Switchfoot at O2 Sheperd’s Bush Empire

Switchfoot are an alternative/ californian/ surf rock band from San Diego. I went to see them yesterday at O2 Empire, a very nice theatre with a good quality sound.

The great thing about Switchfoot is that their music is universal. It took me only one look at the people waiting in the queue to realise that: it was probably the gig with the most varied public I’d been to. People aged from 14 to 60, from different backgrounds, speaking many different languages, with one common point: all looking super-excited for the concert.

Miles Kane at the Electric Ballroom

Ah, Miles Kane… For those of you who do not already know him, you are definitely missing out. A lot. This 25-year-old British musician was the co-frontman of The Last Shadow Puppets, along with Alex Turner. And he made a debut solo album, Colour Of The Trap, to prove that he was actually able to make good music without his Arctic Monkey friend. Challenge met!

I had already seen Miles in the French festival Rock En Seine in August, where he managed to fully transfer his energy to the crowd – French people are crazy about him. He was yesterday at the Electric Ballroom, in Camden, a very good venue with a clear sound and a nice atmosphere. 

Cults at Rough Trade East

Before seeing Cults, on the 31st of May, I didn’t know them. A friend of mine had told me to check them out and when I saw they were playing for free in London, I figured it was the golden mean to do so.

In the meantime I also discovered Rough Trade East. Located near the Brick Lane market, this shop is such an interesting place for any music lover: you can find there CDs, of course, but also a lot of vinyls, new and less new, at affordable prices, and other goodies such as music colour-books – there was one about Blondie and one about Lady Gaga, if I can remember well; the perfect gift for a rock’n'roll kid… but let’s get back to the gig.

Razorlight’s ‘Big Busk’ in Covent Garden

On Tuesday, I was among the few lucky people who saw Razorlight busking just outside St Martin in the Field church, in Covent Garden. The band announced their secret gig on Twitter only a few hours before playing.

A serie of free ‘Big Busks’ is organised across the UK throughout the year to celebrate 20 years of the Big Issue. Razorlight’s one was a preview of their gig in the festival Get Loaded in the Park, on the 12th of June.

When I arrived in the courtyard of the church, nothing seemed to suggest that one of the most famous English bands was about to arrive: there were only 200 or so people peacefully seating outside, in the sunshine. Singer Johnny Borrell and his new bandmates (guitarist Gus Robertson, bassist Freddie Stitz and drummer Skully, who joined the band early this year) arrived at 5.45 pm.

The Jezabels and Pony Pony Run Run at Koko

Pony Pony Run Run

On Friday, I went to see The Jezabels and Pony Pony Run Run at Koko, for the Club NME night (every Friday). The evening was rather pleasing, between high expectations, great discoveries, Frenchness and the nice feeling of the summer coming a bit early this year.

I did not know The Jezabels before Friday, and I must say their performance really amazed me. They arrived on stage at 11.30pm, after two teenage DJs had made the audience, composed mainly of French girls, dance – or, at least, made the wait for the bands less annoying. This musical style of this quartet from Sydney is hard to define; indie rock, says their biography on Wikipedia. Apart from a few fans singing every lyric at the top of their voice, it seems that most of us were discovering this band, who managed to keep everybody’s attention and respect.

The Shoes launch their new videoclip, to watch… with closed eyes

It looks like a new era in music is beginning. The French electropop band The Shoes are the first to launch an interactive videoclip. The song is called Cover Your Eyes, and the band took these lyrics literally, by creating a videoclip for this song to watch your eyes closed.

The principle is simple: your webcam detects if you put your hands on your eyes. Every time you do it, you can enjoy the music. But every time you stop, you’ll be able to see shady images and hear sinister sounds coming from a weird party shot in a small flat with drunk people shouting, a dissatisfied bear and an odd pig. Yeah, you better cover your eyes.

Arctic Monkeys release a new song, ‘Brick By Brick’

Image from www.counteract-magazine.com

First, I’m sorry, I’m a bit behind on this, because, as you all know, Arctic Monkeys‘ new song, Brick By Brick, was put on their website last Friday. The reason for this is that I needed the whole weekend to really know what I thought of this song… if you have already listened to it, you obviously know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, click here to catch up.

Brick By Brick will not be a single, but just a tease of their fourth album, believed to be released in early Summer this year, following 2009′s Humbug. When I listened to the song, the first thought that came to my mind was: “Did they change singer?”. I knew I would have heard if they had done so, but the change in Alex Turner’s voice was so striking that I had to check. Well, he’s still there.