¡Forward, Russia! in non numbered song shocker!

I was going to post about this last night but was somewhat traumatised after seeing Little Chris from Gene-Simmons-horror-fest Rock School have a music vid out on the telly. It's like Matt Willis from Busted but a million times worse. Yes, that bad.

Anyways, onto the meat and potatoes. Everyone's favourite Leeds collective ¡Forward, Russia! recently debuted a new song at their Lowlands Festival appearance in Holland. Shock of all shocks, it's not a numbered song. For those not in the know, the Russians named all their songs (upto Nineteen I believe) as numbers, in the order that they were written.

'Don't Be A Doctor' is a 6 minutes+ number with a slow beginnning, building up the intensity into a sprawling monster. Definately one of the more math-rock type tunes they have but with as mystifying lyrics as ever - "There was something coming from the grave". Blimey.

They played the song at the Leeds Cockpit the other day as well and someone clever has put the vid up on YouTube:


¡Forward, Russia! - Don't Be A Doctor (Live)
¡Forward, Russia! - Four

Buy ¡Forward, Russia!'s debut album 'Give Me A Wall' from Play.com [link]

Hope Of The States - over?

One of Britain's brightest talents Hope Of The States could well be calling it a day. Critically acclaimed but vastly underappreciated commerically, the band apparently announced their intentions to never play live again following their Carling Weekend Reading/Leeds performances. Further details are on NME.com [link].

Perhaps pondering a split is too much considering they only seem to have indicated that they don't wish to play live anymore but they've been through a fair bit. Guitarist Jimmi Lawrence tragically commited suicide in their recording studio in January 2004 and have suffered disappointly poor sales of both their debut LP 'The Lost Riots' and recent follow up 'Left'. Then again, there was all that palava about Weezer splitting and apparently it was all nonsense. Fingers crossed it's the same for the Chichester lads.

"Hope Of The States’ sound sits somewhere between the intelligent, intense alternative rock of Radiohead and the expansive string-laden post-rock of Godspeed You! Black Emperor."

Hope Of The States - Black Dollar Bills (Demo)
Hope Of The States - The Black Amnesias
Hope Of The States - AMM=IBM

The above tracks have been shamelessly pilfered from The Halfway Home [link], please visit there for all your Hope Of The States needs (including an impressive catalogue of tracks).

Buy 'The Lost Riots' (particularly recommended!) or 'Left' from HMV [link].

Yossarian

You may recall that in my recent Los Campesinos! interview [link], Gareth rattled off a few names of bands we should be looking into in Cardiff. One of those bands was Yossarian, another bunch of Welsh-but-not-Welsh whipper snappers beginning to cause a storm in the blogging world.

A rather nice bunch too, it seems. They send you a lovely demo cd with proper artwork and packaging (although the cd itself was a bit ugly!) if you simply ask nicely. But more of that later. The lads formed sometime in late 2003 when they were all bored students, eventually named themselves after the Catch 22 character and have even received some A&R interest from Rough Trade and Fierce Panda. God, we're behind.

The demo is fantastic - exhibiting their charming, witty lyrics, the ability to carry slower moving songs and the usual bouncy poppier numbers while still managing to show off an experimental element to their sound. Influences such as Pavement and The Arcade Fire seep through the demo but their lyrics have an innate Britishness to them. The lyrics are similar to those of The Rakes in their simplistic, write-about-what-you-see-and-do nature but therein lies their beauty.

Titbits like "Do you fancy a cup of tea? Fuck, we’ve got no milk. Ben, do you fancy going down the shop? No? You’re lactose intolerant? Fuck it, I can't be arsed", "Bit of Grandstand...oh no, not fucking horse racing! Give me some football...now" and "I think I have escaped a hangover, I am invicible" all come from just track two, 'Invicible'. Brilliant. Opener 'Indie Disco' is also a witty tale, this time about playing it cool at a club night. I can totally relate. While the first two tracks are more lighthearted, the end of the demo has 2 almost ballady tracks about loved ones. 'Settled' ends the demo in a wonderful Arcade Fire type crescendo. Bravo.

Yossarian - 2. Invicible

I also noticed some of their earlier stuff is available on their website and decided to give it a listen retrospectively, having had their demo on heavy repeat over the past week. The tracks I listened to sound much darker, almost Joy Division style but still retaining the same experimentalism that appears on the demo.
Yossarian - In Uniform
Yossarian - All In My Life

Download other older tracks on their website [link] and their whole demo on their MySpace [link].

Freebie round up

DrownedinSound.com [link] are offering a free mp3 from one of their DiS Recordings' signings, those Canadian rascals Metric.

Metric - Glass Ceiling

'Glass Ceiling' is taken from the 'Live It Out' album, out now. Buy from Play.com [link]

p.s 'Monster Hospital' is also available to download courtesy of Artrocker [link]
-----
Mumm-ra (yes, named after the cartoon character) are offering 'What Would Steve Do?' - which previously appeared on a ltd tour 7" - to everyone who signs their mailing list [link].

"The last six months have seen us honing what we do best – writing pop music that sweeps and sways and hopefully does justice to the music that makes us get up in the morning - the lush beauty of The Beach Boys via the pastoral quirks of The Kinks to the outer limits reached by The Beta Band and Sigur Ros."
-----
Sao Paulo's Cansei De Ser Sexy have been making waves for sometime now with their kerrrrazy electro-dance-rock-stuff. Their record label, the uber famous Sub Pop have their current UK single up for grabs.

Cansei De Ser Sexy - Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above

Buy the CSS album from Amazon [link]
-----
Got an email the other day about parody master Weird Al's new release 'Straight Outta Lynwood'. The first single from the album is called 'Don't Download This Song', and for irony overload, the label is letting you download the song for free on the internet. I think they're catching on!

Weird Al - Don't Download This Song

New Bloc Party track - studio demo

I'm sure you're fully familiar with who Bloc Party are, so I'll just cut to the chase. A recording of 'Song For Clay' (formerly 'Merge On The Freeeway') from an April demo session has leaked. I'm a big Bloc Party fan (first saw the fellas in Feb 2004 when they were still largely unknown) so the prospect of hearing album demos was almost pant wetting. Alas, I've had a bit of trouble downloading the track, I'm sure you won't though.

"The new Bloc Party tune, 'Song For Clay' is about the main character in [Brett Easton Ellis' novel 'Less Than Zero'], a rich young college student who returns to his hometown of Los Angeles for the winter break. Clay subsequently becomes bored and turns to drugs and cheap thrills to keep him occupied, resulting in further boredom. This dizzying spiral of desperation takes him to relentless parties in glitzy mansions, seedy bars, and underground rock clubs as he seeks inner direction."Blocparty.net

Bloc Party - Song For Clay (Studio Demo) - Expired
Many thanks to Patti from Poland for providing another link! [Expired]
So the Yousendit links have gone, here's a Megaupload one [link]. Also, apparently Kele exclusively revealed to XFM at Reading Fest that the new album will be called 'Weekend In The Sea'.

If you get here too late, you can at least download a live bootleg of 'Song For Clay' from Blocparty.net
[link]

The REAL Riff Raff

I was "browsing" the internet as you do the other day and came across talk about some hip hop DJ or something or another fella remixing some mainstream indie tracks (it's better than I expected to be honest!) But after further investigation I found out Riff Raff had in fact had a track played on Rob da Bank's Radio 1 show (skip about 15 mins - [link]). A remix of Radiohead's 'No Surprises' no less. So I did the right thing and gave it a listen. Good enough for Rob, good enough for me.

Although Riff Raff doesn't add much musically to the song, it's reasonably interesting lyrically at least. It actually namechecks Mr da Bank, as well as The Libertines and lots of other things (having a thing for Jo Whiley?!). Savvy. The formula is similar on the other tracks he's done, take a contemporary indie tune, rap about everyday life over most of it, leave the anthemic choruses in. Sorted. Dare I call it "grindie"? Nah. I just hope he doesn't get sued!

The remixes are part of a compilation called 'Outta The Box' and features reworking of tracks by The Kooks, Editors and even Jack Johnson of all people. It takes on Pulp's 'Common People' and 'London Calling' by The Clash along the way. Unfortunately my computer didn't manage to download any tracks that Riff Raff uploaded for listening, but by all means give it a go yourselves [link]. Alternatively, you can listen to a whole bunch of the tracks on a flash player on Riff Raff's MySpace [link].

Gnarls Barkley ft. Riff Raff - Crazy

Tracklisting and details of how to buy 'Outta The Box' on one of Riff Raff's MySpace blogs [link].

Dat's sick yo! (copyright Max at shakebeforereading.com[link]).

Sunny Sunny

This is a post about two bands with the word 'sunny' in their name. You know the score.
-----
I got an email recently from Carlos at I Am Sound Recordings telling me about their new signings Sunny Day Sets Fire. I managed to catch them on the telly for Road To V [link] a few weeks back in fact, although I must admit the most interesting thing I thought about them at the time was that the founding members met while working together in a cinema.

But after listening to their singles, I was really quite impressed. XFM described debut single 'Brainless' as such: "Imagine an upbeat Postal Service with added trumpets, and drums, the volume turned high and ‘Brainless’ might fit somewhere. A great build up and a driven energetic track using the trumpet to great effect. Added cat samples accompany and bring a large slab of kitsch, before high quality full guitar riff returns to ensure its’ novelty value isn’t exhausted. Trumpets most certainly are the future." I couldn't agree more.

Recent single 'Wilderness' may not be quite as wonderful but to steal the press release, it's "a breezy slice of wonky, infectious pop that recalls Arcade Fire or the Polyphonic Spree, while B side, Green Clouds twits, turns and bleeps like the errant offspring of Radiohead and Sigur Ros."

Sunny Day Sets Fire - Wilderness

Download 'Brainless' and other tunes at their MySpace [link]
-----
Sunnyvale Noise Sub-Element are monstrous. Is it glitchy post-rock? Is it experimental electronica? I have no idea, it's simply a calculated bombardment to our senses. The name somewhat aligns itself with their music, a bit ungainly yet intriguing all the same. I challenge 65DaysOfStatic fans not to like this stuff.

I found out about Sunnyvale on the Radio 1 Unsigned section [link] and they had this to say about them: "These kids are a trio from Oxford who create experimental electronic tunes. Utilising clockwork toys, samples, glue and crisps for their unique sound. Is that Ready Salted or Cheese and Onion boys?" How witty.

At times, they almost remind me of fervent button bashing at the arcade before rescinding into a calm Zen-like state and then back to chaos all over again. And again. And if this in anyway sways you, Damo Suzuki of Can is apparently a big fan and has sung for Sunnyvale live and all.

Sunnyvale Noise Sub-Eelement - I Love You Everytime You Smile
Sunnyvale Noise Sub-Element - How Spiderman Was Tricked By His Wife

Buy their releases on their website [link]
-----
p.s Hope all A Level students reading did themselves proud!

Los Campesinos! Interview!

You must have heard about Welsh-yet-not-so-Welsh uni student collective Los Campesinos! by now. If not, you've either been living under a rock or you actually have a life that doesn't involve the internet. Taking the best bits of American indie pop and adding their own secret ingredients, simply put they're grrrrreat. Better than Frosties in fact. But with no press release or biog in sight, Keep Hope Inside seeks to unpeel the layers of the Los Campesinos! onion....

Let's start with the basics, in a Cilla-Black-Blind-Date format. What's yer name and where d'ya come from?
Gareth: We are three sevenths Somerset, two sevenths London-way, one seventh Northern and a last seventh Russian. None of us are actually Welsh, but Cardiff is where we are home and happy. It’s our favourite city I think.
Neil: I’m Neil, the Northern part of Los Campesinos!. Neil, the token Northerner.
Harriet: I’m from Surrey but my gran is from the Rhonda Valley and her dad was a miner so he wouldn’t mind us being called a Welsh band. Also, my grandad on the non-Welsh side was in the navy and once spent a night in Cardiff prison when his ship left without him.
Gareth: I think that qualifies us as Welsh!

How did Los Campesinos! form?
G: I’m afraid the formation isn’t a very exciting story. It’s just a tale of friendship and indie snobbery. Basically we stopped recruiting when we were able to afford to hire practice rooms.
N: It's quite a romantic story. It started initially with the four of us when I was out and chatting about The Decemberists and Tom stuck his head into the conversation. He’d been in my lectures for a year and I didn’t even notice him. Or his hat. I live with Gareth and I knew Harriet and Ellen knew Alex. The band came together really naturally some time in March.

Where did the band name come from?
G: Once upon a time Neil was fluent in Spanish, and so I guess that’s where the idea for the name came. It doesn’t mean anything though.
N: Well, it literally means the peasants but the meaning has changed due to Spain’s social changes. It doesn’t actually mean anything to us though.
G: I just like the fact that it sounds nice and looks nice written down. The exclamation mark was added in an attempt to make us cool and hip. Actually, thinking about it, I think the initial idea for the exclamation mark may have been a joke. A good joke though.

There seems to be a Peruvian folk outfit who share your name, will you be Ctrl+Alt+Deleting their faces anytime soon?
G: Haha, quite crucially those folksters don’t have an exclamation mark in their name, so we’re hoping that that saves us. Also, there’s the comfort that I’d imagine nobody in Peru will ever hear of us.

Fellow Cardiff centric band The Victorian English Gentlemen's Club are also beginning to make it into the media spotlight - is there a burgeoning new music scene in Cardiff that we should know about?
G: Cardiff has an awesome music scene. If you manage to avoid the angry teenagers forming shouty bands in the valleys then bands such as Gindrinker, Little My And Friends, Yossarian, Stray Borders, Silence At Sea and Sweet Baboo are all really exciting and worth listening to.
N: Gareth’s got this one covered. Cardiff has an excellent music scene.
H: Yes, it’s fantastic to be in such good company.

How does it feel to be a quoteunquote blogging sensation?
G: I think it’s quite nice, as it is easy to avoid. It’s lovely when people have nice things to say about us, but I also find it quite scary, as, well, things were never meant to happen like this. Though it’s easy to hide from the internet, so I don’t know how big a deal it is.
N: It’s quite exciting, although weird. We were on The Hype Machine thing in the top 10 for 1 week. What’s that all about? The Peruvian Los Campesinos must have had a chart hit that week.

'It Started With A Mixx' seems to be inspired by Hot Chocolate's 'It Started With A Kiss' - why did you decide to "rework" that track?
G: It was just in case people ever got confused, I wanted to highlight the fundamental difference between myself and Errol brown. Whereas he gets to do kissing, I make mixx tapes for girls to try to make them love me. Somebody wrote about this song and said it was satire. It is completely not. Each word is from the bottom of my pathetic, simpering heart. If a single person puts this on a mixx tape for somebody they are trying to impress then my life will be whole. It mightn’t be very subtle though. That must be where I’m going wrong.

Following the fantastic news Los Campesinos! are about to support Broken Social Scene (huzzah!), are there any other bands about at the moment that you'd love to play with?
G: After the inevitable embarrassment I cause myself at this gig, I am going to hope and pray that we never get offered to play with a band I like, ever again.
N: I don’t think there’s another band around right now that I’d like to play with more. I’m shitting my pants already.
H: I know its going to be mega!

With major label interest around the corner (perhaps already here?), are there any plans to release a single/EP or a full scale tour in the near future?
G: We would love to do all those things. We just need to find people that will let us, and help us organise it because we’re rubbish at organising stuff.
N: We’ve still got one year of uni left, which means we’re going to be taking things quite slowly. A full scale tour is something that we all want to do. Touring sounds like the best thing ever.

Los Campesinos! - It Started With A Mixx
For other tracks and to read more about them, check out The Hype Machine [link]

And there you have it, my first ever band "interview" and apparently only the second one Los Campesinos! have done. I think their first one was with a porn mag. Awesome. Let me know what you thought of my interview and many thanks go to Gareth, Neil and Harriet Los Campesinos! for being ace.

This, that and the other

I've had a few bands email me (and apparently just about every other blogger ever!) some tracks recently so I thought I'd give them a quick run through on here. More emails are obviously welcome!
-----
First up are Chicago's The Interiors who have, according to drummer Brian, "received interest from several prominent Chicago and national labels". Get them. Anyways, I gave their demo (available on their website) a listen and thought 'The Bug' was the best of the bunch - grungy vocals with sinister lyrics but more importantly, a bit more musically ambitious - indicating much more potential for an apparent upcoming LP.

The Interiors - The Bug

Listen to tracks on their MySpace [link].
-----
Next are For Those Who Know, a "psychedelic" band from Austin, Texas. I'm not so sure on the psychedelic tag but they would know[/pun]. Their name also vaguely reminds me of the WWF Montreal Screwjob [link] but we're heading down the wrong road now...

With one EP (last year's self-titled release) under their belt, For Those Who Know have made their second EP freely available from their website. Clever move. There's definately a large shoegaze element to their music with softly spoken vocals and multi layered guitars. Other influences seep through such as Sonic Youth and perhaps even The Smiths, like on EP opener 'Competition', one of their more melodic tunes.

'Night On The Danceclub' seems to be earmarked as a single with Super! Alright! (Black Eyed Peas, Single Frame) on board to film its video. I think 'Perfect' would be more suitable for a release - it has a more poppy, almost dreamy vibe and Eastern-sounding guitar licks - maybe later, I guess. For your own little shoegazing revival download For Those Who Know's seven track EP on their website [link].

For Those Who Know - Perfect
-----
Finally come Bel Auburn who have been getting plenty of buzz on the blogosphere so I'm sure you can read a more indepth post about them pretty much anywhere!

Another band who've put their release up for download on their website (bravo!), lyricist/guitarist Jared says "As far as sound goes: we love melody, love anything from Iceland, love 1's & 0's, love Wilco and Radiohead and Sunny Day Real Estate and Sufjan, can't help but love the way the light clings to the midwest, and are card-carrying Anglophiles." Their sound is largely relaxing, melodic fayre but 'Roses' is my standout, a lovely vibrant number with passionate, soaring vocals.

Bel Auburn - Roses

Download 'Lullabies In A & C' from their website, where you can also purchase the album which is out today[link].

Bits and bobs

I know what you're thinking - "oh no, not them again!" - but yes more Hot Club de Paris news for everyone. They're opening for fellow Northerners Maximo Park on some of their October tour dates, which is great news. Hot Club de Paris are heading out on their own tour as well in September following a performance at Bestival on the Isle Of Wight. New single 'Everyeveryeverything' (b-side is 'I Quit My Job') is out on September 25th and their debut album comes out on the 2nd of October. I'm not sure whether it's called 'Winners!' or 'Drop It Till It Pops' but no matter, it's almost destined for greatness.
Hot Club de Paris - Ouija Board

Buy debut single 'Sometimesitsbetter...' at Puregroove [link].
-----
Jamie T has announced an October UK tour. He's playing a fair few other dates before that, including V Festival and Bestival. All the dates are on his MySpace [link].
-----
Converse Music are launching a competition for unsigned bands to release 1000 7" vinyls, with promised gigs and promo support as well. Sounds like a good deal to me, for more details see their website [link].
-----
I got an email earlier telling me that Selector [link] is having another live showcase featuring the likes of Guillemots and Yes Boss on September 13th at the Islington Academy, London. Best of all it's free if you email theselector[at]britishcouncil.org and ask for upto four tickets. There's more info in the email so if you want me to forward it to you just leave your email addy in the comments or email me.
-----
Just a quick note to say there are a few posts round the corner, hopefully including a Los Campesinos! interview and a live review of The Sunshine Underground. Goody.

Monkey Swallows The Universe

Monkey Swallows The Universe are a lovely Sheffield quintet who write wonderful indie pop in the vein of Belle & Sebastian but without an electric guitar in sight. Not the Japanese death metal outfit I thought they might be from the name.

The band first caught my attention when they released free download single 'Jimmy Down The Well'/'Sheffield Shanty' to promote their debut album 'The Bright Carvings' on Thee Sheffield Phonographic Corporation earlier this year. 'Jimmy Down The Well' is a jangly number about holding "Jimmy" to ransom after saving him and features na melée of handclaps. 'Sheffield Shanty' shows a different side to the band; a more low key affair, complete with glockenspiel which compliment Nat Johnson's almost haunting vocals. Beautiful.

Current single 'Science' is completely new - it doesn't feature on the album - but is hardly a complete departure from their past material. In fact, it isn't a million miles off 'Sheffield Shanty'. As lovingly crafted as ever, just as you think the song is about to peter out after a nice little recorder solo, it returns triumphantly. A pleasurable listening experience indeed.

According to a brilliantly helpful Nat on the band's forum, "the idea behind the song is that if we were to suddenly realise one day that planes don't work, they'd all just fall from the sky at that moment. And if similarly we realised that our bodies don't actually make sense either, we'd just drop dead." How clever. The band have also offered uptempo b-side 'Florence' up for download on their website and it brings back those pesky handclaps again.

Monkey Swallows The Universe - Science (Removed at request of the band)
Listen to 'Science' on MySpace [link]
Monkey Swallows The Universe - Florence
More songs to download from their website [link]

Buy Monkey Swallows The Universe releases through Thee SPC [link]

Monkey Swallows The Universe deserve to follow former labelmates The Long Blondes into the mainstream and hand everyone a slice of their delightfully serene acoustic stylings. Simply magical.

The Puppini Sisters

The Puppini Sisters are not sisters at all. Sneaky. In fact, they're mates from music college who, inspired by the animation Belleville Rendez-vous, which featured a 1940's former girl group, decided to form an updated Andrews Sisters-style jazzy type thing. I found all that out on ITV news on Monday don't you know.

It's hard to talk about The Puppini Sisters without mentioning the "p"-word, so I'm just going to do it anyway. There's three of them, they have an all boy backing band and they all seem to dress similarly - I could easily be describing The Pipettes. The crucial point though, is that none of that matters. It's a refreshing change considering the amount of generic prettyboy indie bands out there at the moment.


















The live experience was provocative but charming and rapturous applause followed every song. I was quite apprehensive before the gig but all credit to them, I don't think I've ever seen a crowd so enamoured with a relatively small act at an instore performance before.

It helps that most of the material is (I hesistate to use the word novelty) cover songs - modern takes on past classics. Songs like The Smith's 'Panic' and 'Wuthering Heights' by Kate Bush are all deconstructed then reconstructed Puppini-style. I'm sure Morrissey is not best pleased (but is he ever? Mopey old so and so). I distinctly remember a particularly great song that I can only describe as an Italian gyspy punk clapfest with a bit of the 'Star Spangled Banner' added for good measure.

The Puppini Sisters - Wuthering Heights (Clip)

I totally nicked the above track off Copy, Right? [link] but Homo Electic has a full version [link] along with a couple of others. Oh and Rich Girls Are Weeping has just put up another Puppini track [link].

Yes, they're tongue in cheek and hardly the most ground breaking act around but just sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. Catch them at tomorrow's free Fruitstock [link] event where they will be joining fellow novelty cover enthusiasts Nouvelle Vague.

Listen to tracks on The Puppini Sisters MySpace [link] and buy debut album 'Betcha Bottom Dollar' from HMV [link].

Ben&Jerry's Sundae On The Common Pt.2

Following yesterday's "coverage" of Roland Shanks and Liam Frost & The Slowdown Family, Keep Hope Inside brings you the rest of my overview of the Sundae On The Common on the 29th. Weeing yourself with excitement is entirely optional.
-----
Next up were Brighton bunch The Pipettes, who I'm sure you're already familiar with.

Take three girls in polka dot dresses, add a boy backing band, catchy doo wop anthems about boys in school uniforms, choreographed hand moments and voila! You have an irresistable combination that simply cannot fail."

I really enjoyed seeing The Pipettes when I first saw them about a year or so ago but since then I feel less enamoured with them. The fact they seem to play exactly the same songs, with exactly the same choreography means that much of the novelty has worn off for me. Sadly disappointing.
For mp3s and what not, see this album review (link).
Buy 'We Are The Pipettes' from Play.com (link).
------
Twickenham's finest Larrikin Love followed up and did a grand job of bringing the energy levels up. They are easily one of the best live acts around, a 'must see' during the festival season.

Larrikin Love have often been described as a "boozier Pogues" but with a sound that veers from reggae ('Meet Me By The Getaway Car') to Irish jig ('John O'Ryan's Polka Dot Skirt') to basically everything in between, they really are so much more. Singer Edward has been compared to a certain Mr Doherty - mainly because of his shambolic onstage behaviour and the way he sings but perhaps because of his lyrical talent also. Oh and Ed seems to court controversy, especially on 'Downing Street Kindling' where he proclaims "England has nothing to offer me". That doesn't stop him being mates with Patrick Wolf and Jamie T though, both of whom I believe are featuring on debut album, 'The Freedom Spark', out later this year.

Larrikin Love - The Cucumber Song (Live At The Sundae)

New song 'The Cucumber Song' shows the promise of the album - an ode to vegetables, which descends into a 'la-la'-vocal-hook-fest complete with proggy breakdown. An exciting prospect indeed.

Larrikin Love - Forever Untitled (Acoustic)
More songs available to download on Savefile (link).
-----
Echo & The Bunnymen and Badly Drawn Boy completed the line up but I can't say I found either particularly riveting. Damon 'Badly Drawn Boy' Gough seemed to be having a difficult time onstage and although Echo & The Bunnymen did sound pretty interesting, I was enjoying sitting down and having a chat with some friends. And pondering who the celebrity was that sitting next to us - turned out it was former Radio 1 DJ Emma B.

For a more focused review (which I have to say I largely disagree with!) and some extra mp3s, read The Daily Growl (link).

Ben & Jerry's Sundae On The Common Pt.1

Last Saturday I popped down to Clapham Common for ice cream and music courtesy of Ben & Jerry's. A fiver for a stellar line up, all the free ice cream you could possibly want and sunny (well, at times anyway!) weather that wasn't oppressively hot. A definite formula for success.
-----
The first act I caught were South London's Roland Shanks. No, it's not a singer songwriter but a young bunch of (former?) art students signed to Moshi Moshi Records.

"With influences ranging from Talking Heads, The Cure to Prince and The Rapture, their angular rhythms and infectious vocal hooks have been making indie kids up and down the UK dance like there was no tomorrow"

Apparently they admit to wearing their influences on their sleeves - does that mean they're just freely admitting to ripping off just about anyone? Either way, I'm not too bothered, they have a bunch of good songs. 'Cutting Teeth' shows Roland Shanks at their best; pulsating bassline+fantastic vocal hook = instant anthem. I don't think they can avoid a Bloc Party comparison but that's not particularly a bad thing. Pity their new single 'Tarantula' sounds a bit tired and uninteresting.

Roland Shanks - Cutting Teeth (expiring within a day or two)
Roland Shanks - Anniversary
Roland Shanks - August

Listen to 'Tarantula' on the Roland Shanks MySpace (link)
-----
While Roland Shanks were an entertaining proposition, follow up act Liam Frost & The Slowdown Family were quite frankly dull and depressing. In fact, it's only because a promo cd was thrust into my hand by an over enthusiastic street teamer that I'm writing about them now.

There's been a fair bit of hype about Liam Frost, especially since his backing band (The Slowdown Family) have joined him, but he is a veteran of the Manchester music scene at the tender age of 22. He has been described as "the UK's answer to Bright Eyes" by Guy Garvey of Elbow, which is quite interesting because I think Liam's melancholy vibe makes him sound a bit like Elbow actually.

Liam Frost & The Slowdown Family - Try Try Try (XFM Session)

'Try Try Try' is a more uptempo, almost folky, mandolin led ditty but with seemingly downbeat lyrics (literary analysis was never my strong point - what's he on about?!).

Listen to new single 'The City Is At Standstill' on MySpace (link) and you can preorder it on Townsend Records (link).
-----
Coming soon - Part 2 of a two part trilogy featuring The Pipettes and Larrikin Love. Same place, same time etc etc *POW!* *SPLAT!* *THWACK!*