DAVID RENSHAW

Quote June 3 11:49

“Beach House, 2:54, The Cribs, El-P, Ab Soul, Outfit, Alunageorge, Meek Mill, Baio #MayAlbums”

Photo June 3 10:18
The Fly - June issue is out now. Features a Maximo Park album review I wrote.

The Fly - June issue is out now. Features a Maximo Park album review I wrote.

Text June 3 10:14

REVIEW: Girls @ The Forum 28/05/2012



It may be terribly British to keep mentioning the weather but, as temperatures rise to near unbearable levels tonight it’s hard to ignore. Still, if there is a band more apt for feeling like you might melt and die than Girls we can’t think of one.

Stopping off in the UK for a one-off date, Christopher Owens and Chet White display their increased profile physically and roll deep with a full backing band as well as three backing singers. This increased presence boosts the two kinds of Girls songs there are impressively with the catchy, throwaway pop tunes adding muscle to their bony bodies and the smacked out blissful melancholy of their longer moments sounding gargantuan.

Watched on by a veritable feast of fellow indie stars (we spot members of The Maccabees, Yuck, Frankie & The Heartstrings, Veronica Falls, Spectrals, Los Campesinos and Jack Penate) we worry that, should a bomb go off in here quite a few festivals would be in trouble. For a bit. They however, along with plenty more, are treated to nothing more explosive than a master class in turning music-blog hype into genuine, soul shaking brilliance.

First album moments like ‘Laura’ and ‘Lauren Marie’ offer a Summery lilt to the bittersweet tonic that is the murky blackhole of ‘Hellhole Rat Race’, just one of the many songs that every last member of Girls look like they’re giving their entire soul over to performing.

It is the 2011 album ‘Father, Son, Holy Ghost’ which contains Girls greatest moments to date though and, fittingly, brings out the best in the band tonight. ‘Honey Bunny’ impresses; a quick fire and upbeat ode to rejection, Owens wraps his legs around his guitar as if he wants to ride it out of the door and away from that which he is confronting. However, it is ‘Vomit’ that steals the show. A wall of noise sees the flowers wrapped around each mic stand shed petals to the floor only for one of the aforementioned backing singers to step forward and take it to church at a volume somewhere between ‘rocket launch’ and ‘apocalypse’. They may look like unlikely collaborators and we’d pay good money to see a reality TV show made of their offstage activities (The Real Backing Singers Of Girls anyone?) but in that moment everything makes perfect sense.

Often a dreamer, Owens ends the night on a high by chasing a better life for himself and giving one to his audience via the pizza and wine anthem ‘Lust For Life’. We might now have the suntan but it’s sure going to be a long time before we see something this good again.

Originally published on Gigwise.com

Picture: The405

Video June 3 10:03

Lace Curtains - High Fantasy (by 64chris64)

I’m not sure why anyone wouldn’t want songs this good written about them.

Photo May 25 19:30 2 notes
Cool thing of the week #2 The posters for 2:54’s album (out on Monday) which features a line from my review, written for The Fly.

Cool thing of the week #2 The posters for 2:54’s album (out on Monday) which features a line from my review, written for The Fly.

Photo May 25 19:29
Cool thing of the week #1 My first piece in NME, a little intro to the Manchester band PINS.

Cool thing of the week #1 My first piece in NME, a little intro to the Manchester band PINS.

Photo May 20 11:51 260 notes
Watch The ThroneLondon, O2 Arena19/05/12 Jay-Z and Kanye West quite simply do not understand the idea of a mid-set lull. That moment where you become bored of the third album track in a row does not exist at Watch The Throne, a concert that plays out like a greatest hits of the last ten years of hip-hop. Ostensibly, we’re here to revel in the 2011 album Watch The Throne and, standing on two individual blocks raised twenty feet in the air in the middle of the O2 Arena as they perform the dramatic ‘HAM’, we’re thrown straight into the luxury bravado of that joint album. ‘Otis’ is performed in front of a United States flag and constant blasts of red hot fire whilst ‘Who Gon Stop Me’ asks the question that can only be answered, ‘Nobody’. However, one album relatively thin on ‘the hits’ is not enough to fill a two hour plus arena show. Luckily, both men standing on the stage dripping in black and gold have more than enough in their respective lockers to keep things going. Kanye shows why, amidst the media meltdowns and borderline prody personality, he remains one of the most fascinating musicians of his generation pulling out hit after hit after amazing hit from his back catalogue. It would be vulgar to list them all but then, that’s kind of Kanye’s deal, so let’s say that ‘Runaway’, ‘Golddigger’, ‘Touch The Sky’, ‘Power’ and ‘All Of The Lights’ all send the sell-out audience wild. Jay-Z has a fair few moments of his own to enjoy too with the Brooklyn don showing his superior flow and rap skills on ‘Izzo (H.O.V.A.), ‘On To The Next One’ and ‘Big Pimpin’. As ‘Dirt Off Your Shoulder’ scratches into life we’re told “You are now tuned in to the mother f*cking greatest’. It is very hard to disagree. Inevitably some form of competition is established, with each rapper juking for the definitive moment. It’s difficult to seperate the two with West arguably having more in the way of hits but, at the same time, he still has nothing with quite the same power as, say, ‘99 Problems’ or ‘Empire State Of Mind’. For an album, tour and concept that can be boiled down to a stunningly enjoyable celebration of vulgar wealth the set ends with ‘N*ggas In Paris’ played five times in a row. This should be ridiculous but every time Jay-Z shouts “Again!” the crowd go wild. You get the feeling, quite rightly, they’d stay here all night to keep the party going. Originally published on Gigwise.com

Watch The Throne
London, O2 Arena
19/05/12

Jay-Z and Kanye West quite simply do not understand the idea of a mid-set lull.

That moment where you become bored of the third album track in a row does not exist at Watch The Throne, a concert that plays out like a greatest hits of the last ten years of hip-hop.

Ostensibly, we’re here to revel in the 2011 album Watch The Throne and, standing on two individual blocks raised twenty feet in the air in the middle of the O2 Arena as they perform the dramatic ‘HAM’, we’re thrown straight into the luxury bravado of that joint album. ‘Otis’ is performed in front of a United States flag and constant blasts of red hot fire whilst ‘Who Gon Stop Me’ asks the question that can only be answered, ‘Nobody’.

However, one album relatively thin on ‘the hits’ is not enough to fill a two hour plus arena show. Luckily, both men standing on the stage dripping in black and gold have more than enough in their respective lockers to keep things going.

Kanye shows why, amidst the media meltdowns and borderline prody personality, he remains one of the most fascinating musicians of his generation pulling out hit after hit after amazing hit from his back catalogue. It would be vulgar to list them all but then, that’s kind of Kanye’s deal, so let’s say that ‘Runaway’, ‘Golddigger’, ‘Touch The Sky’, ‘Power’ and ‘All Of The Lights’ all send the sell-out audience wild.

Jay-Z has a fair few moments of his own to enjoy too with the Brooklyn don showing his superior flow and rap skills on ‘Izzo (H.O.V.A.), ‘On To The Next One’ and ‘Big Pimpin’. As ‘Dirt Off Your Shoulder’ scratches into life we’re told “You are now tuned in to the mother f*cking greatest’. It is very hard to disagree.

Inevitably some form of competition is established, with each rapper juking for the definitive moment. It’s difficult to seperate the two with West arguably having more in the way of hits but, at the same time, he still has nothing with quite the same power as, say, ‘99 Problems’ or ‘Empire State Of Mind’.

For an album, tour and concept that can be boiled down to a stunningly enjoyable celebration of vulgar wealth the set ends with ‘N*ggas In Paris’ played five times in a row. This should be ridiculous but every time Jay-Z shouts “Again!” the crowd go wild. You get the feeling, quite rightly, they’d stay here all night to keep the party going.

Originally published on Gigwise.com

Photo May 18 19:21 5 notes
A video interview I did with Bethany from Best Coast. Check it out. Gigwise.com 14/05/12

A video interview I did with Bethany from Best Coast. Check it out.

Gigwise.com 14/05/12