This first paragraph was going to be a balanced, rounded review of the latest hottest-potato-in- the-pop-bonfire, a certain Miss Lana Del Rey. All preconceptions, memories of awful TV performances and bullshit PR were to be left at Mornington Crescent Tube and she was to be judged on this night, with our own eyes and ears. A clean slate so to speak. Sadly, within two feet of the Koko front door we’re told that LDR has cancelled due to illness and suddenly you kind of feel that she’s just pissed on your nice clean slate. Thankfully, this meant that we could nip to the pub instead of standing around for an hour while the Koko barstaff decimate £4.30 cans of Fosters, so every cloud…but still, we were intrigued. Who knows why LDR didn’t turn up? As I type she’s chatting away on XFM sounding pretty fine and she managed her Zane Lowe session in one piece. Maybe she was too busy playing Video Games (© Francesca)? Maybe she couldn’t be arsed, realised the futility of doing anything as we’re all Born to Die (that’s mine – hmmm)? Maybe it was the thought of another shit live performance being more ammunition to the haters? Who knows and ultimately who cares, we weren’t there to see her anyway.
Just before the release of Wall of Arms in 2009 we were lucky enough to catch The Maccabees play a warm-up show at the Barfly. That night there was a definite sense of anticipation and intrigue before the gig. We’d heard that the new album was a grander, more ‘adult’ affair and wanted to know if they could pull it off. Wanted to know if the charm and unique sound that had made you fall in love with the band the first time round was still there. Nervous excitement was everywhere. Standing waiting for them to come on stage last night you couldn’t help but feel the same. This time though, we’d heard the album and read the reviews. Lavish praise across the board, but somehow for us, Given to the Wild just hasn’t sat quite right however much we’ve wanted it to. It’s certainly an ambitious record, full of big ideas and a bigger sound rightly applauded, but there are also parts that pass you by and perhaps even, dare we say it, a Latchmere-esque shaped hole? Obviously, this is in context, Given to the Wild is still better than 99% of everything else we’ve heard in the last 12 months, but the bar’s been raised and lead single Pelican was a disappointing appetiser.
Having said all this, it takes approximately four songs to dispel any anxiety. Opening with Given to the Wild (Intro) the band find their rhythm, building the melody into second song on the album, Child. With its gentle build and layered approach it connects, bringing the first movement from the front rows as Felix’s guitar kicks in and the drums ramp it up. Feel to Follow is next, a brave move to open with two / three new tracks, and again follows a similar pattern, starting slow before taking off with the interweaving guitars and added synths from an extra backing member onstage. It’s then, when the familiar refrain of Lego kicks in, that we finally get it. The old and the new work, the crowd go mental, the band are back to basics and you kind of wonder what you were worried about all along. The simple beauty of a song like Lego nestles perfectly between the grander tracks such as Feel to Follow and Went Away. Wall of Arms, Precious Time, Can You Give It and X-Ray all rifle past in this vein, played with gusto and confidence that the new material seems to have brought, while the crowd lap up every one. Orlando nods to the absence of Lana Del Rey to a backing of pantomime boos as he introduces No Kind Words, perhaps a subtle dig to her detractors with it’s line “If you’ve got no kind words to say / You should say nothing more at all”, and they finish their main set with Pelican, sadly still a clunky, throwaway song that doesn’t work any better live than it does on record. For their encore First Love almost causes a riot on the dancefloor and they end with album closer Grew Up at Midnight which is a euphoric, sonic explosion of a finale with it’s lyrics of “we grew up at midnight / we were only kids then” perfectly capturing the mood and themes of the evening.
Coming away we could only smile, all the tension and perceived pending disappointments banished. We’re sorry we ever doubted them. The gig was a triumph, the right blend of the old and the new creating a near perfect set that was in no way lacking by the absence of Latchmere or Toothpaste Kisses. They played like they know they’re on the cusp of the big league and they have the body of songs to choose from to back it up. Alexandra Palace is just the beginning and someone needs to take a punt on them to headline a major UK festival. On this form they will not disappoint.

Daughter – We were lucky enough to see Elena Tonra (aka Daughter) play at the beautiful St Giles in the Fields church in London just before Christmas and she absolutely blew us away. We’d been meaning to catch her for months, but events always conspired, but nothing could have prepared us for one of our gig highlights of the year. On some levels she will be pigeonholed as another ‘girl with a guitar’, but there is much more to her music. We’ve seen it described as ‘dream-folk’ and ‘ghostly’, which isn’t too far wide of the mark, with the kind of subtle soundscapes that the XX do so well adding depth to her music. If we’re honest she had us hooked after one listen of Landfill, but live she really is something special. With a date at Islington Assembly Hall already in the diary for April and many more around the country, we really hope 2012 is her year.
Listen to and buy both her EPs here.
Lucy Rose – Really excited to hear the full album from Lucy Rose. Having done the backing vocal rounds with Bombay Bicycle Club, this year is definitely her time to shine as an artist in her own right. With a voice to melt the heart and some beautifully crafted songs she’s sure to do well this year. Expect a BBC member or 2 on backing as well.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adBPg8Zdp2g]
Alt J – We wrote this on seeing them live a couple of months back… ‘The last couple of years haven’t been short on intelligent, earnest ‘indie’ music, but where say Wild Beasts skirt the fine line of irritating pretentiousness, Alt – J seem more accessible in their own abstractness and imagery, but no less intelligent or intriguing in their performance and sound. On this showing, they’ll certainly be heading for the upper ends of the ‘ones to watch’ lists for 2012.’ – we’ll stand by that…
Social Network here–
Breezeblocks (demo) by alt-J
The Maccabees
Ascending and descending through the depths of all emotions, the title track from latest album Given To The Wild is a departure, brimming with wavering soft ambience, but the gritty guazey guitars, stop start rhythms and dashing assault of psychological similes that made The Maccabees one of our favourite bands remains. ‘We’ve grown up as people and changed as a band,’ guitarist Felix White said recently. ‘We’ve learned for the first time what we really wanted The Maccabees to sound like on record. It’s taken us three albums but we finally achieved that. We’ve discovered what we’re truly capable of and that feels really exciting.’ Sounds it.
Blood Red Shoes

Their Facebook bio may describe them as just ‘another fucking roll’n’roll band’ but we know different. Scuzzy riffs, rip em up guitar work and a blistering pace, Blood Red Shoes consistently deliver behemoths of tunes, and the follow up to Fire Like This and Box Of Secrets won’t be any different. Besides, since when has being a rock’n’roll band been bad? Some narrow minded twit called David A Noebel stated on his spoken word album The Marxist Minstrels back in 1974 that rock’n’roll ‘music is loud, primitive, insistent, strongly rhythmic and releases in an undisguised way the all-too tenuously controlled, newly acquired physical impulses of the teenager. Mix this up with the phenomenon of mass hypnosis, contagious hysteria and the blissful feeling of being mixed-up in an all-embracing, orgiastic experience, and every kid can become ‘Lord of the Flies’ or the Beatles.’ Sounds bloody brilliant doesn’t it?

Ten bands you must hear this year (with handy links so you can start right now)

Fanzine
Low by Fanzine
Lanterns On The Lake
Lanterns on the Lake ‘Lungs Quicken’ 
Grimes
Grimes – Skin 
Soldiers Can’t Dance
Soldiers Can’t Dance – Lego by soldierscantdance
Spring Offensive
A Stutter and A Start by springoffensive
Rachel Sermanni
The Fog by Rachel Sermanni
Young British Artists
Young British Artists – Everything In Front Of You
Ideals
Significant Other by Ideals
The Wave Pictures
The Wave Pictures – Sweetheart 
Gross Magic
Gross Magic – Yesterdays 

It’s amazing to think that people still seem shocked at the huge sound that two people can make on a stage. It’s also a shame that the Lexington is only a third full tonight as PS I Love You are really something unique at the moment. When a band as genuine as this Canadian duo come along you really do wish more people were listening.
For a big guy Paul Saulnier is as unassuming a frontman as you could envisage, shuffling onto the stage to take his place next to his drumming compatriot Benjamin Nelson, before launching into Meet Me at the Muster Station from their debut album of the same name. On record the duo produce a caterwauling of guitars and drums, but beneath the layers of feedback and swirling sounds of Saulnier’s guitar, are some beautifully crafted and melodic songs. Chat is kept to a minimum – there’s an endearing shyness to the bearded frontman – but the songs are big and brash enough to compensate, given a freer reign live than on record. For this, Saulnier’s guitar playing is the key. On songs such as Get Over and 2012 he’s able to seemingly play 3 different rhythms at once before crashing into powerchord delirium. It’s indie alt-rock at its best, but with a layer of machismo metal thrown into the mix with the soloing of a heavy rock enthusiast on songs such as Butterflies and Boners.
Whilst the guitar thrashes and the drums pound, Saulnier’s vocals definitely conjure comparisons to the Pixies Frank Black. He has that strained yelp that Black perfected, never quite hitting the note, but always portraying the emotion of someone struggling to get across their point of view. Throughout the 40 minute set there are moments of reflection and downtime. Subtle and Majestic is almost a ballad, a 3 and a half minute ode to the beauty of making a mixtape for someone, not to romance, but “so you can really hear what they actually mean”, sung with a fragility and honesty befitting the lyrical sentiment. Final song Facelove is the stand out track tonight, the closest thing PS I Love You have to a ‘hit’. With 3 lines of anguished lyrics followed by 3 minutes of guitar solos it perfectly encapsulates why PS I Love You are one of the best performances I’ve seen this year. Watching Saulnier finger tap his way around the frets, playing the bass notes with his right hand whilst Nelson builds the drums louder and louder to a monumental drop, it draws you into their world a thousand times more than any greetings-card lyric love song would. It’s just a shame more people aren’t here to witness it.