Holy Fuck - Latin (Album)

By allowing their third record to drift unhurriedly into your conscience with the creepily ambient scene-setter MD, Holy Fuck toy with us a little. Fans of their infectiously experimental electro may even fear that they’ve forgotten how to write a tune this time out. But then the almost comical funk of Red Lights kicks in, and such fears are rendered groundless. Latin is another massively accomplished piece of work, a beautifully rendered blend of noise and surging rhythm. All of Holy Fuck’s work is marked by sheer danceability, and this will inevitably make them a popular festival band, but what will make this record worth revisiting in future years is the range of moods encapsulated by its layers and textures. It is hugely evocative, often roaming into darker territory than usual, but you still sense that for all the seriousness, their funster instincts are always lurking under the surface, occasionally making a break for freedom in the mischievous basslines. After the major artistic breakthrough their last album represented, Holy Fuck have been successful in building on this, and have given us one of 2010’s most creative, inspiring albums so far.

5/5

Ash - A-Z Volume 1 (Album)

When a band has been together as long as Ash have, keeping it fresh must presumably become increasingly difficult. After eighteen years, five long-players, a mini-album, a live recording, and a singles collection, they have decided that now is the time for them to shake things up. Having already returned to their original three-man line-up, and apparently sickened by the lack of support their last record Twilight of the Innocents received, the band have decided to dispense entirely with the traditional cycle of albums. In a move which would probably be very pleasing to the geeky teenagers who first formed the band in Downpatrick, they have resolved to release only singles from now on.

That would seem a bold enough step in itself, but they haven’t quite stopped there. Last year they commenced with the A-Z Singles project which would see them releasing a single every fortnight for twelve months. We now find ourselves at the halfway stage of the venture, and singles A-M have been compiled on A-Z Volume 1. Whether or not this counts as reneging on their ‘no more albums’ pact is beside the point, and for more pedantic souls than me to debate. What is far more important is that these singles have inspired in Ash the best form since the career rescuing effort that was Free All Angels. For the first time in a good few years, the band seem to be having fun, an element which has always been fundamental to their best work. While Twilight of the Innocents was not without its highlights, even the staunchest of Ash lovers would struggle to argue that it didn’t sound just a little tired.

While they haven’t quite reinvented the wheel with these songs, they have certainly pumped up its tyres and given it some shiny new hubcaps. The freedom presented by the project would appear to have given Ash licence to be a little more experimental than they might attempt on a conventional album. This point is illustrated immediately with the playful electro pulse of Single A ‘True Love 1980’, a song which also contains the first of many classic Tim Wheeler pop choruses present on the disc (See also ‘Joy Kicks Darkness’, ‘Arcadia’ and ‘Neon’.)

Save for the occasional musical flourish here and there, these songs are still unmistakably and undeniably Ash. The same ingredients which made 1977 so thrilling to a whole generation of indie kids all those years ago can be found in the best songs on this collection; the gigantic melodies, the unbridled sense of youthfulness, Tim Wheeler’s boyishly just-about-in-tune vocals and the headrush of the power chord-led choruses. For those who have followed Ash’s journey from the start, the effect this produces is more than just nostalgia; it is a sense of rejuvenation.

While Ash have always been doyens of power-pop, none of their recordings have been complete without the odd flip into lovelorn teen mode. This has historically acted as a sobering antidote to the dizzying effect of the band at full pelt. A-Z Volume 1, true to form, is home to a couple of particularly lovely moments in the shape of the wide-eyed and expansive ‘Tracers’, and ‘Pripyat’, a longing paean to the titular nuclear city. Tim’s voice has always been suited to songs of yearning, and this is something which has not dimmed as the years have gone by.

So great are the high points of the collection that it’s a shame that it starts to run out of steam slightly towards the end. From ‘Space Shot’ onwards, things begin to drift along a little aimlessly until Single M ‘War With Me’ revives things at the death with a grand piano motif and yet another mega chorus. The flaws of the collection don’t spoil it in any way though, and they probably won’t even come as a surprise to most because Ash have always lived had a laudable lack of fear of screwing up. Their imperfections have always been a part of what makes them so endearing, and may even be why they have endured when most of their contemporaries gave up the ghost years ago. Either way, while this compilation brazenly embraces their past, it also shows their future could be far more compelling than might reasonably expected from a band nearing the end of their second decade.

7/10

Blank Promotions First Birthday Bash - The Cluny - 28/03/10 (Gig)

With the exception of the lovely folky songcraft of opening act Lesley Rowley, tonight’s birthday bash for Blank Promotions is heavily laden with the new wave of post-rock bands. Sona Di exemplify this, as their fantastically tight musicianship builds up to a raging, roaring crescendo. Late additions to the bill worriedaboutsatan also display post-rock tendencies, albeit mingled with their beautifully textured electronica. Tonight their set is a bit of a mixed bag. When they step away from what appears to be a fascinating game of laptop Battleships and really let go, they are excellent, but there are times when it is difficult to take them seriously as a live band. Fellow Leodensians I Concur are far more engaging, ripping through a speedy set of their well-honed Mogwai-gone-pop songs. Lanterns on the Lake provide a nice gap in the gloom with a beautiful set of elegant, twinkling pop songs. Their lightness of touch belies the plethora of musicians crammed onto the Cluny’s stage, and were it not for the scintillating form of the headliners, they would be the band of the night. If Lanterns on the Lake represented a break in the clouds, Her Name is Calla prove to be the storm which engulfs the Cluny entirely. Just when it seems they will wander off into muso noodling territory, they pull it back with waves of crashing, doomy noise. Their set is an exhibition of their creativity and virtuosity, and serves as a tantalising taster for their new album later this year.

Bear in Heaven - Beast Rest Forth Mouth (Album)

It has taken almost six months from its American release for Bear in Heaven’s second album to appear on our shores, a time period which heralded the arrival of Yeasayer’s Odd Blood, a record which would unintentionally pave the way for this release by placing it neatly into context. Beast Rest Forth Mouth occupies a similar space to Odd Blood, sharing its unbridled sense of groove and shimmering synths. In its own right, though, this is an ambitious and expansive piece of work which carves Bear in Heaven a niche that is entirely theirs.

The journey which the record takes you on is a rambling, rangy one and sometimes it might seem like it will lose you along the way, but the great skill Bear in Heaven exhibit here is to be able to keep everything together. For all its diverse elements and meandering detours, there is some common thread running through it which prevents it from becoming a messy or disjointed affair.

Underpinning it all is a sharp pop sensibility which is largely what has led to the Odd Blood comparisons. This is clear right from the start with the mesmeric tribal rhythms of opening song ‘Beast in Peace’, which bleed straight into the ridiculously danceable fizz of ‘Wholehearted Mess’. The album reaches the apex of its poppiness with ‘Lovesick Teenagers’ which is a carefree and summery little gem. The sense of fun exhibited in these moments is so exhilarating and infectious, and it makes this album a hugely likeable one, as well as being so enriching and interesting.

The funkier leanings of Beast Rest Forth Mouth tend to be more apparent in its first half, fading as the album progresses to be replaced by a more considered, dreamy feel. ‘Ultimate Satisfaction’ for example, feels like something Mew would have produced around the time of ...And the Glass-Handed Kites. In the music and vocal delivery, it shares that same wistful, wide-eyed sense which the Danes have knocked out so effortlessly for years. ‘Dust Cloud’ is a similarly gorgeous case which opens up with an unhurried and enchanting intro before eventually exploding into a crescendo of heavy distorted guitars. This is probably the highpoint of the second half of the album.

With Beast Rest Forth Mouth, Bear in Heaven have shown themselves to be a major creative force. Their invention and imagination, mingled with their astute pop nous have combined to produce an album which is fit to stand toe to toe with most that will be released this year. There is so much to enjoy here, this is a record which reveals itself more with each listen. Whether Yeasayer end up overshadowing it in the end of year lists remains to be seen, but if that does happen, then this would be an unjust reflection of a wonderful album.

9/10

Rufus Wainwright - Want One and Want Two (Album)

Part of a Rufus Wainwright career retrospective to appear on Drowned in Sound:

Spend about ten minutes in the company of Want One, and it will become abundantly clear that this this was the point at which Rufus Wainwright decided to ratchet up the ambition, where for the first time his monumental vocals found themselves consistently paired with arrangements which were sumptuously similar in scale. It was the record he had always been threatening / promising to make, depending on your point of view. The likes of opening track 'Oh, What a World', 'Go or Go Ahead' and '14th Street' in particular were logical extensions of what had gone before, soaring pop songs which precariously piled layer upon layer of instrumentation, while Wainwright's voice and wordplay rose ever more powerfully to the challenge.

However, the impact of Want One would surely have been considerably less, without the contrast provided by the sparser, gentler pieces like 'Harvester of Hearts' and 'Natasha'. Perhaps inevitably, these were shouted down by the more ostentatious songs, but as well as offering a touch of breathing space, they also provided the record with some of its most beautiful moments. 'Dinner at Eight' was the most obvious example of this, laying bare as it did Rufus' oft-discussed Daddy issues in the starkest of fashions: "In fact you were the one / long ago, actually in the drifting white snow / who left me / So put up your fists and I'll put up mine / No running away from the scene of the crime".

Part two of the saga, Want Two, turned out to be a more reflective album, which acted as both counterpart and complementary piece to Want One. As a whole it perhaps didn't hit quite the same heights as its predecessor, although it was a more diverse affair which more than stood up in its own right, probably justifying the decision to split the records rather than release them as a double as originally planned. It wandered further than usual from Wainwright's pop roots, particularly in the mournful 'Agnus Dei' and 'Little Sister' which was steeped in classical influence. This meant that the album was less immediate than most of his other work, but it was still a hugely rewarding listen.

The record's high point was probably 'The Art Teacher' a song built around a gently bubbling piano line, detailing the history of a married woman still pining for a schoolteacher from her childhood. It was sympathetic, affecting and generally gorgeous, and proved to be a fine example of how Wainwright's storytelling abilities should not be overshadowed by his penchant for grandiose musicality. There was more poignancy to be found in the Jeff Buckley tribute 'Memphis Skyline', but it was typically perverse of Rufus that this song was immediately followed by 'Gay Messiah', a mildly graphic and quite probably blasphemous exploration of the reincarnation of its titular deity. This is a contrast which quite neatly sums up the two records which would lay the groundwork for the ever more decadent flights of fancy which followed in Rufus Wainwright's career.

Wild Beasts - The Cluny, 20/03/10 (Gig)

You may or may not have noticed it in the last year or so, but we here at Muso's Guide are quite fond of Wild Beasts. After a raft of thoroughly deserved acclaim for their second album Two Dancers (including their capturing of the number one spot in our top 50 of 2009), the Kendalians' bandwagon is trundling merrily on with their current tour in support of the single release of 'We Still Got the Taste Dancin' On Our Tongues'. Ably supported by the darkly captivating work of Lone Wolf, and Erland and the Carnival, whose bouncy, mildly pyschedelic pop invokes the untethered sense of adventure shown by the early recordings of The Coral, Wild Beasts are quite clearly in the form of their lives.

So good are they, in fact, that you don't even feel all that hacked off that the Cluny is so ludicrously rammed that you aren't quite sure whose pocket you just put your hand in, or what might be causing that disconcerting trickle running down your back.

It is amost beyond debate that on record Wild Beasts are a band capable of breathtaking elegance, both in the lush structure of their music and the lunatic world portrayed by their lyrics. What makes tonight so enjoyable is that the grace of the songs is not only enhanced with a terrifyingly tight performance, but it is also infused with an extra sense of boisterousness which is massively contagious. The otherworldly quality of the songs could make it easy for the band to appear almost inhuman, but they don't just disappear into their pantomime world of Dickensian depravity, they externalise it, bringing it to life with such gusto that even the hardest of hearts would struggle not to warm to them.

The thing which jumps out at most people when they first encounter Wild Beasts is the extraordinary timbre of the vocals, both in Hayden Thorpe's insane falsetto (which has a knack of reaching such monumental peaks that even Matt Bellamy might consider it all a bit much) and in Tom Fleming's warm, rich baritone. The interplay between the two is sometimes spellbinding, and both are in fantastic fettle this evening. Their voices are wonderful foils for the music, and vice versa, a major factor in the quality of the recorded output, and even more so in a live setting, especially a tight little venue like the Cluny.

The setlist is quite heavy on Two Dancers, which is understandable really given that it is barely six months since the record saw its release. That it feels like so much longer that is a testament to the ageless quality of the record. Tonight illustrates that Wild Beasts are not a band to confine their mesmeric qualities to the recording studio, they are able to translate them in their live performance, and with every day that goes by they show themselves to be one of the most extraordinarily special bands we possess.

Blood Red Shoes - O2 Academy 2, 11/3/10 (Gig)

Sometimes as a gig-goer you can sense when a band is at the absolute peak of their powers. This evening, a group of people at a regrettably half-full Academy 2 are fortunate enough to catch Blood Red Shoes at this stage of their career. They play with the triumphant swagger of a band who know they’re touring a brilliant album, so much so that not even frequent guitar troubles, though clearly irksome to Laura-Mary, are not enough to dim their light. Having started off with a debut album which was just a little too polished, and then buffed away some of the gloss for Fire Like This, in the live setting they reduce it even further to its basic elements: thunderous drumming and brutally melodic guitar. I’ve always been astounded just how noisy two such slight people can be, but tonight they are ear-shreddingly intense. The set is heavy on the new material, which is probably as pleasing for the band as it is for the crowd, given how long they spent touring the first record, to the extent that the songs started to sound just a little tired. The break from touring has meant that when the likes of It’s Getting Boring by the Sea and Say Something, Say Anything are dropped into the set, they sound revived. Really, I could go on about this band all day, but apparently some other gigs took place this month too, so perhaps it’s only fair that they get a little page space…