You know when you're confronted with a giant cake? And it looks really delicious? There was probably loads of chocolate involved in making it, fudge too. Or strawberrys and cream if you're into some a little lighter and summery. And you eat the whole thing? Then you feel a little sick afterwards?
No?
Well congrats on never having issues with your weight.
I reckon that since the 7th of this month I've seen at least 32 different acts in 9 venues and 2 countries. I'd say that I need a break but June sees Bon Iver and Dan Deacon hit Dublin which are pretty much unmissable as far as I'm concerned as well and Evangelicals, The Dodos, Radiohead, Low, Bonnie Prince Billie and probably a whole bunch more that I've not mentioned. Can someone get sick of live music? In my case it appears not. That being said if the European Championships turn out to be good and mean that I stay in a few more evenings in June I won't be complaining too much.
Last December Jens Lekman played Whelan's pretty much solo save for occasional contributions from a percussionist and violins from Alex Turner's string arranger. But mainly the night was all about Lekman's songs and his voice. There was some strange, intangible thing in the air that night and as the gig went on you couldn't help but feel that the Swede was drawing you in and making a very real personal connection with you through his music. And it's not just me that felt that way, a friend of mine said to me last week "that night the whole room fell in love with Jens." I can't say I disagree, I'm still into chicks otherwise but.
Last night he returned to Dublin to play The Village with a full band. And it just felt like a guy with some great songs and a supertight band playing a gig. It was fine, actually to be fair, it was good. But it lacked the charm of his last appearance here. Worse though was that parts of it felt utterly contrived; like his storytelling during "A Postcard To Nina" or when he requested that no one put any videos from the gig up on YouTube because it wanted the night to be special and unique, just for him, the band and those in attendance. Oh Jens, I bet you say that to all the crowds.
I was told afterwards that there's a good chance that Lekman won't tour again for a number of years and in recent times he's said to the Swedish press that he's unlikely to ever put out a full album again. That'd be a shame because I do think that when he's at his best he's a remarkable, enthralling talent. But if there's a Jens Lekman gig that lives long in my memory it won't be the one last night.
Showing posts with label May is loco yo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label May is loco yo. Show all posts
Monday, May 26, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Rapid fire May is loco yo gig reviews 7: Bruce Springsteen - RDS
Traffic was pretty terrible in Dublin this evening. That’s why I spent the first 4 songs of Bruce Springsteen’s set tonight standing outside the gate of the R.D.S. on Simmonscourt Rd. waiting for my gig buddy for the night to fight his way through traffic. Nonetheless even from that exterior position I could hear the boss perfectly and I suspected from the opening salvo of “The Promised Land” and “Radio Nowhere” that the gig just might be something special. As things turned out, ticketless as I am, standing in the same spot on Friday and Sunday nights Mister that sounds pretty tempting at this point.
The night was, for me, an odd mix of being thrilled by what is possibly the best Rock n’ Roll band anyone has ever put together kicking out jam after jam after jam and a vaguely sad sort of nostalgia. If the greatest gift that my father ever gave me was a love of music thanks to his picking of folk and country tunes on his guitar as I listened on as a child the musician who left the most lasting impression on me from that period is Springsteen, from the ages of 7-11 I barely listened to anything else, and if I did then I certainly don’t remember it. Tonight was the third time that I’ve seen him at the RDS over the past 15 years and the first time that my old man, thanks to a recent shoulder operation, hasn’t been along for the ride and at numerous points during the gig I thought of how much he’d have enjoyed it and wished he was there with me.
Moments like during “The River” when Bruce deviated from the recorded melody of the song while underneath I could hear the crowd sing it like on the album. Or when “Reason To Believe”, so quiet and meditative on Nebraska was transformed into a gigantic blues-rock workout complete with screaming harmonica and snarling vocals. Or just the general brilliance of “Darkness On The Edge Of Town.”
But it was the encore that was the killer. Emerging after a few minutes break having already performed for the best part of 2 hours Springsteen went straight into “Thunder Road”, then “Born To Run” which segued into “Bobby Jean” (i.e. one of the few songs on Born In The USA that I love on record). Next came “10th Avenue Freezeout”, at that point I was thinking that the only way to make the run of songs more perfect would be if “Street Of Fire” or anything else from Nebraska made it onto the setlist. Though in order to save my head from exploding the night ended instead with a much drawn out take on “American Land” from the Seeger Sessions album, which I guess was for the best.
The night was, for me, an odd mix of being thrilled by what is possibly the best Rock n’ Roll band anyone has ever put together kicking out jam after jam after jam and a vaguely sad sort of nostalgia. If the greatest gift that my father ever gave me was a love of music thanks to his picking of folk and country tunes on his guitar as I listened on as a child the musician who left the most lasting impression on me from that period is Springsteen, from the ages of 7-11 I barely listened to anything else, and if I did then I certainly don’t remember it. Tonight was the third time that I’ve seen him at the RDS over the past 15 years and the first time that my old man, thanks to a recent shoulder operation, hasn’t been along for the ride and at numerous points during the gig I thought of how much he’d have enjoyed it and wished he was there with me.
Moments like during “The River” when Bruce deviated from the recorded melody of the song while underneath I could hear the crowd sing it like on the album. Or when “Reason To Believe”, so quiet and meditative on Nebraska was transformed into a gigantic blues-rock workout complete with screaming harmonica and snarling vocals. Or just the general brilliance of “Darkness On The Edge Of Town.”
But it was the encore that was the killer. Emerging after a few minutes break having already performed for the best part of 2 hours Springsteen went straight into “Thunder Road”, then “Born To Run” which segued into “Bobby Jean” (i.e. one of the few songs on Born In The USA that I love on record). Next came “10th Avenue Freezeout”, at that point I was thinking that the only way to make the run of songs more perfect would be if “Street Of Fire” or anything else from Nebraska made it onto the setlist. Though in order to save my head from exploding the night ended instead with a much drawn out take on “American Land” from the Seeger Sessions album, which I guess was for the best.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Rapid fire May is loco yo gig reviews 6: No Age - Whelans (Upstairs)
I'll readily admit to knowing very little about No Age aside for the fact that yesterday morning I finally got around to listening to Nouns and for the first time this year found myself being knocked right on my arse by an album with an initial listen. A couple of other spins, well not spins exactly, I hit play on my Zen, we really need to come up with some new terminology to keep pace with the MP3 age, throughout the day convinced me to pull double duty and drop into Whelan's after Sunset Rubdown and catch their late gig upstairs. As it turns out I wasn't the only one in the same mindset as I spotted a couple of other faces in the crowd from the first gig and there were a few people that I spoke to later that had been at Broken Social Scene in Vicar Street earlier as well. I don't know if 2 gigs in a night is something that I'd regularly do or that I could justify during conversations with my wallet but late gigs in Dublin as a concept, they've got my full backing. More of this sort of thing please.
But back to No Age, like I said I don't know much about them. So the sight of 2 guys getting up on stage together to begin to play threw me a little. On record they sound so rich and full I was a little thrown that their live lineup was a drummer and a guitarist.
They make a hell of a racket though the pair of them. Samples filled out the noise that neither of them could produce on the fly and on top of and around those went ferociously pounding drums from Dean Spunt as Randy Randell wrung a mixture of Sonic Youth style dissonance and punk fury out of his guitar, and even managed a trip into the middle of the crowd towards the end of the set.
Not the best gig I've seen all year, actually it wasn't the best gig I saw last night but it was still quite the fun hour and knowing how much word of mouth counts when it comes to getting people to show up to see bands I doubt they'll be in so small a room next time they make a trip to these shores.
But back to No Age, like I said I don't know much about them. So the sight of 2 guys getting up on stage together to begin to play threw me a little. On record they sound so rich and full I was a little thrown that their live lineup was a drummer and a guitarist.
They make a hell of a racket though the pair of them. Samples filled out the noise that neither of them could produce on the fly and on top of and around those went ferociously pounding drums from Dean Spunt as Randy Randell wrung a mixture of Sonic Youth style dissonance and punk fury out of his guitar, and even managed a trip into the middle of the crowd towards the end of the set.
Not the best gig I've seen all year, actually it wasn't the best gig I saw last night but it was still quite the fun hour and knowing how much word of mouth counts when it comes to getting people to show up to see bands I doubt they'll be in so small a room next time they make a trip to these shores.
Rapid fire May is loco yo gig reviews 5: Sunset Rubdown - Crawdaddy
People should be allowed to have fun. I'm not a killjoy. If folks don't get in my way they can do whatever they want.
But sometimes I think folks should be breathalysed before being allowed into a gig. And I'm not talking about Spencer Krug here who played the gig at Crawdaddy last night completely plastered with seemingly no effect on his playing save for the second to last song where the tempo went to shit a couple of times. But enough talk of idiots who can't control their flailing elbows.
Save for the somewhat lengthy waits between songs, sometimes due to Krug scrambling around trying to find his beer, sometimes by the fact that the band had to climb around the really tight stage to get to whatever instrument they were playing at the time, I've no complaints about Sunset Rubdown's set. Unlike on Friday when their momentum was broken up a lot at the start by broken strings things went a lot more smoothly and save for "Snakes Got A Leg" and "3 Colours" I think they managed to squeeze pretty much every song I wanted to hear into their 80 minute set, including a completely sublime closing take on "The Empty Threats Of Little Lord" which featured Camilla Wynn Ingr using what appeared to be a pocket vibrator on her glockenspiel*. The new Wolf Parade (which has grown on me since I first heard it) is out soon and the band will be reconvening to tour the states to coincide with that and presumably they'll make it to Europe later in the year so god knows when Sunset Rubdown will be back. Not soon enough whenever it is.
By the way, support band Speck Mountain should brush up on their Geography. UK tour? 800 years, 800 YEARS GODAMNIT. Stupid Venezuelans.
* Glockenspiel is not a euphemism for anything.
But sometimes I think folks should be breathalysed before being allowed into a gig. And I'm not talking about Spencer Krug here who played the gig at Crawdaddy last night completely plastered with seemingly no effect on his playing save for the second to last song where the tempo went to shit a couple of times. But enough talk of idiots who can't control their flailing elbows.
Save for the somewhat lengthy waits between songs, sometimes due to Krug scrambling around trying to find his beer, sometimes by the fact that the band had to climb around the really tight stage to get to whatever instrument they were playing at the time, I've no complaints about Sunset Rubdown's set. Unlike on Friday when their momentum was broken up a lot at the start by broken strings things went a lot more smoothly and save for "Snakes Got A Leg" and "3 Colours" I think they managed to squeeze pretty much every song I wanted to hear into their 80 minute set, including a completely sublime closing take on "The Empty Threats Of Little Lord" which featured Camilla Wynn Ingr using what appeared to be a pocket vibrator on her glockenspiel*. The new Wolf Parade (which has grown on me since I first heard it) is out soon and the band will be reconvening to tour the states to coincide with that and presumably they'll make it to Europe later in the year so god knows when Sunset Rubdown will be back. Not soon enough whenever it is.
By the way, support band Speck Mountain should brush up on their Geography. UK tour? 800 years, 800 YEARS GODAMNIT. Stupid Venezuelans.
* Glockenspiel is not a euphemism for anything.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Rapid fire May is loco yo gig reviews 4: All Tomorrow's Parties - Minehead
I really hate my car sometimes. Despite the hundred odd thousand miles of service that it's given me over the years it chooses the most inopportune moments to cause me problems.
This evening for example, driving out of the long stay car-park in Dublin Airport it decided to start vomiting oil all over the road, not good. One reversion to childhood and a stressed out phone-call to my folks later and along comes Daddy to save me, or at least to give me a lift. My car is currently abandoned in a car park somewhere in North Dublin, I'll sort it out in the morning but if some fucker decided to rob it, crash it, and burn it out at this point I wouldn't shed a tear.
But that's the reason why I'm not at Animal Collective and Atlas Sound tonight. As it happens they had their own transport problems on the way over here and by my reckoning AC are just about now hitting the stage in Whelan's for the impromptu late gig that they had to arrange after missing their ferry earlier today. I could have made it after all but I'm too pissed off over the car and too generally tired from the weekend to make it through a late gig. But if it's anything like they were in Minehead last night it'll be a hell of a gig, everything the last one in Tripod should have been.
Friday at ATP began with sitting around a car park till 4 in the increasingly worsening drizzle for a couple of hours waiting for the time when we could enter the chalets. My only previous ATP experience is with one of the Camber ones a couple of years ago and that's a pretty bleak looking place but in spite of its far more pristine appearance trudging through misty rain in Minehead is a far more miserable experience than anything that living in the set of Hi Di Hi is. On the upside things went pretty much stratospheric after that.
Anyway, bands n' shit:
The Good And Great:
-After brief stints checking out Papier Tigre and Mono the first band I properly caught during the weekend was Sunset Rubdown. Actually as that band was the one on that bill that I most like but hadn't previously seen they were the one was most anticipating seeing throughout the whole weekend. It did not start well. Actually it started, then it stopped, then it started again, a couple of times. 2 broken guitar strings in 3 songs meant that it took them a while to really hit their stride but when they did ... it was moider. In a good way, a really really good way.
- Curators Explosions In The Sky. They did their thing, I liked it, as usual the stuff they played in 6/8 did far more for me than the rest of their material. They're forever at their best when there's a little swing in what they do but having seen them a couple of months ago I wasn't overly anxious to see the full set.
- Since last Tuesday I've been regretting not seeing the Hold Steady and going instead to see Yeasayer that night (it's been an reasonably stress free week, ordinarily I have more important regrets). Turns out I was wrong on both counts. If Friday night was any indication The Sugar Club was the place to be because The Octopus Project rocked my face off, far and away the most enjoyable thing I saw all weekend.
- Okkervil River. Despite having seen them a couple of times already I seem to always forget how much Will Sheff throws himself into his performances. Rockin'. And I thought that The Wren's Charles Bissell added a really cool new dynamic to the material with his (guest) guitar playing.
- I really enjoyed Phosphorescent when I saw him play upstairs in Whelan's a few weeks ago but I suspect that his gig was somewhat overshadowed by how good Why? were later that night. But on Friday night he was on a whole different level. Hopefully back in Ireland, with a full band, in July or so. Not one to be missed.
- Animal Collective, but I already said that.
- I can usually take or leave Four Tet live but he was pretty good this time around. Rocking the Tenori-on.
- The National, not as good as Thursday, better than Wednesday. Having seen them twice this week I didn't feel the need to watch the whole set but for the 20 minutes I was around for them they were getting the job done and most of the people there who weren't suffering from a slight case of National fatigue seemed to be into it.
- A Hawk And A Hacksaw. Big noise considering their lineup, I'd have been tapping my toe were it not for the fact that I was lying down on the fake grass.
- Despite some odd comments about Ireland from Dave Berman The Silver Jews hit the spot perfectly midway through Sunday afternoon. Berman's a lucky dude, great songs and, as the ATP handbook for the weekend pointed out, he's got "a hot band and a hotter wife."
- Dinosaur Jr. ripping into "Freakscene" as soon as I walked into the venue.
The Not Good And Great:
- Adem, with a big band he sounded like Snow Patrol or Coldplay.
- Broken Social Scene, it just felt really jam-bandy and dull. This impression wasn't helped by J Mascis, EITS and one of The Constantines showing up together on stage for one song.
- Battles, not them but the insanely long queues to get in to see them. We didn't even bother the first night and only got in 15 minutes into the set on the second night. They were good but for me I think it's something of a law of diminishing returns every time I see them. The sight of one of my mates dancing to Atlas may well be the personal highlight of the whole weekend.
- How fucking sheepish indie bands are about selling merch. Making money isn't a crime dudes. They should all take lessons from the Wu Tang crew who were pushing their shit on people all weekend.
- Missing Jens Lekman because I couldn't drag my exhausted arse out of the chalets and away from the rasher sandwiches we were having for breakfast. This meant that the first band I saw on Sunday were Polvo, who I really liked but hardly the best way to ease your way into day 3 of any festival.
- The flight home. Not so much fun. I don't think there's ever been a short haul flight in history where so many of the passengers fell asleep during the 45 minute flight time.
- Meeting Scott Devendorf from the National on Saturday night when walking back to the chalets and embarrassing him when I said to him that 30 seconds into our chat the handshake that we were continuing all the way through the conversation had become uncomfortably long. I felt like such a dick afterwards. By the way, second wind award for the weekend goes to his brother Bryan who looked like hell when I saw him at the bar on Sunday morning but a few hours later was bounding around the place shooting hoops.
So that's it for another year at least, I don't do the Christmas ones as my noise tolerance isn't up to much. As awful as it sounds I've got my fingers crossed that Real Emotional Trash tanks, I've heard stories.
This evening for example, driving out of the long stay car-park in Dublin Airport it decided to start vomiting oil all over the road, not good. One reversion to childhood and a stressed out phone-call to my folks later and along comes Daddy to save me, or at least to give me a lift. My car is currently abandoned in a car park somewhere in North Dublin, I'll sort it out in the morning but if some fucker decided to rob it, crash it, and burn it out at this point I wouldn't shed a tear.
But that's the reason why I'm not at Animal Collective and Atlas Sound tonight. As it happens they had their own transport problems on the way over here and by my reckoning AC are just about now hitting the stage in Whelan's for the impromptu late gig that they had to arrange after missing their ferry earlier today. I could have made it after all but I'm too pissed off over the car and too generally tired from the weekend to make it through a late gig. But if it's anything like they were in Minehead last night it'll be a hell of a gig, everything the last one in Tripod should have been.
Friday at ATP began with sitting around a car park till 4 in the increasingly worsening drizzle for a couple of hours waiting for the time when we could enter the chalets. My only previous ATP experience is with one of the Camber ones a couple of years ago and that's a pretty bleak looking place but in spite of its far more pristine appearance trudging through misty rain in Minehead is a far more miserable experience than anything that living in the set of Hi Di Hi is. On the upside things went pretty much stratospheric after that.
Anyway, bands n' shit:
The Good And Great:
-After brief stints checking out Papier Tigre and Mono the first band I properly caught during the weekend was Sunset Rubdown. Actually as that band was the one on that bill that I most like but hadn't previously seen they were the one was most anticipating seeing throughout the whole weekend. It did not start well. Actually it started, then it stopped, then it started again, a couple of times. 2 broken guitar strings in 3 songs meant that it took them a while to really hit their stride but when they did ... it was moider. In a good way, a really really good way.
- Curators Explosions In The Sky. They did their thing, I liked it, as usual the stuff they played in 6/8 did far more for me than the rest of their material. They're forever at their best when there's a little swing in what they do but having seen them a couple of months ago I wasn't overly anxious to see the full set.
- Since last Tuesday I've been regretting not seeing the Hold Steady and going instead to see Yeasayer that night (it's been an reasonably stress free week, ordinarily I have more important regrets). Turns out I was wrong on both counts. If Friday night was any indication The Sugar Club was the place to be because The Octopus Project rocked my face off, far and away the most enjoyable thing I saw all weekend.
- Okkervil River. Despite having seen them a couple of times already I seem to always forget how much Will Sheff throws himself into his performances. Rockin'. And I thought that The Wren's Charles Bissell added a really cool new dynamic to the material with his (guest) guitar playing.
- I really enjoyed Phosphorescent when I saw him play upstairs in Whelan's a few weeks ago but I suspect that his gig was somewhat overshadowed by how good Why? were later that night. But on Friday night he was on a whole different level. Hopefully back in Ireland, with a full band, in July or so. Not one to be missed.
- Animal Collective, but I already said that.
- I can usually take or leave Four Tet live but he was pretty good this time around. Rocking the Tenori-on.
- The National, not as good as Thursday, better than Wednesday. Having seen them twice this week I didn't feel the need to watch the whole set but for the 20 minutes I was around for them they were getting the job done and most of the people there who weren't suffering from a slight case of National fatigue seemed to be into it.
- A Hawk And A Hacksaw. Big noise considering their lineup, I'd have been tapping my toe were it not for the fact that I was lying down on the fake grass.
- Despite some odd comments about Ireland from Dave Berman The Silver Jews hit the spot perfectly midway through Sunday afternoon. Berman's a lucky dude, great songs and, as the ATP handbook for the weekend pointed out, he's got "a hot band and a hotter wife."
- Dinosaur Jr. ripping into "Freakscene" as soon as I walked into the venue.
The Not Good And Great:
- Adem, with a big band he sounded like Snow Patrol or Coldplay.
- Broken Social Scene, it just felt really jam-bandy and dull. This impression wasn't helped by J Mascis, EITS and one of The Constantines showing up together on stage for one song.
- Battles, not them but the insanely long queues to get in to see them. We didn't even bother the first night and only got in 15 minutes into the set on the second night. They were good but for me I think it's something of a law of diminishing returns every time I see them. The sight of one of my mates dancing to Atlas may well be the personal highlight of the whole weekend.
- How fucking sheepish indie bands are about selling merch. Making money isn't a crime dudes. They should all take lessons from the Wu Tang crew who were pushing their shit on people all weekend.
- Missing Jens Lekman because I couldn't drag my exhausted arse out of the chalets and away from the rasher sandwiches we were having for breakfast. This meant that the first band I saw on Sunday were Polvo, who I really liked but hardly the best way to ease your way into day 3 of any festival.
- The flight home. Not so much fun. I don't think there's ever been a short haul flight in history where so many of the passengers fell asleep during the 45 minute flight time.
- Meeting Scott Devendorf from the National on Saturday night when walking back to the chalets and embarrassing him when I said to him that 30 seconds into our chat the handshake that we were continuing all the way through the conversation had become uncomfortably long. I felt like such a dick afterwards. By the way, second wind award for the weekend goes to his brother Bryan who looked like hell when I saw him at the bar on Sunday morning but a few hours later was bounding around the place shooting hoops.
So that's it for another year at least, I don't do the Christmas ones as my noise tolerance isn't up to much. As awful as it sounds I've got my fingers crossed that Real Emotional Trash tanks, I've heard stories.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Rapid fire May is loco yo gig reviews 3: The National - The Olympia
A very wise puppet once repeatedly said, "That's the way to do it, That's the way to do it."
But he was a spouse abusing motherfucker so perhaps we should pay him no mind.
Nonetheless The National kicked my fucking ass tonight. The bass was still a little too low in the mix but otherwise all my previous problems were non-existent this time around.
But he was a spouse abusing motherfucker so perhaps we should pay him no mind.
Nonetheless The National kicked my fucking ass tonight. The bass was still a little too low in the mix but otherwise all my previous problems were non-existent this time around.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Rapid fire May is loco yo gig reviews 2: The National - The Olympia
My National fanboy credentials are impeccable. At the very least I've got a great deal of affection for everything that they've ever put out and I adore their 3 most recent audio releases. I'll also explain at great length to anyone who will let me how 2 of the most profoundly moving musical experiences I've ever had involved seeing The National live.
They were bad tonight.
I did not enjoy it at all.
Speaking to one of the people I was with who felt similarly let down afterwards he offered a number of possible reasons for the lacklustre nature of the gig. Phrases like "going through the motions" and "no attitude" were uttered and they may well be apt. But for me it comes down to a single sentence.
They sounded like shit.
The mix was an utter disaster. Perhaps it had something to do with where I was standing (directly in front of his amp) but Bryce Dessner's guitar was way too loud for most of the night but there were plenty of other problems that can't be explained away so easily; like how high Padma Newsome's vocals were in the mix, or how it was so difficult to hear the bass, and most unforgivably of all how low Bryan Devendorf's drumming (a.k.a. the thing that made Boxer brilliant more than any other contributing factor) was.
Oh and I get that they hired the 2 guys and want to get value out of paying their wages but if a song didn't need brass on the record it doesn't need it live either. I can happily live without the little added push that it gives the end of "Fake Empire" if it means I don't have to hear it on "Able".
In the interest of fairness I have no beef with Aaron Dessner's guitar volume.
They were bad tonight.
I did not enjoy it at all.
Speaking to one of the people I was with who felt similarly let down afterwards he offered a number of possible reasons for the lacklustre nature of the gig. Phrases like "going through the motions" and "no attitude" were uttered and they may well be apt. But for me it comes down to a single sentence.
They sounded like shit.
The mix was an utter disaster. Perhaps it had something to do with where I was standing (directly in front of his amp) but Bryce Dessner's guitar was way too loud for most of the night but there were plenty of other problems that can't be explained away so easily; like how high Padma Newsome's vocals were in the mix, or how it was so difficult to hear the bass, and most unforgivably of all how low Bryan Devendorf's drumming (a.k.a. the thing that made Boxer brilliant more than any other contributing factor) was.
Oh and I get that they hired the 2 guys and want to get value out of paying their wages but if a song didn't need brass on the record it doesn't need it live either. I can happily live without the little added push that it gives the end of "Fake Empire" if it means I don't have to hear it on "Able".
In the interest of fairness I have no beef with Aaron Dessner's guitar volume.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Rapid fire May is loco yo gig reviews 1: Yeasayer - Whelan's
Wow Yeasayer are shockingly popular in Dublin. Well, I'm not shocked that they're popular because despite what I'm about to write I do think All Hour Cymbals is a good album but considering it's a Tuesday night, during one of the most insane run of gigs to ever hit Dublin and that there are 3 other bands that I've have been delighted to see play in town tonight the fact that they pulled as many people into Whelans as they did (however many it is to mean that it's so uncomfortably crowded that they had to open the upstairs, that many).
And they're a great band, that is to say, they're great musicians. I don't think I've ever seen a band so effortlessly tight in a long while. If there was a bum note played I didn't catch it. And yet, the whole thing felt a little soulless, too pristine. Aside from the sight of a punter clamboring up on the stage to try and lead a clapalong twice I could have been listening to a record.
I shoulda gone to The Hold Steady.
And they're a great band, that is to say, they're great musicians. I don't think I've ever seen a band so effortlessly tight in a long while. If there was a bum note played I didn't catch it. And yet, the whole thing felt a little soulless, too pristine. Aside from the sight of a punter clamboring up on the stage to try and lead a clapalong twice I could have been listening to a record.
I shoulda gone to The Hold Steady.
Monday, May 12, 2008
The week and a half of gigging insanity begins ...
Tomorrow. Though considering that I've been to 4 gigs in the past 5 days maybe it began last Wednesday, and if I was so inclined I could pick between Saul Williams and Dinosaur Jr. tonight. I'll be sticking up a biggish hodge podge of a blog covering the last weeks gigs tomorrow when I half finish the half written reviews I've started but otherwise most of what I post in the next week will be short thoughts on whatever it was I went to the night before.
I'm tired already.
I'm tired already.
Friday, March 14, 2008
A Hawk And A Hacksaw dates.
Saturday 10 May
Cyprus Avenue, CORK
Doors 830pm
Tickets €12
http://www.cyprusavenue.ie
Sun 11th May.
Crawdaddy
A HAWK AND A HACKSAW
+ Wildbirds and Peacedrums
+ Chequerboard
Doors 8.00pm
Tix €15 incl bk fee
www.ticketmaster.ie
I wonder how events will conspire to mean they don't get to gig in Dublin this time.
Cyprus Avenue, CORK
Doors 830pm
Tickets €12
http://www.cyprusavenue.ie
Sun 11th May.
Crawdaddy
A HAWK AND A HACKSAW
+ Wildbirds and Peacedrums
+ Chequerboard
Doors 8.00pm
Tix €15 incl bk fee
www.ticketmaster.ie
I wonder how events will conspire to mean they don't get to gig in Dublin this time.
Friday, March 7, 2008
First Impressions: Tapes N' Tapes - Walk It Off.
Poor Tapes N' Tapes, busting outta Minneapolis in October 2005 with a cracking debut album in The Loon that was full of nods to Pixies and Pavement they somehow found themselves inextricably connected , at least in this part of the world, to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, who put out their first record around the same time. It was probably something something to do with shared vocal stylings and a somewhat messy aural aesthetic but bizarrely it was the Minnesotans who wound up playing second fiddle to the Philadelphia/Brooklyn band despite CYHSY's shocking live performances and more importantly lack of more than 4 good tunes.
Well nearly 3 years have gone by and it's a good 14 months since Clap Your Hands Say Yeah released their second album, a horrendous mess of a record entitled Some Loud Thunder which was produced by Dave Fridmann (Mercury Rev/Flaming Lips/Mogwai producer who has perhaps become far too fond of compression in recent years*) so now (actually April) is as good a time as any to try and shake the comparisons and release their second album ... which was produced by Dave Fridmann.
Oh dear.
It's OK though, Walk It Off is good. A bit less charmingly directionless then it's predecessor, the band certainly sound tighter and more focused this time over. It's a more polished effort but probably less hooky than The Loon. But that doesn't mean that it's a bad record, there are plenty of good songs on offer, particularly the opening and closing 3. The band seem to be at their best when they allow the songs room to breath and give their ideas the space to make themselves heard. The only songs on the album I really don't care for are the ones where things become difficult to hear, "Blunt" is a bit of a sludgy mess as is the chorus on "Headshock". That song being followed by "Conquest" illustrates perfectly where the album's problems lie and where things went right. But you can hear for yourself, the band are streaming the entire album from their website here.
MP3: Tapes n' Tapes - Le Ruse from Walk It Off
Tapes N' Tapes are playing Tripod in Dublin on the 27th of May. Ireland's various promoters seem determined to not give people an evening off that month.
* I wouldn't necessary blame Fridmann for not being able to make a good CYHSY album. But I hated the way the last Flaming Lips record sounded too.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Saul Williams Irish tour in, well guess when.
12 May Button Factory Dublin
13 May Cyprus Avenue Cork
14 May Roisin Dubh Galway
Here's the video for Saul's cover of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" from his last record.
13 May Cyprus Avenue Cork
14 May Roisin Dubh Galway
Here's the video for Saul's cover of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" from his last record.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Silver Jews Irish Tour
May 14 - Cyprus Avenue, Cork
May 15 - Roisin Dubh, Galway www.roisindubh.net/tickets.php
May 16 - Whelans, Dublin
May 15 - Roisin Dubh, Galway www.roisindubh.net/tickets.php
May 16 - Whelans, Dublin
The Octopus Project & Duchess Says
Forever presents:
May 13th, 2008
The Sugar Club, Dublin
Tickets: €14.00 inc booking fee from usual places.
www.myspace.com/theoctopusproject
www.myspace.com/duchesssays
Unfortunately it's the same night as Yeasayer in Whelans which is a shame. Octopus Project are really worth hearing.
May 13th, 2008
The Sugar Club, Dublin
Tickets: €14.00 inc booking fee from usual places.
www.myspace.com/theoctopusproject
www.myspace.com/duchesssays
Unfortunately it's the same night as Yeasayer in Whelans which is a shame. Octopus Project are really worth hearing.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
THIRD National date added.
May 12th in the Olympia. Edit: Or maybe it's the Ambassador.
Edit again: Or maybe it's the 13th in the Olympia, that's probably what it is.
You think if they'll throw in a ticket for this for people who already bought tickets for both of the other 2? Me neither.
Edit again: Or maybe it's the 13th in the Olympia, that's probably what it is.
You think if they'll throw in a ticket for this for people who already bought tickets for both of the other 2? Me neither.
Friday, February 15, 2008
If I was a from the North and had won €6.5 million on the Euromillions I wouldn't buy a Ferrari
I'd go to most of these gigs in May instead, I suspect the cost would be similar but I'd leave a smaller carbon footprint long term. I've been told footprints are important these days.
I've been regularly mentioning just how fantastic May is going to be for gigs so I thought it'd be useful to collect everything together in a single post in case there's something people haven't yet heard about.
10 - Jonathan Richman, Whelans
11 - Man Man, Whelans
12- Dinosaur Jr., The Acadamy
13 - Dinosaur Jr., Spring And Airbreak
13 - Yeasayer, Whelans
13 - The Hold Steady, The Acadamy
14 - The Hold Steady, Spring And Airbreak
14 - The National, The Olympia
15 - The National, The Olympia
15 - Battles, Liars, The Redneck Manifesto, Vicar St.
19 - Animal Collective, Tripod
20 - Sunset Rubdown, Crawdaddy
20 - Broken Social Scene, Vicar St.
22 - Xiu Xiu, Whelans
22 - Bruce Springsteen, RDS
23 - Bruce Springsteen, RDS
23 - Jens Lekman + band, somewhere in Belfast
24 - Jens Lekman + band, Roisin Dubh
23 - Jens Lekman + band, The Village
25 - Bruce Springsteen, RDS
I've got music by most of these scattered around this blog, that's what tags are for. If I'm missing anything then the comment box is always open.
Edit: Cheers Pedro.
Here's some other stuff that certainly won't be going to.
1 - Dirty Projectors, Roisin Dubh (They're in Whelans the night before).
2 - Dirty Projectors, Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival Belfast
And some that I'm not familiar enough with to judge ...
3 - Jamie Liddell, The Acadamy
13 - Black Mountain, The Button Factory
I've been regularly mentioning just how fantastic May is going to be for gigs so I thought it'd be useful to collect everything together in a single post in case there's something people haven't yet heard about.
10 - Jonathan Richman, Whelans
11 - Man Man, Whelans
12- Dinosaur Jr., The Acadamy
13 - Dinosaur Jr., Spring And Airbreak
13 - Yeasayer, Whelans
13 - The Hold Steady, The Acadamy
14 - The Hold Steady, Spring And Airbreak
14 - The National, The Olympia
15 - The National, The Olympia
15 - Battles, Liars, The Redneck Manifesto, Vicar St.
19 - Animal Collective, Tripod
20 - Sunset Rubdown, Crawdaddy
20 - Broken Social Scene, Vicar St.
22 - Xiu Xiu, Whelans
22 - Bruce Springsteen, RDS
23 - Bruce Springsteen, RDS
23 - Jens Lekman + band, somewhere in Belfast
24 - Jens Lekman + band, Roisin Dubh
23 - Jens Lekman + band, The Village
25 - Bruce Springsteen, RDS
I've got music by most of these scattered around this blog, that's what tags are for. If I'm missing anything then the comment box is always open.
Edit: Cheers Pedro.
Here's some other stuff that certainly won't be going to.
1 - Dirty Projectors, Roisin Dubh (They're in Whelans the night before).
2 - Dirty Projectors, Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival Belfast
And some that I'm not familiar enough with to judge ...
3 - Jamie Liddell, The Acadamy
13 - Black Mountain, The Button Factory
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