Launching their third album, Volcano, in a city which in its day had one or two of the things, The Last September took to the stage to the strains of 'Man With A Harmonica' from Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time In The West. After a year in the making they're clearly pleased to have the work finished and available and to be able to present it to the assembled throng.

Live the album brings a rather uneven line to the set as 'Hold Me Down' is quite a downbeat song to move on to after the faster paced 'Half Shut Knife' and this issue, despite the quality of the material, is one which allows a restlessness to creep into the audience as time goes on. Greater use of keyboards, at the expense of the favoured accordion, and a dose of better between-song-banter would help in a more general sense.

The band's collaboration from the new album with poet Rachel McCrum, 'Climbing', provides the gig with a refreshingly different (indeed unexpected) few minutes as she intones her spoken words and the quintet just provide the backing track. Rounding off the main set with current single and album highlight 'This Train Remains' they receive a lengthy and heartfelt applause before people start to wonder if an encore is possible, the band not really having had anywhere out of sight to place themselves. Older tracks 'Pond' and 'Ventolin' (with it's U2 & Bowie references) are offered up and they can finally head off to the bar & to take the welcome plaudits from friends & family.  

Volcano is available from the group's bandcamp.

Having left Lanarkshire to experience the wider world Kung-Fu Jesus as returned, via South America and Taiwan, with an album's worth of material to chronicle the journey, both physical and conciousness-wise. 'Wolf' is the first single to be lifted from his debut full-length Celestial Gold, which is scheduled for a winter release on Gargleblast Records.

Comparisons with Withered Hand & The Pictish Trail are inevitable, given the style of music on offer and Kung-Fu Jesus's geographical origins. Electronica plays a large part in the backing tracks for both 'Wolf' and b-side 'Wander' and there is no weedy singer/songwriter delivery in the vocal department, which adds to the single's overall listenability.

'Wander', for my money is actually the better of the two songs. Whilst you couldn't call 'Wolf' maudlin in its delivery (the subject matter of missing an absent friend could well have been presented so) 'Wander' is just so much more exuberant, sweeping you away on its peaks and chivvying you along in its troughs. It's five minutes plus of glorious, bouncing positivity. 

'Wolf' will be released on August 25 and is available from the Kung-Fu Jesus bandcamp page here.

Noise Arrangement Order is the first limited edition vinyl release by BANJAXXED Recordings and features four bands described in the collection's press release as “Medway’s top rated noise slingers”. Frau Pouch’s ‘Exposo’ and then ‘Wife/Wife’ by KILL_RPNZL open the record, evoking weightier moments from the respective catalogues of Arctic Monkeys, Pixies and Queens Of The Stone Age. Both are complete with a great riff and great upbeat drumming, two things which help to make not just these songs but every composition in this short collection as good as they are. The latter song is reminiscent of the Wytches’ ‘Gravedweller’ single with its shrieked vocal during the chorus and appropriately heavy backing.

The weirdness doesn’t end there. It also permeates ‘Pigs In Blankets’ by Bear vs. Manero which in addition to giving us one of the craziest vocal performances of all time showcases some rather bizarre lyrics, and the performance includes the relentless thrashing of all instruments involved. It is basically a mentally unstable storm of a song, and is also one of the best songs about Christmas ever.

The EP wraps up with the rather gritty but quite Hendrixesque electric blues of Broken Banjo’s ‘African Child’, the chorus of which is based mainly on one hell of a riff. It also features the recurring, catchy refrain – “I hold my head up high / I wake up; I’m still alive”– amid truly depressing imagery. Some aforementioned elements of ‘African Child’ don’t really seem to go well together, but despite this apparent incongruousness it is still a great song.

Lo-fi noise comprised of nothing that can be traditionally described as ‘sweet’ and is essentially a ruckus that exhibits plenty of feedback and sonic dirt is not for everyone. Initially the production seemed a little too raw – with the vocal seemingly too quiet on the first songs –and the strangeness of the vocals, amongst other things, made Noise Arrangement Order puzzling. However, it was sometimes immediately compelling and its quality seems to grow with further listens. Perhaps it will be the Medway or Kent music scene what the Deep Six compilation was to the grunge movement that grew out of Seattle, Washington. We can dream.

Noise Arrangement Order is available now from the BANJAXXED Recordings bandcamp page here.

Engines Of Vengeance have been regulars on Edinburgh’s metal scene for a couple of years now and fortuitously things worked out tonight so they were finally scene live (it was either that or the BBC’s fog-bound showcase at Edinburgh Castle so clearly no competition).

Technical issues apparently required their guitar to be plugged directly into the amp rather than via any sort of floor-based array but you’d never have known, such was the satisfyingly weighty distorted sound produced. Treading as they do the line between thrash and a more classically metal style things were hitch-free for the solid riffing and plentiful intricate fills & solos.

Fronted by the supremely entertaining Mercy (dressed tonight like the leader of a gang of female kickboxers from a Warriors remake) the crowd are under no illusions about the fact they’re here to enjoy themselves, with physical cajolery being employed at one point when verbal requests don’t at first work. A circle pit is not ever achieved but the fact of music of this quality still being produced is in itself very welcome, given the aging nature of those acts at the top of the metal pyramid.

Massive Wagons, tonight’s unsexily named headliners (try as I might no decent euphemism option has sprung to mind), were visiting from Lancaster to promote recently completed second album Fight The System (release date as yet undecided).

Led by a bloke the spit of bath-tub Jim Morrison in whose hands a wireless mike-stand took on the form of a deadly weapon, their brand of classic/stoner rock blend took a while to get going, with songs three & four in the set being a bit ponderous but as the set progressed it became impossible to see the join between the less engaging elements and the successful, crowd pleasing songs which ultimately made up the bulk of the performance.

They suffered from less than clear vocals throughout (low volume rather than muddy) but the crowd fully filled the space at stage front throughout so clearly the music and overall prescence of the quintet was enough to give people the level of entertainment they’d come out seeking. Rounding things off with a couple of well chosen covers, including ‘Nutbush City Limits’, theirs was a show with stacks of energy and enjoyment both given and received.

Massive Wagons' initial release Fire it up can be purchased here whilst Engines Of Vengeance's two EPs are available via bandcamp here.