Thank god for Twitter.
A chance search reveals that my intended gig for tonight (returning veterans Artery and feisty young pups Cold In Berlin plus others) has been postponed because the ageing headliners are 111. Sorry, they are ill. Thanks to Les Dawson for that joke.
I divert across town to the Bull & Gate for the first night of a Fortuna Pop records residency. Even this event is not running entirely to plan. One of the bands (Whales in Cubicles) have pulled out and as a result, timings are all over the place.
Holy is a FUCKING AWESOME shouty screamy hardcore punk from Milano, Italy. Lashings, of tough old-school styles meets Level Plane records screamo vocals. Short, fast, loud – 8 furious songs recorded pretty over the course of a few days in a hot rehearsal studio in Italy. Their self titled ep is coming out January 23rd via the Berlin / Italian label, Hell, Yes. You will recognize Hell yes via their Dum Dum Girls and Crocodiles releases. They’ve got a predominantly chillwave-y / garage roster, quite the stark contrast to what Holy is about.
So that’s 2011 then. Another year packed with excellent performances.
What has caught me off guard is a previously unforeseen third band on tonight’s bill. This throws the timings out and will have implications later on in the evening.
The unexpected pleasure is Great White Shark, who hail from Berlin, but are originally from the UK. They illustrate how times and fashions change.
Fuck YES! Simian Mobile Disco‘s released the video for their latest single Gizzard and it is fucking mint. Pounding and relentless, the single is part of Simian’s collab with Psycatron (Planet E, Tronic). Psycatron’s done a fucking sweet remix of the track, serious forward-thinking techno,I’m getting a very distinct Berlin sound from these Irish producers.
Teeth!!! (photo Wyldman)
This is not going to be a definitive report on the 2010 Offset Festival. For starters, over the two days I saw over fifty acts that I LIKED to varying degrees. And I couldn’t be everywhere, despite trying my best.
Things get off to a rollicking start on Saturday with The Neat on the Main Stage.
Much angular guitar and the first instance of one of the Themes of The Weekend (TotW). The front man who leaps from the stage and chases his audience across a field.
I
s it even worth mentioning last night’s Mercury Music Prize? It’s all a bit tiresome now, isn’t it?
Oh go on then – The Xx’s snoozesome and underwhelming album won the prize, doing precisely zero to dispell the idea that ‘the Mercurys’ are little more than an award for Coffee Table Album Of The Year. The Xx can now look forward to joining Speech DeBelle in the Mercury Prize section of desperate music shops nationwide. The ANBAD Donkey celebrates their crowning M-People style.
Call The DoctorI haven’t been to the Buffalo Bar for AGES. I’ve always enjoyed it in here and had forgotten that it is air conditioned. So while the city steams outside, I’m well up for tonight’s four band bill.
First up come Ma.Mentor, a three piece comprising two guitars and a drum machine. Together, they play a sparse and efficient post-rock. It is hard to dislike them, but they equally do very little to enthuse about. The band ticks along in a harmless but rather nondescript way, and I soon rather find my attention wandering. As a mate puts it, “…with this stage set up, they could be Big Black!” but sadly they are not, they are just a little underwhelming.
(Photo: Lane Coder)
Late summer dance parties, beware.
!!!is unleashing a new album just before Labor Day. “AM/FM” is the first taste of the Brooklyn partystarters’ so-called ‘Berlin club record,’ but to us, it feels more like rocking out, falling down, and scraping both knees on a diamond-encrusted dance floor. Equal parts blood and sparkle.
When I tell people I’m in a band, I get a couple of textbook reactions. The most common is “Are you the singer?” and another is “Is it an all girl band?” The numerous occasions I’ve heard a guy tell...
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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