LAST OF 2012

Everyone has a 'best of' list don't they? Here's mine for Hooting & Howling.

And here's my favourite album of 2012 on fishinasub. Obviously it's a different album because consistency is boring and music is good.

Last week Rosie and I interviewed rad Manchester band Shinies after their gig at Art School. We're thinking of making accosting bands after they play and forcing them to answer questions for us a 'thing' now so watch out bands of 2013.

THE CROOKES

I saw The Crookes play King Tuts and reviewed it for fishinasub. 

[live] Peace @ Mono, 25/10/2012

Swooning and snogging and grooving and vibing. That's what's supposed to happen when Peace come to town, right? Right. Only, it seems Glasgow didn't get the memo. Maybe it was the numerous venue changes or maybe it's because MONO is better known as a vegan restaurant than the temporary home of one of Britain's hottest new bands; whatever the reason, a subdued, half-empty room probably wasn't what Peace were expecting from their first visit to Scotland's capital of music.

Not that it seems to affect their performance much. They manage to cram an impressive number of disparate ideas into a short thirty minute set. Some tracks are a little bit Foals-y and, on 'Ocean's Eye', they even hark back to the more colourful side of britpop, but everything they play gets a touch of the wonderful and sublime from their very own vibrant, psychedelic hands. We're denied the privilege of hearing their trippy 10 minute long cover of Binary Finary's '1998' but 'California Daze' sounds just as life-affirming as everyone promised it would and 'Bloodshake', with it's fantastic afro-pop intro, forced a couple of people to, whilst not give it the shimmying and shaking it deserves, at least stand up.

Frontman Harry Koisser is on top form and croons and rasps like a man who hasn't been swigging rum from an apple juice carton for most of the evening. His crowning moment comes when someone in the crowd, referring to a joke he made earlier, requests Spector's 'Chevy Thunder' and he obliges us a verse before flitting seamlessly into 'Wraith'. So good he'd probably been waiting all night to try it out.

Peace definitely have the songs, the look (man leggings are so in right now) and the attitude: now all they need is a few more Scottish fans (or, alternatively, a fanbase dedicated enough to travel north of the border to see their heroes). Those already up to date with which bands are currently making waves across the country showed their appreciation by ensuring the band were never without a drink for the rest of the night, guaranteeing that, whilst they may have played a show to remember, Peace left Glasgow with more than a few buckfast-inflicted memory gaps.

LIFE

I've been super busy lately. Even though I've already had a year of practice I still haven't really figured out how to do university and a social life at the same time so the last couple of weeks have seen a very last minute essay submission and a seminar presentation meltdown. Other than that I've been discussing the difference between English and Scottish ways of pronouncing words with O. Children over £1 vodkas (girl/girol, squirrl/squirrel), getting chucked out of venues with Peace, and sharing sweat with teenage boys whilst watching Twin Atlantic SMASH the Barrowlands. I still have one more essay to finish/start/think about but once that's out the way everything on here is go go go.

This is my current favourite song; the vocals are sort of Scott Walker crossed with David Bowie crossed with Mick Jagger.

INTRODUCING: CHILDHOOD

Because of Palma Violets (and Nice n Sleazy and White Russians and Rosie McCormack and my own lack of willpower) I'm always going to be known as the girl who had to leave during an English Language workshop because she thought she was gonna throw up. I sort of forgive them though because if it wasn't for them then I probably wouldn't have listened to Childhood and my life would definitely be way worse off.

I introduced them over on Hooting & Howling.

[live] Palma Violets @ Electric Circus (8/9/2012)

Michael Stipe isn't big on breakfast. You can find that out by reading a university level English Language textbook. That's the thing with huge rockstars – there's no mystery left. We all know Tom and Serge support Leicester City and we all know Jamie Cook is engaged to a Page 3 model and we all know every rehab centre Pete Doherty has ever checked in to. But what do we know about Palma Violets? What can we, an Edinburgh audience, judge them on? Nothing. Nothing except one recording (MASSIVE single 'Best of Friends'), a four page NME interview that gives very little away, and what we see standing in front of us. That is, four boys who look like a rock and roll band without having matching hairstyles or any sort of coordinated ripped jeans/patterned shirts uniform. One, bassist Chilli Jesson, is wearing his own band's t-shirt but even that doesn't look pretentious.

They start with a roguish cover of 'California Sun' that's more akin to the Ramones than The Rivieras. 'And that's just a cover', Chilli tells an already energetic crowd. The rest of the set pitches vocals that sound like Joe Strummer crossed with Jim Morrisson (curtesy of Sam Fryers) against echoey guitars and sky burst choruses; all powered by Pete Mayhew's organ-like keyboard. 'Rattlesnake Highway' starts off as the successor to 'Blitzkreig Bop' until Sam's vocals and guitar turn it into something worthy of Ian McCulloch at his most melodic. 'Tom The Drum' is as close to visceral punk as you'll find in 2012 and journeys right to the heart of rough around the edges rock and roll whilst 'Best of Friends' sounds as vital as extended essay deadlines, £1 vodka mixes and, um, oxygen. It's euphoric and sounds exactly like what you want the song that's going to save guitar music to sound like, only a whole lot fucking better.

It's not just the songs, though, it's the way they play them. Their energy is infectious and spurs on, what surely must be, one of the Electric Circus's rowdiest audiences ever. Drummer Will Doyle ends more than one song atop his stool and Chilli screams every word back at the crowd. Palma Violets are void of any pretence and chock full of personality. Would the last big London guitar band ever end their set with a song made up exclusively of the words 'I've got a brand new song and it's gonna be number one', with only the singer and drummer bothering to play because the bassist is crowd-surfing and the keyboard player is in the middle of the venue singing along?

The following night will see the band play an 18+ show in Glasgow and end the set with half the crowd on stage but it's tonight in Edinburgh that's really special. Boisterous teenagers, immaculate hipsters, middle-aged businessmen, university students, barmen, Chilli's extended family: Palma Violets are a band for anyone and everyone who'll have them, regardless of something as futile as age. They validate any time you ever decided to get fucked up the night before a 9 o'clock shift and every single time you caught the bus to the next city to see a band instead of going to your last lecture of the day. 'We're going up', they say at the end of one track and, on tonight's evidence, that's one thing we definitely do know about Palma Violets.

SHINIES - ENNUI

Shinies have their very own Daily Mail comment feed!!! The word 'sick' features a lot and they better hope some horrifically violent crime isn't highly publicised anytime soon because it's definitely going to be their fault. Another commenter seems to think it's all some sort of media ploy to boost the band's popularity. You can sort of see where they're coming from but, the fact is, Shinies don't need to burn Pat Sharp alive to make people like their music.

'Ennui' is all reverb and fuzzy vocal effects. It sounds a little bit like listening to a track through broken headphones with distorted sound and indistinct vocals. This is a good thing. A GREAT THING. Woozy, languid vocals and a guitar riff so fucking excellent it could probably be a song all on its own. Plus, the video's sort of genius if you actually bother to read the explanation. Suck it Daily Mail.