Category: Live Reviews

Camden Barfly
09.06.08

There’s something a little sinister and mysterious about South Central as they take to the stage at XFM’s X-Posure at The Barfly. Having been touted by XFM’s Jon Kennedy as the ones to watch this year, there’s an air of expectancy hanging over the crowd rammed into the venue – dance, indie and scene kids all swirling together. South Central are a slightly arcane band, there’s no niceties or introduction, they stand unsmiling staring down on the crowd, their hood ups throughout the set, which could make them look like slightly fierce Hobbits, but actually makes them look unbelievably sinister, giving a dramatic air to the show.

They throw themselves into the set with Aoen, a melting pot of heavy guitars, thumping drum beats and synths – it’s trance with a hefty dose of rock, a euphoric shot in the arm of soaring and screaming melodies that wouldn’t be out of place in Ibiza. Revolution has a heavier beat, you can feel the bass in your chest as the band storm through the song, luring the dancers in the crowd to the front. Strobe lights flicker as they punch their way through the rest of their set, ‘Nothing Can Go Wrong‘ and ‘Higher State‘ have the crowd at fever pitch – the tempo never drops, and the neither do their hoods.

Having recently toured with The Whip, South Central are fast making a name for themselves as one of the most exciting nu-electro bands on the scene, and with a set like this it’s not hard to see why. They take elements of trance, rock, indie and punk and throw them all into the mix, demanding your attention with a set overwhelmed with ferocity and bristling vitriol. They’re one step on from Enter Shikari and Pendulum, taking it to a new level – with pounding guitars intertwined in electronics and synths tearing through the venue, and bass lines clawing up the walls. South Central are a band that are going places- catch them now before they go stellar.

For more info www.myspace.com/southcentralmusic

Dee Massey.

Barfly, London.
13th June 2008

Less Than Jakes selling out of the Barfly was no surprise to anyone. Tickets were snapped up and the buzz preceding the show was ecstatic to say the least. The chance to see a band who have sold out the Astoria and hit Reading’s main stage multiple times in a venue no bigger than your average bathroom is always an opportunity to be relished.

Upon arriving it was obvious that there were some very high expectations from the band this evening and that the crowd weren’t here to mess about. In ska, they trust, and the simple fact of the matter is, if Less Than Jake can’t pull it off, no-one can.

Opening with a new track is always a risky business and unfortunately Less Than Jake are no exception to the rule. ‘Does The Lion City Still Roar?‘ is a fantastic track and sounded great but using it to kick off what was predicted to be an explosive set slightly dampened peoples fires. Fortunately for the fans ‘Sleep It Off‘ ‘Plastic Cup Politics‘ and ‘Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sell Outs‘ fixed the back-fire of an opening song and set the band up nicely for ‘Look What Happened‘ and another new track ‘Summon Monsters‘. ‘Ghosts Of Me and You‘ is warmly received however the double edged combo of ”History of a Boring Town‘ and ‘Great American Sharpshooter‘ sent the crowd into a relative frenzy.

‘The Science Of Selling Yourself Short‘ followed and the third and final new track ‘Conviction Notice‘ cemented the fact the band are definitely on the right path in regards to new material. It sounds fantastic and although I haven’t heard the record if the three tracks played tonight are anything to go on its sounding pretty good. ‘Rest Of My Life‘ is up next followed by ‘Krazy Glue‘, but the final four tracks are undoubtedly the icing on the cake. ‘Al’s War‘ followed by ‘Last One Out Of Liberty City‘, ‘Gainsville Rock City‘ and ‘All My Best Friends Are Metal Heads‘.

The sound at the Barfly was pretty spot on and the band played exceptionally well, however it’s fair to say there was a certain edge missing. For a small, intimate, sold out show, the band did little to wow the audience. Yes, they played well, yes they played hits old and new, but yes, we’ve seen it all before. It was exciting at the time, but it did little to make the audience look forward. Back – most definitely. It’s good to reminisce, and Less Than Jake never fail to play well, but that wow factor was definitely missing and it noticed.

Gary Lancaster

Carling Academy, Bristol,
01.06.08

Enter the infamous microphone stand, custom-made with skulls and antlers, to whistles and hand salutes. Next came the 10-foot-high wire fencing, penning in the band members from head to foot – all except for Jourgensen. A little paranoid perhaps?

Then the veteran Alain Jourgensen – aka Buck Satan, Hypo Luxa, Alien Dogstar and Grandpa – took centre stage. No disrespect, but the years of drug and alcohol abuse have clearly taken their toll (fair dos, the guy must be heading towards 50), yet he still commanded respect.

Despite having a strong team to back him up – guitarists Tommy Victor (Prong) and Sin Quirin (Revolting Cocks), keyboardist John Bechdel (Fear Factory, Killing Joke), drummer Aaron Rossi (Prong/John 5) and bassist Tony Campos (Static-X) replacing Paul Raven who died last year – essentially Jourgensen IS Ministry, and all eyes were on him. Sin Quirin in his trademark cowboy hat came a close second, though, and seemed a hit with the girls, being thrown a lacy black bra at the end of the night.

Jourgensen has been such a key figure in industrial music over the years (as well as the Revolting Cocks, his other side projects have included 1000 Homo DJs and Acid Horse, among others) that he is a bit of a legend, so for any self-respecting industrial fan, this was a momentous occasion.

After briefly saying hi to the Bristol crowd, the band launched into a relentless, grinding wall of sound. For the first half of the gig, they covered what you might call their more ‘recent’ stuff – from about 2003 onwards, after the suicide of guitarist William Tucker. Songs from albums like Animositisomina, Rio Grande Blood and The Last Sucker had enough raw, distorted energy to satisfy the most seasoned mosher and kept most of the crowd entranced – although my attention span was beginning to wane by half-time.

Video projections delivered Jourgensen’s usual Bush-bashing and “ministry of propaganda” message, with news footage of war interspersed with animations of Bin Laden and Bush doing the rock salute.

Ministry’s best years were undeniably in the late 80s to early 90s, when industrial was still a youth subculture, rather than something that only 30-somethings are into. Albums like The Land of Rape and Honey, The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste and Psalm 69: The Way To Succeed and the Way Tto Suck Eggs (which all went either Gold or Platinum) have become classics and have stood the test of time.

Al came up trumps in the 2nd half, with old favourites like So What?, NWO, Thieves and Just One Fix. But where were the really big tunes like Stigmata or Jesus Built My Hotrod? I felt a little teased. To be fair, he’s probably a bit tired of them by now, but given it was their farewell tour, it would have been appropriate. Even more of a tease were the several encores, the last two of which were metal versions of Just Got Paid by ZZ Top and Louis Armstrong’s What A Wonderful World, from Ministry’s latest album,

Cover Up (which also features covers of songs by The Rolling Stones, The Doors and Black Sabbath). This latest album may not signal Ministry’s finest hour, but it was an emotional occasion, and Armstrong’s lyrics seemed apt and heartfelt, as though Jourgensen wanted to thank his fans for their years of dedication.

Grandpa Al might be stepping down off the stage, but he is not retiring from the music scene completely. He has handed Revolting Cocks over to new members (Jourgensen’s last Rev Co album is due out soon and he decribes it as “the best album I have ever done, for any band”) and his own record label, 13th Planet, means he can live on through his protégés, so his legacy will be continued.

Anita Asthana
Photos courtesy of Ryan Mitchell at SpoiltCat.com

100 Club, London
04.06.08

Given that my teenage years have long since disappeared from my chronological rear-view mirror, it’s probably no great surprise that some of my favourite records are infused with a sense of youthful energy and vitality. Two years ago, Nebraskan folk/pop quintet Tilly And The Wall‘s ‘Bottoms of Barrels‘ album awoke my inner child from his slumber, and this year, Those Dancing Days‘ forthcoming debut album could well have the same effect. The Swedish quintet are indeed a youthful bunch – all five of the girls have only just finished school – and they’ve managed to attract a decent-sized crowd for a wet Wednesday evening.

Support duties go to John and Jehn; she mostly conjures up droning organ sounds, whilst he jerks around the stage like a man possessed, unleashing short, sharp bursts of guitar. They prove to be eerily compelling if you give them a chance; but the constant chatter from the crowd is a clear indication that most folks here tonight just wanna dance.

And who can blame them? Heaven knows the British weather isn’t doing much for our spirits, so Those Dancing Days’ perky hybrid of indie-pop, girl group and Northern Soul influences is a welcome distraction. Clearly delighted that so many fans have shown up tonight, keyboard player Lina bounces around happily behind her instrument, whilst guitarist Rebecka can’t stop grinning as she exchanges knowing glances with her bandmates.

Songs like ‘Discho‘ and previous single ‘Hitten‘ (which translates from Swedish as ‘The Hit‘) are proof enough that this lot are really onto something; with the beautifully melancholic, disaffected tones of vocalist Linnea married to chiming guitars and a sublime organ that swirls and loops itself seductively through your ears. But it is their eponymous set-closer that impresses the most; a relentlessly giddy burst of synth-drenched sunshine that could get a dead donkey on its feet and bopping away to drummer Cissi’s impressive tub-thumping skills.

Their aforementioned debut album is due for release this autumn; you’d be well advised to keep an ear out for it. In the meantime, check out the songs on their Myspace; then get yourself an ice lolly and go play on the swings.

Alex Gosman

Mr Thing

Cargo, London
05.06.08

Pushing through the curtains that divided the bar area from the venue itself, Mr Thing‘s funky breaks got the heads nodding immediately spinning classics from the 80s and 90s before delving into the more moden tunes like Skibadee’s brilliant Tika Toc, Skinnyman’s I’ll Be Surprised and Jehst’s People Under The Weather. The UK DJ did a fine job of getting the increasingly large crowd in that feel good mood and took the rightfully rowdy applause that came his way.

Then it was time for the legendary Z-Trip to take the stage for his first performance in London for some time. The crowd were amped, the DJ was set and everything was ready to kick off, which is just what happened when Justice boomed out as the mash-ups began seeing Nas rapping over the French duo’s beat. From there the Arizona native took us from Dizzee through Teen Spirit [the first of a number of raucous crowd bundles] and Michael Jackson with Rage Against The Macine under him.

From underground hip hop’s masters such as Brother Ali to heavyweights like Gorillaz, Beastie Boys, Public Enemy and James Brown, Z-Trip brought heavy hitter after heavy hitter even scratching over some Metallica to get the crowd going wild. There was no let up in the set as he brought out Johnny Cash’s Ring Of Fire and mixed in Kanye West’s Daft Punk sample as if it was the most natural partnership on earth.

As if getting the venue to sing along to Journey wasn’t brilliant enough, he then got a veritable karaoke going with Pink Floyd and Depeche Mode following in quick succession, finally reverting back to the beats with Simon Says‘ vocals over the guaranteed winner Witness. The atmosphere was at boiling point with the London crowd getting into every song, but the mercury broke the thermometre when he dropped Benga’s 26 Basslines, treating us to a short dubstep set [including, inexplicably, Guns & Roses with a dubstep beat].

The night ended with a stage dive-ridden performance of Rage Against The Machine’s Killing In The Name and his scratched version of Blackalicious’ Alphabet Aerobics. Earlier in the set he’d said that when he came back to London, he’d be playing Fabric and other such bigger venues, but “right here, right now, this is the raw shit”. And didn’t we all know it. Brilliant.

Abjekt.
Photo by Premise

Scala
02.06.08

It’s surprising that the Scala is visibly not sold out tonight, given that the Weakerthans did manage to sell out the bigger LA2 only last year. Last year’s ‘Reunion Tour‘ album was arguably one of the finest records of 2007, so it’s a shame that the band have yet to enjoy wider recognition beyond their (admiitedly devoted) cult following on these shores.

First support duties go to none other than their touring keyboard player, Christine Fellows. Her minimalist approach divides the crowd somewhat; but her combination of amusing stories and folk/cabaret piano melodies keeps a healthy-sized crowd enchanted. New York’s Dawn Landes proves somewhat less interesting, with a clutch of pleasant country-orientated songs that get a few toes tapping, but ultimately fail to leave much of a lasting impression.

Truly, the Weakerthans are the antithesis of style over substance. Much like, say, Jimmy Eat World, what you get with the Canadian quartet is little more than a bunch of regular guys playing some songs – but brilliant songs at that. The size of the crowd matters little, as it’s clear that most of them are diehard fans, who euphorically greet the punchy pop rock of ‘Aside’, and sing along to the sarcastically humorous ‘One Great City‘ with such fervour that singer/guitarist John K. Samson can barely keep a straight face. With a ninety-minute set that includes two encores, and nary a weak link in their folk-punk chain, it’s safe to say that the Weakerthans remain a great reason to leave your house on a drab Monday evening.

Alex Gosman

The Albert, Brighton
30.05.08

There’s an in-joke in Brighton that The Shitty Limits (assembled from assorted spots in the South-East) come here to play once a week, and tonight is in fact their second gig in our seaside city in the past 6 days.

Hey, no-one’s complaining, these four lads are a total blast, knocking out a powerful and economic set, ripping it up with their untamed fast snotty hardcore and stomping primal garage punk hybrid.

The crowd are relatively static to begin, so frontman Louis hurls himself about front of stage, gets in peoples faces, and soon enough their adrenalized beat gets people moving and shaking. Excellent band, seen them lots of times and they never disappoint.

The Cute Lepers, from Seattle, are fronted by Steve E Nix from The Briefs, who has brought band mate (and bassist) Kicks in to the fold, and they are joined by two other dudes, on rhythm guitar and drums respectively. They did have some backing singers too apparently, along for the ride, but they have already been sent packing… not sure what the story there is. I can confirm though that it woulda been a squeeze on the compact Albert stage with the full ensemble.

Wearing their influences proudly on their Promoting their debut album “Can’t Stand Modern Music” (on Damaged Goods Records) The Cute Lepers (if you hadn’t guessed from the LP title) are musically heavily in debt to the retro-power-punk, and new wave musicola of yesteryear… with particular reference to late-Seventies/early-Eighties UK… and yes, throw the resurgent mod-pop of the day in there too!

I’d not heard any Cute Lepers records before this gig, but, being a product of the era they set to emulate, am familiar with their sound and style, and it definitely ‘works’ with one tight buzzing melodic number after another, taught jerky bursts which got my foot tapping with regularity, and the good humour and enthusiasm from the stage soon spread thru the packed sweating Friday night crowd.

Wearing their influences proudly on their sleeves, they came back for an encore with covers of Northern Irelands long forgotten Starjets and to close the Jones ‘n Cook penned “I’m a Lonely Boy” that would act as a precursor to the ex-Pistols collaboration in The Professionals. Fun evening.

Pete Craven

Turweston Aerodrome
24.05.08-25.05.08

When you see a poster for an event that features a cow with an acid house logo for a face, you’re basically going to have to go aren’t you? Yes, yes you are. So off I went to the middle of Northamptonshire with forecasts of torrential rain looming across the weekend.

The Saturday saw us finally pitch our cheapest-tent-in-Argos a mere 2 hours after we’d started, thanks in no small part to our mallet destroying every peg we needed to get ourselves locked in. Regardless, we set off to the field after sharing our haribo [the actual sweets, rather than some new fangled drug] with our neighbours and got into the Electric Stew tent in time for Radioclit.

With Ears on hype duty and a nice cameo from Esau Mwamwaya, the duo were on fine form, even having Marina [formerly of Bonde] come out to give some flair to the proceedings, the highlight being Wiley’s Sorry Sorry Pardon What. From there we mooched over to see Ed Banger head honcho Busy P play in a tent that was basically the size of my spare room, laying out some dirty electro for us to wind around to. We then moved over to the main stage to see the end of the CSS set, which was a little more understated than the usual colour-fest the Brazilians put on. Nevertheless, we stuck around to see The Prodigy bust out their stuff, incorporating old and new to satisfy the younger generation of fans as well as the old school ravers.

A firework display behind us, we trudged back to the Electric Stew set and saw the last part of Sinden‘s set, which was full of basslines as you’d expect from one of the best DJs around at the moment. Annie Mac followed and delivered some nice tunes to bop around to before the Audio Bullys came on and literally forced us to leave. I’ll be blunt, they were shit. The good news was Goldie was on in the DnB tent so we caught some of his set before heading back to see the brilliant Kissy Sell Out [pictured, right] who included some Wham! and Beastie Boys in his set. Crookers followed and we caught a little bit of their booming tunes before finally retiring to bed.

That’s when the torrential rain kicked in, though our tent [lovingly named Brutus] stood firm and though we had to huddle a little closer than normal, my best mate and I stayed mostly dry. Waking up on the Sunday full of excitement, we hit the hot chocolate stand [because we’re fucking gangster] and headed into see Shortee open up with some headnodders and then witnessed the arrival of Plastic Little. Having a pretty unknown-to-most hip hop group on seemed a strange choice, but by the end of their set, everyone was dancing, so it was a job well done.

Then came the surprise package of the weekend, the 2 hour set from Benga and Skream [pictured, below]. Now, I like Dubstep, it’s great and comes from my manor – South London. However, thinking about having 2 hours of it made me worry that it might be a little much. No chance, the duo came out and played such a diverse set, a Klaxons remix included, that I wanted even more, pumping the air with pistol fingers and bumping around with a pocket of South Londoners.

Following that were D Double E and Footsie, aka Newham Generals, who brought 15 minutes of grime before the OG Dizzee Rascal came out, opening up with his best track I Luv U. Despite the crowd not moving until my mate and I moved into the middle and got them going, it was a great set, even the average Where’s Da Gs? sounding brilliant.

A breakbeat set from Freq Nasty followed before the highlight of the weekend came on – DJ Yoda‘s Audio/Visual set. From the very start, with his Star Wars style intro, the hip hopper mashed up great tunes with brilliant videos, the highlights being a medley of Carlton’s Tom Jones dance from Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, Beeper by Sinden, Biz Markie being Biz Markie and mixing in Wearing My Rolex with Night. Absolutely the greatest thing I’ve ever been witness to.

We left the tent following Yoda and heard the mainstage had been shut down with The Chemical Brothers‘ set being cancelled totally, upsetting a lot of people. Not us though as we were always going to head to the Turbo tent for some camp Chromeo action [we couldn’t stop singing Bonafide Lovin’ for the rest of the night and next morning] and the French wonder duo that is Justice. We Are Your Friends rang out across the tent for a long while after the set had finished, drawing a close to a fantastic weekend.

Our motto for Gatecrasher 2008? Fuck tents, let’s dance!

Abjekt

The only thing Public Enemy ever sold out on was ticket sales – Raps biggest outfit, performing Raps biggest album of all time at possibly one of the most famous venues in the world was always a “publicists dream”.

Before we get to the main event, a strong, and unique set of opening acts took the stage – I totally missed AntiPop Consortium due to a 2 for 1 deal on beers at Plan-B round the corner and of course, the skatepark needed checking out (almost done!) – but made it to the Academy as Kool Keith/Dr.Octagon took to the stage – with masked DJ and hype man en tow. Keiths a veteran of the stage and is unfazed by the 5000 strong predominately white crowd and succeeds in making it feel like a small tight venue. Dropping classics like Blue Flowers and the weirdly hooked Half-shark-alligator-half-man – the crowd know his work and flaunts himself with ease on the stage. Finishing with an UltraMagnetic classic “Poppa Large” which has more than stood the test of time, the question is, who are these two DJ’s setting up after their set…? (Z-Ed – and secondly, was Kool Keith actually rapping or was he miming tonight? The debate goes on…)

The Bombsquad produced and created Public Enemy’s immense soundscape. The Shocklee brothers will be found in the production credits of many of the late 80s/90s hard hitting hiphop tunes from the likes of 3rd Base, RunDMC and Ice Cube’s Amerikkkas Most Wanted album. So given solo-time to shine warming up for PE was something to be more than curious about, I was half expecting a DJ of their instrumentals of their famed tracks – what I got was a total opposite! These guys have been busy in the lab cooking up the heaviest dub-step style beats of all time, Brixton was literally shaken to the core. Definitely worth linking up their constantly advertised on the night myspace page to see some true progression from the classic production team.

When I was in my early teens, two things really got on my nerves, one was clancking my truck on fakie rocks, the other was the S1Ws, the militant (looking) dance troupe that shadow PEs live shows – tonight they look a little lost as Professor Griff was denied an exit visa from America, I don’t see that a necessarily bad thing – the last time I saw him on stage he was spitting all kinds of hate, but tonight we are just left with the dance act, which is pretty embarrassing with people around me laughing! The main ingredient that is missing is the original DJ, Terminator X, who retired from the group back in the mid 90’s – but DJ Lord is more than capable on the 1s and 2s and is flanked with a couple of guitarists and a drummer too, so the stage is set, but “they aint rocked us yet”

The concept of the night is to celebrate 20 years of the platinum plus “Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back” album. So the show blasts off with a patented “Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Boyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy” which means PE is definitely about to explode on stage. Bring Tha Noise hits hard, and instantly gets to fists pumping in the air, leading in to a full mixup of the track listing. A tribute to the former DJ, Terminator X on the Edge of Panic gets everyone firmly back to the first time the rocked the album, and Chuck D and Flavor Flav are as fresh on stage as the first time I saw them almost 20 years ago, its like time on Flavor’s clock had stopped, he is 50 years old this year and though merely a hype man on the albums, but comes in to his own “Cold Lamping” on the live show, and although looking like Souljah Boys dad, he still has more than enough energy for this crowd.

Chuck D, ever the ‘hard rhymer’ is on form, in shape and hungry, and eagerly rips in to Don’t Believe the Hype like it’s fresh out of the studio, although some of the politics have changed, they stick to the original messages and still cant resist having random digs at the Iraq “war” efforts and American Penal system between tracks. The angst hasn’t faded a bit, which is just as well as Prophets of Rage would be devoid of meaning without it.

After working through the album in style, they just won’t let the show end and the venue has a midnight curfew – Chucks determined to go the distance and they go off-topic with a medley of standout cuts from the rest of the albums, standouts being Welcome to the Terrordome, Flavors 911s a Joke and notably Public Enemy #1 which ensures nobody is leaving for the last tube!

What a show, totally exhausting and nobody could feel let down after such a strong performance. I wouldn’t say PE ever topped this album, but one thing is for sure they still have enough fight in the tank to perform at the highest level and are around to inspire yet another generation of artists. Undoubtedly the album, and the movement that is Public Enemy has certainly more than stood the test of time, this was epic.

Phil Procter

Camden Barfly
22.05.08

It’s no great surprise that the outside of the Camden Barfly is currently covered in scaffolding, as this increasingly grotty north London pub has seen better days. That said, you can’t help but wonder if the venue’s management have copped an earful of the sonic wrecking-ball that is the Cancer Bats ‘Hail Destroyer‘ (arguably a contender for record of the year) and erected the scaffolding as a preventative measure.

The show is sold out, but only half of those present manage to haul themselves away from the downstairs bar for Hexes‘ set. A shame, as the band’s mix of hardcore bludgeon and Killing Joke-esque sample trickery sounds pretty damn impressive, even at this early hour. Johnny Truant make their entrance to what sounds like an aeroplane taking off from their amps, but even this pales into insignificance as they unleash a barrage of sickeningly heavy riffs on us. These Brighton hardcore heavyweights have been off the scene for a while, but they’ve come back as one hell of a force to be reckoned with.

Are there any bands out there who enjoy playing live as much as the Cancer Bats? It’s debatable, because as vocalist Liam Cormier roars the words of the opening ‘Hail Destroyer‘ into the faces of the front row, he and his band look like they live for moments like these. There’s no tedious aggro on display here, no ‘more-hardcore-than-thou’ posturing – just four guys from Canada who would probably rock just as hard if their audience consisted of three men and a dog.

Thankfully, the folks in attendance clearly know a good band when they see one, and respond to the likes of ‘French Immersion‘ and ‘Lucifer’s Rocking Chair‘ with flailing limbs, copious headbanging and a maelstrom of a circle pit. Things can only get bigger and better for the Cancer Bats, and on tonight’s evidence, they’ve got what it takes – and then some.

Alex Gosman