I’m convinced of one thing - Working for a Nuclear Free City are doing so on some planet in another galaxy. Pretty similar to our own, WFANFC’s planet is different in one significant way: it has a sun that rises and sets every five minutes or so. Given that most of the double album Businessmen & Ghosts provides soundtracks to such recurrent but no less monumental events it must be so.

Plus during their otherwordly endeavours they’ve managed to channel intergalactic sound waves from a variety of earth bound bands. These hazy, indistinct, but somehow recognisable signals and messages from Planet Earth are mixed and mashed up into something that covers a kaleidoscope of sounds and genres. Most obvious are the Manc references (Stone Roses/Ian Brown, Doves, Earlies) and upbeat psych-dancy-indie (Chems, Holy Fuck), but there’s a bit of shoegaze/MBV in there, some throbbing Krautrock drivers and the odd hint at something Industrial (almost), all underpinned by the funked-up and tight-as-fuck bass and the drums.

All very difficult to pigeon hole. All very good indeed.

Picking tracks across the 103 minutes of music is a tough one and inevitably cannot do justice to the variety on show. But, it must and will be done:

All American Taste

England

Eighty Eight

Asleep at the Wheel

Get your alien hybrid soundtracks here

angrybonbon

(Coda: just went outside to take a picture of the Manc road sign where-from WFANFC get their name, but alas it has been replaced by something much more FDI corporate. Shame).

Well. They’ve only gone and re-released Stupids’ Peruvian Vacation, remastered and with another fifteen or so tracks - which has sent me back to 1985 and my temporary thing for skatepunk. I couldn’t ride a skateboard during the second wave of interest in falling off a bit of moving wood, but I did like the poppier end of the hardcore thrash that went with it. Stupids (the ‘The’ is a shibboleth that is FROWNED UPON by humourless sk8ter bois - sorry, skaters)  were very much the right mix of speed and fun, the Banana Splits teenage rush mixed with US hardcore. This is a great album and it has reminded me how much fun you can have when you’re sixteen, watching your mates skinning their knees in the summer sun. Stupids, I salute you.

Two crackers from this album - one sort-of cover of a very famous song and one that’s not recommended if you have a trip to the dentists coming up. I could have added a few more but… Plus a skate anthem from the more straight-down-the-line-and-more-metal Suicidal Tendencies. In all its crackly 7″ goodness. Includes the line “If it ain’t insane then you can’t get rad”, which might be true for all I know. Have a little mosh, on your own if need be. You’ll thank me for it.

‘Born To Built To Grind‘ - Stupids - Peruvian Vacation

‘Always Never Fun‘ - Stupids - Peruvian Vacation

‘Possessed To Skate‘ - Suicidal Tendencies - Possessed To Skate 7″

God knows about Suicidal Tendencies, but you can buy this highly recommended Stupids product here.

JKneale

Micah P. Hinson’s third (proper) record,  …and the Red Empire Orchestra, is further proof that we have a very talented artist here. He’s put out three records in four years, and has yet to put a foot wrong as far as I’m concerned. Granted, he has never returned to the broken, ragged despair of the first record, which was what made me fall for him in the first place, but it would be an exaggeration to say he’s gone all perky on us. And he could do with a break, after all. There’s a new band, the Orchestra, which contains at least one member of BBO favourites the Polyphonic Spree (violinist Tamara Cuable), though I don’t know if they’re touring with him. They certainly sound great - more strings than before, in particular - though on ‘The Fire Came Up To My Knee’ the arrangement is as sparse as anything on the first two albums. There’s surf guitar and melodrama on ‘You Will Find Me’ and some great crooning (and organ) on ‘We Won’t Have To Be Lonesome’.

Choosing two songs for the BBO audience has not been easy, but I’ve decided not to go for (admittedly lovely) songs like ‘Tell Me It Ain’t So’ or ‘Sunrise Over the Olympus Mons’ because they sound more like something from …and the Opera Circuit or…and the Gospel of Progess. Instead these two show off the strings and guitars at their best, I think. Tricky though. I recommend you buy the album, listen to the lot, and go and see him on tour in the UK in November. Or whenever, wherever.

‘I Keep Havin’ These Dreams‘ - Micah P. Hinson and the Red Empire Orchestra - Micah P. Hinson and the Red Empire Orchestra

‘Throw The Stone‘ - Micah P. Hinson and the Red Empire Orchestra - Micah P. Hinson and the Red Empire Orchestra

Stream the album at Last.fm. Buy it here. Official site here with a great Black Cab Session.

JKneale

I know, it’s been out for yonks, but I’ve been away. Considering The Hold Steady’s fourth album must have been written on a tour bus it’s a remarkably consistent, ambitious, and (as the title suggests) upbeat record.

The key to the HS thing is the marriage of Craig Finn’s lyrics and the Proper Rock Band. A lot is made of the Springsteen resemblance but this annoys me almost as much as people saying a band sounds like the Beatles. Which Beatles, exactly? And which Springsteen - the first three albums, Darkness on the Edge of Town or Nebraska, or Born in the USA? Bit different, right? Musically, it’s still big stuff, complete with guitar solos and now horns and harpsichord too, but unlike some of the band’s heroes (Paul Westerberg comes to mind, sadly) there’s no retreat into chugging bar band rock. In fact while there aren’t any obvious successors to ‘Stations’ or ‘Hoodrat’ the album is more inventive and consistently splendid than any of its predecessors.

Lyrically Finn is still spinning stories about parties and kids getting into trouble, but he now wants us to dig ourselves out of these ruts. Maybe boys and girls in America have such a sad time together, he suggests on bonus track ‘Two Handed Handshake’, because ‘it’s like we’re not even trying’. If any other US band told me to stay positive, build something this summer and make my own movies I’d tell them to get knotted, because I hate that whole bootstrap thing. With the Hold Steady, though, you know they know life’s rubbish enough as it is without us digging ourselves in further. And I can raise a glass to that. In fact considering the trite moan that they’re too old, well that’s how you get to know what you’re talking about. Ask Jarvis, circa Pulp Love Life and ‘Sunrise’.

I could write about this all night, but the Drowned In Sound review gets it pretty close, so you should go read that. If I’m not boring everyone with this at the end of the year then that means there are some cracking records still to come. Highly recommended, if you haven’t made your marmite love-hate decision about them yet. Two obvious stand-outs, a sort of grown-up ‘Celebrated Summer’, and the album’s closing track:

‘Constructive Summer‘ - The Hold Steady - Stay Positive

‘Slapped Actress‘ - The Hold Steady - Stay Positive

Buy here, while you still can… see you at the Roundhouse in October.

JKneale

I was meant to review Halves first EP The Revenge back in May, but never got round to it. Nothing new there then.  Their second EP Haunt Me When I’m Drowsy has been out a month or so now, so better write something methinks.

We’re very much in the post-rock territory with this Dublin outfit. Sounds reminiscent of all the usual suspects can be found across both outputs: a pinch of Godspeed and Mogwai in quiet/loud/building/epic bits, a dash of Sigur Ros in the vocals and strings, and a soupçon of 65daysofstatic in the glitchy drum patterns. Question is, are Halves more than the sum of their parts? Well yes, but only just really. Having been moderately impressed by the first EP I was hoping for more from the second (which is more like half an album technically). On the first few listens I was left with a similar feeling - this is only half way there (sorry). Having said that, this is one of those Cd’s that I’ve found myself coming back to a lot: so there’s definitely something there. Potential for growth and expansion beyond their obvious lineage is the best way to sum up Halves. God that sounds patronising, apologies again.

One thing makes Halves stand out - the effort they put into their packaging. Beautiful artwork, ribbons (The Revenge EP) and one of those elastic band type things you get on posh Moleskine notebooks (Haunt Me When I’m Drowsy EP). Their website is worth a look as well. Plus they have a bear for a logo like BSP so they can’t be bad eh?

From Revenge:

Burial on a Windfarm

From Haunt me:

May Your Enemies Never Find Happiness

Medals

Buy the full output here

angrybonbon

Nice to see the Mercury Prize Panel of Illuminati Judges have been reading BBO considering the number of nominees that have appeared here. It’s true I tells ya!

BSP are in there (an album I returned to at the weekend and sounds stronger every time), as are/is Burial and Radiohead. Admittedly the latter are only favourited by one half of this here blog (i.e. me), plus I’ve not really taken to In Rainbows despite considerable aural effort.

I read elsewhere a blog which trotted out the standard critique of the Prize - y’know the kind of stuff, ‘nothing groundbreaking here’ ‘all buzz bands’, etc, blah, blah. Describing BSP as “indier-than-thou” and Burial as “bumbling dance muzak” got my heckles up, but then this blogger, like us, are just voices in a Web 2.0 world where visitors mostly head straight to the free mp3s without actually reading the entries. And to a degree I don’t blame them.

Still, Last Shadow Puppets have been nominated as well and whereas Mr. Scott Walker is probably too high on the influences agenda to make the album something original, I can’t help thinking they’re just fans and if I had the music industry muscle that Alex Turner no doubt has I’d do a homage to what I love. God knows what it would sound like mind.

Here’s the FREE STUFF. Here’s the FREE MP3s. The DOWNLOADS are BELOW:

Burial - Ghost Hardware

British Sea Power - Atom

The Last Shadow Puppets - Separate and Ever Deadly

Oh and Neon Neon are in there which is more JKneale’s territory, plus I’ve yet to buy it.

Find the display stand at Tesco’s or go here to buy (most of) them.

angrybonbon

There’s a question I just can’t answer: why is it I love analogue synthesizers so much? I really don’t know why, but I’m an absolute sucker for the sound of these things. Maybe it’s memories of the sound of the future when I was a kid? Maybe it’s a subliminal influence of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and Delia Derbyshire on my listening, before I knew who or what they were? Whatever the answer, I fall for them every time.

That’s why I’m currently loving Eine Kleine Nacht Musik’s eponymous album - it’s chocked full of wires and transistors housed in retro-futurist boxes that look like pieces of G-plan furniture. Sitting somewhere amongst a musical Venn diagram of Kraut/Motorik, Kraftwerk, Harmonia, Raymond Scott and, when the rhythms are ratcheted up, more modern outings like Add N to X, Eine Kleine Nacht Musik is all highly engineered hover-cars, jet-packs and extraterrestrial Autobahns. The only downside is some nicely played but trying-to-hard-to-be-trippy sitar action here and there (especially on ‘Die Fontane’).

And in turns out that Eine Kleine is Henry Smithson (also known as Riton) who once worked in Fat City Records here in Manc. This piece of minor trivia was only discovered on a post-purchase Last.fm search having already been into said outlet to see if they had the album earlier in the day…which they didn’t. For a whole series of prejudiced reasons I usually avoid Fat City. Perhaps it’s time to open my eyes and de-cloth the ears and pay more attention to what’s going on therein. This certainly should be the case if Eine Kleine is anything to go by.

You live and learn and then you croak, but on the way you’re given pleasure by little gems like this.  

Feuerprobe

Fageschaft

Besuchen Sie Mich Einmal

Re-hydrate your lunch and float off to buy it here

angrybonbon

I don’t know - you wait a considerable amount of time for one pioneering IDM outfit to release an album and then another one comes along straight after…tsk.

B12’s Last Days of Silence double CD might not be getting the heavy rotation that Black Dog’s Radio Scarecrow did and continues to do here at BBO North, but it’s still a great slab of electronic wizardry. More dance floor bound, B12’s offering has got a trouser-wobbling funkiness to it (particularly on ‘32 Lineup’), as well as some good old fashioned 303 squelches and rattling 808 rhythms. This is especially so on CD2 with its live recordings that sound properly shirts-off sweaty.

Yet it’s on CD1 where B12’s emotion and craft shines through: the remembered places conjured here are miles away from those of shared water bottles, collective air shaping and gum grinding repetition. Instead somewhere altogether less dank is fabricated, especially on the fantastic ‘Hall of Mirrors’.

Like it. Quite a lot thankyouverymuch.

Hall of Mirrors (Digitone’s String Space Mix)

32 Lineup

Twisted Muva (from CD2)

Get funking da trousers, dear Sir/Madam, here 

angrybonbon

Of course, it rained, didn’t it? Chucked it down. And I went on my own. But that’s the Lowgold experience for you: like the lyrics of a Wedding Present song. Actually the band were extremely chipper tonight, with plenty of banter about Miles’ knitwear, Dan’s cousin, the age of band and audience, and GnR’s ‘Sweet Child o’ Mine’ (we got the intro). Despite these ‘relaxed’ vibes this was a great gig and the band played like it really mattered. The smallish but enthusiastic audience sang along and did the head-nodding you have to do to music like this. I just wish they’d play more often - if you thought of going and didn’t, shame on you.

We got something from all three records, including this year’s Promise Lands, reviewed here, with an encore covering Billy Idol’s ‘Eyes Without A Face’. Yes, I know it’s an unusual choice, but it sounded great. And because they were giving away a cd of four tracks (split with support Superimposter) you can hear that cover here, along with something from the first album and Promise.

‘Eyes Without A Face‘ - Lowgold

‘Just Like Skin‘ - Lowgold - Promise Lands

‘Mercury‘ - Lowgold - Just Backwards of Square

Official site. Buy.

JKneale

I love the Hoodoo Gurus’ first album, Stoneage Romeos, because it’s full of punky pop songs about junk cultures things (the cover, above, gives you a hint of this). In 1984 I fell for the animated dinosaurs and poppy hooks of single ‘I Want You Back’ after seeing the video on Whistle Test, bought the single and then the album. The second album, Mars Needs Guitars, is pretty good if a bit more restrained, but after that the production seemed to get glossier and the songs more mainstream. Despite a good deal of success in the US the Gurus split up, but have now reformed and are playing all over, including this show in London.

Frankly I was disappointed; after seeing some of my heroes getting away with playing twenty year old material I was beginning to think this nostalgia lark was alright. But the Forum wasn’t full, and the sound didn’t do the later meat-and-two-veg-rock material any favours at all. The songs off the first album sounded good, but not great, though it was obvious that more subtle songs like ‘My Girl’ came across better than the louder stuff, which disappeared into a swamp of sound. The band seemed to be enjoying themselves and so did the audience, who I’d say were 100% Australian. Nothing wrong with that, obviously, but this made it a rather predictable gig - a bit like seeing a pub band playing to their mates. In an enormous Walkabout.

Still, I bought a t-shirt with a dinosaur on it, so it wasn’t all bad. Here are the A and B sides of that single that first grabbed my attention, plus that dinosaur video:

‘I Want You Back’ - Hoodoo Gurus - Stoneage Romeos

‘Be My Guru’ - Hoodoo Gurus - Stoneage Romeos

Official site. Buy.

Jkneale