Photo: Chris Garneau at the Luminaire

Here is a photo from this eve:

I got to be the DJ so I watched from inside the little cave by the side of the stage.

Swim

At the end of 2008 I declared Whispertown’s second record, Swim, to be one of my most favourite records of the year. Just about one year on, it’s still one of my favourite records and I listen to it alot. Especially lately, what with the LA four piece gracing our shores with their brilliance over the next few weeks.

The record followed the brilliant Livin’ In A Dream, released in 2006. Moving on from that, Swim feels alot more buffed out. The songs really glisten but not to the point that they feel over polished or unreal; it’s just right. It was a treat to hear studio versions of 103, Mountain and Ebb and Flow,  which were available via the band’s excellent Daytrotter Session as well as some completely new songs.

The chunky guitar parts give the songs a real punch, and the little piano flourishes here and there are wonderful. Singer Morgan Nagler has such a unique, special, amazing voice that just touches your soul. And the album covers all bases, from heart wrenchingly beautiful, to ridiculously fun. Pushing Oars is something so special, but Atlantis really harnesses enough beauty to destroy the world. How can a song be so perfect!? The harmonies are unreal, they just kill me. And then, for fun times, you can’t beat From The Start/Jamboree. It’s so enjoyable and even more fun live. I can’t recommend this record enough. I really want you to fall in love with Whispertown too. Listen listen listen.

If You Come to Greet Me

Beautiful record. Released in 2006 via Hush, Laura Gibson’s If You Come to Greet Me is a real delight. There’s sparse fingerpicked guitar with Laura’s sweet, captivating lyrics and fragile, beautiful voice trailing through every song. The album also features my favourite instrument- the musical saw (played by Mr Peter Broderick, who also plays strings on the album). It makes such a wonderful sound that fits perfectly with the cosy feel of the album.

It’s most certainly a winter record. Listening to the rustling at the start of Wintering transports you to a sofa in front of a fireplace in a log cabin surrounded by snow. Winter can be such a beautiful season. Mostly here in South East England it’s just grey and wet, but in February this year it snowed. It snowed really heavy, and I bought myself a full English breakfast and it was so warming and perfect.

Laura Gibson plays at End of the Road this weekend, Rough Trade on Monday, and supports Alela Diane at Shepherd’s Bush Empire next Thursday. She has a headline show on October 1st at Cafe OTO. Listen to her songs.

Review: Hospice

The Antlers-Hospice

I never feel the need to review records, but this is such a gorgeous album I would really love a platform to gush about it. This record has really captivated me in a way different to any other this year, and I think Peter Silberman is an amazing gentleman who has crafted a masterpiece. 

The album is like a story, with a prologue, an epilogue and recurring themes. It’s beautifully arranged, and Peter has such a beautiful voice that touches my heart. There’s so much power in his trembling vocals, and the lyrics on the album are heartbreakingly touching. From the atmospheric drones of the Prologue, the scene is set with second track Kettering. Peter guides the listener through moving scenes, with the basic premise being that the protagonist is caring for a terminally ill patient, Sylvia, who he cares for but they have such a complicated, troubled relationship. Sylvia picks up where Sylvia (An Introduction) from the New York Hospitals EP left off, with the fuzzy guitar swelling; the trumpets are an absolute delight. The song is epic. The dreams and nightmares Peter sings about stay with you even after you’ve finished listening to the album. When I first heard Sylvia (An Introduction) back in the winter it left me thinking for hours.

Bear has lullaby-esque qualities, carrying on the sweet melody from Sylvia (An Introduction). The characters in the songs have conversations that go back and forth, one saying ‘we’re too old’ only to be met with ‘we’re not old at all‘. You can’t help but feel the power and pain of lyrics like ‘we’re terrified of one another, terrified of what that means‘ and ‘when we get home we’re bigger strangers than we’ve ever been before‘. In Thirteen, Sylvia gains a voice. Sharon Van Etten’s voice. Her gorgeous, haunting, surreal voice. After a couple of minutes of rising, atmospheric sounds, we’re met with a pause. Then, it’s Sylvia’s absolutely heartbreaking plea to her carer: ‘pull me out, pull me out, can’t you stop this all from happening? Close the doors and keep them out.’ Sharon is one of my favourite singers and it’s such a joy to hear her singing here. It’s all silent apart from the odd piano chord and Sharon’s stunning voice. Absolutely beautiful.

Two picks up the pace with some poppy guitar which juxtaposes with the dark, captivating lyrics where the narrator gives insight into Sylvia’s history, the liner notes give a full name to the song: Two, Or, I Would Have Saved Her If I Could. The way Peter sets the scenes, the album really feels like you are there in the songs. Powerful imagery is present throughout the album, in Shiva Peter sings of ‘hundreds of thousands of hospital beds‘. The breaking femurs, scissors, monitors and machines. No album this year has made me feel so involved in the songs. The album is like a book, with chapters, but each chapter flows so well into the next, so seamlessly. Like they don’t exist at all. ‘Now that everyone’s an enemy, my heart sinks.’ The lyrics are so beautiful I want to put them all here. The real killer is ‘Some patients can’t be saved, but that burden’s not on you‘… it’s on him. The album closes with Epilogue, returning to the melody of Sylvia (An Introduction) and Bear. The narrator dreams of Sylvia, or rather, nightmares. She haunts him. She hurts him so much through the course of the album, it’s terrifying. It’s haunting. It’s beautiful. 

This record is a masterpiece. It’s like a novel you can listen to. Like when you come away from an epic novel, and you feel the weights and burdens of each character, and even though the book is done, you can’t stop thinking about it and all the things the characters went through. This album is like that. Not only is it a lyrical delight, it’s an instrumental delight. The songs are thickly textured with many intricate details. I can’t recommend this album enough, don’t miss out on this absolute gem.

The Antlers Myspace. You can read the lyrics to the album here. I can’t wait for the band to come to London.

Review: Ponytail at 100 Club

Goodbye eardrums, hello tinnitus. This is the loudest show I’ve been to all year. Perhaps it seemed louder than it was because my ears have had a fairly tender past couple of days at The Slaughtered Lamb.

We got there on time and sat eagerly on the edge of the stage. The first act were a duo called Gentle Friendly. They only played two songs but were pretty interesting to watch. The next act Future Islands were great. The three-piece hail from Baltimore and play loud, heavy pop songs. The singer was what made the band stand out. He has a strong voice and was leaping across the stage drenched completely in sweat. He was hard to photo but I got one OK shot, see here. The band have a date at the Old Blue Last in March, see their Myspace for details.

Next up it was Ponytail. I am still keen on broadening my musical horizons, and I can safely say I have never seen a band quite like Ponytail. Singer Molly Siegel had a huge amount of energy and passion, bouncing around and singing her lungs out for a solid 40 minutes. It was a pretty fun show. Towards the end of the set Molly ventured into the audience, and a couple of members of audience ventured onto the stage. I actually managed to bang my knee on something, probably the stage, and now it hurts. You don’t get that at folk shows. I have to admit most of the songs blended in and all sounded the same to me, probably because this isn’t the type of thing I listen to. I guess if music genres are like languages then it was a language I do not speak yet. It was still a brilliant performance and if you like your music loud and deafening then you can catch Ponytail at the Lexington on March 10th. The Lexington is a pretty cool venue and I can imagine it will suit them quite well, as did the 100 Club. Good show.

Review: Hjaltalin @ The Luminaire

 

I have just, only now, realized that my literally non stop schedule of gigs is probably going to be rather exhausting. Exhausting, but fun! 

Yesterday I went to see Hjaltalin play at The Luminaire. I got there fairly early but the place filled up quite quick. I watched another photographer set up her super expensive looking kit. She had that photographer-y look about her, you could tell her shots were probably going to be really good. I want to see them. Adam arrived just before the first band came on.

Kat and the Half Step Uncles, they were called. The singer was quite a character, very expressive and posed for the cameras. This shot sums up their set. Really not my thing at all. It was funk music, it sounded like it came from X-Factor or something. Bizarre! The crowd also dispersed after this first act, which made the whole thing weirder. 

Then it was the Ark People. I’d seen them before supporting Mumford and Sons and I didn’t really enjoy them. I thought they were much more enjoyable this time, the sound was much better too. They all look very young and if they put out a good album I can imagine them getting alot of attention.

Then it was City Reverb. I spent the whole set staring at the singer and keyboard lady trying to think where I recognize them from. I can’t think where, and it’s really annoying. They had a song about Central Heating. By now it was quite late and I just wanted to see the headliners. I think the third support act are always harder for me to enjoy unless I was looking forward to seeing them in the first place.

I was having fun photo’ing. The crowd had left a handy isle between them and the stage, which allowed me to move freely. I think I learn something new every time I photograph a show, which is probably why photography is quite rewarding to me. The crowd had filled up quite a bit now. Adam and I agreed that the songs on the radio weren’t that great. It was with a welcome reception that Hjaltalin took to the stage.

Hjaltalin are a musical group from Iceland with lots of members and a nice rich sound. They had a bassoon player (!), which I think I’ve only seen before once. Bassoon looks hard to play, she had a harness strapping it to her, I’d probably  be too impatient to play an instrument that requires any form of setting up besides occasional tuning. Apparently the band are a huge success in Iceland and have had a number one hit. It’s not hard to see why, they have absolutely huge choruses that are very poppy and brilliant. The band were all clearly having a great time. I seem to spend alot of time seeing lone singer songwriter types (I’m not complaining!), but it was great to see a nice full band for a change. The singer told us the words to one of the songs in Icelandic and translated it to English for our benefit. Alot of the crowd were Icelandic and singing and dancing along, it was brilliant. I really enjoyed their set, best live show of 2009 so far, unfortunately for them it’s of Montreal later today, so that title probably won’t last past 9pm tonight. Anyhow, they were great live and I recommend catching them if you can. Give their songs a listen on Myspace.

 

Emmy The Great- First Love

Brilliant record. Emmy has a beautiful voice and a way of writing lyrics that is distinctly her own, despite the numerous references to other artists throughout the album. Alot of the songs have been around for quite a while but I love the more intricate arrangements and nice oohs and ahhs here and there. One of the songs that I particularly enjoy is Everything Reminds Me Of You. When I saw the title it reminded me of the Elliott Smith song Everything Reminds Me Of Her so I was intrigued to hear it. When it came on I remembered it from the Rough Trade instore I saw last year. Coming away from the instore I particularly enjoyed First Love and this one, but I didn’t know what it was so I cemented the ‘drinks have been drunk/ships have been sunk‘ part in my mind for future reference. I forgot all about it until now. The title track is absolutely wonderful, the part towards the end where the tempo picks up is just brilliant. It’s a real sing along song too. Every song is a keeper. City Song is the perfect ending to the record, I’ve loved that song for a long time and it’s great that it’s finally on an album. Unless Emily Haines releases 10 solo records this year, this will probably be in my top 10. Buy it from Rough Trade, you’ll get a bonus CD. Emmy has tour dates all over the UK, catch her where you can, she’s great live. For dates see Myspace.

Review: El May @ The Brixton Windmill

It takes ages to get to the Windmill! Well, relatively anyway. I left at 7 and got there just past 8. On the tube I read The London Paper which in my opinion is infinitely better than London Lite. Neither paper actually covers any real news though, unless you count George Clooney AND Brad Pitt both wearing flatcaps as news.

I got there and took a seat. El May was sound checking and there were some football fans watching a match on TV. It was pretty dead. The show didn’t actually start until gone 9, which was semi-annoying because I probably would have had enough time to see Ben Weaver again at Rough Trade.

El May is the name of Lara Meyerratken. She’s tagged on LastFm as “Aussie rules” and she sounds Australian, so I’d guess she’s Australian. She’s based in Brooklyn according to her Myspace. I had listened to the songs she has up and enjoyed them so thought it would be worth catching her live. She clicks her fingers and claps her hands and loops it and sings with herself and stuff,  I always like watching people do this and it was fun to watch. Her family were there to watch her, and there were probably another 25 people there in total. She played a new song for us and tried to describe just how new it is by saying “if this song was a baby it would still be bloody and mucus-y”. Mmm nice. It was a good song though and I really enjoyed her set and would like to hear her play again.

After the set I told her I liked it and she said she’ll probably be back in May/June, I recommend catching her if you can. There was another band advertised TBC to play between El May and Lymyc Systym but this did not materialise.

El May played quite quiet, relaxed songs. Lymbyc Systym gave me earache. I have no idea why they were on a bill together, the bands were so completely different. I saw the show was also sponsored by Rock Sound Magazine which was bizarre. I was kind of prejudiced against Lymyc Systym to begin with because I don’t really like the name. I watched them for two songs, they’re very good at what they do, both really talented musicians, but completely not my thing. No vocals, it was just loud drums and keyboard. I was bored so thought I might as well start the long journey home and atleast listen to some music I like on my ipod. It was a slightly disappointing gig as I spent longer travelling there  and waiting around than I did watching music, plus it cost me money when I could have just seen Ben Weaver for free and could have walked there. Nonetheless, I enjoyed El May and she’s good live so I recommend her.

Review: Ben Weaver + Jane Bartholomew

Yesterday I went to see Ben Weaver and Jane Bartholomew play at The Luminaire. The Luminaire is probably my favourite venue. The lighting and decor is nice, the hand stamp people are always cheery and the sound is good. I got there 5 minutes early so bought an apple and read about some of the past acts they’ve had since they opened in 2005. The list included some musicians I would have loved to have seen there: Tilly and the Wall, Andrew Bird and quite a few more which seemed to have escaped my memory.

Jane Bartholomew came on around 8.20. She’s a singer from Brighton, she’s got a really beautiful voice. She was joined by a cellist and a violinist. She did a few songs on guitar but I actually enjoyed the piano ones more, although they were all great. I would definately recommend seeing her live if you can. In the break I talked with Stephen about how the recession will effect the live music industry and shows like this one.

Ben Weaver was next. He took to the stage alone and played a guitar song first. He told us he had jet lag and there were “10 trapeze artists on his stomach“. I didn’t know his material but I really enjoyed each of his songs. His lyrics are really poetic and beautiful, so it made sense that he is also a poet. He read us a few poems from his poetry book. One was about Freegans and how the only point in chain stores like Starbucks and McDonalds is so you can use their bathrooms. It was witty and endearing, I considered buying his poetry book after but it was £10 and I don’t have that much money spare. He switched to banjo for a while and then did a couple of piano songs. I somehow ended up sitting cross legged on the stage while everyone else was on the floor. Jane came back and joined him singing on a few songs. He went away and after some cries for more he returned. He was very humble and said he enjoyed not having a setlist. He played Ragged Words, which is the name of one of my friends’ website. He did a couple more, thanked us for coming and left the stage. There were more shouts for more but this time the radio kicked in. 

It was a great show and it’s worth seeing Ben play if you can. He’s doing an instore gig at Rough Trade tonight and I highly recommend going if you can make it. I’d love to go but I’ll be on my way to Brixton. I’d recommend his music if you like artists like David Dondero, folky story telling and enchanting lyrics.

Review: Ora Cogan @ The Slaughtered Lamb

I got there characteristically early so sat upstairs for a while and drew in my book. I’ve got so many pages to draw, it’s madness. I also got to listen to two guys talk about how great the iphone is for literally half an hour. 

I went downstairs at half eight and took a seat and drew some more. The place was pretty dead. Puzzle Muteson was first, he’s from the Isle of White and played folky type stuff. He’s got a show at the Soho Revue Bar coming up and one in Oregon this summer. He played a cover of Harvest Moon which was great. I like the of Montreal cover of Harvest Moon alot too.

Emil Brynge was also advertised to play, which I was quite looking forward to, but he didn’t play for some reason. He plays folky music and is from Sweden, I happened to meet him a couple of months ago at the Babel show. He asked me if I would draw him in my book, and I did. It should be known that when I’m drawing up my day, if you were in it then you’ll probably get drawn. I have so much to draw and scan in, you can see some old ones here.

So because Emil wasn’t there Ora played next. It was great again. She’s from Vancouver and plays folky bluesy guitar and has a great voice. It was her friend Max’s Birthday, she dedicated a song to him. I don’t know what that song is but it’s also my favourite out of the ones she plays. She also did her Leadbelly cover and ended with an awesome a’capella Jesus song. It was a really good show, it’s a shame more people didn’t come.

I always seem to end up talking to nice people at the Slaughtered Lamb. I chatted to a musician called Stephen who is also a big music enthusiast. I also got to meet Alan and his friend who run one of my favourite websites, Wears The Trousers, which covers all the best female artists. On the way out we said hi to Ora and I gave her one of my business cards. She had the choice of this one of Andrew Bird or this one of Anni Rossi. She chose Anni Rossi because she knows her. Everything is so interconnected. Good show, make sure you catch her when she next plays here.