Matthew And The Atlas - Kingdom of Your Own EP Launch

Fresh from supporting Mumford and Sons on tour Matthew And The Atlas are one of the hottest rising folk bands in the UK, or at least the Southwest! Midas Mumford, sorry I mean Marcus Mumford and his sons have already set Johnny Flynn on fire, and the new folk revolution is truly in full stride. It’s exciting to be part of this newly exposed genre, but sad to see commercialisation tainting what started off organic and good. The earthy raw talent of bands such as Matthew And The Atlas amongst the Communion team is something to behold, now. We don’t need another radio worthy Mumford and Sons, but let them just be a reminder and a hook into the innocent folk scene. To go and buy records you only hear on vinyl not the internet, it’s a lost culture that this niche genre has managed to preserve. Mumford and Sons haven’t sold out (not yet I hope), and their success isn’t bad either as exposure for all smaller folk fish is just what they want. Mumford and the team know this, as they kindle the Communion label as a hub of up and coming talent, just like Matthew Hegarty. The EP launch at The Borderline in London celebrated with Communion’s finest with support from exciting newcomer Rachel Sermanni, Stokes William and the mysterious ‘Daughter’ to make this one hoedown to remember.

Matthew delivered his oak-barrelled odes in a classic quality, full of heartbreak and deliverance. Along with the inevitable contrasts to Mumford and Sons, Matthew’s lumberjack voice is reminiscent of Ray LaMontagne’s and harmonies resemble those of Bon Iver. Ironically the pastoral natures of his lyrics are genuinely heart felt as the singer’s also a landscape gardener. So he really is familiar with the dead leaves and withering roses. From brass duets (and incredible moustaches) the instrumentation is unadulterated new folk – acoustic guitars, accordion, banjo, trumpets, trombone, percussion; peaceful in the slow songs and powerful in the fast. Highlights include, “Within The Rose” and “Come Out Of The Woods”. The EP is avialble now on Ben Lovett‘s (the keyboard/accordion player in Mumford and Sons) Communion records.

In more ways than one, they have Ben Lovett and Mumford and Sons to thank for their success so far. Hopefully, however, Hegarty and his band can escape from their predecessors' shadow, to really come into a kingdom of their own.

Creamfields 2010

Take an August Bank Holiday, a field in sunny Warrington, whack 12 stages in said field with a few hundred DJ's and 50,000 nutters = one heavy Northern rave.

Having sold out, Creamfields bared the big guns of Armin, Tiesto, Deadmau5, PVD, Richie Hawtin, Sven Vath and not to forget the festival favorites Swedish House Mafia.

Rather than writing about all the alcohol consumed (and thrown away by the stupid security guards), hands in the air moments, rain, mud, tent neighbours (I saw one pissing on next doors tent on Monday morning, glorious), hangovers and carparks - I thought I'd just condense it into my own glowstick festival gauge.

1. Afrojack - he killed it Sunday morning, waking up to Dutch house can be a great thing! (Unless its Riverside! Thanks for that one Sidney.) = 5 Glowsticks!
2. Kissy Sell Out - Kissy was wearing a string vest for a reason, he was on fire! = 4 Glowsticks
3. Swedish House Mafia - Although it looked as though Sweden had just won the World cup, people showed big love for the Swedes big tunes and big show. = 4 Glowsticks
4. Calvin Harris - last live performance (apparently), his stunt drew in the crowd so he certainly was not alone = 4 Glowsticks
5. Grum - some nice down tempo disco notes were a welcomed respite = 3 Glowsticks.

The Temper Trap @ Shepherds Bush 29th April 2010

The first of Temper Trap’s string of three sell out shows hit Shepherds Bush last night. The Australian quartet known for their distinctive epic pop tones, could only conjure up a 3-star show. Opening with a not so epic 4-minute instrumental, the crowd lay confused as if they had accidentally strolled into the adjacent Walkabout, but this thought was banished as soon as the familiar synths of Rest hit. But it was this miss-match in arrangement and tempo that had the crowd swaying to the bar whilst the slow-burning first half played out juxtaposed with running back as you got half way there to bop along to tracks such as Down River, Love lost and Fader. No doubt the Aussie rockers soon shall have a sizeable back catalogue to choose from to deliver a more coherent listen next time. Though the entity of Conditions was delivered with precision and energy it just seemed to lack a live element.

With an extensive touring schedule lined up for coming months, one has to wonder when their next material shall be written. Fear not TT fans, as they delivered a rather sombre new addition in their encore, maybe this is a turn for a maturing and Temper Trap trying to cultivate debut success into a career as epic as guitarist Lorenzo’s riffs. However, it seems just as Lorenzo faded into the furniture of the set so did the charisma and presence of front man Dougie. No chat and as lost as his hands were without a guitar it seems for once the outlandish Aussie stereotype had been canned. He tried to rescue this by launching into the crowd at the end of the set, maybe a little too late. Bassist Jonathon provided the most entertainment with his windmill bass playing technique, whilst using thumb-plectrum to add to his truly unique performance.

There were no hard feelings as everybody got what they wanted by the end in the form of an anthemic delivery of Sweet Disposition to finish off the set listed show. Shortly followed by new material and new single Science of Fear left reverberating around in heads until morning. Let’s hope the onslaught of festivals perks these Aussies back into the tit-pullers we all know to deliver a confident and entertaining live show.

Angus & Julia Stone Live at Shepherd's Bush Academy - 22nd April 2010

What a big night! Big in multiple senses! Last day of uni for me FOREVER and topping the celebration off in style I headed to Shepherd’s Bush Academy to see Angus & Julia Stone. The dreamy duo, hail from Australia and are siblings (however Julia’s interactions with her brother seem a little incestuous from time to time – it must be how the Aussies get down…) and not only share a second name but a host of musical talent.

After getting over the miss matching of tickets (I booked circle instead of stalls – doh!) – we assumed a decent vantage point side stage. The stage peppered with instruments, which were decorated like Christmas trees soon became the focal point of interest as the lights dimmed.  The band shimmied onto the stage, all men dressed as they were going to some outback farmers market and Angus hid behind impressive amounts of facial hair (I have seen them a couple of times now and that was a record amount of beardage), but Julia stole the fashion show in her gracious flowing turquoise dress. 

The enchanting duo opened with ‘And The Boys’ luring Shepherd’s Bush into a carefree 80 minutes. The epic ‘Yellow Brick Road’ followed, my favourite off the new long player ‘Down The Way’, with swirling pads and triumphant chords, as far as I was concerned A & J were already onto a winner.

‘Hold On’ was another dreamy highlight, typical of their updated sound.

Throughout Julia pranced around the stage like butterfly using the trail of her dress as wings as she fluttered bare foot around the stage.  Contrary was Angus’ prominence as he timidly hid behind a cap left of stage while girl’s screamed their love for him at any given silence. Angus unveiled a new track ‘Mercedes Benz’ shyly recounting a story of how he hitched a lift two hot girls in a white Mercedes, not the only song he has written about longing after a random female meeting. Nostalgia came from classics including crowd pleasers ‘Mango Tree’ and a cover of ‘You’re The One That I Want’ from Grease. This wasn’t the only cover; Julia nailed her twist of ‘Private Lawns’, which included an impressive one-handed trumpet solo!

The audiences trance ended on a perfect slow burner ‘Santa Monica Dream’, reminiscent of mellowing out on a beautiful isolated Australian beach somewhere. A beaming audience left that night from the charming indie folk duo. The new album ‘Down The Way’ is out now, though it takes a few listens, I defy any folk fan not to fall in love with it. Let’s keep these guys our little secret. 

Miike Snow @ Digital Brighton

Day trip? Why not? So we did, and what a mint day it was too, bloody freezing mind - but well worth wrapping up to see the mighty Miike Snow entourage!  First jokes happened as we got to London Bridge, where I forgot to bring the ticket reference code, so had to queue up in the human queue - long. After al that we had literally 60 seconds on the train until it left, good start. The journey however was usually entertaining, we had some footy fans next to us larking about with a 6 pack of lager each - 10am breakfast beers, legends. Some of the girls they were with made some gold comments about how "Wii Fit don't actually make you fit, is it?" and "Why aren't we stopping for people at every station on these trains?" bless them. After an hour of biting our lips, we go there - the lads went off to the local and we hit the pier. Donut time - yes please!

After all of our frolicking on the arcades (I was both the air hockey and Saga Turbo GT champion, thank you!) lunch, catch up with old friends drinking champagne, (well Cava) on the beach etc. we hit dinner up. Real big veggie style! Check out Food For Friends in Brighton, if you around there soon, it is amazing, whether your vego or not, trust me on this one!  After wolfing that lot down, it was straight to Digital, where we were surprised to see a queue outside. We weren't early, so I went down to investigate. Turns out the good old sound engineers had kindly stuffed the soundsystem up so the show was delayed over an hour - and the support wasn't being dropped. That's good if you want to stay in Brighton all night, or pretty bad if you want to catch the 11.30pm train. Ah! So off the the Walkie it was, and a couple of drinks we headed back to the venue. Actually got in this time, tiny little club, but with an immense Funktion One soundsystem, and it sounded big - will let the engineers off this time!

Ali Love was first up, slightly wasted but nevertheless got the crowd going in the Brighton's own little sweatbox! Time was ticking for our last train, but the soundboys didn't care as they allowed at least 45 minutes for the Swedish-American hybrid formation to grace the stage, why cant everywhere have revolving stages?  Finally the lights dropped and white masks assumed their positions as they went into a an extended sort of skit/interlude of Cult Logic, simple stuff but looked awesome.

Extended and instrumental madness surrounded each track delivered by the Miike Snow boys, stretching their relatively short album out into a 75 minute long mix. And there we were right in the thick of it, I captured the biggest tune of the night - check Miike Snow performing Silvia live...

Wicked stuff, wicked album (though I'm quite annoyed iTunes are hailing it to be the "Best pop album of the year" - I don't like pop do I? Ahhh) and wicked live, Digital in Both Brighton and Newcastle are mint venues, so if anyone you like are playing at either go and check them, its guaranteed to sound fat on that system! Remember to keep your eyes on my YouTube channel too!

Check out one of my favorite pics from the night...