The Phenomenal Handclap Band - Form & Control

Released on 13th February 2012 via Tummy Touch Records

People must have been applauding for an encore as NYC’s The Phenomenal Handclap Band return with new album Form and Control; the follow up to their self-titled 2009 release.

The album kicks off with perhaps the keenest hook of the whole piece on Following, inviting anyone and everyone to “come and join us, in this room, in this room, in this room…” With vocoder-assisted harmonies, the New York six-piece show us straight away that they have little time for genre segregation. The Phenomenal Handclap band play it how they want.

Following the album opener is The Right One which keeps us locked up in the dance hall while The Written Word further advances the sound set. The band reaches out with some prog rock breaks before Shake brings in more 80s influence and The Unknown Faces At Father James Park gives us another contagious chorus – though you can’t help thinking at times that they’re singing about James Pond; the video game platform almost-star of yesteryear.

With handsome production, at its best Form and Control, which brings to mind any number of pop, soul, disco outfit of the past 40 years, offers dance friendly songs that sound akin to the cluttered memory of a whole episode of Top of the Pops 2 rearranged and condensed into five minutes. It’s a progressive retrospective of popular music with their management using words like “international psych, soul and cosmic disco” and “prog pop, new wave and leftfield dance.”

This diversification could well split opinion. An amalgamation of influences and a freeform approach to style and association to any given genre brings great excitement, with a surprise around every corner, but there will be those who argue that this also brings a loss of focus. Regardless, The Phenomenal Handclap Band carry the weight well.

Midway, the title track of the album brings a tangible drop in energy and even sounds a little – ahem – like a single. A brief interlude perhaps as Give picks us up just fine with a repeated scale climb motif that sets us sailing again. As the album moves towards its close, more guitars begin to creep in with additional rock influences coming to the fore. In the end, it’s this rock base that leaves The Phenomenal Handclap Band on less sure footing than the soul and disco of earlier tracks, but only just.

So what we have is a 45-minute dance off with provision for a little rest in the middle. Some will argue that the album shows moments of fatigue toward the end. However, The Phenomenal Handclap Band have ultimately given us, through their use of super-colliding beats, sounds and themes across multiple genres, a good old party complete with disco ball where everyone is free to wear weirdo sunglasses

Simon Moore

Veils – Clarity

Out on Tangled Talk Records on 30th January 2012

Tightly recorded and blissfully produced, the new EP from Cornish DIY punkers, Veils, has massive potential…

The EP, Clarity, is quite a tidy little five-track, clearly well-constructed and performed by talented musicians. The double names of the tracks and the extended use of parenthesis would suggest that the EP was put together as a concept rather than just a collection of songs and one can certainly hear the threads that flow through each of them. However, this does lead to some instances of deja vu on the record and will probably take a few listens to properly appreciate it.

Veils like it loud, hard and fast, and this is absolutely where they sound their best. When they slow down, particularly on the lengthy breakdowns, the music can, on occasion, come across a little sludgy and it loses some of the precision that so impresses you on other songs. In particular the end of the EP, Surrender (Clarity) sounds quite dreary when compared to the speedier first half of Caves (Anxiety), but then even this track slows down towards the end and stomps to its conclusion rather than soaring. It’s like the track runs out of breath half way through.

Still, the music on the whole is excellent. Veils aren’t outwardly trying to do anything unique and they seem to revel in this. They play good, solid hardcore and are clearly playing the game to win; with an EP launch in London on February 2nd and 300 vinyl pressings of the EP available for pre-order from their website.

With notoriously frantic live performances and the kind of music that makes you want to flail your arms around, you don’t want to miss these guys. They’re going to be big news. Veils are soon to be touring around the UK, starting in London for the EP launch and taking on Norwich, Leeds, Edinburgh and Manchester. Catch them at a venue near you.

Stand out tracks; Stallions (Adrenaline), Caves (Anxiety)

Mike Brown

First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar

Out now on Wichita Records

It’s always an easy job for a reviewer when an album as perfect as this falls into their lap. After numerous listens, The Lion’s Roar by First Aid Kit continues to impress. It’s music that wouldn’t appear out of place sitting on a beach supping cocktails, wrapped up in a Snuggie on a Sunday afternoon or perhaps, to use more of a cliché, it’s perfect driving music. It’s the kind of music you can imagine playing in the background as you drive Route 66 with the great American sunset falling behind you.

The album is brilliantly complex in its simplicity.

The title track, The Lion’s Roar, soars above all else with its sublime, harmonious vocals climbing above the discordant string sounds beneath. The pace doesn’t really increase afterwards, apart from on Blue which encapsulates the single most interesting thing about this album. It’s music that can sound both desperately sad, the kind of song that Leonard Cohen would be pretty proud of, but also fearlessly uplifting. The band’s minimalist approach to instruments manages to put the focus purely on the voices you hear and the oceans of harmony they offer.

First Aid Kit - The Lion’s Roar

This record maintains its intrigue by never allowing you to become too comfortable for too long. It switches from the upbeat Wolf with its deep and guttural drum line to the simple acoustic bliss of New Year’s Eve, only then to finish on the hand clapping, toe tapping, brass infused King of the World.

First Aid Kit’s influences aren’t easy to pin down – though why you would feel the need to is quite another matter. It’s easy to draw a comparison with any number of US country and western musicians with tracks like I Found A Way. Having already mentioned Leonard Cohen, it seems senseless to repeat the similarities. Vocally, there is a hint of Dolores O’Riordan but without the bite.

Dance To Another Tune serves as further example of an album that sounds so raw and painful. “It’s not the world that’s spinning, that’s me,” but at the same time, on King of the World, they sing, “I am nobody’s baby, I’m everybody’s girl, I’m the Queen of nothing, I’m the King of the world.”

The song, and indeed the album, ends on a perfect high note, juxtaposing empowerment and indifference, melancholy and aspiration, searching and enlightenment.

These ladies offer the hand of solidarity, asking the listener if they’ve felt this too, and let us all know that we’re not alone. The gradually-building drum beats they present in several of the tracks are testament to the range of emotions woven through these songs. One turns from desperation to hope to determination to not letting the world weigh down on us (indeed, not letting it spin without us). This is music that teaches us to grab what we’ve got with both hands, cherish life and the pain that brought us to this juncture in our lives. We stand as human beings together on a world that doesn’t always have the answers.

This record isn’t the answer, but it’s a gorgeous example of how music and art can benefit from the search.

Mike Brown

Golden Glow – Tender is the Night

Out now on Mush Records

This is What It’s Like to Be Lonely…

Pounding drum beat, catchy guitar riff, echoes of early New Order, all sounding promising, then up steps songwriter Pierre Hall to utter forth “they say the beat goes on, yeah the beat goes on” and any flicker of a flame is extinguished before one can mutter Ian Brown.

Does it help to know that these songs were written whilst Hall was house bound for several months following a car accident? Does it help to know that these songs are demos? “Yes” and “no” to both of those, in case you were wondering. “Yes” in the sense that every song, all 11 of them, is kicked into life with a drum machine at varying tempos (as long as the tempo is mid to high). “Yes” in the sense that songs entitled Locked Inside, On My Own and Retreat are put into some sort of context, although the theme couldn’t be more blatant if Hall had tattooed ALONE on his forehead and posted the photo on Facebook. “No” in the sense that these are demos. These songs are demonstrations of Hall’s song writing whilst hobbling around his house. Good to know. When’s the album coming out?… Oh.

On the plus side, the record is an insight into the mind of someone who, by all accounts, had been a cornerstone of the DIY Manchester scene, described by nightlife guide City Life as “…unquestionably the city’s chief party organiser,” and is then denied the use of his legs for 6 months. But it’s not significantly revealing, especially when the tempo is set by the drum machine from the off. Each song does its thing, the next one starts and deja vu sets in.

In similar circumstances, Kyle Wilson of Milagres wrote their album Glowing Mouth (lots of glowing going on) after he fell off a mountain, yet the production is a million studios away from Tender is the Night (probably because they went into a studio).

TITN just seems like a good opportunity wasted. There are glints of gorgeousness gleaming through; On My Own is desolate and melancholic with a looping riff and then seared lightly in shredded guitar. Some laser guns are fired, a bit of fun amidst the downbeat as Hall can be pictured playing with buttons on an old, forgotten toy. The Blizzard begins with the drum machine set to a slower pace (maybe Hall rested his elbow on the button). It works well as a lolloping guitar refrain introduces some weary, hazy lazy depth. A slightly seasick feeling almost overpowers.

On At A Loss there’s a slight psychedelic feeling as well as the sound of a tennis ball being repeatedly whacked against a wall. Retreat ventures into gothlite territory: think The Horrors in tracksuits. It’s a track which could sound quite lush but the distorted vocals and muddy sound nag away, which is a shame as the guitar work is bright and piercing – a contrast that could be brought out even more.

Hall’s dour, monotonous voice can’t help but remind one of Manchester greats, from Guy Chadwick to Ian Curtis, there’s just no escaping the comparisons. On other tracks, such as All Time, there’s more than a hint of Hawley as Hall croons. “I need you here with me, put down your tapestry,” a neat line but the song, and entire album, lacks spark.

Perhaps that’s why they are called Golden Glow. After all, Hall’s spark must have been diminished after the horrific accident and recovery that he’s undergone. This is what it’s like to be sad. It could be argued that Hall has done the right thing and released the songs as they were meant to be heard. It could also be argued that turning suffering into art demands that the art be nurtured and cared for and released into the wild only when fighting fit.

Christian Lathom

The Rose West - When The Road Darkens

What is Emo? It eludes me. The phrase appears to have been dropped on us; like a fat baby being let go by a stork that was just too tired to carry the burden any more. The baby then got fatter and fatter until it took up a considerable part of the metal industry (“metal music” as opposed to “metal works”).

Emo seemed to begin as a classification by the music media of a collection of bands who sounded quite different but were listened to by the same types of people. So, being emotional in some way, it became known as “Emo”. This is a little odd though, since all music is supposed to evoke an emotion. Well done ‘The Media’, as we shake our fists at an inanimate object.

This leads to When the Road Darkens by The Rose West – a record that has been somewhat perplexing. The main reason for this is the ambivalence it creates within; on one hand it is a well written collection of nicely produced songs, but on the other it insights no enthusiasm or excitement. The above phrases, for instance – “nicely produced”, “well written” – are the only bland omissions one can muster. After many listens it’s difficult to pick out anything of merit or, on the contrary, mass criticism. Irrespective of these issues an attempt to constructively criticise will be made…

The initial track comes off as a good, strong opening gambit with some nice vocal arrangements and harmonies. From thereon, When the Road Darkens moves along delivering, essentially, what would be expected. The album starts to gain momentum halfway through with The Mekanik; a moderately explosive introduction, followed by a main theme of drums and symbols clack-a-lacking accompanied by a pleasingly heavy, chaotic riff. The penultimate track, Jurazian War Machine, is without doubt the stand-out track. Opening with an interesting marching rhythm and an Irish pipe band motif alongside, the song progresses, building in intensity and vigour until its dramatic end.

Lyrically, When the Road Darkens is a little mawkish, with its vague and melodramatic style; it’s a little too much. Metal seems to have become a genre where boundaries are not always pushed. It has found a comfortable little world; snug in its own self-referential re-hashes. This is not a comment on all metal but the vast amount that reaches our little portals of techno-media. For this reason it would be unfair to completely chastise The Rose West for their slight insipid nature as they are a product of the genre’s evolution.

There is no doubt that some will like this album and the intention here is not to slate it. However, as a 28-year-old man, it is difficult to relate to this in the way it is intended. The things that fill me with angst and make me cry feel considerably more important: such as having no money or control over my life, and asking the question: “why don’t girls like me?”

When the Road Darkens is a bit like a pub meal; you know what to expect, perfectly acceptable as a source of food and it gives you some enjoyment. However, in the end, it leaves you void of questions due to the ominous nature of the thing you just consumed.

Charles Fletcher

Deaf Club @ Thekla, Bristol, UK

12^th January 2012

They sounded like a band that sounds like some other bands but mainly itself. Still, it was difficult to hear them over the shrieking indifference of the crowd. Luckily Geoff was there. It didn’t seem like anyone knew who he was. He was doing his thing down at the front, which inspired a couple of people to dance, only they danced through their teeth in inverted commas. They couldn’t believe how funny they must have been being.

It must be odd to be in a band giving birth onstage to a melancholy ghoul only to be met with slack-faced disinterest. Still, after an amp got turned up some whooping could be heard. And the ghoul crashed a plane into a knife factory and left a hole in the shape of a mouth. A lot of times you see a band and there’s nothing to fall into or injure yourself on and this was the opposite of one of those times. Maybe the crowd was expecting a puppet show.

Ed Garland

Jealov - Frameworks

Out now on Mush Records

Push the ‘play’ button – be it physically on your music player or virtually on your PC – and take a dive into the world of Jealov. Into another dimension, perhaps – somewhere on Mars, like that of Ray Bradbury’s fantasies, or the rainy, weathered stories of Edgar Allen Poe. Complete, of course, with the obligatory gothic mansion, fog looming from every direction.

When considering Jealov, it is important to remember that you’re dealing with sounds from another world. There are plenty of influences too – such artists as Prefuse 73 with their abstract hip-hop and Autechre-esque breakbeat. Ease some relaxing trip-hop into the air, combine it with 8-beat and, using the combination of female and male vocals, you get a certain versatility.

It feels a lot like fresh filling. A bit undone – as if some parts of it were recorded but not mastered until its absolute finished form, as if you could change some part of it on your own. It almost feels like it’s your close friends who are playing right in front of you in some gallery hall with enormous echo. And, when you finally look up, you see towering, endless ceilings.

Margo Gontar