Echoes and dust

This month’s round up kicks off a couple of bands who have gone that extra mile to grab our attention. Regular readers will have picked up by now on the fact that we don’t generally cover singles, nothing against the format, just a time and resource issue, but these guys deserve a mention for their creativity alone!

Firstly, The ABC Club, who sent us and honest-to-goodness 7” single. Yep, proper vinyl. There are probably kids today who wouldn’t even know what to do with such a thing, which is sad, not only because they are missing out on the tactile experience of handling a record but also because they are missing out on two great slices of Indie Power Pop. The A Side (how old skool’s that, by the way!) of this debut single is ‘Thieving Magpie’, a Strokes-esque stomper given an extra twist by the laconic vocal style of singer Zandra Klievens and this is backed on the flip side by ‘Friend Of Mine’ which sounds much like what I imagine The Pretenders would sound like if they were making records now. Definitely a band we’re going to keep our eyes on for the future.

Secondly come Lasse Brawn who included a Wham bar along with their four track EP. Now, I know I’ve grown a bit in the last 30 years, but I’m really sure they used to be bigger! Never mind, it was much appreciated so they get a mention too. The only thing these guys have in common with The ABC Club is that they too hail from the artistically fertile Leeds area. Musically this is a whole different kettle of fish, the Brawn in the name is a clue. The EP is four tracks of intense, frenetic  punk metal sonic attack. They describe themselves as ‘the sound of your divorced parents masturbating’ which about sums it up. See them live and it might make more sense, I suspect!

And so, on to this month’s albums.

‘Powers Of Audition’ (Kranky, March 15) whisked me wistfully back to a hazy time in my past where I was fixated on analogue synths. This album takes in a range of influences, on the magnificent ‘Atomic Bomb Living’ Jonas Reinhardt comes at you like Vangelis gone disco, ‘Mumma Deed Family Clone’ is pure Floyd, ‘Near A Mirrored Pit Viper’ the soundtrack to a 70’s sci fi thriller and ‘Wastrel Eyelid’ bats it’s (probably unknowing, being as he’s from San Fransisco) lashes in the direction of Ozric Tentacles. Rolled together it’s a wonderfully dreamy exploration of synthtastic imagination.

These Monsters have been making a lot of noise recently, both literally and figuratively. On quite a few august publication’s lists of ones to watch in 2010, a listen to ‘Call Me Dragon’ (Brew, March 01) and it instantly becomes apparent why. These guys are tighter than a gnats chuff, crafting complex, muscular, brooding rock music with real depth. The title track is case in point, it loiters with intent, a brass section adding to the atmosphere of menace generated by the heavy bass and crunching guitars. The album’s closer, ‘Deaf Machine’ also stands out with a deeply heavy riff and staccato drums and stabbing brass.

At the other end of the spectrum comes the gently pastoral folk tinged tunesmithery of San Diego’s Drew Andrews. Andrews has been around a while for such a young man, previously playing with The Album Leaf and his own electro/rock band Via Satellite for a number of years. It was after the bulk of Via Satellite’s equipment was stolen that Andrews took up a more stripped down, acoustic approach to his music and the eleven tracks that make up ‘Only Mirrors’ (Lili Is Pi, March 19) are a direct result of that and sit somewhere between Simon & Garfunkel (‘Angeli’), Turin Breaks (‘Five Faces’) and Nick Drake (most of the rest). He has a sweet voice and a laidback guitar style that suit these little snippets of billowy melancholia perfectly.

Every now and again one comes across a band so brimming with ideas and so ferociously talented it’s extremely hard to categorise them, in fact it’s unfair to even try, such is the case with Perhaps Contraption and ‘Sludge & Tripe’(available now from Bandcamp) is such a record. It’s probably easier to point you at the people they reference; Zappa, Beefheart, King Crimson, Tortoise, yeah, you’re starting to get the picture I’m sure. They actually sound like none of these, but it gives you the idea of the sort of direction they’re coming from. The first thing that struck me about the record is how tight it is, it’s got a proper groove that underpins it’s wild swings between acoustic folk, metal and out and out psyche madness. The second thing that strikes is that it is utterly, fantastically bonkers, insane but in a completely good way. A hugely challenging but ultimately rewarding listen.

Last, and most definitely not least, is ‘Index Of Birds’ (Silber, February 16) from San Franciscans Carta, the long awaited follow up to ‘Glass Bottomed Boat’ which totally rocked our world back in 2005. ‘Index OF Birds’ is more of the same, but that’s in no way a bad thing. It is utterly luscious, gorgeous strings back beautifully crafted melodies and all are accompanied by wonderfully laconic, understated vocals. ‘Building Bridges’ drifts in like the suggestion of a breeze but before you know it it has wormed it’s way in to your head and you find yourself humming it for days. The catatonically epic ‘Descension’ is another high point, a Slowdive like an excursion in to the dark depths of the soul beautifully accompanied by Lorealle Bishop’s heartbreaking voice. In all, a magnificent record.