
Blog: Archives: 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 About/Contact	Never Believe, Pop Vs The World Neil Jones on Slow Club at Cardiff Barfly February 4th, 2008 Oh for a night in Barfly, I haven’t been there in ages, oh for the variety (more Hitlerite than Peelian), oh for the left-alone underground feel, like we need the venue to give us the illusion that we’re in a golden age of indie, of course Barfly’s golden age is one of high street-sponsored domestication, where the kids come as glossy as the magazine pages they read, and thus the fare begins… Amelia Duke have a good name, immediately evocative of two fine things, Amelia Fletcher from Heavenly and Talulah Gosh and the new Darren Hayman track ‘Elizabeth Duke’, but in actuality Amelia Duke are as far removed from these two things as possible, or, as Jimmy McGee would say, “total shite”. In fact, a shite band of such clichéd proportions I’ve never seen; real, real hair, Top Shop, NME promo pages stuff, mainstream indie for the kids to break up and die to. I hate dwelling on negatives, there are so many positives in the Pop underground that this site’s becoming a shrine to, but you can’t help looking over the fence now and again, and after this I feel like a sucked orange. Kids, go read some Krishnamurti. Sheffield duo Slow Club are thankfully an altogether more positive “cool”, coming from the affectionate underground, dripping sultry Pop melodies and looks. Charles is in a Russian hat, throwing guitar rhythms like a humble loon, Rebecca besides him in an overgrown lopsided fringe that would topple a small boat hitting drums and a chair from that great standing position and singing with such forthrightness and beauty. They have one hit that kicks the ass of even the White Stripes, a country punk pop stomp of such splendid rhythms that the sentiments wouldn’t matter, except they’re great too. It’s as festive as Tilly and the Wall and as twee as a fleet of panda bears. They’re not afraid to let it go quiet too, which is great, a quintessential Pop trait, and Slow Club are if anything quintessentially Pop, and should never be ashamed and should never believe the hype. They’re ace. © 2008 Neil Jones
© Miwsig

Blog:

Archives:

2012

About/Contact

Never Believe, Pop Vs The World

Neil Jones on Slow Club at Cardiff Barfly

February 4th, 2008

Oh for a night in Barfly, I haven’t been there in ages, oh for the variety (more Hitlerite than Peelian), oh for the left-alone underground feel, like we need the venue to give us the illusion that we’re in a golden age of indie, of course Barfly’s golden age is one of high street-sponsored domestication, where the kids come as glossy as the magazine pages they read, and thus the fare begins…

Amelia Duke have a good name, immediately evocative of two fine things, Amelia Fletcher from Heavenly and Talulah Gosh and the new Darren Hayman track ‘Elizabeth Duke’, but in actuality Amelia Duke are as far removed from these two things as possible, or, as Jimmy McGee would say, “total shite”.

In fact, a shite band of such clichéd proportions I’ve never seen; real, real hair, Top Shop, NME promo pages stuff, mainstream indie for the kids to break up and die to. I hate dwelling on negatives, there are so many positives in the Pop underground that this site’s becoming a shrine to, but you can’t help looking over the fence now and again, and after this I feel like a sucked orange. Kids, go read some Krishnamurti.

Sheffield duo Slow Club are thankfully an altogether more positive “cool”, coming from the affectionate underground, dripping sultry Pop melodies and looks. Charles is in a Russian hat, throwing guitar rhythms like a humble loon, Rebecca besides him in an overgrown lopsided fringe that would topple a small boat hitting drums and a chair from that great standing position and singing with such forthrightness and beauty.

They have one hit that kicks the ass of even the White Stripes, a country punk pop stomp of such splendid rhythms that the sentiments wouldn’t matter, except they’re great too. It’s as festive as Tilly and the Wall and as twee as a fleet of panda bears. They’re not afraid to let it go quiet too, which is great, a quintessential Pop trait, and Slow Club are if anything quintessentially Pop, and should never be ashamed and should never believe the hype. They’re ace.