BELLE AND SEBASTIAN @ MANCHESTER APOLLO 7 December 2010

If you haven’t seen Belle and Sebastian play live in their fifteen year career then maybe the first time should be with a full orchestra? That’s what I thought too when this went on sale and I grabbed some front stalls tickets. Come the first week in December though, I’m feeling rough. I’ve got those can’t-wait-for-the-end-of-the-year blues and suddenly seeing Belle and Sebastian with or without the London Contemporary Orchestra feels like a chore. The fact it was seated was what got me there on the night. That and a lift from ever-dependable Ms L. And how thankful am I now?

I’m not a great fan of the Apollo – it’s a bit of a soulless, sterile experience without surprise or warmth. First surprise then on taking our seats – front, centre, just a few rows back – was suddenly how the cavernous Apollo started to feel a bit more intimate.

When the eight-piece Belle and Sebastian took to the stage they were all polite waves and nods but generally shy and workman-like into the first song. Third song ‘Like Dylan In The Movies’ was played just by the band, moving gracefully from gentle acoustic opening into beautiful cello, violin and trumpet accompaniment – what need for a full orchestra? Soon we were shown what the orchestra could add. The London Contemporary Orchestra didn’t play on all songs, and for some they were quite discreet, unshowy, but for others the orchestra players brought dramatic intros, swells, dips and grandeur - particularly making an early impression on ‘I Waking Up To Us’ and ‘Lord Anthony’.

However this for me was not what made the evening. It was that Belle and Sebastian were having fun. Most of the band remained fairly unexpressive whilst playing but from the moment Stuart Murdoch removed his red jacket (underneath tight white T-shirt with ‘Ealing Studios’ crest since you asked) the whole event warmed up. And kept getting warmer. Murdoch was relaxed whether sitting singing on the forestage or dancing on the spot and wiggling his hips, whether choosing audience members (“you need to have rhythm”) to come on stage and dances or even running up and down the aisles. I know – all a bit rock ‘n’ roll. Or at least rock ‘n’ roll on Belle and Sebastian terms. There was never any danger or edginess but instead just a great, fun, uplifting experience. And when the orchestra abandoned their instruments and filled the forestage to dance along to final encore ‘Me And The Major’ you could sense they were genuinely caught up in the joy of the moment too. The problem is now I am spoiled. I think I can only see Belle and Sebastian again at close proximity and with an orchestra.





The Set List:

If You’re Feeling Sinister
Write about Love
Like Dylan In The Movies
I’m Not Living In The Real World
I’m Waking Up To Us
Lord Anthony
I Want The World To Stop
Sukie In The Graveyard
Fox In The Snow
I Fought In A War
(I Believe In) Travellin’ Light
I Can See Your Future
Dear Catastrophe Waitress
Dirty Dream #2
The Boy With The Arab Strap
If You Find Yourself Caught In Love
Judy and the Dream of Horses
Sleep The Clock Around
---
I’m A Cuckoo
Get Me Away From Here I’m Dying
Me And The Major

WRAPPING UP 2010 WITH BROWN BROGUES

For all its myriad faults I am thankful to MySpace for one thing: it was where I first heard Brown Brogues after a recommendation by the ever-reliable Pigeon Post back in March or April of this year. And from the Spring onwards the primitive, pounding “Wigan garage” of Brown Brogues was quickly and warmly embraced by promoters and gig nights in Manchester – they became the go-to band for a whole host of support slots for visiting Americans including The Strange Boys, Harlem, Avi Buffalo, Wavves, and Titus Andronicus. Three gigs on each day of In The City in October and a now sold-out cassette-only release on Suffering Jukebox were also packed into a busy year for the guitar and drums duo of Mark Vernon and Ben Mather. So how did the pair see their year? And will 2011 bring some recorded music in a more user-friendly format?

What I will remember most about 2010 is...
Mark The sad theme music to This is England '86. I wish I could remember something better.
Ben The route from Wigan to Manchester.

What should be forgotten about 2010…
Ben 'Don't Stop Believing' - anyone’s version of it.
Mark The Libertines reforming at Leeds and my latest haircut (It's just not 'edgy' enough!).

The best gig we played was...
Mark We've had a lot of good gigs this year but the best were either the Suffering Jukebox launch night at Deaf Institute or playing at Fuel with a good friend of ours on Bass before he moved to Berlin. Sad face.
Ben Probably Saki Bar, I think that was the first gig Mark asked people to move closer and they actually did.



The best gig I saw was...
Ben Thee Oh Sees at Deaf Institute.
Mark Hyacinth Girl at a dodgy Ket party in Fallowfield a few weeks back.

A record from 2010 that will be still be played in 10 years time?
Mark Tough one, probably "Kollaps Tradixionales".
Ben The LCD Soundsystem one probably, I'm still listening to stuff from 2009 like a loser.

Overlooked in 2010?
Ben 'Bury pts 2 + 4' by The Fall and the death of Gary Coleman because of the death of Dennis Hopper.
Mark Musically: Hyacinth Girl, our rap side project (White Hoes) and Star Slinger (although he's only just started playing live, he's going to own 2011) Visually : Keith Richards fingers on his Culture Show special - I can’t believe more people didn’t notice that his fingers look like little trumpets.

And what can we look forward to in 2011 from Brown Brogues?
Ben A 7" maybe, more shows around more places, and I might look at getting another drum. No of course not, Mark won't let me.
Mark Growing my own chubby trumpet fingers and a really self indulgent LP.

Before that Brown Brogues play their last gig of 2010 at the Shake It Xmas Party at The Star and Garter on Friday 10 December alongside The ABC Club and Letters To Fiesta; and then The Silver Bullet in Finsbury Park, London on 13 January with Milk Maid.

In MCR this month: Q&A with Dan Haywood's New Hawks

Five years in the making, launched in Lancaster in August and finally officially released today on Timbreland Recordings, “Dan Haywood’s New Hawks” is impressive not just in terms of lengthy gestation. At over two hours in length, this thirty-two track, triple vinyl album is a hefty and absorbing listen, billed as “both debut record and final release”.

“The songs are all based on Haywood’s personal ruminations charting his experience as a lone songwriter, poet and ornithologist travelling around rural Scotland. The finished record is uncompromising in its dramatic, personal and raw interpretation - marrying country rock, folk and psychedelic influences, alongside Dan Haywood’s ardent vocals. The instrumentation and arrangements are sometimes sparse, sometimes exquisite and sometimes cacophonous, with the band utilising guitars, fiddles, cellos, drums, pedal steel, piano and percussion along with some minimal use of bass, bongos and harmonium”.

Ahead of gigs this Tuesday at The Yorkshire House in Lancaster with Trembling Bells and on Thursday 16 December at Sacred Trinity Church in Salford with Stealing Sheep, head hawk Dan Haywood answered a few questions about the record and the live shows.

You’ve described this record as “The first and last album by Dan Haywood’s New Hawks” – how come?
There are only so many products that could be termed 'Dan Haywood's New Hawks' because it refers exclusively to the group of songs. The songs themselves are the New Hawks, all dreamt up some years ago. It's not a band name. So there can't be any more-- there were only ever thirty-two of them and now they're all done and stored in one convenient product.

The CD version and the booklet accompanying the vinyl release refer both refer to “ Parts 1 – 6”. Did you originally conceive this as a triple vinyl release or is this grouping of songs accidental? When I was writing it I wasn't worried about the word-count, the running-time, the format, or anything...just the mania.... Didn't even know it was an album or whether it would be made 'public'.. But it soon became clear that it was very much an album, that the songs belonged together. More so than any group of songs I've come up with before or since. But art was first and foremost, staying true to the flashes.

And a couple of years passed before triple or quadruple vinyl was mentioned. The way the recordings were going it was looking to be two to three hours long which suggested the format. The story splits into six or eight parts very nicely, so vinyl worked for me. More toilet breaks. Eat a banana between sides four and five or you can get suicidal.

Two sides is less pleasant, which is why the 2CD version isn't ideal. Probably best to program it into the six chunks.

The record followed from 18 months working in far North of Scotland and is dedicated to the people of Caithness and Sutherland. What is special about that part of the country?
Those people and those places were far more inspiring to me than any band or album or film have ever been. But that area's hidden, subtle, undervalued, overlooked, hard to define. A vast challenge to write about. If you visit it for a few days or a week it can't impress you fully. You have to slow down and live there for awhile otherwise you might not absorb anything specific. So living there taught me patience, and eventually surpassed all expectations and blew me away.

A tourist might race North through Caithness to get to John O Groats. The name rings a bell but everyone is underwhelmed by it when they arrive. Boring. What next? They tick and run-- they go back down to spot Nessie or head on to the Northern Isles and miss out on great beauty and subtlety.

If you had to release a single from the record what would the A and B sides be?
'Smiley Patch' is one of the rockier, hookier moments from the album and might work as a single. The some great fiddle from Mikey Kenney and some beautiful pedal steel from GT Thwaite. You need fiddle and steel for a single, right? And 'Fear of Lightning' is a sweet, compact song that could be the flip. Nice and lonely, sitting to one side.

But 'Spate River' I'm particularly proud of as a standalone because among things it captures the rude essence of Anglo-Highland Scot relations. And that's an important thread of the album. A taster for the whole thing.

If this record was a film, which one would it be?
Oh! This record is a film. And a novel. And a meal in a drink!

Although this is an intensely personal record, it is populated by other people and places- and I’m not sure we see and hear the real Dan Haywood. Who is the real Dan Haywood?
I'm not bothered about that anymore. All of my earlier, unreleased records are more about that. The folly of youth. Other people and places are much more interesting. The other characters and settings on the album might ring more true for having some personal/anecdotal input from me though. So my ego may have some function.

Which other musicians and song-writers inspire you?
David Berman always worked hard to give you the full experience with his songwriting. Pulled out all the stops, played with the rules. It's a shame that he retired the Silver Jews, but also a measure of his great integrity that he did. I'm lucky to have met him and corresponded with him and he was kind and encouraging about my stuff. One of the things he advised was to 'stay weird'!. Consider it done!

Also, my fellow band members are brilliant without exception. Four or five years of recording this and gigging this couldn't have passed so sweetly if they weren't so inventive.

You launched this record with audio-visual displays and an illustrated talk alongside the full band – what should we expect from your December shows?
Back to basics this month. But with added review-rage. A few album reviews have been trickling in and they're driving me mad. The Salford show will be either be our 9-piece or our 10-piece. However - don't expect matching outfits.

SMILEY PATCH
FEAR OF LIGHTNING
Dan Haywood's New Hawks
Dan Haywood's New Hawks [BUY]

WRAPPING UP 2010 WITH RACE HORSES

As we wind down the year, I've asked some of the bands who made an impression on me in 2010 to share their thoughts on this year as part of the countdown to me posting my Top Ten Albums of 2010. Kicking us off is Race Horses who I saw live at the Brudenell in February supporting Fanfarlo and then at Green Man in August. They are a thrilling live band (watch their recent full concert from Amsterdam here) but even more impressive is the album they released this year.

Even a previous band life as Radio Luxembourg doesn’t explain how Race Horses managed to deliver a debut album as impressively fully-formed and joyously ambitious as “Goodbye Falkenburg”. Arriving in February this year on Fantastic Plastic, the album is a superior off-kilter psyche-pop gallop from the Cardiff-by-way-of- Aberystwyth four-piece of Meilyr Jones (vocals and bass), Dylan Hughes (keyboards, synths, guitar and vocal) Alun Gaffey (guitar and vocals) and Gwion Llewelyn (drums and vocals).

“Race Horses take the Gorky’s influence and run miles with it, showboating through psychedelia, sea shanties, folk, post-rock, electronica and pop to create a captivating debut full of songs that have been repeatedly bent out of shape. Singer Meilyr Jones has a Beatles haircut and that band’s way with melody... and it’s the melodies that hold the album’s fragmented segments together, the melodies that stick in the mind, and the melodies that make Race Horses a real pleasure to listen to”. BBC Review

Here the band's singer and bass-player Meilyr Jones looks back on 2010.

What I will remember most about 2010 is...
Playing our debut festivals with Race Horses especially Latitude, Green Man [watch 'Pony' + 'Grangetown 02920'] and Bestival. Also playing shows in Europe for the first time. Good times! And of course the release of our debut album "Goodbye Falkenburg"

What should be forgotten about 2010?
Coventry - I hope we never have to play there again.

The best gig we played was...
9.11.10 La fleché D'or, Paris ... We played great and had an amazing
response, and we were all quite excited to be in Paris also!

The best gig I saw was...
Massive Attack at the Big Chill Festival and Flaming Lips at Bestival

A record from 2010 that will be still be played in 10 years time?
Ours hopefully! And Villagers "Becoming a Jackal", "The Suburbs" by Arcade Fire and Girls "Broken Dreams Club EP"



Overlooked in 2010?
I don't know but the stuff I'm digging at the moment are - Twin Sister 'All Around and Away We Go', the new Foals single, Jim Jones Revue 'Shoot First', Grinderman - 'Worm Tamer', Gruff Rhys 'Shark Ridden Water'. None of these are overlooked I just wanted to get it out there that I like them. I don't know what it is about this November but there are some GREAT tunes out there! A month ago I thought all modern music was shite!

And what can we look forward to in 2011 from Race Horses?
Angular, stripped-down, futuristic white-boy-funk, with space-age production and hints of Quincy Jones.

Race Horses Goodbye Falkenburg [BUY]

MANCHESTER GIGS IN MUSIC: December 2010 Pt.1

Now I normally hate anything billed as 'Christmassy'. And this is grandly titled 'The Christmas Bash'. But name aside the Cloud Sounds and Red Deer Club joint party is indeed a tasty seasonal treat. Eight bands for £6 in the cosy setting of Withington's Fuel Cafe Bar: Y Niwl, Young British Artists, Jane Weaver, The Maladies of Bellafontaine, Onions, The Louche FC, Stealing Sheep and Alun Tan Lan. So enticingly good I might make an exception to my aversion of Christmas-themed events. Just don't expect me to wear a Santa hat.

Elsewhere there is an astonishing range of other good gigs on offer so there should be no excuse this December for opting for Eighties nostalgia in draughty arenas. In fact there's no excuse for that at any time of the year.

And to help you make your choices, a mixtape of some of the bands playing Manchester this December. Link for the mixtape [51 mins / 58 MB] is in the post following this one.

Manchester Gigs in Music Mixtape: December 2010

The Rural Alberta Advantage The Dead Roads [2.38] (8 Dec Deaf Institute BUY TICKETS)
Walton Hesse Only Son [6.31] (8 Dec Deaf Institute BUY TICKETS)
Dan Haywood’s New Hawks Superquarry [10.09] (16 Dec Sacred Trinity Church BUY TICKETS)
The Maladies of Bellafontaine Black Biro [15.41] (10 Dec Fuel Cafe Bar BUY TICKETS)
Sophie’s Pigeons Impatient [19.04] (4 Dec Antwerp Mansion BUY TICKETS)
Basia Bulat Go On [22.29] (5 Dec Academy BUY TICKETS)
Tamaryn Love Fade [26.03] (3 Dec Kraak Gallery BUY TICKETS)
Jo Rose Another Name For Mercy [29.36] (18 Dec Green Room BUY TICKETS)
Y Niwl Undegpump [32.27] (10 Dec Fuel Cafe Bar BUY TICKETS)
Wooden Shjips Motorbike [37.16] (10 Dec Islington Mill BUY TICKETS)
Truman’s Water We Fish [39.32] (12 December Islington Mill BUY TICKETS)
Sonic Youth Sacred Trickster [41.41] (30 Dec Academy 1 BUY TICKETS)
Frankie Rose & The Outs Little Brown Haired Girls [44.24] (10 Dec Islington Mill BUY TICKETS)
Godspeed You! Black Emperor The Dead Flag Blues [50.53] (7 Dec Academy 1 BUY TICKETS)

And not forgetting:
1 Dec Menomena Deaf Institute / 1 Dec Jenny & Johnny Ruby Lounge / 1 Dec The Thing Islington Mill / 2 Dec Paul Smith Deaf Institute / 2 Dec The Young Gods Academy / 3 Dec The Concretes Deaf Institute / 3 Dec I Am Kloot Manchester Cathedral / 3 Dec Tanlines Islington Mill / 3 Dec Frankie & The Heartstrings Salford Lads Club / 3 Dec Boy or Bear Night & Day / 4 Dec Jesse Malin & The St Mark’s Social Sound Control / 6 Dec Tim Hecker Islington Mill / 6 Dec Shit Browne Night & Day / 7 Dec Delorean Ruby Lounge / 7 Dec Belle & Sebastian Apollo / 7 Dec Damo Suzuki Dulcimer / 7 Dec Gabe Minnikin Night & Day / 8 Dec Marner Brown Dry Bar / 8 Dec MJ Hibbett 'Dinosaur Planet' Kings Arms / 9 Dec Ty Segall Deaf Institute / 9 Dec The Boy Least Likely To Ruby Lounge / 9 Dec Rangda + Howlin’ Rain Islington Mill / 9 Dec Chapel Club St Phillips Church / 10 Dec Moon Duo Islington Mill / 10 Dec The Wedding Present Academy / 10 Dec The Moulettes Ruby Lounge / 11 Dec Arcade Fire Manchester Central / 11 Dec Orphan Boy Night & Day / 13 Dec Everything Everything RNCM / 15 Dec Orange Goblin Sound Control / 15 Dec The Heartbreaks Sacred Trinity Church / 17 Dec St Etienne The Ritz / 17 Dec Acoustic Ladyland Band on the Wall / 18 Dec Fredo Viola Deaf Institute / 21 Dec Kirsty Almeida Matt & Phred’s

MANCHESTER GIGS IN MUSIC: December 2010 Pt.2

Mixtape: December 2010 [51 mins/58 MB] - download here.

THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH @ ST PHILIPS CHURCH, SALFORD 26 November 2010

Earlier today it was reported that 2010 has been one of the mildest years on record. Entering the early nineteenth century splendour of St Philips Church for this sold out gig on the coldest day of the year so far, nothing felt mild. In fact many kept woolly hats, gloves and coats on while patiently sat on the wooden pews.

Support was Idiot Wind aka fellow Swede Amanda Bergman. She was a curious, elfin and quite shy figure when standing thanking the crowd at the end but behind the piano she was transformed. Pre-show music had included songs from Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” which felt appropriate since Idiot Wind reminded me of Christine McVie - or maybe Joan as Policewoman with the arty edges worn down. Her strong clear voice filled out the high ceilinged church, echoing over heavily reverbed electric piano. It was beautiful to hear on first listen but no particular song hypnotised in the way her voice promised it might. She finished with a slow, moody version of “I’ll Keep It With Mine”.

At Green Man, The Tallest Man On Earth reduced grown men to tears in a tent. What would happen in this more spiritual setting?

Well there were no tears tonight that I could see - but Kristian Matsson had pretty much the same mesmerising effect on everyone present. Live he manages to add an extra emotional depth to the songs, with a personal magnetism that draws people in. And literally so – people starting edging along the centre and side aisles or crowding around the seated front row on the balconies over the course of the first few songs. Tuning his guitar or garrulously offering thanks for everyone for coming he appears a gentle soul, self-deprecating and soft-voiced ("I thought Sweden was progressive but I've never been in a church that serves beer"). But when performing with deep growling voice and intricate guitar playing he magnifies the compassion and poignancy of his songs ten-fold.



He played songs from across his two albums and most of the new EP “Sometimes The Blues Is Just A Passing Bird”. For 'Like A Wheel’ and final song ‘Kids on the Run’ he performed seated at the piano but for most others he wandered the stage with guitar singing out to those seated on the pews below or up to the balconies. ‘King of Spain’ with the crowd hanging on every suspended note or pause was a highlight as was ‘The Gardener’ – watch how he responds to the audience singing along at the end of the song. 'Thrown Right At Me' on the new EP is quite a down-beat almost unmemorable song. Here sung as a duet with Idiot Wind it soared. With heads touching whilst their shared the microphone and some magnetism of their own going on, I suspect there is more to their relationship than touring buddies.

Videos or second-hand reports cannot convey what a special evening this was. The Tallest Man On Earth should never play venues larger than this – it would ruin the magic. And with tonight’s show selling out over three months in advance, next time he is playing anywhere near you, make sure you do not hesitate to grab tickets as soon as they go on sale. A very talented song-writer and very special performer.



The Set List:

A Field of Birds
I Won’t Be Found
Pistol Dreams
Love Is All
King of Spain
Thousand Ways
The Wild Hunt
Tangle In This Trampled Wheat
The Sparrow and the Medicine
Like The Wheel
The Gardener
Where Do My Bluebird Fly
Thrown Right At Me
---
The Dreamer
Kids On The Run

Y NIWL "Y Niwl"

Welsh surf-rock. It sounds like a stray punchline to an unfunny joke. Or a creative caption dreamt up to grab press attention. It is in fact a refreshingly honest and accurate description of the music Y Niwl make. Across these ten instrumental tracks on their debut self-titled album the four-piece deliver a wonderful homage to a timeless and universal sound that is inextricably linked to late fifties and early sixties California. Even when played by a quartet of Welshmen from chilly Snowdonia: Alun Evans (guitar), Peter Richardson (drums), Sion Glyn (bass) and Gruff ab Arwel (organ and guitar).

The opening pair of songs ‘Undegpump’ and ‘Chwech’ are picture-perfect pieces of early 60s surf instrumentals as made famous by Dick Dale or The Ventures. The lead guitar on ‘Pedwar’ is a touch more raw, recalling Duane Eddy or even Link Wray; ‘Wyth’ sounds closer to the smooth tremelo guitar work of The Shadows but on these songs and throughout Y Niwl add a touch of garage-rock fuzz at the edges. ‘Deg’ and ‘Saith’ are propelled along by scuzzy Farfisa organ – very Question Mark and the Mysterians.



“Y Niwl” could easily be a one-trick pony. A nostalgic tribute delivering a dull re-tread of a familiar formula. Instead it is refreshing, inventive and repays repeated listens, especially at a lean 28 minutes in duration; like me you’ll probably just want to keep hitting ‘repeat’ at the end of the final track. Why does it work so well? The genre is a well-worn path but the neo-garage revival of the 80s and 90s tended to push surf music into blasts of loud, over-driven, primal punk (actually this started as early as 1963 with The Trashmen’s ‘Surfin’ Bird’).

Or worse it was treated with mockery and disdain. Y Niwl faithfully capture the innocence, vibrancy and fun of surf without ever being docile, retro or tame. And whether the beaches you are used to are in California or Conwy, this is music of escape and freedom, joyous and vital. The album also has freshness and immediacy being recorded live to tape with no overdubs. The Welsh language titles give an added aura of mystery and allure. Finding out that these titles are in fact the numbers one to ten in Welsh is the only disappointing aspect to this record.

“Y Niwl” comes out in the first week of December on Aderyn Papur. A winter release date for surf-rock? Why not – it sounds good in any season and listening to Y Niwl's spirited instrumental volleys might just make your year end with a swing and a splash.

Y Niwl play in support of the release of the album in Cardiff, Blaenau FFestiniog, Bristol and on 10 Dec at the Cloud Sounds and Red Deer Club Xmas Bash at Fuel Cafe in Manchester. Catch a wave.

Y Niwl by FollyOfYouth

Y Niwl [BUY or BUY]

TITUS ANDRONICUS @ SALFORD LADS CLUB 21 November 2010

Given its inextricable link to The Smiths, I’ve always associated Salford Lads Club with the bleak, monochrome 1980s. The iconic shots of the band recalling a crueller, harsher time of austerity before the regeneration of the 1990s touched the cities of Salford and Manchester. And some would say that regeneration still has to touch many parts of Salford. But once inside the 1903 building you realise how colourful it is. It may preserve an earlier probably equally austere time from the beginning of the last century but one full of rich reds, creamy beiges, pristine Edwardian brick and tile, lovingly waxed wooden floors and intricately detailed plaques and rolls of honour for former members and their athletic achievements. It’s a brilliant irony that the room dedicated to The Smiths is the old weight-lifting room.

Tonight’s Now Wave gig is in the high ceiled gym hall on the first hall, a thin rectangular room with badminton court markings and a raised stage set into an arched alcove. Brown Brogues are a late replacement for the advertised support band Mazes. As they take the stage they are the only ones taking their coats off. It feels colder inside than out in this unheated room as the surprisingly small audience stand shivering in small groups. Luckily the short primitive bursts of garage-punk-noise soon start to raise the temperature. If the special setting itself wasn’t enough, the duo perform on the stage as projections of ‘Citizen Kane’ fall across them and the walls – it is as arresting as their music. Sadly the unresponsive crowd declines requests either to move closer or sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to drummer Ben.



The five piece Titus Andronicus take the stage without ceremony and in relative gloom. I’m unsure at first whether they are actually going to start playing but unannounced kick off with ‘A More Perfect Union’ and then straight into a fast-and-furious ‘Richard II’. Frontman Patrick Stickles is as intense and shouty as on record but cordial and chatty between songs. Strangely the rest of the band seem solemnly quiet, even disinterested, with the exception of guitarist Amy Klein who never stops smiling, constantly bounces up and down and frequently punches the air.

The hardcore group moshing freely across the badminton court are forced to take a breather after the third song when a broken guitar string means there is a pause as Patrick swaps his guitar. Borrowing Mark Brogue’s guitar provides an unexpected comedy moment as Stickles has to adjust to playing a guitar with such a shortened strap it's bolted tight into his armpit. It doesn’t seem to interfere in anyway.

Live Titus Andronicus add a further level of ramshackle noisiness to their ragged glory songs of nihilism, anger and despair. It makes for great viewing though - even more so against the backdrop of either Orson Welles or Godzilla attacking Tokyo.





The crowd also are entertaining: as they get increasingly rowdy there’s the occasional good-natured stage invasion. Mainly however they join in with the many chants during the songs (“you’ll always be a loser”; “the enemy is everywhere”) with the kind of intense blinkered devotion that echoes that directed to the band celebrated in the weights room on the ground floor. Late in the set a Misfits cover is played and Stickles gets into the crowd to sing surrounded by the adoring mob. He escapes to finish back on stage with ‘My Time Outside The Womb’ and then ‘Four Score and Seven’. The whole evening was a blast in every sense.

Despite all my good intentions until tonight I never made that visit to Salford Lads Club. And despite two earlier attempts, I have failed to see Titus Andronicus live when they played Manchester. Both are mistakes I will not be making again.

The Set List:

A More Perfect Union
Richard II
?
Fear and Loathing in Mahwah, New Jersey
No Future Pt. III: No Escape From No Future
Titus Andronicus
The Battle of Hampton Roads
Misfits Cover
My Time Outside The Womb
Four Score and Seven

THE SCOTTISH ENLIGHTENMENT "St Thomas"

The Scottish Enlightenment. Such a good band name it’s a surprise it hasn’t been claimed before. It poignantly captures that type of Scottish band who proudly celebrate their national identity and achievements but also undercuts it with a wry ironic suggestion of failed ambition, introspection and self-doubt. Best back away from the Scottish politics now.

The duality of the name is also found in the music – elegant, unhurried post-rock that possesses an anthemic swirl and grace but also a morbid Caledonian miserablism. Most songs fit the same template: 5 to 6 minutes of unfolding restraint gradually building in intensity. Opening instrumental ‘Gal Gal’ starts with water-dripping-from-stalactites chimes before opening out with slow, methodical drums and trembling guitars to build to a majestic glacial peak. ‘Little Sleep’ adds cosy/spooky Angelo Badalamenti atmospherics in the echoing and twanging guitar and bass to create the gentlest rallying call “to man the barricades” you’re likely to hear. Songs like ‘Necromancer’ or ‘The First Will Be Last’ create a brief sense of menace with their doom-laden guitars but deftly lighten it with softly sung melodies of that offer gentle reflection and reassurance despite the often gloomy and morbid content.

Songs are filled with references to churches, tombs, angels, the spirit. Faith or more importantly doubt (St Thomas being the first Doubting Thomas) is an important constant. Some songs like ‘List Right’ echo this morbidity closely in tone and theme; elsewhere the swelling poise and beauty of the six minute ‘The Soft Place’ complete with chiming glockenspiel and trumpet acts as a gorgeous if slow-moving balm to lighten the mood. The short-but-sweet ‘Pascal’ is the nearest the record comes to an upbeat pop tune. It of course contains the line “I’ve seen your tomb before”.

The four piece – David and Angus Moyes, David Morrison, Michael Alexander – have been releasing singles and EPs since 2006 – first on Dunfermline’s Moojuice now on Armellodie Records. “St Thomas” is their first full-length album. Its patient assurance speaks of a band who have spent the intervening years refining their songs and fashioning a clear identity rather than rushing to get a debut out. There may be some slight diminishing returns over 11 tracks but by the same token you do not often hear a band’s debut album where you can pick any song and instantly say “that’s a Scottish Enlightenment song”. Lively or frivolous “St Thomas” isn’t – it comes as no surprise to discover chief songwriter David Moyes spent six years at university studying philosophy. But allow yourself to be drawn in on repeated listens and there’s real comfort even beauty in misery. Isn’t this the lesson the saints teach us?

THE PHANTOM BAND @ DEAF INSTITUTE 17 November 2010

I last saw The Phantom Band in May this year at Tan Hill Inn where they drank prodigiously and didn’t play a single new song. Impressive and disappointing respectively. Touring in support of new album ‘The Wants’ tonight, I knew new songs were unavoidable but was surprised to see singer Rick Anthony swigging a pint of water. Wait a minute – he was simply alternating this with single malt whisky (and the bottle would later get passed into the crowd. Aberlour if you’re interested).

However having a drink on or off stage is not what is remarkable about The Phantom Band. It is how six unlikely looking lads – here with new boy Ian on drums – create such powerful rhythmic music: layered and intense, idiosyncratic but undoubtedly ‘pop’. Ok and how they keep it so precise with a few drinks in the belly too.

After a cautious opening pair of songs, ‘Folk Song Oblivion’ from 2009’s Checkmate Savage was the moment when both band and audience hit their stride – “you’re buoyant tonight” said Rick praising the crowd. Nothing has changed in the band’s formula or approach but the new face on drums has brought a real – loud – insistent driving force behind the inventive rhythms. Very rock. New songs ‘Into The Corn’ and ‘A Glamour’ were highlights – not feeling ‘new’ or ‘finding their feet’ at all but just as precise and passionate as older tunes. These longer songs enable The Phantom Band to show their skills best over the gently progressive gear-changes. And this was really apparent on the eight-minute ‘The None of One’ (listed as ‘Man Cities’ on the set-list?) which moves from banjo and crooning meander in first half, to twitchy beats and abrasive guitars in the second half as Rick Anthony howls about burning. Astonishing stuff. As was the encore of math-pop instrumental 'Crocodile'.

I’m sure at one point singer Rick said “Nice one us” in response to a rowdy and rapturous reception to a song finishing. Nice One Them indeed. For a band recently back from a transatlantic tour and straight into the UK leg they looked and sounded fit, lean and eager. We could argue all night about whether ‘The Wants’ can match ‘Checkmate Savage’ – it certainly comes close - but at tonight’s packed Deaf Institute gig The Phantom Band live matched and exceeded all expectations. And I will raise a drink to that.

The Set List:
NB. 'Mr Natural' was not played and the encore - not listed - was 'Crocodile'

DREAMEND " So I Ate Myself, Bite By Bite"

Dreamend is the solo project of Ryan Graveface, bassist/guitarist with Pennsylvania’s electro-synth astronauts Black Moth Super Rainbow. The Pennsylvania five-piece increasingly appear to be a latter-day Animal Collective given the number of solo and spin-off projects using their adopted monikers - Tobacco, The Seven Fields Of Aphelion, Father Hummingbird and Iffernaut. Graveface has released all his Dreamend solo albums on his own Graveface Records and now his fifth “So I Ate Myself, Bite by Bite” receives a UK release courtesy of Memphis Industries.

Here the laptops and sequencers of BMSR are dropped for antique banjo, piano and chimes. Listen to songs like ‘Where You Belong’ or ‘My Brittle Bones’ in isolation and you hear lo-fi dreamy psyche-folk, full of frail sing-song melodies. This banjo-driven backwoods music is shuffling, winsome and even jolly – ‘Magnesium Light’ sounds like a one-man band busker taking on the sunny optimism of The Polyphonic Spree, ‘Where You Belong’ features cheery whistling and the album kicks off with the floaty, meditative instrumental prelude ‘Pink Cloud In A Wood. But there’s something dark lurking in the woods.

The intense, echoing banjo of short instrumental ‘Interlude’ jars discordantly against the ears. It is followed by ‘Repent’ with slow, doom-laden sleigh bells and whispered, repeated pleas to “trust in me / that I will change” that become just plain spooky. This all leads to ‘Pieces’ and the dark heart of the album is revealed. In the most tuneful and cheery tones the song confesses: “I can’t believe it was just yesterday / I cleaned my hands and washed the blood away”. Yes “So I Ate Myself, Bite by Bite” turns about to be a themed piece, a single narrative in the central character kills and dismembers their lover. In track seven.

In the same way the narrator is more surprised at the passing of the time than the murderous act itself, so the album continues with little sense of remorse, outrage or conclusion on the surface. ‘My Brittle Bones’ sings of being haunted by the lover’s ghost and the ten minute closer ‘An Admission’ finishes in instrumental maelstrom but overall the songs are not the outpourings of a tortured psyche, rather a jaunty and amoral stroll through the woods. Like a bucolic Elephant 6 collective take on murder ballads or “Deserter’s Songs”- era Mercury Rev relocating “American Psycho” to the rural retreats of upstate New York, this is a fine piece of astral Americana. Just one that occasionally looks into the dark at the bottom of the well.

I haven't seen the physical LP of "So I Ate Myself, Bite by Bite" myself yet but it is "presented like a phenakistoscope, a classic Victorian animation machine... [featuring] William Schaff's painstaking, brilliantly delivered design. It's truly a remarkable accomplishment in the annals of the Album as Artform, which is a hallmark of Graveface Records". Who have of course made a video to show it off.

MAGNESIUM LIGHT
Dreamend
So I Ate Myself, Bite by Bite [BUY or BUY]

YUSUF AZAK "Turn On The Long Wire"

The fifth track of the debut full-length record from Glasgow’s Yusuf Azak is called ‘Thin Air’. Reverse the adjective and it’s a much more apt description. For Azak actually creates thick air: songs fashioned out of eerie and atmospheric layers of looped and digitised guitar, voice and violin. At the heart of most songs is fluent and folky guitar picking: Spanish sounding on ‘Rosalie’ maybe but elsewhere reminiscent of John Fahey. Azak’s voice is intriguing and captivating: a strained and hoarse whisper as if the singer is fighting for air whilst trying to make himself heard - something like Devendra Banhart pursuing the solitary oddness of his early records rather than the later hippy backwoods tweeness. But what really captivates is how well all the elements are combined and overlaid. Voices, sighs, hums, guitar and violin all float and echo in and out of hearing, sweep from left to right channel and back again. Each song becomes a miniature hall of mirrors reflecting sounds back in on themselves. And not all rely on the guitar either: ‘Time To Kill’ is built around overlapping and quivering strings; ‘The Key Underground’ creates a steady marching rhythm out of claps, dark piano notes and cymbal crashes.

Eerie yes but this is not the stuff of nightmares: when the acoustic guitar is foregrounded it is reassuring and crystal-clear; and some of subject matter is conventional and even comforting – see the love songs ‘Rosalie’ and ‘Eastern Sun’. Overall it tends to solemn rather than light-hearted and Azak sometimes doesn’t sound quite at ease with himself - wrestling with a tortured muse? - but even with overlaid effects for a solo performer he creates a mesmerising and immersive listen. A headphone album for today’s looped guitar freak-folk movement?



Fellow travellers in this field like David Thomas Broughton or Denis Jones can often be a very different proposition live than on record. On this video of a live version of first single ‘Eastern Sun’ from August, Azak plays it straight – just guitar and voice. You can see how he re-creates the album and his earlier EPs (due for 2011 re-release also on Song By Toad Records) on his short tour with Ethan Ash - who also has a release out today: the 4-track EP “No Early Nights” .

The tours calls into Manchester tonight at Fuel in Withington before another 7 dates across England and Scotland.
15 Nov Fuel Cafe, Manchester
16 Nov Hamptons Bar, Southampton
18 Nov The Astor Theatre, Deal
19 Nov CB2, Cambridge
21 Nov New Cross Inn, London
25 Nov Cellar 35, Aberdeen
26 Nov Gambetta, Glasgow
27 Nov Roxy Art House Theatre, Edinburgh

EASTERN SUN
TIME TO KILL
Yusuf Azak
Turn On The Long Wire [BUY]

THE LOUCHE FC, EMPEROR ZERO + THE VIPERS @ ISLINGTON MILL 13 November 2010

Tonight’s trip to Islington Mill was a spur-of-the-moment one. I might have missed out on enjoying the anticipation in the build-up to a Saturday night-out but instead it was refreshing to walk in to watch three bands and have no expectations.

The Louche FC have played a handful of gigs in Manchester over the past few months and have been warmly praised. And from tonight’s set I can see why. The four-piece wrap waves of noisy, shoegaze guitar over old-fashioned fifties innocence: songs about love, sweethearts and dreams – like Roy Orbison covered by Swervedriver or a noisier Mazzy Star. Some songs play out to 5 or 6 minutes in length but they avoid the pitfall of shoegaze – interminable drift – through propulsive drumming and great harmonic hooks. The band remain fairly immobile and expressionless throughout which is a shame. For the first song singer Kyoko Rathmell was without guitar and more animated. However better than this was in the final song, first when she took an unexpected step off the stage breaking up the static onstage line-up, and then as the song came to an end she angrily dropped her guitar to the floor and walked off stage. More of these edgy moments please.



Emperor Zero play an angry, taut post-punk, reminding me of both Gang of Four and The Fall but never feeling retro. Songs went from angry thrash to slower, industrial numbers with jagged guitar and punkish shouted or occasionally spoken vocals. Throughout singer Matt Boswell was an agitated presence, fidgeting and jerking his way across the stage, driven it seemed by rage and resentment rather than attention-seeking. It was a shame then that for most songs the lyrics were largely indecipherable (although I did catch a great line about “girls with books are more sexual”) so the cause of such anger remains unknown. The final two songs of their set were also their debut single: ‘Berlin’ and ‘Man With Red Eyes’. Vinyl copies were on sale at the gig and I’d recommend tracking it down but given it is a limited run of 19 copies (can this be right?) you better move quickly.



I knew nothing about The Vipers prior to tonight but I expected slinky and sexy garage-rock. Instead I was bludgeoned by a furiously fast punk-metal onslaught. Any subtlety was sacrificed for speed and volume it felt and as songs merged into each other the only thing that caught my curiosity was the fact they appeared to be performing with one guitarist and two bass players. The Vipers are tight and brutal – and possibly as announced from the stage this was their last gig – but they are not for me.

So two out of three bands worked for me. A good tally for an impromptu night out and even better value given admission on the door was only £3.

BRITISH SEA POWER @ RUBY LOUNGE 5 November 2010

“We’d like to thank the Manic Street Preachers...oh sorry, force of habit”. Going on tour with the Manic Street Preachers is quite a conventional, even questionable, move for British Sea Power, a band who tend to follow their own idiosyncratic path. However a side benefit to such supporting duties is that on days off British Sea Power will add in their own low-key gigs in smaller venues.

Said tour support is the likely reason why the next album – already recorded, mixed and named – has been put back to January 2011 for release. When BSP return to Manchester in February in support of that album they will be playing The Ritz. So tonight’s sold out gig was a good chance to hear how some of the new songs are coming along in a more intimate setting. When I heard the new songs - some finding their way on to last month’s “Zeus” EP – in the woeful MoHo Live back in April they sounded distinctly odd. Tonight (plus a similar encounter with the band at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds two weeks ago) shows that oddness is partly due to the relative newness of being played live but mainly down to the atrocious sound at MoHo.

I’m still not 100% won over by ‘Zeus’ live but enjoyed the ramshackle rowdiness of ‘Can We Do It?’ and if the first quiet half of ‘Bear’ suffered due to inattentive and chatty elements of the crowd the second half came good. But the stand-out new songs from the forthcoming album, sitting nicely alongside older material, were the rousing agit-prop of set opener ‘Who’s In Control?’ (previously called 'Pyrex') and the short and spiky ‘Stunde Null’.





A band having a day off with a low-key gig? Not at all. Tonight might not have culminated in band members crowd-surfing to madcap on-stage antics (guitarist Noble wearing a fox mask for the last song was it) but this was a fiercely energetic - and loud – performance leaving a sweaty crowd very happy. Please tell me - why are they supporting the Manics?

The Set List:
Sadly final song 'Fear of Drowning' was not played and replaced with a brief 'Rock in C' style jam.

POLLY AND THE BILLETS DOUX "Fiction, Half-Truths and Downright Lies"

The debut album from Polly and the Billets Doux doesn’t stay in one spot too long. It flits between swinging honky-tonk, smoky after-hours jazz, the breezy innocence of the country farm hop and even a short detour to take in Forties palm court elegance. The four-piece from Winchester - Polly Perry on vocals and double bass, Andrew Steen on guitars and harmonica, Daniel Everett on bass and Ben Perry on drums - play retro-roots music that skips lightly between styles: bluegrass, swing, folk-blues, country-pop all get a look in.

The band sound naturally at ease with such versatility and Polly Perry’s vocals suit the journey without ever resorting to mimicry or feeling forced. Despite the album title, there is a homespun authenticity to this record that avoids the cosy and often clichéd stylings of glossier major label revivalist rivals. Opener ‘Follow My Feet’ is the undoubted highlight: a hymn to escape and independence delivered as taut and twangy call-and-response rockabilly. Also worthy of mention but more low-key are the rolling country-rock of ‘To Be A Fighter’, the gently bluesy strut ‘The Rounder’, the smouldering late-night come-on of ‘Charmed’ and the quiet country-soul tear-jerker ‘Lead Me On’.

“Fiction, Half-Truths and Downright Lies” is not a lesson in ground-breaking innovation. Its lesser moments don’t always manage to hold my attention and some may find it too cutsey and safe. But I’m drawn by its easy-going charm and the feistiness in Polly Perry’s vocals – at times she can sound like a young Lucinda Williams with a hint of kitten-purr Julie London.



I missed their recent visit to Manchester - they played Night & Day in October and also filmed a session for Manchester Scene Wipe - but I hear a UK tour in early 2011 should bring them back this way. And I suspect live is where to catch them at their swinging best.

Polly And The Billets Doux - To Be A Fighter by laurenrazavi
Fiction, Half-Truths and Downright Lies [BUY]

MANCHESTER GIGS IN MUSIC: November 2010 Pt.1

Well if you thought October was the busiest month in the gig calendar, November is out to prove you wrong. Good to see a strong line-up of Scottish bands visiting Manchester this month: Meursault, Edwyn Collins, Yusuf Azak, Alasdair Roberts, The Phantom Band, Broken Records, Frightened Rabbit. In a quieter month, this might lazily be hailed a festival or an 'invasion'. As it stands, it's just one selection of some of the many excellent bands visiting Manchester.

Despite such a busy month some gigs - Beach House, The National, Edwyn Collins, The Tallest Man On Earth - are already sold-out. Use the links below to make sure you don't miss out on any more. And to help you make your choices, a mixtape of some of the bands playing Manchester this November. Link for the mixtape [63 mins / 72 MB] is in the post following this one.

Manchester Gigs in Music Mixtape: November 2010

Meursault Crank Resolutions [4.38] (2 Nov Café Saki BUY TICKETS)
Veronica Falls Beachy Head [7.08] (9 Nov Deaf Institute BUY TICKETS)
Cloud Nothings Can’t Stay Awake [9.00] (9 Nov Deaf Institute BUY TICKETS)
Tellison Wasp’s Nest [11.55] (6 Nov Night & Day BUY TICKETS)
The Tallest Man On Earth The Gardner [15.48] (26 Nov St Phillips Church BUY TICKETS)
Yusuf Azak Eastern Sun [18.43] (15 Nov Fuel Café BUY TICKETS)
Kirsty McGee + The Hobopop Collective Stonefruit [22.26] (2 Nov Band on the Wall BUY TICKETS)
Alasdair Roberts Long Lankin [27.28] (16 Nov Sacred Trinity Church BUY TICKETS)
The Phantom Band A Glamour [33.51] (17 Nov Deaf Institute BUY TICKETS)
Broken Records A Leaving Song [37.48] (2 Nov Deaf Institute BUY TICKETS)
Spokes Scatter: I Miss You [40.27] (12 Nov Night & Day BUY TICKETS)
Esben and the Witch Warpath [44.06] (11 Nov Deaf Institute BUY TICKETS)
Wild Nothing Summer Holiday [48.06] (8 Nov Deaf Institute BUY TICKETS)
The Acorn Restoration [51.26] (22 Nov Deaf Institute BUY TICKETS)
Titus Andronicus Richard II [53.33] (21 Nov Salford Lads Club BUY TICKETS)
Willard Grant Conspiracy Dig A Hole [63.12] (7 Nov Deaf Institute BUY TICKETS)

Not forgetting:
1 Nov Zombie Zombie + Plank! Islington Mill / 2 Nov James Yuill + Silver Columns Ruby Lounge / 2 Nov Lonely Galaxy Sacred Trinity Church / 3 Nov Michelle Shocked Academy 3 / 3 Nov Fiction Night & Day / 4 Nov Grouper + Rafael Anton Irisarri Islington Mill / 4 Nov Tokyo Police Club Ruby Lounge / 4 Nov Sharon Jones + The Dap Kings The Ritz / 5 Nov British Sea Power Ruby Lounge / 5 Nov Casiotone For The Painfully Alone Deaf Institute / 5 Nov The Walkmen St Phillips Church / 5 Nov Blind Atlas Baker’s Vaults / 6 Nov Big Deal Night & Day / 7 Nov Dieter Moebius Islington Mill / 8 Nov God Is An Astronaut Ruby Lounge / 8 Nov Cowboy Junkies Gorton Monastery / 9 Nov Wavves + Spectrals + Brown Brogues Islington Mill / 10 Nov Edwyn Collins Deaf Institute / 10 Nov The Sound of Arrows Trof NQ / 10 Nov Walton Hesse The Horse & Jockey / 10 Nov Stornoway Club Academy / 11 Nov Howard Elliot Payne Soup Kitchen / 11 Nov Gideon Conn + Josephine Anthony Burgess Foundation / 12 Nov Abe Vigoda Islington Mill / 12 Nov Drive-by Truckers Academy 2 / 12 Nov Local Natives Club Academy / 13 Nov The Vipers Islington Mill / 14 Nov Vessels Deaf Institute / 15 Nov Dungen Roadhouse / 15 Nov Chilly Gonzales Solo Piano Talk St Phillips Church / 17 Nov Holy Fuck Academy 3 / 17 Nov Unbunny Night & Day / 18 Nov Jim Noir + The Loungs + Golden Glow Ruby Lounge / 18 Nov John & Jehn Deaf Institute / 18 Nov Quiet Loner Sacred Trinity Church / 19 Nov Baths Deaf Institute / 19 Nov Mary Gauthier Club Academy / 19 Nov Beach House Manchester Cathedral / 20 Nov Born Ruffians Ruby Lounge / 21 Nov Frightened Rabbit Academy 2 / 21 Nov Sun Araw, Zun Zun Egui + Gnod Islington Mill / 21 Nov The Mummers Ruby Lounge / 22 Nov Gruff Rhys + H Hawkline Whitworth Art Gallery / 22 Nov Gregory + The Hawk Night & Day / 23 Nov Blitzen Trapper Ruby Lounge / 23 Nov Haight-Ashbury Jabez Clegg / 23 Nov Good Shoes FAC251 / 23 Nov Marnie Stern Deaf Institute / 24 Nov The Greenhornes Ruby Lounge / 24 Nov Dylan Leblanc Deaf Institute / 25 Nov 65 Days Of Static Academy 2 / 26 Nov Salem Islington Mill / 27 Nov Ratatat Deaf Institute / 27 Nov Shrinebuilder Club Academy / 27 Nov The National Academy 1 / 29 Nov Hannah Peel Trof NQ / 29 Nov Villagers Academy 3 / 29 Nov Best Coast Ruby Lounge / 29 Nov Femi Kuti Band on the Wall / 30 Nov Sleepy Sun Band on the Wall

MANCHESTER GIGS IN MUSIC: November 2010 Pt.2

Mixtape: November 2010 [63 mins/72 MB] - download here.