EP Review: Koala - Molecules

Molecules is the latest in a line of admirable EPs from the young Bradford quartet Koala. The band make upbeat and uptempo indie rock songs with influence from all corners such as math and alternative genres. The girl fronted four-piece's sound is certainly one of the most distinctive and unique locally, in a scene often inundated by wave after wave of below par pop-punk bands, Koala produce a blend of tight intricate drums, speedy riffs and floating female vocals which always stays interesting and compelling.

For fans of: Tall Ships // Everything Everything // Foals

The EP starts with 'Prefix' the mix of pleasingly jangly guitar riffs and thundering drums moving through the gears dynamically, shifting from from intricate stuttering math rock, to blistering guitar riffs and build-ups leading to euphoric high points; a great start. The EP then slips into 'Earth, Wind & Jack' joining powerful chords with with whirling riffs and muted guitar. The drums here are also very enjoyably stuttered and jittery. 'Molecules' the title track has some great riffs, perhaps the most catchy lyrics from the EP and exactly the right amount of cowbell. FAT is another highlight from what is overall a very strong EP and has some of my favourite lyrics; shouting "I've drowned that girl"; this combined with the stunning vocal work on the track and guitars centring around fast and furious chords results in probably the best track from the EP.

Overall the sound of the EP is very strong, creating an accomplished feel that can be both intricate and powerful and which belies their years. The vocals are strong throughout and give the tracks of focal point in what can often be quite a hectic mix of sounds and tempos. Likewise, musically the EP stays interesting and complex, often putting shame to many 4 chord generic bands around. Although some of the tracks possibly aren't as distinctive as Molecules and FAT or previous songs such as 'Josephine' and 'Lead Me From This Town' - download that EP here, the tracks are still strong and possibly tighter than earlier releases and result in another one in a great line of releases, here's to a full-length album in the future?

8/10

Tracklist:
Prefix
Earth, Wind & Jack (only available with a download of the album)
Molecules
FAT

Download the EP here

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The band are also playing live in Leeds at The Cockpit on Tuesday 9th July for the Futuresound competition which give bands a chance to play at Reading and Leeds festivals; get along and lend your support!

Contact the band for tickets at: koalaband@yahoo.co.uk

2012/2013 Crossover

I thought with it being a new year and all this'd be a great time to do a nice end of year review of how last year was for music and for the band, as well as looking ahead to what the next year holds both for the band and in terms of new releases and bands to watch. (right-click and 'save target as' for mp3)

2012

Last year for the band was a little tough, line-up changes, cancelled shows and a forever delayed EP seemed to be the list of never ending woe that nearly all new young bands experience when starting out. But towards the latter half of the year with a new drummer in tow, new songs, a new drive to make the most of the coming year and now under the wing of a mentoring scheme by MAS records has given us a lot to be grinning about. And to top off the year nicely, our return to live performances after far too long - see here

As for music in general, it was a solid year, nothing amazing, a few good albums and some duff ones but on the whole nothing to sniff too much at. Here's some of my highlights and low points of the musical year:

My Top 5 Albums of 2012

1) Sharon Van Etten - Tramp - (review soon)

The third album from the American singer-songwriter and by far her boldest and most assured yet finding her worldwide acclaim. The album is somewhat of an acquired taste, with stripped-down soul-bearing honesty teetering on the edge blandness musically. Its a kind of genius that isn't immediately obvious, but its there. 

Sharon Van Etten - Serpents (mp3) - The lead single from the album.

2) Alt-J - An Awesome Wave

The début album from the local boys from Leeds, something different, interesting and most importantly, very, very good. Worthy winner of the Mercury Prize, lets hope they don't suffer from its curse and we never hear from them again...

Alt-J - Fitzpleasure (mp3) - wob wob wob

3) Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!

Post-rock masters return with this stunning epic and also my first listen to GYBE (as they shall hence be know) but very very impressive. Its grand, sweeping, dynamically brilliant and a marvel of music and archetypal of the genre.

BYBE - Mladic (mp3) - the 20 minute opener, you're best listening to the whole album though, its not really an album for picking tracks.


4) Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (III)

I must admit a bit of a change of heart here, after what was one of my favourite albums of all time (CC II) I expected more of the same, especially after 'Plague' was announced. It was different and has taken a lot of time to appreciate fully, but in retrospect it is a much grittier and mature sound, but still brilliant.

Crystal Castles - Insulin (mp3) - Massive, glitchy and destructive.

5) Tall Ships - Everything Touching

I reviewed this album a short while ago and was mightily impressed and is only one of two débuts in my top 5. To see the review in full see here

Tall Ships - Gallop (mp3) - The lead single from the album and a thumper of a tune.






Honourable mention: Plan B - Ill Manors: A brilliant protest album accompanying a gritty and visceral début film from Ben Drew. Its brilliant to see musicians airing the issues that people see around them with the new found voice and stage they have been given - BBC 1XTRA Interview

Track Of The Year: Grimes - Genesis (mp3): Bloody brilliant ethereal indie synth pop.

Worst Album of the Year: Mumford & Sons - Babel: Shite.

2013

For a new band a new year is always a good time to think 'fresh start'. Not for us, its pretty much business as usual in order to get our EP out (we're sure it'll happen one day..). We've only come to the conclusion that it can only get better, more gigs, more songs, more people.

New albums to look out for in 2013

Next year looks to be a good year for music, with some big names releasing new material. Here are some of my anticipated releases:

Foals - Holy Fire: Third album from Foals and it sounds great so far, only three songs are out in the public domain but they are sounding very promising. Check out 'My Number (Live On Jools Holland)'

Atoms For Peace - Amok: Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich, Red Hot Chilli Pepper's Flea and REM's Joey Waronker release their début effort. Atoms For Peace - Default

Hurts - Exile: Hurts return with a follow-up to last years 'Happiness'. They say it will be darker than the first which is exciting and worrying at the same time. I really love a band that takes them selves too seriously, and Hurts do just that.

The National - TBC: My favourite band have a new album coming out this may, the live songs previewed from 'All Tomorrows Parties' event sound brilliant. I for one cannot wait.

Empire Of The Sun - TBC: A dodgy wait after 2008's breathtaking 'Walking on a Dream' left many wondering if there would ever be a follow-up. Thankfully everything seems to be on track for the next album to be released this year.

New bands to look out for in 2013

As ever, new bands are breaking and exiting a lot of people and as ever NME calls it a 'music revolution'... indeed. Anyway, here are the bands getting me exited this year, 'viva la revolution':

1) Chvrches: Ignoring the groovy 'V' and 'U' switch, Chvrches are a exciting new Glaswegian indie synth-pop trio that sound somewhere between 'M83' and 'Little Boots'. They also found their way in at 5th on BBC's 'Sound Of 2013' poll, in which better acts were in the long-list than short-list, odd. Chvrches - The Mother That We Share (mp3)

2) Palma Violets: NME's bitch at the moment but that does not stop them being one of the most exciting new bands around with a belter of a track that unsurprisingly won NME's track of the year: Palma Violets - Best of Friends (mp3)

3) Savages: Punk rock that's a throwback to Siouxsie and the Banshees and the brilliant music scene of the time. Nostalgia has always been a big plus points for some bands and this all-female group certainly have it. Savages - Husbands (mp3)

Mason.

Review: Tall Ships EP & Everything Touching LP

Apologies that the blogging has been rather barren recently, school work and band work towards our upcoming EP and a return to playing live after far too long (pictures are below) have kept us busy for the most part. But I thought I'd get back into the swing of things by giving a double album review of Tall Ships, a band I saw down at Latitude Festival (see my post of Saturday at Latitude) and have been really been getting into their material.

As I've said, I first saw Tall Ships at Latitude festival but only caught the end of their set, even so, what I saw made me wish I'd made the effort to get there much earlier. There was a lot of on-stage energy and obvious passion for their music, something which you would have thought may dull with time and playing the same songs again and again, but it was clear to the see enthusiasm was there throughout. This probably deserved them a much later slot than they were playing, but hey, even the best bands start at the bottom to get to the top. After the festival I started looking at their material and thought I should have a go at reviewing both their self-titled EP and their début full-length album 'Everything Touching'.

Also, for anyone local (Leeds etc) wanting to see them live, they're playing at Brudenell Social Club in Leeds next year on 3rd March for a dirt cheap price, not to be missed!: Buy Tickets. and their website here.

For fans of: Foals,The Vaccines, Mumford & Sons, Battles.

Tall Ships EP - (Buy here)

This is their début 4-track EP, something that nearly all bands produce and sometimes can tend to be better than most bands whole albums. It was clear from the start that this EP was a cut above the rest, it is what I would describe as 'clever rock', music that takes care with everything that it does but still sounds raw and fresh at the same time. I liked the use of other sampled media on the tracks such as 'Words Are Pegs On Which We Hang Ideas', something I want to experiment with in the future with Figurehead, which I feel adds an extra dimension to an already rich and complex sound. One thing that I very much admire in this band is the massive atmospheric sound with brilliant sweeping dynamics, almost approaching post rock, that they make with only 3 guys, my band struggles to even match it with 5 people in the band... They also show a lot of versatility in this EP with the inclusion of the brilliant phat synth arp on 'Books' which then drops back down effortlessly. The vocals and lyrics on this album, something that interests me a lot as a vocalist, are very good. The vocals are very solid throughout, whether singularly or in the choir-like harmonies, whist having a very good knack for decent and catchy vocal hooks and melodies. The lyrics, while nothing ground breaking, are still very, very good, whist still being provocative they have interesting themes, nautical as you would imagine, and having something that I feel my own lyrics really lack, substance. The drums also deserve a mention as I particularly enjoyed the 'running' drums in 'Vessels', having the kind of almost 'dancy' feel at times that reminds me so much of Foals. The EP is largely instrumental, letting the the music do the talking, and when the music is this good, you'll find it hard to complain.

Song Highlight: Tall Ships - Vessels. This song is by far the highlight of the EP, and probably is my favourite song by Tall Ships. It showcases everything that they can do, and they do it all so well, such as the provocative vocal harmonies, the brilliant build-up and an ending that lends itself to live sing-a-longs.

Rating: 7/10

Tall Ships - Everything Touching LP - (Buy here)

This is Tall Ships' début full length album and I have to say it starts in style with the belter of an opener 'T=0' Its clear that much has remained from the EP but they have also developed and refined what they had into something in my opinion, a bit more well-rounded. This album does get at times a bit heavier than the EP but dynamically the songs swap tempo, dynamics and intensity very fluidly. Vocals come slightly more to the fore in this album, but instrumentally it remains very strongly rooted in the complex melodies of the EP. Once again the massed vocals and tuneful singular vocals complement how melodic the music is very well. This album has a lot of diversity in it musically, from the grand sweeping tracks such as 'Best Ever', to the funkier tracks such as 'Oscar'. This is something that I'm looking to do in my band, particularly for our upcoming EP, which is creating a release which has the individuality and diversity of all the songs but is still a cohesive piece of art. There is a lot more minimalism in this release with toned-down and stripped-down songs such as 'Ode To Ancestors' and 'Send News' songs which sound almost like The Antlers, not a bad thing at all! 'Gallop' provides a brilliant lead single for the album, interesting, catchy and with a good rhythm behind it which is sure to go down well live. To finish off the album there is the 9 minute long epic 'Murmurations' once again showing that Tall Ships have a talent for longer songs which lend themselves perfectly to the end of albums or to end a set live, such as Vessels (see above)

Song Highlight: Tall Ships - T=0. One of the best album openers I've heard in a while, it grabs you right from the start and doesn't let go. It also shows the heavier side of Tall Ships' repertoire, seeing them advance from what they did with their EP to a more well balanced and diverse début album.

Rating: 8/10