MusicInOxford.co.uk

South Parade: EP

colinmackinnon — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:04:41 +0000

Apologies: I really should invest in a personal assistant. These days, MusicinOxford demos keep disappearing under sofas, behind glove compartments, into fridges, into the air, only to pop up months or even years later, like bastard sons. Local indie popsters South Parade’s debut EP has only recently surfaced, having been quietly fossilising at the bottom of my car for a number of months, so the band may now have progressed to Stockhausen or polka for all I know; still, politeness demands I review this at last.

From this evidence, South Parade are one of those bands who are in the process of forging their identity; they sound too much like their influences, which blare out, foghornlike, across most of the five tracks. Opener ‘Another Word to Say’ sounds almost exactly like The Kooks. A mate, overhearing it, generously compared it to “Good Kooks rather than Crap Kooks” which to my ears is a distinction without a difference, but it’s perky, tuneful, Radio 1-friendly, has an oddly mannered vocalist and is quite annoying. So very Kooks.

Strongest track on the record is probably ‘Home’, featuring some delicious bass playing from Josh Rigal, though it’s still overly beholden to badly-spelt minor-league English indie acts. The playing is tight and crisp, and the whole thing bounces along with a joie de vivre rather at odds with the lyric, which grumps about acquisitive teenagers, empty fridges and the sundry boredoms of suburban life. ‘Land and Sea’ starts out like a cover of ‘No One Knows’ by Queens of the Stone Age before doing a partly successful impersonation of We Are Scientists. ‘Escape’ apes The Red Hot Chili Peppers with vocalist Alex Grew even flattening his pitch, more precisely to mimic the tuneless wail of Anthony Kiedis. Time he Grew out of that particular malign influence, perhaps.

Still, it should be said that the EP is played quite regularly in my workplace, and most of the comment, last song excepted, has been favourable. Not every Oxford act should sound like Euhedral or Jonquil, and South Parade clearly have designs on a mass audience. Still, even the most cynical A and R man needs some new wrinkle, some new twist, and South Parade need to find something that is truly theirs to make them stand out in a very congested musical space. At the moment, the only thing I can suggest is a live performance featuring the band wearing nothing but strategically-placed socks. Oh, hang on…..

South Parade Myspace

By Colin MacKinnon

Empire Safari in free demo CD frenzy

simonminter — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:00:36 +0000

Empire Safari contacted the MusicInOxford.co.uk hotline to let us know that having just completed a new demo, they’re marking the event by playing a gig at the Wheatsheaf in Oxford. What’s more, you lucky punters, they’re giving away free CD copies of the demo – ‘Output’ – to all in attendance. Doesn’t that sound good? Free stuff is awesome. Now, combine that with the fact that Dial F For Frankenstein and Cat Matador will also be playing, and there’ll be an aftershow DJ set from DJ MNGO, and you’ve got yourselves a good night there. Want the icing on this gig-shaped cake? It’ll only cost £3 to get in.

Get yourselves down there: The Wheatsheaf, Oxford, Thursday 4 September, 8.00 pm. Prime yourself by checking the bands out on MySpace: Empire Safari, Dial F For Frankenstein and Cat Matador.

MusicInOxford.co.uk podcast, 29 August 2010

simonminter — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 12:00:02 +0000

Here’s the latest MusicInOxford.co.uk podcast, which we hope will delight, entertain and educate in equal measure. We had a bit of last-minute shenanigans almost bring this production to an unfortunate early halt, but things were pulled together at the final hour and, well, we think this is a Rather Decent Podcast.

MusicInOxford.co.uk podcast, 29 August 2010

Featured in this podcast:

‘Playground’ by Phantom Theory
Local music news in brief
‘Everything Is Still’ by Lee Riley Guitar Works
Interview with Richard Catherall, from Oxford promoters Gappy Tooth Industries
‘What Hangs From The Butcher’s Hook: The Evenings remix’ by Suitable Case For Treatment (and here are The Evenings)
‘Away Sometimes’ by Dear City

To paraphrase DJ Pied Piper, lovin it’, lovin it’, lovin it’. As ever, if you want to get involved with, or have ideas for what can go into, future MusicInOxford.co.uk podcasts, get in touch.

September 2010 Nightshift – out now

simonminter — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 11:00:09 +0000

The new Nightshift is out now, and it includes…

• An interview with (and an outstanding cover photograph of) The Black Hats
• Plenty plenty Oxfordshire music news
• Reviews of new releases from Desert Storm, The Winchell Riots, Dial F For Frankenstein, Spring Offensive, 100 Bullets Back, Junkie Brush, Gwyn Ashton and Black Hats
• Mahoosive, comprehensive gig guide for September
• Live reviews, including a massive Truck 13 round-up, Junkie Brush/Agness Pike, Beelzebozo/Komrad/Undersmile and Jah Wobble and the Nippon Dub Ensemble
• Cheeky banter including stuff about The Long Insiders and 2Die4
• Demo reviews covering Malta Tonkin, Roboman, The Graceful Slicks, A Clean Hotel Room, The Keeling Curve, Brassneck and The Water Margin.

Grab a copy from all the usual places – venues, shops, rehearsal rooms, etc – or download it here.

Dial F for Frankenstein: USA

colinmackinnon — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 11:55:25 +0000

Dial F for Frankenstein have recently had a spot of trouble with their merchandising, a bunch of T-shirts coming back from the printers with the band name misspelt. Howlingly, it was the first word that was wrong, not the last. Still, with a song recently included on Channel 4’s teen drama Skins, a cover appearance on local magazine Nightshift and the delivery of a solid follow up single to the excellent ‘Wes Vega’, you can’t help thinking that a few funky T-shirts seem to be the only thing in their debit column at the moment.

‘USA’ springs from Dial F’s punky past (strictly post-hardcore, apparently), but it’s also the product of a greater pop sensibility, with big, gripping melodies increasingly seen as more important than finger-flying bass lines or furious sonic assault. The trend is continued with this focussed, workmanlike track, which draws on multifarious million-selling American acts; the likes of Foo Fighters, Green Day and the Strokes can be heard in the mix. It’s good, growly, ballsy fun, if not overly original, but if they can produce a couple more hook-laden singles of this sort, then they should probably be practicing their signatures soon.

Dial F for Frankenstein Myspace

By Colin MacKinnon

The Evenings play gig, release music: wuht?

simonminter — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 19:17:04 +0000

Remember The Evenings? They were that band that was pretty popular around Oxford a couple of years ago. Sort of electronica-pop music, lots of fun, a little bit artsy, had a song called ‘Fizzy Piss’. You remember? Yeah? Yeah.

Well, in an extraordinary turn of events, which is sure to have us all reaching for our newspapers to check that it isn’t somehow the past, they’re playing a gig. The usual mayhemically diverse line-up presented at a Gappy Tooth Industries gig is, this Saturday, led by The Evenings, who have been tempted out of their pseudo-retirement for one more live performance. They say that they aren’t going to rehearse for the show – draw your own conclusions about that – and they say they don’t even know who will be in the band for this gig. Artsy. The gig, which has tickets available here, will also feature Anton [Barbeau] and The Egyptians and We Are Ugly But We Have The Music. It’s at the Wheatsheaf in Oxford and kicks off at 8.00 pm sharp.

If that ain’t enough Evenings nostalgia for your collective craw, the band’s entire recorded output is being made available for free download – there’s one in the eye for those that paid for this in the past, I guess – so if that takes your fancy, point your downloading tool of choice here. For added reminiscences, here’s the band’s website.