Scott’s Year In Music

Hello, and welcome to this short journey into sound. You may notice not everything included in the lists and rankings below aren't strictly from the last year. This is simply because the following lists reflect what I’ve been listening to, and what I have enjoyed over the last year (ish).

The lists were deduced by no scientific method, nor are they of any quantifiable importance or purpose.

Top 5 Live Acts of the Year

1)   Beach House

2)   Holy Fuck

3)   Local Natives

4)   The Cribs
Joint 5^th) Slow Club / Jack Johnson

Top 10 Albums of the Year

(with a handy one line description and 'Key Track' you should give a listen to if you are new to the music)

1)   Beach House – Teen Dream

Chilled Out Indie Goodness

Key Track – Walk In The Park

2)   Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Trebly Guitars And Electro Goodness With A French Accent

Key Track - 1901

3)   Local Natives – Gorilla Manner

America’s Finest

Key Track – Wide Eyes

4)   Wild Beasts – Two Dancers

Music And A Voice You’d Never Associate With Kendal

Key Track – Hooting and Howling

5)   Stornoway – Beachcomber’s Windowsill

Echo Friendly Folk

Key Track - Zorbing

6)   Miike Snow – Miike Snow

Scandinavian Trip Pop

Key Track – Black And Blue

7)   Radiohead – In Rainbows

The Perfect Soundtrack To Any Darkened Room

Key Track - Reckoner

8)   The Xx – XX

They Won A Mercury Prize… Meh. Mopey Minimalist Moreish-ness

Key Track – Crystallised

9)   The Tallest Man On Earth – The Wild Hunt

He’s Like Bob Dylan But Swedish

Key Track – Burden Of Tomorrow

10)                  Foals – Total Life Forever

Haircuts As Conventional As Their Musical Objectives

Key Track – Spanish Sahara

Top 15 songs of the Year

1) Beach House - Walk In The Park

2) Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks

3) Tokyo Police Club - Wait Up (Boots of Danger)

4) Radiohead – Reckoner

5) Bob Dylan – Blowin’ in the Wind

6) Elliot Smith – Between the Bars

7) Bright Eyes – First Day Of My Life

8) Phoenix – Lasso

9) Local Natives – Who Knows Who Cares?

10) The Cribs - We Share the Same Skies

11) Stornoway – I Saw You Blink

12) Wild Beasts – We’ve still got the taste dancing on our tongues.

13) The Xx – Islands

14) Slow Club - Giving Up On Love

15) Little Comets – Lost Time

Best Bass Line

Wild Beasts – This Is Our Lot

As Hooky As Peter Hook If He Was Holding A Hook With A Hook Hand

Best Guitar Riff Of The Year

The Cribs - We Share The Same Skies

Johnny Marr

Buskers of the Year

Microguagua

As Mental As Their Parc Guell Haunt

Musical Displeasure Of The Year

Mumford and Sons

They Have One Painfully Country Harmony

Guilty Pleasure Of The Year

The Drums

Leading Purveyors of Indie Nursery Rhymes

The Ben Folds' Song Title Game

Whilst at Uni I decided to play this game. You can play to, if you want to... Here 's how:


Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly (without repetition) answer the following questions. 

Pick your Artist: Ben Folds / Ben Folds Five 

Are you a male or female?: 
Sentimental Guy 

Describe yourself: 
Best Imitation Of Myself 

How do you feel?: 
Selfless, Cold and Composed 

Describe where you currently live: 
Effington 

If you could go anywhere, where would you go?: 
Jesusland 

Your favorite form of transportation?: 
Dog 

Your best friend?:
Dr. Yang 

You and your best friends are?: 
Brainwascht 

What's the weather like?: 
Fair 

Favorite time of day?: 
In Between Days 

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called?: 
Your Redneck Past 

What is life to you?: 
Philosophy 

Your relationship?: 
Battle of who could care less 

Your fear?: 
One angry dwarf and 200 solemn faces 

What is the best advice you have to give?: 
There's all ways someone cooler than you 

Thought for the Day?: 
Learn To Live With What You Are 

How I would like to die: 
Missing the War 

My soul's present condition: 
Evapourated 

My motto: 
Still Fighting It 

Newcastle's Evolution Festival, and Glastonbury Festival 2010 (The 40th Anniversary) - A List Of All The Artists I Watched

Hello my fine readership,

Here is a simple list of all the live music (and related businesses) I have seen this fine 2010 festival season thus far. The list starts with Newcastle's Evolution festival along the Toon's quayside. Secondly it lists the performers I witnessed on the hallowed grounds of Worthy Farm, Pilton, Glastonbury, at the world's greatest festival's 40th anniversary celebratory shindig. Lovely. A proper review / blog will be done covering my Glastonbury experience giving you the full low down. I've also attached a link to all the artists I could find on spotify that I saw at Glasto! So you can listen to (nearly) any of the named artists that take your fancy.

Anyway to the list!

Evolution

John Smith

Po Girl

King Creosote

The Unthanks

Field Music

Lissie

Smoove + Turrel

Slow Club

Ellie Goulding

De La Soul

Baskery

Hadouken!

Delphic

Glastonbury (2010)

Josh Thorner

Two Door Cinema Club

Egyptian Hip Hop

Chapel Club

Local Natives

The Magic Numbers

The Charles Hazlewood All-Stars

Beth Jeans Houghton

Shlomo

The Hypnotic Brass Ensamble

Phoenix

La Roux (with Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17)

Rob Da Bank

Faith SFX

Plan B (with Faith SFX)

Radiohead

Broken Bells

The Flaming Lips

The Xx

Troy Ellis and the Longshots

Brother Ali (With DJ Snuggles)

Coheed and Cambria

Peter Hook

Huw Stephens

The Strange Boys

Beach House

Stornoway

The Cribs (with Johnny Marr)

Editors

Laura Marling (with one member of the Wilkomen Collective)

The Pet Shop Boys

Sub Focus

Dizraeli and the Small Gods

Frightened Rabbit

Everything Everything

These New Puritans

Holy Fuck!

Dry the River

Grizzly Bear

Ray Davies (with the Crouch End Festival Chorus)

Jack Johnson

Loudon Wainwright III

Toots and the Maytals

Rodrigo Y Gabriela

Dan le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip

The Journey So Far...And What To Expect Next

Hello Blog Readers!

My Blog now includes all my entries from the NSR (Newcastle Student Radio) Blog. From here on in then it is a solo journey of music scrutinising, starting with Glastonbury. I'll be keeping a Glastonbury Diary, logging all the bands and acts I witness. I'll let you know who was good, who wasn't, and who you should endeavour to check out!

Also, in the coming weeks my musical project should be much further along in the production process. Find attached a cheeky video trailer. Don't forget you can add me on myspace (www.myspace.com/iamconfuciusmusic), add me on twitter (@SirScottofMac) and of course comment on all the Blogs I post.

Thanks,

P.S. I Am Confucius

TUESDAY, 26 JANUARY 2010 Murder FM – Anthems for the Used (Mini Album)

Like angry shouty men? Particularly, angry shouty tattoo covered men with interesting hairstyles? If yes, you’ll love Murder FM. Simply breed ‘30 Seconds to Mars’ with ‘LostProphets’, add some extra hate of the world, and let it stew in a disco. Murder Fm emerges from the mean rock disco broth to challenge your musical tastes. Though FM do not advocate murder, many makers of musical opinion will argue Murder FM do indeed murder music. ‘Heavy’ music still divides opinions, however, Murder FM are much more than just ‘guitar metal’. Synthesizers and keys, though not the biggest part of their sound, temper something really heavy, and make it much more accessible. Murder FM’s tracks ‘Mrs. Wrong’ and ‘As Beautiful As You Are’ are quite a good examples of metal mitigation. They are in effect potential pop songs that got kicked out of ‘The Charts’ (a high-class nightclub called), and spent a night behind bars for drinking too much and kicking Barbie Girl in the face. Though possibly an intimidating music venture for mellow music fans, Murder FM are surprisingly easy to listen to. Maybe I am guilty of presupposing everybody is as receptive to rock music as myself. Even so, try Murder out. You might well be surprised.

3/5
http://www.myspace.com/murderfmmusic

Tori Amos - Midwinter Graces

Midwinter Graces has ‘BBC Radio 2’ written all over it. If you like Tori Amos and wear cardigans deliberately to be pretentious this is definitely the Christmas album for you. In ‘Midwinter Graces’ Amos puts her own take on classic Christmas and festive winter songs such as: ‘What Child’, ‘Nowell’, and ‘Star of Wonder’. Amos’ gift to the listener appears to be a simple rearrangement of seasonal songs into a more conventional pop structure. The result is an album of Christmas songs you will probably never play as you opt for the classics, or a pop album you’ll store with the Christmas decorations. Once you’ve dusted off 11months of dust every year you will probably come to realise it is a very good album in regard to musicianship. However, it has no clear purpose, apart from actively and positively seeking musical territory usually filled by failed Christmas number one attempts. Give it to someone who wants to be ‘alternative this Christmas’, or someone who really likes Tori Amos.

An easily ignorable 2.5 / 5

TUESDAY, 26 JANUARY 2010 Ou Est Le Swimming Pool – Dance the Way I Feel

If you do as ‘Ou Est Le Swimming Pool’ urge, and dance the way you feel, you’ll probably look like a robotic muppet. However, you won’t care, as ‘Dance the way I feel’ is an electronic delight. You’ll loose yourself in newly discovered electronic recesses of your own mind. It has an infectiously catchy electronic synth riff that accompanies a repetitive, instructive and uplifting chorus. The verse is a brooding indie narrative of a nightclub, ‘Pet Shop Boys-esk’ in feel, unashamedly good electro-pop in reality. Well matched beats, and subtle multi-layered lead and string synthesisers combine to make what can only be described as ‘electro-joy’. Paradoxically the cold wired synthesizers make you feel warm on the inside. You know deep down that the programming of the keyboards cannot compute warm-blooded human emotion, but you remain confused by how close they get. The sentiments in the vocal humanise the near clinical electronica, making clear the ultimate feel good nature of the tune. The Camden trio are increasingly rising in profile, supporting many premier British electro-pop names; ‘La Roux’, ‘Sam Sparrow’, ‘Mr Hudson’, and ‘Reverend and the Makers’ to name a few. They also played no less than three stages at Glastonbury ‘09. If somehow you like you music dancier in nature I’d definitely recommend the ‘Dynamikk’ remix of ‘Dance the Way I Feel’. ‘Ou Est’ are definitely a name to remember. Actually, they make great music just about worthy of accompanying their unforgettable name. Possibly one of the best band names ever.

4/5

Band Name: Off the Scale /5

TUESDAY, 10 NOVEMBER 2009 Lost Prophets - End of the World

Potentially more polarising for fans than their last studio album ‘Liberation transmission’, ‘Its Not the End of The World’, the latest single from the Lost Prophets, is a further step away from their pop punk break through material. Fans disenchanted by ‘Liberation Transmission’ will not find a return to the Welsh rockers glory days of ‘Shinobi Vs Dragon Ninja’, ‘Burn Burn’ or ‘Last Train Home’. Likewise, Transmission fans may too be disenchanted. ‘End of the World’, perhaps appropriately, does have a darker feel about it. The darkness, and some degree of emo apathy, must have spilled into the Prophet’s studio as even the sound quality has a shadowy feel. The bass is heavy and dull; whilst the guitars appear to aim for a fussy vs. clean tone contrast. However, they are predominately fussy throughout. The contrasting cleaner tones suffer from lack of volume. In fact contrast is only successfully reached when the song turns ‘Muse-y/ Matt Bellamy-esc’ in the guitar breakdown mid track that seems dramatically different to the darkness of track as a whole.

On first listen ‘End of the World’ is a disappointment (unless it is indeed the first Prophets track you’ve ever listened to). Even the happy choruses and chanting characteristic of ‘Liberation Transmission’ have been warped and seem sinister. In fact, I would describe ‘the woahs’ throughout ‘end of the world’ as uninspired. Akin to a noisy group of idiotic and drunken lads out on the razz; the Prophets fail to produce a convincing or fitting chorus harmony. Saving grace you plea? Luckily there is. In the last 50 seconds there is a moment of sheer quality. Ian Watkins actually unleashes his voice. So good is his voice in these fleeting seconds I will even go as far to say it actually saves the song. Instead of playing the song all the way through, you can, like me, just skip to that brilliantly loud moment over and over. No doubt, this track will continue to cause debate amongst Prophets Fans.

Nevertheless, I believe a complete removal of expectation, and a fresh look at the Lost Prophets is required whenever they release anything. They regularly reinvent their sound, and this must be complimented. Yet, if this was the first Lost Prophets track I ever heard I’m sure I’d enjoy it, but I’m not sure I’d rate it as special. I think on this one the listener should decide.

My Opinion: an on the fence 2.5/5….Ian Watkins’ scream alone 4/5

TUESDAY, 10 NOVEMBER 2009 Absent Elk - Change My World

Unlike many, I had the advantage of knowing Absent Elk prior to being asked to review their track ‘Change My World’; an absolutely lovely and thoroughly enjoyable track. Serene, gentle and composed, ‘change my world’ is very agreeable. The vocals of Kjetil Morland are likewise as agreeable; reaffirming this Anglo-Norwegian five pieces tranquil charm. However, ‘change my world’ is not their strongest song, or the song of theirs I would tout to a friend hoping they become a fan. Though beautiful, it is quite forgettable, unlike, for example, their ubër catchy tune ‘Cannibals’. What I do know, however, is that ‘change my world’ adds credibility and variety to a band sporting a largely indie-pop sound. In the age of x-factor and what I like to call ‘capital orientated crap pop’ (a big general opinion I know) it is refreshing to hear a good band playing and writing good popular music. This track has everything a good pop song needs; likable vocals, pleasant acoustic guitar, strings, and drums that build up but don’t over power. It isn’t even over produced! When the drums kick in you can’t help but smile, and think things like; ‘Wow…life really isn’t all bad, at least we have sparrows…and chaffinches’. Mindless mental wanderings aside, it seems pop has become somewhat of a taboo term, associated with less than ‘indie-cool’ things. If you ask me Absent Elk are indie-cool, yet remain categorically pop. Just looking at the bands Absent Elk have supported gives you an inclination that they are indeed pop act (for those interested Elk have supported: Girl’s Aloud, the Script, Keane, and the Hoosiers). They have also done a pretty good home recording and reworking of Lady Gaga’s Pokerface: available to listen to on YouTube. Unashamedly, as a result of listening to Absent Elk I am happy to say I have some faith in good pop again. If you really wanted to you could describe Absent Elk as Scandinavian folk driven gentle indie, but that’s stupid, it’s guitar pop, and that’s nothing to be put off by. Well done Absent Elk, and thank you for bringing back some pop hope to the ‘scene’ generations (even if that wasn’t your intention).

Absent Elk’s album is out now, and ‘Change my World’ is released as a single on the 30/11/2009.

3.5/5

THURSDAY, 22 OCTOBER 2009 Greyhounds in the Slips - The Joy Formidable

The combination of hook heavy lyrics and droning guitar, force the Joy Formidable to your attention, if nothing else. Yet, it is somewhat darker than their 2008 offering Austere. Admittedly this is not every body’s cup of tea, but it engenders a reaction similar to said cup of tea being thrown into your face. Perhaps this is the reason the trio are supporting the likes of: The Editors, Passion Pit in the UK, and then are on a European tour with the Temper Trap; all this after a mini tour of Japan. The guest vocals of Paul Draper (of Mansun fame) compliment the now industrial tones of a band born in the welsh country. All this, and energetic live performances indicate they should be monitored for chance of future success.

I do however have a few issues with the recording itself. The Vocals, though undoubtedly catchy in the chorus, are blurred in the verse; blending the vocals into the body of the music as whole so that they are eventually lost. Those of you wanting poetic sentiments throughout will also be disappointed. Furthermore, if you are that annoying person on facebook; the one who loves to quote inspired song lyrics as their status, you too will not find what you are looking for. However, if you love household appliances you are in luck. The vocal-less ‘bridge section’ towards the end of the song sounds like a washing machine drumming and whirring to the ambience of a kitchen radio. Check them out, but this I have to say is largely an injustice to their live quality.

2.5 / 5

MONDAY, 19 OCTOBER 2009 Mando Diao – Give Me Fire

If the Arctic Monkey’s were more soulful and Swedish, or if the Hives decided they wanted to ‘become more mature’ (which they should never do) you might end up with Mando Diao. ‘Give me Fire’ is their 5th Studio Album. Upon first listening this album peaks, and troughs. There are, however, some absolute standout tracks. Tracks including ‘Gloria’ which subtly incorporates strings and female backing vocals into Mando’s ‘boyish garage rock’ meets ‘gospel’ sound. A sound I’m lead to believe in the past was driven by bass lines, choppy chords, distorted guitar riffs and dancey rock /indie beats. This less produced sound perhaps best epitomised by their breakthrough 2004 album ‘Hurricane Bar’. In many respects, not a whole lot has changed, though there is indication of further diversion away from the sound of albums gone by. Perhaps the pop highlight of the album is ‘Dance with somebody’. It’s the kind of track that should, and probably will, echo around national radio for months. It has ‘sing-along-able’ lyrics, and words that will most definitely stick in your head. Stick to the extent you’ll have to beat them out of your mind with concentrated doses of Britney Spears ‘womanizer’ (or something equally repetitive) which conveniently you’ve crafted into some sort of mind baseball bat. Mercifully it’s not all just mindless pop dribble. After two or three listens you start to get what this album is all about. The in your face indie pop tracks, though still enjoyable, take a back seat. Tracks such as ‘Maybe Just Sad’, show that amongst the gospel Mando actually do have something to preach; preaching with the innocence of language only a Swedish band singing in English could. Mando frame themselves as sort of working class heroes. You can see why with reoccurring references to ‘the upper classes’. If this isn’t your political view, don’t worry, everyone can relate to death. Mando Diao’s track ‘Crystal’ is amongst the most pleasant I’ve heard dealing with the subject of the afterlife. I don’t feel this album will be the death of the band; in fact quite the contrary. ‘Give me fire’ looks set to bring Mando Diao to the attention of a fan base that has thus far eluded them. I just hope current Mando fans enjoy it. Stick with it, and give it a few listens when it’s released.

3.5/5

TUESDAY, 20 OCTOBER 2009 Kill It Kid

Like a shot of bourbon to the eye, Kill It Kid’s debut Album (self titled but known as ‘Songs of Love and Loss and Debauchery’) is as hot as an iron prod to cowhide. They are probably the first band of 2009 to leave the listener branded. Not your generic blues, indie, folk or even country sound. In fact many arguments will be had trying to define them. The lead vocal is nothing short of breath taking. The blues and country influences in this album are manifest and self-evident. However, this album does not give the listener a one-genre handle to grasp. Unique male vocals, raw guitar, and dynamic fiddle playing are mellowed by heartfelt piano and soulful female harmony. Even the lyrics are educated and catchy, far from mindless. There is so much to grab your attention it is easy to overlook the thundering drums; drums which at the same time are finely balanced and produced. Highly evocative tracks such as send me an ‘Angel Down’ and ‘Private Idaho’ gives the album a softer and at times beautiful core. A necessary contrast to furious tracks such as the albums hard-hitting opener ‘Heaven Never Seemed So Close’, and the electric bluesy feel of the ‘Troubles of Loretta’ and ‘Burst it Banks’. In fact the album is filled with controlled out pourings of emotion. Emotion expressed through the music’s variety of pace and tone, and not forgetting Chris Turpin’s unbelievable voice. The song’s layouts even have more depth than your standard formulaic pop. Nothing I write can adequately describe this bands truly massive and exciting sound. You’ll struggle to choose a favourite track by them. Honestly, this is the best album I’ve bought in a long time. Not bad for five young guns from Bath.

4/5

TUESDAY, 26 JANUARY 2010 Mausi – Formerly: Paper Planes

Mausi are a quintessential Indie, University band experience. The Band however has ruined my flattering and ‘Punny’ review by changing their name (apparently for ‘legal reasons’). Formerly Paper Planes, they are now ‘Mausi’. Nevertheless due to my need to use aviation based metaphors, and as I haven’t seen them under their new name this review will still put across their high-flying nature. Though ‘Mausi’s can’t fly, unless you strap them to seagulls. I digress.

Despite only being a relatively new band they have a good range of original material and covers. Brother and sister (Thomas and Daisy) alternate between lead vox. Both have unique sing styles. As a consequence Mausi draw from a huge range of musical styles, and frequently delve into many genres. The truly take songs and make them their own. Set highlights include: the Planes own delightful compositions ‘Should I’ (enjoyable in both its acoustic and amplified forms), ‘What You Did Boy’, and a cover of Corrine Bailey Rae’s ‘put your records on’, a song that suits Daisy’s voice to a T. Daisy’s voice seems the kind that probably wouldn’t be out of place in a ‘50s speak easy. It has an effortlessly rich tone. Daisy’s harmonies also give Thomas’s ‘Indie style’ vocals a level of sophistication not usually encountered in grass roots music. Furthermore Mausi do not restrict themselves in the presentation of their live performance. [Cue ‘Plane’ based analogies] Mausi seem to ride thermals just as easily as an acoustic three piece or an electrified four piece. Ben and Benji (the bands lead guitarist and drummer) make Mausi’s decibel level comparable to that of a Boeing 747. The band might only be taxi-ing the runway at the moment, but they look destined to take of soon: unlike my metaphors. From now on I’ll be quiet as a ‘Mausi’…lame.

4/5
http://www.myspace.com/mausimusic

TUESDAY, 10 NOVEMBER 2009 Passion Pit with Max Tundra / The Joy Formidable at Northumbria University

I could talk about Passion Pit for hours. Oh wait, no I can’t; that was definitely a lie. Musically Passion Pit were impeccable, bar the technical failure resulting in no music for 20 minutes mid set. Oh, and the fact they were dependent on a backing track on a laptop. Oh yeah! I nearly forgot how intensely boring they were on stage. That aside they were very very good. It might appear a contradiction, but I would definitely watch them again, given the opportunity. The singer, what’s his face? I can’t say his name let alone spell it. Anyway, he was very good also, in a high pitched sort of way. In fact they were so good it was like watching a rehearsal; one in which the crowd was still a hypothetical situation yet to be encountered. In the mean time, the crowd still being a fiction, the Passion Pit boys concentrated on getting the music as close to a complete note perfect recital of their album as possible. It is fair to say they lacked stage presence and a quality that would let me believe their performance was all live and happening, and that I was one of the lucky few in Northumbria getting to witness it all! Like poetry read in a monotone voice, passion pit came, played, and left with no personal investment beyond that put into writing the music in the first place. A direct contradiction to ‘the Joy Formidable’: who delivered yet another powerful performance. They also further reaffirmed their position as a live act to be watched out for; hopefully they will figure out how to capture their live quality on record. I know! Let us as a society with a vested interest in getting the most out of bands (and pushing the boundaries of new music), lock Passion Pit and the Joy Formidable in the same room until they take for themselves respectively the best traits of the other i.e. the ability to record and perform! Hmmm…

Now! MAX TUNDRA! I could literally try and describe him forever. The coolest performer I’ve seen in yonks. He may in fact be the least cool person in the world, but the fact he doesn’t care and does his own thing makes him pretty darn cool in my humble opinion. He’s like your Dad dancing to happy hardcore whilst absolutely off his face on acid (or something equally hallucinogenic) but on a stage! In front of all your friends, and he’s embarrassing you, but somehow you conclude you still love him, and then you realise that everybody else in the crowd thinks that watching the mad man dance it is nothing short of the best thing ever! Finally, you realise he’s actually quite good at playing music, all be it weird, and not linear or simple music. His songs are predominantly electro and synth based. He sort of sounds like a bad scat singer’s impression of music, but twisted so you’d expect to hear at cabaret night on a cruise linear; but played on a synthesiser, to dance beats. That is actually as close as I can get to describing him without sounding like a nut job. He simply is crazy, hard to listen to, but somehow brilliant. You know you are in for a good show if one man is playing dance remixes of the sound of music with a variety of crazy instruments that look like they’ve come from a 1960’s toyshop. Youtube this guy’s live performances, for laughs if you want, but you might like myself discover something you like.

3.5 / 5

TUESDAY, 10 NOVEMBER 2009 Absent Elk (w/ Hold Fire) at the 02 Academy 2

I’d like to start with a small disclaimer. I’m not sure my review of this gig is from a representative opinion. I’m a 20 year old bloke. Now imagine the scene. I get to 02 Academy, and enter it to find a crowd which I then assess: the crowd has an average age of 14, and I can see three men. I say men, I mean prepubescent teenagers. As any 20 year old student would I begin to feel a little odd that I’m amongst the oldest in the room, thankfully I had a friend with me, and there were a few older people scattered amongst the disappointing turnout of 40. It was Bonfire night, but even so, I couldn’t help feeling sorry for the bands. Throughout the night they would prove themselves to be much better than the disappointments Newcastle extended unto them. Hold Fire (no ‘the’) took to the stage. They are a Pop Rock band, full of hooks, melodies, and at some points four-part harmonies. All this is mixed with good lyrics, some of which aren’t words. Their tracks are easy on the ear but with musical integrity often missing in pop; I’d place them somewhere between Bob Dylan and nursery rhymes. In short, if you like songs you’ll like these guys. They also performed ‘Call the Shots’ originally by Girls Aloud amongst their own material. Furthermore they made ‘Call the shots’ a better song, giving it a rockier vibe. They have a debut album (Keys to the City) out now for digital download, and a free track on their MySpace page.

Finally the time came for Absent Elk to perform. And Perform they did! However, if they hadn’t performed as energetically and compellingly as they did to the 40 attendants they would have been excused. It was as intimate and personal a gig as you could hope for. Nevertheless, they truly looked to be giving it their all. So much so the dance floor still bounced! I went to the gig expecting a Pop band. Elk however are so much more. Their album is full of variety and their live performances even more so. The lucky 40 of Newcastle were treated to one of the first acoustic performances of Elk’s interpretation of Lady Gaga’s Pokerface. A version that has become an internet hit and a version I personally much prefer to the original. Their stage craft was first rate; their interaction with the crowd too should be commended. Personally their incredibly catchy song’s ‘Cannibals’ and ‘First Guitar’ stood out, as well as their next single ‘Change My World’ which offered contrasted to the largely up tempo set. Needless to explain their first single ‘Sun and Water’ also went down well due to crowd familiarity. The band’s musicianship could be over looked, though it definitely should not, every member can really play. They create a pop sound, somewhere between indie-rock and Norwegian Folk music. The element of their performance that really surprised me was the drumming. It was interesting, varied, and impassioned. The beats where complemented by acoustic guitar, occasionally synth, thumping bass and most distinguishably an indie toned screaming guitar. This screaming droning dynamic guitar tone, though difficult to describe, but somewhat characteristic of this band; gentle yet piercing.

All these layers of enjoyable noise and I have neglected to mention the lead vocals of Kjetil Morland. Unique, perhaps because of the Anglo-Norwegian accent he sings in. He doesn’t have a powerful voice, the kind x-factor makes you believe everyone should have. It’s delicate, agreeable, and refreshing; sort of like jumping into a fiord in winter. Throughout their set it felt like the audience performer distinction blurred, and you realised they were just thoroughly nice people you wanted to go have a chat with. The best bit was if you felt so inclined you could. They were very friendly and amicable people with loads of time for their fans. Download their next single Change my World from November 30th or alternately buy or download their album ‘caught in the headlights’ now. I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

3.5/5

www.absentelk.com
www.myspace.com/absentelk

TUESDAY, 20 OCTOBER 2009 Kill It Kid / Sparrow and the Workshop

In depths of Edinburgh and Cabaret Voltaire’s basement venue Kill It Kid move into position on to the stage. You can’t help but notice the youth before you. The average age of Kill It Kid cannot be more than 20. Next thing you know, you are mesmerised, utterly transfixed on Chris Turpin’s Voice. Chris himself, adorned with a black cowboy-esk shirt and skinny jeans, looks slight behind his electro acoustic guitar. You stand like those around you trying simply to comprehend how such a commanding voice came out of such an unimposing figure. Finally you grow accustomed, and to your delight realise there is a lot of sound to be receptive too. Piano playing vocalist Stephanie Ward in any other band set up would be more than strong enough to lead. Indeed, she has a lead role in songs such as ‘Private Idaho’ and ‘Dirty Water’. Nevertheless, Stephanie and Chris’ vocal harmonising offers the listeners a delightful and beautiful contrast; holding your attention effortlessly. Nevertheless, the Bath five-piece keep on giving. Electrifying fiddle, pure piano, and driving bass tones are rounded up by stampeding drums. In contrast to their recorded material the drums are much more an integral part to the live Kill It Kid experience. Drummer Marc Jones appears to be a man beating out his soul for a higher purpose. A third of the way through the set Chris Turpin picks up his sunburst Les Paul guitar, and grabs his slider in preparation for steel thrashing blues. Well rehearsed and tight, Kill it Kid will not disappoint; even if they are not what you would usually go and watch. Slower paced dynamic and beautiful melodious movements contrast to fast, rockier and raw blues tracks throughout the set. From what I witnessed set highlights include ‘Send me an Angel Down’ and ‘Dirty Water’.

As if you hadn’t already had your fill, Sparrow and the Workshop take to the Floor. The Glasgow based trio produce a much subtler and cuter sound than Kill It before them. I found them much more formulaic, and gentle. Not necessarily a bad thing after such an enormous performance. Their aim seems to be a pop-folk-country sound from times gone by; soothingly familiar yet new. The Edinburgh crowd reacted well to the delicate voice of Sparrow and the accompanying Celtic male harmonies. Addictive drums and alternation between big bass tones and accompanying electric guitar bolster Sparrow’s acoustic lamenting. Their sound reflects their diversity of background, a three piece composed of an American, a Scot and a Welshman is bound to provide some interesting results. A confident and enjoyable performance; clearly festival experiences at Glastonbury and Kendal Calling have done much to develop their stagecraft and fan base. Future support slots with Idlewild are set to take the band to new and yet undiscovered heights.

Hopefully they’ll both visit Newcastle soon

THURSDAY, 22 OCTOBER 2009 Editors (with the Joy Formidable)

The Editor’s Newcastle gig was characterised by one of the most surreal crowd atmospheres I have ever experienced. The Joy Formidable began the evening’s entertainments with their hybrid ‘Welsh countryside meets industrial London sound’. They make a huge noise for just a trio. Whilst watching them it became clear that their live performances completely eclipsed and surpass the quality of their recorded material. Recordings which I now feel do them an injustice. Highlights include the strangely familiar sounding track ‘Austere’. As thoroughly enjoyable the Joy Formidable were; I was some what distracted by the man stood directly in front of me. He smelt strangely of peanuts, adding ‘smell’ to the audible sensory stimulus I was already experiencing. Anyway, I was then privileged enough to meet the band after their performance in their homely tour van. They are truly genuine people, filled with a desire to make good music whilst being true to their own definition of what good music is. There mentality was refreshingly non-conformist for a decent band in a chart orientated world; having said this however, I would say they do sound a lot like many other indie acts. I recommend you give them a try at least. I then rejoined the crowd just as Editors took to the stage. I hasten to add that I completely missed the second support act’s performance. Therefore they aren’t even getting discussed. Professional of me, I know.

With Editors on stage the Crowd, though markedly less peanuty, made a concerted effort to step up its level of weird. Nobody wanted to move their feet at all. Not even once, for the duration of the Editor’s mammoth 2hour performance. Hands moved fine, so did arms. Head movement was acceptable. Feet and Legs? No! Unbelievably static, the only exception was the immediate first two or three rows of spectators which seemed to suss out jumping on the spot. Having said all this, I’m not sure I’d have jumped about like an idiot given the opportunity. The Editors sound is neither frantic, nor is it sleep inducing. They hit a fine balance of electricity and melody which apparently renders the lower half of your body unable to move. The only gig I have been to that was more centred on standing around was Gary Numan in Newcastle last year (which was amazing, though equally still). Speaking of Numan, and thus synths, when the hell did Editors put such an emphasis on synthesisers? Their performance was littered with them. To their credit, they were tight, had an amazing sound quality and entertaining stage visuals. The synth’s role to a large extent was to bulk out their sound. Yet, I can’t help but feel that even without the synths the sound would have been full, due to; delightful bass playing, on occasion luscious sounding piano, and their now characteristic guitar tone. All this and I haven’t even mentioned Tom Smith and his raspy, deep, belting voice. I’d argue Tom is the closest our generation has had to a ‘Morrissey’. A popular voice you instantly recognise. It doesn’t disappoint live.

Curiously, throughout the night a trend developed. The crowd in general reacted much more positively to the Editors earlier material. Highlight songs of the gig included first album tracks such as ‘Munich’ and ‘All Sparks’. The second album tracks ‘Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors’ and ‘End has a Start’ also went down a treat. The Third album material however, though still good (in a looser sense) suffered from under-familiarity; and to a lesser degree lack of the Editors characteristic guitar tone. Furthermore I was slightly scared by one trancey-er, all electro, track. All in all it was a fine performance; but, a performance for the most part so unimposing it felt like listening to a CD. If I’d stayed at home with a CD at least I could have sat down.

3/5

Absorb Vs Sequel @ The Sage

So I arrive at the Sage, one of the most elegant buildings of the North, built with acoustics in mind (but probably not copious amounts of synth bass). From the outside the Sage emotes antiquated, yet serene classical tones. Indeed the majority of people milling about the venue are older (40 or so) and dressed to fit a smart casual description. Then, out of the corner of my eye, in a room full of shiny shoes and collars, I spied a hoody. It was at that point I expected conventional logic would have to be disregarded, as two contrasting stereotypes of music patrons were about to be united in one sophisticated venue. The Sage itself was masquerading as a grimy nightclub; though a nightclub that had a timetable for performances and intervals (during which you could purchase cake and a beverage – perhaps the most bourgeois of all gig refreshments).

The first act took to the stage. Absorb Vs Sequel. An outfit unbeknown to me prior to viewing, but by the end of there set my body ebbed to flows of bass. Mr Absorb can be eloquently described as an edgier Mike Skinner (of Streets fame) though his voice is more akin to that of Hadouken!’s James Smith. Absorb accompanies music producer Sequel exceptionally. Absorb didn’t even soak up the atmosphere like his porous name might suggest; rather it seems he gave himself a verbal wringing: his mouth streaming with complex word plays and rhyme schemes. With a clear grounding in grime, the lyrics Absorb spat initially seemed at odds with the older gentlemen of the crowd, but by the end they we’re essentially skanking: testament to how infectious the duo’s combined work is. Absorb vs. Sequel are clearly an act at the very forefront of the progressive movement emanating from ‘Dub-step’. They prefer the term ‘No-Step’. This is slightly confusing as I clearly remember catching contagious beats. Though, in fairness to the duo, the beats do take a slight backseat to the ‘phat’ bass sounds of Sequel, and the intricate rhymes of Absorb. This all said, a personal highlight of their set was Sequel’s entrancing demonstration of how a drum-machine should be played. Seemingly effortlessly his hands did the work of a brigade drummers. Simply put, any fans of bass heavy music, music that shakes you to your very core, must see this band. A refreshing change from an almost standardised presentation of rap music (the DJ and MC combination) Absorb Vs. Sequel bring artistic integrity to a genre hindered by a distinct lack of performance musicians. With the benefit of hindsight, and all the evening’s performers considered, Absorb Vs Sequel simply outshone the rest of the billed performers.

Verbal Terrorists could easily have been misconstrued as socialist students on a gap year; a gap year during which they opted to put an education in Politics to use in the world of rap. Critically speaking, the Terrorist’s voices did not lend themselves to rapping particularly well. Yet, what they lacked in tone they made up for with passion, energy, and conviction of argument. Nevertheless, there was a distinct irony accompanying the verbal terrorist’s calls for an anti-capitalist ‘revolution’ at the Sage: a venue that unfortunately seemed to price out the broader proletariat. A bigger travesty of the evening seemed to be the distinct lack of punters. It appears the night had been poorly marketed, the consequence being an absence of grimes’ now extensive and growing natural fan base. That or Geordies just don’t like rap. Any such insinuated erroneous statement however was to be undermined by the evening’s next act.

Rick Fury and his somewhat merry collective provided a colloquial mood if nothing else. The South Shields rapper and his friends where hugely entertaining, though perhaps not in the way they where hoping. When a group of Geordie men take to dancing around a stage to up-tempo beats, whilst wearing tracksuits, holding up an Irish flag and rapping about Catholicism, one can only laugh. They do however win my award for best rhyme of the night, something about being “an indoor rapper, doing cyber drive bys”, whilst using various pieces of computing hardware as weaponry. Excellent. Well done there…

Before the night was even young it was time for the headline act: Skepta. Skepta is obviously a talent, but also an obvious ego. His rhymes were solid, but his attitude seemed off. Unlike the other performers Skepta seemed to use the underwhelming crowd size as an excuse to slack off. He didn’t perform for long; in fact a large part of his set was freestyle from the earlier performers he invited back on stage. When he did perform it was good, and he seemed at ease with a Mic in his hand. Though he fell victim to the area of performance art where Absorb Vs Sequel triumphed. Skepta was just a man with a microphone accompanied by an older bloke with turntables. True, it is all you need, and if you value rapping over music it is probably sufficient. Yet, Absorb Vs Sequel just provided so much more. Skepta’s songs are of good quality, but he left an empty feeling, part of me felt devoid of satisfaction. Perhaps I expected too much of him, or perhaps he truthfully just wasn’t as good as he claimed to be (on numerous occasions Skepta reminded the crowd of his continual narcissistic battle with rapping peer Wiley). Over all my personal interest in bands and musicians placed Absorb Vs Sequel on a pedestal none of the evenings other performers could reach. Which is Sad on the part of Skepta in particular, as I now rate some of his recorded music quite highly.

Starting My Journey Towards Internet Enlightenment

So, I finally have a blog. In truth I have an entire collection of Internet outlets. So, this first post simply lists them:

Youtube Where I post videoy stuff, maybe even Video Blogs:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Iamconfuciusmusic

Myspace Where I share the Music I have written:

http://www.myspace.com/iamconfuciusmusic

Twitter Where People can follow me if they so desire: @SirScottofMac