A Tale of The Unexpected
Last night I went to see Todger @ Leonards as part of a Club McGriff night. Though I wouldn’t by a record from them (too comedy) there’s no denying that they put on a good show and could easily be compared to Tenacious D. Ther used every trick in the book including comedy lyrics about eskimos and DIY, gospel handclapping, Jay&SilentBob style head dancing, Call and response and spelling out words.
From classic rock to UrbanIndie: The second act was a weird hybrid between Craig David / Ben Folds and Jamie T. His RnB vocals had a tendancy to switch between a Lily-allenesque accent and Stevie wonder soul (thanks to steve for that observation!) However, he was not only a decent singer if you like that style, but also a pretty good pianist (with an awesome drummer giving some good breaks). Unfortunarley each song could have been half the length.
On a whim, we decided to head over the the Living Bar in Brixton with the Todger guys (you have know idea how much it pains me to type that phrase). On arriving, there was a very competant Codger Rock band called Blue Indigo playing. You never see anything like this live any mroe – not new material anyway. Wasn’t expecting it at all but bizarrly I really enjoyed it.
In another musical twist, the next band were The End Game. Really Really good. Energetic, tuneful and easily able to hold a candle to the likes of the Kooks / Artic Monkeys etc for indie tunefulness (why is everything slightly indie these days?!) and to Brandtson for tight and persistent harmonizing. These guys should be easily as big as any of the interchageable garage rock bands out there at the moment and have an excellent vibe live.
So there – Comedy Classic Rock, RnBish Singer song writer, Codger Rock and Garage Indie all in one night and 3 CDs thrown in.
A Big Update. Part 2
And Finally: ATP (All Tomorrow’s Parties)Brilliant. So much fun and very strange having a festival in butlins.
Unexpected highlights: Digital Primitives and Yann Tiersen
Expected Highlights: Low, A Silver Mount Zion, Grinderman
Lowlights: Joanna Newsom. She was as annoying as I thought. Also, Secretary. Just becasue you have a short skirt and thick glasses, it doesn’t mean your saxophone playing is good.
Non music highlights: Comando rolling out of the way of an oncoming van. Creating a limbo in the Indie Disco. Having to think twice before ever accepting popcorn from James again. Being mocked about Ska and Bakelite. Coming to love CSS and Blue Oyster Cult. Learning the “difference” between old and new melvins. Not eating KFC
For more see photos and Ste’s post on the Triforce and the comments on Drowned In Sound.
Next gig: Todger. I kid you not.
A big update. Part 1
I’ve been away. Have you missed me?
Time for an update then. I’ve been putting off gig reviews because I didn’t think I could write them to a decent standard, but at this rate I’ll never write anything about them, so stick with it and you’ll get an overview…
Gig #1 Telegraphs @ Dublin Castle
Telegraphs were on first and had what turned out to be the largest crowd of the evening – not rammed but enough not to feel embarrassed. Darcy (Vox), Hattie (Vox and Bass) Darren (Guitar), Graham (Guitar) & Sam (Drums) looked very at home considering it was their first gig away from East London and on a stage that had recently held Travis (bleugh) and Amy Winehouse (yey).
In their best moments (which are frequent) they are reminiscent of Ash both in sound and style. Darcy is entertaining to watch and a real show-man – appearing to storm off at the end. So Coldis the most accessible of the tracks though none are exactly challenging. I don’t mean this as a negative – purely that they are very instant and should, by rights, not have a problem getting a good following. There was nothing ground breaking in anything that they performed but it was refreshing to see a band who were entertaining, tuneful and looked like they were having fun rather than trying to be arty and different.
An interesting bunch – when they stepped up I have to admit that the judgemental part of me assumed that I wouldn’t like them. However, they are hard to pigeonhole – moments of country, moments of counting crows (but the least generic bits) and to be honest, I can’t remember what else, but I know that I enjoyed them and would happily watch them again. Luke enjoyed them so you never know, he might have some more insight on his blog. According to their website they have already written 500 songs, which I can well imagine and they look and sound as if they are total muso’s and would be wanting to try as many different styles as possible. Their only problem in the future may be recognising their strength and sticking to it.
Appalling. Seriously. This was a blonde lady (not an issue per se but just very cliched when combined with the rest of their image) belting it out over some guitars. They were trying to be rock and trying to “have presence” but it all looked so forced and I can’t even remember the music being anything other than pub-band drivel. There’s not much that will make me walk out of a gig during the headline act. This did.
Gig #2 Boom Bip @ Cargo
Not at all what I expected. Cargo is a lovely venue – I’d recommend going there for the drinks, food and atmosphere alone. The live area is a nice size and you can hear what is going on from the bar so you know when to leave your wooden high chairs for some other unfortunate to scale.
Boom bip played an almost entirely Electro house-ish set. I don’t know much about that end of music but I recognised some samples. The Timeuot preview sums it up really – but I didn’t see it before I went.
Boom bip drummed live, which was good and had two others with him. They all wore white trousers and white high-neck jackets zipped up, with psychedelic visuals as a back-drop. I felt like I’d come to see the chemical brothers, not leftfield hip-hop. It was fun and ok to jig around a bit to, but slightly baffling. I think others felt the same, as after an hour long set he played a couple of old tracks as an encore and I heard someone else run back in muttering “finally, thank goodness for that”. I intend to listen to the album but I’m not sure I’ll buy it if the gig is anything to go by, though it might be good to stretch me a little. Now I’m interested in what the Neon Neon project with Gruff Rhys sounds like. I think this might stick more to the hip-hop influenced beats even if it’s still more the dance end of electro.
Gig #3 Ugly Duckling and Imperial Leisure @ Mean Fiddler
Imperial Leisure where on form. They do Ska-pop well and they make a great atmosphere doing it. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it.
Ugly Duckling have not taken over as my new favourite live band but they sure do but on a good show. The Meat-shake moment when Andy donned his Maccy D style hat and apron was a particular highlight. Young Einstein was great on the decks and joins in with the show a lot more than most DJs. Dizzy and Andy are great rappers and I’m not sure why the band aren’t bigger. Shame they don’t have a new record though.
