Weird Science- We Are Scientists, Portsmouth Pyramids, 15/11/10

Usually-reliable Brooklyn duo fail to achieve lift off in Portsmouth...


Understatement of the year: We Are Scientists’ best times may be behind them. The Brooklyn-based group arrived in a 2006 mainstream with intelligent, punk-tinged indie on debut album With Love & Squalour. It stood at odds with the angular art-rock that was big at the time. Follow ups Brain Thrust Mastery and this year’s Barbara (yes, that’s an album title) have seen the band soften considerably into new wave.

They have managed to remain a successful live draw due to the quality of their shows and their hilarious stage banter. A mild south-coast November evening however finds the Scientists’ missing some of their chemistry and physics.

For the most part, a slightly subdued atmosphere hung over Southsea’s sweatbox. Odd support acts- the ambient techno freakery of Rewards were like putting Trivium on before Coldplay, while Goldheart Assembly’s superb show still recieve a muted response- and a long delay meant that the packed venue quickly got restless, with many fans sat on the floor.

Keith Murray and Chris Cain got a warm response when they walked on stage, but they didn’t burst on with a lick of musical flame. First song Nice Guys- one of the highpoints on the new album- feels a bit limp. It takes an early hit, With Love...opener Nobody Move Nobody Get Hurt to really get the blood pumping and for the Pyramids to live up to its reputation.

And it’s the “classics” that really fire this show up. It’s A Hit and This Scene Is Dead wake everyone up and produce a feverent response. It’s during their most well known song, The Great Escape, that the roof finally bursts off the Pyramids. These moments are wonderful, they just don’t come enough.

That’s not to say that there aren’t other high points from other albums. Jack & Ginger features some quite astonishing guitar work from Murray, His hair may be greying, but he still connects with his decidely pubescent audience. The stinging guitars can’t blunt his voice either, which carries a soulful burr beneath all the mayhem. It’s when he really lets loose on guitar and vocals that the band rediscover their live mojo. The set closes with After Hours (always driving harder live than the slightly insipid studio version) and the closing strains of Led Zep’s Moby Dick. The encore of Cash Cow is suitably electric, and with that, the band is gone into the autumnal evening.

But it’s impossible to shake the feeling that WAS weren’t quite at full pelt. Nerves seemed high on the agenda, as a tetchy audience frequently ignored their comedy, which was less hysterical than it’s famed for. They remain a superb live band when they let go. More of this please, and the band might just see better days.

3/5

Dinosaur Pile-Up- Growing Pains

Dave Grohl disciples from Leeds bring the rock.

In interviews around their inception in 2007, Dinosaur Pile-Up frontman Matt Bigland talked of the importance of a Foo Fighters show to their creation, and it’s their influence that saturates their hard-hitting and thrilling debut album.

Born from the ashes of Bigland’s former band Mother Vulpine (mixing QOTSA riffs with dance beats), Dinosaur Pile-Up have drawn favourable comparisons with Biffy Clyro, but really their music is a lot harder than that, lacking the softer touch the Scottish band carry on tracks like Mountains (attempts on tracks like Hey You fall a bit flat).

As well as the work of Mr Grohl, the band cross-breed the grunge-indebted sound of Nine Black Alps with the pop hooks of Ash. At no point do Bigland and his charges (bassist Harry Johns and drummer Steve Wilson- though as the album cover suggests, this band BELONGS to Bigland) wear these influences with any kind of subtlety, but the results can be utterly exhilarating.

The opening one-two of Birds & Planes and Barce-loner is a violent gut punch and one of the best starts to a rock record in recent memory. Mona Lisa, similarly, is bracing and may just turn out to be one of the best hard rock tracks of the year; whilst Love To Hate Me shines with its start-stop quiet-loud dynamic and malevolent glee of the line, “I’m the one who scares your mother...”

On other parts of the album, they’re a band caught between two stools. The production is muddy suggesting an attempt at a low-down and dirty album, but the choruses are arena-sized and Bigland’s vocals seem to be aiming at a larger stage. It’s muddled.

With any luck, their songwriting and ability to use a more original voice will come as they develop. But make no mistake: this is an exciting, smart and at times explosive career birth.

3/5

Essential Tracks:

Mona Lisa
Birds & Planes
Love To Hate Me

Kings of Leon- Come Around Sundown

On album number five, the Followills are stuck in a rut…

Kings of Leon have had a revelatory couple of years. Fourth album Only By The Night saw the strongest shift yet away from their Southern-fried Strokes sound to songs epic in scope and chorus.

Singles Sex On Fire and Use Somebody were the biggest of 2008 AND 9, and global stadiums beckoned. In traditional indie style, the band stomped around like petulant teenagers, bemoaning their new fans and clearly uncomfortable with this new level of success. Surely this should be their Kid A moment.

What’s most surprising about Come Around Sundown is that it further explores the stadium rock of its predecessor. Lead single Radioactive is the most ambitious piece here, carrying guitars that would make The Edge weak-kneed, while jarringly pleading, “It’s where you came from”. Aside from being unable to get that absurd video off the brain, it all just feels a little half-arsed, and herein lies the problem.

It starts in enough style though. Come Around Sundown follows the tradition of Kings starting albums with a bang. The End has stadium ambition in heaps, but Matthew Followill’s guitar work is at its most swampy and interesting here.

From here, it tumbles sharply downhill, leaving a once exciting band resting hopelessly on their laurels. Tracks like Mary and The Face are plodding-paced dirge. They feature impressive and technical guitar work, and a strong rhythm section in Jared and Nathan, but it all lacks the excitement of the band at the best.

The absolute nadir is Back Down South. It is at least brave as a trip into Good Ol’ Southern country music. Brave, yes, but utterly toe-curling. Clearly aiming for an artist like Loretta Lynn, but ends up far closer to Billy Ray Cyrus gone soft, all with a hideous “Come on down and dance/If you get the chance” lyric by Caleb.

No Money, Birthday and Pony Up bring the album back in line with Aha Shake Heartbreak-era greatness, all dirty guitars and debauched, filthy songwriting (“Come on legs and pantyhose/You look so pretty with your bloody nose” from Birthday).

But the cavalry arrives far too late. The success of previous albums and singles guarantees that this will be an enormous, global record, but this remains an album that Caleb Followill and family could have made in their sleep.

2/5

Essential Tracks:

The End

Birthday

No Money

Funky Drummers

!!!- Strange Weather, Isn’t It?

Berlin has been the musical Mecca for those seeking a more dangerous, darker vibe. It worked for Bowie, Iggy and U2, as the air of death and pain hung thick over their recordings in the German capital. However for so called “dance punks” !!! (pronounced Chk Chk Chk, just so we’re clear), prevailing gloom is not on the agenda.

What Berlin has been conductive for with the above artists has also been their very best work, and this certainly rings true for !!!, with Strange Weather, Isn’t It? Aside from anything, their new album boasts some of the best track names in recent times (anyone for Jamie, My Intentions Are Bass and Even Judas Gave Jesus A Kiss?). Their fourth LP is, for the most part, a joyous racket, despite its recording location and the shocking death of drummer Jerry Fuchs, and this event certainly doesn’t seem to affect lyrical content. The album is also far more approachable then previous effort Myth Takes. Dialling down much of the experimentation, the focus is on tight and approachable funk work outs.

Which makes the opening one-two of lead single AM/FM and The Most Certain Sure a slight disappointment. The former steals the drum loop from Fool’s Gold (not necessarily a bad thing, but hardly a fresh approach) whilst the latter’s vocal by frontman Nic Offer sails a bit too close to Right Said Fred (coincidental as the Californians surely won’t be familiar with Richard Fairbrass and co). The aforementioned Jamie... meanwhile isn’t as funny as its title suggests, and as a result sounds more like a parody.

It all comes into better focus with Wannagain Wannagain, all fuzzy, itchy rhythms and horns. It gets the party started a bit late, but still in style, begging the listener to get up and move. Steady As The Sidewalk Cracks brings the band closer to funk pioneers Parliament with languid verses surging into an explosive chorus. It lacks George Clinton’s lunacy but it really doesn’t need it.

Jump Back is another peak, far sparser in instrumentation than the rest of the album, resting on a sinewy bassline, which brings to mind !!!’s 2003 single Me and Giuliani Down By the School Yard. Even Judas... meanwhile discusses Biblical interpretation over an ever building instrumental cyclone, ending in a drum explosion, and it’s percussion that once again drives the band on the rest of this album.

When the band announced their Berlin album, this probably wasn’t what the masses were expecting. Despite this, Strange Weather...stands as their most strangely commercial effort to date, bringing back the funk without it feeling faintly embarrassing. A thrilling aural spectacle.

4/5

Essential Tracks:
Wannagain Wannagain
Steady As The Sidewalk Cracks
Jump Back
Even Judas Gave Jesus A Kiss

Too Blue

Lana Mir- Lana Mir

Jazz-pop is one of the sub genres that create nightmarish visions. Visions of lounge piano, pretentious seriousness and the dreaded Radio 2 playlist. Lana Mir does nothing to escape these clichés.

Her Ukranian background is being pushed to the fore, but an interesting backdrop can only do so much to cover musical stylings so bland they make Katie Melua look like Aphex Twin. She lists her influences as Bjork, Portishead and Marianne Faithfull, but quite where these diverse influences hide on her debut album is unknown.

Far closer as an influence is Blue-era Joni Mitchell, Mir sharing a vocal range that stretches from damaged baritone to vulnerable and airy. What she lacks in comparison is any kind of conviction- Mitchell’s appeal lies in the way she describes her pain, how everything she sings of feels so real. Lana Mir, based on this evidence, doesn’t possess any of that.

The point is that this isn’t necessarily a BAD album, just one that feels entirely forgettable and meaningless. Her cover of the Stone Roses’ classic I Wanna Be Adored (surely one of those songs that no one should be allowed near) is the clearest example of this. Lacking any of the cocky self-assuredness that makes the original such a classic, here Mir singing “I don’t have to sell my soul/it’s already in me” isn’t even vaguely convincing, sounding more like she’s going through the motions. An entirely futile cover version.

There are a few memorable moments on the record. Opener Say You Need Me, is beautifully laid back and summery, whilst Beautiful Day carries a Beatles-ish acoustic vibe, save for turgid lyrics questioning, “Isn’t life beautiful? Don’t be scared because I’m not at all...” Mir’s backing band do their level best to push things a bit further on the likes of Tears Are Not Enough (electronic drum taps and ambient noise) and Goodbye Girl (bossa nova rhythms giving the tiniest hint of an ability to break away from that jazz-pop template, all too fleetingly).

Mostly though, Lana Mir is being pushed as the star and, sadly, she is nowhere near as interesting enough to carry these songs.

2 out of 5

Essential Tracks:

Say You Need Me

Goodbye Girl

Good Night

UNKLE- Where Did The Night Fall?

There are some artists who you always know what to expect from. AC/DC will continue to re-release Highway to Hell or Back In Black under different titles, Lou Reed will continue to get grumpier until his face collapses in on itself, and Johnny Borrell will continue to be a tosser, releasing albums he will proclaim to be game changer, when the only game affected will be the 100 worst album lists.

To this group, we must add James Lavelle, the mastermind behind UNKLE. His records are filled with moody and vaguely cinematic electronica/dance music that you wouldn’t really want to dance to, whilst giving out vocal parts to an ever-increasing roster of guest artists. For the most part, it’s a formula that has been stuck to for Where Did The Night Fall.

I say for the most part because there has been something of a sights-lowering, as the best tracks reach out into new territory, with excursions into Chemical Brothers beats (Natural Selection, Caged Bird), Joy Division sparseness (On a Wire) and, best of all, sonic adventures close to those of recent Bjork records (the wonderful Follow Me Down).

Overall though, the reliance on filmic soundscapes has been dimmed, and songs in that region make the record sag in places, such as Falling Stars, and the string drenched Ablivion. It remains a shame that Lavelle is unable to leap completely for his bored sounding comfort zone.

Bravery is shown a bit more in his choice of guest stars. Mostly, A-list names like Thom Yorke, Ian Brown or Josh Homme (with the exception of Mark Lanegan on stunning closer Another Night Out, where the Screaming Trees’ man’s paranoid baritone burr suits the tone perfectly), opting for more underground artists such as Sleepy Sun, Elle J and the Black Angels, giving the record a more surprising quality than previous efforts.

This isn’t a great record then, just a good enough one. At nearly an hour, it doesn’t do enough to stop it rather outstaying its welcome, and it leaves the listener with an urge to plead with Lavelle to take more risks. However, when he does, there’s enough evidence to suggest UNKLE might be worth getting excited about again.

3 out of 5

Essential Tracks:

Natural Selection

Follow Me Down

Another Night Out

Gorilla Warfare

Local Natives- Gorilla Manor


Trend-watchers take note: things have changed. New York spiky artiness is out, and the West Coast is in.

Bands like Fleet Foxes, The Drums and Band of Horses have all risen to due prominence, and to that list, Los Angeles’ Local Natives should be added. Debut album Gorilla Manor includes elements as diverse as sun-kissed Americana melodies, wonky Foxes’ harmonies, afrobeat percussion, obtuse lyrics and a Talking Heads cover.

Somehow all the elements gel wonderfully. This mesh of styles has drawn favourable comparisons with Grizzly Bear, but Local Natives make an altogether more immediate racket. The same melodic oddness is there in abundance, but the 70s-style Californian gleam aims for the mainstream. The joy of this record is in repeated listens, where the forward thinking attitude shines through.

Nowhere is this more obvious than on opener Wide Eyes, where a softly plucked and spaced out guitar riff gives way to an ever-growing crescendo backed by the drum patterns of Matt Frazier. The languid melodies do their best to hide it, but its Frazier’s propulsive sticks that really pushes what’s on offer here, on the beautiful opener and on other tracks like the thrilling Camera Talk. The others more than hold their ground; The Beach-Boys-gone-folk sounds are among the strongest on record in recent years.

Vocalist Taylor Rice has a yearning quality to his voice that is reminiscent of James Mercer, giving everything an emotional weight, especially the delicate Who Knows, Who Cares, where he reassures a lover that “Even with your doubts it’s ok/Take into account that it’s not about to change”. There’s an honesty there that just avoids slipping into earnestness.

The rest of his lyrics carry an obliquely poetic, twisting the image of a sunset in Sun Hands into weird new shapes (“They wrap her tail/In a taunting gesture that seems to sing out loud”), elsewhere taking on a traffic jam in World News (“But right after you complete your merge, the lane you started in gets going”). These might be familiar themes and metaphors, but the indie side of proceedings means they avoid cliché.

The record takes more risks than expected also. Songs carry jabs of sudden electric guitar here, whooshing sounds there and a subtle mandolin backing courtesy of Ryan Hahn. It also manages to take switches in tone further than Fleet Foxes, jumping from quiet introspection to sheer rocking out in a matter of seconds, best found on Heads cover Warning Sign and Sun Hands.

This is an excellent debut from an exciting band, who lose some of their live intensity on record but make up for it with beautiful production sheen and ideas that reveal themselves slowly. One to watch for sure.

4 out of 5

Essential Tracks:
Sun Hands
World News
Who Knows, Who Cares