Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with Lupen Crook

LFW David Koma Maria del Carmen Smith
David Koma by Maria del Carmen Smith.

Last Monday’s shows opened with a double whammy from David Koma and Holly Fulton, salve for sale which I shall review in separate blogs.

LFW David Koma by Maria del Carmen Smith
David Koma by Maria del Carmen Smith.

We wrote about David Koma as far back as his longer named incarnation when he graduated from his Central Saint Martins BA way back in 2007. His rise in popularity since then has been unstoppable, sales information pills clothing many high profile celebrities including modern day sweetheart Cheryl Cole – in a heavily embellished dress for the X Factor. It was an instant talking point.

His modern take on glamour owes much to an eclectic life, equally split between three countries where David has spent appreciable amounts of time and of which this 24 year old regards himself as equal citizen. He was born and spent his early years in Georgia before moving to St Petersburg to study classical drawing (and which is where he presumably met his Russian wife). He then relocated again to the UK, where he studied at Saint Martins under the expert tutelage of Louise Wilson, who he idolises.

LFW David Koma by Maria del Carmen Smith
David Koma by Maria del Carmen Smith.

For S/S 2011 his collection was inspired by The Mariinsky Theatre of Saint Petersburg, and memories of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. A series of pleated skater dresses in sugary colours moved swiftly through abstract monochrome tailoring, shades of lemony yellow and onto gold party pieces, all accessorised by sky high platforms and big metal knuckledusters courtesy of a collaboration with Mawi.

David Koma SS2011 photo by Amelia Gregory
David Koma SS2011 photo by Amelia Gregory

In official parlance this translates pretty much thus: Ballet silhouettes were combined with the more graphic shapes of cubist artist Fernand Leger to explore contradictions of fragility with physical and emotional strength.

David Koma SS2011 photo by Amelia Gregory
One cleverly cut dress even had me fooled that a model’s waist could be smaller than seems physically possible: I did an instant double take when I looked back at this photo.

David Koma SS2011 photo by Amelia Gregory
David Koma SS2011 photo by Amelia Gregory
David Koma SS2011 photo by Amelia Gregory

I loved this collection, so was a bit discombobulated when I discovered that David had used copious python skin in his show. Where does python come from? Were they caught in the wild or farmed? It’s not an industry I know much about, so when I ran into David at his New Gen stand I decided to give him a bit of a grilling.

David Koma SS2011 photo by Amelia Gregory
David Koma SS2011 photo by Amelia Gregory
David Koma SS2011 photo by Amelia Gregory

A quick question turned into a half an hour chat during which David was utterly charming the entire time. He’s determinedly upbeat about life and feels blessed to do what he loves the most; his precocious rise surely the result of much hard work as well as obvious talent.

David Koma SS2011 photo by Amelia Gregory
David Koma SS2011 photo by Amelia Gregory

So, back to that python skin. It comes from an accredited factory farm – for pythons and crocodiles are farmed much as mink is. I feel quite uncomfortable about this – I am okay with the use of leather for outer clothing and shoes, safe in the knowledge that it is very much the waste product of a meat industry that is unlikely to go anywhere anytime soon.

Somerset House SS2011 David Koma
David Koma at Somerset House.

But I don’t buy into the idea that it’s ethically okay to farm animals purely to provide us with luxury goods – and no matter how accredited a farm might be on paper there are always going to be corners cut in reality on the factory floor. David’s take on it is that he is against fast consumerism, and therefore wants to create luxury garments that will be treasured for a long time. For this to be possible he wants to chose the best possible materials available – and if that means stripping a snake then so be it – that they will live on in a beautiful garment is enough for him. And he does not feel that fake fur or leather is a particularly ethical substitute, a fact with which I tend to agree. Another fair point he makes is that he would rather buy from a reputable farm than encourage any kind of black market. But this surely begs the question, how is a black market encouraged – except by the use of python leather in luxury must-have items? If you are able to remove questions of provenance from your mind all that gold python is very very beautiful.

David Koma SS2011 photo by Amelia Gregory
Knuckledusters from Mawi.

David also admitted that he is considering the use of fur in his next collection, but as we parted he said I had made him think a bit more about this. Whether my words have had any effect remains to be seen but I really appreciate that he didn’t balk under my questioning and seems genuinely to be interested in engaging in the origin of his materials: he’s a very talented and increasingly influential designer and I hope he’ll make educated decisions in the future. In the meantime enjoy our pictures… and forget about any real live snakes in cages if you can.

David Koma SS2011 photo by Amelia Gregory
David Koma SS2011 photo by Amelia Gregory
David Koma Gold Python on White By Fiona M Chapelle
David Koma “Gold Python on White” by Fiona M Chapelle.


Illustration by Gemma Randall

Christopher Shannon burst onto the catwalk in true and typical chavvy style to launch menswear day, information pills for me at least, and on Wednesday. His wasn’t the first show; we didn’t get tickets for Lou Dalton (a real shame, as I was really looking forward to that one) or Topman Design (meh). There’s a strange feeling in the air on LFW’s Wednesday – it’s eerily quiet, people are more relaxed and you could actually swing a cat around in the press room, should you desire, for the first time in five days.

Shannon showed alongside JW Anderson in the BFC space, but even with these two heavyweights of menswear design presenting back to back, the venue still wasn’t full. It’s a shame that there isn’t as much interest in menswear, but the editors had all shipped off to Milan, I guess…

Shannon was up first and his show featured some of my favourite guilty pleasure tracks – Blu Cantrell, for instance. Tune! This kind of music sits hand in hand with his unique blend of street-inspired sportswear and edgy, boyish tailoring. The first looks were all crisp white numbers, featuring engineered t-shirts with geometric holes, multi-pocketed shorts and bucket hats, followed by sweaters with mesh details. I like Shannon’s fancy-free approach to menswear – it’s for young, hip individuals who care about style but not about stuffy suits.

Progressing into outerwear, the collection bore sports-luxe jackets, more mesh, and shorter shorts. Shannon’s garish but great rucksacks, a long-term callabo with Eastpak, made an appearance in similar tones as last season – pale greys and baby blues.


Illustration by Gemma Randall

Further in, Shannon’s signature camo-graffiti prints showed up, bringing a welcomed burst of colour in the form of pale blues. I like this print A LOT – it works on padded puffas, shorts and even bucket hats (although I doubt I’ll be seen in the entire get up – the pattern is intense and it needs breaking up a little, I think).

His scally charm shone through on more printed numbers, where sections had been cut away, and the reappearing camo print. Panelled trousers, though, displayed the menswear designer’s continual progression – sand chinos displayed oblong sections in luscious pastel colours made the move from teenage fashion. Vibrant yellows hinted at that ballsy appeal many of us were looking for.

Faces were painted like colloquial masks, apparently inspired by longing for a holiday, but I’m going to ignore this literal influence — as much as it looked fun, it fought to distract from some pretty sophisticated tailoring. All in all, a toned-down collection compared to what we are used to. As the chavvy charmer continues to grow up, so will – I hope – his collections.

All photography by Matt Bramford

Illustrations by Jamie O’Callaghan

I’m a fan of small, symptoms independent festivals and I’d pick one over Glastonbury any day. I’m not sure I can include Southsea Fest in that grouping just yet, viagra approved because, viagra as one organiser said, “we’re not the Great Escape love”. I don’t think they’ll ever be able to rival the festival that’s just 50 miles along the coast, and that lack of ambition is just one of two things that holds the one-day festival back.

The other is the organisation. Mix ups over guestlists, disputes over whether or not I had a plus one and general waiting around meant that I missed the first band I wanted to catch, which was Revere. They played in the stunning Kings Theatre, and would probably have been my highlight of the day, if I’d been able to catch them.

Instead, I headed over to the Fat Fox to check out Real Fur but they were running late – over an hour late – although I was determined to not miss them. At this rate, I’d been at the festival for a couple of hours without hearing a single note of live music. When we finally watched Real Fur, it was definitely worth the wait. They’re a rock band that are so much more exciting live. ‘Pride’ was the standout track for me, but generally the feel of Real Fur is that they’re a jangly, dancy rock band with the odd harmony and, as much as I hate the phrase, a groovy vibe.

I caught Montage Populaire after and I really enjoyed their set. I had no idea they were one of the local bands booked, and spent hours trying to remember where I’ve seen them before. I failed, but I’ll definitely be checking them out in the future. They’re an art-rock band, and it’s easy to see why they’ve drawn comparisons with Los Campesinos and early Blur.

I watched a couple of local bands after that, before stumbling across the Ruskins doing a street gig to promote their set, which I went to. So did the majority of festival-goers judging by the size of the crowd. The lovely London lads managed a couple of songs in the street before some security guards made them stop, but inside Little Johnny Russells they managed half an hour of their ska-infused rock. It was refreshing to hear something that wasn’t indie or acoustic, as the lineup was pretty swamped with it.

The next venue was pretty hideous, but home to two of the most exciting bands on the bill. I got there in time for Let’s Buy Happiness; it’s always exciting to watch bands you know are destined for big things play such a tiny venue. The vocals are completely disarming, the music has this beautiful swaying rhythm and Let’s Buy Happiness produce the most charming pop songs that I’ve ever seen played in Portsmouth. They just got featured by the Guardian, so it won’t be long until the rest of the press begins to gush about them. They are truly spectacular.

Bright Light Bright Light played a set of electro-dance-pop that wasn’t too interesting, so I’ll skip over that bit. After came Islet, who I was crazy excited about catching. They don’t bother with the concept of a stage, preferring to swap instruments and drag them into the crowd. In fact, when one guy in the crowd reached out to touch a guitar, he was handed it. When he wasn’t sure what to do, the guitar was gently led back to the stage. Islet are pretty weird, but they’re unlike any other band I’ve seen.

When I listen I have this internal fight between feeling they’re some kind of Emporer’s New Clothes, art-school weirdness that people sway along to because they’re fashionable, and genuine love for their uniqueness. It’s tiring watching them jump around the stage, share instruments and howl, made all the stranger by the setting. They’re a band everyone should see, even if just for the spectacle of it.

The closing set came from King Charles, back at the Fat Fox. I’ve been listening to his music for a while, so to be able to watch him with a couple of hundred other people was the perfect way to end the day. The harmonies are even more heart-stoppingly beautiful, the guitar riffs that little bit more exciting and the drums that bit more frantic when played live and on a tiny stage. Easily the most captivating performer, King Charles literally didn’t put a foot wrong, performing every track note-perfect. He drew queues outside, the size of which I didn’t notice anywhere else, and showed every other band how it’s done.

If Southsea Fest had a little more ambition, if it could decide whether it’s a festival in Southsea or a festival with bands from Southsea, and if it could book the same quality of bands as this year, it could be popping up on many more radars at the end of next summer. All the elements of a successful festival are there, and hopefully the success of this event will encourage the organisers to step it up for next year.

Lupen Crook and the Murderbirds by Faye West.

As I approach the North London pub where I’ve agreed to meet Lupen Crook, visit I’m surprised to find that he’s already there, sitting quietly at a table outside. He greets me politely and offers to buy me a drink. Not quite what I was expecting from the self-confessed “unmanageable” Crook, but then the 28-year old singer-songwriter and artist is a slightly different proposition these days. Having spent a couple of years out in the cold after an acrimonious split with his record company, Crook has returned with easily his best work to date, entirely self funded and released on his own Beast Reality Records. And whereas he used to stalk the unlovely streets of the Medway Towns in Kent, Crook has now moved to London and developed a muscular sound to match.

Recorded with his band, the Murderbirds, Crook’s eagerly awaited third album, The Pros and Cons of Eating Out, is a vaudevillian trip through the dark recesses of his vision of the “Dysunited Kingdom”. But the melodrama of old has been replaced by real drama, and instead of lyrics about toilet abortions and shaken baby syndrome comes beautifully crafted wordplay, with beguiling references to Enoch Powell and Schrödinger’s Cat. From the Love Cats-esque Lest We Connect through the Russian Cossack stomp of How to Murder Birds to the sub-low synth powered Scissor Kick, the genre-confounding album is the band’s most fully realised and accessible work to date. But in case anyone’s thinking that Lupen Crook has gone all mature on us, one look at the harlot-embarrassing hand painted album cover should reassure fans that the band shows no signs of pandering to the mainstream just yet.

Over the summer you played to big crowds at the Latitude and Wireless festivals and your new album is more accessible than some of your past releases. Do you think the band has the potential to cross over to mass audiences?
There’s been no conscious effort to make our music more acceptable to people at all – in fact we’re celebrating the freedom to do exactly what we want more than ever. But we’re not shutting ourselves off to the possibility of reaching wider audiences. We’re more comfortable in our own skin now and stronger for it, and with that maybe comes a wider appreciation. I feel like people generally are treated like idiots – like they’re not intelligent enough or emotionally deep enough to be able to understand anything further than just really crap music. And I think, well, if you actually give people the chance, there’s a whole wealth of brilliant music that would actually make them feel a hell of a lot better about themselves and that they’d enjoy.

Having released your first two albums on the independent Tap n Tin Records, you’re now setting an example for how bands can function as the industry changes, by being completely self funded and releasing your new album on your own label, Beast Reality.
Back when we were recording our second album Iscariot the Ladder, I’d always had this idea of Beast Reality Records – it’s always the daydream that you can release off your own record label. After our contract ended we recorded this album and thought “Right, how are we going to release this?” We had interest from labels and we considered it, but, as everyone knows, the industry’s fucked at the moment and, no disrespect to any of the labels, when we actually got through the door and started talking with them, we thought, well what are we actually getting from a record company? We’d financed and produced the album ourselves, so all we’d be getting from them would be manufacture and distribution.


Lupen Crook by Faye West.

Do you feel like musicians are, in a sense, starting to get their revenge on the more exploitative elements of the industry?
The music industry’s being returned back to the people who are actually creating the music, and now it’s up to them how they want to do it. One of the good things about the self-release aspect is that it can keep up with the amount of material we want to release. Industry people have this thing of “you can’t release too much”, but the whole thing with Beast Reality will be to get material out as much as possible – I’d like to be looking at two to three EPs and an album a year.

In the early days you were courted by the NME and were in the NME Cool List in 2005, but this always seemed to be at odds with what you were about.
It completely threw me – it made me retreat hugely. For one thing, the song on that CD [First single Lucky 6 was included on a free CD with the NME] opened my music up to so many people. But I was a far more insecure person back then and I didn’t have my gang and my band around me. I’m never sure how much I suffered from all that – I think to a certain extent it was good, but on the other hand it was a bit of a diversion. But I’ve got no regrets, it was just something that happened and was, quite frankly, out of my control.

Your music is often described in the press as alt-folk, and you describe it as “fight folk”. What does the work “folk” mean to you in terms of music?
Folk means people – it’s peasant music. I don’t think folk music is anything to do with “the fox ran over the moon in the pale night sky” and all of that traditional stuff – I don’t really care about tradition. It’s storytelling – but then at the same time I think we’re a punk rock band really. I like fight folk because it’s got that storytelling aspect to it but also it’s sort of aggressive and I think that’s kind of who we are as individuals.

In recent times the Medway Towns have become known as a kind of hotbed of creative talent, and you’ve often been portrayed as being very much rooted in the area, in the same way that Billy Childish is. Why did you recently choose to move to London?
I’d been in Medway for too long and needed to get out. I feel there’s always the potential for something brilliant to happen there but everyone and everything, and this is why I love it, has turned really feral. To say there’s a scene there is bollocks but to say it’s got the potential for loads of great bands is definitely true. It comes in fits and bursts. There are occasions when everyone decides to get their shit together and not sit in their bedsits drinking and smoking, and when they do actually make the effort, it’s great – there’s something really thriving and exciting, but it never maintains itself because there isn’t really the opportunity for it to go anywhere outside of Medway. I moved to London because I’d walked down every alleyway, I’d drunk in every bar and I’d kind of done it all. Medway will trap you – it’s in a valley – but you can really lose yourself in London.

Your music has lots of references to Catholicism and religion – the song Scissor Kick from the new album talks about “a sprained cath-aholic”. In light of the controversy over the Pope’s recent visit to Britain, what does Catholicism mean to you and how does it feed into your music?
I was brought up with it and it’s in me. I’m very much a Catholic but I absolutely detest Catholicism quite frankly. I just think it’s really outdated and so irrelevant to anything. I think you should have faith – but faith in yourself, almost like individualism – you don’t need a God. I don’t reject everything to do with Catholicism, but I don’t see the point in an organised religion. There’s so many people of a certain generation who still sort of feel this guilt for certain things – I’m completely stricken with catholic guilt and it’s terrible.

Your music has always been hard to categorise and it’s sometimes difficult to detect your immediate influences. What bands or artists have had an influence on you musically?
Someone told me there’s a theory that the interests and experiences you have when you’re around eight years old go on to form the core of the person that you become. When I was eight I used to make little recordings, multi-tracking my Dad’s guitar and my Casio keyboard, and I started a band with the kids down the road, and in a weird way I haven’t actually progressed since I was eight years old – I’m doing the same thing, which actually makes me happy. At that age I was listening to AC/DC, Bon Scott era, and my school uniform, with the shorts, was the same as what Angus Young wore on stage. And Bon Scott was singing songs about sex and fighting and everything that my teachers and parents would detest, which is why my band was called Devil’s Disciples – completely like “I’m gonna piss you lot off”. Then when I was about nine my babysitter brought a compilation tape round with Carter USM on and I just fell in love with it. I think they influenced my lyrics quite a lot – Carter USM’s really down-to-earth wordplay with Bon Scott’s love of the three basics – sex, drugs and rock and roll.

You mention you’ve been playing in bands from a very early age. Has this always been what you’ve wanted to do?
It’s not even a case of that I wanted to do it from an early age – it’s what I decided to do. There’s only been one time in my life when I seriously considered giving up music and just leading a normal life. It was after I broke up my last band and I just packed it in and had a job delivering parcels in a van. I still used to bring my guitar with me in the van so I could play it when I was waiting for deliveries or whatever, and then one day my boss saw it and said, “What’s that?” He said “Look, you make your choice now. You can dick about on the guitar or you can be a parcel delivery man” and I just had this moment of clarity and quit. Then on my way home I got a phone call from my girlfriend saying that Tap n Tin Records wanted to sign me and that was that.

You’ve spoken in the past about having schizoaffective disorder, and last year you released The Curse of the Mirror Wicked EP to help publicise the YoungMinds mental health charity. Does this feed into your creativity?
It’s hard to tell. The way I’ve learnt to understand it, in a crude way, is that it’s somewhere between bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. I got told by a doctor when I was 19 that my obsession with music was actually making me more ill, and at certain moments in the past I’ve thought maybe they’re right, that it is a weird obsession. It’s kind of like a chicken and egg situation. But generally I think; I’ve made my bed and I’m lying in it. I have the occasional wonky period, but I feel lucky that I’m in a position where it’s kind of easier to live with than it might be for other people – because I don’t do a nine-to-five job and I get to write songs and paint pictures.

You make music, and also artwork, under the name Lupen Crook. Is this a character or is this really you?
I’ve always played around with names and I’ve always needed that. All my friends call me Mosh – that’s what I’ve been called since I was eight years old and I refused to be called anything other than that, even by teachers and my parents. I even called myself Jilted Jack Cann for a few years when I was in my last band, Bonzai Reservoir. Lupen Crook started off as a character idea, and now I kind of am that person. Names are almost nothing and everything, aren’t they? I’ve always liked the idea that you can set aside what you were before and, not invent a new persona, but find other perspectives within yourself to say “I’m not that person anymore, I’m this person now”, and that’s what I did with Lupen Crook.

“Right, home time”, says Crook, and with that, he disappears into the night. As I’m leaving, I’m struck by something he said: “I was a writer before I was a father and I was a writer before I was a husband. If I lost everything in the world, I’d still be a writer, because that’s the most important thing – to communicate, even if it’s just to myself.”

The Pros and Cons of Eating Out is released on October 4th on Beast Reality.

Categories ,AC/DC, ,Beast Reality, ,Billy Childish, ,Bon Scott, ,Bonzai Reservoir, ,Carter USM, ,Casio, ,Catholic, ,Devil’s Disciples, ,Jilted Jack Cann, ,Lucky 6, ,Lupen Crook, ,Medway Towns, ,Murderbirds, ,NME, ,Tap n Tin Records

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Amelia’s Magazine | Music: Interview with Cults

Cults by Gemma Smith
Cults by Gemma Smith
Illustration by Gemma Smith

Cults are a New York duo with a 60s guitar pop sound. Their debut album is out in May and I can’t wait. Go Outside has transported my moods from dreary, information pills coffee needing blah, more about to jigging around on my wooden seat, dancing with the cat, joy. The harmonies are pure dream pop. Brian Oblivion and Madeline Follin first posted three songs last spring anonymously on a Bandcamp account and have since received great support from the likes of Gorilla Vs Bear and NME. They’ve also supported Best Coast among others.

Could you introduce yourself please?
MF- He’s Brian Oblivion.
BO- She’s Madelline Follin

Could you describe your music?
On the surface it’s girl group inspired, bedroom pop, upbeat and uplifting but beneath that lies murkier realities. We wrap sinister tales in a sugar coated shell.

Why the name ‘Cults’?
BO- I think that the most startlingly beautiful things in life are pretty but desperately flawed at the same time. Cult leaders are a fascinating example of this so I guess our name came about is a result of this fascination.

Where are you both from? And where do you live now?
MF- We’re both from California, I grew up in San Francisco and Brian grew up in San Diego and we moved to New York together to go to film school.

How have these locations influenced your music?
BO- I suppose growing up in California we were tied trough our local history to some of the world’s most notorious cults. Charlie Mansion and his “Family,” spend a lot of time in LA and were responsible for Sharon Tate’s murder there. Jim Jones set up shop in San Fran, David Byrne’s Children of God were roaming California too. The inspirational, moving speeches that appear, ghost-like, behind our music are taken from speeches made by these guys. New York provided us with independence and the creative space for us to start making music in.

Cults

How did you get together…?
BO- By complete chance. Madeline’s brother is in a band that I was tour managing at the time, and she happened to be in San Diego the night they were playing. Then we did this drive from San Diego to San Francisco to pick up Madeline’s stuff. We were playing each other music from our iPod collection, and discovered that we loved all of the same stuff. Cults grew from there.

You are upbeat and 60s in your sound, are you particularly interested in ‘past pop’?
MF – Our sphere of musical influence is pretty diverse, we’re not bound to one particular era or genre. We’re as interested in and as influenced by The Wu Tang Clan and hip-hop as we are rock n’ roll or music from the 60s.

What’s the inspiration for your music?
BO- A lot of our songs are about what we’re going through right now – the fear of growing up and facing adult responsibility. These kind of fears are inspiring. Fear is what makes people join cults in the first place – wanting to escape competition and success and be a part of something bigger, communal. We also want to live our own lives with our own schedules and expectations, so in a way this band has become our own cult.

How do you create ‘your’ sound?
BO- Its spontaneous and real. We’re not sound technicians, we made our first track in our apartment. I layed down some demos and Madeline started singing along. You can suck the life out of a song by making it perfect and we never want to do that.

Do you write your own music?
MF- Our album, like our original demo is self written, self- produced.

What are your musical backgrounds?
BO- I’ve been in bands since I was 13, including a Slayer covers band.
MF- My stepdad owns a studio and I’ve sung on an Adolescents record – there was even a song I did with Dee Dee Ramone singing as well. But for me it wasn’t a big deal, Dee Dee was just one of my stepdad’s friends.

Did you expect Go Outside to be so massive?
MF- Not at all. Most people didn’t know the first thing about us when they heard that track.

Is it true that you actually want to keep an aspect of mystery around yourselves, which is why we don’t know very much about you?!
BO- Absolutley. Bands have become way too handy at promoting themselves. It cheapens the music a bit. It’s like Coca Cola or some brand. There’s nothing left to ponder if it’s all filled in – you can just consume it and throw it away.

But do you foresee yourselves coming to the UK more; perhaps the festivals this summer?
MF- Totally ! We love the UK. You have some world class festivals going on that we would love to get involved with. There is a great vibe here.

Do you enjoy touring? What’s it like for you?
BO- Yeh it rocks. It’s always nice to see witness the way fans receive you music at first hand.

What do you see as the future for Cults?
Unlike many of our historical counterparts ours will have a happy ending!

Cults tour dates can be found here. Go Outside is their first single, out on Columbia Records.

Categories ,Best Coast, ,Brian Oblivion, ,california, ,Charles Manson, ,Columbia Records, ,Cults, ,David Byrne’s Children of God, ,Dee Dee Ramone, ,festivals, ,Gemma Smith, ,Go Outside, ,Gorilla Vs Bear, ,Helen Martin, ,interview, ,Madeline Follin, ,music, ,new york, ,NME, ,pop, ,San Diego, ,San Francisco, ,Sharon Tate, ,single, ,tour, ,Wu Tang Clan

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Amelia’s Magazine | The Drums: “I Felt Stupid” : Single Review

“To last you need to be real” – Edward G Robinson
“This is quite a departure for us as we usually do not exhibit commercial art, website like this but fine arts”. With those words Martin Tickner let me know what the Maurice Einhardt Neu Gallery is all about. Nestled in the heart of Bohemia land and Gallery street as Redchurch street and Old street/ Brick lane could each be called, ailment this exhibition space is more known for showcasing interesting alternative performance art and installations such as “Seen” by Sean McLusky and Martin J Tickner. Those collaborations where an artist curates a group for a one-off show have in the past seen the high priest of gothic art, Matthew Stone – famous for his tableaux of shamanic rites of passage in the style of Caravaggio – join electro arrivistes S.C.U.M (named after Valerie Solanis’ 1968 manifesto Society For Cutting Up Men) who make music for the emotionally crippled, deficient and diseased.
Bare Bones however still fits in the gallery’s motto. Published in the paper format but looking a lot like a fanzine with its black and white series of independent-minded designs, the second edition embraces the abused tabloid format and has many more contributors. Funded entirely by its creators, Bare Bones features no advertising and revels in not being associated with corporate shilldom. Featuring artists, photographers, writers, musicians and other beautifully wayward human flotsam, Bare Bones aims to provide an insight into the unexplored creative avenues being beaten out by its protagonists. Positioning itself as an alternative to the morass of mind numbing free press littering the brains and streets of London Bare Bones shoots to provoke thought and conversation. Whilst not always aiming to offend just for the sake of it, people who quickly jump to back-footed offence and ill conceived moral judgment only encourage ignorance and deserve to be appalled at least four times a year. Bare Bones seems to be on a quest for a stronger constitution.
The gallery space is small and two walls are covered with limited edition prints costing between 50 and 200. One featured artist is aptly named Heretic Printmakers with gem quotes such as “ Themes that run through our work are ancient symbolism, (…) the inner beast, sex bats, naked witches, demented cats, trees, paranoid owls (…) the freakily parallel cosmos of Mutinopia…”
BARE BONES was Neal Fox, Frank Laws, Hannah Bays, Billy Bragg, Amelia Johnstone, and has since added Hanna Hanra, Sam Kerr, Richard Gilligan and Jamie Putnam to its list. Russell Weekes from lie-in and tigers is a previous Amelia’s magazine contributor- his stricking and witty drawings are part of the work created by the motley crew of proud to be baiting misfits. See it all at your enjoyable peril!
Bare Bones cblonehead“To last you need to be real” – Edward G Robinson

barebones2-3
“This is quite a departure for us as we usually do not exhibit commercial art, buy more about but fine arts”. With those words Martin Tickner let me know what the Maurice Einhardt Neu Gallery is all about. Nestled in the heart of Bohemia land and Gallery street as Redchurch street and Old street/ Brick lane could each be called, clinic this exhibition space is more known for showcasing interesting alternative performance art and installations such as “Seen” by Sean McLusky and Martin J Tickner. Those collaborations where an artist curates a group for a one-off show have in the past seen the high priest of gothic art, seek Matthew Stone – famous for his tableaux of shamanic rites of passage in the style of Caravaggio – join electro arrivistes S.C.U.M (named after Valerie Solanis’ 1968 manifesto Society For Cutting Up Men) who make music for the emotionally crippled, deficient and diseased.
Bare bones pornomaggie Bare Bones however still fits in the gallery’s motto. Published in the paper format but looking a lot like a fanzine with its black and white series of independent-minded designs, the second edition embraces the abused tabloid format and has many more contributors. Funded entirely by its creators, Bare Bones features no advertising and revels in not being associated with corporate shilldom. Featuring artists, photographers, writers, musicians and other beautifully wayward human flotsam, Bare Bones aims to provide an insight into the unexplored creative avenues being beaten out by its protagonists. Positioning itself as an alternative to the morass of mind numbing free press littering the brains and streets of London Bare Bones shoots to provoke thought and conversation. Whilst not always aiming to offend just for the sake of it, people who quickly jump to back-footed offence and ill conceived moral judgment only encourage ignorance and deserve to be appalled at least four times a year. Bare Bones seems to be on a quest for a stronger constitution.
Bare bones sisters The gallery space is small and two walls are covered with limited edition prints costing between 50 and 200. One featured artist is aptly named Heretic Printmakers with gem quotes such as “ Themes that run through our work are ancient symbolism, (…) the inner beast, sex bats, naked witches, demented cats, trees, paranoid owls (…) the freakily parallel cosmos of Mutinopia…”
BARE BONES was Neal Fox, Frank Laws, Hannah Bays, Billy Bragg, Amelia Johnstone, and has since added Hanna Hanra, Sam Kerr, Richard Gilligan and Jamie Putnam to its list. Russell Weekes from lie-in and tigers is a previous Amelia’s magazine contributor- his stricking and witty drawings are part of the work created by the motley crew of proud to be baiting misfits. See it all at your enjoyable peril!

Russellelephants
drums2

Brooklyn quartet The Drums have hit everyone’s playlists hard (bit of a drum pun there for you), visit this site their infectious summer style is sustaining us through what looks set to be a typically wet and dark winter. ‘I Felt Stupid’ is emblematic of the 50’s/60’s surf-pop style sound that characterises their critically acclaimed EP ‘Summertime’, and much of the music from the summer just gone.

The difference with this band, evident in ‘I Felt Stupid’, is their unashamed love for bouncing, shiny melodies framed within bright, jangly pop music. With elements of synth- pop and new wave, on tracks like ‘Submarine’ I actually thought I was listening to The Cure, added to the milieu their sound is varied and not without texture. This original and emotive sound is even more impressive when you consider they have only been together for just over a year, starting in Florida and then moving to Brooklyn.

drums1

The lamentable lyrics of this song add another dimension to the music, if you were under the impression this was just another vacant beach boys-esque sounding band, it isn’t, there is real depth in the words. With crooned refrains like ‘have I lived my life too selfishly baby?’ and ‘your arms around me seem to be the only good thing that ever happened to me’ it juxtaposes the upbeat tone of the song with imagery of a summer love lost. For this reason this song, and this band, don’t get old, each listen reveals another layer. Lets hope the next offering from this band lives up to the high expectations set by this record.

drums

The Drums return to the UK to tour in February as part of the Shockwaves NME tour with The Maccabees, Bombay Bicycle Club and The Big Pink.
Single “I Felt Stupid” available now.

Categories ,Bombay Bicycle Club, ,music, ,NME, ,single, ,The Beach Boys, ,the big pink, ,the cure, ,the drums, ,The Maccabees, ,tour

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Amelia’s Magazine | They shall not grow Oldmovies…

Youthmovies3Photograph courtesy of Youthmovies

For those of you familiar with Youthmovies, information pills I say this: Fiddlesticks! On the 29th of December, they declared their intention to split after a handful of farewell gigs. No planecrash. No overdose. Not even any musical differences. They just sound a bit busy, and too spread out across this green and pleasant land. They won’t be replacing anyone, they won’t be choosing a band member to do a Richie Manic so the rest of the band can go mega-famous, a “Best Of” seems unlikely, as does a 2 hour cinema release of rehearsal footage. It’s simply over.

YouthmoviesPhotograph courtesy of Youthmovies

For those of you not familiar with Youthmovies, I say this: Get familiar with Youthmovies. If asked to name five bands that have dominated my mp3 player in the last three years, I confess that two of them are Youthmovies’. That’s love. First up, though, a disclaimer. Youthmovies do have intellectually advanced lyrics. And they have a borderline-classical note sense. And any band found in possession of either is bound to get called pretentious by someone. But there is no way any of this is pretense. Pretense is a band that decides “ooh, let’s sing about, erm, black holes – they won’t expect that, it’ll make us sound well interesting”.

Youthmovies2Photograph courtesy of Youthmovies

Youthmovies’ Andrew Mears may be in the arty sophisticate camp for singing a two-pronged attack on bourgeois patriotism and William Blakes ludicrous hymn Jerusalem (205 years overdue), but he hasn’t just decided to sing about it to look cool. He means it. It’s something he really thinks and feels. Likewise, an affectionate farewell ditty to a polyp before its surgical removal is hardly as universal (or banal) as Sex on Fire, but why dumb down when you can sing your authentic complex self and guarantee you’re not falling into cliché. As for the clever music, pretension only happens when idiots shoehorn their songs into 13/8 and minor 9ths without knowing what they’re doing (see Yourcodenameis:Milo) or push orchestras around in Abbey Road without knowing what a French Horn is (the list is too long now). A Youthmovies track may have twelve distinct sections, and the third verse might be in a different rhythm, but when it finishes, you’ll have the feeling that it all belonged together. Nothing ever jars, which magically trumps even grand wizards like King Crimson. Whoosh.

Youthmovies4Youthmovies’ soundcheck, photograph courtesy of Adam Gnade
Anyway, it’s recipe-time (since that is the funnest way to review anything). We reverse-engineer the seriousness and beauty of Radiohead, the vigour and accomplishment of early Mystery Jets, the sensitivity of Satie, the fearlessness of Late Of The Pier, the purity of mid-period Tortoise, the occasionally-surfacing twisted-yet-hooky motifs of maybe Soundgarden (imagine I just mumbled that, breathily and nervously), the right hemisperes of iForward, Russia!, and the tendons of Mew and, inevitably, it’s all gone wrong. Let’s try something else…

Youthmovies5Youthmovies photograph courtesy of Adam Gnade

Remember when Foals were about to release their album, and NME made it look like it was going to be the album of the decade, and it would redefine the next twenty years at least, and possibly bring peace to Palestine? Well, the million-dollar production budget and the million-dollar propaganda machine were on the wrong album. Around that time, and with minimal fanfare, Youthmovies released Good Nature on Drowned In Sound Records, an album that actually was the secret Album Of 2008. Behold skilfully deployed teen pop-rock hooks in The Naughtiest Girl Is A monitor, the melancholic failure to caress or placate of Cannulae, the meandering thought-train of Surtsey, the protective cuddle of Archive It Everywhere, the lusciously twiddly-versus-parpy highs, lows and detours of If You’d Seen A Battlefield… Frankly, I really want them to do another one but they won’t.

Youthmovies6

Photograph courtesy of Gregory Nolan

Instead, we can follow a dozen solo-projects (closest to fruition is Jonquil) and hear Mears read his novel in an art gallery. And most importantly, keep relistening to the back catalogue for fractal levels of general truth and beauty, rendered with a depth we rarely hear in rockular bands. The bastards.

Categories ,Alternative rock music, ,Andrew Mears, ,art gallery, ,foals, ,iForward, ,King Crimson, ,Late of the Pier, ,mew, ,music band, ,Music review, ,musician, ,Mystery Jets, ,NME, ,Records, ,Richie Manic, ,Russia!, ,Satie, ,Tortoise, ,William Blake, ,youthmovies

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Amelia’s Magazine | Saint Saviour at Bush Hall: Live Review

saintsaviour genie espinosa
saintsaviour genie espinosa
Saint Saviour by Genie Espinosa.

Fresh from touring with Groove Armada, treat with whom she collaborated on the album Black Light, viagra order Saint Saviour played her debut solo show at Bush Hall, in deepest Shepherds Bush. It must have been a bit bewildering, a week since playing at Brixton Academy after a run of shows that earned her rave reviews and numerous admirers (including the Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant) to be appearing in a renovated dance hall on the Uxbridge Road, but the intimate setting was perfect to showcase her new material.


Photo courtesy of Saint Saviour.

Saint Saviour is no stranger to the pages of Amelia’s Magazine, having been reviewed a couple of times (including once by yours truly) with her old band, the ever-spangly RGBs (who were once described by the NME, no less, as delivering “almighty fem-pop… with an eccentric blitzkrieg wallop”). I’d seen them a few times around town, and I’d also caught her debut with Groove Armada at the climax of last year’s Lovebox festival. It’s actually one of those rare times, if you endlessly follow bands around gigs, where someone you’ve seen play often is plucked from little venues in Kilburn, Brixton or Shoreditch to tour the world.

Taking to the stage with what looked like a giant jellyfish umbrella (“make of that what you will” quipped Saint Saviour, aka Becky Jones), the set started off hypnotically – anyone expecting a set of pumping dance anthems was in for a bit of a shock. In fact, Saint Saviour’s set proved what a versatile performer she is, mixing up her styles and tempos – whether accompanying herself on keyboards on songs like the delicate Fallen Trees and Hurricanes, or upping a gear (backed with a full band and, for a couple of numbers, a string section) with tracks like Birdsong and the kick-ass current single, Woman Scorned: watch the video here:

YouTube Preview Image

The stage presence that I’d seen in places like the Windmill or the Old Blue Last, and witnessed by anyone who saw her on tour with Groove Armada, was there in spades tonight, whether entrancing a hushed crowd on the slower numbers with her voice (which has been compared to people like Kate Bush, and I think has a touch of Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins about it) or totally throwing herself into the up-tempo songs.

Saint Saviour by Karolina Burdon
Saint Saviour by Karolina Burdon.

To thunderous cheers from the crowd, Saint Saviour was tempted back out for an encore of the touching When You Smile, backed solely by harpist Jharda, before leaving once more to the rapturous applause of an appreciative audience. As a debut show, stepping out of the shadow of Groove Armada, it was great success for Saint Saviour and justifies the praise that she’d already received. It was also a bit of a strange moment for me, having seen her back in the day with her old band, and here she is (deservedly so) on the verge of playing bigger stages as a star in her own right.

Catch my post-gig interview with Saint Saviour here.

Categories ,Brixton Academy, ,Bush Hall, ,Cocteau Twins, ,Elizabeth Fraser, ,Genie Espinosa, ,Groove Armada, ,Jharda, ,Karolina Burdon, ,Kate Bush, ,Lovebox, ,Neil Tennant, ,NME, ,Old Blue Last, ,pet shop boys, ,RGBs, ,Saint Saviour, ,SaintSaviour, ,Windmill, ,Woman Scorned

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Amelia’s Magazine | They shall not grow Oldmovies…

Youthmovies3Photograph courtesy of Youthmovies

For those of you familiar with Youthmovies, I say this: Fiddlesticks! On the 29th of December, they declared their intention to split after a handful of farewell gigs. No planecrash. No overdose. Not even any musical differences. They just sound a bit busy, and too spread out across this green and pleasant land. They won’t be replacing anyone, they won’t be choosing a band member to do a Richie Manic so the rest of the band can go mega-famous, a “Best Of” seems unlikely, as does a 2 hour cinema release of rehearsal footage. It’s simply over.

YouthmoviesPhotograph courtesy of Youthmovies

For those of you not familiar with Youthmovies, I say this: Get familiar with Youthmovies. If asked to name five bands that have dominated my mp3 player in the last three years, I confess that two of them are Youthmovies’. That’s love. First up, though, a disclaimer. Youthmovies do have intellectually advanced lyrics. And they have a borderline-classical note sense. And any band found in possession of either is bound to get called pretentious by someone. But there is no way any of this is pretense. Pretense is a band that decides “ooh, let’s sing about, erm, black holes – they won’t expect that, it’ll make us sound well interesting”.

Youthmovies2Photograph courtesy of Youthmovies

Youthmovies’ Andrew Mears may be in the arty sophisticate camp for singing a two-pronged attack on bourgeois patriotism and William Blakes ludicrous hymn Jerusalem (205 years overdue), but he hasn’t just decided to sing about it to look cool. He means it. It’s something he really thinks and feels. Likewise, an affectionate farewell ditty to a polyp before its surgical removal is hardly as universal (or banal) as Sex on Fire, but why dumb down when you can sing your authentic complex self and guarantee you’re not falling into cliché. As for the clever music, pretension only happens when idiots shoehorn their songs into 13/8 and minor 9ths without knowing what they’re doing (see Yourcodenameis:Milo) or push orchestras around in Abbey Road without knowing what a French Horn is (the list is too long now). A Youthmovies track may have twelve distinct sections, and the third verse might be in a different rhythm, but when it finishes, you’ll have the feeling that it all belonged together. Nothing ever jars, which magically trumps even grand wizards like King Crimson. Whoosh.

Youthmovies4Youthmovies’ soundcheck, photograph courtesy of Adam Gnade
Anyway, it’s recipe-time (since that is the funnest way to review anything). We reverse-engineer the seriousness and beauty of Radiohead, the vigour and accomplishment of early Mystery Jets, the sensitivity of Satie, the fearlessness of Late Of The Pier, the purity of mid-period Tortoise, the occasionally-surfacing twisted-yet-hooky motifs of maybe Soundgarden (imagine I just mumbled that, breathily and nervously), the right hemisperes of iForward, Russia!, and the tendons of Mew and, inevitably, it’s all gone wrong. Let’s try something else…

Youthmovies5Youthmovies photograph courtesy of Adam Gnade

Remember when Foals were about to release their album, and NME made it look like it was going to be the album of the decade, and it would redefine the next twenty years at least, and possibly bring peace to Palestine? Well, the million-dollar production budget and the million-dollar propaganda machine were on the wrong album. Around that time, and with minimal fanfare, Youthmovies released Good Nature on Drowned In Sound Records, an album that actually was the secret Album Of 2008. Behold skilfully deployed teen pop-rock hooks in The Naughtiest Girl Is A monitor, the melancholic failure to caress or placate of Cannulae, the meandering thought-train of Surtsey, the protective cuddle of Archive It Everywhere, the lusciously twiddly-versus-parpy highs, lows and detours of If You’d Seen A Battlefield… Frankly, I really want them to do another one but they won’t.

Youthmovies6

Photograph courtesy of Gregory Nolan

Instead, we can follow a dozen solo-projects (closest to fruition is Jonquil) and hear Mears read his novel in an art gallery. And most importantly, keep relistening to the back catalogue for fractal levels of general truth and beauty, rendered with a depth we rarely hear in rockular bands. The bastards.



Categories ,Alternative rock music, ,Andrew Mears, ,art gallery, ,foals, ,iForward, ,King Crimson, ,Late of the Pier, ,mew, ,music band, ,Music review, ,musician, ,Mystery Jets, ,NME, ,Records, ,Richie Manic, ,Russia!, ,Satie, ,Tortoise, ,William Blake, ,youthmovies

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Amelia’s Magazine | New Young Pony Club – Live Review

The latest in a series of events from Bad Idea Magazine, illness ‘Future Human’ explores a new topic each month and hosts an evening of discussion and debate at The Book Club in Shoreditch.

This month’s topic ‘Fashion’s Microchic Shake-Up’ pondered on the impact of the internet on the global fashion market we see today. Prior to the invention of the internet, cheapest origins of fashion trends could be pinpointed to say, dosage a specific youth culture, a political movement, or a new music trend. Times have changed; the way we see fashion has changed. The serge of information made accessible to us via the internet has created a new breed of consumer, a fashionista in his or her own right. Hello Microchic. 

The term Microchic is used to describe fashion today – fashion derived from a variety of new, and inspirational sources. A style influenced by social networking sites, trend blogs and small cult labels adopted by highstreet clothing lines. A Microchic consumer knows about fashion and demands individuality, quality, innovation and fashion-forward appeal. 
Ben Beaumont-Thomas began the evening with ‘The Great Microchic Shake-Up: A Primer’, in which he defined microchic as a ‘hyper-personal multi-faceted look’. The internet allows us to cherry pick fashions, it’s no longer about subcultures showcasing specific looks but about a consumer being able to choose a look for that day without the commitment. London’s fashion-forward hubs like Shoreditch accommodate many a microchic fashionista and, it seems what used to be ironic now just ‘is’. In order to track cult fashion movements on the streets of London, Paris, Milan, New York and Tokyo big brands subscribe to online global think tanks and trend forecasting services such as WGSN. These think tanks track fashion movements all over the world. Data is collected to give information on a global scale. Sales figures, market research, on-the-street trend spotters, and research into new manufacturing techniques all form a hub of information essential to any brand that wants to survive. It seems clear; the Internet has played a huge part in turning the way we think about fashion around.

So began the evenings debate; “Can the British High Street compete with Microchic?” The audience were able to upload thoughts in real-time via a live twitter feed which was displayed on stage for debate interaction. Guests Iris Ben David, CEO of Styleshake, Helen Brown, founder of Catwalk Genius and Ruth Marshall-Johnson, senior editor of WGSN Think Tank also shared their thoughts, prompting further debate. A particularly interesting point made by @cushefootwear via twitter was “Internet is to clothes what microwaves are to food”, prompting us to question the importance of ‘experience’ and ‘sensation’ when buying fashion. 
Alterations in consumer shopping patterns have led to many interesting technological developments. Innovative systems are being designed to meet new sets of consumer demands. 


www.styleshake.com

Styleshake allows a user to build a look within an online interface. The idea is, the user can create the garment they have in their head (you know, that absolutely perfect dress you wonder if you’ll ever find) through the selection of various characteristics, such as fabrics, necklines, and detailing. After you’ve designed the garment you can have it made at very reasonable prices.

Catwalk Genius is an innovative creative platform in which unestablished and up-and-coming fashion designers can sell their ranges. It’s a great resource for those looking for something ‘not on the High Street’. Users can also invest in emerging talent by buying shares in a designer’s next collection.

Perhaps a more extreme example of innovation is Augmented-Reality Shopping in which tools such as 3D scanners are used to replicate the body shape and look of a user, allowing him or her to see what they would look like in any chosen garment. 
Emerging trends are all about the involvement of the consumer. The consumer is part of the process. Innovative systems like these are designed to combat consumer frustrations such as differentiation in sizing between brands or inability to find a specific item or size, while offering an alternative consumer experience. Many consumers would be happy to do away with the days of long queues, sweaty changing rooms, rude salespeople and traipsing round shops all afternoon. By adopting an online shopping sphere, however, we lose out on the interactivity, the social nature and the tactility of shopping the High Street. Retail brands will need to facilitate technical developments such as 3D scanners (eliminating the need for changing rooms) to compete. 


H&M Garden Collection

The competitive nature of the High Street has resulted in a cycle of mass production of fast-fashion garments and large amounts of waste. In contributing to our throw-away society the highstreet fails to represent the ethical edge that can be found in Microchic. However the High Street favourites H&M’s Garden Collection made up of organic cotton and recycled polyester represents a change in attitudes from big brands.

So what does the future hold for the British High Street? Join the Debate!

We Have Band could be the most interesting group I have ever interviewed for the sole reason that every question results in the three members talking over each other, rx telling jokes and generally launching into their own internal debate. This is hardly surprising when you consider that two of the members of the band are married to each other and the third member has unwittingly become part of that relationship. Regardless, the London-based three piece are always hilarious and charming in equal measure.

The group has already been tipped by numerous music critics as the band to watch in 2010 and have their songs have been remixed by Bloc Party, Carl Craig and DJ Mujava. It seems inevitable that We Have Band’s debut album, WHB, will thrust them into the limelight with the same feverish hysteria that surrounded Hot Chip’s The Warning, as their dance floor friendly electro pop is already getting some heavy rotation by some of the world’s biggest DJs.

Amelia’s sat down with Darren, Thomas and Dede to find out more about their debut album and the unlikely way the band came together.

Howdy, guys. How was the band formed?
Dede: Thomas was making music and he wasn’t feeling very inspired so I offered to make music with him. I came up with a concept name for the band and mentioned it to Darren. He liked the name and asked if he could join. He came round for dinner and then we formed the band.
Darren: Thomas and Dede are married so I am like the third member of the marriage. It’s quite weird because we don’t really know each other but we just experimented. On the first night we wrote WHB and that’s why we called the album WHB.

How long have you been together?
Dede: Just over two years. That first dinner was in late 2007 and then we spent about 6 or 7 months writing songs. Then everything just went crazy.

Why did you choose to work with producer Gareth Jones (Grizzly Bear, Interpol) on this album?
Thomas: He actually just did additional production and mixing. We had done most of the production ourselves so we just needed someone to help us take it to that next level. We didn’t want to stray too far from what we had originally done but we wanted to give it that shine. He understood that. We wanted someone who would tailor themselves to the band rather than try to change things. We basically tried to capture the energy of the live shows.

You seem very polite and welcoming on stage. How true is this in real life?
Darren: It’s all a huge lie!
Thomas: Dede gets excited.
Dede: If everyone is enjoying themselves then you start enjoying yourself and you start getting excited by the atmosphere. We are quite relaxed.
Thomas: We all have our quirks but we are quite happy in each other’s company. As Darren mentioned, Dede and I are married so there is always something bigger than the band.
Dede: We all just go and have a cup of tea and a bag of crisps after a show.

-Painting by John Lee Bird-

What are you noticing about each other as you tour together and immerse yourselves in each other’s company?
Thomas: Darren has a laptop addiction.
Dede: He is also addicted to eggs

That can’t be very pleasant on a tour bus!
Darren: No, it isn’t! I tend to avoid Thomas and Dede until they have had a coffee in the morning.
Thomas: We can all be a bit short with each other but that’s fine. For the first hour of each day we just don’t speak and then after that we are fine!

You have been referred to as “part Hot Chip, part Talking Heads”. What do you think about this?
Thomas: Dede is banned from reading reviews but we’re fine with that.
Dede: That’s fine. It’s just not what we are.
Thomas: Yeah, it’s not what we are. Talking Heads were obviously an amazing band and we have only released a couple of singles so far but we will let them just say that and take it.

Piano is a very misleading first song on the album as it is nothing like the rest of the record. Did you have a theme or is the album just a bunch of songs that you were happy with?
Thomas: We were aware that they were quite stylistically diverse but they are all us. They are all produced in the same way with the same equipment. Plus, lots of bands have one, maybe two songwriters but all three of us contribute equally to the songs. We didn’t want to hide Piano at the end of the album just because it was a little different.

2010 salutes the return of the 60s, discount but forget the bubblegum pop of The Shangri-Las & co – I’m talking about the deeper and more sophisticated psychedelic sounds of Cream and The 13th Floor Elevators. If the noughties have been characterised by a great come back of punk, sildenafil post-punk and no wave sounds, then my personal forecasts for the new decade see a return to more psychedelic and drone-y atmospheres. The ‘nu-psychedelia’ I saw at SXSW, however, is intertwined with lots of different influences, from the rawness of garage rock and surf music, to the fuzziness of shoegaze-y guitars and 80’s synths, and the complexity of noise.

Turn on, tune in, drop out! Hopefully this will be a new Summer of Love.

Bet on these as real gold for 2010 and beyond:

These Are Powers – finally over the “ghost punk” definition they’ve dubbed themselves with, their hypercharged electro tunes, brightened up with sirens, samples and the best bassline I’ve heard in a while. They will make us dance all the summer.

Small Black – the East Coast is living the cosmic age. Small Black and fellow musicians Washed Out, Neon Indian, Memory Cassette among others take electropop to another dimension with fuzzy dreamy synth-y melodies and textured vocals. This band, in particular, is just great. And it’s making its way to the heart of the hipsters all over the world.

Pearl Harbor – the West Coast, on the contrary, is living the Summer of Love. And Pearl Harbor, together with extraordinaire Best Coast, are major exponents of the trend. Peace and love.

Male Bonding – despite coming from Dalston, Male Bonding don’t even sound British. They explosive mix of noise, shoegaze and rock and roll sounds closer to the Los Angeles bands gathered around The Smell than the anorexic depressed goths that meet at Catch. There’s some hope for British music. God save Male Bonding.

Best Coast – Bethany Cosentino & co are one of the most blogged about bands of the past few months and their broken-hearted twee gaze-y tunes will be pop anthems of the new decade. Someone compared them to the Ramones’ 45s played at 33 revolutions per minute. Listen to them and you’ll see why.

A Sunny Day In Glasgow – this 6-piece band from Philly has been one of the most underrated bands of the past few years. Hopefully this SXSW will help them to rise to the well-deserved heights of glory. Their haunting, dreamy, almost pastoral music reminds of Beach House and Grizzly Bear in a way, but they’re as unique as the former are.

Harlem – brilliant post-surf (if you can call it that way) with a Bowie-esque touch.

Tanlines – here’s another example of the new Brooklyn sound. Tanlines mix urban rhythms with tropical beats and space-y vocals. The mix of these elements seems weird but it’s actually a winner.

Once again, it seems like the American music scene is beating the UK for new, interesting production. People seem to want to dance, to dream, to trip into outer spaces – and US musicians, with their home productions and collective efforts, seem to give the best answer to these new needs. The thought process seems to be: The times have never been so shit. So what? Let’s drop acid and dance in the woods!

It’s a shame UK and European bands can’t keep up with the change, considering the great music tradition we’ve got here. The industry is stuck, 90% of British musicians are either on the dole or working 7 shifts a week in shitty pubs in order not to starve (or doing too much mephedrone so they don’t feel the hunger) and what suffers is the music.

Hopefully this wave of positivism will reach the Old World soon and we’ll see brilliant more UK bands at SXSW next year.
Photographs by Dan Smyth

The first night of the New Young Pony Club tour kicked off in Portsmouth last week, case in front of a half empty crowd at the Wedgewood Rooms. Support came from Is Tropical, approved a band who a few people have gushed about how great they are, visit web including Rhys Jones from Good Shoes who asked them to join their tour. There’s a fair amount of hype around Is Tropical, and I was keen to see them for myself.

They sound alarmingly similar Casiokids, but then any band with a heavy use of keyboards is bound to attract those comparisons. Is Tropical are an interesting band. Playing with scarves pulled over their mouths, they made me wonder if they were focusing on style over substance a little too much. Judging by the amount they were sweating, they weren’t wearing them for comfort.

After a couple of songs into their set my scepticism was swept to one side and I was won over. They are, hands down, the best support band I’ve seen since November. I only wish there were more people there to witness it.

The venue was still pretty empty by the time NYPC came on. Singer Tahita greeted the crowd with a pretty prickly disposition, which got things off to an awkward start.

As NYPC rattled through a host of new songs, Tahita asked who had bought the album. No one responded, and she threw a couple more snarls at the crowd. In defence of the audience, the price of the tickets was well above what you’d expect to pay for a CD. Perhaps she should have been warmer towards the few people who actually spent good money to come and watch them, considering the size of the crowd.

Putting aside her tenacity, NYPC played a good set. Their new stuff sounds just as you’d expect. You can hear the band have outgrown their nu-rave roots, not that they had any choice considering the fact that the scene died on its arse a few years ago.

It’s always refreshing to see female musicians who can hold their own on stage, though the girls on drums and keyboar certainly do too. Tahita is an incredible performer, but her insistence on looking deeply into the eyes of crowd left me a little unsettled. It was appreciated by my male friend no end though.

Despite Tahita’s hostile attitude towards the crowd, it was an enjoyable gig. “Your prayers have been answered,” she said, “we haven’t got more shit” – and she was right. There’s a lot more to the band these days, and whilst the new songs lack a hit like ‘Ice Cream’, that’s probably their saving grace. Maybe soon they’ll be known for their other songs, too.

Categories ,Hype, ,Ice Cream, ,Is Tropical, ,live, ,new wave, ,New Young Pony Club, ,NME, ,Nu-rave, ,NYPC, ,Post Punk, ,Rude, ,Sophomore, ,Tetchy, ,Wedgewood Rooms

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