Cougar Microbes

News of Skunk Anansie’s return to action almost 10 years after breaking up, albeit with the S.C.A.M moniker, has made me nostalgic. The band’s mid-90s releases coincided with my teenage years, a period where I was going to three or four gigs a week and devouring new music at a ridiculous rate.  They were also one of the first bands I watched gradually play to larger crowds and more spacious venues going from strength to strength.

It all started in awkward fashion:  A friend and I travelled to a small club on the industrial side of Milan to see Therapy? play on their ‘Infernal Love Tour‘. Queuing for the toilet I found my friend amicably speaking to a striking lady who spoke in a strong London accent. Ever the diplomat I nudged my friend and asked: “who the fuck is this?“, my friend looked mortified and whispered “its Skin from Skunk Anansie“, my quick retort as I left to speak to another friend was “who the fuck are Skunk Anansie…”

10 minutes later I was made to eat my words; confronting the predictable scepticism that faces unknown bands the 4-piece burst onto the stage and grabbed the audience by the balls and imprinted themselves on the collective minds of the 300 odd people gathered on that night and ended up outshining the headliners. At the end of their performance I sought out Skin and apologised for my earlier snide remarks; She was extremely cool and even gave me a copy of their debut ‘Paranoid & Sunburnt‘ which I constantly played for the next few months. I definitely knew who Skunk Anansie where now.

A year later the band released their follow up album ‘Stoosh‘ and I spun it obsessively. Building on the experience of months on the road SA seemed more focussed adding varying dynamics and subtle mood switches to their trademark sound and the songwriting was excellent throughout. Ace was as cool a guitar hero as you could find, Cass‘ bass grooves where compelling, Mark delivered a massive sound and Skin‘s voice was strong, extremely unique and as good as any I had experienced. The bands stature was slowly growing and in my own way I was supporting the British underdogs.

My path has crossed the members of Skunk Anansie on a few other occasions over the years. I caught live shows in Milan, Paris, London and Tel Aviv was blown away each time. They also began popping up in some less rock n roll settings. For example:

• I was walking through the centre of Milan with some friends and I caught two quarters of the band shopping in a large department store.
• I was taking my seat in a near empty Tel Aviv cinema for a daytime showing of the Will Smith/Tommy Lee Jones mega movie Men In Black when I saw the whole band sitting a couple of rows behind me. They chuckled throughout.
• Recently I found myself standing next to Skin, some ten years from our initial encounter, staring at the same photograph in New York‘s MoMA.

I have to admit I was slightly disappointed with the band’s third (and so far last) album ‘Post-Orgasmic Chill‘. The singles ‘Charlie Big Potato‘ and ‘Secretly‘ were very accomplished songs but deviated too much from the sound I associated with SA. It seemed that the hefty recording budget afforded to them by moving to Virgin gave them a larger sound and more varied instrumentation, but at the expense of some of their immediacy. Additionally, ‘Secretly’ was seemingly used in TV advertising for seemingly every product under the sun from liquors to tampons.

It is clear by now I “quite” like this band and maybe I was just getting precious about their success. So I was surprised and genuinely gutted when I found out they had decided to break up. I still remember the press release claiming they had hit the glass ceiling that affects small British rock bands. Still the members kept themselves busy with various music projects, most notably Mark joined Feeder. Skin herself released 2 solo albums and collaborated with various artists worldwide. One of the best examples is a guest appearance on ‘La Canzone Che Scrivo Per Te‘, a superb track by colourfully named Italian art-rockers Marlene Kuntz.

The band are now recording material for a Best Of album and are also planning a tour, this may be your last chance to catch this formidable outfit live. If they put in only half the energy they did all those years ago you won’t go away disappointed.

MP3′s:

Skunk Anansie – 100 Ways To Be A Good Girl

Skunk Anansie – Infidelity (Only You)

Marlene Kuntz (feat. Skin) – La Canzone Che Scrivo Per Te

Buy it on Amazon

My buddy Pedro is a self confessed “mammoth power chord” addict. Like a ruthless label A&R guy he selects the music he likes (and in many cases hates) by listening to the first 30 seconds of each song. I have tried to tell him that certain tracks are slow burners but he says he has no time for a song that doesn’t catch him right away. At least I know that when he recommends a track he really likes them.

I can imagine that discovering Australia’s Airbourne was a dream come true for him. The rest of this review  is more or less taken directly from the email he sent me urging me to write about this band:

Airbourne‘s debut album ‘Runnin’ Wild’ had me hooked in ten minutes. Opener ‘Stand Up For Rock N Roll’ is an absolute mind blast and it hadn’t been since I first heard AC/DC back in high school that a band was so fast to capture my attention.The title track was next on and I had to turn the volume UP, I was headbanging alone in my room like a drunken nutter. At this point i honestly expected the rest of the album to consist of a lot of filler, instead it just got better and better. Imagine listening to a hard rock Green Day album and you might get the idea of how well this album is produced and how bombastic it sounds. Its hard to believe these guys are in their early 20s’s!

When I heard Airbourne were hitting Milan I knew I had to see them and in front of my eyes they delivered a hair standing performance. Frontman Joel O’Keeffe howls, wild solos, head thumping beats as well as constant stage diving, mad mosh pit action and repeated fist pumping made every person in the crowd enjoy a perfect evening. It finally seems like a new band is playing nothing more and nothing less than the straightforward rock n roll I love.

-Another great rock n roll lesson hailing from Australia.

Buy it now on Amazon

In preparation for my trip to Big Apple this week I spun as many bands from the NYC area as i could. The one band that got more attention than any other was TV On The Radio largely due to the release of their new record ‘Dear Science,‘

I am the first to admit that i have a difficult relationship with the Brooklyn gang. In the past press for their endeavours made me to believe I would automatically enjoy their releases with little or no effort. The truth is that, as anyone who “gets” the band knows, TV On The Radio are not a band designed to be consumed rapidly and disposed of but rather one that should be slowly savoured and enjoyed over time.

Having finally come to terms with and grown to love ‘Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes‘ and ‘Return To Cookie Mountain‘ i eagerly anticipated their new release would blow my proverbial socks off. However, this wouldn’t be a TOTR review if I had been love at first spin. No ladies and gentlemen, I was in for another struggle. You see, The band appear to have ditched the elaborate multi layered instrumentalism and paranoid melodies for a more concise effort that, dare i say, could be ready for mainstream consumption.

This was not what I was expecting at all and I had to effectively force the album on my ears for a week for the pieces of the puzzle to come together but when they did it was very gratifying. All of a sudden I was recognising familiar melodies and appreciating the subtle developments that only a band like TV On The Radio could pull off. The lyrical content remains dark, and often cryptic, but this time it is all embellished by a crazy juxtaposition of new wave, funk, pop, rock and electronica and even 60s doo-wop all while maintaining that detached New York cool.

Other artists have toyed with the dangerous balancing act of trying to enhance their sound whilst increasing their audience and failed miserably.  TV On The Radio differ here because the band have not compromised their instincts for a killer melody, try for yourself.

TRACKS:

“I am flying high over Tupelo, Mississippi, with America’s hottest band, and we are all about to die”

Actually, I’m on a train packed full of sweaty commuters pulling out of London Bridge Station and the fellow next to me obviously had no time for a post-corporate-workout shower. So, nausea more than death, really.

There’s only one way to combat the painful rush-hour crawl home. I have, jammed into my battered up Discman (that’s right, a Discman), a copy of the most hyped release since the 11^th of February 1990 when Nelson Mandela walked a free man; Kings of Leon’s Only by the Night.

I’m expecting to be blown away by a group who have never been afraid to challenge themselves, or their fans, with something new. Armed with ever-maturing, ever-evolving, well crafted song writing and technical prowess, Kings of Leon have earned themselves the tag of ‘Hottest Property in Rock and Roll.’ I’m very, very excited.

The most striking first impressions of the Followill’s 2008 collection are Caleb’s vocals, which effortlessly range from slow lazy crawl to full-steam charge. For an example of this just press play and, as that disc starts whirring, check out ‘Closer’. The cocky front-man shows an ever-maturing understanding of the need for space within melody, which allows for the other three cars of this rock and roll locomotive to roll into platform one.

It’s an offer the others don’t shy away from. The ever-green chemistry between bass player Jared and drummer Nathan just keeps on blossoming. There’s so much to indulge in here for the groove lovers; ‘Crawl’, ‘Sex on Fire’, ‘Manhattan’ and ‘Notion’, to name the most blatant examples. There seems to be an attention to detail with these boys that other folks just don’t get, and it rocks.

However, let us not get carried away with ourselves. Where is the freight of raw guitars and cojones we’re used to hearing from these Tennessee bad-boys? For some reason Matt’s beautifully toned guitar is irritatingly low in the mix on just about every track. With the exception of the aformentioned ‘Crawl’ and ‘Notion’ Caleb’s dirty distortion appears to have been replaced by copied and pasted U2 guitar settings, ‘delay’ being the last word I want to hear right now. As for cojones, they appear to have been replaced by, well, ‘17′ and ‘I Want You’.

Step forward and explain yourselves, producers Jacquire King and Angelo Pietraglia. Both should know better having worked on previous albums. All we can really do is reassess the wisdom of disposing of Ethan Johns who seemed to mature with every Kings of Leon album he worked on.

There are other negatives to be taken from this hotly anticipated album. You find yourself craving the inventive song structures discovered with such delight on ‘Because of the Times‘. The age old ‘verse-chorus-verse-chorus-middle eight-chorus-chorus’ formula, also attributed to the likes of Pete Waterman, is not what I signed up for! Let’s just not get into ‘Cold Desert’ which is a disappointing mudslide to end this journey.

The suspicion that there has been an unprecedented compromise made at some point over the last two years between band and label is a hard one to shake. It wouldn’t be the first time we have seen a huge marketing budget offered in exchange for corporate-rock cleansing of the soul. It is a pop-culture tragedy as this is what won over more than just fashionistas from 2003’s explosive ‘Youth and Young Manhood‘ onwards.

On the whole the album induces a nostalgic longing for the masterful back to back ‘Aha Shake…’(2004) and ‘Because of the Times‘ (2007). These are the releases that should be celebrated more with every polished rock album that hits the shelves of a Tesco superstore. The Kings need to dedicate every last piece of their Southern souls to stun the cynics with something much more legendary. That is, if they wish to live up to their name.

As I step off the train and breathe in the comparatively fresh London air, I slip ‘Because of the Times‘ into my Discman, press play and before I know it I am home, safe and sound.

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This is the first guest post on Cougar Microbes written by Kenny. Hopefully there will be more from him

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After stumbling across the superb ‘Long Goodbyes‘ and expressing my appreciation for the track I received a nice email from I Am Not Lefthanded with a copy of their latest EP. With Cougar Microbes only in its infancy I hadn’t expected to receive pre-releases from label and bands just yet so this was a sweet gesture from the band.

‘Yes Means No: 6 & 1/6th songs that don’t always give a straight answer‘  is that release and it sounds like Suzanne Vega fronting Snow Patrol. Intimate guitar structures layer the vulnerable vocals to create an atmospheric setting that doesn’t lack in melodies.

Yes Means No is available now through Letterbox Records and I am really lefthanded!

When I was at university, and in between houses, I temporarily shared a room with one of my best friends. For 3 months straight he played The Get Up Kids‘ Something To Write Home About first thing when he woke up and last thing before he went to bed. Had it been any other album i would have long since strangled him but their infectious synth heavy indie rock was (and is) exactly the kind of music you could hear millions of times without ever getting bored. In my mind each track was a gem in its own way.

I saw TGUK live twice in rapid succession and was always impressed by how the songs always took on a new life in a gig situation. It is rumoured that there is an imminent reunion planned in 2009 and of course I would be the first to rejoice at this news but until I don’t see it with my own eyes…

Fortunately we will always have their great releases to remind of of their genius. Something To Write Home About still remains one of my favourite albums and it should be one of yours!

Everywhere you turn the talk is about the growing global economic crisis. There are people, far more educated in the matter than I am, writing kilometres of pages about the causes, the consequences and possible solutions of this situation. Its strange that when things were going real good no one thought of planning in case things went REALLY bad and we will probably be paying the consequences for a while.

The title of this post is not a call to arms but rather a brilliant song by The (International) Noise Conspiracy which I have been humming to myself all week and so I post an assortment of money related tracks for your pleasure this week. I was tempted to add ABBA‘s ‘Money, Money, Money’ to the mix but with John McCain selecting two of their songs as his all time favourites just a few weeks ago i figured the Swedes have had all the exposure they need.

In the midst of all the doom and gloom hopefully these sweet melodies will distract you all a little bit.

Metric‘s 2005 release Live It Out seems to have been conceived in a secret laboratory with the purpose of combining my favourite music fixations: Female vocals + attitude filled lyrics + quiet/loud guitars = lethal cocktail.  Emily Haines oozes sexy immediacy as she delivers memorable soundbytes over a layer of jangly guitars and confident beats.

Momentarily dropping the more reflecting/spacey sound that the band is associated with from other releases, all worth pursuing, here Metric seem intent on delivering their manifesto in the most direct fashion without sacrificing the many soaring dynamics that characterise their sound.

The musical equivalent of racing a million dollar car down the wrong way of a one way street.

TRACKS:

Metric – Monster Hospital (MSTRKRFT Remix)