Features
8 May 2012
Review | Soap & Skin
Narrow, Soap & Skin, Pias, 19 March 2012 Narrow, Anja Plaschg’s second release as Soap & Skin, is a slender and sombre collection of songs. The tone is set by opener, ‘Vater’, a powerful piano driven track which recalls the death of Plaschg’s father in 2009. Plaschg is 21 - there isn’t a good age to lose a father and although 21 is young, Plaschg has the emotional maturity to attempt to translate her loss into music. It works. (more...)5 May 2012
Review | Clean Bandit
Clean Bandit @ The Nest, 27 April Venturing to The Nest was no mean feat and, combined with less than accurate directions from TFL, the girls are were beginning to question whether the effort they had put into travelling to the venue was worth the outcome. Perseverance paid off however and, although infuriated by the inadequacy of Boris Johnson’s ability to improve public transport, the night was arguably the most enjoyable practice of debauchery since fresher’s week. The quality of the sets were superior and, as a venue, it was suitably grungy. A word of warning however, this is not a place for the faint hearted. Get ready to get down, sweaty and uncomfortable. Wear flats and be aware that once you leave, all traces of makeup, blow drying and straightening will have disappeared. (more...)4 May 2012
Review | Tricky & Martina Topley Bird
Tricky and Martina Topley Bird @ IndigO2, 27 Apr Seventeen years after the initial release, Tricky and Martina Topley Bird stand side by side once again to resurrect their mighty debut release Maxinquaye, and Martina is at the heart of the resurgence with the current tour notably co-billed to name them both. In an interview in April*, Tricky explained that he needed a female voice in Maxinquaye - an album written about and named after his mother, who committed suicide when he was four - because "it's my mum speaking through me/ a lot of my lyrics are written from a woman's point of view." The music has lost none of its dark potency, and is wrought with frustration and charged with seduction. (more...)2 May 2012
Introducing | Pepper
Pepper is a 'tomorrow today, please' kind of girl as befits the characters’ at the forefront of the current UK urban scene. One minute she’s outside college having a fag, (Manchester’s, Trafford College Music Base), the next she’s being ushered in to the studio opposite to audition for the Sky Talent Show Must Be The Music (2010), which included the unlikely judge Dizzee Rascal, as well as Jamie Cullen and Sharleen Spiteri. The difference with this show, and the reason Katie Pepper paid attention and “crossed the road”, was that artists were singing their own material and promised all the profits from any subsequent downloads. She appeared as Pepper and Piano, with fellow music student and friend, Emma Alkazrajie, the Piano and the songwriter of ‘You Took My Heart’, which caused tears all round in the studio at the time. (more...)2 May 2012
Introducing | Sylver Tongue
Musicians reinventing themselves is nothing new. Pop's very own chameleon, Madonna, has been doing it for decades, continuing to shock, wow, and cause controversy with each new public persona. More recently, we've witnessed the birth, re-birth and re-re-birth of Lady Gaga - an artist who uses her body and self as the ultimate marketing tool, flaunting each reinvention, marking a new single, album or sales opportunity. (more...)1 May 2012
Review | Los Campesinos!
Photographed by James Perou for the girls are. Los Campesinos! @ New Slang, Kingston, 22 March After the recording of their 2011 LP Hello Sadness, Los Campesinos! lost another female member, violinist Harriet, who, like Aleks back in 2009, left the band to pursue further education. That still leaves the seven-piece with two women musicians: bassist Ellen (who also regularly shoots hilarious tour/session documentaries about the band) and singer and keyboardist Kim, who also plays flute, replacing some of Harriet’s violin parts on certain songs - with good effect, we have to say. Despite quite a few lineup changes and some definite evolutions in style, LC! somehow manage to constantly grow and develop as a band, but also preserve some of their core charm and trademark characteristics. During this gig, singer Gareth keeps chat to the very minimum, but gives his usual hyper-expressive, completely unselfconscious performance, acting out a lot of his lyrics, stomping crazily, kneeling, occasionally drumming, and often getting completely red in the face. (more...)29 Apr 2012
Review | Uh Huh Her
After being controversially dropped by their label, Uh Huh Her are back with their self-produced second album Nocturnes, and the girls are wait in keen anticipation of the last night of their UK tour. The band is fronted by lesbian royalty Leisha Hailey (best known to us as the quirky, loveable Alice Pieszecki from groundbreaking TV series ‘The L Word’) and her bandmate and girlfriend - the multifaceted Camila Grey. Intrigue surrounds the couple and the almost entirely female audience give them a rapturous welcome. Silhouetted against the stage lights, their complementary quality exudes a quiet magnetism, and Camila’s brooding eyes peer from beneath her bowler hat while Leisha remains partially hidden behind a coy veil of hair, surfacing occasionally to give a broad, beaming smile. (more...)
28 Apr 2012
Review | Sick of Sarah
Sick of Sarah, Evarose + Kate's Party @ The Borderline, 23 May Returning to the scarlet-lit depths of The Borderline, with its extensive wine list of red or white, the girls are were excited to see Sick of Sarah headline the night before they were due to support Uh Huh Her at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Also in the line up were Oxfordshire born and bred, Evarose and punk band, Kate’s Party. (more...)27 Apr 2012
Review | Big Joan
The Long Slow Death of Big Joan, Big Joan, March 2012 In the honoured and blessed world of new music there is always a Big Joan, a band who sounds as fresh, inspired and committed as the first gig/album – ten years ago. Likely they have been a major force in a scene in a city-near-you with their slapping bass-lines, intense, driving drum beats and chugga-chug guitars, a held-together-with-tape keyboard/synthesiser, and all those zig-zag rhythms messing with empathy and expectations in an almost jazz-related way. (more...)26 Apr 2012
