Something Old, Something New, Something To Look Forward To (May)

The second of my regular installments to this blog: in turn, a golden oldie, a recent release and a forthcoming work worth getting your teeth into.

Something Old: Wire-Pink Flag

Released in 1977, and like last month’s recommendation, Guided By Voices’ Alien Lanes, Wire’s debut is an example of how the saying “less is more” doesn’t always ring true, at least in terms of the number of songs: Pink Flag packs 21 into 36 minutes. Unlike the gleeful mess of Alien Lanes however, Pink Flag is a lesson in economy: songs are short, sharp and very much to the point, never stretching an idea beyond its worth, and every bit as minimalist as its cover art might suggest. A post-punk monument (and the first of a stunning trio of albums which would include Chairs Missing and 154 within just two years), this was/is a massive influence to so many artists, with Elastica being the most famously indebted band to Wire’s work (listen to Connection next to Pink Flag’s Three Girl Rhumba. Hmmmm, similar, non?).

If you like this try: Mission Of Burma: Signals, Calls, and Marches EP (1981), Elastica: Elastica (1995)

Something New: {{{ SUNSET }}}-Bright Blue Dream

I’m not quite sure where this band has arisen from, and bar their myspace, there seems to be precious little information available on them. What I do know is that with Bright Blue Dream, they’ve put together what will remain one of the most beautiful, albeit unsettling, albums of the year. The collection of sounds is wide-ranging, from the funereal drones of Moebius, the melancholy piano of Golden Reverie, the krautrock influences of Diamond Studded Caskets, to the oddly affecting country of Old Sandy Bull Lee: every track throws up something different, and yet the album works best as a near-seamless whole. The centrepiece is the stately 14-minute title track, which evokes the comparison of Pink Floyd at their most human. Perhaps not to be listened to if you’re down in the dumps, but listen to this sombre masterpiece late at night (or at sunset perhaps?) with headphones, and it will really get underneath your skin.

If you like this try: Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here (1975), Deerhunter: Cryptograms (2007)

Something To Look Forward To: My Morning Jacket-Evil Urges

The Arcade Fire’s Funeral aside, Z, My Morning Jacket’s masterpiece-to-date was my favourite album of 2005 (Funeral really came out in 2004 in any case). Z expanded their reverb-drenched (the stock phrase for describing MMJ) alt-country rock and folk and took it successfully in a wide range of directions. Evil Urges, scheduled for release in early June, should see the band expand their sound further, with several new tracks played at their recent SXSW performance taking a more R’n’B and soul slant, allowing Jim James’ already wonderful voice to hit new heights. The band are playing a number of UK dates in the summer, including a performance at Glasto: I hope to catch them in July at the London Forum. You’d be mad to miss them: one check of their performances from their Okonokos set should confirm MMJ as one of the finest live acts around, and up to now they’ve certainly delivered on CD too.

If you like their earlier work, try: Fleet Foxes: Sun Giant EP (2008)

CUR1350 meets Does It Offend You, Yeah?

Does It Offend You, Yeah?, fresh off the NME tour, are one of the hottest new bands. CUR1350 chats to Morgan Quaintance, guitarist and singer to find out more about them and what they’ve been up to…

The Klaxons were said to have invented new rave, a term they disavow. Electro-meets-punk-meets-indie-meets-rock outfit, DIOYY? are also not too fond of the label. Comment on guitarist/singer Morgan Quaintance’s multicoloured shoes as “very new rave” and he’ll tell you off, and that wearing colours does not amount to “new rave.”

As for the music? The label “new rave” works in terms of covering the repetitive aspect of DIOYY?’s more electronic-sounding songs, such as “Let’s Make Out” and “With A Heavy Heart.” But it doesn’t explain how live this is music which people can mosh to as much as rave, as the sweaty, heaving crowd, spilling over onto stage only too well demonstrated this evening at Bournemouth ibar. As Morgan explains after much deliberating in response to “define yourselves”, they make electronic music with guitars.

After the show, CUR1350 catches up with Morgan Quaintance to find out a bit more about the band…

CUR1350: Tell me briefly how it all started.

Morgan: Basically Dan [synths] and James [bass/vocals] started the band in their bedrooms and decided to make some sort of electro music. And then bizarrely, they got signed. It’s like some sort of Pinnochio-fairytale existence. They got signed straight away…About a few weeks after that, I met them in a club, and we were talking – “We got signed” “Oh that’s cool” – and then we just hung around for about year. And then they were like “We’re gonna do a band, and we need people to join.” So I decided to join. Basically, Dan and James started it first, and then me and Rob [drums] came in and got involved.

So do you have a main songwriter or do you share songwriting duties?

The main songwriter for this project [Does It Offend You, Yeah?] is James, really. My main focus is arranging and organising the live setup. So when you see us live….I sorta coordinate the show and direct it. It sounds so like a production of The Lion King or something – I direct how it’s supposed to go!

So where does the name Does It Offend You, Yeah? come from?

The name of the band comes from, they were watching the Office or something, and they were looking for a name for the band, and then Ricky Gervais said “Does it offend you, yeah? My drinking?” so they were like “OK, put “Does it offend you, yeah?” and cut out “My drinking?” It’s really strange cos loads of magazines are having a go at us for being pretentious.


Ricky Gervais is from Reading and you’re from Reading, so there’s a connection there.

I’m not personally from Reading – I live in London. But the other three are from Reading.

So are you the oddball?

Oh no, I’m just the coolest one out of them.

London tops Reading, doesn’t it?

Of course, yeah! Sorry Reading people!

How is your throat after that gig?

It’s all right, not bad, it’s holding up. Basically, what happened, when we played South By South West, we played six gigs in three days, I think.


That must have been intense. How did it feel to play it though? Was it an achievement to go out there?

Yeah it was amazing. But kinda annoying. Cos we f***ing smashed South By South West. We f***ing smashed it, man! But there were no f***ing camera crews, nobody checked us out, nobody was like “does it offend you?” And it was just sometimes – oh I don’t wanna get on my high horse – but, yeah, it did offend me. We f***ing worked our f***ing arses off, man. We went to a lot of shows and people were just f***ing standing there. We did shows like that every day but more intense than that, but I dunno. Whatever though. Cos the people who were there saw it, and that’s what counts.

So how did it feel to play the NME tour? Was that like a landmark moment?

Yeah, it was like a landmark. It was like our first big, mature step into professionality or whatever. We did a month’s worth of gigs. We got better at playing as a band, and we got better at handling hangovers!

How have you found the reactions to your album? Have you read a lot of reviews?

We’ve read a lot of reviews. And they’re split really. Some say it’s good, some say it’s shit. To be fair, I don’t really give a f***.

Isn’t it good to get a reaction?

Yeah, it’s good to get a reaction. And also it doesn’t really matter what journalists say. It just matters that people turn up to see what you do and see what you play. I think journalists have their own kind of agenda which is outside the arena of music. Which is like when you read a review, they’re really communicating with other journalists, and perhaps their employers and perhaps – I’m going to get in a lot of trouble [laughs] – and perhaps, it’s a dialogue with other journalists to show how much they know and how much better they are and how much they need to keep their job. Music is really something you come to see and experience, it’s not something you read about. I’m guilty of reading about it though; I buy the NME, I buy Mojo. I love those magazines… I don’t think we’re too fussed about reviews. Obviously, if they’re really bad…I don’t mind what anyone says but if they’re personal, it’s not very nice.

Yeah, when it goes beyond the music. Just to conclude – plans for the future? What’s happening the next two months? Busy schedule? You’re playing a few festivals, aren’t you?

We’re touring, touring constantly. We’re finishing here, then we tour Europe, then we tour America with Yo Majesty. Then we come back, we do Coachella festival, Reading festival, Glastonbury , Lollapalooza, Summersonic in Japan. Just constant touring. Gatecrasher Summer Soundsystem. We’re just trying to play as many shows as we can.

Last question. What is with the anime theme on your drum kit and the Pikachu on your guitar?

Basically, I bought that Pikachu on my guitar about 8 years ago. I don’t know if that’s good or not, but I bought it before Pikachu was famous…

That’s good. It makes you the trendsetter…

…or the weird guy who likes anime. The Japanese thing on our kickdrum is….we went to Japan a few weeks ago to do a couple of shows out there, and our record company in Japan designed the Does It Offend You logo in Japanese. And we were like “Wow, amazing!” so we got it printed. It’s awesome.

Thanks for chatting to CUR1350.

Does It Offend You, Yeah? - Ibar - 22.03.08

With an inventively named line-up consisting of George Pringle, Cut Off Your Hands and of course, headliners, Does It Offend You, Yeah? it looked as if the night was to be an interesting one. Which indeed it was.

First up, George Pringle turns out to be a girl. Unfortunately for her and the audience, technical difficulties – namely a dodgy mic – means she spends the majority of her set slagging off the soundman. Maybe her Mike Skinner-esque rapping over music from an ipod was actually good, but nobody heard it nor cared after the on-stage saga.

Moving swiftly on, Cut Off Your Hands prove to be a lot more fun. Lead singer Nick immediately launches himself into the audience, who obligingly bop along. In fact, it’s hard to resist their catchy powerpop, especially as the band are so enthusiastic. Albeit their songs all began to sound pretty similar but they serve their purpose perfectly as a warm-up for Does It Offend You, Yeah?

For those familiar with DIOYY?’s single “We Are Rockstars,” you will know that it is the dance-rock tune of the moment, with vocoder-galore and a great big dirty bass line. Now imagine this in a tiny, underground room, a foot-high stage, no barrier and one hundred people ready to rave their asses off. A recipe for mayhem? You betcha.

Does It Offend You, Yeah? get up there on stage and ferociously play their instruments with wicked glee, singer and guitarist Morgan Quaintance bouncing around on stage. And the audience respond just as energetically by….er, not exactly dancing – impossible in the crowded conditions – but moshing. It would seem that DIOYY? have succeeded in creating what Morgan describes as “electronic music with guitars.”

The repetitive “With A Heavy Heart (I Regret to Inform You)” with semi-shouted lyrics builds the atmosphere to a near frenzy when the song reached its crescendo. Instrumental “Battle Royale” is also clearly popular, complete with all the brrrps an electro fan could want. In a similar vein, “Attack of the 60ft Lesbian Octopus” could actually be off the “Return to the Forbidden Planet” soundtrack as it musically narrates the exact subject of the title.

“Let’s Make Out,” a particular crowd favourite, is delivered with full power high-pitched yelps from Morgan, despite him expressing concern about his voice. But nothing matches the reaction for finale “We Are Rockstars.” Bassist James Rushent and main songwriter, dressed in a bright green hoody, delivers vocals whilst staring trance-like into space. It’s a sharp contrast to the exuberant, forever-grinning Morgan, who earlier in the set, stripped his top off whilst singing Nelly’s “It’s Getting Hot In Here.” It’s an odd pair of frontmen. Yet the evident energy that all four members put into the show is what makes Does It Offend You, Yeah? one of the best live experiences of the moment.

Crystal Castles-Crystal Castles

I have been waiting for this album for over a year, not for lack of material posted on the interenet: Crystal Castles is truly a band of the Myspace generation, but more for a definitive collection of their work. The album ‘Crystal Castles’ is a success in this sense: 16 tracks of unadulterated electronic bleeps, but to me its the linking of each singularly awesome track together that lets it down. Crystal Castles as an act need to decide whether they are the kind of band that produces 3 minute or so gems of songs clearly definable from one another or if they are DJs, mixing them together to make a cohesive whole. In some cases, links between songs are more than tenuous: between Crimewave and Magic Spells, both of which are great songs comes a noise that sounds like a bin falling down the stairs: not good. Links aside, each tune on the album is great: ranging from chilled out ambience (Good Time and Magic Spells), to angst ridden, noisy electro (Alice Band Love and Caring and Xxzxcuzx Me). How do you sum up the sound of Canadian electro-rockers Crystal Castles? To me, their music evokes the sound your computer would make if it were alive, in the manner of the Transformers and the like: bizarre and robotic.
Stand out tracks: Alice Band, Crime Wave and Knights.
www.myspace.com/crystalcastles
If you like what you hear, they’re going on tour courtesy of NME and Topman in May.

Something Old, Something New, Something To Look Forward To: April

I’ll try and update this at least monthly, but here’s the format: I’ll post three alternative/leftfield album recommendations, one past classic, one new release, and one forthcoming release to anticipate. Also included are further recommendations by different artists, should you like these choices, or need some kind of reference point.

Something Old: Guided By Voices: Alien Lanes

It’s hard to believe that something this lo-fi sounding could’ve been recorded in 1995, especially when it is so steeped in 60’s brit psych-pop and 70’s metal and FM rock influences. But Guided By Voices were famed for this sort of thing, and while the shabby home production lends this a certain charm, these songs could’ve been recorded in any form and would still sound great. At 28 songs and 41 minutes (many songs don’t even hit the minute mark) it’s not an album that allows you to get comfortable, but more songs just means more great pop hooks, and when they’re as strong as the ones on Game Of Pricks, Motor Away, My Son Cool, My Valuable Hunting Knife etc. etc. that can only be a good thing. Alien Lanes is an album that seems to hit upon a brilliant tune almost by accident, only to discard it and immediately find another equally brilliant one to replace it. If you dig this, be sure to check out its even more stunning predecessor, Bee Thousand.
If you like this try: Times New Viking: Rip It Off (2008), Pavement: Slanted & Enchanted (1992)

Something New: Thee Silver Mount Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band: 13 Blues For 13 Moons
Starting off as just the trio A Silver Mt Zion almost a decade ago, as the band has swelled in members and sound, its name has followed suit. Lead-member Efrim Menuck was the guitarist for the Canadian post-rock titans Godspeed You(!) Black Emperor(!), and his strained, off-key shrieks might make you wish he’d stuck to the instrumental rock of his old band. If you can overcome this barrier though, you’ll find that Efrim’s unabated vocal stylings are well suited to the apocalyptic drama offered here. 13 Blues is the band’s heaviest, most ferocious album to date, four quarter-hour songs that pound and grind away with visceral guitars and equally visceral cellos for the album’s first half, before moving into shuddering noise (Black Waters Blowed/Engine Broke Blues), and an unexpectedly uplifting finale with BlindBlindBlind. The songs have been honed over recent live performances, and as a result, the album is best enjoyed as a whole. The band are playing two consecutive nights in early April at the London Scala: I’ve got my ticket and if you like this album, I strongly advise you get one too.
If you like this try: Godspeed You Black Emperor!: F♯A♯∞ (1997), Arcade Fire: Funeral (2005)

Something To Look Forward To: The Microphones: The Glow Part 2 Reissue
Okay, so this isn’t exactly a new release: The Glow Part 2 was originally released in 2001, but is being re-released in April with a bonus cd of extra material. This is something I would normally be cynical of, but The Glow Part 2 is one album deserved of more recognition. In short, a cult classic: a startling mixture of achingly pretty indie-folk, crushing distortion (just listen to Samurai Sword), a wide range of other instrumentation, and Phil Elverum’s plaintive vocals which at certain points can make the hairs on your neck stand on end. Sonically, there are very few albums that can match this, its incredibly bare production make it one of the most stunning headphone albums ever conceived, and the opening salvo of I Want The Wind To Blow, the title track and The Moon are nothing short of mind-blowing. If you’re unfamiliar with the Microphones, this is a great place to start, and probably their definitive release, and if you like this, the album’s narrative continues into the band’s final release Mount Eerie (also the name of Elverum’s subsequent project).
If you like this try: Neutral Milk Hotel: In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (1998)