Pylon Setlist

Pylon played their last ever gig yesterday at Out Of Spite Festival at The Well in Leeds. At least I presume they did – I had a freebie for Latitude. But after the joyous evening spent at their warm up for that final appearance I don’t feel I missed out – though they will most certainly be missed. Below is a scan of their set list from that Wakefield gig (review HERE) to remind us that as well as writing some of the best tunes ever, they were also incredibly childish… :) Cheers guys x

Elks / Black Helium Split 7" Review

Oh My Oh My Oh My / Summer Spells
Elks / Black Helium
Death Pop



Ah! The good old fashioned spilt 7”. Right boys, you got one song to impress, you better make it a good one…

Elks, who graced RB’s very own Long Division this year, earning themselves a swarm of converts, open things up. As those at LD will be aware, they play loud, low slung power dirges of brain rattling beauty. My bones were shaking and I was next door. Elks have two albums under their belt; the first was a little more math rock influenced but the last – ‘Boy Wander’, which saw the band become a three piece, was a whole lot more dirtier; a blues influenced beast, a swarm of malevolence. Unsurprisingly after the live show, it’s a route they’ve continued down. Perhaps even more than Boy Wander it’s an accurate reflection of their live show in terms of its swagger and attitude and ball breaking volume. Perhaps it doesn’t quite have the hook a split single benefits from or the dynamics of some of their other tracks; instead, at 2 and a half minutes it just grabs you by the proverbial with one hand and punches you in the gut with the other. But in a nice way, of course. As an advert for what Elks are all about, you couldn’t ask for more

Black Helium are new to RB and with the opening, dirge slow riff of Summer Spells it’s clear why they are sharing a vinyl with Elks. There’s a more atmospheric approach here, with 60’s echo effects all over the vocals and a verse that is part Slint, part Psychedelia influenced early 90’s grunge. It’s a bit unsettling, again in a good way, the chorus breaking the daze of the spun out verse. It’s a chorus but it doesn’t have a hook, instead just volume, a fuzzed out, hellish riff and a wailing vocal that recalls Hawkwind or some similar era reference (probably early Sabbath). The press promised some Daydream Era type guitar interplay – I would liked more of that angle but Black Helium have a knack of bashing out a relentless, grinding riff and coating it in some fine atmospherics that, despite being twice the length of the Elks track, leaves me wanting more.

Dean Freeman

http://deathpoprecords.wordpress.com/

Pylon @ The Hop - Live Review

Pylon
The Hop, Wakefield
8th July 2011

Last year Rhubarb Bomb ran an article on Pylon under its ‘Lost Bands’ header. The case for the prosecution to them being ‘lost’ was that they never completely fulfilled the potential they seemed to have. They were adored in Wakefield. They were part of a tight collective of amazing musicians and friends who made Wakefield an interesting place to be. They influenced a whole range of bands, as well as record labels, promoters and fanzine writers. But after the release of their debut album (proceeded by two EPs) they split, with a farewell gig pencilled in for Out of Spite Festival, 2007. As often seemed to be the case in those last few years, it fell through. Next week they play that final gig at Out of Spite. But tonight we have the amazing honour of seeing them in Wakefield and, goodness me, I’m excited.

It has been interesting talking about Pylon recently, as RB has on its Long Division Podcasts. I’m just old enough to remember seeing them at what was perhaps their prime during my late teens - the right age to be hooked. But to some of the bands coming through now they are just a name, partly mythical perhaps. So it was pleasing to see a real mix of people in the crowd. Those hot young things and those who remember it the first time round. One of my first gig experiences was seeing Pylon at Players – it was in that same venue around that time I was given a flyer advertising a coach trip to Joseph’s Well, Leeds to see the band that eventually became The Cribs. It’s good to see 2 of the Jarmans down to pay their respects.

Which makes it sound terribly austere. It wasn’t. It was fucking awesome.

Apologies are due to the support acts – I didn’t bother. I was here for one band and one band only. I was right down the front. The band looked a little nervous setting up. Rob Taylor is tootling on his Hammond and that classic sound (to these ears) takes me way back. I can see the setlist at the feet of singer Joe. There’s plenty to get through.


Pylon kick things off and instantly the sound is huge. I think the new PA in The Hop might be slightly too loud. Though to be fair I’m stood RIGHT NEXT TO IT. The sound is immense and the energy instantaneous. They kick off with a couple of earlier EP tracks, ones I’ve not heard for a while. But, somewhere deep in the recesses of my mind lie those words and melodies and I’m singing along. How much useless rubbish rattles around our brains? By the time they launch into ‘Name In Lights’, opener from their debut, the whole room is in rapture. The band are having a great time, there are smiles all round. There’s banter from the crowd and I’m sure I saw the raffle guy from the old ‘For The Love Of The Game’ nights.

About half way through it feels like they’ve played all their songs. But they keep digging out the ‘hits’, every one a gem I’d half forgotten. The pure power of Pylon is in their melodic abilities. Through the ear ringing howl the vocal hooks shine through. Every song over flowing with some shining, optimistic beauty. Because I’ve only had their recorded output to enjoy over the last FIVE YEARS I’d forgotten the power of them as a live band.

There’s something amounting to perfection in these songs, some untouchable glimmer of a singular, complete moment. Standing there I feel like I could actually be watching the best band that has ever existed. Now I know that sounds ridiculous but rather than a comment on their songwriting or WHATEVER, I’m really getting at the ideas of what makes a band ‘great’. Pylon are so unknown in the grand scheme of things but watching them inspires because it backups what you already know; that ‘local’ bands, ‘obscure’ bands, LOST bands can mean the world – and in this case they have the tunes to back it up. Pylon write such amazing, anthemic music they could be huge. But they don’t need to be huge to be amazing. Out of every band playing in the world tonight, Pylon could be the greatest but the only people who will ever know are the 100 or so in this room. That’s a good feeling.

So anyway, yeah, I quite enjoyed myself. I’m glad I got to see them again before they disappear for good. In a week where RB has also seen Pulp come back from the dead, it naturally leads to introspection and the nature of all this band malarkey. But looking back, as much as I love Pulp and they are one of the most important bands EVER to me – I FELT MORE hearing ‘Yo Yo Blue’ than Disco 2000 – because Disco 2000 feels like a point in time, wonderful nostalgia. ‘Yo Yo Blue’ and the rest, have something to give TODAY. I hope they manage to play more shows and even make more records. But the magic they had, and have again tonight, lives on in Wakefield and if that torch continues to be passed on, we have nothing at all to worry about.

Dean Freeman

Pylon play their last ever gig at Out Of Spite on July 17th

Pylon’s music is available here: http://pylon.bandcamp.com/

Action Replay - Burning In Ice Review

Action Replay
Burning In Ice
Hellfire Productions

From 2002 – 2006 ‘Swedish Melodic Death Metal’ were words I frequently typed whilst writing for a previous publication. Judging by “Burning In Ice” title track it would appear Brummies Action Replay have been influenced by said genre and whilst I remain a big fan of bands such as Gothenburg’s In Flames it takes something extra special for new acts plying this sound to turn my head these days. Aimee Flower’s powerful, crystal clear; vocals on this track certainly help Action Replay to stand out from the legions of bands fronted by males of Viking stock. Musically there’s an extremely tasteful solo around the one minute fifty mark from guitarist Matt Draycott, although the ‘breakdown’ which precedes it does sound contrived and somewhat redundant.

Track two “Darkest Days” starts off with some quiet Tool-esque introspection but largely reminds me of ‘German Thrash Metal’ gods Kreator at their least thrashing, circa Endorama, when frankly they couldn’t get arrested over here. Me, I’m quite partial to the darker/slower sound they introduced at the time. Again Flower’s vocals are a million miles away from Mille Petrozza’s harsh tones, although I personally find them a little two polished.

Third track, “Caught Between Us”, allows me to continue our geographical genre lesson, harking back to the early nineties when San Franciscan ‘Bay Area Thrashers’ such as Metallica and Testament started penning ballads. The guitar work here evokes memories of Testament guitarist and sometime Rodrigo Y Gabriela collaborator Alex Skolnick. Skolnick remains an exceptional guitarist whose return to Testament instantly boosted them in the live arena, so when I compare Draycott to him believe me that is a compliment.

“Cut You Down” closes proceedings on an upbeat note. For me it’s the only track where the band sufficiently escapes the shadow of their influences and tries to forge their own identity. Ultimately “Burning In Ice” is a release I would have praised a decade ago, but Action Replay (Apt name given that they seem to be offering condensed highlights of various metal genres at their most commercial) have probably missed the boat, with Italian’s Lacuna Coil having long since taken this kind of female fronted metal to the masses. If you want to hear a British version of them though then this could be for you.

Andrew Whittaker

Indietracks Festival Compilation

Yes yes yes, I know you get sick of RB going on about Indietracks. But for the last time; it’s with good reason! And talking of reasons, here is another one. Indietracks has put together a 40 track compilation featuring bands playing at this years festival. It’s available for download and contains tracks from some of the more well known bands (Herman Dune, Crystal Stilts, an unreleased demo from Jeffery Lewis) as well as lesser known but equally brilliant acts. Of course, the idea is to download it and pop it on in the car on the way. But if you can’t make it to Indietracks for whatever reason (I’ve yet to hear a good one) it’s still well worth a listen.

The Comp is just another of the brilliant little touches that Indietracks excel at and that attention to detail is what makes the festival for me. You can download it from the make do and mend bandcamp

http://makedoandmendrecords.bandcamp.com/

and you can pay what you like. Before you head off and pay nowt for it, bare in mind that all the money goes to the Midland Railway Centre who allow use of their site every year. They need a few pounds to keep themselves going, so give em something… And there is still time to get your tickets: a bargain £65 for the whole weekend. Hope to see you at Indietracks!

Dean Freeman

Black Moth / XM-3A Split 7" Review

Black Moth/ XM-3A
Split 7”
New Heavy Sounds

It’s slightly disappointing to receive a promo copy of Black Moth and XM-3A’s split 7” (On clear vinyl no less!) on CD, but ultimately it’s the content I’m here to review, not the format.

As with any split release one band is going to triumph over the other and take the plaudits, in this case it’s Black Moth, with their contribution “Spit Out Your Teeth”. It largely reminds me of former Hole and Smashing Pumpkins’ bassist Melissa Auf der Maur’s solo work, with Harriet Hyde’s vocals in particular reminding me of Melissa’s voice with a slight air of L7 creeping in. The lyrics are suitably kooky, hinting at dark, windy nights and black cats. If the line “If you believe me I can’t let you go, I couldn’t let something bad happen to you, you’re safe with me here, so stay with me here and nobody evil of bad will come near.” was sung by a man it would sound laughable, but Harriet delivers it perfectly. With a couple of heads down, balls-out riffs (The one around the three minute mark is suitably Sabbath-esque) upping the ante at just the right time there’s much to suggest that Black Moth’s album, which is slated for an autumn release, will be worth investing in.

XM-3A weigh in with “It’s Possible – Part 1”, which frankly leaves me with no desire to hear “Part 2”. It’s the vocals which kill it dead for me, which to these ears sound like Austin Power’s character Fat Bastard attempting to impersonate Lemmy. And the lyrics, well the line “I go down to the town, I think I’ll take a look. I go into the library, guess I’ll get a book.” just sounds awful. Granted the repetition of the songs main motif “It’s possible, not impossible.” succeeded in burrowing into my brain, that’s not to say I enjoyed the experience. There is a flicker of hope in the music, which with some meaty riffs and a hint of organ reminded me of long lost Brit hopefuls Headswim. Ultimately if you choose to put out one track on a split release though that’s what you’re going to be judged on and on the basis of this four and a half minute track I won’t be scouring the racks for XM-3A’s future releases.

Andrew Whittaker

Wireless Festival (Pulp) Review

Wireless Festival
Hyde Park, London
3rd July 2011

Wireless Festival was a 3 day festival; RB could only afford to make it for the last day, though with Pulp headlining the final night, was there any real need to waste 2 days waiting for the greatest band ever?

I heard that Aphex Twin were amazing on the Saturday and I regret not getting to be art of that. However, Sunday is where we were and thus the review begins.

I don’t recall going to Hyde Park before. I’m not a big London lover. I can manage 2 days tops, but even then I get a bit stressed by it all. I don’t like busy places, I don’t like things noisy and hot and sweaty and I don’t like the fact that you have to get the tube everywhere, randomly popping up in some suburb not knowing where the hell you are. I also don’t like how expensive it is and the fact it loves itself a bit too much.

HOWEVER. We managed to get a hostel right on Hyde Park for just £20 each a night. We could see The Albert Hall out of our Window. The Natural History Museum was a 3 minute walk. And being in upmarket South Kensington made us feel all fancy. Hyde Park itself was a good venue, it was great to sit in the park and chill before the festival itself started. It also meant you could have a few cheeky beers before hand to save on dollars as once you were in, YOU WERE IN. No re-admissions.



Getting in was a problem as the queues were massive, meaning we missed Yuck and all but the end of Metronomy, pretty much the only two bands on the day time bill I cared about. The tailend of Metronomy was excellent though, amazing I saw them in The Hop, Wakefield just a few months before. Admittedly they have intentionally got a hell of a lot more accessible with recent album The English Riveria, but it was the right move. They sound great in the mid afternoon sun.

We find a good spot to perch and sit on the grass. The festival isn’t too busy and there are plenty of spots to sit and drink and chat, near enough to hear the bands, but far enough to be heard over the noise. It makes the best of being in a park basically. Although it is busier by the end, it never gets too busy.

Bands come and go – The Horrors surprise me as I thought I pretty much despised them. I hated them when they arrived but I’d heard good things about the 2nd album. Not enough to listen to it, but from what we get here I’m really impressed, swarming walls of noise with a Primal Scream penchant for dirtiness and euphoria in equal measures. Cool. The Hives, who we are all surprised to hear still exist, arrive next. They are entertaining, front man Howlin' Pelle Almqvist spurting odd and humorous asides between songs. They are exactly as we remember them sounding. Pleasing background music to the pints.



TV on The Radio, another band I never got into, pop up next and again I’m surprised that I’m actually liking what I hear. The sounds are dense and interesting but the atmosphere of the festival, or at least the space around us, is geared more towards socialising and I’m not paying a great deal of notice.

For the first time we leave the main stage and head over to catch Foals. It’s almost as if this festival was made up of bands I’ve heard loads about but know nothing. The tent is full and again the sound is good. But we stand outside and let the fans squash in. Around us are plenty of food stalls, offering plenty of variety. Price wise we are talking £4 a pint and about £6/7 for food. Pretty pricey if it were a northern festival but in London it’s close to a bargain. There are plenty of security staff around, some of them even monitoring the toilet queues to makes sure people don’t jump ahead.

The overall festival vibe surpasses what I expected would be overly corporate. It’s inclusive and, I guess, relatively family friendly. Amusingly, the big screens by the stage between bands show vox pops taken with the crowd and interview sections hosted by a T4 wannabe and Huey from Fun Lovin Criminals. The festival they are showing on screen seems to differ wildly from what I see around me – talks with Skins like teenagers about all the hot boys and girls and getting drunk and Huey spouting like he’s at some California frat beach party. Weird, because the festival was a lot nicer than the image they were seemingly trying to project.

So we caught the last 5 minutes of Grace Jones. I don’t know anything she’s ever done, except play MayDay in ‘A View To A Kill’ and was probably right to assume her music wouldn’t be up my street. But she astounded us all by performing her entire closing number whilst hula hooping non stop. And she weren’t just stood there. She walked around the stage introducing the band. Like she’d forgotten it was there. Then she walked off, hula hoop still going. Nice work.

And so the wait began. For the mighty Pulp. I had had mixed feelings about the reunion. In general I viciously disapprove of band reunions for the sake of it. I’ve seen a couple. I saw The Pixies at Leeds Fest. I had a great time during the gig. But it was wrong, and I knew it (and proved very unpopular when stating it). If they’d got an album out I wouldn’t mind. But we’re still waiting.

With Pulp I was excited because Russell was back. For me that seemed to give it the stamp of approval it needed. And hearing they’d got together due to a mutual friend passing away and them realising life was too short – I can deal with that. I think if anything I perhaps felt a little jealous as I had made the effort to attend their ‘last ever gig’ at Magna in Sheffield which had been amazing. I couldn’t say that anymore.

The festival seems Pulp’s natural home now though. Come on and play the hits… except they don’t have a massive amount of ‘proper hits’. And the excitement of seeing ‘I Spy’, ‘F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E’ and ‘This Is Hardcore’ again, alongside the singalong favourites was the perfect combination of feel good and subversive.



As expected they opened with ‘Do You Remember The First Time’ which seemed slower but more driving than I remember, Jarvis’ opening line of ‘You say you want to go home…’ sounding so strong and alluring – exactly as if the last 17 years had not passed. As ever Jarvis is the greatest thing going here. With this reunion in particular, it all rested on him. The band sound tight and perform efficiently if not without any particular flair (stylish Russell aside). Jarvis is the key. If there had been any sense from him that he was going through the motions it would have fallen apart. But from the very beginning he was back, putting ever ounce of passion and playfulness into his performance.

He introduced every song and it was good to hear him reminisce about his years in London – though very much a northern band, most northerners do forget that it was London that made the band when it counted, or as Jarvis puts it; ‘the clash of Sheffield and London’. Pleasingly they illustrate this with ‘Mile End’ which though played a lot during the Different Class tour I’d not heard live before, only available on the Trainspotting Soundtrack.

The set continues with great song after great song. 9 of the 12 Different Class tracks get an airing, leaving 3 from His N Hers, 1 from This Is Hardcore and 1 from We Love Life and Mile End. I expected more from His N Hers but it seemed they ran out of time, with Jarvis asking the time and then playing Common People. I reckon they wanted to play Lipgloss of Razzamatazz, which would have been amazing and probably preferable to Bar Italia. But, it has to be said, it was a festival and the festival favourites naturally got the best reaction; ‘Disco 2000’ was immense, ‘Something Changed’ got a huge singalong and ‘Babies’ got people bouncing around like it was 1995.



‘I Spy’ was a highlight. Jarvis started on the floor on his back with perverse callings of ‘I’m coming to get you… I know where you are’ as the band built an unnerving wave of sound. He then came down to the audience with a camera and stuck it in their faces, to great comic affect. Once the beat kicked in it thrust into life, much greater than the record. ‘Pink Glove’ had a fantastic propulsion to it as well and it was good that the band had clearly worked on some of the tracks, tighten them up for the festival audience.

There wasn’t a track that didn’t satisfy. ‘This Is Hardcore’, a personal favourite, soared over the park. It was those moments that justified the reunion for me. Such a crazy, conceptual piece of devastating music being fed to the Disco 2000 ‘masses’ was a triumph. It also made me realise that I had mellowed some in the years since Pulp left us in that I happily sit in both of those camps now.

But that was the overriding feeling – it didn’t feel like they had ever left. Officially they never split, but it felt right for those songs to be part of NOW. They didn’t feel like relics, it didn’t even feel like nostalgia. Of course I hope they make another record. But if not, any excuse to get Jarvis back in front of a field full of people is worth it. It’s where he belongs and it makes the world a better place. Jarvis closed the gig by saying ‘see you again, maybe in another 10 years’ but I’ve got a feeling it’ll be sooner than that.

As a festival, it was a good experience; the trip to London with friends felt like enough of an adventure to warrant to cost and it was something new and different. I’d have been less impressed I had just popped to Leeds for the same thing. The atmosphere was good and the organisers seemed to care that you had a good time, though ultimately it is just another corporate festival.


Dean Freeman

Photography by Joel Rowbottom