ONES 2 WATCH: ELECTRICITY IN OUR HOMES
April 1, 2011 by Editor
Filed under MUSIC, ONES 2 WATCH
ONES 2 WATCH: ELECTRICITY IN OUR HOMES
I OFTEN FIND MYSELF IN THE POSITION OF WANTING TO LIKE A BAND A LOT MORE THAN I ACTUALLY DO. THIS USUALLY APPLIES WHEN I DISCOVER AN ACT THAT IS TRYING TO DO SOMETHING NEW MUSICALLY OR SOMETHING OTHERWISE WORTHWHILE, ALTHOUGH THEIR ACTUAL MUSICAL OUTPUT IS STILL A BIT CACK.
Electricity In Our Homes flip this scenario on its head. I want to hate them. They are insanely trendy in every respect. They wear tight jeans, sing off key, play their instruments with a swaggered insouciance, have a MySpace page too ‘cool’ for a bio and their lyrics make you feel as though you are being sneered at for not being enough of a hipster.
Unfortunately all of these normally abhorrent character traits are exactly what make EIOH so brilliant.
They’ve been around for a while now, although you’ve probably not heard of them because they seemingly go out of their way to not promote their music, and then once you have heard them and want a piece of them to own for yourself, they make it very difficult to get hold of.
Their most recent 12 inch was only pressed 300 times and isn’t available online other than to stream on their MySpace page.
Fortunately their first EP We Completely Agree is available both on Spotify and iTunes, and I strongly suggest you have a listen and buy it.
I suppose I should describe their music, which is in itself a bit of a task; Post-Pop, Post-Punk 80’s revival that is so raw and cutting edge, you can’t help but imagine that this might be how Joy Division would have sounded if they were just now forming as a band.
Please take the time to listen to the song below, and visit their MySpace page. Your life will be enriched, but you do run the risk of inducing serious self loathing.
Words Luke McGee
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CANDLE THIEVES @ CAMDEN ENTERPRISE, MARCH 22
CANDLE THIEVES @ CAMDEN ENTERPRISE, MARCH 22
I DIDN’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT CANDLE THIEVES BEFORE THE GIG BUT FROM THE FEW TRACKS I HAD HEARD I WAS EXPECTING FEEL GOOD POP WITH KEYS AND ELECTRONIC BEATS, AKIN TO THE FLASH IN THE PAN THAT WAS OWL CITY.
Essentially, the music of 15 year olds that haven’t quite discovered the joys of real music yet but know enough to realise that there is a lot more than the humdrum of the top 40.
Watching them set up it was clear, based upon the amount of props that Candle Thieves had brought along with them that they were not a band that took themselves too seriously. An observation that in my experience meant that the gig could go one way or the other. It went the other.
Starting with ‘Breathing (just for you)’ they were quickly struck down with a technical error, the ol’ standard of the dodgy guitar lead. An unforgiveable mistake. Rule number one of any gigging band is check your equipment. Have spare strings, spare batteries, spare leads and sound check because if it can break, it will break.
That said, singer, Scott McEwan handled the situation well and quickly kick started things again following on with tunes of a similar upbeat nature before taking a massive slump in the middle. Maudlin songs like ‘Bright Lights’ and ‘We’re All Gonna Die’ stuck out like a racist joke in a Christmas cracker and just did not work. ‘We’re All Gonna Die’ in particular, was one of the most cringeworthy things I have seen at a gig. An awkward carry on which saw the singer walking around the audience singing without amplification to a lonely piano. It was like Glee, only it wasn’t on television it was in my face and it made me uncomfortable, especially when he forgot the lyrics to the second verse and had to stop.
From this point on things never really delivered. A shame really because the Candle Thieves are actually a good pop band and when they apply themselves are masters of the genre. Think Scouting for Girls with better music and lyrics that don’t (always) make you want to stab yourself in the face. The problem though is that other than two or three absolute showstoppers, Candle Thieves do not have songs good enough to merit any justified hype or acclaim. Their set was odd and felt half-formed starting with a lot of promise (despite tech errors) before petering out in the middle with filler and cheap gags. With a stronger batch of tunes and not just a few reliable ones they could be great. The twee bullshit also needs to be stopped or at least saved for an audience that actually cares. I.e. One comprised of teenagers not adults drunk on cheap wine and self denial.
Overall this was a very disappointing gig from a band that are obviously capable of some good stuff yet seemingly don’t rehearse or know which direction they actually want to head in.
2/5
Words: Jordan Waller
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ALEX TURNER – SUBMARINE EP
IT’S BEEN HARD TO IGNORE ALL OF THE PRESS COVERAGE CURRENTLY BEING GIVEN TO RICHARD AYOADE’S DIRECTORIAL DEBUT SUBMARINE, WHICH IS TO OPEN IN CINEMAS THIS FRIDAY.
A comical “coming of age” story set in Wales, the film is adapted from Joe Dunthorne’s novel of the same name and has been causing a bit of a stir with those ‘in the know’ for quite some time.
Accompanying Ayoade’s vision on scoring duties is Arctic Monkey’s front-man Alex Turner who features six songs in the film, all of which have just been released as an EP. A stripped down, other worldly acoustic effort that sets the tone for the film perfectly, as an EP this sounds a complete and coherent work from start to finish. The songs whilst individuals, all clearly point towards a much larger work, obviously, not a great surprise when you remember why these songs exist. The sense of completion however does improve the listening experience considerably.
Forgetting for a second that they have been written for a film, as a collection of songs this is an impressive record. As someone who isn’t enormously enamoured with the Arctic Monkeys and had previously found Alex Turner’s song writing a bit charmless, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by this record. But, that said, for all of the accolades and sycophancy bestowed upon this man over the past few years, I’m not sure that these 6 songs have convinced me that I was completely wrong about him and that he actually is the greatest song writer of our generation.
There were moments on the first play-through when I found myself pausing a song for one reason or another and completely forgetting that I’d been listening to anything, which isn’t the behaviour of someone immersed in a work of genius. If anything on repeated listening it’s easy to find the tracks a little boring and I did constantly find myself looking for reasons to hit the pause button. Considering this it’s easy to say that the EP is a lot less than sum of it’s parts and whether the EP will retain any of its initial charm once the film leaves our cinema screens will remain to be seen.
The film isn’t out for a few days, and I was already pretty excited about it. Having now listened to part of the soundtrack and better understood how it will work and enhance the film, I am now going to spend the rest of my week trying to find things to do until Friday.
4/5
Words Luke McGee
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SUEDE TO HEADLINE LATITUDE FESTIVAL 2011
THE NEWLY REFORMED SUEDE ARE SET TO HEADLINE THIS YEAR’S LATITUDE FESTIVAL ALONGSIDE THE NATIONAL AND SCOTTISH SOUL MAN, PAOLO NUTINI.
The annual music and arts festival will take place on the weekend of 14 -17 July, at Henham Park near Southwold, Suffolk. This will be the 6th year that the festival has run, with organisers, Festival Republic recently signing up for a further 15 years at the site.
With a variety of changes set in place, this year should see the largest and most ambitious Latitude yet – one major improvement of which will be an increased arena size but without a capacity increase. Hopefully, allowing for a more comfortable festival experience for any attendees and surely music to the ears of any attendees that got caught up in large crowds during previous years.
Latitude founder and creator said Melvin Benn said: “We’ve been listening to our loyal fans and this year, for our sixth edition, we are making some changes to the site which will further enhance everyone’s enjoyment of their favourite festival weekend. Latitude truly is ‘more than just a music festival’ and this year’s programme across the full spectrum of arts and music is utterly exceptional.”
Other music acts to play over the course of the weekend will include Bright Eyes, Foals, KT Tunstall, Villagers, Paloma Faith and newcomer Anna Calvi.
As always, there will also be a variety of comedy acts on the bill including Never Mind The Buzzcock’s Phil Jupitus, Dave Gorman and Richard Herring.
For a full listings, news and tickets visit Latitude’s website here.
Words Jordan Waller
ALBUM REVIEW: WHAT WOULD JESUS DRIVE, BLACK AND BLUE
BAND: WHAT WOULD JESUS DRIVE
ALBUM: BLACK AND BLUE
RELEASE: 28TH MARCH (DIGITAL), 30TH MAY (PHYSICAL)
CONSIDERING THAT PANCAKE DAY HAS ONLY RECENTLY PASSED, I THINK IT MIGHT BE NICE TO TALK ABOUT PANCAKES FOR A SECOND.
Now, as a meal there is nothing inherently wrong with pancakes at all. In fact, you could say that their pros easily outweigh their cons. They are easy to make, they comprise of simple ingredients that you almost always have and they take no effort to eat. You could easily slop one down when on a hangover with minimal vomit potential or make them a full on meal with lots of hearty toppings. They are sweet but equally delicious savoury and taste fine on their own without toppings and extra additions.
What Would Jesus Drive are similar like that. They taste absolutely fine on their own. But could they benefit from the addition of something else a little more interesting? Yes. Yes they could.
Black and Blue is not a horrible album and is actually fairly listenable but not at all memorable. It’s the kind of thing that you might find slung into the middle of an indie playlist in a shit hole club that you’ll never remember the next day. They follow the tried and tested formula of mildly accented vocalisations mixing it up with spoken word and shouty romps ala Art Brut and Los Campesinos! Only, they don’t have the lo-fi charm of Art Brut, or the musical chops of the ever expansive Los Campesinos! (Apparently the exclamation mark is essential, which I agree is very annoying).
Truthfully – and I say this with a heavy heart because their name is fantastic – there is really very little to WWJD. Just like pancakes. They bring nothing new or particularly original to the table and we have already heard it all before. Most likely in the band that you yourself formed aged 16 and why would you listen to that on a album when you could listen to something a lot better by…I don’t know… those funny indie failures that never did anything – The Oxfam Glamour Models. At least they, whilst being tragic and terrible had a genuine fire to them. WWJD just seem forced. Like The Wombats, and the only time that was ever acceptable was in 2007. Of course I might eat my words when they release their new album later this year but something tells me I won’t have to. Something tells me it will either sound nothing like their debut or be absolutely rubbish. WWJD just sounds like an angrier version of Wombats and that’s not great.
Still, I bet they’re banging live and fun to dance to, which is probably their real aim anyway. I hope. Now where did I leave my pancakes.
2/5
Words Jordan Waller
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ONES 2 WATCH: LIAM BAILEY
March 13, 2011 by Editor
Filed under MUSIC, ONES 2 WATCH
IN THE VOID LEFT BETWEEN AMY WINEHOUSE ACTUALLY HEADING TO REHAB AND X-FACTOR’S EMOTIONAL BUBBLE BATHS, WE’VE WATCHED THE SOUL SCENE TOPPED UP TO ALMOST SATURATION POINT.
The problem with most artists being that they are usually a cleverly packaged attempt to mince the cash cow. Other than Plan B’s recent efforts and perhaps Jamie Lidell’s Jim album, there hasn’t really been much in the way of anything sounding even remotely genuine in recent years –especially from a male singer. Even with the examples given, one does have to take a second to briefly question the motives of the formally gritty rapper Plan B, whilst also wondering if Liddell’s heart is truly in it, considering his electro roots. But, good things come to those who wait and it would seem that we finally have a male soul contender for Winehouse’s crown. Embodying a voice so authentic that if it was a single entity it’d be suited and booted and stealing your girlfriend, this man is Liam Bailey.
You may recognise his name as the recent feature credit on Chase and Status’ Blind Faith most likely caught playing in a club near you in a sea of WKD and short skirts. For a more accurate representation of his talents though you should check out his recent single, ‘You Better Leave Me,’ a swoon of strings and sharp guitar relayed beneath a world weary voice of Ortis Redding and Sam Cooke proportions. The song is a slow burner that does just enough to knock the spotlight in his direction, placing full emphasis on his smokey blues tinged diction and breathing new life into a previously tiresome genre.
With an album dropping just in time for the festivals (sometime in May), we should expect to see a lot more from this Nottingham bred soulster. As long as this new, greater exposure isn’t due to any career stemming product endorsements (ahem, Duffy,) then we think that this can only be a good thing.
Words Jordan Waller
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ALBUM REVIEW: LADYTRON – BEST OF 00-10
YOU ALWAYS FEEL AN EVER SO SLIGHT SENSE OF GUILT BUYING A COMPILATION ALBUM, LIKE THE PERSON BEHIND THE COUNTER IS SECRETLY THINKING “OH JUST GET OUT OF MY SHOP YOU PLASTIC MUSIC FAN”.
I know I’m not alone in this. How many times have you spoken to a friend who you respect enough to value their opinion of any music, and heard them say that you simply must get a compilation album? Probably never.
Of course, this is a ludicrous way to feel. If you don’t know a great deal about an artist, these brief summaries and highlights of their careers to date are a great way of getting you through the door. I wouldn’t be as obsessed with Tom Waits, were it not for someone giving me a highlights package of his early career.
There is however a difference between artists like Tom Waits and U2 releasing a selection of their most popular songs. For one it’s a convenient summary of their work, for the other a deeply cynical, money spinning operation.
Ladytron: Best of 00 – 10 is a fairly self explanatory title for this compilation album. If you don’t know who Ladytron are, they are an electro band from Liverpool who have only really been active for the past decade. Therefore, a “best of” album is an ideal showcase of their work to at least form a considered opinion of their output, had you not really paid a great deal of attention to their work previously.
As someone who falls into this category, I am in a perfect position to review this album at face value.
My first comment on all 17 songs featured, is that I cannot believe this is music from the 21st century. Everything on this album sounds awfully dated. From start to finish the tracks are all saturated with pad synth sounds. This sort of thing was acceptable in the 80’s, when synth pop first became commonplace. But with 20-30 years spent honing the art of synthesis, this feels extremely lazy and is frankly, irritating.
Lazy is an adjective that can be applied when trying to describe virtually all aspects of this record. It’s hard to imagine that a great deal of thought and effort went into the chord patterns of any of the songs and I can’t remember any of the lyrics or vocal melodies from the album.
It’s possible that I’m being unfair, as this style of music has been heavily lampooned in the media, and admittedly many of the songs wouldn’t have be out of place in an episode of Nathan Barley.
The one worthwhile song, ‘Deep Blue’, I’ve embedded below. It boasts a variety of sounds and a broader range of dynamics than can be seen anywhere else on the album. But, after listening through the full album twice has this whirlwind over-saturation in anyway encouraged me to take a further interest in Ladytron and their electro-legacy?
I think the fact that I’m already deleting this album from my iTunes library, throwing the CD over the nearest rainbow and fashioning an email to Ladytron, informing them that most modern synthesisers have a broader range of sound banks than “pad strings”, should answer that question for you.
That’s not to say that some people won’t like this. I often find myself in some dreadful bar in Shoreditch or Brighton, and see people I want nothing to do with enjoying this kind of electro-drivel.
In summary, if you like Fischerspooner and would be happy to buy an album they made in an afternoon at gunpoint, then it’s entirely possible that you will like Ladytron.
The album is out on March 28th and you will be able to find out more about it by visiting the band’s website.
Words Luke McGee
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ONES 2 WATCH: MISTY MILLER
February 28, 2011 by Editor
Filed under MUSIC, ONES 2 WATCH
SHE IS 16 YEARS OLD, PLAYS THE UKULELE, HAS A NAME THAT MAKES HER SOUND LIKE ONE OF ANDY WARHOL’S MUSES AND HAS JUST RELEASED ONE OF THE MOST PROMISING DEBUT ALBUMS WE’VE HEARD THIS YEAR.
Misty Miller writes sweet and cheery songs about love and life that stick like melted icecream. Lyrically she embodies an air of innocence with twee references to the playground and teenage kisses but at the same time her songs are in no way aimed purely towards her peers. Each song is skilfully crafted in such a way that they easily reach out to all, if you have ever been in love from a distance, had your heart broken or simply aspired for something a bit more, then you’re on the same card.
As far as comparison’s go, at the moment the music press are lumping her in with the new folk crowd and hailing her as the next Laura Marling. Personally I wouldn’t really label it as folk, sure it contains lots of acoustic countrified instruments but as a full sound it’s a lot poppier than your average pub dwelling folky. Leaping from floaty Hawaiian style ditties to rockabilly and slow dramatic ballads in just a few tracks there is a lot more at work here. If you’re looking for a muddy comparison then think Lisa Hannigan with the pop bounce of Jason Mraz and the structure and styling’s of Billie Holiday and even Elvis in his moments of smooth.
Whatever your thoughts, she is certainly impressing the right people and has already caught the roving eyes of Vogue, Swarovski, L’Oreal, Radio 1’s Rob Da Bank and John Kennedy’s XFM Exposure show. Not to mention Burberry’s Christopher Bailey being a huge fan and featuring her not just in his Burberry Acoustic campaign but also using her song Remember to accompany the men’s fashion show –Burberry Prosum for Spring/Summer2011.
Get ready to see a lot more of her in 2011 as well as a massive outbreak of other ukulele playing teen copy cats.
Words Jordan Waller Image Nick Dorey
ÓLÖF ARNALDS – SINGLE ‘SURRENDER’ AND LIVE SHOW
THERE’S A VERY GOOD CHANCE THAT YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF ÓLÖF ARNALDS. THIS IS BECAUSE AS A GENERIC WESTERN CONSUMER, YOU’RE SO PRE-OCCUPIED WITH FINDING THE NEXT BUCKET OF DRIVEL SERVED UP BY BRITAIN OR AMERICA, YOU’VE LITTLE TO NO INTEREST IN ANYTHING THAT MIGHT BE HAPPENING IN ICELAND. ESPECIALLY SINCE THEIR ENORMOUS CONTRIBUTION TO OUR ECONOMIC CRISIS, YOU PROBABLY DON’T THINK WE CAN TRUST THEM.
Well, luckily for your I’m here to point you in the direction of an artist so whimsical and exciting in equal measure that on her most recent album Bjork featured as nothing more than a backing singer and her only UK show currently scheduled for this year has already sold out.
So, the album is already out and her only UK gig you won’t be able to get tickets for, so why on earth am I telling you about this person?
Ólöf Arnalds is an artist achieving both critical acclaim and relative fame at an unusual stage in her career. Although she has toured with a number of other artists and has for some time been a member of the experimental band Mum, it’s only now at the age of 31 and as a solo artist that Ólöf is receiving the individual attention that she so clearly deserves.
Her 2010 album Innundir Skinni was written after giving birth to her first child, an experience Ólöf described as inspiring her to have a lot of beautiful ideas from being in a blissful state.
Next month she will release another single from last year’s album, and to promote it she has added another date to her European tour, one day after the sold out show at London’s Vortex Jazz Club.
You could do far worse than to check out the upcoming single ‘Surrender’ by watching the video beneath this post however, please be aware that it has some moderately graphic scenes and should a bit of human flesh be too much for you then you can listen to the single on SoundCloud by clicking here.
The single is a beautifully intimate folk lullaby that is stripped down to such a degree that you could easily believe the performance to be taking place in the room with you.
Bjork provides a haunting backing vocal that are understated enough not to overpower the song’s core, but adds an ethereal dusting to the extraordinarily personal performance from Ólöf.
She has already been tipped by The Guardian, NME, Mojo and Q magazine to cause a bit of a stir in 2011. Well, as much of a stir as someone seemingly so reclusive can muster.
You can book tickets for the London show by visiting this website and if you’ve decided to do that, you might as well buy a copy of Innundir Skinni, which is avaliable on iTunes.
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Words Luke McGee
MIRRORS: LIVING IN ELECTRIC DREAMS
February 9, 2011 by Editor
Filed under MUSIC, ONES 2 WATCH
HAVING JUST BEEN PLUCKED UP BY HMV AND NME AS THE NEXT BIG THING AND DESCRIBED AS A SOMBRE DEPECHE MODE BY STEVE LAMACQ, BRIGHTON- BASED BAND MIRRORS HAVE BARELY HAD TIME TO SIT BACK AND REFLECT ON A VERY BUSY MONTH.
Having already supported OMD, Fenech- Soler Hercules and Love Affair and the ever popular White Lies, this band can almost be described as living in electric dreams.
I spoke to the Mirrors about their influences.
There is obviously an 80′s sound running throughout your music. Who are your inspirations?
We are certainly influenced by many of those bands that flourished in the wave of creativity that was ushered in after punk; bands such as Joy Division/New Order, Cabaret Voltaire, The Human League, Depeche Mode, but, like many of those 80′s acts were then, we, in turn, take a lot of influence from the electronic music made by pioneering artists from even earlier, like Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, E.M.A.K
And though we are musicians, we find inspiration in many other places. For example, we literally build our music, and so architecture is a great influence. We try, through our live visuals, our image, and indeed everything we show of ourselves, to be creative, and to be more than just a band, so artists like Gilbert and George, who live their very lives as art, are a great inspiration. I could go on and on all day!
What was it like supporting OMD in Paris and how did it come about?
OMD contacted us and said that they liked our music, and kindly asked us if we would like to support them on their tour. The opportunity to play our music in front of thousands of electronic pop music fans was very welcome.
Do you think your overall look and visuals in your performance are as important as the music?
Everything that we present is of equal importance. The visuals are there to enhance the music, and vice versa. Likewise, our neat, smart image is great because it instantly sets up an expectation in people’s brains, which we then aim to fulfil. We wish everything to be special.
What can we expect next from Mirrors?
Our album is coming out on the 24 February and we are having an album launch at The Green Door in Brighton that day. We are already working on our next album, which, though in the early stages, is set to be rather different from this one. We are really excited to be writing, but also hope to play various festivals in the summer. We are also touring with fellow Brightonians Fujiya this February. We would like very much to see you all there.
www.myspace.com/mirrorsmirrorsmirrors
Words Jennifer Butler
