Last night we had a treat in Paris' hipster mecca as Villagers supported Wild Beasts, both giving excellent performances. "Villagers" was in fact only main man Conor J O'Brien. In a "reverse Jape" move, Conor appeared on stage to say "Hi, I'm Villagers", which is just grammatically incorrect.... His performance allowed me to forgive the grammar though, as he offered a lovely solo guitar show, often going off-mic to give the room a genuine show of his superb voice. A passionate performer and story teller, he truly is one of today's Irish music stars, and I look forward to seeing a lot more of him. Enjoy the video to Meaning of the Ritual below
Wild Beasts are clearly a flavour of the month at the moment, and with good reason on this showing. An extremely tight show, with two gifted vocalists among their foursome, and some seriously driving songs that drifted from Foals-esque turbo-charged drum/synth led belters to glorious electro-popscapes that nod back to the likes of New Order. If I had to complain, one could argue that there were times where it felt a bit repetitive, but all in all these guys put on a great show and seem to have the talent to be more than a summer buzz band. Check out We Still Got The Taste Dancin' on Our Tongues below, a true gem, more in the Foalsesque category from above.
Matias Aguayo released one of 2009's more unconventional albums in Ay Ay Ay. Formed mostly around the human voice in varying chants, percussive samples and languages, it is a departure from the standard techno flavour of Kompakt's output over the past number of years. Aguayo himself has moved away from the minimal sound that forged his reputation, he is one half of Closer Musik (with Dirk Leyers). I don't feel that Ay Ay Ay represents a new dawn for all things around the 120bpm mark but it is something different to wrap your ears around. The lead track 'Menta Latte' can annoy and delight in equal measures with its numerous layered vocals. First single 'Rollerskate' is a worth a whirl and will have your head moving before you know it. My favourite track has to be the sinister sounding 'Ay Shit - The Master'.
Ay Ay Ay was released on 26 October 2009 on Kompakt records. Buy here.
50.Red, Yellow & Blue - Born Ruffians (2008) 49. Happy Birthday - Modeselektor (2007) 48.Shotter's Nation - Babyshambles (2007) 47.Airdrawndagger - Sasha (2002) 46.We Thrive on Big Cities - Director (2006) 45.The Reminder - Feist (2007) 44.Antidotes - Foals (2008) 43.Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (2005) 42.Destroy Rock & Roll - Mylo (2004) 41.From Here We Go Sublime - The Field (2007) 40.This Gift - Sons & Daughters (2008) 39.O - Damien Rice (2002) 38. The Magic Numbers - The Magic Numbers (2005) 37.Organics Sampler - R.S.A.G. (2008) 36.Dear Science - TV on the Radio (2008) 35.The XX - The XX (2009) 34.Asa Breed - Matthew Dear (2007) 33.Fabric 36 - Ricardo Villalobos (2007) 32.Veckatimest - Grizzly Bear(2009) 31.The Warning - Hot Chip (2006) 30.A Certain Trigger - Maximo Park (2005) 29.Colour It In - The Maccabees (2007) 28.Kasabian - Kasabian (2004) 27.Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires (2008) 26.College Dropout - Kanye West (2004) 25.Tales of Silversleeve - Cathy Davey (2007) 24.Good News For People Who Love Bad News - Modest Mouse (2004) 23.Hot Fuss - The Killers (2004) 22.Power in Numbers - Jurassic 5 (2002) 21.Long Distance Swimmer - Adrian Crowley (2008) 20.Flock - Bell X1 (2005) 19.Simple Things - Zero 7 (2001) 18.Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (2008) 17. Ritual - Jape (2008) 16.Saturdays = Youth - M83 (2008) 15.Untrue - Burial (2007) 14.Silent Alarm - Bloc Party (2005) 13.Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys (2006) 12.Aha Shake Hearbreak - Kings of Leon (2004) 11.Funeral - The Arcade Fire (2004)
American troubled genius Andrew Bird brought his solo act to Paris last Friday to the delight of a sold out Casino de Paris. While there were many highlights, including the classic Imitosis, there was definitely a sense that Bird is at the end of a long, sleepless frenzied journey*. The sounds were great, his genius was obvious, but the energy did not seem to be there in his one-man violin/whistling/xylophone/guitar show. Although this comparison is harsh considering the talent of Owen Palett, Bird's show falls a long way short of Final Fantasy's equivalent. The encore really left us with a smile, as Ben Jaffe from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band (not sure where that is...) joined Bird on stage with his tuba for two barnstorming tracks. Here is one below:
*not only was there a sense, he actually said "I've been on the go for a long time and I need a break"
Sunshine. Volvo Ocean Race. Salthill Five-a-Sides. And an unforgettable gig. Owen Pallett, and the RoisinDubh, combined to give us one of those nights. The stunning silence during his songs, the thunderous reaction as he finished each one, the four encores; they all reaffirmed in us Dublin-based exiles that the Roisin really is the tits. Special mention must go to Jape, for both his raucous Friday night show and his acoustic support on Saturday. Happy Birthday RoisinDubh.
The excitement preceding the release of the collaboration between Kieran Hebden and Will Bevan was evident all over blogs and the music press for the past while. Released without any audio samples, art or sleeve notes, it is simply two pieces of music pressed onto a black labelled vinyl. 'Moth' veers towards the Burial school of music. In his trademark style the beat is 2/dub step with a distorted vocal delivering that familiar dream-like feeling. The background house-style groove is surely Hebden's influence. This is a fantastic track and whets the appetite nicely for further material(we live in hope). 'Wolf Cub' isn't bad, but didn't have the same impact as its accompaning track. The intro is clearly Hebden's work and when the woodblock beat kicks you can't help feel that the styles are contrasting too heavily on this one. You will be hard pressed to get your hands on a physical copy for the forseeable future as many online stores are out of stock. I can, however, point you in the right direction if you are partial to digital.
Long-awaited around these parts, Erlend Oye and his boys are back with the follow-up to the scandalously good Dreams. Rules, released yesterday and bought with real money by me today, has the excitement surrounding their London gig on April 16 at fever pitch (sorry Eoin). Deliciously plucky basslines incessently punctuate the album, providing a rhythm that forces one to bop along, grinning. The other ubiquitous joy is Oye's vocal, which is, as always spot on. The man is a genius. Or God. Maybe he's God. The pure funk of Courage, the dimly-lit lounge room vibe of Rollercoaster Ride and Gravity, the sunny toe-tapper 1517* are among my highlights after a first listen. To be honest, it's all good. I'm so bloody happy about the whole thing that I'll post two mp3's.
*At times I think I can sense a bit of a sample** from "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" in this one. Am I dreaming?? ** Metaphysical question of the day: When an acoustic band has a sound that mimics that of an electronic act, can it really be called a sample??
The Whitest Boy Alive play La Scala, London, Thurs April 16
Chicago band in the ilk of Mogwai and Pelican, Russian Circles have not achieved a massive amount of attention yet. Their first release was Enter in 2006, which I cannot get my hands on easily. Last year's Station has thankfully fallen my way in the last few weeks, and it is an addictive little one. Full of the epic crescendos and big big soundscapes that have made Mogwai famous, the Chicago boys certainly seem to have a lot to offer based on this short 6-track album. Campaign is a gloriously slow burning starter, flowing along with tepid guitar plucking which gently rises in intensity to leave us tapping our feet to a gorgeous riff, without ever delivering the massive noise we would expect from many bands of this ilk. Harper Lewis, Youngblood and Station are more aggressive affairs which show off the metal-inspired edge that RC clearly have in their repertoire. These songs get the blood boiling a little bit and definitely come with an emotional charge. You can almost picture a baddie running down an alley from a cop in a movie that will surely use these tracks in the near future. Verses and Xavii sound almost like tracks off the early soothing Sigur Ros album, (), really beautiful stuff. Thanks to Euan for the tip-off. These guys rock, and with that range in their capability, I hope we'll see a bit more of them as time passes. Russian Circles - Campaign
Canadian electro/pop duo Junior Boys have finally released the long-awaited follow to their classic album So this is Goodbye. While continuing the standard of the aforementioned was a nigh-on impossible task, Begone Dull Care does a damn good job trying. The subtle shift they have undergone over a two year period in which they have dabbled in mix CDs for Body Language amongst others and performed DJ sets (which were of a far higher quality than the average tripe on show at such charades) is certainly evident here. Louder, more extravagant synths, a faster pace and elements at times bordering on funk make this a more colourful work than the more industrial, austere yet utterly brilliant So this is Goodbye*. Parallel Lines is an absolute gem which will feature on playlists for months on end. All in all however I think despite the positives this is a step backwards in terms of sophistication and sheer quality from their previous work. Which means it is still better than most releases we will come across this year.
Cloudy recollection of this one, to say the least. It's getting silly - James Holden in Spy? Can't remember. Michael Mayer? Not a bean. Broken Social Scene last May? Hammered. Absolutely hammered. It has to stop.
Fortunately, despite the best efforts of an evening drinking whiskey and singing God Save the Queen at Croker, this one wasn't quite so bad. For this was a night too good to be forgotten; a late set from Four Tet to a sold out - and wildly giddy - Andrews Lane on a Saturday night should really do the trick. And it did. Lots. Hebdon performed every track from his Ringer Ep of last year*, together with a rapturously received smattering of his more organic stuff from Rounds and Everything Ecstatic (not sure if any Pause tunes surfaced - I refer you to the asterisk below). The contrast with my last Four Tet experience (at a largely distracted End in London last spring) was stark - he had us utterly gripped throughout. One got the sense that this was an artist at his peak; ten years of experimentalism, of folktronica, jazz fusions and abstract remixes giving way to a evening of joyous celebration and energy. Here's hoping the word spreads.
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Someone got a very annoying video of Ringer that stops just before it gets going on 8 minutes. It's worth watching to see the guy dancing on stage at 7:30
This one had all the characteristics to be the "I was there when they played at Whelan's" gig for 2009, following on from annyoing comments from hipsters who attended Fleet Foxes and The National inter alia at the hallowed venue in previous years. While this gig may not quite have lived up to that kind of billing, there was definitely a sense that we were witnessing something big in the making last Sunday night. Hockey opened the bill, bringing their own unique style, which might be described as "we look like Foals, but we're far happier, less indulgent, funkier, and our lead singer is a much friendlier guy". With these characteristics comes a lack of edge which will most likely make them less serious contenders than the Oxford crew. Lead vocal was scarily strong, at times leading one to wonder if it was indeed a CD playing. Belters such as Too Fake and Song Away had the room well and truly bouncing, although it must be admitted that among their extensive repertoire of, em, 6 songs, there are a feww fillers.
Very very strong support was then followed by a sublime show from Passion Pit, arguably this year's most touted group in the "blogosphere". A phenomenally idiosyncraticly high-pitched vocal from Michael Angelakos does tempt one to think they are a bit of a fad, but the lack of headbands and neon helped assuage our fears, as PP launched into their own brand of electro-nerdy-funk from the Chunk of Change EP. In all honesty Angelakos actually faltered at times as he seemed to struggle to continually keep at such a high pitch. Their synth man was the real hero for me, brimming with so much enthusiasm that at times it seemed his head would fall off from his bopping. Highlight of the night was the riveting rendition of Sleepyhead nearly took the roof off Whelan's to finish the main set. This was bizarrely followed by a fairly lame lead-vocal-does-solo-track-on-his-own to finish up. Robin Pecknold can sleep easily on that account.
Both these bands will definitely fly high this year and I have no doubt we will all be dancing our asses off all summer to tracks from both. As for it being the "I was there when they played Whelan's" gig, em, maybe. I was there though. Here is Sleepyhead from Sunday night
Foals' album Antidotes is going to feature heavily when we get around to those annoying inevitable end-of-year reminisces. In my opinion it is among the defining albums, along with Hot Chip's The Warning and LCD Soundsystem's Sound of Silver in the genre crossing of indie, electro and pop which has proliferated in the past few years. Unforunately it seems that success has got to leadman Yannis' head a bit. To be honest, he seems a bit of a tosser, lost playing the role in some sort of real-life Spinal Tap parody*. He also climbed up onto the speakers at one stage, which were churning out the typically crap sound the Ambassador offers, and also threw a drum around the stage. The bizarre thing is the other four members of Foals seem much more grounded, bouncing and moving along to their fantastically energetic and addictive sound. They gave a sterling show, rattling off the album with much aplomb. But I must admit Yannis' tossery** will be my abiding memory, coupled with the staggeringly young age of the crowd, with no alcohol on sale downstairs. Literally a teen disco. In summary, Foals rule. But the night didn't really.
* He actually asked the crowd if they believed in the devil at one stage.
** Just made up that word there. I knew Eoin would like it
Judging by the amount if time I spend writing about Fabric releases you could be excused for thinking that I work for the London imprint. No such luck unfortunately. It can only, therefore, be explained by the diverse and consistently high standard of their regular Fabric & Fabricliveseries. With John Tejada set to release Fabric 44 on 12 January 2009 and the recent delivery of Fabric 43 by Metro Area, the respected compilation series continues to command the attention and reverence of all those electronically inclined.
Today, I'm hoping to cast your attention into the series back catalogue, Fabriclive 36in particular. Compiled by James Murphy and Pat Mahoney, the compilation is not something you would expect to hear on an average night in the London superclub. It is, however, a joy to listen to. The tracks move between disco and house with a very fun, authentic and old-school vibe prominent throughout. It really is a collection of sounds that will transport you to a different world. The at-times rough mixing only seem to add to what has been described as an "off-the-cuff" mix. It evokes similar emotions to those experienced on spending just a tad over three-quarters of an hour listening (running?) to 45:33; peaks, troughs and an over-whelming sense of feel good.
Fabriclive 36 - James Murphy & Pat Mahoney is avaialble to purchase here.
P.S. There were some rumours circulating the interweb this past week that LCD Soundsystem had been put on hold by James Murphy, with some declaring the end of the Murphy-led collective. It was soon clarified as being rubbish with the happy conclusion that new material could be expected in the new year. Delighted.
Bloc Party's third album Intimacy was plunged upon the world, in blitzkrieg fashion, as a digital release last August, a whole 2 months before the physical edition was available to buy. The band later revealed that they decided to rush-release the album due to the fact that they had, in the past, grown tired of material by the time the album tours commenced. This reluctance to sit on finished material resulted in the surprise appearance of Intimacy on 21 August. The expected industry buzz failed to materialise and it was not until the full CD release in October that reviews etc began to appear in all the familiar places. The band expressed excitement at the prospect of being able to tour with the new album so soon after it's completion. An unusual, but interesting way, to go about an album release.
Intimacy continues along familiar lines to their previous outputs with electronic influences and tales of modern life. Produced by Jacknife Lee and Paul 'Phones' Epworth, it succeeds to an extent in fulfilling Kele Okereke's ambition to combine the 'rawness' of Silent Alarm with the 'experience' of A Weekend In The City. Album openers 'Ares' and 'Mercury' snatch the listener's attention, with their soaring drum patterns and Kele's trademark vocals. Matt Tong has to be commended for yet-another energetic performance on drums: he surely is one of the finest stick men of the past number of years. Other points of merit on a characteristic, satisfying album include the subtle tones of 'Ion Square' and the head noddingly-good riffs bursting out on 'Trojan Horse' and 'One Month Off'. The softer moments in 'Signs' prove than Bloc Party are still capable of producing emotive tracks along the lines of 'This Modern Love'.
With such a quick turnaround between album release and tour it will be telling to see how the live show has transferred from the studio to the live setting. At this stage the enthusiasm for the material should not have wained so it has the makings of a show to remember. We were quietly surprised by how much we enjoyed their biggest headline show, to that point, in Pheonix Park last November. With many quality tracks in their back catalogue and some gems in the latest effort, I can feel a growing excitment in the lead up to this one.
Bloc Party play Horden Pavilion, Sydney on the 25th & 26th of November. Tickets for both shows are sold out.
The CD version of the album contains additional tracks to the digital release. 'Talons', not included on the digital release, has subsequently been released as a single.
We left Tripod on Saturday night feeling empty. TV on the Radio, one of the quirkiest, most interesting, most genre-mashing bands around, have recently released an album, Dear Science, of sublime quality. But whatever went wrong, it just didn't work live. The horns, bells and other subtleties which make their tracks so special were either inaudible or absent, and the layers of each track were indistinguishable. The most enjoyable parts of the gig were the moments I spent filling in the gaps and humming along in my head. Leadman Tunde Adepimbe's voice didn't travel well at all, which is an indictment of him as a performer, but in his defence even when he talked between songs we could hardly hear, suggesting some of the blame lies with Tripod here too. An unfortunate night, which started with huge expectations. Would love to hear if anyone else has experienced this kind of thing in Tripod lately. It seemed a little odd as they really put emphasis on the sound system when it first opened. A video of TVotR from Later.. with Jools Holland would suggest a lot of the blame lies with the band unfortunately...
TV on the Radio's seminal Return to Cookie Mountain has to go down as one of the best albums of the last few years, really putting them at the top of any self-respecting hipster's iphone playlist. After such a monumental achievement, the task of living up to expectations with the recently released Dear Science was always going to be tough. Yet somehow I think they have managed it. The quality, talent and range of TVotR is on full show again in what is likely to be leading the really annoying "album of the year" lists on blogs the world over come December*. From the subtle violin and piano touches of Family Tree (which sounds like some sort of Bloc Party-Sigur Ros hybrid), to the gorgeous Shoegaze of Halfway Home, onto the driving energy of Dancing Choose (which will sound familiar to anyone who only knows TVotR for their classic Wolf Like Me) via a wide spectrum of what lies in between, this album never disappoints. The vocals of frontman Tunde Adebimpe, which draw heavily on gospel influences as far as I can see, and at times even remind one of the great MJ, along with the heavily Afro-Drum influenced percussion, are a highlight for me throughout. TVotR play in Tripod next Sat 15th Nov as part of the Heineken Green Synergy festival. Should be a stormer. The line up is pretty impressive for the week, with Cut Copy, Adrian Crowley, Presets, Florence and the Machine and the legendary Herbie Hancock, one of the greatest living jazzmen, all making an appearance in Dublin. After the DEAF weekender so recently, it seems that Dublin is the city that just keeps on giving.
Mogwai have been called plenty of things over the years: Post-Rock, Psychedelic, Instrumentalist, Experimental. I'm not really sure what any of these things mean but it seems to me that they are some combination of all of the above. Their newest offering, The Hawk is Howling, is certainly evidence that they have lost none of the magic that has led to the huge cult following that Glasgow outfit enjoy. This fully instrumental album (see above genre-dropping) starts off in subtle and colourful mood with the inappropriately named I'm Jim Morrisson, I'm Dead, which invokes memories of Apparat and Ulrich Schnauss. Things take a darker twist, in a direction I would associate more with Mogwai, as the epic, full and angry sound of Batcat takes over, only for us to be taken back to earth as the subtle xylophones and slow drums of Daphne and The Brain, Local Authority and Kings Meadow bring the pace right down. The upbeat elements of the album are on full show in The Sun Smells too Loud, which dissects the aforementioned triplet. Potentially the highlight (apart from the opener) for me is the long drawn-out build up, and in-character sinister dark chords of "I Love You, I'm Going to Blow up Your School", which does literally blow up 6 and a half minutes in, to give us that epic My Bloody Valentine-esque room-filling loudness that threatened to take over in Batcat. From this crescendo the album finishes out in a much more lamenting, introspective style with the funereal Scotland's Shame, Thank You Space Expert,and The Precipice. This intensely personal album does take the listener on a journey of sorts. The dark overtones, surely inspired by the inner-city Glaswegian landscape from which Mogwai are known to take inspiration, are interspersed with genuinely bright pepperings of positivity and some awe-inspiring epic climaxes which really does make this a tour-de-force of what Mogwai are all about. Highly recommended.
Here's a video of them performing I'm Jim Morrisson, I'm dead. Unbelievable track.
Richie Hawtin, the man credited with coming up with the whole concept of minimal techno during his Platikman days, has built a veritable empire in the form of his M_nus record label. The empire is celebrating its tenth birthday with a series of gigs aroung the world revolving around the Contakt theme. Ed has already blogged about this concept, but essentially it involves a cube that feeds off the energy of the crowd and I'm not really sure what's meant to happen after that. It is all a bit pretentious and not really in keeping with what these kind of things should be about, which is the music. Thankfully, M_nus cannot be attacked too much, for despite all the peripheral fluff, the music has been blazing a trail for years and is still in full flow. There has been much talk of the demise of minimal techno of late, with its gradual replacement by something a bit deeper and a bit more soulful. While I agree that a lot of generic minimal techno has come out as it has become the "in" format of electronic music these last few years, I feel that rumours of its death have been greatly exaggerated, to paraphrase Mr. Twain. Ed has already pointed out in the comments of another post that if the "in" crowd move on to something else, that does not mean that the cream will not remain and keep churning out real high-quality stuff. If the crowd at SEOne at London Bridge was anything to go by last Saturday night, it would certainly seem to be the case that minimal techno is far from dead. First off, I have read a lot of bad press about this gig. People have argued that the venue was poorly chosen, and that it should have been in Fabric. I will admit that SEOne, while quite cool in ways, was a bit soulless, too big, way too packed, and the sound was very poor. I suppose M_nus would argue that it was the only venue that could cater to such phenomenal demand, with hours long queues before the gig. If you want an intimate gig, don't go to the 10th birthday extravaganza of a massive record label, you moaning c**ts. As for the Cube, I didn't even see it to be honest. Not a clue where it was. Just a fad as far as I'm concerned. As for the music, however, anybody that complains can just piss off. Gaiser got things going early on, and after a delay, Hawtin, Magda, Marc Houle, Troy Pierce, and possibly Heartthrob all played on stage together messing on different bits of equipment. The place erupted. They all played a set on their own afterwards, and the quality on tunes, if not the sound, was through the roof. Glitches, clicks and kicks were the order of the day, coupled with bit treble-heavy build-ups and massive bass-laden kick-ins and euphoric roaring and leaping from the crowd. It was classic stuff, but just what you would expect from a M_nus gig. All this could of course have been achieved without the Cube or the fuss, but it will still go down as one of my gigs of the year.
Here's a video of Troy Pierce playing a particularly tasty one:
Our whenever-we're-arsed feature, born out of a series of outrageously giddy and hyperbolic text messages proclaiming whatever song we happened to be listening to at the time to be 'The Best Song In The World'.
Resulting confusion necessitated the 'Today' qualifier to be appended.
About Us
Beyond the Big Wave is a place where you’ll find self-involved and over-stated thoughts on records, gigs, life, politics and other (generally music-related) drivel. Expect unreasonable derision, baseless hyperbole and petty one-upmanship in abundance throughout our endeavours. We fully intend on stealing the internet connection from our helplessly oblivious neighbours.
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A strike, a smack, a state so dreary, Alas, the proof! Our flawless theory. Fear not, let’s go - let’s be brave.
4. Mount Kimbie Crooks & Lovers
Matias Aguayo released one of 2009's more unconventional albums in Ay Ay Ay. Formed mostly around the human voice in varying chants, percussive samples and languages, it is a departure from the standard techno flavour of Kompakt's output over the past number of years. Aguayo himself has moved away from the minimal sound that forged his reputation, he is one half of Closer Musik (with Dirk Leyers). I don't feel that Ay Ay Ay represents a new dawn for all things around the 120bpm mark but it is something different to wrap your ears around. The lead track 'Menta Latte' can annoy and delight in equal measures with its numerous layered vocals. First single 'Rollerskate' is a worth a whirl and will have your head moving before you know it. My favourite track has to be the sinister sounding 'Ay Shit - The Master'.
Judging by the amount if time I spend writing about Fabric releases you could be excused for thinking that I work for the London imprint. No such luck unfortunately. It can only, therefore, be explained by the diverse and consistently high standard of their regular Fabric & Fabriclive series. With John Tejada set to release Fabric 44 on 12 January 2009 and the recent delivery of Fabric 43 by Metro Area, the respected compilation series continues to command the attention and reverence of all those electronically inclined.
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