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I’m giving my site a bit of a Christmas tune up – and changing the theme, I prefered the minimal look I had before so have found a nice new look. Things may be a bit funky round here whilst I tidy up – but shouldn’t be too long.
Oct 2007 – High Density – Progressive House
I’m off on vacation for a week – and I always like to take a new mix to listen to during my travels, so I put this together…and left for you to download and enjoy! These are some of my personal favourites from the dancefloor at the moment – taking in some of the more progressive and bass heavy recesses of the record box.
Enjoy this mix – and let me know what you think in the comments below!
Full Tracklist (and mini reviews) after the jump… More »
Live – Ian Brown, Reading Hexagon, 18th October
And so to the wonderful late 70′s edifice that is the Reading Hexagon – ugly as sin and as hexagonal as absolutely possible. On Thursday night it welcomed a ‘Busy Working Class Hero’ in Ian Brown.
Support was from the marvellously named ‘Glasvegas’ – sounding a lot like Arab Strap with a 60′s backing track, interesting stuff – worth checking some studio stuff I think.
Ten past nine, Ian Brown and band wander on to some of the strings from the new album, but the first track is an absolutely storming version of ‘I wanna be adored’ (my favourite Roses tune), from the first note to the last the Reading crowd rose to their feet…there was storming versions of My Star, Longsight M13, Sweet Fantastic and a great sort of live bootleg with Fools Gold and the man singing ‘The World is Yours’ over the top…nice work. The crowd interaction was superb – getting everyone to boo Oxford ("Yous’ are bad muthafuckers"), and as the crowd got crazier there was a hail of beer and plastic cups…I’m not sure the hexagon see’s many crowds go as crazy as this…
The band was absolutely superb, tight as a drum – and the atmosphere in the Hexagon was superb. We managed to get front row seats in the balcony, but stupid jet lag made me forget to take my camera…so no shots of the great man. He encouraged us all to do the shoulder shake (as at Brixton last year) – and I got a v for victory sign at the end as we applauded and told him he was number one.
Once again – an absolutely superb night out, worth flying 5000 miles back from Seattle to be at, jetlag and all.
I *think* the full setlist was something like this:
- I wanna be Adored
- My star
- Corpses
- Dolphins were Monkeys
- Golden Gaze
- Set My Baby Free
- Lovebug
- Longsight M13
- Sweet Fantastic
- Destiny Or Circumstance
- Time is my everything
- Keep What Ya Got
- Goodbye To The Broken
- FEAR
- I am the Resurrection
- Fools Gold/The World is Yours
- Sister Rose
- On Track
- Street Children
David Ford – Songs for the Road
Songs for the Road is the second album from UK singer songwriter David Ford, following up on the 2005 release – ‘I sincerely apologise for all the trouble I’ve caused’.
In between albums, Ford has been busy supporting Ray Lamontagne and Starsailor (although not when I saw them), Elvis Costello, Gomez and Suzanne Vega – some of those influences can be seen in this set of romantic and sometimes melancholy songs.
Opening with ‘Go to Hell’, strings and brass have been added into the mix and the gentle, almost chamber arrangement of the opener offsets the slightly bluesy voice and regretful lyrics.
And so it continues – Decimate, with its slightly more upbeat perspective shows off his south-east of England accent. Later on are the almost impossible dark ‘St Peter’ and ‘Requiem’ with its broody and angry lyrics about the state of today against a really bluesy harmonica arrangement.
Highlights for me are ‘Song for the Road’ and the early mentioned ‘Decimate’ which despite being the most accessible track is still peppered with some dark lyrics:
You decimate my inhibitions, I can’t be sane…
Lets take a walk out on the broken glass.
Its a beautiful album – and although the comparisons with some of the influences above are valid (certainly more valid than the inevitable James Blunt, James Morrison references) – this guy has a unique lyrical quality that sets him apart from the rest of the current crop of singer songwriters.
Great album – well sung and delivered.
Album Review – Radiohead – In Rainbows
There is very little left to say about In Rainbows by Radiohead, a surprise release by one of the biggest bands in the world, with its unusual delivery and pricing methodology. I paid £6 for my download of the 10 track album on the premise that if I like the album, I’d probably be happy to drop the £8 or £10 for the CD package when it finally gets released…personally this seems like a pretty good model – especially if it allows the music to reach the market quicker and stops the inevitable leaks that mean the album ends up being downloaded for free from the pirate sites.
However – there is still an album by Radiohead fresh onto the market – and this significant event for music fans deserves some commentary on the ACTUAL MUSIC.
In Rainbows is a more accessible album than Hail to the Thief, still with the edgy, stripped down feel of its predecessor it manages to pack some actual song structure into the tracks and deliver something that is much closer to OK Computer than anything they’ve done in between.
There are some superb songs on this – some of which have been around as live tracks (and subsequently in poor copies all over the internet), but now we have pristine 160kbps copies to listen to. Stand out tracks for me are Reckoner – with its haunting strings, and ‘All I need’ with its gorgeous piano and glockenspiel sounds, allied with stark vocals from Yorke.
The drums throughout the tracks are outstanding – and the string section bought into build the tracks up has been used well across the album.
Its a Radiohead album – so it is always going to be good – but this is amongst the best they’ve done for many years. As an experiment in changing the economics of music, it probably won;t do much – but as an exercise in demonstrating what raw talent can do in a music studio, this is the real shit.
Editors – Brixton Academy – Oct 9th
I’d had my expectations raised for this gig – a friend of mine went a couple of nights earlier and told me just how good the Editors were, so I was full of anticipation on the drive up to Brixton. Support was from the Kissaway Trail, sounding like a cross between fellow countrymen Mew and some jangly pop – I really enjoyed their sound and wished I’d arrived about 20 minutes earlier to hear all of their set. Then came Ra-Ra-Riot – who to me sounded a little but willfully arty – joined on stage by stand-up cello and violin players, I felt they were a little like a 6th form project rather than a fully formed band…but I’m going to reserve full judgement until I hear some studio music,
At around 9.20 the Editors took to the stage – in front of a huge gasometer backdrop they blistered through tracks from both of the hit albums – and two I hadn’t heard before, one that lead singer Tom Smith said was new, and one which was old – possibly from the Snowfield EP.
Highlights for me were Racing Rats, Sparks and the incredible Munich – all carried off with great precision and loads of energy. Tom Smith was on good form – bouncing around the stage, and climbing on his piano for maximum effect. It was a typically edgy performance and his voice really cut through the typical Brixton sound.
An excellent night out – with an excellent band – definitely living up to expectations.
Some (rubbish) photos of the night are over here at flickr
Scout Niblett – This Fool Can Die Now
Scout Niblett – yes really, thats her name (well pseudonym – Emma Louise appears on the birth certificate)…is originally from Nottingham in the UK, but recently relocated to the US to make this album in Portland, Oregon.
This Fool can Die Now is her third album – featuring production from Steve Albini, and collaboration with Will Oldham. The sound is spartan and minimal – mainly vocals and minimal drumming or keyboards, there is a certain individuality to the sound that stands it apart from much of the rubbish around in the female singer songwriter category.
Tracks like ‘Dinosaur Egg’ and ‘Moon Lake’ stand out for me – the former carrying some of the weirdest lyrics for a long time:
Dinosaur Egg, when will you hatch? ‘Cos I got a million people coming on Friday who expect to see a dinosaur, not an egg
Definitely an expedition into the unknown – a voice to enjoy and tolerate in equal parts, but never a dull moment on this album.
New Banksy Piece
New banksy piece apparently painted on Sunday night in bristol – click here to see it on flickr – its a great piece…
Yeah….of course…
African archbishop believes that European made condoms are especially infected with the HIV virus…”to kill Africa off”…seriously!
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