red kites – and so she thinks

Five of the best at Blissfields

admin — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 18:32:38 +0000

The first weekend in July sees Blissfields kick off. Taking place at Vicarage Farm in Hampshire, it’s a festival that has grown over the years from a few people with tents and guitars, to a warm and vibrant celebration of music and art. Here are five of the best acts showing up this year, its fifteenth.
Genghar are bursting with energetic grooves and hooky tunes, with She’s A Witch being one of their most immediate and catchy.

John Grant. He’s the GMF you know.

Red Kites make sweeping sounds that sound like ribbons of fierce sunlight, and are delivered with as much urgency.

Spring King make bounding and grand reverb heavy rock that sees eyes cast on the shoes and arms up in the air.
The Boy I Used To Be
Lo fi pop chock full of emotions understood through a wry smile and raised eyebrows.

Tickets, starting at £105.45 for an adult weekend pass and further information are available from www.blissfields.co.uk

Red Kite & Toy @ Camden Barfly

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 21:07:57 +0000

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.

Give Me The Sun, City Lightz, Red Kites & Minerva @ O2 Islington Academy

admin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 11:38:01 +0000

Jar Music Live: Plugged In Showcase

Wednesday 19th October

Reviewed by Michael baker

So I went to this gig with high hopes, my mate is in one of the bands and the others seemed promising from the minimal I had heard.

Thieves / Minerva / Just bang the drums

We opened with Thieves, although playing as Minerva. Although undoubtedly talented they did manage to leave me confused. It seemed a mish mash of styles, at one point we had hardcore reminiscient of Deaf Havana mixing with the pop punk of an early Panic!. I don’t mean that in a derogatory sense as I enjoyed the mix but it did make it hard to keep up as to where we were going with things. Any band that has the O2 Islington and the Barfly in its first few gigs deserves praise and I think the highest praise I can give is that I would gladly see them again to see if the mish mash of styles I noticed was a one off or a substantial part of their music.

A chilly night in London for Red Kites

They were swiftly followed by Red Kites. Now having listened to the band more since this gig I can say that they are very good and that their folk rock interests me, therefore I will be keeping an eye out for them. However, on this night, the main focus seemed to be on manufacturing an atmosphere rather than playing the music. If they keep this out of their performances in future they will do fine.

City Lightz Outside

East Kent’s own City Lightz were second to last. In terms of an overall performance they were outstanding. Leading with their latest single, More Than a U in Us, they used this opportunity to showcase their talents. Having learnt from previous mistakes they only had one cover, Jamie T’s If You Got The Money. It was electric. Sheer brilliance on their part and it set everything up beautifully for their finishing double act of Breaking Bones and the unreleased Shades of Me.

Give Me The Sun

The final act of the night was Give Me The Sun. This band have a great sound and on the night they definitely made the most of the final slot. Everyone got up close and listened whilst another band played which had full confidence in their set. The acoustics of O2 lent itself perfectly to their specific indie rock style.