© Warner Bros Music 2012

“A living detachment exists between the music and listener”

It seems there is a renaissance afoot. Amongst the musical community, the resurgence of indie infused psychedelic, electro pop has never been more popular.

As much of a mouthful as that seems, the oncoming summer months seem to bring out such bands like midges from a mossy log. Throwing their hat into the ring with debut offering It’s a Corporate World are Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

For those UK fans unfamiliar with the band. Formed in Detroit, Michigan, the duo takes their name from American Indy Car racing legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. who, according to some sources, is a reputable fan of the band. Joshua Epstein and Daniel Zott have sky rocketed their reputations amongst fans and music critics alike since their formation in 2007.

Branding themselves as psychedelic, electro and Motown influenced, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. appear to be on the cusp of domination of the indie, elector scene. This debut album, It’s a Corporate World arrives as the total of maligned performances, side projects and other dedications that have prevented the two members from publishing their collective work. They bring the haunting, wistful vocals and soft guitar hooks that have established them as a stand out indie outfit to what will presumably be a much wider audience, possibly globally.

Tracks “Simple Girl,” “When I open My Eyes,” and the eponymous “It’s a Corporate World,” showcase the band’s eclectic, anathema style. Drawing clear influences from late Beatles and their own brand of psychedelic pop rock, Epstein (coincidentally) and Zott mesh seamlessly together both vocally and musically.

None more apparent than the harmonic, toe tapping “Vocal Chords.” A fun, catchy, high tempo track that lends itself perfectly to the up coming summer months, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. know their audience and how to effectively win them over new listeners.

This stellar rise amongst their own scene and the music industry as a whole raises some suspicions amongst the more skeptical listeners. And therein lies the problem with both Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. and this debut album. It’s a Corporate World is, quite simply, a clean cut, glossy, over produced album that would be more suited to a band’s second or third offering.

Following their various EP releases and a loyal fan following of their energetic live performances, this fully fledged debut album arrives amongst a sea of publicity. None more apparent than the highly touted select UK appearances on Club NME and HMV Next Big Thing. Surprising, surely, to those indie electro groups from native shores who are still scratching around on their home turf all begging for that big break. More importantly, with substantial discographies behind them.

Fundamentally, the band’s ethos and material seems oddly unoriginal enough to warrant this lavish production. Although by no means a poor piece of work, it is exactly that that makes for suspicious reasoning. They may sing of heartfelt, unrequited love and psychedelic jaunts through golden fields, albeit with the looming presence of a disapproving chaperone lurking somewhere in the background. It’s fun but well supervised fun.

A living detachment exists between the music and listener. Begging the question, have Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. sold out before they were even in? Suddenly the album’s title takes on an altogether more sinister and frightening meaning.

Jonathan Whitelaw

The First Four EPs saw, punk supergroup, OFF! come out with a bang. The songs were hard, fast, and over before you could get your mind around them. A fantastic throwback to the likes of Black Flag (of whom Keith Morris was the original vocalist) and The Minutemen, this release was unexpected and surprisingly fresh sounding. Their debut full length continues where those EPs left off. We get sixteen songs in as many minutes, all of them that little bit lacking.

Though it definitely contains all of the original hardcore punk conventions, there’s a distinctly contemporary sound to each track. Part of this comes down to certain instrumental differences – the intro of ‘King Kong Brigade’ certainly wouldn’t be at home on a typical 80′s hardcore record – and part of this comes down to the production. It’s clear that the end goal was to make the record sound more ‘raw’ and underproduced. However, this is rarely subtle and I often found myself thinking more about the production of a particular song than the song itself. That’s saying a lot when the majority of the tracks are less than a minute long.

That being said, I have very little else against this record. I mean, the lyrics can get sketchy at times and it’s often off-putting how ‘clean’ Keith’s vocals are compared to the rest of the track (like I said, the production is less than impressive), but I don’t regret taking the sixteen minutes out of my day to check this out. It just feels like they tried too hard to recreate that iconic 80′s hardcore sound.

If you’re a fan of old school hardcore punk, you could certainly pick worse when it comes to checking out a new band. Just be mindful of the fact that, despite the people involved, this isn’t going to sound the same as all those older bands you love.

When the punks go ‘acoustic’, it seems they head down one pre-defined path – they play punk music with an acoustic guitar. Now I’ve no problem with that, but they really stand out when they do something a little more unexpected. For me, Tim Barry is one of the few that veered off the beaten track. The former Avail frontman, swapped the harshness of punk for a, more mellow, country sound. Though he’s certainly not ‘gone soft’.

Well known for his story-telling style, Barry enchants the listener with tales of small towns, friends and adventure. Some of these you might have heard of – references to a couple of characters named Frank and Brian make up the opening to the title track, and there’s even a whole song about, Lucero’s, Todd Beene – and others you won’t. Still, he makes you feel like you’re right there alongside him throughout and you experience a lot and run the emotional gamut when you’re riding with Tim. Driver Pull’ – a song about dealing with life and all its inherent problems – showcases a much sombre side of the Virginia native, whereas ‘Amen’ will have you singing along in no time.

Similarly, ‘Fine Foods Market’ shows Barry at his most satirical. The entire song is a comment on the current ‘scene’, with a particular focus on the falseness of hipsters. It worked as a perfect palette cleanser for all of the more downbeat tracks on the album, and might actually be my favourite. Again it draws on Barry’s own experiences, as he looks back on his life and compares it to what he sees in the youth of today. Though it could come across as slightly curmudgeonly, it is delivered with such style and humor that you can’t help but love it. Is Tim Barry the Larry David of the punk scene?

Such quick changes in tone did tend to stop the record from flowing quite as well as it could have, but this is a minor gripe when you take the quality of the songs into account. The switch from acoustic to electric and back again had a similar effect, but the changes in instrumentation certainly make for a more interesting sonic experience.

Still, there’s no doubt in my mind that 40 Miler is Tim Barry’s best release to date. As with everything he’s put out, the songs are steeped in truth and adventure and provide a fantastic look into the world of a very interesting man. Not only that, but songs like ‘Hobo Lullaby’ have helped establish, in my mind at least, that Barry is one of the best songwriters around today. Though there’s a little bit of filler here and there, on the whole, it’s a pretty fantastic record. It can bring you down, but never fails to pull you back up again. If you like sober thoughts and singalongs, this is the record for you.

I first came across Fighting Fiction at Reading Festival in 2011, they played at midday on The Lockup Stage on the Sunday. I was really impressed, and any band that managed to shift my hangover, aching bones and fatigue in a 30 minute set was surely worth investigating further. I returned home and I got hold of The Lesser of Two Evils E.P and that was it, I was hooked (incidentally if you get chance the EP is well worth checking out, possibly my favourite four track record since All Hallows came out in 1999). I was really excited to hear their first full length release, and I have not been disappointed.

Fighting Fiction is a 4 piece band hailing from Brighton, England. They exact a dynamic and somewhat aggressive ska-infused punk rock sound, with socially motivated lyrics and almost anthemic vocal choruses.

If you’re listening to FF for the first time when you put on this record, they lay their cards quite openly on the table on the first track ‘Amazing Grace’. It’s a hard-hitting punk rock song with all the hallmarks that have formed the foundation of Fighting Fiction’s sound. It’s got great lyrics, infectious melodies and you will find yourself driven to sing along, powerful is just too meagre of a word to describe it.

The album continues with a track you may have heard before, the single ‘Rock and Roll is Dead and its Corpse is For Sale. It’s a fantastic track, there’s some really potent lines, and another chorus that you will not shift for hours (unless you skip forward a few tracks and listen to ‘Cameraphones and Choruses’). The pace doesn’t drop for a second as the third track kicks in, ‘Turning Rebellion into Money’, a brutally honest song about making profit from their music. So captivating and almost mesmerising are some of the melodies that I found myself relieved that the words “Flip your desk and trash the fucking place” never appeared in this album, if they had then I might well be out of a job by now.

Other noteable tracks include ‘Make Yourself into a Martyr’ and ‘No Room at the Inn’ (which will serve to appease listeners who are dissapointed that this record shows rather less of the ska influences than previous releases) and listeners with heart conditions will be comforted to know that this album is not all punch-in-the-face punk rock. The album also showcases a number of slower, more sensitive moments, balancing acoustic breaks with hard-hitting riffs in a delightfully structured manner, being British and a Punk Rock lover its incredibly refreshing to hear an album of this calibre in a Southern accent.

Upon first listen I found this album to die off a little towards the end (save for the revisiting of a personal favourite ‘Cameraphones…’) however the more I listen to it, the more I find myself appreciating the later songs. With most of the album being a “love at first listen” and the rest growing on me rapidly I can honestly say there’s not a song on the album that I dislike. 2012 has already been too kind to us in terms of albums, and this is just no exception (which is quite the feat if you know how much I love Cursive and The Menzingers). Fighting Fiction can be really proud of this record and I for one, cannot wait to hear more from them in the future.

- John Dykes

I was first introduced to Jim Lockey & The Solemn sun a few years back at Lexapalooza, and I’ve been a fan ever since. Their, self proclaimed, “country without the ‘O’” tunes have been a constant for me since that fateful day, so I was pretty excited to finally get my hands on the lads’ latest effort. And I was right to be excited, because Death is absolutely awesome (wow, that was a weird sentence to write), albeit a bit of a departure from what they’ve done before.

Granted, it starts off pretty similar, the soft strumming of an acoustic guitar and Jim’s soothing vocals opening up the album on ‘England’s Dead’. This softness last’s about a minute before being pushed aside by the wail of an electric guitar and the crash of cymbals, a force that continues throughout. It’s a more powerful record that’s for sure, with the boys edging towards quite a punk sound on occasion. Shit, they’ve even got a twenty-second song in ‘Sail Me Down The River’ – it doesn’t get much more punk than that!

This new found power has made The Solemn Sun even more integral when it comes to how this record sounds. I’m not saying they didn’t play a key role on Atlases, but those songs always felt lead by Jim’s acoustic and that the band were there just to provide subtle backing. On Death the band is vital. Without the band (in one form or another) some of these songs just wouldn’t be the same. In a way it reminds me of, label mate, Frank Turner’s Poetry Of The Deed: There are still tracks like those found on the last record – ‘Our Fathers’ stands out as the perfect example of Jim really carrying a song (and doing it well, I might add) – but for the most part, the band is really an integral part of the listening experience. That comes as no surprise, when you find out who was sat behind the desk.

Producer extraordinaire, Pete Miles really knows how to bring the best out of an already great band. The man has produced some of the best records in ‘alternative’ music (to use a catch all term) in recent years – including, my favourite record of last year, Great Cynics’ Don’t Need Much and, the absolutely amazing, Born To Ruin by Crazy Arm – so having him work with guys as talented as this feels like a match made in musical heaven. It’s really paid off too as, not only does it sound powerful, it sounds slick too. That’s not to say that it doesn’t get a little rough in spots, but it’s easy to give those a pass when the record is so good overall.

Death does everything a good second album should. It takes what was there and improves on it but, at the same time, it doesn’t lose any of what made you fall in love with the band in the first place. It still feels like a folk record, albeit one that comes out and hits you in the face, the lyrics are still poignant and the songs are as good as, if not better than, those that came before.

Trust me, you can expect big things from these guys in the future.

Brendan Kelly & The Wandering Birds is the latest of the many pies Brendan Kelly has his sticky Chicago fingers in. I’d Rather Die Than Live Forever is Kelly’s first wholly solo outing. To say that at least 97% of the punk rock community  are salivating over the prospect of a new BK outing would not be an overstatement. In fact, tt might just be the exact percentage to hedge your bets on.

The first thing that strikes me about this record is just how damn curious it is as a release. Stylistically, it seems to skirt around three different areas: One quarter sounding like Lawrence Arms demos, two quarters sounding as if they’d fit perfectly comfortable on a Falcon LP, and the remainder….hell, I still don’t think I’ve figured that part out fully yet. So lets look at this curious chunk in some detail.

The first of the curio-styled tracks the third track, ‘A Man With The Passion Of Tennessee Williams’, which is like nothing I’ve ever heard from the mouth/appendages of BK. The track seems to lend less of an influence from his punk roots and more from a sort of pseudo-industrial background, a la Marylin Manson. This is not the first time something dark as hell has come from an otherwise punk background (the other more recent example also comes from the windy city, with Matt Skiba’s Heavens). Perhaps Brendan’s a big Joy Division fan too? (Though I can’t see that myself).

Another example of this new approach to the usual BK style is ‘Dance Of The Doomed’, which lends its musicality from a very gypsy tinged tradition. If you think along the lines of Gogol Bordello and/or Franz Nicolay you’re going in the right direction. Both these examples, though new paths to tread, seem to work quite effectively so it seems BK is not a “one-trick,” gravelly voiced, pony.

That last point allows us the transition quite smoothly into my next point, the vocals. Here we see a less gritty, almost soulful, BK. Though he still maintains a punk rock tone, and often breaks into the growl that is synonymous with his vocals. Yet even these instances are met with a new found confidence and ability to push the boundaries of his range. In short, he’s a much more accomplished singer on this record.

The album is not without fault, though. The production is a little sketchy, but thankfully this doesn’t take too much from the songs and, as said previously, the album seems to be a mash of various styles. And although an album by no means has to or should stick to one train of thought, the mesh during ‘IRDTLF’can often come across as slightly muddled. With the exception of the more experimental tracks, the majority of the record could be used in Brendan’s other projects, which begs the question, why aren’t they? (Falcon scheduling issues, perhaps? The biggest problem when running a “superband”).

I Rather Die Than Live Forever is a great collection of songs, but that’s what it is, a collection. It just doesn’t really seem enough to justify an entirely new project with this record, but who knows what The Wandering Birds will hold in the future? What I will say is this, it is clear that while making this record Bredan Kelly had one hell of time, and why shouldn’t he? There’s not nearly enough musicians out in the world where their utter contentment, hell, fuck contentment, this is more a feeling of being elated, with every song written and have the honesty to have this show note after note.

It’s been a long time coming, but Apologies, I Have None have finally released their debut full-length and it’s absolutely fantastic. Having heard everything the band has done up to this point, and seen them live countless times, I always knew that this was going to turn out great. What I didn’t expect was to have my expectations completely shattered, and that’s exactly what’s happened here.

There’s no beating around the bush when it comes to London. ’60 Miles’ hits you in the face right from the off and just doesn’t stop. The overarching theme of England’s capital making the record completely cohesive, and a very easy listen, despite some of the darker, more intense, subject matter. Rarely have I heard a record that can go from completely uplifting, to down and self loathing, and then do the whole thing all over again so seamlessly. This intensity is epitomised in ‘The 26′, but that was just one of the many times this record caught me off guard in the best way possible. It runs the emotional gamut, and does it expertly.

The record also delivers us a more polished Apologies, I Have None. Previous releases have been far from badly produced, but there’s been very little of this quality out there. This becomes especially apparent on the new recordings of ‘Sat In Vicky Park’ and ‘Joiners And Windmills’. Both songs sound better than ever and really fit in well amongst some of the newer, harder, tunes on the record. It also offers up something different, musically. ‘Foundations’ is nothing more than Dan and a piano, the rest of the band taking a back seat. And whilst it doesn’t sound like a ‘typical’ Apologies song, it’s by far the the most interesting song on the record.

Whilst I love how different ‘Foundations’ is and how intense ‘The 26′ gets, it’s ‘Concrete Feet’ – a song about the harsher aspects of life – that stands out as my favourite. The way the music builds in conjunction with the, seemingly self-deprecating lyrics really helps the song hit home. That’s not to say the lyrics aren’t powerful on their own: “You’ll always make mistakes/you’ll always fuck shit up/you will sometimes make bad choices/and blame that shit on bad luck” is just one example of the lyrical tour de force that this song (and the entire record) is.

In fact, everything about London is fantastic (it’s better than the city it’s named after, that’s for sure). So much so, that I’ve found it hard to review. It’s so good that I’ve found it hard to find a fault. I’d have to really start nitpicking to come up with something I didn’t like about these ten songs. I know there’s no such thing as a perfect record, but this might be as close as you’re going to get. It shows off exactly what Apologies, I Have None are all about, and should see the previously uninitiated clamoring for older material and a chance to see them live.

For 25 years Costello’s whacky attempt at making a tour that bit more interesting than a usual Elvis rock and roll show (and hell, it works wonders) has laid dormant at the bottom of the ocean of one of musics most iconic figures. Seeing as I hadn’t been born by the time The Spectacular Spinning Songbook last graced this Earth, I was excited as shit to receive an e-mail telling me that not only was it back, but it had been recorded onto a double C.D/DVD combo and there was a copy coming my way.

For anyone who doesn’t know how The Spectacular Spinning Songbook works, basically: The band play some songs, then thrust a couple of members of the audience onto the stage, whilst being MC’d by Costello’s alter-ego Napoleon Dynamite (so that’s where that awful film got its name!) who gets them to spin a huge roulette wheel filled with song titles from Costello’s back catalog and are then popped on a stool to be given an (almost) lap-dance from Katerina Valentina Valentine (who, according to the liner notes, is Tom Waits niece) whilst the band jam through whichever track the wheel stopped on. Sounds pretty good, right?

The thing is, doing this for every song would take far too much time. The audience would get about six or seven songs in total, and special guest Susanna Hoffs (The Bangles) would be on a tour of waiting side stage every night with her fingers crossed, hoping someone landed on ‘Tear Off Your Own Head (It’s a Doll Revolution)’ so the band make the majority of song choices themselves.

The logistics aren’t what’s important, right? Who cares how it happens as long as there’s an abundance of music, which there surely is, with the band playing them as tight and with as much vigorous ecstasy as when they were first written, which they do.

Both the CD and the DVD feature mostly the same show (though the C.D replaces certain DVD songs with alternate tracks from the other S.S.S. dates) and whilst the music is produced to as professional a level as to be expected from someone who has been the pinnacle of rock since he jammed at London pubs in the mid-70′s, there is something extra in watching the show. It’s the intensity. It pulls you in so much, you feel as though you could stick out your tongue and potentially catch a bead of Costello perspiration as he flies through the harder classics like ‘Radio Radio’, ‘Clubland’ and ‘Stella Hurt’.

The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook does exactly what it says on the tin: It is completely a spectacular return. And, with the exception of the giant wheel, a little audience participation and some “groovy” backing dancers, there isn’t much difference from a standard Costello show, but that’s probably the point. It’s hard to outdo yourself when you give 100% every night like Costello and the boys do, but the additional features of The S.S.S. just add a little more fun to what would be a set of nights featuring some of the most fantastic music ever written. Think of it as the cherry on the cake of what is Elvis Costello live. Wouldn’t you rather have that cake with a cherry? I know I would.

Let me pose a question: If you were to take the poetic, typically English, story telling of The Clash and combine that with the angst-ridden, raw, pop-punk of  (old) Green Day, what would you get? The answer to that is The Magnificent and, In a nutshell, their latest offering sounds like the bastard child of the aforementioned.

Whilst Bad Lucky does nothing especially groundbreaking, it is a really solid punk record. Opener, ’1981′ sets the tone right from the off. It shows that the band aren’t afraid of delving into territories unknown. I mean, how often have you heard a song about a royal wedding with such awesome guitar work? The semi-dystopian world view carries on throughout the entire album, setting it apart from anything else. I mean, there’s thousands of punk bands out there proclaiming their town is the shittest, but no one does it quite as well as The Mags.

Of course, not all of these songs are about decaying towns. ‘Working Mens Club (Part 2)’ – a song that might well be my favourite on the record – focuses on the monotony of the ‘nine to five’ and, presumably, the overall hatred of having to work in a job you hate. This track also offers a change of pace not heard elsewhere on the record, introducing a hard, fast, Descendents-esque sound that would’ve been welcome more than just this once.

There’s also some real good sing-along songs on here too. ‘King Of The Denim Jackets’ springs to mind with it’s catchy opening verse and plethora of ‘woah-ing’ and ‘oh-ing’. Though a resounding cheer of “1990″ emanating from the crowd at the next Mags show is a safe bet too.

Honestly, there’s very little wrong with Bad Lucky. Alright, there’s a few sketchy lyrics here and there but, more than any record I’ve heard recently, Bad Lucky has a real old school punk swagger about it. A real nostalgia, not all of which is derived from those songs with dates for titles.

“They seem content in sticking with usual topics such as, well, women, work and whiskey…”

This review should have come out a good few days earlier, but, in true Lucero style, I spent my time drinking as much as humanly possible, and watching a lot of good live music. Perhaps not the most professional approach, but I’m sure the boys would understand. Women & Work is the ninth (if you include The Attic Tapes) full length album from, Memphis’ heavy drinking Southern Punks, Lucero, and it’s arguably their best yet.

The first thing I noticed, when I took to some nearby woodland areas to walk around and listen to this album, was just how goddamn incredible the production is. Once again, Ted Hutt was behind the desk during the whole process and he has brought the best out of the band. Whether it be the crisp acoustic guitars on ‘Who You Waiting On?’ (a song which, kind of strangely, is reminiscent of a Jack Johnson track. Ya know, if JJ drank bourbon and scotch daily and wasn’t a massive pansy) or how he brings forward the bass on ‘I Can’t Stand To Leave You’ (a real old school sounding Lucero song) and utilizes the E.Q to perfection, giving the bass a full chunky sound which echoes the sombre subject matter.

With that said, Women & Work doesn’t do much really in terms of progression in this sense. They seem content in sticking with usual topics such as, well, women, work and whiskey, but Lucero tackle these points so well it’d seem insane to waste their talent on anything else.

To say Ben Nichols’ vocals were in any way mellifluous probably wouldn’t be apt, but with each release he progresses significantly and, arguably, has done so more with W&W than ever before. He’s taken a much more soulful approach to his tonality, whilst still maintaining the synonymous whiskey soaked, gravely tones that make him one of the most open and genuine singers in the ‘punk’ scene.

Musically the band seem to have let the country elements to their music fall by the way side a little, with the exception of certain songs such as ‘When I Was Young’. Instead, they have adopted more of a R n’ B/Rock n’ Roll feel, employing these influences to create a much more upbeat Lucero sound.

Lucero used to be the band I’d turn to in hard times of depression, locking myself away, sitting in the darkness, whilst working through a bottle of cheap whiskey. Now they’re the band that push me to unlock my doors, get out into the light…whilst still drinking a shit load of whiskey.