- Articles
- We've included as many reviews, interviews and articles that we can find, if you know of more let us know. You can view them by category, release or category within a release by using the filters in the right hand column.
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SPIRITUALIZED + Tracer AMC, ISLAND ARTS CENTRE, LISBURN
Across The Line, Stuart Bailie
17th August 2004
They've played in grander places before - London's Albert Hall, Toronto's Skylon Tower - but Spiritualized know exactly how to trim their sails to fit the occasion. So tonight, at this perfectly bijou venue, the band plays to some well-considered strengths. There are no choirs, and no brass section, but the trade off is intimacy. Jason is just a few feet away from the front of the stage, and the dedicated fans are nearby, gawping and very pleased.
We've already heard Tracer AMC tonight, with another cool performance, wreathing the air with their complex-but-sublime sounds. At times, they sounded picky and slight, with Velvets-like grace and even (says he) a few lines that sounded like an Elizabethan madrigal, man. Next moment they went off roaring, the guitars and effects taking off like Satan's own turbines. Near the end, they had tuning problems with 'Nineteen', but quickly recovered and left the stage, exulted.
Spiritualized immediately put down their marker with 'Electricity' as the strobes get busy and Jason sits on his stool, intense as ever. There's little in the way of excess theatre for this two hour show. But that's hardly pertinent. The real action is in the deeps of those songs, in the cries for love and deliverance and dereliction. Jason summarises the best bits with a recent track, 'Hold On', so rarefied that we're virtually in church.
The Comedown King gets gracious with 'Lord Let It Rain On Me', and hallelujah people, 'Ladies and Gentlemen', which causes the audience to buckle with pleasure. In a few moments, 'Come Together' will also reprise the vision of that 1997 series, arguably Jason's best period. But the narrative also includes 'I Think I'm In Love' and back further to 'Run', another chance for the band to showcase its collective class.
It ends with a jazz-gospel meltdown, with extra white noise, drones and much sonic fever. Mission accomplished, The Spaceman quits Lisburn for some other, individual orbit.
Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/atl/reviews/17082008_spiritualized.shtml
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Tracer AMC - Auntie Annies, Belfast - 29/02/2004
Alternative Ulster, Alan Maguire
March 2004
Tracer AMC come onstage to a heroes welcome. With the album attracting critical acclaim, it's up to the live show to sell it. Judging by this display, there should be no problems. Tracer AMC are a class act. They don't do songs; for a start there are no words. Furthermore any notion of structure in terms of verses and choruses are redundant. If you're looking for a three minute pop ditty, make your way to the door. If, on the other hand, you want potentially earthmoving displays of aural grandeur, this band have it nailed.
For the entire duration of their set, Tracer AMC have the crowd captivated; and managing to retain full attention through pieces in excess of ten minutes is no mean feat.
Comparisons with other instrumental acts are of course inevitable, and while Tracer AMC build their music around guitars, they offer much more than the likes of Mogwai, instead veering closer to Godspeed You Black Emperor! In terms of their lushness, their ability to create not only volume but depth, and their capacity to build the music up until it feels that it can go no further, just to push it that little bit extra, the band are blinding. Spread the word: Tracer AMC have truly arrived.
Link:
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Tracer AMC + Contraband + Barry Peak
BBC Across The Line, Helen Toland and David O'Reilly
1st March 2004
We've endless respect for those Tracer boys. They've an admirable work ethic and a refreshingly creative approach to making music. And they've every right to be in lively form this evening. 'Flux And Form', the self-released debut album, is finally in the shops after a suitable nine month gestation. And there's a sense of triumph in Auntie Annie's, not from the band, but from a crowd who seem to be as proud of this achievement as the musicians themselves.
Barry Peake, guitarist with Torgas Valley Reds is here to warm us up, playing a few of his own and a couple of predictably obscure covers. The TVR songs are stripped to their bare bones and, while we miss the ba-bas and spikey drumming, the tunes still shine through. This guy knows how to write a killer chorus after all.
Contraband though... well we're very excited. In an occasionally incestuous, worryingly mature local scene, they're a cherubic, effortlessly cool breath of fresh air. They're a proper band, with a guy and girl up front, backed by a drummer intent on making us happily bounce as our ears start to bleed.
Raphaelle is an absolute star: cocky but likeable, foxy and armed with a voice that's sweet and squalling in equal measures. Bassist Pete is a thoroughly intense young man, growling his responses with an alarming dose of venom. Together, they're a joy to watch.
Whether there's longevity in the tunes remains to be seen, but the signs look good. The heavily ATL playlisted 'Start, Switch, Repeat' is (unbelievably) even better live than on record. And there's more than a few killer riffs and sneaky hooks in this short, sharp set. At the very least, they've got huge potential, especially considering they've only been around for a short time.
A good attempt made at stealing the show then, but the night still belongs to Tracer AMC. With only two days rehearsals after a six month live hiatus, they could be shaky. But the tidy dynamics are on full display from the opening notes and the band appears more comfortable and confident than in the past. Much as Alex and Jonathan try to appear non-plussed by the enthusiastic audience reaction, by the end they're trading grins, a rare sight indeed.
Having the album means we can now identify when each song ends and a new one begins, something not always clear before at Tracer gigs. So now we clap in all the right places and there are appreciative whoops when favourites begin and end. There's little banter from the band, just one striking composition followed by another, just the pure substance of the tunes to keep us amused.
A remarkable show then, and an example of what four music fans can accomplish by themselves.
Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/atl
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Ninetynine + Estel + Tracer AMC - Auntie Annies
Session in NI, Helen Toland
11th November 2002
Life is too short for nights like this. There's wasting your life away of your own volition and then there's other people squandering your valuable time. I am not disappointed by this gig - I am outraged.
Tracer AMC - to give them credit - are in good form. Alex has a new bass, prompting much appreciative muso jealousy from the audience. Some smart ass keeps it in check by asking "Does it go faster?" The tunes are great. Hypnotic, melodic and entrancing - pick a cliche and run with it. I've seen Tracer on nights where they didn't quite gel and it's not a happy experience. Equally when they do ignite it's one of Belfast's little musical pleasures. Tonight it's somewhere in between. Average enough by their standards, amazing compared to what follows.
Estel are the worst band I've seen in years. Yeah, they look the part - they've got super-duper girls with good hair and a skinny-assed boy playing bass. But from the first second they begin, it's clear this is going to be a painful experience. The keyboard is never challenged with more than one finger at a time, the guitar playing is a horrible one-string-only dull- fest.
It's like a bunch of primary kids let loose in the music room but with no charm and no sweetness. One minute we're hearing ramshackle 80's synth riffs, the next it's lo-rent Godspeed. I look around and am glad that at least some people in the room have the sense to be embarrassed at this woeful spectacle. This is pretentious, unnecessary rubbish. Emperors new clothes anyone?
I stay for 15 minutes of Ninetynine's set. I want them to be great - to salvage what's left of the night. But my tolerance is weakened by the previous barrel-scrapping and all generosity of spirit is annihilated by the OTT drummer. There's performing and then there's performing for the sake of it. This guy knew nothing of subtlety - all flailing limbs and look-at-me theatrics. It all gets too much and the prospect of spending another minute fills me with dread. So for maybe the 3rd time ever I leave a gig early. Life is too short to waste on anything less than great.
Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/alt/nireland/99_estel_tracer_review.shtml
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Tracer AMC - Auntie Annies
FPMC, Mark Reid
30th January 2002
It's Tracer AMC that many are here to see. They've built up a reputation of awe-inspiring live shows and have two fine singles behind them. They don't disappoint either. A three-piece for the night due to their newly acquired guitarist being in Canada, they've decided to play some old tunes from the aforementioned 7"s. "Pelican" lulls you in with drones and intricate picking before careering into breakneck angular riffing and eventually through to glorious walls of pure noise. The band are tight and focused. Alex, as ever, is lost in the sound. He stumbles from foot to foot before eventually deciding to play his bass on the venue's floor. They end with 'A Satellite Wish' which descends into minutes of feedback and pure white noise while the sampled guitar line loops over and over again.
Sadly it comes to an end but, hey, there's dancing to be done.
Link:
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Tracer AMC - Auntie Annies
Across The Line, Stuart Bailie
10th October 2001
Tracer AMC take the stage at Auntie Annie's with at least a million effects pedals. While they've been a little sedate in the past, the new Tracer regime is far more pointed, aiming their post-rock riffola at all the right places.
Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/atl
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Tracer AMC - belFEST 2001
Hot Press, Colin Carberry
10th October 2001
Tracer AMC played the most trancendant gig of the past five years. Tracer AMC spent 30 minutes making dolphin noises with their guitars.
Link: http://www.hotpress.ie
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Oh Yeah Review
Oh Yeah, Colin Carberry
15th October 1999
Okay, okay let's get the Mogwai comparisons out of the way as quickly and as politely as possible. Tracer AMC do resemble the Scottish guitar poets but only in as much as they are determined to show that you don't need a throat to have a voice. Tracer AMC start spectacularly with the gorgeous, cascading 'Asatellitewish' - the Stone Roses with a voice-lost Brownie, and then. Dodgy sound problems aside, groove on in a beguiling sonic adventure that calls to mind the ghosts of everyone from early Therapy? to My Bloody Valentine. It's appropriate that they end triumphantly and 'NS # 1' is a victorious parting shot. Pity more weren't there to catch them. You'd like a crowd for the most important band on the bill after all.
Link:
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Tracer AMC - Katy Dalys
Oh Yeah, David O'Reilly
14th October 1999
If you can rely on anyone to fill in for the a.w.o.l Nixon it's Tracer AMC - an act guaranteed to unveil a second Belfest set a million miles away from their first. Intent on shattering our ear drums, Tracer AMC take a huge, pulsating opening chord and build it from there - track after track loaded with threatening, noisy soul.
Link:
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