It’s the arse-end of May again and that means it’s time for another Nice Weather For Airstrikes Festival, once again here in Brighton, once again at the Druid’s Arms by the Level, and once again playing host to a throng of post-rock, math and shoegaze bands from around the UK. Supposedly the good weather here will hold for the next few weeks, which is good news because it gets goddamn hot in that pub and it’s always a relief to step outside between bands. It’s running between Friday 27th and Monday 30th, with events running from the early afternoon on Monday. Did I mention that it’s free?
This year’s line-up features, in no particular order, The Strange Death of Liberal England (will they have room for all those signs?), Monsters Build Mean Robots, Shapes, Evi Vine, The Continuous Battle of Order, Crowns on the Rats Orchestra, Alright the Captain, The Slow Revolt, Juffage, Last Days of Lorca, Nordic Giants, Theo, Kontakte, Orders of the British Empire, Speak Galactic, Crooked Mountain Crooked Sea, Silent Front, These Monsters, Delta Sleep, A Genuine Freakshow, Karhide, Dark Dark Horse, Laish, Sorebones (loeb), Karl-Johan Nilsson, and Lowland Runners.
NWFA are also offering up a bunch of tracks for free download on their FB page, so hit that up if you like free songs. Songs by The Continuous Battle of Order, Orders of the British Empire, Silent Front, Nordic Giants and Last Days of Lorca, for example. Yes?
Via the I live sweat… zine (ezine? tumblrzine? tumbline? Help me, my portmanteaus are terrible) is another great piece about the lived realities of sexism in the punk scene.
It’s the male band members who don’t take you seriously, and when you get upset with how you’re treated, ask you if you’re menstruating. It’s the promoters and planners who screw you, then call you a diva when you assert yourself. It’s the kids who don’t talk to you after your set, but talk to your male bandmates because they assume you’re only there for show. It’s the people who think you’re sleeping with the guitarist, the people who assume you’re queer, or the journalists who mention your weight in reviews. It’s every single time a producer has told me I can’t play guitar on my own record because “sweetie, you’re not a studio musician” or “sing it again, but naked.”
Most importantly, it’s the baggage I have to carry that my male bandmates don’t. I have to worry about walking to the car alone to grab my guitar; I have to worry about where we are staying and if the strangers who own the floor I’m sleeping on will assault me in the middle of the night, even though it’s unlikely. I can’t tell you how many nights I’ve clung to the side of my male bandmates when we’re sleeping, just to feel safe. I can’t drink too much or take a drink from a stranger at an after-party wherever we are staying, because I can’t be out of control.
I’m quoting this bit because it’s among the most immediate and powerful, but I should emphasise that a big part of this article is about not wanting to present oneself as, or be perceived as, a victim. Read the whole thing here. It’s written by Mariel Loveland, who sings and plays guitar in Candy Hearts (reviewed at the tail end of last year, here).
If you’re new to I live sweat… then you may also be interested in this piece by Lauren Denitzio, ex-The Measure [SA] (I think ex-that band, since I read that they were splitting up – which saddened me. They were one of the first bands I reviewed here, all the way back in March 2009). Here’s an excerpt:
I’ll start off by saying that I’m a white cis-female in her late 20’s who identifies as queer, feminist, radical and punk. I’m speaking from my experiences being a part of a largely DIY poppunk scene for the majority of my life and in a touring band for over six years. A large part of the time, I feel welcomed, supported and accepted within the “punk” circles that I’m a part of. However, nothing makes me more angry then hearing someone, men specifically, say that the scene isn’t sexist, “because we’re all punks and obviously that’s not cool.” I am far from the only woman-identified person in the room who would like to call bullshit on that statement. While yes, most of my friends and the spaces I go to do not tolerate obviously sexist, homophobic, racist, able-ist, etc. speech, saying those concepts do not exist in our community is just flat out wrong. What offends me is not always just the action itself, but the excuse that if you wear the “punk” label that you’re absolved of having done anything wrong because you “didn’t mean it that way.” I can’t think of a rationale so unproductive.
Both pieces should be read by every punk, whether you’re an arsehole or an ally. There’s always more to learn, more you can do, to make punk rock better for everyone. You dig?
This is the second of two Into It. Over It split releases I’ve reviewed this week; you can find the first review here. At the start of that review I riffed a little on the slightly daft names the two bands had. Well, Pswingset are upholding that tradition in their own way: the “P” in their name is apparently silent.
As with that last release Into It. Over It’s contributions are songs themed around a specific town or city, and they convey simple stories of the singer’s experiences within and memories of these places. ‘Cambridge, MA’ tells of a girl but is not, it appears, a simple and direct love song. Instead, it tells the tale of telling this girl about the woman the narrator loves back home; her habits, hobbies, eccentricities, etcetera. The everyday texture out of which love and shared lives are built. Musically, the song’s a simple one, acoustic finger-picking and soft, slow vocals over rolling drums that loop throughout.
‘Orlando, FL’ is a pacier number, a little more like the band’s presence on the other split, and this one seems to be about shouldering burdens of knowledge, accepting or ignoring what’s going on around the singer, although in what context this is meant to be said I’m not sure – late-night after parties? Infidelity? Secrets between friends? The song itself is pretty catchy and has grown on me over repeated listens.
Sadly I can’t say the same of Pswingset. They offer up two songs here. ‘Everything That Was Tired’ fitting in after ‘Orlando, FL’ nicely and boasting production that is either cheap or an affectation to imitate the recording style of the 90s emo the band adulate. Whatever the reason behind it is, I do like the production, and the song isn’t a bad one – it’s pleasant enough. Unfortunately after half a dozen plays it’s still not resonated with me on any level.
The same is true of acoustic number ‘Thanks For the Record’, a faintly lovelorn tune built of vocals and two acoustic guitars that is competently written, attractively played, stylistically consistent, but about which I have nothing to say because I didn’t find it at all engaging.
It’s a shame that I didn’t get on with Pswingset as it seemed as though all the ingredients for that classic emo/indie sound are in place, but there was no spark. I’ll try them again in the future. Happily, Into It. Over It offer another decent pair of songs, so you may want to pick this up just for those. If you’re a vinyl collector I’d say go for the first, but if you’re acquiring these from Bandcamp then you may as well grab both!
Long-term fans of British DIY hardcore may remember Margate’s Babies Three, who were about between ’99 and ’04 and released a handful of records before briefly changing their name and splitting up. I never got to see them but they toured Europe with Yaphet Kotto and Song of Zarathustra, which is pretty fucking badass.
So, this record – TB3LP to give it its official name – is a collection of the band’s early EPs, 7″s and the like that preceded their breakup. I don’t have any of these original releases so I’m not sure which records are collected here and when the various tracks were recorded, so suffice to say that you have 12 tracks which are variably good and average.
Take for example first track ‘Guilt Free Youth’, with a powerful edge of desperation to its sound, a rapid pace and a plaintive screamo-esque edge to the vocals, or ‘Wimpfest’, with its bruising hardcore punk riffs, full-steam-ahead drumming and throaty roars – these remind me of the old ebullition acts I used to love like Bread & Circuits and Torches to Rome. These tunes have a lot of energy to them and stand up well today even given their age. » Read the rest of this entry «
I’ve been pretty keen on Dublin’s …And So I Watch You From Afar since catching them at This Ain’t No Picnic back in’08. For those not in the know they play instrumental post-rock that’s typically energetic and approachable. Straight Through the Sun is their latest release on STA records and is a teaser for their imminent 2nd full-length.
A-side ‘Straight Through the Sun’ has the exuberant energy familiar to anyone who has seen …ASIWYFA live; not all of their previous recorded output has managed to capture this energy so it’s a real pleasure to see it coming through so clearly in this song. It also has a real warmth to it, perhaps aided by the more sensitive, moodier moments interspersed throughout the song.
There are actually two versions of the song present here, the radio edit and the original. The latter is about 45 seconds longer and that’s the only real difference; a bit of a pointless inclusion really but if it keeps the 7″ spinning longer then you can’t really complain. » Read the rest of this entry «
A quick Sunday treat for you: in anticipation of their gig here in Brighton on Tuesday I’ve been watching (and re-watching) the video for That Fucking Tank’s ‘Mr. Blood’, a song from an album I reviewed and liked a great deal. That was about a year and a half ago now and was written a month or so after I saw the band for the first time.
The video is pretty cool and fits the tone of the song really well in my view. Enjoy! It’s embedded below but you may want to click through for an embiggened version, yes?
Late last year, whilst meandering through the day’s crop of Tumblr posts, I came across the “Fuck Hardcore Shows Manifesto”. The original post and blog appear to have been taken down, possibly due to the amount of attention, number of comments (many aggressively negative) and reposts it received. Fortunately the nature of Tumblr is such that once something is out there, it tends to stay out there. Here’s a copy of the original post in full:
it’s one of those things where you avoid something you take issue with for a while, and then suddenly find yourself in the middle of it, and it catches you off guard, ill-prepared, and you start fuming.
i went to see envy at reggie’s last night (amazing, by the way!). one of the opening bands was trash talk. it was funny, because the first two bands were some instrumental band from belfast and touche amore, and although kids were going nuts and singing along, it was no big deal. then trash talk came out. immediately, a huge pit formed in front of the stage, squishing almost everyone else back against the back wall. and then the familiar scene began.
pacing back and forth, posturing aggressively, stomping, kicking, punching, violently flailing arms. two dudes accidentally knocked into each other and started posturing at each other and shit talking, needing to be separated before a fight. kids crisscrossed the room, performing one of the most extreme versions of macho masculinity ever to dilute the political bases of punk rock. because this violence isn’t even raw and reactionary; it’s planned, staged, practiced. it privileges machismo unquestioningly. it privileges the antiquated notion that dudes can’t control themselves and need to blow off steam violently because men will be men. it’s such an obvious fucking farce. » Read the rest of this entry «
Boston’s The Saddest Landscape are a band with a bit of a pedigree; originally formed in 2002, they released splits with notable outfits like Funeral Diner and shared the stage with a number of contemporary emo and screamo outfits. They split for a couple of years in ’06 and ’07 before reuniting for a few European shows. As is often the way this brief reunion turned into some more shows, a split and a discog vinyl LP – and, now, a new full-length release.
One thing about this band that leaps right out at me is that although, given the vocal passion and volume/intensity of the music, it is easy to categorise them as a screamo band, their songs are much simpler and less ornamented than a lot of current screamo bands, who often pride technical virtuosity and musicianship very highly – possibly because that’s the natural place to push frantic playing that only ever seems chaotic and unplanned. In the case of the Saddest Landscape, the music is simpler, constructed out of more basic components in building towards an emotionally intense and violently passionate whole. Whether this is deliberate or not I don’t know, but it’s an approach which meets with mixed success.
A slightly embarrassing but amusing anecdote: when I received this for review I got Brontosaurus Chorus confused with Jacob Borshard, because I was introduced to both by the same person at around the same time, and Borshard has a song titled ‘The Last Brontosaurus’. If you’ve heard both bands / artists you’ll recognise how daft this is, since Owls is a collection of deftly constructed indie pop tunes, whereas the album of Borshard’s I’ve heard is composed of whimsical singer-songwriter tunes performed on a ukelele. Apparently I have seen Brontosaurus Chorus live – they played at a 2008 London mini-festival the aforementioned friend organised – but I don’t remember that, so mis-conceptions about who the band were aside, I approached this album with no expectations.
Owls opens with ‘Prelude (Owls)’, a vague and somewhat pretentious track that begins with spoken word vocals from the lead female vocalist (Jodie Lowther) backed by piano and some atmospheric effects and samples. I’m not convinced that this prelude sets the tone particularly well. It’s not bad, with the vocals recounting anecdotal tales of past lives as watched by owls in an old dead tree. Possibly this is intended to establish the album thematically but I don’t have access to the album’s lyrics (PRs and bands! Please send these, or a link to them online) so can’t really say. Occasionally the (moodily effective) music buries the vocals as well, rendering some lines a little hard to make out. However, as the prelude builds more of the band’s members and instruments join in and the vocals drop out, resulting in an attractive instrumental piece.
This will be an extremely short review as it’s of a digital single with no b-sides, clocking in at a meagre 2:22. It’s courtesy of Icelandic music/vocals duo Feldberg, aka. instrumental multi-tasker Einar Tönsberg and singer Rósa Ísfeld, and UK indie label Smalltown America.
‘I’m Not Thinking of You’ is a preciously delicate piece of indie-pop, composed of soft and gentle vocals from Rósa and enticing dual guitar picking with some piano and faint digital wizardry from “Eberg”.
In my notes I’ve described it as a “pre-love song”, which on repeat listens seems to have a vein of truth to it. » Read the rest of this entry «
