An interview from the Vice annual Fashion issue.
We Want War
Mathew Stone & These New Puritans Talk About Fashion Music And Art
Mathew Stone is an artist who founded the !WOWOW! collective and has exhibited his work internationally. He is much loved by a fashion world which he has always shied away from preferring his work to stand alone and speak for itself.
These New Puritan’s are so loved by planet fashion that Hedi Slimane got them to soundtrack his 2007 Dior Homme Show and in the band’s drummer, George Barnett, found a young muse. George himself has gone on to model and design himself but the band have continued to shy away from a fashion world so in thrall to them preferring to let their music stand alone and speak for itself.
Are you beginning to see what we’ve done here? Mathew shot Jack and George Barnett, the band’s creative nucleus, exclusively for this issue.
Vice: So did you guys know each other before this photo was taken?
Mathew Stone: We’d never met but I’d been into them since the first time I saw them play at DURR.. It was obvious that they had very strong ideas which many band’s don’t. Concepts like mixing archaism and futurism by playing weird old woodwind instruments on the same track they had synths all over the place immediately positioned them almost beyond time rather than being led by it.
George Barnett: Taking this photo was the first time that we had met Mathew and whatever pre-conceived notions of him being a hyper-pretentious art guy that some people might have they should forget about. He was just really nice and very creative. He actually seemed quite nervous when we turned up at his studio. The shoot was great though. We enjoyed working with Mathew so much and he had so many ideas that it looks like we’ll be making our next video with him.
Would you say that there is anything that your work has in common?
George Barnett: Probably strong ideas immediately executed. When we turned up for the shoot he just had this red background ready and we got on with it. As a band we have ides that we go into the studio with and just record. We never jam. Jamming probably encapsulates everything I hate about music.
Mathew Stone: Yeah, the pursuit of strong, interesting ideas in their music was a definite motivation for me wanting to work with the band. Most bands are chickenshit, the first second someone tells them that if they do something in a certain way they will get more money they jump at it. I don’t think These New Puritans have ever done that. They have fought to be in place where they can do whatever they want and that in itself is admirable. I appreciate people who are committed to making things in that way.
You are both linked to fashion but don’t seem to let it lead the stuff you do.
George Barnett: For me they are just fairly separate things.
Mathew Stone: The band have made music for Hedi Slimane’s catwalk shows and George fronts campaigns for people like Lanvin as a model so they are always going to be linked to fashion but they do seem to see the two things as very separate pursuits. Similarly, while I am interested in clothes and think that fashion is just as vital a creative pursuit as any other form I have never shot fashion photography as I have never been interested in selling clothes or being a part of the industry itself. I think that the people that are able to successfully operate within the confines of the fashion world without being creatively compromised are the people to be celebrated though and the band certainly fulfil that criteria.
Monday, 19 April 2010
Vice V8n4 Record Reviews
The Black Keys
Brothers
V2
5 This is one of those records that is being touted as “the album they always wanted make”. What does that even mean? That you never wanted to make the other five? Those just happened to slip out by mistake there? Hollow pre-release rhetoric plus the presence of Danger Mouse equals mid-career crisis.
Perry Nutkins
The Bastard Noise/The Endless Blockade
The Red List
20 Buck Spin
9 Where would you guys be without us telling you to go buy a Bastard Noise-related record every thirty days or so huh? There are, in fact, lots of reasons to purchase this latest missive from Eric Wood’s ongoing adventure in sonic destruction. First up the Bastard Noise side features Danny Walker on live drums. Yep, that’s Danny Walker who used to play in Phobia, so you should already know how brutal it’s going to sound. On top of that you get Toronto’s Endless Blockade weighing in with three tracks, two of which are up at the 15 minute mark each so don’t go mentioning powerviolence around those guys. Yet, another essential skull release.
Bustah Nut
Broken Social Scene
Forgiveness Rock Record
V2
5 If someone had left the gas on while cooking a vegan bean-curd soup during the recording of this record and simultaneously lit up a limp, hemp paper rollie they would have literally wiped out a whole musical genre. This album features guys and gals from Metric, The Sea & Cake, Feist, Stars, The Weakerthans and even one of the dudes from Death From Above 1979. Yep, just think: one little spark and kaboom! No more whinging aboot feelings over too many instruments than is strictly required to play pop music ever again. In fact scratch that disaster fantasy. The tribute album is too much to even bear thinking aboot.
Barry Shandling
Harlem
Hippies
Matador
5 These guys got the whole nowhere-one-day-huger-than-a-really-huge-thing-the-next treatment courtesy of the golden handshake of hype: a fawning Pitchfork write up. However, the name of the guy who catapulted Harlem and their so-so lo-fi pop from obscurity to ubiquity is probably of greater note than the band’s music: Roque Strew. What kind of a name is that? He must be a robot. This adds further evidence to my theory that Pitchfork is not a website created by humans but a piece of software that causes indie-record buying impulses in weak-willed, hormonal teenagers transmitted orally via lightbeams.
Professor Y
Elephant 9
Walk The Nile
Rune Gammofon
8 Woah. This is like some mythical long-lost bootleg tape of an improvised session that Klaus Dinger and Rick Wakeman never had. Equal parts motorik stoicism and unhinged keyboard pomp that sails mighty close to being awful but somehow never deviates from being wholly engrossing.
Mont Cowbell
Trash Kit
Trash Kit
Upset The Rhythm
7 I still haven’t actually seen these guys play yet which, seeing as I live in London where they seem to play daily and twice a day at weekends, is quite an achievement. Listening to this stark debut though they can at least feel confident that they have blown any lo-fi competition they have clean out of the water by sounding so stripped back that sounds like Trash Kit’s instruments consist of a dustbin and some shoestrings stretched over an old box. Some lovely harmonies bring the whole mess together rescuing it all from the scrap heap in a touchingly DIY manner.
Billy Bunter
Chris Leo’s Vague Angels
The Sunny Day I Caught Tintarella Di Luna For A Picnic At The Cemetary
Expect Candy Records
8 OK, lets get clear up the three elephants currently stampeding around the room. 1) Yes, this is Ted Leo’s brother, 2) yes, that album title is pretty nauseatingly convoluted and 3) yes, that sleeve is equally sickeningly twee. Despite all of these facts being true I unequivocally love this record to bits simply for existing. Native Nod, The Van Pelt and The Lapse make up a body of work so perfect in my book that they allow the person who made them license to do whatever he damn likes. Chris Leo could drive a tricycle naked up and down outside my grandparent’s retirement home every day from here ‘till eternity and I’d still buy his records and love every second of them.
Sultan Of Sentiment
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
The Brutalist Bricks
Matador
7 Not often you get two separate albums by a pair of brothers reviewed in the same column. Well this is your lucky month. Here is Chris Leo’s slightly better known and equally nasally imposing brother Ted’s latest offering with his backing outfit The Pharmacists. It ploughs similar thoughtful, indie-rock-with-big-words territory as Chris’s Vague Angels record and even though he was in Citizen’s Arrest I was never a huge Chisel fan so this get’s a point less. Sorry Ted.
Puzzle Head
Roky Erikson & Okkervil River
True Love Casts Out All Evil
Chemikal Underground Records
8 Call me a cynic but I can’t help thinking that, excited-as-a-seven-year-old-on-his-birthday that this even came out at all as I am, this would have been better if po-faced Americana types Okkervil River weren’t involved. I mean, Roky has trunk-loads of heartbreak, loss, pain, hard times and a whole heap of crazy of his own to draw on, what does he need these young whippersnappers around for?
Dr Doom
Walls
Walls
Kompakt
8 Walls may just, unwittingly, represent the future. Guy from Allez-Allez enjoys remixing guy from Banjo Or Freakout’s track so much that they temporarily ditch their respective previous bands to make a blissed out synth-pop mini-masterpiece on Kompakt. Remixing whole bands to create new bands might be the way to go if the results are always this good. Feel free to give up the day jobs guys.
Wolf Gang
The Radio Dept.
Clinging To A Scheme
Labrador
8 Somewhere, most probably hidden away at the bottom of a cupboard, is the only cardigan I still own. I haven’t worn it in a very long time but it is a comfortable, familiar piece of clothing upon which is pinned a small, red Radio Dept. badge. I haven’t worn a badge in a long time either. Listening to this considered, gentle tear-jerker of an album made me want to go dig out that cardigan, dust it off and wear it, and the little red badge, with pride.
Roger Haley
Ganglians
Monster Head Room
Souterrain Transmissions
8 Thirteen cuts of woozy slacker-pop with just the right amount of psyche and good-times surf harmonies to make Monster Head Room a sure-fire, slow-burner hit for the summer. Trust us, come August you’ll love this as much as we do already.
Like Move
Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday
Sub Pop
7 I set out to hate this. Honestly. I mean, look at the band name, the eponymous album title and the beyond irritating artwork. All of these things screamed bad right at me. Then I got sent an actual physical copy of the album in the post and flipped over the puke-inducing front sleeve to discover a bunch of fun sketches and doodles on the back. This swayed me in to actually putting the thing on and whaddayaknow? Perfectly formed nuggets of Raspberries style power-pop! Let that be a lesson to you PR’s: send out real records and not MP3 download links before your stupid bands sell themselves short with their stupid artwork before their (occasionally great) music even gets a listen.
Jerry Lonely
Cocorosie
Grey Oceans
PIAS
6 Crikey. The Casady sisters always looked a little fruity but on the cover of this one they’ve gone hog-wild with the kooky. They could be one of those Terrorizer bands that look like they are made up of guys who wouldn’t even get cast as extras for the last Mortiis video. And the music isn’t a whole heap better. Remember girls: there used to be a “folk” at the end of the “freak” back in 2006.
Alex Petri-Dish
Damian Jurado
Saint Bartlett
Secretly Canadian
8 Where once Jurado’s songs were stark, painful snapshots of love and loss set to bare acoustic guitar accompanied by a plaintive, haunting voice you now get stark, painful snapshots of love and loss set to a full band and accompanied by a plaintive, haunting voice. As chillingly brilliant and worthy of compare to Molina and Oldham as he ever was.
Saint Huck
Televison Personalities
A Memory Is Better Than Nothing
Rocket Girl
8 Is Dan Treacy the original Pete Doherty? Or does that honour belong to Peter Perret? Who gives a crap. The TVPs always have, and on the strength of this latest set, always will have the knack of turning whatever drama Dan has boiling on the backburner into pure pop joy. So forget all the noise and go buy this record to help pay your dues to a minor modern British institution.
Dorian Gay
Brothers
V2
5 This is one of those records that is being touted as “the album they always wanted make”. What does that even mean? That you never wanted to make the other five? Those just happened to slip out by mistake there? Hollow pre-release rhetoric plus the presence of Danger Mouse equals mid-career crisis.
Perry Nutkins
The Bastard Noise/The Endless Blockade
The Red List
20 Buck Spin
9 Where would you guys be without us telling you to go buy a Bastard Noise-related record every thirty days or so huh? There are, in fact, lots of reasons to purchase this latest missive from Eric Wood’s ongoing adventure in sonic destruction. First up the Bastard Noise side features Danny Walker on live drums. Yep, that’s Danny Walker who used to play in Phobia, so you should already know how brutal it’s going to sound. On top of that you get Toronto’s Endless Blockade weighing in with three tracks, two of which are up at the 15 minute mark each so don’t go mentioning powerviolence around those guys. Yet, another essential skull release.
Bustah Nut
Broken Social Scene
Forgiveness Rock Record
V2
5 If someone had left the gas on while cooking a vegan bean-curd soup during the recording of this record and simultaneously lit up a limp, hemp paper rollie they would have literally wiped out a whole musical genre. This album features guys and gals from Metric, The Sea & Cake, Feist, Stars, The Weakerthans and even one of the dudes from Death From Above 1979. Yep, just think: one little spark and kaboom! No more whinging aboot feelings over too many instruments than is strictly required to play pop music ever again. In fact scratch that disaster fantasy. The tribute album is too much to even bear thinking aboot.
Barry Shandling
Harlem
Hippies
Matador
5 These guys got the whole nowhere-one-day-huger-than-a-really-huge-thing-the-next treatment courtesy of the golden handshake of hype: a fawning Pitchfork write up. However, the name of the guy who catapulted Harlem and their so-so lo-fi pop from obscurity to ubiquity is probably of greater note than the band’s music: Roque Strew. What kind of a name is that? He must be a robot. This adds further evidence to my theory that Pitchfork is not a website created by humans but a piece of software that causes indie-record buying impulses in weak-willed, hormonal teenagers transmitted orally via lightbeams.
Professor Y
Elephant 9
Walk The Nile
Rune Gammofon
8 Woah. This is like some mythical long-lost bootleg tape of an improvised session that Klaus Dinger and Rick Wakeman never had. Equal parts motorik stoicism and unhinged keyboard pomp that sails mighty close to being awful but somehow never deviates from being wholly engrossing.
Mont Cowbell
Trash Kit
Trash Kit
Upset The Rhythm
7 I still haven’t actually seen these guys play yet which, seeing as I live in London where they seem to play daily and twice a day at weekends, is quite an achievement. Listening to this stark debut though they can at least feel confident that they have blown any lo-fi competition they have clean out of the water by sounding so stripped back that sounds like Trash Kit’s instruments consist of a dustbin and some shoestrings stretched over an old box. Some lovely harmonies bring the whole mess together rescuing it all from the scrap heap in a touchingly DIY manner.
Billy Bunter
Chris Leo’s Vague Angels
The Sunny Day I Caught Tintarella Di Luna For A Picnic At The Cemetary
Expect Candy Records
8 OK, lets get clear up the three elephants currently stampeding around the room. 1) Yes, this is Ted Leo’s brother, 2) yes, that album title is pretty nauseatingly convoluted and 3) yes, that sleeve is equally sickeningly twee. Despite all of these facts being true I unequivocally love this record to bits simply for existing. Native Nod, The Van Pelt and The Lapse make up a body of work so perfect in my book that they allow the person who made them license to do whatever he damn likes. Chris Leo could drive a tricycle naked up and down outside my grandparent’s retirement home every day from here ‘till eternity and I’d still buy his records and love every second of them.
Sultan Of Sentiment
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
The Brutalist Bricks
Matador
7 Not often you get two separate albums by a pair of brothers reviewed in the same column. Well this is your lucky month. Here is Chris Leo’s slightly better known and equally nasally imposing brother Ted’s latest offering with his backing outfit The Pharmacists. It ploughs similar thoughtful, indie-rock-with-big-words territory as Chris’s Vague Angels record and even though he was in Citizen’s Arrest I was never a huge Chisel fan so this get’s a point less. Sorry Ted.
Puzzle Head
Roky Erikson & Okkervil River
True Love Casts Out All Evil
Chemikal Underground Records
8 Call me a cynic but I can’t help thinking that, excited-as-a-seven-year-old-on-his-birthday that this even came out at all as I am, this would have been better if po-faced Americana types Okkervil River weren’t involved. I mean, Roky has trunk-loads of heartbreak, loss, pain, hard times and a whole heap of crazy of his own to draw on, what does he need these young whippersnappers around for?
Dr Doom
Walls
Walls
Kompakt
8 Walls may just, unwittingly, represent the future. Guy from Allez-Allez enjoys remixing guy from Banjo Or Freakout’s track so much that they temporarily ditch their respective previous bands to make a blissed out synth-pop mini-masterpiece on Kompakt. Remixing whole bands to create new bands might be the way to go if the results are always this good. Feel free to give up the day jobs guys.
Wolf Gang
The Radio Dept.
Clinging To A Scheme
Labrador
8 Somewhere, most probably hidden away at the bottom of a cupboard, is the only cardigan I still own. I haven’t worn it in a very long time but it is a comfortable, familiar piece of clothing upon which is pinned a small, red Radio Dept. badge. I haven’t worn a badge in a long time either. Listening to this considered, gentle tear-jerker of an album made me want to go dig out that cardigan, dust it off and wear it, and the little red badge, with pride.
Roger Haley
Ganglians
Monster Head Room
Souterrain Transmissions
8 Thirteen cuts of woozy slacker-pop with just the right amount of psyche and good-times surf harmonies to make Monster Head Room a sure-fire, slow-burner hit for the summer. Trust us, come August you’ll love this as much as we do already.
Like Move
Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday
Sub Pop
7 I set out to hate this. Honestly. I mean, look at the band name, the eponymous album title and the beyond irritating artwork. All of these things screamed bad right at me. Then I got sent an actual physical copy of the album in the post and flipped over the puke-inducing front sleeve to discover a bunch of fun sketches and doodles on the back. This swayed me in to actually putting the thing on and whaddayaknow? Perfectly formed nuggets of Raspberries style power-pop! Let that be a lesson to you PR’s: send out real records and not MP3 download links before your stupid bands sell themselves short with their stupid artwork before their (occasionally great) music even gets a listen.
Jerry Lonely
Cocorosie
Grey Oceans
PIAS
6 Crikey. The Casady sisters always looked a little fruity but on the cover of this one they’ve gone hog-wild with the kooky. They could be one of those Terrorizer bands that look like they are made up of guys who wouldn’t even get cast as extras for the last Mortiis video. And the music isn’t a whole heap better. Remember girls: there used to be a “folk” at the end of the “freak” back in 2006.
Alex Petri-Dish
Damian Jurado
Saint Bartlett
Secretly Canadian
8 Where once Jurado’s songs were stark, painful snapshots of love and loss set to bare acoustic guitar accompanied by a plaintive, haunting voice you now get stark, painful snapshots of love and loss set to a full band and accompanied by a plaintive, haunting voice. As chillingly brilliant and worthy of compare to Molina and Oldham as he ever was.
Saint Huck
Televison Personalities
A Memory Is Better Than Nothing
Rocket Girl
8 Is Dan Treacy the original Pete Doherty? Or does that honour belong to Peter Perret? Who gives a crap. The TVPs always have, and on the strength of this latest set, always will have the knack of turning whatever drama Dan has boiling on the backburner into pure pop joy. So forget all the noise and go buy this record to help pay your dues to a minor modern British institution.
Dorian Gay
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Vice Singles 01.02.84
Perfume Genius
Mr Petersen
Transparent
8 More fragile sounding than the bones of that creepy comic book collector guy that Samuel L. Jackson plays in Unbreakable. If they were music. Bad analogy right there but you get the idea. Mike Hadreas makes songs so taught and emotionally charged that as you listen to them you actually get scared that they are about to shatter into little shards of sadness and fade out into the wash of fuzz he swaddles his tracks in.
Butch Bunter
So So Modern
Dendrons
Transgressive
7 Wow. Just listening to this on totally knackered me out. Having as many things going on in a single song as these guys manage to cram in could very easily end up sounding like a total disasterous mess. Thankfully these guys successfully channel the spirit of vintage Q & Not U with added wobbly synths. Which is a good thing in case you’re lost.
Cap’n Krunch
Mr Petersen
Transparent
8 More fragile sounding than the bones of that creepy comic book collector guy that Samuel L. Jackson plays in Unbreakable. If they were music. Bad analogy right there but you get the idea. Mike Hadreas makes songs so taught and emotionally charged that as you listen to them you actually get scared that they are about to shatter into little shards of sadness and fade out into the wash of fuzz he swaddles his tracks in.
Butch Bunter
So So Modern
Dendrons
Transgressive
7 Wow. Just listening to this on totally knackered me out. Having as many things going on in a single song as these guys manage to cram in could very easily end up sounding like a total disasterous mess. Thankfully these guys successfully channel the spirit of vintage Q & Not U with added wobbly synths. Which is a good thing in case you’re lost.
Cap’n Krunch
'Zine Scene
This is something that I did for the Red Bull Music Academy's daily newspaper The Daily Note. You can find it online here.
‘Zine Scene
The internet is, in many ways, a perfect digital manifestation of many of the core characteristics that defined the DIY punk scene that spawned ‘zine culture in the late 1970’s.
The copy and paste, staple and glue approach to producing ‘zines which gave them such a coherent aesthetic is wholly and immediately available to anyone with an internet connection. The ability to say virtually anything without being censored and the sheer amount of information that is freely available online coupled with the ability to copy chunks of text and paste them elsewhere or screengrab an image from one website and place it on another has allowed blogs to become the online equivalent of ‘zines.
Special interest blogs have become small, cottage industries populated by passionate individuals discovering and passing on information very much in the tradition of pioneering ‘zines such as Sniffin’ Glue or Maximum Rock & Roll.
While online blogs and websites allow immediate and inexpensive exchange of musical knowledge at hitherto unimaginable speed they are yet to render the humble ‘zine redundant. Scratch below the digital surface and you’ll soon find a vibrant world of small-run, print ‘zines catering for people who still like to be able to hold, touch and smell an actual physical artifact and for whom reading about new and interesting music on a screen will never be wholly satisfying. After all, when was the last time you read Pitchfork while taking a crap?
Punk was the movement which birthed the ‘zine and a massive percentage of contemporary ‘zines continue to be concerned with punk music and culture. However, great though those ‘zines are, they are merely the tip of a massively varied iceberg. The focus of this paper has dictated that we look mainly at music related ‘zines but go to just about any ‘zine fair or symposium (http://www.londonzinesymposium.org.uk/ is a great place to start investigating where they happen) and you will encounter ‘zines that deal with art, comics, literature, poetry, oversized vegetables and shoelaces. I am not making the last two up. I own ‘zines on both topics. Here are a few of the best ‘zines dealing with music currently in print.
DISTORT
Australia might not be the first place that springs to mind when you think of hardcore and punk rock but Distort is easily one of the best ‘zines currently chronicling the genre. It is an A4 sized, black and white stapled affair crammed with carefully selected fliers, photographs, reviews and columns that run the gamut from classic punk and first wave hardcore right through to what is happening right now. Issue 24 covered everyone from Rocky Erikson & The Aliens to Cold Sweat. With a wonderfully anachronistic adherance to the physical distribution of music most issues come with a cover mounted 7”. Watch out for the next issue which will come complete with a 7” by excellent Aussie powerviolence types Extortion. All information can be found at distortcult.blogspot.com
FERAL DEBRIS
Once the novelty of getting hold of a ‘zine which isn’t pre-occupied with punk or hardcore has worn off allow Feral Debris to quietly inform you about band after band you have never even heard of. If you try and claim to be a huge Simply Saucer fan you’ll have to forgive me for not believing you for a second. The ‘zine also has a regular poetry section and comes with a free CDR consisting of tracks by artists featured in that issue so if you are after a free compilation of acts like Moss, Jandek and Wooden Sjips: look no further! For musings on strange sounds check out myspace.com/feraldebris
YETI
OK, so Yeti might not technically be a ‘zine due to it’s sheer size and glossy cover but take a peak inside and sure enough Mike McGonal’s sporadically released labour of love is indeed mainly black and white. So I am including it as a ‘zine. If you are interested in everything from indie-rock to avant-garde power-electronics to strange sounds from sub-Saharan Africa then Yeti is for you. Past issues have included conversations with folks like Will Oldham and Pat Gubler from PG Six, illustrations by German surrealist artist Unica Zurn, drawings from Kyle Field from Little Wings, a comprehensive feature on Blind Willie Johnson and a Western Saharan travelogue by Hisham Mayet from the excellent Sublime Frequencies label. You should by now be wanting to purchase a copy at yetipublishing.com
WOOFAH
Again straying away from the default ‘zine fodder of punk-rock, Woofah concerns itself with all things bass related from a uniquely UK perspective. Whether it’s charting the latest offshoots of the constantly morphing UK Garage/dubstep/whatever-you-call-it continuum via interviews with folks like Untold or the Hessle Audio gang, continuing to champion grime that isn’t made by Calvin Harris with features on the Newham Generals or re-examining UK bass music’s roots with features on dancehall mainstay Tippa Irie, hardcore and jungle dons Shut Up & Dance or legendary Leeds soundsystem Irration Steppas, Woofah has consistently proved that informed, considered and informative journalism continues to exist outside of the internet and mainstream monthly music titles. Head on over to woofahmag.com for more information.
THE HIDDEN HAND
Run by a Northen misanthrope whose MySpace name happens to be ‘Nathan Awesome Rape’ this handsome ‘zine is consitently stunningly presented with screened woodcuts on heavy-duty card and text on recycled stock. Throw in interviews and features on The Shitty Limits, Eyehategod, Pagan Altar and Pulling Teeth and even rarities such as an unpublished interview with J.P. Morrow from 1997 conducted by a young John Gilbert from Red County War Ensemble and you have one of the most thoughtful and engrossing ‘zines covering heavy and warped metal out there. More can be discovered on The Hidden Hand at myspace.com/unholyhandfanzine
FODIDO E XEROCADO NO.7
“Fododio e xerocado’ translates as ‘fucked up and photocopied” which is a very accurate portrayl of what you will find between the covers of this ‘zine: a heaving motherload of images of kids going wild at shows as well as shots of the bands who are whipping them into such a state. While the guys behind the publication may be based in Brazil this doesn’t seem to act as a barrier to making their coverage truly global with photographs of shows by bands you’ve never heard of in Brazil and Portugal to spot-you-and-your-mates shots of Fucked Up at The Barfly in London. Find out more at myspace.com/fodidoexerocado
NICHE HOMO 1
A ‘zine that comes out of Leeds and is unafraid to mix articles on ‘The Women Of Hollyoaks’ with pieces on great current bands such as Leeds residents Mob Rules or an extended discussion with Oxbow frontman, MMA champion and general hellraiser-for-hire Eugene Robinson. One of the most fun and varied ‘zines to come out of the UK in a good while. Buy actual real life issues of the ‘zine and find out more at myspace.com/lonklonklonk
MODERN HATE VIBE
When not fronting excellent garage punks The Sceptres or putting on some of the most consistently great DIY shows in London with her Big Takeover nights Bryony Beynon somehow finds time to put out an informative, coruscating and bilious A5 black and white ‘zine called Modern Hate Vibe. On top of bits on bands you should like such as Ironclad and Cold Ones you also get convincing columns on why you should listen to Poison Idea and what you could be learning from the Wu Tang manual right now instead of reading this. Fun for all the family at modernhatevibe.wordpress.com/
‘Zine Scene
The internet is, in many ways, a perfect digital manifestation of many of the core characteristics that defined the DIY punk scene that spawned ‘zine culture in the late 1970’s.
The copy and paste, staple and glue approach to producing ‘zines which gave them such a coherent aesthetic is wholly and immediately available to anyone with an internet connection. The ability to say virtually anything without being censored and the sheer amount of information that is freely available online coupled with the ability to copy chunks of text and paste them elsewhere or screengrab an image from one website and place it on another has allowed blogs to become the online equivalent of ‘zines.
Special interest blogs have become small, cottage industries populated by passionate individuals discovering and passing on information very much in the tradition of pioneering ‘zines such as Sniffin’ Glue or Maximum Rock & Roll.
While online blogs and websites allow immediate and inexpensive exchange of musical knowledge at hitherto unimaginable speed they are yet to render the humble ‘zine redundant. Scratch below the digital surface and you’ll soon find a vibrant world of small-run, print ‘zines catering for people who still like to be able to hold, touch and smell an actual physical artifact and for whom reading about new and interesting music on a screen will never be wholly satisfying. After all, when was the last time you read Pitchfork while taking a crap?
Punk was the movement which birthed the ‘zine and a massive percentage of contemporary ‘zines continue to be concerned with punk music and culture. However, great though those ‘zines are, they are merely the tip of a massively varied iceberg. The focus of this paper has dictated that we look mainly at music related ‘zines but go to just about any ‘zine fair or symposium (http://www.londonzinesymposium.org.uk/ is a great place to start investigating where they happen) and you will encounter ‘zines that deal with art, comics, literature, poetry, oversized vegetables and shoelaces. I am not making the last two up. I own ‘zines on both topics. Here are a few of the best ‘zines dealing with music currently in print.
DISTORT
Australia might not be the first place that springs to mind when you think of hardcore and punk rock but Distort is easily one of the best ‘zines currently chronicling the genre. It is an A4 sized, black and white stapled affair crammed with carefully selected fliers, photographs, reviews and columns that run the gamut from classic punk and first wave hardcore right through to what is happening right now. Issue 24 covered everyone from Rocky Erikson & The Aliens to Cold Sweat. With a wonderfully anachronistic adherance to the physical distribution of music most issues come with a cover mounted 7”. Watch out for the next issue which will come complete with a 7” by excellent Aussie powerviolence types Extortion. All information can be found at distortcult.blogspot.com
FERAL DEBRIS
Once the novelty of getting hold of a ‘zine which isn’t pre-occupied with punk or hardcore has worn off allow Feral Debris to quietly inform you about band after band you have never even heard of. If you try and claim to be a huge Simply Saucer fan you’ll have to forgive me for not believing you for a second. The ‘zine also has a regular poetry section and comes with a free CDR consisting of tracks by artists featured in that issue so if you are after a free compilation of acts like Moss, Jandek and Wooden Sjips: look no further! For musings on strange sounds check out myspace.com/feraldebris
YETI
OK, so Yeti might not technically be a ‘zine due to it’s sheer size and glossy cover but take a peak inside and sure enough Mike McGonal’s sporadically released labour of love is indeed mainly black and white. So I am including it as a ‘zine. If you are interested in everything from indie-rock to avant-garde power-electronics to strange sounds from sub-Saharan Africa then Yeti is for you. Past issues have included conversations with folks like Will Oldham and Pat Gubler from PG Six, illustrations by German surrealist artist Unica Zurn, drawings from Kyle Field from Little Wings, a comprehensive feature on Blind Willie Johnson and a Western Saharan travelogue by Hisham Mayet from the excellent Sublime Frequencies label. You should by now be wanting to purchase a copy at yetipublishing.com
WOOFAH
Again straying away from the default ‘zine fodder of punk-rock, Woofah concerns itself with all things bass related from a uniquely UK perspective. Whether it’s charting the latest offshoots of the constantly morphing UK Garage/dubstep/whatever-you-call-it continuum via interviews with folks like Untold or the Hessle Audio gang, continuing to champion grime that isn’t made by Calvin Harris with features on the Newham Generals or re-examining UK bass music’s roots with features on dancehall mainstay Tippa Irie, hardcore and jungle dons Shut Up & Dance or legendary Leeds soundsystem Irration Steppas, Woofah has consistently proved that informed, considered and informative journalism continues to exist outside of the internet and mainstream monthly music titles. Head on over to woofahmag.com for more information.
THE HIDDEN HAND
Run by a Northen misanthrope whose MySpace name happens to be ‘Nathan Awesome Rape’ this handsome ‘zine is consitently stunningly presented with screened woodcuts on heavy-duty card and text on recycled stock. Throw in interviews and features on The Shitty Limits, Eyehategod, Pagan Altar and Pulling Teeth and even rarities such as an unpublished interview with J.P. Morrow from 1997 conducted by a young John Gilbert from Red County War Ensemble and you have one of the most thoughtful and engrossing ‘zines covering heavy and warped metal out there. More can be discovered on The Hidden Hand at myspace.com/unholyhandfanzine
FODIDO E XEROCADO NO.7
“Fododio e xerocado’ translates as ‘fucked up and photocopied” which is a very accurate portrayl of what you will find between the covers of this ‘zine: a heaving motherload of images of kids going wild at shows as well as shots of the bands who are whipping them into such a state. While the guys behind the publication may be based in Brazil this doesn’t seem to act as a barrier to making their coverage truly global with photographs of shows by bands you’ve never heard of in Brazil and Portugal to spot-you-and-your-mates shots of Fucked Up at The Barfly in London. Find out more at myspace.com/fodidoexerocado
NICHE HOMO 1
A ‘zine that comes out of Leeds and is unafraid to mix articles on ‘The Women Of Hollyoaks’ with pieces on great current bands such as Leeds residents Mob Rules or an extended discussion with Oxbow frontman, MMA champion and general hellraiser-for-hire Eugene Robinson. One of the most fun and varied ‘zines to come out of the UK in a good while. Buy actual real life issues of the ‘zine and find out more at myspace.com/lonklonklonk
MODERN HATE VIBE
When not fronting excellent garage punks The Sceptres or putting on some of the most consistently great DIY shows in London with her Big Takeover nights Bryony Beynon somehow finds time to put out an informative, coruscating and bilious A5 black and white ‘zine called Modern Hate Vibe. On top of bits on bands you should like such as Ironclad and Cold Ones you also get convincing columns on why you should listen to Poison Idea and what you could be learning from the Wu Tang manual right now instead of reading this. Fun for all the family at modernhatevibe.wordpress.com/
Monday, 15 February 2010
Vice Singles Reviews 15.02.10
3 Titans
College
Daptone Records/Dunham Records
0 Wow, these three minutes actually manages to be less fun than sitting in bumper to bumper to traffic with nothing to but the Shipping News or back to back repeats of Sue Perkins doing Just A Minute to listen to for 8 straight hours. Think three 7 year olds rhyming about how they won’t ever drop out of school and will get straight A’s forever on an episode of Sesame Street from the late 70’s and you’re not a million miles off.
Busta Nut
Los Campesinos
Romance Is Boring
Witchita
2 Despite now being friends with avant-indie types like James Stewart out of Xiu Xiu and whatsisname from Paranthetical Girls these guys are still basically still the same shoutalong indie band now with added weird guitar pedals and less jangle. Strip the effects away and the chorus could be by just about any band played before 11pm and the inevitable endless Smiths and Libertines records start rolling out at your local indie disco. Plus the girl sounds exactly like the guy from Placebo.
Perry Nutkins
Creed
Rain
EMI
1 I almost feel sorry for Creed that Nickleback took their AOR rock and sub-Pearl Jam stadium rock template and ended up selling a bazillion more records than the original purveyors of the totally banal rock-ballad. Can you even remember what that big Creed single was? No, me either.
Brian Blessed
College
Daptone Records/Dunham Records
0 Wow, these three minutes actually manages to be less fun than sitting in bumper to bumper to traffic with nothing to but the Shipping News or back to back repeats of Sue Perkins doing Just A Minute to listen to for 8 straight hours. Think three 7 year olds rhyming about how they won’t ever drop out of school and will get straight A’s forever on an episode of Sesame Street from the late 70’s and you’re not a million miles off.
Busta Nut
Los Campesinos
Romance Is Boring
Witchita
2 Despite now being friends with avant-indie types like James Stewart out of Xiu Xiu and whatsisname from Paranthetical Girls these guys are still basically still the same shoutalong indie band now with added weird guitar pedals and less jangle. Strip the effects away and the chorus could be by just about any band played before 11pm and the inevitable endless Smiths and Libertines records start rolling out at your local indie disco. Plus the girl sounds exactly like the guy from Placebo.
Perry Nutkins
Creed
Rain
EMI
1 I almost feel sorry for Creed that Nickleback took their AOR rock and sub-Pearl Jam stadium rock template and ended up selling a bazillion more records than the original purveyors of the totally banal rock-ballad. Can you even remember what that big Creed single was? No, me either.
Brian Blessed
Vice Singles Reviews 08.02.10
Bison
Way To LA
Claremont 56
8 Something of a supergroup featuring as it does Holger Czukay, Ursa Major, Paul 'Mudd' Murphy and Benjamin Smith this rumbles along like krautrock via a night-class at Blaxplotation bassline school. The way to LA must be a long road as both sides of this 10” feature the theme of getting to the City Of Angeles. The A side is making it there in the Day and the B side features trying to get there at night.
Barry Bawler
The Macabees (feat. Roots Manuva)
Empty Vessels
Polyodor
6 By some miracle this is nowhere near the dogs dinner the lineup threatens. If anything it’s closer to those spaced out jams that Rodney used to spit over back in the days when his tracks only turned up on things like Kitz’s seminal Countryman LP.
Basher Bishop
You Know I’m No Good/Shakin All Over
Wanda Jackson
Third Man
8 This was kind of a no brainer. Jack White producing a raockabilly legend for his boutique vinyl label. How was it ever not going to be great.
Billy Bunter
Way To LA
Claremont 56
8 Something of a supergroup featuring as it does Holger Czukay, Ursa Major, Paul 'Mudd' Murphy and Benjamin Smith this rumbles along like krautrock via a night-class at Blaxplotation bassline school. The way to LA must be a long road as both sides of this 10” feature the theme of getting to the City Of Angeles. The A side is making it there in the Day and the B side features trying to get there at night.
Barry Bawler
The Macabees (feat. Roots Manuva)
Empty Vessels
Polyodor
6 By some miracle this is nowhere near the dogs dinner the lineup threatens. If anything it’s closer to those spaced out jams that Rodney used to spit over back in the days when his tracks only turned up on things like Kitz’s seminal Countryman LP.
Basher Bishop
You Know I’m No Good/Shakin All Over
Wanda Jackson
Third Man
8 This was kind of a no brainer. Jack White producing a raockabilly legend for his boutique vinyl label. How was it ever not going to be great.
Billy Bunter
NME Radar Piece: Trash Talk
A beer crate comes sailing from the cramped Camden Barfly stage hitting a crowd member squarely in the head. Neither the band on stage nor the seething, surging crowd that are bordering on all-out riot miss a beat. Flying beer crates, and an ability to whip audiences into scenes of cultish adoration and violent chaos within the space of a few chords have become second nature to Californian hardcore malcontents Trash Talk.
While all of the bands’ members have served in hardcore outfits across the Bay Area neither Trash Talk’s hometown nor influences are cut and dried. “We come from all over California and despite none of us living in Sacramento it is still home for the band” says guitarist Garrett Stevenson, “and although we’ve all played in punk acts before if you took a ride with us in the van you’d realise we aren’t a bunch of hardcore purists. Lee (Spielman, vocals) might be playing some nasty hardcore one minute and Sam (Bossan, drums) will play some Lady GaGa the next, then Spencer (Pollard, drums) will play some avant-garde stuff and I’ll probably be dropping some soul or hip-hop”.
Tales of multiple shows at both CMJ and SXSW last year are already legend and the band will happily play anywhere with whoever they can. “Getting to play one show is awesome but to be able to play five or six shows in a day and have people turn up and go nuts is mind-blowing”.
As to the band getting crowds a little too excited Garrett isn’t convinced it’s a bad thing, “people are just having a good time and letting off steam at our shows. Sound & Fury last year might have got a bit much though. We drove there in a U-Haul, parked up and played out of the back of it. There were people kicking all of our stuff over and stage diving in to guitar amps. But it was still really fun.”
The bands’ third album, Eyes & Nines, due this autumn, was recorded with Joby J. Ford of The Bronx. “This time around we sat down and really thought about the songs. Some of them are over two minutes long!” enthuses Garrett and for a band whose catalogue includes titles such as “Just Die” you can expect another dollop of misanthropy. “I think we have the same issues that most people have in the world today. We just choose to vocalise them and people identify with that”.
A band that spends “eleven months a year” on the road inevitably have their share of Black Flag-esque road tales. “The time we were driving out of Cali to go record our second record with Steve Albini sticks out. We got pulled over and locked up for having some stuff in the van we shouldn’t have. We were sitting there thinking, “shit, we’re gonna miss recording with Steve Albini because we’re in jail”.
Jail terms notwithstanding, you’d be a fool to miss Trash Talk’s live onslaught when they return to Britain later this year. Just mind the flying beer crates.
While all of the bands’ members have served in hardcore outfits across the Bay Area neither Trash Talk’s hometown nor influences are cut and dried. “We come from all over California and despite none of us living in Sacramento it is still home for the band” says guitarist Garrett Stevenson, “and although we’ve all played in punk acts before if you took a ride with us in the van you’d realise we aren’t a bunch of hardcore purists. Lee (Spielman, vocals) might be playing some nasty hardcore one minute and Sam (Bossan, drums) will play some Lady GaGa the next, then Spencer (Pollard, drums) will play some avant-garde stuff and I’ll probably be dropping some soul or hip-hop”.
Tales of multiple shows at both CMJ and SXSW last year are already legend and the band will happily play anywhere with whoever they can. “Getting to play one show is awesome but to be able to play five or six shows in a day and have people turn up and go nuts is mind-blowing”.
As to the band getting crowds a little too excited Garrett isn’t convinced it’s a bad thing, “people are just having a good time and letting off steam at our shows. Sound & Fury last year might have got a bit much though. We drove there in a U-Haul, parked up and played out of the back of it. There were people kicking all of our stuff over and stage diving in to guitar amps. But it was still really fun.”
The bands’ third album, Eyes & Nines, due this autumn, was recorded with Joby J. Ford of The Bronx. “This time around we sat down and really thought about the songs. Some of them are over two minutes long!” enthuses Garrett and for a band whose catalogue includes titles such as “Just Die” you can expect another dollop of misanthropy. “I think we have the same issues that most people have in the world today. We just choose to vocalise them and people identify with that”.
A band that spends “eleven months a year” on the road inevitably have their share of Black Flag-esque road tales. “The time we were driving out of Cali to go record our second record with Steve Albini sticks out. We got pulled over and locked up for having some stuff in the van we shouldn’t have. We were sitting there thinking, “shit, we’re gonna miss recording with Steve Albini because we’re in jail”.
Jail terms notwithstanding, you’d be a fool to miss Trash Talk’s live onslaught when they return to Britain later this year. Just mind the flying beer crates.
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