La Roux @ New Hero

For an artist who is touring with Lily Allen (cunt) next month, it was quite a coup for Somewhere In The Universe to book the "Next Big Thing For 6 Months" at the intimate venue of New Hero. The gig was a bringing together of all the unashamedly scene wankers in Brighton to stand at the back and drink Bulmers while not really sure whether they should enjoy this gig or not, due to the fact she could become quite uncool in a few months. Personally, i didnt think it was that interesting. The set was under 30 minutes long and the sound was bloody awful (not her fault of course). The crowd was generally quite uninterested, apart from the 3,000 "photographers" at the front of the stage and a personal highlight was a little scenester ruck that kicked off for about 3 seconds. Quicksand was obviously quite good, as were a few other tunes, but anyone who introduces songs by saying "Now, lets get ready to rave!" in 2009 should probably be shot. I dont know, maybe im being harsh on "the future of pop" because the soundsystem really didnt do her any favours, but shes hardly the new Kate Bush is she...

The Lonely Island - Jizz In My Pants

For once, im actually completely and utterly fuckin lost for words...this was on MTV2 today!??!!? No wonder there are terrorist organisations who's sole aims are to blow our culture to shit, just look at what we've become! This country...

Mumford and Sons - White Blank Page

Ive really gotta see this band live soon..

Rex The Dog - Bubblicious

Not a big fan of Rex The Dog really, but this video is brilliant:

Animal Collective @ Concorde2

"Oh hi, my names Oliver. I work in Resident and i put Animal Collective albums in every "favourites list" i ever make". Chriiiiiist. So basically i thought id try and win some scene points by goin down to see this lot last night, and i wish id never fucking bothered. Since when did this band sound like an hour and half long Orbital build up on a cocktail of Quaaludes, ketamine and whiskey? I think i went for a record number of fags during a gig ever last night, this was literally such a pointless and boring show. To be fair, im not really into them on record which probably had something to do with it, but i still didnt expect it to be this bad. None of their songs went anywhere, and even when it sounded like they were about to, they'd just change it cos to actually write a good song might be deemed "commercial" or something. Everyone there had goatees and glasses and i saw some people with their eyes closed, shaking their heads as if they were in some psychedelic trance...FUCK OFF this isnt the 60's, this is the age where everyone is too fuckin vain and scared to look like they might even be close to expressing themselves...get with the times everyone? At the end of the gig, all the flannel shirted cunts all tentively asked each other whether they enjoyed it, and the brave few puffed their skinny chests and announced "Yeh it was amazing". Upon hearing this, all their friends would agree wholeheartedly. This either means i was at a different gig to everyone else, or simply im not a stupid fuckin wanker taken in by the idea of "cool". I was pretty pissed though so maybe its the former...

South Central

Ive known about this band/DJ act for years now, having been managed by my old lecturer at music college. I even worked with them for a few months, and it seems they're finally getting the real recognition they deserve, with BBC6 picking up on the song "crystalling" and inviting them on for interviews and the like. As a DJ act they're a two-piece using laptops and keyboards and basically, they fucking kill it with their mix of glitchy electro and indie remixes. They also have use a live band for own material and have toured with the likes of Pendulum (for some reason), Does it Offend You, Yeah? and The Whip. They've also remixed bands like Maccabees, Van She, Metronomy and made an infamous bootleg remix of Klaxons - The Bouncer that the sniffed-up stalwarts of the Nu-Rave craze werent entirely happy about...Anyway, id just never done a post about these brighton lads so thought id better do it now before they get bigger and i look terribly uncool. If you ever get a chance to see them DJ, definitely take it. Theres apparently an album finally dropping in 2009 as well.

http://www.myspace.com/southcentralmusic - theres loads of shit on here including videos and mix downloads innit. check it out fassys.

Top Tens

So with a slight nod to High Fidelity, ive decided to do a "top ten songs for a certain situation" every month. I can see on your faces that you're all FUCKING EXCITED so heres the first one..

Top 10 songs to drink red wine on your own at 2am to (in no particular order):

10 - Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Nobodys Baby Now
9 - Pulp - I Spy
8 - The Pogues - Dirty Old Town
7 - Belle and Sebastian - Dylan in the Movies
6 - Jesus and Mary Chain - April Skies
5 - The Smiths - How Soon is Now?
4 - The Cure - Lovesong
3 - New Order - Age of Consent
2 - The Chameleons - Second Skin
1 - Echo and the Bunnymen - Killing Moon

Fascinating stuff im sure you'll agree. More Top 10's coming soon...

Ones to Watch 2009

TWO THOUSAND AND CRIME! whats good?

1. The Soft Pack - Formerly known as The Muslims, The Soft Pack are a garage band from San Diego who are gettin quite a bit of hype at the moment. Sound a bit like a stripped down Black Lips with more melodies.

2. Foamo - Along with Fake Blood, i can see Foamo being one of the breakthrough DJ's of the year. Hes only 21 and is already making some interesting bassline-heavy electro shiznit. Havent seen him yet, but i intend to!

3. The Virgins - I dont actually like this band, but i reckon they might do pretty well in 2009 and i guess thats the point of this article...The Virgins have been knockin about for a few years now, but have only really come to people attention after featuring on the Gossip Girls soundtrack. Rock 'n' Roll or what. Its just pretty rich kids playing watered down New Yoik new wave with a bit of a FUNKAY edge. dope.

4. Yo Majesty - Yo Majesty are two dykes from Florida who make "Party Hop", which basically just means rapping over electro influenced beats, a la Spank Rock et al. They supported Neon Neon on their recent tour and have people queuing up to work with them, Bassment Jaxx being just one of them.

5. Little Boots - Ive already spoken about this electro synth-pop goddess already, just check that article innit.

6. Mumford and Sons - Finishing the year on a definite high (supporting The Pogues at one of their christmas gigs), 2009 is set to be big for these lads. Having already toured with Laura Marling, the folk band are gettin some real critical acclaim with just two EP's out. Expect to hear the name a lot when the album drops. They're meant to be incredible live as well.

7. Violens - Check article Below.

8. Chairlift - Being mates with MGMT, Yeasayer etc will never hurt your press release and it seems to have helped this lot. You probably heard (or read the lyrics on someones facebook status update) the single "Bruises" which threatened being a big single earlier this year. They make slightly gothic 80's style pop music and if they have other singles like Bruises then they could easily be a Guardian Music Monthly darling in the next year.

9. La Roux - La Roux is a little red haired woman who makes electro pop in the vein of Eurythmics/Depeche Mode but with the modern twist of having grown up in Brixton in the DIVERSE "noughties". Quite similar to the whole Little Boots/Ladyhawke thang. I like.

10. White Lies - You've probably already heard these 3 london lads pretty much ripping off every 80's indie band ever with their "gothic", "dark" and "brooding" indie that actually sounds a bit like The Bravery... They've already sold out gigs at the Manchester and Glasgow academys so its safe to say we'll hear more of these guys this year.

Gigs of 2008

So heres my top 10 gigs i saw in 2008. I had some terrible luck with festivals this summer, so unfortunately theres no epic glasto headline sets or anything like that, but i still saw some fuckin brilliant bands:

10 - Sigh and Explode @ Great Escape - This gig gets in simply because i was working all Great Escape weekend and was annoyed i was missing a load of good gigs, but then this band came on who id never heard of and were actually really sick. S'all about the norwegian melodic hardcore boys and girls...

9 - Bonobo @ Beachdown - A perfect mid-afternoon festival set at the slightly disappointing Beachdown Festival. Just what i needed after caining it the night before, this was one of the musical highlights of the weekend.

8 - Maccabees @ Concorde2 - This was the first time id actually managed to see a Maccabees gig and they didnt disappoint. However, this gig only really gets a mention because i went off to see MSTRKRFT afterwards, so they get points for adding to a fuckin sick night.

7 - Lykke Li @ Concorde2 - Sound was a bit quiet and the audience were all wankers, but the gig itself was quality. Mad props.

6 - Caribou @ Loop Festival - Wasnt really a fan on record before i saw this gig and to be honest, i still dont like them that much. This gig was fucking amazing though. "After Hours" was just brilliant. If you get a chance to see this band live, take it.

5 - MGMT @ Digital - Had seen parts of them live before when i worked at their Pressure Point gig a few months earlier, so kind of knew what to expect, but this gig was pretty dope. All the "classics" were spot on.

4 - Neon Neon @ Digital - This gig was a brilliant live version of one of my favourite albums of 2008. The sound and look of the gig was perfect, with projected films about each song. Cameo's from HarMar Superstar never fail to be interesting either...

3 - Holy Fuck @ Audio - An all day drinking sesh probably helped this gig be as enjoyable as it was, but it actually was fucking amazing. I cant wait to see them again.

2 - De La Soul @ Beachdown - Easily the highlight of Beachdown. For some reason they'd been put on the smaller Second Stage so it was well packed, but this just added a real festival experience to a pretty shoddy festival where all crowds were sparse as fuck. Had never bothered to go see this lot when they'd played in Brighton before, but if they ever do again, might have to get myself a ticket.

1 - Nick Cave @ Brighton Centre - Well, what can i say? This gig was just amazing. Of course with the number of brilliant songs he has, there were a few songs i wanted him to play that he didnt, but this is literally the only "complaint" i have. The blokes a fuckin gangster.



Photo by some fag called Sam Hiscox..

All Time Low

check out these fuckin spastics:




jeeeeeesus christ.