GRAVY

An interview with Karen Elson

2010-08-24T07:01:00.000-07:00

Karen Elson is determined to prove that she is being herself. Having released her brilliant debut album ‘The Ghost Who Walks’ in May this year, she is having the time of her life. But this does not come without its anxieties. With strong ties and allegations linked to her previous career and her husband, she seems to have a lot to prove. Is Karen Elson a copycat? A Jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none? A user? An attention seeker? Just before letting her hurry off to perform a live radio show, I spoke to her (nicely), and questioned her (nicely), but darn well tried to find out who Karen Elson really is!

SC: Hi Karen, love the new album, were you as pleased as we were with how it turned out!?

KE: I’m really pleased with how it turned out. I was just saying that even playing it live I feel like it’s a decades worth of things haunting me that finally I’m getting off my chest. It feels really fulfilling to finally be singing and be writing songs and performing them. Actually I played a festival in Brooklyn in New York. I had the time of my life – it’s funny I’ve never played to so many people. I mean, I was the opening act for Grizzly Bear and Band Of Horses, and the crowd was SO nice. It was like playing in the most beautiful environment, I was playing looking across the view of Manhattan and sort of 7,000 people and there was a moment when I was singing and I had to pinch myself and think, “Is this really happening!?”. It was a really profound moment, but I really feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing over the past 10 years. I’m really enjoying it.

SC: How do the audiences compare in music to your previous careers?

KE: As far as fashion….I’m still a model by the way, I’ve definitely not given that up…It’s very different because one: the audience in fashion are not really looking at you, they’re looking at the clothes. It’s a very big difference. I mean, when you’re playing to a live audience, there’s so many things that are going on. I played a show in Montreal in Canada and we were playing in this venue, but there was a street festival going on outside, and after the show, this girl comes up to me and she was like, “Hey! what’s your name? I liked you and your band! I just came walking by, and only saw 4 or 5 songs, but I really liked you guys!” And that to me is the biggest difference, is playing to people who don’t care that I’m a model, or don’t care that I’m Jack’s wife. Those are the people I’m interested in playing to.

SC: To people who don’t care?

KE: Not people who don’t care, just people who don’t know. Because that’s the challenge, do you know what I mean? If I can please, or at least be intriguing enough to them, I trust that opinion.

I was doing an interview with MTV or someone in Canada and they were honest with me, and after the interview the lady said, “You’ve got a real uphill battle”. And I do because people are not going to give you an easy time for being a model and being Jack’s wife. I’ve got a lot of things shadowing my music. There’s a part of me that maybe wants to put out another record under a completely different name!

SC: I can imagine it being quite being frustrating to always be associated with these things in your life?

KE: Well, the most frustrating thing is if people write you off before they’ve even given you a chance. That’s what winds me up the most. People may have preconceived ideas that I’m somehow using Jack, shamelessly using him to further myself, or that I’m just a dimwit model trying to get more attention. The interview I did just before you, it was amazing, this lady was like “Why did you choose to make music, why did you choose to be more in the spotlight!?”, and I was like, “Listen lady, I’m not doing this to be in the spotlight!” And I’m not doing it for attention. I’m doing it because I love it. I think people think that, that I want more attention or something…God no!

SC: I think the album definitely warrants attention in it’s own right…

KE: Well, yeah, on the flipside, as I’m moaning, some people are interested because of Jack and because of me being model, and some people will write it off. I think it’s a 50/50 split. Luckily there are maybe some people out there who are really eager. The funny thing is, at a lot of shows, there’s a lot of fans of Jack’s, like regular fans that you can notice at White Stripes shows or Dead Weather shows, and they’re coming to my shows, and it’s really sweet that they’re coming in essence to support their favourite bands wife, and I really appreciate that.

SC: Do you find that status demeaning though!?

KE: No, I think as a music fan myself, I think if my favourite musician produced his wife’s record, I’d want to give it a listen. And I would probably be a fan. As far as me as a music listener goes, if somebody I like collaborates with someone else, I wanna hear that collaboration. And when somebody is a part of that you want to listen to it and give it your best shot. I think the fan aspect of it is only natural.

SC: Ok, well I was going to try and stay away from Jack White in this interview because it all gets a bit tedious. So I will move on! Nashville makes a big impression on the album. What’s so special about Nashville!??

KE: You know, it’s funny what Nashville is. I think fro me, what Nashville has been is this sort of almost like, shedding my skin and starting again, and starting again as who I wanna be. As a model, I’d lived in New York for 8 years, and I love New York so much, and I have so much affection for New York, it’s one of my favourite cities in the whole world. But the big thing for me was that in New York it was always just around the fashion industry constantly and there was never any room for me to escape and just be myself. And being in Nashville, no-body gives a damn about what I do. There’s so much other stuff going on down there. It’s such a gentle way of life. It’s really wholesome. I hate to say that word, because it might sound a bit corny. But it’s really nice down there, and I’ve just managed to sort of start again, but as ‘me as a grown-up’. That’s what has influenced the record more than anything else, is that I’ve finally started writing songs for me. I think a lot of the songs that I’d written before when I was in New York, I was too aware of other things. Finally living in Nashville, I’ve managed to understand my own narrative and my own voice lyrically which gave me a clear sense of which direction I wanted to go in, whereas in New York, I actually didn’t have a clue.

SC: I think you can hear that in the album – it’s quite insular and personal. It’s also quite dark. Would you say that you have got a dark side to you?

KE: You know the funny thing is that I think I’m quite a happy, hopeful person to be honest, but with that there is….it’s not a dark side…when people meet I don’t think anyone thinks that I’m a morbid, depressed person, far from it! But when I start writing songs, and when I’m isolated and in that space, all that stuff comes out. So maybe I’m just pushing it and pushing it and pushing it back, and when I finally get completely alone and start expressing myself essentially, it all spills out. So I’m sure it’s in there, but it’s not in my day to day life. There’s obviously darkness in me, but luckily I can save it. It doesn’t effect me, but I can save until I need to express it and then it all comes pouring out.

SC: Contemplating that darkness, I can hear a big Nick Cave influence – are you a fan?

KE: I’m a big Nick Cave fan! But the funny thing is, so many people have said that about the record, but I kid you not, when I was writing the record, there was never a moment where I thought ‘I want to write a song that sounds like Nick Cave’. Not once did I think that. When I went into the studio, I never said, “”Hey Jack, let’s make this sound like a Murder Ballad, or Red Right Hand or whatever” Everyone keeps saying that Stolen Roses sounds like the Nick Cave song he did with Kylie Minogue, and I love that song, don’t get me wrong, but maybe on a subconscious level, maybe somewhere I wasn’t aware that I was doing that. But I honestly never purposely said I wanted to sound like anything. I just wanted to get into the studio and just make music and not think about it in the sense of what it sounds like. But I guess when I listen back to the record there are a lot of dark places that can be comparable, and I’m obviously very happy for the comparison. But I never did in the recording process or the writing, ever think, ‘I want this to sound like Nick Cave, or I want this to sound like a Loretta Lynn song’. Never. Because I think that would be a disaster. I want to be myself, I really do. That’s the biggest thing I’m striving for, and I only hope the next record I can be more fine tuned, and focus more on what my voice is. This is record is me just getting all this stuff off my chest. And some of it’s all over the place to be honest! Maybe that’s the charm. But I’m striving to get more clear, the more I go along.

SC: Well we look forward to hearing that record! You became a mother in 2006, which you have said influenced your music, did that come into play in the album at all?

KE: I think emotionally when you have kids, at least my experience of it is that you just feel so much more. When you have children there is just a sense that every moment is precious. You want to bottle every adorable thing that they do, because you think that that also distils into your own life . I’ve been able to express so much more clearly since I’ve had children, it’s just helped me maybe be more emotional, which is a good thing.

SC: Do you think it’s important or beneficial to be multi-faceted in your creativity and have all these different ways of expressing yourself, so that when you come to one area you can be informed by others?

KE: I think, but I do also think there is something to be said about being a Jack of all trades and master of none. I definitely think that if I’m serious about making more music and making more albums then I’ve got to focus on that, and I’ve got to really put the time in and the effort that it needs. So to be honest, I think for me personally, the more I have on my plate, or the more things I have going on in my life, actually the less creative I am. When I’ve got very minimal things on, that’s when I write the best. That’s when I’m more clear. If I’ve got too many things going on in my life I feel like I don’t have time to think for me and to get into the headspace for writing and making music. I need to have almost a ridiculous amount of peace and quiet that doesn’t necessarily go well with my lifestyle, but I’m trying more and more to try and create that life for myself.

SC: Ok, well thanks for talking to me, go play some songs!

KE: Thanks, take care, bye.

Thanks to Richard at XL Records.

BRUTUS THE REBEL

2010-08-19T09:08:00.001-07:00

i did this for BRUTUS

COMANECHI + DIVORCE + BROTHERS - THE CRYPT @ TAKE 5

2010-08-17T10:52:00.000-07:00

tickets available >>HERE<<

KAREN ELSON - THE GHOST WHO WALKS - THIRD MAN/XL

2010-05-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

this was written for SUBBA-CULTCHA, and can be found >>here<<

Nashville brands itself all over supermodel Karen Elson’s debut LP. With husband Jack White as drummer and producer, will she survive and prevail the Third Man treatment!??

The album starts out with title track ‘The Ghost Who Walks’, and immediately establishes terrain that is typically vintage and full of haunting imagery. Swathes of Jack White can be heard throughout the song, and indeed the whole LP, which is clearly and comfortably in Third Man territory, but it would be plain rude and wrong to overly associate the prolific guitar maestro with this record. Yes, the individuals are spilling over the edges; Jackson Smith (of Patti Smith) even plays guitar, but I think there are enough signs on the record that Elson has come some way in launching her own musical self.

Karen Elson’s previous musical outlet was through New York City cabaret The Citizens Band, which she founded along with, amongst others, Rachelle Garniez, who appears on this record playing accordion and singing backing vocals. This has clearly informed her solo style, which is full of shady fairground sounds and tales of horror, sleaze, and melancholy. However, this is heavily juxtaposed with a delicate folk orientation, mainly controlled by her understated and fragile voice. In this vein, it is obvious to see a massive PJ Harvey influence in the guitar orientated structure, and minor key nature of it all. Furthermore, ‘Stolen Roses’ could be the doppelganger of Nick Cave’s ‘Where Wild Roses Grow’, which are strangely identical. Elson even sings, “I’ll go where the stolen roses grow”!

Most interestingly though, is the old style country tendencies that shine through and adorn ‘The Ghost Who Walks’, much like Jack White’s cohort Holly Golightly. She wails and shakes those sweet Nashville notes the way Emmylou Harris does, whilst retaining the pop accessibility of Peggy Lee.

‘Pretty Babies’ and ‘Garden’ are perhaps the most electrifying and exciting tracks on the album, which both mix all of Elson’s aforementioned styles to the greatest effect, producing elegant and mysterious modern day country pop hits. ‘Pretty Babies’ also displays the most comfortable fusion of Jack White’s pompous hi-hat action with Elson’s subtle melodies.

‘Mouths To Feed’ is an epic and emotive ending to the album. Inspired by author Tim Egan’s dustbowl saga, The Worst Hard Time, it not only reveals the depth in Elson’s voice, but her moving capabilities when she sings like she really means it.

The fake American accent is a bit irritating, although probably integral to her sound, and the album goes on for about 2 songs too long, but overall this is a confident debut from someone who’s past tempts her to fail.

SUKOSHI

2010-05-20T09:00:00.001-07:00

HOLY FUCK - LATIN (YOUNG TURKS)

2010-05-04T09:18:00.000-07:00

this was done for outline, and is in the may edition of the magazine >>>

Thick with uplifting soundscapes, and a dramatically intoxicating rhythm section, ‘Latin’ is the greatly anticipated follow-up to Holy Fuck’s debut ‘LP’. It delivers on all levels, providing evidence that Holy Fuck have matured in their songwriting skills, and significantly benefited from the intense touring schedule that they inflicted upon themselves in 2008/2009, playing almost nightly. Despite still being slightly diminutive of their live show, this album is still a brilliantly epic adventure through the most emotively turmoil territory that techno has to offer, which if nothing, acts as a primer for that aforementioned live performance.
Lead single ‘Latin America’ is a darkly feel-good dance track with fluid, but progressive grooves that send you high, high up into some place like euphoria. You are allowed and encouraged to remain in this place through tracks ‘SHT MTN’ and ‘Stilettos’, which feature beautifully textured noise, and bass lines that get your body shaking like nothing else.
Despite the complete devotion to the medium of dance, there is a definite streak of melody and pop running through the album, which is translated through repetitive licks, drop-outs, often simple leading lines, and definite peaks and troughs in the contours of sound.
Final track P.I.G.S tips things over the edge, and reduce me to a grinning, twitching mess, itching to go out and see this album performed loud and live. I get the feeling that’s where and how this album was written, and how it’s intended to be heard.
9/10

CASTROVAVLA - WE ARE A UNIT (BREW RECORDS)

2010-04-29T07:23:00.000-07:00

THIS WAS WRITTEN FOR SUBBA-CULTCHA, AND CAN BE FOUND >>HERE<<

Debut full-length release We Are A Unit sees Leeds duo Castrovalva evolve into a trio with the addition of vocalist Leemun Smith. The album was recorded and mastered by Ross Halden at Ghost Town Studios (Forward Russia!, Sky Larkin, Rolo Tomassi).
To think that this almighty racket is made by a three-piece is hard to get your head around. In fact, the whole album is hard to get your head around. But once you do, it turns into a mind blowing sonic buffet, where you are allowed to stick your hands all over the musical platters of three turbo-charged Northern boys, and dabble in slices of metal, electro, rap, jazz, punk, and hardcore, which surprisingly amount to one delectable feast.
Enjoy the contextually slow pace of ‘We Are A Unit (Intro)’; because once that warns you of the forthcoming aural otherworldliness and tests your taste for heavy riffage, it all kicks off. ‘Pump Pump’, whilst perhaps being the most accessible track on the album, is still fucking mental. Opening with bass that’s scuzzier and fuzzier and faster and nastier than DFA1979, back-dropped to violent screams that could be from some kind of doom metal band, at the same time as being invigorated and excited, I am actually quite scared. But with lines like “Go, grab that fucking gun”, I can’t be alone. Despite my fear, and perhaps because of it, listening to Castrovalva is extremely entertaining. In a society where generic regurgitations are championed and worshipped, it is so refreshing to hear something original and completely oblivious to ‘cool’, ‘now’, or ‘london’.
The pace of this record is like the speed of light. ‘Thuglife’ features the most urgent translation of lyrical melody I have ever heard, with the vocalist quickly tripping from Mars Volta wails, to Hadouken! grime, to Chow Chow lo-fi vocoder-isms, to classic rock “WOOS” and “YEAHs”, and then onto screams that only their Leeds counterparts Pulled Apart By Horses could compete with. ‘Thuglife’ would probably be my favourite song on the album if it weren’t for the prominence of the slightly cheesy line “My ghetto love song”. But that’s a minor and completely personal issue, mainly with the word ‘ghetto’.
So now I can move onto ‘We Don’t Go To Ravenholm’, which is an absolute beast, and definitely now the standout track. The repetition in the instrumentation comes as a welcome breather, and allows appreciation for those aforementioned riffs. At one instance the bass guitar work echoes the likes of Melvins, Kyuss, and definitely the toxic grunt of Lightning Bolt, but the willingness to step back and allow the melody to shine is incredibly effective, and probably essential in the chaotic band dynamics. This happens in ‘Outlaws’, where the drop out ensures that they have our full attention, ready to smack us back out of the park with the catastrophic intro to ‘Bison Scissor Kick’.

We Are A Unit will hit your stereos like a bomb; I just can’t wait to see this band live.

comanechi + divorce

2010-04-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

so yeah, these two amazing bands are totally coming to norwich to play a gravy night in september:::

C O M A N E C H I

an awesome shouty abrasive heavy noise pop duo who have been compared to sonic youth's confusion is sex, x-ray spex, nirvana circa bleach, vivian girls, black flag, blag sabbath, AND melvins.

hell, kim gordon herself said, "comanechi make me want to punch holes in thurston's face until i can fuck it!"

listen >>HERE<<

D I V O R C E

glaswegian no wave five piece who are making waves and storms and tsunamis because of their thrillingly satanic live shows. just fucking brilliant.

hell, lydia lunch herself said, "fantastic blast of no wave thrash bashing like ungodly offspring sprung from cuntzilla's incubator, a bloody smear of nasty mutation oozing a sickly runoff of infectious virulence!"

listen >>HERE<<

more details to follow!

BOIZ NOIZ

2010-04-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

so i trapped NATHAN POUNDS, the exquisite guitar man, and MARK JENNINGS, the otherworldly bass man, in a white room to record 20mins of COMPLETELY improvised noise. just to see what would happen, and also to practice some documentation methods.

HERE ARE THE RESULTS:::

A WALL OF NOISE BABY!

NOOOOOS

2010-04-13T03:24:00.000-07:00

ok, so as of MAY, gravy is gonna be MONTHLY. a free monthly zine, how nice. you can find these gravy's norwich-wide.

some more bands booked for LADYFEST NORWICH :: QUEENIE + VIV ALBERTINE!

here are the front covers of olde gravy, when it was all sparse like, man those times have GONE. >>>>>>>

fever fever - the crypt - norwich - 02.03.10

2010-04-05T09:39:00.000-07:00

MORE LADYFEST NEWS!!

2010-03-30T05:15:00.000-07:00

yeah, that's right. MORE.

alex nelson (nelly to his friends) has gone and dun an AMAZING interview with bass player from THE CRIBS....GARY JARMAN!

gary was involved in the london ladyfest of 2002, and has some truly great and interesting things to say about the cause.
the interview is an EXCLUSIVE (!), and will feature in the ladyfest edition of gravy, out in july. be excited.

check out nelly's blog >>here<<

LADYFEST UPDATE!

2010-03-28T11:07:00.000-07:00

the second band to be confirmed for ladyfest are the brilliant MIDDLE ONES! SSSCCCHHHHWIIING!

check them out >>here<<

i am very excited because i love them, basically. they are like subtle, but totally crazy, acoustic but sometimes loud and aggressive, and then really cutesy and sweet sweet sweet with the most lovely melodies in the world. they are smiley and quirky and they will warm your bones and shake them at the same time.

LINE-UP SO FAR: BITCHES + THE MIDDLE ONES

yes.

WOODEN SHJIPS - VOL.2 (SICK THIRST)

2010-03-27T11:38:00.000-07:00

this was for >>ootline<<

The first track is called ‘Loose Lips’. HAHA. Ok, now that’s done, I can get on with the substance...

Vol. 2 starts, and I’m drunk and high and hot from the psychedelic drone of it already. The fuzzy clipping guitars lay out this thick bedspread of noise that I happily jump into and keep falling and falling through, with sparse talking vocals convincing me that I am actually dreaming.

There’s reverb and there’s organ and there’s solos and there’s tripping repetition, but somehow it’s not cheesy. With this style of 60s branded rock, it’s so easy to get it wrong, and it’s so often that I hear fake wannabe Jim Morrison’s and self-indulgent finger twiddling, but with these bunch, you can just tell it’s real. If The Brian Jonestown Massacre were more focused, intense, rock heavy, and into Thirteenth Floor Elevators, then they would be near Wooden Shjips. Admittedly, when I usually hear the faintest hint of a wah-wah, my ears involuntarily close, but this useage is, dare I say, exciting!

Wooden Shjips just bring so much to the table; muffled garage rock, sundried organ psych, emphatic tremolo-punk, as well as those totally way out cosmic jam moments, all magnetising uncontrollably into this whirl of enjoyable pomp. And having been asked to play the Pavement curated ATP in May, what more recommendation do you need!?

7/10

FEVER FEVER SINGLE LAUNCH POSTER

2010-03-24T06:42:00.001-07:00

GAGA GOOGOO DADA

2010-03-23T10:49:00.000-07:00

THIS CAN BE FOUND >>here<<

There’s nothing scarier than watching American Idol. What really gets me every time is the desperation of the contestants and their hunger for fame. And you have to think, these people are shaping their personalities and reactions on what they think we want; it’s basically a popularity contest, so you have to be liked to win. And some people are so deluded. It becomes part of the entertainment to watch writhing Americans flail and mould around demonic forms and indecisive attributes. Personality is such a big influence on the eventuality of performers and pop stars; the whole basis and corporate success of American Idol and The X Factor et al. are reliant on those personalities to flourish and hook themselves around the wallets of every avid TV junkie for the course of the show, creating a pre-determined audience for an arbitrary money grabbing song at the end of it all.

And that is the dichotomy of what’s got me hooked on Lady Gaga.

At the beginning of 2009, before she really came into her own, it felt a bit like there was no-where else to go with pop music. Record bosses always seem to look back to move forwards, cashing in on the proven inevitability of another 80s revival. But even that was stale; audiences were and still are craving more than the same boring shit.

And so along came Gaga. She was the first to realise that absurdity was the only way to go.

Lady Gaga is a complete product and a result of commercialism and capitalism, which is so far enforced that her personality doesn’t really exist; she lives what she does. And none of her traits are familiar with real life situations; she’s like a human sacrifice for her art, which just so happens to be the most sellable and popular pop you could ever pop. She recently said “I would rather die than have my fans not see me in a pair of heels”. She will do nothing to hinder the spectacle and abject of her brand. She’s based on her performance, as herself, as a product. A sculpture. Testing your taste with absurd costumes and avant-garde performances. Her music is not the predominant product, but her shock factor and sensation are; her boundaries are limitless, because unlike other artists, her selling point isn’t familiarity and regurgitation, but unexpected absurdity. So theoretically, she can’t go wrong.

There’s a massive contradiction because her whole appeal is her individuality, and her desire to do what she wants – she never shies from nudity, is always propping nods to the gays, swears like a trooper, and overall rejects traditional wholesome American values. But in doing this, she has normalised her own absurdity, and plays into those crazy expectations, which is quite scary. Her music is also quite the contradiction to this individuality.

In the same way as every average clean-cut pop star, and perhaps even more, Lady Gaga is a spectacle, something cathartic which diverts us from our, and indeed her actuality. It’s easy to forget that she’s a person, a person who is only 24. She MUST have insecurities and imperfections and moments of slack.

And then there’s also the money, she’s doing this on a fucking high wage, with a lot of people and institutions riding on board and helping her empire. And it’s then that it all starts to become a bit exploitative.

She is very self-aware and clearly takes herself deadly serious. She is very quick to enforce her links to the art world, referencing Warhol and calling her performances “shock installation”, which along with her slightly patronising play on sexuality, seems a bit fake. And the endorsements – they’re so self aware, it’s like she’s complimenting her audience for being too intellectual for subliminal advertising. But it’s still advertising. I can’t ignore this contradiction of play between manipulative sensationalism with democratic diversity. Lady Gaga displays these situations, people, and costumes to assert her own identity, and in doing so, borders on abusing these things for the sake of her own popularity. But maybe that’s not her fault – just because she’s popular and rich and successful, it doesn’t mean she’s corrupt...or does it..?

Nevertheless, Lady Gaga is presenting and creating interesting and thought provoking ideals, and at least she is someone in pop who is reactionary towards modern and current culture and society, not a product of ‘retro culture’.

Her whole persona seems (or tries) to be a commentary on the consumption of popular culture, and either way, we are gagging to see the next crazy venture she comes up with, just because there is literally nothing else exciting in pop music.

Much like she herself is within her balance of mainstream vs. anti-mainstream ideals, when it comes to Gaga, I am on the fence; I just don’t know whether I love her or loathe her, but like I said, I am hooked.

DUM DUM GIRLS - I WILL BE (SUB POP)

2010-03-21T04:00:00.000-07:00

THIS CAN BE FOUND >>HERE<<

In the last year, I have been dragged under and aquatically surrounded by lots and lots of reverb drenched blissful beach bands; Vivian Girls, Veronica Falls, Male Bonding, Pens, La La Vasquez, Girls, The Drums…

Recruiting ex-Vivian Girl Frankie Rose on drums, Dum Dum Girls are well in there amongst the best of them, and will be the band to avoid drowning when the fad dies out. I Will Be is much more than a scenester hit. Opener ‘Baby Don’t Go’ is a haunting and edgy pop song occupying similar territory as classic Beach Boys gloom such as ‘Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)’. Every track reveals songwriter Dee Dee’s considered and mature songwriting, with an impeccable ability to sink those sweet sweet hooks. There are definitely moments of Blondie and The Ramones, but when The Dum Dum Girls fearlessly step away from retro nostalgia and into contemporary self-procalaimed “buzz saw”, exciting tingly things start happening. They reference classic 60s girl groups like The Ronettes and The Crystals without imitating them, and use that to create a relevant modern age lo-fi garage pop album edging slightly towards The Ravonettes and The Kills.

Seditious and seductive, ‘Bhang Bhang, I’m A Burnout’ is a bubbling angst anthem, and ‘Jail La La’ is a melodic masterpiece with the creamiest chorus I have heard in a long long time.

I Will Be is by no means weather permitting, but I promise this album is all you will need this summer.

Cibelle - Man From Mars (Crammed Disks)

2010-03-12T16:17:00.000-08:00

THIS CAN BE FOUND HERE :

http://www.wearsthetrousers.com/2010/03/free-music-friday-cibelle/

For her overdue follow-up to 2006’s The Shine Of Dried Electric Leaves, Brazilian chanteuse Cibelle rummages through her imagination to bring us the exotic splendour of her alter ego Sonja Khalecallon and her backing band, Los Stroboscopious Luminous, star performers at intergalactic hotspot, the Las Venus Resort Palace Hotel.

‘Man From Mars’ is the first track to be beamed into our ears from this post-apocalyptic saloon but, rather than the glamorous assault of updated vintage exotica we were expecting, it’s actually a very relaxing, vaguely inconsequential track, as if Khalecallon is your mother and you are really young, your head slumped dozily on her warm, suppportive shoulder, her sweet, soft voice a gentle buffer of encouragement and love; as if you were so tired that you were drifting in and out of a perfect dreamland; as if her arms were lifting you, tucking you into a comfy bed, and it feels just right, like you’d longed to be there all your life.

The problem is, once you’re there the dream is gone; it’s morning time already and your moments of bliss and comfort are forgotten. ‘Man From Mars’ might have you reliving your childhood with all its warmth, gentility and general niceness, but it’s nothing new. Perhaps even a little too familiar. Let’s hope the rest of the album lives up to the extravagant promise of the concept.

LADYFEST NORWICH 2010

2010-03-08T09:32:00.000-08:00

so what the hell's all this talk of LADYFEST NORWICH then??

well....this year marks the tenth anniversary of LADYFEST, a worldwide festival that celebrates female creativity. as a born and bred norwich resident, it became apparent that being such a purveyor of gender equality in creative industries, norwich was missing out on all this lady action and celebration. SO, on the 31st july, after partying it up with the norwich pride parade, norwich arts centre will host a unique display of female talent from local shores and further.

there will be all sorts of exciting things happening, but so far i can only announce a couple of things::

1.the first confirmed band are london boy/girl bass/drum duo BITCHES. they are a shouty fuzzy mass of beefy noise and i am super psyched to have them on the bill. you can hear them here:: MYSPACE

the guardian said that they are like "channelling henry rollins on black coffee and x-ray spex on panda pops." SCHWING!

2.the event will host a super special edition of GRAVY. inside this zine will be artwork by the brilliant GUERRILLA GIRLS! that's right, the beastly champion activists will be spread all over little norwich.

exciting stuff!

KEEP YOUR PEEPERS PEELED FOR MORE NEWS SOOOOON!

BLOOD RED SHOES - FIRE LIKE THIS (v2/co-op)

2010-03-03T08:14:00.000-08:00

THIS CAN BE FOUND HERE >>

http://wearsthetrousers.com/2010/03/03/blood-red-shoes-fire-like-this-2010/#more-12047

It’s all a bit too easy with Blood Red Shoes. They’re the tastiest, most palatable pill in all of rock, sliding down the throats of the record-buying public with the slightest of contractions. Anyone expecting a challenging and exciting progression from their 2007 debut Box Of Secrets may find themselves confused by the first half of Fire Like This; essentially, it’s just more of the same long guitar phrases, punchy drums and sweet overlapping vocals that build up to the chorus into boring shouty melodies. Take ‘Don’t Ask’ as a prime example. You can practically hear the teenagers singing along, but there is a sense of something lacking. It’s like Blood Red Shoes by numbers. There’s a middle drop-out section with a lovely thick guitar sound, but it’s just so predictable that it does nothing to accelerate the heart rate and fails to ignite to the usual levels of angst that we’ve come to expect from Stephen Ansell and Laura-Mary Carter’s disaffected tales of boredom, isolation and frustration.
Fire Like This doesn’t make it any easier to crowbar Blood Red Shoes away from those young alternative rock bands that come around every once in a while who are good and catchy and inoffensive and usually cite Nirvana, Pixies, Rage Against The Machine, and if they’re really daring, Sonic Youth as big influences. You know: Nine Black Alps, The Subways, Dinosaur Pile-Up etc.; we might like all of those bands, even love them in moments, but on album number two there should be no scope for underwhelming ambition. Luckily, they do eventually plumb to more rewarding depths and, perhaps surprisingly, it’s a slow song that provides the album’s first exhilarating moment. ‘Keeping It Close’ arrives as a mid-album highlight, benefiting from a slight change in melody tempo to distinguish it from the sameness of its predecessors.
The second half of the album is markedly better as the songs take on a new level of realism and truth. No longer are Ansell and Carter simply banging out chart-bound singalongs with often seemingly arbitrary lyrics; these later tracks seem reactionary. Things leap into brilliance immediately with ‘Heartsink’, with its Graham Coxon-esque riff. Instead of the superficial teenage teeth-gnashing of the earlier tracks, here Blood Red Shoes adopt a mature, grating and gloomy anger. Finally, we can start to relate. Other standouts include ‘One More Empty Chair’, whose dreamy start juxtaposes nicely with Ansell’s yelps, and could mark the beginnings of a battle between the sweeter and the macho side of the band, and ‘Colours Fade’, the album’s bold seven-minute epilogue.
Intentional or not, the sequencing of Fire Like This means it quite literally documents Ansell and Carter’s growth from crowd-pleasers to progressives. As an album, then, it’s a confusing collection of contradictions, but one that gives plenty of reasons to be optimistic for the next.

LIARS - SISTERWORLD (mute)

2010-03-03T00:44:00.000-08:00

THIS CAN BE FOUND IN THE MARCH EDITION OF OUTLINE >>

I have heard so much about Liars, but I have been too lazy to listen for too long. Thank God that I have snapped out of my idleness, and got active with Sisterworld. Quickly jolting from haunting elongated vocal chants into chaos, Liars manage to scramble two of my most coveted musical tones. On the one hand, they have dark echoing melancholy that sinks to the depths of Nick Cave’s drama, and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s reverb twinged atmospherics. And then they go mental. There are these big heavy phrases and sections of music that plump up the songs too well, making interesting and exciting listening the whole way through. Opening track, and the first single from the album, ‘Scissor’ builds and builds towards the epic middle 8, which could easily be a chorus, before tantalisingly ripping out, and back into that sombre softness. I am gripped. The fast, howling influxes throw themselves around my eardrums with off-beat rhythms and syncopated screams, a relentless energy that only Crystal Antlers could match. But I just love that Liars put it all out there, and then remorselessly take it all away. This album is a must-have, and I can’t wait to hear the special edition remix CD featuring ‘reworks’ by artists such as Thom Yorke, Melvins, Alan Vega and Cosey Fanni Tutti. YUMMY.

9/10

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2010-02-25T03:17:00.000-08:00

so this blog is here to show everything that i do related to GRAVY and music. this will include reviews, news, photos, events, maybe interviews, i don't know, lets just see what happens, yeah?