Lying somewhere between the raw, British honesty of Laura Marling and the playful creativity of Sufjan Stevens, Katie Malco thoughtfully and optimistically breaks our hearts with this tightly packed 5 song EP.
There is something very pure about one persons vision of a song that can captivate me more than some bands.
‘Johnny‘ is the lucky son of a bitch that Malco beautifully and innocently calls to: “What does she do that I can’t give you? I cant write a song but I bore your children for you.”
That sort of truthful and delicate poetry belongs in the legend league along with Joni Mitchell or maybe Patti Smith. Musically it swells with banjos and horns before exploding into silence so Malco can be alone with her guitar again.
Likewise, ‘Get In The Car‘, that proceeds it is possibly even prettier. ‘Get in the car and drive, we may not make it out alive‘, she calls while a distant choir, warmly chorus back to her.
‘Florence Nightingale’s House‘ is as timeless as a Dylan record, with lyrics as thoughtful and poignant as a Mark Twain quote.
In the age of computers and digital sound, I don’t think we will ever tire of honest, gritty story telling and the simplicity of a lone struggling soul with a guitar and a load to bare.
‘Katie Malco and The Slow Parade EP‘ is out on Alcopop! records.
We caught up with Alcopop! Records all conquering Jumping Ships to discuss cakes, Bar wiring, late night jams on mobile phones and questionable music purchases. Here is what they had to say:
CM: What time did you wake up today? Was it out of choice or necessity?
JS: 10 o’clock Glasgow time! Necessity – Had a 6 hour drive to the Northern coast of Scotland ahead of us playing in Thurso (look it up on the map.. its 10miles south of John O’Groats)
CM: Describe Jumping Ships to the uninitiated?
JS: Alt-Pop-Rock! Loud and in your face – Get your chops round this!
CM: How have you been killing time on the road, hobbies?
JS: Eating cakes, singing sing songs, watching films, lots of twitter banter and some sight seeing when we get chance – visiting local castles/folies/forts!
CM: What have been your favourite venues to play? Any Venues you hated?
JS: Borderline in London is great, nice high stage, but still pretty intimate. Coalition in Brighton is great. The Milo in Leeds wasn’t really built for the Alcopop! breed of bands – too small, hot and loud. I think they need to rewire the electrics – sort your plugs out!
CM: Is there a song you are simply sick of playing? Do you think that will ever happen?
JS: We’ve toured the first EP around quite a lot, so there are some tunes that start to drag a bit. We’ve played “The Whole Truth” a lot, so it’s nice to give them a rest every now and again, that way you can kind of rekindle your passion for them. Fingers crossed we won’t hate all of our current set at the end of this tour!!! ha
CM: What is the songwriting process like for you guys? Are you able to write on the road or do you do this in your off time?
JS: Mike generally takes the lead in the songwriting process, he brings initial ideas to the table and then him and Kai start working structures and parts together to get the bare bones of a track. Then it’s on to acoustic recordings, they’ll knock a rough recording up and send it to Rich and Al, who will give their input and write parts etc before we get into the rehearsal room.
Then it’s jam time and most of the rest of the work is done in a rehearsal room full band. Lyrics are mostly done over the course of the songs writing process. We try and record things at as many stages as possible, to see how it would translate live and on record. Lots of levels of quality control.
CM: Favourite Jumping Ships track and why?
JS: I’m going to go with ‘Talisman‘ on this one. It’s the one track on the EP that I can’t really put my finger on in terms of how we wrote it/structured it/where the parts actually came from. All of the other tunes I can remember having heard quite solid bases for the tracks before we got it in the rehearsal room, whereas with ‘Talisman‘ I think it was a bit more of an organic writing process – lots of jamming sections out and working with a bit more freedom structurally. Plus it’s lots of fun to play live! We have a winner!
CM: If you could record any cover what would it be?
JS: I think if we were going to record a cover it would have to be completely different to the original. Do our own spin on it and kind of pretty much rewrite the tune. So this might be interesting!
CM: Do your songs go through many revisions via demo recordings?
JS: As we mentioned before, we try and record songs at as many stages as possible. Initial ideas are usually late night jams on mobile phones – then on to more structured acoustic records – recordings from rehearsal rooms – then it’s always nice to hear the track back from a live show before you do a pre production demo recording, prior to the real deal. So yeah lotsss of recording!
CM: What came first, the lyrics or the melody?
JS: As a rule of thumb it’s melody, but sometimes there are lines or little lyrical excerpts that will be noted down as a basis for a song. But it’s all about the melody!
CM: What are your views on auto tune?
JS: Auto tune can be cool if it’s used right. There are loads of artists who use it to good effect and when you know what you’re doing it can sound great. What we don’t like though is when people try to use it to mask a shoddy voice, both live and in the studio. Cher’s been repping the auto tune far too hard haha
CM: Any other band/bands from your local scene we really should know about?
JS: There are some great bands that we’ve gigged around with recently – Spring Offensive from Oxford and Hold Your Horse Is from Camberly are both wicked bands and great lads. Also bands from our label – Lightguides and Delta Alaska are both going on to big things. You probably know about these guys already, but if you don’t – Shame on you!
CM: Most flattering thing you’ve read about yourselves?
JS: There was a note left on our mailing list after playing the main stage at Redfest. A girl had gone to put her email address down and had proceeded to write a full page love letter to the band, pleading for us to contact her. It’s nice when fans love what you’re doing.
CM: What was the first record/tape/cd you ever bought?
JS: Kai – Tape – Prince, CD – Michael Jackson
Mike – Boyz II Men (Outhere Brothers – Party Album on cassette – too cool for school)
Al – Limp Bizkit (Significant Other) + Rage Against The Machine
Rich – Smurfs Go Pop
CM: What was the last song that got stuck in your head?
JS: Lightguides – the last song in their set – still don’t know it’s name, but it’s been rattling around my head every night of this tour. Cracking tune!
CM: What was the last show you paid and queued up for?
JS: Kai – Underoath @ Brixton Academy
Mike – Pulled apart by Horses @ Brighton Jam
Alex – Everything Everything @ Brighton Concorde 2
Rich – Jimmy Eat World @ HMV Forum
CM: If you had to bring on artist back from the dead in exchange for sending a living artist down ,which artists would it be and why?
JS: Amazing question!
Pete Doherty is going down, because he’s not going to be up for long anyway the way he’s going. Think Mick Hucknell can join him as well – We’d swap them for… Drum roll please… John Martyn and Steve Ray Vaughan.
Jumping Ships have just released the ‘Standard Bearer‘ EP on Alcopop! Reocrds
LightGuides released their mini-album ‘Samba Samba Samba‘ earlier this month on Alcopop Records. We caught up with drummer Dave to discuss the ‘veggie challenge’, the healthy state of Scottish music and that elusive Jay-Z and Beethoven collaboration. And it goes a little like this:
Cougar Microbes: What time did you wake up today? Was it out of choice or necessity?
LightGuides: I think around 9:30am? We crashed at Richie (Jumping Ships) house after our Hastings show, which was lovely. Rich is very hospitable, all the Ships boys are! Unfortunately we woke up out of necessity as it’s a fairly long drive from Brighton to Leeds and we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to get to the Leeds show today.
CM: Describe LightGuides to the uninitiated?
LG: I think we have a touch of early 00s American pop-punk (The Starting Line, Blink 182, New Found Glory), a dash of early-mid 00s Brit post-hardcore (Hundred Reasons, Reuben, Biffy Clyro) topped off with a spot of more recent Scot rock (Twin Atlantic, The Xcerts).
CM: How have you been killing time on the road, hobbies?
LG: Well Martin (guitar) and myself have taken the “veggie challenge” on the road, so it’s been fun trying to find decent vegetarian food, we are completely hooked on falafel! A lot of the Southern dates on this tour we’ve never been to before, so it’s been great taking the camera out and going exploring. Going out for beers is always a great way to kill time; we had a lovely night on Brighton beach drinking copious amounts of beer and wine on Saturday. Mark (vocals, guitar) and I went for a swim in the sea, boy is that a great way to sober you up!
CM: What have been your favourite venues to play? Any Venues you hated?
LG: I think our favourite venue on this tour so far has been the Old Blue Last in London. It had everything; great bands, great venue, great crowd, and it was really nice to catch up with friends and also Jack (Alcopop! Records’ Big Boss Man). Although I know we’re all really looking forward to the album-release show at King Tuts in Glasgow, it’s the last day of the tour too so hopefully we can end it with a bang!
CM: Is there a song you are simply sick of playing? Do you think that will ever happen?
LG: I don’t think there is a song I’m sick of playing, I guess when you play a song live there are so many variable factors (the onstage sound, the crowd reaction, the venue itself) so there is always a kind of freshness to the track. The songs we’ve been playing live for over a year, maybe we’re a bit tired of practicing these at rehearsals but once onstage it’s as exciting playing the oldies as it is the newbies.
CM: What is the songwriting process like for LightGuides. Are you able to write on the road or do you do this in your off time?
LG: Usually the guys will allocate time in our practice studio to jam out some ideas, and once they’ve got a general structure and the foundations to a song I’ll come in and give my opinion, and we’ll usually tweak it here and there. Then I’ll figure out what drum patterns I’m going to use, and Mark will start thinking about vocal melodies and lyrics. We’ll then sit down and go through the melodies and cement down the lead and backing vocals. It’s easier for the guys to do this is the studio than on the road, they find it slightly more relaxing and peaceful jamming out there, when we’re on the road things are usually pretty manic!
CM: Favourite LightGuides track and why?
LG: My favourite track would have to be ‘The Arts Factory’, it’s just really fun to play but at the same time quite demanding to play live, it’s a nice challenge. I think we’re all agreed on this one, it’s Martin and Mark’s fave too.
CM: If you could record any cover what would it be?
LG: Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’. That song just makes me want to have a good time, all of the time.
CM: Do your songs go through many revisions via demo recordings?
LG: Not really no, we spend a fair amount of time working on the songs at the time of writing and sometimes we’ll touch certain areas up once we’ve listened back to demo recordings, but the foundations of the songs never really change.
CM: What came first, the lyrics or the melody?
LG: THE MELODY. Usually we get all the instrumentation of the songs sorted, before figuring out melodies. Mark will start writing lyrics once he has a good idea of what the melody of the song is going to be.
CM: What are your views on auto tune?
LG: I’d be a hypocrite if I said I didn’t agree with it as we’ve used it on our recordings, but only ever really to polish a vocal-pitch. What I would say is; in the recording process it’s really useful, but only in moderation. I’m not a huge fan of the current branch of pop-artists who rely heavily on auto-tune (so it sounds like their voice is half-human-half-keyboard), but I think it’s a bit of a fad and we probably won’t still be hearing that kind of pop music so much this time next year.
CM: Any other band/bands from your local scene we really should know about?
LG: There are some really great bands coming out of Scotland right now, here’s a little list : The Lafontaines, Fatherson, There Will Be Fireworks, Endor, Carnivores, Aerials Up, The Winter Tradition, Make Sparks, Pareto, He Slept on 57, French Wives. Sorry that little list ended up quite expansive! I highly recommend checking out any/all of these bands.
CM: Most flattering thing you’ve read about yourselves?
LG: To be honest if anyone says anything remotely nice about us we get really flattered! When people show an interest in the band it really brightens up our day. If I had to choose one though it would be the recent album review Rock Sound magazine gave us, were they stated ‘The Arts Factory’ is right up there with the best songs of the year. To hear that from a publication we ‘ve been reading for years and really respect is amazing to us.
CM: What was the first record/tape/cd you ever bought?
LG: I’m pretty sure it was ‘Crocodile Shoes’ by Jimmy Nail, and at the same time I bought Bon Jovi’s ‘Someday I’ll be Saturday Night’. Big Jon Bon uses an expletive in that song and I used to love screaming it as loud as I could: “My life’s a bargain basement, all the GOOD SHIT’S GONE”, haha.
CM: What was the last song that got stuck in your head?
LG: ‘Edith’ by Tellison. It’s always the 1st song on our playlist when we hit the road, great for perking you up for the drive. Also ‘Movers and Shakers’ by Jumping Ships, the boys have been opening their set with it and I’m pretty sure at any given moment someone in our band is singing it, albeit usually singing the wrong words!
CM: What was the last show you paid and queued up for?
LG: Endor at King Tuts in Glasgow, and coincidentally they’re the next band I’ve bought a ticket to go see. They are playing a 10-year anniversary show at The Captains Rest in Glasgow just after we finish tour, will be a great way to combat post-tour blues.
CM: If you had to bring on artist back from the dead in exchange for sending a living artist down ,which artists would it be and why?
LG: I’d probably say John Lennon. I don’t actually listen to the Beatles too often I just think it would be really interesting to see what they would be doing now, if they would still be together, if so what style of music would they be writing. Mark is driving beside me and his choice would be Beethoven, because he’d like to see his take on modern music. Can you imagine Beethoven guest-rapping on the next Jay-Z record? That would be sick!
LightGuides’ mini album ’Samba Samba Samba‘ is out now on Alcopop Records
I’m one of those people who really appreciate the traditional idea of a pop album. The well thought structure of a record that flows well and can be seen as a complete body of work. Not with just a strong opener, a couple of singles and a strong ender, but with all the things in between. This may be an old fashioned idea nowadays but every now and again I come across a record that I can listen to in its entirety and not feel like I have been given a raw deal.
I sat at my desk with my big headphones and pack of cigarettes and was very quickly taken in by The Attika State’s ‘Measures‘; A well controlled, slick, and in places very beautiful rock album that I listened to in happily in one sitting.
My hopes of the great opener was met immediately by the stadium worthy ‘5 Strings, No Wins‘, nodding it’s head to ‘Born To Run‘-era Springsteen, before crashing into the irresistible chanting of ‘The Horton Shuffle‘.
Beautiful harmonies and calculated instrumentation are the veins of this body of work whilst the wall of guitars and busy drums are a thick skin encasing its complex interior. This is greatly abundant in ‘Sons Of Sons‘.
Yossi‘, with its multi-layered epic bringing to mind latter day Jimmy Eat World, sincere and thick with sounds. “Turn the switch on this new invention, it baffles the eyes and grabs your attention”, is the elegant line that begins both verses continuing the theme threaded through this album of struggle and of pride. ’Flesh (Interlude)‘ simply proves in under a minute, that this band are as much musicians as they are rockers.
‘Measures‘’ restores my faith in the idea of an album to be listened to as a single piece of work encompassing exciting ideas, diverse songwriting, and mature musicianship. the fact that The Attika State recorded ‘Measures‘ live just makes me respect and enjoy it more.
I find it difficult to be impartial about a group who have named themselves after the best left-back football has ever known. ScreamingMaldini clearly know world class when they see it parading around a football pitch in a red and black striped shirt. However, do they have the expertise to compare with the majesty of their namesake in a parallel musical universe? It’s certainly a big ask.
Alcopop, landlords to Wolf Am I and My First Tooth, are the label to have taken the leap of faith in the Sheffield six-piece. On the evidence of five-track EP ‘And The Kookaburra’ the leap is anything but a blind one.
From the get-go the words that spring to mind are ‘angular’, ‘melodic’, ‘orchestration’ and most certainly ‘pop’. ScreamingMaldini are experimental with song structures, as you would want your emerging artists to be, without disappearing up their own buttock valleys. They weave rock breakdowns into pop songs as effortlessly as they drop atmospheric horn sections and light percussion over their boy/girl harmonies.
Often with EPs it is difficult to know how many ideas an artist has left in the bank and hence how they would transfer their energy to a full length. ScreamingMaldini show enough variety within each track, from opener ‘SecretSounds’ to closer ‘Miniatures’, to reassure the doubter that they could make the transition with the greatest of ease.
These folks are definitely worthy of that oldest of clichés used pretty much whenever referring to emerging artists; ‘ones to watch out for’. Having said that, I’d still rather have good old Paolo over to dinner.
Northampton’s premiere purveyors of indie-folk My First Tooth returned with a consolidated lineup and the release 4-track EP ‘Margaret Yen‘ last month.
Singer-songwriter Ross Witt was officially joined by violinist Sophie Galpin meaning that the guitar and violin interplay seen on the ‘My First Tooth And the Rubies’ EP has gained further prominence.
With a full length debut expected later this year these tracks are a good indication of the direction the band is moving in. Check out the special “quiet” rendition of ‘Margaret Yen’ dedicated especially to Cougar Microbes (and the blog readers too I assume).
Emulating Jimmy Eat World, who self-funded their album ‘Bleed American’ in 2001 before licensing the release to DreamWorks records, Wolf Am Iwrote and recorded debut LP ‘Lead The Way’ earlier this year then promptly set about finding a label to promote it. That label was Alcopop! Records, who boast an impressive back catalogue including a 2006 release by Cougar favourites Encyclopedia, waiting in the wings.
The resulting album is both confident and proficient and flows from groove heavy verses to anthemic choruses. First single ‘Glasgow 7‘ comes complete with big harmonies, chorus-heavy nicely toned guitar, dirty power chords and driving bass conjuring up similarities to big acts like Thursday and Taking Back Sunday. The Berkshire boys can hold their own in this company.
Unfortunately, resulting from the influx of Drive-thru Records bands in the early to mid noughtees, it remains to be seen whether there is still a UK market for uber-polished-American-infused-emo-college-rock. Only time will tell.
I love instances where people are investing their time and effort into independent music, often with little or no reward, so when Alcopop Records sent me 2 of their latest releases a few weeks back I was happy to give them a spin. Add that to the fact that Alcopop is sister label to the fantastic BSM (whose bands The Tupolev Ghost and Copy Haho were recently covered on Cougar Microbes) and you can understand why I was keen to dive deeper.
First up are scouse-core band goFASTER>> whose 5 track EP, ‘A Modern Education’, is a welcome reminder that the summer is round the corner. Imagine the melodies and immediacy of The Maccabees and the cheeky lyrics of early Blur combined. However, you’d be making a mistake to tar them immediately with the “Brit pop revivalist” brush as there are times when gF veer into the territory usually occupied by the likes of Bloc Party and Idlewild. This EP showcases the band as a prospect to look out for, now is the time to combine all these separate references and turn them into the goFASTER>> trademark sound.
Fusing different influences is something Northampton’s My First Tooth do with extreme proficiency hinting at Beirut orchestrations and Bright Eyes melancholy whilst maintaining a distinctly British identity. The resulting EP ‘My First Tooth And The Rubies‘ offers spacious song structures, haunting melodies and a habit for minor key laments. Equal importance is given to strummed guitars and gentle violins (with the occasional guest appearance from trumpets, xylophones and harmonicas) to provide the melodic backing leaving the vocals out in the open to provide The impetus for the tracks. A little trick that works wonders and provides the highlights here.
‘My First Tooth And The Rubies‘ is the complete antithesis to ‘A Modern Education’ in both style and approach, but is in no way less impressive. I’m surprised more people haven’t heard of these bands but hopefully these EPs will change all that.
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