Down on the Underside: The return to Holland

Noorderslag / Eurosonic 2009
14/15/16 January, Groningen, Holland

After the Xmas blow-out, and the world sleepily moves towards a cold and dark Winter, the relatively small and low key City of Groningen bursts to life with music industry movers, wild-eyed music obsessed teenagers, and the cream of Europe’s musical talent. Similar to The Great Escape, with its roaming, spoilt-for-choice ethos, over 200 bands played across the city amongst the historical, the raucous and the down right bizarre (ever eaten a Febo - draw twinky? Don’t.).

For three days we cavorted and jaunted across the tiny city, hungry for music and fresh experience. In typical Dutch fashion, the whole thing seemed relaxed and open. The queue’s – in comparison to recent disasters at The Camden Crawl - were better than expected, although there was absolutely no way we were getting anywhere near Vera for Fight Like Apes. The drinks prices were reasonable too, but the festival USP was an electrifying atmosphere. Sure, their dances are wonky, they eat chips with Mayonnaise and everyone rides a bike, but at night the cobwebs are shaken off as you fluctuate between the Spacious hall of Grand Theatre, to the dimly lit bar of Huis De Beurs through sprawling and buzzing streets. Hell, we even saw Rolo Tomassi play an unscheduled TV session in a fake wooden pub in the middle of the city’s main square.

Clash picked two favourite venues in amongst the thirty strong list, one being Vera, the historical home of the city’s connection with live music. Once home to a rising and unknown Nirvana and a cheap 5-gilder U2 gig, the venue itself played host to Lowline offering their heavy, ballsy, Northern twang to a packed room of eager and fresh meat and Baddies showed us what the hype was about. Other acts at the Mecca included Fight Like Apes, Firefox and uber-cool, all-girl electro pop trio Le Corps Mince De Francoise, who showed us how to remain sassy even in the face of a confused and rather warped out crowd.

Clash’s other favourite venue was the Simplon Youth Hostel, located a fair way out from the main city, and host to some stunning acts. A youth hostel/arts centre, it’s two floors played host to Vice and Warp records, devilishly treating us after a long schlap to core alternative music, including Hudson Mohawk, Tim Exile, Beardyman and Esser, although Clash gleefully looked forward to a strong line up on the second night. Elsewhere, In assorted venue’s, we were treated to Hellsongs dark and unashamed death-folk and Dinosaur Pile Up’s post rock.

The low-point (and it kills to say this) had to be the third and final day, Eurosonic, a showcase of Dutch artists, housed under the space-age Oosterpoort centre at the top of town. With droves of cramped revellers, paranoid security and enough Orange semiotics, Grolsch advertising and festival logo’s to choke upon, I felt the feeling of mellow freedom and spontaneity melt away as we were mashed-up in amongst the lunatic fans. Luckily though, The Death Letters, and new epitaph signing zZz created an energetic break from a lot of other twee Dutch folk artists, such as the dreadfully dreary Wouter Hamel and the nausea inducing Masses. In fact, we were possibly the only British journalists in the building and after battling through Dutch speaking pop music, we ended the weekend with something that we knew required no talking whatsoever; we got our ‘cloggstep’ on to bass-baiting 2562 for smooth, techno inspired sub bass, followed with a tearing Caspa and Rusko style set from DJ Gomes as a nice little nightcap. That’s if you consider a sledgehammer round your cranium a nightcap to be fair.

Dutch music itself may be slightly damp and a bit squalid, and there may have been bemused foreigners and language barriers hanging off every chord and band, but fortunately, the festival remains one of Europe’s best, friendliest and - most importantly – cheapest. It offers great value for money and a scene away from the clutches of the global US market. And they definitely know how to put on a good party too!! In fact i got completely fucking twated. Here is what i remember:

Hits:

Buraka Som Sistema: No matter where Portugal’s’ Buraka go, they start the party fire with a bottle of Kerosene, a box of matches and a sinister grin.

Rolo Tomassi: Fresh, young and certainly not naïve, the shredding guitars and singers insane growling scared the wits out of us.

2562: a refreshing alternative to the day when Holland’s pop music comes together in what traditionally focuses upon jazz, blues and twee indie.

The Rakes: Playing a few new songs and all their favourites didn’t matter to the curious crowd, who after a flat start warmed to The Rakes’ twitchy post-punk indie.

Dinosaur Pile Up: A triumphant show from brave English post rockers. Every tune sounded like it had been plucked from a broad spectrum of tastes. Exuberant stage presence.

Shits

Firefox – Low-end grunge blues sounded strong, solid and rounded. Unfortunately, the crowd were just passing and the set fell flat after three songs and the band looked like wounded guppies for nthe next half hour.

Fight Like Apes – Hugely hyped Irish band. Clearly, the hype had spread far and wide, as it was the only band of the weekend that we were turned away from. Not worth a toss anyhow.

Filthy Dukes – Unfortunately, our geeky electro rock brothers played a full on, high-octane set that no one was around to witness. During the last two songs the venue started to fill – but is was too late after seeing them play ‘Messages’ and ‘The Rhythm’ to a virtually empty crowd.

John and Jehn – thistly crap that bored me – and everyone else – to tears. Bland, flat and not pop memorable, but pop annoying.

The Blow UP: The death Set

(They're on Ninja Tune ya know! Bye bye dinner jazz!)

Presenting ‘The Death Set’: loud, unruly kids, from Australia and now residing in Baltimore, US. They roam around with makeshift instruments, packing a punch into electronic music by ‘punking’ it up to its utter limits. Loud, abrasive and sickly fun, they compare to noise stalwarts Tiger Force pumped up on Love Hearts, the excitement and energy seeping through their sweaty pores and instruments in a tangled, hyperactive unison. But it seems, as I call up Jonny Sierra, one half of the spazzed out duo, I’ve caught him at the worst of times.
‘Hi. I’m Jonny Sierra, and I’m really hung-over right now’ he burbles politely when asked for an introduction. ‘Let me go and splash my face with water’. Meanwhile, on the other end of the line I shuffle my notes and chuckle; what a way to break the ice so commonly reserved for us lowly music hacks. On his return, we chitchat idly about alcohol, bands, and the Baltimore rock scene.
‘I guess it’s really good’ he suggests. ‘It’s changed since I moved here (from oz). There was a crazy warehouse scene, and people were doing loads of mad shows. There’s a lot of spirit to it.’ The conversation flows as we chat about fellow BA noise merchants such as Dan Deacon.

Taking the DIY ethos literally, the band have shed sweat and tears, relentlessly touring and recording 3 eps and many collaborations; Jonny’s got every reason to feel worn out. But since Counter Records, Ninja Tunes rock offspring label picked the band up, the workload is easing off.

‘We haven’t had much strong label support or anything up until now. We did everything ourselves, y’know what I mean? That DIY ethos is sort of ingrained in us and our music (the band offered their homemade synth for sale on their myspace) from touring and putting on our shows. Yeah, playing shows with Dan Deacon in Baltimore to like four kids!’ he snorts gleefully.

And it seems Jonny’s excited to be among the first on this fresh, breaking imprint. ‘I’m totally psyched. This record’s been planned for such a long time, and to have someone help us push it is amazing. I’m generally psyched about everything, and its great to get help from our label!’
The conversation drifts into struggling bands without label backing, relentlessly playing out of love and hope, so I appropriately ask how he felt to support legends Suicide a while back.
> ‘Oh it was so weird’ he laughs. ‘We were playing in the financial district of Manhattan. It was cool, but it was weird to see them on this big stage in the middle of Manhattan with families walking around and suits and stuff!’ he quizzes. ‘Obviously, you can’t turn down the chance though.’



If he thinks it’s weird to find Suicide in Manhattan, imagine what it must’ve been like to hear a noisy band screaming and shouting their vocals at the passing traffic. Is this hybrid sound more of a concentration on dance or on punk music?
‘First and foremost, we’re a punk band’ he says proudly. ‘Obviously we have that big electronic element. The reaction we usually get is like kids going to punk rock shows rather than out clubbing’ Jonny slowly muses. ‘We’ve played shows with 100% dance acts like Bonde Do Role, but we’re punk all the way’ he states

So what makes the elements of a good punk show? Mad energy? Crazy attitude? Or simply just youth having fun (take note reformists)? In some circles, DS are known for serving up high octane, fever pitch shows, where kids literally run riot; blood, sweat and sticky booze. Surely Jonny has seen some insanity whilst touring.
‘Its usually kids man’ he grins, ‘its getting harder and harder to play on the floor. They’ll try to help by holding the mic stand and they’ll thrash out, smashing you in the face. It’s all fun, but those Brooklyn shows are especially badass’ he pauses, as he gulps a mouthful of liquid (presumably water!). ‘We played with Dan Deacon at this one venue, and there was asbestos everywhere and kids were hanging on pipes made of it and stuff…scary shit, but the crazier the crowd the more fun it is. It’s hard to play high energy music to three people with their arms folded. We feed off each other, the audience and us’ he says admiringly.
>
> And punk music’s core lies within the audience’s interaction, seemingly a strong part of the bands success. On inspection of the myspace site, it’s refreshing to see that the band give away song accapelas for people to download and make remixes of. After all, we live amongst the ‘free market’.
> ‘I guess it’s really the idea of ‘the more versions of our songs out there, the better’ and it’s good for feedback’ admits Jonny when quizzed behind his thinking. ‘We’ve been getting some really good ones lately, id love to hear them in a club someday!’ he laughs. And, I wonder, what with the more high profile mixes?
‘I really like the Dan Deacon remix, but my favourite has to be the Bonde Do Role one, its completely rad!’ he gushes.

The only way to finish this interview is with Jonny’s line about the forthcoming album: ‘It’s totally mental’. Clocking in at 25 minutes over 18 tracks, it’s a short, sharp cardiac burst of colourful mayhem. Go grab the ‘MFDS’ ep and prepare yourselves!


Words: Joe Gamp

official! more to do in Holland than just smoking weed

Really? What's all this i hear about Northern Europes Biggest Breaking bands showcase? (My ear actually looked like this)


>> Fear not music lovers, for a place exists that’s cheap, friendly and still rocking in the gloomy winter months. The Noorderslag/Eurosonic festival started as a battle of the bands between 10 Dutch and Belgian outfits. It’s now grown into Northern Europe’s largest showcase for breaking new music, attracting industry types and record labels from across the world. If Europe ever needed a platform for showcasing their wares outside the American Market, then this was the place to do it.
>>
>> At one point, when travelling by train across Holland to the city of Groningen, I cursed myself for not bringing ‘hard-wearing’ shoes and foolishly choosing slip-ons. With over 220 bands, acts and showcases, crammed into three evenings across 30 venues in the city, I realised I had my work cut out. In the following piece, it’ll become clear how I damaged the ligament in my Knee whilst attempting to make a dent in it all.
>>



>> Thursday
>>
>> After spending the day chilling around the student City and settling into my hostel (!), chaos broke at Dam square’s immense Grand Theatre for Swedish superstars I’m from Barcelona, who in amongst the contemporary walls of the theatre, opened up the festival positively. Queen samples and melancholic lyrics bubbled over orchestrated, big band party music. When the balloons and the clapping started, I realised shots were needed to sedate them, before I choked on ecstatic happiness.
>> A short walk away lay Vera, Groningen’s favourite rock venue (apparently, Nirvana got spotted there and U2 once played for 10 guilders), the basis for British urban-country stalwart Lightspeed Champion to display his talent in a tight and eye-openingly deep set (elsewhere, The Ting Tings played). After getting lost on route, I caught the tail-end of Austria‘s Killed By Nine Volt Batteries, who peddled sludgy shoe-gaze rock, with heavy feedback in the vein of Kyuss, at Shadrak, a poky venue down a tight alleyway. Two tracks later, we were running back to Grand Theatre to catch the crazy sine wave, Go! Team-esque Alphabeat, who raised the roof with their funky, 80’s influenced disco in a sea of aural pleasure. Half way through, I hobbled off over to Muziekschool for hotly tipped Swedes The Kleerup who failed to disappoint even though slotted at the same time as France’s Zombie Zombie and Britain’s Ripchord. After watching a rather hair-raising show, where the country bluegrass and trip hop eventually became a geeky man in lens-less glasses shout-rapping, the sweat was pouring and my calf’s were niggling. Defiantly, I shot back to Vera’s for The DO, a dischorded, wailing and strung out grunge band, peddling minor chords and obnoxious, angst vocals. Pity it was in French.
>> Alarm bells rang. I ran, well, limped toward the electronic Dutch whiz-kid that EVERYONE spoke about; Adept. It was a 20min walk to the Simplon where they played. Luckily, I jumped in a taxi with some Italians en-route. We were lucky enough to catch the last ten and boy, it was worth it.

'Urgh, where my contacts?'




>> Heading back, I split my time between 7 venues in the space of an hour; I glimpsed 5 minutes of Krakow, playing acoustic melodramas in the upstairs of a lovely, quirky pub (De Speigel). I moved swiftly to see rude-bwoy rapper De Kraan to lift my spirits, with boom-bap beats and a super smooth, Dutch spoken flow that would impress MC Solaar. Then, after 10 minutes of Calvin Harris’ neon disco, it was off to see Iceland’s Bloodgroup, a disappointment as people were turned away. Instead we subjected to chart botherer’s The Hoosiers, who surprisingly played a tight set, the mostly European crowd lapping it up; on the way to see Friendly Fires, I got lost again. I gladly saw the dirty, nihilistic and vitriolic Blood Red Shoes instead, whose set was awash with filthy riffs and nagging feedback. On the way, we witnessed The Dykeenie’s literally destroying a small pub; they were heard at the end of the street.
>> Playing next to my Hostel, Does It Offend You, Yeah? concluded many a bemused Dutchman’s evening in a raucous, high voltage show, that literally blew everyone away.
>>
>> Friday
>>
>> Friday night’s action was immense, with a further ten venues opening up across the City. Unlike the Camden Crawl, the venues were all within walking distance; except you had to walk loads and often up bastard hills, avoiding hurtling cyclists.
>> I kicked off with locals Nine Volt, a snappy, incubus like emo-core band; inexperienced, young and full of hope. Next it was Holland’s Get Well Soon. Nihilistic, drawn out and monotonous, the defeatist instrumentation and eerie presence reminded of early Interpol. Afterwards, I found myself watching sludge metalheads Kruger, strangely, in a bright white art space, with a sombre crowd of 20 moody long hairs. I quickly exit to get over for the Curtis Mayfield meets Hendrix vibes of The Heavy, one of the best bands of the weekend, with their dirty southern blues and raunchy, stomping drumbeats making a lasting impression. On my way toward Vera, I pop my head in for Miss Platinum, a Danish Ms Dynamite; quite awful, hideously generic and a touch boring. Two tracks later, I scarper for Sweden’s Taxi Taxi, whose eerily playful chimes and innocent vocals didn’t help before going to see the well established, mesmerising Cult of Luna, blending progressive rock and metal seamlessly.
>>
>> I scuttled back to Grand Theatre for Dutch heavyweight duo Pete Philly and Periquiste, who dazzled with the aid of live looping technology; the flowing rap of Pete and the jazz breaks combo fit perfect for a Ninja tune release.
>> New Killer Stars played at a cramped venue, the Oi punk sound needed to catch more attention and The Dirty Shambles, Britain’s continuation of Placebo style post rock made sure they were known. I forced my way into the seething mess of fans cramming into see Who Made Who at Vera; this time it was at breaking point, such was the case later on when attempting to watch Chrome Hoof. We ended up watching Pete and the Pirates after a short taster of jazz metal action.
>> The most triumphant gig, however, belonged to The Futureheads, who made a triumphant return previewing new material, and playing a blasting set of favourites. My knee was swollen, and I was drenched in beer and sweat. Time to go home.
>>
>>
>> Saturday
>>
>> The Eurosonic section of the event closed, leaving Noorderslag, the proud jewel in Groningen’s crown, dedicated to the best of popular Dutch talent, broadcast across Europe.
>> Based In the multi-venue capacity of De Oosterpoort, Groningen’s cultural centrepiece, the modernised and well facilitated structure held a large capacity of people, a whooping 8 largely sized stages, a maze of corridors and a wide range of artists. Kicking off in the middle was Wouter Hamel, a popular modern folk musician who combines jazz and funk to his pop structure, and I was treated to a slice of his ambition whilst I through the building.
>> Holland’s love affair with Jazz and Blues constantly shows within their pop continuum. A tradition upheld by Room 11, who mix the sounds of Paulo Conte, Miles and classic finger-snapping, bar room jazz. Watched in a large concert hall, I moved due to the filling crowd size and struggling air conditioning.
>> Beforehand, I’d been treated to David Gilmour Girls, darlings of the Dutch scene and favourites of the British press, who made a great impression to the bustling crowd. When they finish I hear, behind them in another venue, the sounds of synths twitching and bass-cones firing up; Parra Soundsystem, Holland’s answer to SMD, unleash pounding techno beats, dirty stabs and rave pianos.
>>
>> Other bands worthy of taking note included Amsterdam’s Hospital Bombers, with their tweaky, weezer type rock; brat like, ska-tinged punk band All Missing Pieces and popular, indie rock outfit Moke, the formers well polished, articulately pronounced sounds grabbing the crowd in its British-like intensity (apparently Paul Weller loves them and invites them on tour), sounding like its straight off the stamping streets of London.
>> Other standout acts included Lolly Jane Blue, singing deep, throaty country tales of bittersweet love and life, and Voicst, possibly Holland’s hottest commercial, progressive rock outfit, playing a set that’s expertly executed through an exhilarating set.
>> Finally, a short stint in the Hip Hop stage unearthed conscious, dub reggae influenced GMB, mixing Dutch and English rhymes with full fat, rounded beats, which followed spaced out, thug type Space Kees; outer worldly beats on a more militant tip than Dr who Dat’s futurist sound.
>>
>> And with that it was time to travel back to Amsterdam, and then (eventually) onto Home. With my Knee hanging off, a scummy pad of notes and a backpack full of dirty washing, my head was buzzing from the energy and discovery of new music.
>>
>> Make sure you’re fighting fit and up for a good mission, because at 50 euros a ticket, and enough music to choke a horse, Groningen should be your first port of call next winter. If you’re up for going to a tucked away location to catch bands of a likewise nature, then you really can’t do much better. So many bands played, it was humanly impossible for me to catch them all; next year, go find out for yourselves.
>>
>> By Joe Gamp.
>>

Interview: These New Puritans

These New Puritans

These New Puritans are a bit of a quasi-enigma. They have no particular form or shape, and often find themselves lost within different spheres of space and time. Creating a storm with an angular, trancey and mathematical pop formula, they’re proving to be one of the most exciting and promising bands in a short while. I caught up with singer Jack for a more insightful approach to the music, especially when it comes from someone who ‘really likes My Bloody Valentine, The Walker Brothers, Danny Weed, and Vybz Kartel’ and is currently listening to the likes of ‘Balinese chant. I'm also listening to Rolf Harris, he's very underrated’ admits Jack. Hmmmm........

There’s a fair few towns in this country with a youth scene; a small, close knit group of musical appreciators who stay focused on their love, while not much else around them happens. How does Jack feel about the music spawned in his hometown, Southend? ‘The Southend Scene almost existed. It definitely doesn't exist anymore’ he says. ‘I suppose we really should have exploited it as a media tag type-thing, but I think that would have been destructive and all destruction is evil. So we didn't and will not. Southend is just a vacuum. That is what is good about it; Southend is nothing really.’
And to have gone from playing the local haunts of Southend’s relaxed musical scene, to writing a soundtrack piece for a ‘Dior Homme’ fashion show must have been a surreal experience. ‘It was a great furious piece of creative energy.’ reminisces Jack, ‘lots of amazing studios, staying in a top-floor flat in a Paris side-street, trying to communicate with French engineers, nineteen hour days.’

It must have seemed a world apart from the usual milieu that bands find themselves wading through in search of a leading edge. Not least because it was an international fashion show, but because the whopping 17 minute soundtrack was a far cry from 3 minute simplicity and hasty art punk.
‘That was the whole point - to lose our sound!’ assures Jack authoritatively. ‘We'd never done a song longer than 3 minutes, now we had to do a 17 minute one. It's good to sound different to yourself - the music I'm writing at the moment is for mallet instruments and a choir and will be recorded live in the countryside. So that's different to the album and the album is different to the EP. All we want to do is be something else, and then something else, and then something else. All we want to do is forget ourselves.’ The Puritans are purely more than just style over substance.

Bands with such an immense intensity are bound to change and progress, especially when you take into account the punishing and prolific work schedule ahead. ‘We're touring in Europe and the uk in February and March, to support our album which is out in January’ states Jack. We’re also re-releasing 'Elvis' in January as well.
TNP are leaders in their field. Far from being content with three minute shoe gaze perfection, Jack explains how the band are striving forward to meet new goals, un-chartered and undiscovered; they’re achieving this in anything but a linear fashion and, as Jack explains, the album reflects countless new adventures in their sound.
‘Our EP was recorded by candle-light in 24 hours and was fuzzy and our album was recorded in harsh light over more than 24 hours and is pristine and electric’ muses Jack, ‘It's still harsh and compressed though. The whole time we were making it I had two phrases in my mind: "HYPER-FAVELA" and "WAVE".’The album has, I've been told, a bit of an electronica / dancehall / shoegaze / pop feel. I've managed to get over my obsession with distortion - distortion is easy.’
The new single, ‘Numbers and Colours’ has just been released; a hyperkinetic, enigmatic fusion of electronica, jerky, piercing riffs and hollow space like bass, show that the band crave something that most haven’t even thought of. They take the mundane and average observations of life, and forge an existential, parallel meaning from it.
‘Numerology is meaningless but it's good to take something meaningless and make it meaningful rather than take something meaningful like love or life and make it meaningless.’ quips Jack, who’s obviously spent many an hour pondering the worth of aesthetic gains. ‘Most bands try to make their music seem meaningful by referencing stuff but we've invented our own form of numerology that you can hear about in the song numbers.’

And this remains to be the spirit of the band; an entity of their own, lead by the often dictatorial and commanding Jack, who shouts and leads his band on stage, they shift between form and structure, normality and abstraction, linear and arbretary motion. Described as cryptic by some, I wonder if this symbolizes a longing to be whisked away to another world, without rules and constraints. Has the bands own experiences influenced their decision to not follow the beaten path?
Well, we had to re-map Southend into something meaningful, rather than something empty. These New Puritans is a mystery and I'm looking for the answer myself. I feel that we have something in common with dubstep but not in an obvious way.
We don't want to just re-create this world; we just want to make our own. In the words of Freddie Mercury: "are you ready for a brand new beat?’

http://www.myspace.com/thesenewpuritans

www.thesenewpuritans.com

Thanks to Beth at Toast fo the solid effort

:::::::::: Dirty Projectors ::::::::::::::::::::::::
















Neve too fond of the media, David Longstreth, the mad professor behind collective, multi instrumentalist group DP, talks elusively about motives, recollections and obstacles generated by the hadcore elite fratenity of NYC, when he decided bizzarely, to cover Black Flags seminal album 'Damaged', entierly from memory.

And it certainly takes balls to go against the once familiar grain. To take a classic slice of the niche ridden, often stagnating US hardcore scene and change the context of it is brave at minimum.
David Longstreth, the main creative force behind Dirty Projectors, has done exactly this with album number 6. A songwriter and busily prolific man, who cuts no corners and responds evasively to media perception: ‘I’m Gemini, brown eyes, brown hair, about six feet three inches. My music is loud and kind of unruly. Detail-oriented, but also reflects how I enjoy thinking about the bigger picture, like long walks in the woods’
Taking ‘Damaged’, Black Flag’s seminal 1981 album, and covering it for today’s more expansive and open minded music fans attention, I probe as to why he attempted such a great mission. ‘I didn't cover damaged. I rewrote the album from what I remembered of it in my head’ states David. ‘I have no idea why I did it -- maybe because it was there!’ he waves off.
Although these details are coincidental, it seems like a great feat; to take an album that you haven’t listened to in 10 years or so and completely rework it from memory is a huge task. In reality, he probably caned the album to the maximum, although he’s apparently not into Hardcore music: ‘I did cane it -- I really caned it, you got it!’ replies David sarcastically, ‘I’m not really a fan of hardcore music much, I do like the bad brains though’ he tells.
The angry, pounding riffage is converted to a more emotive, rhythmic song structure, but a constant juxtaposition remains throughout; the lyrics are sung softly, still containing the cagey, irritated and politically charged lyrics. From classic 'Police story', toned down and soft with its abrasive vocals in tact, or the deconstructed drone of once punchy 'Thirsty and miserable', Longstreth seems to dig opposites. He surely came up against the purists for daring to change the rulebook. ‘Indifference isn’t the word for it brother’ he confirms.

The album itself is like a mixture of West African Rhythms, tortured folk and aggressive math rock; sing along ‘gimmie gimmie gimmie’ has been bent into a more longing and dreamy context, one of melancholy compared to the angry, spiteful original. Does he aim to take the DIY aesthetic, and apply it less franticly? Carefully, David replies: ‘It’s not so much the aesthetic as the phylogeny, I’d suppose’, hinting towards the evolution of culture, rather than being stuck in history, forever trying to recreate a moment.
Recorded with Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor, Longstreth’s deep, intense music is transposed onto the live stage, fragrantly sombre and absorbing, with the help of Amber Deradoorian, Brian McComber and Amber Coffman to bring sounds to life. Unconcerned with meaning, message and representation, Longstreth is the ultimate mad professor, concocting his own version of musical dialogues and creating by his own terms. ‘Culinary Piping, indeed’ he cryptically replies when quizzed about the next release, not wanting to give too much away. Rest assured though, brothers, that it’ll probably be another busy year for the dirty projectors, and it won’t be long before we hear from David again.

www.myspace.com/dirtyprojectors

The Blow Up:: Friendly Fires

Feverent St albans genre mashers are funking their way to a system near you.....


I’m safely tucked up on a cold, grey winter’s night, excitedly anticipating a go-ahead txt. I’m waiting to call Ed McFarlane, bassist of funky and unwillingly cool Friendly Fires. It’s not even been six months since we last chatted, but Friendly Fires have been exhaustingly busy. I wanted to catch up with Ed, to find out what’s old and new, what’s borrowed and what makes him blue.

After pleasantries are exchanged, we muse upon the bands beginnings in the ever burgeoning hot bed of music that is St Albans, fast growing for its churning out of hardcore superstars such as Enter Shikari and Gallows. When asked if they were ever involved, Ed simply replies:
‘Well, we weren’t part of a scene; in fact I don’t think we’re part of any scene to be honest.’
That’s the pure spirit of Friendly Fires; a band uninterested by trends, fashions and cool record labels. They’re natural ability to transcend genre and seek original ambitions is executed effortlessly, probably without giving it a second thought.

‘Well, yeah we’re writing it for ourselves’ agrees Ed, ‘we don’t care about what else is going on! We don’t really, well, I don’t listen to a lot of indie music.’

We then start to scorn the way that bastardized and diluted electro has seeped into every pore of the musical plateau, grinding up all into a digestible paste; the modern day easy listening. Yes, Friendly Fires are a forward thinking band. Ed moves onto the unique, daring mix of different sounds. ‘Our sound is really compact, lots of lush melodies, with some tracks made using pads, others contain really deep funky disco elements. And to be honest, I don’t know a lot of the bands doing that. I really like the shocking pinks though!’

what’s changed for them in the last six months?
We’ve just been doing a lot of writing, lots of experimenting. We’ve just been travelling round touring. We did transmission on television as well!’

Aside from T Mobile sponsored shows, they manage to avoid the trappings of bands who do anything but write good, original melodies. But they’ve been lumped into the Nu-Rave bracket, no doubt because they display a fondness for synth driven eclectica; how does Ed feel about this?
‘I prefer labels that are about the band, not the image of the label itself. There must have been a phase where no-one mentioned new rave. Everyone asks us what its like to be included in it, it’s abit of a focal point, but I can’t really do anything about’ he shrugs casually. ‘It’s not like us to be dressed up and in part of a scene. There is a trance type element in our music that we’re trying to recreate. It’s just bubbly. Rave music to me is people playing piano.’

So, are friendly fires making a statement? Do they feel he media latches on too much to bands using electronics?
‘Yeah, I get abit annoyed about it but at the just talk about it because they need a hook’, Ed Chuckles, “Time Out’ called us ‘Nu-Rave rockers’ in the listings. Id rather people said ‘pop-indie band that use electronics’ if you were to categorize us!’ he chuckles wryly.

Of the pieces of kit and toys available, what is the weapon of choice?
‘I love using soft synths that I use live with a drum machine. We record on the most basic equipment the limitations help you make the music.’ Ed explains, ‘We’re used to it, and when we go to recording studio, we won’t bring our own speakers and mics and start messing about with it. We won’t lose any of the energy and authenticity, and what gives us the drive.

After success with the Cross The Line EP, the band will imminently drop they’re new 7inch ‘Paris’ on ‘Moshi Moshi’ records, another twisting turn in the echelons of the bands tastes. ‘ felt good when we put that EP out.’ And do they really want to live in Paris? ‘Actually’ laughs Ed, ‘the lyrics are quite coincidental and really have no link to the music…basically, it’s just a song I wrote for a friend. I don’t really wanna live there!’ (Laughter)
The trance element has the same feeling as stadium rock does.’ Says Ed. ‘Really big, healthy and epic, Paris is really stripped down, so we keep that real energy rush there……it sounds abit My Bloody Valentine, Brian Eno like, with loads of distortion, that kind of shoe gazing haze on it too. We don’t want to stick to one sound, we like to swap around; we’ve got lush ballad like tunes, really stripped down, no electronics punk-funk, then we got our straight up, 4-4 house sound. It
Without wanting to sound too contradictory, I take a big gulp of Dutch courage and probe further about electronic input. In the current issue of Artrocker they feature the ‘Year of the Indie Synth’ article, but I’m interested to see how much its influence hangs over these free spirits
‘Our sound would still be danceable, and have that punk funk edge to it’ muses Ed, ‘It would still be influenced by dance music, just minus all the layers of pads and rolling pitches. If it works it works; there’s no need to add too much to the track if it really isn’t needed’ states Ed. ‘Sometimes we just don’t want to use the synths and we just jam. We don’t really follow a set formula. I think it’s really healthy to do that, to experiment.’

Finally, when will an album be released? ‘We’re recording it in January; we’ll literally lock ourselves away!’ assures Ed. And I believe him too.

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Ten Bloody Questions

This month: Hatebeak.
Hardcore/ death metallers with waldo, the parrot, as lead singer


Introduce yourselves please
I am Mark, also known as Matterhorn to some people. Blake is the other human component of Hatebeak, he drives a bus for a living. Waldo is an African Gray parrot, somewhere around 15 years old, and an incorrigible prima-donna.

That really is a bad bwoy scream.....why use a parrot? did you teach him?
I think he learned it by imitating death metal singers. We would often play music in the background way before we ever thought of doing a parrot-fronted band. I think the music struck a chord with Waldo, or at least the vocal delivery.

Does he have the best scream in the band?
Unquestionably. Blake & I sound like wounded guppies in comparison. He must have learned to shriek in the jungle.


How much training does Waldo put in? Is he easy to work with?
His training essentially consists of complaining for food and then complaining about the food. He does his best work on his own terms. Sometimes we have to leave the mic and recorder running for hours next to his cage to get a good take. I think he's got a lot of pent-up emotion to get out.


With the band, are you voicing your opinions the way you want?
We get a lot of freedom with the music, I think Waldo's pretty content just handling vocals. There are times that he's reacted negatively to some of the stuff we played back for him. Actually, Blake and Waldo didn't speak for almost a month over one particularly hotly contested guitar fill.


Are you making a massive stand against 'fashioncore'?
Absolutely. If hipsters were more inclined to stick feathers to their naked bodies and jump off of rooftops attempting to be more parrot-like, we might be more forgiving.


What bands inspired you?
We're into old Earache death metal bands like Carcass, Morbid Angel, At The Gates, etc, old Relapse bands like Suffocation & Incantation. The list could go on indefinitely. We basically like anything that is brutal and true to the ethics of metal. These kinds of bands are a rarity nowadays. We also like some weird traditional folk music from Western Maryland, but that's more of a nostalgic family thing. Blake is working on a jug-band side project right now. I'm listening to the Twisted Sister Christmas album right now.


With tunes like 'god of empty nest' and 'unlisted', do you see avian creatures to be the alpha survivors of our putrid earth?
I think of birds as the link between the thunder lizards and the hairless apes. Evolution should have stopped with archaeopteryx.


Whats the next release? anything more in the pipeline on relapse records? or are you sticking with reptilian? We've actually had a CD in the can for over a year now. Reptilian will put it out as soon as the artwork is finished. As far as future releases, we'll work with almost anybody that wants to work with us. That is, as long as they subscribe to the philosophy of true worldwide avian supremacy. Thanks from the three of us for the interview, infernal squawks go out from the Mighty Diabolical Flock of the Beak to Seun and Don't Panic too!

Right on, Brother.

Thank to seun at dont panic for setting me up!

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