A simple question, a difficult answer...

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

Your favourite British band making music today...who are they?

Let's not include bands who no longer function (sorry New Order lovers), solo artists, duos (but trios and above are OK) or boybands/girlbands who 'only' sing and dance. I'm being deliberately rockist in this respect as I'm curious as to how much people here go for the traditional band dynamic. I can think of only about 5 or 6 active acts from the UK I like and listen to and I'm not sure I really love any of them. I still think it matters!

My answer: Hot Chip. I don't think they're very good live (altho some do) but I like their ideas generally and I suppose I can relate to them as people pretty well which is often a plus for reasons that should be obvious ('that could be me without massive lifestyle change' etc.). Something is definitely missing from their 'sound' that would make it truly awesome but 'My Piano' is ace.

Comments

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Also <lj user="xyzzzz_" to thread - there are loads of good IMPROV dudes I'm sure.

Improv/Skronk/Noize groups

[giddyoldgoat.livejournal.com]

I'm sure Julio will have a gd ans, but until he gets here can I just say that there are actually v. few interesting British underground GROUPS currently active. Noize making tends to be a pretty solitary activity by and large - eg you have geezers like Matthew Bower/Neil Campbell/Richard Youngs/Phil Todd/Dylan Nyoukis working by themselves, or as duos (ie Bower and Marcia Bassett playing together as the awesomely awesome Hototogisu) but rarely in larger groupings. I guess there's Vibracathedral Orchestra, and regular improv ensembles like Evan Parker's trio who play pretty much every month at the Vortex, and I know Ascension have reformed, but after that Lex is basically OTM - Brit 'rock' music SUX

Re: Improv/Skronk/Noize groups

[http://users.livejournal.com/xyzzzz__/]

Yes to Ascension (love to see Descension reform), one group whose act of reforming I'd actually be inclined to approve (unlike so many of those new wave/great 80s groups - such as The Pixies :-)).

Although I've listed a cpl for Tom obv the one great thing about any free improvisation grouping is its likely short-termism, innit, with economic/social viability playing as much of a part as the inherent nature of the music, consisting of musicians vampirically sucking each other's musicianships and moving on.

[http://users.livejournal.com/xyzzzz__/]

Lots of gd improv dudes that form long-ish term groups (Hugh Metcalfe's 'Fuck off Batman' and his 'Cross-dressed quartet') but actually many improv groups* aren't all British as they have ppl from other European nationalities (not enuff BRITPROV) (Carmodize it?!) and so on.

I'd second Andrew's Ascension suggestion -- seen 'em play about 4-5 times (two diff drummers but both Brits) since they've reformed and they've been pretty gd to great.

*have lost touch with some of this -- could probably talk about Brit chamber groups.

[http://users.livejournal.com/xyzzzz__/]

More improv groups -- BARK! and FURT, both still going, of whom I've not seen.

Chamber groups: actually all the ones I think of have ppl of different nationalities apart from maybe a cpl of string quartet groups.

Its a big world out there.