Labels: Count Your Lucky Stars – sncl
Review by: MH
New split here with some teasers from Football, etc. and Plaids who are both putting out full lengths in 2013. Both these bands excite me hugely and are current favourites of mine so both bands on the one record sounds like music to my ears.
Side A belongs to Football, etc. and they contribute one new song called “Down The Field”. A melancholy riff opens this with some softly spoken vocals that are low in the mix – these few seconds are spectacular. The rest of the band then kick in and it becomes a drifting, slow track as it settles in. It’s perhaps a little closer to Lindsay Minton’s solo stuff than “The Draft”. I’m loving the riff on this one and it’s so nicely paced. One thing that grabs me about Football, etc. is the drawn-out singing style – just lingering a little longer on some lines, and how the vocals contrast with the different tempo of the song. Most people who read this website will be familiar with them by now and know exactly what I’m talking about. There is a heap of expectation on them with the follow-up to “The Draft” but if this is a sign of what to expect then they will be putting out another superb album.
Nottingham’s Plaids take the B side and they are now up to track titles “eleven” and “twelve”. The first track is driven and flailing with vocals that are just a bit less than yelled and then a bit more than spoken in the second half of the song. The blend of this with the ensuing chaos in the music behind it is stunning and the guitars and rhythm section are exceptional on this track – angular, pacey and rowdier and rowdier as the track builds. “twelve” again flies out of the blocks and the vocals are that more familiar yell. This one gets more and more chaotic before the drums slow it to a marching beat and then all hell breaks loose to bring this to a hectic conclusion. It is only 1 minute and 39 seconds long but manages to fit so much variation into that short space of time. The lyrics are again almost abstract and typically Plaids. “eleven” deals with the unstable nature of family and relationships and is suitably bleak (“A heartfelt gesture, falls into the ether, a ripped out socket, pulls the life out of this”). “twelve” is about the creation of JT Soar, the DIY venue that members of Plaids have set up with others in Nottingham. Whilst their sound is rooted in a bygone DC and Dischord-era as well as 90s emo, Plaids are developing their sound so much so now that they’re sounding unmistakably Plaids. I hear it in the drive, the guitar sound, the chaos and the constant changes of pace and rhythm. I may have said this before but this band is amazing.
Both bands are touring the UK together this summer and I would’ve been all over it if I hadn’t moved to Australia. These bands are tapping contrasting styles of emo at the moment and both are on top of their game. I can’t recommend this one enough.