Ah, 2002. Who could forget the International Year of Ecotourism, Mountains, and the Outback (in Australia)? If that wasn’t enough, the queen celebrated her golden jubilee, the king came back with a bang to win the World Cup, and Hollywood decided it would release (almost) nothing but sequels. Of course, there was also a lot of great music, and here’s a selection of our favourites.

Tracklisting:

1) Broken Social Scene – Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl
2) Say Hi To Your Mom – Kill the Cat
3) The Decemberists – July, July!
4) Spoon – The Way We Get By
5) The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Part 1
6) The Mountain Goats – The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton
7) The Libertines – Time For Heroes
8) Mclusky – To Hell With Good Intentions
9) Pavement – Baptiss Blacktick
10) Sleater-Kinney – One Beat
11) The Mountain Goats – No Children
12) Okkervil River – Westfall
13) Thee More Shallows – Where Are You Now?
14) Julie Doiron – All Their Broken Hearts
15) Múm – Green Grass of Tunnel
16) Iron & Wine – Faded From Winter
17) Carissa’s Wierd – So You Wanna Be A Superhero
18) Wilco – Radio Cure
19) Songs:Ohia – Didn’t It Rain
20) Sigur Ros – Untitled I

What did we miss from 2002? Let us know via the usual channels! Be sure to check out our posts on 2000 and 2001, and come back next month when we’ll be turning our attention to… 2003.

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Brooklyn’s Radical Dads are about to release Universal Coolers, their third album and the follow up to last year’s Cassette Brain EP. The band, comprised of ex-Clap Your Hands Say Yeah drummer Robbie Guertin, Chris Diken and guitarist/vocalist Lindsay Baker, draw inspiration from the guitar rock of heavyweights such as Pavement and Yo La Tengo, creating a hook-laden, melodic brand of twin guitar (zero bass) indie rock.

Opener ‘Absurd Tests’ sets the tone, a sub-two minute shot in the arm of carefree and ramshackle DIY rock. ‘Tomorrow’s Trash’ is all squealing guitars and Baker’s volatile delivery, while ‘Slammer’ is a blend of spiky rock and romantic dream pop, with some pretty odd (but funny) lyrics. “Snakes on the sidewalk / all over my block / I won’t go outside any more/ Good lord, they’re up to my front door”.

‘In the Water is a song about the repression of the masses, “And the negative creeps keep coming around / piling up as we’re shutting down / you can’t see it from the surface you can’t identify its purpose / its in the water”, but my current favourite track is ‘Don’t Go’, which has a really great, catchy chorus of, “Prepared pianos in our room / the kids come up to dance in the doom / new signs will soon appear in space / don’t worry dear, don’t go away”.

The title track features a simple shout-along chorus of “Universal Coolers!”, with ‘verses’ comprised of lots of squally noise and mumbled vocals. The yelled chorus trend continues on ‘Desperado Dude Lens’ (“Your name on a plaque at the world’s end / white hairs flying back in the wind / he’s going up the trail / he’s got that ex-explorer desperado dude lens”), before ‘Flight To NZ’ shakes things up with an almost spoken word account of the titular flight to New Zealand (“hey we were going away / headed for a new place / sitting on the tarmac / a couple, a couple of former sad sacks”), complete with roaring guitars and slamming drums.

The final two tracks are DJ Pancake, with its time-bomb percussion, and Cassette Brain (which you may recognise from the aforementioned EP), which is all low rumbling guitars and a pounding drum beat, and, at its core a love song. “We won’t get swept away / you will clear the toxic sludge from my head / we’ll go to the library and hammer away each day we’re not dead”. Basically, Universal Coolers is a really great indie rock record and if you find you can’t enjoy it then perhaps there is something wrong with you. I firmly believe that the “virtues” of innovation and trendsetting are majorly over-rated. If every band poured as much love, care and carefree energy into their records then the world would be a better place, both musically and otherwise.

You can order Universal Coolers now via Old Flame Records (who have also released albums by Shark?, Swimming and You Won’t), on either CD or limited edition blue or black vinyl.

P.S. Here’s a fun fact for you – The artwork was produced by Steve Keene, the prolific Greenpoint artist who designed some pretty famous album covers such as Pavement’s Wowee Zowee.

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The track is the band’s first single for new label, Moshi Moshi,and will appear on the re-release of their debut album, Weird Little Birthday, which will be available to buy from the 30th of March.

The band also have a whole host of upcoming tour dates with Slow Club and JAWS. Here are the dates if you’re interested:

February Tour With Slow Club

5  The Bullingdon, Oxford   18+
6  Arts Centre, Norwich
7  Arts Centre, Colchester
11 Sugarmill, Stoke
13 Arts Centre, Pocklington
14 Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh  14+ / U16 w adult
15  Trades, Hebden Bridge
16 Arts Club, Liverpool    14+ / U16 w adult
23  Wardrobe, Leeds
24 Cookie Jar, Leicester
26 Guildhall, Gloucester    14+
27  Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham  18+
28  Queens Social Club, Sheffield  SOLD OUT

March dates with JAWS

3  Norwich Epic Studios
4  London Heaven
6  Manchester Academy
7  Birmingham Institute

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Indeed, Titus Andronicus are the band that I kept coming back to when listening. Take for example the searing opener, ‘The End is a Vicious Thug’, with its raw and throaty vocals and bitter, cynical lyrics:

“The end is a vicious thug
lying cheat backstabbing scum
it’ll look you in the eye –
keep you on the run from the trouble behind
past the crows the yellow sky
and the awful things that they symbolize”

The album continues in this vein, with impassioned vocals and crashing drums making for a really good time. Other standout tracks include the slacker rock love song ‘High’ (“I had the nerve to hold a flower out / You had the nerve to take it / Just keep sending smiles my way / I’ll be high for a lifetime”) and the chugging indie rock of ‘Cadence’, which has a potentially killer singalong chorus.

Like A Human Being is due for release on the 10th of March, but if you can’t wait that long then you can download it on a pay-what-you-want basis via the Puzzlecuts bandcamp page.

P.S. The album was written and recorded solo, but a full-band Puzzlecuts will be touring in the coming months. Keep your eyes peeled in case they play near you.

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In a genre that often relies on feedback and general noise, WAITERS have a relatively minimalist style. Each instrument is distinct and identifiable, rather than being lost under the fuzzy hum. The result is a fresh and accesible EP that is suited perfectly to the artwork (by Matthew Walkerdine and Laetitia Glenton).

There is not a lot more information on the band, so I’ll leave you with a song.

You can buy the EP on vinyl from CF Records, or download it via their Bandcamp page.

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If latest album More Than Any Other Day is anything to go by, Montréal’s Ought do not follow these rules. The band, shaped by the Printemps d’Erable Quebec student general strike (and following months of protest against neo-liberal austerity measures), are definitely not ignorant. However, their music possesses an exuberant earnesty which is maybe at odds with their roots.

And it is this that makes Ought stand out as a band – it would be all too easy for a group interested in/affected by political issues to become an angry protest outfit, but instead they channel things into a much more positve energy. ‘Today, More Than Any Other Day’ opens slowly but builds up into a jubilant celebration of life. I’ll quote at length so you get the idea:

‘Well today, more than any other day, I am excited for the milk of human kindness.
And today, more than any other day, I am excited to go grocery shoppping.
And today, more than any other day I am prepared to make a decision between 2% and whole milk.
And today, more than any other day, I look into the eyes of the old man across from me on the train and say “Hey! Everything is going to be okay!”’

‘The Weather Song’ (listen below) is similarly buoyant: a messy slice of rock ‘n roll with a chorus that would make it a summer radio-hit in any just society. Other songs are more experimental in sound and across the album the band explore different styles, never dwelling on any one too long. Attempts to nail down clear comparisons are difficult. Sure, you could cite Pavement, Sonic Youth, Cap’n Jazz, Gang of Four, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, etc. etc., but as soon as you pin down an influence for one part of the album, it moves in a different direction, leaving you chasing after it, breathless and delighted.

More Than Any Other Day is to be released by Constellation Records on 29th April, and you can pre-order it here.

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Hi Brian, how is life on Long Island? How does it feel to finally release the new album after the long hard process of getting it into existence?

Long Island is excellent.  It’s a pretty small town I live in.  I commute via the railroad to Manhattan for work.  It’s nice to feel the energy of Brooklyn and NYC, but also have a break from it every night, and a bit of room to stretch out.  Releasing this new album is quite an amazing feeling.  As a musician, I think every time you can finish something it feels like a triumph on one level or another.  This is the first time we’ve ever worked with a PR company, so the process of waiting and not just releasing everything immediately via Bandcamp was challenging for me.  I think my impulse is just to share stuff and see what people think, but not that we’re finally here I’m super excited.  Brian V. and I are really proud of the album.  The songs come from a really honest place, and even though some of the songs are melancholy, there was a lot of joy that went into making it.

Your explanation of the new album on the Bandcamp page gives an honest picture of your life at the time of writing – the band’s situation, your family life with a wife and kids, the economic struggle and so on – and you say this heavily influences what you write. Do you find it difficult letting the people close to you see/hear the new songs?

There are a few songs – “Stars Collided in Our Hearts” in particular, that do feel really vulnerable and emotional to perform.  “Head Underwater” is another.  I think in the past I’ve written a lot of songs that portray more of a romanticized view of love and other things. I was always trying to create a dream world that was somewhat removed from my reality – an escape.  This time I was determined to let go of that a bit, and speak more directly from the heart.  I think one of the things I’ve learned as more of a general life-lesson is that it helps to be open about things.  I think a lot of people are really secretive about their problems, especially when it comes to money.  It’s fine to be private, but handling things that way can also create this weird cycle of shame and depression.  I found myself saying things in these songs that I wouldn’t say to friends and family.  It’s funny – a lot of those people will hear the record and probably won’t listen closely enough to the lyrics to really catch what I’m talking about.  It’s bizarre and ironic that I get to speak more intimately with strangers around the world through music than I do with family, but I guess it’s also pretty wonderful and amazing that I get the chance to do that.

As a follow-on from the previous question, do you see your music as a way of speaking to your loved ones? For example in ‘Hard Times, Go!’ you sing‘I haven’t been as brave in how I’ve loved you // as I know I should have been // I thought if I kept quiet // you might think I was strong’. Do you want your wife to listen to your music and treat it personally? Or do you use your situation and emotions to mould songs that are about (and for) other people? In other words, are you writing songs concerning your life and self? Or are you writing fiction from experience?

Ha – I’ve definitely learned that speaking through lyrics is not the most effective way to communicate with my wife!  That being said, this is definitely the most autobiographical set of songs that I’ve written.  I think I resisted writing that way for a long time, and maybe I was finally just at the point where I had nothing to lose.  When I was younger I started out playing more folky, singer-songwriter type music.  I played around a lot of coffee houses where the thing is to do a more straightforward, confessional style of songwriting.  I always resented the limitation and the implication that things should only be perceived that way.  It seemed like an oversimplification.  Of course, fiction comes from some sort of emotional reality, and there’s always a connection –   but if everything is confessional than you’re eliminating the entire scope of the writer’s imagination.  I always wanted my songs to be more than stream of conscious journal entries.  I took pride in the craft of transcending that.

What are the main influences on your music and writing outside of personal experience? In the aforementioned description you say that Robyn’s Body Talk had a large effect on Hard Times, Go! But are there any others? Do books and literature play a role in song writing for you?

I take from lots of different places I guess.  I think as a writer, my work was fundamentally shaped by Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, and Jack Kerouac more than anyone else.  I still think about Bob Dylan all the time – and just the sheer power of him as an artist.  Of course there are lots of others – Tom Waits is big.  I draw on literature a bunch too – I love the Beat Generation writers, and Bukowski and Henry Miller, but also more contemporary folks like Junot Diaz, Lorrie Moore, Denis Johnson.  I feel like film is pretty closely connected to music also, and even television.  The song “Chasing a Phantom” is a direct reference to one of the episodes from the last season of Mad Men.

The album was funded via Kickstarter, and through one of the updates on there you said that you felt it allows artists to receive funding for the work they want to produce, rather than the old model of producing what others want to hear in order to receive funding. Do you think this freedom could allow bands to thrive in areas where that were previously impossible? Does the amount raised significantly influence an artist’s ability to produce their work?

I think it’s part of a larger conversation, about the whole digital revolution, but Kickstarter has absolutely been an amazing tool for us, and bands are absolutely thriving in areas that were previously impossible.  I was always an indie rock kid at heart – I grew up idolizing people like Ian Mackaye from Fugazi, so for me that fact that’s it’s become so much easier to make records than it was back then is a really incredible thing that I’ll never take for granted.  You can make a record for almost nothing.  I don’t think the amount of money raised from Kickstarter relates directly to an artist’s ability to produce work – unless their work relies on more expensive tools than ours does – higher fidelity, mastering, etc.  It does take a bit of creativity and stubbornness to be self sufficient, but it always has.   We treat Kickstarter more like an extended pre-order for the record, with merch and stuff.  Our goal was set to make the process of making the Vinyl and the T Shirts and stuff something we knew we could break even at – instead of the old DIY way of basically funding things on a credit card and hoping you did well enough to recoup your expenses.  We aren’t able to do that.  On a larger scale – signing to a label was sort of the same thing.  Most bands never recouped expenses and got dropped.  My favorite thing about Kickstarter is that if you don’t meet your goal, no one gets charged and you aren’t required to complete or fulfill the project.  It seems responsible.  If there is not an audience demand to support a product, that product doesn’t come into existence.  You make music to connect with people.  You make records if people want them – not just because it seems like a cool thing to do. 

With all the said – with music and with our culture in general there is also a relationship between money and access.  There’s the challenge of reaching people through all the noise.  I try not to worry about that much.  I just try to do good work and share it, making use of the tools I have.  If there a content war going on with our culture – it’s probably a war that no one is going to win.

You wrote an essay on the evolution of the music industry and our relationship with the music we listen to, and conclude that the increased availability of music (and for free) has lessened our willingness to engage with each single album, as if in the gluttony of filesharing we no longer savour each bite and instead gulp down whatever we can (as highlighted by my first post on Beat Radio). Compare this to the positive effect of the internet where unknown bands can reach wide audiences through social media (and the aforementioned effect of Kickstarter allowing artists to create whatever they envision) and there is an interesting standoff between the good and evil of the information age. In your own experience (admittedly without the pleasure of a crystal ball to view alternate realities), has the internet been beneficial or detrimental to your musical career?

I used to get hung up on the question but I came to realize that there wasn’t really any point to look back.  Beat Radio came of age creatively at a strange time where people were still operating with the expectations of the old music industry, but the bottom had dropped out.  We were able to get the attention of lots of people – labels and stuff, but nothing ever really came of it, for lots of reasons.  Without the internet and the support of mp3 blogs and stuff, we never would have found an audience at all.  Without access to inexpensive gear where I could make records in my basement, we never would have gotten past the first album. So mostly I’m grateful that I’m able to make art and connect with an audience.  I feel really lucky to have been able to continue to develop as an artist. We’ve been fortunate to finally start bringing in revenue over the last couple years through licensing and download sales and stuff – but whenever I put pressure on music to have it be something that could take the place of my day job, it always seems to take the joy out of it.

Finally, what music are you enjoying at the moment? Could you list four or five artists that you are currently listening to? Any genre or vintage welcome.

Yeah, of course! I wrote a post about my favorite songs of 2012 here – I really loved the records last year from Will Stratton, Damian Jurado, and Father John Misty.  I also listen to a ton of Pavement over the last few years, and Neutral Milk Hotel.  I heard the new Yo La Tengo today also and that is really great.  I co-wrote a song recently with Drew Danburry and have been listening to a ton of his stuff.  The demos for the new album he’s working on are incredible.  There’s so much. It never ends.

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