An incontinence-inducing Great Escape billing…

Mika Miko

As well as a stonking bill elsewhere, our friends Levi’s® OnesToWatch® are putting on a dreamy bill at the Brighton-centric extravaganza impending this weekend. The Great Escape looks fab, doesn’t it?

The beautifully-arranged bill includes self-declared “dirty psychedelic flower punks”, Black Lips, and Scottish wonder boys The Twilight Sad who will be fresh back from a European tour supporting Mogwai. Hockey, Dananananakroyd, Mika Miko and Metronomy also figure.

In fact, the line-up looks exactly like this:
… Continue Reading

Hinterland – Day One

Mark E. Smith

April 30, 2009

You’re used to my reviews by now, you’ve accepted the way I like to splice them with abstract observations. And here’s some inspired from Hinterland:

(1) Never mind stupid-on-purpose becoming the new smart, why doesn’t precocious-in-hindsight eventually find the musically retarded?
(2) Do I have ADHD or is everyone else not moving for a reason (this isn’t a new abstraction, merely the recollection/grandiose coming together of an old one)?

Glasgow is a strikingly independent city. Those I encountered were interesting, interested and constantly striving. Maybe it’s a magnetism thing, but it’s pretty unusual (self-obsession: check). So it’s only fitting that it has its own festival, Hinterland’s mostly locally-formed line-up aptly tailored to the brief. The most salient observation from the two-day festival are the amount of venues on around one-fifth capacity; only The Fall at The Arches 1 and Jeffrey Lewis at King Tut’s are full (albeit bursting), even Metronomy at the fairly small Arches 2 could do with around another 50 audience members. It’s completely unjustified – there’s around 100 noteworthy acts on the bill, but maybe it’s only novel for me because I’m not a local? Just a sidenote, really.

… Continue Reading

Fall-fronted Hinterland is fast approaching

On April 30 and May 1, 15 of Glasgow’s venues will be taken over for the first ever Hinterland. Headlined by The Fall and featuring an impressive line-up including Metronomy, Sons and Daughters, Sky Larkin and The Invisible, the festival is described as “an adventure in music and art”.

It’s also surely the first chance to re-see such delights as Wild Beasts and Good Shoes for quite some time, both of which will be welcomed back with open arms.

With more than 100 bands across the two days, Hinterland’s “primary aim is to showcase established and upcoming Scottish talent – as well as some of the UK’s best emerging and established talent”. … Continue Reading

Topman CTRL with Metronomy, London Hoxton Bar & Kitchen

Topman CTRL

March 25th, 2009

… Continue Reading

thecocknbullkid, London ICA

thecocknbullkid

March 11th, 2009

… Continue Reading

Metronomy – Radio Ladio

Metronomy - Radio Ladio

No amount of volume will ever be enough for this little beauty. At first coming across as a simple, fairly repetitive number, Joseph Mount’s bug-eyed “what’s your name?” cry has the effect of reducing your brain to a mesh. A mesh of hungover nonchalance. Or a mess, depending on your inclinations.

It’s like the specificities of life have been flung out of the window in a rampage and replaced with an airport walkway taking you to the morning after. And no, I haven’t lost the plot. The Radioclit Swedish Remix (er, what?!) is mostly perfunctory but for the strange inverted effect of the piped whatever mcthingy at about the 2.05 mark. Makes you feel like your living your life on a one-second time delay. Add some tribal inclinations and you’re practically braindead.

Fair enough they’re milking it because there’s no new B-sides and this track has been hanging around for what seems like my life, but the Radioclit FRENCH Remix (yes, globe-spanning) is yet more feral than the original. Featuring Marina’s vocals on the “R-A/D-I/OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH/L-A/D-I/OHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!” bit, it almost makes me want to engulf my own senses. Not quite though. … Continue Reading

This week’s festival news round-up

Buy stupid hat - 9.30PM

Welcome to the latest instalment of weekly festival news.

… Continue Reading

This week’s festival news round-up

Two turntables? Check. Microphone? Check.

Here we are again – and the festival news just keeps on coming.

… Continue Reading

Natalie Shaw’s 2008… in albums

The Week That Was - The Week That Was

In no particular order, these albums were my personal highlights of the fantastic musical year that’s now drawing to a close. … Continue Reading

The Last Four… thoughts an alien would have before returning back home

Alien

Keeping it musical, I’d take a guess at this: … Continue Reading