Sounds on the Ground #5: Gentle Friendly
By: Dan Monsell
What's the deal? Discordant but lush creations of noise with an accessible edge that comes from occasional sing-along vocals melodies and straight up great instrumental hooks from tapes, organs and electronics. That's the dealio, Julio.
London-based duo Gentle Friendly first came to Rockfeedback's attention through sharing a member with the wonderful Buttonhead - a band who were all kinds of badass when we hosted them at a Club Rockfeedback show last year. A 4-track EP arrived on our desks soon after, including some rather wonderful and rather coarsely titled songs including: 'Five Girl Night' and 'XXXmas'. A few listens later - fans we didst become.
Comparisons are perhaps most obvious with the tribal-esque rhythmic of Animal Collective or the technicolor dissonant pop sound of Brooklyn and the new wave of American bands likes High Places, Abe Vigoda, Women, or the not-so-new-wave of Deerhoof. The pair's own description on their MySpace is "Buddhist bubblegum music kraut jerk rock", which offers another take on proceedings to give you an aural ballpark. Also, their songs are really short, which is cool, because they pack of tons of amazing ideas into a short period of time rather than get too carried away and self-indulgent.
GF are still relatively new proposition, so it's exciting to think where they'll go. Currently they can be spotted here and there playing pretty exciting happenings like the ever-great Upset the Rhythm nights and other shows with a similar kaleidoscope of exciting and progressive sounds at their forefront.
What can I listen to? Head on over to www.myspace.com/gentlefriendly and take your pick from three little nuggets of goodness. 'Five Girl Night' is a keeper for sure. You can also buy their latest single 'Night Tape' on great New Cross indie No Pain in Pop, available on 7" and iTunes. A previous release last Spring was out on Upset the Rhythm. They've also done a limited cassette release run of 100, which you can also get direct on their myspazz too.
When can I see them live? "Secret" shows, supports with Parts and Labor and couple of dates in Spain with Ponytail, these folks got some good ones lined up...
17 Feb STAR & GARTER W / PARTS AND LABOR MANCHESTER
20 Feb SIDECAR MERCURY WHEELS W / PONYTAIL BARCELONA
21 Feb MOBY DIC MERCURY WHEELS W / PONYTAIL MADRID
27 Feb THE DOME W / SPECTRUM (SONIC BOOM) LONDON
10 Mar LEXINGTON - UPSET THE RHYTHM SECRET SHOW LONDON
14 Mar MACBETH LONDON
We all know music peaked in 1994, so give me a sound-bite about how they could we compare them to some kind of Britpop band - Strip the Boo Radleys down to just two and plough 'em full of those futuristic computer style drugs that exist in some kind of underground Matrix type club. That way they'll keep their psychedelic jams to just a couple minutes. Then play 'em a bunch of US punk and hardcore. Then you're sort of close. I guess.