21 search results for ‘summer’
fun. - I Wanna Be The One
Evening campers.
A short post to let you in on the only band I’ve been really listening to in the last three weeks (sorry Arctic Monkeys etc.), a band called ‘fun.’.
Formed from the ashes of previous band The Format (who I am not yet that aware of), its like Lightspeed Champion but American, with better melodies and even more eclectic instrumentation (including steel drums!). Perfect Pop for the summer.
The WHOLE album is up for streaming on MySpace (review to come), but if you don’t have much time I suggest you check out my track of the summer; ‘I Wanna be the One’.
Greg
PS: The final two Summer Sundae posts are coming; don’t forget coverage of the first two days including reviews of 65daysofstatic, Múm, Wild Beats, Mr Hudson and more can be viewed here.
Adebisi Shank - This Is The Album…
I got the debut album from Irish 3-piece noisemonsters Adebisi Shank (Adebisi was a character in HBO series Oz who unsurprisingly got shanked) earlier this week and have been listening to it on repeat for at least 48 hours now. It is that good. It’s almost impossible to try and describe what they sound like so I won’t, all you need to know is they are mind-bendingly good and their album (This Is The Album Of A Band Called Adebisi Shank) is only £8 (vinyl with free cd) from here.
To give you some idea of what they are like, here is one of the bonus tracks from the album, Oyasumi. It’s 50% Ratatat, 50% Colonel Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade and 50% Refused. That’s 150% win. Turn it up real loud.
The band also released a pretty damn good summer mix-tape that can be found here (right-click and ‘save link as’ to download).
Marko
AGCS @ Summer Sundae : Saturday
Day two of Summer Sundae and no-ones tired yet, oh no, as we head indoors for Her Name Is Calla (///). A local band that I’d seen before (without realising it) who overall impressed, LOUDquietLOUD type of thing, executed very well with added strings and brass (which is obviously always a bonus).
Next up it’s outside for what turned out to be the worst act I saw of the weekend, a pastiche of Johnny Cash taken very seriously in the form of Mr Plow( ). Every bit of between-song-banter is clearly perfectly rehearsed, although not enough to stop some deviations from the script which were painfully obvious through the attempted resolve. Personally, when an ‘artist’ can go from a broad Leicester accent to mid-west American it makes me be sick in my mouth and want to spit it into the faces of people that fall for it.
Back inside for Yunioshi (/) who sounded ace on their Myspace but due to ‘technical errors’ which seemed to involve the laptop containing the gold failing, they fall flat on their faces. Shame.
Then it’s back outside for Frontiers (//), who are OK but not close enough to The Cure (as suggested in their press release) to make them good. They didn’t grab my attention and if music aint doing that folks, then what’s the point?
However, Minnaars (////) are up on the main stage next and despite (having seen them before) thinking that it would be too big for them, they pretty much fucking nailed it. Heavily reliant on the laptop yes, but the live playing was impressive still. It seemed they were aware they were on the whole playing to the wrong audience but they still went for it and so did the younger folks down the front.
The Joy Formidable (///) (or The Joy Formidab as announced by the ‘I’m going to pretend I like your band when I announce it but not watch any of your set’ compère Richard) were pretty good. Boy Girl vocals I always like, and the set was good despite the two songs that have been getting radio play being their best songs by far.
Next it’s into the Rising Tent that delivered so much the day before, and it delivered again with what was probably the set of the festival from The Kabeedies (/////). Great songs, I mean REALLY great songs, boy/girl vocals, genuinely funny banter, fun stage presence. We were all pretty enthralled for the entirety of the set. All from a little newish band from Norwich. Take that The Zutons.
Back to the main for the so-called ‘Arcade Fire + Scotland’ Broken Records (//), who were good not great. For personal consumption, you might as well listen to the arcade fire. NEXT…
Emmy The Great (///), who was also good not Great. The songs are nice and her voice is beautiful, but something weird was in the air and it seemed she was a bit distracted which was obviously a shame.
On the main stage Bombay Bicycle Club (////) got the children going, and too right. They’ve released one of the best debut albums of 2009 and seem to be relishing the crowd getting into it. What they didn’t know was the children would dance to anything that either had a NME mention or a bear, but BBC were deserving and I look forward to catching them at Offset next month (review to come).
65daysofstatic (/////) inside provided me with the loudest set I have any seen at any festival or gig (previously held by the Mooney Suzuki, 2004), and it fucking rocked. Again, like Minanars they were playing largely to the wrong crowd but people seemed to get into them in their own way, and they were tight as. Plus, the front man balanced his guitar on his chin mid song! YEAH!
Over to the Rising again for Frank Turner (//) who was fine but very preachy, too preachy for me in fact so I pop over to catch the second half of Hugh Cornwell (of The Stranglers) (//) set which is alright, a couple of the hits seemed to go down well with the largely menopausal crowd.
Mr Hudson (/////) on the indoor stage is next, with what he later described as one of his favourite gigs ever and it was indeed very impressive. Last (and first) time I saw Hudson was at 10.50AM at Glastonbury and it was unsurprisingly lacklustre however at night it’s a whole different story, and it does feel a bit like a singles set despite the crowd only knowing the one which he obviously, and rightly, saves until last.
Following Mr Hudson is little shit Chipmunk ( ). Any artist that promotes a single/album (including release date) before they have performed a single note can fuck right off. But seen as the kids fell for it and he wasn’t going anywhere, I had to do the honour.
Greg
AGCS @ summer sundae : Friday
So, let’s get straight to business… The overview of the festival is coming at the end of the week, today is just about the bands I caught on the first day of the Leicester’s premier festival.
Thanks to the joy of mobile internet and Twitter, before I’d even had breakfast I was aware The Streets were looking likely to pull out (although it took organisers until 4PM to announce this to the crowd). I’m not the worlds biggest Streets fan but it was a disappointing start to the day (even more so when Idlewild were announced as moving up to fill their slot), and so a good musical beginning was needed.
Leicester’s These Furrows (///) were the exciting start to the festival in the otherwise largely MOR-ish Musician tent, with current Tired Irie (good Leicester band, check them) drummer Darryl taking front man duties. I’d seen this band before when they were Twenty Below Zero but they were much better than I remembered; technical and noisy at the same time.
The first sprint of the day was in order to catch the UK Festival Exclusive™ of South African BLK JKS (////). Playing to a disappointingly small crowd, it was a pretty impressive set with some incredible falsetto vocals alongside more tradition African chanting. I can’t really explain the sound so I suggest you use the old Goggletron and listen for yourselves.
Kid British (/) on the main stage next yet, utter utter über wank. Four false starts of what was set to be a Madness sampled song left them bewildered, and me too. Terrible.
Thankfully, in a little all seated tent in the back corner, Jeremy Warmsley (/////) played one of the most captivating sets of the weekend. Jeremy’s voice is one of the most fantastic things I’ve ever heard, and stripped back with just a guitar his songwriting and knack for melody really shone through. I can’t really talk about him without it sounding wanky, but his voice is beautiful and you should, will check him out.
Oi Va Voi (//) helped kill 20 minutes with their Easten-Europen-esque music, before I headed into the comedy tent to catch Robin Ince (////) with a trademark ranting, and funny it were too.
A result of Idlewild being moved up the bill meant Beardyman (/) was promoted to the main stage. As man that makes ‘Everything live using his voice’ (and about a million effects, loop pedals, samplers etc.), the first minute was interesting but then it wasn’t, at all. Covers of ‘popular’ songs. Bad covers of ‘popular’ songs.
Back into the excellent Drowned In Sound currated Rising Tent, Wild Beats (///) did a pretty decent set that drew a fairly decent crowd (no less thanks to some 6 music single airplay). Punters going to see a band for one song and then leaving became a regular pattern at the festival. I thought people might have liked music more than that to do such a thing but there we go. They were good though, I’ll see them again.
Mystery Jets (//) on the main stage were the main band I was looking forward to but thanks to the worst sound in history and about 100 pissed children (FYI, when I say this I mean ages 14-17), it was a tad disappointing. The sound only really sorted itself out by the last two songs and thus the set that should have been the best was one of the worst.
Back into the Rising Tent for headliners and other UK Festival Exclusive™ Múm (/////), things finally picked up after a bit of a lull. I knew very little about Múm but they turned out to play not only one of the best sets of the festival but one of the best I’ve seen in years. Nice harmonies, interesting arrangements, good songs plus the atmosphere in the tent was great. While the majority of children and idiots were watching the start of Idlewild or Filty Dukes, the wise were the small number in the tent.
I don’t dislike Idlewild (///) but they headlined SSW in 2005 and there is a reason why this year they were only originally third on the bill. However, they have a go and the 30 minutes I see includes the five good singles so I’m happy enough; God knows what happened in the 30 minutes either side of what I saw though.
Finally it’s indoors for The Beat (//) who were OK, but pretty repetitive. A cover of The Clash, check. A few ‘classics’, check. The crowd are happy. I should have gone to bed after Múm.
More tomorrow.
Greg
AGCS @ SSW week
AGCS just back from Summer Sundae 2009 in Leicester and the rest of the week will see reviews of all 36 acts we saw sets of over the weekend, plus a general overview of what went down.
Tomorrow will review the Friday, with highlights including Múm, Jeremy Warmsley, Wild Beats, BLK JKS and Robin Ince.
Wednesday will take a look at the Saturdays bands including 65daysofstatic, Mr Hudson, Bombay Bicycle Club, Minnaars, Emmy The Great and The Kabeedies.
Thursday will review the closing day of the festival with acts including Bon Iver, Chairlift, Monotonix, Woodpigeon and Micachu and the Shapes.
Finally, to round off the week Friday will feature top 5 lists ahoy, plus a general review of the festival overall… queue praise/several rants.
Greg
Johnny Foreigner
The track listing to JoFo’s second album, due out in October, has just been announced. To those unaware of the Birmingham 3-piece, this is very good news. Entitled Grace and the Bigger Picture, the album will feature fifteen, that’s fifteen, new tracks.
choose yr side and shut up!
security to the promenade
ghost the festivals
feels like summer
illchoosemysideandshutup, alright
criminals
custom scenes and the parties that make them
more heart, less tongue
kingston called, they want their lost youth back
i woke up on a beach in aberystwyth
(graces)
dark harbourzz
every cloakroom ever
more tongue, less heart
the coast was always clear
Johnny Foreigner are a great band who remain criminally underrated and in such depths of poverty that they can’t even afford to pay council tax (seriously, the lead singer had to go to court). Despite this, they recently gave away an E.P. for free, featuring first single Feels Like Summer and two other tracks which won’t appear on the new record. Watch the video for Feels Like Summer here
Anyways, this is awesome news. Make sure you do your bit to support them when the album eventually comes out. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Jed. x
Get the free Feels Like Summer E.P. HERE
Tubelord - Somewhere Out There A Dog Is On Fire
Kingston 3-piece Tubelord are set to release their debut album entitled (I think) Our First American Friends and as a preview have released this track on t’interweb. Good, honest, Biffy-esque power pop to put a smile on your face in this miserable excuse for a British summer. They are one of those bands that seem to be on tour all the time, so chances are they’ll roll through a town near you soon, in which case I urge you to check them out, quality live band. Keep tabs on them here.
Marko
It’s Thursday morning and the sun has come out for the first time this week, so here is Marko’s favourite summer albums…
Danger Doom - The Mouse and the Mask
The musical collaboration between my favourite voice in hip hop, MF Doom, and multi-instrumentalist, producer and all round genius, Danger Mouse. This album concerns itself almost entirely with the cartoons of late night Cartoon Network block Adult Swim (if you have never seen it, check out Sealab 2021 and Aqua Teen Hunger Force). As bizarre as the cartoons it is based on, this is outrageously catchy hip hop with a big grin on it’s face. This album has been a popular addition to many a summer BBQ and will probably continue so for years. Standout track - Bada Bing
Pavement - Wowee Zowee
Remember the 90’s when Indie bands had a sense of humour? Those were good days… Pavement’s third album was their most experimental, whilst keeping to the clattery alt-pop style that had made songs like Cut Your Hair so popular. I picked up this album off a friend’s recommendation when I was 14 or 15 and it’s stuck with me ever since. The jangly guitars, off-kilter drumming and bizarre lyrics of this album formed the soundtrack to an entire summer for me and is still a regular summer feature on my iPod. Standout track - Rattled by the Rush
Ben Folds - Way To Normal
The man who made piano power-pop cool in the 90’s with Ben Folds Five and then on into the 21st Century on his own brought out this, in my opinion his best album, just in time for my final year of university to start. New house, good weather, the best housemates a guy could ask for, and this album made the end of summer 2008 one of the best, and you know what? I’m listening to it right now. Absolutely fucking brilliant pop songs which never take themselves too seriously. I love it. Standout track - You Don’t Know Me (feat. Regina Spektor)
Paul Simon - Graceland
The greatest pop album ever created (and that is not only my opinion, it is fact) by the talented half of Simon and Garfunkel (oh no he didn’t!) is probably known to most as ‘that album with You Can Call Me Al on’, but it is so much more than that (for starters, there would be no Vampire Weekend if it wasn’t for it). This was one of those albums my Dad put on during long family drives, most of which I hated, but something about Graceland grabbed me, and ever since it’s reminded me of long summer journeys through Europe and made me smile. One of the most uplifting and charming albums I have ever had the pleasure of listening to, Graceland is still a firm favourite of mine all year round, but the summer is it’s natural environment. Stick this on one sunny evening with a bottle of wine and some friends and you are guaranteed to have a good time. Standout track - Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes
RX Bandits - …And the Battle Begun
Where do I begin with this album? First, let me explain that this not an especially summery album, it just defined 2 of the best summers of my life. I had been a massive Bandits fan ever since someone played me Progress, and this had only grown with the release of The Resignation and a night spent abusing red wine with the band themselves after a stonking gig at The Charlotte (RIP). Then in summer 2006 …And The Battle Begun arrived and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up from start to finish. Huge, sweeping ska and reggae influenced music, beautiful vocal harmonies and some of the catchiest hooks I have ever heard. The only album I have ever put on at least once a day for over a year and never once gotten bored of, it will forever remind me of the summers of 2006/7, the best parties, the best friends, being in love and basically having an unforgettable time. Even now, no matter how bad of a mood I am in and how bad the British summer can be, this is one album guaranteed to cheer me up. If you haven’t got it, go and buy it. You have no excuse, it is fucking incredible. Standout track - …And the Battle Begun
Here is 4 out of 5 albums in full on Spotify. Apparently RX Bandits aren’t important enough to have ANY of their albums on, but you will buy the album regardless or I will visit every one of your homes and slap you.
Marko
It’s S.A.D sufferer Alistair’s turn to share his favourite albums for over the suprisingly hot summer season. Stay tuned for Marko’s next week!
Beach Boys – Endless Summer
I hope this doesn’t seem too obvious. I promise you, although the word summer appears in the title, it’s not why I chose it and I wouldn’t want you to think this is just thrown in because of Good Vibrations either, because, if you give this huge album a chance, you’ll find it’s all as good as Good Vibrations or Surfin’ U.S.A. Some of it is a little less upbeat than their hit singles, but never less charming and optimistic. Vocal harmonies like this are summer, a sunny lullaby, straight from your ipod, to fall asleep to in the sun.
The Meters- Look-ka Py Py
This album is going to pick up your mood any season. But in summer, when the sun is shining and it sort of makes you giddy, this is what you want on. If you’re walking down a street you may find yourself strutting in your shorts, or, if sat down you might find your head nodding- but ideally you want a nice back garden, a BBQ, and some good friends who know how to get dooown. The sun will do that to you.
E-603 – Torn Up
something a little more contemporary now, and though this is my most hated, most despised ‘genre’ on earth; it’s time to get the cheese out. I wouldn’t just bring out Now 46 mind, (Despite picking this number out the air, it seems you’d be getting Tom Jones and Mousse T - Sex Bomb, Spiller & Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Groovejet and Aaliyah -Try Again. Maybe I shouldn’t just write it off!) no, if I’m doing cheese I’ll do it with class. Whilst Girl Talk holds the multi-mashup crown, E-603 is the air to the throne, throwing mainly 90’s rap over songs we all know too well. What’s more it’s free …unlike all other music…ahem, and will most certainly have that annoyingly over-excited girl screaming “Oh my god, this is my song!” every time she recognises a sample. It’s not your song. Calm down love.
She & Him – Volume One
Chances are you don’t have a convertible. As this is sort of a one-way system I’ll have to assume you don’t, but if you do, you’re in for a treat. For a sunny drive anywhere, She & Him will leave weirdly happy smiles on your faces for passing pedestrians to be unsettled by. It’s unashamedly American and indulgent, but it’s not shallow, it’s lovely and heartfelt and will compliment the wind through your hair beautifully (hair… right? I don’t want to assume. I mean, our demographics’ pretty young but whatever, you’re welcome here.). M.Ward and the radiant, alt-bro lady of choice Zooey Deschanel make up the duo whose albums fails to falter in it’s sunny disposition from beginning to end…apart from a sort-of weird, bullshit harmonica solo 1:50 into ‘This Is Not A Test’.
Dave Matthews Band – Crash
Best. Summer Album. Ever. Crash radiates and emits happiness, optimism and contentment so powerfully I’m pretty sure a blind man would get a clear picture of what a sunny day looks like after one listen. It’s not sickly though which is why it’s so great (Unlike this review). It’s not shoving happiness down your throat. It’s sincere, and yes, It has its quieter moments without getting too dark, but the slow build of each track to smile-breaking crescendos has the same effect as the person you most trust in the whole world telling you everything’s going to be OK.
P.S.
That person should be AGCS… Everything’s going to be OK! Just listen.
The Spotify playlist isn’t complete, but you can get E-603 here
Alistair
Dizzee Rascal & Calvin Harris - Holiday
Dizzee unsurprisingly rocked Glastonbury and most people agreed its not long before he gets to headliner status.
He premiered this new track during the encore and I’d say its likely to do very well, the outro is especially good and the Dizzee+Calvin+Chrome worked last summer so why fix it if it aint broken.
Here it is, played for the first time last night on Zane Lowe…
Greg
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