So I got round to writing my 1000-odd word eulogy to John Peel. I won’t post it here cos I’d imagine most of you have probably read/heard quite enough mourning and memories by now, and what with being such a down to earth and humble chap I’m sure Peel would have found himself a bit embarrassed by all the (entirely justified!) wailing and gnashing of teeth his passing has provoked throughout the nation.

So if you want to read my lamentations, get in touch and I’ll email them to you or possibly put them up on my Yahoo webspace, but on this here weblog I think the best thing I can do is to try to put this week’s sad events (well, one event I suppose) behind me and get back to the business of talking about cool stuff and so on..

(I got through most of yesterday without being too gloomy, but given the extent to which Peel has contributed to my cultural life in recent years I know that there are going to be moments every single day that are going to go like; “yeah, Lift to Experience were fantastic! I remember the first time I saw them at the International Arts Centre, it was a mindblowing show! I only went along cos I’d heard them in session the previous evening on.. oh, fuck.. Peel. :( )


Right then, here are a few write-ups on stuff;

The Earlies (Leicester Charlotte, 28/10/04)

Didn’t know anything about this group prior to the show, but some friends were going so I thought I’d go along. It was quite busy… so who are these Earlies characters? Are they famous or something? There’s certainly a lot of them – eleven people on stage, no less than six of them standing behind keyboards, and the Charlotte soundman must be doing his nut trying to get all their moogs, cellos, trombones, sequencers, flutes and bongos working through the venue’s hideous gutterpunk sound setup. Obviously the final soundmix leaves something to be desired, with things that I can imagine being soaring, multi-layered arrangements on record reduced to a muffled wall of indefinable sound.

The Earlies are jolly nice and somewhat beguiling as far as they go, their songs straining but never faltering beneath a weight of melodies, harmonies and innumerable strange and inventive sounds, all orchestrated beautifully. They’re also clearly the kind of nice folk - good of heart and humour, well-practiced but still slightly ramshackle - that instantly win an indie-kid audience’s heart.

Less fortunately, their music is also groaning under the additional weight of some huge, unavoidable influences – Brian Wilson, early-‘70s Pink Floyd, maybe even a touch of ELO, and above all... the Flaming Lips. Nothing wrong with sounding like the ‘Lips of course – it’s pretty much inevitable when yr. dealing with this kind of spacey, widescreen, optimistic type pop – but when songs like ‘One of Us is Dead’ sound so much like a lost Wayne Coyne composition it’s ridiculous, I’m afraid I can’t shake the impression that the Earlies’ debt to the ‘Lips goes somewhat beyond a mere aesthetic similarity.

Again, no particular problem with that, were it not for the fact that The Earlies have a bad case of what you might call Beta Band syndrome. In the few moments when they really hit their stride, especially on current single.. (um.. I’ve forgotten what it’s called, but I’m sure you can find out..), they’re pretty stunning – the disparate sounds coalescing into a wave of emotive power. But these moments are few and far between. Through most of their set time the band meander good-naturedly through largely forgettable songs, failing to capitalise on the shining rock-out moments where it all gels. And you can chuck in as many nice-sounding instruments as you can think of, but to fully succeed in this kind of music what you really need is simple, beautiful songs, the kind of songs that batter the listener over the head with their cosmic grandeur and heartfelt profundity. That’s the element that the Flaming Lips (not to mention spiritual godfathers Brain Wilson and Neil Young) have mastered, but that the Earlies are rather tragically lacking.


Lair of the Minotaur – Carnage (Southern Lord records)

Oh man, this is superb!! It’s a promo CD I clocked in a second hand rack for £5, and the name and the fact that it’s on the ever brilliant Southern Lord label persuaded me to take a chance. And I’m glad I did, cos this is, like, THE MOST PERFECT HEAVY METAL EVER! Like Mastodon, these guys sidestep metal’s tediously formulaic present state and strip things right back to all the essentials that make it brilliant – massive fucking elephant crushing downtuned riffs, mental drum punishment, lung-puking vocals delivered by a dude who sounds like he actually IS a minotaur and lyrics dealing exclusively with the more bloodthirsty aspects of Greek mythology. They manage to rip out all the best bits from metal’s various sub-genres, with the pace veering indiscriminately from doom sludge brownout to screeching Slayer speed-pummelling via a filthy death metal groove, all mixed with a hilariously gleeful theatricality worthy of Venom. The energy is unrelenting, the riffage is razor-sharp, hitting all the rock pleasure centres in finest Sabbath tradition, and the volume level is fucking MASSIVE. To put it plainly, this is pure fucking monster greatness, and hearing Lair of the Minotaur blast through bloodcurdling tunes like ‘The Wolf’, ‘Caravan of Blood Soaked Kentauroi’, ‘Demon Serpent’ and.. well I’m sure you get the idea, is enough to remind even the most jaded avant-garde noiseboy that Heavy Metal Is The Law.

I’m sure Peel would have loved it… * sniff *..