Venue: Brixton Academy, London
Reviewer: Phil W
Outside the doors, in large red letters, a sign informs passers-by the event inside has sold out. It has been for weeks. Inside an Australian dude is performing a solo set on the large stage, just him and his acoustic guitar. At first I write him off as derivative, but by halfway through his set he’s won the crowd over. He sings about convicts and fights and girls and heartbreak, his songs flexing between folk and rock n roll. His penultimate song is tender and delicate without sounding insincere or hollow, while his final number rocks with the aid of an overdrive pedal and punk riffs. In the centre of a break, his guitar howls with hollow feedback. He said his name a number of times but I never managed to catch it so you’ll have to trust me when I say it wasn’t bad at all*!
It’s been a while since Canadian icon Alanis Morissette graced our small island, even longer since she put out a relevant record. In 1995, in collaboration with veteran record producer Glenn Ballard, actress-turned-teen-pop-star Alanis Morissette went alt-rock and cut the biggest selling debut album by a female music artist ever… And according to the Recording Industry Association of America it still is, with upwards of 14 million copies of Jagged Little Pill sold in the US alone! Overnight a fame-shy 21 year old Alanis was made an international superstar, and the world either loved or hated her. The shows got bigger, the lights got brighter; fans praised her as the new voice of alt-rock, while critics labelled her a man-hating shrew and claimed Glenn Ballard as the genius behind her success. And what’s a girl to do? She escaped to India to collect her thoughts. She parted ways with Glenn Ballard, first lyrically and then musically to go it alone and prove the critics wrong. And she never put out another relevant record. She was entirely unable to follow up her debut, and alone couldn’t turn out the tunes that Ballard had honed into platinum singles. Worse than retirement, she became irrelevant.
Darkness on stage. Soft, purple lights make the stage glow as the backing band file on and begin in play. A slow ballad gets underway and Alanis performs the vocals to the first song off stage. I’m about to write her off from the start as over indulgent, then she storms onto the stage for the baroque tidal wave of Uninvited. By the time the band have surged into a superbly fresh sounding All I Really Want, Alanis bouncing across the stage and wailing her vocals to the stage floor with unexpected passion, microphone clasped in hand, I’m entirely won over. In fact at moments like these, Alanis may have perfected the art of time travel. I could have sworn it wasn’t 2008 at all; I was ready to declare the last 13 years of my life just an unlikely daydream I’ve just awoken from. It was 1995 and Alanis sounded as fresh and invigorating as she ever did! Over the next hour or so, Alanis performed virtually the entire Jagged Little Pill album; You Oughta Know, You Learn, Head Over Feet, Hand In My Pocket, they were all present and all sounded fantastic. During a particularly emotional rendition of Perfect, Alanis actually started to cry. I was unsure whether this was a good thing or not, but if nothing else, her passion and honesty for the songs was undisputed. Later cuts such as Thank U, Uninvited and 8 Easy Pieces also sounded great, and the rest of the set wasn’t bad, but there’s where the problems lay. The newer material wasn't bad, but the cuts from Jagged Little Pill were fantastic. An encore of Ironic was easily the high point of the night. I went home and put Jagged Little Pill back on my CD player, but I didn’t leave the gig with any ideas about bothering to buy the new album. The songs weren’t bad live and were performed admirably, but their lack of tunes and their complex and wordy vocals left little room for hooks or generally memorable new songs.
Alanis was and still is a mesmerising live performer with a unique voice few can effectively imitate - but since her 1995 debut, she just hasn’t had the tunes or hooks. 1998’s vast and underrated Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie was an interesting listen, but later albums flexed between the boring and the nearly unlistenable. I was pleased she played so much of her debut but it felt unfortunate that the gig simultaneously highlighted her inability to follow up that record. As with many highly successful artists that make it big too fast, it was another case of too much too soon for Alanis. At 21 she’d made the album of her career and found herself with nowhere to go but down - the best alternative to simply continue to surf the perpetual wave of her Jagged Little Pill. In the end it’s a pill that Alanis seems to have found hard to either swallow or come down from. Briefly she was the music world’s brightest new star, seemingly with infinite potential; she’s now found herself irrelevant, a relic of another time. But every now and then we’ll get her out of the box, have a listen, and remember 1995. Like Liz Phair’s landmark debut Exile From Guyville, Jagged Little Pill is a record that still sounds as fresh today as the day it was recorded and Alanis could spend her life performing it and no-one would mind too much.
* A little bit of Googling reveals it to have been a man named Liam Gerner, dude! MMT. ;-)
Thursday, 19 June 2008
Friday, 13 June 2008
ROOH
Venue: Crauford Arms Hotel, Wolverton
Reviewer: Phil W
It’s not often - even for a professional like myself - that you get to hang out for the evening with your rock n roll heroes, so as I found myself sitting in a beer garden, supping a beer with Rooh shortly before his set you’ll forgive me for having missed all the other acts on that evening. I’m sure they were great, the cream of Milton Keynes’s budding music scene, but tonight it was all about Rooh. “I’ve been thinking about recording an album,” the dude mused, a rolled up cigarette in one hand, a beer in the other. “We’ll see.” Ever elusive as to either his musical direction or future releases, their’s something undisputable natural, pure, and untainted about Rooh’s musical output. There might indeed be an album in the making, but only if it’s the right time. Only if the signs are right. Only if the course of the river happens to be flowing in that direction.
Sitting on stage, bathed in red and white light, in a venue that sounded vaguely like the interior of a submarine, Rooh called out to the soundman “maybe it’s too loud?”. That’s not something you hear often, but Rooh is a modest dude, never wishing to impose himself - and an overamped guitar would destroy the subtleties of his playing style. The auditorium is then treated to a tight and beautifully delivered set of acoustic songs. Tonight Rooh appears at ease, pacing his songs and letting them breathe, each one delivered with deceptive ease and a natural banter with the audience. Fan favourite Flat Rock had never sounded so good, the vocals delivered with particular subtlety which let every line shine.
Despite his youth, Rooh plays like a seasoned bluesman from another time. As my mate the French dude said, sitting next to me in the audience, “watching Rooh is like stepping into a time machine!” People just don’t write music like this anymore. But there is no imitation in Rooh, he’s not copying the skills and ideas of the past, he’s adding to their canon. This is the real thing, approached with honesty and modesty and delivered with cool and style. Rooh isn’t making things easy on himself, but this is the music in his heart and he’s staying true to it. If you want to hear a true local legend, check out Rooh. He’s a dude who knows where it’s at! He is, after all, a professional!
Reviewer: Phil W
It’s not often - even for a professional like myself - that you get to hang out for the evening with your rock n roll heroes, so as I found myself sitting in a beer garden, supping a beer with Rooh shortly before his set you’ll forgive me for having missed all the other acts on that evening. I’m sure they were great, the cream of Milton Keynes’s budding music scene, but tonight it was all about Rooh. “I’ve been thinking about recording an album,” the dude mused, a rolled up cigarette in one hand, a beer in the other. “We’ll see.” Ever elusive as to either his musical direction or future releases, their’s something undisputable natural, pure, and untainted about Rooh’s musical output. There might indeed be an album in the making, but only if it’s the right time. Only if the signs are right. Only if the course of the river happens to be flowing in that direction.
Sitting on stage, bathed in red and white light, in a venue that sounded vaguely like the interior of a submarine, Rooh called out to the soundman “maybe it’s too loud?”. That’s not something you hear often, but Rooh is a modest dude, never wishing to impose himself - and an overamped guitar would destroy the subtleties of his playing style. The auditorium is then treated to a tight and beautifully delivered set of acoustic songs. Tonight Rooh appears at ease, pacing his songs and letting them breathe, each one delivered with deceptive ease and a natural banter with the audience. Fan favourite Flat Rock had never sounded so good, the vocals delivered with particular subtlety which let every line shine.
Despite his youth, Rooh plays like a seasoned bluesman from another time. As my mate the French dude said, sitting next to me in the audience, “watching Rooh is like stepping into a time machine!” People just don’t write music like this anymore. But there is no imitation in Rooh, he’s not copying the skills and ideas of the past, he’s adding to their canon. This is the real thing, approached with honesty and modesty and delivered with cool and style. Rooh isn’t making things easy on himself, but this is the music in his heart and he’s staying true to it. If you want to hear a true local legend, check out Rooh. He’s a dude who knows where it’s at! He is, after all, a professional!
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
AVRIL LAVIGNE
Venue: O2 Arena, London
Reviewer: Phil W
Ahead of me, the darkened concrete tunnel was bathed in luminous pink lighting. I could hear screaming from up ahead of me, the sound of thousands of young voices crying out. The tunnel rounded a corner; I could see now where it led. It was dark in there, bodies moved and mingled back and forth in a vast, cavernous pit. The sloped walls of the pit moved and surged, lights of green and pink and blue flickered and waved among them. The high pitched screams were everywhere, from every direction. There was something insane going on, something huge.
On the stage, four boys pretended to play guitar while bathed in white floodlights. Behind them, a complete second band backed them. They had no spotlights. I particularly liked the big, overweight dude playing guitar just off to stage right. In the shadows he pulled off some nifty guitar licks and - after the boys left the stage - he stuck around to help out packing away all their stuff for them! What a helpful chap! I only caught the last two songs of the set; an insider had already told me it wasn’t worth catching all their set! They had a name and they have CD’s out there somewhere, but they where pretty missable boy band fodder. Kind of an American McFly. Nothing to bother going into the details of on this blog.
Avril Lavigne. Her first single came out when she was just 17 and the whole world bought into it. Her second album sold on the back of a single about saying No to giving in to sex too soon. Yes, Avril was the anti-Britney in a world where pop starlets were going head-to-head to see both how little they could wear on stage and how many sexual innuendoes they could fit into every song lyric. While Britney was sweating and moaning in a sauna, Christina was releasing albums called Stripped with singles called Dirrrty, and Flick from Neighbours was appearing in music videos completely starkers, Avril had class. She wasn’t naked and she was telling the girls to say No.
Jump to the present and little has changed. Lead single Girlfriend from new album The Best Darn Thing is playful, more giggles from the back row of the school bus than Debbie Does Dallas. Avril says at 23 she wanted to make one last fun record about being young and innocent before she thought about doing something more serious with the next one. There’s even a song on the record called Innocence. And so, from the centre of a stage bathed in pink flood lights, rising through the floor to the stomp of the opening thump of Girlfriend, is the elfin figure of Avril Lavigne, wearing skater shorts, hoodie and a huge grin. She charges down a catwalk that slices through the middle of the pit; “are you ready to have a good time?” she cries out to the audience. The audience explodes in a ludicrous frenzy of youthful enthusiasm and suddenly I’ve a huge grin on my face that won’t budge for the next hour and a half. Five minutes ago I’d been certain I’d come to the wrong gig - but now I was reminded of the immortal words of the late great Hunter Thompson; “buy the ticket, take the ride!” And this was one hell of a ride!
Over the course of the evening Avril played all the hits from all three records. Some she sung while bouncing around the stage beaming enthusiastically at the audience. For several she played her Telecaster Special. There was an interlude midway through the set in which she played a brief acoustic set, slumped over an electro-acoustic guitar, flanked either side by her two session guitarists. Cynically, it was fairly obvious at times her guitar was turned way down, but like, dude, who cares man? She’s really trying! She doesn’t have to put this much effort into her live set but she does! Later on a huge, pink grand piano is wheeled onstage and to our surprise Avril takes a seat behind it to play Innocence from the new album. And if anyone in the audience still doubted her musical abilities, toward the end of the set a pink, sparkly drum kit was brought on stage and Avril beat the skins to a rendition of Runaway, singing and drumming simultaneously. And, like, dude, it was awesome! I’ve always been impressed with multi-instrumental performers, but I wasn’t expecting Avril to be one of them!
Avril finished with He Wasn’t and then an encore of Sk8er Boi. She finished her set having sung, rapped, danced, played guitars, pianos and drum kits, and done it all without a hint of irony or snobbery or any of the other things that bog down far more credible artists. The whole thing just seemed like a lot of fun and she performed it all effortlessly and with enthusiasm. There were no signs of any backing tracks either. All the way through there was a full band backing her. Her vocals were sometimes note perfect - she has a very gifted voice - but sometimes they were off key and muddled, sometimes almost spoken, with all the swear words extenuated. But far from this being a problem this merely highlighted her live, raw vocals and, well, made it that much more punk, you know in a pink teen pop kind of way! The gig hardly had the indie credibility of Kaki King, but like Avril’s albums, it was a guilty pleaser, like admitting you quite enjoyed watching Never Been Kissed. You didn’t expect it to win an Oscar, and yes it was a bit girly - but, you know, you smiled when the dude popped up at the end of the movie to give her that first kiss, I know you did*! So, buy the ticket, take the ride, and just don’t bother over thinking the whole thing. You’ll love it!
* How well you know me, Phil! :-D MMT.
Reviewer: Phil W
Ahead of me, the darkened concrete tunnel was bathed in luminous pink lighting. I could hear screaming from up ahead of me, the sound of thousands of young voices crying out. The tunnel rounded a corner; I could see now where it led. It was dark in there, bodies moved and mingled back and forth in a vast, cavernous pit. The sloped walls of the pit moved and surged, lights of green and pink and blue flickered and waved among them. The high pitched screams were everywhere, from every direction. There was something insane going on, something huge.
On the stage, four boys pretended to play guitar while bathed in white floodlights. Behind them, a complete second band backed them. They had no spotlights. I particularly liked the big, overweight dude playing guitar just off to stage right. In the shadows he pulled off some nifty guitar licks and - after the boys left the stage - he stuck around to help out packing away all their stuff for them! What a helpful chap! I only caught the last two songs of the set; an insider had already told me it wasn’t worth catching all their set! They had a name and they have CD’s out there somewhere, but they where pretty missable boy band fodder. Kind of an American McFly. Nothing to bother going into the details of on this blog.
Avril Lavigne. Her first single came out when she was just 17 and the whole world bought into it. Her second album sold on the back of a single about saying No to giving in to sex too soon. Yes, Avril was the anti-Britney in a world where pop starlets were going head-to-head to see both how little they could wear on stage and how many sexual innuendoes they could fit into every song lyric. While Britney was sweating and moaning in a sauna, Christina was releasing albums called Stripped with singles called Dirrrty, and Flick from Neighbours was appearing in music videos completely starkers, Avril had class. She wasn’t naked and she was telling the girls to say No.
Jump to the present and little has changed. Lead single Girlfriend from new album The Best Darn Thing is playful, more giggles from the back row of the school bus than Debbie Does Dallas. Avril says at 23 she wanted to make one last fun record about being young and innocent before she thought about doing something more serious with the next one. There’s even a song on the record called Innocence. And so, from the centre of a stage bathed in pink flood lights, rising through the floor to the stomp of the opening thump of Girlfriend, is the elfin figure of Avril Lavigne, wearing skater shorts, hoodie and a huge grin. She charges down a catwalk that slices through the middle of the pit; “are you ready to have a good time?” she cries out to the audience. The audience explodes in a ludicrous frenzy of youthful enthusiasm and suddenly I’ve a huge grin on my face that won’t budge for the next hour and a half. Five minutes ago I’d been certain I’d come to the wrong gig - but now I was reminded of the immortal words of the late great Hunter Thompson; “buy the ticket, take the ride!” And this was one hell of a ride!
Over the course of the evening Avril played all the hits from all three records. Some she sung while bouncing around the stage beaming enthusiastically at the audience. For several she played her Telecaster Special. There was an interlude midway through the set in which she played a brief acoustic set, slumped over an electro-acoustic guitar, flanked either side by her two session guitarists. Cynically, it was fairly obvious at times her guitar was turned way down, but like, dude, who cares man? She’s really trying! She doesn’t have to put this much effort into her live set but she does! Later on a huge, pink grand piano is wheeled onstage and to our surprise Avril takes a seat behind it to play Innocence from the new album. And if anyone in the audience still doubted her musical abilities, toward the end of the set a pink, sparkly drum kit was brought on stage and Avril beat the skins to a rendition of Runaway, singing and drumming simultaneously. And, like, dude, it was awesome! I’ve always been impressed with multi-instrumental performers, but I wasn’t expecting Avril to be one of them!
Avril finished with He Wasn’t and then an encore of Sk8er Boi. She finished her set having sung, rapped, danced, played guitars, pianos and drum kits, and done it all without a hint of irony or snobbery or any of the other things that bog down far more credible artists. The whole thing just seemed like a lot of fun and she performed it all effortlessly and with enthusiasm. There were no signs of any backing tracks either. All the way through there was a full band backing her. Her vocals were sometimes note perfect - she has a very gifted voice - but sometimes they were off key and muddled, sometimes almost spoken, with all the swear words extenuated. But far from this being a problem this merely highlighted her live, raw vocals and, well, made it that much more punk, you know in a pink teen pop kind of way! The gig hardly had the indie credibility of Kaki King, but like Avril’s albums, it was a guilty pleaser, like admitting you quite enjoyed watching Never Been Kissed. You didn’t expect it to win an Oscar, and yes it was a bit girly - but, you know, you smiled when the dude popped up at the end of the movie to give her that first kiss, I know you did*! So, buy the ticket, take the ride, and just don’t bother over thinking the whole thing. You’ll love it!
* How well you know me, Phil! :-D MMT.
Saturday, 17 May 2008
KAKI KING
Venue: University of London Student Union.
Reviewer: Phil W
Katherine Elizabeth King, Kaki to her friends, is the first and only female to be inducted into the Rolling Stone Guitar Gods listings, and she’s not even out of her twenties! In fact she’s barely out of indie obscurity. Her debut album in 2003 (Everybody Loves You), assembled from demo’s recorded at friends' houses, was hurriedly put together after she was offered a record contract by a passer-by who saw her busking on the New York subway. And its not just Rolling Stone and New York indie producers who’ve noticed her talent; she’s just finished supporting the Foo Fighters on tour in Australia after Dave Grohl spotted her and immediately fell in love with her innovative picking style. She even guest starred on the last Foo’s album. And Kaki knows her audience; at one point during this very intimate gig at the ULU she said with a smile; “I know most of you are musicians. I know this because it’s normally musicians that come to my shows. I’m sorry, I don’t really have any advice for you, I was playing the New York Subway and then suddenly someone was offering me a record contract! What I can say is keep going because playing music is just awesome! The whole thing’s just awesome!” Yes, Kaki is very enthusiastic about her musical compositions and it spills out in her playing and into the audience, making her and her compositions even more compulsive!
It’s a small venue, the ULU, a capacity of only around 500, and I got there early and found a perch right up front. With no gap between the stage and the audience, I was able to spend the gig leaning on the stage, with Kaki only a few feet away from me! Kaki opened, slumped on a stool, hunched over her Ovation acoustic guitar, with Bone Chaos In the Castle, the opening track from her forthcoming album, Dreaming of Revenge (currently available on import from the US, but look out for the UK wide release in July), before ploughing into the catchy pop of Life Being What It Is.
Over more than two hours of mostly instrumental solo guitar playing, in which Kaki treats us to acoustic, electric and lap steel guitar performances, she sings on only five songs, two of which are covers. But we barely notice the absence of vocals; her guitar does the talking. Her playing is enchanting, taking melodies to ever intriguing outcomes that never tire. And when she’s not playing she’s talking enthusiastically to the audience, her face fixed in a permanent grin. She talked about the tour, about Australia and New York, about partying with the Foo Fighters, about her mum and her gran and the importance of staying hydrated, seemingly at complete ease with the enraptured audience. As she played, delicately plucking her guitar strings, the event was so intimate and the audience so quiet you could hear people’s cameras clicking.
After every song the stunned audience would clap and cheer before falling completely silent, eagerly awaiting Kaki’s next move. It really was an audience of musicians, here to see an exceptional fellow musician. So intimate was it that Kaki often didn’t need to use the microphone when addressing the audience, she could simply chat unaided, exchanging fragments of conversation and taking requests. When an audience member requested Happy As A Dead Pig In Summer from her debut album she casually asked “wow, how does that one go again? Can someone remind me of the tune? Seriously, I’ve written like 500 songs but I can only remember like 40 of them!”
Covers by Morrissey and Justin Timberlake, built up with complex guitar loops, go down well as does her debut single Playing With Pink Noise from her sophomore effort Legs To Make Us Longer, and an electric version of Yellowcake from her post-rock makeover album ….Until We Felt Red. And all the while she’s grinning to herself; she’s loving every minute of her time in the limelight. She hangs on till the very last moment in which she literally negotiates with the folk on the sound desk for just one more song before they turn the lights up. “I know which song I wanna play” she says. “Just one more, I really love this song!”
Finally, after more than two hours that feel like a quarter of the time has past, Kaki finished with the effortlessly beautiful Jessica, a lovestruck song that can’t help but leave our hearts aching and our ears longing for more. It was all over just too quick. As we left the venue there was little more to say except simply stunning.
Reviewer: Phil W
Katherine Elizabeth King, Kaki to her friends, is the first and only female to be inducted into the Rolling Stone Guitar Gods listings, and she’s not even out of her twenties! In fact she’s barely out of indie obscurity. Her debut album in 2003 (Everybody Loves You), assembled from demo’s recorded at friends' houses, was hurriedly put together after she was offered a record contract by a passer-by who saw her busking on the New York subway. And its not just Rolling Stone and New York indie producers who’ve noticed her talent; she’s just finished supporting the Foo Fighters on tour in Australia after Dave Grohl spotted her and immediately fell in love with her innovative picking style. She even guest starred on the last Foo’s album. And Kaki knows her audience; at one point during this very intimate gig at the ULU she said with a smile; “I know most of you are musicians. I know this because it’s normally musicians that come to my shows. I’m sorry, I don’t really have any advice for you, I was playing the New York Subway and then suddenly someone was offering me a record contract! What I can say is keep going because playing music is just awesome! The whole thing’s just awesome!” Yes, Kaki is very enthusiastic about her musical compositions and it spills out in her playing and into the audience, making her and her compositions even more compulsive!
It’s a small venue, the ULU, a capacity of only around 500, and I got there early and found a perch right up front. With no gap between the stage and the audience, I was able to spend the gig leaning on the stage, with Kaki only a few feet away from me! Kaki opened, slumped on a stool, hunched over her Ovation acoustic guitar, with Bone Chaos In the Castle, the opening track from her forthcoming album, Dreaming of Revenge (currently available on import from the US, but look out for the UK wide release in July), before ploughing into the catchy pop of Life Being What It Is.
Over more than two hours of mostly instrumental solo guitar playing, in which Kaki treats us to acoustic, electric and lap steel guitar performances, she sings on only five songs, two of which are covers. But we barely notice the absence of vocals; her guitar does the talking. Her playing is enchanting, taking melodies to ever intriguing outcomes that never tire. And when she’s not playing she’s talking enthusiastically to the audience, her face fixed in a permanent grin. She talked about the tour, about Australia and New York, about partying with the Foo Fighters, about her mum and her gran and the importance of staying hydrated, seemingly at complete ease with the enraptured audience. As she played, delicately plucking her guitar strings, the event was so intimate and the audience so quiet you could hear people’s cameras clicking.
After every song the stunned audience would clap and cheer before falling completely silent, eagerly awaiting Kaki’s next move. It really was an audience of musicians, here to see an exceptional fellow musician. So intimate was it that Kaki often didn’t need to use the microphone when addressing the audience, she could simply chat unaided, exchanging fragments of conversation and taking requests. When an audience member requested Happy As A Dead Pig In Summer from her debut album she casually asked “wow, how does that one go again? Can someone remind me of the tune? Seriously, I’ve written like 500 songs but I can only remember like 40 of them!”
Covers by Morrissey and Justin Timberlake, built up with complex guitar loops, go down well as does her debut single Playing With Pink Noise from her sophomore effort Legs To Make Us Longer, and an electric version of Yellowcake from her post-rock makeover album ….Until We Felt Red. And all the while she’s grinning to herself; she’s loving every minute of her time in the limelight. She hangs on till the very last moment in which she literally negotiates with the folk on the sound desk for just one more song before they turn the lights up. “I know which song I wanna play” she says. “Just one more, I really love this song!”
Finally, after more than two hours that feel like a quarter of the time has past, Kaki finished with the effortlessly beautiful Jessica, a lovestruck song that can’t help but leave our hearts aching and our ears longing for more. It was all over just too quick. As we left the venue there was little more to say except simply stunning.
Saturday, 26 April 2008
Evening Of Diverse Entertainment
Venue: MADCAP, Wolverton
Acts: Frantic UK, Sushi, Raw Pride, Neil Beardmore, Baron Makabre, Faceless Joker, Joshua Timmins
Reviewer: MMT.
I dunno if reviews of the legendary Evenings Of Diverse Entertainment at MADCAP would usually qualify for inclusion here in The Dudebox – the Diverseness is supposed to encompass Theatre, Poetry, Film and Anything Else Anyone Can Think Of (e.g. Omelette Cookery) – but this one for some reason contained bands and bands only. And I do mean bands only. Inexplicably* there was virtually no audience to speak of, so the evening consisted of each band playing their set to the watching waiting other bands. Almost like a great big communal rehearsal, or a Jools Holland programme. So into The Dudebox it shall fall. ;-)
Frantic UK aren’t really a band, I suppose – more an “urban dance troupe” – but they kicked things off with a compelling mix of high energy breakdancing and shape-throwing routines. As they grabbed volunteers from the audience (including our mate Thomas!) to learn some moves, I whispered to Tony “this is what MADCAP is all about!”
So the first band band up were Sushi, an act extremely close to the heart of The Dudebox. I think Phil would admit himself (and he did!) that this was a hit-and-miss set from him and Breakdancing Thomas. The more songs they do as an electric-guitar-and-bass duo, the more you think as an observer “hmm… this could probably do with some drums, dude”. But the songs themselves are cool, from classic “oh yeah, alright” number “Party” to the newer songs which hint at a slightly different direction for Sushi. Watch this space, here comes the Summer! ;-)
Raw Pride are fast becoming one of our favourite MK acts – in fact Simon and I had been talking about them in the pub only that afternoon. Their set at MADCAP was a different vibe again from their Sunset Lounge or Lupus Aid appearances. Two rappers and a turntable were joined by a dude on funkeh bass and a dude on guitar, so the general result was more rap-rocky than their usual sound. They seem to be able to turn their hand to anything – and they’re jolly nice blokes too! ;-)
At least the evening was able to conjure up Diversity in the types of music, though. Neil Beardmore’s bluesy lounge act, all bright red boots and Hammondy organ sounds, is quite a distance from Raw Pride. And to have that followed by the standard Baron Makabre set of unsettling “um...is-it-comedy?” voodoo rock? Well… it’s certainly not yer standard Band Night, anyway.
The biggest noise of the evening came from a five-piece band of young lads who’d been very patiently (well, most of them!) been waiting at the back of the room for their turn. Faceless Joker served up relatively standard grungey rock, but were still interesting, clearly very tight - and went down well with what audience there was left by that point. Phil talked to them later and apparently they’re splitting up soon to go to University. Ah, the ways of the world. I have been there, brothers. They did a song about “the greyness of things”. I have been there too. Good stuff.
But one of the nicest surprises of the night came with the final act – cheeky-faced hat-wearing acoustic boy Joshua Timmins. I can’t believe a) he’s only fifteen, but more importantly b) this was only his second ever gig. His big-hearted campfire singy-songwritering put a smile on everyone’s faces – and you have to have something special about you to be able to cover “What A Wonderful World” and get away with it. I bought a copy of his CD for £2, apparently only recorded that afternoon. Chap! Definitely one to watch.
And so against all the odds a good night, despite the low turn-out. Definitely worth clicking on their various MySpace links and checking them out. Local talent. Go on. Go on. Go on.
* Doctor Who had already finished!
Acts: Frantic UK, Sushi, Raw Pride, Neil Beardmore, Baron Makabre, Faceless Joker, Joshua Timmins
Reviewer: MMT.
I dunno if reviews of the legendary Evenings Of Diverse Entertainment at MADCAP would usually qualify for inclusion here in The Dudebox – the Diverseness is supposed to encompass Theatre, Poetry, Film and Anything Else Anyone Can Think Of (e.g. Omelette Cookery) – but this one for some reason contained bands and bands only. And I do mean bands only. Inexplicably* there was virtually no audience to speak of, so the evening consisted of each band playing their set to the watching waiting other bands. Almost like a great big communal rehearsal, or a Jools Holland programme. So into The Dudebox it shall fall. ;-)
Frantic UK aren’t really a band, I suppose – more an “urban dance troupe” – but they kicked things off with a compelling mix of high energy breakdancing and shape-throwing routines. As they grabbed volunteers from the audience (including our mate Thomas!) to learn some moves, I whispered to Tony “this is what MADCAP is all about!”
So the first band band up were Sushi, an act extremely close to the heart of The Dudebox. I think Phil would admit himself (and he did!) that this was a hit-and-miss set from him and Breakdancing Thomas. The more songs they do as an electric-guitar-and-bass duo, the more you think as an observer “hmm… this could probably do with some drums, dude”. But the songs themselves are cool, from classic “oh yeah, alright” number “Party” to the newer songs which hint at a slightly different direction for Sushi. Watch this space, here comes the Summer! ;-)
Raw Pride are fast becoming one of our favourite MK acts – in fact Simon and I had been talking about them in the pub only that afternoon. Their set at MADCAP was a different vibe again from their Sunset Lounge or Lupus Aid appearances. Two rappers and a turntable were joined by a dude on funkeh bass and a dude on guitar, so the general result was more rap-rocky than their usual sound. They seem to be able to turn their hand to anything – and they’re jolly nice blokes too! ;-)
At least the evening was able to conjure up Diversity in the types of music, though. Neil Beardmore’s bluesy lounge act, all bright red boots and Hammondy organ sounds, is quite a distance from Raw Pride. And to have that followed by the standard Baron Makabre set of unsettling “um...is-it-comedy?” voodoo rock? Well… it’s certainly not yer standard Band Night, anyway.
The biggest noise of the evening came from a five-piece band of young lads who’d been very patiently (well, most of them!) been waiting at the back of the room for their turn. Faceless Joker served up relatively standard grungey rock, but were still interesting, clearly very tight - and went down well with what audience there was left by that point. Phil talked to them later and apparently they’re splitting up soon to go to University. Ah, the ways of the world. I have been there, brothers. They did a song about “the greyness of things”. I have been there too. Good stuff.
But one of the nicest surprises of the night came with the final act – cheeky-faced hat-wearing acoustic boy Joshua Timmins. I can’t believe a) he’s only fifteen, but more importantly b) this was only his second ever gig. His big-hearted campfire singy-songwritering put a smile on everyone’s faces – and you have to have something special about you to be able to cover “What A Wonderful World” and get away with it. I bought a copy of his CD for £2, apparently only recorded that afternoon. Chap! Definitely one to watch.
And so against all the odds a good night, despite the low turn-out. Definitely worth clicking on their various MySpace links and checking them out. Local talent. Go on. Go on. Go on.
* Doctor Who had already finished!
Thursday, 17 April 2008
BJORK
Venue: Hammersmith Apollo, London.
Support: Leila
Reviewer: Phil W
Well it only seems right to mention (before you start reading this review) that the playing field isn’t entirely even! There is a chance my version of the story will be entirely bias and I just thought that was important for you to know at this point in the game. I’m a big admirer of Björk and have been for some years. I’ll be thirty this year, a fact that seems to occur to me almost every day, but while most of the posters from my teenage years disappeared years ago from my bedroom wall, and posters in general gave way with age to pictures in frames, one single poster remains; Björk. I’ve had the poster well over a decade and love it so much that when it came to doing the photo shoot for the release of The Road to Corm’s debut album, I had myself photographed standing next to it.
So, after a five year break from touring and two more albums, Björk was back in the UK for three headline slots at London’s Hammersmith Apollo and I was there for the second. As usual the support act was largely missable. Maybe I’m missing something, maybe I just didn’t get it, but I wasn’t impressed by Leila’s DJ set. But then this wasn’t a night club and no-one was dancing. Some of the ‘sounds’ were genuinely intriguing, and I did my best to appreciate what she was doing, but it was evident by the general disinterest of the crowd, that we were all here to see Björk.
The stage explodes, the circus has definitely arrived! A brass band march onto stage, machines churn clouds of confetti into the air and Björk appears in the centre of it all sporting a wild hairstyle and bizarre dress. She hops frantically around the stage, somewhere between a sugar-overdosed ten year old and a mischievous pixie, singing, chirping and screaming with genuine joy and glee. After two decades of fronting rock-n-roll acts, she still seems to love every moment on the stage and there is no doubt of Björk’s belief in what she does. She has a genuine passion for her music, and in interviews she gives the impression of never doubting her next pirouette in musical direction. She opens with Earth Intruders, the only song on her new album Volta that sounds like it might have been recording in the mid-90’s. It’s synth-pop forced through the Björk blender and it sounds fantastic!
Other songs from the new album go down well too, my personal favorite being horn-driven Wonderlust which really came to life on stage. It’s not often these days that I find myself only really understanding a song when it’s played live, but this was one of those moments and a live triumph. Older material like Hunter, Bachelorette, Joga and a stunning rendition of Army Of Me - delivered with industrial strength - were also real highlights. And there were chillingly beautiful moments in the set, such as when Björk sung the delicate Unravel while encircled by her brass band which she introduced as Wonder Brass, and her stunning rendition of Desired Constellation from newer album Medulla.
But then partway through the set Björk loses all her momentum. She probably meant to, as she let a huge sway of slower songs from her newer albums take the lion’s share of the stage time down the middle of the set. It’s unfortunate, and I’d hate to think of myself as someone who’s living in the past, but these songs just seem weaker than the older material. And while Björk seemed to be obviously loving performing the newer material, I found myself torn. On the one hand, I wanted to hear the classics I’ve loved all these years. But on the other hand it’s great to see a successful artist still producing and performing new material, twenty years into her career, and still exploring and expanding her boundaries as an artist with every new record. I couldn’t wish her to play the same set of greatest hits over and over but then I just didn’t feel the new material was as strong or held together as well. Björk breathed life back into the set with Hyperballad and then a heavy industrial performance of Pluto before returning for the energetic stomp and call to arms of new single Declare Independence. It was a fantastic closer but you were left feeling you wanted to see the set again, if only to appreciate more those probably lovely performances down the middle of the set you just didn’t quite get the first time around. But there’s no time for all that, an hour and a half with Iceland’s queen diva goes pretty quick and before you know it you’ve bought the t-shirt, taken and ride and you’re out the doors. Either way, I wasn’t disappointed. I shall be back here in five years time, the next time Björk is in town. It’s just the way it’s always been.
Set List
01. Intro - Brennið Þið Vitar
02. Earth Intruders
03. Hunter
04. Unravel
05. Hope
06. The Pleasure Is All Mine
07. Dull Flame Of Desire
08. Pagan Poetry
09. Vertebrae By Vertebrae
10. Desired Constellation
11. Army Of Me
12. Bachelorette
13. Who Is It
14. Cover Me
15. Wanderlust
16. Hyperballad
17. Pluto
encore
18. Jóga
19. Declare Independence
Support: Leila
Reviewer: Phil W
Well it only seems right to mention (before you start reading this review) that the playing field isn’t entirely even! There is a chance my version of the story will be entirely bias and I just thought that was important for you to know at this point in the game. I’m a big admirer of Björk and have been for some years. I’ll be thirty this year, a fact that seems to occur to me almost every day, but while most of the posters from my teenage years disappeared years ago from my bedroom wall, and posters in general gave way with age to pictures in frames, one single poster remains; Björk. I’ve had the poster well over a decade and love it so much that when it came to doing the photo shoot for the release of The Road to Corm’s debut album, I had myself photographed standing next to it.
So, after a five year break from touring and two more albums, Björk was back in the UK for three headline slots at London’s Hammersmith Apollo and I was there for the second. As usual the support act was largely missable. Maybe I’m missing something, maybe I just didn’t get it, but I wasn’t impressed by Leila’s DJ set. But then this wasn’t a night club and no-one was dancing. Some of the ‘sounds’ were genuinely intriguing, and I did my best to appreciate what she was doing, but it was evident by the general disinterest of the crowd, that we were all here to see Björk.
The stage explodes, the circus has definitely arrived! A brass band march onto stage, machines churn clouds of confetti into the air and Björk appears in the centre of it all sporting a wild hairstyle and bizarre dress. She hops frantically around the stage, somewhere between a sugar-overdosed ten year old and a mischievous pixie, singing, chirping and screaming with genuine joy and glee. After two decades of fronting rock-n-roll acts, she still seems to love every moment on the stage and there is no doubt of Björk’s belief in what she does. She has a genuine passion for her music, and in interviews she gives the impression of never doubting her next pirouette in musical direction. She opens with Earth Intruders, the only song on her new album Volta that sounds like it might have been recording in the mid-90’s. It’s synth-pop forced through the Björk blender and it sounds fantastic!
Other songs from the new album go down well too, my personal favorite being horn-driven Wonderlust which really came to life on stage. It’s not often these days that I find myself only really understanding a song when it’s played live, but this was one of those moments and a live triumph. Older material like Hunter, Bachelorette, Joga and a stunning rendition of Army Of Me - delivered with industrial strength - were also real highlights. And there were chillingly beautiful moments in the set, such as when Björk sung the delicate Unravel while encircled by her brass band which she introduced as Wonder Brass, and her stunning rendition of Desired Constellation from newer album Medulla.
But then partway through the set Björk loses all her momentum. She probably meant to, as she let a huge sway of slower songs from her newer albums take the lion’s share of the stage time down the middle of the set. It’s unfortunate, and I’d hate to think of myself as someone who’s living in the past, but these songs just seem weaker than the older material. And while Björk seemed to be obviously loving performing the newer material, I found myself torn. On the one hand, I wanted to hear the classics I’ve loved all these years. But on the other hand it’s great to see a successful artist still producing and performing new material, twenty years into her career, and still exploring and expanding her boundaries as an artist with every new record. I couldn’t wish her to play the same set of greatest hits over and over but then I just didn’t feel the new material was as strong or held together as well. Björk breathed life back into the set with Hyperballad and then a heavy industrial performance of Pluto before returning for the energetic stomp and call to arms of new single Declare Independence. It was a fantastic closer but you were left feeling you wanted to see the set again, if only to appreciate more those probably lovely performances down the middle of the set you just didn’t quite get the first time around. But there’s no time for all that, an hour and a half with Iceland’s queen diva goes pretty quick and before you know it you’ve bought the t-shirt, taken and ride and you’re out the doors. Either way, I wasn’t disappointed. I shall be back here in five years time, the next time Björk is in town. It’s just the way it’s always been.
Set List
01. Intro - Brennið Þið Vitar
02. Earth Intruders
03. Hunter
04. Unravel
05. Hope
06. The Pleasure Is All Mine
07. Dull Flame Of Desire
08. Pagan Poetry
09. Vertebrae By Vertebrae
10. Desired Constellation
11. Army Of Me
12. Bachelorette
13. Who Is It
14. Cover Me
15. Wanderlust
16. Hyperballad
17. Pluto
encore
18. Jóga
19. Declare Independence
Saturday, 15 September 2007
SOHO DOLLS
Venue: The Pitz
Support: 586 / The Modus Vivendi / Mojave Allstars
Reviewer: Phil
Mojave Allstars drive through The Pitz with the windows down and speakers on full. They have a big, solid, well assured sound that’s more mature than you’d expect, considering this is only their second gig. Their sound is equal parts Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails, while their vocalist apes Eddie Vedder and Trent Reznor. They are big, loud and impressive, as are tonight’s second band, local heroes The Modus Vivendi.
Modus Vivendi: 'an informal and temporary arrangement to allow for resolution in spite of differences, or, a way of living'. What more can be said about Beanie and his crew of jazz-funk pranksters? There’s the blues here, there’s funk a-plenty, there’s art rock circa early Sonic Youth, and there’s a groove and a sense of humour that’s reminiscent of Primus or Captain Beefheart circa Trout Mask Replica. The Modus Vivendi’s sound is distinctive, loud and aggressive, but also fun and humorous just like the band. These guys are veterans of the Milton Keynes scene, while not pretending to be in any way connected with it. They are their own movement. If tonight was your first dose of Modus, you may well need to see them a few more times to be convinced. But like eating sushi... you might be unsure the first time you try it, but three meals in and you're hooked!
586 burst onto the Pitz stage, a five-piece who’s irresistibly upbeat clatter is immediately reminiscent of Les Incompetents, Larrikin Love, Blondie or The Pipettes, while their collage of musical textures conjure up Arcade Fire or Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. They play with confidence and gushing enthusiasm, despite virtually the entire audience having disappeared of to the bar for 586’s set which is a shame on their part! Debut single Money Is The Drug gets an early play and hits you with an irresistible chorus, while closer I’m Not A Monkey tries to be aggressive but ends up sounding like Bridget Jones in a huff. You can’t help but laugh, for in no way are this band taking this rock n roll business at all seriously, except that they are making exceptionally catchy indie rock!
Soho Dolls, a London five-piece fronted by enigmatic vamp Maya Von Doll, play seductive gothic electro-rock like it’s the new vogue. When Maya purrs ‘my vampire’s ok’ she sings it like she believes it, and tonight so do we. With a slab of sleazy 80’s Depeche Mode meets Goldfrapp, Maya sings about vampires, strippers, pimps and princes with equal parts punk attitude and glam seductiveness. An early play of first single Prince Harry sounds like a classic returning home, internet single My Vampire is smooth and utterly captivating, while closing single Stripper is grimy, dirty, and downright fantastic. These guys may be rocking to their own electro-rock tune, like a glimpse down a Soho back alley into an unfamiliar world, but tonight they’ve taken us with them and we’re utterly seduced….
Support: 586 / The Modus Vivendi / Mojave Allstars
Reviewer: Phil
Mojave Allstars drive through The Pitz with the windows down and speakers on full. They have a big, solid, well assured sound that’s more mature than you’d expect, considering this is only their second gig. Their sound is equal parts Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails, while their vocalist apes Eddie Vedder and Trent Reznor. They are big, loud and impressive, as are tonight’s second band, local heroes The Modus Vivendi.
Modus Vivendi: 'an informal and temporary arrangement to allow for resolution in spite of differences, or, a way of living'. What more can be said about Beanie and his crew of jazz-funk pranksters? There’s the blues here, there’s funk a-plenty, there’s art rock circa early Sonic Youth, and there’s a groove and a sense of humour that’s reminiscent of Primus or Captain Beefheart circa Trout Mask Replica. The Modus Vivendi’s sound is distinctive, loud and aggressive, but also fun and humorous just like the band. These guys are veterans of the Milton Keynes scene, while not pretending to be in any way connected with it. They are their own movement. If tonight was your first dose of Modus, you may well need to see them a few more times to be convinced. But like eating sushi... you might be unsure the first time you try it, but three meals in and you're hooked!
586 burst onto the Pitz stage, a five-piece who’s irresistibly upbeat clatter is immediately reminiscent of Les Incompetents, Larrikin Love, Blondie or The Pipettes, while their collage of musical textures conjure up Arcade Fire or Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. They play with confidence and gushing enthusiasm, despite virtually the entire audience having disappeared of to the bar for 586’s set which is a shame on their part! Debut single Money Is The Drug gets an early play and hits you with an irresistible chorus, while closer I’m Not A Monkey tries to be aggressive but ends up sounding like Bridget Jones in a huff. You can’t help but laugh, for in no way are this band taking this rock n roll business at all seriously, except that they are making exceptionally catchy indie rock!
Soho Dolls, a London five-piece fronted by enigmatic vamp Maya Von Doll, play seductive gothic electro-rock like it’s the new vogue. When Maya purrs ‘my vampire’s ok’ she sings it like she believes it, and tonight so do we. With a slab of sleazy 80’s Depeche Mode meets Goldfrapp, Maya sings about vampires, strippers, pimps and princes with equal parts punk attitude and glam seductiveness. An early play of first single Prince Harry sounds like a classic returning home, internet single My Vampire is smooth and utterly captivating, while closing single Stripper is grimy, dirty, and downright fantastic. These guys may be rocking to their own electro-rock tune, like a glimpse down a Soho back alley into an unfamiliar world, but tonight they’ve taken us with them and we’re utterly seduced….
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)