A week ago (Feb 8th) I had the pleasure of watching the mighty Thought Forms play an intimate gig to a crowd of friends, family and local fans. The gig served as a bit of a warm up for their upcoming European tour with Esben And The Witch, and saw the first live airings of tracks from their incredible new album 'Ghost Mountain'. Despite having lived with the record months ahead of its release, it's a creation that's too powerful to put into words at times. You need to hear it to understand its brilliance.
Beginning with the mind blowing 'Burn Me Clean', this small room was filled with a vast and expansive atmosphere that had the audience mesmerised from start to finish. It was a short and perfect set where the band blasted through the new material with power and precision, and demonstrated exactly why there is a huge buzz around them. Every time I've seen these three incredible musicians play, they get better and better, and this time was no exception. Lots of people are talking about them now, but I've known about them for years and was lucky enough to witness some of their first ever shows. How have I had this privilege? Because Thought Forms and I both hail from the Wiltshire town of Melksham. And like I told their guitar warriors Deej and Charlie, they really do make me proud to live here.
But I do wonder why the only review featured on their official website is an ignorant 5 out of ten rating from Uncut magazine. Are the band's website people trying to sabotage their career or something? Even the "we can't possibly be seen to recommend anything that's uncool" NME gave it a 6, and even though my review quite fairly addressed the faults of two sub-par tracks, their internet people are more than welcome to use quotes and sections from it if they want to. Read my review HERE and listen to it on Spotify HERE. And more importantly, go and buy it!
I trailed off topic a bit there. Spontaneous writing. Back to the topic of live radio sessions, I've been enjoying the week of shows that BBC 6Music have been hosting this week. Kicking it all of were Suede, who quite honestly sounded even better than the last time I heard them play years ago. Brett's voice is stronger than ever and the whole band seem to be enjoying themselves a lot more. As for the new album, I have a copy and there's some truly incredible stuff on there. That second half is rather downbeat though. I'm not saying any more until I review it here in a few weeks time.
'Holy Fire' doesn't quite live up to that promise, but it's a step forward into bigger things that delivers a number of essential moments. The aforementioned 'Inhaler' is undoubtedly one such highlight, hard swaggering funk and a prime example of the thicker, more muscular production provided by Alan Moulder and Flood. The stratospheric blast of the chorus elevates it to a thrillingly spectacular level that I was hoping could be matched by the rest of this LP. But there are some other superb examples of their craft here as well, like the instant hooks, chiming guitars and bright disco vibe of 'My Number'. In places it reminds me of an Ibiza dance anthem combined with a hint of Fleetwood Mac. And it's ace. So is the album's centrepiece 'Late Night', a confessional, soul baring relative of the previous record's 'Spanish Sahara' that slips into some smooth funk, building up brilliantly before rising into a pleading climax. The closing 'Moon' is another high point, a sparsely arranged lullaby blessed with a hazy, slow burning translucence. Elsewhere, with its pumped up danger and tricky rhythms, 'Providence' is the closest they come to the debut 'Antidotes'.
There's not one bad song on 'Holy Fire', but as a whole it's somewhat lacking in variety. Which is maybe why the second half's 'Stepson' and 'Black Spiders' don't really stand out compared to the infectious, vibrant 'Everytime' and the euphoric Cure-esque 'Out Of The Woods', which do the job a lot better. It's a bigger, more confident record that retains the atmosphere of 'Total Life Forever', and moves further from their math-rock beginnings. Expect that army of fans to keep on growing. I'll give it 4 out of 5.
The debut EP 'Hostel' sees him make inroads into machine music, moving away from his former band's simplified indie pop, and the evidence here suggests a natural transition. Lead track 'Looking For Someone' is a beautiful electronic hymn that pairs the buzz of synths with Doyle's instinctive ear for melody, while 'Heaven How Long' veers deeper into John Foxx/Depeche Mode territory, even more so on the accompanying Oh The Gilt remix. Elsewhere the 9 minute plus 'Coastal Reflexions' journeys further left-field, building into a shifting collage of jumbled beats and rave vibes. Now completely in control of the direction of his music, maybe this is exactly what Doyle needed to do in order to grow as an artist. It's an interesting development and promises big things for the future. Listen to 'Looking For Someone' and 'Heaven How Long' HERE. I'm rating this EP a 4 out of 5.
As I'm writing this I'm listening to 'I Saw Energy', an upcoming LP by Cymbient which came in the post last week. It's a project from Cardiff based musician Andy Fung, whose utterly bizarre paintings adorn the cover. His songs have a psychedelic thread running through them as well. It turns out that Fung was the frontman of Welsh band Dererro, who I remember from the late 90's.
The soft, dreamy songs here are growers rather than things that catch you on the first listen. The best and by far the most immediate track here has to be the beautiful 'Trailers And Gliders', which from the start sounds like it's a small part of a bigger puzzle. And that's exactly what it is, but it still sounds great standing on its own. Elsewhere there are shades of Grandaddy, Elliot Smith and Pink Floyd, but the style of the songwriting is a whole different thing altogether. On the first listen it's certainly not predictable, and there's no way of knowing where any of it will go next. Read my review and listen to the LP HERE.
HMV's change in ownership is going to mean some big changes to the shops. Last week they announced a list of stores earmarked for closure, and I was glad to see that none of my four local HMV stores were named. But I'm still sad for the scores of staff who are losing their jobs because of these closures. I can only hope that the most deserving ones find enjoyable and secure futures elsewhere.
Fidlar are a garage punk outfit from L.A, and their new single 'Wait For The Man' is an exciting burst of rock and roll that runs at just over two minutes. If The Hives had more ideas and songs that were a bit less throwaway, they'd sound a bit like this. It's excellent and you can hear it HERE.
Britpop types Northern Uproar are one of the groups of the era who you sense didn't get back together to make money, because they probably didn't make any first time round. Instead, this under-appreciated band reformed for the love of playing and making music, and following a brilliant live acoustic album from last year (which you can listen to HERE) they have recently finished recording their fourth studio LP with the help of fans who supported the project through PledgeMusic. And with the recent return of Blur, Suede, Pulp and other legends of the mid 90's, there is no better time for this no-nonsense e guitar brigade from Manchester to release a new record. I'm looking forward to it. Being a big Uproar fan in the 90's, it was a pleasure to write the band a biography for their official website, which you can see HERE.
It's hard to think that there was ever a time when Liam Gallagher and his brother weren't part of my life. But there WAS such a time, and it was early 1994. And that's the period I'm going to be rewinding to this week...
John Hanson was one of my Dad's friends, and me and my brother often used to go out on day trips with him and his son Wilf. I have great memories of those days, the laughs we used to have, and the brilliant music John would have on in the car. That's where I first heard Julian Cope and Jeff Buckley's 'Grace' album. He also played a lot of music by a singer called Matthew Sweet, one of Mick Jagger's solo albums and more importantly an Essex band called Blur.
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