Music Writings by CL

Add N To (X) - Birmingham, 2002. Full Review, Click Here, “You’re not singing, you’re not singing, you’re not singing anymore”….. There it is, as sang on Monster Bobby, a song which wasn’t played at Birmingham Academy. In fact, neither were a lot more vocal tracks from the futu-robotic sex noiseniks we know and love as Add N to (X). You see, the problem was a classic one. Half-heartedness. To make the Add N to (X) sound more full on, the band had grown from a three piece to a full on quintet, but this didn’t make up for the lack of interest shown on the bands behalf. So there were five, but still Ann Shenton was missing. Where was she?? When asked by the audience, the reply was telling. A firm “Shut Up”. This was about it for band-audience interaction. What was to follow was some moments of vinyl genius played with the same amount of passion that Shane MacGowan shows for dentistry. Something was amiss. Metal Fingers In My Body, once a wall of sound, now came acros

Alec Empire Interview 2002 - "Ooh I'm crying, my girlfriend left me, it's raining" Full Interview, Click Here ALEC EMPIRE INTERVIEW 7/10/2002 As the founder of DHR, would you encourage other people in bands to start their own record label? I think there are a lot of people doing their own labels already, and most people don’t realise that it is hard work. Seriously, you are working ALL the time.  I don’t know if I would say that every band should do their own record labels, what I see is that is that a lot of people that I know who own labels, don’t find the time anymore to work on their own music.  On the other side I think it’s the best way to keep the control. That is the reason we’ve done it. We knew we couldn’t get our music out there the way we wanted it because labels would’ve forced us to change, or manipulated it in some ways. So by setting up dhr we avoided that, but you have to do it full time otherwise your wasting

Full Article Here. Dee Dee Ramone has been found dead in his L.A. home. It is believed that Bassist of  The Ramones , Douglas Glenn Colvin aka  Dee Dee , aged 50, has passed away. He was found by his wife at his hollywood home on Wednesday June 5th . He was pronounced dead at 8.40pm by paramedics and the Los Angeles coroner's office press statement reads:  "The investigator noted drug paraphernalia, including a single syringe on the counter, and we are handling it as a possible accidental overdose" . Former bandmate  Joey Ramone  passed away last April. The Ramones website  carries a statement of the bassist's passing with a quote paraphrased from the Bible  "Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands; sing forth the honor of Dee Dee's name; make his praise glorious." Rest in Peace Dee Dee.

Le Tigre - Nottingham Bodega, 2002.  Full Review, Click Here. LE TIGRE LIVE Nottingham Social Bar – 29/05/2002 When the news broke that Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna was in a new pop band, Le Tigre, people got worried.  Can how can you make pop music, happy sounding music, with political and vitriolic lyrics? It can’t be easy, but Le Tigre pull it off well. Taking to the stage at Nottingham Social, the screaming anger of Bikini Kill and Julie Ruin but a distant memory, we’re treated to a mixture of lo-fi electronic pop dance music, feminist ideology, short films, and synchronized dance action to songs like What’s your take on Cassavettes and LT tour theme, synchronized dance action that makes want in on the dance action. Even the harder tracks such as  Yr Critique, and My Art, ooze a creeping funkiness. These are songs that make you dance, but they make you think too.  When I say Le Tigre are pop, I don’t mean it in the S Club 7 sense,

Modey Lemon - Wolverhampton Little Civic, 2002. Full Review, Click Here. The Modey Lemon came to the UK as support band to The Von Bondies, a great great band, and one I intended to review, but the problem is, their support band were so great, that their set in comparison was quite average.  Stood alone and it would be a different matter, and all credit to them for bringing to the UK's attention such a brilliant band. The Modey Lemon are a two-piece from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, utilising one guitar, one drum, one vocal, and one Moog to devastating effect.  Imagine The White Stripes playing Motorhead via Iggy at his prime, and you're a third of the way there! The songs were packed with so much electricity that it was damn near impossible to just observe, you HAD to move, you were left with NO option, you just can't be bored when you're being blitzed with tracks like It's Hard, all glam rock stomp and fifties squeal action, You Bug me which blaze

Cornelius - Amsterdam Paradiso, 2002. Full Review, Click Here. Cornelius Live at Amsterdam Paradiso Cornelius doesn’t tour much, but when he does, it’s a big deal.  Cornelius likes to put on a show.  We’re not talking about your cheesy run of the mill support band that rock, followed by greatest hits and faux equipment trashing.  On the tour for the last LP Fantasma, the audience were issued with headphones so they could hear the gig with the most perfect sound quality, and miss none of the action whilst going to the toilets. But Fantasma was the past, Cornelius is now touring his latest epic Point, an album a lot less manic than it’s predecessor, yet equally as brilliant.  The same can be said of the gig at the Amsterdam Paradiso.  There were no headphones, but we got a fantastic opening intro which saw Cornelius in Silhouette behind a giant screen, pointing out lyrics and info on the giant screen, before it dropped to reveal a cinema screen that would featu

V/Vm - Sometimes Good Things Happen, Album Review 2002. Full Review, Click Here. And once again,  V/VM  decide to treat us to some of the worst music ever made. Or is that the best? What's right and what's wrong? Sometimes Good Things Happen  is a VERY loud album. No, it's a VERY quiet album. Well, it's both. Probably. You see,  V/VM  have knocked up two versions of the album: one is right and one is wrong, but which one is which? Do you know, and if you buy it, do you think you'll know whether ear-splitting noise is right, Mechanical Ambience is wrong? Who knows? You may get to hear that  The Truth is Dead  as a slab of distorting noise, you may hear it as eerie soundwaves, but either way you'll hear it as a curiosity and possibly as an annoyance. It may not be pleasurable, but it's good. Or is that bad?

Chilly Gonzales Interview - 'Boxing Balls & Apes', 2002. Full Interview, Click Here. 30 year Jason Beck first tasted fame as the lead vocalist in a Canadian rock band ‘Son’. Disillusioned with the music industry, he eventually split from the band and started recording under the alias Gonzales.  Thus a star was born.  Signed to cool German label Kitty-Yo, he recorded an astonishing debut album ‘Gonzales uber Alles’, followed up with and EP with labelmate Peaches, and a hip hop pop album ‘The Entertainist’ with some members of the Digital Hardcore community.  It seemed Gonzales’ star was rising, but it’s his new album Gonzales III: Presidential Suite that is going to see Jason Beck’s alter ego go huge. When I told my friend I had to see Gonzales, she replied, “Oh I love them”  Is it a case of there being certain aspects that make ‘Gonzales’? Maybe she means Gonzales and his ego, or Gonzales the seventies group who had the hit ‘I haven’t sto

Chilly Gonzales Ft. Feist - Manchester Hop & Grape, 2002. Full Review, Click Here. Call Chilly Gonzales what you want, the Worst M.C, Prankster fly, but you can't call him boring. The Gonzales live experience is one that puts most to shame.  You get dedication, passion, comedy and five costume changes, and it never slides into Butlins style cabaret, or high camp. Schemes and Variations kicks off proceedings, armed with only two melodikas and current sidekick Feist, it's stripped down from it's electro-funk origins, and turned into something that wouldn't sound amiss from the soundtrack to the film Amelie! Many tracks appear as an altered version, be it <b>Why don't we dissapear, from Gonzales Uber Alles as a tender duet with Feist, or Take me to Broadway as a dirty electro-funk epic, Gonzales knows how to keep a crowd both transfixed and in the mood for partying, as Chilly and Fei

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion / The International Noise Conspiracy, Manchester University 2002. Full Review, Click Here. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion have just released their latest album ‘Plastic Fang’ and have taken to the road in support of it, bringing along The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the International Noise Conspiracy for the ride. Having caught the tail end of The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s set due to Mancunian traffic, for TINC started the night off for us by showing the Manchester audience how to create and almighty mix of rock and politics whilst avoiding the cheese factor. Smash It Up, Up For Sale…. They all steamroll along from a band who look as if they just have stepped out of school, even though they have been going in one for m or another for nearly a decade. It feels as though the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion have been going forever, but that doesn’t stop them blasting through many highlights from their often glorious, often drab past. Songs

Alec Empire - Intelligence and Sacrifice, Album Review 2002. Full Review, Click Here. "Destiny won't speak in slogans" It's been 10 years since  Alec Empire 's band  Atari Teenage Riot  burst from the Berlin underground, spawning a record label which offered freedom for many like minded artists who were fed up with the a mucic scene on the verge of an monotonous implosion. Digital Hardcore was born. Towards the end of the last millennium, things weren't looking too good,  ATR  were collectively burning out, and the elitist underground couldn't cope. The backlash had begun. The backlash was dealt with by using only silence. All the while the rumour mill did it's thing, circling and achieving nothing more than creeping snobbery. But whilst all this was happening,  Alec Empire  was writing and recording his 'debut' album proper, _Intelligence and Sacrifice. The first thing you notice on listening to this double cd, is that the son

Babes In Toyland - Coventry Kasbah, 2002. Full Review, Click Here.

Peaches - 93 Feet East, London 2002. Full Review, Click Here.