So another year has passed, and the BBC have released their infamous longlist for the Sound of 2014. With last year’s Californian trio of sisters HAIM winning the prestigious title, this year’s artists are looking to be an exciting bunch:
FKA twigs (One of my favourites. Brilliantly woozy hypnotic music. Definitely one to watch out for.)
BANKS
Chance The Rapper
Chlöe Howl
Ella Eyre
George Ezra
Jungle
Kelela
Luke Sital-Singh
MNEK
Nick Mulvey
Royal Blood
Sam Smith
Sampha
Say Lou Lou
On that fateful Sunday evening, as I was frantically mashing out an overdue essay, whispers of the news began to build on the internet, until the whispers were confirmed and the rumours became fact, allowing social media to reach it’s sombre mournful climax. Lou Reed was dead. Despite his seventy-one years, which were peppered with heavy drug and alcohol abuse, I was shocked. For me, Lou Reed has always been the archetypal symbol of constant survival and relentless drive, and to have this fearlessly transgressive influence suddenly extinguished stunned me more than I ever would have expected.
Lou Reed was involved in numerous musical ventures in his youth, before meeting John Cale and forming one of the most iconic bands of the 1960s, The Velvet Underground. Reed’s contribution to the band was outstanding, from the acerbic grit of his lyrics, to the unflinching view of the squalid events that he sang about. As well as songs like “Heroin” and “I’m Waiting For The Man” which dealt explicitly with the pleasure and pain of heavy opiate use, Reed also pushed the boundaries of censorship by singing about sadomasochism, (“Venus is Furs”) violence, homosexuality and transvestism (“Sister Ray”). Reed also drew upon the horrific events he experienced in his adolescence to write some of his solo work, in particular the trauma of undergoing electroconvulsive therapy to “cure” his bisexuality, which inspired the track “Kill Your Sons” in his album “Sally Can’t Dance”.
What also struck me was the overpowering sense of unity that arose after the announcement of Lou Reed’s death. Despite Reed’s avant-garde tendencies and his continual pushing of conventional musical boundaries, the unanimity of praise for someone with such progressive inclinations was surprising. Throughout Reed’s career his continual experimentation has led him to balance precariously on the tightrope between critical acclamation and denunciation. Reflecting on his lesser-known, experimental albums, we can see the duality of Reed’s artistic identity. On his double album set of “Metal Machine Music”, Reed created what one reviewer described as “the only recording that attacks the listener”, drenching the albums with droning guitar feedback at different speeds. However despite it’s critical failings, it sold 100,000 copies in the US. These conflicting views were also echoed in “Lulu”, a collaboration with Metallica that received mostly negative reviews, despite simultaneously being referred to as a “surprising triumph.” Although Reed’s career hasn’t been an immaculate run of critical adulation, this is exactly why we value Reed, not only for his music, but for himself. We can relate to the mess, the excess, and the eccentricities of his character, something that in this age of pre-packaged, plastic, X factor pop, is rare.
Lou Reed lived a turbulent, vivid, extraordinary life, which can’t even begin to be summarized for this article. He left behind a lasting legacy of music, and if we are to take anything from this, perhaps we should all learn to be a little more risky, and little less fearful, and much more radical. To those still suffering from the blow of losing Lou Reed, let his often disarmingly sweet, simple words console you: “These are really terribly rough times, and we really should try to be as nice to each other as possible.”
To see the original article click here.
A year ago, CHVRCHES were at the precipice of what was a make or break year for them. A slot supporting Two Door Cinema club, a tour around America, and a debut album that critics and electro-pop fans had been patiently waiting on, loomed around the corner. A year on, and CHVRCHES have clearly taken the plunge, as in the midst of preparing for their highly anticipated Europe-wide tour, hectic promotions for their critically praised debut album “The Bones of What You Believe”, and fire alarms being set off by their smoke machines at the Anson Rooms, I finally sit down with Martin Doherty of CHVRCHES, to catch up and discuss what has obviously been an exciting year for the band.
“There was stuff that had to satisfy radio and singles, but over the course of a full-length you get to play around a lot more, and just get to weirder places and have more fun.”
“There’s been a few changes since last year…” exhales Martin, “We haven’t stopped touring since then.” Having toured around various continents with bands such as Two Door Cinema Club, and Passion Pit so early on in their career, the formative influences of these tours have clearly had a role in shaping CHVRCHES live performances. “Those guys were so good to us,” Martin humbly reflects, “It wasn’t the typical support situation you can get where the band can be stand offish, they were amazing. There was a lot of learning done on those early tours for us, just through trying to take the project out of the studio and into the live world. Last year has been about getting more comfortable, and learning what makes a good live band, certainly a good electronic live band because that was new terrain for a lot of us.” CHVRCHES certainly have been breaking new ground, graduating swiftly from a support act, to headlining sell-out gigs across the UK, and announcing a European tour for March 2014. Martin assures me that the changes between supporting and headlining slots have definitely been an improvement for CHVRCHES. “(There’s) More time to sound check.” He laughs, “I guess the key differences are that everything’s a lot more relaxed, and when you stand on stage you’re not standing up in front of anyone else’s crowd, which makes things a lot easier.”
Despite only just having released their debut album “The Bones of What You Believe”, CHVRCHES seem much more at ease with their agenda as a band, as the release of a full length record has allowed them to expand creatively, or as Martin puts it “There was going to be more depth on the record, a bit more exploration in terms of the sounds and ideas, stuff that you can’t necessarily get away with on singles.” The development of CHVRCHES music is apparent on their record as through songs such as “Tether” and “Lies” they sail away from their more poppy singles such as “Gun” and “Mother we Share”, into unchartered territory. “There was stuff that had to satisfy radio and singles, but over the course of a full-length you get to play around a lot more, and just get to weirder places and have more fun.” Martin explains. “The whole thing was kind of an ongoing process. We were doing it on a song-by-song basis, just following our noses in terms of what was exciting. I think we ended up with a body of work that is satisfactory to us in terms of creativity, but at the same time that still has a level of accessibility, which is important if you want to succeed.” And succeed they have, not only with their singles but with their unreleased songs, such as “We Sink” which was featured on the FIFA ’14 soundtrack. “It’s in the manager mode when you’re cycling through the menu.” Martin smiles “It keeps coming on… It’s pretty cool.” He cites this as his favourite song on the album, describing it as “more aggressive, it’s got that kind of marriage between aggression and melody which I think is one of our main strengths.”
With such a highly anticipated album, come soaring levels of hype, and as soon as I ask about whether or not they pay attention to it, Martin’s exasperated sigh immediately tells me otherwise. “Thankfully now that our album is out people have the impression of us that we always wanted them to have. We feel that people should be judged over the course of a full album, but it’s difficult, especially when a band breaks online, the way ours did. People listen to one song, and to them that’s everything there is to know about the band, and then they listen to two, and they piece it together song by song rather than in the old way.” Martin answers. However despite the tiresome connotations of being a “Hype Band” CHVRCHES still recognise it’s significance, “it’s an important thing to an extent, because it gets people talking about you early on… But if you don’t satisfy that quickly with something more substantial, it goes away as quickly as it arrives.”
Despite CHVRCHES futuristic synth-drenched music, I get the sense that they are struggling between the older, traditional ways of breaking a band, and the high speed Internet fuelled consumption of music that is so common in our day-to-day lives. “It would have been impossible for us to come as far as we have in such a short space of time without passing music around from one blog to another. Things spread a lot faster than they used to…” Martin considers. “One thing we’ve noticed is that it’s created a situation where we feel like we have to be everywhere at once. The old method for breaking a band would be to sign in the UK, then you’d work as hard as that for about six months and then you move to the US, Australia, Japan… Whereas we’ve kind of grown in all those places at the one time.” This thought suddenly cracks a smile on Martin’s face. “It’s a nice problem to have, not gonna be any complaints there.” With CHVRCHES biggest tour fast approaching on the horizon, it’s no wonder that there’s nothing to complain about, as it looks as though they’re in for their busiest year yet.
BLOOMHOUSE MUSIC 