Tigercats
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Tigercats

London, England, United Kingdom | Established. Jan 01, 2010 | INDIE

London, England, United Kingdom | INDIE
Established on Jan, 2010
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""A fine slice of indie pop""

Lauren on "Full Moon Reggae Party", which she made her download of the day on BBC 6Music - Lauren Laverne, BBC 6Music


""Tigercats are one of those bands who live and breathe their music""

Tigercats are one of those bands who live and breathe their music. They sing about what matters to them; the places and people they know and the trials and tribulations of being young, no matter how inconsequential it might seem. Like Los Campesinos! before them, they're self-absorbed, exciting, full of energy... and having a really good time along the way.

Their debut album brings together two EPs and a few new songs, and takes listeners on a whistle-stop tour of their East London stomping ground. Opener Coffin For The Isle Of Dogs - a declaration of independence for the Isle of Dogs - calls for "commuters in their commuter trains and kids in their prams" to "pull up the bridges, don't let anyone in". It's a slow, creeping start that ends with brattish chants, but it's the second song, Konny Huck, set in Hackney Downs, that sees Tigercats lay their cards on the table. With infectious hooks and crunching bass, it sets the tone for the rest of the record.

Later we head over to "a trendy bar in Dalston surrounded by idiots with ridiculous haircuts" in The Vapours; a song about singer and former Esiotrot front man Duncan Barrrett's dreams about a girl he lusts after. The dreams get more and more outlandish - one minute she's in an imaginary record shop staffed by "new wave one hit wonders" Jonah Lewie, Jilted John, The Only Ones and "those guys who sang Turning Japanese", the next she's swimming with turtles in the Regent's Canal. This is where Tigercats are at their best; when their hormones take control they produce some of finest nuggets of indiepop since Allo Darlin' first appeared on the scene. There's no soul-searching or innuendo - this is music to dance to and they're on a mission to make people grin. There's a warm, knowing humour throughout, and this is at its most obvious in vegetarian anthem Nude With Dogs: "She said 'Fuck you for killing my animal friends and fuck you for eating them'".

But it's not entirely undiluted indiepop; they have a stab at being serious a couple of times. It might not be his natural territory, but Barrett pulls off a heartbreaking tale of loosing "a vegan with a thing for leather" in Stevie Nicks. Kim and Thurston's lazily strummed strings doesn't hit quite the same mark, but their third slowie, keyboard player Laura Kovic's only solo, is a gorgeously purred bittersweet tale of unrequited love.

Elsewhere Full Moon Reggae Party utilises Kovic's pearly voice for chorus-duties, and Easter Island nods to You, Me, Dancing by Los Campesinos! with its toyish, tinny backing and hyper chorus: "Not knowing where we're going, that's part of the adventure". But the song the album will undoubtedly be known for is Banned At The Troxy. Already an indiepop disco favourite, it's got a warmth and sophistication that the rest of the album lacks - as though all the recording budget was poured into this one track. "We didn't wanna play anyway, we're gonna be bigger than national debt, we're Tigercats, we're banned at The Troxy" Barrett declares, like a stroppy, teenage Darren Hayman.

It might be too sickly sweet for some, but if you like your indiepop fiercely upbeat and with choruses you'll be singing for days, there's a lot to love on Tigercats' debut. - MusicOMH.com


""Tigercats are a heap of fun""

Folk music: let’s riff a little on its definition. Sorry Tigercats, just hang in there. At folk’s core, let’s assume, must be storytelling. Scholars – yes, certain scholars have little better to do than consider your listening predilections – have argued folk revolves around the strength of the sung word and if skilled musicianship is not quite an afterthought then consider it forever secondary on a list of two priorities. In fact, never mind scholars, walk into any folk club or pub gathering and it’s often glaringly obvious the force of the narrative comes before any mastery of chord progression. Here’s three chords, now form a folk band.

Anyone can perform folk by that estimation. It’s the anti-Garageband genre. One dictionary definition posits folk as “the traditional and typically anonymous music that is an expression of the life of people in a community”, which is a little unwieldy and creaky, hinting at a genre with the allure of double history, not to mention a staid present.
But setting aside the anonymity factor, the phrasing holds up. ‘Found music’ certainly has its place, whether anonymous or neglected; Harry Smith’s Smithsonian Anthology being an obvious example of buried treasure dug up and carefully nurtured, a salvaged source of inspiration.

But the indigeneity factor surely trumps all, and allows the square peg of Tigercats’ debut album to slide into folk’s round hole. See, Tigercats have fed well off London lore, gorging apparently on a diet of Spearmint and Television Personalities, the anti-societal punk poetry of Shirley Lee and Dan Treacy. Hefner too, yes definitely Hefner. They’ve been lauded by Darren Hayman? Blow me down.

Housed in east London, Tigercats are a five-piece band fronted by former Esiotrot singer Duncan Barrett, recent touring mates of Allo Darlin’ and a heap of fun, especially as a live act. Barrett yaks and yelps his way through a rattling run of floorshakers, among which the opener, the deeply cynical, highly topical ‘Coffin For The Isle Of Dogs’, takes its half-spoken, half-sung, passionate sloganeering lead from Spearmint’s epic Sweeping The Nation.

It’s ‘found music’ again: recovered flotsam from a Thames floor littered with indiepop shipwrecks. On ‘Coffin…’, Barrett sticks two fingers up – V for vendetta – to the septic Isle’s legion of bankers, its skyscraping landscape, and lurches forth with: “This is a declaration of independence/Pull up the bridges, don’t let anybody in… This island has gone to the dogs.” It’s a political, smarting voice, rising to the chant: “You call it fall-out/We call it payback/We’re going to make you wish you didn’t say that.”

So far, so righteous, even if the menace is a touch playground. Like the TVPs, Tigercats have a penchant for name-checking, so there’s tracks here titled Konny Huck, The Vapours, Stevie Nicks, Harper Lee, and Kim & Thurston, each with varying degrees of reference to their title. It’s a gimmick and you’d rather they didn’t need that.

Tigercats rise above the gimmicks and the humdrum when Barrett’s Estuary-accented voice is given licence to soar, to be the lead instrument, to dictate – to position the vocals, the words, front and centre. It’s that very tenet of folk music again, even if the band’s sound is only loosely rooted in the pastoral. This is indiepop with a passing fancy for folk. My difficulty with Isle Of Dogs is that Barrett and his band can sound utterly thrilling, infectious and gutsy, far exceeding the sum of their collective inspirations, but more than once they regress to Britpop-by-numbers, rendering them too ordinary to be interesting. And that’s a tradition that needs stamping out for the sake of future generations. Have no doubt, history tells us they’re listening. - For Folk's Sake


""the band is telling stories with every chord they’re playing and every note their voices sing""

Listening to Tigercats’ new songs for the first time, they sound a little like an uncontrolled and slightly too nervous outburst of their interpretatation of indie pop. It doesn’t really make sense, words and chords seem to be mixed up and you just wouldn’t get it, the patterns change too quickly to hold on to them.

Luckily, there can be a second time that has the potential to change everything. This time you’d listen to Isle of Dogs and they would already feel like old friends that don’t make you simply want to dance hyper a gig, but to pack your things and discover all the places alongside the people that they sing about. The voices coming out of your headphone while you’d be sliding in an old car and slowly starting the machine are either edgy, that’s frontman Duncan, or soft yet powerful Laura.

Although you’d have no what idea why the first song starts with ‘This is the Declaration of Independence,’ you kind of get the feeling and want to be part of their journey just because they seem to know where they want to go and you would just keep on driving on the country’s less frequent motorways.



“I still got so many of your records.”

Maybe the unique thing about Tigercats is that they are not just making great indie pop that catches your attention immediately because it’s hugely vibrant and captivating, but that the band is also telling stories with every chord they’re playing and every note their voices sing.

It’s remarkable how they switch topics from a random Tesco anecdote to a deep relationship confusion within 30 seconds. It works. You could see how well it works on your hand that rhythmically claps on the gear change while their sounds blur out of your sound systems. Their lyrics are underlined with catchy rhythms, which Jonny and Stefan are mainly responsible for, of limitless optimism and a whole lot of plans to change the trend bar in Dalston or imaginary record shops among all other places they sing about.

You can buy Isle of Dogs now for the princely sum of £10. Hurry, as there’s a limited run of 500.
- It's All Happening Music


""this superbly crafted debut album… [features] bouncy Orange Juice-style dance-pop, with boy-girl vocals, bustling percussion and an endearing sense of wonder. Along with recent tourmates Allo Darlin’, Tigercats are continuing to find a place for heart-on"

“This is a declaration of independence,” Duncan Barrett whoops, with audible glee, near the start of this U.K. guitar-pop group’s superbly crafted debut album. It’s a mission statement for Isle of Dogs, which plays like a Lord of the Flies where all the kids are bespectacled vegans and therefore nobody wants to kill the pig. Though one of them is getting into leather, so naturally everything turns into a big, colorful, nervous-energy dance party. Like early Los Campesinos! records, Tigercats’ songs foreground their warts and awkwardness as a way of conquering them, if only for a Saturday night.

The five-piece’s devoted music fandom spills over into its song titles, from one-hit-wonders ode “Vapours” to Pavement-rangey “Kim & Thurston.” But the most immediate tracks here bypass clever references for bouncy Orange Juice-style dance-pop, with boy-girl vocals, bustling percussion and an endearing sense of wonder. “We’re gonna get bigger than the national debt,” Barrett yelps, like fellow Hefner fanatics Art Brut vowing to “write a song as universal as happy birthday,” on second-to-last track “Banned at the Troxy.” They won’t, of course — that refusal to compromise is part of their appeal — but keyboardist Laura’s lead vocal turn on finale “Jonny” is a fittingly sweet consolation. Along with recent tourmates Allo Darlin’, Tigercats are continuing to find a place for heart-on-sleeve indie pop that defies shifting fashions.


Read more: http://www.emusic.com/music-news/review/album/tigercats-isle-of-dogs/#ixzz1uODzHU59 - eMusic.com


"9/10: "Tigercats have written a record that is full of personality, vitality, and even youthful rebellion, the sort of record that very well might reinvigorate indie pop""

On “Coffin for the Isle of Dogs,” the opening track of their debut full-length album, Tigercats frontman Duncan Barrett boldly proclaims that his band’s record is a "declaration of independence." Album openers often serve as mission statements and while Barrett’s decree certainly isn’t the most audacious of all time (Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” comes to mind), it does require that the London-based indie pop band deliver something that distinguishes them from the rest of the pack. There has been a glut of largely-faceless and almost comically-homogeneous indie pop bands in recent years, causing the genre to lose much of the vitality that was it’s greatest strength. Delivering on the promise of the singles that they have been releasing for the past few years, with Isle of Dogs Tigercats have written a record that is full of personality, vitality, and even youthful rebellion, the sort of record that very well might reinvigorate indie pop.

The crux of what makes Isle of Dogs such a triumph for indie pop is that it defies so many of indie pop’s pitfalls that have unfortunately become its conventions whilst retaining the infectious melodies that are the genre’s bread-and-butter. The aforementioned title track is an impassioned (and quite timely) rallying-cry for the common man with noisy, almost dissonant guitars that reinforce the group’s chant of “You call it fallout / We call it payback / We’re going to make you / Wish you didn’t say that.” In fact, incorporating musical styles completely unassociated with indie pop is one of the main components of Tigercat’s brilliance. Dissonant noise is employed again on album highlight “Banned at the Troxy” while tropical, possibly afrobeat inspired rhythms and melodies give tracks like “Full Moon Reggae Party” and “Limehouse Nights” an undeniable charm and energy.

In addition to being a unique indie pop record sonically and sources of influence, Isle of Dogs exhibits an unselfconscious and positively boisterous personality thanks in large part to Tigercat’s vocalists and breadth of songwriting. The absolute antithesis of the unsure and diminutive indie pop vocalist stereotype, Barrett’s vocal presence is comparable to that of Jeff Mangum, unabashed, commanding, impassioned, and capable of effectively conveying the entire spectrum of emotions. While a much more traditional vocalist in terms of timbre and delivery, keyboardist/backup vocalist Laura K. is equally pivotal in Tigercat’s vocal equation simultaneously contrasting and complimenting Barrett. Laura gets the spotlight on the closing track “Jonny,” a effusive torch song that provides the perfect end to the album.

“Jonny” isn’t the only tender moment on the album though. In fact the album dabbles in joy, anger, and sadness quite equally. Named after the alternative rock couple that no one on Earth expected to split, “Kim & Thurston” sees Tigercats excelling in heart-crushing melancholy as does the languid “Stevie Nicks.” In direct contrast to these tracks are the decidedly more upbeat “Harper Lee” and “Easter Island.”

In summation, Tigercats’ Isle of Dogs is the modern indie pop album that all others should be held up to. The album features stellar songwriting, muscular musicianship, and most of all personality! Stream the album below and order the limited-edition vinyl (complete with a bag of chaigercats tea, and a recipe for chocolate cupcakes with delectable peanut butter icing) through Fika Recordings.

YPOIW Rating: Lite 9 - Your Personal Opinion Is Wrong


""there’s something unconsciously authentic about Tigercats... this could be a band to listen to obsessively""

In what’s got to be the tweeist marketing move this year, the 12-inch of Isle of Dogs comes with a free cupcake recipe and bag of chaigercats tea. If that doesn’t tell you everything you need to know about Tigercats their Bandcamp will: the East London five-piece play sex-starved indie rock, citing Hefner, Harry Nilsson and Allo Darlin’ as influences. That’s no bad thing (certainly Hefner weren’t famous enough the first time round), but to enter the world of Tigercats is to be part of a Richard Curtis film, where London sparkles with backslapping greengrocers, and you can look like Hugh Grant and get away with it.

But if you’ve got the stomach, or you’ve been on an indie crash diet and now want to gorge like a Roman, they’re irresistible. Duncan Barrett’s acidic sweet nothings show he’s had his heart mowed over more than once, and the way he recounts it over chiming guitars shows he could be the last fan of McCarthy, forgotten heroes of the C-86 scene. In fact, he almost mentions them on ‘The Vapours’, which is filled with so many London idiosyncrasies it should be part of the UCL freshers’ pack. ”I dream of you / In an imaginary record shop / Staffed by new-wave one-hit wonders / We got Jona Lewis / We got Jilted John / We got the Only Ones / We got the guys of Saturn and Japanese / I think it was the Vapours”, he howls in his best Darren Hayman, sounding like he’s from the same era as his idol, as if somewhere in Limehouse there’s a pavement wormhole a la Goodnight Sweetheart. ‘Harper Lee’, another anthem two years too late, is the type of cuckolded punk track that could’ve capped off The Inbetweeners, while ‘Konny Huck’ features the bass line of the year, and - if only it was older - might be the song Charlie Brooker used to woo his missus.

In fact, once you get past Isle of Dogs’ obsessing with the tube map it’s an album that could woo more than just Londoners: Tigercats mewl till you can’t help but fall for them, irresistible as Supergrass in pin-badges. On the few times they sour - ‘Kim & Thurston’, where they shepherd home the drunk virgins, or ‘Jonny’ where keyboardist Laura swallows pills to blank out her man - they sound optimistic, full of more beans than a bath on Red Nose Day. ‘Banned at the Troxy’ sees Barrett test his smut around some baggy lines from guitarist Stefan, singing ”Do you remember 2004 / We used to dance till we could dance no more” and possibly referencing the green Alligator pills that were going round the city back then. By the time they reach re-recorded single ‘Easter Island’ they’ve left the M25 altogether, Barrett recalling his GCSE years where the girl he was working on suddenly bolted.

That’s probably the audience Isle of Dogs will most captivate: not Londoners, but sixth-formers still in the sticks who’ve yet to be ground down by the city. Despite its corduroys and references to authors there’s something unconsciously authentic about Tigercats - they know their sound, and sprinkle out the self-hate in strong enough doses to convince you they’ve felt what they’re singing about. Whether the passion’s here to make you confront your teen fumblings is another matter, but with singles like the flighty ‘Full Moon Reggae Party’ and its pumping cat animation it’s hard not to be swept along. Given time, this could be a band to listen to obsessively, and not just if you need to feel frisky while scooting around in Zone 2. - Drownedinsound.com


""Isle of Dogs is an album to be adored. Superbly crafted, original and soul-tingly, Tigercats can bring who they want to the party. Just make sure you have a ticket.""

2012 will be raining cats and dogs with this little sparkler as Tigercats polish each track to perfection

Read more on Tigercats Listen to Tigercats on Spotify

| BY EMMA SUTHERLAND | RATING:

Indie poppers Tigercats are dragging the good name of E14 into a shimmery limelight with album ‘Isle of Dogs’ and it’s a bit of a bobby dazzler. If you thought that London’s East End was only concerning itself with some games and a summer shindig for Her Majesty, then think again.

The entire album is one polished to perfection track after another, from the wannabe punk ‘Coffin for the Isle of Dogs’ to the more mature ‘Stevie Nicks’. Listen carefully and influences of Kooks, Wild Beasts and Libertines are interwoven gently with their own take of what indie-pop should sound like.

‘Banned at The Troxy’ is the track that has it all; the influences, the bouncy, happy vibe and the beautiful combo of Duncan and Laura’s voices. And don’t forget the instrumental showcase, where many seconds of parading their skills is a self-indulgent private show we’re all invited to. Lovely jubbly.

‘Isle of Dogs’ is an album to be adored. Even without London roots, if you want a bunch of gorgeous, well-thought-out tracks for any occasion, this is the one for you. Superbly crafted, original and soul-tingly, Tigercats can bring who they want to the party. Just make sure you have a ticket.


Read more: http://www.clickmusic.com/albums/article/tigercats-isle-of-dogs-album-review#ixzz1uOATbX9v - Clickmusic.com


"10/10: "an indie-pop act you can actually dance to..""

Have a quick scroll down to the bottom of this review and you’ll see something that rarely graces this site. That’s right, it’s a top score of 10/10. For those who are new to us we are not the kind of site that offers these out willy-nilly. In four years of reviewing I’ve only previously given out top marks to two albums, the recent reissues of The Clash’s London Calling and REM’s Lifes Rich Pageant. This is the first time I’ve ever given a 10/10 to a new album.

So what makes Isle of Dogs, the debut album by London band Tigercats, so deserving of our praise? Well, for a start, as an indie-pop album goes this is as good as it gets. It’s teaming with radio friendly, infectious hooks, especially on Full Moon Reggae Party, Easter Island and Banned at the Troxy. It also has a sense of completeness as the band take you on an indiepop road tour across the east end of London.
The album starts with “a declaration of independence” on Coffin For The Isle of Dogs, for the “kids in their prams” and “commuters in their commuter trains” to take control of “this island that has gone to the dogs.”
They then take us across Hackney Downs, for a dream like swim in Regents Canal “with the turtles and prehistoric fishes”, a trip to an indie record shop, bars in Dalston full of people with “ridiculous haircuts” before ending the day with a drunken stumble out of a nightclub, a spot of night swimming and a tale of love.

But it’s not all about catchy hooks and road trips around the capital, on an album that was largely recorded live at Soup Studios, Limehouse. The thoughtful Kim and Thurston, with its simple but effective guitar arrangement is among the highlights. Is it directly about Mr and Mrs Sonic Youth, the coolest couple in indie rock whose relationship was ultimately doomed, a fictional couple, or a real life relationship of lead singer and song writer Duncan Barrett? Kim and Thurston sounds like it’s a bit of all three. While their songwriting is direct it leaves just enough ambiguity to let the listener put their own take on the tracks.
There’s a humour to the songs as well. I particularly liked the references to the one hit wonders of new wave on Vapours. And as an expression of teen angst and insecurity goes the Konny Huck line about smoking “so you won’t see me clear” is among the best around.
Across all of this there’s a uniqueness to their sound that blends Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine and intricate (what NME hilariously describe as “afro beat-tinged twee-core”) guitar arrangements, with the energy of The Wedding Present’s George Best, the irony of Pete Shelley and the intelligence of Hefner.
It is perhaps Hefner that they are perhaps most similar to in the way they capture city life so well in music. I’m sure this is a comparison that Barrett will not mind, seeing as he is a collaborator of former Hefner frontman Darren Hayman on last year’s Vostok 5 art and music project about space exploration. Fans of Hefner will also be amazed how much Barrett sounds like Hayman.
Putting all these elements together gives Isle of Dogs one of the freshest sounds I’ve heard for some time from a UK act. Plus, as we said when we touted them as one to watch this year, they are an indie pop band you can dance to. That’s actually rarer than you’d think.
10/10 - Neonfiller.com


"Tigercats are a very, very good band. The kind of band that make you want to be a teenager again, so they can be your band."

"We're going to be bigger than the National Debt," Tigercats claim on Banned at the Troxy, and I think they might be. Could this happen because the government's prudent handling of the economy will soon shrink the national debt to manageable proportions, or could it be that Tigercats are a very, very good band? You guessed it, Tigercats are a very, very good band. The kind of band that make you want to be a teenager again, so they can be your band. They're very London, but their influences come from America: a splendid guitar business inherited from Television, a rhythmic restlessness taken from the Violent Femmes and, from Blondie, an understanding that just because you're a rock band, it doesn't mean you're not allowed to make people dance. - The Sunday Times


""Excellent, alive, and bright""

Tigercats are a rarity in a way that’s hard to properly pin down. Warning: vague stabs at corroboration follow.

Maybe it’s that their photographs show a band that look like they’re just out to have fun as opposed to pouting moodily with one eye one a hair product advertising contract.

Maybe it’s that their candour is refreshing. Maybe it’s that they swaddle their songs in fun, love, and youthful loopiness.

Or maybe it’s that, in a musical world where faux-nostaligia provides the backbone, guts and brains of most bands’ sound, this one sounds like they’re somehow more honest in their application of influence from days gone by.

I don’t think that Tigercats are trying to ape the sound of Pavement, or a host of C86 bands – it has just turned out that way. And that’s just hunky-dory.

Thus, Easter Island couldn’t be jauntier if it tried – but it’s no tired glockenspiel quaintcore nostalgia-fest, jittering and flailing under its own kinetic lunacy, and the genuinely excellent 1985 is steely and brittle beneath its raggedy velveteen exterior.

Their songs betray no alterior motives of forced cool, and are interested only in establishing their public image as an enthusiastic young band in love with making songs. Excellent, alive, and bright. - A New Band A Day


""a great little single" Steve Lamacq"

BBC Radio 6Music - Going deaf for a living blog


"Banned at the Troxy review"

"pure unexpected joy for the ears" - SleepWalking Magazine


""Tonight belonged to them" - Review of Withered Hand, Standard Fare & Tigercats at Catch"

"Comprised of former members of Esiotrot and Hexicon, and with EP tracks entitled Konny Huck and Stevie Nicks, there’s no cloak and dagger going on here. They’re a studied version of indiepop; the product of 30 years of jangly guitars and heartfelt post-punk. Slices of Orange Juice, Hefner and Violent Femmes blend to make a sound that, despite the band’s infancy, is considered, confident and utterly infectious.. tonight belonged to them" - MusicOMH.com


"Easter Island single review"

"this single could only be any better if it came with free drugs cellotaped to the cover." - Leedsmusicscene.net


"Easter Island single review"

"Following on from their great (and brilliantly timely) Konny Huck single, the band are back with a new release that was apparently only finished up last week. Gone are the days when you waited months for a release to be sorted out, now they are with us a few days after a band finishes them. Anyway, Easter Island doesn’t really deviate from what the standard set by Huck, which is fine as the band are sounding increasingly assured in what they are doing." - Another Form of Relief


"Magic Kids, Allo Darlin & Tigercats at the Barfly: Live Review"

Tigercats are the product of mating Hexicon with Esiotrot; the resultant sound is a bastardised Bo Diddley beat chained to an indiepop set up (part Orange Juice, part Hefner). They have songs about “Konny Huck” and Stevie Nicks, which should just sound sweet but have an angry intensity and buzzing loudness that makes them not only catchy but a lot more interesting. - Soundsxp.com


""it reminds me of Los Campesinos that, and that’s a very very very good thing""

Played on Huw's BBC Introducing show - Huw Stephens, BBC Radio 1


""This is a really good album, full of danceable guitar songs. It's an indie-pop manifesto...""

Tigercats are everything you could hope to hate about East London's indie scene, turned up to good. The group is completely steeped in the conventions and lore of their stomping ground and their record provides a soundtrack to a summer in the dives and dumps of Dalston. The group is based around Duncan Barrett and his brother Giles, who plays bass. The other band-members have been in and out of different indie outfits over the past five years, which makes for an assured debut.

Tigercats go for a kind of indie tropicana, reminiscent of 80s bands like Orange Juice and The Tom Tom Club, especially on lead single 'Full Moon Reggae Party'. The songs are led by chirpy, choppy guitars which give way to sweet melodies, delivered with an attitude problem. On first listen the vocals can seem snotty and languid -like someone who just woke up doing an impression of Johnny Rotten - but you soon get over any reservations and go along with Barrett's sweet and sarky take on his little world.

There is plenty of variety on Isle of Dogs; it has a bit of call and response, there are pat-a-cake bridges, radio-friendly choruses and even the odd lairy moment. The lyrics go from the bottom of London's canals to the excesses of indie romanticism. Take this line, for example, from 'The Vapors': "I dream of you/ in an imaginary record shop/ staffed by new-wave one-hit wonders". It's Albion via a John Hughes movie but that's part of the charm of the record.
The production on Isle of Dogs isn't flashy or commercial. It's simple and competent and fits in well with their aesthetic. Just to clarify, Tigercats are tea-and-cupcakes indie opposed to cigarettes-and-alcohol indie. Soon after you begin listening to the record, any skepticism you had will fall by the wayside due to the sheer weight of good songs. You'll soon be singing along to the catchy chorus of 'Limehouse Nights'; which is, by the way, "And I set fire to your sofa [repeat]".

This is a really good album, full of danceable guitar songs. It's an indie-pop manifesto, which means that it is excessively trendy. One more proviso, if you dress like English Lit students from the 80s, as Tigercats do, you can't say that the Dalston massive are idiots with ridiculous haircuts as Barrett does on 'The Vapours'. Still... - Soundblab


""the sophisticated structures of their alternately heartfelt and amusingly sarcastic songs - revealed Isle of Dogs to be the best new pop/rock album I'd come across in ages. ""

How does one choose just one favourite album of the year? Should it be the one that knocked you for six on a first hearing, the one that you admired rather than loved but nevertheless admired an awful lot, or the one that sneaked up on you gradually so that eventually you found yourself putting it on over and over again, even when you’d set out to play something else entirely, until eventually you ended up playing it more than any other album in 2012? Well, needless to say I’ve gone for the last.

On early plays, my knowledge of all the 1970s bands that these bright young things from east London had been influenced by (from T. Rex to Television) tended to detract from an appreciation of how well they had transcended those influences. But gradually the volume got pushed up, and the wholly organic way they had integrated bright, shiny Congolese-style guitar and polyrhythms with intense yet playful indie rock elements - not to mention the sophisticated structures of their alternately heartfelt and amusingly sarcastic songs - revealed Isle of Dogs to be the best new pop/rock album I'd come across in ages. And you’ve got to worship at the feet of a band who namedrop their influences in such an inventive way as this, from “Vapours”:

“I dream of an imaginary record shop
Staffed by new wave
One hit wonders
We got Jonah Lewie
We got Jilted John
We got The Only Ones
We got the guys who sang “Turning Japanese”
I think it was
I think it was
I think it was The Vapours”

Tigercats evoke the spirit of the Velvet Underground without even for one moment imitating them: take note, most other indie bands in the land. - The Arts Desk


""indie-pop heroes""

Artrocker TV Premiere of Full Moon Reggae Party video - Artrocker


""a breezy piece of indie pop, featuring some nice brass flourishes""

Fortuna POP! has an oddly familial feel.

Many of the musicians involved know one another on a personal level, with gig line ups often featuring multiple bands from the imprint.

So: welcome to the family, Tigercats. The five piece have been part of the label's orbit for some time, but recently hooked up with Fortuna POP! for the release of new album 'Mysteries'.

Set to be released in January, the band have decided to trail this with new track 'Junior Champion'. It's a breezy piece of indie pop, featuring some nice brass flourishes and additional guitar from Paul Rains of Allo Darlin' - who are also signed to the label.

Check out the nifty home made video below. - Clash Magazine


""freshly upbeat and sophisticated indie number""

East London band Tigercats reveal the video for their brand new tune ‘Junior Champion’, taken from their forthcoming album ‘Mysteries’, to be released on Fortuna POP! In January. The freshly upbeat and sophisticated indie number, written by band’s songwriter Duncan Barrett, it’s a tell about American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer and a sure anthem for chess fans everywhere.

We have been told that the video was made in the band’s living room with a fish tank, plenty of fresh fruit and 20 liters of sparkling water from Lidl… - Fame Magazine


Discography

2015

Follow up album "Mysteries" due February 2015.
"Sleeping In The Backseat" singled due January 2015.

2014

"Sleeping In The Backseat" video to be released December 2014.
"Junior Champion" video premiered September 2014.

2012

Debut album "Isle of Dogs" released on Fika Recordings & Acuarela Discos

Digital single "Full Moon Reggae Party" featured as mpfree by Lauren Laverne on BBC 6Music. Video played on MTV, Box TV, Q Music and E4

Harper Lee 7" single on Fika Recordings
Played on BBC Radio 1, BBC 6 Music and XFM

2011

Banned at the Troxy: 7" single on WeePop! Records
Played on BBC 6Music and BBC Radio 1

2010

Easter Island: CD single on Haircut Records
Played on BBC 6Music and XFM

Konny Huck: CD single on Haircut Records
Played on BBC 6Music and XFM

Photos

Bio

Tigercats are a band from London as ambitious and intelligent as only people who try to shoehorn elements of Prince and the Trojan back-catalogue into a Jonathan Richman song can be. They make music as infectious and joyous as it is accomplished to put a smile on your face and your shoes on the dancefloor, interspersed with quieter moments to give your feet - and cheekbones - a rest. 

Having honed his songwriting craft in the short-lived but much much-missed Esiotrot, Duncan Barrett recruited sibling/long-time producer Giles (bass), talented songstress Laura (keys) and rhythmic powerhouse Jonny (drums), as well as latest member Paul Rains (guitar, of Allo Darlin' fame). It's a winning combination that has taken them not only across​ the UK and​ Europe – including such highlights as End Of The Road,  Primavera Festival, appearances on Spanish TV (RTVE Radio3) and Indietracks – but also Stateside, with a 2013 tour with Fika labelmates The Smittens and Making Marks culminating in a headline performance at the fabled NYC Popfest. ​ 

Across innumerable mini-tours they have shared stages with: Allo Darlin’, the Wave Pictures, Darren Hayman, ​La Sera, ​the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Standard Fare, Let’s Wrestle​, ​ ​amongst others. ​ After early singles on Haircut Records and WeePop, their debut album I​​sle of Dogs was released in 2012 on Fika Recordings and Acuarela Discos. ​ ​Their forthcoming album​ Mysteries is set to be released on Fortuna POP! in February 2015.

Band Members