First gig of the year

On friday c came over to stay, she was in the uk for the weekend, taking a short break from her work in nice. When I went to stay I had given her a monkey swallows the universe cd, which she enjoyed, as did some of her lab peers. The opportunity to see them live whilst in the uk was one of the reasons she decided on returning for this weekend. Thankfully her flight and train journeys went without delay. Met up with a, and we headed to the gig after a quick drink in the showroom.

First up was a band called Gyppos, which actually is probably not an intelligent name as it has racist connotations. They played a brand of rock in the vein of half man half biscuit, perhaps with an air towards the arctic monkeys. Despite the excellent guitar work, the vocals were very poor, dischordant, though in patches it almost worked. I think they will have to make music that accounts for their vocal limitations, or adopt a different vocal style. Next up were slow down tallehasse, who I thought were really quite dreadful. Stuggling with three chord progressions, i admit sometimes simplicity works. And sometimes it just doesn't. One track sounded distinctly like norwegian wood bu the beatles. However, when I see bands like this I think, wow, i can play those chords, maybe i can be a rock star....

monkey swallows the universe were again superb. Celebrating signing a record deal with loose records, the set included tracks that may appear on the upcoming second album. With tunes of this quality you can't help but think another great album is on it's way. The highlight for me was a new track called elizabeth and mary, which had a much more edgier sound than previous tracks. Driving drum rhythms lead the track, and nat pushes her vocals to the extreme with this passionate display.

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