April 29, 2007
Dead City Radio had piqued my interest with above average indie pop rock tunes on their MySpace and thankfully after a last-minute dash from the underground station to catch their set, they didn’t disappoint live. The playful, Wheatus-like, studenty, meandering nature of the tunes sits atop strongly written melodies with Beatles-era riffs hidden below synthpop chords and was only occasionally marred by a lacklustre performance. As they wrap up the set with an obvious live favourite amongst their more knowledgable fans (yes, I include myself as one of their new fans now) the instruments slink off for a while leaving only simple chimes as the backdrop to some of the most impressive vocal harmonies heard from any band still playing venues as small as the Barfly.
Tagged as ‘shimmery indie goodness’ and proclaiming themselves to be a “band from Iowa that sounds like they’re from Missouri” The Envy Corps recently released Story Problem EP sounds distinctly Nebraskan but on stage the band take us North across the border to Winnipeg with vocals reminiscent of The Weakerthans. The indie folk rock sounding well filled out, every instrument playing its part to combine into something akin to Radiohead if Thom Yorke had ever been happy and content, or similar to The Alarm if they hadn’t tried so hard to be U2. At one point apologising for “writing songs for girls” when sliding the mood down into bittersweet emotional yearnings for love and affection, the bands finest live moments come from the more uplifting songs where you feel the midwest dust being blown off as you speed on to a chorus refrain.
Part of The Levis Ones To Watch 2007 gigs showcasing new talent, something a little bit more special than a run of the mill show was required but as fine as the bands here tonight were and as much as I’ve loved having their tunes on repeat since returning from the gig, the something special just wasn’t there on stage. Let’s blame an unenthused Tuesday evening Glasgow crowd as both Dead City Radio and The Envy Corps have the talent down on record that their fans deserve to see rocking sold-out venues in the future.
April 7, 2007
Days Of Glory (or Indigènes to the rest of the world) covers the tale of a handful of North African volunteers fighting among the Free French army during the latter parts of World War II. Built around the strong performances of Jamel Debbouze (Amelie), Samy Naceri, Roschdy Zem and Sami Bouajila as the volunteers, the plot covers the traditional ground of raw recruits bonding together and surviving to go on and prove themselves as brave and valuable soldiers.
The film has received much praise for the addition of strong political message about the racism shown towards the central characters but unfortunately I felt the horrific prejudice and inequality suffered by the arabic & african troops was too often dealt with in an offhand manner, encouraging it’s dismissal by the audience as of little consequence and frequently appearing irrelevant. This however doesn’t detract from it being a great war film, the battlefield scenes are handled very capably, capturing the personal horror of conflict in a similar manner that Steven Spielberg championed with Saving Private Ryan. Here though there’s much less schmaltz to attract us to the main characters but still the immediate sense of danger and fear for them is just as powerful. Both the first large scale battle and the final intimate last-stand are the equal of any involving battle scene.
The political message of the film is hammered home at the end, in a cliched ‘60 years later’ visit to war graves with text captioning that eventually forced the French government to change policy and re-instate pensions for soldiers they had tried to write out of their history. Possibly though, the most striking political thought for me was the only recognition of any actor in the film was of their roles in Hollywood blockbusters over the last decade—playing the generic terrorist bad guy …
Two guitars, bass, drums & hoarse rasping vocals from Ohio USA playing straight forward american rock music, Two Cow Garage manage to rack up a couple hundred live shows each year. With a European Tour scheduled for Summer 2007 we’ll not judge whether they had time to think of a more inspired name for their third album so Three it is.
Sticking strongly to the rock n roll cowboy formula with songs about how shit things are when endlessly touring, Three strolls along from one bittersweet regret to the next with the vocals setting a very strained feeling to the whole affair which at times is crushingly depressing. Often Two Cow Garage struggle to convey the ‘who gives a fuck’ attitude that real kick-ass rock music requires to reach into your guts and tighten guitar strings round your soul.
Halfway through though, Now I Know bounces in unexpectedly like a bastardised american version of a Quireboys tune before the album sliding back into Should’ve California, a what could’ve been ballad about youthful glory days. Mediocre then takes us into a Dave Lee Roth self-parodying sound complete with horn section but overall the highlight, upbeat moments are over-shadowed by the world weary balladeering, leaving the album as the perfect soundtrack to anyone wishing to buy in a gallon of Jack Daniel’s & a carton of Marloboro and smoke & drink themselves into oblivion. Understanding that is the key to the album’s greatness.
