Music
EXPOSURE Tomorrow’s music today. THIS ISSUE: GROWING Unlike, say, The Lemonheads, Growing are a band with a literal soubriquet: their evolutionary noise and experimental rock exploits provoke a sense of advancing ambience, metal progression and, well, growing. They’ve recorded for Mogwai’s Rock Action imprint, amongst others. We corner axe-master Joe DeNardo in a Brooklyn vice hideout (by which we mean laundromat). How and why did you form, and who’s in the band? Me and Kevin [Doria, bass] started Growing ten years ago in Olympia, Washington when we were bored college students living in a punk house. Currently we’re a three piece: me, Kevin and Sadie Laska [drums]. What words would you use to best describe Growing? Abstract, dynamic, loud and musical. What can we expect from your live show? We use a lot of amps and try to play really loud, so if you’re in the room you can’t miss us. I like to see my signal path physically in front of me, and be able to manipulate the parameters with both hands. I think guitars are still really cool and good sounding. You’re pro-analogue and anti-laptop, right? Sure. I think there’s more than enough virtual reality in my life. I’d like to keep the stage as free of it as possible, outside of my own head. Have you played in Scotland before? We played Glasgow many years ago and had a blast. Partied late and woke up to the sound of a piper on a hillside. We can’t wait to visit again. (Nicola Meighan) ■ Nice’n’Sleazy, Glasgow, Fri 24 Jul.
REVIEW PUNK DIVORCE, VOM AND TEENAGE RICKY Captain’s Rest, Glasgow, Sat 4 Jul ●●●●●
Launching their Optimo Records debut EP – a satanic slab of red vinyl sleeved in a painting of ragged teeth and diseased gums – Divorce affirm their status as Glasgow’s most thrilling band. Their support acts are no slouches either. Teenage Ricky stage a good natured tussle between tricksy math-pop and deranged cacophony, while Vom ride their motorik grooves into the cosmos, leaving a trail of molten space dust in their wake.
Divorce’s sheer power is astonishing. Sinead Youth’s ferocious bark cuts through the maelstrom of noise rock, a samurai sword amidst a volley of knives and hammers. When she’s not stalking the stage, she’s crawling on her back through the teeming crowd, like Lydia Lunch’s delinquent daughter. As wild and dissonant as Divorce are, their songs are precision engineered for maximum impact. Youth’s stark sloganeering demands your attention, while the guitars scour and claw the skin. Anchoring it all are the relentless drums and juggernaut bass, a brutally heavy yet supple force that pummels the audience into ecstatic submission. (Stewart Smith) ■ www.myspace.com/puredivorced
REVIEW NOISE MACH NAUSEA Old St Paul’s Church, Edinburgh, Fri 10-Sat 11 Jul ●●●●●
As church fetes go, this second edition of this DIY noise festival was an appositely unholy resurrection. Lit from an archway behind them and playing on bare floorboards, the 18 acts on show tapped into industrial metal roots, surrealist slapstick, an overload of electronic drone, remedial gonzo knockabout, ethno-trad Scots- African alliance and a sledgehammer deconstruction of 1980s pop. In between the low-end science-
fiction invasion of openers Cities Prepare for Attack!’s FX-led guitar constructions and Voltigeur’s concluding twin distortion assault, hearing voices provided the most salvation. Iain Campbell’s murmured litanies crept over Euan Currie’s guitar scrapings as much Helhesten Trio’s clarinet and violin extrapolations were underscored by Neil Davidson’s guitar.
Team Brick improvised an astonishing pounding piano solo, punctuated by unfettered howls that oddly recalled Trio Bulgarka’s plaintive wails. By ripping apart Madonna’s ‘Lucky Star’ and Visage’s ‘Fade to Grey’, however, Atomizer’s futurist cabaret was an eye and ear poppingly awesome highlight to weekend communion. (Neil Cooper) ■ www.grindsightopeneye.co.uk
REVIEW GRUNGE/PUNK POP BRONTO SKYLIFT AND THE GAP YEAR RIOT The Mill@Oran Mor, Glasgow, Thu 16 Jul ●●●●●
Two-piece bands are an irregular find these days, especially ones who can make this much noise. With a simple set-up of drums, guitar and one hell of a screeching set of lungs, Glaswegian duo Bronto Skylift easily cram this modest venue with their grimey, metal clatter. Fresh from a rocking performance at T in the Park these guys are full of energy and bang up for getting sweaty in an intimate venue such as this (literally the case as vocalist Niall hot foots himself and guitar into the crowd for the closing track). The most impressive thing about this pair is the blatant musical connection they have on stage, the intensity never faltering for a second during the seven-track riotous set. Also on the bill is Glasgow’s
foremost pop/punk (verging on emo) diamonds The Gap Year Riot, oozing with confidence and putting on a supremely polished show. Catchy highlights such as ‘Hush Hush’ and ‘Shut Up and Start Listening’ enhance the commercial appeal they have been establishing of late. (Mark Petrie) ■ www.myspace.com/thegapyearriot www.myspace.com/brontoskylift
Divorce Atomized
Bronto Skylift
REVIEW POP DURAN DURAN Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh, Thu 16 Jul ●●●●●
‘We are Duran Duran!’ shouts Simon Le Bon, legs spread, hips thrown forward, blonde highlights dipped backwards. ‘The band designed to make your nipples harder!’ Cue hysteria from thirtysomethings who scribbled Mrs Le Bon over school jotters, and man whoops too. The new romantic pin-ups were the foppish peacocks it was always OK for boys and girls to like – Andy Warhol, Beck and Franz Ferdinand have all outed themselves as huge DD fans, charmed by their camp mix of frills and laddishness.
Tonight they weren’t about to let a torrential rainstorm get between them and their fans. Bursting on with ‘Wild Boys’ and an apt ‘Hold Back the Rain’, Le Bon strutted, pouted and crotch-thrust through the set. ‘Rio’, ‘Ordinary World’ and a spectacular revisit of ‘White Lines’ would have raised the roof, if there was one. Overlooking a couple of painful dirty- dancing-drunk-dad moments, they still behaved like synthpop heroes. Climaxing with a Bond medley and version of ‘Girls on Film’ bigger than their one-time perm-quiffs, they sent the ponchoed-crowd home dancing into the fire. (Claire Sawers) ■ www.duranduran.com
66 THE LIST 23 Jul–6 Aug 2009