Milk Teeth, Fangclub, Nervus. Live at Mama Rouxs (20/3/18)

Nervus are not your typical run of the mill pop punk band. For example, the Watford four piece sell own brand coffee on their merch stand. While their singer Em is one of the few openly trans rock vocalists. Yet really sets them apart is the quality of their tunes. Nervus mix Em's introspective and biographical lyrics with instantly memorable guitar hooks and piano melodies. Nervus' opening slot was a fun show with a party atmosphere.  Em shouted out the other bands comparing the tour to a school trip where all the bands were naughty school children getting each together into trouble. Nervus’ keyboardist also entertained with his extravagant dad dancing. Em gave a shout out to all the trans kids in the audience. All three of them danced alongside the band to the finale song of the set ‘it follows’ and had the last word of the set ‘protect trans kids’. (8/10)

While Nervus’ were light hearted and fun Fangclub were relatively dour by comparison. Fangclub take Nirvana style grunge-pop to new levels of noise and heaviness. Keeping their heads down and delivering huge heavy riffs much like my faves God Damn. The Dublin trio’s singer plonked his mic stand into the audience twice and gave the Birmingham crowd a master-class in no frills rock n’ roll. (7.2)

I will always remember a Beckyless Milk Teeth headlining an almost empty Sunflower Lounge many years ago. In the years since then I have watched with pride as Milk Teeth have deservedly become one of the UK’s hottest and best rock bands. Milk Teeth’s show at Mama Roux's went down much like their last show in Birmingham where they turned The Flapper into a sweaty chaotic mess. Burly dudes and skinny emo teenagers alike came together in a violent mix of crowd surfing, moshing and circle pitting. Milk Teeth themselves weren’t safe either as (unknown to me at the time) guitarist Webby somehow broke his ankle during the first song and fought opn through the pain till the end. Fresh from supporting Enter Shikari on an epic US tour, Milk Teeth were in a reflective mood, playing ‘Bagels’ for the final time, having instructed everybody present to learn the words beforehand. Presumably to give Webby a chance to rest his ankle Becky and Billy gave the crowd an acoustic version of crooked spoons, ‘Kabuki’ and a surprise cover of Foo Fighters ‘Everlong’. Business was soon resumed as the rest of the band joined for some heavier songs. When he wasn’t encouraging the crowd to jump around Billy asked everyone to get their phones out and shine a light at the stage. Mama Roux’s was soon ablaze in bright white light. Milk Teeth saved the best for last with ‘Owning your okayness’ now officially their signature song. Becky announced that there would be no encores giving the crowd once last chance to sing the words out loud. A few people chanted for an encore but it didn’t matter. Milk Teeth had already delivered more than enough. 

9.2/10

 

Note: I forgot my camera batteries so I had to use my phone to take these crappy photos. My gig photography is usually a lot better than this.

The Best Albums of Februrary 2018.

Car Seat Headrest - Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) 

The original Twin Fantasy is to bedroom made bandcamp albums what OK Computer is to 90's rock albums. I'd been hoping that it  might be one day re-recorded since the day I first heard it. When it was actually announced that this would happen there hadn't (or probably won't be) an album I'd looked forward to hearing more this year. The original Twin Fantasy is a short sharp blast of scuzzy indie rock songs, unfortunately ruined by horribly cheap production, which still couldn't quite hide how great some of those songs were. Since then Will Toledo has recorded many more albums, of better quality, yet the original twin fantasy still retains it's cult status. Rather than simply recording the songs in a professional studio Will has expanded the songs to epic proportions. The song's have been stretched out with more spoken word pieces and experimentation yet the lo-fi feel still remains. this new Twin Fantasy may be the best album I'll hear all year. As far as indie rock goes in 2018, this is as life affirming, odd, and downright brilliant as it gets.

Giver - Where the Cycle Breaks 

Giver are a German heavy metal band who take cues from 80's thrash metal legends but they've updated and tweaked the sound to make it heavier and darker. Giver embody the look and feel of 80's trash and crossover, and their crushingly heavy sound on this album gives my ears a battering. This is likely to be as heavy, fresh and inventive metal album as I'm likely to hear this year.

Everything is Recorded - Everything Is recorded by Richard Russell

Richard Russel is one one of the unsung heroes of British music, being a key part of XL records and the producer for the late Bobby Womack, Gill Scott Heron and more recently Damon Albarn. With Everything is recorded Richard is masterminding a series of mostly improvised re-imaginings of other songs, best of which is Grace Jones' 'nightclubbing' which is reworked into 'Mountains of Gold'. on EiR collaborates with a hugely diverse spectrum of artists, including Giggs, Sampha, Ibeyi and Peter Gabriel. The vibe is bruit and colourful and the music styles are frequently diverse, mixing grime, hip-hop, electronica, and world. The only reoccurring theme is the opening skit about loneliness and depression, which gives the LP a sombre poignancy.

Wild Beasts - Last night all my dreams came true. 
The announcement of Wild Beats split last year was upsetting to me as after having been aware of them for many years I had only just started to like them thanks to their fantastic fourth album 'Boy King'. That album found Wild Beasts reinvented from artsy and sensual to aggressive and sexual. Boy King took cues from Nine Inch Nails, ditching guitars for heavy synth stabs. It's sad to see a band call it a day after reaching such a tantalising climax. This live-in-studio album makes up for the disappointment slightly, taking the best of 'Boy king' and mixing it with the rest of their discography.



Don Broco - Technology 

For a long time Don Broco seemed a band out of place, too laddish for the emo crowd, yet too heavy and polished for the indie crowd. On their third album Don Broco not only sound sure of themselves but ready to take on the world. The corniness of the first two albums is completely gone and in it's place is a darker edge and a more concious feel to the lyrics. 'Technology' might not be quite as deep as it makes itself out to be or as artistic as some of my honourable mentions but for no-nonsense riff heavy rock music this is one of the best albums of it's kind I'll hear in 2018.


Honorable Mentions
US Girls - In a Poem Unlimited. 
Black Panther: The Album 
Rich Brian - Amen 
Ezra Furman - Transangelic Exodus. 

Insecure Men + Raf Rundell Live at the Hare and Hounds Review (15/3/18)

Who is Raf Rundell? When Raf came on stage shrouded in darkness with his electric guitar it seemed obvious with his thick Mancunian accent and his stripped back songs that he is a kind of Guy Garvey-ish singer songwriter. Raf exudes a similar warmth and instant likeability to Elbows front-man.  Yet things quickly changed when the rest of his band joined him on stage for the funky ‘every morning’ during which he had to explain that that the saxophonist hadn’t shown up for his solo. To much laughter Raf simply hummed the Saxophone solo and got on with the show without a hitch.Despite his voice being sore from touring and the keyboardist not showing up either Raf’s band sounded tight and funky. Raf pulled another trick out his sleeve and showed off his rapping ability on ‘Ric Flair’. If Elbows songs romanticizes the north then Raf’s tales of needing to “pay for the sportswear” and everyday having him “California dreaming” reflect a more gritty reality. Raf took things in yet another direction and finished his set with the irresistible disco banger “sweet cheeks” leaving me still wondering who Raf Rundell is but also leaving me wanting more. 6.8/10

Some bands make an impression before they’ve even played a note. Insecure Men are a 9 piece band, including three keyboardists, a saxophonist and slide guitarist. Insecure Men live up to their name, hiding behind decks of keyboards like Gary Numan's Tubeway Army, with sullen faces but also looking cool as fuck, sporting casual brown suits for their own take on the classic post punk/blitz kids look. Despite having many members and featuring stars such as ‘Childhood’s Ben Romans Hopcraft and what may have been a fame shy Sean Lennon lurking in the shadows, this is very much Saul Adamzewski’s band. Saul’s other band Fat White Family quickly became famous for their chaotic live shows and general depravity.  However Insecure Men mix Saul's sense of depravity with Chilhood's soulful pop. With Insecure Men Saul has created a lush, sophisticated sound that he could never have achieved with Fat Whites, which contrasts with his gruff vocal delivery and disturbing lyrics. Insecure Men do little to engage the audience, with Saul only speaking to introduce the songs in a matter of fact style. In what may be only a half truth, announcing that “all women love me and all men fear me” and that “this song’s about Heathrow Airport, it's called

Heathrow”. Many of Insecure Men's songs manage to be instantly familiar. “Mekon Glitter” takes the iconic drum beat from ‘We Will Rock you’ while ‘Heathrow’ steals the tune of silent night. The instant familiarity of these songs only adds to their disturbing nature.  Ultimately I give Saul all the credit in the world for overcoming his addictions and forming a band as professional and sophisticated as Insecure Men. He’s taken some of the best qualities of Fat Whites and incorporated them into something even more surreal. My only complaint is that they came on stage, played for 45 minutes and that's about it. For all Insecure Men’s merits they seemed engaged yet also strangely detached, giving me little to linger in the memory.

8.4

www.facebook.com/pg/RafRundell
https://insecuremen.bandcamp.com/

Note: I didn't realise when writing this that Raf Rundell is a member of the 2 Bears. The 2 Bears are ace.