Marissa Nadler + Jesse Sykes @ The Luminaire

Posted on May 13th, 2008 by Andy

Jesse Sykes

I was so tired yesterday and tempted to give this concert a miss in favour of an early night…except I never have early nights and would have stayed up until 1am anyway with nothing to show for my late night. I arrived in Kilburn about 7:30, the only bike rack near the venue had two sawn through U-Locks as evidence that leaving your bike unattended in Kilburn is probably unwise. I took a chance although I locked to a lamp-post as the bike rack was clearly bad luck!

Entered the lovely Luminaire, grabbed a bottle of water and waited for an hour in the too dingy to read light for Jesse Sykes to come on. Jesse performed with an electric guitarist, Phil, who I guess is “the Sweet Hereafter” for this tour. She proclaimed her shaky nervousness but managed to get through a short sweet set with neither her fingers nor her rich voice letting her down (I keep wanting to describe her voice as “smoky” but I think I’m being influenced by the album sleeve picture of her smoking)

Marissa Nadler

Marissa Nadler came on to the stage which was set up with her three microphone - one normal, one with a bit of echo and one with a stack of echo (she picked the wrong one for between song banter a couple of times). Sometimes it seemed as if she might just be a normal, sweet, folkie singer-songwriter but then she’d do something that made you realise that she was just a bit special, a lovely “Diamond Heart”, or “Rachel” which despite her commenting on the missing “acid leads” of Greg Weeks still had enough going on with the one acoustic guitar that it really didn’t matter.

The bike was still chained to the lamp-post when I got out - obviously the fact that it’s knackered (looking) and grubby, and the saddle is taped up with masking tape to keep the insides inside meant that the theives took their saws and bolt-cutters elsewhere. The ride home was a joy, mostly downhill, wind at my back and not too many other road users getting in the way!

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Just dug this one out #15 - Parallel Lines by Blondie

Posted on April 16th, 2008 by Andy

Today I woke up with Blondie’s Parallel Lines in my head. In my post from a couple of years ago where I picked out my favourite bands over time there were a few important acts that slipped through the woodwork. Blondie were one and, for a short time in 1978 and 1979, were just about my favourite band.

Listening to Parallel Lines now it feels so comfortable, so timeless unlike pretty much anything Blondie/Harry did subsequently. Parallel Lines was the second Blondie album I bought, Plastic Letters was OK, a couple of gems but all a little rough and patchy to make it a classic. Parallel Lines was a whole different ballgame. At lunchtime today Hazel suggested that there was only “three good tracks” on it (she meant “Hanging on the Telephone”, “Heart of Glass” and “Sunday Girl”) but surely to dismiss “Pretty Baby” and “Picture This” and “11:59″ and “Will Anything Happen” is just ridiculous, each of them as good as anything else on the album. To be honest, with the exception of the utterly dire “I Know But I Don’t Know” there isn’t any reason to reach for the skip button. This is as close to perfect as a pop album can get.

In February 1979 I went on a miserable ski-ing holiday with the school, I was sick, homesick, the food was rubbish, we had power cuts and barely enough snow to ski. Add to all that the embarrassment of falling over on my first day on the snow and not being able to get up, and being a woeful failure at using the drag lift, most of my memories of the trip and not good ones. The only exception is that “Heart of Glass” was on the hotel jukebox and we listened to it pretty much constantly over the whole week, no matter how sad and miserable I felt that track made me feel better. It pretty much still works now.

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Probably the best video that will ever be on YouTube

Posted on April 9th, 2008 by Andy

Obviously that last post was the very pinnacle of uncool so in attempt to restore my damaged credibility…

What’s not to love about this video - Beat Happening set up in the street and life goes on around them…kids wandering around…traffic drifting past…customers wandering in front of the camera…all oblivious to the fact that they were a crucial part of making this the very best video that will ever be on YouTube.

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How sad am I? #4 - Listen the Snow is Falling

Posted on April 6th, 2008 by Andy

originally uploaded by grange85

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Finishing the book

Posted on March 14th, 2008 by Andy

Dean and Andy
originally uploaded by moley75

I’ve just finished Dean Wareham’s book - for a fan it is a slightly frustrating gem of a read - it’s written in an easy casual style with Dean’s dry wit recognisable from 20 years of listening to his lyrics. Too often, however, the story ends too quickly - I know it’s because I’m a fan and the book is written for people who don’t necessarily care about every little detail of every little tour. That’s possibly why the extended chapter on Pup Tent is so one of the high (and simultaneously low) points of the book.

There’s a last page spoiler coming - you have been warned…

Read the rest of this entry »

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How sad am I? #3

Posted on March 6th, 2008 by Andy

I’ve spent far too much of today worrying about whether the song that Britta’s singing in this very cool video is called “You Turn My Head Around” which is what it says in the video, on their website and all over the web or “You Turned My Head Around” which is what it says on the album sleeve, on a Lee Hazlewood website and what Britta appears to be singing (mostly).

How sad am I? The answer is “very”.

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I ♥ Stereolab

Posted on March 4th, 2008 by Andy

Hazel just sent me a link to this lovely (if a little ropy) live video of Stereolab performing Stomach Worm and god they were so fucking great it makes me wince to think of the doodly nonsense that passes for a ‘lab album these days - I keep buying them in the hope that they’ll release something as good as “Peng!” or “Transient Random Noise Bursts…” but as years go on expectations get lower…

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The Clientele @ The Luminaire

Posted on March 4th, 2008 by Andy

The Clientele @ The Luminaire
originally uploaded by grange85

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Just dug this one out #14 - When I Was Born for the 7th Time by Cornershop

Posted on February 28th, 2008 by Andy

cornershop
originally uploaded by mediaeater

My mum was Anglo-Indian, she grew up in Calcutta with an Indian mother and a British father and they had a huge family. Ten or eleven brothers and sisters and all the aunts, uncles, cousins and nephews that comes along with that. And a good chunk of that family lived in or around London so I grew up tolerating huge family get-togethers, regular trips to Southall to shop, eating curries and hearing music that was different to the music I liked. Cornershop were a band that made the indie guitar music I liked but in amongst it were the sounds of those family get togethers or those trips to Southall.

“When I Was Born for the 7th Time” made it to my best albums of 1997 list but I very rarely listen to it these days while it probably didn’t deserve that accolade I’ve enjoyed listening to it a lot more than I expected I would

There are gems…”Sleep on the Left Side” is a fantastic opener, the moment when Paula Frazer arrives in “Good to Be on the Road Back Home” is almost perfect “make way for a lady”, and I love “Norwegian Wood” ever if it does have a slightly tacked-on-the-end-as-an-afterthought feel. Brimful of Asha hasn’t yet been ruined by over-familiarity and that Norman Cook remix…here’s the proof…

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How sad am I? #2

Posted on February 28th, 2008 by Andy

I created a Flickr group to collect all the pictures of Britta singing You Turned My Head Around just because I wanted to look at a slideshow of them.

How sad am I? The answer is “very”.

All the pictures are in the group pool - Photo credits: 1. Dean and Britta at the El Rey on 2-19-08, 2. Dean & Britta @ Luna Lounge, 3. dean & britta in pittsburgh, 4. 9Jan07_britta5, 5. Dean & Britta, 6. Britta Phillips, 7. dean_britta_14784f.jpg, 8. Dean & Britta, 9. Dean & Britta, 10. Britta & the Drummer, 11. 20070312-deanAndBritta, 12. Dean and Britta Austin 080223, 13. “Hey baby…… “, 14. Britta, 15. Britta

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