CRYSTAL CASTLES- Crystal Castles

Crystal Castles are 100% bona fide Hot Shit right now. Not only have the Canadian boy-girl duo got online tastemakers and the indie world in a tizzy, they’ve also built up a loud enough buzz for the broadsheets, tabloids, and TV to tip them for the top in 2008 too. And hell, who are we to rock the boat. Debut ‘Crystal Castles’ is a glistening slab of techno-electro-core that glides, soars, crunches, punches, stabs and screams in equal measure. Like everyone’s been saying, it’s great.

Opener ‘Untrust Us’ is a hypnotic squish of gameboy bleeps, bass beats and alien vocals, ‘1991’ is a dreamy skit on nu-rave and if ‘Alice Practice’ shows what these two are capable of without even trying, their synthed-up cover of HEALTH’s ‘Crimewave’ illustrates the singular, spacey heights they can reach when they force all four feet down on the accelerator. Deeper in and ‘Love And Caring’ is a glam-rock pulse-rifle on overload, ‘Courtship Dating’ is so good that Timbaland stole it and sold it to 50 Cent (karma perhaps?), and ‘Black Panther’ is solid gold electro-pop- bound to make your mouth water whether you party hard, dance late, or stay home in front of a stereo. Seriously, this is much more than hip hoodies and trendy jeans. Believe the hype.

FUCK BUTTONS- Street Horrrsing

Pop-punk, chart rock and indie schmindie fans turn and run now. London’s Fuck Buttons- Andrew Hung and Ben Power if you were introducing them to your mother- are here to mess with your head. In fact, when the boys came together at the tail end of 04, they wanted to blow your brains clean out- the duo’s mission statement simply reading ‘make as much noise as possible’- but now the manifesto has changed. And ‘Street Horrrsing’, the band’s debut album, doesn’t just push up the decibels; this thing pushes limits everywhere.

For starters the ‘Buttons don’t rely on any formula or fashion. Instead they mulch up all manner of sounds, styles, elements and even entire genres to spit them out as waves of sound and walls of noise. Just check opener ‘Sweet Love For Planet Earth’, a near ten-minute electronic epic that feigns twinkling tenderness before a single slowly-distorting riff and indecipherable feral vocals turn it into something much darker and more destructive, or closer ‘Colours Move’- oddly alien but raw and muddy and sounding like the perfect thing for David Lynch’s next end credits too.

Hell, this could all be film soundtrack stuff. Sure, where ‘Sweet Love…’ could soar over some ambitious drama or epic battle scene, ‘Bright Tomorrow’ sounds like something from the outback sections of Crocodile Dundee, but there’s a hyper-intense and addictive raw power to every drum thud, feedback roar and unfamiliar noise. By virtue of that name the duo are never going to be as big as other similarly experimental acts, but ‘Street Horrrsing’ remains a galloping beginning and more than proves the Buttons, given some careful editing, could be capable of future world-shaking brilliance.

PNEU + Silent Front + Shield Your Eyes + Cassette Cassee + Wow! Pigeon Eyes. West End Centre, Aldershot. 29.02.08

From outside the West End Centre, tonight’s show must just sound like naked noise. And a quick glance at the clientele on their way in makes it easy to assume that all the mess is being made by weird beardy boys. But that would be a coward’s way out. Instead the brave and unbiased that enter find volume, sure, but there’s a friendly atmosphere, experimental charm, and truly beautiful sounds flying through the air too. Yeah, yeah, some of it might be weird, but it’s often wonderful too.

Looking and sounding like they’ve stayed up way too late drinking and listening to everything off of Steve Albini’s CV (yeah, even that Bush album) local trio Wow! Pigeon Eyes ruffle feathers first. And despite their more angular attacks the band make good on promises of pop music, combining their punk spit with some shining off-kilter melodies. Sure they’re sloppy and fuzzy and gloriously out-of-tune in places but they aren’t half satisfyingly loud and direct. And at least they ply their trade from an actual stage.

Next up see, Shield Your Eyes, Silent Front, and Cassette Cassee each stake a claim on a corner of the room and proceed to play a song in turn- kind of like Jools Holland without Jools Holland- and man does it work. Shield Your Eyes start, sounding raw and rusty even, but playing with a Kinsella-esque sense of abandon. Their more loose-limbed efforts suggest incredible things to come but their time is not now. Cassette Cassee are better, melding scything guitars, intensity, art, and drama to make the sort of noise At The Drive-In fans will start dribbling over. And of course it’s always good to have a frontman who spends more time yowling at an already disorientated audience than singing his lines.

Londoners Silent Front have a little more decorum. But just a little. Sounding like punk fans in a hardcore band playing Rage Against The Machine covers (also mixed with whatever else you need to make that feel really fucking good), the trio drive their tunes home with a goddamn hammer. ‘Misanthrope’ is a curling ball of rage, ‘One Off The List…’ prangs and roars like a jet engine and when the show finishes with frontman Phil bent double, screaming into his guitar, it’s clear that, if there has to be one, these three men take top prize from tonight’s tête a tête a tête.

The big win though, goes to Parisien two-man marauders, Pneu. Also forgoing a stage, the duo set up right in the middle of the room and tell absolutely no-one before launching into their grinding everything-core. They only know enough English to quickly thank the people crowding so tightly around them so spend the usual chat-time playing more songs that sound like exploding bombs, like Hella, back on the guided missile they hopped off before recording their last album, or like Death From Above 1979, only with more death. Hell, Mike Patton probably already has their phone numbers, Aldershot loves them too, and when Pneu screech to a halt tonight, everybody goes home happy. Beautiful after all then, but that thing about the beards was fairly accurate though.

I WAS A CUB SCOUT- I Want You To Know That There Is Always Hope

Ah, sweet relief, ‘I Want You To Know That There Is Always Hope’ is wonderful. Despite the major label and the expensive production team (man at the controls Hugh Padgham was responsible for this song) see, there was always a chance that I Was A Cub Scout were going to rush to their first full-length and dash all their early promise. But the Nottinghamshire duo, still barely out of their teens, have done nothing of the sort and instead this is an album that embraces indie, epic-pop and even post-rock to create something truly beautiful. Opener ‘Save Your Wishes’ bubbles and then bursts into life, its buzzing synths, swirling effects, gentle verses, and huge chorus all pointers to what is to follow. To things like the dynamic volume of ‘Echoes’ and the ambitious swell and stomp of ‘P’s and Q’s’. And sure, some of ‘…Hope’ was always guaranteed to please (previous perfect singles ‘Pink Squares’ and ‘Our Smallest Adventures’ are included), but if anything it’s the newer material here that’s most impressive. ‘Lucean’ slots in dreamy keys and a horn section to luscious effect, ‘Recommendations’ relishes in mixing dark lyrics with light riffing and party pop, and highlight ‘The Hunter’s Daughter’ drives dance beats through an orchestra pit, sounding far bigger than two skinny boys ever should. A wonderful record from a young British band with now obvious global potential then. But you never had a doubt, right?

MATT POND PA- Last Light

Matt Pond PA do pretty well by association. For almost ten years the band, behind the frontman from which they take their name of course, have toured alongside the likes of Ted Leo And The Pharmacists and Liz Phair, shared record labels with Braid and Hey Mercedes and online comparisons range from Owen to The Arcade Fire. ‘Last Light’ though, a full-band effort arriving almost ten years after Pond’s scaled-down debut, does nothing to deserve such rich connections. Instead the opening title track puffs up like Feeder or some shitty band from the soundtrack to the OC, ‘People Have A Way’ sounds like Mika and ‘Taught To Look Away’ is so languid it inspires no emotion at all. It’s not all awful, ‘Wild Girl’ messes around with some Beatles-eque melodies and when the band wake up they get a few neat ideas down, but nothing really comes from any of them. Hell, ‘Last Light’ doesn’t even go out with a bang, leaving charmless snooze-a-thon ‘Its Not So Bad At All’ to prove once and for all that Matt Pond PA are capable of none of the style or elegance of the groups named above. Still brilliant by association then, but absolutely ordinary otherwise.

LIVINGSTON- One Good Reason

As something of a taster for London quintet Livingston’s forthcoming debut album, ‘One Good Reason’ doesn’t seem like it’ll be all that sweet. The band share a record label with a bunch of nasty electro acts, the track has been worked over by the same people responsible for recent drivel from Feeder and Stereophonics, and worse, this thing starts off sounding like something your local funk rock outfit would cough up. Give it just a minute though and '...Reason' becomes all at once catchy, cool, emotional and powerful, takes flight like My Vitriol or even ‘Showbiz’-era Muse, and climaxes with a glorious wall of guitar feedback. Expect it to start crawling all over rock radio and the inside of your brain sometime soon then.

DEATH IN PUBLIC- Biometrics

Ok so they might not have buzzed loud enough to make this year’s hot lists but if Death In Public carry on like this we’ll all be cheering on tinnitus by next winter. Indie kids never fear, this isn’t blood-curdling thrash and the Lancaster band certainly aren’t any kind of volume over talent proposition, but- much like their previous efforts- this thing doesn’t half rumble and fuzz and overflow with energy. ‘Biometrics’ is like Editors if they embraced a little more raw power or maybe even The Smiths if Morrisey dug The Stooges just a little, and it’s got enough heart, substance and smoky melodies to impress anyone too- except maybe those who hang about in Topshop. B-side ‘Motion Sickness’ highlights even further why this band are so promising- combining post-rock guitars with a desperate urge to be catchy and concise. The coupling isn’t quite perfect but this is still dirty pop done right- lo-fi as fuck but brilliantly anthemic, memorable and imaginative too. Here’s to Death In Public then, and all the hearing loss they’ll bring.

SHIPWRECK AD- Abyss

Shipwreck AD are brilliant. Well, at least they are while ‘Abyss’ is playing and pumping out your speakers and moving you to mosh your bedroom to bits. Things change as soon as the disc stops spinning though...

...Read on here.

ELECTRIC SIX- I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master

From that bitter title you might assume Electric Six were fired up here, that they were back for their fourth album with murder and chart-conquering malice in mind. But you'd be wrong...

...read on here

SERJ TANKIAN- Elect The Dead

How much you’ll dig ‘Elect The Dead’ pretty much depends on what you think of System Of A Down. Yeah yeah this is a Serj Tankian solo effort but the dude has spent the last ten years as the mouthpiece of SOAD and has incorporated plenty of the meaty riffs, quirky vocals and original oddness from his day job here. If you were expecting European techno or Bay Area thrash, you will be sorely disappointed. If you’re after rock, roll and some smart ideas though, Tankian has got you covered....

...Read on here

PAUL HAWKINS & THEE AWKWARD SILENCES- The Bigger Bone

A not-so-pretty little ditty about wanting more, more, more in which Paul Hawkins sounds both pissed and pissed-off and the band behind him dredge punk riffs and grunge rock into shapes just ugly enough to match the sour words. This isn’t anywhere near as cute or catchy as Hawkins’ last single but it is ten times more infectious and deadly. If indie music is plagued with soulless rats then Paul Hawkins is the new pied piper. Except this guy doesn’t escort the vermin away but eat them up and spit them out. Acerbic aceness.

KIDS IN GLASS HOUSES + Tonight Is Goodbye + SaidMike. Zodiac, Oxford. 24.10.07

Tonight Oxford is all about the future. Even from a distance the Zodiac’s line-up is glowing with good prospects, get closer and there’s a fluorescent pink flood of promise and potential washing down the street, and once inside the building it’s impossible to move for the glare of a band who are going to be absolutely huge.

First on and Welsh wonders SaidMike may not have progressed a whole lot since supporting The Blackout over the summer but continue to impress nonetheless. In frontman Tom they’ve got a singer who can actually sing, in their nifty keys and synth tricks they’ve got everything they need to keep things interesting and in tunes like ‘Mind Over Muscle’ and ‘Heads Down…’ they’ve got songs that could take them supernova. If they would just lift their heads a little, and maybe consider a name change, this lot could take over the world.

Planet-beating is something that Tonight Is Goodbye have promised for a while now. They may already have some slick moves and stylish poses down pat but this evening they expand their pop-rock arsenal brilliantly- boosted confidence, a bigger sound and brilliant-sounding new tunes helping them make the leap from local charmers to headline contenders with ease. They finish with a riotous version of ‘Black Dress’, girls scream, boys sing, everybody dances like a loon and the future, as they say, is most definitely bright.

Kids In Glass Houses sound close enough to that particular light to explode any day now. Truthfully the band are still a toilet-tour proposition and without a full-length to their name but, from the first twinkling notes of their set to the final ballsy bounce of ‘Me Me Me’, the Cardiff quintet handle the pressure of such a stellar supporting cast with ease. Frontman Aled is a super-self-assured dynamo and the band behind him sound like Funeral For A Friend with their passion fully restored, like Angels And Airwaves boiled to down to atmospheric pop perfection and, much like the other bands on tonight’s bill, are clearly ready for rock’n’roll superstardom.

Tonight Oxford was all about the future. And in these days of retro rock, vintage riffs and much British music looking desperately to past glories, it’s been a very reassuring evening indeed.

TORCHE- In Return

People will feel this record before they hear it. The booming bass will shake the ground, the titanic riffs will channel up arms and legs and the hypnotic distortion will filter through brains from a thousand yards. But beardy Floridians Torche haven’t just created a mega-loud monster here though, ‘In Return’ is out for your dancing shoes too...

Read on here.

CUTTING PINK WITH KNIVES- Populuxxe

Another runner from the ever-impressive Holy Roar stable, Anglo-American skinny kids Cutting Pink With Knives kick out the sort of demented sixty-second jams that most folks dismiss as dreadful noise. But this isn’t yet more dull grind and is a million miles from metal’s current brutal death obsession. This is like a cartoon soundtrack being fed through a backfiring amp. It’s what Spandau Ballet would have sounded like with extra garbled yelps and doom synths. It’s less The Locust and more Genghis Tron throwing a chart-pop party. And if you’re still not getting it then the fact that ‘Populuxxe’ is listed as ‘children’s music’ on iTunes explains a lot. Mad. But highly recommended.

THE PLIGHT- Black Summer

Oh yes, now this thing rocks. Not in the way that Lynrd Skynrd or The Eagles actually rocked, or in the way every awful DJ would say Bon Jovi do, but in the sort of fashion that leaves you bloody, bruised and breathless but with a huge smile on your face.

The Plight are doing nothing wholly original- If you want fresh sounds and punk progress then there is nothing for you here- but from the off ‘Black Summer’ is a balls-out, huffing-and-puffing wonder. ‘Clarendon’ clatters in on some rollercoaster drums before exploding into some greasy dirt-rock riffs, ‘Ball And Chain’ is a howling, foul-mouthed anthem against the daily grind and ‘Lifestyle’ stomps the lines between Thin Lizzy, Motorhead and Every Time I Die into dust.

If the formula sounds familiar it’s probably because The Plight do things with much the same blistering intensity as their former tourmates in Gallows. Only one track here strays over the three-minute mark, none of them come within a million musical miles of a clean chorus and each and every one retains a fire and passion that hasn’t been present in hardcore for what seems like forever.

‘Black Summer’ even looks the real deal too- Dan Mumford’s amazing, eye-catching artwork making it feel like the output of a wealthy, seasoned act, not a Leeds rock’n’roll band with just two EPs under their collective belt. It’s the perfect topping to a disc that rocks like it can’t think of any other way to be and sounds like an absolute blast from start to finish.

PARAMORE- Riot!

Paramore put in the perfect preparation for this. The Texan band’s 06 debut was a super sugar-rush of pop and rock and girly-voiced melodies. There wasn’t a lot else to it but for cheap, easy, musical thrills, ‘All We Know is Falling’ was just right. All they had to do here was find an extra edge and (frontgal Hayley Williams aside obviously) perhaps a pair of balls and they'd definitely be on to a winner. Disappointingly they haven’t done that, you could even put ‘Riot!’ on right after its predecessor and not notice the difference, but of course they haven’t entirely lost the plot either. The lack of anything new means opener ‘For A Pessimist…’ flies by without making a mark and ‘Hallelujah’ is nothing but the wettest of fish. In other places though (‘Misery Business’, ‘Born For This’) they still get sweet, solid gold pop just right. ‘Riot!’ then is pop music pic’n’mix- pink, fluffy and fully appetising from a distance but too much, for too long, and your teeth will rot right out of your head and your brain will only get bored. More substance next time.

DARKEST HOUR-Deliver Us

For almost a decade Darkest Hour have been playing punk-powered hardcore metal; thrashing about when it wasn’t cool, then while it was, and still doing it now, as everybody else searches for the next big thing. But the Washington DC quintet have seldom received the recognition they deserve for such hard work. And, while ‘Deliver Us’, the band’s fourth album, is a monster, it highlights exactly why they’ve failed to boost beyond the circle pits of their ardent admirers and into the metallic stratosphere.

Read on... here

COPELAND- Eat, Sleep, Repeat

It would be easy to assume what a new Copeland record would sound like. Most folks already have the Florida band firmly slotted into the emo genre and the energetic pop rocks they’ve previously produced will only make that easier. But ‘Eat, Sleep, Repeat’, rounded out by fragile, breathy melodies, diverse flourishes and solid, sincere songwriting, actually sounds more like a straight-up indie thing than any fashion-conscious troupe struggling with a difficult third album. The subtle gear change means this record has massive potential outside the usual ‘scene’ channels too, offering fans of Coldplay, Radiohead and poetic lyricism just as much as it offers those of Brand New and Mae. ‘Eat, Sleep, Repeat’ isn’t going to take the world by storm, but, listening to the gentle, sleepy sorrow of ‘I'm A Sucker For A Kind Word’ it barely sounds like it wants to. It is too well-articulated, too well-rounded and just too good to ever be tagged as mere emo though. And, regardless of whether you’ve never heard Copeland, or have been a fan of their previously louder output for years, this is arguably their best work to date.

STRAYLIGHT RUN- The Needles The Space

Ahh, now this is great. And that’s true whichever side of the Taking Back Sunday divide you fell. If your heart went with John Nolan and Shaun Cooper when they left the New York quintet in a flurry of harsh words over four years ago, ‘The Needles The Space’ is exactly what you’ve been waiting for since. And if you always stuck with team TBS then you just don’t need to worry anymore. Straylight Run aren’t going to come out rocking, they aren’t even aiming for that rack in the CD store anymore, they’re never going to test your loyalties again.

Read on... here

BOSSK + Manatees. The Roundabout, High Wycombe. 09.06.07

Fuck the ambience, fuck the emotion, tonight is about music you can feel in your gut. In fact, when Kent quintet Bossk truly find their groove, you can feel it in your limbs, lungs, heart, eyes and crawling all over your brain. There’s barely a part of the body that their Mastodon meets Isis post-metal doesn’t bruise. But it’s not like this show doesn’t have emotion or atmosphere covered either. While Carlisle trio Manatees have a similar disregard for eardrums (Paul hits his drums like falling bricks and Alex’s bass rumbles so violently it breaks mid-set), they excel at moments of hypnotic calm and swirling, smoky drama too. And, as ‘iii’ builds from tribal percussion to a roaring metallic burn, it fixes to put you in the sort of bug-eyed trance that wouldn’t break for weeks. Luckily the headliners are on hand to snap you back to life. Because, while the Bossk boys clearly enjoy a few quiet, mind-bending moments of their own, it is the weight, power and goddamn monolithic presence of their music that truly impresses. Every level on the soundboard is scraping the red but the band are trap tight and make every twist and crunching turn look easy. By the time a bespectacled frontman sidles through the crowd to scream the end of ‘ii’ the speakers are working so hard you can feel the hot air at the back of the room and glasses are vibrating on the bar. High Wycombe hasn’t heard anything as loud since World War Two. And that’s booming praise indeed.