Leeds, Stag & Dagger

for (www.musosguide.com)

Stag & Dagger Leeds
Friday May 22
Various Venues

It would be easy to dismiss an event sponsored by Vice and Firetrap as cheap throwaway hipster nonsense. It would also be easy to look at the majority of the crowd and expect the same. A Bravery for 2009 perhaps. But then there’s the matter of the most impressive and varied lineups ever to grace the working men’s clubs and University bars of Leeds.

First on the agenda are Abe Vigoda at TJs Woodhouse, branding the audience with their own brand of tropical power-punk. Despite a recent lineup change and near constant technical difficulties the Los Angeles four-piece give a tight and thoroughly agreeable performance, climaxing with a joyous rendition of ‘Skeleton’. Abe Vigoda, unfortunately, have the problem that they are followed on the bill by three of the greatest live acts of today, so many of the nuances and fine distinction of their intricate guitar lines grow hazy in memory.

Crystal Antlers do not suffer from this problem. On record they pass themselves off as a fairly dull and trite affair, but stick the guys on a stage and suddenly a whole new beast is created. The wall of noise sound, intercepted by bongo rhythms and wailing vocals perfectly suit the fairly diminutive surroundings, giving the impression of a primal explosion of noise. Crystal Antlers are complimented perfectly by the visceral delights of White Denim who seem intent on allowing their fans to expel their entire bodily fluids through their foreheads with an unstoppable half hour jam of Workout Holiday favourites and newies, cutting and pasting sections of different songs together to create a patchwork setlist that makes them simply irresistible and sends a jolt of electricity through the packed out crowd. It would be easy to dismiss White Denim as the sum of their parts, southern rock MC5 wannabes perhaps, but their performances certainly are unique.

The Mae Shi step up to the plate next, with the solid groundwork of a band renowned for their chaotic and charismatic live shows. It’s a shame then that something may have been lost somewhere over the Atlantic, because for the majority of their set, try as they mae (sorry) they can’t seem to find the magic today. Perhaps it could be attributed to the loss of a member or to several overzealous superfans jumping into a fairly sparse crowd but the first several songs fall rather flat. Despite these early jitters the band manage to pull out few tricks from their sleeves, covering the crowd in a giant tent and a sit-down singalong pull in the strays from the bar and the added numbers create an atmosphere sorely missing for the first half of the set. The Shi respond in kind, hugging stage invaders and throwing themselves into the throng at every opportunity before launching into a superb rendition of ‘Run to Your Grave’. The pinnacle of the night comes as security pull the plug, the band grab their mics and serenade the audience to cries of ‘Fuck the Police’ goading fans onto the stage for one final dance before they’re on their merry way.

A quick jog over town leads to the Brudenell brings the band with easily the biggest buzz surrounding them, Cursive. Dinosaurs of the alt-rock world their devoted fanbase is out in force to scream every lyric from the bottom of their lungs into the ears of anyone who cares to listen. On record their writhing anthems can create a sense of real emotion and raw feeling but on stage all they cause is numb feet and the urge to squeeze out for a cigarette. A below-par setlist consisting mostly of songs from new album Mama I’m Swollen, falls distinctly flat each song merging into a grey pulp of sound, nothing distinct or particularly impressive. Perhaps it would be unfair to compare the performance with those seen earlier. Cursive certainly would not feel the need to resort to gimmicks or trickery to win over an audience, but the standalone properties of many of the songs on show wasn’t enough to warrant watching a miserable old man ranting at screaming fanboys.

Just an opinion.

Get Wavving

2008 wasn't really the greatest year for music. The big guns omitted to put out any really great records and, the indie masses had to reply on decent offerings from middle-weight bands like frightened rabbit and m83 to keep them in their chosen state of mild indifference.

But underneath a sleek hipster visade a few really really great bands slipped under the radar.

For me 2008 was a year of noise pop. No Age sold a few records in the US and got a supporting slot with hyperbole art-poppers Los Campesinos! in the UK and Times New Viking made a few fans on the same lineup. HEALTH couldn't decide if they were a dance-punk or a noise band and ended up as a startling imitation of Liars (in the days they used to write actual songs).

And on the message boards, bearded sweater lovers went (quite rightly) mad for Women and Wavves.

These are two truly excellent bands, Women for their droning slow burning autistic masterpiece of an album and Wavves for putting the fun back in music with angsty beach pop anthems wedged somewhere between JFA and Iggy Pop.

What the next year holds for these bands and how they progress remains to be seen but for now i'm quite happy in a hazy bubble of fuzz and imaginary beaches.

Wavves - So Bored
Women - Black Rice

This Band Could Be Yr Life

Lovvers

In the current musical climate it seems everybody who has heard an Oasis or Libertines song can create a band, play a gig, become NME darlings, blow the Top 40, become NME villains and fade into obscurity within the space of around three and a half minutes. It seems the times call for a saviour. Or very fast songs.
Lovvers debut LP, Think, (if you can call it that), clocks in at around 13 minutes. Every second of that record sounds absolutely vital. Guitars sprawl and contort around each mini-masterpiece, ‘No Romantics’ a particular highlight. The track perfectly captures the sweaty, spiky sneer of their live set.
I can recall the exact second fell in love with the band. They were playing staple London indie-geek house London’s ‘Pure Groove’, taking exception to the chin stroking audience they took every opportunity to flail their instruments, limbs and, indeed, whole bodies at the audience.
Lovvers’ sound is reminiscent of Sonic Youth playing Pavement songs while an ADHD Iggy Pop struts atop the amps. They would be far more at home with the LA ‘Smell’ bands such as ‘No Age’ and ‘HEALTH’ than hailing from their respective cigarette butt towns across the UK. Not that this has had any effect on Lovvers’ sense of performance – ask them nicely enough and they might even play in your house - although it would probably be best to hide anything fragile. Their 80s punk ethos are definitely in check - they may be short, but they definitely ain’t sweet.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/mzzizrjzt2m/02 No Romantics Download