The Quietus – AmeliasMagazine

Amelia’s Magazine | TOY at the Lexington: Live Review

Toy by Christina Pavlou

Taking refuge from unusually arctic conditions outside, the main bar of the estimable establishment that is the Lexington was already beginning to swell as people patiently waited for the signal to head to the venue. There was a distinct mix in the clientele (not least age), reflecting the vintages of both of the bands who were due to play tonight.

Toy by Thom Lambert

TOY by Thom Lambert

Part of the five day DRLL:LONDON festival curated by influential art punk band Wire and music website The Quietus, tonight saw rising new band TOY supported by ‘secret special guests‘ (though it didn’t take much working out who those special guests would be).

Toy by Sylwia Szyszka

TOY by Sylwia Szyszka

Playing the understudy tonight, Wire hit the stage with bass player Graham Lewis mischievously announcing that ‘We are Horsemeat Searchlight.’ They then powered through a short, loud set, mainly composed of their choicer nuggets, before hot-footing it across town for another DRILL:LONDON show at Cafe OTO, where they were due to be play alongside another new band, Teeth Of The Sea.

Toy by Katie Eberts

TOY by Katie Eberts

Formed from the ashes of one-time indie hopefuls Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong, TOY have been making waves over the last couple of years, earning praise from the likes of Rhys Webb of The Horrors along the way with their psychedelic, krautrock referencing sound. Their self titled debut album was a keenly anticipated release last year, and they’ve been playing to steadily larger audiences – indeed, tonight’s show had almost sold out even before it became apparent that Wire were also playing.

TOY snuck on stage about ten minutes earlier than billed, so I’d luckily timed my bar run right, and immediately launched into an epic Dead & Gone, with its hypnotic rhythm building into a wall of noise mid-way through. The set was largely a run through of tracks from the album, with vocalist Tom Dougall (who, incidentally, is the brother of former Pipette Rose Elinor Dougall) doing a quick introduction to each song. A pacy Colours Running Out led into a new number, Fall Out Of Love.

Toy by Sylwia Szyszka

TOY by Sylwia Szyszka

As a band, TOY visually seem to reflect their music, looking almost as though they’ve just stepped out of a rehearsal studio in Düsseldorf in 1974. Dougall is, as ever, clad in black, delivering clipped vocals between bursts of guitar, whilst there is some serious head bobbing from rhythm guitarist Dominic O’Dair and especially bassist Maxim Barron. Drummer Charlie Salvidge chips in with backing vocals, whilst a near motionless Alejandra Diez conjures some synthesizer washes.

After early singles Left Myself Behind and Motoring, TOY finished with a distinctly cosmic Kopter, before leaving the stage to cheers from the heaving crowd. With a short break before festival season begins, with appearances including Field Day, Glastonbury and the Hop Farm Music Festival lined up, it looks like TOY are going to be taking their far-out sound far and wide.

Written by Richard Pearmain on Wednesday April 3rd, 2013 12:00 pm

Categories ,cafe oto, ,Christina Pavlou, ,DRLL:LONDON, ,Field Day, ,glastonbury, ,Hop Farm Music Festival, ,Horsemeat Searchlight, ,Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong, ,Katie Eberts, ,krautrock, ,Lexington, ,Pipettes, ,Rose Elinor Dougall, ,Sylwia Szyszka, ,Teeth of the Sea, ,the horrors, ,The Quietus, ,Thom Lambert, ,toy, ,wire

Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with Still Corners

Still Corners by Nicholas Stevenson.

I discovered Still Corners when they supported Our Broken Garden late last year. The band are as elusive as they are beautiful, viagra 40mg but I managed to track down songwriter and keyboardist Greg Hughes to answer a few finely tuned questions. Delve into the enigmatic Still Corners world…

Who are you?
We’re ghosts, web but if you close your eyes and listen carefully to the music you’ll find out who we are.

Still Corners by Sandra Contreras.

You’ve managed to create an impressive amount of hype already… have you intentionally pursued press or has this just come about of it’s own accord? ?
We mostly keep our heads down working as hard as possible. However the press has been fantastic and we all feel very lucky and happy that people are enjoying the music and shows. It’s a wonderful feeling.

?Would you like to stay independent or you would you like to sign to a major label?
We’ve always been a DIY band and we don’t use producers – I record it all and we do all our own artwork. These are things that major labels usually like to have a say about and that probably wouldn’t work very well with our ethos.

Still Corners by Karina Yarv.

You have said “Everything is handmade” – what does this mean in practice?
That means that all our output is created by our little circle of friends. I have a little studio where I do the recordings, link then we rope in friends and like minded artists to take photos and help with the artwork. It’s just that we have a very definite idea of everything, a vibe of how things should be. So it’s just easier to do it ourselves, to take what’s in our heads and make it a reality.

Still Corners by Alison Day.

Your stage shows are characterised by a wash of deep colours that hides your faces… how did you decide upon this feel, and how important is the look and ambience of your performance? ?
We’re not actually trying to hide or anything, we just don’t think that what we’re doing on stage is all that critical to observe. We like to use projections because we think they are beautiful to watch and they bring more out of the music. Projections are best seen in the dark so we usually turn the lights down to create an atmosphere, maybe something you don’t always get in your typical smaller venue.

What is it that so appeals to you in the creation of such a woozy atmosphere?
?Whether recording or playing live we want to go off into another world, something we see in our heads and feel in our hearts. We want to make our audience feel something.

Wish is just beautiful. How was the video made??
Thank you. Lucy Dyson made that video for us – she came up with the idea and filmed it all on 16 mm film which lends a sort of dreamy washed out feeling to the visual quality of it. We shot it all over 2 days on a nice summer stretch of green in London.

What inspires the lyrics to your songs??
The English countryside, a sunset, a romance, films of yesteryear, a photograph, a painting, a story, lying in the grass watching the stars, the little moments of life.

Still Corners by Nicholas Stevenson.

What has been your gigging highlight of the year and why?
?We recently played in a castle in Berlin and in the most incredible opera house in Toulon in France. The people, places, and response was amazing – both definitely stand out moments for us.

Are there any other up and coming bands that you recommend that we check out?
A band we think are just magical are Twin Sister, and they are lovely people as well.

?What are your plans for 2011? Can we expect to see you at any festivals?
We hope to have a single out with Sub Pop early this year and we’re working on a full record for release mid-next year so fingers crossed we’ll find a nice home for it!

You can read a more in depth interview over on The Quietus.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Wednesday January 12th, 2011 10:28 am

Categories ,Alison Day, ,berlin, ,france, ,Karina Yarv, ,Lucy Dyson, ,Nicholas Stevenson, ,Sandra Contreras, ,Still Corners, ,Sub Pop, ,The Quietus, ,Toulon Opera, ,Twin Sister, ,Wish

Amelia’s Magazine | East India Youth at the Sebright Arms: Live Review

East India Youth by Sam Parr

East India Youth by Sam Parr

2014 had proved an eventful year for East India Youth, otherwise known as William Doyle. His debut album, Total Strife Forever, received glowing reviews and popped up in assorted mid and end of year lists (the Guardian and Quietus included). There was also the Mercury Prize nomination, where he found himself on an unusually strong shortlist, along with assorted support slots and festival appearances.

The bijou basement venue at the Sebright Arms, a rejuvenated old East End boozer tucked away just off Hackney Road, was a bit of a contrast to the last venue I’d seen East India Youth at, namely the rather cavernous environs of Heaven. Perhaps unsurprisingly, tonight’s show sold out well in advance, and the room was already buzzing by the time Doyle came on stage.

As the ebbing electronic washes of Total Strife Forever I got us under way, and with barely a pause for breath, the rather dapperly dressed East India Youth gave us a mix of old favourites and a few tasters from the upcoming Culture Of Volume album. Bobbing away behind his keyboard in the glare of the stage lights, whilst occasionally bashing away at a drum pad, fiddling with the settings on his laptop and even strapping on a bass guitar, he ploughed through the likes of the dance floor filling behemoth Hinterland, and took to the mic to for the plaintive vocals of Dripping Down. New track Turn Away got an airing, a resolute synth pop classic in the making, whilst another new one, Carousel, closed the set. Doyle came away from his gizmos to a solo mic stand for this one, and the song’s eerie, almost ethereal synth intro reminded me of a stripped back version of OMD’s Souvenir.

For the inevitable encore, Doyle came back on to cheers for a rendition of early single Heaven, How Long – it’s slow build up towards a pumping electro finale providing a fitting climax to the set.

East India Youth now heads out on tour and, following the release of Culture Of Volume in April, will return to London in June to play Village Underground. On the strength of the tracks previewed tonight, it looks like East India Youth has most certainly come of age.

Written by Richard Pearmain on Monday March 9th, 2015 1:04 pm

Categories ,East India Youth, ,heaven, ,Mercury Prize, ,OMD, ,Sam Parr, ,Sebright Arms, ,The Guardian, ,The Quietus, ,Village Underground, ,William Doyle

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