This record is something of an onslaught of choral, guitary prog-pop madness so constant that by the end of it you feel rather compelled to check that you haven’t lost your trilby in the whirlwind. It’s also a record which generates very polarised feelings for me.
When I’m in love with it, it’s just a thumping, giddy joyride of an album which leaves me grinning like a fool with its energy, its joie de vivre and its preposterous guitar solos. Part electronic, very guitary and with the constant clash of cymbals ringing in your ears, when this record gets its tail up, I really can’t help but enjoy it.
At the end of the day, however, I think the downside marginally outweighs the upside where Fang Island are concerned. The onslaught of racket is so constant that listening to this album in its entirety is a pretty fucking exhausting task and the relentless stream of weirdness ends up being, well, just a little bit boring to tell you the truth.
The guitars can sound like a proggier version of Queen a lot of the time, and their inevitably tumescent arrival alongside the crashing swell of the drums has a sort of weary inevitability about it by the end of the record. When it’s good this album really is great, but if I try and listen to the whole thing I find myself rather defeated by exhaustion by the end of it all.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Fang Island – Treeton
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Website | More mp3s | Buy from Amazon
This podcast is slightly kinda somewhat about about the myopia of the London media, in particular as to how it pertains to Scotland and Scottish music, and slightly about the Glasgow media. There are a number of different triggers for this, starting with this article in the Scotsman’s Under the Radar blog last year about the rejection by the editor of a London glossy of an article on four up-and-coming Scottish bands, made even more offensive by the fact that said editor had requested the damn article in the first place.
Of course, anyone who reads the London glossies knows they don’t half cover an awful lot of shite themselves, so they really are in no position to pass judgment, but these things are about personal taste at the end of the day and you really can’t force anyone to like stuff.
Then of course there was a wee bit of chatter about the Glasgow focus of the media in Scotland – like an endless set of Russian dolls, this kind of thing really can go on forever – particularly focussed on the remarkable Glasgow-centrism of The List’s Hot 100 list and then some stupid woman on BBC radio sneering at the Edinburgh music scene despite knowing no more of Glasgow than Mogwai or Franz Ferdinand.
So yes, there’s a bit of that going on as well, but for the most part it’s surprisingly non-confrontational given the level of annoyance I felt with both the BBC lady and the List list at the time.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
01. James Yorkston – A Man of My Skills (04.26)
02. Frightened Rabbit – The Greys (10.22)
03. Orange Juice – Blue Boy (16.02)
04. The Pogues – Rake at the Gates of Hell (18.53)
05. Fang Island – Life Coach (27.56)
06. Her Name is Calla – Long Grass (30.51)
07. Fire Engines – Get Up and Use Me (37.59)
08. Last Battle – Ward 119 (47.44)
09. Sebastian Dangerfield – Morris (49.53)
10. Sigur Ros – Gong (58.05)
I get an awful lot of stuff in my inbox. When I get jaded and fed up it seems like a bit of a burden, in all honesty, like I owe it to every band and every publicity monkey who ever gets in touch with me to give them complete attention and the time to let the music sink in and all these things which just aren’t possible.
Sometimes, though, I get in the right mood and having an inbox full of bits and bobs is an indulgent treat. This week is one of those weeks, where I am enjoying pottering through my inbox and having a listen to this and that and basically, it’s just a bit of a treat.
So, after weeks of structured and themed stuff, this week I am basically playing whatever the fuck it is I fancy. No theme, no plan no goal and no coherence in particular
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
01. Stanley Brinks – The End of the World (01.42)
02. Tune Yards – Hap-B (08.09)
03. eagleowl – Laughter (17.00)
04. Stringjammer – Long Road Home (19.45)
05. Eels – Little Bird (26.09)
06. Fang Island – Daisy (31.32)
07. Candy Claws – Island Grows (41.30)
08. Animal Collective – Bleeding (43.41)
09. Dylan in the Movies – Josephine (52.53)
10. Clues – Perfect Fit (61.20)
