Review: The Nailbiters - No Forwarding Address

On this first release, The Nailbiters from New York dispense the same kind of doomed indie folk-rock as Wicked Immigrant, a band I reviewed a couple of years ago. This is only a half-hour listen but the best offerings from this dark but varied album have the ability to haunt hours after the recording has finished.

 

It ends fairly unassumingly with ‘What’s Been Happening’; a downbeat track but by using its message of “There’s a new sun in the sky”, it’s a cunning way of fooling the listener in to thinking all is well. The more intense ‘How Could I’ makes great use of some bluesy keyboards as guitars work out their most insistent riffs, meanwhile ’The Rock And The Wall’ takes a grungier route. ‘That Look’ opts for a melancholic folk melody accompanied by warm keyboards and the frontman’s lovelorn vocal (”I thought you didn’t notice, I thought you despised me”) whilst the title track, the sparest song here, is a real “less is more” kind of song. The Nailbiters don’t always come up trumps but they cover a variety of styles, ensuring they maintain their own stamp of identity throughout.

Web Sites:
Official Band Site
Nailbiters MySpace

Also Reviewed:
Wicked Immigrant - White Nuns On Red Wine

Video Nostalgia: Puressence - This Feeling

Here’s a post-Britpop treat for you from Oldham’s often overlooked Puressence. ‘This Feeling’ scaled the dizzy heights of no. 33 in the UK charts but it is still their biggest “hit” in their homeland.

Thankfully the good people of Greece have played a major part in sustaining the career of Puressence; their third album, 2002’s ‘Planet Helpless’ making it to No. 4 over there. ‘This Feeling’ is a memorable video with the band surrounded by a Wall Of Death. It’s a strong visual image, neatly summing up the real adrenalin rush of this exciting song.

Puressence were initially lumped in with Radiohead as a new angsty act. There’s some truth in that but the anthemic quality to their songs, guitar work to rival The Chameleons and James Mudriczki’s powerful vocals (I can only think of Geneva’s Andrew Montgomery as a close soundalike) meant that whilst they had their influences, they have always had their trademark sound.

Pleasingly, after a long time without a record label, Puressence returned earlier this year with their fourth album ‘Don’t Forget To Remember’. I hope to review this in the future although I don’t think it matches the excellence of their first three albums.

Web Sites:
Puressence Official Site
Puressence MySpace

Review:
Puressence - Planet Helpless

Review: Mole Harness - As Language Carves The World

With a name like Mole Harness, one could probably expect some form of misogynist rock. Instead the name Swedish resident James Brewster has given to his project is a world away from his music, which is minimalist electronica. Whereas previous releases have centred around Mole Harness throwing layer upon layer of melody, this EP is an altogether less busy affair.

 

The title track uses a plangent piano motif with the only other sound being a field recording, which could either be raindrops against a building or the workings of a complex pulley system. ‘As I Walk Through Walls Not Windows’ initially seems to produce the similar trick whereby a pastoral and pretty electronic tune is joined by static but it meanders and runs for fifteen minutes without ever descending into the territory of background music; at certain times using Brewster’s trademark layering technique. Finally, Brewster signs off with two minutes of acoustic simplicity for ‘Hunt For The Counterweight’. Overall, it’s another excellent offering.

Web Site: 
Stray Dog Army (Label Site)

Also Reviewed:
Mole Harness - A Present From The Future
Mole Harness - Out Of The Walled Pathway

Review: The Sea And Cake - Everybody

Often described as a post-rock supergroup by the music cognoscenti, The Sea And Cake have been a going concern for nearly fifteen years now and the result has been eight albums so far. John McEntire is arguably more famous for being the multi-instrumentalist in post-rock giants Tortoise but his contribution on the drums to The Sea And Cake is just as valid. Whilst the former band dispense an artful brand of music, The Sea And Cake slip into intelligent and emotional easy listening melodies. Unsurprisingly, ‘Everybody’ sees the group in typically relaxed mode.

 

Key to the easy listening atmosphere is Sam Prekop whose wistful vocals can alienate some listeners but on their best work he adds a extra layer of dreaminess to the mellifluous mood. ‘Up On Crutches’ kicks off events with a clever and addictive guitar figure and third track ‘Crossing Line’ even tackles glam rock. That’s as loud as things get though, as after that it’s immediately clear that ‘Everybody’ is a return to the sophisticated elegance of the excellent ‘Oui’ album where “rocking out” is never an option; instead guitars lilt and Prekop fills in spaces with extra “oohs” and “aahs”. Only problem is that ‘Everybody’ is not quite as good as ‘Oui’. The likes of ‘Coconut’ and ‘Introducing’ pass by pleasantly enough but lack the emotion of ‘Oui’s best moments whereas the pointless instrumental ‘Left On’ should really have been left off this record. ‘Lightning’ raises the bar with some pedal steel whilst ‘Transparent’ at least brings the album to a lovely, languid finish. Yet overall this is a disappointing return especially when it’s clear The Sea And Cake are capable of so much better.

Web Sites:
http://www.theseaandcake.com/
http://www.myspace.com/seaandcake

Also Reviewed:
The Sea And Cake - Oui
Tortoise - It’s All Around You

Video Nostalgia: Killing Joke - Love Like Blood

I’ve decided to start a new category on the blog. The idea is to display music videos which I fondly remember.

In the first of what I hope will be a regular series, I have chosen Killing Joke’s ‘Love Like Blood’.

There are several reasons why I’ve made this choice. First and foremost, it’s a cracking song with a a dark and intense promo to match. Fans of the band may also be aware that, on October 20th this year, former bassist Paul Raven died from heart failure. A sad loss since Killing Joke have always been recognised as an uncategorisable, uncompromising and hugely influential group.

‘Love Like Blood’ was the first record I ever heard by Killing Joke. I was 10 at the time when I first heard it on the radio and found it initially frightening but also thrilling at the same. This is a record where the verses sound just as vital as the chorus.

Despite being hugely impressed with this single, I didn’t really get into Killing Joke again until the early 1990s when I bought the ‘Laugh? I Nearly Bought One’ compilation and then I was introduced to several other cracking songs by them: ‘Empire Song’, ‘Eighties’ (which used a riff supposedly ripped off by Nirvana), ‘The Hum’, ‘Darkness Before Dawn’ etc.

‘Night Time’ (which features ‘Love Like Blood’) still remains my favourite album by them because I loved it when Jaz Coleman sang in a more conventional style. It’s probably their most commercial record but the balance between the natural heaviness of the band’s sound and the emotions pouring out make it the ideal choice for me.

Other sources:

Killing Joke Official Site

Review: The Shaker Heights - Magna Doors

The Shaker Heights come from Aylesbury in the pleasant English county of Buckinghamshire. Sensibly relocating to London to record their first album, ‘Magna Doors’ is the result and a strange little album it is too.

 
The record begins with ‘All About White Out’, with its classic New Order style intro, it’s a good start if a little reverential. Indeed, despite having some of its roots in the shoegazing movement, the mood is suprisingly upbeat. Frontman Vincent Coole is part of the reason; his voice gets a little ragged at times but he resembles a cheery drunk. One of the best songs here, ‘Pigment In The Rally’, builds from a slightly maudlin verse containing a doomy keyboard wash (courtesy of his sister Emily) and then Coole gives a spirited performance that has more than a hint of Julian Cope about it; ‘Intimidation’ repeats the trick successfully. He fares less well on the folkier ‘Write To Me Buccheimer’ and the harder but rather confused sounding ‘Guillotine’ but between these tracks is the stomping, rockier ‘We Are Old Baby’. Also worthy of note is the reflective closing ballad ‘Words To The Open’ which manages to be epic yet subtle. Like contemporaries The Guillemots, The Shaker Heights could turn out to be one of those oddball, uncategorisable acts. ‘Magna Doors’ doesn’t cry out hit singles but it is a decent record with a few choice moments to savour.

Web Sites:
http://www.theshakerheights.sh/
http://www.myspace.com/theshakerheights

Also Reviewed:

Guillemots - Through The Window Pane
Teardrop Explodes - Wilder

Review: Dawn Dineen - The Ghostly Apple Tree

Washington DC’s Dawn Dineen traces the inspiration for her third album down to a dream she had about her deceased grandmother. Fittingly, ‘The Ghostly Apple Tree’ is a record full of imagination but it also has the kind of cool appeal that seems to elude many singer songwriters. Her singing style is effortless and relaxed, yet clear and resonant, a little like Luscious Jackson’s Jill Cunniff. The comparisons don’t end there either since Dineen’s melodies are of the nagging, melodic variety but with the hip-hop flavour replaced by folk influences.

 

Even when Dineen uses a cheap jungle noise keyboard sample for ‘Tomboys (You’re Oh So Fine)’, it’s done in a knowing and restrained way. But she really starts coming into her own three tracks in to the recording. On ‘Big Emotion’ her voice enters a natural huskiness that is most becoming, as a grungy hook unravels into a fine chorus. This song is followed by ‘Safely’, a track which coverts a sense of underlying menace beneath the plea of “Show me the way to love you safely” whilst ‘Ladybug’ manages to maintain a beautiful hypnotic melody throughout as Dineen gives vent to her unrequited love for the titular object of her affections. Elsewhere the title track and ‘Seance’ (featuring a recording of Dineen herself as a six-year-old) take on a haunting resonance. Looking towards a prolonged career, ‘Picasso In The Air’ possesses a quirky tunefulness which signals she will come up with interesting ideas for albums in the future. Overall this is an excellent record, full of concise and imaginative little indie pop tunes that has the all-important addictive qualities to make it an album to return to in the future.

Web Sites:
Dawn Dineen Official Site
Dawn Dineen’s MySpace

Also Reviewed:
Alice Lee - Lovers And Losers
Luscious Jackson - Fever In Fever Out

Album Stream: The Lodger - Grown-Ups

Please click on this text to listen to the full album stream of The Lodger’s ‘Grown-Ups’