W♥M

SXSW: Day Four

SXSW UPDATE, DAY FOUR

Jeremy Jay - Airwalker

Jeremy Jay

I think part of the fun (at least for me) was meeting so many people with the same like-minded attitude towards music. I've become somewhat of a card collector, swapping info and what we do regarding music etc. Hopefully, next year, if we're still doing the same thing, I would like to meetup with them again at shows and hangouts.

Mostly Saturday was spent in a few places as I didn't want to walk anywhere. I had only planned on attending the Garden Party from Press Here in the daytime and at night, head over to the LondonMusic spotlight at the Rio (primarily for The Crimea). Obviously things didn't work out that way, I ended up seeing Jeremy Jay at the Garden and then sort of just followed them to their next gig over at 900 Red River Street (it's about four blocks). Saw JJ again and found out that the reason why didn't play certain songs, like "Alpharhythem" was because their new drummer didn't know it).

Also stood next to Peelander-Z, who are apparently so distinct looking and famous that every minute people were coming up and taking pictures with them.

Late of the Pier-Space and the Woods [Cenzo Townshend Mix]

Saw Late of the Pier accidentally at their video-filming concert at the Bat Bar. It was a very professional setup, however, playing live proved disastrous for the band. First of all, none of the audience knew who they were, and secondly, they had equipment failures during live recording. Needless to say, it was embarrassing.

So, look for me in a video, I am in front, green shirt, glasses, sweaty...

Then headed over to check out the all-London band showcase at the Rio. Most interest of the bunch seems to be Goldielocks who is a young woman and her DJ, doing British rap-style music. She had a stage presence, look for her to be bigger in the future.

The Crimea - Jellyfish

The Crimea

The last show on my list was Crimea, who came on at 1.15am (I knew this because I was really really really tired). They had a girl singer, which surprised me, because I didn't think they had a woman in the band.

Everyone who went to the show got a free copy of Davey Macmanus's album called Listen to Seashells; They Know Everything.

Here is their setlist:

THE CRIMEA 3/22 Grace Loop Jelly Fish Lover Only Living B&G Shredder Alison Movie Psycos Lottery Winners on Acid

--

W♥M wrote: Mar 22, 2009 at 5:06 PM

Vu - updated the post with a more recent track, off a seashells demo. And no, they don't really have a girl in the band, davey just uses loads for the vocals. The one you saw was Tara Egan-Langley aka Tara Blaise, they've also had Regina Spektor, Tywanna Jo Baskette and Davey's superstar Radio 1 DJ sister Annie Mac record loads of tracks with them, along with plenty I forget.

- Christopher

Late of the Pier

Late of the Pier-Space and the Woods [Cenzo Townshend Mix] Late of the Pier Tour Dates 01/26/09 Maroquinerie Paris 01/27/09 Rocksholl Barbey Bordeaux 01/28/09 Clermont-Ferrand (La coop) 01/30/09 Strasbourg (La Laiterie) 01/31/09 Nancy (electricity fest.) 02/03/09 Burdalls Yard Bath, Southwest 02/04/09 Phoenix Exeter, Southwest 02/05/09 Wolves Civic  Midlands 02/07/09 Leadmill Sheffield 02/08/09 Oran Mor Glasgow 02/09/09 Moshulu Aberdeen 02/11/09 Empire Middlesbrough 02/12/09 Metro Leeds 02/13/09 The Royal Derby 02/14/09 Academy 2 Manchester 02/16/09 Zodiac @ Carling Ace Oxford 02/17/09 The Forum  London 02/18/09 C2 Brighton 02/20/09 Wedgewood Rooms Portsmouth 02/21/09 Remix Hitchin 02/22/09 Junction Cambridge See Also New Wave http://weheartmus... My favorite genre of music growing up as a teenager in the late 1970's and early 1980's was the ...

As you can tell from my top lists, I do have a thing for electronica/dance, so it should be no surprise to you that I have love for Astralwerks Records. The label is home to some of the best and most well-known bands/DJs, including Fatboy Slim, Chemical Brothers, Röyksopp, Air, Beth Orton, just to name a few.

Astralwerks' latest release is Fantasy Black Channel from the band Late of the Pier, based out of Castle Donington, England. Now the band had already a few very limited singles on WayOutWest Records (the owner also run an all-ages club of the same name) before being picked up by major label Parlophone Records.

UK fans have already been enjoying Fantasy Black Channel since last August, but the US version is finally available today (January 13^th). The album did extremely well in the UK, Guardian Arts calls it "Review of the Year", NME put it #18 on "Albums of the Year", Mixmag's #5 "Albums of the Year" - well you get the idea. There's a huge buzz for the band.

So if you've waited this long to get the US version of the album, I'm happy to report that US version is that it contains two extra tracks, "Very WAV" and "The Bears Are Coming (Emperor Machine Remix)", while the iTunes version contain those two tracks and an additional exclusive track, "Heartbeat (Hot Chip Mix)". I don't have any of those songs on my review copy, but I can tell you that "Heartbeat" is pretty good, so the Hot Chip Mix couldn't make it worst.

Anyway, I checked their myspace and it doesn't look like they're doing much promotion in the US, at least not currently, but I suspect that will change once they wrap up their UK tour dates through February. Edit: Yes, there will be a US Spring Tour according to this, stay tuned.

So unlike Astralwerks' techno/electronica that they're known for, Late of the Pier doesn't really fit in. There are elements of synth and tech-music, but their music is more like new wave - especially with the deep, deep north-ish British vocals of Samuel Eastgate (aka Samuel Dust). Their sound and vocals are often compared to Gary Numan, which I'll have to say I agree with.

My favorite song on the album is "Space and the Woods", their first song they wrote and released. I haven't heard the original mix, but the album version is the Cenzo Townshend Mix, which appeared as the main track on their re-released of Space and Woods in 2008.

Other songs worth checking out is "Broken", originally appearing on the Kitsune Maison 5 Compilation. The version that appears on the album has an extended non sense experimental-sounding bit at the end, which I can appreciate, but personally, I could use without the extra noise.

Another fun song is "Focker", which sounds as it's spelled. The lyrics said he wants to be your friend, but you know otherwise. I'm actually kind of disappointed that they didn't say "focker" in the song.

Late Of The Pier letter to fans re US release

If you like odd bits and sounds (a toy piano on "Random Firl" with pots and pans?) and generally having a fun time ("so put your hands on your waistline and move your body to the bassline" from "Bathroom Gurgle"), you'll love dancing to this album.

Fantasy Black Channel can be purchased at any decent record store, as well as digitally. I recommend getting the US version for the bonus tracks (see details above) and checking them out live when they tour here, as I think they're probably best experienced live based on their songs.

UPDATE 1/20/09: I just receive this image about the US release of their album.

 01/13/2009 21:00:32 ♥ vu () ♥ lateofthepier.com ♥ myspace.com/lateofthepier