Alice Rock
Kill or Cure (Rock Records UK)
With so many bands taking themselves oh-so-seriously at times, Alice Rock are on a mission to bring fun back to punk. As with their previous releases, humour seems to have been a high priority in the creation of this EP, with titles such as Chips ’n’ Gravy and quirky, quick songs that could easily make you think that Alice Rock have come hurtling from the eighties in a time machine only to land in a pile of stripy clothes, jump up and start playing without missing a beat. Forget the snarly punk of the seventies, Alice’s voice (yes, she is actually called Alice Rock in real life) is reminiscent of Toyah Wilcox and with them only being a two-piece, takes centre stage a lot. With themes of motherhood in The Breeding Lady, shallow perceptions of beauty in Robotic Perfection, abortion in Cut Loose and the horrors of social networking on Monopoly, Kill or Cure really is a mixed-up bag of light and dark. However, the spiky poppiness of it all means that you’ll be chanting and singing along to the tracks before you’ve even finished your first listening. Alison Emm
Available from Alice Rock's website
BloodLeech
Eat Defeat (1st Blood Records)
Rolling deeper than the McQueen sisters, 1st Blood and Leech bring this collection featuring the cream of Nottingham's MCs, singers and producers. As you would expect, there is the usual heavyweight hip-hop flavoured with a Nottingham twang, as well as a smoother soul sound.
Quality raps are showcased on Why the Long Face?, featuring Notts legend Cappo, while his pal Rukus absolutely smashes two verses on Flick Ya Lighter. Posse cut Rewriting The Rulebook flows at an urgently head-nodding tempo, enhanced by bars from Allergy and Tom G of Ill Citizen, 1st Blood regular Louis Cypher, Tony Skank and Opticus Rhyme. You Can't Play Games sees rapper 2Tone lovingly reminiscing over the canon of classic video-games like Streets of Rage, Sonic and Goldeneye. They change genres on the reggae-infused BBQ banger Can't Say Why, where Liam Bailey provides a perfect lilting hook. Liam pops up again with a soulful Finley Quaye-sounding chorus on Super Shining. Another brilliant local singer, Jay Thomas' sultry vocals give mellow track Leech Experiment (Storyboards) a sound much like Portishead at their best. More great female vocals come from Charlotte Sanderson on Tumble, punctuated with hearty raps from Jah Digga. Topped off with great production and superior cuts and scratches from NG's finest DJ Dan Rattomatic, Eat Defeat is a perfect starting point to explore the wide range of talent in Nottingham's urban scene. Shariff Ibrahim
Available from 1st Blood's website
Gallery 47
11th October Routine (Self-released)
For a man of only twenty years of age, Jack Peachey – the aforementioned Gallery 47 - is a hugely prolific artist. This is his fifth collection of homespun acoustic charm, which will only reinforce his status as one of Nottingham’s brightest new talents. 11th October Routine captures a young man reaching a songwriting maturity that should be years out of reach - Otherwise frames melancholic finger-picking with various percussive samples. 20 Second Banjo is a song that’s deeply in love with Neil Young's Laurel Canyon period; it practically radiates wistful sunshine and has the feel of a favourite pair of faded denim jeans. Those Young influences are still present in Dole, especially in the way he uses the top end of his voice, with a more experimental acoustic leaning accompanied by sound effects that flicker throughout. Duck Footprints could almost be called emo-coustic, but the double-tracked emotion is kept in shape by someone who is intelligent enough to know when to hold back. Gallery 47 quite literally wears his influences on his sleeve; the EP artwork is adorned with items that obviously play a part in his songwriting – dog-eared Bob Dylan and Neil Young LPs, old stuffed toys and photographs, Syd Barrett. All of which hark to a well-worn past, but it's fair to say that Gallery 47 is in the lineage of more modern acoustic acts such as Bon Iver and Iron and Wine. Paul Klotschkow
Available from Gallery 47's MySpace
Love Ends Disaster!
City Of Glass (Warning!)
After five years of steady progress, LED have finally fulfilled their promise. City Of Glass sets out its stall from the beginning with a title track which transforms itself from murmurs of feedback to hook-laden literate guitar pop. From here the album takes in oblique song titles such as The Rudiments of Piano Playing (Parts 1 and 2), rattling guitars that fans of early Radiohead should lap up (see (Untitled Dream #24)), dissonant instrumental passages that have been shipped in directly from David Bowie's Berlin era, razor-sharp riffs that sound like they have come from some lost Gang Of Four album, mournful chamber pop, and - on There's Room In My Tardis For Two – a swerve into the arena-sized melodies in which Snow Patrol specialise. Special mention has to be given to Alexander, which is the highpoint on an album that is littered with standout moments. Squalling guitars that sound like Robert Fripp has time-travelled from the 70s mesh with jagged rhythms, with singer Matt Oakes’ rambling over-the-top stream-of-conscious style, creating a discordant, yet sublime sound. A sprawling, kaleidoscopic collection of art-rock moves and angular post-punk indie shapes, then, and anyone who gives it a listen will be sure to find something they like on an album that covers so much in a short time. Paul Klotschkow
Available from Love Ends Disaster's MySpace
ManEatLikePig
A Glorious Egg (MFS Records)
Daz, Groll and the enigmatic Howlin, who wears a box on his head in the shape of a pig: you can’t get names much more rock ‘n’ roll than that, can you? Heavily influenced by the musty-folk thrash of Captain Beefheart, Zeppelin and their experimental 60s rock ilk, MELP’s first full release is rife with swagger and creativity. 5 Year Stretch resembles a modern-day Bob Dylan at his jauntiest, complete with sandpaper vocals, slamming it with White Denim. Leonardo chugs and bashes its way through heavy rock riffing with menacing whisky-stained vocals. Soaking My Mind is a deranged stomp with an affable Middle Eastern guitar solo breakdown, whilst Zephyrus is pure Nick Cave. But it’s the reflective closer Pig Fluid that shows the band’s true mastery; think Iggy Pop singing with Jimmy Page’s guitar slides and solos. The blues-rock vocal drawls “it’s all looking good in the neighbourhood” – said, of course, with a certain sense of irony. There’s a stench that attaches itself to this band as they move from the sublime to car park drunk. Their carnivorous über-superior pub rock sound takes their influences and then turns them up to 12. Listening to this album you really imagine you are there watching them play live; it’ll get dirty, your ears will bleed, but good grief it’ll feel good. Ashley Clivery
Available from ManEatLikePig's Myspace
MuHa
Taras (Self-released)
MuHa class themselves as ‘New Roots from Eastern Europe’. This is a phrase that may turn a lot of people off, but don’t fear, as this isn’t some kind of tie-dyed folk we are dealing with. On Taras, MuHa manage to meaningfully mix the history and sounds of Eastern European folk music with Indian and Western European influences to create an album as refreshing as a dip in the Volga. What does this mean in terms of music? Both Let’s Talk About The Weather and Taras are all heady flamenco rhythms and passionate Russian vocals, two things that on paper sound like they go together as well as Trotsky and an ice pick, but here they are a marriage of delights. Kaby Vedala (as the liner notes state) is a traditional Russian Folk song made to sound like classic British folk, all lilting guitars and starry-eyed singing, much like Pentangle on a diet of Russian phrase books. Whilst a song like New York Rain feels like it was conceived in a jazz club. Taras carries on in this manner over its 13 songs and 45 minutes, gathering up sounds as if they were souvenirs from various continents on the shortest around the world trip ever - The fact that MuHa can make this sound so enjoyable is testament to their dedication and craft. Paul Klotschkow
Available from Muha's website
Ocean Bottom Nightmare
What Would Judas Do? (Self-released)
What would Judas do if he formed a band? Being a sell-out of biblical proportions, he’d probably either don a vest and trilby and sing about girls in discos or raid Oxfam of its knitwear and pillage the twee-core crowd. What he wouldn’t do is form a band as balls-out honest and face-meltingly loud as Ocean Bottom Nightmare. God gave rock n’ roll to you, rejoice! Starting, in the words of the great Ron Burgundy, by ‘keeping the cymbals splashy and taking the bass line for a walk,’ the short jazz introduction is quickly accompanied by some jagged guitar shredding. Then things get real heavy as falsetto harmonies wrestle with brutal screams atop a layer of filthy and furious riffery. They demolish the quiet-loud-quiet formula by wandering from soft and surreal to a full throated exuberance that is heavier than heaven. Ocean Bottom Nightmare’s blend of pop sensibility, hard-punk atmosphere, chunky alternative guitars and searing screams creates a solid and impenetrable wall of sound. Their schizophrenic math-rock and simple but infectious choruses could one day see them on the same mantle as Biffy Clyro. Just as our Lord Jesus did with loaves and fish, Ocean Bottom Nightmare could feed 5000 with a simple meal of riffs and attitude. This is Rock with a capital ‘R’. Amen. Andrew Trendell
Available from Ocean Bottom Nightmare's MySpace
Patriot Rebel
Back To Life (Self-released)
This album is a categoriser’s worse nightmare, and a gift to the rest of us. Back To Life is a wild collage of different (albeit all heavy) genres, each of which propel themselves with the velocity of a sombrero-wearing Mexican mouse pumped full of methamphetamine. Example: the juggernaut that is Cupids Arrow, the screaming offspring of cock-rock infused with grunge, (a genre which implies all sorts of negative genital hygiene). No ridiculous spandex or abundant plaid here, though; the terrible lyrics are gone, as is the unnecessary posing. This is just hard and heavy, throwing everything at you at once. The album begins as it intends to continue - intensely powerful like a drunken toddler behind the wheels of an articulated lorry, damn dangerous and fun. The influences of varying forms of American rock are splattered throughout, from 36Crazyfists, Velvet Revolver, Love/Hate and Black Label Society in the crunchy and storming onslaught that is Gimme Some More. The one persistent echoing influence - especially within the vocal approach in Window To My Soul - is the late great Layne Staley of Alice in Chains. Tough company to keep up with, admittedly, but Patriot Rebel pull no soft punches; they are out for blood, in the best possible way. Alistair Catterall
Available from Patriot Rebel's MySpace
The Soundcarriers
Celeste (Melodic)
With Celeste, their second album, the ludicrously experimental Soundcarriers have created an original soundtrack for a film that doesn't exist. Opener Last Broadcast sums the LP up perfectly; all blips and bleeps, guitars scraping and organs stabbing, layered with motorik rhythm, and whispered, soft male/female vocals – a sound enthralled to psychedelica, krautrock, experimental and European pop, wrapped up in an earthly warmth provided by analogue equipment and nothing else. On an album that is so considered, complete, and overflowing with musical references, it is easy to get bogged down in the mire of trying to pick out every shimmer of guitar, organ melody, or gently delivered vocal line. You could say that this modern-day spin through the more eclectic avenues of music’s back catalogue recalls fellow English euro-pop aficionados Stereolab – we’d sooner put it on, shut our eyes, and imagine ourselves in our own personal Broadway of the soul. Paul Klotschkow
Available from all good record shops and The Soundcarriers website
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