musical genius of the near future...

Oooh, january 29th has been and gone... and Klaxons’ ‘Myths of the Near Future’ and Jamie T’s ‘Panic Prevention’ are now sitting pretty in my CD collection (finally!!). yep, it’s been a long time coming and there is now no chance ill get any work done on my dissertation anytime soon – ill be playing those albums over and over and over and over... The View got its fair share of plays last week (its only real competition was my new-found obsession with Fujiya & Miyagi on the free CD with the last edition of Soundvenue and that was only one track) so this week is dedicated to this week’s musical acquisitions...

So far, Klaxons’ album has surprised me more than I thought it would... there are more of the melodic, less engineered kind of tracks on there than their singles would indicate (let’s face it, as genius as ‘gravity’s rainbow, ‘magick’ and ‘atlantis to interzone’ are, they all have an undeniable techno/rave edge that qualifies them better for getting-ready-for-a-night-out listening than the it’s-Sunday-afternoon-and-I-had-far-too-much-to-drink-last-night variety). But overall, the album is actually a really nice listen – they have come up with a track order that works incredibly well, even if has yet to be tested on a hangover-Sunday...

Jamie T’s album hasn’t gotten as much of a chance to prove itself yet. Listened to a few of the tracks I didn’t know off it when it was streaming on his myspace page over the weekend and although none of them screamed ‘Golden Skans’ (oh god, I’m unnaturally obsessed with that song!) on first listen, none of Jamie T’s songs have really ever done that for me. By listen 3, however, I’m preaching his talents to absolutely anyone who is willing to listen. So when it comes down to it, I can’t imagine not loving this album to bits either...

And now my bank balance finally has a chance to recover – it has survived christmas, our insanely large gas/electricity bill and aaaaaaall these albums, which I think is actually rather impressive...

the youth of today don't want no 9-5...

The Enemy / Figure 5, cabaret voltaire, 26 january 2007.

I find it slightly worrying sometimes just how old certain things make me feel – like some of my mates being 20 (!!) on the day of their uni graduation, my flatmate complaining about turning 21 last week, being able to have relationship conversations with my cousins (they used to be so litte and innocent!!), realising that some of the people in my highs chool graduating class are married and expecting kid #1 in 2 months, and getting flattered (rather than annoyed) when I get asked for ID when buying wine at tesco.

Now, I know I really have no reason to feel old (it’s not all downhill from 22, right? Right??!) but it’s still a really weird feeling when seeing a band live that you really like on the radio have that same effect...

So, 5 days on from my flatmate Amy’s 21st birthday, we went off to Cabaret Voltaire for a night of drinks, energetic live music, and poster-stealing antics.

Opening act, Figure 5, hailed from Glasgow which immediately convinced Amy that the whole thing was worth the £9 she had to pay for her ticket at the door and I must admit there has been a really cool vibe about the Glaswegian bands I’ve had the pleasure of catching live at various gigs (like Shitdisco on the NME Club Tour, the band we caught at the Bongo Club on John Peel day whose name I was too drunk to write down and now have forgotten, and The Low Miffs who opened for - and partly outshone – The Blood Arm) and Figure 5 definitely had that vibe as well. At first, they reminded me of a non-stadium version of Kaiser Chiefs with the lead singer definitely channelling his best inner Ricky Wilson (the blazer definitely helped...). But as their set went on, a unique and slightly country-sounding edge emerged at times and the track ‘none the wiser’, which came up near the end, was a brilliantly powerful sing-along anthem.



After Figure 5’s successful stint on stage, we decided it was time for another red stripe (ah what a classy choice of beer on our part) and I decided I had to have one of the posters that were hanging right next to the bar and ripped it off the wall without even the slightest hint of subtlety – I still can’t work out how I got away with that but oh well...



Back at the front of the stage, we were ready for The Enemy. Or more accurately: we thought we were ready for The Enemy. When 3 young boys ran on stage we assumed they were there to do the soundcheck... this is why you should always browse a few of bands’ photos on their MySpace profiles before going to gigs! The 3 boys turned out to be the actual band we were there to see. Turns out they are actually 18 years old so I probably shouldn’t call them boys but they just looked so young! The emo hair-cuts may not have helped them look more mature to compensate for their height and general built either. Oh and howcome there are only 3 people? It really seemed like there was a member or 2 missing to complete the line-up...

At this moment in time, the age-thing becomes less of an issue and The Enemy really just have two major things working against them – their hair and their lack of a rhythm guitarist. Yet somehow I only managed to stay put off the band for about the time it took lead singer Tom to play 5 chords… their energy was wicked from the very second they walked onto the stage and throughout their set it didn’t stop. That their sound is more rock than indie-pop definitely worked in their favour and I was glad to realise there wasn’t a pair of skinny jeans in sight. In the end, I think their most impressive feat, in my eyes, was causing a full-on moshpit at Cabaret Voltaire. I do hope this energetic sound translates onto the eventual album and isn’t just a feature of their live shows. Based on this gig, 1st single ‘it’s not ok’ is quite the standard The Enemy-sounding song which hopefully doesn’t mean we will loose interest in these young Coventry-lads as the next couple of singles are released. It really would be a shame if their punk-ish take on the current indie scene got lost in NME’s hype of some less exciting but more predictable-sounding band (which you just gotta admit they do have a tendency to do).




We left this gig on a live-music high. I have criticised Cabaret Voltaire’s concert-venue potential in previous posts but on this occasion, I emerged from the undeground cave that this venue is feeling like I had just left a proper gig. And there is really only the bands to thank for that J

Oh, and our final poster-count upon return to the flat was 8… that’s pretty decent, right?

hats off to The View...

there's a first time for everything, as they say... and last monday was the first time ever that i have waited (im)patiently for an album and bought it on the day of its release. The View got that honour and, more importantly i think, they deserve it.

i have wondered a few times whether or not it would even really be worth shelling out the £9.99 for this album, but their tracks are just brilliantly fresh and upbeat and have come to define the nights out at liquid room this year so i decided that the £10 my mom sent me last week (for "vegetables and fruit and proper wholewheat pasta") would be well-spent on The View's album 'hats off to the buskers'.

and they were. the album is actually much better than the singles released so far would suggest. framed by 'superstar tradesman' and 'don't tell me', even 'same jeans' deserves its spot on the album. overall, there are actually more musical highlights than on the latest efforts by the killers and kasabian if you look at the album as a whole. from clips on youtube and stories from some of edinburgh's hardcore scottish fans, 'face for the radio' and 'skag trendy' are the live favorites and they work in their recorded form as well. i gotta say though, that the song that really convinced me this album was worth my £10 more than a proper meal was the opening track 'comin down' - it's more raw, more unpretentious, and more classic 70s rock than anything else on the album. and who can fault a good old-fashioned guitar solo?

worth the money, worth the listen, worth the hype, worth more chanting than they get because whether they are too commercial for you or not, The View are on fire...

introducing nu rave perfection...

i just had to post my opinion about klaxons' new single.

how amazingly brilliant is 'golden skans'? wow, wow, wow...

yes, it may be more mainstream than 'magick' and less of a mashup than 'atlantis to interzone' but what an absolute blinder this track is... it's the first song ever to make it onto my top 25 on itunes within the space of just 2 weeks (and any musician knows they've made it when that happens, lol) and i still have to stop whatever i'm doing, sit back and just listen whenever it comes on... it is that beautiful of a track.



and in addition to the fab track, the band has also managed to put together a totally genius visual treat for the song's video. seriously, can klaxons do no wrong? they better not have reached their prime yet... bring on the album release - 29/01/07, i'm counting down the days

Bye Bye 2006...

So, 2006 has been and gone. It has been a weird year – definitely more downs than ups but still with higher highs than I’ve had in a very long time. I had big plans to publish this post on dec. 31 to finish off the year with some thoughts on it but, as usual, life got in the way. but jan. 4 isn’t too bad though, right? :D

It’s been a really long year and I think I’ve come a long way with certain parts of my life and with coming to terms with certain things, but I know I have a long way to go considering how things are playing out at the moment... despite all the confusion and mind-all-over-the-place, 2 main things have defined 2006 for me: music and india. Without them, I wouldn’t have made it...

All the gigs, all the live music, and all the CDs purchased were really just a continuation of the last 4 months of 2005 in paris. Going to India, on the other hand, was one of the most random decisions I’ve ever made but also one of the ones that I’m the happiest to have made, regardless of my reason for doing so.

I want to do a few ‘best of 2006’ lists but before that, month by month, this was my 2006:

january

• the end of semester 1, hated the goodbyes to the amazing semester 1 erasmus people because I knew semester 2 would never match up...

february

• gig madness: The Subways, Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, and Death Cab For Cutie in less than 1 week :S
  

march

• Dauphine did its outmost to kill me with work while ALL other parisian unis were rioting, protesting, burning cars, and preventing teaching. Even when locked in at mcdonald’s on Boulevard St-Michel after the riot police lost control outside, there was work to be done.
  
• Group work with 18 people = horribly difficult. Group work with 18 people of which 14 are french = my worst nightmare. Yep, cultural differences and work habits ruled supreme at this point.
• my distractions from all the crap: snow patrol, the futureheads, and hard-fi

april

• spring comes to paris (finally!!)
• mid-terms, presentations, case studies, and reports in french - putain!
• 1st trip to la flêche d’or
• The Kooks impress me, Graham Coxon makes me miss home, and The Flaming Lips mix music and politics with a propaganda spectacle of bombs going off and children dying on the screen behind them to show their anti-bush stance – it brought down the mood they had built up for an hour and a half beforehand so ive chosen to ignore that part and convince myself they ended like this:

may

• a bit too much drinking and partying for my own good. Even fell asleep on the nightbus home one night and woke up somewhere in the suburbs south of paris with a driver who didn’t know a word of english – scary as hell and made me realise how lonely you can be while surrounded by millions of people.
• India trip booked!! Needed to escape europe and my dissertation and attempt to regain sanity
• emo-fix with Panic! At the Disco, not buying into the radio 1 hype with Orson, realising that swedish music is so much more than ABBA with Shout Out Louds, first, last and only no-smoking gig experienced in the french capital with the fabulous Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and a well-stolen (but stolen nonetheless)  sound with She Wants Revenge

june

• au revoir, paris!
  
• 3 gigs in 4 days for a musical goodbye with style: Guillemots, The Kooks, and The Cooper Temple Clause – you all well and truly rocked my world...

july

• quite possibly the best gig of the year: Wolfmother @ london astoria
• hello bangalore!! bonding with wicked new mates, riding rickshaws, being ripped off by rickshaw drivers, 1st experiences with sleeper-buses and indian toilets, sleeping 9 people on a boat for 2 = least comfortable nights sleep ever, nearly poisoning myself and shaun with mosquito spray, pissing off magazine editor by taking extra days off

august

• business cards are the DEVIL! Rave magazine takes revenge for days taken off work
• my 1st ever interview: Hugh Harris from The Kooks (argh! journalism is hard! people mumble on the phone! but still pretty exciting to say you’ve interviewed the kooks :P)
• 22nd birthday!! pitchers of kingfisher and free popcorn at a retro-bar with Bob Marley, The Beatles and Led Zeppelin playing in the background
• independence day bus-chaos, tsunami-hit beaches, indian karaoke, TGI Friday's and bowling, 15hr train rides, caught in monsoon rain (twice), no diet coke but lots of kingfisher
• bye bye bangalore...

september

• back to edinburgh, back to uni
  

october

• NME presents The Klaxons, liquid room presents The Cooper Temple Clause, and Oxjam makes a difference
  

november

• uni deadlines
• The Blood Arm and The Sunshine Underground fill cabaret voltaire and help maintain my monthly gig-attendance average

december

• home for the holidays
  
• lots of love for The Pigeon Detectives and The Duke Spirit, no love at all for The Films
• oh yeah, and the 2nd time I spend new years in edinburgh also becomes the 2nd time they’ve had to cancel the hogmanay street party...

bring it on, 2007...