Fri Apr 23 - London Calling Line-Up 2010
Amsterdam Event Guide have put together our run through of this year’s London Calling acts with a mix of our reviews and forcasts for the rest of 2010 and that so you can see who’s hot, who might be good and who will be the ultimate band of the LC weekend.
In alphabetic order..
10/10/BBC RADIO 1, KKKK KERRANG!, KKKK KERRANG! (live review), ALBUM OF THE WEEK HUW STEPHENS SHOWS/ RADIO 1, 9/10 ROCK SOUND (LIVE REVIEW), 9/10 DROWNED IN SOUND (LIVE REVIEW), 8/10 VICE MAG, 7/10 ROCKSOUND, 7/10 METAL HAMMER MAG, 8.5/10 ROCKFREAKS (DENMARK)
“Stunning”.Rory McConnell BBC RADIO 1
“really rather special…it is rare for a body of work to be so dreamy and elegiac yet conversely monstrously heavy…sounds like the end of the world.” KERRANG!
“…they are considered to be one of the most hotly tipped British bands around at the moment.” BIG CHEESE MAG
“Imagine Mogwai were from Belfast and had massive balls.” VICE MAG
“The sound of someone crashing an oil tanker through Sigur Ros’ ice float.” NME
Yeah, what they said.. its bloody good.
Comparisons have been made to Morrisey but we can hear more of that White Lies big vocal, emotive melodies mix about this act. Critics and fans in the UK have gone wild at their live shows, but the jury is out to see whether they can stand out from the crowd at this year’s LCF.
Swashbuckley americana-indie sounds come from this one man singer/song writer and thats not just because he’s called one song ‘The Gay Pirates’. If you indie-acoustic inclined then he’s your man to see this weekend.
“totally fucking awesome.” – nme
“really quite impressive.” – the guardian
“infectious…hard to dislike.” – brooklynvegan
‘London Calling, but he’s from New York?’ We hear you cry.. don’t fret, he’ll be drinking tea with milk and eating Hobnobs in no time. Music-wise, Darwin delivers a delightful electronic pop-indie mix of tunes that definitely see the crowd bopping away.
From the band themselves on themselves: “Imagine the chorus vocals of “Loser” by Beck, with the drums of “Army of Me” by Bjork, layered with the guitars of “Im Bored” by Iggy Pop, and the melody of The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows.”
Now sprinkle the percussion of “Moving On Up” by Primal Scream, and the experimentation of “Fight Test” by The Flaming lips, and just for safe measure, add the soul of Afterglow of Your Love” by The Small Faces, and maybe the danceability of The Beastie Boys’ “Watcha Want.” Actually, add the epicness of – say – Ennio Morricone’s Cinema Paradiso as well.
In our heads, this is what we sound like.”
They’re not wrong but we’d say add in some heavy americana-rock bands like Black Angels, Black Keys and you’re there.
“DATK are all attitude; radiating confidence, striking poses and delivering high quality, driven, eccentric pop. Singer Doll’s voice is a perfectly spotless hybrid of Kate Bush and Gwen Stefani. Her energy is frantic yet focused and she works the crowd like a pro.” ARTROCKER
Well they’ve got a snazzy myspace haven’t they?! When we’re not being distracted by their crazy music page we get down to listening to their pretty awesome tsongs. Full of that whimsical, avant garde wonder that has seen acts like Marina and the Diamonds (who were at LC last year) rise to fame in the past few months. Doll and The Kicks are a bit heavier and more electronic than Marina and they have an impressive live reputation. This act is high on our list to see.
Pretty much love any band that are down with the ‘tropical’ side of punk music. If you’s don’t gets us, we mean acts like Cold Puma, Airwaves, Animal Collective, Truman Peyote etc etc .. ‘tropical’ is where its at. And what place is more tropical than Manchester, England?! This band definitely bring some sun into the odd Northerners life and will definitely do the same here in Amsterdam.
A delightful music specticle from NYC full-on band band, Emanuel and the Fear. Here’s the lineup:
Drums – Jeff Gretz
Bass – Gil Goldin
Synth/Vox – Dallin Applebaum
Violin/Vox – Liz Hanley
Guitar – Dan Tirer
Flute – Nic Cowles
Violin – Tom Swafford
Cello – Brian Sanders
Trombone – David Nelson
Trumpet – Chris Coletti
Guitar/Piano/Vox – Emanuel Ayvas
Jazzy numbers, soultry vocals and emotive tunes from this theatrical. Kinda hard to miss, even if its not your thing, this will be a stand out act.
The super SUPER group who make old folk songs sound cool are none other than Simon Tong (formerly of The Verve / Blur / The Good, the Bad & the Queen), Orcadian folk guitarist and singer Gawain Erland Cooper and Drummer/Engineer David Nock (The Orb / The Cult / The Fireman). With stunning reviews of both album and live shows this will be one of the bigger acts for the LC event. Think of them along the lines of Fleet Foxes and you’ll be heading in the right direction.
They like to ornate their stage with lamps and couches, stuffed birds and such.. helps emulate the atmosphere of their numbers so they say and with quite an eery undertone to most of their tracks and vocals, we can see why it would work. Dark and gloomy but poetic and beautiful at the same time, Esben and the Witch have that minimal sounds similar to The XX (who they’re good friends with) but don’t expect the dance-able nature so akin to the later.
Manchester is doing one of our writing staff proud at this event.. they keep knocking outgreat new music and no ones mentioned Oasis .. (until now, but ignore that). Atmospheric pop songs with wonderful and emotive harmonies. AEG can hear similarities to Passion Pit, Delphic and Wild Beasts. Hands down.. in our top 3 acts to watch!
Twangy guitars and that ‘tropical’ sound is rife with this act and we LOVE it. Bring on the summer and grab us a cocktail, this is beach music straight from LA! Expect great rifts, airy vocals and heavenly brass from this outfit… it’ll be a mini party for their 30mins on stage.
Panpipe minimal electro…?! Disco rock…?! Whatever people call it, this laddie played Trouw last year and rocked it so we’re expecting the same here. There’s definitely some 80s pop in there, some African inspired beats and lots of big basses.. but it’s hard to describe and that’s what we love about it. If he gets billed later in the evening, it’ll make for the beginnings of a sexy dance session mark our words.
Brooklyn based electro-pop duo clearly know how to pull out the sexy pop with dancey singles like ‘Dressed in Dresden’. Lead singer Eleanore Everdell seems to nonchalantly work through their songs with such confidence which makes her, like, totally cool. The backing beats and guitars make this more pop than acts like Crystal Castles but heavier than say, Chew Lips. A big YES in our books.
She was here last year supporting The XX and she looked pretty hot on stage and though her songs didn’t wow us, we think there is definitely room for her to grow and maybe she’s going to knock our socks off this year.. but probably not.
Kinda pop-sounding but man this guy has an interesting voice; it’s all hollow and deep .. sounds a bit like Hercules and the Love Affair. Don’t think his live show is going to be anything mindblowing just yet but wait until this act gets some dance/hip hop producers behind him, then it’ll really get people talking. Worth a watch now for his cutesy numbers but hold on for the big shows for later in the year.
Signed to Warp records this northern English lady is set to go off in 2010. She embodies and aesthetically looks like she should be in Joy Division/The Smiths but she sings like a 80s pop godness all high and clear.. makes us want to dance like the Breakfast Club kids (even more than usual). Does she play her own guitar too? Wow, we’ve got a proper crush going on here. Watch this lady for sure!!
Sweet as a button, this act writes beautiful folk-indie pop numbers of such a fine calibre they’ll stop you in your tracks, even if you’ve just come from watching some electroy act or hiphop crew. Think Noah and the Whale, Bon Iver that sort of thing. Definitely a must see, break up the night and experience the whole spectrum of the London Calling musical sphere.
One of the tipped bands for 2010, this experimental sometimes chill-wave, sometimes noise-happy act are in our top 5 bands to see at the festival. Whether they’ve ever had an Irn-Bru or Haggis is another question but A Sunny Day in Glasgow definitely know how to combine the loud and quiet, the romantic and uplifting so beautifully that what comes out is truly joyus music and we can’t wait to see them do it live.
Heart-warming and touching songs from the shy (and Bright Eye sounding) Conor O’Brien, the singer songwriter from Ireland. Slightly haunting melodies, poetic and dark lyrics this is stop-in-your-tracks beautiful music but how well it will be received this weekend, we’re not sure.
Having been around a fair while, many a folk might have seen this band already at Paradiso, none the less.. they still sound modern and they’re art-indie-electro numbers have an experimental edge that’ll stand them in a different category from the majority of indie-electro trios out there in London. Saying that, it’s not too crazy you can’t dance like a nutter, so we hoping they play late in the festivities so we can get down on the dance floor and sing along to ‘You Came Out/West End Girls’
