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:

Thursday 14th May
Levi’s® BBQ & Frank Musik DJ Set* – Above Audio, 5.01pm-7pm
Levi’s® OnesToWatch® Show: Black Lips + +  + Video Nasties -7.30pm-11pm
Levi’s® OnesToWatch® After Party:  Featuring Black Lips DJ set-11pm-3am

Friday 15th May
Levi’s® BBQ and  Mystery Jets DJ Set* – Above Audio, 5.01-7pm:
Levi’s® OnesToWatch® Show: The Twilight Sad + Dinosaur Pileup + Chew Lips + To The Bones – 7.30pm-11pm
Levi’s® OnesToWatch® After Party*:  Featuring Metronomy DJ set + Special Guests – 11pm-3am:

Saturday 16th May
Levi’s® OnesToWatch® Show – Hockey + The Soft Pack + Fight Like Apes + Rogues
Levi’s® OnesToWatch® After Party*: Featuring Heartbreak DJ set -11pm-3am

Be there! We will be…

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.

The Thursday bill is kicked off for me by Trailer Trash Tracys [sic] who offer an entirely indistinguishable set. Led by Suzanne Aztoria, the trio writhe around affably but fail to get past their amass of white noise. Glittery-sounding and a tad too stark, it’s difficult to distinguish where one track ends and the next starts. The next catch is 85 Bears, a London-based trio who are almost brilliant. The sound sounds far greater than that of a three-piece, crashing and peaking and slumbering over and over; there’s truly intricate interplay at the heart of their sound, and their post-rock is truly one to latch onto.

Wolverhampton’s The Lines are our next choice, sadly straddling unengagedly between jangle pop, stadium landfill and the worst of britpop (Cast – yes, really). But it’s all compensated for by new-form Metronomy; Gabriel Stebbing has sadly departed the line-up, but Joseph Mount and Oscar Cash have gained a new bassist and a drummer. The sound is less clinky and far heavier as a result, with even ‘Heartbreaker’ sounding a tad industrial. Mount is self-assured as ever, and Cash’s dancing suggests he’s on a ‘dance or die‘ brief. The new additions change the sound of Nights Out entirely, bringing it altogether closer to that of the first album, sounding strangely more like The Qemists than Devo all of a sudden. Which is great, in case you’re wondering. It’s puzzling that the crowd have the ability to be so stagnant while we follow Mr. Cash on his implicit mission to rid the world of apathy, but so much for harping on that…

Hinterland’s biggest name, The Fall, play to a full 1,500 people in a labyrinthine sub-railway station venue, Mark E. Smith out of his wheelchair and throwing as many strops as ever. Throwing his mic into the kit, hiding behind the amp, stumbling off stage for a song and ranting “I’m 50, what are you?” to the crowd at one point, he’s as entertaining as ever, at one point even turning attempted murderer by turning the sound up to eardrum-splattering levels. Among the temporary constructs/band-members is Smith’s wife, Elena Poulou, giving a fantastic take on screaming, stabbing keyboarding. If every other Fall show’s a bad ‘un, this one’s, well, an intermediatory?

End. Of. Thursday.

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”.

Mike Oman, organiser of Hinterland, offered the following: “The city has a rich heritage and history in the fields of both art and music. At the turn of the century Glasgow’s very own Charles Rennie Mackintosh – who was the UK’s leading exponent of the Art Nouveau movement – developed what is now commonly known in the art world as the ‘Glasgow’ style. In the world of music the city has also nurtured numerous world-recognised bands and musicians including Simple Minds, Wet Wet Wet, AC/DC’s Angus and Malcolm Young and more recently bands like Glasvegas and Biffy Clyro.”

Tickets are still (only just) available, via us, from here.

Topman CTRL

March 25th, 2009

One of the trendier corners of East London plays host to the first ever Topman CTRL event. Acclaimed electro popsters Metronomy act as curators and their handpicked line-up ensure that the crowd, packed into The Hoxton Bar and Grill, are thoroughly entertained.

Parisian electro-synth four piece Koko Von Napoo open the evening. While their name doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue, their music certainly lingers in the memory. The band overcome their early out-of-town nerves and visibly grew in confidence as the set progressed.

This is well crafted electro-pop, with an intelligently used palate of synth sounds. Think of a New Young Pony Club/Those Dancing Days hybrid with a colder, more considered delivery and you’re not far off the mark. Lead singer, Toupie, sings in a brittle style reminiscent of former Long Blonde, Kate Jackson and although the rhythm section strays a little at times, a decent run of gigs should soon iron out any creases. Perhaps still a killer single short, on tonight’s evidence Koko Von Napoo are a band well worth keeping an eye out for.

Irresistible singles, however, are certainly something Your Twenties are no strangers to. Fronted by Metronomy’s Gabriel Stebbing, the five-piece (although tonight only four) make sun drenched, guitar driven music to lose yourself in. Most of the allure stems from Stebbing’s relaxed, almost crooned vocals, one part Morrissey to one part Brian Wilson. Flowing melodic lines are elegantly accented with tight harmonies and a surprisingly good falsetto.

The songwriting is bulletproof in places and echoes the economy of Vampire Weekend and early Strokes with a nod to The Beatles never far below the surface. A relatively short set includes recently re-released single, ‘Caught Wheel’ and crowd favourite ‘Gold’ before closing with the extraordinarily catchy ‘Billionaires’. Their performance is endearing; Stebbing appears a little nervous and cringes as he fluffs a keyboard line, but rather than detracting from the set, as you’d imagine, it is refreshing to see a distinct lack of posturing.

Admittedly, this is not their best gig, more job like, with Metronomy’s Joseph Mount deputising on the drums. They are also missing a keyboard player since the last time I saw them, most noticeably absent during the chorus of ‘Caught Wheel’. It remains to be seen whether Stebbing can balance his two bands and devote the time required to get Your Twenties firmly in to the public domain. The songs certainly deserve it.

Following the crowd favourites was always going to be a hard task, but German six-piece, Kamerakino, took to the task with aplomb. One of the most individual bands in recent years, they create rousing, violin-led gypsy punk with disco bass lines. Lead singer Pico-B staggers around the stage, spitting his lyrics into the microphone and looking the crowd directly in the eyes. He’s an absorbing performer and seems to be the perfect frontman for the brilliant lunacy that surrounds him. The heavily pregnant bassist holds down a contagious groove, whilst the keyboard player seems content dancing as if no one’s looking almost throughout the duration of the set.

Kamerakino operate completely in their own world and that’s what makes them so charming. They’re not pandering to a record company or a particular audience, they’re simply making the music they want to make. It’s an attitude that has certainly won them fans, including Franz Ferdinand’s Nick McCarthy, who played bass on their debut ‘Paradiso’.

The thought of a corporate clothes shop sponsoring gigs may leave a slightly nasty taste in your mouth, but if the first event is anything to go by they could soon create a devoted following of their own. The success of the Topman CTRL events will depend almost entirely on the quality of the curators and their connections with upcoming bands sitting just below the radar.

thecocknbullkid

March 11th, 2009

Just arriving inside the ICA we feel immediately out of place for not having worn a hat - what an eclectic mix of people as an audience. The venue itself and surprisingly ‘mature’ audience makes it feel like we are at a college open evening. With all that said we do not object to the odd glass of wine and holding long conversations about holidaying in the south of France.

The evening is dotted with DJ sets from this year’s hotly-tipped artists including New Young Pony Club, Florence And The Machine and Frankmusik. The difficulty here is that on the evening itself the DJs are on the upstairs mezzanine so half of the venue doesn’t actually get to see them and it almost feels a bit too much like it is just a time filler. Surely artists of this calibre deserve more attention and in fact even an announcement that it is actually them playing? Having said that, the DJ set is a little obscure… with offerings of Justin Timberlake, Sinead O’Connor, Beyonce and something which relates back to 50s swing it all seems a little too indecisive, but on the whole the attendees don’t seem to be bothered by it whilst they hold conversations over their glasses of wine.

Indie-rock Londoners The Twenties play an interesting set and are a surprising choice of artist to play in stark contrast to the headlining act here tonight, thecocknbullkid. If you have not heard of the Twenties you are perhaps more likely to have heard of the frontman Gabriel Stebbing’s other band Metronomy, an electro-indie band with a rather different sound to The Twenties.

The set is good and gets the crowd moving. There is a certain twist of the Beach Boys here, and we have to admit that a number of songs take a while to get off the ground. But once the ears are adjusted they have a seemingly genuine and likeable sound. Heads are nodding and there are a number of people dancing like crazed lunatics down the front… possibly down to the wine.

Following the set by The Twenties we experience possibly the oddest interval in a show we have seen. A troupe of three dancers called Sparkle Motion Dancers take to the stage in pink sparkly numbers to dance their way through a couple of songs in a synchronised fashion that honestly makes Steps look credible. But the effort is there, and it certainly provides entertainment. We are simply in an environment which seems to promote the unexpected!

By the time thecocknbullkid takes to the stage we can’t help but think she is going to have to pull something pretty special out of the bag if she is going to make amends for the so far ‘unusual’ entertainment. And she certainly comes up with the goods.

In fact she is on top form, having just an hour earlier secured a record deal with Island. It is not hard to see why tonight. She offers something different to the music scene, but in a highly credible way. She certainly puts on a show, with neon flashing signs and even an outfit that lights up. Okay so she probably took it a little too far, but surely with the amount of cash she will have just pocketed from that record deal she can be forgiven on this occasion for “flashing the cash”.

The highlight of her set includes latest release ‘I’m Not Sorry’ which the audience know well. It is a pop-tastic and catchy number that begs you to move your feet to its sugar-coated disco melodies. thecocknbullkid appears to have built up quite a following, and the audience tonight is extremely varied from a few very young people to the slightly more mature. But regardless of age she manages to entice the crowd into her sugary pop vision and has them captured right from the word go. We predict that this lady of pop will be unavoidable in the coming months.

Though what we will never know is whether they were mesmerised by the music or hypnotised by that outfit with the flashing lights…

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.

Moving swiftly on to the last of the four tracks on offer here for the Metronomy-keen, Micachu is drafted in for another take on the very same bountiful track. It sounds like what happens when you’re playing back a scratched up record at the wrong speed, namely a way slower one. Sinister.

Reaction to this release, then?? Pretty futile in and of itself, as whoever’s into it will already love it, but Metronomy are incredible. The original version of ‘Radio Ladio’ is astonishing in its use of layer upon layer of syncopation, and never tires. Listening to it for the 143rd time reveals yet another line of electrogasm that you hadn’t heard the first time. Let’s get together and pray that Metronomy are in charge of our collective future, it’ll be great.

Buy stupid hat - 9.30PM

Welcome to the latest instalment of weekly festival news.

Let’s start in London, and popular festival venue Victoria Park. The Underage Festival will take place on August 2nd 2009 and flips the head on old-fashioned gig regulations: for this do, you’ve got to be between the ages of 14 and 18. WE’RE TOO OLD, God damn it. If you’re one of the lucky fresh-faced few, though, you can check out the sounds of Metronomy, Ladyhawke and The Chapman Family.

If you’re a more mature music fan, then this might be to your tastes. The Green Man Festival, stalwart of the Brecon Beacons region, has announced its headliners. British Sea Power, Wilco and Bon Iver are headlining this festy, which is being held from August 21st to 23rd.

Moving back down south, and to the Brighton area, where Grace Jones and Ida Maria have been confirmed to play South Down’s Beachdown Festival. Joining them will be St Etienne, Super Furry Animals and The Fall and, for the necessary ’80s nostalgia, Grandmaster Flash and the Sugarhill Gang. This super-green festival is shaping up to be one of our favourites.

Heading into more commercial territory, the V Festival has secured the services of The Killers and Oasis for its 2009 outing. The Staffordshire/Chelmsford weekender always proves to be one of the most successful festies, with tickets selling out in record time last year. Other big names include Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Elbow and Snow Patrol, and this year’s scrap for the golden tickets will commence on Friday at 10am.

It’s just occurred to us – do people bother with pyjamas at festivals?

Click here to buy tickets to 2009’s best music festivals.

Two turntables? Check. Microphone? Check.

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

With the recent credit crunch palaver we’re all feeling the pinch, and it’s fair to say that many people will be combining a summer holiday with a music festival trip. Glastonbury sold out recently, so what else is there on offer?

Hinterland in Glasgow is one of the newer festies but it looks promising with headliners including Metronomy, Micachu and Sons and Daughters. It’s an early starter, taking place on March 30th and April 1st. Our favourites Sky Larkin and Eugene McGuinness are also on the bill.

If you can’t possibly wait until March then what are you up to, err, next week? The 2009 MTV Winter Music Festival happens on February 24th in Valencia and hosts indie heroes Franz Ferdinand and Starsailor. For something more exotic, why not try the Heineken Kalalu World Music Festival in St Lucia over the Easter weekend? You can hear a range of world music including the top Jamaican talent Barrington Levy.

A little bit closer to home is Birmingham’s Supersonic 2009 in July. Coined “the best festival in the world” by Rock N Rolla Magazine, this avant garde festy boasts appearances from Head of David and 65 Days of Static. If you fancy a bit of a laugh to go with your tunes, then the Altitude Festival returns for a second year, located high up in the Alps at Meribel. Comedy greats such as Omid Djalili, Dave Gorman and Russell Howard are setting the environmentally friendly mood for musical performances from the likes of KT Tunstall.

Hands up who wants to go to a festival right now?

Tickets to many festivals are available through us by clicking this link.

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.

Evangelicals – The Evening Descends
Fragile and stream-of-consciousness in its narrative, The Evening Descends extends and extends its scope with every slice of reverb it emits. The chaos and disorientation forms a parity with the dismay framing Josh Jones’ songwriting; it whizzes through psychosis, languor and hedonism so naturally, so show-stoppingly.

Hercules and Love Affair – Hercules and Love Affair
Possessing the glamour and stealthy sexiness that I’ve been yearning for since Giorgio Moroder’s hiatus period kicked in, this album is as enticing as honey – it’s a mythological, feline creature defined by the compassion of a Camus protagonist. Romantic and raw on ‘Blind’, understated and enticing on ‘Iris’… it seeped into my heart as much as it did my brain.

Metronomy – Nights Out
A zeitgeist of an album, was this. Aurally concentric, dizzy, frenetic, restless yet candidly straight, this album is a whirlwind – it had my feet a shuffle and my mind in a tizz. Upon entering a 13-year-old’s wet dream about Devo and some incarnation of James Murphy sharing a stage, I simply couldn’t listen to anything else for weeks after this album found its ground.

They Came From The Stars I Saw Them – We Are All In The Gutter But…
With the twitchiness of !!! and the eclecticism of The Beta Band, this is euphoric and well-informed excitability. Distorted refrains and contagious funk are both in the mix, and the conglomerate is as ambitious as it is user-friendly. Constantly evolving, this album is the finest in the band’s 10-year career – and hopefully the world will catch onto them soon.

TV On The Radio – Dear Science
More immediate than ever before, the refrains on Dear Science draw the lace curtain around the ever-brusque lyrics. Aghast with self-obliterations, Sitek’s production recall ‘Controversy’-era Prince – and this peaks with the spat-out verse/quasi-choral chorus combo on ‘Dancing Choose’. The album envelopes the ambiguities thrown out there so selflessly, as if a veteran with a new lease of life.

M83 – Saturdays=Youth
Not one for the faint at heart, every breath of Saturdays=Youth comprises layer upon layer of pristine sonic nostalgia – all set beneath a glass ceiling of filmic sparkle. Never quite letting you touch its core, it sets the scene with a rose-tint. The subterranean feel of ‘Couleurs’ defines Antony Gonzalez’s reach, always wanting to say and feel more.

Wild Beasts – Limbo, Panto
Almost too sacred to reduce to words, this album is heretic in its combination of C86 jangle and Sparks-esque vitriol… with the passion of a 17th-century Morrissey. A smidgeon grotesque at first, this is as near to reinventing the wheel as our generation can ever’ve seen. Moving from sinister clown to playful jester and back again and again and again, Wild Beasts have hoisted up the socks of our expectations.

Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
The forthright lyrics sit alongside stately grandeur, and meet at a point of vivid imagery; an overarching lull of comfortable sincerity and ultra-reflection. Combining old-fashioned song structures with a fleeting hint of blues and tropicalia, this is a piece to be revered in its entirety. It’s a Scott Walker-esque tragicomedy with broad aspirations that reveal themselves incrementally, with infinitely more times the charm each time.

The Week That Was – The Week That Was
Taking in as much in every bar as possible (with a nigh-on pedantic attention to detail), this is a wholly diverse prospect of an album. It’s grandiose (‘Scratch The Surface’) and even callous-sounding in bits (‘Learn To Learn’), stuttering and entirely paralleled, peerless in its sheer scope and ambit. It’s a work of art that you want to pause after every bar and take in with a sip of warm merlot.

Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
Solitary to the point of a near-breakdown, Bon Iver’s debut cut the fluff and played it simple, surpassing even Iron and Wine’s finest moments in the process. Justin Vernon’s gaping, subtly convulsing vocal in combination with the hushed guitar accompaniment proved too much for even the strong at heart – the sublime production made you believe you were there, holding his hand.

Notable mentions also go out to:

Kelley Polar – I Need You To Hold On While The Sky Is Falling
The Long Blondes – ‘Couples’
Simon Breed – The Smitten King Laments
The Boggs – Forts
Youthmovies – Good Nature
Lykke Li – Youth Novels
Mystery Jets – Twenty One

Alien

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

As a pre-cursor in reverse, the fact that the aliens have landed is to be taken in the context of inescapable reality. Just accept it and move on – never once consider the fact that this piece may be a way of me having a bit of a whine without wanting to come across as indignant. Never think that.