Randomness: She Makes War - Minefields video

Just thought I'd share the video for the lovely She Makes War's new single Minefields. Here you go:

And while you're at it, why not check out the single on Bandcamp, which comes with a live album. If you really want to, you can download it for free, but I suggest you chip in a couple of quid at least. She deserves it.

God, it's posts galore this week, isn't it? Let's hope I can keep it up.

Band of the Week: The Runaways, earthtone9 & Bitter Ruin

Soooo, first post in over a month. Not doing too well at keeping on top of this, am I? Ah well. Let's kick off this week's post with the classic all-girl punk rock group The Runaways. Y'know, Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Cherrie Curry? General awesomeness. Here's their brilliant Cherry Bomb.

Next up, British alt-metallers earthtone9. They're in the process of recording a new album, their first in about a decade. You can still donate to their PledgeMusic campaign HERE. For now, check out recent single Tide of Ambition.

Finally, indie-noir/dark cabaret duo Bitter Ruin. Deliciously dark, quirky and amazingly energetic. All of their material is available on their Bandcamp page, but for tasters, let's have the Hung, Drawn & Quartered EP/mini-album.



Only three today, that;ll do, right? Check it out and pass it on.

Band of the Week: Marmozets, Hysterical Injury, & more!

Band of the Week time, my lovelies, so let's kick off with Marmozets. If you've not seen my review of their support set for Young Guns, go do that NOW. Anyhoos, really great young band - female fronted math rock. One sec while I find some sort of stream/video. Ah, the video for Lives, that'll do nicely.


MARMOZETS - LIVES from Sam Macintyre on Vimeo.


Moving on, we now have Hysterical Injury. Indie rock? Indie pop? Their Bandcamp tags say grunge and riot grrrl, which I'm not inclined to entirely agree with, but the tone is certainly there. Here's the album Dead Wolf Situation:


Following on from them, let's have Every Time I Die. Scrumptious metalcore/hardcore-ness. Aaaaand, I don't like any of the streams, so let's dig up a video instead. Wanderlust will do, right? I'd have preferred a good live video of The Marvelous Slut, but apparently it doesn't exist...

Next up, a couple of bands I've just found this evening, courtesy of looking up the support acts for The Broken Seas gig next month (you should check them out as well, by the way). So, here's a little bit of Faster Than Robots:

02 Jubilee by fasterthanrobots Followed by a little something from ...Of Diamonds: Weirdo - MP3 Version by ofdiamonds

 That'll do for this week. Check 'em out and pass it on.

Band of the Week: more random discoveries!

Not Bandcamp discoveries this week (well, maybe a couple), but hurray for random 'net treasures.

First up (and yes, I know I've mentioned her several times before, shush), the delightful Aamir al-Loki. Goth-electro-pop. Check out her video for Don't here:

Next up, Fairy Meds. Female fronted punk rock. Another random Bandcamp discovery.

(tis free download, by the way...)

And then... let's have letlive., who I've also mentioned a couple of times before in relation to their amazing live show. Progressive post-hardcore loveliness. Here's the latest video for Muther:

Next we'll have Cloudkicker, which is another Bandcamp discovery. Instrumental metal. Great for sticking on while working, I find. Let's have Discovery, since that's the album I actually have. There's loads of them though. The title track of this one is especially awesome.

(all of his albums are free downloads, if I remember rightly...)

How many's that? Four's not enough, surely?Ahh, I know what we can finish with. I rediscovered this piece of awesomeness last week and completely forgot to share. This is Pistol Youth's acoustic cover of Flo-Rida's Low. It's rather brilliant, as are Pistol Youth in general. Indie/alternative rock.

Off you pop.

Review: Duchess Says at Norwich Arts Centre, 14/12/11

Duchess Says at Norwich Arts Centre, 14/12/11 (support from Throwing Up)
Genre: Indie/electro-punk

Kicking off the night's festivities are London three piece Throwing Up. Their brand of punk is pretty old school and it's a wonderfully dirty sound. Good crunchy guitars, solid riffs and catchy vocals. That said, the songs tended to sound a little samey. The crowd seemed to be enjoying it though.

Moving on from their set, Canadian electro-punks Duchess Says took to the stage. Oh my, what a set. Vocalist Annie-Claude Deschênes dances like a madwoman and she bloody well enjoys it. The audience had no choice but to get involved - although to be fair, I don't think anyone objected to dancing with Deschênes and I really doubt anyone would've declined her invitations for everyone to climb up on the stage while she danced around the floor. Topping off a set that nearly resulted in me getting throttled by a mic cable as Deschênes led an adoring crowd around the room, the encore ended out in the foyer, more than half the crowd having followed Deschênes out there. In between that and the party poppers that were handed out halfway through the set, it's hard to find fault with both her and the rest of the band's exuberant energy. The same goes for the music - amazingly good fun and very easy to dance to. In short, a brilliant set and quite possibly the best gig I've ever been to.

To end, have a couple of photos and a short clip of Duchess Says - apologies for poor quality phone pictures. The first is vocalist Annie-Claude, just after she almost throttled me (accidentally) with the mic cable.

Then a generic performance shot.

And finally a short clip of them during the stage invasion, which wasn't exactly an invasion, during the song Black Flag. Nice to see the sound recording quality is slightly better than the image quality...

I reeeeeally need to start taking my camera to gigs...

Band of the Week: Cut Ribbons and Fever Fever

Oh good heavens, Band of the Week? Yes indeed, my lovely non-existent readers. This week we have scrummies in the form of Welsh indie rockers Cut Ribbons and Norwich art punks Fever Fever. In (the most likely) case that you haven't read my review of Fight Like Apes' gig at the Arts Centre, these two bands were the support acts. If you haven't read the review - read it NAOW.

So, first up, Cut Ribbons. In my review, I described them as non-descript indie rock, save for the male-female dual vocals. I take that back. Their live show was great, really great but I think I came to the non-descript conclusion too quickly. So, OK, there really isn't anything particularly new about Cut Ribbons, but how often do you find a band that does have that? What they do is really nice indie rock, with lovely vocals and some awesome sing-along-able bits. Have a listen:

Cut Ribbons by Kissability

And then go check out their Bandcamp, where you can download their demos EP for free. Their new single White Horses is out 26th December and will be available HERE.

Next up, Fever Fever. Three people making a lot of noise. Dual female vocals as well, which is awesome. Raucous and generally pretty damn awesome. Although I should point out that it seems to be very hard to translate their live energy to disc. That said, their recorded material is still brilliant. Check out the free download Teeth on Bandcamp, then I recommend getting hold of the Bloodless EP and new single Pins.




Aaaaaand, I think that'll do for now. Have a listen and pass it on.

One last little bonus - this only just came out today. Cut Ribbons' first video for White Horses.


White Horses from Cut Ribbons on Vimeo.

Review: Fight Like Apes at Norwich Arts Centre, 28/11/11

Fight Like Apes at Norwich Arts Centre, 28/11/11 (support from Fever Fever & Cut Ribbons)

Genre: Synth-pop, indie rock

Kicking off this remarkably dead show at the Arts Centre were Welsh band Cut Ribbons. They play fairly non-descript indie rock, distinguished only by their dual male/female vocals. Even that interesting difference didn't show up too well in their performance (balance seemed a bit squiffy), but the set was pretty good and it seemed a bit of a shame there weren't more people there to see them. The Arts Centre's fairly small but even so it was barely half full by the time Cut Ribbons finished playing.

By the time Norwich natives Fever Fever took to the stage, however, the crowd had definitely bulked up. The show was also their single launch, so they obviously had a fair few fans there. It was immediately obvious why they seem to have such a dedicated fanbase. Their set was amazing. For three people, they make a hell of a lot of very good noise. And they were evidently enjoying themselves, throwing in a lot of banter with the crowd and each other. Brilliant, hyperactive art punk at its raucous best. Check out the free track Teeth here: http://feverfever.bandcamp.com/track/teeth

Following on from that amazingly energetic set, the headliners had a lot to live up to. It's been three years since I first saw Fight Like Apes. Back then, they were the support for The Ting Tings. They sucked me in with their rather anarchic, high energy set. This show definitely didn't disappoint. Non-stop and bloody loud. And yet the room still wasn't full and the crowd barely seemed bothered. Until lead vocalist MayKay wandered off into the audience, that is. All of a sudden, the smallest mosh pit I have ever seen appeared. Finally, finally people seemed to be paying attention to what was an amazing show. With a couple of new tracks thrown in and a set that crept past curfew without anyone seeming to care, Fight Like Apes might just have won over some new fans. I hope they did. They certainly deserve it.

Fight Like Apes setlist:

Do You Karate?, Poached Eggs, Hoo Ha Henry, Katmandu, Lend Me Your Face, Jenny Kelly, Digifucker, Jake Summers, Thirsty, Tie Me Up With Jackets, Battlestations (+ 2 new tracks)

Encore: Megameanie, Ice Cream Apple Fuck

And as an added bonus, have some crappy photography, courtesy of my phone.

And as a final note: SQUEE at the remarkably cheap (i.e. reasonably priced) merch. Woot for band t-shirts and CDs.

Band of the Week: Light Scars

Yay! Band of the Week is back. Hopefully I'll remember to keep posting this time. Anyhoo, moving on. Light Scars are an alternative rock band from Grimsby, UK (my hometown, woot). I first checked them out a couple of years ago, thought they sounded all right, but not really my kinda music. I've had a listen on and off since then and they've grown on me. Their self-titled EP has been sitting in my iTunes wishlist for a while.

Unfortunately, this is one of those cases where you don't make the most of things until they're gone. Band member El Field died last Saturday, 19th March. I knew El from school. Not particularly well and I'd not spoken to him for years, but he was a nice kid. I've not heard anything regarding the band as yet.

Aaaand, removing myself from random memories of comparing music taste with El on the bus to school, let's have a look at the EP, shall we? I'm not quite sure where to put it in terms of genre. There's slight grunge elements, especially with the vocals. Some tracks are particularly riff-heavy, Blue Bears, for instance, which happens to be a current favourite of mine. And right now the whole sound is really bugging me because they remind me of another band both in overall style and in vocals and for the life of me I can't think who it is. If someone could have a listen and figure it out I would love you for all eternity.

Overall, the EP is a pretty solid release. The sound's not some generic indie/alternative rock mess and the vocals are interesting (if ever so slightly off in some places). Glad I finally downloaded it, even if it did take a tragic accident to make me dig it out again. Have a listen, let me know what you think and pass it on.



That has to be one of the shortest Band of the Weeks ever. Hmmm... oh! Links! Knew I was missing something.

Assorted Light Scars links:
Myspace
Last.FM
Facebook

Recommended tracks (all from Light Scars EP)
Blue Bears, Narrow Spaces, Fractures



ARCTIC MONKEYS! Soundwise, anyway. Ahem. I'm shutting up now, I promise.