There are many rappers out there who’d have you believe they have many dimensions – they’re a hustler, they’re a businessman, they’re this, they’re that – and yet the more they try to persuade you, the more contrived it becomes.
And then you have B. Dolan, a man who not only proved his worth in the spoken-word world, but also set up Knowmore.org, a consumer activist website. Not one to rest on his laurels, he signed to Sage Francis’ Strange Famous label and tore up stages at Paid Dues and Rock The Bells – if anyone has a reason to preen and pout, it’s Bee.
Thankfully, he doesn’t fall into that trap, instead he has teamed up with Alias to deliver Fallen House, Sunken City. I must say, as much as I’m not a fan of Alias when he raps, his production has always been good, be it straight up hip hop or more chilled out stuff such as his collaboration with Tarsier, but he has taken it to a next level on this release, from the slamming boom-bap of Reptilian Agenda to the almost I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead era El-P of the opening track Leaving NY.
With such a solid base to showcase his lyrical talent on, Dolan goes for the jugular right from the off with “I was told to pick my battles. This isn’t my war. My fight is with myself. I’m leaving New York” and continues at a similarly high-octane pace, lamenting consumerism and the acts of multinationals in Fifty Ways To Bleed Your Customer and showing an ability for story-telling that seems as natural as it ever could be in Body Of Work. His delivery is as impressive as his lyrics, putting his message across powerfully whilst not forcing the listener into uneasiness as the likes of Immortal Technique unfortunately do. No, it’s obvious Dolan is passionate, but he’s able to portray that as part of his album, rather than pushing that as the main focus.
Signing to Sage Francis’ label is bound to draw comparisons, which would be unfair. Certainly, Dolan is his own man and whilst Strange Famous feels like a perfect fit for this record, he doesn’t ever find himself in Sage’s shadow, which is a testament to both the content and the man himself. And, hey, he has a P.O.S. verse on there, you know I gotta thumbs up my Doomtree homies. This is an album that’ll surprise you in all the right places. Pick it up and savour it. And then look forward to checking him out in the UK throughout March.
Check out the video below to see what to expect.
Abjekt.
Thanks to the over-abundance of premature verbal gushers in music journalism I’ve developed some problems with the phrase ‘up and coming’. If something is up and coming already then what’s next for them? Wiping off their brief blogosphere success with a damp cloth and flaccidly play on to an already bored audience perhaps? Bands shift in and out of listener popularity oh-too quickly when the hype machine is turned up to 11 (I think the knob is stuck there?), and to describe Houdini Dax as simply an up and coming band from Cardiff would be an insult to the lads. They have an established live presence at a sickeningly young age, yes. They’ve already gained respect from the musical peers, correct. Houdini Dax are up, for sure; but the only thing coming in this relationship is the listener, again and again and again.
Let’s take their recent EP, The BBC Sessions as a sample of what to expect; there is an immediate comparison in the music to countless good British rock acts (the guitars meet at a synapse in which both The Beatles’ Rubber Soul and Blur’s Modern Life Is Rubbish are playlisted) but when Jack Butler’s sonically rich vocals swamp each track with a smooth prowess, each song becomes enriched with something that makes this not only very listenable but instantly replayable.
Robin You Lie is a simple, overwhelmingly catchy jam, packed with layered chanting and psychedelic rug-cutting evocation. But it effortlessly achieves something way beyond all the other twee faggots whispering crudely thought out metaphors over a fucking xylophone solo that whimsically thrive in the indie music scene right now. Houdini Dax are a much needed, not so much nostalgic as a refreshingly inspired fuzz-pop that will make dancefloors squeak and the soles of your shoes as smooth as the wet wipe you’ll need to calm your climaxing eardrums.
Stanley.
The Borderline, London
19.02.10
Unfortunately missing out on Tall Ships who were first on tonight, we turn up to the newly refurbished Borderline in good time to catch St Louis’ So Many Dynamos who reel out a substantial set to an attentive and moderately busy crowd. Suitably geek-chic (actually, more geek than chic which makes it all the more authentic), the band present their rhythm-heavy rocked-up indie with aplomb.
Their music has a lot in common with Q And Not U and the jaunty nature of the tunes is rooted in a rhythm section that consists of synths and drums (no bass guitar needed here). Couple that with the scuzzed-up chords, catchy choruses and interjectory vocals and you’re definitely onto a winner. It’s a shame it took them three albums to come over to the UK!
Tubelord have been causing quite a stir amongst both underground indie and straight-up rock fans over the past year or so. They describe their music as “pop songs for rock kids” but the appeal of their recorded and live performances has the potential to be wider reaching than that. Looking slightly awkward on stage, Tubelord are more than comfortable when it comes to having a grip on their material. And what material it is!
Poppy, rocky, but also having that slight edge of originality which raises them head and shoulders above the plethora of pop-rock bands that seems to be teeming around UK venues at this point in time. there are singalongs but few straight-up clichés, making the band an intriguing prospect in the live arena. Tubelord have clearly built themselves quite the following (how else are you going to achieve live singalongs with crowd participation so well?) and theirs is an honest, simple sort of music that has enough flair for the innovative to set them apart from the crowd of clones.
Winegums.
Crossfire favourites The Smoking Hearts will embark on a tour of the UK throughout February and March, which recently kicked off in High Wycombe.
The band have released a video detailing their tour progress, featuring clips of the band on the road and audio snippets from their forthcoming debut Pride of Nowhere.
Check out the video below, and make sure to catch The Smoking Hearts when they play;
Feb
27th – The Nags Head, High Wycombe
March
4th – Red Lion, Stevenage
8th – South Of The Border, Old Street, London (ALBUM RELEASE SHOW)
11th – Upstairs at The Garage, London
12th – The Marquee, Norwich
13th – Club Revolution, Peterborough
14th – The Central, Nottingham
15th – The Freebutt, Brighton
19th – Goblets, Southampton
26th – Esquires, Bedford
April
1st – The Hat Factory, Luton
3rd – Club 85, Hitchin
LA supergroup Red Sparowes will return this April with their new album entitled The Fear Is Excruciating, But Therein Lies The Answer.
The band, which features members of Isis, Halifax Pier and Angel Hair, will release the album through Conspiracy Records on 5th April.
Then tracklist reads;
1) Truths Arise
2) In Illusions Of Order
3) A Hail Of Bombs
4) Giving Birth To Imagined Saviors
5) A Swarm
6) In Every Mind
7) A Mutiny
8) As Each End Looms And Subsides
Pioneering British hardcore band Charged GBH have announced details of their eleventh studio album, to be released on 5th April.
The record, entitled Perfume and Piss, will be the band’s first since 2004’s Cruel and Unusual.
Having formed more than 30 years ago, GBH have proved their sustainability as they prepare for their first release through Hellcat Records.
Here’s the footage of the Independent team shredding the Cayman’s amazing concrete park featuring Dan Drehobl, Darren Navarrette, Al Partanen, Andrew Reynolds, Grant Taylor, Leo Romero, Alex Horn, and Chris Haslam. Get stuck in and think of the summer.
Oxford based math rockers Foals have revealed the title and release date of their new album.
The band revealed through their myspace blog that the record will be titled Total Life Forever, and is scheduled for release on 10th May. Recorded in Gothenberg with Luke Smith (Ex-Clor), the album follows their 2008 breakthrough Antidotes.
The first batch of acts for Oxygen and T in the Park festivals have been revealed, with the events set to be headline by Muse, Kasabian and Eminem.
The two festivals, from Ireland and Scotland respectively, run simultaneously from June 9th – 11th. Elsewhere on the T in the Park line-up are the likes of Jay Z, Dirty Projectors and Mayer Hawthorne, while Oxygen will host Simian Mobile Disco, Armand Van Heldon and Black Eyed Peas.
For more information visit the festival websites here and here.