Mystery Jets - Half in Love with Elizabeth (Foamo Remix)

Heard this remix during a Queens of Noize mix the other day and deemed it good enough to blog. HEAVY.

download it here:

Mystery Jets - Half in Love With Elizabeth (Foamo Remix)

No Age - Nouns (2008)

No Age are two skaters from San Francisco who are signed to Sub Pop and make slightly wanky distorted music. This album came out in May but i hadnt heard it until i went to see them play with Times New Viking and Los Campesinos a few weeks back. They were a pretty good live band, if slightly samey, but this album has some really fucking good songs on it. Its all feedback, distortion, vocals low in the mix, instrumental songs and other things i generally fuckin hate but these guys can actually write some good tunes. This album is, however, pretty hit and miss. "Songs" such as 'Keechie' sound like Fuck Buttons b-sides and they sometimes appear to be trying too hard to be a bit edgy, but then songs like "Cappo", "Ripped Knees" and "Teen Creeps" sound like the lovechild of unreleased Sonic Youth demos and Minor Threat. Which is definitely a good thing. Basically what im trying to say is they should've cut out all the pretentious wank and just made this an EP. It would be much more spunk-worthy.

Heres some video someone made for Ripped Knees:

So during the last couple of weeks ive gone on a bit of a gig rampage so instead of writing in detail about each one and boring the shit out of you, i thought i'd write a brief overview of each show:

Lykke Li @ Concorde 2 - Well the electro pop ice queen bought her quirky scandinavian set up down to brighton and needless to say, it was a great gig. All the "classics" sounded great, and she mixed it up with a few covers. She even had a breakdown in one of her songs which went into KRS-ONE's "Sound of da Police" while she stood there drinking a mug of tea. Which is pretty cool in my book.

Sam Sparro @ Corn Exchange - Cant really work out whether i enjoyed this gig or not. Im not a fan of him on record and hes obviously a fuckin knob'ead, but i was still there, drunk and dancing about so who knows really. And 4 costume changes in an hours set, thats pretty impressive..

Hot Club De Paris @ Audio - Supported by Lyrebirds and Heels Catch Fire, this was definitely a case of the support bands being better than the headliners. Never been a fan of HCDP really, and this just confirmed it more. "Shipwreck" is an ok song but thats about it. They just seemed to spend half the time mumbling in scouse. Meh.

Friendly Fires @ Audio - Not the biggest fan of their Bloc Party/LCD Soundsystem ting on record, apart from a few exceptions, but actually quite enjoyed this show. Its just harmless indie grabbing onto the coat tails of the New Rave CRAZE, and in my opinion, thats not as horrible as it sounds. It did get a bit wanky when a pathetic glitter shower went off during "Paris" and the guitarist started using a Dust Buster to play guitar (!?) but it certainly knocked away some post-weekend cobwebs on a rainy monday evening.

Blood Red Shoes @ Freebutt - Having been knocking around Brighton for ages now, and apparently touring for the last 73 years, its quite odd that i'd never actually seen BRS live before. This gig was a warm up for a big tour that includes venues such as The Astoria, so it was quite good to see them in a tiny venue before they BLOW UP. Apart from the fact that the freebutt has no air conditioning and it was actually stupidly fucking hot, it was a pretty good gig. Nothing special if im being honest, but certainly worth a fiver.

Holy Fuck @ Audio - Having not remembered the majority of their Loop Festival set, i was really looking forward to seeing this lot again. They didnt disappoint either. Restlesslist supported who i have seen too many times to mention, but i actually thought their set was one of the best ive seen them do, so props for that. Holy Fuck's slightly improv electronic MADNESS was just fucking brilliant. One of my best gigs of 2008 so far.

Simian Mobile Disco @ Digital - This doesnt really count as it was only a DJ set, but honourable mention because it KICKED OFF BLAAAAD.

Cajun Dance Party @ Concorde - So yesterday i went to see those public school indie pop upstarts, Cajun Dance Party. Its quite sickening how young they are. Anyway, enough about my bitterness towards them, they were just crap. To be fair they do a couple of catchy tunes, such as "The Next Untouchable" and "The Races" and if they can fit 450 15 year old indie kids into the concorde on a monday night, then they must be doing something right. It just all sounded so pathetic. But hey, what do i know? They get laid a lot more than i do.

Little Boots

Ah Little Boots, my little electro sex kitten. AKA Victoria Hesketh, she's the former singer of Dead Disco and shes decided to go solo which is turning out to be a pretty good idea, as shes receiving mad love on the interweb. The amazing tune "Stuck on Repeat", produced by Joe Goddard of Hot Chip, was released on white label earlier this year, but her first proper single "Meddle" came out about a month ago. Shes definitely "one to watch" and shes also apparently a pretty capable Dj as well, as shown on the mixtape linked below. I cant wait to marry her.

shes all over this world wide web nonsense, check her myspace here:
www.myspace.com/littlebootsmusic

or go to her Blog here:
http://www.littlebootsmusic.co.uk/blog/ - this is where you'll find her "Magical Tropical Mixtape", you just have to sign up to her mailing list, which i guess is fair enough..

Metronomy - Nights Out

So yeah, basically everyone is jumping on Joseph Mount's dick at the moment, so i thought id check out this new Metronomy album in the hope that id hate it. Only cos i like being different. Turns out though, its actually pretty sick. Ive never really been a huge fan of their "quirky" electronica and have always been pretty bored when seeing them live, but this album has changed my mind. There are some great songs on here which prove hes not just a good remixer, but a good songwriter as well. Songs like "My Heart Rate Rapid" with its Klaxons-esque vocal and synth HEAVINESS to new single "Heartbreaker" which is just a bloody good pop tune, its pretty consistent. So yeah Joseph, consider your dick well and truly jumped on.

Heartbreaker:

MGMT - Kids (Soulwax Remix)

Uh oh, they've done it again. Looks like we've found the anthem for a new breed of Freshers to do ketamine for the first time to. WAHEY. i actually expected more from this remix, but hey ho, I'll like it until its on the Skins advert and then i'll pretend i always hated it. You know how we rolllllll...

Shout Out Louds

Shout Out Louds are from Stockholm and basically sound exactly like The Cure. They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery but i think at times they get a bit close to just actually ripping them off completely. See "Tonight i have to Leave it" for proof of this. However, they do have some really good tunes of their own like "Impossible" which i cant stop listening to. Anyway yeah ive only got an old album which isnt too exciting but these new songs sound a lot better so just thought id share them with you lovely people.

Tonight I Have To Leave It:




Impossible:

Noel Gallagher

As much as i find the Gallagher brothers' unshakable arrogance pretty funny, whoever the man is that did this deserves a fucking medal.



i love Liams "lets get involved" stagger at the end. "Ya Fookin' Coont!"

Beachdown Festival 2008

Beachdown is brand spanking new 4 day festival up on the Sussex Downs. The line up consisted of a lot of brighton bands, lots of obscure bands no-one had ever heard of, some shitty "Big Names" and De La Soul. I arrived on friday evening due to having worked at a One Night Only gig the night before (lets not even go there..). Spent the first night drinking red wine in the dance tent watching in no particular order, Utah Saints, Krafty Kuts, and A-Skillz. It was enjoyable enough. Woke up on saturday and pissed around for a few hours until The Kleptones came on and did their mash-up ting, which had a nice festival viiiibe. Caught the last half of RestlessList which was nothing new then headed over to see The Maccabees. They were dope as usual, and the new songs sound better every time i hear them which is good news! Had to miss Kissy Sell Out after this because De La Soul were coming on. For some spastic reason, they'd been put on the second stage even though they blatantly pulled the biggest crowd of the weekend, so it was a bit squashed. They fuckin killed it though, well good show. EVEN THOUGH they didnt play "3 Is the Magic Number". wankers. Walked past the Magic Numbers and shouted general abuse, then headed to the dance tent to see Pat Mahoney from LCD Soundsystem. Id been looking forward to this for a while, but was so fuckin disappointed it was untrue. It was just the most monotomous house music ive ever heard in my life and some wanker with dreadlocks (not newton faulkner unfortunately) was bloody BREAKDANCING in front of me. If i hadnt been gurning out, i wouldve slapped the cunt.
Sunday consisted of a horrible feeling in my head for most of the day. Saw the last half of Heels Catch Fire who i think are one of brightons best live bands. Pissed around for quite a few hours until Bonobo, which i really enjoyed. Was perfect "lets roll an afghan zoot" music. So after that chill sesh, went to go and drink tequila slush-puppies (yes really) and wait for The Beat to come on. The Beat were also pretty disappointing. Well i say pretty disappointing, i thought they were shit, so we fucked off and saw some of Maths Class who ive seen far too many times to really comment on, but the crowd seemed to enjoy it. After this we went to see Fun Lovin' Criminals who are basically just a fuckin easy listening band with swearing and references to cocaine and weed. So after they'd played Scooby Snacks, we fucked off. Caught a bit of Mr Scruff but i wasnt really in the mood so only stayed for about half an hour.
Monday i got up and felt so shit i had to go see some music to try and cure my hangover. Saw Left Hand Red on the brighton stage who despite their terrible name, were actually alright. After that it was Horace Andy which was good without being great. Fuckin legend though that bloke. Fucked off seeing Jose Gonzalez 'cos im not a fanny, and waited for Nouvelle Vague who were really fuckin fit and a lot better than i thought they'd be, cos i really dont like them on record that much. Gogol Bordello finished the festival but my days intake of ketamine started to creep up on me, and all i remember is i kept forgetting i was watching a band. Music finished at 9 on monday so after that, got the 15 minute bus ride home (what a fuckin luxury that is) and passed the fuck out.
In conclusion ladies and jellyspoons, Beachdown has the potential to be a good inclusion into Brightons summer line up, but as of yet isnt really there. The line up was pretty shoddy and the location has plenty of room for a much bigger capacity, but seeing as it was the first year, i hope this will all be sorted out in time for next year. BRAP.


Picture by Kenny Street

Loop Festival 2008

Loop is a one day festival in the middle on Brighton that apparently "celebrates digital culture" and it does this by having a varied mix of (mostly electronic) bands, lots of animation and keraZy visuals.
I started off the day in the sallis benney theatre, watching some animation that started lecturing me about climate change too much for my liking. Then we saw some jazz drummer bloke which i just thought was wanky bollocks. After this we went into the real arena for an over priced beer and a sit down. The first proper band we saw were The Bays, who were some half-improv live synth fest - they were alright but nothing too special. After that Caribou came on who were brilliant. Im not the biggest fan on record but it really was a great gig. The lead vocalist had his own drum kit that he would switch between playing and singing, and the use of two drum kits really gave them what i feel is missing from the records. Next up we saw Fourtet i think? I found him really boring actually, which was a big disappointment. Then we rolled around the floor for a while until Holy Fuck came on. Having missed both brighton gigs they've played recently, i was really looking forward to them. Unfortunately i can only remember about 5 minutes of the gig, but remember it being proper sick. After that we walked around in a K'd state for a while, then left. I did go to the Komedia for Loop Late which Bonobo amongst others were playing, but i was too drunk and couldnt handle it so left pretty sharpish. All in all a bloody good day. Roll on 2009..

Caribou - After Hours (Live)



Holy Fuck - Lovely Allen (Live)