RHYTHM CIRCUS

Otherworldly, Hypnotic, Celestial, whatever you prefer to call it, Lily Of The Valley from Irelands current favourite four-piece, Funeral Suits is truly something quite phenomenal. Two years in the making, and produced by Stephen Street, the debut long-player by Brian James, Greg McCarthy, Dar Grant and Mik McKeogh really couldn’t have hoped for a better release date. Just in time for Summer festivals, the band look set to flip the current craze of Frank Turner-inspired country/punk 2012 on it’s sordid head…
From the offset, opening track Marys Revenge explains perfectly what Funeral Suits are trying to achieve. Deep, dark, almost narcotic, the sound is huge. You kind of feel like this is what Muse should’ve sounded like, if Matt Bellamy hadn’t had gone all psycho on us, or maybe even what Klaxons should’ve done with their second album. But cheap comparisons aside, the industrial revolutions and looping vocals of second offering Colour Fade prove that Funeral Suits aren’t merely copy-cat wannabes. The accomplished sound on the record, even so early on, is astounding. You feel as though each track is the one you heard being played on the radio, and that’s because each track is so perfectly constructed in a Pop sense of the word – that each track could be a single. Recent single Health shares the same orchestral pop-like sound as the rest of the album, but with the reverb pumped up to full, and the track fading in and out of oblivion, it’s not so much the ‘stand-out’ track as it is blood coursing through the veins.
Beautifully crafted Hands Down shares with the listener a completely different side of Funeral Suits. Dreamlike in structure, the Funeral Suits sound still plays it’s part somewhere in the distance, but as the track builds and builds up to a crashing crescendo of drums and space-tribe chanting, you imagine yourself as a character in one of those old-school arty super8 films. Drunk, running with sparklers held high in the night sky, with a group of friends, and causing trouble at the fairground. Disgustingly beautiful.
Then there’s current fan favourite All Those Friendly People. Again, hugely orchestral, but at no point seeming self-indulgent or false, and that’s the most attractive aspect of Lily Of The Valley – it’s just so easy to listen to. Through We Only Attack Ourselves, Stars and Spaceships all the way up to I Still Love The High, there’s no falseness, no fallaciousness. The listener really can tell that the band have put their hearts and souls into eleven tracks of colourful, THC-induced dreams.
Overall, Lily Of The Valley, through the help of singles Health and Florida, and every note in between, is an alternative magnum opus, and by the end of the year should be held in the same class as The Flaming Lips’ At War With The Mystics, or Muse’s Origin Of Symmetry. A huge sounding album with plenty of heart, as well as the psychology, ingenuity, power and maturity to make it a future classic.
Lily Of The Valley is out 4 June 2012
Words > Francois Botha

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Vivien Croggon is a 19 year old artist from London and is currently studying illustration at Portsmouth University. She has been drawing “ever since she can remember” and had thought of her fondness for art as little more than an indulgent hobby up until four years ago.
Check out some more of Viviens amazing work here:
http://www.rhythmcircus.co.uk/featured/vivien-croggon/

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The Cribs
intimate fan-only show
for sale. click the link.

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indie-rock-jukebox:

Arcade Fire / The National poster

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The Cribs // In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull
Drunkenly stumbling out of Wakefield around a decade ago, The Cribs have no far surpassed initial comparisons to indie darlings of the day, and made a name for themselves as friendly but determined outsiders. Along the way they have worked with Edwyn Collins, Lee Ranaldo and, most famously, Johnny Marr who joined the band as a full-time fourth member between 2008 and 2011. Where some bands strive for such name-dropping opportunities to further their standing, the Jarman brothers seem to have earned the respect of these collaborators as equals through a winning combination of good music and such fan-friendly antics as once offering to perform anywhere in exchange for a few beers and some petrol money. Even so, prior to In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull, (their Fifth album) you could be forgiven for wondering whether they would successfully respond to being without their famous fourth wheel or (warning, pun ahoy) if it has Marred their style.
Beginning with a sound reminiscent of a space shuttle landing on a drum kit, opening track Glitters Like Gold emerges with melodic guitars intact and, like many of their songs, could easily be released as a single. It’s a high benchmark to start things off but this sets the tone for the album which further explores the Cribs own sonic landscape, pulling together assorted elements of Dinosaur Jr and The Replacements into a something which is both unique and instantly familiar. Even the way they put together different sounds makes for fascinating listening. Confident Men has a lovely combination of vocal melody, jangly guitar and a bassline that would make the Pixies jealous. The slower-burning Uptight has a chorus that seems made for a live singalong and a marvelously jagged guitar solo towards the end.
However, just when you think you’ve got the measure of the album along comes Back To The Bolthole, alternately croaking and screaming like a domestic argument next door, followed by the wistful, acoustic I Should Have Helped. Further unexpected surprises arrive with the last four tracks which form a kind of mini-rock opera. Luckily this is much better than it sounds and culminates with possibly the best title for an album closing track in living memory, Arena Rock Encore With Full Cast. Mind you, we shouldn’t be too surprised as this is the band who once named a Japanese only b-sides compilation Arigato Cockers. This change of gear for the final section of the album is a wise decision, preventing it from becoming too much of one thing and making it work far better as a unified collection of songs.
So, even if you consider it careless to lose an acknowledged guitar legend from your ranks, In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull gives notice that The Cribs have enough of their own strengths and capabilities for it not to make a blind bit of difference. And for that, they’re quite entitled to be brazen.
Words > Oliver Carlisle

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The Aspiring Mumbler: She Monkeys (2012)

andythemumbler:

A modern western about power, sex, and creatures…

Director: Lisa Aschan
Writer: Lisa Aschan, Josefine Adolfsson
Cast: Mathilda Paradeiser, Linda Molin and Isabella Lindquist
Runtime: 83 min
Release Date: In Cinemas May 18th

In terms of subject matter, Lisa Aschan’s feature debut…

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