THE FUTUREHEADS
Sub 29
After being unceremoniously dumped by their record label, things looked bleak
for proto-punk enthusiasts The Futureheads. A shame because they were one of
the first bands to reintroduce regional accents into music – long before
Alex Turner’s articulate Sheffield drawl. The Sunderland quartet needn’t
have worried though as they’ve regrouped and produced their finest album
to date – This Is Not The World. It’s another abrasive trawl through
a searing hybrid of indie, punk and rock but with a gleaming pop mentality
at its core. The band opened with the ferocious Decent Days and Nights; a barnstorming
tune that barely bruises the three-minute mark. The banter between tracks was
hilarious, ranging from impromptu girlie yelps between hammy guitar solos and
threatening the crowd with a cover of Enrique Iglesias’ Hero (sadly,
the latter never materialised). Although the band was happy enough to thrash
through a series of abrasive pop-punk numbers, they’re just as adept
at bringing a hefty amount of soul to the set with Radio Heart and Walking
Backwards clear highlights. The punchy Beginning Of The Twist finally made
the crowd put their camera phones back in their pockets and pogo incessantly
around the venue, something that should’ve been addressed a long time
ago. The skilful reworking of Kate Bush’s Hounds Of Love sent the place
into delirium as a round of harmonic ‘Oh oh ohs’ circled the floor.
The band encored with Le Garage but by this juncture The Futureheads had more
than proved their musical worth.
SWN FESTIVAL
Now in its second
year, the annual Swn Festival is a frantic jamboree of new music and the arts,
all condensed into the space of three days.
Proceedings began
on Friday night at Barfly with expansive rock courtesy of Stray Borders. The
band’s dark yet lush instrumentals made way for the barmy Max Tundra – a
one-man europop extravaganza, bouncing around manically in just a t-shirt and
boxer shorts and terrorising the crowd with accelerated synths and helium-fuelled
vocals. Over at Dempseys, MC Saizmundo was spitting Welsh rhymes incessantly,
kitted out in a white suit that made Miami Vice look dull and uncoloured. Across
the road in Clwb Ifor Bach, Liverpool experimentalists Clinic closed Friday with
an awesome set, crammed full of beatific melodrama. Saturday opened with the
blissful strumming of Cate Le Bon at The Gate, drifting effortlessly between
sedate folk and playful indie. Le Bon’s carefree laments were polar opposite
to The Peth’s raucous attitude at Tommy’s Bar with lead singer Rhys
Ifans every bit the archetypal rock ‘n’ roll frontman. Media darlings
Amazing Baby closed Saturday with their first gig outside London. Lead singer
Will Roan was in energetic form, hanging precariously from the roof beams and
piling into the crowd at a packed Barfly. The festival drew to a close on Sunday
at The Point with gonzo-rap aficionados Goldie Lookin Chain bounding manically
around the stage. The Newport collective have been repeating the same joke for
some years now, but it’s still funny. Although this year’s Swn Festival
lacked the big names from 2007 (Beirut/The Cribs), it still gave a comprehensive
insight into new music from these shores and beyond – something S^wn’s
creator, Huw Stephens, knows only too well.
Keith Carey’s our man about town