Not Many Experts

Cascading from a presumably unbearable existence of relative anonymity onto the hallowed pages of Gorilla vs. Bear and the log fulls of associated blog-cred that follows quicker than a hipster “sprinting” to an American Apparel sale (as this post most probably proves), Gauntlet Hair have already had shrewdly suggested similarities with (“a less annoying”) Passion Pit and (“an unspecified version of”) Surfer Blood. And, maybe it’s just the 5 hours sleep talking, but I would have to say that these comparisons are completely spot-fucking-on. The only thing is, whilst most new bands are compared to genuinely brilliant groups who have accomplished far more than they ever will solely as they sound passably similar (maybe they both play guitars, who knows), the shimmering atmospherics and piercing wail of Gauntlet Hair are, to these ears, far more exciting than the majority of bands passing through alternative music’s back pages at the moment.

Gauntlet Hair – I Was Thinking…

The single will be released on GvsB’s label late May/early June; you can stalk their web site until details appear here, and we’ll be spreading the good word as soon as a pre-order link appears.

PS: Yeah I know. I was pretty surprised that was the best picture I could find of Gauntlet Hair as well. Maybe I just have a neurotically influenced version of obsessive compulsive disorder, but I really need to know what that word before “council” is. Really bugging me. Program? Polygram? Pogrom? Let’s hope not.  If you know, get in touch and make a boring moment very strangely joyful.

“But I don’t have the drugs to sort it out”

Just incredible. Yet another piece of work that confirms both that The National are amongst the most spellbinding of bands ever to have passed through the well thumbed pages of music critics, and another step towards certainty that “High Violet” is going to be just as much of a life-changing, emotion-wrenching mountain of an album as “Boxer” indisputably was. Off to go and cry into my Mr November t-shirt and wonder how “people” can like such awful music when The National are still knocking around.

The National – Afraid Of Everyone

They’re even giving away this for free, having already tossed us Bloodbuzz Ohio, as well; you really owe it to The National to buy this album and not just download it from mediafire. Don’t be naive enough to tell yourself that you can’t afford it. Be honest with yourself; if we didn’t have the opportunity to download it for free, we’d find a way to put aside the money. I would pre order from Insound, and you get a The National t-shirt as well.

Strangely, I suddenly feel like it would be a real shame if High Violet leaks.

The much more than impressive debut album “WHB” will not do any of the following things:

• have the Official Charts Company struggling to count sales
• inhabit such a seminal place in music history that all music made after it will be referred to as “post-WHB”

But, really, what were you all expecting? Neither of those two points matter, at all, because “WHB” is equally and consistently bold, confident and, ultimately, the ridiculously energetic album that we were all hoping for. Innovative percussion that suggests they have banged, prodded and slapped most of the objects in their kitchen until the right sound emerged is arguably the centrepiece of both their album and live show (more than worth going to see, seriously) will no doubt become a regular in all the right clubs all around the country, and that, if not rampaging chart success, was exactly what this record was made for.

Buy the album here, really worth it!

PS: Just a quick update on a few changes to the blog. You might have noticed a subtle change to the quite brilliant header that is still made by the quite brilliant Adam Sarpalius. More importantly though, I’ve been evaluating how this whole operation runs… and have come to the conclusion that I spend far too long trying to write dissertation level 1000 word essays on issues. Unfortunately, the result of a few of these unavoidable outburts has left me feeling like I have a standard to adhere to in writing almost uselessly long posts, and as a consequence, writing became a bit of a chore and I write less often than I’d like to. In future, posts and reviews will be much more concise, quick, and often (because there is so much music that I just don’t get the chance to write about). I’m sure I’ll still get the urge to write 2000 words on why I hate Simon Cowell at certain points, but it just won’t be every post now. Guess I’m just a noisy bastard.