Dancing About Architecture 1.22.08
Posted by Ian Wright on 01.22.2008
British Sea Power (again), ATP, Primavera, Mission Of Burma reissues, Bjork singles, Colin Meloy and more.
The bit at the start
OK, about this time last year I was, on a weekly basis, proselytising about The National and the general brilliance of their then forthcoming album Boxer. I don't feel quite that strongly about British Sea Power who I wrote about last week. That being said I did see them live on Friday night.
When, midway through a concert, a guy in a cape takes a break from playing keyboards and an air raid siren and starts crowd surfing across the audience whilst playing a tuba you're left with no other option then to suspect that you're not at an ordinary gig. When that's one of the lesser pieces of over the top band/audience interaction that takes place over the course of the night you have to conclude that you're right.
Even before British Sea Power march onto the Whelan's stage to the strains of "We Close Our Eyes" from this month's Do You Like Rock Music you get the impression that they're a band that puts quite a bit of time, effort and thought into their live performances. Gone are the plants that were previously part of the set, they've been replaced by flags draped over the amp speakers and hanging from the rear wall of the stage. When they do arrive, variously dressed as some sort of dandy Dutch highwayman, a medieval serf farmer and most strikingly, in the case of guitarist Martin Noble, as some sort of tribute to Dr. Tobias Fünke during the period that the world's first Analrapist was understudying for the Blue Man Group.
All of that would of course be for nought if the band didn't have the chops and the tunes to back up the outfits and decorations, fortunately they have both in spades. British Sea Power are simply incendiary and despite their somewhat fey appearances they have what very few bands have on stage, a genuine air of danger and a sense that almost anything can happen when they're playing. One member of the band returns for the encore via the balcony and recently installed lighting rig, Noble wades into the crowd while playing guitar on one song and later during the closing, semi-improvised "A-Rock" he abandon his instrument entirely in favour of being carried atop the crowd.
In fact, it's during that final song when things really turn chaotic, one fan scales the speaker stacks in an attempt to repeat the aerial stage entrance from before in reverse and dangles from the rigging for a minute before swinging onto the stage and launching himself into the crowd. This sparks off a mass stage invasion and a rash of crowd surfing the like of which I've never seen in Whelan's before. Ultimately it's only the heretofore absent venue security than can calm the fervour of band and crowd as one by one a series of burly, black suited men appear on the stage and shepherd people back into the crowd. "I think they want us to stop," says Noble. They'd be the only people in the joint that do. If this is rock music then yes, I do like it.
Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album.
Sual Williams - The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust
If only for the U2 cover.
You news, you lose
Oh how much do I love Mission Of Burma?
A whole lot, that's how much.
Despite that fact my collection of their recorded works exists, in part, as MP3 because of their recent unavailability in the physical medium.
Fortunately that will soon change as Matador, the band's current label, are set to reissue all the material the band put out on Ace Of Hearts way back when (Roger Miller could still hear properly). They'll all be remastered and loaded up to the gills with extras and will hit stores on March 18th.
Each of the 3 reissues will come with a 32-page booklet which feature interviews with the band and producer Rick Harte and bonus DVD's. If you go for the vinyl option you'll still get the booklets and DVD's as well as a coupon for complete MP3 downloads.
The EP Signals, Calls and Marches will come with the songs from the band's debut 7" and a couple of previously unreleased outtakes and a DVD of "rare footage from an early gig at Cambridge, MA's The Space."
Debut album Vs. will have four bonus tracks and a DVD of the matinee set at the band's then final Boston show, which took place at the Bradford Ballroom on March 12, 1983 (my third birthday).
Finally their 1985 live album The Horrible Truth About Burma has one previously unreleased song and a DVD of the Bradford Ballroom's evening set.
ATP ATP ATP
So the tickets are bought, the flights are booked the rental car just needs to be booked but otherwise I'm all set for the Explosions In the Sky curated ATP taking place at Butlins Minehead from May 16-18. Liars, The National Sunset Rubdown, Jens Lekman, how could you go wrong?
Well you could accidentally book tickets for May's other ATP which is in part being curated by Pitchfork. But you wouldn't be going too far wrong in that case because the lineup for that, which had the Clientele, Harmonia (doing their second UK gig in a quarter-century), Car Sick Cars, and Even added to it last week, is pretty fucking great.
The festival is taking place at Camber Sands Holiday Camp from May 9-11 and the current lineup looks like this:
Chosen by Pitchfork:
The Clientele
Jens Lekman
A Place to Bury Strangers
Yeasayer
The Hold Steady
Black Lips
Hot Chip
Les Savy Fav
No Age
Of Montreal
Man Man
Los Campesinos!
Caribou
Glass Candy
Dirty Projectors
Chosen by ATP:
Black Mountain
Born Ruffians
Howlin Rain
Harmonia
Car Sick Cars
Even
Redd Kross
Marissa Nadler
Deerhunter
Wooden Shjips
Meat Puppets
The Black Angels
Shit and Shine
Sebadoh
Ween
Pissed Jeans
Fuck Buttons
Apse
In other European festival in May happenings ...
The lineup for this year's Primavera Sound in Barcelona is shaping up quite nicely. Taking place from May 29-31 the festival gives you the opportunity to check out some of the sights in one of Spain's most beautiful citys, check out some great bands and be scowled at by black clad, record bag toting, too cool to admit they're having fun Spanish hipster kids*. The lineup is still coming out in dribs and drabs but right now the confirmed acts include Clipse, Eric's Trip, Man Man, Mission of Burma, Portishead, Okkervil River, Deerhunter, Les Savy Fav, Silver Jews, Six Organs of Admittance,the Shipping News, Scout Niblett, Pissed Jeans, Edan & MC Dagha, Fuck Buttons, MV & EE With the Golden Road, Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs, Model 500 and the Felice Brothers.
* Seriously dudes, what the fuck?
One for Vinyl geeks.
I'm not saying "vinyl geek" in a pejorative way. I've got a bunch of singles by bands I don't like all that much just because they were selling them on 7" at gigs. It's an illness.
Don't judge.
Anyway, Bjork is set to release a pair of singles in the coming weeks and sweet Jesus, they're coming out on 12". Well I'm being slightly disingenuous, one of them ("Declare Independence") is already out in Europe and the second ("Earth Intruders") will be hitting stores in the lands of Irish potatoes, German sausages, British Xenophobia, and French presidents who screw supermodels on February 4th.
If you live in North America you'll be have to wait a while longer though as "Declare Independence" will be released on February 19th (which is in the future, and the reason I got to say that both singles were set to be released despite it's European availability) with "Earth Intruders" arriving on March 4th.
Portland's premier Jeff Mangum wannabe Colin Meloy is set to release a live album featuring material taken from his 2006 solo acoustic tour. The album includes songs from Meloy's first band Tarkio and material from every pre-The Crane Wife Decemberists album, a couple of unreleased songs and covers of songs by The Smiths, R.E.M., Pink Floyd, and Fleetwood Mac and a couple of others odds and sods. It'll be released on CD and double gatefold vinyl on April 8th on Kill rock Stars.
Colin Meloy Sings Live!:
01 Devil's Elbow
02 We Both Go Down Together
03 Evoking a Campfire Singalong [banter]
04 The Gymnast, High Above the Ground
05 Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect / Dreams
06 Dracula's Daughter [previously unreleased]
07 Wonder [previously unreleased]
08 A Brief Introduction to Shirley Collins [banter]
09 Barbara Allen
10 The Engine Driver
11 On the Bus Mall
12 A Skull, a Ship, and a Sheep [banter]
13 California One/Youth and Beauty Brigade / Ask
14 The Bachelor and the Bride
15 A Cautionary Song
16 Red Right Ankle
17 Bandit Queen
The YouTube video of the week
2 years till I get to see Will Butler endanger himself again for my amusement. Boo-urns.
03-26 Porto, Portugal - Coliseum
03-27 Lisbon, Portugal - Coliseum
03-30 Milan, Italy - Alcatraz
03-31 Florence, Italy - Sashall
04-09 Manchester, England - Apollo
04-10 London, England - Hammersmith Apollo
04-11 Edinburgh, Scotland - Corn Exchange
04-13 Wolverhampton, England - Civic
05-05 Paris, France - Zenith
05-29-31 Barcelona, Spain - Parc del Fòrum (Primavera Sound)
Band Of Horses
01-20 Charleston, SC - Music Farm *
01-21 Norfolk, VA - The NorVa *
01-22 Philadelphia, PA - The Fillmore at the TLA *
01-23 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club *
01-24 State College, PA - State Theatre *
01-25 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom *
01-26 Louisville, KY - Headliners Music Hall (Halfway to Forecastle) *
01-27 Newport, KY - Southgate House *
01-29 Nashville, TN - Exit/In *
01-30 Memphis, TN - Hi-Tone *
01-31 St. Louis, MO - Gargoyle *
02-01 Norman, OK - Meacham Auditorium (University of Oklahoma) *
02-02 Dallas, TX - Palladium Ballroom *
02-03 Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa *
02-04 Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon *
02-06 Birmingham, AL - Bottle Tree *
02-07 Tallahassee, FL - Beta Bar *
02-08 Gainesville, FL - Common Grounds *
02-09 Orlando, FL - Social *
02-10 Orlando, FL - Social *
02-12 Mt. Pleasant, SC - Village Tavern *
02-13 New York, NY - Carnegie Hall (Tibet House benefit) ^
02-20 Dublin, Ireland - Button Factory Tripod
02-21 Glasgow, Scotland - ABC
02-23 Birmingham, England - Academy
02-24 Manchester, England - Academy
02-25 Bristol, England - Thekla Social
02-28 Paris, France - La Maroquinerie
02-29 Cologne, Germany - Gebäude 9
03-01 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
03-02 Hamburg, Germany - Knust
03-04 Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega
03-05 Gothenburg, Sweden - Sticky Fingers
03-06 Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser
03-07 Oslo, Norway - Rockefeller
03-08 Stavanger, Norway - Folken
03-10 Berlin, Germany - Columbia Club
03-11 Frankfurt, Germany - Mousonturm
03-12 Oslo, Norway - Garage
03-13 Zurich, Switzerland - Abart
03-14 Lausanne, Switzerland - Le Romandie
03-15 Brussels, Belgium - Botanique
03-21 Orlando, FL - The Social
03-22 Tampa, FL - The Cuban Room
* with Cass McCombs
^ with Sufjan Stevens, Philip Glass, Ray Davies, Tom Verlaine, Nawang Khechog, Marisa Monte
Daniel Johnston
02-05 Detroit, MI - The Majestic
02-06 Chicago, IL - Metro
02-07 Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall
02-08 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
02-09 Omaha, NE - Slowdown
02-20 Boston, MA - Roxy
02-21 New York, NY - Highline Ballroom
02-22 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero Theater
02-23 Washington, DC - Black Cat
02-24 Baltimore, MD – Ottobar
Pinback
02-05 Chula Vista, CA - House of Blues *
02-06 Chula Vista, CA - House of Blues *
02-07 Pomona, CA - Glass House *
02-08 Visalia, CA - Cellar Door *
02-09 Santa Cruz, CA - Catalyst *
02-10 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore *
02-11 Arcata, CA - Humboldt State University *
02-13 Bend, OR - Domino Room *
02-14 Seattle, WA - Showbox *
02-15 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richards on Richards *
02-16 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom *
02-18 Berkeley, CA - Bear's Lair *
02-19 San Luis Obispo, CA - Downtown Brew *
02-20 Ventura, CA - Majestica Ventura Theatre *
02-21 Los Angeles, CA - Avalon Hollywood *
02-26 Osaka, Japan - Club Quattro #
02-27 Nagoya, Japan - Club Quattro #
02-28 Tokyo, Japan - Liquid Room #
* with MC Chris
# with the Album Leaf
Stars Of The Lid
04-14 Los Angeles, CA - TBA
04-15 San Francisco, CA - The Independent
04-17 Portland, OR - TBA (Wordless Music Series)
04-18 Seattle, WA - Triple Door
04-21 Minneapolis, MN - Southern Theater (Wordless Music Series)
04-22 Champaign, IL - Staerkel Planetarium
04-23 Grinnell, IA - Sebring-Lewis Concert Hall
04-24 Louisville, KY - 9:30 Listening Room
04-25 Pittsburgh, PA - Warhol Museum
04-26 Chicago, IL - Lakeshore Theatre
04-27 London, Ontario - Museum London
04-28 Toronto, Ontario - Music Gallery
04-29 Montreal, Quebec - TBA
05-01 Boston, MA - Museum of Fine Arts
05-02 New York, NY - Good Shepherd Faith Church (Wordless Music Series)
05-03 Philadelphia, PA - TBA
05-04 Washington, DC - TBA
05-05 Asheville, NC - TBA
05-07 Austin, TX - Ritz Theatre
05-17 Minehead, England - Butlins Holiday Centre (Explosions in the Sky ATP)
Writing under the influence
Without which this column would not have been possible:
Pavement – Slanted And Enchanted.
A Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band – 13 blues for 13 moons.
The bit at the end
Stars play Dublin this week. I don't much care for them. Apostle Of Hustle are opening though. Decisions, decisions.
Semi permanent plug for my blog MP3's, lists and shit.
