Reading/Leeds Festival Line-up reaction UPDATE!

MAIN STAGE ADDITIONS
BRITISH SEA POWER (Saturday Reading)
BSP make a welcome return to Reading with their debut appearance on the main stage. Which is a bit of a dissapointment really. They are a tent band through and through and the crowd at the main stage will remind them of it. Still an amazing band though.
Can't Wait to Hear: "Lately"

THE AUTOMATIC (Saturday Reading)
What's that that's over the hill? It's a... erm... crappy band. Working on their second album hasn't made them much more money. They're already a Pennie down. badum tish.

ALEXISONFIRE (Sunday Reading)
Comment goes here.

NME/RADIO ONE STAGE ADDITIONS
READING FRIDAY
JACK PENATE
Obviously a bit of an early booking after his show on the Carling Stage last year, but now the album's gone it seems as if the fans may have as well? Although I do like one of his songs, I can't remember which. But it matters little as they're all pretty much the same anyway.

ONE NIGHT ONLY
By managing the unfeasible trick of having their first "hit" just be another way of saying their name (it was called "Just For Tonight), ONO's abbreviation says it all too well. If it was for One Night Only, why are you still around?

THE DUKE SPIRIT
I saw these guys around the release of their first album being very out of place supporting KASABIAN at Ally Pally. They weren't particularly impressive, but I think my tastes may well have come around to theirs, especially as I wouldn't be seen dead at a Kasabian gig anymore.

BE YOUR OWN PET
Uh-oh, a possible clash here with BSP, but I will willingly make the dash between Main stage and big top for the chance to see BYOP's energetic live show.
Can't Wait To Hear: "Wildcat!"

BLOOD RED SHOES
Returning after last year's tumultous set in the Carling Stage, Laura-Mary and Steven will hopefully play to a slightly bigger crowd this time around.
Can't Wait To Hear: " I Wish I Was Someone Better"

MAKE MODEL
Scottish Indie-folk scamps have got another busy year of festivals and support slots (As I type this, their myspace has them scheduled to support Indie cruiserweights The Fratellis, We Are Scientists and The Futureheads) before their debut album is released at some point in the autumn.

ALBUM: Be Your Own Pet - Get Awkward

Kicking off straight from where they left off, Get Awkward follows the same garage-punk formula as this four-piece's eponymous debut, but why would you want to have it any other way?

The songs are all between one and three minutes long and are largely noticeable by the path of destruction they leave behind them. Although the songs are more violent in the way that a toddler is violent, than in the way some have interpreted them*. BYOP aren't breaking any barriers down, musically at least, but no one ever expected them too.

While Jemima Pearl Abegg's vocals are angrier and snarlier than ever before, as exemplified by album opener "Super Soaked" and UK single "The Kelly Affair", she appears to be the only things between the band and mediocrity, as BYOP side-project Turbo Fruits easily proves.

Their influences are obvious, and the songs occasionally derivative; "Twisted Nerve" is straight from the classic '77 punk playbook of The Damned, whereas "Heart Throb" is Minor Threat attempting to play a pop song. But Jemima really is the difference. Her vocals, a mix of Riot Grrl, Karen O's sultry sexiness and Paramore's Hayley Williams. But better than all of these. Especially Hayley Williams.

In the Robocop themed "Bitches Leave", possibly my favourite song title ever, Abegg attacks "the hottest chick on the scene" in an poorly-veiled attack on certain Hollywood socialites and their unfortunate imitators. Although clearly the funniest line is "I know you're lying that you take it in the rear". For this alone, this is possibly my standout track, and could not be more obviously aimed if it was called "Song For Paris".

"You're A Waste" exposes the softer side of Be Your Pet's repertoire, and sits comfortably alongside the Garage-punk of most of the album, sitting between "Bummer Time" and "Food Fight", both sub-two minutes and the most like those songs found on Be Your Own Pet.

This is followed by another George A. Romero themed song (after "Ouch" on their debut) "Zombie Graveyard Party", another lighthearted look at Zombies, this time from their point of view.

The album closes with "The Beast Within", featuring the band chanting "Free the beast" over an increasingly chaotic cacophony of snare drums, guitar noise and shouting, until finallybeing overpowered and succumbing to awkward silence.

Overall, Be Your Own Pet have only get better for their sophmore album, and despite this album being heavily edited by lawyers*, which should never be allowed to happen, what's left is music more fun and more chaotic than wrestling in ice-cream with Jemima. What is surprising is why more don't feel the same way, preferring the vacuous pop-metal of Paramore's Riot!, immediately compared to BYOP as contemporaries because of the similarities in their line up and styles. Be Your Own Pet are infinitely better.

7.5/10

*The US-version of this album, which this review covers, has three tracks removed compared to the UK version. "Black Hole", "Becky" and "Blow Yr Mind" were apparently removed at the last minute by the distributing label, Universal, for being "too violent". Although, admittedly, what they left in is noit exactly a walk in the park, it's not as if BYOP are preaching "death to the west" or promoting beating up a policeman. The band have said they will release the removed songs on an EP in the summer.

Get Awkard is out now on XL in the UK and USA. Try and get the UK version with the extra tracks.

Favourite Female Vocalists

Here is a quick run down of some of my favourite female vocalists - in no particular order.

Satomi Matsuzaki - Deerhoof
Its difficult where to start with what I like about Matsuzaki's voice. Due to the fact she mainly sings in her second language of English, her vocals are uncomplicated yet melodic, often (intentionally) following the guitar line that makes part of Deerhoof's signature sound. Her voice is often also very childlike, bringing in a massive sense of fun and innocence, and both breaking and adding to the tension in many of Deerhoof's songs.
Example: Deerhoof - Apple Bomb (Found on Apple O')

Beth Gibbons - Portishead
Arguably one of the best singers of recent times, Beth Gibbons' work with Portishead has been nothing short of remarkable. Her incredible strength and range in her voice arguably make Portishead who they are.
Example: Portishead - Elysium (Found on Portishead)

Emily Haines - Metric/Broken Social Scene/Emily Haines and The Soft Skeleton
Whilst Metric's music is only occasionally brilliant, Haines' voice is the constant factor across their three albums, her solo album and her work with Canadian collective Broken Social Scene. She sets a very high benchmark for female vocalists, bringing often intense emotion in what would otherwise be a fairly banal instrumental.
Example: Metric - Poster Of A Girl (Found on Live It Out)

Jemima Pearl Abegg - Be Your Own Pet
In my opinion, the snarlier, sexier and let's face it, better version of Hayley Williams. Much in the same way that BYOP are the far-superiors of their pop-rock counterparts Paramore. While their new album "Get Awkward" was made with some internal strife, when it is released on the 17th, hopefully everyone else will come round to my way of thinking too.
Example: Be Your Own Pet - Wildcat! (Found on Be Your Own Pet)

Land Of Talk

This Canadian Indie-Rock trio, simply because they have a female singer, often lend themselves to comparisons with their fellow countryfolk Metric as well as Tennessee-dwelling punks Be Your Own Pet, and this article is no different.

I had a promo copy of their debut LP/EP Applause Cheer Boo Hiss which seems to almost invite some sort of delete-as-appropriate kind of review. On the whole however, all four are equally applicable on this hit-and-miss record, released in the UK in October. For example, Elizabeth Powell's occasional Emily Haines-esque vocals sometimes glide and sometimes stutter over the often epic Dinosaur Jr. overdrive. Prime examples being former single "Summer Special", and my personal favourite "Breaxxbaxx".

Their full length album should be out within the next couple of months, but until then, this EP (availiable cheaper on import from Amazon for some reason) and their myspace below should be enough to satisfy.

Myspace