The Spook School Album Launch

Almost a week ago, on the 11th October to be precise, I had the good fortune to be at Henrys Cellar Bar in Edinburgh on the same night that The Spook School chose to release their debut album 'Dress Up' to the unsuspecting world at large.

Of course such an event requires assistance, which in this case came in two parts.
First up were Plastic Animals, an Edinburgh based (as far as I understand) feedback heavy, psychedelic tinged semi noise band who provided a fantastic start to the night and are now firmly on my list of bands to look out for again in the future!
Next came Martha, bringing their uniquely perfect blend of noise and awkwardness to convert the slightly further North. All that I can say is that they were fantastic as always. A couple of new songs (or at least ones which I hadn't heard before) appeared in the set which were certainly as strong as anything released so far. I simply can't believe that anyone could hear Martha and not immediately be converted to the cause.

And then to the main event of the evening (excluding actually buying the album of course). Quite simply, this was a gig to remember. As an advert for the album and showcase for the utterly wonderful songwriting & performing of The Spook School this would and will surely take some beating. Somehow I still manage to be taken aback by the intensity that the band maintain throughout their sets, and this night was no exception, with a quite electric atmosphere rapidly descending as the minutes passed. They even managed to find time to 'dress up' for the occasion in a variety of fantastically complicated outfits!
London should be on standby for part two of the release party if it knows what's good for it!!
tickets here

Also, even if you can't make the live dates buy the album, you most certainly need it.
bandcamp

Allo Darlin' Compass North

And so to the St Pancras Old Church in drizzly rain and not the best of spirits for the third leg of Allo Darlin's experimental quartet of live shows.
Up first were Haiku Salut , and I must say that they were as perfectly mesmerising as always. I never fail to be amazed at how three people can combine with such varied instrumentation to create such a beautiful sound. The upcoming 'lamp show' gig in London has all the hallmarks of being an absolutely wonderful night and I can't recommend enough that everyone everywhere should go out of their respective ways to catch it.

Allo Darlin' still continue to astonish and amaze me! This was another intensely engaging show in a new environment for me (being both in a church and seated at all times) with slightly more inter song banter than we might have become accustomed to, but that only added to the nature of the unfolding experience. It also turns out that even when you have recently broken your own heart yet still somehow manage to find yourself sitting in extremely close proximity to a couple going for moves which should really only be attempted in private, it's still ultimately impossible to be anything other than happy at an Allo Darlin' gig!!

Allo Darlin' Compass West

I was lucky enough to make it to Allo Darlin's first London compass show at Ginglik in Shepherds Bush on Wednesday evening.
The somewhat highly anticipated night began with the beautiful noise of Flowers. I can't get enough of the dynamic of the band, just a beguiling in the moment thing to behold. Anyone who arrived late or serially arrives late just to catch the headliner is missing out on something important.
And then on to the main event as it were; I (and I have to assume others) am entirely transfixed whenever the band comes on stage, so having the chance to see them in such a tiny venue with a stage not much higher than the ground was dreamily  perfect!
In a set dominated by songs from an as yet unrecorded third album every moment seemed familiar but different and new with even the sprinkling of existing songs (if I can ridiculously call them that, after all the new ones do also exist) taking on yet another new dimension. It came as an absolute privilege to hear so many of the raw songs that might later come together to make a new album in what I see as their natural live environment. It must be said that the new songs are without doubt wonderful creations,  looking to be a continuation of the melancholy and upbeat which we have come to love, with only the occasional missed intro or ending belying the work in progress nature of the night. An unexpected three song encore tailored a perfect ending to a mesmerising sweaty night. Anyone attending the north, east and south legs of the micro tour are in for a treat.

Edwyn Collins & The Heartbreaks

And now (admittedly a little belatedly) on to Understated. All that can be said is that this is a quite beautiful album which, with minimal debate, can surely be said to be able to stand alongside the best of Edwyn and Orange Juice. Such a statement would be impressive in relation to any artist thirty plus years into their career but must be considered especially so given the well documented health problems which have afflicted Edwyn Collins over the last ten years or so.
Almost every track leads the listener through a masterclass of what makes up perfect indie pop & rock whilst never once drifting into the generic sounds and subject matter that might be expected from lesser artists. A thorough return to (or should that be maintaining of) form in the very truest sense of the word.

On a very much related topic, I purchased the new Edwyn Collins & The Heartbreaks record store day 'What Are You Doing Fool' 7" single on Saturday which is also absolutely superb. Any fans of either absolutely need to hear it, particularly as the b side is a wonderful new version of Untitled Melody.

The Strokes, Edwyn Collins

I've spent a reasonably large amount of time over the last couple of weeks listening to, and by extension attempting to get to grips with a couple of new releases. Namely 'Understated' by Edwyn Collins and 'Comedown Machine' by The Strokes.
Starting with the latter I should say upfront that I am a fan of The Strokes and don't necessarily adhere to the oft repeated mantra that their releases have been moving steadily downhill since Is This It revitalised the indie rock scene (for want of a better expression) and indeed the music industry in 2001.
Having said that I did approach Comedown Machine with some trepidation caused in no small part by the disappointment of Angles and the realisation that the dynamic and recording process of the band appears to be that of five individuals who don't particularly get on and would ideally spend as little time as possible in the same place together!
As a result the first listen of the album left me a little bemused as it wasn't at all what I had been expecting. Aside from two or three songs (out of 11) the sound is so far removed from the lo-fi garage rock that we have become accustomed to that I suspect most music fans on the street would struggle to guess the band if played a selection without having already heard it. Once the initial shock faded however I realised that this is actually a pretty good collection of songs. Set free from the (semi self imposed) self conscious New York hipster aesthetic the band are free to explore a broader landscape that takes in surprisingly funky grooves, the occasional foray towards wedding band territory, and the odd experiment with tinny electronic drum kits. It was only after a couple of runs through the entire album that something struck me; the least successful songs are those (no doubt destined to be singles) that try to hark back to The Strokes of old, but just end up sounding like a band bored of not being allowed to move on from past glories. To my mind the album could have been more exciting if the band had gone all out with the change in direction rather than keeping one foot safe and ending up with good rather than potentially great.

Having initially wondered if The Strokes had become tired of being The Strokes and made Metal Machine Music it turns out that they have perhaps finally realised that not everyone has to be Lou Reed at all and music can in fact (dare I say it) sometimes be enjoyable, so all is not lost.

London Popfest

I spent part of last weekend (Saturday and Sunday having sadly missed the Friday) attending London Popfest, an annual multi day indiepop extravaganza created and curated by Fortuna Pop!, Spiral Scratch, and WIAIWYA.

The Saturday lineup was; Big Wave, the Tuts,  the Garlands, Martha, September Girls, This Many Boyfriends, Speedmarket Avenue, Standard Fare, and it must be said that all in all it was an utterly fantastic all dayer. 

On a personal level I was tremendously happy and ultimately excited to see a couple of noisier than usual bands on the bill, almost drifting closer to a slightly darker punky or arguably indie rock type of sound. Perhaps the subconscious influence of Odd Box records is reaching a wider audience than I'd realised... The Tuts, who I have to love if for no other reason than their Clash cover, This Many Boyfriends (who had been supporting Kaiser Chiefs at Brixton Academy the previous night) and Martha in particular who I absolutely have to see much more often, played raucously engaging sets full of sing alongs, some pretty wild dancing and even the occasional mini moshpit!! Quite something for what was at times both the middle of the day and a fairly largely hungover crowd!

Finally seeing Big Wave again was absolutely worth arriving early for. They were just as good as I had hoped that I remembered them being last year, quite probably better in fact considering that I'm now a little more familiar with a couple of their songs. Just a beautiful constantly evolving dreamy pop  sound. Slightly later in the day the fuzzy retro look noise of September Girls suited the day perfectly and simply must be heard by everyone, and seen if only to witness the power of so many perfect fringes on stage at the same time!!

Ultimately though, and wonderful as the entire lineup was, the day must be considered to a degree as a quite lovely send off  for Standard Fare. Everyone in the sold out, and therefore jam packed and sweaty, 100 Club were as into the set as it's possible to be, singing every word, bouncing away, being melancholy and generally loving every second left with a truly original and perfect band. So many great songs and such a perfect end to the night and sadly to the band. There will certainly be an extremely large gap in the indiepop schedules now that they are no more. 

An unbelievably great day, so many happy people... One line seems to have stayed with me though...'I want to tell you how I feel but I don't want you to know'. 

More on the Sunday later.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

In extraordinarily fantastic news the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have a new song out, which means that, amongst other things, I can stop wondering whether or not the band still exists!
Anyway, the new song is immediately recognisable as YYYs but is as always a development of the sound which we last heard on It's Blitz! and can be heard here. I certainly have very high hopes for the new album (released on 16th April I understand) and already have my ticket for Alexandra Palace on the 4th of May (tour dates)

Veronica Falls

I managed to get out to see Veronica Falls play an in store gig at Rough Trade East last night, which was fantastic as I am entirely unable to catch them at Shoreditch Church  tomorrow night (8th February). Frustration and tremendous jealousy leap to mind with regard to anyone who is going to the (I believe sold out) show!!

The set last night was skewed fairly heavily towards the new album, which was perfect as far as I'm concerned. Having only listened to the album a couple of times beforehand it was an absolutely ideal way to get to grips with some of the new songs. The thirty minute or so set flew by in a haze of jangly feedback, perfectly wonderful harmonies and retuning of guitars which all added up to the mysterious retro modern sound that is Veronica Falls. Also it was extremely enjoyable to see them play a small venue now that their tours are likely to get bigger and bigger. Hearing the album and catching them live wherever you are is an absolute must...I guarantee that you won't be disappointed.

Allo Darlin' 6 Music Session

It was quite unexpected and fantastic to hear a new Allo Darlin' song during a live session for Marc Riley on BBC 6 Music last night. They played Capricornia, Darren and Bright Eyes (the aforementioned new one) which is nothing to do with the Art Garfunkel Watership Down song (as far as I know!) or as it turns out Bright Eyes the band, but does involve Paul Rains singing alongside Elizabeth and an instrumental jam crescendo! A lovely song, I can't wait to hear more.

The show can be found here, the session starts around 45 minutes in but I'd say the whole show is worth a listen if you have time.

Fortuna Pop! Winter Sprinter 4

Now to Evans the Death, making a late challenge for the noisiest opening act upstart Fortuna band playing the Winter Sprinter, and they are certainly right up there in the reckoning. A fantastically good fun set, albeit created out of a somewhat shambolic performance which, as far as I could tell, only helped to endear the band to the crowd even more than usual! A couple of great sounding new songs got an airing alongside the more established stuff from the debut album, and only one bass guitar got broken...another rip roaring start.
Next up came Milky Wimpshake. For want of a better expression they can only be described as a proper indie band, and I mean that as a strong compliment. Plenty of up and coming, and frankly plenty of longer established bands could stand to take a long look at how Milky Wimpshake go about the business of being a band. So many great memorable songs, a close to perfect live sound and a lightness of touch that somehow managed to ensure that everyone watching and listening had a great time throughout the set.
The final band had to come around eventually with this being the final day of the four and it seemed that time had come with the arrival onstage of Comet Gain, who proceeded to produce a masterful set of indie perfection combined with music hallesque put downs and comic interludes whenever seemed appropriate...and certainly in response to repeated increasingly philosophical song requests from the crowd! The band are simply spectacular when in full flow and really shouldn't be missed if the chance to catch them happens to present itself. They remain absolutely adept at drifting from indie pop to freak out psyche jams and everything in between at the drop of a hat. Quite a thing to behold. You can hide your love forever was especially strong and a little moving, perhaps it should represent the four days alongside Memorabilia. Even after the set had ended the fun didn't stop, as David managed to start up an accidental encore while attempting to retrieve his guitar from the stage. A fitting end to the week.

After a truly epic four day stand somehow held together by Fortuna, wiaiwya manfully manning the merch table / cubbyhole, and, last but not least, the bench seating upstairs at the Lexington it can only be said that the entire event has set the bar extraordinarily high for every other gig that I attend this year.  While the first night unarguably left the strongest impression on me I've been startled at the sheer quality of the 12 bands who played, and in fact all the DJs who leant their services. Without doubt this stands as the strongest consecutive lineup that I've witnessed and quite possibly the most fun that I've ever had so early in January!
This was the kind of thing that people should realistically only be allowed to dream might happen.

Fortuna Pop! Winter Sprinter 3

And so to the Wednesday night, with the chance to see three quite different but equally appealing bands in very much different stages of their respective trajectories (but more about that later). Put simply Haiku Salut are a wonderfully infectious, rambunctious, and perhaps a little ramshackle sometime electro alternative trad all female three piece instrumental band...oh, and are utterly impossible to take your eyes and ears off of. I'm quite certain that this must be a popular consensus as the atmosphere throughout the set was intense to say the least. They are one of very few bands who can render a crowd entirely speechless to such an extent that there wasn't even any background chatter audible during the quieter elements of the set!! They also happen to have just released a debut album called Tricolore on the How Does It Feel To Be Loved label which I for one bought immediately after their set.
The midsection of the night was dealt with by Shrag, in somewhat bittersweet circumstances given that this was to be their second last ever show before heading their separate ways. Incidentally, the last show is scheduled to take place on the 15th March also at the Lexington. The band played as exceptional a blistering set as ever, as if to not allow those present to dwell too long on the impending melancholic realisation that only a couple of hours of such perfect noise was destined to be heard in the flesh before it is lost to time. They remain everything that anyone could realistically want from an indie band (or any band for that matter) and rattled through a glorious set with only the occasional unplanned (broken guitar string related) awkwardly entertaining intermission where Helen kept the crowd entertained while Darren Hayman acted as impromptu guitar tech! Truly one of a kind, a sad but ultimately uplifting experience...
Headlining after what had already gone by could only be left to one band, and that band was Darren Hayman and the Long Parliament, who can somehow always create a unique quietly raucous atmosphere without the crowd entirely realising what has happened. If any other band can mix a top rate back catalogue with a suite of six new songs from a semi-concept album telling the story of the 17th Century Essex witch trials then I haven't seen them...The songs from the new album really came to life while the older material remains (perhaps predictably) as excellent as ever with each band member playing perfectly in isolation while combining to create a truly magical and absorbing sound. Emma's Wurlitzer organ playing in particular seemed to add an even more magical dimension to everything; such a beautiful sound being lively, melancholy then bouncy at each turn. No wonder it suits the songs so well. Darren Hayman himself was also on top educational form between songs, imparting knowledge on topics as diverse as the background to the witch trials and the relative merits of braces being worn on stage! A spectacular ending to another night.

I have very kindly been passed a link to a whole load of videos taken throughout the Sprinter. Here are a couple of them, have a look around as there are a lot more once you are in youtube!
Allo Darlin'
Spook School
Tender Trap
Withered Hand
Joanna Gruesome
Herman Dune

Nine bands down and one more night to go now...assuming anyone can stand to read a fourth installment (this review has ended up dramatically longer than I had envisioned!) it will be up just as fast as I can type it.

Fortuna Pop! Winter Sprinter 2

And so to the start of the second day with any cobwebs being firmly blasted off by Joanna Gruesome opening proceedings. Loud, fast, manic, (mostly I believe) Welsh punk pop of the finest order. I'm certainly looking forward to hearing more of their music, both live and hopefully recorded in the not too distant future. A quite perfect start...or should that be continuation...
Up next came an acoustic set from Withered Hand, which I am given to believe was quite different to the usual full band experience. I have to admit to having not seen the band live before so stand corrected if I am mistaken on this! Simply, I can only say that I loved the acoustic performance; All intensely beautiful heartfelt songs played on just guitar and harmonica. The only addition to this format came in the guise of the wonderful Pamela Berry from Black Tambourine who joined on co-vocals for a couple of songs, adding an even closer feeling of intimacy than had already been the case. Throughout the set it almost seemed that the Lexington had been transformed into a dark, dingy cafe, which must mean something! Ultimately it was and is impossible not to like the man and the music.
Herman Dune frankly rocks, and I certainly didn't go to the Winter Sprinter expecting to say that!! Supreme country and folk tinged guitar songs played to perfection by David and Néman. Such apparent simplicity combined with a peculiar authenticity adding up to an excellent set that kept me, and presumably everyone else so gripped that it came as something of a surprise when it was time for the last song of the set and indeed the night. That this last song, played as an encore, turned out to be a cover of Pale Blue Eyes by the Velvet Underground / Lou Reed only added to the extraordinary, almost unbelievable quality of the night and previous day.

Once again, more to come just as soon as I get around to writing it...and continuing a theme, could it be possible for the third night to maintain the outrageous quality already witnessed?

Fortuna Pop! Winter Sprinter

I spent a fair part of last week at the 3rd annual Fortuna Pop Winter Sprinter which, perhaps unsurprisingly, turned out to be quite a series of gigs.

Festivities kicked off at full tilt on Tuesday 8th with the Spook School and I'm fantastically glad to have finally seen them live. Outstanding songs, great fun sound, noisy, tuneful, wistful, melancholy all at the same time and I can only see them getting better; surely destined for big things. I must say that it is particularly enjoyable to hear some strong scottish accents in a young band as well!!

Next up (and I can only assume this lineup was taken from my dreams) came Tender Trap who were utterly outstanding in playing a set which I felt to be somehow strangely emotional throughout. Perhaps it's the normal state for them and just a sudden realisation for me because I have never seen Amelia Fletcher performing from quite such close range before... Memorabilia in particular was just something else, extraordinarily intense. Someone in the room must have been crying. An astonishingly good performance.

Allo Darlin' performed headline duties for the first night. With Elizabeth Morris very nearly coming straight to the gig off the back of a flight from Australia one might have expected, and certainly not been disappointed, if the band were a little rusty. That couldn't have been further from the reality of what followed and now stands as my favourite Allo Darlin' gig, which is saying something. Elizabeth seemed to be living every word of every song, almost like an entire story was being played out on the stage. Following on from Tender Trap, it also seemed a peculiarly emotional set where an hour had suddenly passed in the blink of an eye and we found ourselves in three song encore. The whole band are simply astonishing together with the maturity and talent to take every song in a thousand different directions while still staying true to what makes each one so perfect in the first place. I simply can't believe that they won't make it seriously big very very soon. An utterly mesmerising set by undoubtedly the best band anywhere right now.

I had originally planned to post about all four nights in one go, which is why I waited until the end rather than doing them after each night, but have decided to do them semi separately anyway...so more to follow!

It's safe to say that the remaining nine bands had an awful lot to live up to after such a spectacular opening...