LIVE: Count to Fire at Dot to Dot 2011, Bristol, The Cooler

WE loved Count to Fire's synchronised fashion sense, but we also fell for their rootsy folk rock at the band's intimate Cooler performance.
With impeccable musicianship, the crically-acclaimed five-piece forced away the Bristol gloom and helped their audience bask in glowing Americana blues.

Album review: Wild Beasts -- Smother

Read my original review here
If The xx hadn't ridden the crest of a media tidal wave last year, there's little doubt the 2010 Mercury Music Prize would have deservedly fallen into the laps of Wild Beasts for Two Dancers - a theatrical piece of sprawling art-rock; a shining light in a beleaguered British indie scene. The four-piece, hailing from the hotbed of talent that is the Lake District, have spent the past year or so touring the aformentioned record, discovering new sounds, growing as a pack and welcoming a new fan-base thanks to the prestigious nomination.

This period of growth and discovery has birthed the band's third album Smother, a record that ditches the brashness and flamboyancy of stunning debut Limbo, Panto, but channels the rich, emotive and immersive soundscapes of Two Dancers into a mature package. That said, Smother is a dark slow-burner, perhaps too stifled and haunting at points. Gone is the rigorous tempo of fan-favourite 'Brave, Bulging, Buoyant, Clairvoyants', or the drum-filled energy of 'This is Our Lot', and in its place are warbling keyboards, gentle guitar work and passionate vocals.

Hayden Thorpe's unmistakable falsetto voice is in typically breathtaking form and it's warming to hear Tom Fleming continue to capably move to the forefront tracks, like in the finer Two Dancers efforts ('All the Kings Men', 'Two Dancers'), and play off the dizzying heights Thorpe achieves. But does it work? Yes and no. When Smother is on form, you'll be hard-pushed to find a more cohesive, atmospheric record this year, but it can be strenuous at points ('Burning' is a good example of this). Then again, with a title like Smother, this wasn't meant to be an essential summer party collection.

Talking to the Guardian earlier this month, Thorpe claimed Smother was a document of their lives, and it's easy to see where he's coming from in tracks such as frenetic 'Plaything' - a brutally honest account of one's desire for sex without the emotion - and the regret-tinged delight of 'Albatross' ("I blame you for all those things I've been through"). Another high point is succulently layered bustle of 'Reach a Bit Further', featuring Thorpe and Fleming's exciting vocal tandem, and it's difficult not to get a bit giddy over Thorpe's breathless line "tear-jerker, shadow-lurker, wonder-worker, reach a bit further"'.

The concluding heartfelt scorcher of 'End Come Too Soon' is well worth the wait. Complete with shivering backing vocals, trickling guitar melodies, a sinister piano riff and smouldering vocals from Thorpe once again, it drags Smother out of the claustrophobic quagmire to give the album a magnificently uplifting ending. Smother isn't for everyone and it's sure to disappoint fair-weather fans of Limbo, Panto or Two Dancers. It's as impressively handsome as the band itself, boasting a pallet of diverse tones and mouth-watering musicianship, but can it hold up to the striking class of Two Dancers? I'm not so sure, but Wild Beasts will continue to break new ground, inspire and rightfully reap the plaudits.

Album review: Tyler, the Creator -- Goblin

Read my original review here
Tyler, the Creator has rapidly turned into the infamous face of 2011 - he's everywhere. If he's not gracing the cover of the NME, crown and all, stating, in no polite terms, that he "doesn't give a shit about the royal weddin"', he's being thrown into a cell by LA police for disturbing the peace, or overseeing a riot at an autograph signing.

The Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All hip-hop pack figurehead put blogs into a spin last year with his articulate, breath-of-fresh-air underground debut Bastard (which featured one of 2010's best tracks - 'French'), and the collective's media stock has soared this year thanks to the incredible performance of 'Sandwitches' by Tyler, the Creator and Hodgy Beats on Jimmy Fallon's US chat show, and the bizarre story surrounding the whereabouts of youngest member Earl Sweatshirt - prompting shouts of 'Free Earl Sweatshirt' at every Odd Future/Tyler appearance.

If Tyler, the Creator was one hell of a bastard last year, he's evolved into a grotesque goblin in 2011 - and he doesn't care. His confidence knows no bounds in Goblin and he constantly pushes the limits of taste and morality throughout. Bastard's quirky interplay between Tyler, the Creator and his therapist returns in Goblin, and it provides a disturbing insight into the messed-up, self-loathing young man's fragile mind. Although portrayed as the dialogue between the pair, it plays out as if Tyler, the Creator is wrestling between the good and bad sides of his conscience - Tyler, the Creator acts the devil, but the therapist takes the angelic role.

Goblin's brilliance is Tyler, the Creator's uncompromising ability to throw all taboos, stereotypes, prejudices and bigotry into the mix and literally fuck them up. It's chock-full of shocking moments, like Tyler, the Creator's urge to repeatedly stab whiny pin-up Bruno Mars in the oesophagus in the wonderfully addictive 'Yonkers', or in the horrifying, synthy 'Tron Cat'. He should be sectioned for a lyric like "Rape a pregnant bitch and tell my friends I had a threesome".

The confrontational 'Radicals' - an anthem for all angst-ridden teens across the planet - starts with a humorous random disclaimer which jokingly pleads with listeners to take the messages in the song with a pinch of salt. But with a chorus like 'KILL PEOPLE, BURN SHIT, FUCK SCHOOL" it's easy to see why his autograph signing turned into a mob riot. The up-tempo horror show 'Transylvania' follows a similar misogynistic premise as The Pharcyde's classic '4 Better of 4 Worse', but Tyler, the Creator douses a fresh dose of vitriol all over it as he pulls out the hook: "It's because I'm Dracula bitch/Don't got a problem smacking a bitch/Kidnapping, attacking, with axes and shit".

Technically, Tyler, the Creator is a solid, if unspectacular rapper -he admits this in opener Goblin - but he's creative and his style is alluring and clear. Obviously, Tyler, the Creator's lyrics are designed to create controversy and provoke reaction; and it worked this week as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Deformation slammed his lyrics as inciting homophobia and containing violent misogyny. There's no denying they are correct, but you cannot see Tyler, the Creator putting his lyrics into practice - otherwise he would have been locked up years ago.

If you're easily offended, it's best to avoid Goblin, but if you can flick your PC switch off for an hour, you'll immerse yourself in a warped, daring and sometimes brilliant, trip through the darkest depths of Tyler, the Creator's mind. Tyler, the Creator and OFWGKTA have given a stale hip hop genre a fresh injection of controversy and hype not seen since the days of Eminem. While it seems unlikely they will attain the wealthy heights of Jay-Z and the ilk, their creativity, their passion for relevancy, and desire to connect with youth through Twitter and social mediums easily spawned a hardened band of devotees, and rightfully transformed them into underground idols.

If anything, Goblin proves an exciting period lies ahead for hip hop as this motley crew attempts to regain the genre's lost prestige and rebuild the devalued foundations laid by their rap ancestors.

LIVE: Swimming at Dot to Dot 2011, Bristol, Fleece

SWIMMING'S exciting melange of kaleidoscopic melodies and gorgeous soundscapes washed over the Fleece crowd at Saturday's Dot to Dot 2011 festival.
Luminous Plectrum's Rory McKeown put his trunks on and immersed himself in Swimming's vibrant performance - arguably this blog's highlight of the day.
We captured part of the midlands five-piece's opening track before our Flip camera ran out of battery.
Boo.

Album review: Fleet Foxes -- Helplessness Blues

I’M not ashamed to admit (ok maybe a little) the Fleet Foxes gave me one of those cringeworthy ‘zen-like moments’ driving my car the other day -you know the situations where everything just seems perfect at that very second?
It was a gloriously sunny day and, driving my car along a country road, my surroundings were awash with strikingly beautiful daffodils in bloom at either side of the road, swamping the landscape.
Radio 1 DJ Greg James introduced new single Battery Kinzie and the rest is history.
It was just so right.
Not only did my drivers’ arm glow from the sun’s rays, but my soul basked in the glorious interference-damaged tones emitting from the muffled speakers.
Anyway, now we’ve put that self-indulgent drivel to one side, I’m pleased to proclaim Fleet Foxes’ second full-length Helplessness Blues is a revelation, building one 2008’s wonderful self-titled effort and reaffirming their status as folk’s pin-ups – a tough ask after producing such a critically acclaimed debut.
The glorious opener Montezuma is a welcomed summer’s wake-up call thanks to frontman Robin Pecknold’s soothing vocals and tricking guitar melody, and the enormous Battery Kinzie is a daring horseback ride across a vast valley of decadent drums and epic backing vocals.
Modern folk hymn Helplessness Blues grows from a campfire sing-a-long to a superlative biopic of a hardworking man’s struggle to pass through life as best as he can, penetrating the heartstrings with each decisive strum.
Penknold’s alluring voice is at its spine-tingling best in the icecap-melting crooner Someone You’d Admire, and is tested to the limit in the seven-minute opera of The Shrine/An Argument; a dizzying country anthem of biblical proportions.
You’ll be pushed hard to find many low points on Helplessness Blues but The Cascades, the album’s shortest inclusion, though a delightful insight into the band’s faultless musicianship, almost becomes a parody of the famous banjo scene in Deliverance, and Lorelai tries its best not to drag, but fails to touch the album’s sky-high standards.
In 2008, Fleet Foxes’ blend of warm rootsy guitars and Pecknold’s limitless, smouldering vocals, gave the alt-folk genre a welcomed boost, and became a staple inclusion to coffee house soundtracks across the globe.
Three years on, their formula has remained largely the same – retaining its instantly likeable rustic, organic and raw quality.
For Fleet Foxes to achieve regular radio airplay, sell hundreds of thousands of records and reach our to millions of listeners was arguably the last thing they expected, but Helplessness Blues, based on the success of their debut, should propel them to stadium-filling status in no time.