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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”

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Gig Review

(Not) The Winter Sprinter
Comet Gain, The Loves, Standard Fare, The Loft, Veronica Falls, Evans The Death London, Lexington

Article written by Ged M - Jan 26, 2011

In years gone by, we were encouraged out of post-holiday hibernation by Track and Field’s Winter Sprinter - the first green shoots of live music coming back to life after the Crimbo/Kwanzaa break. In a display of atypical benevolence, Fortuna Pop! has resurrected the Winter Sprinter idea for three nights of indiepop to brighten up the dreek days of January.

The Loves

We attend the first two nights; gig #1 is briefly in the balance on account of Shrag’s sudden illness but fortunately Evans The Death are able to sag off school and are the Sprinter's opening band. The London/Essex quintet have jangly guitars (redolent of the chirpy, chime-y sound of early Orange Juice), songs about children punching band members in the face (and fantasies about reprisals), and a lead singer with an impressive voice much older than her chronological years. They’re very good, although their youth is held against them by certain members of our party for the way they flaunt their tonsorial abundance (their bass player sports a ginger tsunami of curls) in mockery of those less blessed with hair.

Our vote for Standard Fare as top live act of 2010 has been quoted before this gig so we feel nervous that they'll be fall short and everyone will then believe our predictive ability to be as good as General John Sedgwick in the US Civil War, whose last words were: “they couldn't hit an elephant at this dist. . . “. But we should have more faith as they're typically terrific, speeding though a set of cracking tunes that highlights the best of the Noyelle Beat and suggests they can trump that with their new songs. Maybe it's the fact that they're playing to a deadline but they bash out brilliant versions of 'Philadelphia', 'Dancing', 'Night With A Friend' and more, ending with a fiery 'Fifteen', and giving Emma time to ride the wave of adulation before disappearing for her train. They're laying a marker for best band of 2011 on this performance.

It’s a month before bill-toppers The Loves have their controlled demolition as a band after 10 years of heartbreak, setback and the occasional triumph. But, to misquote the title of some dire musical distraction by Blubberlips Lloyd-Webber, "loves never die". There’s stand up comedy and an impromptu birthday party for drummer Johnny, complete with cake and hats, and betweentimes they give us psych-pop and bubblegum treats from their fourth and final album, 'The Loves Love You'. There are a couple of covers - a Merseybeat rendition of Nathaniel Mayer's ‘I Need Love and Affection (Not the House of Correction)’ and an accelerated run through of the Velvet's 'Guess I'm Falling in Love' - while the merry-go-round of Loves’ membership spins again with Alice deputising rather well for the absent Jenna, including on the tourettish revenge tale ‘Motherfucker’. The larking around and the constant churn of members distracts from the fact that they’ve become an impressively powerful live experience but you’ve only got a few weeks to find that out for yourself.

Day 2 has no problems with line up. The excellent Veronica Falls kick off with a folky intro that suddenly mutates into a feverish groove. They dabble in darker themes than your average indiepopper and it doesn’t need a slightly ramshackle cover of ‘What Goes On’ to confirm that they’re heavily influenced by the Velvet Underground. Their setlist suggests that they’re going places with tunes like ‘Stephen’ and ‘Beachy Head’, while they also offer a fantastic singalong version of Roky Erickson’s ‘Starry Eyes’, and are clearly a band to watch in 2011.

So many bands have lifted their jangly guitar sound from early Creation Records’ releases that it’s good to have The Loft back to assert their ownership of it. We last saw them in September 2005 and May 2006 when they were making something of an abortive comeback (a couple of gigs and a single on Static Caravan). Now they’re back again with a set crammed with classics like ‘Why Does The Rain?’ and ‘Up The Hill And Down the Slope’ and their cover of Richard Hell’s ‘Time’, plus their newer (well, 2006) single ‘Model Village’. They might now have hair grayer than a Manchester weekend but it’s still as fresh-sounding as anything else around.

Comet Gain

Comet Gain have never acquired stagecraft in all their years in the entertainment business so they’ll never give you a slick show but musically they’re one of the finest UK bands of the last few decades, who have been criminally under-the-radar since their first flowering in the mid-90s. An alchemist might try and replicate them but would need a dash of Dexy’s, a dollop of The Jam, a slab of the Chocolate Watch Band and a large splosh of Orange Juice. But how to reproduce David Feck? Tonight he’s more than ever self-deprecating, likening his band to the disappointing dessert in an otherwise great menu: “we’re the shitty custard…with the skin on”. But he needn’t be so modest when they kick off with the classic ‘Say Yes!’ from 1996 and continue with a stream of great garage, indiepop and West Coast flavoured songs, punctuated by increasingly bizarre banter. It’s passionate, soulful, slightly skewiff indiepop, full of beautiful imperfections.

Links:
http://www.myspace.com/thecometgain
http://www.myspace.com/fortunapop
http://www.myspace.com/lovetheloves