FLAME-haired songstress Neko’s records used to residein the box marked “alt-country”. But her Grammy-nomi-nated 2009 album Middle Cyclone changed all that,putting her firmly on the road to mainstream visibility.This ravishing follow-up (with its impossibly long

name) should build on that success while remaininguncompromising, varied and carrying deep emotionalweight following the loss of loved ones.Among its treasures are the fulsome

power pop of Man, the stripped back sim-plicity of I’m From Nowhere and a poised,haunting cover of Afraid by Nico (of TheVelvet Underground fame).After 15 years in the business, Neko’s

time is definitely now. SC

NO one in American indie rock (except maybe JackWhite) works as hard as the mercurial Ty Segall.The guitarist/singer/drummer has been in countless

bands and collaborations and this hazy, psychedelicgem is his eighth solo effort – so 2013 counts as his quietyear, as Sleeper is supposed to be his only release.Informed by the death of his father and falling out with

his mother, it finds Segall largely dropping the electricguitar pyrotechnics on which he built hisreputation in favour of more laid-backacoustic strums.The effect is mesmerising, showing

another side to a young artist whocaptures the spirit of Sixties West Coastmusic at its best. SC

NEWMUSICBy JIM GELLATLY

4 4.5

THIS album is certain to get a lot of attention because ofone of Volcano Choir’s members: the wonderful JustinVernon of Bon Iver fame.But call it a side project at your peril.These six dudes from Wisconsin are very much a band

in their own right.It is evident from opening song Tiderays that the

beauty and soul associated with Bon Iver are alsopresent here.And a sense of community and

harmony shines through songs that ebband flow before settling into thebecalmed and brilliant finale Almanac.Vernon, it seems, has very talented

friends. SC

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HERCULEANWHO: Stuart McInnes (vocals/guitar), Steven Gerry (bass),Declan O’Kane (drums).WHERE: Glasgow.FOR FANS OF: U2, ArcticMonkeys, The 1975.JIM SAYS: It’s three yearssince I first caught Herculeanplaying live, upstairs in theMezzanine Bar at GlasgowO2 Academy.Their youthful spark had a

lasting impression. It’s beena delight to watch themdevelop over the years.The debut EP The Falling

Thunder is as good as any-thing I’ve heard this year.Packed full of confident indieanthems with glorious melo-dies, it’s the ideal platform totake them to the next level.Formed in 2006 in a music

class at school, it was a fewyears before they made theirlive debut. That probablyexplains why the teenage out-fit I first came across lookedand sounded like a fully-formed band rather thanthree kids just starting out.Singer Stuart McInnes said:

“Glasgow has a really livelymusic scene just like Liver-pool and London. It’s also aplace where every secondperson you meet is in a bandso there’s more competition.“If you want to grab peo-

ple’s attention you need to upyour game.”Still only just in their 20s,

the boys are really starting tomake an impact. They’ve hadsome decent radio play,including BBC Radio 1, andthe EP’s had a great reaction

all round. Stuart said: “I feelour music has matured a lotand our musicianship hasimproved.“We’re far more knowledge-

able about the music industryand we’ve played many moregigs since then so I like tothink we’re a better live bandbecause of it.“The response has been

incredible so far, everyonewho’s heard the EP has beenreally impressed which hasbeen great to hear.”With funding from Creative

Scotland, they recorded theEP at Chem 19 Studios nearGlasgow with Jamie Savage(Errors, The Twilight Sad, Mal-colm Middleton).Stuart said: “Every song

has a different feel to it, it’squite eclectic at the sametime as having a lot of imag-ery in the lyrics, being verymelodic and there’s a lot ofdifferent sounds going on pro-duction-wise.”It’s exciting times for a

band with epic songs andenough pop sensibility tocross over into the main-stream. Herculean may justbecome your favourite newband.Falling Thunder is out now

from all the usual digital out-lets, with the CD availablefrom Love Music in Glasgowor via the band’s website.They play Broadcast in Glas-gow on September 27.MORE: herculeanmusic.comQ Jim will be playing Herculean onIn:Demand Uncut this Sunday from7pm, along with an exclusive sessionfrom Franz Ferdinand. Check it outon Clyde 1, Northsound 1, Radio Bor-ders, Tay FM, West FM & WestSound FM. indemandscotland.co.uk

By TIM NIXON

“WE have 50-year-old cabdrivers, crying girls, hyper-ventilating men and entirefamilies at our shows,”says The 1975 frontmanMatt Healy of his band’sdiverse assortment of fans.Their generation-transcendingappeal is not hard to fathom,given the 16 tracks that comprisetheir eponymous debut album.Each tune — with a thick layerof pop polish — embodies modernand bygone ideas, culminating ina collection that safely treadsfamiliar territory rather thandaringly breaking new ground.Instead, it’s the songwritingcraft of the four childhoodfriends from Cheshire that hasraised them above the parapet ofguitar-band mediocrity.“This album really is the sound-track to our lives,” explains Matt,— the 23-year-old son of TV starDenise Welch and actor TimHealy. “It’s such an honestrecord — it’s the culmination ofour adolescence, of ourformative years.”Singles Sex, The City andChocolate have unsurprisinglybecome live favourites,brimming with catchymelodies and exhilaratingriffs. But Matt insists thepopular appeal of theirsongs has happened byaccident, not design.“We make music for music,” hesays. “The fact that people haveembraced it after we put arecord out is great but it’s thesame material that was made byus as a pursuit of excellence —not for financial gain or valid-ation. We’ve never really cared.”The 1975 began performing asearly teens at school. Matt anddrummer George Daniel are theband’s chief songwriters, andMatt says: “Our musical andstylistic vocabulary is exactly thesame. If you put me and Georgein separate rooms and got us towrite a piece of music over anhour, you wouldn’t be able to tellthe difference.”The 1975 have already put outfour EPs — released in the spaceof eight months. But it nevercrossed Matt’s and George’sminds to hold tunes back fortheir second album. Matt says:

“We have this cycle of writ-ing, us two. When we hang out,which is every day and night,we’re always making music.“It’s weird for us to hear bandssay, ‘Oh yeah, we’ve gone towrite the second album.’ Itdoesn’t make sense to us.”What keeps their creative juicesflowing is their steadfastphilosophy of making music forthemselves — rather thanfollowing marketplace fads.But that doesn’t mean Mattand his bandmates George,guitarist Adam Hann and bassistRoss MacDonald aren’t frettingas the release date for theirdebut album looms. “It’s likedropping your kids off for theirfirst day of school — when yourkid is 24 years old,” Matt says.One recent highlight for theband was their support slot forThe Rolling Stones at the rock

legends’ massive Hyde Park gigearlier this summer.Although they struggled to winover the Stones’ crowd, Matt willnever forget the sight of SirMick Jagger air-drumming at theside of the stage during their set.“It was intense,” he said. “Thefirst row of 500 people were alldiehard Stones fans. They didn’twant to see some young bandwhen it’s 30 degrees. They justwanted the Stones on.

Reaction“A heckler shouted at me and Isaid, ‘Listen mate, I know youdon’t want us here but it’s uswho’s supporting the Stones —not you.’ That got a goodreaction from everybody.“Then Jagger was on the sideof the stage for Chocolate and hewas air-drumming and singingalong. He took an Instagram

photo of himself and posted:‘Watching the boys.’ The factthat he made the effort to watchus is amazing.”Matt says there is no greaterachievement than positivelyinfluencing the lives of fansthrough music. He recalls: “Whenwe first released the Sex EP, weplayed a show for 400 people.“This couple came over afterthe show to say they’d met at aparty the week the EP had comeout and had been together since.“They started talking over alove of our band and listened tothe EP all night. Since then,they’ve been totally infatuatedwith each other.“So they came over to me totell me that. I was like: ‘Yeah,this is what it’s for.’“If people are falling in loveand this is positively bleedinginto other people’s lives, that’sthe only validation we need.”

TY SEGALLSleeper

NEKO CASETheWorse Things Get, The Harder I Fight . . .

VOLCANO CHOIRRepave

GUESS who’s back?Back again . . .Yep, Eminem, a.k.a. SlimShady, born Marshall Mathers,returns with a new single andan album to make his longest-serving fans very excited.Just after headlining Readingand Leeds at the weekend heleaked a new singleonline called Berzerk.The song is releasedin the UK on Septem-ber 8, and it is busi-ness as usual for thecontroversial rapper.Trademark referencesto low-rent celebs arein there, as Eminemslates Britney Spears’ex-husband K-Fed and “theugly Kardashian”.And it’s a playful single, likeprevious comeback songs TheReal Slim Shady, Without Meand Just Lose It.But Berzerk also harks backto the old-school hip-hopthat the star listened togrowing up, like his heroes TheBeastie Boys.With his long-time mentorDr Dre more focused on hisheadphones line — Beats byDre — than music, Eminem hasturned to producer Rick Rubinfor help.Rick’s work on Berzerk isreminiscent of his Eightiesproduction on Beasties and LLCool J songs as well morerecent Jay Z track 99Problems. The video accompa-

nying the scratch-heavy songopens with Eminem’s tattooedarm putting a tape into avintage beatbox.In the first line he shouts:“Let’s take it back to straighthip-hop, it started from

scratch.”There are mentionsof NWA’s MC Renand the boast “BeenPublic Enemy sinceyou thought P.E. wasgym” among thequickfire lyrics too.It is the first signthat Eminem’s newalbum could be a

return to form, after the overlycommercial Recovery andpatchy Relapse.The second sign that theDetroit-born rapper’s eighthstudio album is an excitingprospect is that it is called TheMarshall Mathers LP 2.As well as signalling a returnto the “vintage Slim” hementions on Berzerk, it isalso a big statement ofintent.The first MarshallMathers LP, released in2000, is one of the besthip-hop albums of alltime.On songs like Stan,Who Knew, I’mBack and The WayI Am, Slim Shadyproved he is one ofthe best storytellers

in pop music. There is nodoubt the record, as with allthe star’s music, was violent,offensive and, at times, puerile.But the Dr Dre beatscoupled with Eminem’s self-aware, intricate, incisive andoften funny raps were anirresistible mix and propelledthe album to 27million sales.Thirteen years later, after aHollywood blockbuster, a near-fatal drug overdose, marriageand divorce, the sequel,executive-produced by Dre andRick Rubin, is released onNovember 5.

SurpriseAnother great track from theupcoming album, calledSurvival, was released on thetrailer for the new Call OfDuty: Ghosts video gameearlier this month.The Marshall Mathers LP 2could stack up alongside otherexcellent US rap releases toemerge in 2013.J. Cole and A$AP Rockyhave showed that there areyounger contenders mak-ing waves in therap game.

Jay Z made his ownsurprise comebackwith Magna CartaHoly Grail andKanye West’sambitious Yeezus islikely to feature onthe best albums of2013 list.Can Slim Shadymake it on theretoo?

By TOM THOROGOOD

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