Stereo Brain // A Quick Note On New Vs Old Music

DJing in a nightclub can be difficult sometimes, especially in an alternative club - people don't just want a beat to dance to, they want songs they know. This can lead to stagnant sets, clubs playing the same music week in, week out because they know the reaction they get is a safe one. Very rarely in an alternative club, compared to regular clubs, will you hear a song released within the last 6 months played during the night.

I find this strange. Those of us in the alternative scene will often claim they don't listen to the same old manufactured drivel, but when it comes to a night out we'll rarely get that new song that's been making waves in the alternative community. It's a travesty, and I'm guilty of it too, I'd love to play a set of songs from 2016 - I mean I have more songs in my library from this year than any other - but people would leave. It's an issue with the community as a whole rather than exclusively in clubs. People like what they like and would rather spend £60+ on a gig to see an old band than spend £6 on a young band with a lot of promise which they may not know as well.

I find it hard to focus on finding old music, I don't see the benefit in it. I spend all my time focusing on what came out this week; I'm aware of where it came from and it's influences but at the end of the day whats coming out now is the hits of the future. So when I have people my age asking me to play songs from before they were born, my heart breaks a little inside.

Stereo Brain // Swn

Swn festival is something relatively new to me. Having only been in Cardiff a a few months it slipped me by last year. This year however I'm not missing it for the world.

I experienced the wonderful Dim Swn in April and volunteered for the day. I ended up working in Undertone where I met the great people at the Young Promoters Network. It was there that I found at how much of a community event Swn is. So many inner city music venues neglect the opinions of small local promoters, projects and venues, whereas here at Swn it was actively run by them.

Not only that it is by far and away one of the friendliest and welcoming festivals I've ever experienced. If you're passionate about music and bump into the right people you could spend all day talking to all the music fanatics floating around rather than actually seeing any bands! It was then through that talking I spoke to the folks running the YPN stage and hence became part of their great organisation.

Just over 6 months down the line its one hour until doors open on Swn Rise - the festival opening show at Tramshed - and I couldn't be more excited. I have so many bands I want to see and not only that, on Sunday I will be helping run the stage at Undertone again. Not as a volunteer but as a member of the team.

Cardiff has a wonderful music community and I urge everyone to jump at the chance to join in with it.

One day I hope there will be a Stereo Brain at this festival. Dim Swn represented a big turning point in my dream to put on shows and get involved in the music community and I want nothing more than to put everything I can back into it.

Review: Slaves // Take Control

After their debut album 'Are You Satisfied?' launched them to fame last year Slaves have taken off. Regular plays on BBC Radio 1, nominated for a Mercury Prize and winning the hearts of many fans with their budding bromance, you could have almost forgiven the duo for selling out on their second album.

However fans needn't have worried.

The album begins with the furious 'Spit It Out' and barely lets go of the frantic pace through 'Hypnotised' until the listener reaches the plodding 'Consume Or Be Consumed'. Featuring Mike D (of Beastie Boys) the song meanders safely along through the droning chorus between some excellent lyrical work from Mike D and Isaac. 'Consume Or Be Consumed', however, most encapsulates the lyrical theme of the album, a protest against everyday life.

'Rich Man' can be seen as a crude summary of modern distaste for the rich and the ongoing talk about the "1%". This is swiftly followed by 'Play Dead', chants of "Too Connected, Disconnected" and "Switch It On, Switch It Off" run through the song - a statement on the issues with social media and mobile phones. Not only something you hear on the record but also at their live shows, it is not uncommon to hear the duo tell fans to turn their phones off, stop filming the gig and enjoy whats in front of them, something applied in a wider sense in this song.

One of the main successes of the band is their ability to be not only a serious band but also a humorous one. In particular 'Where's Your Car Debbie', 'Feed The Mantaray' and 'Girl Fight' spring to mind from their back catalogue. This albums equivalent is 'Fuck The Hi-Hat' a homage to the bands early days on the touring circuit when punters would shout out "Where's your hi-hat' to the band that only have a snare and a bass drum in their arsenal. This frantically short track is one of the least important to the overall album but possibly one of the most enjoyed by fans at the bands live shows.

Slaves tour the UK this November

The second half of the album begins to highlight the duo's ability to play something that little bit slower. This is not the bands comfort zone and not necessarily the future of Slaves, however it showcases some of the bands other influences and makes the album seem that little bit more whole.

'Same Again' closes the show with the band returning to a style more familiar to them however grungier than before. This sound seems increasingly like it's going to be the future of Slaves and not many people will be upset with this.

However while this album's sound is almost complete - retaining the bands rawness while achieving a slightly mature sound - they are still a couple of (if very small) steps away from being pencilled in on the list of punks greats. They've released their distaste of wider society without getting particularly political or anarchist and for a band capturing the minds of so many disillusioned youths this is really the next step.

(8.5/10)

-Luke

Review: October Drift // This Is Nowhere EP

Softly the sound builds, delicate vocals flow over the top, the sound builds, the drumming gets louder and all of a sudden the twanging riff of the start of October Drift's new EP drops in. The Sheffield band have been crafting a name for themselves over the last year with seeminglessly endless touring and a fantastic reputation to go with it.

Their second EP 'This Is Nowhere' begins with the ambient build of 'Snow Into Dust' which is more of an intro to the next song 'Cherry Red' rather than a stand alone song. 'Cherry Red', however, is wonderfully dark and yet catchy with a strong dominant chorus. It's by far the singalong track on the EP and shows glimpses of the bands potential to be a powerful and individual rock band.

The EP then moves on to 'Cinnamon Girl' which is somewhat similar to 'Cherry Red' and continues to showcase the bands potential. However after several minutes of the same thing it begins to fade into the background and you start to ask for that little bit more.

That little bit more finally arrives with the end of the EP, 'Get With The Times' really highlights October Drift as a band that can slug it out with the big boys. This slower track shows the diversity within the band and their ability to make music at whatever speed and style while still retaining a level of distinction. 'Get With The Times' at this point seems less of a song title and more of a message to those other acts following templates of what came before to make something new.

(7.5/10)

-Luke

Review: Joyce Manor // Cody

Recently a new brand of emo has been emerging. Gone is the emo influenced by rock & metal - the kind that launched My Chemical Romance to fame - and in is a new brand fronted by American bands like Modern Baseball  and Into It. Over It in a style that reflects influences from 90's and 00's pop punk and grunge. Joyce Manor are one of the latest crop of bands that fit that template.

'Cody', their 4th LP and second on Epitaph Records, is out October 7th and with it the band have taken a slight musical turn. Their first 3 albums demonstrate the bands' ability to propuce lo-fi grungy emo with fuzzy guitars, meaningful lyrics and a lack of a serious melody. This latest outing doesn't ditch these ideas but develops them to create a much more musically diverse Joyce Manor.

'Fake I.D.' - the first song and single on the album - demonstrates this evolution at it's best; with a bouncing melody running through the song, it has the feel of a tune that could define the new side of the band. However as soon as that short 2 minutes is over, the album drops into 'Eighteen'. A song which tackles their previous sound but sounds much more mature and though out. It reflects the theme of the album - not only musically but within the lyrics - of maturing. After the song examines the thought of looking back at a foolish, young and worried eighteen year-old self lead singer Barry Johnson let's out "I feel old today" in a way that isn't jaded but instead almost triumphant.

A couple of songs later you the second single from the record - 'Last You Heard Of Me' - bursts on the scene which, at just over 3 minutes, is one of the longest tracks on the record. This song follows the grungier style template of the bands earlier work but approached with a renewed maturity. Rather than a barrage of sound, the song feels more structured and musically strong, a theme that seems to run through the whole album. As a band Joyce Manor have never spent more than 10 days in a recording studio until this release, and you can really tell. Having spent 2 months plugging away in the search of 'Cody' it appears that this new approach has really payed off.

Nothing sums this up more than the closing tune on the record. 'This Song Is A Mess' is anything but a mess, it bounces along with a renewed youthfulness which echoes of their contemporaries in Modern Baseball. This song is a refreshing and playful end to a mature and, at times, serious album about growing up not just in life but within the bands music. It is by far Joyce Manor's most accomplished and complete work to date and leaves the listener itching to hear the next chapter in this evolving bands story.

(8.5/10)

-Luke