Fixers' début album We’ll Be The Moon, is set for release 14th May 2012.
It promises to be one of the most listenable albums of the year. They impressed me greatly with their support slot for Kaiser Chiefs on their The Future is Medieval tour and with their EP and Single releases thus far.....
The Futureheads will play: Brighton Komedia (April 2) Bristol Colston Hall (3) London Union Chapel (4) Leeds Wardrobe (5) Stockton Georgian Theatre (6) Gateshead Sage Theatre (8) Glasgow Oran Mor (9) Birmingham Glee Club (10) Nottingham Glee Club (12) Manchester Royal Northern College of Music (13)
Electro-indie-popsters Trophy Wife made a strong impression with their support slot for fellow Oxford boys Foals back at the tail-end of the Total Life Forever tour. Their sparse, calculated math/ tropical rhythms were the perfect opening for the evening. Months later I caught them making the job easier for Two Door Cinema Club by whipping the crowd into a shuffling frenzy with another great set.
This Joanna Newsom cover has the bands' trademark sound, that I have grown to love over their string of singles and a EP that have trickled out whilst they are putting the final touches to their début album.
In the meantime enjoy the above download and the amazing Microlite video.....
Supporting The Wombats on a sweaty, unseasonably warm early October evening Morning Parade took to the stage. They blew me away with a pounding, yet tuneful collection of soon-to-be-indie anthems with some undercurrent dance beats.
After the gig I soon learnt that I had to satisfy myself with putting a note on my calendar for a distant album launch date and purchasing a few 7” singles of theirs.
Fast-forward to March and that debut album, Morning Parade, is finally available. The verdict? It is a stonker! After only a handful of listens the tracks work their way in under your skin.
Headlights will make you sing ‘Like a rabbit in the headlights’ for days…..
The driving rhythms and atmospheric, electro influenced stadium-indie and heartfelt lyrics are convincing through the entire collection. There will always be the stand-out tracks on any album, Us & Ourselves and Under The Stars in this case, but there are really no weak offerings on Morning Parade.
This debut delivers, just like their live shows and I would tip Morning Parade to to explode over the radio and festival circuit this summer. A truly memorable album!
Warming up for their sold out show at The Motorcycle Showroom, François and The Atlas Mountains treated the faithful at Rise Music to a stripped-down, early evening performance at the Queen’s Road record shop.
Honoree Bristolian François and his colourful collection of band mates (sporting some charming knitwear) executed a glorious acoustic taster of their bi-lingual indie. They created a cosy atmosphere when the Gallic tones of François invited the audience to sit on the wooden floor and gather around the band; all that was missing was a drop in the lighting and a drop of wine.
With their first album on Domino, E Volo Love freshly released and a string of shows planned, this acoustic set had a warm, homecoming vibe as one-time resident of the city and bandleader François Marry smiled and acknowledged familiar faces in the audience.
In just twenty minutes or so we are all truly treated to sublime live performances of some quite remarkable songs. Piscine, Edge of Town and Les Plus Beaux shimmer with three-fold percussion and sizzling high-end harmonies.
Switching effortlessly between languages adds to the intrigue; the French-sung pieces seem to pack more punch, whether this is because the artists are more comfortable in their mother tongue or that my listening isn't blinkered by following the words.
So good in fact is the dreamy, romanticism of the songs and pitch-perfect delivery, one can’t help but think that Dominos’ first French signings have somehow missed a trick in the making of their latest album. I feel that a little magic has been lost somewhere from when these natural gems, that fall the right side of twee that we heard tonight made it onto the processed, electric studio album. That said the argument is rooted in the excellence of the live performance rather than the shortcomings of the LP.
Underpinned by some African-infused rhythms courtesy of Amaury Ranger, perched on the ledge of the window this brief show, like the album, appears to be ultra casual, yet it is shows musical intricacies and expressive creation in great control and measure.
An array of school percussion is deployed at various stages, reminding the audience that our primary years were perhaps the last we had sat cross-legged on a varnished wooden floor! Though this wasn’t a boring assembly, but more a captivating story time; a magical music lesson with our favourite French teacher…..
