Random Hand: new album gone AWOL
Posted by jamie on Oct 17, 2010
This mysterious message from Random Hand via Twitter.
Sorry there has been no word on when and where our new album is. It will be made clear very soon. as soon as we know what’s happening
Melt Banana: Islington Academy
Posted by jamie on Oct 17, 2010
Melt Banana
Islington Academy, London
12th October 2010
Theo
Despite checking venue websites over the 2 days before; I had no idea who was supporting at this show until I got there. So you can understand how incredibly pleased I was to see the bassist from Throats walking around outside the venue a few seconds after I arrived.
So, we’ve established that I really rather like Throats. I mean, last time I saw them (scroll down, click previous entries, scroll down a bit more), I said ‘There is nothing else anywhere that can be compared to the sound of Throats’ live show’ – that’s some seriously high praise right there. Tonight is no different from the norm – the barrier prevents things from getting too hectic, and it’s a shame that only about 4 members of the audience actually respond to the music, but this doesn’t make the likes of ‘Failgiver’ or ‘Wake’ any less musically astonishing.
Melt Banana are a band I’ve wanted to see ever since my dad said to me ‘d’you mind if I put on something I heard on John Peel last night?’ when I was 10. At the time I didn’t know what in the hell this strange music I was hearing was, but I knew I liked it a lot. 8 years and 4 missed London dates later; this evening is a very important event indeed. I still couldn’t really tell you what they sound like, but hopefully me saying they’re a bit like J-Pop-Grind-Funk-Core is enough to make you look them up.
The set opens with just Yasuko and Agata on stage with synths. No lights yet though – they’re both wearing torches attached to furry hats. Cue 8 bursts of digital hardcore/trancecore/psychedelia - opener Phantasmagoria (an instrumental introduction to the album Cell-Scape) being given a new drum beat that, coupled with the unorthodox lighting, makes everything feel a bit like a really good rave for a few minutes. That’s followed by the twin assaults of T For Tone and Slide Down, the 2 minutes that those songs add up to letting the first signs of a moshpit start to appear. Lock the Head and In Store get slightly less manic responses if only because they’re too weird for most of the audience members to know how to handle them. But they’re still an incredible visual spectacle. Minor Threat cover 1 2 X U is over before anyone could possibly know what it is, and there’s no gap between it and the utterly ludicrous Dog Song. As the sweat finally starts to settle into all our clothes, the bass and drums arrive onstage. And this is all in the first 10 minutes.
As the lights come up and the ‘full band’ section of the set starts, the audience’s energy levels shoot up, Shield For Your Eyes… a frenzy of jumping, air-guitaring mayhem. New track Loop-Nebula is excellent; as good as any of the more traditionally structured cuts from Bambi’s Dilemma, but also mixing that punkier attitude with the deep textures explored on Cell-Scape. The Call of the Vague opens up the floor, only for that space to be filled with bodies for Chain Shot to Have Some Fun. Cat Brain Land is a furious delight; played at something approaching twice the speed of the album version. And that’s not exactly slow. At all.
Cracked Plaster Cast provides a brief respite from the aggression, its near-alt-rock middle section better-than-perfectly recreated live. Then, that drum beat starts. That ever-so-slightly-too-fast, starty-stoppy-starty drum beat that will never leave your head if you listen to it. A Dreamer Who Is Too Weak To Face Up puts a sublime stop to the main-set, the squeaky chorus echoed by the crowd. Yasuko shoots a knowing smile at the crowd, and two minutes later, they’re back.
They return to the stage with the announcement ‘we will play 10 more song’. The 9-song medley of their earlier songs is brutal and hilarious in equal parts, the moshpit exploding for 20-30 second intervals then pausing to hear which song is being played next. Free The Bee is the last full-length song of the night, and just like that it’s over. If there’s one criticism to be made, it’s that everything ends too abruptly, but I was never going to be happy that the gig had to end anyway. On the way back to the station, I overhear a guy telling his girlfriend that ‘That was the true spirit of punk rock’. Couldn’t have put it better myself.
Sonic Boom Six: Rude Awakening
Posted by jamie on Oct 13, 2010
Sonic Boom Six
Rude Awakening (CD) – Rebel Alliance, 2010
10th October 2010
Jamie
This, hopefully, will be the first Sonic Boom Six CD I’ve managed to review in its entirety. Having struggled for superlatives big enough to describe 2009’s City of Thieves for what must have been months, and still not come close to putting words to depth and breadth of the song writing, the quality and the level of detail in the performances, I’ve now been challenged with what’s effectively a 17-track greatest hits compilation covering seven years in the career of one of the most intelligent, innovative and musically adept bands that the UK has ever produced. Deep breaths, then.
It’s not the point of writing about and reviewing music to continually come up with new or different ways of praising bands. Despite that, it’s an enormous challenge to keep up with a bunch of guys (I’ve always used that as a unisex word) who manage not just to constantly surpass themselves but to raise the bar for the scene as a whole with every release and to stretch and redefine the boundaries of punk rock, already one of the broadest churches in music.
Rude Awakening was originally released back in April in response to public clamouring for an SB6 recording on vinyl and the need to introduce the band’s newer and international following to some of the older crowd favourites that still form the backbone of the band’s notoriously explosive [no pun intended*] live set. Recent years, you see, have seen our intrepid friends blaze a trail across mainland Europe, Japan and the USA, playing headline tours and festivals as well as dates with the likes of Less Than Jake, Big D and Reel Big Fish.
The underground has long been well and truly conquered, but, for this bigger, newer fanbase, Rude Awakening could be the ideal introduction to Sonic Boom Six: spreading itself over so much of their vast back catalogue, it’s a handy beginner’s guide, and comes with a special edition sticker/badge/postcard set. In a sense, it’s like a revision guide, or their own Favourite Noise. There are things that you won’t get from learning the words to this in a day, but, if this is your first experience of the Sonic Boom Six, it’ll be one you treasure: it’s definitely enough to get you bitten by the Boom bug, and we’ll be seeing you at shows from now on. If you’re not a newcomer, then you’ll already know what you’re getting here.
Anyone in the UK who reads Bananatown, for example, would surely know nearly all of these songs. In fact, this is probably half of the best party-shuffle you’ve made, most of your My Top Rated, and the soundtrack to the last few years of your life. Despite my unstinting devotion, it’s something of a shock to see just how good this disc actually is. Not because I’ve underestimated this lot for a second, but instead because the combination of all of these tracks together is actually that incredibly, powerfully, mindblowingly brilliant. They were great songs on separate albums, but getting them all together on one disc is so good that it’s frankly dangerous. Think of every time you’ve seen the SB6 take the stage, and remember that moment when Laila enters, after the boys, at the end of whichever intro they’ve used. As she stands there, both arms aloft, soaking up all the adulation, which track to they storm in to first, instantly sending the room in to a frenzy? Bigger Than Punk Rock? The Concrete We’re Trapped Within (It’s Yours)? Meanwhile, Back in the Real World..?
Usually is, ain’t it? Right, now imagine a compilation that starts with those three in a row. Incendiary? Rude Awakening does just that. After that, it’s got the lot, from the giant choruses, and the delightful guitar solo, in September to May to the gentler reggae stylings of Northern Skies, cleverly juxtaposed after the gnarly, much punkier cover of Chumbawamba’s Marching Round in Circles. If there’s one moment that sums up Rude Awakening for me, it’s that one, where one track soars to a giant, brutal crescendo, and then the next opens with a gentle reggae beat, a melodica and some samples. This doesn’t just cover all of Sonic Boom Six’s albums, but also manages to get most of the different sounds they’ve managed to squash in to them. When a band can cover the Clash and then Puretone and pull off both songs, then that’s saying something. The Sonic Boom Six’s sound, as has been discussed (not here) ad infinitum, is incredibly broad and diverse. It’s a tribute to the band that their own diversity and range of abilities and influences has almost become a cliché in itself.
Since, The Rape of Punk to Come returned to their live set after Ben left, that really leaves Blood for Oil, from 2003’s Turbo EP, and An Ode to DIY Promoters, from Punktastic’s Un-Scene 4 compilation, as the relatively obscure tracks to have made the selection, and both deserve to be there on merit. Like every track on there, they’re gems. Different in their own way, but both play their part, as ever, in making this a great record overall and a great and varied sample of where the band are at at this point in their career.
This will surely be great to have in a few years: it’s not a collector’s item at the moment, but, as they continue to evolve and to develop, and to raise the bar, in a few years we could again be looking at the SB6 as another different band. With the new line-up and the creative freedom that’s come with the move to their own label, we’re surely about to see yet more new, different things from them. Whether this you’ve been here throughout the journey so far or this is that beginner’s guide to Sonic Boom Six to help you on your way will determine exactly how you should feel about Rude Awakening. It might be that it celebrates everything that’s happened already and documents how we got to where we are today, saying goodbye to the old line-up and introducing us to the new band. Or, maybe, it’s something that’ll get you in to a brand new band, one of the most exciting bands in the UK, and probably the world, right now. If that’s the case, it’ll get you up to speed quite quickly. There’s more to know, and at least as many tracks again that could have made it on to this, but that’s for the future. You can come to a show and sing along now, at least.
Either way, it’s a must.
This isn’t a tour of rare and previously unreleased material. If that’s what you’re looking for, you want the second disc of Play On or maybe Sounds to Consume: Champion Edition. Actually, you should really join up for the vault. Instead, this is the accessible end, the hits you want on at a party, every song on here’s been played live recently, and most of these are the staples of the band’s live set: Sound of a Revolution, Monkey See, Monkey Do, and Piggy in the Middle are real crowd pleasers, and all are on here. Then, as well as The Concrete We’re Trapped Within (It’s Yours), there’s also Back 2 Skool, the Road to Hell is Paved With Good Intentions and the deliciously bonkers Strange Transformations from City of Thieves, so, as well as going all the way back, it’s definitely a snapshot of the band as they are in 2010, or, as they’re calling it, “a celebration of the story so far”. That sums it up really nicely, actually.
I sincerely hope that this is the moment that takes the Sonic Boom Six on to yet another level: both they and their music thoroughly deserve it. Turn it up loud. It’s great fun.
*Honest. That was actually an accident.
Mystic Roots Band: Cali-HI out now
Posted by jamie on Oct 10, 2010
Mystic Roots Band are a reggae/hip-hop band from Chico, California. Thier 2nd full-length has taken a million years, but is totally worth waiting for that long. Luckily, we don’t have to: it’s up now, and has already climbed to #4 on the iTunes reggae chart.
Hear it, and get it, here.
Ska T’s Scene-ik Drive
Posted by jamie on Oct 9, 2010
The new Ska T’s Scene-ik Drive Radio podcast is now up. Get it here.
Sonic Boom Six: Rude Awakening (CD) on presale
Posted by jamie on Oct 9, 2010
The very lovely Sonic Boom Six have announced that Rude Awakening is now available for pre-order in the UK. Besides the tunes, if you pre-order in time, you’ll get a badge, postcard and sticker, and the CD includes their cover of Addicted to Bass.
The guys will play the first show of their tour of France today. There’s also loads of new stuff on their youtube channel.
More importantly than all of that, there’s “exciting news” for UK folk which will be announced next week.
The Beat: playing Portsmouth
Posted by jamie on Oct 9, 2010
The Beat are playing at Portsmouth’s Pyramid Centre on 30th April 2011. You can get tickets here. Doors are a freakish 2pm, for a 4pm start. There’s no full tour announced yet: just a few rumours and some dates in the USA.
Copasetics: S/T EP
Posted by jamie on Oct 9, 2010
The Copasetics
Copasetics (self-released, 2010)
8th October 2010
Jamie
Copasetics are a five-piece punk/ska outfit from York. I hunted around for a bit more background than that, and found the Ronseal-esque “We’re Copasetics. We play ska. We have a self titled four track EP” on their site.
Fortunately, while their self-titled debut EP has been sitting in my in-tray, a couple of other e-zines have reviewed it. Unfortunately, New Pollution and Push to Fire don’t actually agree even on exactly when Copasetics played their first show, but we do know it was in the Spring of 2010. To have recorded and released an EP of four of their own songs by August means they’re doing pretty well, then, for sure.
The overall feeling of this disc great: edgy, raw, exciting ska/punk based mainly around short, sharp upstrokes and the horn section of trombone and trumpet. We understand, though, that Nico (trombone) has left the band since this CD was recorded. It’s a refreshingly no-frills DIY take on the punk/ska thing, gently reminiscent of the very early Fandangle or Duff Muffin material, when both bands went under those old names and played catchy little tunes in a similarly brisk, spiky, rough and ready style. Copasetics also do this very well indeed.
Having listened through the whole disc, the plaintive In a Rising Tide is perhaps a strange choice to open the EP, but with or without that hindsight it actually works well. We set off with some short, sharp little riffs from horns and snare drums before the song opens in to its verse, where Benji’s snotty lead sings over a catchy little ska guitar part. In a Rising Tide is an uneasy little song, but despite that it’s instantly sing-able: it’s got real angst in it, but it connects with you, and, besides that, it’s catchy; it’s got a trombone solo (yes, really), and it really rocks out towards the end. It’s 10.30am right now, and I’m sitting on a train and I can still feel the fury, so when I say they’re rocking out, I mean they’re really rocking out.
Firing Squad is a more obvious single: despite its title, it’s instantly happier, almost poppier, especially at the beginning. It’s moments like these that are evocative of the young Fandangle, for example, where songs are jammed with hooks, and hint, almost tease, about a desire to become really epic. Instead, again, the tempo drops. The vocal becomes hushed, almost spoken word, and the horns really sombre, before the guitars creep back in, slowly getting louder and louder, and the song takes off again, angrier this time. It’s really clever, this record, and keeps meandering off in unexpected directions. Think The Scrub, but a bit jazzcore like Duff Muffin, and angrier. Then, sometimes, speed it up and throw your head and arms around. That’s what Copasetics are.
Restless starts slowly, but is actually the quickest one on the EP. It’s got a bluesy, queasy breakdown crammed in as well, but for the most part it’s a peppy, high-tempo, guitar powered ska tune. A little like Date Rape, but with horns. The last song, Trends, is another gem. It’s got a melodica, and the vocal is different, the snotty, punky edge is gone and instead it’s softer, almost soulful. There’s a melodica. The song as a whole is slower, though the guitar part has a similar tempo to the other tunes. This is absolutely lush: it’s warm, rich, and sort of washes over you. One highlight is a reggae-style drop out, a group vocal over just guitars and hi-hats that gradually grows back in to the full band. The brass lines are also lovely. The song fades out nice and softly, and that’s the record done.
It’s a great little disc, this. I suppose, just like the band’s succinct little bio, it does exactly what is says on the tin: it shows exactly what they can do, which is a lot, and all squeezed in to four great little songs. And then that’s it: short, but very, very sweet, and packed with promise too.
Stand-out tracks*:
Firing Squad
Trends
*Yes, we normally pick four or five from an album. But there are only four songs here.
Less Than Jake: new album
Posted by jamie on Oct 8, 2010
Less Than Jake are streaming their new album TV/EP from the video on the front page of their official site.
Random Hand: High Wycombe show
Posted by chips on Oct 7, 2010
Alternator Gigs have put on yet another cracking bill. This one’s at the Nag’s Head in High Wycombe on 23rd October. Keighley ska/metal behemoths Random Hand headline, with support from the JB Conspiracy, Beat the Red Light, and Bored of Justice.
See the show on facebook here. Thanks to SuzySka for the pic.
