Here is a new song from Geordie band Shields. Actually, it’s not in fact a Shields song at all but a cover of the SBTRKT track from his eponymous debut album. In tribute to the easy to google beat-man the band sport similar masks to him in a video which you can watch here. So it’s like having 5 SBTRKT’s on your viewing device rather than one. Which must be quite exciting if rather normal looking men in masks is your thing.
Pharoahs is the bonus track on the iTunes extended download and physical CD of the bands Kaleidoscope E.P due on the 19th of this month. We’re not quite sure what a bonus track is these days. Is it what would have been known in the days of vinyl only as a B-Side? Or is it a free give away? Which it can’t really be if it’s on a CD because you’re paying for the CD anyway. In our desperation to fully understand exactly what a bonus track is we googled the term, which of course led us to Wikipedia, which told us more than we could possibly ever want to know about bonus tracks. Essentially it’s a promotional term or device and the Japanese have to take the blame for it. Read more here if you must.
So Pharoahs is one of those stuttering choppy indie-dance-pop things that manages to sound smooth and spikey at the same time, like for example a piece of soap with some cocktail sticks stuck in it. Or rather in a musical sense like Miike Snow with more guitars or Friendly Fires with slightly less crazy hip shaking. Whatever, we're going to stop writing bollocks and let the music do the talking.
This is our third preview post on Brighton’s Great Escape 2012 which takes place between 10th-12th May. Today we turn our attention towards Saturday’s activities and three further recommendations for bands to see. With the likes of We Are Scientists, Africa Express Sound System and Madeon occupying some of the bigger venues, there’s also plenty of interest at the smaller shows, particularly during the day.
Of particular note is the recent addition of ex X-Factor star Aiden Grimshaw on Saturday. It will be interesting to see what the turnout for this gig is, with day tickets for Saturday having already sold out and the Great Escape not particularly being an event that people who stay in on Saturday night and watch X-Factor are likely to attend. However there’s a possibility that there may be a sizeable crowd of curious types, given his recent positioning in fairly hip magazines, hype machine chart placing and the fact that he never really fitted in as a typical X-Factor star anyway. If you’re going to his show please let us know on twitter what you thought afterwards.
So here are three acts that are highlighted on the Breaking More Waves schedule. Our previous two posts have presented the artists music via Soundcloud streams. Today we're going visual and doing it via You Tube.
The Hydrant may be geographically somewhat out of town compared with other venues at the Great Escape but there’s a fantastic afternoon of music promised for those enjoy sounds of a more acoustic bent and make the trip to this Alt. Escape show. In fact it’s worth taking residency all afternoon to catch the likes of Karima Francis, Stealing Sheep, Like Spinning and an artist that Breaking More Waves adores – Emily and The Woods. Emily’s acoustic songs have a calmness and inner beauty to them which if you’re feeling a bit battered after your first two days could offer a gentle oasis for you to shelter in. Lovely stuff.
Sticky Mikes Frog Bar may not be the best of venues with its low ceiling and stage making viewing for pretty much anyone but the first few rows difficult, but it may be worth the effort for Newcastle’s Shields. Indie tunes that canter along with riffs designed to dance to will be the order of the day here. When we first posted their single All I Know in March the track zipped into the Hype Machine charts quite simply because it was a catchy song that buzzed for all the right reasons. A band with promise.
There’s plenty of late night shows at Great Escape but this one has to be our choice. Quite simply The Milk are one of the best new bands we’ve seen play live in some time. Euphoric tunes, arse tightening vocals, grooves, old school r ‘n’ b and northern soul flavours all mixed into one continuous no-gaps-for-applause stream The Milk will leave you feeling breathless, happy and utterly in love with music. With Jinja Safari and Slow Club on the bill as well it promises to be fine way to finish off Great Escape. See you there?
Can someone please take us to the north east of England? For it seems to this south coast based music blog that Newcastle and its environs possess a thriving music scene that continues to push out band after band that consistently hit the mark. Last year two of our top 5 albums were from Northumbrian bands – The Unthanks (our no.1) and Lanterns On The Lake (our no.5) and this corner of the internet has found us gushing in adoration about the likes of Let’s Buy Happiness and Polarsets quite regularly.
Today we introduce our latest Geordie joy. Although we’re a little confused as their Soundcloud suggests that Shields are from London, but their Facebook says Newcastle. Ultimately though geography is irrelevant, it’s all about what hits your ears. In this case what Shields do and make is spiky melodic indie that’s punchy, direct and peppered with toe tapping tunefulness.
Three of this five-piece met at college whilst studying popular and contemporary music and they’ve obviously learnt their trade well. In fact it could be easy to accuse them of having studied the danceable guitar band textbook a little too closely. There’s a whiff of the po-going energy of Two Door Cinema Club about them and on forthcoming single All I Know the vocal hints at Miike Snow’s Animal. Somebody throw a remix at them and we could easily imagine one of their songs sitting on one of those Kitsune Compilations.
Having recorded their first demos in the spring of 2011, the band has worked with Adrian Bushby who has previous credits with the likes of Foo Fighters, Muse, U2 and the aforementioned Two Door Cinema Club and will be spreading their wings this year with a number of gigs including shows at Liverpool’s Sound City, Brighton’s Great Escape and Live at Leeds. In terms of jaunty and restless guitar based pop, Shields have got it covered. Now, when’s the next flight to Newcastle?
