en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 60 http://www.audioscrobbler.net/data/webservices http://www.last.fm/user/anorakhighst/journal The Last.fm journal for anorakhighst. Last.fm journals are a place to talk about all things music. http://www.last.fm/user/anorakhighst/journal/2007/12/12/40zs_jens_lekman_at_the_luminaire Wed, 12 Dec 2007 01:55:45 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/anorakhighst/journal/2007/12/12/40zs_jens_lekman_at_the_luminaire Tue 11 Dec – Jens Lekman

Tonight, I went to the Jens Lekman gig at the Luminaire. It was ace.

This was a somewhat more minimal gig than the others of his I've seen; this time, he didn't have the usual full backing band, and performed solo, with just a guitar, a loop pedal used for harmonising with himself (to great effect) and a Scandinavian-looking woman accompanying him on the bongos. Though he did an amazing job within these constraints; playing the melodies (and sometimes bits of basslines) on his guitar and singing in his unmistakeable croon. Highlights included: the version of It Was A Strange Time In My Life which segued into You Are The Light..., the version of The Cold Swedish Winter which tapered off with him whispering into the microphone, his guitar playing faded to a silent touch, the audience absolutely silent, the version of A Sweet Summer's Night On Hammer Hill with the audience singing along, and the rendition of I'm Leaving You Because I Don't Love You, starting out on guitar and loop pedal, then with a backing track kicking in on an iPod in the second verse and the energy going up tenfold.

The best part was probably the encore, though. He came back on, sang Black Cab, and then launched into a version of Pocketful Of Money; as soon as he started snapping his fingers, the audience picked it up and ran with it, providing the accompaniment; then the entire audience, seemingly spontaneously sang the backing vocals, "I'll come running with a heart on fire". It was an amazing experience.

Oh yes, and The Clientele played the support, which was good (though, obviously, somewhat understated compared to Jens' set).

This is the third Jens Lekman gig I've seen (before, I saw one at Bush Hall a few years ago, and also his gig at Airwaves in Reykjavík last year), and possibly the most impressive. I imagine there'll be a fourth someday.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/anorakhighst/journal/2007/09/18/40zr_architecture_in_helsinki%2C_brighton%2C_1692007 Tue, 18 Sep 2007 11:48:29 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/anorakhighst/journal/2007/09/18/40zr_architecture_in_helsinki%2C_brighton%2C_1692007 Sun 16 Sep – Architecture in Helsinki

This Sunday, I caught the train down to Brighton to see Architecture in Helsinki. They were ace; this was quite possibly the best gig of theirs I had ever seen. They played so tightly and with so much energy; they virtually tore the roof off the Concorde2. At one stage, they announced that they were going to do a cover of Daryl Braithwaite's "As The Days Go By", before launching into a hard-edged wolfdisco rendition of The Same Old Innocence that rocked about five times harder than on the CD. The encore consisted of a cover of Mental as Anything's "Live It Up", followed by their recent floor-filler, Heart It Races. The only minor setback was the fact that, two songs before the end, some shirtless yahoo straight out of a Walkabout barged through the crowd to the front and proceeded to dance, waving his T-shirt in the air like a flag of victory, his back to the band, as if he was the star of the show. (Look, cobber, we paid to see the band, not you.) Still, even despite that, it was a great gig.

The support band were Fanfarlo, who alternate between being good (when they sound like some Swedish band signed to Labrador) and naff (when they sound like Coldplay or someone).]]> http://www.last.fm/user/anorakhighst/journal/2007/07/01/40zq_review%3A_momus%2C_kumisolo%2C_laila_france_%40_fl%C3%A8che_d%27or%2C_paris Sun, 1 Jul 2007 14:28:59 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/anorakhighst/journal/2007/07/01/40zq_review%3A_momus%2C_kumisolo%2C_laila_france_%40_fl%C3%A8che_d%27or%2C_paris Fri 29 Jun – Momus, Laila France

This Friday, I saw Momus at the Flèche d'Or (a somewhat hipsterish venue, full of Modular coolsie types). It was a brilliant gig; Momus is a great entertainer.

There were a few bands on beforehand (I missed the vocalist from Nouvelle Vague's solo outfit, but caught a rather danceable female-fronted blues-rock outfit named Phoebe Killdeer and a somewhat trendy-looking London band named Scanners).

Then came the late set; first on was j-pop outfit named kumisolo, who were somewhat like the Aprils, and consisted of a cute Japanese girl singer and a guy with a laptop providing the bouncy electropop backings. At one point, he somehow dropped the laptop on the floor and the music went silent; the singer kept going, with the audience clapping along, while he rebooted the machine; a minute or so later, the music came back in and the song moved to its conclusion, to thunderous applause.

Then Momus came on, did a duet with the singer, and then launched into a solo set, which was ace. He did Lady Of Shallott, Pierrot Lunaire, Nervous Heartbeat and a version of Robin Hood with the villain's name replaced with Sarkozy (to mass applause) and a bunch of other, older songs. He put on an amazing show, singing and playing keyboards and being very animated; he really is a terrific entertainer. He finished his show with a few songs he wrote for female singers, with the vocals being performed by Laila France, concluding with a cover of the hit he wrote for Kahimi Karie, Good Morning World.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/anorakhighst/journal/2007/06/29/40zp_emmy_the_great Fri, 29 Jun 2007 12:36:58 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/anorakhighst/journal/2007/06/29/40zp_emmy_the_great I just heard Emmy the Great's "Atoms" on International Pop Underground. It's lovely, though does remind me of some Belle & Sebastian song I can't quite put my finger on.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/anorakhighst/journal/2007/06/08/40zo_mistake_mistake_mistake_mistake Fri, 8 Jun 2007 00:05:02 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/anorakhighst/journal/2007/06/08/40zo_mistake_mistake_mistake_mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake is the Power, Corruption & Lies of the early 21st century. Discuss.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/anorakhighst/journal/2007/05/30/40zn_of_montreal_live_%40_cargo%2C_london%2C_2952007 Wed, 30 May 2007 01:58:34 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/anorakhighst/journal/2007/05/30/40zn_of_montreal_live_%40_cargo%2C_london%2C_2952007 Tue 29 May – Of Montreal

I just saw of Montreal. They were (a) unbelievably ace, (b) like something from the early 1970s, and (c) the campest thing I've seen since Me And My Katamari. They went on in costumes and theatrical makeup; one guy had silver robes, angel wings and sideburns, another wore a Russian fur hat and 1970s shirt, and Kevin Barnes went on in tight white jeans, scarves and makeup like a latter-day Aladdin Sane. (The costume didn't last; in the middle, the band played an elaborate instrumental and he went off, coming on in tight turquoise shorts and fishnets (see what I mean by camp?), and near the end of the set, he climbed a step ladder and was adorned in a ladder-height silver dress/gown.

The music itself rocked; they did mostly tracks from Hissing Fauna, and played them brilliantly. The visuals are worthy of note too; they were animations in the style of outsider art (chimeric animals, skulls, people with fires for heads), and suggestive of mental turmoil, much like the lyrics.

I'm tipping this for one of the gigs of the year.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/anorakhighst/journal/2007/05/23/40zm_it_came_from_japan Wed, 23 May 2007 01:17:53 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/anorakhighst/journal/2007/05/23/40zm_it_came_from_japan This evening, I went to a Japanese electropop/new-wave gig a Japanese electropop/new-wave gig, organised by an outfit calling themselves It Came From Japan. It was lots of fun. Especially the headline band, an ace Tokyo electropop outfit named Motocompo, consisting of a girl in black-and-white stripes playing drums, a girl who looked like Lovefoxxx from CSS in a white robe and beads singing, and a guy in glasses and a shirt that looked like it was made of two shirts, cut in half diagonally and sewn together, on guitar and vocoder. They rocked.

The supports were fun too; Miami were two girls from Tokyo, playing electronic pop (with lyrics in Japanese) on sampler and violin. Levelload were a local band with a 2/3 Japanese membership, and were a bit skronkier; perhaps a little more towards Bis.

I don't know if it's a Japanese cultural thing, but the two Tokyo bands seemed to pay a lot of attention to detail; it was evident in their costumes, their props, their stage routines, even the way they began and ended their sets.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/anorakhighst/journal/2007/05/11/40zl_momus_in_paris Fri, 11 May 2007 01:27:46 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/anorakhighst/journal/2007/05/11/40zl_momus_in_paris Hmmm.. Momus is playing in Paris on 29 June. Might have to catch the Eurostar over.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/anorakhighst/journal/2007/05/10/40zk_shivers Thu, 10 May 2007 11:42:29 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/anorakhighst/journal/2007/05/10/40zk_shivers I'm listening to the Dogs In Space soundtrack album at the moment.

Did anyone else notice the stylistic similarities between Marie Hoy & Friends' cover of The Boys Next Door's
Shivers and Joy Division's Atmosphere?]]> http://www.last.fm/user/anorakhighst/journal/2007/05/08/40zj_synthpopelectropop_gig_in_london%2C_1652007 Tue, 8 May 2007 23:40:30 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/anorakhighst/journal/2007/05/08/40zj_synthpopelectropop_gig_in_london%2C_1652007 Hello;

Next Wednesday, 3 electro bands are playing in north London at Barden's Boudoir:

Often drawing parallels with early New Order and the Pet Shop Boys yet never dwelling in the past, Melbourne, Australia's Dance With Voices have rolled this sound forward and are making waves in their own right. Their sound can best be described as a clever balance of the immediacy of electro and the best of the synth revolution of the 80s. So far, they've supported MSTRKRFT and The Infadels and been named by NME as a "Breaking Band".

Arthur and Martha have been described as "Gilbert & George, disguised as The Carpenters, steal the hits of Kraftwerk and bash them out on an old moog in the style of Section 25"; a guy, a girl, and some old-sk00l analogue synths, their music is an archly deadpan and knowing synthpop with a danceable groove.

Also playing is hyperkinetic Japanese glitchmonger Sonic Dragolgo, from Tokyo via Brighton, with his unique brand of slightly skronky electropop influenced by 1980s video games.

There will be DJ sets; Dance With Voices are doing one, as is DJ Automated Alice, and the Pop Look & Listen DJs will be spinning electronic favourites and obscurities, both old and new.

Tickets are £4 on the web, or £5 at the door. Doors open at 8pm.]]>