Record Label: Ecstatic Peace!

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Somewhat puzzlingly signed to Thurston Moore’s label, Violent Soho are an Aussie quartet who want to pretend it’s 1992. Grunge it seems is back, however it’s not the Mudhoney/Nirvana/Tad sound that made the world fall in love with it, it’s the formulaic dreck that came after when every major label on the planet rushed to Seattle with open chequebooks to sign anything wearing a lumberjack shirt. It’s a bit Pixies, a bit Weezer, contains no hooks, and could be passed off as novelty, other than that it’s on Ecstatic Peace! – whether bad or good, Sonic Youth are at least always evolving and Violent Soho are retrograde in the extreme. If you bring nothing new to the party, then at least be damn good at what you do. If this had appeared in 1992 it’d have been passed off as bad grunge, so there’s certainly no cause to celebrate it now just because some time’s passed. And no props for that attention seeking title – if you’re in a rock band and Jesus stole your girlfriend – a dude whose musical friends are Cliff Richard, Stryper and the Jonas Brothers – then your girlfriend’s telling you that your band’s hopeless. As am I.

With their second album – “Sleep Mountain” – ready to drop in early March, The Kissaway Trail have just announced a number of UK headline dates to accompany its release… Ahead of that the guys will also be supporting MIDLAKE at their New to Q show at the Tabernacle later this month… Upcoming UK live dates/info below…

Thursday 28 January – LONDON – The Tabernacle (New to Q – supporting Midlake – SOLD-OUT)

Sunday 7 March – GLASGOW – King Tuts (£7.50)

Monday 8 March – NEWCASTLE – Cluny (£7.50)

Tuesday 9 March – BIRMINGHAM – Academy3 (£7.50)

Wednesday 10 March – LONDON – Hoxton Bar & Kitchen (£8.50)

With the clanging of church bells leading the charge into the panoramic sensation of their new album, “Sleep Mountain”, The Kissaway Trail return with a renewed sense of purpose. With Peter Katis (Interpol, The National, The Twilight Sad) producing, “Sleep Mountain” reveals how The Kissaway Trail have grown. Combining the urgency and dynamics of bands as diverse as Sonic Youth and The Flaming Lips with the sensitivity of “Another Green World”-period Eno, and melodies that have the stamp of bona fide singer-songwriters, “Sleep Mountain” is a contemporary, timeless, vulnerable rock classic. “Sleep Mountain” is released on Bella Union records in March 2010…

http://www.myspace.com/thekissawaytrail

Cougar finished up their European Tour with a tight, high-energy performance at the Lexington. After a promising opening, French support act Electric Electric soon became a bit of a relentless, avant-garde industrial nightmare that made me want to curl up in a ball and find a happy place. Cougar combine dirty power chords with delicate ambient interplay between their three guitarists, always at a pace driven by outstanding drummer and leader of the pack David Henzie Skogen. All three on guitar could probably cover lead in a lot of bands single-handed. Todd Hill is great on bass, even switching to a double bass, which he played with a bow on ’Strict Scrutiny’.

If you like Battles, then Cougar are of a similar, more guitar-heavy, vein. Some of the new material from album ‘Patriot’ sounded especially good, with the storming ‘Stay Famous’ sounding powerful and stirring and ‘Rhinelander’, which starts with Gregorian chants, well refined to slick and instinctive performances. For the more melancholic and ambient sounding numbers, it was a little difficult to engage with this soundscape material in such an intimate venue. Instrumental music (of the indie variety) you can’t dance to always seem better when complimented by some visual stimulation, whether that’s projected images, a light show or just being outdoors at a festie. As a result, I found my self looking off from the stage a bit too much, and wondering who was dropping eggy farts in front of me. Then ‘snap’, one rich Sonic Youth-style riff after another would bring me back in the room. Cougar are passionate, talented and an original force trying to do something different. Though good live, their penchant for atmospheric nuances aren’t best suited to the upstairs of a North London pub on a Friday Night.