July 10, 2007
A sarcastic and sardonic Icelandic indictment of the lack of integrity within the music industry. Jakobinarina’s English vocals have a strong accent which adds to the feeling of contempt thrown up here, and the target is a good’un. Seemingly borne out of the oh-so-fake indie pop punk genre popular with trend setters and chart watchers, Jakobinarina (pronounced yakob-in-arena) have a better understanding of the Punk part of their genre labelling than most. With an anger reminiscent of Ned’s Atomic Dustbin playing Top Of The Pops, This Is An Advertisement provides a healthy antidote to newspaper punks who think media attention on their shitty behaviour covers for their shitty music. Here the punk is in the message, the sniping vocals criticising industry moguls, peers and you; the guitars baiting you to get a kicking if you even look at them funny; keyboards snorting speed round the back and the drums smashing fuck outta a phonebox.
The underlying attitude is there but it isn’t smashed over your head in a horrific bile filled onslaught, rather it comes away as being a rousing and inspiring track, managing to avoid wallowing in the negativity and bitterness of it’s message. The success is not half down to the band’s trick of balancing the fine line between disaffected intelligence and drunken imbecility—tongues are in cheeks here but the whole thing works because, underneath, that bitter negativity is most probably real.
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
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.
March 21, 2007
One of The Netherlands’ finest embassadors of pop punk, constantly touring around the UK & rest of the world, you’ll find The Apers being name-checked alongside The Queers & Screeching Weasel by anyone worth their punk-cred salt. Descended directly from the quick-fire two-chord, one-line sing-a-long repeat lines of the Ramones and sticking right to the half-hour album ethos—“you can play the album at full volume with speakers out your window and have it finish before the cops arrive”—don’t expect anything new here. But hey, if it ain’t broke then there’s no need to fix it.
After more than ten years and five albums it’s no surprise that this time around The Apers have offered a somewhat more mature sounding album, very by-the-numbers at times and with a couple of instantly forgettable tracks along the way. They’re gone before you notice though and a new jumping chorus hook is along to keep you entertained.
Reanimate My Heart is one of the album’s epics, reaching almost three minutes fifty seconds. It slows down the pace from the rest of the album’s full frontal punk guitar onslaught, a welcome change from so many of today’s ‘punk’ emo kids idly thrumming away at guitars for no apparent reason. The aim here is clear, get off your dumb fat ass, start shaking it and jump around like a loon.
