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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

Two Wounded Birds
Brighton, Sticky Mike's

Article written by Jon V - Dec 12, 2011

TWB

I haven’t looked forward to a gig this much for, ooh, at least a fortnight, (in fact, since The Correspondents brought their late night electro-swinging, dub-stepping shenanigans to the Concorde 2, but that’s a story for another music zine). Descending into Sticky Mike’s intimate depths, this evening’s event is given an unexpected frisson when word gets out that the hunched figure at the end of the bar is none other than the legendary Brian Wilson – here in person to check out the young pretenders to his harmonic surf rock crown. Thankfully, the agonising over who is going to be brave enough to approach Big Bri’ is brought to an abrupt halt the moment Margate’s finest step out onto the exquisitely carpeted stage to the strains of The Zombies’ Time of the Season.

Two Wounded Birds come across as latter-day 60s hoods who spend their days hanging out on the dodgems at run-down fairgrounds and beachside theme parks – all leathers, brothel creepers and fags behind their ears. Bassist Ally Blackgrove has a face that invites protestations of undying love and devotion, and a look that says she’d stick you with a stiletto if you so much as tried it. James Shand plays pink drums. Guitarist Joe Stevens is the personification of effortless cool in spite of wearing a buttoned-up overcoat all night – no mean feat. And then there’s mop-topped lead vocalist, Johnny Danger. Johnny! Danger! A moniker that perfectly distils rock ‘n’ roll’s joyous marriage of romance and violence into just two words.

Dispensing with small talk and niceties, the seasiders introduce themselves with a spine-tingling version of Night Patrol. A palpable chill descends as TWB go creepy crawling along a moonlit, fog-shrouded bayou, with Danger walking point, cradling his six-string like a Tommy Gun, spraying rounds of shuddering tremolo. There’s an immediate sense that something rather special is happening here, tonight.

The set that follows morphs into a Waltzer ride, with Danger and pals as impassive roustabouts, spinning our car through an impeccable hotchpotch of musical reference points. Beach Boys’ melodies whizz past accompanied by fuzzed-up Surfaris’ strumming. There are repeated flashes of Dick Dale, along with snatched glimpses of The Pretenders, Roy Orbison, a blur of psychobilly, a flicker of doo wop, Joey Ramone, garage punk, and back-in-the-day indie. At one point (on No Return) it sounds as though the wheels have fallen off and we’re careering into Beauty School Dropout, from Grease.

As with all the best fairground rides, the exhilaration is short lived and leaves you wanting for more. Following a rabble-rousing rendition of All We Wanna Do, the whole shebang is done and dusted in a magnificent 28 minutes, give or take a bit of thoroughly inebriated time-keeping.

As it turns out, the celeb in the corner wasn’t Brian Wilson after all – the very idea is ridiculous. But for those of us who did make the effort to get out this evening, it feels like we’ve just experienced our own, personal, mini ‘Screen On The Green’ moment. And wherever he is, Brian will be kicking himself for having missed it.

Links:
http://twowoundedbirds.com/