The Mae Shi are an example of why you should go to a show based on things you’ve heard from the room next to you. They’re from Los Angeles and sound like a birthday party where everything is going wrong, things are getting broken and your friends are sat in the corner wondering what to do with their lives, and you’re just watching all this happen and yet you’re too busy grinning ear to ear because you know this kind of carnage is WHAT THIS WORLD NEEDS.

After about five years and a load of records and members and Betamax synths have flown by whilst I busied myself with Razorlights and Carling Weekends before throwing such music at my siblings and fleeing to London, they’re now with Moshi Moshi (purveyors of kawaii glory from the likes of Architecture in Helsinki and Best Fwends) to present a new LP that I hope garners some delicious attention or at least a few more starry-eyed followers who know their way around WordPress. ‘HLLLYH’ indeed.

Seeing as my head has appeared to blend their three performances (at Barden’s Boudoir, the Old Blue Last and the Macbeth respectively) into a single singalong entity, I’m not in the best frame to write seperate reviews; instead I recommend you look at these pictures of the past few days, give them a listen and catch them before they hop back across to play The Smell (8th March, US types!) - your last port of call for now is at indie club juggernaut probably Push a week today (2nd Feb, details) playing alongside if-math-rock-was-twee Hot Club de Paris.

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The Mae Shi ‘Run To Your Grave’ (mp3, 2.7MB)
The Mae Shi ‘Vampire Beats’ (mp3, 2.0MB)

Listen and buy from their MySpace. (Thank goodness for PayPal!)

30/1 update: I don’t tend to follow bands around for more than three shows but I went to see t’Shi again at Upset! The Rhythm’s Gramaphone show on the 30th, where it was more of the delightful same, except in a cosy basement and in front of a satisfyingly kinetic audience. As it says above, you’ve got one more chance and if you’re the kind of person who turns his or her nose up at half an hour of glee every now and then you should shimmy on down. Over the past four shows there have been some excellent new bands who mostly fit under the pigeonhole of happy-go-lucky hardcore; synopses and songs tomorrow I reckon.

roman david

ART BRUT
Amersham Arms, New Cross, SE14
Saturday 26th January, 10:30pm

I have been in love with Art Brut since the very first time I heard ‘Formed A Band’. Amongst the midst of bands stealing everything they could from the early 1980s/their parents’ incomes to buy nice shoes, there were these cheeky buggers from London whose only aim in life was to be the greatest band in the world and to be loved by everyone. Especially Andi Peters. In the five years since the fourteen year old me had his head blown in the midst of an uncaring sea of people who still thought Slipknot were musically viable (that’s Lincolnshire for you) they’ve had a seemingly topsy-turvy existance: they haven’t set the UK completely alight but have garnered fanbases across the world and could accurately be described as one of the most adored bands to come out of all this indie music business.

Indeed, when they played here in New Cross last weekend it was one of the most fervent audiences I’ve been a part of, and certainly the sweatiest. The performance, apart from nearly breaking my phone and making me grin like a fool, confirmed what I also love about Art Brut and in particular Eddie Argos is that they’re always wanting their fans to make something of themselves. Anything. Just be sodding creative. During ‘Bad Weekend’ he flung into the crowd and told them just that. I wonder if all this writing lark counts?

Before the gig, I sat down with Eddie and Ian and had a lovely chat with them and I asked him whether any fans had taken his advice and run with it and it seemed like they were chuffed to bits that people have, or at least made blogs with their lyrics as names. I’ve posted the audio interview below; I should really wait until my show on Sunday but it’s fun in its unedited state, mainly because I sound a bit silly.

The band are on tour throughout the UK for the next month.

Art Brut interviewed by ISTRT at the Amersham Arms (zipped m4a, 14.25MB) »
Art Brut “Bad Weekend” Live at Eurockennes Festival, 2006. (mp3, 4.9MB)

roman david