Like Art Brut’s horny baby brother, Armrug have burst onto the Preston gig scene. This Mancunian band are named after the singer Jamie’s hairy upper limb, and dub themselves indie-punk-disco-sex-rockers.

Now here’s the shocker: the currently unsigned trio have two guitarists and no bassist. You’d never know it; they make up for it with powerful riffs and frenetic drumming. The first track here ‘I Love You, Can I Go Down On You?’ revolves around the title’s repeated refrain. The owner of the armrug sounds like Graham Coxon as he performs his singalong terrace chant. “Hey you, come on it’s summer!” he rationalizes. What better chat up line could a girl ask for?

It’s a stabbing guitar that provides the foundation for ‘Meeting Up With Girls’. The chorus is all over the place, clapping, chanting and percussion that sounds like they got their mates round banging on dustbins and pans with wooden spoons. “Waiting for a girl, standing outside Boots, everyone around are rushing buying suits” is the short sharp shock lyricism you’d expect from The Rakes. Like Eddie Argos, Mr Armrug boasts “My voice is the greatest sound in the world, listen to it, I’ll sing it to you girl”. Orgasmic howls are backed with sharp guitar work that Wire wouldn’t have turned their noses up at.

The next track ‘Girls That Melt In Your Mouth’ mixes amusing phrasing like “why do hot girls seem to act so surly? Said this to her face maybe too early,” with the annoying “What a body what a body” refrain. Strangely, we are then treated to a rap section, somewhere between Parklife-Phil Daniels and John Cooper Clarke.

In the last track they rant “I guess I look good on the dance floor, ‘coz I sure cant play guitar”, mocking the haircut generation. You feel like you’ve been catapulted back Life on Mars-style to the ’70s. The laddish sexism does get a bit much after a while – you can literally feel the hormones racing through every song. Having said that, it exudes an erudite honesty by way of crisp clear vocals. Just don’t play it for your mum!

Armrug

Acid casualties, expelled from school, squatting and constantly dodging trouble: not the best recipe for success, you’d think. Move to a farmhouse in the countryside, form a band and channel that energy into constant gigging and you have a different prospect.

This wayward trio of schoolfriends are now Gary Crowley favourites and recently headlined the Isle of Wight Festival’s New Bands Stage. Hot on the heels of their infectious first single ‘Fire, Fire’, Rotating Leslie release double A-side ‘Radio’/’Stop’. Take The Rakes and set them to electro-pop, and you are beginning to get the picture. ‘Radio’ expounds sardonic art pop wit about being forced to “Talk for hours about pictures of flowers.” Gritty Buzzcocks-style pop song craftsmanship mixed with punk energy, there are hints of 80s metal in their hotchpotch of musical ingredients too. In ‘Stop’ it’s all jerky riffs, rapid-fire stops and starts, with wailing Larrikin Love junior vocals.

Britpopsters for the Skins generation, they have already supported The Paddingtons, Dogs, Queens of Noize and Goldie Lookin Chain. It’s a well trodden path, but one that seems to go down well. When they sing “playing our song on the radio, I hear it too much now,” you get a premonition of things to come.

Rotating Leslie

Formed in 1998, underrated Connecticut rock/pop outfit Butterflies of Love continue the American singer-songwriter tradition with their hand firmly on the legacy of Pavement and The Silver Jews. Having suffered from difficult second album syndrome, this is their first single in three years.

Double A-side single ‘Orbit Around You’/’In A Blizzard In A Lighthouse’ is released on Fortuna Pop and is from their forthcoming collection of songs Famous Problems. ‘Orbit Around You’ features husky harmonies that stop just short of Tom Waits’ bourbon-soaked tones. They are buttressed with melodic backing vocals. Think Lou Reed intoning over pacy drivetime lo-fi guitar pop. ‘In A Blizzard In A Lighthouse’ possesses woozy swirling keyboards, giving it a more psychedelic, melancholic feel. The Velvet Underground meets Wilco. It’s introspective indie-rock that at times veers towards alt-country.

Personally and professionally, the songwriting team of Jeff and Daniel Green seem to be looking at the world through a more sardonic eye these days. The more you listen to these timeless tracks, the better they seem. Their laid-back charm ensures that they creep over you like a persistent ivy.

The Butterflies Of Love
Fortuna Pop! Records

Someone told me last summer that this band were going to be as big as the Arctic Monkeys, just after I’d missed them at Cohesion Festival. Not much to live up to there then! Obviously I have taken an interest in the progress of the Manchester based trio ever since.

The Answering Machine are three ex students playing infectious pop songs that they wrote in their bedrooms. Formed just over a year ago, they now release their debut single ‘Oklahoma’/’The Hold Up’. ‘Oklahoma’ rattles along like a runaway train with bouncy basslines that interlace with catchy riffs. Their drum machine – nicknamed Mustapha Beat – gives the song a sharp dance edge. Fans of both bands, they succeed in sounding like a mini Strokes with the art-pop energy of the Shout Out Louds. When they sing “Oklahoma, she wont be your friend, she waits at the disco for her song to end,” it puts me in mind of The Sultans of Ping FC’s ‘Where’s me Jumper?’ “I keep on trying not to go harder, trying not to be smarter” is the catchy refrain.

In ‘The Hold Up’ they sound like a more upbeat version of The Longcut. Martin’s voice wails through Gemma’s insistent bass. It stops and starts, then ends abruptly. These succinct catchy little song tasters leave you wanting more. They mix up the appealing energy of The Wombats with the art-pop of Yeah Yeah Yeahs or The Long Blondes. An endearing, edgy debut from the Fallowfield freshers.

The Answering Machine
High Voltage Sounds

One of the beauties of this job (well, it’s not a job really) is that you get sent stuff that in now way in hell you’d get your hands on normally. And it’s a joy.

The Japanese hardcore/jazz four piece, Z is a great example. Their 2006 album, ‘Mikabe’ is blessed with a palpable nervous energy, stricken with stress lines and angst. As with most interesting music, Z are terrifically difficult to pigeonhole – a most indirect reference would be Shellac panic attack or an At the Drive In that chooses to avoid the contrived structures, aiming for a still cerebral yet masterly flowing whole. Fu-manchu’d frontman Jun Nemoto yields an outrageous sax, eschewing the novelty of it all squealing with a unique abrasiveness, a fraught edge augmenting the wholly original Z sound. Jun’s vocals are strikingly edgy whilst singing and magnificently spluttering whilst shrieking. I like the fact I don’t know what he’s so desperately screaming about – the element of the unknown is a thing to revel in.

You’ve got to listen to ‘Mikabe’ just for the third track, ‘Zushiki Man’. After a minute-long blustering sax solo, an unexpected blast ensues, and the band follow a steadfast and sublimely grinding motif. It’s addictive.

I’ve listened to this album many, many times, and the sound never gets dull by being familiar or even recognisable. Perhaps this is because there is no definite tonal key or easy-to-pinpoint melodies – just chunks of slow-paced riffs and piercing saxophone squirls. Add a bit of Japan to your record collection, you Anglophile fool.

Pascal Ansell

Over the seven or eight years that have passed since Explosions In The Sky released their first album, the notion of post-rock as a genre has been developed, twisted and extended into new areas. On All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone, the band’s sixth long player, it’d be hard to argue that they’re dramatically changing or reinventing themselves here; rather meditating on and refining their style.

So on the first couple of listens, this album is pretty much as you’d expect. Instrumental, guitar-based, lengthy songs grow from quiet arpeggios of twinkling sound into dense, layered noise. A mid-tempo pace rarely lets up as songs fall into caverns of repetition and looped ideas. As the tunes seem to be becoming so light of touch that they might fade away, all of a sudden a rich blast of sound shakes things up with a dramatic change of tone.

Opening track ‘The Birth And Death Of The Day’ is a microcosm of Explosions In The Sky’s recorded output so far, dramatically exploding into the album with a head-filling texture, before settling down into a glittering, subtle interplay of guitar lines over a quietly insistent rhythm. It swells and subsides before boldly turning a corner with a swooping riff that leads into the powering heart of the song, before dying slowly away towards the final seventh minute of the tune.

Following this, subsequent tracks more or less revisit this pattern, albeit with different notes and structural orders. It’s hard not to feel at times that the band is endlessly searching for their perfect single song; the mood rarely sways from dark and introspective, and the pace and sound rarely deviate from a lush, we’ll-get-there-in-our-own-time sense of confidence and seriousness. I’ve listened to this album many times so far, however, and it’s yet to get boring: a good indicator that as much as they may not be setting music on fire with exciting new developments, Explosions In The Sky still have a knack for burrowing into my heart and making me feel warm and sleepy.

Bands like Mogwai, Youthmovie Soundtrack Strategies, Godspeed! You Black Emperor and Souvaris have all taken a similar post-rock template to Explosions In The Sky, and gone their on way with it. Post-rock is no longer what it was in 2000, but EITS are sticking to their guns. I have a feeling that they might be right to do so, if they can continue to do it this well.

Explosions In The Sky
Bella Union

Lovely sell-’em-cheap-and-drain-your-wallet superstore network Fopp have a new wave of free instore shows in the near future, by a selection of bands that you may or may not be interested in:

19 March
Ghosts, Glasgow, 5 pm
The Ripps, Leamington, 4 pm

21 March
Ghosts, Nottingham, 6 pm

22 March
Ghosts, Bath Westgate, 6 pm
The Rumble Strips, Bristol Park Street, 5 pm
New Young Pony Club, London Camden, 6 pm

23 March
Ghosts, London Tottenham Court Road, 6 pm

I’ve only heard The Rumble Strips out of that lot, and to me they sounded like B-list Dexy’s knockoffs, but free gigs whilst buying cheap CDs can’t be sniffed at.

It is literally ALL HAPPENING. For instance:

SUPERSONIC, July 13-14th
Birmingham’s “eclectic and experimental playground” have announced their line-up for 2007 and it’s a stunner with Mogwai, Zeni Geva and OM headlining along with Jazkamer, Wolf Eyes, Tunng, Modified Toy Orchestra, Kling Klang, Miasma & the Carousel of Headless Horses and much more tba. Plus there’s films, exhibitions and cake! It’s a mere £35 for the weekend and I am so there.
More info

BEARDSTOCK, Saturday May 19th
Yes, our favourite Glaswegian music and facial hair zine, Beard, is having an all day festival. I hope this is is to launch the new issue which has been a long time coming. Acts confirmed so far include One Ensemble, PuMaJaW, Lucky Luke and Napoleon IIIrd, and they also promise psychedelic projections, artwork and photography, a fanzine workshop and more! It’s at the Regal Social Club in Glasgow and tickets cost £10.
More info

KILL YOUR TIMID NOTION, 12th – 15th April
Dundee’s annual international festival of experimental music, film and visual art is coming up very soon at the DCA. The musicians include CUBE, Querel, Gaelle Rouard, Lionel Marchetti, Jerome Noetinger, William Raban, Keith Evans + Coelecanth, Joe Colley and AVVA: (Toshimaru Nakamura + Billy Roisz) plus there’s installations and films.
More info

MUSIC LOVERS’ FIELD COMPANION, 11th – 13th May
More experimental music from the Instal/KYTM people, this time at the Sage in Gateshead and with a line-up including Junko + Jerome Noetinger, Gary Smith, Diamanda Galas, Angharad Davies, Tisha Mukarji, Andrea Neumann, Los Glissandinos, Jean Phillipe Gross, Rhodri Davies + Terry Day and Aufgehoben.
More info

INDIAN SUMMER, 14th-15th July
Glasgow’s previously sodden Indian Summer festival is to take place over a much more sensible weekend this year. Line-up details will be announced shortly but tickets are available now if you like surprises.
More info

I have returned from my holidays and much fun was had. I was over in Holland with my mum and sister and got to see our old family estate, the only remaining family windmill and the bust of my great great Grandfather which resides in the Zaandam windmill museum. It’s quite exciting having all this history in our family and great to see it all in real life. We also ate a lot of cake and did a lot of shopping, and I even got to further my ambition to visit as many botanical gardens as possible. Amsterdam’s is lovely. You can see all my photos by clicking on the picture above.

Speaking of photos, we have set up a diskanteers photo pool on Flickr so you can see what we’ve all been getting up to. Whether we’re away on holiday, out at a gig, off on tour, creating stuff or just eating pie we’ll post a few photos for you to see. At least you’ll have an idea why nothing’s been updated on diskant. There’s a Flickr widget on the weblog showing them all and they’ll also appear in the weblog RSS feed as they’re posted.

You can catch me in crafty action at two DADA/Miso Funky Markets this month – Glasgow on the 18th and Edinburgh on the 24th. All the info is here and you can get a sneak preview of my wares at my Etsy shop. I hope to see you there!

Don’t forget to fill out the DISKANT READER SURVEY if you have a few spare minutes. We really appreciate your feedback and we’re already acting on it.

Current listening: Margaret Berger, Trans Am, Errors, Findo Gask. diskant interview slackness stats: Interviewees: 0, Me: 1

On We All Belong, the third album from Philadelphia’s Dr. Dog, and the first of theirs I’ve heard, spirits of joyousness and positivity emanate from the speakers throughout. Not in any kind of lame-ass lightweight hippy pop way, but in a dark-edged way: the band are piano-led and certainly possessed of a jauntiness and high-scale-reaching tenderness; but they counteract one-dimensionality with strange stabs of guitar, lingering background noises and lysergic weirdness that are as much Country Joe And The Fish as they are Polyphonic Spree.

The clearest reference point here seems to be Flaming Lips around the time of Clouds Taste Metallic and Transmissions From The Satellite Heart: essentially simple songs, drenched in lush arrangements and strident changes of pace and tone. So, ‘Don’t Pretend’ and ‘Alaska’ share vocal similarities with Wayne Coyne’s slightly-broken singing style; and ‘The Girl’ is driven by a hefty four-note riff which frequently breaks down into a wailing vocal bridge.

At times Dr. Dog seem to be too reverential and obvious followers of the Flaming Lips; but they manage to just about strike out with their own individuality and unique touch. ‘Worst Trip’ opens like a ’60s Motown number, then morphs into a Divine Comedy-esque operatic pop tune, before exploding into a fantastic, uplifting guitar break. ‘We All Belong’ references John Lennon’s solo, mid-paced work, before crossing over into a Beach Boys-style chanted ode to joy.

I get the impression from this album that Dr. Dog are more a product of similar influences to Flaming Lips, than simple followers of that band. We All Belong takes in aspects of the aforementioned bands, along with Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Band, David Bowie and The Beatles’ ‘I Am The Walrus’. It’s downright bizarre, but endlessly enjoyable, entertaining and life-affirming. Cynics among the world won’t find much to maintain their pessimism here, but at this time of year, as the winter fades away, this is perfect listening.

Dr. Dog
Park The Van