Today we take a glance at the latest passenger on the side-project train: Plastic Passion's bassist Lemmi Eaton, and his new band The Crepes. They produce a variety of noises, including the barbershop doo-wop of 'Love Is For Mugs', but their main drive seems to be danceable funked-up noise-punk: 'Prettymusicmakingmachine' is particularly good, combining the Plastic Passion vocal style with an instrumental line that sounds like listening to XX Teens playing 50s rock 'n' roll with your head in a bucket of water. Fans of Plastic Passion needn't fear, since Lemmi claims the band are 'just for fun', but it's certainly an intriguing and enjoyable listen, and some live performances further down the road would certainly be welcome... a band to keep an eye on, certainly.
Tuesday, March 25
Monday, March 24
REVUE// The Sonics at Le Beat Bespoké 4;;
The biggest problem with bands who reform decades after the event is the 'soft in their old age' dilemma. The last years have seen this curse strike again and again, from the flaccid Sex Pistols comeback to the Jam-without-Weller fiasco and the soulless prog-nonsense of the reformed Who... even X-Ray Spex are charging thirty quid a pop for their Roundhouse reunion later this year. With all this defiance of the 'hope I die before I get old' spirit in the air, the biggest dangers facing The Sonics as they played their first-ever UK shows since their messy 1967-8 break-up were incoherence, obsolescence, and musical flab.
Thankfully, the sagging tonight is confined to the waistlines, and the music flexes its muscles all night with a taut and energetic set of garage rock classics. A support set by The Horrors, featuring a resurrection of 'Crawdaddy Simone' as well as new material, is the first thing that faces the occupants of Kentish Town Forum on the Sunday of the Le Beat Bespoké 4 Weekender, after promoter Rob Bailey has announced (to at least one cheer) the cancellation of a planned appearance by former Libertines frontman Pete Doherty. The Horrors, playing their last show before a break to record their second album, get a fair response from a crowd psyched up for straight garage rock, especially considering the band's new, almost gothic, direction. The fact that many of the pointier-shoed, bigger-haired members of the audience stay towards the front after the last organ chord has echoed into the air shows the debt that The Sonics are owed by their support band.
Those who do stay forward have made the right decision: twenty minutes later, the brutal riff of 'He's Waitin' ' rings out from Larry Parypa's Epiphone and The Sonics boom into life. Naturally few if any of the audience have seen them live before their 2007 reunion, but the energy that the five-piece band put into the music would shame a band forty years younger: Gerry Roslie's bellows and screams defy the passage of the decades, and the songs - 'Strychnine', 'Have Love, Will Travel', 'Psycho' - show how extensive and influential the band's back catalogue is.
'We'd love to play 'til three or four in the morning,' claims saxophonist and vocalist Rob Lind at one point, and the energetic spirit and sense of dangerous fun that fills the room as the set climaxes is testament to the continued force and aggression of a band with an average age approaching 60. The closing chord of 'The Witch' ringing in the ears of of an ecstatic crowd swarming into taxis to head to the after-party was final proof that the band deserve every 'legendary' tag that's flung at them, and that you don't need to be angry young men to serve a majestic, aggressive, and thoroughly enjoyable helping of the finest garage punk known to mankind.
Thankfully, the sagging tonight is confined to the waistlines, and the music flexes its muscles all night with a taut and energetic set of garage rock classics. A support set by The Horrors, featuring a resurrection of 'Crawdaddy Simone' as well as new material, is the first thing that faces the occupants of Kentish Town Forum on the Sunday of the Le Beat Bespoké 4 Weekender, after promoter Rob Bailey has announced (to at least one cheer) the cancellation of a planned appearance by former Libertines frontman Pete Doherty. The Horrors, playing their last show before a break to record their second album, get a fair response from a crowd psyched up for straight garage rock, especially considering the band's new, almost gothic, direction. The fact that many of the pointier-shoed, bigger-haired members of the audience stay towards the front after the last organ chord has echoed into the air shows the debt that The Sonics are owed by their support band.
Those who do stay forward have made the right decision: twenty minutes later, the brutal riff of 'He's Waitin' ' rings out from Larry Parypa's Epiphone and The Sonics boom into life. Naturally few if any of the audience have seen them live before their 2007 reunion, but the energy that the five-piece band put into the music would shame a band forty years younger: Gerry Roslie's bellows and screams defy the passage of the decades, and the songs - 'Strychnine', 'Have Love, Will Travel', 'Psycho' - show how extensive and influential the band's back catalogue is.
'We'd love to play 'til three or four in the morning,' claims saxophonist and vocalist Rob Lind at one point, and the energetic spirit and sense of dangerous fun that fills the room as the set climaxes is testament to the continued force and aggression of a band with an average age approaching 60. The closing chord of 'The Witch' ringing in the ears of of an ecstatic crowd swarming into taxis to head to the after-party was final proof that the band deserve every 'legendary' tag that's flung at them, and that you don't need to be angry young men to serve a majestic, aggressive, and thoroughly enjoyable helping of the finest garage punk known to mankind.
Sunday, March 23
KASMs to release 7";;
Following the sell-out of their debut EP, KASMs have announced the release of their first vinyl release: a 7" single on Trouble Records in the near future. Details are scant but will be visible here as soon as they appear.
Saturday, March 15
THE SET UP CLUB;;
A new venture from Rhys Webb and Tom Cowan, in association with Ulterior and The Experimental Circle Cub : The Set Up Club. Starting from 17th May, the Set Up plans to do for the 80s what The Cave Club has done for the 60s: expect gothic, industrial, punk, noise, and shoegaze. The first night features Factory Floor live, and we'll have more details when they arrive; until then...
In other news, Plastic Passion are to release an EP in May on Filthy Little Angels Records, featuring various tracks demoed over the past two years, before recording songs old and new for a further release later in the year. For more information... space this watch.
In other news, Plastic Passion are to release an EP in May on Filthy Little Angels Records, featuring various tracks demoed over the past two years, before recording songs old and new for a further release later in the year. For more information... space this watch.
Thursday, March 13
Next release from EIOH;;
Electricity In Our Homes have announced first details of the follow-up to September's successful 'The Shareholders' Meeting' EP. The DIY post-punks will release a 7" single on Waks Records in late April, with pre-orders available in a few weeks. Tracklisting and further details to follow... watch this space.
Tuesday, March 11
KASMs;; debut EP out now
We knew that KASMs had a release in the pipeline for this month, but we've still been surprised by the sudden release of their debut EP, available now from Rough Trade, Puregroove, or their MySpace page. It's a six-track minidisc in a hand-printed tin, and it's only £5. We're sure it's great, but we'll review it properly for you as soon as we get our hands on a copy... watch this space.
Friday, March 7
Neils Children future plans;;
Undaunted by the collapse of planned LP Pop:Aural, Neils Children have announced plans for another album. Their progressed sound, with more synthesisers and a melodic darkness, will apparently get its full-length debut this year (although we wouldn't put money on it), and Brandon Jacobs claims that it will 'blow anything we've ever done out of the water'.
Let's hope so.
Let's hope so.
Monday, March 3
BAND SPOTLIGHT// The Riddles
The Riddles are an exciting prospect, a three-piece punk band who build the stranger sides of 60s garage rock into their cacophony. Their confrontational attitude and description of their own sound as similiar to childbirth are only hints of the thrashing noise that assaults the ears from the outset: dirty guitars, wild snare-heavy drums and smacking basslines are all layered under a vocal which is simultaneously falsetto Johnny Rotten and mock Mark E. Smith. If you like an aural riot of an evening, you could do a lot worse than this lot.
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