MYSTERY JETS + YOUNG COLOSSUS.

Last week I caught the Mystery Jets tour at a venue in Cardiff called The Gate, which is a converted church. Knowing this, I still wasn’t prepared for the completely surreal experience of walking into a gig only to see the majority of people sitting and watching transfixed from the pews. I unfortunately only caught half of support band Peace’s set but the remainder of the show that I did see has encouraged me to try to catch them in their entirety when they tour next.

Mystery Jets opened their set with their new song ‘Someone Purer’, a beautifully infectious number from their new album. Having since found out that the lyrics are inspired by the Jack Kerouac book ‘Big Sur’ has only added to my current infatuation with it. I’m not going to go into a whole gig review but overall it was a strong show which featured a mix of old and new material. I might not be a die-hard fan but I am intrigued to hear what the rest of the new album ‘Radlands’ sounds like, when it is released at the end of the month.

Something else that I have been listening to repeatedly is ‘Young Colossus’, a collaboration led by Orlando Weeks of The Maccabees, with the help of Alessi Laurent-Marke from Alessi’s Ark and producer Nic Nell. The CD is accompanied by an illustrated book, courtesy of the talented Rob Hunter. Having very kindly been given a copy of YC by Orlando several weeks ago, I have been won over by the haunting melodies and beautiful illustrations that compliment them. As a collector of zines/ independent publications and a zine maker, I definitely appreciate the thought that has been given to every detail of the tangible presentation of the music. This is reflected in everything from the paper stock to the black staples and the envelopes that have been hand stamped with a silhouette of the characters. I’m not sure if any copies are still available, but the Young Colossus Facebook page www.facebook.com/YoungColossus is definitely worth checking out. A few of the songs are also available to listen to on YouTube. Something that I would love to see transpire from this collaborative effort is a moving image piece that combines the songs with the illustrations, similar to Where The Wild Things Are or The Snowman.

In March’s post I mentioned that Kit Neale’s tumblr was my favourite, but this month I have been compulsively reading ‘Bring Me The World’ - www.bringmetheworld.tumblr.com. In the words of Rory the creator, it is ‘The story of how I met five punk rockers from Wales, bought a ticket to England and toured Europe for 30 days.’ The blog follows Rory’s swift departure from his hometown of Toronto, Canada after meeting Ssssnakes/ The Arteries and drunkenly asking if he could tag along on their European tour. Through ‘Bring Me The World’, he documents the chaos that ensued on their travels. Laugh out loud tour anecdotes about Chicken McNugget birthday cakes and unintentionally eating moldy bread are only a few of the reasons why BMTW has become my current blog crush.