Along with myriads of new bands, Perth’s own Tame Impala have made a bible of the Nuggets and Pebbles compilations, the only difference is that while most of the other bands most of the time simply name-check those compilations and the magical music that was created in that very important time in rock and roll history, Tame Impala actually make the most of capturing the essence and spirit of their swingin’ predecessors by making it unique and modern.
First single ” Solitude is Bliss” feels like it was recorded by Aquaman after having ingested Ayahuasca in his underwater lair. Lyrics such as the chorus’ ”There’s a party in my head and no one is invited/ You will never come close to how I feel” confirm to the listener that there is no mistake, there is no half-way, this music is intended for and made by psychonauts.
But it’s not all trips and myths for Tame Impala, another excellent song off their debut album “Innerspeaker” released on Modular is “Why won’t you make up your mind?” is a beautiful love song; again filled with beautifully processed guitars, and oneiric landscapes played here in the Californian wilderness where hundreds of years before tribes and shamans also gave their odes to nature.
Tame Impala have just finished a North American tour with post-psych moguls MGMT, now let them enter your psyche for an intimate and interesting journey.
Adam Parker is a singer/songwriter who has kept up with the times, he does not reject modern sounds as many of his contemporaries tend to, allowing his sound to be different and more interesting to a critical ear while keeping it accessible to the casual listener who will enjoy his melodies.
His debut album, “Call Me a Medic”, produced by Grammy-Nominated Dyre Gormsen combines traditional folk-pop structures that intertwine Adam’s smooth voice with urban beats, derived sometimes form hip-hop and sometimes in the form of mild electronica.
Adam first hit the airwaves in 2008 thanks to a collaboration with famed house DJ Sasha who grew fond of and remixed his song “High Life” which became a hit in the dance charts in the US. Adam has since started to build a name for himself in the US thanks to Jason Eldregde who is championing two songs from the debut album, “K3″ and “Oh My” on both East Village Radio in New York and KCRW in Los Angeles.
“Smart Man”, Adam’s first proper single is a song about having enough with a current situation and veering out of it by becoming a smart man. The video for the song came out at the time of the British Elections in May, and shows Adam and a small creature trying to wake the British population to vote for a smart man.
The future looks bright for Adam, being featured in The Times as the weekend’s top download songs for smart man and with the upcoming release of follow up single, “Oh My”,to be released in early August.
After 3 years of mistery and a finished album rejected by their label, the godfathers of Nu-Rave and all the electro indie music that has filled the internet, the clubs and the “airwaves” have finally released a new song.
You won’t like Flashover if you are expecting another Golden Skans, it’s not poppy, it’s not radio friendly,it’s not day-glo and no one will be flashing glowsticks around when they hear it live; it’s dark, evil and rocks pretty hard.
It sounds like the soundtrack of a party in a dark and wet cave with the only lights being intermittent strobes flashing while a colony of ghouls and fiends jump around enough to piss off Gollum, who lives in the next door cave and keeps banging on the walls praying for less noise.
The long-awaited sophomore album, at the moment under the working title Surfing the Void should be released in the autumn and Flashover is a taste of what is to come. All I can keep wondering is when will we hear the album that was rejected by their label? Why weren’t Klaxons allowed to release what they wanted to do? Probably because their prog influences took them too far away from radio friendliness, but is that a bad thing? Maybe for their label..
Chillwave is the latest musical trend to come out of the United States, an electronic version of lo-fi, it incorporates casio/toy synth sounds with melodically distant vocals, usually heavily processed together with synthetic percussion sounds and most of the time sounds like it could be the soundtrack to an underwater dance party in the summer of 1982. It is dreamy, catchy, emotional and fresh in a retro way. Chillwave is the soundtrack to your bummer in the summer.
NEON INDIAN – DEADBEAT SUMMER
Austin, Texas based Neon Indian aka Alan Palomo is one of the “founding fathers” of the Chillwave movement. Debut LP Psychic Chasms was produced in his apartment in a warm summer; Deadbeat Summer is a prime example of Chillwave, sampling Todd Rundgren’s ”Izzat Love” as well as distorted synths, video game beeps, processed lazy vocals and distorted fuzzy guitars.
TORO Y MOI – TALAMAK
Another one-man-band, this time from Columbia, South Carolina, Chazwick Bundick is another prime example of Chillwave again nodding to sun and summer in the sounds that could be the perfect soundtrack to waking up on a summer Sunday morning with the sun shining on your face.
WASHED OUT – FEEL IT ALL AROUND
Washed Out aka Ernest Greene is another founding member of the chillwave movement, from Perry, Georgia, and close friend to Toro Y Moi’s Chazwick Bundick, Feel It All Around is one of the most prominent chillwave songs, again it couldn’t be more summery if it was a surfing teacher called Summer Flowers who lived in Baja California.
SMALL BLACK – DESPICABLE DOGS
An emerging band from Long Island, Small Black fuse heavily distorted yet quiet Casio synths and guitars, with distant yet very emotional vocals that capture the vibe in which it was recorded, Small Black’s vocalist Josh Kolenink’s uncle Matt’s attic in Long Island. Uncle Matt, who is a surf-maker, is the main subject of the video for Despicable Dogs.
BIG SPIDER’S BACK – PERFECT MACHINE
Another solo project, this time from Seattle and coming from the mind and bedroom of Yair Rubinstein; Big Spider’s Back is surprisingly intricate be a one-man-band. A very emotional track with characteristically distant and echoed vocals and repetitive keyboards and synths.
Just like Ringo at the end of ”Helter Skelter” ; I had blisters on my fingers after both times I saw Black Daniel live, and i’m sure I’m not the only one, as the cowbell I was hitting (hence the blisters) went around the ever so involved crowd several times, as did the microphone.
Black Daniel unleash all their fury onstage through a mix of electronic samples, distorted guitars and heavy drums. They are formed by Craig Louis Higgins Jr from New York on lead vocals and sampler, brothers Luke Ezra and Lamik on drums and guitar/vox respectively and sometimes feauture Japanese sample hitter “The Sweetness” Manabu from the Boicotts; i met them before their show last Tuesday at the Flowerpot in Camden to find more about this interesting band.
How did you guys come together? I know Craig worked organizing nights for Strictly Rhythm in New York and Luke and Lamik were in Medicine Eight
Craig: Yes, i worked for Strictly Rhythm but i got bored with what they were doing and actually started organizing my own club nights, and I booked Medicine 8 to come and play.
How did it all fold together? Were you guys just like “Why don’t we start playing together?”
Lamik: Well, we started recording the second Medicine 8 album and we wanted some quirky vocals for it, and because we like Craig’s way of doing things and had a lot of fun together, thought, let’s get him over in the studio and see what happens. We started doing a few things but it kind of turned to something, we started writing and basically turned into a band.
Craig, is this the first time you are in a band or were you in any other bands before?
Craig: Yeah, it is the first time, I’ve never been in a band before. Actually, I lie, there was one when i was 7 years old with a kid called Chris Harvey, we were called Uncle Harvey’s… something..
Were you singing or..?
Craig: I was playing the guitar and he played pots and pans (all laugh) and his favourite song was “It’s Me Again Margaret”, and we did a cover of that….
Did Black Daniel form because you (Medicine Eight) just thought of having Craig on board or do you have similar musical influences and similar bands you really like?
Lamik: Not so much, we have different sorts of influences musically, but i think it was more about, an overall common view of the world based on… really just partying a lot; it kind of felt like we were in a band already. We did a tour of the States as Medicine 8 and Craig came along as a “Tour Manager” which we didn’t really need as we were DJing, we just basically had a lot of fun on that tour.
As Black Daniel, have you played only in the UK or have you also played in the US?
Lamik: We did some shows in New York at Death by Audio.. Craig: This guy, Oliver from “A Place to Bury Strangers” used to, or still does build these guitar pedals called “Death by Audio”. We were all friends and started doing these parties in a big warehouse that they had in Williamsburg in Brooklyn.. Lamik: Yeah it was sort of like a commune.
Was the first Black Daniel gig in London or New York?
Lamik: It was here in London, at the Windmill, and the first one outside was supporting We Are Scientists in Stoke-on-Trent. Luke: And there was this other band on the bill that night “She Wants Revenge” and they pulled a fast to say who was gonna go on second, this is like our second gig ever and we nearly ended up…. Well they were saying they wanted to have a fight to see who went on second Craig: Sort of a West Side Story thing…. Luke: And then we were like, is this really what happens? Then luckily someone suggested flipping a coin which we did, and they won. The She Wants Revenge singer then came up and said “I’m so glad we flipped the coin, I really didn’t wanna have a fight!” Craig: They all looked super mean and then they were like “I’m so glad!”
You supported Kasabian on their European Tour, how was that?
Lamik: Great, brilliant, we had done only a few gigs by that point, Craig was still living in New York; we had no idea of how it was gonna turn out, but in the end it was great, they really like us in France.
(To the “Sweetness”) What is the story behind your name and how did you get involved the band?
Sweetness: My surname is Sato which means sugar in Japanese, that’s why, maybe, Craig called me the Sweetness. I’ve been living in London for 3 years and am in a band called “The Boicotts”, i organized an event and we booked Black Daniel to come play because they had a drum kit and we didn’t.. Craig: He signed a “contract” if we’d let him use the snare drum, he’d have to be our musical slave for all of his life.. so now he sometimes comes along and plays the sampler for us!
Your live shows are outstanding and you always really manage to involve the crowd into having a good time every time you play
Craig: For me, personally, I just wanna have as much fun and as much energy as possible, we don’t wanna be boring. Luke: So many times, from starting to play gigs when we didn’t know what we were doing at all and every band we were playing with seemed to be the most boring, serious, head-up-their-arse band as possible. At first we were like “Oh.. maybe we should be serious and give nothing to the crowd”, but soon we said fuck it, we will! And ended up having so much fun since figuring that out that was the way to go. Craig: Yeah, we just fucking go for it, why not?! Whatever comes natural, just go with it, as long as everyone’s having a good time. Lamik: We come from a party background in the first place so we keep the party going onstage, where there’s nothing sacred!
How did the sound evolve? Mixing samplers with guitar driven rock, was it just a natural evolution?
Lamik: We (Medicine Eight) were electronic, although we were also into Acid House and into bands with guitars so we always fancied doing a bit of both somehow, and we always keep that in mind.
Craig, you were saying how The Big Black are one of your favourite bands, are you trying to bring any of that into Black Daniel’s sound?
Craig: No, I mean that’s on of the many bands i love, I’ve never seen them live but i love their sound, and it all makes sense, because i love Suicide so it’s all sort of connected. I love James Brown old soul music, that’s sort of punk, it’s all punk to me, the rebellion of the soul singers. Anyone that’s out there saying “fuck you” and being passionate about what they’re doing, that to me is punk rock.
Would you say your surroundings have influenced you? I mean, obviously the partying influenced the way you make music and portray yourselves but do you think London and New York had an influence?
Luke: Definitely, massive influences on both the albums that we’ve done; loads of it has come from shared kind of experiences and most of them have been in New York. Lamik: Yeah, stuff that gets referenced, things that we do, characters that we meet.. Luke: We would go out as Medicine 8 3/4 times a year to New York to play and then we’d go to Miami for the WMC, so we were always going to America, mostly New York and always spending a lot of time up having fun….. So there’s probably four or five albums left in terms of brain, that’s all quickly disappearing… (All Laugh)
The new album’s title is “Let’s Get Sued!” how did that come about?
Luke: It’s just a way of saying “fuck it”, you know, everyone is so afraid of doing a mistake so people are restricted in taking risks and doing maybe things that might be a lot of fun. Everyone’s afraid of getting pounced on by angry lawyers or whatever, and I just hate that. Ans so that’s our way of saying “Fuck it, let’s do it anyways!”.
How did you come up with the name Black Daniel?
Lamik: I was reading the Bible, the Old Testament, I’m a very big admirer of, you know the……. hmmm I’m joking! (All Laugh) The Robin Hood character that saved the Hebrews or something.. Luke: I don’t know where it came from Lamik: There’s the Black Jesus in the Madonna video and it’s kind of like that, but maybe “Black Jesus” is too much, so Black Daniel will do.. Luke: Short answer is we don’t know.
I thought maybe it was Black from the Big Black influences and maybe Daniel from Jack Daniel’s?
Luke: That will do! That’s what it was! Yeah we used to tell people the letters were spelled out on a Ouija board when we were in a hot tun with 7 girls… Craig: It might be the pedophile gym teacher “Black Daniel” (All Laugh) Yeah, i think it’s the new one: there was this guy, Black Daniel, from a small town in Georgia and he was a gym teacher and a pedophile and…. Lamik: … we all really admired his work.. (All Laugh)
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
Lamik: We’d like to send our love to everybody in this world, and hope everyone can join us in this sense of serenity and peace and love and happiness before we all die because of 2012 or whatever!
Here is the video for their song “I Love You But Don’t Touch me Cos’ You’re Sick”
If you’d like blisters on your fingers too, or just see the most fun band in London at the moment here are their upcoming gigs:
The Sonics aren’t in the Rock and Roll Hall of fame, they did not have number one records, and they weren’t loved by parents and children alike. The Sonics were raw, they were loud, they sabotaged their amps in order to sound more distorted, they screamed, they shouted, they incited their listeners to poison themselves and influenced every punk/grunge/garage band in the years to follow; and still do every single one of those things to this day.
Formed in Tacoma,Washington in 1963, in the wake of other Pacific Northwest bands such as The Kingsmen and the Fabulous Wailers, the Sonics took the whole raunchiness and loudness the Northwest was famous for to another level combining it with an obsession with Little Richard and Chuck Berry, resulting in some of the most powerful music to have ever been recorded at the time.
The Sonics were brought back to life a couple of years ago by the Cavestomp festival in New York, quickly followed by their first ever performance outside their native soil, at London’s Le Beat Bespoke Weekender in 2008, after which they had a sold out European tour, only to return to London again this year for the same festival.
Performing to a crowd of garage-heads of both young and old, The Sonics ignited the audience with their fierce and relentless rock and roll, that would leave your ears bleeding, yet begging for more.
The first chords of set opener “He’s Waiting”, one of their baddest songs, ignited a furious roar from the crowd, which from then onwards never ceased to move. What is most impressive about this band is that notwithstanding their age (mid-60s) they still are so tight musically and can unleash more energy than most young bands around today. The fullness of their sound, with guitar, organ, and sax all turned up to 13 made sure that my ears were still ringing well into the next afternoon, to remind me of an unforgettable evening in company of Tacoma’s finest.
Playing a set with all their classics, from “Cinderella” to “Psycho” to their infamous rendition of “Louie, Louie” (a critic at the time it was recorded commented that the song has only three chords, and they can’t even play them right).
Perhaps the highlight of the night was “Stychnine” one of their classic songs, a garage punk standard, tonight doubled in length; and re-vamped with a fantastic and more psychedelic (the Sonics were around before psychedelia and stuck to their straight forward dirty brassy R&B) guitar solo courtesy of the great Larry Parypa.
The Sonics to this day remain one of the most influential bands in the rock and roll world whether directly or indirectly and will always continue to inspire younger generations with their music as well as their antics.
Larry Parypa once stated “Everything you heard people say about us is true”; just think of all you haven’t heard about them.
If, as Andy Warhol once said, “Everything went young in 1964!” then everything went a little naughty in 65. The Yardbirds were a nest to three of the most important British guitarists, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page.
Started as blues band, like many at the time, the Yardbirds stated experimenting with different sounds, as well as different substances, giving birth to a movement that would later be called psychedelia. For Your Love is particular for its eastern feel, groundbreaking at the time, and for the fact that Eric Clapton hated it so much (it was pop in his eyes, not blues) and quit shortly after its release; only to form one of the most important hard rock psychedelic bands, Cream, a couple of years later.
1966: Donovan – Sunshine Superman
Donovan also started innovating the British music scene in the mid-60s when he went from his acoustic folk work to a more electrified, experimental and “far-out” sound. Having visited California in early ’66 where a whole new movement was starting to grow, from the Laurel Canyon bands in LA that performed on the Sunset Strip, to the more psychedelic Haight-Ashbury early hippies in San Franscisco performing at the Filmore West. At his return, and while in LA Donovan recorded what can be considered one of the very first psychedelic albums, Sunshine Superman, which ushered a generation into love, flower power and mysticism.
* i know it’s meant to be a song a year, but this song from 1966 must also be heard, by Wimple Winch, a band from Stockport that had a brief career, spawning this excellent freakbeat gem, best enjoyed played LOUD!
1967: The Deviants – Charlie
We all know that 1967 is one of the most important years in music, mainly because of The Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which would spread the psychedelic movement across the world and let everyone know that it was ok to do whatever you wanted to. In London though, at the legendary UFO Club, where Pink Floyd moved their first lysergic steps, a young band fronted by Mick Farren would take being outcasts to another level. The (Social) Deviants, were championed by guru DJ John Peel and have since been an inspiration for Punk, Metal and any sort of music that involves rebelling and being as loud as possible.
1968: The Pretty Things – Walking Through My Dreams
In 1967 at the Abbey Road studios in London, while The Beatles were recording the generation defining Sergeant Pepper’s, Pink Floyd were recording their glorious debut The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and the Pretty Things, a raw and aggressive R&B band whose founding members were in a band with Jagger and Richards in the early 60s, recorded the highly underrated S.F. Sorrow.
Poor Pretty Things, when they were playing R&B, Mick Jagger, intimidated by the Pretties’ rawer style, made a call to famous music showcasing TV program “Ready, Steady, Go!” telling them to choose between “us or them”, needless to say the Stones were chosen. A couple of years later, after they had recorded S.F. Sorrow, a concept album telling the story of a man’ s life and death through songs (considered the first “rock opera”) Pete Townsend stole their idea and with the Who recorded Tommy, stealing the limelight from the excellent SF Sorrow.
Here is a great non-album track from those sessions, released in 1968.
1969: The Zombies: Time Of The Season
The Zombies were one of the most influential British Invasion bands of the 60s, inspiring millions of American teens in forming a band, they had sold-out stadium shows in the Philippines but when they broke up no-one seemed to care. Odessey and Oracle, their last album, released after the band had already split would be ignored at its time, the band didn’t tour and promote it as they had already broken up and the masses were listening to more acid-drenched heavy rock, such as the Grateful Dead, Cream, Led Zeppelin and the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Quickly becoming a favourite amongst critics, O&O stands out for its baroque feel, unbarred emotions and fantastic execution. If you don’t already own and love Odessey and Oracle, well it’s the time of the season to get and fall in love with it!
Yet another great unsigned band. (Why don’t record labels stop thinking about making a buck and do what they are meant to? i.e. help make and distribute good music?)
The Tins are from Buffalo NY and are a young three piece formed by Mike Santillo on vocals and keyboards, Adam Putzer on guitar and vocals and Dave Muntner on drums.
Three friends from Binghampton University, The Tings have been together for five years have finally started to record, and are releasing their first self titled debut EP soon. They play a mixture of emotionally moving alternative rock à la Wolf Parade/Moon and Antarctica-era Modest Mouse/Pinback,together with end-of-noughties-folk and with a sunny tinge brought by the oniric keyboards.
Seven minute EP highlight, The Green Room,is long enough to let a song become interesting, and has heartfelt, yet simple lyrics such as:
“I made up my mind on what you said,
It’s a little mad,
It’s a bit a bit of madness,
Just ride Off!
And I just wanna bring you down,
It’s a little sad, It’s a little sad
Just back Off!”
The smooth slide guitar licks play well with the keyboards, which vary from a repetitively radiant phrase to a darker bass drone that gives more space to the intricate guitar work, all backed by cymbal-heavy drums.
The Tins are still an undiscovered wonder to most, but will quickly surely become frequent listens to those that will hear them.
Girls are formed by the enigmatically sweet frontman Chris Owens, who grew up without a father in the Children of God cult, where he wasn’t allowed to listen to popular music and where his mother was occasionally forced to prostitute herself for the cult. Running away from such hell, Chris lived as gutter-punk in Texas in his teenage years before he was taken under a local millionaire’s wing and eventually moved to San Francisco.
Girls’ other half is Chet “JR” White, a former chef in San Francisco, that through mutual friends, mutual gigs and mutual interests met Chris.
Realizing like so many of us that life is short and cannot be spent on a couch watching TV, Girls were formed out of necessity to combat laziness and more concretely when Chet visited Chris to help him figure out how to use a four track recorder, where one song led to the next and Girls came to be.
Their debut album, the Warholly named “Album” released in September 2009, is a pastiche of dreamy-psych-pop with moments of punk-shoegaze with lyrics which are emotionally compelling and reminiscent of their home town’s golden love era.
Girls’ concert on Tuesday night at the Scala showcased their album, backed by a full band (Guitar, Drums and Organ/Keyboard), together with a few new and unreleased songs showing Girls’ emotions, transmitted to us on that evening through jangly guitars, maracas, thumping bass lines and Chris’s hiccuppy voice.
New single “Laura”, a beautiful song about a bad breakup and the need and importance to remain friends after a relationship, opened the show for an audience that throughout the concert failed to get involved/dance/move/sing along, but often kissed to Chris’ love poetry.
As so many Girls songs, named after actual girls (Laura, Lauren Marie) a new song called Lisandra, which Chris rightfully claims to be the best song he has ever written, was played at the Scala; a beautiful summery ode to love which will be part of a concept project that Girls will endure in in the near future.
Being an NME Awards show, and Girls not having been nominated, Chet joked with the audience congratulating The Big Pink on their “success” and hoped that they will be nominated next year. But does this really matter? To Girls? To Fans?
NO
The following night the NME awards took place at the Brixton Academy, while at the Old Blue Last in Shoreditch, where Teri Gender Bender’s fake blood is still smeared on a white curtain Yuck, La La Vasquez and Dum Dum Girls played a gig to a crowd of no more than 50 people.
Going on a cigarette break after La La Vasquez’s set, as i walked out the pub I noticed a familiar hat, hair and jacket, and there he was, Chris Owens himself having a chat with Yuck’s drummer and singer. After sharing a few words, Chris rushed back in to see Dum Dum Girls, next to his bandmate Chet.
This is to prove that Girls’ glory knows no bounds, instead of being at the NME awards trying to get attention like any crappy band (ie Big Pink) they were at a half empty gig by unsigned bands talking to everyone and being the nice and friendly people that you would think they are when listening to their music.
ENL are a young London band who released their first EP last night at the Notting Hill Arts Club, entitled Fuzz Candy, it draws inspiration from the whole array of styles that changed the face of Rock and Roll.
They know their music well, and inspire themselves from the best of each decade, a little 50s rockabilly here, a little surf rock there, a pinch of 60s garage, a spray of ’77 punk , and the result is the infectious rock and roll that blares out of ENL’s amps.
Last night’s short gig saw the venue packed with fans, casual listeners and even a hater, who threw glasses and shoes onstage, to which lead singer Shimmie politely responded “People came here to listen to us, if you don’t like it you might as well get out” a response which could only shut that individual up and let the rest of us enjoy the gloriously energetic show.
Fan favorite ”Ketchup Stains” got the crowd dancing/moshing/cheering as Shimmie wailed “This is the grand finale” over and over, luckily for us it was only the second song in the set and more was to come.
Progressing through their set and playing newer songs, they showcased their sound as the guitars intertwined with each other while the fuzz bass and the catchy surf drums kept the distorted beat.
ENL made sure to remind us that fuzz candy is not what you would find in a tuck shop near their school but the driving force behing their sound; turning the bass fuzz to 11, setting the keyboard on haunted house organ mode and ripping through their set as a nightmare would rip your brains apart in your sleep, only difference, there is no waking up from these eighteen nightmares!
Considering their young age and their influences the future is bright and exciting for these nightmares as they expand from the Lux to the rest of the world.
Gio Arlotta
