Aereogramme (1998-2007)

It is not easy to write a post like this. Although we have yet to mention them, Aereogramme are dearly loved by all three of us at RP. However, just yesterday- 11th May 2007- a statement was released. It began-

"It is with heavy hearts that we tell you all that Aereogramme have decided to split up. Reasons are multiple and complex. It is however fair to say that the never ending financial struggle coupled with an almost superhuman ability to dodge the zeitgeist have taken their toll, ensuring that we just don't have any fight left in us.
We are immensely proud of the four albums that we made over the past seven years. We hope that they continue to grow in your hearts..."

This is not merely a band split. This is not merely the conclusion of some rock'n'roll fable. This is certainly not Take That breaking up in the mid-90s. This is the death of a dream.

Aereogramme are not an easy band to get into. They have never appeared on a hit TV show, soundtracking the lives of gurning yuppies. For many, they were a bunch of angry guys with beards, skulking onstage in venues scarcely bigger than a student flat. For them, Aereogramme are just a band.

For those who perservered, who looked past the lack of image and pretty packaging, Aereogramme became a totem. A band to dream along with when times were difficult, when they needed music that not only pleased the ear, but challenged accepted and tired forms. Music that cut through superficial bullshit and cheap sentiment to leave an indelible mark on those who truly listened.

Over the course of four albums, they created a vast vista of dynamics, instrumentation and emotion. Live, they brought the songs home, concentration etched on their faces as they strived to recreate the extremities of their art. Their use of sequencers was strange to me- I usually far prefer the spontaneous aspect of live performance- but Aereogramme justified it and made the technique their own.

I find it difficult to continue without sounding like a green hack, hurling hyperbole at some band in an attempt to shift units and copies of their self-interested wankrag. As the saying goes, the proof is in the pudding, and those who choose to scrape past the light soil and get stuck in will find their efforts rewarded tenfold.

They have not finished quite yet- there are touring commitments in Scotland and Germany. They are supporting long-term allies and underground (though this is quickly beginning to change) heroes Biffy Clyro on the Scottish leg of their tour to begin with. Then they are headlining (!) one festival in Germany with some other dates (full details on their Myspace). The real conclusion will be their final headline set in Britain-

16th June 2007- Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow, Scotland.

My advice to those who have read this far is to invest in a ticket and for those who have not heard any of their music to purchase Sleep And Release immediately. There are no MP3s available in this post, though many are easily (and legally) available at their fansite- Saviours of the Underground.

Aereogramme survived for nine long years, an anomaly in a quick-fix, eyes-down world. Even when they were faced with the worst situations- rooms so sparse that some gigs must have felt more like a soundcheck than a performance, hard cold nights in an old van, returning home from tour to no fixed abode and months of scrubbing dishes and digging roads- with steely aplomb, their music sang out to the downhearted, gave them hope that they too could rise above the grim mundanity of everyday life and dream a little further.

That is why I cry when I begin to wonder what life will be like once this band finally cease to create music, but it is also why I will be forever grateful to four hairy men for letting us dream to begin with.

Thank you.

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Links:
Aereogramme Myspace
Sleep and Release quicklink
Saviours Of The Underground [check the downloads and interview sections especially]
The SOTU board

American Gothic.

It's an odd quality in music to draw you into a time and place that creeps you out enough to be completely infatuated with. The past few years have witnessed the birth of a dark and twisted North American 'indie rock'. The kind that makes you feel uneasy, like staring into the painting above and being lost in the pitchfork and gothic revival window frame, the American Midwest in the early 20th Century. Arranged marriage and self sufficient communities, a last innocence before the world wars and technology pounded out through the years.




What's fascinating is that it's creeped into the mainstream climate of both the United States and the UK. It shouldn't have happened, but The Arcade Fire have crashed into the culturally conscious on both continents and it seems people can't get enough of them. Do they succinctly sum up how a generation feels? The new record 'Neon Bible' is quite frankly desolate, a band waking up to the complexities of 21st Century society. It seems a disillusionment has washed over us and no-one's putting up a fight. So resigned to a dreary and dirgey existence. If this is a protest record, then God help us! But there's an anger there, at least that's something to work with. That'll tide me over until the world rebels against technology and regresses into caves..! You can blog with chalk.
Time will tell if this is a band that made a difference.

Download 'Ocean of Noise'
Buy 'Neon Bible'
Visit the website.



Midlake are different in so much as they don't write about today. They don't do social commentary. The last album 'The Trials of Van Occupanther' was almost a concept album, set around a group of settlers surviving in and around woodlands and travelling across vast American landscapes. Musically they recall classic American folk rock such as Neil Young or early Fleetwood Mac. On 'Young Bride' there's a heavy sadness that takes ahold of you and demands you take notice, you're on a wagon and it's winter and she's dying. Joyful, yes? It's ok, the violin will keep you warm.
They recently toured the UK twice and it seems they may be back in July, so look out for dates around then. You shouldn't miss them.

Download 'Young Bride'
The videos of Van Occupanther
Buy 'The Trials of Van Occupanther'
Visit the website.

Band of Horses are a Sub Pop band originating from Seattle attracting a lot of attention with their debut album 'Everything All The Time' released last year. Like the previous two acts there's a soaring melancholy throughout their songs, something to get your teeth into and wistfully ponder over. Perhaps a little more modern sounding, they're appealing to a whole different set of fans than both Midlake and Arcade Fire, having appeared on both The OC and One Tree Hill. 'The Funeral' gets a UK single release on 21st May and it's a lush and epic indie ballad, 'At every occasion I'll be ready for a funeral' drips from the layered instruments and you remember this isn't no typical OC fare. Tour dates to support the single are as follows;

UK Tour Dates

May 20 2007
ATP vs. the Fans
w/Built to Spill, Shellac, Sparklehorse,
and more!!!
Minehead

May 22 2007
8:00P
Scala
London

May 23 2007
8:00P
King Tuts
Glasgow

May 24 2007
8:00P
The Music Box
Manchester

Download 'The Funeral'
Buy 'Everything All The Time'
Visit the website.
Go to Myspace.

Yesterday Went Too Soon

I guess to a large extent music is a reflection of a person and their personality, and therefore as an extension of that, this blog is a reflection of the personalities of the three of us that run it - Ed, Johnny, and my good self.

The younger a person is the more the music they listen to seems to reflect their personality, it’s a simpler more raw listening experience - when you’re young you listen to anything that appeals regardless of quality. Then when you’re older you listen to a better standard of music (if you develop any taste at all).

The first band to capture both your youthful zest for life, and your more mature desire for increasingly credible music remains a firm favourite with most people throughout the rest of their lives, no matter how much their music taste develops or changes.

For me that band was Feeder. I’ll always love Feeder for what they used to mean to me. Everybody I knew was loving Blink 182 and Linkin Park, and I felt I knew more than anybody. Was better than everybody. I’d endure the chats about “Take Off Your Pants And Jacket” at school with a wry smile, then jog home to listen to "Yesterday Went Too Soon" - the breakthrough Feeder album, and better in every way than its predecessor "Polythene".

I cried when Jon Lee killed himself, I’ll remember the moment I heard the news forever. I don’t remember where I was when I heard Princess Diana had been killed, but I remember Jon Lee like it was yesterday. It felt like a death in the family - as lame and pseudo emo-core as it sounds to admit that.

In later years I found out I wasn’t alone in this - with the proliferation of the internet, and indeed Feeder themselves, I realised Feeder weren’t a small underground band like they seemed to be to a young me, and that thousands of people had variations on the same experience as I had.

Even now I like Feeder. I hear the new songs every so often on the radio and - although they’re mostly fairly dull - they remind me of being young. Being excited about music for the first time. I still buy the albums as they come out, even though I know I wont listen to them much. If at all, actually.

I guess we all properly connect with credible music for the first time because of our personalities and how we feel a track we hear on the radio/television reflects ourselves. For me that track was Yesterday Went Too Soon by Feeder.

Feeder - Yesterday Went Too Soon

Walking along the streets with that on my headphones thinking about lost loves, future loves, and even self-love, everything felt ok. I loved the lyrics, I loved everything about it for childish reasons. Yet it was a more mature type of music for me to like than anything that had passed my ears previously.

Three minutes in when Grant’s vocals kick in, even now I get nostalgic. Feel like crying. Y’know, I can kind of see why emo has caught on - if it makes this connection with so many kids, then I guess you have a market. You have sold out tours. You have gold discs.

Hopefully you have a million new fans of more credible music in a couple of years time too, I think there’s chance.

Next up was my first gig - Feeder were playing at a locally hosted Radio 1 Roadshow hosted by Jamie Theakston and Chris Moyles. Feeder and the Manic Street Preachers. Not bad for a first gig, and not bad at all considering it was free. Also playing that day were OPM, of Heaven Is A Halfpipe fame.

From that day, my first ever connection with live music, I remember mostly Feeder playing Buck Rogers. Everybody else I know that was there that day says they remember the Manics. I don’t.

Actually, in truth I remember booing the Manics. I still had a lot to learn about music.

So yeah, this entry wouldn’t be complete with Buck Rogers for your aural pleasure.

Feeder - Buck Rogers

"I think we’re gonna make it."

x

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Links:

Official Feeder Site

Feeder On Amazon

Your Eyes Are the Sun

Electronica is a very vague term- some would say it's fairly self-explanatory, others wave their genre cleaver and yell things like "NO NO THAT'S IDM." OR "THAT'S JUST A POP SONG WITH SOME BLEEPS IN IT." I'm not really a fan of genres, historical context aside, and even that can be wildly open to debate. The media (including that saviour/villain of modern music, the internet) is extremely prone to slapping stupid titles on things and manufacturing scenes that don't actually exist. So I prefer to use very loose terms to describe different families of modern mainstream(ish) music- pop, rock (a ludicrously large category), soul, funk, metal, hip-hop (essentially the innovation of rapping and sampling, borne out of funk and soul) and finally electronica.

It's easy to forget how quickly computers have infiltrated music, both in the way we listen to it and the process of making it in the first place. Electronica is a category dedicated to music in which computers have been integral to its creation. Distinct from the turntable and other manual editing techniques, using a computer to deconstruct blocks of music and then reassemble them into something new is a mindboggling task, as anyone who has fannied about with Audacity can testify.

Some people have already got the hang of these new techniques and my current favourite is a guy called James Vella, known hereafter as A Lily. There's only one album around at the moment, mostly because this is really a side-project. He pays the rent- well, it probably helps a little next to some kind of day job or dreaded shift pattern, perhaps too ambitious in this post-rocknroll world (yes, the ROKNROLLDRUGSNPARTIESNGROUPIESWOOOOO reverie is just that these days. Whether it was ever anything apart from a brief glimpse at paradise for a small cluster back then is worth discussing elsewhere.) to say bills are paid by recording and touring- playing guitar in Yndi Halda.*

There are two interesting things about this album, titled Wake: Sleep. The first is the mixture of organic instrumentation like guitars, pianos and homemade percussion with the usual bleeps, swoops and gurgles that distinguish electronica from more traditional genres. The second is the concept behind it. As you'll see in the interview (linked at the bottom), he wrote the music entirely for his girlfriend. Every note, rhythm and squelch was lovingly crafted for her enjoyment. It's not explicit (no dirty samples, you sick perverts) when you hear it, as although a few pieces employ his hushed vocals, there is no stomach-turning narrative of how much they weally wuv eech ovah.

If you're looking for pop hits with obnoxious noises blasted in at inappropriate moments, you'll be disappointed, though I'd question whether you'll find much of interest in this blog in the first place. It works best as a complete piece of music- even the extremely testing 30+ minute final track, The Shipwreck. I've included two tracks from the nine that Wake: Sleep offers in order to give you an idea of what to expect. As Simon sagely noted in the previous post, it's absolutely vital that people understand how music is funded- writing, recording and especially touring require time off work and a spider's web of payment. The proverbial fly is you, the listener/audience member. Everything worthwhile in music begins when somebody gets enthusiatic about a song, band or gig.

Sadly, as I'm increasingly finding while trying to delve further into less obvious music, it's very difficult to get hold of this album in Britain. In fact, Amazon (never mind the High Street) don't stock it- not even in the Marketplace! Finally, the third track is a cheeky treat discovered in a secluded corner of Myspace.

Enjoy!

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MP3s:

A Lily- I Am To You [Track 1 of Wake: Sleep]

A Lily- Aeriels Quiet And Death-Defying [Track 5 of Wake: Sleep]

A Lily- A Song For Ron Mental And Sidney Bishop [unreleased]

Links:

A Lily Myspace

More obscure A Lily stuff, definitely worth hearing!

A Lily on Last.FM

A Lily interview, on the site of his US distributor

Wake:Sleep from Dotshop, the best value for UK folk (in Swedish Kroner, currency fans)

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* It's my party and I'll write ridiculously convoluted multi-claused sentences if I want to do so.

E!

Eastern European Dance Parties

In advance, please forgive me for a rather contemplative and reflective entry... I won’t do it again…

I felt that at some point the name of the blog should be explained to those not in the know; it’s the title of a 65daysofstatic song. Radio Protector was an obvious choice when I named the blog - it references the role I see blogging playing in the media, blogs protect our right to listen to music to see if we like it before we buy it.

(65daysofstatic, pretending to be homeless at the multiplex)

Just the same as a track on the radio is to encourage you to buy an album, this blog (and indeed most music blogs) is there to hopefully make you go out and buy an album. A single. An EP. A vinyl. Maybe take in a live show sometime. I feel the need to stress that this isn’t free music - this is taster music.

Starting this blog we signed up to Google Analytics so we could track interest in the blog. We don’t actually know who any of you kind readers are, but we know which cities and countries you live in. Hello to, among many…

• Los Angeles
• Manila
• Kuala Lumpur
• Amsterdam
• Washington
• Vilanova De Segria
• Loads of Finnish places. Oddly

There’s too many to list over the past few weeks, but I’m glad you’ve all stopped by and taken a look. We’re Scottish, if you’re from far away leave a comment, it interests me!

A lot of stuff that we can track interests me. Most importantly, we know what tracks you download from us and how often. In short we know what you enjoy, or at least we’re getting there.

But with regards to the name, Radio Protector it is then. My reflection period is over.

Now the music…

65daysofstatic are a glitch-rock / math-rock / post-rock (delete as you deem appropriate) four piece from England. Their blend of instruments and samples is sometimes beautiful, sometimes powerful, and often just damn loud. In a good way.

Honestly, I must have seen this band a few times live by now, and every time I’ve left thinking “christ, that was loud”. That said, it’s in 65dos’ more tender moments that their true talent shines through - the pianos / keyboards, building like Newborn by Muse for want of a better comparison, make for glorious listening when they allow themselves room to experiment.

The best example of this is the song Radio Protector, the epic closer to 65daysofstatic’s second record One Time For All Time. Enjoy!

65daysofstatic - Radio Protector

(65daysofstatic - The Destruction Of Small Ideas)

The third 65daysofstatic album - The Destruction Of Small Ideas - is released at the end of this month, and while I wouldn’t like to spoil the surprises it has in store, I’ve seen fit to link up a couple of rare live in session tracks from it which the band laid down recently when they played the famous SXSW festival in Texas.

Links for both tracks are included below…

65daysofstatic - The Distant And Mechanised Glow Of Eastern European Dance Parties (Live at SXSW)

65daysofstatic - When We Were Younger and Better (Live @ SXSW)

The Distant And Mechanised Glow Of Eastern European Dance Parties - surely that’s a contender for best track name this year so far? Only post-rock gives you such classic titles, y’know.

You can find out more about 65daysofstatic on their official website, or buy their new album, by clicking the following links:

www.65daysofstatic.com

65daysofstatic On HMV.com

Unexpected Cover Versions Of Our Time - Episode 2

I see your Michael Jackson and raise you a Jennifer Paige.

You know who Jennifer Paige is? Here she is, on a swing-


















[Jennifer Paige- about to crush some stupid-haired guy]

EVERYONE knows this song, but you might not have it to hand- I didn't until a friend chanced upon it while scouring the net for cheesy pop classics- so here it is for everyone's enjoyment.

Jennifer Paige- Crush


This time it's The Dismemberment Plan dishing it up. Yeah, they were the band I covered in my FIRST EVER RP post-

















[The Dismemberment Plan- about to be crushed]

The D-Plan substitute their polyrhythmic anthemic approach for something more sedate. MUCH more sedate. The previously chirpy tempo is racked over three hundred and seventy-four seconds, mostly just Travis Morrison's vocal accompanied by a bone-dry electric guitar.

I've noticed a lot of covers- let's leave aside the desperate eye-gouging-inducing pub-rock strumathons- either rock up a quiet song or hush down a loud song.

I'm trying to pick covers that do much more than that, where the performer(s) digest(s) the original song and spits it back up rearranged and with something new and different and most of all EXCITING.

It's the creepy as hell synth noises that make this track for me.

Dismemberment Plan- Crush

Enjoy!

Official D-Plan site
Previous D-Plan blog (+ tunes) on RP
Official Jennifer Paige site

Unexpected Cover Versions Of Our Time - Episode 1

Welcome to the first in yet another series of infrequently updated themed blog posts. This time, as the title states, the onus is on Unexpected Cover Versions Of Our Time.

In short this is a topic which allows me to cut loose from all the credible music and painstaking research that goes into my normal blog posts (slight exaggeration, but bear with me), and have some fun instead.

Everybody loves cover versions. It’s a scientific fact. So, in honour of this, I present to you the first unexpected cover version for your aural delight…

(Chris Cornell, looking pretty damn cool)

Chris Cornell covering Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, live and acoustic. Unplugged I believe is the popular word for this phenomenon. I heard this for the first time on Tuesday night on Radio 1’s Black Hole, where they basically play any old shite and pass it off as “random” or “experimental”. For once however, they got it spot on. Cornell (ex-Soundgarden and Audioslave rock god of dubious merit) brings his surprisingly strong vocals to MJ’s classic disco filler Billie Jean. And it works. Honestly.

I’m not even going to attempt to review the song. Just listen to it with no expectations and an open mind. Personally it’s one of my favourite cover versions ever, but I’ll leave it with you to form your own opinions.

Chris Cornell - Billie Jean

Of course, I couldn’t upload that without uploading the original. Is Michael Jackson still cool? Perhaps not. Is his music still cool? You bet it is. Billie Jean is responsible for some of the worst dancing of our generation - an identical scene of foolish drunken men failing miserably to recreate the moves played out in nightclubs and indie haunts around the world. A modern day Shakespearian tragedy if you will. Only MJ himself truly had the moves to do this song justice.

(Michael Jackson, back in the day)

As before, I’m not going to delve deep into the subject matter, i'm just going to post the track. I suspect you have this one already (you really should have, especially if you’ve ever thrown a house party), but just on the off chance that you don’t, here it is anyway…

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

You can find out more about either artist by clicking the following links:

www.chriscornell.com

www.michaeljackson.com