Max Richter – Infra

Max Richter - Infra

“Memory and desire, stirring/Dull roots with spring rain” – two lines taken from the opening of T.S. Eliot’s hugely significant modernist poem, ‘The Waste Land’. In the context of Max Richter’s newest release Infra, the poem acts as the inspirational forefather behind the work, first informing the dance of choreographer Wayne McGregor, who personally asked Richter to create a twenty-five minute score to his ballet (and collaboration with artist Julian Opie) for The Royal Opera House. There’s a conceptual truth behind these words that can be heard throughout Infra. It’s certainly a dual-faceted record, oscillating in choice of instrumentation between more traditional classical genres such as the string quintet or works for solo piano, to the strict parameters of Richter’s finely measured static hum – perpetually contrasting the “dull roots” with the “spring rain”, flickering between “memory” and “desire”. … Continue Reading

Whale Watching, Reading Concert Hall

Whale Watching

April 25, 2010

Following a brief state of limbo after the extremely inconsiderate eruption of one of Iceland’s largest natural phenomena, the eight musicians that comprise Bedroom Community’s Whale Watching Tour make their third stop at Reading’s Concert Hall. Centered around Icelandic producer Valgeir Sigurðsson, composer Nico Muhly, electronic wizard Ben Frost and folk singer Sam Amidon, the set samples from each of the four’s catalogues. While the artist’s different genres and sounds gladly sit alongside one another on their label’s roster, you still might question the pragmatism of an evening spent flicking arbitrarily between them. Such accusations are soon stunted however, upon the realisation that Muhly’s treatment of the additional quartet of musicians (namely a violinist, violist, trombonist and double bassist) is to act as tonight’s most obvious cohesive element. … Continue Reading

Frank Turner, Oxford o2 Academy

Frank Turner

October 20th 2009

Tonight’s gig marks the halfway point of Frank Turner’s sixteen-date headline tour, and despite my expectations and friends’ best forewarnings, the type of local-boy-makes-good reception that Turner receives takes catches me by surprise. From the moment Turner takes the stage, the venue formerly known as the Zodiac echoes with the sort of frenzied girlish screams you’d associate with a ‘90s boy band comeback show. Obviously any Frank Turner appearance also comes complete with a large contingent of man-crush laden lad-fans, but regardless of his demographic, the dedicated following Turner has built over his years seems almost unparalleled.
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Volcano Choir – Unmap

Volcano Choir

It’d be all too easy to draw comparisons between Unmap and debut Bon Iver LP For Emma Forever Ago, but when all is considered, the two records couldn’t be further apart. While admittedly there are points at which Unmap becomes just an exercise in pairing the music of Collections Of Colonies Of Bees with the melodies of Bon Iver, credit has to go to Justin Vernon for adapting his vocals just enough to set them apart from his other work. They become more punctuated and more ecstatic, enhancing the crooked rhythms and studio treated sonorities that amass to Volcano Choir.

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Who YOU should see at the Green Man Festival

Green Man

In just under a week, a 10,000 strong crowd will descend upon the Glanusk Park Estate, at the heart of the Brecon Beacons, and plunge headfirst into the seventh annual Green Man Festival. While that means a lengthy trek for a London based ticket-holder such as myself, it’ll be more than worth the effort, with the Glanusk Park Estate a prime contender for the country’s most picturesque festival site. Having now established itself as the festival calendar’s calm before the Reading and Leeds storm, the event has a growing reputation as one of the most relaxed, communal and family-friendly festivals around.

Headlined by the runaway success story Animal Collective, britpop overlord Jarvis Cocker, and celebrated Chicago alt-rockers Wilco, the festival boasts three stages of blogger-savvy musical goodness, a comedy tent, a literature tent, a cinema tent, and the ‘Solar Stage’ – which amongst other things, has an entire time slot simply devoted to ‘Bubbles and Balloons’; not a pseudonym for a pair of late-night entertainers as you might expect from many another summer festival, but simply an ode to two childhood favourites. Needless to say, there’s plenty abound to wipe any signs of a hangover from your face – a problem that may well present itself, with Green Man the only UK festival boasting 24-hour licensed bars. … Continue Reading

Underage Festival, London Victoria Park

Mystery Jets

My expectations of Underage Festival arethat of thousands of uninhibited, boisterous teens eager to devote an entire day to the kind of revelry that only teens can muster. I’m further assured of such preconceptions on sight of a sea of riot vans to the side of the festival gates. Ah. Party time, surely?

It soon transpires however, that I am to be disappointed, on several accounts – primarily in the line-up, which admittedly I had given little consideration before passing through the gate. As with previous years, I had expected more of a crossover with older sibling festival Field Day while in truth, there’s  no more than five or six bands that played both days (notably The Horrors, parading their newfound direction past the ears of an ever-widening audience, and electro-pop NME darling Little Boots) and the Underage selection unfortunately proves by far the less innovative and stimulating of the two.

Predictably enough then, the day’s entertainment proceeds like a live reproduction of an episode of Skins, with Tinchy Stryder packing out the Topman Ctrl Stage during his 5pm slot, and crowd favourite Patrick Wolf taking advantage of being the last act to finish before the 8pm curfew, with crowd members slowly trickling in right up until the end of his set.

None of the above acts seemed to really enthuse the quite evidently undersold festival though, with the 14 to 17-year-old attendees appearing visibly unimpressed throughout the day. Crowd enthusiasm is minimal, with the teenage hipsters barely managing to raise their hands above their heads at the best of times. This, my second qualm with the event, seems to plague the entire day. Perhaps it’s the emptiness of the affair, or perhaps maybe it’s just that the kids really do need the drink and drugs to have a good time nowadays, but it really seems a certain something is missing.

There’s some relief during Mystery Jets’ 6pm set, which borrows heavily from their fantastic indie-pop sophomore album, Twenty-One. Sing-along numbers ‘Flakes’, ‘Two Doors Down’, and ‘Young Love’ see a relatively considerable rise from a crowd comprised of those who’ve refused to be torn away from the main stage to sets from The Horrors or Little Boots. This however, is the most energetic point of the day. Even during The Pigeon Detectives’ high-octane (if decidedly lad-ish) headline set – seeing frontman Matt Bowman scale the frame of the stage – the reaction still seems a bit tepid. … Continue Reading

Polly and the Billets Doux – Fiction, Half-Truths and Downright Lies

Polly and the Billets Doux

Polly and the Billets Doux hardly make the sort of music that you’d expect from a Bristol-based four piece. You couldn’t really imagine most of Fiction, Half-Truths and Downright Lies sounding out of place in a blue-collar bar somewhere in the heart of the American Midwest.

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Sigur Rós – Von

Sigur Rós - Von

After watching 2007′s Heima, I was left with an overwhelming intrigue into Sigur Rós‘ homeland. This feeling came not simply as a reaction to the news that over half of Iceland’s population believe in a society of mysterious elf creatures, or one of the many other wonderful back-stories that acted as little prologues to each of the band’s performances; but it was the sheer beauty and scenery of the film’s backdrop that garnered my attention most. It was only after such a background check that I began to understand the origins of the Sigur Rós’ work. Iceland appears a place of extremely serene and tranquil peace – a quality that clearly echoes through the band’s music. However, while they so often produce music of this quality now, they certainly had to find their place first. 1997′s Von acts as a document for this stage of the band’s lifetime.

Von marks the beginning of a career that will catapult Sigur Rós far beyond their humble beginnings. However, Von itself was not the catalyst for this propulsion (this came in the form of 1999′s Ágætis Byrjun). In truth, Von sold a grand total of 313 copies in Iceland within the first year of its release. However, the difference in calibre and acclaim between the two records comes deservedly so. As an album, it’s as if Von doesn’t quite know where it belongs; an album of wild experiment and variation. Opening with ‘Sigur Rós’, a solid nine minutes of largely unsettling ambience consisting of feedback, interference noise, and what sounds like screams, by time the introduction of track seven, ‘Myrkur’, comes round, the band seem to be giving a little nod in U2′s direction. … Continue Reading

Classic album: Jeff Buckley – Grace

Jeff Buckley - Grace

I find it difficult to listen to Nick Drake’s Pink Moon, and Elliott Smith’s Figure 8 without bringing to mind the tragic events that they foreshadowed. The softer part of my consciousness is prone to rewarding the music with more credit than is warranted, perhaps out of sympathy. With Jeff Buckley‘s Grace however, I have no such afflictions.

Having said this, it’s not as if Grace doesn’t try to lure its listeners into that trap on more than one occasion. From the outset, the echoing guitar harmonics of ‘Mojo Pin’ work alongside Buckley’s eerie, wordless vocals to create a soundscape evoking images of the supernatural, the uncontrollable and the inevitable. The proceeding title track goes one further. “Have a little wine, we both might go tomorrow”, Buckley murmurs over a relentless picked guitar pattern, unknowingly poignant in his instruction.

But as I’ve said, Grace is an incredible feat – regardless of the unfortunate circumstances that we now know it in. The next three tracks -’Last Goodbye’, ‘Lilac Wine’ (written by composer James Shelton), and ‘So Real’ – are a chance to evaluate the album from an unbiased standpoint. ‘Last Goodbye’ is perhaps as close as Grace gets to a standard pop song, with Buckley howling “kiss me, please kiss me, kiss me out of desire, baby no consolation” over a background of jangly strumming and wonderfully orchestrated strings. Then enters the slow-burning ‘Lilac Wine’, an altogether more refined affair sure to send any listener into the persona of a dreamy recluse. Following that is ‘So Real’, hiding just around the corner. It’s the heaviest song of the record so far, complete with a startlingly feedback-drenched bridge.

A criticism is that Grace isn’t as concise as it could have been. The idea of Buckley as a small child often crosses my mind, a child unable to remain concentrated on any given thing for a prolonged amount of time. Even within these last three songs, we’ve seen him swing through chart-topper, almost operatic crooner and impassioned rocker.

On the flip side, this range in genre and style also presents itself as a talent; if you’re not convinced by the original ten tracks alone, have a listen to the bonus disc of the Legacy Edition of Grace. It sees Buckley cover influences ranging from country blues on ‘Parchman Farm Blues’ to soul and gospel on ‘I Want Someone Badly’. The disc is a totally separate achievement. … Continue Reading