Interview with Kasabian (Chris Edwards) - Noize Makes Enemies

After a whirlwind year for one of Britain’s most effortlessly cool rock acts and an incredible live tour, Noize caught up with Kasabian bassist, Chris Edwards to find out what 2009 has been like for the four-piece and what is next for the band who’ve taken the country by storm.

In terms of going from strength to strength, there doesn’t seem to be a band that can do it much better than Kasabian. Yet, the band have appeared quietly underrated and heaped with other mainstream acts in a way that subtly undermined just quite how good they are at what they do and quite how unique they are. But these latter factors have been entirely forced to the musical forefront with their current tour off the back of the band’s third studio album, leaving us in no disillusion just how ready for this Kasabian are.

The latest record ‘West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Album’ propelled Kasabian to a level of success that was previously unthinkable as it sat smugly at number 1 in the Top 40 for a number of weeks. The album seemed to appeal to a larger demographic than its predecessors as it fought for a much bigger sound, whilst still maintaining all the characteristic swagger that has always made the four-piece so intoxicating.

But in spite of such great achievements, talking with bassist Chris, his natural humility is something that pours over his dulcet northern tones as he describes their hectic tour schedule so far in a way that effortlessly plays it down. “It’s going really well. We’re right in the middle, which seems a little weird as we’ve already done the London ones and they normally come at the end as a sort of a climax and a pinnacle.

“But since about May we’ve been non-stop. When we started off, we were doing little shows and then we supported Oasis in the Summer. The thing is with this tour, we’ve had this whole concept of the West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum so we’ve took that concept and put it on stage for these arena tours and really gone to town with ideas.”

With the new concept on board, it seems Kasabian have kicked their live shows up a notch to truly demonstrate their progression from small band who are seen to have a few similarities to Oasis, to a band that can cut it in a whole new league of their own. “There’s a gig, and then there’s a show. Anyone can buy a laser or loads of screens and put lots of concept on them but we’ve actually really thought about our concept. We’ve got props, we’ve got giant screens and we’ve painted all the floors. It all links to the album cover.”

The thing that is most clear about Kasabian and what, along with their musical prowess, seems to be the secret to their unmistakable longevity is there ability to reinvent. They're a band who know how to move forward and evolve, without alienating the fans who have loved them since the beginning. This is reiterated not only by their success with the third album, but according to Chris, by the industry’s reaction. “When our first album came out, Q Magazine voted us as one of the top 50 most overrated band of all time, so winning Q Best Album of the Year 2009 from them was an award in itself, you know what I mean!

But editors change, it’s not the magazine that hated us . You know, you release a new album, they get to like you a bit more and then this album has just been really widely accepted by everyone to be honest. Our families, friends, fans. It’s got to a much wider spectrum of people as well, a lot more people seem to like us.”

With this year seeming like a hurricane of success for the band, who haven’t seemed to have been able to stop and admire the hysteria they’ve stirred up among fans all over the country, things don’t look set to slow down as we see in the New Year. “It’s been quite a busy year for us and next year’s just as busy. We’ll be out the country for the first few months touring in Japan, New Zealand, Australia and Europe. Then we’ll come back and build up to the festivals.”

In some ways, the grip that Kasabian have taken on 2009 has come as a pleasant surprise to many people. But you can’t help but feel that the band’s convinced strut and quiet confidence from the beginning eluded to the knowledge that even if we hadn’t realised, they were always going to become huge. And deservedly so.

EP Review - Cats and Cats and Cats - Oh Boy! - This is Fake DIY

Cats and Cats and Cats are as difficult to listen to as their name is to type after having to listen to Ben’s strained vocals yell over what could be quite good guitar chords and melodies...maybe. Whilst the band is undoubtedly innovative, sometimes there is a reason why it hasn’t been done before, or at least it hasn’t reached our ears before. And that is because it doesn’t work.

The three track EP appears too thought out and fundamentally comes down to being around 15 minutes of music which is simply quite hard to listen to. Eve’s vocals are soft and elegant but on ‘A Boy Called Haunts’ and ‘The Boy with The Beak’, the chaos and screaming just doesn’t do her pleasant voice justice.

Like the high frequency noise that only youngsters can hear that is blasted from Co-ops late at night in dodgy UK areas to keep the Vicky Pollards and Kidulthood riffraff from loitering, there may be some element to this EP that only the seemingly young target audience can hear to appreciate. And perhaps it is a sign of my age and a lot of teenagers will love just how ‘niche’ Cats x 3 are but for more mature ears, it just sounds like a bit of a racket. Think Los Campensinos! as a bad Britain’s Got Talent entry.

Album Review - The Brute Chorus - The Brute Chorus (This is Fake DIY)

Welcome to the shambolic, testosterone exuding, over-dramatic world of The Brute Chorus. Like a bull in the china shop, the four-piece come stomping in uninvited but a few minutes in and their presence becomes welcome. Full of so much youthful energy that its almost contagious, this, their debut album, plays and distorts a plethora of musical directions and styles of lo-fi, Indie, Pop and Folk, to name but a few of those recognisable.

Recorded, rather ambitiously for a debut, at The Roundhouse’s FreeDM studios, the album maintains all the best points of a live show, without the annoying attention-grabbing girl standing behind you screaming to hear herself fill the silence, rather than to show support. The atmosphere is catching and leaves the listener wishing they were at the live show and anticipating when they might well be.

Musically, it album smacks of the newest work of The Rumble Strips with all the chaos and shambles kept mildly under raps by the binding strings of retro 60s chords. There are hints of Franz Ferdinand style theatrics and early Matt Pritchard vocals but in a way that seems wholly organic and does not in anyway undermine the far-from-mainstream sounding tracks. Think of it as Pritchard meets Kapranos’ badly behaved younger brother, who, rather than follow in his model brother’s footsteps, has turned to legal highs and Marlborough Lights.

The Brute Chorus show has arrived and be warned, once they barge into your unsuspecting little world, you’ll have trouble getting them to leave.

Album Review - Stricken City - Songs About People I Know

Despite being based in London and having formed in the Midlands, there’s something seemingly quintessentially continental about Stricken City. The misshapen arrangement and disregard for conventional musical structure becomes an insatiable format as standout track “Sometimes I Love You” effortlessly shows a darker side to the four-piece. Accompanied with an accordion, the feeling of lying in the Parisian grass is conjured, with all the painful indifference of a long-suffering tortured heart prevailing in lyrics like /Sometimes I’m dead inside/ Call me a doctor/ Get me out of here quick/.

Juxtaposingly, “Five Metres Apart” is the perfect transition from the lyrical prominence of its predecessor to a quirky upbeat whimsical and toe-tapping gem, as with “PS”, which perfectly functions as a platform to demonstrate the warbling brilliance of lead singer, Rebekah Raa’s almost Bjork-esque vocals.

Yet, the mini-album is not without its flaws. The almost draining nature of final track “Terrible Things” (ironically) finds the pitch of Raa’s vocals grating over melancholy piano notes and the eerie, over-thought capella intro track can be included in these.

What this does do is showcase the diverse capabilities of what is a fairly new band with the perfect balance of innate unconventionality, 80’s overtones and an addictive Indie personality, all seemingly fluently fused into an impressive debut that Stricken City should be proud of.

Interview with Sam Johnston of Flasguns -Noize Makes Enemies

Four boys with an equal adoration for Kurt Cobain and bursting with the-world-doesn’t-understand-me teenage angst come together to form a band. Boys leave school and grow into young men, forcing their lyrics to be all the richer from their experiences of growing up and brother-like mentality. Same old? Perhaps on paper:

“We were childhood friends and the drummer and I played in bands before and then we came together in our last year of school and started making music a bit more seriously and it just went on from there. It’s just the three of us now, seeing as our keyboard player left not long ago, but it’s just sort of some mates making music which is how it came about and it’s just sort of got more serious every month or so since we left school.”

But Flashguns are far from the same old clichéd musical outfit. With their eclectic jangley sound, it is the well-thought, mature lyrics that function as the fraying string, binding the epic chaotic synth guitars in place as its unexpected vastness hits with full force on each and every Flashguns track. Something no doubt largely inspired by the band’s impressive back catalogue of influences;

“All the stuff I used to listen to a lot is still some of my favourite music. Like Deftones and Nirvana stuff, but more recently I got more into bands like Biffy Clyro and The Killers are absolutely one of my favourite bands ever. And then stuff like Moby and Sigur Ros, which is a bit more like more musically advanced. So a big mixture of sounds.”

With such an effortlessly unique and three-dimensional sound, even lead singer, Sam Johnston, struggles to pinpoint its description:

“It’s definitely rock. Like a grungey sort of sound I think. Quite reminiscent of the ‘Never Mind’ album, mixed in with more of a modern synth twinge which, I don’t know, is like a Killers’ sort of vibe. It’s kind of like grungey, epic, sort of soundscapey stuff. It’s cool. A lot of guitars, a lot of chorusy guitars and big vocals. It’s a sort of big imposing sort of thing. It’s hard to explain!”

As Sam stumbles over his words and amidst his neologisms exudes his youthful self-doubt, it is almost hard to believe that he is the same charismatic front man who appears on stage full of such lyrical wisdom and self-assuredness. But his vulnerability is undeniably endearing and reminiscent of the likes of the face-to-face shyness of Flashguns’ touring buddies, Bombay Bicycle Club. Talking to Noize the day of their final gig with the band following a sound check (“But I’m bunking off loading up the van so that’s not too bad”), Sam explains how it all came about:

“We’ve been on the Bombay Bicycle Club tour for about two weeks now and tonight’s the last show. It’s going to be a weird change having the go-back-to-normal life again but we’ve got tonight still which is going to be a wicked show.

We’ve played with them and toured with them a bit before and we’ve known the guys for a while now. We just happen to be on a similar sort of keel if you know what I mean.”

It’s easy to see how the two bands get on so well with the same intoxicating stage present and quiet likeability away from the bright lights. Yet, with the future looking so promising for Flashguns, it would seem that the band are likely to find their time away from the media frenzy less and less common as they plan for their debut album;

“We’ve got an EP out which is called ‘Matching Parts, Similar Hearts’ and that’s got 4 tracks on. I think we’re kind of starting to think more seriously about recording an album but for now the EP is our main thing and where people can get an idea of what we’re about. I think we’ve come a long way with our sounds since then, we’ve done a lot of growing since the release of the EP.”

Since playing Reading in 2008 and with a lot of support from new music connoisseur, Zane Lowe, earlier this year, Flashguns are now starting to see the rewards from all of their hard work pay off. But for the next few months at least, having been bitten hard by the touring buzz, the band’s plans are to stick to the open road:

“I think earlier this year was probably when I would like see the beginning of Flashguns really and it’s kind of like a slow growth kind of thing. We’ve had a lot of support from the BBC which has been amazing and has been a massive help. It’s not been like a massive hype but its been like a flow of growing and it’s been really good.” “I think we’re going to try and book another support tour which would be really cool. Probably the wrong time of the year for it but it would be great to get in another consistent session. We’ve got a lot of writing to do, I think we’re going to be trying to write a whole new bunch of songs. Preparing for recording an album at the end of the year or something, I think that will be the plan. And gigging as much as possible, just playing shows all over the place and just trying to grow the fanbase.”

But for one of Britain’s most exciting and deserving new talents, it would seem developing more fans shouldn’t be too much of a problem as we eagerly await their first major release.

Single Review - Lulu & The Lampshades - Feet to the Sky - Noize Makes Enemies

Lulu & The Lampshades are a quirky playful brand of folk pop with a wholly loveable musical style that is both rich in fun and highly addictive melodies.

Their debut single “Feet to the Sky” reveals their desire to escape. To take a gutsy spontaneous step back from everything that is familiar and throw themselves into the unknown; something that the joining of sweet indie melody tunes with poignant, smart lyrics like /Shake me from the things I think me whole/ leave the listener wishing that they could runaway with them too.

With glottal stops aplenty, their informal narrative talking-meets-singing vocal style bounces along upbeat backing in a way that instantly draws likely comparisons to Laura Marling, Those Dancing Days and most notably, Peggy Sue and The Pirates, the latter of which they have frequently shared a stage with.

As the cooler nights draw in, Lulu & The Lampshades’ quirky style of sunshine folk alongside handclapping and sharp lyrics, bring welcomed warmth to ears all over London Town this Autumn, not to mention a great deal of anticipation for the follow up from this exciting new band.

Single Review - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday - Noize Makes Enemies

/All I know is that you’re perfect right now/ As Kip Berman’s soft vocals purr over the lo-fi pop guitar strings, the sheer vulnerability in The Pains of Being Pure at Heart is unavoidably endearing. As their heartfelt lyrics, bulging with teenage angst, ride the waves of their own personal brand of noise pop, the collision of juxtaposing extremes seem to justify the buzz that has surrounded this New York four-piece so far this year.

‘Come Saturday’ has a harsher feel than previously release tracks, with its highly distorted guitar input at times overpowering the trademark fragility of Kip’s vocals. Yet the track stands strong with their influences of The Ramones prevailing and undertones reminiscent of The Cure. But it is the subtleties in the track that make it so appealing. The intoxicating combination of dirty pop rock with the twee innocence of lyrics like /you don’t have to dress to please/ perhaps undress for me/ make it clear that these are set to be exciting times for The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. And rightly so.

EP Review - The Voluntary Butler Scheme - Trading Things In - Noize Makes Enemies

/If you were broccoli, I would turn vegetarian for you/

Yes, possibly more fitting to the lacking lyrical prowess of the likes of the Jonas Brothers, but there is something, as much as your natural instincts will fight it, quite unavoidably endearing about Rob Jones’ soft vocals and twee pop melodies.

The one-man-band’s EP hosts all the sunshine exuding Indie chirp of the early works of Noah and The Whale and latter tracks contain poignant lyrics like: /My heart’s too bored to beat without you here/ effortlessly encapsulating the dim gloom of a broken heart over a typically upbeat backing ditty that is almost, structurally, similar to the likes of The Beatles.

Final track ‘Vending Machine’ also stores the same buoyant atmospherics as the previous but a sort of lo-fi distortion over the tracks, manipulating Rob’s delicate vocals with a harder edge, a welcomed darker shade is also contributed.

Whilst at a glance, the EP stands quite forgettable amongst the plethora of exiting releases of 2009, there is something likeable about The Voluntary Butler Scheme that culminates in a cloud of intrigue around Rob and his future releases.

Single Review- Fuck Buttons - Surf Solar - This is Fake DIY

Fuck Buttons are back and ‘Surf Solar’, the first release from their forthcoming album, is just over three minutes of characteristically dark electro that storms in and leaves you up to the neck in vast unrepentant beats.

Sounding like Do Make Say Think on a particularly enthralling acid trip, the track grips you with its effortlessly addictive urgency in a sort of futuristic War of The Worlds inspired soundtrack, unapologetically invading every part of the listener.

Retaining the undertone of Mogwai-esque melodies with frustrated distortion and lo-fi drones that so defines their previous releases, the Bristol-born duo once again seem to firmly push all the right buttons with their innovative take on all that is experimental.

Album Review - Get Back Guinnozi - Carpet Madness - This is Fake DIY

Get Back Guinnozi is a quirky French-meets-English five-piece that fuse electro kookiness with European overtones. They delicately dabble with all the quirky foreign simplicity of the likes of CSS and Indie eccentrics of Those Dancing Days….but like decaffeinated coffee or food that you’ve cooked for yourself, there seems to be just something missing, something that reduces its appeal.

It’s hard to pinpoint what it is exactly, the band contains all the ingredients that work so well for the afore mentioned outfits. Yet, tracks like ‘Go Back to School’ indulges the childish chants that so toxically saturate, and ruin, pop songs of the like whereas ‘King’s Song’ sounds like Kate Bush trapped (against her will) amongst some disappointingly damaged instrumentation.

But Get Back Guinozzi are in fact, likeable, and as their diverse influences surface and comparisons to the likes of Animal Collective can also be derived, the debut pans out as a sort of schitzophrenic production with sudden lyrics demanding /Don’t get mixed up/ I am fucked/ and an entire minute dedicated to deep erotic breathing.

Credit where credit due, the band seem to drip with innovation as they continue to surprise and alter what we expect. Regardless of their lack of mass appeal, Get Back Guinozzi seem pretty bloody interesting as they dare to veer entirely from the mainstream and stick two fingers up at conventional structure and genre, leaving listeners unsure what to make of the musical whirlwind but intrigued as to what else the five-piece are will deliver next.

EP Review - The Just Joans/ The Smittens- Split - This is Fake DIY

Often when two things come together, the end result is something enhanced and something that already seemed perfect, suddenly appear even better. Think Those Crooked Vultures; the culmination of Dave Grohl, Josh Homme and Jon Paul Jones combining and utilising all their years of expertise and musical prowess to create one effortlessly brilliant supergroup.

And then there are the others. Much like when Walkers’ Crisps brought out Chicken Tikka Masala flavour crisps, the end result is something of a huge disappointment. Not only are both individually, at best, marginally enjoyable, but when forced into an unnatural proverbial blender; the taste is bitter in every sense.

The Just Joans and The Smittens fall into the latter category. The EP provides each band singing one of their own tracks, as well as covering one of the others in a hope that the Live Lounge style of production will inspire a new lease of life and exciting new version. Instead, the cutesy Scottish quintet’s Alphabeat inspired ‘ba- lit' be a lack of anything truly memorable on 'he sunshine exuding little set of ditties something endearing and fun, there seda-ba’s’ and high-pitched High School Musical happiness stirs feelings of nausea.

The Just Joan’s version of ‘Gin & Platonic’ sits better when the female vocals are non-existent but the overall feeling, as with all tracks, is that the self-indulgent joining of two groups of band buddies has overshadowed the actual compatibility or talent of combination.

Whilst fans of all-things-twee may indeed find this sunshine exuding little set of ditties something endearing and fun, there seems to be a lack of anything truly memorable on ‘Split’.

Interview with Dom Hoare (Echaskech) - Noize Makes Enemies

“When you’re an electronic music artist these days, it pretty much means you bring out a laptop and not a lot more. And it’s not that exciting to watch someone check their emails [Try telling that to Little Boots!-Sub-Ed]. But we’re not at all like that when we play live”
It’s half six on a uncharacteristically sunny September evening in London and one half of Echaskech, Dom Hoare, dives right into explaining what sets the Electronica duo apart from in their peers in such a saturated niche.

“We wanted to be a visual thing as much as a music based thing. We’re far more organic in kind of the live aspect, we end of meshing all kinds of things and making all sorts of noises out of all sorts of boxes. So it’s fun to watch anyway, even if Mark’s [visual artist, Mark van der Vor] not there, which he isn’t always- fpr example if you’re at a festival you cant really get projections working so then it’ll be just the two of us.”

Mark van der Vor is the newest sort of honorary member to the London duo, providing a visual experience to work alongside the beats produced by Dom and Andy Gillham, who’s musical journey started over a decade ago:

“Me and Andy are old school mates, we used to go to the same school. We both studied music there and we also sort of grew a love of electronic, or dance, music I guess. In the late 90s we used to go down to Metal Heads quite a lot , down in Shoreditch, which was sort of drum and bass night and an excellent venue on a Sunday night. We kind of formed a group then, which was drum and bass.

“We had a sort of moderate success there, kind of left it and had a hiatus until about 4 years ago, we re-formed as Echaskech and decided to do it as more of an audio visual thing. We got Mark V on board and sort of mashed it all together one night. It was totally random; we went down to Brick Lane and played a gig there. We met for the first time that night and sort of said; ‘Lets just pretty much jam’ at a live performance and it came off really, really well so we’ve stuck with it since then really.”

Two albums in and the band seem to have stumbled across a formula that works. Something undoubtedly spurred on by the effortlessly likeable nature of the band, as Dom talks of their future plans, there is sense that Echaskech have a more advanced sentiment with their music, less so chasing the bright lights of stardom and more like the fame is something that found them in the most natural and organic way:

“When our first album came out, our launch party was one of the best gigs we’ve ever played just cause everybody’s there in good spirits and celebrating your music and you know, it’s not too judgemental so the pressure is off a bit. Although the album’s already out, we’ve got a delayed album launch at the end of October (28th) which will be at the Queen of Hoxton. It will be open to everyone, it’s kind of first come, first served for that night. But we’re already really looking forward to that.

“Also, every month we curate a night at the Haywood Galleries called ‘Concrete’, In fact, this Saturday it’s going to all be a bit of a jump up rave experience [laughs]. We have all sorts of acts that play there from basically, folktronica to the sort of thing this weekend, which is AGT Rave Crew, who have been described as the ‘Chas n Dave of Rave’ and they’re exactly that. They just mash any kind of bass noise to brakes and it sounds fantastic. And every month from there until Christmas we’ve got some fantastic acts booked, some real beauties. We’re doing a special Christmas gig too”

The end product of Dom and Andy’s clear vision and knowledge of the industry means their output spills out influences with tracks like ‘Every Touch’ sounding almost Postal Service meets Sigur Ros meets DJ Shadow. Something truly diverse.

Any band that can stir up such heightened emotions amidst beats that cause legs to dance like they wouldn’t get another chance to, but minds to pause and get lost in the beauty of the band’s Mogwai-esque style, clearly have more talent than most of us could wish for.

Far from your average electro music, forget stereotypes of the genre. Forget Justice, Simian Mobile Disco or even those bloody awful remixes, Echaskech produce something different, something awe-inspiring and something truly unique.

New Music - Interview with Lemonade (Noize Makes Enemies)

“Extreme bass, new age synthesizers, carnival, dolphin noises, swimming”

As far as musical influences come, you don’t get much more obtuse than this. But for a band whose very fibres embody diversity and a hybrid sense of self, anything but randomness would seem somewhat out of character.

Step into this vibrant world of Lemonade. An exciting new band from Brooklyn, a state which seems to churn out off-mainstream gems at a pace that matches the rate that China spews out air pollution. Yet, unlike their predecessors, the likes of MGMT, TV on the Radio and Grizzly Bear, Lemonade keep it funk but pile in their dubstep and house influences.

So how did this new breed of dark beats meets infectious upbeat overtones begin between Callan Clendenin, Alex Pasternak and Ben Steidel?:

“It was very spontaneous. Alex and Callan had the concept for a while and when the opportunity to play a show on 2 weeks notice came up, they got together with Ben and made it happen. It's been going pretty well since then.”

Rather an understatement for a band that have already received such great feedback, with ‘Big Weekend’ hailed as Nick Grimshaw’s single of the week and with the three-piece’s self-titled album out this week, it seems things are really about to take off for the band. Something the band seems quietly confident of, promising that their debut will be a good mood provoker amongst the listeners:

“They can expect joy and dancing.”

It would seem the listeners can also expect an album jammed with innovation and a whole host of genre-dodging musical delights, particularly with percussionist Alex’s training in Arab and Latin music to bring that extra slice of originality to the band’s carefully crafted music. And following a busy Summer, things look set to continue at a fast face for our new favourite electro mavericks:

“We’ll be writing new songs and playing more shows. We’ll also be getting a Swatch sponsorship (hopefully)”

Typically jovial, it’s often hard to know when Lemonade are being witty, as their welcomed especially dry sense of humour colours so much of their speech, or being serious; having also told us “We all met at a casting call for the popular American children's show Kids Incorporated.”. But it is completely clear that they are a band that give their everything to the music; a completely admirable quality in an industry where it seems so easy to get lost in the trivial falsities.

Whilst, Lemonade may well be a band of few words, short of musical talent, they ain’t. Enter their vivacious world at your own peril, it’s pretty bloody infectious.

Reading Festival Review - Noize Makes Enemies

Reading Festival. An opportunity for music fans of all ages to drink a justifiable vast quantity over the bank holiday, a reason to step away from reality for a long weekend and a chance for a lot of teenagers to set fire to things in a pointlessly destructive way (something demonstrated by the 600 person riot that took place Sunday night).

With some of the best weather we’ve seen all Summer, Reading Festival 2009 may well have been one of the most chaotic, but it also showcased some of the most incredible talent the music industry has to offer.

Whilst inevitable annoying clashes between lots of our favourite bands unavoidably occurred and occasionally the testosterone-fuelled activities of fourteen-year olds setting fire to their farts made you wish you were at Glastonbury, in reality, we wouldn’t have had it any other way.

It’s been a week since we all crammed as much of our lives as we could into rucksacks and hoped security didn’t notice our 100ml dry shampoo, yet it seems almost a lifetime ago now we’re all back in the rat race. So here’s a run down for those who missed it… or for those who want to nostalgically mourn its passing.

FRIDAY
The weekend got started with crazy young things, Dananankroyd (no, we couldn’t pronounce it either). Flocks of people rushed to the NME/Radio 1 Stage, if only because it was the only tent to shield from a sudden downpour. Full of youthful energy and enthusiasm, the band started off with song that allows everyone in the crowd to learn what to call this chaotic band (Dana-nan-ana-KROYD). 2.30pm and with the skies clearing, an impressive set by The Virgins is followed by an immaculate hour of The Airborne Toxic Event. Lead singer, Mikel Jollett, effortlessly pours out charisma and the tent is soon full of long-standing fans and curious new ears with ‘Sometime Around Midnight’ spurring an eruption of applause. Anticlimactically, Little Boots, full of industry-formulated clichés followed on the NME/Radio 1 Stage, with the rain causing the tent to look misleadingly full, amidst the same-sounding electro boredom.

Later, Jack Penate played to a rather unexpectedly packed crowd. With his set list showcasing his older pop tracks like ‘Spit at Stars’ with new singles like ‘Pull My Heart Away’, it seems Jack finally reached the level of credibility he has been striving for and deserves as oppose to being a guilty pleasure for many. Clashing Placebo and Florence and The Machine and Friendly Fires with Bombay Bicycle Club no doubt caused a lot of festival-goers distress but Florence characteristically stole the show. With the gig falling on her birthday, after climbing up the tent scaffolding, Welsh told the huge audience “I said I’d get higher than I did at Glastonbury, and I have!” Whether she meant due to narcotics or geographically, ending with her renowned ‘You’ve Got the Love’ cover, her astounding vocal ability was left in no dispute. Friendly Fires followed with an opportunity to show how far they are from just another electro band, with lead singer Ed Macfarlane keeping the audience captivated with his vocal prowess and metrosexual dancing shamelessness.

Fans of Jamie T later flocked to see their favourite chav scream out his trademark lyrics before leaving 10 minutes early to catch headliners, Kings of Leon on the Main Stage…and to be disappointed. With Caleb telling a sea of fans “I know some of you are sick of Kings of Leon, and so are we. But if any of you don’t think we deserve to be where we are. Fuck You.” The band went on to play an uncharacteristically un-interactive set before Jared threw his guitar into the audience and shoved his finger up. Perhaps a result of a noticeably more aggressive audience this year or whether KOL are attempting to step back from the pedestal they’ve so long resented, fans felt noticeably let down. Yet, spirits would have undoubtedly been lifted by Marmaduke Duke’s set on the Festival Republic Stage midway through Kings of Leon. With showmanship in the bucket loads, Simon Neil crowd surfed as he sang his way through the band’s back catalogue, playing more mainstream releases including ‘Silhouettes’ and ‘Everybody Dance’ as well as the lesser known metal. As he sang “I wish you weren’t ordinary”, audiences were left instead feeling pretty chuffed that Biffy Clyro’s frontman’s side project is so far from it.

SATURDAY
The Rakes were the third band to grace the Main Stage on the sunny second day. Whilst the open air was less suited to a band that strive in more intimate gigs, singer Alan Donohoe, brought the set to life with his eccentric vocals and trademark dancing like a sporadic fit of ADHD, something that makes the band appear wholly endearing. Yet the highlight of the Saturday for those ‘in the know’ was no doubt the unannounced band that sandwiched themselves between Patrick Wolf and You Me at Six on the NME/Radio 1 Stage. Them Crooked Vultures took to the stage at 4pm. The supergroup, made up of Dave Grohl, Josh Homme and Led Zepplin’s John Paul Jones rocked an amazed audience, not least because of their astounding status as musicians individually, but because of their musical prowess as a band. The Maccabees clashed with Maximo Park on the Main Stage later, but The Maccabees showed their worth with a spine-tinglingly good set. Working their way through the old and new tracks, Orlando’s vocals pierced the hardest of hearts in the way that he does so well. Changing the pace entirely, The Prodigy followed on the Main Stage with thousands dancing like their lives depended on it. Second headliners of the weekend, the Arctic Monkeys, showed a lot less resentment towards the crowd and played a predictably good set, fusing their new sounding tracks with classics including ‘Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor’; much to the crowd’s delight.

SUNDAY
Master Shortie kicked the last day off on the Dance Stage, playing a highly energised set. Reminding audiences of his debut album’s release and his future tour repeatedly, the nineteen-year-old soaked up the atmosphere and pumped energy into a rather hungover crowd, soon getting everyone dancing and screaming ‘Dance Like a White Boy’.

1pm, the sun still shined down on Reading as Noah and The Whale took to the Main Stage. With Charlie’s vocals cooing over an orchestra of musical instruments fitting the open air perfectly, even an electric toothbrush was used for sound, demonstrating the attention to detail that has got the band so far. Metronomy and Passion Pit took to the NME/Radio 1 Stage later in the afternoon, with both impressing audiences but Passion Pit’s Michael Angelakos’ vocals perhaps less suited to such a grand stage.

Vampire Weekend played to the high-spirited crowd, keeping everyone energised before the Yeah Yeah Yeahs graced the Main Stage with Karen O dressed typically eccentrically. Playing an astounding hour of tracks from ‘Heads Will Roll’ to the notoriously intoxicating ‘Maps’, the band looked delighted as the crowd cheered ceaselessly and it soon became clear that for many, this would truly be one of the performances that defined their weekend. Bloc Party followed and despite concerns that they would struggle to perform to the best of their abilities on the Main Stage against the open air, the band played an astounding set. Regardless of the British drizzle, festival goers danced harder than they had all weekend as the band played songs from all three of their albums, with Kele’s vocals reaching into the hearts of their loyal fans.

Radiohead rounded off the weekend, making the lives of their decade-long standing fans. A little late to start, the band was the first to re-adjust the lighting and screens to fit their set and it made all the difference. A truly atmospheric and incredible end to a weekend that showcases some of the best bands in the world.

Interview with Jonathan Corley (Manchester Orchestra)

Following an impressive set on Reading’s NME/Radio 1 Stage last weekend, Atlantic indie rockers, Manchester Orchestra, release their second full UK album ‘Mean Everything to Nothing’ this week. Noize caught up with five-piece’s bassist, Jonathon Corley, to find out a bit more about the release and one of our new favourite bands.

“I think everyone in both camps is excited about the upcoming tour. It's been awhile since we've been out with those guys. We all lost our minds in the desert last time we toured together. Maybe that will happen again.”

‘Those guys’ are the Metal meets Emo tyrants, Brand New, and with the pairing of this, and the band’s exciting support slot for Biffy Clyro’s upcoming UK tour – it is more firmly set in stone than one of mythological Medusa’s worst enemies, that just another indie band feigning to be credible in some half-arsed industry move, they ain’t.

The band’s new album fuses true rock in its more mainstream format with lyrics that dare to spit the words of painful truth like /You’re not alive when I need you/ but manage to still exude an overarching endearing sense of poetry, in the way only the best songwriters can muster.

Defining themselves as “Abrasive southern indie rock... or music to listen to during a shakedown”, the band’s creative juices flowed further than just a traditional album release – instead choosing to treat their devoted fans to a video series to go alongside the end product as a sort of narrative interpretation:

“Each song has a video that weaves discovered 8mm film into a story that flows all the way to "The River" [end track]. It was a massive project tackled by a couple of guys from Destroy Rock Music (Clay Lipsky and Jason Bognacki). They had about four months to complete the entire project, which is a feat in and of itself.”

Yet, the multi-media end result seems to more than justify the means. Having spent 300 days on the road with the last album, you can be sure that the band can also promise some polished and spine-tingle inducing sets on their upcoming live shows:

“We're constantly working on new things. The schedule we've chosen to maintain keeps us on the road and out of the studio, at the moment. When we're home, however we're usually recording. You can find new video podcasts from tour updated regularly online. There is sure to be something exciting musically out later this year.”

Manchester Orchestra’s diverse sound and unique output combines all the best aspects of American rock acts such as Weezer with sprinklings of the divine likes of Right Away, Great Captain in a way which conveys their bottom-line vulnerability in a way which is impossibly likeable. Having received positive press and even shining comparisons by Caleb Followill himself (that’s the front man of Kings of Leon for those of you who’ve only really heard ‘Sex on Fire’): “"They remind me of us. They are country boys from Georgia and sing this raw passionate music”, it seems that the next few months are set to be pretty life-affirming for one of the most understated, but exciting, bands in a long while.

Interview with Charlie Fink (Noah and The Whale) - Noize Makes Enemies

Pain. As humans, pain is, a feeling, we all encounter; whether it be on a regular basis, on a small scale, or on what feels like the worst level possible. And nothing hurts more than the pain that associates itself with love. That feeling which physically hurts as the abstract emotion turns to concrete and reaches in, squeezing each atrium of your pitiful organ.

But as humans, we hurt and then we heal. Often a direct result of whatever cathartic process we’ve immersed ourselves into as a distraction. Some of the best and most beautiful creations emerge from this form of therapy. Bon Iver created ‘For Emma, Forever Ago; an album bursting with more pathos than the runner up in the X-Factor final. Cue Charlie Fink’s proverbial rehab and Noah and The Whale’s second album ‘The First Days of Spring’.

And the Autumn it follows? Fink’s own heartbreak with the end result an eleven track masterpiece that replaces textbook folk handclaps for lyrics so rich with torturous accuracy that the listener is left wishing they could have articulated their own pain so efficiently. Similarly, the vocal supplements of Emmy the Great and Laura Marling have been replaced with divine orchestration:

“It’s very different from the debut. It’s different lyrically, its different instrumentation, everything’s very different. The ambitions for it are also very different.

"The album is very a much a single person’s story and it’s definitely not a duet. At no point is the album a duet and so it would feel unusual to have an extra voice there, it needed to be quite solitary I think. We have a choir singing on a few songs and the reason I liked that is the texture of it and also there fact that it’s less personal than if it’s just one other person’s voice. There’s quite a big difference between a choir and duet.”

Meeting Noah and The Whale’s lead singer and song writer, Charlie Fink, at the band’s North-West London studio, it’s hard to believe music of such epic heights was created in what appears to be such basic surroundings. Sat in black skinnies and an over-sized pastal striped shirt, Charlie effortlessly exudes an unavoidable likeability and as he fingers his indie curls, it’s clear he’s every bit as passionate abut this album as the end result implies.

His creativity and work ethos is also demonstrated by the film he has produced to accompany the album. Featuring the likes of Daisy Lowe, Fink’s development from music videos to the film, named after the album, was something as unconventional as his mission statement:

“It’s not the same thing at all but, along the lines of ‘Man on Wire’; about the guy that walked between the two twin towers, it’s like in a way that’s the most beautiful pointless act of all time because it has no purpose other than the pleasure of tightrope walking which is, I’ve never experienced that pleasure but you know, I think it’s the same thing. It’s creating something because it’s beautiful.

“It’s trying to make something that was such a peculiar shape that it’s almost pointless, in the best possible way. It’s not a short film, it’s not a feature film, it’s this weird unmarketable non-commercial product that’s just a piece of art. And that’s what I like about it.

“The initial inspiration was also the idea of how people listen to albums now that they don’t sit down and listen to an album as one experience and take it in, so to create a fully immersive album and that is as much in the writing process of the album as it is in the film as well. There’s this quote from W.D. Collingwood which is that ‘Art is Dead, and amusement is all that’s left’ and he wrote that quote like 100 years ago, so if you made that quote now it’d probably have more weight than ever."

The film, ‘The First Days of Spring’ is available with the album, but characteristically ambitious, Charlie has bigger plans for his debut film:

“I’m doing a tour, because for me, it really belongs in a cinema, that’s really it’s home because that’s the real purpose of it so I’m going and I’m taking the film to different cinema’s around England and screening it and doing a Q&A with it. I’m doing Bristol, Manchester, Sheffield, London and maybe Brighton.”

Whilst Charlie’s development and maturation is something exposed on the new album, Noah and The Whale’s very foundations are also undergoing big changes:

“We’re introducing a new line up because bizarrely, Doug, who plays drums, is becoming a doctor and so we’ve got a new drummer in and we’re bringing in a 5th member to play extra keys and guitar. So we’re trying to get them up to speed for touring in September but we’re doing a few more shows with Doug as well. We’re kind of just remoulding the live thing really”

Having done ‘the live thing’ throughout the Summer and Reading and Leeds still to come, the band look set to transform into a sort of musical collection of gypsies as the first days of Autumn encroach:

“We’re basically going on tour forever, but I’m looking forward to it. I’m packing up and moving out of everywhere I live in London. I’m moving out of here (studio) and my home and going to kind of just have a couple of bags of stuff and just enjoy the road and just travel when I can in between touring. It’s really going to be a great feeling I think.”

And fans of the band can expect a set list throughout their touring that truly embodies Noah and The Whale:

“I very much try and do things by instinct, whatever feels right, and so I think we’ll just play the set that sounds best to us which will incorporate a bit of both and maybe some stuff that’s even newer than the new record.”

Whilst, when most of us feel as if someone has torched the space between our lungs, we turn to a box of red wine, Eastender’s Heather Trott’s freezer drawer of ice cream and a lot of self-destructive behaviour, the others count to ten, compose themselves and use it to their advantage. Thankfully Charlie Fink was one of the latter. Defining the album/film combo as one of his proudest achievements: “The thing is when I first kind of envisaged this project, it seemed like such a vast and unassailable task to get it made and the process of actually completing it is very satisfying, regardless of whatever happens to it.” it’s clear that, despite early heartbreak, this year, and the future, has very exciting prospects for Noah and The Whale.

Single Review - Kill it Kid - Burst its Banks - Noize Makes Enemies

Turning over a CD single to see four young men and a girl dressed in black, some with side fringes but all looking a mix of annoyed and bored isn’t a good start. I automatically presumed it would be another angry Emo contrived attempt at being the new Paramore, but it soon became clear that my initial perception was largely flawed.

In fact, second single from Kill it Kid is just over three minutes of folky fiddle-playing innovation. ‘Burst its Banks’ is a theatrical hybrid which exudes something instantly likeable as its dramatic nature is light-hearted and consequentially endearing in a wholly unexpected way. Far from a self-pitying emotional nonsense, it evokes comparisons to the likes of The Hush Sound or, due to the daring instrumentation and violin reliance, even something of a lesser Arcade Fire.

Whilst the track, as well as its b-side, ‘Hold yourself like a Woman’ wont grab you by the ears with any sort of compelling compulsion to keep playing, it does arouse intrigue for the band’s debut album due to the five-piece’s innovation and apparent musical prowess. New music, particularly if it goes against what is expected or being mass produced, should be welcomed and with Kill it Kid being such a young new band, with a bit more fine tweaking, they could well be set for exciting things in the future.

Album Review- Killa Kela - Amplified! - Noize Makes Enemies

Wikipedia defines beatboxing as ‘a form of vocal percussion which primarily involves the art of producing drum beats, rhythm, and musical sounds using one's mouth’, but it’s more likely that when you think of beat boxing, images of Rahzel (the one with ‘two voice boxes’?!) and embarrassing white chavs spraying out saliva amongst inaudible noises on X-Factor to a bemused Simon Cowell are instantaneously conjured.

But what happens when it’s chucked in amongst a plethora of talented, and really rather legendary, producers and a new artist who seems to have more creativity than a Goth during an art degree? Something along the lines of an album like ‘Amplified!’

Killa Kela is this beatboxing champ and his debut album is eleven tracks of mind broadening, pleasurable electro. Showcasing Justice-esque dirty dance on tracks like ‘Built Like an Amplifier’ with lyrics like /and my knees hurt from all the times I tried to please her/ rivalling the intoxicating filth of the likes of Peaches.

‘Situation’, ‘Cards and Cheques’ and ‘Couple of Wasters’ fuse 90’s rap with modern hip hop and electro in a sort of Beastie Boys meets Kid Kudi collision. Similarly, ‘Get a Rise’ throws another proverbial spanner into the genre defining works, with Killa Kela teaming up with Hadouken! in one of the most standout tracks of the album due to it’s dirty drum and bass and screamo energy. Even when sliding a more traditional pop dance song into the mix with ‘She’s Sweet’, Kela still maintains an edge that makes it seem innovative and at the forefront of some sort of movement with a retro beat.

The album’s sheer diversity and creative prowess means influences and comparisons read like the NME archives but Killa Kela manages to enhance these inputs, as well as the help from the likes of Does it Offend You Yeah? Frontman and Human League Producer, Martin Rushent, and still stamp his ownership and individuality over the debut with all the power of a rock-filled Nike Air Max trainer.

Album Review - The Rumble Strips - Welcome to the Walk Alone - Noize Makes Enemies

The Rumble Strips. Think sporadic outbursts of Charlie Waller’s adeptly versatile vocals, think big brass melodies and upbeat songs about puppy love.

Now, erase all preconceptions. The Rumble Strips have, by their own admission, grown up as a band and that difficult second album has undoubtedly been enhanced as a product of this new found maturity within in the band. That, and the input of love-or-hate producer Mark Ronson, who adds a trademark authentic 1940’s and 1960’s soul feel to the whole album, particularly on title track ‘Welcome to The Walk Alone’. A traditional sound that that Waller’s unique vocals compliment perfectly.

‘London’, ‘Back Bone’ and stand out track ‘Not the Only Person’ serve to reassure long-standing fans that all the components that captivated them initially have not been lost within The Rumble Strips. Far from being removed, they’re bigger than ever. Rammed with brass and drums (something that Ronson ensured by using three microphones on the drum kit) they have added a hyperbolic form of grandeur and boldness.

Yet, the alterations to the band are prominent in the shape of subject matter and lyrical development. ‘Raindrops’ is much darker than fans are used to, encapsulating the pain of a failing relationship perfectly with the pleading lyrics; /Say the same words, mean them more/. Of course it’s as epic as the rest of the album promises, but this edge to the album is something new from The Rumble Strips and a very welcomed dose of pathos. Similarly, finale track ‘Happy Hell’ sticks to the same semantics of loss and deceit with ballad inspired lyrics /The only way now is all the way down to hell/ Can’t you tell? Where do you go when you’ve got no soul left to sell?/


The only real criticism of the band’s follow up is that, far from a background album, sometimes the sheer proverbial size of the tracks is a bit overpowering and difficult to take in. Yet, in some ways, this grandness and huge orchestration, is one of the albums best assets.

In many ways it’s hard to believe these are the same boys that were once singing about motorbikes and alarm clocks, but The Rumble Strips have managed to evidently grow as a band, moving their musical style and lyrical abilities forward as well as encapsulating everything we already loved about them.

The Rumble Strips have essentially blasted their musical hurricane with a magnifying glass. Everything is bigger. And quite unthinkably, it’s even better.

Single Review - LR Rockets - Renee Loves Losers- This is Fake DIY

Imagine Late of The Pier and The Cribs, in their earliest days, smashing against each other in a sort of Indie/ Metal most pit. With each collision, the chaos and bare brutality is magnified. The end result of this Eastgate and co. vs. Jarman fest? Probably something along the lines of LR Rockets.

The lively five-piece force their way through unexpecting speakers crammed full of Northern enthusiasm and Modest Mouse-esque innovation. The band is truly a breath of fresh air and new single ‘Renee Loves Losers’ is as body-thrashingly intoxicating as their previous releases.

B-side to the single, ‘OK, Let’s Talk’ is similarly overflowing with energy with the prominent lyric of self-importance /Do you know who I am? I don’t think so. Ha ha/ conjuring forgivable images of diva behaviours.

It is said that patience is being bored, but not doing anything about it, in which case LR Rockets is impatience at its finest with their sporadic tendencies and metal undertones, if a little lyrically juvenile in places, making it nigh on possible to stay in one place. Hey Scenesters, LR Rockets could well be one of your favourite new post-punk bands.

Single Review - My Sad Captains - Ghost Song - This is Fake DIY

I would imagine that the usual reactions to seeing, or thinking you’ve seen, a ghost to include; screaming, running, or even calling a fictional film-inspired group of ghost hunting protagonists. But for Ed Wallis, the natural reaction was to sit down, muse and writing a song.

After lead singer of My Sad Captains, and non-believer, saw his first ghostly apparition, Ed decided to scrawl this new single to elucidate the notion of challenging various beliefs.

Yet, rather than haunting chords and spooky spine-tingling vocals, ‘Ghost Song’ is bursting with upbeat Indie melodies. It combines uplifting Folky guitars with lyrics that exude an endearing sort of simplicity, reminiscent to that of The Shins, to create a harmless, yet charming, musical treat.

And whilst after a few listens, the track, although catchy, has the potential to conjure waves of apathy in its innate hollowness, the five free b-sides that come with the single, demonstrate that these melancholy Sea men have a lot more depth than the title track suggests.

‘Make your Mark’, a truly standout four minutes, effortlessly captivates the listener with Ed’s vocals sounding raspy and tortured as he reveals /You dislocated my heart/ You’ve really made your mark/, in a way that articulates all the physical hurt of a break up with a painful style of accuracy. Similarly ‘Change of Scenery’, showcases the band’s both musical and lyrical darker side and draws inevitable comparisons of the band with the likes of Broken Social Scene and Iron and Wine.
deficit, may lack the sombre tones or dryness of their b-sides, it’s

Whilst new single, ‘Ghost Song’, is a frivolous and upbeat three minutes, perfect for the season, My Sad Captains’ most successful outputs seem to be the ones which are, well, sad. They scale the depths of human emotions in a way that appears completely unforced and simultaneously lace their lyrics with a unique illusion of simplicity. Something that would seem a winning formula and a beguiling quality.

Album Review - Pagan Wanderer Lu- Fight My Battles for Me - This is Fake DIY

As a strong believer that the music industry’s pretentious undercurrent of image-obsession, genre-diving and stereotype reproduction is something that is slowly destroying the quality of its output, the inability to be pigeon-holed, due to an album that darts across the board of all musical styles and tastes, is something I would normally wholeheartedly support an artist for. But sometimes, it goes wrong.

‘Fight My Battles For Me’ is a proverbial blender crammed full of noise rock, pop, psych, metal and folk, chucked in with lyrics that lack any real significance; something fully embodied by ‘The Gentleman’s Game’ which gets on it’s clichéd Daily Mail-esque soapbox with some vague and unnecessary reference to immigration.

The album possesses all the sporadic and chaotic tendencies of the likes of Modest Mouse and many of the lyrics are quite well thought out and rather quirky. But in the same way as The Blair Witch Project or a Lady Ga Ga outfit, Pagan Wanderer Lu’s, a.k.a. Andy Regan’s, brainchild just has far too much going on in it’s 50 minute duration (and yes, it is too long).

Whilst many eccentrics will perhaps revel in the unpredictable mishmash of this one man band, others will be left feeling like they’ve been penetrated by some camp model of propaganda as “Memorial Hall” spews the devoid lyric: /If there’s a point in the fighting/ Any point at all/ It’s so we can dance in the memorial hall/

Production wise, it’s clear that Regan has a talent and an overarching ability to produce truly different sounds and music that defies all music industry pigeon holing and classification. But this is somewhat whitewashed by the occasionally overpowering lo-fi and slightly boring attempt at social commentary.

Interview with Just Jack - Noize Makes Enemies

“So, do want me to call you, Just Jack or just…Jack?”

Perhaps not the most professional way to begin an early telephone interview on a Monday morning with one of pop music’s most astute artists, but it soon becomes clear that Jack Allsop is as down to earth as he is musically talented. Even after the success of his previous album, Jack seems to have remained rather humbled by his whole career:

“I never really expected to be in pop music so to be in this position, even beyond selling 10 albums is quite amazing. It was all quite accidental and I had never really planned to do this and so everything is a highlight for me.”

But after almost two years out of the spotlight, Just Jack is, well…back and newly inspired by the likes of Passion Pit and MSTRKRFT, as well as a range of Dance and Electro bands from Sinden and Diplo (“and that sort of ghetto house live music or whatever the fuck they call it!”), something that undoubtedly enriches the diversity of his new album:

“A bit of an electronic thing, an orchestral thing, a folky thing and a disco thing. A bit all over the place and more of the same experimenting with different types of music really and writing about stuff that you don’t normally hear about.”

You might not believe that these are the rather nonsense descriptive ramblings of one music’s most perceptive social commentators but explaining the foundations of his new album, All Night Cinema, it seems once again, Jack has used his winning formula to enhance his music with a variety of genres, styles and character fused narratives.

And new single, ‘The Day I Died’ is no exception. Out Monday, with lyrics like: /The day I died was the best day of my life/ Tell my friends and my kids and my wife/ Everything will be alright/, Jack has characteristically embodied all the dissatisfaction that people so often feel with life and combined it with his innate overarching ability to create a sort of soberness that is almost reassuring in it’s accuracy:

“’The Day I Died’ is probably my favourite track on the album because of a combination of things. It’s the one I’m most excited by. I’m just happy to have a tune out that’s so unlike everything else that’s out there. It’s sort of sad, but all the radio stations are still playing it.”

And Jack has even enlisted the help of James Nesbitt (of Cold Feet fame) to play a family man who, in a sort of ode to Bruce Willis in ‘The Sixth Sense’, spends the duration of the video going about an unusually good day, before realising he is already dead; having been hit by a London cab earlier on:

“It’s mad! I had a friend who knows him [James Nesbitt] and I just kind of asked if he would be around and interested in doing it and he was. It was mental filming it though on the day and just seeing how a high calibre actor works and seeing people in the street just double taking. You forget just how massively famous he is”

Based on the feedback that websites like YouTube demonstrate, it would seem that Jack has struck gold with his pairing of an excellent video with a uniquely poignant summer release. Something that is perhaps also demonstrated his jam-packed next few months:

“I’m doing Bestival in September, I’m going to Switzerland the day after tomorrow, The Electric Picnic in Ireland. I’ve been doing new music in my studio just for fun and a festival in France, as well as a European tour in October and hopefully a UK tour in November. It feels good to be doing stuff”

For an artist that struggled to find his way into the limelight, it seems that London-born Jack has finally found the footing he deserves. Bridging genres and musical styles in a way that is quite welcome in an industry that thrives on pigeonholing everything about artists from hairstyles to jeans, Just Jack looks set to finally enjoy the success and recognition he’s worked so hard for.

Interview with Emmy The Great

“Poets I read growing up, my ex-boyfriend, being in love, whatever CD I’ve become obsessed with before I write a song, my guitarist Euan.”

Whilst this may read like the neurotic hit list of a scorned lover, it is, in fact, the recipe of influences that make for the goose-bump provoking Folk tales of Emma Lee Moss, or Emmy The Great, as she is better known.

With a new EP, ‘Edward’, out later this month, her inspirations will no doubt once again be laid bare to listeners and prevail in the way that makes Emmy so endearing and easy to relate to. But what can fans expect from the twenty-five year old’s latest release?

“It’s actually old tracks, so if they are fans, they probably know them. It’s supposed to be an addendum to the album so it won’t particularly differ. We recorded them because they were requested a lot on tour and I suddenly realised they’d never been recorded.”

And having received positive press reviews for her debut album “First Love”, which Emmy released on her own label, Close Harbour, Emmy’s feet appear to have remained firmly fixed to the floor of realism. Something which is refreshing in someone who has achieved so much:

“I got into music mainly by accident and mainly by chasing boys in bands. The record label happened quite naturally. At first no one wanted to put out our music, and then by the time they did, we had a pretty good system of our own.

“I’m purposefully not very aware of what other people think of the album, just cause I learned a long time ago it will never be exactly what I wanted, but the feeling I get when I speak to people or when we play shows is that it’s gone better than I could have hoped. So I’m happy.”

Not just content with her own record label and a critically acclaimed release, Emmy The Great has also collaborated with the likes of Lightspeed Champion and Fatboy Slim:

“Writing songs with anyone is worthwhile, especially if you’re used to working on your own, because they remind you not to get stuck in a particular method. I’ve really benefited from all the collaborations I’ve done.”

Typically ambitious, Emmy has also dabbled in music journalism, demonstrating her innate magnetism to the partnership of music and writing. Having written for Drowned in Sound and The Stool Pigeon, she isn’t necessary ready to focus on just one career path for the time being, (which, based on her incredible song-writing ability, stirs up a slight panic for our job safety here at Noize!):

“I still think I will be a writer of some sort alongside this, the journalism is part of it. It started out as music, but now I’m branching out a bit, but it’s all on the side as I really enjoy making music right now.”

And Emmy’s writing will be further exemplified with the release of her new EP on 10^th August, which will come with a copy of her short story “The Wet and Windy Moors”.

For someone who seems to have the sort of enviable talent that makes them effortlessly brilliant at whatever they put their hand to, Emmy has the world at her fingertips. Luckily for us, she will be sticking to music and continuing to produce enchanting Folk for a while to come yet.

Interview with Charlie Waller (The Rumble Strips) - Noize Makes Enemies

/You’re not the only person to get it wrong. It’s alright/ As Charlie Waller’s vocals slide over The Rumble Strips’ trademark big band sound on their first release from their new studio album – the lyrics seem almost hypocritical of a band who appear unable to indeed, get it wrong.

But we will of course let them off. Even on the phone, Charlie is as every bit as charming as his band’s unashamedly unsubtle musical outbursts would suggest. Speaking about the highly anticipated second album, “Welcome to The Walk Home’, it seems the transition has brought out a change in tempo in the Devon hailing five-piece:

“There’s probably more orchestration on this. That’s the main big difference. This album is a bit more epic and slow burning, not as frantic as the first album. We’re getting old now, we haven’t got the energy anymore!”

Whilst the natural maturation of a band that have been blasted from their quaint South West roots to recording a follow up album in New York, may have played a big part in this audio modification, an additional helping hand from a certain Mark Ronson, is likely to have had just as much of an impact. A partnership that grew as smoothly as the band appears to have:

“We did a remix of Amy Winehouse’s ‘Back to Black’ and Mark heard it and liked it. Then he asked me to sing our version and we did a couple of gigs together [including at The Royal Albert Hall].

“Mark producing the album was quite a gradual thing really too. He said he wanted to do a couple of songs for the album and just ended up producing all of them. He has a really definite drum sound which is good; he has 3 microphones on the drums, which give a real old school sound you can hear on the album.”

The refreshingly effortless and almost accidental collaboration between Ronson and The Rumble Strips on the new album demonstrate not only the natural and real talent of the band, but their infectious take-in-their stride approach to it all. Now five years on, the band seem to have come into their own, finding a sound that truly suits them and an album they’re especially proud of:

“We did an album launch for this album at Wiltons Music Hall, this really old music hall in East London, which was really good to play. A lot of our family and people who had been there along the way were there and we played the whole album through from start to finish with a big orchestra. There was just a really nice feeling there.”

With the album out in July, the band’s plans to spend the summer doing the usual festival circuits before starting a UK tour in September, it would seem that The Rumble Strips, along with their relentless penchant for instrumental whirlwinds that strike fans like a comet with ADHD, have not only grown up but are set to well and truly secure themselves a place on the radar of music lovers on a global scale. And rightly so.

Single Review - Unseen Archives - Pulses - This is Fake DIY

At just 17 years old, Unseen Archives’ influences scan the likes of Joy Division, The Horrors and Late of the Pier and as a result, musically the band have successfully incorporated all the sombre drones of the of Ian Curtis and gothic pessimism of Faris Badwan, alongside the unpredictability of chaos pioneers Late of The Pier. However, with single ‘Pulses’ the band fail to showcase the same pizzazz as the afore mentioned artists.

Whether it’s the apathy conjured by the repetitive and uninspired lyrics or the unnecessary Libertine-esque sporadic yelling, there’s a real feeling that the band could do better and still unable to drink in the bars that their music could be played in, as the teenagers continue to grow as a band and perhaps work on the lyrical side of their production, it is likely their talents will expand further.

Album Review - Darker My Love - 2 - This is Fake DIY

Los Angeles. The largest state in California and the state responsible for bringing us some truly horrific things. From The Hills’ Spencer Pratt to box office disgrace, Crank: High Voltage. Yet, amongst the roughage of undesirable mush, does emerge some refreshing musical talent including the likes of The Airborne Toxic Event, Rage Against the Machine and The Mars Volta: to name but three of rock’s most prestigious names.

And LA band, Darker My Love find themselves very much among the latter. Combining noise rock with a dash of ambient rock, the five-piece are a sort of hybrid assortment of traditional rock meets 70s surrealism. No doubt a direct result of the variety that arises from finding their feet having left various bands including The Nerve and The Fall.

Tracks like “Talking Words” and “Waves” show Darker My Love at their best in a psych versus classic rock frenzy. Like Animal Collective moshing alongside Kasabian as their collision spews out all their most treasured attributes from chaotic guitar riffs to an effortlessly hippy overtone.

2 is the band’s second album but first UK release and whilst they are undoubtedly difficult to pigeon hole, as a result of the band’s varied experiences and influences, their depth and ability to lure the listener in; before turning what we had come to expect on its head with atmospheric tracks like “Two Ways Out” and “All The Hurry Can Wait”, is something of an intoxicating quality and something that bodes well for the future of this diverse outfit.