A Brighton based music blog and radio series by a Philosophy student called Peter Lanceley. I broadcast every Saturday evening at 6.30pm on Resonance FM and document my writing here. I also release music with the Alcohol Label and make music with Kinnie The Explorer. If you'd like to contact me, for whatever reason, please do so on...
I missed last week’s show, but return this Saturday where you will hear the droning electronica of W0lcnum (found over on Unholy Rhythms), the woozy new 60s inspired single from London collective Bear Driver, Suuns’ Arena (to which I incorrectly attributed ‘Red Song’ as its title on the show), a bedroom pop song from L.A’s Mirror Lady, an airy (dare I say chillwave) track from the excellent Sobrenadar, before the stunning acoustic music of Blackfeet, from one of my favourite albums. Pick up Blackfeet’s Choral Reef for free, here.
First Time European, from Swansea Recreation Centre’s new EP ‘hi tom / hey tom blood’ is quite unlike the vast majority of music I’ve come across of late. It appears to draw some sort of influence from the intelligent, awkward British synth-pop of the underground 1980s, contemporary electronica, also perhaps from the post-Animal Collective scene of urban psychedelia which sprouted up around the time of Merriweather Post Pavilion. There’s maybe even an element of Tunng in there too. To name some specific bands, I’m hearing the dense arrangements of High Places, the disconnected vocal styles of Caribou, and perhaps on some level, very faint echoes of organic East London vibes, smooth transitions, and group vocals of bands like Bear Driver. The songs are seamless and drift from section to section with an incredible fluidity, enticing rhythm and eclectic sound palette.
‘hi tom / hey tom blood’, the band inform me, is part of a forthcoming larger body of work called ‘The Woahcean’, which centres thematically around things like the Atlantic, the people and experiences we will inevitably forget, and a little of how smells work. In a few weeks their video will be finished; a cut and paste of Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger Than Paradise, and Orson Welles’ ‘F For Fake’. For now, the three song EP is available below, or by visiting the Swansea Recreation Centre bandcamp.
This week, the king of choral RnB, Active Child, plays a one-off show at St. Pancras Old Church, Philadelphia’s Sun Airway showcase at Hoxton Square and Male Bonding headline a night at The Garage with Gross Magic and The History of Apple Pie. Also in the city for the coming week are Spectrals, Babeshadow, Julian Cope, Real Estate, Spotlight Kid, Bear Driver, Bon Iver and Architecture In Helsinki. Full list below.
The Gaymers Camden Crawl Festival 2011 celebrated its tenth birthday this year; 2011 curated one of its strongest line-ups yet, and this coupled up with the sunshine, bank holiday weekend and abundance of great pubs and great music, made for an intensely enjoyable and worthwhile couple of days. Media highlights included the 12-man hip-hop collective Odd Future (OFWGKTA) stage invasion over at the Red Bull Outdoor Live Arena, a blissful return from the self-professed ‘new band’, Razorlight at the HMV Forum, and controversial sets from Giggs, who had his Electric Ballroom crowd jogging on the spot throughout his witty and inventive odes to sex and violence.
Personal highlights differed on a number of levels, I spent the first Saturday drinking with a set of newly acquired Northern acquaintances, before going separate ways so that I could catch Bear Driver, Spectrals and Becoming Real at various locales around Camden. Sunday was perhaps more eventful, at least musically - I caught sets from sprawling folk rock band Dry The River, Young Dreams, Marques Toliver, The Russian Futurists, Wolf Gang and Guillemots, before rounding off the night with Banjo Or Freakout at The Earl Of Camden. Catch my thoughts and their MP3s after the jump..
PRSF Presents Bear Driver @ The Monarch, Saturday 8pm.
Having recently been in contact with the PRSF myself, and hearing that their British Music Abroad Showcase at The Monarch would involve former This Music Wins interviewees and blissful twee folk band Bear Driver, I figured that their recipe was one worth following. Emerging actor and fellow musician Ed Westwick thought so too - he could be seen in the crowd, as could he be seen visibly congratulating Bear Driver on their performance. Bear Driver slotted in nicely to the erratic and quirky Dickensian pub setting, and their densely orchestrated, melded acoustic sound and excitable Arcade Fire-esque melodies kept a packed out pub more than adequately entertained.
Rough Trade Presents Spectrals @ The Earl Of Camden 9.25pm
Spectrals’ ‘Leave Me Be’ was actually the first 7” single I ever bought, following their support slot with Girls at Southampton’s Talking Heads last year. Their refreshingly simple and exhaustively slow-paced pre-hit parade jams make for some great singular records, even if live the sound didn’t translate quite so clearly on to the Earl’s speaker systems. The result was a little messy to say the least. They’re currently on tour with friend Best Coast, media-professed effigy of the lo-fi scene, to mixed reviews.
Summer Sundae Presents Dry The River @ The Roundhouse Terrace, Sunday 2pm
Sunday was much more efficient, and got off to a great start over at Summer Sundae Presents stage at The Roundhouse Terrace, with Dry The River. The East London five piece are currently residing in America, recording their debut album, making a trip via Heathrow especially for their multitude of Camden Crawl sessions. Certainly their US location is fitting - their music draws shamelessly from open-plained Americana and native folk, toying with the pastoral yet fearless of the electric, regularly driving forth their songs with a searingly over-driven bout of distorted tones. The lead singer oozes charisma when in role, and has a stunning live sound. His near-shriek is hauntingly executed and adds this wonderfully emotive colour to the music which I can’t quite put into words. ‘Family Tree’ was perhaps the highlight of Sunday afternoon’s set, the band really put their all into this one above others. Also, check out the band’s recent Yellow Bird Project Session, below there, and buy one of their charity tees.
Summer Sundae Presents Young Dreams @ The Roundhouse Terrace, Sunday 4pm
Later on Sunday afternoon came Norwegian band Young Dreams at The Roundhouse Terrace Stage, whose self-titled track ‘Young Dreams’ made its way on to one of our radio shows a couple of weeks back. Their well-mannered and JJ-like tropical balaeric pop never quite settles long enough to catch on to, its hyperactivity and youthful charm combining with an overwhelmingly Scandinavian vocal sound to create the kind of wet and slippery synth pop ambiguous enough to sleep or to dance to. Music is all subjective, and with Young Dreams this is demonstrated right down to a minute by minute level - there’s almost so much going on with their music that it washes over you, its overcrowded and disorientating bundle of notes, plethora of vocals and cutting guitar playing evoking such dreamy and indolent states of mind that there is little to do but listen, and enjoy.
Levis Presents Marques Toliver @ Proud Camden, Sunday 5pm
Marques Toliver might have just stolen the show - his recent Jools Holland performance and series of shows at SXSW Festival have won him a huge following, enough that Proud Camden was full to the brim by the time his performance had got underway. Toliver is refreshingly honest and expressive when on stage, remaining always calm and collected; his clear musical ability is absorbing, and the sparse and stripped down nature of his live show drew in even the back-chatters of Proud Camden’s corners. His style lies somewhere between classical, soul and R&B - parallels might be drawn to Bon Iver or James Blake, but as with the distance between those two - Toliver takes that skeleton of a lost, rural soul and manufactures something advanced and unique. Compared to his recorded material, the live show sounds markedly empty - when quizzed in a quick interview before the show, he detailed this decision: “I find it easier to play music with only myself”. Certainly it seems that in this case particularly, less is more. A video I took but cannot find a way to embed might have sufficed, but a recent much-talked about Jools Holland’s TV appearance perhaps will portray my descriptions in a more pleasant and professional manner.
British indie rock band Wolf Gang’s set was a lot louder and heavier than I expected, and introduced by XFM at the HMV Forum, he delivered his cutting vocals through the bassy mesh of indie rock in truly anthemic fashion. The crowd became heavily involved, peaking on the Wolf Gang classic ‘Lions In Cages’ which closed the night, and dropping slightly for the two new songs which made Sunday night’s set (neither of which I caught the name of). The album is due June 27th, and Wolf Gang has a packed touring schedule ahead of him - he rightly looks to Summer with heavy rotation in his mind, and with such high profile backers as XFM radio (which he fits, right in on) and the Camden Crawl and Great Escape Festival bills, he looks set to achieve success with flying colours.
Flowerpot Presents Banjo Or Freakout @ Earl Of Camden, Sunday 9.25
London’s finest shoegaze band, Alessio Natalizia’s Banjo Or Freakout, were another highlight, finishing off the night’s showings at The Earl Of Camden on Sunday night. The sound was spot on this time, and they proceeded to deliver their fuzzy and enticingly inaudible noise-folk from under the washy guise and streaming mist of reverb and delay. This music is effect-laden and driven, ghoulish in character and deceptively dark. The show flowed beautifully, with few stops, including a daunting and prolonged ending which culminated in an extended section, forceful and overwhelming with its relentless and overbearing builds. It was the dynamics which struck me the most - Banjo Or Freakout sound like a grungy version of The Antlers crossed with My Bloody Valentine, building from such gentle acoustic strums into onslaughts of sound. Their album ‘Banjo Or Freakout’ is out now.
Overall, a great weekend at the Camden Crawl 2011 - later this year you can look out for This Music Wins at Glastonbury and Latitude Festivals. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and the Hype Machine for regular updates! Feel free to comment below.
For this week’s This Music Wins radio show on Resonance FM you can expect the fantastic new Fleet Foxes song, ‘Helplessness Blues’, from their upcoming album of the same name, BBC Sound Of 2011 shortlisters Esben & The Witch with their song, Warpath and a short show review from their slot at the Brighton Pavilion Theatre Tuesday. Also, the new track from London folk-collective Bear Driver, who will be releasing a new song ever week in the lead up to their slot at SXSW in Texas in March. Also a new surfer pop demo from quiet-of-late sun-worshippers Real Estate, as well as the Justin Vernon inspired folk harmonies of James Vincent Mcmorrow - whose album drops March 7th in the UK. The new song from Italian Born, London-based Banjo Or Freakout, closes the show, with his shoegazing bedroom folk anthem ‘Go Ahead’.
Bear Driver, the emerging London based orchestral folk collective who I interviewed over Summer, are going to be releasing a new track every day in the lead up to their slot at SXSW festival in Austin, Texas in March. The first of these tracks is called ‘Fugitive’ and is available to download below. Its a little louder and a little grander than we’ve heard before, but still keeps hold of that playful indie pop charm and folk instrumentation which keeps the band youthful and innocent in their recordings. The harmonies open up the song beautifully at the beginning, and rise in intensity to near-shouting by the latter half of the song. There’s something more Arcade Fire-like than ever in the ‘Fugitive’, particularly in that whooshing over-driven post-chorus which the song spends the greater part of the four minutes building up to. Look out for another (hopefully!) great new track next week from Bear Driver.
![[Resonance FM #27] W0LCNUM, Bear Driver, Suuns, Mirror Lady, Sobrenadar, Blackfeet
I missed last week’s show, but return this Saturday where you will hear the droning electronica of W0lcnum (found over on Unholy Rhythms), the woozy new 60s inspired single from London collective Bear Driver, Suuns’ Arena (to which I incorrectly attributed ‘Red Song’ as its title on the show), a bedroom pop song from L.A’s Mirror Lady, an airy (dare I say chillwave) track from the excellent Sobrenadar, before the stunning acoustic music of Blackfeet, from one of my favourite albums. Pick up Blackfeet’s Choral Reef for free, here.
DOWNLOAD: This Music Wins #27 (MP3)
W0LCNUM - It Will Never Be (MP3)
Bear Driver - Never Never (MP3)
Suuns - Arena (MP3)
Mirror Lady - Shapes (Spiderwoman) (MP3)
Sobrenadar - Peri Physeos (MP3)
Blackfeet - Everybody Is Running Away (MP3)
follow me on twitter @thismusicwins for more updates.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_luwrxekdnn1qa0h5lo1_1280.jpg)
![For this week’s This Music Wins radio show on Resonance FM you can expect the fantastic new Fleet Foxes song, ‘Helplessness Blues’, from their upcoming album of the same name, BBC Sound Of 2011 shortlisters Esben & The Witch with their song, Warpath and a short show review from their slot at the Brighton Pavilion Theatre Tuesday. Also, the new track from London folk-collective Bear Driver, who will be releasing a new song ever week in the lead up to their slot at SXSW in Texas in March. Also a new surfer pop demo from quiet-of-late sun-worshippers Real Estate, as well as the Justin Vernon inspired folk harmonies of James Vincent Mcmorrow - whose album drops March 7th in the UK. The new song from Italian Born, London-based Banjo Or Freakout, closes the show, with his shoegazing bedroom folk anthem ‘Go Ahead’.
[LISTEN TO RESONANCE SATURDAY AT 6.30]
[DOWNLOAD MP3 OF SHOW]
1. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues (MP3)
2. Esben And The Witch - Warpath (MP3)
3. Bear Driver - Fugitive (MP3)
4. Real Estate - Blue Lebaron (MP3)
5. James Vincent Mcmorrow - If I Had A Boat (MP3)
6. Banjo Or Freakout - Go Ahead (MP3)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lolwlnvmSC1qa0h5lo1_500.jpg)
