((URY)) Music

((URY)) Dance #2

2010-06-07T10:12:00.000-07:00

Pembroke / Lock In The Lion – Airhead & James Blake (BRAiNMATH, 2010)

James Blake aims to show a different side of his musical personality with this, his third release and first on BRAiNMATH. Coming after the massively acclaimed ‘Air & Lack Thereof’ and his remix of Untold’s ‘Stop What You’re Doing’, Pembroke goes a long way to show why Blake is so hotly tipped. Airhead’s influence on the two tracks featured on the release is, aptly, to add a lot more space to the already laid-back and off-kilter beats found on Blake’s previous work. Both tracks come off more as sonic explorations, pushing the ability of a track to carry melody to its limit. It’s hard to say if this could even be defined as dance music, the two tracks being constantly surprising in direction throughout their length. A fascinating release by a fascinating artist.

Skull Crusher / Clunge – Numan / SDUK (Slit Jockey, 2010)

The third 12” on Starkey’s label, Slit Jockey, features two exciting newcomers to the dance scene, Manchester’s Numan and London boy SDUK. This release is made for dancing – both tracks feature heavy beats and bass designed to get you moving. Numan’s ‘Skull Crusher’ is up first, coming in with metallic synth washes and distant speech samples before dropping into a main beat that Starkey himself would be proud of. On the flip, SDUK’s hilariously-titled ‘Clunge’ lulls you into a false sense of security with soft vocal stabs before not one, but two massive synth riffs crash into the track, eventually leading into a huge main beat that I’ve seen inspire some truly ridiculous jump-around dance moves many times. This is a solid step in the right direction from both of these young artists, and I, for one, hope to hear more from them soon.

By Jack Luckett

Album Review:

2010-06-07T09:06:00.000-07:00

Cave In
Planets of Old EP
Release Date: 08/02/2010

Dealing with any release from a band with a career-story like Cave In’s is difficult. A long history of prog/metalcore turned (according to long-standing fans) commercial tripe with 2003’s Antenna could warrant genuine apprehension when approaching Planets of Old; but I feel I can safely say that these fans can have much to look forward to on the basis of this, their first offering for 4 years. They’re back – and they mean it.

If metalcore or prog-metal are what we associate with Cave In’s “true form”, then Planets of Old certainly revisits these genres. First track ‘Cayman Tongue’ kicks in loud and hard. The guitars are down-tuned and textured with layers of precisely synchronised effects. The bass is loud and viscerally chugging. Vocals are by turns soft and ear-laceratingly ferocious. And guess what – you like it. And you want more. This is Cave In the way they should be: aggressive, fist-clenching (had me going a few times) and downright assertive.

‘Retina Sees Rewind’ is a crisp, hook-laden pocket nuke of a song that will have you banging your head along with the syncopated drumming. There’s more than a whiff of the more grunge-inflected material circa Antenna, but this influence is channelled more successfully than ever before. Yet what follows, for me personally, was certainly not on the radar: ‘The Red Trail’ pummels listeners with an uncompromising showcase of pure psychedelic hardcore. The vocals are vicious, the guitars dissonant and heavy, bass aptly distorted; this song is, to phrase in the most colloquial terms, mental, and perfectly embodies what psychedelic hardcore-punk is all about. But I also have a mild gripe with its presence on this record, in so far that we don’t seem to be getting any continuity in musical style on the EP as a whole. It’s definitely not a bad song, and there’s nothing wrong with experimenting, but I’m pretty sure Cave In wrote it because it sounds damn fun to play.

No doubt, Cave In are back on form; but I can’t help wanting more from this EP. The tracks (excepting the first one) are frustratingly short and we are still left in the dark as to exactly what sound Cave In will be pursuing in the future – but then maybe that’s what makes Planets of Old so exciting. I wasn’t a huge Cave In fan before, but they have gone about their business in slowly converting me. I expect that older fans won’t be disappointed either.

8/10 (For fans of: Glassjaw, Thrice, Reuben, Oceansize)

By Chris To

Album Review:

2010-06-07T08:02:00.000-07:00

Fool’s Gold
Fool’s Gold
Release Date: 25/01/2010

On paper, Fool’s Gold are a world music fan’s dream: a nine-piece ensemble from Los Angeles that plies their trade playing poppy afrobeat, sung in Hebrew. Although the mere mention of “world” in describing any contemporary band is likely to ring a big, shiny Vampire Weekend bell, a strict comparison should be avoided. Fool’s Gold are greater in number than their East Coast afropop contemporaries, and their extensive brass and percussive sections afford them a larger, richer sound. Furthermore, Fool’s Gold’s eclectic approach fails to deliver on the hype – the song quality on this first offering is as varied as their cultural backgrounds and influences.

The main problem with this LP is that it peaks almost as soon as it begins – album opener and first single ‘Surprise Hotel’ is the strongest song by a country mile. The bright twang of overlapping guitar riffs, afrobeat rhythms and dizzy saxophone solos build to a dancey carnivalesque outro that instantly raises the spirits. The majority of the remainder of the album is, however, dominated by mid-pace five-minute-plus ballads that quickly grow old. That these tracks fail is an inescapable consequence of vocalist Luke Top’s decision to sing solely in Hebrew. Whilst his chanting plays a key role in the success of the more upbeat tracks; faced with a drop in tempo and in the absence of a strong hook on tracks such as ‘Nadine’, ‘The World Is All There Is’, and ‘Momentary Shelter’, it inevitably alienates non-Hebrew-speaking listeners. Meanwhile, classically trained guitarist and co-songwriter Lewis Pescacov seems to have been given licence to solo virtually at will. This yields dividends in ‘Ha Dvash’, but even his talent as a player does not justify the boorish length and tempo of the aforementioned tracks.

There are, however, some other nuggets that can join ‘Surprise Hotel’ in the pot of genuine musical gold, namely ‘Poseidon’ and ‘Night Dancing’. They demonstrate Fool’s Gold’s ability to spice up their classic afrobeat setup with the inclusion of synthesisers, sometimes adding a darker dimension to their sound. This is most notable on ‘Night Dancing’ where the track descends into a fuzzy haze of electronic arpeggios – a far cry from the sunny guitars of ‘Surprise Hotel’.

Unfortunately, like a film that puts all the best bits in the trailer, this album fails to fulfil its promise. The band’s name, ironically, offers an apt description of this album’s failings: looks have flattered to deceive the hype-hungry music blogs that promised something truly special from this multicultural medley. This said, we should not write Fool’s Gold off – there is potential for greatness. Let’s hope their next effort is a 24 carat classic.

6/10

By Jóse Carbajo

Album Review:

2010-05-31T07:27:00.001-07:00

Foals
Total Life Forever
Release Date: 10/05/2010

In the last year or so, several bands have transgressed the stereotype of the ‘difficult second album’. The Horrors, for example, came back with a completely new sound – supposedly influenced by eating expired sandwiches from the bins behind Prêt a Manger – stunning the band’s fans and (many) critics alike. Well, if getting ill from eating a bit of soggy lettuce can inspire the conception of Primary Colours, could a series of weekends spent in a weed-clouded room on a strict diet of Psilocybin mushrooms cause similarly astonishing results for David Sitek rejecting, Oxford party-guys Foals?

A first listen finds the album open on familiar math-rock territory, although the pace has dropped and effects are used with greater restraint. Yannis’ vocals here, however, are a cause for genuine surprise; suffice to say, he actually sings! But fear not: what begins as a comfortably stripped-down piece gradually builds until the bass line, like an old friend, kicks in and you find yourself foot-tapping and head-nodding in a way that only the complex layered beats of Foals can make you.

While there’s no shortage of instantly gratifying pop moments – expect to hear one or both of ‘Miami’ and ‘This Orient’ soundtracking all that pill-popping malarkey on ‘Skins’ in the near future – the awkward, static beats and riffs which dominated Antidotes are largely replaced by refined, carefully constructed melodies and, at times, the kinds of textures you’d more commonly associate with shoegaze. Indeed, as though to flesh this point and perhaps complete the analogy with The Horrors, first single and stand-out track ‘Spanish Sahara’ is to Total Life Forever what ‘Sea within a Sea’ is to Primary Colours. Not only does the song showcase some of the most haunting lyrics this band have ever written (“Forget the horror here, leave it all down here, it’s future rust, it’s future dust”) but they complement and intensify the song’s over-powering eeriness as it builds towards its climax and, likewise, mark its sudden decline (“a choir of furies in your head”).

Total Life Forever then, is something of a classic ‘side A/side B’ LP. If its first half belongs on the indie club dancefloor, its more intricate and sombre second half demands dedicated listening; but crucially, both are hugely rewarding.

8/10

By Nathan Marks

Album Review:

2010-03-06T12:03:00.000-08:00

Jaga Jazzist
One Armed Bandit
Release Date: 25/01/10

In the five years since Jaga’s last LP, What We Must, no band has come close to imitating their sound: schizophrenic progressive electro-jazz with added drum and bass, post-rock, minimalism… and just about every other genre around. The Norwegian collective has defied expectations with One-Armed Bandit – and turned its own style on its head once again. WWM was edgier and placed emphasis on live instrumentation over electronic bleeps and beats, whilst OAB finds a happy medium; in the title track driving drums, cascading horns and a medieval-sounding kalimba interact with a fuzzy synth bassline and psychedelic electronic screeches. As the arpeggiated melody effortlessly passes between instruments, the piece showcases the dazzling array of styles Jaga have swallowed up – drummer and bandleader Lars Horntveth cites Fela Kuti, Wagner and Frank Zappa as heavy influences. Recognisable Jaga textures and timbres are refreshed by an expanded musical repertoire – the grungy synths and glassy, Steve Reich-esque polyrhythms that begin 'Toccata' are later underpinned by a powerful brass refrain and energetic afrobeat drums.

The experimental jazz-rock influence is perhaps most obvious; the title track takes a gasp of breath with an atmospheric guitar slide before launching back into staccato glockenspiel and oozing bass, evoking Zappa’s 'I’m the Slime'. The piece thuds and gallops into a bridge that significantly ups the tempo, racing at breakneck speed towards a thundering climax in which the pass-the-parcel melodies collide in a satisfying and awe-inspiring way. Another highlight is the slow-burning '220 V / Spektral', which opens with a delicate piano trill and muted guitar, immediately shifting to a tense 3/4 section, all reverb and breathy woodwind, before a spacey krautrock chorus. 'Music! Dance! Drama!' recalls 2002’s 'Day', with analog beats, bassline and string plucks mutated by twisted brass, labyrinthine harpsichord and affected guitar.

Jaga Jazzist leads the listener on a tantalising journey through space and time – at times to a completely new, undiscovered planet. It takes a few attempts to keep up with the hundreds of ideas thrown into the album, and it is the sheer ambition poured into each track that will, I suspect, divide audiences. One-Armed Bandit is, like Jaga Jazzist’s earlier work, a musical feast – but as a result it is eccentric and boundary breaking, and its constant framework of excitement-tension-release into further excitement may be unpopular with many. Those who appreciate it will learn to love the album and return, time and time again – finding new dimensions to every track on each occasion.

9/10

By Bengee Gibson

Live Review:

2010-02-24T04:36:00.000-08:00

Fionn Regan (support: Francis Leftwich, Danny and the Champions of the World)
Fibbers, York
14/02/2010

A gig by sweethearts' favourite Fionn Regan is perhaps not the best place to spend a lonely Valentines day. Still, it's not every week that someone you've heard of plays York, so in the interests of music journalism your intrepid ((URY)) reporter did her best to blank out the couples eating each others faces to check out this rare event.

The first support is local Yorkshire lad Benjamin Francis Leftwich, who we're pleased to report was really rather good. A veritable embryo of nineteen tender years, Leftwich performs the impressive feat of commanding the attention of a packed Fibbers with his thoughtful folky tunes. We suspect he's one to watch.

Danny and the Champions of the World is one of the best band names we've ever heard, so it was a huge disappointment when their singer strode on wearing a trilby, popularly understood in sartorial semiotics as the universal sign of a class A twat (see also: Kaiser Chiefs). Predictable hooks degenerated into ten-minute country jam yawnfests about mountains and sheep or something, whilst the singer performed a series of facial contortions that we think were meant to show that he was a Serious Musician but in fact gave the more apt impression that he was extruding an especially satisfying turd.

A sense of relief descended when the lovely Mr Regan toddled onstage, sporting an oversized train drivers' hat which he removed to reveal an experimental bowl cut style last seen on scabby-kneed ten year olds in school playgrounds around 1970. It was excellent and we're already placing bets on it becoming the next Hot Indie Look. Regan's set is drawn mostly from his new album, Shadow of an Empire, which we're still rather wary of. The lyrics are flawless, as poetic and perceptive as we've come to expect from this former Mercury winner, but by treading the path towards a poppier, country aesthetic as fellow indie darlings Conor Oberst and Ben Kweller have done, Regan loses the understated charm and intimacy of his earlier records. Still, props to him for not producing an exact copy of his first record and maybe we just need to give it a few more listens. Tonight's spine-tingling performance of new track Violent Demeanour certainly suggests there's more to the new material than first meets the ear.

By Hannah Boast

Album Review:

2010-02-23T15:23:00.000-08:00

The Soft Pack
The Soft Pack
Release Date: 01/02/2010

The punk purists and cynics among us must have been disappointed with The Soft Pack’s decision to change their name from The Muslims to their current moniker. Maybe it’s a sign of the times when the latest upstarts on the scene back down after a little negative attention; but at least this San Diego four-piece haven’t compromised anything about their intelligent brand of garage rock in so doing. This, The Soft Pack's self-titled second release, defies all ‘sophomore slump’ theorists by delivering 32 minutes of pop punk fun.

Pacey opener and first single, ‘C’mon’, sets the tone for much of the rest of the record. Matt Lamkin’s delivery is charged with urgency but leaves just enough room for the pointed, matter-of-fact observations characteristic of the band’s strongest lyrics; and it’s also clear that The Soft Pack have matured as musicians, apparent here in the impressive lead guitar work of Matty Mcloughlin, showing that this group can offer more than just a catchy power chord structure.

The decision to collaborate with producer Eli Jamney has resulted in The Soft Pack gaining a more complex texture to their sound (see especially: ‘Pull Out’, ‘Down On Loving’ and ‘Move Along’), particularly with the inclusion of organs and acoustic guitars. This is a welcome change for a band that has sometimes been guilty of sinking into garage rock monotony, marked by the overuse of reverb-tinged surf guitar and a ‘driving’ rhythm section. Tellingly, even on this release it is the songs lacking these new sonic subtleties that are the most disappointing. As the album streaks towards ‘Tides of Time’ and ‘Flammable’, you’re left with the sense that The Soft Pack are running out of steam; the former lacks punch, whilst the latter is a virtual carbon copy of ‘Move Along’ – minus the playful organ motifs and wonderfully discordant solo. Thankfully, The Soft Pack redeem themselves with the stoned-beach-holiday dreaminess of penultimate track, ‘Mexico’; built around a lilting Latin bass line, it brings a much needed change of pace before the head-banging resumes with closing track ‘Parasites’.

Although The Soft Pack aren’t offering anything especially innovative here, they are (as the saying goes) ‘doing what they do best’. These songs are anthems for the kids. The Soft Pack have followed a tried and tested formula – but they’ve done so with enough poise, intelligence and charisma to warrant serious attention.

8/10

By José Carbajo

((URY)) Dance #1

2010-02-22T11:13:00.000-08:00

D1 – Jus Business / Pitcher (Dub Police)

D1 (otherwise known as Dwayne Marsh) has been releasing music since July 2005. He has not, however, brought out tracks regularly during this time. The excellent Jus Business / Pitcher stands testament to this by being his first 12” since the 2008 EP, V3. Both tracks are of equal quality, with D1 showing his mastery of an impressive range of production styles throughout. 'Jus Business', which takes its title as well as many samples from lines spoken by the character Stringer Bell in TV’s The Wire, is particularly noteworthy in this respect; mixing a Grime-style beat and Dubstep percussion, and introducing House piano lines and beats later. 'Pitcher' is a different animal altogether. Having started off sounding like a classic UK Funky track, it builds tension with synth washes before bringing out an Untold-esque pitch-bending hook. A highly recommended release.

DVA – Natty / Ganja (Hyperdub)

DVA (otherwise known as Scratcha) marks his first release on Kode 9’s highly respected Hyperdub label with the somewhat inconsistent Natty / Ganja 12”. 'Ganja' is the stronger track of the two, combining vocal samples, a pitch-bending hook, together with a strong House bassline and keyboard stabs – all to great effect. It comes across as both laid-back and dance-ready, and the Tropical beat points to the wide geographical spread of DVA’s influences. 'Natty' is weak by comparison, its complex structure never really developing into anything compelling. It almost feels incomplete – as though in need of a hook or a piece of melody to give it some warmth. There is, however, more than ample evidence on the basis of this release that DVA is a promising talent worth following in the future.

Kingdom – Mind Reader (Fool’s Gold)

Fool’s Gold presents Mind Reader from Kingdom, a release that doesn’t pull any punches. Although we’re basically presented with a couple of ‘old’ tunes from Kingdom’s extensive archive, there’s no denying that the material on show is all killer and no filler. Big, brash and unsubtle – and with remixes from L-Vis 1990, Bok Bok and Todd Edwards – there’s much to admire, regardless of where on the sliding scale of UK Funky, Garage and House you stand. Of the remixes, the L-Vis 1990 edit is the most powerful; full of rhythmic energy and sub bass pressure, this one is pure dancefloor fire. Todd Edwards provides a classically-styled House excursion but if R’n’B vocals don’t float your boat, there’s a dub version thrown in to boot. Also well worth checking out is the b-side, 'You'. Being more House than Garage or Funky, 'You' shows off some of the versatility of the Night Slugs new boy. Definitely one to watch out for.

Jack Luckett & Simon Burrell (Idioteque, Pipedown)

Live Review:

2010-02-15T16:24:00.000-08:00

Marble Valley (support: Player 1, The Standbys)
York City Screen Basement
27/01/10

Steve West is not, I suggest, a man that takes himself very seriously. Maybe it’s a side-effect of having played in one of the most influential rock bands in history – in that you wouldn’t feel you had a lot left to prove to anyone – but West positively exudes a sense of high jinks just waiting to happen. A case in point: having allowed his band to kick-start proceedings with a comically lengthy instrumental medley, an already heavily inebriated West finally emerges, not from backstage but from the bar – and with a tray of tequila shots held gingerly between both hands.

Let’s be straight: Marble Valley do not make brilliantly interesting music. There’s more than the occasional flash of the sardonic lyrical stylings and loose, by turns sludgy and twee, sonic approach of Pavement (in particular, see ‘Computer Man’); although it’s all tempered by an obvious fondness for the sort of FX-based weirdness epitomized by much of The Flaming Lips’ work circa Transmissions From The Satellite Heart.

What Marble Valley does have going for it, however, is Steve West the frontman. He shakes and shimmies, he rattles a maraca, he swings the microphone; he is a walking encyclopedia of rock ‘n roll power poses – only, it’s all performed by a man that looks disquietingly similar to The Bear from Bo’ Selecta (albeit with more facial hair). Marble Valley are an absolute riot live and this is in no small part down to the general air of jovial, good natured abandon pervading the show.

By Lachlan Marais-Gilchrist

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((URY)) Music attempt to interview Steve West, with mixed results: http://ury-music.blogspot.com/2010/02/interview-steve-west-pavement-silver.html

Album Review:

2010-02-13T12:01:00.000-08:00

Gil Scott-Heron
I'm New Here
Release Date: 08/02/2010

In the seventeen years since his last record Spirits, Gil Scott-Heron has become a fallen icon of popular music. His socio-political poetry and songs reached out in the 1970s to a generation of disillusioned Americans, his influence spreading through jazz, funk, soul, blues and rap – the latter being a genre he is often accredited with helping to found. It was in prison, serving one of the many drugs-related sentences that have plagued his life, that he was approached by XL owner Richard Russell to record what would become I’m New Here. A 28-minute work comprising four covers, some original monologues and offcuts from recording sessions: this album is, musically and lyrically, a far cry from the protest acid-jazz of his 70s heyday.

Beginning and ending with a two-part tribute to his grandmother, ‘On Coming From a Broken Home’, it is clear that the artist has turned his attention inwards, to the matter of his own demons. There’s further evidence of this shift in the personalised versions of Robert Johnson’s ‘Me and the Devil’ and Bobby Bland’s ‘I’ll Take Care of You’, the one transformed into a trip-hop stomper pierced by Scott-Heron’s roaring, audibly ravaged voice; the other seeing him revive his famous baritone for a more familiar-sounding soulful ballad. The latter of these two particularly stands out. Sparse instrumentation – kick drum, vibrato strings and piano – introduce a weary, pained voice that can’t fail to stir a sublime nostalgia in the listener. Another key musical offering is ‘New York is Killing Me’, in which the album’s glitchy and otherwise gloomy ambience is complemented by handclaps, cymbal crashes and a gospel choir. It is unlike anything Scott-Heron has ever done, and is all the more rewarding for it; his voice is being treated in new ways, in new contexts.

Throughout the album, we find Scott-Heron in especially meditative and unforgiving mood; but whilst pieces such as ‘The Crutch’ are memorable as showcases for Scott-Heron’s unique poetic talents, their arrangements are uninspiring and, frankly, overbearing. Worse still, stripping away the electronic arrangements conceivably leaves us with the mere bare bones of an album: excerpts from Scott-Heron’s writings, rehashes of old ideas (‘Your Soul and Mine’) and a few successful re-workings of others’ songs. As a whole, it feels neither satisfactory nor satisfying. Here’s hoping this album will mark the resurgence of Scott-Heron’s career. It should not, however, be celebrated as a true return to prominence.

6/10

By Bengee Gibson

Interview: Steve West (Pavement, The Silver Jews, Marble Valley)

2010-02-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

Unless you’ve been living in a vacuum since July, you’ve probably already heard (and evinced a little yelp of excitement because of) the news that indie/lo-fi legends Pavement will be re-uniting for a world tour this year. So, naturally, when ((URY)) Music discovered that drummer Steve West would be embarking on a winter tour of the UK with side-project, Marble Valley, we pounced upon the opportunity to interview him. Having at first failed to get him on the phone, we were surprised and amused to receive an email from West at 1:30am on the morning of Marble Valley's appearance at the City Screen Basement in York. Here, he provides us with some ‘delicate’ insight into the course of his current tour, Pavement’s plans for the future and, er, a youth spent singing in dog kennels. The cutting wit of a genius or the empty rants of a drunken man? Perhaps that's best left up to you to decide...

URY: Your current tour of the UK, humorously named ‘Super Sober’, is well underway. How is it going? Is it staying true to its title?

SW: It’s going super, but it is far from sober. I will not say anything more about cleaning up. We are just as weathered as ever, but we look cleaner.

URY: I understand you’ll be releasing a new EP to tie in with the tour, what can we expect from it? Can we look forward to new material, written since ‘Slash & Laugh’?

SW: Yes, fat sounds with a sober attitude, no more laughing. Just slashing.

URY: Given that you’ll be joining up with the rest of Pavement for a reunion tour quite soon, do you have any plans for a new Marble Valley LP in the not too distant future?

SW: Yes but we are waiting for our publicist to give us the green light to talk about it. shshshshshshhhhhhhh.

URY: Marble Valley are quite a cosmopolitan group, with you living in the US, two band members living in Holland and three band members living in Hull. How does the writing process work in the band? Do you tend to get together in one country, or is there quite a lot of long-distance tape-swapping?

SW: We all tend to fax our parts to each other on the third Thursday of every month. (Ed: How very organized!)

URY: Which Marble Valley track are you most proud of and why?

SW: What is this? Smash Hits? (Ed: To be fair, we should have seen that one coming!)

URY: You weren’t known as one of the principle songwriters in Pavement; but
Marble Valley has given you the opportunity to shine as a songwriter in your own right. Is songwriting something you had always wanted to do?

SW: I used to sing to my dog at home when I was young. When I sing on stage I close my eyes and pretend I am singing in a dog kennel. (Ed: They do say that dog is man’s best friend)

URY: You once claimed in an interview that, in an ideal world, you would like Tom Waits to be your tour manager and personal trainer; can I take it you are a big fan of his work? What other artists do you feel have had a particularly large impact on your music and your life in general?

SW: Tom Waits has great Knuckles. I hear he rocks on them. We’ve covered Status Quo, The Cars and we’ve also done the Crimewatch UK theme and the theme from E.T. They’re all influences in their own right. I am trying to teach the guys to whistle the theme from E.T.

URY: Will you be covering any other artists live?

SW: Future covers on the list to do are Mel & Kim’s – Respectable. We’re working on a version of ‘Mad World’ by Fears for Tears.

URY: Playing in Pavement again will mean that you’ll be swapping the mic for the drum stool once again. How has your drumming held up over the years since the split?

SW: Westy can Drum! With a little wd40.

URY: Bob Nastanovic was quoted back in August as saying that this Pavement reunion tour will be a ‘once and once only kind of deal’. Should we take him at his word on this? Or could there be a future for Pavement beyond 2010 – additional shows perhaps?

SW: Bob’s an extremely honest guy. I second that.

URY: The previous decade has seen a great many high-profile bands reuniting for tours. Many have refrained from releasing new material – The Pixies, for instance. Is there a chance that Pavement could release new material?

SW: No. I doubt it. It was great and I loved what we did.

URY: Despite tales of the acrimony surrounding the Pavement split, I’ve read that you’re actually all still pretty close. How are you finding working with the guys again? Is there a tension that comes with a return to a working relationship, or have things been smooth-sailing so far?

SW: It’s been fantastic so far. We haven’t met up yet! We have remained virtual friends over the years though. It has just intensified in the last few months.

URY: You’re also known for your involvement in the Silver Jews. Last year, David Berman split the band up, claiming that he was afraid he might record the answer to ‘Shiny Happy People’ if he continued to write! What do you think the odds are that the Silver Jews will return at some point in the future?

SW: I doubt it, but you never know. David is extremely talented person and a man of his word.

By Lachlan Marais-Gilchrist & Emily Beber

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Live Review - Marble Valley @ The City Screen Basement: http://ury-music.blogspot.com/2010/02/live-review-marble-valley.html

Album Review:

2009-12-08T04:06:00.000-08:00

Hudson Mohawke
Butter
Release Date: 26/10/2009

Hudson Mohawke built his musical career on his reputation as an artful turntablist, which might come as no surprise given the sense of augmented reality permeating his latest release on Warp records, Butter. Now, turntablist no more, Glaswegian Hud Mo (Ross Birchard) offers a unique blend of acid-soul-jazz-glitch-funk-electro-hop-step, where no beat is served straight-up. The sterile precision so often offered by electronic instrumentation is absent here; instead we receive broken organic swing rhythms and textures digital, analogue and acoustic all blended together into one satisfying aqua-crunk smoothie.

Schizophrenic sometimes and psychedelic always, this is one dynamic album; and with his distinct style, Mohawke naturally evades convention, making for refreshing if sometimes difficult listening. Mohawke is at his best when he is exploring the limits of this style, though it is also apparent that this album was composed with a careful ear. Acoustic and electronic morsels here are equally subject to whimsical modification and timbral amendments, creating previously unheard audial mechanisms to pique your pleasure. Human vocal sounds are used throughout the album, though most are either synthetically produced or presented in brief samples chipped to bits and used as instruments in their own right. Melody, texture and cadence converge and separate, disorienting the listener all the while placing your perception in a delicately crafted soundscape of intelligent design.

This album falls within the present musical movement bulldozing the boundaries that establish genres through distinct definitions of instrumentation, arrangement and cultural reference. A manifestation of our modern age, this music finds a metaphor in the inherent interconnectedness of information, breaking down our illusion of separation. That being said, this is unlike anything you've ever heard.

8/10

By Raymond Muehlman

Album Review:

2009-12-07T14:21:00.000-08:00

Animal Collective
Fall Be Kind EP
Release Date: 14/12/2009

You have to hand it to Animal Collective. Having crafted one of the most highly critically acclaimed albums of the year should be enough for any band, but the Baltimore trio seem more than keen to keep churning out new work. With a feature length film debuting at next month's Sundance festival and now this EP, it's been a prolific twelve months for a band that seems incapable of sitting still.

Notably, Fall Be Kind is far from simply Merriweather Post Pavilion: The Deleted Scenes. Rather, we are presented with a record yet more sprawling, more experimental and more genre-bending than its predecessor. The three highlights of the EP – 'Graze', 'What Would I Want? Sky', and 'I Think I Can' – are all distinguishable by their dichotomous structures; ambience and dream-like noise in the tracks’ first/second halves stands in contrast with melodic, catchy and often downright cute moments in the opposing halves to powerful effect (the pan flute loop in 'Graze' is enough to melt even the iciest of cynics’ hearts). It's a wonderful juxtaposition, and the other two tracks on the EP seem less memorable for their conventional linearness. They are by no means filler though; the brooding, reverb-laden 'On a Highway', suggests that Animal Collective have the potential to evolve yet again from their current state into something altogether darker.

A strong EP is a special and rare thing, even more so when it can be viewed as a separate entity to the album that preceded it: Fall Be Kind is just that. Animal Collective have successfully untethered themselves from their less accessible past but this EP proves that they remain a fearless and unique creative force in modern music.

9/10

By Thom Matthews

Album Review:

2009-12-07T03:06:00.000-08:00

Johnny Flynn
Sweet William EP
Release date: 30/11/2009

Nearly two years have passed since the release of A Larum, Johnny Flynn’s critically acclaimed debut album that left woolly-jumper-wearing-types nationwide, myself included, thirsty for more.

In those two years we have seen some dramatic changes within the music industry. Folk-influenced bands such as Mumford and Sons and Broken Records have quite quickly moved their way into a section of the mainstream, and their success has opened a window of opportunity for followers. With expectations high, Sweet William is Johnny Flynn’s first chance to see if he can still hold his own amongst this new wave of Folk.

‘The Mountain is burning’ starts the EP on familiar territory. Flynn’s distinctive voice and clever guitar work combine charmingly as always although, aided by an impressive new string and brass accompaniment, Flynn has developed a more elegant, layered sound, deeper than any of his work prior.

Despite the warming familiarity of the EP (which will be very appealing for the cold winter nights to come), it offers little signs of advances musically. Kept neatly in his comfort zone and with the Folk music scene steadily gaining momentum, I was left questioning whether Johnny Flynn is kicking leaves from a forgotten time.

5/10

By Andy Farrington