James Vincent McMorrow @ the ICA, 02/03/2011

I had to pull some strings, hell any strings I could find to get into this one, by the time I had clicked that I wanted to see this dreamboat voice it was sold out. The album's only just out though had been out for a year in Ireland. I had first heard "If I Had A Boat" on the MAP compilation and was hooked.

Strings pulled, tickets acquired, I hadn't been to the ICA in an age, it was nice to be back too. My friend and I checked out the support act, Rob Bravery but weren't taken by his twee ways and alighted to the bar for a couple of pints and a catch-up.

Back in the main room, I was pleased to see a full band set up, in a recent radio interview he had said he'd be playing alone. He wanders on stage and looks out above the crowd and is straight into it. He soon segues into "From The Woods" a lovely stirring rising song with a big ending which keeps going and is slightly different from the album version.

He thanks the crowd for coming along, he is humbled selling out a good sized venue, "Its cos you're incredible someone" someone shouts back. Im not all big on sycophancy, maybe its the Englishness, i'm not sure, he is great, his velvet voice projects beautifully across the room and the lo-fi backing of his band add a perfect sonic scene to accompany it.

Amongst the "Irish Bon Iver" tags James Vincent McMorrow is a young man with great songs who is surely set to garner further plaudits and his album shows why. He continues with "This Old Dark Machine" and "If I Had A Boat". Amongst the set he finds time to cover Sun Kill Moon's "Like The River" part of his solo interlude is interrupted by the clang of a can kicked over backstage by one of the band members. It provides a giggle,.

The gig isn't all serious, the audience are quite coupley and lovey, I'm in no mood for schmaltz but the songs are smooth and joyous and there's nothing wrong with that.

Les Savy Fav @ Heaven, 22/02/2011

Some bands just do it live and Les Savy Fav are a case in point. My friend Dave is a huge fan and he had mentioned them so I went to see them in October last year at the Electric Ballroom. That night frontman Tim Harrington spent half his time in the audience, singing, kissing, sweating and just generally making his way through the audience. I didn’t necessarily need to see them again but I am glad I did.

I bought my ticket partly to see one of the support acts, Pulled Apart By Horses. The Leeds metallers have been making a noise in more ways that one. A fast lively noise band in their own right, their grunge metal sound though nothing new is pretty fresh coming out of the folk dominating the alternative scene. Live they pull no punches, frontman Tom Hudson gurns and sneers. He poses at the front of the stage, one foot on the monitor. Guitarist James Brown has two moves, one is to pluck the strings above his chord hand to produce a ringing sound, the other can’t be good for his joints; numerous times he jumps and lands on his knees. I can only imagine his knees have gotten used to the beating but a band known for incurring personal injury during their sets a banged knee means little.
We had missed Young Legionnaire, I hear they were pretty good but PABH put up a show, particularly when Hudson downs his beer and decides to go walk about in the crowd. He drinks someone’s beer and ends up on someone’s shoulders being spun around in circles. He finishes the song back on stage, wanders to the side and proceeds to vomit profusely. Not to be deterred he wipes his mouth on a towel a grabs his guitar to finish the set. Live Pulled Apart By Horses are a whirlwind of energy and grit and, like the headliners, well worth a look.

Les Savy Fav are known as a live band, listen to the albums and enjoy rocky punky songs with quite a wide variety of sounds. See them live and the band is something else, guitarists Seth Jabour and Andrew Reuland, bassist Syd Butler and drummer Harrison Haynes play the songs, they are all great musicians who just get on with the job at hand but it’s frontman Tim Harrington who steals the attention. He comes on stage with a hat and a gilet over a sweater and a number of other layers. The clothes soon come off and this bearded goliath of a man sings topless. He unfurls rolls of wrapping paper, wanders through the packed audience. Kicks a couple of guys off a table and takes their place before getting members of the audience to push him across the room on the table, singing as he goes. He climbs the balcony then gets others to hold his legs so he can hang off it before being helped down. He kisses people, hugs them sings with others. Your eyes are split between the stage where four musicians are left to it playing the songs which all sound great, and a singer with a guise as a performing artist who makes the show a show, a spectacle, something worth seeing that you’ll tell your friends about and come back to see again.

Later on a roadie appears with boxes of glow sticks, after pouring one over one of the guitarists, the other boxes are thrown into the crowd, under the UV lights of this gay club the air is soon awash with flying colours, people pick them up and throw them back before, in unison the audience then turns its attention on the stage and a hail of neon colours soon rain down on the band, some of whom take cover behind their instruments. The sheer joy of the glow sticks leaves me smiling for ages, I feel like a kid again picking them up and lobbing them around. By this point Tim has changed and is wearing furry white trousers to which he hooks glow sticks, he also tries to bite the top off one, presumable to spray or pour its content around but he can’t get it off.

Patty Lee, The Sweat Descends, Appetites and I Want You all get played but for a LSF gig its not about the songs, its about performance.
Go see them, it’ll make you happy.

Xposure Live @ The Barfly, 21/02/2011

John Kennedy has staked his claim for a number of years now as the man for new music shows on the radio. His X-posure Live gigs have helped bring his show to a wider audience and show case some very special bands. Tonight three such acts take the stage at Camden’s Barfly with music Paris Suit Yourself, Cloud Nothings and Crocodiles.

Paris Suit Yourself are the first up, they play some wigged out proto punk rock sounds. The drummer grabs my attention, he is evil. He gurns, sneers and glares beneath the spot light the tattoo on his neck and those on his shoulders along with his hair in a sort of top knot giving him the look of a deranged warrior sitting topless on his drum stool. He smacks and slams the skins and cymbals and the throb of his kick drums helps displace the pin holding his hair in place. He can only be the descendent of an execution drummer who took his place on the gallows to beat out the death of the accused.
The guitarist is a picture himself, dressed like a hunter who’s walked off the steppe onto the stage, his leather jacket and fur hat don’t look in tune with his Gibson. He eventually removes his furs and looks like a young Jimmy Page with his short curls and flair.
The bassist, a girl, reminds me of Maggie Simpson, playing with the insouciance and guilt that gets the yellow girl thrown out of her music class. The singer is also a picture, a black guy with dreads, he has a slight look of Jean-Michel Basquiat. He takes to the stage in what looks like a suit before peeling of the layers to reveal a vest and adidas track suit trousers. He yells, screams, sings and vogues around the stage. It doesn’t always work but there’s something of interest about PSY. They are a French band from Bordeaux though now reside in Berlin. I want to listen some more, I think I like them in small doses and for what they are trying to do. Look them up.

Cloud Nothings are next, a young band from Baltimore. I say band, its mainly about frontman Dylan Baldi, his back up band are nothing to be sneered at though. Cloud Nothings are good but they are essentially a pop-punk band who remind me of days listening to New Found Glory singing and thinking of girlfriends I’d never even had and how I wondered how they go through so many. He is sweet if a little twee telling us of how his girlfriend has opened a jar of apple sauce all by herself for the first time. She’s 19 I think. Well done her.

If Paris Suit Yourself and Cloud Nothings were a clash of styles, then Crocodiles, I suppose, are somewhere in between. On an album they are slow and gloomy, rocking away like a turgid cold. I like them, their cover of Groove Is In The Heart is a case in point, fuzzy guitars and a cymbal led beat intertwine with an organ. It’s no Deee-lite but a delight in itself. They play a headline set, by which I mean they drag the audience from wherever they were and take us with them, I don’t know them well enough to pretend they played all the hits, the songs have a lot more energy about them and you get more of a feel then on the album when you might just be sat somewhere listening to an ipod. Live there is a buzz and beat and a feel. They play their songs a go in for little chit chat apart from a few thank yous, then, its over, they walk off. Having started a little late and being due to make tracks to their next date there is no encore.

GROUPLOVE @ The Old Queen's Head, 17/02/2011

Yeah yeah another GROUPLOVE gig! I got a little bit obsessed despite being all focused on one song on their 5 track EP, my first shift working on Xfm's X-posure they were in session, it got me hella excited as I got to meet and hang out with them a bit. They were nice guys and I ended up wrangling myself a spot on the guestlist for their Old Queen’s Head gig.

This one sold out too, but unlike the Hoxton Hall gig a younger crowd came to see them which made for a lot more energy in the room. They came on to a stage barely big enough to contain the five of them to a heaving sweaty room. The set was exactly the same as the Hoxton Hall gig but they energy in the room and the appreciationg made it all the better.

Singer Christian Zucconi has glare in his eye which bears witness to a band on the last night of a short but full on European tour readying themselves for further dates in the states including SxSW. He jumps and stamps his way through the songs singing with the passion of a young upstart keen to make himself heard over everyone else. Drummer Ryan Rabin, possibly the coolest member of the band drums in long johns, today they happen to be Zucconi’s, not something he’s best pleased about but not something he can do much about. The band have a 10 or so song set which proves hopeful for the eventual album, “Lovely Cup” is a nice addition to tracks from the EP. “Don’t Say Oh Well”, “Gold Coast” and “Colours” are all belted out and for the crowd, many of whom are seeing the band for the first time give it all back.

I wish the Hoxton Hall gig had had this much energy to it, the setting and space would have made it all the better than the geriatric bopping which took place. I look forward to seeing them again in some field somewhere this summer when their music should really be able to light a spark and kick up something bigger.

The Naked and Famous @ Heaven, 15/02/2011

I was a little surprised this gig sold out, just two singles so far and the album yet to be released in the UK, but Kiwi synth, rock, pop, gaze gang The Naked and Famous sold out this NME gig. Support came from Spark and Wolf Gang in the salubrious surrounds of Heaven.

My gig buddy for the night was out of gig practice and this was a nice easy one. We got there early enough to see the second half of Spark’s set, it was enough. She does Madonna-esque synth stuff strutting around the stage. She was ok, but seemed to spend a lot of the time air humping, we mimicked her humping and giggled like children, it was comical after a while, sing, sing lyric, blah blah, hump, hump, sing sing, hump hump, la dad a did a hump hump.
She eventually made way for Wolf Gang. I was looking forward to seeing them, single “Lions In Cages” has caught me more than once on its hook but nothing prepared me for their look. Singer Max McElligott the creative force of the band had an air of 80s George Michael about him, with the earring to match. His band are styled, the guitarist has a long flop of hair, the attire and fringes are somewhere between the late 80s and 90s, not necessarily what you expect when hearing their music beforehand but strangely makes some element of sense in hindsight. They are good but I think I need to hear more and think about it. 

Eventually it’s time for the main event, many are left a little disappointed as the band decide to play singles “Young Blood” and “Punching In A Dream” early on in their set, leaving little for those not familiar with the album to look forward to. They are a tight act with a great live sound. Should be easy when you’ve got a couple of producers in the band. Heaven. For its concrete cavern-ness has a good sound anyway and Naked and Famous fill it with lights, smoke and the dreamy songs of Thom Powers and Alisa Xayalith.

"Girls Like You" comes late on, album closer and one of my personal favourites but the packed crowd are left almost disillusioned by the mixed set made up album tracks most have yet to hear, a lot of the songs aren’t heavy enough or big enough to really kick the crowd into gear. Considering their early popularity come the summer when their audience have caught up with the songs they should be playing barn storming gigs.

James Blake @ The Borderline, 04/02/2011

Hype giveth and hype taketh away, so fart it has been all giving for James Blake, from the top end of the BBC Sound of 2011 even before the release of his self titled debut his few singles and EPs have created a buzz and tonight is the night many have come to see if it is worth it.

As part of HMV’s Next Big Thing bunch of gigs, James Blake headlines a bill introduced by Xfm’s John Kennedy also featuring  Cloud Boats and Catherine Okada. Cloud Boats play synths and samplers, sitting on chairs, closing their eyes to hit high notes to sing, its quite nice and fits in with Blake’s own minimalist sound. Catherine Okada is nice, folky with a back up band including a violinist. I don’t know why I’ve singled him out, except I remember thinking it must be hard to really lose it and rock out playing a violin, not that it cant be rock n roll…. You know what I mean.

Oooh the main event, James Blake, who spent a large part of the night standing at the back of the room, most people too dumb or too cool to approach him eventually takes his place on stage. He has back up in the form of a drummer and fellow keyboardist and plays a short set of just 6 songs. They are long, in some cases, dreamy numbers, closer "Wilhelm Scream" in particular is a real escapist number but its the crowd who grab my attention. Watching a shy retiring type at a keyboard isn’t all that enthralling, even if they are singing beautifully, but the audience border on obsessive. One girl wants his children and offers herself in marriage, he politely declines, other just scream their approval and love. There are people all down the stairs trying to catch a view. Then a dispute kicks off in front, a few men talking during and between songs spark the ire of those around them who ask them to be quiet. They fail to keep schtum gathering further beef, one lady tells them off vociferously, another man behind them waves security over to tell them off. James continues as if nothing was happening I just smile and thank whoever that im not closer to them. James discusses his drummer, and keeps the songs going.

"Limit to Your Love" and "I Never Learnt To Share" both make the short set, which ends with the Wilhelm Scream. He rises and leaves, no encore that’s it. The night ends on a bum note when it is discovered my friend’s scarf has been stolen from her grasp. With that we leave.
It was nice, he’s good but I am not sure how he will translate to a longer set and a larger audience, the xx may have dealt with similar issues and I am sure he will too.