Dancing About Architecture 07.24.07
Posted by Ian Wright on 07.24.2007
Kevin Drew album thoughts, MBV update, Okkervil River, New Order, New Albums, The Mercury Prize and my favourite gigs of the first 6 months of the year.
The bit at the start
Kevin Drew's solo album leaked last week. A lot of what I like about Broken Social Scene is the kitchen sink style of composition they employ where they throw loads of ideas at their songs to see what sticks. When they get it right it's amazing, when they don't it's a bit shapeless but sometimes good but I do think that Drew is capable of writing brilliant tunes ("Lovers Spit" being the prime example) aside from that.
The album itself … well it's nothing mind-blowing after a single listen. Most of the songs are of the slightly shapeless variety and very low-key. They'd fit in wonderfully as part of a Broken Social Scene album in between the rockers but here they seem a bit samey.
Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album.
Guided By Voices – Bee Thousand
If you only buy one GBV album make it this.
The Dancing About Architecture MySpace band of the week.
Norwegian folk/sea shanty duo with shouty vocals, banjos and flutes.
Recommended song: Serpent's Apple.
You news, you lose
HOLY SHIT THE BEST NEWS IN THE WORLD.
Update on last week's My Bloody Valentine story. An alternate source (oh wow, I've got a source, just like a real journalist) informed me last week that Debbie Googe has also been telling people that the reunion is on. The same person also said that Kevin Shields also told her that things'll be kicking off again in '08.
I want this reunion to happen so bad I can't even articulate it, my money's on Kevin/MBV curating next May's ATP and the first reunion gig happening there.
DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE TO LIE TO ME.
Liars are just a few short weeks away from releasing their eponymous 4th album (it's been sitting on my hard drive for a few weeks but I've not got around to listening to it yet) and as is the fashion they'll be leading it off with a single, "Plaster Casts Of Everything" via Mute in the UK on August 6th with the usual multi format shenanigans going on. The CD version will have "Mimic the Hurricano" on the b-side and the 7" has "Volcano Police" and both songs will be available via download (don't buy them online, please).
Also in Liars news the trio will be joining Interpol for a significant portion of their upcoming autumn tour. Which is a pretty fantastic pairing.
My stage name would, I think, be Ian H. Wright
Because H is my actual middle initial and also because Bill Macy rules.
Anyway, if you needed more reason to go out and buy the new Okkervil River album upon it's release on August 7th then how's about this for a bonus? The first 5,000 copies of the album sold will come with a disc of Will Sheff's early demos for the songs sequenced in the same fashion as the album itself. This offer it seems is restricted to the CD version of The Stage Names, no love for vinyl junkies Jagjaguwar? What the hell?
Furthermore if you order the album direct from the label's webstore you'll get digital access to the album a full two and a half weeks before physical versions hit the stores.
To top it all off they're playing Dublin in December, yay.
Will they form another band with a nazi related name?
So a few weeks back Peter Hook announced that New Order had split up. This kinda came as news to his bandmates Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris who released the following last week … "After 30 years in a band together we are very disappointed that Hooky has decided to go to the press and announce unilaterally that New Order have split up. We would have hoped that he could have approached us personally first. He does not speak for all the band, therefore we can only assume he no longer wants to be a part of New Order."
Thus far Hook as failed to respond publicly so things are still up in the air, but really who gives a shit? They've been rubbish for almost 2 decades.
The titles of the new Devendra Banhart and Band Of Horses albums are as follows.
Smokey rolls down thunder canyon.
Cease to begin.
That is all.
A baby with wings on his heels, that's the right one yeah?
The nominees for this year's Mercury Music Prize were announced last Tuesday. The UK and Ireland (and you have to specify and Ireland, we get really pissy about that, 800 years of oppression etc/whatever) equivalent of the Shortlist/Polaris prize will be announced on September 4th and it will be one of these artists/albums that scoops the award and £20,000 oversized novelty cheque.
Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
Basquiat Strings (with Seb Rochford) - Basquiat Strings
Bat For Lashes - Fur and Gold
Dizzee Rascal - Maths + English
Jamie T - Panic Prevention
Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future
Maps - We Can Create
New Young Pony Club - Fantastic Playroom
Fionn Regan - The End of History
The View - Hats Off to the Buskers
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
The Young Knives - Voices of Animals and Men
There's actually absolutely nothing inspiring at all about that list. A few bloggers I can normally rely on have been tipping the Bat For Lashes record to win it but it was the soundtrack to my writing this column and it's not got much going for it to my ears.
The Dancing About Architecture Top 5 Gigs Of The First Half Of 2007.
5. The Hold Steady – Temple Bar Music Centre, Dublin
So it's a night in late February and The Hold Steady have torn through a set featuring material from all of their albums whilst Craig Finn talks "too much" and drinks lots of beer. The band are coming up to the end of the encore and guitarist Tad Kubler leans out into the crowd and asks a guy in the front row "can you play guitar?"
"No," he replies.
"Can any of you play guitar," Tad asks to the wider audience.
"I can," says I.
30 seconds later I'm clambering onto the stage and Tad hands me a gorgeous Les Paul to play. He says "just play G and I'll take care of the pedals," so that's just what we do, creating soundscapes to wash over the rest of the band as they go through "Killer Parties" from their debut album.
Even if that hadn't happened it'd still be one of he best gigs of he year for me.
4. Battles – Primavera Festival, Barcelona
I pretty much hated Primavera.
Hated it.
Hated it.
Hated it.
So much in fact that barely any of the bands I saw got through to me. Battles were to be the final band of the weekend. I felt nothing except an overwhelming desire to be at home.
At the same time I recognised that I was seeing one of the most technically amazing bands that I've ever seen give an stunningly good performance.
They're hitting Dublin next month, I expect that this time I'll be able to enjoy rather than simply appreciate it.
3. The National – Astoria, London
In November 2005 The National came to Dublin and played one of the most breathtakingly brilliant sets I've ever seen in my life. The band and audience almost came together as one to spur each other on to new heights.
This gig which kicked off the Boxer tour was no where near as good as that. It was still pretty amazing though.
2. Arcade Fire – Olympia, Dublin
I was at both of Arcade Fire's gigs in Dublin back in March. The band were as ever spectacularly good and it's hard to pick which one I preferred. The second night saw them settle into the rhythm of playing live again a bit following a few weeks off and the set was paced a bit better but after a dreadful couple of weeks leading up to the gigs I needed it more on the first night. The girl I watched the gig with told me afterwards that I "literally looked like the happiest person on Earth" when it was over. I think that about sums it up.
1. The Wrens – Whelan's, Dublin
I love The Wrens, if you're a regular reader you'll know that. I've travelled abroad many times to see them play so I was relishing the opportunity to not have to get on a plane to go to one of their gigs.
The band have this thing they refer to as the 5th Wren project where they've put a few piano parts for their songs up on their site for fans to learn and they can apply to join the wrens on stage for that song. I had been due to do it in San Francisco last year but they had to cut "my" song from the set due to time constraints but there was no such problem in Dublin.
So the wrens are great, they always are and it's time for "She Sends Kisses", I'm nervous as hell but manage to get through my section without messing up royally. Thing is the song still has a couple more minutes to go and I'm contemplating whether to stay on my stool or skulk off the stage. Then a third option presents itself, take up Kevin Whelan's offer of going over to the mic and sing the rest of the song along with him and Charles Bissell.
Pretty much the best moment of my life aside from Arsenal winning trophies …
or fucking.
The YouTube video of the week
Will return next week.
If you can you should go to these gigs.
Feist
07-22 Birmingham, England - Birmingham Glee Club
07-24 London, England - Scala
07-28 Mt. Fuji, Japan - Fuji Rock Festival
08-26 New York, NY - Beacon Theater (Revenge of the Book Eaters) !
08-29 Brooklyn, NY - McCarren Park Pool *
09-07 Buffalo, NY - Albright-Knox Art Gallery
09-08 Montreal, Quebec - Osheaga Music Festival
09-09 Burlington, VT - Flynn Theatre
09-11 Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live
09-12 Upper Darby, PA - Tower Theatre
09-13 Pittsburgh, PA - Carnegie Music Hall
09-14 Grantham, PA - Messiah College
09-15 Ann Arbor, MI - Michigan Theatre
09-20 Baden Baden, Germany - Radio Festival
09-21 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg
09-23 Nottingham, England - Social
09-24 London, England - Shepherds Bush Empire
09-25 Dublin, Ireland - Tripod
09-26 Glasgow, Scotland - Oran Mor
09-28 Bristol, England - Trinity Arts Centre
09-30 Berlin, Germany - Admiralspalast
10-01 Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega
10-02 Stockholm, Sweden - Cirkus
10-04 Hamburg, Germany - CCH Saal 2
10-05 Cologne, Germany - E-Werk
10-06 Munich, Germany - Georg-Elser Halle
10-08 Paris, France - La Cigalle
10-09 Paris, France - La Cigalle
10-11 Countance, France - Cultural Centre
10-12 Yzeure, France - Cultural Centre
10-13 Bordeaux, France - Salle de Vigean
10-15 Nancy, France - Jazz Pulsation Festival
10-16 Geneva, Switzerland - Grand Casino
10-17 Mulhouse, France - Cultural Centre
10-19 Brussels, Belgium - Cirque Royale
! with Grizzly Bear, Carl Newman, Jim James
* with Kevin Drew
Iron And Wine
08-09 London, England - The Spitz
09-27 Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre
09-28 Upper Darby, PA - Tower Theater
09-29 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
09-30 New York, NY - Town Hall Theatre
10-23 Leeds, England - City Varieties Music Hall
10-24 Gateshead, England - Sage
10-25 Manchester, England - Academy 2
10-26 Belfast, Northern Ireland - Belfast Festival
10-27 Dublin, Ireland - Temple Bar Music Centre
10-28 Bristol, England - St. George's
10-29 Edinburgh, Scotland - Queen's Hall
10-31 London, England - Shepherd's Bush Empire
Okkervil River
09-03 San Diego, CA - Casbah
09-04 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
09-05 San Francisco, CA - Independent
09-08 Portland, OR - Berbati's Pan (MusicFest NW)
09-09 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards
09-10 Seattle, WA - Neumos
09-13 Denver, CO - Marquee Theater
09-14 Omaha, NE - Waiting Room
09-15 Iowa City, IA - Picador
09-18 Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium
09-19 Urbana, IL - The Canopy Club (Pygmalion Festival)
09-21 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace
09-22 Hamilton, Ontario - Pepper Jack's Café
09-23 Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa
09-24 Burlington, VT - Higher Ground
09-25 Boston, MA - Middle East
09-26 Northampton, MA - Iron Horse
09-28 New York, NY - Webster Hall
09-29 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
09-30 Washington, DC - Rock and Roll Hotel
10-02 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
10-03 Athens, GA - 40 Watt
10-04 Tallahassee, FL Club Downunder
10-06 Houston, TX - Walter's on Washington
11-06 Colchester Arts Centre
11-07 Nottingham The Social
11-08 Newcastle University
11-09 Glasgow Nice N Sleazy
11-10 Manchester Roadhouse
12-04 Brighton Pressure Point
12-05 Liverpool Academy
12-06 Dublin Whelans
12-07 Leeds Brudenell Social Club
12-08 Cardiff Barfly
12-09 London Luminaire
Handsome Furs
07-25 Omaha, NE - Slowdown
07-27 Fargo, ND - The Aquarium
07-28 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock Social Club
07-30 London, Ontario - Call the Office
07-31 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace
08-01 Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa
08-06 Cambridge, MA - T.T. the Bear's
08-07 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
09-16 Los Angeles, CA - Echo
09-17 San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Stop
09-19 Portland, OR - Lola's
09-20 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe
09-21 Victoria, British Columbia - Lucky Bar
09-22 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards
10-05 Dublin, Ireland - Whelan's
10-06 London, England - Fly
10-07 Bruges, Belgium - Cactus Club
10-08 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
10-09 Antwerp, Belgium - Trix
10-10 Cologne, Germany - Blue Shell
10-11 Paris, France - La Fleche
10-12 Paris, France - La Fleche
10-13 Barcelona, Spain - Apolo
10-16 Toulouse, France - Le Cri de la Mouette
10-19 Munich, Germany - Feierwerk
10-21 Prague, Czech Republic - 007
10-22 Berlin, Germany - Cafe Zapata
10-23 Hamburg, Germany - Knust
10-28 Helsinki, Finland – Semifinal
Writing under the influence
Without which this column would not have been possible:
Bat For Lashes – Fur And Gold
The bit at the end
ˆ30 for the new Interpol on Vinyl??? They're taking the piss.
Sunday at Carnoustie is one of the reasons why I love sport.
I may possibly be seeing Os Mutantes this week, Brian Berry would be proud of me.
I saw Transformers over the weekend, better than I'd feared but all the fanboys going nuts over Megan Fox must not have been watching when Rachel Taylor was on screen.
Keep an eye out for out continuing greatest album ever countdown.
