Music Mashup

The Futureheads – King's College University, London

This was my first time at King's College so obviously me and my braces were destined to get lost near the Thames. When I eventually found my way to the gig the warm up was delivered by the Da Nan Nans - a Scottish group who were intent on enjoying themselves as much as possible. There was a lot of diving into the crowd, dancing on drum kits and the lead singer was writhing around on the floor at one point - Grace Jones style! Shame they didn't give any song titles.

The Futureheads have been travelling around Europe and this was one of two, highly anticipated UK dates. Indeed I have been waiting nearly a year to see them and the anticipation was definitely worth it. I haven't seen such a tight performance in a long time and the punters definitely got their money's worth with nearly two albums worth of music and several new tracks.

The set was launched with Meantime which was quickly followed by The City is Here For You to Use. The heaving Indie loving mass below lapped it up, shouting out song suggestions, with arms aloft and mouths furiously chanting. I however was the weirdo taking notes on the balcony! The band were nonchalant at times but the sweat drenched clothes were a final testament to the effort they put into the gig. They swept through Decent Days and Nights and Skip to the End, and then had an interesting interlude where they sang Deyo with the crowd. This was followed up by Scatman and if that's not entertainment, then I don't know what is!

For me and probably a lot of fans, Hounds of Love was THE highlight. The crowd were in fact reaching melt down when Ross took over and sang Only Those That Know Matter - but when Hounds came on the crowd showed some true love. They knew almost every nuance of this and in fact all the songs - so when the band forgot the lyrics to The Picture of Dorian Gray, the crowd more than covered for them. They're definitely a band worth watching and are about to kick off a UK university tour so we'll be hearing more from Sunderland's favourites soon!

Upcoming Gigs

This is one for all you Indie Scenesters: Big City Redneck presents with The Chap - The Guillotines and Creepy Morons. It's £6 entry and £5 with concessions. It's at the Buffalo Bar on the February 21, 2008.

I'm a big fan of Love Music Hate Racism and this is why I got very excited about their carnival. This is going be in Victoria Park on Sunday April 27, 2008. Hopefully there won't be too many April showers and we'll all be able to dance under the setting sun.

New Music

Jack Penate presents catchy song lyrics and a voice tinged with angst. I've been listening to Cold Thin Line (amongst other things) non stop. You can catch him playing at Shepherd's Bush Empire on March 12 and 13, 2008. This gig is sold out so go on eBay and give him a listen on MySpace.

Chromeo. If you need a bit of flavour for your ear then Chromeo are the ones to give it to you. Every time I hear one of the songs from this New York based duo I just wanna dance- and that's never a bad thing. You can catch them at Koko in Camden on April 11, 2008 and in the mean time you can check out their sounds here.

The Best Albums of 2007

1. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
2. Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future
3. MIA - Kala4
4. Wiley - Play Time Is Over
5. Timbaland - Shock Value
6. Mark Ronson - Version

Music Mashup