Last week we spoke briefly about the rather lovely Dare Dukes latest release, Thugs and China Dolls. We say briefly because frankly, we should have spent a little more time talking about just how eloquent a lyricist Dukes is. We certainly should have mentioned how his observations on the foibles of suburban life, set to a combination of banjo, horns, pianos and poetic harmonies are just so damn endearing.
Still, at least now we have the chance to revisit one of the tracks from the album, the charming “Meet You at the Bus”, as this week he has released a video to accompany the song. Accompany being the operative word, as Dukes’ beautiful warm narrative is perfectly encapsulated by director Max Benitez’s tale of two teenagers in love, enjoying a day in each other’s company. A day that, naturally, began when they met on the bus.
Describing the video, Dukes explained that “I was trying to capture the great American leaving-on-a-jet-plane narrative the comes up again and again in popular music, and I was trying to run it through the brains of modern-day Romeos and Juliettes looking for escape from all the things that Romeos and Juliettes get fed up with. Max [Benitez's] video perfectly captures the poetry and innocence of this kind of reckless escape.”
He’s not wrong, our favourite bit is when the Romeo is showing off to the Juliet on his BMX. Take a look for yourself below and if you don’t crack a smile while watching you just might want to double check that your heart isn’t actually made of stone.
We love free things, especially when they are good. So it stands to reason that we should like this new track from London based five-piece, Exlovers as it is both of these things.
The song, “Starlight Starlight”, is a cracking example of summery sounding retro indie pop, which will have you hankering for warmer months so it can play in the background as you muck around in the back garden with family and friends. Well, that’s the feeling we get when listen to it and the video certainly goes along with that hanging-out-with-the-family vibe.
Produced by Ursine Vulpine, the slightly kitsch promo, which you can see below, is made up from a collection of found footage. Like visual vinyl, a series of old home movies, from what looks like the 60′s and 70′s, are cleverly juxtaposed with the reflective lyrics and the old fashioned feel of the song.
Exlovers debut album Moth will be released via Young & Lost Club in the Spring and, if you like the sound of “Starlight Starlight”, head over to the band’s website to claim your free download.
If we’re being completely honest, it always annoys us when an artist announces a tour, only for it to be revealed that actually, they are only hitting three venues that are within a 50 mile radius of one another.
So its pleasing to be able to report that Alphabet Bands favourite Juan Zelada has announced a 25 date tour that covers the length and breadth of the UK.
Live, Zelada is full of vibrant energy, channelling some of Motown’s greats and behoving you to just get down and get funky to his big, big sound. If you are a fan, you should definitely go and check out a show if at all possible.
The tour, which will support the release of his debut album High Ceilings & Collarbones (out 6 February on Decca) kicks off in Northampton on 28 March and culminates on 29 April in sunny Brighton.
We’ll be featuring Juan a lot more next week with a two part interview and an album review so stay tuned for that. In the meantime you can buy tickets for the shows from this Friday (27 January) on Juan’s website and the full list of dates is below.
Juan Zelada – “The Blues Remain”
March 2012 Wednesday 28 – The Roadmender, Northampton Thursday 29 – The Craufurd Arms, Wolverton, Milton Keynes Friday 30 – Bush Hall, Shepherd’s Bush, London Sunday 31 – The Cornerhouse, Cambridge
April 2012 Monday 02 – Soyo, Sheffield Tuesday 03 – The Bodega Social Club, Nottingham Wednesday 04 – The Musician, Leicester Thursday 05 – The Brudenell Social Club, Leeds Friday 06 – Fibbers, York Sunday 07 – The Cluny, Newcastle upon Tyne Sunday 08 – TheTunnels, Aberdeen Monday 09 – The Berkeley Suite, Glasgow Friday 13 – Night & Day, Manchester Sunday 14 – Leaf on Bold Street, Liverpool Sunday 15 – The Yardbird Jazz Club, Birmingham Tuesday 17 – South Street Arts Centre, Reading Wednesday 18 – Buffalo Bar, Cardiff Thursday 19 – The Jericho, Oxford Friday 20 – The Louisiana, Bristol Sunday 21 – Guildhall, Gloucester Tuesday 24 – The Winchester, Bournemouth Wednesday 25 – The George Venue, Andover, Hampshire Friday 27 – The Cellars, Portsmouth Sunday 28 – The Forum, Tunbridge Wells Sunday 29 – Komedia, Brighton
Regular readers will know that we’ve really been digging band on the rise, Kites of late, so much so that when singer Matthew Phillips recommended Look, Stranger! to us, we just had to go check them out. We’re glad we did too.
They may only be in their mid-twenties but this young band has been playing together, in one guise or another, for over ten years and has also clocked up a bucket load of band miles from playing with the likes of Laura Marling and Noah and the Whale’s Charlie Fink, amongst others. In short, they know what they are doing. If that list of artists has you thinking, ‘great, another acoustic indie-folk combo, just what we needed’ then think again for Look, Stranger! comes with batteries (and cables, and synths, and some rather lovely melodies) included.
Chances are, if you’ve happened upon anything about this London four-piece already, you’ll have read about their smooth, polished 80’s sound, except, that description is not exactly one that singer Tim Sheinman recognises. In his opinion, as he explained to us when we spoke to him before Christmas, that may be more to do with the age and expectation of the critics. Certainly he feels that people, critics included, subconsciously allow a review to influence their opinion, picking up one aspect in particular, “ it is that thing where people pick this up and suddenly it all makes sense “oh yeah well they’ve got the 80s influence and now I see it” you know and all that sort of thing”, and repeating it.
The band currently self-produce, primarily for the freedom from any time constraints, and smooth is not something they are particularly aiming for, “ sound is so degraded at the moment”, he says “and it’s so production based that you can use slightly worse microphones, as long as you’ve got good recording software like Logic or whatever, you can do it all at home”. Because of this, there isn’t really much challenge in making something sound like it has been polished to within an inch of its life, “” I think sheen is easy to put on a record these day, I really don’t think that’s where the action’s at”.
Sheinman is a fascinating person to speak with, outspoken, forthright and with an opinion and background knowledge on a myriad of subjects. During our chat we cover football’s governing body (“a mafia clique”), Jon Ronson’s theory of conjuring up a back story to better sell an artist, ‘astro-turfing’ (“fake grass roots and stuff”) and his own theory on how record labels handle new talent (“ development’s dead, you know. record companies don’t do development except they do, they just kind of do it now to get this kind of near authenticity, you know, say hide them for a bit and keep the money away from any public projects they do until a certain point”). His sharp tongue is in stark contrast to his soft, harmonious and sometimes choral vocals, especially on the fabulous “Kept It Alive”.
So what do they sound like, and more importantly, what does Tim think they sound like? He makes mention of their use of reverb in production and a haunted sound, “you can record good quality things with lots of reverb on them and that’s absolutely brilliant”, and is quick to identify “Kept It Alive” as being “a full on sort of banging UK funky step dance indie, you know, monster if you like that sort of thing”. We do, very much. It’s pop music, just the way we like it, with a glorious hook, infectious beats and guitars and synths a plenty.
This up-tempo ‘banger’ is juxtaposed on the EP with the more sedate, languid styling of “To The River”, a shortened version of a track that appeared on their previous EP offering, If You’re Listening. That four song release brings to mind Cut Copy, and specifically last year’s brilliant album, Zonoscope. It too blends an organic, almost tribal beat into the swirling, digital, synth soundscapes.
The guys are minded to just keep recording and releasing on a regular basis, which is a bonus for us fans as it means we’ll be getting regular doses of this pop fix. In fact, the next EP is already on the books, One For The King is due out on 2 April this year, no doubt on their bandcamp page where you can also pick up both If You’re Listening and Kept It Alive for free.
If you want a live show to sink your teeth into then you can catch them on a mini-tour over this coming weekend in Manchester (Thurs 26 Jan), Warwick (Fri 27 Jan) and Reading (Sat 28 Jan). More details of the gigs can be found via their Facebook page
You’d be forgiven for approaching any release where the artist themselves says “the songs … are meant to be digested individually more than as continuous parts of a complete whole” with some degree of trepidation. However, while Cheyenne Marie Mize is correct in her assertion that each track on her latest EP, We Don’t Need “has its own character and will likely be enjoyed in different mental states“, any suggestion that the six songs don’t hang together as a collected whole does a disservice to her song writing and musical accomplishment.
Such is the variety on offer here, that if we were to attach We Don’t Need to some form of electronic device that measured tempo, or speed, a speedometer perhaps, then the needle would be flying back and forth like crazy. The EP begins with “Wishing Well”, a fast paced percussion and vocals only track that had this reviewer’s foot stamping the floor like a failed Stomp auditionee; before moving immediately into the sombre, funereal “Call Me Beautiful”. Sure, a rest is required after all that foot stamping but you are left unprepared for Cheyenne’s haunting Beth Gibbons-esque vocals and the deliciously dark, gothic sensibilities.
From then on the tempo picks right back up again with the dance-a-riffic swing-a-thon of “Going Under” before finally settling down on the more moderate “Keep It” and “It Lingers”, ultimately coming to rest on the gentle instrumentals of closer, “Back Around”.
She has a wonderful voice and a real talent for drawing the listener into the music, which is especially impressive given the disparate musical styles and tones on offer. As Cheyenne herself says, “As a whole, We Don’t Need is surely eclectic, but each part gives a little taste of the things to come…”. If what is to come can maintain this level of quality then Cheyenne may be in for quite an exciting year.
“We Don’t Need is out now on Yep Roc and American fans can catch Cheyenne on tour on the following dates:
January 25 – Schubas – Chicago, IL
January 27 – Cosmic Charlie’s – Lexington, KY
January 28 – Headliners – Louisville, KY
February 8 – MOTR Pub – Cincinnati, OH
February 9 – The Bishop – Bloomington, IN
February 10 – White Rabbit Cabaret – Indianapolis, IN
Alphabet Bands is all about finding new music, be it the best new noise you've never heard or old favourites that may have been unjustly forgotten.
To make it even more interesting, we have to find one band for each letter of the alphabet. Once we've done it, we're straight back on the horse to find another 26.
Of course, that won't stop us enjoying other, well-known artists, reporting news and sharing new tracks with you. From time to time you will even find random album and gig reviews.
Posted by Adam H 
