Sleigh Bells – Bitter Rivals album review

Sleigh Bells’ latest album, Bitter Rivals, opens with the lyrics, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” After listening to this 30 minute slice of unique noise pop I’ve come to the conclusion Alexis Krauss is wrong. It is the most uninspired of times. For Sleigh Bells at least.

Bursting on to the scene with their self-titled EP they gained notable praise from Pitchfork, The Guardian and The New York Times. Using this momentum from the end of 2009, Sleigh Bells catapulted in to 2010 with their aptly named debut LP Treats. It would be 2 years till we saw the next LP. 2012’s Reign of Terror was worth the wait though, a gloriously heavy dedication to all things good about the 80s. It’s mix of heavy shredding guitars, RnB vocals and hip-hop/electro nods blended to offer us an album of balance. For every guitar heavy song like Crush there was a delicate pop princess like You Lost Me to sink in to bliss with.

It’s over a year later and Sleigh Bells are back with their third album in as many years. What is abundantly clear is that while Sleigh Bells found their sound on Reign of Terror with Bitter Rivals they haven’t chosen to build on it. Not one iota. Where RoT ironically strengthened Sleigh Bells, this latest album is ultimately let down by a lack of adventure. Don’t worry though, we know all about adventure. Now let us set sail and review the tracks!

After opening with some punchy acoustic guitar and barking, current single Bitter Rivals explodes in to the usual choppy guitar and Krauss’ rap vocals. We are then subjected to a subdued yet catchy chorus (“You are my bitter rival, but I need you for survival”). Very Sleigh Bells. However, it’s also not very inspiring. Tracks Sugarcane and Minnie pick up the pace and while they are not different, they are enjoyable. These two tracks definitely wouldn’t have been missed on RoT as bonus tracks. Sing Like a Wire and Young Legends are the albums doughy, bloating centre. The former capturing a cartoony hip-hop presence, while the latter seemingly suitable for Katy Perry or Jessie J to gain chart success with. Along with the opening track Bitter Rivals these are the albums let down.

From here on out however the album begins (half way through the album?) to pay off. Tiger Kit is another slice of Sleigh Bells noise pie with a delicious Derek Miller guitar solo to chew on. You Don’t Get Me Twice, which arguably should have been their first single, illustrates the bands ability to combine catchy grooves of heavy guitar with Krauss’ gentle vocals. I approve. To Hell With You is a surprisingly guitar gentle song, replacing the electric noise with heavy drums and whistling that sounds like Mariah Carey hitting those high notes. Next up is 24. No, not that Jack Bauer guy! Instead what we have here is something that sounds ridiculously similar to all manner of the slower songs on RoT. Again, I approve. Final track, Love Sick, is a generous mix of their heavy influences with Krauss’ gentle musings (“There’s a hole in my chest, where my heart used to be”).

The production of this record is in no way lazy. With all the layering of guitars, school-yard clicking/clapping and RnB influenced vocals, Miller has produced another well-polished collection of Sleigh Bell jingles. What is lazy though is their lack of exploration in their music. It’s almost as if they’re just happy to sit on what they already have and hey, if you’re a fan of that (like I sometimes am) then you’ll enjoy this. I just personally think they owe you, and themselves, more.

Score 6/10

Reuben: Gone But Not Forgotten

Have you ever had a favourite band you discovered, coveted and then lost to that (main)stream, which eventually flows in to that mediocre lake powering our conventional culture? It hurts doesn't it? Unfortunately for many of us our favourite bands either sell out or just carry on until they've dried up the creative well that is their musical ability. And you're more than right to be hurt, after all, it stings the eyes to watch Kings of Leon in tidy haircuts and matching outfits tailored by Rockers "R" Us. Or Smashing Pumpkins' completely altered line up, Coldplay's recent Rihanna collaboration, Linkin Park's contribution to Tranformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Okay I'm stopping there. I draw the line at mentioning that Michael Bay franchise any more than I have to. However, we digress. The reason I mention this first is the important fact that with today's suffocatingly stupid excuse for culture we have to accept our favourite bands are generally going to disappoint us by joining the dark side. 

One band never did though: Reuben. And although they disbanded in 2008 their music still exists and flows like free wine from the kitchen tap. Let's grab a glass!

First up is Jim Lenman, songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist. His mix of screams and melody allowed Reuben to throw heavy guitar, throbbing bass chugs and plenty of drums in to a beautiful blend of alternative rock metal. Jon Pearce dug those bass holes and Guy Davis thrashed those drums. And the band is complete. In 10 years they recorded 3 albums, 2 EPs and several singles. Although they never gained the reputation or credit they deserved they still made a big enough impact to have found a cult following hoping for a reunion. Here's hoping.

So why should you listen? You should listen because Reuben are genuinely one of the best bands you've never heard. They're a band for those kids hitting the latter stages of puberty, falling in and out of love, hanging out with mates and wearing fake moustaches (Freddy Kreuger). They're also catchier than blink-182 and Sum 41's bastard love child (A Kick in the Mouth). Plus they can write beautifully delicate songs (Boy - just wait for the build up). Oh and they do scream-talking really well (Blamethrower).

They're also a genuinely honest and funny bunch of guys. Check out the brilliant documentary What Happens in Aldershot, Stays in Aldershot for Jim's hilarious rant about cereal. As well as the honest comment from Jon about how they "weren't abandoned as children" so there was never any need to write those kinds of "passionate" lyrics. You can't make up an experience and they didn't (Guy was kicked out of the Kerrang awards though). That's real RocknRoll. 

So here's to your new favourite band. Rejoice in the beauty and appreciate no one can ever take this away from you. It's time to learn the lyrics and wait for the reunion. Enjoy.

Oh sweet peas! Almost forgot, I should take the time to mention the guys' new ventures. Jim has currently got a solo project (Jamie Lenman) on the go, with a tour in December. While Guy and Jon are performing in new band Freeze the Atlantic, with the recording of their debut underway as of today! Reuben may no longer be but it's great to see these guys talents not going to waste. For further information on their new work head to Youtube and get researching! It's worth it to see Jim's new and 100% authentic moustache (seriously watch Freddy K, it'll make sense).

Freddy Kreuger, from the debut album Racecar Backwards is Racecar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALW-ZA2SkRA

The rock pool was getting overcrowded.

Fucked Up @ OFF! Festival - Damian Comes to Life

Once Japandroids finish their set we found ourselves hurtling towards the main stage. Our excitement was reaching dangerously high levels of 'holy-moses-we're-about-to-see-the-most-awesome-band-ever'. For the third time in a year. First there was Brighton, a swirling frenzy of men (and my girlfriend - she's hardcore) moshing while the lead singer climbed on top of the bar. Then there was London, a human heartbeat of jumping, pushing and screaming while the lead singer climbed into the crowd. Now there was OFF Festival. And yes, the lead singer did do something. 

So we're waiting at the main stage, going over in our heads what head-banging, foot-crushing hit we're going to witness and then it suddenly hits us. We're at the wrong stage. That earlier hurtling of bodies now becomes a super-sonic charged Bolt sprint to the other end of the festival. We make it just in time to safely secure ourselves on the right hand-side of the tent, 15 ft from the pit (it was a sunny festival vibe okay, we had flip-flops on!). We're now ready. Oh and by the way, this band is Fucked Up.

Yet another Toronto based punk band (remember I mentioned Metz!), this 6 piece have been working hard since 2001 releasing more singles, EPs, splits and 12"s than you would think was physically possible. If they were a husband they're the type who does everything. They built the house, they created their own business and they gave birth to their beautiful twins, Ester and Marie. That's just how hard they work. The band comprises of 10,000 Marbles on lead guitar, Mustard Gas on bass, Guinea Beat on drums, Gulag on rhythm guitar, Young Governor on guitar and finally Damian "Pink Eye' Abraham on vocals. Remember that last name because he is one of the main reasons I'm gushing so much about Fucked Up. 

As mentioned above Damian likes to travel. A lot. As we stood and witnessed the band from a safe distance we suddenly noticed Damian was out of the tent visiting the audience at the back. Five minutes later he's leading the fiercest conga line around the crowd and leaving an empty path in its wake. He's a man who wants to please and if the music isn't enough for you then his showmanship is. Damian combines joining the crowd with offering the mic to audience members, allowing them to sing, mumble or scream (my personal choice) missing lyrics. To put it mildly, while the band is on stage playing fierce and true, Damian is making sure the audience have a show to remember. 

Much like Metz, you'll need to appreciate punk in order to appreciate Fucked Up. From their set list they play a mix of old classics such as Police and I Hate Summer, as well as songs from their last 2 albums. Highlights include songs Queen of Hearts, The Other Shoe and David Comes to Life. Personally I don't want to review the music because it's your own choice to form an opinion and it's better to make it on your own via some Youtube listening. However, I will say this, Fucked Up are a band that play rhythm driven noise at its best. Damian has an ability to create shouty yet totally catchy lyrics ("David was a boy, just a letch!" - once you've heard this it's hard not to scream it during a gig). While also capturing a real intelligence, Damian's lyrics to their third album, David Comes to Life, push the band creatively as the album recounts a tale of two lovers and how their paths intertwine. After such an impressive third album it becomes a real wonder how Fucked Up will outdo themselves this time. 

Fucked Up are a band that implore you to, just as they do, give your all. If you're after an intelligent, hardcore punk band then this is it. They also put the 'ow' in show. Next time we meet Fucked Up I'll actually be ready, a pair of Doc Martens should suffice. 

David Comes to Life, from the debut album Hidden World:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ4uvEhg4wQ























Damian "Pink Eye" Abrahams - momentarily zoned out before the mayhem commences

Metz - Switching Saturday @ OFF! Festival On

Never heard of OFF! Festival? Neither had I. This Polish festival, however, is definitely worth hearing about. In an age where we're bombarded with stale information about bands that aren't worth hearing or places that aren't worth seeing, the stumbling upon of OFF! was very much a revelation. Here lies a festival that, at £46 for 3 days with camping, offers you bands such as The Smashing Pumpkins, My Bloody Valentine and Deerhunter. After experiencing Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, Woods, Cloud Nothings and The Smashing Pumpkins on the Friday we'd already gotten our monies worth. There were still two days to go.

Friday got us off to the psychedelic dripping doom metal of Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, who we totally saw collecting their guitars and gear alongside us at the airport ("They must be going to OFF!"). A band hailing from Cambridge, they sound like the soul-soup combination of what a cannibal might cook if they'd come across the wreckage of a plane housing Black Sabbath, Witch and The Stooges. A worthy band to be our first taste of OFF! 

However, if Fridays opener is to be compared to soul-soup from the cannibal's bowl, then our first taste of music on Saturday must be compared to the chase before the plane's victims came to their soupy end. That is to say, that the band in question were a high velocity, high intensity, high up (well, they were up on a stage) band that managed to heat up an already sweltering afternoon. If we the crowd were feeling the effect of the 35°C sun, these guys must have been close to popping with the show they were giving us. So who was this band and if they weren't one of the headliners why should we care?

To put it simply, they were Metz. A Toronto based punk noise trio with their finger on the button. A button that triggers the explosives strapped to the stage and ends the show in a cacophony of noise and a showering of blood and guts. Okay, maybe that last bit was a metaphor. In truth though their set was close to having that effect. Their set lasted 50 minutes and rarely had a moments pause. They opened with their self-titled debut album's first track Headache, which coincidentally the audience also ended the set with. Now that's not a jab at Metz because if you're into noisy punk rock and you've come for noisy punk rock then there's nothing about this band you won't love. They're engaging on stage, sharing small banter with the crowd (Bassist aka Bruce Campbell's love child: "This next one's a dancing song, so start moving around."). They also play their huge Canadian hearts out, making sure that if they're not soaked with sweat by the end then they haven't done the crowd justice. Highlights included Get Off and Wet Blanket which were perfect mosh-pit hits to rock out to. 

Now the only criticism I felt I had when leaving at the end of the set was that their songs all sounded very similar. However, after re-listening to the album and reflecting about the set I've come to the conclusion that if you enjoy one Metz song you'll enjoy them all and thats no bad thing. If you're after some Canadian punk, mosh-pit inducing goodness then I can't think of a better band (except Fucked Up - but I'll review them later). For now however, take flight to Youtube and search Metz, live or in the studio this is some information worth listening to. 

Get Off video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAjHuKWh0so

Alex Edkins in full flow

Thee Oh Sees: Madness in a Man

The last time I properly listened to Thee Oh Sees was an exert from a live dvd. The song was If I Had a Reason, a jaunty plucking of guitars drenched with a melancholy cooing of bluesy vocals from John Dwyer and Brigid Dawson. I then went to witness them live with my girlfriend in Poland. Now you're probably thinking, why have you mentioned your girlfriend? For it is nothing short of necessary in the next part of the anecdote my dear friends. So in my mind I thought I had Thee Oh Sees pegged, and using the information I remembered from the If I Had a Reason song I continued to inform my girlfriend that they are a 'chilled out' folk band with occasional garage rock tendencies (see - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl4sSk6upsY).

How wrong was I? Very. Those occasional garage rock tendencies turned out to be an hour long set that left the wooden floorboards underneath the crowd bouncing more impressively than an effort from the Dam Busters. 

A band formed out of lead man Dwyer's desire to start his own solo effort, after numerous underground band outings, Thee Oh Sees are the archetypal live band. Stood on stage were 3 men, Dwyer on vocals and guitar, Dammit on guitar (although a lot of the time he was playing low notes to add bass to certain songs) and the metronome Shoun on drums. To the left was Dwyer's right-hand lady Dawson adding keyboards, tambourine and backup vocals for the melodies. Melodies I may add that Dawson is credited for helping Dwyer with when songwriting, and rightly so! Her whimsical vocals acting as the bands sweet to their catchy sour noise on stage. However, it isn't just the noise they create that makes them so damn good live. It's also how tight they are as a unit AND they're ability to play within this tight, note perfect take on their songs. To watch Dwyer and Dammit for a moment each song (before going back to a standard head bang position) is like watching the audiences reaction mirrored in their performance. Dwyer spits out beer, pulls faces, turns his guitar in to a rifle and bobs his head like there's literally a screw loose. Dammit on the other hand is twirling his head to the rhythm of his own guitar and to say he was in his own little world would be an understatement. The audience reciprocated with buoyed energy.

There is also no ego on stage. This isn't Dwyer & Thee Oh Sees, it's just Thee Oh Sees. Shoun's drum kit is plonked smack in the middle of the stage, to let us know who anchors the band's songs, while the others are in close proximity around him. They're a family of a band, Dwyer's the drunk uncle, Shoun's the conservative father, Dammit's the spaced out teen and Dawson's the caring mum. In any home this would equate a dysfunctional (yet normal) family however in Thee Oh Sees world this has created a family that sits down to thanksgiving dinner, rocks out and throws shapes! These guys definitely aren't dysfunctional. They're in sync. 

Of the bands highlights, material from the new album, Floating Coffin, comes songs Toe Cutter - Thumb Buster and I Come From the Mountain. As well as older material, The Dream, Block of Ice and Contraption/Soul Desert. Each of these songs was played with an unbridled energy that set the crowd's feet on fire, explaining why the floorboards were moving like a House of Pain single. If you haven't heard any of their songs I recommend the above, via Youtube, to kick you off. 

Let me end by putting it this way. If you like your band sprinkled with nuts like the world's largest sundae then Thee Oh Sees are your chocolate cookie crunch flavoured treat to jump about to. Just be careful, chocolate cookie crunch is really hard to get out. Just like Thee Oh Sees will be hard to get out of your head. 

Toe Cutter - Thumb Buster video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R44Qh2P7wo0

The Smashing Pumpkins @ OFF Festival

The cool festival air of the evening had become a godsend after a day of 35°C heat. However although the sun may have set, the crowd gathered at the main stage were in no position to stop and cool down. Everyone was packing in tighter than London folk on their weekday tube journey to witness one of the most monumental grunge bands of Chicago’s history, The Smashing Pumpkins.

Formed in 1988 The Smashing Pumpkins began simply with just Billy Corgan and James Iha (and a drum machine). Several months later and D’Arcy Wretzky and Jimmy Chamberlin completed the band. At this point in October 1988 the original line up was born and so was The Smashing Pumpkins. Since then they amassed 5 albums, before Iha, D’Arcy and Jimmy left Billy alone with nothing but the band’s name and his own vision to eventually strive onwards with. Since 2005 The Smashing Pumpkins has again been in full flight… 

Yet this is not The Smashing Pumpkins. This is Billy Corgan + guests. Now honestly their set at OFF was really impressive, imaginative and bold, showcasing the new band member’s abilities to channel Billy’s old and new material. While stood in the swaying frenzy of fans you could see their technical ability flow freely. However what you couldn’t see flow freely was their control, which Billy Corgan generally has with ease. Both Jeff Schroeder and Nicole Fiorentino had clear moments that illustrated why they deserved to be on stage (Nicole’s bass on Ava Adore a highlight) but there still seems to be the issue that Billy’s band members are reined in by him. The one member who does seem capable of speaking his mind via his playing however is baby faced Mike Byrne, who at 23, has an overwhelming energy behind the drums. 

The set list for the night was slow to reach the boil as they started off with two new songs (Quasar and Panopticon), the crowd’s awkward feedback being an interesting indication of how they felt towards this new material. Nevertheless they did burst in to X.Y.U. to a rapturous applause and Tonight, Tonight caused an understandably enormous reaction within the crowd. Billy Corgan also serenaded the crowd with a cover of David Bowie’s Space Oddity, which was received with nothing but love. Considering this the issue for the band was not how they approached the set list, songs or playing of them but instead Billy’s inflated ego and unnecessarily tight control of the group dynamic. Perhaps if Billy can find a way to channel their new music in a different manner they’ll be able to take it further, as from witnessing their show at OFF they seem to be held back by old demons. 

The Smashing Pumpkins are a band with an unmistakably iconic line up in Corgan, Iha, Chamberlin and D’Arcy however this has not been the case for many years. The band claim to be Pumpkins but at this point it’s just a name; it’s not the band. For some bands linger too long and outstay their welcome, like a drunk guest slowly getting sloppier with their conversation, but I think The Smashing Pumpkins is testament that perhaps it is not about ending the journey but instead ditching your rusty vehicle and taking up a new route with a fresh tank of petrol at hand. Billy Corgan needs to ditch the band name and kick start their journey otherwise their new material will always have a huge pumpkin shaped chip on it’s shoulder.