Islet: New Track

Increasingly known, increasingly loved and increasingly traveled Islet, the Cardiff band who are famed for their 'shun' of the internet (they love the internet, they told me themselves during an interview in a Portuguese cafe in Cardiff, found here) and their very good live shows, have been working hard since their well received mini album Celebrate This Place, released last year.

The band are still currently on a huge tour of the UK, but have somehow managed to record another mini album, entitled Wimmy, which is due out October 10th (and also available at their live shows). Turnstile announced the free download of track 'Ringerz' in the build up to that ages ago, but I've only just gotten around to writing about it. You can download it from here.

'Ringerz' sees the band exploring deeper Animal Collective-y waters, with more use of echoing effects that we know and love from their debut release, multi-drum action, and unsual vocals switching from male to female.

The band play Swn festival on October 23rd (also keep an eye out for the band member's other music with attack+defend and Them Squirrels), and the rest of their live dates from their still going UK tour can be found on their website. (See. I told you they didn't hate the internet).

Frankie & the Heartstrings / Summer Camp / The Neat - Clwb Ifor Bach

I went to a gig on Monday. It costs ten pounds. I have no money and don't get paid for weeks, but I'm crazy and punk like that. It was well worth it, too.

The Neat opened. They're a young band from Hull. They sound a bit like The Fall, The Horrors, Art Brut, and Xx Teens combined. They were pretty fun, and the bassist/lead singer played the bass impressively quickly. See a video below for them playing live to see a similar performance to the one I experienced (link stolen shamelessly from Auditor Records). You can also hear a track from The Neat on a radio show about In The City here (which also features words from The Pigeon Post, which is a good thing, obviously).

The Neat - In Youth Is Pleasure from Auditor Records on Vimeo.

Summer Camp were incredible. So, so good. You probably already know about them, so I won't go into a lot of detail. They were much more electro and disco than I was expecting which worked very well, and Jeremy Warmsley's and Elizabeth Sankle's vocals work together wonderfully. They really, really impressed me live. I was already a fan of them before catching them live, but this has cemented them in my mind as one of the top bands in Britain right now. The vintage photographs projected onto the wall behind them were cool, too. See a video of them below, also (again stolen, this time from indiescreet.com).

Summer Camp - Ghost Train (viral) from Paddy Power on Vimeo.

Frankie & the Heartstrings were up last. They were really fun, and lead-singer Frankie was as energetic as ever. They were heavier and more in-your-face live than I had expected, but still a definite 'indie pop' Last Fm tag is deserved. My favourtie track of that night, and my overall favourtie track of their's overall probably, is Hunger. See it below. This time I feel a little less bad for stealing it from a big company like Last FM. They don't even need a hyperlink.



Summer Camp definitely stole the show though. They continue to tour with Frankie & the Heartstrings for a few more days. Newcastle folk, catch them at The Cluny tomorrow (Saturday), and those from Nottingham, head to Stealth on Sunday.

Oh, and you can read a wordier review online at Buzz Magazine here, if you want.

Joy of Sex

Apparently the name 'Joy of Sex' is a reference to a book. Because I'm uncultured (and probably a little thick), I didn't know that so for a while I just thought that it was a dreadful band name plucked from the air. Maybe it's not so bad after all.

If Joy Of Sex had just plucked their name from the air, then they'd have probably meant it sarcastically - they seem to like a little bit of sarcasm and tongue in cheek fun in their music and lyrics. Heck, maybe they are uncultured like me and do mean it sarcastically. Who knows?

Broadly post-punk (what isn't?), Joy Of Sex are based in Cardiff and sit alongside comfortably with much of the scene there today. I'm not too sure if they are currently a three-piece or are back down to two, minus a drummer. Many of their songs have a relatively basic beat yet are often unusual in structure. Guitar, bass, drums, drum machine, boy-girl (man-woman) vocals and the odd moment of synth interact effectively, sometimes along Art Brut lines, with relatively relaxed songs often breaking into more hectic moments, and vocals jumping from spoken word to shriek with little warning. Both male and females vocals rally, harmonise, and sit alone effectively; bass plods along nicely; guitar is both plucked gently and riffed violently; drums snare-roll and bass drum thuds with backing clicking drum machine. I especially like the lyric "Your new religion is science-fiction just like your old one," and the delivery makes them all the better.

The band have a free acoustic recording session (recorded back in April for BBC Bristol) for download from their blog, and from the same blog you can listen to or purchase a 4-track EP recorded a while back, or listen to a brand new track posted on their MySpace today. They also release a split single in September with Cardiff-based Gindrinker, so get your hands on that when it's available. Listen to the pleasant "Weather Controller" below.

Joy Of Sex - Weather Controller (Radio Edit)

Gig of the Week: Cardiff, 19 - 26 Sept

First of all, I apologise for the lack of attention I have given here recently. No permanent address and a full-time job has meant that I've not listened to any new music or had proper access to the itnernet for well over a month. As I type this, I am set on a notebook in my girlfriend's mum's house 3 hours before I start work.

Anyway. The summer is over, students are returning, the gig schedule is getting busier. This week Cardiff has some tasty treats.

Sunday 19th September:
The Vaselines
Clwb Ifor Bach
£12 on the door
Event

Much loved indie poppers of yesteryear Glasgow's The Vaselines are probably best known for being that band that Kurt Cobain loved. Forming in 1986 and breaking up only 4 years later, it'd be an understatement to suggest that the band don't play very often. And just to reaffirm, this gig will take place in Clwb rather than the originally booked Millennium Music Hall, which I think is a good move.

Gigs also worth noting include:
Cardiff's very own experimental folkster Meilir (blog posts here) plays a refurbed The Cayo on the same date as The Vaselines (19th Sept). He finally seems to be getting a bit more attention in the area after playing tonnes of magical live shows, filled with karumba, piano, acoustic guitar, every-so electro beats, and gravel as an instrument. It really is something to see, so head to the Facebook event for info.

Gig of the Week: Cardiff, 6 - 12 Sept

This week's gig of the week is not Kaiser Thiefs at Live Lounge (a Kaiser Chiefs cover band at a 'music venue' with an Oceana vibe - I can't think of much worse). See below for what it is.

Monday 6th September:
Joy Collective/Businessman Records Present: Action Beat / Brandyman / Saturday's Kids
Buffalo Bar
£5
Event Info.

Action Beat are sometimes loads and loads of people, sometimes not quite so many people making improv noisey punk. This show will feature between 7 and 9 members, apparently, which will translate to drummers as around 3 or 4.

Support comes partly from the relatively new Brandyman, featuring members or ex-members of the likes of Truckers of Husk, Gindrinker, and Joy of Sex. Expect heavy guitar riffs and plenty of clever music-y stuff. Support also comes from Saturday's Kids (talked about lots on here) who, as I've said many times, make heavy post-punk sounds with cool speeding up and slowing down and care free vocals. They just released a 7" on Art For Blind Records.

Also worth noting include:
Alessi's Ark at Chapter Arts Centre Thursday 9th, and a celebration the 10th birthday of the Welsh Music Foundation with free gigs in the foyer of the Millennium Centre in the Bay on Friday 10th and Saturday 11th (Future of the Left play on the Friday).