Oxide Radio

Fink bring a Perfect Darkness to Oxford's 02 Academy 16th February 2012

Monday 6th Week HT12

Having turned up fashionably - or rather stupidly - late to Fink's 02 gig, we caught the band halfway through 'Perfect Darkness,' which I hope was only the second song of the set. Walking into the intimate setting of the upstairs room at Oxford's O2 Academy could not have felt better. The moody lighting that accompanied Fink's acoustic sound filled the room with a warm comforting feel, this gig was set to be spectacular from the very beginning. The intricate lighting rig, which famously made for a fantastic gig at the Union Chapel a few months earlier, worked perfectly with the dynamics of Fink's music, brightening and darkening the room accordingly. This effect seemed to be somewhat lost on Fin Greenall however- the frontman of the acoustic trio - as he expressed fears that the lighting rig was broken at the end of 'Perfect Darkness', little did he know, that was the whole point.

Fink's music is simple to describe, it leans on bluesy acoustic guitar and centres itself around cyclic riffs which hark back to Fin's earlier days as a trip hop producer. The trance like effect of their music means that a whole hour and a half of it could lead to boredom, and this is what I most feared upon entering the gig. Luckily, Fin's musicianship shone through as he managed to mould and reshape each song to give it a whole new life and meaning in the live setting.

With a drummer that doubled up as a backing singer - who delivered some killer harmonies - and guitarist (yes he drummed and played guitar at the same time!) and a tight bassist, their musical skill really shone through. The dubbed up reggae version of 'Sort Of Revolution' made it almost unrecognisable, yet it remained as laid back and intricate as it is on the album. 'Yesterday was hard on all of us'- my favourite track from the new album, was stripped back to the bare minimum yet the reverberated drum fills meant that it still packed an emotional punch that the crowd found hard to ignore. Whilst the beautiful inflections inserted into 'Blueberry Pancakes' highlights the diverse spectrum of Fink's musical abilities, there were still a few moments where I felt myself falling into a bored kind of satisfaction. My momentary apathy was countered by the intermittent moments of percussive intensity on tracks such as 'Fear is Like Fire', and the softer moments created by the use of the cajon on 'This is the thing'.

It was the dynamism which kept this gig alive as moments of quiet intimacy were countered by rip roaring crescendos you'd expect to hear at a Mogwai gig. The recurrent flurries of whoops and cheers suggest that the rest of the crowd enjoyed the show as much as I did. Even Fin's sly comment that “Oxford's not what we thought it would be”, referring to Cowley's run down appearance, couldn't sour the mood. The final highlight was no doubt the encore, which despite feeling a bit forced, was the perfect ending to a spellbinding show. Fin came back on stage alone, brought out his acoustic guitar and offered us his most bluesy rendition of Pretty Little Thing, the song which essentially put Fink on the map. A few instances of effortless finger picking and its obvious that Fin is more than just a beautifully soulful voice. The simplicity of his music hides an extreme sophistication and sometimes makes you forget that Fin is a brilliant guitarist.

If you haven't yet heard of Fink, then check out their latest album 'Perfect Darkness', out now, I promise, you won't regret it. Expect a myriad of laid back tracks that'll have you clicking the repeat button on repeat.

Remi Graves

James Vincent McMorrow fills 02 arena with a bluegrass folk

Wednesday 5th Week HT12

On Sunday 12th February hundreds of pretty indie twenty-somethings flocked to the O2 from all over Oxford to hear the tender Irish sounds of James Vincent McMorrow. Before he graced the stage however, we were greeted by Rob Bravery, a man whose voice would suggest that he is the long lost love child of Jamie Cullum and Rufus Wainwright. The mix of jazz, indie and blues worked perfectly in the O2, making the place feel more like a speakeasy than a 21st century club. The atmosphere was relaxed and romantic, with pre-Valentines couples chatting, hugging, sitting-down and dancing.

paragraph Once James V. McMorrow took to the stage however, everyone shut up and paid avid attention. Getting a decent cheer after the very first line he sang, McMorrow was set to enjoy the company of an easily entertained crowd. His high, gentle but husky voice filled the room with a poetic lyricism. He drifted effortlessly between a quick bluegrass folk, as demonstrated by 'Sparrow and the Wolf', the slow ethereal lilt of 'If I Had a Boat', and the emotional one-man-and-his-piano song, 'Higher Love'. The vast range of genres that James touched upon made boredom impossible, and demonstrates McMorrow’s self confessed appreciation of many types of music; a Donny Hathaway song apparently dragged him away from his pubescent love of hardcore rock.

paragraph As well as playing a sick set, McMorrow’s in-between-song banter had the crowd onside from the very start. McMorrow particularly endeared himself to the sweaty people stuck in the middle of the crowd as he remarked, “They’re teasing us; they’ll turn it off in a minute and we’ll go back to slowly cooking in our own juices…”, after some air conditioning was finally turned on. For those he hadn’t yet won over, a comment referencing Wayne’s World 2 surely did the trick. While he was presumably joking when calling himself the “Elvis of the indie folk world”, Sunday suggested that James Vincent McMorrow might indeed be on his way. Elanor Watts

M83 illuminate Oxford's O2 Academy

Monday 3rd Week HT12

Illuminated by a dazzling set of disco-esque lights that shimmer from the stage, Cannes-native Anthony Gonzalez of M83 gets off to a convincingly full-throttled start, for the last leg of his UK headline tour. Emboldened by the success of his sixth album, Hurry Up We're Dreaming, Gonzalez opens the show with Gallic sex appeal and uncharacteristic aplomb (in the past, he's spoken of his onstage shyness).

Presenting a mash-up of genres (part shoegaze, part surf pop, with an element of rock thrown in for good measure) M83 make it hard to discern where each track ends and the next begins. Straddling this jumble of styles, it would be easy for their set to descend into musical confusion. But the euphoric performance of Reunion fills the packed venue with a pulsating and palpable energy. Carried on rolling waves of synth, it rapidly becomes clear that M83's brand of space-rock electronica makes for a near transcendental experience.

Although a technical fault halted the show for an uncomfortably long fifteen minutes, Gonzalez and the team recovered well. A rendition of We Own The Sky, with its trance-like rhythms and melodic crescendos swelled the crowd with exhilarating convulsions of energy. In a haze of music, sweat and coruscant lighting, it's impossible to avoid being swept up by the theatricality of it all.

Having supported musical heavyweights like The Killers and Kings of Leon, M83 clearly know how to bash out epic stadium fillers of the Steve McQueen and Claudia Lewis variety. But in the compact setting of the 02 Academy, the expected sense of intimacy is noticeably absent; the connection between audience and artist just never fully crystallises.

That's not to say that the ubiquitous Midnight City (Made in Chelsea anyone?) with its climactic synth symphonies, doesn't stir unbridled ecstasy. The florid saxophone solo from Gonzalez's backing band adds a classic veneer to what is studio mixing at its finest. The soaring climax and bombastic rhythm of the closing encore (an extended instrumental track devoid of vocals) is like an acid-trip for the senses. A cross between drugged-up raving and feel-good pop, the M83 live experience is not to be missed.

Olivia Arigho Stiles

Just a little taste of what Oxide's listening to now

Thursday 10th Week MT11

If you're missing Oxide during the vacation have a listen to the tracks that have got our tongues wagging.

Check out Deco Child's 'Pray', a flickering bass heavy track that'll have you locked up in your room with your finger stuck on repeat for a long, long time.

http://decochild.com/

This next one's an oldie but as we're all still waiting impatiently for Jai Paul to actually release an EP (goddamit), we'll just have to keep playing the gem that is 'BTSTU' over and over and over again until he does.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUBAFPIHETA

Last but not least, a fresh, floaty, beat driven remix of Bombay Bicycle Club's 'Leave it' by Flipbook (a name to remember -check him out here

http://flipbookmusic.tumblr.com/). Lucky for you guys, this one's a free download too, it is Christmas after all!

http://rcrdlbl.com/2011/12/13/download_bombay_bicycle_club_leave_it_flipbook_remix_

xx Oxide

Summer Camp at the Jericho Tavern 15.11.2011

Wednesday 7th Week MT11

Summer Camp kicked off their Jericho Tavern show in amongst the crowd, starting their new album’s opener, ‘Better Off Without You’, completely free of amplification. Elisabeth Sankey’s brilliant vocals and abundant confidence immediately washed over the audience like a giant unexpected wave. But when the pair took to the stage and punched in the first synth bass track to finish off their charmingly irreverent break-up song, we were dealing with a sudden swell of 80s nostalgia. Old family photos and montages of ‘Dirty Dancing’ shimmered on a bed sheet-cum-projector-screen, which only raised more ghosts of 80s past.

Sankey and her bandmate, Jeremy Warmsley, the former Transgressive-signed solo artist, have been touring this woozy brand of pop for nearly two years, and have followed their EP, ‘Young’ (2010), with ‘Welcome to Condale’ (listen here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/oct/26/summer-camp-welcome-condale-album-stream). The new record offers more direct, upbeat pop songs and less of the overly disorientating detuned synths that held ‘Young’ back from the brink of greatness (listen to ‘Round the Moon’).

In Oxford they storm through the uplifting and perfectly crafted ‘Down’, and the rockier ‘Brian Krakow’ is a huge amount of fun. ‘Veronica Sawyer’ gave Sankey another opportunity to wander around the crowd and awkwardly square up to people in the crowd, singing ‘I lost all my friends / Who are these people? / There’s nothing for me here’. ‘Losing My Mind’ was another unexpected adventure in that it was totally acoustic, but the crowd was captivated. It was almost as if we were the uninvited guests at a super-cool 80s house party (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX7elQ6s2Vk) and we had to behave ourselves for fear of getting shown the door!

Many people doubt the tone of a band like Summer Camp: ‘what they are doing is pastiche, it’s totally insincere, it lacks the reverence of more serious acts like M83’. But in interview (http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/audio/2010/oct/29/paul-morley-nostalgia-summer-camp?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487), Summer Camp stress that their reconstructed world never actually existed – musically, it’s too imaginative to be pastiche, too fantastical to be tongue-in-cheek. They are trying to recreate something they weren’t alive to experience, a project that can’t be anything other than charming.

Arthur Sawbridge