She’s been tipped, constantly I should add, throughout this year as being the best thing since slice bread. Sliced bread aside, Florence’s talent for a melody is one thing that puts her a few rungs further than quite a few “tipped” artists emerging this year.

With this in mind I thought I would skip the opportunity to tell you “how good she is” and let you just hear the song and decide for yourself if she warrants the hype.

The single “Dog Days Are Over” will be be out on December 2nd via IAMSOUND Recordings. I suggest you buy it!

myspace: myspace.com/florenceandthemachinemusic

The RGBs - The Day.mp3
[ myspace // last.fm ]

Razorlight - The House.mp3
[ myspace // last.fm // amazon ]

Klaus Says Buy The Record - My Daily Attire.mp3
[ myspace // last.fm ]

The Dodos - winter.mp3
[ myspace // last.fm // amazon ]

Razorlight
Brixton Academy, London
November 13th, 2008

Brixton Academy is ambitious in design but dirty in reality, vast  but inti mite in the same breath. A truly decent performance effortlessly fills this 5,000 capacity space with adrenaline. Despite his best efforts, the Detroit Social Club front man just doesn’t pull it off. His band is boring and lacking in charisma.

As the band take their weapons, it’s the distinctive “B ,  C#m,A” chords that, to any Razorlight fan, can only mean one thing - Golden Touch! Suddenly the crowd awakes, possessed. Johnny lets the crowd do the work providing vocals that fill the venue, in perfect tone. Tonight, Brixton Academy will be owned by Razorlight.

Then, probably the best track from Up All Night, Dalston. The whole band are on top form. Dalmeo strolls through his bass line with ease and Agren’s rhythm guitar has never sounded better. Burrows resembles a 4 year old with some new drums at Christmas.

We’re left buzzing, floating almost,  from these two classics, and are then refreshed with some Burberry Blue Eyes and the In The Morning. Agren stays, takes the spot light, as the band waltz off stage, leaving men in overcoats to sweep the stage and move stuff around.

The curtain gets thrown off revealing Razorlight’s full set complete with a dozen lights panels.

Many people here tonight are new fans, the kind no real fan likes. This site is about new music and introducing it to new fans but we can’t help but want to keep them, just for us. I keep thinking “I watched this band

Closing with Somewhere Else the crowd are left feeling excited and warm and awake and refreshed. This is a band that have come along way, their progression is stunning. The band, Johnny in particular, and their sound is new and feels more mature.

Johnny is called arrogant by many, including me in the past, but he carries it on stage. He is a showman, a performing genius.

Read our ‘Slipway Fires’ review here. Thanks to Watching Dreams Float By for posting the set list.

likesounds.com is designed for Firefox so chances are, if your viewing this site in anything other Ffx, your missing out. Missing the mp3 samples we put up and missing the gig & band news we get our hands on…

Here’s a button that can help you upgrade your Internet browsing experience:

News broke yesterday of a deal that sees communications giant O2 take over the sponsorship of 11 Academy branded venues across the UK.

The deal starts on January 1st 2009 and will see O2 customer get exclusive first grabs on tickets for over 4000 gigs every year. Extra benefits, according to the press release, might include priority gig access and VIP treatment for O2 customers once inside the venue.

The venues are: O2 Academy Brixton, O2 Academy Islington, O2 Academy Birmingham, O2 Academy Bristol, O2 Academy Glasgow, O2 Academy Liverpool, O2 Academy Newcastle , O2 Academy Oxford, O2 Academy Sheffield, O2 Academy Leeds and O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire.

Being a regular at the academy venues makes me sceptical about any extra benefits over and above ticketing. The staff for one are some of the most unfriendly I’ve met - but it’s all about the music, right? Wrong.

“Through this partnership we are not only looking to benefit O2 customers, but to also enhance the live experience for all artists and music fans.”

Now, instead of throwing cups of Carling, or, worse, piss people will now be encouraged to throw sim cards on N95’s. Aside from the cup-of-piss problem I fail to see how they will “enhance” the experience. It gets my back up slightly when people say stuff like this. After All, you’re there to see Klaxons, Editors, Razorlight, Guillemots, Mighty Boosh or whoever put on an awesome sweat inducing show that you’ll remember for life.

Back when we were talking about Astoria closing there were pricks moaning about the pictures on the wall or the stale smell of that beer that got spilt when Libertines played there in 2003 that no one cleaned up. The very same people berate you for bumping in to them whilst your having a dance around.

If being detached from the real fans and watching from a distance in your own private O2 zone sounds like your cuppa-tea then I urge you to go to HMV and just buy the record - don’t bother with the gig.

So above all this deal is good if I, as an O2 customer, get my hands on tickets first however if they start changing the dirty venues we know and love then there will be war.

The Mighty Boosh - Brixton Academy
October 24th 2008

I found myself fortunate enough to be one of those able to get a ticket to the sell out Mighty Boosh Tour 2008. The fact that I ordered this ticket in December last year meant that I’ve been eagerly awaiting this gig for 10 months and then before you know it, BAM! its Friday 24th October and I’m on my way to Brixton.

After having seen the material from the live show in 2006 i did wonder how on earth they were going to beat it and if they had maybe got a little ahead of themselves due to their massive increase in popularity over the past 12 months.

Three words to sum it up. BEST SHOW EVER.

Boosh Live was completely original using characters from their latest series and a few old favourites as well as using some new material.

Part one saw the audience being involved in a dance taught by Bob Fossill in which they had to ”Feed the fucking chickens!” The Crack Fox also made an appearance, playing his banjo and harassing members of the audience as they left their seats in a disturbing manner.

”Where ya goin?, get back in your seat, IM GONNA FOLLOW YOU HOME AND MAKE YOU DRINK PISS”.

Fielding & Barratt still lose themselves amongst this, admitting that they’ve actually forgotten what they’re doing and involve themselves in playful banter however the audience just don’t care. F & B could devise a whole show based around this banter with props falling apart and it would still be as funny and still sell out 6 nights at Brixton Academy.

Part one is closed by an old favourite ‘The Hitcher’, walking amongst the audience and performing ‘Eeels Up Inside Ya’ with the Boosh Band. Part Two is opened by Barratt trying to perform a serious play and in no time at all Fielding turns it into a glam rock show.

During the performance there are many jokes aimed at the ‘Sugar Puffs Honey Monster Crimp’ which eventually climax’s to the Honey Monster coming onstage and Vince decapitating him with the Jean Claude Jacquete hairdryer. Tony Harrisson then rapes the head shouting

“Take it, take it! Take it like you take other peoples ideas you plagerising bastard!”

The night concludes with the monumentous punk number ‘I Did A Shit’
. What especially stands out tonight is the musical prowess gifted to the whole cast. F & B excerpt so much talent when it comes to writing and performing music. The Boosh Band is simply electric, leading every musical number with a thudding beat and a bass that rumbles through the whole of Brixton.

The Boosh follow up their darker series 3 with a lighter live show that captivates and thrills the entire audience.

‘Los Angeles Waltz’, the closing track from their last album, summed up the last LP. Everything about it was produced with finite detail. It’s flawless production ensured that any emotion expressed in the lyrics, or the skill demonstrated by its musicians, was simply buried away from ear shot. ‘Slipway Fires’ is the complete opposite.

‘Wire to Wire’ opens the LP with a calm piano loop, gently ushering in an  new sound to Johnny Borrell’s voice. Gone is the Dylanish gruff that we heard in previous recordings. In comes a discernible, more honest tone to his voice that was lost amid the overblown recordings of the past.

‘You and the Rest’ evokes memories of past Razorlight noise and succeeds in linking Borrell back to his days kicking chords and riffs around with Barat & Doherty. ‘Burberry Blue Eyes’ sees him berate a former public schoolgirl for pretending to be something she isn’t. “I get the daddy-never-noticed-story again” which, coming from a Highgate educated singer who moans elsewhere on this LP about middle class kids, seems hypocritical.

Tuneful ‘60 Thompson’ is veneration towards Simon and Garfunkel while ‘Hostage of Love’ and perhaps future single ‘Burberry Blue Eyes’ are catchy and melodic.

This LP is better than ‘Razorlight’ but impresses less that ‘Up All Night’. Whilst others around them have released another album of boring samey songs (Kaiser Chiefs, Oasis) Razorlight have embarked upon something different. It’s a triumph and  ‘Slipway Fires’ shows a progression from a band that have grown up a lot.

Buy ‘Slipway Fires’ from Amazon from November 3rd

Listen To:
Razorlight - 60 Thompson.mp3
Razorlight - North London Trash.mp3
Razorlight - Burberry Blue Eyes.mp3

Razorlight On: myspace // last.fm

Make a date with Radio One tonight at 9pm (UK) and I promise you will not be disappointed.

Tonight is the night that we will finally hear the Maida Vale session recorded by Tom Williams And The Boat last month. This comes on the same day that the band release new single ‘Doing My Best’ as a free download.

This band NEVER fail to impress me, ‘Doing My Best’ is yet another brilliant song and shows further progression from them. It comes from their forthcoming ‘concept’ EP due out in January 09. According to Tom ‘this song is the climax of the narrative, where everything kicks off’.

We’ll have more on the EP in the coming months.

You can listen to ‘Doing My Best’ as well as ‘Train Station Car Park’, ‘Wouldn’t Women Be Sweet’ and ‘Got Fuel’ tonight on Huw Stephens show at 9pm on Radio One.

If you’ve miss it, you can get it for up to seven days on the iPlayer.

Get More: myspace.com/williamstommusic

Holy Fuck are currently supporting Foals on their UK tour and in celebration of this meet each band have covered one of the other’s songs.

Foals have covered ‘Super Inuit’ and Holy Fuck have covered ‘Balloons’.

If you caught them on tour you could have snapped one of these bad boy 12″ along the way or you can buy one buy clicking here for a fiver.

Foals seem to have played just about every festival going this summer but iIf you haven’t seen them live then try and blag yourself a ticket for the last few days of their UK tour.

Listen To:
Holy Fuck - Balloons (Foals Cover).mp3
Foals - Super Unuit (Holy Fuck Cover).mp3

Foals On: Myspace // last.fm
Holy Fuck On: Myspace // last.fm

JLP