Send "The Longcut " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Drownedinsound |
 "You cannot say we didn't warn you, you should have listened when you could", spits Stuart Ogilvie in the opening line of 'Out At The Roots'. It's as caustic an introduction to a record as you're likely to hear all year, but then Manchester experimentalists The Longcut aren't exactly renowned for their shiny happy demure. It's been a good three years since debut album A Call And Response was unleashed on a then disparate public, and you have to go back even further to locate their initial breakthrough 12 inch, 'Transition', which catapulted them into the spotlight in the first place. Although initially hailed by some sections of the media as the UK's answer to The Rapture or Radio 4, one listen to the aforementioned collection - and particularly half an hour in their presence during one of their infrequent live shows - told another story entirely. Certainly their dogged refusal to be categorized within any kind of short-lived scene was going to be pivotal either in laying the path for their breakthrough or casting them into a void of obscurity. Nevertheless, despite their seemingly boundless pursuit for originality and perfection the plaudits arrived thick and fast, even if commercial success eluded them. Inevitably, the band and previous record label Deltasonic (a subsidiary of Sony BMG) parted ways, and apart from a very limited single release two years ago, little had been heard from The Longcut since....full text |
| Thelineofbestfit |
| Quite an interval seems to have passed between this and The Longcut’s terrific debut – 2006’s A Call And Response: three years more or less to the month, in fact. The traditional writer’s resorts of Wikipedia and the band’s own web site offer no particular clues as to why there was such a gap (lineup changes? artistic differences? label disputes?), but hey, who cares. Ultimately the only thing at issue here is the music: have they produced an album on a par with the last one, or have the ensuing years been less than kind to the band’s dynamic and creativity? I am pleased to report that The Longcut of 2009 doesn’t disappoint. Still present and correct is the fascinatingly, sometimes eerily, detached and alienated vocal, particularly prevalent on ‘Out At The Roots’, ‘Something Inside’ and ‘Evil Dance’, which combines with taut delivery and a harsh line in lyrical put-down particularly on ‘Tell You So’, featuring enjoyably devastating declarations like “I’m not making it up to you / So stop laying your guilt on me / If I loved you I’d tell you so”. An undertone of menace or threat is also palpable in places, such as the brilliant, driving ‘Evil Dance’, all fear of being lost and feeling “scared as hell”, like finding yourself at an insalubrious club, on the wrong night, in the wrong town, on the wrong drugs....full text |
| Downtuned |
| There’s nothing better than witnessing a band delivering on their early promise – and it’s even better when they exceed your wildest expectations. With their second album, Open Hearts, Manchester’s The Longcut have done that and then some. If, like me, you have ever wondered what Ride might have sounded like had they combined the squalling psychpop of Nowhere with the more expansive and experimental Going Blank Again, the Longcut might just have the answer. It’s not that they sound all that similar, but the potential blueprint laid down by the Oxford quartet back in 1992, before they went all retro, could easily be the starting point for this phenomenal collection of distorted guitar epics. From the monstrous bass buzz - imagine Hooky channeling King Tubby on a bass with strings made of tractor tyres – of opener Out at the Roots, their intent is clear - structured madness that demands to be played through speakers the size of a block of flats. This is dub-prog-psychedelic-noise-rock. The arrangement of Longcut songs are often defined by their singing drummer, Stuart Ogilvie – the vocals being frontloaded so that he can get back on his stool to beat the living crap out of his drum kit, leading to incendiary, extended instrumental outros that will delight fans of early-90s shoegaze. Those vocals often divide – some complain they are limited - one-pitch, almost flat - but Ogilvie’s impassioned yowl doesn’t dominate as much as it used to. He has increased his range, exploring more of his vocal capabilities and the album is much better for it. The use of the drum machine also lends some of the songs on the album to the dancefloor, especially on Evil Dance, a hulking, melodious techno belter. Tell You So and Mary Bloody Sunshine recall the imperial majesty of Whirlpool-era Chapterhouse steroided up, with guitarist Lee’s chiming, hypnotic walls of sound packing a mighty sonic punch. There’s even a flute-effect in the latter that is redolent of Loveless....full text |
The Longcut lyrics
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