Insane In The Upbrain. The Tuts: Update Your Brain (Album Review)

“Patience is a virtue” goes the saying and if that is true then fans of The Tuts are positively saintly. It’s been nearly four years since they went on their ever first tour supporting Kate Nash, with whom they were near permanent stage buddies in 2013. They’ve quietly been making a name for themselves by touring with the likes of The Selecter and Sonic Boom Six. I say quietly but that’s not really true is it? They’ve thrashed their instruments, shouted at us between songs and hair whipped any last doubts into submission. The Tuts make an impression which has manifested itself in a fan base that ranges from teenage girls seeing future versions of themselves to, rather paradoxically, middle aged men hearing glimmers of their lost youth in the racket emanating from the stage. It’s not been an easy journey to get here, there have been barriers in the way of their bid for world domination and I for one, was starting to have doubts if an album would ever surface at all. Ambition though is a beast that can’t be muted and Nadia Javed (vocals/guitar) Harriet Doveton (bass) and Beverly Ishmael (drums) have it in spades and a lifeline came through the medium of Pledge Music. They have entirely fan funded this debut which feels wholly apt considering how close the relationship between fans and band has always been. “Good things come to those who wait” goes another cliche but so too do fucking awesome things and The Tuts have delivered despite (or maybe because of) the weight of their own expectations.  Update Your Brain feels like their destiny fully realised.

It must have been difficult choosing which of the older material to leave out and songs of the calibre of Beverley and All Too Late have been omitted and will have to remain in their original EP form. So to the classic Tuts tracks that have been included then: Dump Your Boyfriend is a mad old combination of sixties girl group pop and grunge with indie guitar squeals. It’s that age old conundrum of wanting to leave a relationship (“He took my liberty away / he clipped my wings so I stay”) but made to sound shiny and new. Always Hear The Same Shit is damn near perfect with its stop start riffs making way for a verbal assault on the music industry “wha-wha-wha what’s the point in you?” could easily be a tirade against all the acoustic male singers with beards. It’s a beautiful and fun noise that would happily blitz Ed Sheeran if he was recording in the studio next door. But then he’d probably cry. And write a song about it. Album closer Back Up comes from the same place. It is The Tut’s philosophy in one short but glorious diatribe of feedback and chanting. “How do you know if you don’t have a go?” indeed. There’ll be teenagers listening to that thinking “I’ll have a go then”

The only oldie that suffers a bit for me is I Call You Up which lacks the deftness of touch that so suited the original. That is a minor quibble because it is still a power pop wonder and would be even if it was recorded in a swamp. Perhaps the highlight of the classics is Tut Tut Tut a song that has been transformed by an added growl. Bev’s drums sounding more powerful than ever with the funkier bassline and the subtle gear shift in the second verse where Nadia goes proper gangster with “who the fuck are they anyway / by the sixth guitar solo / oh no” I’m already hoping the next album has plenty of Nadia rapping over the rhythm section. I would have been more than happy if both Do I Have To Look For Love and a new version of Worry Warrior had made the track listing but it just goes to show how spoilt for choice they were.

How wonderful it is to report that the production is really loud and not too polished. For the first time on record there’s a feel that’s pretty close to the live experience. I was never expecting the album to feel quite so full on and relentless but it is a joyous surge of adrenaline from the opening seconds. There’s more than catchy as hell tunes at play though. Lyrically there are many themes. The music industry itself is at the sharp end of their knife, most notably on 1982. It’s ridiculous infectiousness doesn’t at all hide the subject matter: a manager in the music industry out of sorts with the times: “I’m respected, well connected, I knew everyone in 1982”. What’s On The Radio takes a swipe at the abundance of male bands, or rather the lack of girl bands given a chance in the industry. “I don’t like it / I wanna fight it / I wanna fight it” and they really are fighting it for all they are worth. A notable mention too for its brilliant middle eight which reminds me of The Bluetones for reasons I’m not quite sure of. But sssh, they were a boy band that used to get played on the radio.

In the political unrest of Give Us Something Worth Voting we hear “Your strategies keep us alienated / we’re demonised just because we’re frustrated” but the catchy ska beat belies the message and when we get to “people power / knock down Tory Towers” we want to smash the system with a smile on our face.  But then toppling the Tories would bring a smile to your face wouldn’t it? While this is a very socially conscious album there is no sense that we are being preached to and no desire to fester in negativity. They’re saying everything they have to say but it doesn’t mean you can’t have a great time in the process. Come along for the ride, a degree in sociology isn’t necessary. Sexism and the patriarchy is a strong running theme too but it is channelled into a positive anger. Proactive not reactive. There’s no introspection bringing things down. There’s only one song that sounds remotely reflective and that’s the acoustic ode to friendship. You’re So Boring is a floaty lullaby where Nadia  presumably disses her fella “(I’d rather be out with my friends touring”). Bantz over boys, being with the band beats arguing over who’s turn it is to do the washing up.

Update Your Brain draws from its influences and moulds them into something fresh and exciting. It is their declaration of intent, it is all their previous experience and ambition bottled up and spewed out into one near perfect slice of musical youth. It is the embodiment of what all the greatest debut albums are borne from – a need to escape, a will to challenge the norm. Noel Gallagher was once quoted as saying he’d written everything he wanted to say on Definitely Maybe and while it’s likely many artists feel the same about their first material, for The Tuts there’s still plenty of injustices to fight, barriers to surge over (literal and metaphorical), as well as all those glass ceilings to break with excessive hair whipping. 2016 needs The Tuts and the patriarchy will soon know it.  9/10

Lazy journalist style comparisons:

  

Echobelly – ON (1995) Pure power pop perfection

The Libertines – Up The Bracket (2002) Update Your Brain’s more jangly moments have a Libertines vibe.

Green Day – Uno! (2012)  No holds barred punk fun

TOP TEN ALBUMS OF 2015: Part 1

2015 then, it’s been a bit of a shocker hasn’t it? The Tories got a majority and any year that happens is a bit of a downer. 2015 has however served up some killer albums to keep us sane. Here is part 1 of my top 10…

10: Little Mix – Get Weird

“You’re washed up and now I’m in a different league”

Top class pop that makes the absence of Girls Aloud less painful. And yes, their split still hurts, ok? There is nothing distinctly weird about Get Weird other than the contradiction of ramping up the raunch while remaining strangely coy. “All day I dream about sshh with you” they tease with A.D.I.D.A.S which is not a song about tracksuits. “You’re gonna get it tonight”. ‘It’ presumambly being a good sshhing. Perhaps they going to dress as Librarians too? ‘Love Me Like You’ is a song that to these ears has an air Of Girl’s Aloud’s ‘The Promise about it which is no bad thing at all. “He might got the biggest car / Don’t mean he can drive me wild or he can go for miles” is a euphemism  even a granny would get without the added “You’ve got that nasty and that’s what I want” Presumambly this album’s definition of nasty is that he’s seen 50 Shades Of Grey and wants to use handcuffs. It’s all understandable given the general age of their fanbase. What is important here are the tunes and there are plenty. Full of attitude and hooks to slay all their contemporaries. ‘OMG’ and its Axel F type bass line does Charli XCX even better than Charli XCX does. ‘Lightning’ is a feirce ballad mixed with club anthem.  The two acapella songs also prove they’ve got the voices to match their ambition. Consider me a Mixer.

9: FIDLAR – Too

“I figured as I got older that life just sucks when you get sober. I figured out when I got sober that life just sucks when you get older”

FIDLAR don’t do subtle and them making an album about trying to get clean from drugs and booze was never going to be a quiet affair. While it could be argued that this second offering is poppier it isn’t lacking in edge or power. ’40oz On Repeat’ is a stacatto, fun ride which leads into a punky.. er.. ‘Punks’. Producer Jay Jouce has performed a mastersroke, adding gloss and volume to the bluster but keeping their ragged, unpredictable energy. It is mostly an album that lies in a pit of introspection and self hate but they’ve made it sound much more fun than it ever should.  Riffs, solos and plenty of shouting are part of the fun of course but there is a small sense of maturity at play too – just with masturbation references chucked in.

8: Gabrielle Aplin: Light Up The Dark

“What goes unsaid, doesn’t go unheard”

It’s never wise to read youtube comments. When the title track and the summery ‘Sweet Nothing’ were released fans took to the internet to express concern. One spoke of their disgust at “this new heavy rock direction” (SERIOUSLY?!) Another wanted “the old” Gabrielle back. “What happened to our girl who just played acoustic guitar? What’s with the band? I want it back to how the first album was”. It would’ve been too easy to point out that ‘English Rain’ was actually recorded with a band too. It’s exactly this balancing act that Gabrielle seems to be testing out here – keeping fans happy with some of the same and moving her music forward into a different direction. To these ears the plan has worked admirably. The production sounds natural and live, each instrument heard clearly and giving the record an extra quality. Heavy Heart’ sound like heartbreak fixed onto a Morcheeba setting. ‘Anybody Out There’ charges along with relish and she finishes off preceedings with a mournful piano lament in ‘A While’ that will please “old” fans. ‘What Did You Do’ is beautifully longing and perhaps the highlight of the lot. What is staggering to note is that the extra songs on the deluxe edition show more signs of experimenting with her sound and a few of them could have replaced ones that did make the album and it’d have been EVEN better and even higher in my list. Still, I’m sure she won’t have a heavy heart about it though, right?

7: Slaves – Are You Satisfied?

“You are not stuck in traffic. You ARE traffic. Mooove!”

It’s nearing two years since the first and sadly only time I’ve seen Slaves live. They were in the middle of a line up that involved DZ Deathrays and Blood Red Shoes. It’s fair to say this is one of the loudest gigs I’ve ever attended and it was bloody magnificent. When Slaves took to the stage I had no knowledge of who they were but by the time they left they’d made their mark alright. They were this strange fusion of a stand up comedy duo and punk rock. There was moshing and laughing. They were frankly brilliant. Their debut album has all those traits in abundance. It is in your face and totally shameless in it’s positivity. The overlying message here is a persuit for happiness and that it’s not a bad thing to achieve. The clue really is in the title. That doesn’t sound very punk does it? But that’s exactly what makes it punk. DUH.  It sounds like ‘Never Mind The Bollocks’ after thirty years of self help books. Does it preach though? Does it fuck. This is a fun and messy noise. Come along for the ride or don’t. They don’t care either way. There’s a song about a Mantaray set to Smoke On The Water.  There’s a song telling Londoners to cheer up because, let’s face it it they’re “dead already, dead, dead, already-ready Dead, already, dead” For all the bravado they have plenty of heart too. As we know, it’s all about the emotion innit?

6: Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I just Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit

“I’m not suicidal, just idling insignificantly”

Courtney Barnett is a poet and a bloody great one at that.  A poet of the page and a poet of the six string. Her words  nonchalantly sum up the mundane of everyday life by turning them into little, offbeat stories. Her fretwork too is storytelling in itself. Long sublime soling or heavy blasts of perfectly aimed anger. The ultimate example of this lies in ‘Kim’s Caravan’, a seven minute magnum opus. From its stark, almost random imagery “Watermarks on the ceiling / I can see Jesus and he’s frowning at me / I see a dead seal on the beach / The old man says he’s already saved it three times this week / Guess it just wants to die / I would wanna die too with people putting oil into my air” to it’s dense, cloudy wall of guitar noise that’s screechy and heavy in one.  The album’s sound has an element of Graham Coxon’s solo material in its spikier moments like ‘Pedestrian At Best’ (“Put me on a pedestal and I’ll only disappoint / you tell me I’m exceptional and I promise to exploit you”). You sense each song could be developed into full books such is their intrigue and strangeness. Sometimes I just sit and think, and sometimes I just sit and listen to ‘Sometimes I Just Sit And Think, And Sometimes I just Sit’. Sitting, standing, cartwheeling, whichever way you listen to it, just make sure you listen to it.

Album Review: Royal Blood – Royal Blood

 

Memo to Alex Turner: THIS is how you make a sexy rock record

Much touted at the start of the year by BBC Introducing, the Brighton duo of  Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher have seen their stock rise in recent months. More radio airplay, more column inches and more pressure to deliver.

Sure, Royal Blood may be the love child of Queens Of The Stone Age and The White Stripes, presumably conceived by a quicky backstage at Reading festival.  They are hardly touching on new ground here either but if these are your quibbles  then you have missed the point. They are not claiming to be.  This angular ten song assault carries a brashness and confidence rarely heard in debut albums. There’s no warming you up or easing you in, we are straight in attack mode with the first three songs, all singles, including Out Of The Black. All come and go in an assault of riffs and powerhouse drumming. Come On Over’s declaration “There’s no God and I don’t really care” is gloriously arrogant proof.

‘You can be so cruel’ might be a bit disappointing on first impressions but it had big acts to follow. It’s jaunty sinister funk (“choking me so slowly, slashing every words down to the bone”) is the closest thing here to Josh Homme, both musically and vocally. ‘Blood Hands’ is the sludgy centrepiece of the album, all bluesy tone and vitriolic  intent.

The second half is the strongest, which is all the more impressive due to the top heavy opening. Little Monster, never loses any impact, it’s “I’ve got love on my fingers, lust on my tongue” lyric summing up a inherent dark sexiness to these short sharp slabs of rock. Though loud and heavy it might be, there are tunes galore. Melody constantly weaves around Kerr’s crunching bass guitar and sleazy short sharp solos one moment, and Thatcher’s wilful drum abuse the next. All this  topped off with Kerr’s impressive vocal’s that at times remind the ears of Gaz Coombes.

‘Loose Change’  has the title of a seventies rock song that a band like Fee might have used. It also has the sound and lyrics of one too and as a result it is the weakest link here but that’s not exactly an insult in such esteemed company. Old school Muse fans who are bored of their ten year obsession with the end of the world will find many sparks of their earlier days and revel in them. ‘Ten Tonne Skeleton is the most noticeable  example, a wailing lead line that bears resemblance to ‘Hysteria’ and a massive chorus to suit.

Royal Blood are a much needed injection of carefree noise among  the commercial male solo artist dross. They have looked hype straight in the eyes and deafened it in the ears. Forget all the words written about them – listen to the action. 9/10

Royal Blood playing Exeter Cavern in Feb 2014

Album Review: The Twang – NEONTWANG

 

 

Album Review: The Twang – NEONTWANG

On this evidence it wouldn’t be a surprise if The Twang were oblivious to news of The Stone Roses reforming or that baggy is no longer cool. Here they are not just in love with 1991 – they are also in love. ‘New Love’ sways with sentiment, ‘The Wobble’ shuffles proudly and  ‘Almost Anything’ is cut through with a Sally Cinnamon style of naivety. There’s more on offer too, ‘City Lights’ is a brooding  trippy dub opener and there are also softer acoustic moments. This, their fourth record  features new member ‘Simmo’ Simkins on the writing credits and these songs are the band’s most assured to date, secure in its worth without the need to smack you round the head. There’s a laid-back summery feel throughout and while it’s far from original the tunes make up for it. Now, where did that fishing hat get to? 7/10

*NEONTWANG is released on March 10th