Stampede Finale - The Fire And I

The Fire And I are one of the best bands in Scotland right now.  A duo comprising bassist/lead vocalist Gordon Love and lunatic drummer  Hooligan, they've spent the last years developing their profile as a uniquely exciting, energetic live act- with songs that bring together instantly memorable, chanty choruses and violently distorted, bassy rawk.  


Stampede Finale is their debut full-length album, and initially I was pretty concerned by it, as I tend to be when a band at their level of creativity and credibility come out with a proper studio release.  But I probably shouldn't have worried- it's everything I dared hope it would be.


For one thing, the production of the album is spot on.  It has a very "live" sound- the drums are punchy, but roomy enough to sound real and dynamic, and the layering of Love's bass is never overstated- the mix is streamlined and hard-hitting, with natural sounding tempo slides and all kinds of wee tricks added in, that make the whole thing sound genuinely exciting to listen to.  As opposed to click tracked, compressed-to-fuck shite.  It's as much a mix of pop and rock as the songs themselves.


And oh Jesus, how could I forget the songs.  The Fire And I write really good songs.  The album collects together previously released tracks like Dark In The Shade and set opener Revenge, remixed from their initial releases to sit better with the more recent, rawer recordings.  The format is general pretty consistent- distorted, thick bass and fast, hyper drumming- Hooligan, one of my favourite Scottish drummers, shows himself off as a seriously talented technical drummer as well as just a good performer (see the double-bassing awesomeness that is Pick It Up), and Love shows off some surprising vocal chops throughout the record.  Each song is memorable in its own way, with a load of little hooks scattered between the minimal structures- whether it's Mr K's vocal line or Left And Right's mellow, clean bass intervals.  All really well developed songs, there's not really any filler here.  The format admittedly does get quite tired when stretched out over such a relatively extensive tracklist- I guess there's only so much you can do with two instruments, to a point.  But there's a hint of future potential in the synth-poppy Fuck The Cliche, which is as close to outright pop as Stampede Finale gets (minus its nicely radio-unfriendly title).


I'll cut a long story short before I make myself sound like even more of a fanboy than I already do- Stampede Finale is a great fucking record.  Rather than take a brilliant live band and water them down, it shows off exactly what makes them brilliant, and it's so, so satisfying when an underground act's record hits the spot in that way.  Get it, crank it up, and you'll understand exactly what I'm rambling about here.  Class.


In other news, I'll soon be taking a listen to the debut record by Ghosts Of Progress, another one of my favourite Scottish bands.  Can't wait.


You can buy Stampede Finale at The Fire And I's own online store- or at least check out their facebook or myspace.  Awesome.

Art Of Privilege EP Launch, Maggie's Chamber 23/10/10

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

    The quickly up and coming Fresh, "Scotland's newest music promotion service" is already making something of a splash in Edinburgh- I went along to check out their third gig, an EP launch for local grunge act Art Of Privilege (following their ESRE fundraiser at HMV Picturehouse in September, featuring Stanley Odd, Dirty Modern Hero, Jakil, etc... not too shabby!)  Their decision to embrace relatively new gig venue Maggie's Chamber is pretty forward-thinking- it's a surprisingly great sounding wee place with a 300-or-so capacity, and has already proved to be fair competition with nearby, similar-sized venues Cabaret Voltaire and GRV.  The tickets were reasonably priced (with all the money from sales going to the bands, I'm told) and sure enough, an impressive wee crowd had already formed by the time I arrived.

    First on the 6 band lineup were local slightly-prog wall of sound rockers Deco Arcade, and the groove metal-influenced Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.  The relentlessly gigging Supercharger presented the most recent in a series of lineup changes, with the addition of synth player Ben Glasgow, aka Fragile Chaos (whose tidy photographs you're looking at, cheers Ben) to their powerpop sound, which has become more and more developed both musically and performance-wise with each time I've seen them live.

A Fight You Can't Win's Matthew Bakewell.
(Photo by Ben Glasgow)

    Having never heard them before I wasn't sure what to expect, but A Fight You Can't Win turned out to be one of the night's highlights.  Awesomely loud, energetic and spazzy, they take a relatively straightforward handful-of-chords style and let it ride out on sheer passion and energy in refreshingly short, violent bursts.  Underneath it all however, there's a clear ear for hooks and melodies that made the overall experience far more absorbing- rather than being smacked in the face by a copy of Land Speed Record over and over again or something.  Standout tracks included Dead Lights ("It's about murdering women"), Glue ("I like to sniff it") and A Thousand Tongues ("It's like watching flies fucking"), all of which are on their 12-track CD.  Singer Matthew Bakewell's stage banter covered all the essential areas, from killing and fucking bassist Paul Diamond's dad, to anal beads and getting handjobs off pigeons.  Apparently they're trying to play Hogmanay- please, God, let that happen.

    Jack's Big Break, next up, were in a very different part of the same ball park as AFYCW.  Their style of fast punk rock drew more from an American, commercial perspective rather than old hardcore.  The tracks were simple and punky but without the danger.  They had no lack of confidence, however- Jack's Big Break clearly put a lot of effort into putting their live show together.  Their showmanship was pretty admirable- they even had a solo section for each member.  But I have to say, without trying to be a dick about it, they could do with focussing on their songwriting a lot more than simply their showmanship.  Whilst their energy and confidence were quite infectious and charismatic, at the end of the day it felt as if their songs were secondary to the actual performance- which made the experience fun but unfulfilling, at least for me.  The rest of audience, however, seemed to enjoy them- and they did a Rock Lobster cover- so I suppose at the end of the day, mission accomplished.

Art Of Privilege's Martin Gray.
(Photo by Ben Glasgow)

    The night's main attraction was Art Of Privilege themselves, with a sizable crowd of dedicated fans hanging on til well after 11 to see their set.  They began their set with one of their best songs, epic too-tired-to-fuck anthem Conflict.  Not only an awesome song, but a good representation of exactly what AOP are about: widescreen, Pearl Jam size rock, drawing generously from early American grunge.  What distinguishes Art Of Privilege from other such bands is, ultimately, the songs themselves. Rather than allowing themselves to remain indebted to the sounds they are so inspired by, Art Of Privilege take their influences and use them to craft songs that are great in their own right.  Their awesome hooks, solos and choruses made an impression on the entire audience- seeing a band confidently roaring through a set of songs clearly written with real passion and enthusiasm never fails to win me over, regardless of where the music came from.  Another standout for me was the menacing, heavy Alice In Chains-esque From Her Point Of View.  The set also featured the slightly shaky debut of the swooning Time Flies, to be included on the upcoming EP. With soaring fan favorite Like Aviation following some tuning difficulties, the band brought a fun, well put together night to a heroic ending.  I'll be reviewing the record as soon as it's out, and damn I'm looking forward to it.

Fresh are putting on a load of gigs in the months to come: if you're interested in playing one, you can contact Roisin at freshedinburgh@gmail.com: as well as checking out the Fresh Facebook page.   Scrap Brain

Art Of Privilege on Myspace:

http://www.myspace.com/artofprivilege

Jack's Big Break:

http://www.myspace.com/jacksbigbreak

Download A Fight You Can't Win's badass album for free:

http://afightyoucantwin.bandcamp.com/album/a-fight-you-cant-win

Suprcharger:

http://www.myspace.com/supercharger

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels:

http://www.myspace.com/dirtyrottenscoundrelsrock

Deco Arcade

http://www.myspace.com/decoarcade

Scrap Brain

Don Broco are not particularly cool, Energy! are

So Don Broco played GRV last night.  In theory, I should like a band who don't take themselves too seriously and have fun with their songs, so I went with some optimism, even if it was a bit cautious.  But at the end of the day, it takes more than style for me to like a band- and their songs just aren't good enough, pure and simple.  But whatever. 

More interesting, and the reason I'm bothering to type this up, were main support act Energy!, who recently supported Feeder.  I know, fuck Feeder, but it's still a pretty mighty support slot for a young band to land, so I was curious.  Stylistically, these guys are basically just that kind of emo-indie-alt-rocky Scottish...stuff.   You know what I mean.  Or not. But anyway, what didn't piss me off about them was the fact that rather than being some trendy arrogant dudes riding off their stye-over-substance music to live out their Twin Atlantic fantasies or something, Energy! are 3 awkward-looking, fairly shy kids, who seem greatly into their music and just want to play it to people.  Ross Leighton's a talented singer, and their songs felt well put together and passionate, even if it's nothing we haven't heard before.  What can I say, I really liked it.  Listen to their stuff and see what you think.  Where The Water Meets The Land is a really nice song.

More substantial gig review on here and Edrock.net tomorrow...

x

So I've been busy...

...and also just haven't had too much to write about, but hey.   I'll get back into the swing of reviewing shit, and there's another couple interviews on the way.  For now, I want you to check out Kay Singh.  She's from France but currently based in Edinburgh, and long story short specializes in the kind of stripped-back, deep and personal lo-fi that I'm a total sucker for.  There's something awesomely dark but pretty about the whole thing, and she's recorded some new tracks recently so definitely something to listen out for.  Shit's good.


Hit up her Myspace and see what you think of it all.  I recommend, funnily enough, the Introduction track.  It's quietly disturbing and a great uhm, introduction to it all.  Also love "Heights" and "Say It Again".  Tidy tidy.


In other news, the new Oceansize record, Self Preserved While The Bodies Float Up, is really impressive- it's some of the best stuff I've ever heard from them, and if you don't believe me listen to it for yourself:





Heavy stuff.  So yeah, back in a bit...


x

The genius of Joaquin Phoenix

Wouldn't you know it, Joaquin Phoenix's retirement from acting, failed hip-hop career and public breakdown were all just part of an extraordinarily elaborate mockumentary directed by Casey Affleck, I'm Still Here, released on September 10th.  The signs were there, and I find the reviewers treating the film as a serious documentary laughable, but the level Phoenix was prepared to go to for his art amazes me.  It brings to mind his brilliant performance in Walk The Line where Phoenix, unscripted, tears a sink from a wall.  You've got to have respect for actors who inhabit their work to such an extent.  Haters gonna hate, but fuck them- whether or not I'm Still Here actually stands up as a good piece of cinema remains to be seen, but the work that went into it commands a unique level of respect in its own right.  Phoenix let his life spiral out of control in public for the sake of making something unique.  There's a serious actor.

Anyway, more music:  

Anything involving Dave Sitek tends to be worth a listen. This is pretty funky stuff. There's a full-length album coming very soon, keep an eye out for it.

Also,

Today I revisted Trent Reznor's latest project, How To Destroy Angels, and I've decided it's actually really fucking cool after all. Give it a listen if you didn't already and see what you think. It's got Reznor all over it, with the added bonus of his wife Mariqueen Maandig's sexy vocals. Very drum-machiney but if you're in the mood for it...

Ghosts Of Progress Are Not A Fucking Busker Band.

Ghosts Of Progress: Lew Palgrave(Left) and Callum Christie
"We've been through a lot of crap to get here."

I'm sitting with Ghosts Of Progress in the basement of Elvis Shakespeare on Leith walk.  It's a bookstore.  They're about to play a gig in it.  But for these guys it's just another gig- the Montrose-based duo have been relentlessly touring up and down Scotland for some time now, racking up an impressive touring schedule.  Real rock n' roll bands work hard, and these guys are a real fucking rock n' roll band.  Their brutal, blues-tinged sound is instantly recognizable- and don't start with that White Stripes shit.  This music is real blues- it's gritty, loud, out of control and hard as nails, songs about whores and whiskey with none of your sugar-coated lyrical pish.  But don't just take my word for it- see them live for yourself and you'll be a believer.  Singer Lew Palgrave juggles his razor-sharp vocals with slide guitar and drumming (the guy plays a drum kit with his feet, it's as badass as it sounds), whilst Callum Christie adds guitar noise and some impressive riffing.  They're a force to be reckoned with, and having recently signed to Belfast-based, respectably bullshit-free garage rock label Motor Sounds, the hard work's paid off and the future's looking pretty sweet.

[ continued from part 1, which you can find on Edrock.net (clicky!) ] 

So what kind of music did you guys come together over?


Lew:  Metal music mainly.  When we were young that was it, we liked our old blues shit and everything, but at the time it was all Britpop, Oasis and that.  We didn't mind it earlier on but the spinoff from that was these total shite bands, that were just complete fucking droll, crap.  So it was bands like Rage Against The Machine and going to metal festivals for us.  The thing with blues music is, it's something you always fuck about with, it wasn't until we realized we were two band members down that we started playing it, not so the songs sounded good, just to enjoy ourselves, know what I mean?


Callum:  It wasn't really a plain either was it?  I mean if someone had said to us a year before then that we'd be playing a blues song we would've been like "what're you on?"

"Some guy approached the stage with someone else's blood all over his face... 

that was a good night."

Lew:  It's good to be in a band where you're actually enjoying doing it.  It's difficult to get people together that don't fucking let you down.  When you can do something by yourself and think "fuck, this is great", and don't have to worry about the drummer nae turning up, or turning up with his annoying fucking girlfriend...  It's like, "aw no..."   But aye, since then....we've been gigging pretty much 5 or 6 times a month for the last year or so...it's probably past that now.


Callum:  It's a kind of niche we're getting into.


Lew:  We'll play gigs anywhere, know what I mean?  Even in little book shops like this!


Most mental you've ever played?


Lew:  One of our hometown gigs...  Last time we played in Montrose it must've been like, 250 people crammed into a pub that should've only had like, 200 in it, and I remember on the last song saying "let's how see how many people can get chucked out during this song"....

Callum:  ...they took up the challenge, basically...

Lew:  They did.  It was like, people getting glasses smashed off their faces and that, you don't think about that at the time, people been drinking for 12 hours or whatever and you say a thing like that.... It's like, "whoopsie daisie, we're getting fucking banned from here..."


Callum:  I remember some guy approaching the stage with someone elses blood all over his face.... that was a good night.

Lew:  Our hometown gigs are always good.  I mean Montrose was one of these places- when we were growing up it was like, these karaoke bands and shite...and people thought that was music.  But now there's Montrose Music Festival which gets held every year, and there's a lot of indie bands, some metal bands, who're all doing their own thing.

Callum:  It's a small town.  There wasn't anything happening for quite a while...


Lew:  Aye, so it's good to be part of that, know what I mean?  


You play Montrose regularly?


Lew:  We only play Montrose 3 or 4 times a year, we have to make the most of it when we do.  There's venues in Glasgow we can play regularly.  I mean we did 13th Note last night, always a great night.

"We don't have many starts and finishes in our songs.  We just wing it."

Callum:  Aye.  We just played the fringe festival a couple weeks ago actually, it was one of these plug-in-no-soundcheck things, which we always worry about you know, but it turned out to be one of the best gigs we'd done...


Lew:  ....for a long, long time aye.  We were only supposed to be playing for 20, 25 minutes, then when we finished the other band kinda said "naw, we're no wanting to play after these guys"- ended up playing for an hour and 15 minute, sold 20 fucking CDs in 10 seconds flat...  Gigs like that are good, turn up on a Sunday night, 30 second line check know what I mean?


Aye, really spontaneous.


Lew:  Aye.  We've been kinda lucky though.  We've got our own regular sound guy, who recorded our stuff, the guy upstairs doing our sound (Mo Dickson - check the live recordings on GOP's myspace to see the kinda standard this guy works at, great shit) - it's good to have someone to keep the sound guy in check. A lot of sound engineers can get really confused when we show up, they treat us like some kinda busker band.  We're no a fucking busker band.


Your first record on Motor Sound is coming out soon- is it going to be new songs or re-recordings of the ones we already know?


Lew:  The songs on the live E.P are gonna be on it. But maybe another 6 or 7 more.  We did record about 11, one of them was maybe a bit iffy.  We were maybe a little bit stoned when we did it....


Callum:  Maybe redo it for album number 2....


Lew:  Aye, we're just going to get as many gigs as we can, get as many copies punted out as we can...  The only people who make real money from records seem to the ones who're selling millions of the fuckers.  But if you're just selling them at gigs you can still make a healthy return on them.  I'm not really a big fan of the whole recording thing though, you know what I mean?


I was going to say, what you do is a really...live thing.


Lew:  It's a bit of a fucking drag for me doing it.  It's always like, let's just do this as quickly as we can.  Which has never been the best attitude for something like that...


Callum:  We always try and play the song live as much as we can before we put it down.


Lew:  We don't really have many...starts and finishes in our songs.  We just kinda wing it, you know?(laughs)  It's this bit here, this bit there.


Callum:  Aye.  We're not going to stand in booths or anything when we record, it's not like..."do this bit 4 times then this bit..."  It all comes from eye contact onstage.


And with that, they're needed upstairs to play their set, in a bookstore.  Unsurprisingly, they fucking kill it.


Ghosts Of Progress are currently playing up and down Scotland.  Check out their myspace for their tour dates and some killer live tracks - most importantly, go see them live, you won't regret it. I'll keep you informed about their upcoming record which, let's be honest, is going to be fucking amazing.

Scott Pilgrim's tidy soundtrack

You can say whatever you like about the Scott Pilgrim movie (which is admittedly the cinematic equivalent of ADHD, even though I thought it kicked ass) there's no denying the quality of it's garage-rockin' soundtrack.  One of the highlights of the film for me was the film's intro, "We Are Sex Bob-Omb" (best band name ever right?)- an awesomely simple, fuzzed-up garage-pop gem.  

Don't you wish they were a real band?  Everything from the guitar riff to the production itself kicks ass.  It's credited to Sex Bob-Omb on the OST, but it turns out Beck wrote their songs for the movie- that explains it.  How fucking sweet is that. Beck himself is credited with "Ramona",  a gorgeous wee love song.  See that's the level of musical talent you want on your film's soundtrack.  Alongside Beck we have some Frank Black- "I Heard Ramona Sing", which is also cool as hell.  It's classic Black with the added weird pop colourings of the overall soundtrack.  There's a really weird Broken Social Scene track I really like, Metric are in there too...   There's T.Rex, Bluetones and Stones in there too but I can forgive them that.  Rex's "Teenage Dream" was placed really well in the film and I guess that's what it's all about right?


It's weird how an excellent soundtrack can turn a good film into a great film.  Remember when "Hey" came on in Zack And Miri Make A Porno?  That was so intense!  Or maybe I'm just shallow.


Anyway here's a Spotify link to the soundtrack.  Enjoy.  I know you will.


Various Artists – Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)


In other news, yesterday I interviewed Ghosts Of Progress before an awesomely badass set in a bookstore (seriously)- that should be up here and on Edrock.net today or tomorrow.  Woo.

Sex Drugs & On The Dole - Ratson

Sex Drugs & On The Dole is the latest mixtape by Edinburgh-based MC Ruairidh Watson, a.k.a Ratson.  Watson also performs under the same name with other musicians as a guitar-fuelled, Stanley Odd-style hip hop group, but Sex Drugs feels like a far more personal work, with Watson's rhymes taking centre stage against some straightforward backing tracks and cheeky sampling.  Opener History Class serves as a neat little introduction to the artist himself- a drummer digging metal as much as Cypress Hill who decided only last year to bring his sharp rhyming into the spotlight.  It's a refreshingly modest intro without being dull, with a distinct lack of shite-talking, which is never a bad thing.  Mediocre King, the final track of the record, runs with the same idea- the everyman, blue-collar modesty that's prevalent throughout the record.  So Talented tells the story of Watson becoming a drummer after hearing We Will Rock You.  It's pretty detailed story telling, going from Metallica drum tabs to Hardcore to...Duelling Banjos (seriously).  
Why So Serious stops the record from becoming too introverted.  It's got a catchy upbeat chorus and tells us to be uh...less serious.  But there's more to it than you'd think: it isn't patronizing and doesn't exhaust its message.  It stays down to earth and aims for other young musicians on Watson's level- and it works.  
The honesty and personality of Watson's lyrics are what makes Sex Drugs & On The Dole great to listen to.  The individual tracks on this mixtape are well-formed bits of work in their own right, but together you're hearing a portrait of an artist with masses of individuality, awesomely humble, but never afraid to do his own thing and make something special in spite of, or perhaps because of, his limitations.  No self-conscious fake shit here, just a solid collection of true Scottish rap.  It's good shit.


x

Just when you stopped caring about Röyksopp...

...this happens.






The track itself is nice and atmospheric, reminds me of Leftfield at their most ambienty, but it's not really that you're watching for. The demented, surreal video complements it brilliantly, and together they make a seriously cool wee video. Not mindblowing, but refreshing.


In other news, check it:

Got an interview with these guys coming up in a couple weeks or so. Ignore the Seasick Steve/White Stripes comparisons, this shit's even better than that. Check their myspace for some killer live tracks.


x

Give it up, Axl

The continuing downward spiral of Guns N' Roses comes to a point in Dublin.


I don't think I ever really cared about Guns N' Roses, letalone the weird hybrid creature it's morphed into over the years, taking in the likes of Robin Finck, Buckethead and now DJ Ashba to replace iconic sellout king Slash.  But, after following the shitstorm surrounding the leak of Chinese Democracy by Antiquiet (if you haven't already got this bookmarked, get on it) contributor Skwerl, I eventually developed a guilty soft spot for the bloated, over produced GNR comeback album- more on the basis of the basic tunes themselves rather than its sound.  As a result, I couldn't help feeling somewhat sorry for Axl and his boys when the album was met with such a muted reception- largely on account of douchebag Slash fanboys unable to give an album validity that did not include the "original lineup" - which, if you want to get all technical, Slash wasn't even a part of anyway.

Great photo by Action Press/Rex Features, shamelessly
nicked from Guardian.co.uk.  Sorry guys.

Since then, GNR inevitably faded from view for me.  Until last Thursday, when they were bottled offstage in Dublin. Axl being late isn't exactly news, but looking at the band's recent history of lateness is interesting.  In Dublin, they were almost an hour late: similar story for the band's previous show in Belfast, and for their performances at both Reading and Leeds.  You can't help but cynically suspect it's a desperate grab by Axl to find some kind of rock n' roll relevance.  It's certainly generated some sizable controversy for him, but rather than coming across as the lovable renegade of old, he's just pissing off his own fans, and with those who view GNR 2010 as more than just an expensive covers band becoming fewer and further between, you'd think the guy could at least show up to some gigs on time.

And yet once again, I can't help but find myself feeling some degree of sympathy for the guy.  With the damning opinions of opinionated people stacked against him and his band, it seems like it's only downhill from here for an eccentric frontman of Axl's position.  Jackass or not, it's going to be quite a fall, and no musician wants to endure that kind of fall from grace, or whatever you call the GNR glory days.  I can't think of any real artistic direction Axl can go from here to make people give a damn about him again, and when you look at how fucking horrendous Slash's solo record was, it's a bit of a shame.  Either way,  I sincerely hope the man makes things easier on himself and us by just packing it in.  Maybe then, similar figures (Mr Corgan, we're looking at you) might do the same.  There's only so many burnouts we can put up with before we just get depressed.




And while we're on Reading+Leeds, this is slightly more interesting.

In My Defence- Vertis

Originally posted to Edrock.net

Vertis emerged in late 2008 and have been rising steadily since then, with an appearance on Scottish new music compilation "A Sort of Homecoming" along with Dirty Modern Hero and Jakil last year, as well as an Edge festival performance. The Edinburgh/Fife-based trio list Biffy Clyro, Foo Fighters and Nirvana as influences, and that's pretty much the angle to come from when approaching their new EP 'In My Defence'.

Opener See Through This sounds like Foos classic Everlong if it was played by Biffy, and sets the scene for the rest of the EP. Vocalist Alan Gilliland-Patterson's voice sounds distinctly like Simon Neil, with a tinge of Kurt Cobain; the same can be said of his band's music: grunge-infuenced progressions squeezed into off-kilter time signatures. The overall result sounds distinctly 90's, but has enough Scottish-accented quirks to project a contemporary feel. Without You takes these influences further, bringing to mind Puzzle-era Biffy, particularly Folding Stars. The setting is arguably more accessible than Biffy, however, with Vertis choosing a more steady rock ballad format for the tune, leaving hyperactive rhythms by the road and bringing in some Jimmy Page style, unashamedly rock n' roll guitar soloing. On the other hand, the next track, Injection, follows an aggressive introduction with a hushed verse, the classic grunge dynamic prevailing as the volume claws its way back for the chorus. The title track, In My Defence, displays traces of powerpop and Twin Atlantic-esque hooks, and you get the impression Vertis have some stadium-sized ambition behind them. Unlike the big-sounding tunes, the production is stripped-back and straightforward, sounding more like a live recording, and the EP overall hints at a passionate live band becoming comfortable with their sound.


x