Von Braun - Cat Dog EP

(Big Red Sky Records, 2012)

Well, this is embarrassing…

Von Braun return with a new EP and I’m once again inclined to name it EP of the year so far. Anyone who read my review of last year’s Folk Devil EP will know that I’m a big fan of this Witney-based band and to be honest not much has changed here, both in terms of my opinion of the band and in the music on this fine EP. The songs on Cat Dog EP were all recorded at the same weekend-long factory recording session that produced Folk Devil EP, so the ‘live’ energy of the songs are still very much at the heart of their appeal. A few post-production tricks and jiggery-pokery have given this release a more subdued, haunting quality than last year’s offering.

Take for instance title track ‘Cat Dog’, with its Hendrix-meets-Pixies introduction; once the initial bombast has died down we’re left with smoking embers, singer Dave Anderson admitting: “I need to talk to you/Because there’s no-one else” before the sirens start and we can “feel the ground shake beneath [our] feet.” Meanwhile, ghostly background vocals and a middle-eastern sounding lead guitar part add to the ethereal mix. Similarly, the barely-audible sample in ‘Melanoma Head’ adds an uneasy texture to an already David Lynch-ian tale (“My friends think that you are scary/You are more than ordinary/Your feet don’t touch the floor…”).

But Von Braun always manage to add warmth to all of their songs, whether they’re about tumours, Pied Pipers or, as in the case in beautiful closing track ‘Into a Hollow,’ something more disturbing. A kind of dementia waltz, the track occupies the same emotional space as Vera Lynn’s wartime tear-jerker ‘We’ll Meet Again’ with its combination of blind hope and knowledge that hope is ultimately futile. It’s the vagueness of it all that is so affecting – “It feels like something will happen soon/It feels like something bad”, “I’m scared I won’t remember you/I’ve got to remember you/I don’t know what to do”. The mix is equally poignant; reverent humming, muffled drumming and reverb-drenched seventh notes adding a romantic tragedy to proceedings. It’s one of the band’s earliest songs, one that has fallen out of favour in their live performances (maybe because it’s such a downer), but it stands up against the raucous live favourites ‘Cat Dog’ and ‘Black Saxon’ that are both present on the EP.

That the band now have two brilliant releases under their belts and are still yet to release some of their best songs is quite an achievement and good news for us too – there’s more where this came from. Once again the band have chosen tracks that work well together to craft a cohesive release that balances moments of light and darkness in the band’s fully-realised sound. At a moment when so many indie bands in Oxford sound like a product of the times, Von Braun are refreshingly out of time in the best possible sense. They’re a band that will restore your faith in the concept of guitar music in all it’s simplicity and grace, a band that exude a minimalistic cool while occasionally erupting in white-hot flurries of energy. There’s only so much longer that Oxford can contain a secret like Von Braun so cherish them while they’re still here.

[Originally published on Music In Oxford, 20/06/2012]
http://www.musicinoxford.co.uk/2012/06/20/von-braun-cat-dog-ep-big-red-sky-records/

Oxford's best kept secret Von Braun return with Cat Dog EP, the follow-up to last year's criminally under-appreciated Folk Devil EP. This collection continues in much the same fashion as last year's offering, combining the best bits of twisted, angular '90's indie rock with excellent song-writing and one of the best band dynamics in town. Raucous live favourites “Cat/Dog” and “Black Saxon” are well recorded here, pleasantly rough around the edges but lesser known songs such as the Radiohead-indebted “Melanoma Head” and the heartbreakingly beautiful “Into a Hollow” shine just as brightly on this sterling EP. Boiling the band down to the prime elements you could say that they sound like the Pixies' influence on Radiohead, but the band have a dark and otherwordly charm of their own. Do yourself and the Oxford scene a favour and check this out at once. Yet another contender for best Oxford release of the year from the Von Braun camp.

[Originally published in Oxford Music Scene magazine, issue 19]
http://www.oxfordmusicscene.co.uk/images/oms_issue19.pdf

Grudle Bay / Von Braun / Delta Sleep / Space Heroes of the People @ The Wheatsheaf, Oxford, 13/04/2012

 Another of MusicInOxford’s very own musical showcases, those dubious masterminds at MiO HQ brought together a mixture of local and out-of-town talent at that most venerable of Oxford venues, the Wheatsheaf. Unfortunately, being Friday the 13th and all (and Stagecoach bus company being what they are) not everything went to plan, and as such I arrived too late to see any of Space Heroes of the People’s set, although I was impressed by the turnout at the Wheatsheaf for what was such an eclectic line-up. People seemed to enjoy SHOTP’s set as a whole, one person summing it up as (and I’m paraphrasing) “space-age dance music with lots of weird samples.” Sounds like a pretty good start to the evening to me.

Next up were Canterbury’s Delta Sleep, who had already caused some controversy by showing up quite late which in turn made the night run a bit over. Anyway, they played what could lazily be described as math rock – that is, their music was characterised by melodic, mellow guitar leads, tricky, overly-complicated drums, sudden shifts in time signatures, and a quiet-loud-quiet dynamic. In all honesty, their set didn’t really do much for me – the first song stirred my interest well into the second, but from there on I more than got the picture, and what I heard started to sound more like an exhibition of musical one-upmanship than music with heart and soul. A harsh summary, perhaps, but these guys clearly have the enthusiasm and chops to disregard anything this cantankerous chump has to say about song structure and cohesion of ideas. If you’ve got it, flaunt it, I suppose.

Von Braun proved that even on what drummer Gary Atkinson called an “off-night” the sheer twitchy energy of their live performances and the brilliance of their songs would show up many bands in town on what they would call a good night. Renditions of ‘Opener’, ‘Mustard Picasso Man’ and ‘Cat Dog’ demonstrate the band’s mysterious, twisted song-writing style, combining elements of Radiohead, Pixies, Nirvana, and even Elliott Smith, without ever sounding overly derivative or indebted to any of their influences. What can I say? They were certainly the highlight of the evening and definitely a band to check out at the Punt if you’ve not yet discovered their unique racket.

Perhaps Grudle Bay were victims of unfortunate placement on tonight’s bill, but after all that has preceded, their set seemed a bit underwhelming. Having really enjoyed some of their recorded material as Grudle Bay Riots (‘Pia’ was the standout track on recent local electronic compilation We Do Not Have a Dinosaur), it’s not hard to see why the “Riots” has been dropped from their name, based on tonight’s performance. I was expecting an intoxicating combination of Air, Radiohead and Warpaint, but what I got was more like a disco version of ‘Sex on Fire’ for half an hour. I’ll look forward to hearing more where ‘Pia’ and ‘Hon’ came from.

[Originally published by Music In Oxford, 19/4/2012]

http://www.musicinoxford.co.uk/2012/04/19/grudle-bay-von-braun-delta-sleep-space-heroes-of-the-people-the-wheatsheaf-oxford-13042012/

Von Braun / The Graceful Slicks / The Old Grinding Young / Seabuckthorn @ The Wheatsheaf, Oxford, 25/11/2011

Photo (c) Pier Corona

A excellent line-up of contrasting yet strangely complementary local talent gathered for Von Braun’s EP launch at the Wheatsheaf, a night that slowly built up to Von Braun’s triumphant headline set.

Starting the evening off was Seabuckthorn, an artist who has impressed several MusicInOxford.co.uk writers with his recorded output of exotic, otherworldly soundscapes. His music is somewhat lost on a mostly apathetic opening-slot crowd, and his set perhaps slightly too long and meandering to hold their Friday-night attention, but those of us who surrendered ourselves to his hypnotic music were transfixed. For the first half of the set, he was joined by Duncan Scott who provided a constant drone with a Shruti box (a kind of Indian harmonium) which proved to be the perfect grounding for Seabuckthorn to improvise around a distinctly South American framework of flamenco flourishes and moody minor keys. Towards the end of the set he began to command the attention of the audience by creating distorted loops upon which to build screeching siren calls and a constant beat with a stomp box. It’s a shame that more people didn’t give Seabuckthorn the attention he undoubtedly deserved because his warm musical excursions are the perfect cure for the winter blues.

Next up was The Old Grinding Young which is the moniker of Ollie T, formerly of ute. Although this was one of his first solo outings, you wouldn’t know it, for Ollie commanded the stage with just an electric guitar and a microphone. Oh, and a late-Movember moustache: indeed, I soon found myself surrounded by a sea of them. The first impression left by the opening song is that The Old Grinding Young sound rather like ute, and I assumed that the set would be a series of confessional, if slightly warped, singer-songwritery type songs. But the set went from strength to strength and further away from the ute sound. ‘The King and the Knave’ had a Warpaint-go-medieval feel to it, while the set reached its manic high-point with set-closer ‘Down Daddy Down’. The hushed, melancholic tone of the rest of the set gave way to a frantic, bluesy one and Ollie’s mumbled croon became crazed – like the darker side of Jeff Buckley. The crowd give him a justifiably enthusiastic response. He ended on a high note.

The Graceful Slicks came with their own lighting (a kind of lava lamp affair) and immediately set the mood for their riotous ’60s garage rock freak-out. Opening song ‘Wasted’ had an authentic 13th Floor Elevators energy, which soon gave way to a relaxed bounce on ‘Rubbernecking’ (in which the band played tribute to Von Braun by incorporating a section of their song ‘Henry’s Girl’). By the time the band came to a stomping rendition of ‘Fire’ it was impossible not to get in on the fun of it all; they may not be one of the most original bands in Oxford, but they’re one of the most entertaining live bands I’ve seen in some time. For tonight’s set, at least, they moved away from the Haight-Ashbury, drugged-out vibe in favour of a high energy collection of songs with fuzz bass and excellent drumming providing a pulsing rhythm for the majority of their set. Great stuff.

Now, when one of the singers takes to the stage with a pint and a few shots of whiskey, the set can go one of two ways. Fortunately for Dave Anderson of Von Braun, the rush of whiskey to the blood seemed to do a world of good, giving their set a loose but explosive energy. From the aptly named ‘Opener’ to encore ‘Black Saxon’, Von Braun commanded the room with a set full of songs that many other bands in Oxford and elsewhere would envy. From the angular bounce of ‘Henry’s Girl’, ‘Folk Devil’ and ‘Mustard Picasso Man’, to the sweet melancholy of ‘Mr. Seaweed’, Von Braun proved themselves to be one of Oxford’s rising stars. Breakneck renditions of the poppy ‘End of Ecuador’ and ‘Cat/Dog’ threatened to self combust (drummer Gary Atkinson giving himself a particularly hard job in the faster moments of the latter) but somehow the band managed to come through in what can only be described as a thrilling performance. At one point, I turned around to see a packed Wheatsheaf cheering and nodding along to one of the songs, even demanding an encore at the end which the band coyly agreed to. Job done, go buy the EP.

A great night that displayed the wide spectrum of musical talent that Oxford has to offer. Truly fantastic.

[Originally published on MusicinOxford.co.uk, 27/11/2011]

http://www.musicinoxford.co.uk/2011/11/27/von-braun-the-graceful-slicks-the-old-grinding-young-seabuckthorn-the-wheatsheaf-oxford-25112011/

Von Braun - Folk Devil EP

(Big Red Sky Records, 2011)

Folk Devil EP, the long overdue debut-proper from Von Braun, is an excellent showcase for one of the best bands in Oxford - one that finally captures the band at their nervous, twitchy best and touches upon the reflective, melancholic side of their sound. Previous demos seemed to over-compensate for the band's lack of a bass player by being bass-heavy to a fault. The results, while fine recordings by anyone else’s standards, were slightly underwhelming given the energy of their live performances. Now, under the patronage of Martin Newton's Big Red Sky Records, the band have been able to record their songs completely live in an unused factory to faithfully capture the essence of their sound.

Starting evocatively with the chimes of increasingly distant church bells, as if the band are leading us away from a world of civilisation, they launch into “Folk Devil,” a song that deals with the implications of being led astray by those things that your family warn you about. The result, in Von Braun's ambiguous world, is to be left “[lying] there, struggling to breathe.”

Live favourite “The End of Ecuador” is the song that best demonstrates the band's way with a catchy, urgent melody. There's an underlying sense of romance to the song, particularly in the exchange of Dave Anderson and Adam Bates' voices in the chorus, singing over one another in contrastingly crazed and melodic fashions. Few bands could or would dare get such mileage out of a lead guitar part consisting of four notes but the simplicity of it, bouncing above the fast-shifting minor and major chords, is what makes the song great. Other local bands would do well to take notice.

“Arronax” is joyous white-boy funk that references 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in the chorus to illustrate a kind of oceanic nightmare, albeit one that the band seems to be revelling in. The EP ends in understated fashion with “Mr. Seaweed”, a beautiful song featuring a solemn, finger-picked guitar, close vocal harmonies and, as we've come to expect by this point, oblique lyrics. I can only assume that the “Mr. Seaweed” they are speaking of is not the character from Spongebob Squarepants...

But you can never be too sure; Von Braun's lyrics are full of allusions to literature, film, history and culture so any real-life emotions are implied through the guise of these references. Ute recently described how mishearing the line “You are not Annie Edson Taylor” in “Folk Devil” inspired their own “Innocent Tailor” and it's certainly true that Von Braun's lyrical turns-of-phrase worm their way into your subconscious, regardless of how obscure the words may be (seriously, you'll soon find yourself unable to stop singing the chorus: “Oh Arronax, take me back to the Nautilus”).

The Lynchian worlds that Von Braun portray in their lyrics lend the band an air of mystery, an air that is reflected in the curious musical worlds that they create. While it is true that on “Arronax” and “Mr. Seaweed” the Pixies link is hard to ignore (particularly those Joey Santiago guitar bends), it is now only a reference point – the band have long outgrown the Pixies comparisons that were probably the bane of their early career. Yes, Dave Anderson's pained yelps and impassioned delivery recall Surfer Rosa-era Black Francis but Anderson is now his own monster at the microphone. In fact, Anderson's wild outbursts and Bates' flat, melodic delivery work beautifully together as contrasting forces as well as for the close harmonies which are key to Von Braun's dynamic.

The sympathetic way in which these songs have been recorded has ensured that one of the most exciting live bands in Oxford have an EP that captures that same live energy. Drummer Gary Atkinson, who continues to channel Keith Moon, is Von Braun's secret weapon, giving their songs a wild, driving power. The inherent chemistry between the three musicians is the result of five years of playing together which in turn has ensured that the song-writing is tight, efficient and never clumsy (unlike this sentence). It's been a while since a set of songs has stuck with me for so long, repeating in my mind and giving me so many points of interest to return to. Until the follow up (which is due out in February) this is the best EP released by an Oxford band this year.

[Originally published on Music In Oxford, 17/11/11]

http://www.musicinoxford.co.uk/2011/11/17/von-braun-folk-devil-ep-big-red-sky-records/