For me, this probably just about nudges past the previously hyped Three Trapped Tigers effort in terms of my favourite EP of 2009. Allow me to explain. Epic45 have been making their own brand of post-rock turned dream pop from their sleepy Midlands village for over a decade. In this time the duo have developed and honed a certain style of electronica.
Even with the added synth, Epic45 still demonstrate their ability to write music so laid back it’s almost horizontal. I’m thinking along the lines of Kyte covering The Radio Dept. here. Sounds ace huh? Yet ‘In All The Empty Houses’ strays away from the sun tinged sounds of their earlier releases, opting for a more haunting effect and delivering it brilliantly.
Wild Beasts - ‘We Still Got The Taste Dancing On Our Tongues’
It’s great when a record suddenly clicks with you, innit? After catching this lot what seems many moons ago to me now and, after failing to leave a lasting impression, I’ve been neglecting them somewhat. At least until the unescapable hype surrounding this year’s sophomore ‘Two Dancers’, anyway. I mean, my student union seem to give the lead single a spin every ten minutes during the day.
They’re cropping up everywhere, including awesome freebie The Fly who championed it as record of the year. Maybe I wouldn’t necessarily rate it that highly, though I can’t deny it a top five finish, per se. Yeah, there are aspects of their music which warrant an acquired taste but let me tell you, it’s all worth the effort in the end. Even for the fact that I can’t for the life in me come up an outfit sounding remotely similar.
So I’m currently drowning under a proverbial sea of university work which sadly isn’t promising to hand in itself anytime in the near future. It’s going to be a long week. I usually find myself unable to listen to music whilst working, that is, music other than ambient. There’s been a steady playlist keeping me on track, consisting ‘Stars Of The Lid and The Refinement Of Their Decline’, ‘Venice’ by Fennesz and ‘A Summer Beneath The Trees’ by Library Tapes amongst others. All is suddenly not lost it seems.
Not strictly ambient, but I’ve recently got into the works of Kieran Hebden, best known for the employment of elements relating jazz, folk, hip hip and electronica etc. under solo moniker Four Tet. The above is taken from his 2001 album ‘Pause’ by Four Tet, which has been on repeat for most part of the past seven days. Four years since his last long player ‘Ringer’, this new year sees the release of ‘There Is Love In You’ on Domino along with a string of tiny UK tour dates. I shall see you there.
I don’t really ‘get’ Halloween, so fortunately this weekend keeping me out of trouble was Brainwash Festival IV, posing one of the most exciting festival bills seen anywhere going - with some in the holiday spirit and others not so much. Plus, since this is literally right on my doorstep, I might add, it would have been incredibly rude not to. A couple of my personal highlights, I give you then.
Firstly, I’m very glad I made the decision to hop on down early on Saturday as to catch The Old Romantic Killer Band playing a blinder in Royal Park Cellars. They describe them as a blues band first and foremost, with added punk and folk extracts. They’re rad.
The Old Romantic Killer Band - ‘Lovers Pass’
Moving over to the Sunday, where a gaggle of talented acts were taking over a couple of intimate stages dotted around the Leeds University Union. One said act were Leeds post-rock fivesome Vessels, who were staggering in their set both in terms of sound and visuals.
The Van Pelt saga began in the basement of a New York University dorm room, sometime during 1993. The end product was two LPs, ‘Stealing From Our Favourite Thieves’ and ‘Sultans Of Sentiment’ in 1996 and 1997 respectively. The latter of which, I’ve frankly not been able to turn off over recent weeks.
Sadly now defunct and, discarding two US reunion shows earlier this year, have been since ‘97, the four piece sound like an intricate blend of indie and emo comparable to the likes of American Football (<3) and Meneguar. Have a listen to the above taken from the aforementioned second album which, for the record, is one of the finest pieces of work I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing.
