05.20.07
It’s not for the cock, it’s for the plethora of musical treats
In case you’ve not heard, i.e. you’ve been living under a rock in a desert, Dot to dot festival is an event in which millions of bands and DJs play the best non-shit clubs and venues of Nottingham and the punters create a new meaning for the phrase- “fucking wassssteeeed!”. It’s Sunday the 27th and it’s going to be insane. Here’s my personal choice of who should not be missed.
Dot to dot top 5
Hot Club De Paris
If jerky, foaming-at-the-mouth Indie-rock is your thing- make sure you see Hot Club De Paris at this year’s dot to dot. If it’s not, see them anyway and you’ll probably end up swinging from the rafters of Rescue Rooms grinning like a deranged monkey to the likes of “Shipwrecked” and “Sometimes it’s Better” (full title: “Sometimesitsbetternottostickbitsofeachotherineachotherforeachother”). Hot Club combine angular, arty indie with witty Northernisms in an unusual musical mix. Doesn’t sound good? It is. Hot Club De Paris are quite genuinely like no one else right now, they essentially create great pop songs and make them fascinatingly wild with their hammering bass, berserk guitar, pounding drums and frankly unadvisable (but actually amazing) tempo changes. “Bonded by Blood” is literally the band beat-boxing (and doing it well, too) and singing in faux posh English accents, “If one can work as a member of a team/ then one has achieved one’s parent’s dream”. It works, it works very fucking well and is utterly insane.
Live, they’ve been known to sing in a barbershop style trio huddled around a mic, question the lack of piss-taking heckling hurled their way and generally act like a crazed party of nine year olds on cherryade. I would end on something like “Make sure you check them out” but it seems much more appropriate to say, “make sure you go and see them and feel like your head is being mixed frantically in a large musical blender and have the time of your life”. So do.
http://www.myspace.com/hotclubdeparis
The Whip
“The Whip” from
Manchester, eh? Sounds suspiciously like they could be a new Twang, doesn’t it. However, a rubbish bunch of Brummies trying too hard to be lads to actually be any good at music, is not what The Whip are about. The Whip are a disco/electronica verses indie pop outfit who happen to make an immensely gorgeous sound to dance to. A smidgen of Daft Punk, a sprinkle of Joy Division and dollop of LCD Soundsystem (anyone else spy an Indie recipe book in the pipeline?), The Whip are sure to set the dance floor alight with their infectious, driving music. Their new single “Muzzle No.1” hooks you in with the mad beeps, angular riffery and an insane groove of a earth shuddering bass line, not to mention the tight dance drumming that’ll have you dancing like Ian Curtis with a big, toothy grin on your face. This is interesting, unpretentious stuff, so go and see them at dot to dot, dance like a loon and be prepared for possibly one of the biggest, and most pleasing, surprises of the night.
http://www.myspace.com/thewhipmanchester
Pete and The Pirates
Pete and The Pirates are a young, gun slingin’ five piece from the South of England who make a folksy rock/ indie pop sort of sound. Jangling and bouncing their way through obvious musical comparisons such as The Libertines, The Holloways as well as (this may just be me) Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Pete and The Pirates actually produce something pretty glorious. Layered harmonies skewered over rattling drums and lo-fi guitars are the order of the day, as are their soaring vocals and melodies. Their song “Come on Feet” has attracted them quite a bit of attention recently with 6 music, Steve Lamaque and Zane Lowe drooling all over them. It’s not hard to see why either, sounding like Babyshambles addicted to sunshine and lollypops rather than messy drugs and featuring a stunning chorus, it surely can’t be long until they’re sound tracking sunny days in the park up and down the country. What better way to spend May bank holiday than to make a new musical friend?! See them now or risk having to pretend you did really see them to your mates in a year’s time when they’re massive.
http://www.myspace.com/peteandthepirates
Sky Larkin
Leeds student trio, Sky Larkin are the perfect band to see during the earlier stages of dot to dot where there’s still a chance you might remember it the next day. You’ll be glad if you do remember them, as well. A bit 90s melodic pop and a bit noughties jerky art-rock- “It’s not for the cock” favourites, Sky Larkin are a glorious summer band. Songs such as “One of Two”, “Keepsakes” and “
Summit” are magnificent nuggets of pop that will brighten up any day. Splicing jangling guitars, melodic electronics and soaring vocals, the band create a sound that is individual but catchy as hell. Their songs are like audio doodles and sketches painted on a sunny day with a can of beer in one hand and the multi coloured paint pallet in the other. They are defiantly worth seeing, so be a winner in life and do just that.
www.myspace.com/skylarkinskylarkin
Foals
A band called Bloc Party are skulking around a trendy part of
London, pretending they hate trendy parts of
London. Hoods are up, heads are down and eyes gaze in a wistful melancholy- longing for the first frost of the year. Suddenly, a
New York band called The Rapture burst into the room, bouncing off the walls and dancing with flailing legs and flourishing arms. Bloc Party look up in mild surprise, though nothing could truly surprise this group of world weary twenty somethings. Before a single word can be uttered, however, The Rapture are pulling them up for a funk-fuelled dance off. That night, The Rapture did something many thought impossible- they made Bloc Party fun. Bloc Party began to enjoy dancing and socialising and this gradually began to creep into their music. They fused these new found elements of joyful partying with their trademark tight musicianship and they decided to rename themselves. With more energy than a double A battery sipping vodka and redbull on the dance floor, they decided to call themselves Foals and continued in their search for the next rowdy house party to turn into a techno knees up. Some believe this to be how Foals come about; others believe them to be a bunch of Oxford Indie kids in tight jeans who thought it’d be a good idea to create techno pop with guitars. They were right, too. It was a good idea. Whether the legend of Bloc Party morphing into Foals is a true story or not, they will be high powered, messy yet tight, a bleeped up, funked out electro pop band and that’s why you should see them at dot to dot.
For details, line up, stage times etc etc, go to:
Captain Lovebead said,
May 20, 2007 at 4:18 pm
If I were the Foals, which would of course make me a plurality of people, I would use your explanation of their origin on their albums and website.
Unfortunately, I am but one person. And not only am I not the Foals, I am not even a member there of.
Gutted.