toriabrightside:

Much to my disappointment, I recently discovered that Spotify’s threats of only allowing me to play a song 5 times in an attempt to make me pay were all too true. The first song that I was OUTRAGED wouldn’t play a 6th was Drowning Doll, from The Kabeedies latest release, ‘Soap.’

My last encounter with the Kabeedies lasted 3 days - a residency at Milo in Leeds. While singer Katie took the more professional route to bed after the shows, the boys and I came out of the whole escapade with a collective chart of amnesia, alcohol poisoning, ambulance rides, a dramatic head wound and a severe lack of dignity. It was a brilliant weekend.

Their set varied from evening to evening - embarrassingly enough, often due to what drunken Tori had apparently told them off in the early hours of the morning for NOT playing the night before. They played Drowning Doll, and new song Bones - the borderline sad and moving narrative informed me that, before hearing it, I knew that the album would show a new side to the band.

I see that in contrast to their 35 (or something) track debut ‘Rumpus,’ the music they have been making since then has been honed and condensed into a more palatable 10 tracks.

I already knew and was fond of Santiago, Come Out Of The Blue and January single Eyes - along with the songs I had heard during the Milo residency, the odds towards leaving the album to play unsupervised (and not having to skip a la Rumpus) were looking favorable. Elizabeth, a track I didn’t take a particular shining to at the gigs was a pleasant surprise - brilliantly recorded, and one of the album’s highlights.

The ability to listen to Soap from start to finish led me to discover it’s best hidden gem - ghost track Keyhole which I have since noticed has a place on the set lists of some of their Norwich gigs. An almost a capella recording carried entirely by 3 part harmonies, I can only hope to hear how that sounds when they return to Leeds.

I’m a little cross that I didn’t make the effort to catch them at Manchester’s Deaf Institute the night before Tattoo Tea Party, but frankly after our last encounter it is likely that my blood would be at too thin a level to walk, let alone get tattooed. Instead, I’m going to see them on May 16th at Nation of Shopkeepers and suggest that you Leeds critters join me

http://www.facebook.com/thekabeedies  

b-sidemusic:

LIVE REVIEW:
THE KABEEDIES / ALLOY ARK / THE SOFT / MOUSE-DRAWN CART - WASHING MACHINE @ THE LP, BURY ST EDMUNDS, SATURDAY 18^TH FEBRUARY 2012

A one man techno punk act is a challenging notion, but Mouse-Drawn Cart (aka Bury-based musician Dave Jago) has a Transformers logo on his guitar, and Transformers are cool. The music, however, is not so cool: A dark distorted mess of mad-eyed braggadocio, synthesizers, simple guitar chords and licks, and a lack of discernable lyrics. Not wanting to let first impressions ruin my enjoyment of his set, I persevere.  The subsequent songs, although containing fewer techno elements, are very similar: Messy and indefinable and, yes, very punk, but not great to listen to.  Mouse-Drawn Cart’s punk rock element is admirable, but without a full band his set lacks the energy that makes punk worth watching and fails to win over the crowd. By the third song, the music is almost a chore to listen to.  The punk passion of Gallows crossed with the cocky swagger of Russell Brand rolled into one man would be a difficult idea for anyone to pull off and in this case, Dave Jago doesn’t quite manage.

The Soft’s dark synth overtures immediately bring you back down from Mouse-Drawn Cart’s mass of adrenaline. The mix of sounds, tones and beats are not only hypnotic but fascinating – with electronic music there is so much potential to fail yet, as shown by the masses of enthusiasm surrounding the band and their recent offers of support slots for much larger bands, they effortlessly reach the heights they intended to reach. Tonight the only thing that makes the audience (momentarily) look away is the sound of breaking glass from the bar. The pulsing beats eventually settle for the (ahem) soft vocals which perfectly compliment the band’s overall sound. As the set ends the crowd look almost as if they’re emerging from a trance, and the discussion all around immediately turns to how The Soft’s mix of styles and influences all work so well together.

Despite struggling against a bad sound, Alloy Ark show clear potential; yet from the start singer Dani Apadoo, although very talented, evokes a love/hate reaction from much of the crowd (strangely the dislike seems to come largely from the younger audience members). The band are tight, accomplished musicians – props especially to their drummer (sadly, the internet won’t tell me his name) – but at no point does anything stand out as amazing which, although not always important, does make you question the potential of the band in a “Wow, I’ve never heard this before” sense. Alloy Ark aren’t bad, but they aren’t incredible either; and sadly sometimes a mediocre set is less memorable than a bad one.

From the reaction as they take to the stage, the crowd are clearly here for indie sensations The Kabeedies.  The live sound is great from the start and the music is fantastic (and eerily close to the recorded versions of the songs). To make things even better, the banter between the band members and the audience immediately gets the crowd on their side, especially when combined with the on-stage dancing amongst the members. It is incredibly hard to describe how much energy this band give out throughout the set; they clearly aren’t afraid of what anyone might think, but with talented singers Katie and Evan at the helm they’ll always be unlikely to get a bad reception. The vocal harmonies and interplay make the band appear very versatile, which is only supported by Roary’s bass and Evan’s guitar; the bass in particular is far from simple, at once compensating for a lack of second guitar whilst setting up separate melodies within the songs. The best way to describe this band is “explosive”. 

Tonight The Kabeedies simply grab the audience and refuse to let go. The set list (which focuses mostly on new album Soap) is well chosen – their X-Box advert crossover hit Come On is saved for last – and despite the serious lack of dancing from the crowd, most of the audience are at least tapping their feet. On tonight’s evidence, their powers of persuasion may be the only thing the band could improve on.

 

Words: Dom Clarke

Photo: The Kabeedies live at Washing Machine by Kate Quigley

LINKS:
www.facebook.com/thekabeedieswww.soundcloud.com/alloyarkwww.soundcloud.com/thesoftwww.facebook.com/mousedrawn

Lovely live review, definitely didn’t play ‘Come On’ though. Cheers b-side xxxxx

Gunslinger in Akershus Fortress

Also Norway makes us sleepy. Well these two cute babes anyway. What is Evan holding in his lap?

Norway is officially the most beautiful place ever. We had broken down on the side of the road but I didn’t care…

womeninmusic2:

Katie Allard of The Kabeedies.

Katie is repping the birds x

(Source: women-in-music)

So we are going on tour in Germany!

Here are all the confirmed dates, we’re happy to say that the whole tour is presented by the lovely MusikExpress magazine, Tape.tv and Motor Records!

MusikExpress., tape.tv & motor.de present:
THE KABEEDIES - “SOAP” live 2012
14.04 Frankfurt, Nachtleben
15.04 Hamburg, Knust
16.04 Köln, Studio 672
17.04 Stuttgart, Zwölfzehn
18.04 München, 59 to 1
20.04 Erlangen, E-Werk
21.04 Leipzig, Noch Besser Leben
22.04 Berlin, Bi Nuu
23.04 Rostock, Campus Erwachen Festival
24.04 Dresden, Groove Station
25.04 Bremen, MS Treue

Our new single ‘Eyes’ is out today!

You can head on down to iTunes now to get it with a brand new b-side.

The only way you’ll be able to get said b-side is with that new single so do it!

Here is a tantalising video that our lovely friend Harry Hall has made to go with it.

So our new album ‘Soap’ is coming out next Monday!

It’s on iTunes, we’ll have CD copies in shops and on tour, eventually we’ll even have gorgeous 12” copies for you to feast your eyes on!

The first 50 people to pre-order the CD at evolmusicstore.com will receive it signed! It took us a long time to sign those…

If you want it digitally then pre-order it on iTunes.