Photography by Thomas Kavanagh

THE LATEST MANIFESTATION OF AVANT-GARDE PURVEYORS EXPERIMENTAL CIRCLE CLUB

Between 2002 and 2006, Southend-on-Sea was a slightly less sanitised satellite town to grow up in. It was thanks to Rhys Webb (now of The Horrors) and a couple of friends with daft DJ alter egos who created Junk – a monthly psych’n’garage happening in a hotel basement, where CDs didn’t exist and The Seeds and The Sonics were played instead of RnB. Junk’s death would have been made all the more sad had it not made way for Experimental Circle Club – a joint music and art project from Ciaran Oshea and Thomas Silverman, who met in hospital and continue to prove just how subversive the underground can really be, via sporadic parties of video art and music (the first one was in a Westcliff brothel, someone got attacked with a travel kettle), a couple of photographic books, the most far-out stage at Offset Festival, and, now, a film project called ECC Archives.

“Seventies heroin addicts with a video camera” is what inspired ECC Archives – a wholesomely DIY affair influenced in no small part by New York’s No Wave movement that spilled into the 1980s. Ciaran and Thomas film their favourite experimental noise bands (so far Clout!, Blue On Blue [pictured], Eels On Heals and, most recently, Electricity In Our Homes) in a whitewashed, disused office block. They play three songs to one static camera. It’s extremely rudimentary, like a purposefully no-fi Later With…. “I’ve always stuck closely to what my father taught me about film making,” says Ciaran. “‘Never give a sword to a man who can’t dance’. Everything I’ve loved has been born out of experimentation, whether that is not knowing what you are doing, not knowing your instruments, not having the right equipment, being limited. In this day and age you can have anything you want at your fingertips, but I think that can sometimes make people complacent.”

ECC revels in its struggle, probably because it was born in a town unforgiving of the leftfield. “Starting in Southend was great,” says Ciaran. “Racists love dancing. It was a challenge, but I think anywhere you face adversity and aggression you’ll find an underground resistance. We are the resistance.”

It’s unsurprising to hear that Archives – like ECC’s initial ‘happenings’ – is a product of disenchantment. They put on nights because they were sick of going to other peoples’, but what about when you then get sick of going to your own?

“We got disillusioned promoting straight up club nights,” says Thomas, “and always disliked crowded places, but we still wanted to watch the bands, so what’s better than a private audience with all those other weird and wonderful bands we love in the comfort of an empty room?”

Perhaps a select few friends get to see these stark performances first hand, too, while the rest of us can see the rigidly amateur films the Archives already have to offer at www.experimentalcircleclub.co.uk/eccarchives. Before the notion of ‘punk’ got so shiny, it looked something like this.

By Stuart Stubbs

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Originally published in issue 36 (vol 3) of Loud And Quiet. March 2012

Following last year’s eponymous 12″ EP that even garnered the interest of Julian Cope, Leeds psych drone band Hookworms will release a split 7″ with Nottingham’s Kogumaza on May 28th.

Their side is called ‘Form And Function’, and here’s a first look at the video for it, while Kogumaza’s offering is ‘Ursids’, which you can stream on the band’s bandcamp page.

Pre-order the release here, which comes on clear blue vinyl, in the above sleeve, designed by Dan Reeves of Faux Discx and Cold Pumas.

It may have taken Tom Vek five years to record his second album, but it seems that his writer’s block is well and truly over as today he’s posted a new track and video online.

‘You’ll Stay’ is Vek’s first new material since last year’s ‘Leisure Seizure’ album, the eventual follow up to his debut ‘We Have Sound’.

You can buy it on iTunes now, stream it on Soundcloud and watch its video below, which features Vek downing wheelies with a remote control monster truck.

Chicago band Radar Eyes have been gearing up for an album inspired by the sounds of Creation Records ever since they played their first show in 2007. It’ll finally be with us mid June, via local label HoZac.

Crossing Crocodiles with early Ponys, ‘Summer Chills’ if the first track to come for the record, and here a first look at its video.

You might already be well aware of Seattle’s alt. hip-hop duo THEESatisfaction, and not just because their debut album, ‘awE naturalE’, was released this month. No, Stasia Irons and Catherine Harris-White also featured heavily of Shabazz Palaces‘ debut album ‘Black Up’.

They’ve toured with their fellow Sub Pop label mates too, as well as supporting Little Dragon. If you’re quick though, you can see them at the below dates this week.

Today (April 18th) they also unveiled this video for new single ‘QueenS’.

Manchester trio Shinies release their debut single, ‘Shola’, via London’s Dirty Bingo Records on April 16th. It comes with this video, itself a homage to Smashing Pumkins‘ promo for ’1979′.

Londoners, see the band launch ‘Shola’ (and AA side ‘Pillow Talk’) at The Sebright Arms, Hackney, on April 12th.

Having signed a deal with Infectious Records at the end of 2011, ∆ (Alt-J) will release their debut album, ‘An Awesome Wave’, on May 28th. It’ll be preceded by single ‘Breezeblocks’, one of the record’s standout tracks, released a week earlier.

Here’s the video of it, which is as grizzly as it is brilliant. It’s basically how Coldplay should have done ‘The Scientist’ – you know, the backwards video they did.

The band play the following date’s in support of their debut album…

12 April Africa Centre, London
13 April Africa Centre, London
05 May Live At Leeds
11 May The Great Escape, Brighton
17 May Sound City, Liverpool
18 May Quay House, Manchester
24 May Academy 2, Dublin
25 May The Stiff Kitten, Belfast
26 May The Harley, Sheffield
28 May Arts College, Glasgow
29 May The Cluny 2, Newcastle
30 May The Hare & Hounds, Birmingham
01 June The Cooler, Bristol
09 June Parklife Weekender, Manchester
20 July Tramlines, Sheffield
19 August Green Man Festival, Brecon Beacons
07 Sept Bestival, Isle of Wight

On May 14th, Chess Club Records will release the debut single by Birmingham’s Swim Deep. It’s called ‘King City’ and is pretty much a love note to Warpaint bassist Jenny Lindberg.

The video for the track has been made by Marshall Darlings, a duo that’s also produced promos for Cerebral Ballzy‘s ‘Don’t Tell Me What To Do’ and ‘Cutting Glass’, consisting of one of our valued photographers, Dan Kendall, no less.

Check out ‘King City”s film below.

Kindness is on the cover of our issue this month [April 2012]. There’s many reasons behind why we chose Adam Bainbridge for page one over all the other bands featured in issue 36. His updated video for the re-release of ‘Gee Up’ is just one of them, show Bainbridge to be the wry sense of humour that we found him to be.

Photography by Owen Richards

Fair Ohs‘ drummer Joe Ryan already has one side project – 80s soul duo The One. He’s kept it slow-jam in his new solo guise too. As High Hopes he’ll release a debut EP called ‘There’s Nothing We Can’t Fix’ via Suplex Cassettes – the label of his Fair Ohs bandmate Matt Flag.

He’s made this weird video for the title track, and you can order the limited tape here. It’s sexy music from an AM radio in 1988.

Our good friend Timothy Cochrane made this short film about Loud And Quiet, interviewing editor Stuart Stubbs. Check it out below and more of Tim’s work here.

Loud and Quiet from Timothy Cochrane on Vimeo.

Norwich band Holy State don’t make music videos like most other new bands. Their ‘Lady Magika’ promo proved that with its green-screen trickery and clever illustrations. Below is the first look at their new video, directed by Robin Fuller, for single ‘Dial ‘M’ For Monolith’.

As you’ll see, it’s a rock band’s weird take on 2001: A Space Odyssey, complete with sets and costumes, the old-school way.

Holy State’s debut album will be released in April via Brew Records.

Currently on the promo trail for new album ‘Something’, Chairlift, covered ‘Party’ by Beyonce with the help of Das Racist‘s Kool A.D. on Australian radio station Triple J this week. Check it out below. It’s pretty good.

M.I.A.‘s videos are always worth a look, and she’s just premiered her promo to new single ‘Bad Girls’ over at VICE’s Noisey channel. You can check it out here, directed by Roman Garvas, who also give M.I.A. her dramatically controversial ‘Born Free’ video also.

Of the ‘Bad Girls’ shoot, M.I.A. says:

“It was dope to have so many people from so many different backgrounds speaking so many different languages come together to create something that we believed in. I thought I was gonna die on the shoot when I saw the drifting.  It was a four day shoot so everyone was on edge the whole time specifically ME when I had to do bluesteel singing to the camera while the cars did doughnuts on the wet road ten feet away. In my mind I was thinking how I was gonna deliver the video to Vice with no legs.”

These days, unless cooked up by some major label, most music videos are pretty lo-fi affairs, often consisting of a band in front of a projection. Not for Norwich band Holy State, though, who, with Robin Fuller and Leeds label Brew, have made this debut promo to go with their new single ‘Lady Magika’.

It’s far more graphically minded than most videos you’ll see any time soon, and if you like the track, go download it for free on the band’s Bandcamp page.

When Jay-Z retired the first time around he documented it by making Fade To Black, an excellent documentary of and around his then final show, at Madison Square Gardens. Now LCD Soundsystem have done the same.

The death of James Murphy’s project came as harrowing news to the dance music community, but there’s no denying how masterfully the demise of LCD was executed – a neat death to the neatest of careers. Shut Up And Play The Hits is the group’s Fade To Black, and here’s the trailer for it that suggests it’s going to be even more emotional than Jigga’s goodbye… perhaps because we know it really is over.

After a 5 year hiatus, Prinzhorn Dance School return early next year with their second album, ‘Clay Class’, released 30 January 2012 via DFA.

In the summer of 2011 the duo released ‘Seed, Crop, Harvest’, and the second track to be heard from the record is ‘Happy In Bits’, available as a digital download now.

The band have made this video for it.

Prinzhorn Dance School / Happy In Bits from DFA Records on Vimeo.

As well as being confirmed to play this year’s ATP Nightmare Before Christmas Festival on December 9th, Baltimore trio Future Islands have today posted this new video for ‘Give Us The Wind’ – a stand out track from their latest album, ‘On The Water’.

Influenced by the black-and-white simplicity of old Friend pop videos from the ’70s, director Mike Anderson shot the video on 16mm film without concern for a narrative. “Mostly it’s what you (or I, I suppose) see when you close your eyes and listen to the song,” says Anderson. “The greatest thing about working with Future Islands is their total unwavering sincerity and courage with their music. There isn’t any bullshit or irony at all: I love it.  It really resounds with me. If you’re going to say it, say it like you mean it. “

Future Islands – Give Us the Wind from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

As a founding member of The Velvet Underground, John Cale changed music forever – something that became a habit for the Welshman as he went on to produce The Stooges and Patti Smith and play a key role in shaping punk rock.

Last month we were lucky enough to interview the classically trained musician, amidst news that he’d sign a new record deal with Domino subsidiary Double Six.

The ‘Extra Playful’ EP is out now on download, and will be available from 27 September 2011 on 12″ vinyl, and today [Sept 22], the label posted this video online for lead-off single ‘Whaddya Mean By That’.

With under a week to go until Warpaint release a deluxe edition of debut album ‘The Fool’ (which, from September 26th, will be packaged with the band’s debut EP, ‘Exquisite Corpse’, and bonus material), the band have recorded a special 4-track live session with their label Rough Trade.

The tracks performed are current single ‘Billie Holiday’ (originally on ‘Exquisite Corpse’ and below), ‘Composure’, ‘Burgundy’ and ‘Majesty’.

Check them out below to see why we still consider ‘The Fool’ to be the best album of 2010, and the band to be one of the best live acts around.

What all tracks from the session HERE.

In the UK at least, summer is well and truly dead, but if there’s room for one last breezy pop song before we batten down the winter hatches with our Smiths records, it’s Dominant Legs’ ‘Hoop of Love’ – a taste of what to expect from the San Fransiscan duo’s debut album later this autumn.

Released via Lefse Records on 14 November 2011, ‘Invitation’ already had a lot to live up to, following the band’s 2010 EP ‘Young at Love & Life’. And now this enviously summery video turns up for a track that could teach Bruno Mars a thing or two about writing uplifting pop music.

‘Hoop Of Love’ has set the standard for the rest of ‘Invitation’ to match. If it manages it, it might even bring the sun out in London again, which was last seen April 31st.

Photography by Leon Diaper

Earlier this month (1 August 2011, to be precise), Brooklyn punks Cerebral Ballzy released their debut album via the Cooking Vinyl label. It’s a hardcore record that’s over in a blink, despite being 12 songs long, and we’ve taken a bit of a shine to it, largely due to its dumb-ass nihilism.

‘On The Run’ is the record’s opening track, and probably its best too. Here’s a new video for it, featuring Cerebral Ballzy living up to their “skate’n'thrash” mantra.

Cerebral Ballzy – On The Run by cookingvinylrecords

Photography by Pavla Kopecna

Merrill Garbus – aka tUnE-yArDs – has always been big into hip-hop; you just need to listen to either of her two cut’n'shut DIY records to hear that. Recently, though, she’s ventured into the genre more overtly than ever, performing live on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon with The Roots as her backing band [watch it below] and now asking Beastie Boy Adrock to remix her new single ‘Gangsta’.

You can download Adrock’s re-working of the track for free below, but if you also want the original version, as well as a remix by Cut Chemist, an a capella version and the song’s instrumental track, you’ll have to buy a physical copy of the single, available on 12″ from September 12 2011.

Photography by Gabriel Green

Hot off the heals of releasing download single ‘Let Down’ and debut album ‘Old Volcanoes’, Warm Brains – the new solo project of London producer/musician Rory Brattell – has now unleashed this, a video for ‘Worried Seed’.

Download ‘Marble Arch’ by Warm Brains for free here.

Warm Brains: Worried seed (2011) Official from Craig Murray on Vimeo.

If you’ve read our current issue you will have noticed that Wooden Shjips‘ new album, ‘West’, has been awarded a 10/10 mark. If you like psychedelic rock’n'roll it’s a score that’s difficult to argue with, so to give you a taste of the album here’s a free download of a track called ‘Lazy Bones’ and the new video for ‘Black Smoke Rise’.

The latter is released August 15 2011, ahead of a European tour.

Sat       Sep 3   Larmer Tree Gardens, UK                 End Of The Road Festival
Sun     Sep 4   London, UK                                     Scala
Mon    Sep 5   Leeds, UK                                       The Brudenell
Tue      Sep 6   Liverpool, UK                                  The Kazimier
Thu     Sep 8   Tallin, Estonia                                    Rock Cafe
Fri       Sep 9   Helsinki, Finland                                Korjaamo
Sat       Sep 10  Copenhagen, Denmark                    Loppen
Sun      Sep 11  Gronigen, Netherlands                     Vera Club
Wed    Sep 14 Krefeld, Germany                     Sudbanhof
Thu     Sep 15  Paris, France                                     Cafe de la danse
Fri       Sep 16  Rouen, France                                   Le 106
Sat       Sep 17  Tilburg, Netherlands                        Incubate
Tue      Sep 20  Vienna, Austria                                B72

DOWNLOAD ‘LAZY BONES’ HERE.

Wooden Shjips – Black Smoke Rise from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.