Shazamers' Blog

Last week we went along to Somerset House, to see if Beady Eye – the phoenix like outfit to have risen from the bitter and acrimonious wreckage of Oasis – had the swagger, presence and most importantly the tunes that could deliver the goods without a certain elder older brother at the helm. In a week that saw Noel Gallagher unveil plans for not one but two planned album releases, the pressure seemed to be on Gallagher the younger’s shoulders to demonstrate how Beady Eye were the real deal, and not as Noel had heavily hinted, a band made up of Oasis session material rejects.

The 16^th Century central London setting provided a suitable palatial glamour for a warm July evening by the river,  it’s a quintessentially British setting befitting a band such as Beady Eye, who come in an unapologetic vein of route one British rock n roll acts with a solid guitar bass and drums back bone. Musically they borrow heavily from bands such as The Who and The Faces, while at the same time naturally upholding their tradition of bravado and confidence, displayed here in spades as they tear into opener ‘Four Letter Word’.
Read more…

Jon Davies Gigs/ Events Beady Eye

Last week the label that launched the career of Lady Gaga, plus guided the US fortunes of La Roux, Feist, Ellie Goulding and Robyn, took over a crammed venue in London’s Kings College for their first showcase in the capital. We managed to brave the eager masses and catch sets from electro pop pranksters LMFAO and Far East Movement, as well as performances from Frankmusik and Natalia Kills.

Taking on the headline slot, LMFAO greeted the crowd by throwing a hamper full of glowsticks out. Despite taking to the stage slightly later than planned, the hyped crowd gave them an ecstatic welcome. Running through a set that included ‘Party Rock Anthem’ and ‘I’m In Miami’, the raucous collective stirred up the crowd by giving out beer bongs and vodka shots. Not that they needed much stirring, earlier in the night Far East Movement had already pushed energy levels to a near frenzy.

At times looking as excited as the crowd, Far East Movement bounded around the stage with unwavering energy. Predictably the biggest applause was saved for ‘Like A G6’ and when one of their members launched himself into the crowd.

See below for our exclusive pictures of this raucous night.
Read more…

Jon Davies Gigs/ Events Far East Movement, LMFAO

Once again, London Festival Lovebox has already got us clearing our schedule in preparation for July 15th-17th. The inner city festival has pulled together a fantastic array of acts, with headliners ranging from UK indie upstarts The Wombats, the legendary Snoop Dogg – who will be performing his ’93 classic ‘Doggystyle’ in it’s entirety – and Scissor Sisters, who will undoubtedly give the weekend an suitably lavish finish. There’s a host of other musical delights over the course of the festivals three days, including Santigold, Blondie, The Drums, Jessie J and Example.

To get you in the mood, one of the festival founders (and one half of Groove Armada) Tom Findlay has put together a mix with tracks from a variety of artists playing this years event. Featuring the likes of Metronomy, Lykke Li, Azari & III and Black Devil Disco club. It’s available for download here, read on for the full tracklist.

Jon Davies Gigs/ Events Lovebox

Seattle duo Beat Connection threw down an impressive warm up set in East London tonight, mustering future disco rhythms via an ensemble of Mac’s, Synth’s, drum machines and flickers of live guitar licks and vocals. While the expectant and eager sell out crowd slowly filled the dimly lit venue. Then New Yorkers Holy Ghost! were welcomed to the stage with generous applause, and launched straight into what felt from the off like a greatest hits set; with each tune in the tight 45 min set lapped up like a favourite by the shape throwing hipster crowd. We’re told it’s the last night of the European tour, save for some festival appearance over the summer, which “don’t count”. Obviously the DFA band felt at ease in London and were happy to end a touring stint in the city.

The former duo’s live show is now beefed out to a five piece with addition of bass, drummer and keys. A full, soaring sound which see dance rhythms colliding perfectly with a live band aesthetic.’ Say My Name’ and ‘Do It Again’ are rapturously received. Lead singer Alex Frankel switches between vocal duties and addition drumming on the centre stage second drum kit, often dueling opposite bandmates in a percussive frenzy.

The band returned to the stage for an encore, and seemed genuinely touched by the love shown to them by a dedicated London crowd.

Read more…

Jon Davies Gigs/ Events Holy Ghost!

It may seem that summer has begun early this year with uncharacteristically high temperatures right across Europe, but it would also seem that the festival season starts earlier every year too. These days, if you want to, you can attend festivals from Easter weekend right through to the beginning of September.

This year is no different, with the 20th Anniversary of Europe’s (if not the world’s) premiere Punk and Hardcore festival Groezrock, which takes place yearly at Easter in Meerhout, Belguim. Originally starting out as a 400 capacity event, the festival has grown to accommodate close to 32,000 people.

Groezrock is renowned for its world class line up and only charging 1,66 Euro for a beer, which knocks the current UK festival price of  £4.80 for a drink into a cocked hat! Add to this temperatures that topped the mid eighties and you have the ingredients for a great weekend.

The festival organisers continually up the ante with ever increasing stellar line-ups and this year was no exception with highlights coming from industry stalwarts Dropkick Murphys and NoFx. Attendees of Groez were also fortunate enough to see American punksters Descendents in fine form after reportedly bombing 2 days later at one London show, with singer Milo losing his voice and cancelling their other London date.

Performance of the weekend had to be Swedish punk band Millencolin who treated the audience to a complete playback of their 2000 seminal album, ‘Pennybridge Pioneers’. Some of the songs were seemingly played at double speed and crowd pleasers included ‘No Cigar’ (above), which found fame as a track on Tony Hawk’s skating games, and sing-along acoustic track ‘The Ballad’. Other great sets came from mid-billing acts such as Scottish emo rockers Twin Atlantic and American Ska punkers Streetlight Manifesto.

Keep an eye on www.groezrock.be for all new Groez news and roll on the rest of 2011 into 2012.

To see more photos, including Quinn the guitarist from platinum selling band The Used showing off his Shazam, see below:

Hazel Savage Gigs/ Events dropkick murphys, Groezrock Festival, millencolin, twin atlantic

This weekend the latest emerging force in hip hop, Odd Future, brought their frantic live show to the eager masses at London’s Camden Crawl festival. The group, fronted by Tyler The Creator, have been terrorising venues and crowds across Europe before preparing a US East Coast tour later this month.

Odd Future members Hodgy Beats and DJ Syd The Kid first teased the crowd before Tyler bounded on stage in his green ski mask (which he also sported on Jimmy Fallon), taunting photographers by announcing “I will f*** your s*** up and I won’t pay for it!” Producer Left Brain also made an appearance, patrolling the stage in a beige overcoat. In a typically rambunctious style, the band tore through their set whilst constantly crowd surfing, climbing up speaker stacks and battling with security. Their chaotic performances of ‘Sandwiches’ and ‘Yonkers’ hyped the crowd into frenzy and when Syd dropped ‘Earl’, it resulted in a full on stage invasion.

The band have built a solid fanbase by giving away a string of mixtapes from their website, while Tyler’s latest ‘Goblin’ will be released through XL on 9^th May.

Read more…

Jon Davies Gigs/ Events Odd Future, Tyler The Creator

As festival season steadily creeps up on us, our eyes can’t help venture to early September and Bestival. Taking place on the picturesque Isle Of Wight on September 8^th- 11^th, organiser Rob Da Bank has pulled in some stellar acts. Indie Goth legends The Cure, arena conquering dance lords Pendulum and Primal Scream will all entertain the masses; while Beach Boys legend Brian Wilson, PJ Harvey and DJ Shadow will also deliver eagerly anticipated performances. But those acts are merely the tip of a huge bill that encompasses hundreds of bands and DJ’s across the weekend.

This year will see Bestival break new ground, by adding 3D coverage of the event. Bestival 3D TV will air with Sky this September, giving  people at home a chance to relive the finest musical moments at home - in 3D! For those who hate the thought of camping, warm beers and sunburned necks it’s arguably the closest you can come to recreating the festival experience at home. Two hours of live 3D TV will be broadcast each day from Friday to Sunday, with a full round up after the weekend.

However the pull of 3D coverage won’t be strong enough to lure away punters from the real thing. With around 60,000 eager revelers expected to attended, Bestival 2011 will undoubtedly adhere to the high standards set by last year’s event. Tickets are currently available, but are likely to be snapped up over the coming months. For full info and line up details, head here.

Jon Davies Gigs/ Events Bestival

It would be no exaggeration to say the Mercury Music Prize is a big deal in the UK. The award, which is designed to honor groundbreaking British musicians with a huge cheque and reams of press exposure, has now been going for 18 years. Former winners include influential and genre defining acts like Dizzee Rascal, Pulp, Roni Size, Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys. (Some former winners, such as Speech Debelle and Talvin Singh, faded into obscurity after their win – but we won’t mention them.) To go with The Mercury Music Prize’s taste-making reputation, the company behind the award has now launched ‘Mercury Prize Sessions’: a series of live performances designed to showcase the best the UK music biz has to offer. Situated in the Hospital Club, a gated community for London’s media elite, past performers have so far included James Blake, Everything Everything and Magnetic Man – all of which have been tipped for success at this year’s awards ceremony

The latest show saw Jamie Woon and Gruff Rhys take to the stage. First on was Woon, a much hyped blue-eyed soul singer from London whose work has been embraced by luminaries like the BBC and dubstep enigma Burial. On record Woon’s music falls loosely into the amorphous genre of post-dubstep with skittering electronic beats and forlorn melodies the order of the day. In person, however, his music takes on a much more funky lilt. Stevie Wonder-esque synth bass and live drumming melded with Jamie’s sampler delivered electronics to create a sound that owes as much to disco as it does to dingy club music. The groovy pop of ‘Lady Luck’ (see above) even got a cynical looking bunch of middle aged music industry types grooving away at the back. Central to the performance was Woon’s voice; emotive and technically faultless, his vocals were special in a way that more than made up for the singer’s muted stage presence. With an already acclaimed album hitting the shelves this week, it would seem that Jamie Woon has a bright future ahead of him.
Read more…

Stephen Titmus Gigs/ Events Gruff Rhys, Jamie Woon

After supporting current UK hype darlings The Vaccines, it was no surprise that Chicago indie-pop-purveyors Smith Westerns attracted a sold out crowd to their show at London’s Cargo. Their second album – the instantly likeable ‘Dye It Blonde’- is packed full of skuzzy, melodic pop gems. Released on Fat Possum in the US earlier this year, the album has  also attracted the ear of influential British label Domino, who released ‘Dye It Blond’ in the UK.

The band’s home recorded debut, pricked the ears of tastemakers back in 2009. With their nods to the timeless melodies of T-Rex and The Beatles, their self titled LP quickly won plaudits from the likes of Pitchfork and Stereogum. The follow up, ‘Dye It Blonde’, saw them jump from bedroom recording and into the studio with producer Chris Coady (Beach House, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) to create a more focused and semi-polished sound.

Constant touring has ensured the band are more than comfortable on stage; with lead singer Cullen Omori happily chatting between tracks while his brother Cameron takes on bass duties. With a set that leaned in favour of their latest output, Smith Westerns fully justified their status in the American Blogosphere. Tracks like the anthemic ‘All Die Young’ and ‘Weekend’ are so damn catchy that it’s hard to attribute them to young chaps barely in their 20’s.

Smith Westerns begin a US tour on April 25^th at New York’s Bowery Ballroom; head here for a full list of dates.

Read more…

Jon Davies Gigs/ Events Smith Westerns

On paper the worlds of hip hop and reggae should make happy bed fellows. Common themes are plentiful – socially conscious lyrics, a mutual love of jazz cigarettes and a shared predication for bass are just a few.  However, reggae’s flirtations with hip hop don’t always work out as well as they could.  Many of Jamaica’s most successful stars have dipped their toe in the world of hip hop with less than startling results. All too often the best facets of each genre cancel each other out leaving a homogenous mush of weak reggae and generic rap – just listen to Elephant Man’s hook ups with P. Diddy or Stephen Marley’s work with Wyclef if you need examples.

Thankfully, Damian Marley and Nas have no such issues. Their collaborative concert last week in London proved to be one of the most raw and uncompromising rap performances of the year. Taking elements from their respective musical backgrounds – the live band and dreadlocked flag bearer was clearly taken from Marley’s camp, while the two turntables and DJ clearly came from Nas – the show allowed both artists to play to their strengths.  Rushing on stage to the sound of lead single ‘As We Enter’, the pair stormed on as furious ball of energy pumping fists and provoking the crowd to throw their hands up. From the first record there was a tangible chemistry between the two singers as they traded rapid fire verses.

Read more…

Stephen Titmus Gigs/ Events Damian Marley, Nas