Maxïmo Park · Grey Nicholson

“Burning a Path for Us to Share” (the 2006-11-25 Saturday Fetch-it)

2006-11-25T19:22:00+00:00

Seven months before they recorded Twelve for Give Me a Wall (I just bought that this Thursday 'cos I rock), “spazz-rock heroes” ¡Forward, Russia! recorded another, unreleased, version at a place called Ghost Town in Leeds. They said so.

The most distinct difference (if there's anything distinct about a ¡Forward, Russia! track) is the vocal on “your conscience is low” at the end of each chorus. (Well, it's only a chorus to the extent that there even are any in a ¡Forward, Russia! track.) In the Sahara Sound version (the one on the single and album), Tom Woodhead sings it, using a grand total of two notes for the word “low”. By contrast, in the Ghost Town version it's a single, drawn-out, unmelodious, much-less-reassuring gasp/yelp. The album version sounds more like “your conscience is low... but y'know what? I've come to terms with that, and it's OK with me”; but this way is more uncomfortable, suggests urgency and some sort of crisis and leaves the song hanging more at the end. It makes me want to react rather than just sit there satisfied that everything's gonna be fine.

From the start the Ghost Town version is more chaotic and less tidy; it seems less premeditated. The introductory guitar lick is distorted – perhaps even a little bit jangly – and it doesn't stick with surgical precision to a single note at a time.

I've repeatedly compared ¡Forward, Russia! to Maxïmo Park (well, I've compared lots of things to both of them at the same time, but that's pretty much the same thing) and the comparison is particularly apt for the Ghost Town version. Like The Russia's, Maxïmo Park's songs tend to have a lot of distinct sections, and the song flits between them in different orders throughout. Often in the transition between sections, the music comes to a halt for a second, there's a single drum tap or beat in the middle, and then the bass resumes and the song sets off again, usually beginning a little more subdued than before and then building up again.

Twelve does this after the choruses (of which there are only about two, depending on how you count), and the halt is more distinct in the Ghost Town version. There are fewer layers of noise going on and so less to stop, plus the word “low” doesn't carry on for quite as long so the guitar is bashed into you a few more times before stopping. It sounds particularly Maxïmo Parky the second time (before “Ninety nine...”), when there's only bass and no lead guitar upon resumption. Also like The Park, Twelve crams craploads of music into the time interval it takes Sigur Rós to complete a single note.

And just when you think the song's finished – short of two minutes in – it goes back to “But he couldn't find another way” and skips through another quick verse before finally relenting.

The album version's pretty good as well. If you download one song this week, make it ¡12!. Stay tuned.

“Promises of Passion and Adventure” (the 2006-11-11 Saturday Fetch-it)

2006-11-11T18:46:00+00:00

Animator passes the whistle test. After hearing it once or twice, about a month later I remembered the chorus and the instrumental hook just from the title. Yay me.

Guillemotsishly, Pull Tiger Tail perform under almost-plausible pseudonyms – Marcus Ardere, the mild-mannered janitor, becomes Marcus Firefly; the already-moderately-implausibly-named David McKenzie-McConville is transformed into David "Davo" Huevo upon eating a banana; and by night Jack Navarone is the evil Jack O'Moriarty.

Animator begins with the guitar hook, which uses a grand total of three notes and (once again) is bouncily Fingers in the Factoriesish. A bassline that sounds vaguely like Y Control joins in, then lots of percussion.

In the verse the instruments drop to accompaniment and focus shifts to the lead vocal; the verse's structure and accompaniment are reminiscent of a Maxïmo Park or ¡Forward, Russia! song.

The lead vocals hold the chorus – the title repeated lots – together. They're part-¡Forward, Russia! (but less frantically mental), part-Tom Robinson (but nestle in amongst the instrumentation better) and at times part-Morrissey (but less disdain/depression/apathy–inducing). The backing vocals add a succession of rising "aaah"s to the chorus, which lend the song an epic-like-Dante's-Divine-Comedy-not-like-Doves feel; they're almost dæmonic.

The guitar hook pops up half-way through the chorus, and reappears between the first chorus and the second verse. After the second chorus the lead-up to the bridge is a lot quieter, led by a legato vocal line (of "oooh"s) with the bass playing a take on the hook.

In the bridge and final chorus the accompaniment goes at full pelt, and escalates with added hi-hats and increasingly frantic bass half-way through the bridge. The lead singer (presumably the Firefly bloke, since his name's first) comes closest to unrestraint during the last chorus (prompting accusations of Morrissiness).

A ten-second guitar solo carries the song to its climax, before returning to the hook to close the song.

Now try whistling it. If you download one song this week, make it Animator. Stay tuned.

“The Doors Have Metal Plates” (the 2006-04-21 Friday Fetch-it)

2006-04-21T18:53:00+00:00

Skip To The End was on this week's Roundtable; I thought it was an odd choice of lead single from The Futureheads' forthcoming album, News and Tributes – it's slower than the typical Futureheads track, and it doesn't help that the intro sounds like Decent Days And Nights at half-pace.

Better than Skip To The End, though, is Area, The Futureheads' stand-alone single released late in 2005.

Unlike Skip to the End, it has the pace of Decent Days And Nights, A to B and indeed much of The Futureheads' eponymous debut.

Added to this is The Futureheads' trademark vocal harmony hook, à la Hounds of Love.

It's like the best bits of every track on The Futureheads (apart from the weird time signature of The City is Here for You to Use) condensed into 2:45.

And that's another thing; like many great songs (i.e. A Certain Trigger bar Acrobat) it's far shorter than it sounds, which belies the song's intricacy – it doesn't seem probable that so much song would fit into so little time. If you download one track this week, make it Area.

Stuart Maconie is going to get shot

2005-09-03T23:52:00+00:00

Today's Critical List was a special comprising just those albums nominated for this year's Mercury Music Prize. ...which, incidentally, is being awarded this Tuesday night and will be on BBC Four and Radio 1 at 21:00 and 6 Music at 24:00.

The favourites are, not surprisingly, the Kaiser Chiefs - their “faux-indie” style (pop in the style of popular, but still not mainstream, contemporary music) is very comparable to last year's winners, Franz Ferdinand (whose stated aim was to make the girls dance).

Also on the programme was Move On Now, from Hard-Fi's album Stars of CCTV, the style of which is vastly removed from that of their four singles to date. This song is a soft piano ballad, essentially down-tempo lounge music.

Of course, the clear winner ought to be Maxïmo Park's album A Certain Trigger. Stuart Maconie introduced The Coast Is Always Changing with this:

Here's another, this time from Wearside.

My immediate response to this was “Oh, he is going to get shot!”.

Wearside, of course, refers to Sunderland, through which the River Wear flows. Unfortunately, Maxïmo Park are from Newcastle upon Tyne.

As any map of Tyne and Wear shows, Newcastle is about 20 km west-north-west of Sunderland. And, of course, the Geordies aren't very fond of the Mackems.

After the song Stuart carried on, saying that Maxïmo Park are one of two indie acts from Sunderland this year, the other being the Futureheads (who are actually from Sunderland). I don't think he should visit any music venues in Newcastle any time soon. Or ever.

For historical reference, the eventual winner was Antony and the Johnsons, who were pretty much the favourites by the time of the announcement.