Category: Live Reviews

Hexes

KCSU, London
27.10.08

It takes a lot to get people going on a Monday night. The first work day of the week may be over, but the overbearing feeling of woe still hovered me as I trudged through London to reach King’s College SU. True, the excitement of seeing The Bronx, in their first London show in 18 months, was bubbling under, but it needed something to jumpstart the night.

Hexes provided it, though I only caught the tail end of their set, with their high energy Refused-esque tunes belting out across the crowd and giving the sound system a good going over. They will no doubt have added to their fanbase with this show, as they continue their rise up the musical ranks, surely to be tipped for big things in 2009.

Within ten seconds of taking the stage however, it was The Bronx who truly ripped away the cobwebs. Frontman Matt Caughthran treated the stage as if it were a pulpit, preaching to his baying crowd. “You know what’s about to happen,” he screamed. “I want the drinkers to drink, the moshers to mosh and the stage divers to get the fuck up here.” With that, the band were off, thrashing out an intro that saw Caughthran dive into the crowd, the stage get used as a springboard for the crowd and the bouncers fail to get their caveman-like mits on anyone.

Running through old favourites, which were belted back by the fervent packed out audience, the band were as tight as they could ever be and when they played tracks from their self-titled album, the energy level simply never dropped. Caughthran summed it up perfectly when he proclaimed: “We will never, never, never put out something that is shit.”

Welcome back guys, don’t leave it so long next time.

Abjekt.

London Astoria
27th October 2008

Over the past year or so I have seen You Me At Six play numerous venues in London. They supported Elliot Minor at Astoria 2, filled Kings College’s Student Union, they had fans storming the stage at the Monto Water Rats, as well as impressing thousands when they supported Fall Out Boy at Wembley recently. From small stage to large stage, these five lads from Surrey have always put on a first class performance. Their recent SELL OUT gig at London’s Astoria however seemed even more exceptional than the previous shows.

Performing nearly all the tracks off their recently released debut album ‘Take Off Your Colours’, the guys powerful and energetic performances were received with open arms from a very rowdy crowd. The better-known numbers such as ‘Gossip’, ‘Jealous Minds Think Alike’ and ‘You’ve Made Your Bed’ received great responses, but it was the albums acoustic number and concluding track that received the greatest of applause. This was the first time I had seen the lads perform ‘Always Attract’. It is a song where lead singer Josh is accompanied on vocals, and stage tonight, by his sister. From the acoustic beginning to the roughed up anthem ending this song had the crowd hypnotized. Likewise, ‘The Rumour’ gave the crowd the vigorous finale they needed to end the night. With the support acts Farewell and Houston Calls returning to the stage for the anthem verse, a warm, or rather HOT and static electricity ran across the crowd.

The stage presence these guys have is phenomenal. Josh running and bounding from one end of the stage to the other is predictable. But the energy he has while doing it and the way he gets the crowd involved is amazing. Likewise, Max jumping off the drum kit with guitar in hand and Dan pounding away in the background on drums shows just how much enthusiasm and liveliness is stored in these five young musicians; especially considering You Me At Six has been touring throughout October, playing a different venue nearly every night.

Recently it seems to me as though the crowd have been getting more and more boisterous. Crowd surfing is to be expected, but the circles the fans have been fighting open are astonishing. How anyone hasn’t got seriously hurt is beyond me. The band seem to enjoy encouraging this, but if this is the new way to show support, count me out. I think I will be sticking to hand claps and cheering, not black eyes and scratches.

Michelle Ann Moore

First, a little rant that I need to get off my chest. I saw the Strokes and the Datsuns for the first time at the 2002 Reading Festival, and despite being the more critically acclaimed of the two, the Strokes were (and still are) one of the most boring live acts I have ever witnessed. They just stood there like mannequins, with their instruments at chest level, and if you’d closed your eyes, you’d have sworn that it was just the band’s CD playing over the PA. And this was supposedly a rock n’ roll band? Jeez…

The next day, I couldn’t really see the Datsuns, as the little 3rd stage tent was absolutely rammed for their mid-afternoon appearance. They sounded pretty impressive, though – certainly closer in both sound and spirit to the unhinged mania of what rock n’ roll should be about. And they looked like they were having the time of their lives.

Fast forward six years, and although the mainstream music press have long since abandoned their love affair with garage rock, the Datsuns’ power doesn’t seem to have weakened any. If anything, they seem to be more comfy in these smaller, sweat-soaked bar room conditions, with all amps cranked to 11 and the crowd going utterly nuts.

These boys don’t fuck about with stage patter or dramatic entrances; they get up, plug in and rip into ‘Sittin’ Pretty’ like they wrote it last week. From then on, there’s no let up in intensity – ‘Girl’s Best Friend’ is the closest thing they have to a ballad, and it still rocks like a bastard – and enough raw riff action to get even the most churlish of punters pogoing and air-guitaring shamelessly.

In keeping with a tradition laid down by the Ramones, most of tonight’s songs are played even faster than on record, so it seems entirely appropriate that they slot a cover of Joey and co’s ‘The KKK Took My Baby Away’ into the encore. By the time they sign off with a raucous ‘Freeze Sucker’, it’s hard to imagine a more fun way to spend an unusually warm October evening. The flame of rock n’ roll continues to burn brightly.

Alex Gosman

Camden Underworld, London.
9th October 2008.

For many people a Thursday night will forever be taken up by going to wanky artfag gallery openings in the east end in the search of a free beer – luckily for the rest of us there are other things to do. I’m not talking about celebrity x-factor or eastenders, but we have places to go, people to see. This was such a night, with stoner rockers Nebula playing in Camden why would you be stood on Brick Lane with yer plimsoles on and half a bagel hanging from yer cake hole?

As I arrive at the underworld a band is already taking to the stage. I swiftly grab a drink from the bar and proceed into the venue. The band in question is the support band Obiat. The room is filled with all the darkness you would expect from a doom band, and the sparsely populated room welcomed with a man dressed in a full black robe previously worn by Death himself. The music was powerful and was complemented by a vocalist using simple effects, such as a megaphone into a mic with delay. For me this band was only let down by the vibe the frontman gave out, and no audience participation left us feeling unwanted in a dark place with droning music.

The next support The Pilgrim Fathers were a stark contrast, hailing from the delights of the North, Doncaster to be precise, they kicked into their first song ‘Great North Road’ with enthusiasm only to be let down by a technical hitch late on in the song. Shelf, the singer, turned this problem into a pleasurable experience with some good Yorkshire sarcasm, and in no time the show was back on. The Pilgrim Fathers sound send you back to 70’s rock, the front man giving off an air of Zappa, with voice effects galore used well. So many times I have seen these effects boards trying to cover up a bad singer, but not this time. I guess this is why the band is supporting Nebula for the rest of the European tour.

On to the headline act, Nebula, LA stoner rock supremeo’s. This band really know what they are doing. They are super tight, I don’t know how they manage to write new songs they spend so much time on the road, but they do and the crowd, dense by now, are treated to songs both new and old. Their sound is crisp and lends itself to a live performance, the music is quite uplifting for Stoner Rock and always a pleasure to hear. Remember these guys have been doing this for some time and so their improvisation skills are superb making this a visual as well as audio feast.

After feasting in so many ways I was left fulfilled, supped the last of my Newquay Brown and ventured into the night. Rocking.

Kev Firth

After months of heats the worlds top turntablists finally make it to the world finals in London to battle for the coveted gold turntables. After a few years of getting overly technical, judging on the heats we are in for a more “back to music” approach and less of the complex scratch patterns that although difficult, aren’t always the most pleasing to your ears!

The first night at the 02 Indigo was dedicated to the battle DJs, the format is two sets each of 60seconds. This is DJs just straight up have to flex skills and egos to earn the panel of judges favor. Of all the elements of hiphop, this to me at least, is the most technical and universally respected. An emcee can practice lines, a writer can spray and erase, breakers can perfect their routines but a battle DJ has the unexpected elements of a track skipping under pressure, mis-cueing or simply making an error, the slightest fault is instantly punished by the judges.

The first set of battles saw Mikey from Hong Kong drop heavy bass but ultimately wasn’t a match for Frances highly rated DJ Nelson who crushed him without even looking warmed up. Craim from Italy dropped some funk and stretched the minute out in style with some precision juggling. The UK Champ, DJ Switch definitely had worked hard since his UK final victory to breeze through another 60seconds of insults. USA’s SPS, looked over confident before the needle even touched the record and was cocky in a very calm way to annoy DJ Irie from Benelux, both put in work with Irie cutting his way through a heavy weight set bringing the BoomBap to proceedings, the crowd were all for Irie, he smashed it, but SPS went through on technical merit to the next round, even the emcess taking us through the night, Trip and Billy Bizness looked a bit embarrassed.

Last years Supremacy champ was back to defend his title, rocking a shirt stating ” Nelson = French Bitch” and cutting samples calling Nelson a Bitch, dumb move. Nelson was wound up and battled back with Rage Against the Machine’s first album pulling out the riffs on the decks and wiped the former champ out. DJs were dropping like flys, Craim was suffering technical difficulties, Bunta from Japan looked the part with his fat gold chain but failed to impress, Switch was on hand to knock them both down to make it to the final.

The final put Nelson head to head with Switch. Nelson was bashful and stepped straight in to hard bass drums and taking every spare second to bate his opponent. Switch replied with a straight up battle set, no pretty juggling, jumping a level up from his already high standards, and even felt he could smooth things out while casually slating his opponent on track. I couldn’t pick between them and both of these guys were a cut above the other DJs on the night, but in the eyes of the judges, Switch took it and is the World DMC Supremecy Champion for 2008, worth noting that the first guy to shake Switch’s hand to congratulate him was DJ Nelson, its all love.

Next up is the team event – Portugal’s Supa had the misfortune of kicking off the sets with dual scratch routines, but the sound levels were mixed up and only the stage area received sound. USA’s Angry Ex’s setup in about 90seconds, just decks and mixers, these guys approached it as two DJs mixing hard, rather than over complicating things with multiple laptops, they just had fun up on stage winning the crowd over instantly, would be amazing seeing a full club set from these two technically gifted jokers. Intellivision from Italy started to warm things up with their LED glowing glasses and Mission Impossible beat juggle, very organized and intense and straight in to 3rd Place. The French crew, Trauma Team battled in to second with a 4 man set putting together their own sound from scratch (sorry!) but it was the Japanese team to take it again. Kireek are on a roll, the 2 Djs from Osaka have been pushing each other for a few years now and it wasn’t a surprise they took it for a 2nd year in a row and walked away with $10000 prize money!

Saturday is the main event, bigger crowd and a lot of much bigger name, established DJs along for the 6minute sets. Highlights were DJ Shub with a very complete set of making his own music and still hitting every aspect of mixing and might have been the first to even bother with his “up-faders” on the night. Rob Banks from Germany put in a faultless set with some stomping beats, Perplex had battled through technical difficulties to get his quick sound out. The UK Champ, DJ Skully drove the crowd wild with a no-messing-around mentality, straight in to a routine, no seconds wasted with a pointed intro and blazed some UK hiphop and breezed from tempo to tempo using musical breakdowns and combined technical ability to keep the judges happy, I hoped for a UK double victory, but Skully made a respectable 4th, another night he could have taken it.

Japan delivered a heavy showing as ever, DJ CO-MA will be hoping to follow in DJ Kentaros footsteps who took 3rd in 2001 and then stormed to victory the following year. Working his battle tools to melting point with a smooth electro juggle at warp speed showing pretty much a full repertoire of tricks and treats while keeping the music flowing, might feel hard done by with 3rd place, I suspect he will be back. 2nd Place went to the USA in the shape of DJ Slyce. Coming off more technical than the other DJs, maybe at the expense of the music – but manually spinning the decks backwards in a beat juggle mixed with high speed flares definitely got the crowd riled, faultless.

1st place however went to Frances DJ Fly, no holds barred here, treated it as battle set to start with and confidently abused the decks with a very strong style and played equally to the crowd with DJ Premier samples and to the judges with new scratch patterns and seamless juggles remixing drums as he went along. Any of the Top 4 could have taken the title, but on reflection, Fly had all the prime parts of each of the other top 4 DJs worked in to his arsenal so he justly takes the prize money, but more importantly the Gold Technics and the right to be called The World DMC Champion, props.

The DMC’s aren’t just about battle DJ’s competing, sets from DJ Vajra and former champions like last years DJ Rafik broke up the night. Live PAs from The Jungle Drummer got the club atmosphere going, while Kella came out of nowhere with a full live band and a full on large sound that had him rapping, singing and of course beatboxing with the added flavor of an artist completely out of his shell and violently attacking his latest sound of mashup/punk, definitely have to catch a full live show, he is brutally taking the art form in so many directions right now.

Again the DMC’s came up with an inspirational world class event, showing strength in depth from a world class judging panel that included legends like DJ Pogo and former champ DJ Rafik, nobody could argue with the end results. Even the technical problems didn’t spoil the mood with emcees Billy Bizness and the motormouth Trip both on top form keeping the crowd amused with playful banter and more product tosses than a crossfire event!

Good work, bring on 2009, I’m off for a mix!

DMC DJ championships

Killa Kela

Philip Procter

The Underword
Camden, London
23/09/2008

23rd September 2008

We all know the history of punk by now don’t we. If you watch any mainstream documentary about punk rock they’ll tell you that punk started with The Sex Pistols,The Clash, The Damned,The Buzzcocks and ended when the Pistols broke up. It wasn’t like that, of course, as anyone who followed punk in the eighties will testify.

It did, however, go underground where it grew and grew into an unstoppable force where politically motivated punks like Crass, Conflict and Flux Of Pink Indians made punk a genuine threat and menace to society rather than just shock theatric tactics. Of all of the anarcho punk bands The Subhumans were among the best.

Unlike the screaming noise of many of their ilk, The Subhumans had and still have songs with memorable melodies and lyrics you can sing-along too, with lyrics that are more than just howling anger and bile but actually try to offer hope and questions to the answers. And the good news is, they’re better than they have ever been!

Having originally disbanded in the mid eighties (they went on to form bands like Culture Shock and Citizen Fish, still an ongoing concern), they first reformed to massive response in the early 90s and have been playing on and off ever since. Last year they finally released a new album called ‘Internal Riot’ and it proved to be a fantastic return to form. Tonight, to an enthusiastic crowd of punks singing along to every word, they pepper their set with some choice cuts from the new album (‘This Year’s War’ and the title track being among the best) mixed in with all of the classics from the eighties (‘Rats’,‘Religious Wars’, ‘Peroxide’ and ‘Joe Public’ are the pick of the bunch).

Considering how long this band have been going it’s incredible how much energy they still display when they play live. Frontman and lyricist Dick Lucus is still an absolute inspiration. Somehow he doesn’t seem to have aged a bit proving that the anarcho punk lifestyle is obviously good for your health. Incredible band.

James Sherry

Foreign Beggars
Dynamite MC
Plastic Little
DJ Rattus Rattus

Fabric, London
03.10.08

Fabriclive is one of, if not the, best mix collections in music and with Breakbeat master and erstwhile Santogold producer Freq Nasty behind the decks to showcase his upcoming mix, it was always going to be a lot of fun. The evening however, kicked off in room 3 where DJ Rattus Rattus of the Urban Nerds crew dropped old school UK Garage mixed up with some new bassline tunes, making sure the smallest room in the club got their sweat glands going.

Moving down into the main room, Philly funsters Plastic Little were in full swing delivering their usual tongue-in-cheek raps about experimenting with drugs, remixing their own remix and being rich, all whilst wearing ponchos that looked like they’d been made out of moth-eaten rugs. When they broke out Crambodia, their stand out track, the crowd lapped it up and rightly so.

Dynamite MC filled the gaps between live sets by dropping the usual floor-filling rap – M.O.P., Black Rob and Pharoah Monche – as well as some homegrown artists in Wiley, Skepta and Bizzle. It was then the turn of Foreign Beggars to provide the live entertainment and they certainly got the crowd whipped into a frenzy with a mix of old and new tracks, including two huge beats by Noisia, as well as an appearance from beatboxer MC Zani.

After the Beggars had left the stage, Fiji-born Freq Nasty arrived on the decks and immediately pummeled the venue’s collective ear drums with a mix of breakbeats, fidget and dubstep. It was the dubstep that made the set come alive too, with Rusko’s Hammertime almost annihilating the speakers and a groggy remix of Santogold’s Creator [produced by Freq himself]. If this set was anything to go by, his Fabriclive mix is going to be an absolute banger.

Abjekt.
Photo by Premise.

Outcry Collective

Water Rats, London
02.10.08

A half-full Water Rats isn’t likely to be the most inspiring of places to bust out your jams, but that was what faced Outcry Collective on a cold Thursday evening. There might have been a huge gap in front of the stage but that didn’t stop the quartet stomping their way through their support set, whipping the onlookers on the periphery into a whirlwind of noise. Their Maylene-esque numbers chugged and screamed at the highest of volumes with New Franchise Mess proving the high point, getting everyone ready for the headline act of the evening.

When The Plight hit the stage after a short warm up intro, there was still a fair amount of space in front of the stage but that was soon closed up when long-haired singer Aliskull ordered everyone to move forward and get involved with his wayward dancing. Those of us who have seen the Leeds band before know what to expect – bouncing riffs, head-bobbing drums and growled vocals – and it is alwasy a pleasure as the quintet seemed to thrive more and more as the set in the small venue progressed.

Old favourites Pull The Trigger, Ball And Chain and It Only Gets Worse were interspersed with tracks from their forthcoming album and proved that there is definitely a place for The Plight amongst the higher echelons of British rock. The band have fun live, that much is obvious, but when the ever energetic frontman joined in with the drunk man in the corner [who was seemingly on a date with a grandma hell-bent on getting a pit started] as they danced as if listening to disco from the 70s, the crowd knew it was a party time.

Roll on the new album, because if nights like this are anything to go by, London wants The Plight back as soon as possible.

Abjekt.

229 Great Portland Street
London
20th September 08

If you were feeling lazy, to the casual observer, it would be easy to place Dead Meadow in the stoner rock bracket.They’re definitely rock and very probably stoned but Dead Meadow are a long way from being yet another band in debt to Kyuss or Monster Magnet.

This floppy haired trio are what happens when every bit of metal or classic rock cliché is systematically removed from the music. They still ape some of the rock moves of the late sixties and seventies but their blissed out sound has far more in common with the eighties UK drone rock of the likes of Loop and Spacemen 3 than any third generation Kyuss copy. And tonight, Dead Meadow are on excellent form.

Although singer Jason Simon’s vocals are extremely low in the mix and struggle to compete with the waves of shimmering guitar crashing from the stage, it doesn’t really matter when the guitar and lazy grooves are this damn good.

Although the venue isn’t packed to rafters, those that have turned out to witness the band lap up every second of their beautiful music as the band work their way through tracks from their latest album ‘Old Growth’ plus some from their four previous albums including ‘At Her Open Door’ and a storming ‘Sleepy Silver Door’.

Best of all, even this far into their careers, Dead Meadow play like they’re having an absolute blast tonight, passing a whiskey bottle amongst themselves, swigging deep and further locking into the music, lost within it and feeling every inch of their glorious psychedelic rock.

A fantastic gig from a criminally under-appreciated band. Let them into your dreams now.

James Sherry

The Sazerac, London
17.09.08

Someone once said that the distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success. Who said it is irrelevant, but it’s an interesting point – how much irrational, ridiculous and generally socially unacceptable behavior can be justified by true talent? Throughout history, many of the most famously productive and creative minds have been riddled with mental illness and social problems, but should we really be applauding people who wear their flaws so unashamedly?

Wednesday night in a function room over a fashionable bar in central London; necks crane and people shift around increasingly irritably, trying to catch a glimpse of the man they’ve paid a precious credit-crunched £8 to see. Bradford Cox, AKA Atlas Sound, is sitting contentedly cross-legged onstage, wrapped up in his own world and apparently oblivious to the fact that, in ensuring his own comfort, he is cutting off the vast majority of his audience.

As he sinks into a set of beautifully melancholic iridescent pop, more and more people tut dejectedly and make for the exit. Glorious ambient hazes and purring beats drench those persistent enough, but moody and swelling though the sounds emitting from the stage are, they cannot excuse a man so wrapped up in himself that he seems to have completely forgotten that one of his main obligations in a live show is to actually be seen.

An hour into his set and Cox awakens from his inward spiral of noise, his attention caught by an audience member at the front wearing a Swans t-shirt. And so, bartering for said t-shirt ensues, at first entertaining, but eventually padded out with endless waffle, it becomes uncomfortably dull. Where most front men should know their time to speak is over and move onto the next song, Cox seems insistent that everything he says, however trivial, is worthy of his audiences time.

It has frequently been reported that Bradford Cox does little to endear himself to fans and journalists alike, instead choosing to brood over his own depression and angst. And yet, discomforting though it may be, it’s most likely precisely that depression and angst that feed Atlas Sound and with his band Deerhunter, making them two of the most exciting musical projects around. And lets face it, with music this good you don’t really need to be able to see anything to enjoy yourself anyway, do you?

Katie Price