The Weblog Of Leonard’s Lair

Click here to listen to the full stream of HIJK’s excellent debut album

To many, emo is the domain of angsty teenagers, the shouty rock anthems designed never to be heard by anyone who has graduated beyond student years. HIJK have been labelled as emo but there’s a lot more going on than that. They are really one of those outfits who try and put as many melodic shifts and thrills in to one record as they can. ‘The Pen And The Letter’ is their first album and is a great statement of intent.

Undoubtedly the key moment is ‘Paper Boat’; its punky guitars, understanding of dynamics and thrilling yet apparently nonsense lyrical hooks (”I’m gonna take your TV set. I’m gonna smash it with my guitar neck. The paper boat is soaking wet. Let’s take a hideout and sleep for a while”) make for a perfect alternative pop song. Opening track ‘Alibi’ features similarly earnest yet sweet vocals and more neat melodic turns. Thanks to its robust, passionate harmonies, ‘Smells Like Cigarettes’ gives modern punk music a good name, ‘September Looms On Hill’ and the piano-led ‘Writers Block’ is the band at their achingly melancholic best whilst the spiky, angular guitars and call and response vocals stand out ’Elly & Iffy’. The real skill is that this Californian trio experiment with song structure, throwing the listener yet another curveball just when they think they have understood the melodic path of the song. There are a couple of weaker tracks on an overlong album but most of the time the invention and twists on the record kept me riveted.

Web Sites:
HIJK Official Site
HIJK MySpace

Further Listening:
Pilot To Gunner, Jimmy Eat World

Quite accidentally, after reviewing an EP called ‘5′, I am now writing about an album entitled ‘Three’. Like Plastic Fuzz’s EP, the latest Junkboy album also defies pigeonholing; their press agent handily describing their third long player as “pastoral-prog-rock-soft-focus-electronic-komische-folk-core”. I first got to hear about the work of brothers Mik and Rich Hanscomb for their second album ‘Lost Parade’. It was a real grower of a record, which seemed perfectly attuned to the summer season with its subtle atmospheres that seemed as much informed by Talk Talk as The Beach Boys. ‘Three’ is a logical progression though a little more strident and immediate in its approach.

It begins with nine minutes of aural heaven courtesy of ‘Volcano Mono’; an instrumental underscored by piano keys which seem to emulate the morning sun as subtle use of beats and brass instruments create a magical ambience. I particularly liked the way ‘Red Firecracker’ mutates into a pastoral segment about three minutes in and ‘Kamo River’ is a lush, melodic centrepiece. The band are also becoming increasingly more adept at vocal-led efforts. ‘There Is Light’ and ‘A Word From Our Sponsor’ could have been hippy folk nonsense were it not for the robust rhythms underpinning them. On a more general level, although they could have been forgiven for consolidating on their previous “slo-fi” album, Junkboy have raised their game with a more confident record, which expands their sonic palette and self-cultivated dreamworld even further.

Web Sites:
Junkboy MySpace
Enraptured Records Label Site

Further Listening:
Arnold, The Beach Boys, Shinri, Talk Talk

I’ve been reviewing music online for almost nine years now and during this time I think I’ve covered a lot of genres. Amongst those, of course, are the artists who defy categorisation. Plastic Fuzz definitely come into this, well, category. I guess very, very skewed alternative pop would just about cover it. ‘5′ is, appropriately, the fifth in the collection of their EP series and covers five tracks in ten minutes.

During this time I heard wired post-punk for ‘Chicken Pink’, happy electronic psychedelia for ‘10 Honest 10′. ‘Waterbabies’ represents fuzzy, guitar pop whereas the predominantly acoustic ‘The City And I’ invents a new form of drunken folk music. On each track the vocals are distant and slightly robotic. I have to say I’m not sure if I liked these songs or not; the sheer amount of styles covered in ten minutes consists of very short songs and little in the way of cohesion yet it was certainly listenable and made me think of crazed musical inventors throwing in liquids labelled “punk”, “pop”, “electronica” and “new wave” in to a mixing pot and then watching the results explode.

Even more confusingly I was sent a sampler for the 100-song album ‘DOTS’ in which they seem to have included a snippet for each song in a very small amount of time. I’m sure the album itself is a lot less mind-bending but it was at this time that I started to develop a headache.

Web Sites:
Plastic Fuzz Official Site
Plastic Fuzz MySpace

Further Listening:
Blackloud

Distant Noise Records is a new label set up Tarl Broad-Ashman, an artist who will be familiar to those who follow his work as electro-ambient project Innerise. ’Sending Triangles’ by Luga is scheduled to be the first of twelve releases throughout the year and when the collection is complete, the twelve CD covers will form one complete image. An enticing prospect for sure especially if you like electronica and post-rock. More importantly, though, is to assess the qualities of the music itself and it’s nice to report that the Brighton-based Luga (AKA Lewis Broad-Ashman) gets his brother’s project off to an encouraging start.

‘Curved (h)air’ combines beats with a glacial wash of sound, drifting like an iceberg to make for an elegant opening. ‘Sign Language’ best reveals Luga’s understanding of melody and rhythm; it’s unusually fast pace simulates a space journey through star-filled skies. Similarly, ‘Slow Pace’, the title track and beautiful outro ‘Interluding Thoughts’ hit on the same theme but with more of a shoegazing influence on show. Not all is good though. Were it not for the baby noises, ‘Design Files’ would have descended into relaxation tape territory whereas ‘Tims List’ is chill-out by numbers. Overall, ‘Sending Triangles’ isn’t a release which sets my heart racing but its mixture of dreampop and electronic melody is a good record to float away to. Furthermore, with future releases to feature the likes of Yellow6 and Televise, this should be a series well worth following. 

Web Sites:
Distant Noise Records Site
Luga MySpace

Further Listening:
Innerise, Chapterhouse

Having now received all four EPs from London’s The Reverse it’s nice to see a band’s sound evolving. The things holding them back is that they have yet to record an album and they do sound rather like the under-achieving Gene. Once again, on ‘My Lifelong Psychological Experiment’, the group display plenty of potential but don’t quite convince on all their tracks.

The first track is once again the highlight. The doleful and articulate nature of the song sees The Reverse attain the level of The Smiths’ songwriting abilities; something which they have so clearly strived for on previous efforts. Perhaps most remarkably is the way frontman Nathan Loughran skilfully works the words of the title into a key part of the vocal melody. ‘Other Boys’ is more generic; its guitar melody is pleasant yet rather throwaway. ‘To The Bridge’ is much better; all the band turning in an energetic and urgent performance with strong key changes between verse and chorus. To end with we have ‘Emily’, a fair to middling quieter track that doesn’t linger long in the memory. So, as always, The Reverse show they have strong songs in the locker but to me they seem stuck in a mid-1990’s rut. However, as they are now working on a new album, this will be an ideal opportunity to prove me wrong.

Web Sites:
The Reverse Official Site
The Reverse MySpace

Further Listening:
The Smiths, Gene, Clearlake, .Sub

Minnesota’s The Umbrella Sequence are another of those groups who dispense space rock for the mentally unhinged. Indeed, The Flaming Lips and Grandaddy would look fondly at this hitherto unknown act, who show a variety of melodies on their first album.

‘Urban Lull’ is the band with their pop heads on, Ryan Rupprecht singing in that crazed manner which suggests Clap Your Hands Say Yeah in  an astronaut suit whilst all round him a variety of bleeps and technical wizardry burst out of the speakers. It’s a good start brought back down to earth by the reflective ‘This Time We’re Positive’ - like the countrified ‘At The Great Lake’ and the melancholic soft rock of ‘The Need To Make Lists’ - it demonstrates the yearning quality this young group are capable of. Respect is also due to the urgent escalating riff which propels ‘Et Tu Forte?’, which has the immediacy and excitement of all good punk records. Granted, I occasionally found the music just a little too maddening to love but I admire their off-kilter approach to tune making and their recent UK tour should have enticed a few more fans into their warped world.

Web Sites:
The Umbrella Sequence Official Site
The Umbrella Sequence MySpace

Further Listening:
Flaming Lips, Grandaddy, Midlake

In a way there isn’t much point describing Slow Dancing Society’s ‘The Slow And Steady Winter’ because both artist and album title sums up all you need to know about the images Drew Sullivan conjures up from his wintry Washington abode. This is music to drift along to; the perfect soundtrack for the onset of the cold season.

It begins quite beautifully with the elegant, shimmering ‘The Early Stages Of Decline’; its typically morose underlying melody calls to mind the minimalist but inherently sad work of Labradford. It fully justifies its fifteen minute track length. This is post-rock but not the type which switches between quiet and loud, Sullivan’s instrumentals are always understated but maintain a hold over the listener thanks to their emotional depth. ‘Depths Of December’ contrasts a growling underbelly with the kind of alien communication noises more likely to be heard on ‘Close Encounters Of The Third Kind’. Amongst the other great moments, a glistening steel guitar figure and warm atmospheres characterise the stately ‘The Time We’ve Spent’ whereas the euphoric ‘Romantica’ - featuring vintage 4AD-style choral and guitar effects - is possibly the most stunning thing on here. This is a lengthy record but it has so much depth and feeling, it’s almost impossible not to be moved by it.

Web Sites:
Slow Dancing Society Artist Page On Hidden Shoal Recordings
Slow Dancing Society MySpace

Further Listening:
Labradford, Zelienople, Cocteau Twins

Now it’s the middle of winter, there seems no better time than now to listen to Hybernation’s ‘Snow Cover’. The man behind the seasonal title is Stuart Bowditch who plied his trade as a drummer in punk and metal bands for a decade. So the move to glacial electronica is not the obvious route to take but it’s certainly an interesting move, which occasionally pays off on this evidence.

The opening couplet of ‘Acorn’ and ‘PM/AM’ certainly convey the expected images of frostier climes. The minimalist ‘Rociruces’ is an elegant step up though it’s nice melody is repeated for perhaps a little too long. At this stage, it’s apparent that Bowditch sounds like too many electronica artists trying to carve out their own niche. However, ‘Felion’ is a darker affair, building slowly and enigmatically into a varied collection of cool synths, sampled female vocals and what sounds like a growling creature; it’s not only the most experimental moment but also the best thing on here.  The finale ‘011001′, meanwhile, is a serene send-off; providing the warmth to counter the chill that proceeded it. Overall, I feel Bowditch’s EP is a respectable rather than outstanding offering.

Web Sites:
Rednetic Recordings Label Site
Rednetic Recordings MySpace

Further Listening:
Lien, Thin Films

Despite the unashamedly retro sound, Richard Hawley seemed like a breath of fresh air when he started releasing albums under his own name. His beautifully arranged songs recalled the big showstopping singles of the 1960s. After five albums though, there’s a fair chance the formula will eventually run dry. This first became apparent on 2005’s ‘Coles Corner’ and ‘Lady’s Bridge’ signals a further downward trend; it is the third album in succession named after a Sheffield landmark. Tellingly, he looks jaded on the album cover shot too.

The songs are still lush and abundant with strings but there’s a sense of water being trodden several times over. The opening ‘Valentine’ is a case in point; another lovelorn epic number but its melody is light and insubstantial. ‘Roll River Roll’ is better, its jazz piano and guitar undertow is understated and well held together by Hawley’s tremulous vocals. In the past I’ve compared Hawley to the magnificence of Scott Walker but only occasionally here - on the rich, glorious single ‘Tonight The Streets Are Ours’ for instance - does he come close. Elsewhere ‘Lady Solitude’ is bathed in a pleasant shimmer and the closing duet with Sally Doherty is subtly beautiful. On the flipside, however, ’Dark Road’ and the rockabilly numbers are lazy and uninspired. Hawley’s voice and guitar playing are always worth listening to but overall ’Lady’s Bridge’ is like a homogenised Radio 2 product, pleasant enough but definitely lacking a spark.

Web Sites:
Richard Hawley’s Official Site
Richard Hawley MySpace

Further Listening:
Scott Walker, Roy Orbison