Clash Mag - July

Is in the shops now featuring my reviews of the new albums by HEALTH, Pulled Apart By Horses and Larsen B. Also, M.I.A is on the cover looking a bit like a liquorice all-sort and nobody can argue that isn't a good thing.

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Pulled Apart By Horses Interview

Read all the gory details on my second favourite equine monikered band over at Spinner.

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For The Record: June

Lots and lots of good albums released this month. Here are my picks of the best...

The Drums - The Drums
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today (album of the month)
Delorean - Subiza
Drake - Thank Me Later
Kele - The Boxer
Pulled Apart By Horses - Pulled Apart By Horses
Perfume Genius - Perfume Genius
The Morning Benders - Big Echo
Scissor Sisters - Night Work

Also reccomended: Rusko, Robyn, Ratatat, We Are Scientists, Fol Chen, The Mynabirds, Islet, Giggs, Happy Birthday, Tobacco.

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Video: Pulled Apart By Horses - Back To The Fuck Yeah

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Pulled Apart By Horses- Two live tracks

To put it simply Pulled Apart By Horses are the best live band in the UK. Their gig at Jospeph's Well in Leeds last year remains in my top 5 of all time and I'm even considering getting up on a weekend to see them play Rough Trade East this Saturday morning despite the fact they are on at the ungodly time of 11am. To celebrate Record Store Day PABH will be playing that in store as well as releasing a live record creatively titled Live At Leeds. Here are live versions of 'I Punched A Lion In The Throat' and 'Get Off My Ghost Train' to whet your appetite from RCRDLBL and NME.com respectively.

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IT'S CHRISTMAAAAS!

Well not quite but I got a tree and some decorations today so might as well plow head first into the mood. To celebrate (and raise money for RSPCA) some of this blogs most loved bands have teamed up for a Yuletide themed single. If you've ever wondered what Pulled Apart By Horses, Danananaykroyd, Copy Haho and Slow Club sound like together then have a look below.

Next week- Fucked Up's Christmas song ft. TV On The Radio and Vampire Weekend

Week after- A christmas playlist inc 'the best Christmas song ever, Reuben's 'Christmas Is Awesome'

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Pulled Apart By Horses

are amazing.

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Live At Leeds- May 2nd & 3rd

Gigwise 1+ 2

Taking on the multi-venue style of Camden Crawl or The Great Escape in Brighton Live at Leeds is a sprawling collection of the cities finest exports and a nice amount of up and coming indie bands playing in the cities myriad of pubs and clubs. Despite the fact they have played in Leeds every other week since forever both Wild Beasts 3pm slot at Joseph's Well and Sky Larkin's tea time performance at The Cockpit are full to capacity lock outs- our fault for not arriving in time 'spose. Not to worry however as the first act of the day we catch is The Joy Formidable. The Welsh trio put on an assured performance, showcasing tracks from their excellent album 'A Balloon Called Moaning'. The crowd gathered lap it up as 'Whirring' gives way to 'Austere' the band go from strength to strength. Some tracks fall away into anonymity but ultimately this set is a triumph.

Anonymity is one thing you can never accuse Pulled Apart By Horses of. By the third song ('The Crapsons') of their half-hour set a circle pit has begun spinning and flailing in front of the stage and the atmosphere never drops below jaw-dropping. Essentially playing thrash metal for indie kids their songs are brutal but come accompanied by huge pop hooks which regularly see the audience joining in and punching the air in celebration. By 'Meat Balloon' lead singer Tom Hudson has re-located his microphone to the middle of the mosh pit and leads the "We are so macho" refrain from the heart of the crowd. It's easy to forget you are in the back room of a pub at 6pm in the evening as the sheer sense of fun over takes you. 'E= MC Hammer' and 'I Punched A Lion In The Throat' burst out of the blocks and finish off a set that this reviewer feels will struggle to be beaten by anyone in 2009.

Annoyingly the most appealing line up of Dinosaur Pile Up and Grammatics supporting The Maccabees at the Metropolitan Union has led to a gridlocked que with no sign of entry forthcoming. The walk to The Faversham is soundtracked by the muffled sounds of 'No Kind Words' emitting from the venues walls. Still, in the week the band release their masterpiece 'Wall Of Arms' it can only be a good sign that people are willing to stand in the cold for a chance to see the band play live. At The Faversham Dan Black is finishing off his set with the single 'Yours'- it ticks all the boxes of a major label, watered down Hot Chip but seems dated and a bit cheesy. Nothing however could prepare these eyes for the epically terrible Ou Est Le Swimming Pool. Having seen the best gig if the year earlier in the night it was a nice symmetry to then see the worst. Sunglasses, hoodies with bare chests and frosted tips hair do's made this feel less like an alternative music festival and more like being on the set of Ibiza Uncovered. Their Lonely Island esque jock pop and terrace style chanting from the crowd contributed to a set to forget.

With Saturday's extravaganza over Sunday took a more low key turn with just the one show from the chart kings of cod-doom White Lies. In support were the divine School Of Seven Bells who beguiled the collected audience with their ethereal take on the so hot right now shoegaze. Unfortunately playing to blank stares and muted applause the likes of 'Half Asleep' and 'My Cabal' were both charming and show a great fission between the Deheza sisters vocals and Ben Curtis' expansive and intricate guitar work. With a better crowd to work with and a more focused set they will win the fans they deserve.

In front of a crowd reminiscent of a Top Gear focus group White Lies take to the softly lit stage and begin ploughing the hits. 'Fairwell To The Fairground' and 'Lose My Life' are seen off early with the latters refrain of "Let's grow old together and die at the same time" being met with blanket repetition from the fans. The band formerly known as Fear Of Flying have obviously been embraced by the commercially beneficial lad-rock market but quite how is a mystery. To all intents and purposes they are a very camp and humourless band. Kaiser Chiefs do well with that demographic as they are fun, The Enemy tap into the small town ennui, Kasabian are the sound of a beery Saturday night, so what are White Lies? Their songs are all ham-fisted odes to death and despair. Presumably people aren't listening to the lyrics and instead falling for the admittedly catchy hooks. It's probably for the best as you soon realise that not a single line in any White Lies songs means a thing. They do have the tunes though and as 'Death' brings the show and indeed the weekend to a close it would be churlish to deny the crowd and the fans their shallow moment.

Photo: Brendan Docherty.

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First acts for Great Escape 2009 announced

British Sea Power
The Big Pink
Holy Fuck
Little Boots
The Chapman Family
Passion Pit
Lightspeed Champion
Metronomy
The Handsome Family
Future Of The Left
Johnny Foreigner
Danananakroyd
The Joy Formidable
Chew Lips
To The Bones
Kasms
Your Twenties
Esser
Pulled Apart By Horses
The Soft Pack
Cage The Elephant
Kissy Sellout
The Pipettes
VV Brown
Let's Wrestle
Official Secrets Act
Televised Crimewave
Golden Silvers
Ben Kweller
Beth Jeans Houghton
Micachu And The Shapes
The Invisible
Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man.
It Hugs Back
Screaming Tea Party
Artefacts for Space Travel
Vivian Girls
The Pains Of Being Pure Of Heart
The Miserable Rich
Woodpigeon
Beast
A Grave With No Name
Yves Klein Blue
The John Steel Singers
Middle Class Rut
The Arkells
An Experiment On A Bird In The Air Pump
Fanzine
Cassie And The Casettes

Kasabian will headline one night of the event with more acts to be announced in the coming weeks.

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Introducing... Pulled Apart By Horses

Coming out of Leeds, the beating heart of this country's underground scene are Pulled Apart By Horses. A blizzard of anger, barbed riffs and bluster they are the explosion that occurs when feral punk and the unhinged mental qualities of Frank Black combine.

The 4-piece have released two singles already ('Meat Balloon' and 'I Punched A Lion In The Throat) as well as completing a January tour with Sky Larkin. The bands live reputation preceeds them and a headline tour of the UK is booked for the duration of March.

The band look set to eat 2009 for breakfast with their unique brand of art-punk-disco-metal (Delete as you see applicable). They also do a pretty neat Nirvana cover too.

Pulled Apart By Horses- Put Together By Madmen.

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