PrettyInScarlett

There is a lot of discussion at the moment about the new female face(s) of pop, dominated by the likes of (mostly) singer-songwriters Amy Winehouse, Kate Nash and newcomers such as Adele. I'm not a huge fan of this genre, although Adele has an excellent stage presence, see post Does anyone have a website anymore? . This week, though, after my latest trip to Spillers Records , there may be an alternative. I purchased Tegan and Sara's new album The Con as well as the new Goldfrapp album Seventh Tree. Both very good on first listens, although Seventh Tree has all the hallmarks of a grower. The Con has a lot of catchy tunes (and I can't wait for Sunday's gig at The Point) and comes highly recommended. It made me think, I heard quite a few similarities with Carina Round's album Slow Motion Addict, and a certain Shirley Manson vibe. Is this the new trend, female led indie-pop with an edge? Personally, I hope so, as Slow Motion Addict has quickly become a frequent favourit...

2008 already! Time flies and all that.... and lots of fun had in 2007. The best gig of the year may have to go to The Who, although lots close followers! Some of the up 'n' coming people were the best, such as Hedrons, Remi Nicole, Newton Faulkner; and of course Jeff Scott Soto and Misty's Big Adventure were both fab as ever. Great(est) atmosphere has to go to Skid Row (again) and Alabama 3's send-off gig at the Coal Exchange. Definitely not to Cardiff Calling! This year? The 'big gig' (so long to wait) is Bruce Springsteen & E Street Band at Cardiff Millennium Stadium, all the way in June. Hooray! The first 'discovery gig' booked so far is Tegan & Sara who are at the Point in March. Heard them on 6Music a while back & looking forward to more. New discoveries? A review in Observer Music Monthly led me to 17 Hippies and their latest release 'Heimlich'. Low-fi originality galore in this mix of French, German & English songs, trul...

Sheffield is well known for its hard (and classic) rock heritage, centrally placed 'in the zone of rock', to paraphrase Skid Row singer Johnny Solinger. Both Skid Row and the sensational Jeff Scott Soto were in residence at Corporation, Sheffield's home of rock, or so it seems! Friday 23rd, braving the cold winds, M and I ventured to see the man from Austin, Texas. The room in Corporation was pretty full of people and anticipation. A much better atmosphere than at previous shows in Cardiff and Bristol. Support bands - negligible mention for the 1st band G U Medicine, instantly forgettable. Their main support Sign were better, although the singer is incredibly thin! Thought they were American myself but their myspace profile corrects me on this, they are Icelandic. Not bad. Skid Row were on excellent form, and thankfully refrained from playing more than one song (Disease) from their rather awful current album Revolutions Per Minute. The set was predominantly classic stuff,...

A bit of an impromptu visit to Clwb Ifor Bach on 14th October to partake of the weird and wonderful Mistys Tour. An excellent turnout to boost proceedings, nobody seemed to be put off to by first support band The Haze. The band had some well rehearsed stolen riffs, an atrocious wailing singer but ultimately nothing new or exciting. The main support were, once again, the equally zany Kate Goes . Frontwoman Kate seemed to be a bit apprehensive due to some perceived negativity at her previous Cardiff support slot for Mistys back at the Point last November . The audience were incredibly appreciative and despite the odd slip-up, Kate Goes got an excellent reception, which they definitely deserved. Everyone was well and truly warmed up for Mistys' entrance. They have a new album out (Funny Times) so the set list contained quite a few songs from this, including I Can't Bring The Time Back, How Did You Manage To Get Inside My Head, Keep Moving, Serious, The Long Conveyor Belt plus old...

The Coal Exchange is one of Cardiff's most historic buildings and has long been an important live music venue, full of character and with much better acoustics than similar venues in the city. The building is now closed for refurbishment. I hope that the main hall will return to its popular function, but there is a slight question mark about this aspect of the redevelopment (see BBC News article ). The closing party was held 26th Sept but Friday 28th September was the official last show, and what a show! Alabama 3 came to end an era in style. Whilst the main event certainly had panache, the support bands are more accurately described as interesting. First on stage were post nu rave/electro/punk ensemble Sicknote . I'd only heard one of their songs before, Taxi For Mr Blair, but their set was very innovative and well received by the incoming audience. In particular, they had highly amusing videos up on the screens either side of the stage and one band member (band names, songs...

In its 2nd year, Cardiff Calling returned on 25th August. Much better weather than last year (which led to Dirty Sanchez to 'go soft', advising listeners to drink the free water & wear sunscreen), but substantially fewer people, not as many essential must-see bands, and as for the food - it will put me off going again next year (if there is one - the promoters seemed to be struggling and the event was on a much smaller scale than previously). All was not lost - of the 3 stages (main stage plus Myspace tent and Xfm tent), the smaller stages and bands contained the real gems, the exception was Newton Faulkner on the main stage. Out of the line-up, we checked out: Inner City Pirates The Guns (for about 5 mins & then The Jan Watkins Band) Newton Faulker Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog The Roseville Band Killing for Company The Automatic Remi Nicole Bonde do Role Super Furry Animals The Rumble Strips and about 5 minutes of The Streets - not our thing, sorry! The best, in terms of at...

Last Sunday 5th August, we had a quick trip to the Admiral Cardiff Big Weekend . We hadn't bothered with most of the lineup, in fact it looked pretty poor this year, and even the fireworks didn't seem up to their usual standard. The Magic Numbers tempted us out, though. Their set was very enjoyable, especially their cover of 'Crazy in Love' and end-of-set jig to get the (rather wet - yup, it was raining) crowd moving. I may now check them out more often - did recognise some of their tracks but unfortunately not enough to remember the titles!