Tags: beans on toast, bleech, camden crawl, Invasion, kitty daisy & lewis, man like me, new rhodes, warchild

A mixed bag of contrasting acts featured in Camden’s Blues Kitchen, to launch the next annual Camden Crawl, which takes place in the first weekend of May 2010.

Arriving late, I managed to catch only the last couple of songs by female-led girl trio Bleech, which was a shame because they sounded very good. Rich chords, a tight and melodic sound, plus style and a 90’s riot girl attitude, definitely one to look out for (7/10). Next up was a singer / songwriter who goes by the stage name Beans on Toast. He rambled through an unfocused set of funnyish numbers, which included a number of false starts, and was saved in part by some decent banter with the crowd. The main theme of which was alcohol. Having made mention of his alcoholism between pretty much every song, and wincing when he had to drink water on stage instead of beer, singer Jay confessed to struggling as he had not had a drink for three days. Frankly, it was a little sad (4/10).

Next up were Invasion, who blended go-team style pumped up soul vocals with fearsome metal guitar played at a devastating pace. Different and pretty entertaining for a couple of tracks, but they soon became a bit punishing, and it wasn’t really the kind of setting for a moshpitt (5/10). New Rhodes came next, whose clean-cut image were a little at odds with the cutting edge of independent new music that the Camden Crawl aims to represent. They are a good band, and performed their heartfelt songs well, but it all seemed a little tame. They did do a cover of ‘Quando, Quando’ that was decent, and again, it’s a case of offering a little something for everyone (6/10).

Every now and then you stumble across a band that really blow you away live, and here the award went hands down to brother and sisters act Kitty, Daisy & Lewis. Dressed in retro 1950’s rock and roll gear, the trio effortlessly switched between guitar, keyboard, skiffle-style drums, vocals and harmonica. All so adept at each instrument they picked up, the standard of playing never dropped. Dad played acoustic guitar and ukulele and Mum played double bass, with the fabulous guest trumpet of Eddie ‘Tan Tan’ Thorntonon a couple of tracks. Kitty, Daisy & Lewis were simply outstanding. Rock and Roll and Blues belted out with real passion, a truly exciting live act (9/10). The final act I saw were the impressive Man Like Me who gave a high energy performance, twisting, jerking and bursting into choreographed dance moves like a modern-day Madness, their party vibe was infectious (7/10).

So overall the launch was a decent insight into the diversity on offer at the next Camden Crawl. There perhaps could have been a bit more information on offer on the work of Warchild; some signing up for regular donations and a bit of bucket shaking in the venue wouldn’t have gone amiss (you can donate to Warchild through the link below).

http://www.warchild.org.uk/donate

Tags: Battles, cougar, sonic youth

Cougar finished up their European Tour with a tight, high-energy performance at the Lexington. After a promising opening, French support act Electric Electric soon became a bit of a relentless, avant-garde industrial nightmare that made me want to curl up in a ball and find a happy place. Cougar combine dirty power chords with delicate ambient interplay between their three guitarists, always at a pace driven by outstanding drummer and leader of the pack David Henzie Skogen. All three on guitar could probably cover lead in a lot of bands single-handed. Todd Hill is great on bass, even switching to a double bass, which he played with a bow on ’Strict Scrutiny’.

If you like Battles, then Cougar are of a similar, more guitar-heavy, vein. Some of the new material from album ‘Patriot’ sounded especially good, with the storming ‘Stay Famous’ sounding powerful and stirring and ‘Rhinelander’, which starts with Gregorian chants, well refined to slick and instinctive performances. For the more melancholic and ambient sounding numbers, it was a little difficult to engage with this soundscape material in such an intimate venue. Instrumental music (of the indie variety) you can’t dance to always seem better when complimented by some visual stimulation, whether that’s projected images, a light show or just being outdoors at a festie. As a result, I found my self looking off from the stage a bit too much, and wondering who was dropping eggy farts in front of me. Then ’snap’, one rich Sonic Youth-style riff after another would bring me back in the room. Cougar are passionate, talented and an original force trying to do something different. Though good live, their penchant for atmospheric nuances aren’t best suited to the upstairs of a North London pub on a Friday Night.

Tags: Fionn Regan, Hard Working Class Heroes Festival 2009, The Button Factory

As part of Dublin’s ‘Hard Working Class Heroes Festival 2009’, Fionn Regan and band took to stage as the Saturday night headline act at The Button Factory.  Having greatly enjoyed Regan’s excellent 2007 Mercury-nominate debut album ‘The End Of History’, I was anticipating an intimate acoustic set, which kicked off as expected with Regan bursting out a powerful solo rendition of ‘Hey Rabbit’. Fionn Regan has a transfixing and confident stage presence. He’s an intriguing talent and a songwriter who communicates sublime and potent lyrics with conviction. You get the sense that Regan has the skill to vary the tone and intonation of his songs, with clear, crisp vocals that keeps the live performance fresh. It then came as a bit of surprise when a full band emerged on the stage, to take up drums, bass, lead guitar keyboard and mixer.

The set quickly shifted gear and the band ripped straight into a collection of new material. Mostly, some bright and punchy ,retro-sounding foot-stompers. These  included new single ‘Protection Racket’ and were interspersed with strong versions of End of History tracks; ‘Hunter’s Map’, ‘Put a Penny in the Slot’ and ‘Snowy Atlas Mountains’. The full band are excellent musicians, and had something of the British 60’s mod sound about them, with a little of the The Yardbyrds and The Small Faces  thrown in there somewhere.

Regan is among the multitude of singer / songwriters given the ‘Dylanesque’ tag. But unlike Dylan, Fionn Regan only recorded one album before going electric. New album ‘The Shadow of an Empire’ is set for release in early 2010. Regan’s only discernable comment to the crowd came before the rather perplexing final track ‘Genocide Matinee’ and was, I think: “You don’t know your history. Don’t pretend that you do”. Not sure about the rest of crowd, but I also don’t know much biology, a science book or the French I took!

Tags: Chris Farron, Diamond Rings, Fake Problems, Frank Turner, God Save The Queen, Heartbeat, Nottingham, Rock City, The Road

With the much spoken about acoustic Beans On Toast opening for Frank Turner (one in which was unfortunately missed by myself) and the Naples, Floridian quartet Fake Problems also opening for Frank Turner in Nottingham’s premier rock haven, tonight‘s proceedings were building up quite a high level of expectation amongst the rowdy partisans.

With Fake Problems garnering the support of the much travelled Frank Turner and asked to join him on his UK tour, the band arrived upon our shores on a sea of hype, and thankfully delivered by the bucket load. Versatility seems to come to Fake Problems easily in their raucous set.

And you would have been mistaken for thinking you may be presented by a mo-hawked rough-and-ready frontman tonight. But, quite the opposite- Chris Farron cuts an eruditely constructed young fellow tonight. Think more Vampire Weekend attire than Misfits. It follows suit in Fake Problems music too, with a multitude of influences engulfing their skittish punk jaunts.

The fantastic punk growl of Chris Farron in ‘Heartless’ amongst a glowing refulgent structure, ‘Heart BPM’s chiming guitar alongside the softer tones of Farron’s voice come to light, exhibiting their ability to do mainstream too.

The American punk streams out in ‘The Dream Team’ as Farron sings “I wanna be the American dream/ But I need you right next to me to fell free” amidst guitar solo‘s, hand claps that are relatively predictable yet catchy.

‘Born And Raised’ laments the college life as Farron sings “Do you ever think that you’ll go back to college?/I said yeah Sir eventually when the time is right and I find a University that I kinda like/I do agree the experience is quite inticing/If I don’t get distracted by all the drinking”…

But it’s the mid set inclusion of the rowdy ‘Diamond Rings’ starting with a chugging bassline, enter a catchy riff and the platform is ready for lead singer Chris Farron. He straddles the vocal assault of Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock and Gorgol Bordello’s gypsy purr, adding a hoarse growl to the bands spearing punk rock.

And when it’s time for maybe the heir to the throne of one of our generations new lyrical maestro’s Frank Turner, the crowd fervour was uncontrollable. With the political poise of Billy Bragg, Frank Turner not only turns a phrase diplomatically withstanding but in a storytelling that brings comfort and an earnest uplifting of a crowd in awe of the journeyman finally reaping the rewards of his hard endeavours.

He adorns us with ‘Photosynthesis’, ‘Long Live The Queen’ and ’The Road’ amongst many. Although I may have been there for different reasons, bringing the old and new together tonight in the form of Frank and FP, it was a splendid concoction of raw talents from artists with a heady arsenal in their locker. Fantastic night in the cavernous Rock City.

Tags: Banquet, Bloc Party Live, Engine Shed Lincoln, Grammatics Live, Kele Okereke, Like Eating Glass, Silent Alarm

Ever get the feeling you’ve been left behind with a shift in a bands motives? When Kele Okereke and his foot soldiers first stepped into our musical peripherals with the black and white crisp video of ‘Banquet’ their gritty indie soul washed upon us with a self exuberance and made it the cornerstone  of an indie clubs resident set list. Yet, now Bloc Party seem self-absorbed in a whirl-pool of tweaking their sound to a subsonic level that is disarming the vital cogs that brought them to our hearts in the first place.

That aside for a minute, before Bloc Party’s set, Grammatics enter the Engine Shed on a wave of variegated reviews both for their supposed grandeur live performance, orchestral inclusions (yes the have a cellist in their ranks) and their whimsical melodramatic debut album.

A plea to the crowd to start to dance from Grammatics frontman NAME before beginning ‘D.I.L.E.M.M.A’ struggles to extract a ounce of enthusiasm from the beleaguered crowd impatient for their glimpse at the headliners. Not until Grammatics play the haunting ‘Murderer’ which whisks around the venue, eerily flowing orchestral snippets seems their only purposeful weapon. As, like their album, Grammatics fall painfully short of impotence for remembrance.

Tonight, every indie kid is at the Engine Shed, it may be deemed a fashion accessory, to be part of tonight’s show. And for the ardent fans in the audience, the first album ‘Silent Alarm’ is lodged firmly forthright in the preference of the preferred set list certainties and not to be lost and forgotten casualties of Bloc Party’s transformation.

When Bloc Party roll their sleeves up and wallow in indie-dom with ‘Like Eating Glass’ and ‘Banquet’ there’s not an indie quartet any better suited to connect with the ‘kids’. But this mainstream tangent has a different philosophy into the idealistic of the Bloc Party most aesthetically pleasing model. And unfortunately for this reviewer, that model makes a 26 year old feel uncomfortably like a 50 year old surrounded by adolescent scamps. Not to mention the standard in song writing that has seemingly shunned its dishevelled edge and brought a more superficial manufactured, industrial sound to the table for the masses.

And just to top the night off, as Bloc Party are about to start the encore after their re-emergence onstage, the fire alarm puts pay to proceedings. No ‘Helicopter’, ‘Two More Years’, ‘So Here We Are’ et al. Not so much a Party, more an anticlimax.

Tags: Kate Walsh, Light & Dark, Tabernacle, Tim's House, Your Song

Those pure of heart with noble souls may not have heard of the Suicide Girls. They’re indie-inclined young ladies with enlightened views on raccoon-girl mascara, piercings, tattoos and the artistic value of getting nekkid in front of the camera. I mention them only because the Kate Walsh gig also seemed to be aimed, Trident missile-like, at my own particular fetishes. Female singer-songwriter with the voice of an angel? Check. Bittersweet love songs? Check. Deceptively simple arrangements? Once again, check. There was even cello accompaniment, for Christ’s sake.

So you might guess that Kate Walsh’s set at Notting Hill’s Tabernacle would get a thumbs up and – let there be no secrets between us, my reader – you’d be spot on. The venue was populated by rather posh chaps who’d apparently dropped in after a hard day’s presenting Top Gear, and their obedient hush when the lights went down was so different to the usual background gig hum as to be almost unsettling. The theatre-like silence meant, however, that you got the full force of Kate Walsh’s clear, soft, Joni Mitchell tones smack bang between the eyes.

The songs themselves aimed more for the heartstrings, with Walsh adhering to the traditional three Ls of her genre – love, loss and longing. The title track from new album ‘Light & Dark’ may have been introduced as “the saddest song I’ve ever written”, but quite a few of her tunes veered in the direction of open heart surgery; boy meets girl, boy breaks girl’s heart, girl writes folk-tinged melody about it. Not that Walsh wallowed in too much introspective self-pity, thank God – anyone who breaks up their performance with a Debussy Cello Sonata and a cover of Erasure’s ‘A Little Respect’ is okay in my book.

Her own songs were drawn in equal measure from ‘Light & Dark’ and its predecessor, ‘Tim’s House’ – the album that made Walsh’s name when it became a surprise digital hit, knocking Take That off top spot in the UK iTunes charts. As you might expect, Walsh closed with her best-known tune, ‘Your Song’, but for me the highlights of the evening were ‘Light & Dark’s countrified single ‘June Last Year’, ‘Betty’ and the Emmy the Great-esque ‘Fireworks’.

Kate Walsh’s voice may not have the quirky individuality that makes Regina Spektor or Tori Amos so recognisable, but there’s an awful lot to like about the Brighton-based singer – here’s hoping that she can knock a few more aging boy bands off their pedestals.

Tags: Fuck Wolf, Horse & Groom, Lincoln, Nephu Huzzband, Nottingham, Papers, Rakes, Tom Vek

People weren’t just at the Horse & Groom tonight for the much talked about Nephu Huzzband, but for the emergence of the math-rock and funnily titled Fuck Wolf. And, like their name, they didn’t disenchant. They fall somewhere between an angry Los Campesinos! impregnated by the math-rock of Foals’ Yannis  Philippakis. As for bands passing through Lincoln’s slowly evolving music scene, Fuck Wolf categorically expressed about as much aptitude as we have witnessed in this relatively hapless pool of talent.

But after a short set from these Lincoln hopefuls it was time…

Visceral post-punk Nottingham quartet Nephu Huzzband adorn Lincoln’s newest rock haven on the eve of their debut albums imminent release. And it doesn’t take these rock scamps long to get in their stride, a cacophony of noise blankets the holding immediately. They rush through a set that includes the hazy prog-rock of ‘The Finger That Points’, spasmodic bursts of instrumentals take pride of place mid-set (‘Neptune & Triton’) and the frenzied screams of ‘No Not Ever’ bellows out sub-two minutes.

‘Black And White’ has Tom Bentley shouting ‘You show me yours, I’ll show you mine’ the line that offended a hormonal NME writer that much she ravaged their debut and marked it one out of ten this week. Either that or the writer in question has a phobia of flashers. Anyway the quartet air ‘Nurse! Nurse!’ which is delivered in an early Rakes-esque indie-stardom seeking plea. Signature song ‘Papers’ straddles a Tom Vek gurgle worthy of some much needed  radio play.

With so many dingy bars played this year, Nephu Huzzband must surely be clasping their hands together in prayer for a larger stage. Although the Horse & Groom didn’t supply this grandeur concave, it did prove that Nephu Huzzband’s adrenaline bursting sets are the perfect antidote for a shit Friday at the office. And for that we thank you Nephu Huzzband.

Tags: Here We Go Magic @ Korova, Liverpool

“Can we get the lights turned down please? This music is meant to be heard in the dark…”

This simple beginning was followed by one of the most accomplished shows I’ve seen in a while, with all five members of the band playing a vital part of the sound. Despite the relative brevity of the set, all the members of the band had their own little moment, be it instrumental, visual or conversational. Interestingly, there was very little actual conversation with the audience, saving the odd one liner between songs and the admittedly over excited drummer, and his constant questioning of the audience about the nightlife in Liverpool. (Best line of the night was his “Hey guys, we’re going out after the show, anywhere good?” and the audience just showed him their beers!)

Although this was their first time in Liverpool, in front of the usual loud crowd of the Liverpool scene, the very first chord from Luke Temple’s guitar silenced the crowd and started the show with a flair not unnoticed by everyone there who were watching every note, every second the whole show long. And, what a show it was, showcasing the definite indie leanings of the band and also the grandeur sound they bring with them. The double guitar sound had an even bigger effect in the more, as was noted by the band themselves, intimate conditions of the stage. Although, (as observed before in a previous review from this venue), the acoustics at Korova can be incredibly bad on occasions, which does mar an otherwise expertly done show, which probably led to many a vocalist looking a little perplexed on occasions and requesting a sound adjustment more than once during their gigs.

But, that aside, it was a good show with thrills a plenty. There is indeed plenty to recommend, the sceptic, most notably the manic variety in the songs which range from quieter acoustic numbers to loud rock riffs, to ambient instrumental type intros that thrill more under whelm with this band.

Needless to say, fans were made with songs as great as ‘Tunnelvision’ and ‘I Just Want To See You’ sending people to the merchandise table soon after the show had finished. A band to see live before you die or at least forget who they are.

Tags: London, The Bookhouse Boys @ Hoxton Bar & Kitchen

Listening to the Bookhouse Boys is a bit like living inside a hip, modern western. On the other side of the camera Tarantino or Rodriguez may be calling the shots, but over here vampire girls are dancing tables at the truckstop while sad-eyed mariachi hide guns in their guitar cases.

Retro cool is a narrow line to walk – one misstep and you’re knee-deep in pastiche – but the Bookhouse Boys don’t put a foot wrong. Fronted by a boy-girl vocal combo of Paul Van Oestren and Catherine Turner, the nine strong group’s throbbing surf guitar mixes with Latino trumpet flourishes, heavy drum action and Spaghetti Western oohs to great effect. Songs such as ‘Dead’ and ‘Tonight’ sound pretty damn good coming through my headphones on the Tube, but when played live they seize hold of the old frontal cortex and demand – demand, sir – to be heard.

Anyone who was swept away by the Bookhouse Boys’ debut album last year (and there sure seem to be a lot of you out there) really should get along to a gig; the band’s widescreen, cinematic sound combined with Van Oestren’s molasses tones to fill every last nook and cranny of Hoxton Bar.

Slightly perversely, then, one of my favourite songs of the evening was new tune ‘Oh Lord’, which laid the mariachi noodling to one side in favour of a simpler, stripped down gospel sound – I was reminded of St. Jude’s Infirmary’s rather wonderful ‘The Church of John Coltrane’. There’s a tendency among indie music fans to shun bands once great unwashed begin to take an interest and I can see the Bookhouse Boys taking off, so enjoy them to the max while you can. Who knew Dick Dale and Deadwood would get along so well?

Tags: Fleet Foxes @ Hyde Park, London

A small thunderstorm had just showered the Hyde Park crowd with fat rain drops when Fleet Foxes trudged onto the stage, looking like five Shaggy’s that had just stumbled out of the Mystery Machine. Drummer Josh Tillman acknowledged the sponsor stage and emphasised the bands purist philosophy by dryly commenting that: “Hard Rock Cafe was the reason they all became musicians” and that he fondly remembered “being taken for an ‘Aerosmith burger’ as a boy!”.

Following some elaborate harmonising and sound checks, Fleet Foxes started slowly with a couple of softer vocal numbers, which were unfamiliar to most of the crowd. Things soon picked up with the familiar strains of ‘Sun it Rises’ and ‘Your Protector’ and in succession as they appear on the album, excellent versions of ‘White Winter Hymnal’ and ‘Ragged Wood’ rang out, full of energy and invention. Lead Singer Robin Pecknold was left alone onstage to deliver a flawless version of ‘Oliver James’, though the second solo song that followed was less impressive and the crowd frankly seemed a little relieved when the rest of the band returned onstage.

Hyde Park then roared it’s appreciation when Fleet Foxes launched into ‘Mikonos’. An impressive set that gathered pace towards the end and finished on a high with an outstanding performance of the gorgeous ‘Blue Ridge Mountains’.