New music: Interpol - Self titled

"The month of September; summer ends, classes begin. The coming of a new season is in the air as autumn approaches. A time of year when the natural world slips into a slumber, and Interpol releases it's fourth studio recording. The self titled, self produced, long-player will be available world wide in mid September."

You don't know how long I've been waiting to read that! Interpol are one of (if not actual... tough call with MCR though) my favourite bands and I've been scouring the interweb for news in the past 6 months or so. Note to Interpol: you're really hard to search for when you share the name of a world-wide police organisation. Or maybe you meant that. You clever weird bastards.

So you can download their new song, for free from www.interpolnyc.com - it's called Lights and it really doesn't disappoint. Insanely melodramatic and melancholy lyrics in Paul Banks' gloriously baritone voice, with a guitar line that builds throughout the song to finally break the tension. That's what's so good about Interpol, that amazing ability to create tension within the songs; sometimes it breaks, sometimes it doesn't. What draws me, unquestionably, are the lyrics though. Beautiful in their ambiguity yet so accurate in their empathy, I literally can never get bored of deciphering them and extracting new meaning and relevances in my life. Because let's face it, that's what makes great lyrics; finding the representation of yourself in there. Plus I'm a massive emo, inside. And a little bit outside too.

Rumours are that the Interpol LP (eponymous, always a sign of getting back to your roots) is a return to 2002's Turn on the Bright Lights; which most fans seem to be pleased with. I'm not too bothered really; I love all the albums, although I actually prefer Our Love to Admire; mainly because of the edge of darkness in the song's themes and lyrics; it felt like an album of anger, of betrayal, of utter resignation to how things are. But then Bright Lights has of course the epic NYC and The New, two of my favourite songs. Basically; I'm happy either way. Give me a smattering of lyrics like 'I've had seven faces, thought I knew which one to wear; I'm sick of spending these lonely nights, training myself not to care...' and I'm off in my melancholic glee.
They're touring the UK in Nov/Dec and I'm going to see them on 6th December at Brixton. That's 6 months away. Sigh. They're one of the only bands in my music collection that I haven't seen live and I'm trés excited.  I think tickets are still available.

So we'll have to wait until September for new Interpol, until then, I don't think I'll grow tired of their back catalogue. So good.

La Roux & Dan Black @ Camden Roundhouse - iTunes Festival

Last night I went to see La Roux play at Camden Roundhouse, with Dan Black supporting, as part of iTunes free London festival going on all July. What an awesome night! Getting free tickets to a gig is nice enough, even better that I love La Roux, and once I'd found someone to come along with me, (cheers Kylie, saved the day!) we had ourselves a great little night out in London town :)

Fern Cotton and Dave Berry were there presenting for itv2, how special:

Me and Kylie getting a bit sweaty in the crowd, ah fun times:
So as I said, Dan Black was supporting, I hadn't really heard much of his stuff before, checked him out and like what little I heard, but he was immense! Really enjoyed his set, we were dancing and bobbing along, first time I've enjoyed a largely unknown support act for a long time. His music is what I'd describe as Electropop mainly, little bit of an indie feel (actually, I detect a slight early Radiohead feel, in a good way) and a slight leaning towards the melancholy in his lyrics, as well as entirely danceable, which means he gets a thumbs up from me! Loved it, I'm definitely going to get his album when I have some cash.



Nice set, very neon/brightly lit/crazy. Also, if Jesus was a rocking post-indie keyboard player who likes to go a bit mental, he would look like this:

So then La Roux came on, and I have to say I think I enjoyed Dan Black a bit more. He seemed to have much more energy... although I really like La Roux's style and songs, and she hit pretty much every note perfectly, I just didn't feel as invigorated as I thought I would. Having said that, when Going in For the Kill and Bulletproof came on, everyone rocked out a bit more and it felt really good to do some crazy dancing. She had an amazing jacket on though, not entirely sure if you can see it properly, but it was white and had no lapel, with massive plastic gems on. Sooo cool. She's a bit stylish, that girl.






A really great saturday night! Ace to be back in London (again woohoo), I'm making a pleasant habit of this.

Lastly, the road opposite the roundhouse is called Crogsland Road. Which I found hilarious and I don't know why. Crogsland. Heeheee.