Bands I liked

Adrian Crowley, Mary and the Pigeons, Radie Peat, Idles, Sofasonic. Saint Leonard’s Horses, Ed Dowie, Guildhall Saxophone Ensemble, Gill Sandell, Alev Lenz, Angèle David-Guillou, Enderby’s Room, She Drew a Gun, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Mammoth Penguins, Milky Wimpshake, September Girls, The Proper Ornaments, Tigercats, Chorusgirl, Spook School, Joanna Gruesome, Martha, Freak, Black Honey, British Sea Power

Bands that were okay

Brigid Mae Power, Dinges, Krammers, John Hassall, Kite Base, Circa Waves, Jess Bryant, Pete Astor, Piney Gir, Samantha Whites, Michael J Sheehy, Anna Pancaldi, Bahboon, No Cars, The Tomboys, Natalie McCool, Healyum, Marvin Powell, Bearsuit, Evans the Death, USA Nails, Dairy Classics

Bands I won’t be going out of my way to see again

Martin Dubna, Sonic Kimono, Hope

Best Gig

March was a sad month as it saw the closure of Fortuna Pop!. The gigs celebrating Fortuna Pop! were excellent. But the gig of the month has to be a new band, Idles. They’re easily the most exciting band I’ve seen for a few years.

Best new band

Idles

Albums of the Month

• Volcano – Temples
• Brutalism – Idles
• A Pink Sunset for No One – Noveller
• Flying Microtonal Banana – King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
• Condition – Spectres
• The Navigator – Hurray for the Riff Raff
• Let the Dancers Inherit the Party – British Sea Power

Best photo

Fun set from an engaging Eureka California setting the bar on audience participation.

Unlike last month’s Lexington gig, tonight Mammoth Penguin played a great glitch free gig.

I heard good things about Spook School. They were fun. They didn’t quite work for me. But I will give them another listen

Nice set from Tigercats

Colleen Green played an interesting set. I thought maybe she was touring without her band so there was something missing from her normal sound. But watching videos afterwards, it seems she doesn’t have a band. I’m not sure that’s a good thing. She had some interesting material. I just didn’t feel using an iPad to provide a rhythm section did the material justice.

It’s about 18 months since I last saw a full September Girls set. I loved their first album and thought the beefing up of some of the songs on their last EP improved an already good album. So I was expecting to be blown away tonight. Sadly, I found their set a bit hit and miss.

So who did I manage to see?

Ella vs Mountain – sounded nice. But hard to tell as she was playing the tent in the hub and there was a lot of noise

Black City Lights – DJ and singer. Not my cup of tea

The Darlingtons – energetic midday set from these guys

French for Rabbits – nice kick-back with a beer on a sunny day type music

John J Presley – excellent set from one of my current favourites

September Girls – only caught the last two songs. But sounded excellent

Baby Strange – didn’t work for me.

Telegram – seen these guys before and again I was impressed by them

Esben and the Witch – listened to most their set from the street but managed to catch two songs. Sounded really good. Have to catch them again

Wytches – despite sound issues, another great set

Deathcrush – didn’t ‘get’ these girls. Lots of noise and shouting but nothing that grabbed me

Theo Verney – enjoyable set

Scott and Charlene’s wedding – don’t take themselves too seriously and seemed to be having a good time, as were the crowd

Barbarossa – not my cup of tea

Gavin James – hard to judge. Quiet music, but people were talking near me so I left

Femme – Seemed to be three girls dancing to a backing tape. I quickly moved on to the next venue

Serfina Steer – multi instruments uncluding a harp. Quiet nice laid back music

Syd Arthur – was looking forward to seeing these guys as I’d heard they were good. Just didn’t grab me at all

Public Acess TV – enjoyable set

Brawlers – energetic set that seemed to go down well.

Gnarlwolves – punk sound but nothing particularly interesting

This first gig of the year was Joanna Gruesome with support from September Girls. I’ve seen Joanna Gruesome before and enjoyed the gig experience and Weird Sisters, their debut album was a great listen. So they were on my list of bands to catch again this year. However, I had intended to go and see Shopping over at Hoxton Square. But I caught ‘Sister’ September Girls first single from their new album which swung the deal.

The first band of the evening, Flowers were standard fare. Nothing really stood out. They were proficient but ultimately their set left no mark.

The September Girls take their name from a Bangles song. Like the Bangles, they’re an all an all-female group. In today’s age it shouldn’t really stand out any more than an all-male group. But it is still a fairly rare occurrence. With the release of their debut album that week which seems to have some excellent reviews, the room was pretty busy for their performance.

The five-piece lined up with the drums at the back and all other members at the front of the stage, each taking vocal duties and all sounding great. To my ears, their sound seems to draw from bands such a Veronica Falls. That glorious fuzz laden, gothic sound. The Girls make the sound their own with a greater emphasis on keyboards lightening the mood.

I hadn’t read up on their band before the gig. So I was unaware that they were all Irish. I’m a sucker for a girl with a Southern Irish accent. So I was rather enamoured with them every time they spoke to the crowd. I’d have paid the admission price for them to just talk all evening, the fact that they also played some damn fine music made the evening all the more worthwhile.

Closing the evening were Joanna Gruesome. For some reason they had to alter their line-up as their bass played couldn’t make the tour. So they’d roped in their old drummer to play guitar and their current guitarist was playing bass! It could have been a recipe for a disaster. But despite the fact that the guitars were constantly going out of tune, they clearly were enjoying the experience for what it and not letting technical difficulties and their lack of practice as a band get to them. Combined with a great energetic performance from the lead singer, it made for a great example of ‘DIY-sound’ and a great spectacle. My only problem with the evening was that the set was too short. But I think they played every song that evening’s line-up knew. Maybe next time.