Again, on all the flyers and posters and spam it said doors 7pm, so I arrived at 8pm and it looks very much like they're still sound checking, I could be wrong. Anyhoo, I'm Hank Marvin' so I head across the way to Cafe Meze for a lamb cheeseburger and swift Efes.
Service is a little slow, and the vibe of the ever present traffic outside is oppressive.
In
a shameless attempt to draw more traffic to the site, I'm going to give the bands overwealmingly positive reviews, so they'll quote and back link me.
It occurred to me that one of the things that sets this site apart from other Indiepop blogs is that here we also give coverage to bands I don't like, gigs I thought were crap.
I'd been dreaming of chips all day and when they came they hit the mark, the cheese on the cheeseburger was suspiciously runny.
Down in
The Albany's Lowdown, down tiny steps, its almost too dark to write. Folk off of the internet sat to the back, I lurk nearby.
I've missed a good half of
the first guy's set, but what I caught was the very best seated troubadour playing steel string serious acoustic vaguely blues that I've ever heard. Image-wise he seemed to be taking cues from gods of the mid-90's baggy scene Liam and Tim. The guy was faultless.
If this were Glasgow,
Tom Snowball would have signed him up in seconds and the
Tchai Ovna would be packed.
Internet folk move to the front to catch the next act, so I steal a seat near a candle in exchange for eye-contact and a wave.
A french mob on stage, I see a melodica. Technical problems, but they have amusingly accented banter... "I do habe one jock, it is not very funny, I am saving it for later..."
When they start I melt under the wee snippets of lush pop perfection, like bite-sized
Hidden Cameras you could fit in your pocket, almost every song clocking in under a minute.
Bloke singing like a Gallic version of
Simon Love. Melodica girl did vocal duties on a couple of the songs which was a bit refreshing.
Next up are
Joe Gideon and the Shark, the girl looks affy familiar, behind her drum kit with a keyboard and possibly some kind of sampler, bloke on guitar.
Cool song titles "Johan was a painter and an arsonist" and "Anything you love that much you'll see again". Deep rolling blues, maybe swamp blues over delta, good stomping music to begin with.
My chums off of the internet left, but they're missing a treat. Its a bit of a mixed bag, a potato sack of broken glass.
The drumming keyboard sampler girl plays like a cartoon precision engineer, mybe about 38% art schooly too.
Not that it'd work in real life, but imagine if you put The Fall, Death in Vegas and Ball Boy in yer potato sack of broken glass and pureeed it and you'd be there then.
A bunch of hipster kids turn up, blocking my view along with the tie-less office workers so I leave before the headline act, somewhat satisfied by the evening.
I've always been aware of Electrophonvintage's slightly FM sound, veering towards the Semisonic. Or Beautiful South, suggested my attractive young ladyfriend. Either perfect for a long car journey to the one you love, or I've been watching their 'Where you're not' video too much.
Liked them better when the girl was a full time member of the band, she spends half the show sat at the side of the stage, looking radiant, but not doing very much.
Its magic when she cranks up the melodica. Then again the more upbeat numbers are growing on me.
Their humour was lost in translation tonight. And the lyrics were a bit mumbly, difficult to make out, or maybe I'm going deaf, which is more likely to be honest.
