"I want this to be an orgy of love and violence!"
NME Awards Tour 2009
Glasvegas, Friendly Fires, White Lies, Florence & The Machine @ Liverpool Uni

So said Florence Welch before playing (arguably) her biggest hit "Kiss With A Fist" to the baying crowd, full of checked shirts (including myself), tight jeans and Florence-a-likes, on the opening night of this year's NME tour. I wouldn't say it was an orgy, and there wasn't much violence, but in the words of Shakespeare/Hamlet "forty thousand brothers could not quantify" the love given to the acts on stage.

Florence was her usual kooky self, chucking flowers, crowdsurfing and finally running off past the front barrier, never to be seen again...at least for the remainder of the gig. The covers which have become a staple of her gigs were replaced by tracks from the upcoming album, which sounds as if it will be more on the "Dog Days Are Over" side of things instead of "Kiss With A Fist". Certainly one to look forward to in the next few months.

Recent chart-toppers White Lies were delayed in Berlin, thus delaying the entire gig by almost an hour, but it was certainly worth it. Striding triumphantly on stage, wearing a very flash pair of Nikes (obviously souvenirs from a trip to Liverpool One), Harry McVeigh and the rest of the band ensured that, whilst an air of gloom fell over the venue, it was one that had every word sung back, even when the lyrics concern electric shock therapy and kidnappings gone wrong. An epic gig if there ever was one.

A definite change of pace came with the arrival of Friendly Fires. A shoegaze/dance band from St Albans may not seem like a likely proposition, but it's real and it has the power to make even the most awkward indie kid (e.g. moi) want to flail about like a lunatic. Ed MacFarlane is a extremely energetic frontman, like a mix between Mick Jagger and Jarvis Cocker with a sprinkling of Morrissey. He can but can't dance if that makes much sense. Their set kept on building towards a climactic "Jump In The Pool", complete with extended samba ending. If you want a party in the near future to be a success with everyone dancing, just stick their album on and watch everyone start to boogie.

And thus we arrive at Glasvegas, one of the biggest hype bands of the last few years and boy, do they deserve it. Walking on to a darkened stage covered in dry ice will make you cool, even if you're Scouting For Girls or N-Dubz...well maybe not them but you get the picture. James Allan has got to be a long lost relative of Joe Strummer somehow, dressed all in black with sunglasses and a perfect quiff, effortlessly cool. The band's usual wall of sound was amplified to the max with the mountain of speakers at either side of the stage (resulting in me being a bit deaf in my right ear at the moment) and the songs were twice as epic as White Lies before them. The set was peppered with hits and slightly lesser known tracks (such as "Fuck You, It's Over" and S.A.D Light, preformed magically with just James, Rab and their two guitars). But the real highlights came from an improvised cover of Echo & The Bunnymen's "The Killing Moon" (with Ian McCulloch in the crowd), a spellbinding version of "Ice Cream Van", during which I'm pretty sure the heavens opened and "Go Square Go", which is bound to be a terrace anthem in a year or so.

All in all, it was the best gig I've ever seen. You won't hear a bad word from me about any of the bands and they all surpassed their high standards, which are pretty damn high. Roll on next year's tour, and may it be just as amazing as this year.

CREDIT TO kavita41 FOR THE PHOTOS.

RANDOM MUSINGS, OBSERVATIONS AND NEWS INVOVLING THE WORLD OF MUSIC

+ New Wombats video for "My Circuitboard City" on their website. The song's actually grown on me a bit...still can't equal anything from the debut though

(Not real video, obv.)

+ I'm sure I walked past Dan Haggis (of The Wombats) in American Apparel in town the other week.

+ White Lies' album is possibly the best of the year. Despite there being 356 days of it left. It'll take a third Arctic Monkeys LP/the return of Richey Edwards/a collaboration between The Clash, The Smiths and The Beatles, with God on keyboards to better it.

+ I'm sure Danny Boyle and Morrissey are the same person. Just with a pair of glasses as the difference.

WHITE LIES - TO LOSE MY LIFE
The firs big album of the year is finally in my (virtual) hands. The debut from up-and-coming death fanatics White Lies. Hyped to hell with good cause, but there's already been a backlash off the back of one single ("To Lose My Life") and doubts have appeared as to whether this will be a fantastic debut to define the year (e.g. Foals, Vampire Weekend) or an average one whose charms will fade after a few months (e.g. Blood Red Shoes, Cold War Kids, GoodBooks etc). Early signs have been good with the amount of leaks rivalling that of Franz Ferdinand.

Starting off with two recent singles obviously to draw in the casual Radio 1 listener (good move, lads); "Death" and "To Lose My Life" sum up what the band do well: dark widescreen indie with a whole lotta synth as well as their persistent obsession with death. The 80's influence shines through on "A Place To Hide". The bass is so low it could be a New Order b-side and the synths sound like they were ripped from The Killers' debut. But two worrying issues are present throughout the first third of the album; the similarity of the guitar parts and the amount of effects used on Harry McVeigh's voice. It's obvious that they want to be a stadium-filling band, but that should be based from how their songs are preformed live, not how much echo is on the singer's voice. Minor gripes I suppose, but it could grate later on.

"Fifty On Our Foreheads" slows down the pace for a second, but it's really just more of the same gloomy-synthy stuff that you'd expect, but after that is probably the band's best track in "Unfinished Business", the song that made them change from Fear Of Flying, the mediocre indie pop band they once were. The story is rather odd for most bands: Guy is murdered by girlfriend, comes back to haunt girlfriend but finds he's still in love with her. Not your conventional pop song, being honest. And the only way to really describe it is epic. The guitars sound like they were recorded in the Grand Canyon (and they're allowed to after the last 5 years of angular dance-punk bands) and the synths (I'm going to stop saying it now) hide ominously in the background of the track, but they still improve it massively, adding an air of worry and fear.

"E.S.T" is where any Joy Division comparisons are valid. The intro sounds almost exactly like "Atmosphere" but evil. There's a feel of spookiness throughout the track and there's a sense that the album will pick up from here. Again it sounds completely 80's but it makes for an album highlight. There may be some criticism that the band sound too cold and removed from the music, that there's no heart in them. The cold machine-like feel is even represented in the artwork. And while this may be true, you can't deny that the songs are still better than most other bands output. So if they actually put some feeling into their second album, we'd have a classic on our hands.

The remaining part of the album is where White Lies become even more grand and epic. The addition of strings definitely adds to the tracks and the overall quality of them improves. Saving the best 'til last indeed. Hopefully they'll keep this formula for the whole of their next effort. "Farewell To The Fairground" will be a highlight of this year's festivals, with two massive hooks and being possibly the song to propel them into the public consciousness (yep, my opinion has definitely changed on that one). The final third is even better than this. The three songs verge on cinematic, with typical White Lies lyrics of doomed romances and choruses as big as Everest. The quality of these tracks makes up for the underwhelming newer tracks at the start. They point to a great future for the band and will certainly be on some "Tracks Of The Year" lists come this December. "The Price Of Love" is what Brandon Flowers and Bono wish they could be writing right now in terms of "epic-ness" and pure quality. There's hardly a band like White Lies around at the moment, and certainly none that can touch them.
ESSENTIAL TRACKS: "Death", "Unfinished Business", "E.S.T", "Farewell To The Fairground", "Nothing To Give", "The Price Of Love"



9.5/10

White Lies - Album Tracks

Well what's this?! Two new White Lies tracks from the yet-to-be-released debut "To Lose My Life" have landed in my (virtual) lap. This is yet another album I'm excited for next year (I think I'm just excited for next year in general), although it's getting a hell of a lot of hype through various DJs and the music media in general which could set the band up for a biiiiiiiig fall.

Half the album is already floating around the blogosphere, so there's a pretty good idea of what it sounds like already. Here comes the bad part. The two leaked tracks "Fairwell To The Fairground" and "The Price Of Love" aren't really anywhere near the brilliance of White Lies' earlier songs. Both songs are near to the end of the album so should be grandiose, epic statements whilst showing some development for the band, but they just come off a bit avaerage considering the talent they've shown on "Unfinished Business" and "Death".

The "new Joy Division" tag is totally unfounded though as it is with the other two bands burdened with the comparison; Editors and Interpol. Whereas JD where claustrophobic, angular and menacingly melancholy, these three modern bands have much grander ambitions with a widescreen edge to their sound, whilst keeping the gloomy feeling and deep-voiced singer.

Anyway back to my point. "FTTF" is the weaker of the two songs, something which should have been left as a B-side as best. It's two clean, polished, too Radio One really. A better chorus would improve it vastly. "TPOL" is slightly better, much more of the White Lies formula. A slow burner which evolves into a typical big, bold album closer with a dashing of Morricone-esque strings for added effect. It's good, but not as good as expected.

6/10 (Fairwell To The Fairground)
7/10 (The Price Of Love)

MMVIII: next big things

White Lies
Just think what a wonderful concoction this would be; Joy Divison, The Smiths, The Cure, U2. Now imagine if such a band was a reality. You'd have White Lies then. Their songs are epic, yet dark and disturbing. Name another band who would write a song about a ghost coming back to visit his lover/murderer? Exactly, none. They just sound like they're built for the arenas and stadiums of the world, and their guitar parts don't sound like they're written using fucking algebra.

Cheeky Cheeky & The Nosebleeds
English music has long been devoid of a band with a proper sense of humour. I guess you could class Hadouken! as a sick hipster joke, but I'm talking about a band who's songs are as funny as they are great. I think The Nosebleeds are just that band, ready to take the long-dusty crown of odd-pop once held by the likes of XTC, Talking Heads, Wire and Elvis Costello. Musically they may sound a bit identikit, but they'll be big

Ladyhawke
Okay, she's pretty big already in indie circles, but 2009 is the year where she'll explode into the mainstream. Her eponymous debut is stuffed to the brim with solid gold, 80's-indebted pop hits, all deserving of as much praise as possible. Latest single My Delirium is just one example of the girl's talent for melody and pure tuneage.

Grammatics
Part emo, part indie, part epic pop, Grammatics aren't your usual blogosphere darlings. They won't exactly be soundtracking any Skins episodes or England sporting failure. But they'll gain a massive following if their album lives up to internet hype. The bass is scuzzy, the drums are complex, the guitars have the tone of typical emo band, the vocals are strained, the keys and strings are mournful. It sounds like it shouldn't work, but it does

The Chapman Family
To some they're "The worst band I have ever seen...an abomination". To others, they're the new Manics; snarling, sloganeering, superb. Back in reality, The Chapman Family aren't either, if I'm being honest. Although they have elements of the Manics (loud, angry, amazing, dumb punk fun), they are their own beast. One with the chance to become a highly important band during these "crunching" times.

Twisted Wheel
Successors to Oasis' lad-rock crown? Well according to a lot of critics, they probably are (after The Enemy, Kasabian, The View etc etc). In my opinion, they only have one good song at the moment; "Lucy The Castle" (although it sounds suspiciously like "Suffragette City" by Bowie) The rest sound like The Clash if they were utter garbage really. But they must have some appeal with the masses. If they pick up a bit of studio sheen and songwriting nous from supporting Oasis, their debut album could be pretty good.

Alexis Blue
Right, if they don't get big in the next 396 days, then I'll eat my hat! I don't even have a hat to eat, I'm going to have go out and buy one, just to eat it! AB have all the right ingredients for success but for some reason, not many people seem to have picked up on it, or at least noone with a whole lot of power within the music industry. I urge anyone reading this to check them out, as your musical taste will improve vastly.

MMVIII: songs

Vampire Weekend - A-Punk
As previously mentioned, "A-Punk" is pretty much the song of the summer, possibly even the year. The song that brought the band to a much, much wider audience than they would have reached had they become permanent residents of the blogosphere (I'm looking at you, Black Kids). A hit at with indie disco regulars, the chavvy ringtone crew, the Tesco mums and pretty much everyone, despite none of them having a clue what is being said throughout. the infectious "Hey hey hey hey!" chorus means the song latches onto your memory and doesn't let go. An antidote to the current hard times from the anti-Strokes, who are even more brilliant.

Keane - Spiralling
Well this was a surprise. Keane; the purveyors of banal, bland, inoffensive, piss-poor piano pop come out with a heavily 80s influenced monster of a choon, basslines and a riff that Franz Ferdinand would be proud of. Although not representative of the album as a whole, it's a song for the clubs, and for house parties, yet like "A-Punk", has pretty universal appeal. Still can't stand them though.

Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor
Starts of as typical Hot Chip and develops into the perfect pop song. Melodious, dreamy, yet definitely danceable. Alexis Taylor's vocals are dreamy and gentle, just on the right side of twee; a direct contrast to the clunky beats and funky synths behind. Add to that a scattering of guitar and a chorus that grows and grows on you, deserving to be heard by everyone.

Glasvegas - Flowers & Football Tops
For any band, it takes some confidence to put a song of four and a half minutes on your debut album, as this is the one thing that can make or break your career. But to have an almost 7 minute song as the opener of your album, and the first minute and 17 seconds of that as just feedback and noise takes cajones the size of the moon. That's what Glasvegas did in "F&FT". Based on the racial murder of a Glasgow schoolboy, the song goes through the heartbreak of losing a son, with a Spector-ish "Wall of Sound" and James Allan's unmistakable Glaswegian brogue. But it's the last two minutes where the song really turns epic. The drums stop and the feedback continues into "You Are My Sunshine" which cannot be described in word without sounding like hyperbole. But it definitely lives up to hype.

Friendly Fires - Paris
A few years ago, Franz Ferdinand were making the dancefloor seems like the greatest invention ever. Fast forward to now and a different FF are doing the exact same, but not with guitars; with cowbells, plenty of drums, and wave after wave of synth. This band is Friendly Fires. Three lads from St. Albans making a combination of shoegaze, disco and dance may not sound too appealing, but on "Paris", they show that it's a damn good idea. Romantic as can be in it's lyrics ("Every night, we can watch the stars/They'll be out for us") with a wall of noise not entirely dissimilar to Glasvegas, but much more lush and softer. It's as perfect a song can get, like a smoother, cooler brother of "Ready For The Floor"

Late Of The Pier - Heartbeat
LOTP have been described in many ways. From "the future of new rave" to "making Hadouken! look good", nothing really seems to suit them. Trying to pigeonhole them is as hard as trying to keep Pete Doherty off smack or getting Jordan to keep her clothes on, and this is no more evident than on their last and best single. Starting off sounding like a long lost Killers track with a megaton of synth, it suddenly moves into "Paranoid Android" territory and then straight into a manic chorus mix of Klaxons and The Strokes. By the end of the song, we've gone through MGMT, Radiohead, RATM and end on a Muse style rock-out. Genius.

Kings Of Leon - Sex On Fire
You can't deny how good this song actually is. It may not have too much hidden meaning and isn't exactly pushing any musical boundaries, but it has possibly the most bizzare chorus of any Number One of recent times (I'm just guessing here, but actual sex on fire must hurt. A lot). It's a simple slice of stadium rock, something to dance badly to at eighteenths, to bellow with mates whilst walking home from a night out, to "headbang" to in your room while noone's around.

The Teenagers - Homecoming
Not something you'd want to listen to around anyone who's offended easily. Fifteen utterances of "naughty" words, most of them pretty strong. Starting off almost like Joy Division, "Homecoming" quickly changes into sleazy Gallic mode with a pretty simple story; boy meets girl, girl falls in love with boy, boy only wants her for sex, boy and girl get it on, boy leaves. I suppose it could be described as most teenage lads dream really....well maybe not most....*ahem*. Anyway, it's basically a slightly cynical, slightly bitter, very dirty take on 21st Century relationships. Either that or just a chance to say some rude words in a pop song

Elbow - One Day Like This
Mercury Prize winners or not, this is still a brilliant song, Elbow's first big hit after 18 years as a band. The swirling strings, the dashings of piano every now and again, and Guy Garvey's brilliant lyrics ("Kiss me like we die tonight...") all combine to make a modern-day "Hey Jude"...well almost. A gospel added to the coda gives the song an almost hymn-like feel. It's something that's perfect for the festival crowds and will be a classic in years to come.

White Lies - Death.
In 2009 White Lies will be big. Actually scrap that, they're big now. Well in terms of their sound anyways. Sonically huge. A brooding bassline that Peter Hook will kicking himself for not thinking up, the crunch of guitar that aren't "angular" or "arty" for the first time in 4 years, a quivering string section, drums pounded to within an inch of their life. These are the ingredients to one of the best songs of the year, the exact opposite to the bright and breezy "A-Punk". "Death" unashamedly has its roots firmly in the 80s, but is also definitely now. By the end of next year, White Lies will be on everyones lips.