To kick off new-look diskant’s first record reviews for 2008, here’s the second in a set of three from a new year-long subscription-only series of twelve 7″s (in a limited edition of 300) from Maine, Portland’s fantastic new micro-label, L’Animaux Tryst. Coming out as three 7″s per season, these records form the first batch that came out late in 2007; the newest batch are just about to become available – for more information look here.

I have no idea who Bad Bus are, apart from a description of an “all-star cast of Maine crazies” and a Myspace page, which features their track on this here split 7″, “The Field”. As you can hear, it’s a mild cacophony of fuzz, delayed vocals, clattering percussion and pump organs that fizz together until the most unlikely shambolic bass groove emerges from the clutter, hand-in-hand with a two chord organ drone. It’s a beguiling free-for-all jam that is undoubtedly an excerpt from a much-longer performance, of the kind that should be thoroughly celebrated. Check it out.

Tempera are another band from Maine with a Myspace page and a good line in songs with ridiculous numeric titles. Their offering on the flip side of this 7″ is “22222222222222222222222”, and again you can hear it on their page. I’ve got a real soft spot for this one, stuffed with twisted, pitch-altered sounds that whisper, scream and howl through a lo-fi motorik jam that floats in and out of the song’s floating structure. Female vocals float through the mix, melding themselves with other sounds before being swamped by some unholy pitch-shifting that somehow manages to convey that wandering-back-dead-drunk-at-2am state of mind, where you can see all the crazies and headcases, but somehow seem insulated through a layer of booze/whatever your substance of choice, and firmly set on your path homewards.

A special note for the unique packaging of this 7″, each one coming in a hand-stitched patchwork sleeve that conveys almost no information whatsoever about the contents beyond the band names. Like the music contained within, colours, patterns and styles randomly clash with each other, to create a beautifully ragged tapestry. Excellent stuff.

The 7″ records are available together as the Autumn 2007 mailing of the Tryst Haunt series. To purchase the first bundle (for $24 USA, $28 Worldwide, postage paid), or to subscribe to the series for the full year ($75 US, $90 Worldwide, three records every three months, 12 records in all), visit http://www.lanimauxtryst.com/haunt.htm.

Hi folks,

To kick off new-look diskant’s first record reviews for 2008, here’s the first in a set of three from a new year-long subscription-only series of twelve 7″s (in a limited edition of 300) from Maine, Portland’s fantastic new micro-label, L’Animaux Tryst. Coming out as three 7″s per season, these records form the first batch that came out late in 2007; the newest batch are just about to become available – for more information look here.

It’s appropriate that Cursillistas open up the first batch of this new series, as they effectively the house band: Matt who runs L’Animaux Tryst performs under the name of Cursillistas, and put out a fantastic album in CDR form on the ever-reliable Time-Lag Records a year or so ago that really, really needs reissuing for a wider audience soon.

This is the first material I’ve heard since that searing blaze of a full-length and the two tracks offered up here sound very much like a continuation of the unique sound captured earlier: echoey vocals with softly strummed guitars sing beautifully windswept songs with vague lyrics and harmonies, like snatches of the most perfect folk songs drifting in and out of hearing range on a long walk through rolling hills and dipping valleys. The A side, “Taste Teeth”, has a much stronger hook and only a slight introduction and undercurrent of distorted guitars and wind chimes swept together to create a broiling undercurrent for an otherwise elegiac song. The B side, “You Float, No Evens”, is a much looser affair, with indistinct layers of voices floating in and out of focus through a seasick chant. Don’t worry, it’s not enough to make you feel queasy, but the sense of unease such studied imperfection creates is masterful.

Cursillistas create a unique sound that is to be cherished, and this is a perfect introduction to Matt’s highly individual voice that serves as an excellent opener for an extremely high quality subscription series. It also works well as a primer for his newest full-length, “Wasp Stings The Last Bitter Flavor”, just out on Digitalis Recordings.

The 7″ records are available together as the Autumn 2007 mailing of the Tryst Haunt series. To purchase the first bundle (for $24 USA, $28 Worldwide, postage paid), or to subscribe to the series for the full year ($75 US, $90 Worldwide, three records every three months, 12 records in all), visit http://www.lanimauxtryst.com/haunt.htm.

.

Recorded music:
————-
STARS OF THE LID – AND THEIR REFINEMENT OF THE DECLINE
Yes it sounds almost identical to “Tired Sounds”, but refinement is right – everything on this 130 minute set sounds almost perfect.

CHRIS HERBERT – DILUTED
A fantastic hour-long collage of sounds, melodies and textures that manages to outshine the magnificent out-of-nowhere debut, ‘Mezzotint’.

P.J. HARVEY – WHITE CHALK
I come and go when it to comes to actually bothering to get around to buying Harvey’s LPs, but this one is exactly what I’ve been wishing for since I first heard Polly Jean sing.

ASTRAL BLESSING – ST. FROCH
Their untitled LP on Mad Monk is incomparably fantastic – as good as so-called “freak folk” gets – but this one ain’t bad: total zone-out head-nodder.

AXOLOTL – MEMORY THEATRE
Yes, it’s a compilation of previously ultra-limited cuts, but for abrasive-meets-gorgeous noise swells it really doesn’t get any better than this. Sorry Chris.

RADIOHEAD – IN RAINBOWS
I’d pretty much given up on Radiohead making any music that I could be bothered to listen to any more, but for a free download I had to give it a chance – and how glad I am that I did. The best thing they’ve done, ooh, since the start of the millennium.

SHELLAC – EXCELLENT ITALIAN GREYHOUND
Okay, after all the excitement after years of waiting, let’s be perfectly honest now: it’s a bit shit, isn’t it?

Live Music
——————
ROSCOE MITCHELL at Dirty Three ATP
Now I know why Warren Ellis called his kid Roscoe. Almost an hour of solo alto sax and clarinet skronk performed to 100 hung-over indie dilettantes at about midday in the middle of a Butlins. It was transcendental, transfixing and fucking immense.

TARA JANE O’NEILL at Dirty Three ATP
Was pretty amazing too, for the few that bothered to stick around for her.

FLOWER/CORSANO DUO at The Maze, Nottingham
What Ollie said.

GRINGO 10TH ANNIVERSARY at the Art Organisation, Nottingham
A lovely day in the sun.

STARS OF THE LID at the Hare & Hounds, Birmingham
Bolstered by a string trio (violin, viola, cello), they somehow managed to be even more affecting in the flesh than on record.

Film
————
ZODIAC
The classiest film of the year by a mile, and possibly David Fincher’s finest hour to date. Yes, it’s far subtler and much cleverer than Seven. It even turned around my opinion of Mark Ruffalo’s acting skills 180 degrees – he is incredible in this.

AMERICAN GANGSTER
Ridley Scott is almost 70 and still doesn’t seem to get the respect he deserves. Sure, he’s done the odd turkey but his powers as a visionary filmmaker in this post-Kubrickian environment are unparalleled. This is almost a minor work by his standards, but is as good a mafia movie as anything up to the first couple of Godfather films.

SUPERBAD
Fuck American Pie and modern day frat-pack bore-fests – this is the funniest and most touching adolescent comedy since Porky’s. It’s almost on a par with American Graffiti and Dazed and Confused.

THE DARJEELING LIMITED
Rushmore I liked, Royal Tenembaums I did not, The Life Aquatic I missed because I was out of the country. However, going to see this on a whim produced a surprise winner: beautiful design, whimsical characterisation, smirk-inducing dialogue and all-in-all a strangely touching ambience. Low key, but distinctly lovely.

EASTERN PROMISES
Not as good as A History Of Violence, but nicely understated and brutally effective. And yes, the fight scene is fantastic.

DEATH PROOF
Well worth a yuck or two, especially if you’ve had a beer or three beforehand. I could have done with the Grindhouse edit to cut down on the excessive ‘girlfriend’ talk though.

IN THE HANDS OF THE GODS
This passed through cinemas in a quiet fortnight in the middle of the summer and is out on cheapo-DVD next week, but it’s well worth seeking out. A no-budget documentary ostensibly about 5 “freestyle-footballing” lads trying to busk their way to Buenos Aires to meet their idol Diego Maradona, it’s an engaging and emotional protrait of young men growing up very painfully in the face of trying to realise an almost impossible dream. Nice soundtrack too.

RATATOUILLE
Another irritatingly perfect Pixar film. Nice to hear Patton Oswalt in the lead role though.

HOT FUZZ
Had my mum cackling like a witch, which is very hard to do, especially with so much foul language bandied about. Somehow both funnier and less substantial than Shaun of the Dead.

THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND
Yeah, it was alright, but nothing special. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; when will they stop giving out Oscars for actors just doing an impression of a real person? (see: Charlize Theron, Jamie Foxx, Nicole Kidman, and now Forest Whitaker)

KNOCKED UP
Incredibly uneven comedy, with moments of brilliance and horror interlacing some otherwise pretty dull scenes and characters. Left me feeling very confused about what kind of film I’d just seen.

THE SIMPSONS MOVIE
The absolute epitome of ‘barely adequate’. Slightly better than recent car-crash seasons of the series, but absolutely nowhere near the brilliance of, ooh, about nine years ago-era Simpsons. It really did need a “we’re in a total cash in”-type musical number just to properly rub it in your face.

SPIDERMAN 3
This was dire. The “characterisation” of the villains was cringe-worthy, Maguire and Dunst were eminently punchable throughout and the endless special effects were coma-inducing. Please, no more.

DVD
—-
THE FOUNTAIN
I think Darren Aronofsky’s third film spent, ooh, about a fortnight in UK cinemas before it disappeared into obscurity in late 2006. A fortnight I vainly spent trying to persuade anyone to go and see it with me. Thank god for DVD then, for this film is absolutely incredible, beautiful and utterly heartfelt. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a film where someone has so obviously poured so much of himself into it. It’s very easy to be very cynical about such an obvious love letter to his wife (Rachel Weisz, starring alongside Hugh Jackman), but if you forgo the sneering it could possibly be the most touching film you’ll ever see.

BLADE RUNNER: THE FINAL CUT
At last! Not that it’s particularly different to the so-called “Director’s Cut”, but the transfer is eye-poppingly good, and a 3 and a half hour documentary is the very definition of exhaustive. Definitely worth getting the 5-disc version, complete with multiple different versions of the same film, if you’re as much of a BR/Phildickian geek as me.

General Highlights
——————
CORMAC McCARTHY – THE ROAD
This book is the motherfucker. As good, yet at the opposite end of the spectrum to, his other masterwork, Blood Meridian. Look out too for the Coen Brothers’ adaptation of his previous book, No Country For Old Men, in UK cinemas from 18th January.

ELECTRICAL GUITAR COMPANY
Made me an amazing, matchless, instrument. It’s a bugger to keep clean though.

THE ROCK BANDS CREVECOEUR AND SINCABEZA
Are two bands full of some of the loveliest people I’ve ever met, let alone had the pleasure of touring with, and are both compelling live acts.

MOVING OUT OF SNEINTON AND INTO A NICE FLAT
No crime! No noise! No setting fire to my wheelie bin! No dog shitting on my kitchen floor! Space for all my junk! Living with my girlfriend! 2 minute’s walk from a guitar shop, a couple of decent second-hand record shops and a decent pub or two! Nottingham isn’t all that bad.

COOKING
I love my knives. I love meat. I love eating. It’s all good. Especially steak.

£3 DVDs FROM TESCO
2001. Jaws. Casino. The Shining. Barry Lyndon. Total Recall. A Clockwork Orange. Yes!

AMAZING MUSIC MADE BEFORE I WAS BORN
Funkadelic. Harmonia. Fela Kuti. Sly & The Family Stone. Leonard Cohen’s first 4 albums. Obscure 1960s recordings of various African bands (on Mississippi Recordings’ Lipa Kodi Ya City Council LP, which really was my album of ’07). Pre-1980s Neil Young. Donna Summer. Marvin Gaye. Aretha Franklin. AC/DC. Cluster. Thelonius Monk. Even Led Chuffin’ Zep. I even dug out my mum’s copy of Abbey Road when I was home for Christmas and it sounded great.

FINDING A COPY OF JOHN COLTRANE’S A LOVE SUPREME IN A CHARITY SHOP FOR 50p
It’s a crime.

Chapters are a new musical proposition, formed in London despite the fact that all 3 members originally met at school in Ashbourne, Derbyshire. Ex-members of Dakota Oak Trio and Pedro, their musical ease and cohesiveness as performers together belies the band’s short lifespan so far. This is backed up by some lovely drumming work provided by Chris Walmsley, of All Traps Set and Broadcast, and most recently as part of Rick Tomlinson’s Voice Of The Seven Woods project. And very lovely they are too.

This CD is Chapters’ debut solo release, following a split 7″ with labelmates and previous diskant reviewees Angela Valid. Compiled over sessions in 2005 and 2006, it’s a consistent and satisfying introduction to an instrumental band that likes to linger in the more enjoyably melodious areas of modern forward-thinking guitar and electronic music.

Beginning with whirring, bubbling electronics and a glockenspiel bleeding into phased acoustic guitar, Chapters’ music quickly takes recognisable shape, dominated by lyrical acoustic guitar playing that carries the burden of the bulk of the “song” of each track. Based around delicately fingerpicked phrases and chords, the guitar is well-complemented by simple tremeloed electric guitar melodies with understated bass and keyboard work, propelled forward by briskly brushed drums and slowly splashing cymbals.

Electronics and experimental work is wisely kept to the background for the bulk of the tracks, only emerging to introduce or alter the texture of an otherwise-straightforward song when necessary. This, coupled with modern Tortoise-esque approaches to fluid experiments with textures and songforms, means that Chapters’ songs always sound natural and never forced, paying dividends in the form of memorable moments and brain-itching melodies running throughout the EP’s length. The aping of “In Den Garten Des Pharaos”-era Popol Vuh’s cymbal washes and organ sounds that make a false start to “Light Lay Down” is also cute and well appreciated by this particular reviewer.

A real highlight of the EP is the 8-minute centre-piece song “The Last Days Of Steam”, which sees Chapters at their sunniest and most accessible. Sounding distinctly reminiscent of the careful instrumental arrangements of Jim O’Rourke’s ‘pop’ records, back when he was juggling obsessions with John Fahey and Burt Bacharach (see “Eureka” and “Insignificance”), it happily burbles along in a jolly electro-acoustic manner, gradually building in depth and energy as it switches between 2 different passages that act as chorus and verse, but never forcing itself to an unnecessary climax. And who needs a climax or even a coda when you’ve got two tunes that fit together quite as well as this? It’s a delight, and you’ll barely notice the running length as the band explores the limits of the song’s possibilities.

My only real criticism of “EP1” is that, as a whole, the textural experimentation and use of instruments feels very ‘set’ from the opening track. Once Chapters have established a certain sound a couple of minutes into this release, they seem content to explore it without too much variation from track-to-track. You certainly couldn’t tell that this was recorded in more than one session. For me then, it’s crucial that this EP only lasts 26-odd minutes. If Chapters are to produce a full-length album in the future, I’d hope for slightly more variation in terms of ‘experimental’ approach. But this is still worth checking out, and I look forward to hearing where Chapters are at next time they decide to release anything.

www.worldinwinter.co.uk
www.myspace.com/worldinwinter

Run Of The Mill don’t release a lot of records, but when they do they’re invariably peaches, plucked from the ever-fertile DIY scene in Leeds. D’Astro may be one of the most unusual looking fruits of the LS6 forest, germinated and tended to by frontman (and solo artist in his own right) D. Millard. They also feature Mary from the mighty Pifco on drums.

Millard claims that D’Astro make “ugly and stupid dancing music for sexy and clever people”, and their sound certainly lives up to this billing. Some totally lo-fi production, highlighted by trebly guitars scratching across some bordering-on-distorted bass and drums and glazed over by D. Millard’s witty, self aware lyrics, shove 2 songs down your throat before you’ve barely had time to take a breath. The surprisingly harsh guitars tinnily scour across the tracks, punctuating the loose, rolling rhythms that verge on baggy beats at times. This rollicking, almost makeshift, sound reminds me most of The Fall, but D’Astro certainly have enough ideas to forge an identity of their own. In particular, the girl/boy harmonies and singing at cross-purposes sound great, and the lumpen danceability of the beats suggest a great band to lose all your pretensions and get down to when they perform live.

There are barely 5 minutes of music across both sides of this 7″, but all the flab has been cut away from the meat to leave lean and strong songs that serve as a brief, but very welcome introduction to an intriguing new (since 2004!) kid on the block. I like to think of them as a David Mamet of bands: they don’t labour with wanky or unnecessary dialogue or scene setting; they just get straight to the point, make it well and make it their own. An admirable debut.

www.dastro.co.uk
www.runofthemillrecords.co.uk

Experience some full-on churning metal guitars, blast-beating drums and guttural roars for vocals courtesy of Newcastle-based quartet Jinn. Yep, they’re a grindcore band, and this album burns through 11 songs in the space of 21 minutes. It’s nothing you haven’t heard before, but Jinn become an increasingly impressive prospect during the course of this album – huge blasts of uber-distorted guitars judder to a halt as the band turns on a dime to begin a new musical passage, quickly shifting gears between songs that deliver blow after sickening blow to the head. They’ve been described as the UK’s best hardcore band, and this is probably the hardest, most furious and enveloping album I’ve heard from these shores for a wee while. Not that I’m an expert, mind.

Hardcore and thrash-derived bands such as Jinn are invariably far more impressive melting your face off at a gig than on record, but they do a fairly decent job of capturing their sheer weight and power – they even scale the heights of sounding almost as high and mighty as the legendary (if increasingly dull) Isis at points, which is definitely something to be proud of.

However, I do have a couple of complaints about this record that I need to get off my wheezing, pitifully under-developed chest:

1. Jinn share a conundrum with so many thrash/grindcore bands who want their guitars to make an absolute din but then have those breakdowns where the guitars go clean for maximum devastating dynamic effect: if your guitarists set their gear up to have that Massive Metal Wall-Of-Thrash effect (and Jinn’s can be a particularly impressive wall, decorated by all kinds of monumental brutalist architecture) for the majority of the time, how can you avoid it sounding brittle and hollow when you wind back to a simple guitar sound? Unfortunately for Jinn this conundrum remains largely unsolved; on the few occasions that the guitarists let up on their fevered thrashing they end up sounding like they’re plinking away something bought at the Early Learning Centre. Mercifully, this doesn’t happen that often or for too long.
2. While the singer’s bellowing is eternally indecipherable it is certainly powerful and effective, so there’s no reason to completely undermine all that good work by exposing quite how shit the lyrics he’s mangling are by printing them in the CD booklet. The brief epithets that make up the lines of songs such as “Its Not Getting any better” and “Vikings Bloody Vikings” may be intended as cryptic allusions, poetic descriptions, or even sparse prose inspired by gothic horror, but lines such as “The mask of a hooded wizard mourns your eyes / Sorrow lies enrage your soul” bring to mind the dreaded insult of ‘sixth form poetry’. That said; the imagery of the album’s closing line, “Vengeance on a dog” does take some beating.

Not that I’d ever dare raising any kind of issue with Jinn in person; they’d probably tear my face off and feed it to their beloved pooch.

www.myspace.com/jinnoffline
www.superfirecords.co.uk
www.myspace.com/righttorefuse

I have to start this review with a confession: Army Of Flying Robots are a Nottingham-based band who have played all over the city in a myriad of venues (including a good friend’s kitchen and an erstwhile art gallery), yet I have somehow conspired to miss their live performances for 4 solid years. Please take this as a guarantee of objectivity for this review of their debut album then, dear reader, than of incompetence on my part.

After incongruously beginning with what sounds like a pick-scraped guitar slowed down and run through enough echo to make worthy of a horror film soundtrack, AOFR quickly establish their blueprint for grinding twin guitars underpinned by heavy bass and manic drumming, supporting a truly larynx-shredding vocal performance from frontman Henry Davies (seriously, you can almost hear the fibres from his throat coming away one at a time). AOFR are a band that love to occupy that middle ground between hardcore punk-rock and grinding metal, but with intelligent beatdowns, the odd flailing thrash and even an occasional let-up or slow build-up in intensity, they bring far more to the table than yer average so-called ‘grindcore’ band. Not bad considering most of the songs barely scrape the 2-minute mark.

Davies’ singing does conform to the general standards of indecipherable howling, so it’s handy to have the lyrics written down with explanations about subject matters in the liner notes and it’s always good to see nuclear weapons, American foreign policy, casual male chauvinism and globalisation of corporate interests getting a bashing. I’ve got to mention the truly ugly artwork you have to plough through to read these things though – not aesthetically pleasing in any way. Even if they have a song called “How’s That For A Kick In The Cunt?”.

Back to the music: at barely 29 minutes, these 11 songs will leave your body exhausted and your ears squealing with pain. That’s probably nothing compared to their infamous live shows, but you’ve got to say it’s mission accomplished, don’t you?

www.armyofflyingrobots.co.uk
www.superfirecords.co.uk

Despite being unfathomably fantastic, Soe’za are not the most prolific of bands. They’ve been going nigh-on a decade and have thus-far delivered two full-length albums and one EP (third album due later this year!). Amongst their ranks is Chris Cole of Manyfingers/Movietone/Matt Elliott infamy, who obviously has a few other things on the go. But what do the others do in their convalescence?

Soe’za’s principal male singer Ben Owen started Line back in 2002 along with some friends as a vehicle for his own songwriting recipes and “They Took Great Proud In Their Work” is their second Extended Play offering. This particular meal’s 25 minutes long and has 6 songs to get your teeth into, with an extremely nutritious diet of acoustic and electric guitars, drums, keyboard, occasional horns and some real, human voices in there too. Cooked up and preapred in just one day last August, it’s a particularly fulsome, yet delicately-flavoured dish, comprehensively stuffed with melodic joy and invention.

If you hadn’t guessed, this is really, really lovely stuff. Light as a souffle, tasty as salsa-enhanced salad, satisfying as a three-course all-you-can-eat buffet, this EP is as pleasant a listen as you cold hope for – all twinkling melodies, carefully arranged musical textures and imaginative arrangements. There’s even some super harmonised humming towards the end of penultimate track “Two Coats Colder” that makes me break into an unconscious smile whenever I hear it. I can’t remember the last time a record made me do that. And then you get some awesome whooping and hollering in final track “Love In The Trenches,” which cracks the grin as wide as my face. And I certainly can’t recall the last time a record made me do that. Can you?

Music as wistful and carefree-sounding as this has obviously had some real craft go into it, and it’s a credit to Line’s arrangements that each track flows effortlessly, sounding like a stream of masterful pop songs… if only we lived in an alternate universe where mostly instrumental wide-eyed acoustic music like this could be viewed as viable marketable materiel by the major label suits. Whatever the case, Line should take a bow for an excellent accompaniment to the encroachment of the summer weather. Thanks, chaps.

www.superfirecords.com
www.myspace.com/linemusic

There comes a time in everyone’s life when you wonder if you’re finally losing touch with youth. For me, it came about 30 seconds into this debut album from crack post-emo/screamo-power-violence outfit The Mock Heroic. This album delivers 11 songs in the space of 23 minutes, which may not be much on the likes of The Locust, but these 4 lads from Norwich deliver some incredibly intricate music that splatters all over the place but is also amazingly technical. And I’m glad it’s not any longer, because I feel wholly inadequate to appreciate it fully.

Personally, my ears find it heard to deal with this kind of music. With so many rhythm and tempo changes and not so much in the way of a melodic hook, repetition or any kind of inviting texture to the lean, punchy sound, the music feels like a purely technical workout of quickfire bouts of aggression. I can just imagine the drummer counting off the amount of times he plays one riff before he goes to the next, and because there’s no groove, no grace, no goofing off, no solos, no humour – absolutely no letting up in any way – to me it becomes like a lesson in pure musicianship rather than an enjoyable experience. And where’s the fun in that?

But it’s a remarkably assured and aggressive debut for a young band, and if you have any interest in where the trails blazed by post-hardcore and screamo have reached in this day and age, you should really check them out. Similarly, the fuss around people like “underground” band Enter Shikari or even “technical metal” bands like Sikth (or even Eden Maine) makes me laugh when you compare them to The Mock Heroic. For me, the closest musical equivalent to this band I can think of (outside of 31G bands) would probably be Orthrelm – stunning in terms of individual musicianship, but punishing to such an extent that it can leave you dazed. As someone who counts himself as a Kevin Drumm fan, I thought I knew all about finding pleasure in pain in music, but – like Mick Barr’s outfit – The Mock Heroic’s approach to songwriting just gives me a headache.

It would also be very easy to joke about or dismiss the earnestness behind this music. There’s no so much of a whiff of humour in the full set of lyrics and explanatory notes for each song printed in the jacket, but it would be missing the point to expect any, or to accuse the band of being preachy (even if there is a song about the horror of vivisection). The Mock Heroic’s music is all about teenage angst winding up so tight that you explode with anger and outrage, and it is their musical precision and technicality that is the devastating blow. With such controlled bursts of aggression, there’s no catharsis, which just makes you tighter and tighter. And this is why I feel old – kids go nuts for this stuff these days, and The Mock Heroic are as good as any band of this ilk that I’ve heard. In fact, for me they blow people like Orthrelm or latter-day Hella out of the water in terms of sheer listenability and the idea of playing as a band. There are certainly no discernable egos on display here, which must be praised in a band so obviously full of talented musicians. But I struggle to find pleasure in music devoid of any catharsis – Morton Feldman would struggle to ratchet up more tension than is on ‘Dignified Exits’ – and chock-full of angst about things like the importance of being true to yourself and not subsuming your personality with excessive admiration of others (this is all spelled out in the liner notes in case you don’t follow the incoherent screaming). For me, listening to this album is exhausting. You young pups may well enjoy it a lot more.

One last aside: as a nice addition to the crisp recording and mastering, the CD’s gatefold slipcover features some nice artwork of a naked man courtesy Brighton-based artist Karen Constance (who also plays in Blood Stereo), whose artwork was last seen on the cover of [Thurston Moore/Paul Flaherty/Chris Corsano/etc project] Dream Aktion Unit’s debut album. Good work!

www.superfirecords.co.uk
www.myspace.com/superfirecords

A promising EP recorded in a London church hall (with a nice view of HM Holloway) by a Sheffield-based duo who otherwise go by the names Iain Chambers and Alex Jones. After splitting a The Wire-acclaimed 7″ with a band called Asbourne’s Strongest Man, this is an opportunity to experience in full their flourishing vision of sparse, electronically-affected experimental rock music.

Beginning with a basic improvising set-up of drums and guitar, a lot of post-production, editing, manipulation and experimentation has obviously gone into the 4 tracks presented here, as well as some guest instrumentation and assistance from Pedro member James Rutledge. Though their press release references Tortoise, Wolf Eyes and the Constellation label, the music here takes me much further back to the approach of the masterful This Heat, who pioneered many ideas on display here almost 3 decades ago. Heavy editing and stitching together of seemingly disparate takes and ideas, “non-musicianship” utilised as a spontaneous source for textures, electronically-effected drums (the opening buzzing of a delayed drumkit sounds remarkably like ’24 Track Loop’) and dizzying layers of sound sources creating a disorientating and uncertain soundworld are all techniques that Angela Valid employ in deference to their progenitors. This is hardly a criticism though, as few bands have successfully taken the template established by This Heat and done anything interesting with it (Laddio Bolocko are just about the only people I can think of), and Angela Valid at least shower a small roman candle of idea-sparks that dazzle in comparison to yer average (and increasingly conservative) ‘post-rock’ band or braindead (and increasingly tiresome) ‘free-improvising’ dirge unit.

Bristling with overloaded circuits, clattering percussion and murky layers of meandering melodic progression piled on top of electronic squiggles and musical echoes, this EP meanders through its 33 minute duration in a very pleasant fashion, occasionally turning your ear with a particularly inventive idea or sound. Nicely restrained, it never threatens to overload your stereo with any kind of bombast or noise assault, and even in its most minimal moments the band sounds confident and assured. They are exploring textures and spaces that have been addressed before, but it’s been a whle since anyone did so with such vim and vigour.

Apparently Angela Valid will have further releases this year, culminating in a debut full-length album before 2008 hits. I, for one, will be listening out for these, as well as further releases by World In winter, a new London-based collective/label as young and imaginative as this band. You can find out more about both by checking out these links:

www.myspace.com/worldinwinter
www.worldinwinter.co.uk