Good day, dear readers. After the spleen-vent of the last post on idiots at gigs, it's time to get 78s Don't Wobble back on track! What better way to do that than introduce you to the sunny pop of Denmark's Treefight For Sunlight.
While they might have a name that's really not very good at all, "What Became of You and I" uproots Scandinavia and pops it down on the west coast of the USA. Get ready for some harmonies, hooks a-plenty - and prepare to forget all about making that snowman! Enjoy below at Soundcloud:
I had never intended for this blog to be an opportunity to have extended rants on any particular subject, or to be overly negative, but I'm afraid I'm going to have a short verbal attack on some behaviour I unfortunately witnessed on Friday evening during The National's gig that I blogged about in my last post.
Live music is very often a particularly masculine place to be, but that doesn't excuse acting in an offensively misogynistic manner. I'm really not a fan of people talking during gigs - well, during the songs specifically, obviously - and certainly not extended conversations that last the duration of two whole songs. What is so important that it can't wait until 11pm to have a chat about it?
Anyway, the talking part leads me to this: during The National's gig an extended conversation was taking place between two men in a group of around five, just behind me. A young woman next to me turned round, quite within her rights, and asked politely if they wouldn't mind lowering their voices. What followed made me embarrassed to be a man. Rather than taking on board the polite request, the young woman was subjected to a volley of abuse, ranging from telling her that the stage was in the other direction, that she was a "lesbian" and a "spastic", to shouting out requests for "Smack My Bitch Up". Oh, how very droll. She was, as well as myself after gently supporting her request for the men to be quieter, either spat upon or had beer thrown/flicked in her direction.
This kind of behaviour is, for me, completely unacceptable for grown men to be indulging in. In fact, it would be seen as embarrassing if it happened in a school playground. Thankfully, it occurred late enough in the gig as not to spoil the experience for myself or, hopefully, the young woman who was the target for the abuse.
In short, I hope those men enjoyed their night. Spending £20 on a ticket, ignoring the band for the majority of the gig, shouting out inane request and indulging in sexist, bullying antics. You make me very proud to be a man. Feckin' idiots.
Thankfully, this sort of behaviour is extremely rare at gigs I've been to over the past 18 years and I hope it continues to be the exception rather than the norm. It may seem pedantic, but gig etiquette does matter - especially if it ensures that people are allowed to feel comfortable in their surroundings.
Last night I had the absolute joy/pleasure/honour of watching The National, supported by Phosphorescent, at Glasgow's o2 Academy. This may have been the best three hours of my gig-going life.
A word, first, for Phosphorescent. Matt Houck and the boys played a blinder, Brian. This is the sound of a band finding their voice out on the road, taking the songs from their recorded form and expanding them in a live setting, going from country crooning to all out jamming. Special praise goes to the versions of "Wolves" "Los Angeles" and "Dead Heart".
Onto The National. I think I've made it clear in this blog before that I see this band as the finest working in music today. Last night's performance only served to back me up on this assertion. From the word go, it was a simply incredible experience. Beginning with "Runaway" from High Violet, the brooding five of The National (ably supported by two horn players and Thomas 'Doveman' Bartlett on keys) produced an epic set with endless high points.
There was a thunderous version of "Bloodbuzz Ohio", a beautifully chiming "All The Wine", a storming run through "Conversation 16'......I could go on, and I will.
Matt Berninger clambered into the audience for an euphoric version of "Mr November", balanced on the barriers for for a passionate "Terrible Love" and an "England" that far surpassed the recorded version. There was also a quite glorious and gorgeous version of "Slow Show", a personal favourite of mine.
However, the highlight was the final song of the encore. The band asked that no-one talked, but they could help sing along, for a microphone-less acoustic version of "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks". Completely unaided by amplification, you could hear a pin drop as The National performed the song, with help from the Glasgow crowd. It's a moment I will never forget, the emotion and euphoria coursing through the auditorium, leading to one of the finest musical moments I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing.
I can't praise The National enough. Believe me, I'm trying.
While Kanye West might be an egotisical chump (for "might be" read "is"), he does somehow manage to produce - in between schooling George Bush, Matt Lauer and Taylor Swift on just how hard it is being a rich man with endless lackeys on hand to do your every bidding - some absolutely killer tunes.
"Monster" is one such tune. Okay, it sounds like Kanye whingeing about how fame and money aren't all they're cracked up to be (really?) but it's truly brilliant and features the best rapping you'll hear all year courtesy of Nicki Minaj. Here we go:
Justin Vernon of Bon Iver also appears on this track somewhere. He's fast becoming one of the most interesting, hard-to-categorise guys out there, what with the sparse and beautiful folk of Bon Iver, the 4AD stylings of Volcano Choir and the blue-eyed soul of Gayngs all under his belt.
Witness Mr Vernon rockin' it live with West and Minaj via Pitchfork.
Question: how does one go about writing a concept album about the US Civil War?
Answer: make it epic, and loud.
Titus Andronicus make rabble-rousing punk rock, forged in New Jersey, and moulded into the crowd-pleasing form that presented itself to me last night in the bowels of Oran Mor, Glasgow.
Patrick Stickles led his band of revolutionaries through a smile-widening, ear splitting set list that took in the high points of The Airing of Grievances and The Monitor. At time sounding like The Pogues if they'd listened to Dischord Records growing up (the band admitted to a collective love of classic Scots rockers Big Country), at other times channeling the spirit of Springsteen - not, thankfully in the trite ways displayed by The Killers and, to a lesser extent, The Gaslight Anthem in recent years - they were never anything less than a thrilling prospect.
A word has to be saved for guitarist/violinist Amy Klein, who has to be the happiest band member I've seen in a long time, all blissed-out smiles and Tigger energy, and an absolute demon on guitar. Man, if I was in a band I'd have a Gibson SG as slung by Klein and Stickles last night. Cool as f.....ahem.
If I had to pick some highlights from a performance that was, quite frankly, full of high-energy from start to finish, I'd go for "Fear and Loathing in Mahwah, NJ" which features the best "FUCK YOU" kiss-off you'll hear all year, "No Future", "Four Score and Seven" and of course "A More Perfect Union":
It took friend and fellow blogger Colin Bell over at It's Bloggerin' Time to point it out to me, but 21st November marks a year of blogging here at 78sDW!
It's been an interesting old year, and to celebrate the anniversary I'm only going to post a short blog. However, what I'm leaving you with for today is a song that's extremely close to my heart for personal reasons, that always leaves me with a smile on my face and, in the words of John Michael Stipe, goes out to the one I love.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Spoon with "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb".
One bloomin' year! Here's to a more prolific second year, and thanks so much to everyone who has taken the time to read. I really do appreciate it.
I've been a fan of The Walkmen ever since the collapse of the late, great Jonathan Fire*Eater led to three of their members moving on and forming a new band.
Matt Barrick, Paul Maroon and Walter Martin joined up with Peter Bauer and singer Hamilton Leithauser to release Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone, Bows + Arrows, A Hundred Miles Off, You and Me and now, Lisbon.
I first saw The Walkmen in King Tuts, Glasgow, in 2002, supporting Tanya Donnelly (remember her?) nd the brilliant Mary Lorson of Madder Rose. They absolutely blew her out of the water, my abiding memory being of the towering Hamilton Leithauser hanging on to the rafters in an attempt to avoid banging his head on the roof. Since then, the band have just got better and better.
Best know for the pulsating, thrilling "The Rat", the band's palette has added a bit more colour over the years, leading to the swooning, swinging songs found on You and Me, and more of the same can be found on Lisbon.
Apparently taking its inspiration from Sun Records, Lisbon is an eminently sad sounding record, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable. Leithauser sounds as world-weary as ever on openeing track "Juveniles", his throaty, lived-in voice still calling to mind Bob Dylan and Lou Reed, but with that extra bit of fire.
You can understand the references to Sun in post-release interviews as the record sound fresh, crisp, immediate - like it was recorded in your own front room. The mariachi-style horns found on previous records return again on "Stranded", "Victory" reaches epic levels during the chorus, and the drums are always pounding and in-your-face.
Throughout, Leithauser's voice is a reassuring hug telling you that everything will be fine, contrasting with the music which at turns rattles and soothes, taking the listen on drunken, lovelorn carousing through the streets of New York.
In the words of Hamilton Leithauser, this is the only album of "power shuffles" you'll need all year.
It's been a loud month so far in the 78s household.
First you get my Nuggets top ten, now you get the first bunch of tunes from riot grrrl veterans/supergroup (delete as appropriate) Wild Flag. It even includes a cover of The Standells' "Dirty Water". How's that for joined-up blogging?
In other rockin' "news", I may be a latecomer to Australian rockers Eddy Current Suppression Ring, but I picked up their latest release Rush to Relax recently, and it's an up 'n' at 'em treat. Here's a short blast:
Nuggets is the story of a transitional period in US Rock n Roll, covering three rollicking years from 1965 to 1968. It was punk rock before punk was invented; it was garage rock long before the existence of CBGBs, and it was psychedelic before Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd et al jumped on that particular bandwagon.
Conceived by Lenny Kaye of The Patti Smith Group and Jac Holzman of Elektra Records, it brings together a collection of young men in quickly thrown together bands playing songs under three minutes long. These songs are incredibly raw, mostly done in one take in someone's basement, and featuring the fuzziest of guitars, the craziest of drummers and - more often than not - everyone under the influence of speed.
As a rule, it seems the subjects of the songs featured on Nuggets varies from getting with girls to, emmm....well, actually that's about it. The fellas aren't always successful though, leading to vitriolic attacks such as "Psycho" by The Sonics.
With the Vietnam War on the horizon and the death of President John F Kennedy fresh in the mind, it was a strange time for the youth of America. The shadow of nuclear armageddon hung over the country and no-one knew how much of a future there would be. Retreating to their bedrooms to listen to British Invasion bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Animals and The Kinks, and the popular west coast sounds of homegrown bands like The Beach Boys, the seeds of a idea began to take hold in the minds of some young men: what if we could combine the rawness and freshness of these British guys with the music we've grown up listening to? The idea worked, and what followed was some of the most thrilling, immediate and melodic music ever to come out of the USA, and would influence countless bands through the 70s, 80s, 90s and right up to this decade.
You'll be familiar with some of the bands: The Sonics, The Monks, Captain Beefheart, The Kingsmen and The Electric Prunes, but then there's lesser know (and extremely short-lived) bands like The Human Beinz, The Remains, The Standells and The Shadows of Knight.
With over 100 songs to choose from, it's been hard to pick a top ten or so, but below are some of my favourites (in no particular order), with appropriate links, of course........
The Standells - "Dirty Water" : This has got a fantastically dirty groove, and lyrics which led it to being banned upon its release around 1966:
The Premiers - "Farmer John" : One of many songs that takes it cue from "Louie Louie", it's a great call-and-response anthem, carried along by some funky brass. Most famously covered in an hilariously lascivious fashion by Neil Young and Crazy Horse on their live album Weld.
Human Beinz - "Nobody But Me" : Originally an Isley Brothers track, this version's grooves were so tight that it took the public weeks to realise that it was a bunch of white kids from Ohio that were playing:
The Shadows of Knight - "I'm Gonna Make You Mine" : This is simply wonderful. A slice of prime garage rock, in and out in 2mins 25secs. Terrific guitars and drums propel this one right along and it's over and out before you know it.
The Knickerbockers - "Lies" : Clearly indebted to The Beatles and Herman's Hermits, this is a track that has the garage hit, but with a large dollop of harmony. Nice:
The Sonics - "Strychnine" : One of the few bands to have survived through to the present, this lot were quite an intense band, responsible for "The Witch" "Psycho", and this marvellous paean to a drug that causes muscular convulsions....and death! Rock on! This is from 2008:
The Kingsmen - "Louie Louie" : No collection would be complete without the blueprint for all garage rock bands, ever:
The Music Machine - "Talk Talk" : This is brilliant, a staccato beat, swirling guitars and organ, and singer Sam Bonniwell yelping nonsense over the top of it all:
Count Five - "Psychotic Reaction" : To end, let's have a little bit of Count Five, who switch between gentle, almost country-ish harmonica led grooves, and what can only be classed as a psychotic middle section where the band are trying to keep up with themselves as the song threatens to fall apart/fly away at any moment:
So that's it, a basic introduction to the world of Nuggets. Basically just a bunch of lads making rock music, but aren't some of the simple things in life the most enjoyable?
One-woman orchestra Cameron Mesirow (aka Glasser), seems to constantly be compared to other female performers. Thankfully, she's not as much of a hippy, Fleetwood Mac derivative as Bat for Lashes, nor is she as scary or doomy as Fever Ray. That's not to say I don't love Fever Ray, cos I do, right? And Bjork. Always Bjork.
Ring is a mighty fine record. It's beautiful, complex, lush and takes me to places in my mind that I rarely visit. Songs are rarely predictable and veer off in the direction of pop, jazz and dance at various points.
Beginning with the tribal drumming of "Apply", it continues along hypnotically for 8 more tracks, carrying the listener along with it. There's the wonky glockenspiel of "Home", "Glad" which almost gets funky, and the gorgeous symphony of "Clamour"brings the album to a close.
Apparently Ring bases its circular motif on Homer's Odyssey, which is helpful as once this album is over, there's a strong temptation to listen to it from the start again immediately.
As events outside of the blogosphere take over every now and again, I've been a bit light on posts of late. Never fear, faithful reader(s)!
Coming up this month we'll see reviews of the latest releases from Glasser, The Walkmen and others, and live reviews of Wild Nothing and Titus Andronicus. We'll also be taking a closer look at the Nuggets series of garage rock/psychedelic singles, and you might get a list of my top ten faves woo hoo!
I'm not making promises, but I may resurrect the Lost Gems series so look out (possibly) for krautrock pioneers Harmonia, famous sons-of-Jimmy The Webb Brothers, and maybe even a look at perennially missing-in-action The Wrens.
In the meantime, here's a little taster of the unpredictable brilliance of The Wrens just to tide you over:
In the latest installment of bone-idle blogging, I'm moving on from actual artists appearing on-screen to the use of music on film. Many directors, from the good to the bad, have used music on film to convey moods or to enhance a scene, even breaking Cameron Crowe's rule that the lyrics from a song should never match what's going on in a scene. To be fair, even CC has broken that rule with Pixies' "Where Is My Mind?" during Vanilla Sky.
I decided, however, to focus down on kick-arse openings to movies. After considering being bang-up-to-date with The Social Network beginning in media res with The White Stripes "Ball and Biscuit" blues howl over Mark Zuckerberg and Erica Albright's breakup, I then moved on to ruling out High Fidelity opening with The 13th Floor Elevator's "You're Gonna Miss Me".....anyone sensing a theme here?
Finally, I settled on the intro to Wes Anderson's Rushmore, which makes wonderful use of The Creation's garage rock classic "Making Time". A terrific introduction into the world of Wes Anderson, a man who always seems to come up with the goods on his soundtracks. Enjoy!
