Creamfields 2008

With the Olympics winding down, Creamfields head honcho, Ryan Barton seems to be in the mood to feed off the frenzy it created by arranging for a relay of high profile, hard-hitting and groove inducing acts over an extended two days. Queuing revellers have also caught the Olympic bug, as news filters through that the strategy of last year to confiscate all pre-purchased alcohol is continuing into this year. This means that panic sets in and weird and wonderful containers of beer, vodka and most other spirits are being passed around like a relay baton. You couldn’t script it, but as scary looking concoction of vodka, red bull and few unknown ingredients is swiftly passed to a Californian, who is here to check out the legend of Ian Brown. The container falls out of his hand and the contents disappear, becoming absorbed in the combination of mud and water quicker than you can say “the Americans have dropped the baton again!”.

The Presets shake up those towards the front of the main-stage area, who have gathered early in order to be in the mix for Fatboy Slim. Creaky, slow building tunes are crafted by the friendly Aussie duo of Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes. The low-key pearl ‘Girl and the Sea’, basks in the main-stage profile, giving off a chilled out, mildly lazy and thoughtful vibe. The main difficulty for The Presets, seems to be in the fact that their versatile, genre skipping approach has allowed them to tour with the likes of 2ManyDJs and The Rapture, but it means that their sound is usually moulded to fit in with the needs of the main act crowd. Today, their more pop-friendly side comes out for their Main-Stage billing. It is time for this pair to be given free-range to explore their eclectic approach on their own terms.
Seedy 90’s dance resurrecting stompers, Simian Mobile Disco use their off-kilter digitalism to draw at first, perplexed looks and then to inspire some quirky gyrating that hasn’t been seen since the auditions for Hairspray. Jas Shaw & James Ford manage to use enough cheekiness and flashes of controlled feistiness, to earn themselves the tag of being a male Salt N‘ Peppa, at times. Intrigued? You should be! Having built up a reputation in his home country of Argentina for his blistering, futuristic dance sets during his residency at Pacha, Buenos Aires, DJ Hernan Cattaneo uses his ability to work up a crowd. He does so with a climax of swirling stings to make full use of the stunning strobe-lights. This has the impact of getting the glow sticks soaring and bodies swaying.

Of course, if you are going to remain an icon for your lifetime and beyond it, you need a lot of help. Films like 24 Hour Party People, has aided the profile of the Madchester era. For many gathered to watch Ian Brown, his Stone Roses legendary status was what drew them here, not his politically nudged, world-music slanting new material. However, ‘Sister Rose’ one of the funkier new tracks, finds favour for its distorted guitar approach and the fact that Brown sings quite well on it. Creamfields is certainly full of surprises. A rising run through Roses’ classic ‘Waterfall’, is just what the nostalgic doctor ordered and feeling is put into it. Brownie has certainly exorcised demons of Roses past and it helps give his set variety and authenticity.

For many, the main disappointment of the last two years of this event, was in the below par showings from the headline acts; Prodigy and Chemical Brothers. This year, it is down to Fatboy Slim to restore the faith. His more universal appeal helps and when he kicks into a fuzzed out, elongated mix of House Of Pain’s ‘Jump Around’, the spasms of euphoria that certain sections of the crowd are sent into is justification enough. With Festivals waning this year through expectation and the disappointment of cancellations from some of the star turns, Creamfields has stepped it up a notch.

By Dave Adair

Mogwai - Batcat

The band are set to release their sixth album “The Hawk Is Howling” later this Fall. “Batcat” is the first song lifted off that record. Naturally, with any post-rock band it is hard to call any of their songs a “single.” But, if there was a band that could pull it off it would be Mogwai. Going into the record I had a lot of high expectations due to the fact that “Mr. Beast” was such a remarkable album and one of the bands finest to date. “Batcat” still follows the bands trademark sound to the bone. The song is a thick and loud and stunning piece of instrumentation. But, for some reason during the song I got the feeling like we have done this all before already. It is tough for a band like this to release a single but I have little doubts that “The Hawk Is Howling” will deliver.

By John Siwicki

Travis - Something Anything

I feel bad for Travis sometimes. They all seem like such a lovely bunch of guys but lately their output has been so unforgettable. I completely had forgotten that they released a record last year. A few tracks showed some promise but still wasn’t there. “Something Anything” is the first album from their sixth album “Ode To J.Smith” due out in a few weeks time. It will be the first Travis single not to be written by singer Fran Healy. The track goes back to the bands rockier roots which has not been seen in quite some time now. It is just a really nice change of pace to the slower tracks that the band has released on their last few albums. The track also does have a very catchy sensibility to it. The band are now on their own after having left their label and they seem to be relishing in it.

By John Siwicki

Vessels - White Fields and Open Devices

Vessels are a five-piece hailing from Leeds, light on vocals but more than compensating with an array of guitar-based songs that some have given the label post-rock. Not that I want to stick anyone in a neat little box but post-rock is probably quite apt for a band that sound like a more minimal Muse. And seeing as Muse now get bogged down in descriptions like Apocalyptic, space post-rock, it would seem fair that Vessels get a more minimalist tag. When it’s put like that, it almost sounds logical…

White Fields and Open Devices had already begun to win me over before I had even played the album. For a start, just the names of the songs are brilliant. A Hundred Times in Every Direction, Look at That Cloud! and Wave Those Arms Airmen, sound like they’ve been thought up by a philosopher with A.D.D! The songs themselves aren’t as manic as the titles suggest, but build and surge around, full of crashing, distorted guitars and the occasional understated vocal from Tom Evans.

When I first put the album on to give it a listen, a good old technical hitch meant the proper speakers weren’t working, so I started off with it just coming through the tinny speakers of my laptop. Once I got up and found some headphones it was like hearing a different album. White Fields and Open Devices is a big, ethereal sound which demands proper playback. I’ve already drawn the obvious Muse comparison but here’s another one that’s not so quick to mind – Elbow. Not in any kind of melodic or structural sense but in the way that Vessels can create a vast sound that flows over you.

Atmospherically vast is not their only modus operandi though, as proven on track eight, Yuki, the more chilled Sigur Ros-esque effort on the album, even featuring a bit of birdsong. Bleakness is also given a run on Walking Through Walls, one of the shortest tracks on the album at four and half minutes.

For a debut album (having released a self-titled EP in 2006), White Fields and Open Devices is an absolute gem of the post-rock variety. While the tracks are indeed quite weighty in length, they don’t feel overly long or get stuck in self serving mediocrity once (cough cough… Forth… cough cough Verve… cough… who said that?)

The tricky second album challenge they have left themselves though is to keep up with the fantastic track names. I mean, how do you top An Idle Brain And The Devil’s Workshop?

By Mark Williams

The Verve - Forth

The first time round for The Verve, back in the good old 1990’s, I was a bit too young for them - I remember finding them a bit depressing, summed up by the simultaneously beautiful and bleak The Drugs Don’t Work. Actually, I think a lot of people found them a bit depressing, so when Forth came to me to review I did wonder if The Verve are still a bunch of miserable bastards.

The answer is a resounding ‘yes’ but tunefully miserable bastards nonetheless. Maybe missing the boat on the Verve the first time round was a good thing in terms of this review because I had no expectations for Forth. Unlike the music press who have been rapt in the kind of eager anticipation normally seen in Wile E. Coyote waiting for Road Runner stop on the painted bull’s-eye. Richard Ashcroft never helps matters either, the album cover (clouds split by soft sunbeams) can surely only be a reflection of the man’s God complex. Is his head really that far up his own arse or is it all Northern swagger?

At 73 minutes long (I’m including two “bonus” tracks here), Forth does seem a little excessive. Ok so the Verve are never going to go for a three minute romp of catchy cheer but the seven and a half minutes of Appalachian Springs does go on somewhat. A musical exploration is one way you could put it. However, there’s a lot you can do in seven and a half minutes and I’m not sure this would be my first choice. Then again, I would rather that than listen to Ashcroft talk about the Verve for 450 seconds.

One big, big issue I have with this album is the single, Love is Noise. Not a great comeback single by a long stretch of the imagination, it is made infinitely worse by what I can only describe as a sample of a flock of geese flying overhead. Used repeatedly throughout the song, it utterly astounds me that a band once so highly regarded after 1997’s Urban Hymns thought it was a good idea. Maybe they thought a strong reaction either way is better than none at all. If so, adding possibly the worst sample I can ever recall hearing in a song, to Love is Noise, will do just nicely.

Noise Epic, whilst also unbelievably long (I’m beginning to sound like I have problems with my attention span, ) does provide a welcome respite from the maudlin overtones of Forth, never more apparent than track five Numbness. But on the whole, it may be worth putting a little sticker on the album with the Samaritans hotline number just in case the Verve leave anyone contemplating ending it all.

By Mark Williams

Second Opinion:

As a huge fan of The Verve I’ve been looking forward to this coming in, I’ve now played it several times. When The Verve are good no one can touch them, when they are poor they are dire and sadly I found both elements in here, though the good far outweighed the bad. Sit and Wonder is a great track with plenty of ‘Verve’ sounds going on in there, but I wasn’t impressed with the liberal peppering of ‘oh oh’s.’

Love is Noise, again another good track but a little too mainstream for my taste, and the backing gets a tad irritating, as Richard’s voice certainly doesn’t need any support. Rather Be was a fascinating track, the tune itself I found vaguely reminiscent of ‘Check the Meaning,’ this a truly excellent song, and the vocals are to die for. I See Houses is another stunning track, the lyrics are awesome, this is both powerful and evocative, amazing stuff I loved it. Noise Epic, this promises much with the title alone, and boy does it deliver, this will convince you, if nothing else does, that The Verve are back. It begins deceptively slow with some amazing guitar work then builds gradually with varying vocals, it’s extremely cleverly worked and you really feel this track growing until it finally explodes into the ‘noise,’ this should excite early Verve fans as it did me and at over eight minutes long, this truly is an epic I can’t wait to hear this live. Amazing stuff!
Valium Skies seems a little sedate especially as it immediately follows Noise Epic but it is yet another outstanding track, which is much softer but excellent. Overall I loved this album the guys are on form, it’s good to have you back!

By:
J.GREENWOOD

Bloc Party - Intimacy

London’s Bloc Party return with surprise third LP ‘Intimacy’, a scant 18 months after their second release, the lukewarm ‘A Weekend In The City’. Obvious questions are: is this a selection of leftovers in the mould of Radiohead’s ‘Amnesiac’, or is it the band’s attempt to redeem themselves after ‘Weekend’’s underwhelming reception. Further Radiohead comparisons are evoked by ‘Intimacy’’s release strategy – a lack of preparation time (the album was only announced two days before the initial release), preceding a digital release in August (via Bloc Party’s official site), followed by a physical release in October.

‘Weekend’ was disappointing because first album ‘Silent Alarm’’s fast-paced, eclectic genre experimentation was replaced with a penchant for straightforward ballads, and a more cut-and-paste approach to experimentation. For ‘Weekend’, small fragments of dubstep or radionoise elements were crudely inserted into otherwise unremarkable tracks, and frontman Kele Okereke’s vocals were compressed to the point that they sounded ridiculously fake, and untranslatable to a live setting.
‘Intimacy’ on the other hand starts promisingly. ‘Ares’ combines ‘Setting Sun’ by The Chemical Brothers with siren-esque guitars and urgent, cyclonal drumming dimly recalling ‘Helicopter’ from ‘Silent Alarm’. ‘Mercury’ is a dirty rocker with an unpredictable melody and stammering, cut-up vocals as if put through a blender, while potential single ‘Halo’ combines choir samples, synths and frenetic beats to create something genuinely emotive. The perhaps euphemistically titled ‘Trojan Horse’, despite some slightly cringe-worthy lyrics – particularly the delivery of “you used to take your watch off before we made love” – combines violent guitars (particularly in the solo) and scrambled electronics in a manner much more urgent and effective than anything on ‘Weekend’.

‘Better Than Heaven’ succeeds in demonstrating the crossed genres that the band have seemingly been aspiring towards throughout their brief career. Its resultant concoction of rocking out, sonic experimentation and straightforward crooning achieve an emotional crescendo far beyond anything on ‘Weekend’.

So, although ‘Intimacy’ is not the revelation that ‘Silent Alarm’ was on first listen, this third release is very much a satisfying, cohesive album in its own right (not leftovers from ‘Weekend’), and suggests a return into the right direction for an intriguing young band who are back to playing to their strengths.

By Ryan Daff

Five O’Clock Heroes - Alice

Having successfully used the seductive draw of guest vocalist, Agyness Deyn on previous single, ‘Who’ Five O’Clock Heroes now return to the frolicking, folk tilted push of Anthony Ellis to continue the momentum with playful percussion combo led trot, ‘Alice’. It is taken from Da Heroes sauntering second album, ‘Speak Your Language’.

It is difficult to make jangling indie centred around feelings towards a member of the opposite sex sound fresh, but Ellis gives it a good go. This is mainly due to the way that he seems drop his high notes perfectly onto the slight skiffle veined guitar lob. Five O’Clock Heroes are determinedly making up for ground that was unfortunately lost with their debut album. They seem to be doing so with chirpy, free-spirited abandon.

By Dave Adair

Pride Of The Revolution - Pride Of The Revolution

These are a 3 piece band from Sunderland.Their musical style is indie/alternative and they have a slight 7Os sound.There’s something rather bleak about this album,like a black blanket across it.
According to their myspace blurb,”POTR is a band which makes music in a room with corpses buried in the walls”. Yes,really.There’s even a photo on there to prove it….

There are eleven tracks on this album,and this band has been around since 2004,supporting the likes of Maximo Park,Futureheads and Nine Black Alps onstage.

This album is a documentary of the band’s music.It was released on 4th August this year,prior to one band member leaving in September to go to Iraq.

It is a gritty listen,tight and punk-influenced,bleak and deep.

The tracks are rather samey,the musical tone is excellent,but with that dark somewhat negative tone.

A curiosity.

By Juliet Robertson

Mutlu - Livin’ It

Good positive music from this young Philadelphia singer.He’s 27 years old and sounds like a cross between Stevie Wonder and Mutlu.This CD was released on 22nd July and its a good one.

Bit Steely Dan without the clang.Lots of hope in the lyrics to these songs but not in a hyped way.Soaked in soul,this is an album which will contribute in a healing way to those suffering from depression and negative thoughts.

Daryl Hall sings with Mutlu on See What It Brings,but honestly I don’t think he needs to.Other guests on this album include Amos Lee and Raheem.Mutlu doesn’t need extra vocalists on his songs in my opinion.He is talent enough by himself.

Hello Morning is a beautiful song.Bill Withers-influenced,but Mutlu’s voice is purer. A Billy Preston-style organ in the background (that man is very missed) rounds out this track smoothly.

Shaky Ground w G Love is a bit rawer,more hip hop/rapping in style-Mutlu is very versatile!

A lovely,happy,jazzy CD.

By Juliet Robertson

Conor Oberst - Souled Out

It’s always a blunt edged sword when someone is regularly labelled the new Bob Dylan. In the case of the prolific Bright Eyes leader, Mr Conor Oberst you just hope that it doesn’t limit his ability to explore his range?

Using twining guitars and an acid folk vibe, Oberst gives his vocals a more playful and carefree kick to lighten up the searching pious topic that is delved into. ‘Souled Out’, is a tasty little tit-bit from his first solo album in nigh on thirteen years. The Dylan comparison won’t go away, though.

By Dave Adair

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