Two Door Cinema Club- Next Year (Official video)

The boys from Two Door Cinema Club have released their music video for "Next Year", the third single off their second album, Beacon. Wouldn't mind seeing these chaps again, they are fantastic live.

Read by review of Beacon here. 

Review: Two Door Cinema Club (Beacon)

A review I did of Two Door Cinema Club's second album, Beacon, for Perdeby. 

Published on 17 September 2012. 

When Two Door Cinema Club exploded onto the indie circuit with the release of their debut album, Tourist History, geeks around the globe rejoiced triumphantly. Suddenly, it was cool to be a gawky, pasty-legged teenager donning a woolly jersey. And, better yet, the band’s guitar-laced synth pop became even cooler. Now, after two years of whirlwind touring and securing somewhat of a cult following along the way, the cherub-faced Irish trio have released their highly anticipated second studio album, Beacon.
If it’s Two Door Cinema Club’s addictive sing-along choruses and frenetic guitar riffs that you fell in love with the first time around, then you will be pleased that the band’s sound remains largely unchanged, except of course for U2 producer Jacknife Lee working his magic to deliver a more polished body of work.
Prominent electronics underpin a playful, repetitive guitar riff in “Wake Up”, a song narrating a dream. “Goodnight, daylight / I won’t remember you for long,” sings lead singer Alex Trimble sluggishly, as if to emphasise that we are very much a part of someone’s stray into slumber.
“The World is Watching” is a wispy love song in which English songstress Valentina contributes her pure, delicate voice, while “Sun” is a slower, piano-led number which refreshingly includes a brass section midway through the track. But it is on “Sleep Alone” that all these elements seem to come to a head in an epic battle for your attention. The ear-throbbing cacophony that ensues proves that less sometimes really is more.
Two Door Cinema Club are well aware of the ingredients needed to produce flop-proof, unwittingly catchy tunes, and they are making the most of this tried and tested recipe. By doing little to veer away from it, the songs that make up Beacon risk melting into one indistinguishable track. One area, however, that the band does experiment with, is their lyrical content. The inevitable isolation that arises from constantly being on tour is explored in many of the tracks on the album. “I don’t know where I am going to rest my head tonight,” sings Trimble on “Next Year”, while on “Settle”, he declares, “This isn’t home / This isn’t home / I couldn’t feel more alone.”

While Two Door Cinema Club avoid suffering the fatal second album slump, Beacon is not an album which tells the story of musical progression. The band chooses to stick with what is familiar to them and their audiences, which, while not being incredibly exciting, is not necessarily a bad thing. You can’t help but wonder that only when Two Door Cinema Club finally start taking a gamble, will they hit jackpot and reach their full potential.

Yay for free music

Are you eager to get your hands on the new Ashtray Electric album? Yes? I thought so. All you have to do is go to this link, enter your email address and the album will be sent to you as soon as it's done.

In the meantime, take a look at this video of Ashtray Electric opening for Two Door Cinema Club at the Cape Town leg of their tour in South Africa. It's by the talented Adriaan Louw of we-are-awesome.

Part II: On Friday night, I went...

For those of you who don't know, 5 Gum brought Two Door Cinema Club to South Africa. How much did it cost us to see this insanely talented band? Zero. Nothing. Nada. We all had to apply for tickets online and then a couple thousand people won. It was awesome because the venue was relatively small and the size of the crowd kept it rather intimate. Isochronous was the first local band to open for Two Door. They provided one of my favourite moments of the night when they did a cover of the Skrillex remix of Benni Benassi's 'Cinema'. Holey moley, the crowd just went wild. I would pay good money to see it again.Then it was Desmond & the Tutus' turn. I just wonder how it must have felt for the Desmond dudes to stand on that stage and see thousands of people jiving with their hands twisted into a funny shape, knowing that that is the dance move you have created. I rate it must be a pretty flippin' rad feeling. Two Door Cinema Club have such an incredible live act going on. You can see that those boys have rehearsed a gazillion times. It's no wonder they were nominated for Best Live Act at this year's NME Awards. Quel nuit. I want to do it all over again. It was that great. 5 Gum, you sure know how to organize a party. Don't stop now, ok?

You can never have enough Lark

A video of Lark at Arcade Empire by Blimp Films. I'm hoping that it will convey to you just how awesome they are!



In other news, I turned 21 on Thursday. I didn't plan on doing too much but this whole weekend has ended up being devoted to celebrating. On Thursday night, I went to the PHFat album launch and last night was Two Door Cinema Club in Joburg. Tonight I'm going to Tashas and tomorrow it's lunch with the family. I'll do a proper post once I've regained the hours of lost sleep. Hope you are all having a splendid weekend!