WOLF PARADE (London Borderline, 18/05/10; Manchester Club Academy, 21/05/10)



“GIVE ME! YOUR EYES! I NEED! SUNSHINE!” I love Dan Boeckner, I love Spencer Krug, and by God, I love Wolf Parade. “Expo 86” is somewhat of a return to form after the shapeless At Mount Zoomer, underpinned with an upbeat freneticism that owes much to Boeckner's other project Handsome Furs, and these songs are certainly much more fun than the naysayers anticipated. But as good as they are, they don't hold a candle to the ATTQM stuff- the bludgeoning drums of “You Are A Runner;” the frenzied mania of “Songs and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts,” the vocal-chord-scraping rawness of “This Heart's On Fire.” And don't the crowd know it; as enthusiastic as they are for the newer stuff, it's only the classics that trigger true pandemonium. Indeed, the Manchester show became sauna-like that even his hardened gig veteran had to retreat from the mosh-pit for his own well-being. Amazing scenes.

(Photo: John Gleeson)

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE (London Heaven, 17/05/10)



No Ibi Dreams of Pavement or Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl, but an incredible evening nonetheless. Kevin Drew managed to keep his aimless hippy banter to a minimum, the new material sounds impeccable, and the energy and passion displayed by every member of the multitudinous collective ensured joy was forthcoming for the entirety of their two hour set. Shorelines + full brass section = <3 <3 <3

(Photo: John Gleeson)

WILDBIRDS AND PEACEDRUMS (London Bishopsgate Institute, 15/05/10)



Some bands are more than willing to sit on their laurels, never evolving, happy to churn out the same kind of tired bollcokry year after year. Not Wildbirds and Peacedrums. Whilst their initial MO was vocals and drums, their range of instrumentation has expanded rapidly over the years and now they've acquired a choir to add new textures and harmonies to their percussively primal compositions. Although some of the new songs seem a little undistinguished compared to some of their older material, there's also moments of great beauty, and when they launched into "My Heart" complete with choral backing, I don't there was a single person in the room who didn't feel a shiver go down their spine. One of the best live bands touring today.

(Photo: Electric Moustache (Twitter))

PAVEMENT (Brixton Academy, 13/05/10)



For a band in it purely for the money, Pavement certainly put on a fun show. 30 songs are perhaps a bit too much for all but the most fanatical, but the highlights (Cut Your Hair, Silence Kid, Range Life) are sterling stuff. Broken Social Scene in support were superb too, with the new material much punchier than on record and the old songs sounding as amazing as ever.

(Photo: CaptainSticky (Flickr))

JOANNA NEWSOM (London Royal Festival Hall, 11/05/10 & 12/05/10)



I don't think anything will ever top the Royal Albert Show for me, but hearing Emily, Peach Plum Pear and Baby Birch all in a row sure set my heart a-flutter.

(Photo: John Gleeson)

ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES: CURATED BY MATT GROENING (Butlins Minehead, 07/05/10-09/05/10)



ATP: Matt Groening wasn't quite as good as Ten Years of ATP last December, but in terms of genuinely interesting bands and out-of-the-blue discoveries it was thoroughly superb. Here's a quick round-up:

10/10
Boredoms presenting "Boadrum" (both days): Fucking incredible. The drummers from Pit Er Pat, Hella, Ponytail and Oneida joined the regular members of Boredoms to deliver 75 minutes of sheer percussive bliss. And then there was the guitar tree, Yamataka Eye's insane howling, Zach Hill being carried across the whole venue with his drumkit, soloing like a motherfucker along the way...without a doubt the best thing I've seen this year.

9/10
CocoRosie: Always dismissed them on record, but they were a true revelation last night. Angelic sopranos and luscious melodies married with hip-hop elements and incredible beatboxing...the perfect way to end this most ecletic of festivals.
Toumani Diabate: He was fantastic performing with Bjork in 2008, and he was just as impressive playing his own material at ATP. Intricate, engaging and great to dance to, he's an immense talent.



8/10
Joanna Newsom: "It's a particular honour to be playing ATP: Matt Groening, as people have told me I sound like Lisa Simpson for years." :D Set was curtailed due to a late start (meaning we missed out on "Baby Birch") but "Good Intentions Paving Co." with the beefed up harmonies more than made up for it.
Spiritualized: Didn't catch much of their set due to queuing for JoNo, but "Come Together" with a 33-piece ensemble was as perfect a song performance as I've ever seen.
Ponytail: Not a vintage set due to sound problems, but the atmosphere at the front was electric. Love these guys so much!
Amadou & Mariam: Funky as hell. Their middle-aged bassist tried to chat up my 19-year old chalet mate at the Crazy Horse that same night.
Shonen Knife: SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI BAR, GOING TO A SUSHI BAR!!!
Built To Spill: They looked jetlagged and/or bored throughout, but for once their mix was spot on. Closing double-whammy of Big Dipper and Conventional Wisdom was great.
Iggy and the Stooges: Leathered insurance-ad man can certainly still put on a show. Wasn't quite loud enough, but the mosh-pit was brilliant.

7/10
Deerhunter: Louder than last time they played ATP, and much more engaging. Bradford Cox seems like a cool dude.
The Residents: Legendary avant-garde weirdos were actually better than I thought they'd be. Very theatrical, kinda silly but the musical parts were actually pretty cool. Matt Groening was sitting in the photo pit, and apparently the grin didn't leave his face for the entire set.
Liars: Seemed a bit tame by their standards, but the Sisterworld stuff sounded ace, especially "Scissors".



6/10
Konono No.1: The least impressive of the African bands. Some cool moments, but they did go on a bit.
Danielson: His voice grates like hell, but they're good fun and I loved "Did You Step On My Trumpet?"
She & Him: Gets an extra point than it deserves because Zooey Deschanel sure is prettysome, but their painfully anemic folk rock was for the most part shrugworthy. Best two songs were from M.Ward's regular set- "Magic Trick" and "Roll Over Beethoven".
Daniel Johnston: Didn't feel the massive Pavillion stage was the right place for a solo set. He had his moments though, and it's touching to see him perform.
Thee Oh Sees: Only caught a couple of songs, but seemed pretty fun.
The Raincoats: Shambolic, but strangely endearing.

5/10
Broadcast: Musically ok, but they seemed pretty unpleasant as people.
The Fresh And Onlys: Bog-standard garage rock, played at painfully loud volumes.
The Tiger Lillies: Sub-Devotchka types with a penchant for masturbation jokes.

4/10
James Blackshaw: Boring guitar man does boring guitar stuff. Not my thing at all.
Panda Bear: I liked his London show back in March, but self-indulgent knob-twiddling just doesn't work at 1am. Within twenty minutes, he'd pretty much cleared the room.

3/10
The XX: Didn't give them much of a chance to be fair, but the five minutes I caught were [i]really[/i] shit.



Other highlights:
-Shaking Matt Groening's hand, and discussing the awesomeness of Boredoms
-The final run of songs at the Crazy Horse before it closed at 5am- "All My Friends," "My Girls" and "The Rat." Oh yeah.
-Sharing a train with Daniel Johnston
-Trailer Park Boys on ATP:TV
-Exmoor Real Ale- must have drunk about 20 pints of the stuff over the weekend.
-Watching Bradford Cox having the time of his life at the Konono No.1/J. Spaceman/Boredoms jam session in a 500-capacity pub.

(Photos: Leah Pritchard)

THE NATIONAL (London Royal Albert Hall, 06/05/10)



Like the previous night, but posher.

(Photo: David Emery (Flickr))

THE NATIONAL (London Electric Ballroom, 05/05/10)



Having seen them 10 times now, there's very little new I can say about the Great White Hope of indie rock. So I'll keep it brief: the new songs are good but a bit National-by-numbers, it was oddly heartwarming that everyone knew all the lyrics to Bloodbuzz Ohio already and Matt Berninger jumping into the audience during Mr. November triggered absolute pandemonium.

(Photo: John Gleeson (Flickr))

HIGH PLACES (London Cargo, 04/05/10)



Review: HERE

(Photo: acb (Flickr))

THE TINY (London Borderline, 03/05/10)



A thoroughly enchanting Swedish duo with a sound halfway between Frida Hyvonen and Slow Club. Great use of musical saw, and extremely charming too.

(Photo: Anika Mottershaw)

CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX (London Luminaire, 27/04/10)



More ridiculous/awesome prog/post-rock epicness from the Mogwai offshoot, for whom succinctness and restraint are dirty words. Most of their songs extend far beyond the five-minute mark, almost all are drenched in intricate, over-the-top guitar solos, and everything’s played at a volume that could tear the earth asunder. No complaints here.

(Photo: Jan Rillich (Flickr))

BASIA BULAT (London Luminaire, 26/04/10)



Review: HERE

(Photo: Anika Mottershaw)

COACHELLA FESTIVAL (Empire Polo Fields, 16/04/10-18/04/10)



Another year, another desert-centric endurance test masquerading as a festival. But despite the oppressive heat and surplus of bros, it was still pretty good fun. Here’s a brief run-down of what I saw:



Deer Tick: Raucous country-rock, lead singer crowd-surfing abilities deserve kudos.
The Avett Brothers: Rock ‘n roll cellists FTW! Very energetic, very impressive.
Dillinger Escape Plan: When you’re dying of hay fever and ready to drop from heatstroke and lack of sleep, DEP provide the perfect adrenalin shot to keep you going for hours to come.
The Specials: No Ghost Town, but skanking in the sunset to “A Message To Rudy” was one of my festival highlights.
Them Crooked Vultures: Scintillating. Three rock gods, all competing to be the most badass- what else could you possibly want?
LCD Soundsystem: Too much babbling from James Murphy, and the new material fell a bit flat, but All My Friends was as brilliant as ever.
Vampire Weekend: Meh. OK, I suppose.
Fever Ray: Atmospheric, laser-heavy weirdness from Karin Dreijer-Andersson. Vocals too low in the mix, but still very cool.



The Almighty Defenders: The Black Lips/King Khan super group are wasted in a 1pm slot, but their happy-clappy revivalist gospel-punk still provides a fun start to the day.
Portugal The Man: I like these guys, but I can’t reallydeal with two-hour guitar solos at 2 in the afternoon.
Camera Obscura: Workmanlike as always, but there’s no denying “Lloyd, I’m Ready To Be Heartbroken”
Beach House: Not their best show, but the beefed-up drums and added volume come across well.
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes: Sound was mediocre, but fantastic to watch. Need to see them in a more intimate setting.
Faith No More: EPIC. And Mike Patton was blatantly the best front man of the festival.
Muse: Still think their last couple of albums are balls, but “Plug In Baby” and “New Born” made me so incredibly happy.
Tiesto: Ravin’ it up like it’s 1999.



The Middle East: Pretty good music to lie on the grass to in the early-afternoon sun.
The Soft Pack: Didn’t leave much of an impression, to be honest.
Owen Pallett: Some of his material remains too obtuse to work in a festival setting, but his more melodic pieces came across wonderfully. Lewis Takes Off His Shirt remains as sublime as ever.
Deerhunter: Bit dull. Definitely not a festival band.
Jonsi: Incredible. A bit more stripped down then I was expecting, but his backing band were superb, his vocals were as breathtakingly ethereal as ever and the sun setting over the mountains proved the perfect backdrop to the ear-shattering post-rock climax.
Phoenix: Only caught a few songs, but my interest was certainly piqued. Will have to check them out properly sometime…
Pavement: Excellent. They’re one of those bands that on the surface appear to be slapdash, but are actually pretty tight, and they looked like they were enjoying themselves too.
Thom Yorke: To be honest, I think my enjoyment of this was more to do with Flea’s awesomely funky slap-bass than the melodramatic whining of the wonk-eyed one. Although that said, there was one loop-dependent solo song I really loved.
Gorillaz: Bit of an anti-climax, really. None of the 3D frippery or big name guest-stars you’d expect, it seemed a bit of a shoestring production for such an innovative band.

THE BESNARD LAKES (London Cargo, 31/03/10)



Review: HERE

(Photo: Quite Peculiar (Flickr))