REVIEW// Nots/ We Are Nots

Abrasive post-punk from unrelenting Memphis quartet 

A year after it's US release Nots' debut album finally arrives in UK shores on a wave of Riot Grrrl momentum. A coincidence considering that this distinctly Riot Grrrl band don't care for trends, band-wagons or whatever anyone else is doing. 

It's an attitude that's reflected in their album, and We Are Nots certainly isn't short of attitude, especially of the angsty-teenager kind. 

Following the fool-proof post-punk formula of a repeated one-word refrain over abrasive power chords (Insect Eyes, Reactor) Nots cling on to convention like a dog on the arm of a postman and don't let up, resulting in an unrelenting sonic noise that veers on the edge on violent.

Natalie Hoffmann's venomous bark is reminiscent of Bikini Kill's Kathleen Hanna, backed by a barrage of squalling guitars, plummeting drums and glitchy synths the likes of Black Mold and White Noise sound as though they were written in a fit of GCSE-fuelled rage.

It's a blueprint that could easily become tiresome, yet the Memphis quartet don't seem to tire of things that piss them off, the last track frothing with just as much frenzied frustration as the first. 

Nots might not care for what you're doing but you should certainly care about them. 

REVIEW// Buried Muse

Self-described as purveyors of 'tasteful music' Buried Muse are champions of all things chill. Scouring the underground for it's cream of the slacker crop their You Tube channel is a goldmine which makes Captured Track's rooster look like slight procrastinators in comparison.

Here's our pick of the bunch...

Acid Ghost// OverthinkingWhatever Acid Ghost are overthinking it certainly isn't this song, it's bouncy riffs and buoyant drum beat sounding positively effortless against vocalist Ace Barcelon's lazy laments of "I need her/ But she's already leaving me". 

Mini Dresses// Bracelets
Mini Dresses' sound is just as glamorous as their name suggests. From the swirling guitars to the ethereal vocals, they shimmer like the diamonds that adorn them. 

Lost Film// Ok, LostHailing from Northampton, MA Lost Film have perfected the woozy guitar-pop formula. Part indie jangle, part grunge-flecked scuzz, Lost, Ok is an infectious underground anthem in waiting.

Max Gardener// I Need An AnchorSlacker king Mac DeMarco has competition in the form of 18 year old Max Gardener. The California prodigy's brand of blissed-out bedroom pop is fast becoming hot topic outside of his four walls, ensuring it won't be long before he takes the crown.

ALBUMS OF 2015

12 months, countless albums and endless deliberating, but only 10 of this year's releases can earn the title of Album Of The Year.
After much consideration and a few last minute entries it's finally here- our Albums Of 2015

Pinkshinyultrablast// Everything Else Matters

Despite being born out of a post-Ride/ post-MBV universe the Russian quintet seem surprisingly free from the shackles imposed by their shoegazing forefathers.

Building on layers of feedback-drenched guitars with shimmering synths and dreamy vocals they create a sound that's less gazing down at your shoes and more staring up at the stratosphere. 

Jessica Pratt// On Your Own Love Again

Recorded over 2 years at home in LA and San Francisco, there's a certain nostalgic charm to the 27 year old's ethereal folk that's reminiscent of Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell, tape hiss included.  

Steve Reich// Music For 18 Musicians: Ensemble Signal

Ensemble Signal is a minimalist masterpiece compromising of 14 similar-sounding tracks that seep seamlessly into one another.

Built around crescendos and decrescendos, often of single notes, the instruments rise and set like the sun, the sound of a city waking up.

Diat// Positive Energy

Despite their debut album being entitled Positive Energy Diat are not a happy bunch, yet the Berlin-based band manage to turn their depression into a raucous post-punk racket that's impossible to not compare to Joy Division. 

Ought// Sun Coming Down

On their 2014 debut Montreal punks Ought marked themselves out as ones to watch, and it's the anxiety to live up to this billing which fuels the angsty alt-rock of it's follow up, whilst still maintaining comparisons to their post-punk counterparts The Fall. 

V/A// Cease & Desist: DIY! (Classics From The Post Punk Era 1978-1982)

Compiling cult classics from 1978-82 Cease & Desist is a masterclass in doing it yourself.

From Break The Ice At Parties jazz-funk mash up, to the electro-pop of Private Plane, it's this year's most ingenious and entertaining release that will make assembling an IKEA flatpack look like fun.

Protmartyr// The Agent Intellect

2014's second album Under The Colour Of Official Right cropped up on many of last year's end of year polls, and the Detroit punks look set to do the same with this year's third effort.

Boasting angular post-punk, underpinning frontman Joe Casey's Mark E Smith-esque drawl it's as bleak and abrasive as we've come to expect.

Four Tet// Morning/ Evening

Kieran Hebden's eighth album is an album of journeys. From the literal journey of making chappatis with his grandma to making music in an East London club, to the metaphorical journey that transports the listener from the earth to it's celestial peak, told through the producer's brand of expansive and atmospheric synths.

Institute// Catharsis

 

If albums were named after how they made you feel then Austin punks Institute wouldn't be far wrong with Catharsis. It's frenzied guitars and tub-thumping drums providing the listener with pure punk release.

Jim O' Rourke// Simple Songs

Simple Songs is Jim O' Rourke's first pop album since 2001, yet it's clear he's not lost his knack for a melody whilst he's been away. A melting pot of classic pop elements and more hooks than a butchers kitchen, all backed by the Chicago producers trademark dark humour and wit. 

Many of the albums on this list are available from The Music Exchange, show your support for your local record store and buy independently 

UNDERGROUND// Afterwards

Meet the Italian indie stalwarts giving the genre a makeover 

 

Don't judge a book by it's cover. These words have never been more true than with Italian quartet Afterwards. Whilst they cite Foals, Peace and Sundra Karma as their influences they have more in common with anthemic rockers than scratchy indie upstarts. 

Compromising of guitarist and vocalist Frederico Dal Bianco and Lorenzo Basellato, bassist Carlo Turatello, and drummer Michele, their recent second EP Rage takes the kind of sound you'd expect from the likes of Two Door Cinema Club and soaks in it sonic noise.

Abigayle lures you in with it's fidegty Foals-esque guitars, before giving way to a barrage of beefy riffs, as frontman Dal Bianco laments "Tonight there's no one/ tonight I am nothing." 

Gloom is equally as pessimistic, "Do you prefer to die alone/ pulling the trigger on your own" it questions, suggesting there's a darker side to their seemingly sunny indie.

Rage isn't all doom and gloom though, Something New recalls the reverb-drenched slacker of Jaws, whilst The Unattainable deals in buoyant, upbeat riffs that explode into the chorus' arena-baiting  "woahs", ensuring it draws to a cathartic close. 

If you thought you had indie all worked out you're in for a surprise.  

REVIEW// Coates/ Vol 1 EP

On his debut EP Oliver Coates makes a bid for the Britpop big time

There's something of a Britpop revival happening at the moment, thanks in part to Blur's reunion and the endlessly turning Oasis rumour mill. But, it's not the genre's old dogs you should be concerned about, there's a new kid on the Britpop block demanding your attention- Coates.

Better known as Oliver Coates, the West London troubadour's debut EP, Vol 1 is a upbeat, bouncy slice of Britpop without the ladishness, lairiness and Liam Gallagher.

The Jamie T-esque storytelling of opener Gin And Tonic tells of the cider-fuelled nights on the tiles with a girl that "Leaves every night in tow with a fat lad with lots of dough". Recalling Treay's own charming tales of late-night debauchery. 

It's evident that lyrics are Coates' strong point, whether he's channelling Frank Turner's honesty, backed by rollicking guitars and trumpets on Throw Me Down or Billy Bragg's politically charged songwriting on Talk Of The Town, which tackles vacuous celebrity culture. He might be influenced by Oasis but Vol 1 is no Digsey's Dinner. 

Instead it offers a refreshingly modern take on the genre that's sure to put Coates at the forefront of the Britpop revival. 

10 Things We Leant About Patti Smith

On Wednesday (28th October) Patti Smith took to the stage at London's Emmanuel Centre, not to sing (that comes later), but to have a good old chin wag with critic and novelist Andrew O'Hagan instead. 
During their fleeting 90 minutes together the pair discussed everything from Smith's new memoir M Train and her seminal debut album Horses 40th anniversary, to her love of detective shows and desire to open her own cafe.
It's proof, if needed, that there's still much we don't know about the 68 year old. 
Here then, is 10 things we learnt about punk's first lady...  

1. The first record she owned was Madame Butterfly by Eleanor SteberBut the second is much cooler: Another Side by Bob Dylan,."My mother said: I don't know who this is but he looks like someone you might like."

2. To her punk rock means freedom
"It's just another word for freedom" she reveals, "It's a grass-roots art formed by the people, loved by the people, played by the people."
When asked where a new punk movement might come from she's alot more ambiguous, "I think only the new generation knows that" she says, "You don't need a new punk movement, you just need a movement that people care about. You don't need a new anything, you just need the thing; it doesn't need a name, it's an energy. It's bubbling beneath our feet, every generation makes it's contribution."  

3. She loves detective shows...

"Whether it's Morse, or Lewis, Wyecliff, George Gently, I love them all." she reveals, but it's Kenneth Branagh's eponymous Wallander that's her favourite.
"Often they drink too much, they're bums, they're obsessional- they have to be visionaries and unravel these deep puzzles. They drink too much wine at home at night listening to opera- just like me." To which the entire audience erupts with laugher. 

4.  ...And coffee

Especially Dunkin Donuts, which she claims is no better than a $100 cup from Tokyo,

"[It] gives the illusion that you're sort of in the swing of things". 

5. She was part of a 'Scarlet Fever Club'

An exclusive club for only the worst sufferers of the disease, Smith was joined by the only other member, author William Burroughs. 

6. If she could only use one medium it'd be writing

Whilst Smith would be "sad not to draw or take photographs or perform" she couldn't live without picking up a pen. "I have to write" she reasons, "It's part of who I am."

7. She has lots of writing rituals

When Smith puts pen to paper she has to do so "[on] my own little table in my own little cafe", but most importantly in the morning. "I like to write in the morning" she reveals, " Wake up early before anyone else, when anything seems possible."

8. She wants to open her own cafe

She came "very close a couple of times", but after lamenting that she "make[s] such bad coffee" it's probably for the best that she sticks to the day job. 

9. She likes Adele and Rihanna

When asked what she was currently listening to, no one expected Smith- one of punk rock's creators- to namecheck  chart-toppers Adele and Rihanna. "I like to hear the female voice" she said.
Other artists to get a mention were Karen O, My Bloody Valentine and Jimi Hendrix, who she claimed "isn't even a guy or a girl, he's beyond."

10. She's still got it 

Smith surprised the audience with an impromptu acoustic performance of Because The Night, Power To The People and a song she wrote for her daughter, the former inciting a sing along that ended in a standing ovation. Proof, if you needed any that whether on paper, on record or in conversation, Patti Smith is still very much a force to be reckoned with.

REVIEW// Savages/ The Answer

Savages are back and they're not leading us in gently 

On their second album Savages aim was simply to write "the loudest songs ever", no mean feat for a band who's already raucous debut drew comparisons to Joy Division and Siouxsie Sioux.
But, The Answer, the first track to be taken from new album Adore Life, released on January 22nd, is an all together more punishing affair.

Abrasive guitars cut through frontwoman Jhenny Beth's shrill cry of "If you don't love me you don't love anybody", underpinned by thundering drums, as though they are declaring sonic war on the world.

It's a sound that veers on the edge on violent, suggesting the band have taken more than a few cues from last year's collaboration with Japanese psych-rockers Bo Ningen on Words To The Blind.
It's what makes The Answer less of a statement of intent as a bombastic rallying call to post-punk arms.

Prepare your eardrums, Adore Life is gonna be loud.