Tag Archives: Mascotte

Day-glo: Neon Indian

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I’ve just spent the past few minutes browsing the Neon Indian website, and my eyes are literally bleeding from the visual assault of SO MANY FLASHING FLUORESCENT LIGHTS. Ow. Luckily, Neon Indian’s chillwave-y art pop is a good deal more fun than the the headache-inducing website visuals.

Neon Indian (Texan Alan Polomo) released 2009′s Psychic Chasms just as chillwave took hold, mixing the party anthem fun of MGMT and Passion Pit with the experimental art pop of Yeasayer. His current album, 2011′s Era Extraña, sees him with a slightly darker, more polished sound, with pitch-perfect synth-pop and a distinct 80s nostalgia.

‘Polish Girl’, from Era Extraña:

Now if you’ll excuse me a minute, I’m going to lie down in a dark room and rest my eyes from ALL THE FLUORESCENTS before the gig on Wednesday night…

Neon Indian plays @ Mascotte, ZH, Wednesday 23.05.12. Tix here. 

Era Extraña is out now on Mom + Pop Records.

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Morning Parade – 2×2 free tix

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Essex indie rock five-piece Morning Parade are off to an auspicious start – their first single back in 2010 ‘Under The Stars’ was played on Zane Lowe‘s Radio One show, and featured on blood-sucking teen drama The Vampire Diaries. Since then, they’ve supported The Kooks, The Wombats, Glasvegas, Feeder, and 30 Seconds To Mars.

After being indie-rockstars-in-training for the last couple of years, they are now ready to take over the spotlight for themselves with the upcoming release of their self-titled debut album. They are primed and ready for top billing, having been squarely placed in the niche of (according to The Guardian’s New Band of the Day) “robust indie with stadium ambitions, passionate vocals and penchant for rave-rock rhythms”. Worth checking out, eh?

Here’s the current single from the new album, ‘Headlights’:

Purely out of the goodness of my heart, I’ve got 2×2 tix to Morning Parade’s upcoming gig in Zurich to give away if you can answer this childishly easy question:

What is the name of Morning Parade‘s current single?

Mail me the answer and the tix are yours – first in, best dressed :) Winners notified by email.

Morning Parade play @ Mascotte, ZH, 29.02.12.

Morning Parade’s eponymous debut album is released on 02.03.12 in Europe and 05.02.12 elsewhere.

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Happy birthday, Mascotte Zurich!

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Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…the much-loved Zurich club Mascotte is turning 8 years old on 12.02.12! That’s eight years of amazing music (just look at the Mascotte concert archive to see all the awesomeness that has passed through the Mascotte’s doors), good times and fun. I’ve spent many a happy night ensconced in front of one of the Mascotte pillars, soaking up good music.

And what’s a birthday without a party? Eclectic Finnish French duo The Dø will be playing on the night, and I’m sure they’ll be properly celebratory.

The Dø released their second album Both Ways, Open Jaws last year, the follow-up to 2008′s wildly diverse Open Mouth, a surprise chart topper in France. Sometime-actress and chanteuse Olivia Merilahti and film composer Dan Levy are whizzes at radically jumping genres, with styling and music ranging from Björk to blues to experimental jazz, rock, hip-hop and folk. I saw them last year at Komplex 457 where, if I recall correctly, their live set-up included a veritable kitchen sink of miscellaneous instrumentation (which might come in useful for birthday cake eating).

Watch ‘Too Insistent’, one of my favourite tracks from Both Ways, Open Jaws:

Here’s to another 8 years of brilliant live music from Mascotte. Thanks for all the good times!

The Dø play at Mascotte, ZH, on 12.02.12. Tix here.

Both Ways, Open Jaws is out now on Get Down!/Cinq 7/Wagram Music

Team Emma – Band of Skulls

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I’ve been waiting for Southampton trio Band of Skulls to get back into the studio to record the follow-up to their rocking 2009 debut Baby Darling Doll Face Honey for a while now. Finally they’ve done just that, with second album Sweet Sour to be released in February this year.

Having survived their brush with teenage obsession (the band were featured on the Twilight: New Moon soundtrack and got their fair share of ‘Team Edward‘ T-shirts appearing at gigs for a time), the trio have stayed true to their roots, with Sweet Sour bringing more of the band’s signature bass-heavy, moody rock, tempered with some tracks of almost folk-like sweetness and melody.

Live, Russell Marsden (guitar, vocals) does wonderful things with his Fender guitars and Matthew Hayward does a sterling job on drums, but I’d be remiss in my fanly duties if I didn’t make special mention of my girl crush, bass player/singer Emma Richardson, who is spectacularly at ease on stage, languidly playing bass and looking like the coolest girl you ever wanted to meet behind the bike shed at school, the kind of rock chick who wears her studded belt like she really means it.

So you know I’m really looking forward to the trio’s special pre-tour gig at Mascotte, ZH, Saturday 28.01.12. I’ll be there with belts on…

‘Bruises’, from Sweet Sour:

Band of Skulls play @ Mascotte, ZH, 28.01.12. Tickets here.

Sweet Sour is released in Europe on 20.02.12 on Electric Blues.

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Into the wide blue yonder – French Films

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Oh, this modern world of confusion and paradox, where nothing is what it seems. In this case, French Films – which aren’t, contrary to first impressions, French. Nor do they have anything to do with films. In fact, they are a Finnish indie band who released their first album, Imaginary Future last September, after generating a huge buzz with their earlier EP ‘Golden Sea’.

Despite being supposedly inspired by the winter climes and long, dark nights of their homeland, Imaginary Future is bright and resplendent with jangly pop harmonies and The Cure-esque melodies (‘This Dead Town’), as well as definite New Wave tendencies.

Sounds like the perfect antidote to the winter blues to me. And just looking at the gig poster has me wistfully staring off into its wide blue yonder, longing for the sun…

French Films play @ Mascotte, ZH, 17.01.12. Tickets here.

Imaginary Future is out now on GAEA Records.

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Upcoming gigs

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If you don't have tix yet to The Black Keys gig...too late.

Hi, my name is High Rotation and I’m a gig junkie…It’s been 36 whole days, THIRTY SIX DAYS! since my last gig. I confess that I’m starting to get a little jumpy – I’ve got my earplugs at the ready, and elbows sharpened in preparation for defending my carefully-chosen position at that long-awaited first gig of the year…

Needless to say I’ve been hard at work scouring the gig calendars for my concert fixes for January, February and March. And, yay, there are some great gigs and festivals coming up. I’ll be doing my damnedest to get to each and every one of them.

Here are my picks of what’s coming up in Zurich in the next couple of months:

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