Category: Album Reviews

7SECONDS
Leave A Light On
Rise

Slapping a new 7SECONDS album on the stereo in the year 2014 is pretty amazing in itself. The fact that it’s really great is even better!

Around since the dawn of The Eighties, and at the forefront of North America’s Hardcore explosion, 7SECONDS have quite rightly earned their place in history. I first heard them in ’84, via the track ‘Out of Touch’ on a flexi disc, before graduating to their debut album The Crew. I was immediately taken in by the rapid-fire blasts, with songs about friendship, honesty and equality; there was an air of optimism and positivity to their message. 7SECONDS were soon stenciled on the back of my leather jacket. I’ve been tuning in ever since.

All these years later, the positivity is intact, and opening track, ‘Exceptional’, catapults out of the speakers. It’s winning pumped up chorus, “I don’t need your sorrow, don’t need your sympathy, I’ll get up tomorrow and fight the apathy”, pretty much sums up the attitude of this band; don’t sit around feeling lazy and miserable for yourself, get up and make something happen. I’m very much aligned with the can-do mentality. So yeah, of course I’m fuckin’ diggin’ what they say!

Musically, the band solidly deliver the goods. Steve, Troy and Bobby boldly hammer out the tunes, whilst those oh-so-familiar impassioned pipes of Kevin Seconds find the veteran frontman still singing his heart out, slamming hate-mongers and “so-called patriots” go!

A few select tracks grabbed me instantly, ‘I Have Faith in You’, ‘My Aim is You’, ‘Rage Quit’, ‘Someday, Someway’, ‘Upgrade Everything’, but seriously, having spun this album back to back half a dozen times, I’m really into all 14 songs. And any band that’s been going for so long deserves to write a song about themselves, in this case the self-depreciating ’30 Years (And Still Going Wrong)’.

A top album guys, keep rolling along!

Pete Craven

Wolf Alice
Creature Songs
Dirty Hit Records

Having cut their teeth on a number of releases during 2013 – singles ‘Bros’ and ‘Fluffy’ during the early part of the year, followed by the Blush EP in the second half – Wolf Alice are beginning to flash their sharp canines on Creature Songs. If their early material shows a band going through a stage of adolescence, then this is a huge step into adulthood, showing maturity and commitment far beyond anything we’ve already seen from the London quartet.

First track ‘Moaning Lisa Smile’ is a decoy opener for the EP – a few seconds of humble strumming suddenly jumps feet-first into guitar-upon-guitar scuzz. Relying on the quiet/loud dynamic practised by former grunge champions, it’s an unrelenting, three-chord grind. Follower ‘Storms’ is a similar beast, but with more bite – bottled-up verses ramp into wide-open choruses when the tension boils over. The hypnotic refrains of both cuts are vicious rallying-cries, with singer Ellie Roswell’s demure vocals gaining just enough grit to encourage an audience to yell alongside her (at least if their recent Glastonbury show is anything to go by).

Although the second half reins things in somewhat, it retains a quiet intensity that stops it from falling into the shadow of part one. In ‘Heavenly Creatures’, the almost-whispered “time to die / time to kill … all for love / all for you” hides a dark, ritualistic edge, with the sickly “was it never enough that we should simply want to be together?” excusing the acts of evil that may (or may not be) hinted at within the lyrics. ‘We’re Not the Same’ seems almost reactionary at this point – a sarcasm-laced riposte to the rejection faced in ‘Heavenly Creatures’, drenched with reverb and brought to a punishing climax.

There is a great divide that runs through the centre of Creature Songs. The full-moon tilt of side one is feral and harrowing, while the second half remains delicate and serene; a dawn-breaker of a comedown. That’s no bad thing – neither half seems detached from the other, they’re just two ends of the same scale. With Wolf Alice’s highly anticipated debut LP tipped for a 2015 release, it will be interesting to see just how far the scale slides.

Chris Bunt

Lower
Seek warmer Climes
Matador Records

Lower are a post punk band from Copenhagen. That one sentence is enough for people to liken them to Iceage immediately (admittedly also a post punk band from Copenhagen). That’s not to say being compared to Iceage is a bad thing, their past two records have been impressive enough, however one must wonder what its like to constantly be compared to the same band in every press release, in every gig poster and of course, in an album review. With that said, they have released a split record (and even a split t-shirt?!) with Iceage, so perhaps this comparison has helped.

When I first heard about Lower, they were playing a show at the Old Blue Last, stuck in between the glorious Chain of Flowers and the risible Cerebral Ballzy. This was a worry for me as I wasn’t sure if Lower would deliver the same sort of punk as the headliners, “Vice Punk” if you will, or whether they would make a genuine attempt to create something new or of interest. Luckily it was the latter, their Walk on Heads debut and ‘Someone’s Got it in For Me’ single were two excellent post punk records that took as much influence from hardcore as they did new wave.

Onto Seek Warmer Climes, this is their first LP, released on Matador Records, home to innovative hardcore bands Ceremony and Fucked Up, as well as alternative music legends such as Pavement and Thurston Moore. Their label mates offer good comparison to Iceage, Lower could easily bill on shows with any of these bands (I know they supported Fucked Up just one month before the writing of this review).

Opener ‘Another Life’ kicks off with a drumbeat that continues throughout and sets the pace of the entire record. Its fast. Vocally, Adrian Toubro has an interesting approach, those used to the shouting style of the first two records may be surprised. He is far more restrained this time around, sometimes croony, sometimes drony, its something that isn’t heard too often and is a credit to the record.

Not only is Toubro’s vocal delivery stronger, lyrically this is the best Lower have been. ‘Lost Weight, Perfect Skin’ covers dealing with anorexia and depression making for a jarring listen. The seven minute long, ‘Expanding Horizons (Dar es Salaam)’ covers the time in his life spent traveling across Africa and experiencing his views challenged by religion, not the typical lyrical content of a post punk record. ‘Expanding Horizons (Dar es Salaam)’ also sees the band stepping out of their comfort zone, with a cello accompanying the buzzing guitars, this is something that works very well and I’d love to see them continue to experiment in future releases.

To sum the record up, I really like it. When a band with a punk influence announce they’re doing a full length, one can get a little apprehensive, so often a six track EP is the optimum way to listen to this kind of music, but Lower manage to go against this stereotype with songs such as ‘Bastard Tactics’, and personal favourite, ‘Daft Persuasion’ going far beyond what they’ve previously created. I truly recommend you to listen to Seek Warmer Climes, it may even be better than the last Iceage record.

Tim Lewis

The Proper Ornaments
Wooden Head
Fortuna POP!

The Proper Ornaments are what you could call a band of enigmas. Materialising sometime back in 2010, The Proper Ornaments rocketed into the music blogs with their fantastic debut single ‘Recalling’, followed by, well, not much at all. A promising EP in 2011 was again met with praise from the blogs, but was trailed by little else. However, regarding the bands history, and the other pie’s it’s two main contributors have their fingers in, it’s no wonder this debut has been a long time coming.

Primarily comprised of Max Claps and James Hoare, their song writing partnership can be traced back to a second hand clothes shop. So the story goes, Claps struck up a conversation with the clerk –then, James Hoare- to divert his attention while Max’s girlfriend of the time attempted to steal a pair of boots. As it happens, the two got on like a house on fire. After finding solace in a shared love of The Velvet Underground, the boot heist was history and The Proper Ornaments’ seeds were sown.

Now, emerging from the shadows once again, the irregular musical career of The Proper Ornaments becomes just. With Claps having spent the last few years flitting between a number of musical projects, most recently Lets Wrestle, and Hoare’s permanent role as song writer with Veronica Falls, this debut album has been a long time coming. And after the first listen, it’s certain to say that Wooden Head was worth waiting around for.

Easing in to the first of its fourteen tracks, album opener ‘Gone’ is a laid back ode to the lofty guitar hook and blurred vocal, setting the subdued tone for this twee LP. But be careful when you say ‘twee’, mind. Things aren’t buffed to a sheen and polished to perfection here, this collection of songs holds a particularly warm and comforting quality.

‘Ruby’ sees the Ornaments channel Peter Buck style fretwork and a yearning Michael Stipe-esque vocal into a three minute, sun-kissed spectacle. With more dizzying guitar reveries found on ‘Now I Understand’, the highlights of Wooden Head come at the half-way point, with the kraut infused ‘Stereolab’ cooking up a hypnotic haze that never wearies. Kept awake by a motoring bass line and suitably subtle guitar hook, ‘Stereolab’ oozes warm, psychedelic cement, keeping you fully stuck to this record for the second half.

When it comes to riffs, ‘Always There’ is another track on this album that just keeps on giving, with dark, surf guitar tones escalating to a higher sonic level. ‘You Shouldn’t Have Gone’ is arguably the dreamy climax of this entire album, as well as the second half, veering away from the softer sounds found on Wooden Head to explore some twisted, psychedelic garage territories. Building up to an ear-bending guitar solo, this track is tainted with Brian Jonestown Massacre vibes and is to be played at no less than full volume to ensure maximum sedation from these soothing sounds.

Wooden Head is a record that feels natural and organic, each track holds a just-rolled-out-of-bed kind of closeness and intimacy. The song structures un-wind progressively, but never tire – there’s not a song on the record that breaches more than three and a half minutes. It’s a cool collection of lazy guitar pop that, while nodding to the past for inspiration, creates fresh, uplifting harmonies, tainted by a comforting gloom.

Wooden Head is due for release June 9th via Fortuna POP! Grab yourself a copy and spin it this summer.

Dave Palmer