HEALTH + BUTTONHEAD + GENTLE FRIENDLY
WHITE HEAT vs. NO PAIN IN POP
Madame JoJo’s, Brewer Street, W1
Tuesday 10th June, 8:00pm

Hey, I should talk about music while I’ve got the energy to type constructive things instead of googling lyrics that could be used in foreign court cases, soooo here’s some more visual proof that I have little disregard for my hearing and/or wallet. HEALTH are the kids from The The Smell scene that are possibly the most image-conscious, although I only made that assumption because of the deep-V neck shirts and the fatuation with chiptune-thieving hipsters Crystal Castles. Are these accusations founded? You decide! The self-titled album (available now) flits between pounding your head with electronics and hitting as many things as possible, and pounding your head with WOAH WOAH DURGING DURGE; in live performance the same applies but with pure kinetic vitesse and thrice the volume. Couple that with two atrocious supporting acts (Hello Buttonhead! Hello Gentle Friendly!) who were akin to sixth form drama students except with worse clothes and the sobering fact that White Heat requires at least eleven units of alcohol for me to operate with a smile on my face and you have a night out.

…What? If you were expecting something approaching journalism then read a magazine. Like Artrocker. They know the score.

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  Download: HEALTH - ‘Perfect Skin’

HEALTH return with No Age in August thanks to Upset! The Rhythm and I need to find employment so I can afford the train fare down because that could well be the gig of the summer. Or you could buy me a ticket?
roman david

THE MAE SHI + JOHNNY FOREIGNER
Kings College WC2
Tuesday 13th May, 8pm

Yes, them again. But first! Johnny Foreigner tried to break the ice by asking if anyone had commited suicide. And that was the highlight! The world already has Help She Can’t Swim and Los Compesinos!, so it doesn’t need another person to sing in that bloody voice. The rest of the night panned out as follows:

• The Mae Shi - ‘Run To Your Grave’

Apologies, 56Kers, if there’s any of you left! This lot play Nastyfest at the Faversham in Leeds with No Age and Yeasayer and some other dates in the UK before running away screaming back to ELLAYY.

roman david

COMANECHI
Beyond Retro, Cheshire Street, Tower Hamlets E2
Saturday 16th February, 3:00pm

Beyond Retro, eh? What necessarily is there in this, a warehouse packed to the gills with glorified charity shop wares and the odd delight that makes me regret all those years of eating little else than Wagon Wheels, that warrants such a bold claim of implied excess? Perhaps it could be the fact that it’s in a crumbling warehouse and is next to a nice pub. Naah, it’s because they invite bands to play matinees to distract you from staring lovingly at belts.

Comanechi were this week’s distraction with a seventeen minute set that would rip you right up, sunshine. Armed with temporary babyfaced drummer Adam (I think? Either way he was on for two minutes) their set was if anything gleefully shambolic and juvenile. But that’s what makes them so fun anyway - compare them to drumming yelpsmith Akiko’s other band PRE: if Comanechi are playing with a lighter and is wondering what kinds of mischief they could do with it, then PRE have already burnt down the school and raped three of their friends. Instead of laying on the noise to the point of asphyxiation they make you a bit light headed but you’re home for tea. (Leave the merch to shock you instead.)

Any band who can shriek like a maniac about their friend’s birthday party is going to be FUN ULTIMATE and yeah these guys are ULTIMATE FUN. Highlight was ‘Death Of You’ which seemed like the only song that didn’t last forty three seconds, but that’s just because guitarist Simon fell into the drumkit. Oh you guys. And they were off, leaving me to wander about aimlessly with a grin on my face.

Special mention to Transport for London: it’s nice that you’re throwing money at South London’s train network but do it in a parallel universe that doesn’t make me late for things, okay? The band are touring about Europe for a bit and then doing dates with The Gossip in March.

Comanechi ‘My Favourite Shoes’ (1.5MB, mp3) »

roman david

A brief note before I go on: while I was busy not updating ISTRT I was going to gigs and taking pictures, but you know. I’ll cover all the gigs I thought were fine in the next few days or so while I strive to find original content. This one in particular nicely ties with some new material that they’ve just released that I can harp on about, which is nice of them…

THE FUTUREHEADS
The Academy, Union of Brunel, Uxbridge UB8
Wednesday 16th January, 10:00pm

I guess The Futureheads decided to play a venue at a university that claims that it’s in London when it actually isn’t is a way of saying ‘you really should have seen us at King’s College then, eh?’ No matter, because they are (like Art Brut; see yesterday’s review) one of the finest UK bands to scissor-riff their way to my heart and I can risk taking three night buses in as many hours to get home as long as I see the buggers. With a cosy, reminding-me-of-Lincoln union as a venue it was a great setting for them to prove that 679 don’t really know what they’re on about. Which they did. Oh so happy for it.

One amusing note: the vast majority of old material they played was from their first and best record: creating a singalong situation out of ‘He Knows’, climaxing the set with an stunningly indefatigable ‘Man Ray’ and plenty more gems. Only ‘Skip To The End’ and ‘Worry About It Later’ were chosen out of ‘News and Tributes” admittedly underrated arsenal; I suppose the band acknowledge that they must try harder with the third record - when I met them later I overheard Ross, when presented with the CD, “if only more people know what this looks like!”

The band have certainly taken a strange route as of late; having been dropped by 679 they’re on their own and seemingly having a ball, enlisting some kind of big management company to get the message out whilst also using the internet to loving effect! Give-away tracks ‘Broke Up The Time’ and ‘Crash’ are spine-tingly raucous offerings that hark back to the days of ‘First Day’ and ‘Stupid and Shallow’; that is they’ve swapped plectrums for LITTLE KNIVES and you should be proud because ‘This Is Not The World’, which according to that accurate minefield Wikipedia is coming out in May should be absolutely superb. Proper single number one, ‘The Beginning Of The Twist’, is making such bold statements slightly more likely, even if it does seem they’re heading down the 80s power-pop route…

The Futureheads “The Beginning Of The Twist” (video rip, mp3, 2.7MB) »
The Futureheads “First Day” (mp3, 3.4MB) »

Not entirely sure when it comes out, but it’ll be coming out on Nul Records, which is the band’s very own. They’re going on another, rather bigger tour in the next few months; if you want information, consult that search box in the corner of your browser. More reviews of gigs from a while ago later in the week…

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