– these are the things that have been in our ears this week, please explore and if it sounds interesting then hit the links and make your own minds up, our reviews and thoughts are mere signposts designed to guide you to the things you might like to feast on yourselves... don’t you just love the www. 

The Open House Festival takes place between Sept 26th and Sept 30th - More than 70 roots music events from traditional Irish, to bluegrass, blues and country at venues in Belfast, about half are free events – go investigate over at www.openhousefestival.com

CARDIACS TOUR NOVEMBER 2007

MON 12th - BRIGHTON: THE OLD MARKET 
TUE 13th - OXFORD: ZODIAC 
WED 14th - BRISTOL: THEKLA SOCIAL 
THU 15th - NOTTINGHAM: RESCUE ROOMS 
FRI 16th  - LONDON: ASTORIA 
MON 19th - SHEFFIELD: BOARDWALK 
TUE 20th - STOKE ON TRENT: THE SUGARMILL 
WED 21st - MANCHESTER: ACADEMY 3
THU 22th  - PORTSMOUTH: WEDGEWOOD ROOMS 
FRI 23rd  - CARDIFF: CLWB IFOR BACH 
SAT 24th - LEEDS: WOODHOUSE LIBERAL CLUB
 

John on the phone...

CRAP ARREST OF THE WEEK For letting it all hang out... Bestival (aka Arrestival), held on the Isle of Wight last weekend, is a commercial theme-park masquerading as a hippy festival. You are welcomed by police dogs as you walk through the gates – all under the banner of 'Increase The Peace'. One group of festie-goers came out of the sauna in the nude and walked around the site for a bit - hardly unheard-of behaviour at a festival - but came up against some aggressive boys from Showsec Security, who demanded they cover up because 'children might see it'. After going back to the sauna to get their clothes, one reveller told the uptight goons, "c'mon on it's just a body" - which led to him being chased across the festival site by a load of security, after which he was assaulted, handed to police and then arrested for indecent exposure (meanwhile real criminals were fleecing punters' tents). Once off site, he was given a fixed penalty notice for "causing harassment, alarm and distress". If he doesn't pay he'll end up in court - but police will have to find someone 'distressed' by the display of genitalia to make it stand up in court... - www.schnews.org.uk

ORGAN TV?

ORGAN TV  is on your screens in the UK right now. Every Wednesday evening, 10.30pm  on the OPEN ACCESS 2 Channel on SKY160. And now due to the fine response, repeated every Sunday on SKY883 at 11.15pm.

This coming Sunday we have the following videos...

LIARS - It Fit When I Was A Kid 
THE SCHLA LA LAS - 1,2,3,4 
DAN DEACON - The Crystal Cat 
THE KEITH JOHN ADAMS - Other Side Of The Road 
65DAYSOFSTATIC - Don't Go Down To Sorrow 
AKERCOCKE - Axiom 
ChthoniC - Quasi Putrefaction 

Next Wednesday and Sunday we have...

ODD SHAPED HEAD - Egomatic Annie 
CARDIACS - Day Is Gone 
AARON STOUT - Space Station 
TIM ARNOLD - Another World 
CULT OF LUNA - Back To Chapel Town 
EMIGRATE - My World - 
DUREFORSOG - Living In Vain 

What's it all about? Simple, just good music, and the art of good video making...  Same musical policy as we've always had with Organ - the labels are just handy signposts, as long as the music and video making has that X factor - expect a healthy eye/earboiling mix of metal, punk, prog, beats, post rock, post punk, post man pat, hardcore, indie, alternative, pronk, whatever..... music and creativity for the open minded 
 

DEMO OF THE WEEK
SOMEBODY’S MIND – Dark Side Of Love – They’re from Reading and they’re kicking up this refined raw energetic psychedelic storm of rock, they talk of a sound that they call The British Voodoo. Timeless contemporary pop-edged psychedelic flavoured indie rock  Lead track has a bit of an early Stone Roses vibe – you know, that sound they has before they cottoned on to the rolling Manc dance vibe that the Mondays gave the world. Second track is where Somebody’s Mind really do start to play with your (ahem) mind and bring in a weird wired very English early Pink Floyd lost in the depths of the UFO club fighting off Johnny Rotten in a time machine in 1967 and coming out like Hawkwind or Mood Six with the munchies and monsters underneath the floorboards and crawling up the walls – now this should be a lead track on a classic single! Reverb paranoia and interstella overdrives. Third track Going Down In Fear sounds like a long lost English psychedelic Hammer Horror garage rock Fuzztones treasure – whoooooooooo, something wicked in the woodshed, the British Voodoo – Mark Taylor and his new three piece, excellent – they may just be right, they could be pin ups.  www.myspace.com/somebodysmind

ALSO CHECK OUT
THE INTERVALS - Cock-sure, mouthy, ragged, edgy (messy) lo-fi Jam flavoured indie-guitarness from Bristol – bit cockney mockney Pete Doherty voiced for a West Country band don’t you think m‘lud? Don’t ask me, go ask someone who cares about Bloc Monkeys or Arctic Hard-fi Party or who’s ‘ad a bleedin’ jellied eel for tea down Shoreditch town hall this week – they does their fing well enuff guv - www.myspace.com/akatheintervals

Last week's demo of the week - INSTRUMENTS

Previous demo's of the week - DEATH QUNT / OAKWOOD / EPSTEIN SUPERFLU / THE FURIOUS SLEEP / FUNERAL CRASHERS / THUMPERMONKEY LIVES! / HELLFIRE / MR PHORMULA and LEWS TEWNS / THE APPLES / ONSEGEN ENSEMBLE / SASSY

DEMO REVIEW ARCHIVES

ALBUM OF THE WEEK
AMERICAN STEEL – Destroy Their Future (Fat Wreck) – “Let me be clear, I have a mean streak my dear, everyone I meet I want to punch in the ear”, I like these lyrics, I like this album. The return of American Steel, and what an unexpected return – anthemic American street punk with side swipes of Springsteen and Slade – the aforementioned Meanstreak certainly has a Far Far Away feel – and the healthy positive taste of Fat Wreck and Fang meets Green Day (yeah I know, vast canyon of US punk covered in the gap between those two fine bands). Classic American street rock that’s laced with top quality Clash style intelligent questioning defiance. The thing about American Steel is, that you never really ever could pin them down – and we’re pleased to say you still can’t; no gods, masters, kings or court jesters - huddled masses rise up - song by song they can’t be pinned down (let alone album by album), they’re always defiantly American Steel. Full of contradictions and shots in the dark and yes, almost schizophrenic. This is fine spirit rousing, from the heart American folk music in the best traditions of thinkers like Bad Religion - and just when you think you’ve got it worked out they go and head home with a beautiful song called Hurtin’. I defy you to listen to Dead and Gone without raising your angry fist – onward Christian solders now, follow follow, paint those f**king deserts red white and blue. Drop them like an awkward subject and the fact that I like you because you’re like me and proper punk rock (and a hell of a lot more) and the energy of the East Bay – everything must go, kill ‘em all, only words, they can't draw blood – this makes us happy! A triumphant defiant return and we need them more than ever (and Fat Wreck on top form again - a nice big public thanks to Nanette).  www.fatwreck.com
x

ALBUM OF THE WEEK 2 ATHLETIC AUTOMATON - A Journey Through Roman's Empire' (Skin Graft) - The easy way to review this is to talk about Arab On Radar. The hard way is to imagine describing this... sound... to the many who have never heard that esteemed band.  Nothing can really prepare you for it.  Athletic Automaton are a duo comprising drummer Patrick Crump ex-Pellum 123 and ex-Arab On Radar guitarist Stephen Mattos; it's an utterly distinctive guitar sound. The man is a genius of noise.  Using the word 'noise' fails to portray the depth, the control, the ferocious, organic intensity of it - the strangely compelling nature of the sound, the clarity of the madness.  Like Lightning Bolt, Ruins, Orthrelm and, once upon a time, Hella, Mattos and Crump have found a kind of perfection in the drummer-guitarist avant duo setup. It's obvious, a no-brainer, really: why struggle to rein in the egos of five musicians when what you really want is the telepathic link between two?  Much of the charm - yes, charm - of Mattos' racket is the frankly loose timings of his playing, something that this drummer magically locks into and feeds off. The whole is a minimalism that fills a big, big space - huge screeches, squeals and throbs of primitive tunes.  The guitar plays tricks on the ear, like the moire dazzle patterns of op art, conjuring barking dogs and muezzin calls and human speech.  The rhythms stumble and shift, really limping on opener The Small Ball Game and its longer, eventually more abstract reprise, edging into bad-acid psychedelia elsewhere.  The magnificent Hands Without Feet drives raggedly, relentlessly repetitive, like an orchestration of tuned power saws, until showing a surprisingly sensitive turn towards the end. Achilles Last Tendon lopes and trips relentlessly forward, a tranced tour-de-force of guitar weirdness, controlled animal squealing and fury that has more in common with - no, what am I talking about, this has nothing in common with anything, ever.  How the hell does he come up with this stuff? What goes on inside the heads of these people?  www.skingraftrecords.com or www.athleticautomaton.com

ALSO CHECK OUT

LITE/FUNANORI - A Tiny Twofer (Transduction) - A remarkable album here, a split two band CD album: Japanese avant-prog/post rock instrumentalists Lite meet Kaori505 Tsuchida's (Go! Team guitarist) collaborative project, Funanori.  Three tracks from each outfit, very much an album of two halves. LITE are super-tight and technically dazzling, but hey, just because they're from Japan, don't assume this is Ruins style mayhem: it's complex and often gratuitously mathy, yet spare, clean and dark in the manner of Shellac and Trans Am. There's an abundance of complex modern instrumental bands around at the moment, many absurdly similar. LITE stand out - their playing skills means that they can explore a bit, get more into the proggy, melodic side of things, and, more importantly, they're now developing a unique sound. It's subtle, but its something to do with an almost medieval kick drum and a delicacy even when storming. The moody spaciousness of second track PRIMARY is expressive Bark Psychosis life-soundtracking with added classic progressiveness.
            Funanori are to begin with a complete contrast.  The opening track is a delicate confection of sanshin, flute and voice, the melody traditional Japanese but not quite. Lazy and Crazy is driven by that great Go! Team cheerleader breakbeat with the legendary Mike Watts (Minutemen, Firehose, Stooges) on bass and that banjo-like sansin sound, and final number adds drummer Stephen Perkins (Jane's Addiction, Porno For Pyros) to the groove, in a somewhat Deerhoof style. Kaori505 Tsuchida is a multi-instrumentalist with the Go!Team, and from the sound of this there's lot of her creativity also going into the superb Go!Team   Six tracks packed with imagination and inviting another listen - the contrast between the two bands is surprisingly complementary and this works rather well as a body of work. Further exploration via – www.myspace.com/liteband or www.myspace.com/funanori or www.transductionrecords.com
 

SLEEPING PEOPLE - Growing (Temporary Residence) - Not to be confused with UK psyche-prog outfit Sleepy People, murmurs of recommendation regarding San Diego four-piece Sleeping People have been flying about for a little while now. The much talked about band are in to their second year of life and this second album (released on both CD and vinyl) more than illustrates why people are talking. It's great - pure math rock, a glorious credit to the genre. Delightfully easy on the ear, rich with texture and subtle variety, it has all the density of rhythm of those real dyed-in-the-wool mathists like Foe, From Monument To Masses and Rumah Sakit, yet has some hard-to-define extra in the melody department. There are those tastes of Don Caballero, Battles and King Crimson, and the combination of pointedly complex dynamics and strong, purposeful melody are close to the very fine (but rather obscure) outfit Bozart. Definitely more Battles flavoured than Caballero. Sleeping People don't just rely on endless guitar/rhythm section interweaving though; they don't forget the bigger dynamic of each piece, and there's a natural expressiveness in the guitar playing.  It's just plain likeable for some reason. There's that really fresh, natural and warm production on compositions that roll along with an easy-going urgency, there's a couple of more sonically experimental pieces (Underland sounds an extended version of the intro to Hella's Ghost Dance) while the frankly proggy People Staying awake finishes up with a surprise - Rob Crow's honeyed vocals, a sparkling conclusion and something of a marriage made in heaven. Nice cover art, suits the music down to the ground. With little riffs and tunes and oddnesses sticking in your head, demanding another replay, Growing will be finding its way into a lot of people's ears. – www.sleepingpeople.com or www.myspace.com/sleepingpeople – available in the UK via www.cargorecords.co.uk

VENUS BOGARDUS – Motorman (Patchogue) – When the tongue is retracted it wraps around the brain and Venus Bogardus are a well read band. Take wing and sink your mudded claws in to their literate post-punk (as someone else called it) - named after a character in a classic work of late-fifties lesbian pulp fiction - “We are an artrock band that regularly collaborates with avant-garde artists in the UK, Europe and the US. Motorman was made in collaboration with writer David Ohle, an associate of William S. Burroughs, and author of the astounding cult novels Motorman, The Age Of Sinatra and The Pisstown Chaos”. Formed around the core of James Reich and Hannah Levbarg (a Texan now living in Venus Bogardus’ hometown of Bath) – apparently the two met via a mutual on-line love of Richard Hell. Extracts from the 1972 novel Motorman are read by Ohle for the 2007 album of the same name. Motorman the album is a wired up rush of post-punk psych-edged swirling energy. An urgent trip that never stops – doors never open and jelly heads sit outside rooms listening to all kinds of not so obvious hints of Richard Hell and late 70’s period Hawkwind and sliced to hell glam-slammed psychedelic punk rock and Robert Calvert claustrophobia. The spoken word is laced with musical texture, it allows us to breath before we’re off again. Actually Autoclave is the first real stop for breath, a Seventies flavoured mid-paced acid rock thing. Oh look, there’s too many good albums, too many fine bands, press your face again the screen, fold yourself in to a chair and watch the green bird work and how can we be expected to take all this in and write about it all, 3.00am again and I’ve all but forgotten Venice Beach (and Vince) and ever getting away from this keyboard now – sleep is no longer an option – on to the layers of Venus acid-pop grunge-art psychic TV intensity and oh look just go explore and taste for yourselves – www.patchoguerecords.com / www.myspace.com/venusbogardus

TOM STEVENS – Home (Avebury) – hey, I like this, Home is indeed rather homely and welcoming and comfortable and just good to spend time in. Mellow slightly alternative American rock that tastes of laid back timeless things like Tom Petty. West Coast country flavoured Americana that almost comes a merciful release – ah, he was in the Long Ryders, that makes sense, he’s played with Gene Clark as well (The Byrds), Yep, the quality shines through here – fine songs writing, fine sentiment, and a fine album that just feels right – www.tomstevens.org or www.myspace.com/tomstevens or www.aveburyrecords.com
 

Last week's album of the week - YOU AND THE ATOM BOMB / GALLHAMMER Previous album's of the week - MEWITHOUTYOU / PRE / LOU REED & ZEITKRATZER / SCRAPS OF TAPE / EVERY TIME I DIE / SOHODOLLS / LIARS / UPSILON ACRUX / MIKROKOSMOS / ODD NOSDAM / MENENDEZ /  GEORGE WASHINGTON BROWN x

ALBUM REVIEW ARCHIVES

LIVE REVIEW ARCHIVES

SINGLE OF THE WEEK
EFTERKLANG – Mirador (Leaf) – Just how good is this? There’s just too much good music! This is just so wonderfully good. They’re from Denmark and they just glow in such a unique way. All orchestral and all spectacular and parping bits and majestic and choral and heaven born and ever bright – strings and heavenly horns and sea nymphs and triumphant parades of magnificent ambition. A four track EP and each of the four as majestic as the one that swept all before – vibrant and cinematic and intimate and unique and just so so right and yes, they really are heaven born and ever bright – an so uplifting they make Sigur Ros sound like Leonard Cohen – wonderful, apocalyptically beautiful – Sigur Ros, Mew, John Adams – wonderful - www.myspace.com/efterklang

SINGLE OF THE WEEK 2
NATO – Ballroom Dance With Angels And Demons (Rising) – This is nailed! Cornish teen metal band making their first moves and putting out the follow up to their debut single my arse! They sound like a serious heavyweight metalcore band working up to dropping their third album and a stadium tour of the world (or at least a round in the ring stomping on Gallows’ toes). Nato take all the screaming bleeding yelping booming elements of modern hardcore metal and slam it all in a blender along with all your fingers and toes. They blend all the yelling and screaming with intelligent melody and a precise stabbing dynamic – hell’s toast, they poop all over Enter Shikari, they poop over a lot of things, there’s depth here – alright you can spot an influence or two, but hey, a bunch of puss bursting teenagers from Cornwall are not supposed to be this good already! Preposterously good! www.myspace.com/bandnato

ALSO CHECK OUT
DEVIL DRIVER – Clouds Over California (Roadrunner) – Dez from... do we have mention where he’s from in every review still? No we damn well don’t! Dez from Devil Driver then, Dez and his band of crunching modern metal-makers (and this band pees from a great height over the last one he was in). Another single from The Last Kind Words album and another slice of swirling crunching circling metal preciseness – everything you really need from mainstream metal in 2007 – good one, woooooaaaaagghhhh, let the chaos burn – www.roadrunnerrecords.co.uk

TWM – Joystick (Lugano) – Sumptuously horny warm and inviting electro-house dance control, sublime bleeps that grab from the off, infectious, quirky and apparently causing quite a stir on the underground dance scene. Four contolling mixes – control me, use me - the Trinitronic mix grabbed our ears first, had us tracking it down ready for some Diablesse/ResonanceFM action. The Trinitronic mix taste so good with that minimalist undertone pulling at your mind and soul. The Power Club mix is a six minute bleep and whoooosh ride laced with all kinds of old school dance references, keep going band to the Trinitronic side of things though – out on October 15th – www.myspace.com/twmluganorecords or www.twm-music.com

VWF- Family Man (Sidewalk) – Infectious sweeping indie-rock with a bit of depth and the sense that they maybe capable of a thought process or two. Flammable, upright, up so much your can’t tie it down. Seven piece from Cardiff, why not? Yeah! Just good intelligent infectious feel good untie yor hands and put them in the air indie radio pop.  www.myspace.com/vwf

THE PEOPLE’S REVOLUTIONARY CHOIR - Do You Feel Like I Do? (Weekender) – They sound like our good friends the Brian Jonestown Massacre, so much so they could well be the BJM (who they’ve also just been out on a UK tour with of course). And we all know the BJM,as fine as they are, pretty much sound just like a whole host of psychedelic 60’s/70’s things – the Stones going all mystical and jangle jangle, The Byrds, The Small Faces get mellow – and, I don’t know, do we need another one?  If you think we do then the Choir are rather good at it – www.myspace.com/thepeoplesrevolutionarychoir or  www.weekenderrecords.com

THE PONY COLLABORATION – The Fast Lane (Series 8) – Charming Englishana, I know, there’s no such thing, but they’re just too charming and English to talk of Americana. Warm and breezy and uplifting and laced with glockenspiels and a melodica and sweet voices and strings and taking all very easy and heaven looks so good here in the fast lane. A charming band from Cambridge – www.theponycollaboration.com

CARDIACS - Ditzy Scene (ORG) - Of course single of the week should really be the new one from CARDIACS but we can’t say that, we’re releasing it – “It sounds like a very long string knotted with Heaven and bells” said Lullaby Witch

Last week's single of the week - TINY MASTERS OF TODAY

Previously - AND THEIR EYES WERE BLOODSHOT / BRENDA / CHAUFFEUR DRIVEN AVIATOR / FIGHT LIKE APES / THE SOUND MOVEMENT / THE CULT / LIARS / DAN DEACON / TWIN THOUSANDS / ZAN PAN / THE GENTLE GOOD / TRUCKDRIVER JNR

SINGLE REVIEW ARCHIVES

PREVIOUSLY - THE HOUSE OF LOVE / MONO / DEEP PURPLE / NUB / ANTHRAX / OMD

PREVIOUSLY - NEMESIS TO GO #4 / DVD: MIGHTY ROBOT: SLEEP WHEN YOU ARE DEAD / DVD: GLASTONBURY - THE MOVIE / BOOK: THE LANGUAGE OF THE BLUES – Debra De Salvo / BOOK: BERNARD SUMNER – CONFUSION / ZINE: NOISY No5 / DVD: SAMMY AND THE WABOS – LIVING IT UP IN ST.LOUIS / DVD - NAZARETH – FROM THE BEGINNING

That's it for this week -  IF YOU'VE GOT ANYTHING TO SAY then say it - response

THE ORGAN MAILING LIST -  If you want to be on the ORGAN/ORG Records e.mail list then you need to get in touch E.MAIL HERE.

PAST ISSUES -

ORGAN 222 - 

ORGAN 221 - 

ORGAN 220 - PRE, LOU REED/ZEITKRATZER, DEATH QUNT, BRENDA, CHAUFFEUR DRIVEN AVIATOR, VENICE IS SINKING, THE FLATLINERS, MONO, GLASTONBURY - THE MOVIE, CHRISTOPHER REES, KNIGHT AREA, THRUSHES, VOODOOSHOCK, SENDELICA,  W.A.K.O, BEEHOOVER, MINUS THE BEAR, EMIGRATE, EVILE, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, ZEBEDY RAYS, THE BROKEN HEARTS, BLACK LIGHT THEATRE, BLESSTHEFALL, THE HOPE AVENUE, CAMDEN STABLES MARKET

ORGAN 219 - SCRAPS OF TAPE, WAR FROM A HARLOT’S MOUTH, HEAVEN AND HELL, CAREER SUICIDE, LINED UP VOL 1, MONSTERS BUILD MEAN ROBOTS, SEVENYEARSDEAD, FIGHTSTAR, LUNATIC, FIGHT LIKE APES, THE DOMINO STATE, EPSTEIN SUPERFLU, OAKWOOD, HERZOGA 

ORGAN 218 - JOHN ADAMS / BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, VILE VILE CREATURES, EVERY TIME I DIE, SOHODOLLS, WHITE HILLS, MUNICIPAL WASTE, HOPE IS NOISE, THE BLACKOUT ARGUMENT, TIMO RAISANEN, PATRICK WATSON, THE CONDORS, THE FURIOUS SLEEP, FUNERAL CRASHERS, FIRESUITE, CODA, KUBICHEK, THE SOUND MOVEMENT, WEASEL WALTER, RADIOHEAD, AVENGED SEVENFOLD, HENRY ROLLINS, DOWN, DEEP PURPLE, THE LANGUAGE OF THE BLUES – Debra De Salvo 

ORGAN 217 - LIARS, UPSILON ACRUX, TED MAUL, GUTWORM, BLACK BONZO, ALLFLAWS, NUB, THE CULT, ODD SHAPED HEAD, THUMPERMONKEY LIVES!, ARTY KARATE, I KILLED PHAROAH, SUPERJIMENEZ , TONY WILSON, VILE VILE CREATURES, RADIOHEAD, WINTERS, HERZOGA, SCARLETT JOHANSSON, TV ON THE RADIO, CRITICAL MASS... 

ORGAN 216 - MIKROKOSMOS, ODD NOSDAM, MENENDEZ, ANTHRAX(uk). AKERCOCKE, MOHA!, THE BDI’s, HANOI ROCKS, SPIKE, LIARS, HELLFIRE, TIME.SPACE.REPEAT, SISTER, JOHN & JEHN, BEARSUIT, BERNARD SUMNER biography, The LONDON FETISH FAIR, DIABLESSE SCREAMING EAGLE, HIGH ON FIRE, TO THE BONES, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, OTTO VON SHIRACH, CHROME HOOF and more....