The Skinny: Latest

Brolin – FLAGS Mixtape

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Fri, 28 Mar 2014 11:20:00 +0000

Producer and vocalist Brolin warms up for his dsbut album, expected later this year, with a mixtape that sees him collaborating with, remixing, bring remixed by and re-purposing tracks by Dam Mantle, Raffertie, Sinkane and others.

Lorn – Debris

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 12:15:00 +0100

Lorn confirms in just four tracks why he is one of the most forward-thinking and intelligent producers in the bass music spectrum. Where Ask The Dust was by turns elegiac and fragile, then brooding and industrial, these new tracks showcase a greater fascination with texture. Each sound is processed, treated with natural reverb, sourced from multiply-affected field recordings.

The result is a greater depth of field, and a willingness to stray even further from the notional, already destroyed templates of dubstep, or even electronic music. The stamping, industrial funk of Bury Your Brother is quite unlike anything you have heard this year. Lorn is a composer, a visionary, and if this EP is anything to go by, his best work is in front of him. [Bram E. Gieben]

Super Adventure Club search for a feel good hit of the summer

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Thu, 01 Aug 2013 16:10:00 +0100

On a day off from recording, Bruce Wallace and Mandy Clarke of Super Adventure Club battle hangovers and heatwaves to debate the summer’s singles. “The horse will be here in 5 minutes,” Bruce casually explains, “but we can get started…”

Sonic Hearts Foundation – Into Forever

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 09:00:00 +0100

Glasgow's Sonic Hearts Foundation claim to have three album's worth of material under their collective belt, and it shows – from the opening electronic pulses of the EP's final and most impressive track, 1984, there is a brash confidence on show that belies the band's collective youth.

As the peak of their four-track debut, 1984 is a thrilling proposition – the audible rock and roll sneer of Anthony Henderson adding weight to the tightly-controlled drums, insisitent post-punk bass, reverb-heavy guitar lines and throbbing synths. The effect achieved is not dissimilar to France's Team Ghost, although the emphasis on fuzzed-out shoegaze dynamics is shifted slightly towards more conventional indie and pop. There are hints of Crocodiles-era Echo & The Bunnymen's epic, bipolar swagger, and the rhythm section's pedal-assisted momentum can't help but recall Killing Joke.

But for such a young band, these influences are distant, received second hand (if consciously absorbed at all). The band's stated heroes include Wild Beasts and The Horrors; two bands who have managed to draw on rich traditions of rock, indie and post-punk, and reconfigure them into a slick, more commercially viable package, without sacrificing their integrity, and while wearing these influences on their sleeeves.

Sonic Hearts Foundation seem likely to be able to continue pulling off a similar trick – Azrael explores terrain familiar to Scots indie titans Frightened Rabbit, but the echoing reverb of the guitar lines give the track a more lived-in, timeless feel. Perhaps the most useful contemporary Glasgow band to compare them to would be Holy Esque, with whom they share a proto-Gothic sense of scale, a mesmerising vocalist, intricate guitar and drums, and a detached cool.

80s indie and shoegaze are also useful reference points – on Northern Lights, strong shoegaze and dream-pop flourishes broaden the scope of their sound, with echoes of Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine given an infectious indie polish. USA meanwhile, underscored with growling, Carpenter-esque synth and a muted, wailing siren, is a snarling hurricane of sloganeering vocals and soaring, ethereal guitar. Taken as a whole, Into Forever is an utterly convincing first salvo – as higher production values and bigger stages beckon, Sonic Hearts Foundation are a band to watch closely.

<a href="http://sonicheartsfoundation.bandcamp.com/album/into-forever" _mce_href="http://sonicheartsfoundation.bandcamp.com/album/into-forever">Into Forever by Sonic Hearts Foundation</a>

Dope Body survey June's singles

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 16:33:00 +0100

Prior to a night of fierce sweating, Baltimore noise-rockers (and March 'Track of the Month' champions) Dope Body try to muster some love for this month’s offerings, and debate whether or not that’s a marimba in there

Young Fathers – Tape Two

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Wed, 29 May 2013 10:00:00 +0100

Young Fathers' lo-fi take on 90s R&B, classic soul and old-school hip-hop is increasingly experimental, and that's no bad thing. Their recent excursions (since Tape One) are characterised by dusty drum patterns, muted synth stabs, gently-scuffed falsetto vocals and rhymes delivered in an intriguing range of voices.

I Heard's yearning vocal hook is softened under a blanket of tape hiss; live highlight Come To Life drips with both menace and euphoria; and the moment where Queen Is Dead coalesces into a wall of de-tuned synths, ululating voices and bizarre beat poetry is as welcome as it is unexpected. Young Fathers have more to show us, further to push, especially in terms of their lyrical content. But watching them grind is becoming increasingly fascinating. [Bram E. Gieben]

Deco Child – Skinless

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Wed, 01 May 2013 07:00:00 +0100

Alex Lloyd aka Deco Child garnered rave reviews in 2012 for early singles S&G and Pray. While S&G flirted intelligently with blistering micro-house and the kind of epic neo-synth pop hooks favoured by the likes of Solar Bears, it stood out for his swooping falsetto vocal, brought front-and-centre on his new EP.

Skinless (Part One) pairs claps, looped synth arpeggios and minimal broken beat with delicate piano and a fragile, euphoric vocal. Heartbeats is a minimal piano and strings arrangement, leading into Skinless (Part Two), which adds vocals and a subtle beat to the formula.

An Exit features a lone piano, leaving you wanting more of Lloyd's voice. Lloyd needs to exercise caution, though – with the intricate electronic beats de-emphasised, he can veer close to a too pretty blandness. [Bram E. Gieben]

Dolor – Misteria

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:01:23 +0000

Dolor's first official solo release on new label Technicolour doesn't disappoint, after his strong collaboration with Lorn on their Drugs mixtapes – three 15-minute slices of dark, psychedelic electronic weirdness which came out in 2012.

His production, which combines spectral, sub-heavy bass with minimalist hip-hop and post-dubstep beats, heavily processed vocals and subtle synth stabs, is instantly recognisable, exploring similar territory to the aforementioned Lorn collab, and adventuring into post-Burial, narcotic soundscaping in a similar manner to Vessel and Holy Other.

It's Sexy Outside surprises with a switch-up to pulsing, high-BPM electro, while the brilliant Classic Is Over features a blistering, low-slung verse from rapper 18andCounting. Misteria announces the presence of a new and exciting talent. [Bram E. Gieben]

Deftones hunt for March 2013's Track of the Month

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:44:00 +0000

With a diverse selection of twelve tracks from this month’s single, EP and album releases playing on their backstage stereo, Deftones' Chino Moreno and Frank Delgado go fishing for the one they can 'groove out to'

Urban Homes – Centres

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 09:15:00 +0000

Containing members of PTTRNS, Yage and Airpeople – all well-kent faces in the Cologne experimental electronic and post-punk scenes – Urban Homes combine the structured delights of a band focused on songwriting with the panache and flair of experimental producers with one eye firmly fixed on the past. Echoes of bands like Electronic and Talking Heads rub up against influences from house, disco and Balearic beats.

When they're on point – the sublimely controlled, Afrobeat-flavoured Ayran Gifbek Mersi, the chopped, shimmering, horn-enhanced punk-funk of Full Trance Effect – they more than give the likes of Hot Chip or Bloc Party a run for their money. The '80s synth-pop-influenced closer Untitled Luv is a particularly Moroder-esque highlight. [Bram E. Gieben]

&lt;a href="http://urbanhomes.bandcamp.com/album/centres" _mce_href="http://urbanhomes.bandcamp.com/album/centres"&gt;Centres by URBAN HOMES&lt;/a&gt;

Burial – Truant / Rough Sleeper

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 11:51:00 +0000

After Kindred, it was clear that reclusive producer Burial was reaching for the next plateau. Like those tracks, Truant and Rough Sleeper both clock in at around 12 minutes; each one containing several distinct movements.

Truant begins with narcotic, static-laden 2-step, before abruptly breaking into a more bass-led, darker, dub techno-edged sound. Vocals pitch in and out of the tense, claustrophobic mix – this is more lo-fi, twisted territory than Burial has ever explored before, with a mid-song breakdown that sounds like early Prodigy synth-stabs recorded onto hissing ferrous tape and listened to through a cough-syrup haze.

Rough Sleeper begins with hushed reverence, breaking into minimal 2-step with gorgeous, soulful vocals hidden in amongst the ever-present static. It's indescribably lush – at once melancholic, and more uplifting than anything in Burial's prior output. The second movement is even more unfamiliar territory – an ascending, major-chord melody, house rhythms and breathy male vocals produce perhaps the most mellow, transcendent mood of the EP, evoking rain-slick streets caught in a burst of sunlight as the clouds briefly part – a revelatory moment of light.

Defiantly uncommercial, pushing notions of EP and album to the side in favour of creating immersive, beautifully-realised sonic sculpture, and released with little fanfare or effort to court the press, Truant / Rough Sleeper continues to display Burial's mature, consistently exciting and challenging output, post-Untrue. [Bram E Gieben]

The Dirty Dozen – December 2012

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 13:38:00 +0000

Former Ride vocalist and guitarist Mark Gardener sets about December’s singles along with the issue of overblown chorus syndrome and the repetitious strains of Manc rock

Dizraeli & The Small Gods – Never Mind

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Unlike Scroobius Pip, another artist who made the transition from hip-hop influenced poet to rapper with a record deal, Dizraeli's flow is based on literate, witty wordplay rather than obvious jokes. His lyrics on Never Mind are alternately clever (“I've been thrown like the dice in the I-Ching”) or hilarious, but always intelligent (“I'm in effect! I'm ineffectual!”).

Backed by folk-influenced live band The Small Gods, featuring the World Female Beatbox Champion Bellatrix, he makes a very English kind of rap music; tuneful, summery and infectious, driven by a marvellous accordion hook. B-side The Little Things is minimal and reflective, but just as tightly executed. This is how folk music should sound in 2012.

The Dirty Dozen – November 2012

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 10:10:00 +0000

Ahead of this month's Scottish tour with Bill Wells, noted no-nonsense 2am Twitter pop critic Aidan Moffat pops by to give the November singles the long-form review treatment. Yes: we take requests...

Pangaea – Release

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 14:10:00 +0000

Hessle Audio's impressive back catalogue of high-sheen, experimental future bass goes back to 2007, with releases from leading lights such as Ramadanman and Martyn. Co-founder Pangaea's contributions have covered a series of EPs and 12-inches, but with double EP Release he refines and updates his sound, bringing us his most cohesive and upfront tracks to date.

Lead track Game is slick, polished and distinctive, with tight, complex 2-step patterns underpinning a looping, square wave bassline and an infectious vocal hook. Elsewhere, Pangaea flirts with nu-skool breaks on Trouble, a track that echoes the sounds of early Deekline productions. Majestic 12 is a tight UKG / house hybrid, while Middleman takes a familiar rave-era vocal stab and works it into a tightly-produced, minimalistic slice of 2-step electronica.

The Dirty Dozen – October 2012

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 16:35:00 +0100

Recovering at his Edinburgh home from a nasty chest infection, Dan ‘Withered Hand’ Willson dutifully bunkers down to the healing sounds of October’s single releases

Y Niwl – 4

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:00:00 +0100

Surfing in North Wales may involve a thicker wetsuit and a lot more shivering than its Californian equivalent, but in Y Niwl, the scene’s got a surf-rock soundtrack virtually indistinguishable from the real thing. The accuracy with which the Gwynedd quartet recast the sun-blushed East coast sounds of Dick Dale, The Ventures and the like is uncanny, their short and snappy instrumental jams ticking every expected box: guitars are tremulous and reverby, rhythms crisp and constant, melodies straightforward and fun. Their fidelity to a fifty-year old blueprint would reek of novelty were it not so skilfully delivered, and though its appeal will likely be limited to existent genre aficionados, Y Niwl sound rightly proud of their niche.

The Dirty Dozen – September 2012

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 12:50:00 +0100

Adopting some kind of variant on the ‘snog, marry, avoid’ critique, Amanda Palmer takes on September’s singles. Expect sex, nudity and strawberries.

The Dirty Dozen – August 2012

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 16:20:00 +0100

Veering from constructive criticism to outright disgust, Alejandra Deheza and Benjamin Curtis of School of Seven Bells have a good cop/bad cop gander at August's sixties-indebted promo pile.

The Dirty Dozen – July 2012

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 13:00:00 +0100

Hailing from hardcore punk superpower OFF!, Keith 'original Black Flag vocalist' Morris and Dimitri 'played guitar on a Bond theme' Coats carry a special license to say whatever the hell they like about July's single releases

The Dirty Dozen – June 2012

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 14:47:00 +0100

Still Flyin' – Spirits (Highline, 4 Jun)
Dean McClure: Described as 'San Francisco's favourite hammjammers.' I'm putting San Francisco and 'hammjammers' together and drawing my own conclusions.
James Allan: It does sound a bit hammy.
Cameron Findlay: It started off okay, but it's too nice a vocal. It needs to be more dirty.
James: Still Flyin'? Still sleepin' more like! This gets a bold two.

Hot Chip – Night & Day (Domino, 4 Jun)
James: I'm liking it, it's nice and funky.
Gary Pinkerton: But it's very polished, I don't think it's going anywhere.
James: I think you'd need to listen to this in a car, with the roof down, after nine pints.
Dean: You would definitely need some kind of aid. I was a fan of the first album, but this doesn't stand up really. I think this is what, a four?
James: I think a three.

Louise Quinn & Kid Loco – Oh Jackie (Tromolo, 18 Jun)
Dean: I could see my mum liking this. It's the sort of thing she would enjoy.
James: I want to hear the middle eight, you can tell there's going to be a middle eight. (Waits patiently) There was a pitch change!
Dean: It's a good vocal, but the song is very predictable. A five.

King Creosote – Doubles Underneath (from I Learned From the Gaels EP, Domino, Out now)
Dean: I'm not familiar with much of his back catalogue.
James: Neither am I. But I don't particularly like this.
James: This really isn't my bag at all. It's the sound of cycling down Byres Road with a wicker basket.
Cameron: A bike with a recycled wicker basket – a hemp basket!
Fraser Gillies: I don't think there's much wrong with it.
Gary: A six?
Dean: I think that's too high. Five?

Peaking Lights – Lo Hi (Weird World, 11 Jun)
Dean: I'm definitely hearing a reggae beat on this.
Cameron: It sounds like something out of Nathan Barley.
Stuart Brown: The bass sounds like something an animated cat would dance to.
James: Is that a good thing?
Craig Brown: Can synth-reggae ever be a good thing? It sounds like it's been made by someone sitting on their laptop in their bedroom, smoking a shitload of weed. How was it described in the press release? 'Uniquely eclectic.' Twats.
Dean: Give this a one.

Graham Coxon – Ooh, Yeh Yeh (Parlophone, Out now)
James: He's setting himself up for a fall with that title. Ooh, no no! It sounds plain, outdated, soggy. That song has been done a 100,000 times before.
Fraser: I'd give this a one.
Gary: It's not as bad as that, I don't think. I wouldn't go lower than a three.
Dean: If he's bringing this out as the second single from the album, I wouldn't want to hear the first. I'd give this a reluctant two.

Doldrums – Egypt (Souterrain Transmissions, 4 Jun)
Dean: It's a bit Animal Collective, isn't it? Tribal!
James: That's the kind of shit I like! [laughs] I think it's good, for what it is. It certainly doesn't sound Canadian.
Dean: Since when did you become the Canadian connoisseur?
James: A guy I worked with once gave me this huge compilation of Canadian music. It was like 18 GB or something stupid. I quite like this, I wouldn't ever say 'who's that?' if I heard it out, but it's a bit nuts, which I like.
Fraser: It's like a modern Wickerman.
Dean: I think this sounds like a four.

Linkin Park – Burn It Down (Warner, 26 Jun)
James: I'm really, really not looking forward to this. [listens] Yeah, this is absolutely terrible.
The Skinny: Can we make out what it is they want to burn down?
Craig: What should be burning down is the studio this was recorded in, along with everyone associated with producing it.
Stuart: It's basically exactly the same as I remember from 2002, but the music now seems to be produced by Lady Gaga.
Dean: We had very low expectations of this – and we weren't disappointed.
The Skinny: Marks out of ten?
All (in unison): Zero!

Clubfeet – City of Light (Pure, 18 Jun)
Cameron (reading press release): 'Melancholic indie-pop that sounds just as inspiring on a Monaco club floor on a Saturday night as it does on a lazy Sunday in a 1995 VW soft-top.' What the fuck?
James: It's lucky it's a sunny day in Glasgow outside, otherwise this would not be getting played.
Stuart: I'm really not sold on the chorus. I can imagine this getting this stuck in my head and hating myself for it.
Dean: Speaking of clubfeet, I'd like to say that I'd rather watch the scene from Misery than listen to this. And I hate that scene.
Gary: I really don't think this is as bas as that scene. It's not that painful!
Cameron: They should rename themselves Trenchfoot.
James: It's pretty bland Europop. It's a standard three.

Tom Williams & the Boat – Too Young (Moshi Moshi, 11 Jun)
James: It's not a good start is it?
Dean: I like it. I could kiss a girl to this tune.
Cameron: I really like his voice.
Craig: The start is terrible. I'm glad we didn't just switch it off after five seconds, because I was tempted. I think it's a guitar riff away from being a good track.
Dean: I think it's got the best chorus of everything we've heard so far. That's a better song than Liars, forget about the guitar riff!
Cameron: You can't forget about the guitar riff. I think a six at the most.
Dean: I think it's at least a seven.
[After much debate, the band finally agree that Tom Williams & the Boat will receive a six]

Caan – Into the Night (Camouflage Recordings, 11 Jun)
Dean: I'm synthed out! That's probably why I liked the last track so much.
Stuart: The downbeat music is actually alright, but the vocals ruin it. It's the sort of thing that a teenage girl would perceive as being moody and deep.
Cameron: I like the start if it, but the vocal's a bit off.
Dean: Caan.. we please turn this off?
Gary: This is only a small step away from Linkin Park for me.
Fraser: This is pretty bad. It's a one.
Cameron: Can we go negative?
Gary: It's a two, a standard two.

Single of the Month: Liars – No.1 Against the Rush (Mute, 4 Jun)
Dean: I wasn't expecting that. Sounds a wee bit like the Phantom Band, a more electro Phantom Band.
Cameron: I'd be interested to hear their other five albums, if this is them six albums deep.
James: Oh aye, they dropped the bomb there!
Dean: I liked that, more of that please.
James: I had wanted this to be bad, so we could have branded them liars. I think this is a seven.
Cameron: I really like it. It's different.

The Dirty Dozen – May 2012

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Thu, 03 May 2012 12:06:00 +0100

With his two bandmates otherwise engaged, the gargantuan responsibility of reviewing the month’s singles rests squarely on the shoulders of Phillip from Glasgow trio PAWS. Can he withstand the terrible auto-tuned RnB vocals? Will the CDs actually work?

Forget Me Not ft. Neo – What Were You Gonna Say?

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:19:00 +0100

A new electronic label based in Edinburgh, Diamond & Raw have looked beyond the capital for their first release. Production talent is courtesy of Bristol's Forget Me Not, on this track combining slick, sexy vocal house with an infectious 2-step vibe, some layered sub-bass, and a melancholy R&B vocal from The Boxette's vocalist Neo.

The remixes elevate the track, particularly Huntley & Palmers star Auntie Flo's broken beat-meets-low-slung house outing, with African rhythms and chopped and filtered vocals. Gullfisk's take has the flavour of early James Blake. A promising first release – radio-friendly but forward-looking.

The Dirty Dozen – April 2012

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:11:00 +0100

With some of the most generous Dirty Dozen scores dished out in recent memory, it takes a lot to displease Martin John Henry and the Permanent Skelfs

Venetian Snares – Fool The Detector

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:10:00 +0000

Mutant drum and bass-meets breakcore? Check. Totally insane lyrics about sub-aquatic telepathy? Check. Chest-punchingly deep bass end, and cinematic ambient flourishes of strings and piano? Triple check. Venetian Snares is one of the only electronic artists out there truly worthy of comparison to Aphex Twin: mainly because, as a listener, you get the impression he could not give a single solitary fuck about genre, the internal cohesion of each track, or any notion of dance music as a commodity to be mixed, blogged about: a fashion thing. No. This is balls-out sonic experimentation, pushing against the limits of what is danceable and listenable. Challenging, sometimes frightening, and all the better for it.

The Dirty Dozen – March 2012

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:37:00 +0000

Jenny Reeve of Strike the Colours and Sparrow and the Workshop's Jill O'Sullivan unite to assess the month's singles

The Dirty Dozen – February 2012

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:54:00 +0000

Remember Remember speak their minds on the February singles

A Place to Bury Strangers – Onwards to the Wall

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Ostensibly a chance to flex their chops with new bassist Dion Lunadon, the stripped-down attack of this self-produced EP offers a predictably visceral listening experience but feels like something of a step backwards after the artfully crafted maelstrom of 2009’s Exploding Head LP. The shoegaze influence gets dialled back in favour of a lean, propulsive garage rock vibe and the band sound as tight as they ever have, but underneath the sheets of noise and reverb these tracks are frustratingly pedestrian.

Oliver Ackermann’s vocals remain stuck in JAMC cover band territory, his lyrics a miasma of drab neuroses; his delivery articulating nothing much above and beyond: ‘Im a vaguely frustrated dude with sinus problems’. Longtime fans will get a kick out of this EP but really this band should be pushing themselves harder right now. Album number three will be make or break for these guys.

The Dirty Dozen – January 2012

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:41:00 +0000

Mike Palmer and Sean Smith of We Were Promised Jetpacks exercise diplomacy on the January singles

Divorce / Jailhouse Fuck – Split 10"

hello@theskinny.co.uk (The Skinny) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:10:00 +0000

While some split records wobble under the incompatibility of their contributors, this 10" is a perfectly matched collision of our own female-fronted no-wave standard-bearers Divorce and their Northern European equivalent Jailhouse Fuck. If anything, the Glasgow-based quartet are the nastier of the pair, with Cactusk an especially hateful, down-tempo outpouring of bile.

Jailhouse Fuck are fractionally more whimsical in their contributions. Only very slightly, mind, as this is still some intensely visceral stuff. Their opening number, Lick Your Stick, is built on some frantic guitar work as well as a chorus that's about as anthemic as this sort of unfettered catharsis gets. What results is a hideously good, brilliantly unpleasant fuck-you of an EP that courses with the enduring spirit of true punk rock abandon.