Ah, so you know Wolf Gang right? Well… “who?”
It was a rhetorical question, don’t you even read the blog? “no, it’s a bit pants to be honest”
Humph. Ok, well Wolf Gang is like… “Wolf Gang as in Mozart!?”
No! Be quiet for christsakes! So Wolf Gang is a one man musical genius making machine. “A bit like Mozart then?”
Sigh, Wolf Gang is a one man POP MUSIC genius machine. The last singles Night Flying and Pieces Of Me (both out through the S.U.P.E.R. cool Neon Gold label) were more than brilliant and Max (McElligott, that’s his real name see) has just released another top tune, The King And All Of His Men (check the official vid below)
Wolf Gang – The King And All Of His Men
And if you liked that, then Wolfie will be at Hoxton Bar & Grill on Nov 18th with another of our favourites Clock Opera and Marina And The Diamonds for a Levi’s Ones To Watch show. Gonna be a very sweet night that one, there’s also a Neon Gold party on December 1st to try to blag your way into too!
In the meantime here’s a couple of tasty mixes, first up last month’s OIW headliners, the 22-piece all girl alt-choir Gaggle, and not to be outdone, those cool cats Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs have also waded in with a mix.
Player Piano doing their homework for their OIW show on Wednesday…
Yep, the lads are playing a show for us at The Old Queens Head this Wednesday (11th Nov) and are on at 8:45 so be early! You can then also catch the awesome MARINER’S CHILDREN followed by TREETOP FLYERS afterwards! It’s going to be another great night, and here’s a link to get your flyer for cheap entry too (just £5!)… LINK!
Woo, only a week to go before our great big OIW shindig down at The Old Queens Head (that’s Islington, London folks) on November 11th! We’ve already previewed our fantastic openers Player Piano, now here’s a taste of the super main support for the night… Mariner’s Children!
Mariner's Children kicking out the jams
These guys are something else, they just performed at the Roundhouse as part of the BBC Emerging Proms and are heading off for some dates with Peggie Sue following their appearance at OIW next week. Think along the lines of the dark, endearing qualities of The Decemberists with the earnest beauty of Cherbourg. Here’s a great track we’ve managed to get hold of from the guys, ‘It Carved Your Name Into the ground’.
Mariners Children – ‘It Carved Your Name Into the ground’ Download (right click, save as)
Aw, it’s going to be great! And Treetop Flyers are also along to headline with Dave Depares flying back from the US (we like to think especially for the show) to fill your ears with wonderful sounds from the DJ booth all night. More details on the Facebook event HERE and your flyer to get in for a fiver is below, woo!
Yeah, we wish we lived there, but we don’t, so sunny old London will have to do. Anyhow, SSB are led by Benjamin Curtis, formerly of Secret Machines, joined by twin sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza. If you haven’t had a listen to the record yet then you should really blag, steal or indeed BUY it (you can get it from the Full Time Hobby site directly HERE). The last track on the record is a dreamy, euphoric stunner, one of those that makes it feel like spring is breaking again, like the soundtrack to the climatic cinematic moment just before the credits roll. It’s called “My Cabal” and here it is along with a gorgeous alternative version of “Half Asleep”…
(There’s also an amazing early demo version of “White Elephant Coat” on the Blouse blog here that we highly recommend you check out too)
Great news then that they’re coming back over here for an ICA show on December 4th and for the My Bloody Valentine curated “Nightmare Before Christmas” ATP on December 6th too! Woop, another reason to go to Butlins this December!
Following our Oxjam exploits, OIW is back for another top show at London’s Old Queens Head on November 11th (that’s a week today kids!)!
We’ll have the wonderful Treetop Flyers and Mariners Children on the bill, and we’re also super damn excited to have Player Piano opening the night for us. These guys came under our radar very recently and we’ve fallen head over heels in love with them already!
Player Piano
We’re not the only ones though, Player Piano have already have their tunes spun on Radio 1 and 6music as well as signing to King Creosote’s Fence label. It’s hard as hell to reference them as every track seems to take in something else, but here’s a starter just for you folks, the top tune “Anything At All” along with some of the press adoration these guys are getting already. Enjoy and we’ll see you on the 11th! (facebook event here)
Now go check out some more at the Player Piano myspaz HERE!
“BREAKING ACT”, The Sunday Times:
“In most instances, a debut release’s appeal is down to a certain tentativeness and innocence — great potential, as yet only partly fulfilled. In Player Piano’s case, however, it is the completeness, the fully realised grandeur of Radway’s first EP, Into the Dark, that so impresses. Evoking solo-Lennon string arrangements, the unfettered creativity of early Bowie and the Walker Brothers, and the vocal plangency of Chris Martin and Rufus Wainwright, it tugs at the heartstrings and ensnares you with the scope of its ambition.”
“TRACK OF THE DAY”, Q Magazine Online:
Vocally, former Indiana native (now London-based) Jeremy Radway sounds like a more lazily delivered, more articulate, Julian Casablancas crossed with the baritone depth of John Grant from The Czars.
Instrument-wise by the time the piano flourishes kick in on Mad Dog there’s reminders of Ben Folds (Whatever And Ever, Amen period) and vocal harmonies/arrangements that might not sound out of place on an Ed Harcourt album.
All of these references might give you some idea or just serve to confuse, but they do illustrate the mercurial melting pot of Player Piano. As I’m writing this I’m now thinking Beck as well – probably best to just have a listen and decide for yourself…”
Q MAGAZINE Online
“However he dresses his tunes, Radway’s innate pop sensibilities and deadpan showmanship make for hugely entertaining viewing, like Eels or Ben Folds, only with better tunes.”
THE LIST:
“Indiana bred/ London based Jeremy Radway – he who plays piano – is remarkable. Bearing by no means unflattering resemblance to Mark Oliver ‘E’ Everett and Ed Harcourt, Radway combines their effortless songcraft with the sheen of Jon Brion.”
Congratulations to the organisers of the Oxjam show in Shepherd’s Bush last night (Dave, Becca and everyone else involved), it was a top night and a great atmosphere in Ginglik (who would’ve thought it used to be a victorian toilet!).
Alessi's Ark - Enjoying a well deserved cup o' tea after her Oxjam show
We were treated to sets from a bunch of wonderful folk including Alessi’s Ark, Reid Morrison of Treetop Flyers, 6 Day Riot and Run Toto Run, and we had fun DJing and crazy-dancing behind a curtain when the acts were on, plus it was damn busy and all for a charitable cause. Well done guys!
Oh, I also thought at one point that I had won tickets to Disney Land in the tombola but it turned out it was dinner for 2 at the Aldwyn. Gutted! But still, a free dinner is a free dinner. Ha, well done whoever did win those tickets!
You can keep up with the Oxfam / Oxjam goings on at their blog HERE folks, they do a lot of wonderful things so support them or get involved if you can.
Oh, and a final OIW plug in there, Reid Morrison will be playing with his top band, Treetop Flyers, at OIW in just over a week. It shall be ace, details on facebook HERE x
Hola!
tonight OIW are heading down to Ginglik (Sheps Bush) to DJ at an Oxfam event between sets from Alessis’ Ark, 6 Day Riot, Run Toto Run and Reid Morrison. Yep, it’s a charity affair for Oxjam so that’s even more reason for you to make it out! Full details on the Oxjam blog HERE folks!
Things kick off at 7pm and it will be proper busy so we recommend you getting there early! As a taster here’s one of tonight’s stars, the lovely Run Toto Run, performing their own special cover of Passion Pit’s “Sleepyhead”. Nice.
A friend of ours played us a bunch of stuff recently and this was one of them, it’s those kids the gUiLLeMoTs (if you want to spell it correctly) covering Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out”. There’s a wonderful, husky, blues intro before the track frenetically kicks in and manically spirals towards it’s close.
But it was really the intro that grabbed me, and it reminded me of another track too, a live version of Wonderwall that Ryan Adams did, yep you guessed it, a husky, blues version. Here are the tracks for you folks to have a listen, if anyone knows of any other cover versions like this then drop us a line!
“I don’t want to go out”, I said, “I’m jetlagged, irritable and I have no clean underwear!”
“Watch this” my wise friend said, “you’ll change your mind”.
And hellz yeah I did. Obviously the hype surrounding Brooklyn’s The Drums has been unavoidable. “New York’s official Coolest New Band…this might be the most contagiously energetic NYC band of the past 10 years” say the NME; “One of the best indie pop debuts of the year” say Rolling Stone, and many other people of note have been saying similar things all equating to “OH WOW, THEY’RE AMAZING!! THEY MAKE MY BRAIN EXPLODE IN WONDER!! I WANT TO MAKE LOVE TO THIS MUSIC!!!! THIS MUSIC WILL HELP ME TO MAKE LOVE FOR LONGER!! THIS IS MY SUBSTITUTE FOR VIAGRA!!” You get the idea, the general vibe amongst the people who are paid to know is that The Drums are very good and you should definitely be name-checking them.
So last night, despite jetlag and the need for clean pants, I headed down to the Barfly to check out what’s so great about these Drums. Turns out, loads and loads. Industry types turned up in abundance, indicative of the a&r scrum that’s surrounding them right now. But despite an audience full of industry wankers and little in the way of G.P., The Drums made these generally cynical people move in ways that made them forget who they were. This is surf-pop with a difference. Sure, it’s sunny, there are whistled refrains, their first single is called ‘Let’s Go Surfing’ (released on Moshi Moshi) for God’s sake, but this is more than just a summer band. They’re surf-post-punk-with-a-bit-of-synth-a-hugely-enigmatic-frontman-backing-girlie-singers-and-a-crazy-tambourine-playing-man-with-hypnotising-loose-hips. This genre is what all the kids are digging down in Willamsburg. Possibly.
It never quite worked out with Plants and Animals playing a last-minute OIW show when they were over last year, which is a shame as they’re a great band this lot from Montreal, Canada.
Plants And Animals
In fact we might play some of their stuff at our special OIW DJ set for Oxjam on Monday, with the wonderful Alessi’s Ark, our upcoming Old Queens Head stars Treetop Flyers plus Manchester lovely types Run Toto Run.
Yep, we’ll be manning the decks for charity and drunkenly taking you through the night with a set of undoubtable genius, featuring some tracks we haven’t actually thought about yet. It all takes place at Ginglik in Sheps Bush and should be a lot of fun!
Example of giant sunglasses - these are probably too big though folks
In a related question, if anyone has any oversized sunglasses (or regular oversized glasses in fact) and perhaps a pirate hat and eyepatch we can borrow for the night then let us know. Er, yeah. So here’s an ace track from Plants and Animals, yay!
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