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Joe Banks , March 8th, 2021 08:14 Self-hobbled and confined to a wheelchair, Luke Haines dug deep into middle England’s psychic hinterland to produce the definitive anti-Britpop album. Joe Banks reflects on a “monsterpiece” that still resonates today As an opening track, ‘Light Aircraft On Fire’ is a vicious, lip-curled statement of intent. After a brief tease of melodic guitar, Luke Haines crashes into a furnace black riff, hissing his words out like a man rapidly running low on oxygen: “When you cut your lover slack/ You’ll get a monster back”. Haines will return to this theme of unleashing monstrous thoughts, but for now he’s sticking with self-immolation and hints of a “dark premonition”, with “a pre-science preacher in the cabin”. The bridge has a bone-crushing, militant vigour, while the chorus clutches onto that initial hint of melody for dear life. But ultimately, this song is a high velocity death wish, a petrol bomb smashed against t ....
Celebración Del Trance Profano Noel Gardner , March 8th, 2021 09:12 With adaptions of Moroccan and Spanish folk music and soaring guitar-playing by Thomas House of Sweet Williams, Concepción s Les Conches Velasques have come up with something very special indeed, finds Noel Gardner This group, from Zaragoza in the north of Spain, don’t appear to enjoy any great domestic profile or have the aggressive marketing nous to create one, nor are they part of any obvious movement or scene of like minds. Spinda, an indie label from the south of the country who’ve released Celebración Del Trance Profano, say “We love great bands making noise!” by way of a motto. Only with this album, Les Conches Velasques’ second, can it be called a band per se: previously, on a self-titled Bandcamp EP from 2018 (later turned into an LP from 2020 by adding two songs), everything was played and sung by Pablo Jiménez. Now, he’s one part of a quartet, but LCV’s hypno-disco ....
Noel Gardner , March 8th, 2021 08:38 Glaswegian musical polymath Kay Logan has lit up early 2021 by releasing what might be her most extraordinary work to date – including, under the Helena Celle pseudonym, an hour-long piece for April’s lockdown edition of her home city’s experimental festival Counterflows. She waxes theoretical to Noel Gardner Quietly it fades in, making its origins almost imperceptible as it goes, but ratchets up the brain-throb drama in due course. Taking on information and context from its surroundings, you feel it could go in pretty much any direction next, and often it does. It’s been created in the service of something exciting and will improve your life, no questions asked. ....
Eoin Murray , March 8th, 2021 09:33 In the eighth edition of our column on the sounds of Irish undergrowth, Eoin Murray finds feverish noise rock, “intelligent frog music”, fictional audio tours, field recordings, folk songs and much more The Gaelic festival of Imbolc signifies the emergence of light from the darkness, and the natural restoration of the landscape. Celebrated on 1 February, the festival – also known as Saint Brigid’s Day – symbolises the hope for good luck in the year ahead, and the promise of spring peering through the winter fog. This year, Imbolc also marked the release of the Lee Lines (Landscape Mixtape), a 47-track collection from the Department of Energy label. Featuring contributions from Irish artists at home and abroad, the release loosely explores themes of “the rural, the riparian and the gothic”, and comprises everything from field recordings, spoken word pieces and raw one-take instrumentals into droning electronics ....
The Quietus , March 6th, 2021 09:38 In an exclusive extract from her new book, out this weekend from Repeater, Lesley Chow finds a history of pop through oohs and ahs One could write the story of American contemporary music based largely on a history of “oohs”: their nature and variety, their context and delivery. In particular, funk and R&B are founded on the power and seductiveness of non-verbal sounds. Lyric quotes can’t contain the shape-shifting nature of this music, in which every yelp or bark alters a song’s feel. Pop is a medium for immediacy rather than erudition, and “ooh” tends to be the moment where a song crystallizes its emotional affect. On TLC’s debut album ....