Live Able: Frank Turner, Billy Bragg, Mystery Jets, Miles Kane and Steve Craddock!

Steve Craddock

The OCS and Weller lead guitarist delivers a sublime slice of mod pop to get tonight’s proceedings off and running at the Roundhouse this evening. Craddock draws from his underrated solo albums The Kundailni Target and Peace City West and definitely wins new fans tonight with a polished performance. There is a guest appearance from his mate and collaborator James Buckley and then a fine rendition of OCS’ Riverboat Song to remind everyone how great he really is.

Craddock is a man of such talent and dignity surely the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Brits is not unthinkable. Just check the stats:

With Ocean Colour Scene:

      11 Top 20 singles. 6 of which were top 10.

    5 top 10 albums. 1 of which was a number one.

With Paul Weller

    20 top 20 singles. 4 of which were top 10.

    11 top 20 albums. 4 of which were number ones.

Not to mention his two solo albums and producing P.P Arnold’s comeback album in 1997. Just saying.

Miles Kane

Unhinged, untamed and uninhibited. The man is possessed by the rock n roll gods and its utterly fantastic to watch. He opens with Rearrange which eases the crowd in before he lets rip with astonishing version of King Crawler. It’s aggressive, sexy, and loud!  It is everything a young Pete Townshend personified.

The mood is lightened a little when he plays the infectious Quicksand. What a terrific pop song this really is. Catchy from start to finish, makes you want to dance and never fails to put smiles on faces.

It beggars belief Kane is not leading the charge of the alternative world at the moment but with his festival schedule jam packed TT imagines it won’t be long before he has converted the UK to his rock n roll charms.

Billy Bragg

To be an English patriot is to love Uncle Bill. Huw Stephens introduces him as a legend and that is exactly what he is. Tonight he is on fine anecdotal mocking the youngsters for not knowing who he or Morrissey are. Anyone who has seen billy before will know he likes a chat between songs about issues close to his heart and tonight is no different (we apologise for any misquotes but we only had a couple of pints so sure this accurate):

“What a great year to be British and wave the flag. The Olympics lots of flag waving there, the jubilee…..watching two pensioners go down the Thames in the pissing down rain. Well, you know what made me proud to be British, a British high court judge put Murdoch on trial and held him to account over his actions. AND THE PRIME MINISTER (he shouts), yeah the Prime Minister that’s right. Wave your flag at that.”

Bragg followed this with Scousers Never By The Sun. A song that probably sums Bragg’s musical career up perfectly. It is a witty and politically biting punk/folk song with lush choruses and venomous verses.

Bragg rattles through his brilliant back catalogue with I Keep Faith and Sexuality before ending on A New England. It was very visible many didn’t know who he was at the beginning but even more evident was the respect he had earned by the end. Plus, what audience doesn’t love to see a tea bag lobbed into a crowd of people as a farewell gesture. Smashing up guitars, PAH!

Mystery Jets

What a perfect booking by Able2Able. Everyone is aware of Blaine’s condition but no-one ever cares. The World loves the Mystery Jets and that is all that matters. Tonight however, his disability does matter top the adoring crowd. The talent and graft Blaine has utilised weigh heavy on the audiences consciousness. Not as burden, but as a clear reminder that all people are equal and with extra help having a disability can produce the brightest of stars.

TT was at their Brixton gig earlier this year and must confess thought it was a bit flat. However, tonight the Jets are firing on all cylinders. The new Crosby, Stills and Nash enthused tunes are given the stadium rock treatment to sound mega. ‘Someone Purer’ lyrics’ “Deliver me from sin / Give me rock ‘n’ roll” take on a life of their own in this benefit setting whilst ‘Greatest Hits’ sets the crowd of dancing perfectly before the classic ‘Young Love’ and ‘Two Doors Down’ have the crowd in raptures.

Frank Turner

Last time TT saw Frank, we ended up pissed and emotional not fully believing he had just played to a sold out Wembley Arena. Tonight is a different experience. We have been frothing at the mouth with the prospect of new FT material. There was only one new tune tonight sadly and bugger, we didn’t catch the name but it was full of Turner’s passion and melody which make him so loveable. Vintage Frank! 

 

The decibels are upped tenfold by the crowd the moment ‘I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous’ starts to the moment the barnstorming ‘Photosynthesis’ ends. No matter how many times Frank plays ‘Photosynthesis’ it always resonates powerfully with his audience. If you look closely enough you can see the goose bumps on everyone. Look too closely and you will be arrested mind.

We Must apologise to Zane Lowe and Friendly Fires as we had to leave and missed their sets but friends of Traveller’s Tunes assure us they were top notch as always.

Finally, we must say what a great cause Abel2Abel is. Music at its best is always bringing people together and tonight it does it for an excellent reason.

http://www.able2able.com/

Novella - Novella (ep)

1.       Eat Yourself

How do you announce yourself as an awesome guitar pop band? Try a thundering hum of guitars on the opening and one genius singer called Hollie Warren supplying other worldly vocals is a pretty good start. Plus any song which is a cross pollination of Sleeper and The Shangri-Las is alright by us.

2.       He's My Morning

Cobain would have loved the opening to this song. Full of great pop melodies and shrouded in muffled guitars. The subtle nods and winks to the Pixies with 60s girl group harmonies continue here with great gusto. Sit back with an ice cold beer and enjoy.

3.       Don’t believe Ayn Rand

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back to your lives intellectual pop music. Remember that great feeling when you first heard Meat Is Murder, well, Novella have tapped into that feeling brilliantly.  Ayn Rand was a mere name to us at start of this song. After research (embarrassingly beginning on Wikipedia) we came to realise and debate the work of one of Objectivism’s leading thinkers. Accompanying this with Graham Coxon-esque guitar riffs circa ‘No Distance Left To Run’ makes one hell of a combination.

4.       Strange Things

All their songs have an undercurrent of The Pixies and Pavement influence but Strange Things wears it them on its sleeve. So much so you can imagine Malkmus in the studio shouting “great guitar parts, love them, but will you please stop being so freakin’ cool with your vocals”.

5.       You’re not that cool.

Lord help whoever Warren is singing to when she says “you’re not cool / I never wanted you”. From Warren, this is the vocal equivalent of hangover induced by cider and white wine in 40 degree heat. The song itself is brilliantly moody and ethereal in the beginning before building to a My Bloody Valentine state of hypnotic guitars.

The EP is out now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two Wounded Birds - Two Wounded Birds

Pop music, take a bow. Two Wounded Birds return with their self-titled début album after releasing two singles (corkers we might add) via indie legends: Moshi Moshi. It brims in equal measure with poptastic singles and spell-binding morbidity.

The album opens with ‘Together Forever’, one of the finest opening tracks in the history of rock music. It’s The Shadows, The Ramones and The Beach Boys. It's no wonder The Drums released this album on their record label Holiday Friends Recording Company. The title kind of gives the song's content away but this doesn’t detract from Johnny Danger’s ability to profess his love. If this song had been written in 1993 you can bet your left arse cheek it would have been on the soundtrack to True Romance.

'Daddy's Junk' is in keeping with the up-tempo genius of the band, transporting you to world where Chuck Berry became Lonnie Donnegan's guitar player in a Ramones tribute band. Who said all fantasies had to start with a mullet-haired, washing machine repair man and a bored housewife?

 

Being on The Drums' record label, this album was never going to be just sweetness and light. On 'My Lonesome' they adopt Richard Hawley-esque guitars circa 'Coles Corner' to leave you feeling isolated during the wee hours in a deserted seaside town. Meanwhile, 'No Goodbye's' captures in 3minutes 38 seconds what Noah & The Whale took an album to do on 'First Day's Of Spring'. The darkness looms large like Voldermort in the clouds in the chorus:

'And yooooouuuuuuuuuuu / Don't live round here no more / And from you / And no goodbyes / No calls '. 

This really is a must buy for 2012. TWB caught everyone’s attention with Beach Boys and Dick Dale pop tunes in 2011 and have transgressed this already. The future for the Margate bunch appears to be very bright, despite the infinite sadness.


Two Wounded Birds - Two Wounded Birds is out now!