The XX / These New Puritans / Glasser @ The 02 Academy 2, Friday 5th March 2010

Somewhere across town this evening cheeky, chirpy Irish chappie Ronan Keating is getting ready to entertain a no doubt packed NIA with his tales of life being a bit like a rollercoaster. Actually I reckon (WARNING: Cheesy link ahead) life’s a bit more like tonight’s openers, who didn’t actually bother to announce who they were (I later discovered they were called Glasser). Why is life like Glasser? Well, bear with me here. Vocally there’s some of the madness of Bjork and Bush (Kate) and musically there’s tribal drumming a plenty (the likes of which have been seldom heard since the days of the mighty Bow Wow Wow...look ‘em up) and a distinctly oriental feel. To reinforce this vibe the band came on wearing robes, the two blokes (who...er ...'played' Apple Macs) also had those hats that Chinese people wear when they’re working in the rice fields. Put it all together and it’s a confusing, strange but oddly intriguing combination that’s generally well worth sticking around for. See? Just like life.

Next up was nothing short of the sonic assault unleashed by These New Puritans. Anyone who jigged along to their 2007 track ‘Elvis’ will no doubt be a little surprised at just how...well...BIG...they sound now. Opener and Balkan beat banger ‘We Want War’ is a simply remarkable bit of stuff. Where the funk did that come from eh? The lead singer has a kind of Terry Hall type of dead pan delivery and the whole thing’s topped off with pounding drums, brass sections, choirs, ominous whispers, quite bits, loud bits...very loud bits. It goes on for over 7 minutes too (not that size is everything) and leaves some of the audience looking a little puzzled. Good. That’s one of the functions of new music...mix that schnizzle up a bit, that’s what I say. I’d love to see the track done with a full orchestra and choir (rather than laptops) but I guess this would be a logistical nightmare. The rest of the set couldn’t possibly compete with, what is, nothing short of the band’s masterpiece – and an incredibly ambitious piece of music for any band to try to pull off. But there were plenty more Terry Hall-ish vocals, heavy beats and Middle Eastern flavas, all of which gelled best in the second best track from their current album (Hidden), the threateningly titled ‘Attack Music’. No ‘Elvis’ sadly, it looks and sounds like the band has moved on from their art rock days...where they go from here will be intriguing.

Finally, The XX. This band was all over the trendy press last year, like footballers on their teammates’ wives. Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim’s whispered songs of love, lust and Geography homework (probably...one or two of the songs tonight were a little difficult to make out) set against stripped back beats and twangy guitars are an intoxicating mix (think Everything But The Girl meets The Cure in places). Judging by the clearly devoted fan base crushed into the venue tonight it’s not just the tastemakers and reviewers who’ve fallen for them either. It’s like listening in on a private conversation between two post coital lovers (not that I do that sort of thing...often). And here, for me, is both the strength and weakness of the band as a live proposition. It’s incredibly intimate. You almost want to be snuggled up under a duvet with the group. Both ‘Basic Space’ and ‘Crystalised’ (with its Joy Division-ish guitar intro) had enough of a connection to send tingles down the spine. An inspired version of Womack and Womack’s ‘Teardrops’ also tickled my musical fancy. It’s not often that a band can truly reinvent and make a well known song their own, but tonight they well and truly pulled it off. Other tracks were just a little too low key and hushed to draw me in, even though I was standing pretty close to the stage. That being said the band’s doing something a little bit different and, let’s cut them some slack here, they’ve made a cracking and emotionally raw debut album that can’t be easy to translate into a live show.

Nightstylers in da house

I’m pretty broad minded when it comes to music (that’s kind of the raison d’etre of this site too...musical snobbery be damned), so I can see the appeal of big, glossy commercial house (the sort of thing that comes bangin’ out of clubs at 3am...just as blokes in cheap white cotton shirts and ladies in...well...very little really...do likewise). Whilst I wouldn’t be seen dead in Coconuts, Slippery Dicks or The Wang Palace (or whatever such places are called these days) I’m not averse to some joyful, hands in the air, dance around in your pants, house. Speaking of which, Nightstylers (a duo consisting of Andrew Galea and Patrick Ruane) seem to be kicking out just that. Galea’s a former producer of The Freestylers (remember Bomfunk MC’s?) so it’s no surprise that new single and, apparently a number 1 in the Upfront Chart, ‘No More Lies’ is as catchy as hell. Featuring a soulful vocal from a young lady called Majuri it’s Euro house-tastic, stuffed full of those big cheap sounding keyboards and build and fall moments that are guaranteed to get the (foam) party started.

No More Lies is out on Wrecked Records on March 22^nd...or you can probably hear it in Slippery Dicks right now!

The Miserable Rich / Dan Whitehouse @ The Glee Club, Thursday 4th March 2010

Thursday already...and my third gig of the week so far. Oh what a rock n’roll lifestyle I lead, in between watching Bargain Hunt and Deal or No Deal that is. Tonight I was back in the Glee Club studio, a lovely intimate little venue (which I actually prefer to its big brother, da Main Room).

First up, Dan Whitehouse. The last time I saw Dan (a few years back now) I think he’d just come back to the Midlands from London and was in the process of pulling together a band. Back then he played an impressive acoustic set, packing in the kind of emotional intensity that a lot of singer songwriters aim for but few achieve. Tonight he’d got this band together (keyboard, violin and percussion) and gave us a charming, assured performance culled (I think) mainly from his series of self released EPs. Chatting in between tracks he quickly won over those in the crowd who were new to him and, judging by the number of people clutching his CDs near me, gained himself quite a few extra fans in the process. Check out his MySpace page for a whole bunch of live videos and tracks.

The Miserable Rich were one of my great musical discoveries of 2009 - beautiful, heart breaking music and lyrics, lead singer James’s angelic vocals and a group of musicians at the very top of their game. Their debut album (12 Ways To Count) is a must have in my book and, judging by some of the tracks unveiled this evening, the follow up’s sounding every bit as strong (it’s due out in May I believe). After all, if it ain’t baroque don’t fix it eh? (that’s a ‘witty’ play on words by the way, the band are kind of baroque chamber pop...so now you know). Tonight was the third time I’ve seen them in a year and, once again, from the moment James opened his mouth to the second the last of the applause died away at the end of the set I was in musical nirvana. It’s like having someone sing you lullabies while a thousand angels stroke your furrowed brow. Sigh. James seemed on fine form tonight, a little chattier than I’ve seen him before and happy to regale us with tales of stalking Yummy Mummys and his Chilean girlfriend (who seemingly thinks she’s a wolf). I normally narrow down the highlights of a band’s set to a couple of tracks but that’s not so easy to do with the Miserable Rich. Suffice to say it was long highlight, but, in no particular order the waltzing ‘Somerhill’ (new single – out on March 29^th), the drunk’s lament ‘Pisshead’, the paean to freedom from the working week ‘The Time That’s Mine’ and, still my favourite, ‘Boat Song’ were all life enhancingly gorgeous. Do me a favour. Please. Just listen to it. Now. Shut your eyes and listen to it. If that don’t move you then you’re probably clinically dead.

Their last Glee Club show pulled in just a few of us, this time it seemed close to selling out. When the rest of the world catches up with them...and they will...you mark my words, they’ll be selling out much bigger venues in the blink of an eye. Catch them, up close and personal, while you can.

Girls / Spectrals / Circus Town @ The Hare & Hounds, Wednesday 3rd March 2010

Circus Town...'dirty pieces' not pictured

Fancy seeing ‘Girls’ at the Hare & Hounds? It took me a moment to realise that it wasn’t an invitation to letch at the fairer sex (not that I’d do such a thing...being a gentleman and all that...the short sightedness doesn’t help matters either), but instead the chance to see a band called ‘Girls’, which, of course, doesn’t feature any. Pfff. In fact all of tonight’s bands were female free zones, kicking off with ‘dirty three piece’ (their words, not mine) Circus Town. Whether they had a dirty ‘piece’ or not I couldn’t possibly comment on. Imagine Led Zeppelin jamming with The White Stripes (which, as anyone who’s seen the recent movie/doc ‘It Might Get Loud’ realises is a pretty good combination) and you’ll have some idea of the sound. Delivering a fiery set of garage blues belters – including an unholy trinity of fine tracks entitled ‘Black Bones’, ‘Beg’ and ‘Crawl’ – they made me yearn for a bottle of Jim Beam and a trailer park full of hookers. Powerful stuff. Bonus points for the drummer’s ‘Flowery Twats’ t-shirt too (I’m assuming this was a Fawlty Towers related item and nothing to do with ‘dirty pieces’ again).

Next Spectrals. Billed as Jesus and Mary Chain meets Bobby Darin and Phil Spector (before he blew the head off someone, obviously, I guess he’s just perfecting the ‘bars of sound’ right now eh?) they reminded me more of Duane Eddy meets The La’s (again, not a bad combination). Raw and a little unpolished it might be but they do a grand job of reinventing that late 50’s early 60’s reverb heavy pop sound that you get in old surf movies featuring girls in bikinis called Cindy Lou and bronzed hunks called Brad. Jukeboxtastic.

Girls...who are all boys...

Finally, all the way from San Francisco...Girls! Fronted by a certain Christopher Owens – a former member of the Children of God religion/cult (aren’t all religions cults?) – they’ve got a kind of fuzzy, woozy thang going on. Like Spectrals they’re fans of the old reverb-erb-erb-erb too and what some of the tracks lacked in fire they made up for in fuzz. Let it get under your skin and it’s a bit like being stoned (the nice sort of stoned, not the angry mob chucking bits of rock at you kind). Personally I like my Girls loud and nasty, so tracks like ‘Big Bad Mean Motherfucker’ and the catchier than pubic lice ‘Lust For Life’ get my vote. The latter track tonight seemed to be a bit of a shortened version though (a shame ‘cos I think that’s their best song), maybe Chris lost his lust halfway through? The set drifted on nicely enough though, Chris singing hazily about finding his ‘life in the sun’ and bringing a much needed Summer-time vibe to this bloody endless bloody miserable never ending ball shrivelling Winter.

PS: Tonight was a Birmingham Promoters gig (jolly nice peeps they are too) and I strongly urge you to check out their line up for the coming months...Mr Hudson, The Fall (yes...THE FALL), Faust (yes...FAUST), Beardyman, Patrick Duff (ex Strangelove singer and performer of one of my favourite ever gigs), Horace Andy, King Adora (reforming for just a couple of dates), Darwin Deez (hotly tipped Coldplay dissin’ indie King)...the list...like the beat...goes on.

Starless in their eyes...

I told you this week was chock full of great gigs and here’s one I missed off my list. Starless and Bible Black produce the kind of classic, acid tinged, blissed out psych folk that's every bit as intoxicating as it's 70's predecessors. The haunting voice of Helene Gaultier (seemingly channelling the spirit of Sandy Denny) drifts in and out of the tunes like a mist on a Spring morn. And if that isn’t enough to get you down to the Hare and Hounds this Friday (March 5^th) you’ve got the acoustic folk of Beneath The Oak and The Gardenelles as well, all for a fiver. Another one of the splendid Lunar Society nights (run by the good folk of Moseley Folk) it promises to be an evening of musical loveliness...

Tickets are £5 on the door, more info right here.

Los Campesinos! / Swanton Bombs / Islet @ The Rainbow, Monday 1st March 2010

The Interweb. You really have to be all over it (MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, Asbo, Hobo, GoGo blah blah blah) if you’re in a band these days don’t you? Well, you don’t have to be, but I can’t think of any band that’s deliberately (I presume it’s deliberate...either that or they can’t be arsed...which isn’t half as exciting) shunned the world wide web...until now that is. Meet Islet. Billed as a ‘No Wave’ group from Cardiff they seemingly don’t want to be part of the wwworld as we know it. Can’t blame ‘em really. A couple of chaps have set up a fan site for them but that’s as much as you’re going to get...for now. If you want to see and hear much more of them you have to get off your arse and schlep down to a gig. So schlep I did. And I’m really rather glad I did. Performing like four people possessed, Islet (three boys, one girl) thrashed, screamed and jammed their way through 20 odd minutes of mayhem. You know the noise that goes on inside your head when you’re stuck in the three items or less queue at a supermarket and everyone in front has trolley full of stuff...none of which are on the ‘system’...and they want to pay using a bizarre selection of coupons? Or imagine throwing two drum kits, several guitars (plugged into their amps, naturally) a cowbell...hell why not add the cow too...and Can (the ultra cool German Krautrock band) band down the stairs. Er...it sounds like that. Sort of. Bonkers...but quite possibly brilliant. At the end of every song the band kind of rotated and swapped instruments) so, at various times, everyone played guitar, keyboard, drums...each other (seriously, they started hitting each other with little tambourines at one point). The double drumming pieces (two drummers, drumming in perfect sync) were particularly wondrous, pounding away like maniacs they sent dozens of shards of splintered wood flying through the air. I kind of hope that Islet never ever releases any music. A strange thing to say I guess, but it would be a little like trying to bottle a kick in the crotch and a kiss...

Next up, Swanton Bombs. Two men, one drum, one guitar. Playing stripped back street blues, they’re as raw as a freshly cut knife wound...which is what makes it for me. Thump the hell out of your instruments, yell your lyrics as though your life depended on it and then vanish backstage for a hand job and a can of Special Brew (NB: I’m not sure the band actually did this...but I’d like to think they did ).
Los Campesinos!...well, one of them anyway

Finally Los Campesinos! I’ve seen this band before a few years back and kind of forgot how good they were/are. That happens a lot. The problem with seeing loads of bands and having access to pretty much everything ever recorded on the Interweb (apart from Islet obviously) is that you (well...me certainly) miss out on developing that kind of band loyalty that you had back in the day when a record purchase was a serious business. Yep, I’m a musical whore, skittering off to my next musical thrill on an almost daily basis, which inevitably means that bands often slip off my radar. Able to pull off joyful pop (witness ‘You! Me! Dancing!) and Arab Strap style misery (say hello to ‘The Sea is a Good Place...’) tonight’s gig was more than enough to put them firmly back in my sights. Kicking off with the snappily titled ‘I just signed. I just sighed. Just so you know’ they set out their musical stall with a gloriously loud and thrashy workout (there’s 8 of the buggers up there on the stage you know...including a violinist...well, why not eh?), the pissed off shouty bloke’s vocals neatly contrasted by one of the girl’s sweeter than honeydew voices. ‘ Romance Is Boring ‘ (the title track from the new album – out now) was half Art Brut, half X-Ray Spex – a short and bittersweet anti Valentine’s Day card (ha...take that Clintons) and proof that the band’s winning way with the sing along chorus is alive and well. Speaking of which, both ‘You! Me! Dancing’ and ‘Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks’ got energetic airings tonight too, bookending another new track, the aforementioned Arab Strap-tastic ‘The Sea Is a Good Place to Think About The Future’. Pared back, by the band’s standards at least, it was one of the highlights of the gig for me (but then I’m a miserable bastard at the best of times). Proof, perhaps, that Los is more...

PS: There will be pictures...proper pictures...over at my other home, Gig Junkies (pop in some time, I'll put the kettle on and we'll have a natter), courtesy of Mr Wayne Fox esq.

Gigs. Gigs. Gigs. This is a post about gigs.

There's a bucket full of great gigs on in Birmingham next week (w/c 1st March) and, although I'm normally too darn lazy to do such a thing, here's my personal pick:

Monday 1st March - Los Campesinos / Swanton Bombs / Islet @ The Rainbow, Digbeth (Los Campesinos play ace perky indie pop...and some equally ace miserable stuff as well. Music to dance and slit your throat to. Now that's value. Backing comes from the hotly tipped and rather mysterious Islet)

Tuesday 2nd March - Heaven 17 @ Leamington Spa (performing all of their classic album Penthouse & Pavement...lack of finances, a failure to blag a guestlist reviewer's place and logistical considerations make this one look so close and yet so far. Maybe they'll come to Brum next time?).

Wednesday 3rd March - Girls / Spectrals / Circus Town @ The Hare & Hounds (San Fran fuzz pop from former 'Children of God' cult member).

Thursday 4th March - The Miserable Rich / Dan Whitehouse @ The Glee Club (The Miserable Rich are, quite possibly, my favourite band in the WORLD right now. Go and see them and find out why...I'll be the one in the front row, rocking backwards and forwards gently).

Friday 5th March - The XX @ Academy (Boy meets girl. Boy sings to girl. It's a new wave boy / girl thing).

Saturday 6th March - Nick Harper @ The Hare & Hounds (acoustic legend - and son of Roy - keeps it real).

There's probably a whole heap more gigs next week, for some reason everyone seems to come out of the woodwork in March, but that's enough for any chap (or chappette) to cope with. Enjoy.

First Aid Kit / Goodnight Lenin / Jodie and the Jet Plane @ The Rainbow, Digbeth, Monday 22nd February 2010

Goodnight Lenin...make that Greatnight Lenin...

Isn’t it Summer yet? You know I really don’t mind a bit of Winter...log fires, hot toddys, newsreaders wetting themselves with excitement at all the chaos that a list dusting of snow seems to cause...but this one seems to be going on foreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeever. Enough I say. I’m taking a leaf out of that nice Mr Billy Bragg’s book and holding back my taxes until the Government puts a cap on minimum temperatures (not that I really pay taxes at the moment...being only semi-employed and all that). Perhaps our lovely PM, ‘Basher’ Brown, could bully the weather into getting warmer in between giving that Cameron fellow a well deserved ‘wedgie’?

First up Jodie and the Jet Plane, a five piece with a nice line in soaring (I guess that’s where the Jet Plane bit comes in) vocals and emotive lyrics who, in places, reminded me a little of All About Eve (floaty folky rocky 80’s band who sang songs about stuffing flowers in their hair, sitting by harbours and being ‘ocean waves’...it happens, right?). Tonight was a acoustic set (judging by their MySpace tracks the full Jet Plane experience normally rocks out a lot more) but the power of one of their best tracks ‘He’ll Never Be Right’ shone through, Jodie’s impressive tonsils giving it full throttle in the chorus while the rest of the band created what musos would call gentle ‘sonic soundscapes’.

Next up...Goodnight Lenin. Good golly Miss Molly, I really rate this lot. Seriously. Putting aside civic pride (they’re from Birmingham) the Lenin are rapidly developing into something truly special. That they’ve only been at it for under a year (although most/all of the band were in another group/groups before) is nothing short of miraculous. Further honing their fine vocal harmonies that so impressed me last time I saw them and continuing to draw their influences from Simon and Garfunkel, Dylan, CSNY and The Band, some of their self penned songs already sound like classics. And no, I’m not going off on one again...just listen to ‘Crook In The Creek’, and ‘Wenceslas Square’ on their MySpace thingy and judge for yourself. The crowd lapped it up and even the headline act - standing right at the front of the audience - seemed in awe of the performance. There was a nice moment when one of the band tried to deliver a little preprepared speech in Swedish to the headliners...not an easy trick to pull off...he almost made it too, although I’m guessing Swedish wasn’t on his school curriculum. The whole set was nothing short of a foot stomping triumph and you’d be well advised to go and see them up close and personal while you still have the chance.

Headliners First Aid Kit are a pair of teenage Swedish sisters (steady now) - Klara & Johanna Söderberg - who, like Goodnight Lenin, have turned their backs on Gangster Rap, Crunk, Death Metal and Acid Speed Thrash Garage in favour of a more folky route. And, just like Goodnight Lenin, they’ve got this harmony business well and truly licked. There’s a real Country and Western tinge to a lot of their stuff (is Country big in Sweden?), they almost do that yodelling thing in places and sing about sitting around on porches (not something I imagine you’d get much of a chance to do in Malmo...without losing your extremities that is). Touring to promote their rather fine new album ‘The Big Black and The Blue’ they delivered a belting version of its finest track ‘I Met Up With The King’ together with a career spanning (admittedly it’s a fairly new career) set including ‘Tangerine’ and a spine tingling unplugged version of ‘Ghost Town’ delivered sans microphones by the girls standing side by side before an audience so quiet you could hear a coyote’s heartbeat. In amongst the self penned stuff we had a couple of covers too. Both Fleet Foxes ‘Tiger Mountain Peasant Song’ and Gram Parsons ‘Still Feeling Blue’ got an airing, with the Gram track (Gram’s clearly a massive influence on them) preceded by the girls imploring the audience to check him out. I’d second that, just make sure you check out First Aid Kit too. As they put it on their MySpace page ‘We aim for the hearts, not the charts’. I’d call tonight a direct hit.

Hot Chip / Casiokids / Grosvenor @ The O2 Academy Birmingham, Saturday 20th February 2010

If there’s one thing that’s guaranteed to warm the cockles (and other body parts for that matter) on a cold, cold February evening it’s some quality electro pop...and it doesn’t get much better than Hot Chip. Creators of some of the catchiest electro classics of the past few years (step forward ‘Over and Over’ and ‘Ready for the Floor’) 2010 sees them celebrate their tenth anniversary (good grief...tempus fugit) with the release of their rather fine new album ‘One Life Stand’.

First up though – and a bit of a nice surprise this (as I hadn’t seen him/them billed) – Grosvenor. Fronted by a certain Rob Smoughton (who later cropped up as Hot Chip’s drummer) Grosvenor are a homage to the great late 70’s / early 80’s sounds of bands like Steely Dan, Supertramp and Hall & Oates. In other words the kind of spotlessly polished gloriously glossy pop that indie and lad rock was supposed to have killed off. Unashamedly retro – and all the more fabulous for it – I can’t remember enjoying an opening act quite so much for ages. Coming onstage to a shout of “Eric Clapton” from one of the audience (to be fair Rob does bear a passing resemblance to slowhand himself), the Grosvenor machine delivered a good half a dozen soulful pop classics in the making from Nightmoves (with its slowed down Supertramp ‘Dreamer-esque’ intro) through to the 80’s Europop tinged ‘Drive Your Car’. Yes, I’m a closet MOR pop whore and proud of it. Grosvenor may be square but, as Huey and the boys put it (I’m really not doing my reputation much good here am I eh?), “it’s hip to be square”. Slip on a white suit, roll up your sleeves, pour yourself a Babycham and stick Grosvenor on. If it don’t make you feel a million dollars I’ll eat my Filofax.

Next up, all the way from Norway, it’s Casiokids. Taking the brave (but quite right) decision to sing in their native Norwegian tongue added an exotic, slightly other worldly feel to their set. It also gave me the chance to interpret what they were singing in my own way. So (in my head at least) I heard a song about the difficulties of parking a Sherman tank in supermarket car parks and a lovely little ditty about licking salt off your lover’s eyebrows. As well as singing in Norwegian they favour (as the name implies) old skool technology, cheap (nowadays at least) and trashy keyboards together with the instrument du jour, the cow bell...several cow bells in fact...I counted at least six...all played with the kind of youthful exuberance of a bunch of 8 year olds with ADHD. Brilliant.

That just left Hot Chip then. If they’d only ever released ‘Over and Over’ that would be enough reason to go and see them, but they’ve got a hard drive stuffed full of clever, catchy pop hits and tonight’s set saw them stream a fair few. Sure, they may look like a group of Science teachers on a field trip but the Academy was full of trendy young things gagging for their Chip fix. The set kicked off with early single ‘And I Was a Boy From School’, in many ways the archetypal Chip track, dancey enough to nod your head to but with enough lyrical content to get the old noggin thinking as well. From there on in it was one Chip classic after another, including, as you’d expect, a fair smattering from arguably their best album so far, the newbie, ‘One Life Stand’. There was the Giorgio Moroder-tastic ‘Thieves in the Night’, the touchingly sombre ‘Brothers’ (sung by fellow Chip vocalist Rob) and the steel drum infused ‘One Life Stand’ itself - a worthy addition to the Chips legacy, right up there with ‘Over and Over’ and ‘Ready for the Floor’ for sheer catchiness. Funky electro, dirty synths, sweet breaks and Alexis angelic voice...pure magic. In fact throughout the set Alexis’ soft and gentle vocal provided a delicious counterpoint to the beats and bleeps – something very human in the midst of all this technology – which makes the Chip that rare beast (these days at least), a band that’s as good to listen as it is to dance to. There was plenty of bopping going on around me as well. Predictably ‘Over and Over’ got the biggest bop of the night going but, for a good hour and half, a several hundred heads nodded away furiously like that Churchill dog. Oh yesyesyesyes. As someone who grew up with the sounds of the Human League, Heaven 17, Soft Cell and Blancmange on his Walkman it’s gratifying to see that a band like Hot Chip can still do something fresh with electro pop. Chip’s off the old pop as it were...yes, you’re right, there was no need for that was there?

PS: Don't forget to check out the Gig Junkies version of this review featuring pretty pictures courtesy of Mr Fox. It just like being there...without the sweaty bird rubbing her armpit all over your face...

First Aid Kit kiss it better at The Rainbow

Hotly tipped Swedish indie folksters (think a female Fleet Foxes style duo) will be applying their particular brand of musical medicine at The Rainbow on Monday night (that’ll be the 22^nd of February then). As if that weren’t enough they’re joined by Goodnight Lenin...Birmingham’s very own answer to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young...only better. So there.

Not Squares – Asylum

Up for a bit of a Foals/Datarock-ish style wig out? Yep, me too. Welcome then to ‘Asylum’ the debut single from Belfast's very own Not Squares. They’ve made a video filim too, bless ‘em. Rather fun it is a well. If ever you wanted to know where I got my ‘dance moves’ from the secret’s out.

Asylum ‘escapes’ on March 1^st on Richter Collective Records.

Scary Mansion – Make Me Cry

Now there’s an album title...Make Me Cry. ..intuition tells me it’s not going to be a laugh a minute. If you’re a fan of Cat Powers though (as I am) there’s plenty to like about Scary Mansion’s new one. Fronted by fragile voiced chanteuse Leah Hayes it makes great use of the quiet / loud approach to music (gentle intro’s to songs that give way to thundering great rock outs – take ‘One Percent’ for instance). At 30 minutes it’s short and (bitter) sweet but, thanks to some sensitive instrumentation (they even use something called a ‘thunderstick’ - some kind of traditional American instrument) and Leah’s ethereal vocals it quickly pulls you in. Repeated listens prove it to be what they call a real grower too...

Make Me Cry’s out on March 1^st on Talitres Records (free box of tissues with every copy...possibly).

Top Tracks # 15 - The Knack 'My Sharona'

Sure, the lyrics may be a little dodgy, but if it's punk tinged New Wave gold you're after The Knack's 'My Sharona's' hard to beat. Sadly lead singer Doug Fieger died yesterday after a long battle with brain and lung cancer so, in humble tribute to a five minute classic that I've played to death (on 7 inch vinyl, naturally) over the years, let's add it to The Hearing Aid's 'legendary' list of Top Tracks. Play it LOUD you mothers.

Doug Fieger - August 21st 1952 - 14th February 2010

The Scholars / Chapel Club / The Naked Youth @ The Flapper, Saturday 13th February 2010

Chapel Club...getting a quick prayer in

There’s a real buzz about this gig. Even the Flapper toilets had a heady aroma about them...then again don’t they always? (NB: I Love The Flapper...this is just for comedy purposes...the toilets are spotless and smell only of roses and newly mown grass...). It’s all down to a certain Chapel Club who are currently being touted as one of those ‘next big things’. They’re not headlining though, instead they’re sandwiched between two other groups. First up, The Naked Youth. I was going to look this band up on the net before the gig but aren’t there rules against stuff like that? One mis-click and I’d be right up the Gary Glitter. Try explaining that to PC World “Honest guv, I was just trying to look up a band”. Bit of a QOTSA feel to this lot, shades of Nine Black Alps perhaps too. Bluesy rock with some downright dirty (but not in a 'naked youth' way) guitar. Formed as recently as the Summer of 2009 they’ve made an impressive start and put on a fine show featuring a couple of tracks that you can check on their MySpace page (don’t worry, I made sure I got the address right...eventually) including ‘The Devil Knows Your Dead’. Bonus points for the full on rock out t the end of the show...although I would’ve liked it to go on for a few more minutes. But that’s me all over. Greedy.

Next up, praise and hallelujah, it’s Chapel Club. Their forthcoming single ‘O Maybe I’ is undoubtedly something special. Combining the doomy bass of Joy Division era Peter Hook with the arch lyrics of Morrissey was always going to be a winning formula. “O maybe I should settle down for a quiet life, or maybe I should risk it all for a perfect night?” sings lead Clubber Lewis in his best Morrissey. It’s classy stuff. In truth, despite the Smiths comparisons it’s really only ‘O Maybe’ I that rings those bells that strongly. Whilst there’s still a dark melodramatic light (that never goes out) at the heart of the band it’s those squally walls of guitar that dominated much of the set, a ‘wail’ of sound played by a thrashing threesome that, on tracks like ‘Machine Music’, made the lyrics sound like a last will and testament. Elsewhere there’s a little more dark humour at play, witness ‘Surfacing’s neat use of the Mama’s and Papa’s staple ‘Dream A Little Dream’. I’m always wary of leaping on bands and proclaiming them the second coming (mainly ‘cos I get it wrong so often) but Chapel Club have ‘it’, whatever ‘it’ may be. Expect the disciples to grow by the day.

Finally The Scholars...all the way from the very scholarly Oxfordshire. Like a slightly more upbeat Editors they take the serious school of rock route. Check out the synth strengthened ‘Blood Runs Blue’ “Time is a precious thing. Use it wisely. I hope you learn from past mistakes” intones the lead Scholar. Okay. I’ll do that. On top of dishing out wise words they’re picking up some decent reviews too. New single ‘This Heart’s Built To Break’ was picked as the track of the week by Alex Zane on none other than the ‘MySpace Mars Planets Radio’ show. And you don’t...er...get much bigger than that...right? The lead Scholar has a really strong, clean crisp, radio friendly vocal and the rest of the band thrashed around like good ‘uns. They’ve got plenty of catchy songs too and, despite (or maybe because of) having to follow the majesty of Chapel Club, they pulled off a strong set. Most importantly of all – and if, after 20+ years of going to see gigs, anyone’s interested in what - in my humble opinion - makes a decent set (whether you love the music or not is a different matter) – they put their all into it and seemed to have a whale of a time.

Happy Valentine’s Day dear readers. I love you all. Even the Japanese porn site that keeps sending spam comments (86 and counting) - in Japanese - to one of my reviews...just don’t add any pictures of naked youth... I’m probably in enough trouble as it is.

X

NME Awards Tour 2010 featuring The Maccabees / Bombay Bicycle Club / The Big Pink / The Drums @ The Academy, Birmingham Thursday 11th February 2010

Shockwaves. Yeah. Hair gel! Yeah. Rock n’roll! Corporate whoring. Whoop! Yeah! I shouldn’t mock, after all music and sponsorship go back a long way but nowadays it’s just that little bit more IN YOUR FACE! I’m only jealous, I’ve never had the kind of hair that could be teased into silly shapes, although I do now sport a ridiculous moustache that benefits from a great wodge of hair wax to keep it under control (otherwise it runs riot you know...getting drunk...drawing on toilet walls...shouting abuse at Traffic Wardens...shocking...or SHOCKWAVING...eh? Eh? EH? See, I’m getting the hang of this corporate sponsorship thingy now. I’ll expect 12 cases of hair gel by the morning).

Anyway tonight the Academy...sorry O2 Academy (see, I’ve got this sponsorship thing cracked)...was awash with trendy young things with jizzed up hair (NB: jizz is a lot cheaper than hair gel and totally environmentally friendly too), all here to see the next big things. Given this (it’s my understanding that the Shockwaves tour is mainly here to promote ‘new’ artists), the bill was a little odd. Both The Maccabees (formed in 2004) and Bombay Bicycle Club (formed in 2005) have been around the block a few times, I’d seen The Big Pink a year or two ago as well, so only The Drums (formed in 2008...mere babies) were ‘new’. Hmmm.

The Drums were first up too, coming on at 7.20, just as the crowd was starting to build. If you missed them (and I guess a fair few people did given the early start time) you missed a treat. If you’re looking for musical references then The Drums are an anorak’s delight, echoing The Cure on ‘I Felt Stupid’, updating The Beach Boys on ‘Let’s Go Surfing’ and embracing the whole C86 movement that’s so hip right now on tracks like ‘Submarine’. There’s a distinct Echo & The Bunnymen vibe too (the lead singer’s voice had a touch of the Ian McCulloch about it), albeit with a surf twang. They’re being hailed as the best thing in music since, well, the last best thing and, although it’s early days in their career they’ve got that certain era defining something that bands like The Strokes and Arctic Monkey’s had. Lead Drum Jonathan (who knows, he might become a sex cymbal...) spent most of the set twitching across the stage like Ian Curtis on acid and it left me wanting more, more, more. Drum-endous.

Coming onto the stage bathed in dry ice The Big Pink were up next. The Big Pink play doomy, gothy sort of tracks (with a bit of an electro / industrial edge) and are, predictably, signed to uber cool doomy, gothy label 4AD. Not a bad set but they didn’t set me on fire. Could be my unfamiliarity with most of their material, although, from my vague memory of the last time I saw them their sound had become a lot ‘meatier’ so they’re probably heading in the right direction. The set ending sing-a-long ‘Dominos’ however impressed me (and the crowd) no end (I’m sure it’s been used on an advert somewhere...hair gel maybe...no, I tell a lie...it’s for something called an X-box).

With the venue now full to bursting point with teenage bodies (and a smattering of dodgy old men like me) Bombay Bicycle Club blended Orange Juice (the band, not the fruit based beverage) intellipop with Interpol (the band, not the Police based organisation) cool, especially on standout tracks like the classic in the making ‘Evening/Morning’. The lead singer’s got one of those quivering sort of voices that suggests frailty and sensitivity. Aww bless. I’m sure he’s neither. He’s probably a right geezer, shagging his way across the country and snorting coke off goldfish...or whatever pop stars do these days. The fact that he looks like super cool anti-folkster Jeffrey Lewis is a bonus. BBC have a great set of tunes and, over the space of 40 minutes or so we got the lot, from the aforementioned ‘Evening/Morning’with its slow build intro that explodes into one the kind of dirty great bass line you’d like to spend the night with right through to the twitchy Vampire Weekend-ish ‘Always Like This’. As a thousand hands were raised aloft (I even saw one guy waving his shoe around...) BBC firmly cemented their position as one of the great indie bands of the moment.

Finally, time for headliners The Maccabees (sadly without the holiday Armadillo...if you’ve never seen Friends that reference makes no sense at all...then again, even if you have it might not). I’ll be honest, I knew very little about The Maccabees before tonight. I’d had a quick listen to a couple of tracks and wasn’t that bowled over, so my expectations were low. That all changed when they came on backed by a neat little three piece brass section, the crowd started singing along and the dark backdrop (what looked like a moody shot of an industrial landscape) was obliterated by a burst of golden lightbulbs. I got it then. With the warm brass and lead singer Orlando’s emotive vocal I was reminded of Dexy’s Midnight Runners or, the criminally underrated Rumble Strips. There’s an Editors-ish knack with a guitar too, that kind of driving playing that really pushes a song along. A lot of the tunes weren’t instantly memorable, at least to my ears, so I guess I’ll have to spend some time with the album before I reach the orgasmic state achieved by an impressively large proportion of the crowd. Tonight the Arcade Fire sounding ‘Love You Better’ made a great impression though, together with ‘Can You Give It’ (which drove several thousand people to leap up and down in ecstasy...it even got my head nodding) and the new wave-y classic ‘X-Ray’. Oh...I nearly forgot ...there was ‘Toothpaste Kisses’ too (which curiously sounds like something that could’ve been a hit in the 1920’s) played pretty much by Orlando on his own, complete with a sweet little whistling bit. Just lovely. It’s the oldest trick in the book for bands to say that the crowd they’re playing to is the best they’ve had, but Orlando really sounded like he meant it tonight. Judging by the sweaty throng that danced happily away into the night the feeling was mutual.

PS: For lovely pictures of this gig courtesy of Mr Wayne Fox Esq don't forget to check out the Gig Junkies site too!

Hot Club De Paris / TANTRUMS / (silver) souvenirs...er...no...actually it was Barnsey @ The Rainbow, Monday 8th February 2010

Hot Club...cool 'tache

TANTRUMS (with added Palmer)

Bonjour! Comment allez vous? Voici le...er...what’s review in French? Oh bugger. What’s that? Tonight’s headliners aren’t from France at all? Sacre bleu! I daresay the first band aren’t made from silver either. Kids today eh? Actually I didn’t get a chance to see what they were made of as they were replaced by Barnesy (perhaps someone had posted them all off to be melted down by one of those dodgy companies that offers cash for your ‘unwanted’ gold...‘postaltwat.net’ or ‘shouldibendoverwhileyou’reatitt.com...you know the sort of thing).

Having seen him before I knew exactly what Barnesy’s made of. Something of a local hero (there’s always an appreciative crowd at his gigs) he brings a touch of Ray Davies, a little Weller cool and (for the yoot) that easy street kind of style of singing that Jamie T’s trademarked. Standout track ‘Estates in a State’ is as good an encapsulation of what’s gone tits up in this country as you’re as likely to hear these days but, to be honest, there wasn’t a duff track in the whole set. It’s enough to give singer / songwriters a good name.

Next up TANTRUMS, (in CAPITAL letters...YEAH!) now with ADDED Little Palm (aka Annie Palmer...keyboard toting songstress and solo artiste in her own write/right). In a recent POLL of the top bands of the decade (the ‘noughties’ that is) TANTRUMS, despite being relative NEWCOMERS, came pretty high up (number SIX I think). Tonight was the first time I’d seen them as TANTRUMS (although I have a sneaky feeling I may have seen them in a previous incarnation under another name...EDIT: Oh shoot...I have seen then before...April 2009...damn my fading memory..and they were called Mayday ages ago). There’s some of the jerky ANXIOUSNESS of The Foals, some JAZZ type noodling (guitarist, Stuart I think his name is, was particularly adept at teasing all kinds of noises out of his ‘instrument’...fnar fnar) and a solid wedge of catchy rock (the sort of thing that FOO Fighters do oh so well). All of these seemingly disparate elements come together in perfect harmony on ‘If I Don’t Try’, a naggingly ADDICTIVE track which has lodged itself firmly in my br-br-br-br-ain-ain-ain. This, coupled with ‘Mek Ya Feel Hype’, a glorious bouncy, Sunny D anthem for the Skins generation, more than justifies their top 10 BIRMINGHAM Band’s placing. Oh...one last thing...Stuart’s frequent stage DIVES were immensely entertaining too (even if he did nearly decapitate half the front row) and the addition of Annie’s vocals to the mix were the cherry on the cake. ACE.

Finally folk punk jigsters (confusing enough for you?) ‘Hot Club De Paris’, here to promote their new (released today fact fans) 6 song EP "With days like this as cheap as chewing gum, why would anyone want to work?" Hardly the catchiest title in the world, but then again they have previous form here (who could forget debut single ‘Sometimesitsbetternottostickbitsofeachotherineachotherforeachother’?). The spirit of XTC and the much missed (by me anyway) Dogs Die In Hot Cars lives on in Hot Club De Paris, especially on tracks like the splendid ‘Dance a Ragged Dance’, at its heart a glorious call and response chorus driven by pounding, almost tribalistic drums (yes, tribalistic drums...reviewers have to put wanky things like that in there...it’s the law). Other highlights? ‘Fuck You, The Truth!’ Yeah...fuck you...fuck Cheryl Cole, the weather, people who spit in the street and the man who invented mobile phones that can play shitty music through their shitty ‘loud’ speakers too while you’re at it. Fuck. As it happens ‘Fuck You, The Truth’, one of the ‘Club’s new tracks starts off as a pretty subdued ‘fuck you’ in fact. It doesn’t last though, quickly exploding into a shouty tirade against what sounded like ‘these carpets, these streets, these hands and these knees’. Nope, me neither. Sounded good though. Although the band started off by just playing, they quickly settled into between song Scouse bantering too, which I actually enjoyed as much as some of the tracks to be honest, especially the butt plugs for ears bit. I guess you had to be there but it was (to me at least) bloody funny. In a generous set (a good 20 songs or so) we got all ‘the hits’ too, including carousing versions of ‘Shipwreck’ and ‘Everything Everything’. The faux folk harmony singalong of ‘I Love You Like I Love Myself’ also stood out as a highlight. It takes guts (or several cans of Stella) to ditch the mics and sing ‘au naturel’ and the band were surprisingly harmonious (a future on the folk circuit singing ‘All Around My Hat’ surely beckons). Bonus points must also be awarded for the lead singers ‘tache, good enough to give that bloke from Gogol Bordello a run for his money...

Fin

Ding dong...Chapel Club hit The Flapper

Chapel Club - O Maybe I (Official Video) from Chapel Club on Vimeo.

Hotly tipped Smith's revivalists (actually that's a little unfair...although I daresay they're not too pissed off with the comparison) Chapel Club play The Flapper on Saturday 13th February. Get down there and who knows, you might find someone to 'cop off' with and/or grope on Valentines day. Then again that's not really in the spirit of Chapel Club's sound is it? You're better off just lurking at the back writing some poetry, mopping your brow with a silk hankie and sipping a light sherry (can you get a dark sherry? Buggered if I know...lighter fuel's more my tipple these days) . It'll be interesting to see how the 'Club go down this year. They have indie stardom written all over 'em and I wouldn't be surprised to see a thousand angsty teenage boys and girls swooning at their feet in a few months time. Get in before the crowds and you can be one of those boring fuckers (that'll be me then) who bangs on about seeing them 'before they sold out'.

Next week also sees the Vampire Weekend gig at the Academy of course. I'm holding out for a Gig Junkies reviewer's slot but, failing that, I'm digging a tunnel from Baron Towers right into the Academy toilets (trap 3). What could possibly go wrong eh?

REM-ember it this way

Charidee singles. You’ve got to admire the aim, if not the result. But what is it about charidee singles that makes artists go as OTT as possible eh? Yes I’m sure the cover of REM’s ‘Everybody Hurts’ will make a shed load of wonga for the people of Haiti - let’s just hope it gets through to those who need it - but mercy, mercy me, it’s a mess. Personally I’ll stick with the original (naturally I can't embed the original video here...thanks to those pesky Warner Brothers) if you don’t mind and make my donation another way. I’m not sure where REM stand on the trendometer these days. I’ve always been a fan and they’re one of the few groups who’ve (almost) moved me tears (for all the right reasons) during a gig. Granted it was Glasto and I’d had a couple of litres of scrumpy and the odd funny fag but nevertheless they – and this song – somehow made that magical connection that only music (of all the art forms) really can. Actually, the new version makes me want to cry too, but mainly ‘cos I’ve rammed a biro in each ear so I never have to hear it again...

PS: My thanks to all those who’ve passed on kind messages to Lady B. She’s getting better by the day and the rat poison’s working a treat. That’s obviously why you never hear of any rats getting an embolism eh?

Transmission interrupted...

Keen eyed readers may have noticed that the 'Aid's been a little quiet lately. There's a good reason. Lady B - faithful gig partner and 'other half' was rushed to A & E last week with a pulmonary embolism. Nasty. Happily she's on the mend but I'm still busy administering some TLC (as well as the odd dose of something called warfarin which is...so it seems...rat poison). Whatever it does to rats it seems to be doing the job on Lady B. Normal service will be resumed soon-ish.

PS: In the middle of this trauma I unwisely decided to ditch my knackered old PC and buy a super duper new one. Suffice it to say our first few days together have been 'stressful'.

Guess Scroo’s back?

Everyone’s favourite bearded rapper Scroobius Pip is back in full flow (who says I ain’t down with the kids eh?) with a couple of groin warmingly good tracks. First up is a collaboration with New Orleans jazz trumpeter Christian Scott, ‘Love (sic)’. Billed as jazz-hop it tells the tale of one man’s addiction to drugs (with the drug replacing the role of a woman in his love affair) and, as with most Pip-bits it’s packed full of delicious little lines. “She came out of the piss filled gutters like Moses”. Classic. Not sure when it’s out, but keep your ears peeled for it.

Pip is, for my money, one of the best things to happen to British Hip Hop…ever. Sure, there’s a comic element to some of his material but he’s far from a one hit pony and the sooner more people get into him the better we’ll all be. Why? Well, the man talks sense. Not in a preachy, politician kind of way, just honest, straightforward, 100%, no additives, preservatives or bullshit, good old fashioned common bloody sense. I’d vote for him…and there’s very few people I’d say that about. The second new Pip track is back with his regular sparring partner Dan le Sac and it illustrates perfectly what I’m banging on about. Entitled ‘Get Better’ it’s aimed at ‘da yoot’ and its simple message is…er..get better. Not for the grown ups, society or your teachers…just for yourself.

As an aside I’d hate to be young these days. It wasn’t a bed of roses back in the 1860’s when I was a lad but now? Jeez. You’re looking at a lifetime of living with your parents ‘cos you can’t afford to move out and a retirement age that’ll probably coincide with a telegram from good ol’ Queenie. So I can kind of see why more and more teens end up drinking super strength cider and impregnating each other in bus shelters. I can even see the appeal of gang culture, especially if your dad left home before you took your first steps and your mum’s too busy shooting up to know what year it is. But the bottom line is you came into this world on your own and you’re going out the same way, what you do with your brief time on planet earth is down to you. Thankfully we live in a country with free education and healthcare for all, everything else is a bonus. Getting back to the track, that’s kind of Pip’s point. If your life goes tits up you’ve only got yourself to blame. It ain’t a new message by any means but the way he packages it all up is nothing short of inspirational. “Imagine a song that really reached out and touched kids, and not in a Daily Mail way” raps Pip. Job done I’d say.

The single's out on March 1st with the new album 'The Logic of Chance' following on March 14th. They're out on tour in March and April too (with a gig at the Birmingham Academy on March 26th). Being the lovely chaps that le Sac and Pip are they've also put 'Get Better' online (together with a stack of mixes). Here ya go. Enjoy.

The Imagined Village / Chris Wood @ The Town Hall, Thursday 21st January 2010

Crossing genres, cultures and generations The Imagined Village really shouldn’t work (the basic idea is to take a bunch of traditional folk tunes and reinterpret them for 21^st century Britain). In fact it should come across as some awful mish mash of sounds, like two competing car radios (one playing Radio 4, the other 1 Extra) at a set of traffic lights. The fact that it does work says a great deal about the musical talents at the core of this project and the openness of everyone involved to really mess around with what ‘folk’ music means these days. In truth, although the first Imagined Village album (released in 2007) won ‘folk’ awards, this stuff is closer to ‘world’ music than anything else, given the strong Asian and Middle Eastern flavours running through some of the arrangements. Anyway, that’s the musical analysis over with (there’ll be questions at the end).

Before the main event one of the Village people…hmmm no…that’s a different kind of band altogether…Chris Wood warmed us all up with half a dozen songs mainly taken from his current album ‘Handmade Life’. Chris is an instantly loveable figure, interspersing his songs with little snapshots of his life (such as a desire to toot his car horn every time he sees the sign that says Welcome to Kent (his home county) like Mr Toad in Wind in the Willows. Bless him. He’s more than capable of unleashing a vitriolic side though on tracks like set highlight, ‘The Grand Correction’ – a scathing (and entirely justified attack) on the culture of greed that’s created the biggest financial mess in history and its principal architects.

Suitably warmed up the Imagined Village collective (all ten of ‘em) took to the stage, kicking off with ‘Sweet Jane’ from new album ‘Empire and Love’. Some hypnotic sitar playing together with Chris Wood’s mellow tones neatly summed up what the project set out to do, weaving traditional English folk with the sounds of other cultures. Next up Martin Carthy delivered a storming version of ‘John Barleycorn’ which almost wandered into dubby territory from time to time. Folk and dub…whatever next? How about a sultry Eliza Carthy singing an obscure Ewan MacColl track ‘Space Girl’, transformed into a weirdly catchy Asian/Gypsy/Egyptian/Exotica hybrid? Oh yes. Theramin, sitar, dhol drums, cellos, a kitchen sink (well, almost) they threw the whole lot in there tonight and…amazingly…it worked. Another set highlight was a subtle retelling of 'Scarborough Fair'. The ever chatty Chris Wood introduced it “Bob Dylan had a go at it. Not bad. Simon and Garfunkel had quite a lot of success with it. But they were all missing something. A Sitar!”. In truth, like Cornershop’s cover of Norwegian Wood, the sitar’s perfectly suited to the slightly dreamy nature of the arrangement and Chris struggled to contain his sheer joy at the success of, what on paper, looks like a pretty weird idea.

The best track of the night for me however was 'My Son John'. Folk, believe it or not, is the original four letter word. If John Lydon had been around in 1779 he’d have been a folk singer…in the fex pistolf no doubt. It’s music of protest and passion, music by the people, for the people. Although there’s a fair bit of ‘diddle diddle dee’ stuff and songs about wooing a nadger’s daughter, there’s far more to it than that. ‘My Son John’ is the perfect example, a bitter anti war song about a young man who has his legs blown off in the war…the Napoleonic war that is. Although tonight’s version added new lines about the current conflicts, at its heart there’s a lyric that goes back well over a century or so. Sadly it’s as relevant today as it was back then, all you have to do is to replace the bits about cannonballs blowing off a young man’s legs with the words ‘landmine’ or ‘IUD’. Tonight the song (delivered once more by Martin Carthy) ended up in a kind of mass jam featuring sitar, dhol drumming, cello, synths, guitars and fiddles. If only the human race could make the same kind of gloriously harmonious noise off stage eh?

After a standing ovation (yes, it was a sit down gig) from the near capacity crowd the encore included the Village’s by now well known retelling of ‘Hard Times of Old England’ and then…believe it or not…a version of what Martin Carthy called “Wolverhampton folk”, Slade’s ‘Cum on Feel The Noize’. Yes…really. This time it’s played as a slowed down lament, almost wistful, like an old man looking back on his life. Perhaps that’s why Martin, at 68 and about to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the start of his career, chose it? However, given tonight’s performance I’m sure there’ll be plenty of opportunities for him to get “wild, wild, wild” still. The ovation that followed, the sold out merchandise table (how often does that happen these days?) and the long queue to meet the group afterwards just go to prove that not all English villages are sleepy little places.

Head over to Gig Junkies in the next few days and you can read all of this again...this time with pretty pictures from the gig courtesy of Mr Wayne Fox Esq!

Jazz hands…

Festival season might seem a long way off but it’ll be here before you can say “barbecue summer”. Mostly Jazz (from the lovely people who bring you the Moseley Folk Festival) is a new, but very welcome addition to the calendar. Can there be anything finer than sitting out in the sun, listening to some jazz with a litre or two of cider inside you? Probably not. The line up’s looking pretty ace too with the Sun Ra Arkestra (minus Sun Ra…cos he’s a bit dead…although by a strange quirk of fate he was actually born in Birmingham…Alabama that is), Courtney Pine, JTQ and Quantic & His Combo Barbaro…plus the Cymande All Stars…if they’re anything to do with legendary soul funksters Cymande (as sampled by Grandmaster Flash amongst many others) they’ll be splendid (hold on a mo…oooooh it looks like they are!). Niiiiice. It’s all going down (in a jazz, soul, funk stylee) on the 3^rd and 4^th July 2010 at Moseley park. Tickets available from February 1st here.

Top Track # 14 - Hurts - 'Wonderful Life'

Many moons ago in the '80's a band/chap called Black released a rather ace tune called 'Wonderful Life'. This isn't it. It is, however, even more '80's than it's namesake . The band in question, Hurts, are a mix of Depeche Mode and the Pet Shop Boys, with a bit of Hue and Cry thrown in for good measure (top marks for the '80's style moody black and white video featuring a random dancing girl too). If that doesn't send you screaming out your front door in horror you'll love this track as much as I do. A Birmingham gig ASAP pretty please.

Hello...is it me you're looking for...

I’m back…perhaps you didn’t notice I was gone…but I was. Orlando as it happens for my bro’s wedding. Despite coinciding with the coldest weather ever experienced in Florida (what are the chances eh?) a good time was had by all. If you’re ever in Orlando I can thoroughly recommend the Duelling Dragons rollercoaster (see the 'amusing' video above culled from You Tube) at the Universal theme park, especially if you want to lose your lunch, dignity and use of your limbs. I’m still having flashbacks a week later…oh the horror…the horror.

RIP Cadbury 1824 -2010…I know this has nothing to do with music but the sale of one of the last remaining British businesses is scandalous. Nearly two hundred years of tradition flogged off for far less than it’s worth, no doubt thanks to some backhanders to the board eh?

Top Track # 13 - Vampire Weekend - 'Cousins'

To celebrate the release of Vampire Weekend's second album, 'Contra' on Monday 11th January here's a top track from it, 'Cousins'. Lordy, lordy I love this band and this tune's another instant favourite, blending South African rhythms with a bit of Elvis Costello, a dash of Joe Jackson and some twitchy Foals-ishness. An ace video too, simple but effective. The Weekend are playing Birmingham soon, but it's sold out so tough cookies. Once again you could pay through the nose from some asshole tout on ebay but PLEASE don't give 'em the satisfaction of fleecing you. Buy the album instead, invite your mates round and dance naked in the snow whilst drinking gallons of cheap red wine instead...what? Just me? Oh.

Top Ten Birmingham Bands of the Decade

The High Society...glam punk gutterstars

Inspired by Russ L (who was, in turn, inspired by this over at the Blue Whale Blog…which I missed ‘cos I’m a bit crap) I’ve compiled a list of my 10 favourite Birmingham bands of the decade. Quite a few are fairly recent discoveries but several (notably Misty’s Big Adventure and King Adora) date back to the dim and distant past when I had my own teeth and the Bull Ring was just a field. I’ve ummed and ahhed over the final list and plumped for the bands who’ve given me the most bang for my buck. There were many, many more in the longlist who I’ve enjoyed over the years (and probably a whole heap more I've forgotten about):

(1) Misty’s Big Adventure

They have to be there and they have to be at the top. This is the band (not just 'local' but from anywhere) that I’ve seen most in my life, stretching back to something like 2002 (I think). Combining the wit and wonder of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band with a little ska, jazz, lounge, exotica, classic pop and a healthy dose of cynicism about the modern world we all find ourselves stuck in they are, quite simply, a national treasure.

(2) Kate Goes

The yang to Misty’s ying, Kate Goes is fronted by…er Kate…and each gig follows a different theme with the band dressing up accordingly. Twee pop at it’s very finest, just check out their track Heartbeat and prepare to fall in love forever.

(3) Reverie Strings (aka Reverie)

Singer Ian Darby plus a moveable feast of other musicians play lush orchestral pop. Seemingly on a bit of a live hiatus at the moment.

(4) Gemma Quarterman

One of the brightest stars in the singer/songwriter scene and one of the sweetest people you’re ever likely to meet...capable of conjuring up the sort of raw emotional intensity that Mr Jeff Buckley had perfected before going for that ill advised dip in the river.

(5) King Adora / The High Society

Glam, bam, thank you mam…King Adora were genuine gutter glam punk superstars for a while (making it onto the front cover of Melody Maker - RIP - I believe) before morphing into the equally compelling High Society. A reunion of the former band is a-happening this April...eye liner optional.

(6) The Destroyers

Balkan gypsy madness with a cast of thousands buzzing around the truly inspirational figure of Mr Paul Murphy.

(7) I Thee Lothario

Power pomp pop a doodle dandy the likes of which you’ve not seen or heard since the glory days of the 80’s.

(8) Envy and Other Sins

Think The Feeling with more bite and wit (and much better outfits). Despite (or perhaps because of) winning some Channel 4 talent contest thingy the Sins never got the support they deserved and are seemingly no more. Shame.

(9) The Black & Reds

The guy who drums in this band is AWESOME (nice tats too). Raw high octane rock n’roll of the highest order…which leads us neatly on to the next couple of bands…

(10) Coptor / The Big Bang

I couldn’t leave either band out so I’ve cheated and lumped ‘em together (they often played on the same bill, so that’s allowed right?). The Coptor line up includes robot (as you do) and a bloke who sounds like a mad preacher. The Big Bang (who I fear have split up) are/were a three piece who wouldn’t have sounded out of place at some really cool 60’s garage party. Hell yeah!

Just bubbling outside the top 10…or inside the top 10 depending on my mood…Beestung Lips, Velvet Texas Cannonball, Destroy Cowboy, Tom Peel, 10 Guitars, Anyone For Shark?, The Courtesy Group, Old School Tie, Miss Halliwell, Sunset Cinema Club, LP45, Twist, Goodnight Lenin (featuring members of another great band…now deceased…The Allies), Soweto Kinch, The Toy Hearts, Modified Toy Orchestra, Broadcast, Johnny Foreigner, The Scarlet Harlots, Vix n'the Kix, Pram, The Indigos (now trading as Black Fang…but I’ve not seen ‘em live yet) and oh so many more. In fact compiling this list reminds me of just how many great bands we have in and around the City...whoops...better keep quiet about that, don't want a repeat of the NME's Best Midlands fiasco now do we?

EDIT: And how could I forget Black Market Empire, Einstellung, Prospect Lane, Theatre of the Absurd, Andre Aristotle and Das Bastard? The list grows...

Top Tracks # 12 - Stephen ‘Tin Tin’ Duffy

Happy New Year and all that jazz. Proof, once more, that I have my finger on the pulse of the latest sounds lets kick off 2010 with a track that dates all the way back to 1983 (I think…), although this version, the US Remix is from 1985 (right up to date there grandpa). There’s some kind of method to my madness. I spent New Year’s Eve at a house party and bumped into a lovely chap who seemingly programmed the drums on the original release. For some reason I can’t find the original track (the 1983 version…not the original 1985 version…confused yet…yes me too) on You Tube, so I’ve plumped for the US Remix…all 7 minutes and 25 seconds of it. Oh… in case you’re under 30 and have no idea who the chuff Stephen Duffy is/was, he was one of the original vocalists with Duran Duran before forming the Lilac Time then hitting paydirt by writing some tracks for Robbie Williams. Informative eh? Who the hell needs Wikipedia…