Tilly and the Wall – O

Imagine the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Go! Team and a tap dancer. You’re getting somewhere close to Tilly and the Wall. Who needs a drummer when your percussionist is a tap dancer?

Born through the remains of Omaha bands, some even projects of Bright Eyes’ inimitable Conor Oberst, they signed to Oberst’s Team Love label, and have since toured with the likes of Rilo Kiley and The Go! Team. Their third album, O, may as well be their first, so little press was given to previous offerings that most assume this is their debut. But it sounds like a debut too, fresh and exciting, isn’t the third album supposed to be the more comfortable, settled one?

 

O is anything but, it blasts from a Yeah Yeah Yeahs stomp to some CSS-electro to The Go! Team soul beats with ease and confidence. They sound out of their depth, yet they seem- dare I say it- comfortable doing everything. The frenetic is laced with melody that soothes the rough edges, whilst keeping the kick. The versatility rubs off on the vocals too, going straight from the beautiful, on acoustic track Tall, Tall Grass to the Karen O-like snarl and swagger of Pot Kettle Black.

 

The Spinto Band, The Sugarmill

The down to earth and gracious Spinto Band seem to have begun Vampire Weekend’s career. Previously dropped from a major label, Virgin “decided not to put out” their second album, “We got mountains of problems”, they sing in Mountains, one of the few bright lights in the first half of the set, and that’s never rung so true. They have since been signed to Fierce Panda and return to the British Isles with the support of The All New Adventures of Us, but it’s almost as though Vampire Weekend wrote The Spinto Band’s second album instead.

 

The ever-impressive local band The Fears opened the show with their dark, epic, Editors like sound followed by The All New Adventures of Us with their Arcade Fire Polyphonic Spree tinged folk. Bashfully, they peered from the stage that didn’t seem big enough for T.A.N.A.O.U’s numbers, or even big enough for their sheer depth of sound. They’re certainly a band to put on your radar. This left the cult, quirky O.C pop of The Spinto Band to entertain the typically sparse Sugarmill crowd.

 

Kids In Glass Houses – The Waterfront

You could easily be mistaken for thinking Kids In Glass Houses are in fact American, what with them singing about Californ-i-a with a definite borrowed American twinge – until they talk that is, they’re straight out of the valleys. Following in the footsteps of fellow Welsh rockers Funeral For A Friend and Lostprophets, Kids In Glass Houses showed a different edge from the one on recent release ‘Smart Casual’ after taking to the stage after the frenetic crowd warmers Valencia and the seemingly one-“hit”-wonders Go-Audio.

Set and album opener, ‘Fisticuffs’, sounds straight out of the Finch rulebook of emo and the sweat drenched Waterfront is soon moving again. Singer Aled Phillips powerful voice has much more guts to it live and the guitars much crunchier, the pop-like production of Smart Casual seemingly takes away much of their brunt. The über catchy singles ‘Give Me What I Want’ and ‘Easy Tiger’ show their emo power pop class, but they certainly are no two single fade-aways, the Paramore-esque ‘Shameless’ with its broken stop start chorus is another stand out. The crowd, albeit young, barely stop all night, with a fight even breaking out, Phillips intervening telling him ‘don’t be a dickhead’. K.I.G.H definitely work the crowd, their onstage energy is mirrored and doubled with crowd surfers a plenty, even the security were unwilling to venture into the pit to retrieve them. Always a good sign for a young band I’m sure and the future looks bright.

Duke Special – The Arts Centre

Looking as though he could well be in the Murderdolls, Peter Wilson, better known as Duke Special, modestly shuffles onto the stage alone. Showcasing, and showcasing is certainly the right word, new songs and old from 2006’s ‘Songs From The Deep Forest’ accompanied by himself, a gramophone and a screen, better known to some as a drum, for some added visuals making for an very intimate set in a very intimate setting. The Duke Special debut LP was a very produced affair, leaving you wondering how this could pan out, an over produced album performed by one man and a piano, oh and not forgetting the gramophone, but you almost don’t realise it’s just one man and the whole audience is entranced and captivated by the enchantment. Note perfect with his broad Northern Irish accent, Wilson shows exactly why he had recently won a Meteor Music award, an Irish Grammy, for Best Male, picking up a trumpet and even a hint of acting, he does indeed put on a live show.

The Pigeon Detectives – Emergency

The Pigeon Detectives claim to have album No. 3 written, and they could knock it out in the studio if they really needed to. Good to see they’re taking their time over them then. Emergency is the return, had they actually gone anywhere, of the Pigeons. And that’s exactly it- they haven’t gone anywhere. Whilst ‘Wait For Me’ had the catchy guitar pop about ending young love, so does ‘Emergency’.

Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong – The Waterfront

The poisoned chalice of ‘Next Big Thing’ that labels so many bands that it’s now become worthless has been tagged to Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong and it appears to be fairly misguided. Introducing himself as ‘Joe, and these are the Jing, the Jang and the Jong’ and entering the stage after the band had played an instrumental shows him to have a touch of Borrell Syndrome. Never a good start. Then there’s the way Joe Lean moves, his attempted Jaggerisms make him almost uncomfortable to watch, and he looks awkward and…well…just strange. Joe Lean’s voice is a Marmite one too, you either will love it or hate it, but you can’t deny it’s an eccentric one. Maybe that’s the best way to describe Joe Lean. There are glimpses of their punk laden indie potential, songs like Lucio Starts Fires in particular but with so little released, one limited edition single and then Lonely Buoy which got little play, how much response can be expected. Joe Lean did recognise this, apologising for the little coming out the J.J.J studio but this tour could have done with waiting until the album was released, familiarity with songs is key if the songs rumble into nothing and aren’t going to grip the audience straight away. It also doesn’t help if your upstaged by your support band, Beggars, too. Beggars are certainly ones to watch out for, 60’s pop with 3 part Beach Boys harmonies in tow, hopefully Joe Lean et al were watching.

Johnny Flynn – A Larum

Having already released three songs from debut album, ‘A Larum’, its release was highly anticipated, there’s no Cajun Dance Party skimping either, 14 three minute plus songs. The Box came first both as single and on A Larum and is very much a different being on A Larum to what we encountered a year ago. On A Larum, the feel is almost unrecognisable, the preened, produced 3 minutes of 2007 ousted for a lo-fi, organic, slower sound. This sets the tone for the whole of A Larum, taking on the whole essence of the anti-folk movement. Johnny Flynn is not contained and restricted to just some rootsy folk songs with the odd ballad thrown in but expands into full-blown country and bluesy soundtracks to his Shakespearian influenced poetry.

Kids in Glass Houses – S/T

Pop-emo is on the way up again. Whilst MCR are feeling the brunt of the outcries of emo-fan suicides, bands such as Paramore are breeding a new, expanded fan base. Kids in Glass Houses are no different, Give Me What I Want is even on Radio One’s playlist.

Having already supported bands like the Manics, Lostprophets, Funeral For A Friend, 30 Seconds To Mars, there must be potential there. Exploding into Smart Casual is Fisticuffs, with its Finch influenced powerful and aggressive intro, which puts you under false pretences, you’re expecting some screamo vocals but in comes a melodic, recent times Funeral For A Friend, vocal and it works too. The pop-rock of singles Easy Tiger, with its do-do-do chorus alongside a Welsh take on American Emo verses, and Give Me What I Want are doing their job, their damn catchy-ness is bringing in new fans. They can write a mighty chorus too, each song is catchy, head nodding stuff and there’s just enough force in lead singer Aled Phillips’ voice and in the band in general to appeal to the emo fans and catchy enough for the mainstream pop rock clique. Although they could do with being reminded at times that they in fact are Welsh, not American.

7/10

Are we seeing the embers of the CD single?

Run DMC vs. Jason Nevins – It’s Like That. The very first single I bought, I’m quite proud of that fact. If you asked any kid under the age of say ten, what their first single was, what would they reply with?- “Erm… bought?” most probably. Sunday afternoons, 4 o’clock to 7 o’clock, The Official Top 40, was an important thing for me. Who would be there at the top? Where would the single I used my pocket money to buy, £3.99 of it as well, be? This, shamefully, appears long gone now though and music is certainly worse off for it.

Singles had multiple B-sides too. One of the best, simplest Stereophonics songs was a B-side, the little known In My Day. Arguably Oasis’ finest, most consistent album, The Masterplan, was made up entirely of B-Sides. You could argue this hasn’t changed, take Sawdust by the Killers, but why did they decide to release this? Because The Masterplan was so damn good and they figured they could replicate it, after a mere two albums. Nowadays, the average single will be likely include a live version, a remix or an un-thought out “acoustic” version, if that. Merely trading your acoustic guitar for an electric and playing the song exactly the same way does not constitute an “acoustic version”, this just means you picked up the wrong guitar. Most bands are culpable for this. The Enemy, love them or hate them seem to realise this, ‘You’re Not Alone’ acoustic, really is stunning, anyone with Incubus’ superb Make Yourself will soon notice they don’t seem to have cottoned on yet.

One Night Only, The Waterfront

Time is a major factor for One Night Only. It’s used in pretty much every song and it’s very much on their side. Selling out a whole tour and reaching number 10 with debut album ‘Started a Fire’ at their young age is an impressive feat, and they really are connecting with a wide audience by the looks of this crowd. Lyrically they are by no means perfect, ‘Start over/It’s all over’, it’s hardly poetic, but there’s time.

As a live band they have enough about them to keep going and work out these little nuisances. There is an enthusiasm you would expect from a young band who look like they could well be playing their school’s battle of the bands, keyboardist Jack Sails practically head butting a hole in his keyboard, guitarist Mark Hayton nodding emphatically along to himself and lead singer George Craig’s deep voice sounds straight from the record all in their Topman dress.