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Music News

Fat Mike from NOFX opens Vegas Punk House

I love Fat Mike from NOFX. He is the over 40 anti-music industry party spunker who can still get a rabble of kids beating each other up in a field whilst his band kick out those memorable 90’s tongue-in-cheek, punk rock hardcore leaps.

This week the frontman has turned a property he owns in Las Vegas into a holiday home “for adults that live like teenagers“. According to its website, the house sleeps ten people, features a games room, salt water pool cave hot tube, water slide, nine hole golf course, “a shitload of records“, plus a museum featuring “a small collection of punk memorabilia and strange punk relics“, though it adds of the museum: “there isn’t much to it“. If you are friends with him and want this experience then dial this number.

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Music News

Tune of the Day: Eric B & Rakim Follow The Leader

Eric-B.-Rakim-Follow-The-LeaderToday’s Tune of the Day was inspired by a facebook friend who woke up to this morning’s spring sunshine and clicked on this timeless classic to get her out of bed. It worked.

Eric B and Rakim did their darn best to change Hip Hop forever with help from producer Marley Marl and launched their fame from Long Island, New York City in 1988 with Paid in Full, a Hip Hop classic that still stands the test of time today. Follow the Leader dropped in July 1988 as the seminal follow-up to their debut which took this duo’s skills to another level.

Get some of this in your ears today and go search for the full lengths.

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Music News

Kito and Reija Lee ready new EP

One of our favourite new[ish] producers around is Kito and she’s got a new EP coming out with vocalist Reija Lee on Diplo’s Mad Decent label.

The Sweet Talk EP will feature four tracks – Sweet Talk, Broken Hearts, On The Jam and This City – and is released next Tuesday, April 29th. You can check out previews of all four tracks below.

Kito’s gonna do big things this year and beyond, get involved.

Kito & Reija Lee- Sweet Talk EP Minimix by maddecent

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Music News

Bonobo announces Koko dates

After wowing crowds at the Troxy at the end of last year, Bonobo is back with a full live band to play two dates at Koko.

With Andreya Triana lending her unique vocals to proceedings and the brilliant Anchorsong [who we saw rock the stage opening for Prefuse 73 not long back] as support, it’s set to be a date to remember.

Playing on the 25th and 26th of April, tickets are available from here and here, with early bird tickets priced at £19.50, advance tickets at £24 and tickets on the door priced at £27. Get in quick or else you’ll miss out on what’s sure to be one hell of a show.

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Music News

Jehst, Ghostpoet and Anchorsong play XOYO

XOYO will host the single launch for UK hip hop kingpin Jehst on April 16th.

In addition to Billy Brimstone, the line-up will feature Anchorsong [for his EP launch], Kelpe, Lukid, Kutmah and man of the moment Ghostpoet in a line up that should satisfy all tastes.

Running from 9pm to 3am, tickets are priced at £16 on the door or £12 in advance from www.soundcrashmusic.com and is Over 18s only, so no kiddiewinkies! Get in the zone by reliving this banger from Jehst, it’s a favourite of ours here at Crossfire.

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Music News

Cerebral Ballzy return to London in May

cerebralballzyBrooklyn hardcore band Cerebral Ballzy have announced a live show at the Barfly in Camden, London for May 7th with Thrush Metal in support. If you like your old school hardcore a la Bad Brains, Adolescents, Black Flag then watch this video and get hyped.

Doors at 8pm -2am with a whole host of guest support acts and DJs planned. Tickets £6 adv from here.

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Music News

Camden Crawl announce full 2011 band line up

camdencrawl2011

We are only 6 weeks away from this year’s Camden Crawl where Crossfire will be hosting 5 live acts from various genres as part of curating The Barfly venue on Sunday 1st May at the festival. The bunfight for each curator to choose the acts on offer is now complete so today the Crawl have announced the list of acts that will be playing that you can see below.

There’s a bunch of special guests to be announced soon too, so follow their Twitter out for updates. Full listings and up-to-date announcements available from: here. Get your tickets sorted before it’s sold out, we will be hosting a party with DJ’s until 2am on the night.

SATURDAY 30TH APRIL

SAINT ETIENNE * THE KING BLUES * MILES KANE * TODDLA T * VILLAGERS AHAB * THE AGITATOR * ALICE GOLD * ANGE BOXALL & THE WAGON BAND * BEAR DRIVER * BEAR’S DEN * BENJAMIN FOLKE THOMAS BAND * BIG DEAL * BO NINGEN * CIVIL CIVIC * COMANECHI * CREEP * CROWNS * D/R/U/G/S * DANANANANAYKROYD * DRY THE RIVER * EAGULLS * ENGINE EARZ EXPERIMENT * FRANKIE & THE HEARTSTRINGS * GALLOPS * GHOSTPOET * THE GOOD NATURED * HAWK EYES * HIGH RANKIN * KING CHARLES * MARTYNA BAKER * MERCEDES * THE MOUNTAINS & THE TREES * MUMS OF DEATH * MZ BRATT * THE QEMISTS * RAINBOW ARABIA * RANDOM IMPULSE * THE RUSSIAN FUTURISTS * SARABETH TUCEK * SBTRKT * TEETH * THOSE DANCING DAYS * TOM FARRER AND THE PHARAOHS * TOTALLY ENORMOUS EXTINCT DINOSAURS * TRANSFER * TURBOGEIST * TURBOWOLF * TWO WOUNDED BIRDS * ULTRASOUND * VARIOUS CRUELTIES * VERONICA FALLS * WARRIOR ONE * WILD PALMS * THE YOUNG EMPIRES

SUNDAY 1ST MAY – 5 of these acts will play our venue – TBA soon

BRITISH SEA POWER * GUILLEMOTS * HADOUKEN! * THE LEMONHEADS * RAZORLIGHT * SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO * 2:54 * BANJO OR FREAKOUT * BETH JEANS HOUGHTON * BONES * BRIGHT LIGHT BRIGHT LIGHT * THE CHAPMAN FAMILY * CITY SHANTY BAND * COCKNBULLKID * THE COMPUTERS * DAM MANTLE * DINOSAUR PILE UP * FILMS OF COLOUR * FOREIGN OFFICE * GIGGS * HEDONIACS * THE HISTORY OF APPLE PIE * HOUSSE DE RACKET * HUDSON MOHAWKE * JAMIE SMITH’S MABON * JOHNNY FOREIGNER * JONQUIL * LET’S BUY HAPPINESS * LETHAL BIZZLE * THE LINES * MAZES * MIRRORS * MOSS * P MONEY * PARIS SUIT YOURSELF * PEGGY SUE * PETE & THE PIRATES * PINEY GIR * POLARBEAR * PVT * ROMANCE * SICK OF SARAH * SISSY & THE BLISTERS * SLOW CLUB * SOUND OF RUM * STAR SLINGER * TOM WILLIAMS AND THE BOAT * TREETOP FLYERS * VAULTS * VOXHAUL BROADCAST * WE ARE ANIMAL * WOLF GANG * YASMIN * YOUNG DREAMS * YOUNG LEGIONNAIRE

APPEARING BOTH DATES:

BECOMING REAL * BENJAMIN FRANCIS LEFTWICH * CATE LE BON * CEREBRAL BALLZY * CLOUD CONTROL * DELS * DIVORCE * FEVER FEVER * FICTION * FLATS * HOLY STATE * JAPANESE VOYEURS * JOHN & JEHN * KONG * LITTLE COMETS * LU LU & THE LAMPSHADES * MARQUES TOLIVER * MAVERICK SABRE * MNDR * THE PHANTOM BAND * RD * S.C.U.M * SPECTRALS * THE STAVES * TEAM GHOST * VISIONS OF TREES
PLUS VERY SPECIAL GUESTS TO BE ANNOUNCED

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Features Music

Top 10 Most Punchable Faces in Rock and Roll

punchable facesFlicking through the music press this week I started to get anxious and could not work out why. I pondered on whether if it was related to the weekend of carnage that just passed or the sheer audacity of fake rock stars that are pouring into print these days as there seems to be a barrage of people that annoy you so much that sometimes you would like to punch their lights out.

So, after contacting our freelance writers and having a huge discussion on who will make this list, we present you with this month’s, (yes, this may have to be done again if you get involved at the end) Top 10 Most Punchable Faces in Rock and Roll!

10. DARWIN DEEZ

It’s hard to know where to even begin with this plum. He wears a fucking stupid headband that’s made from a mouldy doily, has a moustache that wouldn’t look out of place on a sexual deviant and wears jeans so tight they make me feel infertile just by looking at them.

Oh, and his music is pony too. Log off, Darwin.

9. TOM CLARKE

It’s perhaps slightly redundant to include The Enemy’s Tom Clarke in a list of punchable faces, mostly because it seems somebody has beat us to it. They say pictures speak louder than words, and this idiom rings emphatically true in Clarke’s case. Just look at him! He’s like a living metaphor for the ugly duckling, except that’s not fair, because the ugly duckling wasn’t in a shit band. I mention the ugly duckling not as a throwaway insult, but because his features quite literally resemble that of mother goose. It’s a shame to gloss over Clarke’s music to judge him on looks alone, but his face is so distracting I couldn’t begin to delve into the horror that is The Enemy’s music.

8. FARIS BADWAN

Talking of the horror, nobody likes a student wanker especially when they look they crawled out of a scene from The Munsters and are influenced by copycat Nugget’s wannabies The Fuzztones.

Faris Badwan, lead singer of The Horrors has been on so many covers of magazines since the band broke through the indie circuit back in 2007 that he probably is single handedly the reason why people don’t buy them anymore!

7. IAN WATKINS

You could have picked any of the 5 members of Lost Prophets for this list, in fact they should be lucky we have only picked on singer Ian Watkins but I guess if you want to front the ‘most fake rock and roll band of all time’ then you deserve to be in the Top 10.

Lost Prophets are the worst styled rock band since Slade and have tried their hardest to be everyone else apart from themselves from day one musically and fashion wise. They just never seem to have their own style, look at this shot to the right, girls tee shirt and a smelly glove? Also, the fact their music sucks harder than the latest Dyson creation zooms Mr Fake ass Watkins straight in at number 7.

6. DRAKE

If ever there was a face in the rap world that deserved a punch, it’s the one on the end of Drake’s neck. It’s hard to know where to even start – possibly the fact that he keeps wearing turtleneck jumpers like some kind of shit painter from the 1970s, the irony being that he sounds like he IS turtlenecking, the talentless prick.

And what about how his mouth looks like some kind of bastard child of a 15 year old MySpace trout-pouting girl and a retarded chipmunk with a coathanger in his gob? He can’t sing, he can’t rap and it’s high time he pulled the neck of that jumper up over his head and slinks back to the cesspit he came from.

5. PETE DOHERTY

This pasty faced utterly un-talented drug bore has a face that even his mother can’t love. His drug bloated boatrace is just asking for a rotten kipper slapped right across his chops.

He’s not rock n’roll or glamorous, his face is a scab pit, his music is the most boring drivel to have been released in years and he’s just rubbish. And he’s got really dirty finger nails and his little fat face is just asking for a punch. Can I go on?

4. LIAM GALLAGHER

There’s no denying that Liam is a proper rock star and back in the glory days of Oasis he couldn’t be touched for drop dead cool and arrogance, but that same arrogance has got the better of him with his new Beady Eye band. He was at his usual ‘we’re the greatest band in the fucking world’ best in the lead up to the music being unleashed on the world, claiming they were going to be bigger and better than Oasis.

The records came out and the world went mild. Somewhere in the background Noel is rubbing his hands together and laughing. Wipe that arrogant sneer off your face Liam, you ain’t all that. We’ve got our Beady Eye’s on you.

3. JOHNNY BORRELL

Johnny Borrell could be cited as the biggest cunt of all – if he’s not prancing about in his staple white denim half naked on a stage looking like a z-rate Iggy Pop, he’s gallivanting with the latest flashy C-listers or indeed protesting about green issues to add to his already lacking rock n roll credentials. Dare I say more?

Already the prize winner of the most vainest twat in pop this ex- Libertines loser and current singer of Razorlight could very well be the most punchable face known to man.

flats cunts2. DAN DEVINE (aka Daniel McGee)

Excuse me if we appear precious about our punk rock here at Crossfire, but we really fucking hate this Flats band that are currently sneaking into the music press as ‘the band to make punk rock dangerous again’. Claiming you are inspired and from the same ilk as eighties punk legends like Heresy, Discharge and Crass when you are actually a bunch of floppy haired indie twats with a frontman called Dan Devine, the son of ex-Creation records boss Alan Mcgee is wrong on every level.

Not only is the music total garbage, but Flats are nothing to do with the underground punk scene they claim to be so inspired by with their indie publicist, rider requests and touring with Mark Ronson (how very hardcore!). You can just see them now, turning up to the squat gig with their industry guest list and fashion clad, public schoolboy mates. These guys are total fucking knob-ends, don’t believe the hype.

1. LEE NEWELL

So here we are at the end of the line. The cocky frontman of Brother needs a punch in the face if for no other reason than to end his ridiculous facial expressions every time he’s in front of a camera lens. His attempts to clone the swaggering attitude of Liam Gallagher are limited to a pathetically artificial scowl and ambitions to be ‘the biggest band in the world’.

As for his reaction to Liam’s slagging of his band, he claimed to be more concerned with what his sibling Noel thinks about the band. Who are you trying to fool Lee? We all know where you got your inspiration for being a talentless twat with a gob bigger than his brain. Congratulations you dickhead, this will probably be the only Number 1 you will ever get in your career!

IF YOU THINK WE HAVE FORGOTTEN ANYONE FROM THIS LIST, PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW OR ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE AND WE WILL INCLUDE THEM IN ROUND 2.

Categories
Music News

We Are The Ocean new video album and tour

wearetheoceanWe Are The Ocean are back with a new video this morning for single ‘The Waiting Room‘ which is taken from their upcoming second album ‘Go Now And Live‘.

Next month they play their biggest headline tour to date so you can see them live at the following UK venues:

Wed April 27th – Millenium Hall, Cardiff
Thurs April 28th – Electric Ballroom, London
Fri April 29th – Academy 2, Manchester
Sat April 30th – The Garage, Glasgow
Sun May 1st – Academy 2, Newcastle

Categories
Album Reviews Buzz Chart Reviews

Anna Calvi

Anna Calvi
Anna Calvi
Domino Records

Bursting at the seams with passion, atmosphere, seduction and beauty, Anna Calvi’s debut is a velvet encased gem delivered straight from dimly lit backstreet burlesque clubs. Seductive guitar tones and surges of wild euphoria drift through ten sexually charged tracks.

In reality, the album was not made in such captivating circumstances as the sound suggests, but rather as a result of Anna locking herself in a basement in Fulham. The dark sophistication came not from her surroundings but from within an evocatively artistic brain.

Opener ‘Rider to the Sea’ is dripping with rich colour and guitars descending from the Hendrix school of instrumental love making. This flows effortlessly into ‘No More Words’, the first example of Anna’s ability to change the pace and slow a track right down to a serene minimalism, before angelic backing vocals proceed to lift you from your seat.

Desire’ builds into a hugely uplifting vocal, which oozes Patti Smith-esque presence as you hang on to her every word. Like the previous track, big fan and unofficial mentor Brian Eno provides backing vocals on ‘Suzanne and I’, a track awash wish dreamy guitar and haunting reverb.

Empty space plays a huge part in the feel of the album. Pockets of near silence give way to Anna’s soft vocals and when she belts it out there is a realisation, a notification that we are listening to a talent to behold. Just as the silence is important, Anna’s ambition to create an orchestral sound from just a guitar, drums and a harmonium, has really come to life on this record. Who needs an orchestra when you have a reverb pedal and a gut instinct for textured sound.

Carefully calculated sound effects and samples play wonderfully on the ears and give the record even more depth and poignancy. One of Anna’s biggest talents is her ability to convey the meaning of a song instrumentally, a trait no more evident than on the lyrically sparse ‘The Devil’ a fittingly morose ballad at the heart of the record.

Right at the death the musical wasteland of ‘Morning Light’ acts as a long intro to the album closer ‘Love Won’t Be Leaving’, five and a half minutes of intense heart pouring into a letter written to a lost love, a heart-wrenching end to an incredible album. Anna’s musical intelligence and sophistication mixed with seductive prowess is there for all to see in this powerful debut, it’ll leave you walking around Soho at midnight reflecting on lost love, either that or looking for a basement in Fulham.

Mark Beckett.