There is certainly something here and she does have a good voice- good enough to lure me in but there is something about the album that just doesn’t sit right with me. Quite a few of her songs have some catchy rhythms- Dance, Dance, Dance, I’m Good, I’m Gone and Little Bit are good with the standout track being Hanging High. However there are quite a few tracks that I simply do not like with her cockney-fied pronunciations and with the overproduction I was left wondering if there was actually a band involved or just a machine.
Overall it was a good album but I don’t think it helps when you see the videos and there is just a tad too much brassiness there. I think she would be far better if that was toned down to just sassy. That said- I have only heard good reviews about her gig in the Sugar Club so maybe she comes across differently live.
My God- what a voice! She makes you sit up and take notice from the very first moment she opens her mouth! Some tracks are quite stripped down and to have her voice float out of nowhere is really an enthralling experience. There are quite a few different styles of songs on here but the main thing is that there is not one filler- definitely more than a couple standouts for me since The Treehouse Song, The Fall, The Puzzle, Changing of the Seasons and Raise My head are my favourites that I return to again and again.
This is just one album you have to listen to and savour to the end. While I am not regretting seeing Yeasayer the night she was in town- I really wish there hadnt been a conflict now and I hope that she returns here soon.
Just a couple of YouTubes- not many out there for Ane Brun and probably the best one for Lykke Li.
Who would have thought I would have ended up here- a banjo and trad music? Usually two elements that would keep me far far away but there is something about The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock that is so much more- trad is certainly a highlight but it’s the post rock element that keeps the attention. I only had a chance to listen to a couple of their tunes on MySpace before running out the door so I really didn’t know what to expect gig wise- have to say that these guys are really great. The sonorous voice of the lead singer gave me a kind of Crash Test Dummies vibe and while there are inevitable comparisons to Horslips with a couple of their tracks- these guys know how to rock! At one stage they played at least 3 if not 4 of their songs in a row and they really know how to keep the vibe going. The standouts for me were The Hare, In Country Dark and the encore Pimlico.
I have to note that the drummer is good but he is going to have to do something about his expressions while drumming on the slower tracks- sometimes laugh out loud looks but sometimes just inane so he does take away from the music just a tad.
Good crowd for them and had some of the band members family there as well (as you do in the smaller ones to make sure somebody is there!)- the mother of one of them was in front of me and she was really rocking to them which was good to see! Upstairs at Whelans is a bit of a disaster though- really guys- with the whole refit you could have taken down a couple of those walls or at least widened the bottleneck! It didn’t help that the best place to stand is right in the middle of the bottleneck which was leaking water from somewhere so it would have been a rather soggy experience if they stayed there for the whole set.
So altogether a good gig- some great tunes and a good vibe. Not sure if these guys will make it to bigger venues given the type of music they play but it was an enjoyable show so it’s worth the effort to get to them. They had their cd on sale at the gig if you can’t find it anywhere else- some good artwork as well and can be found here.
A couple of YouTubes below just for a feel…
Balcony TV- In Country Dark- decent enough except for all the rambling at the beginning
The Lords Prayer- fan one that is very very dark but sound is ok
Noah and The Whale- Just downloaded this and having a quick listen- some good tunes there!
The blurb-
Noah and The Whale will release their much-anticipated debut album, Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down, on 11th August. The band, currently on tour in the UK will precede the album with a single set to be one of the songs of the summer, 5 Years Time (released on Young & Lost Club / Vertigo on 4th August).
Described in The Sunday Times as “a global hit in the making”, 5 Years Time is a glorious love song that blends the simple narrative and direct lo-fi charm of anti-folk artists such as Jeffrey Lewis or Jonathan Richman with the classic pop of Buddy Holly.
Noah and The Whale make earnest, poetic music. Their album is a collection of songs that muse on the connections between love, death and time and though 5 Years Time is the perfect invitation to their world; it is merely a piece of their puzzle. The songs move effortlessly from the epic grandeur of Arcade Fire to the intimate melancholy of Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy but all with a very clear sense of Englishness.
If you missed their set at Glastonbury, don’t worry, Noah and the Whale will be at several festivals this summer including Latitude, Secret Garden, Cambridge Folk Festival, Summer Sundae, Field Day and V Festival. They’ll also be playing an album launch show at London’s Roundhouse on 11th August, where a series of paintings that make up the album artwork will also be on exhibition.
Listen to the album now, for free.
Your download will time out in 2 weeks time.
Oh come on- the tags for music just keep on getting more ridiculous!
Ok I know I have to explain what Folktronica is to people but Emotronic??? I had to explain to somebody today what Emo was in the first place. I think it says a lot that the only place I can find a definition is the Urban Dictionary which has definitions for quite a few dodgy words.
I originally saw this on the MySpace profile for a group called Biomusique who actually have some fairly decent ambient tunes so hopefully they are taking the piss by including the tag- something tells me that they were being serious though.
I know that everybody in the blogosphere seems to love Bon Iver but I really can’t get into his album For Emma, Forever Ago. I am surprised really since I usually love male singer songwriters with a falsetto voice- Loney, Dear and The Antlers being artists I have come across over the last year that I absolutely love (Findo Gask as well but definitely not singer songwriter types).
Vernon’s voice just seems too forced on the majority of the songs and it is only the on the more subtle tracks that I can really enjoy his vocals. So after a few listens to the album Blindsided and Re Stacks were the highlights for me and while some of the other tracks are good it is not an album I will be putting on too often. Saying that, I have heard only good things about his live performance so I will try to catch him when he is back in town.
Blindsided
Posting from work so will have to check that YouTube later- hopefully good enough quality!
This being Dublin I ran into other guys from other bands- both from Dark Room Notes- Ruairi in The Long Haul on the way up and then Ronan in Whelans. Note to self- I shouldn’t talk to people when I have a bloody migraine coming on and I come across like a gibbering fool!
Anyhoo- the gig!
Crayonsmith opened and he had some good tunes- Go To Road was a memorable one. The first time I had seen him live and he does a great job on stage with mixing- however the last tune was just a bit on the messy side as if he was trying to fit too much in. Quite good and hope to see him around soon.
Yeasayer were bloody brilliant! All songs thankfully longer than album version and they mixed some other ambient sounds at the beginning of some of the tunes. The use of syncopated beats and silence really added to their music and the vibe was quite fantastic. The jerky motions from the lead singer surpisingly fit in to the live show- they look a bit epileptic on the YouTubes so was good to see they enhanced rather than detracted from the performance. Overall there was a great buzz which always helps…and a good ‘Irish’ story about relations in Ireland and having somebody’s ashes spread about Newgrange! I will have to remember to tell the boys that one when we visit there in a few weeks!
Think this was the set list…no encores but then again they probably don’t have much other material!
Another one for the Better Late Than Never category!
In the Sugar Club which I have to say is the best place for them- have been waiting since last year to see them again and the wait was well worth it with all the material from their new album!
Jenny Lindfors opened and its the first time I have heard her inside (EP last year). She does have a good voice but I find that it is just a register too high for me and just doesn’t catch me in as some of the other female artists that I listen to. She has some great tunes though and Make It Warm was stupendous…her description of how she wrote it because of a pricktease quite helped with the back story! Blazing Suns was quite simply stunning and miraculously for a support act the crowd was silent! That didn’t last of course and the rest of the set was pretty much a fight between her and the noise of the crowd.
Angus and Julia Stone then came on- while they have stupendous singing voices I forgot how quiet they are talking and you really have to concentrate in order to hear them. As a brother/sister act they really do have voices that compliment each other and I just love how they sound together.
They played all of the tracks that I love from A Book Like This along with quiet a few from their older EP’s. The only distracting bit for me was Julia’s dancing during some of the songs- eclectic would be a kind word for it and the girl next to me thought it was hilarious…in a good way since she seemed to be a fan and I took the mimicking as a slight form of endearment. The crowd were again a bit noisy for some of the quieter songs and would only hush when the drummer started- just a tad on the annoying side. As a whole though this gig had everything- intimate and the perfect sound with an excellent vibe!
1 Mango Tree
2 Hollywood
3 Paper Aeroplane
4 New one written for a friends Greek wedding
5 Bella
6 Private Lawns
7 Beast
8 Horse and Cart
9 New one For You?
10 Soldier
11 Wasted- jam
12 Wasted- album
13 Just a Boy
14 Here We Go Again? Silver coin? Arghh the memory again!
While not everybody likes Gondry’s style- have a look here for his 25 favourite music videos (not the ones he has done himself obviously!). I do quite like most of his work so I think it is rather interesting to have a glimpse into his head- there is a little blurb along with each of the picks that explains why he thinks it has artistic merit.
No surprise with some like Gabriel’s Sledgehammer, Bjork’s It’s Oh So Quiet..and a few others that Spike Jonze has done. There are some surprises there though and quite a diverse range of artists- Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie boys, Talking Heads, Aerosmith, Paul Simon, Aphex Twin, and Devendra Banhart. It’s not often that you would see those artists all in one list but I suppose this is Gondry after all!
So late getting this up- so a new category Better Late Than Never!
The gig was in my favourite venue at the moment- The Button Factory can be quite an different place depending on the group…and just as well since this was a very very intimate gig!
Star Turtle came on first and while they didn’t have an audience to play off of they have some good solid songs- nothing innovative but fairly decent.
Then came a group who’s name I embarrassingly cannot remember CTA, CJA?? I will have to ask Darragh from DRN when I see him later in the week- this is what happens when Word crashes on your new technogadget! They had a good sound though with a kind of post/surf rock vibe- some good tunes as well (Empty Pockets?) and both the bassist and the lead female have good voices. Ended with a real rocking number….will give them link-love when I have their name!
Dark Room Notes then came on and they were as fabulous as ever! Some great new tracks and I really love the new ambient tunes that they have been doing. They had their old favourites there as well with Love Like Nicotine and Shake Shake My Ceiling and Lets Light Fires which really grabs your attention. There were also some new tracks called Treetops and Arms that have an excellent vibe. During the gig they had some great visuals with an old black and white silent film playing in the background-something of the monster variety (and will have to ask Darragh the name for that as well!) but it certainly adds to the atmosphere and to their songs as well.
I ran into Darragh a couple of weeks after the gig and they will be recording their album shortly- a lot of the new tunes that I heard have been changed already so it looks like the album is going to a surprise! From DRN this can only be a good thing and I can’t wait to catch them at Electric Picnic which they have now confirmed they will be at.
At one point they had some free downloads from their MySpace site- not sure if that is still active but head along there anyway for a look!
Am back from sun-filled France and egads it turned into an eating holiday! The friends husband is being posted to Djibouti with the Air Force so there were lots of visits with both sides of the family for lunch. Lunch in those parts starts around noon and ends just before dinner!! Lots of Ricard, wine, and name-ur-poison consumed along with tons of some of the best beef ever! Oh did I mention that when dinner came around that most were eaten outside since the weather was so fabulous? While it was lashing in Dublin the weather there was just gorgeous although there were a few moments where I wish there was some air conditioning about!
The god-daughter is coming along in leaps and bounds as well and is as cute as a button- she will be 2 shortly and is talking quite a bit and even saying words like stethoscope- think the terrible two’s are going to be fun indeed!
The downside of the holiday (besides coming back) was French radio- I thought that Europe 2 use to be a decent station…maybe its just nostalgia but since Virgin took it over there seems to be such a repeat of old music that I seriously felt like ripping the radio out of the car on occasion. As much as I like Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah if I hear it again in the next year it will be soon enough. Seriously, I don’t know if it has been re-released but playing it twice every hour is a bit much and one of the reasons why I do not listen to ANY mainstream radio stations (Go Phantom!) Surprisingly though I heard Tunng on Virgin- the brilliant song Bullets which seems to be a hit there! Most of the music on Virgin was in English which is a good thing really- France may be known for its food and wine but there is a reason they are not known for their music!
So back to the wet cold Dublin but to the warm embrace of the girlfriend which is always a help Still have lots to catch up on here which I hope to do over the weekend- somehow I don’t think I will be out sunning myself with the bbq out the back!
Many thanks to United Visual Artists (www.uva.co.uk) for the profile picture from the music video 'Tonto' by Battles. They have done some amazing light fixtures for other groups and shows so check them out!
Still have lots to catch up on here which I hope to do over the weekend- somehow I don’t think I will be out sunning myself with the bbq out the back!