Real Estate, Colours, Yuck: NJ 1 - N1 0

The Lexington

30 January 2010

A busy night in Angel. If I didn't know better I would have guessed it was a themed fancy dress night - women had to dress like a Vivian Girl, while the blokes used Daniel Day Lewis in My Beautiful Launderette as a style guide. Not quite what I had anticipated when considering my own wardrobe; I hope I didn't clash with the mood.

Openers Yuck are a bit of a name to drop lately, but not for any reason that I could discern. Playing in a generic style familiar to most post-punk pub-rock bands, albeit with a hint of an 80's mid-American flavour (Tom Petty?), I was surprised that, when greeting the audience, the singer spoke with an English accent. Competent, but deeply uninspired.

By comparison, Colours were a breath of fresh air, delivering their set with a sense of energy that Yuck had completely lacked, but after a bit the songs all blended into each other, the only variety coming when they played exactly the same but a bit faster. I wonder if using two rhythm guitars but no lead stops the songs from being developed? Pleasing enough fuzzy sound, to me, but rather one-dimensional.

Real Estate, on the other hand, and slightly against expectations - mine, at any rate - showed that they have a load of good pop songs that just happen to be wearing today's vogueish dressing. Bridges, choruses, hooks, and sometimes even harmonies; those are the traditional components hiding under there. And when they hit a particular setting for the guitar, the layers of reverb became a spatial event and not just a device to hide a gap. Best song was the first of two as-yet-nameless new tunes, and best moment was the first high yelp added to Fake Blues.

How nice to have the recordings make more sense after seeing a live show.

Convinced.

Real Estate-Fake Blues

Basia Bulat: keeping quiet by keeping quiet

27 January 2010
Underbelly

Although it was initially disappointing to see that she would be playing solo, Basia in fact played a warm and enjoyable show, sounding really centred and in great voice. The last couple of times I have seen her play there was, ever so slightly, a sense of running to keep up with herself, which wasn't at all the case on this occasion, and it made the fairly simple show seem like a lovely snug fit.

The set was not particularly aided by the location - although the sound was spot on - where too many noisy chatterers really weren't letting the fact that they were at a fairly quiet show interfere with their conversations. During The Shore, a particularly quiet tune played on an ancient omnichord that seemed to have a built in kalimba (or similar), the talking reached such a pitch that it seemed to distract Basia to the extent that she almost lost her way mid-song. Cunningly, the next song was on a baby uke, and she sang unamplified, so even the noisy ones responded and kept it down.

It did seem that the strongest songs were from the first album, but Pilgriming Vine and Snakes and Ladders manage to be both immediate and long lasting, so if she can match them in the future then she will really be proving herself. I'm not sure if Heart Of My Own, just released, could be said to improve on Oh My Darling, but let's live with it for a while before making judgements.

Basia made a few comments about which of her instruments were approved of by customs, but I think she may have been confusing them with raw meat or some other restricted item - I am not aware of stringed instruments which contravene travel regulations, however this is probably just another gap in my knowledge.

Basia Bulat-The Shore

Owen Pallett, Nico Muhly & Sam Amidon, Lightspeed Champion

Union Chapel
25 January 2010

I was hoping to start this with a comment along the lines of "Better the Dev you know", but instead will mention the FUCKING SHAMBLES that occurred simply trying to get into the venue. Very badly handled indeed, confusion reigned and I spent time in four queues rather than the more traditional one. I didn't hear many people express themselves contentedly around that time; safe to say that someone made a bad call*.

Dev Hynes played an odd opening set (although perhaps normal from his point of view, to be fair), starting and finishing with Elvis covers, during which he spent too much time singing in a higher register than he seemed comfortable with. All the more strange as when he did sing in his more natural range, towards baritone territory, his voice was great - smooth and rich. New songs from a forthcoming album featured, but I doubt I'll be rushing off to buy it. Solo and live may not be the best way to feel the magic, perhaps, especially as he didn't seem sure how best to approach a couple of the tunes.

Nico Muhly and Sam Amidon, joined by Beth Orton for a couple of songs, also with Owen Pallett for one of these, were a much more adventurous offering. With stuttering rhythms and improvised transitions between Muhly's piano and Amidon's acoustic guitar or violin when alternating the lead, they were playing with the sounds they could make, and some really beautiful moments were found. A very happy pairing, taken to an interesting, but simpler, place when they were joined by their high-profile pals, but most arresting just as a duo.

Owen Pallett - no longer known as Final Fantasy - was initially not exactly smooth with his trademark looping, slightly missing the effortless, floating quality of his new material ("not prog-rock, not a concept - an album!") but found his stride soon enough. Although there was the occasional miscue, he delivered a deftly sumptuous set, in sometime tandem with drumming/whistling/guitar playing buddy Thomas Gill who added, as one might expect, thumps, toots and twangs. Despite the high points there is some danger of his falling into Andrew Bird territory, where fine musicianship is not in question, but things do get just a little samey. Not one for every day of the week, but a pleasure now and again.

* Understatement replaces vile abuse

Photo by Anika

Memory Tapes, Fitness Club Fiasco

The Luminaire
20 January 2010

FCF didn't offer much beyond a perky stage presence. Weak singing, predictable drum patterns, and no tunes to speak of does not a happy 80's revival make, no matter how witty your singer. Synth-pop is vogueish, but it makes no sense to embed a new project so firmly in such an ill-favoured retrospective style. Their last song was good enough to merit applause, but the rest....

Memory Tapes were much more the thing, with a winning set of danceable tunes that - praise be - didn't need to be compared to some other act or era to attempt to find justification. Finances, or concise planning, meant that the bassline, keyboards, choir and extra percussion were delivered by laptop, an increasingly common practice, even if not exactly what a live show should ideally consist of, with just drums and guitar/vocals the only live elements. All very well put together, and smoothly delivered on the night, although the guitar was sometimes lost in the mix.

It is rather a shame when so much is pre-recorded, as it means we all know there is no scope for the music to flex and respond to the live setting. However this is early in MT's career, so plenty of room for building the live experience. No help needed with the music itself though, which is nicely under control.

Gil Scott-Heron: Me and The Devil

Here, fallen from the sky, is something from Gil Scott-Heron, apparently his first single in more than a decade. The video is in two parts, with the first section sung over Massive Attack-style beats, while zombie kids roam and skate in a Walter Hill stylee. So far so emptily portentous.... and then, magnificently, from 3.30 in, Gil revisits The Vulture, a track he sang, in a voice carrying just a shade of Lou Rawls, on 1970's Small Talk at 125th and Lenox,  but here his sonorous tones incant in spoken form those same lyrics, with all the depth and profundity absent from the first part of the video.

Quite a return to form.

Four Tet: There Is Love In You (stream)

There Is Love In You by Four Tet

What a public spirited thing to do, Mr Tet; in advance of next week's album release here is a full stream.

Turn it up and bliss out.

Champion Lyricists: Owen Pallett

Due to recent events I have decided to send my interpretation and analysis glands away for a full re-bore and service. Please be aware that until this work is completed there will be an even greater than usual absence of worthwhile opinion at this location.

So, ignoring any semblance of considered appraisal, here is a for-once timely post, as Owen Pallett's new album Heartland is on sale from Monday, and he is playing at the Union Chapel on the 25th, although I gather that is now on the point of selling out.

Anyway, regarding the Good Bit Of Lyrics - which is why we are here, after all - Pitchfork, in their review, highlight "the night is split by the whistle of my amber whip" from Lewis Takes Action. Nice enough, but the phrase that caught my ear was:

"a concatenation of locusts
and the farmers are losing their focus"

from Oh Heartland, Up Yours!

It just sounds good. I like it. Much better than Pitchfork's, you will agree I am sure. Although let's not get into debating how locusts might concatenate - it is probably Imagery, or some other writer's trick.

For the moment the album is streaming here (not any more).

Simon Goss

Simon at a Wah Wah 45's night at Cargo

1965 - 2010

Esben and the Witch, Grasscut

Madame Jojo's
4 January 2010

The most interesting thing about this show was the event itself, featuring an increasingly widely tipped band in one of the first potentially noteworthy gigs after the inevitable seasonal lull. Well attended by fashionable young things - some of whom were Quite Tall - and most of whom seemed quite interested in the music, including, possibly, a Geldof, but clearly I need to pay more attention to Heat magazine, as even after several minutes occasional squinting from arm's length I couldn't tell if the late-arriving but early-departing blonde person was Pixel (or Trixel).

The main event, E&TW, didn't really seem to capture the sound of their EP 33, which I am quite enjoying, and which is available for free download here. Rachel's lead vocal was rather forward in the live mix, which didn't do it any favours, as there did seem to be certain issues with her, um, pitch control; overall it seemed a bit too much, on the night, for the trio to capture the textures of the recordings, and it all felt a bit ponderous.Where Siouxsie, Liz Fraser and even Florence would be better reference points for swooping vocal goth-y drama, instead I was mentally making comparisons to Sian Alice Group, who are a decent band but not exactly heading my itunes play count.

Support from Grasscut's cultured electro-pop (in a non La Roux sense) was promising, and would be improved greatly by adding a proper singer, but they are definitely one to investigate in more depth.

Words of the moment: cassette and list

First word: Cassette

Now really, what is all this about?

The gradual return of vinyl as medium of choice for some can be explained, if you move beyond the trend factor, by a difference in sound quality, which, whilst overall somewhat anachronistic considering our miniaturised ultra-portable ipod-toting contemporary living habits, is an argument that holds water.

However in recent months there have been a number of bands releasing cassette tapes, ranging from scenester wannabees right through to fairly established Brooklyn indie royalty. I wonder where the impetus came from? Maybe the junk shops were selling cheap tape decks and someone thought 'Oooh!'. And then so did someone else....

Cassettes appealed, once, on two levels: firstly, they were the most mobile source of self-determined music in the days when all the kit we now take for granted did not yet exist, and secondly you could buy blanks and record (and edit) onto them.

They served a purpose but I am surely not the only one who remembers when hissy, temperamental and physically vulnerable cassettes were the only option; I doubt anyone who recalls using them would be looking to do so again.

Young people - STOP IT.

Other word: List

Everyone - STOP IT.