Thursday 16 February 2012

Back in the Blogosphere

I've finally been released from the clutches of my law school course, which means I now have time to write about all the gigs I go to. "Yay", I hear you cry?...

In other news, if I don't find a way to get to Soundwave Festival in Australia this year, life probably won't be worth living. This line-up is truly something else:

Friday 20 November 2009

Cheers, Germany

Described by NME's New Music blog as Germany's answer to Foals are Beat! Beat! Beat! I'm not usually a fan of loud, unexpected bangs erupting from the sky, but their version of Fireworks I like very much. I can certainly see the Foals comparison with this song and the one I've posted below, but some of their other 'choons' have a much softer, more stripped back sound to them. I particularly like Stars, and their EP of the same title contains a nice little remix by The Cinematics. Lovely.

Thursday 29 October 2009

Amamamamazing

Last night I finally got to see Dananananaykroyd and Dinosaur Pile-up live. 
Preceding these two on stage were Calories, who warmed the crowd up nicely with some lovely indie-pop.
Then Dinosaur Pile-up took to the stage and I was absolutely blown away by their performance. They were even better than I expected and they have an incredible drummer. If you ever get a chance to see them live, DO IT. 
Just when I thought it couldn't possibly get any better, Dananananaykroyd (all six of them) exploded into the room and gave possibly the best live performance I've ever seen. They have so much energy. There was crowd surfing, a wall of hugs and loads of head-banging, hair-shaking amazingness. I suggest that you buy their album. Do it now!

Thursday 22 October 2009

And briefly...

Arcs are a four-piece hailing from London, who play some delightful, moody prog rock. They are supporting both Nine Black Alps and The Chapman Family in the coming weeks and are at the Buffalo Bar in Islington tonight, along with the next band I thought worthy of a mention...

 Duke Raoul are a Brighton based indie group whom I like very much. They are playing at The Freebutt in Brighton with the amazing We Were Promised Jetpacks - I'm a sucker for a Scottish accent - on November 13th. Here's a video so you can revel in the brilliance of the latter yourselves, if you haven't already...



Brainwash

Is it just me or is there an influx into the music scene lately of bands with animal names or some crazy variation thereupon, such as 'beasts'?...Well anyway, in keeping with this trend, whether I've imagined it or not, are Elephants. I am actually in love with this band. There's nothing like a bit of old fashioned indie. Plus the singer's voice reminds me slightly of that of vocalist Jack Steadman from Bombay Bicycle Club, who are possibly my favourite band EVER.


Further proving my point are a band I only discovered this morning. Bearsuit use a multitude of instruments to create sounds which include screamy punk vocals and a DIY effect reminiscent of the days of Riot Grrrl scene, poppy electro beats and sound effects, with the odd classical vocals and brass and wind instruments thrown in for good measure. Phew. They're signed to London-based Fantastic Plastic Records, along with the likes of The Victorian English Gentlemens Club and are worth checking out.

A few other bands which have caught my attention of late include Bear Driver, Wonderswan, Pulled Apart By Horses and Chickenhawk. I rest my case.

I believe the majority of the above will be playing at the Brainwash Festival, which is in it's fourth year and takes place in Leeds next weekend.

Tuesday 20 October 2009

COOL

I urge you to listen to Not Cool. Specifically, the song Wonderful Beasts. Crazy-mad 'gutter pop'/rock/other genres may be included.

Saturday 10 October 2009

Poprocktastic

You Animals are a lovely upbeat indie-pop group. Here's the video for their debut single which they released earlier in the year. http://www.myspace.com/youanimals

They're playing the SWN Festival in Cardiff at the end of the month - you know, the one Radio 1's Huw Stephens put together?...The line-up includes some amazing bands such as Johnny Foreigner, Tubelord, The Victorian English Gentlemen's Club, Soft Toy Emergency...why the hell don't I have tickets for this event? http://swnfest.co.uk/site/

I'm also enjoying the slightly rockier sounds of These Waves, who seemingly have some sort of link with You Animals. By that I mean they're in one another's top friends on myspace. Go and have a listen. You don't even need to type their name into your search engine of choice, I've gone and done the hard part for you, you just need to click here: http://www.myspace.com/thesewavesuk