MewithoutYou - Ten Stories

This week MewithoutYou announced that they were splitting up, which was sad news. I took far too long to get into them properly and have only seen them play festival/support sets. I got their first two albums in 2007 when I first heard them and then neglected them entirely for five years until I found their fourth album in Banquet one afternoon. I can't blame anyone but myself for that; I imagine I missed out on seeing them play some incredible shows in the UK in the years between. Still, I can be pleased I did get to see them, that I had such a great time the two times I did see them, and that I can go back to their back-catalogue whenever I please.

In 2016 Big Scary Monsters put out this lovely reissue of their fifth album from 2012 and I picked it up in amongst a fairly large order of other albums I'd been meaning to pick up for a while. I didn't play it straight away, but I was into it as soon as I did - throughout there are highlights, like February, 1878, Cardiff Giant and Fox's Dream of the Log Flume (a song that could easily fit on their first two albums), but it was the closer, All Circles, that really stood out on the first play, and became the reason I played it a lot in the following weeks - I love the simple repeating lyric: "All circles presuppose they'll end up where they begin / but only in their leaving can they come back round". The brass instruments in the outro of Nine Stories is an inspired choice too. In the three years that have passed since then, it's probably become the MWY album I turn to most often, although they all get a good amount of play.

Format: 12", picture sleeve, booklet
Tracks: 11
Cost: £15 new
Bought: Big Scary Monsters website
When: 07/03/16
Colour: Blue splatter
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Kevin Devine - Live at St. Pancras Old Church

I very nearly went to the shows these songs were recorded at, but I didn't. What a thoroughly lame sentence. Years in the future, my children will be looking through my record collection and the best I'll be able to say about this one is "oh yeah, I nearly went to that, but didn't". My laziness knows no bounds.

Kevin Devine played three nights in St. Pancras Old Church in London, playing songs from his first four albums the first night, second four albums the next and then requests on third. It's a very cool idea and, I imagine, an incredible venue to see him play in. There are a bunch of reasons why I didn't get round to buying tickets or going, and here are the ones I can recall:

• To be honest, I was a bit torn about which night to go on. I know the second four albums better, but that's because I got into his music just after Brother's Blood came out. But that also means I've heard those songs live a bunch, so maybe the first night would have been better? Or go rogue and go to the third? I live in Oxford and going to London more than one night in a row is a pain. My indecision resulted in me going to none of them. 
• The August beforehand I saw Kevin Devine play in the All Saints Church in Kingston and it was awesome. I saw a few shows Banquet put on there and each was amazing. So not only had I seen Kevin recently play in a church, it was one I knew and liked (although possibly a less grand church? I've not been to St. Pancras Old Church so I can't say for sure). That show was incredible - Tellison supported and when Kevin asked for requests "Every Famous Last Word" came out of my mouth before I knew it; Kevin played it straight away and I smiled like a loon. It was a great moment. Perhaps I was worried these shows wouldn't live up to my expectations or memories.
• I'm just incredibly lazy. This is a recurring theme and if I checked how often that's come up in these blog posts I'd be horrified I'm sure. Probably not horrified enough to do anything about it though.

But, luckily, Big Scary Monsters put out an album from the shows, so I got to enjoy the audio at least. As an added bonus, they included another 17 songs as mp3s so we could all enjoy even more of the nights. It must have been hard to cut the highlights from so many great songs, so it's nice that we can still hear the others - some of my favourite songs didn't make the LP but are included there (Cotton Crush, Private First Class and She Stayed as Steam in particular).

As I mentioned above, I have so much time for the song Every Famous Last Word (and the album, for that matter) and the version here is great - appropriately slower and still excellent. It's a great example of the perfect use he makes of the echo in the building, although not quite as much as Brother's Blood - a song surely made for stepping away from the microphone and screaming into the air. Needless to say, the version of that song here is incredible. I used to watch the video of him singing it in Banquet Records on YouTube whenever I couldn't think what to watch; I now play this version.

A fair amount of chat between songs is included which adds a lot of flavour to them - the dangers of condemning war in Texas on No Time Flat and stories about his somewhat chequered past on Not Over You Yet and a couple of others in the mp3s. I'm a big fan of the artwork here too - simple representations of his eight albums, but choosing to represent them by their titles rather than the original artwork. It's a nice idea and luckily his album titles are quite distinctive, so it makes for a cool idea.

It goes without saying that anyone thinking about getting into Kevin's music would be wise to start here. Not only is this a great selection of songs (whilst still leaving plenty of highlights for further digging) it shows them in a spectacular setting and style. 

I really should have gone to these shows.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 13
Cost: £14 new
Bought: Big Scary Monsters website
When: 07/03/16
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Kevin Devine & The Goddamn Band - Bubblegum

I meant to write about this record months ago when I wrote about it's sibling, Bulldozer. Somehow I forgot to get around to it.

Like Bulldozer, Bubblegum was a grower for me. I was expecting to enjoy Bulldozer more of the two (the idea of a solo record appealed to me over the full-band one) but Bubblegum made progress quicker. That was no doubt helped by two songs in particular - Private First Class and Bubblegum. The former in particular really grabbed me when I saw Kevin play it live in the Lexington in London a short while after the albums came out. I'd heard the song but definitely not heard it - the meaning had been lost but hit me with full force on that night. The sentiment is excellent and it's one of his best songs of recent years. The title track stands out for it's nice and memorable chorus.

There are other strong songs on the album too - Nobel Prize is a great opener, and Fiscal Cliff and I Can't Believe You are brilliant too. Redbird builds to a fairly dark and heavy outro - it's no Brother's Blood in that respect, but it's a great song. There's something Nirvana-y to it as well. Like Bulldozer, this is on purple glitter vinyl, which looks better than it sounds.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 12
Cost: £13.50 new
Bought: Big Scary Monsters website
When: 23/10/13
Colour: Purple glitter
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Kevin Devine - Brother's Blood

When I lived in Cardiff we all fell in love an album called Every Famous Last Word by The Miracle of 86. There was a small punk record shop in the antiques market called Damaged Records which had a bunch of copies on cd for £3. Somehow Hugh ended up buying a copy and it got played a lot on the hifi in the kitchen (putting a hifi in that kitchen was one of the best things we did in that house). I can't remember if that was before or after we saw Kevin Devine supporting Lucero in Le Pub, but I certainly wasn't aware of the connection at the time (as an aside, I don't really remember much of that show - it was the same evening as my work Christmas party and we'd been drinking since midday - I snuck away at 7 and met everyone else on the train to Newport. I remember the gig being good, but details were hazy).

A while later, another Kevin Devine cd ended up in the kitchen and that's went I learnt that he was in The Miracle of 86. The album (Circle Gets the Square) didn't quite get the same traction and eventually got out-played by whatever the next hot-hit on the kitchen hifi was. After two years of living in Cardiff I moved to London to start my PhD. A week or so after arriving, I decided to go record shopping and blow some my new funding money. I went straight to Berwick Street and picked up some gems in the second-hand stores. One of the cds I picked up was Brother's Blood by Kevin Devine. I didn't know much about his back-catalogue and it was a whole £7 (which is a lot for a second-hand cd) but figured it was worth checking out.

I got home and listened to some of the cds. I remember it was late by the time I first played Brother's Blood - not crazy-late, but after midnight. The first four songs were all quite nice but I was aware that I wasn't giving the album my full attention. I was about half-way through the title-track when I first became aware that I was listening to something really special - the guitars were just menacing enough to warn you that something was about to happen; then Kevin started singing louder and louder, until it was basically a scream and he had my full attention. That verse in Brother's Blood always grabs me and I love hearing it. As song as the song finished, I went back and played it again (something I never normally do, especially on the first play of an album). I turned the volume up a little, enough to wake my housemate who text me from upstairs telling me to turn it down. I waited 6 minutes before doing so - I wanted to hear the whole song again, loud and with my full attention.

I remember feeling amazed that I'd found this incredible song, and I very nearly hadn't bought the album. From that point on I listened to rest of the album totally differently. One of the best things about Brother's Blood is that the title-track isn't the only great song - Another Bag of Bones, I Could Be With Anyone and Yr Husband are all incredible songs too. I've found with most of Kevin Devine's albums I need a few listens to get into - and hearing the songs live usually adds something. Brother's Blood is instantly brilliant and hearing the songs live adds even more to them. I've seen Kevin countless times since and the songs from this record are always my favourites. There are others I've become very fond of and enjoy greatly, but I mostly get excited at the thought of hearing Brother's Blood and I Could Be With Anyone. Some time later I discovered Banquet Records in Kingston and found a video of Kevin playing Brother's Blood in-store, which I have watched countless times over the years.

A while ago it was announced that Brother's Blood was being re-released on vinyl and really wanted a copy. I held off a while because I was buying a house and didn't have much spare cash for albums I already had on vinyl. I recently bought a bunch of records from Big Scary Monsters and was pleased to finally get a copy of this album. It's a pretty nice reissue with the die-cut sleeve and some bonus tracks (including an acoustic demo of She Stayed as Steam, which is another favourite from this EP).

Format: 12", die-cut gatefold sleeve, picture sleeves
Tracks: 14
Cost: £18 new
Bought: Big Scary Monsters
When: 07/03/16
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Kevin Devine - Bulldozer

With the exception of Brother's Blood (which I'll come to another time), every Kevin Devine album has been a grower. I'm not sure what it is about his music that takes me a few listens to get into, but I'm always glad I pushed onwards with it.

Bulldozer and Bubblegum came out at the same time, which makes for a lot of new music to get into. Bulldozer is the solo record and Bubblegum is with The Goddamn Band, which in theory should leave the two as very different records, but there is a backing band on most songs here; it makes for a much fuller sounding "solo" record than you'd expect. On top of that, the opener Now: Navigate! rocks harder than some of the songs on Bubblegum. All in all, the distinction between the two albums is less obvious to the listener than it seems on paper. I have memories of listening to Bulldozer first, thinking the solo album would be more akin to the times I'd seen Kevin Devine (actually) solo, but then wondering if I'd misremembered which was which and played the full-band record instead.

My expectations aside, Bulldozer is a great record. The sounds vary dramatically across the ten songs; Now: Navigate!, Little Bulldozer, You Brushed Her Breath Aside and Matter of Time all hit up very different styles but all work as Kevin Devine songs. It also manages to feel cohesive as an album despite that. One song, She Can See Me, made it onto both albums, but I think I prefer this version.

I ordered these records as soon as they came out - the offer of glittered vinyl was too good to refuse. Possibly as a side effect of this, the gaps between songs and run-off grooves have a lot of surface noise. The fact that glittered vinyl is more style over substance shouldn't be a surprise, but it definitely does look good.

Format: 12", picture sleeve, insert
Tracks: 10
Cost: £13.50 new
Bought: Big Scary Monsters website
When: 23/10/13
Colour: Purple / glitter
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Tall Ships - EPs

I've written about how I got into Tall Ships before, but it's relevant here too. The short version is that we saw them playing their second set of the day at Banquet's Big Day Out where they were exploding out of what was basically a gazebo at the back of the field. People were going mad for it and everyone was having a great time. This reached a climax when they played Vessels and I swear my friend and I were the only ones who didn't know the words to the chorus. I have never been so jealous to not be able to join in on a sing-along. It probably rates in my top three sing-alongs (behind Chuck Ragan playing California Burritos in Le Pub and ONSIND playing Heterosexuality is a Construct in the Fighting Cocks; those were most incredible so you can appreciate the significance of this inclusion, especially given that I was both enjoying it and annoyed that I didn't know the words). 

So I'm pretty pleased I do finally have a copy of Vessels in my collection. By the time I saw Tall Ships their EPs were hard to come by and it seemed I'd missed the boat (no pun) on getting them. Luckily, Big Scary Monsters repressed them both onto one orange LP with a lovely screen-printed sleeve. Two of the songs made it onto the LP, Everything Touching, and I remember people saying they preferred the originals. Maybe it's because I heard the LP versions first, but I love the changes made to Books and Ode to Ancestors. The latter in particular is without the repeat of the first verse towards the end of the song here, which is one of my favourite things about it; when I hear the original I keep waiting for the verse to kick in again and it never does.

I probably play this record as often as I do the LP these days. Between the two are so many incredible songs and Vessels, Plate Tectonics (which starts the second EP in a huge style) and Chemistry are all as strong as some of the finest moments on the LP. I'm very glad these songs didn't disappear into the past.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 9
Cost: £17 new
Bought: Big Scary Monsters website
When: 13/04/14
Colour: Orange
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Bear Vs. Shark - Right Now, You're in the Best of Hands. And If Something Isn't Quite Right, Your Doctor Will Know in a Hurry

I think I just got this record. I've had it for months, played it quite a lot and thought it was good, but I put the needle on the record this afternoon and was suddenly struck by how excellent it is (in fact, I'm now listening to it for the third time today). Might have something to do with the fact that I'm playing louder than usual - Bear Vs. Shark sound very good loud.

I'm reasonably sure the name Bear Vs. Shark had never passed my ears (or eyes) until I got a Friction Records sampler at Fest last year (a cd I got free when I bought the first two Shores albums). I still didn't know anything about them for a few weeks afterwards, but that cd put me on the path to finding out about them. As we drove from Gainesville to Orlando, Sarah dug out the two cds she'd got that weekend (just try buying music on any format but vinyl at Fest. I love how difficult it is!) and we listened to them in the car. The second was the Friction Records sampler and the second song - The Hustle by Bars of Gold - was excellent. When I got home I played it again, and it was still excellent. I had a Google, read all about them and made good intentions to ship their album over. The piece of information I took in was that two of the band's members used to be in Bear Vs. Shark and that Big Scary Monsters had re-pressed their debut album. Always keen to avoid being shafted by customs fees, I figured I'd pick up the Bear Vs. Shark album on BSM and save Bars of Gold for later.

The album, as I've only just realised, is incredible. The music is a perfect mix of punk-rock and endless amounts of energy. Evidently, I had to turn the volume up to realise this, but the opener Ma Jolie is huge, and so are the 13 songs that follow it. Songs like The Employee is Not Afraid show an indie side to the band and it's a pretty upbeat record too; play it on a day when you're in a good mood and it'll take some effort to shift the smile off your face.

This reissue is pretty lovely too. The sleeve is entirely different to that of the original, it's numbered (/250) and the colour of the vinyl is lovely (despite a friend pointing out it looks a little like a scab). When mine arrived the record itself was strangely dirty and had slightly knifed the sleeve, but these things don't affect how enjoyable the music is. BSM has now sold out of these, but Banquet has at least one copy which I notice every time I go in there since it has a lower number than mine.

I still haven't bought the Bars of Gold record. I've listened to it on Bandcamp and it's every bit as excellent as the song I heard. You can hear the similarities to Bear Vs. Shark, so much so I think this album may have quenched my desire a little; I still want to buy the Bars of Gold LP, but then I just play Bear Vs. Shark instead and that kind of suffices. I also quite fancy picking up the second BVS album, but copies in the UK are few and far between. On the off chance Kevin is reading this, could BSM please put out those two records? I'd definitely buy them both, and I can't be the only one.

Nearly wrote a whole post about this album without mentioning that it holds the record for the longest album title in my collection.


Format: 12", numbered (225/250)
Tracks: 14
Cost: £12.50 new
Bought: Big Scary Monsters website
When: 03/05/12
Colour: Red with black haze
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Kevin Devine - She Stayed As Steam

On Saturday I saw Cursive and Kevin Devine in Birmingham and both were awesome, so I thought I'd write about some of their records. This is my only Kevin Devine vinyl (so far) and only an EP, but with a title-track so strong it carries the whole thing.

Apparently the first time I saw Kevin Devine was supporting Lucero in Le Pub in Newport, however it had been my work's Christmas do that afternoon and unfortunately I really have no recollection of either band (some bits of Lucero came back to me the next time I saw them). Everyone told me it was very good though. In a separate event, Damaged in Cardiff had copies of Every Famous Last Word by Kevin's old band The Miracle of 86 on cd for £2. Hugh bought a copy and we played it loads in the kitchen and thought it was great. I eventually picked up another £2 copy from there and it's one of my favourite albums (funny story: Hugh regretfully ended up selling his copy when he ran out of cash, which then went into the hands of another friend, who sold it back to me when he was broke which I then gave back to Hugh as a birthday present).

Sometime later I moved to London and found Kevin's most recent (at the time) solo album Brother's Blood in a second hand shop in Soho. Bought it, enjoyed it greatly (especially the title-track), and went with some friends to see him at The Borderline, which was very good indeed. In a final, unrelated event I won some prizes from Big Scary Monsters in the Banquet Records advent calendar a year later, including their endlessly packed (and 3D!) Partied Hard cd. On there I heard She Stayed As Steam and remember thinking it was too great to be an obscure b-side. Luckily I wasn't the only one as this EP got printed.

It's a nice little package: two new songs, two remixes and two live songs, coloured vinyl, limited to 750 copies and a download code. As I said, the title-track is a truly great song; a perfect build up and gang vocals (I have a lot of time for gang vovals). Big Bad Man is pretty good too. I really don't get the point of rock remixes usually. It's a rare event when I think they add much to the song (I have a Snapcase remix that is unlistenable). These two are ok, Another Bag of Bones fares better. The live Leonard Cohen cover is particularly nice. This record wouldn't be at the top of anyone's list of Kevin Devine albums to recommend, but it is a very nice one.

Anyway, the show on Saturday was really good (if a little empty) and it was nice to see Kevin Devine solo after the full-band tour earlier in the year (which I enjoyed a lot too). The highlight was undoubtedly the acoustic rendition of Every Famous Last Word though. It's my favourite on the Mo86 album and I'd never seen him play it before. Sent a chill down my spine.


Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 6
Cost: £12.50 new
Bought: Big Scary Monsters website
When: 03/05/12
Colour: Clear
Etching: none
mp3s: download

Cursive - I Am Gemini

I honestly (and worryingly) cannot remember how I got into Cursive. It must have happened in 2006, based on the fact I bought three of their albums that year and saw them at Pukkelpop. I came back from Australia that year, so I imagine Australian Kate had turned me onto them; she seemed to know an awful lot about good bands. That said, I know the first time I heard them. It was on a mixtape given to me by Hugh (second mention today!) in 2004, but the song was Gentleman Caller. For some reason, at that time, it did nothing for me. I now know it's a great song from one of my all-time favourite albums. I wonder had he put Some Red Handed Slight of Hand or Art is Hard if I'd have gone mad for them straight away. Still, better late than never.

However it happened, I became a big fan of Cursive. I've kept up with their albums since then and enjoyed them varying amounts. Happy Hollow had some great moments but Mama, I'm Swollen I struggled with. Needless to say, I pre-ordered the picture disc of their latest album from Big Scary Monsters when it was announced back in January (the downside being the other cds I ordered didn't get posted until the LP came out. I'd bought the new Kevin Devine album in the same order so didn't have it when he toured last. Luckily he's out on the road supporting Cursive this week). And it is a lovely picture disc at that. Limited to 500 copies and numbered.

As I've said before, I'm a sucker for a concept album, and Cursive do know how to write one; Domestica and Happy Hollow were brilliant and very good, respectively. I Am Gemini has the tunes to carry the concept, even if I didn't quite follow it the first time through. The songs are mostly pretty short, but they've always had a couple of toes in the punk pot so it works.

I'm not sure how well the songs will stand up by themselves without the rest of the record. Not that they're not good, but because the concept is such a big part of the album. I guess I'll find out when I see Cursive on Saturday. I'm pretty excited about this. It's only my second time seeing them; I missed a few tours over the last few years and couldn't go to the London show on Saturday just gone, so I'm heading to Birmingham instead. I'm pretty sure it'll be worth the effort. Hopefully live some of the songs will come into their own, I think plenty of them have the potential.


Format: 12" picture disc, insert, numbered
Tracks: 13
Cost: £13.50 new
Bought: Big Scary Monsters website
When: 08/03/12
Colour: picture disc
Etching: none
mp3s: no