DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I think I've found 2008's Big Summer Anthem. It's the cutest thing since last year's summer anthem, which was of course the Holloway's brilliant 'Generator' (unless you're going to credit Rhianna's EH EH EH as an Anthem).
Yes, it’s here, even if summer isn’t. It is of course Black Kids' ‘I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You’ (single cover pictured right). I know it’s been kicking around for quite a while but this uber-cute band are just becoming known. Recently appearing on Later With Jools Holland, Black Kids are truly headed for the top. They’re signed and they’ve got a few decent songs under their belts. They have a cute music video and sound a little bit like a mix between Late of the Pier and Joy Division (you’ll see what I mean about them sounding like LOTP when you hear their brilliant track Hurricane Jane). How can they NOT become massive? If you haven’t heard this track then get on their Myspace right now, seriously. There's also a brilliant dance-mix up on their page of 'I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You', mixed by The Twelves. Definitely check that out if you're into Justice's mixes or this band.

When speaking of summer music, there is one immediate thought which springs to mind. Festivals, festivals, festivals. However, which ever festival you're headed to this year there seems to be quite an odd lineup. Glasto's got Jay-z headlining the main stage for one night. He is also playing at 02 Wireless in July. Seeing as last year's Wireless lineup was so good, it was surprising to see such a bleak lineup. It's the sort of lineup which makes you shrug and look out of a window, rather than pounce on the £40-45 day tickets without a moment's notice. Reading's lineup is, as always, the cream of the crop. It's too painful to re account the lineup, as I'm sure other non-Reading-goers will agree. Have fun if you're going. Have fun with the lovely little NME stage. Peh.

A festival which is much more of a Pounce-fest rather than a Shrug-fest is this year's Camden Crawl. It just seems to have EVERYONE decent on the music scene right now, whatever you're into. With a lineup including the likes of Crystal Castles, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Florence and the Machine, Operator Please, The Ghost Frequency, Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong, Robots In Disguise and so many more. It's across 2 days, and at £49.20 for a 2 day ticket, it's not that much for unlimited access to all Crawl venues, after show parties and daytime activities.

If you're into something a little quieter, try looking at the Redhill Redfest festival in Surrey. It's a small festival, with only 5,000 tickets. Prices are at a mere £64, including parking and camping. The lineup sees the likes of The Maccabees, Late Of The Pier and Lightspeed Champion, and for such a low price in such a small festival, this truly is too good to miss.

If you're not going to any festivals this year, you're probably wiser than the rest of us. You're saving the money and probably the tent too. I'm praying the Strokes will miraculously get back for a final album and decide to headline Reading next year. Never going to happen? Ah well.

I'd like to finish this 3rd edition of THE ANTI with it's first ever gig review. The gig took place on the 9th April and was of course the Teenage Cancer Trust comedy night presented by Noel Fielding. But no, I will not be reviewing the comedy, nor Noel's hair (which was nice, just a little too short), but I will be reviewing the music!

To the entire audience at the Royal Albert Hall (about 5,000)'s surprise, Razorlight's Johnny Borrell and Andy Burrows came on to play a two-song set including 'America' and 'Before I Fall to Pieces'. Surprising, it was actually very mellow and nice. It was an acoustic set, and although it was short, I've started listening to Razorlight again. Oh dear.

Anyway, Razorlight wasn't the music which blew 5,000 people away. It was the Mighty Boosh's first musical onstage performance which shocked everyone so much. Preforming 'Electro', 'Nannageddon' and 'Charlie' live for the first time, the Mighty Boosh were truly amazing. Noel Fielding was of course the Front man, with Barrat on guitar and later joining them was Dave Brown as a screaming backing singer. For the final song, Rich Fulcher also made an appearance in his famous Blue Suit. The gig was immense, and too good to sit down for, and a few of the audience in the Pit got up and danced.

Footage can be seen;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlRUnF72lW4 - 'Electro'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm6q-MlaoIM - 'Nanageddon' only 1/2 :(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V7yuZQGc3A - 'Charlie'

Everyone who was already anticipating The Mighty Boosh's promised debut album this year will now be even more excited. I know the 5,000 people already are! The Boosh are set to play Big Chill this year, will it be comedy or music they'll be showcasing though? I guess we'll have to wait 'till summer. As if we weren't waiting for it already.

A dash of Electro.

So Myspace have put a lovely little 'Get to Know Partyshank' sign on their homepage. Great. As much as I love Partyshank, I'd really love them not to go all mainstream and do a Crystal Castles and sell out a bit and appear on Skins.

(photo credit to Mackenzie Hodge)

I suppose I shouldn't be so cynical, as I heard of the Shankers through the medium of lovely old Myspace, as I hear a lot of music. I first heard them about a year, maybe a little less ago. First of all I was like 'what is this bullshit?!' but then I realised I quite liked the bombardment of noise. You can't dance to it, sing to it or talk over it, but you can enjoy it and shout 'OLD SCHOOL'. If you've not heard of Partyshank (where the HELL have you been?) then I suggest you get on their Myspace NOW! They are one of the most original and interesting bands around and I've heard their gigs are pretty crazy.

They've done well too, creating the genre 'Toystep' and featuring in oh so many of those much-loved pretentious art magazines. As much as they really deserve to do well, and are doing brilliantly already (the band have been played by Justice and now have their own merch available), I remember a day when they would respond to your comments or thank you for profile-songing them as soon as it happened. Now they're so big, the least recent comment on their page is from two days ago, and I'm writing this in the morning!

Anyway, enough of my complaining about loosing Partyshank and lets look at some rising Electro sensations, shall we? Let's start with one of my favorite unsigned bands, Daggers. Not sure if you can actually call them electro, but hey, they have TWO synth/keyboard players!

I had the privilege of seeing this incredible band live as they were supporting Robots in Disguise. They have such a brilliant energy they bought the venue alive. The front man, Theo, was wearing only extremely tight trousers and a ripped waistcoat. Niiccee. Trust me, if you EVER get a chance to see this band live, grab it!

If you're more into poppy-electro, let's take a look at Absent Kid. The first track I ever heard was Shoot On Sight. It reminded me of Daggers, so I had a gander on their Myspace. Every song has a different feel, but it still has a little way of reminding you it's them, which I love about a band. Most of their tracks are available on Myspace for free, so what's to loose?

Also, I feel a bit bad for slagging off Ipso Facto last week, so have a little listen to them. They ain't too bad really.

Lastly, for those of you who are hating all this Electo nonsense, have a listen to Alexis Blue. I heard them on the lovely Filthy Few podcast, and then discovered that all of their music is available to download on Myspace. There are some really great songs up there. Quite Cajun Dance Party-esque but a little less uptempo. Still, great and worth a listen.

I will be making a THE ANTI blog Myspace page later this week and I will post the link on here.

Have a good week. I would love to heard from you via comments on this blog, any feedback is great, or recommendations of bands.

Stay safe, Thou Shalt Not Read NME!

The ANTI.

THE ANTI | NEW MUSIC BLOG NEW MUSIC BLOG!

Welcome to the first of my hopefully many rambling music blogs, my oppinion of the ever expanding Indie World.
Let me begin my explaining THE ANTI. The 'ANTI' comes from me hating NME, which seems to be the only thing anyone reads these days other than eachother's Myspace profiles. I got so sick of reading about these new fad bands everyone will like for 3 days and then drop, and simply reading NME's crap oppinion on everything.
I am inspired by the wonderful Filthy Few Podcasts, which seem to have a grip on great music, for instance they have been backing Florence and the Machine since day one and look where she's headed, straight to the top. Speaking of FATM, you should head over to her myspace page, there's some amasing tracks up there right now, my personal favirote being Girl With 1 Eye, which is avaliable to download for free on there.
Now, seeing as I'm posting this first THE ANTI out on 30th March, the wonderful Foals debut album, Antidotes will have hit the shelves, and although I havn't been able to get it (legally) yet, I've still heard some of the tracks. What confuses me is the number of tracks. 2 discs?! I love Foals as does everyone, but is this not a bit much? Anyway, from what I've heard it's full of anthems with enough energy to match our Hummer addictions and keep us dancing all night.
Someone who recently suprised me is Laura Marling, who seems to me to have come out of no where. She's a brilliant artist with an air of mystery about her, and I've fallen in love with her duet with the wonderful Mystery Jets. Keep an eye on this girl, she's 'going places'.
Speaking of Mystery Jets, they seem to be one of the only decent bands playing the Underage Festival this year. Seeing as the lineup was so awesome last year, why so shit this year?
Last year saw loads of big names (Pigeon Detectives, Crystal Castles, Blood Red Shoes, Late of the Pier, Patric Wolf, Foals, Jack Penate), and this year who's at the top of the lineup? Gallows and The Horrors. Where do they fit into the Indie stereotype of the Underage theme? Don't get me wrong, Frank Carter is amasing, I just can't see a massive crowd surrounding this band. And the Horrors? Well I suppose they walk hand-in-hand with a fellow band playing there, Ipso Facto. They baisicly are eachother but with a different set of gentials. Hoping to see bigger names than this at the Festival as more names are confirmed.
Ah, as my first entry to The Anti winds down, let's reflect on what we've learnt. Nothing? Well prehaps you should visit this page again, as I will hopefully be writing these weekly, so check back and keep listening to the sweet music mentioned on this blog.
Have fun kids, have a good week. And in the words of Dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip, Thou Shalt Not Read NME.