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loriiorrow's music today. This ssue: Viva Voce
Kind of like an economy-sized Arcade Fire, Portland’s an Voce make expansive, expressive indie-rock symphonies with just two people on board. Mirroring the by-now familiar White Stripes dynamic, Viva Voce are made up of husband and wife team Kevin and Anita Robinson. So, what have they done so far?
Originally forming in the Robinsons' home town of Muscle Shoals. Alabama. their 1998 debut Hooray for Now may be bracketed with Christian rock. in much the same vein as that other devout husband-and-wife team. Low. Since the new millennium and their relocation to Portland. the pair have made the more iiiainstieain dtx;unients. lover's, Lead The Way! and The Heat Can Melt Your Brain (both reissued in a double pack last year). while 2006 sees their fourth album. (let Yr Blood Sucked Out hit the shelves.
What do they sound like?
Balanced beautifully between southern folk and joyous, post—rock. Get Yr Blood Sucked Out tips the balance towards the darker end of the spectrum. ‘lt's a song that represents a huge middle finger.’ says Kevin. “It's a large fuck off to the vampires who attempt to suck the life out of everything good and pure. It's about a revolutionary impulse — to rise tip and cut off the head off the oppressor. I've nothing to prove! fuck yeah!‘ He also reports their continually homemade attitude to recording: ‘We used a bowed saw again. but that's not really unusual for us. We used a lot of guitars though. Oh wait. and a fishing rod.‘
(Davrd Pollock)
I King Tut's. Glasgow. Sat 1 Jul.
66 THE LIST 22 Jun—6 Jul 2006
Reviews
ELECTROPOP
King Tut's, Glasgow, Thu 1 Jun 000
This lot don't appear old enough to drink in here. but their lead Singer looks Just about the right age to wear that asymmetrical comb-over barnet With not one degree of shame. He'll look back at the photos and whimper.
Good band though. and one from Aberdeen. which is surely cause for celebration. They clearly start them off young up there. beginning their constant diet of Bis and Atari Teenage Riot around the same time as breastfeeding. :( are a shouty. bleepy. electropop quartet. with two girls in truly snotty indie-pop get-up operating their laptops with bashed—up. graffiti'd old PC keyboards strapped on like guitars and a whirlwind drummer who's old enough to be their dad (probably). Anyone over the age of 21 will run screaming (fortunately The List is a child trapped in a man‘s body). but such unbounded gleefulness is better than some of the moody shit pitched at kids these days. It‘s pronounced ‘colonopenbracket'. by the way. (David Pollock)
on stage next to the man.
Williams and his band (who he appreciatively failed to mention) plawd the highlights from his back catalogue
These were suitably funky to sate
most appetites. but the feeling was this was more eye candy than ear candy at times. (Maxine Cadxowl
ELECTRO ROCK
UNION OF KNIVES .00 LITTLE DOSES co Cabaret Voltaire. Edinburgh. Sun 28 May
lncororating former members of defunct local also-tans Degrassi and the never—betterthanaverage Snow Patrol. this debut appearance from Little Doses didn't really promise much. and probably delivered a bit less. An admittedly brutal appraisal of a band still blinking after its first step into the limelight perhaps. but it's simply hard to see what need there is for another purveyor of overly senSitised heavy guitar rock US style. in all seriousness.
Ah yes. seriousness. Something Union of Knives deal in, in very large. sombre doses (pun intended). A clenched listed stearnroller of industrial electroi’emo aggression and poker-faced rock shapes. theirs is a sound and spectacle to be reckoned with. if one that's grindineg overwrought. Saying that. front man Chris Gordon does manage to lighten the mood slightly by crowbarring a snippet of 'Happy Birthday‘ into one tune for a mate. Before they stride off into the night. Chests beaten black and blue. (Malcolm Jack)
R&B
PHARRELL WILLIAMS The Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, Fri 9 Jun 000
Such is R88 Uber producer Pharrell Williams’ ubiquity of late that he could be accused of selling himself out to anyone who needed that little flash of his production bling for their sagging new album. It almost seems a shame ; that he's not keeping all his best work to himself. His band NERD have never quite surpassed the promise of debut album In Search of. . . and from the number of peOple heading to the bar when he announced newie ‘Maybe' from his album (out next month) I' means his fans aren't too optimistic either. What he is. however. is very easy on the eye. At least, so thought 5 . the majority of the female audience as 5 they jealously booed the girls ) i handpicked by the bouncer to dance '
ELECTROPOP JAMIE T Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh. Sat 24 Jun; Nice N Sleazy, Glasgow, Sun 25 Jun
It's always refreshing to hear someone with such a srngular Vision that they can't get enough twisted types to form a permanent band With. This is the case With the delightfully odd Jamie T. At 20 years old. he has been charming crowds around the south east over the last year. armed with only an acoustic bass and a clutch of inspired tunes for weapons. the finest of which. ‘Sheila'. his second Single. Will be out this month. It's a tale of alcoholic over-indulgence that turns to tragedy wrth one girl and her pal ‘Stella'. His lyrical style is somewhere between the tales of urban grunge perfected by Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys and the surrealist exploits of Mike Skinner.
Managing to successfully reign in elements of dub. hip hop and grime, and venting them through some seriously strung out pop mu5ic. while infusing them With that indie cockiness that seems so common — but Oddly appealing when used correctly — Wimbledon's Jamie T has made something that sounds genuiner handmade but still swaggenng and funny.
His debut offering was a suitably untidy EP entitled Betty and the Selfish Sons on his own Pacemaker imprint. Radio 1 took the record to their bosom. With Zane Lowe and Jo Whiley playing tracks from it. As if this wasn't quite enough to contend With he's been running a regular club night Panic Prevention Disco at Soho's 12 Bar and putting on suitably kindred spirits like Vincent Vincent and the Villains and Baxter Dury as the live attractions. The Club night shall form part of the package on these live dates while Jamie attempts to handle performing with a full band for the first time. (Mark Robertson)