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Day: 17 May 2015

Festival: Live At Leeds

2nd May

Various venues, Leeds

Live At Leeds festival took place over the May bank holiday, and once again proved to be a fantastic day packed full of upcoming music. At this year’s iteration, over 200 bands played at over 20 venues, so the real struggle once again was trying to choose what to see. The festival has a knack for booking the ‘next big thing’, and lots of really exciting upcoming bands played at this year’s festival, many of which were fresh from making a splash across the pond at America’s SxSW festival.

The day began with a set by The Orielles over at the Leeds Becket university stage. Despite some excellent tracks on their soundcloud, The Orielles proved to be disappointingly average. Poor sound balance meant that their vocals were nearly completely drowned out while the guitars were all over the place. The lightness and energy of the music was nearly completely lost, resulting in a heavy mess. Early release ‘Space Doubt’ sounded good though, proving that with a bit of time and polishing this band will be worth paying attention to. Don’t lose hope in The Orielles just yet.
4/10

After a lunch eaten on the move, we were lucky enough to stumble across The Vyrll Society play a set at the Leeds Uni stylus. The reverb heavy basslines driving their songs paid homage to the Stone Roses, and the layer of luscious psychedelic guitar over the top was reminiscent of Kurt Vile or The War On Drugs. Extended solos and jams on songs like ‘Beautiful Faces’ were extremely impressive for such a new band. It’s a shame that their name is so hard to pronounce, but the band are playing a set at Mancester’s Soup Kitchen in the coming weeks if you want to check them out.
7/10

Following The Vyrll Society, we popped next door to Leeds Uni Mine to catch a set by Liverpool based GULF. Unfortunately GULF proved to be pretty boring. The band seemed to have the right components, but lacked that ‘wow factor’. Perhaps they could benefit from stripping some of their songs back a bit more and emphasising some of the guitar or keyboard lines. Good vocals though.
3/10

The Big Moon, the female answer to Palma Violets (who were actually one of the festival headliners this year) played next back at the Leeds Becket stage. The band has been receiving some press attention recently, and recently played a brilliant set at Fallowfield’s own Fallow Café. Upcoming debut single ‘Sucker’ sounded brilliant, as did the frenzied ‘Eureka Moment’. Annoyingly the gig also was plagued by sound difficulties (maybe it was something to do with the stage), but the girls managed to demonstrate potential and pulled off a good show.
6/10

Hot off the press from SxSW, Gengahr were up next, and the band proved they are really deserving of the hype. Not just a cool name (a misspelling of the Pokémon Gengar), they have a really interesting sound, which translated really well into the live setting. ‘She’s a Witch’ with its funky guitars and falsetto vocals was the clear highlight of the set. Keep an eye out for their debut album out in June, and make an effort to catch them before they hit the big time.
8/10

The day was getting on bit by the time were treading the familiar steps back to the Uni Mine to see Spector. The band has been oddly quiet for the last couple of years, but I was looking forward to catching one of their notoriously energetic sets. Thankfully the last couple of years haven’t dampened Spector’s energy a bit, and frontman Fred MacPherson was as witty and amusing as ever. Their set largely consisted of songs from their upcoming second album Stay High, with its thundering guitars diminuendos and sing-along chorus, along with recent single ‘All The Sad Young Men’ really stood out. Spector’s old material was still as catchy and energetic as ever, but angsty songs such as ‘Twenty Nothing’ couldn’t help but sound a bit tired compared to the brilliant new material that they played. The new songs demonstrate a much more mature writing approach if the ones played are anything to go by, and I’m definitely anticipating their follow up album to debut album Enjoy It While It Lasts.
8/10

Picking which of the 15 festival headliners to see was particularly hard. The Cribs and Palma Violets were playing at the Town Hall, but this reviewer decided to dodge the mammoth queues for those and opted to see Leeds’s very own Eagulls (who were coincidentally again playing at Leeds Becket). The energy of Eagulls’s set was certainly striking. The band hurtled raucously through opener ‘Tough Luck’, and straight into ‘Nerve Endings’ without a seconds pause. Their post-punk sound certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but the energy and driving guitar riffs behind their music have a certain charm. ‘Hollow Visions’ was the highlight of the set, but it’s a shame that quite a few of their songs do sound nearly exactly the same as each other. It would have been nice to hear a bit more diversity in their set, such as the guitar breakdown on ‘Moulting’.
7/10

Live at Leeds again proved to be a brilliant day out, and is definitely worth attending next year if upcoming music is your thing. While the festival’s headliners seem to be getting more and more impressive every year, this festival still remains an excellent place to catch upcoming bands. Just make sure you make the most of the day and are prepared to do a lot of walking!

Live: Flo Morrissey & Tobias Jesso Jr.

9th May

Night & Day

8/10

Those at tonight’s sell out show at Night & Day were treated to two captivating sets from a pair of upcoming stars; Tobias Jesso Jr., supported by Flo Morrissey.

Despite having only released two songs so far, 20 year old Flo Morrissey played a surprisingly substantial set. The singer’s enchanting sound combines vocal elements of Kate Bush with Lana Del Ray’s melancholy. Unreleased opener ‘Betrayed’ along with recent single ‘Show Me’ were particular highlights of the set. It’s a shame that the stripped back acoustic version of ‘Pages of Gold’, her most well known song, does not have the same conviction as on record, perhaps suffering from the lack of a backing arrangement.

Taking over, Tobias Jesso Jr. played a similarly engrossing set, with his well-written songs and goofy stage persona charming the Manchester crowd. In a similar vein to his support, Tobias played a grand piano (save for two songs with a guitar) with no backing band present. His rather short set included the entirety of debut album Goon, but it was actually non-album track ‘True Love’ that was the highlight of the evening.

His stage demeanour and willingness to joke with the crowd in between songs is at time like a toned down fellow Canadian Mac DeMarco, which is no bad thing. The show is brought to a close with a sing along to the heartfelt ‘How Could You Babe’, which instigates the biggest sing along of the night, and temporarily transports the crowd away from the thundering Manchester rain outside.

It was refreshing to see two solo singer songwriters captivate the audience like they did. As both artists are going to start touring with backing bands in future, this was a special opportunity to see them perform solo at the beginning of what will be no doubt successful careers.

Single, poor and on Luxy

Are you single, beautiful and earning over $200k a year? No? Then you may have not heard about Luxy, the #1 dating app deemed to be exclusively for the top 1%.

Launched in 2014, Luxy has not only ignited new relationships but also controversy; to use the app you either have to earn at least $200k a year or be voted in by users based on your looks alone. Reviews have described the app as catering for ‘arrogant, rich narcissists’, and it has been deemed to be the ‘shining new milestone in the burgeoning pantheon of offensive apps’. I was instantly intrigued.

When creating your profile you have to choose up to five of your favourite designer brands, such as Gucci, Ferrari and Versace. As I can only fantasise about owning anything that high end and since Zara wasn’t listed, I lied. Then, as a ‘poor person’, I had to endure the 24-hour Vouch period. Starting at 50% by default, users have to score over this amount by the end of the 24 hours to be allowed ‘in’. I chose to use a photo of me inside the Burj Al Arab (because what’s more luxurious than the seven star Dubai hotel?) then I waited and watched as my own self-esteem moved left and right.

24 hours, a few lies and one false depicting image of my lifestyle later I was ‘in’. Luxy allows you to have three rounds of Play, each round gives you 10 profiles and you swipe left or right just as you would on Tinder. Luxy however features some things that caught my attention. Firstly, you can message up to three different people per day that you have not matched with. These messages are given the name ‘BLACK Messages’ in your inbox and the receiving person can choose where to ‘like’ you or not from your message. Secondly, is Luxy Moments. This is the part where rich people upload photos of their lifestyle to show off; Porsches, pools and pouts are plentiful. Not only does Topics show you pretty pictures but it also gives you the chance to message users you have not matched with. The third nice-to-have is the Gift feature, where you can send virtual roses to another player and let them know you’re interested. I have received 15, is that good?

Users also have the option of purchasing Luxy BLACK. If you shell out a small fortune you can get access to all Luxy’s premium features, such as more play rounds and a stricter search filter for better matches and you get a virtual gold crown on your profile to show for it.

So despite all the negative feedback Luxy has accumulated over the last few months, reviews seem to have missed out a major positive – Luxy offers multiple ways to spark conversation which sets it apart from other dating apps like Tinder, it gives you more than one way to contact users. Bonus: they’re all rich and don’t send photos of their penis. Well, I haven’t received any anyway.

So, is there a place for us peasants on it? I would say so. If you feel brave enough to put yourself through the 24 hours Vouch period then give it a try, who knows, you might end up dating that money-loving, self-obsessing, couture-dressing, bench-pressing, holiday-jetting ego you’ve been looking for. And even if you don’t get a date that involves a helicopter ride, it’s nice to have a look at those that do, right?

The student trump card

Being a student is like a free pass in order to get away with all sorts of troubles that would not fly in the real world. Here are a few things you will only get away with as a student:

Having insufficient funds. Being poor is basically a rite of passage as a student. The irony is that going to university means you’re more likely to earn more money when you’re older, but during those few years of studying you’ll get very good at living on a fiver for a month or making a week’s worth of dinner from the reduced section. When you’re older and actually earning money, it’s less acceptable to spend all your money on booze, and there are things like taxes (excuse me, what?) to worry about, which makes being poor much less funny and much more scary.

Drinking, always. We are famous for our drinking. Flexible hours of lectures and minimal life responsibility inevitably lead to going out all the time and getting too drunk too often. Going out five nights a week and continually drinking to get drunk is totally acceptable as a student, yet the same behaviour later in life simply brands you an alcoholic.

Sleeping all day. Alarm clocks while at university are less of an essential, more of a bedside table accessory. It doesn’t really matter if you sleep until 2pm most days let’s be honest (unless you’re in final year in which case you can kiss those days goodbye), but once you leave uni and you have a job, you end up not being able to lie in past 9am even if you try.

Procrastination. Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. Pinterest. Tumblr. NETFLIX. These are dangerous words when you’re trying to do work, but watching all six seasons of Gossip Girl then leaving your essay until the night before is something you can laugh about now. Sadly this will not always be as normal or acceptable, just a little bit stupid.

Bizarre eating habits. Eating in the middle of the night or after a night out is a daily occurrence as a student, however once your metabolism slows down and it’s not as easy to burn those calories, you’ll have to regulate your diet like you’ll have had to regulate your life.

So why are these things acceptable at university? Don’t ask, just enjoy it while you can. Being a student is like a platform to partake in the sins of the real world, so for now embrace life the student way.

Preview: Gigantic Indie All Dayer, Vol. 2

23rd May

Academy 1/Academy 2/Club Academy

£29

Following the success of last year’s inaugural event—which featured the likes of The Wedding Present, Cud and The Chameleons—the Gigantic Indie All Dayer returns to Manchester Academy on 23rd May, with this year’s edition set to dwarf the original in both in terms of scale and the eye-watering roster of seminal indie bands on the bill.

Headlining the Academy 1 main stage are Liverpool alt rock legends Echo & The Bunnymen, whose set comes hot on the heels of their 30th anniversary shows for their landmark album Ocean Rain. Fronted by the enigmatic Ian McCulloch, the indie elder statesmen are sure to deliver a spectacular performance filled with classic (and hugely influential tracks) such as ‘Lips Like Sugar’, ‘The Killing Moon’, and ‘Bring on the Dancing Horses’, as well as cuts from 2014’s critically lauded Meteorites.

Manchester’s own Inspiral Carpets will also bring their unique brand of trippy, psychedelic tunes to the main stage, after releasing their comeback self-titled album last year—their first in two decades. Armed with timeless Madchester grooves and soaring choruses, the Inspirals are sure to take Academy 1 back to the second summer of love with the likes of ‘This Is How It Feels’ and ‘Caravan’.

Industrial rockers Pop Will Eat Itself will be performing an exclusive greatest hits set which will have you digging them all over again, whilst Leeds post-punk originators Gang of Four are set grace the stage with their danceable blend of aggressive punk that effortlessly tread the line between anthemic and experimental. This all to come, after reformed Britpop outfit Hurricane #1 and cult jangle poppers The Primitives (best known for their irresistible 1988 single ‘Crash’) start off the proceedings in inimitable style.

And that’s just the main stage—with another full day’s worth of performances each two other stages, there’s something for everyone’s old school indie tastes on offer this year. Amongst the other highlights are Diesel Park West, performing their much loved Shakespeare Alabama record in full in Academy 2, before a headline performance from reformed baggy stalwarts The High. Club Academy, meanwhile, will host appearances from such big names as BOB, Mark Morris and Echobelly.

With all this and more—including special guest DJs for each of the three stages—the second Gigantic Indie All Dayer is the only place you’ll get to see such a mix of legendary acts together in one place, and is the ideal way for any indie music fan to start off their summer festival season.