EP Review : Niki & The Dove - The Drummer

Niki & The Dove are a musical project from Sweden fronted by lead vocalist Malin Dahlstrom, Most recently seen on the NME Radar Tour. After being tipped in Scandinavians new sounds EP in 2010 the 3 piece jumped the water to break further. Most recent release ‘The Drummer EP’ was strongly pushed on the NME tour and boasts a late 2000’s electro sound which would cross Passion Pit with Little Boots. Other contrasts include tip of being a veiled La Roux. 

The EP starts with intro ’Sundog’ quickly and strongly with title track ‘The Drummer’ it’s fresh and new to the current electro scene though some could concede that there is too much going on, drowning vocals and scattering music to intensely. ‘Last Night’ slows the tempo into a mid album Empire Of The Sun type coma, Dahlstroms vocal are distinctive, endearing, easy on the ear and complimentary to compositions.

‘Mother Protect’ strips everything back to electro basics until a very abrupt vocal onslaught continuing  until the end. Short track ‘The Breath Of The World’ is an intermitted deluge of what sounds like Nintendo and Sega sound bites played through a very driven bass.  ‘Manon’ is reminiscent  of a Kate Bush vocal with foreign twang though once again the track lets itself down by including too much. Final track ‘The Birth Of The Sun’ eases us out of ‘The Drummer EP’ gently with euro synth.

It’s clear ‘The Drummer EP’ wasn’t set to break moulds in the UK but to imbed the name and sound into the mind, single ‘The Drummer’ is available to buy online. It is probably one of the best tracks of 2011 for myself and many are waiting for an endless amount of remixes. The future is bright for the Swedish 3 piece, a support slot for a major band and a headline tour in 2012 will settle them well into the current scene.

The Drummer by Niki & The Dove

DJ Setlist : Wolf Cub Club @ The Edge Of The Wedge

This is my setlist from last night Wolf Cub Club at the edge of the wedge. For anybody that has never witnessed me do a DJ set and such like...This is what you get, and a few little suprises in between too!

22:05 : Bear Cavalry - Dragon's Milk

22:07 : Vampire Weekend - Cousins

22:19 : Beats International - Dub Be Good To Me

22:21 : M.I.A. - Paper Planes

22:38 : MGMT - Time To Pretend

22:39 : Mark Ronson & The Business INTL - Bang Bang Bang

22:42 : Jamie T - 368

22:43 : Gorillaz - Stylo 

22:43 : Jamie T - 368

22:44 : Florence And The Machine - Drumming

22:48 : Beyoncé - Crazy In Love

22:51 : Soul II Soul - Back To Life 

22:55 : The Chemical Brothers - Galvanize

22:58 : Adele - Rolling In the Deep

23:00 : Survivor - Eye of the Tiger 

23:03 : White Lies - Fifty On Our Foreheads

23:06 : Gnarls Barkley - Crazy

23:11 : De La Soul - Me, Myself and I

23:13 : No Doubt - Hella Good

23:16 : Blur - Girls & Boys

23:18 : Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit

23:20 : Friendly Fires - Skeleton Boy

23:23 : Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor

23:24 : Far East Movement Feat The Cataracs & Dev - Like A G6

23:26 : Empire of the Sun - Walking On A Dream (South Central Bootleg)

23:28 : Major Lazer - Pon de Floor feat. Vybz Kartel

23:30 : Beyonce - Run The World (Girls)

23:32 : Rihanna - Only Girl (In The World)

23:36 : Wildchild - Renegade Master (Fatboy Slim Old Skool Edit) 

23:37 : Dizzee Rascal and Armand Van Helden - Bonkers

23:40 : Gossip - In The Way Of Control (Soulwax Nite Version)

23:44 : Jamiroquai - Canned Heat

23:45 : The Black Eyed Peas - My Humps

23:48 : Run Dmc - It's like that

23:50 : Supergrass - Pumping On Your Stereo

23:51 : Rick James - Super Freak

23:53 : Sting & The Police - Roxanne                       

23:57 : Arctic Monkeys - When the Sun Goes Down

00:01 : Bloc Party - Flux

00:01 : Reverend & The Makers - He Said He Loved Me

00:04 : Editors - Munich

00:08 : The Killers - Mr. Brightside

00:09 : Kings Of Leon - Fans

00:13 : Primal Scream - Loaded

00:13 : Happy Mondays - Step On

00:16 : The Mighty Boosh - Cockney Rap

00:18 : Cypress Hill - Insane In The Brain

00:19 : Lost Prophets - Last Train

00:24 : Blur - Country house

00:27 : Oasis - Wonderwall                    

00:28 : Jay-Z - 99 Problems

00:31 : Fugees - Ready Or Not

00:34 : Ace Of Base - All That She Wants 

00:39 : Jamie T - Sticks 'N' Stones

00:42 : The Specials - Too Much Too Young 

00:44 : Madness - Night Boat To Cairo

00:45 : The Prodigy - Out Of Space

00:47 : Fatboy Slim - The Rockafeller Skank

00:50 : SL2 - On A Ragga Tip

00:55 : The Beach Boys - I Get Around

00:56 : The Beatles - Hard Days Night

00:59 : Miles Kane - Inhaler

01:02 : The Clash - I Fought the Law

01:04 : Kings Of Leon - Four Kicks

01:06 : Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor

01:09 : Feeder - Just A Day                 

01:10 : Foo Fighters - All My Life

01:17 : Queens Of The Stone Age - No One Knows

01:19 : White Stripes - 7 Nation Army

01:24 : Pulp - Disco 2000

01:29 : Fall Out Boy - Sugar, We're Goin' Down

01:33 : Panic At The Disco - I Write Sins Not Tragedies

01:36 :  Papa roach - last resort

01:39 : R.kelly - Bump N Grind

01:41 : Red Hot Chili Peppers - SUcky My Kiss

01:44 : Aerosmith - Going Down & Love In An Elevator

01:48 : Led Zeppelin - Immigrant song

01:49 : The Mighty Boosh - Tundra

01:50 : Two Door Cinema Club - Undercover Martyn

01:53 : Darwin Deez - Radar Detector

01:56 : The Jam - Going Underground

01:59 : The Strokes - Last Nite

02:02 : Kings of Leon - The Bucket

02:05 : Mark Ronson Feat Amy Winehouse - Valerie

02:09 : The Coral - Dreaming Of You

02:11 : Jamie T - If You Got The Money

02:15 : Madness - Baggy Trousers

02:15 : Beastie Boys - Fight For Your Right

02:19 : Jay-Z And Linkin Park - Numb/Encore                   

02:22 : Commodores - Three Times A Lady

02:23 : Basement Jaxx - Where's Your Head At

Live Review : NME Radar Tour at The Wedgewood Rooms

Once again The NME Radar Tour landed in Portsmouth, With an offering of the unknown or known to the just over 100 in attendance. In previous years we have been lucky to see a plethora of talent through The Wedgewood Rooms doors which includes Anna Calvi, Hurts, Darwin Deez, Everything Everything, Friendly Fires, Maximo Park, White Lies, The Cribs and many more. This tour brings us a vast musical collection of bands in the form of Niki & The Dove, S.C.U.M and Wolf Gang.

Niki & The Dove

A cataclasm of noise began the first set of the evening, Niki & The Dove play Passion Pitt meets Ellie Goulding. It’s theoretically a girl and 2 guys with a lot of knobs that make a massive sound, every track that was played made Niki ever more endearing along with the thought that there could be so much more to come from the band themselves.

Stand out track ‘Drum’ was a fresh take with a catchy repetitive vocal lovingly partnered with the innovative dance moves of Niki herself. Personally I would have placed the band further up the line up but it was clear the band themselves were enjoying just purely performing to anybody who would listen.

S.C.U.M

Without introduction S.C.U.M began there set under lights but without hesitation after the first song lead singer Tom Cohen insisted on the view of the band be cut, the constants of the strobe be our only vision of them in shadows. Absent vocals and pretential (I made that word up, like pretentious and potential together) was the downfall of S.C.U.M, the gangly figure of Cohen was like watching a young Geldof pre-’I don’t like Mondays’ a swagger which didn’t score him high with the crowd.

The potential of the band is there, they are outspoken and completely out of the current musical scene. Where would you put them? What and where would they like to go from here? The questions are endless, But it does get very monotonous very quickly. A memorable performance but only for the white outlines that were left in my retina.

Wolf Gang

Anything to follow from the previous performance was a breath of fresh air, the ever humble front man of Wolf Gang Max took to the stage with his band for what seemed like the only performance the crowd were waiting to see. A band made of bands already passed included guitarist Gavin (formerly of Ghosts) and drummer Lasse (formerly of The Rakes) gave the edge on the performance.

I can’t help but wonder if Wolf Gang may have possibly missed the band boat with all the catchy riffs and bouncy pop…It’s all a bit Iglu & Hartley meets The Feeling. ‘Lions In Cages’ has a certain ‘Use Somebody’ vocal but ‘The King and all his men’ has been constantly whirring around my brain since seeing it performed. Shine a light over here, They deserve it.

An enjoyable evening with music very different in scales, I hope for good things of Niki & The Dove over the next year, S.C.U.M will continue below the radar until they feel ready to join us in the real world and Wolf Gang await the spotlight. The only downside of the evening was the lack of audience who I can only say missed out, As they always do.