Bawley (Hearts) 2008: Top 5 Covers of the year

5. Jay-Z – Wonderwall (Oasis)

'For those that didn't get the memo, my name is Jay-Z and I'm pretty f***ing awesome.'

Well maybe, maybe not, either way there is no denying that the rappers response to the “No Hip-Hop at Glasto” press was right on the mark. (link)

4. Mobius Band – Digital Love (Daft Punk)

Taken from Mobius Band’s EP of Valentine’s Day themed covers, this largely acoustic version of the track could prove that Daft Punk are Human After All. (link)

3. Radiohead – The Rip (Portishead)

Who other than Radiohead could pull of covering this sweet but morbid Portishead track? (link)

2. Hot Chip and Peter Gabriel – Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (Vampire Weekend)

The only thing that feels more un-natural than Peter Gabriel is Peter Gabriel singing “It feels so unnatural. Peter Gabriel, too” (link)

1. Sparkadia – This Boy’s In Love (The Presets)

We love Sparkadia’s lush take on The Presets smash. It seems you love it too, our post linking to the mp3 was Bawley’s most read article in 2008. (link)

Bawley (Hearts) 2008: Top 5 Concerts of the year: Hummer

I don’t quite have the ego to tell you what were the Top 5 concerts of 2008, but I can list the 5 gigs I enjoyed most.

5. MGMT, Carling Academy, Birmingham, 10/11/2008

MGMT successfully blend massive singles like Time To Pretend, Electric Feel, and Kids in to a set of spaced out psychedelic rock providing a mind altering experience you can sing along to. (review)

4. TV On The Radio, Academy 2, Birmingham, 7/12/2008

This show would make my Top 5 for the encore alone, Family Tree, A Method, Let The Devil In and Staring at the Sun: does it get any better? (review)

3. LCD Soundsystem, Enmore Theatre, Sydney, 26/01/2008

Touring on the back of the brilliant Sound of Silver, LCD Soundsystem (with an Arcade Fire cameo) deliver a brilliant set of intelligent dance and post punk music.

2. Hot Chip, Carling Academy, Birmingham, 29/10/2008

From Max Tundra’s bizzaro support slot, to the indie disco of Over and Over and the emotional sing-along closer, this show was the most fun I had inside all year. (review)

1. Glastonbury, Worthy Farm, Somerset, 26-29/06/2008

Glastonbury + Sunshine = My number one concert of the year. (review)

Rockin' research shows head-banging batters brains

After attending several heavy metal concerts of bands including Mötley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne and Motörhead, Associate Professor Andrew McIntosh felt that headbanging might be causing concert-goers mild brain injury leading to headaches and dizziness.

“If you observe people after concerts they clearly look dazed, confused and incoherent, so something must be going on, and we wanted to look into it."

Full story - here.

Coming soon: Research suggests that heavy metal bands misuse umlauts.

5-Alive

Check in over the next few weeks as the Bawley crew post their Top 5s for 2008.

{albums, concerts, album art, predictions for 2009, covers, videos, rumours ...}

Ho Ho Ho - Yeah Yeah Yeah

What is on your Christmas want list this year? If you said a new Yeah Yeah Yeahs song you are in luck.

All I Want For Christmas is the Yeah Yeah Yeahs take on the sleigh bell filled Christmas single.

Go to the bands myspace to listen

Live Review: TV On The Radio, Academy 2, 07/12/2008

Back in September I declared TV on the Radio’s Dear Science my album of the year. After tonight’s show they may well be my live act of the year.

Tonight at Birmingham’s Academy, the bands are playing on the smaller Academy 2 stage. First up, London band Big Pink whose fuzzed out pop songs get a subdued but positive reaction from the crowd.

TVOTR’s decision to start their show with a few older tracks alienates some of the audience, but as soon as the drums of Wolf Like Me kick in everyone loses their shit and the band is instantly forgiven.

Golden Age and Dancing Choose keep everyone dancing, no one more than front man Tunde Adebimpe who has sweat pouring off his face.

On the Dear Science album DLZ is effortlessly cool, but tonight’s version is fierce: the lock step beat drags you in while guitars bring up a wall of noise and Adebimpe literally spits and sprays rage-filled lyrics.

The bearded Kyp Malone is everything Adebimpe is not. He barely moves, barely blinks, barely has a care in the world but on Province, when Malone’s falsetto vocal joins Ademipe’s midrange rhyme, you can’t imagine them ever being apart.

The five piece band and all their paraphernalia barely fit on the smaller Academy 2 stage meaning it is only when they leave the stage that the audience get a look at the mop-topped drummer Jaleel Bunton and bass player Gerard Smith.

Obviously the crowd want to see more, and the screams of encore are answered when the band return to play Family Tree. There is a short pause as the drum kit is dismantled, its parts distributed around the band’s five members who strike cymbals, crash drums and hit rhythm sticks right through A Method before going straight into Let The Devil In and closing out with the brilliant Staring At The Sun.


Family Tree:

"You'll never guess who I had in the back of my cab last week"

From an innovation in gig review journalism (and a rubbish venue)to an innovation in live music recordings (and a weird venue)....

The Black Cab Sessions is a great idea: take one interesting musician (or two) and film them performing a song accoustically in the back of a cab as it travels around London.

As they say: "The sessions are all about great music and the venue strips this to its essence."

There are 68 sessions so far and the number is growing quickly. Among them are Bawley faves My Morning Jacket, The National, Fleet Foxes, The Futureheads (actually visible), Johnny Flynn, Death Cab For Cutie (of course) and (drumroll...) Lambchop. Their song choices often veer from the obvious 'hits', too - The National tackle a B-Side, Lambchop take on Bob Dylan, and also well worth checking out is Amanda Palmer's take on Radiohead's 'Creep'.