Let's all see a gig in Leamington: August 2012

One thing that people might not necessarily know about Leamington Spa is not just how interesting and varied the music scene is, but more the sheer pace at which it completely changes. I’ve been back from uni for about a year and in that time two of my favourite venues have sadly closed (and in the Prince Of Wales’ case both opened and closed in a crazy space of time) and not a month has gone by in which I haven’t heard of a new band or artist making a name for themselves, usually having barely done their GCSEs/A-levels (looking at you here, Issy Ferris and Cowboy!). Insanity.

Another more recent example of this is that in the same week of hearing about the end of Venew, another new music-focused bar has opened on Spencer Street: the Zephyr Lounge officially opened its doors last Thursday and I'm really looking forward to seeing who and what they’ve got lined up.

In the meantime though, here are the ones to look out for this August:

AUGUST GIGS 

(for event details, tickets etc. click on the venue name!)

                                                                                                                                                     

5/8/12: Acoustic Roots: Kit/Issy Ferris/Wolf & Lockerby’s Vanity Circus –The Clarendon

9/8/12: Lou Reed: From VU to Lulu –Assembly 

10/8/12: Bread Club Presents: Coves/Boxed in/Jaws –Moo

10/8/12: REM UK –Assembly

17/8/12: Nina Baker –TheGlass House

25/8/12: The Antics/Coves/Cowboy –Assembly

LEAMFOLK: If any of you have gigs you think should be added to this list, feel free to let me know in the comments!

Gig Times: Rosa Francesca at the Newbold Comyn Arms, Leamington Spa 18.1.12

Last night I went to my first gig of 2012, a 'Featured Artist' set at Newbold Comyn Arms' open mic/jam night which runs every Wednesday evening. As the aforementioned Featured Artist happened to be my younger sister, it is safe to say that there is no way I could write up this gig without, well, unabashedly gushing. So instead I invite you to watch this video of the song she closed with, a cover of Joanna Newsom's 'Baby Birch'. Speaks for itself, don't you think?

To hear more of Rosa's stuff (both original work and covers), visit her Youtube account: http://www.youtube.com/rosafrancescamusic and her Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/rosafrancesca

Fifteen for the Fifteenth -November 2011

Blame the new Summer Camp album, 'Welcome to Condale', for the John Hughes-centric mood of this month’s playlist. Here are fifteen songs that are influenced by, used in or just remind me a lot of his iconic teen flicks, which bring to mind the most eighties-est of sounds. 

After minor technical issues with Spotify last month, I’ve decided to switch to Grooveshark for streaming purposes –let me know in the comments how you find it!

I’d also like to point out that I can’t be held responsible for any accidents should you get too into the theme and wait outside someone’s window Say Anything style, your laptop/iPad raised above your head. That kind of gesture really only works with a boombox.

‘Graveyard Girl’ by M83

As with Summer Camp, a lot has already been said about the influence of Hughes on M83’s music and especially on their record 'Saturdays =Youth'. 'Graveyard Girl' comes complete with a Molly Ringwald-esque spoken sample (“I’m fifteen years old, and I feel it’s already too late to live”). I really like the way that this, along with some ghostly vocal effects and synths, captures the darker side of adolescence rather than just being there for a generic Hey, It’s The Eighties effect.

‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ by New Found Glory (Simple Minds cover)

NFG are probably at least 84% responsible for that whole trend of '00s pop-punk bands adopting metal techniques. It has to be said though, in this instance the double pedalling on the drums and the screamed backing vocals are mostly endearing. They definitely capture the image of a group of kids in detention going mental. Ah, The Breakfast Club. 

‘Don’t Change’ by InXS

This epic, uplifting song was used in the soundtrack to 2009’s Adventureland, an eighties-set film about a misspent summer. For a while after I saw it, in the back of my mind was the nagging thought that I should find out its title. Then one day in the same week, there it was in my inbox as Track In The Box’s featured song for the day. Seriously, I swear by this website (and now, so do you).

Not Going Quietly: The UEA School of Music

(Image courtesy of @SaveUEAMusic)

Music and protests have a long-standing history of going hand in hand. An understatement, I know, but this week students and staff at the University of East Anglia have been making good use of this knowledge following news that the uni’s musicdepartment is under threat of closure in the next few years, a move that suggests worrying things about current attitudes to arts and humanities degrees.

The Save UEA Music campaign has very quickly emerged, supported by current and former music students and staff as well as the student union. So far their actions have included organising today's campus busk-in –like a sit in, but more melodic –and racking up over 1000 signatures to the petition they have created, which can be found here. Their campaign slogan, referencing John Lennon and the power of musical rallying, asks you to ‘Imagine there’s no music...’

To help you to do this and to take in the levels of creativity and talent that has been brought into and nourished by the department, here is just a small sample of the projects and collaborations created by UEA music students:

Snakes with Wings by collidertheband


String Quartet No. 2, 'Prelude' (in one movement) by EasternScores


Easy Come Easy Go [Says Simon Ft. Sarah Bowles] by Says Simon


He Was Despised by Paul-Ethan Bright


Whether you’re at university or not, it would be great if you could show your support for both education and the arts by following this campaign via Tumblr, Twitter or Facebook –and most importantly by signing the petition. Thanks in advance!

Nostalgia Files: ‘She’ by Green Day

(That awkward moment when you realise your bedroom walls haven’t changed since around 2005...)

Yesterday I decided to revisit some of the old Green Day albums I’d once inherited from my older brother (who’d once had a pop-punk phase similar to my own before crossing over to the dark side, i.e. death metal) including 1994’s ‘Dookie’, their first major-label album.

Overall ‘Dookie’ stood out by a mile as a record from the nineties that, despite having inevitably dated, is still probably the most listenable of their entire back-catalogue. It marks the time just before frontman Billie Joe Armstrong’s lyrics were peppered with his trademark snark and heavily political subject matter –instead, ‘Dookie’ is full of simply, sometimes painfully, honest accounts of life as an early-twentysomething.

"All her doubts were someone else's point of view"

The restrained opening bass line of ‘She’ is a something of a pace-changer, stripping things back a bit after the pogo-fest that is ‘Basket Case’. The lyrics in the verses are given room to make a real impact on the listener in a way that stands out from the rest of the record –a technique that my later favourite bands like Alkaline Trio and Hot Water Music would repeatedly take advantage of a few years down the line.

‘She’ is at its heart a song about control, a theme that many young women will know only too well whether through a lack of freedom, pressure to fit in or the endless demands and constraints of gender expectations: “Are you feeling like a social tool without a use?” Instead of trying to offer some kind of cover-all solution or judgement, all Armstrong can offer to do is listen, “until [his] ears bleed”. Nice. Still, the sentiment is appreciated.

Fifteen for the Fifteenth -October 2011

Here's the first of what is going to be a monthly fixture: a 15-song playlist for the 15^th day of the month! Here's October:

And the Spotify link: http://open.spotify.com/user/katemonster89/playlist/47GqN92WZNrPZFnO8fOvSM

In the future I'm probably going to try some different themes but this month's list is made up of new (and not so new) songs I've been listening to recently, including:

'How Come You Never Go There' by Feist & 'i' by Nicola Roberts

What I like most about 'How Come...' from Feist's new album 'Metals' (look out for a performance of some of it on Jools Holland next Tuesday) is the balance of low-key instrumentation with the focus on her voice -pretty much the opposite of 'i', which is all about co-writer Joe "Metronomy" Mount's trademark wonky synths and packs more of a punch than most of Roberts' debut, 'Cinderella's eyes'. Naturally Mount's own band had to be stuck on this playlist with 'The Bay'.

'White Knuckles (Boys Like Us Mix)' by OK Go

For a while now, Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend has been creating these effortlessly cool remixes of songs, keeping the original's general spirit and at the same time putting his own stamp all over it. Here he takes on OK Go's single, known to non-fans as The One With The Video With All The Dogs. 

'Waltz #2' by Elliott Smith

This gloomy indie waltz was playing at the end of episode one of Channel 4 comedy Fresh Meat, a show which has had a consistently great soundtrack. Luckily if you're on Twitter, Matt Biffa (@mrmattbiffa) who works on the show's music has been tweeting Spotify playlists for each one so far, so now you too can imagine what life would be like as a house-share comedy with Jack Whitehall (probably pretty funny, I'm guessing).

Watch out for another 15 in a month's time, and feel free to suggest future songs/themes in the comments!

Gig Times: Inlay at The Garden House, Norwich 7.10.11

On Monday I got back from a 5-day stay at my boyfriend’s student house in good old Naarch, and on the Friday we went with his housemates to see folkies Inlay play an acoustic set at the Garden House, one of the city’s many, many, many pubs (but definitely one of the good ones if your criteria, like ours, includes good food, weirdly-named ales, a huge selection of board games and at least one cat). As far as I know the gig had been planned at the last minute (the Facebook event page hastily added ‘Free’ to the title, always a clue) so it was a surprise to see that the place was heaving. And it clearly wasn’t just people coming in from the rain –in the absence of chairs, whole groups of people were sitting on the floor, primary-school-style.

Usually a stripped-down set means a couple of acoustic guitars (Cajon optional), and a generally subdued atmosphere, but this time around all four of the band’s members were present, regularly swapping instruments from accordion to Bodhran drum (I think?), banjo to slide guitar, violin to lead vocals, and making a lot of noise. Despite having no microphones in a loud, crowded pub, all four members not only managed to command the room's attention and keep impeccable timing via tiny gestures and eye contact but also sang in perfect three (sometimes four)-part harmonies, giving the impression they've been doing this for years.

In fact, Inlay do seem a bit like a band from another time, playing a mixture of traditional and original folk songs in a packed-out pub on a rainy night in Norfolk (a lot of their original songs were also written in/based on different parts of the county). Overall the gig felt natural, was heaps of fun and led more than one audience member we talked to that night to comment that they should become the Garden House’s resident band. Watch this space, Naarch-dwellers.


To listen to Inlay's self-titled EP and hear a little taster of their forthcoming album, visit http://www.inlaymusic.co.uk