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EXPOSURE Tomorrow’s music today: Vivian Girls
Propelled into our lives on a wave of blog hysteria following a scuzzy masterpiece of a debut, Vivian Girls are possibly the most perfect outfit to come out of New York since The Strokes squeezed into those skinny jeans and stole our hearts all those years ago. Think lashings of reverb, killer fringes, beguiling harmonies and literary ref-strewn tales of heartbreak and nihilism – really, what more could you want from a band? We catch up with guitarist Cassie Ramone in LA . . . So, how did Vivian Girls come into being? ‘We formed in March last year. I knew Katy (Kickball, bass) from high school and she met Ali (Koehler, drums) at college in New Jersey. Ever since I was a kid I had wanted to play guitar in a rock band and then I did it!’ Critics always reference The Jesus & Mary Chain when they describe your music. Are you big fans? ‘Not so much. I mean I think they’re cool and a really good band but they didn’t influence us at all. When we first started we were inspired by acts like The Wipers and Dead Moon. The whole idea was that we were really into punk but didn’t want to do it straight up, so we added lots of crazy stuff to that raw sound.’ And what about a second record, word is it’s already on the way? ‘We’re all feeling majorly psyched right now. We have more than half of it done so far and the songs are sounding much more interesting than the first album. We aim to finish it in January, record it in LA with Steve McDonald from Redd Kross and get it out in spring next year.’ (Camilla Pia) ■ Captain’s Rest, Glasgow, Sat 6 Dec.
REVIEW INDIE POP ART BRUT ●●●●● ROSIE AND THE GOLDBUG ●●●●● The JD Set @ ABC2, Glasgow, Tue 11 Nov
Jack Daniel’s keep rolling on the JD Set tour with Hugh Cornwell (The Stranglers punk turned rock elder statesman) presiding over tonight’s picks. Anachronistic styles seem to be the theme of the evening, with supporters Rosie and the Goldbug harking back to the forward-looking age of Modernism, their name in a Charles Rennie Mackintosh-style logo on the bass drum and a theatricality- laced, piano-led pomp-pop. All drama- students-turned-bands (that’s you, The Kooks) take note. Art Brut cover the postmodern era as a cleverer-than-thou comedy band, the very zenith of irony-laced, anti-music. And while it is true they employ wit in their deadpan, mostly spoken lyrics, there’s a great deal more to them than that. A euphoric live show proves they have the guitar riffs to back up the lyrical one-liners and lead snarker Eddie Argos employs all the techniques of rock’n’roll to lead the crowd in an orgiastic chant of ‘Art Brut Top of the Pops’, another reference that has taken on an anachronistic quality, given the demise of that TV show. (Suzanne Black)
REVIEW STADIUM INDIE RAZORLIGHT Corn Exchange, Edinburgh, Sun 16 Nov ●●●●● REVIEW INDIE ROCK TROPICS Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Tue 18 Nov ●●●●●
REVIEW INDIE CLINIC The Arches, Glasgow, Wed 19 Nov ●●●●●
For a man so widely reported as having lost his rock’n’roll mojo, Jonny Borrell has either fired into the Prozac or rediscovered ‘the light’. A packed and extremely enthusiastic Corn Exchange didn’t take long to put their hosts’ minds at rest. Blinding versions of ‘In the Morning’, ‘Fall to Pieces’ and ‘Stumble and Fall’ saw the crowd jumping back to the sound desk. Trust me, this glimpse of Barrowland-esque magic this far east is a rarity but spirits deflated somewhat when new album Slipway Fires became the focus. The faithful clapped along loyally
attempting to keep the vibe alive but really there was nothing new. ‘Tabloid Lover’ is close to ‘Up all Night’ but this less rousing and ultimately less inspiring sound seemed to sap the energy from the room. Not to worry – just leap onto the drum kit, throw in your best Guitar Heroes moves, and launch into ‘America’. Hey presto! – all is forgiven. Overall, though Razorlight’s stadium aspirations just don’t seem to fit them no matter how long Borrell holds his notes. Tonight, Razorlight were the musical equivalent of a pair of skinny jeans. Tight, but eventually something will have to give. (Paula Waller)
In a tiny venue on a cold Tuesday night, sometime after midnight, with a young band who are somewhat unheralded nationally - the odds were stacked against this show from the start. Yet Sneaky’s is cosy rather than characterless, the crowd (and possibly band) were suitably well-oiled, and in front of an audience of no more than two or three dozen, London’s Tropics felt at home enough that singer and guitarist Jodie Cox could play part of the set standing out amidst the crowd. Or maybe that was just because the stage was so small.
Whatever, Tropics are a fine band, and small stages aren’t the habitat they were born for. Currently in the midst of a national tour with Seattle hardcore mob These Arms Are Snakes, with who they’ve also released a split 7-inch entitled ‘Future Gets Tense’, the quartet approximate a style that’s similarly stuck between the sludgy and the batteringly rhythmic. They finish with drummer Robin Silas destroying his drum kit and flinging it around the stage, which was a perfect end to a gig which could well end up being an ‘I-was- there’ affair sometime soon. (David Pollock)
Always different, always the same. The Peel maxim used to describe The Fall is equally applicable to Clinic, the quiet men of the Domino Records roster, who have deviated little from the driving, atmospheric and echo drenched blueprint as outlined on early albums. And the crowd for this Glasgow date wouldn’t have it any other way. Every track is received like a greatest hit by a fanbase that is evidently growing quietly in both size and levels of devotion with every tour and album.
From the tremolo guitar, trademark organ and shaking drums that define their sound – and echo an earlier era of their Liverpool home – Clinic do what they do very well, somehow managing to combine ambition, doom and humour along the way.
Billed as ‘Planetarium of the Soul’ and incorporating visuals by animator Clemens Habicht (as is so often the case with visuals, on a screen that is too small) and well-received set by Glasgow’s latest yelpy psych pop merchants Isosceles and a violin led meander into riffland from Cardiff trio Threatmatics, this evening didn’t require dressing in artifice – it was just a really good gig. (Hamish Brown)
27 Nov–11 Dec 2008 THE LIST 63