La Roux - In for the Kill (Twelves Remix)

A combination of two kinds of goodness on today's track.  Pretty much everyone will have heard of La Roux by now.  In the mix amongst most critics top 10 picks for 2009, Elly Jackson and Ben Langmaid's 80s-themed synth has been making hipsters throw (very angular) shapes across indie dancefloors for the past few months. 

Today's track is a remix of their new single 'In for the Kill' by Brasilian boys The Twelves.  The Twelves might be slightly less well-known, but they have a remix back catalogue that reads like a great and the good of hyped indie/electro crossover bands - Black Kids, New Young Pony Club, M.I.A, Asobi Seksu to name but a few - and they've played live with the likes of Justice, LCD Soundsystem, Diplo, and Van She.  They are currently on tour across the US and Australia, but a trip to UK shores can't be far away.

The track is a corker.  Slowing down the track slightly, and taking the bass out at the start, it's a touch hard on the ears (all that treble) - but once the beat comes in, it's absolutely ravetastic in a 'Last Days of Disco' kinda way.  If the club has a discoball, it needs to be on for this...

La Roux - In For the Kill (Twelves mix)

Enjoy!

Review: The Welcome Wagon - Welcome to the Welcome Wagon

The Welcome Wagon are husband and wife duo The Rev. Vito Aiuto and Mrs. Monique Aiuto…that’s right, a pastor and his wife….wait….no wait….come back!  It has to be said that when I have been recommending this album around –  and I have been, to practically everyone I meet – the fact that it is an American album of religious and quasi-religious folk tracks sung by a pastor and his wife has not been an easy sell.  However, see past such fripperies, and there is a fantastic album to be enjoyed.

WTTWW is produced by Sufjan Stevens, who also adds many of the instrumental elements to the album, and released it on his Asthmatic Kitty imprint.  Stevens will be a name well known to anyone with half an interest in the US independent music scene, a veritable folk titan who, amongst writing albums that deal with the Chinese Zodiac and his Christianity, has often spoken of his desire to write an album about every state in the US (so far, only the superb ‘Greetings from Michigan, the Great Lake State’ and ‘Come on Feel the Illinoise’ are extant).  

Stevens’ albums are full of lush orchestration hung around songs and lyrics which feel at the same time both intensely personal and utterly universal.  It is easy to see why SS band member Vito would have jumped at the chance to have such expertise available on production duties.  With Stevens’ presence, however, there is a danger that this album will come across as just another of his many musical side-projects.  Happily,  this is not the case.  Whilst some songs could indeed come straight from his Illionoise off-cuts album ‘The Avalanche’ (notably ‘Sold! To The Rich Man’) he sensibly allows Vito’s songwriting skills more than enough room to speak for themselves.

 

Highlights include delicate covers of the Smiths’ ‘Half a Person’ and ‘Jesus’ by the Velvet Underground, as well as the beautiful album-opener, ‘Up on a Mountain’.  Sung by Monique, it gently lulls you into the right frame of mind to enjoy the rest of what is a wonderful album.  

It would be churlish, however, to try and split tracks from one another.  This cd works best approached as a whole; imagine yourself amongst the youthful population of Vito’s church on a Sunday afternoon, alternately clapping along and listening as the Pastor offers up the fruits of his faith.  Or imagine yourself sat round a campfire in the summer - marshmallows, beer and a guitar.  Any way you imagine it, it's escapism par excellence...

London City Love Affair tomorrow!

Yeah!  London City Love Affair returns to the Lexington on Pentonville Road tomorrow night for more band and club shenanigans.  We have music from the splendid:

EZRA BANG & HOT MACHINE
Insane electro/hip-hop crossover antics from one of London's best live acts. If you haven't caught the Hot Machine show yet, don't miss out!
"If Public Enemy had swamped their raps with buzzing synths, they'd sound like Ezra Bang & Hot Machine" (Loud and Quiet)

THEM:YOUTH
MGMT-esque beats and glossy electro from one of London’s hottest new bands. They're really new on the live circuit, but they make absolutely INCREDIBLE music, and they're getting everyone across the industry very excited indeed.  This is only their second gig, so we've got them whilst they're still fresh!

SILHOUETTE 
Delicate, swirling soundscapes from NME-championed Silhouette, who combine art with music to create a quite incredible show.
"Silhouette...bowled us over with her powerfully rich and soulful voice backed by dark blues and dirty riffs." (Artrocker)

Not only that, but we've got some awesome guests DJs lined up for the night, including LR ROCKETS, the SIEGFRIED SASSOON SOUNDSYSTEM, Wes Simpson and Bryn and I playing our usual brand of indie and alternative nonsense.

It's from 8-4am, with the bands on until 11, and is normally £6 on the door.  Because I am lovely, however, if you print off this blog entry (along with the flyer below), you can get a big fat £2 off the door price!

See you there!

Lovebox 2009 - chuffing hell!

I had forgotten all about the return of Lovebox to our fair city this summer until I saw some teaser ads in the Metro today.  I followed them through to their conclusion, a quarter-page advert, and promptly amused/shocked/worried the entire train carriage by letting out what can only be described as a squeal of excitement (NB, this might be a slight exaggeration, I am British after all, so probably only managed one raised eyebrow...).  Why you ask?...

THIS IS WHY!!

DURAN DURAN are headlining Lovebox!  Not only that, but there's support from a whole host of the musical great and the good:

N*E*R*D

Groove Armada (obviously)

Friendly Fires

Florence and the Machine

Simian Mobile Disco

Fat Freddy's Drop (who are awesome, by the way)

...and these are only the first acts they've announced!

I am so fully excited about this, not least due to the fact that I bought super-early bird tickets in November on spec, so I'm getting all this musical goodness for the princely sum of £59 +BF.  Beezer!

Alex Roots Alex Roots Alex Roots!

What were you doing at 16?  If you were anything like me, you were panicking about which A-levels to take, sneaking into under-age pubs (of which Cambridge had a wide array), and listening to Pulp.  What you possibly weren't doing was surrounding yourself by a media-savvy array of agents, managers, label folk and songwriters, and making a determined assault on London's live scene; but then again, neither of us are Alex Roots...

Now I've been meaning to blog about this little lady for a while now, ever since we booked her to open for us at dancetillyoudie's 1st birthday party in Kilburn a couple of months ago and she attracted a hysteria akin to the start of 'A Hard Day's Night' (well....almost...) to be exact.  Why do I bring her to your attention, you ask?  Because she's a chuffing pop marvel, that's why!

Ploughing a furrow described by the Guardian as mid-way between Cyndi Lauper, Blondie, Katy Perry and Avril Lavigne, Alex and her co-writer (pop/RnB stalwart Ryan Laubscher) have crafted a selection of musical gems that seem sure to grace the Radio 1 playlist in the not too distant, from the faux thrash of 'Fake', to the Lauper-inspired 'Put Your Hands up' to the quite wonderful 'Dizzy from the Ride' (mother flippin's favourite), they are all belters.

(hat-tip to Sheena Beaston for the link to this megamix - you can also hear a couple of the tracks in full on her Good Groove artist page...)

Her debut album looks set to drop in the early part of 2009, released on the Good Groove imprint that brought Corinne Bailey Rae to the music-buying public.  It sounds like they have another hit on their hands...

Jx

Bring Your Parents Records - Sunday 7th December

So this Sunday I was invited along to the latest venture from the kids from Broccoli Music, Bring Your Parents' Records.  A co-promotion with Jonny Awsum - PR guru and all-round lovely lovely man - who they found running the night in his front room, the night normally has its home in Bar Vinyl, Camden.  For their Xmas bash, however, they had upped sticks all of 10 yards to nextdoor's Zen Sai bar.

The night is a great idea.  You bring a load of dusty old vinyl along (mine had the benefit of a bit of scratching for that 'true' record sound), hopefully half-inched from your loving mother and father, and stick it on the bar's one - yes, count it, one - record deck, one track at a time.  The set-up flatters all levels of DJing proficiency, though the gaps between tracks does tend to get longer as the 4-hour happy hour (don't tell Gordon) takes hold of the crowd, and the random nature of most parental LP collections allows for some...interesting setlists.  

I have to say one of the best things about the night, though, is that it genuinely rewards the fun rather than the obscure - play Postman Pat and you get cheered, play ELO and you'll be lauded to the rafters, play anything too hip and you'll be laughed off the decks, as one girl found within two minutes of sticking some pounding dance nonsense on at the start of her set.  There WAS a little too much Bob Marley on display, but it WAS a Sunday...

I had the privilige of kicking proceedings off at 3pm, being a Sunday the bar was already undulating gently if not jumping, and I treated them to (as far as the Coronas will let me remember):

J Walk - Another Lover

Jummy Ruffin - What Becomes of the Broken Hearted
Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five - Pump me Up

Rufus Thomas - Walking the Dog
Sparks - Thank God it's Not Christmas

Led Zeppelin - Good Times Bad Times

Duran Duran - Planet Earth

Jesus Christ Superstar (1974) - Overture

ripper!

Jx

Bo Pepper - I Haven't Got You Anything (This Christmas)

So Christmas rolls around, along with all the usual traditions.  You know what I'm talking about; Turkey for dinner, Shrek on the TV, The Queen's Speech, Mince pies and mulled wine, and the X Factor winner getting to Christmas Number 1.....

...but wait!  What light from yonder musical window breaks?  It can't actually be...no....a....half-decent Christmas song?!  Hallelujah!  

They go by the name of Bo Pepper, and Mother Flippin is a BIG fan having encountered them a number of times over the past year.  Fronted by the charming Dolly Pepper, they sound like the Strokes and look a lot better.  I mean they've even got idential twins in the band for God's sake, that's got to give them one up on El Tel in the Chrimberley music stakes, surely?!  So, I know where MY festive 79p iTunes purchase will be heading, and it won't be to Terry Wogan or Alexandra Burke*...Plus, if they get to the top spot, it might make Simon Cowell look like this...

and THAT's worth the money!

Jx

*of course I don't KNOW that she's going to win, but it would be a travesty if she didn't...

Lily Allen - The Fear

Ahhhh, Lily Allen.  Good to see that she's back to making music rather than mouthing off.  Mother Flippin is a big fan, and her new single 'The Fear', from the forthcoming album 'It's not me, it's you' is a winner - as is the video.  She's lookin' goooood...

Jx

Kid Cudi - Day 'n' Night

Yeah!  One of my favourite club tracks of the year is finally getting a proper commercial release.

The Crookers' remix of Kid Cudi's 'Day 'n' Night' obviously impressed the danceratti across the globe enough for the track to be picked up by Data Records, given a new 'Club Mix' title (the artist is now Kid Cudi vs. Crookers), remixed a couple of times, and stuck out for the chart to chomp on.  Not sure as to the release date as yet, but I'm sure there'll be some kind of girls in bikinis video along soon enough...

Kid Cudi vs. Crookers - Day 'n' Nite (RCDLBL)

I have to say, most of the new mixes can't hold a candle to the Crookers' original mix, but one that tries damned hard is the spiffy 'Jokers of the Scene' mix - haven't heard of them before, but this is lovely and squelchy!

Kid Cudi vs. Crookers - Day 'n' Nite (Jokers of the Scene Remix)

(hat-tip to Stoney Roads for the link)

Enjoy!

Jx

Track of the Week - Barefoot Confessor, He Doesn't Love You

Last week's track of the week was a Beatle's remix;  this week's is one that riffs splendidly on the Fab Four's track 'I Wanna Hold your Hand', Barefoot Confessor's brilliant 'He Doesn't Love You'.

The band are from West London, and have been raising high levels of industry interest since their conception a few months ago, being likened to everyone from The Smiths, Bruce Springsteen, McFly (?!) and The Libertines.  Recently tipped by both Glasswerk and Red Stripe, and appearing on any number of Google searches for new London acts, they're looking good success-wise, which is helped by the fact that they are absolutely belting.  Don't take my word for it, check this out...

Barefoot Confessor - He Doesn't Love You

Jx

Song of the Week - Long Blondes, Giddy Stratospheres

The Long Blondes have split up! 

Although this year has seen the release of the follow up to their debut effort 'Once and Never Again', the Erol Alkan-produced 'Couples', it has also seen their guitarist Dorian Cox suffer a stroke which led to a number of dates having to be cancelled over the summer.  In a statement on their myspace today, Dorian states that, given he doesn't know when/if he will be able to play the guitar again, the band have decided to call things to a halt.

Personally I loved The Long Blondes.  Their songs occasionally meandered a bit, but they could write a killer chorus!  As my friend Chris had it "just when you're starting to think 'oh, god, it's another lame Long Blondes track', the chorus comes along and you're grinning and jigging about like a total wazz"...In memory of...well that mental image if not the band themselves, this week's 'Song of the Week' is the song that introduced me to them, Giddy Stratospheres:

Song of the week - Crying Blood, V V Brown

I'm not going to lie, it's a pretty crappy day in London town this Monday am.  So for those bemoaning the end of the sun we had over the weekend, here's something to put a smile on your face.  Miss V V Brown with her debut single 'Crying Blood'.  It's been around for a while now, but it's a belter that never fails to do the business when I'm out DJing, and I've just found the video, so I'm posting it.

Lindi-hop-tastic!  There's also a killer remix of the track by Hannah Holland.  Check it out...

Weekend manoeuvres

So the weekend rolls around once again, with the weather looking up for once!  There's sport a-plenty; Liverpool vs. Everton and the Singapore Grand Prix are set to feature heavily on my calendar.  However, there is also musical gold to be found in our fair city with the likes of:

The 'endearlingly bizarre' (TimeOut) Tubelord, who play the Macbeth tonight on the Levi's 'Ones to Watch' tour.  They're supporting Metronomy, but are well worth getting there early for.

Doors 7pm, £6, Shoreditch

Also tonight, Club NME has Outside Royalty at Koko, but again it's the support that holds the interest coming as it does from James Yuill, who is bloody brilliant.  Totally recommended.

Doors 9.30pm, £5, Camden

Finally, Slam champion Maxwell Golden headlines Jammin' at the Paradise Bar with a heady mix of spoken word, MCing, music and beat poetry.  It should be a belting night.

Doors 8pm, £3, Kensal Green

For tomorrow, This Ain't no Picnic at King's College SU is an all-dayer with highlights including Future of the Left, the brilliantly-named This Town Needs Guns, and one of my favourite bands - Bearsuit.

Doors 1pm, £15, Temple

...and later on, to round things off and if you're feeling flush, catch the brilliant Snowboy & the Latin Section at Ronnie Scott's.  It seems pricey, but these guys craft jazz par excellence and are totally worth the expenditure.

Doors 6pm, £20, Soho

Enjoy people,

Jx