text:
K F r e e
How To Dress Well | Wild No thing
Matt he w Dea r | DIIV | Tra sh Ta lk
Ar t, M u si c , M av i s
F ly i n g L o t u s
— Nominated Albums | Albyms Enwebedig —
Bright Light Bright Light Make Me Believe in Hope THE BLUE TEAM
Cate Le Bon CYRK
Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog Draw Dros y Mynydd
Exit_International Black Junk
"Smart pop has found a new curator" - Line of Best Fit
"Unique and talented" - Drowned in Sound
"Turbocharged Alt-Country to gladden the heart" – Tom Robinson, BBC 6 Music
"Raucous, noisy fun – Resistance is futile" KKKK - Kerrang!
Future of the Left
Huw M. Gathering Dusk
Islet Illuminated People
Jodie Marie Mountain Echo
The Plot Against Common Sense XTRA MILE
"Subversion of the most intelligent, insidious, inventive kind." - BBC
"A summery delight" 8/10 - Line of Best Fit
"Difficult but queerly brilliant music" 4/5 - Stool Pigeon
"Velvety, bittersweet touch, emergence of a female Richard Hawley" 4/5 - Guardian
Kids in Glass Houses In Gold Blood
Kutosis Fanatical Love
Los Campesinos! Hello Sadness
Truckers of Husk Accelerated Learning
"The risks they have taken are set to pay off" 8/10 - This is Fake DIY
"One of the best new bands in Britain." - Guardian.co.uk
"His romantic failure makes for fine songs" 4/5 - Rolling Stone
"Indie rock at its best" - Wales Online
Concert 17 October, Prizegiving 18 October – See welshmusicprize.com for more information. Cyngerdd Hydref 17, Seremoni Hydref 18 – Mwy o wybodaeth welshmusicprize.com. www.welshmusicprize.com | www.swnfest.com | www.swnpresents.com
wEDNESdAYs wanTED RECORds
THE FAnTASTIC BrISTOL rECOrD STOrE'S WEEKLy rESIDEnCy BrInGInG ALL MAnnEr OF VInyL DELIGHTS FrOM ALL GEnrES!
ThURsDAYs HusTlE Disco
funK // soul // BooGie // Hip Hop wiTH feliX JoY // silVerfoX // peAZY-e // peTer sTorM // DuKe BoXers // GrAM rcY // ToM D
£3 aMsTEL & £3 HoUsE SPiRiT + MiXER SatuRDAYs
1 HoT BuTTereD soul wiTH speciAl GuesT ZAf unDErGrOunD SOuL AnD BOOGIE Plus in the Study - 2 Fresh Crew 8TH fAZe AcTion FunK, BEATS, BOOGALOO AnD HIP-HOP THrOuGH TO SOuLFuL CLASSICS AnD rEGGAE Plus in the Study - Space Invader Party 15TH BocA 45's HipHop THrowDown wiTH GuesTs sip THe Juice STrICTLy VInyL! - COLD CHILLIn, TOMMy BOy, DEF JAM AnD MOrE Plus in the Study - Dirty Thoughts 29TH cHris coco presenTs MeloDicA BALEArIC HOuSE AnD DISCO BrOADCASTInG LIVE FOr THE MELODICA rADIO SHOW Plus in the Study - Western Soul sT
Opening times: Tues - Wed 12pm - 12am Thu 12pm - 1am Fri - Sat 12pm - 3am The Big Chill Bar 15 Small Street, Bristol BS1 1DE For more information firstname.lastname@example.com or call us on 0117 930 4217 www.bigchill.net/bristol
Illustration by Andrew Wightman www.andrewwightman.com
Choose from our Gourmet Burger Menu, The Big Chill Kebab Van or from the specials board. We also offer bespoke catering for private parties
SEPTEMBER 241 CoCkTailS TuES - ThuRS
7TH THe-MoniTors OLD SOuL, rEGGAE, HIP HOP AnD rOCKABILLy PLuS ELECTrO AnD DuB Plus in the Study - Shanti Celeste 14TH niGHT TrAin THE BEST In VInTAGE DAnCE MuSIC Plus in the Study - Idle Hands 21sT DJ DereK THE BrISTOL InSTITuTIOn THAT IS DJ DErEK HITS THE BAr FOr MOrE rEGGAE AnD SKA... Plus in the Study - Prime Cuts 28TH Tru THouGHTs presenT BeTA HecTor VInTAGE 45'S AnD HIP HOP 12'S Plus in the Study - Chango
SatuRdAY SEPTEMBER 22ND
BrisfesT AfTerpArTY SEE WEBSITE FOr MOrE DETAILS
JUNE 3RDour large upstairs Hire LovE SavEs ThE NighT aftERparTy georgian wiTh GrEg wilsoNstudy room plus FeElbar ThE Real and forSoUNdSysTEM, free* wEsTERn Soul & sip ThE JuicE The room After party foris theperfect amazing 'Love Saves The occasion Day' featuring one of for any from the festival highlights a birthday - Greg Wilson party to a business conference We can also reserve seating in The Lounge or The Snug. Also, please ask about hiring our 'secret' 1970's kitchen Please ask at the bar or email * Subject to minimum spend
Craig Richards Terry Francis Alex Celler Alex Picone Alexi Delano Ambivalent Art Department Aus Music Bass Culture Ben Klock Ben Sims Blond:ish Brett Johnson Camea Cari Lekebusch Cezar Clockwork
Cosmin TRG Cottam Daze Maxim Deetron Dorian Paic D'Julz Eats Everything Felipe Venegas (LIVE) Futureboogie George Fitzgerald Guido Schneider (LIVE) Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts (LIVE) Hello? Repeat Henrik Schwarz (LIVE) Jan Krueger
Jay Tripwire Jef K Jesse Rose Karenn (LIVE) Kate Simko Laura Jones Lee Burridge Lee Rands Madato (LIVE) Manik Marco Carola Mathew Jonson (LIVE) Matthias Tanzmann Maxxi Soundsystem Minilogue (LIVE) mUmU Nitin
NO.19 Showcase Onno (LIVE) Paul Ritch (LIVE) Peter Van Hoesen Rhadoo Ricardo Villalobos Robin Ordell Skudge (LIVE) Soundstream (LIVE) Stephen Brown (LIVE) Tiefschwarz Tone Of Arc (LIVE) Untold Voigtmann Waifs & Strays Will Saul Wincent Kuth (LIVE)
77A, Charterhouse Street, London EC1. www.fabriclondon.com / fabric 64: Guy Gerber — Out Now. fabric 65: Matthias Tanzmann — Out Now. fabric 66: Ben Klock — 15th October.
Photographer: Ben Price cargocollective.com/benjaminpricephotography Featuring: Steven Ellison (Flying Lotus) Shot At: Recession Studio, London recessionstudio.com Retouching: Paul Whitfield paulwhitfieldphotography.com For those who are cracked let the light in: Respect Paul Whitfield Dave Harvey Steve Nickolls Linford Christie Donovan Bailey Pierluigi Collina Zeina Raad Jessica Ennis Bradley Wiggins Mo Farah Harriet Chavasse
14 18
has got a new employee. We'll be honest, M A G A Z I N E his writing's not up to much, and he makes a shocking brew. But we like having him around. He's good as gold and he doesn't take up much space. He's only about five inches long. His name's Mohammed, and he's an axolotl.
Executive Editors Thomas Frost firstname.lastname@example.com Jake Applebee email@example.com
Editor Geraint Davies email@example.com Marketing / Events Manager Luke Sutton firstname.lastname@example.com Art Direction & Design Jake Applebee Staff Writer David Reed
Intern Will Richardson
But then we decided to leave it for another month. Deal with it.
Contributors Mavis Botswinga Christopher Goodfellow Mystic Greg Hulio Bourgeois Tom Wiltshire David Reed Tim Oxley Smith Jon Wiltshire Lucie Grace Alex Hall Billy Black Josh Baines James T. Balmont Tom Howells 'Artbeats Philip James Allen
Crack Magazine Office 1 Studio 31 Berkeley Square Clifton Bristol BS8 1HP 0117 2391219 CRACK is published by Crack Industries Ltd Advertising To enquire about advertising and to request a media pack contact: email@example.com
0117 2391219 © All rights reserved. All material in Crack magazine may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of Crack Industries Ltd. Crack Magazine and its contributors cannot accept any liability for reader discontent arising from the editorial features. Crack Magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any article or material supplied for publication or to edit this material prior to publishing. Crack magazine cannot be held responsible for loss or damage to supplied materials. The opinions expressed or recommendations given in the magazine are the views of the individual author and do not necessarily represent the views of Crack Industries Ltd. We accept no liability for any misprints or mistakes and no responsibility can be taken for the contents of these pages.
The strangest thing about Mohammed is that he exists in an eternal state of adolescence, like some freaky fishtank Peter Pan. He's basically a stroppy 12-year-old – all Linkin Park and floppy fringes – forever. Unless, that is, we decide to inject him with hormones, whereby he transforms into a fully fledged salamander. The details are blurry, although there's a possibility he might crawl out from the confines of his tank by night and roam the streets, hungry for offcuts of offal and discarded corned beef. Mohammed's got us thinking. Maybe we've been living in a state of pubescent reverie for a bit too long ourselves. How much longer can we keep living this sheltered, blissful existence? Maybe it's time for us to get a shot of hormones and grow the fuck up. Climb out of our tanks and into the real world. Yeah? Yeah!
Fashion Sarah Marie Collins Andres De Lara Emily McEwan Akira Yamada Juliet Greig
Illustrations Lee Nutland James Wilson Maria Sagun
He looks like a Pokemon, he chows down on live crickets, and he's indigenous to one lake in Mexico. Sometimes he eats rocks from the bottom of his tank and gets stressed. Then we have to put him in the fridge until he calms down. When we bought him, a bloke drove from Wales to drop him off at our front door. What a weird guy. Mohammed, not the bloke who drove him here. He was alright.
Geraint Davies
Crack has been created using: Tall Ships - T=0 Jessie Ware - Devotion David Byrne & St Vincent - I Should Watch TV Alex Smoke - Never Want To See You Again Ben Pearce - What I Might Do Modeselektor - German Clap Seams - Nachtmusik Gonzalez - Overnight Mala - Tribal Four Tet - Pinnacles Redshape - Kracken's Game Skepta - Doin' It Again Lethal B feat. JME & Fire Camp - Leave It Yeah Baltic Fleet - Midnight Train When Saints Go Machine - Fail Forever (Nicolas Jaar Rmx) Shed - Day After Fuck Buttons - Sweet love For Planet Earth Fugazi - Merchandise LiveFastDie - Pissing On The Mainframe Beat Happening - Bewitched Amerie - 1 Thing Tame Impala - Elephant
Daughter - Smother Paul McCartney - Temporary Secretary Staind - It's Been a While The Sword - Freya Dresden Dolls - Girl Anachronism Flying Lotus - Sultan's Request Holy Other - Love Some1 Bat For Lashes - Laura Percussions - Bird Songs Factory Floor - Two Different Ways (Perc remix) How To Dress Well - & It Was U Wavves - Hippies Is Punks Mariah Carey ft Boyz II Men - One Sweet Day A$AP Mob - Coke And White Bitches Boys Noize - Jeffer The xx - Slept Away Marco Bernardi - The Burning Love Ensemble Ejeca - See Through You Tom Demac - Critical Distance pt2 Sure Thing - Holding You Tight Trevino - Indulge Kevin Saunderson - Future (Kenny Larkin remix)
Tiga - The Picture Mi Ami - Hard Up Nirvana - About a Girl Supreme Cuts - Amnesia Wild Nothing - Counting Days Frank Ocean - Sweet Life O Children - PT Cruiser Dinosaur Jr - The Wagon Audion - Mouth to Mouth David Bowie - China Girl TNGHT - Higher Ground Mode Moderne - Electrocute Me Nathan Fake - Casacade Airways Idles - Germany Julio Bashmore - Husk Dam Funk - I Like Your Big Azz (Girl) LV - Sebenza Grizzly Bear - Yet Again Mala - Tribal Deerhoof - Breakup Songs Diiv - Doused JJ Doom - Keys To The Kuffs
friday 14th Saturday 15th September – 9pm CARDiFF CiTY CeNTRe FOllOw @NTwTweeTS AND #NTw22 FOR DeTAilS.
FLYI N G LOTUS - 14 Gas l am p Ki l l e r Fl ang e Face Th unde r cat D ay l i g ht Fr ank O ce an Crack R ock W I L D N OTH I N G - 18 M adonna E v er y body Tone s on Tai l Go Th e H ous e of L ove Chri st i ne
Ju ju and Jo rdash Exclu siv e I n te r v ie w a n d M ix We've got the scoop on the Israeli analogue wizards' phenomenal career trajectory to date, talking through their homeland, their favourite parties and their plans for the foreseeable, as well as an intoxicatingly ambitious mix for your listening pleasure.
TRA S H TA L K - 2 0 M ac D r e O n My Toes B ad B r ai ns Banned i n D C S pace gh os t pur r p Bri ng i n T he Phonk
T h e O rg a n G r in d e r C ra c k c as t
This intriguingly-monikered Cardiff figurehead has become the latest contributor to our mix series. With a series of impressive production releases in his wake and having reportedly played an absolute blinder at Berlin's Panorama Bar back in May, this is a man very much on the rise. Eking out the final shreds of summer, his offering is a relentlessly upbeat collection of classic-tinged house, complete with addictive
D avi d B owi e H eroes Radi oh e ad T he Bends E l bow T he S el dom S een Ki d
piano hooks and anthemic vocals. A real immersive party set.
Top Sellin g Tickets c r ac k m ag az i n e .n e t / t i c k e t s Tall Ships
M ar i ah C ar e y H .A .T.E .U DMX S l i ppi n' (H T D W edi t ) Ji m m y E at Wor l d Tabl e For Gl asses
Win Just Ja ck Tickets! ! We've got a pair of tickets for this year's In:Motion opening extravaganza on September 29th, where Just Jack are bringing their brand of house music mayhem and unique party atmosphere to the warehouse. For a chance to win, send your answer to the following question to firstname.lastname@example.com
M ATTH E W D E A R - 3 2 B ob D y l an D esi re B e acon S ee T hroug h You A ndy S t ot t S ubmi ssi on
The Croft, Bristol 24th Oct £7
O n ra I n t e r v ie w You may have missed our chat with Onra, the outrageously classy and creative Parisian beat-wonder, who we grabbed on a rare UK jaunt.
Which of the following was a 1977 hit for The Clash? a) Janie Jones b) Jammy Jones c) Jamie Jones
The Fleece, Bristol 14th Nov
C h r i s C oh e n Cal l er No.99 Je s s i e Rui ns D ream Anal y si s B aba S al ah Mo Fot ou www.crackmagazine.net
J u lian Co p e F l eece 6 th September
Big J ef f 's Bir th day S tart Th e B us 14 th Septem b e r
Festiva l N o . 6 Primal Scream, New Order, Spiritualized, Richard Hawley, Jessie Ware Portmeirion
I n : M o t ion J us t J ac k
September 14-16th
Jamie Jones, Dyed Soundeom, Dan Ghenacia, Todd Edwards
Prices vary
Motion Bristol
Nigh t Tr ain & I dle Hand s Djs B ig C hill 14 th Septem b e r
September 29th
The Festival No. 6 organisers are claiming that they've got
'The most stylish festival setting imaginable', and that's by no means an overstatement. It's taking place at the idyllic,
It's that time of the year again. The biggest, most unique club space in Bristol hosts a series of consistently
iconic Welsh coastal village of Portmerion where the surreal
jaw-dropping parties that make us feel pretty damn lucky to be living here. Institutional house promoters
60s cult TV series The Prisoner was set. The accommodation
Just Jack have been appointed as the initiators of this year's epic party season, and rightly so. This year
options include renting a tipi, staying in a Victorian castellated
they've bagged a line-up that boasts Jamie Jones, Dyed Soundorom, Dan Ghenacia and a live set from
mansion or just pitching up a tent. As for the music, you
innovative Frenchman Seiul in the main room. The 2nd Warehouse will be headlined by Todd Edwards
can let your mind implode to veteran headline acts Primal
and organisers of the sublime Bulgarian festival Meadows In The Mountains will be running the Tunnel.
Scream, Spiritualized and New Order. They've also booked
And as we know with Just Jack, the only thing which will blow your mind more than the line-up is the
some of this year's best breakthrough artists including King
ambitiously-prepared spectacle.
Krule, Savages and Jessie Ware. Tempted?
Wo o d s Fleece 5th September
Ho t Ch ip 02 Ac ademy 15th Septemb e r
A frica Exp ress Colston Hall 7th September
Plastician ( 51 27 ) T hekla 2 1st Septembe r
Cult o f You th T he C ro ft 2 5th Septembe r
Ve n e t ia n Snares
The Fleece
o2 Academy
September 18th
October 3rd
Aaron Funk, aka Venetian Snares, is the outrageously prolific breakcore artist who makes intense, boundary destroying beats. His is a name held in the highest regard amongst certain circles of the underground. While Venetian Snares' more mellow tracks are genuinely meditative, his darker material is loaded with abrasive bass and horrific soundbytes channelled through deranged rhythms at terrorizing speeds, plumbing some genuinely hellish depths. This is gonna be wild.
SBTRKT's debut was possibly the smartest pop record of 2011. The UK producer fused a wide range of dance genres and came up with a bunch of tunes that are addictive rather than challenging. SBTRKT's live show is pretty incredible too, with main man Aaron Jerome hopping between live instruments and digital equipment while sidekick Sampha plays keys and provides soulful vocals. Often when an artist plays their new stuff at gigs it causes a stampede at the bar, but in this case we're dying to get a taster of that new album he's working on. You might want to get there early as support comes from none more hyped electronic duo Disclosure.
Te l apat h e T he Crof t 2 6t h S ept ember
Hie ro g ly p h ic Be in g The Croft 13th October
B ra n c h e s : T h e N a t u re Of Cr i s i s
We A re A ugustin e s
Secret venue, Cardiff 14th-15th September Free
Thekla, Bristol
Having consistently caught our fancy in recent times with their bold reinterpretations of the possibilities of modern theatre, National Theatre Wales return with their most enigmatic event to date. This free to attend event promises to transport you from the centre of town to the woods, in an experience drawing inspiration from the great Welsh folk legends, the Mabinogion. Keep your eye on @NTWTweets and #NTW22 on twitter for more information on this intriguing business.
C r y baby T he L oui si ana 2 7t h S ept ember
September 30th £9 Brooklyn-based but grounded in pure Americana, We Are Augustines caused a critical storm with last year's debut full-length Rise Ye Sunken Ships. The record was an expansive, heart-breaking paean to loss rooted in deeply emotive family themes. As vocalist Billy McCarthy glares you straight in the eyes while regaling his most personal travails in gut-felt hoarse tones, it's clear there's no way of faking such sheer emotional transparency. Prepare for a life-affirming, if draining, experience.h.
M a e ju s , Bu rle skimo Motorcycle Shoowrooms 15th September
H e s s l e A udi o Mot i on 2 9t h S ept ember
I n Fi ne S t y l e : D ar qwan T he Bank 2 9t h S ept ember
Ta ll Sh ips Hyp e rc o l o u r P re s e n t s L os i ng Suk i The Bank September 15th Free before midnight / £2 after
The Croft 24th October
Among the UK's most on-point electronic labels, Hypercolour never wavers from its M.O of providing fresh underground alternatives to the house and techno blueprint. This evening at Stokes Croft's most consistent party establishment The Bank sees them drawing attention to label offshoot Losing Suki. Look out for sets from the superb Discreet Unit – immediately recognisable for modern classic Shake Your Body Down – James Welsh, whose Air Valley EP is one of the Losing Suki print's finest hours, the rapidly rising BareSkin and label honcho Cedric Maison.
En counte rs Short Film & A n ima tio n Fe stiv a l Arnolfini / Watershed September 18th-23rd £6.50/£5 – Prices vary for special events Bristol's world-renowned celebration of short film and animation returns for a staggering 18th installment. Taking place at the Harbourside's twin creative hubs of the Watershed and the Arnolfini, it features a total of 188 pieces from 36 countries, as well as a wide range of workshops, talks and masterclasses. Highlights include Aardman in Conversation (19th), which sees the Bristol crowning jewel's three directors onstage in discussion, A retrospective of the celebrated experimental filmmaker's Paul Bush's work (20th) and Focus on Finland, a tribute to the Scandinavian nation's unique creative output, taking place in a circus big top.
Ma t t i B ra u n : G h o s t L o g Arnolfini October 6th onwards This exhibition from the Cologne-based, Berlin-born artist Matti Braun includes a collection of paintings,
Wet Nuns Louisiana September 12th £6
cultures merge together and how the differences in these perspectives highlight the fluidity of meaning.
This Yorkshire duo of nasty bastards deal in crushing, gnarled blues-rock rifforama, and they're popping into the Louie as part of a nationwide tour. A glance at the video for their Throttle single should leave you in no doubt that these lads ain't messing about. Be warned though, this is unadulterated fighting music, so
This exhibition is centred around R.T., a piece in which the gallery floor is transformed into a huge black
be prepared to put your dukes up.avy.
installations and sculptures from the last fifteen years of his career. Braun is fascinated with stories in which
Pe opl e Unde r Th e S t ai r s 02 Academy 2 9t h S ept ember
Kat h r y n W i l l i am s T he L oui si ana 2 nd O ct ober
Why? Fl eece 11t h O ct ober
lake. This installation is inspired by the opening scene of Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray's screenplay The Alien, which was scrapped by Hollywood producers only to be reprised years later as the basis of Steven
TE E D 02 Academy 14t h O ct ober
Spielberg's E.T.
Olivia Plender: Rise Early, Be Industrious Until Sun 9 Sep
Bristol Poetry Festival Tue 25 Sep–Tue 2 Oct
11am–6pm Tue–Sun, Admission free
Including Benjamin Zephaniah, Tim Key and the energetic poetry slams.
Film Il Trasloco Thu 6 Sep 6.30pm With Franco "Bifo" Berardi and Federico Campagna, in discussion Marina Abramovic': Seven Easy Pieces Thu 13 Sep 6pm Introduced by Paul Clarke of the Performance Re-enactment Society Animated Encounters Tue 18–Sun 23 Sep Six packed days featuring the best in international animation talent.
Live Art / Dance Performing Documents: Remake Fri14–Sat 15 Sep A series of performances, screenings and symposia exploring the theme of 'remaking'. Including… Every House Has A Door: 9 Beginnings Fri 14 Sep 7.30pm £10/£8 Concs Plus talks and courses, Bookshop (NUS 10% off on Wed) and Café Bar (open daily from 10am)
FINNISH INVASION DOUBLE BILL Olivia Plender, installation view, Arnolfini. Image Jamie Woodley
SODANKYLÄ FOREVER | CLEANING WOMEN LIVE AELITA – QUEEN OF MARS FILMS, MUSIC AND CROSS-DRESSING ZOMBIES BIG TOP @ CREATIVE COMMON Temple Meads, Temple Gate, Bristol BS1 6DG
THURS 20 SEPT 19:00 – 23:00 Tickets £10, available from Watershed Box Office Six days of film screenings, live sets, exhibitions, parties & special guests More info at ENCOUNTERS-FESTIVAL.ORG.UK
From feathers to folklore: 39 artists blend innovative art and natural history to create a disturbing world Works for sale from £70
Royal West of England Academy Queen's Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 1PX
0117 973 5129 | www.rwa.org.uk
H A R K Ve s s e l Sebastian Gainsborough, aka Vessel, is a Bristol based producer who anchors his music in beats that morph between downtempo house and murky dub, often shrouding them in an ethereal fog of dark ambience. Vessel is set to release his debut album Order of Noise via the immensely credible Brooklyn based Tri Angle Records later this month, the label having picked up similarly transgressive beat makers in Holy Other, Evian Christ and Clams Casino during the formative stages of their careers. Vessel is flattered to be amongst their roster. "The label has an unashamedly grand vision and it's great to be a part of that", he tells us. Crack recently had the pleasure of experiencing Vessel's live show, a set which began with deep, sustained shoegazey chords and built steadily towards a culmination of abrasive beats driven by a machinegun bass drum. "At the moment I just like hearing the tracks loud in a nice space," he says on the subject, "but as time progresses I'll probably abstract the material a lot more and pull it apart at the edges." As an artist who already operates outside the boundaries of genre, it's hard to imagine Vessel's sound if he deconstructed his music even further.
M o d e M o d e rn e
For any Brits with a taste for progressive stoner/metal, Swansea's Taint were a name to drop. Over the course of their lengthy career the trio slugged it out with the world's biggest dogs, and came out on top thanks to their innovative sound, at once bruising, grooving, melodic and lofty in both vision and execution. Their demise was met with a lot of hairy men getting very upset indeed. Now based in Bristol, frontman Jimbob Isaac has brought much of that mentality to his latest project, H A R K. Debut 7" Mythopoeia sees him joined by former Whyteleaf bottom-enders Nikolai Ribnikov and Simon Bonwick, and sees the levels of ambition extend ever further beyond what we have any right to expect. We're screaming out for a full-length.
This Vancouver five-piece have only recently filtered into our consciousness, despite having released their debut full-length Ghosts Emerging in 2009. Latest effort Strange Bruises, which is out now on Light Organ Records, revels in rich, longing melodies that Mozza himself would be proud of, brooding synths and heavily reverbed drums straight out of the 80s playbook. But creeping out of the gloom, hidden behind the self-consciously gothic severity, there lie hooks galore. Catch them at a handful of UK dates this month.
Tune: Mythopoeia
File Next To: The Cure | Interpol
Tune: Strange Bruises facebook.com/mode-moderne
Tune: Court of Lions harkband.com File Next To: Holy Other | Burial File Next To: Clutch | Kylesa
Wa ze & O d y ss e y
Cor nel ia
Ou r Moth e r
Until fairly recently, house duo Waze & Odyssey were running with the story that they're orphans raised by a record store owner in New York, and that they produced their tracks in a Detroit basement. But their cover has been blown; it turns out that they're actually two blokes from London. Although with a sound this tasty, a wacky back story shouldn't be needed to get people's attention. Strongly influenced by the 90s, Waze & Odyssey make luscious and summery US house/garage style beats with crowd-rousing crescendos, chopped vocal samples and a healthy portion of bass. What a treat.
We first heard London-based Swede Cornelia's voice on Steepless, a track from Portico Quartet's recent third album, undoubtedly one of our favourite releases of the year so far. PQ and Cornelia were introduced to each other by mutual friend Jamie Woon and the collaboration demonstrates the synergy between musicians in order to create warm, sensual sounds using digital resources. Cornelia's distinctive and enchanting voice seems to work well in a variety of musical contexts and the jerky, eccentric feel of her new single Stormy Weather testifies that she is an artist who refuses to be constrained.
Tune: Turn the Volume On
Tune: Stormy Weather
Our Mother is a project between four lads living in London with a knack of making music that's minimal but melodically rich. And due to the sheer quality of their songwriting, it doesn't take too long to become absorbed. Poignant piano loops, intricate guitar leads and digital brass sounds slide between the gaps in mid-tempo beats. By keeping it stripped back, they allow their singer's slinky, high pitched falsettos to be at the forefront. Quite the jokers, their website includes a parody review which makes fun of the daft hyperbole used by music writers such as ourselves. It's pretty hilarious, but to be honest, Fire Fire does kind of sound like Dan Snaith and Usher playing ping pong on DMT.
Tune: Fire Fire
File Next To: Tony Humphries | MK
File Next To: Robyn | Bjork
S a sh a G o Ha rd Sasha Go Hard is a prominent player amongst Chicago's explosive 'drill rap' scene, spearheaded by 16 year old hellraiser Chief Keef. Sasha Go Hard shares the youthful charisma and raw talent of her male contemporaries, but where most of the boys prioritise hard-hitting impact over technical ability, Sasha has the capacity to deliver knockout punchlines that are both smart and menacing. With the interference of major labels setting in, there's a danger of this whole movement being sanitised. But if her thrilling recent mixtape Do U Know Who I Am? is anything to go by, it seems that Sasha Go Hard remains firmly in charge of her own mission. Tune: Why They Mad twitter.com/SASHA_DARAPPER File Next To: Lil Kim | Amber London
File Next To: James Blake | Usher
WORDS G era int Da vi e s P HOTOS Ben Pric e
TUN E S e e T h r u To U
S I TE f l y i ng -l ot us.com
DATE S Bri x t on Academy, L ondon | Nov ember 3 rd Warehouse Project , Manchest er | Nov ember 9t h Trox y, L ondon | Nov ember 16t h
Š Ben Price
Steven Ellison sits in a high-backed chair in the back room of Bethnal Green's Recession photography studio. He leans forward, speaking in his particularly low, measured intensity on the subject of an unnamed rap personality. "I think that guy, he's just too motivated by money, man. I just ... I don't like it." Ellison suddenly leaps backwards as Blair, the studio's unfeasibly adorable resident kitten, suddenly bounds from the floor and digs a claw into his right arm. It's the first time in about 15 minutes he's broken eye contact. It's also the first time he's showed the slightest waver, and that's courtesy of Blair, all three months and twelve inches of her (about a third of which is taken up entirely by eyes). Flying Lotus's reputation as an affable and gregarious character precedes him, and he's nothing other than amiable during his time with Crack. Yet we find his iconic beam and disarming frankness isn't handed out freely, but has to be earned. Having softened entirely over the course of our conversation, we can then barely contain him as he bounds around the studio for the benefit of the camera. Ellison's musical existence is one which seems to multiply in significance with each respective step. Over three (soon to be four) album releases, the establishment of Brainfeeder, which began as a record label but went on to become a sound and a musical aesthetic unto itself, FlyLo has constructed an unmistakeable legend to rival that of his renowned family lineage. Since the early 00s, Lotus has forged an entirely new branch within the broad definition of electronic music. It's a sound in some ways related to hip-hop, IDM, jazz and more, where percussion rolls and clatters in loose, unplaceable grooves among divine synth and bass-drenched landscapes free from structure or constraint. His inventiveness, technical ingenuity and continued relevance has made him without doubt one of the most important producers, if not musicians, of his generation. Yet as Crack sits opposite this deeply inspirational and prominent figure, we have to frequently remind ourselves that he is just 28 years of age. The authority with which he speaks is not necessarily one based on years, but of experience gained by his own actions. Most astonishing is Ellison's development from album to album. While his EPs, particularly 2010's superb post-album creative burst Pattern+Grid World, have proved to be highly significant pieces, it is his grasp of the full-length which has truly established his reputation, to the extent that it might be argued he redefined the possibilities of expressing electronic music through the format. In truth, 2006 debut 1983 was defined by promise. Sparkles of brilliance, but far from the finished article. But in 2008 he produced the seminal Los Angeles; a statement so astonishing, so utterly defining that many artists would have subsequently been led down one of two paths. Either to stick; to accept they had invented so extraordinary a blueprint that they would be crazy to diverge, and to live off it for the remainder of their career. Or to twist; to acknowledge that the record could not be improved upon, take a tangent and start afresh elsewhere, the route taken so boldly and unforgettably by FlyLo's beloved Radiohead, where OK Computer and Kid A look at each other from two entire lyseparate, though perhaps equally high, pedestals.
Ellison did neither. He sat back, drank in a myriad of personal developments, and expanded. So entwined is everything about Ellison the person and Flying Lotus the musical venture that the listener can be said to be growing up, learning and developing alongside him. Inspired by the loss of his aunt, the jazz pioneer and hugely significant personal influence Alice Coltraine, 2010's Cosmogramma saw him musing on so much of her contribution to his life, embracing freeform jazz to a greater extent, as well as her stratospheric ambition and his own ventures into the astral realm. And now, two years later, almost like clockwork, we've come to Ellison's latest, grandest musical statement to date, Until The Quiet Comes. Sprawling and constantly shifting, its character moves in waves from the aggressive to the meditative, the evocatively sensual to the signature shuffling post-hip-hop. The skywards-grasping jazz which so characterised his previous record is unmistakably present, yet perhaps the most prevalent feature of Until The Quiet Comes
I'd love to say I don't think about the audience at all, but truth be told I probably do. But more than anything, I make this stuff so I can enjoy it first. I'm glad people care and I feel very blessed to be in the position I'm in, but at the same time I know people don't want me to do what they want me to do, they want me to do what I want to do. They might not say it, but I think ultimately they want me to push the things that I believe in.
Your persona is so deeply imbedded in your music; can you see any way of getting away from that now? No, but I don't think I'd want to either. Especially with making albums, I try to make it as personal as possible. I try to get to the heart of what I want to say. And if I have two years away from making records, then I have two years of telling you what I've been up to and how I've been dealing with life.
One thing that's always been a feature of your work is the sense of place, of a vocabulary of sound based on geography. Is that the case with this record?
Moving onto your label, how do you know when you've found a Brainfeeder artist? What do you look for?
Absolutely. I always worry about it, I worry if I'm just too California when I make my music. But that's reflective of where I'm at and where my life is. There are a lot of moments that feel like the sunshine on the album, real heavy. But there are others that feel like the cold, because I've experienced it by coming here!
I think I just hear the sound of someone seeking within themselves through this music thing. I think I can hear when someone is really trying to understand what life's about or understand themselves, or asking questions in their work. That really peaks my interest for some reason. I'm really drawn to the sound of the seeker. Another way you've interacted with up and coming artists is in your work with RBMA. You graduated from Melbourne in 2006, right?
" I k n o w p e o p l e d o n ' t wa n t m e t o d o w h at
they want me to do, they want me to do w h at I wa n t t o d o. T h e y m i g h t n o t s ay i t, b u t I t h i n k t h a t u l t i m a t e l y t h e y w a n t m e t o p u s h t h e t h i n g s t h at I b e l i e v e i n "
is its grandiose beauty. Thanks in part to a series of vocal contributions from past collaborators Laura Darlington, Niki Randa and the illustrious Thom Yorke, as well as the goddess-like Erykah Badu, it is Flying Lotus's most elegant collection of sounds to date.
As someone who is constantly being creative, making music, beats and mixes, how do you recognise that point at which it's time to work on an album? It takes me a little while to get there. It takes me a good minute to decide what I wanna do and what I wanna say, to learn things, live life, hate myself, all that. It takes about two years to go through that cycle. Just, y'know, check in. Early copies of the album were presented as one continuous track. If you could have gotten away with it, would have liked to make that the case on the actual release? [laughs] Yeah. But I'm aware of how people listen to music. It'd be cool if you could have it as one track to listen to once through, and then you could break it up. I presented Cosmogramma like that at first too, but I feel this album is more continuous than the last one. There are also certain moments of real punctuation within this flow. When you're working on more aggressive or more openly meditative tracks, are you bearing in mind the reaction of the listener?
I think because I've been able to travel and see these places and go to these crazy festivals, it's opened me up to doing broader stuff with my music. A lot of people force a change in that way by moving somewhere else to make music and see what happens. Have you ever been tempted to move to Tokyo or wherever for a few months and see what music you'd make? Absolutely, I've been tempted by that notion, New York being one of the places that I'd like to go. How would a Flying Lotus record made in New York sound? I don't know – it'd be the same as making a record here though, I think. Well, maybe not. If I went to Plastic People every night and just listened to that superbass music, who knows.
[laughs] It's not really like graduating though. There's no studying or tests or anything, it's not like a real school to graduate from. My experience was amazing. They flew me over to Australia, they put me up, they fed me a lot of food and alcohol [laughs]. It was a really amazing opportunity for me to network with a lot of people, and I established relationships that I've continued to this day. And I continue to do stuff with them because I know how valuable my experience there was. The new album sees vocalists Laura Darlington and Niki Randa from your previous records returning, what was the thinking behind getting them back? Laura is my lucky charm. I think I'll always put her on my records at some point. And all the other people, they're my friends, everybody's so close so it's like, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I could search for all these amazing collaborators with big names, but there's no need. There is Thom Yorke. But more than anything that's just love, know what I mean? We get on really well, we have a good rapport and so it happens. It's not like we have to call each other's managers and get all these people in to make it happen. We just send each other e-mails and that's what it is. I prefer to work that way. The whole like, have my manager call their manager to do this and this and try and find a day to do some contrived shit, I don't like that.
How do you find partying here? I love it. The passion for club-going is so deep here, it's so strong. The kids here get exposed to that lifestyle a lot younger than we do in the States. People start going out at 15 here, right? Plus in certain circles the drug culture is so strong from a young age, how do you think that affects it? I think it just helps further music to resonate on a different level with people. Bringing up Burial as an example, I wonder how such an introverted guy is able to make that character ... y'know, what are the makings of Burial? I think of him being this young guy at raves with a hoodie on in the corner, just drinking in drum and bass.
The main collaborator on the record is, of course, Thundercat. In your opinion, how highly among the great bass players can he be considered? I don't know any better bass players than him. I think it's great that the three key people he plays bass for are so reflective of his personality. He's got the Suicidal Tendencies side to his personality, I mean when he's played one of those shows he's so insane. And he has the Badu side, and he has his George Duke side when he goes away and plays jazz gigs. It's really amazing to see all his different sides and the way that's reflected in his playing, and they're all really him and really honest. I think he's part of Flying Lotus now, I think he's part of the band almost. It's getting to that point now where we're almost a duo. - - - - ->
© Ben Price
It's great that he's been coming out on tour with you, and he'll be joining you on your evening at Brixton Academy. How much are you looking forward to that? I'm really excited man, it's gonna be good one. It's such a legendary venue and I think to dive in will be so fun. I'm playing two sets, probably one with the band and one regular. But it's a long way away man, I need to get through today first! Another collaboration you've worked on recently was Between Friends with Earl Sweatshirt of Odd Future and Captain Murphy. How was working with Earl? It was just like working with my homie, y'know. It's weird, those kids are so crazy, we were talking about working together for some time and I wanted to make sure that when we worked together it was just him and me. No distractions or playing silly, we had to really dial in the work. I went out to Hollywood and picked him up and brought him to my studio and we just hung out for hours, just listened to music and vibed out.
This seems to be as exciting a time in hip-hop as for many years, with young guys coming through and making genuinely innovative stuff. Man, it feels so good again. That's why it feels so good to be a producer lately. It just feels like there's so much potential in music right now, I don't wanna miss it. It's so ripe again.
[laughs] I think that's so funny. I've read some of that stuff, and it's so ridiculous. You meet a lot of kids and I try to advise people, even if they don't get signed or whatever. He's just one of those kids at Low End Theory (the influential weekly LA club night often synonymous with FlyLo and the LA beat scene), like Burial in a way. He just doesn't wanna make a big deal or nothing, he's not trippin'.
I feel like that title alludes to a lot of things that revolve around the next place, the next phase, whether it's the meditative space, or the dream states, or death, it's all part of that - 'the quiet'. You can take it how you will, but I don't feel like the same sentiment is present in this album as the last one, there's a different story for sure. I feel like I've been dealing with loss and stuff in a different way recently.
[The sound of Clams Casino filters in from the studio next door]
It's interesting given your affiliation with hiphop, you don't work more often with MCs.
There's a big difference between dealing with loss and realising your own mortality.
What do you make of the Clams stuff?
I just fell out of love with it a long time ago. When it was all about Jay Zs and Kanyes, that arena rap shit, I'm not fucking with it. But when all these new kids started coming up, it really lit the fire for me again. That's how I got into it, I thought I was gonna be producing rap records. And it's cool, cause all these new kids now, they know me [smiles].
Yeah, there is. But I think it's more reflective of how fragile my mindstate was over the last year and a half. I went through a hell of a depression making the album and not just because of what I had done previously, but because sometimes it's hard to remind myself why I'm doing what I'm doing ... all the things that artists go through! The normal shit. That's what I've come to realise, that it's all part of the process.
I love it, that's my boy. He's the nicest kid, I love him, and when I hear the music it's like, 'oh yeah, he's badass too!' And who is Captain Murphy? He's just a dude from LA. There was talk that it might be you, might be Tyler ...
The current album title, Until The Quiet Comes, appears to be a reference to death and mortality? With Cosmogramma being an album rooted in loss, is that a theme you can't get away from?
---------Until The Quiet Comes is released on October 1st on Warp Records
crackad.indd 1
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DAT E S O c t o b e r 20t h | T h e Ri t z , M an c h e s t e r N o v e m b e r 1 s t | H M V F or u m , L on d on B ack in 20 10 , J ack Tatum accidently made a great pop record.
TU NE Paradise
T his time round , he ' s ready to relish the moment.
WORDS David R eed
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According to the dictionary, a 'Nocturne' is a musical composition which is evocative of the night. It's a pretty apt title, then, for Wild Nothing's second full-length album; a record in which the palette of words and sound captures the mood of romanticism and impulsive actions which occur under the luminescence of a warm summer night. Wild Nothing's jangly guitar leads and twee pop hooks recall the 80s British indie bands associated with the seminal C86 cassette and artists on the early Creation records roster such as Felt, The Pastels and The House of Love. It's a somewhat mythologised era of indie music, back when the tag really was an abbreviation of 'independent'. But Jack Tatum, the man behind the Wild Nothing pseudonym, also has a weakness for the glossy, flamboyant sounds of chart-topping pop from those years, and these influences shine brightly on Nocturne. The record opens with Shadow, a delicate and bittersweet indie-pop tune where Jack plays the forlorn lover lamenting the fading passion of a relationship. On the title-track, Tatum is less fey and instead dauntlessly lust-struck. "I just want to let you know you can have me", he sings over the kind of anthemic chorus which might suitably accompany a collage of screenshots from John Hughes coming-of-age movies. Tatum began assembling tunes for Wild Nothing's first record Gemini during the summer of 2010. At the time he was living in Blacksburg, Virginia, a provincial town home to a fairly large community of Virginia Tech students. Jack was about to enter his senior year at the college, studying for a Communications degree that he felt apathetic about. Like so many students at this stage of higher education, he was disillusioned with academia and didn't have the faintest idea about what to do with his life once he'd finished. He'd been in a couple of bands before, mainly just messing around with friends for fun. But then Gemini became a much bigger success than Tatum had anticipated. Although any profits made from an indie record these days are going to be fairly modest, Wild Nothing suddenly became Tatum's full-time job. He quickly had to pull together a band to perform his songs on an endless string of tour dates, and the frequent blog interviews that kept popping up often portrayed a 21-year-old feeling slightly uncomfortable under the spotlight.
Do you think that Nocturne is a more ambitious record than Gemini? Yeah, I do. I think it's more ambitious in that my intention was to make a really cohesive album. With the first record, it was very much just pieced together. You know, write a song here, write a song a couple of weeks later there. It was this album which just totally stacked onto itself. But this time in the studio we were really trying to think about how the sound and how the songs would fit. But it wasn't like I was trying to make a big statement, I wasn't trying to do anything above myself. It's very much an album that sounds like me, and it does sound like the last record, but it's much more polished. Back when Gemini took off it seemed like you were taken aback by the sudden amount of attention you were receiving. Over the last two years do you feel as if you've come to terms with it? Yeah, it's honestly taken me this long to get used to it. It's good now. During the whole process of making this album, I knew what it was leading to and what was going to happen afterwards. I knew I was going to be doing all these interviews and going on tour for months and months. That was something I was able to mentally prepare for this time round. Whereas with the first record, I wasn't prepared. I mean I could have just made a record that didn't go anywhere and I would've never toured, but there was this demand for us to travel
" I write about love because it's
so universal. "
But fast forward two years and Tatum is gearing up to promote Nocturne, and touring with a satisfyingly tight live set-up. When Crack calls him, he seems confident and justifiably proud of the new record.
Could you tell us a bit about the Nocturne website? The brightness of the computer screen changes as you scroll over the tour dates … Oh yeah, we came up with this idea of incorporating the lunar cycle into the album artwork. On the website it fits in with our tour dates as you scroll through. But also, we were able to set it up so it tracks where you are, so it'll tell you what your moon is going to look like and when it's going to come up. The vinyl edition of Nocturne comes with six different covers. Did you have much input into the album's artwork? I actually had the initial idea. I found some old marble paper patterns and a lot of them date pretty far back, like into the 1800s. I like to be involved with artwork and make sure that it's in line with the music. Initially we had to choose one of them, but then the label Captured Tracks suggested we do all of them. I honestly think it's the coolest thing, that you can choose the sleeve. It definitely increases the appeal of owning the physical record. Be honest, are you the kind of guy who goes digging through crates of vinyl or is your collection mainly mp3 based? Oh, I'm definitely a vinyl nerd. I can't really stop myself from spending obscene amounts of money at record stores! Mostly old stuff though, and that's why I think the artwork appeals to me, because it's kind of a reference to older records from the 80s or 90s. © Shawn Brackbill
and to play and I just didn't know I'd have to do that. So having at least that foresight to see ahead is huge for me. Also, the two years we've spent on the road doing this and getting used to it has helped me so much. I'm definitely more in a place where I feel like this is what I want to do, and I feel comfortable doing it. As far as the live incarnation of Wild Nothing goes, what was it about these guys which that made you want to approach them to be in the band? We're a five piece now. Two of the guys have been with me since the beginning of Wild Nothing. They're all just people that are my friends foremost. It's not like we were very professional musicians when we started out, but it's really been an experience for us all to grow together as performers and as players. So do think that you'll genuinely enjoy this tour? I'm going to get tired of it. You get tired of doing it night after night. Sorry to destroy any of the myth, but it's a job and it gets boring and you get tired. But it's what I do and I enjoy doing it, as long as I'm not constantly on the road and as long as I have some time to recharge, then it's all good.
When writing Nocturne, what kind of emotions and experiences were inspiring you lyrically?
Lyrically, this record is fairly similar to the first, in that a lot of the lyrics are about relationshipbased scenarios. With this record it's almost imaginary romanticism, in a way. But it's very relatable, I write about love because it's so universal. The lyrics are the last thing I do, but it's not that I don't care about them. It's just something I don't spend too much time thinking about. So in that sense, it's kind of scary because it's unmediated.
Nocturne is out now on Bella Union.
The Wild Nothing sound often draws comparisons to certain 80s British indie, like the C86 bands or the early Creation bands, old school 4AD etc. Are you also influenced by some of the more mainstream music from that era? Yeah, I think that's part of what made this record more fun to make, because making a great pop record is kind of my ultimate goal. I'm inspired by a lot of the Creation Records stuff, bands like The House of Love or whatever, but also bands like Fleetwood Mac. When we made Paradise on the new record we were listening to Let's Dance by David Bowie a lot. I don't think I write songs like David Bowie, but from a production standpoint Let's Dance gave us a lot of ideas about how we wanted this record to sound, especially with the drums. There are a lot of mainstream pop influences in there, definitely.
With an un quenchable thirst for chaos, Sacramento' s Trash TA L K are on a mission, attracting unlikely admirers and plenty of haters along the way.
WORDS David R eed
TUN E B l i n d E v ol u t i on
S I TE t rasht al k hc.com
the old-school hardcore revivalists fronted by former Circle Jerks singer and founding Black Flag member Keith Morris. The guys in OFF! are highly respected veterans who, despite being well into middle age, still make thrilling punk records and go hard as fuck at their shows. According to Sam, OFF! act as mentors on tour. "They've all got their crown jewels, their achievements, they all know a lot and have been around for a long time, so it's interesting to hear their take on things. I particularly like talking to Mario (Rubalcaba, formerly of Rocket From The Crypt and Hot Snakes) because he's been in some really awesome bands, he's a great drummer and a great fucking skater. And Keith, he tells some great stories man ..."
underground band that makes death metal or thrashcore. So considering the tribalist nature of punk subcultures, do Trash Talk feel increasing levels of resentment from the communities they originated from? "Oh yeah, we've experienced it with every record," Spencer tells us. "Every time we put something out, people talk shit on it", he shrugs.
I L LU STRAT ION J a mes Wilson j ameswilso ni l l ustrati on.com
When Crack enters Trash Talk's dressing room at Bristol's The Croft just after soundcheck, everyone's gazing at their laptop screens, sipping beers and trying to get in touch with slightly dubious weed contacts.
Spencer Pollard, the band's bassist and auxiliary screamer, is watching a freestyle by Houston rapper Riff Raff and drummer Sam Bosson swivels his MacBook towards us to show off the pair of boots he's lusting over. "How fucking tight are these? We're meeting some Doc Marten guys in London tomorrow, they're giving us discount". The whereabouts of guitarist Garett is unknown, so Trash Talk's frontman Lee Spielman hands Crack a tinnie and suggests that we go ahead without him. We begin by chatting about Trash Talk are on the verge of dropping their new album, 119, named the triumphant festival slots they've played this summer. Trash Talk adapt after the address of the warehouse space where they rehearse, sleep, skate well to the big stages, Lee climbing over the barriers to engage with the crowd, but really it's the sweaty club shows that they're renowned for. So what's their preferred set up for a Trash Talk show? "No security, " I ' v e d e f i n i t e ly b e e n a b o u t t o p no barrier, a three foot stage and miscellaneous things to dive off in the room", Lee tells us.
Sam claims to be unphased by the barrage of abusive comments posted by disgruntled hardcore purists and bored adolescents on the band's YouTube videos and Facebook page. "On the internet there's this faceless way to talk shit without any repercussion. It happens with all kinds of music, but especially with the hardcore community for some reason. It's definitely commonplace for someone to be like [adopts a whiny voice] 'Oh this definitely isn't their best release, I liked their early 7 inches much better' on the internet. They don't really think too much about it because it's nothing to them, just a few clicks on a keyboard. But we don't really give a fuck. You can't please everyone all the time. As long as we l ay truly believe in what we're putting out, then I don't have any problem with it."
and said like "Fuck, I just cannot
It just so happens the venue they're about to play "I think that expanding and playing to different types do this right now'. But you feed perfectly matches that description, and the gig that of audiences is tight", adds Lee. "There's that 16 yearfollows our interview is fucking mayhem. As soon as old kid who talks shit, he goes crazy at the first show they launch into their first tune, a berserk moshpit and then he's way too fucking cool by the second show. off the crowd. If it's poppin, you're breaks out and there's a constant flow of stageBut then the random dude who listens to SBTRKT or divers for the duration of the set. Under the band's The xx or something, that guy will probably come back j u s t l i k e ' O h s h i t, i t ' s g o i n g d o w n ! " instruction, crowd members climb on top of the because he's not there to be part of any kind of scene, PA speakers and dive headfirst into the pit. During he's there because he likes what he hears and what the breakdown of Explode, everyone gets the same he sees." idea and so many of us rush the stage that Sam's drum kit topples over. and party. For the release of 119, they've combined their label Trash Talk The band appear highly impressed. "That was the most stage dives Collective with Odd Future Records. Trash Talk first hooked up with Odd "But let it be known that Trash Talk will always be a hardcore band", Sam ever off of the highest point of the room. Thank you Bristol. You are Future at SXSW two years ago, and their friendship with the LA rap crew chips in, reaffirming the band's loyalty and ruling out the possibility of any fucking crazy", Lee tweets the next morning, along with an affectionate is documented in pictures of them goofing around together, posted online. chillwave influences on 119. salute to one particularly impulsive audience member: "Shout out to At a recent New York show, Odd Future crashed Trash Talk's set with the kid who almost made me black out choking me. You woke me the Tyler providing vocals for a hardcore rendition of his ignorant teen angst By this stage of Crack's conversation with Trash Talk, the dictaphone has fuck up". anthem Radicals while Earl Sweatshirt, Frank Ocean and the rest of the been on for 25 minutes, we're running out of questions and we can sense gang wiled out onstage. It's a ritual which occurs when both crews are that attention spans are wavering. We do, however, manage to instigate Pretty much any account of a Trash Talk show will report the band's in the same town, and it once got so out of hand that Tyler ended up a debate about Lil B, which leads to Lee hilariously re-enacting the relentless energy and determination to whip the crowd into a frenzy. Their in handcuffs. Basedgod's signature 'cooking dance'. "I feel very blessed to have seen Lil B touring schedule reveals a band constantly on the road, and although play live a few times", he says sincerely. "We went to see him in Hollywood they're looking pretty drained during our conversation, they show no When Crack brings up Trash Talk's affiliation with Odd Future, Lee and he actually took the time to shake hands with every single person who symptoms of fatigue when they perform. But surely when they're feeling explains that their relationship transcends genre boundaries and that it's came to the show. I think that is fucking awesome." especially rough they must dread the chaos that awaits them? "Yeah, for an inclination towards DIY ethics which brings them together. "We're all sure", Lee admits. "I've definitely been about to play and said, 'fuck, I just like-minded individuals. We all skate, some of the Odd Future dudes listen cannot do this right now'. But you feed off the crowd. If it's poppin', you're to punk, a lot of us listen to rap, we all live in LA, we're all from California. - - - - - - - - - just like 'Oh shit, it's going down!'" It just kind of makes sense. The thing that's really cool about it is the Trash Talk Collective is a label we started and built up on our own, and Odd Trash Talk formed in 2005 and as you'd expect, they've accumulated Future records is a label they started and they're building up. So it's like 119 is released on October 9th via Trash Talk Collective / plenty of war stories over the years. But there's one gig that remains Lee's both of our fucking empires together, you know, shit we've put everything Odd Future Records all time favourite. "This one time we were supposed to play at this festival into and we feel very passionate about, so it's cool that it mixes up." in Santa Barbara but the cops shut it down, so we played out of the back of a U-Haul van in the parking lot. People were diving off the top of the Although Trash Talk's music sounds slightly more polished every time U-Haul and shit", he grins. "I could just see bodies flying from over me. they release a new record, they're still faithfully committed to creating Some crazy ass girl climbed up the fire escape of this two storey building intense, metal-infused punk. That said, they attract a far more diverse and dived off, that was the illest moment for me. And it was just fucked, fanbase than most hardcore bands. They've introduced themselves to the gate was locked, so no one could get in and no one could get out. The hip-hop crowds through their Odd Future connection and their tour with cops couldn't do anything, so they were pissed. It was fucking gnarly!" Spaceghostpurrp. They also find themselves billed as the heaviest act at festivals with predominately indie and EDM line-ups. In conversation, This summer, Trash Talk have toured once again with their buddies OFF!, you're just as likely hear Lee rave about Real Estate or Toro Y Moi as some
SITE c o atesa n dsc arr y.com WORD S G eraint Da vi e s
UNNATURAL-NATURAL HISTORY From whichever direction you approach it, the Royal West of England Academy cuts a striking figure. Erected in 1858, its grandiose Victorian exterior, complete with elaborate carvings and ornamental coat of arms, exudes promises of pure, classical quality. Yet thanks to the curation double act of Chippy Coates and Richard Scarry, flashes of vibrant tones eke out of the building's upper floor, across its balcony and onto a series of creations formed at the RWA's face. Stark visions of creatures formed from masses of colour and sweeping lines, devised by some of the most revered and cutting edge artists in the world. A small glimpse of the sublime range of creations within; a formation of art which immediately tests the binary art worlds of the street and the gallery within. To stride through the building's enormous front doors and up the sweeping double staircase is to enter a portal into a powerful, challenging and vividly realised modern realm of contemporary art. A series of arresting pieces have also spilled out onto the gallery's luxurious marble foyer: Beth Carter's full scale minotaur, brooding and deadeyed but somehow very alive, and Patrick Haines's gigantic, towering brass hogweed, the simple, familiar plant elevated to magnificent scale, comfortably exceeding ten feet. And this is all before you've entered the exhibition space itself.
Unnatural-Natural History is without doubt the most important exhibition to grace Bristol this summer. Its curators leapt at the opportunity to interact with the celebrated setting, as Richard Scarry, the US limb of this uniquely transatlantic partnership, tells us. "We'd noticed a lot of artists were leaning towards nature. My partner Chippy had this idea that, since it's such a big Victorian building, and it really feels like a Natural History museum, why not do a show of Unnatural-Natural History; take the idea of Natural History and base it on contemporary art. A lot of the work is based on remnants of the artist's childhood and their memories of natural history museums." Indeed, the open-eyed wonder evoked by this absorbing range of pieces harks strongly at the tentative and awe-struck childhood innocence of being overwhelmed by the vast models, unplaceable skeletons and sheer breadth of information of a museum. One's eyes are drawn helplessly back and forth to each corner of the space, busily populated yet with the immaculately-presented accessibility of the modern exhibition. From the world-renowned likes of David LaChapelle and his sublime chromographic print Concerning the Soul, to Kate MccGwire's unique and involving creations constructed from feathers, forming something at once natural and organic yet unknowable and otherwordly. Yet Fulvio Di Piazza's epic and immersive cloudscapes, Mexico-born, LA-based Luis Sanchez's technically stunning and textured large-scale scenes where humans and animals interact to surreal, irresistible effect and Marco Mazzoni's dreamy, mystical pieces created with the humble pencil are all utterly, equally revelatory.
~ Left Bitten Too Much Off The Apples | Luis Sancez Right The Patience Of The Enemy | Fulvio Di Piazza ~
These are deeply personal variations on a broad but collectively embraced, theme, from an enviable range of artists from a melange of backgrounds and approaches too numerous to list. "Everything you see here was created especially for this show", states Scarry with a hint of pride. "Which is kind of phenomenal, when you think of the amount of work we have here. We asked all of these artists a year ago. That's why we really champion what they do, they put all their sweat and blood and tears and creativity into these pieces, which have been created for Bristol and for this show. Now it's our job to get it seen by as many people as possible." This willingness to produce work expressly for this show is reflective of an unanimous personal reaction to the brief. The artists who participate here all have their own, specific relationship with nature, and hence to the concept of Unnatural-Natural History. Lindsey Carr, the Scottish artist whose The Mythical Ape greets you as soon as you enter the space, grabbing the attention with its furious glare and historical contextualisation, based as it is on Tibetan animal masks, tells us, "the animal world appeals to me because it presents us with a problem. We can't communicate with them easily, if at all, so we understand them primarily through our own social and cultural contexts. In effect our understanding of them says more about us than it does about them." - - - - ->
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This deep-rooted preoccupation with the natural world is also reflected in the stunningly original work of LA resident Deedee Cheriel, where blocks of vibrant, neon colour and patterns spew from the mouths of animals, an illustration of her joyous clash of influences, from punk to a range of historical and cultural reference points. "I grew up in the State of Oregon, my mom would take us camping for weeks at a time in the summers when I was a child," she tells us. "A lot of the imagery is from there. Birds, bears, deer, trees ... even to this day, I'm happiest when I'm hiking or at the beach."
"No, none whatsoever," he replies firmly. "I'm vegetarian! We're strong believers in things being responsibly sourced, and all of the taxidermy art we feature is rescued. Geza's cow heads come from a slaughterhouse where they'd just have been put in a fire. In Angela's work, most of those pieces are over a hundred years old and weren't considered good enough for display or couldn't be sold. These things have to be treated sensitively and respectfully, and I think each of the taxidermy pieces in our show are there to celebrate, to almost give a life to the animal after their life has been lived."
And of course, it was a passion for such things which inspired the curators to single out this theme as one with the depth of potential to support an entire show. "We both love nature and we're both science geeks", says Scarry. "I think what's around us in this world is so extraordinary, and I think that isn't noticed a lot of the time."
While these items are, indeed, handled sensitively, there's no doubt Coates and Scarry seek to evoke strong reactions in their curations. From their work on Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery's Art From The New World exhibition in 2010 and 2011's Modern Fabulists show at View Gallery, the duo, who originally gained a reputation from running an extremely successful art blog, have certainly got Bristol talking.
In the context of these relationships, which extend beyond the representation of nature in art to a powerful personal and emotional connection, it seems pertinent to question whether the curators felt any moral quandaries in the use of taxidermy within the show. From Geza Szollusi's cows' heads, expanded into remarkable spherical objects, at once shocking, engrossing and almost hard to believe, to Angela Singer's beautifully bejewelled and dolled-up mammals and birds, these are intriguing and tastefully-handled examples of the art.
"When you're curating a show, indifference is the greatest insult", Scarry tells us, becoming animated. "I would rather people hate it or love it, but have an opinion. And one of the things this show has done is create a lot of dialogue and conversation." Scarry, and by extension his partner Coates, exude pure passion. Their desire to gain exposure for the artists they champion and to get people talking is genuinely palpable, describing this as "the gift of the curator."
~ From Left To Right Final Flight | James REKA The Lion The Beast And Me | Dee Dee Cheriel Lindsey Carr | The Mythical Ape ~
It's an attitude which spreads from the core to reach every element of their shows. "They are very enthusiastic about their work, which makes working with them very fun", explains Deedee Cheriel. "The enthusiasm is contagious, that's why their shows feel so fresh and alive and why people get so excited about seeing such cutting edge art." Cheriel is a prime example of another focus of this particular exhibition; to actively involve a younger audience. The immediacy of her work, its bold patterns and neon bursts; this is gallery art at its most fashionable and hip. "I think people register with my work for many reasons", she tells us. "I think because it draws from different cultural and historical references, and also because the iconic nature of the imagery lends itself to a pop or punk aesthetic. I started making art when I was in a band, just for our albums and t-shirt covers, but I really enjoyed the process and kept doing it long after my band days." This movement to bring a youthful crowd to a location more readily associated with a traditional art-going crowd was of importance to the curators. "I think anything that engages young people to be creative is smart", says Scarry. "A lot of the artists we use are influenced by illustration, animation, gaming, video, pop culture; and that's a young demographic." This is further exemplified by the exhibition's aforementioned inability to remain within the confines of the gallery. Pouring onto the RWA's front, the work of internationally acclaimed street artists James REKA and ROA provides a truly arresting welcome. With an active interest in rewriting - - - - ->
~ From Left To Right Come Fly With Me | Angela Lizon Black and White Cow | Geza Szollosi Guilt Is A Terrible Host | Meryl Donoghue ~
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definitions between street art and fine art. These artists also make vital contributions to the gallery space. ROA's lovingly-prepared installation allows his exceptional anatomical sketches and preoccupation with skulls and animal forms to merge into a semblance of a taxidermist's studio or vet's surgery. Even in the context of the brightly-lit, high-ceilinged exhibition space, there is something eerie and cold in this involving little world of ROA's creation. On an opposing wall, two neon creations from Pure Evil draw the eye. And most surprising of all is to be shown into an adjoining room where James REKA himself can be found working on The Final Flight, a piece which would soon find its face on the gallery wall. "I've been part of a few small residencies in the past, but never in a royal institution such as this," REKA tells us of his experience. "It's exciting but also nerve-racking to see the other work in the show. The standard is extremely high, which was a great push for me for me to make the best work possible. I'm honoured to show my work next to artists I have looked up to over the years." REKA, whose work has appeared all over the globe, from Tokyo to San Francisco, was also quick to praise Bristol as a creative environment. "Bristol has a long creative history. I'm from Melbourne, which also is enriched with culture and is a creative hub. I knew when I arrived I would love this place. It's small but condensed, with great music, street art, galleries and a great vibe. An hour after getting off the train, I was already painting the balcony of the RWA. I felt my creative juices flowing and even without a sketch I knew exactly what to do."
REKA's seamless translation from street to gallery is based around a constant vision paired with the ability to adapt technique and mentality. "For me, street art is total freedom", he explains. "I can have fun and enjoy the art of painting large scale murals. I would often approach a wall without any preliminary drawings. Apart from the chance to use different mediums like brush, oil pastels and charcoal that I could not use on my murals, my artwork gives me an opportunity to portray a different narrative my walls could never show." But perhaps most enthusiastically of all, REKA is quick to shower praise on his kindred spirit, ROA. "He's a painting machine", he gushes. "I was lucky enough to work with him in Sydney last year, but his installation here is like nothing I've seen from any of his exhibitions in the past." This intrusion of the street into the gallery owes largely to Scarry himself. "Well, my dirty secret is that I'm a huge street art fan", he smiles. "I've worked with a lot of these graf boys over the years. Artists such as REKA and ROA are really putting fine art on the street, getting it seen by everyone and making it accessible. It's not graffiti in its original nature, it's not writing, it's not tagging, but it is street art; this is what they do on the street. We blur that line between street art and fine art. It's interesting to see it alongside something like See No Evil, where ROA had a piece. We're the fine art end of that." That the RWA and the incredible range of work on offer just a walk down
the hill at See No Evil, the street art event which has just celebrated its second happening at the time of our conversation, can be mentioned in the same breath is testament to Coates and Scarry's ability to bring a vital new era to a fine old institution. "I think it's interesting for Bristol, because Bristol is a really important hub for art. We could have done this show anywhere", says Scarry with a clear tone of determination. "We could have done it in London, in New York or LA. But the truth is we live in Bristol and we believe in Bristol, and we need Bristol to show up and support projects like this." And has that been the case? "It is happening", comes the reply. "A little bit of it is reeducation, letting people know we're here. I think a lot of the big art collectors in Bristol are used to going to London to buy, and you'll also find that a lot of the most important artists in Bristol show in London. We're trying to show that you can do this in your own back yard, that Bristol matters." And as we stand outside the RWA and glance back at those sudden flashes of vivid, dynamic activity hinting at the powerful shift in ideologies occurring inside, we're left in doubt he means it.
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© Andrew Volk
DATES N o vember 3rd | S oup Ki tchen, Ma n c h e st e r N o vember 4 th | X OYO, Lond on
WORDS J a c k B o lter
TUN E & I t Was U
S I TE how t odressw el l .com
W ith his second album , H ow T o Dress W ell reflects on a period of such crushing loss that it became empowering in its totality; hence, Total Loss.
Some individuals have a way of squeezing a hundred lives into one. How To Dress Well appears to have squeezed the tribulations of a hundred musical lives into just three years. The initial hype, the tremors of influence felt strongly across an emerging scene, the devastating period of personal trial, and the triumphant return. The figure we met prior to a sold-out show at Dalston venue Birthdays was one emphatically reinforced by the strength of experience.
"I had one song in the mix of demos that was different, Ocean Floor For Everything. And I thought to myself, 'look, if you put this record out, think of the life-form that you're advocating'. When you put out a piece of music or a piece of art, you're claiming a norm, y'know? You're saying there's something true in this. There is something true in those songs, and I want to release them eventually, but if I would have released those songs and toured them now, I would have just calcified my depression and ended up stuck in that series of effects. Ocean Floor had a totally different effect in my mind – it's not a depressing song. It's a sad song, but it's mournful."
go into the studio to make a populist album. I always make pop music, but not populist music. The thing is, all the sounds are still, in principle, experimental sounds. For example, you might have something that could sound like a pop song, if the piano wasn't weird and crumbling, or if the vocal weren't occasionally just shooting off an echo. If you took those things away, you might have a clean pop song, but you wouldn't have anything effectively charged."
Tonight's show gives Krell the opportunity to share the newest incarnation of How to Dress Well with a rapturous basement crowd. It's a beautiful The shift saw Total Loss become a record shaped by mourning, triggering summer evening outside, but such is the longing for a first listen to a turnaround towards something powerful and uplifting. "Mourning Krell's new work that the sweaty room is rammed long before he takes is somehow richer because you experience the loss, and then you move the stage, and then deadly silent for a spectacular acappella rendering on from the loss, but you somehow sustain the loss. People who are of Suicide Dream 1. Back in 2011 Tom performed his songs alone to a backing track, now he is joined by an accomplice on piano and drum machine, and another on violin and synthesisers; welcome additions in achieving greater spontaneity and unique moments, but also allowing I didn't go into the studio the intimacy of a HTDW show to remain. He explains: "I found in some cases the one man show was brilliant, and one which people would tap into and have these o make a populist album. I intense emotional experiences. But I wanted to help make a collective aesthetic and emotional experience l w a y s m a k e p o p m u s ic , b u t n o t easier – I wanted to help it to be little bit easier for more people".
In 2009, Tom Krell traded in Brooklyn for Berlin in order to study for a PhD in Philosophy. Simultaneously he began a career as a leading figure in an alternative wave of contemporary R&B, anonymously posting his home recordings as free-to-download EPs via his blog. The sound of his stunning falsettos breaking out alongside distorted, deep, fragmented beats quickly attracted attention. In 2010 he compiled the best of his online releases and put them out under his artistic title How To Dress Well, in the form of beautiful debut LP, Love Remains.
Two years down the line and it's been a busy and emotionally exhausting time for Krell, but ultimately t an artistically fruitful one. His How to Dress Well persona continued to gather momentum, releasing a follow-up orchestral EP Just Once, touring the world, and spending the last year composing and producing po his second LP, Total Loss. While the new record certainly holds elements of the darker aesthetic with which HTDW is synonymous, Krell has also succeeded in creating something truly elating, an immense challenge given the backdrop of its creation. "It's a complicated story, because I actually made two records when making Total Loss," he tells us. "I started recording in September 2010, and my best friend had just died. In quick succession my uncle also died. He was the figurehead for my family, and his death sent my mother into a depression from which she hasn't recovered – she lost the ability to speak for six-week periods at a time. I went into a long-distance relationship, and everything was dark. It was a really, really brutal time for me. I don't think I've ever suffered sadness the way I did that fall and winter. I wrote 15 songs that are just like, dark fuckers – really mean, depressed music. And I was keen to release them." In stark contrast to this darkness, the first release from Total Loss came in the form of the heavenly Ocean Floor for Everything. The song undoubtedly emanates aspects of deep-rooted melancholy, but there is an atmosphere of positivity that clearly defines it from the pure despair that inspired his initial collection. It would be this song that led him down an alternative, more joyous route for Total Loss.
m u s ic . "
melancholy are unable to think of people they've lost – you bring those people up and they fall into a depression. When I listened to Ocean Floor, I was like "that's a mournful song" and that's when I was like, "I want to write mournful music" – I want to present this image of mournfulness". It's a testament to Krell's character that he produced a record which confronts such difficult subject matter head on, working towards a positive outlook for his audience. Whilst he admits the more depressing effects are the ones he is more attracted to artistically, you are unlikely to meet a more easy-going, gregarious and instantly likeable individual. As the main room of the venue begins to fill out, we leave to find a slightly quieter location. During the one minute walk between leaving and finding our seats in the opposing bar, Tom is stopped around half a dozen times by people who want to catch up. He apparently managed to make a lot of friends whilst over here for five weeks last summer working on Total Loss at XL Studios with engineer Rodaidh McDonald (The xx), despite having limited time available for socialising. He explains: "I know a ton of people because I was here last August, staying on Mare Street. I was in London for five weeks but only went out about twice because I was in recording from about 4pm to 2am almost every single night. It was brutal." Krell is also frank regarding those artists from which he has drawn influence. Whilst he has created a unique space for himself in combining his rich voice with elements of witch house and dream pop, he wears his heart completely on his sleeve in citing Tracy Chapman, Alicia Keys and Prince as the artists he was listened to in creating Total Loss, and takes delight in covering the likes of R.Kelly and Janet Jackson. However, whilst with Total Loss he takes HTDW away from the more lo-fi, distorted sounds of his debut to tighter, bigger gestures, there is no desire to directly emulate the pop stars who serve as some of his biggest idols. "I didn't
Krell dives into his new Total Loss material with perhaps his purest R&B pop song to date, the shimmering & It Was U, surely his biggest nod so far to R.Kelly and the like. A shuddering rendition of the second single from the new album, Cold Nites, demonstrates just how diverse the sound of HTDW has become, moving us into the stark contrast of a roving, dubby bass line while the projector behind him plays out a dreamy haze. The highlight of the evening comes when Tom follows the epic Ocean Floor by quietly introducing new song Set it Right as "the biggest song I've ever written". Minutes later, when the huge crashes break down to near silence as Krell's falsetto details those that he's lost in some sense ("Jamie I miss you / Mama I miss you / and Dad I miss you"), it's clear that this is Krell's most profound and open-hearted expression yet. By the end of tonight's show, it's apparent that Tom has pushed How to Dress Well to yet another level in his short musical career. It also seems there will be more to come, as his attentions turn away from academia to music alone. "I've finished my coursework and my requirements right now, so I'm just focused on music entirely. At least until next year I'm just going to do music, because I really want to give it everything – it's calling me right now. Philosophy to me is like a lifelong vocation, whereas music is very timely. I have to do it now. It feels like a "now" thing for me."
Total Loss is released on September 17th via Weird World
Š Will Calcutt
the impeccable mr . dear makes it all look rather easy
WORDS T ho mas Fro s t
S I TE mat t hew dear.com
TUN E H e r F an t as y
Crack has had its eyes on Matthew Dear for some time, and Crack's girlfriends have had their eyes on him longer. When it comes to being blessed in a variety of departments, Mr Dear's glass is positively overflowing. His exploits as both an esteemed techno producer under the Audion moniker and in his current focus under his own name, which sees him create music for a live, full-band setting, have seen him take a unique place at electronic music's top table. It's hard to bring to mind a man whose career has straddled the two disciplines with such universally acknowledged credibility. With new album Beams offering perhaps his most accessible work to date, Crack finds Dear at home in Brooklyn waiting to present his latest offering on a touring schedule that will see his band hit the UK in December. During our conversation he's relaxed, considered and honest in his answers. In truth, the success of Beams is likely to herald more heady times for an artist who is ferociously determined that the quality of everything to which he puts his name remains high. This is reflected in Dear the label manager, who through his two imprints, Ghostly International and Spectral Sound, has represented some of the most current and relevant artists in electronic music. Through separating out the more dance floor orientated sounds on Spectral, with music designed for the live setting on Ghostly, Dear has ended up promoting some of the most innovative hitters in both fields. Notable albums from Com Truise, Gold Panda and School Of Seven Bells on Ghostly look grand on the CV, and on the dance floor Benoit And Sergio, Subb-An, Ryan Elliot, Mark E and Gadi Mizrahi are some of house's current A-listers releasing on Spectral. Add to the list that Mr Dear is probably one of the best-looking and welldressed men not currently found strutting up and down a catwalk for a living and you paint a picture of a man who could teach Freddie Flintoff a thing or two about being an all-rounder. His latest album is a collection of slightly off-centre pop tracks that herald zero top 10 single potential yet retain a catchy sensibility that renders them instantly likable. This is in no small part attributable to Dear's deep vocal delivery, where notes are often elongated past the usual limits and lyrics are at turns sung and spoken. It's a leftfield pop oddball, but in the vein of all good pop music, Dear isn't pretending it's anything else.
Where are you at the moment? I'm at my place in upstate New York right now. And is this the calm before the storm of going out on tour? I've actually got the band coming up on Monday for rehearsals. There's a lot of work to do. There's a real contrast in tone between the new record and Black City. Were both records reflective of your mood at the time of recording? Absolutely. All my albums are reflective of the way I'm feeling and all my music reflects my state of mind. I equated Black City to being the past, towards the black hole and light escaping on the other side of the black hole.
There is so much of what you would describe as odd pop music in your sound. It's leftfield yet it retains this superb pop music feel.
We've seen you play live as a two piece but also a four piece, why does it change?
I like to write catchy melodies, but I feel I only have one way of doing it and that's with the machines and the tricks and everything I've come to do. I can play a chord on a keyboard, but sometimes I like it when I detune it a bit and it's a bit off. I like to change the pitches of the oscillators and I like to make sounds bend. A straight C chord is a little too easy.
It's really just what I can afford. If I could tour with 10 people and it made sense I'd do that, but my limit is four and I like it to be as dense as it possibly can be without being too cluttered.
In the wider spectrum, do you think the avant-garde pop music route is a road people go down enough? Have you been massively influenced by this style of pop music? We've heard you're a big Talking Heads fan. Yeah totally. I don't think there is much of a difference between The Beatles and Talking Heads, in the sense that they're both going for a specific pop sound. It's just how you get there and the tools that you use. There isn't much difference in the core of the elements, it's just how you go about doing it. Vocally you have one of the most distinctive voices we've heard for a long time. It's very depthy, very throaty and your delivery is unique in that it's often done in a spoken word style. Is your voice tampered with on record at all, and how much of it is a true reflection of your singing or speaking style? You hear me now and it is deep. When I come into the studio I don't correct anything. I've used auto-correcting software and it does the wrong thing and as a lot of the musical sounds are a little bit off anyway it makes my voice sound off in the melody. I like to layer it, I do a low, a mid and a high version of the verse, so in terms of tampering with it, I just like to make it thick. I like to overdub a lot, but I'm not correcting anything. In terms of the artwork for Beams, the depiction of you on the front cover is a very personal thing to have as your album's artwork. Is this your most personal album to date? It is and I like the fact you've noticed that, but also if you really think about it, it's still a very distorted version of me on the front cover. It's a very odd interpretation of who I am and I think that's exactly what the music is, in that it's a very cryptic honesty. It's very me, and a very personal album projected through this mesh of sound and wordplay that reflects how I'm feeling. However, I also want it to reflect how other people can be feeling as well. I'm not trying to be super specific in that 'this song is all about me' and that's it. I like to say it's about me, and in a greater sense it's about you, and you can sing the song and think about the questions you are asking yourself. Who did the artwork for the front cover? His name is Michael Cina and he's done many of the album covers for Ghostly International. It was good for him and me to finally work together. After we'd finished, he came out and stayed with me in my apartment and we talked about the concept of making the album cover and how we'd do it. We became really close. You show many sides to your musical character with your productions as Matthew Dear and Audion. How do these two sides to your character inform each other? Do you like to keep them separate?
Was this a darker time in your life? I'm not trying to say that I was depressed or everything was dark and melancholic in my life during Black City. Far from it. But there are these overarching themes that pop up in your life and Black City was made during a very intense period where I was running extremely fast in every direction at once. I felt like my mind was a bit more on the fragile side. Coming out the other side of that, everything has become a bit more slowed down and a bit more refined and things fell into place. It's not like I'm just doing nothing now or everything is easy, it's just everything has become more clear.
I still DJ a lot and I'm still playing other people's music and electronic music, and that definitely comes into the studio, but they are becoming more separate. Things I'm working on with the band are very different to what I'd prepare for an Audion live show. Don't get me wrong, there are certain bands that can show up and play a 4/4 kick drum and get the party going, but that's not what I like to do. I like to separate the two entirely and not let them converge. I definitely confuse a lot of people too. People show up to my DJ sets and expect me to play stuff from my album, but that's not usually the case.
It felt like a very bold move to continue doing the band thing when you were having so much success as Audion around 2006, releasing Mouth To Mouth and Just Fucking. Did it feel like a risk to go back to the band thing at that point? It was tough because it's all about promotion and you have to really promote projects. I put out Asa Breed at that time and then went back and did some more Audion shows and it was around 2009 when I realised I wasn't actually giving enough energy to each individual project and they were suffering. I decided I really had to focus on one and do it the best I could. So after touring with Interpol and doing two headline tours of my own, easily a year had gone by and it's been band, band, band. It didn't make sense to do Audion between the two latest albums as I knew I wouldn't be able to do it the way I wanted to. All that being said, my new plan is to return to the studio in January and work on all new Audion material and get that ready by the end of next year and tour it all of 2014. With the labels, Audion and the band, how do you find time to keep abreast of it all? You must digest a hell of a lot of music? There's a lot going on constantly. Maybe I need that. With Spectral you've released music from some of the most credible figures in house music like Subb-an, Mark E and Benoit and Sergio. Is that label your way of staying up in the game? Yes and no. As a label we've always been careful not to put out anything we didn't find to be valuable or contemporary in electronic music. We wanted everything we released to hold up five or ten years from now. Meeting Ash (Subb-an) and working with him was fantastic as we really relate to him as a human, and we were friends with Benoit and Sergio before we started working with them. Aside from the whole Detroit thing, what were your early musical explorations? The first concert I ever went to was Depeche Mode with my brother when I was 14. A lot of my brother's music really. Kraftwerk, Art Of Noise. As someone who operates as a DJ and someone who fronts a band, do you find there are different frustrations that come with modern music, or are they universal? The fact there is a separation between the two means sometimes I'm met with blank stares when I DJ. People sometimes don't expect me to play a techno set or a house set, y'know. I'm not frustrated with anybody for not getting it, I'm just frustrated you can't do it all at once! You are one of the best-presented people we've ever seen on stage. Who is your tailor and where do you get your clothes? My favourite designer is Carol Christian Poell and he cuts everything to fit on the body just by luck. The people that sell me his clothes tell me that he has a very similar body style to me, so I've just been very lucky that I get everything he wears. I don't even need to get them tailored. They're pretty much my suits.
Beams is available now on Ghostly International
W ORD S T ho ma s Fro s t
SI T E r b m a ra d io . c o m
Red Bull Music Academy.
PHOTOS Fro m L eft To Ri g ht
S ON A R 201 2 S pi nn & R ashad
R B MA MA DR I D In t h e s t u d io w it h Do c Da n e e ka , D or i an C on c e p t , Sa lv a , R o n ika & M a r c o Pa ssa r in i
Was your graduation ceremony a little bit of an anti-climax? Get a little hot under that gown? Did you feel a bit like it was for your Mum's benefit? You clearly didn't graduate from the university of Red Bull. Crack is in Barcelona for the best graduation party on the planet. A three-day showcase with no scrolls and no certificates, just the affirmation that you're pretty awesome at what you do. It's Sonar By Day 2012 and Crack is sipping a mojito and soaking in the Spanish sun at the Sonar Presents: The Red Bull Music Academy stage. The cream of last year's alumni are sharing stage space with invited guests, previous graduates and headliners, most notably in the form of disco legend DJ Harvey, newly crowned tech queen Nina Kraviz and genre creating footwork superstars Rashad And Spinn, forming a perfectly assembled collection of past, present and future electronic stars.
music, not least because of the numerous levels on which the operation functions. Firstly the actual academy offers 60 producers and musicians from around the world the opportunity to spend two weeks at the Red Bull Music Academy: essentially a fortnight of lectures, events, parties and
Eye with all 32 booths of the landmark filled with specially invited artists. If you like your musical institutions with a degree of ambition, try dreaming up another idea on par.
" I learnt more in those two
weeks than I did in the whole of
Of the current crop that graces the stage over the three sun-soaked days, eleven nationalities are represented. Sucking in the most open-minded of Sonar's attendees, the stage acts as a pin-drop for all that's current in electronic music. There is a veritable air of celebration in the air that those in attendance have been proudly selected by RBMA to showcase. The Red Bull Music Academy has become an institution in modern
school " - Doc Daneeka
seminars that equip said student with everything they need to know to forge a successful career in the electronic music world, without sacrificing an ounce of credibility. Secondly, the Academy hosts parties around the world and brings these artists and selected guests to wider attention. These range from nightclub events to more expansive affairs, like taking over the whole of the London
Also to maximise exposure for the artists in question, the recently revamped Red Bull Music Academy Radio offers one of the most extensive mix selections available on the internet. As part of the deal when artists play the events, a large selection of the audio is recorded and made available for listening on the website.
Co-founder of the RBMA Torsten Schmidt reflected on the growth of the Academy during his time with Crack. "When you have a brand that has the collateral and the willingness to support cultural growth at a grass roots level, magic things can happen. We look to educate and entertain at the same time through the Academy." A quick scan of recent graduates of the RBMA is a prodigious roll call of emerged/emerging talent. B Bravo, Axel Bowman, Braiden, Om Unit, Hudson Mohawke, Jackmaster, Lunice, Space Dimension Controller, Tokimonsta, Fatima, Jamie Woon, Onra, Teebs, Aloe Blaac, Andreya Triana, Nina Kraviz and one current front cover star in Flying Lotus make up recent alumni. During the course of our time at Sonar, Crack spoke to numerous people about the support Red Bull Music Academy had provided them as
R B MA MA DR I D Pe a rso n So u n d Le c t u r e
artists. One of the most vocal was Crack feature star and mix provider Doc Daneeka. "The main thing I gained was meeting an insane network of people who I've come to know and love. To suddenly branch out and meet these people in the same position as me, fighting for the same thing, on the same page but coming from different backgrounds – people like Nick Hook from Cubic Zirconia, Ella from UMA, Claude Speeed. It was far more beneficial to meet people and hear lectures from people who weren't necessarily in my particular field. You'd be exposed to stuff you feel you should know, and that immediately makes you hungry to continue that learning. It opened our minds up to other levels. But then to be fed information by the best that have ever been ... I learnt more in those two weeks than I did in the whole of school." Another standout performer from last year's participants was Om Unit. Far from being an enigma, his sound is a perfect amalgamation of the kind of artist that the RBMA take very seriously. A swirling mix of dubstep, dub, footwork and UK bass inform his sound. "I think that has a lot to do with why I was chosen", he reveals. "The same can be said for a large number of other graduates. My sound is definitely a blend of a lot of styles and I think RBMA definitely look for people with a bit of originality to their production. You can spot that from this year's participants." It's no coincidence Doc Daneeka's current partner in music production
S ON A R 201 2 Ni na Krav i z
Benjamin Damage has been selected for this next RBMA event, to be held in New York next April. The selection process has been kind to a wave of producers who will already be on many an electronic music aficionado's radar. T.Williams, Koreless, Evian Christ, Throwing Snow, Rudi Zygadlo and Alitrec as well as Damage are the seven participants that have been selected to represent the UK at next year's event. It's an opportunity Ben is extremely excited to be given: "The application was interesting. I'd been thinking about it for a far too long and just getting confused, so I woke up one afternoon hungover and wrote the whole thing right then, without thinking. No bullshit, no pretending to be cool or know all this stuff, I just wrote total truth. I can't wait to meet a whole new set of people who are genuinely passionate about music. Plus it's in the best place on earth. I mean, of all the places I've been, New York isn't just the best. It's in its own league." The diversity of talent the RBMA showcases in their worldwide events often acts as the most quantifiable indicator of the superb wave of individuals they support. A quick scan of their events page heralds events happening in eleven different countries over the course of a two month period. Torsten is quick to play up these events as a big part of the operation. "It's the best way we have of cementing existing relationships. The ship would not float if we didn't provide the stages for performance. Take Sonar, we are all meeting here for a party, but many people here will also partake in the more educational side of what we do at a future academy
lecture, for example. The parties allow us to make contact with such a wide range of artists." Wide range is the phrase. Some of the artists playing under the RBMA banner in the next two months include Todd Terje, Lone, Moodymann, Hudson Mohawke, Tim Hecker, Oneohtrix Point Never, Mala, Theo Parrish, Legowelt and Dam-Funk. The quality speaks for itself. Looking forward to the Academy in April next year, New York's rich and varied electronic music heritage will act as an inspirational backdrop to what will be two weeks encapsulating what exactly what makes electronic music so fucking good in 2013. You'd do well to make the graduation ceremony.
For thousands of live recordings, in-depth interviews and DJ mixes, including those from Sonar, check out the new Red Bull Music Academy Radio site at rbmaradio.com For more about Red Bull Music Academy go to redbullmusicacademy.com
W ORD S Da vid R eed
D II V T U NE Ho w Lo n g Ha v e Yo u K n o w n
S ITE f ac e b ook .c om / d i i v n y c
Diiv's debut album Oshin is an addictive dream-pop gem that's had plenty of play in the Crack office over this bleary summer. It's a record packed with airy indie jams driven by hypnotic, interweaving, reverb-drenched guitar leads which have had us totally hooked. We called up Diiv's leader Zachary Cole Smith (or 'Cole', as he prefers to be called) for a chat and he told us all about Diiv's evolution, being best mates with his label bosses and why he's moved to the middle of nowhere. Diiv was originally conceived as a one man bedroom project, Cole's outlet for the wistful tunes he was penning in between fulfilling duties as touring guitarist with Brooklyn indie-poppers Beach Fossils. Cole flung out a few of those early Diiv recordings on 7 inches late last year and gems like Sometimes and Human received considerable attention. Once the ball had started rolling, he recruited a couple of good friends to join Diiv, and he admits it took him a while to adjust to the more fleshed out sound that can be heard on Oshin. "It was weird because I'd recorded the whole album by myself before we took it into the studio, so I'd fallen in love with the demo version, but now when I listen back to the album, I am actually really, really proud of it." Although Cole feels affectionate towards those DIY laptop recordings, Diiv's development from solo project into full band was always a part of his vision. He insists the initial lo-fidelity of Diiv was really due a lack of resources rather than a deliberate aesthetic choice. "I had a hard time convincing people to be in the band, and I had a hard time getting it all together with no budget", he says. "At the time I was living in this place which was like a tiny little box, there was no sink, kitchen or shower and I didn't even have my own guitar amp. So I'd do it all at home on my computer. I'd plug my guitar in my computer because those were two things I did have." Diiv are signed to Captured Tracks, the Brooklyn label that's also home to Beach Fossils and Wild Nothing. The Captured Tracks team model themselves on the labels they admired when they were growing up, the independents that prioritised integrity over profit. Alongside reissuing forgotten shoegaze classics, Captured Tracks primarily sign bands who haven't had prior record deals, a principle which has earned them a reputation as credible tastemakers. Cole can't say enough good things about the label. "Captured Tracks has this real family vibe, everyone's there for each other. Whenever a band on Captured Tracks from out of town come to New York to play a show, every band and every person who works for the label will always go see them play. We hang out all the time and not just for business stuff. We go get drinks, get sushi, whatever. I already knew those guys through Beach Fossils, so when the time came for Diiv to find a label, it felt like there was really no choice."
Since Cole speaks about the social unity of this Brooklyn indie scene with so much enthusiasm, we're surprised to hear he recently departed to the countryside near upstate New York. So how's the quiet life treating him so far? "I like walking around the woods and going to sit by the river to read. I'm kind of disconnected. I don't have the internet here, so it's much more peaceful." Cole explains that his move was motivated by the desire to focus on the Diiv project and in order to do so he needed to clear his head. "I'm a person who really treasures spending time by myself. In New York there's all this pressure and it's so hard to say like 'Oh, sorry man I can't hang out right now'. My intention is to get as much work done on the band as possible and to keep to myself. I just want to be working, reading and writing, doing art and making songs." On first listen, Oshin has a distinctly nostalgic sound that immediately references The Cure, but it's not so hard to imagine Diiv experimenting on further releases. Tracks like (Drun pt.II) have an underlying Krautrock pulse that hint at Coles's eclectic tastes, and some of Oshin's finest moments are when Diiv abandon conventional song structures in favour of mesmeric repetition."I want to present new possibilities for the band with our next EP", he declares."Oshin is the debut album. I feel like it's really just scratching the surface." And with material that's primarily blissed-out, you'd expect Diiv's performances to be relatively sedate, but footage of the band playing set-closer Doused shows the band breaking out into a sonic frenzy. "Our live show is pretty hectic, I want to play some of the songs very loud and fast. We play really hard and we throw ourselves around all over the stage and scream and yell. It's cathartic." How Cole will now manage to balance his time between Diiv and Beach Fossils remains to be seen. But if he does happen to come up with some great ideas once he's retreated back to that country house, he assures us that he'll let us know. "The plan was always to grow up in public because I think it kind of creates this narrative. People like to see you evolve. Diiv continues to grow and I want to have people along for the ride with us."
Oshin is out now on Captured Tracks
C RA C K FASH I ON : S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 2
TOP | French Connection
CHLOE WEARS BODY | AMERICAN APPAREL WOVEN BANGEL | LUCY FOLK BOW HEADBAND | J Smith Esquire ~
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BODY | AMERICAN APPAREL Necklace and Bangle | LUCY FOLK HEADBAND | J Smith Esquire ~
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Highlights this month at
Shut Up and Play the Hits – Preview (15)
Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival
LCD Soundsystem's spectacular farewell gig - captured on film in New York.
Join us for six days to discover today's best
Tue 4 Sept 20:50
and brightest short filmmaking talent . encounters-festival.org.uk Tue 18 – Sun 23 Sept
Tickets from £3.60–£7.20 Full listings at watershed.co.uk 1 Canon's Road Harbourside Bristol BS1 5TX
Christmas bookings now being taken
* 139 North Street, Bed mins te r , B r i s to l t 0117 96 3 4 4 33 / e inf o@thespo tte d c o w br i s to l.c o m ww w .thespotted cow b ri s to l.c o m
Holy Motors (18)
Coming soon!
Funny, sad, surreal and never boring
King Kong vs Godzilla and Matango: Fungus of Terror Double Bill
From Fri 28 Sept Sat 6 Oct
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In Loving Memory Of
Mavis Botswinga 1937-2012
"She's never late" was the accurate observation made by one member of Team Crack when on the Tuesday morning after the August Bank Holiday there was an empty seat in Crack Towers.
As time went on, our worst fears were confirmed. Our beloved Agony Aunt, Miss Mavis Botswinga, had passed on, doing what she became famed for – going in hard at her 45th consecutive Notting Hill Carnival. The cause of death is yet to be established, but if there was a place our dear lady would have wanted to go out, this was it: with soap bar in her purse, rum and ginger in hand, reggae in her ears, jerk chicken in her belly and clad in all her finery.
Dear Mavis,
You know this one was always for you Mave.
I'll never forget our come-down mornings. Sitting out on the veranda with a Bloody Mary (or sometimes a Bloody Mavis – replace the tomato juice with WKD blue), reminding each other of stupid shit we'd done the night before. No one ever went in as hard as you, Mavis. Never known a lunatic like it. Keep ravin', baby.
Mavis Botswinga was the most sensual woman I've ever encountered, bar none.
Anyone who ever held you Would tell you the way I'm feeling, Anyone who ever wanted you Would try to tell you what I feel inside. The only thing I ever wanted Was the feeling that you ain't faking, The only one you ever thought about Wait a minute can't you see that I ...
M Tyson
Peace, Nelson, 94, South Africa
Dear Mavis Thanks for writing Independent Woman for me and the girls, and thanks for the one-on-one counselling for J and me. You probably saved our marriage.
Yours for eternity,
Dear Mavis Over the years it's nigh on impossible to aggregate the lives she changed and the problems she solved. All we know is that Friday throwdowns will never be the same again, and Crack Towers has lost its most colourful character. We love you Mave, we (probably) couldn't have done it without you.
The outpouring of grief has been significant since her death was announced, and we could fill a magazine with testaments to what an incredible lady she was. We've cherry picked a few for you.
I wanna fall from the stars, Straight into your arms. I, I feel you I hope you comprehend.
Beyonce Giselle Knowles-Carter I'm a high-flying, chief executive, CEO, man-managing, double denim wearing, bad-ass hot shot with a penchant for prawn linguine, treating my lady real nice, fine wines and confusing business jargon. But when I'm not signing contracts and employing new people, you kept me grounded every time I called out to you. I owe you the £87 suit I'm wearing right now and much more. Blue sky thinking for life sista.
Ginger Mick, Manchester
Mavis Gutted you pegged it, but mad props for the make up and hair extensions tips. I used to look like a miner and now I look like a temptress. Gyal is getting nuff ding-a-ling.
Chris Edwards, 25, Park St, Bristol Laura-Lee, 20, Littlehampton
Mavis. Thank you for the diving tips. I couldn't have got on that podium without you, however I should have listened to you about the frequent trips to Sun City, people have been ripping it out of me all over the place. Tom
Crack is putting its grieving to one side to scour the globe for Mavis's replacement. Send your suggestions for who can step into her shoes to crackmagazine.net
Boys pee standing up, girls pee sitting down. That's established, we know that. But what do you call someone who pees lying down?
September is a traditionally difficult time for fashion. Don't let your summer wardrobe get mixed in with your autumn/ winter collection by burning all your clothes.
If you get your guts mangled in a mangle this month, call an ambulance.
Post-Olympic fever is hitting the nation. Try urban javelin (throwing baguettes at buses), street kayaking (dragging yourself across zebra crossings on your backside), and inner-city cycling (cycling).
Lonely? Disillusioned? Endlessly searching for that erotic boost? Why not try patting your helmet with a wooden spoon.
If you enter a pub quiz this month, freak out the girls in the team next to you who have to make your paper by writing lewd statements instead of answers.
It's a little known fact that Libra is Spanish for Librarian. Look for a new job.
You see a sign which says 'Fat Pasties', which sounds lush, so you buy one and take a bite. Then you see the sign actually says 'Cat Pasties', so you spit it out. Then you see that it does, after all, say 'Fat Pasties', so you finish it.
Now that squatting is illegal, try to replicate the buzz by sleeping in the garage.
This month you will be given the opportunity to join an all-Welsh De La Soul tribute act called Dai La Soul. Jump at the chance, they're going to be massive.
Look, we all know it's cool to laugh when someone falls over, yeah? That's a given. But make sure it's not you who's fallen over before you join in.
You find out you've been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. What do you mean you didn't enter? You don't have to enter the Nobel Peace Prize, you fool. You just get nominated when you've been a really nice person for a whole year.
Live Music
© Sean Carpenter
© Artbeats
© Andy Sheppard
reading festival
Nudie Jeans & Sexbeat's annual Radfest took place on the hottest day of the year, but the music lovers flocked to the warehouses that make up Hackney Downs Studios regardless to dance, mosh and get seriously sweaty.
Beacons is only in its second year and its first proper, since last year's event was cancelled due to flooding. Good to see that the organizers are giving it another shot, because they definitely know how to put together a solid line-up.
With memories of tipped over toilets and exploding deodorant cans scarring our memory, Crack decided not the camp at this year's Reading. We set out our stall early; let the teenage lunatics slug it out. We came to listen to some music.
With fifteen bands on the programme, three stages, a food hall and a record store, this was undoubtedly the biggest Radfest yet. First on the agenda was Brighton four piece Fear of Men whose sweet, mirthful indie never ceases to brighten our day. Frontwoman Jess Weiss was an enthralling presence with her pitch-perfect vocals and bleached blonde hair, gliding through breakthrough tune Doldrums and set-closer Green Sea. Next up was Maria Minerva, apparently none too impressed by the dark warehouse surroundings. "It's a bit depressing in here, isn't it?", she complained. Dressed like she was departing for boarding school, her smart but spooky space hymns lulled the crowd into submission.
After some last minute additions of our own to the Beacons party train, Crack was unable to arrive until early Saturday morning. That meant, tragically, that we were going to miss Jessie Ware, Disclosure, Roots Manuva and Julio Bashmore, though we later found out that he'd cancelled his set.
Friday began with Future of the Left, raw and stomping with irreverent wit. Much of the day was spent hopping from stage to stage, but Savages were the one which kept us gripped. The Hives then gave a memorable show, suited up like Frank Sinatra's backing band, before Graham Coxon continued his latest spectacular renaissance. As the night drew in the backcombed hair came out as The Cure fulfilled many a dream. Standouts Lovesong, Inbetween Days and Friday I'm in Love swooned and Robert Smith's voice was perfect, twisting tales of love with a feline flair. Despite being two and a half hours since they took to the stage, closer Boys Don't Cry found us singing as hard as ever.
Hackney Downs Studios | 19th August 2012 ………………………….
Skipton, Yorkshire | August 17th-19th ………………………….
We headed to the Noisey tent for Weird Dreams' brand of lo-fi So-Cal tinged rock. Unfortunately the set didn't go smoothly, snapping guitar strings derailing their confidence.
We hit Room 3 to check out ex-Lovvers frontman Shaun Hencher's new band Virals. If the sun wasn't already beating down, Virals' upbeat, melodic 60s-style pop could have brought it out of hiding. Single Magic Happens was far harder and faster than on record, and lush number Coming up With the Sun made us want to pack up and leave for San Francisco.
Night Slugs' Jam City caught our attention over at the Greendales stage with Discreet Unit's Shake Your Body Down. Later at the same stage, the label's founder Bok Bok smashed it out with the heavily B-More influenced house that Slugs have been pushing for some years now, and with great effect judging by way the crowd went off. Koreless had the crowd wrapped around his little finger at 9pm. Beautiful sounds as usual, with 4D earning a huge response, but Crack felt the overly chilled out vibes were somewhat at odds with previous banging sets in the same tent.
Over at the main stage the excitement was palpable for Diiv. This was the Brooklyn dream-poppers' first European gig, and they absolutely lived up to the hype, kicking off with an instrumental jam before launching into tunes we couldn't help but bop to. We get the sense they're set to go far.
Finally, what we had most been looking forward to, Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnston presenting A Love From Outer Space. We had high hopes and neither Sean nor the inimitable Weatherall disappointed. Genuinely up there with the best sets we've ever witnessed.
Californians Ceremony then thrashed through their hardcore punk with intense energy, band members and audience fist punching and howling as frontman Ross Farrar scaled an 8ft-high speaker for some old-fashioned danger singing. LA's Fidlar inspired the biggest mosh pit of the day. Their high-hung guitars and high-speed tracks came as a smack in the face to just about everybody. "This song is about rehab. Y'all don't have rehab here. You just stay fucked up", they announced before launching into a tune met with as much aggression as it was delivered.
We kicked off Saturday with an afternoon set from Wolf Music-affiliated Casino Times, who played slow, deep disco-house alongside the much appreciated Rainbow Road by Tornado Wallace and Tensnake's Holding Back My Love to a fairly small crowd of hardcore ravers. After a torrential downpour which forced everyone towards whatever shelter they could find, XXXY impressed us, interspersing his own productions with old school US garage vocal tracks. A highlight came in the shape of Doc Daneeka's edit of GattoViola's Backstabbing Angie For a Ten Bag, a brilliantly titled Angie Stone sampling number.
We had to wait a while to get into a packed room two for awesome garage punks Jacuzzi Boys, one of the highlights of the day. The band bounced through tracks from 2011 LP Glazin', frontman Gabriel Alcala flinging himself into the crowd at the set's finale. Headliners Veronica Falls finished off our day on a calmer but in no way less heated note. With the main stage packed out for their haunting harmonies, they performed now classic tracks Beachy Head and Found Love in a Graveyard. We're not sure how the folks at Radfest HQ could top this next year, but we look forward to seeing them try.
After playing one of the standout sets at Bristol's Love Saves The Day earlier this summer, Huxley was not to be missed. He didn't disappoint, with the biggest crowd reaction coming from the Eats Everything remix of Adam F's Circles, followed by the recent Huxley remix of Pirupa's Party Non-Stop and the much appreciated early Hux number Shower Scene. Unfortunately, with the four hour drive and impending work on Monday morning, we made our way back to get the tents down and packed away. All too quickly our weekend was over, yet Beacons 2012 was vastly enjoyed.
Richfield Avenue, Reading | 24th-26th August ………………………….
Saturday was dominated by Green Day. Despite us failing to drag ourselves up for the 11am kick-off, you couldn't move for hearing the pop-punk legends' name. But the female presence on the schedule refused to be upstaged. The infectiousness of Grimes, the sass-pop flamboyance of Santigold and a ludicrously energetic showing from Azaelia Banks, culminating in the smashing brashness of 212, made sure of that. Mastodon were one of the few bastions for the metal audience which Reading once catered for so thoroughly. They all came out of the woodwork at the NME stage. There we remained for the remainder of the night. The Cribs, surely one of the best festival bands in the country, did what was expected and more. And then to the one we'd been waiting for. We'll never forget standing amongst the masses outside the tent back in 2000 as At The Drive-In – then the most talked-about live band in the world – destroyed everything in sight. Here they exploded into Relationship of Command's opening two tracks, and this time we made it inside. Despite an oddly subdued Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala made up for it, at his wailing, pirouetting best. Incredible. We cracked into Sunday with a slap in the face from Pulled Apart By Horses and a squeeze of the bum from Eagles of Death Metal. It felt good. The Black Keys proved a tasteful addition to Sunday's shenanigans, smooth as anything and upping the raucous factor for this boozy, baying crowd. As the masses for the Foo Fighters' celebratory close grew by the second, Crack opted to say goodbye to Reading by getting bludgeoned by the brilliant Justice, who electrified the NME tent, leaving us drained. We may not be 17 anymore, and we may not be up to spending 12 hours clinging to the barrier to be close enough to smell our heroes. But Reading was still one of the best rock 'n' roll parties of 2012.
Words: Lucie Grace
Words and Photo: 'Artbeats
Words: Philip James Allen
Live Music
© Hideout
© Clark Merkin
green man
© See No Evil
see no evil
Zrce Beach, Island of Pag, Croatia | June 29th – July 1st ………………………….
Glanusk Park nr. Crickhowell, Mid Wales | August 17-19th ………………………….
Nelson Street, Bristol | August 13th-19th ………………………….
Let's be having it straight. Hideout is like a very compact Ibiza for three solid days of partying, and if you don't like scantily clad people, boat parties and a wide range of electronic music in your ears with the backdrop of the quite frankly stunning Adriatic, then jog on back to Ed Sheeran fest, Sludgeville.
Beards. Sandals. Jumpers. Houmous. Four words. And, yes, four features of Green Man. But now celebrating its 10th year, this festival has grown to represent much more than those tired cliches.
See No Evil's street art spectacular returned to Nelson Street with memories of last year's incredible scenes still fresh in the minds. This year it was bigger, bolder ... and Crack had its own stage.
We arrived at the main stage for the latter stages of Friday, where Mogwai faced the unenviable task of following a riveting offering from Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks. But as if we had any doubt whatsoever, the Glasgow demi-gods responded magnificently. Their gushing, mindblowing crescendos extended to the glorious site's furthest reaches in an inspiring display, equal parts power and subtlety.
But one of the highlights of this year's event came away from Nelson Street with the transformation of the Passenger Shed into an immersive audiovisual spectacular, combining the talents of Portishead's Adrian Utley with the visual projection talents of Anti-VJ in a performance that drew on Bristol's rich transportation heritage. Culminating in a 360 panoramic visual projection spectacular, it was a superb alternative aside for the See No Evil brand.
With everyone staying in accommodation in the picturesque Novalja, the town adjacent to Zrce beach where the action takes place, you're never far from the party, whether that be the series of beach nightclubs that make up the evening's entertainment, or the departure point for daytime boat parties. It was on one of these aforementioned vessels where Crack got a bit more closely acquainted with team Dirtybird on an unforgettable afternoon of merriment with Claude VonStroke and Bristol boys Eats Everything and Bowski. The excursion showcased one of Hideout's most attractive traits – getting up close and personal with some of dance music's finest. So many faceless venues don't allow these characters to project their full personalities, and none are bigger than those supplying the music on this boat. It was four hours of whiskey, bassy house and bounce from Claude et al that will live long in the memory. Despite the purpose-built beach club becoming somewhat overrun with bottles, burnt bodies and Brits, Hideout somehow managed to avoid descending into Club 18-30 hell, a testament the organisers. If you wanted to listen to music for 72 hours straight you could with sets from Soul Clap and Scuba providing a great soundtrack to the early morning oddness on the effervescent Calypso stage. The Aquarius club provided the setting for daytime pool parties, with the Mulletover event featuring Nina Kraviz and Seth Troxler standing out. The bass community was certainly catered for, with a comical performance from Skrillex making those sub 20-year-olds positively lose their shit and others gaze on in utter amazement at what is one of dance music's most bizarre phenomena. Festival highlight for Crack came in the form of a bungee jump over the sea with the sun rising and the very special Ricardo Villalobos making weird and wonderful noises on the main stage. Calypso's closing hours were a DJ free for all that ran and ran till the middle of the afternoon, seeing impromptu performances from Damian Lazarus, Skream and Subb-An while Crack splashed around in the pool soaking up the heat. A suitably hedonistic way to finish off a pretty special holiday. ---------Words: Thomas Frost
Green Man falls into the satisfying bracket of festivals where you can appreciate a few of life's finer things, with some incredible structures on show that it feels flippant to dismiss as just 'tents'. Back in the midst of the music, Van Morrison proved to be an inspired addition to Saturday's bill. The Northern Irish legend flexed his still impressive vocal chords and equally impressive back-catalogue to their limits. The evening's headline slot presented a wrenching clash, but the pull of Tallest Man On Earth's stunningly intimate one-man show proved too strong, whilst ensuring we caught the culmination of Metronomy's main stage set. Their tight rhythms and irresistible harmonies an uplifting treat. Saturday evening boasted the weekend's outstanding after dark offerings, the revered R&S Records taking charge at the Far Out Tent. A double header of the captivating synth melodrama and heady rhythms of Nottingham boy Lone and a James Blake DJ set carved out a much-needed niche in the schedule which drew a devoted clutch of late-night revellers. Sunday saw us return to that setting, where Alt-J proved why their stock is swelling so dramatically. They were followed by a sublimely mental showing of technical brilliance from Three Trapped Tigers and a stand out set from Cardiff-based Islet, who have to be caught live to fully appreciate their swirlingly percussive and experimental take on alt rock. But what proved to be the set of the weekend took place over at the smaller confines of the Walled Garden, where Daughter had the entire audience falling silent to her delicate tones. Even the photographers in the pit refrained from shooting, so spellbound was the atmosphere. Somewhere between an acoustic xx and a female Bon Iver, the development of Elen Tonra's talents alongside her band gave us the feeling we were watching a future headliner. 4AD appear to have another gem on their hands.
As the week progressed and work appeared on walls, palpable excitement began to resonate around the city. This was brought to a head with the Hear No Evil parties in the Westgate Building. Reminiscent of the kind of DIY party spaces used to house some of the best music in Europe's cultural hot spots, the Westgate's pillared space is large enough to accommodate a huge number of people and played host to some of the best Bristolian electronic music talent around. This included the layered live techno exploits of Livity Sound, the bass-driven house of Eats Everything, Futureboogie Recordings' prized assets Christophe & Lukas as well as Behling & Simpson, and to round it all off, Saturday's Block Party afterparty with Bristol institutions DJ Krust and Smith & Mighty. But in fitting style, the true highlight of the weekend came at the Block Party itself. Six sound stages featuring a comprehensive rundown of movers and shakers on the Bristol music scene, as much live art as you'd care to shake your spray can at and a whole load of artistic decoration bountifully supplied by a host of incredible finished pieces. Sounds, colour, families, friends and an overwhelmingly congenial vibe characterised a day that brought the city together in droves. Crack was proud as punch to be hosting its own stage at The Froomsgate building with the cream of Bristol's house music talent. With the event being billed as a New York style Block Party, the surroundings of high rise buildings was a perfect inner-city visual cue. The day included an impromptu performance from the once again wonderful Eats Everything and sets from Just Jack, Futureboogie, Housework and Dirtytalk residents. Bathed in the sun and with a full crowd that stayed right to the end of invited guest Nick Harris's closing set, we were gutted it finished when it did.
Unique in what it brings to the city in terms of urban regeneration and also acting as a huge draw for visitors, See No Evil is a magic event that draws on Bristol's huge art heritage and presents it to the wider public. There is nothing in the UK quite like it, something which everyone involved should be truly proud of.
Words and Photos: Clark Merkin
And so another year at the foot of the Black Mountains came to a suitably sublime ending. We'll be back.
Words: Thomas Frost
TALL SHIPS EVERYTHING TOUCHING Big Scary Monsters / Blood and Biscuits
CAT POWER SUN Matador Records
If there is a better album opening gambit than the soaring grunge face smash that is T=0 then we'd like to hear it. Talk about announcing yourselves, this one is the sound of a band going for the knockout in the first round. Falmouth's Tall Ships have arrived. Everything Touching is the recorded embodiment of what has made them such an engrossing and reputable live band, not least due to a commitment to the road that has seen them rack up more miles than might be considered healthy. Tempo switches, pedal switches, ups, downs, instrument switches, fragile moments and raucous energy, the album is a tumultuous mélange of harmony and energy (see Ode To Ancestors), at times glorious (Books) and at others outright ambitious, not least the 9 minute closer Murmurations, a track you can imagine they discussed penning with a simple sentence: "Shall we start and finish with a bang then, yeah?" Anyone who has been blown away by Tall Ships live will be overjoyed to hear their undoubted promise has been brought to life on such an upbeat and assured debut full-length.
Cat Power's ninth studio album has been described as a 'rebirth' record, a hopeful message cut to wax that the troubled singer songwriter is overcoming the periods of deep depression that have so strongly affected her career. In doing so, she's conjured up some of her finest work to date. Sun is an album of leftfield pop gems that are strongly in keeping with Marshall's morbid lyrical style but cleverly juxtaposed against a distinctive sense of humour. Ruin serenades the listener with swirling piano before building up, kicking and screaming into an unashamedly catchy pop chorus laced with syncopation, heavy drums and dense harmonic layers. Unsurprisingly, personal reflection is a theme throughout, the best example being notable album highlight, eleven minute epic Nothin' but Time, a note-to-self reflection featuring Iggy Pop, who croaks "You ain't got nothin' but time / and it ain't got nothin' on you / your world is just beginning … it's up to you to be a superhero". It's a sense of optimism that ten years ago would be difficult to imagine being attributed to Marshall, but one that shines through the entire album like a solar flare.
DAPHNI JIAOLONG Jiaolong
Having already released a phenomenal split 12" with Four Tet and remixing the likes of Emeralds and Virgo Four, Caribou mainman Dan Snaith has already proved his Daphni project is more than an exercise in dance music dilettantism. As such, it's hardly a surprise he's pulled off the normally tricky task of creating a cohesive, immersive house album. From the raucous gut-bucket Southern soul samples that power opening track Yes, I Know to former single Ye Ye's gritty, acidic Afro-futurism, via the stiff Teutonic-Orientalism found on Light and the jazzy, downbeat, Detroit beatdown throwback workout Pairs, Snaith shows himself to be an exceptionally talented magpie, happy to take a syncopated snatch from one side of the globe and pair if off with the indigenous melody of another continent and culture without coming across as a Resident Advisor assisted ethnologist. There's a real sense of confidence and a percussive and melodic talent that propels these tracks into unexpected, but hugely pleasurable, territory. Synth lines gurgle at glorious odds with chimes and the Arabesque melodic flourishes are a joy, while arpeggios run on the spot atop of deep-space bleeps. Jiaolong's gorgeous collection is the work of a producer at the top of his game. JB
There's some incredible craftsmanship to be found on Mature Themes, epitomised by the stunningly addictive guitar lead and vocal hook of opener Kinski Assassin. It sets the scene for a foundation of 60s psych-pop, established by the 12-string guitars of Byrds-esque Only In My Dreams and the chanting vocals of the Love-inspired title track. But before long the journey gets weirder. The brilliant sci-fi/western soundscape of Driftwood, the Bauhaus horror story Early Birds of Babylon, and the elated Mario Kart racetrack Live It Up are among the highlights of the tour, and the soulful cover of Donnie and Joe Emerson's Baby holds a beautiful, reflective space as a bookend to the album. Other stops are more testing – Schnitzel Boogie and Pink Slime cross the line of credibility, with the former's nonsensical subject matter and the latter's drugged-up McDonald's advert aesthetic. There's no Round and Round either, and on the whole this album may be more challenging to those who'd been won over by the 2010's more accessible Before Today. The musical theme park of Mature Themes isn't going to settle any arguments about Ariel Pink. The LSDsoaked lyrics and schizophrenic genre-mashing isn't for everyone. But those who can embrace the meticulous arrangements here will savour the experience.
ANIMAL COLLECTIVE CENTIPEDE HZ Domino
GRIZZLY BEAR SHIELDS Warp Records
Childhood imagination and long-lost radio transmissions serve as the inspiration behind Animal Collective's colourful and clattering new record Centipede Hz, which boasts a soundscape that recalls everything from Doctor Who to plunging your head into a bubble bath. Processed guitar and snare drum clanks mark explosive opener Moonjock, before stuttering shouts in Today's Supernatural and a vocal decrescendo in Applesauce serve as some of the album's finest hooks. But after a stunning start, the record often drifts towards drawn-out and anti-climactic concepts. This can be summed up in Monkey Riches, a wonderful harmony of synthesizer sampling and compelling vocals that never quite peaks after almost seven minutes of building in a revolving, circular structure. A few gems partly make up for these missed points, the swinging beat and slide guitar in New Town Burnout creates a fantastically hypnotic groove, and the album closes on a heavenly plateau with the pop choruses of Amanita. But despite some radiant peaks, Centipede Hz ultimately suffers from a lack of consistency.
Shields is the third album proper from Brooklyn chamber-pop stalwarts Grizzly Bear and it reveals little in the way of departure from the band's previous records. The standard hallmarks of swirling modern-classical arrangements, faintly histrionic melodic cadences and convoluted song structures are all present and correct. But Shields feels like the group's most cohesive and fat-free release to date. Brevity has never been Grizzly Bear's strong point, but the songs here, even when breaking the five-minute mark, feel less unnecessarily sprawling than in the past. And Shields does contain some of the band's best songs to date. Yet Again is arguably the greatest song they've recorded since Yellow House's On A Neck, On A Spit, marking a slight departure from the group's usual dedication to subtle leftfield virtuosity in favour of something more directly affecting and melancholy. Similarly, Gun-Shy initially drops some unexpected keyboard drone into the mix, before retreating and settling into an actual groove. It feels a little unfair to criticise Grizzly Bear for producing what is essentially the definitive example of a sound they've been slowly perfecting over the last eight years, but unfortunately the accomplishment here is met with an unexpected level of predictability.
JTB www.crackmagazine.net
JESSIE WARE DEVOTION Island 16/20 Jessie Ware is the most refreshing star in pop music right now. Far less contrived and 'urban' than the faux BRIT school nonsense of Jessie J, and musically much cooler and pop driven than the vocally self-centered Emeli Sandé, the latest best thing about Ware is that her self-titled debut album is a cohesive stab at the art form. The opening title track in which Ware demands your 'devotion' is a lusting demand, and an ice cool slither of soulful refrain that is effortlessly sensual. An awesome contrast is delivered by the following two tracks, singles Wildest Moments and the wonderfully riff driven Running, both of which showcase a voice overflowing with poise and power. Ware's subtlety is perfectly projected on the hook-powered No To Love, where consistent comparisons to Sade, most notably No Ordinary Love, are justified. Night Light is another vocal belter and potential single, and there will be no cuter slice of sexy bubblegum pop than Sweet Talk this year. It's the variation in pace and approach which means Devotion stands up as an album rather than a collection of singles, though they are there aplenty, no least the truly majestic 110%, which takes on Andre and Kelis at their own game and nearly wins. Pop record of the year by a mile.
// new free weekly Downloads @ crackmagazine.net
JJ DOOM KEY TO THE KUFFS Lex Records
BOYS NOIZE OUT OF THE BLACK Boysnoize Records
In a recent interview, DOOM compared his musical affinity with the diverse hiphop artist Jneiro Janel to his collaborative work with Madlib. Although Key To The Kuffs can't quite match the quality of 2004's classic Madvillainy, DOOM's decision to allocate production duties to Janel proves well informed. Backed by the epic stomp of Rhymin Slang, DOOM's flow is packed with an authoritative punch. On Banished, Janel sets up a turbo paced beat and DOOM steps up to the challenge in exhilarating fashion. The rhymes are crammed with double entendres, surreal analogies, sharp details and ironic wisecracks loaded with aggression. Thematically, the English vernacular reoccurs, owing to DOOM's enforced two year residency in London. He's ambivalent about the circumstances; on one hand the capital has inspired a creative drive, yet he vents on Borin Convo and yearns for physical contact with his wife on Winter Blues. Never hesitatant to call bullshit on the dark ways of the music industry, DOOM is frank about getting his hands dirty, arguing that the Faustian pact is justified as long as the quality of his music doesn't diminish. DOOM has made a habit of subverting hip-hop stereotypes and on Key To The Kuffs, even after being in the game for so long, he still hasn't faded into irrelevance, evading one of the genre's
In the halcyon days of 2006, when ZZT, Soulwax, Erol Alkan and Boys Noize were rearranging Crack's perceptions of electro music, we were happy. We had girlfriends. We discovered the joy of staying up all night. The problem is some of the above protagonists got really fucking lazy. 2ManyDJs roll out the same seven year old electro laced set every time you see them, and on latest offering Out Of The Black Boys Noize has created a record so devoid of 'moments' or intelligence you wonder if he hadn't released it on his own label whether someone else might have had a word. Opener What You Want sets the tone, or lack thereof. The drawn out vocal repeating "This you want this is what you get" doesn't quite ring true before the sporadic electro splurges engulf everything in sight. Who wanted this? We didn't. The next track XTC plummets things even lower with a computerised voice repeating "XTC, XTC, XTC, one for me" before a deeper vocal line encourages you to "do it, now take it." You need a gurner to get through Circus Full Of Clowns, the obligatory dubstep track. Conchord is perhaps the only track where he replicates that old magic. The whole thing is brought together on a jaw-droppingly pointless rehash of the Jungle Brothers' I'll House You, in which he's managed to rope in Snoop Dogg. Just because he can.
most tragic clichés.
FERGUS AND GERONIMO FUNKY WAS THE STATE OF AFFAIRS Hardly Art
DAVID BYRNE AND ST. VINCENT LOVE THIS GIANT 4AD / Todo Mundo
Fergus and Geronimo are a duo from Texas – one called Andrew, the other Jason – who have found a welcoming home for themselves at Sub Pop's mischievous little brother Hardly Art, a label impossible not to love for its name's reference to The Thermals alone. The album leaps into life in a flurry of tight hi-hats, bass snaps, playful synth interjections and robotic mock-English vocals, a satisfying racket which harks at Seattle's The Spits if they sounded a bit more like those nice, slightly peculiar chaps from across the street rather than the fuckers from the next town who keep trying to nail your sister. As the record progresses, the odd indulgent wacky wigout or ill-advised Musak detour distracts from what are, in fact, a series of belting garage-indie numbers. Roman Tick is a brilliantly abrupt and jangly workout, Roman Numerals a thumping, catchy bastard, and closing duo Marky Move and the title track a pair of undeniably saucy oddball boogies. All of this serves to make Funky Was The State of Affairs an admirably breezy and creative lo-fi extravaganza.
There's a lot to be said for the marrying of these two stoic figures in avant-pop on the collaborative Love This Giant. Fans of traditional instrumentation will find plenty to smile about as a strong brass section plays a prominent role throughout the record, but it's the engaging conversational vocal interplay between Byrne and Annie Erin Clark that makes this record so appealing. Byrne's status as an elder statesman is confirmed in a number of the tracks where he takes the lead. Album opener Who weaves romance and mystery, with Byrne taking the role of crooner more so than any other point during his career. I Am An Ape is a wistful and effortlessly cool track that recalls Talking Heads at their swaggering best. Clark's vocal acts as a crystalline antidote to Byrne's wilder moments, especially on the genuinely amusing and observational Dinner For Two. The album's crowning glory lies in I Should Watch TV, a wonderfully upbeat piece of brass driven positivity with Byrne declaring "the more I lost myself, the more it set me free" and "it's good to lose and good to win sometimes / it's good to die and good to be alive!" The presence of drum-machine beats allows the full power of the horns to drive forward these wonderfully uplifting sentiments. A lovely collection of songs delivered with skill and wit.
GHD www.crackmagazine.net
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The Mitt Romney Side Show.
Illustration: Lee Nutland //// www.leenutland.com
t's convention week in Tampa and the news networks are relaying a 24-hour barrage of Republican Party commentary mixed with wind monitors, hurricanegrade graphics and live reports from journalists struggling to stand up straight. Hurricane Isaac is bearing down on the Gulf Coast in an eerily similar path to that taken by Katrina seven years ago almost to the day. At the convention the party is officially nominating Mitt Romney as their presidential candidate. The problem is we're not exactly sure what Romney-bot believes in. At the moment, policy talk on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and FOX is limited to Todd Akin's "legitimate rape" comment and Romney's birther jibe. Good Morning America! No non-partisan policy discussion here. The candidate's background doesn't exactly clear the matter up either. His swing from governor of liberal Massachusetts to right wing Republican ticket chaser turned his policy decisions on their head: he supported abortion, but now opposes it; was keen on tackling environmental issues, then put an avowed
climate change denier on his ticket; and although he formulated the very health care reform law that was the predecessor to Obamacare, he plans to repeal Barack's plan on day one, if he gets into office ... And it could happen. The problem is Romney has to deal with what CBS news describes as the 13% "empathy gap". In short, he is the 'One Percent' – he paid 15% tax while earning $23m per year – doesn't appear to have any personality to speak of and is gaffe prone. It's also worth remembering that while Romney counts his wedge, it was only in November the last of Occupy Movement's mochaccino cups were peeled off the streets of Manhattan and the protestors moved on from Zuccotti Park. There is no empathy for the super rich. It's time to reinvent himself one more time; as someone the American public can like.
health disclaimers seen on adverts for anti-insomnia pills, warning of risk of dependency and sleep terrors, to dissect these monstrosities. Barack Obama: Side effects include cross-aisle pandering, bills may be rendered ineffective. Cannot affect domestic repercussions of global economic crisis. Mitt Romney: Contains tax breaks for millionaires justified by a failed economic theory, Paul Ryan. The result of all this spending? Record levels of voter dissatisfaction with both parties. The actual voting polls put Obama in the lead, albeit often by less that the average margin of error. That means we're a few swing states and a bullet away from the most powerful nation in the world having Paul Ryan at its helm.
depicts a United States crippled by government intervention in which heroic millionaires struggle against a nation of lazy proles. It's right there on Fox News recommended reading for rich children in their formative years. The conference is about to kick off and it's time for North American's most expensive circus, election season. Crack feels like a kid in front of a Christmas chimney.
Christopher Goodfellow Twitter.com/MediaSpank
The Republican Party and a number of Super PACs are investing millions in television advertising to change the public's perception and court the middle class, and Mrs Romney is set to speak at the convention about love, having a sense of humour and how they met. What the nation needs is the kind of balls-out medical
Romney and Ryan is a clever pairing in terms of winning the party base, and he is a much more effective operator than Sarah Palin. Ryan for one though, is a devout fan of Ayn Rand and her brand of economic theory, objectivism. The belief contends that selfishness is good, and that empathy and compassion are irrational and destructive. Her book Atlas Shrugged
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m e t r o p o l i s
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p r e s e n t DEXYS PRESENT THEIR ACCLAIMED SHOW 'ONE DAY I'M GOING TO SOAR'
RICHARD HAWLEY plus special guest
"The audience roaring� ***** THE GUARDIAN "Utterly astonishing soulbaring drama, triumphant� THE INDEPENDENT "Meticulous genius� THE QUIETUS "A sensational gig� THE DAILY MIRROR
0117 922 3686 / 0844 844 0051 / GIGSANDTOURS.COM THE NEW ALBUM 'ONE DAY I'M GOING TO SOAR' OUT NOW
Sunday 09 September
FRIDAY 21st SEPTEMBER
029 2022 4488
Bath Pavilion
Full tour info & buy online:
01225 330 304 | 0844 811 0051 gigsandtours.com | ticketmaster.co.uk | ticketline.co.uk
A Metropolis Music presentation by arrangement with X-ray
'Standing At The Sky's Edge' the new album out NOW | richardhawley.co.uk
New single 'EVERYBODY'S ON THE RUN' taken from the album 'NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYING BIRDS' available now
Friday 2nd November
with SPECIAL GUESTS
MON 15TH OCT: O2 ACADEMY BRISTOL buy online at gigsandtours.com box ofďŹ ce: 0844 477 2000 24 hr cc hotline: 0844 811 0051 HOTCHIP.CO.UK IN OUR HEADS OUT NOW
Plus special guests
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New album out 15th October
Pre-order now from batforlashes.com
A Metropolis Music presentation by arrangement with X-ray
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27th February | O2 Academy Bristol GIGSANDTOURS.COM | 0844 811 0051 | 0844 477 2000 | 0117 929 9008 ALBUM 'MY HEAD IS AN ANIMAL' OUT 27TH AUGUST
A Metropolis Music presentation by arrangement with Coda Agency
OFMONSTERSANDMEN.IS A Metropolis Music presentation by arrangement with CAA
Bristol Louisiana
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A Metropolis Music presentation by arrangement with Primary Talent International
"Intimate but grand, Crybaby is a triumph� **** THE GUARDIAN FILM & MUSIC
14 OCTOBER • Bristol Fleece
The Louisiana 0117 929 9008 | gigsandtours.com
0117 929 9008 | gigsandtours.com | theparlotones.net New album 'Journey Through the Shadows' out now
Wednesday 17th October
DEBUT ALBUM 'TURBOWOLF' OUT NOW
A Metropolis Music presentation by arrangement with X-ray
Metropolis Music by arrangement with 13 Artists present
Plus guests
Monday 26th November
Tuesday 27th November
The Louisiana
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A Metropolis Music presenation by arrangement with The Agency Group
F o r
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A Metropolis Music presentation by arrangement with The Agency Group
Wednesday 21st November
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Saturday 29th September
JUST JACK JAMIE JONES / DYED SOUNDOROM B2B DAN GHENACIA / SEUIL TOM RIO & DAN WILD 2nd Warehouse: TODD EDWARDS / MIDLAND / DUSKY / DWINDLE The Tunnel hosted by Meadows in the Mountains: DEADECHO
Saturday 3rd November Live
Gunpowder Plot Dub Pistols / Smerins Anti-Social Club / Gabby Young & Live
Other Animals / Sheelanagig Tunnel: JFB / Cheeba / Shepdog / Mr Benn Times: 22:00 - Late. Price: £14.50 / £16.50
Tickets: £16.50 / £18.50 + BF. Times: 23:00 – 07:00
Friday 9th November
Friday 5th October
HESSLE AUDIO FOUR TET / PEARSON SOUND / BEN UFO / PANGAEA / LEGOWELT / JOE The Tunnel hosted by Idle Hands:
FLOATING POINTS / ALEXANDER NUT / CHRIS FARRELL THE KELLY TWINS / SHANTI CELESTE Times: 22:00 – Till Late. Tickets: £17.50 / £19.50 + BF
TroubleVision presents Dirtybird Claude von Stroke / Eats Everything & Justin Martin
Catz & Dogz 2nd Warehouse: Scuba / Joy Orbison / Dark Sky / Mr Solid Gold & Park Ranger Tunnel hosted by Sneaker Social Club Paul Woolford / Throwing Snow / West Norwood Cassette Library / Bass Clef / Cedric Maison Times: 22:00 - LATE. PRICE: £15.50 / £17.50
Saturday 6th October
Saturday 10th November
KROOKED / FRED V & GRAFIX / BORO. Hosted By: WREC / LOWQUI SCRIPT / CARASEL & RISKY The Tunnel: WOOKIE / SEIJI / DJ YOUNGSTA / DJ CHAMPION / MY NU LENG DUBIOUS / Hosted By: SPARKERBOI Times: 22:00 – Till Late. Tickets: £16.50 / £18.50 + BF
Friday 19th October
DSTYLE on the ramps:
Andy C / Loadstar Live / Wilkinson / Calyx & Teebee / Ed Rush Interface. Hosted by: GQ / Tonn Piper / AD / Texas / Strategy 2nd Warehouse hosted by HENCH: Joker /12th Planet / Jakes / Subzee D / Komonazmuk Killsonik Hosted by: Koast Tunnel hosted by CRITICAL: Kasra / Enei / Emperor / Dub Phizix / D*Minds Hosted by: Kapacity / Bassline / Remidy Times: 22:00 - LATE. PRICE: £16.50 / £18.50
Live Live / KOAN SOUND / SIGMA COOKIE MONSTA / INTERFACE / DAFFY. Hosted By: KOAST, REMIDY & C-STRIKE-Z 2nd Warehouse: TODDLA T / THE HEATWAVE / TRIM Live / LIL SILVA / WOZ / TRAP DJS. Hosted By: DRS & RUBI DAN The Tunnel: ZED BIAS / MELE / GEMMY / MONKI / SUPERISK / DISCORD & JMT Times: 22:00 – Till Late. Tickets: £16.50 / £18.50 + BF
Tuesday 13th November
In:Motion presents Grimes Grimes / Factory Floor / Charli XCX / Hyetal Live
Now Wave Djs
Times: 19:00 – 00:00. PRICE: £15.50 / £17.50 / £19.50
Friday 16th November
In:Motion TBA
Saturday 20th October
Saturday 17th November
DJ CASH MONEY / 3 KINGS HIGH Live / FUNK FROM THE TRUNK DJS The Tunnel hosted by Bass Kitchen: ED SOLO / HONG KONG PING PONG / PODGE / DR. FLY / JDO / HI HAT WOBBLING WOOKIE / MOIF Times: 22:00 – Till Late. Tickets: £14.50 / £16.50 + BF
Friday 26th October
Resident Advisor Very Special Headliner tba / Rustie
DJ set / Shackleton Live Koreless Live / Stay+ Live / EFA 2nd Warehouse: Shed Live / DVS1 / Blawan / Special Guest tba / Ryan Keeling Tunnel Hosted by KELLYDOME Space Dimension Controller / Arp 101 Live / Kelly Twins Times: 22:00 – Till Late. PRICE: £16.50 / £18.50 + BF
With Full Live Band / MALA DMZ / SOOM T Live ALPHA STEPPA / SLAMBOREE DJ Set / DUB BOY FT. TENJA / GARDNA 2nd Warehouse: ZION TRAIN SOUND SYSTEM / PERCH & DUBDADDA / TROJAN SOUND SYSTEM / EARL GATESHEAD & DADDY AD 2 Hour Set 2 KINGS & GAFFA 2 Hour Set / EVERMOOR SOUND The Tunnel: JACKY MURDA / KRAK IN DUB / MARVELLOUS CAIN / ARIES NICKY BLACKMARKET / BABYLON DESTRUCTION UNIT / J MAN Hosted by: MOOSE
Friday 23rd November
Saturday 27th October
Live Live / Redlight Disclosure DJ set / Dubious / VII.Y.P & more to be announced
Times: 22:00 – Till Late. Tickets: £16.50 / £18.50 + BF
JUST JACK HALLOWEEN FREAK BOUTIQUE JOSH WINK / RYAN CROSSON / TOM RIO & DAN WILD MOSCA / EATS EVERYTHING / HUXLEY / T WILLIAMS / CEDRIC MAISON Times: 23:00 – Till Late. Tickets: £15 / £20 + BF
Sunday 28th October
PUBLIC ENEMYIn Association/ KUTMUH with Native Tongue: PUBLIC ENEMY / JEHST Live. 25 Year Anniversary tour
Times: 19:00 – 00:00. Tickets: £15.50 / £17.50 / £19.50
Friday 2nd November
MAD LUV WILEY / A TRAK / ARTWORK / SPECIAL GUEST TBA / ROYAL T Live
JAVEON MCCARTHY Live / SLY-ONE (Mad Luv) / ILKIN (Ilkin / OCD) Hosted by: KOAST, KILLAWATT Tunnel hosted by SO BONES: VELOUR / SPECIAL GUEST TBA ON THE NIGHT! / GIRL UNIT / BREY YOUNG BEEZEY / KELLY TWINS / DAZ DILLINGER Times: 22:00 – Till Late. Tickets: £12 + BF
Futureboogie Kerri Chandler / Moodymann / Waifs & Strays
Futureboogie DJs Tunnel: Maurice Fulton / Maxxi Soundsystem / Christophe Lukas / Futureboogie DJs Times: 22:00 - LATE. PRICE: £16.50 / £18.50
Saturday 24th November
Annie Mac presents Magnetic Man / Annie Mac / Rudimental Times: 10:00 - LATE. PRICE: £17.50 / £19.50
Live The Tunnel hosted by Hypercolour:
Run vs. Ram
Friday 30th November
Cocoon Sven Vath / Seth Troxler all night long 2nd Warehouse Hosted by Mulletover:
Craig Richards / Matt Tolfrey / Geddes / Tom Rio Times: 11:00PM – 07:00AM. PRICE: £17.50 / £19.50 / £22.50
Friday 7th December
The Blast - STB TBA Saturday 8th December
Fatboy Slim Fatboy Slim / Doorly PLUS guests tba SOLD OUT
74 - 78 Avon Street, Bristol, BS2 0PX