Review: DELS - Black Salad EP (Ninja Tuna)

For Middle Boop Mag

When an artist is posed with the all-important ‘first album follow-up’ it can be a dubious time for any one involved. Kieren Dickins aka DELS, tore through the British rap scene in 2011 with his debut album Gob, catching the attention of Kwes & Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard. Now, he is back with his sequel, the Black Salad EP.

For this release, DELS has once again teamed up with Kwes, who has provided the production guidance, his input apparent with ‘Bird Milk’, a track that first surfaced in a slightly different incarnation on the Micachu collaboration, the Kwesachu Mixtape Vol. 2.

Black Salad is a pedestal for DELS to showoff, and he has embraced it.  Over a whirlwind of eccentric beats, he paints a picture of escape through imaginative rhyme. One inspired couplet from ‘Bird Milk’ goes: “Some say I’m just anxious / I just think I need to eat cheese less.”

This is something of a music rollercoaster, and DELS is definitely in control. The EP offers three instrumental pieces in all, with the title track, ‘Sell-by date’ and closer ‘You live in my Head’.  Sell-by date’ is deep and in your face, almost challenging you to take notice, deservedly so. Its choppy and adventurous, neither here nor there, a snapshot into the creative mind of Dickens’.

It seems almost a paradox to use dreamy as a descriptive word for rap music, but with closer, ‘You live in my head’, this is exactly what DELS offers with a subtle piano hook over gentle jazz beats. It could even be described as a love song, one man’s simple tale of lost lust told through Dickins’ unique imagery, “Will I see you again? I had a right laugh, there’s no need to pretend… That you live in my head.”

The EP is a showcase of DELS prolific abilities to conjure up pictures for the listener, despite not being the most technical of rappers on the scene. We can only hope his new full-length due in Early 2013 is comparable to this, meaning it would be something of a injustice if DELS was missed off the prestigious  ‘ones to watch’ lists beginning to form for next year.

Live Review: Pulled Apart By Horses - The Cellar, Southampton

The Cellar Southampton, 22/02/12

Written for Middle Boop Mag

It was finally the night. Tickets for this show were like golddust, and there was an air of excitement surrounding the venue. Some hadn’t known if this gig would even go ahead when Southampton’s Talking Heads, the original venue, suddenly announced it was permanently shutting its doors. But step in The Cellar. Hundreds of avid fans packed into the top floor of the intimate setting; if ever there was a ‘sardine in a tin’ moment, this was it. But this was perfect for the band, who tell Middle Boop that they enjoy playing to an audience where ‘you can see the white’s of people’s eyes.’

 Kicking off with 2011 single, ‘Punched a Lion in the Throat’, the band ignited the crowd.  They looked energetic and keen, matching the atmosphere in the room. Straight into ‘Wolf Hand’ and it only added fuel to the fire. Tom roaring the line ‘when I was a kid, I was a dick’ with a real passion and raw aggression.

This was the 8^th date of a brutal European tour, darting all over the country and playing sold-out shows most nights. For many bands, this would be a grueling prospect, but for Pulled Apart by Horses, it seemed easy. 

‘This one’s a new one’…Tom announced, and with that the menacing bass of  ‘Shake off the Curse’ erupted around the venue.  A piercing vocal delivery of a lyrical hook and screeching guitars, you could imagine this being sung to larger audiences over the summer. Straight into the pleasing recent single ‘V.E.N.O.M’, the consistently animated James Brown, flaunted himself round stage.

This, by all accounts, was rock ‘n’ roll; the band, now semi- dressed, throwing themselves around to a sea of flailing audience limbs. The atmosphere in The Cellar was electric.

To faint cries of an encore, the band came back on to tell of their nipple comparisons with supports, The Computers. Words such as ‘chicken nuggets’ and ‘burger nips’ were heard. Those wanting more were not disappointed. The band performed a wild cover of Nirvana’s ‘Tourettes’, before closing with ‘Den Horn’.

Over all, it was a real crowd-pleasing performance with a mix of old and new material for the fans, and they showed no signs of being fatigued, despite James telling me the band had toured over 600 shows altogether. Look out for these boys, the four angriest northerners, at festivals over summer for one amazing live experience.

 

Setlist:
I Punched A Lion In the Throat
Wolf Hand
Bromance Ain’t Dead
Meat Balloon
Shake Off The Curse
V.E.N.O.M
Get Off My Ghost Train
E= MC Hammer
Some Mothers
Moonlit Talons
Epic Myth
Everything Dipped in Gold
High Five, Swan Dive, Nose Dive

Encore:

Tourette’s (Nirvana Cover)
Den Horn