Slam Dunk Midlands 2018 review!

Templeton Pek

The fireball stage at Slam Dunk 2018 began with an incendiary set from returning brummie punk heroes Templeton Pek (7.2/10). Raging against everyone from their ex-manager, Boris Johnson and Birmingham city council alike.
Astroid Boys (7.6) were outcasts in the Slam dunk roster being the only rap or grime act on the bill yet Astroid Boy's crossover appeal meant that a huge gathering of fans came to see them. Despite MC Traxx being AWOL and AB's other MC Benji being seriously hungover Astroid boy's still delivered one of the best sets of the festival, causing carnage in the pit and proving why they're one of the most vital bands in the UK right now.

Luke Rainsford

Creeper (8.8) also delivered a fantastic set, packing an arena full of ecstatic fans moshing, dancing and singing along to every word. An unexpected highlight being Hannah Hermoine taking the spotlight for acoustic ballard 'Crickets' as fans piggybacked and waved lighters. Hannah may have proved herself the better singer, but Will Gould is still a fantastic frontman commanding the stage with ease. Despite being such a new band Creeper already seem capable of headlining Slam Dunk.
Immediately after Creeper finished playing a short run across the festival was necessary to see Luke Rainsford (7.2) play on the acoustic stage. Less than a year ago Luke was playing tiny shows across birmingham. In 2018 he's supported As It Is, and gained a slot on the Slam Dunk roster things seem to be clicking into place for Luke. Who genuinely seemed surprised at the amount of people coming to see him each night, and that he actually said 'Yeet' while on-stage. Luke's new EP has some of his darkest and best material to date. Looking for your ghost reflects on Luke's first night at home after the passing of his mother. Luke delivered one of the most passionate and emotional sets of the festival. While he may sing that he's 'too broken for anyone to love me', the gathering of people hanging onto his every word may prove him wrong.
"In case you were wondering THAT is how you open a show" bragged Frank Carter after opening with 'Juggernaut' and having immediately jumped into the crowd and stood on the hands of his fans. Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes (8.8) had the best set of Slam Dunk by far. This is mostly down to Frank Carter being the kind of engaging, entertaining, swaggering, jack the lad that rock needs right now. Frank seems to talk entirely in sound-bites. Whether encouraging female audience members to crowd surf and males to respect them because they could be "your mothers, wives, sisters, but most importantly they are your equals', before 'Wild Flowers'. Frank also dedicated 'paradise' to the MEN Arena and Bataclan attacks, adding that 'terrorists are all cowards and scum'. Frank also dedicated 'Lullaby' to 'the sweetest mother-fucker I know' - his baby daughter. Frank jumped into the crowd to start the largest circle pit of the festival, encouraging a circle pit so big it surrounded the sound desk of the Arena stage, after which Frank remarked that 'it's amazing what a leopard skin coat will do.
Taking Back Sunday's (8.4) set was an odd exercise in nostalgia. TBS are clearly not the same people who wrote the earnest, emo songs from years ago, and have matured into more of a straightforward rock n roll band, best represented by the recent stand-out track 'tidal wave'. Adam Lazzara has eased into middle age, with a relaxed persona at odds with the angst of his earlier material. Adam joked about writing these songs when he was 18, '5 years ago', yet also opened up about depression, a subject also brought up by Frank Carter and Jimmy Eat World. TBS know how to keep a crowd happy and filled the set with emo classics such as 'cute without the e', 'a decade under the influence' and 'timberwolves at new jersey'. Yet its the songs from 'Louder Now', Where they sounded strongest. 'Liar', What's it feel like to be a ghost' and closing song ''makedamnsure' still sounding as great as they did all those years ago.
Good Charlotte started strong with a smattering of pop punk hits, showing off their confetti cannons and pyrotechnics early on. Yet not even hits like 'Girls and Boys' or 'The Anthem' could make up for Joel's insufferable monologues. Luckily Jimmy Eat World  (8.4) were playing a refreshingly bullshit free set just around the corner, finishing Slam Dunk on a high with 'The Middle.

Peace, Live at the Academy 2 Birmingham review (24/5/18)

Opening act Wolfgang Harte and The Wild (6.8/10) is a return to the stage from the former singer of Swim Deep backed by his former band-mate Cav on Bass. Despite while being a tight live band with a charismatic frontman WGTW felt strangely out of time. Looking and sounding like a relic of the Myspace era with their leather jackets, waistcoats, tonnes of hairspray and sprightly indie tunes, and leaving me feeling like an extra in Skins.
Things seem to be looking up for the Limerick trio Whenyoung (6.4). Having signed to the ultra hip Yala! records and now having bagged a support for Peace, WY may yet be one of indie rock's brightest new hopes. Personally I found their set enjoyable yet not particularly engaging. Their brand of indie rock is vaguely reminiscent of Sunflower Bean. The highlight of the set was Peace crashing their stage as backing dancers for their own support band.
Headlining a packed Academy 2 off the back of their third album Peace seemed determined to remind people what made people love them so much in first place, opening the set with 'Oceans Eye', after having not played it in 5 years. From here on out it was a set jam packed with hits and fan favourites, rolling out 'Bloodshake', 'Power' and 'Money', in quick succession. As usual Harry looked the rock-star while Doug, Sam and Dom showed off their musical chops. After some slower cuts from 'Kindness..' and the obligatory epic 1998 (with extra guitar bits!) things took a bit of an odd turn. The sweaty teens at the from led a chorus of happy birthday for their friend Ed, who had the fortune to join and hug his heroes on stage. The kids also requested a bizarre improvised organ cover of Wham!'s Last Christmas.
Peace's Third album 'Kindness is the new rock n' roll' is the sound of Harry maturing as a person and songwriter. This was reflected on stage more in the slower ballads such as 'Maginficent' or 'From under liquid glass', than the swagger of 'You don't walk away from love'. Reflecting a new-found confidence Harry played a solo stripped back version of 'Float forever', before bringing the rest of Peace and funk back with fan fave 'Wraith'. In what should be impossible for a band who only formed 6 years ago, Peace have gained fans that span generations, and a set-list crammed with hits, all played in a show that seemed to last forever.

9.2

Peace - Kindness is the new rock n' roll. Album review

Kindness is the new rock n' roll begins with 'Power', which is the kind of swaggering rock n roll song that makes it hard to see why Peace have been pushed aside for their lesser contemporaries, and that unlike many of those contemporaries Peace are a proper rock n' roll band through and through.
The title track of this album is an example of what Peace have always done best, taking a simple idea and ramping it up until it's as epic as possible. what could have otherwise been a simple acoustic ballad is given gospel choirs, Hammond organ and even a hacksaw, to accompany Harry Koissers' "peace.. do you know what mean?" hook until it resembles a sort of odd cross between 'Morning Glory era Oasis and Mercury Rev. The main flaw of the first half of this album is that much like their previous two it feels like a dip through the discographies of other artists. 'Silverlined' is an upbeat Ed Sheeran-ish acoustic ditty, at least until Doug rips into it with a massive guitar solo. 'You don't walk awawy from love' is another swaggering indie rocker, with all the charisma that people miss from Oasis yet with a beating heart and soul that makes it far more endearing than one of Noel Gallagher's surreal platitudes.
'Kindness...' takes a complete 180 with the albums 5th track and opening teaser track ' from under liquid glass. This is Peace at their most stripped back, as Harry Koisser is backed by simple chords, piano and a drum machine. The songs from this point on sound more like a Harry Koisser solo album than a new Peace record. Here we find Harry recalling 'lying in my empty room on my broken bed...left alone with my big fucking mental head. While such honesty about mental health is common from indie darlings such as Courtney Barnett and Car Seat Headrest or underground heroes such as Crwank or Luke Rainsford. In 2018 it's still rare to find a major rock band like Peace writing about depression so bluntly. Not much later on Harry is begging the listener to not give up on him yet as one day he will be 'Magnificent'. 'Angel' is a similarly sparse ballad that may be the most, gorgeous love ballad peace have written. While early albums found Peace naive and in love with the idea of love itself.
'Angel' finds Harry singing about wanting to protect and cherish the love of his life, as he matures as both a songwriter and a person. 'Shotgun Hallelujah' is another swaggering rock n' roll tune, but it's the final tracks 'just a ride' and 'choose love' that pack the bigger emotional punch. the latter promising that 'someday you will be king if you can make it out the slime'.
For all the heartbreak that Peace have been through, they conclude that not only is 'Kindness the new rock 'n roll, love is also the salvation that we sometimes need.

I need a hand to hold today, five fingers that won't slip away
In a world that can be so cruel, love is vital

Choose love, choose life, today, tonight
No fear, no pain, no hate, no shame

8/10

The best albums of April 2018

5 years can be a long time to wait for a follow up to an album that you loved. It's just as well that 2013's Drone logic was an album that was waiting for a follow up to. On 'Song For Alpha', Daniel Avery has refined the minimalist sound of his début even more, stripping away the faint vocal samples of his début to create something that feels like the midway point between Kraftwerk's Tour De France and Aphex Twins Selected Ambient works 85-92. 'Song for Alpha' is euphoric, ambient and bursting with energy all at the same time. Cold and emotionless, cerebral and physical. With 'Song For Alpha' Daniel has confirmed that he is a master of dance music, intelligent or otherwise.
Last months hidden gem was the new album by Joey Pecoraro, called Music For Happiness. A gorgeous album of hazy sample based electronica that lives up to it's name. I'm also happy to report that Beerbongs and Bentleys by Post Malone lives up to the promise of its hit singles. While Stoney bounced from style to style, mixing everything from reggae to blues into Post's sound b&B has a more consistent feel,all the songs in the same aesthetic as Post's huge hit 'Rockstar'. While his lyricism still needs work, Post's unique delivery and personality are what sell the project. Another much maligned rapper namely J Cole also stood out this month with KOD. Cole keeps the jazzy sound of his last album but swaps the personal tales for ruminations on drug addiction and capitalism. He may still be a bit corny at times and could use a change of flow in places, but there are moments of genius to be found here as Cole spits his own 'whats going on' over a breezy backdrop of soulful hip-hop.

I also liked. 

Godfather 2 - Wiley
Beautiful Thing - Alexis Taylor
Isolation - Kali Uchis

Mc Lars, Koo Koo Kangaroo, Figure 0.9. Live at The Asylum review (2/5/18)

Figure 0.9 might have been an odd booking for this show. In contrast to the upbeat wholesomeness that was to come from the upcoming American Mc's, Figure 0.9 gave the crowd an in depth look into the darkness of his own psyche, spitting furious bars about his mental health over dark grime flavoured beats, he was joined on stage by friend and ex-bandmate Zero for 'reflecting' and unveiled some new tunes one of which he introduced as being bluntly about death, the other being a cover of an Xxxtentacion song which was as short and sweet as the original. Dan introduced many of the songs with a straight forward bluntness referencing the recent suicide of his ex girlfriend and finishing with a cover of Placebo's follow the cops back home with the tale of his own attempted suicide. Ultimately Dan may use live performance as an outlet for his emotions, but he's coming more into his own as a solo performer, becoming more confident in his own spotlight with each performance. 7.6/10

I was a little disappointed that Your Alibi had pulled out, as I wanted to see what the ex Smart Casual* bandmates had been up too. Koo Koo Kangaroo were quick to step in with an extra long set. Koo Koo Kangaroo are sort of a rap group, stand up comedy duo, and exorcise program wrapped into one. Koo Koo Kangaroo started a party, bringing gold lame backdrops, caps and bum bags and tried their best to get the audience to take part in their gleefully silly dance routines. They seemed very proud of the fact that unlike most American bands they could say Birmingham without saying the 'Ham' and the gaps between songs were filled with banter as they sought to stop the war between brummies and yam yams. They eventually won over the sections of the crowd who weren't already fans, by splitting the crowd in two and getting punters too sing along and shout along to 'the coolest person' into their mics. After our 'Ninja training' Koo Koo Kamgaroo encouraged use to use our ninja skills to go out and fight crime or start crime as "some cities don't have enough crime". The only touch of cynicism Ko Koo have can be heard in the two songs they closed with 'cat party' and 'dancing with my cat' which features the chorus of 'dancing with my cat, cos I have no more friends left' to which everybody was encouraged to dance with their own imaginary cats. 8/10

If you were unaware MC Lars is basically a cross between MC Serch and Dave Gorman, rapping in his black Addidas tracksuit, with a gold chain and game console round his neck, and his music videos and beats playing off his laptop. MC Lars is a pioneer of 'nerd rap' and his subject matter ranges from whole songs based around classic literature, such as Moby Dick, Huckleberry Finn, and the works of Willam Shakespeare and Edgar Allen Poe. The latter of which he bought out his very own gangster raven for. Seeing MC Lars live is a reminder that comic MC's maybe don't get the credit they deserve as being able to deliver solid bars while also being actually funny is a trick few can pull off.  As if to remind us to not take things to seriously he finished each song with the same big grin and thumbs up. When not paying tribute to classic literature he told the story of the time he formed the fictional emo band 'hearts that hurt' and asked the crowd to scream 'DIE' in their best emo voices, to which he replied that it was 'Taking Back Sunday, but I need more Thrice'. Unfortunately Iggy Pop wasn't around to sing the chorus of the passenger for it's sample on 'Download this song' so we had to make do. Other highlights include the freestyle where he rapped about the items people had been carrying in their pockets and the shows grand finale where me and a handful of punters danced around on stage behind him in a vain effort to prove that ska music is not dead. Fun times. 8/10


Links
https://figure09.bandcamp.com/album/casket-based-on-a-true-story
http://kookookangaroo.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/horrisrecords

*Birmingham pop-punk band who shined bright but briefly