REPTAR (London Birthdays, 07/06/12)

Review: HERE

(Photo: Roseanne Liu)

MOONFACE (London Cargo, 29/05/12)

As a paid up member of the Spencer Krug fan club, the last couple of years have been tough. Wolf Parade disbanded just as they were hitting their peak as a live band, and Sunset Rubdown (one of my most beloved bands in the world) announced their indefinite hiatus shortly afterwards. Bereft of further opportunities to sing atonally over “Dear Sons And Daughters of Hungry Ghosts”, the immortal maxim “God doesn’t always have the best goddamn plans” rung truer than ever. And thus, I’ve awaited this Moonface gig with the same fervour Spencer has against ghosts, snakes and possibly ghost snakes. I was not to be disappointed. True, tonight didn’t reach the manic kaleidoscopic peaks of the best WP/SR shows (and the set admittedly did flag towards the end), but the reverb-drenched majesty of “Lay Your Cheek on Down”, the yelping intensity of “I’m Not The Phoenix Yet” and the krautrock odyssey that is “Shitty City” are all fantastic additions to the Krugian oeuvre, and damn, that guy can still hammer those synths like nobody else.

(Photo: John Gleeson)

BEACH HOUSE (London Village Underground, 24/05/12)

Review: HERE

(Photo: Minh Le (via The Line Of Best Fit)

OF MONTREAL (Brighton Concorde 2, 26/04/12)

Of Montreal shows can be somewhat hit and miss - the best of them truly joyous occasions, bringing the best out of their disco-funk psychedelia; the worst an ungainly mess of silly gimmicks and musical sloppiness. Thankfully, tonight fell firmly into the former category, with a Hissing Fauna-heavy setlist, appearances from “Wraith Pinned From The Mist” and “The Party’s Crashing Us” and Kevin Barnes on sterling form, flouncing about on stage dispensing confetti and unleashing lycra gimps upon the assembled masses. No “The Past Is A Grotesque Animal” unfortunately, but that’s literally the only fault I can level against it. Fantastic stuff.

THE MAGNETIC FIELDS (London Royal Festival Hall, 25/04/12)

Music’s most loveable grump delivers another delightful set of macabre ditties and cynical wit wrapped up twee. The absolute highlight was the haunting cover-of-sorts of “Smile! Nobody Cares How You Feels”, but two hours felt like two minutes in the midst of Stephen Merritt’s unimpeachable baritone and disdain for pretty much everything.

(Photo: John Gleeson)

KISHI BASHI (London Waiting Room, 24/04/12)

What a gig! Sure, it’s easy to compare Kishi Bashi to fellow string-loopers Owen Pallett and Andrew Bird, but to his massive credit he does something innovative with a formula that’s gone a bit stale over the years. His violin skills impress although aren’t quite Bird-level, but the main draw is his love of improvisation, his melding of genres and of course, his awesome beatboxing. “Just a Tip” is dance-hall inspired filth, another song incorporates Arabesque touches, and Manchester is pure, shimmering indie-pop joy. The best new act I’ve seen this year by a country mile, and one I hope to playing much bigger stages in the very near future.

SOAP & SKIN (London Scala, 11/04/12)

Oh, if only this had been at a more suitable venue than the Scala. Anja Plaschg is one of music’s most terrifyingly intense performers, her gothic industrial compositions punctuated with brutal piano hammering and screams of pure anguish, but even her dark drama loses something when it’s incessantly interrupted by the click of a malfunctioning smoke machine. Nonetheless, there were some truly spine-tingling moments, not least the apocalyptic “March Funebre” or the slow-building and stunningly atmospheric encore of “Pale Blue Eyes.”

(Photo: John Gleeson)

65DAYSOFSTATIC (London Garage, 10/04/12)

My first 65daysofstatic show in half a decade, and man, I’d forgotten how good a live band they are. Achieving a perfect balance between the math-rock instrumentals of old and the dancier material of recent years, there was hardly a moment to catch one’s breath as they unleashed one killer onslaught of grinding guitars and shimmering electronica after another. Plus, they finished their main set with the unbeatable double-whammy of Retreat Retreat->Radio Protector, which automatically made this the most sweatily enjoyable show of 2012 so far.

(Photo: Rachel Lipsitz)

SUFJAN STEVENS, BRYCE DESSNER AND NICO MUHLY (London Barbican, 09/04/12)
 

Three doyens of the independent music scene joined forces to perform a series of compositions inspired by the Solar System - with varying degrees of success. We were warned before the show started that this was a “work in progress” and it shows; “The Sun” sounded like an unfinished sketch rather than a meaningful part of proceedings, and a couple of other planets suffered from repetitive or aimless structures. That said, when “Planetarium” was good, it was very, very good, the baroque and ostentatious Jupiter and brassy cinematics of Mercury being particular highlights. Not a patch of Sufjan’s live shows last year, but an interesting and worthwhile experiment all the same.

(Photo: John Gleeson)

RETRIBUTION GOSPEL CHOIR (London Old Blue Last, 05/04/12)



Alan Sparhawk ditches the understated melancholy of Low for straight-out, balls-to-the-wall rock ‘n roll. Good fun, if a bit samey at times.

(Photo: S Shingler)

DARK DARK DARK (London Bush Hall, 04/04/12)



C'mon, there was a man who played a trumpet and accordion AT THE SAME TIME. If that isn’t totally awesome, I don’t know what is. Chamber-folk may have got a bit stale as a genre recently (strings and wind instruments don't always compensate for mediocre songwriting), but Dark Dark Dark's compelling instrumental and stylistic eclecticism makes them a joy to experience.

(Photo: Pimlicoco)

THE 802 (London Barbican, 16/03/12)



A dissonant, chaotic, mesmerising smorgasbord of folk, electronic and modern classical-tinged compositions courtesy of Nico Muhly, Sam Amidon, Doveman and Owen Pallett. Particularly memorable was “The Only Tune,” a powerful and original reimagining of an traditional English folk song which may mark the only occasion where the amplified sound of head-scratching has ever been utilised in a serious musical composition.

(Photo: Tastelackingmodernist)

JEFF MANGUM (London Union Chapel, 13/03/12-14/03/12)



Yes, there could have been a bit more brass, yes, the sing-alongs were more muted than I would have liked, but goddamn, I just 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 Jeff’s voice, or the shivers “Oh Comely” sent down my spine, but what really sums it all up is that the standing ovation he received on the second night was perhaps the loudest and most passionate I’ve experienced in over 750 gigs. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

ALL TOMORROW’S PARTIES: CURATED BY JEFF MANGUM (Minehead Butlins, 09/03/12-11/03/12)



HIGHLIGHTS:

Jeff Mangum (the only man who could compel a thousand Guardian-reading halloumi munchers to sing “I LOVE YOU JESUS CHRIST”)
BOREDOMS (standing next to the speakers for the climax of ‘Acid Police’ was both the best and worst thing I’ve ever done.)
Joanna Newsom (as ever, ‘Sawdust and Diamonds’ nearly made me blub like a 5-year old girl)
Sun Ra Arkestra (I too want to be a cartwheeling, jazz-playing space wizard)
Electric 6 Holiday Special (which ended with half the band singing or sousaphoning Sun Ra covers out by the chalets)
Apples In Stereo (The perfect joy-pop salve for what remained of my eardrums post-Boredoms)
Mike Watt and George Hurley Play The Songs of The Minutemen (Simply bad-ass, even 30 years on).
Yann Tiersen (no accordion, but violin wig-outs and vintage synths galore. No complaints here.)
Group Doueh (Saharawi grooves and awkward hipster dancing. Even spotted Jeff Mangum throwing a few shapes.)
Magnetic Fields (Stephen Merritt and I nearly walked into each other outside the artist’s catering area. He did not look impressed.)
The impromptu Elephant 6/Sun Ra/Magic Band/Boredoms/ACME jam session in Reds at 1:30 Monday morning.

LOWLIGHTS

The atrocious sound for Olivia Tremor Control.
The ill-thought-out setup for the A Hawk And A Hacksaw-scored film screening, which meant you could neither see the film nor band.
Too...much...Finnegans.

Overall: Up there with the Ten Years and Matt Groening weekends, and a return to form after the dreary GY!BE event. Roll on December!

(Photo: John Gleeson)

ANDREW BIRD (London Barbican, 05/03/12)



An unconventional set from Chicago’s whistler-in-chief, comprising a run through his new album and an encore of traditional folk songs, covers and one or two old favourites. Not something you’d want for every show of course, but as a one-off it was interesting, and to be honest, Andrew Bird could play two hours of Creed covers and still make your jaw drop with astonishment.

(Photo: John Gleeson)

OBERHOFER (London Lexington, 22/02/12)



See review: HERE

M83 (London Shepherd’s Bush Empire, 16/02/12)



Let’s face it- an M83 show is basically the album played really, really loud with lots of shiny lights, unyielding percussion and judicious amounts of cowbell. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. By far the most enjoyable gig of 2012 so far.

THE LONG COUNT (London Barbican, 04/02/12)



There was no way a "multimedia concert" about the Mayan creation myth wasn’t going to be pretentious, but all things considered, this was a dramatic, intense and at times breathtakingly epic work from the Brothers Dessner. Tunde Adebimpe was the star of the show, his rumbling baritone eerily reminiscent of Matt Berninger at times, but My Brighest Diamond and Kelley Deal also impressed in their role as Mayan goddesses. Bit expensive for 75 minutes though.

(Photo: John Gleeson)

WILD FLAG (London Electric Ballroom, 01/02/12)



Scientific fact: Carrie Brownstein is better than you. And if all the new material is as good as the stuff they previewed tonight, she has scope to kick your ass even more.

(Photo: Jason Williamson)

LAURA VEIRS (London Queen Elizabeth Hall, 30/01/12)



Cute, but not really my thing.

(Photo: John Gleeson)