Premier Rock Forum

It's a glorious mess of an album, and the live shows are a terrific muddle too. And best of all - far too rare these days - it's a young band you can hear attempting to reach beyond their grasp. There's a sense of things beyond the horizon that any number of more-polished, cohesive debuts lack.Barring tragedy, I'd fancy theirs to be a fascinating and worthy discography twenty years from now. And beyond should they walk the long trail.

Tommy Alpha wrote:Adam Sr wrote:They went to the BRIT school. Real money goes in, counterfeit comes out.I laughed, but this is a touch unfair.It's odd how many arguments I've had in the last fortnight about which school black midi went to!Loads of dicks went to my school, and my school was rather dickish in its conception - single sex military-themed comprehensive, anyone? - but I think it'd be unfair to have my school used against anything I've done since, particularly anything creative. Admittedly, if they'd been to Eton, I probably WOULD hold that against them, which is a bit hypocritical and a lot of dismay that fuckers from Eton and such like are still in control of the country I live in, and worse, are still venerated by huge swathes of the population, but the Brit school? Damn, if a creative music-y film-y based state school had been an option for me, or my kids for that matter, I'd have been overjoyed.

As for the band, seem 'em a couple of times, haven't listened to the record particularly carefully yet. Some of it is great, but at their recent Earth show, there felt like a fair amount of filler going on.

It's as if Polvo employed Nick McCabe and wanted to go post-rock, but David Thomas intervened with his banter every time they got it almost right.

Adam Sr wrote:They went to the BRIT school. Real money goes in, counterfeit comes out.I laughed, but this is a touch unfair. I went there, Jesus, probably before these kids were born. It's a state school with an open enrollment policy as far as I could tell. Well, it would have to be if I got in. I wasn't in music or theatre, though, but some of my friends were.It is 'industry minded' (blechh), so some kids come out far more clued up on promotion and the like, and some departments are certainly a bit 'jazz hands' but for the most part it's a pretty ordinary, albeit performing arts focused sixth form- or at least was when I went. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's used as a petri dish for 'The Next Big Thing' by the recording industry especially, but it's also a place where kids can spend two years focussing on something they like doing. I wouldn't say just becuase a band might be a bit more polished at a young age it is by default insincere (though in some cases they might be).Not heard this band, so no opinion there.

I know I'm that guy that started the poll and all, but my first impression after listening to the LP is "This must be incredibly exciting for people that have never heard This Heat."It's good, hell, VERY GOOD in spots, and I can't think of anybody doing anything similar at the moment, so there's that. As mentioned, the fact they are so young is a bit exciting. I think there is potential for them to have a very interesting trajectory. I would still love to see them live.

In spirit the record reminds me of Long Fin Killie. I like that it does its own thing and I cannot see that being something that any remnants of the UK press can flog to a broad audience. They'll do fine enough and hopefully make some more records.

The KEXP gig gets really good from cca 8:00. They're like... HS seniors or something, so I'm not sure what music they'll be doing at 26. I imagine they quiet down and do their version of the For Carnation. Or disband and work on different obscure projects.

Gave that KEXP thing a blast.'s alright. Kinda reminds me of Polvo / Don Cab-esque stuff made by kids who got into music when Arctic Monkeys and Bloc Party were big. Not my thing, but it's their thing.They better pay whatever it takes to keep the drummer on board, it would fall into total artskool shitfest territory if he wasn't on the skins.R.E.; "UK press hype machine" - does this actually exist anymore? That's been economically non-existent for a good decade, no? And who remotely gives a shit where they went to school? JHC, bitter much about anybody experiencing even a moment of recognition for making music?

M.H wrote:R.E.; "UK press hype machine" - does this actually exist anymore? That's been economically non-existent for a good decade, no? Not like it did but in a smaller way. I ve seen quite a few ˜this band are the saviours of UK guitar music, they are doing stuff nobody has ever done before stuff, plus the Quietus calling it album of he year so far etc. And always sets off an alarm when a UK band that hasn t been even released an album yet tours the US, which is virtually impossible to do without significant backing. I don t begrudge them the attention they re getting but I kind of wish people would let a decent band of 19 year olds be a decent band of 19 year olds without proclaiming the second coming of post punk or whatever. There are loads of good guitar bands here, always have been.