Liam and the boys make good on the b-side of their new 7-inch with a remake of the 1991 underground NY hit “Sons of the Stage”, from indie-brits World of Twist. It’s a psychedelic stomper and we love it. This tune wants you to dance.. so DANCE!
Beady Eye‘s debut LP is expected February 28. They also recently announced a handful of European tour dates (below). Apparently the band will be in Europe during the end of March… no SXSW guys? Get a free download of “Bring The Light” at the bands website HERE …
Beady Eye Tour Dates 2011
Glasgow Barrowland – 3 March
Glasgow Barrowland – 4 March
Manchester O2 Apollo – 6 March
Manchester O2 Apollo – 7 March
London Troxy – 9 March
London Troxy – 9 March
Paris Casino de Paris – 13 March
Koln Live Music Hall – 14 March
Milan Alcatraz – 16 March
Madrid La Reviera – 18 March
Amsterdam Paradiso – 21 March
So rarely do live bands meet the lofty expectations of listeners in this digital-age of short attention spans, and even more rarely do artists exceed such expectations. Anybody who’s been reading b3science on the norm knows that Chapel Club has been a steady mainstay on our radar since we first heard “Surfacing” last year. On Monday October 25, 2010 Chapel Club made their Los Angeles debut opening the Monday night residency at Spaceland, and those privy to witnessing this unpromoted show of their brief NY and LA live stint were in for a pleasant surprise.
Becoming known for their unique blending of dissonant guitar layers, pop melodies, and less than traditional song arrangements, Chapel Club are a Rock band, and of the few bands I’ve witnessed that make their statement (which is already profound on tape) even more strongly in a live setting. Which is quite incredible given that these guys have only been together almost 2 years now. With their debut Paul Epworth produced LP expected to drop January 31, 2011, Chapel Club have only trickled out a select handful of new releases to the public, and have managed to gain support from the blogoshphere as well as major british press including the BBC and NME. Each track of theirs, one after another, explores different structures and themes, while maintaining an unquestionable sonic identity. This is a collective of artists, who’s music translates on their terms and at their pace. A dying art in pop music no doubt, and should Chapel Club continue down their path of artistic integrity they just may be able to craft one of those timeless albums, worthy of decades of influence.
Watching frontman Lewis Bowman on stage, his shy star quality shines through, and when the band isn’t orchestrating Sonic Youth inspired dynamics between chilled-out riffs worthy of classic Smiths and My Bloody Valentine nods, his baritone voice takes charge of a captive audience with authority and nonchalant charm, filling the room with an endless sense of anticipation. Anticipation is actually a quite good word to describe the Chapel Club experience. Standout songs of the evening which included “Surfacing”, “O Maybe I”, “Five Trees”, and closer “All The Eastern Girls”, all traveled a road of intricate, detail oriented song-writing with poetic lyrics, coupled with a sensibly-dark pop music appreciation.
Needless to say, this was a show I was simply happy to be at. With all the music we absorb here at blahblahblahscience, it was one of those rare moments where I could place myself out of the music industry arena, and simply be a fan. I bought my 12-inch The Shore – EP and made small talk with the band, learning that they plan to return stateside around March for some dates. I’m assuming it all has something to do with SXSW, but either way I’ll be sure to be there. Chapel Club are the sort of band that you can’t wait to see where they are at in 3 or so years… and so with that, we’ll keep you posted.
Sure we’re not the first to say it, nor will we be the last, but LA needs a music festival that holds up to SXSW, NXNW, In The City, CMJ, etc. We’re not talking street fests, FYF or Muse Expo, we’re talking like a downtown LA Artwalk of music. just check the Artwalk each month… the crowd is there, the scene is there, the food is there, but only on occasion the right bands are there – but never all at once. Last weekend FILTER Magazine put on the first official Culture Collide Festival at various eastside and downtown LA venues. The festival showcased their choice selection of established and emerging artists from around the world over a period of four days concluding with a free outdoor festival on the last. And so blahblahblahscience has put together an overview of our favorite moments for those who may have missed it:
Electro-pop collective KAMP! (Poland) were a pleasant surprise at the Echoplex. ‘Euro’ blends of synths, live instrumentation, and vox (not short on David Bowie homage) paints a pretty good picture. Not your typical ‘yeah were an 80’s new wave flashback here to prove something’ group, but rather it’s like KAMP! share their take on 1980’s dance parties into the future, the near future. A young band that does what they do well, and worth their notice.
3 piece Kordan (NY), has a pretty good sound on tape. That being said low-fi, electro-pop bands should hit up their producer ASAP. The trio lurped their way through a rough set. We here at b3sci are all for sloppy and simple musicianship, as long as it’s got a soul to it, and there’s a tune there. but not this time, sorry guys… write some tunes and do some rails if you must. Other disappointing acts included City Riot (Australia), and The Boxer Rebellion (UK)… who btw we were pretty stoked for (Union has some good tunes on it).
Black Lips (Atlanta) closed the Echoplex opening night with a set that proved difficult for any to live up to the following days. The band came out sporting t-shirts, button downs, and ever classy K-mart, native american’esque ‘half-zip’ fleeces (circa ’95). These dudes played fucking LOUD. Their songs translated live and they were tight, but when they weren’t it didn’t matter… because of the sheer passion they played with. Not many bands can pull off ‘everybody sings in our band’ with such non-contrived class. The band tore through their set of strat-jangled pop jams with early Beatles/Quarrymen craft and a shameless new born CBGB mentality. Black Lips are a group with seemingly substantial influence on many punk inspired Indie acts of the day, and they showed why they’ll remain relevent.
Other highlights and honorable mentions during the 4 days of Culture Collide include:
Casiokids (Norway) with their take on obscure dance-pop that seems to live somewhere between The Rapture and a toned down Friendly Fires, just add nice pianos and jonsi-ros vox.
White Lies (UK) continue to deliver 5-piece layered synth and guitar based rock done right. The band split their set with tracks from To Lose My Life.. and their forthcoming LP due in January (which a listening party on Monday proved material worth another spin or two in our books).
Phantogram (NY) who continue to deliver great ideas with a mid-90’s Cardigans like sensibility, though their fill-in drummer still didn’t seem to be doing them any favors.
Amusement Parks On Fire (UK) are worth keeping an eye on, with a nice aggressive layered-guitar sound, but they are young and have some growing to do in terms of chemistry and performance.
Cass McCombs (California) was a pleasant listen, debuting some of his new material while Darker My Love bassist Rob Barbato backed as part of the band.
Tokyo Police Club (Canada) once again proved they should be the official college pizza-party band of the decade! Their catchy Pop/Rock with just the right attitude, energy, and touch obscurity is hard to deny. Dudes know how to have a good time. Even Jeff Apruzzese from Passion Pit showed up to rock the bass and join the party on “Your English Is Good”. Conclusion, if i worked for Pizza Hut then my commercials would have/sound-like TPC songs.
Sunday headliners and last minute additions, Jenny and Johnny (Los Angeles) closed the outdoors part of free festival day. Like true Indie Rock royalty, Siverlake Darling, Jenny Lewis and the crew arrived 40 minutes late. They opened with “Committed” closing track and personal favorite from the Im Having Fun Now LP, and closed with “The Next Messiah” off Jenny’s Acid Tongue LP. Still things were testy… there were sound issues, and during one of the band’s 2-3 minutes of nothingness in between songs a fight in the crowd began causing Jenny to intervene. All in all, Jx2 were great live and if all of Im Having Fun Now was as good as “Scissor Runner”, “Big Wave” and “Committed” then we’d have ourselves one of our choice albums of the year.
our final highlight from Culture Collide is Fran Healy (Scotland), front man of late 90’s and early oughts darlings Travis. Rather influential to my musical coming of age, it was incredible to not only shake Fran’s hand that night but to also watch him perform his Shakespeare-like pop/love songs in such an intimate setting. Perhaps the most witty songwriter I have ever seen perform live, Fran owned the over-capacity church of standing room only, and line outside the door. Telling jokes, timeless stories about, and tricking the crowd into believing that major collaborators from his new debut solo effort Wreckorder were there to perform with him (namely Neko Case and Paul McCartney). Having seen Fran perform with Travis several times before, his voice wasn’t in top form, which could have had something to do with the 90 degree non-air/conditioned/stuffy church, or the sound problems, but regardless Fran made his way through a set that included Travis tracks like “Writing To Wreach You”, “Sing”, and “Driftwood” in addition to new solo material like “Buttercups” and standout Wreckorder favorite “Sing Me To Sleep“. His set ended with a standing ovation, and one well deserved for one of the best songwriters of the last 15 years.
In conclusion, FILTER’s first Culture Collide fest proved a succesfull showcasing of emerging global talent. Should be interesting to see how the fest evolves, and is recieved by LA next time around. If you missed it this year be sure to hit it up next.
Only screened at the 2009 SXSW conference and once on the IFC Channel, New World Order (the movie) is a documentary based on individuals who’s lives revolve around the supposed New World Order, Bilderberg Group and 911 conspiracies. The documentary stars a select few from this “scene”, including their unofficial leader Alex Jones, who has also made cameos in the independent films Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly.
In this documentary you will laugh at, laugh with, pitty and admire these individuals. I love this film because directors Luke Meyer and Andrew Neel do an incredible job of letting the films ‘stars’, and those that they encounter, hang themselves with their own words and actions. The confrontations they have, and their arguments with everyday people and politicians at all levels, are simply priceless. It’s hilarious and brilliantly sarcastic. Well worth a watch! (Catch the movie here here)
