Journalism Portfolio: featuring words for Gigwise, Middle Boop Mag, FrenchEntrée, Mixmag and from a variety of my previous University's student publications
Brummy five-piece Swim Deep were born out of the B-Town wave that emerged in 2012, but were always slightly in the shadows of their contemporaries Peace. That being said, Swim Deep did form part of a bigger picture that, at that time, was hazy dream-pop at its best.
Two years on, Swim Deep are back, touring with new album Mothers, (an ode to, you didn't guess it, “the mother of the universe”). It's a startlingly different offering - less drizzly Brit-pop, more, in their words,”psychedelic sex music”.
Austin Williams and co emerged onstage to the Jurassic Park theme; a momentous entrance that reeked of confidence, albeit a necessity if they were to pull off this huge swerve in sound. The need to double-take was in order, it was Swim Deep... on acid, as it were, no more knock kneed indie sensibility, more space ships and holograms – an unbelievable transformation.
From the Human League frenzy of ‘Grand Affection’ to the sassy saxophone accompaniment on ‘One Great Song and I Could Change The World’, it was a bonanza, with a pirouetting dancer, no less, amid the stage for their epic new psychedelic trip of a song ‘Fueiho Boogie’, an eight minute long banger that has to be heard to be believed.
Swim Deep’s show was an absolute mashup of genres, managing to be ravey and retro all at once. With a few years on the scene and, (we could be forgiven for thinking) their fair share of opiates, it seems that Swim Deep have made a point of actively casting off the shackles of their B-Town routes, and in turn are shining in a way that we could never have anticipated.
Last night, Jagwar Ma played an old crown court in the backstreets of Bristol – and as you can imagine, it was unbelievably awesome. The gig was part of the Lumia Live Sessions, their concept – to showcase emerging artists in the most unusual of settings. Before this show, the sessions have hosted Ella Eyre in a fairground museum in Devon, and Years and Years in a disused tube station in London.
The abandoned courthouse still has its original courtrooms, holding cells, jury boxes and grizzly ageing decor. It made for an incredibly eerie setting, but highly complimented Jagwar Ma’s grungy, almost anarchic presence. A rave in a courtroom, made up of competition winners, who collectively seemed to be their most diehard of fans.
The band were situated in front of the judge’s bench, with fans surrounding them all the way round the courtroom. The room was darkly lit and the acoustics provided by the incredibly tall rustic ceilings were amazingly brilliant.
Jagwar Ma, made up of front man Gabriel Winterfield, guitarist Juno Ma and bassist Jack Freeman played with everything they’d got, opening with ‘What Love’, a ravey little number to get the crowds juices flowing. Gabriel bought his typical ragged, Stones Roses frontman attitude, wearing classic Adidas and leopard print socks.
They played all of their best-known tracks including ‘Uncertainty’, ‘Man I Need’, ‘Exercise’, ‘Let Her Go’, ‘Come Save Me’, and ‘Four’. It was incredible, made up of hit after hit, making for a neat little set, performed with passion, soul and irresistible beats. The volume was incredibly loud and the energy from both the band and energised fans was electric.
Finishing with ‘The Throw’ – their breakout single - the crowd completely lost it. There was one guy in particular, who was almost in tears at the pure elation at how good the whole thing was. Jagwar Ma had obviously clocked him, and noticing how passionate he was, signed his vinyl and gave him one of their plectrums. From a live show, there was nothing left to give. It was perfection, and pretty much iconic.
Californian three-piece Foster The People are best known for their breakthrough single ‘Pumped Up Kicks’, which was released in 2010. Front man and former jingle writer Mark Foster essentially dressed one of America’s historical tragedies (The Columbine High School massacre of 1999) in a happy hat, and a worldwide hit ensued. It was a good song, but the dark narrative was a strange juxtaposition against the cheerful whistles and happy-go-lucky beat.
A self-titled EP and their debut album Torches (which includes singles ‘Helena Beat’ and ‘Call It What You Want’) followed, and did do exceptionally well across the US, Australia and Britain. The following singles followed the same formula, and Foster’s jingle-writing background is very apparent, their music does lack a certain depth, but bloody hell it’s catchy.
‘Coming Of Age’, the bands lead single from new album Supermodel, is pleasant – an easy, universally identifiable narrative about (you guessed it) coming of age, set against sugary sweet, LA- centric indie/pop and syrupy guitars reverbs.
The album is said to be a comment on fame and how it can change people, and how those around you can also change as a product of the (what I imagine to be the most minimal amount of) fame. It’s a nice idea, but doesn’t carry much weight for the FTP guys, who are still relatively new on the scene, and haven’t really done that much yet, in the grand scheme of things.
The record on the whole is fine, but isn’t really anything to get too excited about, it’s pretty transparent, and different songs seem only to mimic their influences, take ‘Fire Escape’ which just screams Bon Iver, or ‘Ask Yourself’ which is essentially Talking Heads territory.
A second album from Foster The People is like being offered seconds of a meal that you didn’t really enjoy that much anyway, you’ll have a bit more, you suppose, you guess it would be rude not to, but you could really have done without that last slice.
Cheetah’s self-titled debut was created in an old, stone-floored cottage in Devon - which is a strange setting to imagine a record like this to have been born in. Their self-titled album sounds as its cover connotes – fiery, decollate, hazy and slightly Americanised – a far cry from the chocolate-box, parochial setting in which it was indeed crafted.
The American sounding grunge hue clearly derives from the drummer and producer of the record, San Diego born Dean Reid. Vocalist and lead guitarist Nathan Hewitt , originally from Canada, and James Wignall (guitar, vocals) from Leister, met whilst working at a bar in Camden. The pair became great friends and eventually in 2010, after years spent messing around in numerous punk and rock bands, decided to form a band of their own. Cheatahs was born.
The four-piece went on to spend a couple of months touring the US with surf rock stoners Wavves and FIDLAR before completing the album, you’ll find many a nod to both bands mentioned on the record, which was finished off in an east London studio when the band returned home.
Cheatahs have managed to come up with an album that sounds so utterly nostalgic and familiar, whilst steering clear of those often copyright infringing tendencies that put other bands like this in the ground before they’ve even taken off. Think Nirvana, Interpol and even Tame Impala – the record is a haze of low-fuzz, moody rock homage, washed out and distorted down to a T with little room for complaint.
In June, Bloc Party claimed they were on an ‘indefinite hiatus’, yet fans haven’t been left feeling too starved of the London foursome after the unexpected release of EP, The Nextwave Sessions back in August. Before we knew it, news of another project was already on the cards in the guise of Bloc Party Tapes, an eclectic mixtape produced by frontman Kele Okereke.
The release is part of Berlin based record label’s !k7’s tape series, which has previously featured mixtapes from the likes of Foals, the Rapture and The Big Pink. The mixtape will also be available in a limited-edition cassette format.
This incredibly fresh sounding collection of tracks is a real treat for fans of Bloc Party, and lovers of the more left-field side of dance in general. It’s no secret that Okereke is a bit of a ‘dance head’, the mixtape takes us through his intriguing mind, his love for beats and appreciation of post-rock, Afrobeat, dance, electro, house, and ambient.
The mixtape features a Sticky remix of Wiley’s ‘Numbers in Action’, French producer French Fries’ ‘Space Alarm’ and an offering of Bloc Party’s very own track ‘Obscene’, one of the ‘slow ones’ from The Nextwave Sessions mixed by Okereke himself.
We can rest assured and relax in the knowledge that this second solo venture of his isn’t the end for Bloc Party, but very much the opposite. When describing what it felt like to make the tape he compared it to, “having an affair”, and promised that it was for the, “betterment of Bloc Party”, who have always cited dance as their main influence from the very beginning.
It’s fair to say we all have a little place in our hearts for Chase and Status. They have soundtracked many a pre-drinks session and been the last song played at the sixth form prom, all the while managing to sustain a notable amount of industry credibility and an underground following.
What they have created is an ‘accessible’ underground, which everyone felt like they could a part of without feeling like too much of a dick, or being compelled to attend drum and bass nights and dance like they were on pills to FEEL like a fan. And, it’s for this very reason that their debut album More Than A Lot, absolutely blew up.
Now, three albums in, can duo Saul Milton & Will Kennard still successfully walk the tightrope between commercial and underground? They more than managed to with second LP No More Idols which went platinum, and with tracks like ‘Blind Faith’ and ‘End Credits’, which were just absolutely perfect, was it any wonder?
The first we heard of Brand New Machine was lead single ‘Lost and Not Found’, which is particularly reminiscent of the band's biggest hits. It makes you feel as if life is rushing past in an almost apocalyptic manner, deep sadness set aside whooshing dance beats.
Another jewel is current single ‘Count On Me’ featuring vocals from Moko, it’s a veritable a feast of retro rave euphoria. In a very Chase and Status manner, they have really honed in on that expansive ‘hype’ sound they are famed, for while throwing in a dose of cheesy (albeit earwormingly catchy) 90’s house, something we haven’t ever heard from them before.
What this record embodies is the ability to supply a pick ‘n mix of the many strains of dance music, anything from a bit of techno on the album’s opener ‘Gun Metal Grey’, pop garage on ‘Blk and Blu’ and trip hop which takes centre stage on ‘Heaven Knows’, ‘Like That’, and ‘What Is Right’.
Brand New Machine, as a title, is an almost ironic play on words. It is nothing new, more a homage to dance music from the last two decades, and who better than the Chase and Status boys to take us on this journey.
Hey IT’S OK to be excited about Kings of Leon again... phew. When ‘Sex on Fire’ happened, the Nashville foursome stormed the charts and unintentionally set up camp on every Yates DJ’s playlist and on every sorry Oceana dance floor - forever. It was of popular opinion that Kings of Leon had royally fucked things up and anyone who thought differently, or dared hum along to ‘Use Somebody’ playing on the radio for the 56th time that day, was a moron. This was not the band we’d once known, this was a stadium filling, number-one-churning, washed-out-machine that even they seemed supremely embarrassed and irritated to be a part of. Phrases like ‘middle of the road’, ‘sold out’ and ‘commercial’ littered their critical reviews. Only By The Night was a good album on the whole, but then Come Around Sundown ‘happened’ and it seemed that we had lost them forever. KoL fans waited patiently, feeling jaded, desperately missing the band they had once loved and hoping for a better day. Well that day has come. It only takes a couple of seconds into lead single ‘Supersoaker’ to realise that everything is going to be all right. Mechanical Bull is their sixth album, and expertly cherry-picks from the finest from their vast body of work, now spanning over a decade.
‘Rock City’ echoes of the rockabilly, Aha Shake Heartbreak days. Think whiskey, long hair and the gleaming red dusky sunsets of Tennessee. Actually, apply this imagery to the whole record and you’ll be set. ‘Wait For Me’ is special, a ballad but not so achingly ‘epic’ as ‘Use Somebody’, it’s feels like almost accidental melancholia, emotion bleeding out of their guitars. ‘Comeback Story’ (ironic?) feels like home, starting with a simple riff repeated, much like ‘Knocked Up’ from Because of the Times. It’s not different and hey, it’s not groundbreaking, it hasn’t been decorated with bells and whistles but it’s what we all wanted, a promise that Kings of Leon have found themselves once more, and are more than happy to be back.
Disclosure brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence seemingly appeared from nowhere (well, Surrey) and changed the game when it comes to mainstream dance music. Their debut single, the smooth and soulful ‘Latch’, rocketed straight into the Top 20, while follow- up ‘White Noise’, featuring AlunaGeorge did even better, scoring the duo a No.2 hit. Since, the Top 10 has been crammed with first-class dance tunes from the likes of Duke Dumont, and Chris Malinchak, who have delivered first class dance to the mainstream. It feels very much like the Disclosure boys have paved the way for this massive onslaught of deep house and break beats, consequentially hijacking the typically irksome mainstream. Their debut album features an eclectically cherry-picked mix of elite British collaborators including Jamie Woon, Jessie Ware, Ed Macfarlane of Friendly Fires and London Grammar, their spidery baselines and feverish beats providing the perfect backdrop. The album leans very much into the Chicago-house era, with deep UK -garage influences.
‘You And Me’, the third single to be taken from Settle, features Eliza Dolittle (who’s voice, outside of her twee, bubblegum, pop phase is amazingly brilliant) serves as confirmation of their just how astonishing talented they are. It is perfect, summery, expressive and no doubt a future festival favourite. The charts were a baron wasteland of pop tarts and plastic boy bands, David Guetta and Flo Rida. And then, Disclosure happened. Are these guys from space? Their production style is on another level of brilliant, leaving Settle to play through like a greatest hits collection, each track just as entrancing and infectious as the next.
Monday night saw Peace, one the most talked about new bands of the year take to the stage at Bristol’s most intimate venue, The Fleece. The Birmingham band released their debut In Love a couple of weeks back, toured with the NME Awards and have subsequently sent fans and critics into a frenzy ever since. Their astoundingly strong debut has resulted in a near sell-out tour, and this small and personal show was something to be very excited about.
Their backdrop was a large peace symbol, the lighting moody and atmospheric. As the band took to the stage, dressed like 90’s grungers with their starburst electric guitars and shabby hairstyles, they certainly looked the part.
They began with ‘Delicious’, a Stone Roses-like, gently thudding intro that’s chorus quickly sent the crowd insane. The sound quality was spectacular; Harry "Harrison" Koisser, the bands charismatic and incredibly rock n roll frontman revealed to the audience a camera lodged into the neck of his guitar, filming them throughout the show.
‘Follow Baby’ took the energy in the room to an unbelievable level, while they sang, “Follow baby, we’re gonna’ live forever baby,” it felt iconic. As they blasted through their album, thrashing about the stage and kissing each other (a lot) Peace put on a first-rate show.
The frontman then claimed that this was, “One of the best nights we’ve ever played” much to the delight of everyone present. They ended with the 10- minute- long, Binary Finary cover of ‘1998’ taken from the EP Delicious. Normally, if a relatively new band were to drop a mostly instrumental track of this length at a live show it would go down like a lead balloon. Yet, Peace’s rendition had the adverse effect.
The encore was ‘California Daze’, a dreamy, melodic rock track that was written whilst the frontman was promoting a club night in their native Birmingham, standing up all day with one of those big arrows pointing to the venue. They wrapped up their most killer track and biggest hit ‘Bloodshake’, inviting everyone to come and join them at a nearby pub afterward.
It was one of those gigs that just felt special. The kind of show that you will brag about to your friends in the future and say, ‘I was there’.
Hurts' debut album Happiness saw the Manchester duo experience reasonable success in the UK - but build a huge fanbase in Europe, where their slick image and ice-cold synth sounds hit home with continental music fans. With a cameo from Kylie Minogue and production expertise from the likes of The Nexus they fully deserved the success they achieved with Happiness. But does Exile live up to expectations?
Opener ‘Exile’ could be mistaken for a Muse track, while Lead single ‘Miracle’ is an instant anthem, with its lofty chorus and raw lyrics you can’t help but to click repeat.
‘Sandman’ is a tricky one, while the concept of the song (in which the sandman, y’know the man who comes in the night and sprinkles sand in your eyes) is threatened by Hutchcraft, “He will be sorry when he comes to my house, I’ll show no mercy till the lights go out”. It’s obviously a metaphor, or is it? Absurdity aside, the track unfolds into one of the best on the album.
Other highlights include ‘Only You’, ‘Cupid’ and the amazing ‘The Crow’. ‘Blind’ is another awkward one, where Hutchcraft begs an ex-girlfriend to cut out his eyes and leave him blind as he can’t stand to see her happy, be it alone or with someone else. Ex from hell? Yet again though, a mad notion that is somehow flipped on its head, and actually turns out to be startlingly good.
Exile remains powerful, polished and refined, but doesn’t quite reach the heights of their debut. Think back to ‘Wonderful Life’, ‘Stay’ and ‘Blood Tears and Gold’. Not one of Exile’s tracks is nearly to that standard. It’s certainly not dreadful, but it isn’t a progression, and if anything it’s a slight and disappointing dip in Hurts’ proceedings.
Having recently scored a huge hit single with 'Pompeii' and currently on a hugely succesful UK tour fans can breathe a sigh of relief - debut Bad Blood is every bit as thrilling and unique as everyone had hoped for.
For those who aren’t acquainted with the bands back-story, they haven’t miraculously appeared from nowhere as it may seem on the surface (having shot to mainstream fame in the past six months), having actually formed in 2010. Their sickly sweet (but loveable) tune ‘Flaws’ was born then but was only widely recognised after the music video went viral. (Over 1 million views on YouTube) resulting in it peaking at 21 in the UK last year.
Opener and second single ‘Pompeii’ closely lost out on this week’s number one spot to Justin Timberlake’s ‘Mirrors’ The track is hyper-infectious, energised and quite unusual with its choral opening, and let’s be honest, coming second to JT was inevitable and unavoidable.
Bastille are heart-on-sleeve, raw, and however much you try and resist them (and the cynic in you wants to wince at their twee romanticism that teeters on the edge of corny at times) you will no doubt succumb to their charm.
‘Things We Lost in The Fire’ is another emotionally charged, anthemic beauty, with bright metaphorical lyrics and swooping vocals. Title track ‘Bad Blood’ is crisp and lovingly constructed and is yet another residing sonnet to a lost love, a recurring theme throughout the album, with ‘These Streets’ also following suit.
What’s acutely refreshing about Bastille is that their brand of catchy, neo-synth pop is coming from somewhere real. The heartache and emotion Smith sings of are all his own. While the One Directions and Taylor Swifts of the pop world are mere puppets to a corporate machine, Bastille have bought something new to the table, managing to resuscitate the mainstream with some authenticity and creativity, and do so with the most catchy and experimental approach possible.
21-year-old Harley Streten, or Flume as he likes to be called, is a Sydney based producer who recently beat One Direction to the top of the Australian iTunes chart. Wow, already a hero to anyone in the world who isn’t a pubescent girl. His self-titled album is rich in self-assurance, panache and ability.
Citing artists Moby, M83 and Flying Lotus as key influences, the producer still manages to sound like all of the above, whilst carving out his own very strong sense of identity, and a chiselled quintessential sound.
The 15-track- long album is bursting with hip-hop percussion and spacey synths along withsamples from the likes of Sam Cooke’s ‘I Can’t Turn You Loose’ on ‘Holdin On’ and bloggers favourite Chet Faker on ‘Left Alone’.
‘Sleepless’ - his stunning debut single is a low-fi gem, sounds a lot like witch house pioneer Grimes fused with elements of Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. This track managed to clock up an astounding 1 million views on YouTube. ‘Insane’ is another of his most wondrous moments, mixing ghostly vocals with a thudding, multi tonal baseline.
What Flume has seemed to effortlessly master is the ability to expertly predict the popular music forecast – and in doing so, used it to his full advantage. His musical journey began at the tender age of 13 after winning music producing software onthe backof a cereal box.
So from the most humble of beginnings to a literal worldwide buzz, (especially in America) there seems to be no stopping Flume, the new electronic music whizz kid.
Darwin Deez is the brainchild of frontman Darwin Smith. First emerging on the cult scene in 2010 with their critically acclaimed self-titled debut album, now three years on and with a shift in line-up, Smith and co. are back with Songs For Imaginative People.
The record is self-produced by Smith; a bold move, there would have been an abundance of producers at his disposable. The album does subsequently sound a little bit messy, like an almost scrapbook effect off beats and riffs.
Darwin Deez’s overall charm would fall on deaf ears to those who aren’t overly sentimental. It’s unapologetically twee, romantic (at times) whilst being rather child like in its simplistic nature.
Smith’s back-story only adds to his allure, once a psychology student in his native New York who gave it all up to pursue a music career. He found the science of human emotion and the way it can be broken down far too clinical and depressing. A response that has been carried across both albums.
‘(800) HUMAN’ is a strong and characterised opener. Lead single ‘Free (The Editorial Me)’ is brilliantly slapdash, refusing to stick to a conventional song structure, much like the rest of the album.
Smith is however, treading a very fine line. It’s exceptionally unappealing when an artist tries to be overly ‘kooky’. Much like when somebody describes themselves as ‘quirky’, it can often appear trite and forced. Fortunately, Smith is very much a creative and imaginative person, and so (for lack of a better word) his ‘kookiness’ is backed up.
The record has a pure sentiment, unthreatening and honest. For fans of the first album, you will not be disappointed. If anything, Songs For Imaginative People is a buffed up, sunny and colourful progression from their debut.
So it’s that time again when footy fan favourites The Courteeners unleash a new album upon the world, with more bravado and pride in its build up than the last. Their last album, Falcon was released almost three years ago, and with ANNA’s leading single ‘Lose Control’ sounding good, we can only hope that front man Liam Fray’s unrelenting mouth will have been accurate.
Fray regularly gets into public slanging matches with other bands, much like the Gallaghers, both of which hail from Manchester. It’s obvious Oasis are a BIG influence for the band.
However, The Courteeners are in the running as one of the best contemporary Britpop bands, this is not art-rock, it’s man-rock. A belief Fray is very verbal about. Opener ‘Are You In Love With A Notion’ instantly resonates and wows, and ‘Van De Graaff’ will be a wonderful breath of fresh air for Britpop fans.
Each of the first five tracks has its own charm. The lyrics are so relatable (so many are not these days) that they carry a very strong sense of story and sentiment. It’s anthemic, stadium sized rock n roll, something the band seem relentless to conquer. ‘When You Want Something You Can’t Have’ is the closest ANNA gets to a ballad, and the beauty of the lyrics is touching.
After the first five tracks however, the album does take a bit of a nosedive. It’s bizarre - like a straight split, and one wonders if they had just changed the tracks around a bit, maybe we wouldn’t have noticed as much. The soaring of Blur and Oasis has for the most part, been completely present in The Courteeners’ last three albums so they can be forgiven for having a couple of dud tracks. Maybe stadiums won’t be on the cards this time guys, but sold out academys will no doubt be yours.
The Irish born Conor O’Brien and Co, formerly Villagers have shrewdly bided their time since their multi-award nominated debut album Becoming a Jackal. It has been three long years now and for those who have waited with baited breath for their return, prepare to be blown away.
The first taste of Awayland emerged late last year with leading single 'The Waves', an inimitable and almost avant-garde voyage of a song, reminding us of their artistically poetic and surrealist tendencies.
Villagers have delicately refined the best of their previous style, yet honed in even deeper taking larger risks whilst keeping their original aura intact. Awayland floats in and out of delirious and almost alienating obscurity right back to poignant and relatable storytelling, to which sole songwriter and vocalist O’Brien is a master of.
From the drama of 'Earthy Pleasures' to the warming of 'Judgement Call', strained yet concise vocals are set against folk guitars and at times an almost techno enthused bass line.
An obvious comparison would be with Bon Iver, but without the drear. They have managed to craft the right blend of guitars, strings and emotion, but kept optimism and escapism at the records core. 'Grateful Song' is just lovely and entirely refreshing. The album finishes on a high with the delightful 'Rhythm Composer', a jaunty and fun ending to an extraordinary LP.
It’s very early days with regards to album’s of the year, but this no doubt be amongst them. It’s intelligent, imaginative and truly unique and as second albums go, a confident promise of longevity to their fans.
The beauty of this record is that it requires no work, no ‘right mood’. As it unfolds it is every bit as captivating its predecessor, if not more so. It will immediately grip your undivided attention and beg for repetition and further exploration.
San Cisco are a four-piece indie pop outfit, hailing all the way from Perth, Australia. Their blend of low-fi indie has managed to turn heads on the other side of the globe, and they have recently signed a UK deal with Columbia Records.
The band have blown up in their native Oz, scooping eight WAMI awards in the same night, the Australian equivalent to The Brit Awards. We caught up Jordi, Scarlett, Josh and Nick to discuss pre- show jitters, having a pint in a pub (somewhat or a novelty for San Cisco) and their dreams of one day recording at Abbey Road Studios...
Is there a great story to tell about San Cisco formed - or is it as simple as a few friends playing music together?
Jordi: It’s pretty simple, I was just playing solo, and then I got quite bored to be honest. I decided to start playing a few songs with Josh, and then we got really into playing duets. Meanwhile I was also jamming with Scarlett.
Scarlett: He was two timing me… but then I was two timing him too because I was also in another band.
Jordi: We won an award for our track ‘Rocket Ship’, and it was then when we recorded that song that we all came together. After that we started to play some live shows as San Cisco, and that’s when Nick was also bought in.
What’s on San Cisco’s bucket list to achieve as a band?
Jordi: To just be able to make a living out of this would be really awesome.
Scarlett: We’d love to record at Abbey Road. That’s something we all really want to do.
Nick: There are a lot of bands that we would love to tour with too like Collaborations and Tame Impala. They are from Perth where we are from; we’ve met Tame Impala a couple of times.
Having recently signed a deal in the UK - does it feel like a whirlwind of success or a long time coming?
Jordi: It’s been a long time coming really, but in terms of travel it does feel like a bit of a whirlwind. We’ve been playing together for three years, and so it’s not like our success happened overnight.
Scarlett: We want to take the music to the next level now though; we need all the help we can get for the overseas market, so this big deal had to happen for us.
Did you have a feeling that the track ‘Awkward’ was something special when you were writing it?
Scarlett: We didn’t have time to think – it all happened so quickly.
Jordi: We wrote it and I didn’t personally think it was very special – but our managers did. They gave it out to all the radio stations, and then it just completely blew up. That’s when we realised how good it was probably. While we were writing it though I just felt like it was an ordinary pop song.
How does it feel promoting your music so far away from home - and knowing that people love your work on the other side of the world?
Scarlett: It does feel like you’re starting all over again, like when you’re waiting for people to show up for a gig - we haven’t had that in a while, but there is obviously interest over here just not on the same scale…yet.
Scarlett - how do you cope being the only girl in the band?
Yeah it’s alright I’m just so used to it now – I’ve known the boys for ages and I’ve known Jordi since I was three. So we all just feel like brothers and sisters really which is nice.
Australia has a reputation for great pop music. What do you think it is about Australia that results in such great bands?
Jordi: I'd say Isolation – being a long way from anything
Josh: I think because we don’t have direct influences, we only have the internet which is a mix of American music and British music, so Australia seems to create a whole new beast as a result of that.
Scarlett: It’s easier not to get stuck into one genre scene there, so bands like us tend to be able to experiment a lot more.
Which other Australian bands should we be keeping an eye out for?
Jordi: Snakadaktal, they are an indie pop band who is a bit like Foals. They’re form Melbourne. They won a competition which is called Triple J Unearthed which is on one of the major radio stations. They tend to surface a lot of the better acts I think. Ball Park Music There’s quite a few good little bands around at the moment.
What have you been up to since you've been in London and is there anything you really want to see or do?
We’ve done everything we wanted to do, going to Abbey Road studios has been the highlight. London is so very different from Perth – everything’s so much older and there is so much history. Having a beer in a nice little pub is just so cool to us. The little things like that that we’re enjoying.
For those who aren’t familiar with Tyler James, he was a runner up behind Leanne Mitchell on this year’s reality flop talent show, The Voice. Her winning single failed to even chart and the post show tour was cancelled, perhaps not the greatest launch pad for any singer’s career. However, Tyler was in fact one of the more exciting contestants on the BBC’s answer to the X Factor.
He released his debut album ‘The Unlikely Lad’ through Island Records back in 2005, which enjoyed a short-lived bout of success, but he quickly slipped off the radar soon after.
The London based soul man was best mates with the late Amy Winehouse, which does add a rather alluring string to his bow, along with his undeniably strong voice. He has been marketed as the new Justin Timberlake, because he can do that really high falsetto thing and is partial to wearing sharp suits and being slick and charismatic.
Lead single ‘Single Tear’ peaked at #28 in the UK, and is a polished, ‘Cry Me A River’ type song. The video features him getting hot and heavy with a number of ladies in the back of a cab. It’s a bit much, and the saying ‘sex sells’ sprung to mind, but in this case, it didn’t sell all that well.
‘A Place I Go’ has been released at an opportune time, with RnB creeping back into our view, good RnB though, which has, for the most part become almost vacant from the charts in the last few years.
There is nothing wrong with the album, but there is nothing particularly right about it either. His cover of ‘Higher Love’ is a highlight, but the rest of the tracks seem to blend into one another. Tyler has all the credentials of a pop star, but seems to lack the fluency and variety to instate himself as anything more than that guy who was a runner up on The Voice.
Whilst I was at Gigwise I interviewed a band called The Other Tribe. Their track 'Skirts' is currently getting some R1 airplay, and they are pretty amazing.
Friday night’s Club NME at Koko played host to two of Australia’s most exciting bands. The first was San Cisco, a twee adolescent five- piece from Perth, the second: Van She - hailing from Sydney.
At the bar I got chatting to an Aussie guy who couldn’t contain his excitement for San Cisco of which he assured were, “absolutely massive back home “, using the word stoked to an excessive amount. It’s easy to see why this man was so hyped for San Cisco, and how they are doing so well – firstly their drummer is a girl, a winning trinket to the coolness of any band and secondly, their blend of low-fi pop is just incredibly easy to enjoy, requiring little thought or concentration.
They seemed a little daunted – but played well and if anything, their jitters made them even more endearing. The clear highpoint was their biggest hit ‘Awkward’, which has clocked up around two million hits on YouTube, a tongue in cheek, teenage ode to stalking your love interest.
Van She released their second LP ‘Idea Of Happiness’ a couple of months ago. Their show was brilliant, captivating the audience from beginning to end, and filling the room with tropical rhythms and sunshine, the perfect antidote to outsides rainy and blustery London. They were a mix of Friendly Fires and Foster the People – a great place to subsist for any band.
‘Calypso’ ‘Jamaica’ and ‘Idea of Happiness’ went down an absolute storm, uniting the crowd in chorus. Lead singer Matt Van Schie didn’t seem to be much of a mover, standing transfixed in one spot for nearly all of their performance. What tonight did best though was to reinstate just how on point Australia seem to be with their imaginative and interesting pop, long may it continue.
Fink is an indie folk singer songwriter from Brighton who is signed to the independent Ninja Tune label, along with other artists like Roots Manuva and Wiley. With four albums under his belt and 20,000 tickets sold across the breadth of 14 countries in Europe – Fink has decided to release a live album: ‘Wheels Turn Beneath My Feet’
A respected songwriter in his field, he has previously leant his talents to John Legend, Professor Green and Amy Winehouse, of whom he co-wrote the track ‘Half Time’ with.
Live albums for a lot of artists are often unnecessary, and sometimes even downright boring. This format hugely compliments Fink though, a renowned room silencer, his compositions are accordingly moody, emotional and sound even crisper and more commanding live.
He has compiled the most stunning moments of his recent ‘Perfect Darkness’ tour, mixing his latest album with supplementary crowd pleasers that are cherry picked from his lengthy career. His vocal style can be almost jazzy at times, this can be heard in lavish proportions on opener ‘Biscuits’.
‘Wheels Turn Beneath My Feet’ is a real treat for devoted Fink fans – and may even bag him some new followers. The album doesn’t differ much in the sense of tone though, remaining characteristically sombre and morose throughout, but in reflective and creative manner. Indie folk is a little oversubscribed, but he certainly packs more of a punch than Ben Howard ever could.
