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| The Magnetic Mind - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog 2015 |
Saturday afternoon at
Le Beat Bespoké Weekender started off somewhat more sedately than the Friday with a vintage clothes and record market in one of the smaller rooms at the 299. I came across a stall by the always excellent
Soundflat Records and
bumped into Laurence from
The Sonic Jewels and his girlfriend who were
manning a retro clothing stall. I bought a neat paisley scarf and got a copy of
the Jewels’ excellent new E.P. “By The Light of Woland’s Candle”
included, which was a very welcome bargain! Then the entertainment continued with DJ
Graham Lentz playing a great selection of tracks including Retro Man Blog favourites The Solarflares and The Travellers, amongst many others.
The Magnetic Mind took the stage to ease the cobwebs and hangovers away with a blissful set of melodic pastoral Psychedelia that went down very well with the attentive crowd.
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| The Magnetic Mind - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog 2015 |
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| The Magnetic Mind - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog 2015 |
Based around the harmonizing vocals of the alluring Ellie Foden and bassist Paul Milne and topped off by some superb Vox Jaguar organ work by Sarah Lou, the band provided a perfect pick-me-up for those that might have been flagging after a very late night. Although with the vocal melodies they do evoke comparisons with the
Mamas & The Papas, that’s not to say The Magnetic Mind will only
appeal to laid-back hippies. There was a nice edge to their sound with more than a hint of Shocking Blue and they could also turn up the fuzz with a couple of
tracks veering into 13th Floor Elevators territory. The songs that
really stood out for me were “When The Morning Comes” and “Stay Away
From The Door”.
The Magnetic Mind will be releasing their
debut album "The Magnetic Mind...Is Thinking About It" soon and judging by the set they played this afternoon,
that’s going to be something well worth getting hold of. I was really impressed and picked up both of their 7” vinyl singles and will be sure to play a track or two by the band in the next
Retrosonic Podcast.
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| Fabio & Borja of Fogbound - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog 2015 |
Next up were Spanish band
Fogbound, I’d already played a track in
Episode 13 of Retrosonic Podcast previously but this was the first time I’d seen them live. From hearing the debut single I had kind of imagined them to be more of a "shoe-gazing" proposition as both tracks "Come and Play" and "Whispering Corridors" were quite ethereal with falsetto vocals that washed over you. However, on stage Fogbound confounded my expectations, they rocked out quite spectacularly and ended up with squalls of feedback and front-man Fabio playing guitar behind his head and then balancing it on his shoulders. Their powerful Drummer Pablo was excellent, a bearded John Belushi look-alike who pounded his kit so hard they had to get some extra weights to stop the kit moving forwards.
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| Fogbound (L/R) Fernando, Fabio, Pablo & Borja - Photo Retro Man Blog |
Pablo also broke a drumstick and half of it flew towards me narrowly missing my fragile head. I hope I never have to write a bad review of the band! Keyboard player Fernando was also all action, half hidden under a large Afro he played the organ as though he was a lead guitarist, leaping about and bashing the keyboard to great effect. Borja did not play the traditional role of the quiet bassist in the background, both he and Lead vocalist and guitarist Fabio threw shapes and immersed themselves in the music and it was good to see a nice chemistry and confidence coursing through the band. Fabio was great, with a mop of hair and decked out in orange trousers and frilled purple shirt he was a blur of colourful energy throughout and a proved to be a quite excellent guitarist too.
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| Fogbound - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog 2015 |
There’s a nice Eastern influence on their overall sound and this is particularly apparent on the new single "Purple Wax" and even in their choice of cover, a brilliant version of The Attack’s “Strange House”. In a dynamic and exhilarating hour-long set the band veer from the soulful organ driven sound of “Castles In A Sandbox”
that is part Small faces and part The Prisoners, to tuneful Psych Pop
such as the rather excellent “Maybe No”. Although Fogbound are of course influenced heavily by the past, rather like
The Soundtrack of Our Lives or The Charlatans, they twist their reference points into something undoubtedly fresh and contemporary sounding. All of this, allied with the impressive quality of the band's song-writing, could see Fogbound pick up a sizeable following.
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| Fogbound - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog 2015 |
So overall I was really impressed with Le Beat
Bespoke, it was extremely well organized by Rob Bailey and his New
Untouchables team, and despite having reservations about the
venue following my run in with the security there at last year's
Graham Day gig, I must admit it worked really well for such an event. It was
just a shame we could not be there for all three days, but hope to
rectify that next year. So, I’d really recommend you joining the
New Untouchables network, you can sign up to their mailing list
here
for news on their many and varied gigs, club nights and happenings.
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| Fogbound - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog 2015 |
For
more photos of
Le Beat Bespoké please visit the Retro
Man Blog
Facebook page and if you are not already following, hit
“Like” and “Get Notifications” for access to the exclusive Photo Album.
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| Borja of Fogbound - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog 2015 |
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| Fogbound - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog 2015 |
Videos of both bands filmed at
Le Beat Bespoké can be found at the Retro Man Blog
YouTube channel. With thanks to Rob Bailey. All photos and videos copyright Retro Man Blog 2015.
Great photos!
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