☟YES/NO☟: punk

Showing posts with label punk. Show all posts

Tuesday, 2 April 2019

🐣 CLAWS AI — EURISKO

⌾ LISTEN TO CLAWS AI, EURISKO

Fuzzy, outright violent, decayed and broken in instrumental terms, 'Eurisko' by CLAWS AI is a self-destruction of sound. In a good way. The drums tumble angular and warped in the background as the chorus spins a howling refrain, "I know you're sleeping around..."

But rather than this uncontrollable reaction to infidelity, the true intent behind 'Eurisko' matches the scorching jagged nightmare of its distorted storm of guitars, the harshness and noise of it all, the full-bodied thump of bass guitar.

"Eurisko draws upon this lingering, maybe personal feeling of instability and chaos in the air," the musicmaker explains to us via email. "Both in my own life and in the world."

Mentioning war explicitly in his response, CLAWS AI helps make sense of the "bullets flying around" line in the chorus. This concept also very much gives grounding to the wild gravel and grit of the track — its noise in a word. Though 'Eurisko' isn't all noise. Liquid chorus FX add grunge warp to the pre-chorus, whilst the whole coda of the track feels like a psychedelic sway into death: a wounded soldier lamenting their involvement.

It's a reflection that, "maybe through catharsis" he tells me, "each of us can win the spiritual war within ourselves and avoid an actual war." An anti-war anthem told with the personal tint of expressionist lyrics and post-punk trauma.

🔔 Stream the song and examine the lyrics of 'Eurisko' by CLAWS AI over on SoundCloud.

MORE MUSIC BY CLAWS AI → 777

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Thursday, 13 December 2018

🐣 CLAWS AI — 777

⌾ LISTEN TO 777 BY CLAWS AI ⌾

Fully formed like a pile of earth you'd pat down as a kid till it was no longer dirt but a solid construct, '777' is all about its earthy substrates. Musicmaker CLAWS AI ensures that it not only goes full throttle, but that the track has solid foundations. So naturally the bass drum thumps and the punchy, punky bass guitar shoots through it like an electric current, screeching distortion leaving scorch marks over everything. It's a cross between heavy industry and discovering you've got superpowers, but there's more to '777' than inspiring noise.

"I sat down to write a simple song about a girl," CLAWS AI tells us over email. But it became more than that. "I am convinced the past few weeks of my life were steered by divine intervention. You know the feeling when you meet someone you know could change your life? Maybe fate had me and her intertwined and I got what I always wanted. You have to consider that it might be no coincidence."

This – and the history of making "mindless rock songs," as he describes it – gives CLAWS AI the perfect grounding to create something that scores top marks in somersaulting its way into your psyche. A stun grenade of sound, it's not only the power of the production in this track that immobilises you: it's the questioning lyrics that inject the intrigue, and the humanity in the explosive desperate vocals, that truly gives this track the nitro it possesses.

🔔 Head on over to CLAWS AI's SoundCloud for more music.

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Wednesday, 7 November 2018

🐣 THE ENTREPRENEURS — JOAQUIN

⌾ LISTEN TO JOAQUIN BY THE ENTREPRENEURS ⌾

The open road tumbling ahead, the scenery struggling to appear correctly because of just how quickly you're moving along it. This is the sense of wild freedom that explodes out of 'Joaquin' by Danish band The Entrepreneurs; thick bass and guitars with frazzled distortion play rumbling and loose with drums thumping out a frolicking heartbeat. It's a galloping horse, a rushing train, a dog with its head out the window as a car speeds on an open highway.

But you soon realise the song isn't a pure celebration of freedom—it's a yearning for it, tearing a space for yourself in the fabric of the world. The vocals suddenly yell out:

"Feels like / We should / Take a trip outside / See what’s all around / In this part of town / Where the lights are out / And the doors are unlocked at night / And time flies right on by..."

From that moment, 'Joaquin' is more than just a powering engine: it's a heartfelt casting off of a hometown, like shedding skin. It's painful, though it's something that feels necessary. It explodes poetically with the desire for moving onwards, with almost childlike imagery that evokes absurd visions: "Get away / I might just get away / This place is way too small / Standing 8 feet tall in an 18th century hall."

That childlike nature continues into the instrumental itself: the guitar and bass guitar turn playful, pedalling over each other in twists and turns of math rock style arpeggios as the song becomes quiet and introspective as singer Mathias Bertelsen asks, "What comes to the one who stays around?"

And as much as the dreary feeling of trapped in a small town courses through your veins, there's an unending nostalgia attached to it that chills your heart to think you ever wanted to leave in the first place. And this is the romantic soundscape The Entrepreneurs have created: the crushing joy of running free from the only thing you've ever known.

🔔 You can stream and/or purchase the lovely 'Joaquin' by new indie rock trio The Entrepreneurs over on their their Bandcamp. It's taken from their upcoming album Noise & Romance scheduled for release on 1st February 2019. Pre-order also on Bandcamp if you like what you hear.

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Monday, 29 October 2018

🐣 DRENS — BICYCLE RIDER

⌾ LISTEN TO DRENS, BICYCLE RIDER ⌾

A frantic wallsmash of an ode to riding bicycles, the theme of German band Drens' pogosticking 'Bicycle Rider' doesn't need to be guessed at. The drums are destroyed as the thud fuzz of the snare and splashing razor cymbals become a crashing cutlery drawer of mayhem, setting the rocky terrain where the rest of this track tumbles and divebombs.

We asked the band about the background to 'Bicycle Rider'.

"Our rehearsal room is in a rough area in Dortmund, so we park our bikes inside. [Drummer] Joël saw them and started to shout this "bicycle rider" thing," Drens co-founder Fabian Livrée (vocals, guitar) told us. "The special thing is that we didn't replace the lyrics, because we started to like it. It's our kind of humor and we really like riding bikes."

It's just over a minute of wiggling arpeggios, thrashing guitar and thick galloping bass – complete with stringbreaking guitar solo and vocals overflowing with breathless bite – for a punch-in-the-face parody of the surf sound: instead of hitting the waves, they're tearing up the streets by pedal power.

🔔 Get this brash and bouncy bike ballad via your fav streaming service.
🔔 'Bicycle Rider' is taken from Drens' recently released Nowhere Beach EP, which you can/should listen to on their SoundCloud.

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Monday, 16 October 2017

🐣 GENIUS — 2226

The dust that this track kicks up the dust caught in lances of light coming in through a boarded up window the dark humid nature of it and the basement punk feeling of it the slapdash half-asleep DIY dream of the track sloshes against your ears like an old pair of jeans. It is in the harsh comfort of this track, its vintage photo smouldering cigarette atmosphere, where inexplicably a subversion of this sort of music dwells. Garage rock, abrasive punk-flavoured guitar music features lyrics that are blunt, to-the-point, aggressive. But in this, '2226' by Busan-based band GENIUS – that is 지니어스 in Korean – the lyrics are so cryptic that they are practically non-sequiturs. It begins with the biggest of all: "Hey dear brothers and sisters / Today I don't wanna take it / Don't make me a bird / Don't make me an ashtray."

At other times, however, the lyrics are in their simplicity quite blissful: "Today I don't wanna drink beer / It makes me full / I just need hot water in the big cup." To hear such strange poetic words floating along to scratchy sweeps of lo-fi guitar, to attitudinal scoops of bass and racketing drums, it was refreshing. When we asked the creators of this gently raucous track about the concept behind the song, the guitarist replied enigmatically, "I want to be happy with my dear brother and sister. That's it." According to the email we received back, many of his lyrics revolve around "rebirth and transcendence." For such big ideas to live in this short tract of grunge-tinged guitar music feels like a reflection of inebriated philosophising, the persistence of big thoughts no matter who or where you are, the discovery of the meaning of life half-drunk at the bar; the song's final line, "We can… be happy more", echoes hopefully like a mantra.

🔔 This is taken from the band's August 2017 album 별바다 (Byeolbada, i.e. Sea Of Stars), released on Korean label BGBG. This you can purchase via the GENIUS Bandcamp. You can also watch on the video for '2226', which was directed by Soohwan Swan Park. The artwork, a folded 1000 won note, was created by a photographer named 김기조 (Kim Kijo).

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Tuesday, 18 July 2017

🐣 SEO — LAVENDER

The impressive experimentation at work here belies a sense of punk chaos, the scratch of harsh noise, a definitive sense of the whatever-who-cares, but there is something extra here, not merely an affectation of chaotic sound but a reflection of a feeling, actual music representing actual feelings. If we go by the super-endearing vocals that ostensibly Lagos-located Seo weaves by turns through gritted teeth or half-open-mouth slurs, there is some level of fire and aggression bubbling and broiling and burning here, the most earcatching refrain "I'd rather that you fucking leave me" spat into a howl of freezing cold synth gales. Here is conflict, heartbreak: it is a decided fuck you, but there is hurt and injury here, a delicacy and a warmth that's been shattered.

The decayed melody that plays throughout, almost like a musicbox, gentle or once gentle but now abrasive, caught now in cyclical thoughts, dripping with melancholy, tinged with hopefulness but ultimately damaged, it dings throughout like a slow whirlwind of thoughts focused on the same thing the same thing the same thing, the idea of broken trust as a broken toy instrument wonderfully evocative, reflective of this line that suggests as much: "There are many things that you told me, none of which I still believe…"

It booms with sub-bass, all-encompassing, pulling on you keeping you still, strings and stand-up bass sound add their organic natural human sound, the texture of various trickling percussion for ornamentation, the aching anger of the final moments of this song where Seo urges truly that she'd rather that you fucking leave. Visceral but beautiful, touching and cute but wracked with darkness and noise, the experimental 'Lavender' is a multifaceted gem of a track reflecting, probably, a likewise artist behind it.

🔔 Hear more from Seo on SoundCloud.

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☟ Seo Internet Presence ☟
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Tuesday, 25 March 2014

NOLA WREN – SOUL SUCKER

Ha ha! Well. This just flew into my inbox from far across the ocean – the Atlantic ocean btw. It instantly jumped into my ear and started doing cartwheels, carrying out a spot of light raving, and sending basically some really nice soothing sounds. Why did it do that? It did that because it IS really nice, and nice things tend to act upon you instantaneously – it's physiological yo.

I will hark back to a moment I was told about once; a friend told me about a random commenter who said that it was probably "a bad sign" that they liked a piece of music straight away. What sort of garbled tripe-shit nonsense is that? I instantly liked Ace of Base's 'All That She Wants' when I heard it as a child, and when I hear it now, I still like it. I didn't WORK to like it. Anyway. Don't believe the hype: like what you like however you please.

Sorry. What was I saying? YES these are the sounds of New York City resident, musicmaker and self-confessed "nocturnal creature", Nola Wren (real name Kara Francavillo). In her most recent track, 'Soul Sucker', she evinces a certain pop nostalgia in a cradle of comforting sounds, a mix of organic and electronic stuffed full of vocal hooks and a driving beat.

Founded on a clattering acoustic guitar (which minutely reminded me of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, in a good way ofc) with glistenings of electronic scatter-beeps decorating like glitter, the song shoots along with emotive intent, totally encased in pop trimmings, Nola Wren's supersweet voice crooning out the melody amidst light synth chords and harshening for the rapid-fire "Soul sucker, soul sucker, you'll n-n-n-n-n-n-never get my…" in each freshly reverbing chorus as distortion juts upward against the thumping beat.

All in all, it's a treat for the ears, an unabashed pop song that holds no pretence, injecting at the same time a particular marginal attitude – an essence, at least, of punk (perhaps) – into the music at the same time; no mean feat. Honestly I think this is a very good song, how can I stress that any further? And it's only a demo!! But it sounds great!

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Saturday, 15 February 2014

CAR10 – I DON'T MEET YOU

Yes yes it is rather fun and incredible what you find at 2AM in terms of music. There you are just clambering through the thicket of sounds and suddenly— BOOM! Along comes this particular track that catches your attention, imagination, or both. So this is something I found. It's called 'I Don't Meet You' and it's by a band called car10.

The song itself is a heady uppercut of pop punk energy, a flash of lightning to the mind. Power chords cut through, flanging wildly – uniquely, too, especially for a punk sound – and drilling alongside the thrum of the bass and clashing crash of berserker drums. Flying around this oddball-slacker mélange of pop-punk-with-a-hint-of-shoegaze – a new form of punk, you could say – are the vocals, chaotic and lo-fi, yelling and singing, scratchy and distorted yet still melodic. At just one minute and five seconds long, it's fast and short and full of explosive life. Sounds good to me, how does it sound for you?

As for the band itself… car10 is a trio from Ashikaga, Japan, comprising of Shinya Kawata (bass/vocals), Hidekuni Kushida (guitar/backing vocals), and Takamasa Nagai (drums/backing vocals), all of whom you can see in that little picture up there. 'I Don't Meet You' is just of many inevitably tasty little numbers from the band's debut album, Everything Starts From This Town, out 16th April. Recorded analogue-style with, as shown by this particular song, a wholly tangible live sound, the album will be the second release on fledgling yet promising Japanese label Sauna Cool.

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Friday, 7 February 2014

LAZY INTERVIEW #22: VULKANO

← #21: DCUP #23: HARRISON →

Meet Vulkano. Do you know them? It's ok if you don't. But perhaps you should. They inhabit a strange esoteric area of music, a kind of mystic post-punk – a Swedish girl duo who screech and sing and howl, pogo-stick with whirling energy and bash the spirits out of drums: all with visceral intent. Formerly members of Those Dancing Days, this week (3rd Feb) they released their debut album, Live Wild Die Free. It's a journey through forests, crepuscular creepings, rites of nature, cold and spooky atmospheres cradled in raw craggy basslines and frenzied drumming, as synths float like mists and farflung vocals hold your attention with their endearing high-pitched warcry tones.

But that's what Vulkano are like. Nature, love, friendship – these three things imbue their music as much as they do the people themselves. Having been making music for a long time, perhaps they feel that they have finally arrived at a juncture which allows them to couple their creative output directly with what their hearts feel. The energy of their music is overwhelming, the enthusiasm is evident; and (so I have heard) their live shows are, unsurprisingly, rather mad. Feeling the music is always a sign of a genuine love for music, however. Anyway. They were very kind in answering the YES/NO Lazy Interview, which is below.

Who are you? Where are you from? What do you do?
We are a two-girl band called Vulkano based in Stockholm, Sweden. We like to think we come from space and we are here to give music to the world. Cissi Efraimsson sings and plays the stand-up-drums and Lisa Pyk Wirström plays the keys and percussion.

Why did you decide to start creating music?
We got to know each other when we were 14 and we started to hang out because our biggest interest was music. We went to a lot of concerts and both of us thought it looked so much fun to be on stage playing for an audience and being on tour so we decided to start a band and since then we've played together. For us music is magic.

How would you describe your sound? What makes you and your style stand out?
Our sound is raw and filled with energy. It’s fun, primal and straightforward. We stand out because we follow our instincts and not any rules. When we play together it’s like the world around us disappears and we create our own crazy colourful creepy fantasy world. I think people can hear that in our music and like to be a part of it.

Is there a perfect time and place for listening to your music?
Under the full moon in the desert with a cold beer in your hand. You’re sitting in a nice chair in warm cloths with a home knitted blanket over you. You lay back, watch the stars and let the music take you out of your mind and out of your body.

What inspires you most when writing a song?
Nature, great songs, art, the superficial, volcanoes, other dimensions, colors, science fiction, space and life on Earth. We also inspire each other a lot. We are like ying and yang.

What is your most memorable musical experience?
God this is hard. Ok we’ll choose three.

Our first gig with our first band called Her Peace. We were 14 years old and played at youth garden outside of Stockholm. Cissi who was the drummer played every song so fast. Lisa was so nervous so she had to skip school the same day. The gig went quite bad but the feeling after was something new. We totally felt like rock stars!
Going to Japan to play with our previous band Those Dancing Days.
Recording our debut album Live Wild Die Free in the nicest studio we’ve ever been to with the coolest people Patrik Berger and Nille Perned. The studio’s called Ingrid. It was three of our best days of our lives.

What are your favourite three songs at the moment?

Julee Cruise - Floating
Tussilago – The Sulfur, the Tar and the Smoke
Talking Heads - This Must Be The Place

Who do you most admire in the music world?
We admire artists that go their own ways without compromising with their music and style. For example: David Bowie, Björk, MGMT, Siouxsie Sioux, Syd Barrett and Lykke Li.

In your opinion, what is the future of music?
Music is constantly changing. I feel like music right now is moving to a more electronic sound. I see a trend with less bands and more solo artists. More synth and more drums, less guitars. It also seems like indie bands and commercial bands sound more and more alike. I guess it has to do with that it’s so easy for anyone to learn how to produce music nowadays. I’m not sure I like this trend. I hope to see a much wider sound spectra in both electronic and “real instruments”. I also wish people will be brave and dare to make weird and different music. I don’t want commercial hit music to be the ideal for everyone.

What's the future of your music - what do you hope to do next?
The future of our music is to explore deeper parts of our creativity and come up with even better music and ideas. We don't want to be held back by anything, especially not ourselves. When we write new songs we are being totally open to whatever feels inspirational so that we don't risk losing anything on the way. We hope to tour around the world with our music. We recorded a psychedelic short film that will be released this year and we’d love to do more films beside of the music.

What, aside from music, is most important to you?
Love and friendship. It's important that we treat everyone the same and are open to whoever comes across our life paths.

As for Live Wild Die Free, perhaps you've heard 'Spider Spider', an eerie clanker of a song they offered up as a free download last Halloween, or maybe you've heard the epic wooded mystery of 'Vision Tricks' – both are a good indication of the album's proceedings. But it's more varied than you'd imagine from my descriptions – sometimes outright punk (as in 'Too Young To Die' with its mad screams of "Don't kill me! Don't kill me!"), sometimes gentler pop sounds, sometimes inspired by nature ('Jungle', for instance, which literally describes a trip through a jungle), sometimes not, sometimes noisy, sometimes stripped-down. But it's always a daring sound, sonically diverse and certainly appealing to anyone looking for a bit of energetic music in their lives.

You can stream the whole thing here.

← #21: DCUP #23: HARRISON →

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Friday, 6 December 2013

THE ORWELLS DIRTY SHEETS [VIDEO]

I wouldn't have expected anything less from The Orwells to be honest with you. The last video I saw from them, for 'Who Needs You' – as epic and show-tastic as it was – does not really compare to this one. This, the video for 'Dirty Sheets' – the band's latest song, which seems to be catching the most attention out of all of them yet – is as apt for the song as butter is for toast. It just GOES. In fact, it goes off. Just like a lot of clothes slipping from a woman's body...

Whilst I'm being half-perverted here, I am half-only using what the video has shown me. Yes. It's a striptease. But a striptease shot in the gloriously drab colours and quality of yesteryear, giving this a real 70s-home-video aesthetic, with the girl having a real raven-haired lithe pin-up appeal about her. And, with The Orwells summoning the ghosts of punks past – The Misfits, The Ramones, etc. – in their music, especially in this glam-fi rockabilly scorcher of a song that documents the blossoming of grotty and tongue-in-cheek punk romance, it makes sense that the video should be just as old-school, just as punk, and just as tongue-in-cheek (the way the nipples are covered by those funny little love-hearts at the end, for instance).

There may be people out there who'd brand this with a NSFW tag but I'd just say DO watch it at work. BE PUNK. DON'T do that report. FORGET to go in on Monday. TITILLATE yourself at work. Also: how much does the girl in the video look like Katy Perry? IS it Katy Perry? I wonder. Probably not. Anyway, it was directed by Eddie O'Keefe, an auteur whose claim to fame – aside from arranging this lovely video, amongst others – is that he "gave Bill Murray a beer at a celebrity golf outing when he was six years old." Kudos.

In other news: you can grab The Orwells' Other Voices EP, released earlier this year, by clicking round about here.

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Tuesday, 19 November 2013

BITCH PREFECT SHIPPED IT

I've been having a look at these guys for a while, always wanting to write about them but always getting distracted by other things. In fact, the place I found these guys and their music, which is the SoundCloud page of Australian label Bedroom Suck Records, is a pretty interesting place, filled with exclusively Australian music. So if you want to hear some stuff you've never heard before, I'd recommend checking that out.

So anyway. Anyway anyway anyway. The guys in question are a band called Bitch Prefect, a name that conjures I dunno for me all I see is J'amie King, but which is perfectly brash - what with those two plosive consonants bursting at the start of each word - and which suits their sound right down to the ground. I mean, they describe themselves as "pop" on their Facebook page but it's a little more than that. It's pop for slackers; laid-back music for summer holidays, the soundtrack to getting suspended from school, or just hanging around your local town where there's like nothing to do. These are the eternal places from where this music springs forth. An indie garage-rock kinda feel, with some of their songs sounding a little like a less frantic version of early Joy Division. Dare I say punk?

But hey! That's just a label! Listen up for yourself. Here's 'Shipped It'.

With a jogging pace beat the song trundles on with exactly the same melody almost the whole way through (except for a little bridge in the middle and the final part), but there's nothing bad about it. The guitars have such a wonderfully jangling sound that all you really wanna hear is them, no matter what they're doing. There's something great about the ever so slight distortion on the rhythm guitar chords, something haphazard and determined in the way they plough through those three chords again and again. I like a raw sounding drum, and the drums in 'Shipped It' are nothing short of raw - you can even hear them echoing in the room they were played in. It's all very DIY.

The vocals are great as well, rippling with a whatever attitude, reflecting a kind of 1960s proto-punk sound, especially the oi-oi, all-join-in continual chant of "Shipped it overseas!" You can hear the Australian drawl, the dangerous lilt apathy in its tones. It's great and I love it. The little solo at the end too, a slapdash set of pinging notes, has an atmosphere of nonchalant cool which is kinda the embodiment of the song - a gem of lo-fi, I have to say. A great driving song, I'd imagine. I'd also like to see how this sounds live, might be a whole lot more crazy.

This comes from their new LP Bird Nerds, which was released on 7th November on Bedroom Suck Records. Bitch Prefect are from Melbourne & Adelaide and are by name: Scott O'Hara, Pat Telfer and Liam Kenny

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Thursday, 14 November 2013

THE ORWELLS DIRTY SHEETS

Oh The Orwells. The Orwells The Orwells The Orwells. Say it 3x whilst facing a (specifically) bathroom mirror at 3am and see what happens. Well, not to ruin the surprise - cause you WILL be surprised - but what happens is the band fall through your mirror and start trashing the place. So unless you wanna trash stuff with them, I'd recommend quelling your desire to summon The Orwells into your bathroom. But The Orwells are not just things to be summoned through your mirror. They got shit to do as well. They can't be everywhere at once.

And nowadays they're especially busy. Since I first heard about them courtesy of the UK's own Parma Violets, they've been getting busier and busier. They released two EPs this year, the latter release being the Who Needs You EP which includes the eponymous hit single itself. They were even kind enough to have an interview with me. But I expect they're gonna get a whole lot busier; they've recently signed to Atlantic Records and will be releasing a new single on 13th January 2014. That's this song, 'Dirty Sheets'.

Cutting in abruptly with wailing screeches of lead guitar, it's a big sound from the offset. The drums crash cataclysmically, sounding gloriously raw in their swinging rhythm, followed by stabs of guitar chords in the verse. Rough vocals with a rippling echo start with the line: "From the East Coast to the West, we ain't the worst, we ain't the best" - A pre-emptive reply to any detractors, yet at the same time, wonderfully grand with a self-deprecating slur of mediocrity tacked onto it. The drawl of the vocals paint a definitively gritty picture of punk romance. There is a hint of glam to this, perhaps in the theatrical dynamics of the song, or maybe I'm mistaking it for the rockabilly judder of the drums and that general wiggle-to-this vibe. It's a going-places song. If you know what I mean, cool; if you don't, well, sorry.

So that's 'Dirty Sheets' for you. I expect that this means another full length album from The Orwells next year, too; in any case they've announced some UK tour dates for February 2014. I heartily recommend seeing them live if you can, cause, well, it's a crazy show - I can confirm that the energy levels are through the roof.

In other news, you can now download their Other Voices EP for free from their official site.

Saturday, 28 September 2013

RADKEY ROMANCE DAWN

I stumbled across this song a while ago and was struck more by the references in the title than anything else. Being a part-time One Piece (it's a manga about pirates) fan, you'd have looked up to find out, or already known, that Romance Dawn is the sort of proto-One Piece; it was short-lived but it grew into what is now like one of the most popular mangas ever ever. Isn't that fun? So anyway, I was quite surprised when I saw that this song by Radkey was called 'Romance Dawn' - but then I, as I so often do, forgot about it and continued surfin' the web. (That's still an expression, right?)

But I heard it on the radio the other night and was enjoying it rather a lot - without knowing it was Radkey. Then strangely I decided to look up the song again today. Long damn story short, I re-found the song and am sitting here right now writing about it.

Anyway. Whatever, right? Whatever indeed. So we continue. Read on. Radkey is or are a trio (brothers, in fact, but not triplets) from Missouri, USA, who play punk rock music. They sure do. But there's a lotta different types of punk out there: combine the word with any other genre and you have a different type every time - punk rock, punk pop, electro punk, thrash punk - so what's different about Radkey's stuff?

Well, with a distinctive voice - something like lip-curling rockabilly crossed with black-metal glam projected theatrics - the vocals lead an easy-to-chant-to galloper of a song. I don't use this epithet very much, but I'd say it's pretty "high-octane" - energy explodes out of this one. Thick guitars chomp through riffs of varying tempo, especially in the full throttle drum-spasms just before the break where the gutsy bass takes the spotlight, and a driving guitar solo noodles around towards the end - all very energetic.

The intro to the song sounds like something an aggressive biker might hear in his head in his first few seconds of waking up. It's also one heck of a build up. The drums rollick around before galloping into the verse, before the crashing chorus which is complete with some almost-obligatory "Hey-hey!"s sung by the backing vocals. There's something a bit Offspring about this - you know what I mean? Only a bit. It's different, of course, but it's nice to hear familiarity too.

This comes from Radkey's upcoming Devil Fruit (another One Piece reference) EP, out 14th October.

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Tuesday, 17 September 2013

LAZY INTERVIEW #13: THE ORWELLS

← #12: CORY JREAMZ #14: CUUSHE →

Currently, recently and of late I have been having a small love affair with The Orwells, a five-membered band which is a rising punk rock star right now. There's a lot of interest in them. That's no surprise. Having released a debut album last year, one EP at the start of summer and another, Who Needs You, at the end of summer, this string of releases is catching the attention of everyone who has a penchant for the young energy of The Orwells' raucously raunchy music.

I went to go see them live last week, which was an experience that showed me their recorded songs - as good as they are - cannot match the furious frenzy of their in-the-flesh renditions. I really do recommend that you go and see them, if you can of course. It's something that injects the soul with the spark of punk spirit that The Orwells' crashing boom bang sound creates. It was fun. And on top of that, they were extremely kind enough to take time to answer the Lazy Interview questions. What gentlemen!

Who are you? Where are you from? What do you do?
　We're The Orwells, we're from Chicago, Illinois. We play rock n' roll music.

Why did you decide to start creating music?
　It was one of the only things we weren't horrible at. And it gave us something to do on the weekends.

How would you describe your sound? What makes you and your style stand out?
　Youthful. I think it's our energy that makes us different from the rest, when we play live, having a good time comes before performing well.

Is there a perfect time and place for listening to your music?
　When you just got suspended from school.

What inspires you most when writing a song?
　Thinking of being on stage with each other playing it to a crowd of people. Finding the connection between all five of us.

What is your most memorable musical experience?
　Hearing The Stooges' 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' for the first time. That song put the band on the path we're currently still venturing down.

What are your favourite three songs at the moment?
　The Virgins - Travel Express
　Ty Seagall - She Don't Care
　Bob Dylan - She's Your Lover Now

Who do you most admire in the music world?
　The Replacements.

In your opinion, what is the future of music?
　Rock n' roll will take over this planet again. Mark my words.

What's the future of your music - what do you hope to do next?
　Keep making different sounding albums. See how far we can push the walls to our box without breaking them.

What, aside from music, is most important to you?
　Family, cheese fries, and baseball.

In some ways, the most important thing that's said here is the word "youthful" - it's what they are most known for. But that's only in some ways. However, it is definitely something that makes them stand out. Their songs are bursts of irony, vents of frustrations, slightly morbid explosions - things that, more often than not, come from young minds. Putting that kind of stuff on a record is easy enough, but to play it with even more attitude, energy and aggression onstage - as if your life depended on it almost - is something that isn't easy to replicate every time. In that sense, they're very genuine.

It all seems to be about the live performances with these guys. They would prefer to have a "good time" over "performing well", but often if you don't think about performing at all, and just enjoy yourself, things go more swimmingly than you'd imagine. Simply by trying to have a fun time, trying to connect with each other, and always thinking of that live sound, The Orwells - in their muddle of youth as we all are - become more philosophical than they perhaps expected they'd be perceived: they are about the NOW. People may gloss over a band like The Orwells with a just-another-punk-band cynicism - for me, however, they put noise to all the wordless exclamations of our generation. Plus, cheese fries - or cheesy chips as we know them here in the UK - are very important.

As for their prediction of rock 'n' roll taking over the planet again... I've never really thought about that but, in a time where dance music is dominating popular music, the switch back to guitar-based music could be closer - and more angry - than you think. Watch out world.

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Wednesday, 11 September 2013

THE ORWELLS LIVE @ MADAME JOJO'S

Well. Last night I went to see The Orwells live at Madame JoJo's, a venue in Soho, London. There were actually three bands playing. I didn't see the last band (whoops/oh well) because, well, The Orwells were quite good and we decided to leave on a high. Which is always a good thing, I think. Judge for yourselves though.

The first band that played were called Polterghost - a London post-punky trio. Each track had a similar vibe, and that was Nirvana-esque riffs that oozed grunge, some shreddy guitar solos dotted here and there, alongside palm-muted guitars with some high-pitched vocals - almost a little like Smashing Pumpkings. The drums pounded out the rhythm. Perhaps a little "teen" sounding for my liking, and not a commanding stage presence, but nice enough. Their track 'Holy Smoke' should give you a good idea of their sound.

But then The Orwells bowled onstage. Not only did they move around as if completely possessed by the music they were playing, but they played the music in a ballsy, aggressive way. Lead-vocalist Mario Cuomo towered over his bandmates, looking almost too big for the stage, in cream skinny jeans, a red Chicago Bulls vest and sporting a luscious mop of wavy blonde hair that he used to his advantage the whole time: playing with it, letting it cover his face, whipping it around. Oddly sexual.

They opened with 'Mallrats', which set the tone for the rest of the show: its maddening yet tongue-in-cheek "lalalalala" screamed out alongside crushing distortion and crashing drums. They went onto smash through their set, going through the addictive 'Other Voices' and stopping by for slow-dance numbers 'Blood Bubbles' and 'Halloween All Year', yet with the wholly crazed vocals from Cuomo still on top form. My friend suggested that he looked like he needed an exorcism, and I said that playing live probably was the exorcism. However, I wholly doubt there's anything like that needed. I mean, in some ways, yeah he was going crazy - falling offstage at one point and generally screaming out the lyrics with a hardcore rockabilly drawl as if his life depended on it. It's just angry stuff - and I loved it.

Of course, they played recent hit 'Who Needs You' from their new EP of the same name - it sounds even better live. They also went through a perhaps extended version of their psychedelic song 'Head', which in its second half repeats the same majorly distorted riff over and over - at this point they were pretty much all in a frenzy onstage. It's good to see that kind of thing. People getting into their music, I mean. What better way to show that your music's likeable by liking playing it so much that it makes you go into a bit of a trance? Mm-hm.

They ended with a cover of The Stooges' 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' - it was a raucous affair. Truly raucous. Raunchy. The lyrics were roared out, the guitars totally abused - huge noise. I suppose you could equate it to their performance of the same song at another place, but the stage was smaller at Madame JoJo's; maybe they felt claustrophobic or something, because they seemed to be even more mental.

Overall, what more can I say? I suppose that it was really good is a start. It WAS damn good. I thought the recordings were good enough, but the energy that they drew from playing live to people in a room is clearly something that can't be captured in essence. Also, to see them like actually playing was amazing.

They had a very punk dynamic, the bassist Grant Brinner grooving modestly to the rhythm and at one point taking the cord out of guitarist Matt O'Keefe's microphone, who later knelt on the floor and pulled the mic stand down to him, relentless drumming from Henry Brinner, frenzied bent-double playing from other guitarist Dominic Corso, and general madness from Mario Cuomo. He stood out, dancing, pulling at his clothes, moonwalking (probably?) at one point, and as I said earlier, falling off the stage, then falling off the stage again trying to pull himself back onto it. They all scream pent-up aggression and youthful frustration - a feeling that's easy to summon up in yourself after seeing these guys freak out so much themselves. Basically really fun to watch. And really nice to have seen them at such a small intimate venue, cause I think they're only gonna get bigger from here on in.

Afterwards we were so punk, threw straws around in McDonald's, got the guy who served us to give us a free cheeseburger each, and I sold two cigarettes for £5. Imagine that. Our slowly diminishing yet endless youth. Go see The Orwells if you get a chance - you won't regret it.

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Saturday, 7 September 2013

THE ORWELLS WHO NEEDS YOU EP

Wake up. Dispel the morning phantoms. Somehow acquire The Orwells' Who Needs You EP. Put your headphones on, or at least use some damn speakers that go damn loud, and bathe in the noise, grit and bouncy distortion that possesses these four songs. For me personally, it's a self-indulgent trip back to a breed of music that used to be all I liked when I was younger - it's also a brilliant continuation of a sound that, despite the inevitable detractions and purist naysayers, deserves to be nurtured and revitalised (not just kept in a Misfits/Black Flag/Ramones-shaped museum); and here it has been damn well revitalised.

The Orwells - Grant Brinner (bass), Henry Brinner (drums), Dominic Corso (guitar), Matt O'Keefe (guitar) and Mario Cuomo (vocals - no relation to Rivers Cuomo from Weezer, just a cool surname) - released their debut album Remember When last year and first EP, Other Voices, in June this year. This one, Who Needs You, is out 9th September on National Anthem records. There's gotta be a second album coming out pretty soon - that's just me speculating; I don't know really. What I do know, or what I believe - FEEL even - is that this EP will certainly tide over fans of the band and fans of thrash-pop-punk-lo-fi-rock stuff. Or perhaps it will just make you hungry for more. Yes, it's that tasty.

It begins with title-track 'Who Needs You', (which I wrote about, along with its video, in more detail last month) a loud and anthemic party-piece that is or could be a protest song for all us lost millennials: it's filled with pacifist leanings - "You better toss your bullets / You better hide your guns / You better help the children / Let them have some fun" - and bolshy self-disinheritance, i.e. "Listen up forefathers / I'm not your son". To be honest, this song stands out as different from the other three - it's like their "coming out" song. A more polished sound that, perhaps, will make its way onto their next release, or a one-off anthem: who can say?

Next up is one of two "Rip-offs" on the album, 'Open Your Eyes' - apparently a song done in the style of The Misfits. I think this "rip-off" thing is quite a neat idea - rather than just covering a song, they've paid a more meaningful homage to a band that has influenced many punk bands before. What's the saying? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? That doesn't even work in this case. Forget that. In any case, 'Open Your Eyes' resembles The Misfits mostly in vocal style. It opens with a gutsy snare roll and some thrashing distorted guitar and goes on to be exceedingly proficient in the low-end of the spectrum, the bass guitar and kick drum rumbling and thumping inescapably as Cuomo gives some gravelly rockabilly drawl to lyrics like "I wanna be your, be your, be your man" in this pogo-stickin' love song.

Then there's some heavy lo-fi goodness in 'Salvation Is A Parking Lot' - a Black Lips "rip-off" that has its similarities in the slap-dash fuzz of the general sound and the multi-voiced refraining chants of the chorus. This one is a glorious mess of noise complete with truncated guitar solo in the middle. A hot 'n' sweaty sound. The EP finishes with a live rendition of 'Halloween All Year', a dark subversion of doo-wop '50s prom-night rhythms complete with horror-tinged lyrics, such as, "There's a body on the ceiling looking for me / Get a knife from the kitchen and follow me" and "Take a drink from the vial / And laugh with me". They sound very good live. Cuomo is particularly impassioned, spluttering/laughing in the second half whilst belting out the lyrics. A suitable end to a punch-in-the-face of an EP.

So much energy. I love it. It's great. What else can I say? Jeez. Just listen to it. It's intense, fun, playful, noisy, bouncy, ballsy, raw... All of that. It's good shtuff. Get it.

Wednesday, 7 August 2013

THE ORWELLS WHO NEEDS YOU [VIDEO]

I know I don't often post about bands so much - I am not sure why that is. Before I began writing this post I was wondering, "Why is that?" and I thought that perhaps bands are more likely to have management, PR, etc. than people sitting in their bedrooms (horrible stereotype but there you go) making electronic music. So people who make electronic music are more numerous. Thus they're easier to find. Thus I post about them a little bit more and GOD what a horrid and pretentious word "thus" is. I'm sorry about that. Anyway, I might be wrong, ok? So don't worry.

Here we have The Orwells with a nice chirpy song called 'Who Needs You'. I first heard about The Orwells, a band from Chicago, when Palma Violets were talking on the radio about touring with them in America. They played one of their songs and I liked it. Fast forward to now, and I am finally getting around to writing about them. I still have "The Orwells" scrawled on a scrappy piece of paper somewhere as a crappy reminder.

It's a bouncy, rhythmically distorted number that has more in common with English stuff like The Libertines, for example - just listen to those staccato chords at the end of each chorus cycle: positively brimming with the pogo-bop of pop-punk. The drums are thick and create a dancefloor stomper, and the instruments don't overwhelm the vocals, instead being given their own, voice-free chance to shine. Speaking of the vocals, in fact, they're unique in their rich and raspy yelling, something that you wouldn't necessarily expect with this kind of music - something more high-pitched and affected would be more the kind of thing. For me anyway. However, it works perfectly. In fact, I love the vocals in this song. I think they are what give it their kinda indefinable edge - you can detect urgency and energy with them. The music backs them up very nicely.

The Who Needs You EP will by out 9th September (UK; 10th US). More juddering sounds to keep the onset of Autumn at bay, I hope!

Saturday, 27 July 2013

SUPERFOOD TV (DEMO)

Really really happy that this song appeared, and I'm really happy that it's good. I'm not so happy that it took me so long to get round to seeing it - oh well. C'est la vie and all that innit.

So anyway this is Superfood, a band from Birmingham (England, UK - not Alabama), and their song 'TV'. It's apparently a demo, but it sounds more than good enough for human consumption. I didn't think demos were supposed to be so nice. But it's ok. It's good. I reckon they could just release this the way it is: sounds great.

What kind of music is this? It's punky-ish indie soft rock... kind of. I wrote about their other song (there's only two, yo) a few months ago - it's called 'Superfood' and it's about getting hungry I guess. There's a similarly humdrum heart in this new song (2 months old but whatevs), namely being concerned with the inability to sleep without the TV on. I remember when I was younger I slept with the TV on like every night. Boom. Instant connection with the song. Plays to the simplicities of life. I like that. Who wouldn't?

Let's listen to it shall we? Can we?

There's a really nice lazy and laid-back feel to this tune, perhaps it's in the slow head-bob that the tempo seems to inspire, or maybe it's in the slapdash guitar stabs in the verse, the aching scratches of the guitar solo. Maybe it's in the lyrics, celebrating the magical mundanity of how the TV can affect your sleeping... stuff, for instance, "How am I to ever dream without the TV on?" and the ever-so-normal, "Who turned off the TV? It wasn't you, it wasn't me". The vocals affect no true 'singing voice' or accent, sticking instead with a half-spoken, half-yelled, half-sung - wait three halves? - vibe that seems to come forth organically.

I said it about the sound of their song 'Superfood', but they have a Weezer-esque quality about them. Which is a really nice thing because Weezer are great. I dunno why - similar sound, perhaps. Distorted guitars, nothing too fast, lazy vibes, irreverant atmosphere - 'TV' even starts and finishes with recordings of television and twinkling guitar twangs, kinda like the start/end of Weezer's own 'Undone – The Sweater Song'. Or maybe it's just me. But that's how I find it, aurally, so that's how I'm saying it, typingly. Someone said something about these guys catching the "butt-end of brit pop" but I don't like brit pop so I won't even.

Is there a release coming up? I don't know. Best just keep checking!

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Wednesday, 17 July 2013

VULKANO VISION TRICKS [VIDEO]

Things don't always have to bright and sunny. Certainly not. Because they're not always bright and sunny; day gives way to night. It's normal yo. So a little bit of dark is alright sometimes. And in terms of sound too. If bright soundscapes give you images of melting endless summer days, dark ones evoke more shadowy or sometimes nocturnal scenery. Obviously.

As such, as the sun sets on another broiling hot day in South East England, the soundtrack for this still and twilit evening comes from Stockholm duo Vulkano. Comprised of Lisa Pyk-Wirström (keyboards/other things) and Cissi Efraimsson (drums/vocals), Vulkano's sounds in their song 'Vision Tricks' perfectly suit this time of day, when things can seem to appear from nowhere and glimmer in front of your eyes.

It's got the same darkly appealing atmosphere as The Cure's 'A Forest', but of course this is its own thing. It oozes an uncomfortable dark feeling without reverting to a wholly lo-fi sound as some who saunter down this route do, instead boasting an polished yet earthy pulse.

Listen to it via this video.

What you first notice is that bass. It sure is meaty. Gives just enough thickness of sound whilst picking out a melody, so heavy sounding that it could have been played on telephone wire for all I know. The melody harbours a grim edge and gives an impression of something foreboding, Nice nice nice. Its partner is a set of raw drums, who keep a steady beat throughout; snare rich and rattling, dull thuds for kicks. Later they roll and rollick in the choruses, provide a riotous clash of cymbals for the break. A strong foundation.

Cissi's vocals are yelping and affected, seeming to actually come as a warning - she even sings imploringly "I know it's out there..." (is it BOB?) There's something chilling about them, perhaps in the way that they echo starkly against the empty space in the song that's left over. Luminescent keyboard sounds that wail quietly all around appearing like kitsunebi (ghost lights), disconcerting fairy-lights. Altogether it's quite an enveloping sound.

It's actually their first ever ever single (from what I have yet to find out) and it's out officially on 29th July.

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Sunday, 30 June 2013

THROWING UP MEDICINE [VIDEO]

Throwing up is something that I really don't like doing. The very thought of it is really disgusting. Even just thinking about it, before I've written about it, is enough to make me feel a little grossed-out. Yeah that's right, I DISLIKE emesis. And who doesn't? It's a vile, repulsive thing. Stinks so bad. Half-digested food and stomach doodads. G-r-o-s-s.

And that's what Throwing Up works really nicely as a name for a punk-type band. Fortuitously, there is a punk band called that. They are from London and there are three people in it, as you can see from the photo. NME described them as a "DIY shit-storm" - way to ambiguate, I can't even work out what that means. They themselves describe their genre as "errrrghhh" - and I'm with them there - but sometimes people like to read a label before they listen to something.

For me, they are more like a three-piece band from London who sound like a clash of double-time punk driven by undistilled distorted guitars, a little like the punkier dimensions of Smash-era The Offspring, and grunge-garnished vocals that almost growl at you with a contradictory mix of lassitude and venom. That's what I get from this song anyway: 'Medicine'.

I kind of... hate the video. The people in it really freak me out and one of them reminds me of a creepy character from The Mighty Boosh. But as for the song, yes, it's got that good 'n' hearty punch-to-the-face appeal about it that makes punk music so satisfying to listen to. Though I'm never quite sure who's doing the punching - am I being punched by the music? Punching myself whilst listening to the music? Punching the music? None of them actually. It's just a satisfying feeling of pent-up aggression and energy that nobody can deny.

It seems to have about it a little of l'esprit de l'escalier ("spirit of the stairs") - the feeling of knowing exactly what you should've said after the moment to say it has passed. Looking back on shitty things and vocalising your opinions. That's why punk's good. Cough it all up an' that. Anyway this comes from upcoming album Over You out 8th July on O Genesis Recordings.

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