Tag Archive for Guest Post

1st October 2012

LCD Soundsystem – Someone Great (Helen Chandler guest post)

A friend said to me recently, upon hearing Someone Great in a bar in Dublin at closing time – ‘I remember hearing this song for the first time back in 2007 and just feeling really sad.’ I’m not surprised, I think it’s one of the saddest songs going. ‘There shouldn’t be this ring of silence, but what are the options when someone great is gone?’ If you read that like a sentence and not like a lyric, it would floor you.

The beauty of what James Murphy does is that he makes you forget you’re listening to a sad song. He sets everything to a cleverly-constructed undercurrent of electronic bliss, which means that his songs get played in clubs and listened to in bedrooms in equal measure.

The official video for this song is lovely but the track itself is sped up in it, presumably because it’s the single version. I was loathe to include it here, because I prefer the album version, which takes its time.

/HC

1st July 2012

T.E.E.D.* – Garden (Calibre Remix) (Dom Ayliffe guest post)

I liked this track the moment I first heard it and it’s subsequently become one of the most listened to tracks on my iTunes collection.

I’m a big fan of drum n bass, and I must credit London Elektricity’s Hospital Record Podcasts for introducing me to this gem. I think it’s a perfect example of how many diverse emotions can be evoked by music from this genre.

Those haunting chords, the hopeful vocals and the undulating bassline all woven together with a clinical drum beat. Put this on some speakers with decent bass and enjoy my Sunday chill out song.

DA

*Artist #475

17th June 2012

Nick Cave and PJ Harvey* – Henry Lee (CjK Father’s Day guest post)

 

Its amazing what you stumble upon in You Tube – I was looking for an entirely different Nick Cave song.

Let’s be clear on a few things about this more-than-a little-weird video: were they an item once? – yes; is this an old ballad – Yes it’s Nick’s arrangement of an old Southern ballad called Young Hunting; the video must have taken ages to get right? no it was done in only one take. 
You very seldom see a quiff and mullet carried off so well. Yes the lyrics are deeply horrible, but Polly Harvey’s androgynous suited-look fits them perfectly. 
Bet that La la la la la, La la la la lee.. sticks in your head for a while… 

CjK

*artist #464

13th March 2012

Mayer Hawthorne – Just ain’t gonna work out (Rory McDermott guest gig review)

Mayer Hawthorne, Scala, 7th March 2012:

In 1965 James Brown (and the Famous Flames) appeared in a naff woolly jumper on a television show called Ski party. Shot for a largely white audience it was surely his most sterilized peformace, watered down for white sensibilities. Like John Belushi appearing in Little House on the Prairie

And so I spent the first 20mins of the gig- feeling a bit duped. A rather lanky but well preened Michael McDonald flanked by a Ralph Lauren boy band sang through a nu-soul repertoire.

Then something quite odd happened – the music picked up, the crowd limbered and I stopped being a complete prat – I came round to his thoroughly infectious routine. By the start of the second half he had me in the pocket of his red velvet tuxedo.

Mayer Hawthorne is an entertaining guy, amicable and humorous when interacting with the crowd. His songs are overtly tongue-in-cheek with crooning more Neil Hannon than Neil Diamond (Note; can carry a tune better than either…..)

The smooth tone voice and falsetto range are a direct throwback to his musical roots (He grew up in Detroit, Michigan – The Motor City which put the MO in Motown). But this was not an imitation cover gig; it was a show. And a bloody good one.

From MH’s Twitter

RMcD

Slowdive* – Souvlaki Space Station (Matt Graham guest post)

Shoegaze

Shoegaze is a sub genre of rock from the early 90’s, in which vocals play second fiddle to melodies which were made on heavily distorted or effected guitars. The name partially comes from the fact that when performed live the guitarists in the bands spent all their time looking at the floor so that they could mess around with the different effects that they were using. The music produced by shoegaze bands was seen as being self-indulgent by many, which to be fair  is understandable and it is not a style of music that everyone will like.

Another name used by some of its detractors was the scene which celebrates itself, as the bands who made up the scene were friendly with each other and would often go to each others gigs. I’m not too sure why that was seen as a bad thing, but I guess the music journalists at the time, wanted something else to write about besides the music, hence the relish with which the Oasis vs Blur saga was reported on.When grunge and britpop increased in popularity, these became the de facto styles that all rock bands had to play and so shoegaze music was quickly ignored.Two of the most famous bands which were of the shoe gaze genre are My Bloody Valentine, who I have guest posted before, and Ride whose album Nowhere, and the track Vapour Trail especially, is highly regarded.

Having mentioned both of those bands, the song that I have chosen is from the album Souvlaki by the band Slowdive, and the track is called Souvlaki Space Station, which I see as an archetypal shoegaze track, i.e. guitars with heavy effects and difficult to hear vocals which contribute to the melody rather than stand out from it. 

/MG

*Artist #393

tUnE-yArDs – Killa (Brian Reddy guest gig review)


tUnE-yArDs, Shepherd’s Bush Empire, 15th February 2012:

Myself, Rob and Rory (with two brothers McDermott in tow) went to see Tune yards (I refuse to bring myself to spell them “tUnE-yArDs” without the use of copy and paste) in the Shepherd’s Bush Empire last Wednesday. Now, I don’t know half as much about music now as I did when I was 17, which effectively ruled out me having heard anything of note about these guys before, apart from the previous post,which I’d assumed involved a male singer. Turns out that the band is a rather zany interpretation of the adorably-cute-manic-pixie-dream-girl-front-woman trend in music. Comparing and contrasting Merrill Garbus (I just used Wikipedia) to the worryingly charming Lisa Hannigan could lead to an essay of its own. I’m very unclear as to which direction it would take but it sheds an interesting new light on the whole thing. I’m going to stop talking about Lisa now. But given this, the band is based around the inevitable female singer-songwriter on ukelele, but it also contains- and only contains – some pretty funky bass playing, and two saxophonists. Two of them, and noone else, apart somebody somewhere in the ether operating an 8 track that repeats some drum beats the ukelelist plays before the song proper starts. Naturally enough.

They weren’t bad. The show started with what could be best described as traditional African acapella doowopping, which would have been great on record, but seemed a bit contrived if nonetheless impressive from a white girl from New England. But the girl’s got a set of lungs on her, and a likeable, impressive attitude and the crowd was clearly getting into it quickly. (The same crowd incidentally was best described as very androgynous and off-puttingly younger than me). Garbus seemed at times to be a little unsure of herself dealing with the audience between songs but there was a sense of the euphoria of the new about the place, and it seemed clear that most of the crowd had spent a long time waiting for the chance to see them live; she got through this fine without anyone noticing and it was clear it was going down well enough. The Empire is an intimate enough venue too, so the band made a connection quickly.

The music itself was interesting too – combined with the band’s demeanour and occasional dance routine, they managed to pull off a high-energy, mellow vibe. Which in truth doesn’t make very much sense when spelled out like that, so that’s quite an achievement in itself. I enjoyed the night – the music was pleasant- but nonetheless I did feel that this might be a young man’s game. I’d happily see them again, I’d be happy to listen to them again, but for whatever reason the show didn’t connect with me in the same way I think. A worthwhile night out, and I can see why these young people like them, but I’m not getting carried away yet.

BpR

Aside

My Bloody Valentine* – Lose my breath (Matt Graham guest post)

My Bloody Valentine are well known for their brilliant yet divisive second album Loveless and the fact that the live performances of that album were so loud it was painful.

The first album that they made, Isn’t Anything, is less well known but well worth a listen. The track that I listen to most off that album is called Lose My Breath. I first became aware of this track through the Destiny’s Child cover, and I’ve been thankful to Beyonce et al ever since.

The contrast between the ominous guitar and drone at the beginning of the track and the soft female vocal is quite intriguing and the chorus (just the word oooo), is simply beautiful.

MG

*Artist #378

Liquid Liquid* – Cavern (Rory McDermott guest post)


99 Records and New Wave

Post-punk, new wave, no-wave, punk-funk, dance-rock….Turgid. Immediately conjures the image of a ‘Flock of Seagulls’ posturing in a shit club in Bristol.

Now rewind, imagine a warehouse party; walls adorned with projected videos, pimpled young art graduates called Eno and Byrne in awkward discussion over tones of this new sound which combines the vibrancy of 70’s disco with punkish grunge and the naivety of new technology. This loosely defines the ‘scene’ that was developing within the confines of New-York Tri-State area in the early 80’s.

99 (nine nine) Records are one of many independent basement run labels of the day. Its output however was particularly driven by heavy funk baselines and chiming guitar riffs. I first came across the label on hearing Cavern by Liquid Liquid. (Incidentally this song led to the financial ruin of the label following a lengthy copyright battle involving a Grandmaster flash sample-see White Lines).

ESG, a band formed by the Scroggins sisters (I know!), had youth, rhythm and pop sensibility in abundance. Singles such as Dance and Moody sound much like New Order’s 3 minute wet dream. Bush Tetris another 99 staple continued the theme of percussive grooves.

This scene played out in clubs like the Ritz, Mudd and CBGB and despite being well documented by a host of artists/photographers at the time remains largely unrecognised now. Its substance is clearly evident in today’s raft of indie/electronic rock bands.

UK exports into the genre were largely by-passed here but big NYC floorfillers namely APB’s – Shoot you Down and Medium Medium – So hungry so angry.

Of course like everything else it eventually consumed itself and we were left with a pile of excrement, namely ‘no-wave’. Avoid at all costs anything that describes itself as ‘sonic experimentation’!

RMcD

*Artist #372

7th October

The Doors – Riders on the storm (DT guest post)

OK – My name is David. I’ve known Rob-James as a neighbour, friend, taxi driver, quiz partner since he was 3 and have proudly watched him develop into the overweight, badly dressed young man he is today…

Feel I have to go with Rob-James’ initial theme for LiM and choose something old and bluesy even though The Doors are more associated with rock. They were one of the last big groups to emerge from a period of musical change that began with the Beatles and their distinctive sound suited the late 60’s – early 70’s.

Riders on the Storm, from the album LA Woman, still makes me imagine wistfully what it would be like to hear them playing it at a big festival even though it was not one of the iconic Jim Morrison’s favourites – he described it as cocktail jazz.

Unfortunately, they didn’t get the chance to make a video for this before JM’s demise but the above is not a bad effort after the fact.

Aside

Ray Bryant – Up above the rock (Rory McDermott guest post)

Forewords annoy me. I have read some of the most meaningless stuff written by some of the most meaningful men. John Peel piddling across the pages of a pop biography, Berry Gordy wasting paper….so I’m gonna keep it short.

RJ has done much of the hard work for us this year; so this is my IOU contribution.

Ray Bryant, who died earlier this year, is fairly well known for his work as a jazz pianist. He pretty much played with all the bigdogs beginning in Philadelphia then New York. However, his jangling piano here is thundering funk, the horns will pop your hernia. And if you blink at the start you may miss the tightest drum intro of all time.

RIP RB