fear and loathing

Profile: Junior Bill & The Scallies

Fri, 10 May 2013 12:00:00 +0100

Profile: Junior Bill & The Scallies

fear and loathing playlist #3: nostalgia dance party

Sat, 04 May 2013 23:11:00 +0100

nostalgia dance party: compiled between 22:56 and 23:05 - 04/05/13

Bottle Rocket - The Go! Team
Daft Punk Is Playing At My House - LCD Soundsystem
Yeah Yeah (D Ramirez Radio Edit) - Bodyrox fear Luciana
Eple (Original Edit) - Royksopp
Robot Rock - Daft Punk
Weapon Of Choice - Fatboy Slim
Frontier Psychiatrist - The Avalanches
Sexy Boy - Air
Karmacoma - Massive Attack
Missing (Todd Terry Remix) - Everything But The Girl

Spotify link: fear and loathing 3: nostalgia dance party

Youtube link: fear and loathing #3: nostalgia dance party

fear and loathing - update 26/04/13 turn closed captions on,...

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 15:01:03 +0100

fear and loathing - update 26/04/13

turn closed captions on, it’ll help, sorry about the audio

fear and loathing - update (16/04/13)

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:00:42 +0100

fear and loathing - update (16/04/13)

Bands: stop caring and come up with something organic

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 12:39:44 +0100

There’s a certain frustration within various local music scenes at the moment. With a new age of availability via the internet, there has been an explosion of new music and through this of course, and to mirror this an onslaught of media interest in the ‘new’. Some might argue that the re emergence of older, long thought dead bands counters this, but the old is definitely being overwhelmed by the new.

With this focus on the new, there have definitely been some triumphs in really helping new acts to find their way to wider notice a lot quicker. However, with this freshness there is always going to be acceptance and rejection, and that’s where many bands are losing their way. With the new music industry model of hoping to be accepted by your audience to gain recognition comes a stagnation of ideas. Bands are no longer forming to be something new, bands are forming to sound like the new emerging artists, so quickly rocketing to fame.

A&R at labels are no longer seeking something new, DJs at Radio 1 are no longer thinking for themselves and playing the stuff they like. They’re going for the stuff that sounds like it should be fresh and exciting, but it’s what we heard ten years ago, or they’re going for bands who are so middle of the road it’s frustratingly sickening to hear. Bands are starting to care about their music being tailor made to their audience - they shouldn’t be. They should be playing something fresh, something that speaks to them and sounds different to them. Everyone is influenced by their musical heroes, but emulating them directly is leading to a major originality drought.

Stop perfecting your guitar sound to sound like your favourite band, stop writing riffs that are two notes off of your favourite riff and most of all stop trying to sound like anything you’ve ever heard before.

Bo Burnham - Nerds There’s always a strain of music that...

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Bo Burnham - Nerds

There’s always a strain of music that you don’t play at parties, don’t let your parents hear and definitely isn’t played on the radio.

Whether that be Mindless Self Indulgence or the harder refrains from Nine Inch Nails, too laden with puerile or heavy imagery respectively, it’s the sort of music you tend to listen to via headphones and share with friends who won’t judge too harshly.

However this doesn’t come across as much in comedy, and is openly embraced as fresh, new and exciting. Music and comedy have tended to cross over, whether intentional or not, or just as a part of creative witticism (see The Smiths or comedian turned rapper Childish Gambino).

Someone who attempts this regularly and is often slammed for gimmickry or copying his peers is Bo Burnham, but like very few comedians of his time carries a very interesting intelligent subtext to his frequent cursing and sometimes grotesque humour.

A song he created has recently become available after being featured on tour but not on his recent live album ‘Words Words Words’ and it’s entitled Nerds. Being a young starter (playing Edinburgh Fringe at 20) he grounds part of his act in high school memories. Nerds highlights the underbelly of school and the lower rung of the social ladder.

Opening with “I’m a faggot, I’m a retard, I’ve got a girl’s bag and a v-card” you wonder if its likely that he’s speaking from his own experiences but follows it up with a snappy comeback “Your life peaks at graduation, well congratu-fucking-lations…” turning an inward look into an outward anthem.

Melding in his personal mind melting lyricism which requires multiple listens to fully comprehend to a musical backing composed probably initially on piano and then enhanced with modern production to mirror the popular music that antithesises the underground music popular amongst ‘nerds’.

The anger and frustration in Burnham is palpable even out of high school, as well as the sweet relief of leaving “at 3pm I pause (bell rings) that shit sounds like applause”. The song’s bridge takes a dark turn, criticising high school further “loved art but the budget got cut… then she got numb and she only felt when she knelt and cut.”

Like that music you’d never let your parents hear however, there’s always a solidarity and familiarity for those feeling the same way, especially when Burnham sings the line “I got your back kid…”

why high school sucks - part 2: don’t become like me

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 21:12:00 +0000

why high school sucks - part 2: don’t become like me

why high school sucks - part 1: I am not a number

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 12:00:00 +0000

why high school sucks - part 1: I am not a number

fear and loathing playlist #2: break stuff

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 15:13:00 +0000

break stuff: compiled roughly between 14:25 and 15:10 - 04/01/13

John Hurt - Does It Offend You, Yeah?
Hook Line And Sinker - Refused
Kidney Thief - P.O.S.
Panic Switch - Silversun Pickups
Rich - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Catacombs - At The Drive-In
Killdozer - Young Legionnaire
60 Feet Tall - The Dead Weather
Killed By An Angel - Sunny Day Real Estate
Shelter Your Needs - Juliette and the Licks

Spotify link: fear and loathing 2: break stuff

YouTube link: fear and loathing #2: break stuff

fear and loathing in 2012 - the complete list

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 02:07:00 +0000

due to lack of interest in the videos, here’s all my top stuff for this year.

Albums:

1. P.O.S. - We Don’t Even Live Here

2. Deftones - Koi No Yokan

3. Grimes – Visions

4. Marina & The Diamonds - Electra Heart

5. Bloc Party – Four

6. Jack White – Blunderbuss

7. Coheed and Cambria - The Afterman: Ascension

8. Future of the Left - The Plot Against Common Sense

9. The xx – Coexist

10. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles III

Album Songs:

1. Rosemary – Deftones

2. Get Down - P.O.S.

3. Freedom at 21 - Jack White

4. Circumambient – Grimes

5. Bubblegum Bitch - Marina & The Diamonds

6. We’re Not Good People - Bloc Party

7. Beneath The Waves An Ocean - Future Of The Left

8. The Afterman - Coheed And Cambria

9. No Rest - Dry The River

10. Fire Fire – Flyleaf

Non-Album Songs:

1. Telepathy – Crosses

2. Nobody to Love - Josh Homme

3. Nocturne – Tesseract

4. She Crows - Los Campesinos!

5. Follow Me - Chaos Chaos

EPs:

1. EP Two – Crosses

2. S – Chaos Chaos & An Omen – How To Destroy Angels

Gigs:

1. Refused - 12/08/12 - HMV Forum London

2. Johnny Foreigner - 05/10/12 - Gwdihw, Cardiff

3. The xx - 11/09/12 - The Coal Exchange, Cardiff

4. Coheed And Cambria - 07/11/12 - KOKO, London

5. Jack White, The Kills - 03/11/12 - Alexandra Palace, London

6. Vessels - 25/11/12 - Buffalo Bar, Cardiff

7. Exit_International, The Guns - 18/05/12 - Bogiez, Cardiff

8. Marina & The Diamonds - 27/06/12 - The Coal Exchange, Cardiff

9. Future Of The Left, Kutosis - 12/12/12 - Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff

10. Bloc Party - 18/10/12 - O2 Academy Bristol

Special mention:

At The Drive-In, Foo Fighters, Coheed And Cambria, Bombay Bicycle Club, Crystal Castles, Los Campesinos! Eagles Of Death Metal, Band Of Skulls, The Cribs, The Black Keys, Pulled Apart By Horses, 24-16/08/12 - Reading Festival

Films:

1. Team The Best Team

2. The Cabin In The Woods

3. Ruby Sparks

4. The Hunger Games

5. Looper

fear and loathing in 2012 - part three - albums 6-8 next one...

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 13:02:00 +0000

fear and loathing in 2012 - part three - albums 6-8

~~next one after Xmas~~

fear and loathing in 2012 - part two - albums three and four

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 12:01:03 +0000

fear and loathing in 2012 - part two - albums three and four

fear and loathing in 2012 - part one - top three albums

Sun, 23 Dec 2012 12:00:44 +0000

fear and loathing in 2012 - part one - top three albums

doing my 2012 video

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 20:34:35 +0000

doing my 2012 video

Working on my best of 2012 lists...

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 15:33:00 +0000

Here’s a list of stuff in no particular order for now:

Albums

Bloc Party - Four
Coheed and Cambria - The Afterman: Ascension
Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles III
Deftones - Koi No Yokan
Dry The River - Shallow Bed
Future of the Left - The Plot Against Common Sense
Grimes - Visions
Jack White - Blunderbuss
Marina & The Diamonds - Electra Heart
Mumford & Sons - Babel
Nedry - In A Dim Light
P.O.S. - We Don’t Even Live Here
The xx - Coexist

Songs:

Freedom at 21 - Jack White
Telepathy - Crosses
Cold - Blood Red Shoes
Bubblegum Bitch - Marina & The Diamonds
The Afterman - Coheed And Cambria
No Rest - Dry The River
Circumambient - Grimes
Get Down - P.O.S.
We’re Not Good People - Bloc Party
Nobody to Love - Josh Homme
Rosemary - Deftones
Fiction - The xx
TMA - Nedry
Follow Me - Chaos Chaos
Fire Fire - Flyleaf
Beneath The Waves An Ocean - Future Of The Left
Spicy Peen - Mike Mictlan
Babel - Mumford & Sons
She Crows - Los Campesinos!
Kerosene - Crystal Castles

Gigs:

Everything Everything - 17/01/12 - The Globe, Cardiff
La Dispute - 02/02/12 - Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff
Two Door Cinema Club, Metronomy, Azealia Banks - 19/02/12 - Cardiff University
Exit_International, Here Lies The Enemy - 05/03/12 - Buffalo Bar, Cardiff
Doomtree - 15/05/12 - O2 Academy 2, Bristol
Exit_International, The Guns - 18/05/12 - Bogiez, Cardiff
A Thousand Arrows, The Death Of Her Money, Pipedream - 14/06/12 - Secret Location, Cardiff
Marina & The Diamonds - 27/06/12 - The Coal Exchange, Cardiff
Refused - 12/08/12 - HMV Forum London
At The Drive-In, Foo Fighters, Coheed And Cambria, Bombay Bicycle Club, Crystal Castles, Los Campesinos! Eagles Of Death Metal, Band Of Skulls, The Cribs, The Black Keys, Pulled Apart By Horses, Grimes (briefly), Dry The River (briefly), Mastodon (briefly) - 24-16/08/12 - Reading Festival
The xx - 11/09/12 - The Coal Exchange, Cardiff
Johnny Foreigner - 05/10/12 - Gwdihw, Cardiff
Bloc Party - 18/10/12 - O2 Academy Bristol
Jack White, The Kills - 03/11/12 - Alexandra Palace, London
Coheed And Cambria - 07/11/12 - KOKO, London
AWOLNATION - 18/11/12 - Cardiff University
Vessels - 25/11/12 - Buffalo Bar, Cardiff
Future Of The Left, Kutosis - 12/12/12 - Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff

Films:

Skyfall
Ruby Sparks
The Cabin In The Woods
The Amazing Spider-Man
The Avengers
The Hunger Games
The Woman In Black
Looper

slut-shaming is wrong. stop it.

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 12:15:00 +0000

slut-shaming is wrong. stop it.

fear and loathing - an introduction video

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:34:00 +0000

fear and loathing - an introduction video

fear and loathing playlist #1: paranoia

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 01:39:00 +0100

in an effort to use this blog more often, I’m going to start to compile 10-track playlists either to convey moods, themes or just a bunch of awesome songs.

paranoia: compiled roughly between 00:45 and 01:30 - 25/09/12

Doors Unlocked And Opened - Death Cab For Cutie
Crystalised - The xx
The Bay - Metronomy
Sit Down. Stand Up. (Snakes & Ladders) - Radiohead
Stella Was A Diver And She Was Always Down - Interpol
Roads - Portishead
Circumambient - Grimes
Sax And Violins - Talking Heads
Morning Mr Magpie - Radiohead
Haven’t You Heard - Jeff Buckley

Spotify link: fear and loathing 1: paranoia

iTunes link: fear and loathing playlist #1: paranoia

YouTube link: fear and loathing playlist #1: paranoia - live

the shape of reunions to come: one armed cash grabs

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 12:44:28 +0100

Two of my favourite bands reunited this year.

When the announcements went out that Refused and At The Drive-In were reforming to play Coachella, the impossible had happened. Refused had been dead long before I knew them and I knew At The Drive-In vaguely maybe for a year before they ended.

It soon became apparent that both of these resurrections were unashamedly taking advantage of that nostalgia we all have for when music was good. Hey! Remember that vague time when we used to be younger and music was way better when in reality it was just in the same shape and form as it is now?

Nobody really knew who Refused were, and At The Drive-In were only just kicking off in the UK and Australia and then they both ceased to exist. Just as Van Gogh became an icon after he died and Kurt Cobain managed to make his name known even more around the world, Refused became one of the most iconic new wave punk bands with their incredible ‘Shape of Punk to Come’ album and At The Drive-In’s ‘Relationship Of Command’ hit every rock fan in the know’s top 5 albums.

Don’t get me wrong, both of those albums were incredible, but the bands themselves? They were both falling apart, as is apparent in the great (and now slightly hypocritical) ‘Refused Are Fucking Dead’ documentary and from interviews with Cedric and Omar whilst they were in The Mars Volta revealing their true feelings for former band member Jim Ward.

So when these absolutely impossible reunions were announced (okay, we kind of saw At The Drive-In coming after a couple of interviews revealed that the band members were getting along again - but REFUSED?! impossible) it seemed almost heavenly that these incredible live acts would once again be back.

And then the realisation hits, these bands ended a long time ago… were they still the same? At The Drive-In ceased to be in 2001 after coke addiction and wild musical difference split the band, whilst Refused died in a haze of under-attended shows and a lack of direction in 1998. 1998?! That’s FOURTEEN YEARS for Dennis Lyxzen to lose his edge…!

So, what did I do in all of this? I pined for seeing these bands for the first time after not even being close to appreciating them the first time, as I’m sure many did. Refused played in the HMV Forum in London and At The Drive-In played at Reading Festival. I went to both and decided to compare and contrast…

Disclaimer: Whilst it’s not fair to compare a gig performance to a festival performance in many cases… I contest that this is a different set of circumstances. If At The Drive-In were far down the bill at Reading it wouldn’t be fair, but they were headlining the NME/Radio 1 Stage which puts them right up there for pushing their performance for people wanting to see them. They were playing for At The Drive-In fans only. Still counts.

Refused were first. They played the HMV Forum on 12th August, the first of three UK dates. They were supported by the musically great yet vocally despondent Pettybone in what would be their last UK shows. The Refused show was visceral, searing and full of incredible energy. There was no doubt the band had aged visually, but performance wise they were still as energetic and passionate as fourteen years ago. Dennis was the showman, reinforced by his time in The International Noise Conspiracy, Jon Brannstrom powered every lyric out even without a microphone and looked fit to burst from passion, Kristofer Steen hit almost every note with perfection and David Sandstrom - who I contest as one of the best punk drummers out there down to pure energy - despite my doubts of his true faith in the reunion powered out every song like he still meant it. The set was blisteringly fast paced but it still felt like enough of a performance to satisfy my fourteen year craving, and even the best concert I’ve ever been to.

Then At The Drive-In, my highlight of the Reading weekend, nothing mattered more. After a great performance from The Cribs the tent let out their followers and sucked in everyone who had come for their nostalgia hit. Cedric Bixler-Zavala came out with a sweeping brush to clean up the place and hit out with an opening barrage ‘Arcarsenal’. The difference was clear already. Cedric’s vocals were awful, despite his amazing prowess in The Mars Volta and the steaming kettle on stage for his larynx, Omar looked bored to tears, phoning in the performance and yawning on stage. Only Jim Ward and drummer Tony Hajjar were really showing any passion, but it was lost in the farce. The songs were of course incredibly well moulded per usual, but the band that played them almost felt like an homage, only incorporating some difference with a few Mars Volta breakdowns of the songs, interrupted passively by Ward’s handclapping encouragement to the crowd. Sure there was a faint smile playing across my lips when Jim Ward laughed with Omar whilst playing the intro to my favourite song ‘Napoleon Solo’ but the way the set was marred by lame sound and lacklustre performance could not really make me feel passionate for their current incarnation. With an incredible set of songs, it was the best set of the festival, but the performance itself was nowhere near as powerful as it had been 11 years ago. Sure time might affect such things, but it did the reverse of what happened with Refused who showed more energy in 2012 than they did in 1998.

With At The Drive-In confirming the end of their run in London only a few days later with direct quotes saying no more material would surface and Refused still playing more shows this year with the knowledge that even recently the members have collaborated on new projects, it’s safe to say that Refused are far and away the better reunited.

The Shape Of Reunions To Come is Refused, At The Drive-In just went out for a One Armed Cashgrab.

Marina & The Diamonds - Cardiff Coal Exchange, 27/06/12

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 19:55:00 +0100

The Coal Exchange is humid and bright tonight. If not for the venue’s decor it could be considered an escape into an uncomfortable American nightmare. Just what Marina Diamandis wants I expect.

Meredith Sheldon is her support. With acts like Spark and Yadi on previous tours, she has a hard job following up those brilliant new young artists. Unfortunately however, the excitement didn’t come through. Sheldon is not the type of artist that is geared towards Marina fans and is more at home possibly supporting Band of Skulls, The Kills or Blood Red Shoes. Most songs are a slow burn, and never race the heartbeat. Apparently she has visited Cardiff before five years previous, but with little impact on the web she seems like just a keepsake of Marina’s travels around America. A display of her more appetising tastes and not the gaudy Marilyn Monroe inspiration, it’s almost as if whilst passing through a Western bar she happened to chance upon an artist she liked. Although Sheldon seems comfortable with her guitar she’s not so comfortable with opening up to the crowd as Marina will to follow, although that may be due to the space. Although not grating or poorly trained to the ear, this support falls a bit flat and lacklustre compared to her predecessors.

The music before and in between acts is a menagerie of the most bubblegum pop imaginable with inflections of older American twanged roots. This appeals to those you would expect to be assembled for such an event minus the obvious boyfriends and family members.

Now renowned for her elaborate sets and costume changes, the Lonely Hearts Club tour is no exception, although it’s somewhat hampered tonight by the humidity. Still Marina appears to open with ‘Homewrecker’ and transforms herself into her alter-egos seamlessly. She inhabits a cast of characters which some may mistake for her actual personality. Waif-like one moment in ‘State of Dreaming’ and strong blooded the next in ‘Power & Control’. You almost wonder if she must psych herself up during her impressive instrumental breaks and costume changes. Her shifts in personality do not reflect her as a person but more represents the extremes she tends to go to in changing from one song scenario to another. You do get the feeling she is slightly deranged by all this as she delivers a small monologue about her stuffed dog ‘Marilyn’.

The heat doesn’t stop her from powering through an impressive 17-song set (from someone with only two albums) with only three breaks for costume changes. She does need the assistance of her rather large fan (which she seems to almost pray to at some points), a chaise-lounge and a martini glass of what I’m sure is water (as she has been instructed not to drink vodka at least to save her recently damaged vocal chords). Fitting in the powerful hits like ‘Oh No!’, ‘I Am Not A Robot’ and ‘Primadonna’ amongst the looser tracks of ‘Lies’, ‘Bubblegum Bitch’ (surely the best track off new album Electra Heart) and ‘Living Dead’. She retreats behind the piano less this tour (for ‘Obsessions’ and ‘Teen Idle’), opting for the more explosive tracks of ‘Primadonna’, ‘Shampain’ and ‘Radioactive’ to lead into the encore. Finally she ends where it really began for her with ‘Hollywood’, that oh so Yankophile song about someone who used to be uncomfortably obsessed with America, but now seems right at home.