"and the trophy for best cover band goes to..."

music >> gig review >> trophy wife >> madame jo jo's >> 04.04.11

like foals? yup? well then this band might be right up your street. or maybe not…

last monday i was invited to see trophy wife headline ‘showcase presents’ at madame jo jo’s in soho, london. also on the bill were jackson scott’s flamenco band mano de dios and big chorused indie essex boys i dream in colour. i went into the evening full of anticipation for trophy wife, unfortunately i came away feeling, hmm, slightly awkward.

trophy wife, like foals are from oxford. trophy wife, like foals engage in a self-conscious stage presence. trophy wife, like foals play a tense intricate disco math rock that often builds from a pin drop to an all out knee jerking panic. the similarities could go on. if foals did not exist and trophy wife were delivering such modern sounds for an unsuspecting wishful first time audience, they’d be labelled as interesting - not fantastic, but at the very least an interesting sound. the fact that every high fret note, every vocal and every awkward stage advance reminded me of yannis et al marks trophy wife down as a band lacking identity. worryingly because they’re from oxford and they’ve actually supported foals on tour, it makes trophy wife seem, well a little creepy.

the sound in madame jo jo’s wasn’t tip-top; often the vocals struggled to project once in full swing, while the sparse crowd supplemented what was already a difficult inspection. i wanted to enjoy trophy wife, i really did. i’d read some relative hype, heard their ‘microlite’ single and had previously been told of the foals comparison, but I had no idea it would be quite so palpable. having fallen in love with the sounds of oxfordshire over the last few years through the brilliance of songs such as ‘spanish sahara’ and ‘two steps, twice’, i couldn’t help but feel unresponsive to a blatant replica. thankfully, the gypsy beats of mano de dios and the passion and authenticity of i dream in colour saved the night from feeling like a cheesy, drunken monday night of karaoke in soho.

5/10

dad's brothers from holland

gig review >> dutch uncles >> old blue last, shoreditch >> 27.10.10

for the last few months the name 'dutch uncles' has been everywhere - i say everywhere, i mean my twitter account, which can seem like everywhere when you while away your working day tweeting about the weather and hunting down the next must-see gig. a lot of 'musos' i follow have repeatedly sung their praises, so to find they were playing the old blue last in shoreditch last night was a pre-halloween treat...

dutch uncles didn't disappoint and didn't miss a trick (how long can i abuse this halloween theme?). they begun awkwardly and having not seen them before i thought this might have been to the lack of stage space, or the the need to shake off some pre-gig jitters. three songs into their set, the awkwardness remained and it was apparent that this was indeed their stage style and essential to their indie-maths pop personality. frontman duncan wallis showed an often spooky likeness to the mannerisms of the late ian curtis, switching from timid and shy between songs, to cutting angular shapes with his flaying arms and square shoulders once the beat of the song had been fully embraced. bouncing 80s bass lines and creative entwining guitars backed up what wallis' punchy often feminine vocals confessed to the crowd.

it seemed a long set for a relatively low-key band, which evidences their wealth of material. the songs, often rousing became stronger towards the end of the night, a brooding intelligence which came to the forefront with songs such as 'fragrant' setting the busying crowd's knees jerking....

don't miss a trick, treat yourself to something from dutch uncles (boom boom ch...)

7.5/10

i dream in colour

gig review >> i dream in colour >> london >> 28.07.10

in the midst of the great british festival season it's easy to forget that we, the new-music-chasing public should be out there on these fine summer's evenings discovering bands trying to climb the musical ladder. with festivals showcasing what feels like seven million bands every weekend, we'd be forgiven during these warmer months for failing to get out to the dark and dingy gigs that turn these bands from underdogs to summer festival regulars. wanting to move away from the "festivals have everyone i want to see" mindset, last night i headed to london's brick lane to see 'i dream in colour', a young london outfit playing songs from their recently released ep 'the boiler room' (available on itunes, produced by iain gore - mystery jets, glasvegas, libertines). i'd heard a lot about them through a guitar tech mate of mine (tech is short for technician but i'm not sure what guitar is short for*). this techie geek has worked with some big names like maximo park, the maccabees and morcheeba (he prefers bands beginning with 'm'), so when a few months ago he described richard judge (idic's frontman/guitarist) as the best songwriter he'd ever come across, i was intrigued and keen to catch them live.

i dream in colour are a classic indie band, a lazy summation i know, but they are and it's not a bad thing, with all the usual suspects as influences - the beatles et al. they began with 'ready to go', a strong opener with a moody intro and memorable riff. second up was the one song that i and most of the crowd already knew, 'get along'. it had all the elements of a well crafted indie pop song, evidencing the songwriting prowess i'd heard all about. a couple of tracks came and went in the middle, perhaps not quite up to the high standards on show earlier in the gig, but things picked up again towards the end of the set. 'fourteen' is a great song, well structured, well layered, good chorus and propelled to another level by richard's mature and key changing vocals - think matt bellamy minus the opera rubbish. such strong vocals highlight that this is his band and these are his songs. the last song 'finding the courage' was my favourite. when it got going i was hoping the outro would last for ages, the kind of song that could have had a six minute ego stroking ending (the fact that it didn't again shows there's thought behind the writing), but with an abrupt finish their set was over and it was time to head into the night...

all in all it was good to get back to the midweek grass roots of music with a band i knew little about. during the set i felt slightly disappointed with the rest of the band - happy to just provide the backdrop for richard to shine, but on reflection that's all they needed to do. shine richard does. extremely impressive vocals, catchy songs and the ability to veer nicely between languid and energetic. for i dream in colour to progress and climb that musical ladder where the big shot guitar techs jump onboard, they know what they need; a name change to something beginning with 'm'... so while they consider new band names, i'll try and work out what 'guitar' is short for.

i dream in colour played:

ready to go

get along

if you

alibi

on my mind

fourteen

finding the courage

7.5

*copyright of mat horne & alexander oakley. jokers.

kev and eleanore (could) go large!

gig review >> the hundred in the hands >> the old blue last, shoreditch >> 15.07.10

last thursday evening i attended a vice magazine party at the old blue last in shoreditch. the people at vice promised us "beautiful people and bands", but after a brief scout there was only one person that caught my eye - the only person in the room who seemed natural, not over dressed in her dead granny's clothes, and not competing for queen of quirky amongst her fellow hoxton heroes. step forward eleanore everdell, singer, synths and all things electric and exciting in the two piece band the hundred in the hands.

eleanore, the female half of the hundred in the hands first caught my eye last year when i saw them warm up for the maccabees at the brighton great escape festival. they were pretty good back then, so i had high expectations of them a year of growth on. they're from new yooik, and play an easy on the ear minimal avant poppy dubby electro, think the basics of crystal castles minus the screams and urge to take a load of pills and rave. more tap your foot stuff, or casually shake your hair about (as eleanore does so well). despite a few technical hitches, their set was laden with catchy pop songs from their new lp out in september such as 'ghosts', 'tom tom' and a heavier than usual version of their most popular song 'dressed in dresden'. everdell seductively propels the songs with an ease that seems effortless and natural. in complete contrast to her minimal yet perfect effort is guitarist jason friedman who crashes around his million or so effects pedals like a moody emo teenager creating a sound that bares little resemblance to what would naturally amplify from his collection of guitars. some might say the contrast compliments their on stage sound, but i found the actions of jason a bit much. for some reason mid-set he adorned one of those silly caps that a lot of the early 20-somethings tilt on the back of their boy-in-a-band-hair these days. memories of harry enfield and kevin the teenager came flashing back. occasionally the sound created by jason was too wall-of-noise for everdell's soft tones and any hooks or melodies seemed lost in his blaze of effects.

i liked the delivery from eleanore, i also enjoyed the knee jerking beats of their songs, but found myself increasingly aggravated by jason's on stage, back to the crowd performance. but with a little tweak in their live sound and stage presence here, a removal of a cap there, the hundred in the hands will soon find themselves propelled to the bigger gigs and due to the law of averages, should ensure an increase in the beautiful people as wrongfully promised tonight...

6.5

the hundred in the hands played:

tom tom

young aren't young

pigeons

ghosts

building in l.o.v.e

commotion

dressed in dresden