Spotysharing Part Four

Warning - this playlist is electro-tastic! Featuring Helen Of Troy... favourite Florence and the Machine with latest single Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up), Dismissed by the effing brilliant and ruddy rude Uffie, plus the sublime Lettin' Go courtesy of Ms Janelle Monae. Check it out here.

Don't Speak (Too Soon)

In the past week, both Miranda Sawyer and Peter Robinson have put pen to paper to proclaim the death of masculine indie. Both writers bemoan the blandness of the four boys with guitars blueprint, directing readers to a roster of lovely ladies tipped to add colour and character to the charts in 2009; name-checking artists de jour Little Boots, Lady GaGa, La Roux and Florence And The Machine in the process.

Of course, Helen Of Troy... and our lovely readers are already aware that female's where it's at, but it's nice to know that even more people are turning to women when they want their music to be innovative, interesting and delivered with attitude. It's no new thing for women to top the charts, but the class of 2009 seem to exude an attitude and individuality missing from 2008 hot tips Adele and Duffy.

While this is all good news, and believe us, we're incredibly smug at the moment, it's important to note that the battle is far from over. Critics tips and proper crossover successes are completely different things. Just look at the relatively poor chart performance of Lykke Li, Ladyhawke and Those Dancing Days. Even the superb Santogold found it tricky to set the charts alight, despite soundtracking several high-profile ad campaigns.

Unfortunately, if the massive hype surrounding these female artists doesn't start equating to massive record sales, the safe-as-houses indie boys will be back and the under representation of women in music will return. Let's just hope the attitudes of the record-buying public are changing, or we'll be back to bland quicker than you can say Norah Jones.

Music Round-up 20th November to 4th December

Monday 24th November - Ladytron
Liverpool-formed electro-pop lovelies Ladytron have been plying their stark, stylish, synth-led sound for ten years now. Their fourth studio album Velocifero, released earlier this year, is a gorgeous exercise in industrial indie-dance. Live, the quartet creates a mesmerizing, multilayered sound that more than makes up for their at-times impenetrable detached cool.
www.myspace.com/ladytron
Details: Academy 2, UMSU, Oxford Road, Central Manchester
7.30pm, £12.50 (excluding fees)

Wednesday 26th November - Little Boots
When we saw Little Boots supporting Ladyhawke back at the beginning of October, we were well impressed by the delightful disco-pop this little lady created with her sugary-sweet vocals and weird and wonderful instruments (The Helen Of Troy… Needs A Tenori-On Fund is still on the go btw!). Since then, Ms Boots played a storming set on Jools Holland and looks set for world domination in 2009. Catch her now before she gets too big for her Little Boots (sorry, we couldn't resist).
www.myspace.com/littlebootsmusic
Details: The Deaf Institute, Grosvenor Street, Central Manchester
10pm, £5 (excluding fees)

Thursday 27th November - Lykke Li
While Little Boots looks set to be one of the big success stories of 2009, Lykke Li was undoubtedly one of the best finds of 2008. Her début album, Youth Novels, is a superb collection of electro classics that gets better with every listen. When we saw the Swedish singer at the beginning of the year, we were blown away by the difference between her polished studio sound and her raw-like-sushi live performance. Though we were impressed by the former, the fierceness of the latter made us fall in love all over again. We can't wait to find out where she's at now.
www.myspace.com/lykkeli
Details: Academy 3, UMSU, Oxford Road, Central Manchester
7.30pm, £11 (excluding fees)

Friday 28th November - Róisín Murphy
Since Róisín Murphy left Moloko back in 2003, she's been producing some of the most consistently excellent, genre-pushing electro-pop around. By rights, she should be playing arenas by now instead of Manchester Academy (again). While her inability to break through to the mainstream proper might seem unfair, at least it means fans of the Irish songstress get to see her in relatively close quarters and get to stand up and dance when she plays stone-cold classics like Ramalama, Ruby Blue, Overpowered and You Know Me Better. Ooh, and she's supported by the fucking fantastic Bishi, who creates 21st-Century torch songs that ooze drama and combine traditional Asian instruments with electro-pop beats.
www.myspace.com/roisinmurphy
www.myspace.com/bishimusic
Details: Academy 1, Oxford Road, Central Manchester
7.30pm, £16.50 (excluding fees)

Gig Review: Ladyhawke, The Roadhouse, Sunday 5th October

After watching Ladyhawke support act Little Boots, Helen Of Troy… knows what it wants for Christmas. The Blackpool-born electro-pop star-in-the-making creates her perfectly-polished sound with a Tenori-On (pictured below).

We’ve had a quick look round, and think they cost about £700. Helen Of Troy… is rich in many ways; spirit, knowledge and experience, but we’re not that rich money-wise, so we’ve set up the Helen Of Troy… Needs A Tenori-On Fund, details of which will follow later.

OK, enough with our begging and on with the gig review. First off is Little Boots, who quite frankly, is impossible not to like. She’s funny, in-control and cute - we fucking hate saying that, but she really, really is. Her electro-pop lite, which is reminiscent of Kylie at her very best, may lack substance, but as fun, danceable pop, it’s hard not to love.

On to the main event, 1980s-loving pop star Pip Brown. Even after a particularly busy and traumatic weekend, we were still well excited about this gig. As you’ve probably noticed if you’ve ever read this blog before, we’re quite big fans. Unfortunately, we left a little deflated. First of all, and this is not Pip’s fault, the sound was atrocious. For the first three songs, Professional Suicide, Manipulating Woman and Better Than Sunday (if our memory serves us correctly), her vocals were almost completely inaudible and without them, her music was rendered a little redundant. As the vocal volume increased gradually (though it was never consistently good) the gig got loads better, and singles Dusk Till Dawn, Back Of The Van and Paris Is Burning were very nearly delivered with the power and passion they deserve.

Secondly, the New Zealand pop star seemed so uncomfortable onstage, you almost felt guilty for asking her to play. It seemed like Pip would rather hide under a rock than rock out. We’ve seen plenty of shy pop stars before and not been bothered by their reticence, but this lack of confidence, combined with the poor sound, meant the gig was more of an apologetic whisper than the proud statement of arrival it should have been.