New Blood: Trapped in Kansas

They read Stephen Hawking, question the laws of physics and still find a minute to make a wave on the local circuit. There's only one Trapped in Kansas.

When a group of university students decide to combine forces and make music, the move is quite often inspired by cheap booze and the need for an alternative to daytime television. Not so, it appears, in the case of Ayr's Trapped In Kansas. Guitarist Gregor Fair explains that the quartet's intricate, tuneful brand of indie rock was borne out of inter-band conversations on space, time travel, the Hadron Collider and other assorted quandaries of physics. “We genuinely have some intense scientific brain meltdowns whilst traversing the M8 in Chris [Ward]’s trusty Citroen Picasso.”

Ward, the band’s bass player and vocalist elaborates: “I would certainly say our biggest influence is science. We get into crazy chats about dark matter, parallel universes and Stephen Hawking."

It's a refreshing approach to songwriting, and one which has paid dividends this year. Though only formed in June 2008, Trapped in Kansas already have debut performances at RockNess and a headlining set in the T Break tent at T in the Park under their belt, having also featured in a filmed session for The Skinny and Off The Beaten Tracks at the latter.

Whilst Fair is loathe to define the band’s sound, he describes its intricacies as “thoughtful and sometimes challenging, without being complicated for the sake of it.” He is sure, however, that Trapped in Kansas have found a distinct identity. “I think we're instantly recognisable against other Scottish bands. Finn [Le Marinel]'s vocals are very unique which helps us stand out. The rhythms and tempos are constantly shifting in our songs, which keeps people interested.”

It's a reasonable summation, according to the few tracks the band have released. There’s a palpable element of math-rock, but the tracks are consistently melodic. Their palette owes much to the wildly varied tastes of the band’s members: drummer Iain Symes enjoys dubstep and drum & bass, whereas Le Marinel is, according to Fair, "a purveyor of anything devoid of time signatures.” Fair's own background is playing in punk bands, whilst Ward mainly follows indie bands like Belle & Sebastian, Stapleton and The Smiths. Collectively, the band enjoy more than the mere mysteries of the universe, sharing a love of Frightened Rabbit and American Football.

Having just completed a tour of Scotland with Bronto Skylift and Lions.Chase.Tigers., Ward is confident that another EP release from the band is forthcoming in the near future, though the process of formalising an agreement with the right label hasn't been without its complications. “We've had chats with some Scottish labels about doing a single deal, though thus far nothing has been right for us. But we're excited about the EP, it will be like the end of our first chapter and we can move away from those tracks and onto new material."

With another round of Scottish gigs scheduled between now and the festive season, the opportunities to catch the dextrously talented Trapped In Kansas are plentiful. Be sure and see them now before they turn the page.

Written for The Skinny

Five of the Best: #2 Finn Scott-Delany

Number two in the series features Finn Scott-Delany, a music critic who writes for Drowned in Sound and Alternative Ulster. He also plays a mean guitar and occasionally, sports a killer quiff.

Grizzly Bear – Yellow House

A steady fixture on album of the year lists in 2006, the drip-drop of critical praise eventually led me to buy Yellow House. An enveloping mood piece, it has been part-relegated by the excellent, chirpier follow-up Veckamist. But to my mind this edges it as one of the most unlikely great albums to get lost in, the abstract and fantastical sonic imagery making it a rare album that commands intensive listening alone. The intro to ‘Reprise’ seems to suck back inside itself before emerging in all its dawn chorus glory.

Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours

Surely the best modern dance-based album, this also works as an indie crossover because it doesn’t compromise on either. Song-based but mix-led, In Ghost Colours ebbs, pulsates and swoons, a collection of expertly compiled pop songs that knows when to make you dance and when to stand hands aloft. The climax arrives when the driving clatter of ‘So Haunted’ bottlenecks into the set-up for the euphoric ‘Heart on Fire’. In thrall to 80s aesthetics but undeniably fresh.

Common – Be

Kanye West might have made my personal top-5, but since Be is his greatest effort behind the desk, it will do just fine. Spoiling us with a rich palette of deep soul and retooled funk and jazz, Be works as a loving tribute to the black musical canon. Standing proud among his best efforts, Common is streaming with a mature, laidback wisdom. A master class in rhythmic en Pointe delivery, ‘The Corner’ is Common at his most expressive.

The Streets – Original Pirate Material

Being a middle-class kid was no barrier to revelling in the (sub)urban witticisms of Mike Skinner. With too many great lines to quote, this “day in the life of a geezer” was set to homemade two-step beats, normalising a much-pilloried sub-genre. A real memory-jerker, Skinner articulated modern culture on Original Pirate Material in a way he hasn’t done since, ‘Weak Become Heroes’ a poignant celebration of a misspent youth: “But this ain’t tomorrow and for now I still love ya”.

Radiohead – Amnesiac

The second release from the Kid A sessions, Amnesiac has all the progressiveness of its predecessor, but is less bogged down in the post-Ok Computer landscape. As a teenage Radiohead devotee, I would have lapped up almost any release, but this stands out handsomely. ‘Pyramid Song’ is archetypical Radiohead with its discordant piano chords, cut-up time signatures and swirling Thom Yorke vocal.

Five of the Best: #1 Mark Sheerin

The first in this new series on the blog is with Mark Sheerin. Mark is a music and arts journalist for Culture 24 and Art & Music magazine. You can read more of his work here.

Sonic Youth - nyc ghosts & flowers (2000)











Why I love it:

This took a lot of listens to get used to, but I love the way it just keeps growing on me. Some of the tracks are pretty lengthy, so they creep up on you. There's a lot of spoken word lyrical content which sits comfortably with the musical sprawl. A slowburn classic.

When I first heard it:

I had a boxy room with a cheap stereo in a shared house in Oval London. When Sonic Youth toured the album I went with a friend to see that too. Remember being glad at the time to see them play all their “hits”. They treated us.

Standout track:

Probably the title track. Thurston attempts poetry and, I think, gets away with it.

Anything else?

This was kind of the gateway to all of the band's later releases, for me. It's probably cooler to like punkier stuff, but I love the more post-rock material of which 'ghosts' was the first.

The Television Personalities - My Dark Places (2006)











Why I love it:

This record is either so bad it's good or so good it brings tears to your eyes. The TVPs had gone quiet for about a decade and various rumours were circulating about lead singer Dan Treacy. They all turned out to be true, which makes the album a triumph out of adversity.

When I first heard it:

It reminds me of commuting and hating my job (2006). They also played it at the 100 Club, which was shambolic, but I did get to meet Ed Ball, whose other bands include The Times, who are also wonderful.

Standout track:

No More I Hate Yous. I love everything about this track, from its illogical premise through to the closing sample from movie Brighton Rock, via lovely harmonies from Victoria Yeulet. It's a love song, probably, but as much as anything else it's a sad tribute to the death of the 60s, as they died a second time round in the late 80s! At least that's a theory.

Anything else?

It's worth exploring the back catalogue if you don't already know this band. The Painted Word from 1983 is their masterpiece, I reckon. There are many dark places in Treacy's ouevre.

Wooden Wand and The Sky High Band - Second Attention (2006)











Why I love it:

Drawling hypnotic songs full of dark Biblical imagery. How could anyone not like that? It's got a timeless quality, this album. There's not a lot of tonal variation, but the repetition is what makes it interesting.

When I first heard it:

Wooden Wand were playing at a festival which I had tickets for so I picked this up in the interests of homework, shortly after it came out. We never made it to the festival, so the record reminds me of being a bit disappointed.

Standout track:

Mother Midnight. It's one of the more epic moments.

Anything else?

Check out the sleeve art. It's an oddly faithful recreation of the cover to Stormbringer by John Martyn

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky (2007)











Why I love it:

Sky Blue Sky has this warm seventies feel, which I'm a sucker for. The songwriting and the musicianship are both classy, but it's so MOR in places you can feel a bit guilty listening to it. But a few of the tracks are such classics you can't help but do so.

When I first heard it:

They pre-released the title track online, so Wilco fans such as myself were chomping at the bit when this came out. It was one of the highlights of an otherwise forgettable year.

Standout track:

Hate It Here. It's enough to make you wish for a failed relationship.

Anything else?

That is all.

Spoon - Ga ga ga ga ga (2007)











Why I love it:

Although it's only 36 minutes long and I've played it to the point where most albums would have expired, I never tire of it. This is largely thanks to Britt Daniels' amazing voice and his surreal but highly affecting lyrics. Call it short and bittersweet.

When I first heard it:

The first time I connected with the songs on this record was when I saw Spoon live in 2007. There were all these kids in the audience and I was beginning to feel old. But the adolescent angst must have been infectious. The band's performance took years off me.

Standout track:

You Got Yr Cherry Bomb. I still don't know what a cherry bomb is, but it makes for a really good listen.

Anything else?

Spoon take their name from a track by Can, which surprises a lot of people when they hear this album. It's quite poppy, really.

Five of the Best - an Introduction

How do you succinctly summarise a decade in music in a few paragraphs? Well, you don’t, in my opinion. The last ten years have seen so many zeitgeists, so many trends and so many amazing moments in music, it would be futile to try. What’s been good and what’s been bad is of course completely subjective: everybody has their two cents to throw in. And whilst we’ll all read, dissect and argue over the lists that appear online and in print over the coming two months, they’re unlikely to represent any one person’s decade in music.

This is a series I’ll be running on the blog which will give individuals whose musical opinions I respect the chance to do exactly that: to tell us what music they’ll be taking forward from the noughties. What albums have resonated with them more than others? What records remind them of a particular time in their lives over the past ten years? They may not be the best albums of the past decade, but what albums were important to you?

Please feel free to leave comments after the posts. What albums would you have chosen?

This week, I have been mostly listening to...

The Decemberists always had this in them. Over the course of their last four albums, their dalliances with prog have been growing ever more apparent and dominant. With The Hazards of Love, they've taken this nuance and given it free reign, resulting in a riff heavy rock opera. Colin Meloy hasn't let this tarnish his ear for a tune: on the contrary, his album contains some of the best Decemberists tracks I've heard. His penchant for verbose, Dark Age / Dickensian tales again returns. Meloy is one of the most ambitious songwriters about at the moment, and what may be perceived as flaws in others, conversely work in his favour. This album is pretentious, it's garish, it's smug (Meloy still occasionally sounds like he writes his songs whilst perusing the Oxford English), but it works fantastically well. The Decemberists have always had the potential to polarize opinion, and this is their most divisive release to date. But for me, it's one of the albums of 2009.

Video: The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love

Off The Cuff @ Three and Ten, Brighton Comedy Festival, 21 October

In the style of Channel 4’s hit Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Off The Cuff act solely on impulse, enacting sketches based on suggestions from the audience, which range from the mundane (gardening) to the ridiculous (terminal illness). For the most part, the show worked well. With little encouragement required, the performers threw themselves into things, and whilst some seemed more at home under the glare of the spotlight than others, none can be faulted for effort. A take off of Blind Date was the highlight of a slightly truncated night that’s funny and entertaining – if a little tame.

3/5

Written for Latest 7

Broken Records - Out On The Water EP Review

After all the column inches dedicated to them, it’s easy to forget that Broken Records are a relatively new band. A single album into their careers, and they’ve already been consecrated and desecrated a dozen times over. What this EP of demos and B-sides, recorded prior to their debut, serves to remind us is that there’s still a hell of a lot of potential to be mined within the talented Edinburgh outfit. Yes, they sometimes have a tendency to overdo things – a sense of melodrama creeps into Jamie Sutherland’s voice more than once – but here are five mostly excellent songs, peaking with Sutherland’s falsetto on Lessons Never Learnt and the superb instrumental outro of All So Tired. The question is: where to next?

3/5

Written for The Skinny