The Right Connections

Indietracks Festival, Midland Butterly Railway nr. Ripley, Derbyshire, July 24-26 2009.

This was Parallax View's first visit to Indietracks, now in its third year of bringing the best of indiepop to the grounds of a vintage railway station at Midland Railway, Butterly, near Ripley in Derbyshire. It was a sign of the weekend to come that the person we end up sharing a taxi with from Alfreton train station was Ian who runs the How Does If Feel To Be Loved? disco in the marquee at the event. Everything, and indeed, everyone, seemed to be connected.

Even, to some degree, our good selves, as we make re-acquaintance with Dunc from The Autumn Store and badge-bestowing Simon of Sweeping The Nation fame in fairly quick order on entering the grounds, and bump into Liz from The School not long after. And who should we be following on our way to the bar but the unmistakeable derrieres of the girls from Au Revoir Simone? It was very much that kind of festival.

Friday night's fare was entirely on the outdoor stage, with the synths of Modular washing over us pleasantly before Rosay Pipette (hitherto to be referred to, of course, as Rose Elinor Dougall) strutted her new solo stuff to mostly impressive effect. There wasn't too much on show that screamed out 'hit record' but it was all engaging enough to foster the belief that if anyone can sell Stereolab-lite to the masses it's RED.

While waiting for ARS to get into gear, we managed to catch a few words with Alice Hubley from Arthur and Martha as she chatted to Dunc, consoling her on the rather snide NME review of A&M's new album which was excessively sniping with regards to her own vocal contributions. Heads turned immediately with the arrival of Au Revoir Simone, who put on a confident and mesmering show featuring the best from their three albums. There are those that bemoan their lack of stagecraft but with presence like theirs craft is made redundant and superflous, and latest album 'Still Night, Still Light' is arguably their most consistent disc to date.

Thus followed some dancing with Dunc, his gf Debbie, and the rest of the Autumn Store posse in the Lipstick On Your Collar! disco, during which Dead Kenny may or may not have been jumping up and down rather rigorously to The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart's 'Young Adult Friction' chanting 'don't check me out! don't check me out!' to anyone without an option but to listen. All in all, was a Good Friday, if not THE Good Friday, if you see what we mean.

Saturday sees our bleary blogging eyes facing the serious business of catching as many indiepop acts as possible while still remembering to cover the basics of eating, drinking and breathing. We catch the sun somewhat while waiting for Sucrette, who make up for their late appearance with some top-notch breathy J-Pop which would appeal in particular to fans of Annie's 'Anniemal'. We were less seduced by Tender Trap, whose harmonies only really tugged at our heartstrings during their newest number, but at least that means they're heading in the right direction. Also failed to be engaged by Friends on the Indoor Stage (otherwise known as The Loco Shed), while One Happy Island won us over with the sheer persistence of their energy and charm during their set in the same arena.



Danish troubadour Labrador was late finding the festival but provided soothing electro-folk to calm our savage breasts on a hot Saturday evening in The Church (a case of Pew! What A Scorcher! anyone?). This proved the calm before the storm of The Specific Heats at the same location, whose reverb mechanism blew up during the first song, amongst other technical mishaps, which did nothing but add to the feeling that this was one of the festival landmark events, with scorching surf guitar and sun-kissed melodies providing a perversely devilish good time in the 'sanctity' of The Church.

Some fresh air was certainly needed at that point, but a look at the long snaking queue of people waiting to see The Lovely Eggs suggested that we wouldn't be able to get back in a hurry. And so it proved, as we were left to paw at the Church window like poor little orphan boys on Christmas Day, to get a glimpse of the hotly-tipped popsters. From our disadvantaged vantage point, The Lovely Eggs looked and sounded un-beatable, before we whisked ourselves off to see The Frank And Walters, who were still playing mostly the same songs and (if memory serves us correctly) telling mostly the same jokes that they used to back in 1992. Pretty entertaining and endearing stuff, nevertheless.

We only really know one Speedmarket Avenue song, the pretty fantastic 'Way Better Now' so wasn't quite sure what to expect of the Stockholm collective. Perhaps the most surprising aspect was that the vocal duties were fairly evenly shared between the male and female singer, the latter's sheer blue tights certainly scorching themselves on our retinas. It was all rather lovely, much lovelier than the fact that the main toilets were in need of plumbing attention, which certainly challenged punters' temperaments in what was supposed to be the friendliest of festivals.

Our underpants tension was somewhat eased by the always comforting presence of Camera Obscura, with lead singer Tracyann Campbell looking never more glam as the band dispensed a crowd-pleasing set of gems like 'Let's Get Out Of This Country'; 'French Navy' and 'If Looks Could Kill', climaxing beautifully as usual with 'Razzle Dazzle Rose' as the sun set. Met back up with Dunc and Debbie at this stage who pass on the tidbit that Marisa from The Besties is about to do a debut solo set in the Marquee. Right on cue the lead singer from The Specific Heats then pops his head out of said tent and hollers to anything within earshot the very same headline news.

Although your bluffing blogger is aware of The Besties' cult status in indiepop circles, Marisa seems more recently and vividly familiar to us, until it clicks she played keys for The Specific Heats earlier. We just have time to congratulate The Specific Heats singer on his set (he's philosophical about the equipment blowing up as it's the last day of their European tour) before he was required to act as a human mic stand for the slightly embarrassed but genuinely endearing Marisa, who ran through some old Besties tunes and other stuff even though at least one of her keys wasn't working. The whole shebang had so much impromptu charm and bonhomie we swear if we were any more full of ourselves at this point we'd have had to empty ourselves out just for the pleasure of filling ourselves back up again.

This also served to fill the gap while (reputedly) Emmy The Great had to be rescued from some sort of motorway-related fiasco before her set at The Indoor Stage. Better late than never, as we always say here on Parallax View, and while we can't quite re-create the flush of love at first sight we initially felt for Emmy, it's a bold and entertaining show with an impressive cover of The Pixies' 'Where Is My Mind?' thrown into the mix for good measure. Outside, La Casa Azul are in turns bemusing and bewitching with an undeniably odd combination of pigeon English, dancepop and balladry, to a visual backdrop of Mario Brothers, 'virtual backing band' and other random bytes and bobs. It's hit and miss for our tastes, but there's no doubt his version of John Paul Young's 'Love Is In The Air' provides one of the truly joyously unifying moments of the festival weekend.

Night-time saw Ian's 'How Does It Feel To be Loved?' pop-disco ramming the Marquee to its rafters, so we had our hearts and feet stolen by Barcelona's Bonnie & Clyde in the Loco Shed instead. TPOBPAH's 'Young Adult Friction' again gets a showing, and thus also does our crap dancing in a session of hot, sweaty fun. Rumours of ex-NME journo Tim Jonze being on site to do a piece for The Guardian permeated the night air as the contented crowds dispersed.

Sunday morning started with a call from our friend Keef to say he's coming up for the day to catch up with the evening's headliners Teenage Fanclub. After watching the entrancing (but startlingly young) Bonne Idee in the Loco Shed, we meet up with Keef on the steam train where we're completely out of earshot of the drum-and-bass from The Manhattan Love Suicides announcing the band's split. We're back on solid ground in time for The School's afternoon slot on The Outdoor Stage, where Simon from The Loves does his best to steal the show from a stunning set of stellar choons new and old, with his drunken wit and repartee and blatant-lack-of-socks appeal, but it's the impression of a band truly starting to find its feet live that's the lingering impression.

It then began to rain, which probably suited Denmark's Northern Portrait as their efficient Scandinavian remodelling of The Smiths would suggest they're more than comfortable with all things Northern Miserabilism. Happily they're not short of decent tunes and the material seems grounded and heartfelt enough to resonate more deeply than mere pastiche, and they appeared to go down well with a visibly impressed Emma from Pocketbooks who was stood next to us throughout. We wished her well with her set later that day, to which she summarily dismissed us to the merchandise stand. Still, as Confucious might have said, better a girl who only brings her business head to the party than one who doesn't bring any head at all.

Was well and truly chucking it down by this time, but it didn't stop us from heading to see Lucky Soul on the Outdoor Stage to gawp at the singer in her short little mini-dress and to remark on how one of the LS geezers is indecently rocking the Blake Fielder-Civil look, as well as sway about a bit and tap our feet to their pretty fetching pop-soul sound. Meanwhile, it wasn't just the rain that saw people scampering into the merchandise tent, as there was a bit of a Talulah Gosh reunion going on, which was nice, even though we found ourselves distracted by congratulating Liz on her set and introducing Dunc and Simon to each other (the indiepop equivalent of Frost:Nixon, we're sure you'll agree).

Sunday became a bit of a rainy blur from this point on, catching 20 minutes of the always-entertaining The Smittens here and 20 minutes of Hong Kong In The 60s ambient pop there, and a set by the aforementioned Pocketbooks that became increasingly compelling as the show went on, and we're sure Emma (who sports a haircut that makes her look a bit like Helen Marnie from Ladytron) would thank us for pointing out that their excellent album 'Flight Paths' is available for retail and download from all the usual outlets, now.

What else? Ah yes, Stereo Total were something of a rowdy revelation, featuring an impromptu performance from Birmingham's very own David Leach on harmonising, and a vaguely riotous stage invasion providing a feelgood finale. One-man NZ act Disasteradio gurned his way gloriously through a frenetic set of electronic gloopy loopiness, keeping Keef's son Joe suitably fascinated throughout. Some fishcake and chips in Johnson's Cafe later, Art Brut are their usual entertaining selves, even though their rockstar shapes and boisterous, slightly shambolic wit does lose its novelty value after a while. Nice of them to namecheck MJ Hibbett, though.

Which just left us with the minor details of your hustling hack falling flat on his back on the wet grass and a mighty, mighty closing performance from Teenage Fanclub which included a couple of new songs (one was called 'The Falls', we think) and plenty of the best from what we sometimes forget is a splendidly impressive back catalogue. Not only is everything and everybody connected, but, as TFC remind us to a cavalcade of chiming guitars, Everything Flows.

Gig Review Ketchup

The Autumn Store Presents: Moofish Catfish/Waldo Jeffers/MJ Hibbert and the Validators, The Autumn Store, Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham, Saturday June 13 2009, 9pm.
The Thermals, 02 Academy 3, Birmingham, Monday June 22nd, 9.30pm.
The Warlocks/Wild Palms/Guile, The Rainbow, Digbeth, Birmingham, Sunday July 19 2009,8pm.

You'd have to be nuts to miss an Autumn Store gathering, even though we've contrived to do just that more than we'd like, but the lure of catching some Moofish Catfish at the beginning of their UK tour proved strong enough bait on this occasion. Like a slightly poppier Liechtenstein, but with enough pirhana bite in the guitars to supply a crunchy base to their witty lyrics and soaring harmonies, they were a real find so catch 'em if you can. Also on the bill were local band Waldo Jeffers, whose set was a mixed bag, but the singer has a distinctive, velvety voice, and if they can fix a matching musical voice in terms of a distinct direction they certainly have plenty potential. Headlining were London's MJ Hibbert And The Validators, whose wry, lo-fi take on modern pop culture provided a ramshackle but undeniably entertaining climax to the evening's entertainment.

Over at The Rainbow there was more overtly serious fare where The Warlocks were headlining on a recently-redesigned stage area to a black-clad crowd. Bobby Hensher and crew haven't exactly developed their sound as much as refined it: we came for a driven set of powerful, transcendent guitars, that's what we got, and we loved it. Not that everybody was as transfixed, however: some punter with a hot girlfriend is twittering 'The left guitar[sic] looks like a right miserable git'. Sheesh, everyone's a critic these days, right?

Of the supports, we continue to be impressed by Guile, despite them having to fight against the apathy from some of the early birds in the crowd, while London's Wild Palms provided some sharp relief from the storm und drang with their relatively chirpy, choppy, rappy-chappy take on mathsrock, their best two songs bookending an uneven but diverting set. Top marks to whoever was on the decks, too: The Telescopes' 'The Perfect Needle' and Bowie's 'Heroes' (the German language version, unless our ears deceived us), you really know how to spoil us.

Somewhere in between, we managed to shoehorn an express midsummer trip to the predictably humid Academy 3 to see Portland's The Thermals, our first chance to see them and typically it fell at a time where we for once hadn't gotten round to listening to their latest material. It mattered little, as we were too busy jumping up and down to their hilariously energetic fuzzpop/rock to be taking notes anyway. The Thermals, then: sweaty, but fun.

It's A Gas

Experimental Dental School/Even Atlas/Dream Dreams The Dreamer, It's Just Noise @The Rainbow, Digbeth, Birmingham, Tuesday May 12 2009, 9pm.

An ominous start to the evening when on arrival at the venue there appeared to be no-one about other than the extremely pleasant girl on boffo duties. A quiet start, then, soon to be interrupted by Dream Dreams The Dreamer the new project by Matt Snowden (ex-Esquilax, Doom Patrol), that has developed into a 'sonic orchestra' specialising in experimental, droning post-rock of some portent. When it worked it was pretty terrific, but there was also a few longeurs where your chin-stroking correspondent didn't seem to be the only one shifting about a bit uncomfortably. And while we more than welcome the re-introduction of the trombone into the modern rock canon, we struggled to discern the point if it could rarely be heard above the squalling guitars?

Even Atlas represented something of a shift towards more conventional rock tropes, although with enough of a healthy whiff of pretension (not to mention some discernible Radiohead and Fugazi influences) to keep the serious-minded music fan from frothing in their pint at the hint of a tune. Was an interesting and enjoyable set, but perhaps a bit too eclectic for their own good in terms of a particular style or song really sticking in the mind on first listen. A work in progress, then, but worth keeping an eye on.

Capping these two local noiseniks were Portland, Oregon's Experimental Dental School here on touring duties to promote their second album 'Forest Field', which can be downloaded in total for free from their official site. This is probably a good a way as any of getting a grip on their sound, which is reassuringly difficult to define in these subgenre-heavy times, although their own LastFM blurb as 'really nerdy, dirty jazz punk' is probably as good a stab at it as we could muster, with bruising riffs and gentle noodling establishing an uneasy but eventually pleasing friction.

Something had to give sooner or later, though, and eventually it proved to be Jesse's bass string. He asked for any comedians to make themselves known (a dangerous call in Brum pubs, in our experience) to plug the gap, and right on cue a rogueish-looking gent lurched on stage who just happened to have reams of his own poetry stuffed in his back pocket. Things soon went went back from bard to verse, however, with bass string fixed and the experimental tooth doc tutors resuming their rumbling brilliance to a stirring conclusion. Leaving the only gripe from tonight that such a fine band and a well-drilled bill by It's Just Noise didn't tempt more second-citizens out on an otherwise humdrum Tuesday evening.

Easy Riders

Bombay Bicycle Club/Tantrums, The Rainbow, Digbeth, Birmingham, Saturday April 18 2009, 8.45pm.

In the interests of fairness and accuracy we should report that we attended this gig after a steady day's drinking before and after attendance at the Hammers' valiant draw at Villa Park and thus witnessed the event through an attendant fug of post-match euphoria and stealthily enveloping stupour. So if you're looking for a detailed analysis of chord changes and other such muso musings this review isn't likely to be particularly enlightening. But we enjoyed both bands so some sort of mention of this fact should be recorded, if only to enable the dear reader to look out for the aforementioned groups next time they're in town.

Tantrums are a local Birmingham band and in fact play the This Is Tomorrow all-dayer at The Victoria tomorrow (3rd). They helped stamp out tunelessness with a set drenched in harmonies, sounding a bit Britpop here and there but with vocal stylings perhaps more in keeping with the more radio-friendly end of emo. And yet, as desperate as that reads, it somehow worked, mainly thanks to some better-than-average choons and a healthy down-to-earth attitude ensuring there was no tears before bedtime on this occasion.

Crouch End's Bombay Bicycle Club looked impossibly young for a band who've been knocking around for long enough to be one of our top tips from the beginning of 2008. If theirs has been a slow progress to the point where they're headlining gigs like this, we witnessed first-hand from our unfamiliar stage-front positioning the frenzied excitement they've started eliciting from their peer-group following.

While you couldn't argue that the (lazy acronym alert!) BBC bring anything startlingly original to the table, you can't help but admire the way they mix the ingredients with such confident dexterity they can present a finished product that still feels fresh, vibrant and feelgood. Jack Steadman has the studied cool and easy arrogance to give Alex Turner a run for his money as the bookish fresher's heart-throb of choice, with tremulous vocals that occasionally recall the likes of Brett Anderson and Peter Perrett, while the band even get away with dropping in PV's pet hate (the token laboured ska-inflected song) and just about pulling it off without looking like prats.

Aside from the singles Always Like This and Evening/Morning, our favourites on the night were Ghost and Cancel On Me, and there certainly seemed enough strength in depth to suggest their debut album (due soon, we reckon) will be an impressive calling card. Although future records seemed the last thing on the audience's mind as they lost themselves in the here and now of crowd surges and stage invasions that saw your wobbling webmaster adopt the Bristol Jeff pose of shaking his mane while steadying one hand on the sound monitor throughout. And fashion pundits wouldn't forgive us for not mentioning the drummer's top-notch shiny parka, because surface coating is important, dontcha know.

Handsome Is As Handsome Does

Handsome Furs/Dan Smith, 93 Feet East, Brick Lane, East London, Wednesday March 8 2009, 8.45pm.

This is the third time in London for Handsome Furs' Canadian singer-guitarist Dan Boechner, perhaps better known thus far for one of his other bands Wolf Parade. The first time he got food poisoning, the second time he got roughed up, so will it be third time lucky on his debut gig here in the UK with the project he's set up with his wife/keyboard-drum machine oppo Alexei Perry?

Before we find out, there's the little matter of Dan Smith whose brand of folk left your patient pundit a little cold, with efforts to jazz things up with elements of ska, rap and even at one point some nu-metal, while welcome, only really serving to highlight the 'trad dad' lack of inspiration in the rest of the material. To end this part of the review on a positive note, however, the best song was announced as the newest and thus suggests this might be a work in progress, Radio2 listeners will undoubtedly love him, and the string section were kinda hot.

Whether its local fans of Londoner Smith lingering about, or a lot of internet buzz, or a combination of both, but the venue is pretty packed by the time Handsome Furs take stage. For the uninitiated, sonically they're kinda the musical intersection between The White Stripes and Bruce Springsteen, with some burbling electronic trimmings thrown in for good measure. Boechner is skinny, tattoo-ed and edgy with Perry supplying a kind of chipper curviness as well as huge amounts of bouncing energy to her instrumental duties, rotating her left arm so rapidly at one point your concerned correspondent thought she might take off helicopter-style.

The result is a big, loud noise but accessible, mainstream and pointedly unpretentious, each tune not forgetting to throw in an anthemic chorus and/or head-bobbing rhythm. Second album 'Face Control' is effectively a concept album inspired by a trip to Eastern Europe (the title refers to a superclub vetting policy where even exhorbitant pre-payment doesn't guarantee your entry if your physiog doesn't fit) although such lyrical concerns seemed to trouble the crowd little as they responded so warmly to the punchy radio rock of 'I'm Confused'; 'Talking Hotel Arbat Blues' and 'Evangeline' that Boechner admits he's gonna have to reassess his attitude to the capitol city after all. And despite his 'Mexican Fender' disintegrating and Perry's equipment having meltdown at various points through the show, it's perhaps no real surprise that huge fun travels so well.

Buffalo Bill And The Indie'Uns

Midori Hirano/Gnu And The Shrew/Muarena Helena, Buffalo Bar, Windsor Terrace, Cardiff, Thursday April 2 2009, 8.30pm.

Your chaotic correspondent has been threatening to make a Loose night in Cardiff for some time, and finally got his act together to make this eclectic and engaging bill, albeit one artiste short with the disappointing absence of Lily Green with throat problems. When in Cardiff, use your Brains, so your ruddy-cheeked rogue sampled some of the brewery's ales in a few local taverns beforehand, the pick being the Reverend James as available in the best of the bars, The Cottage, on St. Mary's Street.

All this exhaustive research already had your stewedshrewd scribe in a jolly mood by the time he made it upstairs at the popular Buffalo Bar, further enhanced by seeing the lovely Liz Hunt from The School on the door, dispensing some Parma Violets and a free compilation CD as she ushered your timeous tinker into the venue to catch the opening moments of East London's Muarena Helena. They're a good introduction to the evening's entertainment, as they combine folk, classical and rock instrumentation but with enough added edge and strangeness to offer a frisson of curious menace to proceedings. Sample song title: Gangland Hand Gesture, so listen to your creaking consigliore when he says watch out for this lot.

Duo Gnu And The Shrew hail from Manchester, and come to Cardiff fresh from Marc Riley's seal of approval on his 6Music show. 'Look at the scary puppets!' points out Liz, as the pair not only deal with found sounds but also a fascinating, mottley collection of vintage/retro bric-a-brac including the afore-mentioned finger furniture. Singer Jennifer Kay has a rasping delivery which may prove an acquired taste, but for your intrigued interloper added to the sense of theatrical oddness that give their predominantly acoustic ditties a distinctive appeal. CD 'Time For Tea', on sale at the gig for a mere six quid, is definitely worth rummaging for, with 'Gasboard Fraud' and 'Bingo' standing out on first few listens.

Headliner Midori Harano is a petite Japanese solo musician whose made her home amidst the electronic scene in Berlin. She offers predominantly keyboard music which produces pretty, pastoral, hazy soundscapes but with enough beats and glitches to add some swooning movement to the ambient electronica. Midori had also arrived in Cardiff entirely free of entourage, which made me rather fancifully think of her like a William Gibson character, a tough cookie in vulnerable guise, trotting the globe with her particular brand of techno-alchemistry. The result was even more intoxicating than the Brains' beers.

In conclusion, a roaring success for Loose, with three apparently very different acts making some logical connections with each other, a friendly, civilised vibe permeating throughout and all the artists concerned proving approachable, even to your Brains-dead blogger's blether!

Next day, had another wander around Cardiff before heading home, getting an 'above-par' cappuccino in Starbucks, taking a walk up and down the impressively reconstructed Roman castle that is slap-bang in the city centre (the audioguide is voiced by the BBC's Huw Edwards) and sampling the Wheat Ale at the nearby Zero Degrees microbrewery that is located opposite from the Millenium Stadium. Don't think it'll be too long before your restless rascal will be gig-going in this neck of the woods again.

If It's Tuesday There Must Be A Gratuitous Belgian Link At The End Of The Dump

We meant to go to see LaRoux and The Electrilickers at The Rainbow back in February but it was snowing and we're fairweather fans so point you instead to a review by the hardier and more local Baron.

In other news, we really like the album Embrace by Sleepy Sun, trippy but undeniably powerful stuff, and they'll be playing ATP on May 8.

Elsewhere, Twenty Major takes on the banks with his usual foul-mouthed flair.

Still with time to spare? Try to unravel the in-jokes over at Power To The People! and Awesome Pals. Co-conspirators at the latter site, Los Campesinos!, also have their very own blog where they ask the very reasonable question 'so what do you want to know?'

For fans of Bob Dylan there's an mp3 of the cheerfully-entitled 'Beyond Here Lies Nothin' from his forthcoming album available for free download from the official site. Bob's voice is more cracked than ever but the choon chugs along rather nicely and successfully whets the appetite for the full record.

And finally, we know it's getting harder for music promoters to tempt punters to part with their hard-earned but the organisers of the recent Kraak Music Festival in Belgium appear to have taken a possibly literal and certainly NOT-SAFE-FOR-WORK approach with their invitational poster...

Genuine Contenders

The Boxer Rebellion/Guile, 444Club@The Rainbow, Digbeth, Birmingham, Saturday March 14 2009, 9pm.
The Get Out Clause/Out In The Crowd/StRANGEtIME, Dragon Bar, Barfly, Birmingham, Saturday March 7 2009, 7.20pm.

If The Boxer Rebellion were dumped by Alan McGee's Poptones for being bedwetters does that make them Britain's Best Kept Secretions? In an era of 'landfill indie' the multinational group's strobelight anthems have proved stubbornly non-biodegradable, but there's a danger in these over-blogged times that the backstory (self-financed record is released digitally and breaks into Billboard Top 100 and ITunes Top10) obscures the fact that the music ('Union'), no matter what the format or means of distribution, is arguably the most impressive presentation of contemporary rock since Kings Of Leon's 'Because Of The Times'.

The weird thing about their live show is that stirring lead single 'Evacuate', despatched early on in proceedings, has possibly the most muted impact, with the slower-burning material like 'Soviets'; 'Forces' and 'Misplaced' seeming to fire the imagination of an interested crowd. We almost started smoking just so we could wave our lighters, and even minus the female backing vocals 'Flashing Red Light Means Go' still accelerated our emotions on the night.

If the headliners supplied big enough music to headline Glasto (or at least earn a Mercury Music Prize nomination) mention should also be made of main supports Guile, who hail from Cannock and knocked the Staffs out of us with their hypnotic, hard-driving rock music providing regular surges of melody and mayhem to glorious effect. If somebody would be as good as to give them enough time and money to make great records, these guys have it in 'em, we reckon.

The week before, we visited the Dragon Bar (upstairs in the Barfly building) for the first time, to catch a varied bill and get our first fix in 2009 of StRANGEtIME's mad dog rock. Kate Finch & Co. are definitely becoming more prog-metal show-by-show, an approach suiting some songs better than others, but overall the progress is undeniable. Elsewhere on the bill, a young female trio Out In The Crowd played radio-friendly harmonies and nuanced song compositions staggeringly proficient and mature for their years, more like 'Celebrity Skin' era Hole than 'the female McFly' their MySpace page promised/threatened. Even better were The Get Out Clause, whose powerful guitar noise was as impressive as their headgear was lamentable (we'd gladly take our hats off to 'em, if they promise to do the same), so there's really no excuses for not catching up with 'em soon.

Gig Review Ketchup - Emote Icons

The Walkmen, Barfly, Birmingham, Wednesday February 18 2009, 9.30pm.
Popfest All-Dayer, The Macbeth, Hoxton Street, London, Saturday February 28 2009 4pm.
Future Islands, The Old Blue Last, Great Eastern Street, London, Sunday March 1 2009, 10pm.

Sometimes a great and memorable gig is all about the peripheral details - the company; the ambience; the chance encounters and the general craic. The Walkmen's gig at Barfly was not like that at all. A nightmare journey (packed train, only seat available saw your puce-faced peacemaker caught in a ruckus between a reeking drunk and two wannabe gangstas), a heaving crowd and under-resourced, apparently under-trained bar staff made for one of our less comfortable gigging experiences for some months. So it's good to report that The Walkmen were in good enough form to make you realise why you bother.

Their fondness for vintage musical equipment is well recorded, but it's Hamilton Leithauser's voice that's the truly distinctive instrument at their disposal. No-one can hold a roared note quite like the grizzled frontman, and the band play with the confidence of knowing their latest record (You&Me) has defied all expectations and proved every bit as essential and revelatory as their earlier triumphs. Hamilton's academical background clearly didn't include local British accents though, as his improvised Brummie micktake sounded like Dick Van Dyke at his most hackneyed. Though we'll concede 'One more song, then we'll skedaddle' was a great closing line.

The lead singer of Baltimore's Future Islands has a similar impassioned angst-ridden drawl as The Walkmen vocalist, but it's allied to a frothy synth-and-bass backdrop to create a surreal vibe like the musical equivalent of 'Twin Peaks'. At the end of a long, great day which included a football match, catching up with friends and attendant beers, maybe it was our tired, emotional state that left us seduced by their woozy late-night ruminations, but later inspection of 'Wave Like Home' reveals gems like 'Beach Foam' and 'Old Friend' would resonate vividly on even the gloomiest of evenings.

The previous day we'd been round the corner celebrating all things bright and shiny-eyed at the Popfest All-Dayer. This allowed us to reacquaint ourselves with Sweden's Liechtenstein, who have trimmed down to a three-piece since last year's Autumn Store gig and delightful singer Renee's gained a blonde rinse and a Mo-dettes t-shirt into the bargain. Electrelane's harmonies are pleasingly grafted to an early 80s bed-sit pop feel to diverting effect, we recommend you buy their new Everything's For Sale ep now and start salivating for the debut album due later this year.

The Scandinavian presence didn't end there, with Action Biker proving the other revelation on the night, a pretty young lady in a beautiful dress cooing conversational melodies to pre-recorded music that would have strong appeal to fans of Saint-Etienne. Suppose it could be glibly dismissed as 'laptop karaoke' but she had the presence and charm, not to mention voice and hooks, to coax something magical and entrancing from the simple set-up.

Elsewhere on the bill The Pete Green Corporate Juggernaut offered barbed topical popcult anthems in the mould of Half Man Half Biscuit; Town Bike delivered a lively but surprisingly melodic set that would appeal to fans of HMHB and Helen Love; The Loves brought a harder, druggier feel to proceedings with some driving rock songs and no popfest is complete without a spirited, entertaining set from the marvellous Smittens. Only Help Stamp Out Loneliness failed to ignite our passions, but this emptiness may have had more to do with our hunger at this point than the band's lacking - with no food on the premises even the most inimitable indiefans need refuelling and as hard as we tried, sustenance by Guinness alone didn't quite see us through to the end of the night.

Fez Fayre

Ladytron/Asobi Seksu, Kasbah, Primrose Hill Street, Coventry, Saturday November 15 2008, 7.30pm.

And so Dead Kenny sent himself to Coventry at the weekend, despite dire warnings of what your electropoppin' eejit might find there, and discovered that twenty-seven years on from The Specials No.1 hit single, this town's still comin' like a Ghost Town. But luckily also found that the Kasbah was a cool, funky oasis cunningly hidden therein, and kept the Aegean theme continuous with a cheeky chow-down beforehand at nearby World Kebab.

Being used to Birmingham's sweltering Academy venues where the bands regularly ruminate on the ghastly heat, it came as something of a cultural shock to see the guitarist from support act Asobi Seksu having to repeatedly blow into his hands before getting the set started. Reassuring that even glacial popsters don't like the air-conditioning set at antarctic levels, don't you think?

Fortunately things warmed up soon enough with Yuki Chikudate's sweet, ethereal but surprisingly robust singing melting hearts while the rest of the band contributed significant power surges to provide the shoegazing post-rock equivalent to global warming. Entrancing stuff, mainly taken from last year's bittersweet confection 'Citrus', given a light dusting of catharsis when Chikudate whipped off her plaid overshirt, muscled the drummer out of the way and pounded the skins for the set coda. Fans of Cocteau Twins and Lush who haven't yet explored Asobi Seksu (Japanese for playful sex, if you believe Wikipedia) should make amends with immediate effect.

By the time headliners, and lest ye forget, Britain's Best Pop Band (Ever?)(TM), Ladytron made the stage, the Turkish-themed club was filling out and a warm glow was starting to radiate amongst the expectant crowd. The girls were dressed in tasteful black satin as they joined Danny and Reuben on stage to the instrumental intro from third album 'Witching Hour', and two distinctive trends emerged very quickly as the set developed. Firstly, it is Mira Aroyo who takes on the role of talking (albeit in soft, quiet tones) between songs, and also the set (perhaps reflecting the balance of latest album Velocifero) sees a much more equal share of vocal chores between her and Helen Marnie than on the 'Witching Hour' shows.

Ladytron even had the confidence to drop in the superlative 'Seventeen' midway through the show rather than saving it for once-inevitable encore (the majestic 'Destroy Everything You Touch' got that honour). 'Seventeen' is still (rightly) a highlight of the show but it blended in better with the entire oeuvre in its central slot, with recent singles Ghosts and Runaway meeting equivalent approval from the mostly sharp and stylish crowd. Not all of the live interpretations particularly worked for your sceptical scribe however, the intricate melody and sentiment of 'International Dateline' near drowned in a drum-heavy treatment, and 'Deep Blue' making a late recovery from a muted, murky intro.

But Mira, Mira, as Dead Kenny is the fairest blogger of 'em all, he'll conclude on the hugely positive note that the snaky hypnotics of 'Black Cat' and 'Season Of Illusions' were the biggest revelations of the night, both in terms of their rendition and reception. The otherness of these songs may be a more difficult sell commercially, but perversely give them an edge over their rivals. Nobody's ever done better what Ladytron do, and doubtless no-one ever will, and how many of their contemporaries can you say that about?

That's The Last Time We Use The Phrase 'Honest, Guv'

Goldfrapp/Eugene McGuinness, Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, Saturday October 25 2008, 8pm.
Fleet Foxes, Space2, Custard Factory, Digbeth, Birmingham, Friday October 31 2008, 9pm.
Aurora Plastic Monster/StRANGEtIME/The Sweethearts/Sweet Talk, 444 Club downstairs at The Sunflower Lounge, off Queensway, Birmingham, Saturday November 8 2008, 8.30pm.
Neon Neon/Yo! Majesty, Glee Club, Hurst Street, Birmingham, Monday November 10 2008, 8.30pm.

Apologies for the recent gap in Parallax View transmission. To get things back started here's a whistlestop runthrough of a few gigs we've been to recently. Starting with Goldfrapp in Wolves, who were supported by Eugene McGuinness who was as personable as his songs were unremarkable, an adequate stopgap mebbe for folk awaiting the new Jeremy Warmsley album, but what's that? There's a new Jeremy Warmsley out? Ah well, Eugene, there's always reality TV. A less modest return is reaped by headliners Goldfrapp, ostensibly here to promote the lovely 'Seventh Tree' collection but mostly getting more reward live from the squelchier dance numbers from their glam stomping mid-period, although 'Caravan Girl' from their latest also travels exceptionally well.

Hallowe'en saw your feeble freak looking pale and ghastly, but we'd left our mask at home, we were just feeling ever so faint from the deadly combination of heavy coat, hot lights and a packed crowd. Bottled water and some fresh air at the back restored our spirits, along with a performance from Fleet Foxes that manage to move less through energy than through a certain transcendence. Overall, they're a bit more jammy, noodly and loquacious compared to their recorded output, but when things click they're genuinely spellbinding.

A week later, a hastily-rearranged line-up sees frequent Parallax View picks StRANGEtIME in lively, rattling form despite arriving with a cymbal short of a drumkit and brandishing some intriguing new songs. Also on the bill were Norwegian rock trio Aurora Plastic Monster who were bold, bruising and Brit-baiting, and The Sweethearts, who perhaps put more effort in their make-up and clothing than in finding genuine musical inspiration. In contrast, local teenagers Sweet Talk were raw and revelatory, with lead singer Amelia proving compulsively watchable working through her range between sex-kitten purr and death-rattle roar, providing perhaps the missing link between Poly Styrene and Courtney Love on songs like 'Pin-Up Girl'.

Two days later, Yo! Majesty nearly have us call the bar staff to get ready with the defribilators when their electronic bass threatens to jumpstart our hearts into the next lifetime. The energy doesn't let up throughout a breakneck set in which they realise their stated intention to get the crowd sweaty and stinky, giving due props to President Elect Obama and exhorting the crowd of anoraked geeks to 'Fuck Dat Shit' to surprisingly little resistance. If they'd have rocked our boat any more we'd have been overboard and swallowing fish.

Main act Neon Neon were relatively sedate, with Gruff Rhys' laconic charm and deadpan placard prompts for 'Applause' easing the audience through a near-chronological rendition of brilliant retro-futurist concept album 'Stainless Style'. Back-projected images of Raquel Welch and cameos from Har Mar Superstar and Yo! Majesty add some kinetic propulsion to the kitsch, with 'Sweat Shop' perhaps working best of all on the night.

Pip Matters

Lykke Li/Yoav, Glee Club, Hirst Street, Birmingham, Sunday October 5 2008, 8.30pm.
Ladyhawke/Deluka/Death Ohh Eff/The Electrilickers, 444 Club@The Rainbow, Digbeth, Birmingham, Monday October 6 2008, 8pm.

In the few months since we last saw Lykke Li at Glee, the seated-only studio has made way for a packed standing-room-only show in the bigger room, the crowd here less through curiousity and more from conviction, and the conversion sees the Swede in noticably more relaxed and engaging form. But before all that, we have Yoav, a tidy, bookish young man born in Israel but brought up in South Africa and New York. His music takes on a similarly hybrid form, folk, blues and R&B fused into intriguing songs enhanced by the singer-songwriter fully utilising plentiful effects pedals to create an atmospheric soundscape high on intrigue but a little short on memorable melody.

There a few people who could get away with making an entrance in a Freddy Parrot hat and shapeless outfit, but Lykke Li is one of the number who can, and it's safe to assume she knows it. The set opens with 'Dance, Dance, Dance' given a louder, squelchier, more 'electro' feel than the recorded version, paving the way for a lively performance aimed at dusting off the 'depression' she senses from the audience. 'I'm Good I'm Gone' and 'Breaking It Up' offer predictably giddy thrills, the soon-to-be-re-released 'Little Bit' is already treated like a greatest hit, the dubby, hypnotic pull of 'Complaints Department' is another winner on the night, and there's even room for a tongue-in-cheek cameo of Duffy's 'Mercy' sneaked into closing cover of 'Can I Kick It?'. There are officially no more excuses left not to invest in her debut album 'Youth Novels'.

Next night, head over to The Rainbow in Digbeth for a special 444 Club gig which sees three local hopefuls supporting touring Kiwi star Pip Brown aka Ladyhawke, here to promote her self-titled debut released the previous week. The cunningly-curated cabaret begins with The Electrilickers who operate at the exact intersection between the homespun lo-fi charm of Kate Nash and the harder-partying nu rave aesthetic, a formula which works on the night for two simple reasons: their tunes are cool and the singer's hot. The ecstasy throes of 'Constant Disco' are a suitable climax to a set that provides more fizz and tingle than licking your way through a battery factory.

Meet up with Kate and Chris from newly-rejuvanated StRANGEtIME as Death Ohh Eff make their entrance. Your crumbling correspondent may be getting old, but do bands have to look so young? These guys don't even look old enough to be policemen, but somewhere along the line they've obviously crammed in some intensive education on how to work a crowd with an energetic, keyboard-led set full of bounce, attitude and harmonies. Tremendous fun, although it was all 'a little bit Nathan Barley' for some.

We haven't seen Deluka for a couple of years, since when they've developed some extra balls, a tune on the soundtrack to Grand Theft Auto IV, and much tippin' and toutin' among the music press. They're tighter and rockier than the preceding acts with a stronger drive towards an anthemic punch, although they only hotwire into our hearts during the closing two numbers before leaving the crowd panting for more.

Headliner Ladyhawke has a different problem, and it's one that similarly affects her debut album. Her songs are consistently strong in terms of memorable tunes and anthemic power, but she operates within such a tight formula and poodle-permed 80s mindset, you feel like you've seen and heard enough about halfway through, even though she saves belters like 'Paris Is Burning' and 'My Delirium' for the concluding double-whammy. Maybe a little more personality in the performance and more depth in the lyrics would help develop a higher-level of emotional engagement to undertow the undoubted heft of the choonage.

With many thanks to Shakeypix for kind permission to use some of his brilliant shots from the night in this review.

Closely Observed Pre-Trains

The Autumn Store Presents A Pre-Indietracks Special: The Smittens/The Zebras/Red Pony Clock, The Sunflower Lounge, off Queensway, Birmingham, Tuesday July 22 2008, 9.30pm.

Just get into the venue in time as Red Pony Clock start limbering up, a Tijuana-based octet who sound like a mix between Calexico and all-out chaos. Their van exploded on the way to the venue, but they seem in surprisingly good spirits about it, perhaps because on the plus-side it means you're not short of things to talk about between songs. You know those pictures that look like random dots but if you stare at them for long enough all of a sudden this brilliant 3-D image pops up before your eyes and makes sense of it all? Red Pony Clock are the sonic equivalent, as their seemingly ramshackle material develops into something clever, organic and fun to fully reward the patient, open-minded listener. There's still not enough dancing going on for the band's liking, though, until The Smittens' drummer Holly shows how it's done, leaping around like a frisky kitten ricocheting from furniture, to hugely engaging effect.

The Zebras aren't from South Yorkshire, they're from Rotherham - Rotherham, in Australia, that is, although Northern English influences like The Smiths and The Wedding Present would seem evident in a band with a much more immediate, accessible appeal to an indie crowd than Red Pony Clock. The Zebras are more than the sum of their influences, however, with songs that swoop and soar and stir, destined to go down well with Weddoes fans at this weekend's Indietracks, we feel. Their stage banter needs some work, however, maybe they need to emerge unscathed from a tour vehicle inferno to put some fire in their bellies?

With things running later than planned, your harassed hack needs to make a Last Train to Larksville exit halfway through the headline set from Burlington, Vermont's The Smittens, but what we see/hear is confident, breezy and tuneful, and fully in line with all the good things we've heard about/from them, and we'll look out for them next time they're jingling their jangle back on these shores.

All in all, another fine evening of high-quality indie gathering courtesy of those friendly folk from The Autumn Store!

All three bands featured will be playing at Indietracks this weekend (July 26-27, festival fact fans) in deepest Derbyshire.

Dead Kenny's Behrami Army

To celebrate our beloved West Ham finally making their first major signing of the summer in Valon Behrami, a Kosovan-born Swiss international right back, whose crazy hair and tats should see him fit in well with our long history of 'eccentric' full-backs, Parallax View sees fit to empty our favourites folder for you to pick 'n' mix -

More reasons to be cheerful as Joe Lean And The Jing Jang Jong shelve their debut album. Seems like an 8/10 rating from the NME doesn't amount to a hill o'beans these days!

We've cut back our gig/festival-going in the last month or so, but some good folk have put the hours in during our absence -

Drowned In Sound review Supersonic 2008.

Ben SWSL's Glasto 2008 Diary.

Sweeping The Nation reviews Truck festival.

Last Bus Home reviews the Lovebox Weekender at Victoria Park.

Troubled Diva reviews White Denim at Nottingham Bodega.

In other news -

Rock drummers are top athletes.

Attachments' Amanda Ryan is to play Cathy in Birmingham Rep's upcoming Wuthering Heights adaptation.

Twenty Major's cure for another boring summer.

Scary Duck on passive-aggressive notes.

Lydongate? Johnny's Behaviour Rotten? Swells on the 'racist' rickus (via RussL)

Careless Genes shows us how to make home-made peanut butter.

Birmingham's Flapper and Firkin faces demolition. (via Pete Ashton)

NOT SAFE FOR WORK eye candy if you like the idea of a Japanese Cheryl Cole lookalike with F-cup depth to her personality - Suzuka Ishikawa (20): REMINDER: NOT WORK SAFE.

M.I.A. and Santogold Get It Up together.

Cat With A Theremin (via just about everybody, it seems).

And finally, we did get to a gig last night, review to follow shortly, but here as a taster is one of the bands, Red Pony Clock, and their silly promo for My New Best Friends. If you like what you see/hear, they'll be playing the Indietracks festival in Ripley, Derbyshire this weekend -

School's Clout

The School/Flicklisten/The Puncture Repair Kit, Swiss Concrete @ The Bullingdon Arms, Oxford, Thursday June 19 2008, 8.45pm.

The Bullingdon Arms is a short taxi ride away from Oxford's main rail station, a smallish pub with friendly, fetching bar staff and a big backroom area where the bands play. Ben and your long-distance lurker meet up with a couple of the SWSLer's charming co-workers, and get waylaid watching Germany beat Portugal in the Euro2008 Q-F so only catch the last few songs from The Puncture Repair Kit. Their boisterous, slightly ramshackle take on indie-pop reminds your comparison-crazed correspondent of The Strange Death Of Liberal England, but we hope the rest of the set was less impressive because a) we hate to have missed out on anything and b) we'd just lurve to be able to say The Puncture Repair Kit flat-tyred to deceive.

Flicklisten is a guy who comes from Ohio but has lived in Oxford for four years, a singer/guitarist occasionally accompanied by a young lady who plays a violin shaped like a pair of scissors (a cut above the usual instrument, natch). He has a good voice, knows how to get a meaningful, sombre strum from his guitar, and has a droll line in tinder-dry banter, but his songs, on first listen anyway, are more interesting than truly memorable.

This last charge is certainly something you could never level at our learned friends The School, who've happily mastered the knack of catchy tunes addressing bold sentiments, embellished with 60s girl-pop stylings yet undertowed by savvy indie knowingness. They seem to be a Rosie and at least one Ryan short of the line-up when we last saw them, but Liz is in good, giggly form, describing Oxford as very pretty once you've found it, a reference to the maybe-Multimap-induced mayhem of their journey into the city. Of tonight's set, the songs from last week's Single Of The Week 'Let It Slip' ep prominently feature, there's a mystery cover version that no one gets, and the small matter of a dedication to their 'longest-travelling fan - Ken!' for their closing number 'All I Wanna Do'.

Your marathon-man mitherer hides his blushes for just long enough to grab a few words with Liz at the end of the show, as the band pack away their equipment in readiness for a trip to Spain for a festival performance. She insists the recent departures were amicable and not the result of a Mark E Smith-like hire-em-fire-em ethos, and reveals a new band member is forthcoming who will cover both instruments. Talking of covered instruments, we don't have to get our twelve-inch ruler out as Liz very kindly autographs our copy of the 'Let It Slip' ep before we wave her off to Spain. But not before she reveals an addition to The School timetable: a debut album due early next year!

Ship Shapes And Bristol Fashion

Dot-to-Dot Festival, Various venues in Bristol, Saturday May 24 2008 and Sunday May 25 2008, 2.45pm-11pm.

This is your erudite explorer's first time at Dot-to-Dot, and on only our second expedition to Brizzle itself, and special thanks are due to new city resident Alison for providing the hospitality, company, laptop access and orienteering skills as we traversed the city in search of indie-rock thrills. Bristol seems almost unfairly blessed with unusual venues, with things kicking off on a moored-boat-cum-nightclub Thekla, and other sites including a converted church (Trinity) and prison (the appropriately named Fiddlers), all adding to the sense of adventure and discovery.

All aboard the good ship Thekla, our first band of the fest were Telepathe (pronounced by the band as telepathy as if spoken in a foreign accent) who featured (running theme alert!) an androgynous lead singer who looked for all the world like a cabin boy until she opened her pipes. Technical difficulties bedevilled the New Yorkers' set, which had something of a shambolic air (the sexy drummer abandoned her instrument for most of the set), but somehow through it all, by combination of sullen cool and some beautiful, fascinating songs, they seem to just about get through it all with their allure intact.

Then caught a couple of songs by serious young men The Detachments, which was enough to make you walk the plank, so headed off to rockpub The Fleece where Dublin's Fight Like Apes turned Bristol into the Wild West for half-an-hour, striding across the bar counter and wrestling each other in the moshpit during a cathartic and hugely enjoyable set, with former Parallax View Single Of The Week 'Jake Summers' the crazed centrepiece amongst their other harder, slightly grungier material. FLA also afforded us our first encounter with Bristol's most noteworthy superfan, a tall ginger bearded fellow called Geoff/Jeff whose propulsive stage-front duracell-dancing antics were a significant ongoing feature during festivities.

Downstairs at local roots venue The Louisiana, Sid Delicious were offering some skewed, off-beat thrills, while upstairs met back up with Alison to catch some of Eugene McGuinness' more traditional folk fayre, which should offer some appeal to fans of the Norwegian troubadour Sondre Lerche. Much more to our liking was Esser back over at Thekla, who looked tetchy and preoccupied during the soundcheck, but with his band got everybody dancing with jerky, infectious, and ever-so-slightly ridiculous pop music all set to create waves everywhere if there was any justice in this world.

We should have followed Geoff/Jeff's purposeful gait towards the Fiddlers, but instead got slightly lost and so despairingly missed Southampton's Thomas Tantrum performing former Parallax View Single Of The Week 'Shake It! Shake It!' (dispatching your most famous song early in the set seems to be another emerging trend) although what remained was nevertheless impressive, albeit more conventionally rockin' than their strop-pop SOTW. Top marks too to the very pretty lead singer for taking the time to publicly thank Geoff/Jeff for his sterling dancefloor exertions, and the dishing out of the free badges afterwards.

We elected to stay in Fiddlers to catch Micachu, who've been recording with Matthew Herbert and are starting to make a noise in London. They make heavy weather of the start of the set, the singer appearing to be in the 'attitude' stage of a day's drinking, and our attention wanders to the consideration of whether the drummer is a boy or girl (the former, if you're interested). Things do improve as the set goes on, and maybe in the studio with a disciplined producer their recorded output might be worth exploring.

Sunday morning was spent trawling MySpace to identify some bands worth catching, and the day eventually took us by surprise in terms of offering an even wider array of thrills, despite getting lost in one of Bristol's less salubrious spots in search of Trinity, where we saw a couple of uninspiring bands kick the day off amidst the anti-climax of Team Waterpolo pulling out. Much better was to follow, however, with Woodbridge's Cheeky Cheeky And The Nosebleeds proving a genuine revelation back at Fiddlers, despatching urgent (East-Angular?) guitar pop with energy, enthusiasm and that raw fearlessness you get from a band that's twigged they're on the cusp of something transformative. Daft name, then, but brilliant choons, particularly the marvellous anthem 'Slow Kids'.

This inspires your adrenaline-rushed arsehole to stuff in quick snatches of bands during an intense period of shuttling between venues and a strict three-songs-and-then-you're-gone policy which we only break for Red Light Company at Fleece, because they are excellent value, because 'With Lights Off' is a majestic classic, because the lead singer looks like an even skinnier Tom Petty, but also because by this stage we're knackered. Bonus points for the ecstatic group hug afterwards, too, which seemed genuine and this gang mentality will serve them well in the music industry travails that are sure to follow.

Around RLC we also found ourselves rattled by the rush of Pack AD's butch, bruising take on modern blues in Louisiana; impressed with the colossal high-energy post-rock guitar squalls of Leicester's Maybeshewill at Fleece; smiling like a silly-'un to the giddy 80's guilty pleasures of Cornwall's Rosie and the Goldbug at Thekla and left feeling slightly cold by moody Swedes Dag for Dag back again in Louisiana.

Things were then topped off in Thekla with The Mae Shi nearly stealing the whole weekend in a suitably scurvied piratical style, their jittery, attention-deficited noise-pop keeping everybody hugely entertained. We've heard of bands canvassing their fans before, but we've never seen it quite so literally demonstrated as when the band haul a sheet of tarpaulin over the moshpit and all dive inside under it, where they find themselves, amongst others, rubbing pneumatic shoulders with the omnipresent Geoff/Jeff. All in all, a wonderfully in-tents performance, then.

Cutting Pink With Knives have the opposite effect to The Mae Shi's inclusive gestures, in one of their last ever live performances, with frightened punters scampering away for safety as the lead singer took off his shirt and attempted to bully those at the bar into the moshpit. The music was slammin' and powerful in a kind of Beestung Lips-with-the-brakes-off intensity, and although we weren't really in the mood for it, it was kind of fascinating to watch as a piece of theatre, even though the search for anything remotely resembling a melody proved a fruitless task.

Then it was back to The Fleece for our last show of the festival: Metronomy, who seemed to be trying to be Klaxons so hard it hertz, wacky light circles emblazoned on their chests, and all. They were OK, to be fair, a reasonable soundtrack to the last few drinks of the weekend, but nothing to write home about in comparison to The Red Light Company, The Mae Shi, Fight Like Apes, Cheeky Cheeky And The Nosebleeds, Esser, Rosie and The Goldbug and Thomas Tantrum, who made up my magnificent seven from this delightfully dotty weekend.

Pearls Amongst Swine

Cat Power, Carling Academy 2, Birmingham, Tuesday June 10 2008, 9pm.
Laura Marling/The Melodica, The Melody And Me, St.Paul's Church, Birmingham, Thursday June 12 2008, 8pm.

This week sees the release in solo format of two of our favourite songs from albums we haven't talked about much thus far on Parallax View, so in a frothing fit of indecision we've made them joint Singles Of The Week. First up, 'My Sunken Treasure' is the hidden pop gemstone buried deep within The Duke Spirit's surprisingly robust second album 'Neptune', lilting melody and interesting bittersweet sentiments intertwining to fetching effect. Laura Marling's 'Cross Your Fingers' is perhaps the choice cut from her really rather good indeed debut album 'Alas, I Cannot Swim', it being unusual for a folk song to have so many multiple hooks, and Laura's frisky vocal rendering of slightly macabre lyrics adding to the intriguing and strangely seductive appeal.

Perversely, 'Cross Your Fingers' was one of the least inspiring tracks at her gig in St. Paul's Church on Thursday, the drums overpowering some of the subtleties that really makes the song work. Overall, however, it was a triumphant performance in a stunning setting - it was your sacrilegious scribe's first gig in a church (as evidenced by our run-in with a pew door hinge) and it was only a few goblets of communal wine short of a complete success. Laura was in personable, chatty form, sometimes playing with a band, sometimes without, a spine-tingling introduction of 'Ghosts' and, ironically(?), 'You're No God' amongst the standouts. A few words, too, for support act Melodica, Melody And Me, who compensated for their drummer being AWOL celebrating his birthday with some good-spirited shanty-like choons, generously laced with delicious harmonies, their appeal lying somewhere between the likes of The Coral and the Isobel Campbell/Mark Lanegan albums.

Two days earlier, we finally got round to seeing Cat Power at the Academy 2, after a few false starts in recent years with cancellations and whatnot. Having missed the support artistes Appaloosa, and not having had chance to purchase the new album 'Jukebox' from which most of the set was taken, don't really feel best qualified for a detailed review of the event, so would prefer to refer you here instead. To begin with, the concert felt a little bland, a little bit 'Later...', a little bit Glee Club for my liking, but slowly and surely some variety and balls kicked in, and we haven't seen a singer work so hard to emote and engage for a good long while as Chan Marshall did that night, her soulful, devastatingly husky vox in pristine form throughout a longer-than-the-norm performance duration. For someone with such a past reputation for behaviour inconsistency that makes Pete Doherty look like a choirboy to deliver Springsteen-levels of workrate and stamina was a revelation to behold.

Ida Awe

Ida Maria/Dan Whitehouse, Glee Club, Birmingham, Tuesday May 27 2008, 8.30pm.

There's an urban legend that if you wander the streets of Birmingham for long enough you will invariably chance upon an encounter with the Prykemeister. On the way to Birmingham's Glee Club tonight, our peripheral vision reveals everyone's favourite AI boffin rushing towards your confused correspondent with a bunch of flowers. Fortunately for all concerned, Prykemeister isn't acting on any kind of backcrack-fuelled impulse, and is in fact on his way to present said petals and stems to his girlfriend Huma.

Don't have time to go into detail with him about what he might have done wrong to require flowers (oh come on, they're always a guilt-edged gift, aren't they?) as need to get into Glee before their curfew. Support again tonight comes from Wolverhampton troubadour-type Dan Whitehouse, although unlike his turn before Lykke Li, this time he's unaccompanied by pianist June Mori. Whether it's this, or the fact that, unusually for Glee, it's a standing gig, Dan is strangely subdued between the first few numbers, despite confidently starting the set with his best song 'Somewhere I Don't Want To Go'. Halfway through the set, however, he becomes less preoccupied and refinds his mojo, getting, by the end of the performance, the best crowd reception we've heard for him yet, and plenty of interest at the merch stand after the show, where he's selling sampler CDs ahead of an upcoming album release.

Swedish-based Norwegian Ida Maria acts pretty much the rock star from the outset, wearing a top hat, leather micro-jacket and lairy expression as she wraps her distinctively rasping larynx over a collection of songs that include her three singles to date plus other tasters from her upcoming album (due to ship late June). The standing-only format suits Ida well, because the music is essentially bluesy rock designed to get people moving and having a good time. Few blues-rock outfits have tunes as consistently good as these, however, and the presence and voice of Ida Maria helps the material transcend its' roots in the same way Rod Stewart elevated The Faces four decades ago.

The singles stand out, if on terms of familiarity alone, with the singer giving her all on the desperate denouement to former Parallax View Single Of The Week 'Stella', the feelgood folk fuzz of 'Queen Of The World' ratcheted up a few notches live, and the most punk-rock number 'Oh My God' seeing Ida dive in amongst the moshers for some sweaty catharsis. Of the other songs '(I Like You Better When You're) Naked' may yet be her breakthough hit, given its' catchy refrain complete with saucy sentiment seems destined to be chanted at student discos from here until at least Xmas.

In-Cistern-ed Rhythm

We've been mentioning it in despatches for a while, so with its physical release in stores now, it seems only fair to bestow the near-mythological Parallax View Single Of The Week status upon 'I'm Good I'm Gone' by Lykke Li. We could bore you with a long post about production techniques or a state-of-the-pop-nation address, but instead we'll just say we like this song because it makes us happy, so maybe there's a chance it'll make you happy too. To help you decide, here's a YouTube vid of La Lykke and chums belting it out in a toilet, complete with spoons and a rad reindeer jumper, and ending with a flush flourish.



And remember, pop pickers, don't forget to wash your hands!

Santi Establishment

Santogold, Bar Academy, Birmingham, Monday May 26 2008, 9pm.

Missed the boat in Bristol when couldn't get into the good ship Thekla to see Santogold at the prior weekend's Dot To Dot, although we did have the pleasure of Santi and her dancers brushing straight across your queuing quizling to get on board. So we're fortunate that just two days later we get to see the girls put on a show in the cosy confines of Bar Academy.

A standard support act is eschewed in favour of a DJ who plays an eclectic mix of dance, pop and indie, which, we suppose, is as good as any entree in terms of getting the palate ready for the live showcasing of the Santogold album, for which the DJ remains on stage behind Santi and her two dancers.

The resulting show has been described elsewhere as glorified karaoke, but your hypnotised hack maintains the sight of an energetic, passionate crowd-pleaser like Santi flanked by two dancers who alternate robotically between standing stock-still and some sizzling dance shapes provides more of an arresting visual spectacle than many a so-called great live act in the indie pantheon.

Santi makes no pretence that tonight's performance is anything other than a small-scale celebration of her debut album before she returns with a full band later in the summer. Her stated objective is getting the Second City's early adopters and prime schmoozers shaking their rump to a set heavy in the dancier numbers like 'CREATOR'; 'Unstoppable' and, of course, former Parallax View Single Of The Week 'L.E.S. Artistes' at the expense of poppier highlights like 'Lights Out' and 'I'm A Lady'. The mission is easily accomplished.

Modest in size and set-up as the gig might be, the mutual goodwill between the artist and crowd, helped by the energy of the performance (Santi's alive eyes and sense of fun owes as much to the likes of Tina Turner and Neneh Cherry than the much-quoted M.I.A.) and the genuine quality of the material makes for a memorable show that leaves no-one going home short-changed.

Gotta Be Startin' Somethin'

The Ting Tings/Modernaire, Irish Centre, Birmingham, Tuesday May 20 2008, 8pm.

This is your curious correspondent's first venture into the Irish Centre, and our findings are mostly favourable. It's just about the only large gig venue in Brum where you can buy draught bitter (and a choice between two or three at that) and the bar staff seem reasonable in number and interested in disposition, another welcome change. There's also the novelty of a carpeted floor, but on the downside the bar side of the auditorium finds the view restricted by the speakers on the right side of the stage, meaning we only get to see two-thirds of support act Modernaire, whose lively and noisy brand of electro-rock seems short of memorable melody until set closer 'Bloodshed In The Woodshed'.

Since booking our ticket for this gig, The Ting Tings have only gorn and re-released 2007 Parallax View Single Of The Week 'That's Not My Name' and gone to Numero One in the real life pop charts, meaning a sell-out (officially, anyway...) gig and a triumphant mood in the air. Wasn't sure how their perky pop would fare in the live area but The Ting Tings soon reveal themselves to be natural performers, confidently getting in their stride with 'We Walk', giving 'Great DJ' an early spin and taking a gamble on 'Fruit Machine' giving them three hits in a row. The only halting moments are provided by ballad 'Traffic Light' which seems a bit pedestrian in comparison to the propulsive pop of the rest of the show.

Singer Katie White makes light of the full house and semi-restricted view by prancing for much of the time on the raised end of the stage where everyone has a decent view (why don't more pop stars take the trouble to do this most obvious of moves?). This allows everyone to share in the triumph of Numero Uno 'That's Not My Name', a strop-pop sensation with more hooks than a Peter Pan convention and one of the most completely satisfying tunes of the decade with its steady build of feelgood tropes spiralling into the giddiest of climaxes. Almost impossible to top, although a belting rendition of album title track 'We Started Nothing' has a damn good try, leaving the crowd to head home with a more pleasing than usual ringing in the ears.

Specs Mark The Spot

The Autumn Store Presents: The Deirdres/Winston Echo/Amida, Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham, Saturday May 10 2008, 8.45pm.

In honour of all things Deirdre, the Autumn Store organisers have put six pictures of Corrie character Deirdre Barlow/Raschid in various places within the venue for customers to take a punt as to how many and enter a prize draw of merchandise from all three bands playing. The correct answer is six, and your short-sighted scribe only found two, so no spotters badge for Dead Kenny tonight. Your concentrating correspondent does, however, manage to catch all three acts and these are our views.

Manchester's Amida are hurried on first on the bill so that they can get the train back home, but with a bit of decent fortune their slightly shambly and properly jangly take on alternative pop will bring in enough moolah to get themselves a van real soon. The band take time to thank the audience for being so polite and paying attention to their tunes before beating a path to New Street station. Overall impression: amiable, humble, could well be worth checking them out again real soon.

Winston Echo is a roundish gentleman from Wellingborough who has his own public transport woes to relate, as well as singing some observational lo-fi pop with a little bit of instrumental assistance from some bloke from The Retro Spankees. The missing link between Johnny Vegas and Billy Bragg, he's a bit different from the usual Autumn Store fayre, and the bill feels all the better for his hugely entertaining turn.

The Deirdres from Derby are huge in number and young of age, and there's too much going on at any one time to take all of it in at first. They start the show with their backs turned to the audience and have their own dance routine before revealing that they're all in character by wearing a pair of big Deirdre specs either on their face, their head or coquettishly tucked into their blouses. There are obvious comparisons to Los Campesinos! and another fashionable twist sees the group swap instruments and vocal turns with dizzying regularity.

Which is all very well, but does it all work? By and large, yes, aside from a slight glitch with that most evil of instruments, the recorder (the distant memories of disinfectant taste and clumsy fingers still bedevil your haunted hack), these precocious upstarts reveal talent, invention and more than decent songwriting skills. One suspects it may have taken years of practice and preparation for them to be this gauche and yet so good and so fun. The Deirdres, then: not a Barlow par performance between them.

Curious to see these acts for yourself? All three will be performing at the Indietracks festival in July in The Deirdres' home county of Derbyshire.

Estranged Time

StrangeTime/Girls Drink Free/Firebrand/Cellar Door, Little Civic, Wolverhampton, Friday May 9 2008, 8pm.

This has been announced as drummer and founding member John O'Neill's final gig with StRANGEtIME, news that sees some openly questioning the band's future while Kate and Chris seek a new sticksperson and an additional guitarist. With fine new ep 'Oneitis' showcasing a heavier sound and increasingly inscrutable lyrics, it all seems curious timing, but for sure these are strange times indeed for StRANGEtIME.

West Bromwich's Cellardoor open things up nicely with their atmospheric instrumentals, impressing with their powerful surges of sound, while Firebrand are a three-girl hard rock band from Leicester and Nottingham who deliver a handsome racket with slightly strange lyrics, an uncompromising attitude and last but by no means least, a really hot drummer. Last of the supports Girls Drink Free are a popular local outfit with an eye-catching name and crowd-pleasing brand of ska-flavoured rock sure to go down well with fans of big shorts.

By the time the headliners are on stage the audience has got bigger and lairier, and one of the guys from Girls Drink Free is waving a placard of the Guns 'n' Roses guitarist in bassist Chris Maher's face (trust us, dear reader, any comparison between the two is pure Slash fiction). StRANGEtIME do well in concentrating on the job in hand, in terms of promoting the ep through taut renditions of choice cuts like 'Profile' and 'Siren', their new hyper take on longstanding live favourite 'Ex' and a hard-hitting climax with the title track 'Oneitis' itself. If this is to be the last StRANGEtIME show (for a while at least, and with the current line-up) then it's one hell of a calling card to leave with.

Crystal Tips

The NME/Top Man New Noise Tour feat. Crystal Castles/Friendly Fires/Team Waterpolo, Carling Academy 2, Birmingham, Thursday May 8 2008, 8pm.

Due to your tut-tutting tinker's train being delayed by 35 minutes the first act of four tonight is missed. To sum up then - White Lies: don't do it.

Perhaps in deference to the demographic chased by the tour sponsors it's a young crowd tonight, resulting in a weird permeating smell of spearmint and germolene, and a youth behind your Fila-footed faffer stamping his feet in indignation that he's the only one present 'wearing normal Adidas'. Mind, the band's aren't much older these days, judging on Team Waterpolo's appearance, who confidently launch into their own welcoming, self-referencing nu-metal anthem. They prove difficult to pigeon-hole however, with emo, fraggle and sun-kissed pop amongst the strings to their bow. Think PWEI. Think The Wonderstuff. Think Silver Sun. Think The Pigeon Detectives. Then stop thinking for a bit because your head will be hurting, and just smile along to the blissful harmonising.

For those of you who are gnashing at the bit for some new material by The Rapture, Friendly Fires may just be your favourite new band. For the rest of us, their energy, attitude and enthusiasm may only get them so far in persuading us their inspiration is equal to their perspiration. They serve their purpose in generating some heat before the main band comes on, but will need to find some more distinctive tinder in their box if they're to be considered genuinely flamin' groovy.

Crystal Castles have no such difficulty leaving a distinctive mark, lead singer Alice announcing 'We Are The Top Man' before launching herself into the audience and belting out the stand-out numbers from their excellent debut album while lit up by constantly flashing strobe lighting effects. They bring a new musical hybrid to town, with the euphoric rush of rave music blending with anxious jittery post-punk vox from Alice, for all the world looking like a whirling dervish wildchild of Sid Vicious and Gaye Advert. The effect is like Karen O fronting Justice, supplying instant pop thrills and an amphetamine edge but subtly tempered with a fuzz of MDMA wellbeing for a smooth in-built comedown.

She's Good, She's Gone

Lykke Li/Dan Whitehouse, Glee Club (Studio), Birmingham, Friday April 25 2008, 8.30pm.

With the audience once again at the Glee Club reduced to a catatonic state in the face of the quasi-fascistic tendencies of the PA, local troubadour Dan Whitehouse works hard to get us onside with some upbeat banter and a set of earnest but intriguingly crafted songs. Last time we saw Dan (supporting Maria McKee last year) his microphone drooped spectacularly during the first number, but tonight a pianist extension in the form of June Mori is on hand to provide complement and uplift, raising the singer-songwriter's game to a different level.

Lykke Li is a nineteen year-old Swede who dresses like a bohemian raver and sings dancefloor-friendly pop with a little-girl voice and a sad, haunted facial expression. She has a backing band of three musicians who include a man with a big bad drum and a keyboard player with really nice shoes. Lykke sometimes also helps out with some impromptu and seemingly improvised percussion via her stiletto heels and, once or twice, by striking the pendants hanging from her neck.

These lo-fi, DIY trimmings add inclusive appeal to some sterling pop gems that here and there bring to mind the likes of Cyndi Lauper, Lene Lovich and Lamb. The set includes the hypnotic 'Dance Dance Dance' and her first single (and best known track over here) 'Little Bit' but it's 'I'm Good I'm Gone' (one of the best choons of the year so far, say we) which really brings proceedings to life - kooky charm; defiant sentiments and a contagious rhythm intertwining to devastating effect. But no sooner has she won us over and she's good to her word, dissappearing into the night leaving us after a short set which serves as a 'teaser' before her album hits in June and the touring/festival circuit begins in earnest.

Charmed, we're sure, but how to pronounce her name? Lykke as in lick-y or Lykke as in lick-er or liquor? It's not until we're safely back at the Parallax palatial home and we turn on Later...with Jools Holland that we discover the former Squeeze man introducing the young Swede in a pre-recorded show as Lykke Li as in lucky-Li. Fortune's sometimes hiding in the wee small hours of the night, and good to see we're paying the TV licence for something!

Meet The Folkers

Flaxenby/Whalebone, Cinnamon Coffee and Meeting House, Bridgnorth, Shropshire, Tuesday April 22 2008, 8.15pm.

As the vast majority of our gig-going exploits centre around Birmingham and Wolverhampton, it's perhaps high time we sampled some live entertainment from our home county of Shropshire. So went with the singer-songwriter Matthew Hill to check out Flaxenby and Whalebone at Bridgnorth's Cinnamon Coffee and Meeting House. First time at the venue, which surprised us by being exactly what it sounds like, that is a cafe rather than a bar as such (although they serve wine and bottled beers/ciders alongside their trademark spiced coffees) and with the bands playing in front of a seated area not unlike a miniature village hall.

It provided a hushed, civilised vibe that might be more intimidating in its own way to a nervous performer than a crowded bar area where not everyone's attention is focused purely on the band. Luckily Whalebone are regulars here, and have the relaxed air of three people who've just decided to do some impromptu entertainment in their own front room, with frontman Steve never short of an anecdote or quip between numbers. They comprise two guitarists and a fiddle player, and play exclusively instrumentals, a remit that might sound limiting on paper but they do well to expand it into interesting directions, with at least one song entering into post-rock territory and an intriguing cover of 'Hotel California'.

Should declare some sort of interest with regards to the second act Flaxenby, as your curious correspondent knows one of the singers, Sam McLeod, from schooldays and beyond, although this is the first time we've clapped eyes on each other for more years than one suspects either of us would like captured on record. Luckily, Sam manages to recover her composure from the trauma of her past catching up with her in the boggle-eyed form of your bashful blogger, and the last-minute arrival of fiddle player Andy Jones, to deliver a fine show with her band. It's mainstream folk music all right, but played by people you feel have more than a passing knowledge of other genres, and infused with sufficient melancholy to encroach into the blues.

Anyone with an interest in atmospheric folk ballads and/or a taste for male/female vocal interplay would do well to invest in the current Flaxenby CD 'Brand New', which features some memorable tunes (including the title track, 'This Feeling', 'Don't Look Down' and 'The One') and some great singing (Sam has a genuinely beautiful voice while co-singer Chris Buttery supplies earthier, wearier but no less mellifluous tones). Sipping cappuccinos while listening to acoustic folk may have made a change from our usual rock'n'roll antics, but the civilising atmosphere and haunting melodies made for a relaxing and intriguing evening's entertainment, supplying plentiful evidence of cultural life flourishing in the Shropshire countryside.

Just Like I Like Them, They've Got Nice Hits

The Teenagers/The Scarlet Harlots, Bar Academy, Birmingham, Wednesday April 2 2008, 8.30pm.
The Long Blondes/XX Teens, Carling Academy 2, Birmingham, Tuesday April 15 2008, 8.30pm.

We've seen local lot The Scarlet Harlots named on many a Brummie bill but this is our first experience of the saucily-monikered sonic merchants in the flesh. Maybe it's the relatively early midweek hour or your hard-working hack's sobriety but their ska-inflected funk-rock leaves us peculiarly unmoved for the most part, although the last three songs sees sufficient improvement for your fair-minded fathead to want to check them out again, late evening on a club night preferably.

Whatever you say about the French, they're just about the only nationality that knows how to get away with a moustache, as with the lead crooner of The Teenagers who as an oueuf sex appeal to beat the egg-carriers in the crowd crazy. The Gallic indie-poppers are difficult to describe (like a boyband exposed to MTV2, svengali'd by Houellebecq and Gainsbourg rather than Simon Cowell) but easy to listen to, with tunes and hooks that would be all over the radio like a pustulent STD if only they didn't drop the 'C' bomb so plentifully in the lyrics.

More serious weblogs would no doubt explore whether The Teenagers are a grim reflection of a European youth whose misogyny has been greased and colonised by satellite TV and internet p0rn or whether there's more dark, ironic games undertowing the songs' playful exterior, but here at Parallax View we'll satisfy ourselves with bouncing up and down and singing along to the likes of 'Getting Better', 'Streets Of Paris' and 'Wheel Of Fortune'. And in the final analysis the number of young women clambering on stage to sing the distaff part to 'Homecoming' (so popular, it gets two outings tonight) would suggest they don't feel excluded from the fun.

XX Teens are unfamiliar to us, but they get our attention from the get-go with their tight, funky, maths-punk coming on like an anglicised !!!. As things go on, though, we find ourselves urging them to find a new angle and/or take it to the next level, but on tonight's showing, they don't ever quite manage it. Not having a Plan B isn't something you can fairly level at The Long Blondes who have re-imagined themselves in the mould of Blondie's more experimental moments for second album "Couples". Pre-release buzz for the record was a low murmur of discontent, but now that it's out for the world to hear more and more people seem to be responding to their new-found adventurousness.

It's certainly a tightly-packed Academy 2 in the long half-hour wait between bands, a gap perhaps partially explained by hometown boy Screech's concentration on the WBA v Wolves local derby ('The Baggies have just gone 1-0 up' he cheerfully announces). The Long Blondes quickly move on from Championship skirmishes to Premiership pop matters, however, with a set that packs in pretty much every track from "Couples" as well as dropping in old favourites like 'Once And Never Again' and 'Giddy Stratospheres' which could even put a smile on the faces of rival derby-day gaffers Mick McCarthy and Tony Mowbray.

Although all of the band have their moments, it's still lead singer Kate Jackson who commands the attention, this year's more understated sartorial suss seeing her wear a micro-sleeved black top that reveals a large tattoo on her right arm which provides interesting counterpoint to the elegant feminity of the rest of her look. At once slightly aloof and yet eager to please, she's a fascinating frontperson who even finds time to give particular praise to the venue (we're not entirely sure, but we think this is a first in our experience at the Academy).

It's good to see the band confident enough in their new direction and sound to plunder so much from it live during the first few weeks of release. Of the new material, next single 'Guilt' has impressively stealthy appeal, 'The Couples' stands out more live than it does on record, the mesmerising motorik mayhem of 'Round The Hairpin' really roars into life at the midpoint of the set, while 'Here Comes The Serious Bit' combines the best bits of both Long Blondes phases to pleasingly raucous effect. And 'Century' remains drop-dead gorgeous, one of the songs of the year so far, in its precise, glacial appropriation of the Blondie of 'Fade Away And Radiate', 'Rapture' and 'Call Me'. The bold, clear lines of the latest Long Blondes deserves just rewards now, before cheaper, tackier copies start flooding the market.