I chose to go to this years NME tour with a certain level of negative assumption. My concern was centered on three of the bands chosen; the overplayed and overhyped The Vaccines, the Dub step/dance music of Magnetic Man and the bizarre and morbid Crystal Castles, so genre confused it is difficult to have any conception of what they are actually trying to create. In my mind the NME tour had failed totally its choice of artists, crossing and mixing genre boundaries that should have never been touched. Yet, thank God, this year’s tour had one redeeming saviour, Everything Everything.
One of the few bands around actually having a true level of uniqueness, intrigue and innovation, Everything Everything have recently just missed out on XFM’s New Artist of 2011 Award and have been busy impressing audiences throughout 2010 touring up and down the country. Second on the bill for the tour, in my mind deserving to be much higher, the band came on around eight, dressed in identical workers overalls, with my immediate comparison being to electro artists from the 1980s.
Everything Everything offer a contemporary electro/synth sound mixed with plenty of base and guitar, a sound oozing with variety and definition, far from others acts of this recent wave of electro-indie. The band was huddled together in the middle of the stage, and throughout the set there was constant off loading of guitars to roadies so the lead singer could focus on keyboards. While the beginning of the set sounded a little messy, I eventually came to realize that this was part of the experience, and by time ‘Suffragette Suffragette’ was played with its rocky intermittent riff, there was an electric atmosphere throughout the 02. The band’s vocals are intricate and almost choral, and if look at the lead singer I think you’d be shocked by interesting vocals he himself produces. The crowd continued to go mad for the bands other single releases such as ‘Come Alive Diana’ and the interestingly named ‘MY KZ YR BF’. One of my favorite moments came when the bassist and guitarist both put down their instruments to join the lead singer in a chorus like end to a track demonstrating the bands diversity of some dancy and some more composed songs. ‘Photoshop Hansome’ with its distinctive synth opening riff ended the electric set.
I would have happily of seen Everything Everything four times over. Their debut album, ‘Man Alive’ is out now.