The Antlers - Bear

We mounted our prize capture of those purveyors of maudlin rock loveliness The Antlers above the virtual mantelpiece of Scratchy’s blogging room, at the back end of last year read our live review here; when we fell hook, line and sinker for their majestic sweeping tunes of sadness. The Brooklyn based band whose debut album Hospice has been a slow burning success story of 2009 and have just released a beautiful and restrained official video to accompany one of the stand out tracks of that album 'Bear'. Needless to say, it should be one of the bare necessities of your i-pod! They have just started on a mammoth tour, taking in various venues in Europe and America, so book early to avoid disappointment because their star is rising very rapidly.

The Antlers - 'Bear' taken from the debut album Hospice Get it here from FrenchKiss Records

http://www.antlersmusic.com/

http://www.myspace.com/theantlers

theantlershospice.blogspot.com

The Antlers - Live Review

Acts: Official Secrets Act,
The Antlers and Graffiti 6
Location: Southampton U.K
Venue: Lennons
Date: 28/11/09

We were determined to catch a much anticipated performance by the Brooklyn based band The Antlers, whose Hospice album has been a slow burning success story of 2009 via the patronage of Pitchfork and it's ilk. It was self-released back in March 2009 and went on general release via French Kiss Records in August 2009. This short visit to the U.K has now catapulted the band's presence into the national arena with the national journos from The Times and The Guardian clambering on board to give it the horn.

Those journos have covered the London and Brighton legs of the tour, but it's up to the intrepid team here at Scratchy Buckles (myself and Platterhorn) to battle through the lashing rain in order to cover what must be the least prepossessing stop off on their jaunt around Europe. Yes, we're talking about being second on the bill in sodden Southampton's favourite student cheap 'n' cheerful nightclub Lennons; thankfully nothings changed in the years since I was last here frugging to the sounds of Britpop back in the 199o's (stop me now! before I turn into a voxpop for one of those cheapo 'I remember the Nineties' type of late night T.V fillers) and it promises to be a good honest intimate gig at this venue which is putting on some interesting gigs of late.

First up though, with their chance to make a mark on the wall of sound, was Graffiti 6 who put in a credible performance for the early birds. They're buoyed up with the gift of delivering a catchy tune in that genre that's tricky to master, i.e the soul/rock/pop crossover. Their breezy number Stare Into The Sun was used as part of a promo for a television ad promotion for The Sun newspaper back in Summer 2009. This must have been a useful boost to their fledgling career and it came as a surprise to us, when they mentioned at the end of delivering a polished and engaging set, that this was their first live gig.. The first of many successful performances I'm sure! and a band to keep an eye on.. a tip though, if I were you guys, I'd leave Liverpool off the tour list for the time being..

Graffiti 6 - Stare Into The Sun



The Antlers are a young trio from Brooklyn New York, who spent 2007/8 putting together a concept album of epic and haunting music. Lead singer Peter Silberman delivers aching soft vocals, interwoven with emotionally wrought crescendos, that turns the emotional screws to devastating effect. Michael Lerner’s sparse drumming plays off Darby Cicci’s downbeat keyboards to produce a taut post rock sound straddling between fragility and intense sonic outbursts. Their debut album ‘Hospice’ is a concept album about a carer looking after a girl who is terminally ill with cancer. What could have ended up a maudlin self indulgent mess is actually brooding and beautiful triumph, which is destined to be on many of the pundits 'Best of 2009' album lists.

It's clear from the opening chords that the band are going to pretty much play the songs through in the order of the album and so unfortunately the spine tingling opener the epic Kettering gets lost in the general hullabaloo of the crowd settling down. These guys obviously get swept into the intensity of delivering the songs with all their heart and soul and this means that the stage craft of commanding of the audience is slightly overlooked and so it takes a few numbers for them to capture the undivided attention the the crowd. This may be down to their inexperience or having to play to punters who haven't necessarily come to check out this band but slowly and surely the waverers are won over, as each song ramps up intensity of the atmosphere in the room. The more accessible uptempo numbers of Sylvia, Bear and Two in particular resonate with the crowd and as The Antlers' set draws to a close, it's clear that we've witnessed a very special show by a mesmerising and very talented band who are destined to make a considerable impact with their majestic music.

The Antlers - Kettering - taken from the debut Hospice on FrenchKiss Records Get it here

The video is unofficial and created by a fan using various photographs Original photographers listed here but has been compiled with such T.L.C that for me it's the definitive version and as good as anything the record company could put together.



http://www.antlersmusic.com/

http://www.myspace.com/theantlers

theantlershospice.blogspot.com

http://www.myspace.com/officialsecretsact

Esben And The Witch "A Scratchy Spotlight"

I hopped onto this brooding broomstick via The Stool Pigeon music paper, when they favourably featured Esben and the Witch on the 'demos and myspace' review page in the Summer 2009 edition. Taking the name from a macabre Danish fairy tale (Is there any other type!) read about the fairy tale, this trio, based in Brighton U.K, claim to be influenced by glaciers, caverns and waning moons. For the benefit of those of you, who prefer more conventional comparisons, I'd pitch them in a coven attended by The Cure, Radiohead, The Cranes, Portishead and This Mortal Coil.

It's 'Gothic' in the traditional sense of the mood being melodramatic, conjuring up a sound of an evening of hedonism with Mary Shelley and Lord Byron, as opposed to being in a mood because one's too hot because yer wearing all black in the height of summer and the mascara is beginning to run type of goth.

This nightmare electro-post-rock is the product of Rachael Davies (vocals, percussion) , Daniel Copeman (electronics, guitars) and Thomas Fisher (guitars, keyboards) The musical brew is concocted with the ingredients of an organ, drum machines, some glockenspiel action and a groove box connected to a kaosillator!? as well as some scratchy guitars, which always goes down well here. A real plus point is Rachael's strong pure voice that's got enough oomph to carry the tunes and maintain the listener's interest.

'About This Peninsula' is shimmery and spectral and the tense 'Marching Song' hovers with a nervous spiky energy that beguiles. 'Eumenides' is a taught tune with ghostly siren like whispers, this one recalled for me, that fine recent episode of Dr Who called "Blink" You know the one with the moving statues which had us all hiding behind the sofa. The pick of the pack for me is 'Corridors' which has a menacing rattlesnake hissing sound, it makes your skin crawl but in a good way, then it slowly builds up into a dramatic climax. They're currently unsigned with a solitary E.P '33' under their cloak. You can download it here generously made available by the band for gratis.

Esben And The Witch have bagged themselves a slot at end of the road festival in September, where they should put in a spellbinding show (shucks! I almost made it through the review, without a reference to the blindingly obviously pun, oh well) Will they be accompanied on the stage by their resident owl? just like Birdpen have their bird mascot on stage, is this a new feathered based genre? perhaps I can lump'em together in a NME 'making up a hot new scene' stylee... how about "hardclaw", "fieldgaze" anyone? "chirp rock" "drum and cheap"...... hmm, I'll get me cloak!

Blips On The Blog Radar
http://breakingmorewaves.blogspot.com/2009/07/esben-and-witch-new-waves-breaking-more.html
http://www.thefourohfive.com/articles/1487
http://thesonicminefeild.blogspot.com/2009/05/esben-and-witch-33.html

Esben And the Witch - Confide In Me - Cover of the Kylie Minogue classic recorded live at The Freebutt, Brighton, 28/01/09

Upcoming Gigs
25 Jul 2009 Brighton The Freebutt
06 Aug 2009 London Hoxton Square Bar & Grill
22 Aug 2009London Notting Hill Arts Club
11 Sep 2009 Dorset End Of The Road Festival
01 Oct 2009 Sheffield The Harley

http://www.myspace.com/esbenandthewitch

http://www.last.fm/music/Esben+and+The+Witch

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Esben-and-the-Witch/117347218297#

ioktember

If you like your post-pop rock to be angsty, folksy, dramatic and lovely all at the same time, then ioktember, have recorded some songs in the basement of an old mental institution, that should get your hairs on the back of your neck standing on end.

I was ear wigging a conversation, during my weekly supermarket shop at the weekend, between a security guard and the till assistant. They began discussing and analysing their attempt to chat up two Swedish ladies, who had chanced upon the checkout of these budding romeos, which became the highlight of their day. The gist of the conversation was based on how the guys' charm and smarm could have been more finely honed, as their tactics evidently bombed. The opening gambit of asking the girls "where are they from?" quickly followed by a "Where's Sweden?" then culminating with the killer lines "Isn't that the country full of trees? no wait! are we confusing it with the the land of lakes?" the outcome of this charm offensive was a miserable strike out and the guys were left ruing their opportunity and lack of geography knowledge, as they contemplated the rest of day processing the meagre food rations of hordes of poor, disposed, music blog writers and middle class credit crunch refugees. I yearned to interject, that Sweden actually should be currently be known as 'the land the great bands' and here's another one..

Hailing from Stockholm, ioktember, risen from the remnants of a previous incarnation known as Infinite Regress and have leanings towards the big commercial sound of say Snow Patrol with the finely crafted songwriting of The Blue Nile and finely wrought offerings of This Mortal Coil.

The band list My Bloody Valentine, Godspeed you! Black Emperor, Sigur Ros, Joy Division, Wu Tang Clan, Johnny Cash, Chris Isaak, Einsturzende Neubauten and The Pixies, so as influences go, you can see an interesting mix going on there.

The collective names of ioktember are Emil Henricson,Johan Augustsson, Daniel Andersson, Hanna Eklöf, Hannes Holmqvist and Max Håkan Holm. They describe themselves as "People gathered behind the old dumpster, randomly at first, to play the organ and have themselves an occasional sing-song" Actually, judging by the songs on their myspace.com/ioktember site, they're creating something very mournful but marvellous.

There are just the four tracks up on this website: Shine, Be There, For The Last Day Of Spring and My Love Something, of which the latter is the stand out tune for me, making good use of the boy/girl duet vocals singing an emotionally wrought tune, with a with a lilting horn arrangement.

The only significant blips on the blogging radar so far come from http://meadowmusic.se/en/?p=261 and http://absolutnoise.blogspot.com/2009/05/from-old-mental-institution.html

http://ioktember.com/

http://www.myspace.com/ioktember

We Made God - Live Review

Act: We Made God

Location: Southampton, U.K

Venue: Talking Heads

Date: 26/04/09

On this sleepy April Sunday evening, these guys had come to deliver a blistering set, at a venue, which has a good reputation as a showcase for interesting alternative music. So it was an easy decision to wander down and give my earlobes a sonic workout, as opposed to the usual end of weekend feet up in front of 'Heartbeat' with a glass of sherry: Lester Bangs eat your heart out!

Platterhorn managed to negotiate a couple of hours off family duty and he was happy to also sample We Made God, with just a minor caveat, that we stopped off for a post-post rock gig kebab on the way home. During the aperitif to the main act, we were treated to three interesting support acts, varying from emo-electro rock to 'Fugazi-like' hardcore punk trio, so something for all the family to enjoy there. It's a shame the crowd was a bit sparse and the atmosphere was a bit flat, as it must be hard for these bands to get pumped up to perform, when there's minimal feedback from the audience. Playing live is an important part of the learning curve of a band and it's vital to try out what works, outside the confines of a practice studio.

The main act on the bill We Made God come all the way from Hafnafjörður in Iceland, this gig was part of a short tour of the U.K promoting their self produced debut album 'As We Sleep' which was released via Maybe Records on March 27th 2008 in their native country and October 2008 in the U.K. The youthful quartet Magnús (vocals, guitars) Arnór (guitars) Stúni (bass) and Biggi (drums) make up the numbers and have been together for about five years. Together, they create a moody desolate sound, chiseled from a sonic landscape, which billows raucous clouds of storming riffs. It's a ferocious sound, with outbursts of frenetic chainsaw riffs, cutting through the introspective passages, all anchored by Maggi's anguished guttural howling vocal style.

We Made God are exponents of experimental rock, cut from the similar cloth as their fellow Icelandic post-rockers Sigur Ros (let's get the obligatory reference point out of the way) however I was struck how much more heavy their sound was, in this live setting. It's easy to see why they have garnered positive reaction from the likes of Kerrang and Q music magazines with four star reviews. It's crunching stuff which makes the floorboards tremble and 'W M G' could sit comfortably on the bill of a Download festival for instance. Their album would nestle nicely next to the Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails and Black Mountain on the hard rock rack at the record shop. Yet they have enough variation within their songs to appeal to the mainstream crowd as well as the indie kids.


The band have got a strong stage presence, at times looking like grungy Thunderbirds marionette puppets, as if they were controlled by the ghostly hand of Kurt Cobain, with imaginary strings making them bob up and down in the rocky parts unleashing a foursome frenetically freaking out. The singer looked as though he was exercising some serious demons in his singing technique to the point where he admitted he was in danger of fainting.

The strongest song Gizmo was given an airing as was Sub Rosa and the last song We Lost The Battle, We lost the War stuck out as a highlight. As the evening drew to a close, all that was left to do was for the small but appreciative crowd to head home, in our case via the local Kebab shop, with the warm sound fuzz of 'W M G' still ringing in our ears, shish kebab filling our bellies and gooey chilli sauce dripping down our shirts!

We Made God - Gizmo from the album As We Sleep directed by Óskar Bragi Stefánsson



http://www.myspace.com/wemadegod

My Brightest Diamond

"String Players Wanted: If you like Pierre Boulez as much as PJ Harvey, call me!"

This was the ad posted by Shara Worden to bring together a motley crew of esoteric performers, that became My Brightest Diamond. It also perfectly sums up their music, which straddles the twin colossi of music genres; classical and rock.

Shara Worden was born into a house of diverse musical aesthetics and was something of a musical prodigy, starting to write songs from the age of three. She was the granddaughter of an epiphone playing travelling evangelist, her father was a National Accordion Champion and her mother was a pianist.

This background, immersed in diverse musical influences, coupled with formal music training via a degree in opera from the University of North Texas, has led to a song writing technique, that tippy toes through lush, orchestrated, dramatic and delicate fields of sounds. A move to New York City opened the door to various musical collaborations, most notably with Padma Newsome of The National and with Sufjan Steven's on his celebrated Illinois album and the 2003 Christmas E.P project.

My Brightest Diamond released their first record in 2006 called 'Bring Me The Workhorse' on Asthmatic Kitty Records This was followed up by 'A Thousand Shark's Teeth' in 2008 with an album of remixes entitled 'Tear It Down' sandwiched between these two full length albums. The following video accompanies the track 'Inside a Boy' taken from the most recent album. It is a cute, dreamy animation and is well executed in a style reminiscent of Jamie Hewlett (Monkey, Tank Girl, Gorillaz etc)

Any artist who uses 'crepuscular' in their promotional blurb (one of the finest words in the English language) is worthy of a Scratchy thumbs up.

My Brightest Diamond - Inside A Boy

Upcoming Gigs

21/03/09 Lookout Mountain, GA, Covenant College, U.S.A

22/03/09 Lexington, KY, Al’s Bar U.S.A

http://www.mybrightestdiamond.com/

http://sharaworden.com/

http://asthmatickitty.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Brightest_Diamond

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Hewlett

The Boxing Lesson - Scratchy's Twelve Grooves of Christmas Part 10

Occasionally, here at 'Scratchy Towers' we like to chill out, roll a metaphorical fat one and let our 'freak flag fly' Some of the best backing music to get us in that mood is by post rock pugilists The Boxing Lesson from Austin, Texas.

The latest video accompanying the track 'The Dark Side Of The Moog' taken off their 2008 album release Wild Streaks and Windy Days is a bit of a corker. It's directed by Eric Power of clearproductions.net, who has produced an animation with a woodcut style that is vaguely reminiscent of The Beatles 'Yellow Submarine' animated film but realised in a sinister David Lynch style.

The Boxing Lesson roll out a brand of psych-rock fit for the twenty first century that shimmys, and soars in epic dramatic spacey tracks but they can also knock you out with a more direct garage band inspired sound. If you like Secret Machines, Porcupine Tree or the most obvious reference point, Pink Floyd, these guys will be a heavyweight contender in your collection.

The video for The Boxing Lesson - 'Dark Side of the Moog'



www.myspace.com/theboxinglesson

www.youtube.com/theboxinglesson08

Ketch Harbour Wolves

The sea is a cruel mistress, as the ole saying goes and so is the music business. In 2003 vocalist Jonathan Tyrrell and drummer Brian Urbanik discovered this, as they set sail on a sea maiden of a band named The Flying Buttresses, they operated from an out the way fishing town called Ketch Harbour in Nova Scotia, Canada. In due course, this project foundered upon the rocks, but the name of their home port was salvaged from the wreck, when the duo retreated to the safety of landlubber's metropolitan retreat Toronto, Ontario. Here, they enlisted old time buddy Scott Wynter on bass and by 2006, the trio had press-ganged into the pack, singer songwriter Liam Brown and keyboard/saxophonist Kristjan Bergey. The quintet set about foraging for the expansive sound that has become their trademark and have made waves, as a showcase band at the 2007 North by Northeast Festival.


Two albums in and the boys are really finding their sea legs. They released a debut mini album titled December in 2007 to ripples of acclaim and have followed this up with Dead Calm Horizon that has been steadily gathering plaudits and tipped as one of best albums to come out of Canada this year. The seven track album has been made available for free from the official website, in a canny piece of marketing and should deservedly widen their appeal. The stand out track Gold nestles nicely next to The Arcade Fire with an epic lush sound and Letters shows off the more rustic side of the group's musical influences. The mournful expansive mood of their overall sound builds you up into peaks of 'The Perfect Storm' moments before casting you adrift on the lush alt rock melodies. This pack is definitely pedigree with no howlers on board either.

Ketch Harbour Wolves-Gold

Ketch Harbour Wolves-Animals

Ketch Harbour Wolves-Letters

The 'Bullitt' stylised split screens in this inaurgral video to 'Words' are worthy of a mention and Steve McQueen 'the king of cool' would surely approve of the track as well!



Ketch Harbour Wolves will be dropping anchor at...

11 Dec 2008 The Drake Underground [w/ SPIRITS and THE REST] Toronto, Ontario

17 Dec 2008 Mongolian - Acoustic Waterloo, Ontario

3 Jan 2009 The El Mocambo Toronto, Ontario

22 Jan 2009 Holy Joe’s Toronto, Ontario

http://www.ketchharbourwolves.com/

http://www.myspace.com/ketchharbourwolves

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ketch-Harbour-Wolves/18934294904

http://www.herohill.com/2008/08/reviews-ketch-harbour-wolves-dead-calm.htm

Fiction, My Empty Phantom, My Education

Austin, Texas has always been receptive to an alternative music scene and has played host in the past to pioneers of experimental rock, Go Roky, go! There currently appears to be a burgeoning wave of ambient post rockers willing to push the envelope of conjuring sound scapes.

Fiction originated, in 2005, as a collaboration between Jeremy Roye (vocals, laptop, effects) and Michael Zawodniak (keys, synths, bass, vocals) The following year, the duo later expanded the line up, with the addition of multi-instrumentalists Matt Latour (drums, flute, bass, vocals) and Henna Chou (cello, keys, bass, vocals) and starting playing live.

Their sound is experimental, with an evident influence of the Radiohead style of pushing the boundaries ethos, particularly in the vocal styles and wobbly head technique of the lead singer. Thrown into the plot are an assortment of strings, synthesizers, multi-part harmonies, electronic beats, live looping/sampling, and flute, all culminating in a satisfying musical page turner. The tempo of the melodies has a slightly twitchy, claustrophobic feel with repeated listens revealing extra layers of sounds, hidden under the nervy, chanty vocals.

The 'You Will Never' E.P was released back in late October 2008. A debut album provisionally titled, American Hologram, is pencilled in for release in early Spring 2009.

I have to give them an 8.23 out of ten! Usually I would shy away from clumsy 'marks out of' reviews but I will make an exception just this once, in order to shoe-in a superfluous librarian in-joke, indulge me please.



Your next chance to catch Fiction live is on the 13th December 2008 @ The Space Cave, 3109 Walnut St, Austin, Texas with D.J Mos Jeficit, Hello Lovers, Many Birthdays, and Little Stolen Moments in support.

http://www.cantrememberthewords.com/

http://www.myspace.com/cantrememberthewords

http://www.virb.com/fiction_austin http://www.myspace.com/thulsadoompete

http://thatotherpaper.com/austin/a_fiction_in_the_writing

They also play Lamberts on 24th January 2009 with My Empty Phantom and My Education, which sounds like a jolly good night out, if it wasn't a three thousand miles trek, I'd be tempted to pop down and catch this triple trippy toe tapping toasty of a show.

My Empty Phantom is basically a one man show from Jesse Beaman, who creates a very pleasing Eno-esque ambient soundscape, chilled but lively enough not be soporific. Have a break from the twenty four hour rush hour of twenty first century living and check out this live version of the hypnotic Field Of Flowers.



http://www.myspace.com/emptyphantommusic

My Education have been creating epic sonic post-rock with a twist of Americana since 1999 and have four albums under their belt. It comes as no surprise that they've been involved with two original film soundtracks for Angels Egg and Sunrise, as their music has a definite cinematic quality about it. I can imagine one of their tracks, as the backdrop to a Wim Wenders movie or an indie flick, set in in a Texas trailer park.

The latest album 'Bad Vibrations' was released in June 2008 and this is the video of the title track, which is laconically lovely but a little bit eerie as well.



myeducationmusic.com

http://www.discogs.com/artist/My+Education

http://www.myspace.com/myeducation

The Boxing Lesson

Here at Scratchy Towers, we thoroughly approve of those post rock pugilists from Austin, Texas The Boxing Lesson. We are delighted to go another round with them, by showing their latest video accompanying the track 'The Dark Side Of The Moog' taken off their 2008 album release Wild Streaks and Windy Days.

The video is directed by Eric Power of clearproductions.net, who has produced an animation with a woodcut style that is vaguely reminiscent of The Beatles 'Yellow Submarine' animated film but realised in a sinister David Lynch style.



Nov 10 Spaceland ? Los Angeles,CA
Nov 11 Plush ? Tuscon,AZ w/Dead Confederate
Nov 13 Percolator ? El Paso,TX
Dec 12 Emo?s ? Austin,TX
Dec 13 The Mink ? Houston,TX

The homespun naive art of this video, also has echoes of some of the more bizarre five minute cartoons that the BBC used to show, in the hallowed 5.35p.m slotback, back in the Seventies, just before the evening news was broadcast. As well as scheduling much loved greats like The Clangers and Bagpuss, they would intersperse these, with creepy, surreal cartoons that must have given a generation of little ones, the heebie-jeebies.

Ludwig especially resonated with me, shown from 1977, it was a crystal egg that metamorphosed into a creature with mechanical devices, set to the music of Ludwig Van Beethoven. . Ludwig and his strange friends, like the dodgy man in the bushes, watching events through binoculars! were forever etched onto my fragile malleable young mind. The cartoon was created by Mirek and Peter Lang and was narrated by Jon Glover, with arrangements by Paul Reade of The Flumps.



www.myspace.com/theboxinglesson

www.youtube.com/theboxinglesson08

www.sonicbids.com/theboxinglesson

www.imeem.com/theboxinglesson

http://profile.myspace.com/ericpower

http://www.thechestnut.com/ludwig.htm

Mimas

I recently had the pleasure; along with Morris Chancer; of catching Mimas live at the Talking Heads in Southampton, as part of a short national tour of England. They have now returned to their home base in Århus, Denmark leaving behind a trail of very satisfied gig goers who feasted on their particular brand of atmospheric celebratory post rock.

The band are made up of four Danes Gert Hoberg Jørgensen (bass, vocals), Daniel Malling Beck (guitar, vocals) Lasse Dahl Christensen (drums, vocals) and an Icelander Snævar Njáll Albertsson (vocals, guitar, trumpet). They describe their music as 'Death-indie' but I would describe it as ‘big music’ that make you tingle.

They produced an E.P ‘Hands Will Carry’ which came out in 2005 to their credit. This gained them a slot at the famous Roskilde Festival in Denmark and a first tour of England brought them to the attention of Worst Case Scenario Records who released a split single with The Follow in 2006 ‘Thought Discuss’ gained favourable reviews and widened their fan base beyond their following back in native Denmark. Mimas now release a debut album ‘The Worries’ on 4th October 2008 through Big Scary Monsters Records and have come back in England on a short promotional tour.

We arrived fashionably late and so apologies go out to the support band on the bill, we only caught the tail end of the performance of Komiss. This was due to another special event taking place on the same night i.e. England playing well for the first time in an eon vs Croatia, We had to catch the full ninety minutes of exhilarating football as it’s a rare event for the national team to produce a performance that lively. I shall endeavor to catch up with Komiss in the near future but it sounded the bees-knees from the two songs that we managed to hear. I understand that the support listed Prego weren’t able to make it but again further investigation will carried out in due course.

As Mimas took to the stage a smattering of people drifted in to give the audience numbers an air of respectability, but really it was a shame that more folks couldn't make the effort to appreciate a quality outfit. The lead singer pronounced an introduction, that the band as a whole was tired and missing wives and family. I hoped something was being lost in translation, as my fears grew of a performance, that was going to rush through a minimum number of tunes in a disinterest manner, in order to fulfill a contractual obligation.

However, as soon as they launched into the opening track my doubts evaporated as Mimas became totally focused on music and proceeded to deliver a performance of intensity and majesty with soaring trumpets, tight harmonies and wall of exquisite noise. It’s indicative of a band that’s going in the right direction that they could switch straight into the zone, appearing fully concentrated on producing an energetic sound that fed off each member of the group. The yelping vocals, with English lyrics, intertwined with languid moments of maudlin trumpet solos on 'Dads' and 'Mac Get Your Car' is a sonic maelstrom. At times the guys were lost in their own world, buzzing to the beat, delighting in the sheer joy of creating a huge sound that sparkles.

Mimas is a moon of Saturn and the smallest known astronomical body of the solar system. Mimas is also a band making a large sound: a musical Titan, if you like, befitting their mythological Greek namesake.


http://mimassite.com/

http://www.myspace.com/mimas

http://www.myspace.com/pregomusic

http://www.bsmrocks.com/main.html

http://www.mimasblogblogblog.blogspot.com/