The Terrapin top 25 records of 2015

Let's not pretend that publications have no agendas when publishing their end of year lists. We all know that NME will favour white indie bands tenfold and throw in the odd hip hop record out of good will. At Terrapin, we've tried to curate a list of albums that we've genuinely enjoyed the most this year, whilst keeping a firm grasp of the fact that we're an underground zine and our primary purpose is introducing people to new music. So, whilst 'To Pimp A Butterfly' is an undoubted gem of a record, we've tried to put the records that may have slipped under your radar in focus with our list. Having said that, it'd be laughable to not include it.

So, here are our top twenty five records of 2015:



1 Marching Church - The World is Not Enough:

Elias Bender Ronnenfelt is better known as the frontman of Danish punks Iceage, and for his oddball side-project Var. Marching Church is what started as his solo venture and soon became a fully-fledged band. Their record 'The World is Not Enough' is a harsh, unforgiving, relentless onslaught of askew brass brutally tied with his unmistakable vocals. Iceage's last record saw his confidence peak, but here it's as if he's turned in on himself. "People die for me, fantasize about me" he croons on 'King of Song', it's almost his relief from the pedestal that he's been put on since Iceage became the punk critics darlings in 2014. At times its hard to listen to in that it's impossible to tell what's going to happen next, whether it's a piercing howl or a sax solo so urgent it could almost be sampled by Clipping - Marching Church won't let you sleep at night, but you won't mind.



  2 Ought - Sun Coming Down:
 Montreal collective Ought are a fucking godsend. Their second LP 'Sun Coming Down' takes the David Bryne-flavored loose post-punk of their debut and runs it into the unknown. Cuts like 'Men For Miles' bind together the kind of social issues that Morrissey's self-indulgence lead him to overlook and document them fearlessly. 'Beautiful Blue Sky' takes on the mundane with claws out, and it's hard to deny that they've earned the right to do so. From the cut and paste-era Bowie lyricism of frontman Tim Darcy to the instrumentals that, in a live environment, are cut off as and when, because their potential is endlessly sprawling, it's hard to not be utterly consumed by Ought and all that they are. 


                                                                     3 Young Fathers - White Men Are Black Men Too:
 There are few, if any, bands that are as utterly vital to UK hip hop as Young Fathers. "I'm tired of playing the good black" they collectively chant on 'Old Rock n Roll' before adding "I'm tired of wearing this hallmark for some evils that happened way back". It's the sound of an age of understanding and an age of respect. It's one that, heartbreakingly, stands out like a saw thumb in hip hop - its political progressiveness being replicated by very few within the genre (Kendrick Lamar being one of them). The swollen analogue synthesizers that their manifesto-esque outcries fall on make it a record as engaging sonically as it is on paper.



4 Sufjan Stevens - Carrie and Lowell:
Stepping away from the hard to digest cathartic nature of 'The Age of Adz' and the theatrical brilliance of 'Illinois', 'Carrie and Lowell' is Sufjan Steven's 'Blue', 'Pink Moon' and 'Benji' in one. It's the most intimate singer/songwriter record of recent times. Taking its name from that of Sufjan's mother and step-father/co-owner of Asthmatic Kitty Records, it's piercingly close to the bone. "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross" is a particularly deep cut, with Sufjan almost turning his back on the religion he so clearly adores in the wake of infinite mourning. The album details his mothers death in excruciating detail, to the point where it would be impossible to listen to if not for the rich, warm tones of his acoustic guitars and gently-reverbed backing vocals


5 Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly:
Undoubtedly one of the best hip hop albums of recent times, Kendrick Lamar came through with a record that not only built a bridge between the gap of stubborn indie fans and hip hop but acted as a pillow of hope for those effected by racially-motivated police brutality and racism in general over in the US. Its impact will be felt for years to come, and we're already seen evidence of some of Lamar's lyrics being used in Black Lives Matter movements. 


6 Mbongwana Star - From Kinshasa: 
Setting out to dispel the myths around African culture and music, Mbongwana Star's 'From Kinshasa' is one of 2015's most innovative records. It's almost a direct argument to post-modernism, defying pretty much every preconception held about contemporary music. The collective snatch the comfort you get from thinking you finely understand the LP from under your feet continuously, it's a record that, as a critic, you sort of have to roll over and accept defeat to. There are moments (like, literally moments) that you can pinpoint perhaps to some of the US's more authentic space rock or an early Wire song, but the fact is that From Kinshasa is utterly un-Western and utterly unique.


7 Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit: 
Few made their mark on 2015 quite like Melbourne's Courtney Barnett. Her debut LP is a complete indie rock coup of free-flowing crunchy guitars and almost hip-hop paced lyrics. When the record takes on feedback-laden epics (Small Poppies), it avoids being self-indulgent as Barnett refuses to lose her songwriting wit. "I don't know quite who I am oh but man I am trying" she moans - she'd convince you, too.


8 Gwenno - Y Daff Olaf: 
Marking the second consecutive year that the Welsh Music Prize has gone to a genuinely incredible debut record (See also: Joanna Gruesome's Weird Sister), Gwenno's 'Y Daff Olaf' is a Welsh language full length which takes on the patriarchy and the apocalypse or, rather, avoiding it with the power of Welsh language. Her minimal komische sound may be a million miles from former band The Pipettes' effortless pop, but Gwenno Saunders is still at her assertive political best.


9 The Spook School - Try To Be Hopeful:
 Acting somewhat as a documentation on songwriter Nye Todd's experience of coming out as transgender and transitioning, 'Try To Be Hopeful' is as honest as it is furiously catchy. It tackles the timidity of gender and outdated social constructs ("It makes you think that it's still okay to have marriage when there's no way you can own a living being") with a sarcastic smile rather than a scowl, as if The Spooks' weren't the most lovable bunch anyway.

10  Drinks - Hermits on Holiday:
It becomes clear pretty immediately on the record that Drinks write free, experimental psych rock. At its wildest it almost sounds like Dirty Three, but it will always find its way back to some kind of surrealist melody. Nick Murray's (White Fence, Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall & White Fence) drumming is hugely responsible for ensuring that Drinks never wander too far into the experimental to stop this being a wonderfully catchy record.

11 Deafheaven - New Bermuda:
George Clarke and Deafheaven faced a tough crossroads as 'New Bermuda' approached:  Take their newly appointed position as the poster boys of black metal in their stride and make another record that appealed less to hardcore metalheads but to fans of alternative music in general more, or revert back to their bewitching roots; they favored the latter. There's plenty of reverb-heavy shoegaze guitar work, but in truth Deafheaven completely turn in on themselves on this record and come out with their scariest,darkest LP to date.  

12 Speedy Ortiz - Foil Deer: 
Speedy Ortiz sharpened up their oddball-slanted take on indie rock on their second LP, with cuts such as 'The Graduates' putting yet more focus on Sadie Dupuis' effortlessly chaactarised songwriting and 'Raising The Skates' featuring wonderfully off-centre guitar notes. Foil Deer *should* do enough to ensure that there's less boring white dudes writing Speedy Ortiz off as "Pavement rip offs". I mean, if Stephen Malkmus likes them, right?

13 Jenny Hval - Apocalypse Girl: 
The venereal monologue of opener 'Kingsize' is soundtracked by minimal electronics, whereas 'Why This' sees Hval toy with layering to create cosmic, surreal tracks for her ambitious vocal delivery and songwriting to sit atop. 'Sabbath' is a surreal pop song in which Hval switches between a beautifully effortless vocal melody and a visceral and thought-provoking spoken-word piece. The alarming artwork compliments the mood of the album to a tee, 'Apocalypse, Girl' is the haunting, cosmic soundtrack to your favourite nightmare. 


14 Björk - Vulnicura:
 Multi-instrumentalist/songwriter/vocalist/genius/queen of everything Björk suggested that her ninth studio LP would be something of a breakup album pre-release. Although it may have prompted those less familiar with her to expect something akin to Bob Dylan's seminal 'Blood on the Tracks', what she came through with was this; a relatively minimal sonic record which cuts incredibly close to the bone through chronological sequencing and heady vocal deliveries 

15 Trust Fund - Seems Unfair: 
Kudos to Ellis Jones/Trust Fund for being the only artist to have two records featured in our top fifty. On 'Seems Unfair' Ellis' pens his most infectious pop songs to date, like a favorably warped Built To Spill tape played twice as fast. "If we stop feeling weird in ten or twelve or fifteen years, what will we even have to talk about" he asks on the excellent 'Football'. Closer 'Can You Believe' offers a sombre moment of reflection (before tailing off into breakneck speed indie pop bliss, obviously).

16 Grimm Grimm - Hazy Eyes Maybe:
 “The broken glass is falling over me” croons a seemingly careless Yamanoha beneath a gentle synth pattern and a reverb-doused acoustic guitar on the wonderful fifth track Teleportation, and it’s the contrast between the morbid lyricism and gentle, almost lullaby-esque instrumentation that creates the overwhelming sense of surrealism which ties the sonically heterogeneous LP together. In fact, from the moment the sparse percussion of opener Kazega Fuitara Sayonara gives way to the lethargic guitar drones, a real sense of subtle psychedelia is being established. 

17 Death Grips - Jenny Death:
Undoubtedly the best experimental hip hop record of the year, Jenny Death's eventual arrival back in March signaled the return of the most punk band on the planet. It's visceral, relentless and utterly, utterly petrifying. 

18 Kurt Vile - B'lieve I'm Goin' Down: 
The layers of reverb and fuzz that characterized his early work are completely absent here, and the tone is a little darker. It’s a nighttime album, moody and introspective, while amping up Vile’s signature brand of dark humour. This makes sense, given that the majority of the album was written and recorded in the early hours, and Vile has stated that “somewhere between midnight and three, maybe the best stuff happens.” ‘B’lieve’ is a tour of his hazy, introverted mind; a collection of late night thoughts that tumble out as Vile attempts to balance the life of an unassuming family man with that of a busy touring musician.

19 Pinact - Stand Still and Rot:
 Glasgow's finest, Pinact, released one of the most promising debut records of the year with the MJ of Hookworms-produced 'Stand Still and Rot'.'Up or Down' has graduated from The J Mascis School of Writing Great Noisy Rock Songs and gone on to take over as principle, whilst 'Spill Yr Guts, Let Out Some Noise' is a fuzzy, scratchy freakout of an interlude that could only be on a Pinact record. 

20 Shopping - Why Choose:
The London three piece serve up relentlessly jittery post-punk on their second offering. Although it could be said that their social awareness isn't quite that of their debut, the leftfield guitar lines and frantic vocal mantras that Shopping throw down seemingly effortlessly are way beyond their years. 

21 Waxahatchee - Ivy Trip:
For her third album as Waxahatchee, Katie Crutchfield recruited Swearin's Kyle Gilbride and Keith Spencer to flesh out her formerly bare, dry instrumentals; it worked. The crushing intimacy is still present. Harshly overdriven 'Breathless' is a testament to the musical horizons that have opened to Katie.

22 Benjamin Clementine - At Least For Now:
Whilst he clearly has an ear for avant-garde (Then I Heard A Bachelor's Cry), Clementine's debut consists mostly of the dry, heartbreaking piano compositions that have served him well since the days of hiding his keyboard under hostel beds. His smooth, tenor voice cuts through his melancholy composition 'The People And I", whereas 'Winston's Churchill's Boy" takes on an unexpected almost slow hip-hop turn as Clementine poignantly recites "Where is your family?/Where are your loved ones, someone uttered".

23 Pond - Man It Feels Like Space Again: 
From the golden moment ‘Waiting Around For Grace’ explodes from a guitar riff into space Pond take you on a bumpy, interstellar journey in an upgraded Hobo Rocket covered in glitter. The trip is perfectly paced, with fast, jerky tracks like ‘Elvis’ Flaming Star’ and ‘Zond’ broken up by more melodic ones like ‘Sitting Up On Our Crane’ and ‘Holding Out For You’. This album is Pond at the top of their game and proof that they’re so much more than just a ‘Tame Impala offshoot’.

24 Two White Cranes - Radisson Blue: 
Roxy Brennan (Joanna Gruesome, Grubs, Towel, Trust Fund... literally every good DIY band ever) does solo stuff, too. Her third studio album as Two White Cranes, Radisson Blue, is an endlessly warm folk record that you'd really struggle to tire of. The closer on the record is called 'We Grew Up' and is by far the loudest track on the record, which makes the nature of the next TWC album up for debate. If she ever gets time to write it, that is. 

25 Stealing Sheep - Not Real: 
"Don't let the daytime fool you that you're not real" demand Liverpool collective Stealing Sheep on the title track to their wonderful second record, with sparse steel guitars and synthesizer notes fighting for attention behind them - an otherworldly pop record that cuts through the onslaught of generic psych music releases in 2015 with an effortless charm, a record that fights against the daytime.



This piece was written collectively, it features original and new reviews from Scott Brown, Lloyd Bolton and Marty Hill

(Full fifty list available in print from December 20th and online from January)

Godspeed You! Black Emperor live at Camp and Furnace, Liverpool

Fewer things are more out of place than the disco ball that looks down on a bewildered Camp and Furnace as a repetitious drone bass loop shakes its already battered walls. Godspeed You! Black Emperor left the stage at least ten minutes ago after a quick set up and the deafeningly loud drone has been played since. 

Openers Dead Rat Orchestra spent their set probing the capabilities of the human ear with their thirty minute set of piercingly loud 1600s revivalist folk, which in truth fell on deaf ears. They'd been billed as an 'experimental folk' band and they may be so on record, but live their music comes across unambitious and tired. 'Experimental', to me anyway, doesn't equate to ditching conventional folk instruments for a macbook and singing frustratingly tired melodies over some sparse noise compositions, aided by the occasional clang of makeshift percussion. The drone loop that preceded Godspeed's arrival I guess sounded a little bit like Dead Rat Orchestra without the insufferable vocals.

Eventually, the Canadian post-rock titans answer the crowds increasingly impatient cries. With not a vocal microphone between them, there's no need for pleasantries beyond a modest smile before the band open their set with the almost discordant 'Hope Drone'. It's GY!BE at their most avant-garde horror film score-y, with the dark ambient soundscape creeping to the very back of the room. Sophie Trudeau's demented violin clashing with screeching guitars. "Off Raise yr skinny fists? Fucking Tune!" is bellowed out from somewhere behind me to my amusement as the band fade into 'Gathering Storm'. taking their set from bewildering and petrifying to completely life affirming. The keys that open up the piece are overflowing with feeling, it's a piece of music no doubt sacred to so many of those watching and the quick transition into it from such a contrasting opener catches most out: heads in hands, motionless, uncontained - the reaction varies across the room as the twenty minutes plus piece takes its grip. The only sound imaginable that could top it in volume and emotion is the applause that follows. 

New record 'Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress' follows in its entirety. It's perhaps the least engaging record Godspeed have penned, yet live it takes on a whole new lease of life. Captivating, haunting, crushing, uplifting, Liverpool Music Week may boast some huge shows across its seven days but Godspeed in full swing is the overwhelming highlight by far. Surrealist films play behind the band from a huge analogue projector as the eight piece finish on a new track which indicates that the worlds most overwhelming live band are still brimming with creativity, and not just live prowess 

By Marty Hill

The Spook School's 'Try To Be Hopeful' Is Both Socially Aware and So Much Fun

On 2013 debut 'Dress Up' Edinburgh sweethearts The Spook School honed a brand of fun, noisy indie pop which sat behind their semi-lighthearted probes at hypermasculinity (Can You Ever Trust a Man Who Thinks Matt Damon's Really Cool?), whilst vocalist Nye Todd took the Fortuna Pop! backing as an opportunity to strip down the brash sound tackle binary ideals on a more intimate moment with 'Something - it made for a really pleasant and refreshing LP that could act as a shy comfort to queer kids everywhere. 'Try To Be Hopeful', however, isn't shy. It's a record to wake up the ignorant rather than comfort the oppressed.

Opener 'Burn Masculinity' exists for little over two minutes but it goes at straight-white-male privilege with claws and fangs and is a more significant burst of activist than most manage in a career, its feedback laden guitar tracks bursting into a melting pot of melody in which transgender vocalist Nye Todd observes "I've got to accept that I've inherited a privilege that I should be aware of". In a sense it's a statement of intent regarding the queer punk party that follows. That's not to say that the album's a manifesto, though. There are moments of effortless pop fun that stray at least from the explicity that The Spooks discuss gender identities on the record as a whole. Take 'I Want To Kiss You' for example, a track aloof with jangly guitars and vocal tracks from at least three fourths of the band, there's a sorta youthful energy to it that most indie bands would probably make feel corny, but the willingness here to not overcomplicate makes for an excellent pop song. 

Whilst drummer Niall McCamley is the only member without a vocal credit on the record (which certainly changes live), vocal duties fall largely to brothers Adam and Nye Todd. Distinguishing the two, however, isn't as easy as you'd think given that Nye had hormone treatment throughout the recording of the album. It sorta adds to add authenticity to Todd's words, and kind of turns Try To Be Hopeful into as much of a journal as it is a record, it's a rare degree of intimacy and it would be incredibly difficult to not get sucked in. MJ of Hookworms can add this to his never ending list of great records he's produced in the last couple of years, the title track particularly benefits from having him behind the desk, with the various guitar tracks complimenting each other beautifully, from the simple fuzz accompanist on the chorus to the squealing feedback and lowkey David Bowie solo that see out the record. 

On the pulsating 'Binary' Todd demands "So make them uncomfortable and challenge their ideals, because those antiquated notions are blinding what is real" which I guess is something of a manifesto. Queer kids of the world unite and take over! 18 / 20 

By Marty Hill

"There's No Way I Will Stop Until I'm Dead or Dying" An Interview With Anton Newcombe

Anton Newcombe needs no introduction. He's the creative force behind one of the most consistently untouchable bands of our time, The Brian Jonestown Massacre. I'm not quite sure how but I managed to blag an interview with him over Twitter recently and so, as surreal as it sounds, here's my interview with Anton Newcombe:

I've lost track of the amount of bands I've seen as support acts or whatever that I can't believe don't pay you royalties. To me, The Brian Jonestown Massacre are one of the most plagiarized bands of recent times, do you feel that way too? If so, do you take it more as a compliment or an insult? 

Not really, I look at it like folk music. I really wanted to become a part of the popular lexicon and to an extent I think I have in some ways,one of them being you can google bjm in the news and it's going to be someone describing someone else and using me to help as a reference point. Let's face it, when i started I was interested in groups like Echo and the Bunnymen etc that also incorporated their respect for 60s music,then of course The Marychain came along, Galaxy 500, Opal and others... I liked all of that stuff. Then the UK thing really blew up,I always felt that we were holding the torch so others might see, because there wasn't a lot of music like us around. I would like to point out that when i started out playing, at like 12 or whatever, we wanted to be punk and post punk and be weird and freak people out. We didn't even think about it being a means to get famous or be rich, it wasn't on the radar really...it was about being fucking nuts.Being rad. I hate that most people could give a fuck about their own music to be honest and that's why you see them stop playing music. There's no way I will stop until I am dead or dying because I love being creative and the magic music machine.

The reason I started listening to your music in the first place was because I found the BJM name fascinating and 'My Bloody Underground' just sounded like a great record, how important do you think the name of bands and records are? 

Names are really important. It's like "The Cure", no mater what the problem is, here's The Cure. They were going to win with a name like that. There are a million groups with stupid names that mean nothing...they will go nowhere. Then there are people like me,that would have had way more people checking my ideas out had I chosen another name, but then again I WANTED TO BE THIS EXOTIC FRUIT - WITH SPIKES ON THE SIDE... THAT LOOKED EVIL AND DANGEROUS,T HAT COULDN'T SELL OUT, COULDN'T BE COMMERCIALIZED... I just wanted to be free. 

I used 'it' because The Brian Jonestown Massacre could just as easily be the moniker you use to put a new track on youtube under or it could be the full band playing live, does that kind of power of writing BJM tracks solo keep you creative?

I am creative because I am creative. I stay creative because I enjoy my life and sharing my ideas.

Bands seem to be playing certain records in full a lot more now, is this something you'd ever do with some of the older material?

I'm not interested. It has been brought up but I'll tell you this, to me, it's like saying "we don't have anything new to offer,let us be nostalgic together so i can make my mortgage payments because I am too fucking lazy to reconnect with that person I used to be that could be bothered to write a decent song and record a fucking album you would be excited by."

But hey,that's just my opinion...

What's your favourite of your guitar pedals?

I'm not a pedal guy - useful is a better question. I find 20db of gain useful. All my vox guitars have built in effects, but I don't use them much live in that context for bjm.

Besides Berlin, what is your favourite city to spend the night in?

I love Scandinavia...all the Nordic countries. Netherlands, too.

Sonic Youth or Nirvana?

J.S.BACH

psychedelic rock is...

Invisible 


Interview by Marty Hill

Ought on Dirty Three's self-titled

One of the main reasons we started this zine is because we love hearing about other peoples favourite records, and so we decided to launch a sorta series in which we ask some of our favourite artists to talk about one of their favourite albums. In this edition Tim Keen of Ought, responsible for probably our favourite record of the year, takes a moment to reflect on Dirty Three's self-titled record. By their own admittance, the Dirty Three don’t have a definitive album, a record which most eloquently summarises what they’re on about, where they knock the whole thing out of the park. This makes for interesting listening; I don’t know anyone who is serious about the Dirty Three who agrees on their best record. My feelings on the matter still oscillate widely, but their 1995 self-titled—their second record—is responsible for a lot of my musical upbringing. Awakening, more like it. As a shy, angry, thirteen year old classical violinist, taught from a very young age that musical success was involved with clarity, appropriateness of style, technical precision, work ethic, there wasn’t a frame of reference in me for a man strapping a guitar pickup to his fiddle with a thick rubber band, churning on top of guitar and drums (where’s the bass?) moving to their own perverted rhythm, seemingly unaffected by the violin’s presence. And, after spending all my time listening to new American bands, this music was from the city that I lived in? I was young and male and millennial so of course I discovered the internet, and was already —i thought—familiar with the world of “indie rock”, as distinct from classical or art music. Indie rock was rebellious because it had words, because it spoke directly to the listener, because it was catchy. Dirty Three is none of those things: it stumbles in elliptical loops, it falls in on itself, it is simultaneously interested in art music tradition and doesn’t give a fuck about anything. I think the thing that separates this album from the fairly generic indie rock I appreciated at the time was that this record was one of my first experiences of players really listening to each other, hearing the spaces in between each others notes, playing the space like music. Everything’s Fucked is the most well-known Dirty Three song, and I also think it’s their best. For the first minute, Mick Turner and Jim White play a waltz, until the two of them pull away to let the violin enter. Ellis’ contribution, for the time being, is a perfect fifth, the most open interval. He rocks back and forth, finding room in the snare roll. When he’s ready, the arpeggios fall over the instrument like the most natural thing in the world. I once, as a teenager, made a karaoke version of this song on my home recording setup, learning both the drum and the guitar parts so that i could more easily play the violin over the top. This kind of playing—this sincerity, this heart-on-sleeve vibrato, this looseness—still feels like honesty to me. I couldn’t shake it if I tried.

Ought's record Sun Coming Down (18/20) is available to buy here

An Interview With The Spook School

Manchester was particularly busy on Saturday with a Man City football match, Northern Vegan Festival and A Carefully Planned (music) Festival all going on within a few miles of each other, which offered a pretty diverse spectrum of people. Somewhere among the masses were Edinburgh queer pop collective The Spook School, who I was heartbroken to learn I couldn't stay to watch that night having fallen completely in love with them over the last few months. However they were happy to meet us outside the venue to talk about their new record, strange reviews and transphobia.

Terrapin: Hi, nice to meet you! Who are you looking forward to seeing tonight other than Personal Best?


Nye: There's Haiku Salut, and The Tuts are on after us. Emma Kupa was on earlier 

Adam: She was playing when we parked the car

What's the music scene in Scotland like at the moment A few people have said it's really exciting

Nye: I feel that we're not very good at being aware of the Scottish music scene

Niall: I think it's maybe a difference between Glasgow and Edinburgh

Nye: Yeah I think there's a lot of bands in Glasgow, and I suppose if you're from Edinburgh it's like being on the outside and peering in

Niall: It's like 'oh, it looks like there's cool things over there'

Nye: Edinburgh is a lot of kinda like folky bands but not that much of the kinda louder thing

Linking back to the Vegan Festival today, are all of you guys vegan?

Niall: I'm a vegetarian but I try my best

Nye: Niall sometimes gets angry at us if we say he's not vegan

Niall: That's usually if someone's offering us food, like I'm vegetarian but it I'll have the vegan option

Is it hard to eat then when you're on the road? This is the first night of the tour, right?

Niall: Kind of but there's a massive gap before the next show

Nye: Yeah, it's a 'I can't quite quit my job yet' tour

Adam: We'll load into the venue is and then we'll just Happy Cow where the nearest place is

Nye: I suppose it's quite nice, you get to go on little adventures

Adam: Yeah we've tasted a lot of the best vegan places in the country

Nye: When we recorded our album there was a place called The Grove Cafe and they do burgers and pizzas and like curries, we went there like three or four times in one week which was quite ridiculous, really

How does the record differ from the debut?

Nye: It's a lot more obvious and I think it's louder

Niall: There's a lot more feedback

Nye: Yeah, I think it's more overtly about gender and politics and things like that, whereas the last one was a bit vague

Niall: It's like 'yeah we're just going to hit you over the head with it now'

I saw the Rolling Stone interview you did with Laura Jane Grace which was really cool

Nye: Yeah that was weird. It was nice but it was really strange. It was a very very nice but surreal experience 

She said that she still feels that there's a significant amount of ignorance towards being transgender, do you feel that way?

Nye: Yeah I do think there's a lot of ignorance, with trans men I think there's ignorance but not as much hate, it seems like people are really terrible to trans women whereas they just don't realise trans men exist. I've never experienced anyone being mean or anything

Do you think it's more of an ignorance issue rather than a vicious thing then?

Nye: Yeah I think so, in my experiences people can be at the same time really ignorant on a grander scale but really nice on a personal level. I remember at work there was someone that was really really nice to me, this was before I started testosterone and she always got the pronouns right and everything and then I was in a conversation with her and I think on a series of Celebrity Big Brother there had been someone who had been a boxing coach and she's just come out as trans? I can't remember who it was, but the person was talking about her and being like 'Oh did you see that man in a dress on that thing the other night?'. It was really strange how she could talk about her like that but be really respectful to me. I suppose it's hard to do that when the person's sat, like, right in front of you

I know you were talking about doing some shows with Against Me! which would be incredible, who would be your ideal tour mates?

Nye: David Bowie? (laughs) I feel like a lot of my favourite bands are bands that we do play with, like bands I listen to the most aren't really big bands. So it's like Grubs and Two White Cranes, basically all the bands with Roxy (Brennan)in

Joanna Gruesome, Trust Fund... Do you think that's happening more now though? I read a Martha interview recently and they said their favourite bands were like The Spook School and Trust Fund, do you think there is more of a DIY community now?

Niall: Aww

Nye: Yeah I think it's really nice, I think also when you know a bit about people it helps you to kind of connect with their music? I still can't think of anyone I'd like to tour with

Adam: One Direction, Jedward? We could do a triple bill with them

What's the strangest thing anybody has ever said about The Spook School?

Niall: That I'm their dad, probably

Nye: Yeah we got a review once that said Niall was like a working man's comic and that me, Anna and Adam were like androgynous replicates 

Finally, what three records should everybody hear at least once?

Nye: Oh my god, don't let me answer

Adam: Three records from anytime?

Yeah

Adam: That's even harder

Nye: I'm just trying to decide which is my favourite David Bowie album but I just can't

How about recent albums you've liked, that Perfume Genius cover you did was really cool

Nye: Yeah that was good fun

Adam: We also did a sped up version

Nye: Yeah, that wasn't shared publicly... Radisson Blue by Two White Cranes I really really like

Niall: New Trust Fund, amazing. 'Footballl'

Nye: I've been listening to a lot of Icona Pop, I don't know if that album was this year or not but I really like it



Thanks to The Spook School for speaking to us, their new record is incredible and out now, you can buy it here

Interview by Marty Hill
Photo via The Spook School's Facebook

"The melody of MBV is eternity, and as pop as Abba" - An Interview With Grimm Grimm

Grimm Grimm's 'Hazy Eyes Maybe' is one of our joint favourite records of the year, we were lucky enough to talk to the man behind the moniker, Koichi Yamanoha, about ATP, My Bloody Valentine and playlists.

I loved your record 'Hazy Eyes Maybe', it's incredibly absorbing and I have to listen to the record in its entirety, many people say that the concept of an album is being replaced by playlists and so on, would you disagree?

Thank you. Yes I agree, to me making an album is like writing a story or a painting. Like recording the entire air and time I currently have. I guess the digitisation of music has changed the value of music. You can't touch or see music anyway but I still do prefer listening a whole album on vinyl.

Was the transition from the psych chaos of Screaming Tea Party to the more subtle sound of Grimm Grimm something you intended or did that just happen naturally when you started writing solo?

Yes I guess it naturally happened. It's just songs I've been writing are much easier to arrange and play by myself. but collaborating with other musicians is still very inspiring. 

You had a 7" out on Kevin Shields' Pickpocket Records prior to the album release, how did that come about, are you influenced my My Bloody Valentine?

My friend Charlotte from Le Volume Courbe is involved with Pickpocket, she put all effort to release it. The 7" was very meaningful for me. I met her in this record shop I used to work in and got fired.  I think the melody of MBV is eternity, and as pop as Abba. I'm not a big fan of the word "shoegazer" though.

You're signed to ATP Records now who put on probably the best festivals in the world, if you were ever to curate a festival who would be your headline act?

Most of musicians I love are already dead and gone, but I'd love to ask Leonard Cohen if he can still sing. 

Interview by Marty Hill
Check out Grimm Grimm here