Metamatic Forums Socialising The Green Room Gigs - News and reviews

Thanks for the set list Mike. A fairly good spread and "All I Ever Wanted" was a nice touch but "Electric Dreams" a disappointing closer ..Human League song not!
:rolleyes:

Mesh, De/Vision and Iris have announced a U.S.A tour comprising around 21 shows.

http://www.mesh.co.uk/

You lucky, lucky people

The Smoke Fairies play at The Joiners in Southampton on May 24th

Worth a shout, I reckon

Xeno and Oaklander at The Lexington, 6th July

Benge reports:
http://myblogitsfullofstars.blogspot.com/2011/07/bubbles.html

This is the one you want...

Fantastic news that 2007's Foxx support Rubicks are finally back with a second album

The Rise of the Giddy is released on Sharp Attack on August 8th

http://www.electricity-club.co.uk/html/giddy.html

I had the pleasure last week, celebrating my birthday with a few pints and a band at the local. Not my vid, but I was sitting not far behind the guy with the camera:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xk7nl5_rubicks-at-the-talking-heads-southampton-2011_music

Shake your head look up look down look around. Riding fast
we‘re on you now...
I so want to see Vanessa and co "make it"

This recently from twitter

Eyeless In Gaza + Kevin Hewick, The Musician, Sunday September 18th 8-11pm, £7 advance, £8 on door, our first show together since 1983!!!

Haven’t commented here for a while, the first gig I attended this year took place back in May, and I’ve been to a few other gigs over the summer which I hope to post more about.

But first, is it okay to mention a gig from end of last year? ‘Close my eyes I know its been a long time’, old news and something of an indulgence, but I always meant to mention this particular gig as it was a superb electro performance –

Laibach, Classic Grand, Glasgow 16th December 2010.

I’ve many albums by Laibach but I’d never seen them live and wasn’t quite sure what to expect from either the band, or the audience, if this had been the late 80’s or early 90’s I might have imagined rubbing shoulders with a lot of scary young skinheads in big boots and dark uniforms, however, although the Classic Grand crowd were mostly dressed in black I was one of the few (albeit natural) skinheads present there, and the audience atmosphere was completely of a mature and serious appreciation of the bands art.
In the midst of our unexpectedly cold winter the venue was totally freezing inside, making it the first time at a gig that I’ve ever wanted to stand close to strangers just for their body heat. While keeping my gloves on for the duration of the performance I was blown away by the sound of the keyboards and the rousing percussion, the music often had me leaping up into the air with my gloved hands clapping above my head in time to the beat.

A choreography of sound and projected visuals conveyed the worldview of Laibach in a powerful show of some of their earliest songs that they’d updated and reworked, (to coincide with an album they released via their website), and tracks from their more recent albums such as Volk were also played. I think I’d been prepared for perhaps a brash live show punctuated with growling vocals barking out stern commands, but it was to the contrary, granted, there was the occasional futurist instruction shouted out by megaphone from the bands very attractive female backing vocalist, but musically it was ‘orchestral industry’ rather than thrashing industrial. For me though the real surprise was from Laibach’s vocalist Milan Fras, the man with the distinctive raw voice, as I stood just a few feet directly in front of him he was one of the most pleasing elements of the evening, in the flesh he appeared to have the most serene and gentle face, there was no growling or barking, just a graceful and thoughtful countenance as he sang in his emotive way.


I’m stealing a line here from our John’s musical pals Rent-a-Ghost Box and Company, and thus its time to journey forward now with that beautiful descriptive term of ‘moving through old daylight’ and return back to 2011 –

Moon Duo, Captains Rest, Glasgow 14th May.

Yet another Moon Duo gig, and yet again (considering I’m a fan) I didn’t discover this was taking place till just before the event, it was sold out, but I managed to get hold of a reserve ticket. Guessing that the band must have made the big-time or something unexpected to merit the lack of available tickets I was surprised to discover that the venue was in fact underground in a pub cellar and therefore had a limited audience capacity. The Captains Rest looks like a tatty featureless drinking den on the outside but inside it’s a comfortable enough old place serving good food, I totally recommend a visit here as it s one of the main spots in Glasgow for seeing Indies bands and its particular clientele popping in for a drink seemed to reflect that ambience.

Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada (Moon Duo) were sat just five feet away from me having a meal, something they were also doing the first time I saw them before they went onstage at the Stereo venue gig last year, maybe this is a pre-gig ritual for the band?
As I sat there eating my own meal within almost arms reach of the band I began to suffer from that shy, or maybe presumptuous dilemma of should I say ‘Hello’ to them, or: ‘I love your music’, ‘I’m a huge fan, I’ve got all your records’, or perhaps ‘can I join the band’, ‘I can’t sing or play an instrument’, ahem, ‘Sanae, will you go out with me?

However, I decided instead not to bother them.

Ripley’s guitar rhythms and Sanae's Keyboard melodies and drum beats form the structure of Moon Duo, and this is still the best gig of the year so far for me, I love their onstage musical and visual dynamic. Ripley’s voice floats over the haze of his guitar sweeps and riffs as you momentarily grasp the lyrics before they are snatched far away into the ether, meanwhile Sanae buoy’s up the foundation of the magic with her playing, looking downwards at her keyboard her face is constantly obscured by her long hair as she blissfully grooves away at her synthesiser.

A quick mention here for the support act, Kim Ki O, two women from Turkey on keyboard and guitar who gave a very enjoyable performance. Sadly they appear to have some poor examples online of their music being performed live, but this song is one of their better moments:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nijg0ezuW9Y&feature=related

How To Dress Well, and Grimes, Arches, Glasgow 8th August.

Having arrived too early at this gig I decided to leave the venue for a while, when I returned the show had started and the intriguing sounds coming from one of the Arches cavernous areas had me racing towards the music, when I got to the source there was a woman onstage frantically moving from side to side behind a makeshift table on trestles, as she sang she kept swapping her mike between hands whilst tweaking some effects boxes and playing keyboard. My first impression was that it all seemed a bit haphazard and I wasn’t quite sure if this was just going in an experimental direction, particularly as the performer seemed like a lanky mad professor with windmill arms manipulating her set-up as her long hair bobbed about around her head. But after a few minutes I found I was responding to the beats and rhythms as lovely dreamy soundscapes were breaking through amidst the atmospheric singing and effects, and without doubt appearances had been deceptive and there really was something very good going on here. ‘She’ as it happens is Claire Boucher, otherwise known as Grimes, and so taken was I with her that in my mind the next day after the gig she overshadowed the performance of the main act.


Tom Krell is a young Brooklyn performer going under the name of How To Dress Well, he started the show by creating a sense of intimacy, and (as I later realised) fixing the mood is vital for his lo-fi style, allowing him to focus on his vocal and emotive performance. He came onstage casually at the beginning of the gig and mumbled a few quiet words almost to himself, then went back off to the side from where he sang slowly in an introspective manner to pre-recorded music which sounded like an old 80’s ballad, it took me a moment to figure out that he was singing parts of Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car.

”I want a ticket to anywhere, maybe we make a deal, maybe together we can get somewhere”, “anyplace is better, starting from zero got nothing to lose”, “Be Someone, Be Someone, Be Someone..”, are the words of a song I’d not choose to hear ever again as it never fails to bring back memories from the time of its release, in 1988 during a period of unemployment and living in a shared London house I had to listen to it being played over and over by one of my housemates shut away into the privacy of her room in a lonely dope-smoking mood, however, in the world of How To Dress Well things take on a blissfully deconstructed reality. Tom Krell’s art is the sound of a lost in the ether soul singer from someplace in the wires, distorted and partially re-animated, a ghost in the machine that’s been given human emphasis through the presence of his surprisingly excellent singing, and this start to the gig was all part of setting the scene, returning onstage his performance continued in a wistful and self-reflective vein.

Tom’s physical appearance almost seems not to match his heavenly voice and his sophisticated art, bespectacled and with an almost sloppy look he reminded me at times of one of those unlikely contestants that appear right at the start of the televised auditions for XFactor, usually they’ve popped in from their day job completely convinced of their talent, but their cringe-making efforts are cruelly derided by the judge's. Tom however, has a great voice, and he really puts his heart and soul into it, on one song he quite literally caused a lump in my throat, this was the last thing I’d expected at what I thought would be an electronic gig, but was actually more of an acoustically charged one.

There was one oddly amusing moment to witness that would have been more in place in a stadium rather than an average venue, when Tom, who’d spent much of the show apologising to the audience for a physical set-up at the front of the stage put there by the organisers - one which created an awkward distance between performer and audience - he suggested that we move this barrier. To my surprise almost all of the young audience around me responded enthusiastically, they practically embraced him in a group hug of sorts, requesting that he sing to them! And they all stood huddled together while he sang an improvised song minus any music.

At the end of the gig Tom gestured to a bottle he’d had in his hand (which I’d never noticed before), making light of the fact that he’d consumed the entire contents of his Jack Daniels during the show, something about this intrigued me, and stuck, making me analyse the performance afterwards. I began thinking that maybe the person who’d been onstage with that amazing voice and the ghostly sounding musical effects had actually been a persona, and that the ethereal How To Dress Well was really a constructed character, one performed with heartfelt sincerity.

How To Dress Well: Ready For The World -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aR0zxA4lK4

Gary Numan - Dead Son Rising Tour: Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton 18th Sept 2011.

Warning!! SPOILER ALERT

I attended last nights (Sunday) show at Wolverhampton. This was the fifth time I have seen Gary, and the fourth at this venue. As usual I positioned myself near the back but actually had a very good view - I think the attendance was down slightly on previous occasions.

Gary seemed to really enjoy himself in this performance, perhaps more so than on previous occasions. The lighting was superb throughout and really added to the atmosphere. He did his usual mix of old and new, with a good smattering from Dead Son Rising. The audience semeed to receive it pretty well, including the new stuff. Personally, I only got my copy of Dead Son Rising on Saturday so wasn't that familiar with the new material. I would have preferred it if I could have had a few more listens prior to the show. Highlights for me were The Fall, I Die You Die and Absolution.

Here is the setlist (I think): -

Resurrection
Down In The Park
The Fall
Haunted
When The Sky Bleeds
Films
Big Noise Transmission
Every Day I Die
Dead Sun Rising
Absolution
For The Rest of My Life
Noise Noise
'??????? - no idea on this one
Jagged
I Die You Die

Cars
My Shadow in Vain
Are Friends Electric

Overall another entertaining performance.

P.S. I notice that Dead Son Rising has entered the UK album charts at 87 - I imagine he will be happy with that considering it can only be had from Townsend and the shows at the moment. I wonder if he would have been better making it widely available straight away? (sorry I digress)

Nice to see Absolution back in the live set

The song you didn't know, from what I understand, as I haven't seen the tour is one of the new songs form the next album. I think it's called "Everything Comes Down to This".