Chimpomatic

Spider-Man 3

(dir. Sam Raimi)

in which spidey channels his inner goth, goes a bit emo, battles sandman, venom and the green goblin and the film turns into chicago for a while before sinking into another dreary big battle.

where the first spider-man did an ok job of showing how a nerd like peter parker would learn to love his powers, this one sinks under the 2 villains/girlfriend angst/oh the trouble w being a freelance photographer formula that the second established. lots more cgi fights filled w maximum confusion and zero sense of peril - like all the new gen star wars battles, you just can't work out what's going on/where they are/what way up anyone is etc half the time.

it's also part of the annoying recent trend for making loooooong films where not much happens - and what does, is full of holes. they put on a parade for spidey to give him the keys to the city - but how have they got in touch with him? there's no spidey phone or spidey signal! they clearly aren't just hoping he'll swing by because they've worked out a coordinated little routine for him - but when was that supposed to have been organised?

then there's some daft bit where harry "son of green goblin" osborn gets mj to dump PP so he can get him where it hurts (ooh, in his sensitive heart) - but you've got no idea why she's going along w it - is he threatening her? is she into gg instead? it's all just left hanging, like they didn't have time to explain it - except, they do - they've got 156 min!!!

thomas "sideways" haydn church is sandman, another loser crim who's got the misfortune of stumbling across a random weird science experiment in the middle of some marshes somewhere and inadvertently gaining some powers. but we don't even get to find out who these scientists are or what they think they're doing. it's just, er, yeah, he's got blasted with some stuff, and, er, now he's sandman.

on the plus side, sam raimi main man bruce "evil dead" campbell's cameo is pretty funny, and the bits with daily bugle boss J Jonah Jameson all work. the bit where peter goes all emo side by brushing his hair to the side in the style of my chemical romance is fairly amusing too.

#Film
#chimp71

19th Apr 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Fucking Champs

VI

Drag City

Believe it or not, there are downsides to being a Chimpomatic reviewer. The parties, premieres and indecent proposals all pale into significance when deadline day looms and the Alpha Males at Chimp HQ start bearing teeth. To stay in favour, it is necessary to listen to albums at inappropriate times and locations. For example; The Fucking Champs. As you may have guessed, they don’t do subtle. They don’t do singers either.  I guess they believe that singers are for pussies and most definitely not for Fucking Champs.  Besides, who needs words when you have a couple of Jock electric guitars beating the shit out of all-comers like a Double Dragon Tag-team (ably assisted by their sidekick Powerdrummerdude).

Yes, there is a time and a place for the Champs and it’s not on a crowded commuter train at 8.30 in the morning (professional courtesy prevents me from playing anything under maximum volume) or at 11.30am whilst trying to see off a particular enthusiastic hangover. No. The Fucking Champs are most definitely a band for the night before - this is music for movie double acts: Bill and Ted. Wayne and Garth. For all the dudes that like to R.O.F’ing.K!

I feel bad about rating this; like the old codger telling those darned kids to turn the party down AGAIN. But those leading chimps are showing signs of chest-beating with all these recent stars flying round and it is pretty one-dimensional (unless you count the Brian May-esque guitar duet of Abide with Me as another dimension) with its (party) Time and (ice cold and refreshing) Place.

But hey. Ratings are probably for pussies too. The Fucking Champs are here to take over the world, so you might as well shotgun a brewski and join ‘em.

#Music
#chimpovich

8th Apr 2007 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Dinosaur Jr.

Beyond

Pias

Listening to Beyond, the first album featuring the original 3 members of Dinosaur Jr (J. Mascis, Lou Barlow and Murph) since 1988’s Bug (and a subsequent falling out), I was going to write at length about an old interview with Mascis on Snub TV - but, sure enough, YouTube and Wikipedia fill in the back story there. What struck me was the stark contrast between Mascis the interviewee and Mascis the musician. As he himself points out “There’s nothing going on anywhere really, so you might as well sit where you are.” I can’t imagine the Mascis School of Motivation is over subscribed, but put a guitar in the man’s hands and he’s off and running, screaming fury and love, all articulated over the space of 6 strings and a fretboard. 

This is what we want from Dinosaur Jr. Mascis’ shy, laid-back but sweet vocals, hiding behind some simply stunning electric guitar work. Extended solos and walls of effects might be the stuff of Spinal Tap gimmicks and indeed Barlow himself had a couple of digs at Mascis when first starting up ‘rival’ band Sebadoh (“Pedal hopping like a Dinosaur” he sings on Gimmie Indie Rock), but such is Mascis’ mastery that the guitar is the integral part, the character and essence of each song. Now, with Murph back behind the drums and Barlow, surely one of the hardest Bassists around (in playing, if not fighting terms), reconciled and ready to rock, the rhythm section is there to add the muscle behind Mascis’ wanderings and meanderings - you want a power trio? Here you are.

After almost 20 years apart it is in-keeping with the Mascis’ persona that the first song is called Almost Ready and yep, we’re straight into a blistering solo and ‘immediate classic’ territory.  Almost Ready kicks down the door of Indie Rock 2007 and politely screams ‘What the fuck’s up with this party?’ Less of an edge, but no slacking in quality for the poppier Crumble.  Then early favourite Pick Me Up - 6 and a half minutes and what a journey.  The opening riff could be lifted from a scene in an 80s movie, where the baddie is finally getting the upper hand, all adrenaline and activity, working through a chorus that sees Mascis singing - dueting with his guitar before concluding with a 3 minute guitar solo (that’s three minutes). Awesome.  Play it alongside No More Shoes by Stephen Malkmus to get an idea what these two heroes are all about. 

After all that hi-octane, it’s time to bring things down a bit, with Lou taking over vocal duties on Back to Your Heart.  I’m on record as a huge fan of Sebadoh and a large part of that is down to Barlow’s song writing - so when he’s backed by the power of Dinosaur Jr. it’s a no-lose situation.  This Is All I Came To Do lifts the mood again and whilst the title may or may not refer to guitar solo-work, the song contains a couple of beauties.  Drummer Murph gets to flex on Been There All the Time, laying down some powerful rolls as the band rock out. Hard. Mixing things up, they follow the harder, darker, metal-er(?) It’s Me with the light and airy We’re Not Alone and I Got Lost, which has Mascis’ falsetto voice, sitting atop acoustic guitar, tom rolls and a cello. Lou and his bass take centre-stage for Lighning Bulb before What if I Knew bids us fairwell in the way Mascis knows best…that’s right, a blistering solo.

It’s good to have them back. Since re-forming in 2005, they are amongst a very select group of bands I HAVE to see if they tour near me - and I look forward to seeing them punishing the Marshall Stacks with Beyond.

#Music
#chimpovich

30th Mar 2007 - 5 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Victor Bermon

Arriving At Night

Hefty

After a full on evening of five-a-side football on a ruddy cold March night, this album managed to find itself warming my cockles, and more to the point relaxing me enough to wind down within about four tracks. It opens with the pleasant Farewell Lunch For Laura which has a slightly smoky jazz orientation with minute snippets of a soft Coltrane sounding sax sample. Victor Bermon's Arriving At Night is aptly titled, as it's one of those ambient albums that many folk will encounter for the first time after a slammin' night, having gone back to someone's house in order to relax some. It's essentially a collection of bright melodic soundscapes incorporating some loosely plucky acoustic guitar and other string instruments, dreamy Rhodesy type Vibraphone sounds and drifting jazzy rhythms. There's actually something a bit TV or film soundtrack sounding about this whole album, and in fact the track Famous Discussion kind of reminded me slightly of the delightful theme music to BBC2's Arena programme.

Photographs Are Not Memories is about as rocking as it gets which is track 3, having thought it was track 2 until I double checked so that may give you the idea of how this album blends together somewhat. In fact if anything it does tend to sound a tad samey but then personally I find most albums in this ambient vein tend to.

This is Victor Bermon's debut album for Hefty Records. Don't rely on it to get you up and out of bed in the morning but it's warm and optimistic. You could certainly do worse than finding this as the soundtrack to your nocturnal arrival at a foreign destination

#Music
#UncleG

25th Mar 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

Pole

Steingarten

Scape

Before I got a girlfriend who can't go to sleep until she's read Grazia cover to cover I would like nothing more than to retire to my place of rest with some good head phones. Certain albums come alive when they surround you, when all your other senses are silenced. So with the lights out and the headphones blocking out all sound an album like Mileece's Formations or Murcof's Martes would take on an incredibly powerful form. Every change in the subtle arrangement would be breathtaking when it had your full concentration. We will often take time out to read a book or watch a film but rarely show music the same respect, it's what we have on while doing something else. But some works don't play well with the others.

Though not quite as breathtaking as the previously mentioned works Pole's latest offering Steingarten may well be one of those albums. When played in the background it appears thin and repetitive, but when given the solitary treatment it is a different story. The last I heard of the Berlin based producer Stefan Betke was in 2003 - with the release of his self titled, fourth full length. This had a change up to the normal form as he enlisted the help of Fat Jon on some of the tracks. The result was adventurous yet not entirely successful. Poles music was much more stripped down maybe to accommodate the vocals but the subtle textures in his compositions were lost.

With Steingarten we still get the same reduced techno, but the compositions have a strange warmth about them. Using sampled analogue fuzz and a myriad of bleeps and clicks the attention to detail is impeccable. It's this that makes this record so special. It directs your attention to the minutia of life. If you've ever had a leaky roof you'll recognise Sylvenstein, where a delicate beat is so finely constructed out of familiar sampled sounds that it sounds like water dripping into various metal pans of varying degrees of fullness. With Schoner Land you start to notice the soft soothing repetition of the end of a record as it skips over and over. This is music that has been so meticulously constructed to appear minimal. Intricate layers of indecipherable sound are beautifully punctured by crystal clear drops of  noise. The beats are inviting in their gentleness and the melodies are used as harmonic dashes of colour but are always kept fragmentary.

The whole album ends with the stand out piece Pferd. It features the only recognisable melody on the record and loops what sounds like flute and harmonica over the same delicate tapestry of beats. It's fragility finishes the album off perfectly and you hardly dare to breath once the silence sets in. This is Poles best work to date and should be appreciated in the right context. If you give it your time it will reward you no end.

#Music
#BC

19th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

Ghost

In Stormy Nights

Ghost first came to my attention as the backing band for ex-Galaxie 500 maestros Damon & Naomi, on their timeless album "With Ghost". To this day it's an a permanent favourite, with the soft folk sounds creating a gentle, complex base for the soaring, beautiful vocals.

In Stormy Nights sees the band release their ninth album through Drag City, and Masaki Batoh leads his rotating band of followers though a varied, eclectic range of songs and styles, drawing from a diverse range of musical styles.

The opening sounds of Motherly Bluster were exactly what I was expecting, with Batoh's thick Japanese accent presiding over a textured layer of sounds and acoustic guitar. However, second track Hemicyclic Anthelion is a 28 minute marathon of experimentation that unfortunately drifts along without much focus or direction. Akin to hanging around in a late night Tokyo tube station, I rarely find myself in a situation or mood to listen to it. As a result it disrupts the flow of the album, which without it only clocks in at 5 songs / 30 minutes.

Things bang back into action with the military stomp of Water Door Yellow Gate, sounding like a Japanese Nick Cave poisoned poem. Gareki No Toshi segues on from this, with distorted shouts and sound effects sounding like a Fugazi rehearsal session (the opening of Birthday Pony is actually the track I'm thinking of - for you Fugazi heads).

Most comparable to This Mortal Coil, Ghost has much of the same eclectic feel, with strange successes (such as the rambling bagpipes on Caledonia) and unfortunate failings. Moody soundscapes and soundtracks are often misplaced, and seem at odds with each other - rather than sounding like a cohesive body of work by one artist. While the final track Grisaille brings hints of the captivating acid-folk charm that I heard on Damon & Naomi with Ghost, for the most part those moments are unfortunately often drowned out.

#Music
#CSF

10th Feb 2007 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Arcade Fire

Neon Bible

Rough Trade

In 2005 the Arcade Fire gave us Funeral - and with it music was exciting again. No sooner had the music industry heard all 10 songs that it set about desperately trying to find the next source of this feeling. The well timed release of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah saw that band ride this wave with another stunningly exciting debut. So it's 2 years on and Clap Your Hands got in there first with their reply, so what of Neon Bible? Is this a one trick pony? Well, what do you do after such a powerful debut? As we are seeing with Some Loud Thunder, the answer is to play it cool and take it all down a notch. No such idea ever crossed the mind of Win Butler and co. when making Neon Bible. The agenda is clear here, take everything great about Funeral and times it by ten - reveal the iceberg. It's the sound of a band who know full well that they make big music. The best word to describe Neon Bible is massive. If you intend to listen to this album you will need to brush up on 'The Platoon Position', as mid way through the opening track Black Mirror you'll find yourself in need of a suitable body position to justify such grandiosity. It's triumphant music which is surprising considering all the previous themes of death, resentment and wasted life are at its heart and the inclusion of war and the demise of America it's thematically pretty bleak. Musically and stylistically it hasn't changed much from Funeral although it seems quite obvious that someone's been listening to Bruce Springsteen. So with the immortal words of The Boss "Just wrap your legs round these velvet ribs and strap your hands across my engines,"  I will begin with what will undoubtedly become a tired and over-used driving/cars metaphor to describe this album.

If the opening track with its rumble of thunder and deep, pounding drums is akin to the feeling of getting behind the wheel of a high performance vehicle then Keep The Car Running is the point where you come over the brow of a hill and see the open road ahead. The delicate guitar strum at the start hints at the pace ahead and makes your heart flutter with impending excitement.

Title track Neon Bible is the early stop at the service station to refuel when all women and children hear the words they dread. "Get what you need cos we're not stopping again." And with Intervention we are most certainly back at full speed. It's the grandest song on the album, shit it's the fucking grandest song this side of God Save The Queen (National Anthem not Sex Pistols.) Anyone frowning at my use of cuss words will see that they certainly are justified. Starting with a chapel organ the size of St Pauls Cathedral if every hair on your body doesn't stand on end consider yourself paralyzed. I don't know how this song will be played live as no building with a roof could possibly contain it.

Black Wave is pure Blondie with it's sublime melodies courtesy of Regine Chassagne, who until now has been the power house behind the backing vocals. Ocean Of Noise brings things down a notch with it's washes of strings and soft vocals but the driver of this car wasn't joking when he said we wouldn't be stopping again. This was merely a momentary drop in intensity before the full mariachi band bring this song to a glorious close.

The Well And The Lighthouse comes in with rapid pounding drums and Butler's frenzied vocals forever building and with Antichrist Television Blues The Boss really comes to the forefront. With it's strumming acoustic structure, passion fueled tales of working for the minimum wage and unstoppable tempo this would make Bruce wish he'd written it. As do many of these songs this one builds and builds to such tremendous heights then suddenly stops and makes you think that had it not stopped so suddenly you could very easily have shit yourself with joy. Windowsill is more of a slow builder but guess what, it lifts you up on yet another earth shattering wave of sound and rings you out at the end.

The inclusion of No Cars Go is the only questionable element to this album. Having heard its original form on the early EP this feels like all too familiar territory and even though it's been working out since its first appearance its inclusion here still feels a bit unnecessary.

Things are brought to an exhaustive close with My Body Is A Cage and please welcome back on to the stage, the huge fucking chapel organ. "My body is a cage that keeps me from dancing with the one I love, but my mind holds the key," sings Butler "Set my body free." This song is the end of a movie, it's the unfeasible tracking-crane-shot that lifts from close proximity and keeps on lifting, encompassing everything, showing us the whole picture. And with it's climax your body drops from the Platoon Position and though all your senses try to stop you, you press play again.

So to put this tired metaphor to rest, this is an awesome journey that covers a lot of ground. It never hits traffic, it sometimes slows down for safety reasons while passing through small villages but never opts for monotonous motorway driving and always takes the scenic route.

#Music
#BC

7th Feb 2007 - 6 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Pop Levi

The Return To Form Black Magick Party

Counter

Ninja Tune have always been a label full of surprises. It has stretched and flexed to accomodate the ever increasing and varied tastes of its creators, but with Pop Levi they seem to have met their match. So they created a spin-off label just for him and give us the debut offering The Return To Form Black Magick Party. Only an artist of shameless arrogance could describe their debut as a return to form - and that's exactly what we have here. Born in London, Pop laid his early musical roots in Liverpool then moved to LA in pursuit of the 'magick' that he sees at the very heart of great music. Making up one third of free-thinking, post rock trio and fellow Ninja's Super Numeri, then playing bass for Ladytron Pop decided to go it alone and released his first EP "Blue Honey" on Counter Records in September last year. Then hot on its heals he gives us this. Mark Bolan is an instant point of recognition in Pop's sound but throughout this album we see glimpses of Prince, Dylan, Hendrix and even Jack White. But as with all quality music these influences, don't in any way confuse the sound that Pop has crafted for himself. That sound isn't easily explained as it keeps on changing. There's a very hand crafted feel to it with layers of acoustic and electric guitars punctuating washes of percussion, but this all often fed through some sort of machine and the Pop Levi sound is churned out the other side.

From the opening single, 'Sugar Assault Me Now,' it's quite clear that this is the doorway to a world far removed from our own. A world of astral energy where reality and disbelief are suspended and anything is possible. The first two tracks get things started at break-neck speed with a cacophony of stabbing guitars, fuzzy bass and more than enough hand claps. Things are taken down a notch with '(A Style Called) Cryin' Chic' with its folk blues meanderings over textured percussion. 'Skip Ghetto' shows Pop's sensitive side with a beautiful dreamy, acoustic little number only to be bitch slapped once again by the most Bolan of songs 'Dollar Bill Rock'.

The whole album follows this up and down formation, painting a very rich picture of this mans talents. It's contemplative and at the same time immensely uplifting. It's relaxing and floaty then foot tappingly addictive. It can appear to be conforming to every current fashion then rejecting it all in an instant. 'The Return To Form's' listening experience is just as up and down. On the first few plays it is thrilling and refreshing but I have to admit that the constant use of repetition in the lyrics does give it an air of emptiness. But hey it's pop music and not every moment has to move you to tears. There are plenty of moving moments here but most of them are on a level totally their own. The album makes you move and it makes you want to tell people about it. It oozes so much arrogance and confidence that it can only have been conceived by an artist with a very unique outlook on making music. It was a wise move for Ninja Tune to create an environment for this man to shine - as he has a lot to say and if this debut is anything to go by he has a myriad of ways to say it.

#Music
#BC

29th Jan 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

The King Khan & BBQ Show

What's for Dinner?

In The Red Records

Imagine if you will that it's Saturday night back in good old 1955 and you're on your way to the Enchantment Under The Sea Dance at your local high school. You've heard rumours of a scuffle going down tonight and lo and behold in the car park, amid a crowd of onlookers, lies the badly beaten body of the school geek George McFly. You walk on without pausing - because lets face it, he had it coming. Further on, you come across evidence of another more curious showdown. 5 well dressed guys lie sprawled out on the road and judging by their attire you realise that some heavy shit has just gone down. This is the remains of Marvin Berry and his Starlighters who were due to play at this dance. You ignore the frantic banging coming from the trunk of their low-rider as you race into the hall to find out who will be playing in their place. The first thing you notice is the stunned look on everyones faces as you enter the nautically decorated gymnasium - and as your eyes follow theirs to the source of this horror you know your night is over. The earlier trail of destruction could only have led to this. The stage had been overrun by Biff and his boys - the school bullies - and the sound they are making is indescribable. Popular songs from the hit parade being raped and pillaged in front of your eyes - and at top volume. Someone kicks a speaker over and a panic ensues. In the pandaemonium something hits you hard on the head and everything fades away as you fall to the ground unconscious.

The next thing you know you're in your bed at home and it's the present day. Sitting up in bed you realise that it was all a very bad dream and one you have no wish to repeat. The radio alarm clock clicks on and the sound hits you like a bolt of lightning. The music playing is loud, obnoxious, intrusive and fills your heart with dread. As the DJ announces the band as The King Kahn & BBQ Show you know that the ordeal you have just been through was no dream. That terrible night really happened, but the most terrifying thing of all was that it was still going on and this King Khan is the result of it. They had kept their sound of that night - 50's inspired pop butchery - but it had clearly gathered the grime of the last 50 years and now presented itself as a twisted mutation of Marvin Berry, the punk movement and the unquenchable hostility of those who crashed the Prom. As if that's not bad enough you find yourself quite liking it, it's catchy and as you lean over to turn it up you see that its 8.25 am. Damn! You're late for school!

#Music
#BC

27th Jan 2007 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

L. Pierre

Dip

In 2002 Arab Strap's Aidan Moffat made one of the most beautiful electronica albums I have ever had the joy of hearing. Hypnogogia laid down thick, all consuming washes of sublime classical samples while slowly fading in the most delicate of beats. The contrast of the warm, earthy strings and these cold, electronic constructions was just perfect and gave the listener exactly what his ear and heart wanted to hear. 2004's follow up Touchpool employed similar tactics, the strings became more earthy and the beats moved more towards the foreground. The beauty was still there but somehow failed to seduce the same way it's predecessor did. It was almost as if the perfection of Hypnogogia didn't need to be improved or even followed. I wanted it to exist alone and this follow up, great as it was, was treading on hallowed ground.

So next year we are to be treated to the next installment. L. Pierre is not so much of a side project now - following the surprise split of Arab Strap - and "Dip" sees Moffat move his sound into new territory. "My favorite L. Pierre tracks have always been the quiet ones so I wanted to pursue that mood and record something gentle and lovely," he says. "I also took a shine to field recording and bought myself a little Minidisc recorder, which I took on holiday to record some natural ambience." "Dip" is a stripped down revision of the previous sound. It's as if Moffat has looked long and hard at his work and meticulously identified which elements are working and which to discard. The looped, sampled percussion has all but disappeared and the musical orchestrations that remain have a more organic, live sound. Nature plays a big part in this album. The sound of crashing waves introduces and concludes the record suggesting the infinite cycle of life and greatly contrasting the clinical electronica that went before.

If Touchpool gave us too much of what we want, Dip does the opposite. The epic second track Weir's Way spends the first eight minutes on the most sublime orchestral wave then just as you think it's all coming to a close he hits us with the kind soft, synth beat that dazzled us before. The result is huge. He withholds this from us for so long that when he finally decides we are ready for it it's power is awesome. Except for the erratic drum beats of Hike this is all we get. The rest is majestic yet humble arrangements of cello, trumpets and keyboards and not a beat in sight.

Dip is the sound of Man becoming Nature, city becoming country, land becoming ocean. It is the unequivocal sound of an artist stripping away the real from the unreal, the true from the fake, and though I am left in a frustrating state of dissatisfaction something in me understands why this was necessary.

#Music
#BC

15th Dec 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Flaming Lips

Hammersmith Apollo, London

Having seen Midlake a week earlier at the ULU and found them disappointing, simply because the sound quality was very poor, I luckily decided to get to this gig at the Hammersmith Apollo early - and it turned out that Midlake would also be supporting the Flaming Lips. Seeing them again at the Apollo was so encouraging - you could really appreciate Tim Smith's voice and their nostalgic sound, which really resonated across the room. Sadly, no one had a clue who they were. Van Occupanther's fantastic songs like Roscoe, and Head Home came and went without any fuss, unlike at ULU - where the crowd clearly adored them, singing along to every word. It was sad; a great band like Midlake can really appeal to a wider audience, and even though the sound quality was better at the Apollo, the uninformed crowd wasn't quiet sure how to receive them. They had driven all the way from Paris especially for the show, and afterwards had to drive back to Lille to perform another gig the next day. Let's hope they had more success across the channel.

I had heard the Flaming Lips really put on a show - a friend once saw them live where they gave out mini radios for everyone. A local radio station would be broadcasting a song live, and when that song was performed everyone had to switch on their radio so they could hear it in stereo. Back at the Apollo, balloons were hovering above our heads as the crowd diligently played 'keepy upy' with them. The band came on stage accompanied by mass eruptions of cheering, shouting, confetti, more giant green balloons, and mirror balls - 3 mirror balls.

Opening the set with The Soft Bulletin's hit single Race For The Prize, Wayne Coyne got into his translucent giant balloon and walked across the crowd. My god, it was friggin amazing. As the show moved on the balloons really began to irritate, and you soon noticed popping sounds, as they were very quickly eliminated. More confetti was fired into the crowd, with the never-ending audience sing-a-long lasting from start finish - ending with Bohemian Rhapsody - Flaming Lips style.

Ever-articulate circus leader Wayne Coyne marshalled proceedings, first encouraging everyone to celebrate the recent mid-term defeat of George Bush's Republican Party, then apologising and praising how wonderful a crowd we were - how he has subjected us to all this confetti and balloons, and singing along to surreal lyrics - yet we didn't boo him once. He went down on his knees and thanked us all, watched on by a crowd of Santas on the right and green aliens on the left, holding touch lights. The rest of the band was dressed in super hero outfits. I can't think of another band that has put so much effort into making sure they entertained us.

#Music
#Gig
#HK

6th Dec 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Dosh

The Lost Take

The road that Dosh has chosen or is destined to travel is well trodden and as a result can often be perilous. Instrumental hip hop sounds like a good idea but can often fall into the chill out trap and forever condemned to an eternity of middle class diner parties. Fortunately Martin Dosh skillfully avoids these pitfalls and his third full length for Anticon "The Lost Take" is easily his best yet - and actually has no right to be classed as hip hop.

Having started off playing drums in the avant-guard DIY outfit Fog, Dosh released his debut self titled album in 2003 followed by 2004's Pure Trash which featured assistance from Anticon heavy weights Doseone, Jel and Odd Nosdam. With The Lost Take the collaborations are just as frequent but of a different sort. Dosh has cleverly enlisted the help of a plethora of musicians from Fog's Jeremy Ylvisaker, Erik Appelwick from Tapes 'n Tapes and the wonderful violin of Andrew Bird. This is the key to the success of this record. Proficient on most instruments himself, Dosh has created a record that though predominantly drum based is a homage to the art of live orchestration. "Um, Circles And Squares" is the first instance of this dazzling love for music. Here, Bird's strings form a beautiful cushion for Dosh's rolling Rhodes sequences and drum beats. This prepares us for the album highlight of "A Ghosts Business". This could be a scene from a Disney cartoon about the nighttime goings on in a music shop. After the owner leaves the store, the instruments come alive and jam erratically to their hearts content expressing the unbridled freedom that an instrument would if it was locked up in a shop all it's life. As conductor, Dosh makes us think he's lost control of his orchestra - but expertly brings them into line with Prefuse 73 style cutting and pasting.

This track is very important to the album as a whole. Not only does it let us know what this man is capable of, but gives us a valuable insight into the intentions of The Lost Take. Every song after it seems to work better with this knowledge. By enlisting the help of such talents, Dosh creates a rich pallet from which to work his magic. Appelwick's crunching guitar chords give strength to the piano and drums of "MPLS Rock And Roll", making it a triumphant anthem - while his subtle finger picking weaves softly amongst the textural percussion contributing to the delicate warmth of "O Mexico".

I imagine each of the twelve tracks on The Lost Take as an intrepid group of explorers in the old Tarzan movies bravely making their way through the jungle. Comprised predominantly of toffee-nosed British aristocrats and their native bag carriers, they negotiate the perilous mountain path known as "Chill-Out Pass". To lose your footing here would mean plummeting into the raging crocodile infested waters of Hoxton-quiff-sporting-Foxton's employees, hungry to get their soft hands on the next soundtrack to their upcoming Thai fusion themed dinner party. Sadly, not everyone here makes it to safety. "Everybody Cheer Up Song" and the closing sax horror of "The Lost Take" only lose their footing for a second, but that's all it takes on this journey to fall to the depths of mediocrity. But everyone else bravely push on to the other side. Once there, they find the going slightly easier, as a path of sorts has already been forged by people like Four Tet and Prefuse 73, but armed with the brave pioneering Anticon spirit the remaining members of The Lost Take form their own roads through this wilderness to discover new and rich pastures. One would hope that after showing such courage Dosh won't rest on these green and plentiful lands but will strive on to higher ground.

#Music
#HHG

3rd Nov 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Brakes

The Beatific Visions

After 2004's Give Blood, Brighton's Brakes are back with their second album The Beatific Visions - and the bets are on. Where Give Blood was an eclectic and electrifying collection of tracks, it certainly wasn't without it's problems. It showed great promise however and the threat of a more permenent band (The Electric Soft Parade is another band featuring two of the Brakes) spending more time focusing on a new Brakes album was a tasty prospect.

Opening track Hold Me In The River fulfills the early promise right fom the start. The playing is sharp and focused, with the song quickly shifting up through the gears. The guitars are high on the priority list, with a sliding screech like a muscle car burning rubber. Although the song is more focused tha some of the more comedy elements of Give Blood, there's still plenty of room for wit - with Scarlett Johansson being amongst this song's topic of fun.

There's no drop as we move on with Margarita and the album's already sounding like an old favourite. The country-punk element of their sound is one of the band's strong points - making for taught and engaging songs without the constraints of sounding like everyone else at the moment. This aspect to the Brakes sound has evolved and matured with this album - no doubt helped by the fact that the album was recorded in Nashville with a who's who from all over the record industry. Recorded by Stuart Sikes (Cat Power, White Stripes) at The House of David studio (as used by Elvis amongst others) and featuring David Briggs (of Muscle Shoals, and Elvis' 70's band). If I Should Die Tonight showcases all of these elements to full effect, creating a superb modern country sound layered with guitars and piano under a simple but engaging lyric.

My main gripe with Give Blood was always the under-developed feeling of some of the songs, which seemed to end just as they got started. That has been addressed on several songs here, but unfortunately Mobile Communication, No Return and title track Beatific Visions are the least successful songs this time round. The songs seem to flatten out into a far more conventional sound and structure, robbing the band of much of their originality. It's a small niggle however, and things pick up again with Cease and Desist and the excellent Porcupine Or Pineapple? - distilling recent wars to a few simple words. Spikey, spikey, spikey. At 1.04 it's the shortest track on the album, which still only clocks in at 28 minutes for 11 songs.

The balance seems a bit lost on the album, which could possibly be rectified different sequencing... although I think from now on I'm just going to shut up and keep my opinions to myself, as if this is any evidence to go by Brakes can do a good job of moving things on by themselves. There are some fantastic songs on this record and it just adds further evidence that the band are heading in the right direction, making great music along the way.

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24th Oct 2006 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Jason Molina

Let Me Go, Let Me Go, Let Me Go

Secretly Canadian

Since 1996 Jason Molina has been delivering his sparse tales of woe in various forms from Songs: Ohia to Magnolia Electric Co. he has done collaboration albums with artists such as Alistair Roberts and My Morning Jacket and more recently has begun trading under his own name. Let Me Go, Let Me Go, Let Me Go is his second full length and his best yet.

Molina opens his album with a song entitled It's Easier Now. This sends a shudder down my spine at the thought of what it was like, as Let Me Go is as bleak as it gets. But if anyone can do bleak it's Molina. The whole album sounds like a last gasp cry for release as expressed in the title through to the final note of this trickling 34-minute slope into blackness. We get bombarded with albums with the same agenda as this all the time, but most of them are a struggle to get through and the only thing that moves quickly is your emotional shift from interest to boredom. This is far from the case here. Molina has an absolutely captivating voice and coupled with the impeccable production his words chime with crystal clarity that keeps you listening and hanging on his every devastating word. Though he rarely rises above a whimper his voice has a dormant strength that threatens to roar.

All of this, and his ability to write lyrics that break your heart faster than a Live Aid appeal interlude, make this a powerfully empty experience. In Alone With The Owl, he asks "while I lived was I a stray black dog, while I lived was I anything at all?" then describes the stagnancy of his life as he "stood beside the ocean not a single wave." But it's on Get Out, Get Out that he really shows his poetic skill with the achingly sad line "I live low enough that the moon wouldn't waste its light on me, what's left in this life that would do the same for me?"

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7th Oct 2006 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

The Black Keys

Le Trabendo, Paris

October 5th 2006

In a postmodern world where everyone sounds like someone else, The Black Keys are pretty easy to pigeonhole. Sitting somewhere between The White Stripes and Wolfmother, they take heavy blues and run with it. And thats about it. "I woke up this morning" nah, nah, nah, "Tied up my shoes" nah, nah, nah. They don't have the inventiveness of The White Stripes to make only being a two piece their selling point, and they don't have the punishing power and speed change fun of Wolfmother - preferring the slower heavier, sound.

None the less, it was an entertaining show. Although there is little variation between their songs, and there was little stage chat or interruption, that one hour long smoky-blues-jam that they played was a good one. They obviously love what they are doing, and they do it well. There was power and passion and the venue was electric with the enthusiastic, well behaved, civilized Parisian crowd. Hats off to opening band and Black Mountain side project Blood Meridian too. They warmed things up nicely with their own band of bluesy rock ...and they spoke a bit of French.

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6th Oct 2006 - 4 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Tokyo Police Club

A Lesson In Crime EP

When The Strokes unleashed their debut album on the world they set in motion a style that sent ripples through the then stagnant pond of the indie/rock world ...and until their recent record it looked like they themselves couldn't keep up with the legacy they so forcefully laid down. Even though their sound borrowed much from tried and tested sources, The Strokes brought with them a new freshness and a raw and immediate might that has given birth to many a new band. This Toronto quartet, Tokyo Police Club, are one of those following in these footsteps and although this is very obvious from listening to their debut EP it still makes for an entertaining 16 minutes.

Despite opening the record with the words "Operator, get me the president of the world, this is an emergency," A Lesson In Crime is a fine introduction to this fledgling band of hopefuls. Cheer It On sets the pace early with its riff heavy structure. The best moments however come when the band momentarily steer away from Strokes territory as in La Ferrassie and Citizens Of Tomorrow where the guitars step back and give the less raspy side of lead singer Dave Monk's voice space to shine. Here we see a hidden sensitivity in this voice that brings to mind Grandaddy, enhanced by the swathes of soft synthesiser and frequent references to robots.

There is a certain naivety about Tokyo Police Club - both in their Strokes-ish sound and some of the lyrics but A Lesson In Crime has glimmers of real hope and offers more than enough clues that this is a band that, given the space of a full length album, could produce something great.

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27th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Wooden Wand And The Sky High Band

Second Attention

New York avant-gardist Jason Toth re-emerges after last years solo album and his many outings with The Vanishing Voice to bring us this quality psych-folk classic. Second Attention is packed full of religious references which are delivered with Toth's ironic, country drawl and the result is refreshingly hard to label. Compared to his earlier work Second Attention is a relatively straightforward, song-orientated affair that channels healthy doses of Dylan and the odd dab of Hendrix.

The fantastically gospel Portrait In The Clouds starts off as a sing along folk ditty about religious redemption repeating the chorus "God's Portrait in the clouds, I am bloodthirsty no more." Then along with the strumming acoustic guitar comes an almost question and answer formation between a gloriously bluesy electric guitar and organ. This is a pattern employed on the most interesting moments on this record. The more conventional folk numbers like Crucifixion Pt. II and Dead Sue are where the early Dylan comparisons appear, with their rambling, repetitive story telling formation but the best moments are found in songs like The Bleeder, Sweet Xiao Li and Mother Midnight where The Sky High Band really shine. On the whole the band takes a back seat allowing Toth's vocals to take centre stage but on the occasions when the grimy electric guitar creeps in the song is transported to new territories. This is what ultimately makes this record a success; it's ability to surprise you. Even though by his standards Toth has created a relatively conventional piece of work it is clear to see that Second Attention has been born out of a colourful history of music appreciation.

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21st Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Midlake

The Trials Of Van Occupanther

This is the second outing for the Texas based lo-fi quintet Midlake, and sees them exploring 70's influenced soft rock to beautiful effect. Perfect vocal harmonies, layered guitar, strings and organs all contribute to make this a corny and yet surprisingly appealing piece of work.

The album begins with its finest moment. Roscoe could be a lost Fleetwood Mac classic. The lyric "When I was a child I wondered what if my name had changed to something more productive like Roscoe, and born in 1891 waiting with my aunt Roselyn," sets the scene of this song and, in fact, the whole album. It has an 'other worldly' quality to it as if hailing from a time long ago. Bandits floats gracefully on the breeze while Head Home picks up its feet slightly and threatens to disappear off into a classic Neil Young guitar solo but sadly never does. In This Camp does a similar thing but ups the anti a bit more making these two songs some of the most interesting moments. They change pace nicely with confident guitar work blowing out the cobwebs.

This record is so effortless in terms of a listening experience that I am surprised it doesn't become too easy and therefore forgettable, especially as it sometimes treads dangerously close to Travis territory. It's akin to looking through an old family photo album, with its bleached out images of you and your brother in 70's clothing, squinting at the sun, but then you keep flicking and the photos get older and you see how your grandparents used to live. There are moments of melancholy but overall the feeling of nostalgia is a comforting one.

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7th Sep 2006 - 5 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Chad Vangaalen

Skelliconnection

After 2005's reissued Infiniheart Sub Pop put out the second full length from this Canadian folk/rock/synth/indie kid who also did all the album art work and - if you haven't guessed already, it's quite eclectic.

It's such a gift when you get to review a record that has obvious sources of influence, you just bang on about that and don't really have to form any of your own opinions. So when I first heard Slelliconnection I dreaded the review as I was probably going to have to do some thinking and I hate doing that. Sure it has some comparisons but none of them are obvious enough to base a review on. So I'll get them out of the way first then if there's time I will do some thinking.

Vangaalen's use of low-tech synthasisers and plinky-plonky keyboards instantly brings to mind the work of the late Grandaddy. In fact this comparison crops up a few times with Chad's voice sometimes taking on the soft, sensitive hush of Jason Lytle. It has the inventiveness of The Flaming Lips and the delicate banjo folk of Sufjan Stevens.

The main thing to remember about Skelliconnection is not to judge it until it is finished. It spans so many different genres from the heavy riffage of the opening track Flower Garden to the gentle folk of Wing Finger with some fantastic little instrumental ditties thrown in, the best one being Viking Rainbow. Rumour has it that a lot of the sounds we hear on this album come from home made instruments. This is very evident on Viking Rainbow with its primitive, clunking, synth beats and, heavy drumming and distorted melodies.

The inventiveness and shear scope of this record are definitely what make it good but they also become its undoing. After the opening three tracks the album drifts into no man's land and loses its way amid experimentation, genre hopping and lazy repetitive lyrics. It doesn't seem to specialise in anything and so is in danger of being slightly unmemorable. Thankfully it finds its direction again with the fantastic Graveyard. It's a slow building folk masterpiece that begs to go on for a lot longer than it does. It is then followed by Dead Ends, the records summit both in grandeur and intensity. Here Vangaalen really lets us have it, giving Roy Orbison a run for his money. It's almost as if THE Bruce Dickinson has instructed him to "really explore the space here". Thank god he doesn't have a cowbell.

So to sum up, this is a piece of work that is by no means perfect but demands respect. In a world where originality is hard to find artists like Chad Vangaalen are essential, and after the recent Sufjan Stevens offering its nice to hear a folk singer that's willing to grow some balls and mix things up a bit. It doesn't always work but at least he tried.

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1st Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Tapes 'n Tapes

The Loon

Every now and then comes a band who seem to be exactly what you are looking for. For the last couple of weeks, that band has been Tapes 'n Tapes (cool name too).

Coming from Minneapolis, (home of Husker Du AND Prince - both who might well have added a pinch of salt to their influences) Tapes 'n Tapes recorded a home-produced 4 track demo before The Loon and were snapped up by XL after a bidding frenzy following theis year's SXSW festival. "Nine packed-out, fun-filled gigs in four days" - and I imagine they looked like the melon-farming lounge band in Repoman for the most part of it.

Sounding like they must have listened to all my favourite records shortly before making this one, Tapes 'n Tapes bring a lot of classic elements to the party (Minutemen, Pixies, Talking heads, er... Gypsy Kings), but always keep it sounding modern (Wolf Parade, Arcade Fire, Constantines). Insistor grabbed early pole position with it's jangling Mexican guitars and seemingly ever-accelerating drums, but it's by no means the only high point of the album.

Though the playing is nothing special, the mathematical construction of the songs is tight, conscise, immediate and catchy without ever sounding conventional. Shuffling ryhthms and emotional vocals add a layer of personality to the records tracks. Just Drums is a great opener, and The Iliad is a Greek Epic, in a mini 2 minute package. As things move on the tracks become slightly less frantic. Manitoba and the excellent Omaha in particular are slightly more ambitious in scope - spelling good things for future records.

Although things are maybe slightly flatter on what would be the B-Side, it's never boring and I'm pretty sure that's just a matter of time until more gems surface and then I find it hard to believe that Insistor was the best. This is the record I'd want to make if I formed a band, so The Loon has already bagged it's place in my best-of-2006 list.

Read our interview with Tapes 'n Tapes here.

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7th Jul 2006 - 7 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Thom Yorke

The Eraser

Earlier this year the Radiohead drought we had all been experiencing was finally over as they announced a massive tour and speculation about a new album was up and running. The shows were dazzling and many new songs were showcased, but talk of a new album was soon silenced when we were told not to expect anything until next year. Then, on their message board, Thom Yorke floated the certainty of a forthcoming collection of things he had been working on with past producer Nigel Goodrich and tongues were wagging furiously once more. He was quick to forbid any mention of the word 'solo' when talking about 'The Eraser' and stressed it was a collection of laptop ditties he had been working on for years and didn't spell the end for Radiohead.

And so here we have it, Thom Yorke's not-solo, solo record. And what a puzzling little thing it is too. I wasn't expecting to be treated to glorious, euphoric, acoustic gems from the master of guitar song writing, I knew it was a laptop affair and so I think I expected The Gloaming, the wonderful beat/click excursion on Hail To The Thief. As it turns out we get none of the above. Instead 'The Eraser' is a collection of 9 very minimal, stark and unforgiving experiments. I must admit to having a hard time with this album at first. I was so excited about it's release and had formed expectations. After the first few listens I thought it was shallow, thin, lazy and lacked not just the grandeur but the immediacy and urgency of Radiohead's recent stuff. None of Radiohead's albums are perfect and they always manage to include a song that goes nowhere and lets the side down (a Frank Lampard if you will.) 'The Eraser' seemed full of such songs and appeared to have been released far too soon and needed a lot more work. But then I started to think of it as more of an artist's sketch book, a place and opportunity where the artist can experiment with style and content and not be burdened with the need to finish or resolve any ideas, a place where he can touch on more personal themes and opinions as if these creations were private and never meant for exposure. I then started to see it differently and although it is far from perfect it has something that Radiohead can never produce.

The title track starts the proceedings off on a rather low-key manner with a soft beat skittering around a repeated piano cord. Yorke's vocals are equally as soft and seem to float over the ever more layered backing arrangement. The lyrics take on the Morrissey like structure of 'The more you try to erase me, the more that I appear,' there is a slight pause then the song drifts back in with a beautiful subtlety that is often seen throughout this album. Analyse is one of the more successful, beat driven songs that follows with Yorke reflecting on the role we play in this life stating, "it gets you down/you're just playing a part."

The Clock has all the makings of the kind of material I had expected from this album, starting off with Yorke's now trademark beatboxing, for want of a better word, the sort of noises and grunts he makes over the beat as he is getting himself into the zone. A rolling bassline and a beat that threatens to build progressively caries us away with the doom-ridden vocals of 'Time is running out for us.' and yet takes us nowhere and builds to nothing. This is quite often the case for many of the songs and on the first few listens is very annoying. As soon as he has established the melody and promised you so much the tempo is sustained and then ends.

The closest this album comes to a single is Black Swan, which is to be used on the new Richard Linklater animation A Scanner Darkly. I am surprised at this choice as it is one of the weakest songs. A rather unimaginative beat accompanies the repeated vocal "this is fucked up." Unfortunately this heralds the low part of the album with the turkey 'Skip Divided' bumbling along with monotonous mumblings labouring over empty beats and terrible lyrics. "I'm a dog, I'm a dog, I'm your lap dog/ I just need my number and location."

The quality is resumed however with the beautiful Atoms For Peace. This song has a slightly different feel to it than the rest of the album. I would hesitate to be so shallow and say that it hints at a more positive outlook but the Boards Of Canada type woolly beats and fuzz that accompany the uncharacteristically sweet vocals create a strange kind of nostalgia and almost lullaby feel.

This airy feeling is literally washed away as we move on to And It Rained All Night. The now familiar curtain of doom once again descends and the sinister synth washes are slapped on thick. Yorke is clearly getting accustomed to his new instrument and as he layers samples, twitches, and booming bass to create the nervous apprehension that precedes an approaching wave. Here we see Yorke's environmental concerns and fears and are reminded of Stanley Donwood's woodcut cover image that depicts King Canute trying to hold back a giant wave. This is one thing that I was glad to see in these songs. Although they are much simpler in construction than any Radiohead song they can be interpreted in many different ways. The have very obvious political messages and yet can be seen on a much smaller scale to be about more personal fears and emotions to do with love and relationships, a theme we have not seen much of since The Bends.

Harrowdown Hill is probably the high point of this album and yet the lowest point in terms of mood. On this song Yorke has manages to create one of the saddest and heart wrenching songs of his career. It is sung from the point of view of someone who has clearly died in suspicious and tragic circumstances and with a deep sense of regret he speaks his parting words to those he is leaving behind. This feeling is overwhelming and only amplified when we find out that the song is in fact about the tragic suicide of government scientist Dr. David Kelly. Harrowdown Hill is the Oxfordshire woods where his body was found in 2003 and with the lyrics "You will be dispensed with when you become inconvenient," Yorke is, for the first time, not mincing his words. This all contributes to the general and important point to note, that this is not a Radiohead album and the sooner you understand this the sooner you start to get it and enjoy it. This took me some time and for a while was very disappointed with what I was hearing. Harrowdown Hill is a prime example of a far more direct approach to what Thom has to say. It's as if his band has become too big to really spell it out and he is using this opportunity to let us know what he thinks. It doesn't always work but when it does, as on Harrowdown Hill, it is electrifying. Thom Yorke's work has flaws but that is what makes it so compelling - and this is no exception.

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6th Jul 2006 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

The Keene Brothers

Blues And Boogie Shoes

Billed as 'pure pop magic', The Keene Brothers is a collaboration between GBV's Robert Pollard and one-time Matador alumni Tommy Keene. Although not exactly 'pop,' Blues And Boogie Shoes is far and away the most solid and cohesive of these three new records.

Death Of The Party and Island Of Lost Lucys are classic mid-90's-style Guided By Voices. The album has far fewer of the throw-away tracks of the other two new albums, and Keene's polished guitar work adds a layer of sonic quality and sophistication to Pollard's often rough-and-ready recording style - particularly on instrumental tracks like The Camouflaged Friend.

THe album occasionally treads the line a bit to close to FM radio A.O.R., but Pollard's eclectic lyrics always pull things back from soft-rock meltdown.

This Time Do You Feel It? is a masterpiece, borrowing heavily from Pinball Wizard (perhaps Pollard's most overt tribute to heros The Who). The song is followed by A Blue Shadow, another great Pollard song, which brings the album to a worthy close.

So, as usual, 41 new songs from the over-active mind of Robert Pollard has yielded a number of classic tracks, easily distilled down. In the case of these three albums however, those gems are often unpolished rocks.

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28th May 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Electric Soft Parade

The Human Body EP

The Electric Soft Parade were filed in my mind alongside Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Cooper Temple Clause for some reason - which was not a good spot. I think a 2003 Q Compilation / Rant may be to blame.

I've since done some vague research, and the fact that Brakes is a side project from these guys and British Sea Power's ex-keyboardist is of mixed surprise. British Sea Power are dissapointing, Brakes are great. This EP goes some way to reposition Electric Soft Parade somewhere in between, with a great opening sound for the track A Beating Heart. Thumping drums build up nicely with mathematical sound, semi-mysterious lyrics and a nice keyboard. They can certainly play a nice bassy groove, and would probably have a good live sound... must remember to bother to see them sometime. Maybe they could support Brakes. The Captain and Kick In The Teeth also stand out, but no track quite hits the right finale... mainly as they tend to leave the rock behind and take a short cut to noodle town.

The songs all have a tendency to veer a bit to close to 70's Genesis or 10CC in places, but with a bit of self-control and a stripped down production they could certainly surprise me. In the current climate of major labels wanting 70's modish sounds from the likes of Arctic Monkeys, there's certainly some space for 70's prog sounds from the likes of these guys. Although as Jello Biafra says "I like short songs."

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15th May 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Sunset Rubdown

Shut Up I Am Dreaming

Jagjaguwar

Whoever said the best music is being made in Canada is such a bore. We have all known that for ages, and here is some more evidence. Sunset Rubdown is a spin off group, fronted by Wolf Parade’s keyboardist and vocalist Spencer Krug and it's a little gem of an album. Krug’s distinctive voice makes this very comparable to Wolf Parade, but it’s a much more low-fi and immediate affair. Having said this the band manages to create such epic masterpieces out of next to nothing. Sparse, stripped down songs like Us Ones In Between plod along with such delicate beauty, and the contrast of seemingly cheapskate instruments overlaid with some of the most profoundly sad and insightful lyrics I have heard in a long time is powerful to say the least. Creatures great and small are a common theme on this album, lyrics like “I have heard of creatures who eat their babies/I wonder if they stop to think about the taste” are then reversed to say “Oh baby mother me before you eat me.” The Empty Threats Of Little Lord is another gem that echoes this sentiment, where “If I ever hurt you it will be in self-defence,” and “If you ever come at me I’ll hurt you,” are seen in a different more pathetic light when considering the songs title. Again, they follow such a delicate structure that it almost threatens to collapse under its own frail melancholy.

The lyrics to each song could be read as a book of poems and would still retain their impact and profundity when removed from the music. They create an almost dream like landscape of wild creatures and lovers that live forever. On the epic seven minute long The Men Are Called Horsemen, Krug structures the whole song around the horse metaphor stating “If I was a horse I’d have bricks in my mane, If I was a horse I’d throw up the reins." But then continues on to claim “But I am no horse and you are no angel.” Another seven-minute masterpiece brings this unexpected delight to a close with the title track Shut Up I’m Dreaming, which is what I would advise you tell people if they talk over this album. It is worth dedicating time to this.

Recently, I saw a poll of the best lyrics in modern pop music. I think the winner was a Morrissey lyric, and it got me thinking about the content of a lot of the songs that structure my life. To my surprise I found that though they were songs of undeniable genius, very few of the lyrics really stood up to scrutiny once taken away from the music. This isn’t always necessary but it’s great when you come across some that do. I strongly recommend looking these songs up and reading them as poetry, you won’t be sorry.

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10th May 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Pearl Jam

London Astoria

As one of the last gigs on my list of all-time favourite bands, having not seen these guys had always nagged at me. I had been too poor as a student, out of the country for one tour and then after the death of some fans at the Roskilde festival in 2000, Europe had been off rotation for the last couple of Pearl Jam world tours. I was resigned to eventually seeing the band at the enormo-arena-dome some time past their peak - and convincing myself that I wasn't disappointed.

Recently, things started to look up. A well invested fan club membership led to a great 7 inch single, but the golden ticket was a heads-up on this one-off warm up show at London's Astoria. Chimp Jnr managed to snag the tickets, which sold out in 1 minute and ended up going for £450 on eBay. It crossed our minds to cash them in and fly out to Seattle, but even there a 20,000 seat Arena could not offer the same opportunity as a 1600 seat venue on home turf.

The gig had a quick turnaround and before we knew it we were queuing down the side of the Astoria, round Soho Square and back onto Oxford Street. Some of the eBay tickets had apparently been confiscated, so some persistent fans did get a chance to get last minute surprise re-sale tickets on the door. The touts dropped their tickets to £250, while security guards checked the ticket numbers as some fakes had been circulated.

The atmosphere in the queue and inside the venue was electric. It obviously wasn't just us that had been holding out to see them, and when the band came out the place went crazy. A quick acknowledgment that it had been a long time set the scene, and then we're off with new single World Wide Suicide. As noted, this is a bad title, but as a song it was a great start - thundering, off new album Pearl Jam, but still one that the fans could get into. That was followed by Life Wasted and Severed Hand from the new album, which subdued the crowd slightly as they are still relatively unknown.... Two more new songs followed, but these were current b-side Unemployable and Christmas b-side Gone, which is already one of my current favourites. So things were picking up, and then they really took off with Even Flow.

From then on things only got better and better. The band pulled highlights and rarities from their 15 year back catalogue, such as Sad, I Am Mine, Leavin' Here and Given To Fly mixed in with a couple of the new tracks. There was a healthy dose of revived songs from black-sheep album Ten (which out sold Nevermind for you haters out there) including an awesome ramped up version of Why Go? The Indie Goth Revival is over, long live Grunge.

The highlight had to be an impromptu sing along to Betterman, where Eddie Vedder literally hardly sang a word. The entire crowd took over in a spine tingling moment, reminiscent of Black on the Benaroya Hall album. Visibly moved by the crowd response, the band came back for two encores until finally the end had come, as Mike McCready plucked the opening notes of traditional set-closer Yellow Ledbetter. Everyone sang along and the band even dropped in a few notes of Nobody's Fault But Mine as a nod to Robert Plant, who was in the crowd with his son. After a bow the band started to leave the stage, before the overwhelming reaction from the audience genuinely changed their minds. Eddie Vedder called them back for one more... a storming rendition of Alive. As one of their only UK hits, this is often how they are perceived by those who know little of their later work. It was an unashamedly 90's moment, and I realised that after 15 years of progressing onwards they are now looking as much like the grunger's of the early 90's as ever.... and I love it.

All in all it couldn't have been a much more satisfactory conclusion to my quest.... although thanks to a man on the inside we are off to see them taping Later with Jools Holland tonight.

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25th Apr 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Jel

Soft Money

It’s great to see someone who is constantly helping out everyone else finally do something for themselves. And that is exactly what we have here. Having created the beats for some of the most memorable Anticon records including Subtle and Themselves, Jel now gives us his first solo LP. And it’s good.

I have read comparisons to DJ Shadow and even Massive Attack, but that is to misunderstand this album. It has a totally different agenda. At heart it is a straight up hip hop album - the beats are rich, heavy and hold your interest long after many other instrumentalists have lost it. You really come to understand just how Anticon can make such beguiling music when all the vocals have gone and the beats stand alone. And stand alone they certainly do, especially on WMD, one of the few vocal numbers. As you can guess, this is an anti-Bush barrage of abuse but the beat is so damn fine that even Dubya himself would find it hard to keep his foot from tappin'.

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24th Apr 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Wilco

A Ghost Is Born

The other day during a particularly busy period at work I embarked on a ‘best of Wilco’ playlist and found that every track bar one off their most recent offering had to feature. Except for the 15 minutes of amp hummmmm on track 11 this is a perfect album. The reader may have just taken a sharp intake of breath at that controversial word ‘perfect’ that I just threw in there but I don’t care, I stand by that word.

When I first encountered Wilco they were way out in front on the ever-expanding alt-country scene and were making simple yet great songs. This style seemed to be changing with the release of 2002’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and now with A Ghost Is Born Jeff Tweedy has taken his band into the realms of experimental rock genius. Largely due to the production, courtesy of the mighty Jim O’Rourke, this record sees Wilco turn a very important and difficult corner. From the outset you can see that the agenda has changed here. At Least That’s What You Said is one of the greatest and bravest ways to open an album, it’s soft bitter-sweet vocal intro turns in to 4 minute crunching guitar solo that leaves you breathless and exhausted and the album has only just begun. And if, during Hell Is Chrome, you found yourself relaxing into comfortable Wilco territory Spiders(Kidsmoke) soon jolts you to your feet throwing the alt-country rule book so far out the window you wonder if they ever read it, let alone wrote it. Clocking in at over 10 minutes and with a fantastic electronic beat for a backbone this song sounds more like early Roxy Music than our beloved Wilco with its occasional vocals and screeching, stabbing and totally freeform guitar solos. Then you’ve got Muzzle of Bees, Hummingbird, Handshake Drugs, the list goes on and on and the standard set in the first track is upheld right up to the very last note.

This is the album that convinced me to call my first born child Wilco, boy or girl. I’m just glad I’m not obsessed with ‘Pink Martini.’

#Music
#BC

5th Apr 2006 - 3 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Dark Days

(dir. Marc Singer)

Thanks in no small part to Michael Moore and his healthy appetite for regime change in North America, feature length documentaries have become something of the new rock and roll lately. Recent heavyweights such as Bowling for Columbine, Touching the Void, Super Size Me. Etc. all left their mark at the box-office and generated their own headlines. One that may have slipped through your radar is Dark Days, released in 2000.

Literally straight from the New York City underground, Dark Days spends time with a group of people who, each for their own reason, call the subway tunnels around Penn station home. And home is exactly what they have, individual shelters with locked doors, some with gas cookers, others shaving with electric razors.

What is remarkable is how the residents of this underworld community adapt to lead such apparently ordinary lives; playing darts with buddies, painting doors, wrestling with pet dogs etc.

But this is no utopia. Cat-sized rodents share the neighbourhood, a crack addict has her shelter burned down over a bad debt and a DJ Shadow score keeps things suitably atmospheric. As one-time resident Greg remarks when trying to figure out how he got so low (no pun intended) as to live in the subway for five years, "Those were dark days man."

Engaging, interesting, funny, sad and deep (intended). Watch it. and you'll get to thinking what's really going on beneath your feet next time you pound the streets.

#Film
#chimpovich

31st Oct 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet

U2

Cardiff Millennium Stadium

Dr Chimp's ears are still ringing after the U2 rockfest at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium last night. Very odd to be in a space that big, but with a roof overhead - a bit like being indoors and outdoors at the same time. U2 gave us two very loud hours of their greatest hits, plus about three-quarters of the latest album. Oddly, the songs from their very first album were played with far more energy than the newer material (apart from Vertigo, which we got twice). One guy standing near us seemed to have a 48-piece imaginary drum kit, which he gave a good thumping during Sunday, Bloody Sunday. And two other swaying dudes air-guitared themselves into a total frenzy during Bullet the Blue Sky. All in all, infinitely better than the limp Zooropa show that Dr Chimp and Chimp71 saw in Cardiff in 1993, but nowhere near the heights of the San Francisco ZooTV madness of '92. Very excited to see the convoy of U2 people carriers, under heavy police escort, racing past the grassy knoll by the castle on our way back to the car. But why does this feel like a farewell tour?

Dr Chimp

set list:
Vertigo
I Will Follow
Electric Co.
Elevation
New Year’s Day
Beautiful Day
I Still Haven’t Found
All I Want is You
City of Blinding Lights
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own
Love and Peace
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky
Running to Standstill
Pride (in the name of love)
Where the Streets have no name
One

Zoo Station
The Fly
With or Without You

All Because of You
Yahweh
Vertigo

#Music
#Gig
#Dr.Chimp

30th Jun 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet

Magnolia Electric Co.

Bush Hall, London

June 2nd 2005

I was late getting to this gig, and heard someone say "he's onstage now" as I arrived, so I rushed in to see that the first song was underway and pushed down to the front. I got into this band via Songs Ohia and hadn't ever seen the main man (Jason Molina), so didn't know what to expect. This dude was young looking and thin, and it quickly transpired that he had zero stage presence. Half the crowd chatted through his set as the accoustic songs ambled into each other... and then it finished. Luckily I quickly realised this was only the support band.

Magnolia Electric Co. were on stage shortly after that, with grizzy beards, hair and lot more electric guitars. They were a powerful unit, effortless and tight, motoring through a selection of songs from the new album and older stuff, and totally captivating. Phew.

The crowd we're totally into the show, which made for a great atmosphere. Plus they covered Werewolves of London as an encore. Love it.

#Music
#Gig
#CSF

4th Jun 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet