Kafka On The Shore

Wildbirds & Peacedrums @ Union Chapel, London, 10 Sep 09

I like Loney, Dear (his second album even more than his first) but what drove me to go see him live was that he was getting support from fellow Swedes, Wildbirds & Peacedrums. I anticipated great things from their live performance and couldn’t wait to witness their mad drumming and haunting vocals combo on stage. I wasn’t disappointed one bit. The venue being a church, the acoustic was perfect for this sort of percussion-heavy act and Mariam Wallentin’s voice carried beautifully well across the room. It got very close to a religious experience — not so much the meditating sort but more of the epileptic trance kind. 

First Aid Kit @ The Lexington, London, 28 July 2009

Man, do I love this town. How many times did I get the chance to go see a band live within days of discovering their music! Countless times, that’s how many. I came across the Söderberg sisters singing in their local woods only last week, and I liked them so much that I scored their debut album that same day and bought a ticket to a London show scheduled for the following week. Bam Bam Bam. God, I love it when things come to me that quickly and easily.

They sounded as good on The Lexington stage as they do in their Swedish forest. With their crispy clear vocals, perfectly in-tune singing and simple beautiful melodies, you’re bound to get consistantly great performances from those two. Klara (the brunette) is the bubbly one (dare I say “the rambling one”?…well, let’s just say she talks a lot), Johanna (the blonde) is the coy one (she likes to pull the angel face in a perpetual state of grace). They’re so in tune with each other it’s incredible to see: their voices are totally in sync , they would even rehydrate with the occasional sip of water at the exact same time (spooky), and it’s the same adorable smile that illuminates both their faces. It’s interesting to see siblings share a stage; they know how to bring out that mixture of intimacy, complicity and harmony that strikes me as special. I noticed it with the Stones too and I wonder how much of that I’d find at a Tegan&Sara gig (in between the bickering, that is).

First Aid Kit crammed lots of goodness in their short 45-minute set: a handful of great songs from their LP, a couple I never heard before (including a new one that Klara wrote after being inspired by Into The Wild), their Fleet Foxes cover of course (with their now ritual intro line: “this is for you FF; it’s a little gift from us”) and their beautiful cover of “Universal Soldier”.

St. Vincent @ the ICA, London, 08 July 2009 

I had never been to a concert at the ICA before; I see it more as a venue for when I feel the urge to spend three hours on a wooden chair with no room to park my legs room and endure enjoy contemplative experimental cinema. Let’s just say that I now think twice about going to the ICA to see a film. But I’ve always wondered if their music space was as small and “minimalist” as their screening room. I got my answer two nights ago when I went to see Annie Clark of St. Vincent perform there. The venue is indeed rather small: it can only hold 350 but I’d say we were no more than 300 attending Annie’s gig, which really took me by surprise. Isn’t St. Vincent bigger than this? Shouldn’t she be able to play, say, Shepherd’s Bush Empire in front of 1,500/2,000 fans? Or am I that disconnected with reality?

On the plus side, it made for an intimate show and having Annie Clark singing to my face was far from unpleasant. I’m not sure however how pleasant it was for her to have me in her face. She did lock eyes with me early on during one of her songs, only to never do that again the rest of the show. I’m trying hard not to read too much into that.

I like St Vincent’s albums a lot but what really sealed the deal for me was the couple of live performances I had seen online (this one, and that one but particularly this other one). I knew that I was going to really enjoy her perform live, and sure enough, she blew me away. I found her live set up to be quite ambitious for such a small venue to handle (the sound check took for ever and the musicians were struggling to find enough sockets to plug their gear) and between Annie’s electric guitar, her double-mic juggling, the flute, the oboe, the violin, the sax, the bass and the drums, there were lots of sounds coming out of that tiny stage, and not always in a polished manner. The vocals on a couple of songs were so muted that I wondered if that was intentional and Annie’s saturated and aggressive riffs were a bit harmful at times  (with each of her short bursts of musical epileptic fits, someone’s eardrums would expire), but who cares, the energy was great and the occasional cacophony would add to the raw quality of her performance. One thing was made very clear that night: Annie is really more of a rock chick than one might think. She might look like a delicate insect but when once plugged in, she turns into a real powerhouse.

Set list: Marry Me, The Strangers, Save Me From What I Want, Now Now, Actor Out Of Work, Paris Is Burning, The Bed, Laughing With A Mouth Of Blood, Black Rainbow, Marrow, Just The Same But Brand New  / the encore: The Party + Your Lips Are Red

M83 @ Koko, London, July 2009

A month after seeing Phoenix, I was back at Koko’s for another helping of French cheese. Anthony Gonzalez kicked off with a few really beautiful ambient pieces before beeing joined by the very cool Morgan Kibby and the drummer. They were really sleek, switching back and forth between dream-pop and more hardcore electronica with ease and to really good effect, and I thought the band sounded as good live as on the records. Having said all that, however enjoyable the gig was, it never quite took off for me.

Extraordinary Machine - Fiona Apple & Jon Brion     (via benjaminhilts:wolfandfox)

Great performance. There’s a very insightful interview of Fiona on Charlie Rose in which she gives candid account of the drama behind the making and release of Extroardinary Machine (remember the free fiona campaign?). The last part of the interview is about her creative process (not surprisingly, she starts with the words) and ends with a very sweet (and revealing) childhood anecdote.

Loney, Dear on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic

Madonna performing Everybody long ago and far away (I believe that was at the very cool Danceteria in 1982 and this might have been her very first performance as a solo artist).

Inspired by/in response to this post via wolfandfox: britticisms:forwhenifeellikesharing

I have a thing for the Madonna of the early 80s.

Dr Feelgood - Roxette

I recently got taken to a special screening of Julien Temple’s latest rockumentary dedicated to Dr Feelgood.

There’s been some regular Dr Feelgood talk around me for as long as I’ve known The Once and Future Blonde and her formidable cousin, who is none other than the band manager (and has been since, well, forever). But every time, I would turn into a music philistine by showing a complete lack of interest in Dr Feelgood’s music and by being totally dismissive of how big and influential that band was, is and will forever be.

Still, I went to see that Dr Feelgood documentary. And I was blown away. A few random and very obvious observations come to mind: 
1. How on earth did I manage to ignore this band for so long when it was mentioned to me over and over again by peeps who not only have good taste but also have a very strong personal connection with said band? Not only was that moronic of me, but it was also very rude.
2. Lee and Wilko are a sensational duo to watch perform on stage: there’s the psycho-eyed Wilko skittering manically across the stage, while a spastic but composed Lee, firmly planted in the center of the stage, is all about controlled frenzy and oozing cool all at the same time. 
3. The Wilko/Lee pair is so charismatic that it’s hard to pay attention to Sparko and The Big Figure, but these two are totaly deserving of the limelight. I particularly enjoy Big Figure’s style on the drums whenever I can catch a glimpse of it.
4. Lee is the coolest act I’ve seen. Seriously, watch this; that dude is just too cool for school and effortlessly so. And I’m totally buying a dirty white suit tomorrow.
5. Wilko is hilarious to watch on film. Still to this day, looking unstable and very much “out there”, but that’s probably what makes him so entertaining. That and his wit.
6. I would very certainly not have been won over by the band’s music (a bit too old-school R&B for my taste) hadn’t it been for their live performances (this one,  that one—even though it is not a live performance—, thot one… and also thut one…).
7. All these years I had no idea they were the ones who invented the we’re-the-coolest-looking-bunch-and-we’re-not-even-trying-fuck-you-very-much-…-beer? style.