A reminder of how good Reuben were (and a bit of Biffy)

For proof of how brilliant Reuben could be in their genre, I've dug up the cover they did of Vex Red's 'Karin'. Vex Red were a fairly small band on the same sort of scene as Reuben in the early 00s, but they disappeared even sooner. 'Karin' is a decent piece of songwriting, but only ever made it to demo stage, so it's a bit sketchy and not particularly well padded-out. Reuben heard this:

And turned it into this:

I may be biased, but the energy and innovation in that cover, even with simpler rock instrumentation and the same riffs, is exceptional.

While we're on covers, I feel I should re-post the wackiest hard rock cover in existence. Ever heard Weezer's melodic gem 'Buddy Holly'? If not, or if it's just a faint memory, here's a reminder:

Now take everything you'd just heard, tear it up and listen to this:

"Suck on that!" as Simon Neil almost certainly said after recording that guitar part.

1/3 of Reuben return

This evening, I got an unanticipated, excitable call from my boyfriend. "JAMIE LENMAN'S RELEASING A NEW ALBUM". We like Reuben, the band Lenman fronted a few years ago, and any signs of life in the band members have excited us ever since. Reuben were amongst the hardcore bands to rise in the early 00s with Biffy Clyro, Hundred Reasons and Hell is for Heroes, and they were also one of those rare bands who break up but then don't stop gathering fans. My boyfriend and I nearly booked tickets to 2000 Trees festival this year because there were rumours Reuben would perform. It was unlikely, and as expected, it didn't happen. But now, news - on 4th November, their lead singer and main ego is releasing new music.

When I interviewed Jamie Lenman 4 years ago, he told readers to "Watch this space!" if they wanted to hear some solo material. Well, it's been a lot of watching, but today we've got what we were waiting for. The promotional bumf is extremely polished: Jamie's gone for the waxed-moustache look (I don't think that's a viable look, but he pulls it off - or rather, I wish he would); an album release on CD and vinyl is planned; a new website has already been rolled out, and the new video is seamlessly and stylishly directed. In other words, this hasn't come about sketchily. Fans have spent the last 5 years examining and debating every bale of tumbleweed passing through the desert Reuben left behind, watching that space with hawks' eyes, so this onslaught of information was a shock to the senses. Within half a day, the new video has been shared by over half of the people who've liked it on Facebook - there may not be millions of them, but these people are seriously dedicated.

So can the new tracks impress fans who've waited 5 years for Jamie to put down his sketching pencils (he was an illustrator for the Guardian for a while) and pick up a guitar? Well, primarily, the surprise is the genre Lenman's chosen - or should that be genres? His new album appears to be half hardcore, half "jazz-folk", and the new video (below) showcases both styles to great effect. The wit on the second track, 'Pretty Please', is characteristic Lenman - with simple lyrics, a light-hearted edge and unabashed catchiness, it's more 'pop' than anything Lenman's released before, but anyone who listened to 'Deadly Lethal Ninja Assassin' on the last album could have sensed something shifting. It's very different though. If we're to believe Jamie actually played as many instruments on the track as the video suggests, then he's branched out dramatically - from drummer, guitarist and vocalist to double-bass aficionado and trumpet player? Bravo.

The cry of the track is "validate me! Oh pretty please. Validate me, yeah." It's probably no coincidence that Xtra Mile & Jamie have chosen to release that particular song as a single. So far, the Youtube comments and wider response seem to validate him very nicely.

The track opening the video is a lot more like Jamie as manifested on Reuben tracks. The atmospheres of the two halves neatly represent the singer's seeming dual personality - he's brooding, dark and able to inject real anger into recordings, but (previously outside of the studio) also has an immense sense of humour and playfulness. See what you think, anyway. For me, Maggsy321 summarised the feelings of today perfectly: "The only thing that could ruin one of the happiest days of my life is the stupid fucking moustache."

Lyrics

I probably don't value lyrics enough on this blog. I love good lyrics - they're poetry with the additional feature of having melody, harmony and rhythm to make them carry extra weight and meaning. I like a lot of instrumental music too, but there's something about a good lyric set to a fitting melody that adds an emotional charge; I don't think lyrics are valued enough generally, in fact.

First, something sombre which I keep returning to.

"I thought that I was full of such hope and light, and such love.
But all my words - I wrote them for you,
and all my songs - I sang them for you.
Photos of me, they all show
a staring man I don't know.

You know that I've been through... all this nonsense with you.
And all my words - I broke them for you,
and all my plans - I snapped them in two.

I could create like it was stealing
I'd love to sing how I was feeling
I had a soul that burned for beauty
but who gives a shit? I must admit,

I've lost it a little bit."

That's the first half of the song. If you've just read those and feel incredulous, I urge you to listen to the song to see how perfect the words are to describe his feeling. Those first lines - "I thought that I was full of such hope and light, and such love" are perfected by their phrasing: he pauses after I, and of, and light, and love - you find yourself thinking of this man, this man the singer thought he was, an optimistic and 'light' man, light so heavy with positive connotations, love the garnish on this wonderful image. But then the 'but' comes. And at first it doesn't make sense. Why does writing his words and singing his songs jeopardise his great character?

The best thing about the song is that he doesn't tell you why. There's just this 'you', this person he broke promises for, abandoned plans for, but we never find out why. I assume total sacrifice, an image barely between the lines, and rejection, but it's left to you to pull your own experience into it, interpret the ambiguities.

My favourite words though are these:

"I could create like it was stealing
I'd love to sing how I was feeling
I had a soul that burned for beauty
but who gives a shit? I must admit,
I've lost it a little bit."

They cut through me every time, partly because the song builds up here, starts to take you into serious emotion with the dynamics and Jamie Lenman's unforgettable voice. This man that the singer describes was someone who could 'create like it was stealing' (great concept anyway), making art so easily, the epitome of youth, who had a 'soul that burned for beauty'. The word 'soul' always means a lot - sometimes it's clichéd - but here I know what he means. That feeling you get when you see something awe-inspiring - when you wake up in a top-floor flat and realise the whole world's out there, when you see someone you love waiting for you before they see you, then catch the recognition in their smile - that's a soul burning for beauty. It desires it, it is damaged and brought to life by it. And this fucker has taken that away from him. The line 'who gives a shit?' makes me hurt every time, because it's so nonchalant, yet so angry. And it doesn't rhyme, so as Lit teachers would say, your attention is drawn to it - he doesn't even care about making the lines flow.

But then it all softens up. "I can't breathe this atmosphere; can't wait till I get out of here." It's over. There's misery, not anger, and then that builds into a climax of perfectly played post-hardcore, ended with 'Cause I have wasted year after year, and smile I may, but it's insincere, my dear', ended with an endearment which is both acerbic and loving. Every breath and yell is conflicted, and the music echoes that and reinforces it perfectly. Good lyrics are like good poetry, but expressive even without analysis, because of the juxtaposition between each word and its backing, or the primal support the music gives to its meaning.

Some of the best lyrics in my music collection are Conor Oberst's, but he's a thirty-year old singer from Omaha, Nebraska who grew up Catholic and then gravitated into mysticism, so the level on which I connect to the sentiments in his tracks is often not the same as with Reuben. I recognise the sentiments and think they're beautifully expressed, but I don't necessarily feel them. (He also goes heavy on the sympathy-inducing stuff, which my British restraint finds slightly uncomfortable.)Still, I smile every time I hear -

"Now every dream gets whittled down just like every fool gets wise;
You will never reap of any seed deprived of sunlight."

and the lyrics to 'Arienette' or 'From a Balance Beam'. In fact, the songs with good lyrics in his back catalogue are hard to choose, because they'd all be revelatory for someone, however navel-gazing they are.

So what makes good lyrics? Well, I think they're less subjective than good music as a whole; when Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys does his tongue-twisting and Dylan comes in with a nice bit of bathos, I think it's hard to deny some mastery even if you don't like it. And when Client sing:

"It's everywhere
In everything
Every day I'm not promising
We don't have to be good
Or play by the rules
'Cos we're the same in the things that we do
And I love it in the morning
And I love it in the evening"

I think it'd be hard to deny those lyrics are pretty horrific. Then again, like with poetry, you have to relate to them. For me, I think what primarily makes a good lyric is its observational astuteness (when you think, "Christ that's a real feeling" or "That highlights something I can understand/have experienced") and originality, at least of expression, and how the words are set to the music. That's why I think I like lo-fi so much, because they haven't tampered with the raw emotion of the voice too much. It's also why I dislike it when people never write their own songs - how can they profess to have made an album if they're singing someone else's sentiments? And often those same groups' music was written by someone trying to pen a hit, so there aren't even feelings there initially. What little is contained in the song gets lost in the mix.

When Adele sang 'Make You Feel My Love' and it got all famous a few months ago, I didn't know what to feel. I felt she did well with it, emotionally - it was a powerful rendition, and that's not something I often say about pop. But she'd missed the lyrics' nuances, or else ignored them. Dylan was an angry man. Adele sings sweetly, but inherent in that title is aggression. The verb 'make' should not be sung so softly in that context; it moves from being interpretation into what appears to be ignorance. He is suggesting he will force himself on this woman, make her love him, whatever you want to get from that - it's about as much a love song as Police's 'Every Breath You Take' is a love song. It illustrates how lyrics given music can take on a new character - and also, I suppose, not be as good standing alone.

Anyway, this has been a very long post, so I'll stop writing now. It's been a long and painful evening, not that this is one of those miserable self-examining emo blogs; this post, apologies for the length if you've got here, has served to distract me from myself.

Some Old New Music

Last night, I was listening to my last.fm Recommendations, which are stunningly accurate, and found Vex Red. (Last.fm draws a picture of me so dangerously close to the reality that I hope it's not possible to do that with things like my purchases, or I'll be a sucker for targeted advertising for the rest of my life.)


Vex Red are a hardcore/electronica band from Aldershot. Or should I say, they were. Just before I had my ear properly in music, a whole wave of '-core' suffix bands were around, before the '-core' suffixing got silly ('Christian crunkcore'?! 'Happy hardcore'?!). In their wake surfaced the recent pop-punk scene. My problem with most of it was that it was over-polished and slick, and almost unfalteringly self-pitying. The singers in pop-punk drawl and cry, and it's unlistenable. The sound of that 00s misery is inseparable in my mind from MySpace and eyeliner and pictures of fringed kids with '<3's in their names, taken from above.

Anyway, that's getting off track - basically, I could stomach only a few of those bands, but some revolutionised my listening habits. Reuben are the most notable, because I still love them - instead of the usual slick production and wailing, they were versatile, particularly in the vocals. Vex Red have the same advantage. Although Terry Abbott doesn't quite have Jamie Lenman's voice, they have a raw edge which gives two fingers to the studio gloss of Madina-Lake-type groups.


But yes, they're gone. Like most music, they're yesterday's news, and they only made a couple of albums. Terry Abbott formed another band, Septembre, in 2002, who soon went on hiatus after the bass player was involved in a car crash. Septembre are also pretty awesome. I've made you a nice widget so you can have a listen and see what I mean about this songwriter, who, if it weren't for last.fm, would probably be only a memory, and definitely not one of mine.

What Makes Us Love Stealing Music?

Walking through a crowd of people a few weeks ago, my friend and I were discussing illegal downloading. "It is a crime!" she cried, far too loudly, and a couple of gatherings of people turned to eye us curiously. "You may not like it, but it's stealing, like going into a shop and taking a CD, but people don't care because there aren't the same consequences."

I nodded despondently. Faced with such an argument, it's very hard to disagree that illegal downloading is a bad thing. And for most of us, it isn't just about consequences: there is a moral framework in place in most of our minds which tells us stealing is wrong, according to principles of property ownership that we live by. So why does downloading music for free not feel particularly wrong?



Maybe it's because it counts to us among the many services that the internet offers: we can read The Guardian online without paying for a hard copy, same with most newspapers; we can watch music on Youtube, so what's the difference between that and having it on our hard drive? It's a blurry line, definitely. Especially when we go on to love the music, to listen to it all the time: we have a feeling of warmth towards the artist, and respect them, which feels like a kind of payment for the albums.

Then there's the idea that most of an artist's money comes from the gigs anyway. I'm sure it's true that they're one of the most profitable sections of a big band's income, but it would be wrong to think that this renders paying for albums and singles obsolete.

Of course, we also see bands like Radiohead distributing digital copies of their albums for free and we think, "see, it can't be that important for artists to get paid for MP3s!" But Radiohead have, as it stands, 259,682,938 plays on Last.fm - they're one of the most listened to bands in the world. The story is not the same for smaller artists.

"But I don't have the money," we whine. Or, "HMV doesn't stock it." "My iTunes is playing up!" "I can't be arsed to go out and get it." "Oh, I'll go and get it next week, after I've sampled it... by downloading it..."

We can all see from the shrinking music sections of what are, traditionally, CD shops, and the vast numbers of torrent and free MP3 sites that music isn't dying, it's just moved. It's not a shrinking business, it's just a failing one: what would happen if a huge free chocolate stall set up shop outside Thornton's? Music is getting freer, easier to access, and that's amazing - but in the end, it might just kill itself, because that band that sell half the number of albums they could have can't afford to make their next album. Reuben are a brilliant example - "dropped by their label 'cause they can't pay it back".

Reuben - 'Return of the Jedi'

"I'd like a job in which I'm able,
To put shoes on my feet, and food on my table,
Those nine-to-fivers, they look pretty stable,
But I get my wages from my record label."



One final aside: someone is benefitting from all this illegal downloading. The illegal downloading sites' owners, who get paid for advertising and some even for subscriptions. So, not only are you 'stealing', as my friend would insist, you're also funding criminals.

It would be great if music, as a source of joy and passion, could be free. But it isn't. And until then, the onus is on us to pay for it, or feel guilty - I think I can predict which one most of us will choose.

Three Artists You Should Listen To

1. Reuben. Oh come on, do I need to plug them any more than I already do? Explosive guitar riffs, life-defining atmosphere, brilliant lyrics sung brilliantly over brilliant chord changes, expression I could only dream about, muscular power and sensitivity in perfect balance. Just do it. Please.

2. Belle and Sebastian. If you're inclined towards the indie end of pop, twee, light indie, anything like that, then you've probably heard Belle and Sebastian already. They're elusively ubiquitous, managing to tiptoe through the lives of so many, enchanting them, entrancing them, but staying out of the hype machine which rules the music industry. They plaster the summer straight over the top of this long British winter; they are a billboard advertisement for summery cocktails or The Seaside. The wry wit and tongue-in-cheek lyrical edge in many of the tracks counteracts the twee melodies and enhances the charm of the albums. I'd highly recommend them, even in winter.

3. Julian Casablancas. I like his dirty electro, his monotonous growl of a voice, the lyrics which catch the ear, the complex games he plays with the chromatic scale. But most of all, however bad I feel for it, I like his photos.

Jamie Lenman Interview and Update

Writing for The 405 gave me a viable excuse a few weeks ago to email illustrator, musician, and all round Great Guy Jamie Lenman, lead singer of Reuben. He agreed, and right now, I have 2 items on the home page of The 405, an interview with Jamie and a review of the tUnE-yArDs' new single, Real Live Flesh. My, unnecessary capitalisation pisses me off. It's hard to type, and if they thought it would make the name memorable, they were frankly wrong. I can never remember it. It's a good job the single is worth a listen, really.



My friend brought up an interesting point the other day. Should music criticism be as huge as it is now? Being a voluntary music writer, I tilted an eyebrow and rushed to the defensive guns of "Of course, then how would you ever find out whether music was worth listening to or not?"

But if that was my main argument, I was struggling. To be told what you like and dislike in music is the easy way out, and it's part of the reason why fashions still have their cold fingers laced around the ventricles of the modern music scene. (To reiterate: music isn't good because it sold well in your peergroup, or simply because it's new, and that's what fashion dictates.) Other arguments for music criticism are forced: if there were no reviews, there would still be adverts, the radio, sites like last.fm and Spotify, articles on new music... so you can't say that it is our only gateway to music.

What other arguments are there for music criticism? It's always irritating to hear our favourite artists being slammed by critics who we would usually respect, (or not), especially as every sensible person knows that while there are technical qualities to albums, most of our judgment of music is subjective. Music criticism can make or break careers, and most of it is guided by peer opinions and personal prejudices anyway.

Then again, my best retaliation came with the argument 'there has to be a filter in the music system'. In businesses, there are promotions up for offer, you get increasing salaries and responsibilities and jobs with each step up. You could not impose a system like that on the arts. Criticism, however harsh and demoralising, can give a band the boost it needs to get onto the (albeit unevenly runged) ladder, and then offer educated opinions on what should and could do very well. As long as the reader can identify whatever spin has been put on the article, and can think for themselves, criticism can be the most helpful way to separate the cream from the milk. And the off milk from the good milk...

And of course, everyone wants to do it. Most people who love music have sneaky reviews somewhere in their computer, or in their minds, ready for conversation; many write online, or for magazines. It's a natural urge, putting into words what music makes you feel, think, do.

Music can change lives, and the kinder end of crit acknowledges that.

Have a read of my items on The 405 anyway (or not); I'm really glad the website's taking off. I'm not just spouting spiel when I say it's an exciting thing to be part of, as it's growing so fast, getting so much more professional and organised. If you can get yourself to any of The 405 nights in London, I'm assured they are amazing nights out, and Oliver Primus would appreciate your company!

Christmas: the Death of Music

Why do Christmas songs have to be cheesy and bad? There's no law about it, surely? And why can't we play new Christmas music every year, like we do all the rest of the year round? Yet again this year we're dreaming of a white Christmas, having a merry little Christmas, and Lord save us all, rockin' around the Christmas tree. The more traditional of us are dinging and donging merrily on high, decking the halls with boughs of holly, and coming a-wassailing (what even is that? I can't be bothered to Google it, or watch the Christmas special of QI).

Why? Just...why?

Having said that, Christmas number one is reserved for winners of The X Factor only, a new kind (and level) of cruelty that isn't even about Jesus. Maybe the many Facebook groups will persuade the General Public to buy the Rage Against the Machine track instead of the Leona Alexandra Jackson-Ward single, but still, the monopoly of crap will still own the charts that week.

Nevertheless, I'm not going to deny that Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without crooners singing old tunes on Radio 1. It's the charm of it, the heart-warming mindlessness of the repetition. It's cheerful, and communal, and comfortable.

Now listen to a screamo parody and shake yourself free of all that nostalgia.



Edit: Website The 405 have agreed with me on this one, and put together a playlist of 100 indie Christmas songs for your dilectation, so to avoid bleeding ears this cheery season (or lose respect for all your favourite artists), go and check that article out.

R.I.P. Reuben

Exploration of Biffy Clyro's similar artists on the wonderful last.fm (now sponsoring a 405 event or two, hurrah) a few years ago lead me to Reuben, a band of young members with much talent, and the antithesis of summery indie pop.

Recently, as usual just a few months after they split up, I've really been getting into them: they're very angry, but in a focussed, intelligent way, unlike many screamo bands who seem to be angry without a purpose.

Reuben's purpose is usually singer Jamie Lenman's girlfriends, it appears, and during making the last album, their third effort In Nothing We Trust, there was clearly a severe lack of irritating exes, because the lyrics lose their love and break-up emphasis, and to be honest some of their charm. Still, I like the album - it's more anthemic, more singalong and varied, and spawned the beautiful 'Good Luck' and 'A Short History of Nearly Everything', which can only be described as life-affirming.

The second album has been my favourite at the moment, along with their most recent release of all their B-sides and re-records, We Should Have Gone To University. All Reuben releases have on them Jamie's fantastic voice, which can pretty much do anything he wants it to, from tender whispers to huge screaming passages. The lyrics, despite being all 'emotional', are poetry to say the least, even when they're having a go at someone. The guitars, backing vocals and drums never miss brilliance either, and have a distinctive sound which encapsulates Reuben.

This is a post to say: please check this band out - even though I'm generally a punk and indie gal, if that's even a genre, a bit of modern rock in the form of Reuben tickles my fancy, simply because they're just so good. R.I.P. Reuben, and I, for once, hope you do the band sell-out thing of getting back together to tour the world, just for me.

10 songs I love right now (8) - 28/08/09

Belle and Sebastian - Act of the Apostle II

The sound of the summer. Along with Song for Sunshine, this song has taken the credit for all the happiness recently. With wonderfully sardonic self-critical lyrics, it bounces along with upbeat piano chords and gentle dual vocals, until the original tune of Act of the Apostle returns, seamlessly, and the softness of edgy melancholy returns. Very pretty, but multi-layered.

Helsinki - Cheer Up Goth Kid

The title of this song is quite ironic, with this being one of the most emotionally tense and 'black' tracks Drew McConnell has ever aired. Surprisingly Biffy Clyro-esque in lots of ways (instrumentation, vocal layering, dynamics, the 'aaaaaah' section towards the end), Cheer Up Goth Kid sums up an emotion perfectly, I think. When he sings "December", I actually feel for him, deeply. Ask me if you want this track, I can send it, I know it's pretty rare.

Louise Attaque - J't'emmène au vent

This French song came to my attention via a Helsinki live cover, and it's very upbeat and lively. The lyrics are charming but uninspiring end-of-relationship lyrics when translated from French, but it's the fun folk-rock backing with fiddles, and the novelty of the strong French voice, which make this song great for me.

Reuben - Stealing Is Easy

From the new rarities album We Should Have Gone To University, Stealing is Easy has soundtracked a difficult little patch of my existence with its unsympathetic-yet-empathetic lyrics and loud guitar parts. Thanks Reuben.

Sonic Youth - Shadow of a Doubt

I am glad Kim Gordon is in Sonic Youth for this track alone. Usually, her breathy vocals and simple lyrics seem to add nothing to records, but on EVOL, she stands out more, and with better results. This track in particular is made superbly atmospheric and unusual by her sighs and whispers and yelps, and the simplicity of the lyrics describing the strange scene on a train. I love it - percussive sounds and an oriental edge perfect what is already very enthralling.

Belle and Sebastian - We Are the Sleepyheads

We Are the Sleepyheads encapsulates what Belle and Sebastian do so well: put melancholy and bitter lyrics over upbeat and uplifting music. Because of the relentless guitar strumming and cheery rhythms and harmonies, the line "We've been in this town so long we may as well be dead" actually brings a smile to the face. You can think 'so true!' without it bringing you down.

Amy Winehouse - Me & Mr. Jones

I wasn't impressed with this track when the album Back to Black came out, but I've come to realise it's a good song. It showcases Amy's voice and her talent as a songwriter: it's angry, witty, sarcastic and flirtatious all at the same time. Like a strong woman - like Amy Winehouse minus media image.

The Libertines - Dilly Boys

If you don't particularly like the idea of Pete Doherty dressed as a rent boy ("hands on hips, pout on lips") then don't worry, this song has much more to offer. An uplifting chorus that has you smiling along, and then a soft, tender bit at the end, and rather poetic lyrics in the verses which withstand some, if not too much, thinking about.

Reuben - Ways of Staying Pure

Opening with Jamie Lenman's terrific voice singing, rather sexily, "Yesterday was quite a day, and I've been a bad boy", this song is killer, no filler, all the way through. As if I'm not hooked in already, it's packed with loud/quiet sections, a 'big' guitar sound, brittle yet rich harmonies and a wonderful gentle part past half way through with a round of "Oh-ooh-oh-ooh" and then screaming! Excellent! For similar brilliance (with more 'emo' tendencies, however), see Words From Reuben.

Bright Eyes - Coat Check Dream Song

I'm not as impressed by Bright Eyes as I'm told I should be, but I like this track. More atmospheric and more enticingly sung, it is my favourite on the album, and also the most experimental (less Bob Dylan copying, in other words.).

New Reuben Review at The 405

I have officially posted my first ever 9 out of 10 on The 405. Reuben's new album, a B-sides and rarities release, is definitely the best album I've ever got for free! I made my love clear here at The 405.