hoxton bar and kitchen

All photos courtesy of Mark Ashby

In this bewildering world of blogosphere American indie, noodling new folkies, over-produced electro popsters and scowling young skinny Brit boys with just-so hair making the same old racket, well, praise be to God that one band at least is not afraid to put its head above the parapet of cool.

Just for a moment, imagine a 1970s American high school prom in a parallel universe where the interesting types are in the band and hogging the dancefloor, while the sporty jocks skulk around the shadows nibbling at the vol-au-vents, plotting mass murder by firearms. Music Go Music are that prom band, and here in this present universe they are boldly unfurling their flag emblazoned with ‘JOY’ in gold sequined letters on a rainbow background, and it’s your own fault if you’re too cool to smile about it.

Made up of seasoned Californian players moonlighting from other less colourful indie outfits, Music Go Music belt out feel-very-good 70s guitar disco pop, with driving octave basslines and straight-to-the-heart choruses. But don’t be fooled by the glitterball sound – it takes accomplished musicians to pull this kind of party music off, and it’s a bonus that they look so damn good.

The bass player has seemingly walked in straight off the set of one of the hippy scenes from Forrest Gump, guitarist Torg is Tom Petty in NHS specs while husband/wife team Kamer Maza and Gala Bell are the impossibly good-looking all-American couple. I would get on the bus just to go and look at this band. Gala Bell, barefoot, blow-dried and sequined, blessed with a powerful, pure voice and supermodel nose, is a cross between Cerys Matthews, Christie Turlington, and an 11 year-old singing in front of the bedroom mirror.

Yes it’s retro, it sounds a bit like ABBA and strays into guilty pleasures territory – and not everybody is convinced. At Hoxton Bar and Kitchen, the industry-heavy crowd is polite but standoffish, and while the ULU crowd is warmer, the young lady beside me is far from impressed (turns to companion: “get off, this is shite”).

Doubters aside, they’ve definitely got the tunes, from the cosmic ‘Reach Out’ to the wedding pop gusto of ‘Warm in the Shadows’. ‘Explorers of the Heart’ is your youngest sister’s and grandma’s new favourite song while ‘Light of Love’ deserves to be the single of the year.

Consider the implications of this fantasy high school prom band. Imagine a world where the cool kids really do have the best tunes and aren’t afraid to show it, instead of stubbornly sweating away on their oud-sampling, pastoral-oscillator masterwork and competing to get signed to the smallest indie with the tiniest mailing list.

In this world James Blunt is redundant, Simon Cowell down at the job centre and people suddenly see La Roux for the trees (sorry). Joe Public regains his tastebuds, like a man weaned off salt-saturated microwave meals remembering how good an apple actually tastes.  It can happen! because Music Go Music have shown us the way and they will lead us through the grey seas of pop drudgery and mediocrity to the promised land where everybody will listen happily ever after…

Their website proclaims: “no happier thought passes through our minds than that of a bevy of middle-aged women dancing to our music, and now it seems like our vision may be within reach.” Music Go Music are going to be massive, if they want to be. Whether they’ll seem so brilliant when their dreams come true and they’re soundtracking the pissed dancefloors of Guilford and Cardiff, well, let’s worry about that when it happens.

For more photography by Mark Ashby visit his website here.

Written by Tommy Tiger on Wednesday February 17th, 2010 1:01 pm

Categories ,Cerys Matthews, ,hoxton bar and kitchen, ,James Blunt, ,La Roux, ,Music Go Music, ,Simon Cowell, ,ULU

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