Pendulum

Reviews

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  Camden Crawl 2010 at V...

  by Shannon Andreucci

  on Wed, 5 May at 14:54

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  If you’re a music aficionado and were in London on the May Bank Holiday weekend – there was reall...

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  If you’re a music aficionado and were in London on the May Bank Holiday weekend – there was really only one option with how to spend your precious time. That option was the Gaymers Camden Crawl.

  Thousands of people flocked to the streets of Camden for the annual music festival which featured over 150 live artists in 40 venues. Apart from the disappointing weather, I’d say the two day event was a success. Uncontrollable factors such as the rain and ridiculously long lines hindered the initial schedule I had planned out for myself but nevertheless I got to watch some great live bands.

  Here are my findings on the five artists that I did get to see:

  SURFER BLOOD - Underworld

  On Saturday evening I descended into Camden’s Underworld venue to watch the Floridian quintet Surfer Blood. The lively group played a 40 minute set and overall I was pleased with the performance.

  Although Underworld was completely filled and the band had a reasonably good timeslot, Surfer Blood didn’t get the most exceptional reaction from the crowd. I didn’t see people drunkenly jumping around, singing along or generally making fools of themselves. I refuse to believe this was a sign of dissatisfaction however. Perhaps this is the effect of the band’s indie surf rock sound. It’s easy to listen to and effortlessly mesmeric.

  It only takes a couple of minutes of listening to the West Palm Beach born band for one to identify their foundational beach surf sound. At times they even had a musical quality that was extremely reminiscent of Vampire Weekend, only a bit less upbeat. Being a fan myself of the indie pop alternative music that Vampire Weekend brings to the table, this inevitably drew me closer to Surfer Blood and so for this they lose a few points for originality.

  I BLAME COCO - Camden Rock

  Over at Camden Rock was celebrated musician Sting’s very own daughter, Burberry model and Stardust movie extra Coco Sumner, performing with her highly praised band I Blame Coco.

  As with most of the gigs on Saturday, I didn’t get as good a view of the band as I would have liked, because all the venues were absolutely packed with patrons attempting to escape the unwarranted rain and unfriendly weather conditions. So since I’m not 6 foot tall I had to let my ears do all the work. From what I heard, the young trio have cultivated a sprightly fusion of punk and electro-pop and the crowd in front of my eyes was very responsive to it.

  Obviously being the offspring of Sting and Trudie Styler would warrant instant publicity and the assertion that her only reason for fame is owing to her father’s celebrity status. I won’t jump on that bandwagon though. After watching a showcase of new material from debut album ‘The Constant’, I think I Blame Coco has something valuable to offer the music world. Even though she has adopted the iconic husky tones of her father’s voice, she deviates from the high and excitable sound of The Police and is carving out a new musical direction for herself.

  MIDNIGHT JUGGERNAUTS -Koko

  To sum up my opinion of the Midnight Juggernauts in one sentence; the music is intricate, memorable and cleverly executed but unfortunately the dreary soft vocals get drowned out by the music and render the live experience much less exciting than it could be.

  I’ve seen the Midnight Juggernauts play once before in Sydney, Australia years ago and a part of me is glad they didn’t perform their classic, milestone tracks '45 and Rising' and 'Tombstone.' Instead they presented some fresh material, which I enjoyed so it felt like I was watching a completely rejuvenated and different band altogether.

  The Melbourne-born trio put on a great live performance as all the instruments are played through a range of samplers and pads, which the two front men continuously exchange. During a new song the pair met in the middle of the stage and played an instrumental segment using an electric drum pad and tom toms.

  Towards the end of the set I quickly glanced back and was surprised to see such a large, supportive crowd behind me dancing and waving their hands in the air in agreement. This was Midnight Juggernauts’ second gig at the Camden Crawl and they’ve obviously earned themselves a squad of UK fans over the years that I was not aware of. The crowd responded the best to the two last songs 'Shadows' and 'Into The Galaxy,” which were inevitably the standout songs of the evening.

  SPEECH DEBELLE – Electric Ballroom I’m undeniably a self-professed rock chick and I would probably never pay to see a rap music gig. However on Sunday night I found myself in the Electric Ballroom watching Mercury Prize winner and British rapper Speech Debelle... and I haven’t got a bad thing to say about it.

  What deters me from rap music so much is the simple, repetitive and monotone beat that characterises it. But here Speech Debelle employed a three-piece acoustic band with guitars, drums and a grand cello, making for an amiable fusion of genres and an upbeat sound that had the crowd dedicatedly bopping along. She definitely puts a different spin on hip hop.

  With her arresting Mohawk, mega star-shaped earrings and convivial stage presence, Speech Debelle screams confidence and demands attention the moment she enters the stage. She was joined on stage by another male rapper and together they exuded a lot of energy and combined swift rap with sweeping vocals. A lot of the honest lyrics deal with modern youth issues, namely drugs, facebook and personal demons.

  It was a relatively short set by award-winning artist but she made the most of her time, performing tracks off her debut album ‘Speech Therapy’ and interacting with the crowd in between songs.

  GANG OF FOUR - Electric Ballroom My Camden Crawl adventure culminated with the explosive and highly enjoyable set by none other than Gang Of Four. Who says old timers can’t rock?!? These boys have still got ‘it’ and had more energy and charisma than a lot of live bands I’ve previously witnessed.

  The English post-punk group from the 70s teared up the stage, using every inch of it and whipping the crowd into a frenzy. They were very comfortable on stage and fierce front man Jon King was not afraid to relentlessly point his finger at the crowd and whack a microwave with a baseball bat, much to the crowd’s contentment, who encouraged the bludgeoning with chants of “SMASH IT!” It was certainly the highlight of the evening.

  Considered one of the leading bands of the late 70s, Gang Of Four have a legion of hit songs, which they played with pride and it was great to see younger audiences singing along to deeply political anthems that were hitting the airwaves way before their birth date.

  I’m extremely relieved the middle-aged men came out sporting conservative suits rather than leather pants, ripped and studded punk rock t-shirts or topless hairy chests like many bands from the 70s have formerly done during comeback performances. Gang Of Four kicked off to a great start but I felt that halfway they lost a bit of momentum and plateuaued when they slowed down to perform ‘Paradise,’ which was more spoken word than singing. The band redeemed themselves, however, by soon launching into ‘Damaged Goods,’ which went down a treat with the audience.

  The only thing that tainted their performance was the fact that every 3 minutes there was a random roadie running across the stage and adjusting the microphones. It was distracting but the band carried on unfazed by it. Other than that - brilliant show! Will never underestimate the power of middle-aged men with guitars again.

  Camden Crawl 2010 at V...0.3 event