Muso’s Guide presents… woo.: Queen of Hoxton, February 18th, FREE!

We’re launching a brand-new free-entry clubnight called woo. at the Queen of Hoxton in London on Thursday February 18th [Gmap], featuring The Power Trio DJs (ooh, mysterious!) on the decks, playing:

My Bloody Valentine, Air France, Yo La Tengo, Memory Tapes, The Ronettes, Air, New Order, The Shangri-Las, Neon Indian, Vivian Girls, The Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, The Cure, Summer Camp, Beach House, TV On The Radio, M83, The Knife, Iggy and The Stooges, Sonic Youth, Jimi Hendrix, The Radio Dept, No Age and more.

The PR has this bit of parodial wankery so we’re sticking it in here too:

woo. [wu?]
interj & n & vb
A less sycophantic and more authentic version of its descendent, ‘woo!’.

Do come. … Continue Reading

Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I probably am, maybe…..

Arctic Monkeys

I’m not really too bothered about who he’s fucking, or where he lives, or even what he gets up to outside music. He can become an actor if he wants, start painting….. whatever. I’m concerned about Alex Turner, ‘the indie icon’, about this ‘genius’ tag that has prematurely been bestowed upon his slender frame. … Continue Reading

The Mary Onettes – Islands

The Mary Onettes

The Mary Onettes have made my job easy; I could do away with mentioning how their name reminds me of Earthbound (that SNES game from the 90’s) and just cut the whole review down to one sentence: Do you like The Cure? Yes? Then you’ll probably like The Mary Onettes.

Annoyingly that ‘probably’ means I have to elaborate and actually write a proper review, damn. Hailing from Sweden, The Mary Onettes are essentially an 80’s inspired pop band, taking their cues from gloomy acts such as Echo and The Bunnymen, and of course, The Cure.

However, where The Cure were known to produce the occasional upbeat tune, such as ‘Lovecats’ and ‘Friday I’m In Love’, this band maintain a steady level of mediocre melancholy in their sound, making them great for sad funeral moments in low budget films and sitting rocking gently in the dark, but not good for much else.

While Islands is without doubt a well performed and polished album, it just lacks energy, with each track agonisingly dragging into the next, like the horror that was the Freddie Krueger TV series (although The Mary Onettes could probably benefit from the excitement of having razor sharp fingers).

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Brett Anderson – London Shepherd’s Bush Empire

Brett Anderson

January 22nd 2009

The last time I saw Brett Anderson he was fronting Suede on the Coming Up tour.  He swaggered on stage joining his band (everyone dressed in black) and delivered a set of songs which rode the crest of the Britpop wave which he had helped to kickstart. He pranced, he clapped, he put his foot on the monitor and sang songs about sex and drugs and the urban, working class world he inhabited.

Since then a lot of water has passed under his bridge; drug addiction, the break up of his band, death and the release of three solo albums in as many years, generally to critical and commercial indifference.  His solo output has been a much more sombre affair than the majority of Suede’s, preoccupied by death and broken relationships and on his latest LP, Slow Attack, the terrible beauty of nature. With this in mind I’d expected a much downbeat Anderson.  Although not quite as lively as 15 years ago, after sauntering onstage dressed in his trademark funeral apparel to join his band (piano, cello, guitar, bass, drums) his fringe flops, his hip sway and his tambourine shakes once more.

Opener ‘Hymn’  is breathtaking, Brett croons over minimal piano. When the band join in for the bass heavy crashing swells of the chorus the sound is immense, like waves crashing on a lonely beach. Two of the more pop songs from Slow Attack follow, (‘Wheatfields’ and ‘Hunted’) which are nice but don’t have the same impact as the opener, if anything they sound a little MOR.

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The Temper Trap – London KOKO

The Temper Trap

December 21st, 2009

After bad weather, delayed trains, and some difficulty persuading the doorman I was there to review the gig, I almost left Koko defeated, fed up and ready to trudge through the snow back home.

Luckily, a nice man let me have his plus one, which was good news, because I really wanted to find out if The Temper Trap lived up to the hype they attracted after featuring on (500) Days of Summer.

For those who have missed The Temper Trap before now, ‘Sweet Disposition’ was played on the trailer for the film; front man Dougy’s ethereal falsetto floating over driving percussion and guitar work – the perfect match to Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s ever hopeful character looking for ‘The One’.
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Delphic – Acolyte

Delphic

The new Musical Season starts in December; various names are being banded about, the next big thing is about to be chosen. Could it be Delphic?

Already they’ve appeared on Jools Holland, achieved considerable airplay for their singles ‘This Momentary’ and ‘Doubt’, and significantly they are signed to the very fashionable label Kitsuné. Their sound is of the moment – ‘elecdie’ (electro-indie).

The problem with Acolyte is that it doesn’t sound particularly revolutionary. It wouldn’t be wise to get down to your local bookies and place money on this album winning the Mercury Prize, and you really wouldn’t imagine gazing into the crystal ball and predicting Delphic will light up the hundreds and hundreds of festivals next summer. But who really cares about hype? If we ignore all of the above then Delphic are just another band from Manchester; yet Mancunian bands usually, historically speaking have a bit about them. Even The Courteeners got some goodwill from critics because their postcode started with an ‘M’. I guess we get caught up in the folklore of the city, and believe that there is still some magic in the Northern air, despite the city’s radical facelift over the last twenty years.

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Adam Green – Minor Love

Adam Green - Minor Love

Adam Green is perhaps most famous for being the lead singer of anti-folk band, The Moldy Peaches, who are perhaps most famous for having a song in the hit film Juno. As a solo artist he has released five albums to modest critical and commercial success.

On sixth album Minor Love, Green doesn’t seem to have changed an awful lot since 2002. This is no bad thing. He sells his short and sweet indie-pop songs on his tender voice, which some people have described as an acquired taste. I don’t agree with this. There is something so classic and subtle about his vocal performance on this and all of his albums that I can’t help falling in love with his voice every time I hear it. … Continue Reading

Good Shoes, London ULU

Good Shoes

December 12, 2009

A frosty Saturday night sees Morden-based indie outfit Good Shoes roll over to the London ULU for a night of catchy rock-pop tunes, but the arctic weather doesn’t stop them from packing out this dainty music venue in the capital.

After losing a band member and taking time out to write their second album, Good Shoes have been away from the music scene for what seems like forever. But even with a sizable gap since their last tour or album, Rhys Jones and Co still manage to pull in a decent crowd. … Continue Reading

Lawrence Arabia – Chant Darling

Lawrence Arabia’s star is swiftly rising, he’s talented and a New Zealand export; a rarity in the last case.  James Milne’s second album Chant Darling, follows his 2007 self-titled debut but certainly doesn’t lag behind it; ten new uniformly charming and mostly brilliant tracks will cement his image as favourite NZ expat for many.

Opener ‘Look Like A Fool’ begins with an honest tale of (you guessed it) looking silly in front of a nice girl; Milne’s accent sounding somehow Beatles-esque. As the initially melancholy instrumentation swells behind these earnest vocals, Chant Darling’s signature sound becomes quickly apparent; gorgeous strings dictate subtle mood shifts and the clever vocal/guitar harmonies are wonderfully warm and full.

By third track ‘Apple Pie Bed’, a lightly overdriven guitar line and gleeful falsetto harmonies have made their welcome introductions and a plethora of 60s/70s pop influences suggest themselves but don’t overwhelm.  As the album progresses though, the delightful realization that every track has some kind of signature, stand out element or passage will rapidly dawn on you, as will the innocent, extravagant, quirky genius of it all.

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Deerhoof – Edinburgh Bongo Club

Deerhoof

December 8th 2009

Two confessions have to be made at the outset of this review. Firstly, previous to this gig, this writer was more or less completely unfamiliar with the work of the San Franciscan quartet Deerhoof. Secondly, having only just completed an article for this very website stating that “Anyone who misses the opportunity to see DIVORCE [tonight's support band] is, frankly, a fucking idiot”, he manages to do precisely that, arriving with the dying notes of this tremendous band’s, no doubt brutal and thrilling, set. How embarrassing. Fucking idiot.

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