Can you hear that sweet sweet sound…

Posted on May 9th, 2007 by Andy

–:–
(see more of my pictures from the show on flickr)

I love Low - I guess there’s a clue in my last.fm charts with only Galaxie 500 and Luna being above them (and suspect Luna will be overtaken in the not too distant future // nothing will ever overtake Galaxie 500!).

There was a time when I cooled - I wasn’t a big fan of Trust and even less of a fan of The Great Destroyer - but I kept buying the albums and kept going to see them and I don’t ever remember being too disappointed - well maybe when I last saw them at The Shepherds Bush Empire back in not sure when…long time ago…it was the first time I’d seen Low in a big venue and it seemed really wrong…but I got over that.

Last night’s gig at The Shepherds Bush Empire reminded me just how much I do love them. The new album, Drums And Guns is, by my reckoning a major return to form and it sounded fantastic live and even the tracks they played off the albums I was cool on sounded great (although if I was cool on the album Trust I was never cool on (That’s How You Sing) Amazing Grace, it ranks up there among Low’s very best).

So I love the new album and I’m happy to declare that I probably do love the albums I thought I didn’t love but the real highlights for me were the older tracks. Over the Ocean was gorgeous, Two Step turns my knees to jelly when Mimi starts singing and those are the two tracks that I’ll hear when I close my eyes and think about this show…

I love Low, I love them live, and now that I can be comfortable with their popularity (and their religion) I can just sit back and enjoy being in love with Low.

A bit of video of Over The Ocean from last night…

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Fancy versus comfortable

Posted on May 3rd, 2007 by Andy

Howe Gelb and friends

Last night I went to see Howe Gelb and friends at the Barbican. I’d seen his similar "do" back in 2001 and this time around it never really seemed to get going like it had back then, I think mostly because the "friends" weren’t really given the free reign that the 2001 friends had been given. All of the women were duetting with Howe whereas the (mostly) men from 2001 were given more room to do their own thing.

I could live without seeing the (not very) The Handsome Family again because I found their tiresome, "funny" americana mostly tiresome and not that funny. Isobel Campbell never really seemed to get the chance to get involved. Mary Margaret O’Hara was interesting and funny and behaved and looked like a drunken auntie (thanks Staurt for that description). And most of the rest was just a wash of a little too gentle and a little too fractured and a little too dull and a little to samey.

Now maybe it’s because I don’t often get to see the feet of performers but I was mostly taken by the inappropriate, uncomfortable (looking) or just plain silly footwear that most of the women chose to wear. Henriette Sennevaldt wore scary looking high heels. Emiliana Torrini wore these high-heeled frilly (I think) grey boots that made her look like she was going to lose her balance at any time. Mary Margaret O’Hara wore drunken auntie footwear - little strappy heels. Isobel Campbell had some fancy high-heels on as well. The problem I guess is that in my world of indie-pop (or at least in my imaginary ideal world of indie-pop) all the girls wear Dr Martens or other similarly sensible shoes so seeing such a range of very VERY girly footwear was just a little distracting - but then a distraction was probably what I needed.

I didn’t mention Lonna Kelley who was the first of Howe’s friends (not counting John Parish - who sadly never got to do his own thing). She was probably the highlight of the evening with a lovely cracked voice that suited so well its duet with Howe. I also didn’t notice her shoes but suspect that they were of the comfortable and sensible kind.

Last time round the line-up was a little more varied - John Parish did a great mid section that was so wonderfully at odds with the rest of the set - and Mark Linkous (Sparklehorse) was superb and dueted with PJ Harvey on Homecoming Queen which reminded me how much I loved both of them, and even Evan Dando reminded me how enjoyable he was capable of being.

I first saw Howe with Giant Sand at the Mean Fiddler (Harlesden version) so many years ago it scares me - he had a phenomenal amount of hair back then. Last night when he turned his back on the audience and under those lights you could see the bald patch pushing through - welcome to the club Howe.

Howe Gelb with hair

Posted in Music, last.fm, you like the shoes I wear | 1 Comment »

A pick of destiny

Posted on May 1st, 2007 by Andy

Damon & Naomi are releasing the new Michio Kurihara (ace guitarist and occasional member of GHOST) album on their 20|20|20 record label and early pre-orderers are to be treated to a limited edition guitar pick. Now, to be honest, a guitar pick is not really the sort of thing that’s likely to sway me into parting with my money early - a poster or a print or a 7" single or a even a badge or a postcard are the sort of things that are more likely to sucker me into a purchase.

A guitar pick to a non (or occasional) guitarist is just a piece of near-triangular plastic without a natural home - it doesn’t hang or pin or stick anywhere and it will, no doubt, eventually fall down the back of a sofa or under a rug and never be seen again. I know this from experience because when I get my "Do Moles Dream of Electric Guitars" freebie it will be my second celebrity guitar pick…

Many moons ago I saw Motörhead at the Marquee Club (Wardour Street edition) it was crowded and hot, the floor was sticky and the walls were wet with condensation (as it always was), I shoved my way to near the front and enjoyed the band, like I always did. At the end of the show lemmy just casually flicked his pick into the crowd and up shot my hand and it nestled neatly in my palm. In my memories there is a salmon-like leap and a dream-like slow motion sequence. Nothing like that had happened before or since - the drumsticks invariably flew over my head. There was nothing special - no gold trimmings or personalisation - just an ordinary pick like the millions you see in plastic boxes near the till in guitar shops.

I walked around with the pick tucked into the corner of my wallet for weeks, maybe months, showing it off proudly to anyone who cared (not so many folk I guess) and eventually it went the way of all those invconvenient mementoes. I sort of keep hoping that one day it’ll turn up when I empty out a box of records or open a folder of my crap - but I suspect it never will.

Maybe I’ll just tuck Kurihara’s pick into the CD cleeve and forget about it…

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Dean and Britta are (finally) coming to London

Posted on April 27th, 2007 by Andy

It’s been (almost) two and a half years since I last saw Luna - I miss them - and since about 1989 there haven’t been too many gaps that long when I haven’t seen Dean Wareham on a London stage either as part of Galaxie 500 or Luna.

So I am very excited to hear that Britta Phillips & Dean Wareham will be playing in London in June.

Posted in Music, a head full of wishes, last.fm | 1 Comment »