Those Handsome Animals - The New Renaissance, album review

There aren't many albums that people spend most of their adult life waiting for, but The New Renaissance is possibly mine....

A very brief history lesson first....  Despite entering into very few serious musical discussions in this day and age, MySpace was a prominent tool for a generation, not just for unsigned bands to share their wares, but also for fans of those bands to mobilise, and without it social media probably wouldn't be where it is now (make of that what you will).  

But what happens when one of your favourite MySpace bands never delivers a full album and that little music player in the right hand corner becomes a distant memory?

From the embers of a local band that ignited a North London suburb's suppressed live scene, Enfield's answer to Alex Turner, Thomas Millett, kept the dream alive with the formation of Those Handsome Animals, and those in the know have waited patiently since 2010, through fallow periods, role-call tweaks and false starts.

But enough self-indulgent reminiscing from this thirty-something reviewer, what does the album sound like?

It sounds like an album comprised of guitar, bass and drums should sound like, and more.

Limited palette does not make for limited returns, in the right hands it results in a creative use of the resources available and perhaps certain nuisances may be lost on the more casual listener, their discovery makes the listening all the more rewarding.  Those lyrics, that riff, this chorus... I understand that Spotify has spoiled you for choice, but repeated listening, dancing and shouting along is key to this release.

It's early Oasis rock‘n'roll with an art-rock yelp rather than Liam's trademark snarl, it's The Cribs at their singalong best, it's The Cure at their most pop, it's The Drums without the hype and it's Billy Bragg at his most acutely observant, it's all this and more rolled into a lean, but rippling, sub-40 minute running time.

It kicks off with 'Megadrive', a track urging the world to 'clear a space on the map’ for this band, it serves as Those Handsome Animal's theme tune, a 21st century alternative twist on 'The Monkees’ or ‘Banana Splits’, and in an awkwardly meta way, the theme of this album from the offset seems to be themes...  Pick almost any track and layer it over a montage of John Hughes movie clips and your provided with an updated take on romanticised teenage-angst and epoch-defining musical touchstones, if only John Hughes wasn't directing ’80s movies about American young adults but instead was the figurehead behind theatrical releases capturing the mood of London's Generation-Y urbanites.

And Generation-Y is an apt name, although perhaps Generation Why would be more appropriate.  This album questions Brexit.  This album questions modern relationships.  This album questions modern life.  In fact the title track goes as far as listing a number of current quandaries and shrugs them off with the frustratingly nonchalant refrain of 'that's modern life’.  This album speaks directly to a generation that are even questioning why Generation-Y has fallen from common parlance to the rampant use of 'Millennial' that we don't particularly feel part of, or even want to be a part of.

This album is downtrodden  but hopeful.  This album is essential but likely lost already in a marketplace of voices wanting to be heard.

This album makes my heart ache.  Not with romantic fervour but by connecting to my own crushed spirit.  

I identify with the simple joy of the release from my grip of my phones intrusive alarm when on holiday, I identify with being in the 48%,  I identify with having too much choice thanks to our prevalent connectivity, I identify with social media frustrations that didn't exist ten years ago, I identify with escalating house prices that are destroying the London I know and assumed I'd always live in.

I identify with this album in a way that I don't think music fans were able to identify with The Menace or Chinese Democracy.

This album speaks volumes to me, and I hope that it connects with more than just a niche demographic of white guys from the Northern outskirts of London that I'm all too aware that I belong to, but if it doesn't.... that's modern life.

And yes, it was worth the wait.

#ThrowbackThursday presents Tayalarz vol.6: Spectral Vapre (february 2014)

The Tayalarz mixtape series began life as a musical scavenger hunt, a quest to source free music and present it in the classic format of putting one song after another in order to create a customised recommendation of good music.

Now these mixes have found new life as one continuous, flowing mix upon the shores of mixcloud, and despite the passing of time I feel these still stand strong as seasonal soundtracks to the months that spawned them.

We now present, for the first time ever, the long lost 6th volume, due for release in February 2014, but delayed and derailed by errant artwork....

And so, embedded below is Taylarz vol.6, ahead of a new music project from Desperately Seeking Susan Boyle that'll be hitting mixcloud before the end of the month.....

From February 2014:

With enough wallowing in January done, we are now galloping ever forward with 2014 and, although it may be a little behind some of my contemporaries, the February edition of the Tayalarz mixtape takes a look at some of those tipped for big things this year, as well as featuring a few of some of our own discoveries and favourites that we hope to hear a lot more from as the forthcoming months progress

Only time will tell who will make it and who will be left behind, but for now let's just enjoy the majesty of their music, sourced for free via a number of blogs and websites and all compiled into a neat little list of links masquerading as the following tracklist

and for the last time, the artwork was provided by Ted Joyce, as it has been for the previous two months also, who not only has displayed his talent as a graphic designer, he also displays his musical skills as the lead singer of Decoy Jet who are featured in this very mixtape

1.  The Dexters - Oceans (demo)

2.  Decoy Jet - Georgia

3.  Circa Waves - Good for me

4.  Chloe Howl - I wish I could tell you

5.  George Ezra - You don't have to be in the army to fight the war

6.  FTSE - a little sumthin

7.  Foxes - White Coats

8.  Neon Jungle - Braveheart

9.  FKA Twigs - Water me (Hunchback remix)

10. Ancient Mermaids - luvu 2 pieces

11. Sheen - Lovelust

12. Guardian Ghost - The Wilderness

#ThrowbackThursday presents Tayalarz vol.5: Lemons Rubik (january 2014)

The Tayalarz mixtape series began life as a musical scavenger hunt, a quest to source free music and present it in the classic format of putting one song after another in order to create a customised recommendation of good music.

Now these mixes have found new life as one continuous, flowing mix upon the shores of mixcloud, and despite the passing of time I feel these still stand strong as seasonal soundtracks to the months that spawned them.

And so, embedded below is Taylarz vol.5, ahead of a new music project from Desperately Seeking Susan Boyle that'll be hitting mixcloud before the end of the month.....

Link to original post and full tracklist from january 2014

Mac McCaughan - Happy New Year (Prince Can't Die Again), single review

So.... 

that was 2016...

And for the majority of responsive adults that managed to keep their eyes open and senses as far from dulled as was humanly possible for the entire twelve months, it is perhaps a fair conclusion to make that it was a rather messed up year.

I'm not here to document every notable passing or offer commentary on human tragedies and political unrest, I'm simply here to bring everyone's attention to a little ditty that was recorded on Christmas Eve of this year, and rings true with many of the sentiments that we have felt flowing through us at some point or another.

Happy New Year (Prince Can't Die Again) is joyful in its sadness, it is poignant in its power of empathy, it is good-spirited in the face of another year that will soon be upon us before we've barely got to grips with this one.

none of us know what will await us, and it almost felt as if all hope had left us in 2016 and that 2017 is just another impending threat... but we can greet it with a song on our lips more apt than Auld Langs Syne...

Happy New Year.

in conversation with Those Handsome Animals

2016 has seen the return of Those Handsome Animals, with new music released and their own Hoxton-based club night.  I posed a handful of questions to lead singer and guitarist Thomas Millett ahead of the latest installment of their Prolific Lover Club this Friday at Zigfrid Von Underbelly...

I’ve followed Those Handsome Animals since the very beginning and it's been a sporadic trajectory, would you care to share a potted history of the band and introduce yourselves?

Me and Gav (vocals and guitars) started making music together in 2010, we were a 3 piece then with Gav on the bass, which is hilarious because he’s a way better guitarist than me. We was making music that was more akin to the Cure at the time, heavy reverbed dream pop but we got a bit bored with it, everyone sounded like that at the time (think The Drums). 

Gavin went traveling for a while and we just stopped making music for 4 years. After that whopping break we got back together, turned off the reverb, and decided harmonised guitars and power chords are the way forward. We was hell bent on sounding like no one around today. We recruited Thomas Beavis on Bass (a colleague of Gavin's) and most recently Derrick Carter (a uni friend of mine) on Drums. Together we have become almost brutal in sound, but trying to do this in a way that’s not been done before.

When I approached you about reviewing your latest single, you commented that you was moving away from the pigeonhole of 'indie', is indie a dirty word? Where is the band's sound heading now?

It’s not a dirty word, it’s just not right for us. 

When we get press everyone says we sound like various random 00’s indie bands, but the truth is we sound like none of them. We’re influenced by some of them sure (**cough** The Cribs), but I don’t feel part of it. The fact no one can unanimously describe us the same makes me think we're onto something new. 

The band’s sound is constantly being refined with each release. We have two guitars in the band, so we make the most of it, in songs like Rant Wildly and Right Fit For the City we both play lead. I hate guitarists that just play chords and the other solos, it’s boring. 

We’re now working on Hits vol. 2 - which has some new developments for us, mainly Gavin taking lead vocals on a few tracks. He’s got a deeper voice than me so we’re getting a bit of a Strummer / Jones vibe. We’re also working on acoustic stuff that is heavily influenced by The Faces, for too long acoustic songs have been wimpy... no longer.

Your lyrics have always held a down to earth, kitchen-sink drama quality that I've found relatable and fascinating, who do you hold in the highest regard in terms of songwriting?

I like characters, oddballs. For me my favourite songwriters are people like Jarvis Cocker, Black Francis & Jeffrey Lewis. 

They are themselves and write songs only they can sing. Everyone can write something generic (and most people do), but these guys have no intention of doing that, and neither do I. They don’t pretend to be anyone else, I like that. I see way too many people that seem fake fronting bands, It’s all style, but not with these lot. That rubbed off on me, I try to write as honest as I can, and then bury it under alliteration and imagery. 

Fun fact: We got our name from Jeffrey Lewis’ song “Slogans”.

Jared Leto; musical output or cinematic output?

Oh god, his cinematic output everyday.

The world finally gets to the witness the full unveiling of Jared Leto's turn as the Joker next month... If you was tasked with providing a new soundtrack to a Jared Leto movie, which would you choose?

Can I choose Fight Club? He’s not really the star but he’s in it. 

I’ve been working on a lot of instrumental stuff lately, it would soundtrack one of those fight scenes perfectly. Think Fuckin in the Bushes, but with a ridiculous amount of guitar harmonies in it.

Those Handsome Animals play Prolific Lovers Club @ Zigfrid Von Underbelly on Friday 29th July

Major Lazer - Cold Water, single review

What better accompaniment to the sunshine than a brand new Major Lazer song...

But sadly, now that Thomas Wesley Pentz has one of the worlds most famous pop stars on speed dial after playing a key part in the career gentrification of Justin Beiber, Cold Water sounds more like a cross-promotional branding exercise than it does the manic Jamaica-centric electronic hybrid of old.

Ed Sheeran's fingerprints are all over the songwriting and the blueprints for world domination are highly evident in a mere three minutes.  Top flight producers, song writers and pop stars, plus emotive Love Yourself-style guitar and a tried and tested laid back summer vibe, draft in Lean On's breakout star MØ and you have a winning formula beneficial to all involved.  There are still some tell-tale elements of fusion that flow through the track, but it feels less like a new Major Lazer song and more like a new track primed for Beliebers with Diplo once again on production duty.  

It's not a bad track, not by any stretch of the imagination, and it will no doubt be unavoidable for the remainder of the summer, I just hoped that with such creative forces at play that we would be hearing boundaries being pushed rather than this bankable safe bet.

Poet Palms - .the inzz and outzz of thoughts in my pocket, album review

With leaden arms and a woozy head I paused to survey the abundant musical landscape, I had come here I search of something 'experimental' and now I was taking stock of the surrounding area as my motor functions continued to float somewhere beyond the realm of normal practicality.

Skinny withered fingers flash across the touchscreen and dip in and out of new releases like some kind of malnourished Winnie The Pooh feverishly tasting from the honey pot using the sense of sight alone, discarding those that don't look right, those that don't appeal, with no real sense of why, but when I've found it, then I've found it.

And I've found it.

I've found the voice that speaks to me.

Speaks to me through poetry.  Speaks to me through brevity, and beauty.

Speaks to me through complexity and pretentiousness, because I love finding something that it can be a challenge to love, I love holding my head up and declaring that perhaps my taste is the emperor's new taste.

But above all that I love passion.

And I love the dizzying power of creation.

This dainty and lithe creation that was spawned of minds and now beams directly into mine. Words and sounds, definitely poetic, occasionally musical, purely avant garde and now a part of my life.  Fleeting glimpses into other lives exist here without boundaries or formulas, these are snapshots of genius fused to maverick productions, both feeding and solidifying each other in the symbiotic process.

I found this.

Or did it find me?

Whenyoung - See How They Run, single review

The debut self-released single by newcomers Whenyoung just landed in my inbox and swiftly wound it's way into my mind.

So far I've received very little information about the band, instead choosing to let the music do the talking, or to get closer to the truth, letting the music do the shouting, stomping, jumping around and teasing.

Whenyoung sound like a number of things and make a great first impression for themselves.  They sound brash, they sound like your favourite garage-rock band that you'd forgotten you'd loved, they sound slightly Scandinavian, they sound flirtatious, and they sound like fun. 

Within two minutes they cram monochromatic shades of PJ Harvey, The Kills and Ladytron into See How They Run, and I for one, am already hooked.

Self-released on 22nd April

Ciaran Lavery - Return To Form, single review

Twangs of joyful pain play out over twinkling percusion, delivered by a voice that contains just enough gravel to make my heart melt.

At some point I grew older, I grew softer, and at some point I developed a wider appreciation of all things singer/songwriter and folky.

Where once it was a calming punctuation in a hectic life, now I long for the escape into a quiet sanctuary of beardy chin-stroking and acoustic guitars, to disconnect while I have the chance and get away from constant updates, chiming whatsapp tones and spoon-fed algorithms.

Thank you Ciaran Lavery, for providing three minutes and fifteen seconds of reflection.  He is speaking my language, almost taking my own words and putting them to song, Lavery is signalling the end of a different existence, gently declaring that things have changed, steadfastly declaring that life has changed.

We can't hold back the years, all of our lives have brought us to this point so far, so let's use that life experience to be the best version of us that we can possibly be.

Out now via Believe Recordings

Mayflower Madame - Weightless, single review

previously published on glaswerk.co.uk

As you watch the light slowly dying on the horizon at the end of the working day and pray for the eventual return of our British summer, spare a thought for Mayflower Madame, a band birthed by the cold Norwegian winters of Oslo.

Debut single 'Weightless' serves as a taster for the four piece's first album due to follow in April, and it signals a certain brooding darkness prevalent among acts that prefer to be shrouded by smoke-machines whilst their guitars chime out, think early Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and also their obvious shared influences of the darker tone of music that cut a swathe through the eighties like Echo and The Bunnymen, The Jesus and Mary Chain and Bauhaus.

So stop dreaming of your holiday, allow yourself to wallow a little longer and perhaps pick out a box set or two of acclaimed Scandinavian crime drama to fill the time and set the tone for the forthcoming full-length album.

Single released 18th February via Night Cult Records
Album released 22nd April

Daniel Haaksman - African Fabrics, album review

previously published on glasswerk.co.uk


While we've made it through January but now seem living through February prepared to cower from the next potential mega-storm to batter British shores, there is light at the end of the tunnel... or at least a soundtrack to the journey through this meteorologically challenged tunnel that will help take your mind off broken fence panels, lost weather vanes and embarrassing battles in public with your umbrella.

This is a public service announcement, for your own safety and sanity, please bunker down in a secure holding and tune into the latest sunshine-blessed offering from Daniel Haaksman.

The Berlin based label-owner and DJ was brought to my attention with a high-tempo debut album helmed and released in 2011, previous to this Haaksman had been exporting some of the finest Baile Funk to the wider partying public, and it is reassuring to know that his musical flirtations with cultural diversity are still going strong, and that it is this passion for spreading 'world-music' to the world that forms the thematic backbone of this album.

It is possible to simply play this album from start to finish and only hear the music, to become lost in the rich musical textures that feel delightfully foreign to the common-or-garden Englishman, to feel compelled to move to the beats and the rhythms emanating from the stereo, but this is to only scratch the surface of the full ’African Fabrics' experience.

More than just an album to brighten up dark days and lively up your party playlists, Daniel Haaksman borrows from and translates South African pop music, Ugandan rap, Columbian guitars, Angolan kudora and Zimbabwean marimba into electronically paired productions fit for European consumption, and this is the driving factor that brings together all these richly diverse sounds that straddle a continent, yet to uneducated ears simply sound 'African'.

Five years ago the British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare referenced the famous René Magritte painting “Ceçi n´est pas une pipe” when he declared that “A picture of a pipe isn´t necessarily a pipe, an image of “African Fabric” isn´t necessarily authentically African”, and it is with this mindset that Haaksman wove his own music.

Just as fabric or art that echoes a particular culture may have its manufacturing and distribution methods far removed from the geographical location that spawned it, so has the interconnection of the World Wide Web created a false approximation of what even enlightened souls would consider as authentically African music, homogenised and filtered as accessibility to diversity, Daniel Haaksman has created a new tapestry that pays homage to the originators, yet is self-aware in its own knowledge and strongly alludes to the fact that these new 'African Fabrics' carry a “Made In Berlin” label.

Released February 26th via Man Recordings

Married To The Sea - Cold War Love, EP review

previously published on glasswerk.co.uk

A trill synth relentlessly breaks down my defences as it thunders harmoniously through the title track, the first of three songs that make up Married To The Sea's forthcoming Cold War Love EP. Sprightly rhyming couplets pack a poppy punch reminiscent of early Phoenix, signalling that these lively Liverpudlian lads clearly know their way around a tune, and they have been paving the way to their fourth EP release with support slots for The Maccabees and the hotly-tipped Hinds and Gengahr, making for fine musical company to keep.

The wares on display are slim, but brilliantly concise. Two tunes that pop in the indie-est sense of the word, and one song to pull at the heart strings. Some people see mention of Snow Patrol as a dirty word, I for one am not one of them, and Save It For The Field has more than a passing resemblance to the output of Gary Lightbody's clan, a band that grew from independent roots on Jeepster to conquer arenas around the globe, and if that serves as a comparison in terms of musical quality then surely it is not a comparison to be sniffed at.

Save It For The Field is heartfelt, it is sparse, yet lushly orchestrated, it is both simple yet aspiring in its nature. It is certainly deserving in gaining Married To The Sea some welcome attention.

And with every listen, the two musical touchstones that I keep coming back to are Phoenix and Snow Patrol. Both bands that came up under the radar, putting out music long before the commercial and critical acclaim came their way, bringing along with it bundles of new fans. Both bands that knock out a rousing tune and can find their way around the more electronic elements of the musical spectrum. 

The first taste I had of Married To The Sea was closing track I Dreamed I Was Disappearing, and it perfectly embodies the career defining aesthetics of the two bands I choose to compare them to melded into one joyful indie-pop stormer, that even sat listening to alone I can already envision the infectious bounce of an audience, I can see the fists-pumping and feel the euphoric wave that suggests a perfect crowd-surfing soundtrack.

I'm keen to see where their ambitions progress from here and hope that fortune sees fit for these guys to emulate a heady climb up the musical career ladder.

Released 11th March 2016

Bang Gang - The Wolves Are Whispering, album review

The effortless Icelandic cool drips from the opening bars of The Sin Is Near as it shuffles with a glacial downbeat electro rhythm that, with the help of fellow countrymen Bloodgroup, shares more than a passing resemblance to the darkly majestic and almost undanceable music of The Knife. Setting this out as the standard-bearer of new album, The Wolves Are Whispering, seems a slight mis-step as proceedings unfold and rather than the chilling electronica that was first hinted at, Bang Gang instead is gingerly revealed to be something akin to Coldplay's cousin from Reykjavik as the following tracks, Out Of Horizon and My Special One, pile on the MOR guitars built for driving anthems and the familiar form of the piano ballad, creating a stark contrast with these well-worn FM radio staples.

 

The vocals lent to Silent Bite by Ladytron's Helen Marnie fail to inject any reasonable amount of interest to a plodding and uninspired rocker, but thankfully the album then commits another about turn with the concurrent trio of songs stating with Lonely Bird that sets a much sparser tone that reintroduces the atmospherics that had been trampled over by excessive instrumentation that feels unnecessary in these particular circumstances and are best left to those bands with ambitions of bounding across stages with enthusiastic energy.

As the album closes out with Wait By The Lake and the rousing We Will Never get along it feels that a far healthier balance has been struck between stereotypical indie bands and painting a hauntingly beautiful scene with all the aloofness and eruption of creative uniqueness that Iceland has been musically renowned for, and the strength of the songs themselves is glimpsed as reflections on the album are considered. At just nine tracks long, The Wolves Are Whispering is brief in comparison to most albums and yet I still find an entire third of it's running time to be ill fitting and jarring against what could have been a startlingly svelte and moving collection of songs, nothing that cannot be remedied by skipping ahead or the reshaping of a playlist, but when viewed as a whole it is a shame that I look upon this album and am moved to mourn its weaknesses rather than firmly stand by it and shout about its subtle strengths.

Hanna's Marines - Be Bolder, single review

It is with a sense of social pride that I will always stand by and support local artists, but when you've seen an undeniable talent blossom over the years and can still be staggered by the depth of their music then you've got to put that down to more than just rooting for the home team.

Such is the case of Hanna Mehmet, front-woman of Hanna's Marines, on the campaign trail to push their new single Be Bolder she drops me a line to see if I'd give it a little push, and why wouldn't I?

But I wasn't prepared to be stopped in my paces by it. I stick it on to give it a listen and see if I can form a few opinions on it, and when Hanna begins singing the track suddenly takes on an intensely intimate quality, the song itself earnestly implores for commitment, for a show of strength, the strong vocal display juxtaposed perfectly against the fragility of the emotion, all of which is echoed through the slow-burning, epic qualities of the music that swells and beats a yearning pulse, truly coming to life to soundtrack the ache of wounded hearts.

It is a gut-wrenching three minutes, delivering voyeuristic chills up my spine with each insatiable listen.

I listened to it through a sense of social duty.

But I love it and continue to listen to it with the most well deserved sense of social pride.

 

Be Bolder is available now via Bandcamp and Soundcloud

Has Noel Gallagher beaten 'the Oasis effect'?

I tend to call it 'the oasis effect', but in truth in can quite as easily be levelled at any other artist that you know and love, or perhaps had loved more than you do right now. The type of band that you have developed a loyal devotion to over time.

You know the scenario, the hype and build-up falls away as the album release date arrives and you are left with the blistering reality of the new album in whatever form takes your fancy.

For me, my interest in Oasis peaked with the critically derided Be Here Now and held steady for Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, and for all other post-millennial releases I would witness the same behavioural pattern in my listening.

The new album gets a few spins, I've never hated it, but something in it reminds me of the former album, and so a reverse chronological dive head first into the back catalogue begins, with more time spent reliving former glories than getting to know the latest release, at least not until it takes it's eventual turn in the musical cycle.

With the fracturing of Oasis into two factions this process developed to include a little contrast and questions of what could have been, but noticeably Chasing Yesterday has yet to relieve its current residency in my stereo.

Has Noel Gallagher finally upheld 'the Oasis effect'? Sure, opener Riverman distinctly reminds me of Broken Arrow from the eponymous debut and occasional Beatles homages rear their heads, but despite these I've still found myself gravitating back to the album for repeat listens, often as soon as the last chords of The Ballad of the Mighty I ring out.

My main qualms with his previous effort was an over-reliance on what seemed like children's choirs to bolster and lift his arrangements, everything felt too anthemic, as if Noel had set about making a full programme of Oasis album closers. This time the album is structured perfectly, ticking all the boxes in terms of form, musicality and running time.

This feels like Noel Gallagher, comfortable in his own skin as the sole focus and ready to make a Noel Gallagher album, and it doesn't look like Beady Eye or Oasis will be gracing my ears for a good while yet.

 

 

Late Night Tales - Jon Hopkins, compilation review

I slip into a candle-lit bath.

This feels like a perfect fit.

Other Late Night Tales releases often have a vibe of an afterparty, a melding of minds as records play in the wee small hours, but Jon Hopkins turn in the series feels different... more personal, more insular.

His offering is a mix for the individual.  To call it constructed is to do it a great disservice, it feels more natural than that, gently pouring from one musical movement to another, the ebbs and flows often gradual, virtually no announcement is made as one track takes the reigns from the other.

The tranquil state is thrown on occasions, vaguely psychedelic turns or disturbances that jar against the relaxed ambience, haunting and cutting a swathe through the safety of a run-of-the-mill chill-out session, because this is no run-of-the-mill chill-out session.

Jon Hopkins' acclaimed musical states are writ large across the 75 minutes, it is grandiose, yet personal, meditative, yet reaching, and I find myself still listening even once the bath water has gotten cold.

Released 2nd March on Late Night Tales

Tonik Ensemble - Snapshots, album review

previously published on glasswerk.com

Sigur Ros sure have a lot to answer for, having seemingly single-handedly set the precedent for what is expected of music hailing from their near-mythical and majestic home of Iceland.

Tonik Ensemble feels no need to let up on the inherent atmospherics that have become culturally defining, but there is an added edge,  a deeply felt darkness that pours across the 8 tracks, and a beat driven underbelly topped off with carefully selected vocal collaborators lift this above the ethereal stereotypes.

It is certain that Snapshots is delivered on a chilled wind of glacial cool, yet as it whistles through your bones it also reflects touches of Faithless's most introspective moments with the crowd-bouncing synth refrains wisely sidestepped for more individualistic tendencies.  Echoing of inward bound paranoia and whirls of emotion, Tonik Ensemble has crafted a delicate beast that dances its fragile dance in the overlooked darkness of uncrowded dancefloors.

Released February 10th on Atomnation

Memories of the Buffalo Bar

The death sentence has been passed, or more accurately the short-notice eviction papers have been served, and another of London's live music venues faces closure.

And although no crossrail development plans to steal a historic and culturally recognised site from fans this time around, the impending loss of the Buffalo Bar in Islington cuts a little closer to home.

The statement released a little over a week ago thanked all of the bands, promoters, and DJs that have played a part in the venues success, and I can proudly count myself among the DJs that have found myself battling with those cranky old CD decks...

The truth is that I can't actually remember now the first band that I went along to the Buffalo Bar to see (although I'm sure I still have the flyer tucked away in a box of memories somewhere), but the subterranean cavern style is something you don't soon forget and it was an honour to be asked along by fellow North-Londoners, upstart aggro-punk group turned reality TV stars, Ginger Bread Men as they too made good on the 'indie-darlings-curate-clubnight' ethos that was thoroughly prevalent at the time.

Bubblegum Stomp drank, danced and messed up on unfamiliar equipment, we dropped three Will Smith songs in a row as we donned Will Smith masks, we got a confused indie crowd to let loose to our own irreverent style of DJing, we upset the usurping DJs (standard procedure when you are rocking a dancefloor and someone wants to take over with an obscure Smiths' b-side) and we turned the Buffalo Bar into our own little decadent party for a short while.

All Teeth soon outgrew us (or perhaps couldn't handle us) but we kept returning regardless, as friends and as fans rather than as DJs, as the monthly night developed a unique personality and reputation of its own, due to its live music policy of passionately persuing and cherry picking some the most eclectic and outrageous performers to ever hit the venue's tiny stage, and perhaps in part to the mysterious and infamous free Krunk Juice that would be dispensed into the mouths of punters, eager or otherwise.

It's sad to see Buffalo Bar depart the London scene, and bittersweet to see All Teeth descending upon its old haunt for one last hurrah this Wednesday, with old personal favourites Those Handsome Animals and the return of Ginger Bread Men, whose own farewell gig was well attended at the very same venue many moons ago.

It may not be too late tho... for those wanting to keep the faith and fight the good fight to the very end, be sure to follow the link and sign the petition to try and keep Buffalo Bar open. 

Dark Horses - Hail Lucid State, album review

Dark, rhythmic, and bordering on evil.

Presumably that was the sound that 'Hail Lucid State' was trying to capture.



With Death In Vegas' Richard Fearless on production duties, this second bite of the black cherry rapidly bears down upon the release of Dark Horses' debut album just last year, and with ten tracks that clash a very British penchant for doom-laden gothic pop in the style of The Cure headlong into a swirling whirlpool of psychedelia, cascading beautifully into an abyss of bleak hypersensitive bliss, then why wait any longer to unleash more of your tainted jewels upon your adoring public?

Whilst the cold, sparse electronica of 'Sevens' poses a clear indication of why Crystal Castles chose to sign Dark Horses to their Last Gang Records imprint, it is the rest of the album and the reverb drenched echoes of Siouxie Sioux cavorting with Kate Bush against a backdrop of roots rock and guitar riffs that would resonate with fans of The Cult that show why names such as Tame Impala, Kasabian, Sigur Ros, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Noel Gallagher, The Dandy Warhols and Beck have all seen something within Dark Horses that they identify with and felt fit to invite them out on tour as handpicked guests.

It is at a meeting point between all of these bands that 'Hail Lucid State' exists, surely anyone that has caught Dark Horses on one of their numerous support slots for the aforementioned acts will have been mesmerised by the bands wide-ranging scope, and yet it is these numerous touchstones the band evokes that will also be winning them new fans, not only amongst audiences but amongst touring artists, and also amongst a record buying wider fanbase if there is any justice left in this crazy, mixed up world.

Late Night Tales: Franz Ferdinand

Franz Ferdinand are here to tell a Late Night Tale.

And where other artists in these series of compilations have a tendency to kick back and recline in the fine company of some chill-out records, the veteran Scottish Art-Rock group have committed to this mixtape the sonic equivalent of being invited back to their very own decadent multi-roomed 'Stately Home'-party.

Picture the scene, perhaps a raucous post-gig after-party has spilled out of the venue’s own late bar, and all the liggers and groupies and hanger-ons and drug dealers are treated to a private performance as Franz keep the night going in spectacular fashion, in the lavishly decorated smoking room you catch the band indulging themselves with a set of eclectic cover versions before you follow the faintly sweet smell that definitely isn't nicotine to the attic full of stoners commandeering an old record player and putting on a lazy, hazy run through of the Beatles 'I'm Only Sleeping' before laying back on their beanbags and floating upstream...

As you shake off the lightheadedness and venture back to the party in full swing you stumble and pass through different rooms and differing vibes, each housing a small soundsystem in full swing, from happy clappy hippies to loud and lairy rock'n'rollers, you throw shapes to funk and reggae, a mixture of seemingly disjointed styles reminds you of drinks you have been mixing all night and into the wee hours of the morning.

You've popped, you've rocked, you've skanked, you've pogoed, you've puked and you've pulled and you've had the time of your life in this maze-like house, but the light has been trying to stream through the heavily curtained windows for at least a few hours, and maybe you should try and get out now, go home, sleep it off.

But with the grand oak front door finally in sight you make your way past that same smoking room from earlier, where Alex Kapranos now holds court over a room of cross-legged or passed-out former revellers, reciting poetry and telling tales and providing the perfect counter to the debauched and divergent party that you thought would never end.

His soothing accent lulls you away from the hectic night and the fuzzy memories of frivolity, it lulls you deeper into the pile rug on which you share with the most fastidious Franz followers, and finally his soothing accent lulls you into errant sleep.