Being Krule To Be Kind

Hi everyone,

The weird title will be explained in due course.

The age of mainstream social commentators gravitating to the top of the charts seems to be nearing its end. Morrisey, Shaun Ryder and more recently stand-up figures like Mike Skinner and the young Dizzee Rascal are far harder to come across and their likes tend to be buried deep within the musical underworld. That is why I'm hear today children to talk about what I believe to be one of the most important, underrated and probably unnoticed albums of 2013. Archy Marshall aka King Krule may look like a lactose-intollerant pre-pubescent teen but he is in fact one of the most talented musicians I've come across in quite some time.

The bare facts - As London as it gets, Marshall began his career operating under the moniker Zoo Kid and released his first single in 2010 'Out Getting Ribs' (a crowd favourite which has made it on to the album) but he developed into King Krule when he released his first self-titled EP in late 2011. King Krule being so named after the Donkey Kong character King K.Rool but quite why the reason for this change in stage name I'm not too sure, personally I prefer it. His talent was under no doubt from an incredibly young age. Very few people know that Marshall attended Brit School (graduates include Ed Sheeran and Amy Winehouse) from 2008 till 2011, meaning he would have been just 14 when in his junior year. A child prodigy destined for stardom then, but since leaving he has followed a very different path to that of the likes of his ginger compadre Sheeran.

Krule's debut 6 Feet Beneath the Moon has been virtually on repeat on my iPod since its release but it is by no means an easy listen. More of a conceptual piece than an album laden with tunes, it really has to be listened to as a whole for its full affects to be soaked up. Each track floats over the listener and creates a beautiful sense of paradox between the rhythm of the synths and Krule's rather cutting tone. Make no mistake, if you're looking for a strong vocal range then this isn't the album for you but fuck me his lyrics are good.

Krule is the voice of reason, the voice of a generation toiling with the frustration brought about by an extreme lack of opportunity and being stared down upon from all sides by the educated yet somewhat totally uneducated elite. His take on the state of modern Britain indicates a maturity well beyond his 19 years (hard to believe he's almost three years younger than I am). This is apparent from early on in the LP, opener 'Easy Easy' is an outspoken attack on modern-day policing, "The same old bobby same old beat/ but yeah they got nothing on me" and it sets the tone for an hour of pure unashamed anger. The honesty of his propositions are as emotional as their actual content, spinning phrases such as "Another disappointed soul/ well I tried, tried to keep it in control/ well I will end up on the dole" from 'Has it Hit' alongside the simple realities of just another disappointed teenager failing to get himself laid in 'Baby Blue' - "Edging closer/ You swing my way/ I've got no chance/ and nothing to say".

If I could pick a favourite, it would have to be 'Lizard State'. This bucks the one-tempo trend of the majority of the album and is a far more upbeat rant at those bringing Marshall down - "In my head I'm getting dead tired of this shit/ you fucking bitch". The trumpets are interesting and a worthy addition and the vocals represent Marshall's highly influential hip-hop background, it's a necessary tune to break up an album which could be accused by certain portions of the music press of being a tad samey. As it goes, 6 Feet Beneath the Moon has generated increasingly favourable reviews and is nearing universal acclaim on metacritic with an average score of 77(always a good indicator). It is deserving of every accolade it receives and long may the King's future as a vaunted musician continue. He may not be the easiest listen but boy can he write a song, I would urge all to give him a chance. Below I've linked a couple of tunes from the album along with the feature vocals he added to electronic duo Mount Kimbie's 'You Took Your Time' which is an absolute banger. And if you had no clue what I was on about with the earlier description "Lactose-intollerant pre-pubescent teen" then this photo should stand you in good stead.

Cheers as always for reading and remember you can give me a tweet with any recommendations at any time - @goldbart1.

Max

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The Rise and Rise of Arctic Monkeys

Afternoon to everyone,

As promised in Thursday's post I've taken great pleasure this afternoon in writing a few words on the new Arctic Monkey's album AM. Had to wait five days for the darn CD to arrive and then immediately uploaded it on to my laptop making me truly appreciate just why no one buys CDs anymore, if I'd downloaded it I could have done the exact same thing for free and got it on the day it came out with absolutely no drop in sound quality - the album picture might still have even popped up on my iTunes. Instead I spent 9 quid to twiddle my thumbs for five days.

Anyway the problem subsisted and now I'm here with Alex Turner crooning 'Do I wanna Know' in my ear and I'm bloody loving it. If I could compare the Arctic Monkeys to any band of a past generation then listening to this, their fifth LP in just seven years, I would probably have to shout the Rolling Stones. The Stones started out as a protest band but it wasn't much time before they developed into an outfit developing records which were far more sexy than they were angry. Having a little listen to the masterpiece that is the Monkey's debut Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not, the development draws many a similarity. While once upon a time Turner was penning lyrics about being thrown out of grotty Sheffield dive bars, the boys are now based in LA, sporting teddy boy haircuts and producing songs with titles like 'No1 Party Anthem' and 'Why Do You Only Call Me When You're High'. Does it matter? Course it fucking doesn't because the music remains simply fantastic.

We knew exactly what to expect having already been treated to opener 'Do I wanna Know' and singles 'R U Mine' and the aforementioned 'Why Do You Only Call Me...' but each of the other new tracks delivers its own little piece of happiness, be it with a cheeky lyric, a riff of pure originality or one of Matt Helder's trademark drum solos (plus way way more of his beloved falsetto). And the brains behind it all... Mr Turner. If You didn't know it already, Alex Turner is an absolute lyrical genius. I read and strongly agreed with a review of the album the other day which claimed he has an unfounded ability to find rhyme in the middle of a sentence where other songwriters simply wouldn't have a clue, 'I'm sorry to interrupt it's just I'm constantly on the cusp of trying to kiss you' is a prime example. This gives each melody it's own unique Monkeys feel and sets a tone for something new in every crevice of his work. For me, he leaves his best lyrical prowess for last, producing scintillating metaphor after metaphor in perfect closer 'I Wanna Be Yours' - 'If you like your coffee hot/Let me be your coffee pot' etc.etc. These lyrics challenge my previous favourite Monkey's metaphor - 'Your rarer than a can of dandelion and burdock/and those other girls are just post-mix lemonade'.

Lyrics aside, 'Mad Sounds' finds the Monkeys at their most touching and is probably the most anthemic of the tunes, alongside the wonderfully titled 'No.1 Party Anthem' of course, both of which sound like they were ripped straight off Turner's EP for the Richard Ayoade directed Submarine (another work of absolute genius from the Sheffielder, where does he get his time from). 'Knee Socks' features vocals and production from Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme and a riff to die for alongside a slightly fresher poppier feel while earlier on in the LP there's Arabella' and FUCK ME IT'S A TUNE. Each instrumental addition is bathed with funk and the chorus has to be one of the best these guys have ever produced, moment of the album for me has to be the pre-chorus in which two sliding chords cut across Turner's claim that 'My days end best when this sunset gets itself' before launching into 'As Arabellllaaaaaaaa'.

What this album has confirmed is that the Monkeys can really do what the fuck they want and keep on and on producing LPs of better and better quality. Some are saying that this is only the beginning and connecting this record with the first in terms of its importance for the band but on this point I strongly disagree and point to the strength and success of the three albums which came in between. There is however a layer of fresh maturity on top of AM which has guaranteed the critical acclaim along with the mass album and single sales ('Why Do You Only Call Me...' reached no.8 in the UK charts, no mean feat for a guitar band in 2013).The  hope and moreover the assumption is that the Monkeys continue to release LPs of this calibre and as prolifically as they have been over the past few years. I don't doubt it, and what I also don't doubt is that if this is to be the case then there's no reason why in thirty years time we can't be talking about them in the same terms as we're talking about the Stones in 2013... we can certainly begin to compare Turner with Jagger. And who wouldn't love to see the Arctic Monkeys headlining Glastonbury 2043?

Many thanks as always for reading as I've certainly enjoyed writing.

Max

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Updates and Mercury Musings

Evening all,

As I familiarly say because I publish this blog so damn rarely... it's been a while. In terms of my life, University is now done and dusted, I spent a month having the trip of lifetime in the US of A and have now had reality give me a massive slap in the nuts as I return to my parent's home in London and a relatively dead-end 9 to 5 job. The two things I learnt in America:

1) EVERYONE  loves Disclosure.

2) NO ONE and I repeat NO ONE in the US has heard of Jimmy Saville.

Anywho... to keep me going I thought I'd try and carry on publishing the stuff I'm listening to and promoting new bands whenever I see fit, along with the odd thought of the week. The focus of the posts will probably shift away from Yorkshire a bit and spread around the country but no one think for a second that Sheffield doesn't still occupy a really quite hefty place in my heart.

Yesterday was mercury prize nomination day. A yearly event which pretty much everyone forgets about and very few people care about but is always a good indicator of the state of the UK music industry at any given time. If this year's nomination pool is anything to go by then this hasn't been the freshest year for new musical talent, every band on the shortlist who has released more than one album has been nominated before, leaving debutants Jake Bugg, Disclosure, Rudimental, Laura Mvula and Savages (so in all fairness quite a few). Last year Alt-J scooped the prize and were touted by a number of bookies as the most highly-backed band in history to win the gong in its fledgling 20-odd year run. This year things look a little bit tighter. While art-rock trio London Grammar were favourites to win the prize before the nominations were announced, it came as a shock to many a fan, me definitely included, to see them not even make the shortlist. Their airy floaty new-xx vibe seemed exactly the kind of sound the judges would be looking for and the fact they released debut offering If You Wait precisely on the final day that albums could be considered for the listing made perfect sense (have a gander at my review of the new LP right over here, shameless plugging I know and for that I'm majorly apologetic).

Instead of the Grammar, the new favourite to emerge is David Bowie of all people. I must admit at this juncture that his is the only album on the list I'm yet to get round to listening to and to be frank I somehow can't see it happening very soon but I hear great things. Would it be a major step backwards however to issue the main prize to a man who was at the height of his talents over 40 years ago? Maybe I'm being a tad cynical I don't know. Other front runners include Arctic Monkeys who's new showing AM was released last Monday and will be a certain topic for my next blog (I'm still waiting for the fucking CD in the post and feel a right mug for pledging not to listen to a single track before it arrived, hurry the fuck up Amazon!) is leaving critics speechless and could stand the Monkeys in good stead to become  the second act in history to win the Mercury twice (PJ Harvey did it in 2001 and 2011 but to be fair she's really fucking strange so I may consider them the first).

Post-punk trio Savages have drawn praise from all quarters of the musical critiquing world for their angry raunchy debut Silence Yourself and could be considered an outside bet while if this was only a few months ago and everyone wasn't so fed up of his unbelievably moody teeanger-going-through-puberty-like-scowl (see below) I'd have given Jake Bugg a real shout. James Blake's Overgrown is his second consecutive nomination and deservedly so but I somehow struggle to see him quite making that final final cut and can't really see him giving too much of a shit about the whole ordeal.

But the really seriously important part is my opinion and for me it's got to be a two-way scrap between Disclosure and Jon Hopkins. These are the two that have really pushed the boundaries this year and if that's what the Mercuries are all about then they really can't be ignored. Guy and Howard Lawrence of Dislclosure, both under the age of 21 demonstrated that house music can have strong pop elements while still being lauded by critics and set loose a fresh array of young British electronic talent into the limelight while Jon Hopkins demonstrated just how far-reaching and emotive a  techno record can be, his nomination Immunity is an absolute masterpiece and should be heard by all.

It's a strange list... some serious talent but nothing truly breathtakingly exciting with the possible exception of the two mentioned in the above paragraph. This more than anything could possibly be down to the fact I discovered yesterday that bands have to pay a fee in order to even be considered for nomination. There must be some serious gems out there that didn't have the funds or simply couldn't be bothered to submit to this tiring process which is a bit of a shame. Quite why you have to pay to probably not win a prize is a bit puzzling but there you go, that's capitalism for you (only joking, I'm really not that guy).

Until early next week, when AM will have dropped swiftly through my letterbox and I'll be bumming it out to my heart's content. I've linked a few of the better tunes off the nominees records at the bottom if anyone fancies a cheeky listen.

Cheers as always for taking  the time to have a read and if anyone's got any music to recommend hit me up at @goldbart1 on twitter or on facebook.

And oh shit I didn't even mention Foals, another big name to throw into the mix, bloody fantastic album.

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