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Weird Dreams - Choreography (album)

Crocodiles - Sunday (Psychic Conversation #9) 7”

The Hairs - I’ve Been Working Out 7”

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Gig Review

Cults/ Bruise Music/ Two Wounded Birds / Prizes
London, Madame JoJos and The Lexington

Article written by Ged M - Mar 4, 2011

Cults

It’s a bit of an odd feeling to be stood at a gig next to a celeb and it’s incredibly uncool to let on that you know they’re a ‘face; I find myself centimetres and elbows away from a kinetic Lily Allen (ouch, thanks Lil!) as the two of us, and two hundred others, watch Cults play their second UK gig, and first one headlining, at Madame JoJos. Lily's whooping and hollering is understandable, I suppose, when they’re your first singing to your new label (In The Name Of, a Sony imprint) and her excitement is definitely warranted. Brian Oblivian and Madeline Follin, who become a six-piece live, play classic dreampop that has real balls rather than floaty ethereality. Their ‘Curses’ is eerie Lynchian pop while ‘Go Outside’ is a great pop song with a mellifluous core, and there’s more psych-pop strangeness and girl-group yearning in the mix too. They play the same short set on Tuesday (White Heat) and Friday (Lexington), just 8 songs in all, and all impressive; as is Follin, who sings and dances like a new Grace Slick, an elegant performer who’s been playing for most of her life, and was offered a record deal at age 9. It’s far too short but it signifies better times ahead when the album comes out.

Setlist: Abducted/ Most Wanted/ The Curse/ Bumper/ You Know What/ Go Outside/ Runaway/ Oh My God

On Tuesday at White Heat, we don't get the advertised Dead Models so the support is just Bruise Music, playing what the singer says is their second gig. And if that singer looks familiar, it's because he's Vincent, ex- of Vincent Vincent and the Villains. The’re three very tall blokes, sounding a lot like VVATV: same impassioned voice, same vaguely rockabilly songs, and if you liked the previous band, you won’t find these a difficult departure.

Two Wounded Birds

At the Lexington on Friday, Prizes kick off the evening with some synth-assisted pop which bring to mind MGMT and, at more melodic juncture, Chairlift. It's big but catchy sounding psychedelic pop but then they max it out with their last number, a post-rock epic whose massive rumble could be the sound of galaxies colliding (or my eardrums exploding) and whose dourness destroys the poppier mood generated by the previous tracks. Two Wounded Birds, though, restore the atmosphere. The Margate band play punky surf rock, making you think of the Ramones jamming with the Shadows. It's excellent, fast pop, with guitarist Johnny Danger playing his guitar at a 45 degree angle to his body and wrenching out vibrato sounds with the whammy bar that conjure up magical sounds of West Coast California rather than East Coast Kent. They can't play at the same pace unfortunately (or they'd lose more drummers than Spinal Tap) so the slower numbers take on a dark and reverby Cramps-y tone, but fast or slow this is a band with real promise and it's one that I intend to hear more of.

Links:
http://www.cultscultscults.com
http://www.myspace.com/twowoundedbirdsofficial