Fleur De Lys

Radio Show Episode 11

Webmaster — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 12:19:56 +0000

Listen again here!

Fleur-de-Lys Radio Show 11 by Fleurdelys on Mixcloud

The playlist for Fleur-de-Lys Radio Show Episode 11 on Shoreditch Radio
(broadcasted 18th November 2011)

1) Unknown Mortal Orchestra – How Can U Luv Me
2) Mozart Parties – Black Cloud
3) CANT – The Edge
4) Yasai – China
5) Kwes – Get Up **Electronic Tune of the fortnight**
6) Sunless 97 – Illuminations
7) Hype Williams – Businessline
Dirty Beaches – Lord Knows Best **Favourite band of last 5 minutes**
9) Filthy Boy – Naughty Corner
10) Kindness – Cyan
11) Sheet Noise – Fire
12) Born Blonde – Radio Bliss
13) Chairlift – Sidewalk Safari
14) Headless Horseman – Jailbait

Anika – Cause Bristol is Anywhere

Webmaster — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 14:40:03 +0000

A curious artist popped up on the radar this week, going simply by the name ‘Anika’. It seems that Anika is somewhat of a creative butterfly working as political journalist, photographer, blogger and musician fluttering between London, her current home Berlin, and most significantly Bristol. If any one city has developed it’s ‘own sound’ over the past 25 years Bristol would surely be top of many people’s list. No doubt Anika will be touted as the next product of the ‘Bristol Sound’ with her raw scuzzy blend of dub and punk, sounding like ESG on West Country crack. Her debut album, set for release 25th October, is after all produced by ‘Beak’ and released on Bristol label ‘Invada’. Anyway, who cares about the pointless journalistic tack when the music is this intriguing. Whether it be in Bristol, Berlin or Bamako, I sense that this is one girl who will not go unnoticed.

Download: Yang Yang by Anika
MySpace Page: myspace.com/anikainvada

Anika

Quality Control: Admiral Fallow

Webmaster — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:07:30 +0000

There is nothing more pleasing than when quality music gains the widespread exposure it deserves. There is too much mediocre music that gets churned through the well oiled PR machine and pushed into the public‘s unwilling consciousness. However, occasionally talented artists will gain gradual recognition in a very organic way as more and more listeners are drawn to their music through recommendation. It is very pleasing therefore to see momentum building for Glaswegian folksters ‘Admiral Fallow’ as more and more people discover their beautifully crafted debut release on Lo Five Records ‘Boots Met My Face’. There was no massive budget or major label backing, the album was recorded using funding by The Scottish Arts Council, just honest well written songs played from the soul. Following a spellbinding live performance on The BBC Introducing Stage at this years T in the Park Festival attention was drawn to Admiral Fallow, leading to support slots for The Felice Brothers and a live appearance on BBC’s TV show ‘The Cut’. Boots Met My Face comes highly recommended so do yourself a favour and go buy the album, this is bandwagon you won’t want to miss.

MySpace Page: myspace.com/admiralfallow
Download Mp3:Four Bulbs by Admiral Fallow

'Boots Met My Face' album cover

William Rahr Fortna

Webmaster — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 10:27:11 +0000

‘Don’t be jealous that I’ve been chatting online with babes all day’ (Napoleon Dynamite).
Love or hate them online social networking sites consume a lot of our time. The Fleur-de-Lys Club’s very existence is in part due to sites such as MySpace and Facebook. The expanding intricate digital networks do however provide great opportunities to discover wonderful new music. However, very rarely does the Fleur-de-Lys get excited about a new artist as we did when discovering the brilliant ‘William Rahr Fortna’. There is a refreshing maturity to his classic song writing and low hushed voice, making it all the more impressive William is still a teenager writing, performing and recording in his North London home. So impressed, The Fleur-de-Lys has decided to help, so go check him out on those damned social networking sites now.

MySpace page – www.myspace.com/williamrahrfortna

Mr Mangan: Back to Blighty

Webmaster — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:22:57 +0000

Back in November 2009, Canadian Dan Mangan played to a packed crowd at The Lexington. Dan that night was only playing solo acoustic but was easily able to captivate the audience with his well crafted folk tinged songs. Those who were present will remember the sawing chorus to ‘Robots’ which the audience happily sung in unison. Well, good news Mr Mangan is back, returning to the UK to play The Lexington for the Canadian Blast festival (see flyer below). It was also a great pleasure to see Dan Mangan on the bill for the John Peel Stage at this year’s Glastonbury Festival. To play the John Peel State at Glastonbury is a great honour for any artist and testament that Dan is making a deserved impression on the British public. Dan Mangan’s 2009 album ‘Nice Nice Very Nice’ is a 13 track strong album of mature sing –a-long contemporary folk anthems that is well worth a listen. The prospect of seeing Dan backed by his full band, who are chart toppers in their native Canada, on the Glastonbury stage is extremely exciting for any music lover.

It’s Time to Shine: Clock Opera

Webmaster — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 22:47:23 +0000

London band Clock Opera have slowly been building a reputation as one of the most interesting and exciting new alternative pop acts around, with their original and distinct ‘Chop Pop’ sound. This week sees the release of the hotly anticipated Clock Opera remix of ‘I am not a Robot’ by Marina & The Diamonds. There is no doubt, and I know Marina agrees, that the Clock Opera remix is far superior than the original by taking an average (to good) song and propelling it to an exciting new pop direction. With the release of the Marina remix Clock Opera will suddenly be thrusted to a huge unexpecting new audience. It is unlikely to make the same impact as the Skream remix of La Roux’s ‘In for the Kill’, although largely because ‘I am not a Robot’ has had far lesser impact on the charts (currently #61 on singles chart). However, with the imminent success of this remix, described by Neon Gold as the ‘best remix they’ve ever heard’, Clock Opera’s stock is undoubtedly and deservedly on the rise. The band have also announced the release of their second single, the brilliant ‘A Piece of String’, on June 7th, which will further cement Clock Opera as one of the hottest new bands around.

Clock Opera MySpace – www.myspace.com/clockopera
Download mp3:‘I am not a robot’ by Marina & The Diamonds (Clock Opera remix)

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Webmaster — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 11:22:05 +0000

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Real Fur – Warming you up this Winter

Webmaster — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:21:19 +0000

While watching Real Fur’s first publicised gig on a cold winter’s Tuesday night at The Social it was clearly apparent that this band were something special. How many bands can you name whose melodies and lyrics stick in your head for weeks after one live performance? A couple of weeks later Real Fur are playing a support slot at a busy Fleur-de-Lys Club at The Lexington, stealing the show with their energetic catchy songs. Real Fur are the real deal, guitar pop perfection at its very best, combining up tempo rhythmically charged bass and drums with funk fuelled surf guitar riffs topped with 3 part harmonies. The band look natural on stage like they’ve played together for years, all the more remarkable that you can count their number of gigs on one hand. In truth though, Leo (guitar and lead vocals) and Matt (bass) have been playing together for sometime in London band ‘Cheka’, who you may or may not have heard of, but now with George on drums and a new sonic direction it is impossible not to take notice. Every one of their songs in the 30 minute set has a catchy classic pop hook, with choruses such as ‘Every Penny I spend is a Penny I Owe’, all played by the classic 3 piece line up of guitar, drums and bass.. just brilliant! One mustn’t get carried away too early as the band are still very raw and have a lot of hard work to fulfil their potential. However, from the evidence so far it won’t be long before we all want Real Fur.

Real Fur MySpace – www.myspace.com/wearrealfur
Download demo of ‘Birds’ here..
01 Birds (demo)

Its Django time…

Webmaster — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 15:18:03 +0000

For many of us, myself especially, a big test for a song is how long it can remain on my iPod, before being removed because it becomes boring. Every so often a new band comes along that remains on the shuffle for a noticeably long period. For over a year now, there has been one new UK band that has withstood the test of ‘iPod time’. This band is ‘Django Django’, a Scottish four piece who now reside in East London. It was when I heard the band featured on Nemone’s 6 music show that kicked me into action and write this blog.

This month Django Django self release their debut 4 track EP, which contains 3 of the tracks that have been rotating on my iPod for nearly a year. From start to finish this is psychedelic art pop at its brilliant best. Mixing live instrumentation with electronic sounds this bedroom produced EP has depth, originality and is wholesomely rough around the edges. First track ‘Storm’ has a foot tapping kick drum that leads in an infectious hook that will have you stomping around like it’s your favourite Clash record. ‘Default’ has a more electronica led melody that grabs you in from the first note. This track has a real driving rhythm that means it’s not only a great pop tune but also a club banger. Django Django succeeds on both ‘Default’ and ‘Firewater’ to create great contemporary indie dance floor records. Django Django provide the answer to combat the US stronghold in this subgenre, post the James Murphy revolution.

Django Django's 'Voodoo' inspired artwork

Django Django met at art school in Edinburgh, although are far from being the super trendy or fashionista act as you may expect. I have had the pleasure of meeting these guys and they are very unassuming characters that just play darn good music. The MySpace page contains a catalogue of great records illustrating the diverse influences on these musically well educated guys. The band also DJ and run regular parties called ‘Bad to the Bone’ where they mix anything from 50’s rock n roll to early 90’s Lab Cab hip hop. Django Django have their own unique style that has evolved from the post millennium musical melting pot.

I recommend everybody to go out and get the Django Django EP as I can guarantee it will be very difficult to remove it from the Mp3 player once uploaded. The band has a few festival slots this summer including Latitude, so do check them out if you get a chance. The live show is developing and it won’t be long before Django Django are in hot demand across the land like Firewater to the Belly!

Django Django – Default

www.myspace.com/djangotime

Great Escape Festival 2009

Webmaster — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 15:14:39 +0000

I have spent the past few days at the annual music event ‘The Great Escape’ in Brighton. In the same format as the Camden Crawl and South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, the music industry descends to the Sussex coast along with over 300 new bands looking to make it to the big time. Although much of the time is spent, networking (aka chatting bollocks), queuing, and walking large distances through wet windy Brighton, I did manage to see some great live bands. As with all festivals, there was so much good stuff I missed, so this a summary of the Fleur-de-Lys experience at The Great Escape 2009.

The highlight performance from the first day, Thursday, was undoubtedly Black Lips. I missed them at Glastonbury last year so wasn’t going to pass the opportunity to see the Atlanta four piece perform in the intimate venue ‘Audio’. Black Lips had clearly missed sound check causing a considerable delay to the start of the set, which began to work the crowd into a frenzy of expectance. Then when the band finally kicked off the rowdy mob went bonkers prevented only from moshing onto the stage by two large bouncers desperately keeping the barrier upright. The band’s energy on stage was electrifying, especially during ‘Oh Katrina’ and ‘I’ll be with you’ that cross surf rock guitars with gypsy punk creating this strange mix of Dick Dale and Gogol Bordello. The band are famed for their crazed antics on stage, and apart from a few wild hats and smashed beer cans on the heads this was fairly mild mannered although the festival organisers did have to prise the band off the stage as they went over curfew with the excellent ‘Bad Kids’. Black Lips are a must see this summer so hopefully they’ll make it back to the UK again soon.

I was also very impressed with Lost Valentinos from Sydney, Australia. They had been a late replacement for The Big Pink who I had been hoping to see, but satisfied me more than enough with their rock tinged electro pop. I managed to catch up with the band who were all very happy to be over in Europe and after this engaging performance this won’t be the last time we’ll see them on our shores.

My new discovery of the first day was DM Stith, a soft voiced American folkster who’s a wonderful storyteller using his unique inspiring vocal range as his guide. Need music to listen to when you want to reflect on life solemnly, DM’s your man.

The Aussie band Lost Valentinos

On Friday I was blessed to see the excellent John Steel Singers and Hey Rosetta! both being definite highlights of the festival. However, as they are playing Fleur-de-Lys Club this Wednesday, I will save my review for after the Lexington show. Another band I enjoyed immensely was Django Django who are destined for big things. When Nemone played their track ‘Storm’ on her BBC 6 Wednesday show I realised it was about time I wrote a blog about them before everyone does. I have been a big fan of the band for some time, and by the looks of the big crowd at Brighton’s Audio many others are to, so look out for the forthcoming blog on one of the rare few exciting new ‘British’ bands.

Thursday evening was spent at the Brighton Corn Exchange watching Mumford and Sons followed by Metronomy. I was sceptical if Mumford and Son’s foot-stomping British bluegrass could work on a big stage… it can! Marcus Mumford’s voice will resonate through any venue, backed by piano, guitar, double bass and of course the banjo! The beautiful ‘White Blank Page’ was one of my favourite tracks of 2008 and so it’s no surprise there’s currently a scramble from all labels to sign this band.

For those who don’t know, Metronomy is essentially one-man Devon maestro Joseph Mount, who has turned from quirky hipster to a world touring popular artist. At The Great Escape Joseph was backed by a make shift band following the recent departure of live compatriot Gabriel Stebbing. Although the performance was a little shabby on the edges, the new live set up with drums and bass bodes well for an exciting live summer for Metronomy as they promote the 2008 release ‘Nights Out’.

I kicked off Saturday with a performance by Alan Pownall, and artist who I have been listening to a lot on MySpace. His warm gentle soulful pop tunes were performed by his four piece band well, without being spectacular. Mr Pownall is clearly a very good singer and songwriter so the future looks bright all the same. I then stayed at the same venue, Digital, for New York hipsters Telepathe. The venue suddenly filled with anticipation for the girl duo that have an ever growing reputation as New York’s freshest electro dance act. Again, the live performance didn’t blow me away, but at least they both sang live vocals over their very listenable beats, which is more than just pressing play as done by many of their contemporary dance piers.

Having caught the end of a secret acoustic show from Ben Kweller and been disappointed by Soft Pack, a name that dually described their performance, I returned to Brighton’s Audio for the much hyped Hockey. I can now see why so much attention is building for this Portland four piece as they performed songs from their forthcoming debut ‘Mind Chaos’ with style and swagger. Bringing a white boy funk element to their indie soul, coupled with lead singer Ben Grubin’s commanding stage presence and stirring vocals, Hockey were my performance of the weekend. The penultimate song and debut single ‘Too Fake’ had the audience in raptures with the chorus ringing out loud from the adoring fans. Hockey not only fills the post LCD void but will create their own subgenre within the indie music stratosphere. The band are booked to play T in the Park, Oxygen and Bestival festivals and I strongly recommend you go and see them live, you won’t regret it.

Hockey

So Hockey reigned supreme for me at this years Great Escape, and as for the music conference, not an awful lot was learnt. The record industry is still in such dire straits, some would say deservedly so, but without the power, influence and indeed the money from the labels, we would not get to see great foreign bands, such as Hockey and Black Lips grace the UK. For me, there is nothing better than great live music and long may this continue.

Black Lips – www.myspace.com/theblacklips

Lost Valentinos – www.myspace.com/lostvalentinos

DM Stith – www.myspace.com/dmstith

Django Django – www.myspace.com/djangotime

Mumford and Sons – www.myspace.com/mumfordandsons

Metronomy – www.myspace.com/metronomy

Alan Pownall – www.myspace.com/alanpownall

Telepathe – www.myspace.com/telepathe

Hockey – www.myspace.com/hockey