Album Review: Wake The President

Wake The President- ‘You Can’t Change That Boy’ (Electric Honey)

Released on Stow College’s student-run record label Electric Honey, ‘You Can’t Change That Boy’ is an immensely accomplished debut. Those Stow kids have taste, having previously put out albums by Belle and Sebastian, Snow Patrol and Biffy Clyro. Wake the President are certainly worthy of such company.

The band are very much a product of Glasgow, and reflect both the city’s character and musical heritage. ‘Wake’, for example, references the River Kelvin, and the influence of Postcard Records bands like Orange Juice and Aztec Camera is there for all to hear.

However, it would be wrong to dismiss Wake The President as just a parochial indie band in thrall to their heroes. There’s something vital, something necessary about their music, as they evoke the spirit of the city in a way few others have managed.

Lyrically there’s a lot to appreciate, as singer Erik Sandberg displays a biting wit and a knack for a wry turn of phrase. On ‘You Can’t Change That Boy’ the melodies bristle with effervescence as Sandberg sings “Evening is a time for mirth and gaiety”. The irresistable pop hooks of ‘Remember Fun’ bob along brilliantly as well, describing a girl with a ‘Lovely Body’ and a ‘Promiscious Mind’ as the guitars jangle.

Perhaps there’s something slightly twee about songs like ‘Remember Fun?’, but in truth most of the album has a darker undercurrent reminiscent of Arab Strap. These are tails of deceit, infidelity, and dark passions wrapped-up in infections melodies.

‘You Can’t Change That Boy’ is a rich, rewarding and beautifully-realised album. Glasgow may be Wake The Presidents spiritual home, but there sound is sure to win hearts much further afield.

Wake The President are holding an album launch party at Pollockshields Burgh Hall on Fri 6th March

Check out the band on their myspace

We Were Promised Jetpacks: Ready To Launch

We Were Promised Jetpacks are a name to look out for in 2009. Recently I chatted with Adam from the band about singing to Fat Cat, recording their debut album, and heading out on tour...

We Were Promised Jetpacks are a young Scottish band with a lot to look forward to. Last October they signed with Fat Cat Records, home to fellow Scots The Twilight Sad and Frightened Rabbit, and now they’re hoping to bring their energizing indie-rock to a wider audience.

While WWPJ have made a name for themselves in Glasgow, they actually formed at High School in Edinburgh. Singer/guitarist Adam and guitarist Mike have known each other since primary school, and when Adam met bassist Sean in his third year computing class he was introduced to drummer Darren. They then spent a summer in Darren’s attic honing their sound, before playing their first gig at their school. “Our earlier songs had a lot more jagged guitar and the singing was a bit higher-pitched” says Adam.

We Were Promised Jetpack’s debut is due for release in June and is currently being mixed by Peter Katis, who has worked on albums by The National, The Twilight Sad and Frightened Rabbit.“It’s a bit stressful waiting for it to be mixed ” admits Adam. “You’ve only got one ‘first album’ and you want it to turn out right.”

In order to capture the energy of the band’s performances, the album was recorded live. “We all just played together in a room without wearing any headphones, and they just recorded the instruments separately” explains Adam. “So, on my guitar part, for example, you can also hear a bit of the other instruments, which helps gives the sound different layers. We want it to sound live, but also quite polished.”

The Jetpacks got their first taste of a proper UK tour last September with their friends Frightened Rabbit and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. “It was great to get an introduction to touring from people that we know and like” Adam notes. In addition they recently shot a video for their forthcoming single ‘Quiet Little Voices’. “We were told we needed a video for the single so we decided to make one with one of our friends” says Adam. “We shot it in a wood in Corstorphine but unfortunately it didn’t end-up being the best quality. However our manager knew someone in Dublin who could shoot a video for us with proper HD cameras and stuff, so we ended-up doing it over there instead.”

In some ways the singing to Fat Cat has come at an awkward time for the band, as three of the four are in their last year of university. “It’s a bit of a hassle having to go down to gigs in London in-between classes” Adam admits. “I don’t really want to do uni stuff at the moment, I just want to do stuff with the band, but I don’t think my parents would be best pleased if I dropped-out in my last year! At the moment we’re just doing a few shows here and there but hopefully once we graduate we can tour the UK properly and go to Europe and the States.”

The album was initially scheduled for an April release but was pushed back to July because the mixing was taking longer than expected. “It’s a blessing in disguise” says Adam. “If they’d released it earlier it would have been right in the middle of exam time!”

The band will get the chance to play a couple of stateside shows in March, as they have received funding from the Scottish Arts Council to attend the influential South By Southwest festival in Texas. They will be playing as the first act on a bill which includes The Proclaimers, Glasvegas and headliners Primal Scream. Not only that, but Seattle radio station KEXP have organised a show for the band in The Bowery Ballroom in New York. “It means we can have a four day holiday in New York before we go to Texas, which is pretty fun for us!” says Adam.

So, with a seemingly bright future ahead, how is Adam enjoying life as a Jetpack? “It’s really exciting at the moment, there’s news coming through about the band every day” he says. “I can’t wait until uni’s finished so that I can travel with my friends for a year and play music. Hopefully if the album doesn’t bomb then we’ll get to do it for a bit longer than that!”

Adam probably shouldn’t worry too much. The reputation WWPJ have built-up on their home turf is spreading not only south of the border, but to the other side of the Atlantic as well. Let’s hope there’s plenty of fuel in those Jetpacks, because they might be scaling some dizzy heights in the future!

We Were Promised Jetpacks play the Oran Mor, Glasgow on Sun 8th March with Over the Wall and Ross Clark

Check out WWPJ on their myspace

Single Review: King of Conspiracy

Alrighty, well the month of February has been a bit low on content, so I thought I'd post some reviews I've written recently for Scotland's premier indie website Is this music? To kick things off, here's a review of the brilliant King of Conspiracy single 'Youth Against Empire'


King of Conspiracy – ‘Youth Against The Empire’ (Catcutter)

Parisian art-punks King of Conspiracy offer-up a blistering blast of primitive energy with their debut single.

Propelled by dancefloor-baiting drums, overlaid with distressed guitars and topped-off with anguished vocals, ‘Youth Against The Empire’ is an uncompromising maelstrom of punk fury. They’re like a super-abrasive version of And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead combined with the trailblazing spirit of At the Drive-In. Comparisons can also be made with the DIY-ethic and blatant anti-commercialism of sadly departed Welsh noise mongers McLusky.

King of Conspiracy sound like they desperately want to start a revolution. What kind of revolution it is, I can’t be sure, but it sounds like fun!

Check out King of Conspiracy on myspace

EP Review: Mean Poppa Lean

Mean Poppa Lean – ‘Smash and Grab’ (self-released)

If the Red Hot Chilli Peppers had grown-up in Brighton instead of Hollywood, then they’d probably sound a lot like Mean Poppa Lean. These funky upstarts clearly don’t take themselves too seriously and after giving ‘Smash and Grab’ a spin you get the feeling they know how to have a good time.

There are some moments that make you cringe a bit, like when the singer declares ‘Poppa Time’ in homage to MC Hammer before a particularly funky breakdown. Then again, it’s hard not to smile at the same time.

Mean Poppa Lean are fun to listen to on record, but I get the feeling they really come into their own live. This is best demonstrated with a call-and-response bit on the first song which sounds a bit anaemic on the album, but would probably whip the crowd into a frenzy at gigs.

Comparisons with the Chillies are easy to make but you can also feel the spirit of the late, great James Brown being channelled as well as a strong Northern Soul influence. It seems these guys have honed their chops by listening to funk’s finest ambassadors, and it’s paid off.

Mean Poppa Lean clearly revel in their own funkiness, and when they proclaim ‘We Eat Funk For Breakfast’ I for one am not going to argue with them. If you’re after some mindless, pelvis-thrusting, crotch-grabbing, funky action, then this is your band!

In a word: funky. As funk.

Check out Mean Poppa Lean on myspace

Album Review: Will Richards

Will Richards- ‘Ready to Talk Now’ (self-released)

Will Richards wrote, produced, mixed and played most of the instruments on ‘Ready To Talk Now’ which I suppose could be considered an achievement in itself. His vocals are a bit like Jeff Buckley and stylistic comparisons can be made to the likes of Richard Ashcroft and Ed Harcourt.

There’s no doubt Will Richards is a musically talented individual- he produced and mixed ‘Ready To Talk Now’ as well as playing most of the instruments, which I suppose could be considered an achievement in itself.

His vocals are a bit like Jeff Buckley and comparisons can be made to the likes of Richard Ashcroft and Ed Harcourt. The album is very well produced, and the level of instrumental performance is of a high standard. Where things fall down for me is with the actual songs themselves. Richards has a good voice but his lyrics are often less than inspired. ‘Can’t help admitting you’re tired of praying to Jesus/And this sales pitch no longer leaves you with a self-righteous high’ he sings on ‘Good as Gold.

As well as religion, Richards sings about his dreams, relationships and money, All his songs pass by pleasantly enough but the problem with ‘Ready to Talk Now’ is that there’s nothing that really excites the imagination. Unfortunately for Richards, no amount of slick production or flashy musicianship can compensate for the fact his songs are pretty average. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some interesting moments, but ultimately its all just too well-polished and innocuous. Maybe he should spend less time multi-tasking in the studio and more time on his songs.

Check out Will Richards on myspace

Album Review: The Bubble Project

The Bubble Project- ‘The Technicolor Dream Machine’ (Stop Looking)

Judging by the psychedelic collage on the front of the Bubble Project’s album you’d expect a strange ride. And you’d be right.

The deranged stomp of ‘Saturn 5 Death Squad’ is a ferocious way to open the album, but isn’t representative of the more melodic treats that lie within. ‘I Only Fall in Love With Scientists’ is a lo-fi monster of a pop song, reminiscent of early Ash only with an eccentric, space-age vibe. The Sunderland outfit describe themselves as ‘Pop Scientists’ which seems like a good description given the weird samples and sci-fi sound effects which pepper their songs.

The Spectacle of Magic Dan is a nifty wee tune with a cool bassline, some nice piano flourishes, and a sing-a-long chorus. The song then blends seamlessly into ‘Mr X and The Girl with No Face’ which features woozy synths and a spoken-word outro by a Stephen Hawking-esque computerised voice. It’s pretty bizarre, but with lines like ‘She was the most perfect female specimen he had ever known/Even though she had no face’ also strangely touching!

‘M.P.O.G;’ or the ‘Mystic Pigs of Genocide’ offers-up more scuzzed-up pop before a respite from all that madness comes in the form of the instrumental surf guitar of ‘Planet Thunderfuck’ and Beach Boy harmonies of ‘Bring Back All My Smiles’

Like most of the album, ‘Oh!!! Her Joyous Brains’ is basically an other-worldly love song and boasts a cool lo-fi drum sound. Last track ‘Will You Marry Me Astro Girl’, has similar romantic sentiments, with poetic lines like ‘When we get married/I’ll give you one of Saturn’s rings/To show you how much I care’.

The Bubble Project create imaginative, slightly demented pop that seems to exist in its own little universe. Take it from me, its worth paying a visit!

Check out the Bubble Project on myspace

Rapal

Rapal is a music TV show based in Stornoway, and if you haven't caught it yet then I'd highly recommend giving it a look. I guess you could say its like a Gaelic version of Later With Jools Holland featuring some of Scotland's best young bands and musicians. I first came across it last year when it was airing on terrestrial tv as part of the BBC's Gaelic programming slot and was delighted to see acts like Strike the Colours, Broken Records and Crash My Model Car doing their thing.

Nowadays it airs on the new digital station BBC Alba on Wednesdays at 10pm, with the last episode featuring a superb set from Endor and a song from Lewis singer-songwriter Iain Mackinnon. Tomorrow night's show looks like being another corker, with the Americana-tinged folk of The State Broadcasters and a look at There Will Be Fireworks' new video.

Don't worry if you can't get BBC Alba- you can check out the show on the BBC's iplayer,which also features a rather nifty archive of performances from the likes of Frightened Rabbit and Attic Lights.