Robyn Writes

Tags are the new shit, or at least, I think that’s what Marilyn Manson meant.

Hello!

Basically, as part of my quest to make TBO better this summer, I’ve decided to tag every single entry where appropriate. All entries are now tagged with which bands feature in them. If it’s a live review, it’s now tagged with live so you can find all our live reviews in one place. Occasionally, things are tagged with the appropriate record label. If you spot free download, you’re in luck!

Before TBO became completely music focused, I had an awesome team of writers who wrote about a wonderful variety of things. Sadly, that wasn’t the future for us, but by using the old content tag, you can find all of their writing! Each post has been tagged with what it’s about, but they’ve also been tagged with their respective author. So for example, if you’re digging soufex’s previous articles, you can look all of them up in one go!

There’s still a lot to do to the site. I’m hoping to completely overhaul the theme and put something leaner and meaner in its place. And a hell of a lot classier. But there probably will still be dinosaurs because I just can’t quit those extinct lizards. (Also, for excellent dinosaur related folk punk, you should probably go check out Fuck Yeah, Dinosaurs!) We’re also trying to focus on more video content and features alongside the reviews.

We still have a decent sized review queue, but please submit your tunes to ripper@twobeatsoff.co.uk if you fancy a review! We want to get your stuff out there, honest.

xoxo – Ripper

Interview with We Are Fiction [6/7/2012]

Kitteh catches up with the fellows of We Are Fiction in Peterborough, chatting about Phil’s arse, fighting bears and of course, the music.

Artist Spotlight: Chase The Enemy

In 2003, Amy Lee from Evanescence stood on stage at Rock am Ring and said ‘I am the only chick of today…in all the bands. C’mon girls, let’s get more of us up here, seriously!’. I’d love to say that her comments prompted a new wave of innovative, exciting and empowered female musicians, but sadly, as we all know, this was not the case. Paramore came along and suddenly every girl from Bromsgrove had a Tennessee accent and orange hair.

I’ve seen more Hayley-esque frontwomen than I could ever possibly want to; so much so that if I hear the phrase ‘female fronted alt-rock’, I inadvertently grit my teeth. Needless to say, initially at least, Essex’s Chase the Enemy fell into this bracket. A tiny girl backed by four barely-out-of-school lads? Oh god, not that old chestnut. But you know what? Once I stopped dreading the possibilities and actually listened to the band, I found myself pleasantly surprised.

Chase the Enemy are a band in flux. They dance along the line of ‘innovative alt/pop rock’ and ‘unsettled homage’. Take their track Weigh Me Down – it’s filled with painfully catchy riffs, as is much of their output. Yet despite this, one can’t help but feel like the track is trying to build to something powerful; something that it never quite reaches. This is what happens when Chase The Enemy’s self-awareness and accompanying reluctance to ‘let go’ really get in their way. As a result, instead of focusing on the track’s highlights, your attention is drawn towards musical similarities that prove to be about as unsubtle as a hormonal divorcee at a Twilight convention. There’s a fine line between ‘derivative’ and ‘inspired by’, and for the most part, this doesn’t concern the Essex five piece. But in such tracks as Weigh Me Down, their influences detract from their own talents. This is applicable to most areas of the band – including instrumentalists – but it is most noticeable in the vocal lines. Jessica Moore’s vocals have a delightfully distinctive and fresh tone, regardless of the song, but sometimes they are marred by a noticeably unnatural twang. This may be as a result of some subconscious imitation, but often I found that this unnatural diction could sometimes result in rather oddly pitched notes. On the flipside, some may see this tone as an enjoyable quirk, and the songs that heavily feature this trait are not wholly unenjoyable. Moore undoubtedly has a great vocal talent – her natural sweet tone and enviable control are visible from the off. But it’s songs such as Give Us The Sky that really show Chase the Enemy as an innovative musical act – layered vocals, great grasp of the genre and an all-round very rich sound. When Moore really pushes her vocals and sings with her natural voice, not the voice she thinks she should have, that’s when the whole band are allowed to shine. I left the song grinning, thinking ‘ooh, do that, do that, keep doing the good thing!’

Lionheart is the real stand out track in CTE’s artillery – it’s powerful, upbeat and most of all, fun. And the accompanying video? Frontwomen of the future, go watch it now. Not only does everyone MOVE, but they even *gulp* look like they’re enjoying it! Tracks like this really do epitomise all that Chase The Enemy are when they’re at their best; solid songs with sparkling moments of true brilliance. With great riffs, cookie-cutter pop-punk drumming and a palpable togetherness from the whole band, what’s not to like? Even if their sound isn’t to your taste, you can’t help but admire their passion and clear love of their genre.

New writers request!

Hello, all!

As you may have realised, Kitteh and myself are basically the only two working on this zine at the moment. While we love it with all our hearts, it can get a bit difficult to get material out on time with just the two of us working on it and we’d love to be able to get the ball rolling on some other projects for the site. Therefore, TwoBeatsOff is looking for a few good reviewers. We don’t do news articles, like other websites, purely because there are so many other sites working on that. We do, however, do reviews, interviews and features based on the alternative scene.

So, we are specifically looking for REVIEWERS at this point in time, who may then get to work on interviews and features after I’ve seen enough of your work. The position is unpaid (we’re not exactly earning any money except site upkeep ourselves), but we get a lot of hits a month and if you’re blogging about music anyway, why not post it somewhere with a little more exposure? We can promise sweet new music to listen to, at the very least.

Email me at ripper@twobeatsoff.co.uk if you’re interested with some samples of your writing.

Thanks!

In Remission – The Great & Shallow [EP]

It seems that these days, a rather large proportion of the UK post-hardcore scene is hailing from the more southern climes of the country. Indeed, the monopoly on the genre has been sort of released by Wales in recent years and passed down to… well, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. In Remission are a bunch of lads from the latter and are no exception to the post-hardcore trend.

Admittedly, there’s not a vast deal of things on this EP to set them apart. The problem is that In Remission have played it safe with The Great & Shallow. There’s flashes of experimentation throughout – there are some very catchy hooks in songs like Broken Notes, and some great breakdowns along the way , particularly in Fractions (which sounds a bit nu-metally in places, adding to the fun) and my favourite part of the EP is the call and response vocals in Floodlights, but on the whole, the band stick to a fairly safe formula. This is a great shame because they’ve certainly got the talent to pull off some more complicated stuff. Tom Norman and Rodney Smith throw in some great guitar lines and those brief flashes of brilliance, of something more complex, show that the potential is there; the first instrumental section of Floodlights is a complete assault and it works. Daniel Lillie’s vocals are perfectly good enough for what they’ve produced but again, the feeling that he could push himself more and open up that range just a little is present and niggling the whole way through. Final track Solstice is the major highlight of the EP – it just feels big. It’s a well crafted rock ballad with some clever lyrics and an incredible chorus.

That said, what In Remission have done is produce a solid, enjoyable EP, even if it draws from its influences perhaps too closely. Discipline sounds as if it could have come straight off Funeral For A Friend’s Hours, and Broken Notes has some seriously Underoath-esque moments, but they still have their own charm, such as the choral effects on the chorus in the latter. One thing that they should be drawing from their influences is the amount of polish on the production – at times, the EP is a little fuzzy and with this genre, every section needs to ring out clear.

The Great & Shallow is definitely a good listen. Nevertheless, with a bit more exploration and experimentation, In Remission have the potential to be truly great.

3.5 out of 5 high fives!