Not Many Experts

Last weekend Liverpool Sound City saw most of the worthwhile bits of the music industry ascend to the city of Pope Steven Gerrard in pursuit of free alcohol, ‘networking opportunities’ and music. Watching jealously from my self-imposed exile, throughout the very extensive coverage came a common theme; Ninetails are almost everybody’s favourite new band, thanks to a mixture of taut, Tall-Ships-ian melodies and elastic facial impressions.

Excessively generous as they are, Ninetails subsequently released new single “Blue Bottle Flu” on Monday, and you can even pay what you like for it – the kindness of Mother Teresa pales in comparison. After listening to its four explosive, erratic minutes that alternate between worldly introspection and math-pop theatrics, though, you might even feel like getting rid of some of your money on it. We put some questions to the talented young chaps themselves to find out everything you want to know about Ninetails, and possibly a little bit more.

There’s some sort of what people like to call a creative ‘scene’ in Liverpool at the moment, do you feel part of that?

PM: I think Liverpool is an immensely creative city, irrespective of any notion of a scene or creative sector separate from life within that. From the institutional bedrocks of LIPA and the Art Colleges, to the ever-curating communal vibe of Rope Walks (FACT, Bluecoat) Liverpool has built upon its accolade as European Capital of Culture. From the moment we moved here, we knew we wanted to contribute to it. Playing music is part of that, but I would argue that even showing attending shows makes you part of that ‘creative scene’.

With accessible math-pop there always seem to be comparisons to Battles and Foals – is that how you see your own music?

EB:I think when we first got together in the practice rooms, these bands were the most obvious common ground that we had in terms of musical influences, so inevitably our first EP did feature many typical ‘math’ traits. Though as our sound and tastes have developed and as we’ve become more comfortable playing with each other, our various other eclectic influences have come into play. Out latest material (out Sep/Oct) is miles away from ‘math’ and, in our opinion, sounds pretty damn fresh.

So what’s next, I hear you’re disappearing to go and write an album – has that taken shape yet?

PM: Our guitarist, Jordan, is from Washington DC so he will return home for some months while post production begins on our next release. Having compiled and contemplated the tracks we’ve decided an EP would best serve the artistic integrity of the work as a whole. The new stuff we’re writing is quite different from the tracks we previously earmarked for the album and so an EP or LP is the more likely course of action for the next release. It’s fair to say we are shedding the shackles of ridiculously titled sub genres as we come to define our own sound.

How was playing Liverpool Sound City?

PM: Playing the Big Scary Monsters showcase at Liverpool Sound City this year was a bit of a cream dream. Obviously, a big factor in our formation was a mutual love for the works of Tubelord and Tall Ships and so to be sharing the stage with the latter of those was a bit special. This was our first time at the festival and it was a fantastic experience for us.

Things seem to be taking off pretty swiftly, does it feel that way to you?

PM: I’m really driven and self critical in equal measure. So it doesn’t really feel that way to me. We’re still looking for booking agents, and a reasonable PR company and I won’t be satisfied until we have them. Having said that, when I take a moment to reflect, we have come an awful long way in 8 months; a record deal, a sold out debut EP, single of the week on radio 6, reviews in national press, the GIT award shortlist, support slots with Three Trapped Tigers, Errors, Ghostpoet, Alt-J, Tall Ships. Yeah I’m just being twisty, we’re doing alright.

What’s the ultimate ambition for your music?

JK: If we can sustain this lifestyle, that we all love, we’d be very happy. My ambition for a year’s time is national exposure. Hopefully London will catch onto what Liverpool has known for 6 months now. If I was to be really cheeky I would say a European Tour and our very own tour bus too.

Previously…

Labelling yourself “progressive electronica”, as Liverpool’s Capac do, can be a bit problematic, because if you add nothing to the textures already being fired onto the internet by seemingly everybody with an e-mail account, you end up looking a little bit self-absorbed, maybe even a bit deluded, and quite a bit of a dick.

Capac, as they probably know, have no need to worry. “Palindrome” eases its way to amongst the most interesting left-field electronica we’ve heard this year, and it wasn’t even released this year. How progressive is that? Its gently swelling synths and stuttering production is painstakingly built up and up, and from this seriously tangible pressure comes a widescreen, organic, progressive epic, just like they said. You can trust scousers sometimes.

Liverpool’s artists often get a public flaying for a lack of ambition, but Capac prove that this is more than slight misapprehension. If anything, all Liverpool’s finest are guilty of is being particularly bad at shameless self-promotion, which is actually quite an endearing characteristic. So I’ll have to give the shameless promotion thing a crack for them, because the objective* truth is that you can count on the fingers of this guy the number of producers in the country who are making such earthy, wonderfully tense, and genuinely inventive electronica.

Palindrome by Capac

*I’m barely even a scouser, so am probably not biased.

** This guy is though, but he’s usually right, and I can only agree that Capac are so, so worth getting your ears upon live.

*** If you’ve read all the way down here then you may as well go the whole hog and follow us on twitter as well. Go on…

Tall Ships provided the heartbreaking moment of the festival and even were single-handedly responsible for making my festivaling comrade cry (he claims it was simply the man menopause again) as their front-man miserably closed his case of unsold vinyl after just 10 fruitless minutes. The lack of people wading into their wallets was actually hugely surprising, as the band had just ripped through a spellbinding set of intricate and yet hugely appealing math-rock. Take the precision, passion and intelligence of Foals, remove their huge popular appeal, and replace it with the confusion and avant-garde of Battles and there you have Tall Ships. I sound enthusiastic and sympathetic, but to be fair, I didn’t buy one of their vinyl either (please don’t judge me). Give them some time to find their audience and they’ve got the sort of rare experimental appeal to actually sell quite a lot of records to quite a lot of quite infatuated fans. And we might even crack the wallet out ourselves.

Hit The Floor by Tall Ships

Tall Ships – Chemistry by Tall Ships

Continue reading