The Wedding Present

Extracts from the Rhubarb Bomb interview with The Wedding Present main man, David Gedge. There was a whole section looking back through the band's recorded output that was too vast to fit into Issue 2.1, so it is presented here.

Putting aside the official RCA debut (the John Peel sessions) the Bizarro LP was the major label 'rock' release. You revisited the album in its entirety on the last tour. I have to ask, playing 'Take Me!' night after night must be exhausting. How do you do it?

It was just a matter of practicing and building up stamina… like training for a marathon! It was tougher for our drummer, Charlie, than it was for me. When we were rehearsing in Los Angeles he was continually asking for the studio air conditioning to be switched off so that he could experience the equivalent of hot and sweaty concert conditions. I guess that’s what you call dedication to duty!

Can we expect a Seamonsters anniversary tour? (My tongue is only partly in my cheek; it's my favourite of all the WP LPs).

I haven’t made a decision about that, yet, because at the moment we’re concentrating on new songs. But I’m certainly attracted by the idea, yes…

Steve Albini's services were used for recording this. Were you a fan of his work? How did it come about?

Yes, I was… and remain… a huge fan of Albini’s work. I got him to record our last album, “El Rey,” too. I remember John Peel saying: “Albini bestrides the world as a colossus!” Ha! I was particularly inspired by “Surfer Rosa,” which he recorded for The Pixies. That LP had such a great sound… intimate, dramatic, powerful. I just remember speculating about what someone like him could do for The Wedding Present.

Difficult third album syndrome didn't seem to be an issue with Seamonsters. The songs were strong, the 'production' made them sound even stronger. Was the recording process different to before?

Not really. People often ask me what Albini’s secret is… how he manages to get those great sounds… but he’ll be the first to admit that what he does is totally straightforward. He just records musicians playing together with good instruments, through good amplifiers… with appropriately placed microphones in a great sounding room! I’m afraid that sounds quite boring and technical, but that’s how he does it…

Around that time, you covered some quite obscure tunes as b-sides for your singles: versions of Pavement and Jean-Paul Sartre Experience songs. How did you get familiar with these bands? Did you see them at the Duchess of York by any chance? (I actually came and introduced myself to you at the Duchess one night when Bongwater and AC Temple were playing).

We were just obsessive music fans. Still are, in fact… which is why I’m still doing this, I suppose! If you’re that interested in something you’re prepared to put in the effort. Our bass player Keith Gregory returned from a holiday in New York City with Pavement’s first 7” single and that’s how we first heard of them.

On the subject of other folks' music, the B-sides of the Hit Parade singles from 1992 were an eclectic mix of cover versions. If you had the opportunity to release 12 singles in 12 months again, what/who would you cover nowadays?

I’m not going to tell you... in case we decide to do it again, ha! Maybe I’d start with ‘I Have A Dream’ by Abba…



After what seemed like an eternity for WP fans, Watusi appeared on another major label (Island) and another famous name on the credits in Steve Fisk. How was it working with him?

Steve Fisk is, genuinely, one of the nicest people I’ve ever met in the music industry. ‘Watusi’ is an odd album because we wanted to get away from the ‘classic’ Wedding Present sound and see if we could make a dramatic sounding record without using overdrive pedals on our guitars. Steve had a difficult job because that was new territory for us. He was a great help, though, and I went back and recorded ‘Take Fountain’ with him ten years later...

What happened with RCA and how did Island get you? And only for one album!?

Do you remember me telling you about the A&R person who signed us to RCA? Well, he left the company while we were working on ‘The Hit Parade’ and we got dropped shortly after. There’s usually a quick turnover of staff at major labels and when new people join they understandably just want to sign and work with the artistes they like as opposed to being handed a band by their predecessor. And actually, exactly the same thing happened again at Island… only much more quickly!

And then onto the Cooking Vinyl label. One of the bigger contemporary indies at the time, they had quite a roster. Mini sounded like it was a lot of fun to make. It was certainly a lot of fun to listen to.

‘Mini’ is actually one of the Wedding Present records of which I’m most proud and I sort of regret the fact that it’s not a full-length album. Having said that, maintaining the motor car theme over twice as many songs might have been stretching it!

And then after the full-lengther for CV (Saturnalia) you put the band on hiatus and concentrated on the Cinerama project. What were your reasons for doing so? Disenchantment? Spreading of the artistic wings?

It wasn’t disenchantment, no… it was just that after having done The Wedding Present for over ten years I felt like I needed a break. And also… I’ve always loved film scores and the work of people like John Barry and Ennio Morricone but I didn’t think it would be fair or even possible to try and force the other members of The Wedding Present into trying a new ‘filmic’ direction. So, during the ‘break’ I started experimenting on my own… writing with computers instead of people… and I quickly realised that I enjoyed the freedom. So my original plan of taking maybe eight months off became eight years and we ended up releasing three Cinerama studio albums in that period.

The Wedding Present was reactivated in 2004, the first release being the Take Fountain album. With Steve Fisk on production duties again, and a streamlined sound (to these ears at least) that was a hybrid of motorik music filtered through the soundtrackier aspects of Cinerama. Along with the signature Gedge lyrical content of course (the titles I'm From Further North, Always the Quiet One could've come from the George Best period).

Well, the curious thing about ‘Take Fountain’ was that, when we were writing and arranging it, we all thought we were working on the fourth Cinerama LP. But then, as we started making demos and playing the songs live it became more and more obvious that it was sounding more like a collection of Wedding Present songs than Cinerama songs. The final straw was when we were recording a Cinerama session for John Peel and even the engineers at the BBC studios were saying: “David, you’ve come here and you’re calling this Cinerama, but it’s obviously The Wedding Present! Where’s the string quartet, the trumpet player, the flute?!” So, although I eventually decided that ‘Take Fountain’ was going to be The Wedding Present’s follow up to ‘Saturnalia,’ you can obviously hear the strong Cinerama influence on those recordings.

Take Fountain also signalled a return to putting out your records on your own label (Scopitones). A case of needs must and no interference?

I didn’t really have a great experience while we were signed to Cooking Vinyl… we had much more freedom and support while we were on both Island and RCA… and they were major labels. I realised that I could do exactly the same job as Cooking Vinyl were doing... or even a better job... if I had my own label… but in that case I would actually own my recordings and have total control over what I did with them.

More classic WP-style song titles followed on 2008's El Rey - Don't Take Me Home Until I'm Drunk, The Thing I Like Most About Him Is His Girlfriend - along with those seemingly biographical lyrics. Steve Albini's back on board too!

Weirdly, ‘El Rey’ now stands out to me as one of the most poppiest records The Wedding Present have made… a style you wouldn’t necessarily equate with Albini.

Andrew Micklethwaite

Emma Pollock

Extracts from the Rhubarb Bomb interview with Emma Pollock from Issue 2.1

Do you always approach it as writing a record i.e. writing a full album, a suite of songs in one? Rather than knocking off a few songs and then trying to tie them together?

It’s a combination. I’ve already got a clutch of songs at the moment, but I’m also aware when I start writing the album, I’m conscience of the fact I will feel like, ‘this is me writing a record’ therefore there might become a more cohesive feel and one thing might influence the next. It’s very difficult to say, I think the links come in when you start to produce. My husband Paul is now a record producer and Paul was partly responsible for the sound of the 2nd record. He would say don’t worry too much about finishing a song completely when we go into the studio, you should let it breath a little bit and he was right to that, because it’s the ones that aren’t quite finished that give you the freedom to take it in another direction and you end up with a much more interesting record at the end. Because if you restrict yourself too much you might end up with the same record you wrote last time. There is always going to be a certain amount of consistency in the way I sing, put a melody together, so the way I can break that up is by pushing in other ways and hopefully have a knock on effect on how it comes across.

How important was being in Glasgow for you to get to where you are now and what you’ve achieved.

Hugely. Immensely. There’s no doubt if I had not moved to this city, none of this would have happened.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up In Castle Douglas, south west Scotland. I wasn’t born there, I moved there when I was ten. I spent those years discovering music. There was only a Woolworths to buy music. I had a limited knowledge, then I moved to Glasgow to go to University in1989. I basically discovered this incredible range of music, live as well as records. Then I met Paul, he was doing the same course as me. Eventually I met his friends and when I left. I thought ok, I want to stay and very quickly we formed a band, and that’s The Delgados. And very quickly we said, we want to start a record company. A lot of it came from going to live gigs, because Glasgow has an incredibly vibrant music scene and anybody and everybody plays. And you have every size of venue you could want. And there are also loads of rehearsal rooms, music shops, recording studios. And there always had been labels because of this infrastructure, it just breeds everything else. So much more so than Edinburgh, no one managed to figure out why that was. Glasgow has a very can do attitude, and the people up here are very friendly and approachable and everybody is very very welcoming. It’s always been like that. It’s got an industrial background, so it’s about the practicalities of life. Very down to earth.

Dean Freeman

Emmy The Great Interview

Extracts from the Rhubarb Bomb interview with Emmy The Great that appeared in Issue 2.1

LIBRARIES

What else are you up to?

I’m writing a show for the London Word festival with a Poet at the moment called Jack Underwood so tomorrow I’m going to get started on that...

What do you mean a show?

Well... we don’t know!!! (Laughs). It’s about libraries so we’re splitting it up into 10 categories. We’ve comedian doing something and an author doing stories. We’ve got romance and science fiction, we’re going to fill it out with skits and stories and songs and stuff like that

The Libraries are closing aren’t; they? I use to work in a library

Really where?!

There is a library in Wakefield, a Music and Drama library. It’s pretty cool, I think it is one of the biggest collections in the UK, its got loads of Music and Drama obviously, and is also part of the national fiction reserve, which is where one copy of every book that has been published stays. I really enjoyed working there. It was a bit old fashioned – which is not necessarily a bad thing but it was a shame I think it was underused. And now I think it is closing and I don’t know where those books are going to go...

They’re closing it down?! That’s awful. You should campaign...

Is that part of what you’re doing at the Word Festival?

Yeah. I was at a protest a couple of weeks ago that a lot of people went to...

RECORDING

I know you’ve mentioned its important where you record, and you go to the countryside, to Lancashire to record?

The first record we recorded in Lancashire cos we felt like a Manchester band at the time. We had a music family up in Whalley Range near Manchester, and we really felt that’s where we became, me and Euan, who we were as a band so that’s where we recorded. This time round where we did it was kind of less important but we ended up, my parents moved out of their house over the summer, and so we all moved in! And we took over the house and that was really cool cos my Dads an artist so we mainly worked in his studio where he has this super intense esoteric tripped out landscape and it really found its way into the music! I think at the moment it’s really cool.

PROGRESSION

When I first heard your music on Myspace it was just you and a guitar, and now your playing with a full band; is this a natural progression for any musician?

I think so. Dylan is the obvious ‘high bar’, but then someone like Billy Bragg really suits playing on his own, cos he’s got a simple message and he wants to go everywhere and tell people. I kind of feel ambitious with my stuff because my lyrics, I feel like they need a little bit of extra stuff. I’m not a very strong minded person, if I had to go alone places I probably wouldn’t show up! Or sit in a corner feeling really intimidated by the audience! I think probably to keep yourself interested if you’re not a lyricist like Billy Bragg! Then you do want to get more people involved and see where you can go. Don’t make the same record over and over again. You want to push yourself and you become a musician you want to learn more about music.

Paul Bateson

Long Division

Inevitably we have found ourselves incredibly busy organising our festival Long Division, and as such not much has been going on with the Blog recently. However, the Long Division site is now active proper. Go here to check it out: www.longdivisionfestival.co.uk Also, we have a new issue on the way, which whould be available at the end of April. More info nearer the time. Finally, we will be looking to expand from this blog onto our own fully functioning website over the summer, which will contain reviews and articles, updated on a much more regular basis. Thank you, now go and enjoy that sunshine x

Interim Reviews - Afternoon

And we’re back

Split 7” from Philophobia Music featuring two tracks each from The Bambinos and The Ran Tan Waltz. The Bambinos have a real tight and fresh sound that’s hard to pin down genre wise. Well, it’s melodic Indie Pop int it, but it has an edge all of its own. It bouncy, fun, infectious and a lot more rocking than the above term would suggest. It’s also surprisingly pacey and intricately structured, well beyond the ‘this is the verse, now here comes the chorus’ position a lot of bands seem to get stuck in. Frontman Jay is a wonder, twisting a gentle yet wild impassioned howl around the brisk backing and it’s his performance that really makes this set of songs.

Ran Tan Waltz pop up next with a more serious sound, slightly in debt to an 80’s production, with not so subtle reverb on the guitars but smartly avoiding the urge to blast it all in distortion on the choruses. Instead the vocals and guitar are allowed to inter mingle together, each taking lead throughout the tracks, creating an impressive sense of space. There is an underlying sinister mood throughout their side of the EP and a swagger and a rich confidence helped further by the strong production skills on show.

Overall, it’s hard to fault the EP, showing off as it does two distinct, and distinctly different bands creating some ambitious and well crafted pieces of classic Indie, albeit two sides of the Indie coin.

Next up we get Frozen Flame (S/T), a band at the ABSOLUTE start of their musical careers, sporting natty school uniforms on the front cover (not in the ACDC way either). It does lay a difficult conundrum on me – do I review this as I would any other release, comparing it to bands with more experience at the risk of shooting them down before they’ve begun, or should I take into account their inexperience and risk patronising them and praising something rather useless? Oh the life of a demo reviewer.

Well, I’ve got to say that they are impressively musically competent, that is without question. It’s unfortunate that the genre is the kind of ROCK that was played in the backrooms of pubs from 20 years ago (and still is, sadly), but to be fair, there is no reason these guys couldn’t be playing the pub circuit (bar the legality of it). They are more competent than a lot of bands 2 or 3 times their age; it’s just a genre I pretty much despise. But I want this review to be positive, because there is real skill on show here. Opening track ‘Knockin on the Door’ is easily the best here showcasing major ROCK talents from all 4 members and I can see a certain type of person going nuts for that. The others don’t match up to it, ‘Time To Go’ in particular suffering from atrocious lyrics. But overall as a first musical statement it’s pretty immense. I shudder just to think of the crap I was writing at their age. So, it’s ROCK, bordering into PUB ROCK, which I hate, but they do it well, which I like. They just need to stop listening to their dad’s record collections and find their own sound. Good Luck to em.

Mint, it’s Protectors next. Singer Chris was in one of my favourite ever bands, Pylon and this is his (relatively) new project. This is kind of a taster EP for an upcoming album they are working on and it displays the same skill for simple hook filled, post hardcore influenced awesomeness that Pylon had. In many ways it’s a natural extension of that bands last album which saw them settle into a brilliant, gently anthemic pop groove. My Girlfriend say she could take or leave Chris’ singing voice, but I personally find it such a warm and captivating sound; don’t know if it’s a relation I have between that and great Pylon gigs in the back rooms of pubs (despite what I’ve just said about the back rooms of pubs!). The three songs here show a fantastic grasp of invigorating songwriting that only comes with years of plying the trade with skill and success. Literally cannot wait for the album.

Whoa, huge change of mood / pace / EVERYTHING here with a remix EP by Fracture (Enter The Machines), a Trans-Atlantic Industrial Glitch Core Uber Project. In many ways this is simply not a project aimed at me. But not being aware of the original material does allow me to approach it with fresh ears. They don’t stay fresh for long though!

Despite what these set of reviews may suggest, I do not just listen to Indie Pop – I can’t help what I get sent through can I? When it’s that or CRAP, what am I gonna do? I’m rather partial to something a little heavier too and so I found this enjoyable, especially for a remix project, Its an interesting mix of yr standard heavy, dirty, chugging guitars spliced in with some propulsive beats, varying from a kind of mid 90’s swaggering industrial groove, to something more approaching recent 65daysofstatic, with its off kilter pounding and electro flourishes. With its samples too, it also takes influence from soundscaping and soundtracking, giving the whole experience more depth and interest. I like.

Trains. Yes, He Who Saw The Deep by I Like Trains, which I’ve been listening to so much recently, I forgot to review it. As has been well publicised, there’s been much that has changed for I Like Trains since the release of their last album. HWSTD is quite a departure from said album in many ways; it actually sounds more like a debut album to me – it’s pacey, upbeat, eager to please with its imaginatively constructed and layered tracks. Occasionally the decreased production budget becomes apparent, albeit only marginally so, but for me it adds to the experience of the album – it’s accessible and engaging and makes an effort to connect with its audience whereas they once stood proudly aloof.

The drumming in particular stands out for me as a highlight and major change. It’s like he’s been let off the leash. It drives the songs so much more now rather than acting like a metronome to the drones as was required before. I say this sounding like I am discrediting their previous work; I’m not, I loved it. But the more I listen to HWSTD, the more it feels like a necessary step for them, it feels HEALTHY. Plus the pacing of this album beats their last; a brilliant opening trilogy of brisk, epic and sweeping tracks sets the tone. The intro to ‘Progress is a Snake’ seems to suggest a return to the old iLiKETRAiNS before it explodes into one of the bands best songs with a military drum roll. The yearning lyric of ‘As Europe slips into the sea / we could have saved a million more’ calls back to the bands earlier historical settings and perhaps this is the only thing about new Trains that lacks in anyway. Without a context the lyrics occasionally can sound a little trite with their use of stock phrases. But not often. A hugely enjoyable yarn overall.

Ooo look, the aforementioned Buen Chico EP – The Seasons EP to be precise. And for once an accurate press release – this is easily ‘the bands most ambitious work to date’. A four track SUITE of songs (I love that whole idea) working their way through the year. Opener ‘Summer’ opens in typical Buen Chico style with a cracking chorus refrain – obvious but great as ever. Then we move into Autumn and the beat becomes a little more disjointed, gentle strums and big harmonising backing vocals… the structure loosens up and you can almost feel the summer slipping away. Clever skills on show. Bizarrely, in Buen Chico world, Winter is time for dancing, as the third track shows such straight up 4/4 kick and hi-hat work, coming across rather like Klaxons, it has to be said. But it’s yet another jolt in another direction and it’s fantastic to hear them spread their wings exploring different styles with such seeming ease and success.

This is a great release from a great band, a 4 track EP is, for me, the perfect does of Buen Chico. I could listen to them all day probably, but this EP in particular feels ‘right’ and leaves me wanting to right back to the beginning again. Well done those three.

Ha ha, this is pretty cool. China Shop Bull have improved a lot since I last heard them. They have certainly stuck to their guns with the Ska / Heavy Rock / Dub / Rap mashup that sounded a little wrong last time. But they seem to be getting their heads round this admittedly difficult task, so they’ve proved me wrong. Even previously derided single ‘Sandblaster’ sounds a million times better. Fair play.

Album, ‘Rave To The Grave’ has an absolute load of bands informing its sound. With its aggression and heaviness (of sound and subject) Asian Dub Foundation sits at the forefront for me. It’s intense, fast, powerful, intricate and MASSIVELY IN YOUR FACE. It’s pretty bonkers actually, and I’m not referring to the old skool happy hardcore compilations. It does share the heaviness of hardcore or Gabba, thought obviously nowhere near that borderline lunatic. Halfway through we get some respite on ‘People without Shoes’ (which actually sounds a little bit like ‘2 face’ by Asian Dub, but I’ll let it go) before we launch back into it another onslaught. It must be an exhausting live show. Basically these guys are getting stronger all the time, they take this stuff real fucking serious too. Good.

Roland X

Interim Reviews - Morning

Roland X reviews the pile of stuff that has been growing by the door in no particular order.

Cup of tea… ready. Daytime television in the background… muted. Curtains closed. Ok *Deep Breath* and we begin…

Three Blind Wolves hail from Glasgow. I saw them perform a cracking show at The Hop in Wakefield a little while back. I have before me their ‘Echo on the Night Train’ single. It’s pretty classy songwriting via the route of acceptable Americana influenced folk pop, benefiting from a nicely polished production favouring a deep guttering guitar sound. The harmonised ‘whoa’s’ are where the song steps into slightly predictable territory perhaps, but the band tread a line between good time rockin’ and more cerebral elements well. B-Side Honey Fire is a little more reserved but looser too, a confidence of a band of much greater years. The reverb heavy guitars give way to an unusual and engaging structure of euphoria and melancholy that reveals a sharp set of brains behind it all. Basically these are some damn fine talented fella’s. With the right song they could go a long way; there’s enough here to make me want to hear more and keep my fingers crossed they find it.

Bearsuit – I keep seeing that name everywhere. But what the hell are they like? I have a bit of a problem with bands with an animal in their name. Seems an easy, unimaganitive cheap Indie trick. But a bear SUIT? …an intentional inversion of this? A Radiohead reference?

Wrong wrong wrong. It’s Techno Ladytron. ‘When will I be Queen?’ reminds me instantly of ‘Bad to have a Bad Uncle’ from Nathan Barley. Perhaps that’s just this song ‘I have bad thoughts, I have bad thoughts – no inner monologue’. Seems to be attempting the detatched ice cool of aforementioned Ladytron but… doesn’t. It’s caught between the two era’s of Ladytron too, albeit unintentionally. A mix of the early, retro future style and the wall of sound MBV synths they employ now. But it’s curiously empty, just rammed with annoying half hooks. Sorry, cant vibe off this. And the remix as a B-Side isn’t going to help, despite being far more interesting.

Counting Coins’ Take The Ride EP is an instant change of pace / style etc. The kind of Ska / Punk I haven’t listened to for a lot of years. Opener ‘Not Enough Heroes (Too Much Heroin)’ is designed to be catchy and anthemic, and does its job in a style typical of its influence. Second track ‘Loose Change’ is something a little different and characterful; laid back chanting (yes…) and an upbeat pop vibe, with some sweet Sublime style sing-rap. It’s the best Ska Punk I’ve heard in a very long time, and Counting Coins can have that for the poster, but the truth is, it’s a long time since I’ve actually listened to some. From this EP I would gather the scene is thriving and vibrant, yet very similar to the last time I was there. It’s good time stuff. And Counting Coins seem to do well with an upbeat, passionate take on it. And obviously they’ll be great live. I guess you don’t expect a band like Counting Coins to reinvent the wheel, and here they don’t, but they do what they do very well and the variation and invention on this EP is impressive.

Never Kill A Secret EP by The Primitives instantly lights up my marathon reviewing session. They have a quaint, super pop sound, somewhere around The Delgados performing obscure C86 covers. There’s a cool swagger that matches the artwork here too, the simple Blue / Red / White design and title suggesting some lost 60’s spy caper starring the band. They should do it. It’d be ace, if the music is owt to go by. Effortless and classic, it has the 1960’s and 1980’s references (Motown drums, sweet dreamy female vocals) but also a charm all of its own. A real pleasant surprise.

Moody Gowns give themselves a real fighting chance before the CD hits the deck by packaging it in a homemade sleeve with lots of nice pictures, doodles and words. I like that. All you in bands should do that. If you send a marker penned CD you are already fighting an uphill battle. Do SOMETHING. And if you can’t, get a friend to, Jesus.

Reviewing ‘Sincerely Yours’ is a little harder though. It’s hard to categorise certainly. Ambitious. Odd. Infectious. The opening seconds remind me of ‘Frontier Psychiatry’ with its ghost like groans. And then… breaks down into some smart deconstructed idiosyncratic pop… thing. It’s bouncy, energetic; melodies reverberating around your brain with little regard for the effect it’s having on your mental health. It gets less direct as it goes on, mutating into a more jazz influenced beast as it progresses over its 4 tracks. I like it. I don’t know how else to describe them. It’s pushing things. The band do a great job and creating a swirling backdrop to singer Nathan Moseley’s groaning plea’s in many a diverse manner. Just go have a listen will you.

Mr Gary C presents his single ‘A Little Bit Easier’ and brings with it another bugbear of mine – the ‘collage’ front cover which features the singer / band in a room AND LOOK! There’s stuff all over that ‘subtley’ hints at the influences. It’s so fucking lazy and unimaginative. Can’t think of an art concept? Just stick loads of your crap around and it’ll make the music seem thought out and deeper. Gary C does takes this limited context somewhere by sitting outside in a park. But look over there, an old record player, a Sinatra magazine, a Victoria sponge. Worst of all is the back cover, Mr Gary C looking serious, sat on a Scooter. Credits: ‘Lambretta Supplied by Evolution Scooters’ – it’s not even his!

Oh wait, there’s a CD in here too. 3 tracks of lightweight inoffensive pop. It a professional production certainly, well mixed with varied instrumentation. The backing band is solid. It’s just the songwriting that isn’t. I wish I hadn’t lost the press release because it had a whole list of things Mr Gary C has done in the past, including, if I recall correctly, having one of his songs ‘heard by the man who decides the music for James Bond films’. Which means what exactly…? Not exactly Moonraker is it? More like Barrelscraper. Sorry to divulge again, but there’s really not much to say here. It’s easy listening, and listening to it in the background is certainly the easiest, and possibly the best way to go about things.

Howard James Kenny – Insects. 1 track promo here for the single and from an album to be released in April. I like that. No messing. All or nothing on the one track. An understated, gently sweeping choir swirls over a meandering, picked guitar, with Mr Kenny coming over like Guy Garvey’s slightly more awake younger brother. It really should get going about the 2 and a half minute mark… but doesn’t. Maybe that would be too obvious. There’s not quite enough here for me to know what Howard James Kenny is about really. But I did play it round a few times in a row. Damn it, all the bands who overfill their demos and promos and all I get here is one track. I want more! Keep an eye out for this one.

The Stripper Project – terrible name – give us ‘Beautiful Life’ – a standard title. On a marker penned CD. Oh well, here we go then…

This is probably the kind of thing I would usually object to, but you know what, I must be in a good mood after Howard James Kenny, because it’s not half bad. First track ‘The Back of the Cemetry’ has a Killers feel, with that U2 ripped riff and OTT synths. The lyrics also have that ‘influenced by Morrisey’ feel – they aren’t LIKE Morriseys lyrics, just influenced (i.e. similar, worn to death themes tackled in an aloof, occasionally touching way, yet all too calculated). But it’s all done pretty well. The 80’s electro influences come to the fore on ‘Wondergirl’. It’s pretty cool in a lo-fi Kraftwerk kinda way and shows they aren’t afraid to try different things. There’s a battle between taking things very commercial and adding in awkward, challenging sections. Which is fine and admirable, in a way.

I’ve got a whole album of this here, and my interest is pretty much kept throughout due to their skill with the hooks, the POP. There’s variation and imagination in the songwriting to suggest great things ARE possible. Its not often I will say it, but this band really need to be MORE produced. You can hear all the ideas they, or the producer, have had, but it doesn’t have the epic, widescreen feel that it needs to work. But the foundations are there and you can’t ask more than that for a bands first release. It’s inconsistent, but with a charm to it, and I think this album will be more important to the band than anyone who buys it. They’ve created a set of songs, but what now? Go for Commercial Success or be interesting? Age old question, with only one answer, really.

Right-on. Buffalo Bones release the Hell To Skeleton EP, citing influences of QOTSA, Beck and The Dead Weather. I also hear a hint of Supergrass in the whine of lead track ‘Exploder’s chorus. Cool. It is a heavy rocking thing; they smartly keep things moving at a pace, not afraid to throw in some scream-a-long choruses. Pleasingly upfront, like a MUCH better Vines. Track 2 ‘Silence is Golden’ brings things down all too quick, slower, plodding. It’s a sharp song though, accomplished with more of the classic rock influences shifting into view. Should have popped up later in the EP though. The Dead Weather comes through on the third track in fairly inventive style. By the closer ‘Left Before I Arrived’ my interest has wained a little, the kind of thing I can imagine a classic rock covers band playing. Not enough of Buffalo Bones in it, but overall, as my first impression of this band, this EP is does its job damn well. Can imagine I’ll be seeing their names on a lot of posters this next year.

The late morning Renaissance continues with a free download single from Buen Chico called ‘Happiness is Important’. It’s a definite progression from their earlier stuff, more dynamics, more going on, getting to that point all great 3 pieces need to, when it sounds way beyond the work of just three people. There’s more ambition, but still tied in a lovely, joyous pop package. It starts with an uncharacteristically heavy plod before developing into a lovely mid paced yearning for happiness… and better times. Buen Chico seem to be a band that have been around for a long time but have remained criminally underrated. It’s great to see a) they are still developing and getting better and b) they haven’t become bitter with it. As ever with a free download, just give it a go. So much is free these days, so it’s odd to say that this is ‘worth it’, but it really is. I’m pleased to see Buen Chico’s upcoming EP proper in my afternoon pile, but right now I need a break or a sandwich, so that’s it for now.

Roland X

How To Do Long Division

Long Division is now well on its way. If you've not already, head over to www.longdivisionfestival.co.uk to find out more about our festival. We've been making a series of Vlogs covering its progress. Here are the first 3 parts: