Fanfarlo - Finish Line

It's been a very busy few days with Easter and birthdays and all so while I work on my latest reviews, please have a look at Fanfarlo video below from their Bandstand Busking session.  This song is called Finish Line and is from their album Reservoir.




More bands can be seen doing some stripped down versions of their songs at www.bandstandbusking.com

Enjoy.

Besnard Lakes

Here is a little preview of what you can expect if you buy the new Besnard Lakes album, The Besnard Lakes are the Roaring Night.  This is the first two songs from the new album as one whole piece titled Like the Ocean, Like the Innocent parts 1&2 and I must say that I found it pretty damn impressive.

They remind of a more cumbersome, ballsy Sigur Ros, but with harmonies that remind me of the Beach Boys, and guitars like Neil Young (the soaring guitar at 4:13 in particular).  I really like the way they mix some dirty, fuzzed up guitars with some really sweet sounding vocals and catchy hooks to boot!

Check it out....



No, this isn't a music video as there isn't one as far as I'm aware! So you can just play this and go off and do your shopping online or something.

Dengue Fever

I dug these out from YouTube - Dengue Fever are an interesting little band, mixing eastern sounds with a bit of surfer rock thrown in.  Not for everyone, but I think they are a unique group with some creative ideas.

The first video is from Jools Holland and is called Seeing Hands, it has a deep groove to it that I like.



The next is a song called Mr Orange and this captures their energy and psychadelic mix of sounds:




Check out their album, Venus on Earth, on your spotifyererer.

Neil Young - Tonights The Night (1975) ****

After 8 years of listening to Neil Young I finally got round to getting Tonights the Night, and I have no idea why I left it so long.  I think it might be partly due to the fact that the actual song Tonights the Night isn't a Neil Young song that initially endeared itself to me and seeing as the man has such an extensive back catalogue to work through it was quite easy to get sidetracked.

Recently I had been talking to one of my friends about "classic" Neil Young albums and Tonights the Night kept on cropping up, yet neither of us owned it.  Reading staple Neil Young fan Biography, Shakey, really gave me a taster of what to expect on this album and helped open a door into the psyche of Neil Young at the time.   Tonights the Night was put together after the deaths of two of Young's closest friends, Bruce Berry and Danny Whitten, who both died of drug overdoses and this seemed to signify the end of the pot smoking hippy days that accompanied his previous six albums.  The Tonights the Night studio days are described as a "drunken Irish wake" and I'd say the songs are a fair reflection of that statement.  What I like about this album is that it just sounds like a bunch of music loving friends have got together in the dirtiest of studios, got drunk, and then started recording in a bid to lay their friends to rest, but maybe stoke up some more demons on the way.

There is such a rough, stumbling feel to the album, like the songs are just hanging together by a thread, and at some points such as the withering Mellow My Mind, you feel the thread is about to snap.  Neil Young doesn't have the best voice in the world but he offers such character in these songs and you can sense that this is a man who is frayed at the edges and worn down, even if you don't have prior knowledge of what was going on in his personal life.    The bar room blues of Speakin' Out ( "I've been a searcher, I've been a fool.  But I've been a long time comin' to you") and the lonesome Borrowed Tune ("I'm singin this borrowed tune, I stole from the Rollin' Stones, alone in this empty room, too wasted to write my own") show Young as vulnerable and looking for answers, possibly to where the hippy dream went wrong.  Albuquerque is another favourite of mine for its sweeping lap steel that adds a raw emotion to a song about escaping and getting far away to "somewhere where they don't care who I am".  The penultimate song on the Tonights the Night, Tired Eyes, is the story of how things had really changed since the days of Harvest and After the Goldrush.  Cocaine and Heroin were fast becoming the drugs of choice in L.A and one nasty deal-gone-wrong saw one of Young's acquaintances shoot and kill another dealer. In typical Young style you wouldn't get all this just from listening to the song but it is a classic example of how he shrouds real life in mystery whilst still painting a clear enough picture that gives you a glimpse of what happened.

The theme is pretty clear throughout Tonights the Night and for me this is an album about Neil Young escaping from the darkness that seemed to be taking over the chilled out vibe of L.A in the 70's.  It is documented that this was one of Young's heaviest periods of drink and drug abuse and in a way I think that has helped allow him to tap into his feelings and present an honest and open body of work.  The band is formed of people he had around him for years and it's this shoddy, loose playing that sets the vibe for these songs.  As Neil Young goes, this isn't an experimental record, comprised of a simple band of guitar, bass, drums, lap steel, piano and harmonica.  It is an album that is original and personal, yet using formulas that have been done many times before.  It is albums like Tonights the Night that make me really appreciate the simplicity of the music the 70's gave us and the lasting effect it has had on us.  It is rare to find something like this now, without it being produced within an inch of it's life or written by someone else for someone else to sing.

Ya Diggin'? Then try these: Nick Cave, David Bowie, Bob Dylan

Live From Brighton

The last week has seen a flurry of activity on the gig front and here are my thoughts on the bands I have seen in good old Brighton.

The Antlers - Hanbury Club, 5th March

You may remember me raving about the enchanting qualities of The Antlers most recent album, Hospice, here.  This album has been constantly played in my house over the last few months and I was really looking forward to seeing this album come to life when played live.  The Hanbury Club is a charming little spot that allows you to get right up close to the band, in fact even the average barfly could get a good view as it's a pretty small venue.  Getting up close to the band is something that you would think help create a more intense atmosphere, more unity between the group and their fans.  Unfortunately I didn't get that at this gig.  Many people at the show seemed to be there on the way to something bigger and better that night and the chatter that continued among the crowd all through the gig showed that as engaging as the album is, The Antlers struggled to recreate this intensity live. 


Most of Hospice was on display and many songs were re-worked to fit in with only having the three band members on stage.  This limited the effect of the songs and didn't allow them to build ambience as effectively as they could on their well polished album.  It was disappointing to hear one of my favourite tracks, Sylvia, transformed into a lifeless drone that didn't ache with any of the emotion that comes across so well on the album.  Sure enough, Two was the crowd pleaser as drummer Michael Lerner was allowed to fully express himself in what seemed like a fairly controlled performance from him throughout the show.  The drumming was one of the highlights of the evening for me, whether controlled or breaking out into a jazz-esque freefall.  Michael Lerner keeps The Antlers ticking along amongst the feedback and delay of Pete Silbermans guitar and Darcy Cicci's constant shimmering noise, and therefore adds more depth to the songs when performed live.


Vocally there were glimpses of Pete Silberman's delicate vocals but being up against such a wall of sound they created it was difficult to hear him clearly, which was a shame seeing as this is one of the most emotive aspects of Hospice.  There is no doubt that the songs on Hospice are firmly attached to The Antlers front man and he performed with conviction, despite teething problems with the sound to begin with.


Overall, a performance with feeling but lacking the hooks that got me so deeply into the album in the first place.


Set list not available.

First Aid Kit - The Hope, 8th March

Being the "smallest" of the groups I have seen in Brighton over the last few weeks I expected more of an intimate feel to this gig and I wasn't disappointed.  Pre-show, watching an open-mic night in the downstairs pub at The Hope, I noticed the girls from First Aid Kit mingling amongst the revellers and enjoying the acts onstage.  When it was time to go up to the tiny loft of a room where First Aid Kit were playing I was pleasantly surprised to see both Klara and Johanna Soderberg sitting at their merch stall and willing to chat to their fans.  Klara, the younger of the two, came across as confident and approachable whilst Johanna seemed a little shy and quiet and this gave us a little glimpse as to what to expect on stage.


Klara, guitar player and lead vocalist led the banter with the crowd with a sharp wit that I would have been proud of at 16 years of age.  Johanna dropped in the odd line but stayed safely behind her keyboard - only truly letting her guard down when immersing herself in the haunting melodies created by the two sisters.  The sisters worked their way through most of debut album The Big Black and The Blue, and a few cuts from The Drunken Trees EP and, at the risk of sounding like a patronising, yet admittedly, un-educated fool - these girls sounded like they had been doing this for years.  The confidence and maturity that is present in the delivery of their simple songs is captivating and kept the crowd on their toes. 


For me the highlights were Winter is All Over You, the un-amped Ghost Town, Our Own Pretty Ways, and surprise of the night for me - I Met Up With The King, a song that didn't quite do it for me on the album as referenced in my review of The Big Black and The Blue.  This song in particular came to life when played live and was delivered with more drive than the album version, which was partly thanks to the more present drumming in the live version.  The fact that First Aid Kit managed to keep surprising me throughout their hour long show (whether it was the clarity and range of their voices, their confidence, or the ability to make someone else's song their own) impressed and inspired me, because they made it look easy and we all know how tough it is to do that.


Grizzly Bear - Brighton Corn Exchange, 11th March

Set List: Southern Point, Cheerleader, Lullabye, Knife, Fine For Know, Two Weeks, Slow Life, Colorado, Deep Blue Sea, Ready Able, I Live With You, Foreground, While You Wait For The Others, On A Neck, On A Spit


Grizzly Bear rounded off the week of activity at the Corn Exchange and were supported by Beach House who were promoting their new album Teen Dream.  I like Beach House, but I can think of a lot of bands that I like so I don't know if that says much about them.  Victoria Legrand fronts their synth, loop heavy, woozathon with charisma but I found the songs labouring and all fairly similar.  I was impressed with the live vocals as this was one area that doesn't sit too comfortably on Teen Dream.  When I see a band live though I like to see them really pull it out of the bag and show me what they can do and for me, in this gig, Beach House could have just pressed play on Teen Dream and let it run.


From listening to Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest for the last six months I knew that I should be in for an interesting ride and I was keen to see how some songs shaped up live.  The fact they perform on stage in a line shows this is a band who think outside of the box.  They started with Southern Point which is by no means one of my favourite Grizzly Bear tunes and once they had dispensed of this there wasn't much to disappoint throughout the rest of the show - aside from the absence of the awesome All We Ask.  


Musically, Grizzly Bear are tight, fresh, and full of ideas and this was demonstrated on Lullaby, a song that I had heard a few times on their previous album Yellow House, but never really absorbed.  Hearing it live though took it to another level and really showed the versatility of the group.  Colorado, another cut from Yellow House was also a mini-epic of its own, erupting into an unpredictable firework display of drums whilst the vocals of Ed Droste were melancholic and confident throughout.  After seeing this gig I have certainly gone back to Yellow House and been able to appreciate it more so than before.  For all of Grizzly Bear's brilliance this is the one thing about them - initially, they don't seem that easy to listen to.  The songs can appear to lack melody, structure, or drive, and when I first listened to Yellow House and Veckatimest it took me a while to digest each of the songs.  However, what seems to be their flaw is also their unique quality and makes them such an interesting band to listen to.  On closer listening each song has a well thought out structure and depth that is often accompanied by some beautiful harmonies, of which all band members contribute to.


Individually the members of Grizzly Bear seems well trained musically and vocally, the strength of their harmonies in a live setting were at times a little quiet but did not disappoint.  Being someone who plays music this gig left me thinking more about what me and my band mates should look at doing and I think Grizzly Bear are worth seeing if you want to see how four people can create so much more than your standard verse-chorus nugget of pop.

Land Ahoy!

It has been a very busy couple of weeks since the last blog and I now find myself finally having a moment to reflect on a series of gigs in Brighton.  This folly started with The Antlers, at the Hanbury Club on the 5th March, then the enchanting First Aid Kit, at The Hope on the 8th, and things came to a head with probably the biggest band in this trio of shows: Grizzly Bear who were supported by the woozy sounds of Beach House.

I will report back with mini-reviews on each, plus more album reviews to come from some old and some new.  In the meantime, enjoy this little nugget from one of First Aid Kit's shows on their recent tour:



More to come,

SB

Megafaun - Gather, Form & Fly *****

 

I'd not heard of Megafaun until my wife bought their CD on a whim and when I finally got round to listening to Gather, Form & Fly I was blown away by what a refreshing and wonderful album this is.

This, the second album from the American three-piece, is a mixture of country, blues, folk, and experimental jazz all in one and the mix goes together without pretension.  This is an album with spirit and has been put together thoughtfully to give the listener a superb experience.  Listening to the album in it's entirety had me constantly trying to figure out what would come next.  The first three tracks, including the chirpy, yet wistful The Fade, hint that this could be a gem of an alt-folk album with some sweet harmonies.  But by Impressions of the Past I was whisked off down another path, by the type of instrumental that some bands may use an album closer or for an interlude.  The fact that they include it so early in the album shows what a strong, well suited and beautiful mess of a piece of music it is.

This album only allows sentimentality in small doses, there no settling on a certain genre here and although overall the album will be filed in the " folk", "country", and "blues" sections of music shops, on closer listening it is evident that there is much more going on.  The brooding The Process is driven by inventive percussion as is the start of Darkest Hour, another experimental cut of household noises that, whilst not all musical, allowed me to drift off with the storm that we hear on this track.  The sea-shanty vocals adds to a bizarre dream of a song and this is why I find this album so engaging.  It is the seemingly effortless building of atmosphere and feeling that Megafaun create that moves me.

The penultimate track, Guns, is a seven minute round the campfire singalong that has an uplifting melody which highlights the quality of the trios vocal mix.  These guys aren't the best vocalists in the world but there is a soft, characterful quality that gives them more emotion than Iron and Wine, but less grizzle than you will find on a Johnny Cash album and for me that is a solid mix.

Ya Diggin'? Then try these: Sufjan Stevens, Akron Family, The Low Anthem

Midlake - The Courage of Others **

On listening to this album through my CD player I couldn't quite get a grip on what was good or bad about The Courage of Others, the third album from Midlake.  Sure enough it was misty, olde worlde rock that combined some good harmonies with subtle guitar work - but nothing really stood out.  It wasn't until listening to the full album on my headphones that the different layers and elements of this album came to life, so I suggest a chilled evening and a comfy chair for this one.

Even with this more enhanced sonic experience I am still yet to be 100% convinced that the songs stand out from each other.  They all seem to have that epic middle-earth feel to them, striving for the better future or the true love.  Listening more closely to the album though allowed me to notice how tight Midlake are as a band.  I am a big fan of bands constantly re-inventing themselves whilst still appealing to the fans who supported them in the first place and Midlake seem keen to further their style on each album.  This time round they pay homage to the eerie folk rock of early King Crimson, and the epic mystical songs of Led Zeppelin.  Also, Midlake have a great sound, the guitar is often beautiful and delicate, the flutes add a gentle melancholy, and the impressive drumming adds depth to some songs, yet I can't help feeling that is seems a little contrived.  The fact that this album sticks so closely to the folk rock genre they have seemingly chosen for this album makes me wonder whether this was a pre-determined course or simply a coincidence.  Clearly, Midlake are all very good musicians but this does seem a bit like English folk by numbers.

Opening track Acts of Man has a noodling acoustic guitar, accompanied by lo-fi drums and the mournful harmonies that are, for me, a key part of Midlake's appeal.  The pace of the album doesn't really change and whilst that doesn't bother me too much it is dissapointing that there isn't much variation in the songs.  Whilst Winter Dies and Small Mountain are pleasant enough, it all gets a bit repetitive after that.  Standout track Children of the Grounds starts with a bit more urgency to set itself aside from the pack and the distorted wail of the guitar adds a celtic dynamic before settling back into a familiar stomp.  The Horn is also striving to be noticed and a heavier feel to this song helped engage me a bit more with its searching melody.  Title track The Courage of Others takes me back to listening to The Court of The Crimson King, but doesn't leave me with the same feeling of wanting more that King Crimson did, despite a fuzzy guitar solo to close the song.

This album is a grower though and I hope that the more I listen to it, the songs will come into their own.  In my opinion the problem with doing an album in a genre that was done so well many years ago is that you constantly put yourself up against all the people that made this sound great in the first place. Unfortunately, anything else sometimes seems like an effort to capture a vibe that was only ever about one time, place, and movement.  Midlake are no doubt going to keep making good music, but I hope that they don't feel like they have to tip their hat to all the key genres that have given us the wealth of talent we already have at our disposal today.  I think they can be better than that.

Ya Diggin'? Then try these: Wilco, Nick Drake, Fairport Convention

The Antlers - Hospice ***

Hospice is a beautifully sad concept album that lyrically deals with the breakdown of a relationship between husband and wife as the latter is suffering with terminal cancer.  To whatever extent the albums story reflects the experiences of lead member Peter Silberman, or its references to Sylvia Plath, it is the lovingly crafted story of a husband and wife that most interests.  Rather than depict a true love, until the bitter end, fairytale romance - this is the rough, raw side of love that sometimes people are too scared to talk about.  Musically this isn't an album that drifts along with convention as the songs seem to have a life of their own.  This is what I loved the first time I first listened to this album as the songs reached out and grabbed me and left me transfixed, whether it was the ghostly Thirteen or the waltzing Shiva.


The album opens with the instrumental, Prologue, a bleak soundscape that sets the tone for the story.  It is a frozen, desolate landscape that leads into Kettering and the introduction of Peter Silberman's voice, a delicate and gentle tone that sometimes disguises the dark content of his lyrics.  His fragility makes the words hit home even harder, a philosophical husband looking out at the start of the story ("I wish I had known the first minute we met, the unpayable debt that I owed you") it is enough to make the heart ache a little.  Gentle piano accompanies the vocals until a funeral march of drums kicks in with a rising wave of feedback and guitars, adding an epic feel to the end of the song.


There are the odd moments of radio(ish) alt-pop/rock that come in the shape of Bear, an upbeat nursery rhyme of a song that masks a very personal and distressing time for the couple.  Two is the kind of song you might see in One Tree Hill as part of a moving montage.  The song builds slowly, starting with a simple two-chord guitar until a steady beat allows the piano, synths, feedback, and percussion to create a moving background to a song that documents a husband looking back on his life and realising there is no going back.


Clocking in at 52 minutes you wouldn't want this album to be any longer.  The tone and melancholic vibe of these songs as a collective don't make it an album you would play whilst entertaining the in-laws.  Hospice is best kept for a late night with a good friend, or a frosty morning stroll.


Ya Diggin'? Then try these: Dirty Projectors, Caribou, Fanfarlo

Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM ****

I get drawn in deeper each time I listen to this album and there are a few reasons why: Charlotte Gainsbourg intrigues me (as the daughter of one of the most famous French musicians ever (her Father was sex-pop-genre-hopper, Serge Gainsbourg) and it is interesting to hear how he has influenced her musically.  Secondly, she seems to have little confidence behind a microphone yet has an adorable charm that comes through across the board on IRM.  Finally, she doesn’t write any of the lyrics (something I have previously lambasted “singer/songwriters” for in the past) but there is a wonderful connection between Gainsbourg and the content of this album.  The supplier of ammunition on IRM is possibly the modern incarnation of Gainsbourg Senior, Beck Hansen.

With Beck in the helm as producer you know you are in for an experience, and he doesn’t disappoint, tracks like the riffing Trick Pony and melodic Heaven Can Wait would have fitted comfortably on Hansen’s 2005 album, Guero.  IRM embraces Beck’s versatility and the result is a varied, slick mix of styles and genres.  World music percussion kicks off opening track Masters Hands, and from there we experience everything from the brooding thriller of Les Chat du Café Des Artistes, to the eerie acoustic folk of Me and Jane Doe.  Gainsbourg’s delicate vocals are highlighted on the experimental IRM and the awkward Greenwich Mean Time.  To me though it doesn’t matter that Gainsbourg doesn’t have a powerful voice to carry the punchy number as what she does beautifully is the delicate, sweet, and vulnerable.  This is shown on In the End, and Time of the Assassins.  In fact, the hippy bounce of Dandelion almost see’s her come across as breathy and seductive as the subtle strings and horns help keep the loose groove moving.  The standout track for me is La Collectionneuse - a plodding mystery that beautifully combines piano, strings, and haunting melodies.  This song really feels like Gainsbourg is getting into her role and the brilliant ending sees the strings build suspense as she recites extracts of poetry in her French whisper.

After listening to IRM I can feel hints of reflection in Gainsbourg’s style that could reference her life in the shadow of her Father, one that maybe she is now feeling comfortable emerging from.  The fact that there are so many different sounds on this album suggests that this is an artist who is willing to take risks and feels comfortable doing so.  This album has made me appreciate the skill required to get inside of someone else’s songs and make them your own whilst preserving your own mystique at the same time.




Ya Diggin'? Then try these: Beach House, Lightning Dust, Francoise Hardy

First Aid Kit - The Big Black & The Blue *** (out of five)

Anyone familiar with Klara and Johanna Soderberg’s version of Fleet Foxes Tiger Mountain Peasant Song on YouTube  will probably already be in love with these Swedish sisters before hearing this, their debut album following on from the brilliant Drunken Trees EP.

Although they are both not yet twenty (born 1990 and 1993 respectively) they clearly have their heads screwed on when it comes to positioning themselves in the market.  It is refreshing to see a young group who write and perform their own songs with such belief.  The duo’s MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/thisisfirstaidkit) clearly marks out their feelings on why they make their music: “We aim for the hearts, not the charts”.  The Big Black & The Blue is a clear example of how they intend to back up this statement. 

In all honesty , these are simple back porch songs with subtle glimpses of instruments other than the acoustic guitar: minimal percussion, mandolin, xylophone, and organ -but there is something more to these folksy ballads that conjures the cliché ‘old souls’.  If you don’t have a back porch available then put this on in the evening and just let it play, it’s an honest album that will sit well with you whether doing the washing up or if you are suffering the breakup blues.

 Lyrically the songs look at topics most young people want to know the answers to: religion, love, and politics.  It’s the delivery of these lyrics that add feeling, sorrow, and passion to this album.  The charms of their vocal harmonies greet you right from the start of In the Morning and are shimmering right through to Wills of the River.  The standout harmonies appear on Sailor Song, Heavy Storm, the mournful Ghost Town, and Winter is All Over You.  However, even the strong vocal work can’t hide the weaker tracks.  The opening chords of Hard Believer sound almost too commercial and folk-pop for this album and it was no surprise to see this pop up as a promo video months ago.  New single I Met Up With The King is a dark fairytale that feels rushed and doesn’t really go anywhere.   Reading deeper into the bored and irritated “Well Thank God” at the end of the final verse could hint at the tiring journey they have been on since posting that famous cover on YouTube two years ago. 

How the Soderberg sisters build on the stripped back feel that is on The Big Black & The Blue will be interesting.  Admirable as it is to have not compromised their style it seems more depth might be needed on future releases.   The collection of songs First Aid Kit now have is impressive but limited and if they can expand their style then they have a very bright future.


Check out their blog here: http://firstaidkitmusic.tumblr.com/

Ya Diggin'? Then try these: Fleet Foxes, Megafaun, Iron & Wine