Myspace of the month: Firesuite

I caught a powerful live set by Sheffield's Firesuite at Night & Day in Manchester a couple of weeks back. The group, which has been together five years, consists of Chris Anderson (guitar, vocals), Jemima Grace (vocals, piano), Chris Minor (bass, gratuitous nudity), and Richard Storer (drums, style). Anderson and Grace alternated vocal duties, occasionally harmonising to powerful effect. Anderson has a good voice in the Jeff Buckley/James 'Starsailor' Walsh mould, but it was when Grace took on lead vocal duties that Firesuite (incidentally, named after Stravinsky's Firebird Suite) really took off, reminding this listener of such luminaries as 10,000 Maniacs, Mazzy Star and Belly. In particular, check out 'If only time were distance' on the Myspace.

Myspace of the Month: Cheezface

Cheezface, from Wilkesboro, NC (population 3,159) shares a myspace friendship with Music Muziek Musique, the awesome Drums of Death and Rustie's label Dress2Sweat. If that isn't reason enough to like him, then producing experimental /grindcore /Spanish pop(!) tracks with titles such as "demonic anus piss" and "penile bisection with a blunt instrument" in a town best known for hosting America's biggest folk and bluegrass festival (MerleFest) surely must be.
Actually, what I really like about the work of Cheezus H. Christus (aka Bryan Stancil) is the way he combines the themes of bodily waste and mutilation that were staple elements of '80s US underground greats such as Big Black, Butthole Surfers and the Pixies, with the manipulation of electronic beats and noise of a Squarepusher or Knifehandchop. "Americas Doctor" is like "22 Going on 23" remixed by the Aphex Twin, "Heat of the Bowel Movement" twists a sample taken from some early 80s stadium rockers (Asia? Yes?) and grinds it into the dust. Then it goes back and gives it another kicking just to make sure, finely balancing noise and tunefulness, humour and disgust.
With Gilli Milligan from noise-rockers Torpid frantically recording dozens of great new electronic tracks in his Brussels bolthole perhaps it's time to start joining the dots. 1980s = recession, cold war, right-wing neo liberal governments, hardcore music; 2008 = more of the same, but with 20 years of club culture in between. Time to get on the dancefloor and SCREAM!

Myspace of the Month: Shed and Sunbird

Couldn't decide between two alternatives for the first Myspace of the Month, so they both get the nod.

First up is the remix page of "French Electro-Pop band", Shed. This trio's music - influenced by the likes of Depeche Mode, Air, Portishead and Morcheeba - is pretty cool, but what really grabbed my attention was this message: "Welcome to this official SHED myspace friends remixes, You can listen some great remixes from friends!! We hope you enjoy them! If you are interested to do remixes of us, just ask us and we could sent to you the separate tracks." Sure beats paying 5 notes to remix Radiohead's 'Nude'!

The other page to check out this month belongs to a young Belgian guy called Adriaan who records as Sunbird. Based in Leuven, his mellifluent electronica reminds me of Royksopp and A Man Called Adam at their finest. "It is found again. What? Eternity! It is the sun mingled with the sea," as Arthur Rimbaud might have said when contemplating a drunken daytrip to the Belgian coast with his lover Paul Verlaine. We tried to book Sunbird to play live at Music Muziek Musique a few months back only to discover that Adriaan had broken his back! Thankfully, he is on the road to recovery (his music sounds like an analgesic, so I'm sure it helped). Sunbird's debut album hits the streets later this month - check it out.