For the Record: May

So May is pretty much over bar the long weekend and it's easily been the best month for record releases of the year so far. So many of discs on the list below will almost certainly feature on my end of year list with Foals and LCD Soundsystem likely to be jostling for the top spot alongside the stunning opening statements from Male Bonding and Active Child.

Foals - Total Life Forever (Album of the Month)
LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
The National - High Violet
jj - No3
Male Bonding - Nothing Hurts
The Dead Weather - Sea Of Cowards
Rolo Tomassi - Cosmology
Villagers - Becoming A Jackal
Active Child - Curtis Lane EP
Wild Nothing - Gemini
James Blake - CMYK.

Also recommended: Flying Lotus, Steve Mason, Little Girls, Holy Fuck, Trash Talk, Deftones, Kelis, Hole, Born Ruffians, Silver Columns.

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Video: Male Bonding - Years Not Long

I really love Male Bonding but they need to tone the whole 'We're English people from England' thing down a bit don't they?

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Male Bonding - Nothing Hurts

The relationship between low and high fidelity music is growing ever more complicated. Not that long ago bands were distorting their music to a near-unlistenable fuzz or, as in many cases, making the best of their home recordings. Now we have bands going all out to shed their scuzzy skins and make like proper pop stars. Pop stars with a working knowledge of Dalston and Captured Tracks on speed dial though, obviously.

Signing to Sub Pop suits Male Bonding. Their recordings have gone from being low quality to a higher definition without losing any of their charm or bite. The guitars still slice, the percussion still snarls and the bass rumbles like a rudely awoken grizzly bear only now it all shines brighter than ever. By describing themselves as 'Tinnitus with a hook', Male Bonding seem to have encapsulated their entire sound in one snappy line, maybe if the whole punk things goes awry they could be journalists. 'Nothing Hurts' leans more to the side of hook than tinnitus with its smash and grab attitude prevailing throughout. Barely a song goes by that lasts over two minutes giving the listener scant opportunity to become bored or distracted before the next bout of double quick punches and early 90's fuzz come flying toward their face.

From album opener 'Year's Not Long' right through to the closing moments of Vivian Girls duet 'Worse To Come' Male Bonding display a positively ADD style of song writing. Be it 'Crooked Scene's snotty thrash or the skittering 'Pumpkin', (a song you suspect could rally an army under the right conditions), there is no let up. 'Nothing Hurts' might be the message but real pain exists between these short, sharp shocks. Be it 'Fraklin's haunted, reverb heavy calls of “This won't last forever” which sound as if they are being called out by a small boy stuck at the bottom of a well all the way to how these seemingly upbeat songs are underscored by a sense of melancholy, one thought prevails: Male Bonding are deeper than they like to make out.

There will not be many more instantly gratifying albums than 'Nothing Hurts' this year. Don't be fooled by the title either, they might puff out their chests as the antithesis to REM but sometimes the essence of Male Bonding is nothing more than a big, manly high five.

8/10

Originally on Gigwise.com

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Male Bonding piece for Spinner.com

Calling your band Male Bonding is one way of raising eyebrows before you’ve even played a note but these three London bromantics don’t care. Their retro brand of short, sharp punk puts them alongside contemporary bands like No Age and Vivian Girls looking back to Dischord bands from the nineties and paying scuzzy homage. Having met through work (all three of the band worked for London based record shop Reckless Records) Robin Christian, Kevin Hendrick and John Webb started a band together and even moved into the same flat. “We’ve been playing for about two years now” says guitarist/ vocalist John. “Basically we met at shows, seeing bands we all loved and decided to play together for fun.”

Playing their first ever show at a house party dubbed ‘RAGE’ by its organisers, Male Bonding soon established themselves as a raucous live band. However, bassist Kevin admits that a giant trampoline was probably the most memorable thing at that particular party, “I’m pretty good at it” he says, “I can get some serious air.”

From humble beginnings come great things and two years on from that house party find themselves signed to iconic American label Sub Pop. How did the label famous for bringing us Nirvana discover a tiny punk band from East London? “Basically” says John “We set up a label ourselves before Male Bonding even formed called Paradise Vendors. When Male Bonding started nobody showed any interest in us initially, nobody asked to put our stuff out so we decided to release a few split 7”s with bands we were friends with like PENS and Graffiti Island.”

Always with their ear to the ground, Sub Pop’s A&R team got in touch with the guys, “We used to joke that maybe one day Sub Pop would ask us to do a 7” as a real pipe dream. Then one day Sub Pop got in touch and asked if were planning to reissue the singles in America and if they could get involved. We had no plans to but said, tongue in cheek, if Sub Pop wanted to release our single we’d be interested. They then replied straight away saying they wanted more than a single, they wanted an album.”

Signed to the same label as their favourite band, Mudhoney the three members of Male Bonding decamped to Brooklyn, New York in October 2009 to record their album ‘Nothing Hurts’ released in the UK next week (May 10). Despite being thirteen songs long the album still manages to clock in at under half an hour, something John puts down to wandering minds and recording live. “We went into the studio and were done within six days.” he says, “We basically just set up, played it and got it recorded. Because you’re recording and playing together you’re so scared of messing up your own part that it forces you into getting it right as quickly as possible. A lot of people talk about how our songs can be quite short but I think that’s just the punk background we all come from. I don’t really like long songs and don’t feel the need to repeat myself. Plus I’ve got a really short attention span and just start playing my guitar really quickly after a while.”

The results are effective, ‘Nothing Hurts’ is a non-stop, punch-drunk thrill designed to be played at decibel shattering volume.

With copious amounts of touring planned as well as another album scheduled for release in the next six months (“Labels permitting, we just want to stay as creatively active as possible” says John) Male Bonding could soon earn themselves the title of hardest working new bands in music, never mind one of the best.

Male Bonding release their debut album Nothing Hurts on May 10 on Sub Pop. They will also head out on their first headline UK tour shortly after. The band play Liverpool Sound City and Offset festival as well as recently being announced as the main support act for Blood Red Shoes October tour.

Originally on Spinner.com

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STREAM: Male Bonding - Nothing Hurts

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Vivian Girls & Male Bonding - Perfect Day (Lou Reed cover)

Two of my favourite bands covering a great song. What could be better for this long weekend?

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