“Not fucking Animal Collective!”, or: Rare FM’s Top 30 of 2009

The end of year list I did for Rare.FM. Unfortunately, the Rare website is really fucked up right now, so none of my recent reviews have gone up yet. Including this end-of-year list I did. And listen to me on Tuesday! 12pm GMT/1pm Holland time! (copy this url in your WMP/Winamp/Realplayer/whatever: 

http://stream.rarefm.ucl.ac.uk:8000/stream.m3u).

Ah, end of year lists! Some will claim it’s a mild form of OCD, while others look forward to them all year and use them to get through the dark days around Christmas. Well, that and a vast amount of various alcoholic beverages, but let’s give the whole process of list-making some credit here. Now some of you might say that they’re called end of year lists for a reason, and that publishing one in February might be a bit like predicting who’s going to win the World cup after the final’s been played, but to those people I’d like to say that sometimes you just need some distance to really appreciate what has been. Also, publishing an end of year list at the start of the next year gives one the opportunity to take a peek at the lists that others have come up with, and that’s always a good way to discover some albums you first missed out on first time round.

However, that extra bit of perspective did not lead to a very surprising album to top our Rare FM top 30. Yes, it is fucking Animal Collective, as one or our reviewers replied when I threatened I would name Merriweather Post Pavilion ‘album of 2009’ if more people wouldn’t send in their lists. Unfortunately for that one reviewer, that mail-out had rather the opposite effect leading to a landslide victory for Animal Collective. But rejoice! There are another 29 excellent albums in the final list, and non of them are AC related in any way!

So here it is then: the list of the best 30 albums of 2009 according to Rare FM’s own reviewers. Marvel at albums we dared to include, complain on the omission of some of last years essential musical pieces of art (the original list contained 74 albums, choices had to be made), but most of all: try to discover some exciting new music.

1.       Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

2.       The XX – The XX

3.       Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca <- that's me

4.       Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest <- also me

5.       Patrick Wolf – The Bachelor

6.       The Antlers – Hospice

7.       Andrew Bird – Noble Beast

8.       Sunset Rubdown – Dragonslayer <- my number one of 2009

9.       jj – no.2

10.   Wild Beasts – Two Dancers

11.   Noah and the Whale – The First Days of Spring

12.   Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs

13.   Arctic Monkeys – Humbug

14.   Memory Tapes – Seek Magic <- was also on my list

15.   Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career

16.   Woodpigeon – Treasury Library Canada

17.   Bat for Lashes – Two Suns

18.   Leisure Society – The Sleeper

19.   The Felice Brothers – Yonder is the Clock

20.   Bob Dylan – Christmas in the Heart

21.   Various Artists – 5: Five years of hyperdub

22.   Paolo Nutini – Sunny Side Up

23.   Mew – No More Stories Are Told Today I'm Sorry They Washed Away No More Stories The World Is Grey I'm Tired Let's Wash Away <- my number 2!

24.   Tom Waits – Glitter and Doom

25.   Wiley – Race Against Time

26.   Devendra Banhart – What Will Be

27.   Florence and the Machine – Lungs

28.   Former Ghosts – Fleurs <- and my nr 3, though it would have been at 2 if I had to redo my list

29.   Bruce Springsteen – Working on a Dream

30.   Bombay Bicycle Club – I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Lose

Oh, and in case you were wondering...

These are my flatmates:

Kinga

Natasha (new Natasha, not the annoying American one)

Tom (and no, that's not something that's stuck on his face, that's a pipe to go with the whole outfit)

Dotti (in the middle)

And Zsuzsi (on the left)

And yes, all these people (and myself) live in a four bedroom flat. 

To the end of the world (or Salisbury) and back again!

I strongly prefer the centre of the universe (London) over the middle of nowhere (Salisbury). 

Oh joy, a pile of rocks.

Sunlight! Quick! Quick! Capture it! We need proof of the unique phenomenon!

Basically what Stonehenge is all about: walking around a pile of rocks. For an hour. 

And another picture of this ingeniously designed pile of rocks (but still, a pile of rocks)

And a final one for those geology fans among you.

And then it was on to the town of Salisbury, of which this is it's one (and only...) attraction: the cathedral. People just go here because it's close to Stonehenge and you don't want to travel two hours to just look at a pile of rocks.

Seriously, Salisbury marks the end of civilisation. The WHSmith (book store chain) didn't even sell books: just magazines, wrapping paper and picture books for children. 

It's spring!

Yes, I know that officially I still have to wait for another, give or take, three weeks to make this announcement, but for me, spring started today. It started with the sun shining through my window this morning, something truly unique in this part of the world. Though spring didn't actually start for me until after I left uni and I was surprised to find there was still some light left. Today, for the first time this decade, it wasn't already night when I went home. Also, with temperatures just reaching the 10 degrees mark today, people were sitting outside, taking in the tepid spring air.

And yes, I watched some more speed skating this week. And surprisingly, I was quite pleased with Sven Kramer not winning any medals (apart from the odd bronze medal he might win tomorrow). He was getting a bit cocky anyway. The only sad thing is that Chad Hedrick is now gonna win another medal, and some crazy Korean guy won gold, again. Also, yay Nicolien Sauerbreij! Is the first Winter Olympic-medal we've won that's not related to skating? (I know Sjoukje Dijkstra won a gold medal in figure skating, so I'm not saying speed skating here).

Other than that, I've not got a lot to tell you guys this week, as again, I went to four gigs this week. The only thing that might be worth mentioning is that I've discovered Whittard tea, of which even the instant version is a million times better than any other tea (including Twinings, Lipton and Dutch PickWick). So, on to the reviews it is!

New Young Pony Club/Chew Lips/Lyrebirds @ O2 Academy Islington I really, really hope Lyrebirds have gotten the idea for their name from QI. If you have not seen that episode (or never watch QI anyway): a lyrebird is a kind of bird that can imitate every sound imaginable. Apart from this band, I guess. Or I hope so for the sake of the bird. It was nice to hear some post-punk again, I've been slightly deprived of that niche of the musical spectrum, but this band did not particularly fulfil my post-punk needs. Chew Lips were slightly better than when I saw them last month. But that just might be because this appearance wasn't related to either NME or Koko. Both of those entities tend to slightly, how shall I describe this?, ruin an otherwise excellent gig. Not that Chew Lips were excellent, they were okay. Though I rather liked their debut album at first, it has already started to be a little boring. Or make that a lot. Live it's better though, as singer Tigs (seriously, that's what she wants to be called) is able to express a whole spectrum of emotions through her rather amazing voice. Too bad none of those emotions are related to the lyrics in any way. Kudos for the wacky dance moves though.
Finally, the band I wanted to see this night: NYPC. They've got a new album coming out next month, which after this gig, I'm going to completely ignore. I've now heard 'Ice cream' live, and that's enough NYPC for me. Yup.

Girls/Frankie & the Heartstrings @ Scala Highlight of the evening: playing air guitar to The National's 'Slow Hands' when the DJ decides to play Boxer in it's entirety in between the support act who should go back to playing at weddings and the main act who can compete with the Arctic Monkeys in inability to show any signs of life while on stage.

Los Campesinos!/Swanton Bombs/Islet @ Koko Hmm, Koko, that name popped up earlier, didn't it? And not in a good context I believe. Yes, you're absolutely right. If there's one venue in London that I try to avoid at all costs, it's Koko. Downside is that they've got an amazing line-up and that it's just around the corner for me. And when bands as LC! are playing there, I just can't resist. One of the things I like about LC! is that they tend to have at least one really good support act. On this particular tour, that part is taken up by Islet. Their sound is the best description I could give you of what my room usually looks like: organised chaos. Tambourines flying around, random screams, band members exchanging instruments after each song, two drums, no drums, just drums... I like it. As opposed to Swanton Bombs who, apart from the jazz riff the guitarist produces whilst sound checking, are not able to leave a good impression.
Los Campesinos!, well, what can I say about them that I haven't said on one of the four times that I've seen them before? I'm kind of having an 'odi et amo' feeling about this performance (and isn't it at least just a bit ironic that Catullus, most of whose texts are centred around either cocks or werewolves, gets world famous for the one love poem he happens to have written?). Odi as it's in Koko: worst sound ever, and it allows for too big a crowd in relation to a band as LC! (I've never been as bruised as I am at this very moment), and the guitarists of the band, Neil and Tom, happen to own my two dream guitars: an off-white Fender Jazzmaster and a cherry red Gibson SG. As I'm increasingly starting (well starting...) to miss my guitars, watching those two on stage was rather challenging for me. Luckily, as always, LC! were brilliant, which is why I love them. And they finished their set with my favourite song: 'This is how you spell: "HAHAHA, we've destroyed the hopes and the dreams of a generation of faux-romantics".'. I may have scared a few people when screaming along to some of the songs (particularly the "But what do you expect!" part in 'The sea is a good place to think about the future' at which point I even surprised myself with the volume of my voice). As true groupies (remember my mug?) Ilse and I waited outside for about an hour, but didn't get to see our favourite panda bear look-a-like (the animal, not the band. Gareth >>> Noah Lennox). Probably since he was signing things indoors, as that is what LC! members tend to do: stand near the merchandise, as normal people would.

Xiu Xiu @ the Luminaire (picture on the right)
I'm not going to write too much about this gig, as I plan to write a full review on it. All I can say is that is was the best gig I've seen this year, which prompted me to purchase a shirt which proclaims my love for both Xiu Xiu and cats. Awesome.

On orange Sainbury's bags, Chinese New Year & Gordon Brown being 2nd worst PM

Well, I guess the picture on the left says everything (except the part where I had to go to a FRENCH website to find a decent picture). I was starting to feel that I was literally the only person in the whole of London who cared about speed skating, but last Friday when my Dutch supervisor brought in some HEMA stroopwafels (nom nom nom), I discovered some love for the sport in her family as well. Ah, discussing the possibility of an Elfstedentocht and whether we'd catch a plane to go see it over Pickwick tea (yay!) and stroopwafels...

Mark Tuiter's victory was, of course, the highlight of my weekend. Or wait, make that week. I had to watch it in the kitchen on my laptop, and at the minute Shani Davis passed the finish line and I started to cheer with actual tears of joy in my eyes, one of my flatmates walked in. After a short confirmation that I was watching speed skating again, and again in the middle of the night, he offered me an orange Sainsbury's (the English version of Albert Heijn) bag to use as an orange flag, which I eagerly used to dance around the kitchen with. Yup. With five more days of Olympic speed skating to go my flatmates already think I've completely lost it. I also might have compared last night's victory with winning the world championship in football to justify my actions. But it is, isn't it? The 1500 meter is distance everyone wants to win, and is able to win: the sprinters, the stayers, all all-rounders have to able to skate a decent metric mile, and then there's the specialists like Mark. And as was said last night: 'we' have been waiting since 1972 for someone to win Olympic gold! That's 15 years longer than I've been alive! That is a long time to wait.

Other things I've done this week: Chinese New Year! Officially that was last week, but in London it's celebrated today. And as London is the home of the largest community of Chinese people outside of China, that's a rather big celebration. I took some pictures, but my battery died after like the fourth picture. The lion on the last two pictures actually went on to walk right past me, but you'll have to make ado with the crappy two pictures below. I also tried a lotus bun, which looked amazing and had some green stuff inside it. I expected some kind of vegetable, but it turned out to be really, really sweet. Rather nice actually. Also, there were a lot of stalls selling Chinese food stuffs of which I recognised absolutely nothing.

Other things I've done this week: make a Toblerone cake (in the oven right now, so no word on what that's gonna taste like), celebrate pancake day and watched a lot more speed skating. Also: I'm gonna make my 'real' radio debut on 2 March. *puts on radio voice* Tune in to Rare.FM on the 2nd of March at noon to catch me on the air (well, technically speaking it's glass fibre) on the Rare Reviews Show! (That's English time, so it's 1pm in Holland). Link on the right. Somewhere.
And apparently, we've lost another government led by Balkenende. Surprising. I think Gordon Brown is treating himself to a KitKat to celebrate not being the worst PM after all.

And gig reviews again:
Spoon/White Rabbits @ The Electric Ballroom When I first heard the single of Spoon's latest album Transference I wasn't that impressed. However, as it turned out, the song just needed some time to grow. 'Got Nuffin' is now one of my favourite songs by Spoon, who've been named best band of the last decade by both Metacritic and the Guardian. Both band were pretty good live, even the venue was the worst I've ever seen. I could write an extensive review, but as they played in Amsterdam just two days later other people have done a better job at that than I could have done.

Beach House/Lawrence Arabia @ Bush Hall Beach House's new album is my favourite album of the year so far (though Joanna Newsom's new triple, 3 hour long is a serious contender for that title) and I might have promised to write a review on that album, but as it's already a month since it has been released I think I might just give up on actually writing that (or do it next week when I'll go to Stonehenge by bus). Live, they're possibly even more amazing, just as last time I saw them. I absolutely adore Victoria LeGrand's voice and her ability to head bang to her own music. Lawrence Arabia are just a slightly less bearded version of Fleet Foxes, so if you're into that (or beards), give them a listen.

The Sunshine Underground/Cosmo Jarvis @ Koko Yeah, about that... I think I've mixed them up with another band. They're now officially added to the list of bands I walked out on (a list including the likes of White Lies, Glasvegas, Vampire Weekend and Florence + the Machine). I went to watch speed skating in stead and saw Laurine van Riessen en Annette Gerritsen win a bronze and silver medal. Much more rewarding.

Pantha du Prince/Walls @ Cargo And now for something completely different... Don't you just love London? Pantha du Prince for free! And not even at a record store but at a proper venue (okay, one with a queue of sometimes immense proportions but still, it's free!). Walls could be described as a sort of minimalistic Fuck Buttons wannabes, but with less creativity and less noise. Mildly entertaining. Pantha du Prince was a lot better, which was to be expected really since the man just released his highly rated debut album Black Noise. Live, Pantha du Prince turns his album into an hour-long DJ set and shows he knows how to get his audience moving. After starting of with some more ambient tracks which allow for some subtle dancing-with-your-eyes-closed, he throws in some more beats AND THEN IREEN WÜST WINS ANOTHER GOLD MEDAL! *Gets out another few Sainbury's bags and her Unox hat and starts celebrating*

Rare single reviews

White Rabbits – Percussion Gun

No, this is not one of the singles of the new Alice in Wonderland film, the plural might make that story just a bit too chaotic, wouldn’t it? No, ‘Percussion Gun’ is the new single of the six piece hailing from Brooklyn, New York, who’ve last year released their sophomore effort, tentatively entitled It’s Frightening. And though some bands ought to be frightened of releasing a second album, White Rabbits shouldn’t. ‘Percussion Gun’, produced by Spoon’s Britt Daniel, starts of with some driving drums that form the framework for the rest of the song, and possibly also the title. Soon a layer of vocals is added by either Greg Roberts or Steve Patterson (having two similarly sounding vocalists can be quite confusing at times), closely followed by the guitar and bass and a second layer of vocals by, well, whoever’s left after the lead vocal part I guess. This layering is completed by some keys and the rest of the song plays around with adding and removing each of the layers. Even with the simplicity of that concept, White Rabbits are able to produce a rather complex sounding song by using off beat melodies and interweaving of the different layers. “Just give me some piece of mind!” is exclaimed at the end of the song. Well, OK then: great song.

Released 11^th January 2010 by Mute Records

You Don’t Know Love – Editors

I really, really want to like this song. Editor’s debut album, The Back Room, is one of my favourite albums of the noughties (though I now feel I have to add that it’s quite an elaborate list) and after being slightly disappointed by their second effort An End Has a Start, and even more by single ‘Papillon’, I didn’t even dare listen to their third album, In This Light and On This Evening. And after listening to this single, I must say that I’ve made the right decision there. Editors seem to have a solid idea of what they want to sound like, but utterly fail at achieving that. Tom Smith’s warm voice sounds enchanting as ever, but appears to hold no connection to the accompanying late ‘80s/early ‘90s synth-inspired
 music in whatever way possible. The whole thing sounds just a bit uninspired, like they’re just focussing on what they want to achieve without actually involving themselves in the music they’re making. Lyrically the song’s pretty shaky as well. “You know the truth when you lie,” sings Tom Smith. Why yes Tom, that’s kinda what lying is all about. The chorus, if you can call it that, is where the song gets really gut wrenching. It’s just... camp. And that’s not the kind of genre you want to use to describe a band like Editors. 

Released 25^th January 2010 by Columbia Records

Pancake Day!

Don't you just the love the English for coming up with a national holiday like this? Well, technically they didn't came up with it, as it is just their version of what 'carnaval' used to be about with us: 1 day of indulgence before Lent (i.e.: the four weeks of 'vasten' before Easter). Some idiots in our country decided to turn that into the 5-day-long-horror that it is today, but here they've made it into this beautiful thing called pancake day. So tonight for supper: pancakes! And as dessert: pancake-cake! Can I just make a subtle suggestion to introduce this day in the Netherlands as well?

Svencouver vs. European All Round Championships Hamar 2006?

Svencouver!

Yes! The first gold medal! Unfortunately, I haven't seen much of the actual race as I went to see Chris Addison in stead and came home the moment the BBC stopped their coverage. Well, today I found out that I hadn't missed much (with regard to the BBC coverage that is, I'm still very eager to see Sven on the ice). There are two English commentators, who got some very, very short fact sheets they're reading out. And when they run out of facts (Clara Hughes is Canadian. She carried the Canadian flag during the opening ceremony and won medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics <- longest fact sheet during the entire 3k), they 'describe' what's happening. A few examples: "The riders exchange lanes, one going to the inside lane, one going to the outside lane." "The riders sprint to the line and finish." "5 laps to go." "4 laps to go." "This is the fastest opening so far! Could [insert random name] be the new gold medalist?"

ARGH! I've never been so annoyed! They're worse than Mart Smeets being the sole cycling commentator on a flat, boring Tour de France stage! But then a small miracle happened: I found this little button on the BBC website, saying you could watch the live coverage in different languages. Naturally intrigued by this (I was kinda expecting Welsh), I pressed the button, was redirected to the Eurovision sports website (they apparently also do other things than hosting songfestivals) and was able to watch the NOS coverage! Of course, the first thing I heard was Mart Smeets saying that "Beckert haar zilveren medaille uit het eelt op haar kleine teen had gehaald", but I've never been so happy to hear that ugly man refer to callous.

The best thing about this: the website is just broadcasting Nederland 1, I think 24/7. I'm now watching Unox commercials. Brilliant (when are they going to repeat Sven's race again?). Though I'm not getting up at 3.05 this evening to watch the medal ceremony (I can now watch the repeat on the 1 o'clock news tomorrow :D).

Other things I did this week: pass my IELTS exam with an 8.5 (out of 9) and learn to salsa-dance. Yup.

Gig reviews:
HMV's Next Big Thing Presents: We Have Band/Music Go Music/Miike Snow @ ULU I've lost count of how many times I've seen We Have Band. Of course they were brilliant as always, though there were only two persons actually dancing along to their music (one of them being me). And they're still going for the all white stage outfits. Music Go Music, I would recommend to them to everyone who secretly (or not so secretly) enjoys listening to ABBA. In looks and sound there is no band who resembles them more. Though in the two new songs they played they had moved on from ABBA to Fleetwood Mac.
Headliner Miike Snow were really impressive live. The first bit at least. Suddenly everyone appeared to be able to dance, and surprisingly, sing along to all the songs. Even the high bits (of which there are quite a few). After the first three songs, I didn't recognise anything any more which was slightly disappointing as I have listened to the album several times.

Something with whales/Race Horses/Fanfarlo @ ULU The first band did mention their name, but as with their music, it just didn't stick. Race Horses did. They're from somewhere up north (I'm guessing Liverpool) and did a very good job at being entertaining. Expect Beatle-esk 60's inspired Rock & Roll with a slight hint of Beach Boys, combined with rather silly lyrics, like a family going on a skiing holiday. Entertaining, but a bit shallow maybe.
I'm not sure whether I can say that I've seen Fanfarlo before as I saw only half of the band at the Lowlands festival last year as the other half had missed the plane. But even though the sound was horrible (due a 'slightly' drunken sound engineer who, as he did the night before, kept stumbling around the stage in the middle of the performance), the band were really good. With songs like 'The Wall Are Coming Down' (see video below) you just can't help smiling and feeling that all is well in the world.

Chris Addison @ Bloomsbury Theatre Nope, no music, but comedy. And good comedy. I don't think Chris Addison is very well known in Holland as he's not one of the comedians that is heavily featured on BBC shows like QI or Have I Got News For You, but you might know from shows like Lab Rats (which I absolutely adored) or The Thick Of It. The only lines I can remember at this point: "There is only one character in modern fiction, apart from Doctor Who, who can regenerate and that's the pope." They were lots of lines that were more clever than this one, but things that refer to Doctor Who just seem to stick with me.

Gig reviews

Yeah, I believe that I started this little thing where I write short reviews on the gigs I've been to each week two weeks ago. And already I've managed to completely forget this (though that might also have something to do with the film and popcorn/no, pizza!/film and popcorn and pizza?/film and popcorn and pizza it is! night we had last Sunday. So, gigs from last week and I'll add the gigs I've been to this week as well (yes:gigs. That's plural on a Tuesday).

Run Toto Run/O Children/Shy Child @ White Heat at Madame Jojo's Three bands on one night! And all three of them were really good! And all of that for just a fiver! And this night is on every single week of the year. Brilliant. And they've got amazing bands almost all of the time (some other bands I've seen/missed at this venue include Cold Cave, Esben and the Witch, Fool's Gold and New Young Pony Club (missed them twice!)). First up were Run Toto Run (kudos for the name), who sound La Roux should have sounded. Or would have wanted to sound like: straight from the 80s and danceable, and most importantly maybe: credible. The girl could actually sing live, though she did have a bottle of cough syrup at the ready. But maybe that last fact makes it just a bit more impressive. Second up were the band that I was actually there for: O Children. Even though the singer was on crutches (which were too small for him, as was the stage which caused him to have to duck while singing and while on miss-matched crutches) he still got the whole crowd going. Now this is a small venue, so when I say 'whole crowd' I'm talking about 200 persons tops. But still, that's quite impressive. But not as impressive as Shy Child were. After a 20 minute break after their first half song, in which they tried to get the bass pedals working (not much of a success unfortunately), they managed to get even O Children's crippled singer to dance. Their new record (coming out on the 1st of March) is gonna be ace.

Fiction/Goldhawks/Surfer Blood @ Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen  As I've already kind of written about this gig, I can be short. Fiction: Sound like how Yeasayer's new album should have sounded. Goldhawks: just ignore them. Surfer Blood: their album is really starting to grow on me. Give 'Harmonix' a listen. Or just the whole album. And they're really good live as well.

Surfer Blood @ Pure Groove Records Surfer Blood again? Yup. But this time in a record store, so it's for free! Again: really good, though I guess they could have used some of Run Toto Run's cough syrup by now. I guess they're just not used to this kind of weather, seeing as they're from Florida and all.

???/Talons/Johnny Foreigner @ Tutu's KCLSU The first band tonight kinda forgot to mention their name. Not that they were that interesting, but still, I'd like to know what I've heard. Talons did that bit a lot better, even though their music was instrumental which prevents them from too much banter. Hmm, lovely those guitars and violins. And noise, lot's of noise. Biggest mystery of the evening: the lead guitarist's Unox scarf (as in: the thing you get for free with 3 rookworsten). Didn't get a chance to ask him why he was wearing it. Second biggest mystery of the evening: the baffling amount of ginger JoFo fans. Seriously, where did they all come from? Isn't JoFo from Birmingham? That's nowhere near Scotland or Ireland! Nevertheless, JoFo were nice. Not good, not bad, just nice. If you would know all their lyrics by heart it might have been great, but for those who didn't (*raises hand*) it was just nice. They relied a bit too much on fans knowing each and every song inside out. And I have to give it to them, most of the people in the front of the room did, but this way you're not really expanding your fanbase. So unless I've missed the bit where they're massively famous already I would advise them to do otherwise.

Bus ride Camden - UCL (and 1 picture of Oxford Street)

And the nominees are...

Nope, this is not gonna be related to the Oscars in any way, even though I did just see 'Precious' and I must say that it's by far the best film I've seen this year (for whatever that's worth). No, this is about me being nominated for an Arts prize at UCL. Yes, you have read that correctly.

Not that it's a big deal or something: every single member of the reviews team of Rare.FM got nominated. But still, it's a nice thought. Though I now do feel like I should put a bit more effort into it as the two gig reviews I've written for them so far are about the shittiest reviews I've written in my whole life (not that I'd really know anyway, as I never seem to have the courage to reread anything that's published under my name anyway).

Syracuse High Advanced Maths Society

Went to see Surfer Blood tonight, and seeing as they look neither like Surfer, Blood, nor Florida (that's were they're from, you know), I came up with a new name they could use: Syracuse High Advanced Maths Society (conveniently abbreviated as SHAMS). Not that I think they're fake or anything, but more because they genuinely look like a high school maths team whilst making music worthy of the name 'Surfer Blood'. I especially enjoyed the bassist's Yes-Sir-I-do-enjoy-a-bit-of-Debussy-face every time the singer resolved to simply screaming the lyrics, and yes, I am referring to the geeks in the picture on the left here.

They were supported by Fiction (recommended for those who liked Yeasyer's first, but not second album) and Goldhawks (if you're into bland American 'indie' rock like The Gaslight Anthem). To the keyboardist of the latter: a plain white T is not an outfit, it's just the singular form of an even more plain American band.

With T-shirts like this, SHAMS would be the perfect name. There's no denying that!