Beach House @ Islington Mill 11/02/10

Whilst I'm stood in the eternal queue for the bogs I'm trying to think of the last gig I went to. Was it really ATP's a A Damp Squib Before Christmas in early December, I think it was. So far in, this year has provided an admiral array of musical delights in the form of new Four Tet and Yeasayer albums and not least of all the new long player from Baltimore two piece Beach House who grace us with their presence tonight at the slummiest venue in town; Islington Mill.

First of all a big thumbs up for a two band bill; There's just no need to pad out a quality line up with masses of lesser bands, it always kills the buzz, forces the shows to run late and spoils the 'event' no end...all IMHO of course.

Tonights warm up is Lawrence Arabia, the girlfriend and I have the following conversation at least five times during the evening:

She: I liked that Lawrence of Arabia
Me: It's Lawrence Arabia
She: That's what I said...Lawrence of Arabia

The New Zealanders don't help themselves by breaking a string first song and then displaying an alarming inability to fix it, their amateur status is magnified by the inane comments and the inevitable Flight Of The Conchords comparisons arise during the ten minute awkward interlude. The singer actually looks like a skinny version of Murray.



Eventually they are re-strung and ready to go. And the rest of their set is a rather impressive bunch of off-kilter wonky pop songs that tilt slightly towards the alt-country vibe and display the groups close knit harmonies. The harmonies are a touch over played at times and they are in danger of going all Barber-shop Raga on us. 'Apple Pie Bed' and 'I Smoke Too Much' being particular stand outs.

It's slightly confusing as to why they spent so long fixing aforementioned guitar string when as soon as it was fixed the guitarist spent large chunks of the remaining set on Trumpet, and why wasn't the guy playing tambourine tasked with fixing it while the rest of the band got on with the songs...or where was the spare guitar or the guitar tech??

The band did manage to pull it off and regain some momentum towards the end of their set and their songs are certainly worth checking out, even if they don't promise to blow your mind.

Beah House are a three piece tonight, vocals, guitars and drums although large parts of the set are on a backing track. Which is sort of dissappointing but then the album is such a carefully crafted sonic affair that perhaps this is the most logical process. Front lady Victoria Legrand peeks out at the audience behind her massive fringe and her sultry vocals melt my soul and help me forget how annoying this venue is; If there's more than 10 people in attendence you're not going to see a damn thing.

They play most of the latest 'Teen Dream' album and at the start of almost every song I proclaim to myself "this is my favourite one". What they play tonight is virtually identical to the album so stand out tracks are the same...Norway, Zebra, Used To Be...if you've heard the album you'll know there's not a duffer in sight so it's all good.



As a live entity there's not a great deal of charmisma or show(wo)manship. It's them playing the songs, almost identically as they sound on the album. The songs in themselves are masterful, catchy and timeless. As they approach the end of the set the flashing fluffly lights at the back of stage flash faster out of sync and Legrand places her hands on her knees and moshes to the powerful (if slow paced) backing. They declare they won't do an encore as there's no where to go if they leave the stage so they'll just play another song after they close their set with the fantastic 'Take Care'.

Whilst Beach House arent the most vibrant and exciting live show you'll see there's no doubt that the music they have created on 'Teen Dream' is an essential sound for 2010 and despite it's early release date is destined to feature in many End Of Year album charts. They play to their strengths and there's nothing wrong with that, in fact if I'd been able to see more than the top of their heads it might have been easier to engage with the show. I can't help feel a little dissappointed but then I think that was partly down to having ridiculous expectations, watching any awesome band in a venue where you can't see anything is always going to leave you a little aggrieved. Ah well onwards and upwards!!

Wavves/Mazes/Spectrals@ Deaf Institute 25/11/09

First up tonight are the bobbly hated Spectrals and despite a curious short instrumental warm up they offer up some choice tunes. All jingly post-grunge slacker folk pop rock with just about a nod to everything hip and happening in the world of good music. ‘It’s Ok not to be Ok’ starts off and mixes the classic Phil Spector drum beat with Joe Meek guitar twangs; a cocktail few would refuse. It then spirals into a sixties sounding version of the Bunnymen, which again, is ticking boxes on all levels. They lose a little bit of momentum by faffing between songs but the richness of their tunage belies their fresh faces. Keep them peeled for this colourful bunch.


Mazes are all laconic stage presence and slacker cool vibes. They begin with a drawling guitar riff that builds into a rough ass punk gemstone. ‘Bowie Knives’ sees frontman Jack Cooper try his hand at a Malkmus style falsetto and pulls it of rather nicely. The bass keeps dropping in and out of the mix which sort of spoils the first few songs. However, their set seems to fly by, the songs are short sharp casually vicious side swipes at everything and nothing, capturing the boredom and wisdom of early Pavement, speeding it up and playing it louder. The end of each song has Cooper yell a “yeah” and a “whoo” in mock appreciation of his bands own skills. He’s right to get excited they were stealthily stealing the show.




To be honest I’m struggling with this West Coast no-fi noise scuzz pop scene. No Age and Wavves haven’t really connected via the aural preceptors for me yet, but seeing No Age a few weeks ago was a jaw dropping experience and challenged me to reinvestigate the previously discarded recordings. With this in mind I had high hopes for Wavves especially with the excellent appetisers already witnessed this evening. Regular drummer Zac Hill was out injured but had been replaced by Jay Reatards rhythm section, so all was well or so I thought. Even from the very first song I felt I was missing something. The songs, gloriously loose and raw, didn’t seem to contain any magic, fury or charm that I could relate to. Everything felt a little too sloppy, a little too rushed. They were certainly some young lads down the front having a bit of a dance but the whole set never seemed to kick into gear. I can’t really put into words why this wasn’t working, there was just an absence of charm and tune. By the time they played “So Bored” I was lost in a sea of casual thoughts thinking “Hmm you’re bored!” and sarcasm never helps anybody does it. The speed with which they disappeared, without encore, from the stage perhaps suggested I wasn’t the only one preoccupied. Overall an opportunity missed all around.

Yo La Tengo @ Academy 2 08/11/09

There is not many bands that have been knocking about for twenty years, and it’s even more surprising when you consider that Yo La Tengo have never had much mainstream success. Despite releasing over ten albums that have largely achieved critical acclaim they’ve never “broken” the industry. This is possibly why they are still together and why they continue to quietly go about their business, cementing their reputation as one of the founders of US Indie Rock.

The stage backdrop is huge close up photo of some loose clothes buttons and along with the multi coloured spot lights there’s a real ambient closeness to the atmosphere inside the sold out Academy 2.



The first part of the set is decidedly chilled out. They open with ‘Decora’ from 1995’s ‘Electr-o-pura’ album before airing numbers from their latest critically acclaimed album “Popular Songs”. What is striking is the quality of the sound. Ira Kaplans keyboard sounds blissful and the vocal, although whispered by drummer Georgia Hubely, is spookily comforting. What becomes apparent from the off is that Yo La Tengo are a band of massive breadth. Within the first twenty minutes all three members have taken lead vocals and musically they’ve switched seamlessly between Hammond organ slumber rock into psychedelic guitar freak outs. Bassist James McNew pauses momentarily to switch on a drum loop and reverses it, while Hubely moves from the drums to the piano at the side of the stage A chill goes down the neck of the audience as they play ‘Don’t Have To Be So Sad’. It’s absolutely beautiful.



Perhaps their range of musical influence is too large to be fully examined in just under two hours and perhaps the acoustic mini-set included half way through was a slight dip in the pace of the evenings entertainment. One thing is for certain though, Yo La Tengo know how to close out a great gig. Swapping acoustic guitars for electrics they finally find top gear and blast out a final frenzy of ‘Sugarcube’ and ‘Tom Courtney’ which are as close to three minute indie pop song perfection as you can get, in particular ‘Tom Courtney’, which is fifteen years old, still has the ring of ‘instant classic’ about it. They conclude the show with the jaw dropping fifteen minute wig out of “Pass The Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind” and I swear to god I almost floated up above my own body like some form of transcendental crowd surfer. It was that good.

Twenty years together and Yo La Tengo so no signs of slowing down. They encore in front of the rapturous masses with a version of Dylan’s ‘I Wanna be Your Lover’ and end on ‘You Can Have it All’ and it honestly feels like we just have.

Dananananaykroyd@Academy 3 29/10/09

Glaswegians Dananananaykroyd not only have one of the contenders for best band name of All Time Best Band Names but they are rapidly confirming their status as one of the must-see live acts currently wowing audiences up and down the country. Their mix of scream-core math rock and poppy melodic sing-a-longs is an infectious blend that’s virtually impossible to refuse. Tonights Academy gig is an All Ages affair which means by the time the lights start to dim down the front half of the venue sounds like a school assembly gone berserk. A large group of teenagers have wedged themselves against the stage barriers and are singing the ‘Dananananak-ROYD!’ mantra and pumping their fists in the air.

The band amble on stage all skinny jeans, baggy T-shirts and floppy fringes and take a few seconds to high five the front row before launching into early single “Totally Bone”. The band are well rehearsed, uber tight and manage to all jerk their skinny bodies around in unison. The mosh pit at the front instantly explodes into a see of arms and legs and the occasional thrown shoe.



After a quick shout-out to local favourites Dutch Uncles they fly into the stellar single Pink Sabbath. Danan’s trademark quick flurries of melodious guitar chords mixed with abrasive riffage and smart tongue in cheek lyrics is easily whipping the crowd, and not just the young ones, into a frenzy. Halfway through the set they divide the crowd and attempt what they call the “Wall of Cuddles”; One side of the room runs directly at the other and vice versa. They are careful to explain to the overeager audience that the idea is to cuddle as many people as possible and stress that “moshing is for losers” thankfully what could be potentially an ugly incident ends as a peaceful hug fest and the band blast into the fantastic ‘The Greater Than Symbol and The Hash’ from their Sissy Hits E.P.

The bouncers leer hungrily from the wings taking obvious glee in dragging off over energetic youngsters attempting to stage dive. Finally the band finish their set with the epic ‘1993’, encouraging the crowd to sing along as second singer and part time drummer Calum Gunn runs around the venue dishing out hugs to all and sundry. The girl stood in front of me wraps two sweaty arms around him and I’m not sure she’s prepared to ever let go.

Dananananaykroyd obviously have a strong connection with people, and not just the young. As they wave goodbye to the crowd they make a point of thanking the oldies (over 18s) stood towards the rear of the venue. There aren’t many bands who could have you bouncing off the walls one minute and then charm your pants off the next.

Easily one of the most exciting and vibrant bands around at the moment, their fearsome live reputation is well earned. It’s almost impossible not to fall in love with these cheeky Glaswegians. They certainly brightened my day.

Weirdos On The Bus Go Round and Round

So I'm on my way to see Dananananaykroyd and I'm running late, and I need to get there because I'm supposed to be reviewing it for someone who's far more reputable than this blog will ever be. So I'm in a bit of a modd coz I'm miss Dinosaur Pile Up who are the support. But the bus driving is on a bit of a mission so I'm liking that.

On gets some old duffer with about 8 carrier bags. Bus sets off at a rate and sends the old fella stumbling about a bit. Normally I'd be a bit outraged at this coz I love any excuse to hate busdrivers, but I'm in a hurry so this guy can drive like a maniac if he wants just as long as he's moving. The old fella gives him a bit of a look as if to say "I nearly fell over then" but then starts scrabling around on the floor for a free paper. I'm thinking you old fossil just sit the fuck down, nevermind the metro. He picks one up and makes his way to the back ofthe bus and sits in the opposite corner to me. Sitting down he sees the back seat is strewn with free papers and he goes "oooh there's lots of free papers here" so my internal Weirdo alarm is going off now and I'm staring hard out the window. Rule Number 1 avoid contact at all costs.

Few stops later a women gets on, mid fifties I'd say. She's swinging her handbag and singing out loud and comes and sits in the middle of the back seat with a "Oops a daisy" as she sits down. Weirdo alarm goes off again. Two weirdos on one seat, something batty is bound to happen.

Few stops later the old fella starts coughing and the woman breaks rule number 1 by saying "ooh too many cigarettes!" to him. He goes "I don't smoke" to which she replies "Ooh i do" she says it in a way that's like he's just said he doesn't like jam on his crumpets. So I'm thinking two weirdos, but whose the weirdest of these two...well...this is what the old fella said next...

"I don't smoke, I don't drink and I don't gamble, never have. When I were sixteen I worked down a mine, I'm a yorkshireman you see. There was a man that worked down the mine, they called him Pendlebury. Anyway one week he took his weeks wages and went into the bookies and placed half his money on a horse. Well that horse came up short. So in he went again and put the rest of his weeks wages on another horse. And that horse came up short. So he went home and told his wife about it, you see he wanted to take his kiddies on holiday, they were going to Cleethorpes. Any road, that night he went and threw himself down the mine shaft and killed his 'sen!"

To which the woman replied "What dead?"

Brilliant that, I thought. The geezer is more mental, anyone can see that, but he won't stop there.....

"I don't drink, don't smoke, don't gamble, don't go pictures, don't do bingo, don't do crosswords," Crosswords being the evil twin of gambling of course, "I've read the bible about 6 times and that's where I get my joy from, reading that book."

So he's obviously a weirdo but I feel a bit bad because he's obviously not got much in his life except reading his bible stories and you can't really knock him for that. We sit in silence for afew minutes the woman obviously knows she's beaten, she's number two weirdo on this bus. She engaged him and he beat her down Knock Out delivery round one. She'll maybe learn her lesson now...at this point a sneak a peep and she's pretending to sleep!! But this fellas not bothered and despite the presence of two young girls a few seats away he carries on with a great line ...

"Cut him in half it did, that mine shaft. A man I know who works the bucket said he heard a bang and then the screaming"

It's a sign of the times that we don't strike up conversation with strangers like the olden days (whenever they were). I'm not sure that's a good or a bad thing.I do know that you're probably better off not engaging nutjobs on the bus though and herein ends the lesson.

Oh..yeah made the gig..Danan' were pretty good.

No Age/The Drums @ Deaf Institute 21/10/09

Word on the street is that The Drums are this years Vampire Weekend. I'm not so sure which street I'm referring to but after writing a hastily put together review of their mega catchy "Lets Go Surfing" single I was strolling around Topshop (as you do!) and there on the video wall was the Brooklyn based combo singing the very same song. If you've scored well with my well versed opinion and manage to get your video on the TopShop instore video wall then I'm pretty sure the future is looking bright for you.

After being heavily touted around this years In The City Festival/Event/Conference (not sure what the hell it is these days. I do know it used to be free and now it's £20 a wristband) I fully expect The Drums to be this years darling band. Strange to see them added to tonights line up with No Age then, but then again not that strange eh??

So I was sort of annoyed with myself right from the start but my know-it-all girlfriend assured me they wouldn't be on until ten. So when we rocked up we'd already missed the first few songs. You could tell the hype had spread as the crowd was spilling out the door. Luckily the aformentioned know-it-all spotted a break in the crowd and we hot footed it onto the Deaf Institute balcony. It's actually the first time I've seen a band from up there and its quite a weird experience, you sort of feel like your sat on the shoulders of the crowd whilst balancing one footed on the stage. First thing I noticed was that The Drums had no bass player yet lots of bass. It took me a nano second to spot from my current vantage point the drummer cueing up a backing track for each song which contained bass, whistling, vocals and keyboards... Which I sort of think is the sort of thing...well...a band should play!!



Their line up is a little off balance too; Singer, drummer, two guitarists (who were both playing very similar things, shirley one could have grabbed a bass?) and two backing singers. I love the idea of backing singers, these two perhaps weren't so much as singing backup as singing along to back up and fake wistling too. I'm well into musical gadgetry myself so I'm not really sure why all this backing track stuff bothers me so much. Maybe because it's easy to put on a 'show' if you don't have to worry about the music!! Singer Jonathan Pierce (yeah I know) looked like he'd come as an extra from a tin tin movie with his stripey top and short long pants maybe he'd just stepped of WHAM's summer yacht. The guitarists swooned around like foppish rascals carefully avoiding eye contact with the audience. Musically...yes it was alright, and "Lets Go Surfing" is a major CHOON and I wouldn't be suprised if the band got major exposure on behalf of that song alone. It was hard to hear anything else in their set that had anything near the same effect. It was all very cool and nicely done but I wonder if comparisons to Vampire Weekend are in the end just wishful thinking.

I have to be honest and say I was glad to see a fair few people fuck off after The Drums had played. The Deaf is a great venue but they don't half have a tendency to over pack it and no matter where you stand your either in the way of the bar, the smoking terrace, the bogs or the door. So yes, it was nice to see a fair few people do one.

Californian Two piece No Age came on stage and started faffing with their gear. I sort of like bands who can be on stage doing nothing and not feel the need to speak or apologise. The guitarist had an Ampeg Bass stack, a Marshall half stack and what looked like a Fender twin all set up and I presume he was playing through all three. After an intro of layered droned and frenzied strumming they launched into their first number. Instantly the word "Brilliant" flashed into my head. What a guitar sound, bass, treble and middle all ear crunchingly loud and the drummer wailing into the mic and bashing his kit. The vocals were a bit quiet throughout the entire show but I like that. They're buried within the noise and you have to strain to hear melody (you've no chance hearing words!).



I came to the show tonight despite not being impressed with what I've heard of the band via the mp3 bloggers paradise. Seeing them live was like finding the missing piece of the puzzle and I could hear all the things now that I couldn't before. This was like seeing Dinosaur in their prime. The brutal rawness tangled brilliantly with the merest hint of a pop song. Then when you thought you were getting into a melodic hook they yank it away from you into more noise and wave after wave of scratchy feedback. I nearly bought a T-shirt I was that impressed, but I didn't because I'm tight!! I'll probably pick up some of their records now though, because the gig tonight was a wonderful display of sparse punk driven pop songs. Loved it.

Wooden Shjips @ Islington Mill 20/08/09

So yeah part two of the "reviews written well after the gig and therefore pretty ropey" section. Instead of being knackered and not really focused on the gig like last time, this time I'm facing the prospect of getting up at five AM and going to the airport and flying to Berlin (via Dusseldorf), so that's hanging over my head and slightly occupying my mind.

I've never been to Islington Mill before, some people moan that it's too far to go for a gig but it's 'only a ten minute walk from the town centre'. I suggest that people claiming such should actually heel and toe it themselves before saying such. Not that I did, I drove it and got lost, hence the bitterness ... yes??

So Islington Mill is a dump, but a lovable one at that. What at first is an intimidating atmosphere of sweat and sweaty bodies, with sweat soacked air and sweaty heathens to push through the venue is really cool. The bar is essentially a pile of shit with a bit of wood on the top. The booze was cheap (I wasn't driving back!) but unfortunately it wasn't as cool as the venue.

Gnod are tonights opening band. It's obvious why they've been chosen for the gig and I'm always disappointed when looking for a local support act some promoters just go for bands that sound identical to headline act. It seems a bit like going out for a steak and having a bigmac for a starter..sort of the same, but shitter!! Gnod were better than your usual BigMac though in fact they were really good, their sound is a mix of all things, a little bit Mark E Smith a little bit trance a little bit (well a lot prog rock). The band themselves were equally a mixed bag indies kids, dredheads and a few metallers..all good. Worth checking out again.



Wooden Shjips..like Gang gang dance a year before them are close to my album of the year choice (obviously that means a lot to them). The San Diegans (San Diego-ins, San Diegoites...???) second album 'Dos' capturing the rawness of early sonic Youth and adding flavours of trance and freakout not matched by many psych contempories. And before anyone starts, Yes I know all their songs sound the same, it's how they roll, deal with it, maaaan.



So yeah, they were ace...except for two things; neither had anything to do with the band. First up was the guy behind me obviously there at some friends behest who had to, and I mean had to describe everysong to his buddys. It wasn't just the volume and the appaling similies he was gushing but the obviousness that he was just looking around theroom and saying stuff out loud "Oh wow that one was like Ozric Tentacles on acid in a sweaty ship yard", "Yowsers that one was like a cosmic bus driver on a couch of doom in a room full of people..." I was waiting for "That one was like a closet peodophile who doesn't know the volume of his own voice giving opinions nobody asks for in order to impress a girl that's probably already married" but...



... we moved into the crowd a bit to get away from Jonathan King and friends and ended up stood behind two guys dancing. Nowt wrong woth that (you'd think), entitled to have a boogie aren't you?? Well yeah but these two were propa off their tits. Soft drinks at Islington Mill are served in tiny plastic cups and these two would take it turns to go get two lemonades struggle back to where the other was, after slopping half the drink on his way over, then they'd both do the "pop" like a shot and thirty seconds later the other was off to the bar. It amused me a lot I can tell you, just that their inability to keep within their own space got a bit annoying. You know the bit in Dirty Dancing when he goes "this is my space, this is yours" yeah well that's what was going on, he was looking at his phone and kept walking backwards...onto my feet. Nice lad did apoligise a few thousand times before he had to go off to the bar for a quick shot of "pop". Then I bought a T-shirt and we went home, had an early start the next day.