words: Jamie Milton originally scribed for gigwise
They called it an ‘Indian Summer’, and we knew it was coming. It seems very boring to start a review with the weather situation but it did seem to dictate the days of everyone who eventually made it to the Hanbury Ballroom by 9 in the evening. What had preceded was a monsoon of sorts – rain, not just rain in fact: sheets of water coming down from the skies, constant, merciless. When you experience a long, dry summer it’s always nice when rain first arrives but by the time the day filtered out, life was pretty miserable. And so it seems particularly apt that once dry, covered and free from the onslaught, the gig-goer is welcomed by two of the most warm-sounding, wholesome acts around today, rousing enough to help you forget about the damp smell tightly wrapped around everyone’s clothes.
An annoyingly dry looking pairing of Swedish sisters, First Aid Kit, commence proceedings with just a single acoustic guitar accompanied with the kind of whimsy, perfectly-tuned vocal harmonies you’d expect from those related by blood. Their relationship is a little too intimate at times; on stage banter drifting off for those watching, but still clearly leaving a whole lot to talk about for Klara & Johanna Söderberg. Their set, albeit limited due to the lack of instruments onstage, is endearing, cuddly – just as good as a pair of warm tracksuit bottoms to put on after coming home drenched.
Fanfarlo begin minimally too. A stripped-down performance of ‘Drowning Men’, with just three of the six members on stage, remains uplifting despite its lack of the uplifting, arm-in-arm grandiose found on debut album ‘Reservoir’. Once fully-formed, Fanfarlo treat the busy crowd to an all-out rendition of said passion, intense but smile-inducing crescendos in ‘Finish Line’ and set highlight ‘The Walls Are Coming Down’. They manage to silence a rather talkative faction of onlookers who happened to put a slightly hindrance on First Aid Kit’s set.
But it’s only common sense to save the finest for the tail-end of the set. ‘Luna’ and ‘Ghosts’ – the closing pair – are the most energetic, fruitful tracks that ‘Reservoir’ offers, providing a refreshing get-up-and-dance aspect to the more static but triumphant bulk of the performance.
Once closed, the Hanbury Club only offers you the exit door, for which the rain awaits to plummet itself down on you more more. But the occasion gives you this false sense of bravery, prepared for anything. In reality, you’re back to being soggy and hopeless within ten seconds of leaving, but the memory of such a balmy night in the company of First Aid Kit and Fanfarlo is a comfort.
Andrew WK – 55 Cadillac The Cribs – Ignore The Ignorant
Frank Turner – Poetry Of The Deed (buy) Jamie T – Kings and Queens (buy) (8.3 review)
Jet – Shaka Rock (buy)
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson – Break Up (buy) Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs (buy)
14th
Amanda Blank – I Love You The Big Pink – A Brief History Of Love
Jay-Z – Blueprint III
Juliette Lewis & The New Romantiques – Terra Incognita Muse – The Resistance (8.7 review)
Nelly Furtado – Mi Plan
Peter Andre – Revelation
Pixie Lott – Turn It Up Tyondai Braxton – Central Market Twin Atlantic – Vivarium (review) Vivian Girls – Everything Goes Wrong
Zero 7 – Yeah Ghost
21st
Basement Jaxx – Scars BLK JKS – After Robots
Brand New – Daisy
Codes – Trees Dream In Algebra (10.0 review)
Dizzee Rascal – Tongue N Cheek
FrYars – Dark Young Hearts (8.0 review)
Girls – Album
Hockey – Mind Chaos
Mika – The Boy Who Knew Too Much
One eskimO – All Balloons
Pearl Jam – Backspacer
Richard Hawley – Truelove’s Gutter Volcano Choir – Unmap Windmill – Epcot Starfields
28th
Amerie – In Love & War Fanfarlo –Reservoir
Ian Brown – My Way
Kid Harpoon – Once Maps – Turning The Mind
Mariah Carey – Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel
Paramore – Brand New Eyes
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THE BIG THREE RELEASES
Muse – The Resistance
Odds are stacked against this being any good: The Queen comparisons drawn from ‘United States of Eurasia’, that aforementioned crappy song title and Matt Bellamy losing his mind in the middle of reading George Orwell and 9/11 conspiracies. But, let’s face it: his knack for inviting the listener into something entirely unpredictable seems to be gathering momentum. ‘The Underdog’ may be bog-standard pop-rock, but expect the rest of the ‘The Resistance’ to be full of surprises.
Jay Z – The Blueprint III
Jay Z has perhaps, gone back on his word of not featuring additional artists on his latest album. When you take a peek at the tracklisting there are no fewer than nine solo artists making guest appearances on this album, let alone having Kanye West on production duties. It’ll have your average American pop/R ‘n B fan foaming at the mouth and it remains one of the most anticipated records of the year.
THE DARK HORSE
Volcano Choir – Unmap
This might grab our interest because of the Bon Iver collaborations, but in lead single, ‘Island,IS’, you come to realise there’s a whole lot more to Volcano Choir than just some fortunate name-dropping (‘Unmap’ was recorded before Justin Vernon found fame with ‘For Emma…’). Made entirely of loops -bar the vocals- this could either be completely underwhelming or absolutely breathtaking.
Smartly-dressed, happy chappies/lady Fanfarlo are keeping busy, releasing one of the more uplifting, go-nuts acoustic anthems from their near-flawless debut ‘Reservoir’.
The visuals above show a man attempting to escape a straight-jacket whilst the band below pretend not to notice. A bit rude, when you think about it.
British folk lovelies Fanfarlo appear suntanned and remarkably more happy than they would be in the 30mph winds I’ve been out in today.
Here, they play the uplifting trio of ‘Finish Line’, ‘Luna’ and ‘Coma’, filmed during their time at SXSW.
ALBUM REVIEW: Fanfarlo – Reservoir
words: Jamie Milton
“The kid – “I’m a pilot. It’s all I believe in. You can ride on my back.“”
Ambitious is an understatement. Even as a keen follower of the group for the last couple of years, I never expected to find their debut album so chunky in strings and brass, to an extent where the Arcade Fire comparisons can stream in even easier than they already are. But it’s a move that suits the band more than any of their contemporaries, even the giants that they’re so often placed next to.
‘Reservoir’ is the warmest, most childish, most heartfelt album of the year so far. The pendulum swings between the dramatic and heartfelt (‘Fire Escape’) to the optimistic and fruitful (‘Ghosts’), time and time again. A combination of this warmth, courtesy of the diversity of instrumentation, with the childish charms of Simon, their frontman, makes for something almost unique, unheard of at least for the last twelve months. The moment you step into the vast land of this record, you feel nostalgic, in a place where maybe only your mind’s travelled to once before – a personal connection with the record surfaces in little more than 2 or 3 listens.
At times the hairs on the back of your neck stand up (see the climatic closing minute of opener, ‘I’m A Pilot’), elsewhere you’re jumping in a joyous glee (‘Harold T. Wilkins’s closing segment is equally as quaking), and this is no exaggeration. ‘Reservoir’ is the perfect companion for lengthy summer walks with friends, a lonely night in or a train journey with a mammoth view of the countryside. It’s fitting for any weather that satisfies your needs, no matter where you’re going and how long it takes you. It’s the occasional inclusion of euphoric climaxes, featuring in nearly half of the songs, that can make you feel almost overwhelmed.
Not one effort dives below the set standard, even if the album’s stand-out happens to be the very opening track. It’s not a record completely devoid of faults: some might find the vocals underwhelming, the overall feel of the record could be dismissed as ‘twee’ by a casual listener but once this personal connection we’ve already established sets in, there’s no going back from this. Without doubt, there’s room for Arcade Fire comparisons (‘Luna’ in particular) and Beirut comparisons (‘The Walls Are Coming Down’), but there’s a completely different aura to ‘Reservoir’ that you can’t really categorise with anything else. Maybe it’s the British/Swedish heritage, maybe the recording process added something to the mix but altogether this is as much, if not more uplifting than any of Zach Condon’s work to date. It’s more streamlined, more suitable for arenas, but it still requires your constant attention up to a certain point. It might not be the most complex record for the last 12 months but don’t expect an instantaneous impact.
Not one band can deliver the highs quite to the standard of Fanfarlo. ‘Funeral’ inspired or not, this album delivers the kind of thrills that only come around once a year. It’s the all-or-nothing climaxes such as that in ‘Drowning Men’ that may as well leave you for dead, completely taken back by the spirit, the triumph that sticks by ‘Reservoir’ for its entirity.
O P E N W I N D O W S WEEKEND TRACK STACKER – Feb 2nd words: Jamie Milton Not one single disaster occurred in my week. The week before, I got my just deserves when trying to knock a spider off my window, only to discover the windows were mighty old and a bit too delicate for even the palm of my hand. So in comparison, the last 7 days have been wonderful. This lack-of-education I have n when the seasons change in Brighton, is however returning and the newly-installed window isn’t keeping the cold out. But that just leaves more time to be tucked up inside writing about some music you should get your less-destructive hands on. All from British bands, you might note…
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Doves – Jetstream
The unveiling of ‘Kingdom Of Rust’ is what we’ve all been waiting for but even better, the band have decided to flog a track. The opening to the album, ‘Jetstream’ is more electronically-inclined than the heavy, hard-nut attitude that compelled us in ‘Some Cities’. But it’s not a drastic shift in direction – Jimi Goodwin steps aside from the main vocals role as the more vulnerable Andy Williams takes over. Atmosphere is raised up several notches, almost every ten seconds and never will you have such an urge for a track to simply take off and go “massive” but that’s the problem, it never does. You can’t have it all…As a whole, this is as glorious as the band’s previous work. 75% download:Doves – Jetstream ————————————————————————-
Fanfarlo – I’m A Pilot
Arena dates with Snow Patrol isn’t exactly fitting for Fanfarlo’s friendly-folk sound but they’ll be sure to charm the several thousands who pay an interest at the mammoth venues. ‘Reservroir’ one its way, ‘I’m A Pilot’ indicates something truly special. With a similar uplifting sound to ‘Fire Escape’ a single that introduced MFM to the band a couple of years back, this song sounds just that little bit more progressed and mature than any previous efforts. It never tries too hard and equally important, never loses your attention. To keep it succinct, this borders on a masterpiece. 90% mp3:Fanfarlo – I’m A Pilot (zshare) ————————————————————————-
PENS – Freddie
After coming across Tom’s post on them, it seems everyone’s beginning to flock to the lo-fi pop charms of this hipster three piece. The dominant sound is three girls having fun but you sense ambition behind the cheeky keyboard lines and non-sensical (at least on record…) vocals. Incorporating twee into lo-fi punk isn’t the easiest of tasks but above all, there’s a star quality that not many bands can portray as quickly as PENS. This should be dreadfully annoying but hey, it’s not, so rejoice! 72% mp3:PENS – Freddie (zshare) ————————————————————————-
PT.2 – THE LIKELY LADS/ LADETTES words: Jamie Milton
Hopefully last week you acquired some additional names to check up on every now and then when it comes to the forthcoming year, just a week away now! Scrap your NYE plans though people; here comes a list of names to keep you occupied well into the new year. Some are certified names that most of us will have heard of. Some even, were mentioned in our guides last year or even the year prior to that. We’re just that on the ball. Or not, depends how you look at it really… ‘The Likely Lads’ as you’ve probably gathered, refers to acts that have a reasonably high chance of becoming that “next big thing” that A&R lot sniff out (excuse the pun). Quite a lot of these names are on wee little independent labels and so to see this lot get somewhere would make it all the more satisfying.
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Broken Records Cited last year as the music world’s next Belle & Sebastian, with an Arcade Fire formation and spirit to match. Their reputation has mounted and word of mouth (ie. kind words from big blogs) has pretty much printed their name in our heads for the next 12 months as well. Their releases so far have been delicate little treasures and a 2009 album release is more than likely. Their brass, triumphant sound is the most uplifting source of enjoyment at the moment and that seems set to remain the case.
Dananananaykroyd (top picture) One of the best live bands in the UK have the mighty task of transferring two drum kits and all the associated riotous energy that comes with it into a compressed, potentially surround sound disc. ‘Hey Everyone!’ has got everyone bending over backwards in excitement in anticipation of what could clearly be an album that finally does a terrific pop-punk scene justice both critically and for the first time perhaps, commercially. The un-radio friendly name probably lessens the likelihood of just that but don’t expect the name to shorten by a half-dozen syllables anytime soon. mp3:Dananananaykroyd – One After One (zshare)
Dinosaur Pile Up Combining the darkest shades of both Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age whilst somehow incorporating their own dose of Weezer-esque fun; even though it shouldn’t be, the three-piece’s sound is unique and fresh and horrendously addictive. With Matt Bigland, formerly of Mother Vulpine at the helm, they have experience, knowledge and new ideas. With Zane Lowe and a major label thrusting them into NME-led limelight, success seems assured.
Esser Life after Ladyfuzz looks set to finally see a better day; Ben Esser is pretty much the solo artist everyone’s keeping an eye on. An eclectic range of instruments, all delightfully adapted to Esser’s sharp, forward-thinking songwriting, keep everything new and interesting. Working with Paul Epworth, a man who’s managed to pull a few success stories out of his recording studio, the latest Transgressive beauty is quite the gem.
Hockey Touring the UK early next year with another name to watch; Passion Pit, every hipster’s favourite new band, sounding akin to LCD Soundsystem with additional feedback from the speakers, combine frantic, futuristic beats with Julian Casablancas-esque vocals that’d charm any of us over. Easily one of the most hyped bands around today. Check hypemachine and you’ll see what I’m talking about. They’ll either make it big time or be the biggest anti-climax of the year.
Fanfarlo The delicate acoustic tones of friendly bunch Fanfarlo look set to finally arrive on a larger scale. Chances are the album-in-the-making that’s been at the centre of their plans for the last few months will finally arrive in our recordstores. ‘Fire Escape’ was their breakthrough single a couple of years back and another ten of those and they’ll be a serious name to reckon with. VIDEO: Fanfarlo Black Cab Sessions
Flashguns This Brighton/London quartet share a fair bit with The Maccabees and not only because they both hail from the same area. The inspired, breakneck spirit combined with lyrical wit makes up for any gaps between the two but what Flashguns bring new to the indie scene is a more eclecticly-inspired set of songs, giving us more potential for greater, more odd things. They may sound like they’re inspired by The Smiths and Biffy Clyro but certainly not Moby. So sometime, expect something different.
Q&A: Flashguns
1. What’ll be your first step in 2009? The first thing we’ll probably do next year is take stock of where we our and get an idea of a few quantifiable goals, then we’ll set about blowing them out the water. Step up the touring, with bigger supports and towns, the next single to be produced by Stephen Steet, and perhaps even an album!! Basically prep ourselves for a serious year of progress and achievement. 2. Do you think that featuring in big press like NME will help spreadthe word more than on the blogosphere or other internet sites? I think a prominent feature in a publication like NME, for example radar, will get you a lot quick fire attention and fans and that’s always very exciting, however a presence on the blog and online scene is more permanent and probably helpful in the long term, steadily building up hype or what not, both are very valuable to the early stages of a band. 3. How ambitiously are you thinking when it comes to next year? I don’t think our ambitions have any limits, we’re definitely dreamers, but I suppose there’s nothing wrong with that. I think our music is promising, and our writing is showing no sign of levelling off, it’s always improving so hopefully this can really take us places. Realistically in 2009 we would love to acquire a big fan base, play a ton of festivals, and hit Europe. From there however, we will always be thinking on a universal scale, it’s the only way you’ll ever get anywhere!
4. Do you associate yourself more with the Brighton or London music scene?Why? I not sure either are that applicable to be honest – we grew up, met, formed the band, made music in boarding school, which isnt the coolest of things, but to be honest it helped us side step alot of cliques/trends/scenes and really focus us on what we wanted to do without any pressure. In London there are many scenes which leaves it very open minded and a huge amount is going on for music. I would love to say Brighton, it is definitely our second home, but i feel like the scene there has broken down, where as before it used to be considered very highlyand supportive of up and coming acts. 5. Any other bands we should be keeping an eye on? A band i’ve seen a couple of times recently is Boy Crisis from NY, i haven’t been as enthralled by a small scale live show for a long time as when i saw them. Mumford and sons have got a really cool thing going on, very beautifuland a guy from Paris called Dan Black is great.
Post War Years Inspired by the intrepid “math-rock” scene that’s so clearly got much more to give; Post War Years triumph on the live stage and so far so good, on record too. Samples scatter in between a spirited wall of robot-built noise. Between the gadgets and the speakers however is a set of ideas that have been developed from early 21st century music into something more gutsy and more capable of impressing a wide-spanning audience. mp3:Post War Years – False Starts (zshare)
Sky Larkin Finally for Leeds trio Sky Larkin, things have begun to come good. Their quirky, cheerful, guitar-drone-heavy sound has caught the hearts and minds of Wichita Records and with a debut scheduled for next month, big things could be on the horizon. And deservedly so, we had them down as a great new band two years back and until late this year, little arrived on their doorsteps. These guys and Grammatics are the best thing to come out of busy-ol’ Leeds in quite some time.
That Ghost Dreamy lo-fi anthems caught our attention late this year on the mini-album ‘Young Fridays’, a compilation of young Ryan’s best work to date. Almost by accident he’s drawn up some of the most addictive yet carelessly done anthems. With a purposefully spontaneous, rushed attitude in the recording studio, the cracks between the perfect melodies make his work all the more exciting. With plenty of momentum behind his stride, if it continues, a star will be born. VIDEO: Open Windows
Tubelord When word began to filter out on the subject of great new bands, one name was being consistently mentioned; both by fans and other bands. Tubelord’s appeal lies in their infectious melodies combined with intelligent, uncool yet shameless activity. ‘I Am Azerrad’ et al have been doing the rounds for some time now, and things look set to evolve even further after the initial hype that’s yet to die down.
Q&A: Tubelord First step of 2009? -the first step will be back on the road for just 5 dates with Colour and Calories. After that it’ll be finishing off all that education nonsense and releasing our DAAAAAYbute. A debut?! -you will have an album to hold as well as behold. indeed. Are there any other new bands that you’re tipping? -yes, www. asktubelord. com on the right hand side of the screen is a mass of links to loads of bands/artists/photographers we give extra bum love to, have a gander in that direction and you’ll find something new and old i’m sure.
VV Brown ‘Crying Blood’ may have an undeniably depressing title but the fast-thinking, expertly produced breakthrough single for the soulful Northampton had everything one needed to get big the first second VV let out a cocky “a-ha-ha-ah”. You can picture one of her 50’s-inspired pop songs appearing on a future iTunes advert and if that occurs, they’ll be no stopping her. VIDEO: VV Brown @ Jools Holland
MFM Summer Mixtape Vol.2 words: Jamie Milton image from jenn
So I hope you’ve been enjoying the first part of our summer mixtape but we appreciate that downloading 61MB of music all in one click might seem like a bit of a hurdle. Then, we discovered muxtape.com along with that. Not sure why it took us so long to discover this lovely little revolution of a music site but well, it did. All the same, we’ve uploaded the second part of our summer mixtape onto muxtape simply because it’s easier than the last way we did it and probably a bit funner for you guys.
The second part of our mixtape is more summery in the way that there’s no messing about with this side. On the first side we had Interpol (hardly summery) and Secret Machines (ditto) who don’t automatically remind everybody of summer – their songs suited the mood of the mixtape but now it’s moving on towards the musical stereotypes of summer. We’ve got Panda Bear, MGMT, Mystery Jets, it’s all happening.
Tracklist for vol.2 and in case you missed it, scroll below or look at this for vol.1: 1. Ruby Suns – Tane Mahuta 2. Panda Bear – Take Pills 3. FrYars – The Ides 4. Cut Copy – Far Away 5. Spoon – Don’t You Evah 6. Throw Me The Statue – Lolita 7. Fanfarlo – Fire Escape 8. MGMT – Electric Feel 9. Midlake – Young Bride 10. Mystery Jets – Two Doors Down
All mp3s posted on Music Fan's Mic are posted after gaining the relevant permission.
Jamie Milton began Music Fan's Mic in 2006 as a means of publishing and collecting his reviews for other publications. Since then both Milton and Gareth O'Malley are co-running the blog and posting the best new music on a regular basis.
Boom-box-in':
Yeasayer - Odd Blood LP
Final Fantasy Heartland LP
Beach House - Teen Dream LP
These New Puritans - We Want War
Gigi - The Old Graveyard
jj - The xx Intro
Toro Y Moi - Causers of This LP
Liars - Sisterworld LP
Vampire Weekend - White Sky
Los Campesinos! - In Medias Res
Odds are stacked against this being any good: The Queen comparisons drawn from ‘United States of Eurasia’, that aforementioned crappy song title and Matt Bellamy losing his mind in the middle of reading George Orwell and 9/11 conspiracies. But, let’s face it: his knack for inviting the listener into something entirely unpredictable seems to be gathering momentum. ‘The Underdog’ may be bog-standard pop-rock, but expect the rest of the ‘The Resistance’ to be full of surprises.
Jay Z has perhaps, gone back on his word of not featuring additional artists on his latest album. When you take a peek at the tracklisting there are no fewer than nine solo artists making guest appearances on this album, let alone having Kanye West on production duties. It’ll have your average American pop/R ‘n B fan foaming at the mouth and it remains one of the most anticipated records of the year.
mpletely devoid of faults: some might find the vocals underwhelming, the overall feel of the record could be dismissed as ‘twee’ by a casual listener but once this personal connection we’ve already established sets in, there’s no going back from this. Without doubt, there’s room for Arcade Fire comparisons (‘Luna’ in particular) and Beirut comparisons (‘The Walls Are Coming Down’), but there’s a completely different aura to ‘Reservoir’ that you can’t really categorise with anything else. Maybe it’s the British/Swedish heritage, maybe the recording process added something to the mix but altogether this is as much, if not more uplifting than any of Zach Condon’s work to date. It’s more streamlined, more suitable for arenas, but it still requires your constant attention up to a certain point. It might not be the most complex record for the last 12 months but don’t expect an instantaneous impact.
MFM @ HYPEM
