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The Maccabees undoubted panache for celestial teen-angst agendas pureed in swathes of cathedral histrionics, basking in the ghost-light of Tate Modernesque backdrops and Radiohead/Soft Cell James Joyce dreams of sub-consciousness had to be forsaken. And they continued to get ever better Tweets tell. A sublimely good-natured, capacity Institute crowd were clearly convinced. Many thanks to Susie & Morad for review passes. |
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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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It's a Friday gig at the 02 Academy 2 Birmingham, so it's an unusually early start to see a bunch of new rock kids on the block. Back after a pretty successful few months, to round of their year, it's time to bounce along with Twin Atlantic. |
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One of the original, and hugely influential, post-punk bands Magazine split up in 1981 after an all too brief four year career only to return nearly three decades later. Now that’s a decent break up eh? That’s how you do it Stone Roses…15 years…pah…that’s barely an intermission. During their initial incarnation Magazine cemented their place in post-punk history with the truly seminal single Shot By Both Sides and a handful of critically acclaimed left field albums before vocalist and ex Buzzcock Howard Devoto buggered off to pursue a solo career then form another band, Luxuria in 1988. There, that’s got to be worth a few points at a pop pub quiz one day eh? Here endeth the lesson. |
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Benjamin Francis Leftwich’s simple songs, to gentle refrains that sooth the heart and caress the soul within a spirit of gregarious generosity, are irresistible. Inclusive, subtly persuasive, he's the redemptive broken-heart mending surgeon of love’s resuscitation - a troubadour dream-weaving balladeer. |
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31 artists, 7 venues, one aim... to raise loadsa cash, dosh, wonga... call it what you will... for (cue 70’s DJ voice) charidee. Yep, some of Birmingham’s finest gave up their Saturday to physically and metaphorically rattle the ol’ tin, giving warm hearted punters the chance to catch up with a pretty dazzling range of genres... everything from the gentle and acoustic to the LOUD AND THRASHY. |
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Ok so I’ve got a multitude of albums by other bands, but how come I’ve only just fallen in love with The Horrors musically... only now with their third album release Skying? Yes, I witnessed they’re awesome 2009 Mercury Music nomination performance, and yes, drooled at their gothic uber cool along with Vince Noir. But how come it’s only now I’ve got round to delving deeper? Well I guess viewing them purely as an interesting and enigmatic concept was enough for me... a sort of ten legged encapsulation of underground cool. No need for further investigation. |
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The Specials are back in Wolverhampton. The pioneering two-tone band reformed in 2008 and played Wolverhampton in 2009. They must have liked their reception because now they’re now back again for a two night run in the city (whoops, nearly called it a town!) and I am privileged to be at the first gig! Tonight you get really great value for money too, with a lengthy set from headliners, the Specials, plus two excellent support bands which blend well with the style of The Specials. |
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Naming a band these days must be a real bitch. How many great names have already been used over the years eh? Pick something cool and snappy...like Cults for instance...and the chances are it’s already been used, at least once (it has in this case...there’s another Cults on MySpace...some leftfield electro dude). I reckon there’s a business opportunity there, so send us a link to your music and we’ll come up with a name for you...for a small fee and a cut of your first £million naturally. Sadly (for our bank balance at least) all of tonight’s bands had names. After some fine tunes from Victories At Sea DJ’s HEARTS kicked off proceedings with (in their words) some “trip-rock garage pop”. |
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Thankfully, having vented his spleen on the good folk at the Isle of Wight and Glastonbury Festivals recently, Mr Rain seems to have taken some time off for day one of the second annual Mostly Jazz Festival. I feel compelled to begin by defending the name again a little, just as I did last year, mainly because some people imagine it’ll be three days of cool cats in berets playing 6 hour sets of improvisational freeform noodling. In reality there’s a good mix of funk and soul in there too, but I guess ‘Mostly Jazz But With a Fair Bit of Funk and Soul Festival’ is a hell of a mouthful. If you’re looking for proof of the groove though, opening live act 9-piece Manchester based The Mouse Outfit, bought it by the bucket load. Imagine an i-Pod shuffle stuffed full of some of the best funk, hip hop and soul tracks ever recorded and that’s pretty much what you get from a Mouse Outfit show. Playing snatches of everything from Babe Ruth’s Mexican to Isaac Hayes’ Theme From Shaft along with a whole bunch of self penned jazzily laid back hip hop (sung in French...I’m guessing the lead dude is French...didn’t sound it when he spoke though) they’re the perfect festival headliners...a little wasted perhaps in their opening slot. Still, plenty of people were there to see it and I’m betting that, for the early birds, this was the highlight of their day. Make ‘em headliners next year. Please. They’ll blow the place apart. Mighty, not Mickey. |
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The packed-out Slade Rooms are privileged to play host to a one-off warm-up gig by cult reformed band, Magazine, prior to their appearing at the July Hop Farm Festival. Support tonight is provided by Miles Hunt of The Wonder Stuff, accompanied by violinist and long-term collaborator, Erica Nockalls. The two have written and performed many songs together. I must confess to not knowing anything about their material or The Wonder Stuff and I had no expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised by what I heard. The two are a striking combo producing a unique sound, largely due to Erica’s amazing and original violin playing, which seems to span a range of styles. Erica really looked pretty far-out too – check out the pictures! |
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Currently riding high on the icy crest of a particularly cool wave Warpaint are every indie loving boy and girl’s wet dream. Four LA-dies playing a mix of shoegaze and psych rock they’re undoubtedly one of the coolest bands on the planet right now, a fact underlined in big red pen by the cooler than usual crowd tonight (not everyone was cool...I was there for starters...but there were some pretty cool looking people there...cool). |
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Thanks to a ‘bit of a queue’ (it took nearly 50 minutes to get in tonight) we managed to miss Maverick Sabre, who'd finished by 8.30. For some reason security was super tight this evening and everyone was patted down and checked for weapons. Weapons? Seriously? Is Snoop still the threat to civilisation that he was painted as being back in the day? Was there actually a threat of the East Coast / West Coast rivalry kicking off again in Digbeth? I think not. Anyway, having eventually got in and secured a prime balcony spot there was plenty of time to chill as Snoop remained in his kennel until just after 10pm. Why’s the balcony such a prime spot at a Snoop gig? Well, warm air rises right? And given the quantity of weed being consumed down below before lazily curling its way skywards it was a little like being in a giant bong up there. Sweet. |
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I was lucky enough to see Florrie’s first Birmingham show earlier this year and she blew me away. Hey, I’m an old pop tart, what can I say? So a return date so soon after her first was just too much of a temptation to miss. Tonight was one of those early doors gigs (there was a club night afterwards) so the first act was already finishing when we arrived. No idea what he was called but I enjoyed his acoustic, slowed down cover of Outkast's Hey Ya. Next up the instant 80’s movie soundtrack machine that is The Light Cascades. There’s a show on E4 at the moment called Glory Daze (very good it is too...a bit like a weekly mini John Hughes movie) and it’s all set in an American college in 1986...you can imagine a Light Cascades track fitting right in on it. They had a few Friday 13th wobbles (the odd bum note and missed cue) but, to be fair, the audience was, let’s say...still select (i.e. there was hardly anyone there) and it can’t be easy playing to a near empty room. As with the last gig I saw them play though they pulled it out the bag with the pairing of their two best tracks ‘Flights’ and ‘Smile’ which is chocked full of feel good 80’s keyboards, electronic drum beats and lyrics “Chase the night you never want to end...” – how 80’s is that? Very...that ‘s how 80’s that is. There’s even a bit of vocoder at the end for good measure. Now That What I Call Music. |
