Rodeo/City single - reviews
Logo - Rodeo/City
Stained Glass Heroes hail from compass points as diverse as Leeds, Macclesfield and, er Istanbul. Maybe that's why their ideas are so unusual, after all, if you were looking for a fresh outlook it's unlikely you'd choose the raincoat rock of Echo And The Bunnymen, the laptop psycho of Fonda 500 and the fresh-face indie of Belle & Sebastian as your starting point. That's exactly what SGH have done though, sifting the elements through their fingers and ending up not so much rocking The Casbah as lulling it into a false sense of security. Dangerously subversive stuff this, it opens up a whole new world of possibilities.
Gillian Nashju
Losing Today - Rodeo/City
Hailing from Leeds, Macclesfield and Istanbul, Stained Glass Heroes are a four piece who do the cool wave thing with such precision that you'd swear they'd stepped from the early 80's into the present via some hitherto unseen tear in the time fabric. This is a simply stunning single, maudlin yes albeit in an aloof tongue and cheek way, but stunning with it all the same.
The best way to describe the lead cut Rodeo is to imagine an early version of the Fixx mutated with the Comsat Angels with Psychedelic Furs' Richard Butler doing vocals and borrowing Peter Hook's lazy matter of fact twanging bass and to go off into the distance for a spot of fun smudging Visage's make up. It's numbing stuff, minimalist electro pop chilled within an austere cast, swirling analogue synthesisers etch a pioneer like path through the frosted atmospherics toeing in a seriously laid back lolloping percussive underpinning. Ultimately the sound of a bedsit fridge thawing out, damn cool (pardon the pun). Flip over for the expansive and superior sounding stately solitude of City, which could have easily been the resulting sound of the sessions for Magazine's 'Real Life' if Dusseldorf's finest (Kraftwerk) had gotten their hands on the tapes. From the timid opening, like acorns, this solemn sounding ice sculpture grows steadily intoa massively strapping aural monolith, ravaged by shuffling beats and smarting delicately woven chords that glaze a chillingly sinister framework that towards the end melts into what seems like the brink of warping psychosis. Eerily essential.
www.genepoolrecords.com
Do Something Pretty - Rodeo/City
In-between freewheeling hazy synth stabs and spiky guitars there's something quite beautiful about Stained Glass Heroes. Rodeo is less like a feat of cowboy kamikaze heroism and more like a merry-go-round of whirring bleeps and candyfloss flavoured lyrics. It's a nice blend. As students of the Andy Warhol school of cool purchase their identi-kit Rolands, floppy haircuts and pouts, SGH pull on their zip-up cardies and breeze past them all without a care in the world. B-side 'City' meanders in at a whopping six and a half minutes when it could easily have been the better of the two tracks using only the middle three minutes. This aside, anything that makes me remember the balmy summers evening in 1987 when I rode my BMX on two wheels un-assisted for the first time is simply, fucking class. Again please.
Aidan Cassidy
Radio2XS - Rodeo/City
Having that all-too-rare looseness that reminds us of the mid-70s Crazy Horse (you remember - when each musician sounded as if he was in a different room, probably playing a different song). The good news is, the end result works well with a confidence that belies their inexperience. Described as "from Leeds, Macclesfield (bad luck!) and Istanbul", they're now based in London.
Muso's Guide - Rodeo/City
Rodeo is one for the enthusiasts. The song seems to have been written for a space age and the spaced-out. You will be very unlikely to hear it played in pubs and clubs, as it misses the beat required for such venues, but instead it would do very well in small poorly ventilated bedrooms, where during parties people gather to have a quiet smoke of recently declassified substances with the curtains drawn. The B-side, City, is a largely instrumental venture nearly seven minutes long. It is slightly more down-to-Earth, while still maintaining the dreamy sound of synthesiser in the background.
It is near impossible to pin down Stained Glass Heroes to a musical category, and in all probability trying to do so would be taken as a grave insult by the London-based quartet. It is the fusion of styles and influences that make the band, and will probably attract a fairly select audience of aficionados.
Damien Calis
Soundmag & Britpop Arsenal - Rodeo/City
It is rather difficult to describe, which the Newcomer of Stained Glass Heroes produces sound.? Comparisons with bark & for Sebastian, Joy division or Stereolab made already the round, are then in the final result however too one-sided. In any case one gives it beside guitar to hear bass and Drums a quantity Synthesizereinlagen. Drummer day played for many years in a jazz chapel, which coined/shaped the rhythm of the Londoner of quartet rather strongly. The debut single 'Rodeo' contained in addition that scarcely 7-minute 'City', just like the Titelsong a good impression leaves.
Sleaze - Rodeo/City
Someone owns some nice vintage keys and is not afraid to use them. A bit like the Beta Band or an electro Belle and Sebastian, the Heroes make catchy bedroom fluff pop. Are they art students? Imagine them wearing hairy jumpers and hanging round local libraries while you sing along.
Amazon - Rodeo/City
Last year I went to see the Bitter Springs play in a dingy little basement of a London music pub. The support stole the show and SGH were that support. Rodeo is a fine song. "We have a fine set of vintage synths" it proclaims "and we know how to use them." The less about it, however, the better because that allows me to wax euphoric about the B-side - City. I've been humming this intro since I first heard it, I slowly became dependent on it. I NEED TO HEAR IT AS SOON AS I GET HOME OR WHY DID I EVEN BOTHER LEAVING WORK?
After that the song meanders tunefully for a grand total of six minutes that still don't seem long enough. I await the album with anticipation. To try to pin down this style of music is like trying to tap dance on ball bearings. Let's just call it good and have the minimum amount of "Belle and Sebastian with synthesisers and northern accents" comparisons please. To sum up, a fine young band with heaps of potential and some great ideas. The bassist has great 'burns too. What more need be said to convince? you to buy it??
A music fan from Islington
City Life - Rodeo/City
STAR CHOICE
With fuzzy synth-pop opener ?Rodeo?, Stained Glass Heroes have crafted a gloriously analogue and catchy-as-hell three and a half minute gem. Sure there is retro feel at work (I?m thinking Stereolab, Magazine and maybe Can, which of course poses no problems here) but when it's as knowingly and lovingly rendered as it is here, who cares? The second cut here, 'Cities', expands on their palate into broader more avant territory while all the while retaining an ear for a neat tune.
Jay Taylor
Kathodik - Rodeo/City
Leeds ha sempre avuto profonda importanza nel tessuto musicale britannico; polo tra i pi piccoli ma che ha scritto significative pagine nellarco degli ultimi 25 anni. Stained Glass Heroes solo lultimo tassello di una lunga fila di capaci scrittori rock; gente in grado di costruire canzoni agganciate ad un esile canovaccio, a poche corde (sei, magari) e a un filo di sana disperazione data dall inarrestabile gavetta. Sentite come si accumunano Magazine, Can, Joy Division e Beta Band (menage a quattro felice, pare) nella superba Rodeo; melodramma a tinte pastello che non mi stupirei tra qualche mese d'inserire nelle consuete playlist annuali. E pure City, dal sanguinolento gusto Factory noir si fa adorare. Non arriveranno alle classifiche, ma a qualche cuore s.
SoundsXP - POW! To The People 2004, Camden Barfly
We arrive midway into the Stained Glass Heroes set. They're slightly shambolic and apologetic but play a subversive psychedelic brew, like the Super Furry Animals with Television riffs and the occasional Stereolabby line on the Roland keyboard. If the Strokes had gone to a crappy old comp instead of an exclusive finishing school, they might have sounded like the Heroes. The last song is a post-punk experimental tune with inaudible drummer's voiceover, chunky riffs and beaty drums. It doesn't work completely but it shows they've got more up their sleeve than the standard indie band.
Ged M