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April 27, 2015

RELEASE: Arrive Alone, Leave Alone EP – Girl Friend

Words by Ed King / Pics by Ben Roberts @benrobertsart

27^th April sees Tri-Tone release Arrive Alone, Leave Alone EP – the latest unashamed disco pop proffering from the Manchester four piece, Girl Friend.

Forming in 2014, Girl Friend (as in your friend who’s a girl – not the early 90’s Aussie quintet) are an obvious throwback; an homage to all the teardrops on the dance floor at Club Tropicana, spilled by west end girls and east end boys. But there’s an edge, as with the decade itself; the sometimes sinister side of the 80’s is carefully sewn into the upfront pop production.

Disguised destruction filter the lyrics, hidden behind sore flashbacks of white suits and mirror balls, with the EP’s lead single, ‘You Lead the Way’, being a clandestine statement of sexual self abuse – deftly delivered by the manipulatively sleek vocals of lead singer, Amory. “All I want to do is to give in to what you want to,” well, quite.

‘Style and Substance’ gives more space to Amory’s vocals, as the pretty boy front man describes “waking up in stages” to “another day pretending to be someone I am not,” watching the song’s titular cultural bedrocks disappear into the sea. And no, no one is innocent.

Before the slow disco beat of ‘Stop’, the final track on Arrive Alone, Leave Alone EP, walk us through a whispering lament – building to a rich barrage of synthesised melodies that would have nestled comfortably in between the film soundtracks for Drive and Manhunter.

In fact, the only weak side of this four track EP is the first one you come to, ‘Monte Carlo’ – laced with somewhat teenage declarations such as “in Monte Carlo you’ll never be alone” and “I don’t want to dance with another.” Perhaps I’m not getting it, but if tracks two, three and four are a controlled diet of sex, cocaine & Quaaludes, the opener is a Pontiac Firebird commercial.

Girl Friend have just completed a UK tour, building up some momentum for the release of Arrive Alone, Leave Alone EP – ending with a launch party at the Shacklewell Arms in Dalston. Birmingham Review missed their gig at the Sunflower Lounge on 20^th April, but will be keeping an eye out for when they return.

And with the release of their curiously addictive Arrive Alone, Leave Alone EP (even with the less addictive ‘Monte Carlo’) and a festival bill summer catering for borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered eighties (thank you Mr Murphy) we don’t expect Girl Friend to be strangers for long. If they can pull this off live…

‘You Lead the Way’ – Girl Friend

Arrive Alone, Leave Alone EP by Girl Friend is out on general release from 27^th April 2015 – through Tri-Tone.

For more on Girl Friend, including online purchase points, visit http://www.girlfriendband.com/

For more from Tri-Tone, visit http://www.tri-tone.co.uk/

April 25, 2015April 29, 2015

WIN: Swingamajig 2015 tickets x 4

Four days to go…

On Sunday 3^rd May, Swingamajig returns to The Custard Factory in Digbeth for its biggest festival show to date.

And Birmingham Review has 4 tickets to give away. You jammy tart bast*ards.

The brainchild of Electric Swing Circus and Ragtime Records, Swingamajig ‘is the UK’s first one day urban festival dedicated to Electro Swing, Gypsy Folk and vintage mayhem’.

Started in 2103, Swingamajig has been steadily nudging the boundaries of capacity and debauchery every early May bank Holiday – now taking over 6 spaces across The Custard Factory complex, from 2pm on Sun 3rd to 6am on Mon 7th May.

For further Swingamajig details, including maps and directions, click here.

*ENTER BY 12MIDNIGHT FRIDAY 1ST / WINNER ANNOUNCED 10AM SATURDAY 2ND*

To win tickets to Swingamajig 2015 on Sunday 3^rd May, just lindy hop over to the Birmingham Review Facebook Page (not the ‘profile’, move away from the ‘profile’) and give us a Like: https://www.facebook.com/BhamReview

Then send us a message answering the following, carefully crafted, Kit Williamsesque, Mensa approved riddle:

WHY I WANT FREE SWINGAMAJIG TICKETS

We want decadence, we want flapper, we want crushed velvet dapper. We want to give these tickets to people who embrace the 1920’s based fervor and make it their own.

Just don’t shoot anyone in a Chicago car park over bootlegged hooch, you won’t win for that. Think more feathers, hats & braces.

Competition closes as the clock chimes twelve (that’s midnight) on Friday 30^th April.

And if you don’t know what Swingamajig is a) you’ve probably stopped reading, b) where the hell have you been, and c) viddy last year’s festival below to find out:

Swingamajig 2014

N.B. Winners will be contacted directly, with an public announcement via Birmingham Review, on Saturday 1^st May. Please email any questions or queries to info@birminghamreview.net

For more on Swingamajig, visit http://swingamajig.co.uk/

For more from Electric Swing Circus, visit http://electricswingcircus.com/

For more from Ragtime Records, visit http://ragtime-records.com/

April 25, 2015

OPINION: Has someone stolen your tie?

Words by Sasha Holt

Well it’s been transitional time in the fashion world, with recent fashion week extravaganzas gracing the most glamorous of cities with the most fashion forward of people. We will just have to wait and see what filters down to the high street and boutique level.

Back down to reality with a bump, the continuing fashion trend that I’m not completely sold on just yet is ‘Geek Chic’. But first let’s extol the positives of this styling choice.

For girls, we’ve seen an androgynous look of skinny jeans, paired with slogan emblazoned sweatshirts, which encapsulate the idea. And those among the fairer sex that have wanted to put a twist on this contrived trend straitjacket have mixed vintage floral dresses with cardigans and oversized specs. But the girls appear to have had to better end of the deal when choosing to jump on the Geek Chic fashion train.

My issue comes with the male side of this sartorial coin. One of the overriding parts of creating a trend such as ‘Geek Chic’ – i.e. something, supposedly, the social awkward would wear, is that we are being brain washed into bad taste being good taste. And one manifestation of this, an element of male ‘Geek Chic’ that makes me even more apoplectic than cargo trousers and jeans pulled down to show underwear (…don’t get me started) is the shirt with the top button done up.

You see it everywhere now, from Jo nobody to every letter on the Celebrity A to Z list; in fact it’s transcended any one particular trend, but I can’t understand why anyone would think it looks good.

Every time I see someone sporting the top button garrote I want to ask them if they need help finding their tie. Now its offensive to me in a casual setting, but it appears to now being trialed at formal occasions too. Oh please, just look in the mirror. A sharp suit (or an ill fitting supermarket choice) paired with a shirt buttoned up to the top, but then no finishing touch. It’s like going out without shoes.

Once the choice has been made to follow the ‘Geek Chic’ line, it’s a short stroll from this top button trauma to ankle grazers and men wearing jeans so tight it should be a matter of public decency. Where will it end.

So fashion followers, as always you will led by your clothing conscience – but if you are embracing the male ‘Geek Chic’ please do me two favours:
1) Look in the mirror
2) If you see me coming, surreptitiously undo that top button.

Stay fashionable and most importantly stay you.

Follow Sasha Holt @sashahawker

April 24, 2015

PREVIEW: Kwabs @ Hare & Hounds, Sat 25th Apr ‘15

Kwabs will be performing at the Hare & Hounds in Kings Heath on Saturday 25^th April, as presented by Metropolis Music & Live Nation.

Doors open from 7pm, with entry charged at £10 (advance). For further gig details & tickets, click here.

N.B. At the time of publishing, this event was billed as sold out. Please check with the venue or official ticket outlets.

Kwabs began his serious affair with music after being put forward for the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) by his then music teacher – where he would become the orchestra’s lead singer for three years.

Kwabs was then picked up by Goldie for his TV show, Goldie’s Band: By Royal Appointment, becoming one of 12 musicians to compose and perform their original pieces at Buckingham Palace. Kwabs also sang a cover of song ‘Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child’ – a song most associated with the American slave trade.

After releasing two cover songs via YouTube in 2010, ‘Like a Star’ by Corrine Bailey Rae and ‘The Wilhelm Scream’ by James Blake, Kwabs was picked up by Atlantic Records – releasing his debut Wrong or Right EP through the label in February 2014.

Kwabs’ subsequent Pray for Love EP was released in May 2014, with his latest and most commercially successful release, Walk EP, came out in October the same year. The title track from Walk EP went on to reach top twenty positions in Germany (No1), Austria (No3), Switzerland (No4) and Norway (No12), whilst positioning at No 71 in the UK Singles Chart.

Kwabs’ debut album, Love + War, is scheduled for release through Atlantic Records on 18^th May. To watch/hear the official video for the first single, ‘Perfect Ruin’, click here or on the link/image below:

‘Perfect Ruin’ by Kwabs

Kwabs will be performing at the Hare & Hounds in Kings Heath on Saturday 25^th April. For further gig details & tickets, visit http://hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk/event-listings/event/?eventID=10035327

For more on Kwabs, visit http://kwabsmusic.com/

For more from Atlantic Records (UK), visit http://atlanticrecords.co.uk/

For further listings from the Hare & Hounds, visit http://hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk/event-listings

April 21, 2015

BPREVIEW: Found Footage Festival / Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me @ The Electric, 22nd Apr ‘15

Oscar Levant once said “there is a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.” But The Electric Cinema are bringing back the grey area with a double screening on Wednesday 22^nd April.

On Screen One (9pm) / Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me

On Screen Two (8:30pm) / The Found Footage Festival’s Salute to Weirdos

Bit of a coin toss, but both screenings merit some attention. For a further introduction see the indiviual profiles below.

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me

Twin Peaks was the phenomenally successful David Lynch/Mark Frost TV series, first shown in April 1990, that tells the discovery (and subsequent investigation) of a dead local girl Laura Palmer.

Set in the fictional Washington town of Twin Peaks, the series dissected the white picket fence nightmares that lurk behind the seeming status quo of rural, white North America – as the history of abuse, that surrounded the apocryphal girl-next-door, unfolds.

Told in Lynch’s inimitable voice, with the mundane and routine getting a strychnine gloss, Twin Peaks created as many questions as it hid answers – with Fire Walk with Me retrospectively offered as the ‘last seven days’ of Laura Palmer and an attempt at conclusion. Regardless, the story and the storyteller are a ferocious balance of sinister and intelligence; Fire Walk with Me is a certainty for anyone hooked into the original TV series.

Click the link below to watch the official Fire Walk with Me trailer:

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with me – official trailer

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Found Footage Festival’s Salute to Weirdos

The Found Footage Festival is an ongoing collection of videos that archive the quite surreal embodiment of some human beings, as captured on film – from dating to dancing, from funny to frightening.

The Festival’s Salute to Werdios is a specific light shine at those VHS ‘stars’ that would have found their way into the public domain a couple of decades ago, but have mercifully been gathering dust in charity shops and attics.

Until now, when they tour 11 dates across eight UK cities – which is more than most X Factor finalists.

Crippling humorous and ultimately heartbreaking, it’s possibly easy to see than to believe – click on the link below fro a taster/warning of what’s to come:

The Found Footage Salute to Weirdos – ‘Video Dating’

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me is being shown at The Electric Cinema (Screen One) at 9pm on 22^nd April. For further info & tickets, visit https://www.theelectric.co.uk/programme.php?film=1118

The Found Footage Festival’s Salute to Weirdos is being shown at The Electric Cinema (Screen Two) at 8:20pm on 22^nd April. For further info & tickets, visit https://www.theelectric.co.uk/programme.php?film=1108

For more from The Electric Cinema, visit https://www.theelectric.co.uk/