With the echo of synth stabs and a pungent mix of overwrought Sparks and Freddie Mercury still hanging in the air the Anglo-Argentinian duo of Sebastian Muravchix and Ali Renault, aka Heartbreak, leave the stage having set a decidedly retro mood romping through classics in waiting like 'Regret', 'We're Back' and 'Living Just For Fun'. Aided and abetted by the Road to Rimini DJs the whole place is in fine Italo fettle. I've said numerous times of late that the rediscovery of tunes and dancing this year has been a revelation and my needs are suitably sated even before Little Boots arrives to blow any final cobwebs away.
This said former Dead Disco diva Victoria Hesketh has transformed out of sight and with Little Boots - akin to watching Kylie fronting Orbital at times - there's a whole new reason to be excited. There's the full on trance/Ring My Bell tilt of 'Magical', the pop genius of 'Mathematics' and you'll have heard 'Meddle' in the ether as it's undoubtedly been played in every club every five minutes over the last couple of months. And rightly so. There are acres of cooler than cool songs, a vulnerable Piaf demeanour, the Tenori-On (look it up), a witty stage banter, whipping out the Keytar for a full on 'Brian May rock moment' and goddamnit a fucking exceptional cover of Freddie Mercury/Giorgio Moroder almost lost dance classic 'Love Kills'.
There's so much to love with Little Boots including an affectionate camp which takes you over and transports you a time when Howard Jones was synth king and singing into a hairbrush with dreams of appearing on Top of The Pops wasn't as shameful as it appears in retrospect. Come on surely that's not just me?
www.littlebootsmusic.co.uk
www.mekongdelta.co.uk
Monday, 24 November 2008
Saturday, 15 November 2008
Murcof - The Versailles Sessions
The Versailles Sessions shouldn’t be considered as a follow up to Murcof’s Cosmos album of 2007. In fact this music isn’t really an album at all as it’s a collection of aural compositions commissioned for a site specific artwork on display at the Jardin du Roi.
All of the music is played and/or sampled on original 17th Century instruments and filtered through the Murcof brain to generate expansive, looming passages of intense and occasionally regal sounding noise this is a pretty big leap from what where minimalistic beginnings but Fernando Corona seems to have a firm grasp on the powerful sounds at his fingertips.
As with all most music classified experimental The Versailles Sessions requires a certain listening shift – there are no pretty songs in here anywhere, nothing remotely approaching a tune in the classic sense – but of course that’s not the point. The powerful, evocative noises and interplay of instrumentation feels more like music for film, amped up and monolithic. Anyone who enjoyed Jonny Greenwood’s score for There Will Be Blood, for instance, will hear good things in this Murcof offering but let’s be honest that is a niche crowd.
My preference would have been release this on DVD where the music and visuals of the installation compliment each other but as this isn’t the case you have to become enveloped in the wash of sounds, in the interplay of the bangs and clatter and the hugely evocative choral passages – and give yourself over to imagination.
www.murcof.com/
www.mekongdelta.co.uk
All of the music is played and/or sampled on original 17th Century instruments and filtered through the Murcof brain to generate expansive, looming passages of intense and occasionally regal sounding noise this is a pretty big leap from what where minimalistic beginnings but Fernando Corona seems to have a firm grasp on the powerful sounds at his fingertips.
As with all most music classified experimental The Versailles Sessions requires a certain listening shift – there are no pretty songs in here anywhere, nothing remotely approaching a tune in the classic sense – but of course that’s not the point. The powerful, evocative noises and interplay of instrumentation feels more like music for film, amped up and monolithic. Anyone who enjoyed Jonny Greenwood’s score for There Will Be Blood, for instance, will hear good things in this Murcof offering but let’s be honest that is a niche crowd.
My preference would have been release this on DVD where the music and visuals of the installation compliment each other but as this isn’t the case you have to become enveloped in the wash of sounds, in the interplay of the bangs and clatter and the hugely evocative choral passages – and give yourself over to imagination.
www.murcof.com/
www.mekongdelta.co.uk
Monday, 10 November 2008
Kyte - Two Sparks, Two Stars EP
I’m an unashamed lover of Kyte’s cinematic style and otherworldly music. The seemingly simple way they build songs from a few glockenspiel notes and piano chords into a quiet roar of Nordic sounding majesty is utterly spellbinding. They really do evoke a twilight fairytale world of mystery populated by curious sounds and emotions which seems perfectly at home as winter draws in.
The orchestrated sound of Two Sparks, Two Stars sees a progression from the band’s more precise eponymous mini album earlier in the year which was much more about the cyclical building of tracks upon tracks and for all the album's beauty, and it is a thing of aching beauty, this EP shows the band with more dimensions, more experimental yet retaining their ability to write superbly lush songs like opener Eyes Lose Their Fire.
Not that it’s all their own work. The cover of Peter Gabriel’s Solsbury Hill will probably sneak up on a fair few people as it’s so perfectly molded into the Kyte oevre that it takes a little time to actually realize it’s not their own tune, a rare thing to achieve well and rarer still with a familiar song.
Of the EP’s four tracks it the final installment Light Outside Here which tugs on the seasonal heart strings most of all. Not for any specific Christmassy references though simply down to it's texture and ambience. Kyte make you want to curl up in front of a warm fire and dream impossible dreams.
www.myspace.com/kyteband
www.mekongdelta.co.uk
The orchestrated sound of Two Sparks, Two Stars sees a progression from the band’s more precise eponymous mini album earlier in the year which was much more about the cyclical building of tracks upon tracks and for all the album's beauty, and it is a thing of aching beauty, this EP shows the band with more dimensions, more experimental yet retaining their ability to write superbly lush songs like opener Eyes Lose Their Fire.
Not that it’s all their own work. The cover of Peter Gabriel’s Solsbury Hill will probably sneak up on a fair few people as it’s so perfectly molded into the Kyte oevre that it takes a little time to actually realize it’s not their own tune, a rare thing to achieve well and rarer still with a familiar song.
Of the EP’s four tracks it the final installment Light Outside Here which tugs on the seasonal heart strings most of all. Not for any specific Christmassy references though simply down to it's texture and ambience. Kyte make you want to curl up in front of a warm fire and dream impossible dreams.
www.myspace.com/kyteband
www.mekongdelta.co.uk
The Kills - Live: 8th Nov 2008
Go on then, name some cool male/female duos!
Those without anything approaching a long term memory might opt for Anonymous and Old Cow from The Ting Tings. As if. Or Alice and Ethan from Crystal Castles. Okay I’ll give you that because those two kick ass! Or maybe, now cast your minds back fickle bastards, Jack ‘Bond-theme-strangler’ White and his sister/wife Meg. They had the blues man. Seriously though there are umpteen others you could sift through. It’s subjective after all. But I bet it’d take a while for most to come up with VV and Hotel from The Kills. Well shame on you.
What is heartening to see is that there are a lot of people who do see this duo, Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince if you prefer their birth names, for the rockingest man-woman blitzkrieg they actually are. The venue is uncomfortably full, health and safety could bust the place at any second. It adds to the intoxicating atmosphere as The Kills roar into action as the dying embers of Obama’s presidential speech die in the PA. This is all about change.
Kind of shoehorned in maybe but as they hurtle through songs from all three Kills eras – or albums if you prefer – there’s a definite change to see. The squall, white noise of earlier tunes gives way to genuine ‘hits’ on new album Midnight Boom - U.R.A. Fever, Cheap and Cheerful and Alphabet pony to name only three - are greeted more feverously. You do sense though that the sleaze and filth with which the older songs are flung around on stage also hits the spot with those in attendance. Good. The Kills rock the fucking bollocks off any limp-wristed chancers I can think of and deserve their time in the spotlight. They’ve got the attitude, the tunes and the dark glasses to cope with the glare.
www.thekills.tv/
www.mekongdelta.co.uk
Those without anything approaching a long term memory might opt for Anonymous and Old Cow from The Ting Tings. As if. Or Alice and Ethan from Crystal Castles. Okay I’ll give you that because those two kick ass! Or maybe, now cast your minds back fickle bastards, Jack ‘Bond-theme-strangler’ White and his sister/wife Meg. They had the blues man. Seriously though there are umpteen others you could sift through. It’s subjective after all. But I bet it’d take a while for most to come up with VV and Hotel from The Kills. Well shame on you.
What is heartening to see is that there are a lot of people who do see this duo, Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince if you prefer their birth names, for the rockingest man-woman blitzkrieg they actually are. The venue is uncomfortably full, health and safety could bust the place at any second. It adds to the intoxicating atmosphere as The Kills roar into action as the dying embers of Obama’s presidential speech die in the PA. This is all about change.
Kind of shoehorned in maybe but as they hurtle through songs from all three Kills eras – or albums if you prefer – there’s a definite change to see. The squall, white noise of earlier tunes gives way to genuine ‘hits’ on new album Midnight Boom - U.R.A. Fever, Cheap and Cheerful and Alphabet pony to name only three - are greeted more feverously. You do sense though that the sleaze and filth with which the older songs are flung around on stage also hits the spot with those in attendance. Good. The Kills rock the fucking bollocks off any limp-wristed chancers I can think of and deserve their time in the spotlight. They’ve got the attitude, the tunes and the dark glasses to cope with the glare.
www.thekills.tv/
www.mekongdelta.co.uk
Friday, 26 September 2008
Ipso Facto - Live: 26th Sept 2008
No-Wave. Nu-No Wave. There's a low rumble and a sedate pace. Cool seduction hangs palpably on the air. Four shadowy apparitions wearing precision bobs thump out their slow repetitive rhythms. The noise comes like the elongated stretch of an icy glacier as it carves its infinitesimally slow progress through a Scandanavian fjord. Not so much played as released. Beyond the craning necks is where this in-action is at. Through dim lights and dry ice resides the source of this oblique reverb and lulling hypnotic riffs. The wellspring of sweet sardonic vocals and parping, ghostly keys is here. Siren like. Calling. It's intriguing. Intoxicating. Unsettling sometimes. This is Ipso Facto.
As an all female quartet in tune with their 'look' as much as their music it'd be easy to be distracted by the visuals but there's much more than mere style and mannequin moves. The bizzaro fairground atmospherics of "Smoke and Mirrors" is disorientating and seductive whereas the studied shimmer and Souxsie Sioux delivery of "Ears and Eyes" displays perfectly the foursome's knack of creating something fresh from the foundations of decades gone by. Think Marianne Faithfull, Nico era Velvets and the gothfather (and mother) roles of The Cure and The Banshees, but only as jumping off points. Sound like a humourless exercise in studied retro indulgence? Not a bit of it.
As the pace quickens and the crowd relax more Ipso Facto deliver a deliberately non-standard set of material the highlight of which is "Introducing", as infectious and vibrant a two minutes as you could hope for whilst maintaining the appearance of austerity. Soundtracking the darker, more melancholic corners of any dancefloor they urge you to "Roll up!" Making eager promises which thrill and disturb simultaneously like they're proprietors of some Victorian sideshow carnival and they very well might be, they're certainly the only show in town worth anything right now and you can't help but peer inside.
www.mekongdelta.co.uk
As an all female quartet in tune with their 'look' as much as their music it'd be easy to be distracted by the visuals but there's much more than mere style and mannequin moves. The bizzaro fairground atmospherics of "Smoke and Mirrors" is disorientating and seductive whereas the studied shimmer and Souxsie Sioux delivery of "Ears and Eyes" displays perfectly the foursome's knack of creating something fresh from the foundations of decades gone by. Think Marianne Faithfull, Nico era Velvets and the gothfather (and mother) roles of The Cure and The Banshees, but only as jumping off points. Sound like a humourless exercise in studied retro indulgence? Not a bit of it.
As the pace quickens and the crowd relax more Ipso Facto deliver a deliberately non-standard set of material the highlight of which is "Introducing", as infectious and vibrant a two minutes as you could hope for whilst maintaining the appearance of austerity. Soundtracking the darker, more melancholic corners of any dancefloor they urge you to "Roll up!" Making eager promises which thrill and disturb simultaneously like they're proprietors of some Victorian sideshow carnival and they very well might be, they're certainly the only show in town worth anything right now and you can't help but peer inside.
www.mekongdelta.co.uk
Monday, 15 September 2008
A Silent Film - The City That Sleeps
Beginning gently with the bouncing intro to “Sleeping Pills” Oxford’s A Silent Film set the tone for a confident, melodic debut album. The fact that the songs feature prominent piano and slip into minor keys from time to time will conjure up all manner of Coldplay and Keane comparisons but that’s hardly fair as they set about laying their own foundations.
Aside from the driving despair of “Thirteen Times the Strength” the stronger songs appear in the latter half of the album particularly with the triumvirate of “You Will Leave a Mark” with its dark, redemptive narrative of self-acceptance; the trilling, soaring gorgeousness of “Highest Regard” and the slow, articulate ebb of “Ghosts in the Water”.
There’s so much more at play here as the band search the human condition with a deftly inquisitive feel which is both filmic and literary. There’s enough drama and intrigue throughout to give the histrionic Muse a run for their money.
Perhaps in attaining this uplifting sound they find themselves too often at quite an emotional depth and it’d be something to throw caution to the wind and lift the mood occasionally but as a demonstration of lush, assured and aspirational songwriting this is a fantastic opening salvo.
www.myspace.com/asilentfilm
www.mekongdelta.co.uk
Aside from the driving despair of “Thirteen Times the Strength” the stronger songs appear in the latter half of the album particularly with the triumvirate of “You Will Leave a Mark” with its dark, redemptive narrative of self-acceptance; the trilling, soaring gorgeousness of “Highest Regard” and the slow, articulate ebb of “Ghosts in the Water”.
There’s so much more at play here as the band search the human condition with a deftly inquisitive feel which is both filmic and literary. There’s enough drama and intrigue throughout to give the histrionic Muse a run for their money.
Perhaps in attaining this uplifting sound they find themselves too often at quite an emotional depth and it’d be something to throw caution to the wind and lift the mood occasionally but as a demonstration of lush, assured and aspirational songwriting this is a fantastic opening salvo.
www.myspace.com/asilentfilm
www.mekongdelta.co.uk
Sunday, 14 September 2008
Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life
Kicking off with the beautiful flute flourishes of “Son the Father” you’d be forgiven for wondering what the hell was going on here but as the band joins in we’re in familiar Fucked Up territory with rampant drums and vigorously swirling guitar patterns. Only a minute in and the hectoring, screaming, (anti) religiosity and, lets face it, the band's damn funny/sceptical take on the mysteries of birth, death and life begins - "It's hard enough being born in the first place: who'd want to be born again?" Brilliant.
"Golden Seal" takes on a mystical, searching tone as if divining the deepest secrets of the far flung universe. There are prog-rock leanings and it’s more than whimsy despite the determined beats throughout. There are continual twists and asides and images brought to mind - think Minor Threat soundtracking Hair for instance, bizarre but "Royal Swan" is that bastard lovechild!
It’s like Fucked Up are jamming with the Mahavishnu Orchestra or NEU! at times and it's fantastic. Soaring and ambitious and idiosyncratic. There's a definite feel of Buddhist mysticism about some of the songs whilst still they remain determined to question belief itself.
Guests include Katie Stelmanis and Vivian Girls who lend touches of subtlety, otherworldliness and balls out rock as required but as ever it's the hulking presence of Pink Eyes who growls, prowls and lunges throughout to thrilling effect. Fucked Up are making music like no hardcore band has before. Epic stuff.
www.matadorrecords.com/fucked_up/
www.mekongdelta.co.uk
"Golden Seal" takes on a mystical, searching tone as if divining the deepest secrets of the far flung universe. There are prog-rock leanings and it’s more than whimsy despite the determined beats throughout. There are continual twists and asides and images brought to mind - think Minor Threat soundtracking Hair for instance, bizarre but "Royal Swan" is that bastard lovechild!
It’s like Fucked Up are jamming with the Mahavishnu Orchestra or NEU! at times and it's fantastic. Soaring and ambitious and idiosyncratic. There's a definite feel of Buddhist mysticism about some of the songs whilst still they remain determined to question belief itself.
Guests include Katie Stelmanis and Vivian Girls who lend touches of subtlety, otherworldliness and balls out rock as required but as ever it's the hulking presence of Pink Eyes who growls, prowls and lunges throughout to thrilling effect. Fucked Up are making music like no hardcore band has before. Epic stuff.
www.matadorrecords.com/fucked_up/
www.mekongdelta.co.uk
Friday, 12 September 2008
Lights.Action, A Silent Film - Live: 10th Sept 2008
There are numerous similarities between all four bands playing tonight - most obviously in their 'searching' sound which longs to project itself from a vast stadium stage. Intelligent rock with hooks - so to speak.. But aside from these similarities there are also very obvious performance differences.
It's a shame that openers think:Fire are playing their swansong shows prior to disbanding as they mix passionate rock, melodic riffs and urgent, driving rhythms with sufficient assurance and cockiness to avoid rock clichés and invoke genuine warmth from the crowd. think:Fire’s confidence only goes to highlight Fall Short! Conform!’s limitations though. Their uneasy mix of strong post-rock tunes with poorly executed vocals and little stage presence fails to ignite and regrettably it comes as a slight relief when singer Graham Mason leaves the stage during the final song and allows the music some breathing space.
Oxford's A Silent Film appear to be the most anticipated band in the lineup and with compelling lead singer Robert Stevenson (hints of Chris Martin not withstanding) and their piano led anthems they don’t disappoint. Great pop songs like "You Will Leave a Mark" and "Highest Regard" also bring to mind the keening melodies of Scandinavian pop maestros Mew and even Aha in their prime - particularly the interplay with Lewis Jones' chiming guitar. Drawing from imminent album 'The City That Sleeps' the songs are sumptuously crafted and thrillingly delivered. Even the danceable bewilderment of covering Underworld's "Born Slippy" fits without jarring, no mean feat!
In part tonight’s gig draws comparisons between the bands respective frontmen and Lights.Action singer Patrick Currier effortlessly kicks himself to the top of the pile with great charisma and powerful vocals. This isn't a one man show however as the band also preview their debut album. "Signals to Radar", "Moscow" and "Hide And Seek" demonstrate Light.Action's knack for building epic tunes alongside brittle melody whilst remaining Pop at heart.
www.mekongdelta.co.uk
It's a shame that openers think:Fire are playing their swansong shows prior to disbanding as they mix passionate rock, melodic riffs and urgent, driving rhythms with sufficient assurance and cockiness to avoid rock clichés and invoke genuine warmth from the crowd. think:Fire’s confidence only goes to highlight Fall Short! Conform!’s limitations though. Their uneasy mix of strong post-rock tunes with poorly executed vocals and little stage presence fails to ignite and regrettably it comes as a slight relief when singer Graham Mason leaves the stage during the final song and allows the music some breathing space.
Oxford's A Silent Film appear to be the most anticipated band in the lineup and with compelling lead singer Robert Stevenson (hints of Chris Martin not withstanding) and their piano led anthems they don’t disappoint. Great pop songs like "You Will Leave a Mark" and "Highest Regard" also bring to mind the keening melodies of Scandinavian pop maestros Mew and even Aha in their prime - particularly the interplay with Lewis Jones' chiming guitar. Drawing from imminent album 'The City That Sleeps' the songs are sumptuously crafted and thrillingly delivered. Even the danceable bewilderment of covering Underworld's "Born Slippy" fits without jarring, no mean feat!
In part tonight’s gig draws comparisons between the bands respective frontmen and Lights.Action singer Patrick Currier effortlessly kicks himself to the top of the pile with great charisma and powerful vocals. This isn't a one man show however as the band also preview their debut album. "Signals to Radar", "Moscow" and "Hide And Seek" demonstrate Light.Action's knack for building epic tunes alongside brittle melody whilst remaining Pop at heart.
www.mekongdelta.co.uk
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