Outside-out of Time

Malcolm Middleton’s new LP arrived ahead of schedule in the post yesterday and I thought I better write this up before my first impressions are gone for good. Because although first thoughts are that ‘Waxing Gibbous’ is a very odd album indeed, repeated listens are proving that it is a rewarding one as well.

The fact that WG was apparently not written as an MM album but rather as songs to be sung by other people may go some way to explaining the dizzying array of styles on display within the 12 tracks. Now his previous LPs have covered a lot of ground so diversity isn’t anything new but this time out he has paid scant regard to any notion of coherence on the record.

Indeed it goes further than a slightly disorientating collection of songs – Malky even switches genres mid-song on several occasions such as on ‘Kiss At The Station’ which starts off as a slightly doomy indie rocker – then confounds those expectations by injecting a calypso section midway through. Seriously.

‘Love On The Run’ meanwhile is a stew of mid 80’s power chords and keyboards, sensitive piano ballad and celtic rock. So if you’re still misguided enough to think that MM = miserabilist acoustica then WG should disabuse you of that notion once and for all.

There’s also something gloriously over the top about the arrangements with what seems to have been a concerted effort to extend the songs for as long as possible (half the 12 songs are over 5 minutes long). This is not a record lacking in ambition.

Despite the fact there are some great songs on here (single ‘Red Travellin’ Socks’, ‘Shadows’ and ‘Box and Knife’ readily spring to mind) initially I wasn’t that convinced it worked as a whole. There are snatches of songs which sound very similar to previous MM songs ( I can hear bits of ‘Up Late at Night Again’, ‘Follow Robin Down’ and ‘Blue Plastic Bags at different times) but more importantly the diversity gave the impression that the record is seriously patchy.

And yet after 4 or 5 plays I find myself drawn back to the LP again and again with other songs emerging into prominence. Which really just goes to confirm that previous records have taken time to reveal themselves fully and ‘Waxing Gibbous’ looks like it’s going to follow in that tradition.

A song from the record:

Malcolm Middleton – Box & Knife (from ‘Waxing Gibbous’)

[Buy it] [Download it]

It’s Never Really Over

I have mentioned my fondness for Sunderland’s  Golden Virgins before and it’s fair to say their break-up a few years ago was much lamented in these parts. Fortunately the Virgins’ main man Lucas Renney has continued to make music since the split with new songs regularly appearing on his Myspace and he is now almost ready to release his debut solo LP  ‘Strange Glory’.

To some extent the Virgins fitted into the ‘Manic’ aspects of this blog’s manifesto. But whilst their  uptempo stuff,  such as ‘Renaissance Kid’ and ‘I Am A Camera’, was great what really distinguished their sole LP (‘Songs of Praise’) for me was the slower stuff. Renney’s songs of love gone wrong were brilliantly realised and established him as a songwriter of considerable range and depth.

And it’s the more downbeat direction in which he seems to have headed as a solo artist. The other week he made the incredibly generous offer of sending out a 4 track sampler EP  from the forthcoming album for free to those who asked. My copy was quickly requested and duly delivered as promised last week and it’s been on regular rotation ever since.

Playing the CD for the first time, my first impression is that the low bit rate versions on the Myspace fail to do the scope of the songs justice. All four songs on the EP are of an extremely high standard and whilst musically it could hardly be less manic the emphasis on melody means that there is  something uplifting in the tunes.

The songs aren’t just cathartic musically but also (one imagines)  lyrically. The title of ‘She Gives Me The Chills’ could suggest a traditional love song but in fact it’s a tale of unrequited love with the singer feigning indifference to mask his true feelings.

Lead track ‘Oh My Pretty One’ is built on a simple motif and again things don’t seem to be going well.  ‘Oh my pretty one, who’s it going to be? I have gathered all these flowers for thee’  suggests that the flowers haven’t been enough to impress. The use of slightly archaic language is also slightly unsettling.

Quite often I find myself championing artists that I regard as seriously under appreciated. Undoubtedly the Virgins fell into this category but hopefully the upcoming LP will elevate Lucas from that status. Certainly on the evidence of the EP, the full album is going to be an essential purchase.

‘Strange Glory’ is likely to be available for download at some point in the summer with the physical release to follow, possibly early next year.

Go to Lucas’s Myspace to hear two tracks from the EP and the equally excellent ‘Think of Me Kindly’.

TV21 Album Launch

I was looking forward to TV21’s album launch for weeks. It’s been more than 8 months since I last saw the band play but, in front of a healthy crowd at the Voodoo Rooms last night, all expectations were duly met.

I’ve said it before but it remains just as true today – TV21 are simply a great live act and with the addition of violinist Emily Pepper has only broadened their sound.

TV21 play together because they enjoy it and that was never more true than last night. All five musician were clearly having a great time on stage and that successfully transmitted to the audience to create a brilliant night.

Appropriately enough the set comprised the whole album played in order followed by a few old favourites and whilst the format pretty much precluded many surprises for anyone who’d heard the record, it did illustrate just how many of the new songs hold their own in the TV21 canon.

I was going to list the highlights but the quality on display was so consistently high,  it’s genuinely almost impossible.

More people should know about this band and this record and hopefully the launch will at least be a start.

TV21 are playing an acoustic show at Avalanche in Edinburgh this Thursday (28th May) at around 5pm.

[Download the LP] [MPT Podcast -interview with Ally and Norman]

Earlier support came from solo sets from Adam Thompson from We Were Promised Jetpacks and Scott Hutchison from Frightened Rabbit. Adam opened proceedings with acoustic renditions of WWPJ songs before Scott joined him for ‘Keeping Warm’.

Scott then took over for a handful of FR numbers before Adam came back on stage for a final ‘Keep Yourself Warm’. Stripped back from full band versions, both sets of songs were great showcases for the strength of both band’s song-writing.

Listen to (and pre-order) We Were Promised Jetpacks debut LP ‘These Four Walls’ here. Frightened Rabbit’s live LP is available here.

Setlists

TV21

1. Scunnered  2. One Day In Summertime  3. When Cole Was King  4. Forever 22  5. How Did You Get It So Wrong?  6. Look To The Sun  7. Last Man Standing  8. In Another World  9. Too Late for Me Now  10. Through Different Eyes  11. On The  Run  12. End of A Dream  13. Snakes and Ladders  14. Tomorrow  E1. It’s Me  E2. Shattered By It All

Adam Thompson/Scott Hutchison

1. It’s Thunder and It’s Lightning (A)  2. Ships With Holes Sink (A)  3. It’s My House, It’s My Home  (A) 4. Short Bursts (A)  5. An Almighty Thud (A) 6. Keeping Warm (A/S)  7. Modern Leper (S)  8. Quiet Little Voices (intro!) (S)  9. Heads Roll Off (S)  10. Swim (S)  11. Poke (S) 12. Keep Yourself Warm (S/A)

I’ve got hunners of photos from the gig – some of them are starting to appear here.

And one of the gig highlights:

The Product of the Modern Man

A couple of singles have been getting a lot of play in the MPT household this week.

First off is Malcolm Middleton’s ‘Red Travellin’ Socks’ which was great when played live at the end of last year. Yet somehow the recorded version is even better zipping along with some added zest.

It’s something of an epic as well, clocking in at over 5 minutes, and the B-side’s not half bad either. And there’s a limited edition red vinyl version. All in all it’s a very promising trailer for the new LP ‘Waxing Gibbous’. [Buy the single] [Pre-order the LP].

The other single is one that I own by accident. When alerted to a free download of a track from the forthcoming Lord Cut-glass LP by the Chemikal newsletter, I obviously snapped it up straight away. Initially I assumed it was what it was supposed to be – an album track, ‘Even Jesus Couldn’t Love You’. But at Saturday’s Tigerfest show it became apparent that the song that was initially available (it’s since been replaced) was in fact ‘Look After Your Wife’, the lead single from the record.

Like ‘Red Travellin’ Socks’ ‘Hold On To Your Wife’ is a joyous multi layered extravaganza which not only features the full range of strings and brass that were on display in Dunfermline but also great lyrics and an ending that recalls both English folk and perhaps even a little ELO (which is a bit odd since Alun was supposed to hate the Delgados doing ‘Mr Blue Sky’).

The single’s not out until next month but I would urge you to snap it up when it becomes available. In the meantime here’s the performance of the song from the Carnegie Hall on Saturday:

Lord Cut-glass – Look After Your Wife [Pre-order the single and LP]

There’s A Lot of Jesus Going On

Monday night’s show at King Tut’s in Glasgow was actually the first time I’d  seen a proper solo Kristin Hersh performance. Whilst previously I’ve seen her play with a band as well as two of the Paradoxical Undressing performances (Glasgow and Edinburgh) last year, I’d never seen her play a full set armed with just a guitar. My expectations therefore were based somewhat around the marvellous Noe Valley Ministry set.

So in that light the show had a surprising opening. Firstly Kristin was playing an electric rather than acoustic guitar and the first few numbers were quite low key drawn from some of her recent material as well as her second record of Appalachian folk tunes ‘The Shady Circle’. This run of songs emphasized what a singular performer Kristin is – her performance was almost subdued with limited audience interaction, yet at the same time both intense and riveting.

Thereafter, starting with ‘The Cuckoo’, the set took on more varied moods with more chat before it finished with what almost qualifies as a run of greatest hits including the likes of ‘Gazebo Tree’ ‘Your Dirty Answer’, ‘Me and My Charms’, ‘Poor Wayfaring Stranger’, ‘Your Ghost’ and pleasingly (not just for me!) ‘Slippershell’. Yet there were also a couple of new ones in there as well just to keep you a little off balance.

With only one TM song in the main body of the set (‘City of the Dead’), the encore was given over to three Muses songs, all unified by a lack of something supposedly critical in the original recordings. ‘Mexican Women’ was first up (minus Dave’s drums) whilst ‘Walking In The Dark’ was, obviously, piano free. ‘Pearl’ meanwhile lacked the freak-out that a full band performance would bring yet all three illustrated Kristin’s strengths as a song-writer.

Like I say, I’m not quite sure what I expected from Monday – but I was pleased that I didn’t expect what we got.

Here’s a song from the show (with extremely muffled vocals):

Kristin Hersh – Me and My Charms (live at King Tut’s, 18th May 2009)

and the original recording from the ‘Hips and Makers’ LP [Buy it] [Download]

Kristin Hersh – Me and My Charms

Opening act was Beerjacket, apparently the music’s name rather than the performer’s (which is Peter Kelly). I was aware of one song ‘Belong In’ from the Mister Tramp collection ‘Off The Beaten Track’ beforehand and although he didn’t play it, the set was not dissimilar in tone. Echoes too in there of Evan Crichton.

Solo performers always fare better when they can inject their own personality into shows and that Peter managed that was a big factor in getting the crowd on his side. His debut LP ‘Animosity’ is out next month and could be well worth checking out.

Did Your Pony Not Love You?

Tigerfest – Chemikal Underground Night – Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline – 16th May 2009

The star attraction at the Chemikal curated Tigerfest show was undoubtedly the live debut of Alun Woodward’s solo project, Lord Cut-glass. Given that former Delgados bandmate Emma Pollock is well on her way to releasing her second LP since the split it may seem that Alun has been dragging his heels a little bit. However on this evidence the time has been well spent and the LP, due next month, should be a cracker.

As anyone with a smattering of knowledge about the history of the Delgados would suggest this was never going to be your average indie band debut. Whilst the Delgados pulled back from the chamber pop of their mid period records on ‘Universal Audio’ Lord Cut-glass reclaims that earlier ambition and decides that, actually, it didn’t go far enough. The eight piece band therefore features not justs strings but also trumpet, trombone and tuba!

Such multi-instrumental bands can be something of a nightmare live (think of the way the nuances on the Arcade Fire records were bludgeoned into submission live) so the fact that the sound was excellent was a triumph.  Rather than being an unholy mess the various instruments had the space in the mix to make their contribution to the band’s  lush sound.

The songs feel like  a natural progression from the Delgados. Certainly many of those were far more upbeat than say ‘Hate’ but Woodward has always had the knack of  producing a rush of melody in his songs and that remains as strong as ever.

The set was predominantly based on the LP but there was also a cover thrown in which emphasised the English folk influence which can be heard on the likes of the forthcoming single ‘Look After Your Wife’. Also his contribution to the Ballads of the Book LP, ‘A Sentimental Song’ gets an outing and overall the show serves as a timely reminder of Woodward as Scottish songwriting icon.

Things seem a little uncertain in the De Rosa camp at the moment with a couple of recent cancellations so it was just Martin Henry who opened the show with an acoustic performance. Normally Martin performs solo in quite intimate venues, but he managed to fill the much bigger Carnegie Hall with 8 renditions of De Rosa material.

Most surprising of all was an acoustic version of  ‘Cathkin Braes’, a song that Martin apparently hadn’t played solo before. This interpretation highlighted perhaps that it is the archetypal De Rosa song by being capable of being interpreted in a number of ways. Otherwise it was a strong performance.

Angil and the Hiddntracks were almost unknown to  me before last night and are yet another example of the breadth of the Chemikal canon. They’re a bit outside my comfort zone with a strong jazzy influence but at times you can make a link with dEUS’s more free form moments (assuming that these songs had been played with clarinet and saxophone rather than guitars).

So it’s an interesting 45 minutes or so with Angil in particular a strong performer, whther conducting his band or in his frantic actions when they periodically whipped up a storm. Manic jazz thrills, anyone?

This was a third gig outing for the MPT sprogs who lasted well given that the whole show was delayed and we didn’t get home until midnight. Sprog 2’s verdict was that he particularly enjoyed the first two acts best whilst Sprog 1 seemed to enjoy the whole thing.

De Rosa setlist

1. Evelyn  2. Swell  3. Army Dreamers  4. Steam Comes Off My House  5. Cathkin Braes  6. It Helps To See You Hurt  7. Hattonrigg Pit Disaster  8. Tinto