For cleaner, bluer, whites you need....

The Flowerpot
28 August 2009




















WD contain SO MUCH ROCK they can be in two places at once. Photo: G Tothedogs

White Denim were incendiary*; they launched straight into a blistering set and barely paused for breath from s to f. Some of the finer points of the songs as recorded were lost in a haze of effects, but the energy of the performance carried all before it; glowing live reputation is fully deserved.

*Please note that they didn't start any actual fires.

Quite literally

Nice film of a nice song.

Nice, Nice, Very Nice is Dan Mangan's new album

Green grow the rushes, oh! No.3

Green Man, Glanusk Park
21-23 August 2009

What is it with guitars? (aka Rock Will Have Its Way)

Amazing fact: you can hear a guitar just as well when you are sitting as when you are standing.
Photo of SKB @ Luminaire: Anika

When She Keeps Bees started playing fuzzy bluesy guitar in the relaxed setting of a mid-afternoon slot on the Pub stage, some misguided Festival Rock Fan (at the Green Man?) had to go and stand front centre, and lo, The Sheep did follow. So nobody else could see. Genius at work.*

Perhaps it should also be noted that SKB were thrilled with the crowd response, so I suppose it's ok** as Music Is The Winner.

*Not

** Also not

Green grow the rushes, oh! No.2

Green Man, Glanusk Park
21-23 August 2009
The Grizzly Bros. perform Two Weeks with Victoria Legrand. Photo: G Tothedogs (who likes the composition but wishes the pic was, you know, better)

During While You Wait For The Others my hair was standing on end; as anyone reading this will know, I have no hair to speak of, so that was quite an achievement.

'Nuff said.

Green grow the rushes, oh! No.1

Green Man, Glanusk Park
21-23 August 2009

Mr F Tet rocks the tent in a low-res stylee Photo: G Tothedogs

I have walked away from Four Tet sets in the past as they are in danger of being non-events, largely due to the absence of drama involved in watching someone fiddling with their laptops on stage. Given the benefit of the doubt on this occasion, and with the help of some ok stage lighting, Mr Tet played a stormer on the Far Out stage. Some might say the four dancing girls helped the visual aspect of the presentation; I of course was only there for the music.

The delicate twinkles of the tracks from Pause and Rounds were doctored as we watched, and were beefed up to match the impact of the more obviously dance-y Ringer tunes. The sonic language is familiar across the last decade, but even so the effervescent sounds responded well to a pulsing and energetic live impetus and it worked brilliantly on the night.

Grizzly Magic

KOKO
18 August 2009
Daniel looks downcast as, once again, Ed headbutts the microphone. Ooo.

Bought the tickets, read the reports, heard the bootlegs and seen the recent live feed from Pitchfork, now it was finally time to see GB in action - and the anticipation was justified, as a dazzling show it was; I don't think I've seen anything better or more enjoyable, and apparently they deliver every time. *boggles*

The Grizzlers gave us their complex arrangements and layered harmonies, building them into great, shimmering, absorbing swirls of sound that whispered and then roared, often to end with a sigh. Genius at work.

Older tracks from Yellow House were very much at home amongst the newer songs; hard to pick a favourite moment. The only slight grumble would be that their familiar cover of The Crystals' He Hit Me was the only encore. More!

There were occasional issues with the sound, although the techs did catch up with the band eventually, which was a relief as KOKO isn't always the best on that score. Would have loved this to have been at the Roundhouse.

Magic Arm, supporting, who has great songs but can be a little haphazard live, did the smart thing and rose to the occasion and gave the best performance I have yet seen from him (and that would be the, um, 9th time....). Hopefully the exposure will prove beneficial.

10/10. Yeah.

Tune Yards - Bird Brains

It's not often that a woman yodelling is likely to be a good thing, but this just goes to show there is clearly a time and a place for everything. Beautifully filmed live performance below via CB (again); check out Zach Condon, no less, in the tiny audience.

tUne-YaRds // FIYA from Ray Concepcion on Vimeo.

Over a year since Fiya was first doing the webby rounds, the physical album Bird Brains is now available, and what a pleasure it is. Simple, layered, scratchy home-recorded lo-fi, with African flavours that are informed by Merrill having spent several months living there - more than can be said for parasitic Vampire Weekend as far as I know.

The lively acoustic jangle that is the most prominent characteristic of the songs is underpinned by a bass thump that ensures that the tunes have enough presence and heft, and which helps generate the abundant bouncy and very danceable off-beat rhythms, several of which seem quite remix-friendly. And although that kind of self-conscious tweaking would be the polar opposite of the untamed spirit the album captures, it might make for some interesting sounds.

Talking of which - apparently Micachu and The Shapes got on famously with Merrill in the States recently, unsurprising really as from a musical perspective there is a clear shared sensibility; so who knows, maybe something collaborative might come from that. But that's just wishful thinking on my part, so don't watch this space.

Forest Fire / Broadcast 2000 / We Aeronauts

The Luminaire
14 August 2009

We Aeronauts kicked things off, and whilst it doesn't really seem ok to give them a hard time as a bottom-of-the-bill newbie act, I think I must do exactly that.

Obviously a band with a lot of friends - they recently won the online ballot to earn the opening slot at Green Man next Friday - but it seemed that everything that they had to offer was overly familiar. More people on stage than would seem necessary, including one Pretty Girl? Check. Instrument switching between songs? Someone with bare feet? VERY SHOUTY DRUMMING that should have been supporting not dominating? Yip, yep, yup.....

Stornoway/ Fanfarlo/ The Leisure Society are some of the bands who are much better at making the type of music that We Aeronauts fail to emulate, although they seem to be trying to do exactly that. They aren't bad exactly, but I am really starting to run out of patience with this kind of weedy pigeon stuff unless it has some attribute which stops it being generic fluff.

Forest Fire by Anika

Next up was Forest Fire, in a switch to the running order apparently caused by Tom the B2K glock player having been double-booked. Second version of this that I have seen lately - when Marina & The Diamonds played the Notting Hill Arts Club last month, they didn't take the stage until after 11 as the keys guy had been spending his evening at The Roundhouse watching Oasis! (Edit: apparently this was a little fib, FF wanted to get away early to travel to France.)

FF were a welcome antidote to the previous band, with their tuneful blues-rock possessing a rather more punchy presence. The bass used quite a lot of effects and took an unusually prominent role in several songs, which was quite effective. However it rather spoils the performance aspect of a show when folk are scrabbling around twiddling knobs on the floor, when the sounds they are making should preferably be reinforced by some rock god poses.

Forest Fire - Slow Motion from Chocolate Bobka on Vimeo.

Enjoyable enough set, although I kept wishing that I was listening to The Subjects instead. I decided anyway to pick up the album at the booth, reckoning that the studio versions would offer another perspective on the songs - only to discover when I got home that I have had it in my itunes for over a year already. Pay attention!

Broadcast 2000 were their usual zesty selves, with the ever-growing live band now 7-strong. Their amazingly catchy pop songs are thoughtfully constructed and arranged, taking full advantage of the various percussion options on stage, and underscoring the often slightly wistful tone of the lyrics with a hint of a sombre note from the strings. They are also quite unique in that you could never mistake a B2K song for one by any other band.

Other news from the evening - Anika very kindly agreed to let me use her fantastic photos, so look forward to seeing some of these around here to help the place look a bit more cheerful. Thank you, I will pay you in OJ!

Champion Lyricists: Casiotone for the Painfully Alone

This only registered with me yesterday when I was melting on the tube; during It's a crime, "reason" is rhymed with "fleas 'n".

Outstanding.

And just because I can, here is something else of his (unofficial video).

Word of the moment 1: Melismatic

The first in an occasional series (maybe).

If the Dirty Projectors and friends didn't do what they do, this word wouldn't have been spotted skulking in corners quite as often as it has been lately. Good work, Messrs Longstreth and Baldwin!

Definition courtesy of MSN Encarta:

me·lis·ma [ mə lízmə ] (plural me·lis·ma·ta [ mə lízmətə ] or me·lis·mas)

noun

Definition:

1. several notes sung on one syllable: a decorative phrase or passage in vocal music, especially one in which one syllable of a plainsong text is sung to a melodic sequence of several notes

2. embellishment of melody: an embellishment or decoration of a melody

3. music Same as cadenza

[Late 19th century. Via modern Latin<> melizein "sing" < melos "song"]

- mel·is·mat·ic [ mèlliz máttik ] adjective

Field Day 2009

1 August 2009

Well I didn't actually go, so this isn't a review type thing, more of an associated observation: heading out through Bethnal Green and Mile End on the Central Line early on Saturday afternoon it could be clearly observed that most of the disembarking FD-ers were wearing plain shirts.

PLAIN SHIRTS.

!

Could it mark the passing of the trend? Hopefully it might soon be possible, if the fancy strikes, to buy a shirt with checks on it without looking as if you are trying to buy membership of a certain club.

But how long will it take the rest of Them to realise that things have moved on?

Edit: I am informed that at Shitditch 1-2-3-4 the previous Saturday the same observation was made. The plain shirts were apparently teamed with leather jackets, supertight trousers and winklepickers, in a Modern Boy style.

Quite unbelievably, this tallies with something that Nicky Haslam (!) said on Desert Island Discs (!!) this very morning: his leather/tight/pointy outfit in an old photo was mentioned as an amusing demonstration of the cyclical nature of Fashion (although these days it is probably a meme, but I digress). I heard this and thought "Yeah, right, as if you know what The Kids are wearing!" but apparently he does too...

David Thomas Broughton / Micachu & The Shapes / Treetop Flyers / First Aid Kit

Arnold Circus Bandstand
2 August 2009

A double-header of Bandstand Busking, on a perfect day for it. The deal is that short acoustic sets are performed and recorded at some of the old bandstands that survive at various locations around London. The BB team have a website for the films they make, with the action generally taking place on the first Sunday of the month.

DTB appears to be a kind of psychotic troubador, with staring eyes and a knack for awkward pauses, combined with a haunting hooting vocal style that perhaps doesn't inflect as much as it might if it were to sustain a serious level of interest. Nonetheless a compelling performer, with all manner of seemingly unplanned idiosyncratic tics and quirks - would anyone else begin singing a new song with a stick of blue chalk lodged fag-style in the corner of their mouth? How about attempts, while in full musical flow, to climb up onto the low wall around the edge of the bandstand?

Looming at one of the cameras, DTB advanced in a diminishing spiral, singing straight into the lens and - frightening moment alert! - genuine tension was created as everyone could see that the mid-floor sound mic was gradually being wrapped up in cable and could so easily be dislodged.....*pause*.....

but happily the equipment made it safely through the song. Phew!

And now - bad photo alert:


Photo credit: G Tothedogs

...told you.

Micachu and the Shapes were running a bit late, and looked a bit early morning-ish, but that didn't affect the songs which were, as ever, imaginatively remodelled to suit the circumstances. Their customised guitars were tapped, scraped, drummed and strummed to create the desired woozy assymetry, and these simplified performances showed just how strong the songs really are. Bless 'em, they were playing at Field Day the day before, and after Busking had to scoot off to Standon Calling. Busy bees.

The later pair of Busks were both really very good, but fit into the 'tuneful but not especially memorable' bracket and couldn't match the spark of Mica and DTB.