Secret Garden Festival.

I don't know what substances I took, all I know that after this moment the rest of the festival is a fuzz-ball of fun and excitement.. and I would really push anyone into there festivals to go to this one festival. secret garden party check out the website.

Gold Panda

In January, Gold Panda – or Derwin to his friends and family – joined the likes of Ellie Goulding and Hurts on the BBC's Sound of 2010 poll. Since then he's kept a relatively low profile, save for a few EPs featuring tracks made from samples of old VHS tapes and computer games. While his last single, You, was a frantic concoction of bouncing beats and buzzing noises, Snow & Taxis feels slightly calmer, perhaps reflecting the fact that much of his debut album, Lucky Shiner (due in October), was recorded in his uncle's house in the country. Built around stuttering beats and glistening synth washes, Snow & Taxis ushers in the impending winter in the warmest way possible.

Songs:




Gold Panda - Quitters Raga 
 Gold Panda - Snow & Taxis
Gold Panda - You

Invisibles new album The Invisible.

Though they're being touted as the British TV On the Radio-- along with the, per usual, ad nauseam Radiohead comparisons-- the immediate contemporary touchstones for the Invisible's debut single "London Girl", a track of disco lineage and techy undercurrents, are more akin to groups like LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip. The TVOTR comparisons are readily apparent: lead singer Dave Okumu's swooning vocals' often uncanny similarity to that of Tunde Adebimpe, indie-prog atmospherics, and genre-blurring experimentation.

Comparing the Invisible to their contemporaries, however, is reductive. "London Girl" is a swirling mass of muffled whispers, goose bump guitar plucks, pinpointed snares, and random synth burps. It never really goes anywhere, but it's that tension that makes the song so captivating; there are no crescendoing highs or vacuous pauses. Okumu's strained, lovelorn vocals are perfectly suited for the tracks billowy dead air, punctuated by the precise percussion and stout, funk bass. The track's few flurries come without fanfare but announce themselves with a choral rises that, eventually, sound more processed and digitized than organic, an effect that perfectly compliments the heartbroken, downtrodden vocals. The track's fading looped final line "A sense of tragedy", the epitome of the song's slumped disco shoulders.

— Chris Gaerig, April 13, 2009

Check out there new album on Spotify, Official Website, Official Youtube Channel. 

Invisibles - London Girl

Everything Everything's new album Man Alive.

An inconsequential thing that draws me to the band, Everything Everything, is how any reference to their name gets misconstrued as a sarcastic quip, repeated. When asked, “what band did you see last night?” You answer “Everything Everything.” The listener hears, in your best David Mitchell tone, “oh all the bands”, twice. However much you may think I’m mocking you, last night, I really did see Everything Everything. An invented method that ensures clarification in this reoccurring and embarrassing situation is so simple yet so affective. When asked, “what band did you see last night?” I answer, “Everything Everything, the band.”

I had high hopes for “the band” after having their catchy single, Photoshop Handsome, shoved into my ear holes with quite positive results. It’s a superbly crafted track swarming with tasty pop idiosyncrasies. The falsetto vocals, retro harmonies, warring time signatures, and perversely pleasing discords. This is the pedestal where I had their take on when The Futureheads met They Might Be Giants placed and I really was hoping the rest of their repertoire measured up against the pomp that is Photoshop Handsome.

The four strapping lads from up north, open their set at the ICA in all their harmonic splendour with slow number, Tin (the manhole). We are a mile away from Handsome already, but in the up lighting, these dapper gents are already a hit. It seems their extended body of work retains the aforementioned exquisite elements, but in addition to this they also have a boy band approach to making albums, where slow jams nestle in between floor stompers. With the approach of another ballad, NASA Is On Your Side, I suddenly am reminded of the ’95 Take That Wembley Arena concert that only my ten-year old imagination took me to. In other words, I’m in a good place.

The lead singer possesses an adept vocal quality that allows him to race through syllables at an inhumanly rate and reach high notes that lesser men would not attempt, through fear of emasculation. For me, the charm of this band lies majorly in their vocal efforts. The melody itself serves as a carrot dangling over your urge to sing along. You bloody want to because it is so darn catchy, but here is where they have tricked you, into thinking it follows a conventional melodic pattern. Try and sing along and you will wail. Cue mass wailing when the band fire out their text speak titled MY KZ UR BF, officially the second best track just closely behind Handsome.

With all, bar one, tracks from their myspace covered, it’s time for the band to exit stage left and re-enter without even a split second for the audience to start the mating call for their return. We won’t hold that adherence to convention against them though as the one song they haven’t given us yet is sincerely one of the best songs I’ve heard this year. If you haven’t been paying attention, that’s Photoshop Handsome. With a few more belters like that, in no time at all, when asked what band you saw last night, your answer will provide no confusion. You will say “Everything Everything.” And they will completely understand.

Written by Katie Weatherall on Thursday November 5th, 2009 6:46 pm

Listen for free on Spotify, or download from Everything Everything's website.