Fucked Up - 'The Other Shoe'

It was never going to be easy for Fucked Up to match their genre defying, 2008 release “The Chemistry of Common Life.” Regarded as one of the best “hardcore punk” albums of the last decade” Fucked Up managed to combine genial flutes, tribal bongos, heavy distortion and a front man with a voice that may have been attained through eating shards of broken glass. This superbly executed, unique concoction earned the band the 2009 ‘Polaris Music Prize’ for “The Chemistry of Common Life”. The first single “The Other Shoe” off their upcoming album “David Comes to Life” is perhaps the band’s most pop-driven song to date. However, the playful bar chords and angelic female vocalist are shrouded by front man Damian Abraham, belting his own brand of powerful, gritty vocals as he always does. ‘The Other Shoe’ proves that Fucked Up certainly have the potential to eclipse the benchmark set on ‘The Chemistry of Common Life’. Mark down the 7th of June in your calendar when the album ‘David Comes to Life’ is released through Matador records.

'Yuck' - 03/03/2011 - Loppen, Copenhagen

It really shits me when a band produces a well-crafted; captivating album that is followed by a sub-par, lackluster concert. If you’ve already musically and emotionally invested in a band, an average or shitty gig can often be a deflating experience, feeling as if the band has inadvertently betrayed you in some weird way. Such is the case with 90’s revivalists Yuck, as they took the stage at the quaint ‘Loppen’ in Copenhagen last Thursday. After having the album on immediate rotation since its release in early February, I won't lie, I was pretty psyched to see these guys live.

The night began with UK solo act Porcelain Raft whose lonesome stage presence was shrouded by an abundance of atmospheric noise that bounced from one graffiti-stained wall to another. Despite the lack of crowd atmosphere, the sound was pretty good and he proved to be a decent warm up act, wetting the appetites of the few Yuck fans in the venue. At around 11pm, the headliners sauntered up on to the tiny stage, picked up their instruments and launched straight into their lead single ‘Holing Out’. Rather than acknowledging his surroundings, a possibly stoned Daniel Blumberg stood there lifeless, hunched over his microphone, murmuring the lyrics to the songs off the Yuck self-titled debut. The thing that annoyed me the most about this concert was not even the band’s reluctance to interact with each other or the audience, but rather the image they might have been trying to invoke by doing this. That ‘too cool’, aloof pose of 1990’s grunge bands - and where seminal acts like Sonic Youth and Nirvana may’ve been able to pull that off, it didn’t work all that well for Yuck. With that, there was little for the crowd to feed off as an unsettling silence and stillness filled the venue between tracks. However, for what the band lacked in stage presence and sociability they made amends for in the quality of sound; the rich, penetrating distortion of Blumberg’s guitar and the undeniably infectious melodies that captured that quintessential 90’s alt rock sound of the recent album. The highlight of the show and incidentally the album too was the closing track ‘Rubber’. Admittedly, I thought the band would have struggled with the live performance of such a finely produced track, but I was proven wrong. It even had Blumberg, bassplayer Mariko Doi and guitarist Max Bloom moving about the stage. The 8 minute song, followed by an extended slur of noise emanating from the guitar’s amplifiers closed the show. The band walked off stage without so much as a glance toward the clapping audience and didn’t bother to return with a song or two more. Perhaps I’m being rather harsh on the four-piece, but it’s always nice to know that the band appreciates the fans support as much as the fans value the music.

School Knights - 'Fuck The Beach'

I don't think School Knights were striving for originality when they wrote this song. By naming this track 'Fuck The Beach', one gets to thinking that this Colorado act are more than aware of the genre they fall into. But despite the song's generic prowess, god damn, it really is a lot of fun to listen to. Much like the fuzzy pop-punk sound of the second Wavves album,'Fuck The Beach' follows a similar, but certainly effective formula - the echoing 'oohs oohs', the abundance of cymbal thrashing, the distorted bar chords. It only seems appropriate that the album be released in the summer (American) of this year..check it out yo,

School Knights - Fuck The Beach by Music For Your Mind

Yuck - 'Yuck'

It’s all well and good to imitate bands from the 90’s. Throw a bit of Malkmus slack in with some Thurston Moore distortion, add a dash of J Mascis wah-pedal and you’ve got the perfect combination for a sweet sounding, yet essentially uninspiring ‘garage’ band. That’s not to say that I don’t like this type of music, or even to say that it doesn’t dominate most of the play time on my iTunes. Some of the time however, it fails to recreate that poignant inimitability characterised by garage heroes like Jay Reatard and Japandroids. How do these bands manage to define their sound in a world where all modern music, in essence sounds pretty damn generic? Ask multinational band Yuck and I’m sure they’d be able to shed some light on the situation. Their self-titled debut, which is now out via Fat Possum records, presents itself as an accessible microcosm of the defining sound of 90’s alternative rock. From the beginning, the opening track ‘Get Away’ reveals front man, Daniel Blumberg’s (Cajun Dance Party) infatuation with bands like Pavement and The Wrens. – the slackened fuzziness of Blumberg’s guitar, the tinny treble of Mariko Doi’s bass line, the wail of Max Bloom’s lead guitar trills are embodiments of the sound Yuck have produced on this album. The greatness of this band however doesn’t lie in their ability to imitate bands from a certain decade, but rather in their emotionally provocative melodies, coupled with their utilization of distortion and fuzz that adds a 21st century complexity to their music. It’s interesting to compare Yuck to Blumberg and Bloom’s original band Cajun Dance Party. Stylistically, they’ve certainly matured from Kooks-like British indie to create an album with a strong musical and lyrical foundation. You get the sense that Blumberg may’ve considered this when on the track ‘Sunday’ he sings “I’ve got a choice now; I’ve got a voice now”. The album reaches its climax on the last track ‘Rubber’, showcasing Blumberg’s song writing ability. Despite its repetitiveness over its 7 minute lifespan, the song captivates it’s listener from the first second as the warm distortion penetrates the eardrum, slipping in to the depths of human thought. The 90’s may be over, but Yuck are just beginning.

Tom Riordan Greg Clennar - I'd F A C (In The Fin') by gregy91

Foals Gig Review - Manning Bar - 28/07/10

Thought I might as well post this one. It's an old review of a Foals gig I uncovered on my laptop.



On their follow up to their debut album ‘Antidotes’, Foals have been praised for their palpable change in their style of song writing. ‘Total Life Forever’, for all intents and purposes, sees Foals reaching new levels of maturity as they trim the puppy fat, breaking free from the formulaic rigidity of ‘Antidotes’. Their abstract lyrics and piercing yelps of front man, Yannis Philipakkis on their 2008 debut left many in a state of confusion and alienation as critics tried to search for meaning in an album of lyrical convolution. To many, it was a refreshing and heart-warming change when on the first track of ‘Total Life Forever’, Yannis finally began to sing along with the song’s melody in a way that emotionally located its listeners. His newfound vocal utility subsequently became an integral element of the new album, allowing the band to reach this new level of ‘maturity.’ Unfortunately, the 5-foot Oxfordian struggled to match the vocal benchmark set on ‘Total Life forever’ during the gig, which proved to be a detrimental facet of the bands performance. However, Yannis’ vocal inabilities were at times shrouded by bursts of breathtaking musical chemistry between the initially reserved front man and the rest of the band.

At around 9.30, the band wondered on stage in front of 900 youths, decked out in their tight black jeans, striped cardigans and top buttoned shirts. Surprisingly, the band opened with the somewhat subdued album title track, ‘Total Life Forever’, which didn’t seem to overly excite the crowd. The following track however, the hypnotic ‘Cassius’ – with its pounding and precise drumbeats and angular guitar riffs sent the crowd into a frenzy as they shouted along to the lyrics “Cassius it’s over, Cassius away!” Unfortunately this proved to be one of the few inspiring parts of the first half of the set. Much of it was founded upon the band’s failure to interact with the audience, the numerous technical mishaps and Yannis’ inability to sing along with the soaring vocal melodies as he demonstrates on ‘Total Life Forever’. This was shown on new tracks like “Miami” and “Blue Blood” where the glamorous production of the album proved to be a stumbling block for the band as they failed in their attempts to effectively replicate that defining Foals sound we all know and love. After ambling through some of the more ambient songs on ‘Total Life Forever’ the band began to warm to the crowd saving their best songs till later in the set and it seemed as if the roadies had finally found a solution to the problems with the equipment. The song “Spanish Sahara” is arguably the bands best written and constructed song in its ability to emotionally connect with its listener making every hair on the back of your neck stand on end. And they did a damn good job of translating this element live as the audience were absorbed in the songs oceanic background noises and harmonious chords. Many fans whipped out their lighters and sung along with Yannis who actually managed to elevate his voice beyond a whimper in this particular case. From then on the band began to really loosen up as the musical chemistry began to fly seen in their performance of ‘Red Sox Pugie’. Jack Bevan’s immaculate, samba-esque drumming coupled with Walter’s pulsating bass lines set the quaint manning bar on fire exemplifying the musical talent of the quintet. The song climaxed with an impromptu jam which even had little Edwin bobbing up and down behind his synthesiser creating a strong sense of unity between the band members.

The last song of the set before the encore was ‘Electric Bloom’ which saw Yannis finally make use of the lone floor tom sat beside him as he merely mimicked the songs beat. However, this proved to be a successful means of building suspense as the miniature front man climbed atop the twenty-foot high stack amps amicably gesturing at the crowd to clap then jumping from the top back onstage and sticking the landing. This bold act was an exciting and refreshing change in the show as the band finally managed to come out of their shells and stop worrying about the sound of their amplifiers. Without having played ‘two steps twice’ it was obvious that when they walked off with a half-assed thank you to the adoring crowd, they would almost certainly be back on. After about ten minutes of synchronised clapping and ‘Foals’ chants, the band took the stage once more and launched into the opening track on ‘Antidotes’, ‘The French Open’. Again, little Yannis Philipakkis struggled to reach the high pitched, French yelp “Un peu d'air sur la terre”, the song’s main lyrical focal point. However, thanks to the precise and innovative drumming of Jack Bevan and the perfectly synchronised bass and guitar lines, Foals managed to replenish the audience’s energy levels as many danced and moshed along with the song. The band closed with ‘Two Steps Twice’ and it would be hard to think of a better track to end a show with. It seemed as if the band cranked the volume knobs of their amplifiers up to 10, the trill guitar notes bouncing off the walls of the minuscule Manning Bar. With his seemingly newfound confidence and affection for the audience, during the songs extended pre-chorus, Yannis jumped off stage and paraded through the crowd shielding himself from the screaming fans with his guitar. A perfect way to end a concert full of musical highs and soaring vocal lows.

Up and Coming – Mazes

Often with modern lo-fi rock music, there’s an assumption that fuzzed out guitars, reverberated vocals and a wealth of cymbal thrashing are used as ways of masking the fact that the songs themselves aren’t all that good. Society’s current obsession with nostalgia and low-grade art has paved the way for a lo-Fi resurgence, as bands like Wavves and No Age continue to establish themselves as core components of the contemporary indie music scene. London based band Mazes certainly fall into the DIY lo-fi scene having recorded most of their demos in a basement or bedroom. MySpace demo track, ‘Cenetaph’ sees a jangly, Pavement-like chord progression compliment a raspy male Falsetto, similar to that of noise pioneers Times New Viking. But amidst the clean, trebly distortion you are left with endearing and affable melodies that situate the listener in an idyllic environment – a summery, drunken oasis (you’ll understand when you listen). Much like some of their predecessors and lo-fi innovators such as Pavement, No Age and Times New Viking, rather than using the lo-fi formula to conceal, Mazes utilize it in crafting engagingly gritty and intriguingly noisy pop music. Credit to them! Their debut album ‘A thousand heys’ is out 11^th April via Fat Cat records. Get to their MySpace page at www.myspace.com/mazesmazesmazes or

Mazes - Vampire Jive (demo) by FatCat Records">