The soul girls take the Empire

11-14/3

Lianne La Havas

Four girls with talent and wit took over the Empire, unintentionally building up a four-day showcase for the female soul wave (in the broader sense of the term) currently splashing the UK. The ladies at the helm were none other than the much talked-about (and advertised) Lianne La Havas (11 & 12/3) and Jessie Ware (13 & 14/3).
But I first have to stress out, in all fairness, that I'm not a great soul fan. Unless we're talking Marvin Gaye or (to hit the 21st century roster) Lee Fields & the Expressions, I hardly have any patience with their soft rhythms and moaning vocals.

Jessie Ware

Their strengths? Both girls were unpretentious and generous performers, enthusiastically engaging with their audience. Their voices? Pretty darn engaging too. And their bands did a fine job supporting their ladies-at-the-wheel.
 La Havas's Forget (http://bit.ly/12UmCX5) and No Room For Doubt (http://bit.ly/z7cOVw) were beautiful live, as we know them on record. Ware, on the other hand, was a  different deal; I had to compartmentalize, admiring her vocals and the sensual backing rhythms - most evident in Running (http://bit.ly/Q8bkXF) - separately and at my own time. Despite her talent, most of her songs ring a rather trendy bell. She interestingly broke conventions with the numerous choral guests from Goldsmiths College, who further enhanced her vocals and added to them (and the general surprise effect) with an artsy dance routine.

Laura Mvula

Ware's opening acts didn't go unnoticed either: Lulu James was a capable performer with a big voice. But I'm worried that she visually relates to Rihanna more than, let's say, Sharon Jones, as if she belongs to hit pop videos rather than to the powerful soul she is vocally able to pull off. Both at the soundcheck and the show, the bass (whether that translated to bass guitar or James' vocal tone) echoed so bad it was downright deafening. I'm not sure if I should blame the plain bad sound, or the band's inflated attack on their material... Either way the result was unfair to promising singles like Closer (http://bit.ly/Y47VM8).
An original soul blend was what Ware's second opening act, Laura Mvula, was effortlessly able to capture. She dressed the beats with an interesting angle and a commanding presence. Her single Green Garden (http://bit.ly/W1C40c) is by itself a joy.
All in all, the above gigs are judged by their highlights. There was plenty of space for me, personally, to drift and disengage (I also couldn't help but notice that Ware's fans talked more among them than actually paid attention; but then a lot of them kept dancing...).
But hey, you can't win them all; especially when they drool over the mere sound of Black Flag.

Lulu James

Text by Danai Molocha, photography kindly borrowed from the web.

"I see scars on my honey-pie.."

This one-line chorus by Greek post punk band Venus In Furs, which defines their gorgeous dark ballad Scars (New Horizon, 1985) instantly clicked with a series of songs that speak about a broken child (this child often being a girl...).
"You are a blue child... tell me why you look so sad" sings Rory Gallagher on his timeless Moonchild, while King Crimson described how they saw their own Moonchild "...playing hide and seek with the ghosts of dawn. Waiting for a smile from a sun child".
The Modern Lovers claim "When you get out of the hospital let me back into your life. I can't stand what you do, I'm in love with your eyes". A psycho with eyes of fire.
Sonic Youth cover the Carpenters' Superstar, a tribute to anorexic Karen Carpenter - "..come back to me again and play your sad guitar".
Christian Death claim with a broken female voice "When you die I wanna die with you" and a suffering Patti Smith weeps "A fire of unknown origin took my baby away".
Edith Piaf sings stoically, at first, "Shine another glass, make the hours pass" in the English version of Les Amants d' Un Jour, trying to forget the two love-birds that just entered the hotel room at the back of her cheap cafe... And in the end she breaks that glass in frustration.

 So, here it is: My kinky compilation of Songs for a Broken Child..

Moonchild – King Crimson       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1m1l00eaDg

Hospital – The Modern Lovers     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91U4_UfhSSw

Scars – Venus in Furs       http://www.b-otherside.gr/en/catalog/15-venusinfurs.html

Die With You – Christian Death         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMdiJ_OsKSA

Superstar – Sonic Youth      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y21VecIIdBI

Moonchild – Rory Gallagher     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUbLtdqdg9E

Fire of Unknown Origin - Patti Smith   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_2KIUuShbM

Les Amants d’ Un Jour - Edith Piaf  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsyhabr-vUU

Stiv Cantarelli and The Silent Strangers @ The Apple Tree

Come down and meet the Strangers

 24/2/13

Stiv Cantarelli and Antonio Perugini in live action

Lighting up, both visually and sonically, an otherwise suspicious corner on Clerkenwell's Mount Pleasant, the Apple Tree pub invites us every 2nd and last Sunday of the month to Come Down & Meet the Folks. With Alan Tyler as host and general multi-tasking facilitator (I presume he's the guy cruising the main room for donations), this fortnightly music event delves deep into the dark soul of Americana, bluegrass, Apalacian, country, acoustic and folk music, educating/entertaining the lingering Sunday afternoon crowd.

Providing support, The Lucky Strikes

After a typically vigorous warm-up by the Americana-country quintet The Lucky Strikes, Italian trio Stiv Cantarelli & The Silent Strangers (http://scandthess.bandcamp.com/) are good to go, their brand new Black Music / White Music album (out on Stovepony Records) ready to inject new sonic sparks into their show.
If you're striving to establish a connection between an Italian trio and their ties with the Americana-blues sound, the story traces back to Stiv's first band Satellite Inn (who first signed with North Carolina's MoodFood Records) and most importantly, among other American adventures, his collaboration with Portland's esteemed Richmond Fontaine. It's bands like the latter that inform Cantarelli's alternative and eclectic repertory, as well as his introspective lyrics and vocals (as for his accent, you can hardly detect it's Italian).
"They told us we were playing the blues. Not sure about that..." is how he introduces the band and, indeed, the sassy guitar sound and the rich histories of the folk genre often interfere with their so-called blues identity. Still, one can't deny that such heated performances run parallel to the energy-ridden shows of The Black Keys - a trademark modern blues band.
Stiv stands (jumps, and dances) between stoic bassist Fabrizio Gramellini and raging drummer Antonio Perugini, fervently delivering everything from dark and gorgeous originals (Annie, Cornerstone Blues, Captain Blues, Mahogany Jones, Under The Red Star) to famous covers (Cowgirl in the Sand by Neil Young and the Crazy Horse).
 By that time the afternoon's lazy drinkers have realized they are not dealing with just another small pub band and they participate more lively, shouting songs, clapping and insisting on an encore; ultimately, convincing an exhausted but exhilarated Stiv and his backing band to come back.
The encore settled (an ironic choice of words) on extended covers by the Who (The Seeker), the Rolling Stones (Under My Thumb) and Bob Dylan (Red Line, Maggie's Farm), often unrecognizable in a collective jam. We eventually had to let them go... 
That was a lazy afternoon in the pub no more.


 Review and photography by Danai Molocha.

Notes on the NME Awards Shows @ Electric Ballrom & O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire

...And my award goes to...

21 & 22/2/13

Six bands, split between the Electric Ballroom (Beak, Savages) and the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire (The Cribs, ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of the Dead, Deap Vally, Drenge), lined up to play two of this year's NME Awards Shows. And here are the results - in order of preference:

Drenge The award for my favourite band in this two-day gig marathon of mine goes to brothers Loveless, a guitar-drum duo you'll probably find hanging around somewhere in Sheffield; unless otherwise hung up, touring the UK with Deap Vally. Rockier than the Black Keys, dirtier than the White Stripes, an all-around raw and decadent outfit eager to please those that like their noisy beats without the taming decorative paraphernalia. Go see them live - they deliver (https://soundcloud.com/drenge).

  Beak When Portishead's Geoff Barrow met Fuzz Against Junk's Billy Fuller (listen to the gorgeous Trane to Neptune here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A82pq3m-Cgk) and Team Brick's Matt Williams they made this intriguingly moody experimental-electro-krautrock trio, that lays low (supporting Savages?!) but delivers high intensity combinations. Only downside, the vocals tend to forget themselves into a flat sleepiness, throwing the balance off towards the repetitive rather than the addictive side. Their new single Mono/Kenn - out in a groovy light blue cassette tape you can't resist - delivers full vocal awesomeness, however, and the repetitively addictive instrumental parts remain steadily top-notch (http://beak.bandcamp.com/).

Savages I knew this band were the new it-thing before the show (and I knew why, they were great last time I saw them supporting Crime & The City Solution), but to get into the Ballroom and see an experimental dance ensemble moving annoyingly slow in the main room seemed downright pretentious. Maybe I'm missing the thought-provoking art-fart here, but it spoiled my mood - even more so when the band took its' time to come out (when the lights went off there was this music supposedly building up the atmosphere, like, forever)....
When they did eventually come out, this all-girl quartet were tight and dynamic: Singer Jehnny Beth, with her usual a la Ian Curtis stage dances and her slightly sobering Siouxsie Sioux voice (the resemblance is sometimes uncanny - I'd like to see a more original voice fit to a current band); introvert guitarist Gemma Thompson (unreadable a presence, expressive and loud in her guitar); vigorous bassist Ayse Hassan and crazy pony-tail drummer Fay Milton. Flying to Berlin, Husbands, I Am Here, Shut Up, City's Full, Hit Me, Fuckers (those last two are separate songs, by the way!) energized the crowd, who danced in the pit more and more as the show advanced. But I was still mad..

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of the Dead I never seem to like this band on a CD (nor vinyl, nor MP3); they sound too loud (sonic rebels without a cause), somewhat incoherent in their music messages, irritating. But live they're a different thing. Busy as I was with a continuous wave of distractions, they sounded pretty interesting in the background, at times dare I say fascinating, stage presence included. I tried again their latest release Lost Songs, in case I had misjudged them but, nope, they still sounded annoying (the guitar hook in Up To Infinity, though, is not half bad..). If you happen to bump into them live, give them a try.. (https://andyouwillknowusbythetrailofdead.bandpage.com/).

Deap Vally I had crossed paths with this Californian guitar/drums girl-duo before and I liked their style, mainly cause it's steadfast in character: '70s psychedelic rock with blues influences and an indie twist, a bit too hooked up in the above decade's grandiose sound (mainly vocals). They definitely have a strong stage presence, so if that sounds like your cup of rock you won't be disappointed (http://deapvally.com/).

The Cribs My sincere apologies to a band I was looking forward to seeing, thanks to their decade of history - and who hasn't danced Come On, Be a No-One and I'm a Realist in the clubs (I know I have)? Only I'm mostly allergic to bands that add poppy hooks and lo-fi sensitivity to my trusted punk rock - make it pop, make it lo-fi, but leave punk rock out of it. The crowd jumped in tune from side to side - I'm sure they had no complaints of course... In this Cribs-oriented NME cover they said, and I quote, "we've always been radical, idealistic, subversive and naive". First three things I applaud - maybe cut down on that naivete a bit?...(http://www.thecribs.com/official/)

Deap Vally

Text and Deap Vally pic (from 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch Festival) by Danai Molocha, Savages pic by Vangelis Markatselis, rest of pics courtesy of the web.

Muse @ Shepherd's Bush Empire

Stage supremacy

18/2/13

I was standing stage right, on a clear and straight path to Matt Bellamy's archetypical guitar outbreak. When the hard-hitting notes of Supremacy broke, one man seemingly filled the whole Empire. Delirium.
This is obviously how the crowd, who sold out the venue, felt simultaneously. In their thirties and mature in manner, mostly (apparently one of the One Direction guys was spotted at the VIP lounge), they came to support War Child's pre-Brits show - and did some cardio jumping up and down while they were at it.
Supermassive Black Hole took over next in pure mirth.
I was never a major fan of the band, yawning at their most commonly cited radio hits - when either Time Is Running Out or Starlight were on, time ran out for Muse on my stereo.
But Muscle Museum... that's a different story. I don't care if they're blamed for sonic pomposity - the more supermassive, superambitious and epic the muse in Bellamy's head, the better.
Knights of Cydonia got a diabolical Sergio Leone-esque harmonica intro that absolutely rocked it (now, that's what I'm talking about!) and United States of Eurasia translated to an excellent surfing of Bellamy's on the piano keys.
If Madness is considered a highlight of their latest release The 2nd Law - and I can't deny it's a tight composition - it's down there with Starlight for me in excitement. If we're to talk subtlety a la Muse, I much prefer the wandering Animals (also from the 2nd Law) or the dancefloor-boogie Panic Station (subtlety already flying out the window..).
Back on stage, Dead Star was a rarity (it hadn't been played live since 2010), a treat just for the War Child supporters with the paying mobiles; and at Plug In Baby we witnessed a wild Bellamy smashing his guitar, finally dumping it on Dominic Howard's drums (actually, he seemed to send a lot of things over those drums...). Second best stage stunt after his own power solos, and just before Chris Wolstenholme's bass with the groovy red and blue lights. 
When Uprising brought the first part of the set to a close, we were all high as a kite (on guitarlines). Better yet, they caused a real uprising coming out for an unexpected encore, extending their scheduled stage time to around half an hour - screwing the curfew and adding (presumably) the relevant fine to the bill for the broken guitar. They made a comeback with Starlight (which to me felt like vengeance), but I forgive them.
I like their ambition, even though it can get out of hand - even though it's not necessarily a synonym to true substance. It seems to me that they go out on a limb, because that's who they are and they back it up with confidence. Or nuttiness. Same thing.

 Fun here is challenging, it tickles your ears, provokes your senses and makes you dust off your old records to fill in the missing pieces of the music history puzzle. Who can argue with that?

P.S. Speaking of fun, the opening show by the Vaccines was traditionally enthusiastic. Only, in this case, you were more prone to succumb to a conversation about The Ramones and The Strokes rip-offs than actually party.

Text by Danai Molocha, pictures by the mega-web.