review by Lesley.XX

Isn’t it jolly lovely that various English heritage brands have been jumping on the music scene and giving a platform for some emerging talent. Burberry have given us some pretty sweet acoustic sessions (my favourites being the oh-so cute Misty Miller and the soon to be massive Dog is Dead – check them out here: http://uk.burberry.com/store/content/experience/acoustic/index.jsp). Jack Wills launched their unsigned tour, playing to popped collars and polo shirts in student unions up and down the country. And now Lyle and Scott are getting in on the action with a series of gigs at uber trendy XOYO. Last Thursday we popped by to check what delights were on offer.

I Only Date Models were first up with their pretty little faces and commercially friendly brand of pop-rock. Think a little bit like if the Lost Prophets and Snow Patrol had a love child - You can decide if this is a good/bad thing.

http://www.myspace.com/ionlydatemodels

The token northerners came in the form of electro-pop five piece, May68, displaying a pleasant array of heavy synth riffs and tight bass hooks, yet perhaps giving a sense of ground previously covered. Probably best summed up by some guy by the bar - “bit like The Gossip if Beth Ditto decided to pass on the cake.”

http://www.myspace.com/may68uk

We did however fully fall for Clock Opera and their heartfelt form of indie-electronica mash up. You may have previously seen Guy Connelly fronting The Corrections/The Fallout Trust, but Clock Opera sees Connelly finally firing up a storm with finely chopped samples layered with vocal harmonies, chunky synth and occasional cutlery-on-kettle beats. There are obvious parallels with Steve Reich-style loops and phasing patterns which are nicely brought together in this intricately woven package. We look forward to hearing more from them asap! For now though, they are just teasing us with this little gem:

http://www.myspace.com/clockopera

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A big thanks to Stephanie Churchill and Jack Thomas for adding us to the guest list and for all the bands involved. Everybody had a wicked evening of fun and frolics. Lyle and Scott deserve a great big pat on the back as do the guys over at XOYO for working hard into the night.
cheers all involved.

Thomas.