We Were Promised Jetpacks live

We Were Promised Jetpacks / Jesus H Foxx / Waiting on Jack / Gav Prentice – PJ Molloy’s, Dunfermline – 26th May 2012

Last night’s WWPJ show in Dunfermline ended up a bit of a disappointment overall.

But that couldn’t be said of opening act Gav Prentice who, in another guise, is one half of Over The Wall. His set doesn’t sound that divorced from the OTW stuff (and I’m not clear whether these dates are road testing solo material or future Over The Wall songs). But his half hour, split roughly between songs solely played with his acoustic guitar and those featuring some additional electronic backing, passes quickly and enjoyably.

Not so the half hour played by Waiting On Jack. I’ve seen them before and they made no more impression on me last night than they had back at the Woodside. I’m not even sure why that’s the case, they’re not obviously doing anything wrong and they’re certainly not an identikit Scottish indie band. Yet, for whatever reason, I didn’t get them.

I was pleased to see Jesus H Foxx were on the bill as I’d been enjoying their download single ‘So Much Water’ in the last week or so. But their performance wasn’t 100% convincing either. I did enjoy them but ‘So Much Water’ was dispensed with early on and, although I’d heard the LP once, the next 2 or 3 songs kind of drifted by. Things did pick up again with the final few songs though, sufficiently so that I’ll persevere with their LP to see if I can figure out their collision of easy listening jazz and Pavement.

As for the headliners, well it’s fair to say I’ve enjoyed plenty more Jetpacks performances in the past than I did last night’s. That’s despite the fact that there was technically nothing wrong with the show – it sounded great and increasingly they seem to be carrying the intensity of Black Sabbath.

But, for such a forward looking band, last night’s set contained a surprising amount of tunes from their first LP – and not necessarily all the best ones either. In fact that was true of the material from ‘In The Pit of the Stomach’ too (no ‘Human Error’ or ‘Picture of Health’). If I’d missed this one, on the strength of the setlist at least, I wouldn’t have been overly disappointed.

Now perhaps the preponderance of earlier stuff is explained by the different audience reaction to the ‘hits’ and the second LP material – full on apeshit for the former versus (relatively) quiet appreciation for the latter. But I’ve never before had the impression that the Jetpacks would pander to popular opinion.

Still, despite my grumbling, there was still plenty to enjoy – the mighty ‘Pear Tree’ may be their best song, there’s a new one (‘Peace Sign’) which is one of the evening’s highlights whilst it’s clear why ‘Quiet Little Voices’ is the crowd’s favourite (it just seems perverse to play it so early on in a set with plenty of oldies). Chuck in  ’Sore Thumb’ and an epic closing ‘It’s Thunder and It’s Lightning’ and it’s clear we’re not talking “bad gig” here.

It has to be said that the audience didn’t really help my enjoyment of the show though. Loud throughout (even through Jetpacks)  there seemed to be plenty of people there because it was the place to be, not because of any of the acts. And even some of those who were there to see the bands were so paralytic by the end that they’ll surely remember little of the show today. Or maybe I’m just getting old!

PS Where did Michael get that thousand yard stare from? He seems to have cultivated something of a demonic onstage persona over the last 6 months.

WWPJ Setlist -

1. Short Bursts  2. Quiet Little Voices  3. Hard To Remember  4. Peace Sign  5. Roll Up Your Sleeves  6. Sore Thumb  7. Ships With Holes Will Sink  8. Boy In The Backseat  9. Pear Tree  10. It’s Thunder and It’s Lightning

Here’s a live version of the new song ‘Peace Sign’ from SXSW:

 

I Can’t Imagine Ever Being Without – The Grand Gestures LP

A wee gem arrived through the letterbox the other day in the shape of the Grand Gestures LP.

Scotland seems to be rather good at musical collaborations at the moment and ‘The Grand Gestures’, put together by Spare Snare’s Jan Burnett with the aid of half a dozen collaborators (including serial Scottish music contributors Emma Pollock and Jill O’Sullivan), continues that fine tradition.

Despite the fact that the songs cover various moods both musically and lyrically, reflecting the diversity of his collaborators,Burnett has managed to create a thread running through the record linking the sublime and the ridiculous with his evocative, lo-fi backing.

Kohli contributes the LP’s two most whimsical tracks invoking the spirit of Ivor Cutler on the hilarious ‘I Wonder What Chris De Burgh Is Doing Right Now’ and  the epic, nearly 15 minute, black comedy of ‘The Ballad of SW19′.

Opening track, ‘Deer In A Cross Hair’ sound perfectly suited to O’Sullivan’s regular outlet Sparrow and the Workshop but she’s almost unrecognisable on her other track, the sparse electronica of ‘No Place Like Home’.

Pollock is at her iciest on ‘A Certain Compulsion’ with its almost filmic backing whilst ‘Baiting’ featuring Calamateur is a melancholy rave come down tune.

Calamity Horse’s ‘Song for a Salvation Army Band’ isn’t a million miles from the sort of thing that Adam Stafford has been doing lately  whilst Celie Byrne’s ‘Living By The Seaside’ perfectly captures the feeling of sitting on a bench on a wintry seafront.

Ultimately ‘The Grand Gestures’ is a rewarding experience ably demonstrating the sort of creativity prevalent in Scotland today.

The album is officially released on Monday (28th) – order the CD and downloads here.

There’s a unique one-off performance of the record on Friday (1st June) at King Tut’s in Glasgow. Support comes from Behold! The Old Bear, Craig Souter and David Murdoch. Tickets here.

A short film, ‘The Silver Shoes’, soundtracked by ‘There’s No Place Like Home’ from the LP:

Don’t Ask Why – My Bloody Valentine EPs reissue

A few words about the My Bloody Valentine reissues.

A couple of weeks ago both ‘Isn’t Anything’ and ‘Loveless’ were finally reissued along with a double CD collection of the band’s Creation era EP’s, the imaginatively titled ‘EPs 1988-1991′.

Given the rapturous reception to both ‘Isn’t Anything’ and ‘Loveless’ it’s easy to forget sometimes that it was these EPs which sparked the band’s exceptional burst of creativity. And ‘EPs 1988-1991′ is a timely reminder of just how good these records are – with the bonus of some unreleased material.

The EPs chart the move away from the more direct material on critical breakthrough ‘You Made Me Realise’ to the blissful soundscapes on the likes of ‘Gilder’ and ‘Tremolo’. It’s a while since I’ve listened to pretty much all of this stuff but reconnecting with it has just blown me away. It’s not at all surprising that such an innovative band were to inspire a legion of copycats – but none came close to the genius of MBV.

Truth is, whilst the likes of ‘You Made Me Realise’, ‘Feed Me With Your Kiss and ‘Soon’ are clearly lead tracks, these records are genuine EPS – definitely not A-sides with a group of not so good B-sides. The quality of material here is just as high as on the two regular albums.

I love the heavier stuff, YMMR and FMWYK in particular whilst ‘Soon’ also assimilates some of the indie dance culture of the early 90s to produce something new. But trawl through the four EPs collected here and you won’t be in the slightest bit disappointed ‘Slow’, ‘Drive All Over Me’, ‘I Believe’, ‘Don’t Ask Why’ – shit, everything from the 4 EPs is great.

Which brings me to the unreleased stuff. In such exalted company it could disappoint but actually it’s all pretty decent. Sure, at times, it sounds like the copyists trailing in the MBV slipstream, struggling but not quite matching the originals, but it’s kind of new MBV (maybe the closest we’ll ever get).

Change the drumbeat on ‘Instrumental No 2′ and it could be a contemporary tune – I was confused as hell as to what it was (Django Django? Remember Remember?) when I first heard it in the car after work, having forgotten what I’d been listening to on the way in. Not sure of the origins of the 6 other new songs, although a couple definitely sound like ‘Isn’t Anything’ era, and they are very much what you’d expect. But they ain’t half bad.

Not sure of the need for  two further masters of ‘Loveless’ but I’m definitely interested in getting ‘Isn’t Anything’ since I’ve only got it on vinyl. A friendly record store purchase in the near future? Possibly!

You know I’d forgotten that this is actually on ‘Isn’t Anything’!

Buy the MBV reissues in your local record stores.

In and Out – The Big Sleep interview

My favourite LP of the year so far has been the magnificent ‘Nature Experiments’ by New York’s the Big Sleep. The trio have just completed their first UK tour and after last week’s debut performance in Glasgow I managed to grab a quick interview with guitarist/singer Danny Barria.

A poor turnout on the night hadn’t diminished Danny’s enthusiasm and he was pleased with a couple of early shows on the tour.

“It’s been great, Brighton (the Great Escape Festival) was a highlight, I was worried a bit because all the bands on before us were pop, but it was great.

“Then we were in Manchester yesterday at the Castle Hotel and that was really awesome. I heard that John Peel interviewed Ian Curtis there, that’s just a rumour I heard and I was like ‘That’s awesome, that’s great, I love being here.’”

Despite it being the band’s first Scottish show, Danny was already familiar with not just Glasgow but also Nice’n’Sleazy’s.

“I have a friend here so I’ve been before. In fact I’ve hung out in this bar before but we’ve never played here. So it’s really cool to come back and actually be doing what we do.”

Once upon a time a band like the Big Sleep would have built a profile in the UK via the music press and key national radio shows. But in this internet age it’s harder to make the same sort of impact across such a diffuse medium. Danny explains how the Big Sleep finally made it to the UK.

‘You know I think it’s a lot of luck. But it’s taken a lot of work and a long time over in America to get to the point where anyone was saying ‘you’re doing well over here, so we want you to be heard over there’. So that was the key, tons of work back home. Our label lined up distribution in the UK and Europe and that’s why we’re here, our record just came out.”

Danny reckons that the new LP ‘Nature Experiments’ is a consequence of a change of emphasis for the band.

“The first two were a lot more like rock.  I don’t want to say that this one isn’t rock because we still love our rock and we still love our riffs but it’s more open to melody. Before we weren’t afraid to take our time and build things up but on this record we’re about being concise and getting to the point. Not punching people’s faces but being like ‘this is the idea, this is how we’re moving it along, in and out’.”

If the move to shorter songs was deliberate, the absence of instrumentals, which took up a fair chunk of both ‘Song of the Tiger’ and ‘Sleep Forever’, wasn’t planned.

“No, it wasn’t deliberate. Just like before when the vocal songs weren’t deliberate choices, this time I would show Sonya the songs and she would have a melody for it. And whenever it happened before we wouldn’t be like ‘No this is an instrumental, you can’t have a vocal on it’, it was just very organic.

“So the fact that she had ideas for so many of these songs was just as organic as before.”

One of the big attractions for me of the Big Sleep is the way that Sonya’s subtle melodies contrast with the crunching guitars. It seems that that’s just the way that the Big Sleep are!

“She has this very calm thing going on which is cool and great and I love that juxtaposition. It just works for us. Everything she does kind of goes through the both of us – ‘does it work? does it fit?’ And if it doesn’t we’ll change it. But if it does we’re cool with it.”

The Big Sleep are one of these bands that give out an all encompassing sound it’s easy to get lost in, particularly live. It’s something Danny is very aware of.

“It’s the coolest thing in the world to strike a guitar and have it strike you back with all that sound. I love playing live.  It’s my favourite thing about being in a band. I mean I love recording , I love writing songs but playing live is it, it’s really fun. I love being one of the people who make that noise.”

 

One of the surprises last week for me was that the show was a little looser than I imagined with a definite groove at times. Danny explains that there are some unlikely influences showing through in the Big Sleep.

“Sonya and I, the both of us love dancing, we like R’n’B a lot. I don’t listen to a lot of rock music, I listen to some indie music but most of the time I’m listening to R’n’B and soul hits.

“I love Aaliyah, I love Mariah Carey to death, just tons of music like that. So we love to dance. It’s not our aim all the time but it just kind of creeps in because we love it so much.”

After the Glasgow show the Big Sleep headed for London, Liverpool, Paris and Amsterdam before heading home. There’s to be no break for the band after they return home.

“The day after we land we have a show in New York then we’re gone for a month and a half just doing the States. And we’ve been gone for a while, we started at the end of February and we’re going to be gone until about the beginning of July.”

Danny is thinking beyond the forthcoming tour already.

“I really, really want to get to work on the next record, really bad! Hopefully we can have that ready for September 2013, I’m not making any promises or anything but I would really like to be in that position.

“The first two were about 18 months apart, then there was four years between the second and the third. We’re not going to repeat that, there’s no possible way.

“If I talk to anybody about being in a band it’s always about keep working. It doesn’t matter how many people are at your shows, who’s writing about you, just keep working. I love working on songs.

“Right now it’s all I’m doing. I’m gone so much, most of last year I was gone playing guitar for another band, so it’s all I do. It’s all consuming. You’re gone from the city so much, you can’t put any roots down or settle down, it’s just what you do.”

Thanks to Danny for taking the time for the interview.

You can purchase the LP here. Follow the Big Sleep on twitter. US Tour dates.

This is absolutely one of my favourite songs of 2012 so far:

Supersize You – Mitchell Museum live

Mitchell Museum / The Rosettes / My Domain – The Doghouse, Dundee – Sunday 20th May 2012

A little over 12 months ago, when MPT last spoke to Mitchell Museum, they seemed to be surfing on the crest of a wave created by the success of the sparkling debut LP ‘The Peters Port Museum Service’ – with work apparently well underway on LP number 2. Yet a matter of months later the band appeared to have imploded. A return visit to the City of Discovery at any time looked unlikely.

Yet a few weeks ago came the welcome news that the band had regrouped after hiatus the length if which would have gone unnoticed in other circumstances. Last night’s Doghouse show was therefore only the band’s second performance of the year after a show at Limbo the previous evening.

At barely 30 minutes and only 8 songs long, the show was an understated masterclass. Yet with 7 new songs (none repeated from last year’s show at Dexter’s), Mitchell Museum demonstrated an appetite to pick up where they left off last year and move in new directions.

For there’s a notable change of tone from previous MM shows. No Scottish band has better epitomised this blog’s title more than Mitchell Museum in recent years but this time out there’s a new maturity on show with the pace far less frenetic than previously. The consequence is a sound which is far less hyperactive giving more space to the tunes to breathe, particularly on set closer ‘The Claws’ which features some nice harmonies.

And the approach seems to suit each of the new songs whilst the only old song ‘Warning Bells’ is given something of a similar makeover of emphasis, less urgent than previously perhaps certainly, but only reminding you what a great song it is.

All in all it’s an exciting, but also slightly surprising, return and one that suggests that their new direction is going to be just as rewarding as the old one. Looking forward to catching them again soon.

The only disappointment of the evening was the paltry turnout which was at a level to give Dundee a bad name for out of town bands.

The show was opened by My Domain, a three piece who were resolutely NOT your typical Dundee band lifting a lot of inspiration from mid 70s prog. Peculiarly they played a couple of unfinished pieces, one instrumental and another allegedly more than a snippet but they had bags of confidence and were proficient enough to carry off the multi faceted songs.

I missed a chunk of The Rosettes who seemed to essentially a 2 piece garage band (although the drummer sat out one tune.) What I saw of them was good fun though.

Mitchell Museum setlist

1. Red Water  2. I Will, I Won’t  3. Glasshouse  4. Warning Bells  5. Good Morning Sadness  6. Clockstopping  7. Hunting Traps  8. The Claws

A demo of one of the new tracks played last night:

Mitchell Museum interview coming up in the next couple of weeks.

A few photos from the show here.

It Feels Like It’s 1985 Again (HDBA Single)

So the second official Human Don’t Be Angry single is out on Chemikal Underground tomorrow (Monday 21st) from here.

’1985′ is probably the track on the HDBA LP that’s furthest from the public perception of Malcolm Middleton.

A slice of danceable novelty electro pop, ’1985′ is for me the obvious single on the album and probably the one that taps the most into the 80s. It’s ridiculously catchy and undoubtedly MPK2′s favourite tune on the album.

If anything the Miaoux Miaoux remix plays up that 80s angle, albeit with a 90s twist. Whilst the songs remains based round the ‘Hah’ sample, the ‘Local Hero’ guitars are replaced by cheesy synths and a driving dance riff reminiscent of Air.

It’s fantastic.