Tag Archives: alternative

WOT GORILLA? – Kebnekaise

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Although they take their name from a classic mid-70s Genesis instrumental, no further comparisons with the UK’s arguably most successful prog-rockers-turned-stadium-rockers should be sought from the work of Halifax-based band Wot Gorilla?  Yes, the complexity of their sound could be considered progressive, but always progressive in a math/art-rock way as opposed to a “classic” prog approach.

‘Kebnekaise’ (the band’s full-length debut, following two self-released EPs) presents a world of arty, jazzy, angular and occasionally noisy sounds which somehow come together effectively to create a challenging kaleidoscope of art-rock.  As if Tubelord decided to collaborate with Animals As Leaders, members of Mr Bungle and King Crimson, the results are often amazing.

The opening instrumental ‘I Beat Up The Bathroom, I’m Sorry’ shows an incredible musical tightness.  To begin with, guitarist Ben Farnell plays a jazzy riff mixing finger-picked musical motifs with a little tapping.  His tone is superb.  The drums – again slightly jazzy – make excellent accompaniment, as Si Marks offers percussive fills and a funky groove.  As the electric guitars crash in (albeit briefly) things become more of the common or garden indie rock variety, before sliding almost seamlessly into the oddly titled ‘Melted Welly’, where Marks really gets the opportunity to cut loose and show off his talents.  Again, a hefty mix of jazz, funk and rock creates an impressive rhythm from which the rest of the band can build.  Farnell’s guitar parts are an obvious extension of the earlier instrumental, while the tune has an abundance of rhythmic changes (and stops), never appearing fully settled.  Mat Heigh’s lead voice is of the slightly nasal, higher pitch indie variety – similar to Tubelord’s Joseph Prendegast – which will provide enough leverage for younger listeners to remain convinced that (much in the same way they feel about Radiohead), Wot Gorilla? are not a prog band.

‘Suspects’ takes Wot Gorilla?’s core sound an pushes it a touch farther.  From the avant-garde approach during the intro – featuring some almost ridiculous stops – the band move through musical passages where the vocals meet with more ringing, jazz-edged guitar lines, before tackling various off-kilter funky grooves tempered with brief spells of anger.  It’s challenging and sounds like it could fall apart at any time, yet the band always manage to keep things together in a most impressive way.  The bouncy ‘Holy B’Jesus’ is one of the most accessible numbers, at first working around a solid indie groove with jangling guitar work.  Like the rest of Wot Gorilla?’s work, however, it doesn’t stay that way for long: by the middle of the track, they’re throwing in odd time signatures, lolloping across slower riffs, and generally being all arty.  The final section of the number proves one of many highlights of ‘Kebnekaise’, featuring some superb hi-hat/percussion work and a warm bassline, before careening into a wall of noisy indie-rock guitars that – before long – hammer the same chord until coming to a jarring halt.

Moving away from the arty and farther towards the aggressive, lead single ‘Snow White’ eschews the jazzy, finger-picked guitar parts at first for some noisier alt-rock chops.  To balance out the (relatively) simpler sounding arrangement, Jonny Hey’s bass parts are pushed right up front and the end sound is impressively chunky.   Just as the indie rock gathers momentum, it’s all change for a rather pointed, jazzy tune, which sounds like one of the best things Tubelord never recorded.  These two contrasting styles would be enough to ensure ‘Snow White’ left an impression on its listening audience, but to finish, Wot Gorilla? take things a step further with a brief moment of extreme metallic riffing.  A good way to finish this musical journey.

If there is any downside to this release at all, it’s that there’s a bit too much of a kitchen sink approach to most of the tracks.  Perhaps breaking things up a little would have given the album more of a varied feel, overall.  It could be argued that it’s all so impeccably played, that the sheer complexity of the material constantly showcases a band sticking rigidly to their best strengths – and that’s an argument which certainly holds true.  That complexity, however, will make the album somewhat challenging to get through in one sitting for some.  For the more patient, however – and for those math-rock and art-rock devotees (for most of whom, “progressive rock” are likely dirty words) – ‘Kebnekaise’ is a cornucopia of twisted musical delights.

August 2012

CHIMP SPANNER – All Roads Lead Here EP

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Chimp Spanner is an instrumental project from the mind of multi-instrumentalist Paul Ortiz, where he gets to push chugging riffs – played on seven stringed guitars – to extremes while mixing metal, progressive tendencies and a touch of jazz-rock fusion.  The results are technical and complex, but often, there’s an unexpected melodic counterpart which can be enjoyed by listeners who really aren’t inspired by the general muso-ness of it all.  Chimp’s previous release, 2010’s ‘At The Dream’s Edge’ featured some superb tunes and jaw-dropping musicianship; 2012’s ‘All Roads Lead Here’ effectively extends the musical themes of that release, creating something equally intense and twisted, but strangely magical.

‘Dark Edge of Technology’ throws the listener in at the deep end, ploughing through a fantastic off-kilter rhythm delivered in a sledgehammer manner – full-on chug, maximum downtuning – over which the lead guitars have a classic clean tone.  In Chimp Spanner style, that clean tone helps lighten the mood somewhat even though the main thrust of the tune remains as intense as ever.  There are some moments of multi-tracked guitars which are a nice touch, but these soon get swept away under another really uncompromising riff.  Following a very brief interlude of atmospheric keys and trippiness, it’s a return to the main riff with its heady tech-metal approach.  A fantastic start, for sure, but there are better musical thrills just over the horizon.

‘Engrams’ brings a haunting mellow melody played with a clean tone over soft drones.  At just under two minutes it serves as a very effective introduction for the EP’s main feature – ‘Mobius’, a musical suite in three parts.  As you may expect, ‘Mobius’ brings back the levels of intensity which are present in most of Chimp’s best works – but it’s the third section in particular which serves as the EP’s high point with regards to metal.  The bass drum sounds provide pneumatic qualities, over which Ortiz’s brief bursts of tapping are hugely entertaining.  Pulled together by a blanket of keyboards in a Devin Townsend style, overall it’s a superb example of tech/progressive metal, bringing nearly fifteen minutes’ worth of already enjoyable music to a suitable climax.

For listeners who like things a little gentler, the EP’s closer ‘Cloud City’ showcases more of Ortiz’s jazz rock chops.  Following a few bell-like chords, the main riff crashes in (again with a heavy edge), before quickly falling away to allow the lead guitar to take centre stage.  Here, Ortiz plays some beautiful, mostly clean toned notes – with plenty of vibrato – sounding like a cross between Jeff Beck and Steve Lukather.  He’s certainly no slouch with bass either, as a percussive and funky bassline brings a superb accompaniment.  Despite beginning with a jazz-rock mood, being a Chimp Spanner release, Ortiz can’t resist bringing things back to familiar tech-metal territory: the track closes with those great vibrating lead guitar lines played over a hugely downtuned and hugely heavy riff.  Once again, this is kept interesting by way of a quirky time signature [Actually, quirky doesn’t  even come close to describing this!].  For the parts of the second half, there’s so much bottom end, it begs to be heard on a decent stereo; there’s literally no point in experiencing this through your mp3 player’s earphones – it would be a waste of your time and a dreadful waste of Chimp Spanner’s talent.  [Also, if you like this, chances are, parts of Glen Drover’s ‘Metalusion’ will possibly also float your boat].

Following ‘At The Dream’s Edge’ was always going to be tough, but this EP does everything you’d hope for from another Chimp Spanner release.  If you’re already aware of Chimp Spanner, you know you want this too.

January 2012

GREEN APPLE QUICK STEP – Reloaded

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In 1993, as Grunge was beginning to fade a little, Green Apple Quick Step (presumably named after The Byrds song of the same name) released their debut album ‘Wonderful Virus’. It achieved moderate success, but musically its post-grunge approach was a little dull aside from a couple of tracks.

In 1995, they released their second album, ‘Reloaded’, produced by Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard. Somewhere between the two albums, the bands songwriting moved away from their grungy earlier style and introduced a few more power pop influences. The variety of styles on this second album came as a huge surprise after ‘Wonderful Virus’ and as a result, ‘Reloaded’ became an album which was rarely far from my CD player for the next couple of years. The album finds GAQS stretching out and experimenting; a handful of tracks are fantastic and some of the musical ideas are interesting. Naturally, a couple of tracks miss the mark, but generally speaking, the fact that ‘Reloaded’ is a world away from the safe and formulaic nature of their debut should be applauded.

Things begin slowly with ‘Hotel Wisconsin’, a largely instrumental track. There’s plenty of atmosphere here with the organ sounds and reverbed guitars. It’s a far cry from the GAQS you knew from previously. The rhythmic pattern of the song never shifts far from Ty Willman’s organ, to the point where most of the lead guitar work is very low in the mix. It’s an interesting start to the album, incorporating a lot of moods you’d be unlikely to associate with a Seattle based band (except for maybe Screaming Trees). They change musical stance for the next couple of tracks: ‘Ed #5’ is a slab of fuzzy retro rock, heavy on the pedals and phasers and during the punky-edged ‘No Favors’, bassist Mari Ann Braden takes lead vocals for a track which has more in common with early L7 and Hole than GAQS’s more usual post-grunge and power pop. As a stand-alone track, its attitude and energy work very well, but as part of ‘Reloaded’ it feels very misplaced.

At three songs in, you may be forgiven for thinking this is a little directionless. After all, at this point, you’d be right…but you’ve got to give them credit for trying new things. ‘T.V. Girl’ offers the first truly great moment from ‘Reloaded’, with its mid-paced, guitar driven pop-rock. Ty Willman’s voice is at its strongest and has a passionate quality and once Mari Ann joins the chorus for harmony vocals, you get to hear the real potential behind GAQS, not heard much before now. ‘Alligator’ features another of Willman’s best vocal performances, with its mid-paced broodiness; it’s one of the key tracks for spotting how much the band has matured since their formulaic debut. The percussion-less ‘Underwater’ returns to a more atmospheric style with acoustic guitars accompanied by organ sounds; the song itself tinged with sadness and Willman’s voice being well suited to the more wistful nature of the material. The soft ‘Lazy’ works excellently, once again the call-and-response style vocals between Ty Willman and Mari Ann Braden providing its best feature.

The album’s best known cut ‘Dizzy’ (as featured in the movie The Basketball Diaries) is one of the album’s more positive moments. As far as this style of nineties power pop is concerned, this is a near-perfect example, with its great rhythm guitars and infectious chorus. Mari Ann’s backing vocals add something here – the combination of male and female voices matched with the feel-good nature of the song should have made this a sure fire hit. ‘Tangled’ has an interesting slightly retro edge – the ringing guitars occasionally have an Allman Brothers tone, even if the musical style doesn’t have anything else in common with Southern Rock. Despite the good arrangement, the song isn’t as memorable as it should be.

This album may arrive with a bunch of ideas and influences and seemingly no idea of which direction to go, but it certainly provides more than enough entertainment once it finds its feet. However, the momentum doesn’t last, as it ends in a rather disinterested fashion: ‘Space Cocksucker’ is a woozy funk based instrumental with the focus on rhythm guitar, punctuated by keyboard sounds; this is definitely filler material and ‘Halloween’ is an okay piece of jangle pop (largely based around a simple arrangement played by guitarists Steve Ross and Danny K) which features a good vocal but not much else.

It may feel rather hit and miss, but I love this album. Its relative lack of success – given its more commercial moments – is surprising and, as such, it’s unlikely to ever be thought of as more than a footnote in the Seattle family tree. The band recorded a follow-up three years later entitled ‘New Disaster’, which remains unreleased on a physical format apart from one track, ‘Kid’, appearing on the I Know What You Did Last Summer soundtrack. (However, part of the album can be heard courtesy of a legal stream via MySpace)

After the break-up of GAQS, Ty Willman went on to work with Devilhead (a band featuring Brian Wood of Hater and John McBain of Monster Magnet, Hater and Wellwater Conspiracy). He would also work with MariAnn Braden and Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready in a short-lived project, $10,000 Gold Chain. Steve Ross, meanwhile, joined punk band The Briefs, under the pseudonym Steve E Nix. As of March 2010, Willman made a return playing Green Apple Quick Step songs. He hopes that one day the much sought-after third GAQS album will get a proper release.

 

Read the interview with Willman here.
Listen to the online stream of ‘New Disaster’ here.

 

March 2010

BETTER THAN EZRA – How Does Your Garden Grow

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Sitting rather comfortably alongside the Soul Asylum type bands, Better Than Ezra’s early albums are a solid mix of alternative rock and Americana stylings. ‘Deluxe’, particularly, may be a modern classic.

For ‘How Does Your Garden Grow?’ things don’t always feel as smooth. The band began to change direction on their third commercially available album, ‘Closer’, and by the time of this fourth release, for the most part, I’d say that the sound I most associate with Better Than Ezra isn’t really present. ‘Closer’ in many ways marked a definite shift, but for this album, the shift is more pronounced. The synths and electric pianos seem far more prominent and sometimes they seem to work, sometimes not. While some of the electric piano and keyboard led moments of ‘Closer’ had a smoothness (‘Get You In’ is lovely; ‘I Do’ is solid alternative pop-rock), moments which feel similar on this fourth outing are angrier, spikier and generally edgy. While some songs are obviously very good, it doesn’t have much in the way of user-friendliness. It may not even be the increased use of electronics; it may just be that for a good proportion of this album, the drums are way too loud. Maybe it’s because they’ve tried to follow up ‘Closer’ with something similar, to show how they’ve mostly moved on from the obvious Soul Asylum type sound, but the songwriting often lacks focus; that’s not to say it doesn’t have some notable moments – Better Than Ezra are, after all, a decent band.

On the opening track, ‘Je Ne M’en Souviens Pas’, the keyboards dominate so much of the arrangement. Combined with the vocals having a phased treatment and pretty much no guitar work, you could be forgiven that they’ve abandoned their past completely and gone synth-pop or electronica. It’s probably meant as a statement, but it’s a really poor choice of opening track and has little to make me want to listen to it more than once. They’ve attempted to be striking, but just about muddled through. ‘Live Again’is very drum led and clearly in the alternative rock bracket, but where guitars would normally be the focus, this song has nice electric piano flourishes. This could be a great song, but it’s not instantly obvious in the way that some of ‘Closer’ had been. ‘Under You’ is mellow and is much closer to old fashioned Ezra, but there’s something missing somehow. It’s not in the music; the music itself is as good as the band’s other pastel shaded moments. It seems to be lacking an obvious hook, which was something ‘Deluxe’ never really felt short of. It’s pleasant enough though. ‘At The Stars’ is definitely one of my favourite tracks; it sounds like a mix of older Ezra, with Our Lady Peace, but that may just be the drum pattern. Excellent.

‘Waxing Or Waning’ has a very relaxed feel, with brushes on the drums and twangy guitars. More Americana than much of the album, I wonder if anyone in the band is fond of the work of Howe Gelb? There’s a spaciousness which reminds me of him and his colleagues. He may well argue, of course. A mass of pre-programmed drums makes up the bulk of ‘Beautiful Mistake’ – a track which is nowhere near as focused or clever as it thinks it is. Largely forgettable at worst and casual indifference at best makes this track easily skippable. In total contrast, ‘Pull’ explores the band’s all-out alt-rock side, with big riffs and guitar solos. While their earlier work was only this rocky on occasion, personally, I’d much rather they went in this direction than the electronic one largely favoured on this album.

‘Particle’ matches pre-programmed drum loops with live drumming to good effect. Again, it’s the keyboard driven sounds here which carry the tune rather than the band’s previous Americana influenced styles. It’s hard not to think of Canada’s Our Lady Peace, although the vocals aren’t that striking. There’s a nice use of a mellotron sound during the last couple of minutes which more than fleshes out the arrangement, but still, at over six minutes, it feels slightly drawn out. Generally this succeeds in doing something ‘Beautiful Mistake’ failed spectacularly with. ‘Like It Like That’ somehow reminds me more of Third Eye Blind. It mixes slight samba rhythms, power pop chords and a repetitive hook that, while not brilliant, manages to stick in your head. The only thing here which doesn’t feel quite natural is the high pitched synth. After a handful of plays, it’s clear that this is one of the album’s high points.

Another of the album’s standouts is ‘How Wonderful You Are’. Again, while I’d struggle to recognise this being the same band who gave us the brilliant ‘Deluxe’, it’s kind of brilliant in its own right. Jangly guitars, a pure pop chorus and a nod to Lou Reed’s ‘Walk On The Wild Side’ make this recommended listening. Near the end of the album, ‘Everything In 2’s’ finally offers the listener something unmistakable. The soulful vocals, mid-paced arrangement, build up to the chorus and semi-acoustic stylings are very much in keeping with the old classic Better Than Ezra, so they’ve not completely abandoned the feel which drew me to them initially.

There’s very much an ‘experiement-not-quite-realised’ feeling about this album and on the whole, while ‘How Does Your Garden Grow’ is solid enough, it never quite hits the spot enough to match BTE’s earlier work. As good as some of it may be (‘Live Again’, ‘Everything In 2’s’ and ‘How Wonderful You Are’ particularly), its hard to imagine it being anyone’s favourite album by these guys.

November 2007

 

THE NETWORK – Money Money 2020

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These guys can be seen scattered across the internet, but it seems every time you find something, it’s often the same snippets of information and speculation. Take five people, put them in disguise and throw in a bunch of new wave tunes with pop-punk edges and it’s widely believed that you have a collaboration between Green Day and Devo. The first half of this theory is certainly correct: Fink sounds like Billie Joe Armstrong and close ups of his eyes blow away any doubt. The same goes for their drummer, The Snoo, who is unmistakably Tre Cool. Of most interest, though, is bassist/vocalist Van Gogh (Mike Dirnt). He handles a majority of the vocals on this release, with a delivery rooted in the new wave.

As for the second guitarist and keyboard player, it remains unclear who they might be. One thing’s almost certain – despite what you may have heard, they’re not members of Devo, even though Devo are an obvious influence on these songs. Although there’s still no concrete proof, I’d hazard more than a guess they’re old friends and Green Day touring band members Jason White (Billie Joe’s band mate in Pinhead Gunpowder) and Jason Freese. It’s also certain that this release exists as an outlet for Mike Dirnt’s vocal and songwriting talents as well as giving White and Freese greater creative roles.

Enough of the speculation and hype – what about the songs? There’s plenty here to enjoy. ‘Reto’ is spiky pop-punk in delivery, but the guitars are turned town giving it more of a new wave feel. The lyrics are biting, about someone who uses internet technology for exciting teenagers with cyber-sex; this may or may not be a true story (again, check your Green Day ‘American Idiot’ CD single – it’s engineered by someone called Reto – yet another clue?). ‘Right Hand-A-Rama’ also explores the smuttier side of The Network’s little world, being a song about buying porn and beer to pass the time. It’s rather more obvious who is involved on this song, with Billie Joe taking lead vocals.

Again, ‘Roshambo’ is more obviously a Green Day number, but treated vocals give this a fuzzy sound and the music between verses gives it a very mechanical feel, which seems to be a recurring approach. ‘Love and Money’ exploits the new wave side of things completely, being nearly all droning keys, coupled with a quite spiteful sounding vocal delivery. ‘Supermodel Robots’ was one of the earliest tracks available from this album, available at one point as a free download before the album was released, so I’m told. It’s obvious why. The vocals are unmistakably Billie Joe’s; less of an attempt has been made to disguise the Green Day input here, and this track was a favourite of mine from pretty much the fist time I heard the album (I have to say, though, most of the other songs took repeated listens before they took hold). One of the weaker offerings, ‘Spastic Society’ perversely offers one of the strongest musical arrangements, but is let down somewhat by seemingly stream-of-consciousness words on the verses, coupled with a fairly obvious ‘society is screwed’ chorus.  (Great tune, though their choice of words is an absolute travesty.)

Another album high point, ‘Joe Robot’ nods towards Devo’s ‘Whip It’ musically. It has lyrical concerns with changing technology asking whether these changes are helping us or hindering human progression. It’s almost certainly deliberate that one of the songs here most influenced by Devo has a lyrical concern that’s almost the anti-Devo. Also balancing out the fun and smutty offerings, ‘Spike’ is a piece based around telephone calls by a teenage heroin addict desperate to get money to get a fix. Like Devo, concerns of human wrongs are strong within The Network. Closing the original twelve track version of the album, ‘X-Ray Hamburger’ is slow and brooding, showing obvious homage to Tubeway Army.

The UK issue of this album features two bonus tracks, ‘Hammer Of The Gods’ and a quirky cover of The Misfits’ ‘Teenagers From Mars’. Neither of these add anything special to the overall feel or quality of the release, but from a fans perspective, it’s good to have them if you can track them down. As for the actual album itself, after a quick buzz, it seemed to go largely un-noticed here in the UK and full price copies of it sat gathering dust in the racks at HMV. If only Green Day would stop pretending they had nothing to do with it and start shouting about it a bit more, so many other people would have discovered this great album.

August 2007