After featuring Acollective a few weeks back on Lost in the Manor we were so excited to see them live. The live video speaks for itself and backs up the hype. Enjoy Acollective..
Review / Watch: The Moons – Mindwaves
Fading in with a psychedelic introduction before kicking off with ‘Society’, an upbeat rock’n’roller with an angular riff, tight harmonies and a Beatles-esque groove, The Moons’ new album, ‘Mindwaves’, littered with brilliant licks and psychedelic lyrics, gets off to a strong start. Standout track, ‘Fever’, best encapsulates the group’s kaleidoscopic Sixties-inspired sound. The album drops in tempo on ‘All In My Mind’ but gets back up to speed with ‘Time’s Not Forever’ and carries on in a similar vein until the climax; nice touches like the use of brass on several of the slower songs keep things fresh throughout.
Vocals wise, Andy Croft’s style is often reminiscent of fellow Midlands band The Enemy, although comparing the two acts musically would be doing a disservice to The Moons, who have an ear for far more exciting and original sounds. Ironically, The Moons will get the chance to eclipse their Coventry-based neighbours when they support them on the Northampton date of their tour, on 27 September.
The video for the four-piece’s most recent single, ‘Body Snatchers’ (listen below), makes it clear why their keen riffs and retro appeal evoke the likes of Miles Kane and Paul Weller, with sharp haircuts and vintage style galore. It’s not surprising that The Moons have received acclaim from the Modfather himself, as they seem set to carry on the modish rock lineage from acts such as Weller and The Kinks on to current high flyers Kasabian, such is their retro take on modern life, particularly evident on songs such as ‘Society’ and ‘All In My Mind’.
Mindwaves is out on 21 July on Schnitzel Records.
Words Adam Pizey: Follow @A_Pizey On Twitter
Watch & Review: Batsch - Celina
Though not without its abstract moments, notably the whimsical breakdown, ‘Celina’ is an obvious call as the leading track from Batsch’s skittish new EP, ‘Collar’, being as close to conventional pop as the band care to venture. Atop a slippery, octave-jumping bassline wriggling in a lo-fi web of art-school funk and pale high-life, singer Mason Le Long’s temperate vocal gives the groove its grip. His “Be gentle as you can be” refrain is apt, as there can’t be many aspiring floor-fillers that sound so polite. Quirky, cool and a little detached, ‘Celina’ belongs in the club, but as more of a glassy reflection of proceedings in the glitterball than hip-grinding on the dancefloor itself.
Elsewhere on the EP, ’22’ is built around Joe Carvell’s gravelly baseline set just awry of a sparse beat, some shrill synth from Andy Whitehead and Le Long’s musings on love gone stale. It’s enjoyably skeletal, lightweight dub, as if Mad Professor set to work on Haircut 100. That percussive bass leads the way again on the darker ‘Did You Here About Argine’, while ‘Mirrorball’ is so pared-down it even dispenses with the trademark bass before its discordant crescendo. EP closer ‘Can’t Tell’ is perhaps the most demented, as each band member packs plenty to the bar, but in such a frantic and featherlight manner it’s like listening to a marching piece for mice. It’s music that tickles. There’s knowledge to Batsch’s experimental mania on ‘Collar’, delivering some fine passages of sound, if no real knockout tunes. Yet the tracks unfold entirely unpredictably, and for that this Midlands four-piece deserve a big hand. Cue the video…
Collar is out now on Tin Angel
Words Nick Mee: Follow @Nickjmee on Twitter
Watch: Traams - Selma
One of the summer’s hotly anticipated releases is Traams’ new EP, ‘Cissa’. After an abrasive tour across Europe with indie heroes Wire, Traams made their mark on SxSW and gathered a global fan base thanks to a mix of art-rock that would make Stephen Malkmus’ hairdresser happy for eternity. One of the flagship acts on Brighton-based FatCat records, the band are a true reflection of the restlessness that defines growing up in a small town – never satisfied or content, just trying to drive past the Little Chef on the A27 outside of their Chichester home, never to return.
‘Selma’, the first offering from ‘Cissa', is a succinct, hook-laden 2.20 track featuring the signature askew, off-kilter guitar work that will make the trio’s fans salivate. Having previously worked with producers Rory Attwell (Yuck, Male Bonding) & MJ of Hookworms, the group are currently at the cutting-edge of angular alternative music. Expect this EP to be full of short, instant and contagious songs that will complement the soundtrack to your summer. Check them out live at their EP launch at Bleach (Brighton's hottest sweatbox) on July 12th or at Beacons festival in August.
Cissa is out on July 14 on FatCat Records.
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Watch: Wunder Wunder - Coastline
The days when the pop-cultural output of Australia could be charted in 25-minute segments of preposterous teatime soap have long been dunked into the billabong by such inventive and untethered rock acts as Courtney Barnett, Tame Impala and Jagwar Ma. The latest technicolour troubadours to bubble up from down under are Wunder Wunder, whose debut album, ‘Everything Infinite’, arrives on these shores on 14 July. Their taster single, ‘Coastline’, is a shot of sonic serotonin if ever there was, a psychedelic summertime high founded on a burst of shimmering guitar accessorised with oscillating synths. The beat is classic soul, the lyrics are submerged among the many reverbed layers, and the vibe lies closer to the West Coast than Highway 101 itself, but ‘Coastline’ is a feelgood composite that marks this Melbourne outfit as worthy contributors to the fertile Aussie canon. Even Mrs Mangel would be getting her groove on.
Everything Infinite is out on Dovecote on 14 July.
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Watch: The Kemistry - Losing It
Londoner's The Kemistry are back in again in fine form with 2 videos for their latest track called 'Losing it'
‘Losing It’, a tale of an unidentified supernatural saviour, is a self-made double audio video release. The video produced by Typeone and The Kemistry is a visual exploration on the inner workings of the ID, featuring some perspective warping visual effects and a pretty serious projection mapped afro. B side, the Bare Beats Alt Dub mix, features an animation only revisit to the original Loosing It video and is possibly even more mesmerizing.
Watch: Terminal Gods - Cold Life
The first time I witnessed the divine intervention of Terminal Gods was at The Bull & Gate a couple of years ago, supporting LA rockers Queen Kwong. Looking like a crack commando team from the Eighties who were on the run after raiding Depeche Mode’s wardrobe, the band have since toured Europe, set up their own promotions company and even released their own comic book. Evidence that they’re now more active and productive than ever, new single ‘Cold Life’ is released on July 14th on Heavy Leather Records, a label established by the band themselves. Available on cassette, the track exudes a wraithlike, ethereal sound that would satisfy fans of The Cult or even the Stooges, with a bar-stool singalong chorus and scuzzy, driven guitars that enhance what the four-piece do best: abrasive singles with pop sensibilities. Determined to take their sound to the masses, Terminal Gods will be going hell for leather, touring the UK to promote the single in July. This group's hands on, DIY attitude deserves respect. Catch them at:
17/07 - Bannerman’s Cowgate (w/ Dressmaker) EDINBURGH 18/07 - Wharf Chambers (w/ Dressmaker) LEEDS 19/07 - The Giffard Arms (w/ Dressmaker) WOLVERHAMPTON 25/07 - Buffalo Bar (w/ Dressmaker) LONDON
Cold Life is out on 14 July Heavy Leather Records
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Listen: Sykes - Gold Dust
The current, vaguely postmodern cultural landscape relies pretty heavily on a large degree of detachment: musicians obsessively hiding behind self-aware irony and indifference for fear of seeming too invested in their own emotions. Apparently no one bothered to inform Sykes of this fact because the London-based trio’s new single, ‘Gold Dust’, is a delightfully un-ironic and relentlessly catchy piece of pop music. Upbeat guitar work and soft, layered synths interweave beautifully, and there’s a special place in my heart for anyone with the balls to, un-ironically, use a handclap snare so enthusiastically. This all underpins soft female vocals, which sing of that particular, invincible feeling of being in love, bringing the song to a quietly anthemic finish. It’s a tune that, by rights, should be twee and saccharine to the point of being sickening. But Sykes are so willing to embrace their own pop sensibilities, and ‘Gold Dust’ is so invested in it’s own total sincerity, that it’s near impossible not to love.
Gold Dust is released on 14 July
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Watch: Acollective - Happiest of All Memorial Days
Arcollective share their debut animated video which is a masterpiece. To read on how the band have come to be check out their story below. Arcollective will play London on July 14th @ Birthdays and July 20th @ Brixton Windmill.
Acollective grew up making music together. In their teenage years, the story started in the way that many others do – with kids making a racket in their parents’ basement. It was an open forum to vent frustration. With no real intention of ever being a full time band, in truth only ever really aspiring to exist as a community of musicians, Acollective’s formative years were spent playing not in gig venues (who books a band that doesn’t have any songs?) but springing up at their own guerilla shows on the streets on their hometown, Tel-Aviv. Crowds started forming, more and more gatherings took place and, with a hook-up in the UK, the band’s first ever real tour was put together. In the confines of a London flat, the songs that would later become their debut album (2011’s ‘Onwards’) were penned and fine-tuned. After an unfortunate deportation saga, the band returned to Israel renewed, and full of purpose, ready to commit all they had learned to tape.
Onwards was released in 2011, produced by Chris Shaw, and cemented them as a band to believe in back in Israel – no small task, particularly for an indie band singing in English. Sold out tours around the country beckoned and it wasn’t long before they were playing international shows and festivals, at the likes of Glastonbury, YNOT, and SXSW.
Acollective will readily admit that the transition from basement dwelling art project to international performers, was
a little chaotic. They were their own label, their own management, press and booking agency, and it took time for the dust to settle, and for them to find their feet in making Onwards’ follow-up. Their experiences across the world had exposed them to plethora of differing cultures that they felt all needed documenting in some form.
So, surrounded by “a million different beeping things” the troupe locked themselves away in an old shoe factory and recorded what is now called Pangaea. In spite of all of the album’s intricacies, a priority for the band was to maintain the essence of their environment so everything was recorded live. The mere mention of influences is enough to spark bloody violence within the band. Ask them who they listen to and they’ll tell you Sufjan Stevens, Beck, Paul Simon and Radiohead. Delve a little deeper and you’ll learn about their love of everything from Dixie Jazz, Japanese Pop and old-school hip-hop to modern-Arab-kitsch. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this has meant that Pangaea has become, at its core, quite an unstable album – in keeping with the band’s own unstable creative process. But let it not be said that it isn’t cohesive. As the band’s leader, Idan Rabinovici cryptically offers; “You must keep dancing even if the ground around you is shaking, safe in the belief that things must break apart and shatter in order to reconnect again.” Going on to talk about the album’s lead single ‘OTM’, he says; “It’s a celebration of being left behind, of being insulated from the outside world but deeply affected at the same time - in a state of perpetual limbo. Nothing is more dangerous than staying put, and nothing is more heartbreaking than running away.”
It’s a statement like that, that sets the tone of the album. Pangaea is worldly and wonky, caustic and cohesive, mellow and marauding in equal measure. Acollective could be one of 2014’s most interesting propositions.
Watch: Rah Rah – 20s
Employing the Blue Peter approach to the pop video, artful indie sextet Rah Rah’s promo for ‘20s’ utilises nothing more than a range of kitsch mail-order ornaments and garish 1970s wallpaper. But tracks that deliver choruses as gloriously contagious as this one don’t need elaborate enhancements. Hailing from Canada’s landlocked Saskatchewan, about as remote a region as can be found on a chartered map, the band have a new album, ‘The Poet’s Dead’, that is instrumentally inventive and pop-hook polished enough to require them to get used to far greater population densities at venues well beyond their native prairies. Single ‘20s’, in particular, has an eerie call-and-reponse vocal crisscrossing the verse, snaring the listener’s attention before exploding into life on that chorus, as multilayered harmonies declare over accelerating guitars: ‘I’ll spend my 20s on rock’n’roll/I’ll spend my 30s feeling old’. As for the charity shop video, well, it was always going to end in tears…
The Poet’s Dead is out now on Hidden Pony.
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Watch: Alpines - No Other Lover / Trwbador - Breakthrough
A double-header of classy new electronica on Lost in the Manor this week. The first finds London duo Alpines hitting their stride with the immersive euphoric house of ‘No Other Lover’. Unfurling around Catherine Pockson’s sensual vocal, Alpines’ new single confidently traverses club and chart with its commercially savvy chorus, taking some sonic cues from the impervious androidisms of EDM but, crucially, adding a soulful, human edge, facilitating a trancey anthem. Atop a dominant four-to-the-floor break, synth melodies dip and soar for optimum goose-pimpling effect, carrying ‘No Other Lover’ to its potent crescendo. Given pop’s cyclical nature, another summer of love must surely be somewhere on the horizon; Alpines’ debut album, ‘Oasis’, out 26 May on Untrue Records, could serve as seasonal bellwether.
From an altogether later hour, or earlier perhaps, depending on your perception of the pre-dawn darkness, comes ‘Breakthrough’ from Welsh pair Trwbador, released on Owlet Music on 26 May. Something to ease the comedown, it features wise words from London rapper ESSA, his soothing baritone urging “Burn As Bright As You Can Do” over a track that melds a stringed pizzicato loop (a harp maybe) with a heavy sub-bass pulse that could trigger tsunami warnings if mishandled at sea. Like a dubstep MC at yoga or a bassline all-nighter in a health-food store, this compelling mix manages to be both foreboding and forward-looking, reflecting the confusion inherent in many a day, particularly, you’d imagine, those that follow a night out with either of these two acts.
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Listen: Archie Pelago, Grenier - Swoon
'Swoon' is the first single taken from the collaborative album Grenier Meets Archie Pelago, and it's a beauty. Combining the musicality of the Brooklyn trio Archie Pelago with producer Dave Grenier's skill for digital manipulation, the result has aspirations of Cinematic Orchestra and Bonobo. Sweeping woodwind, horn and strings are set to an exquisite and deeply textured electronic backdrop, with steel drums thrown in at the halfway mark, perhaps a reflection of the hazy warmth of San Francisco, where the record was put together in one week-long session. Completely instrumental, the beat loops through an array of percussive and jazzy notes, with highs and lulls that make for an addictive listen and will have you reaching for replay when it ends.
Grenier Meets Archie Pelago is out now on Melodic Records
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Listen: Wild Smiles - Fool For You
The half-cut Alex Turner may have raised a few eyebrows with his “rock’n’roll will never die” speech at this year’s Brit Awards, but no one could accuse the Arctic Monkeys’ fella of being wrong. Emphatic proof of this comes from new Sunday Best signings Wild Smiles, whose album-taster, ‘Fool For You’, is a lusty two-minute blast of everything that makes the artform rapturous and timeless. Utterly self-assured, the trio’s melange of frantic overdriven guitar, cascading drums, heavily reverbed vocal, sweet West Coast harmonies and the briefest volte-face of a break is one heady defibrillator of Ramones-like punk pop. It’s some distance away from any radical new soundscape, sure, but ‘Fool For You’ is happy evidence that primary rock’n’roll is still in riotous good health.
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Album Review: Glimmermen - I’m Dead
There can’t be too many precedents in pop where the thoughts of the recently deceased (“I’ve never been no goddamn saint/careful of the picture that you paint”) are set to a rowdy blend of angular post-punk and bouncy acoustic ska, but then the quirkiness of the excellent title track on Glimmermen’s debut sets the tone for the whole album, one that rejects the uniform. The pulpy untethered beats, woody stand-up bass and shattered-glass guitar are constants, but enterprising embellishments gleefully shake the norm: a honking sax fattens the riff on ‘I’m Dead’; Mariachi-style horns illuminate the chorus over the earthy dancehall swagger of ‘There Was a Boy’; a flurry of harmonica dissects the ringing harmonics of the driving ‘Peace at Last’. The loose, single-take openness gives ‘I’m Dead’ a live feel, sometimes reminiscent of a mid-eighties Peel session from never-quite-cracked-it acts like Bogshed or Tools You Can Trust, but channeled through songs of far-greater consistency, fronted by Gavin Cowley’s warm, worldly vocal and his ruminations on life, and death. Take ‘Home’, for example, where the bass lays a sparse refrain across a solid soul beat, leaving space for Cowley to opine ‘I came from the country/I made for the city/And I found home’; or the spoken narrative of ‘Angels and Devils’, a leaden-sky of a tune, part Fall, part Bad Seeds, that could soundtrack a vicious Spaghetti Western. There are several highlights. No mere glimmer of something special on this Dublin trio’s debut, then, more an intense glare.
I’m Dead is out now
Follow Nick Mee on Twitter @nickjmee
Listen: King of The Mountains - Zoetrope
Those discerning folk at Melodic Records have struck again, here with the debut album from Manchester’s Phil Kay, aka King of the Mountains. Title track ‘Zoetrope’ is a slow-building, six-minute, locomotive-like slab of percussive ambient dance — trancey psychedelic digitalism constructed over a burly two-chord loop. Although a propulsive tune, conjuring visions of hazily watching the landscape drift by from a window seat, and barely an off-peak day return away from The Chemical Brothers’ ‘Star Guitar’, Kay’s inspiration for 'Zoetrope' was rather more static: “There's a similarity in using these really hard-edged electronic materials to try and create something human and meaningful, and the way the brutalists used concrete and steel to do the same. I'm more influenced by architecture than any other art form. When you see a building like Sagrada Familia you realise the sheer potential of the creative mind.” What was that Frank Zappa quote about dancing to architecture? He'd have had to change his punchline after listening to this.
Zoetrope is out now on Melodic Records
Follow Nick Mee on Twitter @nickjmee
Watch: High Hazels - Summer Rain
In the same vein as classic northern greats such as The Smiths, The Coral, Arctic Monkeys et al, this Sheffield four-piece are looking to capture that bittersweet nostalgic vibe and make it their own. 'Summer Rain' is the lead single from the band's debut EP, 'In The Half Light', released this week on Heist Or Hit Records. All guitar riffs and melancholy lyrics, it sets itself apart from the run-of-the-mill with an infectious melody and soft shimmery guitar, backed by some ballsy bassline hooks. The video is stark and simple, letting the boys, their instruments and their raw appeal take centre stage. There's a danger of it lilting off into something a little too light to take seriously, but as the drum beat ups its intensity, the psychedelic charm of the tune is hard to resist. Currently making the most of their platform on tour supporting The Crookes, the magic of High Hazels is one which the summer festival crowds are bound to embrace.
In the Half Light is out now on Heist or Hit Records
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Watch: VerseChorusVerse - No More Years
Former frontman of And So I Watch You From Afar, Tony Wright, takes an earthier turn on ‘No More Years’, a rousing blast of vigorous acoustic strumming, brash harmonica and pounding stickwork, which rises above much of the national nu-folk output by virtue of its stomping, windswept glee. Appropriately enough for a tune of raw and rustic bent, the accompanying video sets our hero in remote surrounds, with only his guitar case for company as he’s pursued through the woods by a mysterious stalker, an ordeal that provokes one of the finest silent profanities ever mouthed in a pop promo. There’s a lesson to be learned, it seems, and the refrain, “No Going Back To Year Zero”, serves as more of a climactic outro than orthodox chorus. The initial hook on this first single from VerseChorusVerse’s eponymous album comes courtesy of the simple harp melody and the singer’s emphatic “Hey!”, which injects further brio into what is a gratifyingly unrefined and uplifting few minutes.
VerseChorusVerse is out now on Third Bar
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Watch: Davidge featuring Cate Le Bon - Gallant Foxes
An accomplice of Massive Attack, producer/songwriter Neil Davidge also earns his corn soundtracking movies and video games, from Luc Besson’s Unleashed to Halo 4. Perhaps no surprise, then, that the debut single from his Slo Light album melds an earful of ominous ambient electronica with a cinematic, dreamlike video that will tickle the fancies of surrealists, neon fetishists and voyeurs everywhere. The nocturnal visuals are foil to the track’s synthetic motorik beat, minor-key counterpoints and muted trance, over which Cate Le Bon does nothing to eschew those Nico comparisons (even though the Welshwoman is a far superior singer) as she goes all Franglais on us: who’d have thought a lyrical reference to "cheval" (horses, Rodney, horses) would make for such an alluring refrain. ‘Gallant Foxes’ is a sum of mysterious parts for sure, but the whole is an enigmatic electro beauty.
Gallant Foxes is released on 31 March on 7Hz Productions
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Live Video / Photos: Wheels @ The Finsbury - 15/03/2014
Wheels climaxed their Finsbury set on 15 March with a storming version of 'We Can Never Go Back'. Lost in the Manor braved the flailing limbs and flying mic-stands to get right up close to the action. Watch it here Photo / Film: Chris Musicborn @musicborn
Live Video / Photos: Keymono @ The Finsbury - 13/03/2014
Watch Keymono's awesome rhythmic digitalism in full swing as the infectious 'Bubble in Trouble' is filmed live and exclusive by Lost in the Manor at The Finsbury on 13 March Photos, Video: Chris Musicborn @musicborn
