Django Django
Latitude 30, 10pm
Away from the increasingly irksome attempts to fuse indie rock with Eighties sensibilities, Django Django is carving out a sound all its own. In fact, if you want a ready sonic reckoner for the East London-based fourpiece, spin the band’s self-titled debut. This, you see, is art-pop at its finest.
Django Django makes the kind of music that has its roots in the psychedelic downstroke of the Velvet Underground, emphasizing the genuine affection for perfect pop music felt by Lou Reed back in the day. Moreover, the band’s conceptual Hot Chip-styled handclapping also happens to be gloriously addictive as is evident on early tunes like “WOR” or “Waveforms.”
The band’s own art-rock credentials are further enhanced by the fact that both drummer-cum-leader Dave Maclean and keyboard player Tommy Grace studied art together in Edinburgh, where the band formed in 2008.
“Being in a band requires the same sensibilities as being at art school,” Maclean told Mojo earlier this month. “It’s all about thinking independently, not seeing the cliché – and being broke.”
The latter comment underlines that Django Django is longer in the tooth than most and definitely not an outfit that have emerged, blessed with bleary-eyed wonderment, overnight. Maclean – brother of the Beta Band’s John Maclean, whose band is clearly a huge influence on DD’s own hazy, post-surf sound – threw his lot in with guitarist/singer Vinny Neff, the duo working on material and soliciting gigs before they actually recruited bassist Jimmy Dixon and Grace.
The band’s 2009 debut single, the double A-side of “Storm”/”Love’s Dart,” solicited huge interest in the group, but since then the foursome has crafted a sound that’s evolved substantially and has displayed the kind of ambition so often missing in independent music. It’s ambition that characterizes the band’s self-titled album, which has recently been released on the Because label.
The resulting impact of its debut has seen Django Django lauded as a band full of super-musos, and this would be a fair comment if only its music weren’t aimed at making your body move. See them for yourself and marvel at the dissection of pop music combined with a musical drive that can only be described in one word: irresistible.
Four More Brits for Thursday
Charlene Soraia
Frank, 9pm
Cashier No. 9
Friends, 11pm
The Minutes
Friends, 11pm
Kwes
Club 606, 12:15am
This article appears in March 16 • 2012.