Minutemen - What Makes a Man Start Fires?

I've always wanted to like Minutemen more than I ever have done; it's one of those shockingly un-punk things to say, but I just don't get that much enjoyment from this band. There is one exception to this, which I'll come to later.

Rewind 10 years and I was reading the excellent Our Band Could Be Your Life on holiday in Colorado. I was already a fan of a lot of the bands it covered, but was learning about a few for the first time. The Minutemen were one such band. Their story was fascinating - childhood friends form band with a moral and ethical belief at the forefront and tour in a way that has become legendary. Then one tragically dies in a car crash and they cease to be. I was gutted when D. Boon died - I was just getting to know them (on paper) and he was taken away too soon.

Like with so many bands in that book, I decided to check them out afterwards. That summer I was in Damaged Records in Cardiff to buy what had become my Monthly Record From Damaged. I decided that was the day to check out Minutemen and asked the advice of an acquaintance who was also there hanging out (I've forgotten his name, but he was in a bunch of South Wales hardcore bands and quite pretentious). He recommended What Makes a Man Start Fires? and I went with it. They also had Double Nickels on the Dime, an album I knew to be their most well-known, but was steered away by that guy's advice, the fact that there was no way I could start with an album that has 40+ songs, and the fact it was a double, so more expensive.

I found the album very hard work on first listen, and that hasn't really changed in the ten years that have followed. Seven songs into Side A you get the first hint of any melody in the chorus of '99, but its pretty brief. The style is very stripped back, as you'd expect from a band that prided themselves on sparsity. The guitar playing is very distinctive and the bass quite central. The vocals are rarely sung with adds to the jangly feel. It's not an easy listen. or a relaxing one, but I guess that wasn't what they wanted. '99 is a highlight, along with Plight which has some interesting layered vocals and Polarity where they seem to be really thrashing at their instruments for its very short duration.

Roll on another three years and I decided to try out Double Nickels on the Dime, but struggled with that too. As I suspected, being 40+ songs long, it's not the easiest record to get into. I have it on cd, which is a shame, as I think breaking into the four distinct sides (D., Mike, George and Chaff) would probably help. Numerous attempts over the years haven't helped with that one either. I've not tried any more since. If anyone reading this has any top tips of where to try beyond these two albums, please let me know. Or perhaps I'm just a lost cause.

The one thing that makes me think that maybe I'm not is something that happened in 2012. At the Jeff Mangum All Tomorrow's Parties I was lucky to see Mike Watt and George Hurley perform "The Songs of the Minutemen", something I don't think they do too often. It was just the two of them on stage, late at night on the first day and on the "third" stage (Reds, I think it was called - it was the smallest, but had a good staggered layout so you could see from quite far back). They were excellent and I enjoyed every minute of the set, something I wasn't really expecting given the two albums I'd struggled so much with. I don't know what songs they were playing and didn't recognise any from the two albums I have (but can't say "knew") - but that might be because without the guitar they would sound dramatically different anyway. Jeff Mangum was stood next to me during the performance, but I couldn't bring myself to talk to him; he looked to be enjoying it also, so didn't need yet another scrawny guy in his 20's telling him how big a fan he was of Neutral Milk Hotel.

Afterwards, I tried again with my Minutemen records, but made no further progress into getting into them. Every now and again I try again, but with no luck. I suspect I'll be doing so every couple of years until I die. Maybe one day I'll get there.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 18
Cost: £9.50 new
Bought: Damaged Records
When: 12/07/08
Colour: Black
Etching: Side A: "Bones - the list... the list in the dream? (of echos)" Side B: "...and the guests came in through little funnels - dripping"
mp3s: no

The World is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Between Bodies

First things first: I love this record. I love it for the music, for the bold statement it was, and that it worked. Expectations were ridiculously high after TWIABP released their debut full-length album Whenever, If Ever, and that was fair - it was a great album that culminated in the grandest moment yet. So how do you avoid the "difficult second album"? In this case, a mini-album collaboration with a spoken-word artist.

I remember playing the album with trepidation but being impressed from the first listen. Just afterwards I chatting to JT in Banquet, having noticed they'd just got it in stock, and found myself singing it's praises. I probably said something similar about what a wonderful way to avoid the "difficult second album" situation. I'm not sure whether other TWIABP fans get as much enjoyment out of this record as I do (and it's by-the-by really) but this and Harmlessness have become the albums I routinely play from their ever-increasing back-catalogue (Harmlessness was a grower, but this one was much more instant). It's fared well over the last four years, so I suspect I'll be enjoying it for some time yet.

Going back a bit, I was very excited when this record got announced - I'd seen TWIABP at Fest the previous Autumn and become a very big fan. I was pleased to see that a European distributer had got it's own pressing run of Between Bodies because it meant I wouldn't have to pay crazy shipping costs from the US. As a bonus result, I got the most limited pressing on half (ultra!-)clear, half black vinyl which looks excellent, especially alongside the rest of the artwork. As the label had a distro, I also ordered some other records they had, although one of the 7"s I ordered was no longer in stock, so I let them send me any 7" they wanted that cost the same amount (easier than doing a refund I figured). I was after a November Coming Fire 7" (that I've still not yet bought) but ended up with a 7" by a band called Clearer the Sky; more on that another time.

As I said at the start, the fact that this record works is noteworthy. Between Bodies could easily have sounded like a strange anomaly in their back-catalogue, but instead they created something that stands out and shows that, as a band, they can try new things and produce exciting music in whatever style they choose, something that shouldn't be taken for granted - a lot of bands would not have been so successful.

Precipice features only Chris Zizzamia's spoken-word vocals meaning that when David's voice appears at the start of Space Exploration to Solve Earthly Crises it is all the more unexpected. But before you can get too comfortable, we get both vocalists at the same time, layering their different styles brilliantly. If and When I Die is yet another curveball as it is so fast-paced on a record that is generally much slower and contemplative. Side B goes by pretty fast, as Lioness's dirge swiftly flows into Shoppers Beef with half a line of lyrics before the gentle guitar strum interrupts the soundscape, which then eventually increases to accompany David's vocals on $100 Tip; it's easy to mistake the three as one song. Autotonsorialist closes the album out as an almost post-rock number that could easily have gone on for twice as long. Perhaps leaving it so early was another intentional curveball rather than accidentally falling into the trap of closing every album with an epic sprawl.

Format: 12", poster
Tracks: 8
Cost: £12 new
Bought: Black Lake Records website
When: 23/10/14
Colour: Half clear / half black
Etching: Side A: "The distance between bodies" Side B: "Can't be measured in miles"
mp3s: Download code

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra - Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything

I'm pretty sure the order of events is as follows: my friend Aled leant me a copy of a Silver Mt. Zion album back when I lived in Cardiff - I think it was their first album, He Has Left Us Alone... - I wasn't that into it and found Efrim's voice a bit much. This was during a period where once a month we'd all lend each other a different album we thought the other person would like - it was interesting, although Aidan kept lending me 90's hip-hop and Hywel once tried to get me to listen to Johnny Marr. Aled, however, had a cracking cd collection and found some gems to introduce me to.

I pretty much didn't think about Silver Mt. Zion for the next four years, but in that time got into Godspeed properly. One afternoon whilst I was at my boring consultancy job I ended up trawling through the Constellation Record Soundcloud page and heard a bunch more Silver Mt. Zion songs (I can't remember how I ended up there, maybe from a Pitchfork article about another band on the label?). Anyway, that day I heard some songs I really liked (and still some where I found his voice really annoying).

Shortly afterwards two things happened: they announced they were releasing a new album and playing a London show. The show was in February and I decided it was worth going to check them out live; after all, I had heard some songs I really liked, plus I was (and am) a huge Godspeed fan so it felt like I should at least give Silver Mt. Zion a good chance. The album came out in January, but I didn't get it until March, and I'm pretty sure I'd heard nothing from the record ahead of the gig. I think I dragged Rich along, because Sarah had seen them before and wasn't a fan.

I was hugely impressed by the concert - it felt like a perfect cross between Godspeed-style post-rock and and a punk-rock show, in as much as the songs were only 10 minutes long, rather than half an hour a piece. It was in Koko in north London, a venue I'm not a great fan of - you have to get quite far forward to not feel like the roof of the balcony isn't right over your head. The advantage, then, was that I was very far forward and surrounded by the excellent noise they were making.

A particular highlight that night was a new song, and a large factor in me deciding to buy this record: What We Loved Was Not Enough. As you'd expect for a post-rock song, it builds in a wonderful way - the drums quickly indicate the beginning of things and the strings kick in, the melody is lovely and it just keeps coming at you. Eventually it gives way to "And the day has come when we no longer feel" on repeat countlessly whilst an almost-spoken-word verse plays out, itself building beautifully (and bleakly - "All our children going to die"). It's definitely the highlight of the record for me and a large part in me declaring Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything as my album of the year in 2014 (it beat Shellac, Electric Wizard, Restorations and Run the Jewels, all incredible albums that I still love now - it was a strong year). I remember being wowed by that song live and on the record.

The rest of the record is great too. Side A comprises two songs - Fuck Off Get Free and Austerity Blues - totalling 25 minutes of music, the latter with the excellent outro of "Lord let my son live long enough to see that mountain torn down" and the discordant music that accompanies it. One of the most interesting things about the album is the way that the vocals add so, so much, particularly due to the fact that "everybody sang" (as is written in the liner notes), meaning you have these layered vocals (and reducing how cutting Efrim's voice can sometimes be). It makes you wonder what other post-rock nands might do with vocals in a non-traditional sense. The twin violins mean that the album is heavy on strings (a big plus) and they can experiment with one playing something nice whilst the other builds tension and discordance. The drumming is also excellent. The two short songs don't feel like filler, which is nice - they're complete songs, but of a different style so don't need 10-minutes-plus to do what they're doing.

I can't recommend this album to many people - there's a lot of things her that a lot of people would hate (and often all at the same time), but it just happens that all those things are things I love (especially at the same time) so it is a huge winner for me. I fully stand by my choice of calling it album of the year in 2014.

Format: 12", picture sleeve, insert, poster
Tracks: 6
Cost: £10 new
Bought: Banquet Records, Kingston
When: 22/03/14
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: download code

Talk Talk - Natural History - The Very Best Of Talk Talk

I started writing about this record at least two years ago, but couldn't find what I wanted to say about it. I now realise that the problem was that I was hoping that, at some point in the future, I'd get Talk Talk. Some time has passed, and I still don't. This might not be a cool thing to say, and maybe one day it'll all make sense. I promise to update you should that day ever happen.

Back in 2014 I was at the start of my "Slint are incredible" phase of post-rock-listening (and I'm clearly still there as I'm still constantly amazed by Spiderland) and I was reading a bunch of articles about them, and post-rock in general. One thing that came up was that they were heavily influenced by Talk Talk. I was a bit surprised that there was a band apparently so central to a genre that I loved that I wasn't aware of. A short while later I was in Manchester and found this Best Of so figured it would be a worthwhile purchase.

When the needle hit the record I wondered if the articles were all having a laugh; the first half of this record is quintessentially 80's pop. The closest thing to it in the rest of my record collection is the soundtrack to The Lost Boys (which a friend gave to me after finding in a charity shop. More on that another time). I certainly couldn't hear how it influenced post-rock.

I've since learnt that the album Spirit of Eden was the turning point and the catalyst of all the post-rock influence, and that album only features at the end of this compilation. I've since bought a copy of Spirit of Eden in the hope that would shine more light, but I remain none the wiser about how this band were an influence on post-rock. It's a fine album, but I, as a non-expert (musically) cannot see the connection (here the clue is that the five songs on side B are mostly 6-minutes-plus, compared to the seven pop-length songs on the first side).

I'm putting this down to what I'm calling the "Blade Runner effect". I saw Blade Runner in my mid-20's having already seen many, many other sci-fi films. As a result, I was confused by its "classic" status - controversial opinion moment - it's a fine film, but not the greatest sci-fi film ever made. However, it was one of the first, and that's why it's a classic - it paved the way for all those other films. So many of the ideas in Blade Runner were novel at the time, but now seem like sci-fi tropes, or so basic they're not even a thing. But, if you saw it when it came out, I can totally understand how it would have blown your mind. Same goes for Talk Talk and the subtle change from the first half of side B to the second half I think.

That's a very long way of saying that "I think you had to be there" to really appreciate the impact of Spirit of Eden. I wasn't there, and I've heard a lot of music that has, in theory, taken what they were doing and ran with it. That makes it pretty hard to as overwhelmed by Talk Talk as I hoped to be (maybe my high expectations were part of the problem).

That said, there is plenty to take some enjoyment from here - Such a Shame has a pretty huge chorus and I'm constantly reminded of my utter confusion when It's My Life hit - for some reason knowing this song really well but not knowing why (the No Doubt cover was, of course, the reason); it is a fine pop song, as both versions demonstrate. I'm not a fan of the freaky childrens' choir on Happiness is Easy. The final two songs (from Spirit of Eden) are a bit of a departure from the rest - slower and more considered, but somehow less happens. Not sure if that's the post-rock influence or not. Desire has that quiet-to-very-loud thing that I guess is pretty typical, so that's something.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 12
Cost: £8 second-hand
Bought: Vinyl Exchange, Manchester
When: 18/05/14
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Casse Brique - Rebelote Contre Coinche

I know nearly nothing about this band, possibly even nothing at all. I think they share some members (all members? Or maybe none?) with a band called La Pince, who I also know very little about*. They're (both) Belgian (I think), and La Pince were playing with Silent Front in Urban Bar in London in 2012. We went along partly because Sarah is a huge fan of Silent Front (and I quite like them too) and partly because it's often fun to see foreign bands that you don't get many chances to see.

I listened to a few La Pince songs before going and enjoyed them. Their set was great and their singer was a very enthusiastic frontman, which made for a fun live show. I decided to buy their album, La Simple, and whichever band member was running the merch stall kindly gave me this copy of the Casse Brique album. Sarah also bought the La Pince album, but got given a free cd rather than an LP. I felt pretty smug that I'd got a free LP.

* Thinking about it, I wonder if I always just assumed they shared some member because I was given the record for free. For all I know it could just be on their record label and excess stock they wanted rid of. The La Pince record doesn't list the band members' names anywhere, so I can't check. I'm sure the internet would tell me, but I'm clearly too lazy to do that research. Apathy, eh.

As it turned out, I think I prefer this LP to the La Pince one, although neither set my world on fire. Casse Brique are a two-piece who play perfectly enjoyable awkward instrumental math rock. I have a few albums of broadly similar music, and there's not a great amount that sets these guys apart from, say, Sleeping People. But does there need to be? - on the rare occasion I want disjointed math rock, then this ticks all the boxes. I say "rare" because as much as I enjoy it, I find a lot of this type of math rock to be too jarring to listen to that much.

The album might be two EPs put together (again, I'm sure some digging on the internet would tell me) because one side is labelled "Rebelote" and the other "Coinche". The second side has a bit more going for it - Slip Mahiounaise has some very interesting things happening and Frontal Foot verges on being a punk song - but the last song on side A, Ghandiloquant, is very good too. The artwork on the back of the sleeve is strangely horrific but it comes with a cd of the songs, so that's a plus.

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 8
Cost: £0 new
Bought: Gig, London
When: 06/10/12
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: cd included

Caves - Betterment

I've got a lot of time for Caves, which means it's unfortunate that they make such short records. Betterment was the second of the four LPs they put out and a brilliant follow up to Homeward Bound. From the off, the "woah"s and "oh"s are there and it keeps the momentum throughout. Work has possibly one of their best choruses, the combination of Lou and Minto vocals on Rubino makes it even more frantic. Betterment deserves a particular call-out for being an unexpected acoustic song that is wonderfully bare and strangely uplifting, despite the lyrical content; almost like a turning point. 

All in all, it's a great Caves record, but I enjoy all of them really - they were a remarkably consistent band - they did what they did and they did it well. If you quizzed me on which Caves song was on which album, I'd struggle for the most part, but I don't see that as a bad thing. Betterment represented a subtle improvement on Homeward Bound in a few ways, but I can't fault either. Like I said, consistent and consistently great.

I can't remember exactly when that year this album came out, but I got a copy for my birthday from my brother - he usually has a budget of a tenner, so I have to keep certain records in mind for ideas for him. I happened to be at my sister and brother-in-law's house when my brother gave it to me (in fact, my sister, my dad and I were running the Birmingham half-marathon the next morning - it's all coming back to me now). Turned out my brother-in-law is friends with Dave, the Caves drummer, which was unexpected. Nice milky/clear vinyl.

Format: 12", a4 insert

Tracks: 10

Cost: £0 new

Bought: Gift

When: 19/10/13

Colour: Clear

Etching: none

mp3s: Download code