HMV Next Big Thing – and so she thinks https://andsoshethinks.co.uk CREATE:COMMUNICATE:CONNECT Fri, 24 Feb 2012 21:07:57 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://andsoshethinks.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/cropped-FAVICON-90x90-1-32x32.png HMV Next Big Thing – and so she thinks https://andsoshethinks.co.uk 32 32 Red Kite & Toy @ Camden Barfly https://andsoshethinks.co.uk/red-kite-toy-camden-barfly/ https://andsoshethinks.co.uk/red-kite-toy-camden-barfly/#respond Fri, 24 Feb 2012 21:07:57 +0000 http://itsallhappeningmusic.blog.com/?p=819 February 6th

HMV’s Next Big Thing

Reviewed by Katie Stanton

Red Kite is the resurrected outlet for former Cooper Temper Clause guitarist, Daniel Fisher. Their sound is the sort of classic rock to soundtrack long walks along the beach and pensive moments looking out at the ocean. Tonight, there are five people onstage , including a female bassist (Laura Hegarty) who spends the majority of the set looking sultry and/or bored. When lead singer Fisher allows, Laura steps up and contributes some refreshingly sweet vocals, but those moments are too far and few between. Fisher’s experience in CTC shows he knows how to write a good song, with subtle pop infusions and emotive riffs. However, it is Hegarty’s vocals that really make the stand-out tracks and the band need to expand on that.

Red Kite

Nothing compares to effortless cool on a cold night in the Camden Barfly. It is minus temperatures outside, yet TOY arrive onstage all long-haired, apathetic to the cold and ironically, cool as fuck. TOY are another resurrection, with three members originally from Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong. You would never have guessed this however, as TOY’s sound is fuzzier, less poppy yet far more irresistible. Their whole set boasts a Talking Heads nostalgia that makes me want to attend an 80s prom, get rejected, then come home and cry so I can listen to this band to make myself feel better. Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong achieved some level of notoriety, but disbanded in 2009. A subtle reshuffle and a deeper, meaningful sound could be exactly what they needed to achieve full-blown success.
Toy

 
You can download Toy’s new single Left Myself Behind and Clock Chime for free.

]]> https://andsoshethinks.co.uk/red-kite-toy-camden-barfly/feed/ 0 Charli XCX @ HMV Next Big Thing, The Borderline 5 February 2010 https://andsoshethinks.co.uk/charli-xcx-hmv-next-big-thing-the-borderline-5-february-2010/ https://andsoshethinks.co.uk/charli-xcx-hmv-next-big-thing-the-borderline-5-february-2010/#respond Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:07:10 +0000 http://itsallhappeningmusic.blog.com/?p=283 Music is full of dichotomies. If only it was as simple as being ‘all about the music.’ In the past week I‟ve been reminded how muchAdd New more to the whole shebang there really is. Take Goldhawks on Tuesday night (3rd Feb) at Hoxton Bar & Grill – some alright tunes, bit of a Bono complex, but altogether tight – but lead singer Bobby Hawk’s flicking fringe for flick’s sake. Get a grade 2 man.
Or hearing Arctic Monkey’s cover of Love Machine…that is a tune. But not so much when Girls Aloud do it, obviously. Their glamour and commercialism mar the integrity of what might constitute a good song.
And tonight it‟s the turn of Charli XCX to feel the wrath of my dou-ble standards or confused opinions. Part of HMV‟s Next Big Thing line up, anyone who comes on stage, delivers one song, dressed in a leotard and two giant baby faces on her nipples, before storming off because ‘the beats aren’t right’ until coming on again with the same song, is likely to raise eyebrows. All around me ‘weird’, ‘mental’, ‘crazy’ and other such Roget’s thesaurus synonyms are being belted about.
The problem is, and it is a problem, because we don‟t want to like her, this twice performed track ‘Do It Well’ is actually rather good. And we can‟t help but respect her. Because as crazy as she is, isn‟t art all about being crazy…totally absorbing yourself in the moment, feeling the music, losing yourself in it. We all secretly harbour a desire to be brave enough to jump up in a meeting or school assembly, or throw some shapes on the stage, or really say what we think, and Charli XCX is doing this.
Yeah, she’s a precocious teenager, but maybe the fact we find this so irritating is because we’re too scared to do as she says and ‘Dance! Come on people, you‟re being boring! Be happy!’ she reminds us what we‟re missing out on.

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