Two dates for the diary.

5th December – Tickets released. 3rd/4th June – Concert.

The show is being advertised as circesque and we have been told to expect jugglers, dancers, acrobats and tattooed ladies (because all ladies who tattoo themselves are forced into the travelling arts apparently), I could be talking about a crazy Irrepressibles show or Cirque Du Solei, but I’m not. Britney Spears is coming to Europe, Blighty to be exact, for just 2 days, I guess we should be excited. However its at the O2 arena and Britney Spears.

I quite like circuses, and considering I’ve seen a bear ride a motorbike in Eastern Europe before it became gentrified by the EU I’m certain her show will pale in comparison so I wont go, you can though. I imagine it will be unpleasantly expensive, so what you should do if you are so inclined for some sort of show, is buy her album then just go to your local circus and play the album on repeat as you see clowns, lion tamers and all manner of other circus people. It will probably be equally well choreographed.

Filed under: News, Britney Spears, Circus, What?

Anthony.Love at The Dublin Castle

Last Monday saw us heading north to Camden Town to go and check out the up and coming talent Anthony.Love. I met up with him at a pub to sit down for a chat, have a beer or two, and enjoy some sausage and mash or Scampi if your name’s Anthony. I met up with Roo at Dublin Castle where we sat down for some interview fun. I have to say it was my favourite interview so far; he seemed like a level headed guy who could have a bright future if he plays his cards right. Read the interview after the break.

Before the gig I had already been tipped off that The Straylings, who were supporting Anthony.Love, were worth seeing and this was reinforced by a man I met outside after a case of serious beard envy. His name was Paul Murff and he spends his time touring around filming what he terms ‘Secret Superstars’ who are great musicians that most people, sadly,  have never heard of. He pointed me in a couple of good directions for new music to listen to and hopefully I’ll be hunting them down and reviewing their gigs over the next couple of weeks.

The first two bands that were on that evening were incredibly poor. I’m not one to name and shame at that level but I did spend most of my time smoking outside the venue rather than listening to them. I came back in for The Straylings who impressed me but were not helped by the rubbish sound engineer who seemed to think that deafening was the volume to be at and who really wants to hear a semi-acoustic when we can put the electric on 17. But aside from that they had buckets of potential and I want to go see them again sometime soon.

Finally, after an evening of waiting, Anthony.Love hit the stage. He has an innocent charm about him that captured the audience from the get go as he took them on an adventure with his bass. His songs are so much better live than his myspace could ever attest too it was great. He had one cover which he was doing during his set which he got the audience to vote on. I was in the lets hear kate nash with a dick camp but sadly we were over ruled and were treated to a version of Flux by Bloc Party. Once he had got through his set and allotted time the crowd still hadn’t had enough Anthony.Love so he got the go ahead to carry on and play another couple of songs which everyone enjoyed. I had a chat with The Straylings while he was playing and they were impressed, especially their bassist who really enjoyed his way of playing and his skill.

All in all it was a great evening and I would recommend that you get out and see Anthony.Love next time he’s playing. The interview we did with him is after the break.

Filed under: Gigs, anthony.love, live, london

Johnny Flynn and The Sussex Wit

He’s an unusual lad, is that Johnny Flynn. He’s young, wears lots of tartan shirts, cites W.B Yeates and Shakespeare as some of his influences, plays a resonator guitar, and has the voice of a forty year old. Which is epic. Flynn is an actor and a poet, as well as being a songwriter. He’s of the wordsmith school of songwriting, much like Bob Dylan or Johnny Cash. It’s all about the words and the folky guitar picking on a classic blues instrument.

I saw him perform twice at Latitude earlier this year; once with his band The Sussex Wit (which includes his sister Lillie) on a little stage out in the woods, and once in the music and film tent by himself. Out in the woods is the perfect setting for Johnny Flynn – there is a rawness to his music, with his simple but perfect arrangements, which allows you to just listen, enjoy and think a little. Brilliant for a little inward reflection. However, there is also the foot stamping aspect, with songs that you can’t help but get happy to. The second time I saw him, it was just him and his resonator, along with a bloke and a bass in the music and film tent. He played a fairly similar set, but read bits of a poem he had written in between. The boy has talent. It was funny and sweet without being awkward or melodramatic as you might expect. And there was a video played to ‘Tickle Me Pink’ in which we all got a close look into one of the toilets… Lovely. The third time I saw him was whilst I was eating a crepe, freezing my arse off, moaning to my boyfriend about the weather. He walked by me and it took all the strength I had not to run gibbering after him. Awkward star struck moment.

I first heard Johnny when I bought some music magazine that had a free CD of some Transgressive Records releases. It included a demo version of ‘Tickle Me Pink’ that I didn’t think much of at first, but it quickly began to haunt me. It was the song I’d go to when I didn’t know what to listen to, and it never failed to cheer me up. After seeing him at Latitude not long later, I just couldn’t get enough of him. I bought A Larum, and listened to it endlessly, soaking it all in. There’s a sort of Irish folk air to it, with lots of foot stamping rhythms, old beaten up sounding guitars, and lots of fiddle. Favourite listens are ‘The Box’, ‘Eyeless In Holloway’, and ‘Leftovers’.  If you haven’t heard him, go check him out, him and his band are brilliant, effortlessly folky and the best thing you didn’t know you were missing. And he’s hot….

Filed under: Festivals, albums, music, new talent

Upset the Rhymn – Indian Jewelry & These Are Powers

I again travelled to Barden’s Boudoir, only this time I went alone and cycled through the rain with a cumbersome pannier full of notes. Which was foolish and made me feel somewhat unreceptive especially to the band I caught the tail end of, however These Are Powers’ energy reinnovated me into a much better mood for Indian Jewelry.

These Are Powers are a Chicago-Brooklyn group were playing their first UK gig and they were good: Pat Noecker, previously of Liars, wielded his bass-‘axe’ a lot like an axe which I found oddly endearing but that was probably due to Bill Salas (a.k.a Brenmar) and him knocking out great bass and percussions while Anna Barie high kicked, tamborined and sung about. Bill joined the band 8 months into its existence after a former drummer left, on the night he was wearing a red beanie which looked a lot like the hats worn by Steve Zissou’s sub-aqua team, Bill acknowledged the reference but said he hadn’t been thinking of that when he bought the hat, he also said that should he have special powers he’d have invisibility and mainly use it for good with some pranks as well. Everyone always chooses invisibility.

At first they reminded me a bit of Crystal Castles, only less 8 bit electro and more good, so not really much like Crystal Castles at all, but they did have a high kicking female who was energetic about the stage, so that is about where the comparison ends.

The crowd seemed more receptive to them they did Indian Jewelry but this seemed to be mainly due to Indian Jewelry digging them from the crowd, I hope this improves because I enjoyed them and should I see them again I don’t want to have to be spazzing out at the front on my own in the hope someone might join in…

Before I had a chance to chat with anyone else from the band Indian Jewelry came on and so I quickly found a cubby hole and put my pannier there in the hope that no one would want to steal my notes.

I did not know much about Indian Jewelry other than they were highly recommended, and they did not disappoint.

Filed under: Gigs, Beirut, Indian Jewelry, live, These Are Powers, Upset the Rhythm

A new Bon Iver EP!

I’ve been trawling the internet as I do in search of new music and news of old bands that I hold close to my heart. I came across a gem this evening and thought I must share it with you as it made me smile from ear to ear.

If you have ever read the first post on this blog you will have some idea of how much I love Bon Iver as it was just a long gush about how amazing his gig in Paris was. They played some new songs when I saw them in Paris so I had an inkling that something like this was on the horizon. They are releasing a new EP entitled ‘Blood Bank EP’ on January 19th. I hope some of you out there are as exciting as I am about this and I’m sure you are.

To go with this post I thought I’d share a little beauty I found, from an album Justin Vernon created before Bon Iver became what they are, called Hazelton

Justin Vernon – Hazelton

Filed under: News, bon iver

The Irrepressibles at the RVT

Me and my dear friend Reuben went for a short walk down the road from our flat last week to go and see The Irrepressibles, at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, on the recommendation of Laurie one of the other writers on this blog; sadly he was ill but we went without him. Fueled by wine and beer, we turned up fairly early expecting a bit of a show as they are known to put on dazzling performances such as their gig at Latitude this year.

During our little break before the band we enjoyed another couple of beers served by someone who later turned out to be one of the band. I enjoyed that as it felt the band really knew the venue as they were a part of it. Then when the music turned down they all appeared out of the wood work, came onto stage all dressed in red and black themed clothes and then kicked off with The Tide.

Half way through there set they had a little break for a short film that has been created with there music as backing. It was an incredible and eerie little film about some sinister clowns and the shinangans they got upto. The music went beautifully with the atmosphere of the film and apparently will be released along side the film soon. That will mark there first release, hopefully with the album following in January *fingers crossed*.

After the gig we wandered down into the catacombs of the RVT to meet up with all of The Irrepressibles for a little chat. The interviews with all of the members of The Irrepressibles are after the break.

Filed under: Gigs, live, london, the irrepressibles

Upset the Rhythm – Mahjongg and Caldera Lakes

On the 23rd October Laurie and I journeyed long and hard to Barden’s Boudoir to see Mahjonng. In support were Caldera Lakes and the solo projects of the two band members, Married in Berdichev! and Kevin Shields. The night was put on by the record label Upset the Rhythm that recently celebrated its 5th anniversary, they put on a reasonably priced bunch of gigs in the London area, Indian Jewelry are playing on 13th November, as well as releasing music by the likes of BARR and Lucky Dragons.

Married in Berdichev! is Britney Goulds and she came out, knelt down on the floor, blew into a half filled bottle and turned on the loop machine.  Her vocals seemed more lamenting than when she sang in Caldera Lakes and the organisation seemed much simpler, with her mainly rocking back and forth shaking various jangly instruments.

Kevin Shields, the other half of Caldera Lakes goes also by the name of Eva Aguila, utilises a 35mm Film Synchroniser she obtained from Universal Studios, which she runs audio tape through and then shakes it all up in frantic motions that would make an analogue film-audio editor cry to make an intense sound. Both sets seemed to be cut short due to technical reasons which were later explained by pieces of their equipment having been stolen in Rome recently and the replacements seemed to be playing funny buggers.

When the two came together as Caldera Lakes they were like, unsurprisingly, the synergising part of a Venn diagram bringing their different styles of experimental music together, only this time Eva joined Britney in kneeling on the floor. Caldera Lakes paint pictures of Modernistic Brutalist architecture, some people hate it but a fair few like it being around.

Mahjongg, much like Barak Obama are based in Illinois, and could be described as a mixture of dance pop and industrial experimental. Like Obama they were not born in Illinois rather hail from various small towns in Missouri. Mahjonng are 5 piece band and bar Hunter Husar on keyboard and synth they all switch between different instruments, apart from during one song where the whole band start playing percussion (there were two drum kits while the other three beat a suitcase, petrol can and a severely sad looking cymbal). The poor little cymbal, I felt a strong desire to report the what could be loosely described as the guitarist, that I was going to report him to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Savage inDentation [RSPSD].

Mahjongg were great to watch, they seemed all over the place but in a ramshackle performance sense rather than disorganised. I liked the way they dedicated a song in protest of DJ Grooveriders incarceration in the United Arab Emirates with the comment that he had been pardoned already and due for release soon.

After the sets Laurie and I had a chat with the artists and then the people who set up and run Upset the Rhythm, it was the first time anyone from Hundreds & Thousands had did this and we were fairly uncertain on the etiquette, what can I say, they never had a talking to music-men class at finishing school.

Filed under: Gigs, Caldera Lakes, live, london, Mahjonng, Upset the Rhythm

Mumford and Sons, the next big thing?

This week has seen the release of Mumford and Sons second EP, released on Chess Club Records, entitled Love Your Ground and it has me thinking.

At the moment we seem to be having a big folk revival, which is definitely no bad thing. It has spawn a ridiculous amount of bands who hail from all across the world, but London seems to be the heart of England’s efforts to produce beautiful sounding modern folk music. The main offenders have been the likes of Noah and the Whale, Laura Marling, Johnny Flynn and countless other groups, those are just the ones that come to mind. Then there is Mumford and Sons.

They have been sitting in the wings for a little while now producing some absolutely beautiful songs which culminated in there first EP which was released onto RawRip for everyone to get there grubby little iMits all over it. Before it even was released they got given the title of ‘Single of the Week’, on BBC Radio 2, for the song Roll away your stone which was impressive but well deserved as it is a wonderful little folk ditty.

Between then and now they have toured the UK as well as the USA while working down in a remote studio in Devon producing their latest EP; and it has been well worth the wait. They manage to produce a sound which, while similar to the other folk bands around, has another dimension to it which envelops me and warms me from the very core of the body.

They have something very good going on at the moment from the quality of there recorded songs to the intensity of their live shows. I can see them going far if they play their cards right and I feel it will be very hard for them not to. They are playing the Hoxton Bar & Grill on the 9th December and I for one will definitely be there and I hope you all are too. So here are a couple of songs by them for you to give a listen to before you go out and buy their record and also a little video courtesy of Black Cab Sessions.

Hold Onto What You Believe by Mumford and Sons

White Blank Page by Mumford and Sons

Black Cab Sessions with Mumford and Sons

Filed under: Articles, folk, mumford and sons

Festival New Orleans

Last weekend was the first of a possible annual New Orleans related festival at the O2 Arena. It was the first time I had ever been to the O2 so part of me was quite excited about that, however the venue is appallingly designed for large groups of people which seemed ironic considering its purpose. But maybe the organisers just didn’t think that so many people would turn up.

The only things I know about New Orleans are derived from news reports when hurricane season rolls around and what I’ve read by Kerouac when he stumbled around there, so the major pull to Festival New Orleans was the fact it was free. I got there pretty early in the evening and checked out the very end of Anointed Jackson Sisters, and was struck immediately that the festival was very family orientated, which is always good, because nothing makes me happier than seeing a grandmother boogie woogieing, although I did feel that if it wasn’t for the many children I would have been able to push my way through closer to the front without seeming incredibly rude. The O2 was playing host to Disney on ice so it seemed that most the kids were there to see Nemo but I liked how by chance they were experiencing music they might not normally hear.

Filed under: Festivals, Blues, Jazz, Zydeco

Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll

Punk is back! Horray. Everybody loves a bit of punk, or so Topshop would have us believe. The streets are filled with ripped tights and Doc Martens, and my ears are filled with all the music I forgot about. Spurred on by buying a Sid and Nancy t-shirt, I dug out all of the punk I own (not very much admittedly) and whacked it on as loud as it would go, whilst scruffing around in ripped things and safety pins. It was brilliant. Punk makes you feel that you can take on the establishment all by yourself, no matter whether you are Sid Vicious himself or a physics student who doesn’t get out as much as she should… My favourite thing to listen to is Never Mind The Bollocks, it’s loud, gritty and full of stuff that your mother wouldn’t like (if you were a teenager in the 70s – now she probably wouldn’t mind that much, what with knife crime and Primark being the current state of affairs). If you’re more after something to think about rather than something to get you riled up for a fight, try some Ian Dury and The Blockheads on for size. A true wordsmith if ever there was one. One of the things on my to-do list in life is to learn all the words to Reasons To Be Cheerful (Part 3). Many many brilliant words, and I’m still working on it.

But for now, instead of trying to bring down Thatcher (I feel I might have missed the boat on that one) and rebel against the establishment, I’m just going to listen to The Sex Pistols, get angry, and then go and watch that nice Johnny Rotten try and sell me some butter… Sell-out much?

Filed under: Articles