Category: Reviews

The Weekend That Was: Hige Club and the William Farewell Show

Posted by jane – August 5, 2010

It has taken some time to recover from the weekend just gone. It started with an unusual Friday gig at the Curzon Cinema on Shaftesbury Avenue for a late night live performance of a Serge Gainsbourg album dedicated to his daughter Charlotte. It was performed by a veritable South London supergroup: Gavin and Mark from William alongside Markus (Their Hearts Were Full of Spring / Marketstall Records), Gemma (John and Jehn / Hindley) and the lovely Chuckie. The sound was a little off as cinemas are not designed to have bands on stage, you have to turn off all the speakers behind the screen you know, but I was very intrigued by tracks 3 (Oh Daddy Oh) and 4 (Don’t Forget To Forget Me) both of which can be found at Marketstall Records along with more info about this project. I’m looking forward to comparing this album with the original Gainsbourg one which I’m reliably informed is a lost classic. Hitting the 12bar after is where the initial damage was done, but, well, it was open unlike the rest of Soho and they do sell pints and shots and we did have the director of the ‘actual’ Gainsbourg movie with us so it would have been churlish of us not to really.

At this point I would like to thank everybody that attended the last ever William show on Saturday, especially those that came from far away (Birmingham, Coventry and Harrow were just the ones I know about). It was a very, very big party as you can imagine. Actual crowd surfing happened, I’ve never seen that in our little venue, there was a great big stage invasion and even Spiderman put in an appearance. I’m not sure there is any Sailor Jerry’s or Jagermeister left in The South of England now. The Eulogy below was written by Danny twobob. I’m reposting it here for safekeeping as it sums up how a lot of us feel:

William, It Was Really Something

Following in the lineage of the best of the 80’s/90’s indie rock scene such as Yo La Tengo, Pavement, Guided By Voices, Dinosaur Jr* but with a Darren Hayman-esque take on suburban lyricism, a very British ability to write songs about bicycles and a fresh spark that was all their own, William, our favourite ungoogleable band, have called it quits. It is with great sadness that we have to announce their farewell show at the Fox and Firkin on Saturday 31st July 2010. In support are two bands we adore who have been through it with them over the years, Popular Workshop and Sunset Cinema Club.

The thing that always causes pain in break-ups of both the musical or romantic kind is when it feels like not everything has been done. That perhaps there was more life left in it than the parties involved even realised. Certainly, new track Lustreless had already gone into our top 3 William songs of all time and it didn’t seem to us like time to call it quits. It only takes a run through a list of everyone’s top indie bands of the last twenty years (Flaming Lips, Modest Mouse, Sonic Youth) to see that great success sometimes takes a long time in a business so fickle, full of lucky breaks and chance encounters. This felt the case with countless bands who seemed to split when the music was still strong. As with other friends of our such as Their Hearts Were Full of Spring, Chet, Special Benny (who thankfully came back even better) …the feeling that other, more rubbish, ‘human’ factors played a part as opposed to a simple “the music had run it’s course” excuse always makes it harder to take.

Perhaps it was some kind of fate. Did they tempt it spending too much time listening to bands that never got the attention they deserved like The Embarrassment? William were a band that had bona-fide hits as well as the ones that would grab your heart when you paid more attention on the third/fourth listen. As a Drowned In Sound review once said, they “should fill indie dancefloors soon”. The countless times we put them on or saw them play the response was always great. Dancing, rocking out, singing along, mosh-pits in Coventry on £7 pills, shouting abuse at the bassist. Whether playing to ten or 300 people, there was always something special about their performances and they always gave it some fucking heart. Alas though, we’re just the promoters. We can only stop sobbing, hope they’d given it as much of a go as the music itself deserved and that future projects bear fruit half as sweet.

Maybe they were just ahead of their time. After all, Mark Thomas had that whole “has a vagina” rumour going well before Lady Gaga was even out of drama school.

3 skaters, 6 years, 1 album, 1 mini album, lots of Budweiser, lots more good times. Come celebrate the last…

*sorry for using the same old reference points boys
- Danny 2bob

What Danny’s Listening to this Week…

Posted by jane – July 30, 2010

2BOB stalwarts Breton have been beavering away these last few months in their factory (yes, factory), writing new material, expanding the line up and taking the DIY ethic to new extremes. Aside from making their own videos, instruments and t-shirts they’ve now manufactured their own limited edition E.P. The handsomely talented bastards.

Of Montreal released their recent album in the form of lampshade, which was pretty inspired, but we struggle to think of a more apt idea for Breton than a build-your-own working synth kit. Much more than a novelty release then, plus it’s work of bloody art. Not since 1994 where Sam from year 6 rocked Adidas Predators to football practice (despite the fact we played on concrete) has my object lust been so strong.

Oh, and the music is hardly secondary. Stand-out track The Well is a feast of big trip-hop beats, disjointed vocals and thundering synth, 15X is a jittering dance hit and title track Sharing Notes like Daedelus remixing the opening theme to Psycho. Soldering irons at the ready. Pre-order it from Rough Trade now.

Carl Reviews the Weekend That Was

Posted by jane – April 15, 2010

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I’m only just recovering from the weekend just gone. The Alice in Wonderland Party was fun, well-attended and tremendously well-dressed. The effort folk put into their costumes is most of the reason the Fox’s dress-up parties are so legendary.

Even I got involved, which actually only meant sticking a product tag in my Victorian top hat this time. If there was a prize for the best-dressed I’d hazard it would have been a toss up between the pink flamingo and the Johnny Depp-style Mad Hatter (pictured), both costumes made from scratch with special mention to Emily and Sammy’s respective white rabbits. Em is the one with the big ears!

Saturday’s Miss Scarlett gig had more technical hitches than the Brit Awards (before they pre-recorded it and edited out the mess) but everyone pulled together to put out the fires (special word to the sound guy), and the professionalism from the bands was phenomenal. Most people in the crowd (what a crowd it was too) wouldn’t have noticed a thing out of place.

Miss Scarlett have built a massive fan base and reputation round these parts in the past year, Tesknota have a unique (Flaming Lips meets Futureheads – bugbear) style with an enigmatic Byrne-like frontman and we look forward to watching Dr Vampire‘s 50s Goth rock instrumentals at Foxfest (1st & 2nd May kids).

Sunday was sweeeeeet, what with Ben Cakebread and his blues rock (I’m really a Corrosion of Conformity fan though I play soul records from time to time) slide guitar ways. Plus Dan German with his rock waif look masking his Dylanesque poetic ways and everyone turning up wearing their lads on tour hats (no irony here) and generally getting battered ways, I’d better have a week off the sauce. But as a Scotsman once told me ‘the liver is evil and must be punished.’ And he was too big to argue with.

Guest reviewer Kes goes to see The Besnard Lakes – Cargo, 31st March

Posted by jane – April 9, 2010

besnardlakes_4477_resized“Hi, we’re The Besnard Lakes from Montreal, Qebec, Canada.”

Thank god for that. I came here last week to see Islands, but they didn’t play – apparently the singer’s girlfriend died, hence the (understandable) cancellation. They were replaced by Graham Coxon doing a live soundtrack to five short films on looped guitar noise and saxophone, which was really good, but still, all in rather tragic circumstances. So it’s a relief when Jace Lasek (who, incidentally, is the spitting image of Creme Brulee rhythm guitarist, Les McQueen) takes the stage with those words – nothing terrible has happened, the show goes on. Phew.

It’s rammed in Cargo tonight, a sell-out show apparently, which nearly meant I missed the gig altogether – I was meant to have a guestlist place thanks to a friend of a friend who works at Cargo, but sorry, no your name’s not down, and sorry no, you can’t buy a ticket, it’s sold out. Didn’t leave me with much option but to turn-tail and head home, but the fellow behind me in the queue had a spare ticket which he gave to me. Even refused to let me pay him for it – thoroughly decent chap.

With entry secured, I had just enough time for a quick peak at the merch stall. Some of my old favourite Ts are reaching the point of expiry and i need replacements so I’ve been eyeing up the shirts on offer at a few gigs recently. Sadly, shoddy merchandise has been a recurrent theme (ask Carl 2bob about Midlake’s sub-standard fare – we both went with £20 in our pockets for a Van Occupanther t-shirt, neither of us spent it). Tonight is different though – I’m pleased to report that I came away with a marvellous new red number with a flaming golden horse on the front, and it only cost £12 – bargain!
Now, to the show …

Like I said, it’s rammed but I managed to manoeuvre my way to a nice central spot with a pretty good view just as the band eased into the wobbly swell of opener Like The Ocean, Like The Innocent – the first track from their latest album, The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night. Everything’s there right from the outset – Jace’s ethereal falsetto (surprisingly more forceful and less delicate than on record, but still beautiful) floats in a haze of drones until the drums, guitars and vocal harmonies explode the song into life like slow-mo fireworks.

And that’s what keeps happening all night. The Besnard Lakes might well be a dark horse, but you could also accuse them of being a one-trick pony. Who cares, though, when it’s such a bloody great trick, and so brilliantly performed? They do the same things with their songs over and over again – sudden contrasts of quiet and loud, minimalist drones giving way to bursts of noise and harmony – but even though the set is over an hour long tonight, it never gets boring and it still feels too short.

There’s no artifice or guile here either, which is a bit of a surprise as sometimes their records can sound a bit like elaborately constructed set-pieces, stitched together with studio craft. I half expected them to crumble and fail in the harsher terrain of the live show. But they don’t – if anything it breathes even more life into the songs. On Bedford and Grand, for instance – perfectly good on record, if a little plodding – acquires a serious groove tonight. A lot of that’s down to Olga Goreas’ bass playing, which is much more prominent live than on their records, and really drives everything. It’s often too easy a comparison to make when you see a female bass player in an indie rock band, but in this case it’s a fair one: she is the Real (Kim) Deal – just listen to new single Albatross if you have any doubts about that.

The Besnard Lakes are back in London again on 20th April @ The Legion, Old Street. You should go.

Recommendations:

The last two Besnard Lakes albums – … Are The Dark Horse and … Are The Roaring Night – are both excellent. If you don’t have time for an album, start with their latest single, Albatross, and work your way into things from there.

And if you like The Besnard Lakes, try these for some alternative listening:
Ultrasound – Aire and Calder
Ride – Leave Them All Behind
Angelo Badalamenti / Julie Cruise – Falling

The Duke of Catford is not amused……

Posted by jane – March 18, 2010

Last weekend, our outspoken friend, The Duke Of Catford, attended Grizzly Bear supported by Beach House at the Roundhouse in London. Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear is down as one of twobob’s albums of last year and Beach House are rapidly becoming firm favourites since BBC6 seems to be playing a lot of them just now. The Duke, however, seemed to be put off by the person bootlegging the gig for YouTube, he writes:

“One thoroughly disapproves of bozos who, rather than watching a gig and taking the wonder of the moment into their memories, spends the whole time with their arms in the air holding a portable media device disrupting the vision of others around them. One simply cannot see the point in capturing the gig from an awkward angle in bad audio, other than to stamp the fact that they went to said gig upon the consciousness of the planet by broadcasting it on Youtube / Facebook.

One’s enjoyment was further impaired by the camera operator in question announcing that a previous gig was “much more intense and intimate” than this one. One wonders if this is the sort of chap who, faced with two minutes in David Lynch’s company, would spend it scrabbling for pen and paper (that will ultimately perish) rather than having a short conversation with the man.

Having said that this person has pretty good sound and it does mean that a c**t like oneself can show off to his friends the finest performance of the night which includes the disarmingly fit bird from Beach House on guest vocals. Enjoy!”

The Morning After: Sunset Cinema Club / UpCDownC / King of Conspiracy

Posted by jane – March 16, 2010

SunsetCinemaClub_13Mar2010_001Last weekend was a big Saturday for gigs (so let us know where you were at). The Inner Terrestrials tore the New Cross Inn apart by all accounts, and many of our compatriots made their way to The Roundhouse to see Grizzly Bear supported by Beach House.

But we were in a well-attended Fox & Firkin watching our very own Dom take the stage with Sunset Cinema Club. SCC are a three-piece from Birmingham. Kinda punk-pop-indie. The NME called ‘em “very exciting jitterpunk.” We were inclined to agree. They were at times melodic and radio-friendly, at others filthy noise and distortion. Very clever, great drummer and definitely our cup of tea.

upCdownC_13Mar2010_005Upcdownc (upcdowncleftcrightcabc+start to give them their full title) are, as you can glean from their moniker, suitably post-rock. Having said that, their new album, Firewolf, eschews the post bit for some technical but fairly full-on rock. We were treated to a bunch of tracks from that collection of work with a sprinkling of classics.

Set closer Cascade was a welcome return to their older, more orchestral instrumental beauty, ending as it does, with a crescendo of percussion. They are very very loud, be warned, take earplugs and enjoy. We did, and it set us up nicely for the forthcoming Mono gig at La Scala.

KingOfConspiracy_13Mar2010_006The shockingly good King of Conspiracy rocked up next. Three well cool lads from Paris who stopped by on their way to (as Danny Parr described it, “the industry circle jerk that is….”) South By South West.

You have to marvel at the pace and frenzy of this band’s live show. Franck, drummer, and Ronin, bass, are, as they should be, the engine of this band and at this pace it’s a wonder they keep it together. They do and it gives frontman Michael a platform to go bare-chested batshit crazy, slinging himself around the stage, pausing occasionally to torture his riffs with some squealing pedal effects and punctuate them with some day-glo plastic percussion. Seemingly bored of screaming into his mic he unhooks it, collapses to the floor and uses it to create some weird noises along a well battered fretboard. You’ll go a long way to find a more exciting unsigned band, catch them when they return to London for Foxfest.

The Morning After: Space Heroes of the People/Auction for the Promise Club/Hangover Session

Posted by jane – March 10, 2010

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Space Heroes of the People

Cancellations meant Saturday did not go according to plan, but the show went on with our two cracking support acts from far-flung cities. First on stage were Space Heroes of the People, a two-piece from Oxford. They are: Tim, wielding a bewildering array of techie laptoppy geekiness, and Jo, providing basslines on a very sexy-looking electric double bass. They play a thumping yet sugary mix of 8-bit electro-pop and are, frankly,  awesome.

Cornwall’s fabulously-titled Auction for the Promise Club dashed straight from recording at Abbey Road Studios, and thrashed out some cracking indie-rock. They’re getting a lot of attention at the moment, so you should catch them while they’re still playing intimate venues like ours.

Auction for the Promise Club

Auction for the Promise Club

Emma, our newest DJ recruit, saw us through to the wee hours when we should have long been in bed. This meant we were all a little fragile when Sunday evening’s gentle Hangover Session kicked in. The sweet and lovely and melancholic ‘voice of an angel’ that is Clare Portman was, however, in a worse state than us. She still managed to belt out her usual high-standard set before grabbing her guitar case and being carried off to bed by her crew. Very James Brown-style exit, I thought.

Next; Dom, he of Sunset Cinema Club fame, had some fun with some loop pedals and various interesting pieces of percussion, including a half-full drum of gravy granules and a tub of vitamin pills. Novel. The full Sunset Cinema Club experience is kicking off our massive Saturday nighter with UpCDownC and King Of Conspiracy this weekend. NOT TO BE MISSED, you have been warned.

The Morning After: The Alternative Valentine’s Party

Posted by jane – February 14, 2010

Ouch. Our heads and ears are still a bit sore after last night’s Alternative Valentine’s celebrations. Three wondrously unique female-fronted bands, cocktails, dancing, DJing courtesy of the Catholic Girls, and not a rose, teddybear or lovesick couple in sight. Perfect.

Crafty cupids had been hard at work, transforming the Fox into a decadent Moulin Rouge boudoir, with cut-out cardboard lovehearts adorning the bar and items for sale from the lovely ladies of the Fox’s own weekly knitting and crochet club, Nit Nit.

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First up was Angela Luzi, an Italian singer-songwriter in a three-headed harlequin mask with a backing band including cello and piano. A grandiose, theatrical extravaganza that mixed flamenco, circus, jazz-blues cabaret and Italian folk. Add in a lot of gold glitter, operatic vocals and a rearrangement of the theme from The Godfather with Tori Amos, and the audience were smitten.

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Next on stage were Nila & The Rajas, Eastern-inspired indie-pop reminiscent of Howling Bells or Bat for Lashes by a talented, ethereal vocalist backed by chaps in sequinned shirts.

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And for the grand finale, Pussycat and The Dirty Johnsons; a sleazy, pyschobilly hellcat-fronted surf-rock riot. Imagine Juliette Lewis in a lo-fi Catwoman costume, except smaller and sweeter, with a ferocious snarl, and you’re halfway to picturing the awe-inducing tiger-printed powerhouse that is Pussycat Johnson. Wrestling with audience members, clambering all over the bar; this is one woman you don’t wanna mess with. Even without a bass player, they had the entire audience dancing and screaming for more by the end of their set.

Phew! If it gives us an excuse to have knees-ups like this, we might even start to look forward to these corporate romance wankfests.

The Morning After : The Clockwork Cabaret

Posted by jane – February 2, 2010

Last weekend, the Fox got decked out in paper cogs and swish stage drapes, and its clientele in Victoriana of all kinds, including brown corduroy top hats, waistcoats, cufflinks and corsets, ready for two bob’s first ever steampunk fiesta.

First to take to the stage were JD & The Longfellows, a local troupe of Celtic-inspired folk-rockers. Although it may have been their first gig of the year, their whisky-soaked, violin-driven shanties certainly didn’t seem rusty to me. With songs on subjects as diverse as zombie love and the mile high club, they’re anything but the twee folk-pop that might have some reaching for the sick bucket. Instead, they’re closer to The Pogues crossed with Johnny Cash, and the perfect opening act for an evening of olde-worlde entertainment.

Tom Allalone & The 78s

Tom Allalone & The 78s

Next up was Tom Allalone & The 78s, an impeccably-dressed troupe (according to The Times, at least) renowned for their raucous but refined rockabilly ditties. Looking a lot like dandy gangsters in their shirts and skinny ties, they belted out an energetic set of old-school 50s rock’n'roll. Think Weezer mixed with Vincent Vincent at top volume and you’re about half-way there. Enough to get the dancefloor full.

Jarmean? (Plus Smoochi busting some fab moves!)

Jarmean? (Plus Smoochi busting some fab moves in the middle!)

Last onstage were vaudeville cabaret kings and queens Jarmean? of whom two bob chief Carl has been a fan since he saw them support Special Benny last summer. Six months of trying to book them ensued, but the busy bees were always elusive. Until now. And after all that time eagerly awaiting them, they didn’t disappoint. Female fury on the drums, an oom-pah-pahing tuba, crooning and ukelele-strumming from cocky charismatic frontman Truman, and a dancing girl named Smoochi. Like Bez, except young, female and hot, with perfect pins and much more rhythm. Looking and sounding like they’d just time-travelled to Lewishambles from the jazz speakeasies of 1920s New York, their unique brand of upbeat, irreverent music-hall soon got everyone’s feet tapping. With a set that could have easily soundtracked The Cat’s Meow (one of my favourite films, so no complaints on that front!), including a Charleston-tastic adaptation of ‘King of the Swingers’ from Jungle Book, playfully retitled ‘King of the Gingers’ in recognition of the ‘fact’ that “Prince Harry is a bastard.” (According to Truman, at least. It’s none of my beeswax, but can’t claims of that nature get you beheaded for treason? If so, I’d like to reiterate that that’s his assertion, not mine. Swinging song, though. Queenie, if you’re reading this, please let him off. I want them to come back, and soon!)

2009 Round-Up

Posted by jane – January 4, 2010

The Flaming Lips come to town in their usual riot of colour

The Flaming Lips come to town in their usual riot of colour

As 2009 drew to a close, I was pondering over a year’s worth of twobob gigs, and music in general. I have to say, it was something of a bland and uninspiring year, comparatively speaking. There were some high points, though. Michael Jackson died (just kidding), and The Flaming Lips came to town with their usual fanfare of fun. As did a new Doves album (look, I know they ain’t cool but I’m a sucker for a working-class northern indie band). Barry and I discovered quality ciders just before the start of a pleasantly warm summer, and our household got completely and utterly addicted to HBO’s ‘The Wire’ – easily the best telly we at twobob have ever seen.

Their Hearts Were Full of Spring

Their Hearts Were Full of Spring

Another high point for me, and one of our top 5 albums of the year, was the long awaited release of ‘How I Wasted My Youth’ by the wonderful Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring. You can buy it from any HMV, or direct from our good friends at Marketstall records. Those of you that know me well know how much I go on about this band, but in a completely unbiased way I can say I am utterly impressed with the content and production standards of this little gem. If you loved Fleet Foxes’ debut in 08 you’ll love How I wasted My Youth even more. Promise.

Back in January, the highlight of the month was discovering how good Oxford’s The Witches are, when they supported 23 Frames at their album launch. Also in January was an awesome performance from Nebraska. We weren’t to know it at the time, but that was the last ever Nebraska show. They will be sadly missed. A new discovery for us was the fabulously-titled Church of the Drive Through Elvis, who I understand are having some line-up issues. Let’s hope they sort things out as they are awesome, in a Nick Cave-goes-rockabilly kinda way. twobob favourites William released a new EP and an army of SE Londoners trekked to White Heat in Soho to see them support Johnny Foreigner and danananan Aykroyd. A great show.

Heath All-Nighter

Heath All-Nighter

And who can forget (some of us still have the scars) Heath month in May? Our man in L.A. flew in for a handful of shows, starting with Foxfest. Our smoothest-running, most diverse line-up, most fun fest yet. Tickets for FF10 are onsale here. Heath shows continued in and around SE London, culminating in an impromptu al fresco all-nighter in Hilly Fields.

Miss Scarlett came of age at a twobob show in the summer, and are about to release their debut EP. Long awaited t-shirts and a new EP appeared from our favourite Parisian punk rockers, King of Conspiracy. Milk Kan paid us a visit in the autumn, which was a gift. Folk-punk hip-hop screwball combo and all-round nice guys they are. Popular Workshop made a brief appearance in the middle of their extended break, and support sets from Stagecoach and Baby Gravy made this one of my favourite twobob gigs of 2009.

Hindley released The Cycle, which is in my top 5 singles of the year. My Girls by Animal Collective was our overall favourite single of 09 by a long, long way. I’ll leave you with my top 4 albums of 2009 in no particular order (and I’ll let you know when I think of a 5th). Tell us yours in the comments!
Veckatimest – Grizzly Bear
Primary Colours – The Horrors
How I Wasted My Youth – Their Hearts Were Full of Spring
Merriweather Post Pavillion – Animal Collective