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: 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