Recent Stuff

Here's some links to a few things I've done for Under The Radar recently:

Vampire Weekend - Contra review: http://www.undertheradar.co.nz/utr/review/CID/262/N/Contra.utr

Spoon - Transference review: http://www.undertheradar.co.nz/utr/review/CID/260/N/Transference.utr

Interview with Aktion Unit and Young Lions: http://www.undertheradar.co.nz/utr/interviewMore/CID/165/N/Aktion-Unit-and-Young-Lions.utr

Metronomy Interview

In Salient - Oct 2009

Music released and performed under the name Metronomy often defies conventional explanation: breaking down the barriers between electro and guitar-based indie, solo effort and group project, energetic, upbeat tunes and introspective, melancholic arrangements, often meshing all these and more into a single song. Salienteer Ryan Eyers relaxed in the rare dose of sun (which would prove a great omen for their show later that night) that drenched the SFBH deck with Metronomy’s Joseph Mount and Oscar Cash on the afternoon of their show to talk about the composition process, the otherworldly nature of electronic music, the importance of live performance and the confusing motivations for creating music.

Salient: Being based mostly on computers and keyboards, how does the composition process work for you?

Joseph Mount: There’s not really much of a process… You just kind of muck around and see what happens, although for the next record I’m going to try and demo some things. It’s mostly about mucking around and enjoying spending time working on it.

S: I read that you started off as a drummer in various bands before you “realised you knew a bit more about melody” than you thought. Do you feel that coming from a drumming/rhythmic background changes the way you write stuff?

JM: Kind of… I used to do really complicated beats when I first started, but over the years they’ve become ridiculously simple! But yeah, I think the way it gives you a feel for the song really helps, it’s a good place to start.

S: Most of the music is composed and recorded by you Joseph, and then Oscar, you and the others help him perform it live. How much of an influence do you have on the writing/recording process?

Oscar Cash: I’m just the critic really! Joe will play me things and we’ll talk about them.

S: Do you write parts with them in mind?

JM: Yeah, definitely more now than before, with the new line-up with the live drums and stuff. But I suppose the thing with Metronomy is that it is still my songs… But working with people is so much more fun than I remember it to be back in the day. So I think I’d really like to, I’d love to do things with other people, but I think it’s nice to keep Metronomy, for the time being at least, as my kind of thing really.

S: You sort of straddle the boundary between solo and group project at times, don’t you?

JM: Well yeah, it’s weird because recording is one thing and then touring is another, and we’ve spent so much time touring… So I think it can still be a band thing. It’s not just like they’re session musicians, with the live performance they’re much more involved with the process.

S:Is it then difficult to translate that to a stage where it is able to be performed live?

JM: Oscar’s quite good at that. He picks the best bits!

OC: Yeah, I’d like to think I get first dibs! I suppose, when at the start of the year, when we changed the line-up to four and ditched the backing track, it wasn’t the easiest thing to translate. You can never make it the same as on the record.

S: There’s just so much stuff to bring across, isn’t there?

OC: Yeah, it’s funny because we used to use backing tracks loads, and we’ve just done the Parklife Festival in Australia, and the amount of bands using backing tracks, it was pretty much all of them, except maybe The Rapture… So I’m really happy that we’ve been a part of that and now we’ve gone the other way, like now the drummer doesn’t need a click, etc… And it means that you can’t necessarily carry everything across from the record, because you don’t have enough hands, but I think it’s a much more challenging thing to do than to just run a backing track.

S: So you don’t use them at all now?

JM: No, but it’s not like we’re saying we’re better than that or anything… But the amounts of stories you hear of bands’ backing tracks screwing up… and our computer isn’t the most stable thing in the world, but it’s nice now that we aren’t tied to one so much. And it’s really cool that it’s given our songs a different feel to them now that they are totally live.

S: On Pip Paine especially, it feels like you are going through stages of wild experimentation and exploration, just seeing what you can come up with, while on Nights Out it seems a little more structured and focused. Is there anything you are or were trying to achieve with those albums musically?

JM: Well on the first one, nothing, really! (Laughs) It was just stuff that I’d done and then put together. I was listening to tracks from that record and it’s weird because in the gap in between the two, some people seem to see it as a kind of rebranding or something… but it’s really not. I mean, on the first one it’s all about trying stuff out and getting to know how to do things, and with Nights Out it’s more like “You get a proper record deal, you want to make a proper record,” and you want it to be a concise thing where people understand it as a record. And I think it went down well with people because of that.

S: Nights Out features a lot more vocals, and because of this is more structured in a verse/chorus sort of way. Do you see your music becoming more vocally orientated?

JM: Well, I don’t know really. The only reason the first one doesn’t have vocals is because that wasn’t really what I was up to, and also I didn’t really think I could sing. And with Nights Out it was like I thought I’d give it a go. And I think the fact that people seem to really like the first one and maybe not the second, or really like the second and not the first or whatever… It just means that you can kinda do what you like in a way, and the most important thing for me really is to put as much wide-ranging stuff out there so you can’t really upset anyone. But if you do something like, if I started rapping… I might start rapping!

S: Your music has a bit of a synthetic feel at times, due to the instruments and technology it is composed on, yet retains a visceral and emotive sound to it as well. Do you find that there are challenges to your music being based on electronics and it still expressing what you want to fully?

JM: I think, me and Oscar both, in our own pieces, use a lot of old Yamaha keyboards or whatever, and I think in those sorts of instruments you can find a lot more emotional stuff than you’d think in a way. I mean when you think of all the electronic music that’s ever been, some of the most emotional songs are the ones which have this weird, disembodied, otherworldly feel to them, and there’s this sound where you can’t quite tell what it is. And I think that can often do more than say a singer-songwriter with an acoustic guitar, perhaps. Except for Newton Faulkner, he nails it every time!

S: Do you think then that the endless options for sounds that electronics provides actually makes it easier?

JM: Yeah! Well I think, especially the kind of music that I’ve come from, it’s a lot more electronic, and well, not ambient, but the stuff that is using those electronics, I think the strength of it is that it’s much better at creating a bit of a world which you can get lost in. There’s nothing that I like more than records which you put on and get transported. I remember growing up, certain records where you used to hear sounds, and you’d start imagining little scenarios to go along with them, and imagine certain characters.

S: There is a huge difference in tempo, feel and sound between songs on your albums, especially on Pip Paine…

JM: Well especially with that record, the way it was compiled in that songs didn’t seem to flow that well, and they took you by surprise, but with Nights Out it was far more thought about in terms of how songs would flow into each other, and so I suppose it was a bit more ‘cack-handed’ on Pip Paine.

S: What sorts of feelings/thoughts are you trying to express on your albums?

JM: Well not necessarily with the first record, except on a song-by-song basis yeah, there’s a lot of teen angst in there. In fact, a large proportion of the songs on Pip Paine were written to impress girls, which was probably the main motivation there! But with Nights Out, the idea there is that it all exists in the same strange place.

S: You mentioned earlier that a lot of people think your music is really fun, which I think is definitely there, but there also seems to be an undercurrent of darkness, a sort of gleeful malice going on…

JM: Yeah, there’s a difficulty with what people take from your music. What annoys me more than anything is when people say “Oh, your music’s really funny”—that’s an annoying one, because it’s like well yeah, there are bits of humour, but it’s not novelty music.

S: You guys are known for an energetic live show complete with synchronised chest light shows and dance routines. How much do you feel that live shows should go beyond the music, that they are as much about the actual performance as the music being played?

JM: They’re getting steadily less energetic! Although now I feel like, coming from a drumming background where you’re just sitting down, to now where we’re trying to make a show isn’t really something I thought I’d spend a lot of time thinking about and doing. But I think ultimately people are coming out and paying to see you play, so I think either they want to hear exactly the same thing as the record, where you might as well just put the CD on and play along, or you’ve got to make a definite line between the two. I think if you’re going to watch a band and be entertained, that’s what you’re after, and that’s what we want to give.

OC: I think you should always be creative with whatever you do. I hate it when you really like a band and you go to their show and there’s kind of a lazy vibe to it, it seems like you should put the same effort into every aspect. That’s not to say that bands who do that are lazy, some are totally great like that.

S: You’ve toured with some pretty big names: Justice, Bloc Party, Klaxons, CSS, which has probably led you to play some pretty large venues. What kind of venue do you feel most suited to/prefer?

OC: Well we did quite a big venue in London before we came out here, and I can enjoy it now and feel like it was a bit of an achievement, but at the time it was really nervewracking. That’s not to say that we don’t care about every gig, but I suppose it’s the small ones that can be the really fun ones for a band, maybe.

JM: Yeah, like last night (Auckland) felt like a proper kind of return to… something. Because we’d just done these two really great shows in Paris and London which were pretty big, and then Parklife, and that was cool but I’m not really sure what’s going on with us in Australia, because the crowds were good but it seemed like there were a lot of people who were there because we’ve maybe become a little bit hyped there or something? So last night was brilliant because everyone was just going crazy… and I think you definitely get more of that. But in that London show we just did, when you’re suddenly playing what seems like a massive venue, you get really nervous, because you start to think “Oh my god, this is real, we can’t really faff around”…

OC: Yeah, and I think when you’re supporting people in a big venue it kind of feels a little bit like you’ve got nothing to lose… and you can hopefully just win some people over.

JM: I think the kind of small, small but energetic crowd is kind of what we like.

S: You’re a pretty prolific remixer, remixing the likes of Klaxons, Gorillaz, Franz Ferdinand, U2, Kate Nash, Goldfrapp, etc. What motivates you to remix something? How is that process different from composing your own material?

JM: Well you can relax a bit more I think, because they’re someone else’s songs, and you don’t have an emotional connection as much. They’re a really good way of testing out ideas. But the motivation, at least in the first place with the first few I did was just money, really. We were touring and didn’t have any money and they basically supported us. So I think as time goes on the motivation becomes a bit less, because after you’ve done a whole load you realise that after you do them and you give them to the (respective) people, and that’s the last you see of your creative effort. So I think now I prefer to do less, I haven’t done any for a long time, because I like to hold on to the ideas.

S: I guess as well as the money aspect early on, they were also good at getting your name out there?

JM: Yeah! And I think with all of them I did make a proper effort doing them, as opposed to the way a lot of remixes are just banged out, and so I think they’ve been great for my own music. The more effort you put in the more you get out, really.

S: Why do you make music? Is there any particular motivation?

JM: I was talking to someone about this the other day, and they said “How long do you think you’ll be doing this for?” And I was like “Woah, I haven’t really thought about this, that’s a bit of a heavy question!” But I think probably you do it because you love it, in the first place, and then I think after that your reasons for doing it became more confused. I think I definitely do it for myself, it’s kind of the only thing in my life where I’m good at expressing myself. It’s kind of the best thing out there where you’re doing some kind of ’self-therapy’. And I don’t think there’s anything out there that any of us (Metronomy) do in a way that that’s of a similar equivalent. But then after that you get more confused about why you’re doing it anyway, because it’s an incredibly selfish pursuit! But then you come out to places like here, like Australia and New Zealand, and you play to people who are really into it, and love it, you kind of feel like you’re responsible for these people now as well, and that’s kind of an incredible situation.

S: Is there a particular audience you aim for?

JM: You mean like an age group? Girls in their late teens. (Laughs) It’s funny because I think when I started out I wanted to be liked by people who were into intelligent dance music, and then when we started touring, we found out that the type of fans we have, they’re different everywhere. And I mean we courted the scenesters for a while, but then we found out the people who stuck with it, they seemed really nice and genuine people. But I mean, whoever likes it is definitely welcome to it!

OC: Yeah, it’s strange, because we’ve had mothers and daughters travelling hundreds of miles to see us!

S: This is your second visit to New Zealand this year, after being here in January with Teenagers, we are very grateful for that! Is there anything in particular that makes you keep coming back?

J: From what I’ve gathered it’s pretty unusual for you to get two trips in a year. Shortly after we came down here the first time we were offered the Parklife festival in Australia, and so luckily we’re kind of wanted around here! But I mean coming to New Zealand is great, in Auckland last night it was fucking great! But there are these little parts around the world where we’ve had unexpected success, and we’ll try and make the effort to come back to them as often as possible, as long as we’re wanted. Coming back here twice in a year, to New Zealand, is great, and the people here are so much more grateful that you’ve come this far than say, those in Europe.

S: Top 5 albums for a desert island?

JM: Five albums? Wow, I would choose… I dunno, probably some standards. Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys. Which Beatles record is ‘This Boy’ on? I think it’s Please Please Me…

OC: I dunno, I like the red one.

JM: I’d take probably Outkast, The Love Below. I’d leave Speakerboxx.

OC: Poor old Big Boi!

JM: Hmm, and then I guess a soundtrack or something. The Christmas album that we wrote together, with some Christmas Carols on it, it’s quite good actually.

OC: Definitely, because you still want to celebrate Christmas on a desert island!

JM: Okay, so we’ve got Pet Sounds, Please Please Me, The Love Below, mine and Oscar’s Christmas album, and a fifth one? Which one do you want, Oscar?

OC: Maybe ‘Songs in the Key of Life’….Stevie Wonder, I quite like it. But I don’t like all of it! No….hmmm.

JM: Just choose one! What’s that Panic at the Disco one you like?

OM: Oh, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out? Yeah, I like that one…

JM: That’d be good, yeah, you could just slot it in!

Popstrangers Interview

In Salient - Oct 2009

With the thriving scene we’ve got happening here in Wellington it’s easy to forget that there’s some pretty damn good music being created in the rest of the country, especially in Auckland, with the likes of Brand New Math, 1995, The Naked and Famous, Surf City and Wilberforces making some pretty big waves, to name but a few. Another band on the up is Popstrangers, a three-piece whose brand of psychedelic, pop-infused noise rock is quickly collecting fans and admirers. Ahead of their first Wellington show, Salienteer Ryan Eyers spoke with lead singer/guitarist Joel Flyger about their sound, the trials of the recording process and their plans for the future.

S: Who are Popstrangers? How did you form?

JF: Popstrangers are Joel Flyger, Adam Page and Elliot Rawson.
We met through mutual friends then all of us were looking to form a
band and found out that we played instruments so started playing
together and it went from there.

S: What are your influences?

JF: We all like different music and have different influences but as a band at the moment we are listening to The Gordons lots, and the new Sonic Youth album, plus our friends bands.

S: 1000, the lead single off your recently released self-titled E.P. has a strong psychedelic/noise rock vibe. Is this the general feeling of your sound as a whole?

JF: Yeah I guess so, most of our songs have a chorus and verse to them, so they are normally pop songs, but we like to take our time to structure them, and like to make lots of noise so that kind of thing ends up being what we sound like I suppose.

S: With the E.P. being your first stab at recording any material properly, how did you find the process? Was it hard to replicate the rawness and energy of your live sound in the studio?

JF: Yeah, we ended up recording it 3 different times, the first time all the files got deleted... which SUCKED! Then we did it again ourselves, but recorded each instrument separately and it didn’t end up sounding like us, so then we tried one last time before we gave up on recording all together and just recorded it live and it worked and sounded pretty close to how we do when we play, so we were happy with it.

S: Your show supporting Surf City at Mighty Mighty is one of your first outside of Auckland. Are there any plans for a nationwide tour anytime soon, perhaps to promote the E.P. release?

JF: Yeah, we are thinking about doing a tour in late November/December but at the moment it’s cool just playing one off shows in places... but yeah, if it does happen it will be then!

S: How do you feel about the current state of music in NZ? Do you feel like there is a vibrant, underground scene that you fit into/are a part of? How do you see music progressing in NZ?

JF: Not too sure really, I know there’s lots of good bands in New Zealand but i don’t really think there's a certain 'scene' that we as a band fit into..there’s a few bands we love to play with in Auckland and find ourselves playing with more than others but I suppose it could be
better, but more and more bands are starting which is fun.

S: What are Popstrangers plans for the future? Tours, Overseas adventures, Album?

JF: For the future we are deciding at the moment... we definitely want to go overseas but are deciding on when is best, and yeah we have more songs we want to demo, then either do another E.P. or wait a little longer and do an album... and just play lots more fun shows.

S: Finally, If you could only take 5 albums onto a desert island, what would they be?

JF: Hmmmmmmm...maybe.......
Messerchups - Crazy Price
Sonic Youth - Dirty
The Pixies - Surfer Rosa
Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead

Popstrangers support Surf City at Mighty Mighty on October 3.

Their debut self-titled E.P. has just been released and is available for streaming or purchase at http://popstrangers.bandcamp.com/

The Beatles - Revolver

In Salient - Sept 2009

It’s pretty much impossible to write about The Beatles in 2009 without sounding totally redundant, so I’m not even going to try to review this album critically. Instead, I’m just going to say why I love 1966’s Revolver, why you should too, and why it’s so important that you listen to it if you somehow already haven’t.

I love Revolver because it has my favourite Beatles song from my childhood, ‘Eleanor Rigby’. Aside from the vocal harmonies, the only Beatle present is McCartney, whose solemn vocals float above an energetic string section that gives the song a stark feeling of contrast from earlier work, and highlights Revolver as a turning point in the Beatles sound towards more serious and experimental territory. It’s also an incredibly beautiful and touching song on death and loneliness, factors that didn’t stop me belting the lyrics out at the top of my lungs in the car when it came around on 1, my only experience of the Beatles for years.

I love Revolver because it’s the first time that Lennon and McCartney give Harrison (my favourite Beatle) the space to shine as a songwriter, not just a brilliant guitarist, with three tracks written by him, one of which (‘Taxman’) is even given the coveted opening slot on the album. Labelled the ‘Quiet Beatle’, for his professionalism and shyness in public, Harrison’s songwriting skills, while initially lacking, grew exponentially as he gained confidence but were only given recognition towards the latter stages of the Beatles work. With ‘Taxman’, Harrison launches an attack at the grossly unfair British Tax system (The Beatles were, at one stage, being taxed 95% for some of their earnings), combining harshly funny lyrics with McCartney’s rollicking guitar treatment and classic Beatles harmonies. Elsewhere, ‘Love You To’ displays Harrison’s increasing fascination with Hindu culture, drenched in Sitar twang and deft use of Tabla, while ‘I Want To Tell You’ expresses the frustration of being unable to communicate one’s thoughts, emphasised by the song’s chaotic instrumentation and spiralling vocal delivery.

I love Revolver because as an album it’s so balanced. The harrowing ‘Eleanor Rigby’ is followed by the soft dreaminess of ‘I’m Only Sleeping’, and Ringo’s starring moment in the jaunty ‘Yellow Submarine’ is paired with ‘She Said She Said’, Lennon’s acid-tinged trip accompanied by Harrison’s jangly guitars and McCartney’s fuzzy harmonies. The whole album works on opposites drawn together in a way that makes them feel born together, embodied by ‘Good Day Sunshine’, a song that never fails to make me smile with the way it opens with ominous piano before exploding into a charmingly optimistic song about love, radiating happiness and reminding the listener that regardless of the new directions shown on Revolver, the Beatles are still the best in the business at upbeat pop.

Finally, I love Revolver because it showed listeners (and more importantly the Beatles themselves) how much more textured and developed their sound could become if they spent more time in the studio and played around with stuff (They spent around 300 rather than the usual 100, setting a trend for future artists). While this undoubtedly sucked for audiences in the 60’s, with the Beatles withdrawing from live performances soon after Revolver’s release, for the rest of us it was awesome, sparking a period of musical creation that produced some of the best moments in music history, with Revolver acting as a springboard into the brilliant home stretch of Beatles albums (Sgt. Peppers, ‘White Album’, Abbey Road) that revolutionised pop music. And that’s why I love it.

Simian Mobile Disco - Temporary Pleasure

In Salient - Sept 2009

If you’re Simian Mobile Disco, being a prolific remix and production team that works with a wide range of musicians has huge benefits when you come around to creating your own music. It means you can call in a wide range of awesome guest vocalists to spice up your tracks and give them recognisable vocal hooks that you can play around with. And that’s exactly what they’ve done on their second album, Temporary Pleasure, the follow-up to 2007’s underground hit, Attack Decay Sustain Release, aiming for a more mainstream audience with a collection of extremely catchy and danceable tracks that work as well in a set of headphones as on the dancefloor.

Accordingly, most of the tracks are all about the vocals. Opener ‘Cream Dream’ layers Gruff Rhys’s ultra-smooth falsetto over a simple beat and repetitive, puncturing synth chords whilst the homage to excess that is lead single ‘Audacity of Huge’ features Yeasayer’s Chris Keating delivering some of the most ludicrous/awesome lyrics this side of Anthony Kiedis (Double dutch dinosaur duplex in Dubai/ I’ll be there with my friend the Sultan of Brunei). ‘Cruel Intentions’ matches a reasonably restrained Beth Ditto with suitably dreamy house-tinged synths and accents, highlighting a definite trend of softened edges that permeates the album, with notable exception ‘Off the Map’ recalling their earlier work’s slightly edgier feel, well aided by Jamie Liddell’s dirty, charged vocals (You can be Space, I’ll be the Invader). Ford and Shaw’s ability to create relatively minimalist soundscapes that slowly build up and arrest the listener remain undiminished, although the fact that they seem less beat-oriented may disappoint those who appreciated the abrasive nature of their debut.

This doesn’t stop them from being almost unconsciously danceable though, and it’s hard to listen to more than a few seconds of any part of this album and not feel compelled to move something. The album ends on a high note, with ‘Bad Blood’ borrowing not only the vocals of Alexis Taylor but also the quirky tweaks and rhythms of his band, Hot Chip, and closer ‘Pinball’ is also the album highlight, overlapping Telepathe’s delicate and soaring vocals over a range of synths, pulsing beats and deft percussive touches that mix perfectly. While creating songs that provide an instant, gleeful rush that should please clubgoers they also stand up to repeat listens anywhere, providing pleasures that are anything but temporary. Fingers crossed their supporting tour of this brings sees them return once again to the Boiler Room for BDO ’10.

Handsome Furs - Live Review

In Salient - Sept 2009

SFBH - 26 August 2009

Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry would make the coolest parents ever. Hailing from Montreal, the husband/wife duo make up electro punk act Handsome Furs, in Wellington at the SFBH for the first time as part of their tour for their latest album, ‘Face Control’. Gaining major respect before the gig had even started by setting up and soundchecking their own instruments, by the end of the show the Furs had the audience in the palm of their hand with their captivating mix of screeching guitars, hard-hitting beats, truly awesome stage presence and heartfelt performace.

With the majority of their set coming from ‘Face Control’, the Furs had no trouble finding backup vocals from an appreciative, fan-filled audience that eagerly joined in with Boeckner’s emotionally strained delivery of songs such as ‘I’m Confused’, ‘Evangeline’, ‘Legal Tender’ and ‘Radio Kaliningrad’. Equally appreciative of the enthusiastic support Boeckner and Perry repeatedly thanked the audience throughout the show, highlighting the colonial link between their home country and ours, where “we both have the Queen on our money, and nobody knows why”, while Boeckner endeared himself further to the audience with his boyhood tale of discovering New Zealand through Bailterspace and The Chills and dreaming of visiting here.

Handsome Furs’ music meshes together a number of opposites, mixing masculine and feminine, howling, emotive guitar licks with processed beats, and bare, tender verses that burst into loud, strong choruses, and their performance reflected this, managing to be equal parts cuteness and badassery. Boeckner’s guitar playing was violent at times, thrashing at his strings seemingly haphazardly but always finding the right notes, while Perry cued her beats and played her keys with an irrepressible energy, bouncing around the stage and dancing around her equipment in a way that transformed what could easily have been a boring task into something much more. Together they were an electrifying presence on the stage, putting on one of the least pretentious and most involved performances I’ve ever seen, with the only flaw being the set’s tantilisingly short length.

Arctic Monkeys - Humbug

In Salient - Sept 2009

Considering the ridiculous NME-driven hype surrounding the Arctic Monkeys you’d be forgiven for not realising that underneath it all they’re actually a rather brilliant band. Debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not burst out of an intense internet-fuelled bootleg fan culture, wowing critics and fans alike with its acerbic tales of youth , ingeniously simple hooks and irresistible catchiness. Follow-up Favourite Worst Nightmare deftly avoided the dreaded second-album syndrome that often catches promising debut acts out by showing the bands natural evolution and strengthening of their sound and song-writing abilities, which only increased the pressure for their third album and begged the question: could they do it again, or would they finally stumble?

The answer Humbug offers is a resounding yes, but not in the way you might expect, displaying a less frenetic and more mature, relaxed approach that richly rewards repeat listens. Many of the songs don’t provide the immediate satisfaction of their previous work but instead gently simmer in the ear, slowly warming the listener to the Arctic’s darker, more textured sound. That’s not to say that their traditional elements of jangling guitars, persistent rhythms and infectious vocals aren’t present, but rather that they’re worked into a deeper, more atmospheric overall sonic feel.

Opener ‘My Propeller’ showcases this change well, layering Alex Turner’s soothing delivery of his double-entendre rich vocals over an ominous riff and tom-filled beat before bursting into a chorus refrain backed by a woozy guitar line. Dreamy ballad ‘Secret Door’ perhaps shows best the influence Turner’s foray with side project The Last Shadow Puppets has had on his songwriting, while ‘Potion Approaching’ creates a brilliant concoction of rolling toms and snares, sliding guitars and gnarled vocals which develops into a sludgy, pulsing breakdown that oozes awesomeness. Turner’s lyrics are as clever and poignant as ever, and while the endearing stories of teenage larks are largely gone, his words can still be incredibly affecting, evidenced on ‘Cornerstone’, a tale of obsessive love lost drenched with feeling. ‘Dance Little Liar’ and ‘The Jeweller’s Hands’ close the album on a layered note, displaying their increased ear for effects and subtle atmospheric touches no doubt influenced by Josh Homme’s production work and serve as examples of the Arctic’s most fully-formed, perfect songs to date, all the while sandwiching ‘Pretty Visitors’, the heaviest and most energetic song of the album, cleverly intertwining the bands origins with their new directions. While perhaps not as instantly accessible as their previous albums, Humbug shows this group of Monkeys fully matured at the height of their song-crafting powers, showing no sign of relinquishing them but rather a broadening of the musical palette with which they create them.

Vorn - Modern Classics

In Salient - Aug 2009

Its immediately clear on Modern Classics, local musician Vorn Colgans fifth album in 10 years, that he isn’t afraid to express his kiwi roots. Weaving resonate tales of Wellington life in songs such as ‘That Night on Courtenay Place’ and ‘Upper Hutt Symphony’, Vorn’s lyrics are reflective of his surroundings but also touch on common themes of loneliness, alienation, frustration, love and freedom. While the album examines these serious concepts in depth Vorn also makes it clear the listener should not take things too seriously, mixing wry humour with more obvious skits such as the droll monotone that announces that one has arrived at the middle of the record, and “what a piece of work it is”, showcasing that essentially Kiwi ability of self-deprecation.

Accordingly, the overall sound reflects this up-and-down approach, switching between a range of styles, tempos and instruments, giving the album a sense of diversity that helps keep it interesting. ‘They Don’t Know You’ mixes ska/funk instrumentation before dissolving into multi part vocal harmonies, while ‘Inflation’ mixes scratchy guitars with droning vocals and an arresting solo to create something that mixes well with the songs subject matter of consumerism gone wrong. ‘I Wanna Rock’ bounces and rolls with a plodding intensity and is immediately followed by the straight pop and lilting synths of ‘Employee Assistance Program’ while ‘Small Worlds’ adopts a spoken word/ hip hop vocal approach over jangly guitars and a tom-filled beat.

Despite this seemingly attractive mix, Modern Classics somehow manages to be a slightly boring listen, perhaps due to the over-saturation of drawn out vocal harmonies that appear on almost every track, which gives them a samey feel that clashes with the instrumental experimentation. While Vorn’s lyrics are arguably the highlight of the album the delivery of them is also its greatest weakness, with Colgan often pushing his voice far past its boundaries without the range to back it up. This often has grating results that along with some gimmicky instrumental cameos dispel the desire for many repeat listens. Modern Classics is an ambitious record that produces some entertaining moments, most notably the final three track run of ‘Small World’, ‘Becoming Some Body’ and the fully formed closer ‘Small Things’, but tries to cover too much musical ground, and as a result much of the genre amalgamations quickly descend into novelty, which ultimately gives the album limited long-term appeal.

Live Review - Dimmer w/ The Family Cactus

In Salient - Aug 2009

For me, gigs are almost impossible to go into without any preconceived ideas of what is going to happen, or how I will experience them, based on either a familiarity with the artist’s music or knowledge gleaned from other sources, such as others recollections or the artists reputation. So even though I’d never heard much of Dimmer’s music, I’d definitely heard of Shayne Carter, the Kiwi rock veteran behind both the band in question and Flying Nun stalwart Straightjacket Fits (recently inducted into the NZ Music Hall of Fame), and knew to expect an intense, emotionally charged set. And boy, did he deliver.

First up though were Welly-based up-and-comers The Family Cactus, a band quickly building a following as a great live band, and who have just released their debut album, Come Howling. Coming on they seemed a little nervous, but as the crowd quickly warmed to them they gained confidence, most notably singer Adam Ladley, whose voice seeed to grow stronger and more assured with each song in their set. As a seven-piece they created a dense, textured sound that served as a great background to Ladley’s crooning, soaring voice and blended well with the harmonised melodies created between Ladley and backup vocalist Nina Siegler. While their song structure became a little predictable after a while, what they stuck to they did very well, creating solid blues-tinged indie rock that the crowd definitely appreciated.

Opening with the eponymous lead single from their latest album (which the show served as the release for), Degrees of Existence, Dimmer opened with an intensity that lasted throughout their set. Touching upon multiple genres of rock, metal, shoegaze/post rock, blues and industrial, often within the context of a single song, they held the crowd transfixed throughout, with Carter’s haunting delivery cutting through dark, ominous guitars and recently returned drummer Gary Sullivan’s primal, driving beats. The tone of the songs changed often from quiet, atmospheric lulls to heavy cathartic highs, wrenched with emotion and grit, reflecting Carter’s seemingly sadomasochistic relationship with his guitar, at one moment delicately plucking soft notes and the next strangling it for every possible distorted, sinister, or strange sound he could conjure out of it.

Showcasing 20+ years of experience, Carter and his band put in a compelling performance, and as I left Bodega, ears still ringing from the pure noise that was final encore song ‘Crystalator’, I felt a little shell-shocked, but definitely content, happy in the knowledge that I’d seen a legend in his element.

BLK JKS - Mystery EP

In Salient - July 2009

BLK JKS are a South African band whose sound encompasses noise, avant-rock, dub, afro-beat and progressive, to name a few. While they’ve been around since 2000, touring heavily throughout Africa and Europe, the 2009 release of their Mystery EP is their first batch of recorded material.

The EP opens with ‘Lakeside’, enticing the listener with soft washing guitars and a pulsing drumbeat that are soon joined by eerie wails and singer Linda Buthelezi’s crooning, despairing voice, which lead the song towards a rapid conclusion drenched in distortion that reaches higher and higher up the sonic scale, almost spiralling out of control before softly landing and fading away. This sets the tone for the entire EP, which continually sets out to entrance the listener, drawing them into BLK JKS chaotic world of crashing cymbals, masses of feedback and psychedelic guitar solos. Where this would become disorientating and too convoluted to follow, Tshepang’s strong, driving rhythmns and Molefi’s steady bass lines give the songs a strong foundation on which the guitars can readily explore upon, creating walls of sound that arrest and captivate the listener.

BLK JKS strongly value their heritage, developing their style of music out of the Zulu tradition of Mbaqanga, with their odd time signatures drawn from tribal African percussive music and the lyrics often sung in both English and Zulu. ‘Mystery’ begins in English, proclaiming that “all the wise men around the world can’t figure out the answers” as Linda sings about the mysteries of existence, before switching to chanting in Zulu through the cathartic breakdown, adding even more allure to the song’s thematic exploration. ‘Summertime’ utilises a shuffling beat to take the listener through waves of dub-like guitar and sombre, drawn-out vocals to a classical guitar solo that sprawls out over a minute, building out of a calming duet with the bass that soothes the listener, preparing them for the slower pace of finisher ‘It’s In Everything You’ll See’, a song that sounds like it could be straight off the soundtrack of an epic South African Western.

Straddling the balance between two major musical cultures in their home country, BLK JKS are a hugely talented band that create music that is intoxicating and exhilirating, and certainly leave the listener wanting more, so it is just as well that their debut LP After Robots, scheduled for release in August, comes so soon after this extremely promising EP.