Music News!
The 10th of February is rapidly turning into the new 1st November.
Let me explain.
London Gigs on the 1st November 2002
- Nina Nastasia at the Spitz
- Tarwater at 93 Feet East
- Sigur Ros and Coil at the Royal Festival Hall
- Idaho at the Garage
I plumped for the big fancy show at the Festival Hall and was, frankly, disappointed.
London Gigs on the 10th February 2003
- My Morning Jacket at the Garage
- The Polyphonic Spree at the Forum
- Joe Pernice at the Borderline
And no doubt, they’ll add some wonderful forth gig to this list by the end of the week. Londoners are familiar with the expression, ‘you wait an hour for a bus and then three of the bloody things arrive at once’; well this currently seems to be the gig situation in London. Anyway, my loyalty is with the boys from Kentucky. My Morning Jacket’s Camden Barfly show last year was wonderful; one part metal-blues jam session, the other blissful late night music. And when singer/songwriter Jim James announced to the crowd that it had been a "bona fide pleasure serving you tonight", everybody in the crowd had the urge to tell him how damn good it was to see such a classy act in such a shithole venue. The Garage, home of my now infamous DJ set, is not such a shithole venue, and I think the setting will suit MMJ’s live show. Upstairs at the Garage is, however, a bona fide fleapit, and I worry that Jim James’ solo set will suffer. Jess and I went to see Norfolk and Western play there in November and we could hardly hear a damn thing; a muffled disaster with the endless racket of drunken yob shouting "New Or-der!" over the top of it. Mark Linkous of (well, is) Sparklehorse appeared on stage with the band for "Homecoming Queen", a potentially great moment since we were in an empty venue with nobody who knew Linkous, but sadly the venue acoustics again let us down. Perhaps Jim James will overcome the curse of the Upstairs; I’m quite sure that Norfolk and Western will think twice before playing gigs in London in the future.
If the Polyphonic Spree are telling the truth, or perhaps its the NME making these claims, that this Forum show is going to be the only London headline gig of the year, it will be a great shame. I regret having missed them on their last UK tour. I’m sure they are a special live band. On record I’m not yet as convinced. The debut album is a lot of fun to listen to, although on record they sound too much like a band one would want to see live. That said, I can’t get over the fact that I bought the record in California last July, brand new for only fifty cents. Hooray. I would also love to see the Joe Pernice solo set, although I think his strongest set probably involves the five-piece band and the string quartet, as witnessed at ULU early last year. The Scud Mountain Boys’ album "Massachusetts" is fast becoming my favourite of his albums.
The most exciting news of the day, however, came from the NME, who have sensationally given the new Joy Zipper album ‘American Whip’ nine out of ten and called it one of the ‘underground albums of the year.’ Comes as no surprise to this scribe, who has been hassling everybody with word of this New York duo’s retarded genius over the past few years. Haven’t heard the new album yet, but the two recent Eps, both released on the David Holmes owned 13 Amp Records label, are very nice indeed, although rather understated and not nearly as truly heroin-fucked as some of the material on the self-titled debut album. Will Oldham also picked up nine out of ten from the NME for the new Bonnie record, although other reviewers haven’t been so kind. I haven’t yet heard this, but if it sounds anything like ‘Days in the Wake’ I’ll probably be a fan.
I caught a sneak preview of the new Songs: Ohia album in the Notting Hill MVE the other day. Certainly a more upbeat album than "Didn’t It Rain", and apparently produced by Steve Albini. Songs: Ohia excluded this island from their forthcoming European tour, so I emailed Secretly Canadian and the swift response informed me that they are trying to work something out for April/May. Perhaps Anthony Green at Rare Pleasures, from whom today I received a lovely prize in the mail (Australian import CD by Ninetynine – Stereolabish), will arrange a show for the Arts Cafe.
Soundtrack 21/1/03
Nina Nastasia – The Blackened Air
Her Space Holiday – Manic Expressive
Joy Zipper – Ron EP
Grandaddy B sides
Ninetynine – The Process
posted by Matthew at 2:32 PM
