Rebel Grrrl!!!

Kate Nash LIVE!

Some weeks ago now Jaz was invited to Kate Nash's first gig in two years. As previously reported on BOOMerangKid, the once nerdy mockney rhymer has abandoned whatever it is that made her famous in the first place for a more rebellious image. And you can't help but wonder why. Like Lily Allen ditching prom dresses and trainers for Chanel - it doesn't matter how much elegance she feigns, we will never forget that she's actually a chav with a mouth on her like a schoolkid from South Park. It just doesn't convince. Never much of a fan of Kate Nash Mk I, Jaz is left a little unsure as to whether Kate Nash Mk II is a career killer or a vast improvement...

“I don’t know if I can still play but fuck it!” she shrieks to signal the start of a rather different set, featuring mostly unheard material.  If her recent participation in a band called The Receeders isn’t enough of a giveaway, her abrasive yelping on new material from a forthcoming sophomore release confirms that it’s goodbye cutesy ditties, hello riot-grrrl punk. That would at least explain the bold ditching of floral prints for a monochrome bat-winged uniform together with Lego Man bob and lashing of Hollywood red lipstick. It just screams (or rather, shrills) Karen O – and, less fortunately at times, The Exorcist’s Linda Blair.

For the full rambunctious review, head over to The List magazine's website:
http://www.list.co.uk/article/24405-kate-nash/

For more pics from the gig get yourselves Flickr-ing: http://www.flickr.com/photos/boomerangkid/sets/72157623453634765/

Jaz x x

In This Light And On This Tourbus

Jaz has been a little lost at sea this past week continuing in our battle for worldwide media domination. It's a rollercoaster ride that's recently taken us to The Scottish Daily Mail of all places where everything is weighed according to the extent of damages to the truest symbol of morality - the British taxpayer. But finally we are getting the ball rolling once more. Don't kick a dog when it's down... it'll only rise to bite you in the arse. Or something like that.

"Chris generally hates music. He's pretty bored of it. I think he only likes the music he wants to create so he doesn't want to listen to other bands." - Russell Leetch, Editors


So Editors - the band who make Les Miserables look like a comedy - have yet to find the cure to their moroseness, then? Shame. We met with the Brummy foursome last week during their latest Academy tour. Their third album In This Light And On This Evening saw the group discover synths and bagged them another Number 1 record. Jaz is still incapable of listening to it with a straight face but the less said of that the better. We'll let the NME review do the talking there: http://www.nme.com/reviews/editors/10884

For the full interview head over to Q: http://news.qthemusic.com/2010/03/editors_interview_in_this_ligh.html

Jaz's photos are to be published by Editors (or their website designers) in the near future so for copyright reasons we will not direct you to them now. Suffice to say their appearance hasn't suffered as drastic a makeover as their music. Jaz also cannot post anything from In This Light And On This Evening (and not for copyright reasons). Here is Bullets - the highlight from their debut album: 






Jaz x

Introducing... Lauren Pritchard

The state of Tennessee has changed the face of country, rock'n'roll, the blues and soul music. It's little wonder then that Jackson-born Lauren Pritchard takes her influences from many a genre. The production on Stuck could get quite a few boots shaking in Camps Duffy and Adele, and with an old-before-her-time voice that sounds rasped by a bottle of Tennessee's finest Jack Daniels, the London-via-La La Land songstress has been able to scoop a deal with Island records.

That'll be why she's bagged a producer in Marcus Mumford (of M&S - the band, not the supermarket chain) and pinched Ed Harcourt's piano for country epic lead single When The Night Kills The Day... coming to a television finale of Grey's Anatomy/One Tree Hill/Other Hypersensitive US Sitcom soon. She may get journalists coining her as a Janis Joplin meets Karen Carpenter type but Jaz bets you never heard either of them remixed to dubstep delight. Hurry over to RCRDLBL asap to download the Stuck remix:

http://rcrdlbl.com/2010/03/11/premiere_lauren_pritchard_stuck_various_production_remix_

For more info on Pritchard including gig dates visit the mighty MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/laurenpritchardmusic

Jaz x

FLASH ah-ah, Saviours of the Universe! It's MGMT...

Jaz got a sneak peak of MGMT's forthcoming second release Congratulations, which - following their splendiferously technicoloured Oracular Spectacular -  is one of the most anticipated albums of this year. If you were hoping for more of the same with album number two you're in for a bit of a shock.

Kicking off with what sounds like the backdrop for a Middle-Eastern market place, new track Flash Delirium is still psychedelic except with more of a Beach Boys surf rock air - think Help Me Rhonda on acid... at an ELO concert. With one song on the album titled Brian Eno, it's safe to say that the New York duo have set their sights on out-experimenting the electro-ambient rock superproducer in terms of innovation. On creating the album which hits the UK on 12th April, Andrew Vanwyngarden has said: "It's so great to be around such amazing and unusual musical minds". Among other catalysts, we're sure...

Transcend space and time and join MGMT on a psychedelic spiral odyssey... Alternatively download the track for free at  www.whoismgmt.com

Or if you're running low on iPod space you could just stare at this for a few minutes for similar sensational vibrations...




Jaz x

Re-made/Re-modelled

"The M&S advert with At The River is unforgivable. I've lost count of the number of people who've told us they got married to that song and now watching their wedding's like seeing an ad for chilli con carne or ice cream and chocolate sauce." - Tom Findlay, Groove Armada

In case you've yet to hear us banging on about how marvellous it all is that Groove Armada have taken a leap into the night and rediscovered the '80s and Roxy Music, Jaz shall hammer the point home once more for your benefit. We met with Tom Findlay, one half of the Superstylin' duo, to bond over our mutual Manchester alumni status while discussing the dark times that influenced their bold redirection, the celebs they've been rubbing shoulders with ahead of Lovebox and the Sugababe who never took up their offer of a second date. Oh the tribulations of being a superstar DJ.

Check out the full interview: http://news.qthemusic.com/2010/03/interview_with_groove_armada_r.html

And why not listen to the Will Young featuring album closer History while you're at it:



Jaz x

Brighton Rock

Grunge has found a new home far from Seattle, Washington, Steve Albini and Sub Pop records. Hence the nosebleed. Pearl Jam, Pixies, Nirvana, Sonic Youth... all artists lining the walls and dominating the vinyl collections of two noiseniks from Brighton: Laura-Mary Carter and Steven Ansell, aka Blood Red Shoes. Just as well Nevermind never really goes out of mind, then. It's like the summer of 1991 all over again!

Now on album number two Fire Like This, which was released last Monday, this terrible twosome have been sneaking their way into Zane Lowe playlist territory (and strangely River Island's instore soundtrack; Jaz evidently took the wrong detour on a recent shopping spree). Here they are keeping it simple with the non mood-enhancing but nevertheless thrillingly raw Light It Up...



Jaz x

P.S. If the above is of interest, it may also be worth digging out your yellow smiley face hoodies for Courtney Love whose touring the UK with the "re-formed" Hole in the Spring. With Love as the only original member, it's not so much a re-formation as an attempt to take a leaf out of the Sugababes authoritative book in how to flog a dead horse...

Happy Sunday! Grovel Grovel...

Jaz awoke to mild panic that we'd forgotten Mother's Day among all the past week's gig overload this morning. Alas, it's not til next week so we have some time for ample fishy preparation. But cue our apology to all you wonderful blogees for the slower week that's just passed. There is much to make up for it in store: Groove Armada, Mumford & Sons, Local Natives... In addition, Jaz was invited to watch Kate Nash's first gig in two years last night. The review is pending publication and will be with you very soon :) And if that wasn't enough, we'll be chatting to those cheery Editors blokes in Glasgow this week. If only time would stop for just five minutes...

On that note, we leave you with a modern classic: Stillness Is The Move by Dirty Projectors from last year's Bitte Orca. Absolutely sublime - even Beyonce's sister Solange is a fan...



Jaz x

Bonkers

Jaz isn't big into demographics but suspects that there may be a trend emerging of shorter life expectancies among certain Western communities. How else to explain today's news that 24-year-old Dizzee Rascal has signed a book deal and will be relating his memoirs (thus far) via autobiography before he even gets a Number 1 album? This begs the question: when do we now qualify as ready for penning our 'life' history?

If, dreading a long arduous train journey, you went to the autobiography section of your nearest WH Smith ten years ago, you'd maybe be looking at Nelson Mandela, Audrey Hepburn, potentially moaning Morrissey. Don't get us wrong, it doesn't strictly have to do with age: what valuable tidbits can we really be learning from Lulu, for instance (besides the latest 2-for-1s from Morrisons)? But the former had substantial stories to tell and not just a fast buck to make. Much like Greatest Hits album, autobiographies no longer signal the swan song in a person's career. So, think before you breathe that sigh of relief as your eyes pass over the latest chapter in the Katie Price saga.

Sure, Dizzee has apparently had a difficult upbringing, but will that enrich our experience when grinding like muppets to hits such as Bonkers, Dirtee Cash and Dance Wiv Me? Next time we rap along to Holiday... I know you're really busy and I know you've got plans/But are you really too busy for a sun tan... knowledge of the fact that Dizzee once got stabbed on vacation in Cyprus is sure to get our summer juices flowing. Really Dizzee, could you not have just gone on Piers Morgan's Life Stories instead?

Jaz x

SOS: ABBA Returns (Sort of)

Jaz doesn't believe in guilty pleasures: ELO, ABBA, the Bee Gees? We say, bring back Studio 54. But perhaps LA trio Music Go Music do feel slightly sheepish every time Donna Summer's Love To Love You Baby is spotted on their iPod by an unforgiving hip acquaintance. Otherwise why would they exist under the pretense of alter egos with names such as Kamer Maza and Gala Bell? What's wrong with Dave and Meredith? It's quite simple: Dave and Meredith are neither funky, nor groovy. But Kamer Maza... now that's foxy.

If the name Music Go Music wasn't indication enough, this collective are digging disco, baby. And good pastel-coloured, psychedelic, one-stop-voyage-to-heaven disco at that. The debut album Expressions will be arriving in April. Previous single Warm In The Shadows comes over all Blondie Atomic meets ABBA Voulez-vous. Go on, have a listen. We won't tell ;)

Now, where did we put that Afro wig...



Jaz x

Compare The Rabbit Dot Com

Do you often find yourself mistaking some bands for certain others due to their ridiculously near-identical silly names? Have you been getting your Black Kids mixed up with your Black Lips, crossing your Howling Bells with your Broken Bells or swapping your MGMT for your N.E.R.D? If so, you are not alone. Jaz has become so infuriated by a particularly bad case of Multiple Bandname Disorder recently that we've felt it necessary to safeguard society from what's fast becoming a global epidemic: Bunny Flu.

"I in true Glaswegian fashion made the error of shooting my mouth off about a homegrown beardy Scottish collective called Frightened Rabbit only to stand bruised and bashful as six stylishly clad Brooklynites took centre stage under the nom de plume White Rabbits. Seriously, what the buck teeth is that all about?"

That's right. The suffix Rabbit is due to overcome the ampersand and quite possible the 'The' as most popular requirement for rockgroup christenings. To help you correctly distinguish between White Rabbits and Frightened Rabbit, Jaz has written a full rant-fueled guide over on Who's Jack: http://www.whosjack.org/?p=4543

Also useful are the following visual aids:-

Exhibit A: White Rabbits with Percussion Gun from second album It's Frightening...



Exhibit B: Frightened Rabbit with Swim Until You Can't See Land from third album (just released on Monday) The Winter Of Mixed Drinks...



Be safe...

Jaz x

My Beloved Monster And Me

A brilliant day of Tweeting with Ellie Goulding, going out for sushi, catching Michael Cera and Steve Buscemi in a side-slapping movie (Year In Revolt) was this evening perfectly topped off with a soul-swelling experience watching Mumford & Sons play their biggest date ever. Does it get better than that?! Well, yes actually. Jaz can now share with you the one, the only... La GaGa! She came, she saw, she conquered...

Seriously, why debate the merits of introducing sex education in primary schools when you can escort your child to watch a former burlesque performer cavort around a Warhol-inspired backdrop of multi-coloured dildos singing lines like “Inject me… I like it rough… take a bite of my bad girl meat”? ‘What’s that mummy?’ is not a question easily avoided when you’re staring a 50-foot projection of a leather-clad gimp in the face. 

... and she's in full review on Who's Jack: http://www.whosjack.org/?p=4496

Enjoy - we know we did!

xxx

P.S More from Mumford & Sons to come. And don't worry - we haven't forgotten about that Groove Armada interview... we were just too busy trying to catch a certain Marcus Mumford's eye.

Introducing Freelance Whales

Is it a banjo? Is it a harmonium? Is it a glockenspiel? Apparently it's all three. As someone not quite old enough to remember the Medieval Times and thus not qualified to correctly distinguish such instruments, this is good news for Jaz. It's also good news for fans of that multi-instrumentalist Arcade Fire-esque anthemic aura. From Queens, New York and currently milling around the blogosphere quite nicely are five-piece Freelance Whales (what were they thinking... would there really have been something wrong with In-house Hippopotami?! ). With more hushed vocals than Arcade Fire's Win Butler, the sound is much gentler and slightly infused with a hint of Postal Service, The Shins and that other marine-titled outfit Noah And The Whale. Perfect for a Juno-type soundtrack or a Channel 4 documentary, their finger-picked folk will pluck at your heartstrings.

Single Generator Second Floor from debut album Weathervane is set to land in the UK on 22 March. It comes courtesy of the same people who gave us glorious first releases from the assured talents of White Lies and Mumford & Sons.

For more information head over to the mecca of MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/freelancewhales



Jaz x

Bring Back THE FACE!

 

 Jaz has had a long day coming down from the synonymously euphoric and energy-sapping experience of La GaGa last night - not to mention the interview also squeezed in beforehand with Groove Armada. But stumbling around the office-come-boudoir of BOOMeranKid HQ, we find material for a worthy post. Jaz has come across a relic of the past: a copy of once greatly adored and much missed glorious glossy, The Face. What was once a magazine of iconic covers and au courant material that would put i-D to shame is now but a distant memory. The publication's last appearance was in the spring of 2004. We say it's time to make a call to arms: Bring Back The Face! For starters, what other magazine does front and back covers?!

Jaz x

P.S. Jaw-dropping GaGa and legendary Groove Armada to come tomorrow :) But for now check out some cheekily snapped GaGa photos over on Flickr.