Skat Injector - classy!

Masked bands remind a little of the Star Trek ‘rule of evens’. The popular myth is that the even-numbered Trek movies are the better ones. This sort of works, ‘The Wrath of Khan’ (the second one) being a good example. How does this relate to bands with masks? It doesn’t really, it’s just that the first band I can think of that wears masks are Mr Bungle, and they are brilliant. The second band I can think of are Slipknot, and they are ear-rapingly shit. The third band I can think of are Skat Injector, and they are really good. So, with a masked band, I guess it’s the ‘rule of odds’…fitting really.

Skat Injector are not the usual type of band that ends up in the SittingNow mailbag. For a start, most of them don’t include song titles like ‘Her Mangled C**t’. This, coupled with the fact they’re called ‘Skat Injector’, should give you a pretty decent insight into the type of band we’re dealing with today.

So, to the music then. Do Her, Fuck Her sounds a bit like ‘What’s he building in there‘ era Tom Waits, presented by a paedophile Walt Disney after a night on valium and vodka; a good start. ‘Jack ‘n’ Bullets’ is a grind-synth-gabba nightmare; imagine if you mixed early Throbbing Gristle with Agoraphobic Nosebleed, and you’re kind of there.

The aforementioned ‘Her Mangled C**t’ is just a bit mental really. It’s hard to tell if the growler is actually saying anything, or just scatting like a crack-addled hooker. The narrative is accompanied by insane blast-beats and glitchy howls that would probably scare even the most hardened free-party-gabba- enthusiast. Finally, ‘Seagulled Catamite’ is just a bit scary; I kept imagining a Dalek holding Merzbow at ransom, forcing him to play his music – but 100 times faster!

Skat Injector are doing as all a favour by growing a pair and pushing speedcore/grind to its logical extreme. Don’t expect nicely produced break-core either, it’s more like the musical equivalent of Goatse, only you’ll want to actually re-visit this. Excellente!

Ken Eakins

Check Skat Injector on Myspace

and keep an eye on Hirntrust Grind Media, and Free Thinkers Union for the 7″ releases of tracks reviewed.

Awesome hair!

This unwieldily named band might at first listen appear to purvey shabby garage rock but there is more to them than scruffy strumming. Touches of shoegaze, touches of indie and touches of pop rock all blend together into charmingly simple and warm songs with decidedly wonky corners. Odd chords, touches of piano or atonal violin stabs take the right angles off otherwise well constructed songs, adding a mysterious and obtuse slant that I appreciate.

The bands that might get listened to round HFADS house ? At a guess Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine would feature but this is not immediately apparent in any one song, but over the course of listening to the album. These are songs written for love rather than the prospect of becoming hugely succesfull but the enthusiasm they exude is infectious and based on this initial outing the band certainly deserve some attention.

Kim Monaghan

http://www.heatfromadeadstar.com/

http://www.myspace.com/heatfromadeadstar

Get the album on iTunes - clickety click

I must admit to being a little nervous about how I would find Crooked Mountain, Crooked Sea. When I first saw the name I let out an internal groan. I imagined a band that would release a two-track EP, with two twenty minute long Mogwai-esque snore-fests. Luckily my fears were almost instantly put to rest when I was instead faced with five tracks, all no more than 3:01 long…phew.

My luck increased more when, instead of a pretensious two-note-a-thon, I instead got a really enjoyable three minutes of classy, dare I say, slightly anthemic rock. I can’t quite put my finger on it, I’m almost reminded of Adam Ant when he was actually good.

‘Eyes Turned Inwards‘ starts off very subtely, before blasting into some nice Slint sounding riffage. It’s very easy to overplay this kind of start/stop ‘call and response’ style of playing, luckily they use it sparingly as a nice interplay between the emotional highs and lows of the song writing. ‘One Hundred Yards Into the Desert‘ does the same, using the jagged guitars sparingly, giving preferential treatment to interesting song hooks, it reminds me a little of Sweep the Leg Johnny, sparing with early Montanna Pete.

‘You’ll Get Used to Me’ takes a more epic, slow-paced stance, replacing post-hardcore guitars with nice emotional build-ups, and decent howling (a rare thing). Finally, ‘Johnny Forger‘ takes an almost ‘this is what we’ve learnt so far’ approach, and blends all of the above into two minutes of really-good-song-writing-meets-spazzy-niceness.

Overall I was nicely suprised by this EP. It’s always good to hear a band take a potentially stale genre of post-hardcore, and make it sound new and exciting again; recomended.

Ken Eakins

http://www.myspace.com/crookedmountaincrookedsea

http://www.apresvous.co.uk/crooked-mountain-crooked-sea

Do Want? Click here for details.

This wonderfully named band and album hail from the UK; which is immediately apparent as the singer makes no effort to sing in the cod transatlantic English that taints so much homegrown music. This adds greatly to the appeal of the album, not because I am a relentless jingoist but because it makes it sound so much more progressive and eccentric; two of its best features.

The band describe themselves as being influenced by many wonky rock luminaries but the two most apparent influences that come to my mind are Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and Frank Zappa, with Zappa’s lyrical madness and SGM’s convoluted addiction to time changes. Throw in a whiff of English whimsy here, a dose of noise and puerility there (and prodigious musical talent) and you have an album that surprises and confounds. Emotional depth and ethereal flute playing give way to chicken impressions and shouting, but melody and song structure are always there. Well maybe not in the 4 second long “Fairly Old Curtains” but you get my point.

The album is impressively presented too, with a wealth of Victorian era pamphlet-eering to accompany the album as it plays (a sort of mini slide show for your iPod) and lyrics that pop up over the artwork too, something I have never seen on other albums. Any minor niggles I have about production on this album pale into insignificance beside the achievements on display, so if you have an hour to spare and some internets to spend go and download this album.

Kim Monaghan

http://www.perhapscontraption.co.uk/

http://www.myspace.com/perhapscontraption

Good plan!

Good plan!

Nosferatu D2 are two brothers from Croydon who deliver engagingly sloppy songwriting that projects mid 90’s US lo-fi through a prism of distinctly English melancholy. The guitarist/vocalist has a charmingly downbeat selection of lyrics delivered as though slightly drunk and he is backed by his drummer brother, who is armed with colourful array of fills and tricks that make this two man band sound like at least three.

Whilst listening to Nosferatu D2 I thought of Sebadoh and how Arab Strap might have sounded if they’d taken coke to make their records rather than Special Brew. Tracks like “2 People,0 Superpowers” and “Mojo Top 100” are an excellent place to start listening to this band with some of their funniest and most clever/banal lyrics and also some excellent and charismatic musical flourishes.

I suspect that this band will stand or fall on the strength of their live performances and if they ever make it up to Birmingham I’ll be sure to go and catch them. Go to http://audioantihero.com to buy the album or download your free copy of their super festive Christmas single “It’s Christmas Time For God’s Sake”.

Kim Monaghan

Nosferatu D2 on Myspace

Silver Mount Zion look like they might drink Kool Aid at any point

Silver Mount Zion look like they might, when ordered, drink Kool Aid at any point

I first listened to (breathes in) “A Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band” (breathes out) a number of years ago when someone recommended them to me, mainly because they were partially composed of members of Godspeed You Black Emperor ! Now GSYBE! were then, and are now, one of my favourite bands so I was expecting a lot.

But I found both SMZ and another offshoot band “Fly Pan Am” to be disappointingly bland, so I was quite interested to see whether things had changed. Well, they’ve dropped the “Tra La La Band” part of their name, so you can actually say it on one breath (this is a boon in commercial terms).

They also appear to have picked up the torch so tragically dropped by GSYBE! after they “went on hiatus” (pffft), at least in appearances, but epic guitar and string parts take a long time to go nowhere.

In some ways they sound like a Godspeed cover band but with the terrible flaw of having a really irritating vocalist. To be fair the songs that he doesn’t appear on are a lot more palatable, but this album is full of hot air as far as I’m concerned. Maybe if I’d never heard GSYBE! I could have a more fair and balanced view of this release but I have, so I can’t.

Kim Monaghan

Silver Mount Zion on Myspace

Lightning Bolt pretending to be gnomes...wrestling gnomes!

Lightning Bolt pretending to be gnomes...wrestling gnomes!

About two hours before this gig I started to make involuntary noises and exhibit facial tics. I think it was a result of being way too excited about seeing Lightning Bolt. It is a very small venue but Capsule have done a beautiful job (as usual) making the place look great. I notice immediately that this has something in common with every other gig I go to… almost everyone there has a beard and glasses. I have glasses but damn my hormones for not being manly enough to grow a beard. Maybe one day.

Pete Prescription

Pete Prescription

Pete Prescription – We arrived part way through Pete Prescription’s set. It was confusing as it veered from happy hardcore covers to guitar infused twitchy electronica. I wasn’t entirely sure about the happy hardcore (I’ve done my time there thank you) but the other stuff he was doing was pretty good and worth checking out. The only problem I could see was that as a one man band with a lot to do he couldn’t engage with the audience at all. Hence a pretty flat live show but good for the ears.

Tweak Bird

Tweak Bird

Tweak Bird – Another band I have never heard of but someone said the words “progressive rock” as they took to the stage so I was happily expectant. Or expectantly happy. Not sure which.

There were progressive elements to what they were doing (gongs and synths) but at the core this band were 70’s heavy rock through and through, right down to the hair and beards. Enjoyable but not overly memorable, I will though make an effort to listen to some of their music.

Lightning Bolt - looking happy as ever

Lightning Bolt - looking happy as ever

Lightning Bolt – Regular readers might know how I feel about Lightning Bolt. If you’re not a regular reader, suffice to say I nurse a continual and substantial hard on for this band at all times of day and night, and this was my first proper chance to see them live (excluding the Release The Bats fiasco). Ever since seeing the awesome “Power of Salad” live DVD, I realised that seeing Lightning Bolt live was the only way to fully appreciate them and that was proved to me in no uncertain terms. I have never worn earplugs to a gig before but I had heard that they are an essential when watching Lightning Bolt due to the fact that they play VERY, VERY LOUD. VERY, VERY LOUD INDEED.

The next hour passed extremely quickly. I heard “Colossus” and “Nation of Boar”. I heard something off Hypermagic Mountain and Ride The Skies. I heard some tracks I have never heard before. Just as my face began to hurt from grinning they finished. I was confused. I don’t think I have ever been less prepared for a gig to finish.

I regularly tell people that Lightning Bolt are the best band in the world but I never get a chance to tell people why, usually because they walk away or stare at me blankly. Their “songs” are not really specific to any genre, their playing is unique. It’s like they are channelling everything good and primal in music then fine tuning it by playing it at volumes that transcend simply listening. When you add the little touches like Brian C’s mask mic, and Brian G’s hybrid bass / banjo you have … well something special. The sheer joy that transformed the grumpy, stand off-ish audience of bespectacled and bearded thirty somethings into an actual mosh pit was really quite touching and I look forward to seeing this band again as soon as possible.

I would just like to say a big thank you to the two girls who run Capsule. This gig was part of their tenth birthday celebrations, and as part of the décor at the venue they had a list of all the different events and gigs they have put on over this time. I didn’t really realise how good their taste has been, or how many of their things I had been to, but it is fair to say that their efforts have made Birmingham and the world of music much better place. Long may they continue.

Kim Monaghan

Thanks to http://www.katjaogrin.co.uk/ for photos.

demons

You're Smiling Now, But We'll All Turn Into Demons

I’ve been wrestling with this review for a while now. I was going to just run to the keyboard and proclaim this as, “Not only the best album by ‘The Demons’, but also the best album this year,” but I stopped. I decided to give it a fair listen. I like to be really well versed in an album before I make such claims these days. This requires listening to it in different situations, like a kind of real-life soundtrack. I know it sounds stupid, but that’s how I rate ‘important’ albums, by how it filters into every-day situations, and how it ‘feels’…man.

This is, I think, the forth album by You’re Smiling Now But We’ll All Turn Into Demons, and their age is starting to show. I don’t mean that in a bad way; in fact I mean quite the opposite. I’ve always felt that the band have struggled to admit their addiction to huge Big Muff ridden riffs in recordings, and this album, like a junkie that’s been through a tough-love session, is their ‘coming-out’ record.

Opener ‘2009′ aurally punches you in the face with a super-fuzzed catchy riff, and we’re off. There is a familiarity present for any old fans, yet a nice  amount of confident and spacey solo work that surprises. Feeling comfortable with the opener, ‘Nervous/Alive’ suddenly throws a huge curve-ball. A fantastic ‘old-school-done-right’ riff is picked up and thrown into a huge psyche-rock vortex, and spat out the other side magically charged. Feeling a little shaken, you are then thrust into the drone-ridden-epic ‘Alpha and Omega’. It’s this track where you really notice how well the vocals sit alongside the music, and how much the band really have embraced the fuzz!

‘The Recidivist’  returns to the krautrock-soaked catchy riffage of the opener, and then turns off into what feels like a two-parter reinterpretation of a Brion Gysin exhibition in ‘Out of Focus’ and ‘Jammin’ on the 13th Floor’. Singer Richie’s vocals really take on a new focus, gelling perfectly with the mood of the music. ’Great Shakes Baby’ purposely forces you to nod your head along to the rhythmic drumming, and amazing wah-work, but it is the next track that ’seals the deal’ for me.

‘Cruikshanked’ is, put simply, great song-writing. The riff feels oddly familiar, yet is so clearly the  Demons. The vocals, one again, mesh perfectly with the music leaving an oddly intense feeling to the song. It then breaks off into a fun attack of sonic pleasure, returning for a second wave of intense, yet held-back riffing.

‘Prismatic Reflections’ almost feels like a bonus record. 18 minutes of truly spacey sounding, dare I say, ‘Desert Rock’  (odd, as they hail from the coastal town of Portsmouth). On completion of the track, you feel a bit like you’ve been through some kind of occult ordeal, up ‘The Holy Mountain’, or a part of an initiation of sorts.

This record feels like the album the Demons have always wanted to make, and I’ve always wanted to hear. So then, in closing: “This is Not only the best album by ‘The Demons’, but also the best album this year.”

Ken Eakins

Check YSNBWATID on Myspace, buy the record here.

from what?

from what?

This is a really good album. I wish I could stop there and have done with it but my editor doesn’t appreciate six word reviews. I like pithy, but … Shield Your Eyes are a hugely talented band. Not just in the conventional sense (ie: able to play their instruments) but Stef the singer / guitarist writes a pretty mean tune too. Imagine a collision between math, screamo and blues with pop sensibilities … no I can’t do that either but that’s what makes this band so refreshing, they’re created a sound that is (as far as I know) virtually unique.

Stef (the singer/guitarist) has a fascinating voice. Described as ugly/beautiful in the label press release, I find myself agreeing. At time it is almost comical how cracked and off-key he becomes but it is always a central part of every song and is always an asset. His trademark guitar sound is present throughout and works in much the same way as his voice, a combination of chaos and control that makes their music so exciting.                Henri (the drummer) is a source of constant amazement. In a world where you have drummers like Chris Pennie and Brian Chippendale, to still find someone’s drumming amazing is a pleasure. He injects a (dare I say it) avant edge to the band, with his furious and complicated drum lines, but he is not set on one mode and he is able to blend into the background on some of the slower and gentler songs. What I am trying to say is… ‘nuff respec’.

They have recently lost their original bassist but he did play on this record and while I struggle sometimes to locate the bass on both this record and the old one, in some ways that is the mark of a job well done. The drums and bass work so well together in providing a platform for Stef’s vocals and guitar, that it is hard to pay attention to the other things going on, even if they are pretty damn good.

Check 'Shield Your Eyes' on Myspace

Check 'Shield Your Eyes' on Myspace

The album is not a huge leap from the debut “Shield Your Eyes” in terms of sound, but the songwriting has come on hugely. Out go the experimental noisy bits and the band just get on with playing the songs in a semi-straightforward fashion. Apparently, the band recorded this in three days and that spontaneity has paid huge dividends on the album. There are so many songs on this album that deserve individual attention but that would make me feel like I was doing down the songs I didn’t mention but “Sergeant Major Lonely and Queen Bee Sadness” and “Oranges” are particularly noteworthy for their bitter-sweet melody. “Ultra Soul” is the band in noisy and contentious mode. “Torn Apart On Details” is almost balladic and is the song that you could play to trick your Mum into listening to them. It is also a great showcase of Stefs voice and guitar skills. “Limerick” is more like some of the tunes on the first album, hectic and fidgety. “Time On You” is a neat little song that contains some of the most charismatic vocal work. “Bad Tooth Warehouse Boogie” is probably my favourite song on the album, a sort of wonky blues boogie that has a brilliant and incendiary middle section that forces you to pay attention to it because it’s having so much fun. “Mort aux Ours” is another balladic little thing and a bit of an oddity as its just a fairly straight voice and acoustic number, but very soulful and sweet. Closing song “Sandy” is a bit of an epic and I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again. This band should be a raging success. If they’re not coining it in in the next five years then I’m going to chop off my ears and replace them with something more useful, like some handles or lamps or something.

Kim Monaghan

Check Shield your Eyes on Myspace, and Saddam Hussein Records

lips 2

That is a lot of confetti!

So this is the third time I’ve been to see The Lips now, which makes me a groupie I guess. I managed to miss most of the support act “Stardeath and White Dwarfs” only catching their charismatic cover of “Borderline” by Maddona. That’s right. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I think I might be a bit too old to find Madonna covers funny.

lips 1

The Wayne Coyne crowd-protection ball 3000™

After a bit of rabble rousing from the roadies Wayne took to the stage to give us a quick warning about strobe lights and also to warn those in front about his imminent stroll through the crowd in an enormous inflatable hamster ball. This took some of the joy out of the moment when he did actually crowd surf in his ball, but only a little because the sight of a grown man getting so much pleasure out of such a simple act was truly heart-warming…especially when he was “birthed” out of an enormous LED vagina.

So to the strains of “Race for the Prize” and accompanied by giant balloons, confetti bombs and dancing fan-imals another Flaming Lips show kicks off. And it occurs to me that every Lips show I have ever seen has kicked off with “Race for the Prize”. Now don’t get me wrong it’s a great song, and they always perform it with love and care and enthusiasm, but as other songs “The Magician”, “Yoshimi” whizz past, my sense of déjà-vu grows stronger. They have played almost exactly the same set every time I have seen them and that’s over a period of five years, mostly culled from “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots”, “At War With The Mystics” and “Soft Bulletin” (with a few oldies or covers thrown in). Now, for a band that has been going since the 80’s, this represents a very limited selection of their music. It was a pleasure to hear “She Don’t Use Jelly” and also the three new songs from “Embryonic” (which I thought were very good) but I was under the impression that this was the tour to support “Embryonic”. Is it unreasonable to think that they might have played most of the album?

More glitter...I hope it doen't get caught in the keys!

More confetti...I hope it doen't get caught in the keys!

The vague sense of disenchantment I felt was exacerbated by the exponential increase in the power of the cult of Wayne. I like Wayne Coyne, I think he writes great songs, he’s witty and funny and somewhat of a polymath. But sometimes, Wayne, we would like you to play a song without talking for ten minutes before and after. Sometimes, Wayne, we would like you to finish a song without going through the whole thing again (accapella) demanding a round of applause at the end of every verse. Oh and most importantly, I don’t mind singing along with you (begrudgingly), but I do draw the line at being implored to do peace signs. I’m not pro-war, I’m just anti-being bossed around at gigs I’ve paid £20 for.

I think everyone should see the Flaming Lips live at least once. They are an exceptionally positive and fun band to see live, and showmanship is what Wayne Coyne is all about. But I came away from this gig with the definite feeling that I wouldn’t bother to go and see them again until they take a more experimental approach to their live sets.

Kim Monaghan