PASSION PIT Live @ Southampton University

Walking into the SUSU I was surrounded by quirky attempts at Halloween costumes worn by over excited teenagers who partly made me want to linger at the back of the bar let alone the venue. With the first support act “The Joy Formidable” playing was interesting however it was an excuse to hit the bar, next was Max Tundra who was bizarre and caught attention especially with his strangely and almost robotic dancing. Then entered Passion Pit and the room filled as you could hear waves of screams from the excited fans on Halloween, the guitarist enters in a red and white silk boxing robe to the Rocky theme tune making everybody in the building aware that it’s his birthday which was a dramatic and impressive beginning to the show.
I have seen Passion Pit previously at this year’s Reading Festival in the NME tent, and was shocked by the livelihood of the band but in an enclosed venue they blew me away; believe it or not a male voice can reach such a high pitch! When the performed “Little Secrets” the audience sang their loudest and Michael Angelakos seemed surprised at the volume of what I thought was a reasonably small crowd. Their best known and in my opinion most energetic and exciting song “Sleepyhead” was performed with great power and even those who had previously stood quiet and observant couldn’t help but let loose.
Throughout the performance I would find it difficult to fault the band especially considering their encore, playing “The Reeling” the previously knackered audience were rebooted for another 3 minutes of dancing and screaming for a vivacious finale to the show. Next time Passion Pit play I’m sure to get tickets, as I couldn’t fault their performance and thoroughly enjoyed it.

FILEWILE – Blueskywell

From the strange cover of Filewile’s new album “Bluewkywell” I hadn’t a clue what to expect. Though something bizarre I was sure, and not wrong, from the first track “Sombrero or Die” these haunting vocals accompanied by upbeat instrumentals along with what I can only describe as siren like noises makes for an interesting yet slightly addictive track. The second track “Number One Kid” caught my attention the most, maybe it’s resemblance to any track from the comedy series “Flight of The Concords” or perhaps just because of it’s catchy, electro and ever so slightly dub-step mixture.
Despite the memorable instrumentals not much can be said for the lyrics, although with most producer combinations lyrics do tend to be jumbled, repeated, cut and styled in tracks such as “Kick the Spacedrum” and “Bug” they become increasingly irritating along with the grunts that are added just seem a little confusing. However this grunts and strange noises are successful in the penultimate track “Swahee Swahoo”, which musically shows similar sounds to dub-step phenomenon Flying Lotus however the vocals again become grating half way through. Similarly on the final track “Codeine” although the instrumentals in this also wear after a while.
In no way would I label Filewiles album as unsuccessful perhaps just in need of some fine tuning, I can honestly say that having listened to it over and over I am still unable to identify tracks. This leads me to think that perhaps the “rap” and producing duo should reconsider their grunting efforts and make it easier to differentiate between songs, saying this some songs remain to be what I like to call “growers” – a few listens and you’ll love them, just good luck remembering the names.

THE MOJO GURUS – Let’s Get Lit With…

From the cover of The Mojo Gurus new album “Let’s get lit with…” I expected some sort of psychedelic, Jefferson Airplane inspired, marijuana fuelled 70’s excellence, sadly these expectations were far from met, instead I found myself drifting off into tedious “rock” that I couldn’t help but feel all they were doing had been done a million times before. It has that same American road side bar feel to it that Aerosmith’s first album did, yet with tracks such as “Bucket O’ Blood” showing signs of the typical surfers theme along with that Rock ‘n’ Roll Cream feel in songs such as “(Just A) Couple of Kicks” the chopping and changing between folk, rock, psychedelic and country became a bit too much.
When I first heard The Mojo Gurus new album “Let’s get lit with…” I thought it was a game of “Guess the Intro”, I say this because almost every songs introduction bares resemblance to a song of the past. For example the 10th song on the album “The Price I Pay” could easily break into “Smoke on the Water” from the first two chords whereas track number 12 “Nuthin’ But A Thang” can be imagined turning into a folk version of the Benny Hill theme tune. This isn’t necessarily a negative point just purely an observation, each song mentioned does come into its own post-intro however is initially recognisable.
Vocalist Kevin Steeles Southern twang becomes a little much after the 3rd track, so by the time you cross 7th track “Rebelene” hearing that same old repetitive chant persuades me personally to hit pause and have a cigarette. On the plus side the addition of a saxophone does add a little bit of a jazzy twist to the song, similarly to the regular use of harmonica which I always enjoy. Instrumentally The Mojo Gurus are difficult to fault, with a wide variety of instruments and obviously talented musicians the boys inclusion of mandolin, banjo and fiddle are great additions. Yet I can’t help feeling that the combination of so many different musical styles has somehow turned against them- A classic case of “less is more” perhaps.

NME RADAR TOUR – Live @ The Wedgewood Rooms 07/10/2009

I was surprised by how empty the NME Radar Tour was when I arrived, for Yes Giantess there was a small crowd supporting and enjoying the energetic performance, despite the vocalist’s keyboard having “exploded” before the set he improvised with a maraca. His witty banter to the audience opened for a brilliant show. Next, The Local Natives played a slightly more calm set which included a impressive cover of The Talking Heads as well as an incredible drum session towards the end where members of fellow bands joined in for a vigorous ending to the set. Throughout The Local Natives the room had begun to fill, I can only imagine this was in preparation for Marina and the Diamonds.
Marina entered the stage looking a little nervous but gorgeous in a sequined lace dress which by the look of all men in the audience was much appreciated, during the opening song you wouldn’t have noticed anything was the matter, however before performing “Seventeen” Marina shared that she had been ill that day and hoped we “didn’t think she was crap” which was followed by an applause from the audience encouraging her to continue. At this point it was clear to see that Marina simply wasn’t feeling right, although sung “Seventeen” with surprising energy and practically flawless vocals although unfortunately broke into tears at the end. With screams of “we love you” and “you’re beautiful” from the crowd Marina bravely attempted “I Am Not A Robot” but it seemed to prove a little too much and she swiftly exited the stage as the keyboard player politely stepped up and exclaimed “enjoy the Golden Silvers, we’re sorry” and Marina hopped into a taxi.
The disappointed crowd showed no signs of heckling, rudeness or hatred towards the singer and rightly so. Marina was ill, it happens to the best of us unfortunately it just had to be on this particular show. As swarms of fans left the venue outside there were rumours of a band member proposing to Marina and her emotions got the better of her, however it’s difficult to believe anyone in a room of half cut fans each with their own thoughts on the event. Then came the final act, The Golden Silvers who entered the stage with an impressive performance and the crowd didn’t seem to remember Marinas upset- hopefully her next visit to Portsmouth will be more successful.

FANFARLO – Reservoir

It had been a busy day and I remembered having Fanfarlo’s “Reservoir” in my bag, so driving home it was played full blast for the first time, from the minute I heard it I thought of many bands that it could be a concoction of, all being favourites of mine. The opening track “I’m A Pilot” has a powerful beat which when combined with its ambitious instrumentals compare to Sigur Rós, despite the arrangement not being as together it still works as a great first track for the album. Whilst listening to “Luna” I was reminded of Arcade Fire, the contrast between calm and thunderous verse joined by vast change in tempo work well to create a racy feel to the song. Again the arrangement is not so together yet Fanfarlo’s Swedish singer, Simon Balthazar’s voice allows for this with a pleasantly silky tone that could almost be described as attractive.
“The Walls Are Coming Down” is a favourite track of mine; the chorus holds more of the power that the whole album presents yet has aggression in the drum beat and speed of the organ though the song in no way sounds aggressive in itself, it stays well within the lovely sound of the rest of the album. The more I listen to the album I continue to realise that the lyrics are not necessarily anything to bother yourself about, a lot of the time they seem to tell a story and have that “personal joke” feel about them- to only be understood by a few that are close to the band and simply enjoyed by all others.
Unlike most typical indie-folk albums “Reservoir” doesn’t have the token slow song, this could be seen as a positive thing considering the similarly folky Fleet Foxes seem to have that box ticked, however Fanfarlo’s constant will to play all instruments at once begins to tire after a while. Only when reaching the final song on the album, “Good Morning Midnight” you find the strings ridden calmness you’d hoped for, with no vocals the songs length could have easily been doubled, yet it shows that Simons voice is not the complete strength of Fanfarlo. Having witnessed Mumford and Sons recent success I’m sure this London 5 piece are rubbing their hands together with excitement hoping they’re next, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were.

SOUTHSEA FEST: Liz Croly’s View

As I wander to The Wine Vaults to get myself and a few friends our tickets, I’m already aware that it’s going to be a long day, I thought I’d made a reasonably early effort by arriving at midday, the already intoxicated seemed to disagree. I’m queuing to receive my band and hear a familiar voice, as we get chatting I realise he’s just one of the many people trying to scam themselves a free wristband through friends of friends and multiple involvements in bands, then again if you can- why on earth not?

Having “ahoy matey” on my wrist I make it back to visit a friend at work in The Fat Fox where The Boy I Used To Be is already half way through their set. Previously I’d heard only good things about them and therefore stayed to listen, in a reasonably empty room it was a pretty good set and calm at that. The first drink of the day is underway and it was off to a pleasant start. After a few more drinks we head straight to LJR where we appear to walk in on what looks like a confusing set up for The Racketeers, here I found myself a bystander in a conversation between a friend and Keith from The Dawn Chorus, as they discuss the bands success in playing Bestival I begin to research when and where they’ll be playing and am intrigued to heard what this seemingly coy band has to offer.

A friends younger brother was playing Wine Vaults, having not heard them in a while I went to see The Unknown Soldiers and was surprised by the improvement the boys had made and continued to enjoy the youthful bands strong and obvious Doors influenced sound. Beau Curtis’s deep and dark vocals gave an interesting feel to the room and it was nice to see them playing again. Dragon Eye Morrison on the other hand have never been a great passion of mine and once again I thought I’d try and enjoy their set but it’s simply not for me, with their great popularity I completely understand that something about them must be attention grabbing and enjoyable but I’m yet to notice this. The Edge of the Wedge had a brilliant atmosphere during their performance however I failed to stay for the whole set purely because I felt that the first half had shown me all I needed- and this was that not matter how much I want to, I won’t understand the great attraction to Dragon Eye Morrison.

We then returned to LJR to see the previously mentioned Dawn Chorus who weren’t as coy as I formerly thought, this showed a whole new light on the guys. They played a great set with plenty of stage presence and you could see the band enjoyed playing as much as the audience enjoyed listening- as my first time of hearing them I was pleasantly surprised. Continuing, I went to see Le Plat De Jour put on a confusing yet brilliant set, with witty banter from the vocalist and multiple instrument swaps from her fellow band mate, the two offered a poetic and shy performance that fit The Magic Bean Café perfectly. The audience remained quiet throughout the majority of the set, despite the slight repetitiveness I thoroughly enjoyed the peculiar noises the pair produced. Now, I’m going to be completely honest, from this point on my memory escapes me… Small details come back to me every so often but apart from that I fail to remember some of the night- especially the band names.

I remember what bands looked like, and my opinion of them, however struggle to recall the name. Wine Vaults had a show with a desirable guitarist and their folk rock sound gave a great atmosphere. However Django Django were more than memorable, the mathrock set in The Loft threw me off, and despite my drunken state I was able to enjoy their show completely. With the energy presented to the audience the band enticed the viewers to enjoy their set entirely. I then went to The Wedgewood Rooms to see Little Fish and once again wasn’t let down, I had seen them recently at LJR for the first time and thought they were great and the second time was no different. The loud and carefree set got even the “trendiest” members of the audience to forget they weren’t trying to impress the population of Albert Road and actually enjoy themselves, which was perfect for the beginning of the end to Southsea Fest. I left having sobered up and completely satisfied with the day; mostly great people, mostly great music and an unbeatable atmosphere.