Owen Pallett and Andrew Bird, step aside - a new
contender for King of the Violin Loopers has emerged. K. Ishibashi's
fiddle playing might not be quite as technically astounding as his more established peers, but his mixture of deliriously joyful orchestral pop, beatboxing and improv is so damn wonderful, it simply doesn't matter.
THE KNIFE (London Roundhouse, 09/05/13)
For years, The Knife had resided near the top of my bucket list of bands I want to see before I die, but having read recent reviews of their “Shaking The Habitual Tour”, I'd tempered my expectations quite dramatically. “Worst show ever”, said some. “A sixth form liberal arts performance,” said others. “Riverdance for cunts,” exclaimed one particularly forthright member of the Twitterati. And you know what- I can understand those points of view. It wasn't a live gig as such. It was a bunch of people in shiny costumes, dancing to mostly prerecorded backing tracks, with some pretty funky lighting. And I enjoyed it greatly.
If I'd been standing further back, or hadn't been previously aware of the “unique” nature of the show, I might have had a significantly more negative opinion. But near the barrier, the sound was crisp, clear and loud, the visuals mesmerising (if not as innovative as the Knife think they are), and the atmosphere was decent enough for a London crowd. It had a fair few flaws- it's a shame they didn't make more use of the cool instruments they employed for the first few songs, there's no real excuse for the lack of live vocals, some bits were inarguably lame (when the band left the stage for ten minutes leaving nothing but the backing track, the choreography for “Full of Fire” and the song that immediately followed) and overall, it probably wasn't worth the £30 asking price. But when you're faced with the full might of “Silent Shout” blasting at a gazillion decibels with SPINNING RAINBOW LASERS encompassing their entirety of your vision, its possible to forgive The Knife pretty much anything.
From their albums, one might be forgiven for thinking Parenthetical Girls would be prissy, reserved live performers. In reality, they're the complete opposite. Zac Pennington struts around the stage, off the stage, on the sound deck and the bar like a camp American Jarvis Cocker. Old songs are given livelier, more muscular arrangements without compromising their beauty. People actually dance a little rather than sagely stroking their beards or crossing their arms in an “I'm too cool to be impressed” manner. It's all really rather excellent.
CHILLY GONZALES (London Cadogan Hall, 30/04/13)
Part recital, part lecture on musical theory, all masterclass of showmanship, Chilly Gonzales proved that solo piano performances can be technically dazzling, innovative, educational and a hell of a lot of fun all at the same time. It's hard to sum up all the genius moments of this show – the understated but clever visuals, the well-judged and hilarious moments of audience participation, his fascinating and deeply-informed talks on subjects like the emotional appeal of arpeggios (referencing Frere Jacques, Glenn Miller and Daft Punk)- but the greatest thing about it is that it all served to augment, rather than distract from, the quality of his own musical talents. A evening of genuine brilliance.
MELT
YOURSELF DOWN (London Corsica Studios, 24/04/13)
Look,
it's Zun Zun Egui with a bunch of the country's leading
modern jazz musicians. It was always going to be great. True, their
material lacks variety, deviating from high-octane jazz-funk only to delve in
latter-day-Sam-Beam world music territory, but my God, it's a hell of
a lot of fun.
NOBUNNY (London Brixton Windmill, 19/04/13)
No-bullshit lo-fi garage rock, delivered by a guy in a tattered bunny mask and almost ruined by a bunch of coked-up, beer-throwing dickheads. Great performer, shame about the audience.
(Photo: Jason Reed)
Friday, April 19, 2013
BRASS BAND BATTLE- BALKANS VS MEXICO (London Barbican, 14/04/13)
All that really needs to be said about this phenomenal brass-off between the Serbian Boban I Marko Marko Markovic Orkestra and the Mexican Banda Estrellas de Sinaloa de Gérman Lizarraga is that it inspired a typically staid and highbrow Barbican audience not only to initiate a conga line around the venue, but also to undertake two full-on stage invasions. For my money, the Balkans easily won it, with a far more varied and technically brilliant set, but the Mexican's played their hearts out too, with “Tequila Mambo” an obvious highlight. Without a doubt the most fun I've had this year outside of a Dan Deacon gig.
Balmorhea hail from Austin, Texas. They play lush, folky instrumentals, swap instruments with abandon and
are really rather delightful.
EFTERKLANG (London Lexington, 29/03/13)
Efterklang's orchestral shows have been great an' all, but it's such a pleasure to see them once again as a proper band, playing their little Danish hearts out in a venue ten times smaller than what they're accustomed to these days. There's not a single duff moment during their 90-minute set, with their new female member's angelic harmonies elevating the arrangements to even more astounding levels of joyousness. An absolute stunner of a performance, and perhaps the best I've seen so far this year.
Friday, March 15, 2013
SIGUR ROS (London Brixton Academy, 09/03/13)
Kjartan may have departed to focus on his young family, but Sigur Ros' peerless Icelandic majesty thankfully remains undiminished. “Vaka” is as beautiful as it's ever been, “Olsen Olsen” and it's luscious, swing-swept coda continues to stir the ol' heartstrings , “Hoppipolla” is still a marvel despite being overplayed to death by BBC documentary makers, and “Untitled 8” will forever be the greatest live song on Earth. What a perfect way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of my first ever gig.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD (London Shepherd's Bush Empire, 22/02/13)
You'll certainly know them by the trail of busted eardrums. I always admire a band that puts the effort in, even to a largely disinterested audience of Cribs fans, and Trail of Dead's intensity, energy, and general disregard for volume limits would have impressed me even if their musical chops weren't up to scratch (which, happily, they are). Definitely an act to check out again in the future.
TAKEN BY TREES (London Hoxton Bar and Kitchen 18/02/13)
Pleasant Swedish dream-pop that unfortunately falls flat in the dark and soulless environs of Hoxton Bar and Kitchen. Bush Hall or St Giles would have suited much better.
(Photo: Simon Beckerman)
DAN DEACON (London Village Underground, 14/02/13)
The "human tunnel" stretched halfway around Shoreditch, the Village Underground was illuminated by the light of several hundred smartphone apps, the new keyboardist and two drummers absolutely aced "Snookered" -> "USA: Parts I-IV", and happy couples and the recently heartbroken were pitted against each other in the arena of dance. Good work, Dan Deacon. Good work.
DESAPARECIDEOS (London Electric Ballroom, 11/02/13)
Short, sweet and a hell of a lot of fun. And Conor Oberst is much more bearable in “incomprehensibly shouty” mode than “whiny emo”, that's for sure.
TRUST (Brussels Ancienne Belgique, 04/02/13)
Bleepy-bloopy dance music from the Austra side-project. Enjoyable, if nothing life-changing.
MY BLOODY VALENTINE (London Electric Brixton, 27/01/13)
A lot of people complained how terrible the mix at this gig was, and rightly so - even Kevin Shields was visibly frustrated that everything sounded like it was being played down “a three-mile tunnel.” That said, acoustic fidelity has never been the primary draw of an MBV gig, and although the vocals were even harder to discern than usual, they still whipped up the squalls of ear-splitting noise I'd hoped for, not least during a brief, but ferociously intense “You Made Me Realise”.
SOLANGE (London XOYO, 17/01/13)
Beyonce's hipster little sister may not have the same profile as the Queen B, but with tunes as funky and sultry as these, this may be only a temporary state of affairs. Shame, though, about the Hoxtonites who clearly cared more about “being seen” and their own vapid conversations than showing any sort of respect to the performer.
30. PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING- London Tooting Tram and Social
My friend John has been banging on about Public Service Broadcasting
for a year and a day, but it took me until Christmas to check them out. More
fool me, for Mr J. Wilgoose, Esq's eccentric mix of Ratatat/HolyFuck-esque
electronica and audio-visual samples derived from the BBC's wartime archives does
Her Britannic Majesty very proud.
29. STARS OF THE LID- London St Johns-at-Hackney Church
There's always something special about a winter gig in a church - Amiina at St.
Leonards remains one of the most magical moments of my gigging career- and this
was no different. Despite the pneumonia-inducing temperature, SOTL’s beautiful
classical ambience and psychedelic light projections spirited me to a more
serene plane where mundane concerns as frostbite seemed irrelevant.
28. COCOROSIE- London Royal Festival Hall
The sisters Casady may have ditched their trademark
moustaches, but
CocoRosie remain one of the most eccentric presences in the hipstersphere.
There's no denying they're a bit pretentious, but the contrast
between Sierra's angelic soprano and Bianca's soulful rasp sure makes for some
magical music.
27. RADICAL FACE- London Lexington
Bon Iver with a sense of humour. Their first UK gig may have been a bit rough
around the edges, but it's always nice to see a band so obviously happy to be
performing here. Also, their drummer has some mad yo-yo skills.
26. CALEXICO- London HMV Forum
An old favourite who I've not seen for years, Calexico's Tex-Mex mix of
alt-country and mariachi never fails to impress.
25. MOONFACE- London Cargo
The demise of Sunset Rubdown may still weigh heavily on my heart, but Spencer
Krug's collaboration with former tour-mates Sinaii goes someway to allievating
the pain. It's all a bit ponderous, and you can't sing along to it the way one
regularly caterwauls to "Random Spirit Lover", but the likes of "Lay Your Head On
Down" have a stately brilliance worthy of his previous work.
24. ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE- London Cafe Oto
The (in)famous Japanese psychedelic rockers advertised this
as one-off “electric jazz" set, but things very swiftly descendedinto madness. A tribute to Jethro Tull with
prancing and recorders, gravelly Delta Blues pastiches, an avant-garde
rerendering of Tubular Bells, plus a thirty minute rendition of their
spaced-out classic “Pink Lemonade”…utterly bonkers, but genuinely, hilariously
enjoyable.
23. THE APPLES IN STEREO- ATP: Curated By Jeff Mangum Festival, Minehead
Of the many Elephant Six acts brought over for the Jeff Mangum-curated ATP,
Apples In Stereo were the most all-out fun. The perfect joy-pop salve for the
remains of my post-Boredoms eardrums.
22. THE SUN-RA ARKESTRA- London Barbican
Until this year, I hadn't appreciated how much I needed jazz-playing space
wizards in my life. Although Sun-Ra himself has long departed to Saturn, the
avant-garde musical collective still preach the message of cosmic goodwill
(whilst unleashing killer squalls of saxophone) under
the stewardship of Marshall Allen - still sprightly at the
age of 89.
21. KISHI BASHI- London Waiting Room
As attested by the number of times I've seen Owen Pallett and Andrew Bird, I'm
a sucker for the ol' violin/loop pedal combo, and Mr K. Ishibashi is a more
than worthy new practitioner of the art. The luscious "Manchester" is
undoubtely the highlight of his set, but it's moments like the utterly filthy
"Just The Tip" that separate him from his more straight-laced peers.
20. THE POLYPHONIC SPREE- London HMV Forum
"Rocky Horror" tribute be damned, it was the second half of this
show, showcasing the Spree at their gloriously extravagant best that reinvigorated
my love of everyone's favourite musical cult. Shame it took place at the Forum,
Destroyer of Gigs, but not even a soundsystem to shame a Nokia 3310 could spoil
the joyousness of this greatest-hits set. 19. THE MAGNETIC FIELDS- London Royal Festival Hall
Stephen Merritt remains the grumpiest man in music, The Magnetic Fields remain
one of the most dependably excellent band of our times.
18. JOANNA NEWSOM- ATP: Curated By Jeff Mangum Festival, Minehead
Nothing will ever top the Queen of Harps’ Royal Albert Hall show, but
nonetheless I can’t deny I had to surreptitiously remove dust from my eyes several
times throughout “Sawdust and Diamonds”.
17. ZUN ZUN EGUI- Latitude Festival, Suffolk
One of the few good things to ever come out of Bristol, Zun Zun Egui are pretty
much the perfect festival band. Vibrant polyrhythms, killer guitar, gigawatts
of energy – they’re basically a more disciplined version of Ponytail, and that’s
more than alright by me.
16. DESTROYER- London Village Underground
A friend once described Destroyer's live show as "Bob Dylan covering
'Baker Street' with Simply Red". There's no denying Bejar's music is a bit
saxophone-heavy these days, but damn, if Hucknall ever wrote a song as stellar
as “Rubies”, I wouldn’t consider him such an atrocity against nature.
15. M83- London Somerset House
If one were being uncharitable, one could accuse M83's live show of being, for
the most part, glorified karaoke. However, I'd be too busy raving the fuck out
to "Couleurs" to care.
14. SIGUR ROS- Amsterdam Paradiso
A stripped-down set for sure (no Amiina, no marching bands, no confetti), but
Sigur Ros could play in a sewer with only the chattering of rabid mice as
accompaniment and "Untitled 8" would still be the most epic musical
experience known to man.
13. ST VINCENT- Latitude Festival, Suffolk
When did Annie Clark become such a rock goddess?! And when did her shows stop
being frustratingly hit-and-miss and actually reflect what an incredible
musician she is?!
12. 65DAYSOFSTATIC- London Garage
"We will not retreat, this band is UNSTOPPABLE!" *commence moshpit*
11. YNDI HALDA- London Hoxton Hall
Innovation is always nice, but it’s certainly not essential. I mean, Yndi Halda
are strict adherents to the Gospel of Post-Rock, rarely veering from its immutable
tenets of "quiet, then loud, then quiet again, probably with a bit of
snare, then REALLY LOUD" but my God, they do it so well.
10. ELBOW- Latitude Festival, Suffolk
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Elbow are middle-of-the-road indie for closet Coldplay fans,
but on a weekend where Bon Iver strikingly failed to connect with the audience,
Guy Garvey and co epitomised what a good festival headliner should be -
engaging, crowd-pleasing and featuring a fuckton of fireworks.
9. OF MONTREAL- Brighton Concorde 2
Of Montreal often have a tendency to let their ever-OTT
theatrics overwhelm the rest of their performance, but tonight they got the
balance just right. That's not to say they didn't have weird lycra-clad gimps
swinging from the ceiling or Kevin Barnes flouncing about with confetti (they
did) but they also nailed the musical side of things, with a wonderfully Hissing
Fauna-centric setlist and only a limited number of aimless self-indulgent jams.
8. LOS CAMPESINOS!- Latitude Festival, Suffolk
After a brief infatuation with Los Camp in early 2007, I pretty much ignored
them for half a decade due to a disappointing debut, a deeply mediocre Scala
gig and Gareth David's grating 6th-form obnoxiousness. This proved to be a
mistake - although their lyrics are still a bit Adrian Mole, they truly are
masters of the catchy synth-pop anthem, and man, I do love me some catchy
synth-pop anthems.
7. BOREDOMS- ATP: Curated By Jeff Mangum Festival, Minehead
Many bands like to think themselves as "unique", even as they're peddling
the umpteenth hundred riff stolen from the Stooges, but Boredoms are truly one
of a kind. Although not quite as life-affirming as their ATP: Matt Groening
performance (mostly due to a ten-minute section incorporating the most shrill
whistle known to man), the experience of five drummers and FIFTEEN guitarists relentlessly
and mercilessly pulverising my eardrums during “Acid Police” will forever
remain one of the most breathtaking musical moments ever.
6. LEONARD COHEN- London Wembley Arena
For a man openly touring purely for monetary reasons (his housekeeper scammed
him out his life savings), Leonard Cohen sure puts on a bloody fantastic show.
Unlike his contemporary Dylan, who is now above such things as "speaking
to the audience", "stage presence" or "not viciously pissing on your legacy", the 77-year old is an entertainer
of the old school, lending his wit, charm and glorious baritone to a flawless
three hour performance - which, due to an balls-up by the promoters, I got to see
for free. Hurrah!
5. EFTERKLANG- London Barbican
An intricate, ethereal mass of wonderfulness from start to finish, it’s rather
heartwarming that even though Efterklang have gone from 200-capacity venues to
selling out the Barbican, they still retain their lovable goofiness. If you
watch the above video, I’m actually a few seats down from Casper when he
clambers in the audience (although I’m just out of shot).
4. DAN DEACON- London Scala
A Dan Deacon gig in my Top Gigs of the Year list?! Sacre bleu! This was pretty
much the same show he’s been peddling for the last five years (except now with
the addition of a funky new smartphone app that changes colour in time with the
music), but who cares- as long as I live and breathe, I’ll never tire of
heading to the mountain of snow, upon the big glen…
3. SOAP & SKIN- London Royal Festival Hall
Anja Plaschg’s brutal, beautiful music is not for everyone, and on the whole
this wasn’t her greatest performance (that honour goes to her Union Chapel show
in 2010), but for reasons I can’t quite place into words, “Cynthia” hit me
harder emotionally than any other song this year.
2. PULP- Sheffield Motorpoint Arena
24 songs. Saskia Cocker guesting on “My Lighthouse”, whilst
Jarvis threw rolls of toilet paper into the crowd. “Born To Cry” with Richard Hawley.
Airings of Help The Aged, Sheffield Sex City, Little Girl With Blue Eyes, and
F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E. A run of This is Hardcore->Sunrise->Bar
Italia-> Common People. “Something’s Changed” with a torrent of white
confetti, leading to an impromptu singalong of “White Christmas.” Well, what
else could I do, but place this at Number Two (of my Top Live Acts of 2012
list)?
1. JEFF MANGUM- London Union Chapel
Yes, there could have been a bit more brass, yes, the
sing-alongs were more muted than I would have liked, but goddamn, I saw Jeff
Mangum sing pretty much the entirety of “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea” in
London’s most beautiful gig venue. I could go on about the rawness and power of
his voice, or the shivers “Oh Comely” sent down my spine, or even the amusing
sight of a thousand Guardian-reading halloumi-munchers singing “I LOVE YOU
JESUS CH-R-I-IST,” but what really sums it all up was that the standing ovation
he received on the second night was perhaps the loudest and most passionate of
all the (800+) gigs I’ve been to. Simply incredible.
