Good Weather For Airstrikes

Wednesday night’s Simian Mobile Disco gig was an invite-only affair spotlighting them as the only band on the bill and I’ll be honest, I generally have fairly low expectations for these promotional showcase-type events. I was still quite excited though, as the only other time I’ve seen SMD was at Studio B in March on what I can easily say was my drunkest night of 2007 to this point, and while I know they put on a ridiculously awesome show, I was looking forward to actually being able to remember it this time around. As expected, it was a considerably short set, barely 45 minutes, but they went all-out to make sure this wasn’t just your run-of-the-mill promo gig. The light show was one of the best I’ve ever seen, the sound was flawless and I’ll be damned if they didn’t have the crowd dancing for most of the set, which wasn’t exactly what I was expecting considering the typical audience at these things and the band’s early set time.

For two dudes who look like accountants, Mssrs. Ford and Shaw can certainly drop some bad-ass tracks. I never thought I could be so riveted by the sight of a lanky dude in glasses fiddling with a bunch of wires while his friend twiddles some knobs a few feet away from him, but I’m not gonna lie, I was into it. Sure, that had a lot to do with the completely overwhelming light show and the barrage of insanely hot jams coming at me from all directions, but the fact of the matter is that the SMD put on a GREAT show Wednesday night and are not to be fucked with as a live act.

The whole thing was set up to promote their just-released debut album, the awesomely-titled Attack Decay Sustain Release, so it was fitting that they opened with the album’s lead-in track, “Sleep Deprivation”. The three-minute instrumental steadily builds in momentum and intensity and provided the perfect intro to their set, before segueing flawlessly into the duo’s remix of the Go Team’s “Ladyflash”, the first of two remixes they’d drop in their set. Shortly thereafter came the back-to-back double threat of singles “It’s The Beat” and “Tits & Acid”, but it was absolutely GAME OVER when “Hustler”, perhaps the most bad-ass track of 2006, dropped and inspired the closest thing to an actual audience frenzy I saw all night. Another flawless transition led straight into SMD’s treatment of Klaxons’ “Magick”, their best remix to date, which elicited another hugely enthusiastic response from the audience.

Just as the crowd was getting really into it, though, the duo slowed things down and indicated that the next track would be their finale. I was about 95% sure I’d been standing next to ex-Simian vocalist and current Black Ghosts frontman Simon Lord all night, and that was only confirmed when the opening bars of current SMD single “I Believe” (which features Lord on guest vocals) rang out across the audience and Lord’s friends began to jump up and down and pat him on the back. “I Believe” is easily the most commercially viable track SMD’s put out to date and really gives “Hustler” and “It’s The Beat” a run for their money as the duo’s best track, and it certainly didn’t disappoint Wednesday night. The comparably-languorous pace of the track was a bit of a departure from the rest of their set, but a drawn-out, slow-building intro drew the crowd in perfectly before the beat exploded and introduced Lord’s vocals into the mix. A more up-tempo number might have provided a more fitting conclusion to their mostly high-octane set, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t incredibly impressed by their show as a whole. Attack Decay Sustain Release is out now and is one of the most complete debuts I’ve heard this year, maintaining a consistent standard of quality throughout and keeping you coming back for more with album tracks that hit every bit as hard as the shit-hot singles that accompany them on the record. Get on it.

MP3s:
“Hustler” - Simian Mobile Disco ((highly recommended))
“I Believe” - Simian Mobile Disco ((highly recommended))
“It’s The Beat” (Teenagers Remix) - Simian Mobile Disco

In other news, I’m writing this from a moving train right now because they have fucking high-speed wireless on trains here. I fucking love this country. Where am I off to? Well, all the cool kids are drowning at Glastonbury, but it’s all about motherfuckin’ NastyFest this weekend. Fuck paying £175 to toil in the swamp that Glasto is set to (if it hasn’t already) become after the weekend’s rains hit. Instead, I get to see pretty much every single band I’d wanted to see while I was here, but either missed or didn’t get a chance to see in London. The show is headlined by I Was A Cub Scout, iLiKETRAiNS and White Rabbits (three bands I’ve been aching to see for ages), but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Then there’s three of the best bands I missed at the Great Escape in Fear of Flying, Foals (not on the poster, but allegedly playing?) and the Dykeenies, plus the Teenagers, the Moths (YESSS), Video Nasties and brand new XL signee Laura Groves. Oh oh oh and did I mention Does It Offend You, Yeah? are playing too?! AWESOME.

On a side note, we are staying in a hotel called Roomzzz (three z’s!). I really can’t wait. Festivities kick off at 4 PM today and will go until 3 AM tonight, and you better believe I’ll be there for every minute of it. Expect at least mildly comprehensive coverage on Monday, for now here are two very choice tracks from headliners I Was A Cub Scout and White Rabbits. “The Plot” is really quite amazing.

MP3s:
“Pink Squares” - I Was A Cub Scout ((highly recommended))
“The Plot” - White Rabbits ((highly recommended)) [LINK FIXED]

I went to three of the four days of the O2 Wireless Festival in Hyde Park last weekend and saw a number of excellent performances, but the blinding (literally and figuratively) brilliance of Daft Punk’s MONUMENTAL set on Saturday night renders any effort to even so much as remember any of the other acts of the festival all but pointless. No amount of superlative adjectives could even begin to do the show justice, but hey, I’ve never let that sop me before; let’s do this.

With me in London and at the festival this past weekend was my dear friend (my #1 stunna, if you will) and former classmate at UVA Jia Tolentino, and we made a point to get as close to the front of the stage as possible for Daft Punk, which meant situating ourselves in a prime position three hours before Daft Punk was to take the stage. The wait was made incredibly tolerable (to say the least) by an excellent set from CSS and my first ever LCD Soundsystem live experience (which was amazing, as expected), but while I’d normally wet myself at the prospect of seeing those two acts on the same stage in any setting, it almost felt like obligatory foreplay with the knowledge that DAFT MOTHERFUCKING PUNK would be directing a crash course in euphoria in only a few hours time.

Moments after LCD exited the stage an ominous black curtain was pulled across the set and the frantic construction of Daft Punk’s now-infamous pyramid began, only adding to the nigh-unbearable anticipation. After one of the most interminable waits of my life, the massive LCD screens to the right and left of the stage went black and an ominous synth line led us into the teaser trailer for Daft Punk’s latest cinematic odyssey, Electroma, which debuted to mixed reviews at Cannes last year and is currently being shown as a midnight movie on a regular basis in Paris. I can’t even begin to describe how awesome the movie looks, but I digress. From there it was another fifteen minutes before the stage was finally revealed eliciting uproarious applause from the crowd and soiling more than just a few trousers I reckon. Then, it began.

Leading in with an alternating refrain of “HUMAN” and “ROBOT”, Daft Punk built up an almost unbearable amount of anticipation for the beat to drop, before finally dropping the monstrous central riff of “Robot Rock” and throwing the crowd into a complete frenzy. You’d have been hard-pressed to find anyone in the 20,000 people (a very conservative estimate) crammed in front of the main stage who wasn’t completely freaking the fuck out at that point, and things only got crazier when the spoken verse of “Technologic” burst forth from the speakers accompanied by each word spelled out in twenty foot tall letters across the massive LCD screen behind the pyramid. It initially employed the lusty vocals of Busta Rhymes’ “Touch It” before evolving into the robotic high-pitched vocals of the original version, at which point the crowd let out another tremendous roar of approval. “Crescendolls” came shortly thereafter and was one of the few tracks that was played largely unchanged in its original form and was just a straight-up party from start to finish. Then it was time for the show’s first true climax, when the duo dropped “Around The World” transitioning FLAWLESSLY into “Harder Better Faster Stronger”. Suffice it to say, SHIT WAS BANANAS.

But the undeniable highlight for me and the moment I’d been waiting for all night (all my life?) was when at long last the ominous bells of “Aerodynamic” burst forth from the speakers, announcing the arrival of the “Aerodynamic” edit of “One More Time”. All of the highlights from each track were thrown together to create one massive, empire-toppling mega-anthem, resulting in rampant shit-losing throughout the crowd and some of the most incredible four minutes of my life. RIDICULOUS.

No single track was able to top “Aerodynamic”/”One More Time” (though “Da Funk” came damn close), but that’s not to say that the second half of their wasn’t every bit as life-affirming as the first. At one point during “Prime Time of Your Life” I had my hands over my mouth and my eyes transfixed on the stage, prompting a woman next to me to ask me what I was worrying about and demand that I have fun, but the fact of the matter was that I was simply just too completely overwhelmed by sheer, unadulterated awe to even move at that point. Fortunately, it was only moments later that “Da Funk” dropped and sent me and everyone else into another frenzied dance session once again. After an hour of pumping out an unrelenting stream of solid-gold jams the duo struck a triumphant pose and left the stage, giving everyone a few moments to reflect, recharge and refuel before one last final burst of euphoria.

As if things could get any more ridiculous, the climax of the encore came during a reprisal of the bridge of “Aerodynamic” mixed with Thomas Bangalter side-project Stardust’s “Music Sounds Better With You”, in which the music stopped suddenly for a beat as all the lights went out, and neon orange lights lining every detail of the duo’s robot suits lit up and caused one final audience freak-out before they pumped out a few more jams with their suits still ablaze with neon and left the stage for good. The only disappointment of the encore - nay, the entire performance - was the exclusion of “Digital Love”, but it certainly didn’t keep the show from going down as the best live experience of my life and a performance I will never forget.
With the exception of a few changes here and there (the exclusion of “Crescendolls” from the Coachella set, for example), the setlist was largely identical to the one from Coachella 2006 and most of the same tricks were employed, so those well-versed in the incredible quality bootleg of the show should know what I’m talking about. For the uninitiated, you’ll find high-quality soundboard recordings of the shows below along with a grip of some of the better Daft Punk remixes to surface over the years.

MP3s:
“Robot Rock” (Live @ Coachella) - Daft Punk
“Technologic” (Live @ Coachella) - Daft Punk
“Around The World/Harder Better Faster…” (Live @ Coachella) - Daft Punk
“One More Time” (Aerodynamic Remix) (Live @ Coachella) - Daft Punk
“Da Funk” (Live @ Coachella) - Daft Punk
“Harder Better Faster Stronger” (Dirty Disco Youth Remix) - Daft Punk
“Human After All” (SebastiAn Remix) - Daft Punk
“Human After All” (Justice’s Guy Man After All Mix) - Daft Punk

For a few moments after the show I thought I may never be able to see another live due to the knowledge that nothing will ever top Daft Punk’s seismic throwdown in Hyde Park, but with the news that Kissy Sell Out would be manning the tables in an hour at 333 in East London and a need to work off some SERIOUS adrenaline, we didn’t think twice before jumping into a cab and heading straight for Shoreditch.

KISSY SELL OUT @ 333


There’s no doubt that Phones was the king of the remix world in 2005, but 2006 saw the crown being shared by three newcomers. Metronomy, SebastiAn and Justice all churned out their fair share of incredible mixes, and you’d have been hard-pressed to declare a consensus favorite without considerable backlash. However, in 2007 it looks like a lone Brit is set to own the title once again. With a grip of mind-blowing remixes for the likes of pop behemoths All Saints, Mark Ronson and Gwen Stefani already to his name this year and publications already declaring him “an English Justice”, 2007 is shaping up to be the Year of the Kissy in a big way.

We made it to 333 with time to spare and killed time over drinks before Kissy took the stage at 12:30 and jumped straight into the early stages of his set, an impressive 30-minute run that included a hot mix of New Young Pony Club’s “Ice Cream” and was remarkably solid despite it’s obvious warm-up status. All of a sudden the opening synth burst of Kissy’s AMAZING mash-up of “Let’s Get Ready To Rumble” and Ali Love’s “K-Hole” burst forth from the mix and it was GAME ON. We quickly downed our drinks and legitimately raced to the dancefloor to revel in what is legitimately one of the single most brilliant mash-ups I’ve ever heard. There wasn’t a seconds rest before Kissy set off his signature fog horn (as in, dude has an actual fog horn on stage with him), which is basically his own special way of saying HEY IT’S TIME TO FUCKING DANCE OKAY?, and jumped right into his excellent “True Romance” mix of Mark Ronson’s recent chart-topper, “Stop Me”. The next hour was a relentless onslaught of jam after jam after JAM, with his remixes of the Black Ghosts “Face” and Gwen Stefani’s “Wind It Up”, as well as a mix in which dude took Nirvana’s “Come As You Are” and managed to turn it into a poppy-as-shit dancefloor burner. The final stages of his set featured a bangin’ update of “SexyBack” and GoodBooks “Leni”, but it wasn’t until he dropped his UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLE (as in, the best remix of the year) mix of All Saints’ “Chick Fit” that the show reached terminal euphoria. Shortly thereafter Boy 8-Bit took to the decks and Kissy exited the stage to riotous applaud from an audience of sweaty, but immensely satisfied customers, and it was unanimously agreed that Kissy Sell Out’s set was truly the only thing in the world that could have followed Daft Punk’s performance and not have been a complete letdown.

I’m not kidding when I say this guy’s the best in the game right now, and you’d be wise to get your hands on everything and anything he touches. Below you’ll find a handful of his remixes and an original track he recently dropped for an Annie Mac mix on BBC Radio One. I’m serious about that “Chick Fit” remix; it’s some next-level shit.

MP3s:
“Get Ready For The K-Hole!” - Kissy Sell Out ((highly recommended))
“Chick Fit” (KSO’s Excellent Adventure) - All Saints ((highly recommended))
“Stop Me” (KSO’s True Romance) - Mark Ronson ((highly recommended))
“Face” (KSO’s Essex Street Corner Dubplate) - The Black Ghosts
“Leni” (Kissy Sell Out Remix) - GoodBooks
“Wind It Up” (Kissy Sell Out Remix) - Gwen Stefani
“We Are Rockstars” (Kissy Sell Out Remix) - Does It Offend You, Yeah?
“Harriet” (Annie Mac Edit) - Kissy Sell Out

MUSE TAKE OVER WEMBLEY STADIUM
Everyone who wasn’t at Daft Punk was across town for the second night of Muse’s ridiculous takeover of Wembley Stadium, which seems to have made it to the top of everyone in attendance’s Best Gigs Ever lists. From what I’ve heard it certainly sounds epic, but I was having my own OMGZ BEST SHOW EVER moment at Daft Punk, which I wouldn’t have traded for the world. Thus, I can’t tell you what it looked like, but I can tell you it sounded something like this:

MP3: “Map of the Problematique” (Live @ Wembley Stadium) - Muse

“Map of the Problematique” is their newest single and the only track from Black Holes & Revelations that I really loved, so I was considerably pumped to find out that it would be the second song to be destroyed via remix by Does It Offend You, Yeah? after their sufficiently excellent remix of “The Prayer” last January. Nothing terribly brilliant, but fairly bangin’ nonetheless; feel free to get at it below.

MP3: “Map of the Problematique” (Does It Offend You, Yeah? Remix) - Muse

MORE ELECTRO HOTNESS
“D.A.N.C.E.” has been remixed by pretty much anyone with a laptop at this point, but it’s ALL about the MSTRKRFT mix. Their “D.A.N.C.E.” remix joins their “Two More Years” and “Monster Hospital” treatments in the pantheon of untouchable MSTRKRFT mixes and takes an already insanely danceable jam and somehow puts it into an even higher gear. Brilliant.

MP3: “D.A.N.C.E.” (MSTRKRFT Remix) - Justice ((highly recommended))

I really thought I’d said all there was to say about Kate Nash, but then James Mount AKA Metronomy AKA My Favorite Remixer of 2006 decided to drop some hot fire all over “Foundations” and put her into even heavier rotation on the ‘pod. Whereas Metronomy’s generally kept to himself in terms of vocals on his remixes, his “Foundations” mix sees him reworking the chorus with his own “Fing-ger-tips, the cracks in our foundations” refrain and drenching the track in his usual production bells and whistles.

MP3: “Foundations” (Metronomy Remix) - Kate Nash ((highly recommended))

Never did I think I’d see the day that Van She Tech would get in the mix on a Feist track, let alone one as dainty as upcoming single “1-2-3-4″, but sure enough my inbox yielded none other than Van She Tech’s edit of that very track today. Not a banger by any means, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t work quite well. I really like the way these new Feist singles are being handled; first Boys Noize on “My Moon My Man” and now Van She Tech? I could get used to this.

MP3: “1-2-3-4″ (Van She Tech Remix) - Feist ((highly recommended))

Enough MP3s for you? Jesus. Sorry for the lack of activity recently, I’m at one of my various jobs every day and this is the first night I’ve not gone out in two weeks, but I’m doing the best I can.

Those kids in Hadouken really know how to throw down. For proof, one needn’t look any further than Friday night’s over-the-top gig at Koko. It was their second performance of the night (the first having been at ULU only two hours prior), but you couldn’t tell given their contagious energy and the crowd’s overwhelmingly enthusiastic (to say the least) reaction. After a disappointing set by fellow new ravers Late of the Pier, Hadouken! took the stage to an audience that was already pumped and ready to go thanks to a downright impeccable DJ set from Mickey Four.

I’m not sure if new rave really exists or not at this point, but assuming it does, you won’t find anything more new rave than Hadouken!, with the possible exception of London’s 2012 Olympics logo. Neon synths pierce through the ether, dancey drumbeats pervade and shouty vocals are the name of the game, and Hadouken’s debut single “That Boy That Girl” might as well be the apotheosis of the genre (if you’re willing to legitimize it as such) for all I’m concerned. As their only single and most well-known song to this point, it was logically the pinnacle and finale of their set and sent the kids into an absolute frenzy. And “kids” they were, as I’d be willing to wager that a good 3/4 of the crowd were under 21, but I’ll take a venue full of drunk-ass teenagers flipping their shit for a band over a room full of NYC’s cooler-than-thou hipsters any day.

Other highlights included new single “Liquid Lives”, which burst forth from the speakers two songs into their set. I wasn’t terribly keen on the track when the promo first found its way to me a few days ago, but that “Drink! Smoke! Fuck! Fight!” chorus absolutely OWNED in a live setting and you really can’t fuck with those sinister-ass horns, nearly as massive as they are synthesized. Suffice it to say, I’m considerably fonder of it after a few more listens and last night’s show, but I still have to give the edge to that unfuckwithable debut single.

New track “Declaration of War” sounded brilliant as well and even featured some actual singing from frontman James Hadouken, and “Tuning In”, a track only available in remix form to this point, was great also. With the ink still drying on their deal with Atlantic and a legion of devoted young folks already worshipping their every move, the future is bright for this lot and you better believe we’ll be hearing a lot from them in the coming months.

MP3s:
“That Boy That Girl” - Hadouken! ((highly recommended))
“Liquid Lives” - Hadouken!

Despite the lofty praise I just doled out for the live show and recorded material, I actually think their best work to date has come in the form of the unofficial remixes they’ve put out over the last year. While their synth-heavy updates to Bloc Party’s “The Prayer” and Plan B’s “No More Eatin’” were great in their own right, it’s the first remix they ever released, of Klaxons’ “Atlantis To Interzone”, that stands out as one of my single favorite remixes of the last two years. It’s just. So. Good. So yeah, feel free to get at those below. You won’t regret it.

MP3s:
“Atlantis To Interzone” (Hadouken! Remix) - Klaxons ((highly recommended))
“The Prayer” (Hadouken! Remix) - Bloc Party
“No More Eatin’” (Hadouken! Remix) - Plan B

But the best thing Hadouken have spawned to this point has to be Bob Harlow’s brilliant music video for “That Boy That Girl”, which serves as a perfect introduction to the band and a crash course in how to make one of the best videos of the year on a shoestring budget. In fact, to call it shoestring isn’t even doing it justice - if the rumors are to be believed Harlow put this out on a basically non-existent budget of £40, which qualifies the clip as one of the best low-budget videos I’ve ever seen. Don’t miss this one.

Video: “That Boy That Girl ” - Hadouken
Director: Bob Harlow
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime • 37 MB]

So it’s taken me quite a while to get around to my coverage of the third and final day of the Great Escape, but I had a ridiculously hard time trying to figure out how to embed streaming audio in my posts because, contrary to what you might expect, I’m not that internet savvy when it comes to the technical side of things. That said, rather than actually spending my time figuring that all out, I just kind of kept putting it off and writing posts on artists I was more excited about featuring, but I’ve finally gotten my shit together and hammered out the final segment. Keep reading for my complete Great Escape wrap-up and full, exclusive coverage of the best performance of the weekend.

RIPCHORD (7:00 PM, Beach Club) [MySpace]

Ripchord have a sound that’s something like Liam Gallagher fronting a more rocking hybrid of the Arctic Monkeys crossed with the Fratellis and, uh, it’s not all that unique. I liked, but didn’t love their debut single and didn’t have terribly high expectations for their live show. But all that said, they proved to be quite the pleasant surprise. So much so that I blew off Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip just so I could see the rest of their set and hear how “Lock Up Your Daughters” translated to a live setting. The choice paid off as I heard DLS vs Pip wasn’t all that great and “Lock Up” proved to be one of the best songs I heard all week, that gloriously addictive central riff whipping the crowd (well the first two rows at least) into a frenzy and getting everyone in attendance thoroughly into it. Other tracks like “Back of a Van” and new single “Backstabber” (out last week) didn’t fail to impress either, and Ripchord were undoubtedly one of the most pleasant surprises of the weekend for me.

MP3: “Lock Up Your Daughters (And Throw Away The Key)” - Ripchord

NEON PLASTIX (8:00 PM, Revenge) [MySpace]

Then it was over to Revenge to catch Neon Plastix in all their 80’s-ass synth-drenched glory. With endearingly cheesy vocals, a very flamboyant lead singer and enough synths on stage to rival Hot Chip, the Neon Plastix were very loud and very fun. They’ve got like a Phd in fun noises which they produce using a combination of those aforementioned synths and a fully-stocked sampler and yeah, they were pretty great. That said, they definitely have a bit of work to do in the on-stage chemistry department, as the energy and presence of the drummer and lead singer carry the band while the keyboardist, guitarist and bassist all kind of just go through the motions as routinely and uninterestingly as possible. Not all of their tracks were solid gold hits or anything, but there were enough highlights to warrant me getting way psyched to hear more from them, including an awesome guitar-and-sampler heavy instrumental track with a borrowed looped vocal that sounded what you might imagine a live performance of a remix to be like. And then there’s “On Fire”, an undeniable JAM if I ever heard one, and they closed with it brilliantly, just as I’d hoped they would. The lack of “Dreams”, my other favorite track by them, was a bit of a bummer, but hey - did I mention “On Fire” is one of my favorite electro-jams of like, ever?

MP3s:
“On Fire” - Neon Plastix ((highly recommended))
“Dream” - Neon Plastix

JACK PENATE (9:30 PM, Beach Club) [MySpace]

After being unable to get in the night prior, I was able to gain entrance into Jack Penate’s performance at the Beach Club on Saturday night. I liked a few tracks off Penate’s demo and loved his debut single on the up-and-coming Young Turks imprint, “Second, Minute or Hour”, but still only made the call to catch him at the Beach Club after failing to gain entry to both the Kate Nash show at Pressure Point and Kid Harpoon’s full band performance (which I heard was AMAZING) at the Pavilion Theatre.

It turned out to be a decision of the Very Good variety, as Penate is a brilliant live performer with more good tracks in his arsenal than I’d given him credit for. “Second, Minute or Hour” sounded great, as did an awesome - if short-lived - cover of “Everybody Dance Now”, but my favorite track of his set was upcoming single “Torn on the Platform”, which you can and should get at below. Dude just signed with XL and has a very bright future ahead of him, and with an album due out in July and “Torn on the Platform” preceding it as a single in late June, you’re about to be hearing Penate’s (like Pinata, only ending in a “-te”) a lot more in the coming weeks. Also, he allegedly just recorded a track (a few tracks?) with Mark Ronson, which is at least 5,000 different kinds of REALLY EXCITING. Just sayin’.

MP3s:
“Second, Minute or Hour” - Jack Penate ((highly recommended))
“Torn On The Platform” - Jack Penate

PALLADIUM (10:30, Hector’s House) [MySpace]

I don’t even know where to begin with this lot. I guess a good place to start might be declaring their show at Hector’s on Saturday night the best damn performance of the entire festival, yeah? Aside from that though, it’s hard to know where to start when you’ve got a band as fresh, unique and, well, ridiculous as Palladium. I mean just look at them. You’ve got Ryan Cabrera over there on the right, the pied piper chillin’ there in front and center, a dude with a pink sideways visor on the left and then the bloke at the back looking way too serious considering the dudes he’s surrounded by. But all appearances aside these kids can play, yo.

With a fully-loaded arsenal of chart-toppers that seem to be freshly plucked from 1982, Palladium dazzle you with an incredibly polished (even in a live setting, just check out those live demos below) sound that’s just bursting at the seems with sprightly, candy-coated keyboard flourishes, unbelievably catchy vocal structures and a general fabulousness that you just don’t find in most bands nowadays. They also score points in the endearment department sporting ridiculous names like The Fez, Peter Pepper, Rocky Morris and Rufio Sandilands, and their live show features the incredible backing vocals - as powerful as they are soulful - of the one and only Queen Shezar. And really, listening to these incredibly accessible, radio-friendly tracks seemingly tailor-made for the charts doesn’t exactly give you the impression that the band will be all that brilliant live, but with the surprisingly remarkable guitarmanship of the Fez, the ebullient keys of Mr. Sandilands and the addictive vocal melodies of Peter Pepper and the Queen overcoming you from every direction, you can’t help but get like way into it.

Naturally, the band just signed a massive deal with Virgin and will be releasing their debut single, “Happy Hour”, at some point in the coming months. The track is a slice of pure, unadulterated pop glory, the kind of song you wouldn’t find out of place in the opening scenes of some off-Broadway play involving varsity jackets, finger-snaps and elaborate choreography routines. “Midnight Service” might be the best of the bunch and finds Rufio setting his keyboard to Maximum Panflute and just letting the good times roll. Downright masturbatory solos (vocal, keyboard, guitar, you name it) are everywhere you turn here and I just might have a problem with it if it weren’t wrapped up in such an addictive, endlessly blissful package. “High Five” is great as well, but doesn’t quite reach the heights of the other two tracks, even though it’s hard not to be fully down with it from the second that “Woo!” hits at the 30-second mark. But listen, this band is going to be extremely polarizing - I mean, I’m well aware I should not like this - but after an absolutely brilliant performance in Brighton that had all eyes at Hector’s firmly transfixed on the stage for the entirety of their set and drunk girls literally falling to the floor they were so into it (or… out of it, I guess) I really can’t get enough. Here’s to your new guiltiest pleasure and the soon-to-be most polarizing band in Britain.

Just one issue, though. Their management specifically requested that I not make the tracks available for download as they’re not final versions, hence the streaming audio options below. I still strongly advise that you check these kids out though, if only so you can say that you knew them back way back when… though on second thought, when they’re firmly entrenched in the Top 40 this time next year with backlash that could rival that generated by Mika, you may not want to be advertising that publicly all too much. So yeah, sorry about this streaming business, but trust me, it’s worth it. Have I ever led you astray?

STREAM: “Happy Hour” - Palladium ((highly recommended))

STREAM: “Midnight Service” - Palladium ((highly recommended))

STREAM: “High Five” (Demo) - Palladium

With day one behind me and having finally found a hotel room for the remainder of the weekend, I caught a mid-day train back to Brighton and began to prepare myself for another night of great new music. Upon arriving I settled into my new digs, met up with Nicky and Arif for some food and began to prepare myself for another awesome night of music and debauchery.

I was all psyched to start my night off right with the one-two punch of Cut Off Your Hands and I Was A Cub Scout at the Drowned In Sound-curated showcase at Zap, so I made my way down to the seaside venue early so as to get a prime spot for the show.

ROLO TOMASSI (Zap, 7:00 PM) [MySpace]

I arrived at seven o’clock sharp, totally pumped to get my shit rocked by Cut Off Your Hands, but they, uh, weren’t there. Instead, Sheffield hardcorists Rolo Tomassi were taking the stage. Bummer. I’d heard a lot of praise bouncing around for Rolo over the last few months and the band looked like a nice bunch - four shaggy-haired fellows and a cute lead singer in short khaki shorts and a white top - as they took the stage. But as soon as they launched into their first song it became immediately apparent that this was NOT my thing.

Maybe it’s because I prefer my vocals sung (or even spoken) and not screamed, or maybe I just couldn’t handle such violent, abrasive shrieks (nay, roars) coming out of such a seemingly delicate, nice young girl, but yeah, this wasn’t for me. It was kind of like The Exorcist in a way. You’re like, “What a cute little girl” and then a few minutes later it’s all “OH JESUS” and you kind of want to run away. I didn’t run away, as I wasn’t about to miss out on I Was A Cub Scout, so I stayed and endured the rest of their set. The musicianship was impressive and the clever use of samples and electronic flourishes set them apart from most of the hardcore bands I’ve heard/seen, but yeah - never again, please. Feel free to check out their MySpace if this sounds like the kind of thing that gets you going, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Whatever, I was still pumped for I Was A Cub Scout. But unfortunately, they took like 30 minutes to set up and by the time they were finally ready to take the stage, I was in serious danger of missing the Video Nasties and I was NOT about to let that happen.

VIDEO NASTIES (Corn Exchange, 8:00 PM) [MySpace]

After basically sprinting across town we rolled up just as they were launching into the second track of their fantastic double A-side debut single, “3 New Ideas”, and it sounded great. The Corn Exchange was a massive venue, the biggest I saw all weekend, and while the crowd there only filled the front quarter of it, they did a good job of making it seem like they played that kind of place all the time, filling the place with their keyboard-heavy brand of catchy Britpop. “I Wanna”, the other track on that impressive debut, sounded brilliant as well, but unfortunately none of their other tracks they performed reached the same heights of their debut. Maybe it was just the wrong venue or maybe they just weren’t the kind of songs that clicked the first time you heard them or maybe they just really weren’t that good. Either way, I look forward to finding out when their follow-up single, “Doo Dah”, comes out in July on the consistently excellent WayOutWest label.

MP3s:
“I Wanna” - Video Nasties
“3 New Ideas” - Video Nasties

SCOUTING FOR GIRLS (King & Queen, 8:30) [MySpace]

Then it was off to the King & Queen pub for Scouting For Girls, one of the bands I was most excited to see at the festival, and they didn’t disappoint in the least. They opened brilliantly with an absolutely phenomenal rendition of “Elvis Ain’t Dead”, my favorite track by them, and while it easily all could of gone downhill it most certainly didn’t. The title track of their upcoming debut EP, “It’s Not About You”, followed and continued with the theme of enormously feel good, better-than-Air-Traffic (I said it!) piano rock. The incredibly endearing “I Wish I Was James Bond” and a few other ace tracks followed, before they closed perfectly with “Keep On Walking”, also available on the upcoming EP that’s out on Epic on June 25th and currently topping my Most Anticipated Debuts list. Now that Air Traffic’s gone all Keane on our asses (just wait for “Shooting Star” to drop next month), Scouting For Girls are officially the next great British piano-rock band to get excited about. Look for this lot to be all over the charts in no time at all.

MP3s:
“Elvis Ain’t Dead” (Demo) - Scouting For Girls ((highly recommended))
“Keep On Walking” - Scouting For Girls

AIR TRAFFIC (Audio, 9:30 PM) [MySpace]

Alright, I know I just called out Air Traffic on the mainstream-as-shit direction they’ve decided to go in, but that said, those first two singles (”Just Abuse Me” and “Never Even Told Me Her Name”, to be specific) will forever hold a cherished place in my heart as two of the most fantastic pieces of piano-centric pop to ever grace my ears. For that reason alone, I headed over to Audio with an optimistic attitude. And… they were decent. In their defense, the venue didn’t suit them at all (wayyy to small), had a fairly poor sound set-up and was absolutely PACKED, three elements that aren’t terribly conducive to a great live show. Still, the hits (”Just Abuse Me”, “Never Even Told Me Her Name”, “Charlotte”) were fantastic and their were a few other great tracks sprinkled throughout their set, but it was by no means a brilliant performance. I won’t pass a final judgment on them until I get a chance to hear all of Fractured Life, their debut album (out July 2nd), but let’s just say I’m significantly less excited about this band than I once was. But hey, we’ll always have those two initial singles.

MP3s:
“Just Abuse Me” - Air Traffic ((highly recommended))
“Never Even Told Me Her Name” - Air Traffic ((highly recommended))
“Shooting Star” (Demo) - Air Traffic

Despite very close set times and the tiny size of the Red Roaster Cafe, we did our best to get over there in time to catch Jack Penate, but… failed. At one point in the mad squeeze to get in, Luke Pritchard (of the Kooks) emerged from the doors and put an arm around Nicky on his way down the street, sending the ridiculously attractive (and ridiculously in-high-school) girls behind us into fits of near-hysterics as soon as they realized who he was. Thus, they proceeded to tag along with us as we followed Luke to the Willy Mason gig that was about to start across town. Alas, we were shut out yet again, as Mason was the hottest ticket in town on Saturday night, so we headed back down to where we started at Audio to catch Kid Harpoon’s acoustic performance, which was - suffice it to say - not a bad alternative in the least.

KID HARPOON (Audio, 11:15 PM) [MySpace]

I’m gonna be real with you: I was pretty fucking drunk at this point. That said, I know I had an awesome time and that I really loved it when he played “Riverside”, the only song of his I knew heading into the weekend, but any further review beyond that would just be pointless. But here, download his debut single, “Riverside, below - it’s really really great.

MP3: “Riverside” - Kid Harpoon ((highly recommended))

After Harpoon we parted ways with our underage compatriots (I promise) and made our way back to the hotel, at which point I made the conscious (alright, semi-conscious) decision to drink more with my friends rather than catch the brilliant Transgressive showcase across town. I had a great time, but certainly regretted it in the morning when I woke up with a substantial hangover and the realization that I passed on three of the best bands of the weekend (Mechanical Bride, Battle, Foals). But whatever, it happens. Check back tomorrow for coverage of day three and an exclusive review of the best band of the entire weekend. Cheers.

My flatmate Troy finally (finally) got the internet set up, so you can expect things to get back to normal around here in terms of more regular posting. So yeah, commence rejoicing and shit. Most importantly though, it allows me to at long last post my coverage of the incredible Great Escape festival last weekend, which was just… awesome in every sense of the word. So without further adieu, let’s do this.

The Ocean Rooms was where it was at on Thursday night, with early performances by Make Good Your Escape and The Moths that promised to get the weekend off to a brilliant start.

MAKE GOOD YOUR ESCAPE (Ocean Rooms, 7:30 PM) [MySpace]

The unfortunately long line at the wristband pick-up point meant we had to miss out on Fear of Flying’s 7:00 PM performance at Audio, so Nicky and I headed over to the Ocean Rooms to catch one of his clients, Make Good Your Escape, kick off the night there with their loud-ass brand of brooding, epic art-rock. First and foremost, Make Good Your Escape have a Phd in LOUD, and their thirty-minute performance alone likely ensured that I’ll be needing a hearing aid by my 30th birthday. That said, I wouldn’t have had it any other way, and I thoroughly enjoyed being rocked to my very core by the hometown favorites. Musically, they make their money on incredible percussion sections (they’ve been described as having a “lead drummer”), Mike Yates powerful, empassioned vocals and a unique guitar sound centered on diamond-cutter riffs that slice back and forth through the mix and set the band apart from their like-minded peers. They roared through their set, dedicating every single song to the Spinto Band along the way (don’t ask me) and making me less and less bummed about missing Fear of Flying with each passing song.

Make Good Your Escape proved to be the perfect start to a weekend of brilliant live music, and their live show had me extremely eager to check out their recorded material as soon as I got home. In a slightly unfortunate turn of events, I found that some songs strayed dangerously close to emo territory, something that I hadn’t picked up in their live show (my ears were probably just too busy bleeding to pick up on it, however). That said, last year’s Never Look Back Here Again mini-LP remains an extremely impressive debut, and I look forward to catching them at least one more time before I return to the US at the end of June. It’s not for everyone, but be sure to download their excellent upcoming single (I think) “The Return” if this sounds like your kind of thing.

MP3: “The Return” - Make Good Your Escape

LOOK-SEE PROOF (Ocean Rooms, 8:10 PM) [MySpace]

Next up were Look-See Proof, an energetic four piece from Hertfordshire who I stuck around for as there were no other intriguing shows at that time in the vicinity of the venue and I wasn’t about to miss a second of the Moths, the band I was most excited for at the festival. I wish I could say I was pleasantly surprised, but… I wasn’t. Despite searing guitar riffs and a nice double-pronged vocal attack, they were very same old, same old indie rock, nothing terribly special and definitely nothing to get excited about. Onto the Moths then…

THE MOTHS (Ocean Rooms, 9:00 PM) [MySpace]

It’s getting to be a bit ridiculous how much I love this band. Their debut 7″ is a record for the ages, an incredible triple A-side single, featuring three incredible tracks all worthy of the loftiest praise. Seriously, a lot of young bands would sell their collective souls for one single as good as any one of these, and the Moths went ahead and dropped three at once their first time out. I’d hoped this meant that they just had so many incredible tracks at their disposal that they could afford to waste (well not really “waste”, per se) three on their debut single, and so I was excited to hear how a complete set from them would hold up against those initial tracks.

They opened incredibly strong (maybe a bit too strong), blowing their load early dropping all three tracks off that immaculate debut - “Games”, “Wild Birds” and “Valentine” - in order right off the bat. That said, I’m very excited to report that there really wasn’t a terribly significant drop-off in the quality from the first three songs of the set. “Tell Me” and next single “Tumbling Down” sounded fantastic, but it was the closing track “Night Is On Fire”, with it’s self-referential “like moths to the light” lyric, that was the best yet-to-be-released song of the night. After the show, the band explained that it will likely be the B-side to the next single (though personally I think it should be the other way around), and I can’t fucking wait. Long live the Moths, who with the recent signing of The Wombats and Dead Disco to 14th Floor Recordings and 679 (respectively), can be touted as the best unsigned band in Britain.

I want so badly to make all three tracks from the single available for download, but that would be all kinds of unfair to the band, so download the brilliant “Valentine” below and the demo of upcoming single “Tumbling Down” below as well and then, y’know, actually buy the single.

MP3: “Valentine” - The Moths ((highly recommended))
MP3: “Tumbling Down” (Demo) - The Moths

After the Moths it was off to catch Ghosts at the Barfly. Unfortunately though, they were incredibly delayed, and as 10:15 turned into 11:00 and then 11:30, I bit the bullet and caught the last train back to London as I still hadn’t found a place to crash. Thus, I missed out on Ghosts (though I heard their set ended up being played by PA problems and devolved [in a good way, apparently] into them singing the theme songs from soaps with the audience) and Shameless, but all in all it was a good start to what would prove to be an unforgettable weekend. Check back for my coverage of day two and three tomorrow, when shit really got good.

Thanks Vassar, for reminding me that, hey, college is fucking fun. Sure, it helps when you have one of the best bands in the world rocking your student body to their very core, as TV on the Radio did in brilliant form last week, but yeah, thanks for everything Vassar. I made the beautiful two hour train ride up to Poughkeepsie last Saturday to visit Lizzy and catch TV on the Radio’s show with the Noisettes, and man, am I glad I did. I didn’t really know what to expect from a show that was held in what was essentially a glorified student lounge, but props to ViCE (Vassar College Entertainment) for making it work and also to the Vassar kids for being a ridiculously awesome audience. UVA got great shows all the time (Feist, Jose Gonzalez, Les Savy Fav, Architecture in Helsinki… the list goes on), but the audience was largely comprised of the cooler-than-thou artsy 20-somethings that populate downtown Charlottesville instead of actual UVA students. Last night, on the other hand, the crowd was made up nearly exclusively of Vassar kids, sneaking sips from water bottles full of vodka (just us?) and preparing to have the time of their lives.

When I spoke with Kele Okereke on the topic of great new British bands at the Ed Banger show a few weeks back, he called the Noisettes his “favorite band in England at the moment”. Obviously, I checked them out as soon as I got home and loved what I heard, and thus was thrilled to hear that they’d be opening for TVotR at Vassar. They didn’t disappoint. At all. In fact, think of the exact opposite of “disappointed”, multiply it by 1,000 and you’re only beginning to get a rough idea of how much they impressed me. They even came damn close to justifying the Guardian’s bold assertion that the Noisettes “are the best live band in Britain”, so yeah, they were like real good. Lead singer Shingai Shoniwa is a fucking superstar in the making, and she did an incredible job working the crowd despite the fact that outside of my group of friends, you’d have been hard-pressed to find a single person in attendance who’d ever heard the band’s name, let alone their music. Shoniwa owned the room, prancing around the stage, climbing up on the speakers and working the kids into a frenzy like she was Ninja from the Go! Team and had just overdosed on awesome pills. She’s also like, really really good-looking and a damn fine guitar player as well, so yeah – this one’s the complete package.

They opened with “Bridge to Canada”, perhaps the only dull moment of their entire set, before launching into recent singles “Don’t Give Up” and “Scratch Your Name”. “Don’t Give Up” set the high-energy tone for the evening right off the bat, with a central riff that’s infective and danceable enough to carry an iPod commercial and a huge chorus that was more than enough to make sure everyone in attendance had their eyes glued to the stage for the remainder of their set. “Scratch Your Name”, the band’s most recent single, is an uplifting track with a motivational chorus punctuated by emphatic, stabbing guitar riffs and sounded awesome in the live setting. Debut single “Iwe” was excellent also despite being one of my least favorite tracks by the band on record, but it was “The Count of Monte Cristo”, my favorite song of theirs, that was the true highlight of their set. A departure from the heavier, more rocking sound of the rest of their debut, “The Count of Monte Cristo” is a more soulful, almost jazzy number that almost recalls KT Tunstall at times and makes its money on the call-and-return vocals of its brilliant chorus. They closed in flawless fashion with “Sister Rosetta (Capture The Spirit)” before the proverbial curtain fell on a truly incredible performance that undoubtedly won them an entire room full of new fans. Having just released their debut, What’s The Time Mr. Wolf, on Universal Motown (yeah… Motown) in the US, look for the Noisettes to do big thing in 2007 and for Shoniwa’s star to continue to rise as she dazzles audiences across the globe on a regular basis.

Download two of the many standout tracks from the LP below, along with a sufficiently bangin’ remix of new single “Scratch Your Name” (which sees release for a second time on May 7th) courtesy of the Baseball Furies.

MP3s:
“Don’t Give Up” - The Noisettes
“The Count of Monte Cristo” - The Noisettes ((highly recommended))
“Scratch Your Name” (Baseball Furies Remix) - The Noisettes

TV on the Radio took the stage a bit later than scheduled around 10:45 and had the kids freaking out from the get-go. The sound and stage set-up wasn’t nearly as good as when I saw the band at the 9:30 Club last fall (but I mean, that’s to be expected), but the incredible crowd more than made up for it and the show proved to be my best TVotR live experience yet. “Young Liars” and “The Wrong Way” kicked off the night and the crowd loved every minute of the show from the very beginning. “Dreams” and “Province” provided early highlights, but shit just got absolutely crazy when “Wolf Like Me” dropped five songs in. At the 9:30 show last fall there were a lot of crossed-arms and shifting from foot to foot before “Wolf Like Me” hit and sent a considerable portion of the audience into a frenzy, and while the Vassar kids were way into it from the first note last week, “Wolf Like Me” took everything to a whole new level of high octane out-rocking. We’re talking like, full-fledged floor shaking and shit. “Dirtywhirl”, my original favorite track off of Cookie Mountain, kept the energy up and the kids moving, as did “I Was A Lover” and a rousing rendition of B-side favorite “Dry Drunk Emporer”. “Satellite” capped off the main set brilliantly and made me fall in love with it all over again after largely neglecting the Young Liars EP for the last year or so.

The main set was great, but the encore was really something special. Opening innocently enough with “A Method”, the band then invited the Noisettes and company out to join them for the next track, an absolutely ridiculous rendition of “Let The Devil In”. To call the performance “rousing” would be like calling Katrina breezy, the hurricane reference a fitting one considering the sheer unbridled force packed by the band’s penultimate performance for the evening. The Noisettes improvised percussion sections on anything they could get their hands on, Dave Sitek helped out drummer Jaleel Bunton pounded out ship-sinking rhythms on the drum kit and Tunde Adebimpe screamed the chorus through a megaphone to a blown-away audience. But it was closer “Staring At The Sun” that set the high-water mark for excellence that evening. Originally recorded with an electronic drum machine, Jaleel infuses the track with an astonishing vitality not found on record in the live setting. Things even reached “Wolf Like Me”-proportions, with the floorboards pulsating once again under the sheer force of hundreds of jumping kids. All good things must and do come to an end though, and the band hit the dressing room after the songs final notes rang out over a considerably awe-struck audience.

MP3s:
“Satellite” - TV On The Radio
“Staring At The Sun” (EP Version) - TV On The Radio ((highly recommended))
“Dirtywhirl” - TV On The Radio
“Wolf Like Me” - TV On The Radio ((highly recommended))
“Staring At The Sun” (Diplo’s Hollertronix Remix) - TV On The Radio
“Staring At The Sun” - The Subways

After the show I helped Lizzy, our dear friend Kira and the rest of the ViCE crew load out the band’s equipment and take apart the stage. Earlier that day Lizzy had been giving the job of walking TVotR’s drummer, Jaleel, across campus to where he could find a shower. They hit it off quite well - because Lizzy’s fly like that - and before parting ways he expressed a desire to hit up a college party after the show. Lizzy didn’t really take it seriously, but sure enough Jaleel popped out of his dressing room and told us to retrieve him from the tour bus after we were done.

We went out to the bus about an hour later where Jaleel, who proved to be one of the nicest human beings I’ve ever met, was kickin’ it with Gerard (keys/bass/knob-twiddling/auxiliary percussion). We chilled there for a bit and enjoyed some beer and cigarettes, discussing film with the band (unanimously agreeing that Notes on a Scandal was the best film of last year), half-paying attention to The Descent (which was playing on the bus’s nice ass flat-screen… Dave’s two word review: ‘too screamy’) and generally reveling in the company of our idols. Shortly thereafter we rolled out with Jaleel, feeling like the coolest kids on the block (nay, the universe) as countless passersby offered shouts of endless praise for Jaleel and the band in general. After stopping by a fizzled out party or two, we rolled over to the crib of ViCE chair Jeremy Robinson (aka DJ Half Price aka the dropper of hot jams), who kept the party hot on the 1’s and 2’s (how long I’ve waited to use that phrase) well until the early hours of the morning. And so there we were, partying, making hard lemonades and cutting a rug with the drummer of one of the most talented bands in the world like it wasn’t no thing. This just in: it was very much a thing, and it very well just might have been one of the best nights of my life.

While his playlist drew heavily from mainstream hip-hop staples last Saturday, DJ Half Price has also displayed a considerable proficiency for mash-ups, dropping the following jams over the course of the evening. Both are sufficiently ill, with Half Price reinventing Hot Chip’s “My Piano” and New Order’s “Bizzare Love Triangle” with a new hip-hop flavor. I’ll be honest, I can’t say I’d heard either of the hip-hop tracks involved here, but I can tell you these mash-ups are at least 15 different kinds of hot.

MP3s:
“Get Down With My Piano” - Hot Chip vs. Busta Rhymes
“Bizarre Love Panties” - New Order vs. Young Blaze
We capped off an incredible evening sharing a joint with the Jaleel, Kyp Malone and Dave “I smoke a pound of weed a month” Sitek in what was perhaps the single most surreal experience of my life. Suffice it to say, shit was bananas. Sometimes life is good.

In somewhat related news, Lizzy and Kira have their own radio show that airs on Vassar’s WVKR every Tuesday night/Wednesday morning from 2-4 AM. These are some severely awesome girls we’re talking about here, and their playlists are every bit as consistently fantastic as they are. Plus, we’re into like, exactly the same shit and their playlists often draw heavily from GWFAS-approved material, so if you were ever interested in hearing what Good Weather For Airstrikes were like if turned into a radio show, then be sure to hit up the streaming audio at WVKR.org Tuesday nights at 2. I mean, it’s exam week (you need this) and doesn’t everyone love attractive girls with good record collections?

Vampire Weekend are going to be MASSIVE, and with offers beginning to flood in from labels all around the UK, a surprising (but completely deserved) write-up in Rolling Stone and a recently announced opening slot supporting the Mystery Jets on June 2nd at Bowery, it looks like they’re well on their way. No word yet on why every imprint in the US isn’t falling all over themselves to lock these kids up, but it won’t be long before VW are at the top of everyone’s must-sign list, especially if they keep putting on shows like the one last night at Union Hall in Brooklyn.

First a word about Union Hall, as it’s quite a lovely place. The wall-to-wall, fully stocked bookshelves and library decor upstairs, coupled with the explorer’s club vibe of the place, immediately established it as the perfect venue for Vampire Weekend’s highbrow brand of indie rock kwassa kwassa and frontman Ezra Koenig’s pointedly intellectual lyrics, and there were even two indoor bocce courts for the fifteen people in Park Slope who actually know how to play the game. Fireplaces, leather club chairs and Victorian couches only further add to the atmosphere of stately refinement within the venue’s walls, and I half-expected to see Miss Scarlet murder Colonel Mustard with the candlestick right before my very eyes, though it never quite came to fruition.

Downstairs was where the action was though, and Vampire Weekend took the stage around 9:45 to a packed room of eager spectators. The band got the night started on the right foot with “Mansard Roof”, a retro, keys-heavy number complete with a swelling strings section and serrated guitar riffs galore, but it wasn’t until three songs later when “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” dropped that all in attendance previously unfamiliar with the band were sonically bitch-slapped into the unavoidable realization that they were in the presence of something truly special. Other highlights included personal favorites “Oxford Comma” and “Campus”, but the huge crowd-pleaser was “A-Punk”, a high energy track featuring sing-a-long-friendly “Hey-Hey-Heys!” and “Oh-ohhh-ohs” that seems destined to be forever immortalized as the band’s debut single proper in the near future.

The unquestionable zenith of the band’s performance, however, was rousing closer “Walcott”, with its ebullient keys section and furious pacing. It was so good in fact, that I may never be able to listen to the current studio version again, as it feels flat and lifeless in comparison its live counterpart, which rounded out a near-flawless performance containing nary a dull moment. Even the three new songs, “I Stand Corrected”, an untitled number and the tentatively-titled “M79″ (”named after a certain [NYC] bus route”), were excellent and incredibly promising, the first sign of what’s to come for the band. Coupled with the 11 excellent demos that currently comprise the bands demo LP, the band looks to have more great songs than they could possibly know what to do with. For now, it sounds like the band will be self-releasing a three-track EP/7″ next month, before inevitably signing a big deal and rocketing to indie rock stardom. So yeah, see them now so you can say you saw them in the basement of a bar when they’re selling out Webster this time next year.

I chatted with the band briefly in passing after the show last night, but it was after their Mercury show at the beginning of the month that I really got to know them a bit and find out some of their background. According to Ezra, Vampire Weekend was originally the title of a “stupid” film they dreamed up back in college, in which vampires from Cape Cod killed the protagonist’s father, whose dying words demanded that his son avenge his death by going to Cape Cod and killing the vampires. Or something. I guess the movie never worked out, but they ended up taking its title as their band name (though apparently they considered shortening it to just “Weekend” at one point), and the Cape Cod focus lives on in their songwriting. None of the members are actually from the region, but Ezra professed a romantic fascination with the area, likely fostered over the course of a few summers he spent in New England as a kid. Keyboardist and sometime backup vocalist Rostam Batmanglij appears to account for a significant portion of the musical brains of the group, having some experience in scoring films, including David Wain’s upcoming comedy epoch, The Ten. Furthermore, his last name prominently features the word “Batman”, which is sufficiently awesome and noteworthy in itself. Just sayin’. Also excellent is the fact that apparently every member of this band looks like me, as I was mistaken for a band member (the drummer twice, the lead singer three times) an incredible five times merely walking from the stage to the exit of the Mercury Lounge after their April 6th show there, which could prove to be most excellent after the band’s inevitable ascent to indie rock prominence in the coming months (”Yeah, I’m totally their auxiliary percussionist, shall we go back to my place?”).

Alright, now I’m just rambling. Long story short: Vampire Weekend are fucking phenomenal, you should do everything in your power to catch them in New York this summer, great live show, they write nothing but hits, etc, etc, hear more songs at their MySpace or get at these mp3s below.

MP3s:
“Oxford Comma” - Vampire Weekend ((highly recommended))
“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” - Vampire Weekend ((highly recommended))
“Walcott” (Insane Mix #2) - Vampire Weekend

It’s Klaxons. It’s Studio B. Do I even need to write this review? You already know it was an awesome time.

It had been over a month since I last got ridiculous at Studio B when Simian Mobile Disco came to town on March 6th, and I’ve spent the last few weeks in legitimate withdrawal from the venue. Suffice it to say, I was jonesin’ hardcore to get back there, and news that Klaxons would be bringing their neon-flavored jams to the venue had me in line the day tickets went on sale back in February. So yeah… I was fucking ready.

Apparently so was everyone else though, as the venue was packed before the clock even struck 11 and almost unnavigable when we returned just before the band went on at 12:30. Opening was Bonde de Role and Surkin, but I made an executive decision and decided that getting supremely fucked up was a better way to spend my time than checking out two bands I wasn’t all that into, so we rolled out to The Palace to work on that with a few (read: seven) $1.50 brews before heading back over to Studio B just as Klaxons we’re about to take the stage. Things got a bit intense as we tried to make our way towards the center of the dancefloor, as the crowd was PACKED, and we began the show in a less-than-ideal spot way off to the left of the stage, conveniently situated directly behind a large concrete column. Things opened up once the band began to play though, and a brutal one-two punch of “The Bouncer” and “Atlantis To Interzone” threw the kids into a frenzy and got the crowd moving right from the get-go. Shortly thereafter came blockbuster singles “Golden Skans” and “Magick”, with solid album tracks “As Above, So Below”, the “She’s Hearing Voices”-esque “Two Receivers” and “Hall of Records”, which I hadn’t really given the time of day until now, but sounded awesome with its incessant “Come and dance with me!” refrain.

Finally, just as that unimpeachable bassline from “Gravity’s Rainbow” began to blare out over the speakers, the pit opened up for a fleeting moment and I was able to squeeze in and get in on the frenzied fist-pumping and glowstick-waving. “Gravity’s” proved to be the highlight of the evening to that point, but it was straight-up GAME OVER when “Not Over Yet” dropped immediately after it, and shit was just bananas in the pit. Honestly, I’d be surprised if I didn’t bloody at least six people in the process of rocking out harder than I’ve ever rocked out before, and I can honestly pinpoint the song as perhaps the most awesome four minutes of my life to this point not involving Bloc Party, sexual intercourse or that quesadilla I ate in Mexico that one time. And while it definitely should have ended there, as the high-water mark for excitement had clearly been reached for the evening, it curiously continued for two more songs. The always decent “Isle of Her” and the somewhat dreadful “Four Horsemen of 2012″ were fine and all, and the live setting did allow me to enjoy “Horsemen” for the first time to date, but the fact remains that the band blew their load a bit too early in a big way. Come on now, Klaxons, you can structure a setlist better than that. All in all though, I can’t complain, those kids know how to put on a phenomenal show and they worked the crowd at Studio B like no artist I’ve seen there since Girl Talk brought the place to its knees back in February. Below you’ll find an assortment of Klaxons’ hotness including brand new B-side “Electrickery” and Soulwax’s MASSIVE remix of “Gravity’s Rainbow”, both off the track’s brand new single release, as well as two flawless live recordings to give you an idea of just how out of control the live experience is. Enjoy.

MP3s:
“Not Over Yet” - Klaxons ((highly recommended))
“Electrickery” - Klaxons
“Gravity’s Rainbow” (Soulwax Remix) - Klaxons ((highly recommended))
“Golden Skans” (Live in Manchester) - Klaxons
“The Bouncer” (Live in Manchester) - Klaxons

MORE! HOT! FIRE!
We’ve been loving Does It Offend You, Yeah? ever since we first got our hands on “We Are Rockstars” way back when, so it’s my pleasure to present to you this simple, yet mad effective re-edit of the track from Australian DJ extraordinaire WOODIE!. Does It Offend You, Yeah? are set to do massive things in the UK this year, mark my words.

MP3: “We Are Rockstars” (WOODIE! Remix) - Does It Offend You, Yeah?

Also, DIOYY?’s XFM radio mix is the best DJ mix I’ve heard in a minute. Get at it here.

I don’t like the Kaiser Chiefs. One bit. So why did I go see them at Roseland Ballroom tonight, when they rolled through NYC on their current NME-sponsored tour with the Walkmen and Annuals? Because I think Annuals just might be America’s most talented and promising young band, even if it was kind of curious seeing them on a tour put on by the NME. Plus, having seen them put on two lovely in-store acoustic performances (which is two more in-store acoustic performances than I’ve seen of any other band), I was jonesin’ for a taste of the real thing. And what a taste it was.

Unfortunately, since the band had told me last night that they’d be taking the stage at 8, I arrived at 7:45 only to learn that they in fact went on at 7:30, and that I had missed the first half of their set. Color me bummed. That said, I was still able to catch four songs, and what I did hear was fucking phenomenal. “Dry Clothes” was fantastic, as was “Carry Around”, which was my original favorite song of theirs, but it was a mind-blowing performance of “Brother” complete with a four man drum sesh and all sorts of maniacal screaming on the part of frontman Adam Baker that let everyone in attendance know just how special this band is.

With the clock hitting 8 and their 30-minute opening slot dwindling, I expected the band to hit the showers after “Brother”, but in an awesome turn of events, they transitioned smoothly from “Brother” into an absolute incredible closing number that’s currently unavailable, but I’m told will be on their next record. The largely instrumental track opened with a stirring piano riff that kept feeling like it was only seconds away from turning into Vanessa Carlton’s “1,000 Miles” (though I’m pretty glad it didn’t), before the drums roared to life and square-danced with some electronic meanderings for a bit, gradually building in intensity and threatening to strike at any moment. The coup de grace was finally delivered shortly thereafter when the drums dropped out for a moment to allow guitarists Kenny Florence and Mike Robinson to step into the spotlight and lay down some monumental riffage that stood out as the singular highlight of the entire evening. Eventually the drums returned to their former glory, some vocals were laid down and the piano returned to close things out, and the lights dimmed on the set of the obvious stars of the evening, no matter what the marquee read. Despite catching only four (albeit phenomenal) tracks, Annuals showed me an incredible display of passion and raw energy not seen from a new band by me since Cold War Kids last April and the Arcade Fire in January of 2005 before that, which is some pretty decent company to be in if you ask me. These kids are going to do huge things.

MP3s:
“Brother” - Annuals ((highly recommended))
“Carry Around” - Annuals

Despite my lack of enthusiasm for both the Walkmen (”The Rat” aside, of course) and the Kaiser Chiefs, I stuck around because I paid thirty fucking dollars for my ticket and have heard from countless respected sources that regardless of my negative feelings towards le Chiefs, their live show was not to be missed. The Walkmen, whose attire suggested they came straight from the office, provided the sedatives of the evening in the form of one of the more boring sets I’ve seen recently. To be fair, though, I left the crowd to grab a comfortable seat and kind of stopped paying attention after they mercifully graced the audience with “The Rat” three songs in. Suffice it to say, they weren’t much fun. They did, however, have the littlest drummer I’ve ever seen. Seriously, dude looked like he’d just gotten back from his bar mitzvah. Shit was adorable.

MP3: “The Rat” - The Walkmen ((highly recommended))

Anyway, after the Walkmen sufficiently lulled everyone into a state of peaceful tranquility it was time for the Kaiser Chiefs to take the stage, and after keeping us waiting around for quite some time with those huge NME.COM spotlights soaring all over the place, they finally did. And you know what? They put on a pretty good show. But they were certainly twats about it. I mean, it’s remarkable how much I dislike them, which really bothers me considering I loved pretty much every other band to emerge from the dance-rock movement of 2005 (except Kasabian. Fuck Kasabian). I’m pretty sure they’re all older than they should be, and referring to themselves as “The World Famous Kaiser Chiefs!” didn’t help them much in my book either.

Furthermore, Ricky Wilson was quite the d-bag himself, demanding that the audience sing all the words to every single song and saying things like “Obviously everyone here knows all the words to this one” and so on and so forth. But yeah, I guess he can work a crowd pretty well, and he does a pretty impressive job of pogo-ing maniacally about the stage whilst simultaneously maintaining a rhythm on his tambourine. And the part when he put his microphone in the mic stand and then threw the stand up in the air, catching only the microphone when it landed was kind of cool. But yeah, whatever, they put on a good live show, I said it. I even found myself getting into tracks I previously loathed like “Every Day I Love You Less And Less” and “Nananana”, but hey - I wasn’t happy about it. I will, however, relent that “Ruby” is catchy-as-shit and sounded awesome live, but how can you not enjoy a track with a chorus as ruthlessly addictive as “Ruby-Ruby-Ruby-Ruby-Ruby!”, as insultingly simple as it may be. So yes, in conclusion: the Kaiser Chiefs put on an impressive live show and did a solid job of working the crowd, but I still wish they would go away, and sooner rather than later.

MP3: “Ruby” - Kaiser Chiefs

OH MY GOODNESS
This makes me about as happy as anything I’ve ever heard. Thanks to GvB for this one.

Yeah that’s all. Klaxons tomorrow night. At Studio B. YES x 1,000,000.