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MySpace Round Up Oct 2007 |
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Check out their MySpace |
The Big One....Peel
The arty ones indebted to the Old Wave….or XTC!
Its time once again for one of my periodic dips into the
musical wonderland that is Austin Texas. This time to introduce you
to one of the freshest sounding bands around, a band that any self
respecting A&R man would cream his jeans over. This my good
friends…………..is Peel.
The American indie landscape is currently awash with shy boys in
eyeliner and throwbacks to eighties college rock so it’s a privilege
to discover a band as discerning in their choice of influences as
Peel, a band who write and perform perfect three minute nuggets of
modern pop and yet sound like……Robert Fripp and Brian Eno! Yes, the
first thing that struck me on hearing them was Allison Moore’s synth
burblings and then like a shot out of the blue….just like Fripp….came
Dakota Smiths incredible guitar lines, a paradoxical blend of the
discordant and the melodic that I’d not heard the like of since
Bowie's 1977 masterpiece Heroes. I had fallen deeply in love!
Since then I’ve been lucky enough to catch them at this years
SXSW and to get hold of their superb eponymous debut album and I can
say with total honesty that it has blown the pants clean off
everyone I’ve played it to……without exception! This is a band whose
special talents will surely bring them success sooner rather than
later, I just hope that it doesn’t come via the pages of the NME, no
band deserves the “build you up and knock you down” treatment that
the staff of that particular publication have become famed for,
least of all the magnificent Peel.
Read the interview here
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Best Of
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KNIFE
AND THE 4th WARD DAGGERS
The streetwise American visitors…or The Heartbreakers!
Firstly, what a name! Bit of a mouthful but it makes you
want to check them out doesn’t it? They could only be American with
a name like that and American they are. Hailing from the mean
streets of Atlanta , Knife and his two Daggers, the beautiful Sarah
on bass and Josh on drums are the rawest and I suppose truest “punk”
band that I’ve featured since I started doing these roundups, this
is street punk in its purest form.
Their influences are very enlightening, as well as some classic
early British punk…The Rezillos, Buzzcocks, Slaughter and the
Dogs…they cite a love of classic American rock ’n’ roll including
the obvious Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry and Little Richard sitting very
comfortably alongside the most interesting of all… Dion and the
Belmonts. It's well documented that a certain John Genzale was also
a young fan of his fellow New Yorkers, and it’s a Heartbreakers vibe
that I pick up on with Knife and the 4th Ward Daggers, as I
previously touched on, this is original street punk with its roots
firmly entrenched in the streets of mid seventies America.
By the time you read this, Knife, Sarah and Josh will have played
their debut gig…this really is a new band…supporting another of
their favourites The Vibrators and it seems fitting that they will
start their career on the same stage as those Roxy stalwarts. Look
below the surface of their tinny sounding demos and you’ll discover
a very, very fine old school punk band.
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http://www.myspace.com/4thwarddaggers |
http://www.myspace.com/thetransisters |
THE TRANSISTERS
The electronic ones…or Tubeway Army!
I’ll leave it to The Transisters to tell you about
themselves.This is the reply I got when I asked some questions
about them……
1.Is 1+1+1+1;
2. Born in the year 005;
3. Plays Post-Punk;
4. Is Electromagnetic (New) Wave;
5. Listen to Joy Division;
6. P.I.L;
7. The Fall;
8. Elvis;
9. Recorded (July 2005)and (April 2007) with Geoff Turner;
10.Uses Karaoke Microphone;
11.Feedback;
12.Valves;
13.Loves Samurai;
14.Wears Tie;
……My view? Well they certainly do this stuff better than most
of their contemporaries that’s for sure. They listen to Joy
Division although early New Order is a much more relevant
reference point sound wise, they also listen to Elvis, but hey
don’t we all ? They’re a very good band who certainly have a
future outside their native Italy and their chic take on
electronica certainly seems to work better for you if you’re
continental. All being christened 1 must have wreaked havoc at
school assembly though and one last thing that’s been bugging
me…who does the vocal on Ultraviolet On You sound exactly like?
Its driving me fucking mad! Theres a drink waiting at the next
Punk77 get together for whoever puts me out of my misery. |
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THE VOX JAGUARS
The unfeasibly young ones…or Eater!
The Vox Jaguars main songwriter Jordy Topf is just sixteen years old
and plainly listened to The Strokes a lot. Nothing wrong with that, The
Strokes are a great band, one of the most important since the turn of
the millennium. What is interesting though is that through a combination
of their youth and naivete they’ve given us a “dirty” version of
Casablancas and co. The Strokes would never have played The Roxy,
they’re far to clean, The Vox Jaguars undoubtedly would have done
though. Their mish mash of The Strokes, The Stones and The Velvet
Underground would have been perfect for WC2. They are very young and
very raw, just what punk in 77 was all about!
http://www.myspace.com/thevoxjaguars |
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THE BLIMP
The independent self releasing ones…or
any one of hundreds!
The Blimp are a throwback to the late seventies both in their
sound and their actions, they echo the great British bands of a
period when “indie” really meant independent of a major label. This
is a really mature, quality take on a style that would have gone
down equally well thirty years ago as it will now, and if theres any
justice they are destined for (cult) stardom.
Who do they sound like? The first band that came to mind was
Nightingales, Rob Lloyds criminally under valued post Prefects
combo, but look a little deeper and you’ll discover snippets of all
of the slightly off kilter early punk bands, a little bit of the
Fall, a dash of The Cravats (minus the sax!) and yes just a soupcon
of The Prefects. They’ve just, to their delight, supported Subway Sect…perhaps the
greatest of all… a meeting of the old and the new that I would have
loved to have witnessed. They are currently unsigned, but their
album Curse, Curse, Bang, Bang is available…rather
aptly…independently on itunes.
http://www.myspace.com/theblimpuk
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Punk77 MySpace at
http://www.myspace.com/punk_77
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Previous MYSpace Round Ups -
February 2007 |
April 2007 |
July 2007 |
September 2007
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