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SoundsXP Presents

Pictures from some recent gigs we've hosted:

29 March 2013 - Brixton, London

Viv Albertine, VuVuVultures, Left Leg, Mickey Gloss, Big Wave, No Cars, Arthur Gunn, Simon Love (Pictures)

8 March 2013 - Lexington, London

R.Ring, Golden Grrrls, Slushy Guts and Equinox (Pictures)

On Our iPod

Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold (album)

Antony Harding - Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear (album)

Black Angels - Indigo Meadow (album)

Thee Oh Sees - Floating Coffin (album)

Still Corners - Strange Pleasures (album)

Savages - Silence Yourself (album)

Mikal Cronin - MC II (album)

Can’s Ege Bamyasi played by Stephen Malkmus and Friends(album)

Victoria and Jacob - Festival 7"

Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City (album)

Sauna Youth - False Jesii Part II 7”

Lightning Bolt - Oblivion Hunter

Robyn Hitchcock - There Goes The Ice (2x 12")

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