The Moles/Blank Realm

Before we post the chat I had with the Spencer siblings from Brisbane musical excellence du jour Blank Realm in a couple days' time (after they are hopefully basking in the spotlight granted them after their stints at Glastonbury this weekend), I thought I would shine a light on the London show they will be playing this Wednesday. They play an instore at Flashback Records which you would be stupid to miss, then they trundle up the road to smash up The Lexington. They will be joined by The Moles.

WHO?

The Moles is an Aussie band that were around in the early 90s, obviously indebted to The Clean, The Bats and other Flying Nun alumni, with more than a leaning towards contemporaries The Go-Betweens and Underground Lovers. This is the project of Richard Davies who has gone on to other things. But with Fire Records reissuing the two records they put out in their own right, the wider world can finally revel in the beauty of this undervalued songsmith's penmanship. Listen below, head over and buy the record here, and get along to Wednesday's show - you won't regret it.

Transcendental Tinariwen

I have only had the pleasure of seeing Tinariwen once. It was the Saturday morning of the 2009 Glastonbury. I had had about three hours sleep due to being up all night – Paul and I stumbled out a bar tent to find the sun up, litter everywhere and not a soul in sight. It was like 28 Days Later. That’s what seeing Neil Young for the first time will do to you – amongst other things… Paul insisted that I have something to drink and get to the Pyramid Stage, just to lie down for a bit. The Mali guitar supergroup were playing – and I was transfixed. It may not have lasted the entire day – I passed out when that shitty band Friendly Fires came on – but I truly attest Tinariwen’s excellent set to my being still alive in time to watch Bruce Springsteen later that night rather than exist in the foetal position for the rest of the weekend.

Since that day I have been a fan. I was so happy to see them win a Grammy for Best World Music Album in 2011 for their last record Tassili (help from members of Wilco and TV On The Radio may have helped, but that doesn’t matter – it was a solid record). So it goes without saying that I was keen to hear Emmaar, the “Tuareg” band’s sixth record. And it shouldn’t be a surprise that it’s great. What is a surprise is how great it is.

Emmaar is the first Tinariwen record to be made outside of their homeland – a fact borne out of necessity rather than invention, as the escalating instabilities of the the political and social atmosphere there has made being a living musician untenable. Whilst nomadic in nature, the area that the band’s members call “home” has become overrun by groups of Islamic extremists who are instilling their own brand of society on the people, which includes enforced banning of music. It has been so extreme that one of the band, Intidao, was kidnapped (he was released January of last year, but did not participate in the making of Emmaar).

So the band moved to Joshua Tree, and the result is…well, it’s Tinariwen. The inherent camaraderie, innate musicianship that comes through living in the same lifeforce, the excellent rhythmic drive over which silky guitar lines flow and fold, the political and the elliptical in those foreign vocals – it’s all there. But you may notice on the edges the faintest impression that the American desert has left on these African natives, especially with the dusted roll of ‘Chaghaybou’ or ‘Arhegh Danagh’ (I Call On Man). It’s a beautiful yet gritty record that is so rich in sonic texture that I have listened to this album nine times in the past four days and have found something new to admire. There isn’t much music out there that sounds like this – you may think you have Tinariwen before, but odds are you haven’t heard Tinariwen at all. This is an album of timelessness, one that transcends politics and pain, and is deserving of the highest of praise. It will stir you from any dire reverie, whether self-inflicted or imposed, and free you.

Emmaar is out through PIAS next week.

A Communal Late Night At Gaza

I thought I would end on this piece of ambient brilliance tonight. I'm physically and mentally drained, and 'Nablus' from NY's Ajnabi (the song is one of two abstract reflections/meditations on the situation in Palestine crafted after spending a time volunteering in the West Bank) has me close to tears. I had a conversation only yesterday with James, the guitarist from Violent Soho, about those moments where music moves you in such a way, and that those moments don't appear as often as you get older, or wiser, or more cynical...I don't know. I still remember when I saw the emotion on display at the 2009 Glastonbury when Blur reformed. I didn't get it, that much invested emotion into one thing... But songs like 'Nablus' pulls me back. Ive been looking over the twinkling lights of Brisbane, this plugged into my cerebral vortex, and I started to remember all the moments when it DID mean something: dancing to Mogwai by the side of the road at 4.30am, the fog starting to lift, the sun starting to rear its weary head; listening to Sigur Ros as the sunset lit up Mt Cook in New Zealand in various pastel hues; Radiohead causing my breath to catch when 'Like Spinning Plates' staggered over an awestruck Melbourne crowd. The list kept spooling forth - listening to My Father My King for the first time, or Raveonettes' Whip It On ad nauseum one heady evening, or when Source Tags & Codes first came out...then there is the first time I heard The Who's 'The Seeker', or Led Zep's 'When The Levee Breaks'; Alex Maas sing 'The Sniper', or Dad playing Born In The USA. All of these things are me, they make me who I am. And at this very moment, at this core second within the miasma of infinite seconds, I am Ajnabi too.

Ajnabi - Nablus

Fakin' A Neighbourly Wedding Creates A Storm

I'm pissed off at Craig Dermody. The dude decides to launch his new album Any Port In A Storm in London on Saturday July 6, the night before I will be flying back to Australia. Sure, I could still make it - my fiancee wouldn't be overly happy - but its more the fact that the laconic music Dermody crafts as Scott & Charlene's Wedding makes me want to drink. Usually in a sunny afternoon kinda way too, which doesn't bode well for an 8am flight the next day. I could always postpone it I guess...

Any Port In A Storm (out soon through Fire Records - preorder here) is actually quite an exciting prospect, as these tunes are relatively new - Para Vista Social Club and the Two Weeks EP consist of pretty old tracks, most of which were written before or just after Dermody reached New York. He has been there for a good while now, and his sense of self within the Big Apple, intermingling with further bouts of alienation, pangs of love, the gnashing of teeth over b'ball, and everything other bit of everyday ennui that Dermody dredges up, will come to the fore. Check out the new track 'Fakin' NYC', about scraping by as a doorman at a trendy bar in New York City.

Scott & Charlene's Wedding - Fakin' NYC

If you are in the UK over the next couple months, you can get your fair share of Scott & Charlene's Wedding, seeing as they are playing everywhere, to the big (Glastonbury, some support slots for Mission of Burma) to small (Flashback Records, as well as a yoghurt shop in Brighton - as you do).

 29 June: Glastonbury, UK

30 June: The Garage, London, UK (supporting Mission of Burma)
1 July: The Haunt, Brighton, UK (supporting Mission of Burma)
2 July: Green Door Store, Brighton, London, UK
4 July: Undertone Bar, Cardiff, UK
5 July: Registry, Southsea, UK
6 July: The Victoria, Dalston, London, UK  (Album Launch)
13 July: East End Live Festival, London
7 August: Shipping Forecast, Liverpool, UK
8 August: Tye Die Tapes, Sheffield, UK (with Fawn Spots)
9 August: Heart Attack & Vine, Newcastle, UK (with Fawn Spots)
10 August: Rook & Gaskill, York, UK (with Fawn Spots)
12 August: Adelphi, Hull, UK (with Fawn Spots)
13 August: Wharf Chambers, Leeds, UK
14 August: Arts Center, Colchester, UK
15 August: Hungry Dog, Derby, UK (with Fawn Spots)   
16 August: Yes Way Festival, London, UK 
    
Scott & Charlene's Wedding will also be doing a series of free promotional performances at the following places:

27 June: Sound Knowledge, Marlborough, UK
2 July: Lick Yogurt, Brighton, UK
13 July: Independent Label Market, London UK
10 August: Sound It Out Records, Stockton on Tees, UK
11 August: Urban Outfitters, York, UK
16 August: Flashback Records, London, UK

Come On, Feel Le Noise - Neil Young Style

I cant speak for the rest of the SM crew, but I am a rabid Neil Young fan. My first (and currently only) Glastonbury was 2009, and I only went to see him wield Ol Black - and he blew the place apart. His biography Shakey is one of the best books Ive read of any genre. He is a demi-god, a rock behemoth, a folk godfather - a musical icon. And even though he hasnt released a brilliant album (in my mind at least) since his soundtrack to Jim Jarmusch's seminal existential Western Dead Man, he has always been interesting, relevant, and at times still goddamned amazing.

So when he develops new material I just about lose my shit every time. Therefore Im losing my shit as I type this, and have been since the weekend, as I have started dipping my toes in the water that is Young's next opus, Le Noise. It is a unique record for Young as there is no band in any way - it is just Neil on guitar, in a room, using lots of dub overlays and effects, with consummate producer Daniel Lanois fiddling the knobs.

And I can safely say its his greatest album in a long, long time.

As I have only listened to it once all the way through, Ill let some more knowledgeable critic tell you what to expect over at TONEAudio. Needless to say, it is a continuation of Young's mesmeric career to take his music where no one expects him to, always willing to make brash and unorthodox decisions in that quest to tell his story, the way he wants to tell it. And apparently this album (unsurprisingly) was MADE for vinyl, so make sure you pre-order it from the source here.

But in the meantime, you can have at it - stream Le Noise over at NPR here.

Enjoy this start of the week...

The Friday Cover an't so strange

I'm off to see The Strange Boys tomorrow night at Cargo so this weeks Friday Cover up picked its self some what. We saw the Austin troop put in a great set at Glasto that won them many dedicated new fans and in true Glasto spirit the set included some great cover versions, including Dusty Springfield's classic Son Of A Preacher Man. I wanted to post that slice of Dusty greatness but I just couldn't find it but then I found the track below and, just right now, its too perfect for words...

The Strange Boys cover Joe Williams’ - Baby Please Don’t Go

Gum takes all teeth

Strange thing, that Glastonbury festival. You can always guarantee that you'll miss something, the place is that big. Plus you can always guarantee that you'll miss something that you never thought you could see at Glasto. Gum Takes Tooth have to take the honors for being the one band I missed at this year's Somerset dust bowl that I would have definitely seen had I know they were playing, but to be honest, I don't think I would have believed you if you told me that a noise band of Gum Takes Tooth's ferocity was gracing Pilton Farm's usually softer sided festival. I should have known better.

The reason for my gutted state of mind is that quite simply Gum Takes Tooth has to be one of the most exciting bands I've heard all year. Any band that can lure the talents of Shit and Shine drummer Valentina Magaletti as a second live drummer has to make you sit up and take notice, plus when you read that this immediate, unnerving, trashing beast of noise uses no guitars, bass, keyboards, or laptops but instead physically wires drummer Thomas Fuglesang into home grown electronic instruments, mangled in real-time by Jussi Brightmore, it all starts to sound too insane for words. A noise beast from the dense and expansive depths of our sick lost Glastonbury past, soon to be our future I'm sure.

The duo/live trio have a 7" Young Mustard out on Adaadat, mine hasn't turned up yet but other tracks below should give you a fair idea...

Gum Takes Tooth - Tannkjøtt
Gum Takes Tooth - Strychnine Motive

Taming the Impala one rainbow at a time...

Paul certainly beat me to the punch last week with his Tame Impala post. These Perth upstarts have been cranking out their giant swells of psych waves for only a short time, but their name is growing exponentially. Their musical taste is firmly set in the 70s with influences such as CSNY, Jefferson Airplane and Can amongst many others, yet they feel contemporary as hell. The big news as posted by Paul is that they are playing Glastonbury. Im tres excited for them, and for all of you who get to see them! I dare say they will be putting on some London shows too, so to see them in an intimate setting would be even more trip-inducing. Anyway, here is another 7 minute plus opus to melt your mind too. And as the title suggests, it might be the track to listen to as my plane finally leaves the Brisbane tarmac(albeit illegally - but one iPod couldnt bring down a plane - could it? I guess Ill find out...)

Tame Impala - Runway, Houses, City, Clouds