storm in a teacup

Anxiety Attack / J'M'En Fous

2010-12-29T15:57:00.000-08:00

Here's a post about a couple of cool bands that I was priveleged to host for a basement show a couple of years back. I can't remember if it was a lastminute thing, a there's no money thing, or a no suitable venues thing, but I think it turned out as a pretty fun evening and there were at least a few people down who I'd not expected (and none of the freeloading cider punks to deal with either).

First on was the short-lived Manchester band ANXIETY ATTACK with the incestuous lineup of :

vocals - Myke (The Day Man Lost, Burn All Flags, Lie Cycle, Mass of Bastards); guitar - Adz (Dreams Are Free Motherfucker!, Burn All Flags, Lie Cycle); bass - Andy (Run Like Hell, Hail Brethren, Well Wisher, Hammers); drums - Nick C (Dreams Are Free Motherfucker!, Run Like Hell, Hail Brethren, Well Wisher, Hammers)

Later on they recorded (what would have been) a wicked 7" just before splitting up, which was eventually put out by Slow Riot records as a CDR. Think you'll like this if you're into bands like OUT COLD, CUT THE SHIT, SCHOLASTIC DETH etc. There's obviously a few homages to THE MINUTEMEN in there too.

Download - Anxiety Attack/The Day Man Lost split CDR

J'M'En Fous, from Switzerland, are one of those bands that may seem desperately obscure but really built up quite a buzz on this visit to the UK. Maybe being such a great live band, writing hardcore punk music in a truly original way had something to do with this. They had two CDRs for sale but, as far as I can see, almost no online presence/distribution whatsoever. I hope they don't mind me posting these fantastic records. "Jazzy, noisy LIKEWHATTHEFUCKJUSTHAPPENED punk" is what I put on the flyer, I think that's fairly accurate. They're not a 90s sounding band in a retro kind of way, but I feel that J'M'En Fous surely must have been conceived at some 1 in 12 alldayer back around '95, maybe with proto-screamo types UNDERCLASS and noisy art-punkers BILGE PUMP somewhere in the mix*.

Download: J'M'En Fous - 2 CDRs

*of course, ex-members of HEADACHE. Not sure how I forgot that.

2010 Christmas Quiz

2010-12-25T18:00:00.000-08:00

Q: What links :

My venue of the moment - the Spread Eagle, Chorlton

and the now defunct Sheffield-based hardcore band UNQUIET GRAVE.

Given, of course, that UxG never played there?

A: Both have had their leading ladies on Channel 4's Come Dine With Me this year. Landlord Bessie raised a few eyebrows with 'marmite chicken' and her 'manchester tart' whilst screamer Donna came runner-up on the Sheffield week with a Japanese-themed vegan meal.

Given the life-expectancy of the average vegan hardcore band (roughly 1/2000th of the average vegan) it seems I'm never going to be able to bring these two together in a "Come Mosh With Me" lineup, where every band has to bring a 3-course vegan meal and entertainment before laying waste to the venue. But then perhaps there's a blessing in disguise for the hardcore kids; though Donna doubtless achieved some kind of victory by scoring so highly against four carnivores - AND cheekily getting the band's demo here played on national TV - these appearances have always seemed something of a tightrope for the band/scene concerned in credibility terms, and I'm happy for her and the band that the spotlight isn't quite so strong these days. Just remember that harrowing footage of Karl Beuchner getting somehow pummelled on a Fox News over gang violence he had nothing to do with, Richard and Judy's bemused reaction to that tattooed girl from London talking about her friend punching her, or who could forget that legendary footage of xWithdrawnx walking into lampposts (though on second thoughts, I'm not sure that Chinese supermarket mock duck looks that great under camera lights either).

Current celebrity status aside, UNQUIET GRAVE were fucking excellent band who also featured Simon (ex-Army of Flying Robots) on guitar, Nick (Cracked Cop Skulls, Unborn) on bass and Olly (next after me to jump ship from ThexLegacy) on drums. Their demo is absolutely raging from start to finish; I have to say it may even be up there with xCanaanx's early output. Check out the cover, which is glossy black ink on black paper :

And the words - all in gothic - printed exactly the same inside. Still, with songs titles like "Avenues of Shit" it's not really about the lyrical subtleties here. There's a healthy mix of Acme and Gehenna in with the usual tremelo picked riffs and achingly slow breakdowns, and its that rougher punk edge that really makes this a grower. I picked this CDR up on the one occasion I saw them at 120 Rats in Leeds - quite a gamble as I forfeited the chance to see the short-lived TWISTED at Albany Road the same night - and then had to stay stranded out there in the Leeds industrial wasteland as the bands got progressively slower and more drugged-out as the night went on. Following the vegan mosh, there were at least two bands who sounded like Flipper on heroin (strangely all these drunk kids were trying to slamdance to!) and finally, one called BONG who I'm not going to waste my limited descriptive skills on. By 2am, I was in no state to liberate anything except myself from this squatted prison of darkness and scene-appropriate substance abuse... on reflection, an ideal starting point for putting on this CD.

DOWNLOAD : Unquiet Grave - demo 2009 (34.4MB)

Unquiet Grave, Upperthorpe Hotel, Sheffield, 03.08.09

Unquiet Grave | Myspace Music Videos

End of a Year List Time

2010-12-25T16:09:00.000-08:00

Top gigs of the year -

1 Joanna Newsom @ Palace Theatre, Manchester

2 Melt Banana & the Ex @ Islington Mill, Salford

3 Henry Rollins @ Lowry, Salford
4 Netherlands Radio Orchestra - Rachmaninov Piano Concerto #1, Shostakovich Symphony #7 @ Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
5 Crushing Blows @ Bar One, Derby
6 Twisted @ Albany Road, Chorlton
7 Alasdair Roberts, Cath & Phil Tyler @ Sacred Trinity, Salford
8 The Ex & Brass Unbound @ Deaf Institute, Manchester
9 Mob Rules & Voorhees @ the Well, Leeds
10 NASDAQ, Crash of Rhinos & Well Wisher @ Satan's Hollow, Manchester

with a few that felt a bit extra special for going boldly where few bands hath ventured before -

1 Adrian Crowley @ Jolly Roger, Sherkin Island, Co. Cork
2 Contort, Cash For Your Stories @ Gullivers, Manchester

3 Catatumbo @ St Margarets Church, Whalley Range
4 DBH @ Albany Road, front garden

5 Moloch, Closure @ Royal Oak, Chorlton
6 Punch, Mob Rules @ Spread Eagle, Chorlton (see below)

Memorable Moments in Albert Rd basement gig history - Run Like Hell first EVER set

2010-12-25T15:40:00.000-08:00

And as if on cue, Run Like Hell arrived just in time to save my waning interest in hardcore. Everything was so right about this band from the word go; the desperate in-and-out of time vocals; the "not a moment lost"-school of songwriting; their appearance – one hyperactive kid into Youth of Today backed by a minor British Earache thrash band from the late 80s; refreshingly uncool cover choices (Drop Dead and Chain of Strength - one you had no hope of recognising and one you almost wished you didn't), the fact that they actually seemed to enjoy their time on stage; Nick losing his dreads but still drumming like he was in Heresy; the way that like my other favourite "could've'-been" UK band Driven Down they never did a proper record thus remaining forever under-rated and romanticized; their patronage by Manchester music supremo Paddy Steer who filmed the first set and invited them in for a live session and interview on his radio show; avoiding the myriad of pitfalls of thrash (too wacky) powerviolence (too played out) and youthcrew (too camp) but still managing to include elements of all three; the second time I saw them at Lost & Found social centre impressing a crowd that associated 'hardcore' with its 90s dance namesake and even spurring me into moshing housemate Helen across the floor during "Impact" … I could go on forever! And they were only playing this as their first show because Sheffield's Up Late had pulled out. This house firmly believes that you could do with some Run Like Hell in your life.

(from upcoming M19 Housegig zine)

The Live Footage :

1 (unknown)

2 "Lifestyle Choices"

3 "Sorry"

4 (unknown)

5 "Chain Gang"

Filmed by Paddy Steer. I Object vids on their way.

The Cat [Mixtape] Came Back

2010-12-21T14:30:00.000-08:00

More songs about cats for you to enjoy. Two 46 minute sides of them in fact. Merry Christmas.

Download : Cats II (122 MB)

We Close Our Eyes - Second Demo

2010-12-04T05:58:00.000-08:00

What more to say... the holy grail of 2000s UK screamo.

Download We Close Our Eyes (second demo ) 36MB

When the Feeling's Gone and You Can't Go On...

2010-12-04T05:31:00.000-08:00

"Tragedy worship" is one phrase we are all hoping will appear less frequently on flyers in 2011. But go back the best part of a decade and you can hear bits of that sound in bands that still sound fresh to ears today. Take the Dagda from Ireland. You've probably seen the "Threefold" LP in many distros (it was released on Enslaved, well worth picking up) but this final record seems much harder to get hold of. Its got some elements of the epic cust/neocrust/lounge-crust (thats my favourite) sound in there... maybe some black metal and a bit of Catharsis too. But it comes across proper raw and genuine. I never saw them, having missed their visit to the infamous Redhouse Rehearsal Rooms on Ludgate Hill (Rochdale Road), now demolished. Here's the final record.

Download: An Endless Betrayal (47MB)

Flyer from Helen's Helpyourself Manchester wordpress site. All the flyers from the real early days. Sure there'll be a bit of crossover between that blog and this one.

Cerberus Shoal Radio Session

2010-11-21T11:05:00.000-08:00

Had a delightful morning with these folks from Maine after they'd played at the Klondyke Snooker & Bowls Club, Levenshulme, on 22 May, 2005. David Armes helped us record these three songs down the road.

All three songs are acoustic and as far as I know, pretty unique in this band's recording history.

Download: Cerberus Shoal Radio Session (22.83MB)

Links :
Cerberus Shoal
Fire on Fire @ Young God Records

Found: one Bilge Pump & Polaris CDR

2010-11-20T10:51:00.000-08:00

Came across this CDR of demos, presumably given to Lee when he used to promote gigs in Manchester. It definitely served its purpose because both bands were amongst the most put-on travelling bands by helpyourself manchester with Polaris averaging one gig a year here between 2002-2006 (plus D's one at the Phoenix); remarkable, considering how rarely they actually played at all.

The Bilge Pump ones sound like they came prior to "Let Me Breathe" as all the songs bar one ended up on that release. The mixes are a little different; some sound almost like the same recordings whilst others have a completely different feel to them. I prefer the raw drums-all-out-of-balance "Up the Nest" and "5ft Freebird" to other versions I've heard, though some other songs "Fags of San" seem a little less gnarly on this recording (perhaps this version is closer to the Minutemen than Shellac). The vocals are often unclear on this, perhaps they rerecorded them as a result. For some reason there's two similar takes of a 5-minute medley of "There's No Rules To Love" / "Sling Yr Hook" / "Bastard Scaffolder" which'll please anyone looking for recordings closer to those memorable Bilge Pump live sets, where they'd take only a handful of breaks within a 40 minute set. From what I can tell only one song, "Budda" finished up on "Let Me Breathe" entirely in this version.

There's some annoying silences at the start of the songs, but just stick the whole thing on and take that in your stride. The main bonus is on my laptop they actually sound louder and fuller than the "Let Me Breathe" rip I have; mastering was never really the strong point of that release.

download: Bilge Pump demos (95.6MB)

Bilge Pump have many releases still available through Gringo. "Rupert the Sky" is highly recommended.

Now here's the bold claim at the heart of today's post: Polaris's eponymous LP is the best emo full-length recorded by a UK band ever. More focussed than "Lost in Translation", more at-the-height-of-their-powers than "Crescent" and much more distinctive and innovative when compared with "Little Lights". No one else ever mixed the Sunny Day Real Estate slow-burning twinkling clean sections with soaring melodies carved from the most awkward harmonic developments AND a Don Caballero level of intelligence and involvement in their instrumental arrangements. And sure, Ian and Guy wouldn't want us to use the "E-word", but it does help distinguish this from the floods of indie chancers the UK churns out, one or more of whom may go by the same name.

The Polaris demo songs here cover the latter part of the album in sequence, then one from the first side and an unreleased instrumental to finish. "Conquering Small Spaces" is taken at a much slower tempo to the final version (thus playing down - what I believe is loosly referred to as - their "math-rock" tendencies), though I think I'm correct in saying that some of the other tracks ended up as the finished versions with the odd overdub/edit. The drums are much more in the forefront on these versions, with a bit more room in the middle frequencies overall, though the soft cymbal caresses that make the album versions that bit warmer are nowhere to be heard. The final instrumental here wouldn't have fitted on the album but is a masterclass in flitting between those constantly evolving Faraquet/Don Cab style motor-rhythms and SDRE/Mineral-style bursts of daylight.

The vocals are untreated with any effects here too, though to be fair, this was something they brought in live during their final stages most effectively, so that does not make this a more "authentic" recording of the band in that respect. The heavy sections don't quite have the same impact unmixed, but then that's why you need the final product. What more do you need, some tragic story as to how this became such a great "forgotten" album? Well, the last time I put Polaris on at the Klondyke Club the record had just been received back from the pressing plant, years in the making. Of course, they'd left all the boxes at home, and broke up the following week. "Forgotten" indeed.

Polaris LP is still available from Gringo on CD and LP.

download: Polaris demos (79.4MB)

(note: would LOVE a rip (remastered if possible) of 'Belated'. Obviously please don't post the record above, its still in print)

The FTSE 100 (2009) & NASDAQ (2010)

2010-01-29T15:25:00.000-08:00

Two contrasting demos that shook my musical world this year. Remarkably both made by the same three people - Ed (Burnst, Plank) on bass, Liam (Raucous, The Freezing Fog, Germany) on drums, and Dan Bridgewood-Hill (Burnst, Germany, Raucous) on guitar. FTSE100 is the bustling, funky and more technical side whilst NASDAQ chrashes into more apocalyptic territory, true financial meltdown. Karl Sveinsson captured these beautifully on reel-to-reel.

THE FTSE 100 -
01 Frankfurt
02 Untitled
03 Barack Obama Where Are You?

Download all three songs (60.5 MB)

NASDAQ -
01 Gates
02 Dragon's Den

Home for Christmas

2009-12-15T06:42:00.000-08:00

Leatherface Live at the Portland Arms, Cambridge 14.12.09

Frankie Stubbs - My Heart is Home

Julia LP (bloodlink/ebullition 1995)

2009-11-28T11:34:00.000-08:00

This has been posted in a few other places so I'm going to try and write a paragraph about it eventually, but I'll just share the link for now

Julia LP (192)

Mineral - February EP

2009-11-28T10:36:00.000-08:00

Its gone really cold today so here's some Mineral.

February EP (1996) and Don't Forget to Breath comp track.

Perhaps its best at first to hear little snatches of the lyrics over the music in respect of them being a little....how shall we say...soppy? but I love finding out how each song goes in its entirety (and there's obviously enough Mineral obsessives on the internet to help me with that) and catching all the strange detail in there about God and halloween costumes.

And the snow falls down
Melts before it even hits the ground
And I'm standing here listening
To the sound of your hand washing back
And forth across my filthy heart
And I don't know if I should say "I'm sorry" or "thank you"
I try to speak but the tears choke the words
And I think I finally know what they mean when they talk about joy

and

I drove all day through sun and fear to see you and to meet her with a hope stained heart and this promise in my head and it's good to know we haven't outgrown the love we shared as children who would gladly hold out their other hand and say "i have a brother" and when you were just three years old and i was still a baby (who spoke in tongues that noone else could understand) you told them what i wanted remember halloween when you were robin and i was batman and everybody laughed at us and said we had it wrong cause you were the taller one she's beautiful and i know that you'll be happy so take this as my blessing wrapped up with all the love that i can send cause you are my brother my friend and my superior till the end.

and

i remember little town and the big gray house with the burgundy door the lawn shaped like a boot and the boy who liked pretending that the island in the middle was a shore time is a clock ticking it stops my heart to think of it i remember the magic in your eyes i'd stare at them and you'd say the silliest things like "christopher i'm crazy about you" and "matthew i love you monstrously" and it's my favorite time of year how i wish that you were here (or how i wish that i could be there) to watch the lights blink on the tree give thanks to god for everything and lay down all my fears and it's too late to call you on the phone and tell you that your boy is all alone tonight but i will never forget how you taught me to stand on these rubber legs and fight.

amazing.

Carraway demo

2009-11-02T05:19:00.000-08:00

This is the band I've been doing for a few years now, and it seemed a shame not to include us on here.

Progress has been a little slow with recordings, so these are the first we've made available. Since we had our first practice, Dan went to Japan with Funeral Diner, I did a few long-ish tours with Picastro and then you have Daniel's other bands The Cost of Living (which included Rob as well), Hammers and Get Serious who have done a lot more touring than us.

The one review we've had so far says "this lurks somewhere between September, emo era Cerberus Shoal, mid period Still Life and first LP Bob Tilton" which is quite a lot to live up to, but still, give it a listen if you like that kind of stuff.

Carraway summer 2009 demo

I've also uploaded a kind of 'info' file here in shoddy html here, should you want to know more. Its about as close as I'll get to a 'press release' and it doesn't have lyric explanations on either, I guess its just a record for certain things....

Hail Brethren! - Well Wisher

2009-11-01T05:59:00.000-08:00

So a couple of years ago this Manchester band appeared out of nowhere, putting out an impressive LP as their very first release and playing some energy-filled and technically acomplished sets with sickening ease. Various members had already played together as thrashers RUN LIKE HELL but they'd somehow fallen under the radar of most of the DIY scene too, and with the wider appeal of so-called "gruff" [punk] I reckoned these would go a long way.

Hail Brethren! (the name taken from KatieK's introduction on the flyer for their first ever set in our basement) were one of the few bands for me that fall into the "a little bit like Hot Water Music" category without having those fake-chainsmoker raspy vocals, or boring all with sheer mid-pacedness. The guitars and rhythm section interact in perfect "Fuel for the Hate Game" balance, and there's something of Spy Versus Spy in the sound too. The release of the LP showed that they were no novices in the lyrical dimension either, that they could carry off the odd acoustic number without sounding naff and there was no question of the recording coming too soon in the band's lifespan (if I'm honest, all that really lets it down is the cover 'art').

Then - you know how it goes - guitarist leaves, so they decided to start afresh with a new name:

Well Wisher is 4/5 of Hail Brethren and one member of Manchester's long-running post-rockers Day For Airstrikes. From what I've seen so far, the new band has a higher level of both 'twiddle' and party energy, which I suppose puts them amongst the likes of Algernon Cadwallader, (rather more surprisingly) Vialka and (sigh) Minus the Bear, but that something that made HB! special is still there. I caught them the other night and wow, the energy - a) came from a completely honest place and b) in level was just off the scale - "party emo" didn't seem like such an oxymoron all of a sudden.

So here we go, some new Well Wisher songs

Montel

Get Yer Top Off

and the Hail Brethren LP

uploaded here

get in touch with Records or It Didn't Happen for the last remaining vinyl copies of this future classic! Read this review first if you don't believe me... (though it says they sound nothing like Hot water Music....oh well!)

The Oats That Keep Me Free

2008-12-26T14:13:00.000-08:00

special Christmas shout out to:

(ps very naughty posting such things as a lapsed vegan i know... but earth crisis still rules... inspired by http://shitisreel.blogspot.com/)

McWatt

2008-12-24T12:33:00.000-08:00

Ages since I'd seen them. I took a few pictures, one or two came out OK. Lets go with one for now.

Suggestion for spending your Christmas money here.

Straight Eye for Queer DIY

2008-11-01T07:58:00.000-07:00

Kaffequeeria arrived back recently with a gig at Salford's Black Lion, rescheduled at 36 hours notice from (the now closed) Upper Space. I'd seen a couple of gigs advertised here before so it was nice to discover it really WAS as close to Market Street as I'd remembered.

(getting to Salford for gigs is fine in many instances - Chorlton is closer to Cow Lane Studios than it is to the Star and Garter - but I think the last time I'd been was a freezing winter trek to the bleak-but-trendy Islington Mill for a late-running Olafur Arnolds gig supported by a physics lecture (I kid not) that must have been added in some moment of unparalleled hipster audacity, after which I had considered never returning).

I arrived part way through a documentary film called "the Redhouse". Sadly not about the legendary Manchester venue but a similarly chaotic punk house in Olympia. I originally wrote a paragraph on a few amusing/cringe worthy aspects of this film but that made the review of the whole night come across as too negative. Ultimately its good to see a watchable obscure film at a DIY gig and nice to see how they do it in Olympia even if some of the enthusiasm displaying in the film comes across as naive to our cynical British mentality.
You can watch the whole thing on youtube and make up your own mind -

Dan Bridgewood Hill played next. He'd sorted himself out with a nice amp since I last saw him which made his classical guitar sing out much better than previous gigs. He played some new songs, a fast C# one off his demo that he tripped up in a few places - quite understandably though - and a Kate Bush cover which actually ended up sounding so much like one of his own songs. Great stuff. Incidentally Dan now has his own youtube channel with an Owls song played on a banjo (a superb advert for not having a day job if ever I saw one).

Headliner Tara Jane O'Neil never quite hit the right spot for me. I don't know if this is because she's too muso or not muso enough.... too sentimental or too cold.... basically get a flippin' Rodan (her old band) record instead. I didn't take photos of anyone because it was really dark (current gig pet hate - I want to see music being made, not a projection of a dog running played in reverse) but it was at least cosy homely hippy dark rather than damp-smoky-free-noise dark of every gig two years ago. Still, again, minor complaint!

Check the link at the start of this entry for forthcoming KQ events. There is normally vegan food and good vibes and mix of people which is truly the essence of good diy gigs, and I always sense that they're trying to bring people together with the lineups rather than pander to certain musical cliques or owed favours, as can tend to be the norm. Long may they continue doing events round here!

What Price Wonderland discography

2008-09-25T10:44:00.000-07:00

This is just another cheeky link I found posted by the band on Collective zine forums. These guys played Manchester a couple of times in 2007/2008, once in Albert Road basement, once at the Castle Hotel. Think of Minutemen rhythms and riffs but with more 90s emo presence and overall song structure. I wasn't always too keen on them early on it has to be said - perhaps in part due to them aiming a bit high with their list of influences - but give "The Sound of Hushing" (from the tour split) a listen and then take on the excellent "Thirty With a Wink" album for a better way into this.

Download 269MB (oh yes its big! I have a feeling they've included one record twice....)

Here's their myspace too, from which that picture is taken.

I just saw the last Jupiter Lander show

2008-09-19T14:51:00.001-07:00

Before I was brave enough to do vocals in my band we were going to get this chap Jake in. Then he moved back to Leeds after a practice or two and did vocals in this band instead. They never played much but managed to put out a 7" on SNCL/too cool to dance records and record another four tracks for people to download.

I went over for their last show the other day as I'd never managed to catch them before. They had jumped onto a 'crust' lineup in Leeds but the Packhorse was full of people at 8.30 to see them and they didn't seem at all out of place (though glad there was no drunken naked wrestling during their set as there was during Sotatila). Needless to say they were great.

Here are their last recordings, 'back down', 'red king', 'math(s)', 'a million colours'.. Go get the 7" from Toby CJ on http://www.collective-zine.co.uk/cboard/ . The whole discography fits nicely onto one side of a 60 minute tape.

Snail Racing demo (2003)

2008-02-19T11:35:00.000-08:00

Snail Racing were indeed that "Three Bases Band" comprised of Seth (Baby Harp Seal, McWatt, 7 Hertz), Heather (Imbiss), Cath (Month of Birthdays, Threads, the Cath O'Connor Sound) and Neil (Bilge Pump, Polaris). Unlike those bands they never did a proper release despite some really great songs/musicianship and a European tour with The Dragon Rapide (which I think they unfortunately broke up on). The obvious comparison with the multiple bass element would be Dianogah but there is something more outwardly poppy about these five songs, like New York's Ida, or some of the slower tracks on Richard & Linda Thompson's "Pour Down Like Silver" and other records of that era. I offered to make extra copies of this demo for them since then, and now, well - it seemed fitting for a first upload here.

There are 5 songs on this. I have a 45 minute long live cassette which I may try and rip a few songs from, it includes one that ended up as a 7 Hertz song too (I think their version is called "Oxwich Bay").

download
(65MB)

Old Flyers

2008-02-01T15:35:00.000-08:00

(This is just a repost of something I put on my myspace a few months back to fill space... its hidden in the history of this blog because I'm not really going to put this kind of thing up often)

here is some gigs I've put on over the past year since helpyourself disappeared. And a Vialka flyer I designed for u hrair. Might put some older flyers up soon.

I mainly used :

cut up books from bins
letraset
typewriter
a thin black pen
scissors
'paint' and 'picture editor' to clean them up for the internet

(I'm not really a 'designer' by any stretching of the term; most of the images are stolen and manipulated from somewhere, apart from the Vialka one which I drew)