This is LA born Alexi Celine Wasser (hot isn’t she?); she runs a site called ‘I’m Boy Crazy’  (apologies to any boys reading this, you can really tell that the editor of this site is female – come and write for us and make it more virile).

The site is dedicated to blog posts, radio podcasts and other such media outlets providing advice for young girls that are fairly new to dating. The tagline for the site is: “a pep talk in the form of a slap in the face in the form of a blog” which pretty much sums it up. It’s refreshingly honest in a simple and effective manner. It is also really humorous in this honesty and very often the things that Alexi writes are SO VERY TRUE. It also frequently involves some of Alexi’s amusing life happenings. Think Karely Sciortino‘s Slutever but less sex orientated and less bizarre.

Words: Katie Wilkinson

Last weekend, music fans and music industry professionals ascended upon the South East Coast for Brighton’s Great Escape Festival for the sixth time since it started in 2006. Here’s a day by day review of the bands that I saw:

Thursday 

Band: Splashh   Venue: Blind Tiger

London grunge poppers , Splashh, played The Blind Tiger for a packed out, slightly sweaty show. The pub venue suited their harmonious indie jams. Although they are nothing to set the world on fire in term of individuality, they are very good at what they do. Expect to hear more from Splashh very soon.

Band: Lapalux   Venue: Audio

I’ve been digging both of Lapalux’s EPs a lot at the moment yet was quite disappointed by his live show; it needs a lot of work. Yes, he is very talented and everything was pretty smooth but nothing seemed to really be done on his behalf to draw people into his live show. The audience was just left there watching a stationary man click things on a laptop and twiddle a few knobs.

Band: Mystery Jets      Venue: The Corn Exchange

Having just released their Texas written album, Radlands, Mystery Jets were on fine form, with the new songs already going down well with the audience. They also played songs from their previous three albums as well which went down a storm and provoked a mass sing along. The boys pulled a near perfect set out of the bag once more. If there was anything that I didn’t enjoy bout the set, it was the multitude of revolting snogging couples present, other than that, I had a bloody wonderful time.

Friday 

Band: Swim Deep         Venue: Beyond Retro

I was lucky enough to catch the Swim Deep boys play a set in Beyond Retro suitably. Yet again (I’ve seen them a few times now), they proved that they definitely have soon brilliant indie pop songs under their belts already.  Check out the interview I did with them at a karaoke night here. 

Band: Nils Frahm   Venue: St. Mary’s Church

After being found alone on a park bench stabbing away at a Pesto salad by two friends, I got taken to the very beautiful, St. Mary’s Church, to see Nils Frahm. I’d never heard of him before but I’m so glad that I stumbled upon his set. His piano orientated masterpieces suited the venue beautifully.

Band: Friends     Venue: The Haunt

With having  their forthcoming debut album Manifest! on repeat and having interviewed Samantha on the phone a few days prior, I was really excited to catch Friends live. They lived up to my expectations with their energetic live performance. Sam had feathers attached to her head and the whole band were dancing suitably in time to their own electro pop numbers.

Band: Doldrums   Venue: The Haunt

I was really intrigued to see what Canadian producer, Doldrums, would be like live after hearing a few of his own songs as well as his work with Grimes. I expected him to be good but NOT THAT GOOD. He exceeded all of my expectations and ended up being my favourite act of the weekend. I’ve not danced like I did at The Haunt for a long time. I was alone as everyone else was busy seeing other acts but I was really going for it. Doldrums makes extremely good, unique dance music which is pretty tough not to dance to. I’m very much looking forward to hearing more from him soon. We also have an interview scheduled with him for next month. Watch this space!

Band: AlunaGeorge      Venue: Coalition

Having seen AlunaGeorge develop from something of an unfinished project to crafters of superb garage inspired electronic pop music, I was looking forward to seeing AlunaGeorge once more. Straight from supporting Friends, the London duo were on top form. Their songs were songs fresh, polished and pretty much perfect. I’m looking forward to hearing more material from them soon.

Band: St. Lucia      Venue: Audio

Photo by Deneka Peniston

After trying to decide who to see between Seams and Koreless, I somehow ended up seeing neither of them and went to White Heat at Audio and saw Neon Gold signed band, St. Lucia. This was not a bad decision as the band put on a really fun show, whilst proving that they do have a back catalogue of really catchy pop songs. This show was made even more fun and interesting by the dude that was standing by the barrier with his top off rubbing himself up against his equally drunk male friend, who genuinely didn’t seem to mind his friend’s actions .

Sunday 

Band: Mmoths    Venue: The Prince Albert

Having missed his set the day before and with his self-titled EP being one of my most listened to this year, I got up bright and early, with a hangover, to watch Mmoths play at 12:20pm in The Prince Albert. His music was definitely what I wanted to hear in my condition as it proved to be very soothing. His live show could do with being made a bit more interesting but it is early days yet and his set did show that he has a decent lot of songs up the sleeve of his vintage shirt.

Band: O’ Children    Venue: Urban Outfitters

In the past, I’ve admittedly never really been blown away by O’Children but this said, I’d never seen them play live. Their live performance was tight and their set of songs made me realise that I have been wrong about them; they can write decent dark indie pop songs after all. The new album was sounding really great.

Band: Karin Park    Venue: Urban Outfitters

Hailing from a small town in some Swedish woodland, Karin Park brought her atmospheric yet totally contagious electronic music to Urban Outfitters. Click here for the footage of it a quick interview with her.

Band: Regal Safari     Venue: Above Audio

Regal Safari are a band that I’ve always wanted to see but have always ended up missing for one reason or another when they’ve played in London. I did manage to catch them at Above Audio at The Great Escape. Their entrancing, ambient electronic ditties were sounding superb, however, their was no ambience present in the room because The Great Escape had decided to put them on in Above Audio in the middle of the afternoon with the sun shining through the windowpane. I lasted for two songs before deciding that it was pointless watching them in these conditions.

Band: Drop Out Venus     Venue: Horatio’s

Deptford group, Drop Out Venus, were the band that I was most blown away by other than Doldrums. They create enticing, grungy art rock that draws the listener in even more when performed live. Check out the interview I did with them here. 

Band: Haim     Venue: Audio

Trio of American sisters, Haim, presented their extreme talents to Audio, not only of their catchy traditional songwriting skills but also of their musical talents as all of them appeared to be pretty great musicians, particularly the guitarist who was busting out cracking solo after solo. However, despite being great, they should probably refrain from talking as their constant annoying audience banter on the subject of much they “love to party” and how “rock n roll” made me genuinely angry. Not cool girls, just irritating. I pray to God (not that I believe in God #hypocrite) that they do not continue to ruin their shows by vomiting such bullshit out of their mouths as they are genuinely really talented and have the potential to get really far.

Band: Perfume Genius    Venue: St. Mary’s Church

St. Mary’s Church was the perfect venue to watch Perfume Genius whack out his beautiful, gentle piano based  songs. It’s just a shame that I only managed to catch the end of his set but it was gorgeous non the less.

Band: Doldrums    Venue: The Green Door Store

Yes, I saw him again because I love him so much. The only thing that hindered this show was the lack of dancing from the audience in comparison to his first show.

Band: Halls         Venue: The Green Door Store

London based producer, Halls was the last act that I saw at The Great Escape and what a lovely act he was to finish with. The grimy brick walls of Green Door Store suited his lo-fi, airy electronic jams wonderfully. It was a mellow way to end a tiring but fun Great Escape Festival.

On the whole, I had a lovely time at The Great Escape this year. I will certainly be returning next year as I’m sure that the line-up will be just as impressive as this year. I look forward to my return!

Words: Katie Wilkinson 

Solar-Systems are electronic duo Laura and Oli; Laura is singer / lyric provider whilst Oli (previously of Dreamtrak) provided the production. Here’s what happened when I caught up with them for a brief chat:

 
Words / video by Katie Wilkinson 

One of the band’s that I was massively blown away by at The Great Escape Festival this year (full review coming soon y’all) were Deptford based trio, Drop Out Venus. Together they craft artistic, ambient grunge rock. Here’s what happened when I caught up with Iva from the band for a brief interview:

He does. I trust his opinion on this more than my own. 
 

We really love this new Solomon & Finder track. It’s also a free download which you can grab here. It’s been perfect for easing my awful Tuesday morning hangover (when will I learn to stay away from Sex On The Beach’s).

Words: Katie Wilkinson

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, AKA. Orlando Higginbottom is inviting young creatives to design him a headdress for his Bestival performance in September which will be televised over at channel 4.

The winner will receive mass exposure from TEEDS’ website as well as tickets (including travel costs and camping with a guest) to Bestival, a meet and greet with Orlando, a professional photograph and press feature for their professional portfolio.

On the subject of the competition, Orlando has said:  ”I’m always thinking about things I could wear on stage and I’m really excited to open this up to anyone who wants to get involved. I can’t wait to see people’s ideas for my head! Please remember I need to perform in whatever you design – I’ve got to be able to move around and I can’t have my ears covered. It has to be practical and fantastic in equal measure. Good luck!”

To enter just go here. 
 

Words: Katie Wilkinson

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs’ album, ‘Trouble’ is out 11th June on Warp Records. 

Photos: Hannah Cordingly 

Opening for Blood Red Shoes, The Cast of Cheers have been travelling non-stop for weeks now, we caught up with the majority of them before their penultimate gig at Leeds Cockpit, to chat about festivals, records and other musical jargon.

Freedom Spark: I thought there were four of you?

The Cast of Cheers: (Neil) Yeah there’s only three of us here to do the interview; we’ve lost Conor to a serious (Kevin) er scurvy, yeah scurvy. (John) The whole tour has been riddled with scurvy; I think Blood Red Shoes have lost two or three people to it. Me and Neil were sick a couple of days ago. (Neil) It’s a pirate’s life. Yeah we’re all quite run down. This has been an amazing tour though. It’s probably the most fun we’ve had on the road and Blood Red Shoes are just awesome so…

Freedom Spark: Has it been good touring with them?

CoC: (Kevin) Oh yeah, yeah. (John) Their crowds are just like well up for it. (Neil) I think we just get on well with them. We get on with Laura and Steve and also all their crew, so it’s a good personality match. Like we all joke about stupid things and they laugh at really really idiotic things so that’s good for us, you know. No-one’s too intelligent or maybe everyone’s super intelligent, I can’t tell.

Freedom Spark: So have you favoured certain cities? What are the crowds like in different cities?

CoC: (Neil) Manchester was amazing. That was probably my favourite gig of the tour. That was last Saturday, so maybe it was because it was a Saturday. I think you kind of notice when you do tours that weekends and weekdays differ. Weekends tend to be the more mental shows because people let loose a bit more and drink a bit more and stuff. (Kevin) Well also it’s like the University crowds, like Manchester. There it’s a really young crowd, like everyone’s moshing like crazy for Blood Red Shoes, like it was a lot of fun. (John) Oxford was a lot of fun as well. (Neil) You see a lot of places that we’ve been have been different than where we’ve played before. Obviously we were here like a month ago. I think tonight is gonna be a really good one as well though. Leeds is a good craic so it should be good. (Kevin)  Leeds is awesome.

Freedom Spark: So you have a new album coming out as well, that’s pretty exciting?

CoC: (John) Yeah well it feels like it’s kind of always been coming out, it’s been like six months since we finished it so we’re just itching to get it out there. We want people to hear it. Our songs and our set list are from the new album so we really can’t wait to get it out.

Freedom Spark: Are there any songs that we haven’t heard that are on it?

CoC: (Kevin) Oh yeah. (John) There’s quite a few yeah. Er we’ve released two singles from it so ‘Family’ and ‘Animals.’ They’re obviously on it and then there’s gonna be a few more singles coming out from it as well. (Neil) Yeah the next single’s gonna be called ‘Human Elevator’ and that’s just gonna be the single to drop the album with, I think that’s gonna be the last single before the album comes out and then once the album comes out, there might be more singles. Depends on how everyone feels about it, depends on if anyone likes the album or not.

Freedom Spark: I’m sure they will. I really loved Family. A lot of people compared it to Foals, how do you feel about that?

CoC: (Neil)  Erm we’ve always sort of got that like with the first album we did, Chariot, I know like Conor… well we were listening to Foals and we love Foals, we think they’re awesome so there is that influence but… (Kevin) there’s a lot more influence in there as well. (John) It’s not, we don’t sort of step into that. We don’t wanna be compared to any band like we do our own thing but… (Neil) I think Chariot the first album was a lot more heavily influenced, I mean Connor listened to a lot of Antidotes at the time so Chariot was kind of that angular guitar that sort of… like Family off the new record was the most similar track to anything that could be comparable with Foals or anything like that. (Kevin) Well yeah if you like Foals stuff you know, you might like ours.

FS: And you brought it out on vinyl didn’t you?

CoC: (Neil) Yeah well the new album is gonna be on vinyl.

FS: Did you buy any records at Record Store Day?

CoC: Record Store Day… Where were we? (John) We were somewhere weird. (Neil) Yeah we were playing a gig somewhere so no we didn’t buy any records on Record Store Day, which is terrible. It was just one of those days we just got in late and we’re on an extreme budget so records would be a luxury at this stage (John) but we do all live in a house in Stratford in East London and we have a record player in the kitchen and like forty or fifty vinyls there so by the time any of us sees a good deal on a record, we’ll have that.

FS: So what’s your favourite song that you’ve brought out? ‘Loose Talk at a Party’ was pretty well received…

CoC: (Kevin) Yeah I was gutted that didn’t make the cut for the album. (John) Well we actually haven’t talked about this but it kind of did… No it didn’t, sorry I’m thinking of another song. (Neil) No, no that’s the B-side of ‘Family.’ No no that’s ‘Fuzzy Bear’… completely different story, a lot of the names changed. When we went to record the album there was about 25, between 25 and 30 tracks and we knew there was only going to be 10 or 11 on the album so it was basically about cutting down the 25 or 30 to the best 10. So there was lots of tracks like ‘Loose Talk’ at a party that were just there at like number 11 or 12 that we would have liked to put on but they just didn’t fit on for whatever reason, it wasn’t that they weren’t a good enough track. It was just that they maybe didn’t fit with the certain theme that the album had. So there is a few tracks that I think will be B-sides and there’s talk, I dunno, it’s just an idea that we’ve had so it may never happen but what we’d love to do is… there’s a song on the album called ‘Trucks’ at night and I think we all really love that track. It’s got a certain vibe to it and when we made that song, there was also like four or five songs that were all very similar to ‘Trucks’ at night and I think to maybe in like 6 months to a year away from now just make like a little EP with those like 6 or 7 songs but again that’s only an idea, I don’t know where we are with that yet.

FS: So, what is the theme for the album?

CoC: (Neil) I think it’s more mixed, like with the first album, Chariot, it was more… Conor was reading a lot of apocalyptic books and it was kind of heavily influenced by that, whereas this one is a lot more broad with its range of themes. There’s just like lots of relationship stuff in there I think. (John) friends, family. (Neil) Well definitely family but, yeah I think it’s kind of open to interpretation as well because we were talking about this before in an interview and us three all said, ‘I thought that song was about this’, like we all had different ideas and Conor was like no its actually not about any of those things but I think he likes people kind of taking their own meanings from it and I know like he leaves his lyrics open to interpretation and letting people take their own things from it.

FS: So does Conor write all of the songs or do you all chip in?

CoC: (Neil) Yeah Conor is the main songwriter in the band, he will pretty much write everything. Usually he plays guitar at home or whatever so he’ll write loops and he’ll write melodies and he’ll write the lyrics to go along with that maybe at the time or maybe later and then he brings it to all of us and we’ll all play it together as a band. (Kevin)  And obviously it grows, like sometimes we’ll like have an idea that, you know, changes it or takes it in a different direction.

FS: And you’re going on tour to Australia right? Are you pretty excited for that?

CoC: (Neil) Yeah we’re really excited. Well we found out we were doing… and just to be on the same line up as like Bloc Party, Smashing Pumpkins, it’s just like insane… and then we found out we were doing SideShows with Django Django and in the last couple of months we’ve all gotten into their album so just to be playing with a cool band is just awesome. (Kevin) Yeah that’s one that’s been playing in the van at night when we’re driving around from place to place (Neil) and the fact that its happening in Australia is just amazing. It’s like a big holiday for us, I think we’re all looking forward to it.

FS: Who else have you been on the bill with that you admire?

CoC: (Neil) Last year we played at a fruit… well we played at a festival called Forbidden Fruit in Dublin and there was a really cool lineup there. We played with Battles and we’re all massive fans of Battles. Caribou were on there too and they’re awesome. So it was really cool to see Battles and Caribou in Dublin because that’s where we’re from so like to be on the same bill as them. (John) Also, Aphex Twin. (Neil) Yeah we were on the same bill as Aphex Twin. He was headlining the mainstage and we were headlining the smaller stage and we were like fuck this, nobody is going to come see us over Aphex Twin and we were actually really surprised to see when we walked onto the stage that there was a full tent and it just got fuller and you know there was people stuck outside so that was incredible.

FS: Do you think that your crowds have built up since the last album then?

CoC: (Neil) Yeah definitely, I mean even this tour with Blood Red Shoes, I think we could see since the start of it, people didn’t really… you know they can see on the poster or whatever ‘support band: Cast of Cheers’ and maybe there was a few people there to see us but definitely 99% of the people are there to see Blood Red Shoes but even in the last few gigs I think there’s been more people who’ve taken interest which has been good, there’s been good reviews written and stuff (Kevin) There’s been people calling for songs like, it’s been really good to see that as a support gig, people calling for songs is pretty incredible.

FS: So were Blood Red Shoes a band that you liked before?

CoC: (Neil) Yeah definitely yeah, they are on the same management company that were on so that’s how I first heard of them actually like a year and a half ago or something like that. I didn’t actually know them before then but I got their album and I really liked it and they’ve got a new album coming out now (Kevin) Yeah they put it out to stream first and yeah it’s really good. Amazing. (John) We actually did Berlin music festival in 2010. We were opening up the main stage in this disused airport, it’s a crazy place for a festival and we opened up the stage and I think a band or two after us Blood Red Shoes played, they were just hoofing it out and I couldn’t believe a two-piece was making this much noise. We were just like ‘who the fuck are these guys?’ and that’s the first time I’d heard of them. (Neil) That was actually the first time we heard them. (John) They were awesome. I think Laura actually tweeted a couple of months ago ‘who do you guys want to support us on the UK tour’ and a few people said ‘The Cast of Cheers’ and then she looked into us and she liked us so they asked us and they actually said to us on the first night ‘it had nothing to do with the fact that we’ve got the same management team or anything like that’ They went past the team to get us so it’s really pretty humbling. (Neil) I think Blood Red Shoes, they’re pretty rock and roll in the old sense of the word as in like they won’t do anything ever just because the record company tells them, they’re their own people definitely. They do things their way so a suggestion from the record company or the management company about us supporting wouldn’t sit well with them at all. It was definitely their decision, they wanted us to tour and they’ve made points like Steve has even said to the crowd like ‘you know we don’t tour with just any old band, these are the fucking Cast of Cheers and they’re great so everybody should become fans and buy their t-shirts’. (Kevin) Yeah they’ve shown us a lot of love.

FS: So in that management company are you looked after by the other bands?

CoC: (Neil) Er well I can’t say… We don’t actually know other bands on the company, I mean Blood Red Shoes are one and Two Door Cinema Club who we’ve played with quite a few times. Two Door are like personal friends who we knew before we even signed with this management company but apart from that with other bands… I think Maximo Park and stuff, I don’t actually know those guys so apart from Two Door Club and Blood Red Shoes I don’t know if there’s any.

FS: That’s quite unusual though, because I know with other companies they tour together…

CoC: (Neil) Well I guess the music is quite different and they have completely different plans in place and like back in Dublin there’s an independent label called The Richter Collective and our manager Mick Roe, he actually is the head of the label and a lot of the Richter bands will tour together and even we’ve jumped on a lot of Richter shows even though we weren’t signed to Richter so on that side of things we always felt we were in that group or a part of them.

FS: What festivals are you doing this year then?

CoC: (Neil) we’re playing Y Not Festival, Latitude. (Kevin) Then there’s Melt in Germany which is going to be amazing. (Neil) Forbidden Fruit that’s the festival I was talking about. (Kevin) Belsonic in Northern Ireland with Two Door Cinema Club (Neil) and Noah and the Whale. (John) I don’t know those guys (Neil) They’re [some brilliant humming going on] that’s their song isn’t it? I think (John) erm no (Neil) It doesn’t matter… We do have a few other festivals but they just haven’t been announced yet so we have a busyish summer. (Kevin) It’s really good fun. We’re dedicated… drunks, no we’re not. (Neil) This tour has been pretty boozy. (John) It sure has. Eurgh. I was dead yesterday; I only came through today so that was hard-core dedicated drinking for about 48 hours. (Neil) I was also dead yesterday, made the mistake of going out with Blood Red Shoes’ sound engineer, Mikey, who is a tank.

FS: Were you here last night?

CoC: (Neil) Yeah we met up with Blood Red Shoes at a bar and we were like one drink in and Mikey, who was still going from the night before, was just bouncing on the spot and I was like no I can’t do this I just need to let my body chill for at least 12 hours so we didn’t last too long last night (Kevin) I’m feeling fresh today though.

http://www.thecastofcheers.com/ 

Words: Sophie Stones 

Wanna see an old man do interpretive dance around various areas of Manchester? Well you can below in the video for Swiss Lips‘ new single ‘Danz.’ I don’t care that they sound extremely similar to Is Tropical, I fucking love it.

Words: Katie Wilkinson

Now Wave’s ‘Sounds of the North’ event has been bestowing excitement on the city ever since it was announced earlier this year. The gig will be held in a disused office block in Manchester’s esteemed Spinningfield’s district and will see the effusive and nostalgic Alt-J headline along with sets from M O N E Y and No Ceremony /// ‘s worldwide live premier- but it doesn’t just stop there. Also on the bill will be Pins, of whom released their beautiful, glittering tapes (of which the first edition has now sold out and the second of which is set to do the same, with only a limited number available to pick up in-store at Oldham Street’s Piccadilly Records). The bill will also be joined by Liverpool’s mystical Stealing Sheep and Great Waves- at only £8 a ticket for a blinding bill that provides six hours of some of Britain’s best new bands, what’s not to love?

Along with this, America’s freshest experimental hip-hop culprits Death Grips will be collaborating with the Now Wave boys on their second Manchester show together (last year’s gig at the petite Islington Mill, really was something destructively special) as they transport their latest live rounds, in support of their newest release ‘The Money Store’. The show will also be marking the closing of 2012’s Future Everything Festival which will also see the likes of Shabazz Palaces and Forest Swords play numerous alternative venues around the city.

Speaking of Islington Mill, Jon and Wesley are also putting on Grimes in this, well, converted cotton mill on her latest trip to the UK. Grimes? What? Don’t even tell me you don’t know of Claire Boucher- mine and Katie’s total girl crush with fabulous hair and crazy tattoos?! We reviewed visions (SWOON) over here and her visceral performance in support of the record will hit the mill this coming month so expect haunting vocals, creepy visuals and a whole truckload of bizarre props.

Finally but by no means least, one of my favourite duo’s to emerge from Vancouver since, well, forever, Japandroids are indeed coming back to the UK (FINALLY!!!) to play new tracks off their next effort ‘Celebration Rock’ (and no doubt some old favourites) in the intimate setting of the Soup Kitchen basement. Soup Kitchen is one of the achingly cool bars and eateries in Manchester’s trendy Northern Quarter district and their basement gig space is literally, like the size of my kitchen (I.E. TINY) so if you do have one of the now sold-out tickets within your clasp (hold onto it tight cos im hunting you down…no, seriously, help a sister out) expect a complete and utter rawkus to power through Manchester’s underground and a whole host of sing-a-long good old rock n roll.

For more information on any upcoming Now Wave shows, keep up to date on their Facebook and Twitter pages- tickets for their shows are also available here

Words: Leah Connolly 

So, here you have it, our first venture into promotion. We are in the company of the lovely Sarah Thompson, founder of Roundhouse Radio’s The Filthy Disco. 

The night will be at The Old Queen’s Head in Islington; one of our favourite venues in London and we’ll both be DJing all night until 1am. But most importantly, here’s the line-up:

Headlining we have Blood Music who we interviewed here. We’re looking forward to them bringing their ambient rock music to the stage as well as their trippy visuals which are made by Ivana Bobic. 

We also have broody electro-rock quintet Torches playing who we saw smash Catch in Shoreditch a couple of weeks ago.

We’re also excited to host London based, grungy punk band Traams who have developed quite a reputation for their energetic live sets.

Doors are at 7:30 and it’s FREE ENTRY. 

Facebook RSVP.