Hotly-tipped Dublin lads Autumn Owls have been in for warm critical greetings, with everyone from the Irish Times to Daytrotter giving them love for their genre-straddling, frankly jarring knack for tunes that runs the gamut from post-rock tenderness to glitch and synth via vocalist Gary McFarlane, guttural, soul-searching, blues-riddled ponderings.

Present release The Long Way Around sees previous album Between Buildings, Toward the Sea get stripped to its barest and in its exposition, it makes for some fairly harrowing moments, such as Quarantine, building from a gently-picked acousticity to tortured, piano-soaked contemplation.

The final track on an album given away for free, track-by-track, through various American blogs, it gives us great pleasure to present Quarantine to you for free download to relaunch our streaming section. Check it out in the widget below!

Autumn Owls

Your writer was at a loss for what to discuss today, before he happened upon this monstrosity of a Gumtree ad for an “indie” band in London, shared on Facebook by bastion of taste, the Quietus. Expecting, at the very least, a laugh, the link was clicked through, and this was what awaited at the other side.

We are an establishing indie/rock female band who formed a few months ago, and now have offers from two major labels. Material is written and only now need to be recorded to complete the contract. Our bassist had to leave due to lack of commitment. We are set to be a four piece band again asap, a lead singer/guitarist, rhythm guitarist, drummer and are now in search for a female bassist, who can also sing backing vocals. As the style, quality and image for this band is quite particular, we need band members who are:

• Flexible in dressing/image for stage performances, interviews, and anything else on the band. – We carry a touch of masculinity and carelessness in image and voice, the lead singer carries a low toned voice which requires similar expectations for backing vocals

• A small bust and an average to skinny figure (Has a look that could fit into the band drawing image)

• Between ages 19- 24

• 100% committed to the band

• Ambitious minded and confident

• Open minded to ideas and cooperative

• Willing to learn and perform material that has already been written (This is music aimed at the media, it is not completely about what we like)

Our influences include The Strokes, Young the Giant, Arctic Monkeys, Kings of Leon, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Pearl Jam, Wolfmother and The Who. We vary by using fusions from eastern ragas, creating songs that familiarly fit into mainstream music, which is why we are on a roll. Our material and history has been temporarily hidden due to the search for new members.

The managers are aware that it is quite difficult to find female musicians who (?) the bass. If you have any musical background or even own one of these instruments and are ready to get to the top we are willing to cooperate and try it out with you.

If that doesn’t boil your blood, it might be suggested you might be part of the problem.

The “indie” construct is not a new one. Since the explosion of DIY music activity in the 1980s on both sides of the Atlantic, the scramble for cred and authenticity has been quite urgent among clueless industry hacks in search of the next cash cow. Husker Du‘s turn toward their classic pop influences in the late 1980s spun off all manner of pretenders co-opting the aspects of Mould, Hart and Norton’s incendiary racket that worked best for them, in a odious and vague mesh known as “college rock” that petered out with the vanilla likes of Deep Blue Something and Hootie and the Blowfish. When Nirvana beamed into the mainstream consciousness out of nowhere in 1991,  it was even less time before labels were either sending trucks of cash to bands with the slightest hint of an edge to them, or worse, setting up fake indies as imprints to fool a newly-empowered listenership in dire need of something new. When that fallacy failed, it was immediately apparent that any number of knaves were willing, yet again, to take the worst elements of the music that “inspired” them, and turn it into further mediocrity: see also, Nickelback, Silverchair. Oasis and Blur? Cast, Kula Shaker, and any number of one-hit wonders. Deftones and System of a Down? Three Doors Down, Saliva, Trapt and the rest of post-grunge/nu-metal radio-rock car crash. Pretty much everything from 2000 on that the NME has raved on about, from the View to the Pigeon Detectives, have had a particularly brutal short-attention-lifespan.

So what’s the beef, then? This is nothing new, and if you ignore it, it’ll pass, right? What’s chilling here is the degree and surgical precision of the manufacture. Read it again. They’re looking for a chick with a small bust, and, apparently we all know chicks don’t play bass so we’ll work with ya for a while if you’re shit. But don’t contribute ideas you like because we want column inches. Or at all, in fact.

Managers and related staff exist to publicise and spread awareness of a band and help them run their affairs, NOT “create” a band for those purposes. They work for you, you don’t work for them. Band 101. Not only is it counter-productive to independent spirit, to creativity and to expression, it really doesn’t make you any better than a ragtag, bargain-bucket Louis Walsh. And anyone who reckons this shit is a ticket to musical credibility or any sort of lasting run in music ought to think again. Again, just look at the elephant’s graveyard of pretenders to broader musical movements over the years.

That this mentality exists is majorly down to the accepting attitudes to such horseshit mediocrity from the listening public, in particular, a growing swathe of casual listeners that leans toward “alternative” music and singer-songwriters. Look at the state of it: how many bands have emerged in the last three years that follow certain patterns? X and the Y, anyone? Strong female lead with a backing band specialising in breathy, uplifting, chorus-riddled pop. Florence, Marina, Niki? The like of Lana Del Rey? Pop rejects who read up on “hipster” “style” from five years ago, changed their tack and quickly donned the uniform to the amazement of a greater “alternative” listening public who fell for the guise. The Script? Former boyband gone Kings of Leon. Kings of Leon? Hackneyed indie-pop tropes adjusted slightly for square-jawed US bible-thumpers. It’s all so hackneyed and cliched, that it really is a disappointment more people don’t see these things coming. It’s no beef with the people listening, it’s what they’re being fed.

It is time for music to wise up and see the long-term damage scams like these are doing around the world – anyone with a few grand to spare can assemble a clutch of hapless kiddies imitating rockstars and quoting them verbatim out of context, buy ‘em a PR package and send them around. It takes real heart and soul, all of it, for you to come together with like-minded individuals, work each other out personally and artistically, and create something that comes from yourselves, before putting in the hard time to play out to people, record, and so forth. “Bands” like the example here, are a distraction, both for artists already finding it hard enough to establish themselves after all of their hard work, and for casual listeners, starved and continually starving for decent options. In a world full of distractions, it’s about time we stopped and took a moment for clarity.

Odds on, if you can’t relate to the noise somehow, neither can they.

via Establishing London band ‘The Swaras’ seeking female bassist in London | Guitarist, Guitar Player Wanted | Gumtree.com.

Local boys Dead School have been taking the nation by storm over the last number of months. Supports to Whipping Boy, a slot at the Indiependence festival and a well received single tour, they’ve definitely been a busy bunch of lads. Well, their efforts seem to have paid off and the band have just been signed to Cork-based label, FIFA Records.

The label was the jumping off point for Fight Like Apes and the Frank and Walters, so will Dead School be able to follow in their footsteps? Label founder, Frank and Walters Drummer and local DJ, Ashley Keating had this to say about the bands signing.

“We’re thrilled to be involved with a dedicated and hard working band like Dead School. They’ve really impressed us with their drive over the last year and we’ve hoping we can open things up for them through FIFA.

“We’ve built up a lot of good contacts within the industry over the years, and if Dead School can continue to produce the goods like they have been in the short time they’ve been together, we can look forward to a healthy partnership in the months and years to come.”

Murmurs in Cork’s musical underground have been questioning Dead School’s musical integrity and playing skills, but you have to say, any local act that begins to rise above the murky waters of Ireland’s unsigned band scene must have something special about them. Whether the band can stand up against the hype is another matter entirely…

Check out Dead School on their Facebook page here and see them live in the Crane Lane Theatre next Sunday, October 2nd.

Following the story of Slough’s Viva Brother so far, from their “return of the great British guitar band” cover feature breakout all the way to hearing the last track on the debut album ‘Famous First Words’, has weirdly resembled the build-up and eventual finish to David Haye‘s recent boxing defeat to Wladimir Klitschko. There was enough smack talk to generate a year of quote countdowns but like Viva Brother, the end product was an unsatisfactory marriage with the outlandish claims – the most notable of which announced themselves as the saviours of modern music, promising a revolution to get ‘massive songs’ of the traditional, anthemic Brit..or rather Gritpop variety back on the radio.

It was hard not to be a little bit taken in by the self-hyping and promises of guitar anthems and huge choruses, the bidding wars, media storm and divide of opinions. Even if you were indifferent to it all there was an unignorable buzz at the start. Then it all sort of came undone as the manufactured, mimic nature of Brother’s emergence became hatefully obvious. The greyscale press photos, cock-sure attitude, motor-mouths, often ridiculous lyrics and most importantly the Gallagher-lite sound, a formula they’ve so closely studied it’s almost impressive and perhaps in the midst of ’96 they’d have crept clear of the scorn but today, in the wake of Oasis‘ demise, they were never going to fool anybody.

‘New Year’s Day‘ rings in the album and lays bare all the trademarks you’re in for, a chorus full of wordless chants and notes that sound like a real ache for singer Lee Newell to stretch to backed by the kind of crackling tempos that Damon Albarn sprang about on in Blur’s early days, all the while with the sneer of a working class hero in full effect. They settle into a mid-paced strut for practically the entire remainder, bopping between summery ‘Columbia‘ grooves on ‘Fly By Nights‘ and the more urgent ‘High Streets Low Lives‘ which nicks it’s sugar rush from ‘Popscene’.

You can pretty much trace which exact original Britpop tune they’re going for in a sense with every track. ‘Electric Daydream‘ for example is a toss-up of ‘Morning Glory‘ and ‘Champagne Supernova’ in it’s hazy drug-referencing. “Losing your mind for the first time” croons Newell, mirroring Liam’s “Where were you when we were getting high?” all those years ago. The new ‘Live Forever’, as they’ve touted, this is not.

Even Newell sounds knackered of his Liam impression on the filler dud ‘Otherside‘, draining all hint of playfulness from it and ‘Time Machine‘, if you get that far, is an out and out clone, sounding like a Soccer AM skit thrown together to raise a mild grin out of Noel in the studio while the rest of the band come across like faceless goons hired to standby on Britrock autopilot for the duration.

What they’re evidently reaching out for is a modern half-way point between ‘Parklife‘ and ‘Morning Glory‘ but what this imitation forgets is to update it with anything of relevance. And for an album titled ‘Famous First Words’ it says relatively little that isn’t bogged down in idiom-twisting nonsense, seemingly the infatuation and dream support slots with Morrissey did little to educate Brother poetically.

Ultimately the only thing you’ll be longing for by the end is a real Oasis album rather than a pirate copy Geffen sound-alike who’ve produced this coyly calculated remake and although Oasis mightn’t longer be around, if Noel’s High Flying Birds or Liam’s Beady Eye aren’t your cup of tea there are far better tribute bands than Viva Brother out there. If they ever do decide to pack in the simulation and just fully embrace their inner Gallaghers, might I suggest Be Here Slough as a name?

Drop-d Rating: 3/10

Agitate the Gravel released their Wilderness Years single last week (hear it here) and to celebrate, had a bash in the sweet surrounds of the Crane Lane. Narwhals (accompanied by Paddy Cullen of the Great Balloon Race) shone, with a deeply engrossing improv piece that quite literally hung in the balance as technology failed all around it. Plinth pulled another rabbit out of the hat with a severely excellent set that confounded the hell out of the eejits upfront trying to dance and shouting for covers. But it was always going to be ATG‘s night, and they knocked it out of the park with a performance that saw friends, family, musician peers and gig-goers alike singing along. Unreal.

We’ve said it up and down that ATG are awesome, and it’s your turn to check them out on tour now. Until then, get a faceful of Emmet Curtin‘s sweet pix.

The Gold Standard – You People by Drop-D.ie

The Gold Standard – Riding a Wave by Drop-D.ie

Declan de Barra is a well-travelled storyteller who has been associated with labels such as Roadrunner Records and G7. His new album Fragments, Footprints & The Forgotten is an independently written performed and produced piece of music, rooted in Irish history; the third and most recent incarnation of his peculiar style which has been critically acclaimed all across the world. This record is one of the rawest incarnations I have heard of the Waterford born minstrel. Simple and commanding production allows the true nature of de Barra’s work to flow through the tracks; the cohesion of lyrics, subject and style contribute greatly to a real ‘Irish’ feel. I use the word ‘Irish’ tentatively as this record is simply not what you will expect; Declan de Barra can communicate a melancholy which is truly charming (in a sort of beautifully depressing way sometimes).

Call to Arms opens the album quite confidently introducing Declan as our gruffly intoned raconteur. For fans of Johnny Cash, Nick Cave or Jace Everett I could not recommend Declan’s music more emphatically. One could be excused from thinking that Declan has a fairly narrow range to his voice upon hearing him first, this however is simply not true; Midnight Swell is one of my preferred tracks as it utilises his talents impeccably. Sparse instrumentation on this album has given de Barra’s voice the chance to soar above his previous records.

Breadcrumb Trail is a great transition track which proves the sheer power of Declan’s voice; no accompaniment, just a slight reverb on his voice which emphasises the solitary theme of this record. You Will Overcome is a haunting story of great oppression and hardship, “You will overcome and your children will be free”; the top end of de Barra’s vocals is nothing short of hypnotic here. Blossom Tree is a prime example of Declan’s talent as a musician; innovative lyrics, overlapping vocal tracks to form dark harmonies which captivate an audience as he reveals alternating imagery of happiness and melancholy.

The rage which he can deliver in songs such as Fuck The Begrudgers is astounding. The accompaniment of a mucky overdriven guitar and eerie slide lead guitar adds a whole other level to the attitude that this album has to offer. A Stórín is almost reminiscent of Sean Nós singing, the empathy he shows in his lyrics is almost primeval, his nation’s history and music are intrinsically linked through words and composition. A heart-breaking cover of Wind That Shakes The Barley is a fitting end to this Irish infused album; more appropriate when one understands that Declan was forced to leave Ireland during the depression in the 80’s and only recently returned before moving to Los Angeles.

Aside from being a profusely talented musician Declan is also a damn fine artist and provides his own sketches as album art; limited edition Fragments, Footprints & The Forgotten can be bought from his bandcamp page with unique hand drawn sketches. There is also a free version for those of you unwilling to pay for music. Either way you must get your hands on this gem!

Drop-d Rating: 8/10

The Best of Brighton. This is one that anyone who is interested in the international music scene would be curious about. For years the Brighton music scene has been one synonymous with new music and has often been the trendsetter for ‘hip’ new music. The Great Escape, one of the world’s foremost music industry showcases is held there each year, so Brighton’s claim to be a home for music is well placed. Sea Monsters: The Best of Brighton is a snapshot of some of the key bands in the Brighton scene in 2011.

Now, to me, if you’re trying to show off how great the music of your area is, you don’t start your compilation CD with an out of tune guitar on a track that sounds like it was recorded on cheap tape recorder from the seventies. It sounds like a poor attempt at a demo by an old-school Californian dance hall act. But alas, these are the sounds of The Sticks and their “cool surf-rock” instrumental track, Night of Pleasure.

Thankfully, Pope Joan’s offering, Ground Is Shaky, follows and it’s altogether more together as a song. It’s exactly what one would expect from a new British band, guitar jabs, bouncing bass lines, and Vampire Weekend-esque rim hits and vocals. Innovative it is not, but as indie-pop goes, it’s very well done. The following track by Nullifier can be placed in the same Indie category. It adds a more synth edge to the genre, but really it’s just a variation on a theme and the same can be said for Hind Ear’s track. Here’s hoping that the standard Indie-pop ends with these bands…

Some respite comes in the form of Sons of Noel and Adrian and their quietly epic song, Black Side of the River. Almost Scandinavian orchestration gives way to an intimate, stripped down vocals, guitar and harp piece and is perhaps the most sweet and endearing of the compilation. There is something sweet about Us Baby Bear Bones’ Encore to a Fictional Idea, that precedes this, but the Sons’ track outstrips Bones’ contribution in both composition and sentiment. The upbeat and lo-fi Curly Hair has a charm to it too, and the tone of their lyrics definitely adds to this charm.

There then follows a number of tracks that are again a variation on a theme, but this time the theme is folk. They range from introspective, string driven songs like Jane Bartholomew’s Fiery Son, to the folk rock, full band songs like Salter Cane. They range in quality also, Stuart Warwick is chilling and beautiful, Bird Engine is somewhat cringeful, and Crowns on the Rats Orchestra nine minute epic, The Markov Charade/Markov Parade lies somewhere in between.

Brighton’s electro is represented by Soccer 96. ‘California’ blips and grooves along in the way electro tends to do. It’s quite a melodic track and shows that Brighton’s electronic underbelly can stand up with some of the best. The instrumental prog of Illness follow with the track ‘The Guardian’. As instrumentals go it ticks the all the boxes; the variety of parts, the odd times signatures, and the distorted guitars but besides that there isn’t anything spectacular here. The same can be said for the furious ‘Proof of Man’ by Cold Pumas. They attempt to channel old-school punk from both sides of the pond here, but all I hear is something brash and disjointed.

Drum Eyes are another 8-bit group, similar to the sounds of Soccer 96, but they’re altogether heavier which gives them an added edge, but as with a lot of heavy music, they tend to stray from the point and their offering clocks in at five minutes twenty, which is a good deal longer than it needed to be. Squadron Leader’s longwinded closer echoes The Sticks’ opener and that is one track I wish I hadn’t been reminded of…

I know I’m being hard on some of these bands, but I was hoping for something more spectacular from the home of new music in the UK. It seems to me that you could have gone into any town in England and picked out eighteen bands that sound exactly like this. In every town you’ll have your heavy bands, your electro bands, your gritty core of acoustic folk bands, your tight alt-pop bands and you’re left of centre soul/jazz/funk bands. Brighton is no different. Sons of Noel and Adrian and Soccer 96 are a notable exception, offering something a bit more than the standard, and maybe that’s enough, maybe that’s what makes Brighton shine. Yet I think that this compilation isn’t what makes Brighton stand out, but what makes it like everywhere else.

Drop-D Rating: 5/10

I was a fan of the Young Knives… Some time ago… And I use the term ‘was’ not as an insult, but as pure matter of fact. I fell out of listening to them around the same time as I fell out of listening to The Kaiser Chiefs and The Futureheads. In fact, I fell out of listening to any band with a heavy British accent around the same time and genuinely never looked back.

So it goes without saying that it’s with a sense of nostalgia, and underlying apprehension, that I delve back into the world of The Young Knives at the time of the release of their third studio album, Ornaments From The Silver Arcade. Let’s see how much they’ve come on.

Their accents haven’t changed anyway, not that I expected them to.  It’s apparent from the album opener and lead-off single, Love My Name, that in terms of vocal style, they haven’t changed a bit. What has changed however is the tightness of the instrumentation. An up-tempo track, Love My Name is tightly knit around the band’s standard three-piece structure but a serious effort has been made to keep things tight.

That seems to be the way many of the Indie bands have matured, the core of their sound gets more synced and frenzied, while complimenting instruments are improved upon. On this track for example, synths drip and move about behind the guitar, bass and drums, but not in an overpowering way. The band are still sticking to the brash vocals that got them where they are in the chorus of the opener, “I love my name. I love my name”.

The second track on the album, Woman, shows the growth of other instrumentation. There’s an almost Stop Making Sense era Talking Heads feel from this song, with the assorted African percussion, female backing singers and ‘parps’ of brass. The “look at your reflection” section of the song stands out, but I found the lyrics a bit jarring in the stabby bridge so it gets a bit of a mixed reception. It’s clear that The Young Knives are pushing their own boundaries in places, but the core of their sound is coming across as being a bit dated.

The tracks Human Again, Running from a Standing Start, and Vision of Rags, all move to further the fact that The Young Knives have simply embellished their once sparse guitar-bass-drums sound with synths and orchestral instruments without giving the songs anything special or anything new. The only track where the band seem to stray from their comfort zone is on Go To Ground, giving more dominance to the synths and big chords, resulting in an anthemic sound and the most evocative song on the album.

On Ornaments From The Silver Arcade The Young Knives have begun maturing. The core sound that garnered them success is still there, and it’s still strong. But the limitations of a heavily accented Indie-band are many and often there isn’t much they can do to move past that. The Young Knives are starting down the road to a more unique sound, but I fear they may have set out too late.

Drop-d Rating: 6.5/10

In The Chase are a three-piece Indie/Soul band from Hackney, East London. With a claim to dominance over a myriad of musical styles, the band are releasing a number of singles in the run up to the release of their self-produced debut album, ‘Listen Close’, on their own label. The first single is entitled, ‘When You Believed’.

There is a serious energy to the title track, When You Believed, almost bordering on a fury. The drums are behind this, with drummer Jim Rooney refusing to sit idly by and play one snare/cymbal hit at a time. The sticks bounce of the skins at a rate of knots in each bar of the verse and chorus, relenting only at the stops in the pre-chorus and bridge. The self-produced trio are sure to have put a lot of effort into keeping things tight and it shows.

Complimenting the drums, the bass and guitar playing is equally as tight on the track, guitar screeches giving the intro some edge before the band fly into the indie-pop verses. The level of edge and intensity of this track in a much needed progression from the typically laid-back approach that many indie bands still cling to, and . The track is definitely more of a grower than a shower. The indie elements stand out initially, but the more energetic and intriguing elements shine through on further listens. Perhaps not the most interesting song in the world, but it’s an infectious one nonetheless.

On the flip side, we have the brass infused  The Return. Sounding almost like the theme-tune to a cheesy 70’s detective show, the track revolves around the edgy three-note guitar line and the stabs of brass. It’s not all cheese however. In keeping with the more ‘poppy’ A-side, singer Aaron Kravitz keeps the vocal melody light, contrasting with the almost overpowering instrumentation.

This track seems to give a more ‘live’ feeling than When You Believed, serving to give the listener an inkling into the band’s live performance with the prominence of the brass section. First of five singles running up to the release of their debut album, it’ll be interesting to see if the band can push the genres any further. The band tells us, “each of the song’s are very different, you won’t hear any repetitive sounds here”. Well, we’ll see…