Bastille... and To Kill A King

Hello and Happy Easter/Passover,

Been a while. Being home for Easter, I went to see Bastille at Shepherds Bush Empire the other day so thought I'd shape this blog as a bit more of a gig review, tying in nicely with the fact that the support band formed at Leeds Uni.

Bastille are a bit of an anomaly. Before gaining ludicrous mainstream success over the past month due to the success of new single 'Pompeii', they had a highly-established cult following. Listening to 'Pompeii' and new single 'Flaws' (a song which gets the award for most times the title is infuriatingly repeated in the lyrics (When all of your FLAWS/ and all of my FLAWS are laid out one by one)) this would be a difficult idea to grasp. However if you wind back to way before the release of debut no.1 album Bad Blood, Bastille had a mix tape Other People's Heartache which contained such gems as quirky little dance covers of 'Rhythm is a Dancer' and City High's 'What Would You Do' (that one about the prostitute). These covers are still included in their live sets and undoubtedly received the warmest receptions of the night. Bad Blood is good but definitely not great and there are enough fillers which could have been ditched for some of these original mix tape tracks but their live performance was pretty much faultless. While incredibly ill at ease when attempting crowd banter, lead singer Dan Smith comes into his own when singing and the climax of the show whereby he wondered around seating areas the performing a well-received 'Flaws' was really quite impressive.

Also present at Shepherds Bush on the night was Dan Smith's doppelganger Radio 1 DJ, Nick Grimshaw. Someone in the standing area spotted him sat at level 1 seating just before Bastille were to take to the stage and what followed was ten minutes of extreme neck-craning. Celebrities turning up to watch other celebrities is always enjoyable, especially when they're pretty fucking identical to each other. When Dan Smith went for a wonder up to the stalls during 'Flaws' I definitely felt there was a connection. Anyway, I've got no idea what I've been trying to say over these past three paragraphs but basically whatever your take on Bastille, they are definitely worth a watch. Here are the said doppelgangers:











In true pretentious music-blogger fashion, and despite Bastille's quality showing, the group I was really excited for on Friday night were support act To Kill A King. These guys are currently based in London but formed at Leeds Uni where their fantastically named lead singer Ralph Pelleymounter was best buddies, and shared a flat with, none other than Bastille's Dan Smith (they can be seen collaborating below for TKAK's epic single 'Choices' in what I must describe as one of the most beautiful YouTube videos I've seen in a good while) . However, if you think they were chosen as support acts purely through nepotism then you'd be very much mistaken.

TKAK are undoubtedly the best new band I've heard this calendar year. They mix the soulful vocals and lyrics of Editors with a more upbeat indie feel (think early non-shit Coldplay mixed with early non-shit Cribs), the two of which combine to form recent LP Cannibals with Cutlery  which should really be gracing most of the 'Best of 2013' lists come December. The album has been described by Q as dressed in beautiful epic indie and new wave threads while Artrocker referred to is as A broad stroke of an album- all jaunty guitars, massive choruses and intimate moments of romance, and the best news is that they're yet to catch the watchful eye of NME; the 'Sauron's Eye' of the musical world. 

Previous to Cannibals with Cutlery, TKAK released two EP's. One, Word of Mouth, contains four tracks off Cannibals along with two older songs in 'Howling' and 'Let It Die' while the other, My Crooked Saint, was released a year previous and contains the mightily impressive 'Bloody Shirt' which is one of the tunes linked below.

A Support slot with Bastille will undoubtedly increase the mainstream support of this humble quintet and it will all be thoroughly deserved. Within minutes of Bastille's closing song, Pelleymounter had taken to the Shepherd's Bush sidewalk outside the venue in order to promote his band and advertise their newly-announced headline tour (they're playing London's Scala next week and I'm thoroughly pissed I can't make it). In a brief chat with him I ascertained that humble is definitely the word. He has no idea how much TKAK are liked and critically appreciated but spent most of our conversation talking up Dan Smith and co. Pelleymounter has also developed a compilation album recorded in his flat and affectionately referred to as Ralph's Balcony- The Collection. All proceeds were donated to Great Ormond Street and features collaborations with none other than, yep, you guessed correctly, Dan Smith from Bastille.

Listen to the tracks linked below with all your heart while simultaneously admiring the decor of this room.

Away from this one random gig in Shepherds Bush, I've been listening to Birmingham indie whizz-kids Peace and their debut In Love released last Monday and it's a corker; highly recommended.

Cheers as always for reading.

***

***

***

Pope Francis; The Facts... and Feral Brood

Hello again,

I'm slightly pushed for time and high on stress as I've just had to spend the last hour power-walking to a desolate Royal Mail Sorting Office to pick up a laptop charger and I'm still 8,000 words away from completing a dissertation so thought I'd throw out five fun facts about our new Catholic saviour. Yes, it will be forcibly dry, and yes, it will be forcibly witty.

1. He's from South America, pretty fucking cool, nothing to criticise on that front. It also means...

2. He's not a former member of the Hitler Youth. Anyone who read my blog from about a month ago, the old Pope was actually a child Nazi. Good on Francis for having shaken off those particular shackles.

3. He's the first ever Pope Francis so the hipsters should love him, he don't take shit  from no man. Picking a papal name for yourself must be literally the most fun thing in the world, it would be like being able to pick your own name from birth rather than having one unknowingly forced upon you. I'd love it if we had a British Pope some day and he went for a proper old-school British name... Pope Keith IV, Pope Stanley VII etc.

4. Apparently he's a pretty humble guy. Rather than taking a private car from the Sistine Chapel to the Vatican once he'd been announced the victor, he told his security guards to piss off and got on the bus with the rest of the papal lads. Some call it being humble, I call it being media-savvy (ouch).

5. He actually came second to the previous Pope in 2005. I'm immediately  making comparisons with the Blair/Brown scenario but with this guy being Blair and the old guy being Brown owing to his having all the charisma and charm of a grizzly bear. Francis had obviously been lying away for eight years stewing up a big plan to overthrow Benedict, although his remarkably short reign has made things a hell of a lot easier, it's all a bit 'Angels and Demons'-esque.

That's your lot. For more information, consult someone who actually knows something about the Catholic Church and hasn't had to solely rely on Google searches. Amen.

***

When I blogged about Blue Lip Feel about a month ago, they were kind enough to both Re-Tweet me and recommend me some new and fresh up-and-coming bands from Yorkshire. These were Bang Bang Romeo, The Twin Bears and Feral Brood. While the first two will undoubtedly be mentioned in the next few weeks, this week I've been focusing on the Brood.

With a supporting slot at Sheffield's Plug tonight with Downtown Roots (another band to look out for), I thought this would be the best time to promote Feral Brood's dazzling mix of old-school guitar riffs and penchant for exciting vocals and lyrics. 

Forming as late as January 2012, these guys have already made waves in the Yorkshire scene with over 1000 Twitter and FB followers indicative of a growing cult-following. Unfortunately, they have very little released music but this only means there's way more to come and EP Into The Woods, released a few weeks back is already available on iTunes. Into The Woods is one of those records that I like to describe as a breath of fresh air for the music industry. It's widely influenced by a number of high-class outfits, including amongst others The Raconteurs and Zeppelin, and the interchangeable vocals of Phil Goodwin and Dan Williamson give it a consistently fresh feel. First single 'Machine' is the most fast-paced and introduces the Brood with a decent bang, there's also a happy reminder about how to spell Machines in the middle of the chorus if anyone had forgotten or struggles with spelling. 'Cold' is up next and is undoubtedly my favourite. It's a love song reeking of desperation but kind of in a good way if anyone knows what I'm on about and the closing riff is just fantastic, lowering itself to an acoustic ballad before rising back into crescendo and a final chorus, they are 'hiding in the eyes of frost bite' apparently. 'You Are The Sea' is the closer and exhibits a softer side to their sound but with an equally compelling riff.

That's the EP covered, now the important thing is to try and catch a live performance,described on their FB page as leaving crowds, 'discombobulated in a hurricane of inexorable guitars and efficacious vocals'. Whomever wrote this is great with words. Now go forth and enjoy..

Cheers as always for reading,

Max.

***

***

Happy International Women's Day... and Joe Banfi

Hello Again,

Another two-week absence which again I can only apologise for, dissertation reading and the general stresses of life have consigned me to the continuous 'putting-off' of blogging. However, it's a new dawn, it's a new day, a new life, for me etc etc.

Yesterday was International Women's Day and I first and foremost wanted to wish everyone a good one. Looking through the FB and Twitter feeds yesterday I gauged a mixed reaction to the event, some of which came as a surprise and some slightly less so.

 It was great to see people praising the event, both males and females talking about particular people who've inspired them as, while this may sound a tad cliched, it was raising awareness which is basically the point and although I forgot to check I'm hopeful that #IWD was trending at some point- these things are important today.

Now the real cliches of the day that were literally making me tear my fucking hair out were the, 'Why should it only be one day. Doesn't this defeat the point of feminism' and even worse still, 'Does this mean we should get an international men's day... or is 'IMD' just the other 364 days of the year' (Imagine me saying said cliches in a whiny imitative voice of no one in particular). And why should these make me tear out my hair in said fashion... well what critics of IWD need to understand is that raising awareness of the basic issues which underlie our society is the sole goal of IWD and other events like it. We're going through a transitional phase as we push for equality in what is still a pretty damn unequal society (unequal pay, lack of representation in politics, everyday sexism in the media, the list goes on). If the next generation can start appreciating the struggles women have experienced, even just in the 20th century, then maybe we can go just a little further in understanding the plight of women and building towards closing the gender gap. It's happening with Black History Month in the same manner and I believe vast improvements are being made in that respect. Positive discrimination is important.

Suzanne Moore, writer for the Guardian, makes a decent point in this article that IWD feels a little bit 'cupcakey' and has recently become de-politicised with talks of the dangers of female circumision mixed with the celebration of an obscure female singer from the Far East. However, I don't really believe it need be overly political. Once you get politics into the mix, the next generation immediately loses interest. How about maybe we focus the other 364 days on the political side of things?

#rantover

***

I fully appreciate the fact that I really should have covered a woman today in this section but it's Saturday morning as I'm writing this and I've found an absolute gem so that'll have to wait. I also appreciate just as much for any fans of Joe Banfi that he's in fact from Northwich in Cheshire but that's not too far a cry from Yorkshire and I refer you to the previous sentence on said time of day, apologies all round. Anyway, Banfi played the Sheffield Harley the other day and while I missed out on the gig, I heard wonderful things.

Joe Banfi's done a pretty remarkable thing and mixed in traditional folk with a dark layer of grunge. On his illustrious FB page, he cites influences as far-reaching as Bruce Springsteen, Nirvana, Nick Drake, and strangely enough the Deftones, who's 'Cleverness... influences his songwriting to date'. A fine mix, and one which has contributed to his uniqueness. I suppose all great artists are born from many.

With two EP's out on Communion (Ben Howard, Gotye, Michael Kiwanuka), Banfi seems destined for bigger things. First EP, 'Iron' came out in September of last year and did brilliantly on the review front, Ben Dorey of Now Then Magazine referred to it as, 'Providing a raw emotion that makes his work so captivating'. It's hard to disagree, lead single 'Guts and Bones' is soulful and deeply fulfilling and his cover within a cover in the form of Nirvana's, 'Where Did You Sleep Last Night' gives the traditional American folk song a further twist.

With 'Iron' an undoubted success for Communion, new EP 'Nomads' was released six weeks ago and, even in the limited time offered to Banfi to develop, there is a definite progression in both the vocal ability and the lyrical prowess of a record which has been occupying my headphones all week. The title track is an epic and has been linked below while 'Olive Green' is definitely a goosebump-inducer with the personability of the lyrics making the listener pause for thought- 'Only the green boots by the back door make me feel safe'. Also hang on until the final minute of closer 'Oarsmen' to hear the full extent to which Nirvana have had an influence over him.

Don't know if he'd take this as an insult but I reckon if Alt-J did purely folk-grunge rather than 'folky, poppy, psychedelic, punk, indie, grunge' then they'd sound just a little bit like Joe. The unique croaky twinge of his vocals definitely draws parallels with his namesake in Alt-J Joe Newman. Hope he's a fan.

Joe Banfi's currently midway through a mini tour of the UK and if you get a chance to see him then take it hands down, although I'm assured that he's a regular tourer. Keep on doing what you're doing Joe and keep on looking just a little bit like the ex-Doctor Who actor Christoper Eccleston.

Cheers to all for reading. Back next week,

Max

***

***

***