Tag Archive for "Audio" - The Recommender

THE RECOMMENDER vs DROWNED IN SOUND PARTY

The Great Escape is by far the biggest weekend of the year for this music blog. If we could create the perfect festival it wouldn’t vary much from the event happening in Brighton this May. Imagine a three-day bender, involving dozens of the world’s best new artists, playing on our Brighton doorstep, at venues right across this small, walkable city. Stirred into the mix will be representatives of every major, sub and independent record label, alongside the rest of the UK’s music industry, as well as thousands of music-hungry punters, all poured into our beach-side home, to rub shoulders and schmooze the living daylights out of each other. It’s like a music blogger’s paradise!

Last year The Recommender threw one of the best parties of the weekend, alongside a brand that is well-known throughout our city as it’s ‘going out bible‘, The Brighton Source Magazine. We put five bands on show, including Mirrors, Pope Joan, King Charles, Foreign Office and The Agitator. All of these artists are set to break through this year, proving how ahead of the game this festival can be. There was a one-in-one-out policy on the door all night long, yet this time around we’re stepping up another gear…

At this year’s festival we’re at it again as we throw the mother of all parties. The Recommender vs Drowned In Sound, one of the best established music websites in the world, are going head to head in a co-hosting battle on the Friday night and it’s all set to be the biggest after party of the weekend. Once all the normal daytime and evening showcases are completed we open the doors at one of the best established central venues, Audio, at 11pm and plan on partying hard with four cutting edge bands on show until 4am. It’s already been quoted in magazines as, “possibly the best after party of TGE“, and that it “promises to be a proper party, rather than a chin-stroking showcase“.

The four bands on show over the five hours will be as follows:

ALPINES (11pm – 12pm): Major record deals don’t get thrown around you know. This London duo have real, proper, concrete potential, so catch their self-described ‘night pop’, with all it’s extraordinary drama and room shaking scale, at this intimate venue whilst you still can.
Track – DRIVE

HEY SHOLAY (12:15pm – 1:15am): This bright Sheffield band inject their indie music with a wonderful blend of melody, charm and addictive power. They’ll knock you off your feet with one punchy hit after another, so look out for the many hooks that will be flying your way.
Track – DREAMBOAT

REAL FUR (1:30am – 2:30am): Well known for throwing parties inside strange places, this launderette-loving trio from London will put a smile on your face and movement in your feet. They’re so utterly adorable that you may want to take them home afterwards, but don’t be surprised if they set up a party in your kitchen if you do.
Track – BIRDS

BEAT CONNECTION (2:45am – 3:45am): Their debut mini-album, Surf Noir, has just come out and as a result has worn down the buttons on many a blogger’s keyboard. A little bit disco, a little bit pop, a little bit house, a little bit tropical. A lot of good.
Track – IN THE WATER

All of these bands are currently buzzing like a bored housewife’s sock drawer and come stamped with lots of blog approval. In fact we are deliberately making music blogs a focus of this show, with special VIP treatment to anyone who contributes to a music blog that’s in attendance. More details will be handed out at our secret bloggers meetup earlier in the afternoon. Get in touch for more information.

There’s plenty more you can find out about these artists on our blog elsewhere if you hunt them out. For regular updates, as well as news about the secret bloggers meetup, follow us on Twitter as we build up to the show, plus we promise a turbo-Twitter session during the festival itself, so if you want to come and say hello in person, or find out what we’re up to, then hook up with us on there.

Just like last year, we will be completing our usual geeky, over-indulgent online diary which shows off our daily schedule of shows, so if you want to find out which shows and parties we think are the hottest then look out for that spreadsheet next week.

This. Is. Going. To. Be. Big.

1 Comment

Published: May 5th, 2011
Author: Mike Bradford
Category: Parties, The Gig List
Tags: Alpines, Audio, Beat Connection, Birds, Brighton Source Magazine, Dreamboat, Drive, Foreign Office, Hey Sholay, In The Water, King Charles, Mirrors, Pope Joan, Real Fur, The Agitator, THE RECOMMENDER vs DROWNED IN SOUND PARTY

POLARSETS

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As some of you may already know, a couple of The Recommender’s writers are involved in promoting new music, having gained worked at two of Brighton’s best-known clubs, Audio and more recently Digital. These clubs vary in size, so at Audio, which is still proudly the home of the regular Recommender showcases you are likely to see fresher talent trying to fill it’s main room. At Digital, which has been one of the UK’s best clubs for many years, there’s a step up in the size of bands, in order to pack the larger main room.

Being involved at both venues we are sometimes able to see first hand the rapid rise of a new band as they appear at Audio one month, only to return to Brighton a matter of weeks later to fill the larger Digital. It’s usually following a charting hit, some Radio One coverage, a handful of NME articles and a bit of major blog hype – you know the typical swingometer factors.

Why are we telling you this? Well, we suggest that Polarsets, a trio from the North East, are showing the kind of key signals that tell us we will be seeing their Audio-Digital transition happen pretty quickly. The reason to back up this prediction is that they bring to the table all the right ingredients to lure that swingometer.

They make the kind of joyous, cowbell indie pop that’s not been this complete since The Sunshine Underground or even the Klaxons, although this is less experimental than the latter and more pop than the former, making them so perfectly radio friendly Zane Lowe may as well sign them himself.

Add in parts of Two Door Cinema Club and their knack for a singalong chorus, before finally injecting a drop of Fenech Soler, with all their brightly-lit power and you will have the teen market going crazy. They’ve played support shows for the likes of Ellie Goulding, the aforementioned Fenech Soler, Egyptian Hip Hop and Everything Everything, so you see what we mean when we suggest they’re on the right path.

Their latest single, ‘Morning‘, follows the synths throughout which play a set of bouncing trance chords, as guitars bubble around and upbeat woodblocks twinkle over it’s pounding drum.

‘Just Don’t Open Your Eyes Yet‘ bangs and crashes with energy and holds a wonderful chorus that’s guaranteed to get the crowd frothing at the mouth, but it’s another track, ‘Bonfires‘, that shows us they have more tricks up their sleeves. On it they’re found following that same consistent path, with more dance themes over some beautiful pop, but this time it begins with a more mature and sparse soundscape, allowing Rob Howe’s vocals to shine as they hit such heights they turn to ice. The song climaxes wonderfully in a powerful, electronic storm.

However, the best and most obvious hit single of the lot has to be their first release, ‘Leave Argentina‘. It’s got more cowbell than Gene Frenkle could handle and the synths are turned up to eleven, in a balearic burst that Faithless would be proud of. Add in a shout-it-out chorus and you get the big tune that all the fans will be waiting for during the show and the payoff won’t disappoint with this born set-closer. We wonder how soon we can witness that very moment at Digital. (MB)