Fantasy Black Channel

On 11th August, Late of the Pier's long-anticipated debut was released. FINALLY! The days of listening to the bad-quality zarcorp demos are now over, as we can enjoy almost every song featured on the high-standard badly-recorded demo, in gleaming disk form.
The first two tracks blend together in a seamless fusion, which gives the record a professional feel prehaps not before associated with Late of the Pier.
The tracklisting is as follows, in bold are ANTI favirotes;

Hot Tent Blues
Broken
Space And The Woods
The Bears Are Coming
Random Girl
Heartbeat
Whitesnake
VW
Focker
The Enemy Are The Future
Mad Dogs And Englishmen
Bathroom Gurgle

If you haven't already, go out and buy this. You'll need it in disk form for the album sleeve's lyrics, as some vocals are a little hard to identify. Also CDS generally feel nicer than invisible unforgiving MP3 files.
One complaint we have is that LOTP didn't include 'circular' from the original demo, which is a brilliant Nirvana-meets-Joy Division-meets Queen genre-bashing song. Hoping to see this on the (cross fingers there will be one) second album or B side to the next single.

THE UNDERAGE FESTIVAL

Ok, Ok so it's a week late (sorry, over that) but THE ANTI has had a blogging break and is now going to bring you an Underage review in top form.

On 08/08/08, a funny date, a wonderful thing happened. Kids usually having to blag their way into gigs or be turned away at the door were bought together in a musical celebration of what it is to be young.

To anyone who attended the festival, the picture above should look familiar. The queues stretched right across Victoria park hours before the gates open- not brilliant for impatient teenagers.
The lineup included huge names like the Maccabees, Dizzee Rascal and Gallows- but this wasn't it. The Underage is aimed at the young and music-savvy, so the lineup included everyone from well known on the NME and Converse stages to very new faces on the Music Space stage.


TOPMAN NEW MUSIC STAGE

The best stage by far was the Topman stage- THE ANTI caught a good few bouncy bands there. Nick Harrison- a fairly new comer but a good start to the day- was the first to play there. The tracks on his myspace aren't even a fraction as good as he and his band sound live. They got the day going in perfect style, a person favorite being 'Summer', which is about the summer holidays- perfect for a crowd so young.
Also on this stage were the brilliant Cheeky Cheeky and the Nosebleeds- it was great to see them live as there is so much hype around this band. 'I've Grown Quite Fond of You' and 'Slow Kids' were the best songs of their set. If you haven't heard of this jumpy 5some then check them out- they are mood lifting and got the crowd going. Others playing there included Team Waterpolo, the brilliant synth-pop rockers who seem to have sprung from nowhere, along with other new faces like Pull in Emergency, the Rascals and the Rifles. By far the best set on this stage was Florence and the Machine, who packed out the tent and completely blew the crowd away. Mesmerising vocals in Between Two Lungs and Girl With One Eye and matching mind-blowing energy in Kiss With a Fist make Florence a perfect live performer- she's edging in at the top 50 chart right now so if you're planning to see her in her current tour I'd advise grabbing tickets as soon at possible

NME STAGE
Now before you go assuming THE ANTI's opinion of the NME stage may be biased, understand I am trying to be as professional as possible, but it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say this tent had an awful atmosphere. Admittedly, I only saw a bit of this tent but during frYars set there were more walking out of the tent than coming into it. That's not to say frYars is bad- he is an inspirational young artist with a lot of talent- but there were technical difficulties to begin with and the music isn't much to jam to. Although the bill was set to be decent, the atmosphere was dull and hardly anyone danced.
This went on until Foals set, when things got so wild one of the barriers broke and Yannis had to ask the crowd to move back, that things picked up. Foals enegry and jumpy set managed to save the day, although timing did clash with Gallows so they lost audience towards the end.

CONVERSE CENTURY STAGE
Gallows, Dizzee Rascal, The Maccabees, Bombay Bicycle Club... All the big names played this stage. As it was an outside stage, the bigger crowds came here. The Maccabees saw a sea of umbrellas due to rain, and then a sea of hands making heart shapes during 'First Love' when the rain cleared up. Dizzee Rascal was a time for the Indie Limeys (yes I just said that) to bop around and admit to knowing the words to hip-hop songs. Dizzee suprisingly drew a massive crowd dispite being the only r'n'b artist on the bill.
The atmosphere was great at this stage and it surely had the most photography and news coverage. The band who most surely stole the show were the headliners- the of course wonderful Gallows. Frank Carter jumping into the stage and directing the crowd into a circle pit was a huge hilight, but the thing that made this band's preformance so epic was the massive circle pit which lasted two whole songs.
Although video footage captures the size pretty well, it doesn't show the feeling. Down in the crowd was utter madness as everyone sprinted round. The entire thing resembled a P.E. lesson in skinny jeans.

Although it would have been great to have seen newer acts on the Domino and Redbull stages, there simply wasn't enough time. The day all in all was great, everyone there seemed to love it- from the random guy dressed as a hot dog (there's always one...) to Frank Carter himself (who, as the crowd cheered, mocked us and said " 'woo' You sound like you're on Blind Date!'). Underage 2009 is sure to be an even bigger success, so get your early bird tickets as soon as they are announced!

CHEERS, THE ANTI x

Sue and the Unicorn

Sue and the Unicorn is 'Sue Denim' of Robots in Disguise's solo project for when she's not working with 'Dee Plume', other RID member.
A mix of Sue's cute voice, upbeat tempo and accoustic melody makes Sue and the Unicorn worth checking out.
She's doing a mini-tour, starting on the 8th in various venues;

8 Aug 2008 BANGOR, NORTH WALES, UK:The Menai - FREE ENTRY - 9pm

10 Aug 2008 LONDON, UK: Goldmine @ Tommy Flynn’s - £5 - 10pm

11 Aug 2008 WEYMOUTH UK: Sunbeams, Unicorns & Brewster Mccloud @ Queen’s Hotel - £2 - 10pm

12 Aug 2008 BOURNEMOUTH, UK: I Dreamt Of Pigs Last Night @ iBar - £3 - 10pm

If you're not in London enjoying the Underage on the 8th and fancy a bit of new music, this is an event not to be missed.

US of Alternative - America's booming music scene

So yesterday I'm looking for a pretentious arts magazine in some scummy news agents- no such luck, they only seem to stock Pick Me Up and Love it!- when I stumble across NME, screaming the headline '10 BANDS MAKING AMERICA COOL AGAIN'.

SHIT was the first word crossing my mind, as the new ANTI contributor had sent us his own version of a 'New Cool America' article, only weeks before and I hadn't put it up yet.

So just to be clear, this is NOT a copy of NME's article, this is the new ANTI contributor, Robert Venning, showing his recommendations of hot new American bands, before that issue of NME had even hit the shelves.

Cool America
Is American Indie music making a triumphant return?
Considering that we haven’t had a true invasion of great American music into the British music culture in a good 3 or 4 years the recent deportation of music coming straight from the bosom of Uncle Sam has been more than long overdue. Bands such as MGMT and Black kids have been storming the charts and our ears with music made the American way. The flare and charm of apple pie and the 50 stars on the flag will never be lost on British ears and the music being churned out in 2008 is no exception.

MGMT
Future Hippies of Brooklyn
Unless you hate your ears and are blind you won’t have missed the epic rise of MGMT. Though they remained the USA’s best kept secret for 5 years (2001 -2006) they have finally come out of their shells and rocked the foundations of modern music with psycho-prog extravaganza "Oracular Spectacular". With a stack of songs underneath their belts "Time to Pretend, Electric Feel" they are set on world domination. Having already Supported Radiohead on their world tour in Manchester and putting in Jaw dropping performances at Coachella festival earlier this year and at Glastonbury MGMT are a band to watch throughout 2008.

Black Lips
Comedy is the Remedy
Though they are less well known Atlanta’s Black Lips a band who are more than deserve of the United Kingdoms praise. The are a band oblivious to the boundaries of comedy, melody and structure. Being dubbed as "Flower Punk" their raucous comical lyrics and gentle undistorted melodies flow like piss in a strong breeze, catching the listeners attention in due course. Having just released their UK single "Bad Kids" a typical Black Lips style mixture of drunken punk shouts and sun tinged melodies topped off with a xylophone hook in the chorus Black lips will are set to become a band that will always be with us in our ears and our hearts.

Fleet Foxes
Nature Music
Hopefully most people who are reading this have not heard of Fleet Foxes who can easily be called one of the most interesting and maybe even exciting bands of 2008. Combining their beautiful sweeping acoustic melodies, deep percussion and strong organs to create who and what Fleet Foxes are. Alike Black Lips and unlike MGMT Fleet Foxes have not received a lot of airplay or video play but recently their new video for future single "White Winter Hymnal" has been featured on MTV Two’s Spanking New Music. With touring dates set all around the world be sure to catch Fleet Foxes this year.

Just as an addition to this review- I'd like to add that America has also bought us the pure Rock and Roll Cage The Elephant- surely one of the best albums this year has come from them. Hits like don't-give-a-shit anthem In One Ear have given America a good name in music. Another band to break the British music scene from across the pond recently are Born Ruffians. Cute riffs, yelping backing vocals and singer who isn't quite understandable don't seem like a good combination on paper, but BR are possibly THE ANTI's favorite band right now. As with CTE, Born Ruffians debut, Red Yellow and Blue, is probably one of the best albums this year. Of course, we can't forget Vampire Weekend and Black Kids, who have taken the music world by storm- both underground and then radio. All these bands have given us new hope for the ever-growing USA music scene. Prehaps one day we will never have to listen to another tallentless Jonas Brothers track, or yet another Doo-Doo-Doo-Doo awful American band.

But while Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Ashlee Simpson still insist on dominating American charts, the American music scene will never truly achive Nirvana in our oppinion.

ITUNES LIVE REVIEW: The Little Ones, Peggy Sue and Ava Leigh

ITUNES LIVE REVIEW:
The Little Ones, Peggy Sue and Ava Leigh.
Last night, THE ANTI had the pleasure of sneaking into Koko Camden, despite our, ahem, invalid IDs. The beautiful venue that night payed witness to the 23rd gig of this month for the Itunes Live festival, which this year hosted massive names like the Ting Tings, Sam Sparro, CSS and Paul Weller. Last night, however, they opened their doors to a very different corner of the musical spectrum; the lesser-known, up-and-coming artists.

The night started off with the wonderful girls from Peggy Sue, which I think were formally known as Peggy Sue and the Pirates. Now, imagine Kate Nash and Florence and the Machine do an acoustic set. Now imagine their lyrics are more interesting, throw in a few harmonies and make it a little more down-tempo, and you'll probably have a sound in your mind very close to Peggy Sue's cute sound. One of the best new acts I've heard this year, Peggy Sue bought their bin along, which they used for instrumental purposes, along with a keyboard you blow into. It's different to everything circling the music scene right now and these are definitely expected to do well, as they have had big support slots next to artists like Kate Nash. Check them out because they're ones to watch.

Next up was Ava Leigh, who played an acoustic reggae-pop set. We have matching haircuts, Ava, high five. Ava herself is stunning and carried the show along well, although acoustic isn't ideal to dance to, nor to jump around to which is pretty much THE ANTI's ideal gig-watching state. Her cover of Mas Que Nada is a nice track to check out, along with Rollin'.

Finally, The Little Ones took to the stage for an immense set. If you haven't heard of The Little ones, they sound like Vampire Weekend, Band of Horses and a pinch of the Shins all put in a blender and sloshed around a bit. A nice beat and pretty vocals makes this ideal jumping and dancing music, which is pretty much all that one can do in the front row, and it must be said they have shit loads of energy for a band who sounds so laid-back. The great thing about The Little Ones is that even if you don't know all the words to their songs, you can still sing the backing vocals in the chorus, like in Morning Tide, which they opened the show with. I seriously recommend you buy some of these guy's stuff because it's very summery and sweet- get on it now on their Myspace.

One last thing before I go- if you're going to the Itunes festival, which is coincidentally being FILMED- why the FUCK would you just stand there like a boring sod? What's the point? The bands feel less accomplished and it brings down the tone on the whole thing. If you want to get mentioned by the band, as ahem, the ANTI might have, dance crazily and scream constantly.

Note: I will put pictures up to accompany this when people have uploaded them

music snobbery and tjs

You know when you think you're doing well at something, like a painting or something, then you look over at the person next to you's painting and you realise yours is actually a bit of paper with a happy face drawn on it?

Yeah, I get that exact same feeling when I'm looking at Music Snobbery, the fast-paced, well known, informative blog with God-Knows-How-Many readers. So it's through this lovely blog I discover Liam Finn has an album. From being the Anti's one-to-watch a couple of months ago, Liam has gone far, and taking a look at this album, it's clear to see his interesting mix of his fast-paced and mellodic music is a treat to hear. Go download/buy the album, 'I'll Be Lightning', it's different and will have you wishing you could play guitar. And sing well.



Logging on to THE ANTI's myspace the other day, there's the usual collection of friend invitations of crap electro bands with 'Listen to our music and tell us what you think!' written undernieth, or club event myspaces which post annoying bullitens all the time. But amoungst these today was Thomas J Speight. I usually listen to everyone who adds THE ANTI myspace, even if I don't blog about them. Anyway, Tom stuck out in todays bunch, and after listening to only one track, I knew we needed him to debut THE ANTI's first interview.

Tom is also the frontman of the Beehives, an alternative indie-pop band who's not passed THE ANTI's radar quite yet. He's been gigging for a while and has upcoming gigs everywhere from Winchester to Putney. On our debut Myspace interview with the man himself, he answers us questions about inspirations, onstage preferances and of course his cute-as-a-button sweet music.



Q-Which do you prefer- band stuff or solo stuff?

A-It really depends on the songs, certain songs require me to play with a band and others just sound better me and a acoustic.

Q-Which do you prefer to perform live? and why?

A-I have found touring on my own, quite lonely so it will be sweet to start playing with my solo band in the November tour.

Q-You describe your music as 'minimalist' on LastFm. How else would you sum up your music?A-My songs are just simple pop songs I wouldn't say they were indie, folk or country but maybe a mixture of the three.

Q-What do you write about?

A-On my album there is a lot of autobiographical songs and then a few of them are about my friends, people I have met and places i have been. I am in no rush to write a political song.

Q-What's been the highlight of 2008 for you, musically?

A-I am not sure if I have had my musical highlight yet for 2008...I am sure it will happen soon.

Q-Who do you find most musically inspirational to you?

A-It changes on a regular basis at the moment it is Neil Young and Paul Simon.

Q-Do you have anyone you suggest the ANTI take a look at who's currently on the London music scene?

A-London has so much to offer at the moment with singer songwriters. I think my old uni friend Eugene McGuinness will be one to watch for next year. There is also a great indie band called The Branco Heist they are certainly ones to watch.

Q-Obviously, you're very physically attractive. Do you get any 'groupie' interest at shows?

A- A friend wouldn’t ask and a gentleman wouldn’t tell…

Q-What can we expect from you in later 2008 and 2009?

A-My album “Pictures For Houses” should be out by December or new year. I should be playing a lot around the UK with my solo band. I am really excited for the next couple of months…I can’t wait to get in the studio and have some fun with my friends.

Converse Fans Unite

Ok, hands up if you've heard the lovely Pharell-produced N.E.R.D, Santogold and Julian Casablancas track which is EVERYWHERE on the web?

Yeah, it's been online for a while, leaked or not is irrelevant because now there's a VIDEO. Lovely to see Julian, and to hear him. His smooth melodic tones are what makes this track, with Santogold's attitude-y lyrics and voice to top it off.

It's a great track and Julian looks incredible, although in slight need of a haircut

Take a look here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPZ5fnYFI4Q