Gigged

29th March 2010 at 20:30

This week I had the pleasure of attending two gigs in Camden, London. The first at KOKO and the second at the Electric Ballroom. This meant I was able to see six live acts in total. Each of them put on a great show and what follows is a sort of review and at the very least a collection of thoughts on the noise they all made.

I've included links to their MySpace pages¹ websites and Twitter accounts so please be sure to go and have a look and listen if these are bands you haven't heard of before. If only have time for one though, make sure it's Sound of Rum, they are something a little bit special.

Sound of Rum

As already stated, Sound of Rum are a little bit special. Kate Tempest and her band mates serve up a special blend of riffs, beats and words. Kate has an incredible stage presence and a fast, punchy delivery and they warmed up the crowd in moments with a couple of well thought out interactions. The intensity of sound that the trio create is astounding, and once you catch them, you realise the lyrics are genius too.

B. Dolan

Part of the Strange Famous family, B. Dolan is fierce but funny. The term that always springs to mind when I have to describe him is "clever rap", perhaps not the most pertinent but arguably accurate, this is rap music as it should be, rhymes built with thought, wit and intelligence. He also appears slightly eccentric, and the strip to his boxer shorts and shaving of beard won't make you think otherwise.

Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip

The headliners of the first night, Sac and Pip did not disappoint. With the recent release of their second album the set was a fine balance of old and new. The highlight of the old was Angles, which still has the power to make a pumping crowd stand still and send shivers down spines. Although lyrically The Logic of Chance doesn't quite top their previous record I do think that the overall sound has improved and matured. It looks the Dan has really mastered the beats and as usual Pip is still doing remarkable things with vast collections of syllables.

Jenny Owen Youngs

Jenny has a Kate Nash/Florence and the Machine thing going on. The crowd was a little on the unresponsive side but she managed to pull of a interesting and varied set, which would of benefited from a better sound from the PA - it didn’t really do her beautiful voice much justice.

Free Energy

Nothing but youth and good vibes. I’m still baffled as to why they couldn’t get the crowd moving. An older, pop-indie kind of sound with a handful of catchy hooks and a whole heap of energy, as would probably be expected from their name. Look them up and have a little dance.

Motion City Soundtrack

MCS wrapped off Friday night with an unsurprisingly flawless set. They finally got the crowd moving and pumped out track after track from all four of their studio albums, only pausing occasionally for Justin Pierre to towel off and fix his hair. Disappear was my personal highlight, which sounds just as good live as it does on the album.

Unfortunately out of necessity rather than choice, as it turns out the only thing MySpace is good for is listening to music from lesser known bands. ↩