Last week was a great week for us and was something I really was not expecting. TNC gets millions of emails a day and it’s sometimes it’s hard for us to find out what is going to be good and what is going to be great. Then we got sent info on The Agitator, or Derek Meins on Vocals and  Robert Dylan Thomas on drums, and something just hit in my  eyes. This sound is one you are going to remember, recommend, and celebrate.

What we have here is one hell of an outfit that is really putting originality, life, and passion back in to the UK music scene, these are without question the band to watch.

What makes this even more exciting is The Agitator or going to be performing live at Rounder Records in Brighton as a celebration of the release of their new single. And TNC has a chance to interview Derek just after his instore show today. But if you can’t make Rounder Records on Wednesday there is going to be a HUGE party to really celebrate the single launch in London, details above, DO NOT MISS THIS.

For more information on The Agitator checkout their MYSPACE and our interview with Derek will be live tomorrow. The guys are also going to be at this years Big Chill Festival – and you know how much we love the Chill!

Everyone knows the feeling you get when you witness something monumental. Some of us go our entire lives without ever getting this feeling; others are all too aware when they see something that will change the world. I was once lucky enough to experience this feeling my friends, I felt the way I imagine Jimi Hendrix did when he first realised;

“Yeah this guitar thing isn’t too bad”

When Slash first understood;

“Damn…I am really working the afro look”

And when David Bowie inevitably uttered the words;

“Dressing like a space woman makes you cool? It’s so simple!”

However the moment I realised nothing was going to be the same was not really anything to do with myself, it was witnessing the utter terror and complete ecstasy of Fight Like Apes. The intricacies of the gig I saw cannot be re-told as I was hit over the head several times during the performance and all I can remember when trying to recall the ins and outs is a noise similar to that of a monkey hitting cymbals together; some things I do remember are as follows :

The keys player smashing a metal chair over the railings to keep beat

The lead singer screaming like a wounded animal seconds before singing fantastically

The best use of samples I have ever heard

The keys player as he stared into my eyes like a man possessed

It’s needless to say with a gig like that I bought the 2008 album ‘Fight Like Apes And The Mystery Of The Golden Medallion’. I remember the first time listening to the entire album, solemnly taking the headphones off and placing them in front of me, wiping a tear from my eye and saying ‘That was truly a thing of beauty’. Alright, I’ll be honest with you, I’m not that poetic when improvising, I probably swore and bounced around the room to the music like a squirrel that had chewed a suspicious looking pill; either way the message is the same.

From the very first track ‘Something Global’ you know good things are happening, the very pace of the song is enough to get you going but coupled with the abstract lyrics that become such a pillar of the music they play and the splendid synths you can’t help but wonder why they aren’t already a musical superpower.  However, my favourite part of Fight Like Apes are not the lyrics (amazing as they are) and not even the beautiful May – Kay and her subtle Irish tones/furious screams, but something somewhat different.

My personal highlight of this band is that their songs are good, fast and slow alike; they don’t rely on the pace or hook of a song to carry it, nor do they expect us just to be content with the slower more heartfelt numbers, but offer us the variety complicit in the creation of a good album (see Justin Bieber for example of bad album, very bad album).

All in all, Fight Like Apes are a battering ram of talent, they don’t grow on you or get you humming a track unawares because they don’t need too, they are just, quite simply, brilliant.

Tracks I Recommend:

Something Global

Battlestations

I’m Beginning to Think You Prefer 90210 to Me

Tie Me Up With Jackets

Digif*cker

Breton began life in a warehouse somewhere in South East London. Born from the creative force of musicians and filmmakers Roman Rappak and Adam Ainger and expanded recently into a multi-instrumental and visual collective with the inclusion of Ian Patterson, Daniel McIlvenny and Alex Wadey. This year, the very limited and quickly snapped-up EP Practical floated between “eerie and carnival-esque. Combining elements of math-rock, post-rock, straight-up Electro and even tropical” – Abeano.com.

The second E.P. in the trilogy, entitled Sharing Notes, follows on Monday 5^th July.

The Well from BretonLABS on Vimeo.

Under the guise BretonLABS, Breton run a slick operation of audio/visual experimentation. Remixes have been created for the likes of Is Tropical, Hatcham Social and Penguin Prison. Their short films have screened at both the London Short Film Festival and the East London Film Festival, with Breton performing a live soundtrack.  Their celebrated music videos – Penguin Prison, NewIsland, 80′s Matchbox B-Line Disaster – adorn all in-the-know blogs.

Breton are the glaring beacons of the mp3 generation; the generation of immediate access to music and visuals, where careers and genres spanning decades, cultures and the globe are spread wide open for the taking, downloading and mixing into billions of individual, eclectic and genre-defying playlists. With such light speed assimilation of influences – spanning from The Beach Boys to Minimal House, Dub-Step to David Bowie, Bjork to East Coast Hip-Hop and a noticeable chunk of Post-Punk, Breton create wholly individual songs, with the end result being a blasting, constantly evolving sonic assault. Absorbing all, yet mixing it up into wholly individual songs building imposing razor sharp electronics, Post-Punk and Art-Rock that sounds like nothing else.

Live Shows 2010:

6^th July – White Heat, Madame Jojo’s , London

24^th July – 1234 Festival, Shoreditch, London

It has been too long since we reviewed at our second home Concorde 2 and so we thought it was high time we came back, and what better time to be back in the bossom of our greatest venue than the next few shows. Elliot Minor – playing this week 26th June, Breakestra on the 27th, Bassekou Kouyate the 1st.

These are going to be some kick arse shows and we can wait, but rather than leave it there we thought we would do a little show and tell as to why these four groups are some of the best live acts you are going to see, bar none!

Elliot Minor 26th June C2

These northern boys (they come from the great city of York) have made serious waves the past few years and have forged a real place for themselves in the UK music scene. Alex, Ed, Ali, Dan & Ed are busy jetting about Europe and the UK filling dates left right and centre with very little time between, that dedication mixed with their incredible style has made people take note, do not miss this show!

Breakestra 27th June C2

This show comes just a few days after the guys play this years Glastonbury and they have to be seen to be believed as nothing will come close to how perfect, beautiful, and mesmerising these guys are. As many people have commented on the past their music is the infectious kind, it slowly crawls into your head then takes over your whole body, and live these guys don’t just deliver they give a performance that will make you glad you made the trip.

This ten piece LA funk orchestra are going to do more than make you feel great they are going to show you that music, their passion, and their love of sound is very much a live and well!

Bassekou Kouyate 1st July 2010 C2

Mali has produced some of the worlds greatest instrumental musicians and have become a very real centre of both traditional and modern African music. Bassekou bring his traditional sound to Concorde 2 1st July and if you have never seen or heard much African Music before then this show is going to be the bet introduction you could ever want. Bassekou will also be at this years Glastonbury Festival.