You are currently browsing the monthly archive for May 2009.
Pictures thanks to Toofonky
It’s no secret, I’m a bit of a Patrick Watsonite (as can be read here and here). I’ll refrain from an all out gush-post, although it is quite tempting as tonight was the best I’ve seen them yet. I was expecting a regular here’s-our-new-material gig with some of their tried and tested numbers mixed in. I was however treated to a surprise, because low and behold, when the screen with the tauntingly repetitive cartoon show lifted, it revealed the band was considerably bigger than usual.
Enter the Wooden Arms (incidentally the title of their 2009 album release), a string quartet with violin, viola and cello. Their fusion with the band made the new material sparkle all the brighter, a warm glow reaching all the way to the back of Melkweg’s captivated audience. This glow was enhanced by some great (low) lighting, making it all feel very intimate.
When time came for their tried and tested acapella song amidst the audience the set-up was different: Watson dons a Terry Gilliam-esque structure of megaphones towering over his head and we are treated to a bare version of The Storm rather than Man Under The Sea. It still works a charm.
All of the new material really worked well, with Kuster’s awe inspiring percussion at it’s vigorously beating heart, as could clearly be heard during his solo in Beijing. Other memorable moments included the intrumental Hommage, Where The Wild Things Are (with a tongue in cheek battle between the original band and the stringplayers), Machinery of the Heavens and oldies Luscious Life and Drifters.
On the down side I really missed the female vocals, particularly on Big Bird in a Small Cage. Maybe Dolly would be up for some guest performances?
Great news for all the Montreal indie scenesters who have been quietly wheeping since the split of their beloved Unicorns; welcome Clues! Clues consists of Alden Penner (ex-Unicorns), Brandon Reed (ex-Arcade Fire) and Ben Borden, Lisa Gamble, and Nick Scribner “from the Montreal art and music scenes” (according to the bio on Constellation Records’ website). Dirty guitars, weird lyrics, great drums, unconventional songs, catchy hooks, Montreal quirkiness, it’s all rather exciting.
They’ve taken a decidedly old school approach to promotion, gigging their way around the place to get the word out in stead of myspace viral marketing. Their self titled album came out last week and they’re touring North America in May and June.
Here’s hoping festival programmers have taken notice and a small European leg will be added to the tour dates over the summer!
Download two of their album tracks here:
Clues – Remember Severed Head
Clues – Perfect Fit
Watch the video for Haarp on the Constellation website and see the band perform Perfect Fit in LA last February:
As I lay whimpering on my sofa in root canal agony last night, suddenly there was a light at the end of the tunnel. Instant pain relief came in the shape of the fabulous Jools Holland, how I do love that show.
Last night’s edition was particularly brimming with musical delicacies, some I’d never heard of before (Asher Roth), some current favourites (Little Boots, Lisa Hannigan, Daniel Merriweather) and a treat in the form of Annie Lennox to top it all off.
Without further ado, here are the clips for your enjoyment. Three cheers for Jools!
Little Boots – New In Town
London based electropop princess and critic’s pet shows a new boy around town.
Asher Roth – La Di Da
Pennsylvania frat boy surprises with sharp and witty rap skills.
Lisa Hannigan – I Don’t Know
Forever “the girl who used to sing with Damien Rice”, but utterly irrisistible in her own right.
Daniel Merriweather – Change
Soulful Australian singer songwriter, you know, that guy from Mark Ronsons’ delicious version of ‘Stop Me’.
Annie Lennox – Little Bird
The amazing Annie Lennox needs no introduction. Fabulous piano driven version of her 1992 song Little Bird.
You might have notived brokenbranches’ recently rekindled affections for stadium rock bands of the nineties (I was very happy to score some tickets for Pearl Jam’s August show yesterday), and I can’t help but wonder: am I getting on a bit? I recently read that your music choices in life have pretty much been determined by the age of 30, after that people don’t really absorb new music anymore. This theory leaves me with 5 months to do my last discoveries, and so it was I ended up in Paradiso last night to whitness Adrew Bird in action.
For some reason I’d never really looked into Mr. Bird, I had heard a few songs, but they didn’t really stick. However, music friend C assured me he was well worth going to see live, and that’s enough for me. Paradiso was jam packed and temperatures had already reached tropical levels when second support act Laura Marling took to the stage. I really like her music, but her acoustic set sadly all but drowned in the noisy venue.
As a newbie to the Andrew Bird live experience it was great to see how he builds up each song on the spot. In under a minute he’ll easily record six loops to accompany himself, anything from a whistled melody to hand clap rhythms to a violin plucked tune, very impressive indeed.
It struck me as a kind of musical paint by numbers, with all the different elements in place amounting to great compositions. Andrew’s vocals seem more like one of the many elements of the composition than the main focus of the songs, which I found very refreshing.
A few of the songs that really struck me were Why?, Anonanimal and A Nervous Tic Motion Of The Head To The Left, but I will be definitely looking into more of his material. Luckily there were some committed youtubers out there to relive some of the evening, check out the clips below thanks to StartBeginning:
A Nervous Tic Motion Of The Head To The Left
Dr. Stringz / Fake Palindromes
Why?
I recently indulged in my listmania by making a brokenbranches “gigography”. If I can’t be a band with tour dates, I’ll make do with compiling a complete list of all the shows I’ve ever been to! It borders on OCD, but it’s also quite educational. For instance, I realised that I was about to have my sixth encounter with Adam Duritz & co tonight: Counting Crows.
Trusty CC concert friend MBr remarked that one of the first things we always talk about after their shows is “Adam seemed very [insert mood] tonight!” and I had to agree. The atmosphere of a CC show can vary significantly depending on the particular state of being of frontman Duritz on the night. And tonight we were in luck!
Adam and the other Crows all seemed in high spirits, which made for a very lively and energetic gig. It was the first date in a limited set of European tour dates and they were up for it. Cowboys is one of my favourite songs off their latest album Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings and a perfect set opener.
Soon after followed one of Hard Candy’s highlights, Miami, which Adam took his time introducing. “This song is about crushing the people you love. You can have everything and nothing all at the same time and if you make the wrong choice it all goes away”.
We were treated to a sturdy rocking version of Angels of the Silences, but towards the middle of the set there was a bit of a lull with Time And Time Again and a somewhat strained Mr. Jones. The beautiful Colorblind more than made up for this, although this song is almost too delicate for the vastness of Ahoy.
About half way through Adam greets the crowd, “It took me nine songs to say hello!”, and explains how he had a nasty fall just before the show, watching support act The Hold Steady, taking the skin right off the inside of one leg. “Now it hurts like fuck, and I do not give a damn! I’m not having my ass blown off stage by The Hold Steady (who’s praises he sang earlier), we are gonna fukcing rock!”, this was received by a massive roar from the audience.
The remainder of the set contained a few gems, Anna Begins springs to mind, and also Washington Square in the encore. Holiday In Spain was the other song in the encore, in which Adam managed to sing one sentence in Dutch (“Ik neem Spanje als besluit” in stead of “Take a holiday in Spain”), referring to the collaboration with Dutch band and friends Blof. He even said the Dutch Edison music award is the only award that sits in his bedroom and means anything to him “because my friends gave it to me”.
As the band stayed on stage when the end-of-gig tune California Dreaming came on and encouraged a singalong, I decided I’d be more than happy to give Counting Crows a seventh date on the brokenbranches gigography in the not too distant future.
Here are some great pictures of the show thanks to Hans Kreutzer, scroll further down for the complete setlist.
SETLIST
01 Cowboys
02 Children in Bloom
03 Miami
04 Up All Night
05 Angels of the Silences
06 Catapult
07 Time And Time Again
08 Mr. Jones
09 Colorblind
10 On Almost Any Sunday Morning
11 Anna Begins
12 New Frontier
13 Hanging Tree
14 A Long December
15 Come Around
———————-
16 Washington Square
17 Holiday in Spain
