The amount of material I am stealing off of The Pigeon Post is becoming worrying. Luckily for me, he's a nice d00d and doesn't seem to mind too much. Plus, it's kind of his fault for posting so much material that I feel I have to share.
Boy or Bison make hazy, almost lazy sounding, pop music that is indeed too good not to (steal to) share. With bits and bobs borrowed from other related musical genres (think along surfy, jangly, garage lines), Boy or Bison have a wide appeal - including mums, dad, granddads and grans - with their sound which, although not overly original since clearly heavily influenced by doo-wop, is well worth your time.
They've decided to release their most recent EP for free, available in the handy box below (or here if that fails). You can also download a lo-fi jangle-pop version of Metallica's Enter Sadman over at The Pigeon Post.
When I was young, I used to listen to music with my dad. My dad’s a fan of Tom Waits, though evidently he was blissfully unaware just how terrifying “What’s He Building” might be to a young boy. Fifteen-odd years later, and I can just about listen to Mule Variations the whole way through without crying. To me, Gindrinker’s “Bob Grainger: Sexual Pervert” is Waits’ follow up.
Opening with deep, heavy breathing which is then accompanied by birdsong, the track taken from the Cardiff band’s split release with Joy of Sex (out on I Blame The Parents Records in Septeber) is a fitting example of the weird and wonderful world of both Gindrinker and the Cardiff music scene as a whole. Witty, amusing, yet still seriously dark and disconcerting, it’s a brilliant track of semi-spoken-word vocals, riffing blues-y guitar lines, and drum machine.
It’s a familiar formula (one that leads to results not too dissimilar to The Fall on occasion, for some added lazy journalism there) for the two men – Graf (also of Threatmantics) and Gates (also of Brandyman) – who make up Gindrinker, and it’s an effective one, although they do sometimes like to mix things up a little by adding some trumpet, would you have guessed?
Gindrinker are certainly no new band, but when you’re new to a city (which I was 3 years ago) it’s fairly easy to be up to date with all of the great new stuff being released, yet completely unaware and unappreciative of some of the greatness that has been around for a number of years. I’m slowly making amends, and Gindrinker are another band I can add to the “Cardiff bands I really enjoy” list.
You can find “Bob Grainger: Sexual Pervert”, as well as the great “Y Chromosome”, on the band’s joint release Split Definitives, available from Rough Trade here. You can also download “Gorsedd” for free here, or stream lots more on their MySpace.
Making music with the aim of becoming popular is one of the worst things that a band can do. Music is about expression, entertainment, passion, enjoyment; not about dating Hermione Grainger (I’m looking at you, One Night Only).
It comes as a relief, then, to read on Pheromoan’s MySpace page, in a blog post addressed to potential promoters, that the band have no desire to become big. This statement should not only demonstrate that the band don’t want to be celebs, but it might also quash the possibility that they are making the music that they are right now – music with minimal production, lo-fi recording means, and a seemingly care-free attitude to getting things perfect – because it’s what is hip today. The fact that they have been release music like this for years through DIY labels goes one step further to removing this possibility.
Indeed, I’d happily Last FM tag Pheromoans with “lo-fi”, as well as “post-punk” (avoid ‘garage rock’, though – this is another point they make in their blog post), but the band don’t restrict themselves to one genre alone. “Robotic Son”, for example, features guitar twangs and jangles to a plodding bass-line in upbeat and light fashion; whereas “Soft Targets” is fast-paced and frantic shout-y post-punk. “Theme To Cole’s Law” sluggishly drags with distorted vocals and swelled guitar chords reminding of T-Rex; “On The Rec Again” is frantic, jerky and screeching, evoking thoughts of riot grrrl (despite being male vocals and not referencing feminism at all); and “Funny Names” is slow-paced guitar repetitive-ness and spoken word vocals next to a wobbling and bleep-y synth, like XX Teens arm-wrestling Mark E Smith. Lots of bands would either sound pretentious or plain shit, but Pheromoans manage to avoid both.
They release their first full-length It Still Rankles in January which promises to be 17 tracks of unreleased racket. The band, who are "scattered around the South East, (which is why things happen so slow)" also promise that they'll be touring around January/February time.
Listen to two tracks that aren't on the album but might be a little what the album might sound like below.
Although this style of music journalism is incredibly lazy, describing Sweet Bulbs as ‘Best Coast if Bethany Cosentino listened more to Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine’ does give you a fairly accurate idea of how the band sound.
Sweet female vocals accompany noisey and bending guitar distortions to delightful effect. According to their MySpace, their debut self-titled LP should be released now, though I haven’t managed to find it anywhere just yet.
Download ‘Kissing Clouds’ from Gorilla vs Bear here, or do some listening below.
Turnstile have been good to us these past few weeks. Free Gruff Rhys, free Girls, and now a free 4-track EP from Jonny; the collaboration between the greats Euros Child and Norman Blake.
The free EP also arrives with the news of a full-length debut, (album artwork above) due out on 31st January, and a UK tour, dates here.
Download the free EP by exchanging an email address in the box below:
