You should see them.

You should buy their album “Keepers of the Fallo“.

I shot these videos at DGDB, with the help of Jin Min and James Lee, in Spring 2010, but due to other editing commitments, only got them in a fit state recently.

You should watch them.

Too many cooks?

Well, not in this case. On Sparrow Hills are all about layers. The band repeatedly get the “Indie” tag, which I can’t quite understand. Firstly, what does “Indie” really mean these days? In the 80s it meant a certain type of band signed to an independent label. In the mid-90s, it was lazy journalist-ese for any bunch of (primarily) white boys with guitars who weren’t Heavy Metal or U2. So here we are, 10 years into the 2000s and the term has lost any significant, specific meaning. So, what are On Sparrow Hills? All bands hate to be labelled, so the best way I can explain it is “Post Punk in a massive Cathedral”.

This is their first release - The Sitting Choir.

TRACK-BY-TRACK

1 – Thimble Sized Travelling Balloon – listening to the band in an empty aircraft hanger with the members spread out. The jerky bass line helps it stagger into the brilliant, more melodic chorus. While the song title leans a little too close to 6th Form poetry, all’s forgiven by the end of the song. A great start to the E.P. – add it your playlist.

2. Order Up – shunning anything so normal as an intro, they get straight to their shouty point. The singer even replaced the microphone with a tin can and a piece of string jammed straight into the mixing desk. Continuing the theme that’s scattered across a lot of the E.P. of changing speeds from manic impatience to a half-time feel.

3. That’s the way – the most noticeably Joy Division/Interpol-sounding one but with added football terrace sing-along “wooooah”s, then wrong-footing the listener with some surprisingly effective harmonies.

4. Twist the Dials – the most ‘conventional’ of the songs with the effects pedals set as close to ‘Jangly’ as they are likely to get with this band. It’s the one you’d play in the car if your mum was with you (and probably the only one On Sparrow Hills‘ parents play their friends). Despite it’s jaunty tone, it’s not necessarily the one you’ll be humming to yourself later.

5. Bunker – has a chord change right at the very beginning that instantly brings Radiohead’s “Creep” to mind…and it’s quite hard to shake that once it’s there. Despite an admirable effort to break verse-chorus-verse-chorus predictability by again toying with speeds, it still feels a bit meandering and sounds like it was a scrapbook of unfinished songs stuck together with some of the lyrics sung in a strange haunted monk’s voice that isn’t really present anywhere else on the EP. It’s strange – I like each bit individually, but there’s something that doesn’t quite gel as one song.

6. Spread the Table – has the feeling of Dinosaur Jr/Dirty-era Sonic Youth, including the song length, clocking in at a mighty 6:31. The refrain/chorus stops this from veering off into overlong, shoe-gazing self-indulgence, and has atmospheric elements and a melodic momentum to hold your attention right to the end. This sits firmly on the mellow side of the On Sparrow Hills spectrum and one of the highlights of the E.P.

ANY GOOD?

For an indie release, it’s well mixed, which is no slight compliment considering how easy it would be to loose any detail or subtlety with so many instruments with that much reverb/delay. It has the feeling of a legitimate independent release. At the time of writing, I haven’t seen them live, so I’m especially intrigued as to how it would translate in a live environment. I have the feeling they would be at the mercy of the sound tech at each venue.

Cass & Dunkin' Donuts: Breakfast of champions

Overall, it’s an enjoyable, satisfying taste of On Sparrow Hills. Except for the slight wobble on Bunker, the songs are accessible without being poppy and individually distinguishable without being inconsistent. Part of their appeal is the ability to hide a melody within the many layers of each track and yet keep their edge. Well worth downloading. *see below*

You’ll like them if you like: The Pixies, Joy Division, Interpol, The Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr and their ilk.

I WANT THESE TRACKS!

Download these songs at their site for free cos they’re a generous bunch of fellas. There’s a box on the left of the site that you can put your email into and get all 6 songs. Easy.

If you agree or disagree with my review, please leave a comment.

Seoul 2 Haiti: Expat Musicians Rock For Haiti Relief

Start Time: Friday, February 5, 2010 at 9:00pm

End Time: Saturday, February 6, 2010 at 3:00am

Location: Rocky Mountain Tavern, Itaewon

Who: WE NEED SURGERY, LASSE LINDH, SOLITAIRE LOVE AFFAIR, and ROAD POP plus others…

For more detailed information, visit the link listed below.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=269302834857&ref=mf

Galaxy Express – pure RAWK shouty AC/DC milkers

Moonshiners – sorry, no idea

We Need Surgery – New Wave/Interpol/Joy division-y, but with more keyboards and optimism

The Koxx – Brilliant new band with a lot of covers but a lot of potential.

Let's see. Amps - check, instruments - check, shirts...CHECK.

No idea which order they’ll be playing in (although chances are it’ll be more or less what’s here).

Dec 31st update:

According to Wassereis from the fantastic VIOLET SWEETS blog, DGDB‘s New Year’s Eve line-up includes Guckkasten, Serengeti, Kingston Rudieska, Telepathy and others; Club FF also has Phonebooth, Pony, 3rd Line Butterfly, huckleberry fin; Club Ta has Hi Mister Memory, Ynot, 불나방스타쏘세지크럽 and Playgirls etc.

Thanks for the info

Animal Dads - swinging into 2010

Dec 31st, 11:30pm: Animal Dads will be hosting the countdown to 2010 from the near-safety of the Freebird stage (details are between the woman’s legs), a gig which will no doubt see them playing some of their new songs. A mysterious band member, who has yet to reveal his identity, whispered this in a dark alley…via email:

“We have been writing a bunch of new stuff. Different, more comlex. Not as straight forward.  Gonna record a new ep in Januay…5-6 songs.  After we record we are gonna play as much as possible.”

On the subject of the newer members (see this post), this shadowy typer claims:

“New members have fit in perfectly …we have two new guys with different ways of doing things, different ideas.   We all have different tastes in music but we are all on the same page when it comes to writing new tunes.”

But that’s not all…these multiple pie fingerers are plunging their digits into other media crusts.

“We are trying to write music for a short film shot in korea that shoud be done at the begining of the new year. It’s very strange that someone asked us to do it – We aren’t the kinda band that should be putting music to an ‘indie flick’.”

The singer decides to demonstrate his new Flashlight Belt Buckle

It’s a shame they couldn’t have added their song “Wrecking Ball” to the rope-swinging torture scene in Casino Royale…

Naked man - check. Massive Phallic symbol - check. Sex Offender eyes - check. It must be Christmas at Freebird!

Foreign fellas WE NEED SURGERY play their last gig (before a special new year show) at FREEBIRD on 19th December. In keeping with the theme 0f the poster (see left), they’ve diddled the old songs to freshen ‘em up for the winter and spent ages grooming a new one to give you a Christmas present.

Others on the register bill are BANCO and USED CASESTTES - who don’t  have a myspace presence yet, so I can’t comment on their style.

Get yourselves down there for some Post Punk you can dance to.

We Need Surgery - avoiding phallic symbols.