What do you get when you combine the best parts of Vampire Weekend and Ra Ra Riot? A Discovery.

The side project of RRR’s front man, Wes Miles and VW’s Rostam Batmanglij, it sees them take a more R&B electro approach to things,

MP3: Discovery – Orange Shirt
MP3: Discovery – Osaka Loop Line

(via Stereogum)

Anyone not in the know might have thought tonight was a joint headlining show. Such was the strength of main support, Manchester’s The Answering Machine. We could use many phrases to describe them, however we’ll nick one from a guy stood behind us to his mate: “They’re like the Strokes if they’d been to Art School and didn’t have money, together with Franz Ferdinand if they’d bunked off Art School or if they’d not spent years poncing around”. Couldn’t have put it better myself.

Angular, fast paced and smartly dressed at first we thought they were going to be a bit of a cliche – good, but not great. However, they certainly had the energy (our poor camera couldn’t keep up with lead singer Martin), racing through their 7 song set with great professionalism. Gemma (pictured right), their bassist, was stood right in front of us and calmly drove the whole thing along whilst Martin and Pat really went for it. A great band you need to check out – and to get you on your way, there’s a free MP3 below.

MP3: The Answering Machine – Another City, Another Sorry

Most people were there for Syracuse’s Ra Ra Riot, the indie darlings slowly taking over Vampire Weekend’s mantle of the UK’s favourite US indie pop band. We caught them in August last year when they struggled to fill Water Rats in Kings Cross. Tonight they’d sold out Kings College. Quite a jump in such a short space of time, for any band.

Lead singer Wesley was on fine form, bouncing around the stage, however it must be said that he seemed a lot less lively than when we saw them in August – throughout their 50 minute set we had a feeling of a band going through the motions. They were good, but not amazing – no tangled cables or crazy omg-they’ve-broken-everything moments. Still, the show proved just how good they are – even when going through the motions they have bundles of energy, and a repertoire of songs that would make many bands blush. Catchy, they appeal to an audience as wide as irritating Rugby lads through to the minuscule bag-of-bones arts students.

Every track got a huge cheer, however the final three were the clinchers for many that took it from a so-so gig to a good one. Ghost Under Rocks was their catapult to the big time, whilst Dying is Fine has one of those choruses everyone loves, and ended with highfives from Wesley to the crowd.

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We’ve been getting so many videos sent to us here at TGTF recently that we’ve decided to make a daily feature out of it. Every day (for the forseeable future) you’ll get a brand new video (well, one we’ve just found) at 6pm.

To start things off, we’ve got Ra Ra Riot’s new video, featuring a string of people being rejected in the snow. Very fitting with Valentines day tomorrow, and the weather we’ve been having.

Hopefully we will be bringing you another live review (after Last August’s) on Tuesday of Syracuse’s finest, when we (hopefully) catch them and the brilliant Answering Machine at Kings College.

Watch and enjoy:

Can You Tell is taken from Ra Ra Riot’s The Rhumb Line, which is out now.

It’s been a pretty amazing year for music around the UK, and following on from my top 10 of 2007, here is my top 10 of 2008.

10 – Viva Stereo – Roar Lion Roar
You’ve probably not heard much about this Scottish collective. However, their third album was a surprise favourite for me – anthemic, accessible, slightly My Bloody Valentine and yet still so gorgeous.

Read more about Viva Stereo here.

Favourite: Knee High Boots.

9 – Sigur Rós – Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
As ever, an amazing collection from the Icelandic group. More pop than previous albums, their songs sound all the more amazing. I caught them live at Hydro Connect Festival in Scotland, where they preceded Franz Ferdinand and blew them out of the water. As the sun went down, they soundtracked the festival for us, showing their sense of humour and making beautiful music that had more than a few grown men in tears.

Favourite: Inní mér syngur vitleysingur

8 – Ra Ra Riot – The Rhumb Line
Dark in places, Ra Ra Riot come from the same school of musical geekiness as Vampire Weekend, but with a bit more serious and a bit less money. Dark in places, the group are still recovering from the death of their drummer in summer 2007, which shows on tracks like “Winter ‘05″.

Favourite: Dying is Fine

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We first introduced Ra Ra Riot to youback in August when we caught them at Water Rats in London and loved their US indie rock.

They’re no stranger to our shores, having played a three night stint in London in August, supported Vampire Weekend on their triumphant UK shows this winter and now are set to go on a quick jaunt in mid February to promote their amazing album, The Rhumb Line.

Tickets are on sale now for all dates, priced at £6.50 a ticket.

Catch the five piece at:

Wednesday 11th February 2009 – Birmingham Barfly (See Tickets, Ticketweb)
Thursday 12th February 2009 – Glasgow King Tuts (See Tickets)
Saturday 14th February 2009 – Newcastle Academy 2 (See Tickets, Ticketweb)
Sunday 15th February 2009 – Manchester Night & Day (See Tickets)
Monday 16th February 2009 – Nottingham Bodega (See Tickets)
Tuesday 17th February 2009 – London Borderline (See Tickets, Ticketweb)

This post originally appeared over at Londonist.

The New York university system seems to be doing well at the moment – first they turned out the amazing Vampire Weekend, and now Syracuse, New York, has turned out the brilliant Ra Ra Riot who played a headlining set at Monto Water Rats last night. Things got hot and sweaty as they ploughed through their 45 minute set in the tiny backroom, playing with so much energy you’d barely believe they’ve played a gig every night this week.

Earlier in the evening, The Daves warmed things up a bit with their radio-friendly anthems. They’re just like Dave TV too – a guilty pleasure, nice to dip in and out of, but also very predictable and unoriginal. Quickly followed by In Between Days, who sounded a bit like Lostprophets in a mixing pot with Biffy Clyro – good, but not really main-support material.

However there was no hiding who we were there for – Ra Ra Riot came on and gave us their rather unique mix of traditional bass, drums, guitar and keys augmented by violin and cello with enough energy to get everyone dancing, even the boring post-work crowd complete with unimpressed girlfriends. By the end of their set everyone was dancing like it was 1999, drenched in sweat with derranged smiles on their faces. As lead singer Wesley Miles commented: “This may not be our biggest gig this week, but you’re certainly the liveliest!”

Closing out their set with the double header of current single “Ghost Under Rocks” and previous single “Dying is Fine”, it was amazing that the six of them managed to stay on stage long with the amount they were bouncing into each other, falling over and generally having an amazing time. The poor soundguys were going to have fun – the cables of mics and guitars were amazingly well entangled from their antics.

Even if you haven’t heard of Ra Ra Riot go and check them out now – they may not make it to the big time, but they might just be one of your favourite secret bands.

So, I’m trying a new thing this week: A “daily roundup” of everything that doesn’t merit a complete post of its own. It won’t be literally every day (I do go out sometimes you know), but will be a collection of new MP3s, Videos, music etc.

A busy bank holiday weekend has quickly been and gone, and now I’m staring down the barrell of this weekend’s Hydro Connect festival. Things are moving along quickly – today we confirmed that we’ll have an interview with one of the festival organisers and also the Duke who owns the castle who’s grounds its in. However, with one upside comes a downside – we’re most likely not going to be liveblogging as we’d hoped due to the realisation that taking my laptop to a muddy field in Scotland probably ain’t the best idea.

If you want something to do this weekend “down south”, then we’d reccomend Offset Festival. It’s new, but has a stellar lineup (Tom McRae, Maccabees, Blood Red Shoes, Young Knives), and Winston over at Winston’s Zen will be there covering it. His series of liveblog posts from V Festival set a precedent that I’m going to find hard to match up to with my pesky Sony Ericson k850i. His wrap up posts take a humorus turn on the numbers of the event – and an impressive number of sets. So whilst I’m fiddling around sending half baked posts to here via my (doubtful) connection, why not wander of to Winston’s place to catch some live blog action – it’ll be just like being there*

Right then… I’m off to bed. I’ve worked all day (all together now, ahhh, bless), and am catching Ra Ra Riot tomorrow at Water Rats in London (and have a spare ticket if anyone wants to join me…) and still have to sort out a tonne of stuff before the weekend. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll have some free MP3s to post for your enjoyment.

* Okay, maybe not just like being there. It’ll be warmer, and comfier at home, and you most likely won’t have beer thrown at you.