LIVE REVIEW: Comedy Lectures by Red Stag @ Future Gallery, London 16 May 2011

Comedy lectures was a celebration of the world’s first (well first in my world) cherry flavoured bourbon Red Stag from Jim Beam. Ugggh I hear you stay, I also was a little tentative but it actually tastes quite nice especially with a splash of lemonade and lime. 

Anyway, enough with the shameless plugging (and if you are reading this and you are not of legal drinking age in your environ then trust me it was truly horrible) onto the entertainment which landed in the form of Powerpoint Karaoke provided by comedy improvisation troupe Noise Next Door and the supremely hilarious man-child Adam Buxton of Adam and Joe fame. What is comedy karaoke? Google it people! suffice to say it is a unique and interesting take on comedy improvisation really calling for the participants to think on their feet and present incredibly random subject matters to an equally random selection of images in a slightly competitive manner. Well worth a look if such a show comes near you.

DLS

GIG REVIEW: Future of the Left @ Lexington, London 27 April 2011

FINALLY!! After waxing lyrically about pretty much every one of their releases and being disappointed by the cancellation of the previous tour I finally got to see Future of the Left LIVE and in person at one of Vainzine’s most frequented venues the Lexington in London. 

FOTL rocked big time playing a mixture of newer and older tracks from albums Curses (2007) and Travels with Myself and another(2009) as well as some well received Mclusky covers. Combined with some incredibly witty banter the gig set up one stormer of an evening. I would not hesitate in recommending any fans of the heavier side of alt rock make sure to capture this gem of a show at a venue near you ASAP. Nuff said just GO!!!!!!

6/5 – It’s possible I assure you!

DLS

GIG REVIEW: Claire Nicolson @ Catch, Kingsland Road, London 10th February 2011

After waxing lyrical about Claire Nicolson’s new EP I jumped at the opportunity to go see her perform live, direct and in the living, breathing flesh in Shoreditch. 

Her wonderful voice is a seamless live as on the recordings and she played some excellent tracks as well as a very welcomed and unique cover of the Happy Monday’s classic 'Step On'. With a strong backing band, a plethora of good accessible indie pop rock tunes and excellent production team onside it seems the future is bright for this lady. I would highly recommend seeing her live so keep your ear to the ground peeps.

5/5

DLS

GIG REVIEW: Clash presents Ja Ja Ja @ Lexington, London, with The Low Frequency in Stereo + The Deer Tracks + Rökkurró, 21 October

Ja Ja Ja's intention is to showcase the finest music from the Nordic region. previously they held a metal night and whilst I would have been exited about this in my teens metal scares me in my adulthood (something to do with the cutting of your luxurious hair perchance? - Ed) However and I quote “As is Ja Ja Ja’s way, we like to mix it up and give you something very different each month. Therefore the curator for October’s Ja Ja Ja evening is Matt Bennett, Deputy Editor of Clash magazine, who’s chosen three exceptional bands to bring you an evening of atmospheric sounds capes, electronica, rock and psych-garage drone.” Now this is definitely more up my street.

The night opened with Icelandic band Rökkurró (pictured, badly) with their heady soothing and mesmerising blend of melodic folktronica that had the crowd enraptured. I’ve rarely seen a band so happy to be performing and they were also to be spotted cavorting with the crowd in the smoking area post gig (not a bad way to build a fan base). They really prove there is a lot more coming out of Iceland than volcanic ash, Bjork and collapsing banking structures.

Second up were the Swedish high energy New Romantic/Nu Rave band The Deer Tracks. They had some truly belting tunes combining lo fi breaks with pumping full on rocking dancey beats, truly awesome and one of the lead singers was at one point playing a saw?!?!? It really doesn’t get more randomly brilliant than that. Their debut album Aurora was critically acclaimed and based upon this live performance it’s not difficult to see why.

Rounding things up were The Low Frequency in Stereo from Norway whose B-52’s/Sonic Youth inspired form of low fi prog rock has helped achieve the first No1 instrumental only single in Norway. In your face Crazy Frog…. These guys are seriously talented and truly understand the meaning of rocking out. The guitarist knows how to work those strings and the bassist made it look like he was actually the lead guitarist with his playing style!

Ja Ja Ja was a terrific evening of music showcasing some of the Nordic regions fantastic and diverse musical talents. All three bands were phenomenal and I look forward to seeing what Ja Ja Ja has of offer in the coming months.

5/5

DLS

REVIEW: Paris Motor Show 2010, Paris, France October 2010

OK so this is less of a review and more a relaying of my experience really. The 2010 Paris Motor show or Modial De L'Automobile -for once something sounds better in English than in French which is very unusual - finished yesterday after occupying the whole of the ginormous Parce Des Expositions at Porte De Versailles.

Having never been to the Paris Motor Show before I had no idea what to expect. I was lucky enough to have been invited by French car maker Peugeot who kindly gave me an extra invite to bring my Photographer (I'm useless).

We decided to go to one of the 'nocturnes' or night events. These happen on the first and second Thursday of the show and the show is open until 10pm on these days, giving those who have day jobs a chance to visit after work. This was probably not the greatest idea I have ever had. Thankfully being a regular attender of public events with large audiences I'm used to being caught in a crowd and although unpleasant can control the urge to try and escape somewhat. There was an overwhelmingly large amount of people in attendance so be warned if you are thinking about going next year.

I really wanted to see the new generation of Electric Vehicles due for release very soon and was not disappointed. There was a whole building dedicated solely to EV's and you could even test drive some. Check out the image below of Peugeot's new iON. This is an amazing experience. The ride is so different to a normal car and the lack of noise is surreal and will take some getting used to. This gave a glimpse into the very near future when our town and city streets will be much quieter places to live work and play in and around. This will especially suit the cosmpolitan cafe culture so prevalent here in Paris that is often blighted by pollution and noise from the road (although that does not deter the locals).

Although practical and exciting, technolically and environmentally speaking, the iON does not really excite ones creative imagination. It is rather bland to look at and with a limited range and top speed is not going to (and indeed is not intended to) be used as a recreational driving experience. 

The image pictured at the top of the page is the limited edition Tesla Tag Heuer Roadster. There was a lot of excitemet around this vehicle and I was fortunate enough to get close enough to have a good look. Looks amazing inside and out. Unfortunately it was not available to test drive.

I was a little disappointed not to be able to get anywhere near the Renault DeZir concept car which is even more exciting visually than the Tesla but sadly there were just too many people around the Renault exhibition. If you want to see what I'm talking about Click Here.

So this was a really great experience and with so much to see and do I'll hopefully be attending next year too!

PHOTOS: Emilie Nissim-Gagnon

GIG REVIEW: Hares @ Lock Tavern, Camden 7 October 2010

Performing in the bustle of the upstairs room at one of Camden’s trendiest boozers were the Hares. With and on stage ensemble including an accordion player and a ukulele I had high hopes we were to witness some old school folk.

Instead the Hares lay more between Noah and the Whale, Corrine Bailey Rae and dare I say it Fleetwood Mac. Obviously a horrendously talented band musically, replete with two amazing vocalists they are certainly tight knit in terms of their music and on stage banter I was pleasantly surprised by their brand of folky pop rock, while not wholly original they definitely have mass appeal and there were a fair few of Camden’s finest having a good old bop away to their tunes. I suspect based on last nights performance we certainly haven’t heard to last from Hares.

4/5

DLS

GIG REVIEW: Later with Jools Holland @ BBC Television Centre, London 5 October 2010

Yesterday evening I accepted a gracious invitation to visit the BBC Television Centre in Shepherds Bush to watch Later with Jools Holland being filmed. I have decided to report back on the experience of being part of one of TV’s best music shows. Upon arriving we were queued up with a few hundred or so others and made to wait to see if we were going to get in. No guest list for us sadly ;-)

After half an hour or so we were given out golden ticket or green sticker rather and swiftly shepherded into the canteen area where we had time to sink a cheeky little beer before heading onwards to the filming studio.

After the usual banter from the crew, the audience warm up began. We were introduced to the performance artists. On the roster were the Legendary Steve Millar Band (queue jokes regarding the Labour leadership), Cee Lo Green of Gnarls Barkley fame, Puff Daddy protégé Janelle Monae, the delightfully eccentric blues of C.W. Stoneking, Garage rock band the Jim Jones Revue and last but not least the Central African grooves of Cheikh Lo.

Also in attendance were guitar legend Duane Eddy with new collaborator Jarvis Cocker.

I was fortunate to witness some amazing music. Special highlights were Steve Millar Band with The Joker, C.W Stone King and his Jungle Lullaby and the surprisingly joyful Punk Pop of Janelle Monae.

The experience of being as part of the audience involved a hell of a lot of clapping, standing around, more clapping and enjoying the music on offer. There were a few hitches with the filming of the show which were handled admirably by the production crew and as well as filming the regular Friday slot programme the live show which aired at ten went seamlessly. The only downside was having to listen to Cee Lo’s F U (clean and dirty versions) song on six occasions and although it's a great tune it did begin to grate a bit near the end.

All in all it was an enjoyable evening spent in the company of some amazing artists and not too much of Jools’ boogie woogie piano solos to fill the time; especially impressive seeing as from start to finish we were there for 3 ½ hours!

You might even be able to catch a glimpse of me in the audience. Series 37 Episode 4 of Later with Jools Holland is being shown this Friday October 8. Click Here for more details.

DLS

GIG REVIEW: Civil Civic @ Cargo, London 9 September 2010

Civil Civic for me are to 90s Indie Rock and Grunge (as what the Battles are to all things psychedelic), driving instrumentals with edgy guitar and bass rifts whilst retro machinery keeps the beat ticking over make for a loud but not unpleasant instrumental cacophony as imposing as if the walls of Jericho were made from pure sound.

It’s a brave attempt to do away with vocals and allow for pure musicianship to take over and carry them forward and to be fair it does work. However personally I would recommend to truly understand the talent on display here one needs to experience them live as you will never grasp how the simplistic layers that go into producing such an interesting and engaging medium of music as that of Civil Civic’s is formed through listening to an album.

4/5

DLS

VOTE FOR VAINZINE:

GIG REVIEW: The Slips @ Cafe 1001, London 24/08/2010

After accepting an invite to watch The Slips at Café 1001 I must admit Google was my fist point of call for information of this previously unheard of (for me) band. A lot of write ups focused around similarities between French legends Daft Punk and Justice. So has England finally produced an act to hold their own against the formidable Gallic talents of the aforementioned artists? The answer is quite possibly yes. The similarities are correct and the heavy influences are apparent instantly albeit with a strong allusion towards 808 State too in my opinion. 

High energy pounding beats, filthy bass lines, repetitive vocal action and retro 80s inspired visuals proved a crowd pleasing concoction with many shaking their booties way down to the ground which was incredibly impressive for a Tuesday night! All in all a solid set albeit slightly short for my liking as it felt they were only just warming when the curtains closed. There is bags and bags of potential (just a little fine tuning required) in this band and I for one will be watching them closely as I tip them for big things in the not so distant future

4/5

DLS

GIG REVIEW: Beatherder @ Ribble Valley, Lancashire 2 – 4 July 2010

This weekend I went on a little adventure with a couple of my compadres to the lush Ribble valley in Lancashire to participate in the three day stomp out known as the Beatherder festival. This intimate (well if 5,000 attendees can be described as intimate!!) festival with acts such as Andy C, Layo and Bushwacka, Dub Pistols, Easy All Stars et al on the roster and the sun shining the early signs were very promising. 

Now avid reader I poise a question similar to one I pose in many of my musings, did it deliver and the answer is YES! It was a superb weekend in an amazing setting with some of the friendliest festival goers I have ever encountered. The legendary Toiltrees playing host to some quality techno acts, the eclectic mix on the main stage in addition to the many other tents and also an on site working men’s club meaning there was a little something here for everyone. Even the kids some of which were taking a keen interest in collecting the innumerable amount of nitrous oxide canisters decanted on the floor!! Personal highlights were Paul Daley(formerly of Leftfield) spanking everyone upside the head with an awesome techno set in the Toiltrees, Panjabi Mc taking me right back to my roots, Erol Alkan rocking it like only he knows how too, Dub Pistols for an awesome end to an awesome weekend and also the Main Stage 1000 people strong aerobic work out led by the legendary Mr Motivator….. I’ll definitely be attending again and highly recommend it to all.

5/5

DLS

GIG REVIEW: Gilles Peterson & Rob Fonseca; Havana Cultura New Cuba Sound July 6 @ Barbican, London

Treated to free rum cocktails and a hot taste of some of Cuba’s finest musical talents all thanks to Havana Cultura presented by Gilles Peterson at the incredible Barbican building, London. After your gracious writer spent three days on a techno stomp out in the wilderness of Lancashire (see Beatherder review for all the gory details), this was just the ticket on the train to the end of the perfect weekend. Mr Peterson and his crew offered a sumptuous mix of Cuban Hip hop, soul, jazz and pumped up house beats to the delight of the crowd who they had bopping in the aisles by the end of the evening. I have to give a special shout out also to one Mr Roberto Fonseca who is for me one of the most talented piano players that I've ever bore witness too. Managing to seamlessly fleet between musical genres and pounding those keys with an organic ease that was as natural as drawing breath. Top quality evening with top quality music in a top quality venue.

5/5

DLS

LIVE REVIEW: Subject 60 Launch Party @ Sorting Office, London 2 June 2010

Beautiful space filled with beautiful people being plied with beautiful booze and beautiful food, for what reason might you ask?

Subject60 is the name of Volvo’s lifestyle campaign for the all-new S60 with the mission of repositioning Volvo, a car brand usually known for safety. The campaign emphasizes on social media and blogger involvement and culminates in events in 5 major European cities.

Whereas I think some of the above may have passed me by at the event and have to say it was a lot of fun nonetheless with live DJs and décor that I can only describe as a laboratory within the warm leather interior of the aforementioned vehicle making for an evening of raucous decadence(my personal highlight being the S60 converted into a Karaoke booth as pictured), whether this fits in with the image of the car the Volvo describe as “Naughty” I’m not sure but it seemed it they have struck to right chord with the attendees at their launch. However I don’t think there were too many car salesmen in attendance!! I reckon if you’ve go a spare £20Gs in your sky rocket you should perhaps go seek one out and pick up one of these naughty little numbers, I mean what else you gonna spend the cash on?? A deposit on a house in this climate?? Pah!

DLS

GIG REVIEW: Tamikrest @ The Borderline, London 19/05/2010

So to describe Tamikrest I would just have to roll with the blurb sent to me and I quote:

“Tamikrest, led by 27-year-old singer/ songwriter/ guitarist Ousmane Ag Mossa, are a desert blues/ rock band singing in Tamashek, the language of the Touareg (nomadic people inhabiting the Saharan desert across various countries, including Niger, Algeria, Libya and Mali). They can be seen as the "spiritual sons" of Tinariwen.”

Mmmmm interesting I hear you say and you’d be right!! With on stage collaboration provided by mini-super group Dirtmusic the crowd were treated to an uplifting mellow introduction to the electric sounds of the desert in the intimate Borderline venue in the heart of London’s Soho.

I would say that Tamikrest were innovative without being wholly original and provided sufficient entertainment in terms of on stage presence and song choices. Although I did feel Dirtmusic did take over the set a little too much at times and would like to put that down to the fact that it was the first time Tamikrest had been to the UK and with experience in bands such as Lemonheads, Bad Seeds and Walkabout within Dirtmusic’s ranks perhaps their experience shone through more, something Tamikrest could easily resolve with time. On the whole an interesting and enjoyable evening providing an insight to some accessible modern world music without a panpipe in sight.

3/5

DLS

GIG REVIEW: Built To Spill @ 02 Shepherd's Bush Empire 19/05/2010

Ever heard of Built to Spill? If not where have you been for the past 20 years? Like me you probably would’ve been busying yourself with early 90's Alt Rock acts such as Sonic Youth, Meat Puppets, Pixies , Dinosaur Jr and the like, with Built to Spill sadly slipping noisily under your radar.

With bands such as the Strokes, Modest Mouse and Death Cab for Cutie citing BTS as a major influence I was expecting big things as I Alt. rocked up to the Shepherds Bush Empire, London to see them support Dinosaur Jr. I am glad to say they did not disappoint. After a somewhat slow start they picked up the pace and belted out some great rocking tunes, barely acknowledging the audience throughout the gig except to offer a gracious thank you to the rapturous reception they got from the crowd when they finished. One of the tightest musical bands I’ve seen there was never a note dropped and it left me wondering how I managed to miss out on these guys for so long. I will definitely be looking to proffer an ear to some of their back catalogue.

Oh and Dinosaur Jr. were pretty good too by the way!!

4/5

DLS

GIG REVIEW: Beat Assailant @ Jazz Cafe, London 28 November 2008

Originally posted 4 December 2008:

After interviewing Beat Assailant before his show at Jazz Cafe, The Bitch caught the gig too. What a dedicated little trooper she is. Here's what she thought of it;

Mr Assailant made The Bitch go weak at the knees, so she decided to stay, see the show and top-up her now extremely low alcohol levels.

By the time Mr. Assailant hit the stage, The Bitch was well and truly smitten, for such a small guy Mr. Assailant has a massive amount of energy and presence. For those of you who are just reading this to look busy and important and have never heard of Beat Assailant, he is a hip-hop artist (you clearly weren't reading the interview if you didn't know that - go back and read it again!) who plays with a live nine piece band, including a DJ and saxophonists, trumpets, flutes, actually fairly reminiscent of a jazz band, but still maintaining the traditional hip-hop aesthetic, with a funky jazzy edge.

To pigeon hole him, The Bitch may disagree with the hip-hop genre and move him to something more along the lines of alternative indie, his sound reminds The Bitch of Amp Fiddler, TV on The Radio, or other similar bands along those lines, just more upbeat, fresher, funkier and edgier...

Beat Assailant played a great set, mostly tracks from Imperial Pressure, and a wicked medley of classic hip-hop tracks with a Beat Assailant twist, with amazing enthusiasm and an apparent disregard for the lack of crowd. The Bitch wishes to congratulate him on his fine ignoring of the embarrassing middle aged white man standing right at the front doing some sort of strange "hip-hop" finger point dance, and his equally strange and embarrassing "semi-goth" girlfriend who was doing some strange spinning impressionistic dance. The band performed well together, all the members putting in just as much as Beat Assailant himself, and all seeming to really enjoy themselves.

The venue was disappointingly quiet, there did not seem to be many who were here just to see Beat Assailant perform, the only real fans that The Bitch could pinpoint were a group of six girls who seemed to be celebrating a birthday party sitting on the mezzanine (their fashionable sky-scraper heels did not allow standing or dancing for long periods of time, so they were confined to the mezzanine with the seating area).

The Bitch even nearly got into a fight outside with a guy who was so drunk that he could barely string a sentence together, who was slagging the band off to his lady friend, who seemingly had not realised that prints made her look a hell of a lot wider than she actually was, saying that he and his mates were tighter and had energy when they just got together and jammed...Clearly he was wearing the beer-headphones when their so-called band got together, he probably bought them on a 2-4-1 deal when he bought the beer goggles he was wearing when he met his lady friend.

To sum up, Beat Assailant is a talented guy, he is constantly touring, and constantly promoting himself, with the aid of a really good management team, he could become highly successful, he has, in The Bitch's eyes mass appeal, those who are not into hip-hop could listen to his music and really enjoy it, I think Beat Assailants music could shock people, for rap, it is much more chilled out, than people may expect, this is truly Pop-Hop at its finest.

If you want to read the interview with Beat Assailant just click here.

The Bitch

LIVE REVIEW: Band Of Skulls @ The Lexington, London 15 July 2009

Originally posted 16 July 2009:

Last night in the intimate Lexington venue I was treated to the audio orgy that is the Band of Skulls.
Judging by the band name and my use of language you may initially think I was invited to attend a heavy metal, nipple pinching, scream inducing sex fest but the truth of the matter was I saw potentially the next big alt rock act to be borne of our shores.
Fleeting effortlessly between each White Stripes/Black Keys/Nirvana/Pixies influenced track, omitting a sound of pure originality, I found myself wanting to jump from my perch and fling myself into the crowd.
Sadly however the desire not to look like a fool won over and I hadn’t had enough of the free whisky by that stage either…There was also a great sense of togetherness within the band and Lead Guitarist Russell Marsden and Bassist Emma Richardson put in a performance reminiscent of Tim Wheeler and Charlotte Hatherley during Ash’s heyday. So with an excellent new single(Fire), American Tour and quality set list I can only see this band’s star continuing to rise.
5/5

The Dark Lord Saraon