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Monday 25 May 2009

Interview with Mikel Jollet (The Airborne Toxic Event) - Noize Makes Enemies

”It was the first time I slept in my own bed since last July and I woke up at like 7 in the morning, I looked around and I was like “Where the fuck am I?!” I didn’t have any idea and it took a few minutes and then I was like ‘Oh fuck, I’m home! Oh, alright.”

After nine months on the road that has propelled them all around the world, it is hardly surprising that the travelling circus that The Airborne Toxic Event have become has left lead singer and guitarist, Mikel Jollett, more disorientated than an insomniac on a Ferris Wheel.

The bands whirlwind existence was perhaps paved by its formation and the romantically alternative way that Mikel turned to music. With his DNA undoubtedly laced with an innate creativity, Jollett began with dreams of being a writer. With his dedication to achieve his ambition set in stone, it wasn’t until an unfortunate turn of fate that led Mikel to find escapism and solace within music and song-writing:

“I’d been kind of locked in a room for five years just reading and writing and I never had anywhere to be. Like, ever. I would go a week or two without seeing another person. My gas had been turned off most the year and I had to do all this weird shit to try and afford groceries. I hadn’t paid taxes in like 7 years, I defaulted on my student loan, my credit was shot to hell and I just didn’t care.

“I was just writing all the time and I suddenly picked up a guitar, I had no ambition to be a musician, I just wanted to be a writer. I started playing music, I think almost just cause I couldn’t write for a while. I’d gone through some shit and it was hard to concentrate, so I would just play guitar every day and one day became a week, and one week became a month, and a month became a year. And I’d taken this year out to write a novel and after about a year id written about 100 songs, but only about 1500 words of the novel. So at that point I was like ‘Well I guess I’d better form a band, it’s all I’m ever gonna do.’”


This dark time that forced Mikel to re-evaluate his passions (the news that his mother had been diagnosed with cancer and that Jollett himself had developed two genetic diseases) appears to have almost honed his talent for writing lyrics that speak the words you’d wanted to say but had not known how to articulate.

And it seems to have paid off; the band’s new album came out early this year and has already received prestigious reviews from some of the most renowned music press. Yet the album, largely inspired by a bad break up and ex-novelist Mikel’s love of all things erudite, is as genuine and close to the bone as the thirteen tracks of refreshingly un-self indulgent rock would lead you to believe:

“A lot of the stuff I was thinking about was stuff I guess I learnt as a writer. I think if you’re any kind of writer, your job is to write stuff that is unpopular but is true - whereas a politician’s job is to say things that are popular but untrue. So for me, I kinda got off on saying things from the perspective of what was actually real or what was actually true. ‘Cause I’d always felt relieved reading about that. I’d actually feel relief when I was reading Phillip Roth or something, and be like ‘Wow look how depraved this is’ it made me feel like ‘Oh good, it’s not just me.’


So having toured all over the world (“We’re like a group of gypsies or something. We just write songs, travel around and play them.”), The Airborne Toxic Event are beginning to taste the rewards of their hard work, particularly over the last year. This is something truly embodied by the difference in experiences at 2008’s SXSW, to this year’s:

“Last year [at SXSW] we played a few shows, I think we were what was called a ‘buzz band’, you know like a lot of industry people with their fucking arms crossed watching from the back of the room, trying to figure out whether or not they should write about us. With the press, I think for us in particular they didn’t really understand us at first because every band is supposed to be trying to do a ‘thing’ and there’s just no fucking irony in our band.

”This year, we played in a place that held about 500 and they turned away 1500 people. The show was crazy, loud and fun; we were up dancing on the bar and jumping around. I stole some vodka and I was pouring people drinks and stuff during the show. After the show I saw the bouncer in the hallway and he had his head in his lap, and I was like ‘You alright, man?’ and he was like ‘That was the worst fucking show I’ve ever worked in my whole life!’ So yeah, it was pretty different from last year.”


Having taken their name from a section of ‘White Noise’, a Don Delillo novel, it was clear from the outset that The Airborne Toxic Event were not just another band. They personify a refreshing sort of 60’s ethos to rock and roll, not one that has become so self indulgent and refined by skinny jeans, a side parting and wearing your little brothers t-shirts. They appear to have a depth that in many ways set them apart from a lot of modern-day alternative bands and without a doubt, echoes the reality that they are destined for great things.

“It’s definitely fun to play shows and it’s good that people kinda know who we are. But we haven’t really done anything yet….”


Sunday 17 May 2009

Single Review - Fanfarlo - Drowning Man - Noize Makes Enemies

London-based, Fanfarlo, are as charming as they are musically creative. A combination that is impossible not to melt for, as their musical delights alleviate any previous priorities.

The quirky five-piece embody all the understated dramatics of a British Arcade Fire, chucking in drums & percussion, a violin, a mandolin, a glock, a sax, a bass, a guitar, a trumpet, oh and a banjo. All for good measure.

This, alongside the way that lead singer, Amo’s vocals creep into the hearts of the listener as he pleads /Don’t be cross about it/ allows Amo to distract you from what you thought was important and passively demand your attention, bearing much similarity to that of Orlando Weeks (of The Maccabees).

The bands first single release “Drowning Man”/ “Sand and Ice” embody all the previous descriptions which are perfectly complimented by Fanfarlo’s choice of instruments, with Cathy’s violin expertise seeming to carry the listener to somewhere different; something the afore mentioned Arcade Fire, and band friends, Sigur Ros, have down to a fine art.

Fanfarlo look set for success with a UK tour in June, including a number of festivals, to seal the deal.

Album Review - Speck Mountain - Some Sweet Relief - Noize Makes Enemies


Pigeon-holing itself as “ambient soul”, Speck Mountain consists of Karl Briedrick and Marie-Claire Balabanian, who have also enlisted the help of an array of other musicians for their second album.


The layering of such a variety of polished and mood-affecting instrumentals mixed with an almost psychedelic overtone, conjures associations with the likes of a mellow, slightly pissed off, Animal Collective. This teamed with an overwhelming sense of sombreness and Marie-Claire’s vocals similarity to Lali Puna and Portishead’s Beth Gibbons, adds an even deeper element of blues.


The solemn mood to the album seems to smother the eleven tracks as they progress over the course of forty minutes. This is undoubtedly the result of the emotional place that the band were at the time of recording, with both Marie-Claire and Karl using the opportunity as a sort of cathartic output of self expression. Admittedly this can work, but unlike the enchantingly chill of Bon Iver productions, the chokehold of moroseness appears to stifle all the necessary charm needed to make the album similarly endearing.


Whilst, the musical talent of the duo and the flawless vocals of Marie-Claire are undisputable, the relevance in today’s music scene may be too populated to recognise such subtleties and indeed, ambience.

Saturday 16 May 2009

Album Review - Telegraphs - We Were Ghosts - Noize Makes Enemies

Telegraphs are a five-piece from Brighton. Yes, another one. But despite emerging from the sea-side town that appears to distribute an inordinate amount of music scene hopefuls from its Lanes, Telegraphs are dead-set on making a different noise. And a very loud one.

The band formed in late 2005, with their album ‘We Were Ghosts’ out later this month. The Rock/Emo style hybrid laces the bands debut, with their influences of Billy Talent and Biffy Clyro, noticeable not only in terms of intoxicating guitar riffs that pulsate through the listener, but also in Darcy Harrison’s vocals which emulate Ben Kowalewicz (of Billy Talent) meets Taking Back Sunday’s Adam Lazzara.

The angst and passion felt in lyrics like /How could you know, I could be so, I could be so cold?/ is forced in way that derives from genuine feeling and difficult experiences. None more difficult than the break-up of a relationship, let alone between two of the band’s founding members. Much like the work of The Subways’ Billy Lunn and Charlotte Hooper, the inevitable agony that derives from the final days of being together, was what Darcy Harrison and fiery bassist Hattie Williams transformed into the relatable intensity of the band’s debut album. It is fair to say the turbulence has even enhanced “We Were Ghosts” with Darcy’s chants of /Tell me what’s so good about goodbye/ Give it up son/ She’s gone/, making it nigh on impossible not to be drawn in by the refreshingly truthful vulnerability of Telegraphs.

Whilst at times, the album does lean into a borderline self-indulgence, the genres the eleven tracks find themselves edged into no doubt forgive, and at times even embrace this. It would perhaps be unexpected for Telegraphs to reach the level of their
Brighton peers The Maccabees, but with a strong fan-base forming behind them and a wide range of live gigs to go this Summer, the future looks set to steer Telegraphs along similar paths of success.