Boards
20th May - BLANK DOGS + Miranda Lee Richards + Ill Ease
@ The Windmill Brixton
BLANK DOGS (Brooklyn, NY)
For the past several years a slew of vinyl and cassettes have been dropped by the mysterious Brooklyn artist known as Blank Dogs. We don't know too much about MR Blank Dog, the guy behind the bedroom new-wave pop/punk and he's usually covering his face with masks or bedspreads, but that's fine. The sound is like Joy Division vocal lines with the Cure's synth and guitar melodies filtered through ancient submerged keyboards and eroded recording equipment. And that voice? All the feedback in the world can't hide his knack for melody. Blank Dogs have been making plenty of rumbles in the noisier and more secretive outposts of the underground. All of their records were pressed in limited editions, sold out quickly and, without fail, wound up fetching big bucks with collectors on ebay.
'Under And Under' is Blank Dogs latest and most massive release to date on the high quality In The Red label and it showcases his pop chops to a greater extent than any of his previous releases. Also, since the end of 2008, Blank Dogs has incorporated the assistance of outside musicians to lend a hand on stage with various members of the Brooklyn music scene.
Prepare to be blown away!
'The music of Blank Dogs is all mid-tempo drum beats, discarded Cure basslines and vocals that sound as if they were sung through a tape recorder submerged at the bottom of a frozen pond'. Fader
www.myspace.com/blankdogtime
MIRANDA LEE RICHARDS (Los Angeles, CA)
Bohemian folk coolness from a fast-rising songwriter, who was
tutored by Kirk Hammett of Metallica, a one time backing vocalist for the Brian Jonestown Massacre and sang duets with Jim Reid on The Jesus and Mary Chain's recent US tour.
But MLR does indeed have a sound very much of her own and current album 'Light of X' (Nettwerk) shimmers with folk, country, psychedelic, and even classical influences that balance Richards’ beautiful, close to the heart vocals, with music that has the wide open, spacious feel of a desert sky or an empty church.
Call it Ambient Americana, or Richards’ self coined term ‘Psychedelic Chamber Folk Rock’ if you like. Whatever, it's rather fascinating.
www.myspace.com/mirandaleerichards
ILL EASE (Brooklyn, NY)
A one woman wonder band, Ill Ease bangs drums, creates loops and plays guitar like no one you've seen before. And in between all the action she manages to exude beautiful twisted pop tunes.
'All Systems A-Go-Go!' – the most leave-your-pants-on-the-dance-floor Ill Ease album to date – is out now on Cochon Records.
Elizabeth Sharp (ill-ease-a-beth) has been honing her sound for a few years now. A one-woman band, she plays all the instruments herself, even live. This she achieves by playing into loops, loping around the stage to play along with herself. The gigs manage to pull off the trick of building and building into a kind of frenzy. They are not to be missed. - Artrocker
www.myspace.com/illease
Advance Tickets:
www.wegottickets.com/event/49340