when skinny jeans happen to indie wannabes...

Gig: The Films, Bar Academy Islington, 15 december 2006.

So, this gig was kind of a random decision to attend... the tickets were cheap, I was in town anyways, and the idea of catching the kooks’ opening act on the recent leg of their european tour at a tiny venue didn’t seem like a bad deal to me (afterall, the noisettes, brooklyn, and second sex were brilliant opening acts for them in paris this spring).

The bar academy, however intimately small the venue may be, was like a commercial, overpriced, polished version of la flêche d’or and the crowd reflected that - slightly pretentious, slightly underaged OR old and pervy (very few joined me among the in-betweens :S ) It definitley wasn’t my scene on the night and unfortunately, the music didn’t make up for it...

If there ever was a band that is not ready to headline, The Films must be it. Their sound wasn’t necessarily bad, but there was just no edge to it, nor to their performance. The little jumps, the ‘rolling-on-the-floor-while-still-playing-my-guitar’ bit have been done before, have been seen before, and only show the complete lack of originality of the band. Despite my numerous brushes with mediocre gigs over the years, nothing ever really prepared me for the complete blandness of this particular gig.

The question that did arise from The Films’ little 35 minute attempt at a headlining show was: does american indie pop/rock work? Yes, The Killers are fab and we all know it, but apart from them, american bands never seem totally sincere when they attempt the typically british indie sound and image. Or maybe that is exactly the problem: the killers seem to have their own take on the indie rock rhythms and beats while many others from across the pond just sound like they are trying to be something they are not. It’s a shame really, because american bands do not need to copy the likes of the libertines or arctic monkeys to be popular over here. Like, look for example at the strokes, cold war kids, clap your hands say yeah, BRMC, death cab for cutie, scissors for lefty, we are scientists (trust me, I could keep going for a while...) – all brilliant bands who deserve all the success and critical acclaim they have received in europe because they, in their own little ways, bring something new and unique to the table.

The Films are proof that indie-sounding guitar riffs and the accompanying image of bed-hair and skinny jeans do not guarantee note-worthy music. And oh my god, learn that just like not all girls can pull off wearing skinny jeans, neither can all guys in bands!!!! If there ever was a band that is not built to wear skinny jeans, The Films must be it. So drop the wannabe image, get over the fact that you are from colorado and south carolina, not leeds or manchester, and produce some original material and I see no reason why you couldn’t be headlining another european tour sometime in the future... I will make sure I catch you at la flêche d’or should that happen.

New breed of post-punk gorgeousness...

The Duke Spirit, ICA, 13 december 2006

Every once in a while, a gig comes along that completely surprises you and makes you remember why you couldn’t ever live without music and why music is vastly superior when it’s live...

...this was one of those gigs.



Walking to charing cross after the gig, I wondered if maybe superior gigs is a London thing. Does london somehow provide the perfect setting for the best gigs? After a bit more thought and flashbacks of Alien Ant Farm’s crap effort @ Brixton Academy in 2002, I think that perhaps I’ve just lucked out when it comes to london gigs this year. Wolfmother were out-of-this-world bloody brilliant @ the Astoria in july. Was any band really gonna impress me as much as they did? Well, apparently yes. And apparently that band was The Duke Spirit.

But before that, we had to endure the opening act, Congregation. My first reaction to them? “wtf?” All they managed to do was leave me wondering as to whether or not this was proof that British country music exists? (and I personally seriously hope there isn’t a genre and a significant market out there... leave it to the americans, they do it properly anyways)

The opening act was followed by the usual equipment set-up and while this was going on, we were treated to some danish musical representation: The Raveonettes’ ‘attack of the ghost riders’ featured in the DJ’s collection. Wooohooo for that!! :)

The next hour (yes, they actually played a full hour!) was pure rock genius. The Institute of Contemporary Arts seemed an unlikely venue at first but it turned out to be perfect setting for a unique, artistic, and incredibly creative rock band. Usually, my taste in music is stupidly predictable (anything with a drum intro, heavy base-line, catchy guitar riff, and one or more band members with big curly hair is bound to catch my interest) but yet these guys completey floored me – amazing energy, wicked beats, and brilliant vocals. The effortless cool of liela moss (yes, she definitely deserves the PJ harvey comparisons) puts her right up there with charlotte cooper in my books.



This was mature indie with intrigue and classic rock and blues elements that left the entire room bopping their heads from start to end and me rememebering bands like sonic youth and my bloody valentine who don’t (but should!) feature in my CD collection. Perhaps I’ve been in contact with a bit too much indie pop recently but if there was ever a band to put me back on track, this was probably it...

Sometimes I think you need to be reminded what live music is all about and with the duke spirit, I was. Gigs should be like this, all the time and every time but since they are not, I love the fact that gigs like this one comes along every once in a while. because, imagine if every gig was like this - then it would be so much harder to tell the truly fabulous and talented bands from the rest of them. London doesn’t make the difference, the band does. So for now, all I can hope is that it won’t be another 5 months before I get to another out-of-this-world live show. Edinburgh, the challenge is on...

sometimes bad hair happens to brilliant bands...

The Pigeon Detectives, cabaret voltaire, 10 december 2006.

Some gigs just get off to the oddest starts... this was definitely one of those gigs. Had to show ID at the door and was then given a wristband that would have to be shown at the bar in order to get served... yes, it was also one of those gigs. Once inside, however, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t packed with 14 year olds, flashed my funky paper wristband at the barman, got my pint and headed onto the floor to catch the opening act, living in hope that they were some major undiscovered talent...

...they were not.

It was a shame really because they nowhere near managed to create an atmosphere. Their major flaw, apart from the bland guitar-pop sound they decided to perform for us, was their equally bland attempt at an image. Preppy (posh public school style, not The Ordinary Boys pseudo-posh style) didn’t work. Not for me, definitely not for them.

Their lead singer then did the all-too-familiar MySpace talk (we know you are on MySpace! All bands are on MySpace!! I’M even on MySpace!!! Please just drop the constant self-promotion…) and, when introducing another song, says that he sometimes forgets the song titles... what kind of band are you if your lead singer can’t remember the names of your songs??!! I couldn’t figure out if he was trying to be funny but by then I was so bored of them I couldn’t care less and abandoned their rather poor effort and headed to the bar.

Another gig at cabaret voltaire, another random mix of tunes to fill the time between the bands on stage. No robbie this time but instead we were treated to some heavy-metal tracks... at least it was better than the first band.

Apparently, impromptu booing is a rather effective way to bring a band on stage because right as the crowd started getting rowdy, The Pigeon Detectives are on!

1st thing I’m struck by: the 2nd guitarist’s bowlcut – impressed that someone is trying to pull that off just 10 years after it was the equivalent of today’s indie curls in my 6th grade class. Fortunately, the hair isn’t the only thing working in this band’s favour (although I do prefer the lead-singer’s chosen hairstyle to the bowlcut…) and their non-stop energy, catchy songs, and microphone swinging antics set them a cut above a lot of the up-and-coming indie bands I’ve seen over the past year and a half.

I really wanted The Pigeon Detectives to impress me before I went to the gig and I have to love them for managing to do so. Without gushing about these 5 Leeds lads too much, expect them to be The View of early 2007. and if they haven’t been featured on an MTV2 tour during the next 6 months or don’t grace the stage of a few major summer festivals, I think it’s time to head to MySpace and start the hype... (good thing I feel confident such drastic measures won’t be necessary and we’ll all avoid the ‘the new arctic monkeys’ references that everyone can happily live without)

throw your arms in the air for the chav-rock revolution...

gig review: the sunshine underground, cabaret voltaire, november 21 2006

NME loves them. That, right away, makes me doubt their musical promise. The NME notoriously backs a hell of a lot of posers (im not taking away credit for those brilliant bands that NME has helped along the way, there is just far between those with originality and serious long-term potential) so is it really any wonder I had my doubts about a yorkshire-based indie-dance band that has been referred to as leeds’ answer to hard-fi?

Ready to be proven wrong, I didn’t exactly get off to the best start with the sunshine underground. There is really nothing worse than showing up late to a gig. It’s even worse when the one song that made you sit up and take notice of the band when you first saw the video and heard it on mtv2 months prior is the second song of the set and you almost miss it while fighting your way through the crowd for a decent spot. But it didn’t take away from the energy created by ‘put you in your place’ which soon had most of the room dancing about while screaming along to ‘I JUST DON’T THINK I’M COMING D-O-O-O-O-WN!’ yes, mr wellington, we hear you loud and clear! (and I can’t believe I almost missed it…)

The next 35 minutes are spend in the same gear – we get the guitars, we get the fab base-lines and we get all that happy mondays/the rapture/kasabian sounding gold that makes the sunshine underground work. And while their stuff does sounds exactly like their recordings, there is no denying that ‘commercial breakdown’ is absolutely class and provides us with a real arms-in-the-air moment worthy of NME’s praise...

The sunshine underground can entertain a crowd, no doubt about that, but there is too little variety in their sound for my liking (unlike those southern staines-boys they have been compared to). But if nothing else, their hoodies+jeans+white trainers definitely conjure up images of hard-fi and while their music isn’t quite up to the same standard, they will undoubtedly have the ‘yawksheer’ natives on their side should they ever find themselves in a good old-fashioned funk/ska/pop brawl over which band has the whitest trainers...

I think that with this band, you just have to take it as it comes – their long-term potential remains to be confirmed but if hard-fi started this genre of rock’s revolution, the sunshine underground are surely among the first to join the ranks. And props to them for that...