Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Gig review: Efterklang + Peter Broderick - Taylor Johns House, Coventry, 14/09/09
Originally posted at mog.com/RobinPlaysChords:
Nestled in Coventry's forever-in-development Canal Basin lies Taylor Johns House, one of two venues run by local record company Tin Angel Records. It has shaken off the tag of 'failing business' with the relative success of a string of high quality releases (including two by the divine Devon Sproule) and an endless list of world class talent coming through the doors of the Tin Angel café and Taylor Johns itself. For a city which failed to produce a vibrant artistic scene for years (is The Enemy really the best the area can produce?), Tin Angel has given everyone the kick up the arse they needed, and now the city's arts scene is flourishing.
Danish noise-popsters - and owners of oddly endearing facial hair - Efterklang are the latest band to make the journey up to the West Midlands. Originally scheduled to be held at the Baptist Church, a stones throw from the Tin Angel café, a lack of space for the band's two sound systems and assorted gear means a last-minute change of venue to Taylor Johns. From a single look at the performance area, you'd struggle to figure out how two sets of drums, two guitar amps, various keyboards, violin, flute, trumpet, a computer and enough FX pedals to shake a stick at could fit onto a stage more suited to a small scale primary school nativity play. Somehow, every last bit of equipment, and the seven musicians behind fit, fit on with enough room to spare.
Opening the night's proceedings is the ludicrously talented Peter Broderick. The release of Float on Type was the beginning of Broderick's purple patch, and it doesn't seem to be ending any time soon. The set mostly consists of numbers from Home and a collection of new and/or unreleased songs which showcase his growing maturity as a songwriter. Standouts include a gorgeous rendition of 'Not At Home', and a brand new song about a fate-defining drive in the country - both bolstered by the beautiful back-up vocals of Peter's sister Heather (who has just released her debut solo album From The Ground on Australian wunder-label Preservation). The set closes with Home's closer 'Games Again', Broderick walking and singing in the crowd whilst the army of voices he already put to loops on stage overpower the senses.
I'm told that the venue needs £15,000 to cover the air conditioning unit, and the lack of it means that the heat in the venue is punishing. Efterklang alude to this light-heartedly through their set, which for the uninitiated is an experience best described as half-carnival, half-audio overdrive. Like Broderick - who along with Heather performs as part of Efterklang's live shows - there is a fairly liberal amount of new material spread around the set, and it all holds up beautifully with their older songs. Opener 'Step Aside' is a woozy mix of Telegram-era Björk and Dntel, and the many sugar-sweet harmonies (in the best possible way) of 'Mirador' sets up new song 'Mirror Mirror', both of which build into fabulous cocophonies, and sound like the songs that Sigur Rós were looking for when recording Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust.
To a room of around 100 (and two cameramen), Efterklang weave their magic and leave everyone spellbound, despite the stifling heat and the tight confines of the stage. (Frontman Casper Clausen comments halfway through that his earpiece fell into a pool of spilt beer - "I think the word is sticky.") 'Cutting Ice To Snow', one of Parades' best songs, starts off as a chorus of wintery vocal harmonies - Casper, Peter, Heather and guitarist Frederick Teige combining to glorious effect - before breaking through into a warmer, classical-meets-pop epic. The show ends with a stunning rendition of 'Chapter Six' from 2004's Tripper, Mads Brauer's sequencer kicks the song off with a rolling electronic beat which merges with percussion-heavy interludes and ends with a gentle audience singalong. Rapturous applauses ensues, and the merch stand is soon swamped with new devotees.
Talking to bassist Rasmus and Peter afterwards, it seems that Efterklang - and the Brodericks themselves - can only go onwards and upwards. The band have recently signed to 4AD for the release of their third studio album - expected to be released in early 2010 - and finish their contract with the Leaf Label with the issue of the live album/DVD Performing Parades (performed with the Danish National Chamber Orchestra) in October, around the time they play their biggest UK show to date at the Barbican in London (with the Britten Sinfonia). Broderick's own exploits include the recent release of 4-Track Songs on Type and a highly-anticipated collaboration with Machinefabriek. The future is bright for them, and also for Tin Angel, who have bought some much needed light into Coventry's scene.
-
Efterklang's Performing Parades is released on CD/DVD and LP/DVD on the 19th of October on The Leaf Label. Peter Broderick's 4-Track Songs is available now on CD, LP, and digital formats from Type.
Nestled in Coventry's forever-in-development Canal Basin lies Taylor Johns House, one of two venues run by local record company Tin Angel Records. It has shaken off the tag of 'failing business' with the relative success of a string of high quality releases (including two by the divine Devon Sproule) and an endless list of world class talent coming through the doors of the Tin Angel café and Taylor Johns itself. For a city which failed to produce a vibrant artistic scene for years (is The Enemy really the best the area can produce?), Tin Angel has given everyone the kick up the arse they needed, and now the city's arts scene is flourishing.
Danish noise-popsters - and owners of oddly endearing facial hair - Efterklang are the latest band to make the journey up to the West Midlands. Originally scheduled to be held at the Baptist Church, a stones throw from the Tin Angel café, a lack of space for the band's two sound systems and assorted gear means a last-minute change of venue to Taylor Johns. From a single look at the performance area, you'd struggle to figure out how two sets of drums, two guitar amps, various keyboards, violin, flute, trumpet, a computer and enough FX pedals to shake a stick at could fit onto a stage more suited to a small scale primary school nativity play. Somehow, every last bit of equipment, and the seven musicians behind fit, fit on with enough room to spare.
Opening the night's proceedings is the ludicrously talented Peter Broderick. The release of Float on Type was the beginning of Broderick's purple patch, and it doesn't seem to be ending any time soon. The set mostly consists of numbers from Home and a collection of new and/or unreleased songs which showcase his growing maturity as a songwriter. Standouts include a gorgeous rendition of 'Not At Home', and a brand new song about a fate-defining drive in the country - both bolstered by the beautiful back-up vocals of Peter's sister Heather (who has just released her debut solo album From The Ground on Australian wunder-label Preservation). The set closes with Home's closer 'Games Again', Broderick walking and singing in the crowd whilst the army of voices he already put to loops on stage overpower the senses.
I'm told that the venue needs £15,000 to cover the air conditioning unit, and the lack of it means that the heat in the venue is punishing. Efterklang alude to this light-heartedly through their set, which for the uninitiated is an experience best described as half-carnival, half-audio overdrive. Like Broderick - who along with Heather performs as part of Efterklang's live shows - there is a fairly liberal amount of new material spread around the set, and it all holds up beautifully with their older songs. Opener 'Step Aside' is a woozy mix of Telegram-era Björk and Dntel, and the many sugar-sweet harmonies (in the best possible way) of 'Mirador' sets up new song 'Mirror Mirror', both of which build into fabulous cocophonies, and sound like the songs that Sigur Rós were looking for when recording Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust.
To a room of around 100 (and two cameramen), Efterklang weave their magic and leave everyone spellbound, despite the stifling heat and the tight confines of the stage. (Frontman Casper Clausen comments halfway through that his earpiece fell into a pool of spilt beer - "I think the word is sticky.") 'Cutting Ice To Snow', one of Parades' best songs, starts off as a chorus of wintery vocal harmonies - Casper, Peter, Heather and guitarist Frederick Teige combining to glorious effect - before breaking through into a warmer, classical-meets-pop epic. The show ends with a stunning rendition of 'Chapter Six' from 2004's Tripper, Mads Brauer's sequencer kicks the song off with a rolling electronic beat which merges with percussion-heavy interludes and ends with a gentle audience singalong. Rapturous applauses ensues, and the merch stand is soon swamped with new devotees.
Talking to bassist Rasmus and Peter afterwards, it seems that Efterklang - and the Brodericks themselves - can only go onwards and upwards. The band have recently signed to 4AD for the release of their third studio album - expected to be released in early 2010 - and finish their contract with the Leaf Label with the issue of the live album/DVD Performing Parades (performed with the Danish National Chamber Orchestra) in October, around the time they play their biggest UK show to date at the Barbican in London (with the Britten Sinfonia). Broderick's own exploits include the recent release of 4-Track Songs on Type and a highly-anticipated collaboration with Machinefabriek. The future is bright for them, and also for Tin Angel, who have bought some much needed light into Coventry's scene.
-
Efterklang's Performing Parades is released on CD/DVD and LP/DVD on the 19th of October on The Leaf Label. Peter Broderick's 4-Track Songs is available now on CD, LP, and digital formats from Type.
Sunday, 13 September 2009
Saturday, 12 September 2009
Saturday, 5 September 2009
Wednesday, 2 September 2009
Music review: Fennesz & Sparklehorse - In The Fishtank 15
Originally written for mog.com/RobinPlaysChords:
Fennesz & Sparklehorse - In The Fishtank 15 (2009, Konkurrent)
Independent Dutch label Konkurrent have been getting artists to collaborate on their In The Fishtank series (the title comes from the name of the studio used), with each release drawing bigger names and bigger results. Even so, this must be seen as a bit of a coup for them. After all, if you took electronic music's hottest property and paired him with collaborator extraordinaire and mystery-wrapped-in-an-enigma Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse, you really couldn't go wrong...right?
In The Fishtank 15 clocks in at 40 minutes, and in that time Christian Fennesz goes through his entire box of tricks, coaxing his laptop in order to come up with the kind of beautiful noise that made this year's Black Sea such essential listening. Opener 'Music Box of Snakes' worms its way into your head with the chimes of the aforementioned music box, cut up and mixed in with uncomfortable drones and piano stabs with an end results that's not dissimilar to Sigur Ros' contributions to Merce Cunningham's Split Sides project. 'Goodnight Sweetheart' is the highlight of the album - reverb-draped chords wrapping themselves around Linkous' fragile, processed vocals before fading away into the depths of space.
The head-scratching composition 'Shai-Hulud' is a two-and-a-half minute noise storm which seems to lack the quality control of the previous two numbers. Fortunately, it's a minor blip before Fennesz and Linkous come up with another beauty. If Robin Guthrie had written Victorialand in 2009, he may have written something like 'If My Heart', the closest thing to a conventional song in this collection. Soft, drop-tuned acoustic guitar strums sit with MBV-distortion turned down to 8 or 9, as Linkous' voice crackles in the twilight.
The ethereal instrumental 'Mark's Guitar Piece' follows this up; an acoustic guitar gently picks notes out in 3/4 time, with tender music box chimes sparkling amongst the intermittent feedback. By contrast, the next track - and the album's longest - 'NC Bongo Buddy' starts off as a raucous, ear-splitting beast, on which Fennesz does what he does best, throwing layers of distorted guitar which roar, choke themselves slowly, then rise up like a phoenix before finally succumbing to waves of hiss. Artists like The Fun Years should be taking notes.
A strummed acoustic closes out 'Christian's Guitar Piece', giving this other worldly album an oddly comforting finish. It's not a huge leap forward in terms of artistic evolution - Fennesz's sonic identity is particularly stamped over a lot of this record - but there is no shortage of original ideas, and for the most part, they come off with style and substance. Fennesz and Linkous have come out of the fish tank with a record that may not hit the heights of 2009's Best Of lists, but won't be too far away either.
4/5
In The Fishtank 15 is out now on iTunes and available in CD and LP format from the 14th of September from Konkurrent Records.
Fennesz & Sparklehorse - In The Fishtank 15 (2009, Konkurrent)
Independent Dutch label Konkurrent have been getting artists to collaborate on their In The Fishtank series (the title comes from the name of the studio used), with each release drawing bigger names and bigger results. Even so, this must be seen as a bit of a coup for them. After all, if you took electronic music's hottest property and paired him with collaborator extraordinaire and mystery-wrapped-in-an-enigma Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse, you really couldn't go wrong...right?
In The Fishtank 15 clocks in at 40 minutes, and in that time Christian Fennesz goes through his entire box of tricks, coaxing his laptop in order to come up with the kind of beautiful noise that made this year's Black Sea such essential listening. Opener 'Music Box of Snakes' worms its way into your head with the chimes of the aforementioned music box, cut up and mixed in with uncomfortable drones and piano stabs with an end results that's not dissimilar to Sigur Ros' contributions to Merce Cunningham's Split Sides project. 'Goodnight Sweetheart' is the highlight of the album - reverb-draped chords wrapping themselves around Linkous' fragile, processed vocals before fading away into the depths of space.
The head-scratching composition 'Shai-Hulud' is a two-and-a-half minute noise storm which seems to lack the quality control of the previous two numbers. Fortunately, it's a minor blip before Fennesz and Linkous come up with another beauty. If Robin Guthrie had written Victorialand in 2009, he may have written something like 'If My Heart', the closest thing to a conventional song in this collection. Soft, drop-tuned acoustic guitar strums sit with MBV-distortion turned down to 8 or 9, as Linkous' voice crackles in the twilight.
The ethereal instrumental 'Mark's Guitar Piece' follows this up; an acoustic guitar gently picks notes out in 3/4 time, with tender music box chimes sparkling amongst the intermittent feedback. By contrast, the next track - and the album's longest - 'NC Bongo Buddy' starts off as a raucous, ear-splitting beast, on which Fennesz does what he does best, throwing layers of distorted guitar which roar, choke themselves slowly, then rise up like a phoenix before finally succumbing to waves of hiss. Artists like The Fun Years should be taking notes.
A strummed acoustic closes out 'Christian's Guitar Piece', giving this other worldly album an oddly comforting finish. It's not a huge leap forward in terms of artistic evolution - Fennesz's sonic identity is particularly stamped over a lot of this record - but there is no shortage of original ideas, and for the most part, they come off with style and substance. Fennesz and Linkous have come out of the fish tank with a record that may not hit the heights of 2009's Best Of lists, but won't be too far away either.
4/5
In The Fishtank 15 is out now on iTunes and available in CD and LP format from the 14th of September from Konkurrent Records.
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Röyksopp - Tricky Tricky (RobinPlaysChords 789 remix)
Remixed as part of a competition; please stream/download (and also buy a Röyksopp album; it's worth it!)
Tricky Tricky (RobinPlaysChords 789 remix) by RobinPlaysChords
Tricky Tricky (RobinPlaysChords 789 remix) by RobinPlaysChords
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