Soda Pop in the Soda Shop

America in the 1950's looked liked quite a cool place to be with it's pep rally's, making out at the drive-in (also known as 'passion pits') and high schools where people sung instead of talking right?!

It also saw the rise of Rock 'n' Roll with the likes of Eddie Cochrane, Buddy Holly and that chap who died on the toilet. It was an incredible time for Jazz; saw the revival of American folk music and some artist called Jackson Pollock with the early beginnings of pop art. I haven't even touched on cinema with Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, James Dean and Montgomery Clift....crikey what a decade. Anyway back to the music....

So yeah anyway this band from Brooklyn called Soda Shop made up of Maria from Selebrities, along with Drew from Horse Shoes sound like America in the 1950's summed up in song. Imagine you are in a diner ordering a coke float and a cheese burger with a side of fries and track 'Farewell' comes on the juke box. It's not something you would hand jive to but it has fey indie pop guitar riffs and glockenspiels striking right through it with dreamy doo-wop vocals making this first and hopefully not the last offering from Soda Shop something to keep on repeat. I wait in anticipation for further tracks from this band.

Apparently a famous pass time in the 50's was crushing as many people as you can into a telephone booth....so I'm off to do that now! sounds well fun.

Becoming Real

Becoming Real

Having gone to check out Becoming Real last night at the Old Blue Last I went straight home and listened to it again and my initial thoughts were confirmed that this might just be one of the most exciting things in music at the moment.

I wasn’t overly sure what to expect in terms of set up; a live band, perhaps someone mixing live but the idea of two Macs, numerous samplers and a drum pad hadn’t really ever entered my mind. It was refreshing to see someone so into their own sound and truly enjoying the set. With tracks like ‘The Thing’ and ‘Ghost Step’ showcasing a diverse sound and mix of beats, vocals and bleeps it remains unconventional in the best possible way. It doesn’t come across as contrived or too try hard it just looks and sounds natural which makes it incredibly enjoyable. I can’t emphasise enough how much you need to check this guy out.

Becoming Real also turns his hand to remixing and has worked excellent remixes for the likes of Teeth and Banjo or Freakout.

Having already released a very limited pressing with Tough Love, Becoming Real has now deservedly been signed to Moshi Moshi’s new subsidiary Not Even which is about putting out great music created by anyone, from anywhere by whichever means. Thanks to future releases on Not Even and having one the best radio pluggers in the business, Peer Group Music working on the record more people are going to be exposed to this incredible young artist.

Head over to his myspace http://www.myspace.com/becomingrealmusic to find a host of live dates both in and out of London.

Pure Gold......Blood

So you only have to go check out the bands myspace to see the hype surrounding them coming from everyone including the likes of Vice, Mixmag, Artrocker to Dazed and Confused who have all been very complimentary about the band. It’s a unique blend of synths, punk and noise really makes them stand out for the right reasons and the live show is the perfect complement to this.

Have a little read about what they had to say when I interviewed them......

Who are you and where are you from?

Gold Blood from West London.

Describe Gold Blood sound in three words:

Life hurts love.

Where does your band name originate from?

My imagination. But that word is John Llewelyn’s.

The best and worst band you have ever been compared to?

The worst is not a band but people sometimes think we are on some 80’s retro trip. Not. At. All. And as far as best bands, well we aren’t normally compared to one band, reviewers normally list three or four and then say something like: if they all drank turpentine and punched a policeman.

The strangest summation of your band and or songs?

A Dutchman once thought we were really good grime music.

What’s next for Gold Blood?

Got a 7” coming out with ‘Get’s You Laid’ and ‘The Intruder’ on it in November. Then some shows and more releases - check http://www.myspace.com/goldbloodband for more info.

Finally, who would you choose to be an honorary member of Gold Blood for one night only? Tell us why and what would they do?

I was actually thinking about this today. I’d really like to do something with Amodali from Mother Destruction. Of course she’d do whatever she wanted.

So now you have been introduced to the band you can go and be all social mediary (not sure that’s a word....) and become their biggest fan on myspace where you can also grab some tracks by the band and also pop over to facebook and ‘like’ them. Both pages have some live dates that you should definitely go to in October!!

Let's get dirty at the weekend whether you are at Bestival or not!!

Well it's the weekend and it's also Bestival weekend, probably the best weekend of the year. I'm waiting for all my friends to finish work so we can jump in the car and drive down the A3 at an illegal speed to catch the ferry over to the Island where the fun can begin!

For those who aren't going to Bestival and are either staying in or just going out this weekend here are three amazing tracks to warm you up for a huge weekend of fun!!! they invovle three of my favourite bands around at the moment as well which makes this post even better!

Dog is Dead - Glockenspiel Song (Saulya mix) This remix takes the excellent original from this wicked new band to a much darker deeper place using the original vocals that lend themselves so well to this mix. This is exactly the kind of remix that can bring this band to a new audience.

Look out for the remix soon......

Runners - Starting Line. I know I have blogged about this band before but after they played one of my club nights (Deep South Club) they were kind enough to send me through their newest mastered track. It's a 6 minute epic journey that keeps you engaged through it's use of bouncey sounds (have a listen and you'll understand what I mean) that keep building on top of the driving bass line that will get any dance floor moving then comes the Gerald Casale vocals that just elevate the track to an even better level.

Get it Here - Runners - Starting Line

The final offering comes from one of the more popular bands of the moment Chapel Club whose latest single 'All the Eastern Girls' has been given a d-i-r-t-y makeover courtesy of Breton. This isn't quite the filthy bass lines we are used to from Breton but is still a hot re-work. It is going to be released on 11th October as part of Chapel Clubs EP which will hopefully get Breton some well deserved press. If you like this remix, go and buy Bretons Sharing Notes EP which will blow you away.

Get it here - Chapel Club - All the Eastern Girls (Breton Remix)

Right have good weekends and hopefully I will survive Bestival....whether it's muddy or not and I won't tell you my hot picks as everyone playing Bestival is wicked as always but I will be watching Mount Kimbie and Neon Indian for sure....!!

Interview with Hind Ear

Hind Ear are a very exciting prospect with their jerky beats and calming vocals – I can’t and don’t want to liken them to anyone or place them in a genre as there just simply isn’t any need, you can make your own mind up. Listening to them, especially track ‘Rain Man’ can be placed anywhere between first thing in the morning and last thing at night where it sits very comfortably creating the atmosphere you want whether it’s during a gentle morning stroll or a dance floor moment.

Here is what the band had to say when wecantmixandwedontcare! interviewed them......


Who are you and where are you from?

hind ear. From Brighton and London – although one is basically a suburb of the other at this point.


Describe Hind Ear sound in three words:

Not too dense.


Where does your band name originate from?

From band name discussions that went on so long as to lapse into complete abstraction. None of us can remember the exact train of ideas that led to hind ear – although I feel it might have something to do with Broken Ear Record by Black Dice. It works well for us though – organic but also technical, like a G.M. experiment gone wrong.


The best and worst band you have ever been compared to?

The worst are the boring and obvious ones. Best –when it’s something that makes no sense, but in a good way. Someone once said we sounded like the Bhundu Boys. Generally, we like it when people pick up on the deeper traces of the things that influence us – house music, r&b, Fleetwood Mac.


The strangest summation of your band and or songs?

From the Bhundu Boys to Black Dice: as a collective summation that’s pretty strange.


What’s next for Hind Ear?

We just released our first 7” on a new label called Nouns. Another one should be following in the next couple of months, on Maman Records of France. After that – lining up more records and shows. We’ve been working on a bunch of recordings and new songs that we’re pretty excited about. Some sweet shows coming up too. On the whole a fair bit of exciting stuff.


Finally, who would you choose to be an honorary member of Hind Ear for one night only? Tell us why and what would they do?

David Byrne – dancing. He could do variations of the lamp dance from Stop Making Sense all night long.


You can purchase Hind Ear’s debut double A-side ‘Coconut/Origami’ released on the London label Nouns here and you can catch them playing live throughout September with the likes of Cold Pumas and Future Islands.

Evryone should be listinening to this!

Evryone
When I write and read blogs I’m pretty sure as most people do they express their feelings about a band or a sound by saying ‘this is the next big thing’, ‘this is going to be massive’, ‘catch it before anyone else’....you get what I mean right? Well I’m about to do this as this is just incredible.

This is definitely one of my favourite new things around at the moment. Evryone is quite unique in terms of music on offer at the present where everyday a new scene is being created which usually has some reference to something ending in ‘-Fi’. I’m not a huge fan of comparisons so I suggest you just listen to Evryone and hear the amazing sounding vocals and keys that if you wanted to could be likened to Wild Beasts in terms of the incredible vocal reach and Cold War Kids for the atmospheric and impactful keys. I am so excited about this new find and I literally have it on repeat which is making my week a lot more enjoyable.

Catch Evryone in Reading, London and Bristol in the coming weeks. Head over to their myspace to find exact dates and to hear three beautifully big sounding tracks in the form of ‘Falmingos’, ‘do you understand’ and ‘most of the time, i’.

I’m off to find or create a new night to book this band for.

The cochlea is dedicated to hearing

Labyrinth Ear are a very exciting duo playing synth induced electro with enchanting female vocals perfectly placed on top. The obvious comparison would be say Crystal Castles but this simply wouldn’t be fair, not because it’s an insult but because they are doing their own thing and sounding very good for it. It’s still very early for this band and I am very excited to see them play live in October and to watch them only get better with time.

This is what the band had to say about themselves.......


Who are you and where are you from?

Labyrinth Ear from New Cross. One of us is from West London and the other from South East London.


Describe Labyrinth Ear sound in three words:

Peach, Plum and Damson


Where does your band name originate from?

One of us had a labyrinth ear infection, it makes you dizzy and the whole world starts spinning around you. It’s not very pleasant actually.


The best and worst band you have ever been compared to?

Hmm…. No comment.


The strangest summation of your band and or songs?

A website in Portuguese wrote about us saying “stoke the skeleton in a calmer climate”. It probably made sense in Portuguese but google translator added it’s own poetic spin.


What’s next for Labyrinth Ear?

A cup of tea


Finally, who would you choose to be an honorary member of Labyrinth Ear for one night only? Tell us why and what would they do?

We’d have Vincent Price on stage reading ghost stories over our music. Are we allowed dead people? If not then Quentin Wilson doing the same.


Head over to the bands myspace http://www.myspace.com/labyrinthear to hear six great tracks from them and you can also head over to their soundcloud page and download the tracks for free. Alternatively, get a taste for them here and get the remaining tracks on the soundcloud page.

Labyrinth Ear – Snow White

Labyrinth Ear – Wild Flowers