Willis Earl Beal

By Russell Warfield

May 16, 2012

“It’s really fitting that we’re in the Tabernacle tonight, because you’re all now in the Holy Church of Willis Earl Beal.” It’s an audacious opening line to an audacious opening in general – choosing to orate a favourite Bukowski poem (which he claims to read before every performance, for inspiration) before launching himself into a completely unaccompanied rendition of his street-blues stormer ‘Wavering Lines.’ Whilst his debut record Acousmatic Sourcery – recorded in hyper lo-fi conditions while slumming it in Mexico City – saw Beal largely delivering with a disappointing, whispered reservation, tonight’s stage show is a commanding powerhouse of a performance, channelling the spirit of LP highlights like ‘Take Me Away’ (although that particular track is absent from tonight’s set) and Beal’s electrifying, a cappella, hand-clap videos that did the rounds online before the album’s release. First studio misstep aside, Beal does actually have the goods, and delivers them in fine form tonight as conclusive proof.

Since it’s clearly Beal’s centrepiece – and frequently his only instrument – it’s his voice which grabs attention most readily and most confidently. The frequent comparisons to artists like Tom Waits are far from unfounded, and it’s his sheer range of expression which is perhaps most impressive: moving from bottom-of-the-lungs sustain to throat-scorching anguish in the space of a single line. It makes his performance incredibly involving, arresting and even narratively dramatic; many of these songs working in a traditional-blues storytelling mode, unravelling on a stream of consciousness momentum, rarely pausing for chorus. But aside from this voice, he accompanies himself with a backing track (on a hilariously hipster-retro reel-to-reel thing) of chewed up melodies and strained guitar lines – a device which, with the added oomph to the rhythm through the PA, works a lot more strongly than it did on record. One of the true set highlights, however, comes in the form of ‘Evening’s Kiss,’ for which he pulls up a chair and rests his guitar on his knee, slowing the tempo from the recorded version but ramping the emotion and intensity to maximum – a spine tingling piece of beautiful vocal work with delicate guitar support.

It’s a shame then, that Beal’s most engaging modes of delivery – a cappella and guitar accompaniment – are the ones he uses least frequently; instead spending most of the set painting his vocal over the top of those backing tracks. To be sure, this still permits Beal to dazzle and beguile with his swooping, powerful vocal work and effortless confidence, but – especially owing to the wordiness of much of his lyricism, and the repetitive nature of his song structures – it’s hard not to wish that he wouldn’t consider dropping the tape and having the courage to perform more organically, perhaps even through spoken word on occasion. Because as Beal moves through his electrifying encore with an enthusiastic audience accompaniment of hand claps and foot stomps, it’s clear that Beal is at his most dynamic when engaging with the here-and-now, real sounds made by present humans – even if that’s just himself. Not too many artists have a vocal which can captivate so fully with such little embellishment, and so it’d be great to see Beal with a fuller confidence in his own bodily abilities, and not needlessly clouding his delivery with murky lo-fi backdrops.

Scissor Sisters

By Nia Thomas

May 16, 2012

Scissor Sisters returned to the stage at Shepherd’s Bush (or “Shepherd’s Minge” as Ana Matronic lovingly referred to it) last week to preview songs from their new album Magic Hour.

Support act Little Boots kicked off the evening with a set of old singles alongside songs from her next album. Opening with the song that brought her to early attention, ‘Stuck on Repeat,’ and first single ‘New in Town,’ both receive an enthusiastic response from the audience. It’s a shame that the crowd’s enthusiasm is not matched. Little Boots, known for her skills as a songwriter as much as a pop star, doesn’t seem to be completely comfortable with herself onstage which is where so many of her contemporaries excel. She then performs two new songs ‘Headphones’ and ‘Every Night I Say a Prayer,’ the latter sounding like a great Kylie song with handclaps galore. Both showcase a more disco direction. Songs like ‘New in Town’ and ‘Remedy’ remind the crowd that Little Boots knows her way around a great song even if she doesn’t make an original mark on them. She closes with ‘Shake,’ similar, in many respects, to ‘Stuck on Repeat’ in its icy electro flavour, which suits her more than the pure pop she co-writes so well.

Scissor Sisters, on the other hand, have everything from stage patter to old songs perfected and they burst with infectious energy when performing their new songs. The band bound on to the stage with frontman Jake Shears dressed like a sexy bee performing ‘Any Which Way.’ New, Pharrell Williams-produced track ‘Inevitable’ makes its mark and is followed by ‘Take Your Mama,’ a big singalong moment, during which guitarist Del Marquis sounds incredible. After premiering ‘Let’s Have a Kiki’ a week before, it’s exhilarating seeing a song that’s been an obsession for merely a few days performed perfectly with a dance routine, headsets and backing singers/dancers (‘Matronicons’) joining them at centre stage. Azealia Banks collaboration ‘Shady Love,’ which rhymes Obama with Madonna has the same cheekiness that oozes throughout Kiki. Ana Matronic’s solo performance of ‘Skin This Cat’ is unexpected but excellent, with the Matronicons dancing either side. This is followed by Jake performing ‘Mary’ by himself, providing a more downbeat moment in the middle of the party atmosphere. Their encore consists of their latest single, the Calvin Harris-produced ‘Only the Horses’ and debut album-era fan favourite ‘Music is the Victim’ and the set finishes without a dull moment.

Amon Tobin

By Nick Cowan

May 12, 2012

Ninja Tune favourite Amon Tobin delivered a second tour of ISAM, an audio-visual spectacular of his most recent album at Brixton Academy on Saturday. On stage, an ominous structure is shrouded in darkness. It’s made up of a collection of large cubes resembling a giant game of Tetris that isn’t going too well. Inside, the homunculus electronic producer/DJ Tobin pushes magic buttons and a kaleidoscope of CGI wizardry is projected onto the cubes in time with the music, rendering far off landscapes, spaceships, vivid colours and other fit-inducing scenes. The awe-struck audience searches for the appropriate response to this sensory overload, some twitch and some dance but they aren’t in the majority. Those familiar with Tobin will know that danceable beats are not offered up easily on ISAM with hip-hop and jazz beats slammed against jerky, droning noise. On top of this there’s a massive cube made of spinning machine parts to watch; most people resign themselves to a humble head nod.

The large machine morphs into a spaceship that jets off into space, bid farewell by a chorus of ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ as shooting stars fill the cubes like a Window 97 screensaver. Every so often the central cube is backlit and Tobin is revealed. At one point he acknowledges the now quite high crowd and conducts ‘Wooden Toy’ in time with a giant projection of himself made out of sound waves before disappearing back behind the veil, presumably to read the paper while no one can see. Seeing music and cube work in harmony is enthralling but occasionally does feel a bit like a Nokia PR stunt. You half expected the CGI spaceship to morph into a snazzy phone showcasing all new social features that will finally make life worth living.

Later on Tobin moves away from ISAM to deliver a more conventional and danceable set and the visuals take a back seat (well, as much as a 25ft pulsing cubes of colour can take a back seat), which loosens the crowd up enough to dance some. For the encore, Tobin decides to calm things down and brings the show to a close with an ambient end. The decision seems slightly misguided given that it’s only 10:30pm and by the looks of the crowd, most will be heading on somewhere to satisfy their now expanded need for sensory input. But all in all it’s a good show and it’s great to see Tobin investing in creating unique live experiences, however you can’t help wondering how engaging the set would be without the visuals. Well, if all else fails, you can always put on ISAM and watch this.

Perfume Genius

By Russell Warfield

May 14, 2012

Although the clue was definitely in the title, I didn’t expect tonight’s setting to be quite so quaint. Completely un-renovated and seemingly still primarily intended as a place of worship, tonight’s performance takes place in the altar, lit by candles and soft lamps, with a massive, crucified Jesus as the de facto stage backdrop. Opening act Cate le Bon – performing solo acoustic numbers with a rustic Celtic charm – jokingly comments about feeling uncomfortable singing a song with the phrase “oh, Christ!” in such a location, and indeed it’s true to say that the dynamic of the event is unquestionably altered – the faintly stifling conventions of a musty old church causing the murmuring of people to get quieter rather than louder as Hadraes enters, taking the stage to expectant silence rather than welcoming applause. But if you had come for a party or a chit-chat, this was never going to be the gig for you. It’s unexpected and unusual, but St Pancras Old Church is a pitch-perfect setting in which to absorb the music of Perfume Genius – hosting a performance which proves itself more than worthy of its lofty surroundings.

What makes tonight’s gig particularly special is the manner in which the desperate fragility of debut LP Learning and the breakthroughs of confidence and resilience of 2012’s Put Your Back N 2 It are allowed to co-exist so effectively. Early set highlight comes in the form of the shattering ‘Lookout, Lookout’, a rendition which (cliché alert – but it’s true) had goosebumps running up and down me for its duration. But rather than being immediately followed by more despair and torture (on the LP’s tracklisting, we’re next treated/subjected to ‘Mr Peterson’), we’re lifted out of the mire by the uplifting swell of ‘Dark Parts’, and lines like ‘Normal Song’s’ “no memory, no matter how sad / and no violence, no matter how bad can darken the heart / or tear it apart.” For every descent into Hadraes’ storied past of depression and chemical dependence on first album cuts, these moments are always juxtaposed with a glimmering ray of optimistic hope taken from its follow up; dramatic swoops between peaks and troughs adding a true sense of drama to the set, delivering redemption and (I’ll permit myself to say, since I’m in a church) salvation for Hadras – and his audience – every few songs, with no diminishing returns.

In more purely sonic terms, tonight’s set also sees a comfortable marriage between Hadraes’s early stripped back delicacy and the fuller textured maturity of his newer material. Flanked by two band mates, one providing dark, gorgeous synth texture, the other alternating between drums and guitar, the sound is permitted to expand and contract as the material desires, and without jarring. Wisely, ‘Mr. Peterson’ remains un-tampered with, while the epic sweep of stuff like ‘Dark Parts’ is recreated beautifully, resonating around the stone walls as if expecting to be joined by a full choir and orchestra at any moment. In all, it feels like a performance from an artist at a particularly special period in his trajectory – a perfect balance of simplicity and intricacy to the musicianship, combined with a similarly effective balance between despair and hope in the lyricism. And although there’s nothing to suggest that the best of Perfume Genius’ work is behind him, this is undoubtedly a time capsule moment in his career – a special moment in his development before hopefully (for his own sake more so than his listeners) continuing to move in the direction of artistic maturity and personal fulfilment.

We Are Augustines – by Julia Stryj

By Julia Stryj

May 10, 2012

When I first heard about We Are Augustines and their tough past as individuals and the struggle towards the end of their previous band Pela, I was instantly amazed by the band’s determination and passion. Their surprisingly uplifting – considering it deals with a lot of the bumps that were on singer Billy McCarthy’s road – debut album Rise Ye Sunken Ships is constantly being listened to. Driving through the never ending rain to Glasgow to see them on their first proper headline tour since the album’s release in the UK, I find out that the support band is on at 19:45. That means a relaxed dinner is replaced by a quick take away as I don’t want to miss My Goodness.

Before the guys from Seattle come on stage Beastie Boys are played through the sound system, an obvious tribute to MCA. As soon as My Goodness start playing it’s clear to see and hear why the two-piece are compared to The Black Keys. Singer and guitar player Joel Schneider and drummer Ethan Jacobsen are playing raw Blues Rock’n’Roll in an incredibly loud and controlled way, but it’s still a lot livelier than The Black Keys.

It is a very nice touch that We Are Augustines watch their support act from the back of the audience, and I wonder how much longer they will be able to do this with hardly anybody in the audience noticing or recognising them.

The sold out ABC is filling up, which is great considering the gig was initially planned for a smaller venue, before We Are Augustines walk on stage to their ‘Instrumental’ song. They get right into their set, which covers the whole album plus the song Rise Ye Sunken Ships. After the first two songs most of the audience is infected by the band’s passion and soon it isn’t only the choruses that they are singing back.

This seems to give the already highly charged Brooklyn band even more energy for every song, culminating in ‘Book of James’ that singer Billy McCarthy introduces as a happy song even though it deals with the suicide of his brother James. The audience is doing as they are told and sing and dance along to the incredibly powerful song.

Billy, who keeps saying that he does not want the gig to end, is visibly overwhelmed by the reaction they get from the audience. Before he plays a wonderful version of ‘East Los Angeles’ on his own he tells us that we should never give up on anything we are passionate about referring to Eric and him having played for 10 years together and as We Are Augustines for a little over a year.

Rob Allen and Eric Sanderson return back to their instruments to perform their last two energetic songs, finishing off with ‘Chapel Song’. By that time Billy and Eric are continuously at the front of the stage to be closer to the enthusiastic audience and Eric ends up doing his first stage dive, smiling and playing the guitar while the crowd carried him back to the stage. This sparked Rob Allen on into a powerful drum “solo”, accompanied by Billy’s guitar, and Eric on keyboards, turning the 3-minute single into a 6-minute climax of an unforgettable gig.

All photos by Julia Stryj. More of Julia’s work can be found here.

May 6, 2012

A selection of photos from The Subways’ recent show at Edinburgh’s Liquid Rooms. Support on the night came from Royal Republic. All photos taken by Julia Stryj. More of Julia’s work can be found here.

Savoir Adore

By Matt Churchill (@geetarchurchy)

May 7, 2012

Hailing from Brooklyn, Savoir Adore are in the UK for only the second time in their (relatively) short career. They’re busy cramming five UK dates in to their European tour, which also takes them to Amsterdam and Paris over just eleven days.

Paul Hammer and Deidre Muro, who began working together in 2007 as solo artists, have coerced a likeable and talented trio of musicians to join them and who now provide the backbone of a fully formed quintet. The release of Dreamers, an EP featuring two brand new tracks ‘Dreamers’ and ‘Sea of Gold’ as well as a host of remixes, happily coincides with the tour which kicked off at the cool but sweaty Notting Hill Arts Club earlier this week. The Queen of Hoxton provided a similarly sized, but more open feeling venue for the second night of the tour.

Opening with the atmospheric ‘Sarah’s Secret’, the fifth track of second album Into The Wooded Forest, the band fall into their stride straight away, capturing the audience with one swift grab. “Outside!/We travelled here to start the war” is an opening rallying cry for what’s to become an engrossing and magical set.

Former single ‘We Talk Like Machines’ crashes in with a furore, its hypnotic bass line and flitting glittering keyboard counter melodies cutting through the assembled ensconced mass who were by this time hooked. The flirtingly good ‘Bodies’ rolls on next, with dark blue lights adding a mysterious undertone to the track. The response from the crowd gets louder after each song, and Savoir Adore find themselves getting more and more captured by the response. They are enjoying it and aren’t afraid to let us know it, to see a band so into their art and connected to an audience is a special sight. ‘Loveliest Creature’, one of the oldest songs in the set, is an aggressively beautiful pastoral track which, when played live, has a tender naivety. This contrasts wonderfully with the more fully formed and confident ‘Sea of Gold’, the second track from Dreamers. It duly makes its entrance here, slowing the pace a little and hinting at a the dancier direction of songs to come.

A cry of “we love you Paul!” cuts through the gap in between tracks. The frontman appeared somewhat baffled, amused and humbled by this outcry of adoration, he’d best get used to more of the same if Savoir Adore’s upcoming third record Our Nature is as good as the two new synth driven songs played as the set hit its climax would suggest. Finishing with ‘Dreamers’, Savoir Adore save the newest song in the set to triumphantly close the gig. The crowd have grown into the set with each song and now call for more, yet this is sadly not forthcoming.

If you’re looking to find a group that will flourish you with a cavalcade of glorious harmonies, chilling melodies and addiction-inducing rural soundscapes, Savoir Adore should be your first point of call.

You can download the Dreamers EP in the iTunes store now, and keep an eye out for Our Nature, due to hit stores both virtual and bricks and mortar soon.

April 28, 2012

A few beautiful snaps from Bombay Bicycle Club’s recent headline show at London’s Alexandra Palace. Support on the night came from Lianne La Havas and Rae Morris. All photos by Alex Kavanagh. More of Alex’s work can be found at http://www.alexkavanagh.com.

Maps and Atlases

By Judy Tate

April 19, 2012

Journeying from Chicago, where the band met several years ago, Maps & Atlases tonight find themselves in the packed basement of Glasgow’s Nice N Sleazy. Vocalist and lead guitarist Dave Davison, affixed to the mic, introduces the band, starting with a track from the new album Beware and Be Grateful. ‘Winter’ immediately asserts the band’s math rock melodies and gives the crowd a taste of the intricate instrumental styles ever present in the band’s work. This is the first of only three tracks included in the set from the band’s new album, released just a few days before the gig. The album’s decidedly polished sound and rhythmical layering implies an intense and perpetual writing process but drummer Chris Hainey defines it as a relaxed three session production. This polished sound transfers neatly to the stage, where later in the set the band air catchy track ‘Fever’, the second track on Beware and Be Grateful. It receives a good response from the crowd and the mix of electronic sounds and tinkly guitar work signifies the fresh elements of the new album. Reviews have commented on Beware and Be Grateful’s deviating sound, but Hainey insists the band are used to this reaction when they first release a record and that they don’t intend on making the same record twice.

Sandwiched between these two new tracks are the familiar ‘Pigeon’ from the band’s debut Perch Patchwork, with its repetitive guitar riffs reminiscent of Vampire Weekend’s ‘Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa’. This can be said for several tunes  in the set which mix VW’s chirpy guitar riffs with Davison’s lugubrious vocal styles, which hold similarities with Kings of Leon. Though I doubt the band would immediately cite KOL as having influenced their style, Hainey and bassist Erin Elders describe their influences as being extremely wide ranging due to their individually varying tastes. These span from Talking Heads (their funk stylings can be heard on Beware and Be Grateful, in the playful groove of Silver Self) and David Bowie, to early New York punk, and soul artists such as Bill Withers.

Returning to their performance, the Nice N Sleazy crowd were reserved but responsive, welcoming more well known tracks in the form of ‘Artichokes,’ the immediacy of the heavier drums giving the set some oomph after its rather laid back beginnings. ‘The Charm’ furthers the new found energy with its regimented drum rolls and I spy some foot tapping and head nodding from the audience. The track’s angular melodies and electronic backdrop provides a Foals-like dance-punk presence, a band that Maps and Atlases supported on several dates in the US in 2008. When asked, bassist Elders notes that Total Life Forever (Foals’ 2010 release) was a British album that is currently being listened to a lot on his iPod. Another notable track from the set is ‘Remote and Dark Years’, the third and last track the band perform from their new album. Anthemically arranged, the pop oriented style that critics describe Maps and Atlases as having moved towards is foregrounded, and this is the definite highlight of the night. The track ends quietly and eases into ‘Witch’, its subtle, edgy bass underlying Davison’s vocals, which are admittedly whiney at times, and this is the least enjoyable track of the night. The band redeems themselves however with ‘Is This It’, with its dissonant soundings and again Vampire Weekend riffs, and they successfully and suggestively wind up on ‘Solid Ground’.

THEESatisfaction

By Russell Warfield

April 24, 2012

You’ll have to forgive this review for failing to get beyond the fact that THEESatisfaction – the slinky duo whose recent LP gave a much needed injection of old school spirit and soul into traditionalist black music – play their live shows from a fucking backing tape. In one fell swoop, all the soul is drained from this music – a hollow husk of a laptop in the shadows of where the horn section should be grooving, the bassist grinding, the drummer vibing. It’s immeasurably disappointing to discover that should-be high points like ‘Sweat’ – all peppy horns and gyrating rhythms on record – actually sound more vibrant and alive heard through tinny headphones on the tube than they do in concert, the backing tracks turning into a fuzzy, homogeneous porridge over the house PA.

The duo themselves, of course, are as fiercely cool yet effortlessly humble as the LP would have you believe. Frequently breaking into amateur dances as the groove wins them, lines like “when you look at the surface / the world is flat / flatter than your ass / flattered that you ask” sound as kooky and sassy delivered eyeball to eyeball as they do on record, being tongue in cheek with a serious conviction. And there’s no quibbling with the uplifting powers of a woman simply standing before you, reminding you to “take a break from life and learn a lesson / I’m just suggesting that you respect the talents that you do have / Or go out and learn a skill”. As on record, the live show finds the duo at their finest, coolest and most compelling when the focus is placed squarely on the vocal interplay – a strength which flourishes brilliantly during the shorter and more tightly coiled of their vignettes, numbers where the vocal lines propel forwards without being burdened by needlessly repeated refrains, segueing between melody and rap with instinctual flair.

But there’s no getting past that backing track, and plenty of the songs don’t sport decent enough vocal chops to transcend it. Even with just the live instrumentation of a skeletal drum kit, support band Young Fathers boasted a sound (if not necessarily a collection of songs) which upstaged THEESatisfaction’s two-dimensional, compressed soundscapes without even trying. As the crowd gets excited and puts handclaps behind ‘queenS’ early in the set, the sense of anticlimax as the crowd waits for an extra layer of groove to kick in – a groove which never materialises –  is palpable. For the entire set, the performance is marred by the nagging desire to have, if not a full blown band, at least a bit of live instrumentation, and although it’s a lazy writer’s cliché to deride a lot of this set for ‘feeling like karaoke’, it’s a hell of a lot less lazy than pausing the pre-programmed set-list on your laptop as you saunter off-stage, primed and ready to start the encore of an alleged soul, blues and old school hip hop revival with the touch of a keypad.