Asteroid Galaxy Tour by Zoe Leclerc-Chalvet

Asteroid Galaxy Tour by Zoe Leclerc-Chalvet

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Asteroid Galaxy Tour (well, a year, really) but I thought I should introduce you to their lively music.

I’m pretty sure you know “Golden Age” or “Around the Bend” (featured in an iPod advert), but they may be one of those songs you know without knowing the artist or title. The fact that AGT are pop (grunge pop/ alternative psychedelic pop) directly imported from Denmark does add a little exoticism, but that’s not all.

The singer, Mette Lindberg, has a peculiar voice that kind of reminds me of a child’s one. I would give you the name of a singer with a similar voice but… she’s from Denmark, and it is incredibly unique.

Their music is somewhat a mix between MGMT and Walk the Moon. It’s pop (which usually isn’t a good thing in my point of view), it’s lively and you just can’t help smiling! Try listening to “The Sun Ain’t Shining No More” (and if you can find it, the remix by Thomas Gold) and you’ll see. Of course, like in every album, there are softer songs, like “Hero” which is calmer and sounds sweet: it makes you feel like you’re flying.

So there you have it! Although they’ve been silent for a year now, they have been going on since 2007 and making their way in the music industry: they supported Katy Perry in 2009 and a show at Rock en Seine the same year - pretty neat!

As usual, this band is a bit ‘hipsterish’ so if you’re more into the UK Top 50 than weirder and more alternative bands maaaaybe this it a bit too off the beaten paths for you. But hey, I suggest you give them a try: worst case scenario you don’t like their music, best case scenario you’ll join me in waiting for a new album!

by Zoe Leclerc

Just pick up the beat! ♪

Just pick up the beat! ♪

Artpeggios is a brand new school of Music, Art and Performance that just opened on Earl’s Court Road, only 15 minutes walking or two tube stops from the Lycée. It offers a unique approach to music tuition with lessons that suit people of all abilities so that anyone can easily learn to master an instrument.

It is different in the sense that it isn’t a ‘traditional’ school – it is flexible and aims to be as fun as possible so that students enjoy themselves, and music and art become a pleasure rather than a chore. Lessons last between 30 minutes and an hour and are available in small groups of up to 4 so it’s a great opportunity to meet people with the same interests and learn in an entertaining way. 

The school’s 400 m² are filled with band practise and one-to-one lesson rooms, DJing facilities, instruments, a recording and a composition studio and much more. Artpeggios’ teachers are talented, very friendly, and from diverse backgrounds, and the variety of courses it has to offer is huge. The most popular are guitar, piano, drums and singing lessons as well as Fine Art and DJing.

I interviewed Max Cartoux, who is a Lycée student as well as a DJ teacher at Artpeggios.

“DJing is using your creativity to make people dance”

Max started music when he was 4 and it has always been vital to him. It is something he cannot live without, his personal fuel to keep going. He sees DJing as “using your creativity to make people dance”, which is his favourite aspect of being a DJ: “seeing everybody dancing, jumping and screaming- listening to what you produce”. Of his achievements so far, those that he most enjoyed were mixing live for a radio station and hearing feedback from professionals, which he describes as “priceless”.

 “Teaching stands for sharing”

Max thinks Artpeggios is different because it isn’t just about teaching; it is about sharing creativity with new people, which is his favourite part of being a teacher there. He loves seeing students smiling because they are “living their dreams.”

He thinks the facilities are great and that “if you like playing music, this is the place to go!” Being an artist himself, Artpeggios is where he would have loved to spend his early music years. He also enjoys working with the Artpeggios team and believes all the staff and professional teachers are incredibly dedicated to what they do.

-Sophie Latham.

Check Max's Music : www. cartoux soundcloud.com/max

ARTPEGGIOS

+44 (0)20 7244 45 70

info@artpeggios.com

www.artpeggios.com

198-200 Earl’s Court Road
SW5 9QF
LONDON

Tribes - “Baby”

 

This latest English male guitar four-piece offer up a delightful debut.  It’s genuinely heavy and I dare say grungy at times which is a refreshing mainstream rarity. They effortlessly blend dissonant riffs with melodic pop hooks. The lead single “We Were Children” is anthemic and full of  hair-messing indie poetry. The album’s middle stretch of “Sappho”, “Himalaya” and “Nightdriving” is truly inspiring and contains some of the greatest rock songs of the last few years as well as some unexpected existential spasms. They clearly borrow a lot from their influences and  a lack of imagination screams out from the last four songs; the failed epic choruses all blur into one and the excellent production sadly slips into monotony. It’s a promising and exciting debut and despite being far from perfect they prove that you can still have success with the overdrive switched “on”.

Buy this - “Nightdriving”

El Camino review by Axel Lecastor

The Black Keys are one of those bands that everybody loves, but not for the same reasons. Let’s face it, they’re the only good thing that ever came from Ohio. For some, it’s the original, blues-like Thickfreakness; for others, it’s the more modern, indie rock Brothers - they’ve managed to master every style they’ve tried. Where Brothers failed, El Camino prevails. It is by far their most “rock and a roll” album, mixing Carney’s simplistic but perfectly synchronized drum beats to Auerbach’s energetic and haunting voice, brilliantly covered by some fabulous guitar riffs- they’ve got it all. “Lonely Boy” (and its genius video), “Sister” are pure smash hits, as much by the fact that they scream for you to swing those hips, babe, then by their crazy-stupid lyrics. The lyrics are to be honest just hilariously sexist. Now ladies, you might not agree ("Well she's a special thing/ She doesn't read too much, oh”) but come on... the guy has a nice beard.

 

Buy this - “Stop Stop”

Karap

Kasabian - Velociraptor! - 4/5  JAG

Kasabian are the closest thing to modern-day britpop.  Their deliberate swagger and dream like songwriting make them accessible and genuinely entertaining. This record is their fourth and is their second to top the charts.  Imagine a lost Beatle’s record with synthesizers and with the occasional menace of a late night pub brawl, there you have it.  Despite being, cliche-ridden and wound up in their influences, Kasabian make music simply because they enjoy it and their guitarist and songwriter, Serge Pizzorno’s explanation of the album title, “velociraptors hunted in packs of four; they were the rock and roll band of the dinosaurs” epitomizes this.  

Buy this = ‘Days Are Forgotten’, ‘Neon Noon’