The Big Pink - Future This

By Stephanie Stevens-Wade

After their support slot for Muse’s arena tour back in 2009 The Big Pink‘s confidence and cockiness led them to convince themselves they would be bigger than the headlining trio. With the release of their debut album A Brief History of Love that year they were only starting to show people their natural proclivity for pop. But UK multi-instrumentalists Milo Cordell and Robbie Furze have unleashed another bold statement – their second album Future This.

Written at the end of their 2010 tour and recorded last year, Future This bridges the gap between their two albums with ease. ‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ and they haven’t, making their punchy album title void and A Brief History of Love Part Deux comes to mind. In saying that, this isn’t a bad thing at all. With Paul Epworth (Adele, Florence, Plan B) producing and Alan Moulder (Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails) mixing, the album is polished to perfection but the tunes aren’t as memorable as their debut. Back in 2009 they bought a new sound to the table, now we’re just seeing what else they can do with it. It seems they’re lumbered with what they know from their success with ‘Dominos’ and can’t shake it off.

The first single and opening track, ‘Stay Gold’ is the not so successful sibling of ‘Dominos’. The song has a literature background coming from the S.E. Hinton book The Outsiders: “Stay gold, Ponyboy,” a reference to a poem by Robert Frost called ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’. While they’ve had their heads buried in books they’ve also blasted back to the ’80s by sampling Laurie Anderson’s classic art-pop and performance piece ‘O Superman’ for ‘Hit The Ground (Superman)’.

Banishing old references and back to the modern day, the introduction to ‘Give It Up’ sounds like it should be played to a slow motion clip of conmen entering a casino. It’s classy and bass heavy in contrast to ‘The Palace’. Similar to ‘Crystal Vision’ from their debut, ‘The Palace’ is about a world you can create around yourself – the most atmospheric and poppy song on the album.

With drummer Akiko Matsuura out of the picture the high-pitched wailings still remain in ‘13’ showing the bands desperation towards love and resembling the darkness of debut hit ‘Velvet’. “I will stop at nothing. I will be loved or die trying”, is bellowed in shockingly high notes. So their new hip-hop direction is hinting at 50 cent’s Get Rich or Die Trying lyrics…?

‘Lose Your Mind’ adds a little more rock to the record with its hefty guitar solo and sirens. The verses oddly sound like something from Hurts repeating “doing it on my own” with attitude behind an eclectic mix of jittering bass synth, strings and an electric guitar. Winding down the album is ‘77’ a personal song about death and 77 ways to say goodbye. Featuring another excerpt this time from Ask the Dust by John Fante, its striking and mournful pose shows another surprising side to The Big Pink.

Future This is an inconsistent album seeing their softer side go head to head with their continued industrial explosion of noise, but they haven’t lost their incredibly infectious sound, transferring it over to their second album with even more surprises.

Enter Shikari - A Flash Flood Of Colour

By Stephanie Stevens-Wade

Back in 2006 we saw Enter Shikari play Take To The Skies hit ‘Sorry You’re Not a Winner’ in a box room full of sweaty fans. The times of the Cheerios t-shirt small crowds and songs of obscurity later morphed into Common Dreads, which introduced chanted political ramblings and dubstep into their sound. A Flash Flood of Colour unites those two incredible albums to create something louder, angrier, heavier, more mature, pumped with adrenaline and drenched in political anguish.

Opening song ‘System…’ is a climax of strings, background guitars, ambient synths and Rou’s gentle spoken words which gradually transform into a heavy vocal joined by the band’s chants leading you into ‘…Meltdown’. “This is going to change everything” roars Rou at the beginning before the huge filthy breakdown of jittery bass, guitars and dramatic strings followed by a drum and bass infused chorus.

‘Sssnakepit’ we all know too well with its old school drum and bass and stonking chorus etching itself into your head instantly. The Louis Armstrong joke at the end hints that they still have their immaturity and jokes behind the serious messages.

Enter Shikari’s tighter production results in a more refined, professional and mature sound including surprising orchestration and the merging of genres from punk and metalcore to dubstep. It’s ok to wince on first listen every time dubstep dives into each song unexpectedly. The genre has taken the over the airwaves but Enter Shikari were ahead of the game with Common Dreads and this time round they have infused it perfectly in their songs without letting it take over.

One of the most infectious songs on the album, ‘Arguing with Thermometers’ begins with a startling introduction followed by a very mainstream verse sounding like The Automatic (it’s a valid comparison, trust me). Then another breakdown of dirty dubstep is unexpectedly thrown in your face with growling vocals.

“Take a breather, make a cuppa and rest that voice box”, Rou must’ve thought when recording ‘Stalemate’. The outstanding and captivating lyricism with an acoustic guitar provides a calming break away from the madness.

The quick-witted ranting spoken word of the introduction to ‘Ghandi Mate, Ghandi’ has a striking resemblance to Dan le Sacs ‘The Beat the My Heart Skipped’. It’s another song with a mix of genres spanning from a dance/dubstep remix of Pacman to chugging guitar riffs and crashing drums. Meanwhile Rou showcases the peak of his vocal ability in ‘Constellations’ – a beautiful song to end a monster of an album. With a striking resemblance to Bloc Party’s ‘SRXT’, the pretty chimes, gentle heartfelt lyrics and bursting drums and orchestration towards the end makes a positive end to a troubled album.

Albums released in January are usually forgotten about towards the end of the year but this album has revived Enter Shikari’s replay-able status and given fans a chance to go absolutely mental again on their next tours and festival appearances. It’s music for a newly jolted generation, a soundtrack for the mosh-pit, the dance floor and the front lines. With a kaleidoscope of moods, tones and hues A Flash Flood of Colour does what it says on the tin. It’s explosive and rigorous outcome just keeps hitting you with everything you know and love about Enter Shikari.

by Stephanie Stevens-Wade

After last week’s ‘girls’ theme I can safely say that this week is a pic’n’mix week, from British indie groups to Australian solo artists, wannabe pop stars to has-been rockers. The last week in November is the last window before the Christmas covers and re-releases take over the charts and airwaves, so enjoy this carefully picked selection before another TV advert persuades you to download ‘All I Want For Christmas’ again. (I may have thrown one festive single in for good measure as the week ends in December after all and I just couldn’t help myself!)

Girls
‘Lawrence’

With a drum line simple enough for Meg White to follow, winding synths, haunting melodies and a sombre guitar solo, it sounds like a droning instrumental from The Horrors until at 2m50s gentle pipes are being blown in the background and it feels like you’re in some sort of summer hoedown. It only makes you want to play it all over again to see how they made it possible for two sounds to piece so perfectly together. This new, unheard single was“written and recorded as a gift to Lawrence Hayward”, frontman for the cultband Felt, Denim and Go-Kart Mozart. It’s also being released on limited edition, heart-shaped red vinyl as well as digitally. Nice!

Gotye
‘Easy Way Out’

Melbourne’s multi-instrumentalist and producer Gotye releases ‘Easy Way Out’ this week, the follow up from ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ (if you haven’t heard it yet, go and join the other 18million YouTube viewers who fell in love instantly). In contrast to his previous single, his mesmerising vocals and explosive guitars are crammed into a short two-minute song. And I’m not entirely sure if it’s down to the animated video but my comparisons are oddly gearing towards Queens of the Stone Age and Gorillaz.

Brett Anderson
‘Crash About To Happen’

The ex Suede front man released his fourth solo album Black Rainbows this year with his second single Crash About to Happen taking more of a commercial route than his previous solo material but still feels lodged in the midst of the 90s. Featuring footage from his Koko show, the video features Anderson performing live all sweaty with his tambourine in hand. How can you possibly resist…?

Frankie & the Heartstrings
‘Everybody Looks Better (in the Right Light)’

After releasing their debut album Hunger in February this single is the first taste of some brand spanking new material from the five-piece. It’s short and sweet. A melodic sing-a-long song, with an infectious jovial guitar line. It’s a simple energetic crowd pleaser invitating predictions of the title being chanted through gig venues across the country whilst supporting The Vaccines.

The Wombats
’1996′

If you were to rewind back to any year in your life what would it be? For me, 1996 isn’t a strong choice. I was six, the animals I read about in nursery rhymes were being cloned and Take That split up. However The Wombats have spewed out another synth-tastic indie pop single about yearning for the nostalgia of the past and not being one of the cool kids. Poor Murph. Trademark synths, big choruses and group chanting towards the end is like any other Wombats single but it’s the quirky lyricism that gives it the thumbs up.

X Factor Finalists 2011
‘Wishing On A Star’

‘Why’, you ask. ‘WHY?’ It’s for a good cause and I would much prefer this to go for Christmas number one than one of the finalistsmangling Damian Rice’s Cannonball. Clearly this years X Factor finalists didn’t offer enough for the Rose Royce cover so two more acts from previous years, JLS and One Direction were thrown in to help with the hefty chorus at the end.

Thisquietarmy - Resurgence

By Stephanie Stevens-Wade

The electronic one-man band has become some sort of fashionable music project in 2011. When listening to the likes of Washed Out, Zola Jesus and Youth Lagoon’s new material this year I thought that that the lead singer was surrounded by an array of musicians helping to create the complicated addictive sounds – I was wrong. Abolishing the responsibility of fame hungry band members, solo projects are popping up everywhere and are going down a treat. Simply eliminate the idea of the harmonica tied around the neck with a drum brace and ankle cymbals and replace with effects pedals and a laptop.

Thisquietarmy is the experimental guitar-based project of Eric Quach from Montreal, Canada. Playing since 2005 in what I assume would be a damp and dark gig venues, his improvised drone music intertwined with numerous other genres has crowned him a pioneer of experimental music.

Quach’s debut album Unconquered was released in 2008, a short eight-track introduction and an insight into the future of the genre and what this artist was capable of on his own. Three years later and a few Youtube album teasers down the line he’s provided us with a hypnotic, ethereal sonic experimentation, his second album, Resurgence. Out on Denovali Records, this lengthy collection of material loads you into a Looney Tunes-style canon and blasts you into an array of dark genres of post-punk/shoegaze, krautrock/spacerock and black/doom metal.

Quach launches you into a disturbing atmosphere of captivating guitar ambience with dreamy structural elements of echoing synths. It’s dark, melodic, engaging and sweeps you off your feet. ‘Whispers In The Trees’ feels like the smooth psychedelic music is actually whispering to you but then ‘Mechanical Heart’ follows and the sound transforms into what sounds like a Trent Reznor piece with muffled guitars, low key notes and industrial clanging metal sounds.

As the album seems to cleverly blend into one it’s like you’re listening to Quach’s dark, twisted symphony. But suddenly everything comes to a halt for ‘Gone to the Unseen’. It’s a fresh start for the 12 minute ending track featuring Meryem Yildiz on vocals. Then follows the 47-minute bonus CD consisting of very much the same.

It’s not like Mr Quach bought a new Casio keyboard, a few effects pedals and cymbals to add to his guitar and amp and started randomly fiddling with the effects of each instrument. Resurgence is a masterful, eclectic blend of rhythms and sounds spewing out a fresh reconstruction of his idiosyncratic take on music. It’s melancholic, mature and adventurous revealing every element of his distorted drone spectrum.

The Joy Formidable - The Big More EP

By Stephanie Stevens-Wade

When Dave Grohl chooses one of your songs as his track of the year you know you’re on the right path as a band.

The subtle release of A Balloon Called Moaning back in 2009 lead to The Joy Formidable’s much anticipated debut album The Big Roar at the beginning of the year, and what a year it has been for them. The trio have spent the year touring, gaining recognition in America and spending their summer in festival glory, filling tents across the UK.

And whilst still touring towards the end of the year, they release The Big More. Featuring a remix, a live track and two new tracks it gives you a taster of the band’s progression throughout the year and also what’s to come from Welsh trio.

Fang Island’s playful remix of ‘Cradle’ is followed by new track ‘Anemone’. Similar to ’9669′ from A Balloon Called Moaning, the soft and serene vibe given off by Ritzy Bryan’s vocals are twinned with echoing guitars and gentle drums. All seems too quiet until pounding drums, bellowing vocals and shredded guitar add a monstrous ending to a beautiful track.

Anyone who has seen the band live will know how intense their performances are. The sound they make with just three members is mind blowing. However the performance of ‘Whirring’ at a venue in London included on The Big More has an introduction of keys or harps playing to the chorus before cymbals, bass and guitar assemble and erupt.

This live recording of ‘Whirring’ shows how they have progressed with their music since A Balloon Called Moaning. The band have taken the amateur version and transformed the ending into a whirlwind of every note, string and drum combination they are possibly capable of – you can nearly feel the sweat running down the drummers forehead.

‘It’s Over’ is the EP’s final track and is a new take on Roy Orbison’s 1964 classic. Ritzy’s emotional vocals build with a crescendo of shuffling drums, moaning backing vocals and heavy guitars.

As well as recording another new track for the Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 soundtrack, The Big More is a small step towards that second album and more incredible shows.

We Were Promised Jetpacks - In The Pit Of The Stomach

By Stephanie Stevens-Wade

The young Scottish indie rock foursome We Were Promised Jetpacks have soared over that second album hurdle and created something more mature, ferocious and louder without leaving behind the superior elements of their debut.

In The Pit of the Stomach’s sound is far from the peace and tranquillity in which it was recorded. Sigur Ros’ Sundlaugin Studios in Iceland definitely got the band focused in order to record the big rock album they were destined to release. Unlike These Four Walls they were able to piece this album together carefully. With this time and precision in mind they still recorded it in three weeks before following Jimmy Eat World on tour in North America.

WWPJ’s second album creates a smooth transition from their debut and lures you in, chews you up and spits you out from the very beginning as opening track ‘Circles and Squares’ impatiently bursts open the doors followed by the trudging bass and dark, atmospheric chorus of ‘Medicine’.

‘Act on Impulse’ was leaked as a teaser on their website a few months ago, and is most definitely the stand out track, no matter how many times you’ve played it on their website. Adam’s vocals are at their best and the two-minute introduction builds and builds before subtle whispers and delicate tapping drums explode into an atmospheric chorus of bellowing voices and perplexing pounding drums.

‘Sore Thumb’ brings down the pace and mood until three minutes pass and there’s another explosion of guitars, drums and cymbals. ‘Boy in the Backseat’ was one of the first tracks written for the album and has a hint of ‘Fighting With Wire’. And then there’s the six and half minutes of ‘Pear Tree’, resembling Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s muffled echoing vocals and big drums accompanied by faint strings.

There is a sense of repetition with the long heavy introductions – nevertheless In The Pit of the Stomach is still a fierce, confident and ambitious record that packs a punch with a whirlwind of energy that will sweep you off your feet with brute force.

Marcus Foster - Nameless Path

By Stephanie Stevens-Wade

Following the release of his Tumble Down EP, Marcus Foster’s first studio album Nameless Path is brimming with so much confidence and maturity it’s hard to believe he’s only launching his debut at 24.

The London singer songwriter has produced an unexpected pick’n’mix of genres exploring country, folk, blues and soul but assembled with such panache it portrays his flare and talent without sounding like a confused mess. Opening track ‘Old Birch Tree’ doesn’t settle you into the album gently – it’s a sucker punch of an introduction with an American blues twang and a hefty piano solo. ‘Shadows of the City’ follows where he shows off his powerful husky tones effortlessly making it one of the strongest tracks on the album.

The trumpets, horns and an intricate drum line of ‘Faint Stir Of Madness’ is followed by ‘You My Love’, a quiet acoustic number with only a shaker and piano to accompany Foster and his country drawl. ‘The Room’ sounds like it should belong on the Love Actually soundtrack then Foster returns to the Seasick Steve-esque blues twang for single release ‘Rushes and Reeds’.

With an intense beginning the album tends to slow down towards the end. There’s the hip shaking brass and piano solos from ‘Faint Stir of Madness’ and ‘The Room’ followed by a slow, poignant number with heart felt lyrics and strings like ‘I Belong Here’ or ‘I Don’t Need To Lose You Know’. It’s not an album full of ballads, neither is it a full of knee tapping hoe down goodness.

Tom Waits, Jeff Buckley, The Doors, Bob Dylan – the list of influences is endless as his mature lyricism and talent compare him to musical greats. Foster even managed to get Kristen Stewart to appear in his video for ‘I Was Broken’ before he’s even released the album! He has created something that solo artists on their third or fourth album release would be envious of – I can’t begin to imagine what he’s capable of next.

Scott Matthews - What The Night Delivers

By Stephanie Stevens-Wade

What the Night Delivers isn’t an account of a lonely evening with a bottle of wine and a flickering candle or strolling through rowdy city streets at night. Unlike the dark isolated album cover, the third instalment from the British singer/songwriter Scott Matthews is more like an adventurous dream with a sense of love, loss and discovery conveyed through ingenious lyrics that fit together like a puzzle with a concoction of beautiful instrumentation.

For this album Matthews returns to independent label San Remo and producer Jon Cotton who helped create his stunning debut album Passing Stranger. So with that in mind there are some old Scott Matthews traits thrown into this album. What the Night Delivers consists mostly of loose ends he’s managed to bring together, which he had written towards the end of Passing Stranger.

Scott Matthews had me from ‘Elusive’. The Ivor Novello award winning single started a long love affair with his music. His confidence shines through in What the Night Delivers, as he hasn’t dramatically changed his sound. What he was doing from day one seems to have suited the needs of his fans, as ‘Be Myself Again’ was one of the first songs he had written back in 2002.

This time round Matthews gives you space to take in each single with long silences, slow piano solos, or gentle twinkling guitar strings. ‘Ballerina Lake’ settles you into the album before ‘Bad Apple’, where an American twang is heard with a vinyl effect to age the song. ‘So Long, My Moonlight’ starts as an acoustic and horn solo building the song up until it bursts half way through and takes a refreshing turn with multiple instruments and an uplifting rhythm. You feel an element of freedom in the music but the lyrics tell a different story – “trapped is the change that you fight to digest, as you lose sight of what you’ve become“.

Matthews’ voice and lyrics in ‘Head First Into Paradise’ sweeps you off your feet, while ‘Walking Home in the Rain’ resembles a string and cymbal outburst from Elbow, augmented by a hefty high voice from Matthews. The big build up with dark strings towards the end reminds me of ‘In The Backseat’ by Arcade Fire as Matthews bellows “I’ll love you ‘till the end“.

‘Piano Song’ is the beautiful, sweet cherry on top as the emotional and melancholic chorus and humming backing vocals end with Matthews repeating “Well it’s caught you in your dreams“.

The whole album is like one seamless song with soft intros and outros that piece together perfectly. Scott Matthews delivers a masterpiece that ironically puts you in a dream like state and, when you wake, it’s only fitting to go back to the beginning and experience it all over again.

by Stephanie Stevens-Wade
Photos by Joshua Lawrence

For a majority of music lovers the start of summer is the start of festival season: overpriced tickets, boxes of wine, headache-inducing lights shows and portaloos that burn your nostrils. Whilst you’re packed like a sardine in the crowd dodging the flying cup of ‘cider’ spinning above, a day festival, set in a secret serene Kentish woodland sounds like heaven.
 

Curated by The Laurel Collective, In The Woods music festival returned for its 6th year to the idyllic and beautiful setting of a secret woodland location in Kent. With locally sourced ale and food in full flow, music, arts and crafts cover two stages with a forest-covered venue to watch it all on. There is also a sense of exclusivity with only 500 tickets released.
 
First up on the Quarry Stage were Clout! ‘This is the only gig we’ve done that resembles a stadium’, they told the crowd who were scattered on logs and blankets up the hill looking like the amphitheatre that Chris Le Monde had clearly imagined. Afterwards, acoustic duo Peter and Kerry at the Laurel Lounge stunned the small crowd huddled under an arch of trees as their voices intertwine and reach out as far as the campsite. Hip-hop artist Dels added another genre to the long list with his ingenious lyrics followed by an act that couldn’t be more different, Pete and the Pirates. They travelled all the way from Holland to take to the Quarry Stage playing an electrifying set resembling their performance on the same stage back in 2009.
 
Man Like Me pulled in one of the biggest crowds of the day. Their comical stage presence, dance moves and hits such as ‘Oh My Gosh’, ‘Single Dad’, ‘London Town’ and ‘Doughnut’ fill the pit alight with fairy lights. However, it was acts like Lianne La Havas and Anais Mitchell that really set the festival apart from the rest. As people remained sat on their logs and blankets at the Quarry stage waiting the next act, Lianne’s beautiful voice echoed through the woods from the Laurel Lounge. Her voice and a few gentle instruments nearly silenced the festival until the songs ended and the small crowd erupted in applause sounding like a crowd from the Pyramid stage.
 
Headliner of the Laurel lounge Anais Mitchell was the first Grammy nominated artist to play at In The Woods. Flying from Vermont especially she was joined on stage by Wallis Bird, two times Meteor award winner. The pair played a stunning set with the high dulcet tones of Anais and Wallis’s sensual yet husky voice making a perfect collaboration, pulling in a loud crowd surrounded by candle lit glass jars hanging from the trees. Romantic is an understatement!
 
The pit was full and flooding up the hill for the Laurel Collective. As they played an electrifying energetic set and thanked everyone for their support the night was definitely not over. Special guests The Invisible played at the Laurel Lounge later with an all night silent disco in full swing next to the campsite and a cinema tent showing music documentaries and short films. Micachu and the Shapes played the Quarry stage as the final act of the night before the huge midnight bonfire. And as predicted, the acoustic guitars were out and the cider was in full flow for the biggest campfire sing along I have ever partaken in.
 
The support for new small acts was outstanding and the bands were alternated so once someone at the Laurel Lounge had finished playing the next act at the Quarry Stage would start, giving you a chance to see everyone on the bill.
 
Before Peter and Kerry went on stage to play their own set they were spotted at the Quarry stage enjoying Clout! And Man Like Me were dancing with friends before their set. You also end up dancing and singing with the people you queued up for the shuttle bus with earlier that day. It results into an instant community formed by a band who haven’t yet conformed to the original festival routine of thousands of people dumped in field with promotional posters and adverts plastered all over newspapers and magazines. Instead, it’s like nothing you’ll ever visit during your summer.

Nero - Welcome Reality

By Stephanie Stevens-Wade

Nero play a pretty good part in ripping other artists’ songs to shreds and making them their own. ‘Blinded by the Lights’ and ‘In for the Kill’ were overplayed until either our ear drums or speakers gave way, but does their debut album Welcome Reality have the same effect?

Drum and bass and dubstep duo Daniel Stephens and Joe Ray have been on the underground scene for years gradually launching themselves into the limelight and onto the airwaves through their huge collaborations. Their ‘Dubstep Symphony’ for Radio 1 and 1xtra earlier this year put a whole different perspective on the genre and how it can be manipulated.

Having been releasing singles for the past year on Chase and Status’ MTA label, it feels a little like they released a majority of the album already – however with a 14 strong track list we all knew it was going to be intense, after all, they’ve had enough time. The first track alone (’2808′) gives the feeling of blasting through time on the Delorean and if the space themed artwork on the cover is anything to go by, you’re in for the ride of your life.

’2808′, complete with strings and calm synth, links seamlessly into ‘Doomseday’, which couldn’t be more of a contrast. A song more suited to the Inception soundtrack, it gives your eardrums a good beating and forces you to crank it up to 11. They immediately make Pendulum sound like The Ting Tings and my room is suddenly a grimy, sticky-floored club where the thin walls and my ribcage shake from the weight of the bass. ‘My Eyes’ slows the tempo with female vocals and a guitar solo, giving out an ’80s vibe. It sounds like the song is about to explode towards the end as the notes get higher and louder.

Elsewhere, the single releases need no introduction. Their overplayed status on the airwaves has killed the selective few but they’re still infectious. ‘In the Way’ has one of the biggest drops I have ever heard, but that’s the only thing that can keep it going, as the repetitive hospital heart rate machine gets slightly monotonous. It’s followed by ‘Scorpions’, which sounds like Night Rider on speed.

Welcome to Reality unites underground with mainstream. It is a collection of repetitive bass rattling beats, monotonous female vocals and predictable drops – an album that was predictable from the first two single releases.