Scene Report: London Summer 2008
By: Dan Monsell
Wow. London in summer is actually pretty quiet. Everyone's much happier getting the hell out of here to the sun-soaked regions, Greece, or some kind of festival. Still, they are millions of us hanging about; working through as the sun shines (or doesn't) alluringly through the window; grabbing the odd alfresco lunch in parks and spilling out of beer gardens. Even running with the foxes through the muggy hot nights and barbequing in our tiny square patio gardens. What larks.
But enough of this flimsy banter, what about the scene man? The kids don't all just stop and fall down when the sun comes out. Nope, quite the opposite, they kick into gear with their shades and they're fancy summer outfits. Scenes - despite funny looking folk - are still (usually) built around something solid at the core, and this season we've seen London has still got enough frivolous excitement-filled happenings to justify its position as the country's epicentre of musical action. Here's a rundown of some of the highlights.
Urban festivals-wise the summer kicked off with the Wireless event in Hyde Park. This was of course less a festival than a corporate-sponsored open-air event with mobile phone company tents, hog-roasts, champagne and probably more cocaine floating about than you could shake a Columbian drug lord at. Still, it brought a few great artists to town and Rockfeedback got blind-drunk on some tasty Tuborg beer. Read our full live review of the "indie-rock" day right HERE. Beck looked ill, Black Kids triumphantly crested the wave of their newfound success and Morrissey was just a bit boring. Good day out though.
Elsewhere, the White Heat club night had some pretty cool stuff going down. I went to Madame Jojos for the excellent Wet Paint at the very beginning of July. Nic Nell and his balloon-popping, body-spasming histrionics also made an appearance too. Wet Paint feature members of country-tinged alt-rockers Absentee and literally sound just like Pavement. In fact, they might actually just be Pavement. This is a good thing, in many a way. Check 'em here: (www.myspace.com/wetpaintwetpaint).
Otherwise, the ever excellent They Came From the Stars, I Saw Them have played a few shows, including a White Heat one. If you've not heard this lot before you most certainly should. There aren't many groups as mad and unique as this East End four-piece. They've probably been going for nearly a decade now and have carved out a niche for themselves as one of London's most interesting, fun and experimental space-pop troupes. Yeah, space-pop. Check that out. Any band I can call space-pop and genuinely think that's the best way to describe them are surely worth a listen. Imagine Hot Chip (with whom they used to share a rehearsal space), Can, DFA stuff (James Murphy's a big fan), then double it - whatever the hell that means.
Onwards and upwards. For me the summer's new band alert goes to Micachu and the Shapes. After hearing she was pretty good and seeing that there was an NME radar report and whatnot, I'd been anxious to hear her myself with my hype-sceptical ears. After witnessing her and her cohorts at Rockfeedback's very own Basement Club it was clear that we had a winner on our hands. I didn't stop smiling for a solid half hour - and neither did the band. Musically it was full of quirky and yelpy London-style femme vocals with all manner of jungle-book sounds and a stupendous drummer cranking out Afro-indie beats. (There's another new genre for you). They almost put Vampire Weekend to shame with their excellent sparse and rhythmic fun. And all led by a ukulele. Crikey. The whole thing's about as playful as a game of connect-four played at the bottom of ball pool on crack. About as moreish too. Look here: www.myspace.com/micachu
Stricken City and My Sad Captains also played some great little sets that night. My Sad Captains are surely one of the most melodic and aurally pleasing bands in the capital. They've got an album due on Fortuna Pop! soon that we can't wait to here. (www.myspace.com/mysadcaptains). Stricken City (pictured above) are on Adventures Close to Home (known most for their long-standing club nights par excellence), and do reverb-heavy guitar-pop a la the Sugarcubes, the Walkmen and a ton of female-fronted C86 bands. They've definitely got something about them. Give them time though - they're definitely a relatively new band with some development needed. Hop on their love train right here: www.myspace.com/strickencity.
Couple of other London bands for you now. Capital-based (but French by origin) Underground Railroad are a really great live band. The 3-piece have been playing a lot of London shows of late in preparation for the release of their debut LP in September. We've heard it, (Sticks and Stones), and in short, it's really good, simple as. They're clearly big Sonic Youth/Velvet Underground/Deerhunter fans and whip those influences together and make some great massive noise. Huge in a very beautiful way though, that's hair-in-the-wind style rocking great - hell yeah. See here: www.myspace.com/urailroad
Golden Silvers are the latest signing to London's Young and Lost Club records (Noah and the Whale / Vincent Vincent / Johnny Flynn etc.). They've got pop success written all over them; not least in their Prince/Duran Duran meets skiffly-indie anthem 'Arrows of Eros'. We like it mostly because it's actually got slap bass on it. That's some gutsy behaviour. Dare we say that it's very "now" indeed? Oh look, we just did, coz it is. They're touring pretty non-stop throughout September, get yourselves a taster here: www.myspace.com/thegoldensilvers
In other news, I had Artefacts for Space Travel and Favours for Sailors down to my own internationally infamous club-night, Line Dot Electric Shock @ the Fly. New signings to Domino the Laurel Collective unfortunately had to pull out. They are bastards. However, I liked the sound of what Artefacts are doing, and in time it could be pretty great. They're on Stolen Records and here's a link: www.myspace.com/artefactsforspacetravel
Elsewhere there's also been a lot of pop music on the rockfeedback office stereo this month. The fact that "punk rock Tuesday" featured full listens to Madonna and MJ's Off The Wall in its entirety was relatively confusing. Kelis and R. Kelly have even appeared. The heat does odd things to some of us...
Here are some other names that have been causing me interest from in around the London: The Invisible, Your Twenties, Banjo or Freakout, Orphans and Vandals, Baringtone, Buttonhead, Gentle Friendly, Kasms. Expect some live reports on some of these in the not too distant future. Until next time...