I arrived at the venue around about 8:30 with a couple of bros. Electronic three piece Nedry took to the stage, armed with two laptops/guitars, a couple of synthesizers and an asian woman. Nedry combined elements of trip hop bands such as Portishead and Massive Attack fused with modern day dubstep/drum and bass. Lead singer Ayu thrashed and stumbled around the stage whilst laying down some haunting vocals, like a kid who has drunk too much fizzy pop.
Too late to be an album review, so it’s now a gig review. A couple of weeks ago I went to Brighton to see Lovvers and Male Bonding. The gig took place at the hip hangout The Cowley Club. Seemed like the Brighton version of The Smell or something. I got the impression it’s like a secret club when there’s not a gig there, and they have a book section and they have food available on thursday evenings. Only thursday evenings. The venue had loads of naked barbies hanging from the ceiling too, and I’m pretty sure I was stood next to the Blood Red Shoes drummer.
I’m feeling rather inspired tonight so I thought I’d write a post on one of my favourite bands of all time you’ve probably never heard of. I’m not trying to come off as a “massive hipster” when I say that, and you probably know frontman Aaron Scott’s latter bands and projects if you’re in to decent punk rock anyway, but what you may not know is the existence of De La Hoya: a straight-up punk band from Brooklyn, NY who burst on to the scene in 1997 all the way through to 2002. To quote the bio on their MySpace; “Oscar Rodriguez asked singer Aaron Scott to start a band just 10 minutes after meeting, neither of them had any idea they were initiating what would become of the most respected bands in the Northeastern DIY hardcore/punk scene. They joined up with bassist Carly Guarino (owner of Crap Records) and drummer Jaime Villamarin (ex-I Farm) to form De La Hoya in the heart of New York City.”
And they’re incredibly rad. Seriously.
Maths are a band I have adored for years now, I have followed them as they slowly progressed into the band they are now. Last year they released a much acclaimed split EP with Throats which brought them to the public’s attention, they even gained a feature in NME putting them firmly in the “bands to watch out for” section for anyone who likes decent music. However after the release of the EP, a tour and a bunch of spread out dates over the country the band seemed to disappear into the woodwork, apparently determined to finish university/ other boring life stuff. After a few months of inactivity the band announced they were writing for their first full-length, something which had me jumping over the moon. The band opted to go the full DIY route and record it all themselves which only attracts me more to the record.
On 15th August, Rapture Promotions put on an awesome gig in Reading for the 3rd year in a row. This is the review. Dig it.
Hi, I’m David West; I’m 19 years old, I’m a student and I’ve spent the last year of my life pissing away my Gran’s inheritance on alcohol and pizza. Above are The xx, they’re 19 years old and have spent the last year making one of the most important debut albums of the last couple of years. Considering they’re not a lo-fi punk band with not a single chequered shirt to be seen, I’m a bit surprised I like them.
On Monday 10th August 2009 at about 7.09pm, after Ed had just finished trying to jam on a guitar that was hurting his fingers, I said to Ed "hey Ed, let’s go to Pulled Apart By Horses now because it’s nearly 7.10’ and we said bye to Buddy the cat who has some pretty nasty mental issues, due to my Arnold Schwangnigger impressions. Sorry Buddy.
So in case you didn’t know, Arctic Monkeys’ third album leaked earlier this week and although I haven’t downloaded it I know from the 30 seconds I’ve heard of ‘Crying Lighting’ that I’d probably gain greater pleasure sticking a cheese grater up my arse and bopping down a hill on a space hopper than hearing the rest of the album. Don’t get me wrong, I used to be as keen as any other young 16 year old boy to jump to the defence of Alex Turner and his pals, but they’ve let me down. "But they’ve gone in a darker direction" wail the fanboys with their cocks firmly still up Turner’s arse. Since when has the definition of ‘darker’ been slowing your songs down to a mind-numbingly boring tempo and singing lyrics so metaphorically shit that he may as well be fapping into the microphone?
It’s time to get rad and it doesn’t get much radder than Chicago’s Lautrec. Musically, they can be compared to Native - glistening 90s emo-esque guitars, however the drums and vox are where the hardcore side of Lautrec shines through.
Alec Empire is perhaps most famous as the leader of Berlin based group Atari Teenage Riot, who between 1992 and 2000 produced some of the hardest, fastest and heaviest music of the era. They were...
Photos from a recent FOE gig - a friend of our friends Hold Your Horse Is - she’s gonna be big!!! Read the gig review after the jump.
Shots of North Carolina’s folk-rocking Avett Brothers’ stop in Glasgow - 22.08.11
Read the review of the gig here.
Take a look at the acts and art on offer at this year’s Latitude Festival in Suffolk. Included are the likes of Fight Like Apes, Lykke Li, Sea of Bees and Seasick Steve. Photos from our own...
Good time with Bad Guys. Photos from the May 29th gig at the Old Blue Last. Read the review by the Bad Guy himself, Stuart London after the jump.
Artrocker.com exclusive: for fans of White Lies and Crocodiles we’ve got some fresh pictures from their UK show at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire earlier this month, courtesy of Alessandro...
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