HOME

REVIEWS

- RSS Feed

SoundsXP Presents

tba

On Our iPod

Weird Dreams - Choreography (album)

Crocodiles - Sunday (Psychic Conversation #9) 7”

The Hairs - I’ve Been Working Out 7”

King Creosote and Jon Hopkins - Third Swan single

Cate Le Bon - Cyrk (album)

Tashaki Miyaki - sings the Everly Brothers 7”

Antony Harding - The Birds Sing Goodnight To You And Me (album)

Veronica Falls - My Heart Beats 7”

Latest Forum Posts

Gig Review

Smith Westerns/ Dignan Porch/ Dead Models
Brixton, Windmill

Article written by Ged M - Dec 10, 2010

Smith Westerns

If gigs were restaurants, most of the time we’d be served with thin gruel and grobbly bits for supporting acts before burying our molars into something tasty for the main attraction. At the Windmill tonight (and most nights), you get a satisfying three course menu of bands, all for a modest £7.

Starters are Dead Models, who win the unofficial “best barnet” contest tonight. They rock harder live than you hear on their Myspace page, which suits these songs. There’s a bit of everything in there, from pop-punk to 60s pop to garage rock – it reminds me of the Clash releasing incredibly diverse records to signal their breadth of influences. A very appetising begining. Then we get Dignan Porch whose awesome woozy pop fits the Brooklyn template (they record for that boro’s Captured Tracks) although they come from Tooting in the less cool borough of Wandsworth. Their set of short but perfectly formed songs is cut short by technical difficulties but what we hear up to that point sounds great – lots of minimalist masterpieces built up from simple strumming and breaking like waves over us, knocking us senseless with their psych-pop undertow. Not a big enough portion but very tasty.

Dignan Porch

The main course are Smith Westerns from Chicago. When I reviewed them six months ago I commented on their youth (they’re all 20 or less). They’re still young, and Cullen Omori’s locks could still star in an ad for Harmony hairspray, but the sound has broadened, resonating with elements that were recorded way before they were born, from glam to garage to lo-fi pop. They look and sound more comfortable and confident too, as if the first record was no youthful stroke of luck but the first stirrings of a great lo-fi indie band. They play the best of the debut album and tracks from the forthcoming Dye It Blonde record, which is released in January on Fat Possum. It’s those earlier records that make the most impact, Omori channelling his inner elf for the magnificent Bolan-esque ‘Be My Girl’ and the regal glam-rock of ‘Imagine Pt 3’. This is fantastic fare and we leave happy after a satisfying Sunday banquet.

Set list: Tonight/ Girl in Love/ Imagine Pt 3/ Still New/ Boys R Fine/ Weekend/ All Die Young/ Be My Girl/ Smile/ Dye The World

Links:
http://www.myspace.com/smithwesterns
http://www.myspace.com/deadmodelsuk
http://www.myspace.com/dignanporch