Mozart meets the moshers

I first read this article in the METRO on the bus last week but have subsequently seen an article about it on the BBC site an feel that I need to add my ill-informed tupenceworth.

Esentially the article is about research carried out by Professor Adrian North from my old employer - Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, his research suggests that...

Musical tastes and personality type are closely related, according to a study of more than 36,000 people from around the world.

Now, I haven't read the research in any detail but it seems from the BBC's potted version of the research that music fans of all genres (with the exception of Rap and Country!) are "creative". I'm sure there must be a bit more to it all than that...

Current Buns

Trying to reduce the number of CDs that I buy - with a view to listening to the ones I already own a little bit more. But here are a few that I just had to have.

1. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
2. Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue (remastered)
3. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
4. Al Wilson - Searching For The Dolphins
5. Solomon Burke - Proud Mary
6. Andy Votel - Presents Brazilika (comp)

List of other people's lists

As you may have guessed I'm pretty keen on lists, so here is a list of other peoples lists of "cool" and less well known music.

"The 100 Coolest Albums in the World Right Now!" . Well according to British GQ Magazine in their August 2005 issue anyway

MOJO Buried Treasure

SPIN Magazine's 100 Greatest Albums 1985-2005

NME 's 100 Best Albums Of All Time by New Music Express (2003)

NME albums of the year since 1974

Pentangle - Manchester Palace Theatre

I was delighted to be given tickets for this gig by generous wife as I have been a fan for quite a while now - mainly as an offshoot of my obsessive collecting of Bert Jansch albums.

Reunited in their original form in 2007 to receive a Lifetime Achievement award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, and I guess the time was right for the worlds greatest (only) folk-jazz-rock band to perform again. The band have much name checked as an influence by the likes of Devendra Barnhart and a whole new breed of acid-folkers.

Pentangle took the stage with little fanfare and no support act. The sound was excellent and the playing (although a little off tempo in parts) was for the most part excellent too, with Jansch driving things forward musically and McShee's voice in excellent shape, if anything slightly sweeter and less shrill that on the 70's classics "The Pentangle" and "Cruel Sister".

Jansch swapped between guitar and banjo while Renbourn even had a crack at a bit of sitar at one point - conjuring up the late sixties a treat. The band were obviously enjoying each others company with any animosities well in the past.

My Bloody Valentine – Manchester Apollo June 29th

Okay here’s the back story. Back in the mid eighties there was a struggling slightly directionless Irish/London indie band called My Bloody Valentine they had released a few records and had even supported bands like the Soup Dragons – but they weren’t very good. They had a few line up changes, found their voice and signed to Creation. They released two of the most perfect feedback-drenched LPs ever recorded and some pretty splendid EPs too. “Loveless” almost bankrupted Creation and they were dropped. They signed to Island records but went a bit bonkers and didn’t release anything.

Jump forward in time, it is now 16 years since they last played live and 15 since releasing anything of substance. Support band (Sonic Boom’s) Spectrum have just finished their set of enjoyable, slightly trippy, drone rock that hasn’t progressed much since Boom’s time with Spacemen 3 – but then why change for change’s sake.

MBV took the stage without even acknowledging the audience and roared their way through tracks from “Isn’t Anything” and “Loveless”; I didn’t notice any of the fabled new material. I realised why the venue (or perhaps the band themselves) had supplied everyone with free ear plugs – the volume was intense – really intense and increasing as the band continued through their set. The vocals were pretty inaudible which left a lot of the crowd playing guess the tune a lot of the time – the power of the sound was phenomenal culminating in the 25 minute (seriously we were counting the seconds) mind-melting feedback storm known to fans of old as “The Holocaust” that was used as a segue during the final track “You Made Me Realise”. The only way I can describe it is like standing inside a rocket’s thruster during take off while being pummelled in the chest – many left during this sonic assault and even heard talk of people near the front collapsing and going off to be sick.

Looks like MBV are back … but only on their own terms. Magnificent

Matt Schofield Trio – Manchester Club Academy June 27th

Schofield’s ‘Ear to the Ground’ has been a bit of a favourite of mine this last year. I really like its mix of blues-rock jazz and funk, okay I will admit there isn’t much that is new in Schofield’s music, but his muse is definitely in the right place.

Schofield is a phenomenally talented blues guitar player and is often compared to Robben Ford for the way he mixes jazz lines and unusual chord voicings into his blues. The other thing that sets him apart from the usual blues plodders is the organ trio format (guitar, Hammond organ, drums) – recalling Jimmy Smith and giving everything a tight mod groove.

The trio’s first set was great, playing key tracks from recent albums, but things really took off after the mid set break. Schofield ripping through covers of Albert Collins' "Lights Are On, But Nobody's Home" and the Box Tops’ “The Letter” (by way of Sly Stone’s “If You Want Me To Stay”) allowing Schofield and the trio to demonstrate their impressive blues/jazz/funk chops, eeking out every last drop of emotion from his battered 70’s Strat. In short this was everything that the Robben Ford gig should have been (see recent review), the difference being that Schofield played as though he really meant it.

The Police – Manchester MEN – June 19th

Thankfully we arrived late enough not to have to endure more than a couple of songs from miserabilist ex chart-botherers Starsailor … so roll on the main event.

This is the first concert that I have been to in Manchester’s MEN enorma-dome (18,000 crowd capacity). Positioned at the rear of the stage with an excellent view of the back of Stuart Copeland’s head things did not bode well. Thankfully the large video screens with professionally mixed live footage from the stage gave me something to look at. To my mind this was not really a gig in the conventional sense, the lack of intimacy plus my “take it or leave it” attitude to the Police, meant that I did not really connect in any meaningful way with the music. This wasn’t helped by the fact that both Sting and Summers both seemed trapped behind vast multi-media workstations replete with autocue, effects pedals and probably some gizmos to do with the stage cameras – they managed to free themselves from this high-tech prison during the encores but by then the damage had been done. They played all the hits, so most of the audience probably left happy(ish) but to me it was a bit like watching a slick 2 hour PowerPoint presentation. Oh well, they are probably sick of the sight of each other again – so they won’t have to see each other for another 20 years.

Robben Ford – Manchester Club Academy

Very late review of this gig from May 18th

I bought tickets to see Robben Ford in an effort to improve my blues guitar playing or at least to inspire me further in that direction. For those not in the know, Robben is probably one of the most technically proficient blues guitarists on the planet and unlike many of his contemporaries, adds a great deal of colour to his playing by mixing in numerous jazz influences rather than relying on the same old Chicago blues clichés – in the early 80's Robben was in the seminal jazz-fusion outfit The Yellowjackets. Over the years Robben has been in demand as a sideman to many of the greats, working as the touring guitarist for Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis and George Harrison to name a few.

Club Academy is a pretty small venue one would have thought for a guitarist with such a pedigree, however it was only about half full by the time Robben and his band came on. It seemed like he was pretty much just going through the motions and didn’t really respond to the crowds shouts for earlier material – he just plugged his new stuff all night.

Ford is no singer and at best can just about carry a tune, however this lack of technical vocal ability was overshadowed by his cringe worthy lack of skill as a lyricist – which was almost the polar opposite of his guitar prowess… perhaps he should pursue an instrumental direction in future.

Edwyn Collins - Manchester Academy 3

Blogging this a bit after the event (25th April) as I have been on holiday in Cuba.

I didn't really know what to expect as I stood in the three quarter full Academy 3 waiting for the start of Edwyn's "comeback" gig, a shared sense of apprehension and anticipation rippled through the thirty/forty something crowd .

As you probably know Edwyn has been out of the game since Feb 2005 following a double brain hemorrhage which left him unable to walk and talk (playing guitar and making music were obviously completely off the agenda). Some of you may have seen the excellent BBC document ary "Home Again" which charted his remarkable journey towards rehabilitation.

The band came on stage with Edwyn missing. Roddy Frame, Edwyn's longtime friend and Postcard colleague acting as guitarist for the short tour quipping "he's still in the toilet". Eventually Edwyn slowly walked with the aid of a stick to his position, sitting on an amp centre-stage where he remained all night.

Kicking off with "Falling and Laughing" and "Blue Boy" from the Orange Juice back catalogue his voice when singing was strong but as idiosyncratic as ever - business as usual really. Most of the material was drawn from Edwyn's early career or from the most recent release "Home Again". Early on someone in the crowd shouted for "Felicity" Edwin explained that the song was one of James's (Kirk) and that he couldn't remember it very well.

Edwyn provided excellent versions of "Rip it Up" and "A Girl Like You" (including a face-melting solo from Roddy who was grinning like a Cheshire cat by this point in the evening) and covered all the bases fulfilling the partisan crowd's expectations.

Edgar "Jones" Jones and the Joneses - Manchester Academy 3

Edgar and his Jonses were on blistering form, racing through a set that encompassed Northern Soul, Ska, big band swing and 60's inspired beat tunes. Although the Joneses obviously don't take themselves too seriously, they are serious about the authenticity of their sound and are dedicated to keeping the true spirit of RnB alive (as defined here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R&B, rather than the definition that includes Usher and P Diddy).

The set came dangerously close to pastiche on a couple of occasions but Edgar steered things just the right side of embarrassment.

Some of the older readers of this blog may remember Edgar from Liverpool Stones/Pretty Things copyists The Stairs who once troubled my turntable with his Weed Bus 45 back in the early 90's.

Holy Fuck - Manchester Night and Day 2/4/08

Holy Fuck were apparently one of the highlights of Glastonbury 2007. These guys play analogue electronica but with a pretty serious rock attitude supplied by a tight drummer (sometimes HF play with two drummers) and bassist.

Over the course of a 50min set the band built up a trance-like, psych rock collage of bleeps and buzzes but never at the expense of the melody. I'm not sure who the band officially cite as influences, but to my ears Neu, Spacemen 3, Add N to X, some early Big Beat records, the BBC radiophonic workshop and perhaps even Space Ritual era Hawkwind (obviously minus Michael Moorcock's space poetry and Nik Turner's unrelenting yelping sax ) were all in the mix somewhere.

I will definitely be checking out their album as soon as possible, but I can't help but think that their choice of name might inhibit chances of pop stardom.

Pacific Ocean Blue - Reissue

I've just read in the May issue of Mojo that Sony are finally going to re/re-issue Denis Wilson's "Pacific Ocean Blue" - last available on CD back in 1991. About time too.

However I'm sure I have read similar stories over the years without anything appearing, so I'll believe it when I finally have a legit copy in my hand. Now where is that Neil Young rarities box set I've been waiting 10 years for ...

Albums of the year - My final selection 2007

Remember these are NEW TO ME or even some really old ones that I am playing at the moment. Okay my top 10

1. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away. Just about the most life affirming, no nonsense pop music on the planet at the moment, this isn't to say that it is in anyway trite or predictable stuff. The album got a bit of a panning in some quarters of the music press when it came out, some claiming that it suffered poorly in comparison to their previous efforts Oh, Inverted World (2001) and Chutes Too Narrow (2003), - don't believe them.


2. Radiohead - In Rainbows. I know, I know rather predictable. Radiohead reinvent/kill the music business with the release of their new one. This could almost be described as Radiohead's 'soul' album and has some sublime moments on it with Thom Yorke's voice is at its best on opening track "15 Step".


3. Burial - Burial (2006). It is isn't even the most recent one from the allegedly anonymous (William Bevan) London-based dubstep creator/producer. This was WIRE magazines album of in 2006, a dark doom laden urban masterpiece - truly chilling


4. Neutral Milk Hotel (1998) - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Another oldie. Although I have had the track "Oh Comely" on my MP3 player for a good few years now it has taken till now and the album's recent re release for me to investigate further. I can't put it any better than the All Music Guide who described the album as "lo-fi yet lush, impenetrable yet wholly accessible, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is either the work of a genius or an utter crackpot, with the truth probably falling somewhere in between." - A big influence on The Arcade Fire.


5. Scars - Author! Author! (1981) Originally released in 1981 and finally put on CD. This is a much underrated album by the Edinburgh post-punk band, a gem and definite must for fans of Joy Division and Joseph K. Don't be fooled by the back cover that depicts the band after a rather unfortunate Duran/Visage style make over. This reissue doesn't include perhaps their finest moment the Horrorshow/Adult/ery single that they put out on Fast records - shame.
   
6. Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime (1984). This must seem like a very odd choice to any US readers as this 44 (many of them under the 2 min mark)track album has been hailed as a classic since its release by the American alternative music press - virtually unknown over here (at least to my mates). My only excuse is that I was probably listening to The Smiths at the time. Has been described by the All Music Guide as "...one of the very best American rock albums of the 1980s..."


7. Battles - Mirrored. It's very difficult to pin down the Battles sound although they seem to draw inspiration from the US hardcore scene, prog rock, experimental electronica and perhaps some funk in there too. Stand out tracks Atlas and Tonto.
   
8. Panda Bear - Person Pitch. Sample heavy solo album released by Animal Collective member Panda Bear (aka Noah Lennox). This album comes on like Smile era Beach Boys put through some weird machine - he even sounds a bit like Brian Wilson in places. I'm still really getting into this but thought it deserved to make the list anyway
   
9. Tinariwen - Aman Iman: Water Is Life. Tuareg desert blues music produced by a gang of exiled Mali nomads living in the Western Sahara.


10. Various Artists - Larry Banks' Soul Family Album. This was the project that Dave Godin was working on when he died. Its a collection of some the finest soul cuts recorded for a number of labels by Larry and Bessie Banks and many cuts written, produced and composed by Larry for soul groups of the day such as The Exciters and The Cavaliers. The overall quality is so high it is difficult to pick highlights, however the two cuts by Jaibi - What Good am I and You Got Me are just incredible slabs of the deepest soul music you will ever hear. Those of you who already own the Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures series will not be disappointed.

Some Modern(ish) Psych Classics

1. Dungen - Ta Det Lugnt
2. Olivia Tremor Control - Dusk at Cubist Castle
3. Wooden Shjips - Wooden Shjips
4. Explosions in the Sky - The Earth is not a Cold Dead Place
5. Animal Collective - Sung Tongs