BAND

Reflections Of Elephants

Reflections Of Elephants frontman Julian Von Nehammer has a vision. It is a vision without predictability, and it is a vision without relent. This becomes immediately apparent from the start of the Essex foursome's vicious onslaught of razor wire riffs and the desperate screams that erupt from within the seemingly possessed singer's belly. Fusing elements of rock, ambience, and frankly, some of the strangest guitar work you'll have heard in a long time, RoE is not exactly easy listening. The band aren't without their melodic sensibilities, however: Von Nehammer's voice soars to stratospheric heights during songs like "Osmosis Recharge" and "Hello Buddha", against whirling drum riffs and screeching guitars. There are elements of earlier Biffy Clyro (think Blackened Sky) and Reuben in amongst this band's vast melting pot of both obscure and pop influences, but the sound that Reflections Of Elephants have created is all their own.
www.myspace.com/reflectionsofelephants

RANDOM SELECTION: CARTOONIST

Mitch Clem

Mitch Clem is a cartoonist from across the pond. He does art for bands and he writes his own comic strips, too. I can't say much more about him, other than he's funny and his work is worth a look.
Visit his website for more.


www.mitchclem.com

BOOK

City Of Crime

Perhaps too many comic books have been featured in the blog so far. Perhaps. But it's my blog and I don't care. Besides, all the comics I talk about are brilliant and worth checking out.
Anyway:
Bruce Wayne has blood on his hands. He feels to blame for the death of a young girl, and when another teenager (who is heavily pregnant) goes missing amidst allegations of a 'baby ring', Wayne is compelled to rescue her, to try and make up for his past mistakes. Little does he know what fresh horrors he will uncover in his search for Gotham's missing children.
So, yeah. Read it.

BAND

KASMs

You fear to watch, yet you cannot turn away... Crawling from the East London fog come Trouble Records' KASMs, a screaming, foot-stomping foursome that have recently been kicking up a nationwide fuss (perhaps you caught them on tour with Televised Crimewave?). The self-styled "shriekbeat" group draw influence from from a melting pot of past noiseniks such as Nirvana and The Butthole Surfers. Vocalist Rachel Callaghan's voice is not dissimilar to Lydia Lunch of Teenage Jesus fame either, so it's safe to say that KASMs are pretty retrospective in their outlook towards music; this is not a band stuck in the past, however. Each member of the group plays with a vigour and zeal that is becoming an increasingly rare thing within groups today and one also gets the impression that Callaghan and her cohorts do not flail and contort for the sake of either: they are becoming involved with their music and allowing the noise to take over - fuck the audience.
The remainder of the Summer will see KASMs play at Underage Festival in Victoria Park and continue to peddle their mesmerising racket across England. To check their tour dates visit their MySpace page (below).


www.myspace.com/kasms

RANDOM SELECTION: WEBSITE

UGO.com: Design Your Own Superhero

Ever find yourself sitting at home, with nothing to do but refresh your MySpace page in the vain hope someone will have left you a picture comment? Me neither, but if that horrid fate should ever befall you, UGO is a great way to kill time. Creating a superhero might sound lame but this website is surprisingly entertaining. You are offered the choice of a male or female superhero or a selection of fantasy characters, with a healthy choice of different coloured costumes. If you think you can do better than my attempt (pictured below), please send me your heroes, to: joseph-hughes@hotmail.co.uk

BOOK

Bauhaus

A collection of pictures from the "greatest art series" from which this humble blog takes its name. If you like photography and odd german art then this is a book for you.

BAND

An Experiment On A Bird In The Air Pump

In recent years, female fronted music has suffered immensely, both in popularity and credibilty. It appears that the ideals of the Riot Grrrl are truly dead, and many women have swallowed the lie that the only way for someone with an XX chromosome to become successful in music is to use her body and sex appeal (follwing the examples of Paris Hilton, Rihanna, Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears and any number of dull, "sexy" starlets).

It is with great pleasure, then, that I introduce An Experiment On A Bird In The Air Pump, an all girl trio who are becoming increasingly well-known in London without so much as hinting that they will even think about having sex with anyone in the audience. Even better still, their music is nothing short of mesmerising. So called after an 18th Century oil painting, Experiment (consisting of the enigmatically named C-Bird, D-Bird and X-Bird) play a distorted, dirty mix of garage rock and proto punk, stripped down to its simplest and most primal form. Having played support to established London acts such as KASMs, S.C.U.M and Selfish Cunt and set to unleash their beautiful noise on the continent very soon, An Experiment On A Bird In The Air Pump are holding their own for now. They are a testament to the fact that it is still possible for ladyfolk to use music and music alone to get a woman where she wants to go, and by my reckoning these ladies have a long, successful road ahead of them.



www.myspace.com/anexperimentonabirdintheairpump

RANDOM SELECTION: DVD

Don't Need You: The Herstory Of Riot Grrrl

First we had he excellent Riot Grrrl book and now there's the thoroughly retrospective DVD. It does have the much sillier title but it's an amazing blast of rare live footage, old interviews and brand new chats with the likes of Le Tigre/Bikini Kill legend Kathleen Hannah and Sleater-Kinney/Heavens To Betsy shrieker Corin Tucker. Awesome.
www.boomkat.com

BOOK

Detective Comics

From the title, you have probably guessed that I will not be writing about a book per se this month. However, I feel compelled to write about DC because its writers have shown their mettle and the series has proved its longevity and worth; they are also a brilliant read.
In particular, I am enamoured with the issues starring the character who is arguably Detective Comics' most famous product, Batman. First appearing in DC as The Bat-Man in 1939 (and still sometimes referred to as The Batman), Bruce Wayne's alter ego has been surviving bullet wounds, bumps on the head and even earthquakes (No Man's Land, 1999) for nearly 70 years.
Issues #654-656 are personal favourites of mine: they detail the emergence of self-styled boy soldier Ulysses Hadrian Armstrong, AKA The General, and his rise to power over Gotham's most ferocious gangs and thugs. The contest for influence over the city culminates with a fight between The General's own Wardogs and the GCPD.
Mega City Comics in Camden Town, London, is a great source for some of the rarest and best comics. Comics are available instore or online at www.megacitycomics.co.uk

BAND

The Old Romantic Killer Band

Yes, there are two of them, and yes, one of them plays guitar and sings, and one plays the drums. However, Northerners The Old Romantic Killer Band do not necessarily fit the blues duo stereotype, and they are most certainly not the White Stripes (end of the line, comparison junkies). For sure, there’s a lot of bluesy influence and southern USA drawls within Killer Band’s more languid, smooth tunes but at times they display an underlying, visceral sense of viciousness and ferocity; the group’s latest single, “You Don’t Know How To Love” being a prime example, with it’s jarring, tubular guitar sound and smirking, seductive vocal delivery. Sure, you can dance to these guys, and they may smile wryly at you from the stage, but they’ve got a sharp and poisonous edge to them – best not to get too close…

The Old Romantic Killer Band’s single, “You Don’t Know How To Love” is out now on Bad Sneakers Records.

www.myspace.com/theoldromantickillerband

RANDOM SELECTION: WEBCOMIC

xkcd

The tagline reads "A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math and language" and that pretty much sums it up. Witty and fun, who said Americans have a whack sense of humour?



www.xkcd.com

BOOK

Necronomicon (Commemorative Edition): The Very Best Weird Tales by H.P. Lovecraft

For years, people have been reading Lovecraft's various literary oddities and thinking, "What the fuck?". Now, you can do it all over again and in one place with this positively massive hardback compilation of all his best horror stories.
The book will set you back an iffy £20, but for the amount of good stuff that's packed within its pages, I'd go for it.

BAND

S.C.U.M



Taking their name from a nihilistic, misandrous rant (SCUM Manifesto, by the late - and delightfully mad - Valerie Solanas, the woman who was jailed for the attempted murder of Andy Worhol), these eyeliner-caked, monochrome wierdsters are London's new kids on the block. Although S.C.U.M have only been together since the beginning of 2008, they've already received critical acclaim from reputable sources such as the NME and Faris Badwan (A.K.A. The Horrors' vocalist, Faris Rotter) and have appeared at inaugural and influential musical events such as the Camden Crawl. The band are also set to play support to XX Teens this month, and are hitting the stage this summer at Victoria Park's Underage Festival (though, admittedly, having the festival's organiser, Sam Kilcoyne, in your band never hurt on that score).
Notably, S.C.U.M are all still in their teens; an almost incredible fact considering the amount of respect and notoriety they have gained from their peers, the industry and music fans everywhere.
S.C.U.M's latest - and as yet untitled - release will be unveiled this Summer, so keep your ears to the ground.