Knock me down with a fevvuh

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I went to see Shimura Curves last night. Shimura Curves fall into the dread category of MATE'S BANDS as Anna is in them, also Kate T.S. My enjoyment of MATE'S BANDS tends to come mostly from going 'wow look it is someone I know on a STAGE' not from a great love of their music, which is often good music but in a style I am not particularly keen on.

But Shimura Curves were an exception in that they were terrific! They have a set-up as follows: laptop w/actual songs on it, Kate playing guitar, and then Anna, Miss AMP and someone else I don't think I've met called Frances singing and dancing, kind of like the way the women in the Human League did.

The songs are great- some of them are a bit indie with a shoegazing influence, some of them are more out and out pop with big choruses. The best song is called "Stronger" and is some kind of POP EPIC. There is a song called "Magnus" (YES!) which is very good too, and one called "Elephants" which carries a serious MESSAGE and has the singers being trampled by an elephant at the end! I approved of having the songs on the laptop, watching people play instruments is boring and distracting, watching people dance about and interact and laugh with each other is much better: Motown, girl groups, freestyle knew this, pop has forgotten it.

I think if Shimura Curves gigged on the indie circuit and you were to see them you would go home delighted. What they need for TRUE GREATNESS in my humble opinion is:

- a ridiculously overambitious cover version
- a song which has a European rapper on it.

EDIT:Actually watching people play instruments can be interesting but not if they're playing songs. Improv is good in my limited experience cos you get the interaction and second-guessing and so on AND the instruments.

The band on after Shimura Curves featured a Japanese guy with shades and space antennae playing guitar along to some ravey backing tracks. His accomplice played bongos. They were pretty good too!

The headliners were apalling though and sounded like The Cure w/o The Tunes.

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Shimura Curves are totally ace! I really like 'Mother' and 'The Lost Rivers Of Clerkenwell' too. Frances is Frances May Morgan as in the editor of Plan B, actually I think Shimura Curves is essentially the centre of the ILX/Plan B Venn diagram.

[atommickbrane.livejournal.com]

Bah I'm sad I missed this.

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

wasn't it a tabla rather than bongos?

I JUDGE THAT...

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

hurricane carsmile's question requires we point and larf

[(Anonymous)]

Ha ha, I don't think we'll ever get a European rapper on one of our tracks (unless him out of Aqua or shouty bloke from the Sugarcubes count) but overblown cover... oh yes, we're working on it. We're going to do an electroharmonic europopgirlyfolk version of a Krafwerk classic, mwah hah hah.

I've quoted this post in our blog, it makes me so happy. :-)

-Kate the Saint