Magical Musical Mixture (A Week of Bands Beginning With 'M')

Although it has relatively been a while since my last blog entry, this is not a sign that  I have been complacent. Three exciting gigs in the space of one week have been squeezed between my 'normal' working hours in retail which has left me little time for recovery. I'm by no means complaining however because when else do I get to see three great bands in the space of one week? Oh....and they all begin with 'M' !

Magistrates - Friday 28th February at The Lexington (North London)

Since their comeback, Magistrates have learnt to be experts at teasing their fans with the promise of new material. Playing to a full crowd at The Lexington meant that fans were brought another step closer to this promise with new tracks such as 'When We Are Apart' along with 'Faces' being granted a new format. The light-hearted party anthems created a vibrant atmosphere which should keep fans' appetites full until the eventual album release.


Metronomy -  Thursday 6th March At Kingston's New Slang 

I had last seen Metronomy perform live at Hippodrome, the previous venue for Kingston's 'New Slang' nights, back in 2011. All the way back then they were heading to Glastonbury the very next day and the size of the Hippodrome was suited to such a band. Since then, New Slang nights have been moved to the smaller venue of McCluskey's and so I was holding my breath in anticipation at seeing Metronomy in such close quarters. In fact if I had wanted to, I could have quite easily have given Joe Mount a pat on the head as he was sat at the piano.  Metronomy have always been quite a coordinated bunch, paying close attention to the aesthetics of their sets, which was the same case for Thursday's performance. Pure, white minimalism was applied all over, right down to their matching trousers.  The intimacy of the venue only intensified the experience of Metronomy however.

Metronomy both teased and pleased us by showing us the progressing sound of their new album 'Love Letters' (opening with 'Monstrous' and closing with 'Immaculate Haircut') but still pumping up the crowd with old classics such as 'The Look' and 'Radio Ladio'.  'I'm Aquarius' was placed in the centre of the set, the stripped sound with catchy backing vocals showing us how far the musicians are willing to evolve and progress. Although they maintained their original electronic groove, there is a sign of experimentation in working on maturing their sound. I have 'Love Letters' sitting beside me in its film wrap and I am looking forward to playing it on full volume once this entry is posted!

Mutineers - Saturday 8th March at Liverpool's Zanzibar 

Following on from their sold out show in their hometown of Manchester, the next stop for Mutineers on the 'Love, It's A Killer' tour was Zanzibar in the heart of Liverpool. Despite the many acts on the bill that night, they stood out for all the right reasons. The low-ceilinged bar created a fitting atmosphere for the rock-fuelled set. My highlight of which was hearing 'Love, It's A Killer' (available to purchase on the 17th March) with it's contagious riff sending a ripple of excitement through the crowd. In addition to favourites such as Shadow Kisses and You Used To Be Ok, two brand new tracks surfaced which has only left me impatient for the album release. With the combination of a charismatic frontman, unapologetic guitars and powerful stage presence, you can't help but realise that Mutineers are big fish swimming in a cramped goldfish bowl. Although Mutineers have legion of loyal fans, they still remain an underrated band as they could have quite easily blown a hole in the roof with their unrestrained energy and passion with which they play.

2013 Summarized and 2014 Predicted

Once a year, usually as the month of December fades out into the dawn of a new era, I get visited by three ghosts. The Ghosts of Music Past, Present and Future come to visit as the midnight bells chime twelve..... Ok, I'll stop now as I'm sure there might be copyright laws involved at some point.
However it is that time of year when every music publication, blog, podcast etc review the best events of 2013. I have decided to tackle mine with also making predictions of what will occur in the future*, so here goes;

Best Album Releases

The Next Day - David Bowie

Past:  The King of Pop and personification of rock 'n' roll had been in self-exile since his 2004 'Reality' tour. After leading everyone into thinking that the era of Bowie had been and gone, he carried out the most simplest of publicity stunts which just consisted of popping down the road for a pint of milk. The media were whipped up into a frenzy but even they couldn't predict the sudden, surprise release of 'Where Are We Now?' on the Thin White Duke's 66th Birthday, 8th January, with the announcement of a new album. The Next Day reached Number 1, Bowie's first since his 1993 album 'Black Tie, White Noise'.  

Present:  Bowie and Visconti are still holding all Bowie fans in a state of limbo by releasing contradicting statements over the possibility of live performances. 

Future: Different versions of 'The Next Day' will be released over the next five years with the promises of unheard tracks and remixes of original versions. Despite the controversy over the title track, The Pope will release a statement saying that he is a fan. 

Rewind The Film - Manic Street Preachers

Past: After waving farewell to the Welsh musicians at the O2 arena in 2011 as they announced they were embarking on a UK hiatus, I immediately began suffering Manic withdrawal symptoms (see what I did there?).  Remedy and much excitement came in May of this year however as James Dean Bradfield  announced to NME that recording was in progress of two new albums, with one being almost purely acoustic. Rewind The Film was nostalgia in its purest form for everyone involved as the Manics explored the ideologies that had moulded them as a band.

Present: Nicky Wire is carefully selecting his wardrobe for the tour of the second album. Milkman outfit or leopard print skirt, or both?

Future:  30 Year War will be used as the official song for Margaret Thatcher's memorial service in 2014 due to an embarrassing mix up on behalf of the Tory Party.

 

 New- Paul McCartney 

Past: It seems that 2013 should go down as the official year for musical nostalgia as Paul McCartney released his sixteenth studio album to express his memories of the days before The Beatles as well as more recent events in his life. Selecting producers such as Mark Ronson, McCartney went against the grain of what was to be generally expected of him by making a fun-loving pop album. 

Present: 'New' reached number 3 in the UK album charts and I wouldn't be surprised if DJs everywhere are selecting tracks from the album to put on their New Year's Eve Party song list. 

Future: Paul McCartney will go down in history as the most successful Post-Beatles Beatle.

Best Live Performances

 Roger Waters - The Wall 

After sharing air with the legendary Roger Waters and seeing performed live one of the most famous albums in British history, I predict that I will still be wearing the Tee Shirt when I'm old and frail. On a more serious note, the concert has also inspired me to get more involved in politics and hopefully one day I will get a chance to teach impoverished children in third world countries so that they can have a fighting chance in this world. 

Beady Eye -BE 

'You're not a mod,  you're just a c**t in a Parka coat' I thought to myself as Liam Gallagher swaggered onto stage at Kingston's New Slang. Kudos to New Slang for getting a Gallagher brother up onto their stage but the night for me just contained pure comedic value. You can imagine the crowd that they drew for their acoustic set and although I had managed to wiggle my way to the front, Liam was sat down on a stool so that anyone from the third row back couldn't see their Britpop hero. Cue shouts of 'STAND UP YA PRICK', 'NOEL WOULD STAND UP' and the wittier 'SIT DOWN IF YOU LOVE MAN U' .  I predict that Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds will turn up at Kingston in a demonstration of 'whatever our Liam can do, I can do fucking better...a''ight?' 

Magistrates

The Magistrates had it all together back in 2009, on the verge of huge success. Unfortunately the promise of a debut album never actually materialized and the band went their separate ways. Last month the band were on stage together once more with their new(ish) single 'When We're Apart' as they tested the water. The band create a vibrant, party atmosphere with their electro-dance beat which enables the crowd to just let go of their inhibitions. Hopefully 2014 will see a release of an album to accompany them on their tour. 

Best Moments

Leaving work one night, I had a couple of hours to kill before heading over to New Slang to see The Front Bottoms, my favourite American band. There was no point in heading home so me and my boyfriend decided to amble round Kingston before we spotted Brian, the lead singer of the Front Bottoms, come out of the club. He was rather restless before the gig and so we gave him a quick tour of Kingston. It was rather surreal as we chatted away about many different things, such as explaining to him why it is not okay to be a Milwall supporter. We ended up giving him our Kingstonian scarf to make sure that he went away supporting a decent 'soccer' team. My 2014 prediction is that one day he'll turn up on the terrace to see Kingstonian play. 

My inability to grasp modern technology manifested itself on the worst possible day. My camcorder would chose not to work on the day I had my first ever live interview wouldn't it? However it was fantastic getting the opportunity to interview Mutineers as it felt just more like a friendly conversation, even if I'm still struggling to get the footage from my phone to my computer. I can see Mutineers making more of a name for themselves in 2014 with their upcoming tour whereas I'll be beginning a one-woman war against technology.












*not actually psychic

Man Like Me at New Slang

It is quite difficult to write a review on a gig when many pints of alcohol were involved but I will sift through the hazy blur to try my best to remember the events of last Thursday night.

Man Like Me may be known to many from the Ikea advert as Johnny Langer walks through various kitchen designs as 'you will always find him in the kitchen at parties (at parties!)'. Man Like Me is a fun collage of many different genres with a bit of hip hop, a bit of indie and a bit of rave.
I saw Man Like Me perform at New Slang in Kingston Upon Thames last year and although I had never heard of them before that night, I became hooked. The night was full of mental energy and they performed so well that I worried that Thursday night would not live up to my expectations.

Fortunately I was so wrong.....

Man Like Me returned to New Slang in all their crazy glory with 'Yo True' as their support act and I had never seen such a crowd at New Slang since the switching of venue. Yo True as a support act was rather a let down as I felt their R&B vibe was too relaxed, something to jam to on a sunny afternoon rather then warm up a stage with.  Despite this I did like the set up of having two drummers, one on a normal set of drums and the other on a pair of bongos complete with wind chimes. They exploded with a with what I felt was a promising song halfway through their set, but after this it just seemed to fall flat again.

I acquired a spot just in front of the stage on the right hand for side for Man Like Me just as Johhny was wheeled on stage in a trolly, which I strongly suspect was nicked from the local Sainsbury's, covered in an orange sheet resembling a ghost from Essex. This set the madness for the next 40 minutes (at least I think it was 40 mins, there was no way of me telling being in a crowd of ravers). I instantly fell in love with the two men who were on saxophone and trumpet, dressed like they were members of The Specials but with all the cheekiness as though they were in Madness. Throughout their set they played a mixture of songs from both their debut self-titled album and the recently released 'Pillow Talk.' The biggest crowd pleaser seemed to be 'Squeeze' which got us all whipped up into an electric ecstasy. My favourite member of the band has to be Ade, a powerful African soul singer who has a voice so powerful he could easily conquer the world on his voice alone. At one point during the performance the cheeky Johnny came close to breaking his own neck. As he stage surfed he was pushed backwards where the ceiling suddenly lowered, putting his neck at very scary angle before being hauled safely back onto the stage.

All in all, it was a night full off immense energy both from the band and crowd alike. My own personal highlight has to be when they finished up with 'London Town' as their encore. Any fan of Man Like Me will know the dance moves that accompanies the song and the whole crowd went 'down, down, down.....'

Pillow Talk is out now. Purchase it from your local record store.