So, how was 2013 for you? The Riot Squad have had a brilliant year bringing you the best in contemporary music wherever we find it. Allan, John, Klare and Louie have reviewed some exceptional live and recorded music throughout the year and we all thank you for reading our reviews and looking at our photos. We couldn’t resist this opportunity to remind you of some of the artists we reviewed for the first time in 2013.
We saw live performances by the Emile Gerber Band (which became Stoneface Travellers), Henrik Freischlader, Josephine, Marcus Bonfanti (solo and with his band), The Kennedys, Federal Charm (twice), Black Casino & The Ghost, Coco and the Butterfields (several times), The Dirt Tracks, Carrie Rodriguez, Aynsley Lister, Civil Protection, Wheatus, Dean Owens and Zoe Schwarz Blue Commotion. Quite a selection, really.
We reviewed albums and singles by Henrik Freischlader, Marcus Bonfanti, Sally Shapiro, Tomorrow’s World, Black Casino & The Ghost, Jimmy Livingstone, Austra, Tess of the Circle, Aynsley Lister, The Nyco Project, The Dirt Tracks, Nadine Shah, Sullivn, Radio (in my) Head, Tal National, Layla Zoe, Kinver, Au Revoir Simone, DENA, Hartebeest, Polly Scattergood, Glasser, Annie, Emika and John Grant and probably a few others as well. Along the way we had some great fun and met some lovely people; you all know who you are, and we’re hoping to meet most of you again this year.
Looking forward to 2014, we’re hoping for more of the same. The review copies are already coming in and it’s starting to look pretty good already. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing some of our predictions for 2014 from the Riot Squad and possibly from a few guest contributors as well. And, while we’re on the subject of guest contributions, many thanks to Aynsley Lister, Steve Jenner, Marcus Bonfanti and Billie Ray Martin for their contributions to our High Fives feature last year.
I first heard about the Radio (in my) Head project over a year ago when I met up with a couple of the people involved in putting the album together. It’s fair to say that it’s been a fairly long flash-to-bang time, but the end result certainly is a cracker (sorry). We’ve been publishing fairly regular updates on the album’s progress and reviews of the singles released so far (as well as a few unrelated singles from the artists involved), so the final release could have been an anti-climax; it isn’t, because this is a very, very good album. Normally, I’d give you a bit of background on the artists, but there are eleven of them, so you can find all you need to know here. I try to avoid track-by-track reviews as well, but there really isn’t any choice here, so I’ll start at the beginning, leaving out the songs we’ve already reviewed as singles.
The opening track, “The National Anthem” by STRNGRS, which eases the listener into the album doesn’t depart radically from the “Kid A” original but replaces the funk groove with a rockier, heavier feel, a bass sound that wouldn’t be out of place on a Kasabian track and a vocal with more than a nod in the direction of Brian Molko. You just know that Black Casino and the Ghost will put their own very individual stamp on “Packt like Sardines in Crushed Tin Box” with an incredibly heavy bassline and Elisa Zoot’s breathy but powerful vocals driving the song along; it doesn’t disappoint.
Stoneface Travellers are the first band to really make a song their own with a version of “My Iron Lung” that replaces the original’s “Dear Prudence/ Lucy in the Sky…” guitar sounds with straight ahead blues riffing. Where the original breaks down into a noisy middle section, this becomes quieter ahead of an extended solo from Emile Gerber. It’s the first radically different version on the album. Yoya’s take on “Wolf at the Door” replaces the mainly acoustic instrumentation of the original with samples played backwards and forwards, loads of electronic sounds and a vocal which goes from pure to fractured in the space of one line; it took Marianne Faithfull twenty-five years to do that.
There are good, and very good vocal performances on the first half of the album, but the first truly outstanding vocal is on Amy Hannam’s version of “Street Spirit (Fade Out)”. The song builds gradually from a chiming guitar intro with the piano providing the bass and a very close-miked vocal which demonstrates the quality and power of Amy’s voice, particularly when joined by the perfect harmonies in the chorus. It has a very 70s prog feel at times; there’s a passage where the vocal is reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s “Great Gig in the Sky” and the piano is straight out of “Tubular Bells”. And, yes, it does fade out. Skeye’s version of “Karma Police” again has a retro feel using traditional rock band instrumentation and adding organ to the mix in traditional 70s style. The vocal is pure and clear until pushed hard when it becomes more raw and rocky and it’s another song stamped with the style of the performer.
Malin Andersson’s version of “Exit Music (For a Film)” has electric and acoustic guitars providing the backing for Malin’s breathy vocal (close-miked again) before adding a violin, in contrast to the original’s drums and synths in the final third of the song ; it’s another excellent version. Alexey Zelensky tackles the only non-album track of the project, “Staircase”, which was released on “The Daily Mail” single. Many of the elements of the arrangement are similar to the original, including the UK garage/drum ‘n’ bass drum patterns and chiming guitars but Alexey adds some powerful multi-tracked lead and backing vocals and guitar. And I think you can guess what’s coming at the end of the album.
The closer is Bethan Mills’ version of “Creep” and it’s a classic. I must admit to hearing a demo version of this a few months ago and it’s been really difficult to keep this one secret; it’s a powerful and original take on the song that Thom Yorke seems to hate so much now. The song opens with understated piano before Bethan’s (close-miked again), intimate vocal comes in. Drums and bass kick in after the first chorus, but the vocal still punches through the arrangement. There’s a breakdown back to the opening arrangement on the “Whatever makes you happy…” verse before an epic finish featuring a big guitar solo with squalls of controlled feedback drop out to leave a plaintive vocal to end the song. I’m a huge fan of the Chrissie Hynde unplugged version of “Creep”, but I think this version just shades it in a straight fight.
So, it could have easily been a bunch of tired retreads of Radiohead songs but it’s much, much more than that. Project curator John O’Sullivan has pulled together a bunch of people from all over the world to put their own stamp on their favourite Radiohead songs. Listening to the album for the first time, you have no idea of what’s coming next and the surprises are all pleasant. There aren’t any average tracks here; they’re all well thought-out and very well performed. My personal highlights are Amy Hannam’s version of “Street Spirit” and Bethan Mills’ version of “Creep”, but I’ll happily listen to any song on this album.
The good news is that from October 29, you can hear the album in all its glory by downloading it on iTunes here.
What are the odds on Portis(in my)Head next?
I have previously reviewed Black Casino & the Ghost’s second single “Hoboland” (where you can find more details about this London-based band), and I settled in for a few listens to the album expecting a larger dose of “Hoboland”’s rocky, indie blues, but I was surprised and delighted to hear a much greater musical variety, including acoustic ballads and even a ghostly piano-led fairground carousel instrumental , (“We’ve Seen Nothing”) so it pays not to have rigid expectations…
We kick off with all musical guns blazing, “Boogeyman”, and keep the energy up for “Johnny Boy” before exploring ballad territory. The whole album does justice to Elisa Zoot’s clear and distinctive vocals, especially on the tracks she is not competing for space with the band, “Son of the Dust”, where she switches genders, and “If It Doesn’t Hurt” which features acoustic guitar. But when the band ramp up the tempo, Elisa can keep up without resorting to screeching at all, I suspect her voice would suit a variety of genres. She lets herself off the leash for the chorus of one of my favourites, “Been A Bad Woman”, then immediately reins herself in again for the pretty, “Son Of The Dust”: ‘I’ve been such a good Christian son/Said all my prayers/ joined your house and children every Sunday…, etc.’ Apart from vocal duties, Elisa also proves a competent pianist on the tracks that feature piano.
The drums are well recorded, which can be notoriously difficult and production credits go to the band as well. “Some Dogs…” has largely been recorded live which always seems to make a difference in immediacy to me, and hints at how well the band would play together live. Guitar alternates between searing and folkish as required and the bass throbs in all the right places. It comes across like any tensions in this band are purely creative. Another stand out track for me is the acoustic, “If It Doesn’t Hurt”. It begins, ‘if it doesn’t hurt it means it’s not working/ if it doesn’t burst it means it’s not burning enough’. Perhaps the lyric is a little gothic for some, but the beautiful tune isn’t. The lyrical content is typically on the darker side, but not depressing, that is to say, they take you on a visit to their visions without leaving you there. Topics on “Some Dogs…” include wolves, ghosts, sinners and bogeymen, but this is not some juvenile concoction; it’s a well crafted CD exploring these night themes and despite differences in tempo and arrangement the album hangs together well. It’s both immediate enough and has sufficient complexity to bear repeated listening; all this and the entire CD lasts just a little over half an hour. BC&TG deserve a wider audience than the underground ‘alternative’ scene and that’s why I’m awarding them an extra half star.
Out Monday September 2nd on Lucky Machete Records.
“Hoboland”
Black Casino And The Ghost are a London band formed in 2010, which surprised me as they have the kind of ‘swamp’ rock Americana sound that had me reminiscing about my old Cramps albums, although this is a layered sound with a more sophisticated lyric.
Black Casino and the Ghost are: Elisa Zoot (vocals, piano), Ariel Lerner (guitar), Gary Kilminster (bass) and Paul Winter-Hart (drums). “Hoboland” is the second single taken from their forthcoming September release, the intriguingly-titled “Some Dogs Think Their Name Is No”. This is a strong offering that gets my curiosity going for the album. “Hoboland” has been recorded live and captures that energy very well, but still remains more disciplined than many live recordings and it is self-produced, hinting at talent in the studio as well as with their instruments. It really sounds as if they are happy with the resulting three minutes of tight, bluesy rock they produce, and as a listener, so am I.
According to their press release, the song is about the moment ‘when dreams turn into obsessions and ambitions become consuming like a virus,’ as the singer looks in vain for Hoboland; although not all of the lyric is completely discernible, it is certainly dark and anthemic-sounding. It opens with menacing bass guitar and drums before the vocal comes in, ‘Nicotine days and nicotine nights, it might be a phase or just wait and sit tight…’. The vocal is distinct and unlike any other female vocalist I can think of. ‘Someone stole my love, like the eye of a scarecrow taken by the bird,’ bewails Elisa and she sounds very present and ‘in’ the story of this energetic song. The chorus is where the boys join in with ‘Whao-oo Ooh’, etc and is very effective to sing along with especially at their live gigs, if this is anything to go by. Definitely worth a listen, they deserve more than just indie success, or wait for their album and get both singles and more besides.
Out now as a download. It’s somewhere between 3 and 4 stars so let’s call it 3½.
