[kj] (OT) Multiple KJ name-drops in Eagulls album review:

[Brendan Quinn]

Possessed is a cool track.cheers.

 

From: gathering-bounces at misera.net [mailto:gathering-bounces at misera.net] On
Behalf Of Rheinhold Squeegee
Sent: Friday, 14 March 2014 2:47 a.m.
To: Gathering Gathering
Subject: [kj] (OT) Multiple KJ name-drops in Eagulls album review:

 

Between these guys, Weekend and Beastmilk, KJ is getting a lot of play with
the young people these days. This band is touring the US in May - June.
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http://www.chartattack.com/staff-picks/2014/03/12/staff-picks-eagulls/




Finding one's voice isn't just an emptying and purifying oneself of the
words of others but an adopting and embracing of filiations, communities,
and discourses. Inspiration could be called inhaling the memory of an act
never experienced.

-Jonathan Lethem,
<http://harpers.org/archive/2007/02/the-ecstasy-of-influence/2/> "The
Ecstasy of Influence"

You take away our right to steal ideas, where are they going to come from?

-Roger Meyers Jr.,  <http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0089202/quotes> The
Simpsons

Do a literature review of the many words already shed over UK miscreants
Eagulls <http://www.chartattack.com/tag/eagulls/> , and it reads like a
primer on the language of classic post-punk. The vocals aren't "sung,"
they're
<http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/mar/09/eagulls-review-bitter-tales-of
-anguish> "intoned"; guitars are
<http://www.impactnottingham.com/2014/02/album-review-eagulls-eagulls/>
"swirling" (but only when they're not already
<http://blogs.artinfo.com/spotlight/2013/01/10/in-tune-eagulls-relentless-mo
ulting/> "squelling" or
<http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/mar/09/eagulls-review-bitter-tales-of
-anguish> "squalling
<http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/mar/09/eagulls-review-bitter-tales-of
-anguish> "); the basslines are, of course,
<http://orlandoweekly.com/music/darkness-abounds-on-eagulls-enthralling-debu
t-album-1.1644885> "propulsive." It's like the band started with the premise
"let's rip off Killing Joke <http://www.chartattack.com/tag/killing_joke/>
," and everything sorta grew from there. They even put out a cover
<https://soundcloud.com/partisan-records/requiem-killing-joke-cover>  of
<http://youtu.be/U7WPI4TJImo> "Requiem" late last year, just so you couldn't
help but notice that they've got their daddy's eyes.


The Leeds five-piece look and sound like they were beamed here from
early-Thatcherite England, captured in the transporter sometime between
opening for The Psychedelic Furs
<http://www.chartattack.com/tag/the_psychedelic_furs/>  and stepping off a
session with Martin Hannett <http://youtu.be/kxuVJd6J2mU> . They don't just
wear their influences on their sleeves; their baggy parkas are fully made of
'em. And you know what? There's nothing wrong with that.

After four years of touring, recording, and basically heaping their praises
into a ski hill, Eagulls dropped off their self-titled debut last week. It's
top prize post-punk from some very promising students of the early
Manchester and London scenes.  <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhralB8bCL8>
"Nerve Endings" is basically  <http://youtu.be/LdpCl706LKI> "One Hundred
Years" off of The Cure <http://www.chartattack.com/tag/the_cure/> 's
Pornography, the latter's needling lead now crushed up against the rhythm
section, mowing along like a combine. "Tough Luck" is a shimmering, little
nugget of redemption thrown out for the downcast - the spiritual kin of
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrh5kaWfyMQ> "Dreams Never End," track one
off New Order <http://www.chartattack.com/tag/new_order/> 's debut after the
passing of Ian Curtis. And the album's centrepiece, "Possessed," understands
the mechanics of Killing Joke's "Requiem" - a minimalistic study on a big,
bad riff - better than their own racing cover.

 

On the subject of influence in art, filmmaker Jim Jarmusch said
<http://www.jim-jarmusch.net/miscellanea/author_jim_jarmusch/my_golden_rules
.html> : "Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul.
If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is
invaluable; originality is nonexistent." There's a reason why Eagulls (or
Holograms <http://www.chartattack.com/tag/holograms/>  or Iceage
<http://www.chartattack.com/tag/iceage/>  or Savages
<http://www.chartattack.com/tag/savages/> ) are revisiting the sounds of the
pre-Madchester <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madchester>  underground - why
that history speak to their souls, as Jarmusch says.

Blame it on the dreary disposition of northern climes or the mindlessness of
pop radio (always a great scapegoat in lazy cultural crit), but if we're
really hunting for reasons why the countercultural aesthetic of Thatcherite
England has gained a new currency, something must be said about present day
political, cultural, and social climates that breed despondency before
dissent. Could this mopey pose be the product of snowballing debt, shitty
jobs prospects, perpetual foreign conflict, and, generally, no way out?

 

In 1980, Killing Joke was the sound of a generation saying they had no
agency in their own future. Perhaps, history has come knocking.

 

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