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Ensemble troubadours, The Magic Tombolinos*, led by founder, vocals and stax of sax, Alejandro Toledo, brought their celebratory eclectic mongrel mash up genre-busting, idiom defying music to The Hare this evening. And what fun it was and full on credit to promoters, ‘World Unlimited’ for their ever valiant, non-profit making ethos of lending deserved support for all manner of diverse artists. |
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Wolf Gang, aka Max McElligott, and collective fine musicians has created his own engaging, idiosyncratic style, which, in this reviewer’s opinion, draws on some of the 1980s more noble attributes such as Howard Jones and Simple Minds. Some hear homage to Davids Byrne/Bowie. Not a derivative comparison but just little tingles of nostalgia and again, this is my impression, a tickle of Arcade Fire’s majestic harmonies and crescendos. |
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Fancy seeing ‘Girls’ at the Hare and 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. |
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Are you sitting comfortably? Right, then I’ll begin. Once upon a time in a magical kingdom far, far away (oh alright then, it was Birmingham) there was a rather fine band called The Allies. They had more than a touch of the Arctic Monkey’s about them (no bad thing), but one or two tracks hinted at a more unusual Celtic flavoured direction. For some reason they split up (‘musical differences’ no doubt). Now several of them (there seemed to be about 97 people in The Allies) have returned as part of a brand new five piece, Goodnight Lenin. |
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A jaunt to the Hairy Hounds once more to see a band I’ve read about but never actually listened to, partly ‘cos I’m a bit slack like but mainly ‘cos whenever I go onto/into MyBook, YourFace or SpaceTube I inevitably get distracted by some Albanian Gangster Rap, videos of exploding goldfish or messages from people I’ve never met offering to enhance the length of my manhood for just $68 a month. For $68 a month I’d want my manhood to do all the housework, rustle up a nice bit of tea and sing me to sleep too. Why can’t science be more useful eh? |
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Let’s face it- this gig was a steal for us. We agreed to it months ago when very few people had heard of The Temper Trap. Then BOOM six weeks ago their song ‘sweet disposition’ hit the charts courtesy of its use in the film 500 days of summer and full-on radio 1 airplay. Virtually overnight the unique sound of ‘The Trap’ was fully understood. |
