Superhero Songwriters

Teenage Fanclub / Zoey van Goey / We Were Promised Jetpacks – Fat Sam’s Live, 27th October 2008

We Were Promised Jetpacks

Myself and Teenage Fanclub go back a long way but this is the first time I’ve paid to see them as headliners since the early 1990s. In fact I don’t think I’ve bought a Fanclub LP in 10 years, largely because once they’d shaken off their early grunge influences, I started to find the records a bit predictable. But the chance to see them again playing with We Were Promised Jetpacks in support was too good an opportunity to miss.

Given that they’d been getting second billing in the pre-gig publicity, it was a surprise when Jetpacks were first on stage at about 8pm. The crowd was undoubtedly less than they would have hoped for but if they were bothered by it, it didn’t show in the performance.

It was a typically energetic performance and it seems that the Jetpacks are now two thirds of a way towards a third generation set. Only ‘Ships With Holes Sink’ and the mighty ‘Quiet Little Voices’ survive from last year’s set and there’s no room for either ‘Moving Clocks Run Slow’ or ‘Let’s Call This A Map’.

Despite their dazzling growth in the last couple of years there’s no sign of their ambition being limited as they prepare to record their debut LP. In fact, whilst the newer songs remain recognisably WWPJ, they just seem to ignore conventional boundaries and come up with something different every time. That’s best illustrated perhaps by opener ‘Keep Warm’ with its extended intro and abrupt time change. An all too brief 6 song set ended with the aforementioned ‘Quiet Little Voices’.

Zoey van Goey

Since I last saw Zoey van Goey they seem to have acquired a bass player in a De Rosa t-shirt, which can’t be a bad thing but they surprise me a little with their opening tune, a thoughtful folky number. Their fun side however doesn’t remain in check for long and the remainder of the set is much more how I remember them from last year – bright, perky pop music. The between song banter (principally a story told in serial form involving drunken student super heros) fits in perfectly with the music. As a live experience I think they’re good fun, but I’m not sure that the records wouldn’t be a little twee for my tastes.

Teenage Fanclub

The headliners’ set made a particularly strong case for Teenage Fanclub as one of Scotland’s finest guitar pop bands. The songs throughout were superb and I was a little surprised that a) I knew more than ¾ of the tunes and b) that I could identify the LPs they’re taken from without thinking despite not listening to many of the records in recent years.

If there’s a criticism then it was that the set felt a little one paced although the introduction of the likes of ‘Sparky’s Dream’ and ‘Radio’ in mid-set, did give the whole show a welcome boost. But overall it’s an excellent show to complete a good evening.

If there’s a finer song in the Fanclub back catalogue than this next one, which was the highlight last night, then I’ve yet to hear it:

Teenage Fanclub – Alcoholiday (from ‘Bandwagonesque’)[Buy the CD] [Download the CD]

Doo Doo Doo Doo, Doop Doobie Doo

Tennents Mutual Season 1 – Malcolm Middleton / Los Campesinos! / Eagleowl – Fat Sam’s Live – Thursday 23rd October 2008

For some reason I expected this to be a solo acoustic Malcolm Middleton show, but, no, it turns out to be a band show after all. Which is both a pleasant surprise and a slight disappointment since I had been psyching myself up and looking forward to hearing a full solo set.

Whilst it’s Malky’s regular band, on stage roles have been streamlined with Jenny forsaking guitars and keyboards to stick to the violin all evening and Stevie gravitating from the piano for the earlier songs to guitar.

In terms of content the set’s pretty much a run through of his greatest hits with a couple of new songs thrown in for good measure. Much more so than Glasgow last year, it’s a traditionally paced set, building from the slower opening three songs towards the better known up tempo numbers.

The opening is quite downbeat but the pace started picking up with the first new song (which may or may not be called ‘Travelling Socks’) which is a jaunty folk influenced pop tune.

From then, with the exception of an exceptional ‘Devastation’, it was pretty much up tempo fare with most of the singles getting an outing. In this exalted company it’s hard picking out highlights but a gargantuan ‘Death Love Depression Love Death’ was one whilst ‘We’re All Going To Die’ retained a pleasing clatter even without keyboards.

That run of songs was brought to an end with the second new song of the evening, which initially seemed quite upbeat and poppy before a slower, extended middle section which led back into the “Doo Doo Doo Doo” chorus.

A spectacular ‘Loneliness Shines’ led straight into a surprising, but effective, choice of set closer in ‘Love Comes In Waves’ from ‘Sleight of Heart’, which even came complete with a lighter held aloft moment from one of the enthusiasts down the front.

Disappointingly there was no encore, perhaps because the reaction throughout was in the main polite rather than unrestrained. But since the whole thing actually felt quite self contained it wasn’t a shattering disappointment. Even though they didn’t play ‘Superhero Songwriters’, ‘Up Late At Night Again’, ‘Devil and The Angel’, ‘Follow Robin Down’ and ‘Monday Night Nothing’ to name but few. Actually put like that, it’s a MASSIVE disappointment!

Malcolm Middleton Setlist

1. Blue Plastic Bags  2. Four Cigarettes  3. Crappo The Clown  4. Travelling Socks (?)  5. Devastation  6. Break My Heart  7. A Brighter Beat  8. Fuck It I Love You  9. We’re All Going To Die  10. Death Love Depression Love Death  11. Morning Shadows, Afternoon Shadows, Evening Shadows, Night-time Shadows (?)  12. Loneliness Shines  13. Love Comes In Waves

Earlier, I’d very much enjoyed my second encounter with Eagleowl. Numbering four band members this time out, the five song set, most of which featured in Edinburgh, was all too short. The extra member on violin and mandolin gave the set a lighter more uptempo feel although there was the down side that there was less of Bart’s guitar to enjoy.

In between were Los Campesinos! who arguably got a better reception than the headliner. Sometimes I think that a whacky exclamation mark is the sign of a band trying too hard and unfortunately that seems to be the case here. Their live approach was fairly percussive, they struck rather than played a lot of the instruments, and their singer shouted rather than sung for the most part. And over the course of 45 minutes that lost its appeal.

Now I’m not saying that LC! are without merit, far from it. The funny thing is that I think I might enjoy the records more than the live show. But it was on the rare occasions that they departed from the default, aggressive modus operandi that I enjoyed them most, particularly on the song three from the end (‘You! Me! Dancing!’, I reckon) which not entirely coincidently featured the singer singing rather than shouting. And whilst the band as a whole seemed to be enjoying themselves throughout, the singer actually smiled less than the headliner, which takes some doing!

Here’s a bootleg of a Malky live favourite:

Malcolm Middleton – Loneliness Shines live (original version on ‘Into The Woods’) [Buy the CD or download the tracks here]

If you’re looking for a record of the MM solo experience then get the Live at Bush Hall CD from here.

Manic Pop Thrills presents – Update

I’ve finally managed to complete the bill for the De Rosa show on 21st November in Dundee and I’m really excited about the two bands who will complete the bill.

The Wildhouse can probably track their parentage way back to the Velvet Underground and, based on the tracks on their Myspace they admirably fit the Manic Pop Thrills manifesto. And they’ve got a song named after dEUS mainman Tom Barman. I’m really looking forward to seeing them in a live setting.

Having got the Wildhouse on board there are plenty of good noisy Dundee bands who could have completed the bill. But I wanted somethhing different and it’s fair to say that Esperi come from a different angle entirely. They can perhaps be described as acoustic post rock but the songs on their Myspace just jumped out at me and said this was the final band.

I genuinely think this is a marvellous bill – now all I have to do is persuade the citizens of Dundee that this is the case!

Game on.

Lost In Music

To be honest, this emusic subscription hasn’t quite worked out the way I’d expected. It was supposed to be a cost effective way of listening to a range of new music. But I am just intimidated by the sheer choice on offer – how do you sift through the thousands of artists and find what you like?

Now to some extent it has worked, but I’ve used the subscription to catch up on a number of things I’d missed out first time around much more than I’d expected.

One of the more positive experiences of this is ‘Castle of Crime’ by Lakuna. When Throwing Muses broke up first time around in the late 90’s, Lakuna was drummer Dave Narcizo’s solo project. I was always curious but never motivated enough to get the CD when it appeared.

It sounds nothing like Throwing Muses (although both Kristin Hersh and Bernard Georges feature on it) but it’s actually pretty decent. A largely electronic LP featuring plenty of samples, it’s an enjoyable piece of music, not surprisingly featuring a lot of percussion.

At its best, such as on single ‘Lemongrass’, it’s quite exhilarating whilst the worst it ever gets is as relatively ambient background music.

This is a genre I seem to dip into due to other people’s side-projects (Will Sergeant’s Gilde readily comes to mind listening to ‘Castles of Crime’). And I don’t really think that these guys are necessarily producing the best the genre has to offer. Maybe I should try and find records like this by other artists? Any suggestions out there?

Lakuna – Lemongrass (from ‘Castles Of Crime’) [Download it here or here]

Wealth and Hell Being

I’ve written about the late Guided by Voices on more than 1 occasion but until recently had never been tempted by mainman Robert Pollard’s solo career. That’s down largely to his reputation for being erratic and lacking a modicum of quality control.

But his summer LP ‘Robert Pollard’s Off To Business’ garnered respectable reviews and since I was going through something of a drought in terms of new releases, I decided to take the plunge.

The first thing to strike me about ‘RPOTB’ is that it lacks the immediacy of the GBV LPs I own. Unusually for an LP involving Mr Pollard there are no obvious stand-out tracks on the LP to drag you back and suck you in.

Nonetheless perseverance pays off in this instance. That the songs aren’t necessarily desperate to make a quick impression may serve the record well by ensuring longevity. In particular side 2 packs a pretty mean punch.There’s the odd nod to contemporaries (‘Gratification to Concrete’ features a synth riff which wouldn’t be out of place on the Flaming Lips’ ‘At War With The Mystics’) but Pollard’s sonic template remains on familiar ground owing a big debt to the ’60s.

Here’s a track from the LP:

Robert Pollard – ‘Wealth & Hell Being’ (from ‘Robert Pollard Is Off To Business’) [Buy the CD] [Download the LP]

Dear Me!

British Sea Power / Film School / Sparrow & The Workshop – Fat Sam’s Live, Dundee – 10th October 2008

The British Sea Power bill at Fat Sam’s in Dundee turns out to be an entertaining three hours or so.

Sparrow and the Workshop are onstage when I arrive and the first thing that strikes me is how clear the sound is. Given that the last time I saw an opening band at Fat Sam’s the sound was awful, this is encouraging. S&TW’s mellow brand of Americana sets things off on a good footing and they prove they can noise things up successfully on the last couple of songs too.

Next up are Film School. There had hardly been anyone present for S&TW and whilst the crowd was starting to build during Film School the main floor in front of the stage is a no-go zone due to one exuberant punter flinging himself around. At one stage he throws himself at the crash barrier and somehow manages to prevent himself tipping over the barrier. The bouncers have seen enough and he’s ejected (eventually) which seems a little harsh although it has the benefit of allowing the crowd to occupy the floor in safety

Turns out the band are located somewhere between vintage Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth and their half a dozen songs are excellent. The only downside is that the vocals are buried somewhat in the mix but it’s not clear whether that’s by accident or design. I’m impressed so I buy the CD on the way out.

Which leaves the headliners. Worryingly the first couple of numbers recall Idlewild’s sound from a year ago with the guitars a tad muted to say the least. But that’s quickly rectified. Thereafter the show confirms my impressions of the band.

There’s loads of good, maybe even great, songs – ‘Lights Out For Darker Skies’ and ‘Canvey Island’ to name but 2. They can kick up storm, yet they have some nice slow burners (‘North Hanging Rock’). I’m impressed that they play the instrumental ‘The Great Skua’ from ‘Do You Like Rock Music?’. But overall I feel that the whole thing’s a little controlled. For whatever reason I suspect that I’m going to come closer to liking this lot rather than love them.

I ‘m dying for something a little more off the cuff. And then the encore just explodes into pretty much total chaos. This is sparked by the appearance of the BSP bear (in this case I think it’s Film School’s guitarist) and what follows is some crowd surfing on the part of the band (although the guitarist actually wears protective head gear!), the singer becoming friendly with his owl and then for good measure some handstands. All this time the band maintain a cacophony in the background (although since it seems to continue after most of them have left the stage there seems to be an element of backing tracks involved.)

It’s a spectacular end to the set. My only regret is that they couldn’t have sprinkled some more unpredictability earlier on but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my evening and come away with a new CD. That seems like a result.

British Sea Power – Lights Out for Darker Skies (from ‘Do You Like Rock Music?’) [Buy the Cd] [Download it]

Photos from the show here.

Glasgow review here courtesy of the Vinyl Villain.