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NEWS
MUSIC
ALT-J
W
e’ve all heard of the dreaded second album
hex – the ‘sophomore slump’, as it’s often
referred to – in which the quality of an artist’s
second record plummets. But there’s also a third
album tradition, in which bands freak out and
fling themselves in another musical direction
completely, fearful they’ve become slaves to
their own cliché. Alt-J’s Thom Green (drums,
electronics) says the art-rock trio were
aware of the custom, but it didn’t affect
their focus.
“I think I’d be lying if I said there
wasn’t any [pressure] at all,” the Leeds
native tells us. “We were always pretty
good at focusing, not getting caught
up in that kind of thing. But being
compared to certain bands… we just
want to do the best we can and push
the boundaries a little bit, and be calm
about things.”
Measured words from a measured man, whose
composure comes through in the incredibly
reflective arrangements of alt-J’s new album,
aptly titled
RELAXER
. Second single
In Cold
Blood
displays Green’s fascinating approach to
rhythm, as the variations in beat go from sinewy
syncopated half-time, to a rolling snare build, to
sharp accents that match the brass melody. “I
listen to drummers a lot,” Green explains. “I listen
to bands that have interesting percussion, and I
always want to make my own mark, have my own
signature kind of style – whatever that is. That
track, there’s lots of layered percussion, especially
the end: it starts on the double cow bell and then
it’s double strokes, and then to cross over to the
bongos at the same time… that’s really difficult. I
INTERVIEW
R
egarded as vital in the
establishment of ‘70s punk rock
aesthetic, English artist Jamie Reid
attended Croydon Art School where
he began his anarchist leanings with a
six-day student sit-in protest in 1968,
also attended by future Sex Pistols
manager and ‘godfather of punk’
Malcolm McLaren (also a student at
the college at the time). In the early
‘70s Reid ran radical political magazine
Suburban Press
, where he honed
his distinctive graphic style: using
newspaper cut-outs to create ransom
note-style text.
As the Sex Pistols emerged
shrieking into international awareness
in the mid-‘70s – banned from several
English live venues, fired from two
record companies and having sworn
on live television – Reid was enlisted
through his Situationist art circles to
create the band's debut cover art. His
cut-out style, in lurid yellow and pink,
caught attention immediately – some
of it furious. London police ordered
record stores not to display the album;
the word ‘bollocks’ was considered
obscene. After much uproar and a
store manager’s arrest, the case
was heard in court, where QC John
Mortimer argued a double-standard
was at work. An expert witness also
testified the word was not obscene,
but merely an Old English term for
‘nonsense.’ The hearing’s chairman
grudgingly found the manager not
guilty, adding: “My colleagues and
I wholeheartedly deplore the vulgar
exploitation of the worst instincts of
human nature for commercial profits
by both you and your company.”
ZKR
WHAT'S THE
STORY?
We have a look back at the
fascinating tales behind some
of our favourite album covers.
This month:
Never Mind
The Bollocks, Here's The Sex
Pistols,
Sex Pistols
(1977)
T
he pop chicks are out
in force this month –
Katy Perry and Lorde both
have brand new albums
for you to savour, and we
spoke to intriguing new
alt-pop singer-songwriter
Marika Hackman about
her excellent debut
I'm
Not Your Man
. Other
interviews include
London Grammar, Kirin J
Callinan, Bernard Fanning
and more. Sponge-
worthy!
Zo
ë
Radas (Music Editor)
like that. If it was easy, it would be really boring.”
He’s talking about live performance specifically,
but tracks often present a challenge when it comes
to that stage of the album cycle, because their
complexity happens in the magic of the studio
with revered producer (and honourary fourth
bandmember) Charlie Andrew. “
Hunger Of The
Pine
on the second album, for example: there’s
a programmed beat and it’s really difficult to play
live because it wasn’t played live originally,” Green
says. “But I quite like that. You can discover a lot of
different ways of playing. I love playing live – that’s
why I tour.”
Green’s also in charge of samples:
the tiny crackling sound in
3WW
is an
actual campfire, and the line “The girls
from the pool say ‘Hi’” is spoken by the
three boys’ real life girlfriends; in
Hit
Me Like That Snare
, a Japanese woman
counts from one to ten (spot the strange
cross-reference in the gorgeous
Last
Year
) and then Green loops a sliver of
her speech into a tripping paradiddle
pattern. The most atmospheric samples
are field recordings which slide in during
epic hymnal closer
Cathedral
, which was recorded
in Cambridgeshire’s magnificent Ely Cathedral, and
utilises its Boys’ Choir. “We recorded around the
cathedral, air vents and things,” Green says, adding
that the gravel crunch at the track’s beginning is
frontman Joe Newman walking across the building’s
grounds. “It was kind of an easy decision to go to
the cathedral; Gus contacted his old music teacher,
who’s still there teaching the choir.” None of the
guys are card-carrying believers, but Green says
there’s something about ecclesiastic music which
inspires them. “We all appreciate hymns, really,” he
says. "Joe and Gus [Unger-Hamilton, keyboards] are
very much into folk songs, and their harmonies. And
it was about time we did that – recorded a choir.”
ZKR
RELAXER
by
alt-J is out June
2 via Liberation.