Rooftop Runners – We Are Here EP and tour

Jonjon introduces us to Berlin-based Canadians, Rooftop Runners:

It isn’t easy being a new band or act, and it probably never will be. Touring small venues with tiny audiences in unfamiliar cities has to be, especially when starting out, a less than glamorous lifestyle. I caught Rooftop Runners in late January in their first London gig in a Camden venue with signed pictures of Madness and Amy Winehouse staring down from the walls. It was a chilly Monday night at the time of the year when London hibernates, when it’s a fight to get people to leave the comfort of the couch, or do anything really. Some bands may write off the experience and treat the performance as a rehearsal. I would if the audience numbered six people.

Rooftop Runners are thankfully professional. They’d spent the days handing out flyers and working hard to gain some recognition and an audience (never easy as Camden isn’t, despite its claims to the contrary, an inviting area for performers or audiences). They put a huge amount of energy into the show and despite the lack of atmosphere worked well with what they had.

One of the reasons they’re professional is because Rooftop Runners aren’t new to performing. Two Canadian brothers (Vancouver Island) based in Berlin (don’t hold that against them) having trained in dance and spent several years in Europe, they’re at ease with performance and attention or lack there-of. An empty venue on a weeknight in freezing London doesn’t worry them.

For an inexperienced band, their debut EP is relatively polished. Four tracks fly by with elements of indie and dance (with none of the associated negatives those terms used together may invoke). It isn’t going to set the world on fire immediately, but it is a great start. It’s difficult to judge a band on one EP but there is something interesting here and a great deal of energy when they perform live. If you get a chance to see them live, take it.

Words by Jonjon

StereoStar Sixty-Nine - Ambulance Shotgun

Jonjon gives StereoStar Sixty-Nine's album a listen. He's unlikely to do the same thing again: 

What do you think of when you think French music? I think of Phoenix, Air, Cassius and, if I must, the Plastiscines. Most countries would be happy with bands of that ilk representing their cultural exports. I don’t think any country would be happy with StereoStar Sixty-Nine. Perhaps it makes more sense from a French perspective, although I doubt it. It is difficult to describe how bad Ambulance Shotgun is.  

How bad? If someone told me they were a Flight of the Conchords-style comedy act, I could believe it, and if I didn’t know better I would believe it. But they’re not. They take themselves seriously. Very seriously. Apparently a concept album, Ambulance Shotgun is the worst album I have heard in years, perhaps ever. I am not exaggerating. It’s not bad in a “follows commercial music conventions” way, it’s just bad. Imagine the worst, cheapest 80s keyboard soundtrack, laughable autotuned vocals and cheap production - Blood on the Dance Floor for example (look 'em up, you can thank me later), except meant to be taken seriously by adults. What a concept!

This album has one good point - there are nine tracks, yet the runtime is just over 28 minutes. Be thankful. I cannot recommend this album at all. 

Review by Jonjon

Bobbysix.com's End of Year review 2011 - Jonjon

In the second of our 2011 reviews - which culminate in a grand announcement of overall winners later in the week - Jonjon talks us through his favourite albums and speaks, brilliantly, about the year:

Top 5 Albums

1. The Look – METRONOMY. 
   How can something that sounds so simplistic and dated work so well? Nuwave/disco directly through a wormhole from 1982.
2. Welcome to Condale – SUMMER CAMP. 
   A vocalist that sounds like Debbie Harry, Kate Bush and Belinda Carlisle in one and the sounds of a never ending summer. If you can’t enjoy this we can’t hang anymore.
3. Within and Without – WASHED OUT. 
   Dreamy synth perfection forms the soundtrack for someone with a better life than ours.
4. Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming – M83. 
   Excessive and over the top, it shouldn’t work but somehow it does. God knows where they go from here though.
5. James Blake – JAMES BLAKE. 
   Disarmingly simple jazz and blues electronica that has/will end up as the soundtrack to dinner parties everywhere (but you’re still allowed to like it).
   
   

Top 5 TV shows

1. Community. 
   “Six seasons and a movie”. Never popular, it appears doomed so now is the chance to vent your frustration online as that always works.
2. Wilfred. 
   Yes it’s a remake of an Australian show. Also an improvement. Elijah Wood tries to kill himself and is introduced to a rather large talking dog. “Come on Ryan! These are big existential questions, best left for boring Russian novelists and teenagers on acid. Real people don't think about this shit!” Never a truer statement.
3. Archer. 
   Mix James Bond, Harvey Birdman and Arrested Development and you get this. Sick, depraved and very, very smart. “Just the tip?”
4. Beavis and Butthead. 
   “I’ll get a tattoo of a butt that has a butt-shaped tattoo on it, and I’ll get it right on my butt.” Don’t dismiss it out of hand as that won’t make you look smarter, no matter how many books you may own (but have never read).
5. Angry Boys. 
   There was the inevitable backlash against Chris Lilley but honesty is rarely popular. Terrifyingly accurate as always, it was aggressive, fearless, very dark and yet had a strongly emotional core.

Highlight of the year:

I don’t want to dismiss the deaths of thousands in Syria, Tunisia, Congo, Egypt or anywhere else (well not on purpose, nor were those deaths a “highlight”) but I have to go with the Murdochs’ appearance at the UK media phone hacking inquiry. The “Dirty Digger” (I never wanted a job with News Corp anyway) being called to give evidence was astounding. It didn’t achieve much but at least it happened. James Murdoch’s floundering was schadenfreude 101 and don’t forget the pie to the face. Will the UK media culture change? Not unless they’re all taken outside and shot. Will News Corp change any operational standards? I doubt it. But it was nice to see a parliamentary democracy actually doing something about an issue for however a short period. Pity action on the economy seems beyond them. 

2011 in words:

The year of protest (thanks for stealing my opinion Time Magazine). Whether or not this signals real change is anyone’s guess. There have obviously been some changes; however Egypt hasn’t exactly become a utopia following Mubarak’s removal, you’re a brave person to protest in Syria and I doubt the Politburo in Beijing is quaking in their boots. Italy’s still screwed despite Berlusconi resigning, austerity cuts are occurring across all of Europe and Putin and Medvedev don’t appear to be going anywhere. In the US? Well the Occupy movement still exists... but proved in many respects that elements taken for granted in the US constitution mean bugger all. We fell in love with Julian Assange, Australians realised that as a nation, they’re still terrified of small numbers of brown people in rickety boats appearing on the horizon, morons thought Lil’ Kim had died and we didn’t get a chance to fall in love with Crownies. Because it was shite. What a year. What an absolutely balls year. Oh well, at least some hippies/hipster student types got pepper sprayed. Hooray!

Prediction for 2012

We’ve got a US Presidential election to look forward to, more economic turmoil, Baz Luhrman butchering The Great Gatsby and and, er, war with Iran? Oh... good. 

Jonjon - Contributor
Jonjon reviews albums with an iron fist. He has given up the Sydney sun to relocate to grimy old London. Absolute madness.

Death In Vegas - Trans-Love Energies

Jonjon reviews the long-awaited Death in Vegas record. Isn't blown away:

I can’t honestly recommend this album. The first half has some excellent tracks (Your Loft My Acid springs to mind) but it certainly doesn’t break any new ground and the second half drags. I’ve had difficultly writing this review because the album was so “meh” (sorry). It isn’t bland but it certainly isn’t original. Neither do I loathe it but I can’t sing its praises from the rooftops either.

From what little I’ve heard of earlier Death in Vegas albums it doesn’t sound too similar to their back catalogue (Editor's note: it is the first record in which Richard Fearless has taken lead vocal duties). You can recognise the style but it has moved on (and one would hope so – how many people rate 1994 as a highpoint for music?). It’s certainly more “dance” than “indie”... if we can agree on their definitions (and we can’t). If you’re basically ignorant of their whole back catalogue this won’t blow you away. It ignores the current trends in dance, staying within the confines of “indie dance” (I’m not going to attempt a definition) and to my mind could have been released five or ten years ago to great acclaim.

Bands, especially when they’ve been around for any amount of time face a difficult decision – do they change their sound (and hope that audiences continue to accept their “sound” redone numerous times) or change direction and risk alienating their audience? For example, The Chemical Brothers changed their sound radically while maintaining the slimmest measure of popularity. Death in Vegas has more tinkered with their sound from their mid 90s beginnings rather than change to reflect trends. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it does seem they have decided to reward long terms fans rather than attempt to gain a new audience. It feels more like they’ve decided to go the Prodigy route and from this I wonder how far Death in Vegas can be from the nostalgia act at a festival.

There is still originality in their work but it's five or six years late. I don’t see many “dance” or “indie” (such vast genres/generalisations) fans that are into the direction those genres have moved in the last half decade being won over by this, either as an introduction to their earlier releases or as an introduction to the band. Trans-Love Energies has a sound that has been done earlier and to the same quality by others. Ten years ago it would have caused a stir due to the talent involved and the new direction it heralded, five years ago it would have stirred some interest due to the quality of some of the tracks, but now it just feels dated and tired.

Review by Jonjon
Read Bobbysix.com's exclusive interview with Death In Vegas' Richard Fearless here.

Joker - The Vision

Jonjon gave Joker's new album a listen. Here's what he thought:

Joker’s The Vision is all over the place. What you get is a mishmash of styles and genres with a few pop-tinged singles thrown in. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but it requires that the songs are good enough in their own right. The Vision fails in this. For a start there are too many tracks on this that sound like demos that had been floating around for the five years this album was in gestation, that were drafted as filler once a release date was decided.

How can I convey this? Let’s go to the tracks...

Opener Intro sounds like the soundtrack to a British film from the 80s. That may seem a vast generalisation but think of the opening to Edge of Darkness or the more synth heavy tracks from the Local Hero soundtrack (what? You don’t own these?). Think Clapton and Knopfler suddenly discovering synthesisers (as they had on those soundtracks). All atmosphere and building tension that jumps to...

Wahb, wahb, wahb, WAHBBER, wahhhhb 

You know that sound. Track two, Here Come The Lights is a dubstep-infused work of pop that wouldn’t be out of place on any commercially-minded music clips show. It jars with the previous track and doesn’t stand on its own as a good enough single to set it apart from all the dubstep-influenced pop that has appeared over the last few years.

Next, Tron or, as I call it, I can be Timbaland too. More dubstep-influenced R‘n’ B with some of those Timbaland-style vocals (the little asides of “Hey, eh” he’s uses in every track so he gets to appear in the clip). Then another pop-style song and a track that sounds like yet another demo that never developed.

Let’s jump to Level 6 (Interlude). If you had said to me when I was 10 that 20 years later I would be reviewing an album that appears to not just sample but replicate the music to Sonic the Hedgehog I doubt I would have believed you. Partly because I was an extremely arrogant and stupid child, but also because who beyond a few ultra nerdy nostalgia whoring filmmakers would want music like that? Well welcome to Level 6 (interlude). Yes, I am aware the title of the track is a videogame reference. That doesn’t mean it isn’t indulgent.

There are 12 songs in total but... it doesn't get better. Taken individually, some tracks show Joker’s talent, but it’s drowned between the misfires and mismatch.

Review by Jonjon

Fred Falke at The Nest, Dalston

Jonjon checks out the ESM Launch Party, featuring Fred Falke, Starsmith and Burns at The Nest, Dalston, 17/11/11.

Dalston gets a lot of stick... and deservedly so. It’s a punchline to any attempt at social commentary on “youth” and “fashion”. However “The Nest” doesn’t really fit in... it’s a bit too commercial, a bit too slick. It’s missing the dank, a mysterious musk and sticky floors. How can I put this nicely? It isn’t cool. How do I know? It let me in without having to queue. Admittedly the place *was* near empty but still, that isn’t right.

When I say empty I’m not being completely accurate. It’s not often you walk into a small club on a chilly Thursday evening and see the crowd near the dj booth already packed five or six rows deep. Admittedly the space near the dj booth is cramped but at similar gigs I’ve attended you were able to get close all night... what is going on? The crowd... how to explain the crowd... how many people attend a sweaty club gig wearing chinos, brown leather shoes and striped collared shirts? Not me, but this crowd did – when did it become cool to be preppy in a club? Not faux preppy, I mean true, Animal House preppy. They even had US accents. Does Smirnoff Black wash more easily out of an oxford shirt? Was I the one out of place?

There wasn’t much dancing happening on arrival. The crowd, what there was of one, was massed near the dj booth and the dj (who according to the set times list was Burns) was playing an excellent set of French house/Italo disco, but the dancing was minimal. This changed quickly however... Burns (or whoever he was – I take care in my reviews) stepped back and the music was turned down a tad. That was when the chant started; “Golden CAGE! Golden CAGE! GOLDEN CAGE!”. These guys (and the crowd was overwhelmingly guys) were here for one reason alone: Fred Falke.

You should know who Fred Falke is (go buy Rubicon or Music for my Friends!). First garnering notice with Alan Braxe, he’s released some excellent, and some terrible, remixes. Tonight we were lucky. On arrival I’d been worried by seeing his set was only for one hour, but I shouldn’t. He opened with his recent remix of Metronomy’s The Look and played his greatest hits – remixes of Robyn’s Dancing On My Own, tracks from Rubicon and snippets of Daft Punk and finishing with his ever popular remix of Whitest Boy Alive’s Golden Cage, sending the collared shirt crowd into an ironically ecstasy-lacking ecstasy. Not only was his set excellent, but he also played the bass to his tracks live. Short, but amazing.

I felt a tad sorry for Starsmith. He’s talented and could have headlined on his own but the crowd had seen what they wanted to see and began to dissipate. I can only hope the money I presume he’s raking in from his high-profile collaborations and remixes is enough to sustain him.

ESM is next scheduled for January with Burns as the only act confirmed. Go if you get the chance. Burns is an excellent dj, the crowd can only get better (first nights and all) and the cost was minimal for the talent involved (£3? Bargain). If you usually avoid the East End don’t let that put you off, and if you’re a local take advantage of the talent appearing in your backyard.

Review by Jonjon

The Bravery at Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen, London

What seems like about 100 years ago now, BobbySix.com interviewed The Bravery, and lovely chaps they were too. So we couldn't resist checking out their recent residency in London's East End. JonJon headed along to the show:

You have to feel a bit sorry for The Bravery. Massively hyped in late 2004 and 2005, they were one of the pioneers of the sound that has come to currently dominate much of modern popular music, but where have they been? They had a top ten album in the UK in 2005 and then... well, nothing.

They’ve apparently released two albums since then; and I’d heard nothing. No remixes, no plays on alternative radio nor any blog/online support. This should not be. When I mentioned to friends that I was seeing The Bravery the most common initial reaction was either surprise that they still existed then even more surprise that they were touring. NME has described this tour as a comeback, apparently to support a new single and album. The Bravery had fallen off the map, but can these intimate gigs, despite their small nature, bring them back? Probably not, but they are an example of a band with some powerful, still popular songs and a strong stage presence.

The venue suited the band’s sound and staging (if there could be said to be any) perfectly. There’s no drama, no light show, just the admittedly gorgeous and well dressed band with their instruments; the music is the focus. They opened with two tracks from their eponymous first album, Unconditional and No Brakes. After over six years of touring these tracks they sounded perfect, the band tight and not a note out of place.

Despite the crowd’s seeming unfamiliarity with the tracks from later albums the energy level never really dropped, the venue’s limited size not allowing the enthusiasm of the crowd to dissipate. There were occasional semi-lulls but these were always forgotten with the next song. They set a cracking pace, playing 16 tracks in a little over an hour and twenty minutes. Their first album (and judging from the crowd’s reaction the one most came to hear) was a mixture of frenetic post punk/new wave party music and the packed venue amplified this vibe.

The final song of the main set was their signature track An Honest Mistake and it is still an amazing song. The crowd sung along, knowing every word and the band seemed genuinely touched (literally, in the case of some of the more aggressive female audience members). After a short break of less than a minute they jumped into the encore: one new song and then finishing with Fearless for a final singalong from their first album. The band’s appreciation for their reception was shown by their willingness to hang around afterwards and sign autographs, with no attitude.

If you hadn’t heard of The Bravery before and had somehow wandered into this gig, you would be impressed. The support acts were also excellent: Royal Chains with a similar sound to the most familiar Bravery tracks and occasionally early Interpol, and Transfers, a band who may have coasted slightly on their singer and frontman’s charm, bringing to mind The Killers when they first broke.

Is this a comeback? Yes and no. The Bravery hadn’t gone away but they had almost been forgotten. This limited club tour won’t bring back the hype of 2005 but they are worth seeing and the energy and songs show that this band is more than capable of being just as successful as they once were. Go and see them live while you can before they only have an appearance on the Twilight soundtrack as a legacy.

For tour dates and to hear some tracks, head to The Bravery's Myspace.  

Review and photos by JonJon (the handsome fellow on the right in the picture below - oh, and check out the bald dude behind him!)

Night Surgeon - Day For Night

Jonjon gives his opinion on the offering from Portland's electro duo, Night Surgeon:

I love electro pop but I can’t recommend Night Surgeon. I’m not sure when bands and producers decided the best sound was late 1980s, early 1990s videogame sound effects but it was sometime from 2004 onwards. Night Surgeon fit this mould. There are lots of beeps and dreamy synths but there’s no boundary-pushing on this album and barely any soul. It all sounds perfunctory. The best I can say is that they sound like Duran Duran circa 1987-89 (the early wilderness years).

There are two tracks where Night Surgeon seem excited and these are the highlights; Roman Error and the next track on the album, Brick Moon. In all fairness these should get them some notice, Brick Moon seems ripe for a remix and Roman Error as a standalone track. These arrive just before the middle of the album and are the only memorable moments. The final track Let Go brings some spark back but it isn’t original – it could be interchanged with any mainstream pop rock album from the last 13 years.

The rest of the album... well, it isn’t so great. It isn’t unlistenable, it’s just dreary. It’s electro pop with some occasional veering towards pop rock. Some of the tracks sound as if the “electro” was an afterthought. On a positive note the vocalist is good, although as with the songs there isn’t much variation to either style or the range he sings in.

There is nothing wrong with this album but it doesn’t do enough to set Night Surgeon apart from the dozens of other bands and acts in their genre. Electro pop will be popular for a while yet but this band won’t be at the forefront with this. Despite their artificiality 3OH!3 and Ke$ha have more pop and dare I say it verve. Night Surgeon may not be artificial, they may be able to play their instruments but they have committed a cardinal pop sin – they’re a bit boring.

Review by Jonjon. Check out the below sampler of one of his highlights:

NIGHT SURGEON - DAY FOR NIGHT sampler - 01 BRICK MOON by nightsurgeonpdx