HOPE & ANCHOR |
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JUNE LISTINGS |
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TUESDAY 30TH JUNE |
RIGHT TURN LEFT- "Too pop to be rock but too rock to be pop".. Maccabees via The Kooks. We dig them!!! ARMS OF MEXICO- Rage Against The Machine refry the beans whilst Motorhead don the big floppy hats in preperation for Nirvana’s arrival on horseback firing their guns in the air whilst whooping… THE STEALS- Raw and groovy garage licks for chicks played by some Edimburgh chaps with one eye on a Velvets like narco pop and the other on slezazy indie rawk. Fine guitar work that never oversteps good taste. LIAM BUTLER- Folk singer-songwriter rocking a bit of Grandaddy and Flaming Lips louche grooviness…I'd say particularly nice banjo work and a bit Jarvis Cocker-esque in the voice and lyrics , which are rather witty and it's all mucho uplifting for a fine freaking change... ace! |
JULY LISTINGS |
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| THURSDAY 2ND JULY | SUPER THURSDAY- Taut guitar grooves a la RATM - that alt/rock/punky crossover with decent chantalong vox. Cage The Elephant and old school rock too. HOLD YOUR HORSE IS- Indie rock a la We are Scientists... Reminds me of Swound a lot too! quite punky at times, the cribs spring to mind, and pretty hardcore at others... on yer face without losing its friendliness tho!... good guitar work and pretty energetic... yes, we like! CLIP STAMP FOLD-KoreanPop/Fusion/Minimalist. CITY OF ANTICS- punk...with influence of clash, ramones and some hints of blink182. mmm... |
| FRIDAY 3RD JULY | TOBACCO ROAD- As the name suggests swinging 60s modernism is all the rage here with a hefty dose of Weller too. Spencer Davis Group, Small Faces, Prisoners, Mother Earth...and some nice McCartney . Really freakin' well done!!! ZOIDBERG- Modern generic indie sounds with a touch of baggy. Oasis meets The Kaiser Chiefs via some groovy rock guitar licks. Do it well. They say- We are a local Indie/Rock/Pop band and we are building up a nice portfolio of festivals this year, including a main support slot with the Pigeon Detectives in July! KAZOOEE- Alt rock from Nottingham...female vox sound like Debbie Harry, this is good! and music is a more angular Nirvana PARAFERNALIA- Chugging, frugging punk rock with girl singer…niftily old school in realization…'Eating pizza reading Nietzche' is a good line for starters..the girl singer rather reminds of Poly Styrene outta X Ray Spex, Then they get sort of Slits /ATV like, whistling, dubbiness, experimental edges agogo …. There's a very talented keys player in here too, who knows when just to shut up! On 'Let you go' they turn into Pink Floyd for girls!! An interesting setup…their list of influences on myswelling is a faultless hipster's good taste guide it must be said. Good band who seem to have tardised in from 1979… |
| SATURDAY 4TH JULY | LIZ IS EVIL- Punk rock a la stooges with a a pogues edge... rather good! GAMBLING HEARTS- Britpop and slacker US styles merge beatifically with shades of Kasabian and maybe a bit of the Primals in they're rocks-off period, and lots of Teenage Fanclub like melodic charm. BEAR ARMS- Ex Von Edrich family troupe …ex Dustins Bar Mitzvah too for that matter... this is radio friendly pop with scuzzed up grungy guitars in a spliffed up Weezer stylee with hooky sing alongs... fookin great. KILLJOYS- The Smiths gone acoustic in the back with a low-pitched Julian Casablancas on vocals and The Libertines looking after the arrangements… Johnny Cash is apparent in here too, but the music has a far more delicate turn of chords….ong choruses, pretty damn delectable. |
| MONDAY 6TH JULY | COLLISIONS AND CONSEQUENCES- Blue eyed soul/pop, wet of eye and full of impassioned fire that would sound good on yer US FM rock stations of legend. Really well done, great musicianship. Goddammit they could be huge. As bands with piano playing frontmen go these boys knock Coldplay into a snooked hat. From Oxford. What is snooked? MOTION IN COLOUR- melodic rock pop... like a more upbeat Snow Patrol... Scouting For Girls spring to mind, you could definitely picture this pumping out of Radio 1 …But if you are picturing music you’ve probably dropped acid one time too many. ASYA SATTI- Jazzy R n' B, like a more soulful Beyonce. |
| TUESDAY 7TH JULY | COUSIN AVI- funky rock... Spin Doctors via Maroon 5 with a touch of ska... very well done. ACUSIS- 3 piece indie electro pop band from East Sussex. Sound like Imogen Heap and a bit of The Killers. Mix of a more melodic Klaxons and Savage Garden. AFTER HOURS- Rock/Alternative/Electronica is the leg end and who am I to argue? Perky and poutsome stuff. TIM ALLEN- a rather rocky take on David Grey and pretty well done as well! |
| THURSDAY 9TH JULY | THE RED PARTIZANS- Have the folk/blues/grunge melange of Pearl Jam or even Soundgarden at their quietest...good punchy playing and nice feel, yes this is very Seattle 1991. Really rather good too. THE BILLY HUNTS- Sex Pistols meet Stooges via Clash and Buzzcocks. Sounds like a punk rock party par excellence, nice.HEAVY ON THE LEVEE- Old school Led Zep/Clearance Clearwater guitar fuelled rock n roll... you can still hear Hendrix coming through and even Steve Ray Vaughan guitar riffage... .. their musicianship is very good. |
| FRIDAY 10TH JULY | TCRACK2- Raw punk 'n roll takes the stooges raw power template and gives it a rock 'n rull shakedown, bit of a wayward approach to the vox a-la iggy and shades of johnny thunders... ROOSTER- This is NOT the rooster that sounded like Busted or McFly... nor is it the gnarly blues rock Rooster of a few years back…this is some other type of Rooster. Red Hot Chilli Peppers influences for sure… LEFT SIDE BRAIN- Hard rocking raucous alt rocking neo grunge rocking nuggeteers… LO-TUNE DUO- Jon Spencer's blues explotion with a Tom Waits-y approach... all the way from Italy! |
| SATURDAY 11TH JULY | EIGHTS AND ACES- Camden Town biggest rockers. MORE THAN NORMAL- Our punker than punk correspondent Dr Smeg sez ‘Right up my alley! 3-piece punk rock... lots of Ois + noise... top top boys!!!"WAKE UP THE BEARS- Post grunge stoner rock, sounds like de-scagged refraggled Nirvana or pre-grunge Sabbathites thru Das Damen etc… THE PARTISANS- Very much in the vein of the Libertines via The Holloways. WAKE UP THE BEARS- Post grunge stoner rock. |
| MONDAY 13TH JULY | KID CHAMPION- Catchy indie rock pop….a combination of The Kooks and The Strokes It really shouldn't work, but they pull it off. Most excellently indeed. WAVE PARK- Terror Vision style rockings. THA MARVEL- Brilliant urgent electro-infused indie... THE CESS ALLAN BAND- A more poppy version of The Maccabees... really f*cking well done! |
| TUESDAY 14TH JULY | BAKING HAZE- Brit blues a la Fleetwood Mac HORSEMAN SHAKES & THE DRAYMEN- Proper hairy razzle dazzle rock n roll a la Led Zep... Clearance Clearwater... Jimi Hendrix and all yer bluesy rockers... husky vox and good grindsome guitar work... and not atall shy about getting a bit of a fat funky groove on at times too... SALUTE MARY- Nirvana stylee grungeisms... shaped out of In Utero’s sonic building blocks... ... the singer even sounds like Cobain! Seismic stuff whateverwhichway… TIGER BLOSSOM- Post punk pop with touches of The Cure and the Cocteau Twins in the guitaring and a sweet touch of the Cranberries in the vocals department. |
| THURSDAY 16TH JULY | LUNATIC CRASH- An amalgam of styles embracing all manner of iconic acts from AC/DC to Deep Purple round to Oasis and back to Primal Scream. KARMA JUNKIE- Peter, John and Bjork kinda stuff... electro pop atmospherics and sugar sweet melodic pop sensibilities.. Hot Chip would certainly be a touchstone... then again the more experimental corners of Radiohead are very apparent here…these tunes are very smart... some bloody nice violin arrangements come into play... THE LAZY DARLINGS- Ocean Colour Scene... some Manics, Primal Scream, The Verve and Pulp... not yer typical baggy/scally Northern mix though, some very good ideas, lotsa twists and turns... sing-along all the way... yes yes, yes… THE eX whY- 2 man band... very interesting blend of MGMT and Skint & Demoralised... electro funk pop... Kid British and even the catchiness of Hard Fi.. Lots of Talking Heads as well. The production's excellent and the outcome's really uplifting... can get extremely commercial at times, but i think we'll forgive them. In fact let’s embrace them and give them a big fat kiss- you’ll all be at it soon… |
FRIDAY 17TH JULY |
REDLIGHT ROBOTS- Post-punk at a Blurry flurry with a modicum of the grunge in the works but lots of pop pop poppity pop. Good God that's pop and thus should be very popular. THE WICKETS- Sonic Youth go in to bat whilst Fugazi don extra big straight edge boxes and Dinosaur Jr pass delighted comments on a walnut cake whilst giggling profusely. All under the watchful eye of Daddy Daisy Kitty and Lewis too... MOSCOW DRIVE- Keane via The Verve... yeah.. quite a lorra Richard Ashcroft actually in the vocal attack... |
SATURDAY 18TH JULY |
DADDY THOSE MEN SCARE ME- London suburban punk pop a la The Members via some Stranglers shaped prog pop fluidity and a healthy heap of well placed neo folk fiddling. KARMADEVA- Slip slap bass over acoustic shimmerings and stand back to admire ...this femme fronted Bath band do a deep and dark rock pop..a bit Goth, a bit grunge, a bit 80s…like Siouxsie fronting The Doors? RAINBOW CORNER- Emo pop from Belfast ...this a truly sugar coated pop treat... makes Snow Patrol sound like The Exploited and Coldplay Napalm Death!...RC's singer has an affecting yodelling style that could show Ronan Keeting a thing or two. Boy-band-indie? Well why not... GUILTY FAWN- Nicely achieved folk tinged poppings with what a female member of Bugbear staff reliably informs us is a' very hot chick' singing. She also has a fabulous voice boys.... |
MONDAY 20TH JULY |
BLAME JACK- Blink 182 meets Beastie Boys. AINE DUFFY-Hole shaped artful punk rawk with some influence of Rage Against The Machine. Now and then you get delightful melodic folk flourishes too. WHAT WOULD JESUS DRIVE- female fronted electro punk... Think You Say Party We Say Die.. |
TUESDAY 21ST JULY |
ZOO FOR YOU- Groovtastic fusion of world, jazz, folk , afro-beat and reggae. Brilliant Festy season stuff and would put a smile on the face of any Womadite and could even be an attractive bugger for us indie types to boogie our bones at. ELLE JAY- This songstress from Wales makes good with the acoustic guitar and has some suitably hip chums colour her work in nicely with pertinent percussion. Elle rocks a good strong emotive voice akin to one of The Corrs or Nat Imbruglia, indeed all rather nice. DOUG SHERIDAN- Pop rock blues. Quite Interpolish. Radioheadish in term of voice. Slowly and delightfully delivered smooth emotional pop songs. |
THURSDAY 23RD JULY |
ETHER- Melodic alt rock with some intense playing and a prowling somewhat dark underbelly…are influenced by The Beatles White album, BRMC AND The Stone Roses… MARTELL- The kids are saying:"It’s important to point out that we want to be more than your average indie band. First of all we’re not doing this because we heard The Kooks and thought it would be easy, this has been a long time coming, and we do it because we love music. Secondly, we actually have something to say. We’re not satisfied with the world we live in and we want it to change." Bless them...they do a bittersweet windswept indie pop very well. It's a bit kinda early Orange Juice and a touch Wedding Present. THE GRANDE- Neil Young's massive influence is felt here for sure. Bristling, bold , sincere Americana flavoured gear. SUDDENLY, PHANTOMS!- post punky fare with urgent Jagger gone new wave vox, zippy guitars and throbbing bass. Reminds me of That Petrol Emotion a bit...The Strokes too...good guitars. The Rapture via The Three Johns! |
FRIDAY 24TH JULY |
THE MOTHERLOAD- Queens of the Stone Age get their mammaries out on the bus whilst System of a Down struggle back from the shops with three months worth of disposable nappies and Radiohead concentrate on the pelvic floor excercises.... MENDOZA- Great grizzled grunge and pithy punk rock make out with the tunefulness gene. LECARLA- Paramore style female fronted american emo anthems. |
SATURDAY 25TH JULY |
THE GUNS OF PIG ALLEY- Promising a guest appearance by Gene Vincent [ oh alright, not Gene Vincent, but if you check out the Joe Meek film you'll know the libertine in question..] GOPA indulge us most ably with their lolloping ska punk. OK they are heavily indebted to The Clash, The Libertines and Arctic Monkeys, but the lead vocal has a very original lilt..a pop friendly nasal neo folky affair with 60s psych pop twang that sits atop the trundling tunes most adroitly...hot to trot... HANG DAVID- A dreamy drifty shoegazey pop with dark corners neatly explored. MELATONE- Excellent one man band utilising live onstage layerings of riddims, sounds and vocals to make for a mega watchable event- but great numbers too. |
MONDAY 27TH JULY |
ANNE SEAGULL- electro pop... CLONES- Americana rock a la Feeder with a bit of an alternative twist... Sounds like Filter... that's the one... their sound is big big big and it's all very well executed. Proper crunching guitars and anthemic belters of songs. AUDIO AZARD- Sounds like the Sonics via sonic youth! Really good! LAS KELLIES- Punk pop with anod to 60's girl groups, ie there's a bit of Shangrai La's vocal interplay it's an all girl b52's ... There's some nice hooks, i'm also hearing martha and the muffins and they hail from Argentina!!! |
TUESDAY 28TH JULY |
THE PINS- Impassioned rock/pop of a Weller-ish persuassion. Enthusiastic playing, a generally driven vibe. Soulful old school 70s rock kit such as The Faces or Free meets moddy work from The Chords to Secret Affair. THIS IS NOT A DEAD TRANSMISSION- Art Rock and Post Punk are straddled most marvelously. TINADT deal in Mogwai/God Save type instro textures and it all burbles along in an existential stream of sonic swishness. You could almost take this for Joy Divison out-takes with no vox. IRON GORILLA- Skittering and scratchy funk rock with dips into bold neo prog. Biffy Clyro meets Wolfmother meets Red Hot Chilli Peppers. DRY TIL FRIDAY- Ballsy rawk with lead guitar wigouts assured. |
THURSDAY 30TH JULY |
ALSO-Lloyd Cole-esque impassioned pop from CA. Shades of Lou Reed and a smidge of Jeff Buckley. DOMINO THEORY- From London, DM resemble The Feeling up to a point, slinky and persuasive pop rock any road up, with a good balance between chilling out and forceful energetic expression. |
FRIDAY 31ST JULY |
THE DROWNERS- Punk meets American indie, like a heavier Bloc Party, though not as perky... with this guys do is very interesting, so you shouldn't miss out. THE SPIRAL- Low slung groovesome rocknroll trio outta Oz. GUERILLA RADIO- Keane meets The Killers as seen through a New Orderesque lens. GR's tunes are catchy as Hell and deliver a real thunking punch...
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