NARC Magazine Demo Reviews - July

Six Billion Stories / Rise / Phase / FrekeQuenzi / The Peers

With its pulsing bass and ernest vocal, not to mention the palm-mute electric-guitar arpeggios at the bridges, Six Billion Stories would be the perfect accompaniment to a night-time drive with the engine at full-thrust. This recording, however, defines demo with a capital D and although the songwriting has clarity, it trips over its production into the ear. A touch more practice before hitting the record button would have secured the parts more tightly against the rudimentary drum machine pattern. The slap-bass fills in the choruses get carried away in their own excitement and though such technique might elate gig-goers, here they cut through clumsily.

As Rise enters with a roaming harmonic-minor scale which is then elevated by dynamic string samples, the innocent might imagine such gravitas would be laying the carpet for lyrics with a heightened idea, but, although the track seemingly serves to politically stimulate, the language employed in the verses offers pop-intellectualism, suggesting perhaps their group name should be read ’think HIP-HOP’ not ‘THINK hip-hop?’ They do not ‘turn an average beat into a symphony’ as boasted but their message is honourable and energy cathartic. Though the choruses use the first-person pronoun, there is a generosity tangible in the spirit of the track appealing for its listener to respect themselves and live freely.

Phase’s song Amethyst creeps across the ears like an arachnid’s silhouette; a king of fear. Thanos Grigoriou’s vocals snarl over slow mixolydian chords as brutish drums march the beast forward. Though the purple stone of the song’s namesake traditionally protects against intoxication, the various distortions colouring the mix, as well as overlaid discordance, creates the effect of the nemesis. The bass enforces these tensions using surprising notes to underlay the chordal harmonies before falling back to the root. The track recoils in a swirling break before a thrashing snare reignites the rage to the finish.

FrekeQuenzi offers us soft, fuzzy, retro-house with Terror Of The Groove, with all the terror of a McCoy crisp, but still groovy! When a rich distorted synth plays with syncopation and the beats’ centre halfway through the track, this straightforward effort is lifted into more interesting territory. Working in a genre that endorses the concept of infinity, I am grateful to the composer’s decision to submit a 3:39 minute edit, however, the ending splash is a crude stop-sign. If a piece of music must end arbitrarily, please make it a bullet-speed assassination leaving the ear searching for the original spirit in the now-silence.

The Peers jingle and jangle in the bittersweet summer air! Off You Go’s faultless production realises an extremely focussed direction, dead-centre down that road; very pleasant, but leaving us sixpence none the richer. The verses maintain the listeners focus by holding a protracted fifth chord with added suspensions before rewarding the ear with Perfect Cadences. Lee Armstrong’s vocals coolly outlay the lyrical sentiments, mixed tastefully with an edge of warm microphone distortion. A slick guitar break followed by a repetitive coda sequence brings the song home efficiently.

It is unfair to compare a solo bedroom-studio effort against complex projects involving a team and multiple stages of production, and this month’s submissions originate from these disparate worlds of support, but the end result must be my only guide, and this month, it is Phase’s revelling in magnitude with their track Amethyst that warrants the most attention. From the weighty metal riffs, to the spacious reversing acoustic instrumental; from the ghostly chorus harmonies to the intense arabic strings, this track charted a great panorama.

[2014.06.03] for NARC Magazine.

Little Dragon - Nabuma Rubberband - Album Review

Between their last record, Ritual Union in 2011, and now, Little Dragon have worked with some prestigious collaborators on some unique side-projects. Their singer, Yukimi Nagano, supplied vocals for some tracks by DJ Shadow, and also, the band and Big Boi co-wrote the more successful efforts on his Vicious Lies & Dangerous Rumors record. This May, they deliver their fourth LP, under the enigmatic title of Nabuma Rubberband. When pressed for its meaning in an interview, Nagano said 'It could be a person; could be a state of mind... whatever you want!' 

Nabuma Rubberband moves slowly and heavily into the room with the smokey opener Mirror. The song charts a blue romance, and over this unchanging yet menacing landscape of sound, Nagano's vocal range is instantly highlighted as she explores wide-ranging pitches and tones within it. The next installment Klapp Klapp uses a four-to-the-floor snare to shake any prejudice that this album has a singular notion. Throughout, the creativity behind the percussion seems stemmed from heartbeat rhythms: the undulating pulsing in Pretty Girls, the slow, cavernous thumps of Cat Rider, and the higher-demand-for-oxygen beats in Only One. The articulation of each track's movement and Nagano's winding vocal are the celebrated forces in this record, with additional melodic instrumentation being used for fleshing atmosphere. At times these textures yearn for instrumental exploration outside of traditional song formatting.

On the whole Nabuma Rubberband is more somber than its predecessor. There are welcome moments of ignition (Paris being a particularly revitalising shot at the midway point,) but even with those, the flow of the playlist feels clumsy and leaves the album in search of a natural resolution. 

The chosen cover art for Nabuma Rubberband depicts a little girl seemingly flying in a misty sky above a wasteland, in front of a dreary cityscape. This seems an apt pairing to an album which sketches elements of imagination whilst never truly freeing them from predictable habitats. Across the playlist, there are nods to 90's dance-halls (the parodic segue Lurad) and House music (Paris) but these heritages are never fully unleashed out of the realms of pastiche. A live environment would nurture and celebrate the moods of these songs more fully, but the cool capture of these recordings, although true to the medium with the gentler songs, castrates the dynamic possibilities of the more lively.

[2014.05.29] for NE:MM Online Magazine.

NARC Magazine Demo Reviews - June

Foxymoron / Massa Confusa / Eliza Smiles / The Montagues / Avast! Narwhals

Foxymoron has given us a somber taste from his latest EP, 'USB,' with Pixel Memories. The initial keyboard motif emerges as if pressed through glass before the track explodes into synthesised melancholia, unleashing rigid half-time thrashing drums, and the ever-searching major IV- minor VI progression. A mix of higher pitched scales and broken-chords relive the pixels of the title in variations; dancing like stars in a rippling pond. A B-section predictably subdues proceedings before relinquishing once more to a fuller version of the central pattern. Foxymoron successfully creates digital recollections of a reflective mind but the experiences then feel like he has organised them into a mass-produced photo-album.

An arrested wind up the locrian modal scale on the guitar over a pedal bass drives Massa Confusa's 'Dream,' as the lyrics chart a stream of consciousness. The drums are mixed as tinny as stock loops from a casio keyboard but this tone is helpful in qualifying the monotony of the lyrics' list of experiences. At the choruses, muddy distorted guitars complement wonderfully bendy bass parts inspiring heads to conservatively mosh. The use of lyrical pedal-words and phrases, and a dynamically flat musical landscape, slowly hypnotises the listener into the insecurity and ever-changing world of this song.

Next we have Eliza Smiles' addition to the heritage of mid-nineties alternative-rock music. Their song You Better Run swaggers in the musing's of a self-confessed stalker. Lauren Amour seeks authority in an American accent to channel power in her vocal delivery, particularly in the mighty choruses, complete with nanana-ing in unison with a pentatonic guitar riff. Weak as... she is not! The recording captures the odd sloppy moment: the occasional unevenness in the drumming patterns, the guitar solo losing its way slightly amidst a phrase, but this serves the personality of the music more than it detracts.

Throughout 'Don't Go,' a track from The Montagues' latest EP, Silver Linings, Liam Dickman soaks every lyric he sings in desperation. Although this relentless approach marries the topic, the consistency of the delivery grates a little. Rich guitar tones have been sourced, and a sympathetic delayed electric lead-line adds rain to the tears of our tormented singer. Although the song is a bitter pill, the thrusting drum march and brevity of this track make Don't Go expressive rather than indulgent. A drum-stick semi-quaver motif at the fade of the track is a delicious, seemingly throwaway addition and paints the possibility: Perhaps the jilter concluded their dramatic departure exiting by horse and carriage? Hmm.

Finally, Avast! Narwhals give us sage advice with Never Fuck A Polar Bear. Rocking between time signatures, this recording captures the excitement of a band with a fine balance of absurdity and musicality. The nautically-themed trio blend their individual talents seamlessly in a style they label as shantycore, and this noise rides high and wild through various manifestations, and though there was once a blueprint to this track's construction, the performance captured here is one dancing far beyond compositional realisation; at every stage it reaches for something special.

And so - although Foxymoron runs in a close second for his luscious euphoria, this month's Demo of the Month goes to Avast! Narwhals. Listening to the focused interaction of these musicians performing this song is equivalent to watching Neptune expertly guiding his chariot through the challenging spirit of the mighty ocean. The joie de vive unleashed in the recording is not only palpable to the ears, but then contagious within the heart; a spirit that every good rock and roll song should embody.


[2014.05.05] for NARC Magazine.

Archive - Axiom - Album Review

Axiom is the latest project from the constantly involving society that meet under the name Archive. This latest creation is a concept-album, which will be complimented with an accompanying film by Jesus Hernandez and NYSU. 

Dave Pen's vocals and synthesised strings introduce us to a world beyond a great trauma; a place that leaves us 'searching for feelings of the tears,' and it is from this opening curtain our guide leaves us as the title track starts the journey, perhaps the start of reason? The 6/8 time signature and even pendulating chimes set the momentum and march. We are then abruptly halted with Baptism, with its spread piano shimmers intensifying until distorted guitars and powerful drums lead us forward. Passing the midway point of the next track Transmission Data Terminated, Archive's original influences, born of Bristol trip-hop in the early 90's, reveal themselves with a vocal by Holly Martin straight from the Martina Topley-Bird school of delivery.

The programme of the record utilises some traditional format techniques. From an album exorcising its spirit mostly through minor sequences, the playlist climaxes in its penultimate track, Shiver, with major tonality and resolved lyrical statements. The central theme is reinvigorated at the close with a reprise of the title track, using the (ever-faithful to the genre) chimes of church bells once more, this time, rather than starting proceedings, concluding them.

Many aspects of this record paint a distopic world. The arpeggiated motifs, rigid mathematical playing and tight studio production describe an environment to claustrophobic to individual celebration. The relentless heavy industrial instrumentation and sampling expresses a machinery leaving the voices fighting for life, until the concluding description in the lyrics is 'no-one seems to matter anymore.'

Darius Keeler, the originator of the group, has travelled with Archive for 20 years, and the perfection in instrumental performance and creative musical design, from him and his collaborators, is faultless. No portion of this experience is left to chance. The lyrics, as with many groups consumed in making progressive music, get a little left behind. Such signposts as in Baptism ('Pull me under' and 'Leave the water') are on the fringe of patronising the listener's ability to interpret the musical story for themselves, but thankfully the vocal performances and musical environment vitalises them beyond their written meaning. This cycle leaves the mind with distinct images and narratives. May the film broaden the idea further.

[2014.04.24] for NE:MM Online Magazine.

NARC Magazine Demo Reviews - May

Lovely Wife / Kings & Queens / Joey Murphy / P. D. Gregory / Head Of Light Entertainment 

The first of this months demos is a raucous instrumental composed as an immediate tribute to Lou Reed, recorded on the day he died last October. True to honouring the Factory man, this seventeen-minute plus behemoth from Lovely Wife comes rough and ready, as if captured by one scared microphone. The guitar charges the beaches from waves of feedback,  whilst the rhythm section drifts in and out of consciousness. At eleven minutes in, the beat unravels and the sounds melt into ricocheting white noise, masterfully tamed to the songs exit on honed singular harmonics. 

Next, Kings & Queens bring unashamed riffs from stoner-rock and metal heritage with their debut EP 'Exposed.'  The mandate is primarily revivalistic, with the music serving as a catalyst for pure catharsis. The energy in their songs certainly inspires motion, and I imagine their shows would leave you dripping in sweat. The production of the recordings unfortunately denies the songs their intrinsic power though, with the drums mixed thinly amongst the crunching guitars and the lead vocals spaced a little too far forward from the band. This EP is well-paced, concluding with the most joyous anthem 'Smells Like Cherries.'  with soaring plagal harmonies driving the choruses.

Stretched vocals and choice retro samples are compressed between a slow pendulating beat to paint the sorrow of Joey Murphy's 'Hurt.' The variety of volumes at which each sample is mixed into this collage excellently represents a broken character plodding through turmoil. The lyric 'I hope that someday soon, all the pain will go away' emerges as the song moves on and melodic lines crash around like waterfalls. Abruptly finishing at just over two minutes, I feel Murphy could have expanded more on the mood he had sensitively established. 

To be able to watch a sunrise after an adventurous evening is one of life's luxuries, and I am drawn to music which compliments this reflective and wondrous phenomenon. P.D. Gregory, with his peaceful instrumental 'Distance,' records similar emotions over a slowly crescendoing track built upon a repeating organ arpeggio. Excellently judged, incrementally out-of-tune drones initially light the background of this piece, before the pulse settles and other synthesised keyboard sounds ornament the progression. With the final section concluding with noisy and reverberated distorted guitars, typical to certain prog' tendencies, the drum machine's limited tone is sadly exposed in the mix for this portion of the recording. Frustratingly, the track ends as if clipped due to it being bounced-down accidently short. 

It would appear Head Of Light Entertainment's band-name is a legitimate boast from their offering 'Dwindle Dwindle Little Hope,' a sprightly jaunt through Pop Park. This song even features a whimsical xylophone part! The snappy subdivision of the lyrics allows for fun puns and surprise content to drop at every stage, whilst the band reliably skanks in support. The coda rounds the song off with a lullaby-esque refrain, where our backing vocalist assumes the lead melody. It is a patchwork of some enjoyable novelty but the sum is no greater than the parts. 

This set of demos included such an eclectic mix of styles with such disparate languages my selection cannot possibly weight their value against one another. My pick of the month, however, goes to Lovely Wife for the bravery to create music that organically determines its own length; for making a spontaneous yet thoughtful offering to a musician they respect; and for their musicality to balance improvisation, the manipulation of chaos, and melodic ideas throughout this singular recording as a truly unified ensemble. 

[2014.03.31] for NARC Magazine.

Skylark Song - Relent - Album Review

At last! The hardest working duo in Newcastle release a long awaited debut LP. Emma Davis' rich voice riding the waves of Alex McRae's crisp, fingerpicked guitar has hypnotised audiences live, but up until now a couple of demo disks were all we had to sate us until their next gig. 

The patient construction of Relent has paid off; the playlist including long-term classics, like Sirens and Looking Ahead, as well as more recent gems. To enjoy the earthy violin melodies, the chordal voicing and super-tight vocal harmonies without battling crowd distractions serves their compositions, and the performances for these recordings are judged accordingly, with a gentler and more understated delivery. 

These talented musicians have worked tirelessly, performing night in and night out so we can hear these songs. With Relent, they have given us the opportunity of sanctuary in these melodies back at home too.

[2014.03.09] for NARC Magazine.

Rhodri Davies - ‘An Air Swept Clean of All Distance’ - Album Launch / Hauskonzert #19

For the launch of his latest album, ‘An Air Swept Clean of All Distance,’ Rhodri Davies transformed The Old Police Station in Gateshead into a house of sound.

Each of his curated acts for Hauskonzert #19 occupied a different room, and the visiting audience were encouraged to each in turn to explore the next part of the night’s story.  

Davies and Richard Dawson started proceedings gently, improvising kneeled over a jumble of instruments laid out on the carpeted floor. 

Following downstairs, Hapsburg Braganza (Phil Begg) painted a warm sonic picture from his Modular Synthesisor; blossoming waves of sound patiently revealed in the unlit room.

On the top floor, Yeah You provided a contrasting energy, as the duo mixed vocal drones, speech and screams over and around gripping beats. 

Finishing in the space where the evening began, Davies holds every eye and ear as he performs, now solo, with his harp. The dexterity and stamina of his fingers remained undefeated throughout the performance, though the compositions often required continuous, ferocious motion. His explorative cycles of sound cocooned everyone in the room. To this house-majority of passionate musicians watching, his performance was an awe inspiring testament to the echelons reachable through creativity, backed by commitment.

[2013.12.18] for NARC Magazine.