Lick Online - Demo Reviews

>> Less Than Three
>> Single
>> One Records

I hated Science at School - ESPECIALLY PHYSICS, but the glorious experiment that is We Are The Physics' debut single Less Than Three - may just have lazy school kids like I was jumping around the classroom.

The Glasgow 4-piece give new meaning to the word alternative with this offering, with the recording capturing the energy that oozes from the band both the live shows and in the video. We Are the Physics are definitely something a little different from Glasgow at the moment, and with this track the Physics seem to be adding quality songs to their already fantastic live reputation.

So get along to a Physics show if you fancy seeing four music-mad performers not taking themselves too seriously - with mind-blowing effects.

Michael, Micheal, Chris GO BUY IT!!

>> Joe Sach

www.wearethephysics.com
www.myspace.com/wearethephysics

>> The Revivals
>> High in Friends Places

They’re honest at least. The Revivals are showing a complete disregard for any modern ideas about rock music and have made an album of nads-out old school rock and roll. They’ve been generously compared to the Stones and Creedence but it’s probably fairer to compare them to people like Reef, or Rooster.

The grammatically erratic ‘High in Friends Places’ rolls along at a merry old pace but lacks the song writing to propel The Revs into the major limelight. That said, it does have generational appeal and will no doubt please aging rockers and whatever the ‘00s equivalent of the ‘lad’ is in equal measure. ‘Jimi Biscuits’ is particularly good fun but I don’t reckon I’ll listen to it more than twice. The rest is fairly generic.

The Revivals are currently enjoying an almost baffling level of recognition at the moment – touring with the Zutons and having appeared at SXSW – I can only imagine that they have an absolutely tremendous live show going on. Sadly, for me, this sounds like music I actively started avoiding in the mid-nineties. But, this being a Glasgow band doing it their own way, I wish The Revivals the very best of luck and hope they can continue to build on the following they have at the moment.

>> Russell Moore

>> Spell of the Trembling Earth

Now I’m not going to linger on this but back in the days before Myspace and iPods and such like you had to actually leave your house to find out about new bands and new music. In the mid-nineties, on one of my many music-finding missions, I came across Telstar Ponies: a Glasgow band of considerable talent and rare ability. They weren’t around for long but they made a welcome impact on my musical outlook at the time. Well, with even the reformed Ponies on an open sabbatical at the moment it is a treat to introduce Porch Song Anthology.

How do you describe a side project that’s not really on the side of anything? Let’s say it’s a side progression. Taking the folk tendencies of Telstar and developing a sound reminiscent of Richard Thompson, Gillian Welch and countless blue-grass pluckers Porch Song Anthology has created an album of almost mythic quality. ‘Spell of the Trembling Earth’ looks and sounds like a long lost slice of American musical history. But it’s more than that – in blue-grass there is open reference to the Celtic musical tradition it was born of, this album sounds like the Celts reclaiming the sound but happily paying dues to those in the American South that have taken care of it for so long.

‘I belong to Jesus’ is a potent railroad sound that relives the borderline paranoia that seeps through lyrics of this type. Talk of judgement and mercy in the light of Jesus’ coming through the full-blown majesty of banjo and harmonica – it has the hallmark of authenticity all over it. ‘Carnival Hill’ relives some of the avant-garde guitar sounds that marked out Telstar Ponies back in the day – an aching sound that reflects the strung out lyrics perfectly. The high point of the album comes with ‘Rest and Be Thankful’ – it is described in the linear notes with the words “go far enough and you’ll find something worthwhile at the end”. A song of moving on and leaving behind your regrets is captured by a hypnotic combination of instruments and vocals. It’s a stark contrast to the cloudy ‘Ask the Dust’ which closes the album but that just makes the impact of both songs all the stronger. It’s unusual to find the last two songs on an album equally as strong as the openers but it makes for a very rewarding listening experience.

Spell of the Trebling Earth is probably the most honest and soulful album we’ll get the chance to hear this year – miss it at your peril.

>> Russell Moore

>> Costello Music
>> Fallout Recordings / Island

It’s finally here! Woohoo! The most lovable band in Scotland finally produce the long-awaited debut album through Drop The Gun Recordings / Island Records.

If you are still not aware of this band (first featured in the Lick Mag back in November 2005 I might add…) then you’re either dead or dead boring. The Fratellis are everywhere – and deservedly so.

Costello music is a tale of honest-man Jon Fratelli & 2 chums and their wacky real-life adventures in the wonderful city of Glasgow, be it getting his ‘nuts’ in the back of a hippy’s van or simply stumbling in from another drunken night out – God I feel so patriotic as write this! Couple these tales of mischief with some of the best lyrics and catchiest melodies I’ve heard all year and you’ll end up with Costello Music, a fabulous record made with the loveable attitude of three Glaswegian slackers.

Right from the word go the toes are tapping and you’re throwing a pint over the guy next to you, with the radio breakthrough track Henrietta grabbing you by the balls and making you dance like a complete arse. There are plenty of ‘la la la’ moments and whistle-a-long tracks in there just to get everyone going.

Lyrically I can only see Mr Turner of Arctic Monkeys competing with this record this year in terms of local, honest raw-ness, and it may be the Scottish-ness of it all that puts it ahead of the Monkeys for me. The way Jon sings although I may be on a downer I’m still ready e’ dream in Whistle For the Choir really hits a spot.

There are singles galore all through this album, and I’m sure Creeping Up the Backstairs will be released again having featured on the Fratellis Ep released through Nomadic records back in April. Chelsea Dagger and Henrietta may have already been imbedded in your soundtrack to 2006, but wait for Whistle for the Choir to back them both up and show the true raw talent of this band – a fabulous tale of a lost Glaswegian on another night out.

The Fratellis live show may usually turn into a riot-fest but the lads have taken time over these carefully and thoughtfully written pop songs, having absolutely nailed the art of writing simple, catchy songs which people can relate too – which is the hardest thing to do well. It’s six in the morning and I’m walking along, beside the ghost of every drinker who's ever done wrong – how many of us have been there?

So it's top-hat’s off time now as we salute this band who have produced one of the best records of the year. Even if I am Scottish and proud!

>> Joe Sach

www.thefratellis.com

>> No Spitting Involved
>> Ltd Ed Single

The first time I heard the riff from ‘No Spitting Involved’ I thought of the Big Lebowski. I have absolutely no idea why. But when the first line ‘I’ve been looking for a brand new carpet’ erupted from my speakers it all became a bit clearer – the song has the critical ingredients required to make a Coen Brothers plot! Talk of a ‘crazy blonde haired Dutch guy’, calling for help in finding the ubiquitous carpet and unearthing unsavoury backstreet bars make for a frankly bizarre lyrical canvas. It’s not for me to say, but I highly doubt that the protagonist’s tale is actually true but then stranger things have happened at sea. And in Aberdeen.

The rest of the single lacks the punch of the first track. ‘We’re Rock ‘n’ Roll Make Believe’ comes close with some trippy organ work and some tight riffs but it ultimately comes off as a not-quite-as-good Primal Scream (and I’m no fan of Primal Scream – to put it gently).

I reckon that this is a band that could do well. They have some good ideas and have tied everything neatly into a block-rocking everyman format. The right night in the right venue and they’d have the audience in the palms of their hands.

>> Russell Moore

>> Shiver The Trees

The Lick likes Attic Lights. Way back in the depths of autumnal 2005 we were ‘big upping’ the debut ep and fawning over the beautiful slices of summer country pop the band is so adept at making. And perfectly correct we were too!

Shiver the Trees is an ep of fantastic quality. Each song sounds like a mashed-up Ouiji-board midnight jam between Gram Parsons and Carl Wilson. First track ‘Martin’ is tuned to the sound of the soul with spellbound harmonies countered by the gentle lilt of slide guitar. This is the sound the Thrills so often get wrong. ‘Wendy’ has more of a Ryan Adams swagger to it - the potential soundtrack to a post-brawl dive bar somewhere in the deepest south; you can picture the crowd hollering ‘Wendy, Wendy it’s over!’ as they nurse their cuts.

Alongside the ep is a preview of some new songs. Despite the ‘demo’ nature of some recordings there is a sense of some broader song writing in the offing. Some Crazy Horse dynamics are creeping in with heavier drum sounds and stark rhythms on ‘Bring You Down’. There is also some punch-drunk psychedelic charm and sparse desert arrangement evident in ‘Lock Me Out’.

In short, Attic Lights has taken the high water mark set by the first ep and eclipsed it. The new ep (and sneak previews of new tracks) is proof that this is a band steeped in quality influences. This is a band that has the talent and foresight to make unmistakeably relevant music while paying heartfelt tribute to the patrons of this magical sound.

>> Russell Moore