So this Saturday is a one off rare event hosted by Strangeways Nights in Glasgow, bringing together Smiths fans to celebrate mutual aficionado for all things Morrissey shaped. What is super special about this is that the influence that the Smiths have exerted on successful Glasgwegian bands is also being celebrated with DJ sets from Camera Obscura’s Gavin Dunbar, Butcher Boy, National Pop League plus signed goodies from Belle & Sebastian and Boz Boorer. I will be bringing plenty of loose change for that. Since all the proceeds are going to the much deserving PDSA, us at Hardy Boys HQ will also be raffling some signed copies of our new album British Melancholy (see post below).
We will also be performing a few of our favourite Smiths songs as well as some tracks from British Melancholy at 9pm ish. Let us know any requests you have and most importantly, why…
For me, this event is all about celebrating music that said it was ok to read between the lines of everyday life and the people and meanings associated. It was ok to reveal your literacy and maybe not resign yourself to the everyday mundane. I once requested that we listen to my Smiths CD in a retail job I had, and was told that it was too depressing. Yet, Ive always found this music completely uplifting…
This is a hugely subjective topic and I would love to hear your thoughts on what this music means to you. Email me at karlynlking@gmail.com with your musings.
24th October sees the official release of “British Melancholy”, the second full album by The Hardy Boys. I have had the privilege of singing in this band for 1 year now, and in this time we have secured the backing of Bubblegum Records, the Scottish arts Council and toured supporting legendary acts such as Vic Godard and the Subway Sect and the June Brides as well as headlining Glasgow Popfest 2010.
The new album is a darker affair than “Songs from the Lenin and McCarthy Songbook”, exploring the meaning of the arts amid heartbreaking love. Singing with Johnny feels like 2 internal dialogues that conflict and complement each other at the same time. Despite the title, to me this album feels inherently Scottish, depicting scenes of natural beauty that are located even on the city doorstep. Entangle this with the Freudian instincts of everyday people and you might be close…
Hardy Boys vinyl goes for up to £300+ on eBay regularly and this band really is a hidden gem among a city of process and obscurity.
We have 100 limited edition signed copies of British Melancholy featuring a one off lyric book detailing the album process and very special badges. Recorded, mixed and mastered by Sam Smith at Green Door analogue studios, you can pre order at www.thehardyboys.co.uk. (£10 including worldwide postage).
“Should I call Johnny?” asks Cassie Ramone, at the start of ‘Take It as it Comes’, a quirky call-and-response, Shirelles-style number from the Vivian Girls’ latest album,Share the Joy. Dream pop harmonies follow, with bassist Katy Goodman and drummer Fiona Campbell (successor to Ali Koehler of Best Coast) advising “You’ll never get a guy if your heart always tells you what to do”. These Brooklyn hipsters inform me that Katy only started playing bass two years ago when they formed the band, yet they now have a huge cult following and various side projects such as La Sera and The Babies. Their sound is definitely better suited to the live show, weaving Phil Spector pop starlet vocals and 60s surf-guitar lines over light and dark themes a la The Wipers and Black Tambourine.
The set highlight is ‘I Heard You Say’, which kicks off with three-part harmonies demonstrating slicker songcraft and dynamics than their previous riot grrl shambling on tracks like ‘I Have No Fun’. ‘The Other Girls’ is the new album’s opener, for all those Ghost World subcultural teenage girls, with Cassie musing “I don’t wanna lose myself”.
Away from their thriving Brooklyn scene, a full house at The Captain’s Rest seem appreciative of the tighter tracks but the girls still reflect their underground roots with a Sonic Youth-inspired breakdown to finish, cleverly leaving us wanting more.
Recent Sub Pop signings Papercuts are mainly a one man project fronted by San Francisco’s Jason Quever. However you won’t mistake them for the famous Sub Pop grunge sound, as this is much more dreamy and atmospheric. Think more Cocteau Twins than Nirvana.
Lashings of reverb and picked tremolo guitar provide a backdrop for Quever’s understated vocals which are so breathy at times you have to strain to hear them. Set opener “Dear Employee” has a directive chorus of “Bring me my papers/ Bring me my coffee” that is in stark contrast to the vocal delivery of Quever, set against psychedelic organ sounds that drive the songs along. “Do You Really Wanna Know” is a big crowd pleaser, laden with hooks and dream sequence vocals.
A well received gig is followed with a very tired Quever sitting down with me to discuss:
What does it mean to you to be on Sub Pop?
I think it is perceived, especially in the UK as a grungy label, but it’s actually very diverse. They are one of the few labels who are very hands on regarding both the music and the commercial side. They are very different to other labels for that reason.
You are said to be a one man project with session musicians, is that accurate?
Well I am the songwriter and have been for a while; I get in other musicians to tour, which change a lot so it’s interesting to play with different people. The current guys are not session players but friends from other local acts.
Camera Obscura are fans of you after you toured together. What do you think of the Glasgow indie scene compared to San Francisco?
That’s difficult to say because we just come here play and leave to go to the next city usually, but I do get on very well with Scottish musicians, such as Tracy Ann Campbell, who is here tonight. But I don’t know enough about Glasgow to answer that more fully.
I read a recent interview with Kate Bush that said she wrote her first album specifically for vinyl, as she wanted it to be like 2 separate moods. Do you write for a specific format?
I like that idea of doing a mood record, and I’m a big fan of vinyl. But I wouldn’t say I specifically writ for any format. It is definitely much more a singles business now, with downloads. But I’m still a big fan of albums and records.
What’s in store for the rest of the tour then?
Some press in London tomorrow, a very early flight, then off to France with Bombay Bicycle Club then Germany, Amsterdam and Sweden. The new Papercuts album “Fading Parade” is out now on Sub Pop.
The celebrations of Record Store Day on 16th April marked an important nod to a part of a music lovers’ life that is in danger of being forgotten. In contrast to the disappearance of record stores, vinyl sales have increased by 1 million in the USA alone in the past 2 years (Hough, Telegraph) Such cultural artefacts are described by Adorno (1991) as…”moments of conflict, rebellion, opposition and the drive for emancipation and utopia”. Although 3 million annual sales are a mere drop in the ocean compared to 11 million Lady Gaga downloads, the roots of the record store experience are a much debated and hot topic.
Compared to browsing online stores, record store browsing might seem inconvenient, but far from it argues Sean Adams. In fact I argue that browsing records is not unlike browsing content on Facebook or Twitter. Both are imagined communities. But they are inherently different in that one exists in the real world with real conversation, substituting profile likes for actual expressions of liking or loving an album or single. If you’ve only experienced the world through your laptop or Blackberry, or “phantom limb” as Sherry Turkle calls it, such as Rick Martin at NME, how would you know how record store browsing compares?
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The seduction of social media is more immediate and transient than the seductive qualities of finding an album that you adore, and rushing home to play it. Mulling over the cover art of “Unknown Pleasures” or “Under the Ivy Bush” provokes feelings of attachment that can last as long as you are compos mentis, and of course the sonic qualities are said to be more “authentic”, providing a real sociotemporal attachment to the artist. These feelings can’t be translated into a tweet. As Lander suggested, “maybe there’s something in music that numbers and lasers can’t translate” (Lander, 1983; cited in Chivers Yochim & Biddinger, 2008). Such aesthetic qualities are what Adorno (1991) would describe as “sensuous particularity” and must be protected from “threats of enlightened reason”. Fetishism if you like. Thequietus is criticised for being a nostalgic object fetishist with vinyl records but it essentially is a fetish, just like your mobile phone is…
The way you engage with record store staff to discuss your latest find differs from the online performance that we widely participate in, so much that a review of a record can differ vastly in blog forms vs. actual conversational terms. It seems that a lot of people rather than actively participating in discussion of reviews are scared to voice real opinions or musings on such reviews for fear of loss of online face or persona. Would you be so intimidated in real life?
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“RSD is about awareness, it’s about getting the minority of people who love music in the physical form to stand up and shout about it so we might not have to suffer the hegemony of shit pop dominating the airwaves” says Patashnik at the NME. This is about engaging with real life people to discuss what vinyl means to you, before the phantom limbs are all that remains.
Welcome to my new official blogsite, that will feature all of the projects that I am involved in….I have been a busy bee working on an essay on female entrepreneurship, which I have to present on very very soon for my Masters degree, my research project into vinyl junkies, which has generated ALOT of interest from the audiophiles of Glasgow and of course the upcoming Hardy Boys album, “British Melancholy”. This month I will also be reviewing Marina Celeste (Nouvelle Vague), Lykke Li and Best Coast. I am also discussing a very exciting new project with some folks, which will remain top secret for now! Busy month, exciting stuff! K xx
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