O Your Nut

Malcolm Middleton/The Pictish Trail – King Tut’s Wah Wah Sweat Box, 28th June 2009

If he stays true to his word, then there aren’t going to be too many more Malcolm Middleton solo shows after the tour to promote his latest LP ‘Waxing Gibbous’ ends. And on the evidence of Sunday night’s show at King Tut’s, that’s going to be our loss.

An understandable focus on the new record meant that a huge slew of MM classics were omitted from the running order, yet it was still a great show. What was perhaps more surprising was the fact that the songs from the ridiculously eclectic  WG, mixed in with some gems from the back catalogue, produced such a cohesive set.

By and large the main set featured the electric and dance numbers with acoustic songs reserved for the encore. Other than the opening ‘Red Travellin’ Socks’ which lacked a little zip, this was as good a show as I’ve seen from Malcolm. The new songs all sounded great with the highlights perhaps being ‘Box & Knife’, ‘Kiss At  The Station’ and the closing ‘Don’t Want To Sleep Tonight’ with the band locking into a nice groove for the latter.

Of the older stuff, ‘A Brighter Beat’ was recast with Jenny’s fiddle taking the lead melody whilst rare band outings for ‘Choir’ and ‘Speed On The M9’ were both very welcome indeed.

And despite what you might have heard, no, he didn’t finish off with a rousing cover of a soft rock ‘classic’ and he certainly didn’t say ‘I’ve been waiting to do this since I was 12’ before bringing the guitars back in.

All in all it was a terrifically good humoured evening with his deadpan wit much in evidence no more so than perhaps during ‘Ballad’ in the encores when his running commentary on the performance of the song seemed designed to crack Jenny up. And you know what? He managed it!

Setlist

1. Red Travellin’ Socks  2. Subset of the World  3. Box & Knife  4. Loneliness Shines  5. Kiss At The Station  6. Whistle  7. Shadows  8. Zero  9. Choir  10. Speed on the M9  11. A Brighter Beat  12. We’re All Going To Die  13. Blue Plastic Bags

14. Ballad of Fuck All  15. Carry Me  16. Don’t Want To Sleep Tonight  17. There was no last song, honest.

It’s worth mentioning the contribution of support act, the Pictish Trail to the main set. Contributing not just backing vocals to all the WG material he also delivered the rap in ‘Zero’ allowing Malcolm to avoid rapping in public for a second time.

PT’s own set, supported on backing vocals by Rozi Plains, was largely acoustic backed plaintiff numbers but was bookended by electronic numbers. Curiously it’s the first time I’ve been exposed to his music and it worked pretty well.

The Middleton tour continues in the coming days whilst he is next playing in Scotland at the Edge Festival in Edinburgh in August.

The Only Way Is Up

The opening chords of ‘Keeping Warm’ start to strum just as the train I’m on reaches the Forth Bridge. As a soundtrack to crossing the river it’s well nigh perfect – the magnificent instrumental passage almost dwarfing the sight of the road bridge.

It seems entirely apposite as well to be listening to ‘These Four Walls’, the debut LP by We Were Promised Jetpacks, on the move because in the three years since I first saw them play each subsequent gig has been a further step forward on their journey.

But whilst it’s been easy to gauge the fact that they have been moving forward ever since that set for Baby Tiger in 2006 (the second time I saw them they didn’t play anything they’d played on the first occasion), the steady introduction of new songs has meant that it has been hard to judge exactly where they were. T4W therefore offers almost the first opportunity to do so and the inescapable conclusion is that these guys have come a very long way indeed.

My only real concern in advance about the record was, based on the live shows, that it might be too relentless, too frantic. But whilst T4W retains the energy of the live shows the quieter passages, allied to the instrumental ‘A Half Built House’ and the closing acoustic ‘An Almighty Thud’, ensure that the record is a fully rounded experience.

So, yes, if you like your Jetpacks in frantic mode – there’s plenty for you here – single ‘Quiet Little Voices’, ‘Ships With Holes Will Sink’ and ‘Short Bursts’ offer that in spade loads. But I think my favourites are the songs which show that WWPJ are about more than just melody suffused energy.

The epic 8 minute plus ‘Keeping Warm’ with its astonishing intro demonstrates the band’s ability to build tension rather than go just flat out whilst ‘This Is My House, This Is My Home’ is another that builds from a quiet opening to devastating effect.

If I have a criticism of the record it’s that, just occasionally, it sounds a little bit over-cooked but even to voice that is over stating the point. Because ‘These Four Walls’ is better than I ever dared to hope. These Jetpacks are already flying.

[Buy/download the LP]

De Rosa Split

Bugger. De Rosa have confirmed that they have split up.

The news comes on the back of a handful of cancelled dates in the last couple of months. My first inkling that there was a problem came when speaking to Martin on the Sunday at Homegame. Whilst he wasn’t specific as to what was wrong, the subsequent cancellations were not unexpected but the lack of an official announcement allowed me to hope that things would work out.

Sadly that hasn’t proven to be the case and their extraordinary performance at Homegame has turned out to be their swansong. Looking back, I think they knew it. From a tired and emotional Chris announcing that they were going to play all night to Martin throwing down his guitar and leaving the stage early during an explosive ‘Cathkin Braes’ it was clear something was up. And it’s turned out to be more than just end of tour friction.

Although I’d heard  the name during 2006, I didn’t hear De Rosa until the Chemikal 087 compilation came out including ‘Cathkin Braes’ towards the end of the year. The song struck such a chord I bought the LP ‘Mend’ straight away and was delighted to discover the albumc onfirmed my first impression that this was a special band.

I saw them play live several times as a four piece and at times they were great but the shows only became consistently great when Andy joined to add keyboards. The five piece truly was a wonderful band and it was no surprise when the follow up to ‘Mend’, Prevention’  was equally as special, if somewhat different.

I actually think the best show I ever saw them play was at the Huw Scott Hall in Anstruther early on the Scottish leg of the ‘Prevention’ tour – it was a wonderful performance with crystal clear sound. The second Anstruther performance of the year at Homegame was something quite different – the sound of a band going under with all guns blazing. It was a fitting sign off.

For me, De Rosa have been the musical highlight of the 21st Century – I connected with the music contained in their 3 LPs (I’m counting Appendices) in a way far beyond anything else for years. In that context it mystifies me that they never managed to attain a greater degree of success.

Whilst I’m certain we haven’t heard the last of Martin Henry as a songwriter, at this time it seems more important to mark the demise of a remarkable band.

So – Martin, Neil, James, Chris and Andy – thanks for everything and I wish you all well in whatever you turn your hands to next.

De Rosa – Cathkin Braes (live in Dundee)

Post Electric

The fact that a new Idlewild LP has been released that may have passed you by since, so far, it has been self released in a limited edition of 3,000.

It’s an attempt, I guess, to make a living from their music in a different way so the ‘Post-Electric Blues’ LP has been supplemented by extras such as a selection of live tracks from their pre-Christmas King Tut’s shows and a pre-order only release track on the LP itself. It’s fair to say though that things haven’t run that smoothly – technical difficulties surrounded dowloading the live tracks whilst the LP itself was due around April but only appeared about 10 days ago.

It’s questionable too what the impact of selling the record to their most dedicated fans will have on potential record company interest. In this day and age, despite the band’s pleas not to give the songs away, it is inevitable that the record has leaked on the internet and that people will be more motivated to seek it out since, if you don’t have it,  you can’t actually get it legitimately  at the moment.

But what about the music? Well, I suspect that the record is the one that a number of longer term fans have been dreading for a while. There are no trademark crunching guitars and whilst it’s still undeniably a rock LP, PEB marks a shift to what you imagine is the sort of record that the band have been wanting to make for some time. As a short hand it’s much more like the second half of last LP ‘Make A New World’ than the first side.

The likes of ‘Readers and Writers’, with its catchy brass hook, and ‘City Halls’ betray something of a Hold Steady influence and illustrate that the record is by and large an up tempo beast. Having said that the two of the quieter tracks ‘(The Night Will) Bring You Back To Life’ and the folky ‘Take Me Back to the Islands’ are amongst the best tracks on the LP and repeated listens have shown that, shorn of the immediate riffage of previous LPs, the record has real depth.

I suspect that a few years ago Idlewild imagined that they would be quite a big band by this time rather than releasing limited edition sets without a record company. I’m not quite sure where that career path went astray (althoughI’m far from convinced that Idlewild are uncomfortable with their current status) but ‘Post Electric Blues’ demonstrates that the band remains more than capable of producing strong LPs.

Everything We Dream Is Clear

There’s something of a paradox at the heart of Sonic Youth’s ‘The Eternal’. Whilst like most if not all recent SY albums, it undeniably feels familiar, I’m finding that jumping to conclusions about these albums often leads me in the wrong direction. And despite the fact that, overall, this is Sonic Youth at their most direct I’m finding that I need some time with these records to truly make up my mind as to whether or not they are any good.

My initial reaction to ‘The Eternal’ was that it was a more consistent record than 2007’s rather patchy ‘Rather Ripped’ but one that lacked any real highlights. Repeated listens though have suggested that ‘The Eternal’ is not just consistent but also consistently strong.

A good example of that is that the ration of Lee Ranaldo songs is not just the usual one, but instead two. Lee’s songs are always amongst my favourites and ‘What We Know’ and ‘Walkin Blue’ don’t buck that particular trend (BTW when did Lee turn into Dustin Hoffman?). And so what if Thurston Moore seems to be able to knock out songs like ‘Antenna’ in his sleep? Am I really going to say I’m bored with great SY material?

Sure, there are one or two songs such as ‘Leaky Lifeboat’ whose shelf life isn’t likely to extend much past this record but the strike rate is pleasingly high, possible approaching that of ‘Sonic Nurse’, my favourite 21^st Century Youth record.

Undoubtedly SY face the same issues as artists of similar longevity – it’s well nigh impossible for them to make records that don’t sound like themselves. And if I have a gripe it’s the slight disappointment that they haven’t used Thurston’s brilliant and largely acoustic ‘Trees Outside the Academy’ as a starting point for broadening their textures. But it’s a minor point and we should be grateful that SY are still around and producing records as good as this one.

From their ‘Later’ appearance’, one of the LP’s highlights:

The Calm and the Storm

We Were Promised Jetpacks/Panda Su – Doghouse, Dundee – Wednesday 10th June 2009

My first trip to the re-opened Doghouse was the perfect antidote to a really shitty day at work.

The principal attraction was We Were Promised Jetpacks. Now I’ve seen the Jetpacks a good few times over the last 3 years ( I even saw them before they’d written ‘Quiet Little Voices’) but this was the first time I’ve seen them headline. And perhaps more importantly it was also the first time since they recorded debut LP ‘These Four Walls’.

It’s also the first time I’ve seen them play with people they don’t know down the front singing all the words (even though the LP’s not out until Monday).

The confidence that they appear to be drawing from the progress they’ve made in recent months was obvious and this was the best gig I’ve seen them play by some distance. And that’s saying something.

Helped by an excellent sound, they were focussed right from the opening ‘It’s Thunder, It’s Lightning’. Highlights included a spectacular ‘Keeping Warm’, and single ‘Quiet Little Voices’.

But it’s perhaps the likes of “This Is My House, This Is My Home” which emphasises the real potential of these young musicians.  A thoughtful piece when Adam played it solo the other week, this was much closer to the recorded version building from the quiet opening to a thunderous climax. Fantastic.

Having pretty much missed opening act, Make Sparks, main support Panda Su offered a dramatic contrast to the Jetpacks, representing the calm before the storm. Although a three piece on this occasion, the focus was very much on Su and her acoustic guitar. First impressions were quite striking given that all three band members were wearing panda make-up.

But the make-up wasn’t there as something to hide behind because Su held the audience’s attention well throughout an excellent set, which at times was reminiscent (for me at least) of Suzanne Vega. Definitely someone worth keeping an eye on.

The video for the Jeptpacks’ new single:

And if you go over to Panda Su’s Myspace you can see a song from her set on Wednesday.