Back to '92' Mix for Dazed & Confused magazine.

myspace.com/zombyproductions

Words: SS

THE NEW NEW

2009-05-09T14:15:00.011+01:00

I missed last month’s S.C.U.M gig at Retro Bar hosted by Fiction Non Fiction, but rumour has it that halfway through the set a young boy stood up on a chair at the back of the audience and shouted, “What a swizz! All this music is, is five kids aping Suicide and Throbbing Gristle’s atmospherics without the songs, where’s the entertainment value in that? It’s all quite pointless.” Those at the gig where visibly shocked by the incident. A few guys in eye makeup where later seen staring into a half-empty pint glass and mumbling, “what's the point of it all?” Whilst I can’t support the veracity of these events, I can, if it did happen, understand the child’s sentiment.

This blog was as attracted as anyone by last year’s emerging ‘Darkwave’ scene in London. Led primarily by S.C.U.M, An Experiment On A Bird In The Air Pump and KASMs, the scene’s early output was promising but we’re now rapidly reaching the point where these bands need to hit us with some tunes, something tangible, something memorable. Before these arrive Darkwave can continue to produce talented self publicists if sonically challenged bands or host as many self congratulatory gigs in Shoreditch Church as it wants, but no one outside that clique will care. Ironically, it’s O. Children, the one band that has actively distanced itself from the scene, that looks most like making significant strides in the future. This summer is Darkwave’s time to make good on its promise, or get off the pot.

With that in mind, what else is happening in London? My own cursory examination has highlighted the following two acts as current hot nuggets of newness: Arch M's refreshing guitar haze and the exciting Liquid Liquidness of patten. Expect more from us on these soon.

Arch M - 'Cat grave' [YSI]

patten - 'Version' (test mixx) [YSI]

Words: SS

Weezy = Wowzers.

2009-05-07T11:00:00.008+01:00

I have no idea who CFCF is [duh, Canadian dark-disco producer who featured on HEALTH//DISCO] and I'm largely ignorant to the work of Lil Wayne and Cassie. Nevertheless, I'm all over this shit atm - did someone say "Summer Anthem" already?

I'm joining the gym tomorrow, look out for me in Platt Fields park rocking this jam out and hollaring at your girl all summer long. I'll be the guy in the muscle vest.

Salass.

Cassie - Official Girl [feat. Lil Wayne] (CFCF remix) (YSI)

Words: Billy iDle

Also check out CFCF's fitting video for his own track 'You Hear Colours'...

CFCF - You Hear Colours from tommy boy on Vimeo.

myspace.com/cfcf

This is what KLF is about

2009-04-30T14:18:00.003+01:00

also known as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, furthermore known as The JAMs.

The KLF - 'Last train to Trancentral (live from the Lost Continent)'.mp3 (YSI)

Sampsss

2009-04-29T17:10:00.006+01:00

Ahh, the much maligned potato. First people start cutting the humble potato out of their diet due to the carbs, then he’s omitted from the five-a-day veg campaign and now sweet potato is turning up everywhere and getting all the cool party invites. Well, wipe that juicy white tear from your eye señor spud, I have some good news for you! You’re name-dropped in the awesome track, ‘Mashed Skins’ by L.A. based group, Samps. Finally some cred.

Samps is made up of Cole MGN (guitarist in Ariel Pink’s rad Haunted Graffiti), Harley B (aka Doktorberis) and Jason Whitemare. The project was started merely to indulge their passion for sampling and stoopid fun. Jason described their process and sound as “really A.D.D. and unfocused, yet still highly rewarding...sometimes!” But such is the quality of these tracks, demand is growing for them to make this more than just a pet project. Go check out their epileptic beats!

Samps - 'Mashed skins'.mp3 (YSI)

myspace.com/thesamps

Words: SS

(These words currently feature in the latest edition of Super Super magazine. Go buy it now!)

Go Ear - HEALTH @ Deaf Institute, Wed 22 April

2009-04-18T11:20:00.003+01:00

HEALTH. You remember those guys, right? Three kinetically charged LA natives in psychedelic oversize hoodies soundtracking the end of the world while the guy from Magic Numbers holds it down on the skins. Pretty sexy stuff by all accounts. On BFF terms with Crystal Castles and kin of the then burgeoning ‘Smell Scene’ (along with No Age, Abe Vigoda, Mika Miko yadda yadda etc etc) their self titled debut was standard name dropping fare for hipsters and early adopters in the 07/08 season. Sure, the album itself might have been kinda hard work in places but, as anyone lucky enough to catch them in the UK last year will attest, there are few bands capable of competing with their androgynous beat-savvy racket in the live arena.

Anyway. The good news is, dear reader, that HEALTH are back. Back on wax/mp3 via new track Die Slow (currently doing the blog rounds as we speak and purchasable here) and back in our beloved Cottonpolis, courtesy of their appearance at Now Wave (@ The Deaf Institute on Wednesday). Expect the same winning combination of industrial strength beats, robotic vocals and guitars-not-guitars as before, but with newer material incorporating a more rhythmically coherent vibe, somewhere between their sound of old and that heard on their //DISCO remix album.

John from the band told us, "after seeing the psychologies of so many different crowds we are focusing a lot of attention on writing songs and structuring sets to move crowd reaction in a certain way...Our songs are always written with the live setting in mind, but we are now writing songs designed to make the crowd possibly react in a specific way".

"P.S. We are NOT gonna become a dance band". Phew, had me going there for a minute John.

See you on Wednesday then I guess. One.

HEALTH - 'Die slow'.mp3 (YSI)

myspace.com/healthmusic

Words: Billy iDle

Mine eyes have seen the glory...

2009-04-17T08:01:00.000+01:00

Glazz fun.

blackdice.net

Straight Outta Cairo

2009-04-15T12:33:00.002+01:00

This week's top shelf, Egyptian Hip Hop!

The Hip Hop are a quartet made up of two members of New Ears favourites Copycats (now on long term hiatus), Nick and Alex, Manchester's answer to Bibio/Banjo Or Freakout - Leveret (seriously good stuff) - and Louis. We were lucky enough to host their debut live show last month, which although unfortunately sans Leveret's drumming, was a stirring synthpop success.

Note to any egyptians out there with an interest in hip hop - get yourself some shows in Rusholme - there was a lot of interest at Saki Bar before the gig enquiring if EHH's name was literal. Saki didn't inform us of any funny looking uncle types asking if our headliners were as described too. I guess it's just not really their scene.

EHH are playing twice in the next week - Saturday and Monday at Fiction Non Fiction. I recommend you go see them before they're bigger than Jehovah.

Egyptian Hip Hop - Heavenly (demo)

myspace.com/egyptianhiphop

Go Ear - Egyptian Hip Hop @ Nexus Night Cafe, Sat night 18 April, circa 2.30am. More info here.

Words: SS

Maundy Thursday

2009-04-09T11:23:00.000+01:00

On this holy day let us pause for thought...

Eat; be merry; shun war; love your neighbour; ignore Chris Moyles; behave politely; eat Easter eggs; listen to Pictureplane; move your body; nibble nuts; muse; wear colours; caper.

But the greatest of all the commandments is listen to Pictureplane.

HEALTH - Die Slow (Pictureplane Rmx).mp3 (YSI)

myspace.com/pictureplane

Words: SS

Oh Children!

2009-03-30T11:15:00.000+01:00

You invite a band up from London, you think they're cool and edgy. Then they get stuck into their rider and this happens...

Big thanks to everyone who came to Saki Bar (and everyone who helped make it a success) last week. Expect further New Ears events in the near future, yuh dun kno!

Dan Deacon

2009-03-24T20:41:00.000Z

Friends are growing increasingly frustrated by my apathetic reluctance to get into 'The Wire' - by all accounts the best television series since (sliced) Bread. “Get with it,” they tell me. But what my square-eyed pals perhaps fail to realise is that, far from hiding away from gritty, gang-land realism, I’m just way too busy getting my teeth into Baltimore’s lesser-known box office attraction, Mr. Dan Deacon.

Admittedly only by this comparison could DD be cast as the lesser-known commodity. His ethereal eerieness has been fondly acknowledged through past years, to the extent that even traditional mosh-mag Rolling Stone couldn’t deny chief hit ‘Crystal Cat’ a slot in its 100 best songs of 2007. Monday (23 March) saw the Maryland maestro unleash his second full-length offering following the spankingly safe ‘Spiderman of the Rings’ - and ‘Bromst’ does not disappoint.

Deacs himself somewhat confusingly describes the new outing as merely “not as plasticy”, but upon inspection, the use of live instruments and analogue synths certainly make for a richer and more varied sound than its predecessor. Double D pleases yet again by demonstrating his fearless ability to merge warped, choral harmony with intense and often euphoric hooks. ‘Paddling Ghost’ is an instant standout and should be used as the barometer for anyone yet to sample his most potent brand of aural acid.

It may not be dangerous, drug-riddled or particularly downtown, but Deacon continues to pop a hearty cap in the ass of US electronica. Unfortunately, with just one UK date (in London) scheduled for June, chances to catch his new 10+ musicians ensemble live show look sparse - which I suppose will give me a chance to finally crack out Series One. [Update! The good people at Pineapple Folk have arranged a Dan Deacon show for 2 June @ Manchester Academy. Yay! See more here.]

Music content removed by the Sonic Fun Police (aka the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry).

mypace.com/dandeacon

Words: Jake Richards

THE COTTONOPOLIS THIS SATURDAY...

2009-03-18T12:07:00.001Z

Rad tidings aplenty this Saturday (21 March) at Saki Bar, where we'll be proudly hosting our first band showcase avec dj-ing club night. Headlining is one of the most talked about live bands this year, post-punkers O. Children, supported by some of our most treasured new Manchester bands.

There has been one hitch however, a big hitch if you're a member of May68; they've had a load of their gear stolen and unfortunately can't play. May68 will instead be dj-ing on the night though, joining New Ears, Super Super and Contort Yourself/Monday Murkage resident Natalie Esquire who will bring you the sounds of the wickedness till late. Oh, and we promise to play The Horrors' new krautrock track, it's amazing. No really.

NEW EARS PRESENTS...
O. Children
Citizens
Egyptian Hip Hop
Sir Yes Sir

DJs: May68, Natalie Esquire, New Ears, Super Super

Saki Bar, £4, 7PM - 2/3AM

It's gonna be safe, it's gonna be safe...

O. Children - 'Ace breasts'.mp3 (YSI)

Citizens - 'Oh record player (Is it still gold?)'

Egyptian Hip Hop - 'Rad pitt'

Sir Yes Sir - 'Hit 3'

The Horrors - 'Sea with a sea'.mp3 (YSI)

Words: SS

Relax and Enjoy the Ride

2009-03-16T08:00:00.000Z

I am already one of the 600,000 people who will be made redundant this year. Yeah I know, go me! I'm fully into the swing of unemployment already too. This morning I signed on and this afternoon I bought soup and a lottery ticket. Tonight, I'm gonna score some heroin. That's all there is too it right?

I'm determined not to push the envelope of procrastination, but Black Meteoric Star currently has me wistfully returning to the same thought again and again: I want to go to Berlin please. BMS is the new(ish) acid touched psychedelic electro project from DFA's enigma, Gavin Russom. It's minimal, ultra intense and basically sounds like Berghain at 4am. Look out for three 12” singles by Black Meteoric Star which will be released on DFA during 2009, followed by a CD compilation.

Black Meteoric Star - 'World Eater'.mp3 (YSI)

myspace.com/gavinrussom

Words: SS

Art: David Shrigley

BABY VENOM

2009-03-14T23:44:00.000Z

Always endeavouring to bring you the choicest morsels from the all too broad musical kitchen; New Ears offers up Baltimore’s finest new delicacy, Baby Venom. This lo fi synth pop three piece more than hold their own amongst B-more’s innovative music scene (producing the likes of Dan Deacon, Animal Collective, Ponytail etc). Dave, Nathan and Sarah were kind enough to fill us in on their city and their baby:

Baltimore, Maryland
N: A small city with lots of vacancy.
S: Baltimore is America's filthy asshole.
D: Some of the worst crime stats, but some of the best hospitals...A lot of people in bands seem to have relocated here for school and/or to be able to pursue their art in a city with a relatively low cost of living. This also might be the best dive bar of a city to slum it in before moving up to Brooklyn.

New Baltimore bands
N: Thank You, the band. And this really cool pretend band called Super Kawaii.
D: Anything Denny Bowen gets involved with. He's behind the drums for Double Dagger, and for some of Dan Deacon's ensembles, but it has been his solo laptop project, under the name Smart Growth, that I'm enjoying the most right now.

BV
D: I saw Sarah wearing a giant cat costume when we were both 14 or so. We didn't really become good friends until four years later when we met back up at college. Nathan gave me a ride home in the rain after a City of Caterpillar show.
S: I think we formed in summer 2007. Both of our former bands broke up at the same time. We'd been playing shows together as separate bands, so we just reformed into one big mash, voila!
N: We messed around with different set-ups and equipment for six months or so and then finally made an appearance in front of our friends.

Baby Venom - 'Moms and Dads'

Influences
D: Injuries, characters from books, temperature shifts.
N: Cheap keyboards, DC hardcore
S: You'll have to ask the man who ghost-writes all my songs. I'm just here for my looks.

Live
D: My mantra has always been "never play it the same way twice" and that is especially true when I switch over to drums. Thankfully, that doesn't seem to throw anyone else off too much. We usually try not to play long sets so we don't leave audiences in a diabetic comb-over.
S: It feels like we showed up at a party and then out of the blue, we're expected to go onstage and entertain. We're a little campy, a little goofy, but we do play our songs well.

Stop Scratching tape release
D: We're still finalizing the tracklisting for the cassette re-release. It was meant to be out by winter '08, but our scheduling has changed a bit since our football team unexpectedly made it deep into the playoffs. Go Raisins!
S: Haha, I'm useless! Expect it sometime before May 2009?

UK visit
D: We still need to get all our show dates in order. I hope we can get cases for keyboards before we come over and borrow drums along the way.
S: We should be there in mid-May. Fingers crossed!
N: Can you give us a show?

We’re working on it...

Baby Venom - 'Frank'.mp3 (YSI)

myspace.com/babyvenombaby

Words: SS

MAY 68 - FEB 27 - MARCH 21....

2009-03-02T22:10:00.000Z

Maybe it was because we’re putting them on soon, maybe it was because right now they’ve got on their hands the most professionally produced, immediate sounding demo we’ve heard in a long time, or maybe it was because of the one-bulletin-a-minute Myspace inundation by the promoters (hint – not this one) – but NE found itself waiting with baited anticipation for May 68’s show last weekend at Ruby Lounge.

With a name obviously influenced by the Situationists and the Paris riots of the time led by Guy Debord I worried perhaps that the lyrical or stylistic stance favoured by so many bands (trying to tap into those philosophies to try and look pseudo-political (see early manics, stone roses etc etc)) could be present. But thankfully no, and whats in a name anyway… this could be Manchester 89 if we’re going there and more importantly its devoid of any date-heavy pretentions - theres's just savvy beats and big chorus's here. Sure sometimes the lyrics slip into electro cliché but this really doesn’t seem to matter with incendiary pop such as this.

Live and with real drums and dirtier guitars the music was all that mattered and worries that the catchy as fuck Last Mile was going to rule the set roost were quickly subsided as a good proportion of the set had enough hooks and melodies to contend. Singer Jude’s voice is as good if not better live and the duet towards the end between her and the drummer sounds like Madonna flirting with Edwyn Colllins, and yes as good as that sounds.

Yeah there’s still rough edges but for a band with only a handful of gigs under their belt that’s understandable. Maybe Debord’s fears for the dilution of culture by the disposable society wouldn’t have sat well with all this but he’s dead with a bullet through his heart, soon May 68 could well put one through yours

See @ NEW EARS PRESENTS - SAKI BAR - SAT 21 MARCH

Words: Marvel Hell

May 68 - 'Last Mile'

www.myspace.com/may68uk

Esqueezy Explains It All... (from Preston)

2009-02-26T13:38:00.000Z

Hello New Ears. What a weird February. I've been round the world (Midlands and deep Lancashire) this last week...and blimey, I ain't half seen some treats. I've thrown drinks around. I've seen crazy bed and breakfast dwellers with dyed red hair and marker pen painted fingernails eating pizza. I've been sick a lot. So much so that I couldn't eat a Big Mac...and you know it's serious when that happens. I caught up with Drums of Death in Preston...and that guy knows how to play a heavy heavy live set. I highly recommend your presence at one of these grand occasions because, regardless of your music taste, you're gonna like it.

On top of that I think Preston added a whole new dimension to it. Fucking weird place. The venue was Coda, and the night was Beats of Rage (check 'em out) and whilst I was cocooned safely in there everything was jack-a-nory. Outside of there was just another story. It was like something out of a bad, bad horror film. But one of those really low budget ones, that are more warped than scary.... like maybe Bad Taste. Esqueezy's big on libel, so if you ever want to experience the horror then check yourself into a bed and breakfast in central Preston called Derby Court Hotel. Luckily, I'd booked into a Travelodge but the poor old Contort Yourself DJ's were shacked up in there. The guy on reception was smacked up and off his tits and conveniently mentioned his master key could override all the locks at any time. There were sweltering corridors with day-glo pink doors and nicotine stained walls and windows patched up with cardboard. The closest things to it must be How Clean Is Your House crossed with DIY SOS on LSD...and maybe a hint of the shopkeepers from The League Of Gentlemen.

Anyways, hilariously bad times aside, Drums of Death is slanging a mixtape at the moment which is freely available ici. Free stuff is also available on their facebook page.

For now...that's me. Keep it locked!

myspace.com/natalieesquire

Catch Esqueezy's latest mix here.

SA FE SA FE

2009-02-16T21:58:00.000Z

Even the self-proclaimed gamekeepers to the new music rhino are entitled to periods of blogging inactivity, ok? We’ve seen some gigs alright – and here they are - just get off our backs. Jeez.

The roundup starts as long ago as two whole weeks, when Manchester's Citizens played their debut show at Tiger Lounge. Considering the band are friends and New Ears associates it’s difficult for me to provide an impartial opinion. But, on Saturday night, two of the band were in the same corner of the Star & Garter as that twonk from The Courteeners, their short sharp shock of a set was evidence enough to make me confident to exclaim that Citizens were the best band in that corner of the pub. Big talk I know.

For a more considered and reasoned opinion check out new blog, Pow Wow’s words on the band. As that post attests, Citizens are producing some seriously good post punk, which I’m genuinely excited is happening in Manchester. The band have a veritable feast of gigs coming up pre-Easter, go check them out soon.

Citizens - 'Carnival' (live demo)

myspace.com/thisiscitizens

Supporting Citizens' Manchester-not-Manchester flagwaving is WU LF WU LF. Murmurings of excellent demos and amazing live shows have grown ever more vociferous in recent weeks, so on Friday I moseyed on down to Club Irish in Chorlton. It was not a wasted mosey.

These guys look YOUNG. Not even British hero and early contender for young enterpriser of the year candidate, Alfie Patten, would look out of place here. However, what’s more striking is the volume of ideas showcased in WU LF WU LF's drone-art-rock. There are definite hints of HEALTH, albeit without the same frenzy and intensity, on standout tracks 'Diamond Voices' and “new song”. The closing and largely useless (in a sonic sense) hysterics at the end of their set will make the more haughty members of the audience tut, but you can't deny that these kids have got potential. Keep at least one eye on them in 2009.

WU LF WU LF - 'Diamond voices'

myspace.com/wulfwulf

I’d always hoped that the sound of the jungle-like percussion at the start of ‘The Bears Are Coming’ was made from Nicky Campbell’s hollowed out head being plonked by some poor sod who was forced to watch one too many editions of Watchdog and just completely lost it in an entirely justified but brutally violent broadcaster-mutilating frenzy. But no. Turns out it's actually just some hanging bamboo. That was about as revealing as it got on Saturday night at Late Of The Pier’s gig at Academy 2.

That’s not to say that I wasn’t impressed, but the band did little more than blast through their ten best tracks. But I guess when you’re working with songs from one of last year’s best albums, why try harder? The best tribute you can pay LOTP is that when you’re watching them the memory of that nauseating period of post-Libertines dirge we had to put up with (...The Cazals anyone? Jesus literally wept...) is completely eradicated. Thank Christ then, for LOTP.

myspace.com/lateofthepier

Words: SS

Citizens artwork: Dan Szor

NEW EARS PRESENTS...

2009-01-25T11:00:00.000Z

2000 and 9's major musical happening seems to be the 'donk' phenomenon. The few tracks that I've heard, but in particular Blackout Crew's 'Put a donk on it', are the sonic equivalent of inhaling a turd; some of this shit will stay with you for life. I recommend you think twice before clicking these links, but either way expect it to soundtrack your bus ride soon.

A far less interesting development is the news that we've finally pulled our finger out and organised a New Ears curated event. We're excited to announce that we'll have one of our favourite new bands, psychedelic post punkers O. Children, headlining on Saturday 21 March 2009. Support comes in the form of four of Manchester's latest and greatest bands: Citizens, May 68, Egyptian Hip Hop and Sir Yes Sir.

Providing the cherry on top of our musical cupcake will be our very own Esqueezy dropping heavy bass till late...all for just four of your English pounds and completely donk free.

O. Children - 'Ezekiel's son'(demo).mp3

Words: SS

Dispatches from the West Coast - pt. 2

2009-01-17T14:50:00.000Z

Simon L of Teeth!!! was kind enough to share a diary of the band's tour of the West Coast with us, the first part of which can be found here. Below Simon fills us in on Christmas, his holiday romance and hanging with faeries...

Day 5
I’ve not done much apart from sleep off my hangover...I met Yutaro from work, we took a bus down to the Super 8 Motel and booked a room. We hungout in the room forever spoke about past-lives (not the band) and watched cartoons, drank beer and ate Pringles. It was the romance. We saw Snoop Dogg drive past us just as the sun was going down.

Day 6
Checked out late. Me & Yutaro hung out forever, we were gonna go to Mustashe Mondays (the place where teeth will play first week in Jan), but we got stuck watching ‘Paris Is Burning’. Then a bunch of peeps came over. It’s so weird when you meet someone you like, at the same time it’s a hellofa rebound relationship as both him and myself are recently heartbroken. It almost as if both of us are holding back. Maybe just me. Or maybe we have nothing to say to each other or maybe he’s a dork!!

Day 7
Me and Oskar (from Sister Mantos) went hiking in the hills. I saw the whole of LA. It’s big. I also found out that Berlin is L.A.’s twined city, which is amazing!!! As me and Dolby Anol are planning on moving there over the summer. I like the sound of summer in Berlin and winter in L.A., that would be the sweetest little shit. That afternoon we had a meeting with some guy from Universal Records, a guy in a suit. We saw Kayne West in reception with a mass meat head.

We got invited to dinner with this famous photographer guy who is Prince’s tour photographer. We sat and ate and then went back to his and watched this awesome dance movie with my friend Ryan Heffington - this amazing dancer that has worked with Peaches, Fischerspooner and some other famous peeps. After that I came home and passed out.

Day 8
Made some jams then went out to a house party with Yutaro. It was snoresville. Although the Prince photographer was there amongst some stuck up Japanese people. Went home slept.

Day 9 - Xmas Day!
The day started sooo nice!!! Yutaro stayed at mine, I walked him to the bus stop in the LA sunrise it was raining warm rain we had a red umbrella, I told him that I was properly gonna miss him, he said, "you build a sand castle and the sea washes it away" so true, but it sucks. We were invited to spend Xmas with Austin’s parents (Ryan’s bf). It was the gayest Christmas ever; we listened to Madonna’s Immaculate Collection over dinner.

Day 10
Coffee/Rebecca - DVDs for the tour - Prince DVD photo shoot - Discussed jams for Mustache Mondays.

Day 11
Drive to San Francisco (SF) – Seals - Sunset - Brain Eno – Tears -Oakland party -Sexy Prison, still together!!! - Numbers broke up - Sleeping on pissy couches.

Day 12
PDX [Portland] BABES!!!!!! - Veronica late - long drive - Erase Errata dream – snow - long roads – tired.

Day 13 - video

Day 14

Day 15 - video

Day 16 [NYE] - video

Day 17
We set out on the long drive back to SF to drop Veronica off. On the way back we decided to stop over at Wolf Creek, a radical faerie community near the border of California/Oregon. We arrive just before sun down and go and get acquainted with our loving fearie family. First we meet Cloud, Earthern and Willow (for realz) and then went and smoked a chilum in Earthern’s place and listened to his new music he's been making. THE MOST AWSOME ITALO DISCO!!! Then Simon and Oskar ate some hash cookies and tripped out, we then went and had a free jam in the barn, where we slept under shrines of dead drag queens. No joke.

Day 18
We left early from Wolf Creek and headed back to SF, Veronica had to be home in time for dinner, which we just made. By now everyone needed breaks from each other. I managed to arrange a hook up that we could stay and hangout at Eats Tapes’ house. Marijke and Greg are the most friendly awesome, homely people ever!!! When we arrive they had made the best vegan food and beers. We chilled for a while and then went down to the infamous El Rio (where Jenny from Erase Errata works) and grabbed a beer. Then went home and sleeeeeeeepppttttt.

Day 19
I decided to stay in SF and hangout with ET for another night whilst Oskar and the peeps went back to LA. In the morning we went bike riding around SF, went up to the viewing tower in some park. Then we went and got coffee and got all physic and shit. I think Majike is one of the most awesome people ever. Then we came home and got ready to go over to Evans’ house to make food and get drunk. Evans is so rad!!! We made food, ate, drank lots. Then we went out down to Castro gay bars, and on to the afterhours. Marjike split beer all over the cab and then the bouncer at the club was a complete asshole and wouldn’t let her in. So we ended up back at Evans’, drunk and smelly.

Day 20
Today we woke and got breakfast, I feel so fucked up. Me, Marike & Evans are gonna start a new club in SF & London called FJARTS which continues mine and Markjke’s obsession with poop. We’re also gonna record a theme tune and have live Skype casts. We walked around to Aquarius records and listened to Sparks. M&E are thinking about coming to L.A. to perform with us at The Smell on Friday. That would be rad. Teeth!!! have been invited to perform on college radio which is exciting. I might head back to SF after the shows with Teeth!!!

myspace.com/teethdance

Esqueezy Explains It All: The Best (and worst) of 2008

2009-01-07T17:50:00.001Z

NOW THAT’S WHAT I DON’T CALL MUSIC

Shitting hell is it really Now 71? Which frankly, makes me feel a pretty similar age. They were only on Now 38 when I used to make peadophiles dreams come true and make up dance movies in my smalls. I was always diggin the hum-diggin estacy pill music they whacked on the bottom of disc 2. Bit of a shitemare when your mum got hold of it and started whistling Ultra Nate at the breakfast table. Starting your day like that can have you poking out your eyes by lunchtime. Any mum who desperately tries to be bang on their daughter's wavelength and possibly her 'bff' is in a dark place. They hang out in American Apparel fitting rooms with flappy bingo wings/brown paper bag thighs modelling lamé gold hot pants asking - "Do I look good in this?" For real...?

MUSICAL ACTS/DJ’S/SAD SCENESTERS – THE MOVERS ‘N’ SHAKERS
There have been several movers and shakers in the big bad game this year – be it through the back door or washed up on the not-so-welcome mat (with very many being via dick in mouth/flash of boob). Here’s a handful that have caught my attention especially -

MOVER
Mr. Vegas has retired. I found this fond farewell on my internet travels –

“Thank everybody weh believe inna mi and help mi fi do 11 years inna music even when everybody else a try stop mi. But mi main thing is to be closer to God Almighty an spend more time with mi kids”.

It tickled me because a) of the way its been typed up and, b) it’s about two words off sounding like a suicide note. Combine both those pointers together and you got one weird suicide note. Dark. Mr Vegas was the shit. I’ll miss him – but I don’t reckon much of the homosexual population will.

SHAKER
Lady Sovereign’s made a comeback – after her apparent unhealthy relationship with the bottle. Join the club love – but how often did you a) bar brawl... b) puke on the Magic Bus.... c) eat stinking kebabs most probably made of donkey testicles? I like Sov’s edge, but I have to say she’s had some sort of ‘revamp’ – and I think the stylist may well have been blind. Sov has got to have a side ponytail and boy's garms to truly be Sov. Instead she’s been injected with curls and then somebody puked up black paint in her wardrobe and smudged some round her eyes. I suppose her upcoming album will be the ultimate judge of it.

MOVERS
The Cool Kids have made upwards movements in 2008. I remember a Black Mags refix back in 07 with Sweet Dreams and from then on it was whoa, whoa and more whoa. I know it’s that scenester/hipster hip-hop or whatever but I actually think it’s healthy, it’s ‘fun’. I think the same can be said for Wale. Definitely some of the things Esqueezy, the self-proclaimed cynic, would like to see develop further in 09.

....AND WHO THE HELL KNOWS

Uffie, queen of the scenesters, went crazy in 2008.

Check her in bed with Cobrasnake, Jeremy Scott and her new ‘fiancé’, Andre (a French graffiti head), looking like she’s about to pass out on that shit load of Rohypnol they just fed her. Poor vulnerable not-so-innocent Uffie.

CLUBNIGHTS THAT YOU MIGHT NOT GO TO – BUT SHOULD
THE clubnight of ’08 was Contort Yourself. Without a doubt. Sometimes the acts totally aren’t my cup of Tetley but I still very much enjoy myself. It’s not solely because I get plied with free beer – it’s because the atmosphere is mellow but party party at the same time. Hard to describe but yeah, special. Plus one week you could be watching Vice’s particular flavour of the week guitar/synth quartet and the next you’re slap bang infront of Buraka son Sistema. Caters for everyone – and doesn’t particularly clutch at any sort of scene/musical fad. Big up the boys and check ‘em bi-weekly at the Roadhouse in ’09 with promising acts such as Rico Tubbs on the roster.

Still not convinced? Human Man/Ben Contort has provided a super special sellotaping of songs for your aural pleasure. Follow link below...

Contort Yourself Mixtape Volume 1 by Human Man (Z-Share)

And with that I draw to an end a very bitchy 2008! Let’s hope 2009 is just as juicy. Ciao.

Words: Esqueezy

Pictureplane Interview

2008-12-29T18:59:00.000Z

As previously highlighted (here) Pictureplane, aka Travis Egedy, was our favourite artist of 2008. He lives in Denver, Colarado in a house/art space/gig venue named Rhinoceropolis and creates electro-grime tinged with a hefty dollop of 80’s pop, which fills you with a feeling of total freedom and abandon. As he explained on his own blog (here), 2008 was somewhat of an Annus Awesomis for Travis. We asked him alllll about the past, the present and the future…

You played recently with Dan Deacon, how’d it go?
“CRAZY. But totally rad. It was in my house (Rhinoceropolis). Probably like 300 kids came out who have never really been here before. I booked this local hardcore band comprised of 17-year-old kids called Dethbox to play, they ended the set with like ten minutes of pure feedback and squealing saxaphones while they built a shrine out of their drums. People didn’t know what to think, it was great! Dan rented speakers for our house just for the night, so it sounded amazing. We also went shopping for pants at a thrift store before the show. Dan Deacon is an amazing man. We talked about conspiracies against the world and the people into the late evening."

Have you had some trouble with the police recently?
"Yes, it’s a long story....I was arrested during the protests at the Democratic National Convention in Denver over the summer. It was a mass arrest of about 150 people. I got unlucky on that one...it’s total bullshit."

Are you signed yet?
"I kind of am now! Thanks to blogs such as yours and my friends in HEALTH, I got picked up by their label, Lovepump United in New York. I have a 7'' single coming out in March 09, it’s exciting."

How healthy is the music scene in Denver?
"Extremely healthy. There are TONNES of bands... but the scenes are kind of segregated for some reason... we’ve all been talking about how badly Denver needs more DIY spaces [like Rhinoceropolis]...it really has so much potential. But yeah, there is tonnes of talent here, and no one knows about it outside of Denver, besides the fortunate bands that get to play Rhinoceropolis. Ha ha!"

What was your personal highlight of 2008?
"Probably touring the East Coast in the Fall with a fellow Denver band called BDRMPPL [also rad]. We had a lot of amazing times, and played beautiful shows. It was freedom. And I loved it."

Do you have a new year’s resolution?
"I need to stop being so lazy...and really start to push people’s buttons again artistically. I am good at that when I want to be [check out some of Travis' artwork at his myspace or here]."

Are you looking forward to 2009?
"Yes. I should be touring a lot...maybe? I am really excited for my single to come out. There are some things in the works right now that bring bubbles in my stomach. So yeah, I think I am pumped. I have been really trying to live in the NOW, and not anticipate future events as of late though. There really is no future anyways ;) just now."

What do you have planned for 2009?...a UK visit?
"I fucking hope so. I want to dance to funky house. I can’t stop listening to grime."

What new artists/bands would you recommend we look out for in 2009?
"Sewn Leather, Future Islands [check out Travis' rework of their track 'Old dreamer'] Rustie, Zomby, Joker, Pictureplane..."

Pictureplane - 'No law'.mp3

myspace.com/pictureplane

photo: Rita Minissi

Dispatches from the West Coast - pt. 1

2008-12-21T12:46:00.000Z

We asked Simon L (on the right) - one third of Dalston synth punks, Teeth!!! - to keep us updated on his travels and the band's forthcoming tour in Portland and California. Prepare yourself for one hell of a diary...

Day 1
LA is a big sprawling city. Hollywood sign, check. The people at the airport sounded exactly like they were in The Terminator or some other sci-fi LA movie. We are staying just off Sunset Blvd. We already ate "real West Coast-Mexican food" and checked out the superb Wildness where the awesome Wendy Yao from Ooga Booga [Store] was DJ-ing. Wildness is run by this ridiculously rad person called Ashley, he is totally in love with my friend Oscar and he makes films about lesbian strip bars called 'Shakedown'. He also makes limited edition t-shirts of Beyonce (he gave me one!!!) and other crazy awesome stuff.

Afterward we went to Taco Zone and the tall, gay looking one [John] from HEALTH was there. Today we're trying to fix shows in Olympia, CA for NYE and we just got a show at DUNES in Portland. I feel that I'm going to know everyone in the city before I leave.

Day 2
Last night Juan from Abe Vigoda [on the right of pic] and I went downtown and hooked up with the guitar player from Mika Miko (I'm so bad at names) we drank $2.50 margaritas at this most awesome mexican bar with a bunch of other people then onto this ridiculous gay bar in Hyperion. It was emptyyyy. We picked up Oscar and Sister Mantos and went to this fucking awesome leather bar (no one was there) and drank $2 pints of Budweiser.

So by this time I was hitting on Yutaro [on the left of pic], this totally hot skinny dude half L.A., half Japanese. We all went to the sauna - yes yes yes...outdoor jacuzzi, outdoor swimming!!! After funs swimming around til maybe 3am me and Yutaro toats made out forever. It was hot. I think I'm in love.

Day 3
Finally the sun has come out so we're heading to the beach. Juan is coming over later and we're gonna make a side project together with Sister Mantos called NEGATIVE CHARMS. I'm slowly learning that that's what a lot of people do in LA, be in loads of bands, smoke pot, drink, drive everywhere - if you don't have a car you're fucked. So, I hope I see Yutaro again. I'm obsessing already...I sent two text messages. Fuuck.

Hung out hung-over at Malibu...we went to the beach and sun bathed for a few hours then headed back. I waited for Yutaro to call but he didn't. Whateverrr. Tonight I'm gonna party again!!! Hopefully with Juan & co., I wanna hang with those kids more, they're awesome fags...we're going to a party called Shits & Giggles, it's a gay house/dance music party and sounds ridiculous.

We saw this awesome funny band called Spider Problem and then hooked up with Yutaro and Scott. It was super weird...we went to Shits & Giggles it sucked, left and then went to Scott's place. We made out, but it sucked.

Day 4
I'm meeting up with Juan later and we're heading to the fat girl's house from Mika Miko as she's having a birthday party. Yutaro will be there, I'm gonna tell him I love him for realz. I so fucking want a holiday romance.

Well I’ve completely lost weather this is day 4 or not as everyday brings new challenges. We went to this ridiculous sports bar, Big Wangs, and got Bud & chips, then we went to Spotlight, this ridiculous gay bar off Vine and Hollywood, with free snacks with beer. SO STOOPID!!! and rad all at the same time,... when we got there these super dudes (serious the faggots are fucking real gangsters) tried starting something because I was wearing Kurt Cobain sunglasses...whatever!

This afternoon we went over to hang out with Tom Grimley (my best time in LA so far!!!), this guy lives in this awesome house just off Vine and St. Monica with a real American porch. Tom is most noted for owning Poop Alley Studios in LA and producing early Beck records as well as building a tower in his back yard three storeys high so he can watch the sun come up and down, whilst drinking beer.

We went to the store in his Beatle - circa 80s - then came back and listened to noise music and watched the fire burn - everything felt so pure. Tom Grimley - ALWAYS AND FOREVER, THE GODFATHER OF ALL L.A. (who knows every fucking awesome band ever)...and I’m sharing super secret knowledge that only he told me…

Nebraska - Bruce Springsteen
His first album. LISTEN AND LEARN…and before you all fucking hate, you should read his Wiki. Above all, this misrepresented, song manipulated singer-songwriter not only deserves your respect but also your fucking brain time... if there is one album you should revisit - or visit the first time it should be that one.

ALSO
The one thing I’ve learnt is ALWAYS START AT NOISE. If you start a band make it a noise band, so then your fucking completely untouchable by anyone... until I guess you’re figured out. I guess that’s how I feel Teeth!!! should be... but I simply explained.. I’m in it for the ride... if it all happens it happens.... if it doesn’t whuuuteverr.

Ok, so now I’m back from the party. After we went to tom's house and finished the beers, we went to Taco and laughed at Santa, he’s a total paedo. One of the girls from Mika Miko (I’m soooo bad at names, but if you’re reading this I LOVE YOU) was telling everyone about me and her crowd surfing at their Upset the Rhythm show... she said it was the first time that’s happened (sometimes I’m so proud of London). Anyways, Yutaro was there and we made out in her room, a lil bit, and we decided to meet tomorrow!

Peece.

Teeth!!! - 'Dead boys'.mp3

myspace.com/teethdance

2008 Review

2008-12-19T12:57:00.000Z

If a week is a long time in politics, then a year is twelve months in music. But if today was a year from now what would we say about Anno Domini 2008 in a sonic sense? Well...

Best gig
HEALTH @ Charlie’s (Hey Manchester!) 3 May 2008
We said: “At no point during their set is any member of the band static or making anything like the kind of noise traditionally expected by the instrument in their hands…a striking mix of hypnotic robot vocals, chiselled melodic dissonance and beat smart rhythmic intensity”…i.e. well rad.

HEALTH - 'Glitter Pills'.mp3

myspace.com/healthmusic

Best album
Late Of The Pier – Fantasy Black Channel (Parlophone)

We said: “with the help of Erol Alkan, [LOTP] have shown just how to inject not only electro into your average indie-rock but weight and substance too. In so doing, LOTP completely exposed the redundancy of The Whip's baggy beats to the point that even lobotomised berk, Bez, now politely refuses seconds.” Pity that we only caught five seconds of their set at the Warehouse Project in October because we had the audacity to turn up as late as 10.30pm for a night that went on till 5am. Nice one schedulers.

Late Of The Pier - 'Broken'.mp3

myspace.com/lateofthepier

Best single
Telepathe - 'Chrome's on it' (No Pain In Pop)

We said: "a beat-smart, hook happy slice of process pop". Still not tired of this.

Telepathe - 'Chrome's on it'.mp3

myspace.com/telepathe

Favourite band
Pictureplane
We said: “Imagine shoegaze vocals married to the kind of grime Wiley used to make and you're halfway there. Actually you're noway near. Chuck in an unhealthy love of 80's pop, electro and avant noise and if by that point you're not thinking 'this sounds like the best shit ever yo', then frankly you're lost.” Prepare yourself for one hell of a dope interview with the big man to be posted here pre 2009.

Pictureplane - 'Trance doll'.mp3

myspace.com/pictureplane

Favourite Manchester band
Copycats

We said: “3 heavily fringed 'disturbed teens' who make playing post-Test Icicles spazzcore pop sound the most fun thing in the world.” Expect more from these felines next year, particularly Alex Hewett who has his paws in multiple musical pies. Check out awesome new demo 'Body language'.

Copycats - 'Body language'.mp3

myspace.com/wearecopycats

But most of all 2008 will be remembered for…
Paul Ross reading ghost stories from a big black book. A watershed moment in British television. The horror. The horror...

WAVVES

2008-12-09T14:29:00.000Z

Despite the seasonal liberty, we’re still committed to unravelling the paper chain of new music and erecting it within eye and earshot of your face, i.e. here. With the aim of posting at least one New Ears piece minus any reference to The Smell, S.C.U.M or the Deaf Institoot, I'm proposing we consider the superb lo-fi beach noise of Wavves. Yes yes, oh yay.

Wavves is the brainchild of 22 year old, Nathan Williams from San Diego. Now and again he’ll blog about classic rap and other stuff wot he likes (here), but mostly he creates raw beach punk gems onto a four track cassette. Whilst the sound owes a debt to fellow Californians No Age’s pop-punk, his tales of young American manhood are most reminiscent of Jonathan Richman’s unaffected naivety. In other words, were they to bring back California Dreams and write it with some basis in the reality of what it’s like being a yoof in the Golden State, Wavves would be a fitting sound for the opening credits. What Sly Winkle would make of Wavves is unclear (though he’d probably try and manage the band, with subsequent zany results) but it definitely lights our lamp.

A tour of Europe starting in February 2009 has recently been announced, calling in to Manchester’s Saki Bar on 2 March with rad lo-fiers, Pens, providing the necessary supporting duties. Both bands have releases imminent through De Stijl Records, seek them here.

www.myspace.com/wavves

Wavves - 'So bored'.mp3

Words: SS

Go Ear - Vivian Girls, Hotpants Romance @ Now Wave, The Deaf Institute 9/12/08

2008-12-09T00:40:00.000Z

Twee/Indiepop has been enjoying something of resurgence of late (thanks in no small part to the work of London based promoters/label/zine Twee As Fuck) and as of this Wednesday the sound looks set to plant its flag firmly in the face of Manchester via Now Wave’s enviable Vivian Girls vs Hotpants Romance line up at The Deaf Institute.

Like many bands swept up in this ‘Twee’ movement, these New Yooikers' music is anything but. Vivian Girls' spiky girl-punk clutter is closer in kin with say, Huggy Bear or The Primitives than Belle and Sebastian. They’re one of several bands to have emerged from the scene surrounding their native city’s Cake Shop venue (cakes and records upstairs, venue and bar downstars) alongside the equally ace Pains of Being Pure at Heart (who comprehensively answer the question of what My Bloody Valentine would have sounded like if they had never discovered fuzz pedals) and Crystal Stilts.

Hotpants Romance on the other hand are 3 Riot Grrrls hailing from our very own city of Manchester. They make shouty, poppy records focusing on themes like the varying strength of sun cream and we like them a lot (evidence here). So much so in fact, that at some point over the summer we went to one of their shows and interviewed them. We talked about all kinds of interesting stuff - their (then) forthcoming tour of America, their appearance at Twee As Fuck in London, our mutual love of Erase Errata etc etc, then we (and when we say ‘We’ we really mean ‘I’) went out, got really drunk and lost the dictaphone and consequently the interview, making the whole affair a big waste of everyone’s time. That was pretty lame, but the band is anything but. You should totally go check them out, rad times are guaranteed.

Vivian Girls - Where Do You Run To.mp3

www.myspace.com/viviangirlsnyc

www.myspace.com/hotpantsromance

Words: Billy iDle

Go Ear - Abe Vigoda @ Now Wave, The Deaf Institute 3/12/08

2008-11-30T20:09:00.000Z

I don’t know about you but I’m pretty fucking jazzed about next week's Now Wave at the Deaf Institute. The line up for the night features LA’s finest purveyors of Tropical Punk, Abe Vigoda, who we previously wrote about here, with support coming from Televised Crimewave, who we gave props to way back here. For those that don’t know, Abe Vigoda are stalwarts of their native city’s ‘Smell’ scene (a loose collective of bands centred around LA’s all ages/ vegan/ punk venue, The Smell, which is run entirely by volunteers) which we’ve been banging on about since like, forever.

Rather than bore you with the same old same old we figured we’d take it to the source and get exclusive word on the whole shiz from the band themselves. The whole thing worked out a little like this: New Ears asked some questions, Abe Vigoda gave some answers, and everyone mentioned the words ‘The’ and ‘Smell’ a whole lot. Behold…

New Ears: Over here in the UK there is obviously a growing awareness of yourselves and the other bands that have emerged from ‘The Smell’, but we are still rather unaware of the ins and outs of the actual scene surrounding the venue. Could you fill us in? Are you guy’s friends with all the other bands affiliated with the venue?

Juan (Abe Vigoda): Firstly, there were a lot of bands who we are friends with that are no longer in existence that played with us at The Smell who I feel are super important. One band in particular, ‘Hello Astronaut, Goodbye Television’, was really amazing. We would play lots of shows with them and even went on a small tour together. I totally wish they were still around because they were so fun to see live and wrote some of the best pop songs ever! Other bands that I feel were just as important to our connection to The Smell are Le Joshua, My Little Red Toe, and Silver Daggers. These bands are not in existence anymore but were totally crucial to that time.

NE: Have any of you guys ever been actively involved with the venue in terms of volunteering/helping out etc?

J: Yeah I would do door every once in a while and I will help Jim out when I’m there. It’s totally important to me to keep The Smell as a place that I feel I'm responsible for. We want the place to be there for as long as it can and it can’t be done by being careless and not helping out when you can. It's rad to have a spot that, no matter what, I know I can book a really fun show and help out a touring band by setting something up there.

NE: Are there any parallels between the kind of ethics that govern The Smell and your own within the band?

J: For SURE! The Smell has a total sense of humour and doesn’t take itself too seriously which is a really important attitude to have. Jim Smith who runs the space has no pretension about who can and can’t play; he is really open minded about that sort of thing. I feel like we as a band have maybe also adopted that, having no pretension about music and most things in general. The one aspect that is also really important is the DIY element that The Smell has; we make our own shirts and sometimes make flyers and are involved one on one with the artwork on our records and all of those elements of being in a band. We don’t pay someone to do those things.

NE: How synonymous do you feel the venue is with your band, were you established locally prior to playing there or have you grown with the venue?

J: We have grown up as a band in The Smell. I met many of my close friends there because they were in a band or came to see us or whatever. All my contact with the music world originated at The Smell, whether by seeing a band play or playing there myself, we have built friendships with people all over the place!

NE: One thing I've noticed about LA is that while The Smell seems to have bred a certain scene, it doesn’t necessarily come with a definable sound - all the bands seem really diverse sonically speaking. Is there a common thread you can identify between yourselves, Mika Miko, HEALTH, No Age etc that unifies you or is it more a celebration of the diversity/individuality of the bands?

J: I think the unifying factor is the ethics that the scene provides. I think that growing up playing at The Smell has provided us with a good philosophy about playing music that might not have occurred if The Smell didn’t exist. I think that it gave us a really good sense of reality because it is so DIY and anything that has come out of being in a band, i.e. notoriety or attention or whatever you would call it, has been interesting and cool but more than anything we are into playing music we find to be interesting, whether it's "marketable" or not, and I feel like that has to do with playing at The Smell and being part of that community.

Abe Vigoda - 'Lantern heights'.mp3

Words: Billy iDle

State of the City Address

2008-11-28T09:17:00.000Z

When this blog first started back in April 08, we (here) identified a Manchester music scene awash with "baggy nonsense snagged on lad-rock twatery" and that fundamentally, "to Manchester's immense pride and utter embarrassment, The Fall are the most important band in this former musical beacon". All this is about to change.

Joining the mancunian bands we've already praised and highlighted on this blog (Copycats, Hotpants Romance, Sir Yes Sir) are a brand new crop of (lazily coined by us) Manchester-not-Manchester bands. Our favourite three are new wavers, Egyptian Hip Hop, the darkwave electronica of FAUX and Citizens' tropical no wave.

FAUX are supporting Selfish Cunt at this Tuesday (02/12) night's Fiction Non Fiction at Tiger Lounge, while Citizens and Egyptian Hip Hop kick off gigging duties in the new year. Obviously this makes us as happy as a pig on smack, so go check them out and expect further posts on these three bands in the near future. 2000 and 9 looks very promising...

Citizens - 'We've read the books' (live demo)

Words: SS
Pic: FAUX

Go Ear - DiScover: Tuesday 25/11

2008-11-22T08:46:00.000Z

This month's Manchester DiScover night at the Deaf Institute is truly hulking.

Our noise-pop favourites, Gentle Friendly, (check our interview back in August hither) are joined by atmospheric fuzz loophead and fellow No Pain In Pop labelmate, Banjo Or Freakout. Further support also comes in the form of Tony Wilson approvingly named, Situationists, and Manchester's own garage dandies, The Witches.

As if that lineup wasn’t already enough, we’ll also be loitering around the DJ-ing area ready to ram home ear-shaped tunes at some point during the night too. All for only five of your pounds. More info can be found here on Facebook.

Banjo Or Freakout - 'Archangel' (Burial cover).mp3

Words: SS

Banjo pic: Rachel Bevis

Free Blood

2008-11-11T22:05:00.000Z

I've been waiting for an excuse to write something about Free Blood for this mess of a blog since it started. Now appearing on the horizon like some great shiny round thing is a new CD compiling their tracks avec remixes, 'The Singles'.

Free Blood is the side project turned full-time project of ex-!!! drummer/vocalist John Pugh and fashion designer Madeline Davy. They're the leaders of a bunch of bands which New York labels, DFA and Rong Music, have coined 'Notwave'. Not No Wave, definitely not Now Wave, but Notwave, right? Basically an updated dancefloor take on the No Wave scene of the late 70s/early 80s (James Chance, Lydia Lunch and all that). This collection shows Pugh has moved away from the sometime space jam self indulgence of !!! toward, what he aptly describes as, “really mean pop songs”.

'The Singles' is available for download here and will likely end up in the real world in Piccadilly Records some time soon. Seek it out.

Free Blood - 'Grumpy'.mp3

Oh, and they've only gone and rehashed a track by our favourite Brooklyn androgens (yes we have a list), Telepathe, too. See...

Telepathe - 'Bells (Free Blood Remix)'.mp3

Words: SS

In The City >>> O Children

2008-10-18T18:31:00.000+01:00

So then, that’s In The City done for another year. After months of having smoke blown up their unsigned asses, bands from both near and far have duly played to miniscule crowds in the hope that, somewhere amongst the smattering of suited attendees, is the A&R guy that’s going to make it happen for them.

As the country spirals headfirst into the same kind of financial oblivion to which the record industry has long since succumbed, the likelihood is, of course, that it probably ain’t gonna happen. Those bands that didn’t quite cut it will be back next year, jaded but not necessarily better, repeating the whole process again before finally accepting their rightful home on the musical scrapheap. For most of the bands that played In The City 2008 this is for the best, but there was one band who deserved better than to join the legions of the forgotten and the forgettable, London based O Children, who played Drowned in Sound's birthday showcase on 7 October.

Having risen from the ashes of Bono Must Die (who, admirable as their sentiment may have been, were by all accounts terrible), O Children have something that was sorely lacking from so many bands on display at this year's A&R hoedown – star quality. Sure, on initial inspection the bassist and guitarist might look a bit gormless, but the second lead singer Tobias’ guttural Cave meets Curtis rasp kicks in, all reservations are duly cast aside - it’s the finest voice that this particular pair of New Ears has been privy to all year.

That they wear their Joy Division / Cure / Bauhaus influences on their sleeve is irrefutable, but despite their well worn reference points O Children somehow manage to sound fresh and exciting rather than contrived and clichéd. They’re not without fault - their set featured a fair portion of dead wood, but when they hit they their mark O Children are a genuinely thrilling live proposition with evident potential to go a lot, lot further - surely what ‘In The City’ is actually all about. Download the below mp3 of 'Radio Waves' and become similarly excited. More please…

O Children - 'Radio waves' (demo).mp3

Live @ Durr last month...

www.myspace.com/ochildren

Words: Billy iDle

Photo: Gabriel Green

Tapes and tapes and tapes

2008-10-13T14:21:00.000+01:00

Way before mpfrees and illegal downloading were killing music, some delicately placed sellotape on the top of your mum's Tina Turner cassette would allow you to record the whole of Bruno Brookes' flagship Radio 1 show. Little did we know it, but both Brookes and tapes were in decline.

Today, a crop of fledgling labels, motivated by a nostalgia for the "cassette boom" era and the sheer economics of tape production, are kicking off a (mini) cassette culture revolution for the 21st century. Don’t purge all your other media just yet, but the happy coincidence is that these new cassette releases have killer bands on too.

Showcasing 30 minutes of Gentle Friendly's bewildering noise pop, Stop Scratching, recently released their third compact cassette tape. Forthcoming further Stop Scratching tapes will land in the near future capturing the super sounds of Teeth and Chupacabra amongst others. Get them here.

Super exciting on the tape front is also the self-released three way cassette share from Graffiti Island, Male Bonding and the catchy lo fi punk of Pens, which we're rather taken with. Most rousing is however, Graffiti Island’s Modern Lovers-esque new wave. Their American lead singer, Pete, filled us in: "our drummer (Cherise) has one arm longer than the other which makes the drumming sound nice. We're inspired by things such as Dario Argento films/Bad Brains/Jan Terri/Ancient Greece/remote viewing/the Bubonic Plague and burritos." Each band has provided two tracks and all for the bargain price of £3. It goes on sale on 22 October and it's essential, preorder it here.

More future tape fun can be found via London/Canterbury fanzine turned record label, Fake Press. Their début release is planned to feature wonky electronica youngens, Magpied, and Pie In The Sky referencing (I hope) The Restaurant Mystery. More info hither.

Next week, the phoenix from the format flames, laserdiscs!

Graffiti Island - 'Head hunters'.mp3

Words: SS

Hello you!

2008-10-10T10:21:00.000+01:00

Nerdy obsessive Chris Morris fans may recognise that from time to time I quote (steal) from Morris’ various projects (Nathan Barley, Day Today, Brasseye, Blue Jam). This is because I think he is way funny. I'm therefore permitting a deviation away from our usual blog topic of S.C.U.M to highlight the fact that Chris Morris has written a new comedy script with the writers of Peep Show about British jihadis, named Four Lions, and you, the general public out in mongland, have the chance to be in it.

Information on the script is scant but Warp Films have sent me this:

”Four Lions is a funny, thrilling fictional story that illuminates modern British jihad with an insight beyond anything else in our culture. It plunges us beyond seeing these young men as unfathomably alien. It undermines the folly of just wishing them away or alienating the entire culture from which they emerge. It understands how terrorism relates to testosterone. It understands jihadis as human beings. And it understands human beings as innately ridiculous. As Spinal Tap understood heavy metal and Dr Strangelove the Cold War, Four Lions understands modern British jihadis.

Terrorist cells have the same group dynamics as stag parties and five a side football teams. There is conflict, friendship, misunderstanding and rivalry. Terrorism is about ideology, but it’s also about berks.”

Pitches to Channel 4 and the BBC have both failed due, one can only imagine, to the Daily Mail controversy that would inevitably follow. In order to fund and release it independently, Warp Films is providing the opportunity to appear in the film at the cost of a £25 donation. Bum.

Find out more here.

Chris Morris - 'Chris Moyles Sting'.mp3

Words: SS

In The City 2008

2008-10-03T21:36:00.000+01:00

I'm no sanctimonious schmuck. But clearly I am a sell out. Last post's criticism of The Warehouse Project still stands but after receiving free tickets for tonight's project we're not gonna pass up the chance to fight our way through the once-a-year-e-takers to see Late Of The Pier. N.B. At the drop of most hats (not beanies) we will betray any cause for personal advancement.

Saturday's Eat Your Own Ears curated shindig marks the official start of Manchester's annual international A&R circus, In The City, which runs till the 7th. Founded in 1992, the conference has morphed into somewhat of a mini juggernaut of a music industry shmoozing money maker rather than the cultural beacon Tony Wilson envisaged.

Unhappy with the level of corporate cock worming its way into the festival and the conference's failure to engage with independent music in Manchester in recent years, a micro rival not-for-profit conference has sprung up this year. With the admirable aim of promoting and discussing the more DIY, independent, grass roots level of the music industry in Manchester and beyond, UN/COVENTION is taking place in Salford Trinity Church over the same dates. Oh and there are pies available.

Pick of the festivities is undoubtedly the Drowned In Sound showcase which features the brilliant, yet increasingly irksome, These New Puritans and everyone's favourite new post-punkers O Children amongst others on Tuesday 7 October at Night & Day. Get down there, but if you can't, we'll let you know if Jack Barnett really does play a child's guitar.

Late Of The Pier - 'Mad dogs and Englishmen'.mp3

http://www.inthecity.co.uk/

Words: SS

CLUB NEWS

2008-09-30T15:01:00.000+01:00

Clubs? Next month? Alriiight.

Some truly hexagonal dope to tell you about in Manchester's bopsheds and flashtunnels during October and I'm not talking about the milked-till-tender cash cow, The Warehouse Project, neither. Far more promising is Drowned in Sound's new monthly Tuesday night 'DiScover' showcase at The Death Institute's flush new music hall, which starts with Wild Beasts, Cats In Paris and The Long Blondes DJs amongst others on 28 October.

Last Monday saw the first of this term's monthly Super Super magazine vs Monday Murkage club night at One Central Street. One New Ears mainstay was quoted as stating it was “quite good actually...[with] party anthems aplenty”. The next is set for 13 October with Skepta. Entrance is free if you turn up with a haircut*.

But the main event last week was on Wednesday, which saw the opening night of the weekly 'Now Wave'. Designed as a maturer, less prannock stricken offshoot to their Up The Racket franchise, its promoters deserve credit for enlisting some more than decent bands to play at The Deaf Institute, including Pivot (this week), Holy Fuck & Errors (next week) and Abe Vigoda (3 Dec).

Last week S.C.U.M kicked off proceedings with a set of thrilling, flashing, confident darkwave rambunctiousness, only for Ipso Facto to follow with an instantly forgettable thirty minutes of drabwave. Which left a bad taste in the mouth only bettered by the weariful DJing which displayed next to no correlation to the live music that had just been showcased. In fact it was about a minute into LOTP's 'Focker' being played at the wrong speed that we avowed to pull our finger out and take New Ears' DJing excursions beyond the fifteen minutes afforded us at Big Hands earlier this year. So if you want us to play your jamboree, coke party, box social or bahmitzfa just message us. No really. We promise to play Pictureplane.

Pictureplane - 'Flashion you designed my mind'.mp3

*Unconfirmed at time of posting.

Words: SS

Offset Festival: S.C.U.M In The Sun

2008-09-07T15:38:00.000+01:00

Yo! Remember we told you a few posts back that S.C.U.M were the band to be checking for at Offset festival? Well here’s the news flash - we were right! Rolling Access All Area's style on someone elses pass I headed along to Hainult with the 'fashionable east London set', to catch the only festival worth bothering with this year...

What was it saying? Well actually not a great deal to be honest, EXCEPT for the Experimental Circle Club tent which hosted sets by the cream of the ascendant post-post-punk 'darkwave' set. While attendance at other tents and stages was generally fairly sparse, the ECC was packed for pretty much every band which graced its stage; a sea of dutifully detached faces observing the on-stage goings on beneath a lingering fug of smoke (emanating from the requisite menthol and liquorice paper cigarettes), the overriding aestetic not so much 'festival chic' as simply 'chic'.

O Children, The Violets, Neils Children and the newly streamlined Electricity in Our Homes (whose set was excecuted with sufficient confidence and aplomb to suggest the recent loss of vocalist Thomas Wamerdam might not be the disaster it initially seemed) all delivered performances of note over the weekend, but it was the aforementioned S.C.U.M who ruled supreme as the dandy ring masters of the Experimental Circle Club tent.

With a guitar-less rhythm led racket that sounds a little like early Suicide, not to mention cheekbones you could hang coats off, these monochrome teens are as beautiful as they are brilliant. In a scene which emphasises the necessity of fostering a poised demeanour of dourness and indifference S.C.U.M do the unthinkable and dare to be exciting, adventurous and naively idealistic, and are all the better for it.
Even without their much whispered connections, these young princes are undoubtedly darkwave's most likely to ‘do a Horrors’ and break the over ground; the difference being that, unlike the aforementioned goffs, they’ve got the class, charisma and tunes to back it up.

S.C.U.M are playing in Manchester at the Deaf Institute (the Oxford Rd 'Trof') on the 24th September (along with Ipso Facto). To miss out would be really, REALLY silly.

Words - Billy iDle

Image: Princess Julia, taken from the September issue of P.i.X - go pick it up!

Esqueezy Explains It All

2008-09-05T09:45:00.000+01:00

What a week in Esqueezyville! In advance I apologise for depriving New Ears’ readers of ‘Esqueezy Explains It All’ but I'm pretty sure you didn’t miss me too much. I blame it all on the summer lull.... including musical monstrosities like Wiley's 'In The Summer' because quite frankly, Daft Punk samples DON’T really get me going. Anyways, it's September again and we all know what that means.... an arrival of socially inept and under-experienced freshers, all geared up for sex and 5th Ave. Dunno about you, but I don't really envy them.

So what’s been going down….hmmm…Last week saw the start of what I'm calling the 'Esqueezy Entrance'. This one was spawned at an uber pretentio private party on Thursday that was some bullshit to do with a Volkswagen car that somebody had gotten all pre-school on by having the ultra challenging idea of painting strange lines on. I just heard it was free drinks so I didn't really pay much attention to the screwy literature they gave me (hand-packed tidily in some strange rubbery sleeve with the same weird dots as the car...hmmm). Well cutting to the chase, I managed to knock 5 glasses of champagne flying within 30 seconds of entering...and that was after I'd done a lot of swearing and argy-bargy at the front door. It was one of those moments when you’ve either got to curl up and die or count to ten and do it again. All hail Esqueezy...no?

I’m going to start doing it everywhere I go, maybe even at work…but ho, you can definitely expect such behaviour on a weekly basis, cos I'm getting like LL and I’m going back…but not to Cali…to Murkage baby! The drought of decent nights is coming to an end! Murkage was pretty successful last year, but academic year 2008/9 puts the cherry pon cake… brand-new venue and buff nuff bookings every week starting September 22nd! Think Tomb Crew, Toddla T, Afrikan Boy, Skepta, Bigger Than Barry, Deekline, Heavy Feet.... all I can say is thank the Lord because I'm getting pretty tired of only being offered the choice of clapped out indie nights or listening to bass with trustafarians. It does nothing for my complexion, let alone my mentality.

All dates until Christmas can be found on Mypace here and on Facebook hither. Plus, if you really, really, really can’t wait there’s a Mini Murkage tonight, downstairs in the Basement Bar at Trof Deaf Institute. Come join us for status drinks and ridiculous behaviour.

To get y’all in the mood, here's, EPMD - ‘Run It’ (Sinden Remix).mp3. I’m putting it down as a future Murkage anthem…that blend of bars and wonky beats always seems to do it.

‘Til next time…

www.myspace.com/natalieesquire

P.S. Hopefully, if New Ears will let me, I’ll be back mid month with a mix from someone bangin’…… HOLD TIGHT!

Copycats

2008-08-30T16:58:00.000+01:00

Dry Bar
28 August 2008

The reaction of the local media (e.g.) to the release of the debut album from Manchester's The Whip earlier this year proved that whilst you can't polish a turd, you can roll it in glitter. Thankfully Late Of The Pier's own début album, with the help of Erol Alkan, has shown just how to inject not only electro into your average indie-rock but weight and substance too. In so doing, LOTP completely exposed the redundancy of The Whip's baggy beats to the point that even lobotomised berk, Bez, now politely refuses seconds. Fortunately, Manchester doesn't have to look to Castle Donington to highlight the redundancy of its former-glories-obsessed music scene, we have our own spazzcore pop trio, Copycats.

Copycats - 'Suns Son' (original version).mp3

Flagged by a couple of their own friend litter onstage, New Ears' favourite Manchester-not-Manchester band ripped through a stirring if slightly disjointed set of scratchy guitar lines, skewed techno beats and broken/temperamental Korg melodies. Being that he was the only one who looked comfortable in his own skin and has his own techno-pop knob-twiddling side project, it's clear, ably supported though he was, that expertly fringed vocalist Alex Hewett is the ringmaster, on and off stage, to these young felines.

That they played to a crowd barely sufficient for a decent game of Cluedo was disappointing but there was more than enough to suggest a luminous future for both Copycats and a slowly emerging new Manchester scene. Check their myspace to stream the recently reworked version of standout track, 'Suns Son'. Go now!

Copycats - Bed Room Demon (Alex Hewett Rmx).mp3

www.myspace.com/wearecopycats

Words: SS

Go Ear: Gentle Friendly @ Islington Mill - 10/08

2008-08-06T10:08:00.000+01:00

“Huge glistening party anthems, which have a tendency to really bum you out.” That’s the best way to describe Gentle Friendly’s sound according to its drumming half, Daniel. Being that he's also a fifth of multi-instrumenatlists, Buttonhead, Dan represents 28.57% of London's two foremost thigh-slapping noise-pop bands. Check my sums, it stands up. Gentle Friendly are visiting our fair city twice in the next month so we asked him a few questions about all things GF...

Live

"We just try to play well. We don't really have any gimmicks or anything, I think we're both sort of against that. We just try to play loud and not fuck up. There may well be some drum related breakages however. I have a tendency to do that. I once broke the drummer from Sleeping State's ride stand in half. I felt really bad but he was a really nice guy and charged me almost nothing to replace it. I think his name was Robin, very nice man.”

Influences
Musical - “Arthur Russell, Paul Simon, 1980s cassette trade boom, 2000s rap mixtape boom, cave-punk, Neu!, Moondog.”
Others – “John Gray, The Wire, vegan mac & cheese, mountains of keyboards, unlabelled cassettes, hot boring summer days. Speaking personally, drum microphones. I brought this set when I had no money, but I just get a kick out of them though, I think its lame.”

Releases
"We’re putting out our first record proper [a four track vinyl EP] with No Pain In Pop in November and a collection of our lo-fi recordings will be out on limited edition tape release [through cassette heroes, Stop Scratching] at the same time."

Plans
"We have an All Tomorrow's Party show with Indian Jewelry which we're both super excited about. We’re also doing a Paris date which should be cool. I guess we'll begin to play more in Europe and in the U.S. The offers have been there, it’s just been a case of a lack of money or bad timing. I guess we’re mostly just thinking about the Ponytail tour next month though, those are awesome dates and we dig on Ponytail hard, so that should be rad!”

You can see Gentle Friendly this Sunday at Lamb & Wolf's alldayer at Islington Mill. They're back on 8 September with Ponytail at Satan's Hollow, so go!

Gentle Friendly - 'Five Girl Night' (download here or listen below)

www.myspace.com/gentlefriendly

www.myspace.com/lambandwolf

Words: SS

Offset Festival - 30/31 August

2008-07-31T15:44:00.000+01:00

Does the pope shit in the woods? Well no. He’s really more of a leisurely mid-afternoon private en suite, maybe with an old copy of Mein Kampf, kind of crapper. However, if His Holiness were into some of the most forward-thinking new music, then there’s every chance he could curl one out at the new Offset Festival next month.

Situated within the grounds of Hainault Forest Country Park in Essex, thanks in the main to the Experimental Circle Club (formerly the influential Southend scene emporium, the Junk Club), Offset is showcasing some of the UK's most exciting new music. As well as influential fusties, Wire and Gang of Four, the cream of London's most experimental and innovative music have been booked.

Are New Ears gonna be there? Does the pope shit in the woods? The full line up can be found here, but we've selected two strong reasons to bag a weekend in commuterville:

Factory Floor
Repetition is the trick. With Martin Hannett-like production, krautock grooves and screeching guitars, this three-piece have gone'n mastered it. It's dark and desolate but for some reason it makes me wear a grin as big as a harbour. Partly because they're the antithesis of the jingly jangly NME sickbag brigade, but mainly due to the way their 1940s-Britain romanticism compliments their noise so aptly; it’s post-punk, but with a human face. Seek out their forthcoming sophomore EP, which includes 'Francis, Francis'...

S.C.U.M
These feminist manifesto name checking Souf London youngens have been courting much in the way of hype. Thankfully their demos, showcasing a sound built on Suicide’s synthesisers and bass heavy driving no wave rhythms, justify it. The teens are currently in the studio with Rory (ex Test Icicles) and Tomethy Furse (The Horrors) working on a debut release. After Offset their tour calls into Manchester on 24 September at the new Deaf Institute hosted band night, Now Wave.

S.C.U.M - 'Visions arise' (download here or listen below)

www.myspace.com/factoryfloor
www.myspace.com/scum1968
www.offsetfestival.co.uk

Words: SS

Pic: S.C.U.M

Go Ear: Televised Crimewave @ Tiger Lounge 22/07

2008-07-19T16:53:00.000+01:00

TELEVISED CRIMEWAVE really love taxidermy....

Or so they told New Ears, when we asked them what you, the prospective concert attendee, could do to help. "If they felt the need to bring something... maybe taxidermy." Dan told us via email, "A stuffed owl would be my personal choice. I want to decorate all the dark damp venues up and down the land with owls and plastic jewels."

This darkly angular yet surprisingly upbeat London based 4-piece, consisting of 2 former members of the sadly departed Black Wire, is finally heading back up North for a short jaunt (with KASMs) through Edinburgh, Newcastle, hometown Leeds and Manchester. In terms of an audience it doesn't stop at taxidermists though, Dan tells us "I would like everyone to come and see us play, I don't want to exclude anyone. The perfect audience is one made up of people brave enough to commit themselves to the moment and escape the room we will all be standing in."

Prepare yourself for psychosis, charisma and dancing, as they hope their live show is comparable to "a spectacle of controlled madness, theatre of cruelty meets group therapy... with a catchy beat."

So, head on down to FictionNonFiction at Tiger Lounge this Tuesday (22/07) and be sure to bring any dead owls you have lying around, the band will be most appreciative.

Televised Crimewave - 'Fire & Flowers' (Download here or listen below)

www.myspace.com/televisedcrimewaveuk

www.myspace.com/fictionnonfiction

Words: Alyssa Thralls

Reach For The Sun

2008-07-16T13:00:00.000+01:00

We do our best to provide you with the necessary ‘heads up’ to all that's exciting musically locally, or at least in the UK. The problem at the moment is that the bands coming out of L.A. are so spiffing that it's like trying to ignore an elephant in the room. The latest to turn our heads is (predictably) another in the long line of rad bands to waft out of ‘The Smell' scene, the self proclaimed 'tropical punk' freakwads Abe Vigoda.

The beauty of the L.A. noise punk scene is that unlike your average movement, there's a distinct lack of “me-too” bands around to ruin it. Instead, each band is experimenting with different styles and genres, the only reason they’re grouped together is the fiercely independent, DIY ethic of the vegan food selling, all ages L.A. venue where they congregate.

Abe Vigoda are not the newest swingers in town, being that the early August 2008 scheduled release LP, Skeleton, is their third album. But their latest material has taken their previous no wave punk jams and added, with the help of some high-tuned guitars, sun-drenched surfing melodies. To put it in terms we can all understand, they were a bottle of lucozade, they’re now a can of mango flavoured Rubicon Exotic.

Hey and you know what? They look good too, spaz good, which is the best kind of good. Good! A UK tour is currently being prepared for November/December, but for now set your face to happy suck that Solero and glory in their exuberant tropical racket.

Abe Vigoda - 'Bear Face' (download here or listen below)

http://www.myspace.com/abevigoda

Words: SS

'Whatever'

2008-07-13T15:40:00.000+01:00

Of course everyone knows the story of the greatest 'Manchester' band of the last 15 years. About that first classic album which soaked up the city's finest bands and married it with an attitude synonymous with the region and its musical history. About the second album which, while not quite as complete a package as the first, nonetheless featured their most enduring singles and seemed to define the period of time in which it existed.

Then there was that third album. When it finally came out it polarised fans and left most critics indifferent, lacking as it did the anthemic singles or songwriting nous of those which it followed. That it was released amidst rumours of infighting and a growing sense that creatively, the group were now firmly governed by its singer and lead guitarist and thus no longer a 'band' in any kind of democratic sense did little to help. Depressingly, the album also seemed to suggest a decline towards inevitably diminishing returns, the band doomed forever to unfavourable comparisons of newer material against their hallowed debut.

To this day people still attend the shows in droves, and of course, every band has its share of die-hards, but one can't help but feel that for the silent majority this is mostly out of nostalgia and a chance to singalong to those classics from the first two albums; paying lip service to the more recent material is simply an unspoken, but notheless mutually understood, part of the deal.

Nothing about last week's 'homecoming' show at the Apollo suggested any of the above to be false. The set list chronicled a sparkling past without alluding to a bright future, with the band and audience only truly 'at one' during airings of the ubiquitous older material. Still, the bands enduring image and attitude seemed to suggest they might not be going anywhere just yet, even if their artistic and creative peak seems now to be some years behind them.

Oh yeah, you know I'm talking about Interpol right?

Right.

Video - Interpol 'PDA'

Interpol played the Manchester Apollo on the 8th July 2008

Words: Billy iDle

Glastonbury 2008 Pt 2 - Esqueezy Explains It All

2008-07-09T10:36:00.000+01:00

For this month’s Esqueezy message she popped into New Ears HQ and started shouting Glastonbury at us. I grabbed a pen and pad and got this down…

So yeah…I don’t know whether Glastonbury reflects the usual Somerset economy but chicken between dry bits of bread for £4? Bun dat! Ordering a mountain of sausage, mash, beans and gravy worth £6 and managing to make off without paying? Yam dat! True stories.

I’m (not so) fresh off my block from my very first Glastonbury experience and yes, it was surreal from the go. I’m pretty sure Daisy Lowe was sat behind me on the shuttle from Castle Cary carrying camping stuff in Marc Jacobs’ bags and chatting about going to Diesel parties with people called Margot, Jasper and Bessie. It sounded like some sort of modern, spawn of a celebrity/fat cat chief executive/new money version of an Enid Blyton novel. Who else thinks that stuff must have been written on acid? Little kiddies climbing trees to go chill with Moonface? I also heard Daisy Lowe say she got “claustrophobic” the first time she [legal editor – allegedly] double dropped. Esqueezy gets all Perez Hilton up in this bitch…hello libel? [nah… should be ok].

One of the female Jaggers was stood next to me when I bought my wellies so along with Lowe, it proved what I’d always thought about festivals, that it’s all about top models slash heavy socialised female ‘celebrities’ pretending they are down, reckoning they get familiar with the mud and Porta-Loos, making sure the Grazia photographers are on hand like flies to cow shit to snap them coming out of a tent first thing…then shake them off and sneak back to the plush Winnebago with a gold toilet seat with stylists and make-up artists who specialise in creating ‘the festival look’. The average, everyday person does not want to camp- we’re just too poor for V.I.P. camper vans and getting a helicopter ride in and out (with a complimentary glass or ten of Cristal) like Jay-Z.

I’d say the first drop of rain fell about as soon as I walked through the gates. No hype. My tent wouldn’t fit in the space I’d been saved. I didn’t know what I was doing and it was pissing it down so my tent looked like a train wreck. Not the one. I went to this faux igloo dance tent and saw some DJs wearing stupid clothes with stupid hair and everyone looked like they were smoking crack and my Reeboks were covered in shit and, and, and, and I just went a bit crazy after that.

Anyway I don’t want to ramble on about my Glastonbury experience like I’m Saint Esqueezy and everyone wants to follow my movements or uphold my opinions like its tightrope walking the fine line between life and death…so I’ll get it over with. The rest of my time I only really ate doughnuts, watched Woody trying to spoon a campfire, told a tent-desperate Martello I’d consider helping him if he would rub oil on my sunburnt back, did hip hop karaoke with Lord Lewis, did more hip hop karaoke with Lord Lewis, and then a lot of “I’ve been drinking rum and ginger beer since 11am and now it’s 5pm” skanking to Toddla’s set. Looks like I’m going up in the world folks…but right now there’s this zany girl demonstrating Triassic and Jurassic rocks layers with different coloured cakes and now I’m too phased out/hungry to write so my last words for you beautiful people til August? Any Brum heads can check Murkage Cartel (of Monday Murkage fame) out at Bigger Than Barry on 26th July. I’m not playing as this fine ass will be biggin’ it up in Andalusia…

Later alligator.

…and just like that she was gone.

www.myspace.com/rainbowfever

Words: Esqueezy

Go Ear: Parts & Labor @ Cafe Saki 12/07

2008-07-07T11:33:00.000+01:00

Detractors of sloppy stateside spelling avert your eyes - Brooklyn’s Parts & Labor are coming to town. Those able to see past P&L’s lexical lunacy - and you probably should, really - consider yourselves fortunate as the recently expanded four-piece come armed with a unique strain of “noise-rock” which pleasingly throws the dictionary of (mispelt) genre pigeon-holing out of the window.

With Myspace alumni covering ground from Sonic Youth to Battles, P&L cut an ambiguous shape, but come together with something impressively succinct. 2007’s Mapmaker LP offered a boisterous celebration of cutting guitars, sparse electronics, and rackety vocals. And, much to their credit, P&L manage to keep their hooks tuneful, their vocals audible and their songs frighteningly relevant. Keyboardist/vocalist Dan Friel may look like Prince Harry on a gap year, but the energy he offers the live performance - now enhanced by demure guitarist Sarah Lipstate - is anything but stuffy. Together with B.J. Warshaw, Friel's harmonies provide a settling backdrop amidst a sonic invasion which at times belies the band's relative anonymity on these shores.

P&L are treating the UK to a handful of dates, kicking off at Cafe Saki on Saturday 12 July. While they're over here perhaps they'll find a bit of time to learn how to spell.

Parts & Labor - 'Fractured skies' (Download here or listen below)

www.myspace.com/partsandlabor

Words: Jake Richards

Telepathe and Sunni-Geini 'do the real thang thang'

2008-07-03T16:50:00.000+01:00

Help me out here. Is this post just an exercise in futility? Surely there can't be many amongst the music loving populous still ignorant to the sounds of Brooklyn based androgens Telepathe?

Vidi: Telepathe performing Threads and Knives at New York's Studio B

Their new single 'Chrome's On it' (out this week on South London's rather splendid No Pain in Pop label) is a beat-smart, hook happy slice of process pop that shares a slice of 7 inch vinyl with the equally ace 'SG Main Theme' by 'mysterious' new producer Sunn-Geini.
Sunni's beats are similar in feel to those of former glitch-hop (ugh) golden boy Prefuse 73, albeit infused with the spirit of the much missed J Dilla and the jittering rhythmic rolls of fellow South London shadow dweller Burial.

Sunni-Geini - 'Good Times' (Listen below or download here)

The whole 7 inch package can be broken down thus; Telepathe do hooks, Sunni-Geini does beats, No Pain in Pop release records. Right now there's few, if indeed any, doing any of those things better. Put them all together on one product and we're talking essential purchasing. Make a note to self to go buy as soon as possible 'cos unlike tickets for this years Glasto (is it too late for those kinda references now?) this is gonna sell out reeeeeeal fast.

http://www.myspace.com/telepathe
http://www.myspace.com/sunnigeini
http://www.myspace.com/nopaininpop

Words: Billy iDle

Glastonbury 2008 Pt 1 - The Great Unwashed

2008-07-03T10:00:00.000+01:00

Despite all the crows from the naysayers and ill-informed armchair pundits with a one-way ticket to negative town (see below post), Glastonbury 2008 was a sunny success. In the absence of a captivating lineup (obviously The Verve was just the booking agents clowning around, but the rest?), Glastonbury - thanks to its unique atmosphere - remains the UK’s premier music festival. But with all the media hyperbole during and after the festival there’s one thing that I want to to make clear: Glastonbury is not for everyone.

Camping sucks. People smell and what they discharge smells even more. Oh and there's mud too. If you’re a princess, a cry-baby or a spoilt brat don’t go, you’ll hate it. And that’s fine.

Unfortunately, the BBC’s strangling, smug and aspirational coverage and the glamorisation of the festival by Heat Magazine et al has convinced thousands to go who end up moaning and complaining. The flip side of this is that thousands who consider the above personae non gratae have lept atop their high horse and decided not to attend because of their influx. The effect being that Glastonbury is now perceived as uncool. This factor along with last year's weather, which underlined to the Heat readers that Glastonbury is probably not for them (designer wellies were noticeably down this year) and the subsequent doom mongering publicity resulted in uncharacteristically slow ticket sales this year.

That the Pyramid and Other stage lineups stunk to high heaven didn’t help either. A direct comparison of Glastonbury with the headliners at Coachella or the exciting new music showcased at Primavera Festival in Madrid borders on the embarrassing.

But for me, the Glastonbury experience transcends bad smells, bad weather and bad main stage lineups. For every eye-watering stench of ammonia there's a heart warming chat with a guy who’s shat his sleeping bag three times; for every rain shower there's a trip to the Somerset Cider Bus; for every Jay-Z on the Pyramid Stage there's a Squarepusher in the Glade.

Fundamentally, sleeping in a tent, drinking cider and not washing for the most part of a week is a real leveller. The general public are suddenly phenomenally less annoying, and the atmosphere around the site this year was as special as ever. The Park area, in its sophomore year, has undoubtedly breathed new life into the festival, harnessing the feeling of a boutique festival within the festival itself and showcasing new(ish) acts like Santogold, MGMT and White Denim.

My highlight of the weekend was on Saturday night at the Park where Battles blitzed through their repertoire of calculated but chaotic math-rock. Now finally reaching the end of over a year of consistent touring, the band were as enthusiastic as ever. The set was regrettably cut short due to “scheduling difficulties”, but the band had already afforded the tiny crowd a memorable set.

Battles - 'Leyendecker' (download here or listen below)

www.myspace.com/battlestheband

http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/

Words: SS

(Not) Esqueezy: An MC is for life, not just for Christmas...

2008-06-26T19:47:00.000+01:00

Esqueezy isn't here this week. Like the rest of the New Ears flock she's mixing it up at Glastonbury with the thirtysomething office crowd to whom the height of wit is shouting 'bollocks' across the campsite after their once-a-year toke on a zoot. Seriously, I'm not jealous or anything; I mean have you seen those toilets? Eeeeeew.
And that's before we even get started on those hippies and their permanent need to molest bongo drums. And the food. And the queues. Oh, and the weather, jeeeez....

Nah, I'm not jealous at all.

Anyway, on her way out of New Ears towers she threw a poster at me and said something along the lines of 'Wagwaan fam, make sure you let the people dem know about this Sunday's MC's for life at the Contact Theatre yo'. Personally, I wouldn't wanna get on her bad side so here's the details:

Black Thought (The Roots), Bashy and Lord Finesse (Diggin' In The Crates) all make an appearance at the event AND they apparently 'acknowledge the international MC language from Gangsta to Grime', which seems pretty fucking reasonable of them. Should be a good one.
Oh yeah, and if reading New Ears on the regs doesn't quite satisfy your full Esqueezy based needs then you can now visit her own blog Magic Mammaries to be kept abreast (arf) of all the goings on in her head. No need to panic though, she's still repping the New Ears mandem to the fullest and will be back next week with words on all the goings on at Glasto. Don't get it twisted or you'll get twisted y'all. One.

Words: Billy iDle

Magpied

2008-06-25T07:19:00.000+01:00

Being that we are the self-nominated foremost bird fanciers to the new music aviary, we feel compelled to highlight the brilliance of Norwich’s Magpied. Comprising two youngens with a fondness for cheap sounding keyboards, Magpied make madcap electronica more striking than the sound of sparrows singing the Dies Irae.

Although these days you only need to hold a door open at Dixons to receive a friend request, the principal friend adder for bands thankfully continues to be gigging. Which is why, after slowly spreading their electronica seed across myspace, the natural progression for Magpied is, this September, to venture out of their bedroom and onto the stage.

Unfortunately you need to be in Norfolk to witness this, but expeditions further afield can’t be too far away. For now content yourself with their infectious whimsical wonky sounds.

Scraps - Nightscratcher [Magpied remixx] (Download here or listen below)

www.myspace.com/magpiedmusic

Words: SS

Go Ear: Instruments @ Saki Bar this Saturday

2008-06-24T18:20:00.000+01:00

I'll level with you, as a rule instrumental post/math-rock does absolutely nothing for me. Actually that's a lie; as a genre it's quite capable of either A) Boring me to sleep, or B) Boring me to tears, though surprisingly neither of these reactions are ones I tend to look for when making proactive decisions on my listening habits.

So, bearing that in mind, when I say that South London's Instruments, essentially a post/math-rock kinda outfit (in concept if not execution), are probably one of the top 3 live bands I've seen over the past year or so that means they must be pretty fucking good. Guess what? They are.

While other bands of their ilk seem content to lull you into chin stroking apathy via the use of their effects pedals and facial hair, Instruments are positively brimming with poppy hooks, restless rhythmic twists and an infectious enthusiasm for the collaborative act of making music. It's quite literally the kind of stuff that will have chimed your pants off (groan) and shared a post-coital cigarette before you even know what's hit you.

So, cast aside any genre based aspersions, give that checked shirt an iron and get acquainted at the Football night this Saturday at Saki bar. If you're still not convinced then check out the below video and mp3 of their excellent 'American Football or American Football?' and be duly won over. New Ears yo. We does this.

Video: Instruments - American Football or American Football?

Instruments - 'American Football or American Football?' mp3

www.myspace.com/instrumentsmakemusic

Words: Billy iDle