Down The Tube
Caught another couple of bands last night, after going to see The Chalets and The Subways at the LA2.
The Chalets were excellent.. two sexy frontwomen in co-ordinated kinky gear, a great band, and some great songs sounding kind of like Huggy Bear or The Go! Team - but tighter & less shambolic. I really enjoyed the first half of the set, and although it started running out of steam a bit towards the end I have no doubt that this lot have a good future. Watch out for them. I've got one of their tracks on a compilation at home so i'll try & post it up a bit later on.
There was a palpable buzz in the air while waiting for The Subways to come on, and as they pounded their way through their opening track in a blur of energy and shaking hair I was getting quite caught up in it. Unfortunately though it was all downhill from there. 3 songs in I was starting to get a bit bored... at about the time when I realised that if I closed my eyes I may as well have been watching McFly. Radio-friendly inoffensive punk pop.
Like The Bravery a few weeks back the kids loved 'em though... so i'm sure my cynicism will be no barrier to huge success for them.
So it was a decent enough evening.. however once again the drive home proved the musical highlight of the evening. I'd earlier picked up a CD by a band called Ske, after firstly noticing that it was on the same Icelandic label as Sigur Ros - Smekkleysa (Bad Taste), and subsequently noticing that it was only a quid!
I slipped it in the CD player on my way home and was hugely impressed. I can't believe I'd not heard of this lot before.. it's not as if Icelandic musicians struggle to break through in the UK!
The opening of the album, 'Stuff', sounds like uncannily like The Beta Band doing a cover version of Zero 7's amazing Lambchop remix (Up With People). As the album progresses, scores of influences become apparent.. from U2 to Air to Goldfrapp to The Kinks to Chas 'n' Dave! It's incredibly diverse. Every track is distinctive, with songs in three languages in its 8 tracks (although not Icelandic for some reason). The songs in Japanese in particular are stunning, and since I love this album so much I'm going to post one of them up here as well... 'Julietta 1'. It sounds exactly as you'd expect an Icelandic band doing a song in Japanese would sound!
It seems as though this album (Love, Death, Happiness & Stuff) came out back in 2002 in Iceland, but didn't get a UK release until late last year, when it seems to have completely fallen under the radar. If you like these two songs then please buy it. You won't be disappointed. I am totally loving this record.
SKE - STUFF
SKE - JULIETTA 1
The Chalets were excellent.. two sexy frontwomen in co-ordinated kinky gear, a great band, and some great songs sounding kind of like Huggy Bear or The Go! Team - but tighter & less shambolic. I really enjoyed the first half of the set, and although it started running out of steam a bit towards the end I have no doubt that this lot have a good future. Watch out for them. I've got one of their tracks on a compilation at home so i'll try & post it up a bit later on.
There was a palpable buzz in the air while waiting for The Subways to come on, and as they pounded their way through their opening track in a blur of energy and shaking hair I was getting quite caught up in it. Unfortunately though it was all downhill from there. 3 songs in I was starting to get a bit bored... at about the time when I realised that if I closed my eyes I may as well have been watching McFly. Radio-friendly inoffensive punk pop.
Like The Bravery a few weeks back the kids loved 'em though... so i'm sure my cynicism will be no barrier to huge success for them.
So it was a decent enough evening.. however once again the drive home proved the musical highlight of the evening. I'd earlier picked up a CD by a band called Ske, after firstly noticing that it was on the same Icelandic label as Sigur Ros - Smekkleysa (Bad Taste), and subsequently noticing that it was only a quid!
I slipped it in the CD player on my way home and was hugely impressed. I can't believe I'd not heard of this lot before.. it's not as if Icelandic musicians struggle to break through in the UK!
The opening of the album, 'Stuff', sounds like uncannily like The Beta Band doing a cover version of Zero 7's amazing Lambchop remix (Up With People). As the album progresses, scores of influences become apparent.. from U2 to Air to Goldfrapp to The Kinks to Chas 'n' Dave! It's incredibly diverse. Every track is distinctive, with songs in three languages in its 8 tracks (although not Icelandic for some reason). The songs in Japanese in particular are stunning, and since I love this album so much I'm going to post one of them up here as well... 'Julietta 1'. It sounds exactly as you'd expect an Icelandic band doing a song in Japanese would sound!
It seems as though this album (Love, Death, Happiness & Stuff) came out back in 2002 in Iceland, but didn't get a UK release until late last year, when it seems to have completely fallen under the radar. If you like these two songs then please buy it. You won't be disappointed. I am totally loving this record.
SKE - STUFF
SKE - JULIETTA 1
posted by headphonesex @ 6:41 PM
