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 

‘You stood out like a sore thumb; the most beautiful sore thumb I’d ever seen’ is genuinely one of the most beautiful and romantic lines to ever grace the song world. Slightly awkward and ungangly but sending shockwaves of wow to strike my heart every time I hear them, this is how The Maccabees are.
Unfortunately tonight did not offer many opportunities for the guys to stand out. I’m considering stopping the article here, taking the advice of the (fantastic) new single No Kind Words ‘if you’ve got no kind words to say, then you should say nothing at all.’
But I have plenty of kind words to say about The Maccabees, just tonight did not give them the opportunity to shine. Awful technical equipment that kept fuzzing or just giving up the ghost altogether, and a crowd of eighteen year olds who at times seemed more focused upon strawpedo-ing their VKs.
The Maccabees stop start rhythms capture the hesitancy of expressing overwhelming emotion, and mean that behind the lyrics of wave machines and lego, there is always a deeper side to explore. Their relevance lies in their ability to capture life’s most brilliant moments in vibrant aural Technicolor and soundtrack the private anguish that simultaneously feeds upon the soul. Whilst dancing in sun dappled fields or waving your arms on the dancefloor there is underlying vulnerability in the lyrics and Orlando’s pained yet focus delivery. Unfortunately that emotion and intimacy that makes The Maccabees live shows an experience more than just a gig was missing tonight.
The call and response interaction between Orlando and Felix continues to frame the new songs, but at a much slower tempo.
This is not necessarily a bad thing – at moments Colour It In was exhausting, the speed of the songs creating the feeling that we had experienced every emotion of the past twenty odd years along with the boys. It just means that the songs were not as well received as live favourites Latchmere and About Your Dress. The songs are also darker and more epic, such as the case of Young Lions, limiting their appeal to the teenagers on E numbers tonight.
Maccabees is a trajectory that gives primacy to reason over passion. Thankfully I can ignore this terrible advice as the band have repeatedly stressed that their name has no connection with the religious groups and texts they share a proper noun with. My reason is telling me that this wasn’t the best gig ever, but the passion The Maccabees fire within be ensures that I’ll be back next time.