Purgatory Dance Party

This time last year, the world quietly lost one of its most underrated acts. After a decade peddling their unique brand of 'schitzo-experimental', inspiring waves of metal bands in the interim, famously featuring Serj Tankian in a guest slot on their fourth album, and spending much of 2006 as they had done every year - on the live circuit plugging their finest work to date, Adultery, Dog Fashion Disco called it a day.

Not that the majority noticed... for Dog Fashion Disco were too obscure, too risque, too 'out there' for the mainstream to ever comprehend. One moment they'd be thrashing out frenetic riffs and guttural screams that'd make Cradle Of Filth have nightmares, the next they'd be crooning like the love child of Matt Bellamy and Elvis Presley, or getting all funky with sprinklings of electronica, or even going all jazz prog on yo' ass then chucking in a down and dirty country number for good measure - the word versatile could almost have been invented for them.

And then, after six studio albums, a live cd and a jam packed dvd - it all stopped, and the metal community mourned one of its unsung heroes. Now, however, there's a chance to hear what may have come next - founding member and frontman Todd Smith, guitarist Jasan Stepp and drummer John Ensminger are back under a new name, Polkadot Cadaver - and they're more versatile than ever before. Stripped of the shackles that had begun to develop around Dog Fashion Disco's sound, retaining much of their fanbase and with the possibility of enticing a whole new set of devotees, the trio have been quietly hinting at their new album since February via their myspace profile - several songs presented first in early demo form, then the fully fledged final product, all radically different to one another, boded well for the release, and now the long wait for UK delivery is finally over, I can safely say it doesn't disappoint in the slightest.

Any album, in fact, that starts with jingling bells across a folk-tinged ballad will either make you reach for the eject button or kick off your shoes and lie back expecting a relaxing time... but again, this is no ordinary album. Smith's usual tongue in cheek lyrics are in full macabre swing, and before you're given a chance to comprehend what you're hearing, the band ramp up the tempo with the track this is perhaps most like DFD of old - A Wolf In Jesus Skin. But then, it all goes VERY weird.

The title track sounds, for want of a better term, like Dog Fashion Disco fornicating with Muse in the nightclub from the movie Blade. Long Strange Trip To Paradise, on the other hand, is an insight into the minds of The Beach Boys if they'd hung around with Charles Manson later on in his life when he took to murdering people. The album highlight is undoubtedly Bring Me The Head Of Andy Warhol - on which Todd Smith uses his ever impressive vocal abilities to sound like The Artist Formerly Known As And Now Currently Known Once Again As Prince... if Todd was gnawing on Prince's legs at the time - all spread over an electro dance track turned full scale sonic assault whenever you least expect it. Chloroform Girl is an alarmingly beautiful pop rocker complete with xylophone parts and lyrics about keeping someone chained up in your basement... and Brainwash will do anything but keep your mind from exploding and making a big dirty mess all over yer sofa. And thats only a handful of the twelve tracks on offer!

Let me make one thing clear - this isn't an album for everyone. If you like your metal pure and vicious, you're going to be put off by the pop and dance elements. If you like your albums to stick to one genre and give you ten tracks of roughly similar music with sprinklings of originality throughout - this isn't for you either. If you don't like your music all Izzy Wizzy Let's Get Busy, then you really shouldn't be listening to what is essentially Sooty's nightmare, in which he butchers Sweep, Sue and Little Cousin Scampi then plays with their corpses in a variety of ways too adult to discuss here. If, however, you like your albums totally uncompromising, jam packed with originality and with tongue firmly in cheek - you'd do a lot worse than check out whats shaping up to be my album of the year. All together now...

Buy the ticket! Buy the ticket, take the ride!
A long strange trip to paradise...

Purgatory Dance Party is available now via www.rottenrecords.com

Here For The World: The Quiet Conquest Of I Am Kloot

As long as you live, there will always be bands that slip you by. Artists who, despite your best intentions to discover as much as you physically could, you never quite get around to listening to. There'll be musicians you've never heard of making breathtaking music that would blow your feet off, let alone your socks - but you'll never get to hear it. Even with the outbreak of the internet, and the possibility of becoming a Myspace sensation of a Facebook superstar, there's still no guarantee you're going to come across the good stuff in amongst the nonsense.

In amongst all those bands you've either never heard of or never quite get around to, unless you're one of the lucky ones, are I Am Kloot. They've been quietly building up a reputation as a stellar live act across the UK and Europe since their self released debut, Natural History back in 2001. Recorded on the Isle Of Mull, Scotland, and 'sunny' Rochdale, Lancashire... the album garnered press attention instantly thanks to the presence of Elbow's Guy Garvey at the mixing desk, and Kloot hit the ground running - Andy Hargreaves' laid back percussion capable of soothing you one minute, and distressing you the next; Pete Jobson's throbbing basslines adding another layer of expression behind the guitar work and raspy, tender vocals of songwriter John Bramwell - his lyrics never pulling any punches - Twist, for example contains the immortal line: "There's blood on your legs... I love you..."; then there's Storm Warning's haunting verse: "I had a call on Saturday, to say I'd thrown my friends away, I reversed the charges on them all I, I made a lot of calls..."

The press attention led to their signing to The Echo Label, and their self titled follow up album was a minor hit, despite a lack of promotion - and garnered the hit singles Life In A Day and 3 Feet Tall, and included what may forever be their signature song - Proof - a track made all the more legendary by its stunning promotional video starring fellow Salford export Christopher Eccleston. Sadly, few people saw it at the time, because the single was cancelled at the last moment... the start of many let downs from the record label that led to their departure after one more album.


That album was 2005's Gods And Monsters - and its here where yours truly came in. The track Dead Men's Cigarettes was featured on HMV's promotional compilations in store, and intrigued, I checked out the album - only to find a treasure trove of incredible songs - from the singles No Direction Home and Over My Shoulder to the bitterness of the title track, the venom within Sand And Glue, and the mesmerising qualities of I Believe and Avenue Of Hope - the latter of which later was featured in Danny Boyle's sci-fi epic Sunshine earlier this year, hopefully opening up a new audience for Kloot.

I finally got to experience a Kloot live show in November of 2006, during promotion for their album of John Peel Sessions, and was so impressed, I went back for more... in February, March and now November of this year, at which they're flogging a new album, I Am Kloot Play Moolah Rouge. Recorded as 'live' with dozens of microphones set up in every possible part of the studio, and the band playing each song in full three times then working out which was the best take... the entire record was finished within two days, but you wouldn't know it unless told - such is their pitch perfect craft, not a note goes out of place. At their sell out gig at Manchester Academy on 24th November, there was a brief moment in which drummer Andy Hargreaves forgot to join in, yet the moment was so expertly woven into the song that again, unless you could see the mistake occurring, you'd never have known any better.

But a perfectly performed album and an incredibly honed live show is nothing without the songs, and this is where I Am Kloot are never let down. Bramwell has stated that he doesn't so much write about events in his life as writes around them, and by his own admission revels in the darker aspects of his songwriting - as if he feels a joyous defiance playing such emotionally charged material with the intensity to back it up. Now bolstered by the McLeod brothers on stage - Colin McLeod on piano, organ and keyboards, and Norman McLeod playing guitar and both pedal and lap steels like you've never heard them played before... and with the occasional guest star on stage (witness the triumphant appearance of friend Guy Garvey on stage with them at Night & Day earlier this year, for example), their reputation as a live act has been built up over many years of hard work - and whilst they're still between record labels and haven't quite passed into popular culture just yet, one can't help but feel - no, hope and pray - that their moment is just around the corner. So go on... knock them off that list, and get 'em listened to before its too late.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH CHANNEL M'S
EXCLUSIVE SET + INTERVIEW NOW!

I AM KLOOT play 93 East Street in London on 27, 28 & 29 November. Shows in Berlin, Paris, Vienna and Amsterdamn in December. See www.iamkloot.com for details.

Tinselworm

For the last decade or more, Bill Bailey's star has been in the ascendant. After peddling his unique blend of musical prodigy and animal obsessed, occasionally drug referencing comedy unsuccessfully for years on the club circuit, ye olde gogglebox suddenly took notice of him - and his first filmed live show, Cosmic Jam was a smash hit. It was followed by a cult tv series, Is It Bill Bailey? (which featured a very young Simon Pegg, no less), for the BBC, then appearances in Pegg and Jessica Stevenson's seminal Spaced as hapless comic store owner Bilbo Bagshop.

Black Books was up next - a leading role beside the ever dour Dylan Moran and the ever frumpy Tamsin Grieg, and suddenly, the mainstream was calling - with regular appearances on QI and Have I Got News For You leading to a residency as team captain on Never Mind The Buzzcocks after the departure of Sean Hughes. And all the time this was happening, Live-Bill never rested - with the incredibly successful Bewilderness tour being quickly followed by the even bigger smash Part Troll. The inevitable live boxset eventually happened, selling huge numbers, and Bill turned his hand to documentary work - his love of animals had become enjoyable docu-light tv.

Which brings us to Tinselworm, Bill's latest tour - and at long last, he's made it big. Instead of grotty clubs and intimate venues, Tinselworm has headed straight to arenas - 10,000 people a show watching the cosmic hobbit at his prime.

And believe me, this is Bailey in his prime. There are a few fallbacks to older material - namely the Scale Of Evil and his usual anti-Bush stance, but make no mistake about it - this is an all-new show - with only the obligatory Love Song from the previous tour being drafted out of early retirement as part of the encore. Bill's wit and intelligence would seem daunting if his material wasn't delivered in such a shambolic, chatty style - he seems less Super Comic, Defender Of The Joke than he does Yer Mate Who Tells The Funny Stories. And what stories he has to tell - from a fabulous routine about confusing Americans by pretending to be the Mayor of London, to an explanation of the similarities between the AA and Al Qaeda, to a chant-a-long anthem proudly proclaiming his refusal to become Asda's bitch - Bailey is arguably better than ever.

Whereas most comedians take hecklers to task - witness, for example, the Mighty Boosh take on hecklers with twice as much venom as the show-spoilers themselves - Bill almost encourages it. At one of his Manchester Evening News Arena shows, someone in the audience decided to shout out that she was pregnant - and this cracked him up for a good five minutes, leading to an impromptu keyboard number that had to be heard to be believed. And hear it, you could - long after the show had finished, because his team have taken the wise idea of allowing you to buy the show (bar the encore) on audio cd as you leave the venue!

As Bill whizzes around the arena on his custom made Mini Scooter Trouser Press, one can't help but feel he's a giant kid that never grew up... a theory backed up by his 'alien abduction' method of leaving the stage... his delight at finding a squeaking rubber chicken filled with sweets on the stage (which, I have to admit, was my idea to throw onto the stage in the first place), and the fun he has arguing with four aspects of his personality on a giant video screen. Nevertheless, this is no bad thing - here's a comedian that doesn't swear often, doesn't rely on crudity to make a joke funny, and has not only great comic timing but genuine musical talent to back it up. You'd be a fool to miss this tour - and I hope some of you have made it there already.

Live photographs courtesy of Lauren Gavin. Ta, chick!