Riscas, Spilt Milk Society, Candid, The Real Cool - Sunflower

The Real Cool
With a name like that what would you expect? Three guys from Walsall who I'd say were stuck in the worst of the early nineties fashion trends but probably weren't alive to experience it the first time around. Appearances aside, if you closed your eyes you'd hear a reasonable approximation of stuff you'd find on side two of a 1975 EP. Really enjoyable stuff that was appreciated by a full room at the Sunflower despite being on only 15 minutes after 730 doors. Good on 'em.

Candid
Some straight ahead indie rock here that stripped away the vogue keyboards and reverbs and played their bass, guitars and drums. The refreshing sound out of Cov. lasted through about three songs until it started to repeat itself - noodling guitar over rhythm guitar, a mid-song breakdown for a clapalong drum beat, a swell, end, repeat. Don't get me wrong, they did a solid job of it but some variation in songwriting would go a long way.

Spilt Milk Society
This band had an air of experience despite their youthfulness. They began with their hit She Tastes Like Summer to appease the audience and get it out of the way; that tune starting slow and building. Th entire set, including Cops and Robbers, was engaging. The five of them had a large stage presence, fronted by a singer in an odd scarf-poncho. (Lead singers, amirite?) It was a departure night for both their drummer and bass player, who seem to be heading off to uni, but the band has gigs and plans to carry on. With the confidence they carry they could lead the next wave of Brummie bands.

Riscas
After the polish of SMS, first impressions of Riscas made me wonder if they'd stack up but that doubt was quickly silenced. Their music spoke for itself and the crowd that had not thinned swelled to cheer them along. I'd already been impressed with the calibre of local talent on the night and yet these guys took the cake, deserving of their headlining spot. By the time their 1,000,000 play Spotify tune Panic Like Tom came on to close the set everyone was into it, the floor opened up and everyone charged in to dance to it, myself included.

Friday January 19th, 2018 - Sunflower Lounge

Top Ten 2017 - Year in Review

1. Lorde – Melodrama

I didn’t see this one coming. Sure, I heard her debut because it was everywhere and I kinda liked it but before Melodrama I wouldn’t have called myself a fan. With this piece of pop perfection that has certainly changed. Intimate yet playful, and uniquely funny, it hits its marks from front to back.

2. Leif Vollebekk – Twin Solitude

I read that Leif made this album as one that he would like to listen to himself. Well get me this guy’s record collection because his ear for stripped back folk is spot on. Not to mention that beautiful and sometimes delicate voice delivering lyrics to the heart via the ears.

3. War On Drugs – A Deeper Understanding

The production value on this record is worth a million bitcoins. Although the composition must have been pored over for ages it doesn’t feel like it, it just plays exactly the way it should. I don’t know anything about composing, playing, singing or producing music but I like to think that I know what it sounds like when masters of these arts are at work.

4. Future Islands – The Far Field

Yes, I’m now fully on board with the band that everyone should have known tens of records ago. Discussing their discography is not my objective here though, it is to say that this is the album that caught my ear and compelled me to spin it over and over again.

5. St.Vincent – MASSEDUCATION

Another artist that I’ve known and respected only from the second deck until this album. There’s the guitar work that she’s made her name on but there’s also evocative lyrics and varied songwriting that is all top quality. MASSEDUCTION brings me down to the front row.

6. Idles - Brutalism

Whether their swagger is legitimate or for show(s) is irrelevant as the music they put down on tape roars (and that is not a knock on their incendiary live gigs). It rocks those earworms right into your skull. Extra points for the current, cutting, politically-forward lyrics that give this record another imperial tonne of weight.

7. Run The Jewels – RTJ3

El-P and Killer Mike have each been at it a long time and now on their third album collectively they may have hit their sweet spot. El’s beats are as razor sharp as ever while the lyrics hold their edge too, even during those times when it feels like you’re eavesdropping on a couple of bros ribbing each other.

8. Weaves – Wide Open

Weaves are making some of the most interesting music anywhere these days. Yet it’s not completely out there, "WTF-is-that?" kinda music; it’s immediate and relatable, truly engrossing. I can’t even form the sentences to describe it, you’d be much better served listening to it yourself.

9. Japandroids – Nearer to the Wild Heart of Life

Sure, I may have a soft spot for these two but I do think this album hit it right. They’ve evolved their game and if it has a few more “ballads” and the odd sentimental lyric, as opposed to reckless abandon and nostalgia, this comes as a sign of maturity. Japandroids are yearning less for younger us and appreciating the now, and it still resonates.

10. Kendrick Lamar – DAMN.

I could not get the hype. Each time I put on M.A.A.D City or Pimp a Butterfly it would get turned off before long without leaving much of an impression on me at all. Then DAMN. dropped and all things changed. Die-hards may hear this as a turn to the mainstream and, if so, it has worked because it converted this non-believer.

11. Broken Social Scene – Hug Of Thunder

BSS have their sound and they are masters of it. Polished, bombastic tracks that soar with male/female vocalists and ratcheted up brass. It works, it’s good - very, very good - and just because this album follows the sound does not make it derivative or repetitive. The addition of Ariel on vocals helps to breathe a fresh voice here too. I’d be remiss not to shoehorn it in here, especially with that closing song. 

Long-List Considerations

Lana Del Rey – Lust For Life

LCD Soundsystem – American Dream

Wolf Parade – Cry, Cry, Cry

Los Campesinos – Sick Scenes

The National – Sleep Well Beast

Sylvan Esso – What Now

Cloud Nothings – Life Without Sound

Jens Lekman – Life Will See You Now

Beck - Colours

Author’s Address

In the year of the #metoo movement many horrifying actions have come to light, where people of a privileged position manipulated that power, and it has been sickening to read. There are essays to be written on the merits of art versus artist but this will not be one. However, I will take this opportunity to add another voice as a supporter of those who were taken advantage of and to consciously choose not to glorify the perpetrators nor their work.