Noah’s Lark
The Metro.
It’s not the musical connoisseur’s choice. Its tries to keep it’s finger on the pulse but bands are often in the trend morgue by the time Metro get stuck in. Or don’t even get admitted.
In the space of a three weeks, Noah and the Whale have gone from being a band that my girlfriend’s friend said her friend plays in and that I should check them out, through the next big thing name-dropped by too-cool-for-fools Lauren Laverne, to a full page article in the Metro, East Midlands edition. Not the South Yorkshire music hotbed edition, or London international centre of all new things edition. No, in the edition for the Brummie-lite part of the country no-one pays any attention to unless they live in Rugby, or watch it.
The illuminating thing about the Metro’s article is that they run with a photo of the band, pre-hype. No, photo-shoot styling here. No slick hair, english country gent waistcoats (minus the irony), and hunting dogs (ok, not in any of their pics, but may as well be), but just four lads in casual clothes and unmanagable tangled hair. Maybe the Metro had got in early, but by the time it got round to print the band had got a makeover and more airplay than hours in the day.
Everyone wants to be the first to say I was there before they were famous, and when that’s not possible, they want to be the first to provide a true insight, to differentiate themselves given that everyone is giving their ten pence worth. Noah and the Whale already appear to have been crushed by the stampede.
One insufferably repetitive wet song later and there’s a clamour to acknowledge that 5 Years Time isn’t typical of their approach, and that actually the lyrics are much darker. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8YCSJpF4g4 in case the video above doesn’t work).
Unfortunately, their ubiquitous song is a millstone already. Apparently is was meant as a low-key simple song, which it is. Yet after a few listens you’ve worked it out and it’s no fun anymore (if indeed it was in the first place). It doesn’t have to be this way. Take the same basic building blocks, call yourselves Eels and create an enduring gem of a song.
It’s fitting that lyrically 5 Years Time dwells on the wonder of the moment. Whatever lies at the heart of their tunes, I can’t help but feel that they are either victims of an unstoppable movement, or have things so perfectly lined up in marketing terms (previous collaborators/music and media contacts with influence etc). that this explosion of interest has been created with precision timing.
I fear the latter.
However, I saw their acoustic set for 6 music (http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/events/summersundae2008/hub/) and having missed half of their main set (queues for the toilets if you must know) feel I need to give them more of a chance. If only to know whether the ark was ready for the flood.
More from the festival soon…
P.S. Did you spot my long lost twin in their video?
Recommended for:
George – I think they are following a style you created a while ago!
Claire – It’s all part of your southern education. A twee contrast to northern grit
Laura – Because Birmingham is sunny too
Tommy G – You seem to be loving China, so this shouldn’t spoil things.
Steer clear:
Vicki HF – There was plenty more promising material at Leicester Summer Sundae
Si – I’m guessing you’re sick of the song already and imagine you’d want to throw things at them if you saw them across the street.
Neon Neon
I would normally put this under Hypewatch. But the thing with Gruff Rhys and any project he turns his hand to, is that he never gets overly hyped, yet not a single review can find fault in his work. He is simply a music genius, with a very geeky Welsh voice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4lZqDmCO9c
Fans of all things super, furry and animal-like will not be surprised to hear that the boy has gone all 80’s and electronic, or that there’s a drop of hip hop in this project. You’re not going to put this pigeon in a hole.
Here’s their best tune: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vJi1fmdYbg&feature=related
And unlike the numpty charged with the eventual naming of Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong, the name captures the essence of the music.
Recommended for:
Sarah T – I’m cheating, I’ve previously convinced you about this lot
Justin – If the Pet Shop Boys were a bit more alternative, this is what you may get
Sarah L – It’s not that he’s Welsh, its that he’s God.
Ben – He’s Welsh
Vicki HF – Swindon’s close to Wales…
Russ S – You may appreciate the film homage to Back to the Future
Fleeting fancy?
Harmonies. Brian Wilson.
Hands up who likes the Beach Boys? Me too (with the exception of Cocamo “Aruba, Jamaica, ooo I wanna. take ya, Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama” – I mean, dear God, stop please stop!)
Somewhere, someone may have written a Beach Boys review without mentioning the word harmonies, although i doubt it. But that’s fine, they’ve nailed some of the most sublime ones out there.
But there are bands that haven’t. Yet lazy reviewers just can’t help themselves. Oooo a harmony, must pay homage to the great God Wilson and his band of merry and eventually beardy men.
So can I introduce Fleet Foxes, recommended to me by my friend Beth.
“While many young musicians who are admirers of The Beach Boys, Joni Mitchell, Simon & Garfunkel et al succumb to pastiche, Pecknold is able to distil such influences into something related but fresh.” - The Independent
“Of their contemporaries only the enigmatic Midlake and My Morning Jacket at their most fragile come close, but neither could have cooked up the Beach Boys spiritual of White Winter Hymnal” - Amazon
“Fleet Foxes, a five-piece from near Washington, are like The Beach Boys if they were a folk band” - The Guardian
“Fleet Foxes owe a lot to Brian Wilson” - Wireless Bollinger
In fact, sod it, just type in ‘fleet foxes beach boys’ in to Google and let the results flood in!
That most of these reviews are tied to the second track on the album ‘White Winter Hymnal’, just makes it more annoying – listen to the whole bloody thing before writing a half-arsed comparison.
To be fair, some people put a bit more effort in and avoided the obvious and names like Fleetwood Mac and Crosby Stills and Nash cropped up, but don’t let that put you off.
Because to answer the question bursting out of you right now, are they any good? Too damn right they are. If you can break through your own cynicism and give yourself up to feelings of untainted happiness.
If you do one thing today it’s this. Click on the link below:
http://www.myspace.com/fleetfoxes
then choose the track ‘Tiger Mountain Peasant Song’, close your eyes and picture yourself walking through an English wood, in the simple garments, sun through trees and all that, no one else to trouble your journey, because you’re in the wilderness and only a deer may disturb you. Ahhhh, happiness. Whisper it to yourself…the f word…
Folk.
It’s part of us all, just let go and embrace it. And once you do you’ll love the whole album.
Recommended for:
Vicki HF – You’ve got the style for it
Andrew T – Not quite accordion material, but one to play on the tour bus
Steer clear:
Paul – Not for fighter pilots, I dread to think what would happen to you if your fellow officers heard you playing this.
James F – ditto property developers
First post…
Which band should I give the honour of my first post to (and lets be honest, it’s quite an honour)? I could throw the full force of music passion on to the best band in the world (Super Furry Animals), kick off with a guilty pleasure (there ain’t no party like…), or lay into shite like One Night Only. What about the underrated or misunderstood (Dexy’s Midnight Runners – forget Eileen, it’s all about Geno), or the group you thought knew all about (DJ Danger Mouse reworking of the Beatles White Album)…decisions eh!
No, I’m going to kick off with the sound tingling my spine right now as i write this…
The first 35 seconds of this one song are flawless and I defy anyone not break out an air guitar moment at the end of this…dah dah, dah dah…Weezer really do rock, their new album has been out for weeks and i missed it. To make up for slacking it’s now on repeat and is sounding like a real treat…
http://www.myspace.com/weezer – Pork and Beans
And all the meatier in the surrounds of the new flat and gorgeous hifi of course!
RECOMMENDED FOR:
Ben – (You can break the Phil habit!)
Paul
“When its party time, like 1999, I party by myself cos I’m such a special guy.” (from Troublemaker)
Laura (for those rock rather than Roachford moments)
Vicki HF - (I’m yet to find fault in your CD collection)
Beccy S (because you’ve probably danced with them at a festival)
Mash secret rocker (thanks for the Green Album)
Tommy G (reckon this would go down a treat in China)
STEER CLEAR
Claire (too many heavy guitar moments)
Anna sis and Matt bro (they diss Timbaland)
