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

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