DIY, September 2016

set music free

free / issue 55 / SEPTEMBER 2016

diymag.com

+

AlunaGeorge

Against Me!

Deap Vally

The Wytches

two door

cinema club

back from the brink

TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB HIT RESTART

1

STAND FOR SOMETHING TOUR

FIRST HEADLINERS ANNOUNCED

UK 2016

15TH OCT // LIVERPOOL // THE SCANDI CHURCH

29TH OCT // BIRMINGHAM // THE RAINBOW COURTYARD

12TH NOV // NEWCASTLE // THE CLUNY

LONDON ACT TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON. BE THE FIRST TO KNOW. SIGN UP AT DRMARTENS.COM/STANDFORSOMETHINGTOUR

TICKETS ON SALE NOW WWW.TICKETWEB.CO.UK

2 diymag.com

#SFSTOUR16

S E P T 2 0 1 6

Lauren Mayberry’s Pro Skater:

coming to consoles soon.

Emma Swann

Founding Editor

GOOD Witnessing

Deap Vally’s bemused

introduction to a

British classic, the ’99

ice cream.

EVIL Hot weather.

Autumn can’t come

soon enough for this

pasty-faced amateur

goth.

..............................

tom connick

Online Editor

GOOD Harambe.

EVIL Cincinnati Zoo.

..............................

El hunt

Features Editor

GOOD Jehnny Beth

crowdsurfing over my

head and screaming

a line of ‘Hit Me’ in my

face. If you’re reading

this, Savages, I can play

tambourine. Please let

me join your band?

GOOD

VS EVIL

WHAT’S ON THE DIY TEAM’S RADAR?

EVIL Losing my voice

thanks to screaming

along to The 1975 for a

solid hour.

..............................

Jamie MILTon

Neu Editor

GOOD Finally getting

‘closure’ about Frank

Ocean building a

staircase, falling in

love with ‘Endless’ &

‘Blonde’.

EVIL Live streams

that span three weeks.

..............................

Louise Mason

Art Director

GOOD Telling Matt

from Preoccupations

that we wouldn’t use

the picture of him

cuddling a pot plant.

EVIL Nearly

having my first ever

photopass taken away

for downing a pint in

the photo pit.

EDITOR’S LETTER

When Two Door Cinema Club were forced to cancel their headline

appearance at Latitude back in 2014, it really was a shame. Having spent so

long working their way to the top of bills across the world, it felt like they

were more than ready to take the next step. Life, however, decided to get

in the way. Now, after two dark years apart - as explained in our candid

but brilliant cover interview - the trio are back and they’re feeling more

confident than ever. Plus, they’ve got an ace new album up their sleeves

too. Everything’s finally coming up Two Door!

Elsewhere in this month’s issue, Deap Vally offer up their latest creative

explosion, AlunaGeorge talk new album ‘I Remember’ and Toronto’s

Preoccupations re-introduce themselves to the world. Plus, we’ve brought

you all of the goss from Reading & Leeds 2016!

Sarah Jamieson, Managing Editor

GOOD 2016 marks exactly ten years since I first went to Reading & Leeds!

And this year’s edition of the fest was just as ridiculous and fun.

EVIL Less evil and more heartbreaking, the passing of Architects’ Tom Searle

was such sad news. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and band.

LISTENING POST

What’s on the DIY stereo this month?

Sleigh Bells • Jessica Rabbit

The firebomb duo are back, and their fourth record

is a comic book cacophony fit to send the year out

with one hell of a bang.

Kero Kero Bonito • Generation Bonito

It’s finally here - packed to the rafters with teeth-rotting

pop brilliance, Kero Kero’s ‘Graduation’ is one that’s

straight A’s all round.

3

C

O

N

T

E

N

T

S

He’s a fire-carter!

Frank Carter owns

Reading.

NEWS

6 READING & LEEDS

14 S T A N D F O R

SOMETHING TOUR

16 POPSTAR POSTBAG

19 DIY HALL OF FAME

20 FESTIVALS

NEU

24 EAT FAST

26 THE BAY RAYS

28 KELSEY LU

FEATURES

32 TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB

40 ALUNAGEORGE

44 PREOCCUPATIONS

48 AGAINST ME!

52 THE WYTCHES

56 DEAP VALLY

REVIEWS

60 ALBUMS

76 LIVE

Founding Editor Emma Swann

Managing Editor Sarah Jamieson

Features Editor El Hunt

Neu Editor Jamie Milton

Online Editor Tom Connick

Art Direction & Design Louise Mason

Marketing & Events Jack Clothier, Rhi Lee

Contributors

Alex Cabré, Alex Taylor, Ali Shutler, Alim

Kheraj, Amelia Maher, Anastasia Connor, Cady

Siregar, Craig Jones, Emma Snook, Eugenie

Johnson, Heather McDaid, Henry Boon, Jessica

Goodman, Joe Goggins, Liam Konemann, Liam

McNeilly, Matthew Davies, Nina Keen, Rachel

Michaella Finn, Ross Jones, Sean Kerwick,

Sophie Thompson, Tanyel Gumushan, Tom

Hancock, Will Richards.

Photographers

Andrew Benge, Carolina Faruolo, Duncan Elliott,

Freddie Payne, James Kelly, Jenna Foxton, Leah

Henson, Mike Massaro, Phil Smithies, Robin

Pope, Sinéad Grainger.

For DIY editorial

info@diymag.com

For DIY sales

rupert@sonicdigital.co.uk

lawrence@sonicdigital.co.uk

tel: +44 (0)20 3632 3456

For DIY stockist enquiries

stockists@diymag.com

DIY is published by Sonic Media Group. All material

copyright (c). All rights reserved. This publication

may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form,

in whole or in part, without the express written

permission of DIY. 25p where sold.

Disclaimer: While every effort is made to ensure

the information in this magazine is correct,

changes can occur which affect the accuracy

of copy, for which Sonic Media Group holds

no responsibility. The opinions of the

contributors do not necessarily bear a

relation to those of DIY or its staff and we

disclaim liability for those impressions.

Distributed nationally.

Cover photo: Emma Swann

4 diymag.com

5

NE

the

reading

report

friday

Bookended by the bombast of Foals and Biffy Clyro, this

year’s Reading & Leeds saw favourites smashing it left, right,

and centre - from The Magic Gang’s key Festival Republic

spot, to The 1975 and cover stars Two Door Cinema Club

crowning the tents. Here’s what went down…

Photos: Emma Swann, Sinéad Grainger. Words: El Hunt,

Sarah Jamieson, Tom Connick, Will Richards.

foals

PLAY A SET FOR THE AGES

There’s been a spectre hanging over Foals for years,

and as they take to their headline slot at Reading

2016, there’s an unusual sense of nerves on stage.

Quieter than their usual bolshy, amped up selves,

even firebrand frontman Yannis Philippakis seems reflective.

There’s a crowd of tens of thousands in front of him, watching

him close what was once his local festival. You’d have to

forgive him.

From rackety opener ‘Snake Oil’ to the thudding, four-tothe-floor

bass of ‘My Number, past the fidgety ending of

‘Mountain At My Gates’; it’s all executed so flawlessly. The

addition of pyro cannons through ‘What Went Down’’s spiky

call to arms, further bolsters that already fine-tuned stage

show, lasers and all. There’s even time to bring out breakthrough

hit ‘Cassius’ (the reaction is every bit as explosive as

you’d expect).

This is every bit the defining moment it was set out to be

from the start, taking the notion that we don’t breed future

festival headliners and burying it in the dirt kicked up by the

ravenous hordes at the front. And that spectre? It’s over.

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WS

Chvrches talk their

favourite… err,

crisps?!

P

laying the main stage comes with

its own set of perks, of course, and

Chvrches proudly gesture towards

various items around their dressing room –

potted plants, sofas, and the blessing of an

electric fan – as they sit down for a pre-show

natter. “We were pretty sensible,” admits

Lauren, nodding in the direction of the

band’s rider. “I think people think of riders

as being full with ridiculous demands, but

this is the food we need to survive,” she says.

“So we have some vegetables, water, some

beers…”

“...and cashew nuts!” exclaims Martin

Doherty, beaming the beam of a very

delighted man. “The most exciting thing

today is that they’ve given us a packet of

Skips,” he adds. “I haven’t had Skips in years!”

CHVRCHES

OFFER UP a THUMPING SET

Reading & Leeds forms the last two UK

shows on Chvrches’ tour for ‘Every Open

Eye’, and they send the album off with thunder

tonight.

Their transition to huge slots this summer has

been seamless, and they look completely at

home on the biggest of stages. ‘Clearest Blue’

and ‘The Mother We Share’ close, and it’s the

perfect send-off for ‘Every Open Eye’. When

Chvrches return, a few places higher here - and

world domination - look a certainty.

SWMRS GET READING

OFF TO A RAUCOUS START

t takes just thirty seconds for

ISWMRS to cause the first mosh pit

of the festival to erupt. The Pit stage

is a hive of activity today, and the

Californians well and truly break it in.

‘Uncool’, from last year’s ‘Drive North’

LP, sees any remaining cobwebs

blown away, and the band are clearly

taken aback by the reaction, and it’s

justified, even so early on the first day.

creeper

LAY WASTE TO THE PIT

reeper have had a monstrous

C2016. From their second ever

show for DIY at London’s Old Blue

Last on, every set has felt like a real

moment. Unsurprisingly, then, today

Reading hosts them as champions.

Frontman Will Gould strides out onto

the stage to be greeted by a huge

Creeper flag held aloft from a sway

of bodies that doesn’t stop during

their half-hour set. It’s frightening to

think where they could be in twelve

months. Main stage, anyone?

EAT FAST

BRING THEIR SCUZZY GLORY

eing a newcomer at a festival

Bwith a line-up as vast as this is

always going to be a challenge, but

as Eat Fast make their debut, they

take it in their stride. Appearing on

the BBC Introducing Stage in the

height of Friday afternoon’s heat,

their brand of gritty, scuzzed-up

punk matches the weather perfectly.

All scorched guitars and distortiondrenched

vocals, the likes of ‘Fenham

Dreadlock’ and ‘Byker Drone’ already

sound like fully-fledged, rough and

ready anthems.

BOY BETTER

KNOW

RANSACK THE MAIN STAGE

amount of people in front of

Tthe main stage for Boy Better

Know would make even the most

seasoned headliner wince. There’s

not a sign on any of the collective’s

faces that they’re feeling the pressure

though, as they plough straight into

a set that feels like it could define

the festival for years to come. ‘Shut

Down’ predictably erupts, and

Solo 45’s ‘Feed Em To The Lions’

is every bit as vicious as its title

warrants, mosh pits opening up and

subsequently crumbling as far back

as the eye can see. To count BBK out

of headlining in years to come is

fucking madness. They’re ready to

take the slot right this second.

DISCLOSURE

BRING MORE THAN BANGERS

B

angers might be Disclosure’s

forte, but taking to the main

stage for the first time, Guy and

Howard Lawrence show they’ve

got far more up their sleeves.

Unrecognisable from their buttonbashing,

knob-twiddling beginnings,

the brothers have evolved faster than

a Bulbasaur on light-power Poké-fuel

– for one, Howard’s developed a bass

face to rival Este Haim.

It’s a stage they’ve been waiting to

play for a long time now: between

their strip-lit booth contraptions

alone, they’re racking up quite the

electricity bill. Though there’s plenty

of room given to the likes of bloopa-thon

‘White Noise,’ and ‘F For You’

– naturally – this is a set that also

explores the pair’s other side; with

lengthy forays into clubbier climes.

Ending with just enough time to fling

open the door on ‘Latch’, Disclosure

wind up their turn on the main stage

in a blooping, glittering finale.

7

STORMZY

DRAWS A MASSIVE,

MANIC CROWD

Stepping in at the last minute to fill

Travis Scott’s cancellation, Stormzy

takes to Reading 2016 already a

king. Declaring last year “one of the

best fuckin’ shows of my life”, his return ups

the ante at every opportunity.

This tent has surely seen nothing like it. It’s a

crowd that must be pushing ten thousand,

spilling out of the stage’s confines as far as

the eye can see. Mosh pits are everywhere,

and they’re bigger than any the rest of

the weekend has offered up. It’s pure

pandemonium long before one particularly

excited punter clambers up the pillar

holding the tent up – by the time he leaps

back down, it’s pure carnage.

the

reading

report

saturday

Stormzy doesn’t need to pray for

a future headliner spot.

8 diymag.com

INHEAVEN

SEIZE THE DAY

For many bands on the

road to a debut album,

Reading & Leeds feels like

a milestone moment. For

Inheaven, who’ve spent

consecutive years thrashing

about and necking lukewarm

cider in front of this very

stage, that’s certainly the case.

From the off, it’s an occasion

they’re clearly set on grabbing

hold of with both hands; a task

a surging crowd more than

happily assist with.

New single ‘Drift’ – just a

few days old – prompts the

opening of a pit, and bassist

Chloe Little sings it right at

the crowd, clearly beaming,

bowled over by the miniature

frenzy they’ve prompted. Here

for the first time, this is a band

who’ve already outgrown

their early afternoon billing.

Odds are firmly on the London

band returning again next

year – as Daft Punk might say

– harder, better, faster, and

stronger.

SLAVES

SLOT RIGHT IN AMONGST

THE METAL

Saturday’s main stage

is ruled by riffs - from

the stoner rock sludge of

Clutch, to the chuggery of

metalcore titans Parkway

Drive, it’s a distortion lover’s

dream. When Slaves rock up,

they might seem an outlier.

It doesn’t take long for them

to bed themselves into the

carnage though.

“What the fuck happened?”

asks Isaac Holman from

behind his kit after ‘White

Knuckle Ride’ lives up to its

name. “Never did I think I’d

be saying these words on this

stage, but we’re Slaves and

we’re from Kent”.

It’s chaos from then on -

they’re every bit as heavy

as anything else today, all

guttural screams. They’re

sweethearts, really, but as

mosh pits erupt and one

particularly over-excited

punter attempts to crowdsurf

inside a paddling pool (to

adequate success), it’s bratty,

bolshy and a little bit bonkers.

RED HOT

CHILI

PEPPERS

DELIVER

You couldn’t walk for ten

steps around the site

earlier today without seeing

a Red Hot Chili Peppers

t-shirt, or someone dressed

as - literally - a chilli pepper.

This clear devotion sees

the biggest crowd of the

weekend so far gathered for

the now-veterans. The band’s

2007 headline performance

went down in history as one

of the worst the festival has

seen, and as a result, tonight

is absurdly front-loaded.

‘Can’t Stop’ crashes into

‘Dani California’, then into

‘Scar Tissue’ - they reek of a

band with a point to prove.

Though 80% of what Red Hot

Chili Peppers play tonight

is instantly recognisable -

with the crowd inevitably

drowning out the band with

drunken renditions - it’s

when a deep cut is aired that

gaps begin to show in their

expertise.

SUUUURPRISE! YOU

ME AT SIX

DECIDE TO TURN UP

In 2014, it was Green Day

that decided to make a

last minute appearance at

Reading. Last year, Foals took

up the gauntlet. This year, the

secret set responsibility was

passed to You Me At Six, who

took on the challenge and ran

with it, whipping up a frenzy

by scheduling themselves

in on The Pit. Over twelve

months since their last live

gig proper, fans spend the

first two tracks trying to cram

themselves further inside

the already-packed tent. The

reaction is electric from the

off. Appearances from ‘Room

To Breathe’ and ’Loverboy’

ensure that huge singalongs

are the order of the day, while

new number ‘Night People’

sounds suitably massive, even

in the small tent.

SPRING

KING

BRING ‘THE SUMMER’

This time last year, Spring

King took to the Festival

Republic in the immediate

aftermath of Zane Lowe,

y’know, casually kickstarting

Beats 1 with ‘City’. Word was

just beginning to spread, and

turning a modest crowd into

a miniature riot, Tarek Musa

even did a little sick onstage

and everything. A year on,

the band are back playing the

mammoth BBC Radio 1 stage,

and it’s packed to the rafters

with fans.

Striding out from behind the

kit during the fairly ominous

‘They’re Coming After You,’

chanting along with the

crowd, Tarek’s more than

just Spring King’s own Phil

Collins these days; though

his drumming’s as heroic as

ever. The torrential rain water

pouring off the side of the

big blue tent might beg to

differ, but it’s no match for

‘The Summer,’ and the whole

place transforms into beachy

paradise. Predictably, it’s with

breakthrough moment ‘City’

that Spring King hit their

peak, nailing their return

to Reading in a single fell

swoop.

TWO DOOR CINEMA

CLUB UP THE EUPHORIA LEVELS

Making one of their first UK festival appearances since

2013, the three-piece look incredibly happy to be back

on stage together and unsurprisingly, it’s mirrored in the

crowd. After a fairly tumultuous time apart over the past two

years (see p32), there’s a brilliant energy to the trio; a real

sense of euphoria fills the tent for the duration of their set.

While ‘Do You Want It All?’ and ‘Something Good Can Work’

whip up enormous singalongs, the new songs scattered

through the set sound right at home too - and for anyone

doubting Alex Trimble’s high notes on the funk-laden ‘Bad

Decisions’, he hits the mark perfectly. But their set’s not so

much about debuting new material so much as celebrating

the old, and this Reading set is the perfect place to do it.

The trio look ahead to their

“biggest moment yet”

Waiting backstage for their headline set in the Radio 1 tent

on Saturday night, the band are reflecting on a big summer.

“I think this is our fourth time playing here,” Alex Trimble

says, “and because it’s at the end of the summer, we see our

work over the summer pay off.”

9

S

the

sunday

reading

report

Fall Out Boy talk

new project

‘Bloom’

peaking to us ahead of their set,

Pete Wentz reveals that their

co-headline set wasn’t exactly

something they saw coming. “I mean,

it’s crazy,” he says. ”Honestly, we

weren’t even gonna do anything this

summer, so [being invited to co-headline]

was clearly a big deal because it

got us over here to play. We’ve created

a new show, basically for the festival,

which we’ve never done before.

“The idea is that it’s a companion

piece for a short film - some of which

we’ll play before our set. It’s all about

how sometimes you have to crack

a pavement before you can bloom,

and that the hard shit doesn’t have to

break you, it can make you a stronger

person. It all kinda fits together, if it all

runs smoothly!”

FALL OUT BOY

LIGHT IT UP

lot can happen in a decade, and tonight, Fall Out Boy are living proof. Ten

years on from the infamous bottle fight that took place during their 2006

A Reading set, the Chicago four-piece have risen through the ranks to finally

take a punt at the headliner slot. Just one song in, they go ahead and own it.

‘Sugar, We’re Goin Down’ whips up a real frenzy early on, while more poignant

moments come in the form of the firework-filled ‘Alone Together’ and stripped back,

David Bowie-dedicated ‘Save Rock and Roll’. The newer songs sound huge - ‘Uma

Thurman’ is positively infectious while ‘The Kids Aren’t Alright’ is full of catharsis -

while ‘Dance, Dance’ and ‘Thnks Fr Th Mmrs’ are still anthemic.

Fall Out Boy are no strangers when it comes to massive shows but tonight, there’s

something special in the air. A big-hitter stage show and enough fireworks to put Guy

Fawkes to shame, their set is a triumph in every sense. Here’s to the next decade.

LOCAL HEROES SUNDARA

KARMA SHINE

Striding out onto the main stage,

Sundara Karma are in their element

in more ways than one this morning.

“This is very strange for us,” admits

frontman Oscar Lulu, gesturing to the

road behind him. “We live ten minutes

away, and drive down that road every

day to get to practice.”

While they’ve been ticking along on

a series of promising tracks to date,

it’s new album ‘Youth is Only Ever Fun

In Retrospect’ that looks set to see

them realise that potential. New song

‘Olympia’ is the peak - a Springsteenindebted

sense of adventure flowing

throughout - but it’s most recent single

‘She Said’ and its tale of romantic

debauchery that elicits huge cheers, just

days after its release. The singalongs

that flow the front rows are proof there’s

so much more to hometown hero status

buoying Sundara Karma’s main stage

debut - they’re bound to climb the ranks

of this platform at rapid speed.

THE MAGIC

GANG

GO ABOVE AND BEYOND

t takes less than a minute of The Magic

IGang’s first song for people to rise

onto friends’ shoulders and a huge

melee of bodies to crash together.

‘All That I Want Is You’ and ‘Feeling

Better’ get some of the biggest

reactions of the whole weekend so far,

and the band take every next step in

their stride. Even bigger stages await

The Magic Gang - there’s no doubt - and

today shows they’re absolutely ready.

10 diymag.com

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11

BIFFY CLYRO

GIVE A MASTERCLASS IN CLOSING

hree years ago, Biffy Clyro headlined

here for the first time. That night was

Ta supreme set, but one that came with

obvious jitters. Two songs in tonight, and Simon

Neil is interjecting the chaotic finale of ‘Living

Is A Problem Because Everything Dies’ with the

‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ riff - the nerves are gone.

Biffy Clyro know how to do this now.

Simon and Johnston brothers Ben and James all

play with the crowd between songs, the light

show is stunning, and the setlist perfect. ‘57’

harks back to the band’s first Reading & Leeds

performance at the turn of the millennium,

while ‘Puzzle’ cuts ‘Machines’ and ‘9/15ths’ go

down as well as most from ‘Only Revolutions’

and ‘Opposites’. Nights like tonight will become

common-place for Biffy Clyro from now on, the

supreme confidence they exhibit taking their

live show to yet bigger heights.

THE 1975 STAKE THEIR HEADLINER CLAIM

S

creams like nothing else on this planet fill the Radio 1 tent to the

brim twenty minutes before kick-off. By the time The 1975 stride

out onto a pastel-drenched stage, tiny Playmobil figures in front of

choppy pink blocks, it’s impossible to gather a single coherent thought.

It figures, really. Having made a giant, lightyear leap up from distinctly

average beginnings, to this – the ridiculously titled ‘I like it when you

sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it,’ in all it’s bass-facey,

gurny panache, – The 1975 take their big Reading moment, seize it by the

scruff of its neck and out-run almost everyone else in the process. Closing

with a euphoric ‘The Sound’, quickly followed by debut cut ‘Sex’, the band

go out on a bang. “I don’t know what the future holds, but I can promise

you two things,” Matty announces. “One: we’re gonna go away and make

another record. Two: we’re gonna come back and we’re gonna fucking

headline Reading, I fucking promise you.”

SAVAGES TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE

p against The Vaccines on the main stage, Savages find

themselves playing to a sparse Sunday afternoon crowd. If this

Uconfronted most bands out there, it’d be an environment ripe for

a total washout. Savages are not most bands. Focusing every last drop

of her attention on the front few rows, nonchalantly ignoring the rest of

the tent, Jehnny Beth plays the daring game,

and wins.

Every day is Halloween,

if you ask Simon Neil.

On top form, joking away from a perch on

people’s shoulders, singing directly to individual

audience members, and pitting the two sides of

a small but devoted crowd against one another,

Savages prove it for the millionth time; they’re

the most formidable live band around. DIY

the

reading

report

sunday

12 diymag.com

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13

WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR,

PAIGEY CAKEY?

I stand for myself, for one, but I wanna be the

voice of the young people. I want to stand

for the youth; I want to stand for something

that means something. I feel like the youth

of today need role models to look up to, so I

want to stand for them.

STAND FOR SOMETHING

TOUR 2016

HACKNEY MC PAIGEY

CAKEY, NORTH EAST

ROCKERS VANT AND

KEYBOARD-PUMMELLING

TWINS FORMATION ARE

THE FIRST THREE ACTS

CONFIRMED FOR THIS

YEAR’S FOUR-DATE

NATIONWIDE TOUR.

14 diymag.com

This autumn, Dr. Martens and

DIY are once again teaming

up for the latest incarnation

of the Stand For Something

Tour. Over the past four years, it’s

hosted the likes of Twin Atlantic,

Young Guns, Eagulls and Spector,

who have taken to some of the UK’s

tiniest stages. This year, however,

things are stepping up.

This year’s tour will take place in

four cities across the country -

hitting up Liverpool, Birmingham

and Newcastle before things wrap

up with an incredible show in the

capital. That’s not all: this year’s

tour will come with a special added

element – from pit parties to the

great outdoors, the shows are set to

be unforgettable.

“I just love to see the crowd’s

reactions and I just love to feed off

people’s energy,” says Paigey Cakey.

The Hackney-based MC will be

heading to The Rainbow Courtyard in

Birmingham next month to give fans a

taste of latest release ‘RED’. “If you give

me energy, I’m gonna give you more

energy. I just love to be on stage and

to see supporters that have come out,

and people that don’t even know me. I

just love entertaining people.”

In Newcastle, the chaos-inducing

quartet VANT will be getting right in

the thick of it, when they play an inthe-round

pit party up at The Cluny. “It

should be great,” says frontman Mattie

Vant. “It sold out on the day last time.

So I reckon people might need to be

fairly swift about tickets. The Cluny

is such an awesome venue when it’s

packed out.” The show should be

a particularly poignant one for the

band, since Mattie himself hails from

Seaham, just down the road.

Finally, the brilliant Formation -

complete with cowbell - will be

taking on Liverpool, when they play

at The Scandi Church. “There’s a

great moment at some shows when

the songs are hitting home and the

audience is going wild,” the band tell

us. “There’s an intense connection

being made and it feels like the room

is on fire! That’s why we put ourselves

out there on stage and we wouldn’t

have it any other way.”

Tickets for these first shows are on

sale now – head to drmartens.com/

standforsomethingtour to get

involved in this year’s action. And

don’t worry, there’s still one more

headliner to be announced. Stay

tuned...


FORMATION?

Formation means people coming

together to express or celebrate

something great. So we stand for a lot of

things but ultimately it’s about standing

together.


VANT?

We stand for equality, awareness of the

environmental concerns of this planet,

and a better education for all of our

children.

THE DATES

15.10.16

FORMATION

The Scandi Church,

Liverpool

29.10.16

PAIGEY CAKEY

The Rainbow

Courtyard,

Birmingham

12.11.16

VANT

The Cluny, Newcastle

26.11.16

TBA

London

15

Popstar

Postbag

creeper

We know what you’re like, dear readers. We know you’re just as nosy as we are when it comes to our

favourite pop stars: that’s why we’re putting the power back into your hands. Every month, we’re

going to ask you to pull out your best questions and aim them at those unsuspecting artists. You

don’t even need to pay for postage! This month, Creeper frontman Will Gould is taking on your Qs.

Do you listen to Marilyn Manson? If

so, what’s your favourite year/album

and why? Kitti, via email

I am a big Marilyn Manson fan. I think

his best work is probably the ‘Antichrist

Superstar’ / ‘Mechanical Animals’ / ’Holy

Wood’ trilogy, when I was a kid those

were important records for me.

Why did you name the band Creeper?

Callum, via email

We wanted a name that wouldn’t

force us into one genre, something

that could be the name of a punk

band, an indie band or a metal band

or anything. We chose Creeper in

particular because it sounded like a

Stephen King novel, like some kind of

adventure.

How is Sean’s foot healing? Lily,

via email

OK, so in case you don’t know, at

the end of our last US run the guys

at U-Haul (the trailer hire place)

dropped the entire trailer on Sean’s

[Scott, bassist] foot and broke some

of his toes! I believe he is now up to

full strength or close to it again. He is a

tough dude.

Where do you guys draw your style

from? @AndrewWolens

Our playing style comes from hardcore.

Ian [Miles, guitar] and I met in that scene

and we’ve exported some of that into

what we do now. Our visual style comes

from an interest in art and performance,

I think probably dating back to being

interested partly in glam rock as a kid

for me and horror movies for Ian. We’re

always taking cues from a man named

Jim Steinman too, check him out!

What is the weirdest thing a fan has

asked you to sign? Ellie, via email

We get asked to sign all kinds of weird

things these days, the weirdest is

always body parts. We’ve had all sorts

though - dominoes, guitars, plush toys,

Disneyland tickets, iPhones etc.

What was the scariest part of your first

US tour? @iwillownthemoon

Ollie [Burdett, guitar] isn’t a big fan of flying

so we held hands as our plane took off. He

was super brave though, and then we spent

$70 on in-flight beer.

Who writes the lyrics, and what is the

process? Melody first, lyrics second;

vice versa; or some back-and-forth

combination of the two? Jenny, via email

I write the lyrics, Ian writes the vast

majority of the music. Songs always

start with melody first, Ian strumming

something and us moving chords

to help fit whatever vocal melody I

come up with better. Often I’ll write

something on piano and we’ll use it for

a chorus or something too. We tend to

just lock ourselves away.

What will be the moment that’ll

make you think ‘We’ve exceeded

all our expectations’? Or has this

already happened? Megan, via email

I actually think that happened a long

time ago for us, we thought we’d be a

band who’d play a couple times locally

and now we’re touring the world. I

don’t know how we’ve ended up being

so lucky, but we’re more grateful each

day for the lives we’re getting to lead.

What was your goal when you guys

created the band? @TraffordPhoto98

I think our goal at first was just to put out

a record that would be a little different to

what was going on at the time, something

a little more flamboyant but still dark. We

wanted to focus on things like artwork

and design a lot more than we had in past

projects.

NEXT MONTH: SPRING KING

Want to send a question to DIY’s Popstar

Postbag? Tweet us at @diymagazine with the

hashtag #postbag, or drop us an email at

popstarpostbag@diymag.com. Easy!

16 diymag.com

Bon Iver’s been sleeping

in a stable, mate.

HAVE y∞u

HEARD?

Bon Iver - 22 (Over S∞∞N)

The first new Bon Iver song in five years is set against a theme of expiration. A lyric video for ‘22 (OVER S∞∞N)’ - sorry, ‘22 (OVER S∞∞N)

[Bob Moose Extended Cab Version]’ to be precise - shows a photograph of Justin Vernon’s face set alight. The trick is in how a lit flame

never gets the better of him. This photo doesn’t turn to dust within seconds. Instead, destruction’s put on hold. And this matches the

mood of the track itself. “It might be over soon,” Vernon sings, putting all the emphasis on potential rather than inevitability. In turn, a

jagged, looped synth line fidgets in the background and feels like it could stop at any second - but it doesn’t. (Jamie Milton)

The Magic Gang – All This Way

The Magic Gang don’t just know how

to write a decent pop number; by now

they’re seasoned veterans when it comes

to bottling pure sunshine. Peppered

with joyous backing vocals, and skipping

light-touches of spare guitar, ‘All This Way’

is by no means a matching-jumpers-ahoy

peppy barbershop ditty, instead investing

most energy into The Magic Gang’s usual

staple – a belting chorus. “All I really

wanna know, is how I got all this way on

my own,” ponders Jack Kaye again and

again, concluding “I’m sorry that we fell

in love.” Welcome to The Magic Gang’s

fantasy pop league, ‘All This Way’. They’ve

written yet another slice of gold. (El Hunt)

Kate Tempest – Don’t Fall In

Being a direct political commentator is

hard work. Especially if you’re a songwriter

who, say, doesn’t release a full-length

for a couple of years. The landscape is

unrecognisable compared to two years

ago. Governments have toppled, wars

have been waged and xenophobia has

gained headway, but it’s not like Kate

Tempest doesn’t have anything to write

about. Alongside an apocalyptic tale (“The

people will flock to the garages… Tinned

fish and bandages”), Kate delivers lines

atop severe, ominous instrumentation.

Skizzing electronicst clatter in the

background, and empty space arrives

when it’s least expected. It’s the most

claustrophobic her music has ever

sounded. (Jamie Milton)

Kero Kero Bonito – Graduation

The singles Kero Kero Bonito have

released from their debut album ‘Bonito

Generation’ have all pointed at extremely

exciting things from the record.‘Lipslap’

is the pumping hit, all tongue-in-cheek

humour, while ‘Picture This’ is as catchy as

they’ve ever been. ‘Graduation’, live staple

for over a year now, joins the party, and is

the band’s big step up. With all the joy and

celebration of said ceremonies, but with

none of the awkwardness of bumping

into that one person you did something

regretful with in first year, the track ushers

in the next generation of KKB - it looks

set to be quite a journey from here. (Will

Richards)

Sad13 – Get A Yes

It’s a shitty state of affairs indeed, but all

too often, sex in music is far too focused

on those (cue massive sigh and eyeroll)

‘Blurred Lines’. There’s also little space left

for the most important thing of all - what

the other silent party actually wants. It’s a

pervasive issue that goes far deeper than

a few dodgy lyrics, and it fuels an entire

culture that neglects education around

consent. And consent is a topic that Sadie

Dupuis pointedly flings open the door on

- and celebrates with a beaming grin - in

her first solo pop outing as Sad13. Glittersoaked,

and diving headfirst into pure pop

climes, ‘Get A Yes’ is empowering, vital,

and positive when it comes to dialogue

around consent. More songs like this,

please. (El Hunt)

17

Sponsored

HELL YES

I’M TUFNELL

ENOUGH!

Grab your diaries! On 2nd October, we’re cramming some of our total faves

into London’s Boston Music Room. Big names and some of the best fresh

faces will be sharing a stage, and even better - it’s 14+ entry (with an

adult, natch).

Topping the bill are Prides, Scottish synth-poppers who’ve hit pause on recording

their second album to headline the all-dayer - it’ll be their first appearance in the

capital since last year’s massive gig at KOKO. They come backed by some very, very

special guests (if we told you who it was, we’d have to kill you). Rest assured, it’s

going to be amazing.

Ace new bands joining the fun include Tunbridge Wells alt-pop prodigy Will Joseph

Cook, Liverpool lovebirds Trudy & the Romance and Newcastle fuzz-fiends Eat Fast.

Plus, on the decks will be the almighty Gengahr! For more info, head to

diymag.com/alldayer2016.

BELLEVUE DAYS

SIGN UP FOR

JÄGER CURTAIN CALL

ou can be one of the best new bands around, but there are hundreds of

hurdles to jump when it comes to taking any next steps. Earlier this year, DIY

Yteamed up with Jägermeister for Jäger Curtain Call, to lend a hand to bands

in that exact spot. A project which aims to give artists a bit of a leg up at the most

crucial point in their career, everything - from recording a track to playing live – all

happens within the creative hub that is Shoreditch’s iconic Curtain Road.

Now, it’s back for a second run, with another three bands invited into the studio

and onto the stage. First up are Croydon four-piece Bellevue Days, who’ll head into

Strongrooms Studio to record a brand new track, before going down the road to the

Queen of Hoxton to play alongside a guest headliner on 5th October. Tickets are on

sale now. Head to diymag.com for more details. DIY

TOP

TIPS:

DIY’S PICK OF

LNSOURCE

In desperate need of a live music fix

but can’t decide where or who? If you

feel too spoiled for choice, here’s just

a few of LNSource’s upcoming shows

worth getting off the sofa for.

Jez Dior

15th & 16th September •

Manchester & London

This month, Los Angeles-bred Jez Dior

will be making the trip to play two

shows on our side of the pond. The

hip hop star is at the Soup Kitchen in

Manchester and Birthdays in London.

God Damn

23rd September • Boston Music

Room • London

God Damn love making a racket and

they’re sure to be on fine form when

they appear at the Tufnell Park venue

this month. It’s the day new album

‘Everything Ever’ gets released after all

– they’ll be in the mood for celebrating.

Will Joseph

Cook

2nd November • Dingwalls • London

This Tunbridge Wells newcomer may

not be a fan of the term ‘singersongwriter’,

but Will Joseph Cook

has already earned himself quite a

reputation as a performer. Indulge

yourself in his brilliant ‘Take Me

Dancing’ this November, when he plays

at the Camden venue.

For more information and to buy

tickets, head to livenation.co.uk or

twitter.com/LNSource

18 diymag.com

The Killers in 2006, nailing the Shoreditch

Hipster look way before it was cool.

DIY HALL of FAME the

Facts

Release Date:

2nd October

THE KILLERS - ‘SAM’S TOWN’

After cementing their place in UK indie discos with their debut, The Killers’ second full-length

saw them embark on an altogether more American adventure. Words: Sarah Jamieson

When The Killers first made their

mark back in 2004, it was in

a blaze of neon and eyeliner.

Debut ‘Hot Fuss’ was all new

wave synths, bundled together with enough

catchy choruses to rule indie discos for decades

to come. But, with the release of its follow-up,

the quartet cast aside the Brit comparisons

and swapped them for a different kind of

showmanship.

‘Sam’s Town’ was, and will remain, an album

striving to epitomise the heart of America. While

‘Hot Fuss’ plonked itself firmly in the middle of

80s British synth pop, their second record sought

inspiration from a lot closer to their Las Vegas

home. Even the title came complete with its own

personal anecdote – it was emblazoned on a sign

that bassist Mark Stoermer could see from his

childhood bedroom window - working to show

that the four-piece really were creatures of their

environment after all.

Springsteen’s influence drips from every corner

of the album – the introduction of that opening

title track enough to make the E Street Band

proud – and guitars may firmly rule the roost,

but The Killers’ take on bombast and storytelling

remains incredibly satisfying and even, at times,

intimate. ‘When You Were Young’ and ‘Read

My Mind’ are massive anthems in their own

right, with Brandon Flowers (and that infamous

‘tache of his) a pseudo spirit guide through the

sounds and stories of the Midwest. ‘The River Is

Wild’ is a commanding rally of a track, while the

intriguingly-titled ‘Bling (Confessions Of A King)’

wouldn’t be amiss soundtracking a sun-scorched

Spaghetti Western shoot-out.

Granted, ‘Sam’s Town’ was an album which

split critics and fans alike, many finding their

transformation too contrived. Yet, ten years on,

equipped with the gift of hindsight, it was simply

another brilliant chapter in The Killers’ huge

career, and yet more proof that they’ve always

possessed the knack for striking gold. DIY

2006

Standout tracks:

‘When You

Were Young’,

‘For Reasons

Unknown’, ‘The

River Runs Wild’

Something to

tell your mates:

Despite going on

to sell over 4.5

million copies

across the world,

‘Sam’s Town’

didn’t top the

charts over in

the US when it

was released.

In fact, it was

pipped to the

post by, ahem,

Evanescence...

19

NEWS

20 diymag.com

They thought it was all over… it is now.

FESTIVALS

REEPERBAHN

21st - 24th September

As if Germany’s sündigste Meile wasn’t nearly sündigste*

enough, every September a giant heap of new, not-so-new

and nowhere-near-new-really (yes, we see you, Gang of

Four) acts descend on venues around the Reeperbahn in

Hamburg for four debauched days of live music discovery.

Among the venues taking part are the city’s famed Molotow, and super

cool club Uebel & Gefährlich, and acts range from August cover stars

Wild Beasts, Mercury nominees The Invisible and returning Aussie

baggy types Jagwar Ma, to hype-as-fuck newcomers Will Joseph Cook,

Klangstof, and Sea Moya.

There are also a few DIY faves there too, with Dilly Dally, Yak and

Spring King on the bill.

*sinful. Like, the red light district that’s there and stuff.

A FEW SECONDS WITH…

OLI BURSLEM, YAK

You’ve had a summer of festivals - which has been your favourite

so far?

I loved driving throughout the Alps to get to Lake Geneva and having a

swim in the sun to get the opportunity to play Montreux Jazz Festival.

To be honest, every show has had its place. We all enjoy each others’

company so it’s been nice hanging, playing music together and giving

each other shit.

Did all that mud come out of your Glastonbury

outfit?

Luckily for me the suit was 100% polyester so only took

a quick spin and the dirt was gone. BANG!

Reeperbahn’s about finding new favourite bands -

who’s your current new band crush?

I’m looking forward to seeing The Lemon Twigs who we are playing

with as I’ve heard a lot of great things about them, also Goat Girl who

will be coming out on tour with us in October.

DUTCH IMPACT

T

his September, the Dutch will be flying their

flag over Reeperbahn once again, with the

likes of Afterpartees, Klangstof, De Staat

and Causes all among the acts making the journey

down from the Netherlands. For more information

on the full Dutch Impact showcase, head to

dutch-impact.nl.

A FEW SECONDS WITH…

AFTERPARTEES

How are you looking forward to Reeperbahn?

We’ve always heard a lot of great things and

Hamburg is a fantastic city. We spent a weird

day there once, slept on the hood of a car - great

experience. Lots of pigeons, too. We’re looking

forward to seeing lots of other great bands play too,

always cool to see the competition/enemies/friends.

DIY IN THE SKY

At this year’s Reeperbahn, we’ve got a bit of a

treat up our sleeve. Up in the Molotow Sky Bar,

in the centre of all the action, we’ll be hosting

a handful of secret sessions and intimate sets

across the week. Fancy joining in the fun?

Simply head to diymag.com/diyinthesky for

more information and the full line-up.

WALKING IN A HACKNEY WONDERLAND

et’s be honest: the dark nights of autumn

aren’t exactly what people think of when

Lit comes to festivals, but with a line-up like

theirs, Hackney Wonderland is gonna be bloody

fun anyhow. This year’s event, which takes place

across East London, will play host to the likes of

Swim Deep, We Are Scientists, Demob Happy

and Lucy Rose, before the night gets topped

off by the out-of-this-world Mystery Jets. It’s all

happening across the 14th and 15th October, with

venues including The Laundry, Oval Space and

Sebright Arms.

For more information, head to

hackneywonderland.com - plus, keep your eyes

peeled for a special DIY-related appearance with

our friends at Jack Rocks. We may have some secret

treats in store…

21

SPONSORED

A EUROPEAN EXCHANGE

Appearing at festivals can be a hugely important experience for upcoming artists, and the

European Talent Exchange Programme are hoping to help more artists get the opportunity.

When you’re a new artist, getting your name

out there is one hell of a challenge. Securing

opportunities to play at festivals across

Europe? That’s an even tougher job. That’s

where ETEP comes into play. The European Talent Exchange

Programme – which was set up by the people behind The

Netherlands’ showcase festival Eurosonic Noorderslag - aims

to highlight upcoming European talent, by providing them

with the tools to get onto festival bills across the continent.

A SPOT

OF ADVICE

Aurora has offered up some words

of wisdom, for anyone intrigued by

ETEP and the prospect of playing so many

European festivals.

“I would encourage people to not think

too much. Playing in different countries

shouldn’t be any problem! We are all

people who enjoy music. Just play.

Places are places and people are

people wherever you go, and

it’s beautiful.”

the ‘Conqueror’ singer says. “It’s amazing when communities

like ETEP help musicians get heard. There are so many great

musicians out there who only need a bit of help to be seen by

the world.

“Playing live shows at festivals is one of the best ways to be

discovered, for me at least,” she admits. “Many people see

me for the first time almost by accident on festivals around in

Europe. It means a lot to get a chance to play them all.”

One act who’s been a huge success within ETEP is Norwegian

singer Aurora, who has spent the past twelve months on the

road in support of her debut album ‘All My Demons Greeting

Me As A Friend’.

“As a musician you need all kind of support that you can get!”

Aurora’s not the only artist to have experienced success

with ETEP – Mura Masa, Nothing But Thieves, Blossoms and

Stormzy are all part of the scheme too.

For more information and to find out how to get involved,

head to etep.nl. DIY

22 diymag.com

SAT 22/10/16 BRISTOL, COLSTON HALL

SUN 23/10/16 EDINBURGH, QUEEN’S HALL

MON 24/10/16 MANCHESTER, ALBERT HALL

WED 26/10/16 LIVERPOOL, THE DOME

THU 27/10/16 LONDON, ROUNDHOUSE

23

neu

eat

fast

Meet the Geordie quartet with an appetite for noise. Words: Sarah Jamieson.

24 diymag.com

After one listen to the scuzzed-up chaos

captured within ‘Stammer’, it’s hard to

imagine that Eat Fast’s journey could

ever have begun with an abandoned

PhD in contemporary poetry. Yet, for

the North East quartet, that’s exactly what kickstarted

it all.

“I moved back down from Edinburgh, where I was

studying for my PhD, but it didn’t really work out,”

begins the band’s Adam Pearson, whose move back

home from the University of St. Andrews provided the

catalyst for Eat Fast’s birth. “After I finished my first

chapter, I realised I just wanted to start writing new

songs again.”

Originally just a way to scratch Pearson’s creative

itch, it was only when he met bassist Mark Brown and

drummer James King that things came to life. “I just

wanted to keep it as a recording project,” he explains,

“but then I met Brownie and Kingy - because I wanted

to record the songs properly - and they persuaded me

to try it as a live thing. It’s totally grown from there.”

For a sound that’s so visceral and bursting with

adrenaline, the idea of it remaining as a solo recording

project borders on irresponsible. “That’s what we

thought,” chips in Mark, gesturing to his bandmate.

“That’s why we sort of forced you to do it!” With the

line-up completed by guitarist John Edgar, who also

moved back from Edinburgh, there were now no

excuses. “Yeah, there was a full commitment from

everyone,” confirms Adam, “and I think that’s what

made us think we could give it a proper go.”

BAPTISM OF FIRE

First live shows are, as they come, pretty bloody terrifying,

even when things don’t go too wrong. When it came to Eat

Fast’s debut – a DIY Presents show at London’s Old Blue Last

back in May –however, it sounds like things couldn’t have

really got more disastrous...

verything that could go wrong at a gig, went

wrong,” Mark explains. “Oh yeah, god, aye!”

“Eremembers Adam. “That was bad. The first song,

there were just sparks all over the stage.” “The bass amp

stopped,” Mark continues, “then the pedal board had sparks

flying out of it. The sound guy didn’t put Adam’s microphone

on. It was our first gig and there was a lot building up to it.

When that happened though, we realised that was probably

gonna be the most daunting gig we were gonna play, so when

everything went wrong, we knew it couldn’t really get any

worse than that. That made us feel quite relaxed for the rest

of the shows. After that, The Great Escape shows were mint!”

Glass always half full, eh!

It’s not just their music that the quartet have found

themselves committing to so strongly: the area they

come from is sewn into the fabric of their songs. With

track titles like ‘Byker Drone’ and ‘Fenham Dreadlock’,

Eat Fast are more than prepared to fly the colours for

their home. “Yeah, I missed it so much when I was

away,” admits Adam, agreeing that there’s something

about growing up in the North East that always draws

you home. “Before I moved away, I lived in Byker for

four or five years, and a lot of the songs are about then

and me looking back to then.”

As for the songs themselves, the four they released as

part of May’s ‘Fenham Dread(lock)’ EP aren’t the only

weapons in their arsenal. There’s already a sixteentrack

LP prepped, and – unsurprisingly – they’re

writing even more. “All the songs have been demoed,

because I did them all in my bedroom, but now we’re

starting to think that maybe we should re-record,”

Adam says, his mind ticking through the possibilities.

“But, yeah, all of those tracks for the first LP are done,

and the second one is kinda half done as well...” If any

band have an insatiable appetite right now, it’s Eat

Fast. DIY

Eat Fast are playing the DIY All Dayer on 2nd October

at Boston Music Room, London. For more details, head

to diymag.com/alldayer2016.

25

neu

“All our songs definitely come from real

life,” states The Bay Rays frontman Harry

Nicoll, one-third of these tight-knit,

tightly-wound thrashers from Tunbridge

Wells. And as it turns out, Harry has

enough real-life tales to fill angry,

frustrated bursts of noise for decades.

figured out. Living outside of a London “bubble”, they’ve

taken their time in refining their chaotic, blues-steeped

sound. Tunbridge Wells’ “thriving scene”, as they describe

it, has been the perfect place for a local band to learn their

chops. Their history with the town goes way back. Maxwell

produced local heroes Slaves’ first ever demos. “Next thing

you know, they’re doing pretty good.”

‘New Home’, one of their head-turning early tracks, is about

the time a pub landlord kicked him out and he had no place

to live. There’s all “the pressures that you face,” he says,

“just trying to make rent every month, people forcing you

out.” Plenty of bands write about bleak real-life dramas with

cutting brutality. The difference with The Bay Rays is in how

they flip grim detail upside down. ‘New Home’ is playful,

in-your-face, pretty much celebratory. As Harry chants “this

new home is all I need!”, you’d be mistaken for thinking he’d

moved into a mansion.

Completed by bassist Maxwell Oakley and drummer Anthus

Davis - a rhythm section who’ve been playing in bands since

they were sixteen - The Bay Rays already have everything

Together, they unite in writing about “social anxieties,

pressures and disillusionment” and how “our generation

don’t know where the future lies.” Harry explains: “It all

stems from that. It’s very hard to buy anywhere. Where’s the

prospects? Everyone expects you to go to university, come

out and get a job, meet a girl and start a family. That’s your

life. I’d say as a generation we’re a lot more ambitious than

that.”

Life might be a cruel, ambitious prick most of the time, but

The Bay Rays are channeling it into something exciting. DIY

The Bay Rays head out on a DIY Presents tour with Estrons,

starting 28th September at Bristol Louisiana. Head to

diymag.com/presents for details.

These previously broke, disillusioned thrashers are getting ready to take over.

Words: Jamie Milton. Photo: Phil Smithies.

THE BAY RAYS

26 diymag.com

NOAH GUTHRIE

UK TOUR

SEPTEMBER

2016

WATSKY

UK TOUR

SEPTEMBER

2016

NORMA JEAN MARTINE

SEP 21

OSLO

LONDON

GROUPLOVE

SEP 26

MANCHESTER

ACADEMY 3

SEP 27

LONDON ELECTRIC

BALLROOM

BRONCHO

UK TOUR

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER

2016

BLOOD YOUTH

UK TOUR

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER

2016

GOLD CLASS

UK TOUR

OCTOBER 2016

SAMM HENSHAW

OCT 10

VILLAGE UNDERGROUND

LONDON

SKIES

OCT 19

THE CAMDEN ASSEMBLY

LONDON

RIVER TIBER

OCT 25

CORSICA STUDIOS

LONDON

SUNSET SONS

UK TOUR

OCTOBER / NOVEMBER

2016

LOCAL NATIVES

UK TOUR

NOVEMBER

2016

LUCKY CHOPS

UK TOUR

NOVEMBER 2016

JACK GARRATT

UK TOUR

NOVEMBER 2016

KANDACE SPRINGS

NOV 12

RICH MIX

LONDON

THE BEST IN NEW LIVE MUSIC

@LNSOURCE

LIVENATION.CO.UK

27

For most, leaving behind everything

you’ve ever known to start a new life

would be a monumental, even impossible,

feat. For singer and cellist Kelsey Lu, it

neu

was something she simply had to do.

Kelsey grew up Jehovah’s Witness but, on

reaching her teens, “started questioning

life and my place in it.” The aspiring

musician then decided to take the plunge. “I left

everything at the age of 18, and snuck off to my

audition for North Carolina School of the Arts.”

Kelsey grew up in a creative household. Her mum

played piano, her dad was in a jazz-funk band in

the 60s and 70s, and her older sister studied violin.

Wanting to emulate her sibling, Kelsey also took up

the instrument, which led to a definitive encounter.

Brooklyn-based singer and cellist

“I went to one of my violin lessons and my teacher

had this cello leaning up against the window

may have abandoned a deeply religious

outside of its case,” she says. “It wasn’t like I’d never

upbringing to pursue her dreams, but debut

seen a cello before, but in that moment it was

LUThe

EP ‘Church’ is still divine. Words: Eugenie

calling my name.” For Kelsey, it was the feeling of

Johnson.

intimacy that proved irresistible. “I loved the idea

of playing something that was on your body,” she explains. “It was

the contact that I got. It rested against my chest and the sound I

got was so full, it filled my body.” The rest, as they say, is history.

Now 26, Kelsey’s artistry has seen her support Florence + the

Machine, collaborate with Blood Orange and perform alongside

Kelela. Even more evidence of her unbridled talent can be found

on debut EP, ‘Church.’ It is, as Kelsey describes it, “Lutherial.”

Recorded entirely live in a Brooklyn church (“a perfect space

for voice and cello”) and co-produced by Chairlift’s Patrick

Wimberly, Kelsey’s vocals and luscious waves of cello are the sole

components, accompanied only by cavernous silence, and the

scrapes of bow against string.

This minimal approach means there’s an achingly raw sense of

closeness. Despite singing on ‘Time’ that “Everybody knows / The

feelings that you feel / Aren’t real,” it’s clear she speaks directly

from the heart. Her songs are “written very much in the moment

of whatever feeling I was having at that time.” Indeed, many of

them have an improvisational quality. “There’s not a whole lot

of planning,” she confirms. Closer ‘Liar’ wasn’t even originally

intended to be on the EP. “I was listening to a lot of Alice Coltrane

K

elsey has a number of

high-profile fans, and

one was apparently

quite keen to become her

roadie - André 3000 was all

too happy to help Kelsey

carry her cello, but it nearly

all ended in tears. “He was

carrying my case to the car but

holding my cello the wrong

way and still being cool about

it,” Kelsey explains. “We were

walking down this hallway

and he was running into the

wall,” she recalls, which nearly

led to André breaking her

instrument. Perhaps it’s not

such a good idea

to shake a cello

like a Polaroid

picture…

and that one just came out

of nowhere, maybe a couple

of days before recording,”

she laughs. “It came from

jamming on my emotions,

my feelings. I’m really into

capturing that moment of

pure feeling.”

But Kelsey has been

following her heart for years;

she’s found beauty in the

improvisational nature of

life, which feeds into her

work. “The things we feel the

most or remember are those

things that are unexpected,

that we don’t plan on

happening,” she says.

“They just do.” DIY

KELSEY

28 diymag.com

Photos: James Kelly

neu

LIVE report

Bruising + Doe

The DIY Presents gig sees two of Britain’s

brightest hopes raising the hype.

London’s Doe and Bruising from Leeds are two of the UK DIY

scene’s most promising hopes, so what better place to bring

them together than South London’s new, radical, co-operative

venue DIY Space for London?

Doe - now settled with new guitarist Dean Smithers - are releasing

their debut album ‘Some Things Last Longer Than You’ this month,

and the time taken to reach this point shows; the band are impeccably

tight. Older songs ‘Late Bloomer’ and ‘Julia Survived’ are amped

up even further and rolled out with supreme confidence, but it’s

tracks from that upcoming LP that prove the most exciting.

Bruising aren’t nearly as brutal, but their charm more than makes up

for it. It’s vocalist Naomi Baguley’s birthday, and DIY Space For London

proves the perfect setting for a party. Last seen in the capital as

a stripped-back two-piece supporting Mitski at Birthdays, tonight’s

Bruising is a playful, fuzzy, fun one. Last year’s ‘Emo Friends’/’Honey’

7” was a shy but fun introduction, and tonight’s airing of new tracks

shows that more of the same looks set to come.

Both Doe and Bruising are pelting towards their debut albums, and

on tonight’s showing, the releases could see them emerge as two of

the UK’s best new guitar bands. (Will Richards)

GIG GUIDE

The must-see new music gigs

taking place this month.

Buzzy first steps

DRONES CLUB

London, Kamio, 23rd September

Megaphones, old-school DJ decks, blaring sirens

- your average Drones Club gig has it all. Their

headline show at Kamio is the month’s must-see gig.

On tour

GIRLI

22nd-30th September

Hitting the road with best bud Oscar, Girli is

bringing her uncompromising, brilliantly fun pop to

cities across the country. The dates end with a night

at London’s Tufnell Park Dome.

Racking up the air miles

SLØTFACE

28th-29th September

Norway’s finest are back in the UK this month,

playing shows at London haunts The Finsbury and

The Lock Tavern. You won’t escape either venue

without crowdsurfing.

29

Hazel English

The chart-ready twist beach-pop has been crying out for.

Serpent withfeet

A Perfume Genius-worshipped star in the making.

“How are more people not freaking the fuck out?” tweeted Perfume Genius

when he first heard Serpentwithfeet. He wasn’t the first and he won’t be

the last to lose their shit about this Brooklyn artist. Every so often a piece of

music jumps out from the dark and sounds like nothing else on this planet.

‘Blisters’, Josiah Wise’s latest track, is a crazed hybrid of future-leaning

R&B, earnest balladry and twisted, haunting stabs of noise (thanks in part

to production from the Haxan Cloak). Both a blitzing cinematic score and

refined, spacious pop song, it’s a chasm of ideas worthy of worship.

Listen: The ‘Blisters’ EP is out now via Tri Angle.

Similar to: Aliens reinterpreting noughties pop.

Just when all routes to the coast look to have been exhausted, out steps Hazel English. The

California newcomer makes straight-up beach pop. Heard it all before? Possibly. She shares

plenty of traits with her producer, Jackson Phillips (aka Day Wave), and the early work of DIIV

and Beach Fossils. What makes Hazel stand out is her ability to apply dreamy escapism to

sharp pop hooks. Instead of an airy tribute to crashing waves, she writes melodies that could

even make songwriting guru Max Martin jealous.

Listen: Debut EP ‘Never Going Home’ is out 7th October on House Anxiety / Marathon Artists.

Similar to: An it’ll-never-happen Beach Fossils and Taylor Swift collab.

BABEHEAVEN

You won’t be ‘Moving On’ from this London group anytime soon.

Back in January, Babeheaven played a hyped, hushed gig in London for DIY’s ‘Hello 2016’ nights. The West London

group seemed to bring the winter fog inside, swarming everything in a smoky cool. One thing stood out, even in

those early days - their ability to flick a switch from smooth atmospherics into something substantial. New single

‘Moving On’ is another thing altogether; the kind of track capable of sending any band skywards.

Listen: ‘Moving On’ is out 7th October via Handsome Dad / BS3CI. Catch them live at Mirrors London (29th October).

Similar to: Massive Attack giving blog-pop a lease of life.

neu

Recommended

30 diymag.com

Noname

Creator of the year’s

best mixtape? Don’t rule

it out.

Three years separate

Noname’s guest verse on

a Chance the Rapper track

and the present day. Right

now, she’s being credited

with releasing 2016’s

best mixtape. ‘Telefone’

aptly calls in a few favours

- a collaboration with

Raury on ‘Diddy Pop’ is a

highlight - but it stands

out for being able to tell

Fatimah Warner’s story.

On Chance’s ‘Lost’, she

rapped about loneliness,

depression and a

psychiatrist’s advice that

she should “pill pop” to

seek happiness. Here, she

documents everything

- love, faith, a tragic

abortion - in perfect

detail.

Listen: ‘Telefone’ is a

free download. Do not

miss out.

Similar to: The rich

storytelling of Frank

Ocean.

neu

All the buzziest

new music

happenings,

in one place.

AT THE ALTAR

Blaenavon are upping the ante with

new single ‘Let’s Pray’, another

glimpse of their debut album.

Led by a morbid, Ben Gregory-penned

“let’s pray for death!” mantra, this is

the second track to be lifted from a Jim

Abbiss-produced first work, linking up

with ‘I Will Be the World’. Get ready for

something massive in early 2017.

Speaking to DIY last month, Ben

described the record as “more honest,”

containing “lyrics people could easily

relate to - no unnecessary nuances.”

He added: “If this was all I achieved in

my whole life - to make an album as

proud as I am of as this one - then I’d be

pretty happy to die. I keep thinking it’ll

be really fun to get round to a second

record but still, this won’t come out for

a while. I’m still living with it and I keep

getting more and more proud of what

we’ve done.”

Blaenavon headline London Scala on

14th October - it’s a DIY Presents gig,

too. So you’ve no excuse not to come.

Listen to ‘Let’s Pray’ on diymag.com.

DUA DATE

The most inevitable future superstar

in pop, Dua Lipa, has announced her

debut album.

You’ve a while to wait, though.

Her self-titled first work will come out on

10th February via Warner Bros Records.

Exciting stuff, eh?

The newcomer took this year by storm

with her GIANT single ‘Hotter Than Hell,’

and last month made her telly debut

on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy

Fallon. It’s all happening.

CR U READY?

The Strokes’ Nick Valensi has started

a new band of his own, called CRX.

Until now, Nick was the only member

of the band not to have started a solo

or side project. He was once quoted as

saying: “I’m of the opinion that you’re

in a band and that’s what you do. If

there’s leftover material and time, then

sure, by all means. But if you’re playing

material that you haven’t even shown

to your main band and you’re just sort

of keeping it for yourself, I’m not a big

fan of that.” Err, this is awkward.

The guitarist is joined by drummer

Ralph Alexander, Richie James Follin,

Darian Zahedi and Jon Safley.

CRX have yet to share any music, but

they already possess an ace logo and

are touring in support of Beck, so

nothing could possibly go wrong.

31

GAME

32 diymag.com

‘Hiatus’ is a convenient word to use for when bands

fancy a break. But for Two Door Cinema Club, they

were literally forced to put everything on hold.

Hospitalisation, alcoholism and depression cut short

all plans and any momentum they’d built in a whirlwind

five years. Suddenly, these future headliners had to

rethink everything. Now they’re speaking out, addressing

creative differences, mental health and how they

rediscovered themselves after hitting self-destruct.

OVER

?

Words: Jamie Milton. Photos: Carolina Faruolo.

33

Being in a successful band is like sitting in a merry-go-round that never

stops. With each chance to sit back and take stock, out steps another

opportunity. With increasing demand comes more reasons to book

another tour and make a new record. A bigger audience is always out

there somewhere. Accolades like the BRITs, Grammys and the Mercury

Prize remain unclaimed, so why not strive for all three at once?

Some people are cut out for becoming superstars, capable of

maintaining sanity thousands of miles away from home, able to deal

with demand from fans and industry alike, press intrusiveness, working

with a body clock that’s always out of sync. Others believe they’re dealing with it just fine,

but then the cogs and gears begin to tumble.

In June 2014, Two Door Cinema Club were on the brink of headlining their first big UK

festival. But their Latitude spot coincided with the band’s breaking point. Frontman Alex

Trimble, already in the depths of a nervous breakdown, developed stomach ulcers. He

was physically incapable of boarding a plane to go home, and found himself stranded in

a Seattle hospital. This came after months of tension within the group. Alex, guitarist Sam

Halliday and bassist Kevin Baird weren’t on good terms. Barely speaking, they bottled up

disagreements and bit their tongue with the belief that all this hard work would eventually

pay off.

“People say to us all the time,

‘Just concentrate on the music’.

we’d say, ‘Fuck you’.”

Kevin Baird

They’ve since patched up disagreements, rediscovered friendships and their reasons for

being in a band in the first place. But rarely has a group been so willing to inspect their own

wounds. The trio are currently in Valencia, Spain, a few hours before a disorienting 1am

festival set. “It all came down to ‘momentum’,” says Kevin. “How could we capitalise on all

this success that came out of nowhere? We ‘needed to do a new record’, we ‘needed to do

this and that’. It’s all about achievement. That new thing where the fee is higher, the slot is

bigger, we could bring in more production. It became about status.”

Weeks before their cancelled Latitude slot, Kevin was saying very different things.

“Headlining a great festival like Latitude is obviously quite a big deal for us but we also feel

like it is the next natural step,” he told the BBC. Everything Two Door said at the time, in fact,

referred to being “bigger”, aiming for territory they’d yet to conquer. It’s almost as if they

had this sense of achievement wired into their collective mainframe.

The trio first went on tour at the age of seventeen, still at school, with university

places waiting. “But that was just a way to convince people around us that there

was a back-up, if this didn’t work out,” jokes Alex. “At the beginning, there’s a sense

that one day you might ‘make it’,” he says, listing off how the tour led to a record

deal, a debut album and, eventually, a stint in hospital. “When that day comes - when you

‘make it’ - you can relax. You can take a break. You can go out and do the things you wanna

do. I don’t think I know anyone who really thinks they’ve achieved that feeling of having

made it. Although we were always in control, there were very convincing arguments made

by labels and managers that made offers impossible to say no to. On that first album, when

34 diymag.com

35

we were touring, we were about to finish. And we were invited

over to the MTV Awards in Texas. We ended up winning a

Best New Band award and all of a sudden, the label said, ‘Hey,

America wants you back!’ We thought, ‘It’d be silly not to,

right?’ And we ended up touring for another year, year-anda-half,

right after we’d intended to stop. That’s just how it

happens. That time goes in the blink of an eye.”

“You’re telling yourself - ‘We’ll put the work in now, at the

start. And that means in five years time, we’ll be this really big

band and we’ll get to do the things we want,’” Kevin quips.

“You imagine playing fewer shows, having more time at home.

There’s this mystery point where everything’s fine and you can

say yes or no, on a whim, to what you’d like to do. Life on the

road, you’re not enjoying the things around you, thinking each

show is a step on the ladder to somewhere else. It becomes

less meaningful. Life at home is this little gap in time that’s

prolonging the work you’re gonna have to do to get to that

point. The more time we spend at home, the less time we’re

away slogging it to reach that festival headline slot.”

It must be tempting to focus on the present day. Right

now, Two Door Cinema Club are in a healthy state. New

album ‘Gameshow’ ditches any “safe” tropes that second

full-length ‘Beacon’ relied on. They meddle with funk,

disco and shameless guitar solos - at one point, they even

sound like the Scissor Sisters. And together they’re the picture

of health, beaming about how they’re eating well, sleeping,

doing things they’ve always wanted to. But it took time and

trauma to get this far, and it’s surprising they’re so willing to

discuss what went wrong.

“There’s a lot of recovery involved,”

admits Alex. After time in hospital, he

went back home to Ireland to live with

his mum. “I essentially had her look

after me. It was very nice!” he smiles,

“but obviously it’s not something you

wanna be doing when you’re twenty-five

years old.” After the fall-out, Kevin and

Sam kept in touch, but neither spoke to

the frontman for six months. He found

himself the “most physically affected”

of the three, and back at home, happy,

became almost a teenager again. “I

didn’t have to concentrate on the

fundamentals of looking after myself. I

didn’t have to think about food or sleep,

going out and doing things, having a job.

So I was able to focus on other things,

like nurturing my being, I guess. I was

reading, discovering things about life.

It comes down to just figuring out what

you’re interested in, what you stand for,

what’s important to you in life. I don’t

think there was any real breakthrough

moment, but a couple of months in I

realised this was going somewhere. This

might have been just what I needed all

along, just to take time for myself.”

For Sam and Kevin, their rehabilitation

process wasn’t so straightforward. The

band was in a “state of flux.” Did they

think that was it? “Nobody really knew

what was going to happen. Alex was

taken sick, and we didn’t know if this was

WE WERE

ON A BREAK!

In their time apart, Two Door

pursued very different pastimes.

Alex took up photography. His

Mustang Margaritas exhibition - in

collaboration with Jamie William

- was the result of a U.S. road trip.

This followed a torrid few months of

alcohol and drug addiction. He quit

being a vegetarian, too.

Sam seemingly tried every culinary

dish in the world (if his Instagram’s

anything to go by). He also settled

down, got married and continued

to enhance his appetite.

Kevin got engaged, went fishing

and got seriously invested in

hosting BBQs.

“In the past, we just kept it

bottled up. And it ends in the

most horrible way possible.”

Alex Trimble

what we’d be doing in the future, whether there was a point

of doing it anymore,” Sam says. “It wasn’t initially as good as

it sounds on paper - having a year off. It took us a few months

to get back to reality. I was figuring out, ‘What else do I have

in my life? What else do I enjoy?’ And then you settle into your

own life. You enjoy doing things. Life moves on. And things

started to flow once we got back in touch and realised that we

did wanna do this.”

When all three eventually began hanging out again, music

wasn’t on the agenda. Their previous tour had been defined

by hostility, and a few words remained unsaid. “We had some

pretty frank conversations,” admits Kevin, with a knowing

look to his bandmates. “And we realised

we could still be in a band together. We

started hanging out, going to the pub,

swapping music and swapping books. I

guess we didn’t really discuss the band

at all, for quite a while. We talked about

what had happened in each other’s lives

over that time.”

“You realise your life isn’t just this,” Alex

claims. “We’ve realised that we’re more

important - our own health and wellbeing

is more important - than being in

the band.”

It’s not like they’ve cleaned their

slate, however. They’re still playing

post-midnight sets, booking trips

to Asia and jetting off for a North

American tour that takes them through

to November. What’s changed, exactly?

Isn’t this another recipe for disaster?

Sam points out the difference: “Before,

it would be like, ‘You’re going to Asia, so

it’s only another ten hours to Australia,

so you might as well go while you’re over

there. It’s another ten days, but it saves

days in the long run.’”

“And did you know the flight from

Australia is shorter if you go to South

America from there?” Alex laughs. “It’s

a vicious cycle. It’s important that we

get back, see our families and hold on

to that life we built for ourselves when

we were back home. None of us drink

or party as heavily as we once might

36 diymag.com

37

“When you’re in that bad

place, you believe that

absolutely nobody in

the world has even gone

through what you’re

going through.”

alex trimble

38 diymag.com

have. That definitely helps a lot. I had a pretty severe drinking

problem towards the end of the last run. That just made every

day difficult, as anyone could imagine.”

Something’s also shifted in a public-facing sense.

‘Gameshow’’s wild genre-meshing hybrid is one thing.

They’ve also learnt how to nip problems in the bud (“It’s better

to blow off steam there and then, have a bit of an argument

and get on with your day,” says Alex). They’re not holding

back. Not least online. A quick scour of the band’s Twitter page

finds them calling ticket touts “fucking twats” and declaring

the Trump Tower a “spec of hate in a city of love”. After the

Brexit vote, Kevin’s tweeted, “Never felt more Irish than I do

today”. Sam was even more forthright. “This is an absolute

disgrace. We shouldn’t have been allowed to make this

decision,” he said.

In their time away, did they read up on philosophical thinker

Noam Chomsky and develop a political streak? Or has it

always been there? “In the past, we maybe would have

avoided it,” Kevin admits. “You get worried about offending

people. I looked at the criticism of Father John Misty after his

‘meltdown’ of a speech about Donald Trump. People were

telling him to get on with it and play the songs. But isn’t

that what everyone wants from a musician? Some sort of

personality? Maybe we don’t have as much of a personality

- we’re not these big, effervescent pop stars. But we’re real

people and we have opinions. That’s what influences us when

we’re writing songs in the first place. People say to us all the

time, ‘Just concentrate on the music’. To them we’d say, ‘Fuck

you.’”

Alex is slightly cautious when broaching social media.

‘Gameshow’ itself wrestles with “generation information,”

infinite distractions and an always-on mentality that makes

him feel “very uneasy”. It’s not an original perspective, but

there’s a paranoia running through the record that makes it

convincing.

“The Internet is dangerous - it’s volatile and unpredictable. It

scares the shit out of me, for the reason that it’s all happening

so fast,” he says. “It’s changing a lot of people. It’s changing

the way an entire generation views the world. You go out to

dinner with people and everyone’s got their phone out. You

can’t maintain conversations with people in the same way,

because they’re about to catch a fucking Pokémon. I feel over

LET THE

GAMES BEGIN

When they were ready to record, the trio kept things

simple by returning to LA to record with Jacknife Lee.

“He’d do things you might think twice about doing, or

might be a bit afraid of. It was nice, this time.” They made

‘Beacon’ in the same studio, but Alex says they were in a

very different place at the time. “I think our relationship at

the time, with each other, made us do the least offensive

thing to everyone. With this record, we left it a bit more

up to chance… Jacknife wouldn’t let us stand still. He’d

mention if something sounded too much like a song we’d

done before.”

the years I’ve lost something in that human connection.” At

that exact moment, Kevin’s phone starts ringing. He promptly

turns it off.

Before and after their time apart, Alex and Kevin

struggled with depression. Alex found himself

under “various kinds of mental health care,” living

between the UK, Ireland and the States. In America,

professionals “tend to just want to sell you drugs,” he claims.

“That’s where they make their money. There’s no interest in

helping you as a person. Ultimately, you’re not going to get

through anything solely by covering it up with some pills.

That can help a lot of people along, but you’ve got to talk it

out. You’ve got to figure out what’s going on in your mind.”

Kevin, whose fiancé is a therapist, says in America “you could

sit down in the pub with your mates and it would be totally

normal to mention seeing your therapist. There’s obviously a

massive problem in terms of their health system and how you

go about paying for this - that’s another side to the problem.

But in terms of the stigma, it’s far more open and ahead than

the UK.”

Beyond anything, the band say it’s crucial depression is

treated like the illness that it is. “It’s hard to admit there’s

something wrong with your brain, to admit there’s something

fundamentally wrong with you as a person. Or flawed, or

fractured, unlikeable or unknowable,” Alex lists. “Everyone

has a different experience. Anyone who knows someone else

that’s been through it, there’s certain levels you can connect

on. But nobody can ever know what someone else is going

through. Again - that’s what makes it so difficult. On tour, you

don’t get the time to consider those emotions. I think I was

probably depressed for years before I realised I actually was.

Which is scary, because I simply don’t think I had the time to

be depressed, in a real sense. Because things were just going

so fast, and I was going along with it. It wasn’t until we took

time off when I thought ‘Hey, maybe I don’t feel as great as

I could’. You know, I just wasn’t enjoying things as much as I

remember I once used to. It’s a difficult thing to bring up with

people. But if you’ve got people that love you and support

you, you can get whatever kind of help you need. It’s not the

end of the world, that’s the thing. We all figured that out the

hard way.”

The band’s story isn’t strictly one of salvation. There wasn’t

one trigger moment that heroically saved their careers and

lives. Instead, a prolonged break found them reconfiguring

their own priorities, and the reasons for Two Door Cinema

Club’s existence. Within the band, they tackled problems head

on and in turn found a means of reinventing a tired sound. But

most importantly, they worked out how to be a band without

getting caught up in sorry ambition. “Each of us lacked our

own voice,” claims Alex. “We’re a lot less selfish now. We’re

a little more conscientious. We notice everyone around us

and how everyone’s doing. There’s an emotional and social

connection that didn’t exist in such a big way before. We don’t

fight, but we’re not afraid to say something that might be

controversial or hurtful. In the past, we just kept it bottled up.

And it ends in the most horrible way possible. It ends up in a

forced hiatus, in hospitalisation, alcoholism and depression.

But the break we’ve just taken has given us something back.

It’s given us a little bit of that wonder.”

Two Door Cinema Club’s new album ‘Gameshow’ is out

14th October via Parlophone. DIY

39

It may be three years since AlunaGeorge released

their debut, but with ‘I Remember’, they’re feeling

stronger and more confident than ever.

words: Alim kheraj. photos: Emma swann.

MUSCLE

40 diymag.com

Aluna Francis is rummaging through

the kitchen drawers in her rented

Airbnb, looking for a knife to cut up

some kiwi and an apricot. “Do you

want some?” she offers, before taking

a seat on an expansive sofa the size

of most people’s beds. It doesn’t feel

like that long since DIY last spoke to

the frontwoman – it was only back in March, after all - when,

it seemed, AlunaGeorge were raring to go with their muchdelayed

second album ‘I Remember’.

MEMORY

“There was the thing of, ‘Gotta get another album out before

everyone forgets you’,” Aluna explains. “But then we were

like, ‘Do you know what? Don’t worry about it. You can forget

about us if you want, but we’re still here’.”

The duo’s – Aluna and behind-the-scenes production whizz

George Reid - reluctance to put a record out wasn’t down to

some sort of second album syndrome cliché. Since the release

of debut ‘Body Talk’ back in 2013, the pair had written over 90

songs, but found themselves facing dissatisfaction with the

material. Huge hits with Disclosure and the surprise smash of

a DJ Snake remix of ‘You Know You Like It’ had led them down

a dance music path, and that was something that, Aluna feels,

they weren’t great at.

“We kinda carried on experimenting with it, and then the tide

41

started to change,” she says, popping a piece of apricot into

her mouth. “Where ‘You Know You Like It’ wasn’t four-to-thefloor,

we started to realise that maybe what we did best, and

what we enjoy doing, is fine. So we went back to the drawing

board and wrote from that perspective.”

While things may have seemed ready to go earlier this year

with the dancehall-infused bop ‘I’m In Control’, the album’s

release date remained unclear. “You really do have to resist

the rush. People will always insist that you put your album

out as soon as you can and don’t believe that there could be

anything wrong with that,” Aluna says matter-of-factly.

S

peaking to Aluna, there’s a sense that she’s wise

and weathered when it

comes to music industry

politicking. There’s awareness

that streaming has left traditional

release schedules muddled (“It

can be a lot of ideas but then

having no anchorage”) and

that, in order for a label to truly

understand an artist’s vision, you

need to get savvy when it comes

to the bigwigs.

“Being on someone else’s track

doesn’t give them an idea of what

to do with you,” she says, bluntly.

“So through performing and

doing some singles and getting to know the label we got to a

point where the roll-out made more sense.”

That’s another thing about the frontwoman. While others

may pander to label and press attention, trying to mould

themselves into something they’re not in order to get the

interview, album or video done, Aluna sits back, munching

on kiwi, with an almost confrontational ‘fuck ‘em all’ attitude;

she’s not going to suck up to anyone. “I’m not very friendly,”

she says. “I’m not a good catch-y-up-y type person. I’d be

that guy who’d bring up a dodgy break up in a public social

setting.”

“You can forget

about us if you

want, but we’re

still here.”

- Aluna Francis

Similarly, an attempt to delve deeper into the lyrical content of

‘I Remember’’s atmospheric album opener, ‘Full Swing’, results

in more than just an analysis of why technology works as a

metaphor. Instead, the discussion diverts towards, er, societal

deconstruction. As you do.

“We don’t notice how strange our lives are,” she says, sitting

forward, her arms animated. “Outside of the West, people’s

lives contain a large amount of outdoor interaction. In

comparison, we can spend days, or lifetimes, indoors. Living

amongst technology in the way that we do isn’t normal. We

adapt to it because we’re adaptable, but it doesn’t adapt to

us.”

“Nature can adapt to the

interaction with other things,

but technology doesn’t,” she

continues. “Well, algorithms

do, I guess, but as we can see

algorithms really upset us

because they can’t replicate how

human behaviour works.” Like on

Instagram. “Exactly. People are

like, ‘I can’t stand the algorithm

on Instagram’ and then they see

that they’re losing engagement

so they steal something from

Snapchat.”

Of course, she’s referring to the social media app’s recently

launched Stories function, which allows for quick snapshots

into the daily lives of your followers. This is something that

Aluna isn’t too au fait with. “All these things are so temporary,”

she says. “The fascination with people’s breakfasts has

reached its peak. In fact, it drives people away.”

Why, then, does she still find Instagram an engaging platform?

Why not delete her account? “For me, it’s changed into

a place where I can get a combination of political

viewpoints, unusual creativity, up and coming

designers and social commentary.

When asked if restarting the writing process for the second

album was any more difficult, she acknowledges “writing

music is always intense. We don’t come to the studio with

any contrived ideas or preconceived ideas. We’re always

developing our skills, but that’s just something we take for

granted.”

“For example,” she continues,

“Instagram is solely responsible

for me learning about, and

embracing, my natural hair

through people like Amandla

Stenberg and Willow

Where’s George?

You may be wondering where the other half of

AlunaGeorge - the enigmatic George Reid – is.

Well, as Aluna explains, it all began

when he no longer fancied playing

as part of the live show. “So much of

the press would happen at festivals

and he wasn’t there. It confused

matters to have him in some

things and not others,” she says.

So, how is he? “He’s good.”

Good.

George is very good at hide and

seek, obviously, but Aluna’s still

getting the hang of it.

42 diymag.com

Smith. Similarly, the whole sexual revolution that we’re going

through, there are lot of people who are seamlessly using

different personal pronouns and I relate to that.”

This affinity for Instagram isn’t just limited to who she follows,

rather its rigidity as a platform. Its reliance on images is much

more like writing poetry or lyrics; you have to feed your

idea through a process – in this case, photography - for it to

become part of the medium. Lyrics and poetry are a collection

of thoughts and emotions squeezed through a linguistic

process in order to be called lyrics.

“[Lyrics] are a legitimising of something that I get accused of

everyday,” she explains, “which is of overthinking things. You

can’t overthink lyrics because the more attention you give to

them the better they should be.”

L

istening to ‘I Remember’, songs like the title track, the

Sade-tinged ‘Mediator’ and ‘My Blood’ are, lyrically,

more complex than those on the group’s debut.

Strong motifs and metaphors create a record

brimming with descriptive language, that

when paired with the cocooning and

luscious production, equates to a

listening experience that’s rich,

often surprising and completely

immersive. “It’s not like I

didn’t want to do that with

[‘Body Music’],” Aluna

explains, “but everyone has to start somewhere.”

This growth in confidence has also allowed AlunaGeorge to

open themselves up to collaborators - there are five features

on the album, while tracks have been co-produced by the

likes of Zhu and Flume.

“We don’t feel as threatened by other people around us,”

Aluna says, drawing to a close. “Before, we hadn’t established

ourselves as artists and we needed to do that. We thought

that having other people involved [with the first album]

would have changed that. Regardless,” she continues, self

assurance glittering in her eye, “we’re at a stage where if

George and I are in a room, it’s going to sound the way it

sounds.”

AlunaGeorge’s new album ‘I Remember’ is out 16th

September via Island. DIY

43

44 diymag.com

S

eas don’t come much

stormier than those

Preoccupations set sail

into aboard their debut

album. In the middle of a

touring schedule that’d push

lesser groups to collapse,

the Canadians’ firebrand

post-punk succumbed to the

seemingly impossible – it

was near drowned out by the

noise surrounding it.

Months on, a weary Matt

Flegel is glad to see the

tail end of a year that saw

not only his band’s former

moniker – Viet Cong –

subject to constant scrutiny

and protest, but also became

increasingly plagued by

relationship breakdowns and

near-constant uprooting.

“It’s kinda hard to keep

relationships solid when

you’re gone all the time,” the

frontman and bassist shrugs.

Lifting their name from

Western troops’ nickname

for the National Liberation

Front during the Vietnam

War was always going to

ruffle feathers, but the band

are insistent that it was never

something they felt precious

over. As shows started being

cancelled, and protesters

began picketing those that

weren’t, the pressure gauge

reached its peak. “Being

called a racist is never gonna

be cool,” laughs drummer

Matt Wallace awkwardly,

the stress of 2015 finally

behind him. In the end, the

only way through it was

to stick to what they knew

best – staring straight ahead.

“There’d be fifty people

outside and twelve-hundred

inside, of all different races,

A new moniker but the same ‘hit the ground running’

mindset – Preoccupations are shaking off a rocky year

and continuing their top-speed upwards trajectory.

Words: Tom Connick. Photos: Jenna Foxton.

45

coming together and having

a great time,” Wallace smiles.

It’s a spectre that haunts

them, though – “It still says

‘FKA Viet Cong’ on every

single show poster,” Flegel

winces. He concedes that

that pressure might have

leaked into Preoccupations’

upcoming album too. “I

was writing the whole time.

Not necessarily for specific

songs, but I just keep a

notebook… I say notebook,

it was on an iPhone,” he

admits to peels of laughter

Creature from

the black bag

lagoon

Preoccupations returned

to the “rural-ish” barn

that birthed their first

album for part of LP2’s

recording. It prompted

an explorer’s instinct

from certain members of

the group…

Monty Munro: Danny

went to swim in this crazy

pond – he went to get

the Frisbee and made this

crazy suit out of all these

garbage bags because

we weren’t sure what

the status of the water

was. I was really

impressed.

Matt Flegel:

[to Danny]

Sometimes

you really

impress us.

from his bandmates.

“Ooh, Oscar Wilde here!”

quips guitarist Danny

Christiansen.

As they approach

‘Preoccupations’,

the four-piece’s

gang mentality

is in clearer focus than

ever before. Finishing

each other’s sentences

and endlessly ribbing one

another, there’s a chemistry

that can only be borne

of months in confined

spaces. Even though they

find themselves spread

across Canada in their rare

moments of downtime –

Flegel in Montreal, Wallace

in Calgary, Danny in Victoria

and multi-instrumentalist

Scott ‘Monty’ Munro in

Calgary – there’s a constant

magnetic attraction

between the four of them.

“It’s like three-quarters of the

year in a van and one quarter

of the year… in the studio!”

laughs Monty. “And then

there’s one day where you’re

in your house.”

“Although we’ve done that

before,” Flegel picks up,

“where we end a tour and

then…” Wallace interjects -

“Just go and hang out with

each other?” – to yet more

group-wide laughter.

“‘You guys wanna go

camping? Let’s go camping!’”

Flegel smirks. “We’ve definitely done that on a lot of the tours.“

It’s a tightening of screws that’s reflected in the record itself,

too, the jarring, probing nature of ‘Viet Cong’ trimmed back

and fashioned into an imposing, impenetrable new shape.

From “shitty, 3am, drunken voice memos” through to that

caustic noise of the final product, it was a process that saw the

road-tested instinct of that first album cast aside. Squeezing

writing and recording sessions into any studio they could get

their hands on in the cracks of a near-non-stop world tour,

they threw everything they could at the record whenever they

had the opportunity.

“A lot of this, the first session we did, we got a little ridiculous

with the overdubs. We had nineteen synths on certain things,”

Flegel admits with a snigger. “We had to step back and be like,

‘OK, we need to re-imagine stuff.’ Strip it down – it doesn’t

need to be twelve minutes, it can be a three-minute thing!

Take away three of the nineteen synth tracks and I think we’ll

be okay…”

While Flegel insists that he was “definitely leaning a little more

towards pop music”, there’s little danger of ‘Preoccupations’

giving Bieber a run for his money. “It’s funny – sometimes we’ll

scrap something that’s poppy, and I’ll show it to someone and

they’re like, ‘Yeah… that’s not pop music, man… that’s noise’,”

he continues with a laugh. “‘That makes me wanna kill myself.’

No, it’s pop!”

The frontman soon admits it’s “full steam ahead”

from here on out, and while ‘Preoccupations’ might

be a record of metamorphosis, there’s a reassuring

familiarity to their willingness to continue with the

hard graft - they’re already demoing for album three while

they rev the engines for their second’s no-doubt punishing

touring schedule. Following a similar thread, but dressed in

new fabrics, Preoccupations are relishing the rarity of their

situation: the opportunity for rebirth, just two albums in.

“We had to be as optimistic as possible,” Danny admits,

“and that was one of the main themes – that it was kind of

reinventing, in a way.” Flegel agrees: “It’s a clean slate.”

Preoccupations’ new, self-titled album is out September

9th via Jagjaguwar.

46 diymag.com

Goldenvoice Presents

RIVRS + CUCKOOLANDER

15.09.16

LONDON KAMIO AT RED GALLERY

XAMVOLO

+ KARA MARNI & SUEDEBROWN

19.09.16

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TOM WALKER

20.09.16


JUNK SON

21.09.16


JADU HEART

22.09.16

LONDON

BERMONDSEY SOCIAL CLUB

MEADOWLARK

23.09.16

BRIGHTON HOPE & RUIN

27.09.16


CLARE MAGUIRE

26.09.16

LONDON

ST GILES IN THE FIELD

THE INVISIBLE

26.09.16

MANCHESTER SOUP KITCHEN

27.09.16

BRISTOL LOUISIANA

28.09.16

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SOLD OUT

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28.09.16

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+ HAPPY MEAL LTD

28.09.16

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ASSEMBLY HALL

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06.10.16

LONDON HOXTON SQUARE BAR

& KITCHEN

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11.10.16

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PARQUET COURTS

12.10.16

THE OLD MARKET HOVE

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12.10.2016

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SOLD OUT

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16.10.2016

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29.11.2016


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17.10.16

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20.10.16

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21.10.16

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22.10.16

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26.10.16

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27.10.16

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29.10.16

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22.10.16

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25.10.16

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ASSEMBLY HALL

26.10.16

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+ LIV DAWSON

23.10.16


28.10.16

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01.11.16

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23.10.16

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10.11.16

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02.11.16

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10.11.16

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goldenvoice.co.uk

47

Baby, i’m a,

gender.

48 diymag.com

Laura Jane Grace is a romantic

at heart. The Against Me!

frontwoman may have a voice

that could set the sky on fire

and the style to match but

underneath it all, she’s gentle

and open-hearted. Her band’s

seventh album, ‘Shape Shift

With Me’, proves as much;

it’s an exploration of love and lust, inspired

by The Streets’ ‘A Grand Don’t Come for Free’,

The Rolling Stones’ ‘Exile on Main Street’,

and Liz Phair’s ‘Exile in Guyville’. And while

these are her holy trinity of love albums, for

Laura there’s a catch: they’re all written for the

cisgendered - people whose gender matches

the sex they were assigned at birth.

“It is a dysphoric

experience,

dating.”

Laura Jane Grace

As a transgender woman, Laura’s found there

aren’t many records that reflect romance the

way it applies to her. ‘Shape Shift With Me’

is an attempt to shift the balance, tracks like

‘Delicate, Petite & Other Things I Will Never Be’

hinting at the dull ache of gender dysphoria

that can make trans people struggle to feel

worthy of love. But Against Me! are nothing if

not defiant, and this new album rails against

the darkness as much as it is consumed.

As Laura explains, it’s about transition not

only of gender, but also of relationships and

geography.

“This is a record written while touring, and

coming to understand myself over those

two years,” she says, from the other end of a

crackling transatlantic phone line. “All while

going through a heartbreaking divorce, and

trying to move on. To me, the record is a

document. I can look at every one of those

songs and I can tell you about where it was,

anarchist.

Love may be one of the most universal inspirations in all of music

but, for Against Me!’s new album ‘Shape Shift With Me’, Laura Jane

Grace is looking at it from a whole new perspective.

Words: Liam Konemann

49

and it’s set out that way too.” ‘Provision L3’, the album’s

opener, is the name of an airport body scanner - which, on

several occasions, has caused security staff to publicly ‘out’

trans passengers after they’ve discovered ‘physical anomalies’

during the scan. “You’re starting out on your trip. You’re a little

disoriented, you don’t know where you’re going, but here we

go on an adventure. And the last song is the ride home.”

s she wrote, Laura found herself grappling with

the romantic implications of her transition, and the

Aimpact sexuality and traditional gender roles have

on relationships. Her track ‘Boyfriend’, written alongside The

Blood Brothers’ Cody Votolato, is a particularly stark example.

The pain of being viewed as male is apparent as she sings

“you treated me like a boyfriend / like some dumb fucking

boyfriend.” Because of this kind of misconception, she’s now

hyper-aware of the way she’s perceived, she says. “You meet

people, and you question ‘what is it that you’re attracted to in

me? Is it the fading masculinity that you see in me, or is it the

emerging femininity?”

This introspection can be painful. There’s a fine line between

figuring out where you stand and inflaming your insecurities,

and Laura has found that her curiosity can lead to more

personal, hurtful questions. “It is a dysphoric experience,

dating,” she admits. “For me, at least. There are certain

things – whether it’s small things like doors being opened,

or whatever - you’re recognising the instilled gender roles

that people play with each other, and the power dynamics in

relationships. You’re wondering what emotions you’re having

when experiencing a relationship or divorce are strengthened

by testosterone or estrogen; are certain emotions more ‘male’,

Laura knows that there is power in representation, and that

conviction comes through in her work. In her experience, the

perspective a song is written from can make all the difference.

“There was a funny coincidence with our song ‘Boyfriend’,

where Tegan and Sara released a song recently called

‘Boyfriend,” she says. “And I heard it, and I was like ‘Oh my

god.’ I immediately reached out to Tegan and I was like ‘we’re

subconsciously connected right now, in like a psychic way’,

because we both have this song that is basically expressing

the same thing from a different standpoint. As a listener, how

you take in Tegan or Sara singing the words “you treated me

like a boyfriend” as a queer woman [is different to] a trans

woman saying that, based on even the way the voice sounds.

How would society take that coming from us? Because really,

when it comes down to it, I’m interested in that as a gender

anarchist.”

W

hile the new record may focus on loving and being

loved as a transperson, there has always been a

political aspect to Against Me!. Recently, Laura’s

found herself in a position to speak out against transphobia,

protesting policy issues that affect her community on a daily

basis. The North Carolina ‘bathroom bill’ - formally known

as HB2 - is no exception. The statewide law says, among

other things, that people must use the public toilet that

corresponds with the sex printed on their birth certificate.

The ‘bathroom bill’ has upset many transgender people, who

fear they will be the victims of harassment or violence if they

are discovered in the ‘wrong’ place. As high-profile acts like

Bruce Springsteen cancelled North Carolina dates in protest,

Laura felt it was her job to show up. “That, to me, felt like the

act of an ally. Springsteen was drawing attention to what

“You should be able to be

Empowered by

your sexuality

as a transperson.”

Laura Jane Grace

or more ‘female’?”

Unravelling gender roles can be a difficult process, as trans

people begin to learn how to navigate relationships from

outside the boundaries of tradition. Lust, and by extension

sex - and the dysphoria that can come with it - can further

complicate things. Acceptance from the mainstream could

make the process easier, she explains. “I think that because

most of mainstream culture’s consciousness of trans people

is as a fetish or a sexual object - and a shameful sexual object

- then, when it comes to trans people being accepted in the

mainstream media, what really needs to be demonstrated is

that it’s OK for trans people to express their sexuality too. To

express that trans people actually like to fuck in a healthy way

too. As opposed to a transperson expressing their sexuality

and it being viewed as something pornographic. You should

be able to be empowered by your sexuality as a transperson.”

was happening in North Carolina, which was great. We don’t

draw as much as Bruce Springsteen by any means, so the act

of us cancelling would not have that same impact or drawn

that same media attention. By going there, by talking about

it, and by inviting community organisations to come down

and table the event, we can talk about how to defeat HB2. The

people who live in North Carolina who are queer or trans or

however they want to identify, who are affected by this… they

don’t have the option to boycott. That’s their reality, that’s my

reality. I’m not going to not go to North Carolina just because

of some assholes.” While Laura Jane may be shape-shifting on

Against Me!’s new record, when it comes to her community,

she’s standing her ground.

Against Me!’s new album ‘Shape Shift With Me’ is out 16th

September via Xtra Mile Recordings.

50 diymag.com

51

52 diymag.com

Burn

The

Wytch

The Wytches are using second album ‘All Your Happy Life’ as a

springboard to a future full of (even) weirder things.

Words: Will Richards. Photos: Phil Smithies.

Kristian Bell is recalling a quote he heard

once from Henry Rollins. “Someone

asked him about why he started doing

spoken word, and he said that when he

was playing in Black Flag, and shouting

so much that you couldn’t hear specifics,

it was like when a dog comes over to

you, and you don’t know what they’re trying to say exactly,

but you get the gist of it.” The story’s one that’s particularly

relevant for The Wytches, and new album ‘All Your Happy Life’.

“I think there’s a power in seeing someone really aggressively

singing on stage, and just taking in the way that they’re

expressing themselves, then that being enough to gain some

understanding from the lyrics.”

Despite this, the frontman has found himself being more blunt

on ‘All Your Happy Life’, the abstract storytelling that made up

debut album ‘Annabel Dream Reader’s lyrical content proving

something that could wear thin. Candour, on the other hand,

will never do the same for him - “it’ll help me not get sick of

[the lyrics], because they’re so honest.”

The Wytches - Kristian, drummer Gianni Honey,

bassist Dan Rumsey and newly-reinstated guitarist/

keyboardist Mark Breed - may cast a gloomy

shadow onstage, but the band feel it’s important

fans are able to see that the darkness isn’t allencompassing.

“I think we’ve expressed our love for slapstick humour

and ridiculous comedy,” Kristian says, the day before they

film a new clip for single ‘C-Side’, set to involve “David

Attenborough-style animatronics”, and a creature whose neck

can extend nearly ten metres.

“People who know us know that we don’t take ourselves too

seriously, and I’d like everyone to take it all with a pinch of salt.

I’d love to be able to partake in the whole stage banter thing,

and chatting like a rock star between songs, but I just end up

getting lost in it all,” he says. “Maybe in a few albums’ time I’ll

be a complete pro, but for now our on-stage personalities are

very separate from how we are day-to-day.” As Rollins said, a

band’s attitudes and personalities come across through more

than simply their lyrics.

53

As such, just ahead of the

announcement of ‘All Your Happy

Life’, the band released a cassetteonly

EP of home recordings

just for the hell of it. The more

spontaneous way of releasing

feels refreshing to Kristian, and is

something he wants the band to

delve into more in the future. “The

album had already been finished

when we wrote those songs,” he

explains, excited to realise that

nothing the band do is tied to a

certain schedule or format - “we

did this one on cassette, and next

I wanna see a release of ours on a

crappy, plastic-cased CD.

“Some of my favourite releases by

bands I love have been B-side and

rarities compilations, and while

we’re obviously very proud of

our full-length albums, so many

interesting songs can hide in other

places. From now on, I want to try

and release at least a few EPs, or

compilations, or whatever, before

our next album.”

“We’d run out into the smoking area of venues

thirty seconds before we play and yell at

peoplE to come in and watch us.” -

Kristian Bell

This twisting of dynamics hasn’t stopped The Wytches from already thinking about

album three, with “five or six songs” already demoed and waiting. Speaking from

Peterborough, where three-quarters of the band have relocated back to from

Brighton, Kristian is clearly relishing the position they find themselves in, no

longer having to “run out into the smoking area of venues thirty seconds before we play

and yell at people to come in and watch us”. A headline gig at London’s Electric Ballroom

is even waiting for them after almost a year away from heavy touring.

“We’re always going to go into every show with the aim of impressing, and would never

take anything for granted, but it’s so nice that people liked the first album enough that

they’re interested in this one,” he comments. A ferocious live band, who made their name

on weekend tours before and around the release of ‘Annabel Dream Reader’, Kristian

says The Wytches are thinking of scaling back their touring plans after the release of ‘All

Your Happy Life’ to concentrate on those new, unusual ways of releasing their music. “It’s

important for us now to just keep releasing music, and really work hard on refining the

new material we have that we really like a lot,” he concludes. “And we even have quality

control now!”

The Wytches’ new album ‘All Your Happy Life’ is out 30th September via Heavenly

Recordings. DIY

54 diymag.com

55

DEAP

rOLLING IN ThE

Taking the vital, bolshy essence of their debut and cranking it up to a .

whole new level, ‘Femejism’ is Deap Vally’s creative explosion. .

Words: El Hunt. Photos: Emma Swann.

56 diymag.com

record is our ‘Femejism’” declares Deap Vally’s Lindsey Troy, proudly. ”It’s our creative explosion; very

pure and undiluted,” she drawls, pausing for thought. “It’s our creative seed!” the frontwoman revises

with a smirk, before suddenly mimicking a fast-erupting geyser with her hands and scaring a couple of

nearby tourists in the process. “Bam!”

“This

Deap Vally – originally named God’s Cuntry, way back when – have never shied away from wordplay,

nor bold statements. 2013 debut ‘Sistrionix’ (another beloved portmanteau) was both a lone search result on Google and a

bolshy, bullshit-busting first outing. With its successor ‘Femejism’ mashing together ‘feminism’ and ‘jizz’ into a fuzzy-felt covered,

grit-soaked bundle of roughed-up, blues-nodding rock, this Los Angeles duo are turning things up endless notches for album

number two.

57

“It’s just a word that popped into my

head, and I never really attached any

particular meaning,” drummer Julie

explains, sipping lemonade on a leafy

London rooftop ahead of the duo’s live

return to the capital this evening. “When I

looked up what ‘feme’ meant, it’s actually

a Latin legal term from back when

women were first allowed to continue to

be property owners after they’d divorced

their husbands,” she adds. “It’s called a

‘feme sole’. It goes back to ‘gonna make

my own money, gonna buy my own

land’,” Julie points out, name-checking

the pair’s debut stand-out track about

binning off husbands and thriving alone.

“It fitted.”

In many ways, ‘Femejism’ is a

continuation of where Deap Vally

left off. Many of the debut’s central

themes – gender inequality,

misogyny and the pressures on

women to adhere to a ‘perfect’ image

– remain central here, largely because

they’re equally pressing issues three years

on. The band made their return with the

snarling tirade ‘Smile More’, taking square

aim at men on the street requesting

women walk around with permanentlycemented

grins. “Stranger in the bar

tells me to smile more,” snarls a highly

pissed off Lindsey in reply, “... I am happily

unhappy, man, and no, I don’t wanna

shake your hand.” It’s an unpleasant but

everyday encounter that every woman

listening to ‘Femejism’ will recognise in a

lightning-flash instant.

“I started writing [‘Smile More’] at a

downtown rehearsal studio,” remembers

Lindsey, laughing, “and we were going to

meet to flesh it out. I got in big trouble,

you remember?” she asks, as Julie

responds with a comedy frown. “You

got super mad at me! I slept through my

alarm clock when I was supposed to meet

you and Nick [Zinner, producer and Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarman]

in the studio one night, and I totally never woke up,” she

continues. “You were like, ‘I’m really not in the mood to go to

the studio, so you go to the space, and you work on that song’.

So I went and played your drum kit for an hour,” she tells Julie,

“and then I was all zenned out, and I banged those lyrics out

real quick. It was one of those euphoric writing experiences

where it’s really effortless, and it just comes out,” she says.

These ended up being a frequent occurrence on ‘Femejism’

- in part thanks to Nick. Manning the production desk

alongside the band – who produced a chunk of the record

alone, too – he pushed them to retain their potent essence,

and concentrate it tenfold. The result is an album so sonically

giant, it seizes you by the scruff of the neck, before dropkicking

you into a bottomless tangle of abrasive squalls,

technicoloured guitar pedals, and dirty, nasty riffs.

“It’s really valuable for a two piece to have a third input,” Julie

says today. “It can break a tie, or settle a war. Also, he’s just

TIGHT-KNIT

Lindsey Troy and Julie Edwards

met in slightly unconventional

circumstances; at a crochet

workshop, to be exact. Years on,

the music has taken over, but

they’ve still got a soft spot for

all things woollen.

What are the most impressive

things you’ve ever knitted?

Lindsey: Julie’s really good at

free-form crochet. I’m better at

following a pattern. The way you

can spatially map something out

and create it is really impressive

to me.

Julie: I’m really rusty now.

The thing that pops out is the

miniature sweater I knitted for

a doll, that I free-formed. It had

a really flattering shape for the

doll. It was a really awesome 80s

sweater.

L: A flattering shape for the doll! A

flattering figure!

J: To be fair, it was an art doll! A

collaborative art doll with a face

painted by the artist Kime Buzzelli,

and clothing – other than my

sweater – made by Nina Lucas.

L: I made stuff for my nephew.

A really cool baby

blanket that I

crocheted. Then

I made him

dungarees from

a 1970s pattern

that I found at a

knitting shop

in London

called Prick

Your Finger.

sonically so with it, he has such great

taste for guitar tone,” she adds. “The

three of us really went for it. We went

deep, we got in the mud. We wrestled

some things out, and he was very much

a part of the process in terms of how the

record sounds. We felt really comfortable

together, which is extremely important.

You feel like you can tell each other to

fuck off, or tell each other it’s great, or

whatever. You can get to the heart of

what you’re recording.”

Lounging around today during

a rare London heatwave, Deap

Vally are observing a recent fad

as it takes hold on the general

public; a certain game named Pokémon

Go. Though only a few aspiring Ash

Ketchums cross their path today, it has

apparently been wreaking havoc back in

their native LA.

“My boyfriend was sub-letting this really

groovy property in Silverlake,” Lindsey

starts, spinning the yarn. “It’s kind of like

a commune. An ex-wife and husband

live there with their current spouses,

and there are several houses, trailers,

chickens, and an outside shower,” she

grins. “His roommate was obsessed with

Pokémon Go, and so he went to find a

Pikachu or whatever, and it was on the

property. He was searching around, and

he followed it to the outdoor shower.

He stumbles upon this woman and her

boyfriend totally fucking!” she exclaims.

“All parties were mortified.”

“It’s such a metaphor for life, you

know?” deadpans Julie. “Searching

for something that isn’t really

there… that you can’t really find.

I’d rather keep trailing after the

ever-elusive music career,” she

smiles, “than Pokémon.”

Deap Vally aren’t just moving

off on technology-related tangents

for nothing. ‘Femejism’ is a record that embraces all walks

of messy modern life; our obsession with selfies and water

vapour-emitting pipes included. One minute they’re wryly

complaining about a shortage of ‘likes,’ and the next – on

‘Teenage Queen’ – Lindsey rebrands that age-old cliche, ‘sex,

drugs and rock n’ roll’. Except here it’s ‘Snapchat, sex and

cigarettes’.

“It should be e-cigs, really,” laughs Julie, delighted by the

parallel. “Or vapes. But ‘Snapchat, sex, and vapes’ doesn’t

sound as good,” she shrugs. “That stuff is reality, though, let’s

not kid ourselves. When the aliens come in the future, and

they find our buried civilisation, these songs can help give

them a flavour of 2016.”

Deap Vally’s new album ‘Femejism’ is out on 16th

September via Cooking Vinyl. DIY

58 diymag.com

Do knit mess with these two.

“I’d rather keep trailing after.

the ever-elusive music career.

than Pokémon.”.

Julie Edwards.

59

REVI

eeee

FRANK OCEAN

Blonde (BOYS DON’T CRY)

Few records need to be unpacked as

When music and meaning don’t fully click

together like a neat stack of Lego bricks,

ambiguity steps in. If a record is billed as being

‘open to interpretation’, that’s often code for

‘there’s not a great deal to see here, guys’. That’s not the case

for Frank Ocean’s ‘Blonde’, an album that will be poked and

prodded at for years to come, and for good reason.

Searching for ‘Blonde’’s true meaning is like fishing for

treasure in the Great Barrier Reef. There’s bound to be

something down there somewhere, but you’ve got to get

past the infinite, beautiful distractions. In truth, the followup

to ‘Channel Orange’ thrives in its own uncertainty. Its

best moments play out like a lucid dream. There are funny

contradictions everywhere, like how an anti-drugs speech

from Frank’s aunt (‘Be Yourself’) is immediately followed by

‘Solo’’s opening line, “Hand me a towel I’m dirty dancing by

myself / Gone off tabs of that acid.” Right up to the record’s

title - it can be called ‘Blonde’ or ‘Blond’ - there’s no certainty.

But there’s something refreshing in not knowing, especially in

2016, when one opinion can be gospel while everything else is

void, when you’re told to be aware of everything while barely

60 diymag.com

EWS

slowly as this one.

anyone knows the real answers.

It’s been a year of sudden-releases and snap judgements. But

few records need to be unpacked as slowly as ‘Blonde’. It will

take months for the dust to fully settle on 2016’s most longawaited

album. For ‘Channel Orange’ purists, the record’s

more outward-thinking moments will understandably

frustrate - Frank’s rich sense of storytelling is still here, it’s just

fragmented. But once ‘Blonde’’s ambiguity begins to piece

together, it becomes something remarkable. (Jamie Milton)

LISTEN: ‘Ivy’, ‘Pink + White’, ‘Nights’, ‘Seigfried’

The never-ending story

Before ‘Blonde’ finally emerged, Frank Ocean released

‘Endless’, a visual album that completed his three-week

(!) course on ‘How to Build a Staircase Mysteriously, For

Dummies’.

In a roundabout, it-didn’t-have-to-take-three-weeks-mate

way, ‘Endless’ makes a very simple point: his music takes

time. Tinkering and refining can be an infinite experience.

Sometimes the music feels like wading inside Frank’s head,

trying to pick out smidgens of sense in a murky pool. But

once gold strikes - like on the opening seconds of ‘U-N-I-T-Y’,

the playful drum machine beat of ‘Commes des Garçons’, the

breathless one-two of ‘Rushes’ and ‘Rushes To’ - ‘Endless’ is up

there with Frank’s finest moments.

61

eeee

BASTILLE

wild world (Virgin EMI)

With a title as expansive as ‘Wild World’,

it’d be easy to assume that Bastille’s

second album is simply a reflection of life

over the past few years for the band. But,

there’s more to it than that: where debut

‘Bad Blood’ was built upon foundations of

myth and legend, ‘Wild World’ sets itself

in the present day, dwelling in human

interaction and emotion.

Opener ‘Good Grief’ sets the tone

brilliantly, its pomp and grandeur

juxtaposed perfectly with Dan Smith’s

dark-tinged tale of coping with life

after death. ‘The Currents’ is a poignant

declaration of our political climate and

disbelief at the world we live in, while

‘Warmth’ counts the places we seek

comfort, when the everyday horrors of

modern life seem too close.

Musically, the band sound bolder

and more ambitious, yet their core

songwriting talents remain at the heart

of each song. While ‘Power’ begins with

an infectious groove, it explodes into life

before ‘Two Evils’, a stark but gorgeous

number, which brings a real cinematic feel

to the mid-point of the record.

After the tremendous success of debut

‘Bad Blood’, it’s getting harder to deny

that Bastille are anything but stadiumbothering

superstars. But with this second

album, they’re still offering an exciting,

engaging alternative to pure chart pop,

and they do it so bloody well. (Sarah

Jamieson) LISTEN: ‘The Currents’, ‘Two

Evils’, ‘Snakes’

A QUICKFIRE GUIDE TO

‘WILD WORLD’

Bastille’s Dan Smith has always

been known as quite the storyteller

- here, he reveals exactly what

some of ‘Wild World’s stand-out

tracks are all about.

‘BLAME’

“It’s about an intimate moment,

pre-death, in a gangster situation. It’s

intimate yet completely overblown

at the same time.”

‘THE CURRENTS’

“A song like ‘The Currents’ alludes to

hearing people expressing opinions

that you just can’t comprehend. It

head-on tackles how shocking we

find some people’s opinions.”

‘SNAKES’

“It’s about that ‘Fuck it, it’s Friday’

feeling. It’s a tried and tested human

reaction to go and get off your head

to forget about things - this is acknowledging

that it’s maybe not the

right thing, but it’s something to do.

eee

WILCO

Schmilco (dBpm)

Last year, Wilco released ninth album

‘Star Wars’ as a surprise free download. It

came as a shock, especially from a band

who had stuck to routine impeccably

for their two decades in existence, and

with a fanbase that largely wouldn’t

have anticipated such a move. Only a

year later, and they’re back with another

LP, brilliantly titled ‘Schmilco’. Despite

proving themselves as a forwardthinking

band, open to change, Jeff

Tweedy starts the album looking back

- thinking of times “before I could drive,

before I could vote”. Who can complain

about a lack of refinement from a band

on their tenth LP and in their 23rd year

as an act? With ‘Schmilco’, Wilco are

getting funnier, more surprising and

more interesting, two decades after

forming. It’s a delight. (Will Richards)

LISTEN: ‘Someone to Lose’

“What is this, a city for ants?!”

62 diymag.com

eeee

BEACH BABY

No Mind No Money (ISLAND)

‘No Mind No Money’ is an assured debut, striking a balance

between the haziness of Beach Baby’s earlier material with

an air of confidence. This foursome flourish when they’re

at their most carefree. ‘U R’ has all the makings of a classic

pop song, and lands full marks in the re-recording game,

diced into a neat mid-album nugget that’s guaranteed to

turn the stiffest of frowns. ‘Ladybird’ also gets a brush up

for the record, albeit a less severe one; it’s punchier than

the original but retains that delicate simplicity – not streets

away from Bon Iver, from whom this act get their name.

From a band tipped for big things over the course of 2016,

this isn’t a debut destined to smash the charts or catapult

Beach Baby to headliner status. But as a good, clean indie

pop record, it’s a solid foot in the door. (Alex Cabré) LISTEN:

‘No Mind No Money, ‘UR’

Q&A

Life isn’t a beach

With their debut album imminent, Beach Baby

talk through its creation. Words: Emma Snook.

You’re a London-based band and ‘No Mind No Money’

seems like a relatable track for a generation of young

broke Londoners. How much has that struggle been

part of your band experience?

Ollie Pash: To a large extent I’d say. There’s not a huge

amount of money in making music at the moment so it’s

pretty right on and also being young… I think it’s the same

for people doing a whole host of different things; if you’re

trying to make it as a comedian or a journalist or something

you have to slum it for a long time and I think that’s what

pop music is quite good at. It’s quite good at representing

youth culture and what young people have to go through.

So I hope it’s a pretty good representation of our experience

of working and making music and trying to keep all

the plates spinning in London.

So you’ve had to juggle jobs with the band?

O: I hit rock bottom with jobs two days ago. I was picking

up leaves in someone’s garden with my hands and putting

them into a carrier bag and I was denied a rake. I had to do

it with my hands! That was the shittest job I will hopefully

ever have to do. I cried at the end of the day.

eeee

WARPAINT

Heads Up (Rough Trade)

‘Heads Up’ is fixated on fun. Pushing

their luck at times - wonderfully so - Warpaint even

manage to make “you got the moves, bang bang baby”

(a so-dreadful-it’s-kind-of-genius lyric that wouldn’t

sound out of place in a Pitbull club banger) sound

entirely palatable. No mean feat.

This third record is, at its heart, a sum of all the vital

ingredients that cook up to make the magic of the LA

band. Since the early days of their ‘Exquisite Corpse’ EP,

they’ve built their trade on fluid reinvention, osmosing

from the velvety mud of ‘The Fool’ into the stratospheric,

misted drift of ‘Warpaint’ without batting a single eyelid

between them. Re-energised by a whole bunch of side

projects and collaborations – from Jenny Lee Lindberg’s

voice-finding solo record, to Stella Mozgawa’s ability to

be behind every drum kit in music ever – ‘Heads Up’ sees

them finding yet more ways to cut loose and innovate.

This time, the fiery furnace powering the record comes

from slashing open every membrane; letting ideas wildly

collide like supercharged, excitable atoms. Brushstrokes

and processes are all over it. The echo of a dusty old

piano in Emily Kokal’s house abruptly switches gears,

into a jittery, restless piece of almost surf-pop; like

an incredibly stoned Beach Boys attempting to cover

Kraftwerk. ‘The Stall’ scuffs into life with muffled studio

chatter - “cool, let’s try it.” That may as well be ‘Heads

Up’’s mantra. (El Hunt) LISTEN: ‘Whiteout’, ‘Heads Up’

Scrambled ‘Eads

You know us here at DIY – any excuse for a bit

of silliness. With this in mind, we decided to

take ‘Heads Up’ literally. Below, we’ve mixed up

Warpaint’s faces with some more of our favourite

musicians – if you can work out which ones, you

might even win a packet of crisps*

*Maybe. Depends how nice we’re feeling.

63

eee

M.I.A.

A.I.M. (INTERSCOPE)

Today, we live in a world where one in

every 122 people worldwide is now a

refugee, asylum seeker or displaced

person. Countless dangers face these

people every single day as they flee

their homes in the face of unspeakable

violence to build a better life, and yet

hatred, bigotry, and racism is a rising

force in response. Wilfully entering this

headspace on ‘A.I.M’, albeit with clear

sarcasm, satire, and a liberal use of

under-the-rug sweeping for yet more

effect, serves a political purpose in its

own right for M.I.A.

A contrary, hard to grapple with

statement on superficial, RT-if-yousupport-this-cause

politics, M.I.A’s

album is one that stands composed

with a fixed grin, while internally

raging. The world M.I.A speaks of won’t

be saved by the puny looking olive

branches on the faux-optimistic cover.

That’s perhaps the punchline, except

here, there’s no joke. (El Hunt) LISTEN:

‘Borders’, ‘Foreign Friend’

eeee

DOE

Some Things Last Longer Than You

(Specialist Subject/Old Flame)

London trio Doe showed a bucketload of promise with

their quartet of EPs, collated into a ‘First Four’ compilation in 2014. Everything

that made the band’s beginnings so exciting is condensed and refined on ‘Some

Things Last Longer Than You’, a bringing together of what their early recordings

hinted at.

As has consistently been the case over the past few years, producer MJ has

beefed up the band’s sound to intense levels, with the space left by the lack of

a bass guitar not felt at all. Doe always hinted at such results from a full-length,

and ‘Some Things Last Longer Than You’ delivers the lot and then some, with

devastating power and sincerity. (Will Richards) LISTEN: ‘Sincere’, ‘Last Ditch’

Doe you really like it?

Is it, is it wicked?

We asked Doe some great questions about their

equally great album. Interview: Will Richards.

Do you feel more prepared going into this album after the four EPs? Does

it still feel like a debut?

Nicola Leel: It feels like totally the right time to do an album. Every band is

different but it felt like we needed this time to develop and create something

that felt right. We really wanted to approach it as a cohesive thing, almost

with its own musical narrative which ties into the artwork, order, song names,

everything basically. Although ‘First Four’ collated the previous EPs, it was very

much a collection of separate entities which were originally written for short

form releases and always felt that way to us. ‘Some Things’ definitely still feels

like our debut album and I think we’re all really excited and proud to share it.

MJ has helped on a whole bunch of great albums in the past few years -

how did you find your time at Suburban Home?

Dean Smithers: So chill but also intense. MJ is very good at what he does and

definitely knows how to get the best out of people. We were there until 2am on

the last night and I almost had a breakdown, but the weird energy that came

out of that session – and others like it – fed into the record and gave it life. I think

that’s the kinda thing that sets him apart from a bunch of other producers.

eeee

TOUCHÉ

AMORÉ

Stage Four

(Epitaph)

Touché Amoré’s Jeremy Bolm has never

been one to shy away from wearing his

heart on his sleeve, but on ‘Stage Four’

he’s opened himself up even more so.

Where previously, his lyrics told tales of

anxieties and emotions that plagued

him, or questions he could never quite

answer, the band’s fourth record has

him dealing first-hand with the passing

of his mother in 2014.

But while the album is very much a

document of sadness and guilt, it’s also

a vehicle for healing. Living, breathing

proof that, even in our darkest of

moments, music can still be the

greatest remedy of all. (Sarah Jamieson)

LISTEN: ‘Displacement’, ‘Skyscraper’

64 diymag.com

eeeee

PARTYBABY

The Golden Age of Bullshit (PARADYSE)

Few bands charge out of the starting gates with a manifesto you could set your

watch to - even fewer with one as unifying as Partybaby’s. Dividing everyday

anxieties into easily digestible sugar-bombs, their early singles injected a

much needed heart and soul into pop-punk’s high-gain charge, establishing

themselves as one of the brightest prospects in years within seconds of debut

track ‘Everything’s All Right’. With debut album ‘The Golden Age Of Bullshit’, they

step up to the plate; flag-bearers for a whole generation.

From the cop-baiting hedonism of totemic party anthem ‘Your Old Man’ to

‘Don’t Say It’’s stitching of solemn reflection to chunky distortion, it’s vital from

the off. Vibrant, fresh and yet instantly trelatable, it’s an old comfort blanket put

through a deep cleanse. By the time closer ‘Overload’ drops in references to the

preceding seven tracks, Partybaby have established their own mythology. It’s

one that’ll stick around for millennia. (Tom Connick) LISTEN: ‘Everything’s All

Right’, ‘Don’t Say It’, ‘Overload’

Partybaby’s troublesome twosome Jamie Reed and

Noah Gersh shoot the (bull)shit. Words: Tom Connick.

You’ve got yourself a record!

Surprise!

Noah Gersh: Yeah man - our record’s

been done since before we played our

first show! It’s a bit of a weird thing, to

figure out how you want to put music

out into the world these days. We

wanted to let the music just be there,

and not have it be about our faces.

Not trying to be like The Weeknd, or

some mysterious thing! Our music is

genuinely about having fun with your

friends, and it’s not about us looking

cool or whatever. We’ve been figuring it

out as we go. We’re really close to being

done with the next one.

Blimey, you’re not hanging about.

Noah: I don’t wanna inundate people

with music, because that can be

annoying – bludgeoned to death. Like,

‘Young Thug puts out a new mixtape…’

I love Young Thug, but I can’t find the

time to digest it all! I’d like to put out

Q&A

more than one record a year. We write

‘em! It sucks to sit on music. The good

news is when you start playing the

songs out, they become important in

your life again.

Jamie Reed: They take on a new life.

When can we expect Partybaby

2.0 then?

Noah: I hope that we can get to a place

where the music can come out a little

bit more seamlessly. We have the ability

now, and maybe the infrastructure in

place, where if we sent one of those

songs out to get mixed, it could go up

tomorrow. That would be amazing! The

way people used to cut dance records

and go to the club and put them on

and let people go off to ‘em – that’s

amazing!

Jamie: Or like golden era Dylan and The

Stones and The Beatles – they’d put a

record out every six months.

Noah: They’d try to top each other!

eeee

DEAP

VALLY

Femejism (Cooking Vinyl)

Within a few minutes - at the very latest

when Lindsey Troy’s gnarly vocals hit in

second track ‘Julian’ - it’s clear ‘Femejism’

is at least a bazillion times bolder

than already-pretty-bloody-bold debut

‘Sistrionix’. Should you be of a certain

51% of the world’s population, by the

unparalleled call-to-arms ‘Smile More’,

there’s no way you won’t be punching

the air mid-scream, then during penultimate

number ‘Turn It Off’, cradling

yourself in the foetal position.

Lindsey, and drumming partnerin-crime

Julie Edwards have their

metaphorical balls out further than

the eye can see on a record that’s so

smash-full of gritty, dirty blues riffs it’s

as if they’ve ransacked all the dive bars

in their native LA. ‘Gonnawanna’ is an

ultimate statement of intent, ‘Critic’ a

wry sideways glance, ‘Teenage Queen’ a

veritable sludgefest of the best kind.

Deap Vally were always turned to

eleven, ‘Femejism’ has them reaching

for twelve. A fucking fantastic record.

(Emma Swann) LISTEN: ‘Smile More’,

‘Julian’, ‘Bubble Baby’

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AGAINST

ME!

Shape Shift With Me

(Xtra Mile)

Love is far from a simple

thing, but with ‘Shape Shift

With Me’, Against Me! are

putting all spectrums of the

feeling under the microscope, and - in their own words - do not

give a shit about expectations. ‘Provision L-3’ takes seconds to

tell you how they tackle it: loudly and with bloody fury. Laura

Jane Grace knows it’s not all candy floss and googley-eyed

staring, and from refusing to wait around for something that’s

dead to come back (‘Boyfriend’) to the jaded tones of ‘Dead

Rats’ yelling, “It was a nice dream but it was a naïve fucking

fantasy”, she’s got us covered.

‘333’ catchily pounds its way in and digs in its claws, swinging

toe-tapper ‘Haunting, Haunted, Haunts’ steals the show, while

‘Suicide Bomber’ cranks up the swagger and distortion in

all its murky brilliance. This is Against Me! shifting the topic

but retaining all the glory: biting lyricism, punk fury and rock

prowess wrapped up in an infectious and perfectly imperfect

package. ‘Shape Shift With Me’ is one that you’ll, perhaps

rather aptly but unsurprisingly, love. (Heather McDaid) LISTEN:

‘Boyfriend’, ‘333’

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KEATON

HENSON

Kindly Now

(Play It Again Sam)

Keaton Henson’s first two

solo albums are a collection

of fraught, overwhelmingly

emotional ballads for the broken-hearted to wallow in.

For the most part, it’s still very much business as usual on

‘Kindly Now’, but there’s a spirit about this new record that

ensures he isn’t repeating himself. Here, he’s been bold

enough to ensure his introspective lyrics are no longer the

sole focus. (Craig Jones) LISTEN: ‘Alright’, ‘Gabe’

Back to the

drawing board

As well as being really good at that music lark, Keaton

Henson’s pretty nifty with a pencil. He’s put on exhibitions,

published graphic novels, all sorts. With his artistic leanings

in mind, we decided we’d ask Keaton about his new album

‘Kindly Now’, but with a catch: we only let him answer us

with drawings.

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BEACH SLANG

A Loud Bash of

Teenage Feelings (Big Scary Monsters)

Beach Slang are a hearts on the sleeve, cards

on the table kind of open. Across a handful of EPs and debut

album ‘The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us’, the

Philadelphia punks opened a door to a world of young love

and old wounds. ‘A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings’ sees the

party continue.

Self-aware but undaunted, every moment sees the band

pushing at the walls, daring to take it bigger, promising to

make it more open. See, the band are at their best when

they’re writing scuzzy anthems about the dreamers and, dirt

under the nail, every track on this record is Beach Slang at their

very best. There’s a sanctuary to this group - it’s a house party

where everyone’s welcome. (Ali Shutler) LISTEN: ‘Wasted Daze

Of Youth’, ‘Young Hearts’

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PHANTOGRAM

Three (Fiction)

“I keep on having this dream where

I’m stuck in a hole and I can’t get out /

there’s always something that’s pulling me down,” laments

Phantogram’s Sarah Barthel on ‘Same Old Blues’, the second

track on the noticeably darker ‘Three’.

The pair exchange verses with rapid spitfire, glowering lines

that rise and glide. ‘You Don’t Get Me High Anymore’ is a

standout, while ‘Cruel World’ touches upon Sarah’s tainted

outlook on life and her disillusionment, optimism riddled.

Tracks such as ‘Answer’ contain more light, pop-ridden

sensibilities, but it’s in the grittier, heavier-sounding choruses

where Phantogram are at their best. (Cady Siregar) LISTEN:

‘You Don’t Get Me High Anymore’

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Photo: Phil Smithies

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ZOMBY

Ultra (Hyperdub)

The sound of a gun being cocked and fired doesn’t often open an

album these days, but this is Zomby we’re talking about. Returning

after eight years to Hyperdub – the label that arguably saw his breakthrough - it’s a

sign of intent and a good measure of what’s to come. ‘Ultra’ is over the top, it’s gaudy,

it’s aggressive and frankly, it doesn’t give a flying fuck. The title is no accident either

- for an artist capable of (but certainly not limited to) ambience and subtlety, this is

his darkest side; this is Zomby-Ultra. Big name collaborations - from Burial to Darkstar

- are occasionally guilty of overindulgence, but when Zomby flies solo, he manages

to tie the album together, shunning madness for something sweeter. (Henry Boon)

LISTEN: ‘Reflection’, ‘Burst’

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REGINA SPEKTOR

Remember Us to Life (Sire / Warner Bros.)

Regina Spektor is unpredictable. While her albums are always built

on a foundation of classically-tinged piano and her own theatrical,

booming voice, Spektor’s attempt to capture the unpredictability of everyday life

has always veered wildly between melancholic and mawkish. ‘Remember Us To

Life’ might actually be one of Spektor’s most tonally coherent works to date, mostly

because it’s almost split straight down the middle into two somewhat distinctive

halves. These songs are, ironically, more cinematic than anything found on last album

‘What We Saw From The Cheap Seats’ - that sense of drama helps make ‘Remember

Us To Life’ a return to form. (Eugenie Johnson) LISTEN: ‘Small Bill$’, ‘Tornadoland’

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THE

WYTCHES

All Your Happy Life

(Heavenly recordings)

It’s been impossible, at any time in

the previous three years or so, to

attend a gig anywhere in the UK and

not see at least one person wearing

a Wytches t-shirt. That’s no surprise,

given the way 2014 debut ‘Annabel

Dream Reader’ and its insta-classic

singles resonated far further than the

fuzzy indie world from which they

originated.

It’s possible, then, that follow-up ‘All

Your Happy Life’ could prove divisive;

if their debut was ‘a little bit goth’,

LP2 has grabbed all the black hair

dye Camden Market could ever sell,

stockpiled pairs of New Rock boots,

and wiped a whole branch of Boots

of its Kohl eyeliner. There might be

a handful of quieter moments on

this record, but they’re definitely not

light. While ‘Annabel Dream Reader’

flipped constantly from highs to

lows, ‘All Your Happy Life’ perfects

the notion of living under a black

cloud throughout. Gloomy, grey but

definitely not dull, The Wytches have

cast another stellar spell. (Emma

Swann) LISTEN: ‘Can’t Face It’,

‘Dumb Fill’

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Jamie T’s new album is

tea-riffic, in places.

jamie’s

tea

We matched Jamie T songs with

different types of tea. Because this

is 2016. We can do what we want.

‘Zombie’ Green Tea. For when

you need that much-needed

un-oxidised boost.

‘Calm Down Dearest’ Iced Tea.

For when it’s time to chill out,

hun.

‘Tinfoil Boy’ For when you drink

too much English breakfast tea

and start to go a bit cuckoo.

X pint, mate.

‘Stella’ Not applicable. Have a

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JAMIE T

Trick (Virgin EMI)

Jamie T’s 2014 comeback album ‘Carry on the

Grudge’ was, in retrospect, signposted as his

foray into ‘serious songwriting’. There were

flashes of the man we knew and loved, that not-quite-rap in

a broken accent, but they were drowned out by the sensible

scholar who, on the likes of ‘Don’t You Find’, was more or less

crooning. On ‘Trick’, his quickfire full-length follow-up, that

refinement has, for the most part, fallen by the wayside.

‘Trick’ is a record that feels like a trip back into who Jamie once

was, only with all senses heightened. ‘...Grudge’ was polished;

this is as rough and ready as it gets. It’s not that there’s no

progression; lead single ‘Tinfoil Boy’ is as heavy as anything

he’s ever written, and ‘Police Tapes’ and ‘Drone Strike’ are

scored through with a nervous tension

that hasn’t ever really been allowed to

bubble to the surface before.

This is Jamie T’s unification record. It

will go down a whole lot better with his

noisy away-end following than ‘...Grudge’

did, and the fact that it looks outward,

rather than inward, should convince

everyone else that he’s headed in the

right direction. He’s certainly not shut himself off to new

influences; you can feel Sleaford Mods weighing heavy on

‘Trick’, especially on ‘Tescoland’. There’s a pace and a purpose

about it that should win over both halves of his fanbase.

When ‘...Grudge’ came out, there was a sense that he’d been

embraced by old heads, that divergence into the typical

singer-songwriter arena was going to be the way forward for

him. Instead, he’s burned all of that down to the ground. ‘Trick’

is the aural document. (Joe Goggins) LISTEN: ‘Tescoland’,

‘Sign of the Times’

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HOW TO DRESS WELL

care (Weird World / Domino)

Tom Krell’s trademarks - hushed, let-me-tell-you-a-secret

croons and lush keys - are still central to fourth full-length

‘Care’, but he’s also more free-spirited. The results range from

dazzling to disastrous. ‘Can’t You Tell’ is a joyous, twinkly pop song that conquers

new territory, but blank slate ‘Burning Up’, however, meanders until there’s nothing

worth consideration. Tom has a habit of singing everything like it’s a treasured,

heartbreaking secret, each line carrying the same level of drama. There’s no

additional gravitas when things really matter, no to-and-fro between states.

On dense, ten-minute closer ‘They’ll Take Everything You Have’, How to Dress Well’s

see-what-sticks approach actually works. It’s grossly epic, overblown to an extreme,

but that’s the point. Being obnoxiously exploratory is a good look for Tom, most

of the time. But it’s when he tries to filter this ethos into a digestible pop song that

things become compromised. It’s due time he either sticks his neck out and goes

full-gloss pop, or hedges his bets on the extremes of ‘Care’’s best moments. (Jamie

Milton) LISTEN: ‘They’ll Take Everything You Have’

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TRENTEMØLLER

Fixion (In My Room)

Always a chameleon-like figure in the dance scene, ‘Fixion’,

marks a complete revolution from the chilled, mellow sounds

of the Trentemøller’s now decade-old debut, ‘The Last Resort’. Collaboration is

something the Danish DJ explored with The Drums frontman Jonny Pierce on his

last record, and it reaches its peak here with lead single ‘River In Me’, a perfectly

streamlined slice of angsty synth pop featuring Savages’ Jehnny Beth - sounding

more focused and accessible than ever before. ‘Fixion’ is not a traditionally cohesive

record. It does not flow as whole - it’s all over the place, joined only by a sense of

sonic darkness. But for a chameleon like Trentemøller, creativity is his cohesion,

formula the enemy - and this is his most creative, experimental record yet. (Alex

Taylor) LISTEN: ‘River In Me (feat. Jehnny Beth)’

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LAW HOLT

City (Soulpunk)

Fresh off the back of collaborations with Young Fathers and riding

the wave of excitement that comes with a nod like that, it’s easy

to see why they like Law Holt. Much like the debut that afforded the Scottish trio the

Mercury Prize back in 2014, her debut is wild, eclectic and impossible to pin down.

‘City’ is an exploration of the self, a generally fruitful but occasionally hopeless

search for joy among the shadows of both inner and external loathing. (Henry Boon)

LISTEN: ‘Just Another Break Up Song’

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ALUNAGEORGE

I Remember (Island)

When AlunaGeorge released debut album ‘Body Talk,’ the

combination of Aluna Francis’s silky vocals and George Reid’s

wobbly beats came with the tag ‘future pop’. Three years later

that description proves curiously prophetic. They’re back, now finding themselves

in a Top 40 landscape owing much to the sound they helped popularise; even DJ

Snake had a chart-busting hit with his version of ‘You Know You Like It.’ So it’s little

surprise that, on their second album, the pair develop the solid foundation ‘Body

Talk’ provided. ‘My Blood,’ featuring ZHU, is drenched in heavy trap beats and

the occasional chime of gothic bells, making it probably the darkest song they’ve

ever created. The warped vintage house vibes of ‘Mean What I Mean’ envelop the

record’s catchiest chorus, with rap verses from Dreezy and Leikeli47 just adding

fuel to the fire. Some experimental moments jar, but you can’t knock the pair for

trying something new and, for the most part, ‘I Remember’ is a bold next step in

AlunaGeorge’s evolution. (Eugenie Johnson) LISTEN: ‘My Blood (feat. ZHU)’

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PUBLIC

ACCESS

TV

Never Enough

(Cinematic)

When you consider where a New York

City rock ‘n’ roll band might record their

debut album, affluent riverside towns

in Oxfordshire don’t exactly leap out

as likely locations. But for Public Access

T.V. – who found themselves extending

a stay in England after their Manhattan

apartment had been destroyed in a

gas explosion last March – little old

Henley-on-Thames played an important

part in getting the ball rolling with

‘Never Enough’. Add the one track

recorded in Nashville – whose scene

band leader John Eatherly left behind

as an 18-year-old – and more than half

of it was made away from NYC. Listen

to the finished product, though, and

one thing is instantly clear: you can

take PATV out of New York City, but you

can’t take New York City out of PATV.

These are songs that want you to dance

to, ‘Evil Disco’, ‘Sudden Emotion’ and

‘On Location’ perhaps the best of the

bunch in that respect. This is an album

which very much belongs in 2016, and

an expectedly assured debut from a

band who are by no means redefining

the sound of New York City rock ‘n’ roll,

but are laying claim to being worthy

flag bearers of it going forward. (Tom

Hancock) LISTEN: ‘Sudden Emotion’,

‘Never Enough’

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TWIN

ATLANTIC

GLA (Red Bull)

With their previous

record, Twin Atlantic decided to plug

the gaps of their discography. Now,

with a complete set of tools at their

disposal, they feel confident enough

to try something altogether different;

playing by their own rules. As much is

evident from their bizarre-but-brilliant

opener ‘Gold Elephant:Cherry Alligator’

and its disjointed thrashing, before ‘No

Sleep’ kicks up a fuss as a dark anthem,

bathed in feedback and grittiness. While

‘Great Divide’ proved the quartet to be

an arena-bothering ‘rock band’, ‘GLA’

delves into the band’s own personalities

before translating them perfectly

into sonic form. A record that tells the

story of both band and birthplace,

‘GLA’ is a great glimpse into the heart

that lies beating in Twin Atlantic.

(Sarah Jamieson) LISTEN: ‘No Sleep’,

‘Whispers’

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BANKS & STEELZ

Anything But Words

(Warner Bros.)

On paper this sounds like a bizarre

collaboration – RZA, the unofficial

head of Wu-Tang Clan releasing an album with Paul Banks,

lead singer of the notoriously gloomy Interpol. For extra

bewilderment, Florench Welch guests on vocals.

Fortunately, what initially sounds like something that will

never work out turns out to make perfect sense, with both

RZA and Banks sounding rejuvenated and more energized

than they have done in a long time by their day jobs. This

probably won’t appeal to Interpol fans desperately hoping

that Banks returns to the despair of ‘Turn On The Bright

Lights’, but the sound of two artists pushing each other

forward makes for a fascinating listen. (Craig Jones) LISTEN:

‘Love and War (feat. Ghostface Killah)’, ‘One on One’

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ALLAH-LAS

Calico Review (Mexican SummeR)

LA four-piece Allah-Las make music that

evades time or place, classic stylings

engaged with a clear cut modernity. A

sun-scorched soundtrack to movie-perfect scenes, ‘Calico

Review’ is enthralling in its splendour. So surf-stained you can

almost taste the sea salt, ‘200 South La Brea’ breezes with all

the excitement and trepidation that comes with the rush of

escape, tinged with the darker undertone of consequence.

Reinvigorating the band’s instinctive timelessness, Allah-Las’

third album has a distinct disregard for convention. (Jessica

Goodman) LISTEN: ‘200 South La Brea’

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STILL CORNERS

Dead Blue (Wrecking Light Records)

Still Corners are back from exile. ‘Dead

Blue’ was written in isolation on the coast

of Kent, after the band were pushed

out of London by the usual overpriced accommodation and

metropolitan hassles. From the bay window of their rented

home, Tessa Murray and Greg Hughes looked out over the cold,

deep waters of the Channel as they worked on the follow up

to 2013’s ‘Strange Pleasures’. The landscape worms its way into

the record’s grooves. The band’s dream-pop works best when

taking on a nightmarish hue. (Liam Konemann) LISTEN: ‘Lost

Boys’, ‘The Fixer’

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LOCAL NATIVES

Sunlit Youth

(INFECTIOUS / LOMA VISTA)

Local Natives’ journey between 2013’s

‘Hummingbird’ and today is one defined

by self-reflection. Having made a significant statement

with breakthrough debut ‘Gorilla Manor’ at the turn of

the decade, the growth that we saw in the following years

was nothing if not logical. Moving beyond the realm of the

emotive Californian indie rock that has served them so well

up to now, the context for ‘Sunlit Youth’ is one of rebirth and

redefinition. ‘Sunlit Youth’ strikes as a bolder statement than

its predecessors; this time, there’s a sense that Local Natives

are projecting outward rather than in. (Liam McNeilly) LISTEN:

‘Fountain of Youth’, ‘Masters’

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MYKKI BLANCO

Mykki (Dogfood Music Group/ !K7)

Mykki Blanco has been consistently bold, unashamedly

explicit and experimental since his 2012 beginnings. Being

self-titled, this debut solo LP sets itself up to be a personal

affair, but it’s also one that brims with confidence.

Mykki’s confidence and grasp of melody is incredibly clear

from the off. Low-slung rap is applied with brashness to

‘I’m In A Mood’, a statement of intent if ever there was

one. There are a few misfires - ‘My Nene’ features a pretty

grinding and irritating motif, although Mykki does pull

off a pretty accurate Prince screech midway through. The

important advantage he possesses - mostly stemming

from creating music for five years prior - is a clear sense

of identity, a clarity which you don’t find on many debut

albums. ‘Mykki’ is a promising starting point for some, a

jump into a different league entirely for his following. (Sean

Kerwick) LISTEN: ‘I’m in a Mood’, ‘High School Never

Ends’

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TEENAGE FANCLUB

Here (PeMa)

Teenage Fanclub have enjoyed a near

thirty year-career as one of Britain’s

go-to powerpop exports. Having found success with

‘Bandwagonesque’ and ‘Grand Prix’ through the nineties,

the group have delivered with consistent quality since. ‘Here’

finds each member at a matured - yet no less tender-hearted

- chapter in their lives. Although it’s often difficult to entirely

engage with the album at chosen moments, more a matter

of pretty structures breezing through without leaving a

mark, ‘Here’ joins the rest of the group’s catalogue in being

consistently enjoyable, yet on this occasion not without flaw.

(Ross Jones) LISTEN: ‘The First Sight’

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PREOCCUPATIONS

Preoccupations (Jagjaguwar)

Borne of an incomparable year, few records in 2016 come with as much baggage as Preoccupations’

self-titled. The newly renamed group’s past still chasing them like a carrier bag stuck to a shoe, they’ve

stuck to a relatively stoic path, instead pouring every ounce of their anxiety, confusion and depression

into the studio.

It’s a bottling-up and subsequent release that works wonders. Opener ‘Anxiety’ perfectly encapsulates the crippling medical

condition it takes its name from; an inescapable, stalking whine of feedback eventually erupting into all-encompassing gloom.

It’s befitting of a record that’s happier to burn slower than the Viet Cong of records gone by – ‘Stimulation’ might still harness

that thunderous energy they built their now-defunct name upon, but elsewhere ‘Preoccupations’ is far more content to lurk and

plot in the shadows than seize the limelight. Their second record hits harder, digs deeper and lingers longer than that promising

debut, and keeping all eyes on their art proves to be the best statement Preoccupations could ever have offered. (Tom Connick)

LISTEN: ‘Anxiety’, ‘Zodiac’, ‘Stimulation’

Photo: Jenna Foxton

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YOUNG GUNS

Echoes (Windup Records)

You can’t keep Young Guns down. Following the bold

exploration of space that drove ‘Ones and Zeroes’ skyway,

‘Echoes’ sees the band with their backs against the wall.

And from the roar of opening track ‘Bulletproof’, they’re pushing back. Despite

being a member down after the departure of Ben Jolliffe, Young Guns’ fourth

album is fiercely unified. Forged together in the fire of the past few years,

‘Echoes’ channels the pain of having it all, then losing it.

With a history of constantly changing pace, there’s an endless list of where

Young Guns could have gone with album four. It’s another risk but with

‘Echoes’, they climb. “There’s no turning back, there’s no escape,” declares

‘Careful What You Wish For’. “Too much of heaven can hurt like hell,” but there’s

a bliss to ‘Echoes’ that just goes up and up. (Ali Shutler) LISTEN: ‘Mad World’,

‘Awakening’

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BILLIE MARTEN

Writing of Blues and

Yellows (Chess Club / RCA)

The title of Billie Marten’s debut refers to her experience

of synesthesia – a condition whereby the senses are

intermingled. The Yorkshire songwriter sees music as colours. And for her

first record, blues and yellows are all the rage. You don’t have to be a fellow

synesthete, however, for this record to be a striking sensory experience. There’s

a lack of ostentation from start to finish. The sound is uncluttered but never

lacking in clout. It’s a quality most glaringly obvious on the acapella closer,

a cover of Jane & Barton’s ‘It’s A Fine Day’. All signs point towards a colourful

future for this talented teen. (Emma Snook) LISTEN: ‘Milk & Honey’, ‘Heavy

Weather’

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PIXIES

Head Carrier

(Pixiesmusic/Play It Again Sam)

Many bands have spent their lives

trying to sound like Pixies in their prime,

always missing some fundamental

aspect that made their heroes so great.

But it’s somewhat jarring to hear the

current incarnation of the Pixies doing

so themselves. You can pretty easily

trace each track on ‘Head Carrier’ to

songs from their heyday they’re trying

to emulate (the most obvious example

being ‘All I Think About Now’ and its

hilariously brazen similarity to ‘Where Is

My Mind?’).

That initial sense of innovation is

distinctly lacking, but once you settle

in, ‘Head Carrier’ is enjoyable. Indeed,

the thing about sounding like Pixies is

that it remains a fucking cool sound. It’s

nice to hear lyrics like ‘Classic Masher’’s

“they talk boots while they’re laughing

at you”, that signature Pixies ‘thing’ of

deliberately avoiding making sense. It’s

good to hear their unorthodox, wrongfooting

time signatures (see ‘Baals

Back’). Pixies’ past is a double-edged

sword, but that doesn’t prevent ‘Head

Carrier’ from having its own unique

strengths. (Nina Keen) LISTEN: ‘Baals

Back’, ‘Um Chagga Lagga’

“For the last

time, Gary,

we don’t need

a wolf in the

band!”

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JENNY HVAL

Blood Bitch (Sacred Bones)

Mixing together strangely twisted fairytales with jetlagged goths and

menstruation, Jenny Hval’s ‘Blood Bitch’ is a universe swirling with surreal ideas.

Ever the experimenter, the avant-garde enthusiast nods to her origins in Norway’s

black metal scene alongside brash electronic edges, and the collaged together

chaos of no-wave and noise. Despite the spoken word fragments and disarming

experiments which pepper ‘Blood Bitch,’ this is Jenny Hval’s most accessible

work to date. Though many of her ideas make as little logical sense as trying to

bulldoze a pier with a packet of Frazzles (on paper) ‘Blood Bitch’ paints the richest

dreamscape going. (El Hunt) LISTEN: ‘The Plague’ ‘Female Vampire’

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J CHURCHER

Borderland State

(37 Adventures)

We all love a romantic. Not too

soppy. No over the top PDA.

But smitten? Smitten is nice. J

Churcher’s early singles were

like love letters scrawled on

scrunched up paper, passed

through to someone at the front

of the class. Regal orchestration

and backing vocals from Anna B.

Savage on three tracks help cast a

cinematic scope, and most songs

wouldn’t seem out of place as

the last dance at his prom. If he

ever got there, that is. Inquisitive

and on tenterhooks, here is a

man obsessed by love. Delicate

percussion makes the heart ache

on the minimal ‘How It Ends’, and

it’s tempting to root for a romance

that otherwise seems so doomed.

There’s a sense, though, that his

story doesn’t end at ‘Borderland

State’. (Tanyel Gumushan) LISTEN:

‘How It Ends’

‘No cunts’!

Jenny Hval talks risky working titles, vampires and the

themes around ‘Blood Bitch’. Interview: Eugenie Johnson.

Q&A

This album seems quite accessible, even though there are noise elements.

Well the working title was ‘No Cunts!’ That was my goal, to make something without

that language. Not purely because of the response that [previous LP] ‘Apocalypse’

got but I thought “what would people not expect now?” I don’t know if cutting out

the cunts would make anything more anything more accessible, accessible can be

on so many levels, but I do think it’s an album that’s easy to listen to.

Apparently you watched a lot of exploitation films during the process. What

drew you to them?

I was drawn to Jesus Franco, who’s made hundreds of movies. They’re very lo-fi, and

‘Blood Bitch’ is an album made in the lo-fi universe. There’s a strong link between

the production and the writing situation of ‘Blood Bitch’ and those low budget

movies. I had to do a lot of work to piece together horrible narratives, horrible

characters, nude women for no reason, vampires, Frankenstein. Very kitschy

elements, but also the hypnotic belief in camera movements and the obsession

with boredom and the modern condition of the 70s.

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MERCHANDISE

A Corpse Wired for Sound

(4Ad)

The nineties may still be the revival

decade du jour, but Merchandise

buck the trend. On ‘A Corpse Wired

For Sound’, their time machine’s set

a full decade back from the rest of

the pack, more eighties-indebted

than a Donnie Darko disco.

Waft away the fog and there’s a

laser-pointer cutting through the

vintage haze. ‘Right Back To The

Start’’s synth hook darts about like

a techno offcut, while ‘Shadow Of

The Truth’’s sheer clarity could only

be a product of another thirty years

of innovation.

Merchandise pay homage to their

upbringing without ever breaking

eye contact with the sprawling

future set ahead of them. (Tom

Connick) LISTEN: ‘Flower Of Sex’

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BANKS The

Altar (Virgin EMI)

BANKS’ 2014 debut ‘Goddess’ swept in through a cloud of hype, packing stories of heartbreak, destruction and redemption. But

in a sea of gloomy pop, it was hard to figure out exactly what made up these tales. The formula is flipped on ‘The Altar’, a followup

that thankfully sees BANKS swapping mystery for potential hits, songs with mammoth hooks that don’t shy away from cold

truths. Opener ‘Gemini Feed’ is a SOHN-produced monster, led by robotic vocals that even manage to make the words “you’re

passive aggressive” sound edgy. Mostly fed up with the misty nonsense of ‘Goddess’, the record goes on to boast swagging

pace (‘This is Not About Us’), a hit-and-miss-but-nice-one-for-trying rap verse (‘Trainwreck’) and a breathless ballad that Rihanna

would nab in a heartbeat, thanks to ‘Mother Earth’.

Last time round, BANKS had a habit of coating dark realities in box-ticking, of-the-moment effects. That does happen

occasionally here, too. Like on the nothing-y ‘Haunt’ and the misty ‘Judas’, where the latter’s important message is shrouded in a

coat of cool. But when going for the jugular, BANKS combines unbending confidence, warts ’n all detail and gigantic choruses in

the same move. ‘The Altar’ is very close to being a razor-sharp pop blueprint. Don’t bet against her striking pure gold next time

around. (Jamie Milton) LISTEN: ‘Gemini Feed’, ‘Fuck With Myself’, ‘This is Not About Us’

eee

CYMBALS EAT GUITARS

Pretty Years (Sinderlyn)

With their fourth full-length, Cymbals Eat Guitars

have produced an in-your-face rollercoaster ride. It

turbulently clatters through a spectrum of emotions,

replicating the urgency and unpredictable nature of life itself, and is

at its most euphoric when not trying so hard to push the boundaries.

However, a stand-off, prickly attitude just makes it a little too hard to

really fall in love with. The whole album was pieced together in four days,

and each song was plied together in only one or two takes. This gives

‘Pretty Years’’ songs an unrelenting, punchy urgency. But it just falls short

of completely engulfing interest. (Amelia Maher). LISTEN: ‘Wish’

eee

ULTIMATE PAINTING

Dusk ( Trouble in Mind)

“All I need is a peace of mind / Looking for a place to

hide / Run away and close my eyes” sing Londoners

Jack Cooper and James Hoare on ‘I’m Set Free’. True

to its title, hesitant early evening hues are reflected in the musical and

lyrical content of ‘Dusk’. It’s a hushed, delicate affair recorded in James’

flat with the help of drummer Melissa Rigby. Each track is a musical sketch

that assembles fragments of thoughts and shadows of daily pursuits,

like ‘I’m Set Free’’s response to mounting bills and debts. Escaping the

urgency of old, this Ultimate Painting is a picture of a uneasy melancholy.

(Anastasia Connor) LISTEN: ‘I’m Set Free’

•••COMING Up•••

HONEYBLOOD

Babes Never Die

With lead single ‘Ready For The

Magic’ proof Stina and Cat are

amped up with the follow-up to

2014’s self-titled LP, ‘Babes Never

Die’ is a record to get very excited

about.

HOOTON TENNIS CLUB

.Big Box of Chocolates

Liverpool’s charming, fuzzy

force recorded their new LP

with Edwyn Collins in remote

Scotland. They evidently had

snacks. It’s out 21st October.

JULIA JACKLIN

.don’t Let the Kids Win

There’s lots of excitable chat

about this Aussie newcomer,

for good reason. She balances

an emotional tightrope on her

debut, out 7th October.

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LCD SOUNDSYSTEM

LOWLANDS

Spijk en Bremerberg, Biddinghuizen. Photos: Andrew Benge

SIGUR

RÓS

Under blue skies, and the

permanently smoking

chimneys towering over

Lowlands’ entrance, Nao

kicks off the weekend’s

action. All beams and

joyous dance routines (a highlight

coming in the shape of a super-dramatic

spin mid-way through closer, Mura

Masa collab ‘Firefly’) she

brings debut album ‘For

All We Know’ to life in

effortless style.

THE

The Kills bring a

KILLS

taste of snarling,

fuzzed-up chaos to

the India stage, older

favourites ‘No Wow’

and ‘U.R.A Fever’ sitting

neatly alongside Jamie

Hince and Alison Mosshart’s

bold, sharp-edged new album ‘Ash &

Ice’. The stage is later handed over to

Warpaint. Previously, they’re a band

who’ve struggled with festivals. That’s

not the case today - theirs is a bold,

punchy set complete with glimpses of

album number three. Also on top form,

Chvrches’ Lauren Mayberry is a force of

nature, whirlwinding her way around the

stage, ducking and diving under giant,

earth-shuddering synth lines. They’re

zooming towards headliner status at

light-speed.

These days Sigur Rós look

a little like they’ve rolled

around in super glue

and run full-pelt

through a chandelier

shop; they’ve upped

their live game

– and electricity

bill – tenfold. It’s

a move that works

flawlessly with their

intricate, closely woven

arrangements. Fulfilling

the weekend’s pop banger

contingent in one fell swoop,

meanwhile, are Disclosure,

accompanied by a fuck-off-pair

of DJ booths, and possibly the

rowdiest crowd of the weekend.

various bits of plant-matter. A few lone

palm leaves rise bright and early, ducking

among the tent poles for a bewitching

Aurora. Across the site, meanwhile,

the crowds for Dua Lipa overflow out

of a sardine-packed tent, and her star

potential shines brightest for the peppy

hand-claps of ‘Be The One’. Meanwhile,

James Blake – typically not one for

the stage patter - is all smiles

and sincere gratitude on

Sunday evening, calling

Lowlands one of his

best crowds of the

summer. Skewed

heavily toward

new record ‘The

Colour in Anything,’

it’s a beautiful set.

Minimal, understated,

and propelled by complex

technical wizardry that’s barely

noticeable, Jamesy B absolutely nails it.

By the time Sunday headliners LCD

Soundsystem come around– complete

with giant disco ball, and a welly-packing

catalogue of limb-jerking, all-the-feels,

electro-post-punk – bamboo collection

reaches fever-pitch, and the whole

Alpha tent resembles a single, manically

bobbing jungle. Among a scattered,

ramshackle assembly of dancing

bandmates, James Murphy, Pat Mahoney

and Nancy Whang command every

last funk bass-line, the former yelling

into a tiny walkie talkie microphone,

whooping, and whipping out the agogô

for an unstoppable ‘Daft Punk is Playing

at My House’. Not so much resurrected as

completely re-energised, there’s nothing

half-baked about this reunion. (El Hunt)

CHVRCHES

For whatever bizarre reason,

punters spend much of Sunday

busying themselves gathering

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Pukkelpop

Kempische Steenweg, Kiewit-Hasselt. Photo: Leah Henson.

Opening with ‘No Wow’, The Kills deliver

a breathless set on Pukkelpop’s Thursday

night (when having just recovered from

pneumonia any set at all could be counted as

an achievement). New songs from ‘Ash & Ice’ play nicely

alongside older numbers like ‘Kissy Kissy’ and standout

hits such as ‘U.R.A Fever’. Chvrches’ Lauren Mayberry has

her own show to put on, with the band’s crowd pleasing

appearance a very welcome remedy to the technical

problems that cut short their set last year. It’s another

excellent execution from the Scottish trio that can be

plotted on their ascent to headliner status.

On Friday night, legends The Chemical Brothers play

out the sort of set which lets you preface their name with

‘Legends’. Between unleashing giant suspended robots,

tens of huge balloons and a suspended UFO they’re

making headlining look so pathetically easy.

If there’s one noticeable change in Saturday’s atmosphere

it is the absolute sea of Bring Me The Horizon shirts. Rainfilled

umbrellas, tessellated circles, stabbing friends (in the

front, naturally); it was as if the entire county had been airdropped

by Oli Sykes and co overnight. People are crying,

shaking, trembling, shouting, tearing every sinew just to

show their appreciation for an immaculate performance

from opener ‘Happy Song’ all the way to ‘Drown’.

Pukkelpop’s final headliner has a lot to live up to. With

LCD Soundsystem though, whatever bar you set will

be nonchalantly shuffled over, with a stylish, self-aware

detachment. Simply, James Murphy is a man who is not,

and probably not ever ‘Losing His Edge’, no matter how

many times he’ll sing it. And what a roster to boast; ‘Daft

Punk Is Playing At My House’, ‘Tribulations’, ‘You Wanted A

Hit’ and ‘Dance Yrself Clean’ all delight the crowd, before

the timeless classic of signature closer ‘All My Friends’.

How do you follow an act like that? Well Soulwax have

form. With home-field advantage, the Dewaele brothers

have more than enough to match whatever brilliance

they’re pitted against. With a stunning career behind

them, their latest incarnation is as a beating electro

heart propelled along by three (!) drummers. They

may lack the bombast of Chemical Brothers and the

philosophising of LCD Soundsystem, but Soulwax’s

twisted organic blur of hooks and ideas, sounds and

silhouettes is perhaps even the most compelling set of

the weekend. (Matthew Davies)

LI

VE

BRING ME THE HORIZON

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WARPAINT

Green Man

Glanusk Park, Brecon Beacons. Photo: Duncan Elliott

It’s a packed tent for Wild Beasts on Thursday night, but a

shame they’re restricted to the (smaller) Far Out stage; the

neighbouring Mountain Stage could’ve given new baby

‘Boy King’ the celebration it deserves.

The rain casts a moody sheen over James Blake’s Friday night

headline, ‘Retrograde’ and ‘The Wilhelm Scream’ closing it

out with precision, and while immersive and glorious for

existing converts, as a festival headliner he’s got a bit of

work to do. During her Saturday headline set, Laura Marling

shines brighter than ever. She leans heavily on 2010’s ‘I Speak

Because I Can’, with only one song aired from last year’s ‘Short

Movie’, and while lasting just an hour, it’s another spellbinding

showing.

After Julia Holter falls completely flat on Sunday, it’s left to

Warpaint to provide the performance of the festival. Tonight’s

show is drenched in darkness and rain, and the atmosphere

it creates sees the band absolutely nail it. Hits are packed

in early, with ‘Undertow’ and ‘Bees’ arriving in the first ten

minutes, and Emily Kokal has transformed into a beast of a

band leader, scaling the edge of the stage, scanning her prey.

Finally, Belle & Sebastian give Green Man 2016 its send-off

with an enjoyable enough performance - ‘The Boy With The

Arab Strap’ seeing over a hundred crowd members rush the

stage. (Will Richards)

VISIONS

Various venues, London. Photo: Freddie Payne

W

ith a majestic array of pooches gracing the

midday dog show, the crowds are understandably

reluctant to budge from the sun-drenched church

lawns as Pumarosa open the St John at Hackney stage, but

with the band giving yet another polished performance as

they continue to bolster their reputation, those there are glad

they did.

Over at Oval Space, Jessy Lanza’s live arrangement is at

the other end of the spectrum, but things are over far too

quickly. This is no fault of hers - programming at the venue fell

horrendously behind early on, and at a multi-venue event with

people travelling over a mile there from some of the festival’s

other stages, the disappointment is amplified. It leaves a sorry

mark on an otherwise great showcase.

YOUNG FATHERS

Thankfully there are no such issues back at St John’s as ESG

and Young Fathers prepare to close the day out. ESG might

not be as tightly knit as they once were, but it doesn’t matter

in the slightest when you’re a cornerstone of both dance and

post-punk heritage. Ending the set with ‘Erase You’, they leave

a crowd wanting more.

Young Fathers are an astonishing live force, and their

performance continues to reach new levels. They hardly

pause for breath until G Hastings makes one singular address.

“We are all migrants. Migration forever. Black Lives Matter.

If you don’t believe in that, you can go fuck yourselves.” An

unapologetic statement befitting of everything Young Fathers

embody. (Liam McNeilly)

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Early on Friday, teenage wunderkind

Declan McKenna rattles through a

small but strong set on the main stage.

He seems a little shy to start, but finds

his feet more towards the end, jumping

into the crowd as they join him for a

rousing sing-along to ‘Paracetamol’.

Later, Swim Deep bring the feel good vibes to a crowd which

whoops and woozily dances, mermaid costumes still intact,

from the moment they debut the twinkling piano line of

‘Francisco’ to the close of ‘King City’. Then, over at the Laundry

Meadows stage, Blood Red Shoes rumble through a roughand

ready-set to a packed audience, followed by the ambient

fuzz of Toy, offering chilled-out psych-rock to a slightly sparse

yet suitably enthusiastic crowd.

Back on the main stage are headliners Suede, with a

marathon 90-minute set. Predictably and sensibly, they cover

both old favourites and their slightly more experimental new

ground - and by the time they hit ‘Animal Nitrate’ mid-set, a

sea of exhilarating screams and sing-alongs cements day one

as a success.

Early on the bill for day two are INHEAVEN, with a set

that shows great promise. ‘Regeneration’ is an exploding

powerhouse of anthemic fuzz where elsewhere ‘Tangerine’ is

a slower, shoegaze sprinkled moment of reflection. Either way,

we want to know when that debut album is coming.

Yak frontman Oli Burslem is as delirious as the rest of us in

the summer heat, as during their sunny afternoon set he

thanks the crowd at “Kendal Calling” for coming to watch

and mention how he likes playing here in “the North”. It’s just

as well they’re brilliant enough for no-one to care. Today he

treads the carefully calculated border between nonchalance

and boredom perfectly, his unusually relaxed and totally

at ease on-stage presence bringing contrast to the band’s

energetic, pummelling sound.

Then there’s Sunday, and, as can often be the case with

smaller festivals, its a weird day with a sparser line-up as the

show winds down and many people start to head home. Still,

there’s always Anna Calvi, whose evening set is backed by a

whole band tonight, her deep, brooding voice a mellow and

welcome comedown. (Rachel Michaella Finn)

DECLAN MCKENNA

Standon

Calling

Standon Lordship, Standon. Photos: Robin Pope

SWIM DEEP

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øya

Tøyenparken, Oslo. Photo: Louise Mason

is a free space,” announces Christine &

The Queens figurehead Héloïse Letissier;

“You can be whatever you want.” That

“This

sentiment is nailed to the proverbial mast

here at Øya, a music lovers’ paradise that houses all manner of

eclecticism. Skepta proves to be day one’s highlight – as he

hammers through cuts from ‘Konnichiwa’, he’s never looked

more on top. It’s a set that day two’s Stormzy faces an uphill

struggle to match, despite the frankly mind-boggling crowd

of thousands that he pulls to the festival’s tiniest corner.

Friday’s rainclouds part slightly for Daughter’s arrival, but it’s

no less dramatic a showing of their billowing and blubbing

soundscapes. Chvrches are an entirely different prospect, the

three-piece’s diamond-encrusted, cascading synth work the

perfect antidote to a mud-slicked site.

GRACE JONES

All bets are off by the time FIDLAR arrive. “This song’s about

drinking beer,” announces frontman Zac Carper, as ‘Cheap

Beer’ is then greeted by a sea of cheers and more than a

couple of decidedly pricey pints shot skyward. Final day

weariness almost gets the better of Foals’ crowd, but Yannis

is never one to let his prey escape unharmed, yelping and

screaming like a man on the warpath, goading the front rows

into a frenzy. It’s a world away from Grace Jones’ final night

headline slot. An impossibly accomplished showcase of an

artist whose career’s lasted longer than the average age of

tonight’s attendees. (Tom Connick)

The Magic

Gang

Bermondsey Social Club, London. Photo: Carolina Faruolo

It’s two hours before the sold-out inauguration of Yala!

Records, the brainchild of now ex-Maccabee Felix White

and industry pal Morad Khokar. Nestled beneath an

unassuming South London railway arch lies a hive of

activity and anticipation.Tasked with kicking the whole thing

off, The Magic Gang’s upbeat 50s-tinged melodies do nothing

but enhance the celebratory atmosphere. Opening with the

upbeat grooves of ‘Lady Please’ it’s hard to think of anything

more suiting for this humid August evening.

Jack Kaye cannot stop grinning between yelping vocals and

the bass lines are proving as sweet and sticky as the room’s

walls. The triumphant ‘Feeling Better’ is a particular highlight;

starting like a smooching soundtrack for a midnight prom.

Despite being very much in its infancy, if tonight’s any

indication, Yala! is erupting with potential. (Sophie Thompson)

THE BOSS TALKS

Ex-(sob!) Maccabee Felix spills about Yala!’s future.

“We’ve been talking to so many people in the last couple

of weeks. I really love Idols and Bad Breeding. And I like

this guy called Ten Tons. We’ve been talking to loads of

people about the potential of singles and nights but I think

we’re just gonna see how this goes and take it from there.”

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DIY

INDIE DREAMBOAT

Of the Month

INHEAVEN

James Taylor

First name: James Taylor

Nickname: JD Jim

Star Sign: Aries

Pets: I’ve got an alpaca called

Cecile

Favourite film: Eraserhead,

because that’s where INHEAVEN

got our name from

Favourite food: Monster Munch!

Let’s spice it up a little bit

Drinks order: Gin and Tonic. A

classic G&T

Signature scent: Sweat

Go-to hair product: Johnson’s

Baby No Tears Shampoo

Song to woo someone:

‘Boys Don’t Cry’ by The Cure.

Actually, any Cure song in

general

If you weren’t in a band,

what job would you do:

I’d be a barista, because

that’s what I was before

this band

Chat-up line of choice:

“I wanna be your dog”

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©2016 AIRWAIR INTERNATIONAL LIMITED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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DIY, September 2016

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