This Is Not TV

Saint Dymphna is the patron saint of disorder, taboo and outsiders. Considering the three years in the wilderness that Gang Gang have endured in order to make this album (note: wilderness not literal), the title is pretty relevant and, also considering their recent appearance on the latest ‘Skins’ soundtrack pretty culturally relevant too. This creates a horrible contradictory philosphical loop though, so let’s get the frack out of here before the shizzle hits the Hegelian dialectic.

Nestling on the same label as Aphex Twin and Battles, you’d expect a certain amount of experimentation on here, and if that’s your bag you will not be massively disappointed. Great lolloping South African rhythms and chorales are shunted into place by stuttering synths (‘First Communion’) broken melodies create ambient rhythms by accident (‘Inners Pace’) and rooms full of malfunctioning synths shift pentatonically to the whomping of helicopter blades in a bizarre digitalised ‘Apocalypse Now’ (‘Beyley’). It’s all quite tangible though, it stretches you without asking you to step too far from your comfort zone, so there is definitely the whiff of a compromise here.

The compromise is making music that people will want to listen to and, more importantly, dance to. ‘Blue Nile’ dishes out the high hat and half heard samples creating a mumbling clubscape in the comfort of your own home, ‘House Jam’ mixes up Mr Scruff with oriental vocals in a retro fitted future. There are some moments of trance like vocals in ‘Afoot’ and moments of basslined grime in ‘Princes’ that lull you and groove you in turn. Nicely accessible but not musical cliche.

Then there are the anachronisms. ‘Vacuum’ is more FSOL or MBV than dance, ‘Dust’ has a clunky cyberpunk feel to is and ‘Desert Storm’ is de-venomed industrial. Interesting as an exercise in revision, but a bit out of place compared to ‘Princes.’

It’s a mixed bag of an album, to be honest, a pick and mix. Perhaps its an unwitting tribute to Woolworths. It is not dull though, with enough ‘exotic’ chord structure and newish styles to stand out from your average ambient dance album. Not as chaotic as first ensinuated, in fact quite restrained, but an accomplishment nonetheless.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Okay, child number two has arrived so it’s time for a retrospective – some stuff you might have missed from last year that I am just catching up on.

One for you lovers of esoteric high energy dance music a la KLF – South Central.

They have capes and cowls but lack names and have collected all their recent singles onto one crunchy little albumette for your delectation and it’s a pretty joyful collection, if outshone for me by one track that is a cover for that.

Adopting a very late eighties early nineties rave style, ‘Owl’ is full of high energy retro electronica that crunches synthy sine waves and piles on the beats. It’s like listening to a CD of remixes of olds tunes you know given a shoulder-padded cyber punk spin especially on ‘Golden Dawn’ which sounds like a Justice chop job.

There’s definitely a love of that era though – it’s not just some pre-emptive 80′s/90′s revival. Art of Noise rubs up to 808 State in ‘Castle of Heroes’, The Egg gets scrambled in Aeon, ‘Doll’ lifts a riff from Phil Collins (of all people) and sodomises it into acceptability. You’ve heard bits of these things, but not so crispy, not so digitally – it’s like hearing your childhood quantified. Which can be very scary.

But there is something that is most definitely old school and wonderful. Josh Wink’s ‘Higher State of Consciousness’ took off in 1995 with its spiralling synths that made ears bleed and beats that jacked into your very soul and I am pleased to say that it sounds just as good today… done by South Central. The drop in is massively beligerent, the noise tops out at the point of climax… sure, it’s a cover, sure, it’s Watchman faithful and sure ti doesn’t really do them any good, but… you gotta just listen to it and think glow sticks, Global Hyper Colour, Vicks Vapour Rub… we all pretend to be a bit more sophisticated now.

Essentially its good, but as I said it gets overshadowed. Maybe they should have lifted sections from ‘Higher State’ rather than doing it straight, but I think their respect and treatemtn of the ahem source material will make them an interesting prospect as remixers if nothing else.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Louis XIV confidently strolls onto the Arena’s colossal stage as support for the Killers, and as always the weight of expectation with the fans of the headline act is high.

Having your music compared to the likes of Rolling Stones, T-Rex and David Bowie maybe very flattering, but it also puts you under a considerable amount of pressure when it comes to live gigs.

The Californian bands latest album, Slick Dogs and Ponies, was well received by rock critics in the US and shows how much the band have progressed musically since forming in 2003 – earning them a legion of new fans along the way.

A rapturous reception from the Brandon Flowers worshiping crowd marks their arrival on stage; Jason Hill looks every inch the rock star with his ‘Mod’ hair cut and snazzy white jacket, while his smart suited cohort, guitarist / vocalist Brian Karscig resembles someone out of the Bad Seeds with his bushy beard and long black hair.

Karscig’s high-reaching vocals are definitely something else – his dulcet tunes being the perfect contrast to Jason Hill’s sneering punk rock vocals. Hill’s direct lyrical style is, at times, not too dissimilar to Manchester’s very own punk poet, Mark E Smith.

The band start with There’s A Traitor In This Room from Slick Dogs and Ponies, which inevitably gets a good response. Louis XIV and Misguided Sheep are soon to follow before the band launch into the older stuff. Finding Out That True Love Is Blind, arguably one of the finer points of their debut album, The Best Little Secrets Are Kept manages to keep its rough swaggering charm when showcased live.

Saving the best for last, the band previews an excellent new track that was co- written with Mr Brandon Flowers. Instantly memorable, the song features a catchy chorus and is a potential hit if ever there was one.
 
Louis XIV delivered a breath taking set packed full of catchy riffs, melodies, feedback and hard rocking beats – a combination that it seems only musicians from the good old US of A can produce.

4 Stars

Popularity: 4% [?]

I fear that heavy metal may be due for a dumbing down, if Young Guns are anything to go by. Okay, I know, some people will be of the opinion that it was hardly clever in the first place, but when it came to shredding frets, nothing did it like metal.

That’s the problem with this debut single, ‘In The Night’. It lacks that pyrotechnic ambition. True, Ben pounds the drums for all he’s worth in a slow/fast style, Frazer and John lay down a riff Megadeth would be proud of and Gustav wails nihilistic nonsense like the best of them – it’s like the late eighties all over again. It just doesn’t ignite and therefore doesn’t excite – the ridiculous solos don’t appear, the mind boggling runs don’t even get off the blocks… in fact, it’s like Dragonforce without the essence of Dragonforce.

The song as such is not bad – it has a lot of life – but just fails to engage you on any level with that touch of brilliance. It is Gustav who probably sums it up best with the line ‘I don’t care’. C’mon guys, make me care.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Sing along, you old bastards: “You and me, me and you, lots and lots, for us to do…” I was disappointed to discover that Attack! Attack’s! latest single was not a cover of the popular seventies children’s programme’s theme tune but a cluster of guitar based pop emo rock from South Wales leading exclamatory band. Boo!

To be honest, I haven’t got much to say about this. It’s music for those who haven’t got time to listen to music as they’re too busy being teenagers – a sort of My Chemical Bullet For a Friend that never quite lives up to the sum of its parts. Sure, there’s chug a plenty and it’s a lively little number but ultimately it is about as thrilling as Weetabix. Those Lost Prophets have a lot to answer for.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Oh. My. God. Has it really come to this? Are TV executives now so creatively bankrupt that they think a re-inventing of ‘Minder’ is a good idea? I mean, are they gonna go all Battlestar Galactica on its arse and get dark, moody and gritty… Arthur Daley a wife-beating small time alcoholic criminal with a penchant for moody goods and watersports, Terence McCann a hired fist who conceals a secret life of cottaging and transsexual group scenes? Oh, it stars Shane Richie. Guess not then. Attic Lights, you really should know better.

But forget for a moment the idea of Shane Richie dousing some inexpensive East End hooker and take the theme as a separate entity. Take out the brass and Chas n Dave piano, replace both with guitars, pour on a jigger of super sweet harmonies and voila! A new beast emerges. Imagine ‘Pumping On Your Stereo’ done by the Bay City Rollers (really, just check them out, don’t take my word for it) and then realise how uncockney this sounds. The chords are open, the pop is seriously Hibernian… this is about as far from the original as you can get without changing the whole bloody song entirely. The series will still be horrible, but this is actually quite nice in a ‘I can’t believe I’m listening to this’ kinda way.

PS For all those people out there who may have seen the recurring sketch on ‘Little Britain’ featuring the diminutive Dennis Waterman, a wee fact for you: he didn’t write the theme tune; it was his wife. There, you’ve learnt something too…

Popularity: 4% [?]