Robyn Writes

Leeds Festival 2009 – Friday (a review by ninthandash)

FRIDAY.

Leeds Festival. Two words that will give anyone from the North of England either happy memories or a resentful frown. Last year, being unable to go, I was sadly the latter. But this year, I made it. I’m writing this from my bed, a novelty which has not yet worn off for me, and I’m so covered in bruises that I was considering attempting to play connect-the-dots – an idea I quickly threw away once I touched the pen to my arm and remembered all over again how sore I was. This, of course, is my way of beginning to explain what a fucking fantastic week-end it was.

I cleverly decided to bring a friend along with me who hadn’t heard of most of the bands who were playing, aside from the obvious, and who wasn’t a fan of many of the bands she had heard of (Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, etc). This meant that I could slyly enforce my own schedule upon her while saying, eyes wide, “But are you sure there’s nowhere else you’d rather be?” Of course, there wasn’t, leaving me free to rejoice in all the live music I wanted. I am a total live music whore, I’ll admit it right up. If it’s a band I’ve never heard of, I’ll listen (and probably dance, being unable to sit still). If it’s a band I don’t like… I’ll still dance. Hence the busy schedule – I was determined to make the best of my time.

The weekened opened with Mariarchi el Bronx. I’d heard tell of the Bronx’s mariarchi set and was intrigued to give it a chance. There wasn’t much else that I would be missing, so we headed on down to the Main Stage and seated ourselves comfortable. I’ll admit right now that I know next to nothing about mariarchi; Wikipedia tells me that it’s from Mexico and consists of of at least three violins, two trumpets, one Spanish guitar, one vihuela, one guitarrón and occasionally a harp.

Thanks to Mariarchi el Bronx, I also know that it’s forgettable. Mariarchi music is not something that interests me, in fact; it sounds like music that I expect to hear in the elevator or maybe when put on hold during a phone call. The costumes amused me, the stage presence was disappointing, and the reaction from the crowd was, understandably, almost none. Opening the main stage on a Friday afternoon is difficult, nevertheless, Mariarchi el Bronx were not, in my opinion, a success.

Up next were Fightstar, and we decided to stick around out of interest. Known to most as ‘Charlie-from-Busted’s-new-band’, Fightstar sounded mostly like a lot of noise… and not in a good way. (Yes, there is a good way.) I, personally, can never take them seriously after Busted, and Fightstar sound like a poor imitation of many better bands – so why not listen to the better bands instead? The most interesting part of their set was when the people around me started yelling out Busted songs as requests. I was hopeful that Charlie & co would play an impromptu version of ‘Air Hostess’ – sadly not.

Heading over to the Lock Up tent, I managed to get front row for Chuck Ragan. I’d heard nothing of his music before, aside from a pretty spectacular cover of ‘Wreck of the Old 97’ from a punk rock Johnny Cash tribute album, but as the ex-frontman to one of my all time favourite bands, Hot Water Music, I figured he was worth a look. And he was.

Chuck is now a folk singer/songwriter, and his music is catchy and fun while having a deeper tone to it. I knew he was doing folk, but I didn’t expect to find it as enjoyable as I did. It was one of my Leeds festival highlights, and Chuck has a great stage presence, even going so far as to throw free CDs into the audience at the end (although, I’ll admit I ducked, not wanting a sharp edged CD cover to hit my head at high speed).

At the NME tent, we managed to catch half of Metric’s set, including the fantastic ‘Monster Hospital’. Emily Haines is an amazing frontwoman, stomping around the stage in a glittery dress that I unashamedly coveted. However, they soon made way for the artist we were really there to see: Patrick Wolf.

Patrick Wolf is every inch a performer, with nothing but dramatic openings and gestures from start to finish. This isn’t to say that the focus is taken away from his music, rather, it adds to his performance and becomes a part of it. Appearing on stage in one of his famous unusual outfits, white-blond hair tied back, Patrick displayed his amazing singing talents, going on to also demonstrate his keyboard-playing abilities. With a costume change halfway through the set, not to m ention some surprisingly earnest banter, Patrick never failed to entertain, including his gloriously indulgent twirls along the barrier. Definitely one of my Leeds festival highlights.

The next band we caught the end of were Mad Caddies at the Lock Up tent. They were undeniably fun, and you only had to glance at the audience to see that they were having an amazing time. Skanking and dancing all over the place, it was riotous entertainment and I couldn’t stop smiling during the whole three songs I was there.

After Mad Caddies, I made my way to the barrier for The Bronx. Not sure what to expect after their lack of stage presence and, frankly, dull performance earlier as Mariarchi el Bronx, I was pleasantly surprised when they arrived on stage in a whirl of energy. Screaming and throwing himself around the stage, Matt Caughthran at one point climbed halfway up the tall pole in the middle of the tent and did a backflip into the audience, setting the tone for the rest of the set.

It was impossible to stay still during their particular brand of noisy punk rock, and the set was over surprisingly quickly. At one point, Caughthran stood up on the barrier and demanded that all crowd-surfers be sent to him, ‘to deal with’. If I’d been tall enough to see and not flinging myself around in the pit, I’m sure that it would have definitely been something worth remembering.

After The Bronx finished and I’d had time to recuperate from their energetic set, Thursday took the stage. This was the third time I’d seen Thursday and they were similar each time, satisfactory and enjoyable but not particularly gripping or exciting. ‘Consistent’ would be the best word to describe them, and they did their best to get the crowd involved.

Friday finished up with Rise Against. The atmosphere was phonomenal before they even took the stage, with the tent packed full, causing barely enough room to breathe. Everyone was excited, and the music playing only added to the tension, with spontaneous sing-alongs to Jimmy Eat World’s ‘The Middle’ and Blink-182’s ‘Dammit’. Rise Against finally delivered an amazing show, playing a wide selection of songs and gaining a fantastic response from the crowd. They were the perfect choice to finish the night, and left me feeling exhausted in the way that means I know I’ve had a good night.

My Love/Hate Affair With Last.FM

I’ve been using Last.FM shamelessly to advertise my somewhat awesome music taste for years. I had an account back when it was called Audioscrobbler, and that account has thankfully since been completely wiped from existence and acknowledgement. But my latest account, I’ve had since 2006, and it’s worked out pretty well so far. However, Last.FM can also be a bit of a bitch, as many social networking sites can and will be. So, as I reach 20,000 plays, allow me to take you through my sometimes tentative relationship with Last.FM.

NB: None of these dates are entirely accurate because I have no idea when features appeared in Last.FM. It’s about as close as I remember, but seriously, I don’t know.

August 2006
I have bad music taste. Let’s start again! Let’s use a Misfits song name, like always, to show how cool and punk I am, and totally throw a spanner in the works by having a Michelangelo avatar (the Ninja Turtle, duh).

December 2006
Last.FM is just kind of there. It’s fun to look at, but the recommendations are awful. Hello, I already listen to Pencey Prep? I have no idea what neighbours are. They listen to lots of AFI like I do, but otherwise, I don’t get it. They’re not even next to me geographically, they’re all American and have better hair than me. I try talking to them but they don’t reply apart from ‘awesome taste!’. People on this site are not here for friends.

2007
It’s clear that Last.FM is just kind of boring. It scrobbles, there’s not that much there. I sometimes post in the shoutboxes for bands, shyly saying how much I like a certain song. Last.FM is much like any other music site – there’s a ton of assholes. I make a group for a forum I visit. We all go on there and bitch about how everyone else sucks and complain about the group charts. I am only slightly ashamed to admit that I contributed to Fall Out Boy being number one. I generally ignore the site for the time being, and instead, I just use it as a signature on a couple of forums I visit. Everyone applauds my underground taste. It’s elitist as hell to have a Last.FM signature and everyone knows it, but who cares? It’s hip, but it’s not that hip yet and you have to pay for most of the radio stuff. Paying for stuff is lame.

2008
One of my top 15 is Cute Is What We Aim For? Holy shit, what was I thinking? The Fueled By Ramen honeymoon is over now, I’m too old for this shit. Hooray, there’s a reset function, I am saved once again from having to display mediocrity. The community seems to be booming a bit more, so I join a few more groups. Someone invites me to one – exciting! I soon find that discussion in these groups is excessively limited and dies pretty soon. Shoutboxes are generally quite shit. Still really subscriber heavy, so signature fodder it remains.

2009
Last.FM suddenly gets interesting. The compatibility thing could be super awesome – note to self, must use this in order to hit on guys with good music taste. Radio is free! I find that recommendations actually work now – Andrew Jackson Jihad and Defiance, Ohio suddenly become part of my listening, and I pretty much just like everything on my recommendation station. I discover Last.FM scripts and the wonders of the OMI and feel validated; yes, I do have an open mind! Groups still suck. Shoutboxes still suck. Journals do not! Since I created TwoBeatsOff, Last.FM and the artist tag function in said journals has provided a wonderful opportunity for free advertising. Sweet. What does the future hold? More free advertising and an obsession in checking my average tracks per day. Oh, Last.FM.

Live: The Lawrence Arms – O2 Academy Birmingham 3, 27/3/10

Despite knowing about and liking this band for a relative while, I never caught them on any of their previous dates in the UK. Most likely because I was still on my Fueled By Ramen kick which we will never discuss in detail. However, as soon as I discovered that The Lawrence Arms would be winging their way back to dear old Blighty, I snapped up a couple of tickets and braved a horrendous two hour train journey in order to catch them.

Starting out were Birmingham regulars Kyoto Drive. Pop-punk to the max, with the Alex Gaskarth-esque singer to boot. All in all, not really my thing. Trying to engage the crowd just did not work for these guys, and this is a classic case of what happens when you book the wrong support band. It says a lot when the headline act can’t even remember their names, despite borrowing a guitar head off them. Their songs were far too saccharine for my liking, and although their set improved towards the end, I just couldn’t be doing with the singer’s false American accent. This is one of my main complaints in music these days – British singers who put on an American accent, even when they do it well, and Kyoto Drive’s singer was no exception. Grating as hell. I’ll admit they did put the effort in, even going around the crowd trying to flog their CDs. However, not personally recommended.

That said, Under Stars And Gutters, an Irish gruff punk band, were bloody fantastic. The thing with gruff punk as a genre is that you know you’ve pretty much heard it all before, but these guys did it so well. To be honest, it’s been a while since I was quite so taken with a support band, especially one I’ve never heard of before. The performance was fantastic, and lead singer Adam was utterly charming. Their songs, had I known them, would be awesome to sing along to, and I can see this band doing well. It’s catchy, it’s fun, it’s got a bit of an edge to it. Also, drummer Mark has a fucking amazing beard, and we all know what that means here at TBO. Good beard = good band. In fact, I’ve been listening to their songs on Myspace pretty much non stop since Saturday, so if you’re reading this, boys… any chance of telling me where I can purchase a CD?

And then The Lawrence Arms came on and just totally stormed the place. There’s one thing I absolutely adore about punk shows and that’s the amount of completely dedicated fans. Not that you don’t get that in other genres, but the sheer amount of people in one room that are singing along with every breath they have is a little less common. Perhaps it was more obvious in a room with less than two hundred people in it, but everyone was there for The Lawrence Arms and everyone was determined to have a good time. Which wasn’t hard, because The Lawrence Arms are just great live. Playing a ton of crowd favourites (in other words, every song – even stuff off Buttsweat And Tears was screamed back at them), they had us in the palm of their hands. Although, perhaps too much Oh! Calcutta, an album I’ve only picked up recently, and that’s more a personal complaint because I didn’t know the songs too well. However, there was a good mix across all their releases and everything sounded great. The simplicity of their songs works well live, sounding just as effective as on record. Brendan Kelly, perhaps one of my all time heroes, was as enigmatic as I’d expect, and the dick jokes came in plenty. Name me one other man that can mention blow jobs and Winston Churchill in the same breath and not get punched in the face. And that’s exactly the kind of atmosphere that was there – everyone was there to have fun. And they played On With The Show, so I walked away happy.

Review: The Lawrence Arms – Buttsweat and Tears EP


It’s been about three years since The Lawrence Arms released Oh! Calcutta, which was a fine, fine album. After chewing the fat at Punksoc, it was clear that yes, we missed The Larry Arms, and yes, new material was needed. Which is why it was awesome when they released their latest EP last week – Buttsweat and Tears, available as a 7inch or download. Apparently, the title Buttsweat and Tears comes from an EP they wanted to release ten years ago, and on the approach of their tenth anniversary as a band, it’s an appropriate title indeed.

I’ll just spell it out now – this EP is awesome. Honestly, I don’t have a bad thing to say about it. This will make this review somewhat uninteresting if you’re not already an established Lawrence Arms fan, or it will serve to make you love them too, whichever you prefer. Even though I’ve just spoilt everything, I’ll at least attempt to give a coherent evaluation of the EP in all its glory!

The EP itself is fairly reminiscent of later Larry Arms, which is fine, because that’s my favourite type. Opening track, Spit Shining Shit, sounds like it’d be perfectly at home on a The Falcon release, with that palm muted opening into full on punk rock melody. It’s everything you’ve come to expect from The Lawrence Arms and truly a great opening. Track number two, The Slowest Drink At the Saddest Bar on the Snowiest Day in the Greatest City (try requesting that at your next club night!), fills me with absolute jealousy – as both a guitarist and a writer, I wish I’d written this song. Possibly my favourite song this year, and vocals are by Chris, making it even better. Lyrically, this song is superb and on par with anything else they’ve ever released, as is the rest of the EP. In particular, Slowest Drink evokes some rad imagery and atmosphere, especially with the chorus. Again, total jealousy. Third track, Them Angels Been Talkin’, lulls you into thinking it’ll be slow, a la Greatest Story, but no! The intro melds wonderfully into a fast paced, fast talking explosion of a song with some sweet riffs. On the download EP, which I have (shut up, I want a vinyl player but I don’t have one), there’s an extra track, which is entirely necessary. Demons is typical Larry Arms fare, a song that tells a story, and makes the EP feel more rounded and complete. Without it, I think the EP wouldn’t be as good as it is, it’d feel a bit empty. So if you do buy the vinyl, download this one song off iTunes. Final closing song, The Redness In The West is a slow affair with a country feel that keeps on building up and up until it all crashes together in a glorious mess of guitar, and Chris does his best gruff vocals to fit with it. Truly epic stuff.

I suppose I do have something slightly negative to say – it’s more of the same, but that’s not exactly a bad thing. The Lawrence Arms have been consistently good throughout their career and this EP reaffirms that well. Hopefully, it’s only a matter of time until a full album is released!

5 out of 5 high fives!

Kyra – These Precious Things EP

When you think of The Lake District, what springs to mind? Beautiful scenery? Heavily bearded ramblers? Beatrix Potter? Well, there’s a big noise coming from those grassy hills and it looks to be shaking Peter Rabbit from his burrow – and sorry dear ramblers, it doesn’t seem to be quietening down any time soon. Kyra are making quite a stir in alternative circles thanks to their impressively polished EP ‘These Precious Things’. Released in January 2010, Kyra’s most recent release may only contain four tracks, but it is indeed small yet beautifully formed. This dynamic four-piece have crafted a release that is bigger and better than most mainstream groups of their genre. Although ‘These Precious Things’ could be seen as a concise showcase of their musical influences, on the other hand, Kyra do deliver a diverse, but very accomplished record.

The title track opens the EP and is, in some respects, a largely unremarkable track. That said, ‘These Precious Things’ is not unpleasant to hear – it’s a perfectly nice, post-hardcore-esque offering with well-controlled and varied vocals. Although initially, the song does not appear to be breaking any new ground, the track eventually builds to a particularly distinctive, well-crafted and heavy ending, as lead singer Bell works the track into a frenzy with an open, raw, scream of ‘I refuse to believe that everything precious fades and dies’.

‘So Where Do We Go From Here’ is, for me at least, the strongest track on the EP, but is by no means the heaviest. The track is far, far tamer than its predecessor and certainly has a hint of New Found Glory about it, in the more upbeat tone of the song, and most noticeably in Bell’s sudden change in vocal stylings. Although Kyra’s heavier offerings are perfectly pleasant, their strength does lie in tracks such as this, where the opportunity for more singing and less screaming arises. The guitar and bass work is allowed to take centre stage in such mellower tracks as this, and it really does seem to produce a far more self-assured and distinctive sound than their other, heavier efforts.

‘Loyal Until The End’ could be seen as acting as a bridge between Kyra’s heavier and poppier persona, blending both complex post-hardcore vocal and guitar aspects with the warmer and more upbeat elements of such tracks as ‘Where Do We Go From Here . What is also surprising about Kyra’s forays into screaming is that the delivery and enunciation is just as clear as when they choose to use clean vocals. ‘Loyal Until the End’ also has a far stronger structure than the other tracks on the EP and features some great clean instrumental breaks that really allow the guitarists to showcase their talents.

The final track from ‘These Precious Things’ is a real diamond entitled ‘Somewhere In Between Dreams and Reality’. It’s a real warm, clean and inoffensive track with smooth breaks and changes in dynamics, which is surprising from a band that cites such heavy influences. Being the slowest song on the EP, ‘Somewhere…’ certainly does act as a soothing swansong of sorts, and a thoroughly good end to ‘These Precious Things’. Once again, clean vocals are chosen over screams, and this mellower musical route should most definitely be the one that the band focus their energies towards.

Although only a brief EP, both ‘So Where Do We Go From Here’ and ‘Somewhere In Between Dreams and Reality’ are blisteringly good tracks, and can certainly be seen as signs of Kyra’s future greatness. Although they don’t seem to be able to decide which sound to emulate, should Kyra make the right choice, they’ll be filling up those big gigs in no time.

3 out of 5!