Funkster

Live in Liverpool with pics and new song vids:
http://bit.ly/1Wu3Zp

I couldn't stand Empire, not simply due to the insipid gash on offer, but also for its predictability, as their debut offered snippets of hope and experimentalism given Serge's claims to being a huge Tangerine Dream/krautrock fan.
But this record at least attempts to mix it up a bit (without ever producing anything to really make the mind spin) and there's plenty of decent rock & roll tracks too.
One aspect I always find amusing when reading reviews about records deemed 'post-Britpop' is the dismissive or condescending tone towards these bands who are hardly 'ladrock' - just simply classic British rock following a long line of bands from The Who, Kinks, Stones lineage.
Of course few match their songwriting quality but since when was British classic rock such a bad thing?

I do like the review, but then again I do think there's a distinct fanboy element to it; which in itself does lead you open to criticism.
This whole music v art debate is ridiculous. Music is an artform, I simply can't see how it isn't as it's created from the personal perspective and interpreted by the listener however they see fit evoking all kinds of expression and emotion in a similar way art using the mediums of paint/installation/textiles etc do.
Sunn O))) meanwhile are a fascinating (albeit better live than on record) band but like many bands that lead their field or ones that are seen to have created a new artform do tend to be overly fawned over and lead the way in obsessives that build them up to be something they're clearly not.

Seriously poor review about Bon Iver; everyone I spoke to was highly impressed and Tricky deserves an even stronger review as he was (albeit surprisingly) the clear standout.

my review is here:
www.getintothis.co.uk
together with bobs & bits by School of Seven Bells, J Tillman, Johann Johannsson and Lindstrom.
Writers always greatly appreciated.

of last night's show here:
www.getintothis.co.uk

Liverpool won't be late as the Carling doesn't have a late license. Most gigs are done by 10.30pm these days.

review:

www.getintothis.co.uk

The feature has potential but email interviews are awful at best - and this proved more so.

The EP really didn't do much for me either.

hum.

Awful review on a marvellous record; ignore the cheap shots on the lyrical front there's so much to enjoy here I find it hard to begin to understate.

To bring Bon Iver into the equation is lazy and irrelavant. This is a fine, moving, folk-melodious, often fun and always innovotive trip into the yes,,,#

You Sir, are a no.

www.getintothis.co.uk

Feel free to leave comments/photos etc.

Cheers

Completely disagree. Thought the Liverpool gig was superb, and I'm not even a big fan. Also took a friend who'd heard nowt off the new record and he was buzzing off it.

In case you want to read more. Quite a lot of other bands mentioned...

http://www.peterguy.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/07/latitude_2008_southwold_suffol_1.html

Enjoy!

Superb DiS overview too.

fair to say Primal Scream's new record is up there for Turkey of the Year.

Reckon they should have called it a day after XTMNTR; what a fine legacy they'd have left then.

Midlake's Trials was way better and yet was somewhat ignored in many quarters.

This is like all the press gang have got together and desperately sought a summer record and come up with this...

Tis good, but not great.

Although I'd say it merits a 7. Live they're a revelation and I sincerely hope they're given the chance to carry on as I think they're best work is defo still to come.

They should have played, but haven't - their contribution would have been perfect at the Mars Volta one which was crammed with space-rock, heavy-duty nuggets.

I really enjoyed reading Swells in the early 90s when his CAPITAL LETTERS rants were amusing and often quite titillating to a young teen, but now his continual punk, punk, punk grrr-ing does seem outdated and out of sync...

But the best, and most salient, point here is that punk was good - FOR TEN MINUTES - then it got incredibly dull, outdated, and polluted with a million and one copiests.

Like Britpop x a million. But with shitter clobber.

Karen Ohhhh! No.

So much so, I will hunt them down and listen.

It is always grand to see pieces on our City but I'd reiterate what some of those quoted say, in that there is little 'scene' to be detected in Liverpool. More a case of an ongoing state of creativity which I think always prevails.

If you're interested in reading about a REALLY talented Liverpudlian here's an interview with Kumo aka Jono Podmore who has just released his collaborative project Axolotl Eyes with non-other than Irmin Schimidt of Can - a band who most Scousers hold very dear to their hearts.

Link: http://www.peterguy.merseyblogs.co.uk/banter/