Robyn Writes

Review: Caves – Leaving [12″]

It’s been a bloody good year for punk rock. We’ve been treated to some truly outstanding records – Against Me!’s massive hit Transgender Dysphoria Blues, Cayetana’s incredible debut Nervous Like Me, the ridiculous yet wonderful 48-hour tape Mysterious Ways from Bangers, another great record from The Lawrence Arms… I really could go on. I could go on forever, and I probably will when it gets to my end of year list. And here’s another record that is 99% sure to make that list.

Caves have always been great at crafting big tunes, and Leaving is a short, sharp blast of pure punk rock joy. Their new 12″ is a shining example of what Caves are capable of, and an excellent follow-up to Homeward Bound. Like any great punk rock record, it starts out with an absolute banger. ‘Sad’ is a fast, thrashy affair, and effectively sets the tone for the rest of the record with grungy undertones and some truly great vocals from Lou. ‘Oh Antonio’, my favourite song on the record, follows on with rumbling bass and megaphoned vocals, and that’s just a sign of things to come. There are fantastically spidery guitar riffs taking the forefront, great singalong choruses – even without any gang vocals in sight – and razor-sharp songcraft. No song overstays its welcome, but every track leaves you wanting more. Finally, the record closes with ‘Sadder’ – two minutes and thirteen seconds of sheer WOAAAAAAAH. I’m not lying. The production’s a lot tighter than previous records, but Caves still haven’t lost that gleeful sense of reckless abandon. If anything, every hook punches harder. You get a much clearer sense of the rhythm, and it leaves a lot more room for experimentation.

Lyrically, it’s all pretty good too. Leaving is all about holding your ground, and ‘Anchor’ portrays this perfectly with nautical metaphors that playfully mess about with cliché. ‘Puddle’, with its 90s emo vibes, makes concrete cities seem prettier than they are. Title track ‘Leaving’ is so posi that it makes my cheeks hurt from smiling. Caves are great at tackling the little things that mean a lot, and this record is just more great reinforcement of that notion.

Leaving is pure punk perfection. Buy it for yourself for Christmas and then sneakily listen to it all throughout November because screw it, the nights are getting longer, the weather’s getting colder and you need something as joyful as this in your life.

4.5 out of 5 high fives!

Review: ICOSA – The Skies Are Ours [EP]

ICOSA are a band that may at first seem a little outside of the remit of a blog/zine such as TwoBeatsOff. Theirs is a sound that leans towards the heavier edge of the spectrum, and dare I say it, even includes elements of prog. But then you could make the case that the sound ICOSA make is so dense, complicated and varied that they exist well and truly outside of the remit of any blog. Blink 182 this certainly is not. On their debut EP The Skies Are Ours, ICOSA get to showcasing their madly ambitious and endlessly technical noise.

It has to be said; this is not a release for the faint hearted. It opens with ‘Emangulatr’, a piece which gets close to nudging the seven minute mark. Mostly instrumental, ‘Emangulatr’ refuses to sit on one idea for any significant portion of the songs epic run time, taking a dizzying tour through icy, atmospheric synths to Russian Circles-style post-rock riffing and into Dillinger Escape Plan-esque math rock. There are sharp turns everywhere and like the most complex Tool songs, it is completely impossible to follow or find a single hook to latch on to on the first few listens. This is a sound which is so complex and convoluted that it bares – no, demands – repeated plays. There is a wealth of content in here to discover which slowly reveals itself play by play.

Next up is the first part of the EP’s title track which, if ‘Emangulatr’ made your head spin, will probably do away with the pleasantries and tear it straight off the end of your neck. There is a disorientating amount going on here and it is easily the most incomprehensible of the lot, being the kind of impenetrable math noise that would not be out of place on Mike Patton’s Ipecac label. The intro riff isn’t a million miles away from something that might have appeared on Ginger Wildheart’s Mutation’s Error 500 album, and just like that style, it then descends into a mind blowing brain-melter of a tune. It’s either true genius or a total mess. After some delay-drenched guitars signalling a moment of calm, part two of the title track is a slightly more conventional piece. If you like your riffs to be totally punishing and relentless, this one is for you.

The final track on the EP, ‘Trepidation’, ends the collection on perhaps its most conventional note. Slow and lumbering, Trepidation takes its cues from bands like Baroness and Mastodon more than the technical post-rock and math influences previously hinted at. However, that’s not to say that ‘Trepidation’ is any less imaginative than the other songs; there is still mutation halfway through where the track lurches into a full-on thrash metal attack.

With this EP, ICOSA have marked themselves out as a band with plenty of skill and no end of ideas to boot. This is a record which makes absolutely zero sense upon first listen, but give it time and The Skies Are Ours will reveal itself to you –and the rewards are impressive and plentiful.

4 out of 5 high fives!

Review: Doe – First Four

Today we have the joy of introducing you to the DIY indie punks Doe, heralding from North London. A band very much in their infancy, Doe have only been treating audiences to their brand of indie-punk for 18 months; in that time they have put out four EPs, which have now been collected in to the imaginatively named First Four LP. They haven’t just been sat in a garage somewhere jamming; the busy bees have been touring across the UK and Europe, including a 2014 tour with another band we hopefully brought to your attention, Pale Angels. I can honestly say that they are shows I’m sad I missed.

What do Doe have to say about themselves? Well, not a lot, but we like what they do say; their ‘About Us’ section simply states: “Doe likes feminism, horror films and brown beer.” They already sound good in my book. In terms of what they actually sound like, it becomes immediately obvious that although they are developing their own catchy DIY-ish sound, there seems to be something missing. That something is a bass player. With a three member line-up of Nicola (singing and playing guitar), Matt (playing guitar too) and Jake (for the male vocals and drums), the lack of a bass player is noticeable, but it isn’t necessarily a lack that holds them back. The songs crafted across the four Eps that make up this new release are made in a way that, while it is obvious that there is no bass there, wouldn’t necessarily be improved by its introduction. That’s nothing against Doe either, if anything it is a complaint, there is an alluring charm to their stripped back sound.

The LP is made up of thirteen tracks of indie punk pulled straight up from the 90s. It wouldn’t take a trained ear to hear elements of Weezer and Helium in there. The girl-boy shared vocals harmonise nicely, without feeling like you’re just listening to a sing-a-long conversation like We Are The In Crowd. Nicola and Jake’s vocals fit perfectly with the hooks of the battling guitars, to great effect on ‘Unrested’ in particular. There are even moments when my mind is thrown back to Imogen Heap circa her Frou Frou days, especially at the opening of ‘C.A.E.’

‘Let Me In’, the first track you’ll have the joy to hear, is full of the energetic drums and whiny guitars you’d hope for from a slice of indie punk, with Nicola’s vocals building in strength throughout the track. The vocals are strong, and subtle when the need to be, with the fast paced ‘Nowhere Girl’ being a prime example and a personal favourite. It isn’t all about the vocals though; many of the tracks have great hooks and melodies to get the charmingly crafted tunes stuck in the listeners’ heads.

All I would say against the release is this: it is four EPs put together. It sounds like four EPs put together. When a band crafts an album, you want to hear great individual tracks and Doe have that, but you want it to be more than a collection of stand-alone songs. When you listen to the First Four LP you can enjoy every song, but it’s not clear that you’re meant to enjoy them all together as an experience. On this compilation, a full listening can cause feelings of familiarity and repetitiveness. It isn’t unusual for the same techniques to be used across separate songs and EPs, especially when they are used well and to great effect, but if they are all put together it does devalue the individual uses a little. Doe have a great sound, some bloomin’ good songs and nice EPs, but stuff it all into the same package and maybe you’ve just got too much of a good thing.

3.5 out of 5 high fives!

Notes from the Keybed – This Month in Synths [October]

Keytar Cat Man. Because it’s Halloween.

We’ve already reviewed the new Minus The Bear b-sides and rarities collection elsewhere on TBO but here’s a timely reminder if you’ve yet to check out the frankly ace Lost Loves. Electronics man Alex Rose gets plenty of chance to showcase his usual mix of Pink Floydian atmospheres and synth hooks, with the ripping electro lead on ‘Surf-N-Turf’ and twinkling arpeggios of ‘Walk On Air’ being particular highlights.

Over the past few months we’ve consistently banged on about Emperor Yes, who first came to this column’s attention after a stunning set on the Alcopop! stage at Brighton’s Great Escape earlier this year. The psychedelic synth-poppers’ debut full-length An Island Called Earth is finally out and sounding expectedly fantastic. For the real nerds out there you can even pick it up on cosmic green vinyl infused with real meteorite dust! For the rest of us be sure to grab the download or CD and check out the synthesiser-led delights of ‘Wasps’, ‘It’s The End Of The World’, ‘Mirror’ and… well the whole album – it’s a beaut!

Scottish trio Chvrches have been busy with new music this month, not only announcing they’ll be contributing new track ‘Dead Air’ to the Hunger Games soundtrack, but also releasing single ‘Get Away’ as part of Zane Lowe’s re-scoring of Drive. Unfortunately, the latter doesn’t quite hit the heights of perfect debut album The Bones Of What We Believe, but it still has their trademark retro textures, analogue percussion and a tasty trancey lead. It’s a definite grower and one that you won’t be able to avoid if you listen to the radio at any point over the coming weeks! There’s also a fantastic cover of Bauhaus’ ‘Bella Lugosi’s Dead’ scurrying around the Internet at present, which is perfect for your Halloween playlists!

Bloc Party mainman Kele Okereke has a new solo album out following 2010’s indie dancefloor slaying The Boxer. Trick is more straight-up dance music than anything he has done to date but the sublime songwriting and achingly cool vocals bring a much-needed uniqueness over his contemporaries. In many ways it is an indie-friendly gateway into the increasingly wanky world of commercial house music (thanks for making everything so borrrrring Disclosure) with hipster-friendly garage beats and late night soundscapes forming a gritty salute to London’s nightlife, whilst recalling lyrical themes from his day job’s masterpiece ‘A Weekend In The City’.

These New Puritans scared the shit out of me when I first heard ‘Orion’ among the usually safe surroundings of an NME cover disc. It was overwhelmingly bleak with droney keyboards, modern classical influences, and incessant drum rhythms outlining frontman Jack Barnett’s vocal monotones and lyrical intellectualisations. Earlier singles ‘Numbers’ and ‘Colours’ may have been more typical indietronica, but they always had a defiant stance to do things their own way and be impertinently different. Continuing to divide, confuse and amaze, they have certainly never been boring. Therefore, the release of new live album Expanded should come as no surprise, featuring a full 35 piece band of orchestral instruments and percussion, an array of synths and electronics and even ‘ultra bass singers’ (take that dubstep!). It’s certainly an interesting take on bringing electronic-infused music to the live arena, and it’s well worth watching the accompanying video online. Not one to listen to in the dark though!

October’s Keytar Hero award finds a home with Canadian queen of perky synth-pop, Lights. Her music may not be everyone’s cup of tea with its saccharine Disney-pop sheen (I shamelessly dig) but nobody can deny that she’s been loyal to the keytar as her long-term live performance companion ever since her early days of hanging out with the pop-punk kids at Warped. If you need any further convincing just type ‘keytar lesson with Lights’ into your YouTube search bar for hilariously awesome ‘advice’ from 2009 such as name your keytar so you take better care of it, understand the differences between keytar and regular keyboard, and make sure its plugged in. She even gives a demo of the Phil Collins mega hit ‘In The Air Tonight’ on solo keytar. She’s one of us…

Review: Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness – s/t

The new record from Andrew McMahon is ambitious. So ambitious, that he’s released it under yet another name. Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness is really Andrew’s first solo album proper, given that Jack’s Mannequin became a full-band project, and is very much a pop album in the way that Jack’s Mannequin and Something Corporate were not.

For the potentially wary, it’s not a huge leap away from his solo EP The Pop Underground, and of course, Andrew’s signature sound is still very much there, loud and proud. However, there’s a much greater electronic influence in AM In The Wilderness than in any previous projects, and there’s plenty of fantastic synth lines running throughout. And that’s just part of it – the sheer breadth of style that AM In The Wilderness encompasses is incredible. From huge pop numbers like ‘Cecilia and the Satellite’ to gospel-inspired ‘Canyon Moon’, and beautiful piano-led tracks like ‘Rainy Girl’ to 80s-styled finisher ‘Maps for the Getaway’ (which sounds like it would fit fantastically on The Breakfast Club’s soundtrack), no two songs sound the same. Each track has its own individual timbre, and yet as an album, it all works together perfectly.

The record also holds a delicate balance between old and new. On the one hand, there are plenty of songs about the forthcoming birth of Andrew’s daughter, Cecilia. ‘See Her On The Weekend’, ‘Rainy Girl’ and of course, ‘Cecilia and the Satellite’, which is the shining star of the album, all reflect on this huge event in different ways, culminating in a wonderful tribute to a baby girl. But there’s a lot of looking back and soul searching as well – ‘High Dive’ and ‘Black and White Movies’ are all about past relationships, and ‘All Our Lives’ is simply a fantastic take on life, its potential difficulties and eventually moving on. It’s an incredibly introspective record in places, bold and decisive in others, but ultimately uplifting at every turn. ‘Maps for the Getaway’ in particular is simply about making it through, and it ends the record on a triumphant, yet poignant note.

The fact is that Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness is a lot of different things. It’s a beautiful example of emotionally intelligent songwriting, immersed in stunning melodies and gorgeous metaphor. It’s brutally honest and genuinely heartwarming. It’s daring, and yet another step further from Andrew’s pop-punk roots. And above all this, it has the potential to be his greatest record yet. Fans of Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin will love this, but then again, so will everyone else.

5 out of 5 high fives!