RIP NC / something new.

Some possibly overdue news: after ten years of musical restlessness, the entity that is Neils Children has been terminated. Core members John Linger and Brandon Jacobs have clearly realised that it's time (as ever) to move on, and will be playing a final half-set at Offset Festival this weekend (Sunday, 5pm, ECC Tent), featuring choice picks from their unusually diverse back catalogue. It might be said that the group's failure ever to crack the mainstream was due to their constant refusal to settle into any musical niche for more than a few months, but one result is that they leave behind them a legacy ranging from garage rock to snotty psychedelic punk, from grooving new wave to juddering noise.

However, it's not the end for the individuals who made up the group: together with Linger's brother Paul and Bonnie Carr (of Electricity In Our Homes) and ska DJ Eli Deutsch (of Nowhere To Run Club) they've formed a soul quintet named The Drop Five. They'll be taking over for the second half of the Offset show to unveil some new Style Councilesque songs, apparently influenced by 'European Cafe culture, Hammond Organ and positive and uplifting Soulful sounds'. Neils Children is finished, but it doesn't look like their constantly changing musical journey is over yet.

demontré : MASCULIN/FÉMININ

DEMONTRÉ
MASCULIN/FÉMININ

The trick here: conjure up a cloud of psychedelic shoegazing guitar, and then nail it down with a precise and angular post-punk rhythm section. The towering, omnipresent guitar envelopes the mix throughout Masculin/Féminin, creating a strange and intriguing tension with the sharp, concrete bass and drum parts - guitar as female, bass and guitar as male? If any band is likely to pick such a conceptual title for a release, it's these three ostensibly cerebral young men.

In any case, this musical sleight-of-hand is pulled off here with style. Demontré have learned on this release how to channel their shimmering/solid sound effectively: they've stopped trying to write pop hooks and focussed on atmosphere. (It's no accident that previous single 'Brandenburg' is both the most melodic track here and the weakest, especially when the floating, numinous guitar dives right in to dance rigidly with the bass.) Vocal melodies float tantalisingly through Jonathan Mead's pedalboard ether without surrendering their secrets. Ambient samples weave in and out to fill the spaces between tracks. There's movement, there's rhythm - sometimes you can dance - but you won't find any instant pop gratification here. That's good.

What you will find instead is a seven-track helping of eerie death-disco beats, distant swirling vocals, and swooning six-string cartwheels. Standout track 'Lorenheim' is a grunge ballad lost in the fog, Smashing Pumpkins filtered through Slowdive, while 'Wholly Communion' brews up a sluggish psychedelic storm, gliding into the ear and insinuating itself into the cortex. The atmosphere and the tension builds and then slackens, from the catapulting segue of 'Vale of Health' to the low-key, piano-led, somewhat dubiously titled 'The Lion King'. With any luck you'll leave satisfied, because Demontré appear finally to have fulfilled their potential. What's next?

EIOH - new single.

Electricity In Our Homes continue to plug away. Their new AA-side 12" 'You're Doing So Well'/'Appletree' (released yesterday, self-distributed) is a return to form, a stonking post-punk fist to the stomach which takes the trio back to their roots in the DIY sound of The Desperate Bicycles but maintains the sophisticated sound developed by the trio since the loss of their original vocalist back in 2008. Jerky cut-glass riffs jostle against a funk-informed rhythm section and hypnotic looped vocals: it's a little bit A Certain Ratio, a little bit Josef K, a big bit brilliant. Order one of the 300 copies available from the EIOH MySpace now, and watch the video to 'You're Doing So Well' here:

Flats: debut EP

The scuzziest DIY punk band in London are about to be immortalised in plastic, with the release of their self-titled debut EP on 2nd August. The five-track 7" (also available as a download) will be released on Sweat Shop/Loog Records, and features a cover of Puncture's punk classic 'Mucky Pup'. Grab it while you can.

OFFSET FESTIVAL: ECC TENT INITIAL LINEUP

Band spotlight: FLATS

Flats raise and then yank violently together the spirits of every scratchy, raucous punk band ever to surface, play one Peel Session, and fall apart on stage after eight gigs. News of their thrilling DIY racket is creeping across London, and with appearances planned at the 1234 and Offset Festivals, as well as label interest from Rough Trade, now seems to be a good time to lend an ear to their gyrating, self-referential post-punk clamour. Anyone who misses Swell Maps and The Cravats, or who wishes Electricity In Our Homes would get back on the amphetamines, would do well to get down to a gig sharpish. (They're playing at the Cave Club on Saturday, at Buffalo Bar in Islington.)

Flats MySpace

Offset 2010: INITIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

More festival news. The people behind Offset Festival, certainly our favourite weekend-in-a-field last year, have just lifted the lid on their first wave of confirmed artists. On the influential/classic/seminal/'they're still playing?' artist side: Cluster, Liquid Liquid, Charles de Goal. So far, so good. But the festival's strength clearly lies in the new bands lineup: These New Puritans head a legion of up-and-comers which includes Factory Floor, O Children, Bo Ningen, Electricity In Our Homes, Blue On Blue, and - these two currently unannounced - Relics and The Murder Act. Tickets are available at the festival website now, at very reasonable prices - if it's anywhere near as good as next year, Offset should provide the most bang for your buck anywhere this summer. And it's on the Tube.