...and she slammed on the Brakes
"I Can't Stand To Stand Beside You" by Brakes
Brakes make great short songs that encompass pop, punk & post-punk, country rock and quirky, arty indie rock, that usually clock in at under two minutes. Brakes formed in 2002, after Eamon Hamilton (from British Sea Power), who had supported another band at a bar in Brighton, was hanging out with Tom and Alex White (from Electric Soft Parade) and they said they wanted to play drums and guitar on Eamon's songs. They went to the now defunkt Mokinbird studios run by Marc Beatty (from The Tenderfoot) to record some tracks and convinced Marc to play bass with them.
Since then they've been playing shows on and off, building a fanbase, and working on more new songs. They put out a single, on Tugboat records, in 2004, and now their debut album, titled Give Blood is being released by the venerable Rough Trade - the long-running music shop and record label based in London. The Rough Trade shop began in 1976 in Notting Hill, specializing in US and Jamaican imports, and quickly became the epicenter of the burgeoning Punk scene in London. Rough Trade, the label, was started in 1978 to release "Paris Marquis" by Metal Urbain. This was followed by releases by Stiff Little Fingers, Swell Maps, The Raincoats, Cabaret Voltaire, and in 1982, the label went on to sign these guys called The Smiths. The label folded in the early 90s, but was resurrected a few years ago, and has been going strong since.
I'd love to go see Brakes play one of their shows at the tiny Freebutt in Brighton - a so called "sweat box" of a club where American Analoge Set and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, among others, have packed out the 200-person capacity venue. Brakes is playing a couple of festivals as well as a handful of shows in London and Brighton this summer, so check out their Live Info page. Also, check out their Music page for a video and a whole downloadable live show from last autumn.
I really like their album a lot - its all over the map, but their sound is totally coherent at the same time. Their soft acoustic songs are as pretty as the pictures their lyrics paint, and their screaming rock songs are nothing but pure fire. This song is the longest on the album, but I thought it was worth posting to give you an idea of the range of their sound, as this one track seems to encompass a lot of what they're about in its three and a half minutes - that and the fact that this song seriously rocks out. The whole album, 16 tracks worth, clocks in under a half-hour. It was recorded in five days, live to 2" tape, mixed in two days, all without any digital editing. Technologists might ask "why?" but, knowing musicians who want desparately to capture the energy, emotion and rawness of live music, I fully understand the desire to keep it purely analog like this. Give Blood is solid all the way through, and its already seeing serious accolades (I'm keeping an eye on Pitchfork with this one) - they even do a superb cover of Jesus & Mary Chain's classic "Sometimes Always"!
The album comes out on Tuesday, so you'll be able to buy Give Blood from Rough Trade then. According to the RT site, "the first 50 copies ordered will come with a bonus 12" of "All Night Disco Party" which hasn't been released in that format before. Wicked.
Happy Friday everyone!