Mornington Crescent - all 51 acts for Camden Crawl 2006 reviewed

Going to the Camden Crawl ("most salubrious"... is that really the image they want?) and being confronted with a long list of bands playing that I'd mostly never heard anything by, the only obvious and sensible thing to do was to listen to (and review) every single one of them.
The results will hopefully be useful even to those not going as an overview of lots of new music, from the brilliant to the terrifying. Includes 7 who are actually recommended!

Thoughts in summary:

Recommended listening: Absentee, Captain, Fields, Guillemots, GoodBooks, The Pipettes, The Spinto Band.
Worth checking out: 65DaysOfStatic, Howling Bells, The Maccabees, Morning Runner, NeatPeople, New Rhodes, Pink Grease, The Slits, Sway.
Could be worse: The Automatic, Dogs, Klaxons, Plan B, Switches, V//Formation.
Forgotten them already: 747s, The Automatic, CORD, Humanzi, Mumm-Ra, The OnOffs, The Rogers Sisters, The Rumble Strips, Shit Disco
Avoid: Cazals, The Delilahs, Elle Milano, ¡Forward, Russia!, Larrikin Love, Les Incompetents, The Marshals, The Mitchell Brothers, Paolo Nutini, The Pistolas, The Rifles, S. Rock Levinson, The Sunshine Underground, Wolfmother.
Avoid at all costs: The Fratellis, The Holloways, Louie, The Paddingtons.


Website
Myspace
Admittedly unimpressive live when I saw them supporting Architecture In Helsinki, I'm willing to give Absentee the benefit of the doubt and blame it on awful sound because, so far, their records are really really good. Singer Dan Michaelson has a remarkable deep voice which perfectly matches the dry, world-weary wit of alt-country tinged songs like Something To Bang and A Body In A Car Somewhere, and elsewhere they can even be surprisingly light and uplifting. Recommended listening.


Akira The Don
Website
AKA Adam Anonymous of Playlouder fame, who has previously stated an intention to be 'the rap Morrissey'. Indie-friendly rap with Verve samples and songs about Rick Witter, it's more likable by far when being funny than when trying too hard to make a point (Genocide Is Coming To The USA) but while decently put together (this is some way away from Goldie Lookin' Chain) seems rather uninspiring. Forgotten him already.




Website
Myspace
One of those bands that I've heard of quite a bit but never quite been bothered to actually listen to before, put of by a presumption from other coverage of their music being worthily intellectual and uninvolving stuff. And there may be some truth there, but their visceral sound, a kind of post-rock with added clattering electronic beats, actually makes for much more enjoyment and less chin-scratching than I imagined. Not quite a convert yet, but rethinking prejudices just a little. Worth checking out.



Website
Myspace
Never heard of these before at all, apparently currently supporting Jack White's The Raconteurs. On the basis of the two songs on their Myspace, they play inoffensively upbeat but forgettable retro-rock, reminding on Set Me Free especially of The Zutons' slower and less good songs. Forgotten them already.


The Aliens
Myspace
Containing a couple of ex-members of The Beta Band, debut single Robot Man's funk does remind of them in a couple of places. It also sounds like it was knocked out in a few minutes which leads to both its initital charm and its outstaying of its welcome. Perhaps explains the lack of a proper website too. Forgotten them already.



Website
Myspace
Shouty Welsh pop-rock widely tipped for success this year, Raoul made the top 40 recently just about and their number of songs which are also catchy as anything suggests they'll soon improve on that. Nothing to excite me much though and People In Planes are doing the same thing better (and are winningly listed as an influence!). Could be worse.


Captain
Myspace
I forgot that I had already heard of Captain but I think that must be more due to the name than any fault at all on their part. Sounding somewhere roughly between Delays and The Crimea, they play sunny, harmonic pop with just a hint of darkness and noise to keep things interesting. Recommended listening.



Website
Myspace
I think I'm going to get very tired of this kind of thing by the end of 50 bands - utterly unoriginal and lumpen retro-rock which reminds of The Ordinary Boys before they decided to try ska. Learning that they've supported Babyshambles and The Paddingtons comes as no surprise at all. Credit to them for making all their songs to date available for free on their site, though. Avoid.



Website
Myspace
Listenable but middling indie with a very slight hint of glam. Signed to Island, which suggests that they learnt nothing at all from last years Cherryfalls debacle. Forgotten them already.



Website
Myspace
Three girls from the wonderfully named Zug, Switzerland, unfortunately I've already covered everything that sets them apart. More painfully average retro. Avoid.



Website
Similarly to The Automatic, I find it much easier to see why they're one of the bigger names playing (catchier and, well, clearly better songs than most reviving a similar past) than to
actually care much for them. Could be much worse.



Website (which is on Angelfire. AWESOME.)
Myspace
Shambolic noise which certainly has plentiful enthusiasm, if not a tune in sight. Could be pretty enjoyable if they had some better lyrics to add to it (maybe a less polished Art Brut), but a bit pointless for now. Avoid.




Myspace
Bound to suffer from the fact that they are not, as it turns out, the same thing as Field Music, they do still have an impressive line in atmospheric indie with a hint of electronica. If You Fail We All...'s crystalline prettiness in particular worth checking out. Recommended listening.



Website
Myspace
Having already seen them as a support band twice, I'm already well aware that I find their frenzied, unrelenting At The Drive-In impression briefly hilarious and then deeply irritating. Slightly more tolerable on record for what it's worth, but not by much. Avoid.



Website
Myspace
A bad choice of name (although nothing compared to their song The Gutterati) as there appear to be at least two other bands sharing it. One of them have apparently now changed their name to The Lurios and are jangly and slightly forgettable, much recommended over this tuneless derivative horror though. Avoid at all costs.



Website
Myspace
Currently gaining good reviews all round for their debut single, they tie together various strands of recently popular indie into twitchily catchy, surprisingly cohesive songs, with Walk With Me and Paschendale treading a line somewhere between British Sea Power, Clor and Franz Ferdinand to much better effect than that sounds. Recommended listening.



Website
Myspace
You probably already know my views on them (AMAZING) but their imagination stands out all the more among some of the company here. If you haven't them yet then, well, why not? Recommended listening.



Website
Myspace
Just like Portishead, not in the actually being any good at all sense but in being named after their home town. Actually, their music is very slightly above average for the kind of punk revival stuff that there's far too much of here, but as for the lyrics... Well, here are some examples from Great Britain (as copied from their myspace, where they are proudly available for public display):

'So this is great britain and welcome aboard
A sinking ship thats full of shit and someone nicked the oars
A failing false economy
an anti-punk automony
OUr once unique Identity's
Been washed from our shores

In a land of hope and glory
do we really rule the waves?
The truth is a different story
We're all just a bunch of slaves'

Avoid at all costs. Unless you love The Others, I guess.



Website
Myspace
Aussie four-piece seemingly attracting PJ Harvey comparisons all round on the basis of little more than having a female singer. Much better than their name suggests, but their eerie, brooding rock never quite makes the impression it should. Good live from past experience though. Just about worth checking out.



Website
Myspace
Irish support to the likes of Hard-Fi and Dirty Pretty Things, some half decent snarling rock songs don't quite answer the question of whether we really need another Kasabian. Forgotten them already.



Website
Myspace
A messy, uncoordinated combination of post-punk, actual punk, electronica and tuneless singing which only really seems to work at the messiest moments. Potentially entertaining though I wouldn't recommend with any confidence. Could be worse.



Website
Myspace
Thoroughly enjoyable supporting Elbow in February, but that was seemingly largely due to guitar problems forcing them to fall back on violin-led folk dance, a much more attractive proposition than their usual faux-raggae and erratic Mystery Jets-meet-Libertines style. Probably best avoid.



Website
Myspace
Dirty Pretty Things are a much, much better Libertines tribute band. Avoid.



Website
Myspace
To be able to appreciate, or even offer comment on, all types of music would be great but with relentlessly noisy rap like this I feel way too out of my depth to actually offer a verdict at all, except to say that the remix (well, it's more of a destruction) on myspace of The Rakes' 22 Grand Job is definitely hilarious.



Website
Myspace
More sub-sub-Libertines bollocks, taking unoriginality to an extra level on Young Evil Souls with an astonishingly brazen theft of the riff from Bloc Party's Helicopter. Avoid at all costs.



Website
Myspace
Single Latchemere is more retro post-punk but manages to rise above nearly anything else of the sort here by the virtue of being very well-played and more importantly having hugely entertaining silly lyrics about a leisure centre sung in a this-is-no-joking-matter way. They don't have anything else up on Myspace to quite match it but it's nice to not have to write them off completely. Worth checking out.



Website
Myspace
The very first band on the list to not offer complete songs on their website or Myspace page (something to do with being signed to Vertigo?) which is a reason to turn against them right from the start. Missing out on more of what sounds like Mansun if they didn't have any ideas at all beyond a pale replication of their peers isn't too much of a hardship though. Avoid.



Website
Myspace
Signed to Mike Skinner's label, guest appearances don't help the feeling that it's often a poor imitation of his own stuff, with too little to say and not even said that well. Listen to Harvey Nicks and the only funny or memorable part is Sway's brief contribution, more on him in a bit though. Avoid.



Website
Myspace
Who exactly decided that they could be the next Coldplay? The album makes it sound like they could have done with a while longer before being forced down the unwilling public's throats, but actually has some very fine moments (It's Not Like Everyone's My Friend and Work among them) which amid their bluster somehow turn a certain bewildered awkwardness into an asset in a similar manner to their live shows. Worth checking out if you haven't already made up your mind.



Website
Myspace
Pleasant, tuneful indie but ultimately lacks the hooks or ideas to make too much of an impression. Forgotten them already.



Website
Myspace
'NeatPeople strike a blow against the homogeneity of the charts and the carbon copy posturing of too-cool-for-school indie boys' apparently. Er, right. Anyway, they supported The Bluetones on their last tour and anyone still following them is likely to like this a lot too - brassy, very catchy guitar pop with a lot of charm and a little style. Worth checking out.



Website
Myspace
Still somewhat of a mystery how their fantasticly breezy single You've Given Me Something That I Can't Give Back (more than a touch of The Smiths, there) managed to sneak into the top 40 in early 2005, especially considering that they've done nothing of note since and all by disappeared. Even on just the basis of that song though, probably worth checking out.



Website
Myspace
The available songs are so poorly recorded that it's almost difficult to pick out if there is any potential here but just about deserve the benefit of the doubt. Pleasingly tasteless electro-glam which flirts with chaos to no great ill effect. Worth checking out, perhaps.



Website
Myspace
Ah, I thought that that was too many half-decent acts in a row. Time for some plodding, deeply average singer-songwriter stuff. Avoid.



Website
Myspace
Bluesy, none-more-retro rock which sounds quite a lot like The Zutons without any saxophone or particularly great tunes to add much interest. Forgotten them already.



Website
Myspace
Urgh. Avoid at all costs.



Website
Myspace
Admittedly all that they are really doing to set themselves apart is to lovingly recreate a different section of music past (sugary Sixties girl-group pop) to everyone else, but having not listened to them before they actually turn out to be much better in practise than in theory - so well done it's rather irresistable. Recommended listening.



Website
Myspace
More of more of the same post-punk with nothing remarkable at all. Avoid.



Website
Myspace
Acoustic-guitar toting rapper, recently heard on xfm constructing a hypnotic track round samples of Radiohead's finest moment Pyramid Song, though I missed what the song was. More fascinating than outright enjoyable in general at the moment but might be worth keeping track of. Could be worse.



Website
Myspace
Just after The Pistolas we have The Rifles, who clearly want to be The Jam rather than Gang Of Four, but still don't bring anything much of interest to their attempts. Avoid.



Website
Myspace
Despite being named after the Rogers sisters in the band there's actually a guy in the band as well who does many of the vocals, which is a distracting start. Anyway, it's very competent but unremarkable garage rock. Forgotten them already.



Website
Myspace
See The OnOffs. Only with a bit more brass. Forgotten them aready.



Website
Myspace
They'd have to be bloody good to overcome a name like that, and they aren't really. Funky enough dance-punk but it's actually a bit too polite! Forgotten them already.



Website
Myspace
Reforming veteran punks (who, er, recently played a gig at Selfridges department store) with a large hint of reggae who I had somehow not actually heard before. The cover of Heard It Through The Grapevine in particular is great fun. Worth checking out.



Website
Myspace
More uninspiring post-punk with particularly nasty whiny vocals. This is starting to get a bit tiring, you know... Avoid.




Website
Myspace
See recent live review. Or in short: great fun, especially live. Recommended listening.



Website
Myspace
As with The Pistolas. Avoid.



Website
Myspace
Leading light of UK rap, I couldn't really tell you if there's any better but his stuff is certainly sparky and almost always very funny. Favourite line has to be the one after he is asked for an autograph by a kid: "Mum, is this how you spell Lemar?" Worth checking out.



Myspace
Powerpop which made a bad first impression thanks to, er, individual vocals but soon begins to win over through sheer catchiness. Could be worse.



Website
Myspace
Some rather lovely slow building indie which isn't quite ruined by overly angsty vocals. Reminds of The Veils, apart from the bits where they try to be the Arcade Fire, nothing quite takes off as it could though. Unless that's just the effect on listening to fifty bands. Could be worse.



Website
Myspace
Holy shit, their first song on myspace has 141,000 plays! That's more than anyone else in this whole piece probably. They may or may not all have been thinking 'This sure sounds like the Top Of The Pops theme' (the old one, they may or may haven lost track of it now). Horribly overdramatic Led Zeppelin worship, here. Avoid.

Elbow! Belle & Sebastian!

As revealed in advance on Sweeping The Nation, Leicester's Summer Sundae festival has a really excellent line-up this year, even just from what's been announced so far. Buy before the end of the month and three days will barely cost you more than a one day ticket to V, too.

Arctic Libershambles shambles

It's nice to see Guillemots getting more positive coverage on Pitchfork, because it will encourage a lot more people I know to listen to them, but does it really have to be in such a (even by their standards) totally arsey way?

'And for those who didn't buy Whatever You Say I Am, That's What I'm Not on the first day of release during lunch hour at the Oxford HMV, here are Guillemots, who are to the Arctic Libershambles what the Beta Band were to Oasis in 1998, or what Badly Drawn Boy was to Travis in 2000-- a detour away from everyday pub-rock pabulum toward something more tasteful, more adventurous.'

Presuming that they meant Oxford Street, indeed I didn't - I was there on my way to work in the morning.
Maybe it's just me, but even when I'm not being specifically told that I'm not part of the club, setting out reviews in terms of what an act is against, or what they're not, seems to be a totally overused and horrible idea.

I know that sales are low and all

But can Embrace really be heading for number one this week with their exercise in making Richard Ashcroft's new 'epics' look subtle and restrained, Nature's Law?

No Tomorrow for the singles chart?

Leaving aside the fact that Orson are number one (there have been worse, last week for instance), it's difficult to know which is worse for the Official UK Top 40, the fact that it's the lowest selling number one ever, stalling short of the 20,000 level that has previously never been plummeted beyond, or the fact that no-one seems to care, to the extent that I'm struggling to find a link which isn't to a members-only viewable forum. Instead, all attention is on the three tenors in the album chart (no, not those ones)
Of course, we were in pretty much the same situation this time last year and the introduction of downloads sorted it out, but it's difficult to see what they can do now. Even the new rule change of allowing singles to chart a week before their physical release will spread sales out more rather than increasing them by much.

The Picture Show (19/03)

(irregular video feature returns, click on the pics for audiovisual goodness)


Impossible to begrudge another single from 'Demon Days' when it leads to a video as stunning as this. Yes, it starts off as Feel Good Inc, but keep watching...


Laundrette-themed fun for the second single from 'The Life Pursuit' makes up for it not being White Collar Boy.


This new band's forthcoming excellent and slightly sleazy alt-country rock song gets a video to suit.

The Bluetones at Highbury Garage (15/03/06)

It's now just over ten years since The Bluetones' debut album 'Expecting To Fly' knocked Oasis' '(What's The Story) Morning Glory?' off number one in the album chart, at least for a week. With so many of their moderately successful, don't-mention-the-B-word peers now having fallen by the wayside (Cast, Sleeper, Kula Shaker, Dodgy, Shed Seven, anyone? Even Ocean Colour Scene have started losing members) it's a wonder that they're still here at all, but they've just signed another three album deal and appear to be happy with existence in their own secluded world a long way from the zeitgeist.

Tonight Mark Morriss (as charming and almost as young-looking as ever) can say "four months has gone by quickly, hasn't it?", confident in the knowledge that the majority here were at Shepherd's Bush Empire in October too. Hey, half of them were probably there in 1996 too. Not that this is a crowd who are just here for a nostalgic trip through the old hits.
2003's number 40 smash Never Going Nowhere is met with obvious total love and last year's self-released, internet-only single Serenity Now creates pogoing mayhem. They decide to play a set consisting half and half of A-sides and B-sides (to fit in with their forthcoming boxset) and it's actually difficult to tell from the ecstatic reaction which are which at times. Finally, just for tonight, If... is officially the best song in the world ever.
I could try to objectively review this and why it is that they still inspire such loyalty but frankly I'm way too busy at the front singing along to every word and having the time of my life.



(usual Ada-thanks for photos)

Feel Good Edit

I know that it's easy to get into posting every time that a band appears on the live lounge, but it's well worth heading over to Untouched By Work Or Duty for the latest cover, I think, as Editors' version of Feel Good Inc is really rather gorgeous and the best cover from it for ages. Although they leave out the rap.

The Crimea at King's College (14/03/06)

Coming on to a tape of screaming babies, playing in front of a slightly strange picture
()
and bathed in red light and smoke for most of the performance, The Crimea's dark live image is often at odds with their music, not least blissful, wide-eyed set closer (and recent top 40 single) Lottery Winners On Acid and the loving cover of Fleetwood Mac's Everywhere which precedes it.
Some of the album tracks, and the surprisingly prevalent other songs played, are already well suited to drama though, with Someone's Crying rescued from it's dirge-like recorded form by singer Davey Macmanus' frenzied intensity which he also puts to thrilling use on Opposite Ends, climbing into the crowd to rant at closer quarters. Not quite everything works so well.
Put-on attempts at madness in song introductions go particularly badly and a few songs (Girl Just Died, for instance) tread dangerously close to adolescent emo and come off the worse for it. The contradictions present though, instead of a set full of giddy Lottery Winners-alikes, are actually a large part of what makes them stand out and makes the close seem all the more wonderful.



(Thanks again to Ada for photos!)

The Hot Puppies

It’s always nice to be pleasantly surprised by a support band that you’ve never heard of before, and that was very much the case last night at The Crimea’s show at King’s College Union (a review of which is coming later).
The Hot Puppies brought to mind at times a slightly less manic Sons And Daughters, or a much better Little Flames, with Becky Newman’s powerful voice and some dramatic keyboard adding to spiky, energetic songs which were impressively inventive for a new band in the crowded retro-indie scene. There was even a Theremin used a couple of times which always helps.

Two demos from their site don’t quite convey the fun of the live show but are recommended regardless:

The Hot Puppies -The Party
The Hot Puppies -The Drowsing Nymph

Come back to Camden

Apologies once again to those well outside London...
The first 40 or so bands have been announced for Camden Crawl 2006, with just under half featuring 'The' in their name and a slightly surprising amount of hip-hop. It's somewhat lacking in big names at the moment (although Guillemots are playing so who cares?) but those will probably be added later. That list, then:

• Absentee
• Akira The Don
• The Aliens
• The Automatic
• Cazals
• The Delilahs
• Dogs
• Elle Milano
• Fields
• iForward Russia!
• The Fratellis
• Good Books
• Guillemots
• The Holloways
• Howling Bells
• Humanzi
• Lethal Bizzle
• Louie
• The Maccabees
• The Marshals
• The Mitchell Brothers
• Morning Runner
• Paolo Nutuni
• The On Offs
• The Paddingtons
• The Pipettes
• The Pistolas
• Plan B
• The Rifles
• The Rogers Sisters
• Rumble Strips
• Shit Disco
• S Rock Levinson
• The Spinto Band
• The Sunshine Underground
• Sway
• Switches
• Wolfmother

In other London not-really-a-festival-is-it news, Dirty Pretty Things have been added to Hyde Park's Wireless on the Strokes/Super Furry Animals/Belle & Sebastian day, a pretty great lineup although it seems inevitable that at least two of them will be playing at the same time.

Another indie band makes it to the BBC News pages

Four Day Hombre uniquely funded by the public. Becoming aligned with Marillion is probably not the intended result.

TVC14

E4's Album Chart Show is a mysterious beast which has already seen itself shifted around the schedule, now following Popworld (which fits in the sense that both are programs with music even if they share little else in common). It may take its name from it but the album chart is nearly a week old by the time the program goes out on Saturday and gets barely a cursory glance within. Plus acts actually appearing are related but only on the basis that they could or did release an album at such point in time.
Although I might have guessed, I didn't know all of this a couple of weeks ago when I went to the filming of the first one. In fact, lured by its being free and nearby, I didn't even know who has playing, so although I can think of better things to do than repeatedly cheer in loud, fake bursts it turned out to be far from a disappointment, ¾ acts being enjoyable.

• The Rifles played a few almost indistinguishable and instantly forgettable songs and left me thinking that everyone in the country who wants to be in a shoddy Libertines-alike band must not only be in one but be signed by now.
• Delays played Long Time Coming, current single Valentine and forthcoming single Hideaway and were more impressive, not that that was hard. Greg Gilbert sounds ferocious live, at the expense of some of the more delicate parts of their songs but suiting the synth pulse of Valentine very well. Incidentally, it's kind of fascinating how they've been adopted by the pop fans of Stylus, Popjustice, Into The Groove et al just as their indie press has largely dried up.
• Editors create so good a replication of their sound and so little else that it's difficult to know what to still say about them, apart from that as impressive as All Sparks is it's surely about time that they stopped releasing singles, left 'The Back Room' well alone and got on with recording their next album.
• Last were Sugababes, a move which despite frequent assurances that this would be '100% live, no karaoke!' resulted in about half those present going home early. More fool them as despite a disappointing lack of past hits (due to subsequent lineup changes?) Red Dress' strut was a fine way to end the evening. And they even smiled.

Guillemots at Islington Bar Academy (23/02/06)

The biggest problem here was that no more than a few rows of the crowd could see overly self-deprecating frontman Fyfe Dangerfield thanks to the Academy's low stage and the fact that, surrounded by a bank of keyboards which were regularly used for a brilliant range of weird noises, he sat down for almost the whole set.
This was probably the main reason for less than rapt attention from many as it surely couldn't have been the songs, which sounded even more unfailingly incredible and cynicism-removing than last time, with main set closer Sao Paolo in particular seeming to last 15 minutes without ever being less than awe-inspiring. An a capella, standing-on-a-chair Blue Will Still Be Blue (shown above) did find silence, through its simple beauty as well as much as actually being able to see, but it's the moments when they throw everything at a song which are the most amazing, Go Away's manic ending the best example. I left wondering why I bought tickets to one of their two forthcoming King's College shows.



(thanks to Ada for the photos!)

Living for the ironic cover version

Yep, Sugababes have followed their Arctic Monkeys cover with one of Hard-Fi's Living For The Weekend. I'm not sure exactly what it is that makes me seek this kind of thing so eagerly, given that I will rarely listen more than a few times, but there's a certain fascination in any liked or very familiar song being rethought however half-arsedly, especially if it's by someone that I like too. This one isn't too bad as they go.

No Lisa Left

Lisa Brown, a band I've talked about a fair bit here, are no more, but rather than a dramatic split this is merely a name change to the not especially less awkward Snowfight In The City Centre. This seems a bit late after already getting a fair bit of coverage for their debut single as Lisa Brown but best of luck to them!

Pretty Things

First up, My Latest Novel's album turns out to be even more brilliant than expected. m3 have a great summary complete with a few songs to try out.

Secondly, I saw Dirty Pretty Things yesterday (It was big news in the Evening Standard today: "Courtney Love snubs showbiz party to hang out at a sweaty student bar with troubled Pete Doherty and see his friend's band"!), they managed to be really rather impressive despite turning up an hour and a half late. This was due to Carl being ill apparently, and judging from the picture to the NME story on it he was clearly suffering from something:

One plus one plus one plus one etc.

An interesting idea for a charity compilation album, scheduled for September if all goes according to plan. Fifty acts each record a song exactly one minute long - even if they're rubbish there won't be too much to suffer through!
The biggest names signed up so far are The Crimea and The Electric Soft Parade. Brakes will surely follow, right?

Death Cab For Cutie at Astoria (01/03/06)

Nevermind the two girls loudly conversing through Death Cab For Cutie's whole set, who in astonishing adherance to stereotype can be heard excitedly saying 'this is the one from The OC!', it's the Evening Standard which really ruins tonight.
Admittedly the lack of crowd interaction beyond 'Thanks, guys!', and a lack of visual excitement which includes Ben Gibbard actually facing away whenever he plays piano doesn't help matters. For all the lack of show they are very polished and occasionally inspired musically though. Crowd pleasers A Movie Script Ending, The New Year and Sound Of Settling are all pop gems given an extra loose dimension and melodramatic Styrofoam Plates becomes a cathartic rock workout which removes any thoughts of its silliness. Even last year's slightly underwhelming album 'Plans' is cherry-picked from very well, with Marching Bands Of Manhattan sparkling and an acoustic I Will Follow You Into The Dark the gorgeous, lump-in-throat highlight of the night.
Overall, it's a good show, and its only having read a review in the Evening Standard of last night's show which praised the way in which they ended the set with Transatlanticism, surely their finest moment, which turns the lack of it tonight from a shame into a crushing disappointment which they just weren't quite good enough to overcome.

Just spotted

Camden Crawl 2006 tickets now on sale.
Just over twenty quid, so five more than last year, with no sign yet of which bands are playing, might be worth a go as it will hopefully have a pretty good lineup though.

Radiohead sell out

Or rather, V festival has, in about three hours. This must have been helped by the lack of Glastonbury this year, but three hours is less time than it took Glastonbury to a mere three years ago, as all festivals continue to sell their tickets ever faster each year. Maybe an increase in awareness and even more people with broadband as well as in the popularity of live music has something to do with this. Thanks go to mahoney for helping me to get tickets on Monday, by the way.

Anyway, just how big a coup is getting Radiohead to play? Is it going to attract new people and change the prevailing perception of V as not being for real music fans, which has persisted despite impressive line-ups and expansion in recent years (although the stages at Chelmsford are way too close together)?

Let's see what well known Radiohead fansite ateaseweb thinks...

''95% of the crowd > "Aren't Radiohead those miserable bastards who just moan all the time? I going to watch Jamiraquai on the other stage." "
"V isn't really kids. It's the festival for old fools who chose a stereo based on what looks good in the lounge next to their new leather sofa."
"Chavs will be at the festival. That's a given."

Final Fantasy II

Yes, much more exciting than Advent Children, violinist and singer-songwriter extraordinaire Owen Pallett (number 20 in our Albums Of 2005) is back in May with a new album (rather horribly titled 'He Poos Clouds') and a UK tour. Wonder if he'll play his cover of This Modern Love again?