John & Jehn announce new London gig

Until early December, I’m on a back-up laptop which does its utmost to make blogging as difficult as possible.  Think of the most petulant child you know, multiply him/her with a BT operator and you have roughly the achieved level of hair-pulling.  Given that, I’m only going to blog when there’s something truly important to divulge – like this… 

Those two there are the glamorous duo of John & Jehn, and they have just announced a new London live date (details below).  Despite hailing from London, the couple spend much of their time in France and haven’t been over to our shores for many months (an Offset appearance was cancelled).  It’s cruel, for theirs is a metallic pop drenched in continental cool: screechy slivers of guitar in league with pleading vocals, haymaking midsections and a whole electronic travelling circus of odd sounds, from the cries of distant children to lusty sighs.  All this with a consistently fast and exhilarating pace. 

I suspect they are spectacularly good live.   Talking of which, one of Mick Jones’ many bands will also be playing the same night.  With John & Jehn promising new material from their second album, not to mention two new live musicians, it ought to be a belter.

Live date
Fri 11 December – The Cobden Club, Westbourne Park

John & Jehn on MySpace
John & Jehn’s excellent blog
MP3: John & Jehn – Oh My Love (zSHARE)

Bad laptop, bad

Last night, my laptop decided that it preferred the floor to the table on which I’d rested it, and took the quickest route down there without asking for permission.  The consequence of this daredevil stunt is that its screen is, to use a technical term, well and truly fucked, and thus I’ll be out of action for 2 weeks and a hefty chunk of sterling worse off.  (No matter – living in London is famously, er, cheap after all.)

More to the point, this blog might be rather un-regularly updated for the next fortnight.  Please bear with me and feel free to call HP and ask for an update on my repair – I’m sure they’ll appreciate that.  The number is 01925 260060 and my reference number is 682923.

Not that I’ve got sour grapes in my mouth…

MP3: Wild Beasts – We Still Got The Taste Dancing On Our Tongues (zSHARE)

New London music – A Terrible Splendour

With the recent opening of Proud Cabaret and burlesque nights popping up all over town, theatrical music has never had it so good.  And here comes another example, in the form of A Terrible Splendour, aka London pair MM Lyle and ML Block.  Making their debut perfomance at The Lexington this weekend, they offer a slow, synthy pop, doused in glamour and dank with weirdness.  There are no glorious choruses here; instead you have vocals sung in almost a rather gay drawl, lots of filthy fun, and the general sensation of being among folk with a fetish for Spandex.  

They confess to being inspired by one Gottfried von Cramm, a controversial 1930s/40s tennis player and soldier, and have written their songs in his honour, and with a nod to the dash of that period’s music.  They’ll also perform appropriately, it seems:  “From the beginning it became apparent that these were songs would lend themselves to a strong performance element. We are imagining costumes, cake, blood, possibly murder, but most definitely a sense of drama, so in that sense returning to the idea of a stage show.”

Stage show or not, ATS lack the catchy rhythms of, say, fellow oddballs The xx.  They do boast fervent electro notes that are crying out for a remix or four, though, plus this near guarantee that, live, they’ll be anything but dull.  And no-one likes dull right now.

Live date:
Sat 21 November – The Lexington (details here)

A Terrible Splendour on MySpace
MP3: A Terrible Splendour - Dear Klara (zSHARE) Very kindly provided by the duo – thank you and good luck with the show!

New London music – Showbizheroes

Showbizheroes, a newly-established (I think) London quartet,  are well worth a listen.  A sort of soaring, rocked-out powerpop, full of climbing vocals and careering guitar cacophonies, their music is epic and yet rather svelte and polished, as if they’ve been at it for years and Mark Ronson is their producer.  Listen to the preppy intro and reverb-happy strings in This Is How It Feels (To Be Wrong), Sinner’s choppy riffs or the languid, luscious pop sensibility of Maybe She’s An Angel.   Good songs, aren’t they?  This is a band who clearly know the ingredients of a catchy tune.

Even better, you can download The Periodic Table, Showbizheroes’ debut EP, for free simply by joining their mailing list, here.  Or listen to the tunes below…

Showbizheroes on MySpace
MP3: Showbizheroes – This Is How It Feels (To Be Wrong) (zSHARE)
MP3: Showbizheroes – Maybe She’s An Angel (zSHARE)

New London music – them:youth

You know that feeling when you’re impossibly happy and you want to scream or yell or dance manically or jump up and down or just run as fast as you can?  Sudden, uncontainable euphoria?  The music of them:youth, a London fivepiece I’m really excited by, gives me that feeling.  It’s epic and fiercely melodic: in some cases maudlin  (Get Home Safely), in others balladeering (Stardust) and sometimes (Halo) just belting anthems with a dance fetish.  There’s the most velvety of bass sounds, and the lyrics are rather pretty and twee.  Gosh, it’s good stuff.

If you like Halo, you should also love the brilliant SkiBunny remix – it holds back the explosive chorus so long that you’re positively on your knees begging for it.

Live dates:
Thurs 26 November – Punk, Soho (guestlist & tables here)
Sun 6 December – The Watershed, Wimbledon (tickets here)

them:youth on MySpace
MP3: them:youth – Halo (zSHARE)
MP3: them:youth – Halo (SkiBunny remix) (zSHARE)
Buy all of them:youth’s music here.
them:youth’s website / blog.

Valentina’s day coming soon?

I don’t often listen to soul, but there’s always a place for it somewhere inside a stressy week, when heads need soothing and ears caressing with a minimum of fuss and maximum of groove.

I don’t often blog about soul either, but this emerging London talent’s so good I’m compelled to make an exception.  Valentina somehow sounds both young and full of wisdom at once, and her three songs on MySpace have a gorgeous, cool simplicity, pleasant arrangements around a very capable voice.  The best is Heart of Glass, not a Blondie cover but in fact a mournful-sounding slower number anchored on a potent piano, with some gospel-like oohing and aahing in the background, but I also like the zestier Dulcimer Song a lot too.

With the news that she’s apparently been working with renowned producer Kwes – explaining why she sounds quite so slick quite so soon – I’d say Valentina’s a racing certainty for 2010 fame.   (She’s very good-looking too, which won’t hurt.) You heard it here first (hopefully).  Some upcoming live dates after the picture…

Live dates
Thurs 19 November – The Distillers, Hammersmith
Fri 20 November – The Gallery Cafe, Bethnal Green
Wed 25 November – The Flowerpot, Kentish Town (details here)

Valentina on MySpace
MP3: Valentina – Heart of Glass (demo) (zSHARE)  This has been very kindly provided by the charming Valentina and is still, she points out, a mere demo.  EP version out in early 2010.

Has Marina made it at last?

As my weary friends’ll testify, I’ve been a longtime fan of Marina & the Diamonds, dragging people to see her at strange London hotels and far-off Bestival stages this year alone.  She’s long been hot blog property, and tipped by many more than me, yet there’s never been much suggestion of her making a public ripple. 

All that’s changing now, on the back of Mowgli’s Road - profiles on Friday in The Guardian and Metro intimate that she’ll be on most Tips for 2010 list (look out for Some Of It Was True!’s soon).  Good for her – she’s an eclectic, honest and charming talent.  And she regularly writes a fantastically opinionated and well-written blog (old/new) to go with her kooky alt-pop.  (By the way, yes: this is yet another case of a blog reminding everyone it was there first.   Such self-aggrandisement makes you sick, doesn’t it?!).

Unfortunately the forthcoming live date at Hoxton Bar & Kitchen has now sold out.  I’ll be sure to update when more Marina concerts are announced.

Marina & The Diamonds on MySpace
MP3: Marina & The Diamonds – Hermit The Frog (zSHARE)
MP3: Marina & The Diamonds - Mowgli’s Road (zSHARE)

Zero de Conduite – & some great new London bands

This coming Friday 13th there’s a scarily good-sounding night going on in – where else? – Hackney Wick.  Zero de Conduite promises to be a witches’ cauldron of live art, DJs and short film screenings, and also bands.  These include the ruddy marvellous Men of Good Fortune, and a coupla other great sounds:

Men of Good Fortune
Slightly fuzzy and lo-fi, slightly chanty and slightly murmurous – a la Los Campesinos - this is the music of young lovers, of youthful ragamuffins staggering around London with bleary eyes, of falling asleep drunkenly on London Fields, of music and cigarettes and empty, endless Sundays and happy memories.  As you might expect with members of Iron Flag and Alpha Beta aboard, it’s all very solemn and cool: tales of muddy boy-girl encounters often simply spoken over a clanging bass, with occasional chaos and moments of more intensity.
Men of Good Fortune on MySpace

The Home Office
It doesn’t much more fun.  Comprising the alluring Dr No (a woman) and German Peter Von, The Home Office produce high-octane dance pop that they describe as “Dietrich sings electro, playing electric guitars in lederhosen, a tutu and de havilland wedges”.  That pretty much nails it: pounding, irresistible Eurotrashery that’s the sworn enemy of glum corner-slinkers across East London.  Expect costumes, capers and kinkiness galore.
The Home Office on MySpace

Douce Angoisse
Similarly outgoing and exotique, Douce (described as a French electro pop siren’ by Zero de Conduite’s promoters) sings in rapid Gallic tones and pregnant sighs as elastic beats and evil feedback unfolds all around her.  Things gradually get messier and messier the longer a song goes, like a fucked-up techno scout camp where Arkela’s been gagged inside his tent and a mushroom factory’s been discovered next door.  Tres bien, tres bien.   
Dousse Angoisse on MySpace

MP3: Men of Good Fortune – Daddy (zSHARE)
As you can see, Men of Good Fortune have very kindly provided an MP3; I’ve asked Bouce, and will ask The Home Office if they’ll provide such similar goodness to get us all through the winter…

New Yeasayer & Solid Gold tracks

I’m trying to keep this blog focused on London acts, or acts playing in London.  But that ploy crumbles in the face of new tunes from Yeasayer and Solid Gold – two of my absolute favourite current acts.  Both have released songs that suggest their respective sounds are travelling in harder, fuller directions, while retaining the elements that make them great…

The first track from the Brooklyn band’s imminent second album,Ambling Alp is more obvious than some of Yeasayer‘s previous efforts thanks to a near-constant chorus and very dancey keyboards.  But it still got a great rhythm, wacky and innovative sounds, prominent vocals from Chris Keating and that Yeasayer USP: a myriad, muddied structure, via various phases and moods.  There’s also a bit of the high-pitched “everyone sings” sections beloved of Yeasayer songs.

Minneapolis’ Solid Gold haven’t quite caught on with the masses yet, despite much hype in 2008, and their being purveyors of the most elegant chill-out pop imaginable.  While Matter Of Time, the first single of their own second album, comes with a little less whimsy, and a little more grunt.  Where songs like Get Over It were very keyboard-led, this gives more prominence to Matt Locher’s bass, with additional interventions by a guitar so smooth it sounds like a trumpet, and some still-lingering drizzles of electronica.  The vocals remain just as wispy, thankfully.

Yeasayer - MySpace / website
Solid Gold – MySpace / label page

MP3: Yeasayer – Ambling Alp (zSHARE)
MP3: Solid Gold – Matter of Time (zSHARE)

Memory Tapes has me Foaming – plus some cool cover art

If I needed any confirmation, I’m now certain that I love Memory Tapes.  Why, you cry?  Well, because he has taken a song I didn’t get along with and remixed it into a banging monster that I want to run away from home with, preferably to a decrepit, seedy city full of wicked cars and fast women, or something like that.  The initial tune – which is Foaming, by London’s Primary 1, a provider of avant-garde producer-pop - is a bit too crowded and chaotic for me.  But, with Mr Tapes installed as stepfather, it becomes a sparkly road-trip of a song, blessed with now-faded vocals, maverick keys and strings, and spritely electro beats.

One thing I definitely do like about Primary 1′s version of Foaming is this: release of it (including Memory Tapes’ remix) will be limited to 100 red 7″ vinyl copies (available exclusively from today at Rough Trade East and West.), each of which has – get this – a distinct sleeve, all individually painted by skateboarder/producer/painter Teebs, he of LA’s Flying Lotus /Brainfeeder collective.  How cool is that?  Sample covers above and below.

Primary 1 on MySpace
Memory Tapes on MySpace
Teebs on MySpace
More on Primary 1 at Dummy Mag.

MP3: Primary1 – Foaming (demo) (zSHARE)
MP3: Primary1 – Foaming (Memory Tapes remix) (zSHARE)