Lucy Rose Live Review

“If you’ve seen my new video, you will have seen different animals eating different kinds of food off my body…not in a weird way… well, actually, no, in a very weird way…” Lucy Rose goofily gushes at her equally-gushing audience before submerging them into punchy new single Our Eyes. Tonight’s sold out show is so intimate, that if it wasn’t for Rose’s witty and silly chit-chat between songs, it would have probably have the feeling of an awkward first date between two strangers. Her quirky humour, modest charm and stunningly soothing voice all have her audience yo-yoing between fits of laughter and open-mouthed mesmerisation, all in a mere few hours.

Showcasing an array of new material from upcoming album Work It Out, she timorously apologises for the set being ‘so long’, unnecessarily so as the crowd listen enthusiastically and devotedly. Tracks such as Cover Up and Köln are infused with instrumental experimentation, driven by pulsating rhythm and sharp guitar chops, giving each of them a less innocent façade when compared to previous work.

Nevertheless, it’s one of her quietest and calmest song that proves itself as the most impressive part of the night. Admitting that she never has trouble deciding to perform this track, the audience are hurled into bittersweet ambience with old favourite Shiver. Rose’s flawless vocals swirl sensually around the room, slowing down the pace completely and leaving the whole room latch onto every word murmured. Never before has a crowd at a gig been so silent; it’s as if a spell has been cast and the audience hypnotised, transfixed onto the huge voice that arises from such a dainty frame. The 25 year old Surrey sweetheart may well be deemed too ‘nice’ or too ‘same-y’ but everyone at the Institute tonight witnesses an artist that really is much more than that.

Jake Bugg Live Review

Whipping up a number one debut album, nominated for British Breakthrough Act of 2013 and having already toured with some of music’s biggest talents 18-year-olds could only ever dream of, Nottingham lad Jake Bugg has become the infectious newcomer at the buzz of everyone’s lips and after tonight’s enthralling performance, it isn’t hard to see why.

Swaggering on stage to Robert Johnsons’ Cross Road Blues hints himself a position in the folk-blues family, besides a certainly impressive musical knowledge. The sold-out crowd consisting of excited teenage girls as well as middle-aged, Paul Weller lookalikes, validates Bugg’s revamped, sixties rock appeal…a cross between Bob Dylan and Alex Turner, an old soul in an extremely young body with an undeniably special gift.

Kentucky and Trouble Town begin the persistently brilliant night combined of acoustic numbers and chart topping singles. Older tracks, 'Someone Told Me', 'Country Song' and 'Some Place' showcase his unique, gritty vocals that channel goose bumps throughout the entire venue.

Imaginably, through lack of experience or intimidation, Bugg barely moves or speaks to his audience; unfortunately indicating a lack of enthusiasm- yet, judging the crowd’s passionate applauds and wholehearted chants, the stripped down performance focusing entirely on talent proves to be more than enough. Bugg is at the beginning of his career and with upward progression- tonight is merely a hint of what he is truly capable of, making the unassuming teen the most exhilarating affair for music so far.

Swim Deep Live Review

Tonight Birmingham’s young and eccentric crowd gather at The Institute to welcome back hometown heartthrobs Swim Deep to their biggest headlining Birmingham show yet. With a highly anticipated album set to release in May and hot new single The Sea under their belt, the sold out show tonight screams potential as the essence of success seems more possible than ever before.

The cheerful and carefree quartet take the stage- Austin appears with a bouquet of flowers that he throws to his beloved B-town bunch. The blend of hazy 90s-pop begins and drowns the venue in a watery sonic, transporting the whole room to that hot California beach they are so particularly fond of, making it truly difficult to believe that the bummed-out seaside lovers are from the cold and damp suburbs of Birmingham.

The combination of shaggy, dreamy vocals mixed with lazy, grunge guitar loops set the gig in a consistently impressive motion as the four friends please their fans with feel-good favourites Honey, Beach Justice and Orange County. A shirtless Zachary treats the audience further with a striking drum solo before an out-of-breath Austin adoringly exclaims: “You mean a lot to me. You mean a lot to us guys.” The night ends with breakthrough track King City, grinning fans and a glistening sense of excitement lingering in the air, intended for the blossoming year this band have ahead of them.

http://www.brumnotes.com/review-swim-deep-the-institute-birmingham-150213/

Crystal Castles Live Review

Crystal Castles at the HMV Institute, Birmingham

Group vocals, souring choruses and head banging guitar solos can all be expected from talented London trio Luls. Favorable singles ‘Young’ and ‘Swing Low’ prove to be hits amongst the approving crowd at the HMV tonight, showing off the bands potential and already existing success.

The audience tonight displays an overwhelming (and slightly manic) excitement towards the Toronto twosome on tour with new album (|||). Demonstrating their admiration with restless chants and giant grins; by the end of the night, it isn’t hard to see why.

Setlist opener ‘Plague’ spells the room with a demonic air as the menacing thumps and shrieking- high vocals cut through the venue by lively front woman Alice Glass. Crawling on all fours cloaked in black, Glass resembles that of an exorcist- yet fans approvingly pump their fists, fixating their glance onto the petite silhouette camouflaged by smoky red flashlights. The effect is utterly thrilling.

The energy remains perfectly unrigged throughout the performance and radiated with higher intensity by band partner Ethan Kath; who coolly plays his keyboard, barely lifting his head to acknowledge the chaotic surrounding. Glass endlessly dives into a sea of arms, drinks and smokes freely onstage clearly stating she enjoys doing exactly as she pleases.

Crystal Castles eminent mixture of goth-dance and spacey electric, lo-fi triggers emotional boundaries that dance music has failed to accomplish in the past. Although the live shows aren’t for everyone, they are undoubtedly hard to forget.

Azealia Banks Live Review

Hip Hop’s ever changing mores were taken a step further last September when fiery Disney princess-like character, Azealia Banks rocketed charts worldwide. Yet her self-given nicknames ‘Yung Rapunzel’ and ‘Bambi’ are a distant fairy-tale truth in comparison to her playfully crude wordplay and aggressive hip-hop spits. Judging the thriving crowd at Birmingham’s HMV tonight- this is exactly why they adore her.

Zebra Kat’z attentive presence teamed with Njena Reddd Foxxx’s sassy swag, breezily vamp up the crowd with a humorous and somewhat raunchy performance. Exotic gymnastic moves, catwalk mimics and mouthfuls of colourful language, the fierce New York rappers successfully finish their set with notable single 'Ima Read’. DJ Cosmo presents a vibrant half-hour set until the Harlem rapper takes to her stage.

Bouncing from track to track sporting her million dollar smile and Swarovski glowing bra, Banks thrust’s herself into a throttling flow that seemingly paces at a hundred miles per hour. The compressed 40-minute show switches from Fantasea mixtape and 1991 EP, highlighting Liquorice, Esta Noche and 1991 itself as crowd favourites.

‘This song may be the reason you all came out tonight’. Sparing no time, the crowd are launched into a sky-high frenzy as breakthrough single ‘212’ begins and fans thrillingly grasp the opportunity to chant the most offensive yet enjoyable lyrics in music so far.

Goodnight Lenin Live Review

The excitement bustling in the crammed room of the Hare and Hounds is hard to snub as Birmingham band, Goodnight Lenin are back in their hometown for an exclusive one night only gig. Gushing fans bearing cheesy grins and cold pints know they’re in for a treat as they gather to the front of the stage for the special evening.

Support act Mellow Peaches bring warmth to the room performing wholesome and hearty acoustic tracks to the brimming audience. They respectfully settle their enthusiasm and display gratitude to the duo’s efforts till their headlining heroes appear.

 A note is yet to be played but the delighted audience cheers regardless as Goodnight Lenin take to the stage with a thriving track list of past EP favourites, as well as introducing latest material from upcoming album with opening track; Laughter from a Younger Age.  The golden five some happily chat to fans with grounded confidence, charming everyone with plenty of between-songs banter and appreciative ‘thank yous’.

A tightly polished and high-spirited performance is dished out, reminding the audience how much the down-to-earth Brummie lads have blossomed since their YouTube kitchen kickback days, surging them head-first into unstoppable folk-fanatic success.

Goodnight Lenin Interview

Goodnight Lenin

Birmingham band GOODNIGHT LENIN make a welcome return in their home city this weekend with a headline show at the Hare & Hounds. With a new single, EP and their debut album in the pipeline, frontman John Fell tells Ivy Photiou why the time has come to show what they are really about.

“We were going out on the road ourselves and it was slowly spreading around the country, but to go on tour with someone like Beth [Jeans Houghton & The Hooves of Destiny] and performing in front of 400 people just after her album release and appearance on the Jools Holland show was an amazing expe- rience,” says frontman John Fell, reflecting on their numerous musical highlights from the past couple of years. “We did Moseley Folk festival in 2010, so going back this year to hopefully play on the main stage is a great pleasure, especially at an event like that.”

Squeezed into their bustling and seemingly never-ending touring schedule is an exclusive, one night only gig at the Hare & Hounds especially for their hometown fans. As Birmingham’s music scene flourishes with national acclaim greeting the likes of Peace, Swim Deep and Troumaca, John insists coming back to perform in Birmingham is more exciting than ever.

“It’s the most enjoyable thing,” he says. “We don’t play so often in Birmingham and we’ve done it on the basis of making sure each show is special, such as playing at the cathedrals and churches at Christmas [Goodnight Lenin performed sell-out shows at St Paul’s Church in 2010 and Birmingham Cathedral in 2011]. It’s great that Birmingham has these bands with different sounds and when you throw us into the mix as well it shows that there’s diversity — which is what this city is all about.”

Even between all the touring and EP releases, John takes great pride in revealing that the long talk of a debut Goodnight Lenin album is finally true, which thankfully seems to be just in the nick of time as he confesses fans were beginning to feel frustrated (“Which is why we chose to do the Hare & Hounds too, before we get shouted at!” he jokes).

“In October we’re releasing another single and video, December we’re releasing a winter type EP and between all that we’ll be recording our album which should be out in March next year. We’ve finally found the way we like to record now, based on a 1970s ‘playing live’ style. It will be a thicker American sound like Garfunkel and not really anything like our EPs. A lot of thought has gone into it so it will be interesting to see the reaction.”

For John, the full length album will also be a chance to carve out a breakaway sound all of their own, hopefully free from the lazy folk comparisons which have inevitably followed them, due in no small part to their emergence at the same time as the rise to stardom of modern folk sweethearts Mumford & Sons. Despite their own insistence on being more closely aligned with the likes of Elvis Perkins and classics such as Bob Dylan, John says their own album will be a chance to show what they are “all about.”

“Yeah, I think when a band is playing live and releasing the odd track, people aren’t going to get the full picture of what they’re all about. We ended up shooting ourselves in the foot by releasing the most Mumford & Sons-type songs. For some unknown reason we’ll listen to our music in the studio, agree on what we sound like and then end up not releasing it! But that’s exactly what the album is going to do. It will be a collection of songs that are exactly all about us and hopefully stop any more misleads.”

Their live shows, dashed with humour and plenty of between-song banter, and down- to-earth manner leave audiences relaxed and engaged and behind their fruitful success so far still lies an honest, earthly manner about Goodnight Lenin as they continue to set their standards high with admirable future goals, ensuring that more harmony-soaked, toe tapping, folk fun goodness can certainly be expected.

“The perception of us is quite strange sometimes; I think people think we’re a lot bigger than what we are,” John says. “Nothing but hard work goes into what we do with 14 to 15 hours a week outside work. We put a lot of effort into what we do. In terms of where we are now, I don’t think we’ve even started yet. We’ll always be trying to change and improve ourselves. Our goals next year are to mainly get the album out and just be happy with it, to play a sell-out show in Birmingham and hopefully push ourselves further into bigger festival slots with the help of the album. Just writing good music too.”

Mac Miller Live Review

Mac Miller Live at HMV Institute, Birmingham

Seven mix tapes deep and a freshly released studio album; Mac Miller has radically blossomed from small town local sensation to internet extraordinaire, pocketing impressive eight figured views on YouTube and an extremely adoring fan base along the way.

Miller explodes onto the stage with opening song ‘Blue Slide Park’. Taken aback by his incredibly energetic stage presence, hysteria is caused amongst the overexcited young crowd as Miller continues cascading them into a high tempo, dumb fun, party frenzy.

Even with a slight sound glitch that unluckily occurs in the middle of hit single ‘Loud’, Miller coolly controls the dislike by playing classic audience games and entertaining them with his zesty wit, until the technical fault is overcome and cleanly forgotten.

Demonstrating his diversity and impressive knowledge of the Hip Hop genre, Miller pays tribute to declared childhood inspiration- late Beastie Boy member MCA, adding a feel of togetherness in the room whilst K.I.D.S. mixtape favourites; ‘Nikes on my Feet’, ‘Kool Aid and Cold Pizza’ and ‘Knock Knock’ contextualizes the astounding success the youthful twenty year old already possessed barr an album.

As the show comes to an end, it isn’t difficult to acknowledge why the clone-like fans are so admirable of the street wearing, tattoo sporting, grin bearing kid. Though his music isn’t for everyone with much room for improvement, his electrical stage presence, love for performance, music and his fans are all unmistakably, first class.

Florence + The Machine Live Review

Florence + The Machine at the LG Arena, Birmingham

First support band, Spector, opens Florence + The Machine’s tour swimmingly well with familiar singles ‘What You Wanted’, ‘Chevy Thunder’ and ‘Never Fade Away’. Handsome, front man’s, Fred Macpherson’s witty banter, teamed with the band’s professional enthusiasm, demonstrates their effort to entertain and satisfy. The full audience participation establishes the bands great stage presence and already impressive fan base, asserting that they undeniably ones to watch out.

Draped in a demonic, black cape, barefooted Florence Welch takes to her very simple stage set and steadily approaches her mic. Her striking presence adds to the already gripping atmosphere- as if a curse was about to strike the venue, casting each individual under a spell that would have them helplessly magnetized under Welch’s control. 

And then it begins. Eruptions of mighty vocals are prodigiously belted out of the singer’s tiny frame, as opening song ‘Only If for a Night’ surmounts the venue. Hair raising goose bumps and spine tingling sensations are swept across the entire arena and sustained into following song, ‘What The Water Gave Me’.

The radiant, red-head finally greets her beloved fans with a gracious smile and a very shy ‘hello’. As she embraces the rapturous reception, her confidence is eventually boosted and the swallowing cape is abandoned in order to do what she does best..

Spinning, swirling and galloping across every inch of the stage, eyes are latched onto her dainty physic as she loses herself in the music like a drugged ballerina.

The crowd jump, sing and cheer to classic favorites, ‘Cosmic Love’, ‘Rabbit Heart’ and ‘Dog Days’- until the tempo slows down for successful, acoustic performances; ‘Heartlines’ and ‘Leave My Body’. Tribal drumming and rich, harp rifting, ‘No Light, No Light’ ends the gig without a glitch, leaving fans dumbstruck and totally blown away, reminding us all just how beautiful and magically moving music can be.

Outfit Live Review

Ending their seven-date, UK tour beneath the roof of Birmingham’s, Rainbow Warehouse, Outfit inconspicuously take to the stage in a smouldered, purple lit room. Resembling The Beatle’s, boy band charm, Hot-Chip’s, quirky eruptions and Steve Morrissey’s, hair raising vocals, it is vital to address that despite these correlations- this band is not to be categorised.

From the pleasant constraint of internet information, to the unpretentious and effortless performances, it is clear to see that this band ask for their audience to examine them with honesty, optimism and an open mind- creating opportunity for nothing other than sweet success.

Opening song, ‘Vehicles’ has no trouble owning the crowd’s whole attention, even those lingering aimlessly around the bar. They then hurl into second song, ‘Every Night I Dress Up As You’ before the rest of the soundtracks loop, swirl and intertwine gracefully into one another. The flawlessly synced, melodies and hypnotic, escapism atmosphere, allures the audience’s interest further. Soon enough, the entire room is completely engrossed.

The disparity between Outfit and other rock contemporys, is their refreshing approach of being themselves-nailing the entertainment factor without exerting. It’s clear to see why five piece Liverpudlians are quickly becoming the nation’s new found favourites. And the exciting part? It’s only a taster of what they’re truly made of.

Cloud Control

Left to right: Heidi Lenffer, Ulrich Lenffer, Jeremy Kelshaw and Alistair Wright.

Regarding the fact that I was about to undertake my first professional interview- there wasn’t a second I felt nervous about chatting to the four piece, alternative rock band Cloud Control. Summing up my research, I quickly realised that they were, very simply, a laidback group of friends who enjoyed making and performing music.

Led into a tiny room with boring white walls and nothing other than a sofa, chair and table squeezed into the middle of it- it reminded me of a school teacher’s staff room, rather than a sex, drugs and rock and roll, dressing room hang out.

Greeted by friendly smiles and handshakes, Heidi, Ulrich and Alistair all introduced themselves with their strong Aussie accents. Heidi, wearing no make-up, untamed hair and dressed in a huge, woolly jumper, (bearing in mind they’d be on stage in less than an hour), Ulrich slouched in a chair, playing with his stereotypical, long, scruffy ‘drummer boy’ hair and Alistair; the band’s front man, minding his own buisiness, fiddling on his Apple Mac. My expectations were exactly as I imagined.

I was determined to find out what differentiated this band from the rest of the thousands out there. Did they have that star quality, or were they missing that extra something that is so important in music today?

Bliss Release, the band’s first and only album, released last year, scooped up the awards; ‘Best Independent Album’ and ‘Breakthrough Independent Artist’.  As bizarre as it may sound, growing up in the Blue Mountains seems to have heavily imprinted their work as you can’t help but feel each melody and lyric was created around a campfire, adding a real sense of honesty to the music, with strange and dark- yet peaceful implications.

The foursome take to the stage and instantly grasp the audience’s attention with Alistair’s playful humour. He tosses a coin into the crowd for ‘good luck’ but then jokes at their expense by saying, ‘look at all of them scrambling for money’, before coolly adding, ‘yeah...moneys alright’.

As soon as they begin, the audience begin to critically assess and analyse them as they listen hard and bob their heads to the fiery beats. Only then did I realise that it is the band’s vocals that set them apart from other pop contemporys. Alistair’s trippy, pitch- bending synths is matched flawlessly and beautifully to Heidi’s gentle, jingly and day-dreamy sounds. They are effortlessly cool as they loose themselves in their own music, feeding off the audience’s subtle yet positive energy.

Needless to say, there is unquestionably something magical about Cloud Control. Their humble and relaxed approach, ironically, makes them exciting. It’s pretty evident this band isn’t even close in showing us what their really made of, and when they do- I’m sure it will blow us all away.

Interview below

How are you and how are you enjoying your tour with The Drums?

All together: Good thanks, yeah it’s been great

How would you say the audience responses in England in comparison to Australia because I can imagine people know your music more in Australia?

Heidi: Yeah they do, I mean they analyse us a lot more. You won’t get a lot of hype but that’s fine because you know their enjoying it when their just listening

Ulrich: The worst a crowd can do is talk over you, so yeah, listening is real good

You formed through a band competition you won and it seems it all went from there. Can you tell me a little more about that? It seems like a massive step winning a small competition to becoming the recording artists you are today.

H: Well it was a five year step, so it took friggin ages. I don’t think we even knew we wanted to be a band for about three of those years, we all had different career interests so it took a long time to evolve into a full time pursue. We’ve been a slow developing band but I think that’s advantaged us in a lot of ways

You were all friends a long time before you became a band. Was it difficult adjusting from being just friends to sitting down together for hours recording music or was it an advantage?

U: Well you know what’s funny, Al had never met Jeremy before

Alistair: They made me just pick him up off the highway and i was like...who is this guy. I had no idea...but he was alright! (All laugh)

H: We definitely weren’t a unit of four friends. We all knew each other in different ways but not everyone was connected. Like Ulrich and Jeremy knew of each other but they weren’t friends. I didn’t really know Al...

U: He was just a little turd from school...

A: A little turd...(All laugh)

H: But yeah it took us a while to develop a friendship

The music on your album, Bliss Release sounds a lot like other Australian bands such as Little Red and The Holidays. It that something you were consciously going for?

A: Yeah totally. It’s just like anything, like if you see something and you really enjoy it and you like what it does to you, you try and re-create that in your own way

H: Mimicry is a great tool for song writing. It was really funny, when we all started writing we were all listening to Interpol and the first songs we wrote were a sounds cape to Interpol at the time. (laughs) but we’ve moved on from there...although Interpol is still a really great band

You’re playing at Field day in January and the NME awards in February. Any more shows or tours in the New Year?

A: Were doing some HMV show in February sometime.

H: In Birmingham!

A: Oh is it?

H: Yeah at the Electric Ballroom

U: Oh that will be awesome

A: Yeah that will be sweet, but other than that we haven’t got any tours planned because we’ll be writing our new album

So there will be a new album next year?

H: Yeah definitely. We’ll be spend the first three months writing and then really kill off the second album. Thats the goal right? Shoot for the stars!

And finally, what are your Christmas plans?

H: Awww, well Ulrich and I are going to Frankford! To spend some time at the Christmas markets with our parents

U: But Al’s leaving just before Christmas to go back to Australia and Jez is as well right.

H: Yeah Jez is leaving straight after this tour

U: Yeah so we’ll all meet up in Australia

Find out more about Cloud Control at http://www.cloudcontrolband.com/