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SoundsXP Presents

Friday 6th April 2012
All Day BBQ Festival

Sparrow and the Workshop
6 Day Riot
The Nuns
Singing Adams
Y Niwl
Colours
Dignan Porch
+more tbc

The Windmill
Brixton
Price tbc

On Our iPod

Golden Grrrls - New Pop 7”

Chris Devotion & The Expectations - Amalgamation & Capital (album)

Trailer Trash Tracys - Ester (album)

Throwing Up - Mother Knows Best 7”

Howling Wolf - Complete Chess Masters 1951-60

The Ketamines - A Rotten Bond/1 Yr (from Oddbox Singles Club Pt 2)

Cardinal - Hymns (album)

Proper Ornaments - Taking the Gamble Out of Buying 12”

Darren Hayman - January Songs (album)

Various: Marshall Teller EP 12”

Latest Forum Posts

Gig Review

Crystal Stilts / A Classic Education / Let’s Wrestle / SilentAge
Brixton, Windmill

Article written by Ged M - Feb 22, 2009

Crystal Stilts

The Sun's reviews are frankly more insightful than the Guardian's these days. On the morning of the gig The Guardian publishes a review of the Crystal Stilts album which ends "expect greatness and you'll be sorely disappointed". Utter arse. They’ve absorbed all the bands that would make the playlist of the greatest indie disco ever - Iggy, the Velvets, Suicide, the JAMC, My Bloody Valentine – and then serve up the distilled essence of alternative music – which is pretty great in my book. Brad Hargett’s world weary voice is accompanied by fuzzed-up guitars and rumbly drums (they’re so cool they have a stand up drummer) as they work through the best of their album, including the driving rhythms of ‘Dazzled’ and the Mary Chain death-rattle of ‘Departure’. All this and dancing lesbians too. Result!

A Classic Education

A Classic Education hail from northern Italy but their influences are very North American: early REM and Arcade Fire for sure. They’re an artrock band with a big physical presence onstage, constructing an elaborate edifice of sound, but one that’s scattered with glorious melodic hooks. They have a single to be released on Bailiwick Records soon, which will definitely worth hearing.

Let’s Wrestle have a slacker sound but a great workrate, blasting out their Pavement and Flying Nun-esque guitar pop gems one after another until they’re a big sweaty but loveable blob of pink humanity. Apparently they just turned up, plugged in and played, which is the sort of un-prima donna-ish attitude we love. We especially love ‘Diana’s Hair’, which seems to have been transplanted to bassist Mike in all it’s bouffant glory, and the gonzo-punk ‘I Won’t Lie To You’, the greatest song that Stolen Records have ever released, and they’ve put out some good shit in their time.

Silentage

“Play ‘Transmission’!” cries a wit in the crowd. “Fuck you” retorts SilentAge singer Michael Page uncomfortably. It’s not an unjustified cry, especially when the band dresses like they’re auditioning to be in Control and take such obvious inspiration from the Divvy, plus Interpol (Page is pushing the limits of Paul Banks impersonator at times), the Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen and all those other dark sentinels. They should stop living in Ian Curtis’ head and get out more because songs like ‘Stay’ suggest they have their own sound, if they’d let it be heard.

All pictures courtesy of Bob Stuart at Underexposed

Links:
http://www.myspace.com/crystalstilts
http://www.windmillbrixton.co.uk/