tUnE-yArDs
February 15, 2009
I’ve drafted this tUnE-yArDs review about 12 times today, yet each time, I fail to eloquently express just how this performance set the bar higher than anything I’ve seen before. It’s thankful then that a video exists of the song that closed the night. It’s a new one, called ‘You Yes You’. … Continue Reading
The Plasticines
February 8th 2009
Daisy Dares You walked on to the stage, more or less unnoticed. All of a sudden she launched into the first track, her long blonde hair flailing around as she shook her head manically.
The 16 year old doesn’t look particularly like a rock chick; indeed her debut single ‘Number One Enemy’ features Chipmunk – hardly known for his rock tendencies – but she was soon brandishing a guitar and rocking out like the best of them. She looked slightly out of place amongst her band mates (who are all quite a bit older than her) but held her own throughout the show, struggling only to fully engage the audience, who were an older than average crowd lacking the teenybopper energy you’d expect at a gig like this.
Daisy reminded me of the UK’s answer to Ashley Simpson, or perhaps our very own Pixie Lott gone wrong. Toward the end of the set, she broke into a punk-pop version of the Oliver! song ‘Who Will Buy?’ I couldn’t decide if it was sheer genius or completely awful, particularly as the middle section turned into a head banging competition between her and her guitarist. Perhaps if I were 10 years younger, I might have appreciated her style a bit more, but, whilst I can’t fault her enthusiasm and energy on stage, felt she had a lot to learn about actual stage presence.
February 9, 2010
Tonight marks a few occasions. First up, it’s the first time I’ll see Internet Forever, whose shonky, fuzzy twee has been poking at my heart for a sizeable amount of my time. It’s also only the second time I’ve visited little-used-for-good-gigs Dingwalls (the last time I was there was to see Crystal Castles, in the height of Skins Series One). And overarching this is the fact that it’s Everybody Was In The French Resistance… Now’s first show (save a couple of gigs in Cambridge in Birmingham which are duly discounted), and the first time I’ve seen national hero Eddie Argos playing in something other than Art Brut. … Continue Reading
Mike Doughty
February 2nd 2010
“I want to be on you”. Ron Burgundy’s “immortal words” are those chosen by Mike Doughty to sell himself to the British public.
Doughty, formerly of alt-rock band Soul Coughing, is pretty popular in the States, but relatively unknown here. My question referred to selling himself to us in the style of a dating ad. His witty answer, I come to realise, is standard.
The American singer-songwriter is a fairly open book, regularly tweeting (find him @mikedoughtyyeah) and blogging on his website, where he comments honestly on his day to day activities and thoughts on the happenings in the world; two recent tweets include “Lousy night. Crowd couldn’t have cared less” and “Salinger gone – perhaps we’ll at last hear his Rock Opera”. Is it important for him to keep in touch with fans? “I think it ends up being important, but the reason I do it is just my general obsession with killing time online” he says. “I think my crowd feels pretty close to me because of the access I give to myself, but I don’t think it’s necessarily vital to being a musician these days”.
This openness has extended to a book about his previous life as a drug addict, which he’s in the process of writing. Mike claims “writing prose is a lot more time consuming than song writing” and that “linear thinking” is not his strength. He’s currently struggling to write about his time with Soul Coughing, describing it as “pretty shitty”.
… Continue Reading
Chemikal Underground
If you’re looking to name a contemporary independent Scottish label, there’s a chance Chemikal Underground will be the first. Originally set up by The Delgados to release their debut single, they quickly established themselves as the most important label in Scotland since Postcard releasing records by the likes of Arab Strap, Mogwai, Aereogramme, Bis, Mother & The Addicts and even Interpol (albeit only one record by them). Tonight’s gig, as part of Glasgow’s annual Celtic Connections festival is a celebration of Chemikal’s fifteenth birthday, with a selection of the labels current offerings on stage to help, and Vic Galloway hosting in between.
Travelling from ‘the other place’ to Glasgow, this writer only gets the middle of the evening’s entertainment, four bands who certainly maintain the label’s image of having an eclectic but cohesive roster. Zoey van Goey, are an indiepop five piece whose overall ‘sound’ is difficult to pin down, but they’re entertaining if nothing else. There’s something of a less-twee Belle & Sebastian about them, but perhaps if B&S had been weaned on post-rock, as well as Felt.
Next is the debut performance from The Unwinding Hours, formed from the ashes of Aereogramme (disbanded in 2007). They instantly create an atmosphere, beginning with sparse guitars before getting louder and more epic, slightly reminiscent of The Twilight Sad, if a little less dour. The highlight of their set has to be during their last song, ‘The Final Hour’, when the it changes from sparse instrumentation to an ear-splitting, trouser-flapping din, forcing numerous members of the audience out of their skin. Unfortunately some of the material verges a little bit on the MOR side of things, but with moments like that up their sleeve, it’s certainly worth giving them a chance.
Lord Cut-Glass are label founder and former Delgado Alun Woodward’s new project, making literate pop music, which certainly has echoes of his former band, if augmented with Scottish and gypsy folk influences, and even ska rhythms at one point.
The Ex
January 29th 2010
There’s a keenly felt sense of anticipation in the Fleece this evening. As well as being the first of The Ex’s performances with the formidable Brass Unbound roster – Mats Gustafsson, Ken Vandermark, Roy Paci and Walter Wierbos – the bill also features local firebrands Zun Zun Egui, a band that sorely deserve the increase in status this tour should hopefully bring.
On paper, Zun Zun Egui are impossible to define. Try to explain their sound to a prospective listener and the sentence almost inevitably becomes tangled between brain and mouth. This evening their impact is dented a little by slightly muddy sound, at least from where I’m stood, but it does little to diminish their furious energy. Zun Zun’s frequent brilliance is hard to pin down, but partly lies in the tension between frontman Kushal’s glottal yelps and keyboardist Yoshino’s sweet, breathy vocals. Their interplay provides a consistency that allows the band space to snap seamlessly between spazzy blasts of guitar and four-to-the-floor tropical funk. Without that anchor – and indeed, without their drummer’s impressive chops – their music would run the risk of heading off in a hundred different directions all at once. Perhaps that’s a part of the appeal.
She Keeps Bees
Wandering the dark backstreets of Camden is not something I’d normally recommend to anyone but it is the only way you’ll find tonight’s venue. The Black Heart has proved itself to be a hidden gem of Camden Town by simply walking around the corner to find a giant black heart swinging from the wall. It’s the black cherry on the cake that stripped down ranchy blues rock duo She Keeps Bees are joining us tonight courtesy of The Allotment.
The Allotment are treating us to a three-strong line-up of female fronted rock bands this evening. Both Lulu & The Lampshades and surprise guests Peggy Sue & The Pirates smash out sterling sets; filling the room with personality and showing off quirks such as playing a typewriter with drumsticks which is only emphasized by the excellent village fete atmosphere provided by the organizers.
She Keeps Bees are nothing short of their reputation as thumping southern styled blues when they get going with their first song ‘Release’ from one of my album highlights of last year, Nests. There is something about She Keeps Bees which keeps at least one foot tapping . Jessica’s vocals tonight add to Andy’s thump and make them something slow enough to be sultry and gritty enough to be ranchy. The anthemic ‘Gimme’ engulfs this intimate venue with their raw garage groove and heads are nodding involuntarily. They show a slightly more country side to the pair with ‘Wear Red’ a loosely strung song with a belting vocal hook that still has it’s foot firming in the proverbial blues door.
January 27, 2010
After a wait of almost four years since the release of their last album, Derdang Derdang, it’s good to be able to report that the Archie Bronson Outfit haven’t subjected themselves to the whimsies of stylists in the fields of either music or fashion while putting together their new LP. The beards are still there, they still shun the need for roadies by doing their own pre-set tuning, and while they may have recruited a synth-player, rest assured they haven’t gone all ’80s on us.
… Continue Reading
January 26, 2010
After seeing him under his former alias Final Fantasy at the very same venue in the summer of 2009, hopes are riding high in the sky for this show. In that night back yonder in May 2009, he shot from an artist I was distantly fascinated by to an untouchable beacon of everything that live music should provide. Skip forward forward a few months and it’s little wonder that I’m left evermore aghast at the purpose of my existence on exiting the Victorian Gothic Union Chapel’s doors… … Continue Reading
Vivian Girls
January 25th 2010
Dalston Trinity Centre isn’t your average gig venue. Attached to a church and more accustomed to holding scout groups and nurseries (according to their website), it’s pretty much just a church hall. Intimacy was going to be the order of the evening then, rather than sound quality for instance, which was fine, as the three bands on the bill specialise in lo-fi, noisy pop songs that sound at home in small venues like this. Once gig-goers had worked out how to get into the venue (you had to ring a bell) and come to terms with the fact that there was no bar (the local off license probably did a roaring trade), the venue filled up quickly. The stage was lit by just two lamps – a fitting precursor to the simple, effective music that was going to be on show.
Trash Kit are an East London trio that formed in early 2009. Faces painted and full of nervous energy, the band take a few songs to fall into their stride but once they do, with songs like ‘Cadets’ in particular, they become easy to love. They’re a curious mix of The Raincoats (a violin appears at one point), Sung Tongs-era Animal Collective and DNA, but their songs do more than revel in twee, primitive nosie-makingand address subjects like personal identity. They’re one of a number of bands emerging from the creative DIY scene in East London at the moment, and an album is imminent.
If Trash Kit are just starting to distinguish themselves from the DIY herd, then Male Bonding are on the verge of completely transcending it. Signed to Sub Pop, and also with an LP on the way, 2010 could be a big year for them. Fittingly, I first saw them this time last year, supporting Vivian Girls, and since then constant touring has honed their grunge-surf-rock songs into tight, powerful pop entities. Powered by Robin Silas Christian’s powerful drumming and the close interplay between John Arthur Webb and Kevin Hendrik on guitar and bass, the band seem to effortlessly throw out these unavoidable melodies amid the controlled chaos. ‘Pumpkin’ and ‘Year’s Not Long’ remain highlights, but new songs continue to creep into their sets, suggesting that the promise of their early singles could be about to be realised.
We are listening
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