gotwit?

The Scene and the Fans

People who dress like a neon snellen chart seem to like music made by graduates of the ADHD generation.

Swings and Roundabouts

In truly predictable fashion, the internet backlash against last year’s X-Factor headline grabbers Jedward upon delivering the video for their latest single, a cover of Blink-182’s ‘All the Small Things’, has begun.

If you’re not well versed in X Factor-ology, the Irish twins single handedly brought the maligned Saturday night talent show into a whole new realm of obscure ‘what on earth won’t Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh do to boost ratings’ scenes, and delivered (arguably accidentally) some of the finest entertainment ITV has managed in years. Bouncing around without talent in dance, rhythm nor pitch, they swanned through to the later stages of the competition with notoriety, and gathered admirers and haters in equal measures.

No surprise then, that this two headed, birth-defect child of the latest generation of cowell/walsh-ite pop music provoked disdain upon tackling not the already-diabolically substanceless likes of Britney Spears, Vanilla Ice and Ricky Martin, but one of the founding fathers of a large part of the current supposed antiphony of ‘made for market talent show karaoke’.

Before the recorded single or video had reached the public ear, Facebook groups mimicking the “Battle of Britain” seen at  Christmas between the actual winner of 2009’s X Factor, Joe McElderry, and long standing rebellious alternawangst rap-rock Rage Against the Machine had sprung to life to combat the evil overlords of pop once more.

For all the plus points of that campaign - the donations to charity, the open-air free show in Hyde Park and the frankly staggering 500,000 copies shifted, present were the things that sometimes make the ‘alternative music scene’ a big hypocritical, arrogant embarrassment;

The condescending elitism shown by fans of ‘alternative rock’ towards pop music is flabbergastingly dull and ignorant sometimes, though I agree Simon Cowell and the X Factor contestants should not get to have a Christmas Number One by default and that a reminder to them that they can’t just have their way is not a bad thing - some people genuinely love pop music and hate rock music, and surely that’s something not to be berated for by those who are the self-professed ‘open-minded’?

Even worse here than a soundalike rehash by some slightly alien looking twins intent on some sort of global takeover is the indication that a form of music originally gaining popularity because it was fun, and an alternative to both the self-important, father-hating, morose, angry metal AND the churned out pop of the time has lost it’s sense of humour.

Though Jedward cannot and do not claim to be bonafide artistes, it’s infinitely more maddening to see that the newer generation of pop punk fans seemingly can’t see Blink for what they are - three guys who just did what they wanted and made what are essentially sped up simple pop songs with guitars. They didn’t sell out, they got where they wanted to be doing what they want, and propped themselves up with toilet humour where their live show let them down. Despite rafts and rafts of great bands springing from that big bang of pop-punk that are supposed ‘legitimate artists’, the transition of the pop-punk scene from being the subject of much elitist prickery and not giving a shit, to being the perpetrator of the same thing is a little disheartening, if not disappointingly predictable.

Some of the comments on the Jedward YouTube video read like they were written by the crazed moron N-Dubz fans who had text messages instead of English lessons at school, and if there’s any real death in the “spirit of pop-punk” evident, then it’s on display in the new generation of kids who listen to it, not with the next generation of unabashed pop taking on a song well-loved across the board.

PS

If I was writing a top ten including live music, I should probably have put these in as well (cheers Maryam). That’s why I should stick to just having releases in there…

Groezrock Festival

Absolute stormer of a festival. So excited I got to go and work there this year and met some ridiculous people.

I haven’t been further away from home than France in like 6 years, so ending up in a field in the shit end of nowhere in Belgium was great fun, and the line up was storming, volcano disruptions asides.

Great weekend that could maybe do with being a 3 dayer, but fantastic value nonetheless. This is where I decided I want to marry Gus from Young Guns.

Massively long-winded review can be found here

Set Your Goals / New Found Glory / FIreworks @ FIghting Cocks, Kingston

One of the sillyest things I’ve ever witnessed. Set Your Goals playing at the Cocks was awesome enough, but New Found Glory popping in to say hello and play four songs will be up there with the finest moments that the good folks at Banquet Records will ever produce. Would love to see them top it.

A full breakdown of the fun here

2010 in music so far…

Quarters one and two of 2010 have been packed full of brilliant lines ups in the UK, and a barrage of new music from promising new artists and established veterans -

To indulge of some voluntary self-importance for a moment, I thought I’d compose a list of my top ten things that have happened this year so far. I was going to confine it to releases, but there have been some rather special events that need a mention.

Ten - Blitz Kids: Scavengers

Kicking off the top ten is a band that work and play hard. Spazzy pop-rock magic from somewhere more northern than my southern brain can comprehend, Blitz Kids’ stop gap release preceding an album later in the year is as self assured as it is interesting, and a must here for anyone with an ear for something a bit different.

You can see Blitz Kids at this year’s Hevy festival on the Red Bull bedroom jam stage.

I reviewed this EP for Punktastic, and you can read that review here

Nine - Rx Bandits at Camden Underworld (June 2nd)

Rx Bandits have always been brilliant live, but their show at the underworld was nothing short of breathtaking. This willl probably end up being my favourite set of the year from any band, and was a fantastic showcase of what all bands should aspire to in terms of talent and chemistry.

I reviewed this show for Punktastic. You can read that review here

Eight - Straight Lines: Persistence in this Game

 A stunning debut album from a band with the   potential to be one of the UK’s best. A sonic mash up somewhere in the zone of Hayley’s Williams’ younger Welsh brother meets Billy Talent, the quality of songwriting and huge choruses Straight Lines have crammed on the record is astonishing.

I’ve no doubt this will end up on a few best-of lists for the year, and the band’s appearances at festival’s this summer should see them rightfully get the attention they deserve.

Eight - March of the Raptors (Self titled debut EP)

As close to a UK underground supergroup as you get, March of the Raptors delivery of crushing thrashy hardcore is an uncomplicated breath of fresh air to a scene filled with pristine hair cuts and songs with lyrical content Taylor Swift would be ashamed of.

It’s great to hear bands like March of the Raptors emerging and getting attention, and to see the return of Jamie Searle (ex Adequate Seven) to the mic. High expectations follow the debut, and it’d be great to see the band take on a full length in the near future.

I reviewed this album for Punktastic, you can read the review here

Seven - Lady GaGa: Fame Monster

As much a generator of intense hatred and birther of guilty pleasures - Lady GaGa’s weird and off-center pop and imagery is an unashmed reminder of what pop music is really about: theatre.

Reminding people of the redundancy behind applying integrity to the endeavours of those chasing pop stardom, the sillyness and twisted approach to live performance and video promotion by Lady GaGa is, at the very least an interesting spectacle, and at the most, a genuis marketing ploy.

Alejandro and Bad Romance are both pop classics, and this additional disc to last year’s insanely well selling debut album is the icing on the cake for her global takeover in 2009.

Six - Motion City Soundtrack: My Dinosaur Life

A brilliant return to form for MCS after a disspointing couple of albums, My Dinosaur Life is rammed full of brilliant pop tunes.

It’s great to see a band refuse to peter out, and between the fantastically geeky lyrical content and borderline cheesey pop moments, there very little left to be desired from the start to the end of the record.

I reviewed this album for Punktastic. You canr ead that review here

Five - Blood Red ShoesL Fire Like This

Brighton’s habit to produce utter dirge is broken by some truely special bands now and again - Blood Red Shoes are one of them. Plenty noisy for a two piece, Laura-May and Steve’s follow up to highly regarded debut ‘Box of Secrets’ is most definitely a grower, but where it lacks immediacy, it makes up for it in endearment.

Much darker, and borderline grune at times, ‘Fire Like This’ shows off the development of the band - to really get a feel for Blood Red Shoes, they need to be seen live, and this should be more than enough to entice you to do just that.

I reviewed this album for Punktastic, you can read that review here

Four - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists: The Brutalist Bricks / Lumaire 6th May

If I had a list of bands it’s been an honour to be on the same bill as, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists are sat right at the top.

This new record is their best in years, and though the band don’t seem to get as much love on this side of the Atlantic as the other, this really is a fantastic album, and one that should be added to the collection of any music lover.

I went to see Ted Leo + pharmacist as part of their short stint in the UK in May, and Iw as completely blown away again by how tight the band. Constant entertainment matched by a fantastic attitude is sometimes hard to come buy, but the set list selection and execution was incredible.

I reviewed both the Brutalist Bricks and the show at the luminaire for Punktastic. Read the CD review here and the live review here

Three - Slam Dunk Festival

A seemingly unstoppable growth of UK pop-punk has turned Slam Dunk from a one day event, to a national attention grabber, and this year’s expansion to an additional London site and countless spin-off gigs was ambitious from Ben Ray and Co.

At Hatfield - crowd problems marred the experiences of some, but for the unrivalled line up and the sheer effort into co-ordinating an event with the magnitude of Slam Dunk this year, there’s many congratulations to be handed out.

Two - Against Me!: White Crosses

I was a massive Against Me! fan when i was younger, and New Wave was a massive let down when it was released - White Crosses is a different thing altogether.

Tom Gabel’s songwriting is as good as it ever was, and White Crosses’ maturity throughout is fantastic. A brilliant and uncomplicated ‘alternative-rock’ album is hard to come across sometimes, but White Crosses is just that, and has barely left my headphones since I got hold of a copy.

I reviewed this CD for Punktastic, read that review here

One - Tiger Please: Seasons

Since first hearing Tiger Please last year, I haven’t been able to stay away from listening to them for more than a few days. A truly fantastic prospect for UK music, and a band I’ve been proud to work with (and allow to vomit in my house).

Seasons is a stunning second EP from the band, and the anticipation surrounding their first full length is in full force. If you haven’t taken the time to have a listen, then the band can be found on Spotify, iTunes and Myspace for your listening pleasure, and if I hear of a band that get called ‘epic’ more often this year I’ll eat my hat.

I reviewed this EP for Punktastic, you can read that review here

Found.

Should probably note that there’s spoilers in the following…

Usually far from being in the business of making long-winded self-indulgent blog posts, I make an exception today citing a connection between a television show and a recent existential crisis as the perpetrators of an increase in perceived self-worth.

I recently hit the age of 22, which basically makes you too old to be truly adolescent, and too young to be considered fully grown. I have been working full time in various ‘adult’ jobs for three years now, and upon hitting this less-than-fair age, I have been anxiously trying to find a point to things, having concluded that my current situation has little purpose other than servicing a blossoming drink habit as equally as fantasies of things I may never turn out be.

This morning, I awoke to an alarm at half past four, eager to watch the two hour conclusion of what has been my favourite television show for a long time - Lost. Until around half an hour after I finished watching it, I was a little disappointed. I had previously thought that the show was about the Island, and the characters weaving through the episodes were just there to facilitate ‘the answers’ to questions naturally asked of the origin, purpose and nature of the island itself - none of these mysteries ever had the fundamental answer that had been seemingly built towards over six seasons of tense and gripping television.

After a reflective and slightly dissatisfied shower, I ended up looking at the real point of the show from another perspective that showed the ending to be both calibrated with the writers’ claim that they knew what they were doing all along, and a fitting conclusion to what will be remembered as a brilliant yet frustrating television experience.

The main criticisms levelled at the ending of Lost from what I’ve seen this morning is that there was neither true final plot twist or explanation of many of the mysteries associated with the show. The thing is that, though perhaps verging on cringe-worthy, the ending was needed to deliver the real final twist and meaning, which was that the show was never even really about the island at all.

The writers made it very clear in Jack’s conversation with his father than the events on the island did happen, and implicitly that only the parts originally discussed as ‘flash-sideways’ from Season 6 were the purgatorial allegory, not the island parts itself. The ending was never meant to feel like a perfect cadence, you’re supposed to feel a little cheated out of answers to the big questions because that is the nature of life - you just can’t know everything. Jack begins as a man of science, seeking answers, retribution, to lead men and to better his father’s footsteps, and ends up letting go and embracing his fate.

The Dharma Initiative, time travel, Walt’s psychic powers, the ‘light cave’ at the center of the island, the smoke monster, the frozen donkey wheel, the numbers, Miles, Richard, Jacob and Hurley’s strange powers, and every other mystery that gave the show it’s character have been left purposefully unexplained because that’s the point - ‘why?’ is not important in the end. We don’t know whether there’s a true meaning for existence and it’s very likely that we’ll either never know or that there is no meaning at all, but as a person you can either accept that ‘whatever happens, happens’, or you can struggle against it and go crazy, but regardless of theisms and whether a next life exists or not, your present life will end at some point and you’ll have to let go - whether it’s today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, when you’re a hundred, or less likely with some freaky science in 3010.

Conclusively, and if you’ll allow me to once more labour the Lost/Life simile - meaning and enjoyment are never to be found in the beginning or the end, rather your interpretation of how the events takes place. You can either obsess with finding the answers, or you can recognise the futility of the questions. It up to you.

It could be worse…

Yesterday, Blakfish officially announced they have split up.

One of the most promising bands I’ve heard come out of the UK underground in a long time. I loved watching and working with the Blakfish guys, and it all just feels a bit premature.

Champions is easily the best thing I heard in 2009, and the guys will be sorely missed.

Honest, we’ll forget it even happened if you reform tomorrow. G’wan.

Fall Out Boy - Greatest Hits

So. Fall Out Boy are releasing a greatest hits.

Why?

What the fuck does Island think they are playing at?

2 new songs?

19 songs everyone who likes them already has on a format they prefer?

Good riddance.

Paint it Black / The Steal (The Peel- Kingston 18/09/2009)

The Steal

After a bit of a surreal car journey of wedding and poo stories, the Peel beckoned for a very promising night of hardcore.

Our Time Down Here opened proceedings, and although I’ve seen them play better, it was an enjoyable set of older favourites and future Banquet Records album track singalongs from one of the promising UK hardcore bands. 3.5/5

Ceremonyreally didn’t sit well with me to be honest, a bit like Trash Talk last time Paint it Black visited, and I found it all a bit macho and yappy to ever get much more than irritation from their set. 2.5/5

For me and many at the Peel tonight, The Steal were the main attraction, finishing their life among friends and admirers on the same day as the short lived London Paper. The set is to the point, and every second is lapped up by a frenetic Peel crowd. It was a fine send off for a band that’ll be sorely missed in years to come. 5/5

Paint in Blackfinishes off the way you’d expect, smashing through a set of a mixed bag of songs, and although nothing could really top the band before them, Dan Yemin and co still manage to tear the Peel an extra hole before the night was over. 4/5