Hevy 2012: A Festival Review

By Judy Tate

August 3rd-6th, 2012

For me, Hevy Festival 2012 was perfectly, though unexpectedly, summarized by an elderly lady outside the Bison enclosure in the nearby animal park, which wristbands gained festival goers free entry to. The grandmother stated she had never seen so many tattoos and piercings in her life and this was pretty accurate. Perhaps if she had been aware of flesh tunnels, vans, flat caps and creepers she may have also been impressed at their abundance too. Having set the scene (in particular the subcultural ‘scene’) of Kent’s rock and alternative festival, it was American hardcore band Trapped Under Ice that set the bar musically and atmospherically for Hevy 2012. … Continue Reading

Why? – Sod In The Seed EP

Why? - Sod In The Seed EP

By Kenny McMurtrie

Having previously enjoyed Why?’s psych-tinged output I was a bit surprised to see the press release accompanying this offering describe the band as “Californian Hip Hop cult icons”. To further complicate matters they’re soon after referred to as hailing from Cinncinati which last time I checked ain’t in Cali. What the hell’s going on? Only one way to find out… … Continue Reading

The Weekly Froth! With Whomadewho, Saschienne and Pete Herbert

Whomadewho - Never Had The Time (Saschienne Remix)

By Stef Siepel

The Weekly Froth! A weekly take on six tracks, most of which have recently popped up somewhere in the blogosphere. Bit of a mixed bag with a slight leaning towards house, disco, and remixes, but generally just anything that for some reason tickled the writer’s fancy.

Track of the week: ‘Never Had the Time’ by WhoMadeWho (Saschienne remix)

Guess who’s coming to dinner? Now, forgive me if I’m wrong, but Saschienne is someone I connote to the same kind of aesthetics as that of the BPitch label. Which, in other words, means minimal techno, not so much brass synths like that of WhoMadeWho. So lets see what happens here. Saschienne definitely doesn’t want to compromise, immediately setting the tone with that minimal aspect I immediately thought of when seeing that name. This monster spans nine minutes, and basically is a deep, minimal beat (& stuff) accompanied by the more melancholic and restrained vocal parts of that fabulous WhoMadeWho album. Which, naturally, is made even more restrained and melancholic by Saschienne to make it a perfect addition to that main sound. Really out of the box and smart thinking this. It just works (for me) as a minimal track with a nice hypnotic beat, and it just happens to have some amazing and somewhat familiar vocals. Good stuff, especially if you like your dance on this side of the spectrum. … Continue Reading

Antony’s Meltdown Festival: Matmos, London, Queen Elizabeth Hall

By Robert Freeman

August 6, 2012

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Matmos choose to open their Meltdown evening on the South Bank with a Burroughs reading. The story, a Robbe-Grillet style obsession with inanimate objects and the way they move under our fingers, is the beginning of a series of efforts that Matmos make to imbue life into machines and ‘things’. “You may experience a strange feeling as if the objects are alive and hostile,” reads Martin Schmidt. In this cut and paste musique concrete, the sweep of a brush, the click of a typewriter, the closing of a drawer, all loop over themselves to form a rhythm, a story of the ‘hidden life’ of things. It is a piece of dark, pseudo-Disney fantasy, giving life to the lifeless. … Continue Reading

James Yorkston – I Was A Cat From A Book

James Yorkston - I Was A Cat From A Book

By Tom Bolton

It is impossible to ignore the context for James Yorkston’s first album in three years.  The time in between has clearly not been easy for him: in 2010 his young daughter became seriously ill and, although two years on her treatment is reported to have been successful, trauma has left its mark on Yorkston’s music.  Despite these circumstances he has not responded with a bleak album, nor with a sentimental one.  Instead, his songs have emerged strong, complex and mature. … Continue Reading

How To Dress Well, London, Birthdays

By Russell Warfield

August 8, 2012

When your recorded output relies on shivering layers of vocal and deliberately murky bedroom-recording atmospherics, then the translation of your material to the stage can sometimes be awkward. And indeed, with reports from How To Dress Well’s first run of UK dates last year, this seemed to be the case—the kindest description of these performances (comprised solely of Tom Krell singing alone to a backing track) being “the most emotional karaoke ever,” but frequently being more unambiguously received as a flatly disappointing showcase of the shattering emotion and eerie grooves of his excellent debut record. … Continue Reading

Kimya Dawson: An artist in the age of Twitter

It’s not often that your small, not massively well known, but favourite artist from the States announces a European tour.

Kimya Dawson did just that, on Twitter. ‘Hey guys, I am having a cyst removed from my throat, it may change my voice forever… but I’m doing a European tour before the operation, this could be my last tour, come see it.’ Or letters of 140 characters to that effect.

… Continue Reading

Now Playing: John Cale – ‘I Wanna Talk 2 U’

John Cale - I Wanna Talk 2 U

Now Playing – every week, a roundtable of our writers will give their views on one of the recently-released new tracks. It’s as simple as that! If you want to tell us what you think of the song, feel free to leave a comment below.

Track: ‘I Wanna Talk 2 U’ by John Cale … Continue Reading

Antony and the Johnsons – Cut The World

Antony and the Johnsons - Cut The World

By Greg Salter

It’s worth taking a moment to think back to when I Am A Bird Now, Antony Hegarty’s still incomparable second album as Antony and the Johnsons, was released early in 2005. His self-titled debut album had emerged back in 2000, and had seemingly caught the ears of a small but very devoted audience, including Lou Reed and Devendra Banhart, who rallied for a label to back Antony’s unique vision and devastating voice. For many listeners, including myself, I Am A Bird Now was a quiet revelation – it’s hard to think of another album that is so melodically rich, so honest and intimate, with ten songs that spoke to you with the openness of an old friend. Antony’s voice certainly helped; with its quivering strength, it sounded like it emerged from between spaces, speaking with a strange power and precision. … Continue Reading

Five: James Yorkston

James Yorkston

By Tom Bolton

This is the latest in an occasional series of features where one of our writers reflects on their five favourite tracks by a particular artist. Here, to coincide with the release of James Yorkston’s new album, I Was a Cat From a Book, on 13 August, Tom Bolton picks his five favourite Yorkston tracks. … Continue Reading