Modey Lemon are a two piece from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and 'Thunder and Lightening' is their second release from Birdman Records.
The album is
a hash of fast track drumming, painful vocals, all so raw and crude
that it makes you sweat just listening to it. It's Jet, The Darkness,
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and The Strokes, stripped naked, shoved
in a basement with the bare essentials: - Keyboard, guitar and a drum
kit. Its a total paradox everything beautiful but that's what makes
it unique from other albums, its under produced and there purely for
the love it all.
Phill Boyds vocals echo the gore and gritty wrath as Kurt Cobain, and
Paul Quattrones drums sound like they're gonna take off.
The first single off the album 'Predator' hides nothing, a perfect introduction of what to expect of the album: Lust, sex, drugs, love, hate, and er, electronic sorcerers.
'Tongues' is a sweet and sexy love poem that's been attacked with a sledgehammer of glorious speed drumming, pure rock and roll guitar and smothered vocals.
'Electronic Sorcerer', I mean, what the hell is that all about? The oppressive fear of a social society that's ever so slowly becoming dependant on machines? Or too much acid on a Saturday night? I’ll let you decide.
Just because one may compare this album to a corn beef hash of artistic instrumental energy, doesn't mean it's not a tremendous effort. Because it is.
Review by CM.
Anyone out there who was disappointed with Blonde Redhead's recent transformation from almighty lords of spindly art rock into (comparatively) safe indie mongers could do worse than to look at French quartet Call Me Loretta for some feedback drenched comfort.
The band mine a similar field of delicate, bruised guitar interplay to BR's 'Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons', revolving around the beautiful synergy of vocalists Stephanie Commenay and Sebastien Potaufeu, demonstrated best on the emotionally taught album closer 'Coralled Horses', while the band's taste for dynamic guitar explorations reaches its pinnacle in the sample strewn 'Conversation With Myself'.
It's not an easy listening experience at time, and the downbeat, introspective tone and complicated arrangements might put some people off, but Stephanie's beautiful, whispering vocals and the chiming beauty of the intertwined guitars on 'Liar, Liar, Liar, Tongue's on Fire' will strike a chord in all those who have found a place in their hearts for Sonic Youth or Mogwai.
www.callmeloretta.com ...........www.deadbees.com
13 tracks of straightforward, heads down good time garage rock 'n' roll from London based Italians The Roolettes. It's pitched somewhere between the gonzoid power punk of The D4 and the more traditional pub rock stylings of the 60 Foot Dolls, and there are enough shouty choruses and catchy riffs to keep your average pogo crazy pop punk punter jumping up and down 'til their legs fall off. For the more demanding amongst you however, the lack of any variety in tempo, tone or delivery will more likely prompt sneering cynicism and disparaging comments involving names like The Datsuns and Hoggboy.
Probably a better bet live than on disc, but this collection is at least as worthy of mention as the dozens of other bands aping The Ramones and collecting considerably more coverage than Roolettes have to date.
Impressed by the dramatic vocals, classy dynamics and mix of subtlety and bombast on this album, I took it to the streets (well, a few of my mates' houses) to answer the following question - How many people can I con into believing that this is in fact a new PJ Harvey album?
The initial signs were promising - the vocals on opening track 'Stari Chelovek' are a dead ringer for Polly, and the build up from fragile acoustic guitar intro to epic guitar blow out, back to fragile piano outro, coupled with lyrics about the drudgery of modern life (It's a small death every day) could easily have been pulled from 'Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea', and this trend is continued over the next few tracks. All of this seemed to be having the desired effect, with 9 out of 10 acquaintances falling for the bait (The tenth replying "Who's PJ Harvey?"), and most comparing the album favourably with Polly's previous work (except for one who moaned that it was a safe, dull record made for record executives - but he said the same about 'Stories...'), with the lush guitar work of 'Dreams of Flight' garnering particular praise.
Things start to go wrong for my masterplan on the accordion soaked 'Rabbit Huts', which appears to be sung by another vocalist, and reminds me of the wonderful wonky lo-fi of Helium. But Helium's not going to prove my hypothesis, so it's a relief when an untitled track eight returns to the Polly blueprint. 'Day Begins' ups the stakes with a full on rock stomp, and my ploy seems to be back on track, but then, disaster struck! 'Pushed *' another track voiced by the other singer, is a fuzzy, scuzzy number with Blonde Redhead style jerky dynamics - they're not going to fall for it!
A low key 'Ringroad', chiming 'Timelock' and the closing piano dramatics of 'Write My Name' do a little to recover my position, but it's going to be a close run thing as we head into the final results...
Final result: 6 out of 10 people believe Desolation Angels have written the new PJ Harvey album (and three of these thought it was at least as good or better than any of her previous efforts) - Result!
Part One
I really like the way Kurt Wagner looks. I like the fact that he was a floor layer or whatever it was. And lives in a wooden cabin type affair with a great big old dog. A decent hardworking family type o’guy, that’s Kurt. And whilst I may subscribe to the Garrison conjecture, which is that
Rocknroll really = madKeithMoonbehaviour
I also respect those who live an alternate lifestyle and who are genuine about it. And that seems to be what Kurt’s about, or at least the impression his publicist gives me. So “Awcmon” starts off pleasantly enough with “Being Tyler” which is instrumental and has strings in it but doesn’t really do anything for me, I’ll be honest. Now I like strings on something like “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” by Issac Hayes, or “Yessir I Can Boogie” or “Lost in Music” or “Move on Up” but this isn’t Curtis Mayfield, as referenced in Kurt Wagner’s current round of interviews for the album. And the next track has lyrics, but again is two minutes of nothing. Ho hum. Third track “Steve McQueen” starts. I am reminded of “Streets of London” by that feller – Ralph McTell was it ? I can’t remember, but whoever it was that ain’t good, is it? Not even in the most depraved revisionist’s list of “records you say you don’t like but are really cool”. Aha! “The Lone Official” starts up! This sounds a bit better….. no wait a minute, it isn’t. It is a Lloyd Cole and the Commotions instrumental. Track five is like, oh fuck knows, track five on any dreadful male/female duet’s album. Boring. This is doing nothing for me whatsoever. I’ll be honest here, I start to skip through the tracks to see if I can be pleasantly surprised. Nice slowing down to a halt bit at 1:30 and 2:13 etc on “Each Time I Bring It Up It Seems To Bring You Down”… but I can’t be arsed to listen to the obviously carefully crafted words because the music is so fucking DULL. No fun, it is no fun at all… oh dear I’m getting really cross. I’ll make a cup of tea, maybe that will help. Track 8 sounds like another Lloyd Cole instrumental. It gets a bit excitable about 2/3s of the way through, but not that excitable. Oh no, track nine is a piss poor lounge type thing, tinkling the old ivories la la la. “I Hate Candy” starts up… boolah I was hoping for a BowWowWow answer record but I got a track which sounds like all of the others. Time passes, Rashied waits for something good to happen on this bleedin’ cd but o wot a surprise I WILL BE WAITING FOREVER. “Where’s my little trouble girl?” he sings? She’s run off with Sonic Youth and Kim Deal mate, and who can blame her? For they got the funk, the Shangri-La shit, the atonal skronk and Kurt has NADA. Track 11 starts to remind me of an album I’ve got by Allen Ginsberg but just makes me wish I was listening to that instead. Track 12 is just like all of the others.
Zut alors, now I am in a bad mood. My dad would like this album. I am a dad myself. So this album is for Granddads. Is that what you want Kurt? Think about it.
Oh well, will CD2 redeem Kurt for me? Who knows? Stay tuned for the next instalment… which will follow soon!
Your pal, on the trail of the noo shit: Rashied Garrison
Part Two
Yo, wassup, my name’s Rashied Garrison and I’m back again. Back with “Noyoucmon”, the other half of the godawful (in my opinion), “Awcmon”. So is “NYC” (neat abbreviation huh) any better than it’s rubbish cousin? Read on, dear reader. Or in the words of Tippa Irie – “You wanna know? I’ll tell ya”.
First track is a total inconsequential instrumental that Kurt was obviously given by The Divine Comedy, but without any of the o-so clever arched eyebrow lyrics. ‘Cos it’s instrumental. Second track, “Low Ambition” sounds like Wolfman Jack doing Nick Cave circa "Henry’s Dream" and failing badly. Oh dear. This doesn’t bode well. I was really hoping my man Kurt was going to redeem himself. Ooh, horrible squealing guitars at the end of that track. Track three, what can you do for me? O it is the same as track two. Das ist nicht gut, Herr Wagner. Hello, track four starts promisingly (relatively, compared to what has gone before, ya dig). But it sounds like someone doing a bad late Husker Du impression. That could be a good thing, but it isn’t in this case. Dig that Stooges piano, G? Naw dawg, it’s wick wick wack. Def-initely boo boo. Kurt u b fakin da funk. I’m gonna bust a cap in yo ass. For crimes against me. You made out you was da bomb, and you mos def-initely ain’t. Grr. And track five is like track 2 and 3. Aka bad. Track 6 is called “Shang a dang dang”. You normally know an old musician has lost the plot when they call tracks things like this (ref. masterclass - Bob Dylan – Wiggle Wiggle). And this track is one of those times. Sad. “Hey boys, let’s kick back, crack open a bud, let the good times roll and do “Shang a dang dang”. “Fuck you, you sad bastard”. Talking of Sir Dylan, track seven starts off sounding not unlike “Tangled Up in Blue”. But that is a masterpiece, and “About My Lighter”, as this track is called, is just trivial album filler. Like the rest of it. Nothing is stand out here. Track eight – “Under a Dream of a Lie”… sadly has nothing to do with “Lie Dream of a Casino Soul” by the mighty Fall. No, it is like an amalgam of the rest of the album so far. And no better for it. “Jan.24” almost gets my foot tapping. But I hate it. So my foot does not tap. So ner. Oh god, this album is so bad. “The Gusher” is pisspoor. Vocals sound like Serge Gainsbourgh, but Kurt is singing some old crap, not perverse kinky madness. So I’m not interested, quite frankly. Not even the “noise blowout” at the end redeems it. Cos that is weak and lame as well. Track 11 is called “Listen”. No I can’t be bothered. Who gave this album good reviews? They should be fuckin’ shot. Final track. Hoo fucking ray. It is called “The Producer”. Well I just hope the producer got paid enough to buy lots of drugs or booze or whatever to help them forget this boring waste of whatever they make cds out of. Thanks Kurt, thanks for helping to destroy the planet, there was no need for this album, it is shit, just fuck off and die you complete fucking boring cunt. And stop making your so called ‘music’, for it has no value. Cheers.
Rashied Garrison
Moving away from their more formulaic guitar indie pop Easyworld's second album, 'Kill The Last Romantic' mixes some very seventies keyboards into tracks like '2nd Amendment' as well as leaving vocalist and songwriter Dav Ford more room to articulate his stories of modern life's struggles, setbacks and high points. Single 'Til The Day' reminded me a little of Tom Waites in the way the vocals and lyrics are very honest and exposed and use everyday language to very impressive effect. 'Kill The Last Romantic' sees Easyworld stretching out past the obvious constraints of merely being an 'indie' band to find their own space in a way that could well be a springboard to even greater things. 5/5
Review by Darren Bunting
On Wide Open, the second album from Kinobe, Julius Waters and Mark Blackburn have got to grips with etherial and managed to transfer it onto a recorded medium and at the same time added some seriously laid back grooves, guest vocals and a smattering of bright French sunshine (from Toulouse where they recorded the bulk of the album). Quite how they have managed this is a wonder but be thankful they have as this album should be the soundtrack to a chilled out summer when it arrives, but 'til then turn up the heating grab a cocktail/cold beer and float away. The guest vocals are provided by Isobel Campbell (Belle & Sebastian), Tatiana, Shinehead, Alex Dew and Xan and on some tracks comparisions to Morcheeba are obvious but Kinobe certainly have their own groove and sound which takes them off on some very interesting tangents. 4/5
Review by Darren Bunting
Seachange first blipped onto my radar whilst recording for the excellent Gringo Records label, and their invigorating guitar/violin dynamics seem to have been attracting the right kind of attention, leading to this, their debut album, being released on the equally great, but substantially bigger Matador Records.
Initial impressions of this shining new era are a little on the disappointing side. In fact, scratch that, initial impressions are a little on the stomach churningly, ear violatingly awful side - first track 'Anglokana' opens with ropey vocals, awful lyrics that smack of a band meeting that went something along the lines of 'Hey, let's write a song about drugs, that'll make us look edgy', all wrapped up in non-descript guitars and apologetic drumming. Luckily, from the moment that the luke warm nothingness drops away three minutes later things take a turn for the better - the singer stops trying to 'sing', reverting instead to a cracked drawl, breaking occasionally into a throaty howl that suits both him, and the by now apocalyptic meltdown taking place behind him.
Fortunately, over the course of the 12 tracks here we get a lot more of the latter, albeit with the occasional blip like the inexorable 'The Nightwatch'; and at times their keen sense of structure and dynamics even stands up to the likes of Interpol, or my beloved Six by Seven. The inclusion of a single violin, rather than the orchestral swathes that regularly suffocate the turgid work of bands like Starsailor and Spiritualized with a gag of their own grandiosity, is a welcome one, helping to build an individual identity for an album that otherwise treads a well worn vaguely experimental rock out path.
'AVSCO10' is the undoubted highlight here. A remnant of their Gringo days, it blazes a trail of effects strewn feedback, driving drums, strained vocals, and one of the most energising riffs I've heard in a long while. 'SF' is also well worth 3 minutes and 17 seconds of your time, injecting a before they were shit Oasis swagger into a riff hewn from pure rock n roll, with politicised lyrics and a bloodcurdling howl in the chorus that makes me think of The Pattern.
Not quite the leap in stature I was hoping for then, but the combination of passion and precision that drew me to Seachange in the first place is still very much in evidence. We'll have to wait until the next album for them to take over the world though.