Dork, June 2017 by Dork

THIS MONTH DORK readdork.com

Editor: Stephen Ackroyd stephen@readdork.com Deputy Editor: Victoria Sinden viki@readdork.com Associate Editor: Ali Shutler ali@readdork.com Contributing Editors: Jamie Muir jamie@readdork.com Martyn Young martyn@readdork.com Events: Liam James Ward liam@readdork.com

Contributors: Ben Jolley, Chris Taylor, Corrine Cumming, Danny Payne, Eala MacAlister, Jake Hawkes, Jake Richardson, Jamie MacMillan, Jenessa Williams, Jessica Goodman, Josh Williams, Liam Konemann, Rob Mair, Rob Mesure, Poppy Marriott, Sam Taylor, Sarah Louise Bennett, Steven Loftin P U B L I S H E D F RO M

THE BUNKER W E LCO M E TOT H E B U N K E R.CO M

C O N T E N TS U P DAT E

04 PW R BT T M 0 9 C I T Y G U I D ES … S U N DA R A K A RM A 10 M R J U K ES 10 G I RL P O O L 12 K AT E N AS H 14 WAV V ES 16 A DAY I N T H E L I F E O F… G I RL I 18 T H E JA PA N ES E H O US E 19 BA N G E RS 20 T H E G RE AT ESCA P E 21 ST EV I E PA RK E R 2 2 CA L E N DA R 24 C O N N ECT I O N HYPE 26 A L M A 2 8 T H E RH Y T H M M ET H O D 2 9 T I RE D L I O N 30 A RT I F I C I A L P L E AS U RE 30 T H E O RI E L L ES 31 S H I T K I D 31 M AT T M A LT ES E F E AT U RES 32 M A RI K A H AC K M A N + T H E BIG MOON 3 8 T H E C RI BS 42 P I X X 4 4 T H E A M A ZO N S 4 6 P U M A ROSA REV I E WS

E D I TO R’S N OT E THERE’S A LOT OF AMAZING, EXCITING THINGS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW. Obviously, right? There always is. But there’s also something incredibly important happening if you’re one of our legion of UK readers. Yep - sorry I’m getting serious here.

5 0 A LT-J 51 L I F E 54 K E N D RI C K L A M A R 55 C H A RL I XCX 55 D RE A M W I F E 56 B L A E N AVO N A N Y OT H E R Q U EST I O N S ? 6 2 C I RCA WAV ES

Between our last issue hitting the streets and now, a general election has been called. You’re probably sick to death of people telling you to register, then get out there and vote - but they’re right. It’s not just something you should do, it’s something you have to. Because, while in these pages we may not spell it out, you’re smart cookies. You can read between the lines here.If you value people, if you have morals, if you want to stand up for those who need it against those purely motivated by self-interest - or even if you simply value the arts, which you clearly do - your voice is needed more than ever. Let’s not have our generation letting the side down again by not turning up, yeah? Stephen Ackroyd, Editor (@stephenackroyd)

ST U F F W E LOV E THIS MONTH Bands who surprise release new stuff and make us redesign half our magazine several times over the last week of production (no really, we ♥ this guys, thanks!), cat facts, 80s pop bangers, the fact the new series of Doctor Who is actually looking pretty good, Taskmaster on Dave (is this the funniest thing on British telly?), reduced Minstrels easter eggs.

All material copyright (c). All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of The Bunker Publishing Ltd. Disclaimer: While every effort is made to ensure the information in this magazine is correct, changes can occur which affect the accuracy of copy, for which The Bunker Publishing Ltd holds no responsibility. The opinions of the contributors do not necessarily bear a relation to those of Dork or its staff and we disclaim liability for those impressions. Distributed nationally.

UPDATE IF IT’S NOT IN HERE, IT’S NOT HAPPENING. OR WE FORGOT ABOUT IT. ONE OR THE OTHER.

We got the PWR

PWR BTTM AREN’T JUST IMPORTANT, THEY’RE BLOODY BRILLIANT.

WR BTTM are, as they say, in Birmingham. They have just clambered out of the car from Sheffield, ahead of a show at The Hare. For those of us who’ve been watching and waiting, it seems like both a fraction of a second and a lifetime since they were last on our shores. But now they’re here, both finally and suddenly, with their second album ‘Pageant’. PWR BTTM’s second record is aptly titled. It glitters, it’s performative, and somebody’s going home in tears. ‘Pageant’ sees bedazzled duo Ben Hopkins and Liv Bruce take the homemade queer punk of their debut ‘Ugly Cherries’ and kick it into overdrive. The duo are almost perfectly in time with one another. They seem to exist in the same shimmering note, catching the thread of the other’s thoughts and weaving their sentences together into a whole.

WORDS: LIAM KONEMANN. PHOTOS: EBRU YILDIZ

It’s this spiritual call and response that makes PWR BTTM work so well – despite having two different writers who constantly trade instruments and vocal duties in a very literal game of musical chairs, ‘Pageant’ is never jarring, and at no point does one voice overpower the other. Their process could be unorthodox, but PWR BTTM aren’t particularly concerned with the status quo. Their second album was recorded on the disused top floor of a furniture factory in New York, a multi-functional DIY space that felt like a more natural fit than a traditional recording studio would. “They make furniture on the first floor, they have live shows on the second floor – which is how we first discovered the venue, we played there – and then on a third floor, there was nothing. It was a perfect recording space, so we ended up using that,” says Liv. “We come from a performance art background, Ben studied theatre, I studied dance, and I think we’re both very interested in site-

specific performance. There are loads of artists that we admire who have been making art in weird old abandoned factories, public parks, the sewers -” “- especially the sewers -” Ben interjects. “- and so I don’t think it seemed at all remarkable to us that we were making a record there.” “This is, in fact, the first time we’ve realised how strange it was,” Ben notes. ‘Strange’ is in the eye of the beholder, and PWR BTTM have their own brand of normal. They’ve only worked in a ‘proper’ recording studio, that was used solely for that purpose, once, Liv says. “And it was fine,” they shrug. “But we’ve had truly magical moments recording in people’s houses and stuff like that.” Even so, the duo say that they did briefly entertain the thought of working out of a studio for ‘Pageant’. Somehow it doesn’t seem like that conversation took very long. “We all were like, ‘Yeah, we don’t

want to do that, that feels weird to us,’” Liv says, brushing the thought aside. So they stayed in the factory, with the furniture being carved out two floors below them, and ‘Pageant’ is all the better for it. “I think we feel more comfortable making things in a place like that. It doesn’t feel so clinical,” says Ben. Nobody could rightfully accuse PWR BTTM of being clinical. They are heartfelt and blatantly honest, tackling homophobia and insecurity head on in their lyrics. ‘Ugly Cherries’ dealt with the everyday realities of queer love and heartbreak, and ‘Pageant’ serves up the same with an extra shot of humour. On ‘Sissy’ Liv unpacks their queer identity, asking “who would I be if they never had taken my body, drawn a blue box around it and put a toy gun in my hand?” before relaying their sharped-tongued response to a jeer thrown at them from the window of a passing car. Lyrics like these have struck a chord with fans, no doubt in part thanks

IT’S HAIM TO FACE THE MUSIC! Haim are back! Back!! Back!!! After what feels like absolutely bloody ages (because it was - Ed), and pulling out of last year’s Reading & Leeds to finish it, the sisters will release their much anticipated second album on 7th July. 4

Titled ‘Something To Tell You’, the news broke alongside a flashy live performance of album track ‘Right Now’, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Apparently, Momma Haim was his art teacher at school. These famous types, eh?

â€œI will probably be

covered in glitter for the rest of my life.â€?

ULTIMATE BANGERS THEY SAY IT IS A LEGEND. THIS MONTH...

CHVRCHES THE MOTHER WE SHARE

DREAMING BIG

WITH A NEW TRACK IN TOW, IT’S ONLY RIGHT WE CAUGHT UP WITH AMBER ABOUT LIFE ON THE ROAD, FRESH MUSIC AND THAT INCOMING BEYONCE COVERS ALBUM… WORDS: JAMIE MUIR. PHOTO: CORINNE CUMMING.

Hey Amber! It’s been a while since we last caught up, how’s things? Hey! It’s been really good. I’ve been doing a lot of touring recently and the last few tours, in particular, have felt quite different, especially the last one in America. There’s been a lot of dates but I’m not bored of it at all, and now I’ve got a new band that I’m playing with too. They’re all such fucking legends and great musicians, so I think it’s really adding another element to it all. It’s a bit more live now, not as if it wasn’t live before but now there’s much more to it, and it feels much cooler, and I’m really excited about it. But yeah, things have been going well I think – I dunno, it’s hard to tell because I’ve stopped reading all the comments and shit like that. Sometimes I’ll type into Twitter ‘Amber Bain Shit’ or ‘Japanese House Shit’ just looking for some mean tweets, but I haven’t seen any so far. I’m sure they’re out there somewhere! It looks like you’ve been having a brilliant time out in the States, playing all those headline shows and SXSW too – what’ve been the standout shows? Ahhh, yeah there’s been quite a few over the past few months, like we did this show in Chicago which was cool because we’d never played there before and the show we did was in a 900/850 people capacity place that was sold out, so that was a bit like ‘Woah’. So many people were there, and it was such a fun show. There was New York at The Bowery, which I really like as venue and then I guess Atlanta too which was right after South-by and… South-by was quite an intense experience playing quite a few shows. It’s quite weird because it’s a bit industry and there are so many shows each day.

Just so happens of course, that there’s some new music about with ‘Saw You In A Dream’ (which is blooming great by the way), how did the track all come together? Ahh thanks! Yeah, it all came together quite recently actually. I had a verse that I was playing around for a bit, and then I decided to not force myself to finish it – so a few months later I sat down and was like ‘right, I’ve got this’ and finished it in a day. The track feels really natural and open! It’s probably one of the most natural songs or naturally written songs that I’ve ever done. I didn’t need to change anything, I just got it all done and sung the melody, and that was it. I didn’t change anything else about it, which is quite rare because usually I look through the lyrics and think ‘Urgh that makes me sound like a dicckkk’ or that it just doesn’t make any sense. It’s quite a blatant and honest song, and I guess quite revealing, and I think that’s probably why it was quite easy because it was stuff I purposely hadn’t been writing about or obviously writing about. So as soon as I started writing about it, it all kinda splurged out. Of course it also marks a new EP on the horizon in June too, is the first track a good reflection of what’s to come from that? Ermm, I think the other songs are quite different. I’m really getting into guitar at the moment so there’s a lot more guitar on this EP and I think that’s probably because I’m playing live so much. There’s quite a lot of different styles of writing going on there. Like, there’s one track that I haven’t given a title just yet, but at the moment is called ‘I Hate Myself’ - which I really need to change but, y’know. It’s quite

a blatant one about questioning whether a relationship has changed. There’s one called ‘Creases’, or I think it’s going to be called ‘Creases’, which has these almost hip-hop styled drums. I mean it’s not actually hip-hop, more of a Japanese House hip-hop? It’s a groovy number, really heavily inspired by Beyonce’s last album. So this must be the start of The Japanese House hip-hop album right? Oh yeah, my album is basically going to be ‘Lemonade’ – I’d be happy with that. Just a cover of the whole album from start to finish! P The Japanese House’s EP ‘Saw You In A Dream’ is out 16th June.

THE JAPANESE HOUSE

SAW YOU IN A DREAM

We’ve been head over heels with The Japanese House for a while now. That instantly recognisable blending of glacial-chimes and spine-tingling rawness have been captivating right from the go, and with each and every release that has only got stronger. ‘Saw You In A Dream’ has that special knack most tracks will never reach, an ability to switch you into an all-encompassing world of sparkling clarity that you’ll never want to leave: it captures the butterflies in your stomach, the unbridled emotion that swirls around your head and the longing desire that can only come from loving someone unconditionally. It’s majestic, stunning and a beacon above the city that takes The Japanese House to an unrivalled new level. Everyone’s playing catch-up now.

The zeitgeist and music are strange but welcome bedfellows. There’s no doubt that the sounds we listen to shape the fashions of the world around us. The same is true in reverse, too. Yet, while so many chase that cresting wave of ‘now’, so few actually manage to hit it straight between the eyes. They land either side - late enough to ride the mainstream aftershocks, or early enough to be called tastemakers without ever reaping the real rewards. That’s where ‘The Mother We Share’ proves truly magical. Not only was it a bullseye shot when it first arrived back in 2012 (yes, Dear Reader, it’s five years old this year), but it still feels just as sparkly and on point today. There’s no formula to it - no definable single trait that sets it out. There’s no obvious, repeating chorus refrain, or gimmicky filter. Nothing either throwback or try hard. It’s natural perfection. That echoing vocal synth line feels genuinely iconic, the sweeping electronic vistas drifting off to the horizon. It’s an organic body in a world of flashing neon and Blade Runner style dystopia. The secret, it seems, to being so achingly relevant, is to create a sonic universe that sits beyond outside influence. By not running after the prize, CHVRCHES secured first place for keeps.

BANGERS

FIND MORE ON OUR CONSTANTLY UPDATED BRAND NEW BANGERS SPOTIFY PLAYLIST AT READDORK.COM

HAIM

WHATEVER THE PROPER BANGER IS CALLED

SIGRID

PLOT TWIST

If buzz was measured by volume, Sigrid would need a few sizeable football stadiums to contain the noise around her early moves. ‘Plot Twist’ is no less worth of the hype machine - a fresh as fuck slice of juicy pop that feels streets ahead of her contemporaries.

PVRIS

HEAVEN

The boundaries of rock music aren’t defined by the same list of boorish tick boxes it once was. Like Fall Out Boy and Paramore (more on them later - Ed), PVRIS are pushing their own boundaries with dark, challenging pop. Attitude beats uniform compliance any day of the week..

GET INUIT

ALL MY FRIENDS

You’ll not find it on the front pages, but there’s an arms race underway in the UK indie underground. As bangers go off left, right and centre, it could well be Get Inuit that pack the deciding punch. ‘All My Friends’ is the kind of sugar soaked, melody laden warhead that we’ve come to expect. When they deliver the mother lode, everyone else will be running for cover.

ESTRONS

STROBE LIGHT

Chukka-chukka-chukka. That’s the thumping sound of Estrons skullrattling charge, refusing to drop the beat for a single second. ‘Strobe Light’ is as urgent as its title might suggest. You’re paying attention, or they’re putting you in the ground. Fall in line.

ROYAL BLOOD

LIGHTS OUT

Yes, Royal Blood’s big comeback track is packing riffs. So, so many riffs. Like a tin of popular branded creosote, the Brighton two piece do exactly what they claim, but boy is it effective. It’s not the volume of noise, but the cold eyed delivery that sets them out from the pack. Get down and stay down, sparky.

FALL OUT BOY

YOUNG AND RESTLESS

What did you expect from Fall Out Boy? If you have any answer at all to that question, you’re doing it wrong. Blending their colours, the first track from new album ‘M A N I A’ (yes, the spacing matters), is less a left turn and more never ending EDM donuts on the forecourt of pop punk. Open minds will be rewarded.

So basically, we know the first proper single from Haim’s new album is coming in-between the point we send this issue off to the printers and it ‘hitting’ the ‘streets’. We’ve heard ‘Right Now’, but we haven’t heard what we’re expecting to be the Actual Certified Lead Banger. You will have though, Dear Reader! So you can fill in the gaps below to give it its appropriate ‘dues’. We’re in this together.

THE NEW HAIM SONG IS

IN MY OPINION, IT’S REALLY . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . . .. . .

.. . . THE

BEST BIT IS . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . , BUT . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . I

CALLED . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. .

GIVE IT . .. . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. .

.. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .

. .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . OUT OF FIVE.

PHOENIX

J-BOY

Just because we know what to expect from Phoenix doesn’t make it any less effective. ‘J-Boy’ bristles with the French crew’s iconic vibe - like a cold drink on a sparkling vista, there’s little point improving on what’s already perfect.

INHEAVEN

VULTURES

INHEAVEN have found their place. ‘Vultures’ bristles with the sticky floors and darkened corners of basement indie clubs up and down the country. Snotty and full of attitude, it knows it looks good. Your move, punk.

BLEACHERS

HATE THAT YOU KNOW ME

Jack Antonoff is a pop genius. There’s little arguing that. Add some backing vocals from HRH Queen Carly Rae Jepsen and simple platitudes don’t seem enough. Maybe we should try some form of ethereal being for size?

PARAMORE

HARD TIMES

Paramore have gone pop. Did you hear? No, forget the fact they were smashing the mainstream out of the park on their last record, and that this is the glorious jump to the very height of their powers as the defining act of their musical universe. They’ve gone pop. Pop! 19

HYPE ESSENTIAL NEW BANDS

ALMA 21-YE A R OL D F I N N I SH SONGWRITER ALMA HAS ALREA DY BE E N TIPPE D BY

O NE O F THE B I G G EST P OP STARS ON THE PLANET, AN D WORKE D WITH

TH E L I KES OF M N E K A ND C HARLI XCX - AND THI S I S JUST TH E BEG IN N IN G. WO RDS: B E N JOL L EY.

“Elton John played my song on his radio show.”

‘D

ye My Hair’, an inescapably infectious slice of tropicalinfused pop that has clocked up millions of YouTube views and propelled Finnish powerhouse Alma into radio playlists worldwide, originally started out as a joke in the studio. “Someone said to me ‘You should write a love song’ and I said ‘Oh, that’s hard’. For me, love songs are like Bruno Mars singing ‘I’d catch a grenade for you’… Kind of clichéd, so ‘I would dye my hair blonde for you’ was just a joke; then we made a serious song about it. I wouldn’t ever actually dye my hair blonde for anyone,” the 21-year-old confirms, “but Bruno Mars wouldn’t catch a grenade for anyone either.” The pop-star-in-waiting never expected it would be such a massive hit, though. “I’m kind of a pessimist,” she confesses. “I’m always telling everyone ‘Let’s see, let’s hope for the best’. But when you get a good response it always feels fucking amazing.” She’s currently enjoying her week back at home in Finland. “It’s very relaxing, even though I’ve got a big rehearsal week for my tour,” she says. “I get to sleep in my own bed and everything; I’m so happy.” Growing up in Helsinki, music wasn’t something Alma experienced as a child. “Music is not our culture,” she considers. “My parents were not listening to music at all when I was growing up - it’s a bit different here.” Despite it not being an intrinsic part of her upbringing, it wasn’t long until she started discovering music, taking the time to trawl through YouTube as a teenager and stumbling upon Amy Winehouse, The Jackson 5 and Spice Girls. “I would listen to everything and discovered I really enjoyed music but didn’t really know why. My family is not musical at all, so it was weird, but when you’re a kid you start doing things that you like, and you don’t know why; even strange things…” Singing quickly became one of Alma’s favourite things to do. “I was singing all the time to myself and listening to music all the time,” she remembers. “It made me feel some strange way, but it made me feel good. Even though it sounds stupid, it was just part of me growing up… Of course, when you’re a kid you say to your mum ‘I want to be a superstar…’ but that’s just because everybody wants to be something big and cool. But when I was a teenager I think those thoughts were gone, and I was a bit unsure about what I really wanted to do,” she recalls. After finding music, Alma found

her own voice and became a part of Finland’s “very small” music scene. “Everybody knows each other, whether you’re making rap or punk or rock, whatever. But it’s very hard to get into the circle; people are very tight and like a family. I don’t think they want to take the risk of welcoming new artists… Once you’re in, though, it’s easy.” Soon after, Alma discovered that she had another talent: songwriting. “I hadn’t really considered what I wanted to do, but music was the only thing I was good at,” she suggests. “I just don’t know how to do anything else.” Last year, Alma played The Jazz Café in London for a showcase hosted by Radio One DJ Annie Mac - who has previously called her ‘a badass’. It’s safe to say the experience has stayed with her. “I was quite nervous because my music was still very small and I didn’t know whether people would know my songs at all. But at the gig, people knew every lyric to every song,” she gushes, sounding genuinely humbled. “Personally, the most important thing is that I get to break through every day in the UK, so it was very strange and great that people were so lovely to me; especially because, in the UK, there are so many artists already.” She needn’t have worried, though, as her brand of chart-ready genre-fusing bangers caught the attention of one of the world’s biggest music icons: Elton John. “One day I got a call from my manager who told me that Elton John had just played my song on his radio show. He was talking on the radio saying that he’s a big fan. Nobody knew anything about it; it was just that he discovered my music on Spotify and wanted to play it. For me, if you get a good response from a legend like that, it says something.” She’s also toured with MØ, who she considers “fucking amazing - as an artist and a human. I was so honoured to be able to tour with her at such an early stage in my career.” What stuns Alma most, though, is

ALMA ON... … THE UK

“I’ve been to the UK so many times; I love it. I think it’s my favourite city. I really love the UK humour; it’s very sarcastic and kind of dark. I think UK people are a mixture of LA and Europe – they’re kind of international but still very

when people know her songs. “That’s the craziest thing; I still freak out now. Wherever I go, if people know my songs, I’m like ‘What the fuck is going on?” Talking about her fans, she refers to them as “the craziest people,” adding “I love them”. As for the vibe at her gigs, mosh-pits are a regular feature; “at my last gig in Copenhagen I went into the audience, and we created a moshpit. It’s fucking great; strange but cool and very energetic. People dance and have a good time. It’s not anything glamorous; it’s just new music, hanging out, drinking and having fun.” As for an album, from what’s been recorded so far, people can expect “a new sound,” she enthuses. “I’m busy working on it, but there’s definitely more intimate, personal and experimental stuff. But also big pop songs with elements of everything, and maybe some cool features.” Talking of features, Alma’s next track is a potentially massive collaboration with dance producer Sub Focus. “He heard my song on BBC radio and got in touch saying he wanted to work with me. I’m a huge fan of his work, so I was like ‘Yeah, let’s do it’. I love house and dance things, and he’s the guy!” It’ll follow her festival-friendly second single ‘Chasing Highs’ - a song which she wrote three years ago about being in a club “kind of wasted. When I write my music, it can be just about one moment and ‘Chasing Highs’ is one of those…” Looking to the near future, Alma has her sights set on playing shows in the USA, “playing cool gigs”, making music with cool people and just enjoying life. That’s the most important part for me. I want to do everything in my own time and keep it in my own hands. The most important goal is the album, of course: it’s my debut, so I need to make it perfect!” P Alma plays her first headline London show at Oslo, Hackney, on 16th May.

real. They’re not like American folk. I also really love hanging out in London, it’s so much fun.”

... HELSINKI

“It’s very cold; we have long winters, but it’s also very relaxed. It’s not a very big city – we have loads of forests around even though it’s the capital city. It’s different for sure, but I really enjoy that. In Finland, nothing seems big. If we have something, it’s very small. We are a very, very small place – only one-and-a-halfmillion people in the capital.”

ON ON THE THE GRAPEVINE GRAPEVINE S I G RI D’S O N T H E U P

Fresh off the back of her new EP ‘Don’t Kill My Vibe’, Sigrid has announced a headline date at London’s Scala: she’ll visit the venue on 13th September, following summer festival appearances including Latitude and Wilderness.

W E ’ RE T RY I N G ,G U YS

Dropping heavyweight hooks at every turn, Sløtface have been shaking things up for a while now and things are only going to get bigger with blistering new number ‘Magazine’ flying out of the gates in style. It’s a blooming good sign ahead of debut album ‘Try Not To Freak Out’, set to land on 15th September.

“C O M I N G SO O N ”

Following the release of new track ‘Lazy Shade Of Pink’, Willie J Healey has revealed that his debut album is done and dusted, and coming soon. “I’ve always wanted to have a song with a drum solo in it,” he says. U P I N L I G H TS

Cardiff’s Estrons have shared their new single ‘Strobe Lights’. “[It’s] about the competition between love and jealousy,” says frontwoman Taliesyn Källström, “and the fallout when one defeats the other. We sometimes do crazy things to test our love for one another, no matter how nihilistic.”

t o N YOUR “I’M

” ! n A m

M A RI K A H AC KM A N IS BACK W ITH A BR AND NE W A L BU M AN D TH E C OOL EST GA NG IN TOW N, TH E B IG MO ON, AS HE R BACKI N G BA N D. WHAT B ET TE R WAY TO F I ND OUT W HAT’S BE E N GO I N G ON THAN TO SET THE M LO OSE O N THE I R NE W L E ADE R? WO RDS: A L I SHUTL E R. PH OTOS: P OPPY M A RRI OTT.

arika Hackman knows what she wants. From the very beginning and through debut album ‘We Slept At Last’, she’s known exactly what she isn’t - and she’s never been afraid to share that. With ‘I’m Not Your Man’ though, Marika has worked out exactly what she is. And that’s powerful. “I think a lot of my journey thus far has been a process of elimination. I feel in a very calm and confident place right now, just across the board, which is nice,” she admits. We might be standing on the edge of full-emersion in Marika Hackman’s second chapter, but there’s no fear. No doubts. It’s different, but that was always the plan. “There are people out there who aren’t going to like it, but it’s like that with anything you put out. You just brush it off and focus on the good bits,” she smiles. And right now, there are plenty of good bits to choose from, but that’s new as well. The years between her first record and this one were strange and choppy. At the beginning of last year, she left her label and her management of five years. “I had a bunch of songs ready to go, and I was getting frustrated because I wanted to start recording the album. That was all a very strange, emotional, turbulent time but I came out the other side of it feeling much stronger in my resolve, and that was then the plans with The Big Moon [who make up her backing band for several of the album’s 13 tracks] were coming together. Suddenly everything felt like it was going in the right directions. I started writing more and more, and I felt more productive because it felt like a good place. It felt like everyone was behind it. Everyone just wanted to do it, and it felt positive. That drove me to have the confidence to make the change. I knew where I wanted it to go before I’d even started writing for this record, it’s just whether I would be able to do it or not.” ‘We Slept At Last’’s ‘Open Wide’ was the nod and the wink to where that destination lay. “It felt like the change was always in me, I was always going to start writing heavier music. Years of touring and playing solo meant I could play on my own with a guitar, standing on my head. It’s my safe space. If you don’t fucking push yourself, then what the hell are you doing?” So rather than follow the path laid out for her, she decided: “’I‘ll challenge myself. I’ll start writing for a full band; I’ll have to get a band together, and start performing live like that.” It was scary, but “it’s a good fear, it pushed you. If you’re out of your comfort zone, you’re going to be making something that’s different and new and feels exciting rather than just getting a bit fed up with it all.” “Since I was eighteen and started releasing music I said I don’t want any record to sound

like the last one. Once you’ve said that, you kinda have to follow it up,” she continues. “I feel the difference on ‘I’m Not Your Man’, but it’s still me; it’s just more confident. I feel like a much more confident performer and artist now. I would never have been able to make this record five years ago. That last record was very introspective. It’s a moment in time that’s been caught, but this one feels like a fun-for-all, a direct hit, an actual physical punch. It’s where I was at that moment in time, but it’s a lot freer.” Rather than observation, ‘I’m Not Your Man’ is a record that makes you feel involved. “I started thinking I wanted to play shows that were going to be a shared experience. I wanted to make music that people wouldn’t sit there quietly and get lost in; I wanted people to be there, experience it and experience it with everyone that was around them.” She wanted it to be fun. Marika admits that she’s not very excitable, but get her talking about her new music and sparks fly off her tongue. It’s the same when she talks about the smart pop of MUNA, the crash course lesson that was bringing ‘I’m Not Your Man’ to the stages of SXSW or when she talks about her friends The Big Moon. When they’re together, the room buzzes. Inside jokes are formed and quickly become part of their foundation, and that spinning web is infectious. It’s why ‘I’m Not Your Man’ crackles with such vibrancy. There’s a gang energy throughout and Marika harnesses that to give the album a deep warmth. She never simply rides it though. She’s in control throughout. Which is handy, because Marika admits to being a massive control freak. “I think you have to be in music to get that distinctive thing heard, but then what’s so nice about this record is that the control was all early on. The control was before I started rehearsing with the girls, my control is in my arrangements, my writing, the way I do all of that. Everyone learns their parts, then something else happens, and that’s beyond your control, but that’s why I wanted to do this: to release a little bit of that control.” She never gets lost in The Big Moon’s hurricane urgency though. Yes, the four piece are a solid-as-a-rock group and Marika slots in perfectly, but always in the foreground. “I’ve always said about the songs that I write; I feel confident to take them wherever, with whoever, because I have a confidence in my abilities as a songwriter and my voice as an artist. When people shy away from collaborations or stepping out of their comfort zones, I see that as a fear in their abilities or their voice getting muddied or lost, whereas I don’t. I’ve never felt like that. That might come across as arrogant, but it’s a strength thing. It’s a confidence thing. I’m not sitting here being like ‘I’m fucking amazing’, but I know I have something vaguely unique.” Teaming up with The Big Moon meant that everything had to come together quickly. The record is littered with pedals clicking, people laughing, under the breath counting and talking. None of it was planned. There was never a director’s note saying, “Yes Cee, would you please laugh at the beginning of ‘Boyfriend’.” Instead, it’s all accidental and

NEEDS MUST

THE C RI BS WI LL C ELEBRATE THE TE NTH AN N IVE RSARY OF TH IRD ALBU M ‘ME N’S N E E DS, WOME N’S NE E DS, W HATEVER’ BY PLAY I NG THE REC ORD IN ITS E NTIRETY DU RIN G A RU N OF U K H E ADLIN E DATES TH I S S U M M E R, CULMI NATI NG WITH A HOMETOW N SH OW AT LE E DS ARE N A - AN D TH EY’VE A FE W SU RPRISES IN STO RE... WORDS: JESSICA GOODMAN.

ooking back on music in 2007, it feels almost like another world. Mika signed to Universal and was about to kickstart a high-pitched pop revolution. Avril Lavigne had just released her smash hit single ‘Girlfriend’. A Spice Girls reunion was actually happening. It was also the year Radiohead released ‘In Rainbows’ on a pay-what-you-want scheme, as well as the year Arctic Monkeys put out their storming second record ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’. And, of course, it was a year that underground sensations won out, as The Cribs released their seminal album ‘Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever’. “The scene in the UK was so amped up – it really was a pressure cooker,” Gary Jarman states. “A band would start, get a buzz, get signed to a major label, and be on the radio within a few months. It was crazy.” With two albums already under their collective belt, as well as a series of charting singles, The Cribs were forging out their own path, and no matter how long it took them they were determined to see it through. “We always used to get told we were ‘too lo-fi’,” Gary groans. “The major labels were snapping up any band who looked cool, or any band who had a buzz. We were really reacting against that.”

it is switched on. It’s the sound of a band who know their voice and demand it be heard. Earnest, heart-on-sleeve emotion meets storming pop riffs in a series of twelve songs that spoke out for the discontent in everyone. A decade on, it’s an album that still rings with as much resonance today as it did the first time you heard it. “When you’re making a record you always hope that people will still care about the record,” Gary admits. “You hope that it will be something that resonates with people. But looking this far down the road?” Now, as they take the album on tour across the UK, with dates already sold out across the country, the admiration is as keenly felt today as it ever has been.

led by peoples’ opinions all the time,” Gary starts, “but…” With the idea planted, and the excitement levels high, the trio started to look back on all they’d achieved in the decade past. “The fact that people were asking us to play a record was such an honour. We thought ‘y’know, there’s really no reason not to – we should do it.” A way of giving back for the support that’s got them to where they are today, this tour is a celebration of the fans as much as it is of the music. “We’re doing this tour because people asked us to do it,” they state. “We’re not really doing it for ourselves. That is the coolest thing.” “We really value the people who have stuck with us for this many years,” Gary expresses. “There’s been people who have really cared about the band for a long time. That’s such an enormous honour. You feel fundamentally indebted to them for that reason.” Describing the decision as “a way of us trying to be the ideal band for them,” this whole tour has been pieced together for the fans that have grown with the music – no matter when they discovered it. “We looked at it from the viewpoint we had when we were younger, when we were fans of bands,” the musician recalls. “I was really into Weezer when I was a teenager. I was like ‘I don’t know why they don’t just go out and play ‘Pinkerton’ and just do that, that’d be really cool.’ They own those songs. They can do that. I could never understand it.”

“We’re doing this tour because people asked us to do it.”

An expression of rebellion, ‘Men’s Needs…’ was also the record that propelled The Cribs from being homespun heroes to becoming the nation’s sweethearts. A storming criticism of the culture it was released into, the album is as ticked off as

“When you’re making a record it’s all about trying to capture what you’re doing at that time, and trying to capture what’s important to you at that time, or what the feeling is at that time,” Gary describes. “You’re never really looking that far ahead – but secretly, you’d always hope this.” It’s something fans have been hoping for too. As 2017 ushered its way in, so began the tweets requesting an anniversary celebration for the release, something the band addressed a mere three days into the year. Their response? A taunting “never say never,” soon followed by an ever so subtle “*cough*never*cough*” Liars. Remembering this, the band start to chuckle. “You don’t necessarily want to be

While hopes of a ‘Pinkerton’ anniversary performance went unanswered last year (if you’re reading this Rivers: it’s never too late), the celebrations for ‘Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever’ are 39

BURN THE WITCH P UMAROSA - AS WE’RE SU RE YOU ALRE ADY KN OW, IF YOU’RE TH IS FAR INTO A N ISS U E OF D ORK - ARE ON E OF TH OSE FORMIDABLE BAN DS WH O COMBIN E FU N WITH B E ING A BIT WEI RD, AN D ALSO RE ALLY BLOODY GOOD. FIN ALLY IT’S TIME FOR TH E IR D E BUT ALBUM, ‘TH E WITCH’. AN D IT’S EVE RYTH IN G YOU’D H OPE IT WOU LD BE.

umarosa have achieved a lot in the four years of their existence. Building from just drummer Nicholas Owen and singer and guitarist Isabel Munoz-Newsome, the East London band have grown into an allconquering globetrotting five-piece monster. Before even releasing their debut album they’ve taken their own distinctive blend of dark pop to different continents from Australia to a rapturous reception in Japan. “It was quite fun being in Tokyo because they have such a strong fan culture,” begins Isabel. “We played a festival there and did a signing, and I was like, ‘This will be quite funny and probably a bit tragic’, but there were loads of people!” The excited reaction to Pumarosa is perhaps a consequence of them taking their time before putting a full record out, content instead to build up their following and create an alluring dynamic that makes them stand out. “It gives you time to grow into your sound,” says Isabel of the slow burning process that’s led to anticipation for debut album ‘The Witch’ running at fever pitch. It’s easy to see why Pumarosa are inspiring such devotion among

WORDS: MARTYN YOU N G.

their fans; there’s a deep passion and intensity that runs through their music. You can hear it in the string of excellent singles they’ve released over the past few years, but collected together on one album the whole thing rises to another level. For Isabel, the depth of feeling is a consequence of how she and the band invest themselves in the music: it’s an allencompassing experience. “When I’m writing and thinking about words and melodies, I’m trying to feel my way into things that make me feel passionate,” she explains. “That’s what makes me tick or feel compelled to stand in a room and sing to people. I have to feel pretty intense about it.” For the whole band, the experience of making music is revelatory. “We do whip ourselves into this fever,” she says excitedly. “We play in a passionate way. That comes from the message, and that’s how we connect.” The message that Pumarosa deliver though is not just bound up in words. There’s an importance and a socially-conscious idealism to Isabel’s lyrics, but at the same time, there’s something more primal going on. Pumarosa are making music that goes straight for the body and your primary senses. “That’s something I’ve been thinking about recently while talking to my sister who’s a dancer,”

she says. “I’ve been thinking about the intelligence of the flesh. In our civilisation, we have this belief that the mind and the head are where your consciousness is and the body is just this appendage that flops along behind. Your consciousness is in your own body, and you’re a huge receptor. You’re a powerful thing. To think otherwise is to do it down. Our bodies are incredible.” In many ways, ‘The Witch’ resembles dance music filtered through the prism of rock. See for example the orgasmic, trance-like crescendos of seven-minute-plus epics like the title-track or ‘Red’. “We’re all really into dance music and beat driven electronic music, but we don’t make that kind of music,” says Isabel. “That feeling of euphoria and release though that you get from dancing to heavy electronic music is coming out in these rock songs.” When it comes to the lyrics, it was abundantly clear to Isabel what she wanted to say and how she wanted to get that message across. “I consciously wanted to sing about women,” she states. “I still find it incredible that in so much culture and politics the names and faces are so hugely predominately men. I wanted to put something out into the world where the words and narratives were feminine.” For Isabel, the lyrical themes of

REVIEWS

ALT-J’S CONTINUED RISE FEELS IMPOSSIBLE TO SLOW

Alt-J Relaxer

e e e ee

lt-J aren’t your average big band. They’ve got all the trappings headlining major arenas and topping the bills at major festivals. When they drop new music, the internet reacts accordingly. Radio stations add it to their playlists. Words are written. People listen. But at the heart of it all sits a band who don’t conform to the expected norms. Not musically, at any rate. Nobody else sounds like Alt-J. Few others are as daring, either. Perhaps Radiohead, with their blank cheque of being able to record whatever they desire and still receive automatic acclaim, could be said

to push the boundaries of mainstream acceptance in a similar fashion, but it’s easy when you know there’s little on the line. Standing on their own, Alt-J don’t play by the rules - the rules bend around them. The most immediate moment of ‘Relaxer’ might feature a string of binary as its ear-worm refrain, but there’s little digital about their third album. While those peers churn out carefully crafted robotic bangers, coated in the sheen of ones and zeroes, Alt-J’s music feels like a living, breathing, growing organism it’s intertwining vines creaking as they wrap themselves around a world lit by the cold blue glow of a billion tiny screens. Far from a carefully levelled out affair, ‘Relaxer’ drifts and skips around its family tree, drawing inspiration from wherever it feels fit. ‘In Cold Blood’, all powerful chants and forceful stabs, is definitely the battering ram that will placate the machine’s desire for

something immediate, but it’s far from a comprehensive preview of what’s to be found elsewhere.

something bangers with a repeated chorus and a thick layer of uniform polish.

Those moments of focus come in different shapes and sizes. ‘Deadcrush’ is a bass heavy, vibe surfing beast - so typically Alt-J that, for them, it makes perfect sense. ‘Hit Me Like That Snare’, meanwhile, is part scratchy, lo-fi, primal punk, part retro fair ground ghost house shudder. Both sit together on the same record. Both feel like they belong.

It’s the perfect vignette for what Alt-J represent. While everyone around them strives for the prize via accepted, well worn roads, one band appears through the undergrowth, reaching that final destination by routes previous unmapped. Not by design or deliberate refusal to play the game, but because they’re following their own path - and in doing so creating something that could only ever work if they completely give themselves to where the music takes them. There’s no half measures to ‘Relaxer’. Any suggestion that someone in a suit has asked them to ‘add a couple more singles’ would feel outlandish at best. So rarely does such artistic purity result in the biggest rewards, and yet from here Alt-J’s continued rise feels impossible to slow. Sometimes - just sometimes - a little faith pays off. Who wants to be average, anyway? Stephen Ackroyd

Opening track ‘Relaxer’ is even more compelling. Offered up as the first public taster of ‘Relaxer’, it packs getting on for two minutes of instrumental before it even begins its delicate, folky advance. And yet, by the time Wolf Alice’s Ellie Rowsell appears to deliver one of the most magical guest spots in recent memory, it feels like a legitimate moment. Something which totally belongs on the wider stage, while in the exact same moment breaking every accepted rule of three minute

LIFE

Popular Music Afghan Moon

eeee Having spent three years cutting their teeth performing everywhere from Hull to Texas, LIFE have long built up a reputation with their frenzied live shows. Debut album ‘Popular Music’ is everything you’d expect following such a rise. It’s blustering, it’s brazen, it’s even outright brawling in places. Where this record finds its strength is in the band’s ability to combine their inescapable energy with unshakable hooks. Opening track ‘In Your Arms’ is a rallying call to arms that forges its contagion through wry social commentary; ‘Electricity’ is the band at their most unhinged, proclamations of reassurance colliding with deafening cries of doubt. A reworked version of early single ‘Take Off With You’ appears as ‘Beautifully Skint’; a resonating standout, it sees the band stepping out of their comfort zone to create as close as you can get to a punk ballad. LIFE’s charm lies in the unabashedly raw nature of the sounds they create, and on ‘Popular Music’ they supply that in abundance. Jessica Goodman

LIFE MICK TAKES A BREAK FROM HIS FIFTH TWELVE-HOUR WORK SHIFT IN A ROW (“MY BRAIN FEELS LIKE A USED CONDOM”) TO TELL US ABOUT LIFE’S DEBUT ALBUM. So, what can you tell us about your album - how would you describe its vibe? The album is the end product of years of working, writing, gigging and fighting to tread water in a marginalised city. It’s the sound of anxiety about the future and anger at the present. Where do you draw your ideas from? Lyrically, myself and brother Mez take structural influence from modern and post-modern poetry. Wordplay, blank fiction, beat visions. Thematically we can’t help but reflect what is happening politically and socially, it has become unavoidable in the past year or so to not comment on the times. The world is batshit crazy, and it feels like we are walking through the hyper-realism of an Escher-esque dreamscape. Are there any topics you haven’t yet covered that you’d like to on a future release? I’d like to do a science-fiction concept epic about unknown creatures and sexual deviance. Or maybe a reggae album about dragon riding wizards that solve crimes. Other than that I guess we’ll just continue to absorb the pus that oozes in society and comment on what happens next... Why the title ‘Popular Music’? A couple of reasons really. Firstly, when we wrote the titular track ‘Popular Music’ it felt like a mission statement for us as a band. It became the track that all other ones had to hold a candle to. The measuring stick by which we assessed our own output. Secondly, I think it has a positive message. It would be easy to see it as a snipe from a ‘leftfield’ band about the mainstream populous. I actually see it as the opposite, lyrically it paints the scene of working day life grinding you down and how getting ‘off your face’ and listening to ‘popular music’, or whatever music you choose, can help you escape that monotony. Whether you crawl into a dungeon in Dalston and listen to underground Belgium jungle groups, or go nuts to Beyonce in your local Walkabout, it’s all about the cathartic release of saying fuck it. This is my LIFE, and for the rest of the evening, I wanna pretend my job does not exist. I wanna make some bad decisions, y’know? P

The Charlatans

Stevie Parker

The Amazons

BMG

Virgin EMI

Fiction Records

Different Days

eeee

The Cure

The Amazons

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Building from mournful piano, echoing, trip-hoppy thwoks of snare and an insistent, submerged electric pulse like the faintest sign of life from a heart broken one too many times, Stevie Parker’s ‘Never Be’ is a melancholy, impressive opener which quickly establishes the mood of ‘The Cure’. Although Parker writes with a disarming, relatable frankness, all the heartbreak and high drama can make the album a little wearying in spots; but as the title might suggest, there’s a story being told here. However bleak, it’s a voyage that’s ultimately redemptive. Rob Mesure

Ambition is a wonderful thing. All too often, you see bands get a bit scared of going for it, of giving everything and being unabashed in their dreaming. That definitely isn’t the case with The Amazons, whose intentions of singalong masses and unbridled euphoria have been written across every move and riff they’ve laid out - and now with their self-titled debut album, they have the soundtrack for it all. Big, bold and bursting with ground-shaking moments, it’s a debut that doesn’t just introduce itself but affirms how unstoppable The Amazons’ rise is about to become. Jamie Muir

Alex G

SkitKid

Pixx

Domino Records

PNKSLM Recordings

‘Different Days’ sees The Charlatans draft in a plethora of guests such as actress Sharon Horgan and writer Ian Rankin, alongside some Manchester legends. ‘Solutions’ sees New Order drummer Stephen Morris behind the kit, underpinning its driving edge, while ‘Plastic Machinery’ has indie banger written all over it with Johnny Marr’s distinctive guitar. A tale of two halves, the first bathes itself in 90s psychedelic with a Britpop edge, and the second takes on a more electronic sound. It’s a solid record and, while the likes of the title track and ‘Not Forgotten’ feel like filler, well worth a listen. Josh Williams

Rocket

eeeee With beautiful melodies draped around complex ideas, some folky, some country and a little bit of what’s in between, for the most part ‘Rocket’ is a serene and docile affair. It means you’re all the more susceptible for the barrage that comes from middle point ‘Bridge’. Furious and sounding like the soundtrack to a Guy Ritchie film, it’s distorted to the max and completely sideswipes your expectations. It’s an album rife with earnest truths that do little to take themselves seriously, making it a quintessential staple of Alex G and all of his efforts. Steven Loftin

Fish

The Age Of Anxiety

e e e ee

4AD

“Baby are you out of your mind?” Åsa Söderqvist echoes on her album’s opening track. “Never seen a girl like me.” Tongue in cheek those lyrics might be, but the music she makes is certainly one of a kind. Creating rock’n’roll at its most deliciously lo-fi, the Swedish musician has become something of a sensation. Under the moniker ShitKid she offers a soundtrack to life in all of its droll possibility. From late night parties through lazy days, cute crushes, and pent up frustrations, debut album ‘Fish’ is an exploration through everything that excites us. Jessica Goodman

Sometimes, we all need to distil the world around us into something more understandable. It could be taking away the complicated elements and leaving an underlying purpose or focusing specifically on small worries one at a time whatever helps us through is a key part of the human condition. Giving a new meaning to what’s around us, the viewpoint of Pixx is one sprinkled and coated all over ‘The Age Of Anxiety’, a debut album that introduces the nuances and textures of her world in a way that is both dazzling and infectious. Jamie Muir

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