circulation volume 1: issue 3

Ghostpoet

USIC MAGAZINE

YorkCirculation3.indd 1 08/05/2011 13:42

CONTENTSFeature ¬

Ghostpoet 03 Red Snapper 04

Live Review ¬ Live @ Leeds 2011 06

Album Review ¬

Jamie Woon 08 Battles

Fleet Foxes Beastie Boys 09

Joan as a Policewomen Bill Callahan

Metronomy 10Panda Bear

The Kills TV on the Radio

Columns ¬

Folk 11Hip-Hop

Metal Underground

Summer Mixtape ¬ 12

Spin-off ¬

Alternative Choice 13

EDITOR’S NOTE

TEAM

Jack LuckettEditor

Amy JenkinSub-Editor

Matt HareReviewer

Ben BarronColumnist

Nathan MarksReviewer

Matthew PorterReviewer

Oliver RhodesColumnist

Tom RobertsComments

David WardEditor

Lev HarrisReviewer

Hana Teraie WoodReviewer

Tom KillingbeckColumnist

Gus Beamish-CookComic Strip Artist

Bhav MistryDesign

Adam BychawskiSub-Editor

Bengee Gibson Sub-Editor

Jake FarrellSub-Editor

Cathal BrophyReviewer

Harriet EvansReviewer

Oliver HutchingsReviewer

Damien AllinsonReviewer

02 Contributors & Contents

This term we bring you interviews with one of Britain’s most exciting new acts, Ghostpoet, as well as an insight into the minds of pioneering electronic jazz act Red Snapper. Further, Jose Carbajo gives us a tour of North Yorshire’s most prestigious music festival, Live at Leeds. Along with the usual round up of the best new albums, we have special features on the summer’s festivals, as well as a seasonal mixtape. Contact us at [email protected].

http://bhavmistry.com2428.

José Carbajo Editor

M


03 Features

Ghostpoet (stage alias of Obaro Ejimiwe) came to York during the middle of one of the sunniest periods I have known in the city. Unbroken good weather has continued for upwards of a month as I write this, making Ghostpoet’s recently released debut album, Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam, a bit of an incongruous listen. It is born out of the underground scene in London - dubstep, grime, witch house - and is a distinctly wintry listen. Ghostpoet, however, is no silent scenester who has made it big. Indeed, his flow and energy has drawn many comparisons with the most energetic and charismatic spoken-word acts and he is an engaging stage presence. Leading a band consisting of a drummer and guitarist while rapping and taking care of the electronic side of things means he is pretty busy while performing but he is careful to build a rapport with the audience in the Duchess. We managed to catch up with him a few minutes after his show...

about University grime groups...

I started writing little things really early on in my teens but it didn’t really go anywhere. I’ve always had a weird desire to just write, it wasn’t really anything like a big plan. That was the beginning. Then I went to university and started to properly dabble in music. There were people around me interested in making music so yeah, I started to do grime up there with a bunch of guys and we went out and played. From that, I just started writing more seriously, developing my sound and now I’m here.

Interview with ¬

Ghostpost

Brownswood, Gilles Peterson’s record label.

around early 2010, maybe late 2009, here. Around that time, a friend of a friend knew a guy who met a guy who knew someone at Brownswood and told him to check me out. He checked me

my demos down. They liked that so they were like “Come to a

him I was just like “Ok...” but he was really cool, really chilled out.

what I was planning to do and he was just like “Alright. This is gonna happen.” It was all as nonchalant as you like. I was like “Ok... fair enough”, and we just went from that, really.

people haven’t quite got it because they see me as an act from a different genre but I don’t really see it like that. I see my music as not really genre-specific - it could be anything, really. Audiences have been listening, I’ve got people dancing. It has been tough - support slots are tough - but its been good. Its all a learning curve,

Feature


03 Features

towards a live band atmosphere than other similar acts like early Dizzee Rascal or Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip...

the beginning I’ve had a guitarist and drummer but I do love

have that combination because music is live - you need that live

people moving, and you don’t want to lose that. I think I will bring some more electronics, maybe some more live elements but it all

the London underground scene with acts like Katy B, James Blake and Jamie Woon getting some serious attention. Do you see

see myself as one of those guys. If it happens, it happens but I’m not out for that.

Ghostpoet’s debut album, , is out now on Brownswood Records.

Jack LuckettRed Snapper are a band formed in 1993 and were hailed for their combining of acoustic and electric elements, taking hints from both jazz and electronica; particularly influential in early drum & bass. We talked to them about their upcoming album, Key.

and a nod to where we are going in the future. There is definitely a feel from the early days: dirty, rockabilly tinged sounds. It is a proper album that we have put loads of feeling into.

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years, sometimes an idea that came from a soundcheck before a show. Other times we sent each other ideas and the flow came from there: a new way of working for us, in the past we have always had a studio together in London, now we are all over the

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album with no record company pressure behind us so we have

ever thought of ourselves and our fans that react to tunes at gigs;

displays what we do best, woking as a band, firing ideas of each other and being self-sufficient.

they make. I think we have been doing this since we first started buying records in the olden days; it is a natural thing to us and as

Interview with ¬

Red Snapper

04 Features


04 Features

young producers out there and the lines of definition and pigeon holes are becoming more blurred. This is a good thing.

the coming together with Gavin Clarke occur and how involved as

natural thing to do. He’s a busy man so he legged it down to Foel studios one day and knocked it out like a true pro.

reason or another it didn’t happen. Ali was playing in The Imag-ined Village with her and she asked to do vocals on 2 tracks. It has

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rolling beat behind it. It goes off live now.

me about this is a narrative being attached to the track, is this

-sciously we individually have some kind of narrative in our heads when we are playing, that whole thing of a scene of a film going

a visual artist as opposed to a music video director.

-ning my own labels in 1990 when it was easy to release quality underground music yourself, nowadays that is really the only way to do it. The biggest change is the fact that you can make a tune

The internet has changed things irreversibly. It worries me that the wrong people still control the industry but for the above reasons there will always be a strong underground movement where new

It is great to see that live music is thriving. Unfortunately people have a lot less time for music now, games etc have distracted a lot of people who years back would have been buying records and

Jamie XX remixing Gil Scott-Heron, and would that be something

similar reasons to what I have talked about in the questions earlier.

-

David Ward

05 Features


06 Live Reviews

José Carbajo gives us an account of Leeds’ exposé of underground talent.

My day started at the ever-popular Nation of Shopkeepers with providing a fusion of English and Indian folk. Lead singer

Nivedita Pisharoty’s voice was the focal point of the outfit, floating nicely over brass and string grooves created by the rest of the band. Her singing was perhaps the highlight of the half hour set as she effortlessly switched between a clear English folk tone and tra-ditional Indian intonation and after an entrancing bilingual cover of The Smiths’ classic ‘This Charming Man’, Maggie8 proved that they are a band well worth catching again. The same can’t be said the follow up act, Films, whose early attempts at widescreen Kings of Leon-esque desert ballads assured me that it was probably time to get a drink.

After sipping down a flat San Miguel, I headed to the O2 to see if James Blake’s transition from the mixing desk to centre stage was really worth the last 4 months of internet hype. Apart from some early timidity coupled with sound issues during ‘I Never Learnt to Share’, Blake certainly confirmed his reputation as one of this years most captivating live acts. He rose to the challenge of bringing his bedroom produced mix of bass-heavy indie bal-lads to a live setting by hiring the help of two old school friends to play guitar, drums and sampler. The live result did enough to honour the intricacies of his production whilst giving the audi-ence a visual human connection – something that electronic artists have always struggled to do. ‘Lindsfarne’ benefitted from the live folk guitar, whilst ‘Limit To Your Love’s dub infused outro gave the capacity crowd something to dance to. However, the biggest anthem in Blake’s set was the closer ‘Wilhelm’s Scream’, the fuzzy synth’s washing all over his reverb soaked vocals to climax into a euphoric wall of sound. The quality of the set reinforces Blake’s insistence that his music achieves its sonic potential when played loudly through a club sound-system, instead of through a set of ipod headphones.

If James Blake’s set was a virtuoso exhibition of a finished musical product, Adult Jazz’s 5pm showing at the Holy Trinity Church was the portrayal of fledgling act with bags of promise. Although it was only their fourth ever gig, the Leeds University trio challenged the audience to a patchwork of musical motifs, ignoring the traditional verse, bridge, chorus pattern that is so common in traditional song structures. Although their eccentric mixture of Balkan folk, Afrobeat and dreampop was difficult to appreciate at first listen, its refusal to leave my head since the gig has confirmed this band exist in the Animal Collective mould.

I made the switch from the house of worship back to the alcoholic watering hole to check out Oxford’s latest math-pop quartet Trophy

. Although the rhythms were tight and the riffs were catchy, they lacked the stage charisma to merit their tagline as the next Foals. So I forked out some taxi money to make sure that I was in time to catch Paul Thomas Saunders. My travel expenses were more than refunded, as Saunders’ only needed half hour to show why he is Leeds’ best-kept secret. I was shocked to hear that has been kicking around for almost two years because his tape echo folk balladry was so poignantly captivating that it silenced a packed Brudenell Social Club.

Although the line-up was not as consistent as previous years, my experience at Live at Leeds 2011 proves that the city is still one of the country’s more vibrant musical scenes, and there is no reason why you shouldn’t go next year if you’re in the area.

Live Review ¬

Live @ Leeds 2011

Adult Jazz


08 Album Reviews

Followers of Jamie Woon’s fast-rising career will remember that his first output graced Youtube four years ago. “Wayfar-ing Stranger”, a sparse innovative cover of an American spiritual showcased a

The critical success of Battles’ debut album Mirrored is often placed at the feet of ex-front man Braxton Tyondai. His heavily modulated vocals produced their distinc-tive aesthetic: half-castrati munchkin, half-sexual predator. Tyondai’s departure has had two major effects on Gloss Drop. Firstly it has provided a narrative around which all reviewers will feel obliged to structure their analysis and secondly it has allowed the band to experiment with guest vocalists.

For the most part the band have retained their effortless and intense signature sound. The main point of departure comes in the form of the album’s lighter summery moments. The first single ‘Ice-Cream’ with Matias Aguayo is an extreme example of this development, sounding reminiscent of indie-pop darlings Vampire Weekend, but other tracks such as ‘Dominican Fade’

The much-anticipated crop from Fleet Foxes’ delayed harvest has had critics waiting with baited breath. Riding an auspicious wave of fortune from their self-titled first album, it has been a difficult decision for the band

beautiful, soulful voice supported by haunt-ing harmonies and hand clicks. Woon de-veloped his penchant for vocal loops on a following track, “Spirits,” amongst acoustic folk-tinged numbers such as “Gravity,” while “Wayfaring Stranger” was remixed by Burial. 2011 has seen Woon learn les-sons from that elusive purveyor of dubstep when creating his debut.

The infectious grooves of singles “Lady Luck” and the Burial-produced “Night Air” are complemented by the warmth and introspection of “Waterfront” and “Spiral.” Driven by guitar and falsetto, they become modern day electronic ballads thanks to the inclusion of natural samples such as pebbles and wicker baskets that permeate the low-end bass hits throughout. Greater eclecticism can be heard in “Middle,” with its Timbaland-esque percussion, weaving bass, and vocal manipulation of R&B yelps similar to Floating Points and Four Tet. “Spirits” and “Gravity” are treated differ-ently from their previous live incarnations:

Jamie Woon Mirrorwriting

BattlesGloss Drop

and ‘Inchworm’ represent far more suc-cessful integrations with their past. Whilst the album’s polyrhythmic ventures into the tropical are a welcome development they sit poorly alongside material such as ‘Rolls Bayce’ and ‘My Machines’ ft. Gary Numan, a sinister industrial number which compliments much of Mirrored but sounds disconcertingly anachronistic on Gloss Drop. Much of the material compares favourably to songs that serve similar pur-poses in Battles’ back catalogue, ‘Africas-tle’, for example, is a superbly developed opener that draws the listener in far more effectively than ‘Race: In’ ever did and ‘Sundome’ ft. Yamantaka Eye ends the album on a bombastic note where ‘Race: Out’ only offered a fade.

However, despite its moments of brilliance the album fails to cohere effectively, it is an ambitious follow up which occasionally lacks direction and suffers as a result. This is best seen on ‘Sweetie & Shag’ ft. Kazu Makino, an upbeat number in isolation

whether to steer their relatively safe Ameri-cana sound away from its indie-appalachi-an folk lyric to a more focused and earnest form of song writing.

Given the success of their first record, pre-mature success was always going to be a hurdle for the band. Rather than pandering to the audience’s desires for a musical rein-carnation of their previous work; impressive-ly Fleet Foxes have collected their strengths to generate skilled harmonic fluidity as the driving force of adventurous melody rather than mere vacant ornamentation.

While this is a progression for the band’s overall sound, it has a distinct hark towards a time of rustic acoustics and fastidious textures. The inclusion of lingering wooden flutes and hammered dulcimers only reminds the listener of the lack of an electric guitar, carrying a redundant and monoto-nous riff. Although the band adheres to a set nostalgic tone, not far removed from the likes of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, it is the evocative loneliness of lead singer,

Album Reviewsthe former adopts a breakbeat chorus, muted guitar and legato strings, whilst the latter is imbued with such reverb it sounds like it’s being transmitted from a galactic concert hall.

The album does have its weaknesses: “Street” finds Woon’s voice at odds with a linear four to the floor stomp, whilst “TMRW”’s neo-soul becomes repetitive. But these are only weaker because they are slightly more linear than a hugely diverse collection of tunes that otherwise display Woon’s creativity. The tracks that stand out, though, are those that make you move: “Night Air” a perfect slice of dance-pop, and “Lady Luck.” All in all, the four-year wait for an LP seems entirely worth it. Although it would be intriguing to have seen what happened if the atmos-phere was stripped from Woon’s sound, Mirrorwriting is as close to a contempo-rary electro-soul masterpiece as one is likely to hear.

Benedick Gibson

Robin Pecknold, who encapsulates a lyric that denotes a mature and more contempla-tive approach to their music.

Pecknold’s vocal performance on tracks ‘Someone You’d Admire’ and ‘Montezuma’ remind us why we fell for the band’s previ-ous album. However, instead of requiring a hefty dose of sunshine and youthful opti-mism to listen to the album, ‘The Cascades’ and ‘Grown Ocean’ provide an entry level that is much more accessible; the intent force behind their rhythmic pattern allowing an odd break of vocal convention in the Seattle-based groups music.

Helplessness Blues contemplates youthful fears of growing older. At 25 years of age, Pecknold is too young to exacerbate his concerns of an ill-fated future. Instead he and the band take advice, wisdom and sanctuary in the songwriters of a previous generation to produce a replenished take on their enchanting musical dynamic in an overcrowded alternative pop scene

Matthew Porter

which falls flat when sandwiched between two short but highly memorable tracks. Battles genius is evident on ‘Gloss Drop’ but in order to produce another master-piece the thread of Tyondai will need to be replaced by something far stronger.

Oliver James Hutchings

Fleet FoxesHelplessness Blues


09 Album Reviews

“Get up!” is the opening cry of the Beastie Boys’ eighth album signifying the trio’s return to their signature vocals after the instrumental interlude that was The Mix Up. This long-overdue album comes as a victory badge symbolising the band’s triumph over the complications of cancer that threatened to rock their success. It retains the rebellious teenage vibe of previous albums such as Check Your Head and Licensed to Ill, yet this time without the familiarity of teenage voices. These boys are evidently still making music for kids, but no longer as kids.

A playground quality presides over the sound of most of the tracks, interspersed with a few more sophisticated sound-ing ones. The combination of pounding, heavy bass and screeching guitar riffs in tracks like “Say It” and “Lee Major’s Come Again” reassures the listener of the band’s

The Deep Field marks Joan Wasser’s third album under the name Joan As Police Woman. The album is a marked change in direction for Wasser, who has previously worked with Antony and the Johnsons,

Bill Callahan is a tough guy to know. His songs often feel like intimate confessions, but have been coloured with streaks of winking humour and ambiguity which en-sure you can never quite let yourself settle into too good an idea of just who Bill Cal-lahan really is. Despite this, two decades and fourteen albums into his career, his latest finds him settling more comfortably than ever into the enigmatic hole he’s been carving out for himself under the moniker of Smog, and more recently with his own name.

His earlier albums contained deep strains of misanthropy and darkly confrontational sexuality, and yet much of Apocalypse seems a long way from the work of the man who ten years ago sang on Cold Discovery that ‘I can hold a woman/Down on a hardwood floor’. Instead, this is an album that continues to develop away

enduring, boisterous attention seeking. There are self-assured lyrics reinforced by energetic vocals, but the apparent tagline of the album: “rock the house until the break of dawn,” is somewhat unconvinc-ing coming from 50 year-old men. It is perhaps for this reason that that line is ren-dered, in “ ”, by a child’s youthful tones. The aggressive vociferating in previous albums has been replaced by a high-pitched taunting which attempts to mock the system instead of shouting it down. The result is like swapping Playmo-bil for Play-Doh – it’s the same childish-ness. “Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win” is an album highlight, a dub track with Santigold that features an uplifting, soulful brass section giving it a laid-back sophistication.

Much of the vocals on the album are muf-fled under heavy basslines, making their interpretation almost impossible. In its de-fence the album is in touch with the current 80’s revival in a big way. However, it must

Rufus Wainwright, and former lover Jeff Buckley. Right from the opening track we are struck by the decisively more carefree and upbeat sound Wasser has opted for. ‘Nervous’ feels lazily arrogant, a crunchy guitar riff strutting along into a simplistic synth-based chorus that builds into the closing fade.

Wasser has clearly made a conscious decision to lyrically avoid topics covered in previous works such as heartbreak and loss. Final track ‘I Was Everyone’s’ uplift-ing proclamation “You will feel the tides turn for you” alongside the closing refrain of “We are the champions” feel a world away from 2009’s single ‘Start of My Heart’, riddled with its mournful regret.If not love, then certainly sexuality and physical attraction are touched upon. Single ‘The Magic’ depicts her search for a spark between two people, whilst the accompanying video is riddled with sexual imagery. However, The Deep Field’s stand-out track has to be ‘Flash’, a truly mesmer-

from such starkness that began with his switching of names in 2007, and is one of the most assured and relaxed releases in his discography.

Accompanied by a band that seems appropriate to the pastoral Americana of the cover, with softly scraping guitars, brushed drums and the occasional flutter of fiddle or flute, as well as the odd echo of distortion to keep things grounded, Cal-lahan deploys his characteristic baritone on seven songs which breathe with the widescreen beauty of a classic western. Imagery of animals and open spaces abound, from the cattle-driving narrative of ‘Drover’ to the album highlight ‘Riding for the Feeling’, which uses horse riding imagery for an aching evocation of the pain of departure.

On the one hand, this is an emotionally rich throwback to the great singer-song-writer albums of the 70s. But on the other, both lyrically and musically, it manages

ising seven minute adventure rich in texture and layering. The minor riff loops continu-ously, but it is the inserts from the oboe underneath a haunting tribal chant that set the song apart.

Parts of the record begin to drag after a number of listens and it does require the listener to be loyal; songs such as ‘Forever and A Year’ need to be fully concentrated on both lyrically and musically. As a result, The Deep Field cannot simply be played in the background or enjoyed as a one-off, but rather as an entirety. The album is a joy to listen to, despite Wasser not having completely shaken off the wistfulness of previous works. Whilst it is ultimately a successful album, The Deep Field demands a bit more from listeners than they are always willing to necessarily give.

Damian Allinson

to be an especially tight and assured example of the kind of quietly beautiful records that Callahan has been putting out for years. Ultimately, it’s not a release that breaks new ground, but if you’re attuned to the particular aesthetic that Callahan has been perfecting, it just might be the best thing you’ve heard in ages.

Matt Hare

be said that alongside the understated vibe of dubstep and alternative hip hop, the Beastie Boys are a tad out of place. The line “grandpa been rapping since 83” appears at once heroic, and a little bit pathetic.

Harriet Evans

Beastie BoysHot Sauce Committee Part 2

Joan As Police WomanThe Deep Field

Bill CallahanApocalypse


10 Album Reviews

Torbay, or the English Riviera, is Joseph Mount’s hometown and the inspiration for Metronomy’s follow up to 2008’s ‘Nights Out’. A change in line up and direction is ap-parent from the 30 second long string-led title track. Things have changed; if Nights Out depicted booze and drug fuelled debauch-ery, this is its tidy, focused, and gentle older brother.Stand out track “The Look” opens with un-derstated yet confident synth sheen, before a percussion accompaniment by ingenue Anna Prior. Similarly, single guitar strums and slap-bass bide their time in appearing, elevating the track, as well as illustrating the delicacy that Mount and co. have chosen for their new direction.“Some Written” is the track most likely to alienate fans of Nights Out. Here Mount purposely explores what he calls “the studio mind set” of artists such as Steely Dan and

Of late no other alternative group has been as prolific and well received as Animal Collective. Both together and apart, the group has produced trendsetting records that have filled many a dance floor. Even their film projects have made it on to music festival screens.

The eclecticism of their individual and group projects is what makes the arrival of a member’s new record so exciting. As expected Tomboy differs in its style, sounds and ideas in comparison to Panda Bear’s earlier album. There are no twelve minute epics that stole the show on his previous project, Person Pitch; instead, the focus is spread between roughly equal-length songs. The result is a more contained, but louder and punchier record that is closer to Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion than any of Noah Lennox’s solo work.

The Kills are Allison Mossheart and Jamie Hince, otherwise known as “VV” and “Hotel”. They provide us with a signature sonic footprint; gritty, overdriven blues riffs played on a sub-octave guitar over a drum machine. The vocals provide a sensual juxtaposition between soft harmonies and raking screams. In the three-year gap after Midnight Boom they have been busy with other projects: Mossheart in The Dead Weather and Hince as the most recent “indie-rocker” engaged to supermodel Kate Moss. With these distractions in mind I was apprehensive for this record. However these doubts were cast aside with first track, “Future Starts Slow.”It kicks the album off with a big drum beat and massive guitar riff, harking back to the slower heavier sound of No Wow. This good start continues with “Satellite”, with

It is credit to TV on the Radio that despite their sprawling, overreaching song writing, their style remains the same. Despite endless genre-crossing (post-punk, dance rock, synth pop, krautrock, African jazzy grooves all get a look in) it is always instantly recognisable that you are listening to one of their records. Yet what is particularly prevalent on Nine Types of Light is the concentration on the more dreamy and affecting textures that were seen intermittently on Dear Science, that lend themselves particularly well to Tunde Adebimpe’s vocals. Yet this route, in addition to the much-publicised year long hiatus, may suggest a hint of auto-pilot, a thought that is amplified by the fact that it seems to be lacking in a standout track. Nevertheless, the crfting of the songs, as always, is intricate and effortlessly intertwined, something of a

Fleetwood Mac. A sublime jazz piano chord sequence makes way for heart-felt and genu-ine vocals “I tried to catch you up, but I’m too late”. Unexpectedly, but carefully, the song scuttles toward more dominant synths and ends as a totally different beast than how it started out, without ever developing too fast or too obviously.It seems that what is being achieved here is more deliberate than Metronomy have ever done before. This is an album that seems to have been written with the studio in mind, rather than the dance floor. Self disciplined, yet never restrained, it feels cool, stylish and complete. Every layer has purpose and no track outstays its welcome or feels forced. The singing contextualises the lyrics, which all emit emotion and meaning, the pieces gel together immaculately from start to end.

Nathan Marks

“You Can Count on Me” is a vocally soaring opener which sets up the album well. Lennox has previously talked of a triangle of voice, guitar and basic beats which he focused on to shape Tomboy, and that formula pervades each song. There is little or no use of samples which makes the tracks less cluttered, less hazy and filled with more emotional force. This works best on the beautifully melodic “Last Night At The Jetty”.

The only critique of this album lies in its seemingly singular direction; each track goes at a similar pace to the other, with long extended chords drawn out in each. Bar the first number and the last, the order of the songs doesn’t really matter. In a sense, they needn’t weave together because each song is strong enough to stand on its own. As a collection of tracks, Noah Lennox’s latest venture wows us again.

Hana Teraie

slow paced with offbeat reggae rhythm guitar, it sounds like a chant with marching riffs and vocals. In this album Hince and Mossheart are given a chance to flex their muscles as solo singers. Hince takes control in the Lennon inspired “Wild Charms” that takes the album off on a tangent to a dreamlike space. “The Last Goodbye” is Mossheart’s ballad but with no dirty guitars in sight these tracks are mere interferences, as the beauty of The Kills is found in their uncomplicated roughness. “DNA” and “Damned If She Do” exhibit this signature sound; harsh guitar riffs provide the rhythm overlaid with sexy vocals.

In terms of the sound this album is a step away from the higher tempo floor filler Midnight Boom. A respectable well balanced album worth considering whilst browsing the aisles of your local record shop, or more likely Spotify; but unfortunately it doesn’t live up to No Wow.

Cathal Brophy

TVOTR hallmark, and as a whole it demands nothing less than your undivided attention.

While the lyrics on the funky ballads are not as openly political or subversive as on previous albums; they still carry a rich and affecting tone which gives tracks like ‘You’ and ‘Will Do’ a certified level of emotional gravitas. If Nine Types of Light proves one thing, it is what TVOTR can never be faulted for is their boundless sense of creativity, invention and innovation. In all of their endeavours they retain the same beautifully abstract yet intellectual and assured mindset that serves them so well. The amalgamation of leftfield textures with organic, twitchy harmonies never fail to add an extra dimension to their songs. This catapults them head and shoulders above other art rock pretenders, even if they aren’t firing on all cylinders.

Lev Harris

Panda BearTomboy

MetronomyEnglish Riviera

The KillsBlood Pressures

TV on the RadioNine Types of Light


ColumnsFolk

Olivia Rhodes

11 Columns

Now that the sun is finally shining, we are entering the season of folk. The 2011 face of folk is actually shaping up to be rather attractive. From Alela Diane, the Portland sweetheart, Gregory Alan Isakov, Matthew and the Atlas and Joe Purdy, to The Head and the Heart we can see a select group each making their own inter-esting developments away from traditional folk sounds.In this age of the fledgling music festival, folk has unexpectedly prospered. This is perhaps due to the serendipitous com-bination of the acoustic guitar, ale and sunshine or, perhaps because it uniquely fulfils one of the needs of a festival goer. At times providing up-beat tempos and at others, sweet melodies. However taken out of a live arena traditional folk music can become two-dimensional. New bands are forming, but with their focus on traditional folk, their sound doesn’t seem to provide anything of note. Take Jamie Smith, an inspired accordionist but out of

a live situation he relegates himself back into this esoteric corner.This said, 2011 is proving fruitful for many bands that can transcend these borders. Alela Diane, an American singer songwriter, is doing just this. Di-ane provides what are, quite basic, but flawlessly played folk/Americana songs. Having recently released her third album in April, Alela Diane and the Wild Divine, we can see a more mainstream element to the artist. Singing slightly fan-tastical haunting songs, with the aid of a developed band - including her husband Tom Bevitori and father Tom Menig on guitar - a more mature sound can be heard. One that could easily segue into the ‘mainstream’ especially considering the modern interest for anything ‘arty’ or ‘controversial’, like animations and only wearing one earring.The family connection that’s working for Diane also serves Cocos Lovers, a group from Kent who, although a festival

band, have a more diverse sound, with audible influences hailing from classical music to African drumming. Under ‘Smug-glers Records’ the group of husbands, wives, siblings and friends are growing in popularity. They have just recorded their third album and we are promised a more psychedelic sound that’s matured and evolved with the band. The Hatton brothers, on drums and guitar, also play in Clan McInerney,also on Smugglers Records. A concept takes an almost communist stance as a record label, sup-porting local artists and organising events across the UK. Creating a unique hub of artists who frequently play together, to be admired by their lack of cut-throat, money-making drive. This year Cocos can be spied at Glastonbury, Secret Garden Party, Green Man and many more, and are band definitely worth a trudge across a muddy field.

Anyone who has glanced over the words “Parental Guidance” in their early teens knows that sticker is more of an entice-ment than anything to pick up an album. Although not exclusive to any genre, those words have notoriously thwarted the pur-chase of many a hip hop record by young-er teens. Hip Hop has its extremes like most forms of music: from the sleazy sex raps of 2 Live Crew, to the violent dissections concocted by Necro, and the horror movie inspired Insane Clown Posse. But I’m not about to condemn it by hoarsely yelling “STOP PIMPING OUR KIDS” outside HMV along with sex-ed nutter Anna Richardson, if anything it’s gotten a bit tame.Bad mouthed lyricists were once the preserve of underground hip hop fans, now they are becoming relatively popular and even finding success on pop charts.

It’s strange to think that a few years ago a duo like The Cool Kids found success with hip hop sanitised of any mention of guns, bitches and drugs, defining themselves on a fixation with retro clothing and sneakers. But now explicit content is more in vogue than ever thanks to the internet and nearly every music magazine in thrall to the antics of Odd Future. In the words of figurehead Tyler the Creator addressing a recent trend for fellatio and bling obsessed rap acts such as B.O.B. and Wiz Khalifa: “you niggas rap about fucking bitches and getting head, I rap about fucking bitches and getting heads”. Offensive, yet clever, lyrical content has been mostly responsible for their success, although it is probably the least original element of OFWGKTA. Their style is heavily indebted to a sub-genre of hip hop, horrorcore, made infamous in 90s

by groups such as Gravediggaz and early Eminem before he became all toilet humour and appalling pop duets. Of late hip hop has been more and more written for the dancefloor or the chart, a foil to a more successful chorus as with “Love the Way You Lie” or “Empire State of Mind”. It’s telling the most critical acclaim Eminem has gotten in years is a guest verse that reprises his misogynistic maniac alter-ego Slim Shady. Unsurprisingly enough openly explicit lyrics are now rather common to mainstream pop and rap, and frequently from female artists; Nicki Minaj is only one example, just take a look at Rhiana’s “S&M” – masochism has gone mainstream. If whips and chains are boring enough for Radio 1, how long is it before rape and killing is a tad blasé.

Every so often a record that redefines a genre is released. On the 31st of March Between the Buried and Me did this with The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues. Never have I heard a record that so effortlessly glides between styles and motifs to weave together a listening experience that just cannot be second guessed, no matter how many times you hear it.The EP opens with the epic ‘Specular Reflection’ an 11 minute showcase of precision combined with the operatic drama that we have so come to expect from BTBAM. What isn’t perhaps expected

here is how fresh the opener to this three track EP sounds. There’s always a worry that a band with 5 previous albums all us-ing a similar (albeit successful) formula may begin to sound as if they are going through the motions to appease their already exten-sive fan base. However in typical fashion BTBAM have delivered an EP to satisfy existing fans as well as offering something accessible enough to entice new fans. In short, listen to this EP immediately.Elsewhere as of the 3rd of May the line up for the Lock-Up tent at Leeds and Reading festival was announced with some excellent

bands being confirmed. Amongst the bands playing over the weekend are The Bronx, ska outfit Capdown as well as a huge headline slot in the shape of The Descendants. Perhaps even more exciting, however, is the mysterious third headliner for the Sunday and Friday slots at Reading and Leeds respectively, who are marked only as ‘Special Guest’. Could it be The Refused? Probably not.

On April 11th Liz Harris (better known as Grouper) self-released two new records, Dream Loss and Alien Observer. Their narcotic, drifting soundscapes are at once aquatic and cosmic; vocals buried in reverb; evocative sci-fi lyrics and shadowy electric pi-ano tones making for the perfect soundtrack to gazing at footage of nebulae. The lo-fi aesthetic of the acclaimed 2008 LP Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill has dissipated in favour of clearer (yet still otherworldly) tex-tures. This new found tangibility has allowed Harris’ songwriting skills to shine through her shimmering mist of delay effects.Her return to the fold is timely, following other fragments of quixotic, feminine dream pop that have seemingly dropped from the stars onto record decks of late. Julianna Barwick’s The Magic Place is an almost entirely a cap-pella voyage of swirling chorales, like Eliza-beth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins exhaling in limbo. She’s been called the hip Enya, but

her strangely natural constellations of looped and layered sighs are thankfully mesmerising enough to weather that description. With her classically informed structures and hallowed tone, she’s a one-woman choir, creating intricate tapestries of vocal sound that call to mind both Bjork’s Medulla as well as whale song. And somehow get away with it.Another dreamy coven, Braids of Montreal dived deep into waves of hallucinogenic melody for their record Native Speaker. The title track is a particular treat, undulating and cresting like an all-female parallel universe version of pre-Strawberry Jam Animal Col-lective. Again, Bjork seems to be a reference point, ‘Lammicken’ populated with wails from lead singer Raphaelle Standell-Preston that mimic the Icelandic loon’s ululations on ‘Hyperballad’. It’s testament to the hypnotic ambiance of the record that it manages to keep rapt attention throughout its ambitious eight-minute-plus explorations.

But Braids aren’t the only ladies making ethereal sounds in the Canadian city. Grimes is the solo project of one Claire Boucher, who released Geidi Primes last year and a split EP called Darkbloom with D’Eon on April 12th. Although the instrumentation is more upbeat and abrasive than the three aforementioned artists, her vocals, bolstered with dub beats, are definitely in tandem with their waiflike/wraithlike resonances. With omnipresent swathes of ghostly harmony and confidently sung yet fragile leads, this gothically styled chanteuse should be one to watch. ‘Devon’ is perhaps her finest track thus far, propelled by ‘Running Up That Hill’ percussion and drowned in gossamer melodies that echo away into the darkness. This year it’s all about the dream pop girls.

Hip-Hop

Metal

Underground

Adam Bychawski

Ben Barron

Tom Killingbeck


CIRCULATION

MAGAZINE SUMMER MIXTAPECIRCULATION

MAGAZINE SUMMER MIXTAPE CIRCULATION

MAGAZINE SUMMER MIXTAPE

The perfect tune to wake up to, a little woozy from the night before.

You know those moments when you can’t sleep late on a warm fuzzy summers night, and you know that someone somewhere is enjoying themselves more than you? This is the perfect track to listen to whilst staring at the sodium glow of street-lights obscuring the stars and contemplating that thought to.

Childhood. Ice Cream Vans. Swimming Pools. Long days in the sun. That’s gone. Ducktails know that. They’re not bothered. They’re getting on with it.

“Dancing in the moonlight / On a long hot summer’s night / It’s three o’ clock in the morning / And I’m on the streets again / Disobeyed another warning/ I should have been home by ten.”

A car journey from the beach to home. Your lover has left you. Alcoholism is looking appealing.

You know, where is it? This tune even has Nelly on it, complete with plaster and EVERYTHING.

Hypnotic track off the reworking of Mr Du Prince’s latest, Black Noise. Perfect to warm up for the club with. You’ll be hearing the vocal hook for days.

Ideal for sitting on a beach with a barbecue as the sun goes down. No-one’s going home tonight.

Justifying your sunburnt laziness.

They’re called Summer Camp for God’s sake.

Just absolutely perfect for the beachside slow dance.

It is impossible to walk anywhere to this song without it turning into a jaunt. There’s a reason it was used in (500) Days of Summer. Joyful.

What is summer without a little bit of soul?

I once went to a party for the solstice in a woods. This would have been perfect.

There is surely no better party tune. Check out its cousin ‘Jungle Jazz’ where a flute just takes over.

CIRCULATION MAGAZINE

SUMMER MIXTAPE #1


13 Spin Off

Spin Off

As the summer festival season approaches it would be hard to blame some of the more hardened UK indie fans for feeling a little disillusioned at the lack of more “esoteric” independent mu-sic in most major festival line-ups. When fans of this ilk attend major festivals they are often dogged by corporate advertis-ing, struggling to avoid big-brand logos wherever they venture throughout the site, it would be hard not to feel that the brands themselves were considered infinitely more important than the music. Fans are often packed like sardines into huge mud-caked fields and often subjected to noisy, drunken revellers who are more interested in consuming excessive quantities of alcohol and causing mayhem than they are in listening and enjoying the music itself. On top of this, fans are often faced by weird weath-er conditions, with Britain’s highly temperamental weather, rain and flooding are a given part of the camping experience.

It does not seem like a utopian vision to long for a festival that is free of torrential weather, rows upon rows of corporate advertis-ing and hoards of drunken revellers. Not to mention a line-up that contains artists that by-and-large don’t attract the attention of huge mobile-phone companies or soft-drink makers would be equally desirable. In particular, artists that may not have garnered large-scale commercial success but have always main-tained a degree of artistic credibility and have been bestowed with heaps of critical acclaim, bands like My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth and Slint. The nearest option available for this festival ideal is All Tommorrow’s Parties festival. Taking place at Minehead Butlin’s holiday camp in Somerset, founded by Barry Hogan in 1999 the festival is completely sponsorship free and is famous for providing a combination of alt-rock stalwarts, hip-hop legends and new emerging talent that may have been denied major festival exposure.

Gus Beamish - Cook

However, this festival can hardly be regarded as an ideal candidate for the summer festival experience, firstly the festival’s action largely kicks off in December, which isn’t really an ideal month for travelling long distances, for some to the other side of the country, and with the threat of snow being likely this may turn many people off from making the trek. The earliest time of year that the festival is held tends to be mid-may which misses off the height of the festival season in which many fans may want to plan group trips. In short it would seem that options for a festival more concerned with the music than corporate advertising are somewhat limited. In order to fully achieve this it is advisable for fans to make a trip across the channel to Barcelona’s own Primavera Sound festival. Whilst this festival isn’t entirely free of corporate advertising given its sponsorship by San Miguel it certainly fulfils the musical criteria providing a tantalising mix of indie-rock legends such as the wilfully weird Flaming Lips, visceral noisemakers as Shellac and veteran trou-badour John Cale. In addition the Mediterranean climate and urban setting of the festival means adverse weather are usually avoided. The festival largely avoids any intimidating revel-lers as it seems to attract festival-goers of all ages often more concerned with listening to the bands they love and having a great time overall. So I guess options for serious indie fans in our country are indeed limited to having to go to great lengths to satisfy their eclectic tastes. This is something I feel is in great need of improvement for the future.

Tom Roberts

SUMMER FESTIVALS: AN ALTERNATIVE CHOICE?


circulation volume 1: issue 3

Documents

red snapper t

contentsfeature ghostpoet

album review jamie woon

live review live

exciting new acts

prestigious music festival

debut album

seasonal mixtape