Robyn Writes

The Skints – Part and Parcel

The Skints are back with their second, Pledgemusic funded album, Part and Parcel. The band have been firmly establishing themselves as one of the most exciting live acts that the UK ska scene has to offer, but is Part and Parcel an album for the fans to be proud of?

The short answer is a resounding yes. Part and Parcel is quite simply, magnificent. Opening track, Rise Up, is surprisingly downbeat for the first track upon first listen but provides a call to arms for their fans alongside a ridiculously catchy reggae beat. Right from the start, an element of experimentation begins to show as a clear hip-hop influence starts to rear its head, which is weaves its way throughout the album and creates a really unique sound. The Skints have always stood apart from their contemporaries but Part and Parcel truly celebrates those differences as well as showcasing some great songwriting and musicianship. While the album is significantly less influenced by punk than previous offerings, this is by no means a weakness and the band present an intricately crafted record that is no doubt will become one of the most important albums of the year.

One of the most noticeable traits throughout is the soulful vocals from Josh Water Rudge and Marcia Richards in contrast to their impressive rapping. The track that probably showcases this most is Ratatat, which is potentially one of the best songs The Skints have ever written. Ever. Vocals aside, Ratatat has an insanely dirty bassline and is guaranteed to tear the dancefloor apart. While Part and Parcel is, at times, fairly understated, almost every track makes you take notice. Marcia makes a much greater appearance in this album and takes their sound up a level, from some subtle vocals in Up Against The Wall Riddim to a much wider range of instruments penetrating through. It’s not to say that this wasn’t there before, but on Part and Parcel, it’s much more apparent and as a result, helps in crafting a much more impressive sound.

In this album, more so than perhaps their previous work, The Skints show themselves as true storytellers and the pictures they paint of lives and London throughout the album are incomparable. There’s cheeky romance in Lay You Down, poverty and struggle in Live East Die Young and self-doubt and relationship breakdowns in Sunny Sunny, as well as a number of other significant topics. Part and Parcel is simply so relevant – every song has a different message and while those messages are completely current, they’re also timeless.

Part and Parcel is absolutely sublime and a fantastic example of what can be achieved through Pledgemusic. Do yourself a favour and don’t miss out on what could well prove to be the best album of the year.

5 out of 5 high fives!

Stuart Newman – various tracks

Stuart Newman’s online discography is somewhat extensive and all free to download. Describing himself as “mellow-rock”, Newman is based in Brighton and currently working on his second album. I dive into the back catalogue to see what I can find.

With a lot of material on offer, I decided to start with latest single, Living In Another Dimension. Instantly, it begins with a beautifully layered vocal effect on top of some simple acoustic guitar. The lyrics are wonderfully haunting and lamenting, but the track really hammers home with the chorus and a swift switch to a heavier electric style. Continuing into the outro, the result is a key injection of energy which takes the track to another level. It reminds me of early Feeder, but more confident and secure. A strong, slightly tongue in cheek, commentary on our current era, Living In Another Dimension presented a good sign of what was to come.

The demo collection, if nothing else, is excellently produced. It’s really debateable as to how ‘mellow’ Newman’s music is, but this is in no way a bad thing – each track has so much life and is so excellently crafted. Through the demos collection, Newman moves from relentless guitar tracks, like Temperature Rising to slow burning, melancholic offerings with ease. Head Hurts, in particular, demonstrates a certain macabre touch as he analyses the everyday with ethereal tones. The Decade, with its country influence, has a swagger like no other track in the collection is my favourite of the whole collection; a truly heartfelt dedication to the 60s.

The first album, Single But Defective, was therefore a little bit strange to go back to. Far more acoustically driven than the rest of the tracks, it still features a lot of the experimentation that the later tracks have and it’s clear to see the trajectory that Newman has taken when it comes to songwriting. The heavier elements included in the later tracks work really well and add a completely new dimension to Newman’s sound, but the predominately acoustic tracks of the first record are no less effective. For a start, these aren’t stripped down, simple songs. Tracks like Cry Wolf have a lot of humour, aided by the sarcastic spoken samples but in Oil, the samples give a chilling tale of American exploitation over a dark, low key loop. However, some of the more minimalist tracks are the most impressive. Summer Messin’ is a little reminiscent of Elliott Smith in its pretty but down beat chord structure but with much more tongue in cheek lyrics and If You Say captures doubt and frustration over some sublime picking. There are far more downbeat tracks in this early material and admittedly, several tracks start to overlap into each other, but there’s still a lot to fall in love with in this early collection.

I was quietly impressed with Stuart Newman. A truly skilled songwriter with a certain sense of humanity, his guitar driven anthems were a refreshing injection into my Sunday afternoon. Check out the whole discography at www.stuartnewmanmusic.com.

Why you should see New Found Glory before you die

I did begin to sit down and write a review of the Kerrang! Tour from a week or so ago. Every band that night was spectacular in one way or another – While She Sleeps are new, brash and have a confidence well beyond their field of experience; letlive. released my favourite album of last year, performed a Black Flag cover I didn’t hate (I have a serious issue with people doing Black Flag covers, it’s like trying to rewrite The Lord’s Prayer or something) and are one of the most exciting bands I’ve seen live in a long, long time; The Blackout had us in the palm of their hand once again and strutted through a great set, making the venue explode with the squeals of teenage girls and the shouts of boys who are no longer ashamed to like them. And then there were New Found Glory.

This is where I got stuck. I just can’t review a New Found Glory show. It feels far too obvious to me. It begins to get way too personal. So I decided I couldn’t review them and scrapped what I’d written previously. However, I will tell you why you should go see New Found Glory before you die. It just might be a bit more unconventional than I had planned.

The main reason that I can’t review an NFG show is because I can’t help but break into the personal anecdote. I have seen New Found Glory every year of my life since I was 13 except in 2005. From 2004 onwards, I have missed one tour, but I’ve seen them at almost every festival appearance they’ve made in the UK since that date. Seeing New Found Glory every year has near become ritual for me. I don’t need to sit down and learn all the words any more, even for the new albums, because the songs are so goddamn catchy – in a couple of listens, I’m set. That 2004 date was my second gig when I was just 13. In December 2006, they played on my birthday. But even when it wasn’t necessarily a “special” event, every NFG gig has always seemed momentous; they always come at certain important points of my life. Even the K! tour the other week struck gold, in the final year of my undergraduate life and in the last term where I’m allowed any fun. NFG have been there as I’ve grown up. Like so many others, they’ve led me through my awkward teenage years and shaped me into the person I’ve become.

A New Found Glory set is almost like therapy for me. I know (mostly) what’s coming up, and it’s one of the very few occasions that I will just completely lose my shit and go for it. The other week, I was surrounded by fifteen year old kids who barely recognised the older songs to hardened NFG veterans bellowing every word. Nobody stood still. Every time I see them, it is exactly the same as any other time – they come on, they play an incredible set, we all get worn out and sweaty, we lose our voices, we laugh and smile as we see the years of friendship that have tied this band together and we look at our friends and we realise that we would rather be nowhere else. I ended up separated from my friends the other night, but every now and again, I’d see a flash of them in the crowd or hear Mike yelling out the words (because he is the loudest person I know) and know they were having just as good a time as I was. Nobody had to get pulled out – even though there were crowd surfers – and nobody looked like they were having a bad time. It’s impossible to not smile at all during a New Found Glory set, it really is. Even if you’re not a pop-punk fan, the atmosphere is infectious.

Pop-punk is not dead. New Found Glory have proven that. They even named a tour after it. It is getting watered down though. In the early 2000s, don’t forget that we were previously swarmed by pop-punk bands . You couldn’t walk around the corner without being assaulted by a four-chord structure, the bass turned up and that drumline. Maybe I’m not being fair to the new kids on the block, but back then, it all seemed far catchier and while it wasn’t innovative, it didn’t all quite swim together. You could tell the difference between Mest, Good Charlotte and Millencolin. Fall Out Boy walked tall and proud in front of the whole lot. You can’t quite do the same today. Therefore, it’s worth going to see the masters. Forget your All Time Lows, who themselves take their name from New Found Glory, your You Me At Sixes and your We Are The In Crowds. See New Found Glory and you’ll see why pop-punk isn’t dead. You’ll see what pop-punk should be and what it can be – every NFG album has a different sound and a different feel to it. They’re much better live than Fall Out Boy ever were. They’ve still got the punk sensibilities they started with, even if they’ve grown up a bit. And rest assured, they will always, always play ‘My Friends Over You’. That’s worth it alone.

Coast Is Clear – 3/2/12 [Kasbah, Coventry]

Coventry’s local music scene isn’t as dead as a lot of people think. There’s a lot of interesting and different bands, as well as a crazy amount of plastic scene kid bands. The Kasbah seems to be doing pretty well at picking a few good bands and a couple of terrible ones to show every once in a while. Up tonight were two bands from Warwick University who were pretty musically different. It’s just a shame that it was kind of quiet to start off with.

 

First up were 44 Magnum. They played a good set, with a lot of soulful rock songs, almost reminiscent of Black Stone Cherry. It’s clear that the band draw influence from a cross section of different bands, such as Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Audioslave and even a little bit of Black Sabbath coming through. Almost every song sounded tight and together, with only one song (I think it was called No Surprise) sounding a little bit messy. Definitely can be forgiven though, for what was an awesome set! I really liked how bluesy 44 Magnum sounded; it’s an almost refreshing change to hear in a local scene mostly dominated by identical “hardcore” bands. It was a real shame that there weren’t more people about for this band’s set; it was cool to see that there are bands doing different things out there!

 

Coast Is Clear came next, with a much fuller room and some faster paced songs. The band’s sound is energetic and mostly up beat and feel good, with some influences from 90’s American punk bands, like NOFX, Alkaline Trio and some more recent indie bands too, like the Pigeon Detectives. It was awesome to see some pretty fun dancing going on, I’m not ashamed to say I joined in at all. Like 44 Magnum, Coast Is Clear performed really well, each song flowing well and sounding well rehearsed. The band didn’t put a foot wrong and the energy they put in to the performance really stood out; even a more sombre song (about one of the band’s ex’s) was still full of energy. It’s not very often you see a band with the ability to keep such a fast pace for the entirety of a set, but CIC managed it brilliantly. The only drawback of the set being a little bit of feedback, but they couldn’t really do much about it. Jordan (Vocalist, guitars) also seems like a top bloke.

 

All in all, it was a good night and just needed a few more people there. Coventry, go see more local bands. It’ll pay off, I promise you.

 

Finish Him! interview TwoBeatsOff…

Those rascally devils from Finish Him! decided to interview me. Far less illuminating than their video but with more cheesy grins.