I Kill Giants – you may have noticed, we at Sparks and Nerves are very big fans, thus we were awfully excited when they announced their debut LP. Yet, I didn’t actually expect this. By that I mean, I didn’t expect it to be this good!

Don’t get me wrong, of course it was going to be good, but… let me explain. The first two tracks, the sub one-minute ‘Traveler’ and ‘Larry Jr.’, are a real statement of intent. ‘Larry Jr. Especially is brilliant, bursting out of the starting blocks and jerking seamlessly between sounds – emo, pop-punk and math-rock. The vocals are growled, the lyrics are simultaneously endearing and forceful, the musicianship is perfect, just enough to get your head nodding (and perhaps if I was at a club instead of home on a Friday evening, it would certainly be enough to get me dancing!) whilst challenging enough to hold your attention.

The instrumental ‘Pigskins’ displays yet another string to IKG’s bow – it falls neatly into the realms of atmospheric math-rock and serves as a neat interval, the halfway point of the album – a break from the fast tempo, if you will. ‘Windmills’ follows a similar path – slower, more progressive, more atmospheric, complimented by the low-in-the-mix vocals. The album highlight for me though, is ‘Collector’, its probably the most straightforward track on the LP, but if flows perfectly, and is just bursting full of energy.

What I like most about I Kill Giants is the way they mange to keep everything fresh and interesting, those three genres I previously mentioned – emo, pop-punk and math-rock – are starting to become slightly over-saturated, but I Kill Giants stand out. They stand out because they’re infectious, instantly likable, but above all, passionate. I’ve mentioned this in a previous review, but it can’t be overstated, it is impossible not to feel everything I Kill Giants put into their music. Some bands feel lethargic, even if they’re not, there isn’t a chance of that ever happening to IKG.

I Kill Giants have stepped it up a gear. To use an Americanism, they knocked this out of the park! (Actually, I’m not going to use Americanisms anymore, I don’t have a clue what i’m doing.) I’ve used these words a few times on this blog, but I’ve never meant it more than I do right now: I Kill Giants deserve to be huge. Topshelf Records would be the perfect home for IKG, somewhere they can grow further, and continue to release music with this level of enthusiasm, passion and excitement.

The LP is available for download right now on Bandcamp: http://ikillgiants.bandcamp.com/releases

Vinyl pre-orders should go up very soon via Broken World Media: http://brokenworldmedia.bigcartel.com/

P.S. Like us on Facebook! There’s a little button over there >> Or just point your mouse here: https://www.facebook.com/SparksAndNerves. Ta!

JB.

Crows-An-Wra are a new band with a new sound. Members of this band have an impressive back catalogue of bands  having been in S&N favourites Kasa, Crocus and Ravachol. Crows-An-Wra are in many ways an underground screamo supergroup.

So with an impressive array of records and bands behind them, this can only be good right? Correct.

It’s not exactly what you might be expecting though. This certainly isn’t straight up screamo and only briefly touches on the fringes of hardcore, this is a spacey screamo odyssey. Yes there is screaming and shouting in the traditional screamo vein, but it sounds altogether more punky, and this combined with some lovely little mathy riffs and spacey guitar pedal echoes combines to create something truly unique and quite wonderful.

It’s a surprisingly catchy EP that doesn’t pack an instant punch, preferring instead to grow and build, songs are three and four minutes long and ebb and flow in and out of anger and space. Every now and then there’s a hint of aggression and anger amongst the dreamy space filled guitars, this is soon washed away by the guitar tone. Most of the anger comes from the vocals, which shouldn’t really fit with the music, but it does and after a while it all starts to make sense. Impassioned vocals on the top of dreamy, technical music, sounds like it shouldn’t work, but it does here, and it works very well.

In all there are five tracks totalling sixteen and a half minutes. “Medicated Ludicity” is the pick of the bunch for me. This song changes pace half way through, in fact it almost comes to a stop and your mind is tricked into thinking that a new song is starting, but it isn’t, it grows into a pacey gang vocal filled end.

It’s like all of the previous bands have had an influence in some way on the sound of Crows-An-Wra. There’s the Kasa like vocals, the Ravachol like rhythm and the Crocus like intensity. They’ve taken parts from each band, added some bits and bobs and what you have is an original and fresh band that more than total the sum of their parts.

The artwork is worth a mention as well. It’s a figure encompassed by what I assume are feathers with only the hands visible. But it could be some sort of material or multi coloured pieces of bacon, probably not the final option there. Anyway, it has a mysterious Egyptian or Arabian look to it, I like it and it fits the music really well.

There are lots of bands trying to do something different in today’s music place, but Crows-An-Wra stand above them all, give them a listen and you might just be hooked.

The EP is going to be released on an ultra clear 10” limited to 300 and is being released by several fine labels across the world.

Buy and listen: http://crows-an-wra.bandcamp.com/

Alternatively check out the labels involved:

UK – Barely Regal Records / Boslevan Records
Europe – Flood Records / Listen To Aylin Records / Alcove Records
USA – Middleman Records

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PN

Photo by Nick Paleologos

Ruined Families are first and foremost a hardcore punk band. In these unsettling and turbulent times Ruined Families provide a statement equally as turbulent.

Hailing from Greece Ruined Families have firsthand recent experience of the impact social unrest can have, they take this experience and use it to make angry, vitriolic and strangely uplifting music, this album is the end product.

It’s hard to pin down or categorise “Blank Language”. After my first listen I was left a bit overwhelmed as there’s so much going on, it’s different from previous Ruined Families material, they have progressed from “Four Wall Freedom” and the self titled 7”, matured if you will, or more to the point, the environment around them has changed, so their music has adapted in the same way. I wasn’t overwhelmed for long though, after a while you start to hear the melodic and catchy side of this album which hides just underneath the abrasive guitars and vocals, hidden rhythms and off kilter hooks fill this record. This album needs and deserves a few listens before it starts to make full sense, in this way it’s not the easiest listen, give it a few spins though and you will start to love the little nuances.

It’s a melting pot of different genres from screamo to post punk with twiddly guitar parts and downright aggressive sections. There’s parts of “Easy Livin’”, “Human Fence” and “Definition in Paradox” that remind me of Black Flag, not for long though as Ruined Familes soon storm off on another vicious Pg.99alike screamo tangent.

Songs start to merge together, the pace intensifies, slows down, intensifies again before ending with the slower but still angry “Pedestal”. Throughout this album the hidden, underlying melody and rhythms keep on going, and these are what will bring you back again and again, it’s like playing a nursery rhyme in a psychopaths head.

The production and recording sounds muddy and sort of lo-fi (not massively), this isn’t a bad thing as it adds to the overall feel of the album, and helps to create an angry, thoughtful atmosphere that works brilliantly.

Ruined Families might not be known by many, and might never be, but I for one am happy to have given my time to these 9 sharp bursts of punk/hardcore/screamo.

Overall this is a wonderful turbulence. A chaotic record that doesn’t quite know what it wants to be, genres are defied, rules are ignored, punk is alive.

“Blank Language” is out now on Adagio 830.

Listen: http://ruinedfamilies.bandcamp.com/

Buy pre-order version (clear): http://www.bisaufsmesser.com/store/records/lp/9750/ruined-families-blank-language-lp-pre-order

Buy normal version (black): http://www.bisaufsmesser.com/store/records/lp/9817/ruined-families-blank-language-lp

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PN

Sparks and Nerves’ favourites I Kill Giants recently announced the release of their self-titled debut LP. We caught up with them for a chat about the LP and some of their previous work.

S&N: First up, can you just give us a quick introduction? 

IKG: I’m Dylan, I play guitar and sing in I Kill Giants. I’m originally from Seattle, WA and moved to Boston for school. That’s where we all met. Sander and Chris are from Jersey, and Nick is from Mass.

S&N: Last year’s EP ‘We Can Live in the Exact Same Place’ was something of a mystery to me – basically how can something be so short yet so full of ideas, and so memorable? What was the writing process for the EP? Was it a conscious decision?

IKG: The EP started as an idea I had that I got listening to the band Sidetracked. They’re a hardcore band from Tacoma, WA that is known for their absurdly short songs. Like, 10-30 seconds on average. I loved the idea of getting the point across that fast in our sort of context–the whole concept of writing a riff or motive that stands up on its own, and cut the process of making something a conventional song. We wanted to challenge what a song is defined as. With that in mind, things came really naturally. After throwing about that idea with the band, we had a few songs already written in the course of a week. Chris and I loved writing in that format. We packed every bit of emotion we had into those songs. Sometimes there’s a point you want to make that doesn’t require any more than two lines of lyrics.

Anyway, we recorded everything in my bedroom as we wrote it. We loved how it all came together to one cohesive piece. We named it based on the premise that we, as well as any band or artist or whatever, have the ability to do anything that makes sense to them. Whether or not it makes sense to other people. A lot of people were turned off by the briefness of that EP, but at the end of the day we still love it and are proud as hell of it.

S&N: Your new LP comes out on April 19^th, what can we expect? Did you attempt to do anything different?

IKG: The new album is pretty natural for us. We had no specific ideas about what we wanted it to be, we just wrote. We had been writing for it for about a year. It’s a lot more punky, I think. I’ll probably get shunned for saying that, haha. But the songs are in more of a 3-4 minute length range, which I hope people are happy about.

We recorded it with Ryan Stack at Format Audio in January. We loved the dude, and he really understood what we were going for. We’re stoked about how it turned out.

S&N: What’s your recording process?

IKG: Our recording process isn’t crazy. We lay down scratch guitar tracks, Sander tracks drums, then bass, then it’s Chris and I’s guitars. We have everything completely written before recording so it’s usually pretty streamlined.

S&N: You’ve previously released split EP’s with Sinatra and Cerce, how does something like that come about? Especially the Cerce EP in which you cover each others tracks. Plans for any more?

IKG: Well our first split with Sinatra (now My First Castle) came about when we wrote two songs after our first EP, and wanted to put them on a smaller release. We played a show with them and after the show we asked if they were interested, and they were down. Cerce, on the other hand, have been our best friends for years. We all met at school and have been hanging out before either bands even started. Zach Weeks and I always had this goofy idea of covering each others songs, and when they got signed to Mayfly, the opportunity presented itself to record and release it for charity. We played those songs live once and it was a blast, haha.

S&N: Anything else we can expect from I Kill Giants in the future? Huge world tour maybe?

IKG: We have a two-week tour planned with Old Gray in May, and after that we’re taking a small break. We’ve already started writing for our next release. But no, nothing too huge. Keep an eye out for something potentially big in August.

S&N: I’d say that you guys are somewhere in the math genre, which is growing bigger and bigger by the week, why do you think this is?

IKG: I think math rock is pushing the boundaries of what is considered musical. It’s a genre that is so interesting and sporadic to listen to, and I think more and more people are starting to appreciate that. It’s almost a challenge to listen to, I guess. We’ve always liked putting those elements in our songs to keep them interesting and different.

S&N: Finally, we’re all about sharing new music, who should we be listening to who we may not have heard?

IKG: Speaking of mathy stuff, Buttons & Mindy is absolutely killing it. They’re good friends of ours and have an EP coming out soon that is incredible. Toasted Plastic, Rookie Town, and Burglary Years are all doing rad things as well. Also, JT’s new album is a fucking BANGER.

Thanks to Dylan and I Kill Giants!

The LP will be released on April 19th. The vinyl will be released via Broken World Media.

I Kill Giants: Bandcamp| Tumblr |

JB

So, not long after finishing my review of “Moving Home” and this drops in my inbox. Two new songs from emo newcomers Moose Blood.

I was excited to give them a listen and when I did it was easy to see how the band had progressed in such a short period of time. This double a-side see’s the band taking an even more emo route than that seen on the six tracks on “Moving Home”. It sounds more vocal to me, more emphasis on the lyrics and a little less on the music. It’s a progression that could see the band turning from 2013’s one to watch into the real deal.

Being a double A-side usually means that both songs are equally strong, but for me the first track “Boston” is the better of the two. It has catchy emo hooks, and some of the most memorable lyrics you will hear this year. This being my particular favourite, “Bored and with nothing to do, lay around and listen to Deja Entendu, thinking about you”, the name dropping of classic emo albums continues, but it is the way this lyric  is delivered and the fact it rhymes that make it so memorable, you WILL be singing along to this after you finish listening.

This is not to say that the second track, “Orlando” is weak, because it isn’t. The first ten seconds of this song sound very familiar to the opening of The Pixies classic “Where’s My Mind”, or my ears are completely buggered. From there on in it bears no resemblance to The Pixies and it twists and turns down emo avenues new and old.

The content of this double is relationships and sex, so they’re about girls. Two emo songs about girls, it’s a bit of a cliché, but clichés are sometimes good and in Moose Blood’s case, clichés are fucking fantastic.

If Moose Blood keep up the habit of releasing songs this good, then an upward trajectory is the only thing possible.

This is being released on Record Store Day (April 21^st) via Fist In The Air Records physically. This will be online only so don’t check your local record store. It will be limited to just 50 copies and is going to be released on a clear one-sided lathe cut square 8″ record. The digital side of things is being handled by Venn Records (Gallows own record label no less).

Keep your eye on FITA’s webstore and order something whilst waiting here: http://www.fitarecords.bigcartel.com/

Check Venn Records for digital details.

PN

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We caught up with Sweden’s latest exports Disembarked for a quick chat about their new EP, Sweden and much more.

S&N: First off, can you please tell us who you are and what you do?

Disembarked: My name is Pontus Carlsson and I sing in Disembarked.

S&N: How did the band get together?

Disembarked: I’s a long story, Gustav, Olle and I have been playing music together since 4 years back, but Disembarked was officially formed August/September in 2011, wrote one song “Reverie” and I asked Pontus Goldberg who was a drummer from the beginning to start playing bass with us, which he luckily wanted too. Johan joined the band after that I’ve been asking him to check us out THREE times, he joined us just after the self titled EP had been recorded.

S&N: What’s it like trying to get coverage outside of Sweden?

Disembarked: We haven’t really tried that hard to get coverage outside Sweden. We’ve had our music out for free, and I guess that helps a lot seeing that many music blogs posted our EP on their sites.

S&N: Is there a big hardcore/music community in Sweden?

Disembarked: The hardcore scene is getting bigger here in Sweden, we have a lot of hardcore promoters here in Sweden, in almost every city that put up shows quite often. Västerås Straight Edge, Feedback booking, 026 Hardcore, Stockholm Straight Edge, Revival Booking, Umeå Hardcore, Norrköping Straight Edge, Hemgården, there’s a couple of promoters putting up Drug free shows around in Sweden. Hardcore doesn’t belong in the pubs.

S&N: Have other bands influenced your music?

Disembarked: We do take influences from other bands indirectly I guess, it’s more of a mix of plenty different genres that we all listen to. We don’t want to be copycats. Most of our influences don’t even come from the hardcore scene.

S&N: I really like the EP, do you write the music and lyrics at the same time?

Disembarked: Good to hear you liked it! Our writing is more like, I write lyrics on my own and we write the music all together. Often I got lyrics already, and then I put it on the music we write and try to fit it together.

S&N: This is something I’ve always wondered, what’s it like writing/singing lyrics in a language that’s not your native tongue?

Disembarked: Sometimes it can be complicated with the English vocabulary, but I think it’s more of a habit, you get used to it I guess. Sometimes I write in Swedish and then try to translate it to sound good in English. English is like our second language here in Sweden, I’ve never thought of it as a problem.

S&N: How did the record come around to be released on Dog Knights Productions?

Disembarked: I found out about DKP through one of my favorite bands, Foxes. Checked out other bands and thought it would be cool to be a part of his roster, since we’ve only heard good stuff about him. It wasn’t until a friend of ours, Sean, who told Darren of DKP to check us out and that we’re looking for a label that things started to happen.

S&N: What are your plans for the rest of the year?

Disembarked: The plans right now is to continue writing songs until we have enough for a full length. We also have 2 tours upcoming, one unannounced in Sweden, and then a europetour with Reason To Care.

S&N: And finally, what band should we listen to that we might not have heard of?

Disembarked: One band? Then I’d say Lydia, they’ve been a huge inspiration.

Disembarked’s EP “I Do Nothing but Regret the Fact That I Left” is available to buy now from Dog Knights Productions here: http://www.dogknightsproductions.com/DK/Store.html

Listen to the EP here http://disembarked.bandcamp.com/

PN

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This, Nai Harvest’s debut full length has the simplest reason for being in existence than probably any other album before or after. “All the songs on Whatever are about me having a week alone in my room. I spent my time not showering, eating and just watching Twin Peaks and writing songs, ‘cus all my mates were away that week.” Says vocalist/guitarist Ben Thompson. It’s that simple, he had a bit of spare time, noting to do, so wrote an album, as you do.

The album doesn’t feel like it was written in a week, though it does have a laid back, relaxed approach, much like the band themselves. This doesn’t detract from the album though and adds a loveable charm to the whole thing.

A couple of songs on Whatever have appeared on previous releases like “Distance, Etc”, which appeared on the split with Papayer and “Red Letter Day, On Play” which has taken various forms in the past.

What Nai Harvest do best is create simple, honest emo songs that hark back to the genre’s hay day back in the 90’s. There’s only guitar and drums, but that’s all they need to create these old school emo nuggets. Nai Harvest were a three piece to start off with but lost a member and decided to carry on as a two piece and I think this loss of a member has helped them nail down this simple, honest style.

More important than anything though is that Nai Harvest have delivered a fun and heartfelt record, and that’s the aim of the band as Ben explains “The objective of the band is to have fun and just do what we like doing,” Mission accomplished then

Nai Harvest seem to do what they want when they want, completely on their terms. This means the music is passionate, heartfelt, honest and above all fun to listen to.

I was sceptical if this could keep me hooked for a whole LP’s worth as I absolutely loved the EP and splits, but Nai Harvest win me over again with ten songs about slacking, watching telly and friends.

Emo is not dead, it’s most certainly alive in 2013 and Nai Harvest are one of the best exponents of the genre.

If you’re a fan of simple, catchy 2 piece emo songs that embed themselves in your subconscious then listen away!

Whatever is available via Dog Knights Productions and Pinky Swear Records on 2 awesome colours right now!

Buy Dog Knights: http://www.dogknightsproductions.com/DK/Store.html

Buy Pinky Swear: http://pinkyswearrecords.limitedrun.com/categories/view-store

Listen: http://naiharvest.bandcamp.com/

PN

Prior to the release of debut album “Whatever” we caught up with Nai Harvest for a quick chat.

S&N: First off, can you please tell us who you are and what you do?

NH: Hey, Ben plays the guitar and sings and Lew plays the drums and shouts

S&N: What has the transition from 3 to 2 members been like?

NH: BETTER, more food and beer for us

S&N: Why the name Nai Harvest?

NH: It’s a reference to a Saetia song

S&N: Have influences and new music changed your sound from earlier releases?

NH: More like old music has changed it, we’ve listened to a lot of older emo bands for the album

S&N: What was the writing process for the album?

NH: I sat in my room watching TV and drinking coffee with my guitar I guess. Lew did jack shit. Messin’ he did all those drums

S&N: Was it tricky going from EP’s to writing a full length?

NH: Not really, we just wrote more songs!

S&N: Did you do anything differently when writing the album?

NH: Drank twice and much tea and coffee this time, seemed to work

S&N: There seems to be an “emo” revival of late, what’s going on?

NH: PEOPLE ARE LEARNING

S&N: What are you currently  listening to?

Ben – Boilermaker

Lew – The Shitty Limits

Short and to the point. “Whatever” is now available to buy from Dog Knights Productions and Pinky Swear Records.

Dog Knights: http://www.dogknightsproductions.com/DK/Store.html

Pinky Swear: http://pinkyswearrecords.limitedrun.com/categories/view-store

PN

When you think of Sweden what’s the first thing that comes to mind?

Ikea?

That Brolin goal?

Ulrika Johnsson?

Abba?

Refused?

Suis La Lune?

Well forget them, as from now on it’s going to be emotional hardcore types Disembarked.

This their first proper release “I do Nothing But Regret The Fact I Left” is certainly an emotional ride.

Five songs in eleven minutes delivered with every last ounce of energy the band can muster. Considering that Disembarked have only been a band for just over a year makes this whole package even more impressive, the first document, a preview of what’s yet to come and if this is just the start then what will they be producing right now or in a couple of years?

I mentioned Suis La Lune earlier and in a way Disembarked sound fairly similar. Remember the exciting, fast aggressive parts from Suis La Lune? Well Disembarked sound like that throughout. This makes it a pretty intense listen, it’s almost like being stuck inside someone else’s head, it’s quite a claustrophobic sounding record.

The band don’t hang around as they lash into opener “Abscond”. This is a rather punishing start but you might as well start as you mean to go on. Its vicious but at the same time soothing as the EP is smothered in a wonderful guitar tone which lulls you into a false sense of security, it’s like a blanket over a thistle (Correct me if I’m wrong but I’m sure this is due to the band having two guitarists?). You can’t help but notice the passion and energy that oozes from every note and viciously wailed lyric.

Throughout the whole EP there’s an underlying aggression and anger that really could boil over into a chaotic blur of noise at any time, but it doesn’t, they keep it together and provide five fast, sharp bursts of screamo nirvana.

There isn’t much variety on show here but they do what they do very well and the record easily keeps your attention for the full eleven and a half minutes. I am personally a fan of this genre and have heard hundreds of bands from it, but Disembarked have something about them, an extra 5% that makes this record a must listen.

“I Do Nothing But Regret The Fact I Left” is now available to pre-order via the ever reliable Dog Knights Productions on two marvellous colours (7”).

Buy: http://www.dogknightsproductions.com/DK/Store.html

Listen (to early material and 1 track from this release): http://disembarked.bandcamp.com/

PN

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Moose Blood are the new kids on the block, this their first release is already very, very close to selling out via Fist In The Air Records (only available with a t-shirt). So why the hype? Why has it nearly sold out already? What’s going on!

Well, I can tell you, Moose Blood aren’t one of those hyped NME bands that people lose their shit over for no reason, Moose Blood are simply very good, and that’s the best reason for something to sell fast.

All this attention is generated by the infectious style of music that Moose Blood play, sitting comfortably in between pop punk and emo they sound nostalgic and summery and fun and generally just wonderful.  It’s a very memorable and catchy listen, six swooning songs in fifteen minutes.

There’s dual vocals in there which add depth and a feeling of being in a group, and I think that’s what this record does best. It makes you want to be with friends, listening to music and having a good time. Lyrics point to this as well, about staying up and talking about records all night and American Football and Dashboard Confessional. To be honest any band that mentions American Football instantly wins me over.

I honestly can’t pick a favourite song from the six here, they work so well together and are all written really well, although closer “Bukowski” stands out a little bit and is definitely the “single”.

Moose Blood will leave you wanting more, singing along to one of the many catchy hooks and generally leave you feeling accomplished. This is fifteen minutes of pure joy and unadulterated fun, this is a must listen for anybody that has a passing interest in anything emo, these could really be the next big thing and Moving Home is easily my favourite release so far this year.

Listen to Moving Home here: http://mooseblood.bandcamp.com/

Buy 7″ UK: http://www.fitarecords.bigcartel.com/

Buy 7″ Europe: http://daybydayrecords.limitedrun.com/

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PN