The View - 5 Rebeccas

this monday i found a note saying that The Ettes are opening for the Kings Of Leon in a too huge venue. since it was already sold out i didn't need to worry whether or not i'd be willing to pay shitloads to see an opening band. but of course i was really disappointed, waiting for them to tour europe since i got their first record. after complaining for a while that i really want to see The Ettes but don’t care about the Kings Of Leon I got pointed out that the band has an additional club gig the next day. since it already was the next day when I got this message I cancelled all plans for the night and went home early to dress up.
i got in my tight black jeans, put on a black shirt and got my black dancing shoes all shiny. because dancing and shining was what i was up to.
unsure how many people might show up I went early to avoid a last minute heavy disappointment. i wasn’t the first one to arrive and a handful other early birds eyed me when i got in. but before the first opening act went on stage the place was packed, despite the torturing “skills” of the DJ.
the first opening act was a dude in corduroys and knitwear (from now on referred to as d.i.c.k.). and it was just the d.i.c.k. and his guitar crying about his amatory failures. is it just me or is there a flood of untalented dudes with a guitar and girl problems? anyway, the d.i.c.k. had a short set and left the stage to an irish guy with green sunglasses and a laptop. his first song was the same crap the d.i.c.k. just stopped producing, the second a little better and the third definitely his best. unfortunately there were at least 5 more to come.
since both were more on the quiet side and the club is known for not having loud bands I was a little scared that the show might turn into an acoustic set. it didn’t. it turned into the most genuine fuzzy garage punk that got me dancing and jumping and shaking from the first chord on and i couldn’t stop until the last note died away.
lately I found me asking myself if I got too old for that stuff but this night proofed that I might have grown older but not old.
a quality that also can be found in the new The View album: still loud but less chaotic than their debut, more witty than silly lyrics with a stronger scottish accent. it gets me dancing now while I’d have pogoed to first record. they definitely grew older, more adolescent now, but not wise yet.
and, to close the circle, they will be coming on tour as opening band for Mando Diao. crap!

The View myspace

Lily Allen – Fuck You

yes, this is about Lily Allen’s new record. the princess of turning the unbearable lightness of being into musical arts returned with a new decree for shallowness at an new degree. whereas her début was a masterpiece in the crafts of turning the grey world outside into a place where everyone and everything is nice and happy this new presentation is about mastering the next level. the art and craft she is competing in now is getting your brain to work without spoiling the party. she is accomplishing this task by using carnival music to accompany but not distract from the lyrics. anticipated by the closing track of her first album, the little polka tune “Alfie”, this did not really come without a warning.
but i never really like “Alfie”. and so for a few seconds i was wondering “what am i listening to? and why?” when the words “so you say it's not okay to be gay well i think you're just evil you're just some racist who can't tie my laces your point of view is medieval” started to slowly sip into my grey matter. now i began to realize the true proportions of Lily’s greatness. by using this annoying music i am more than willing to blind out she made it just easy for me to ignore those funny sounds to focus on the lyrics and win a chuckle here and there.

Lily Allen myspace

Pull In Emergency - In Silence

two years ago Pull In Emergency were the flagship of the british underage music scene. whenever there was a report about school kids doing music for an audience of also mostly school kids, Pull In Emergency got video time. and you would have expected talent scouts and managers of every bigger record label in the UK to trip over each other in their endeavour to be the first to sign the band, release a record and send them on tour. but nothing happened. now, two years later, the hype is gone. Mute Records sublabel Mute Irregulars knocked it down but were in no hurry to bring them to the market. a pretty effortless first seven inch stayed quite unnoticed. the promotion for the second seven inch is basicly in the hands of the band itself. it also seems a little hesitant, not to say indecisive to release a double a side record. usually this is the approach when the label or the band or whoever is in charge can't get settled on one song for the next release and leave it to the radio stations and clubs to pick their favourite song. the decision to produce a video for "In Silence" seems to denote a favour of this one.
but both songs are stripped-down basic britpop. just vocals, guitars, bass and drum; no gimmicks, no über-production. the charm and magic of songs that can be reproduced anytime anywhere. all the passion, the emotions, everything is carried by the music and the vocals alone. all the qualities that made peel sessions so special. in the end it was the strength of the songs that counted, not their production. if the band wasn't able to play its songs in it's basic outfit, the songs weren't good. the few minutes of Pull In Emergencies sophomore release revive my excitement about a band that is able to arrange great pop songs with just the basic tools they have at hand. a quality that seemed to have gone lost in the pop world.
i'm pretty sure good old John Peel would have loved it as much as he loved all the other bands that were invited to do a peel session.



Pull In Emergency myspace

School Of Seven Bells - iamundernodisguise

in 2005 i went on tour with a brooklyn-based band on Rykodisc. i think it was 2005. i spent a lot of time on tour and the years lost their numbers and only a huge blur of faces, places, names and emotions were left. thinking about it, it could have been 2004. so let's pretend it was 2004. it's of no importance anyway. so i was on tour with a Rykodisc band. to get an extra monetary tour support they carried a load of Rykodisc compilations. these compilations not only featured a song by the band i still haven't named and will not name here but also “Sabbath” by the japanese noise outfit Mono. Mono just finished their new album “Hymns To The Immortal Wind”. but especially live Mono are an experience. it's hard to believe that 3 people are actually able to create such a wall of sound.
the only other interesting track on this compilation was “Bread” by On!Air!Library!. ok, i think it was “Bread”. anyway, a song by On!Air!Library!. a band consisting of the two identical twins Alley and Claudia Deheza and Phillip Wann. and even though the members of still not named band insisted on the fact that On!Air!Library! aren't any good and only got signed because the label guys had a crush on the girls i really liked the song. very much earlier 4AD; filligree, gloomy and carried by the harmony of both sisters vocals. their homonymous album won me over by its multitudinousness. unfortunately the band stayed pretty unknown and broke up after their only album.
for School Of Seven Bells the Deheza twins teamed up with Benjamin Curtis of Secret Machines. that and that this new band gets way more attention than On!Air!Library! did is actually the only difference between these two projects.

School Of Seven Bells myspace

The Organ - Fire In The Ocean

a lot 's been said about record collectors and music nerds; an awful lot. and most of it being true. when you read the reports of sightings and scorings of most obscure records you may think we may not deserve any better reputation. but after all and in the end, bloody hell, what do i care about what you think of me. at least i get pleasure out of something. and it's not about possession and ownership, not about having something others have not. mostly. it's the hunt and the hunt only. yesterday i picked up a package with a record that's been on my wantlist for almost 5 years now. and in those 5 years it never ever showed up anywhere. not even on eBay. so now i finally was able to scratch it off my list. opening the package right away, examining cover and vinyl and giving it a short spin at home just made my day.
no matter if it's the holy grail or that first, unregarded 7“ by an early 80s band from new zealand, it is all about finally finding it.
but even though my collection grows and most of the goals of my first list have been achieved, the list didn't grew smaller, only less obscure. limitations in number had been a matter of the labels not having enough money to make more copies. but when all copies been sold they usually had enough money for a second pressing. and a third. as long as people bought the record it was available on vinyl somehow. but nowadays vinyl is a limited version right from the beginning and i have a few weeks to decide whether or not i'd like to buy it. and as soon as it's gone it becomes a collectors item with the according prices.
and that leads me to The Organ. their only record „Grab That Gun“ was released by a small canadian indie label. since that meant that the band will stay widely unknown forever to the world south of the border and across the ocean, they broke up pretty soon afterwards. 2 years after the original release of the album a vinyl version has been released by a different label. this was 2006 and half an age ago in mordern times. even though the record is now only 2 years out it made it to the top of my wantlist now.
„Fire in The Ocean“ is a track from a just released MCD of live and unreleased songs. so far it is a CD-only release and i doubt that it will become a megaseller to justify a vinyl version, re-release of the album or a re-union. but i keep my hopes up.

The Organ myspace