1. BJORK
New album imminent and new video directed by Michel Gondry. How great is it just after 3 minutes where it all goes mental? There’s no one like her. Always interesting.
2. ROBYN covering Coldplay’s “Every Tear Is A Waterfall” on BBC Radio 1 yesterday. Swoon!
3. LAURA MARLING “Sophia”: Can I just say….her upcoming album is just extraordinary. I cant wait for people to hear it. Download “Sophia” or pre-order A Creature I Don’t Know on
4. SPLENDOUR SIDESHOWS: The Kills, Wild Beasts, Goldfields, Pulp down so far. Friendly Fires, James Blake, Kele to come. Splendour on the weekend. I’ll sleep when im dead…
5. SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE “The Ship Song” promo. We are so lucky to be Australian and to have such brilliant artists, right? I get goosebumps every time i see it.
And just one more … (please let it be true) … DAMON ALBARN curating the Sydney Festival in January and bringing his new Opera to town. Read the rumour here.
10,000 miles is a bloody long way to go for a gig. Not if the artist is Wild Beasts and the venue is an historic old dive in London. OK, I admit I was homesick for Blighty and my old man has reached a milestone, but Wild Beasts could make me jump on a plane anytime. I discovered them 3 years ago and their second album Two Dancers could easily be in my desert island discs. Now their sublime third album Smother has got me hooked, so the chance to experience this live is too good to miss.
It’s Thursday evening and I’ve just emerged from Tower Hill tube station. Somewhere up the road is Wilton’s Music Hall. Ten minutes walk through less than glamorous streets lined with Indian takeaways, up past the Royal Mint and The Godfather pub (derelict, of course). Wilton’s is tucked inside an alley with punters spilling out onto the pavement. The hall was opened in 1858, but was closed for many decades until re-opened as a performance venue in 1999. It’s best described as retro chic. In other words, there’s a trendy red sign that says Wilton’s – flanked by crumbling bare bricks and flaky paint.
I quickly grab the best spot on the balcony upstairs. It’s a church-style balcony that wraps around the front of the stage, providing a clear view of the band plus the beer-swilling English fans.
Wild Beasts start the evening in style with Plaything – a quirky slow-paced number with lyrics that raise a few eyebrows. After this we’re treated to Loop The Loop followed swiftly by Deeper. All three are gems from the new album and it’s fascinating to hear them played live. As the set continues, I realise that Wild Beasts sound surprisingly unpolished. This is actually a good thing. Their albums offer a clean slice of intricate, jangly pop with oh-so-slightly-camp delivery. The live experience is more gritty. It’s less Gilbert & Sullivan and more Echo & The Bunnymen. A potent reminder that Wild Beasts are an indie band. There’s the odd flustered breath and scratchy riff, with Hayden scuttling across the stage while the others avoid eye contact. Invisible is a real surprise. Tom takes over lead vocals and sounds startlingly rich and emotive. He’s backed by squalling guitars that echo upwards into the vaulted ceiling. The crowd is stunned for a few seconds before erupting into whoops and applause. Without further ado, the band launch into Albatross followed by a rousing rendition of We Still Got The Taste Dancin’ On Our Tongues. This is performed at breakneck speed. I’m vaguely distracted by a merchant banker next to me who’s attempting air guitar while clutching a bottle of French wine and his BlackBerry. Clearly he’s at the wrong gig. After the first chorus Hayden slows the rhythm and stretches his vowels, prompting the others to drop down a gear. It’s a smooth transition, which Hayden wraps up with the final chorus – head back and warbled into the heavens.
The band are playing this year’s Splendour in the Grass (and Smothered is out May 13 – pre order from JB Hi-Fi for a pack of postcards of the artwork)… but it’s no fun if you can’t sing along when the boys are in town. Thankfully Domino Records are hosting a Wild Beasts love-in/BBQ in Sydney on the eve of album release.
So. See you on Thursday May 12 from 6:30PM at Chingalings in Surry Hills, Sydney. To win a double pass, just “Like” Domino Australia on facebook and they’ll hunt you down with the details. Do everyone a favour and don’t try to emulate frontman’s Hayden Thorpe’s opulent falsetto whilst standing on the bar couches.
Here’s the type of atmospheric, understated rhythms you’re in for…
Wild Beasts are a four-piece outfit from Cumbria, England. Their home town is famous for Kendal mint cake and not much else… but something tells me this is set to change. Third album Smother is out May 6 and will leave you gobsmacked.
The band have been around since 2004. Their first album was decidedly weird – lots of falsetto warbling and vaudeville tunes. The kind of thing you’d imagine at Blackpool pier with grannies looking on in disbelief. The follow-up Two Dancers blew the pants off critics and earned a Mercury Prize nomination. Smother looks set to further their fame – and it’s absolutely gorgeous to boot.
First track Lion’s Share sets the tone brilliantly with a new-found electronic edge. Underneath are the bones from the last album – soaring vocals, grand piano and bouncing percussion. Seriously, this is the album where everything comes together. It’s still tempting to play “spot the influence”, right from The Smiths to The Sundays or The Associates, but the sum of its parts just sweeps you off your feet. Bed Of Nails is a bold new step that the likes of Yeasayer would be proud of. The rest of the album offers surprises at every turn. Every track demands your attention. And no great album is complete without an epic closing track.
Wild Beasts turn the cliché on it’s head with End Come To Soon. The track seems to float away on the breeze before crashing back to earth like a rainstorm. Amidst driving piano and percussion, Hayden intones “it’s too soon, it’s too soon”. The nearest comparison I can find is Keane’s Bedshaped, but this album is a different beast altogether.
Forget the mint cake, buy this album.
Wild Beasts is out May 6. Preview the album here and grab a free download of the first single Albatross on the band’s facebook page. (but listen to it first below!)
Here in the UK, the nominations for the Barclaycard Mercury Prize have just been announced. This annual award has been going since 1992 and is rather coveted among many British artists due its unique remit – to recognise quality new albums regardless of any commercial success or media profile… “the music on the album is the only thing taken into account”.
What the nominations produce is a list of 12 albums released in the last year which should definitely be heard, but for many would otherwise lay undiscovered. In this respect the nomination is almost equally as important as scooping the award. The couple of months between nominations and award ceremony allows extended exposure for music fans to digest the highlighted albums, often producing significant sales spikes which needless to say are extremely important for the lesser known artists.
2010’s nominations see three EMI artist albums – Laura Marling, Corinne Bailey Rae, I Am Kloot (UK-distributed) – recognised as well as two Domino artist, the superlative Wild Beasts and the Irish folk sesnsation Villagers. The full list is below, this year I’ve got an unprecedented 7 of the albums which has produced a very smug appearance on my face. How many have you heard?
Yesterday I went back in time. Back to a beautiful time when people paid for music legally and artists played live at your local record store (cause it was still open)! I was lucky enough to be teleported with one of the most futuristically nostalgic bands on the planet, Wild Beasts! And boy, all the folks with me at Red Eye Records in Sydney were in for a treat!
Tom and Hayden had borrowed an acoustic guitar and an acoustic bass from some generous staff here at EMI (thanks dudes!) and set up in the corner of one of Sydney’s last surviving indie record stores. Red Eye is a crate-diggers wet dream – the place is choc-a-block with the best music you can find, impeccably handpicked by the friendly staff. There was a great turn out and Tom and Hayden played 5 songs with band mates Ben and Chris supportively looking on.
I wasn’t sure how their intricately layered songs were going to translate with just 2 guys, 2 guitars and their unique, warbly voices but hearing songs like ‘All The Kings Men’ and ‘Hooting & Howling’ stripped back only amplified how beautifully clever their songwriting really is. I wondered if this was how these songs were born.
As with their set at Laneway Festival in Sydney, my favourite song remained ‘The Devil’s Crayon’ which is accompanied by one of my fav videos of 2008:
After yesterday, I can highly recommend time travel, or at the very least a trip to Red Eye!
The warbly wonders of the UK, Wild Beasts are arriving in Sydney momentarily for the Laneway Festival – but not before announcing a super-exciting all-ages and free acoustic show show at Red Eye Records. Question is, will your boss let you off early from work to go see them? Fingers crossed…
The show will take place this Wednesday Feb 3 at 4pm at Red Eye Records, 66 King Street (between George and York Sts). Who’s up for loitering in the store afterwards flicking through countless 12-inches? God bless Red Eye…
Touring in the wake of everyone’s-favourite-indie-album-of-2009 Two Dancers, Wild Beasts are also appearing at Sydney’s Oxford Arts Factory and the East Brunswick Club in Melbourne. Tour dates here.
To celebrate Halloween, Domino artists are putting up spooky feature fiction tales they’ve written every day on The Quietus, you can keep an eye out for them here: http://thequietus.com/features
First cab off the rank is Tom Flemming from our forthcoming visitors with exquisite lungs and hooks, Wild Beasts! Note the atmospheric spooky cottage.
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