Velvet Voiced Joan Wasser pops up with new offering ‘Real Life’ following recent headline shows at Shepherds Bush Empire and an appearance at Lattitude festival. Having earned her salt as a band member backing both Rufus Wainwright and Anthony Hegarty – Joan As Police Woman have slowly accumulated a reputation of worth, aided no doubt by a relentless touring slog. This stealthy progress appears to have stalled somewhat however with the dissapointing ‘Real Life’.
Another dodgy-weather-weekend, another festival in London! This week the cool cats all bombed down to our beloved Viccy P for Timeout’s Lovebox Weekender. Early shines were grim as the Hackney clouds amassed but the sun came out, the cheers went round and the Junior Boys continued their cracking set on the main stage like Hot Chip’s slightly dirty electro-bitch younger brother. Finally the scene was set, the punters were prepped with tinnies, tartiflette, falafel and another shits and giggles scenario began to unfold….
Without any prior knowledge of Icelandic sextuplet Jakobinarina, one would be forgiven for assuming they were some sort of experimental electro nu rave outfit; something the record labels have latched onto and have been forcing down our throats since 2005. Not so. Instead, I was treated to a nostalgic trip back into my teenagehood when for several years I only listened to aggressive ‘so-cal punk’ and dressed like a lesbian skateboarder. It seems Northern Europe has decided not to ditch this once vibrant and popular scene in favour of other forms of new-folk or computerized indie as de rigeur in the UK. The songs were fast, adequately aggressive and edged with fast riffs and throbbing drums. Unsurprising considering the band were formed from the ashes of former straight ahead punk band, Lufthansa.
Festivals. These days its hard to know where to begin; with so many vying for our affections (and hard earned cash) you can’t see the wood for the trees. And with yet another Glastonbury washout, I decided this year should be the year of the new festival. Latitude, only in its second year and not too far from the madding crowd of London, it fitted the bill perfectly.
It’s difficult to fault the V&A of the past ten years and under the leadership of Mark Jones it’s gone from strength to strength. From their outstanding Vivienne Westwood retrospective to the Fashion in Motion runway shows featuring the likes of Gareth Pugh and Jean Paul Gaultier, they’ve successfully removed themselves from the stuffy, conservative image of old and in the process gained a whole new audience. So what’s happening around SW7 of late? Well amid the Grecian tiles and medieval bed pans you’ll find ‘New York Fashion Now’, which seems like a bit of a misnomer considering it only covers the period 1999-2004, but we’ll come onto that later.
It’s been 3 years since The Go! Team charmed us all silly with their marvellous debut album ‘Thunder, Lightning, Strike’ –garnering a mercury nomination in the process. This then, is the first cut off their second long player ‘Proof Of Youth’ scheduled for release at the tail end of summer.
Kuri Yashiro 2007
The Union Chapel in Islington was a perfect venue for Daniel Johnston to display his talents to his adoring London fan base. The church setting and pew seating inspired a hushed reverence and allowed almost everyone an unrestricted view of the stage. After two excellent support acts (Jake Bellows and James Yorkston), Daniel Johnston sloped into view and picked up a guitar. Overweight, grey haired and wearing tracksuit bottoms and a sweatshirt he looked exactly like a man who has spent a large proportion of his adult life being cared for.
Though they pulled it off incredibly well live, Tunng have always sounded like a studio project, hence the nu- / laptop- / future- folk albatross that’s plagued them from the start. Possibly in a deliberate attempt to escape that tag, Good Arrows sees them for the first time sounding like a live band; it’s no surprise to discover that, while co-founders Mike and Sam were responsible for the lion’s share of Mother’s Daughter And Other Songs and Comments Of The Inner Chorus, this third album was recorded as a full six-piece.
Glastonbury as a worker. People do it all the time, bit of stewarding, security, et cetera. So what about a food stall? Selling fish to the masses? And allowing myself to become a dirty, greasy, smelly (more than your average Glasto hobo) ball of chip fat. Me? With my reputation? But wait, I have no reputation! Bring it on…
It's always a danger to be overly vocal about your influences, it invariably leads people to compare you to those you have cited as inspiration, and with a band name taken from a Wilco song, Cherry Ghost have set the bar a little too high. Thirst for Romance is positioned firmly in the folk/country influenced indie rock category and despite not being a spectacular record it has some nice moments, even if they are a little bit uninspired.
So, the Furry welsh crazies are back with a loosely realised concept album concerning a young woman’s move to the city, with all the resulting trials and tribulations. And it’s a pleasure as always, their gift for psychedelic pop undiminished despite a shift in labels, a move away from long-time artwork designer Pete Fowler and the pursuit of any number of solo projects such as Gruff’s (pretty impressive) Candylion and Guto’s (so-so) Trojan compilation.
Last Wednesday evening I trotted down to the Saatchi and Saatchi offices to sample the first offering from 4C; an exhibition curated by global network of creative types, CULT GEIST. The exhibition, entitled “The Sightseeing Tour”, is made up of twenty-four emerging artists from across the world. Aimed at portraying how “urban culture inspires creativity”, each of the two dozen artists has communicated their ideas through a variety of different mediums.
Picture the scene, you are an obscure musical outfit, notorious for your belligerent attitude towards the press, fiendishly controlling over every aspect of your musical/visual output, then, you have a hit song, a surfer covers it and you become known for it across the globe? What do you do? Well you claim it back, darken it up and release it again of course. At least that’s what The Knife have done with the blissfully electric summer smash of last year – Heartbeats.
I’ve always been a little torn when it comes to the Klaxons. On the one hand I feel I should resist any band championed by the likes of Jo Whiley and Zane Lowe, hyped to preposterous levels and stalked by Peaches Geldof. On the other, I can’t help feeling that ‘Atlantis to Interzone’ is one of the greatest indie/dance/pop crossovers of the past five years. So, in an attempt at an impartial review I’ve decided to put that all aside and try and judge their shiny new single with unbiased ears.
The Twilight Sad are all over it, reeling in plaudits from all and sundry, both here and over the pond. They deserve it too. Singer James Graham just sounds so damn Scottish, and we all know that that is just cool. They also manage to sound like most of the best bits of most of the best bands out Scotland in the last twenty years. They manage the detached, half-drunk commentary of Arab Strap's Aidan Moffat, the sheer massiveness of Mogwai and the angry forlorn cries of Biffy Clyro... without even a hint of The Proclaimers or Shamen.
Brian Wilson danced gaily on the brink of insanity creating the dream-pop genre before slipping into the abyss and being rightfully branded a genius while there. Dan 'Caribou' Snaith's third record eschews the same sort of floating majesty that Wilson rolled out, chopped up and popped into his pipe.
Occupying the new FRED gallery on a rainy Vyner Street is the first solo exhibition of David Lock, 'Misfits and Maladies'. Made up of two quite different parts, and also split between the FRED galleries in London and Leipzig, disjunction seems to be the order of the day.
The Cherryvale Skateboard Co. is a fun, collaborative project founded by photographer Valerie Phillips and art director Jason Gormley to display their creative ideas in an ongoing manner.
