tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-157085402024-03-14T18:43:25.178+00:00WRONG ANGLEWelcome to Wrong Angle, the botched reality of feckless musical ideologues stuck in a hyper-theorised cybernetwork of demented gonzoid paralysis. Or some such bunkum.Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-38619994412353486072008-03-14T11:40:00.004+00:002008-03-14T11:53:42.742+00:00Wet dream<object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/noJCYVn6Hb4&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/noJCYVn6Hb4&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object>I'm surprised to see <span style="font-style: italic;">Water Lilies - </span>a new film about French teenage lesbians on the cusp of sexual awakening - garnering such universally drooling reviews from middle-aged male film critics. Must be something in the water!Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-989773395658875152008-02-15T12:09:00.009+00:002008-11-13T02:43:52.691+00:00Sons & Daughters @ ULU<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8hJQ-nXnW5nVVFTmUKd5uYmaT6czvbKjLPLCbCaNiWcoZlSTbEanLkMf-2DhIE1ZVP6XJMQkHMOFfvsqihG9z2agW7PV-uHlczyg2UMUzGX1ewy2lWanolz5FwW5y7DSNprb91g/s1600-h/sd150x2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5167181004274006066" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8hJQ-nXnW5nVVFTmUKd5uYmaT6czvbKjLPLCbCaNiWcoZlSTbEanLkMf-2DhIE1ZVP6XJMQkHMOFfvsqihG9z2agW7PV-uHlczyg2UMUzGX1ewy2lWanolz5FwW5y7DSNprb91g/s400/sd150x2.jpg" border="0" /></a>[Originally published on <a href="http://blogs.orange.co.uk/live/2008/02/live-music-sons.html"><em>Orange.co.uk</em></a>]<br /><br /><em>“That was a song to kill your girlfriend to. This is one to kill yourself to.”<br /></em>From any other band, such throwaway nihilism might amount to little more than posturing: but no one familiar with <a href="http://www.sonsanddaughtersloveyou.com/">Sons & Daughters</a>’ macabre fetishism can doubt their devotion to the cause. Here to showcase their third and most fully-realised album to date – the <a href="http://www.bernardbutler.com/">Bernard Butler</a>-produced <em>The Gift</em> – the Glasgow quartet arrive at tonight’s headline date on the cusp of a long-awaited commercial breakthrough.<br /><br />Central to their visceral appeal lies singer Adele Bethel. Appearing on-stage in an ultra-revealing slip of a number, her rapturous banshee wails and spasmodic tambourine-thrashing suggest not so much a front-woman as a Dionysian force of nature. Scott Paterson’s growling vocals prove themselves a menacing counterpoint to Bethel’s, while adding a touch of loucheness to proceedings.<br /><br />Crucially, the band now have the material to back up their ferocious live reputation. Newies such as the <a href="http://www.franzferdinand.co.uk/">Franz Ferdinand</a>-gone-feral intensity of former single ‘Gilt Complex’ and the yearning <a href="http://www.morrissey-solo.com/">Morrissey</a> inflections of ‘The Bell’ slip effortlessly into the cannon, while old favourites ‘Dance Me In’ and ‘Johnny Cash’ – the latter re-worked to channel the raw claustrophobia of <a href="http://www.iggypop.com/">the Stooges</a> – have lost none of their lusty impact through over-familiarity.<br /><br />Ploughing a furrow of heady, apocalyptic Roots'n'Roll, Sons & Daughters’ enthralling evocation of rock’s dark side stands up to comparison with <a href="http://www.tomwaits.com/">Tom Waits</a> and <a href="http://www.nickcaveandthebadseeds.com/">Nick Cave</a>, twin demigods of that particular pantheon. You wouldn’t want to get too close, but from a distance it makes for a hellishly thrilling spectacle.Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-37306987169336634202008-01-26T19:36:00.000+00:002008-11-13T02:43:52.832+00:00The Ting Tings @ Hoxton Bar & Grill<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjatQKxLfUhl3rUdyp1yRuXgyRzYXJZGMY3jlB6HyuAeG29k_9TQnFS_wH9E8G_Z2MDwZcr1OjuamB_uu4D3PII6aKZ-It4lqA4lVPPXPYFSm8LUhar1-QSIxkuXrEjMBfY0um03Q/s1600-h/tingtings_25jan08_pa_200_2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5159873260477457778" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjatQKxLfUhl3rUdyp1yRuXgyRzYXJZGMY3jlB6HyuAeG29k_9TQnFS_wH9E8G_Z2MDwZcr1OjuamB_uu4D3PII6aKZ-It4lqA4lVPPXPYFSm8LUhar1-QSIxkuXrEjMBfY0um03Q/s400/tingtings_25jan08_pa_200_2.jpg" border="0" /></a> [Originally published on <a href="http://blogs.orange.co.uk/live/2008/01/live-music-the.html"><em>Orange.co.uk</em></a>]<br /><br /><div></div><div>The next big thing: a double-edged compliment if ever there was one. Having formed less than 12 months ago, much-hyped Manc duo <a href="http://www.myspace.com/thetingtings">The Ting Tings</a> arrive for their biggest headline show to date all too aware that the fall from grace can be brutal should you fail to measure up.<br /><br />If the pair are fazed by the palpable sense of anticipation in this rammed East London venue, they certainly don’t show it, dispatching their new single ‘Great DJ’ as a sassy, confident opening salvo. Sure, it’s join-the-dots indie-disco, but the insistent post-punk riffs and singer Katie White’s sultry, knowing delivery raise it above the generic. ‘Fruit Machine’ – its “kerching!” hook possibly reflecting their record label’s reaction upon hearing the track – is playful and erotically charged, a teasing vocal building to a Karen O-style caterwaul for the chorus.<br /><br />Sadly, the quality dips from here on in. Drummer Jules De Martino switches to guitar duties for ‘Traffic Light’, an ill-advised stab at a stripped-down blues ballad which only serves to disrupt the set’s momentum. Much of the material sounds rather two-dimensional, the backing tracks failing to have the impact a full band might have provided. An instantly forgettable newie even manages to summon the unwelcome spectre of Republica.<br /><br />Despite White giving it her best rip-her-to-shreds Debbie Harry moves and De Martino’s undeniably infectious energy, it’s hard to shake off the niggling whiff of contrivance surrounding the Ting Tings. The band’s vogueish grrrrl pop sound is just rough enough around the edges to be marketed to a credibility-conscious indie market, while remaining safely daytime radio-friendly. Not a bad thing per se, it’s just that with the likes of <a href="http://www.thegoteam.co.uk/flash/News.html">The Go! Team</a> and <a href="http://www.myspace.com/blackkidsrock">Black Kids</a> so definitively setting the standard in exuberant, distortion-heavy pop, it all sounds a little tame.<br /><br />Interest is belatedly revived with their hook-laden, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FeIF-7fhkE">Toni Basil</a>-aping anthem ‘That’s Not My Name’, but it’s not enough to stave off the gnawing sense of anti-climax at the end of this half-hour set. In a notoriously fickle musical climate, the Ting Tings have the air of a purely ephemeral concern.</div>Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-59722794264533413682008-01-22T12:28:00.000+00:002008-01-22T12:53:31.172+00:00Juno it makes senseOMG, <em><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0467406/">Juno</a></em> may just be the schmindiest movie ever: if there’s any justice it’ll be this year’s <em>Napoleon Dynamite</em>/<em>Little Miss Sunshine</em> cross-over indie cult phenomenon. It features an awesomely sweet lead performance from <strong><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0680983/">Ellen Page</a></strong> (the eponymous Juno), who has that same gonna-be-a-humongous-star aura of invincibility displayed by <strong>Lindsay Lohan</strong> in <em>Mean Girls</em> (hopefully <em>sans</em> the celebrity hang-ups and tawdry <strong>Callum Best</strong> trysts).<br /><br />The soundtrack’s curated by <strong><a href="http://www.kimyadawson.com/">Kimya Dawson</a></strong> from the much-missed Moldy Peaches. It features two of Belle and Sebastian’s greatest songs (‘Piazza, New York Catcher’ and ‘Expectations’) as well as stellar, career-best stuff from the likes of The Kinks, The Velvet Underground, Cat Power and Kimya herself. Best of all, though, it features Sonic Youth’s spine-tingling, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHZNWimbhUE">otherworldly rendition</a> of the Carpenter’s ‘Superstar’, one of my favourite cover versions.<br /><br />Read <strong>Laura Barton</strong>'s musings on the <em>Juno</em> soundtrack <a href="http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,2242252,00.html">here</a>.Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-84145796057138975362008-01-16T12:28:00.000+00:002008-01-16T12:34:29.195+00:00"Take off your glasses and apologise"The dress sense of Nathan Barley, the attitude of Napoleon Dynamite. Awesome.<br /><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/X2EDtxEumFI&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&border=0"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/X2EDtxEumFI&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&border=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-21618426681815827492008-01-14T15:19:00.001+00:002008-11-13T02:43:53.061+00:00Falling Off the Lavender Bridge - Lightspeed Champion<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvVb337f0VCAqp8rStg83fpScFFtZp4rEqMzj6Bm1IQZ5X_B8dzyOeuIQ_JyYOqB8uofSlMt_ZroUn1-btN2SR03vLVt12m-nIU1jqfxj7B3FBmBSgHmhOVSkzRVfr_xyi9dSHwA/s1600-h/falling_off_the_lavender_bridge.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5156485413981208194" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvVb337f0VCAqp8rStg83fpScFFtZp4rEqMzj6Bm1IQZ5X_B8dzyOeuIQ_JyYOqB8uofSlMt_ZroUn1-btN2SR03vLVt12m-nIU1jqfxj7B3FBmBSgHmhOVSkzRVfr_xyi9dSHwA/s400/falling_off_the_lavender_bridge.jpg" border="0" /></a> [<em>Originally published on </em><a href="http://www.twistedear.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1461&Itemid=31"><em>Twisted Ear</em>]<br /><br /></a><div><strong>Candid acoustic soul-bearing courtesy of former scenester</strong><br /><br />Noisenik agitators <a href="http://www.myspace.com/testicicles">Test Icicles</a> were one of those infuriatingly faddish industry buzz bands whose short-lived hype frenzy quickly evaporated once rock journalists ceased to be titillated by their gimmicky moniker. Few mourned when they announced their split in 2006, least of all band member Dev Hynes who claimed that "we were never, ever that keen on the music. I understand that people liked it, but we personally, er, didn't." In short: we pity the fools.<br /><br />Mercifully, Hyne’s new vehicle <a href="http://www.myspace.com/lightspeedchampion">Lightspeed Champion</a> are musically unrecognisable from his previous cohorts. Recorded in Omaha, Nebraska with resident <a href="http://www.saddle-creek.com/">Saddle Creek</a> producer Mike Mogis, and backed by moonlighting members of <a href="http://www.myspace.com/officialtillyandthewall">Tilly and the Wall</a> and <a href="http://www.myspace.com/cursive">Cursive</a>, it’s perhaps no surprise to discover a debut album steeped in lush, introspective alt-country, but with a roguish geek pop edge.<br /><br />Written by Hynes at the age of only 19, <em>Falling Off the Lavender Bridge</em> is a record defined both by its creator’s precocious musical accomplishment and his eyebrow-raising candour. Previous singles 'Galaxy of the Lost' and 'Tell Me What It’s Worth' showcase Lightspeed Champion’s flair for literate, deceptively upbeat folk-pop. And while <a href="http://www.myspace.com/emmythegreat">Emmy the Great</a>’s mellifluous backing vocals help to sugar the pill somewhat, they can’t completely mask the undercurrent of angsty ennui which lurks beneath the surface.<br /><br />Self-consciously nerdy and unaffected, Hynes presents himself as a reluctant spokesman for a generation grown prematurely jaded. But unlike, say, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Turner_(musician)">Alex Turner</a>, whose alienation manifests itself in sneering condescension towards his peers, Hyne’s tone is a broadly sympathetic one. Whereas most of the acclaimed indie rock lyricists <em>du jour</em> favour an impressionistic, abstract, approach, Hynes style is blunt and deeply personal to the point of crudeness (“wake up smell the semen,” he urges during sprawling, hook-laden 10-minute epic 'Midnight Surprise', making listeners of a more sensitive disposition nearly choke on their sleeve notes). 'I Could Have Done this Myself' is a frank and comical chronicling of an underwhelming sexual encounter, propelled by a rousing, <a href="http://www.myspace.com/arcadefireofficial">Arcade Fired</a>-up guitar onslaught. 'Devil Tricks for A Bitch', with its withering commentary on racial factionalism, is a yearning country lament recalling <a href="http://www.myspace.com/brighteyes">Conor Oberst</a> at his most emotionally fraught.<br /><br />It doesn’t all work: 'Salty Water' is slight and forgettable, never really managing to stir from its oblique, ponderous slumber. But we can forgive such minor lapses when treated to such twin delights as 'Dry Lips' and 'Everyone I Know is Listening to Crunk' – the former a shimmering slice of early-<a href="http://www.myspace.com/rem">REM</a> jangle-pop, the latter a wistful, retro-tinged campfire croon.<br /><br />Deploying liberal sprinklings of humour and pathos to a tapestry of folksy, homespun musical sophistication, <em>Lavender Bridge</em> is a bruised but big-hearted debut, serving notice on a new and formidable talent from this self-styled musical polymath.</div>Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-835117946800532392008-01-13T00:28:00.000+00:002008-01-13T01:24:11.999+00:00This Charmless CamEvery time I start to think my <a href="http://wrong-angle.blogspot.com/2006/10/world-without-dave.html">visceral hatred</a> of <strong>David Cameron</strong> might just be beginning to thaw, he goes and ruins it with a nauseatingly smug stunt <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7180553.stm">like this</a>.<br /><br />Perhaps now Dave knows <strong>Morrissey</strong> is on-message with regards to his party's hardline <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nuw_rNZQcs8">immigration policy</a> he'll look to recruit him as part of his own "government of all the talents" once elected, mirroring <strong>Nick Clegg</strong>'s rather bewildering appointment of <strong>Brian Eno</strong> as youth adviser. As a taster for what to expect, check out Moz's <a href="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=j2KqHWChebc">three-point manifesto</a> to heal "Broken Britain".Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-69226188144874993382008-01-10T16:08:00.000+00:002008-01-10T16:14:59.575+00:00Princess FergaliciousI don't get why everyone's so down on <strong>Fergie</strong>: especially when she gives such great value quotage <a href="http://www.nme.com/news/black-eyed-peas/33559">as this</a>.Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-60687814084953663272007-12-19T12:00:00.000+00:002008-01-10T16:18:09.460+00:00Middleton and WhineSo yeah, given all the hype generated by this <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/colinmurray/malcolmmiddleton.shtml">Radio 1 campaign</a> to get <strong>Malcolm Middleton</strong>'s curmudgeonly 'We're All Gonna Die' to Christmas No.1, it's somewhat inevitable the single will limp in at #7 or something come Sunday's chart rundown.<br /><br />This may not be such a bad thing: the campaign's being backed by a roll call of mediocrity which includes <strong>Zane Lowe</strong>, <strong>Colin Murray</strong>, <strong>Edith Bowman</strong> and <strong>Dick & Dom</strong>. Can you even begin to imagine how smug that lot would be if they succeeded? We'd be hearing about it until next Christmas at the very least.<br /><br />All the same, it does make me nostalgic for a time before <strong>Simon Cowell</strong> and his weaselly cohorts conspired to ruin the annual race for Christmas No.1 forever.<br /><br />My favourite Christmas No.1 doesn't actually mention Christmas at all. Instead, it's a fantastically irreverential electro-pop cover of a hackneyed Elvis standard by my favourite singles band of all time. Here it is in its extended <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTHQwbkxlMY">six-and-a-half minute glory</a>.<br /><br /><strong>Other great Christmas songs which don't mention Christmas:</strong><br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmZg7tvGN9o">A Spaceman Came Travelling</a> - Chris De Burgh<br />(It's an allegory. The spaceman's actually Jesus. Clever, eh?)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4jLfCjlYD0">Stay Another Day</a> - East 17<br />(About suicide, allegedly. It does have sleigh-bells on though.)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_0IKmq75UQ">Only You</a> - Yazoo<br />(Immortalised in the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF9LZ_vXsc8">denouement</a> of <em>The Office</em> Christmas Special.)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShN8UIk5-mw">The Power of Love</a> - Frankie Goes to Hollywood<br />(Synonymous with sexual failure at school Christmas discos.)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6GXV0FNEeI">Caravan of Love</a> - The Housemartins<br />(Heaton, Cook <em>et al</em> go Barbershop quartet. Awesome.)Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-53450980466516919522007-12-18T16:21:00.000+00:002008-11-13T02:43:53.250+00:00Manic Street Preachers @ Brixton Academy<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1e5mS_k0HxF3NF3Vt1axxDuvoZ7TUWSL2AgXRinw0Y-DpYC7WiSh5AvcxUoFzB5d8UqiUFokzTl08Dk4ZkGrCxNhYtXrzwHxvGa85u-7AGX_0lYy3eYk_pff5VI0N_bLGoelBdQ/s1600-h/bradfield_18dec07_pa_200.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5145350943194562162" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1e5mS_k0HxF3NF3Vt1axxDuvoZ7TUWSL2AgXRinw0Y-DpYC7WiSh5AvcxUoFzB5d8UqiUFokzTl08Dk4ZkGrCxNhYtXrzwHxvGa85u-7AGX_0lYy3eYk_pff5VI0N_bLGoelBdQ/s400/bradfield_18dec07_pa_200.jpg" border="0" /></a> [<em>Originally published on <a href="http://blogs.orange.co.uk/live/2007/12/live-music-mani.html">Orange.co.uk</a></em>]<br /><div>It’s been a difficult decade for the long-suffering <a href="http://www.myspace.com/manics">Manics</a> devotee: forced to witness the band’s steady decline from fiery glam insurrectionists to bland everyman rock has-beens.<br /><br />It seems even the hitherto blindly loyal glitter‘n’tiara brigade have abandoned the cause, judging by the disappointing lack of sparkle in tonight’s audience.<br /><br />Thankfully, this pre-Christmas greatest hits set finds James, Nicky and Sean in defiant mood – re-energised after their solo outings and <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/manicstreetpreachers/sendawaythetigers?q=manic%20street%20preachers">critically rehabilitated</a> after a (partial) return to form with eighth album <em>Send Away The Tigers</em>.<br /><br />Any set which begins with ‘Motorcycle Emptiness’ is setting the bar high, while 'Little Baby Nothing''s high-octane refrain of ‘cultural alienation, boredom and despair’ is delivered with irrepressible lustre. But newies such as the guileless ‘Autumnsong’ are not disgraced in such illustrious company, while a blistering ‘Your Love Alone Is Not Enough’ sounds every bit like their best single of the noughties.<br /><br />The Richey-era material already seems like it's being beamed in from another lifetime, but songs such as ‘La Tristesse Durera’ and ‘Roses In The Hospital’ have lost none of their incendiary potency. We can even forgive them the odd throwaway number such as ‘Ocean Spray’ because, well, it's Christmas.<br /><br />From the moment a beefed-up cover of <a href="http://www.the-cult.com/">The Cult</a>’s ‘She Sells Sanctuary’ segues into ‘Motown Junk’, the Manics can do no wrong. Closing with their stately proletarian elegy ‘A Design For Life’, this is a band trading on past glories, but doing so with undeniable class.</div>Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-9203120083132533872007-11-22T21:59:00.000+00:002008-11-13T02:43:53.400+00:00'Ames Room' - Silje Nes<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2KgqzamXCTfLmXAKiZmRDGyP17YXtAC0AR82hLKgEtt5yrHVmP8_I-BU8Itms14x6-muCArzQFmFAqOphoL3b1iN7tacFUhpjdWPNXzaZ40ZFrVcyPgSlSUnDrpd725lSgjPc7w/s1600-h/Silje_Nes.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137810614185613282" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2KgqzamXCTfLmXAKiZmRDGyP17YXtAC0AR82hLKgEtt5yrHVmP8_I-BU8Itms14x6-muCArzQFmFAqOphoL3b1iN7tacFUhpjdWPNXzaZ40ZFrVcyPgSlSUnDrpd725lSgjPc7w/s400/Silje_Nes.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><div>[<em>Originally published on <a href="http://www.twistedear.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1353&Itemid=31">Twisted Ear</a>]<br /></em></div><div><strong><br />Less really is more for a unique talent</strong><br /><br />Long before Sigur Rós became the <a href="http://www.contactmusic.com/new/home.nsf/webpages/sigurrosx28x11x05">obligatory soundtrack</a> for sweeping vistas on wildlife documentaries, Nordic musicians have turned to the dramatic natural wilderness around them for creative inspiration. So it is with Norwegian multi-instrumentalist Silje Nes, who spent her formative years in the tiny town of Leikanger in Norway’s largest fjord of Sognefjord, before moving to Bergen in 2000 to begin making music. Her otherworldly and largely improvised recordings are collected on this endearing, understated debut.<br /><br />From the off, the lyrics suggest an artist immersed in the environment around her. <em>Over All</em> is a glockenspiel-flavoured nursery rhyme teeming with both natural and supernatural imagery: buzzing bees, swamps, frogs and monsters. This child-like awe of the natural world is complimented by a poetic flair and bold musical invention: similar qualities which saw <a href="http://www.joannanewsom.co.uk/">Joanna Newsom</a> installed as indie folk darling last year. With its crisp arpeggios and lilting melody, <em>Drown</em> is disarming in its delicate simplicity, a shimmering, ethereal flight of fancy. <em>Shapes, Electic</em> is the first of several near-instrumentals, with Silje cooing wordlessly over a backdrop of scratchy ambience and woodwind. It's a perfect mood-setter before the gorgeous title track, an implausibly sweet lullaby with echoes of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.stinanordenstam.net">Stina Nordenstam</a>'s <em>Little Star</em> (a compliment of the highest order). A counterpoint to such gossamer pop delights comes with <em>Giant Disguise</em>, a hypnotic, slow-building rootsy mantra which evokes a similar druggy inertia to much-missed Domino acolytes <a href="http://www.dominorecordco.com/site/index.php?page=artists&artistID=42">Woodbine</a>.<br /><br />The second half of the album sees a slight dip in quality, with several wilfully unfocussed mood pieces so minimalist as to barely register. Many of these songs were actually written as recorded, lending them a necessarily unfinished air. Even so, there are a couple of hidden gems: <em>Bright Night Morning</em> is a rustic torch ballad possessed of a nagging, frazzled melancholy, like a stripped-down <a href="http://www.mazzystar.nu/">Mazzy Star</a>. <em>Melt</em>, with its wispy refrain “the summer sun will make this melt” repeated softly over a spare guitar riff, is dewy-eyed and mesmerising.<br /><br />At its best, Silje’s music conjures up a world of fragile beauty and kaleidoscopic intrigue. Like <a href="http://www.fourtet.net/site/index.html">Four Tet</a> and <a href="http://www.boardsofcanada.com/">Boards of Canada</a>, there’s a warm-blooded nostalgic core to this organic electro-folk which underpins the spirit of experimentalism. <em>Ames Room</em> is the sound of an artist alive with possibility, guileless in outlook and boundless in imagination.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/siljenes">MySpace</a></div></div>Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-4012505695799617192007-11-12T15:43:00.000+00:002008-11-13T02:43:53.524+00:00'Milkmaid Grand Army EP' - Midlake<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRa5DRG0PTOaxMuvcNbY3-ASdKHsh048h8UzxfcdgKjnQHNi17x3SIXS-gcCEFgo98DcCxYdxwuOYKnjymi_wVuioslZ7PsOvYGClI66-On2IzWVzUIqzQP9bMVn-TaOgbDzZQkg/s1600-h/milkmaid_grand_army.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134923151562131554" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRa5DRG0PTOaxMuvcNbY3-ASdKHsh048h8UzxfcdgKjnQHNi17x3SIXS-gcCEFgo98DcCxYdxwuOYKnjymi_wVuioslZ7PsOvYGClI66-On2IzWVzUIqzQP9bMVn-TaOgbDzZQkg/s400/milkmaid_grand_army.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc2fbbvegeFUFL98bP_STwFU-w-4uC-atDeFctvJ_F-qnet0P9vIGC23lbNzcr_znDC7FTz-8jy1yAdkDVVeLwGDSkODYRdHLFAT-FlGak3-IE2sHupFnQpr4KvG1maa5RbAt8gg/s1600-h/milkmaid_grand_army.jpg"></a>[<em>Originally published on </em><a href="http://www.twistedear.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1306&Itemid=31"><em>Twisted Ear</em></a>]<em><br /></em><br /><strong>Before the Gold Rush: timely re-issue from Texan luminaries</strong><br /><br />Or “how I learned to quit worrying and embrace my wonky art rock past” as it perhaps should have been subtitled. To clarify: <em>Milkmaid Grand Army</em> is not Midlake’s eagerly-anticipated follow-up to 2006’s sophomore LP <em><a href="http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/37268-the-trials-of-van-occupanther">The Trials of Van Occupanther</a></em>. It’s not even new material, but a re-issue of the Texans’ long-since deleted debut EP from 2001, pre-dating their Damascus-style conversion to pastoral, harmony-drenched Americana.<br /><br />First impressions: hmm, this doesn’t sound much like Midlake at all, at least not in their latter-day incarnation. What it does sound like, (unnervingly so in places) is Radiohead circa 1997. Not surprisingly, as it turns out: the release of <em><a href="http://www.time.com/time/2006/100albums/0,27693,OK_Computer,00.html">OK Computer</a></em> represented something of a musical epiphany for singer/songwriter Tim Smith, who played the album every day for a year.<br /><br />The result is seven tracks steeped in turn-of-the-century progressive rock stylings: multi-layered guitar parts, sparse piano motifs, distorted vocals. All it’s missing is the <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.nigelgodrich.com">Nigel Godrich</a> production credit.<br /><br />Opener <em>She Removes Her Spiral Hair</em> gives an early indication of what to expect: a menacing guitar riff and insistent percussion leading into a sneering growl of a vocal which veers off in desultory directions. <em>Paper Gown</em> continues in a similarly downbeat vein, all brooding, woozy psychedelia, sounding to these ears like a lost outtake from Grandaddy’s stately lo-fi opus <em><a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/grandaddy/albums/album/227004/review/6068209/the_sophtware_slump">The Sophtware Slump</a></em>. <em>Excited but Not Enough </em>and <em>Roller Skate (Farewell June)</em> see a welcome change of tempo, the former an adrenaline shot of dissonant bombast, the latter the sort of falsetto-driven drone rock patented by <a href="http://www.clinicvoot.org/homepage.html">Clinic</a>. Closer <em>Golden Hour</em> hints at the classicist sensibilities which were to follow, a mournful, minor key lament which owes an obvious debt to (yep) Radiohead's <em>Exit Music (Theme From a Film).<br /></em><br />Recent Midlake converts may find this EP hard-going and a little too self-consciously obtuse in flavour for their palates, lacking the obvious musical cohesion and songwriting élan which marks out <em>Van Occupanther</em> as one of last year’s most enchanting releases. While there's much to admire, it’s the sound of a songwriter too obviously in thrall to his influences to yet dare to transcend them. As a stop-gap release it represents an interesting insight into the band’s musical evolution, but one destined to remain a non-essential curiosity for all but the completist fan.</div>Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-83546891963423178832007-02-05T13:34:00.000+00:002007-02-05T13:38:10.292+00:00THE NOISETTESNot pronounced like the triangular Quality Street chocolate in the green wrapper which everyone leaves in the tin, that would be waaaay too pretentious . Read my review of their <a href="http://www.disordermagazine.com/article.php?id=586">ICA gig >></a>Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-10144884001249230662007-02-02T16:32:00.000+00:002007-02-02T17:09:00.359+00:00ETERNAL BLAMEEver feel that our kids' innocent and vulnerable minds are being corrupted by INSIDIOUS AND SUBLIMINAL GAY PROPAGANDA PROPOGATED BY A DEVIANT BEATNIK MAFIOSO? No, me neither, but these <a href="http://lovegodsway.org/GayBands">God-fearing Bible belters</a> clearly do.<br /><br />What I like best about this page is not just the inspired use of parenthisis: Elton John (really gay), Marilyn Manson (dark gay), George Michael (Texan), but also the rather arbitrary logic which classifies Lisa Loeb and Wilson Phillips as threats to the very moral foundations of society whilst categorising androgynous cabaret provocateurs the Dresden Dolls under the safe list.<br /><br />In a suitably McCarthyist gesture, you can even shop gay artists yourself by emailing the site. Let's hope no-one tips them off about those Sir Cliff rumours.Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-25056838108124290112007-01-29T14:06:00.000+00:002007-02-01T16:22:30.741+00:00I'M FROM BARCELONANot me of course. And not the band either, it transpires. Read my review of their ULU gig <a href="http://www.disordermagazine.com/article.php?id=568">here</a>Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-89861130714772160342007-01-28T12:02:00.000+00:002007-01-28T16:34:52.220+00:00WHAT THE WORLD'S BEEN WAITING FORExciting developments from the home (counties) front comes with this email from <a href="http://www.myspace.com/gregoryxiii">Greg</a>, the Chris Lowe to my Neil Tennant...<br /><br />"<em>Only six years and seven months after the formation of Wrong Angle, our first demo...still some technical issues, but i think the Wrong Angle sound is established, along with the principle of using french language sociology texts with no relation to the song's subject for the coda - i don't think this has ever been done before, so a good six and a half years' work."</em><br /><br />Have a listen to the Wrong Angle prototype <a href="http://www.myspace.com/thisiswrongangle">here</a>. Here's hoping it doesn't sound too much like Jeremy and Superhans band in <a href="http://wrong-angle.blogspot.com/2005/11/y-chromosome-dysfunction-revisited.html">Peep Show</a>.Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-37366163377572171912007-01-21T13:13:00.001+00:002007-01-21T13:24:11.775+00:00THE 'METHOD' TECHNIQUEGreat story in <a href="http://www.uncut.co.uk/">Uncut</a> magazine about Jared 'Jordan Catalano' Leto:<br /><br /><em>"Aside from promoting his new musical project, Leto is currently filming the role of Mark David Chapman, in new film 'Chapter 27' about the John Lennon assasination.<br /><br />The actor has reportedly gained 62 lbs in weight for the role of the killer by eating cocktails of Haagen Dazs ice cream with added soy sauce and olive oil!"</em>Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-71853518306545385032007-01-20T18:17:00.000+00:002007-01-20T19:03:46.675+00:00FEELING JADE-DResistance is futile. Obviously Big Brother is all anyone really cares about anymore and Jade Goody now vies with Nick Griffin for the title of Britain's most notorious racist. If you really care what I think, <a href="http://blogs.orange.co.uk/news/2007/01/big_bother.html">read it here</a>. But for my money Simon Hoggart gets the balance just about right in his article in <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1994797,00.html">today's Guardian</a>.<br /><br />Simon's one of my journalistic heroes: his parliamentary sketches are brilliantly droll and insightful. When the press rumbled his affair with Kimberly Quinn it threatened to derail his career for good, but he handled the situation with enough humility and contrition to win back some of the respect lost. I guess being at the centre of one media shitstorm probably enables you to take a more generous line on someone else in a similar situation, no matter how unsympathetic a character they appear to cut.Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-2845401975823381702007-01-15T17:10:00.000+00:002007-01-15T17:27:33.459+00:00MORE BLOGGING MADNESSWe've launched our News Blog at work, yet another platform for me to rant about things I know nothing about. <a href="http://blogs.orange.co.uk/news/">Take a look</a> and please post your comments, if only to save us from the hate-fuelled moron brigade who invariably take these things over (<a href="http://www.electricgoose.blogspot.com/">Will</a> has already been accused of being a threat to democracy for having the audacity to suggest that people who voted for the BNP were a bit dim).Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-42974961783810357862007-01-14T09:52:00.000+00:002007-01-28T16:35:46.556+00:00THE NINETIES +10So I went to a party last night which had a nineties theme. Post-modern or what? When asked why I hadn't come in fancy dress, I replied with the not unreasonable explanation that as I pretty much dressed the same now as I did during the nineties anyway I didn't see much point. I really can be quite a curmodgeon when I put my mind to it. I was later informed that there were people at the party who were actually born in the nineties, which made me feel postively ancient and not a little grubby (the majority of people were well into their twenties, mercifully).<br /><br />Anyway, my flatmate <a href="http://www.starsandheroes.tk/">Charlie</a> played a 1995 'Greatest Hits' set, and it reminded me what a great era for singles the mid-nineties were: not just the obvious stuff like Common People and Girls and Boys, but the less celebrated songs too such as Ladykiller by Lush, New Generation by Suede, Trouble by Shampoo, I'm Not So Manic Now by Dubstar, etc. I've spoken about my desire to write a <a href="http://wrong-angle.blogspot.com/2005_10_01_archive.html">Britpop musical </a>on here before, but I feel the climate could be right, now <a href="http://wrong-angle.blogspot.com/2006/10/back-to-life.html">This Life +10</a> has made nostalgia for that era officially acceptable. A nationwide hunt for someone to play Crispian from Kula Shaker surely awaits.Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-41477515488921904482007-01-06T14:56:00.000+00:002007-01-06T21:50:40.115+00:00DON'T BELIEVE THE TRIPEIf there's one thing that vexes me more than those smug, self-congratulatory end-of-year critics' polls, it's the same critics' self-serving predictions of musical 'ones-to-watch' in the forthcoming 12 months. <br /><br />Don't get me wrong, I like a good list as much as the next mildly autistic beta male, even if I find the whole Nick Hornby schtick slightly tedious in polite conversation. The problem is that it doesn't take Nostradamus-like levels of prescience for music journalists to predict what's going to be big in the next year when they're so obviously instrumental in setting the musical agenda. <br /><br />So when the NME tells us that the Klaxons will be big in 2007 (and against my better instincts I actually quite like the Klaxons, even if their new single does sound like Spandau Ballet) , it's an entirely self-fulfilling prophecy, as their young and hugely impressionable readership will lap up whatever's thrown at them, so long as it's cutely-packaged with good hair. And why shouldn't they? This is exactly what I did when I was 16. The Internet may have allowed people to be more discerning in their tastes, but never underestimate the pull of the well-oiled media hype-machine when it comes to dictating musical trends.Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-34072968573911222642006-12-28T12:41:00.000+00:002006-12-28T22:36:22.941+00:00REST IN PCCould this be the most boring day of the year? I think it must be. To prove it I've devised a formula:<br /><br /><span style="color:#9999ff;"><span style="color:#ccccff;">Bloated post-Christmas inertia + back at parents - self-motivation or money = listless ennui + dull pangs of existential angst</span><br /></span><br />To cheer you up, check out <a href="http://www.yourdeathspace.blogspot.com/">DeathSpace</a> (strapline="MySpace doesn't end at death") a pointless but morbidly intriguing online resource compiling a list of MySpace users who've passed on from this world. Their profile pages freeze-framed forever at a moment just before their untimely deaths, their unfortunate legacy is destined to be a series of trite epitaphs posted by friends. Here are some of my personal favourites:<br /><br />"Dude, so sorry to hear about your accident. It really sucks. RIP"<br />"Hopefully you can access MySpace in heaven"<br />"I feel so privileged to make your final top 8"<br />"Tell me in a dream how God is. I always wanted to know"<br />"Six months and I still can't believe you're gone. Gutting"<br />"You look so hot in that pic. Such a waste"Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-53745738664062219172006-12-16T13:43:00.000+00:002006-12-17T16:10:22.564+00:002006: AN AURAL RETROSPECTIVEMy twenty albums of the year, in alphabetical order:<br /><br />Ten Years of Tears - Arab Strap<br />Fur and Gold - Bat for Lashes<br />The Life Pursuit - Belle and Sebastian<br />Let's Get Out of This Country - Camera Obscura<br />Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah<br />Victory For the Common Muse - The Divine Comedy<br />Yes, Virginia - The Dresden Dolls<br />The Tragic Treasury - The Gothic Arches<br />Gravity Won't Get You High - The Grates<br />Off My Rocker at the Art School Bop - Luke Haines<br />Awoo - The Hidden Cameras<br />Under the Crooked Moon - The Hot Puppies<br />The Lemonheads - The Lemonheads<br />Someone to Drive You Home - The Long Blondes<br />Live It Out - Metric<br />Ys - Joanna Newsom<br />Writers Block - Peter, Bjorn and John<br />We Are the Pipettes - The Pipettes<br />White Bread Black Beer - Scritti Politti<br />Show Your Bones - Yeah, Yeah, YeahsDarrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-21884306440840138842006-12-11T12:51:00.000+00:002006-12-11T12:57:21.505+00:00PUPPY LOVEHave I mentioned how absurdly ace the Hot Puppies are yet? Read my review of their Water Rats gig <a href="http://www.disordermagazine.com/article.php?id=512">here >></a>Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15708540.post-35552186773783275562006-12-04T23:09:00.000+00:002006-12-05T13:53:43.293+00:00HOW THE MUSIC INDUSTRY WORKSThe Kooks are one of those bands I've harboured a mild antipathy towards for a while now without being able to put my finger on precisely why. This review from the fearlessly incisive Stylus Magazine helps to clarify matters a great deal.<br /><br />For anyone under any illusions as to the cynical machinations deployed by major labels in promoting their 'talent', I suggest you take a seat before reading on...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/the-kooks/inside-in-inside-out.htm">Review of 'Inside In/Inside Out' by the Kooks >><br /></a><br />(*SPOILER WARNING* It's a hoax alas, but why let that stand in the way of a good stitch-up?)Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413846543739436222noreply@blogger.com0