Pretty Shitty City

I’ve been keen to check out the Framework Social events ever since I’d first heard about them, but I was also a bit apprehensive. What kind of people go out to bake bread and listen to music?

Last Tuesday I finally plucked up some courage, spurred on partly by the fact that I had my own promotion to do (thanks for letting me flyer guys ), and ventured down to St. James Social Club to see some art.

That’s what Framework is basically; a place for people to perform, watch and interact with (or is that intra-act?) art.

I arrived early-ish so that I could take a seat comfortably and watch from the sidelines (not very sociable, I know). The organisers were friendly and they filled me in on the programme of events. I payed my £2 (proceeds going to Oxjam on this occasion) and went to the bar.

St. James’ Social Club is a great little venue for performance, with the tables and chairs arranged in a sort-of U shape around the dance floor come stage. Its worth mentioning that Swansea Jazzland organise events here every Wednesday.

So what happens at the Social?

Read the rest of this entry »

The Bloodhound Gang came to Swansea last Sunday; headlining a weekend of bands and music put together by Sin City as an alternative to the short notice cancellation of Fflam.

I arrived a little late and missed the first support act Kiddo 360, but its okay I’ve seen them before… Next up were the Illegal Amigoz, the Swansea / Llanelli based pop punkers were tight and full of pop-hooks, ska beats and sing-along choruses with a whiff of nu-metal. Vocalist Alex is a strong frontman and their combined experience shows, despite them being relatively young.

An enthusiastic crowd gathered, waiting for the Bloodhound Gang, hungry for music and entertainment in the form of dumb white rap. A Jägermeister machine sat waiting for abuse on the side of the stage. When they arrived on stage, the screen at the back read ‘Good Evening, Pretty Shitty City’ and I can only assume that they were referring to this site.

For a few songs, I tried to keep my amateur-journalistic cool and stand appreciatively at the back, but this got boring very quickly so we pushed forward and ended up at the deepest, darkest, sweatiest bit of any gig; the moshpit. The gang’s unique style of comedy-punk-techno-rap went down well and between songs the crowd’s screams were ringing in my ears.

You can’t really judge the Bloodhound Gang on serious musical merit, but they are certainly masters at referencing and executing low-brow popular culture. Between songs they kept us all entertained with anecdotes and jokes. Jared, the bassist who is prone to getting naked, spoke of beautiful Welsh girls, and even though he thought that Charlotte Church had put on more weight than the entire band put together, he’d still like to “take a shit on her tits”.

I left feeling sweaty and happy. Roll on more gigs at Sin City.

So Escape into the Park has been and gone for another year, with around 13,800 people reported as attending and some great weather despite early showers, the local residents can relax again (for a bit).

This is only my third visit to the festival and even though its crawling with Townies and there are only ever a handful of acts on the line-up that interest me, I enjoy myself more & more each time. There’s something about the mix of live music, sunshine, alcohol & a carnival atmosphere that transcends musical genres and social groups.

Of course the atmosphere probably had something to with the drugs, despite a heavier police presence there still must have been thousands of people using controlled substances. Imagine all those people on nothing but alcohol, I shudder to think what violence might have ensued. Despite some reports that the police searches were invasive and humiliating, in general their presence seemed relaxed and friendly.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Thrills kicked off their new tour at Swansea’s Sin City last Tuesday.

Support was provided by Findlay Brown, whose charming acoustic songs, reminiscent of Nick Drake, were perhaps a little too sleepy for the crowd to stop talking and take notice. So, as a last act, he crouched on the stage and let loose an explosion of electronic noise, to which The Thrills should feel indebted, as it surely focused everyone’s attention towards the stage.

Despite myself, I really like both of The Thrills albums to date. Their unashamed Americanist style and big sound make for great pop songs. I got carried away with the set, to which I knew a surprising amount of lyrics and exactly when to ‘ooh’ every time.

For a moment the themes and lyrics of their songs (e.g. “Nothing Changes Around Here”) seemed to relate perfectly to Swansea and it’s strange, small town/big town mentality. British Suburbia’s obsession with West Coast Americana was so tangible you could almost smell it, or perhaps that was just the cheap vodka and sweat.

The only let downs were the lack of a string section (expected) and that the set seemed to be a little on the short side. Perhaps they just wanted to play a tight, concise set and to escape before getting mobbed by a drunken fan… too late.

Check out Sin City’s website for more upcoming gigs.

Carbon Made is a neat online portfolio made for designers who want to show off their work on the web but have no html knowledge.

Problems with MySpace aside, it’s a great tool for bands and musicians to network with fans, promoters, and other bands. But when it comes to visual artists, it just doesn’t cut it, and whilst Flickr is good for free image hosting, it’s not quite right for a design portfolio.

If your an illustrator, graphic designer or even animator then Carbon Made is perfect. It offers a simple, easy to use layout, a clean & elegant blank canvas for your images and some pretty nice technology such as RSS feeds and Google Analytics integration if that’s what turns you on.

There are limits though, the free plan only allows 5 projects and 35 images. If you want more space and video hosting you’ll need to pay, but its still a great place to start and so much better than MySpace for this sort of thing.

If you give it a go and like it, then feel free to send us a link to your portfolio

http://www.carbonmade.com/

The Afterglow’s new single in equal measure conveys longing and defiance. This manifests itself both lyrically and sonically with there being subtlety and belligerence from the outset.

Beginning with a discreet and extremely tight section questioning as to where this lost friend/ lover “Alice,” may be, this gives way to a cacophonic chorus full of anguish regarding the time and effort being misspent on the songs subject.

Indeed The Afterglow has influences that are worn on their sleeves. There are evident shades of Biffy Clyro when all three instruments collide with equal measure implying how flippantly one can jump from emotion to emotion. Also the gentle sounds that all three conjure echo early Sebadoh with a need for volume but always maintaining melody and purpose. However it’s the way the band’s three members will move so easily from one section to another that keeps the song being continually interesting and the subject matter remaining enigmatic, yet engaging.

The single is backed by “And Then, Surprisingly,” that once again offers wonderfully taut guitar and also a vocal harmony that briefly gives the same calmness that band’s such as Explosions in the Sky generate at their softest moments.

The last time I personally saw The Afterglow live was an acoustic performance. These songs very much reinforce how confrontational yet strikingly hushed a sound the three can create as they did that day. What is more its all so superbly tight and intricate, the sound shaped always being driven and meaningful.

Evidently shunning fads over heartfelt and literate song writing, which in the horrendously fickle music spewed out (and then devoured) by the majority of so called “alternative,” music fans nowadays, this single comes as a breathe of fresh air and shows a band proud of its aesthetic with an obvious vision as to where their sound is going.

http://www.myspace.com/abusiveprofanity
http://www.freewebs.com/abusiveprofanity/media.htm

A double first for Pretty Shitty City here, its our first review (of The Bees at Sin City) and the first article for us from new contributor Stephen Ready.

In the current trend of nu rave (yuck) and the spate of “The…,” bands frequenting the mainstream music press as of late, the Bees act as somewhat of an anomaly in the current musical climate. Indeed they share a similarity in that they act as a primer to other genres much like The Klaxons are to rave or The Horrors are to frantic garage punk a la Cramps (although Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster pulled it off with more menace) However with the Bees their influences are harder to pin down as we are not offered a definitive sound. Rather the band jumble one sound with another with relative ease and in this sense are a gateway to much more than just one genre or sound.

The Bees first came into my own purview with songs like “Punchbag,” and “Minha Menina,” from the “Sunshine Hit Me,” album, brightening up dank mornings as a student in Cardiff. The sounds on “Sunshine Hit Me,” instantly brought to mind Tropicalia of course with the latter, but on this album there were obvious nods to hip hop, funk, jazz and folk in certain sections. Indeed at best the album intermingled sounds from bygone era’s and presented them fresh for a new ear.

All this leads to an artist like Candie Payne appearing as a natural selection for the support slot on the tour. Indeed, like the Bees, Candie Payne and her band from the first chords crafts a sound that cannot necessarily be pinned to one definitive artist. She wouldn’t have sounded entirely out of place in the first or second show of BBC Four’s Soul Brittania series with there being shades of sixties go-go parties and Julie Driscoll style vocals. In consideration, shame no one danced.

The Bees test-run a lot of their new material this evening and it is as Paul Butler states and Mr. Shitty City confirmed on the way down, it’s “a mix of the first and the second album,” this transpires into a superb evening of bright and enlivening music that easily makes the typical Swansea drizzle and gloom outside disappear for an hour or so. Although (for me) a bit top heavy on material from “Free the Bees,” and forthcoming album “Octopus,” the small crowd assembled in Sin City is privy to the melting pot of sounds abovementioned, and the Bees are receptive to a thoroughly receptive audience.

All we need are more people to actually show up and this could be a more frequent occurrence.

http://www.myspace.com/thebeesofficial
http://www.myspace.com/candiepayne