I'm From Barcelona

Tuesday and we were back at Scala for I'm From Barcelona - very different to Sunday's excellent Nick Cave gig, but in many ways every bit as good.

Soko was supporting - I saw her at Latitude - and was again great fun. I wasn't sure she'd go down too well with her silly-cutesy stylings, but then I guess IFB fans aren't all that likely to take themselves too seriously. She doesn't ever seem to do the Dandy Cowboys live, which is a shame as it's my favourite song of hers.


I'm From Barcelona were so much fun. From the moment they started throwing balloons into the crowd (about the 3rd song in), it was just a riot of dancing and singing and confetti! Definitely going to see them again, if only as an antidote to the po-faced indie world!

Nick Cave And the Bad Seeds

OK, so maybe I only got 2 out of my 5 hoped-for songs but Nick Cave is pretty much my hero right now. A cracking gig from a band that, in my opinion, are pretty much at the peak of their powers. Highlights? Mercy Seat, Get Ready for Love and Lyre of Orpheus for me. Stagger Lee was a cracking closer as well. Would have liked a few more of the slower, piano songs and ballads, but I guess a concrete barn like the Brighton Centre didn't really lend themselves to a more "initmate" set.

Soul on Sunday - Ain't no mountain high enough / Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

Undoubtedly the greatest duet pairing ever, Marvin and Tammi sang together on some of my favourite Motown songs. Marvin sounds positively inspired on the albums he recorded with her, and he never really recovered from seeing her collapse on stage in his arms with a brain tumour that would eventually take her life.



Recomended:
United/ You're All I Need

Orbital - Chime (Live)

It's been announced that Orbital are to reform and play the Big Chill next year. I'm really tempted by this - Orbital are pretty near the top of my list of bands I want to see live.

Here's Chime from their last Glasto appearance. Check out the disco biscuit munching ravers!

5 From Nick Cave

I'm off to see Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on Sunday in Brighton, and I can't wait. Here are 5 songs I'm hoping to hear.

Hallelujah
I've been listening to No More Shall We Part a lot recently, and this is the standout song.


Do You Love Me?
Nobody deals with the seedy underbelly of the human condition like Nick...


There She Goes My Beautiful World
I was a little bit of a late-comer to the work of Mr Cave, this was the song that really grabbed me.


Mercy Seat
These days Nick is starting to resemble a modern day old testament prophet...


Midnight Man
I'm fairly sure we'll be hearing this on Sunday, from the latest album:

Soul on Sunday - Strawberry Letter 23 / Shuggie Otis

Something a bit different for Soul on Sunday this week, but then this is different to practically anything else out there. Blending elements of soul, funk, psychedelia and folk, Shuggie Otis produced this bona fide classic. Starting out in his father, Johnny Otis' big band, Shuggie learnt to play all kinds of instruments and much like Stevie Wonder at the time, he plays more or less everything you can hear on this song.

You may know the Brothers Johnson cover, that was successful in '77, but this is better.

I heard this from you:


Recommended:
Here comes Shuggie Otis/Freedom Flight

Mercury Rev - Thursday

Thursday, and it was back to Shepherds Bush for the second time this week, this time to see Mercury Rev. I'll gloss over Howling Bells who were very disappointing - I liked the album, but live they just didn't cut it for me. Mercury Rev, however, were an entirely different kettle of fish.

Occasionally inconsistent on record, they have never failed to deliver live for me, and Thursday was no exception. Material from their latest album, Snowflake midnight, was given a powerful, epic sound that blew away the recorded versions. With video clips playing out behind him, frontman Jonathan Donahue was as engaging as ever, throwing messianic poses one moment, playing air drums the next. There was a fair smattering of material from '98's classic Deserters Songs, and follow-up all is dreams as well, although I kind of wish they'd do a semi-acoustic show for these as they didn't respond as well to the bombast that made the likes of Senses on Fire come alive.

People are so unpredictable:

Okkervil River

Okkervil River have now reached the stage where they can play for an hour and a half, and still leave plenty of quality material out - No The Presidents Dead or On Tour With Zykos (my favourite song on the new album), whilst apparently the Norwich crowd were treated to a cover of Jealous Guy for the encore. The quality of their growing back catalogue meant that they were still able to play a storming set drawn mostly from their last 3 albums - Black Sheep Boy, The Stage Names and The Stand Ins.

The Dodos

Those of us who went to see Okkervil River were given something of a treat as for the London gig of the tour they had the Dodos as support. This year's Visiter long player is shaping up to be one of the albums of the year, with it's intricate rhythms and thrashy acoustic guitars. In an all to short half hour set, they play most of the highlights from Visiter; Red and Purple, Jody, Winter, Walking. With guitar, drums, and an occasional "multi instrumentalist" playing a weird keyboard thingy and metal bin, the album translated really well to the stage. I expect to see these guys hitting the festival circuit next summer, watch out for them.

Couldn't find any clips from last night, but here's a couple from (mostly american) gigs:

Red and Purple


Jodi

Asobi Seksu - Me and Mary

Last night's gig in a bit, but before then here's the new single from Asobi Seksu... If you're not familiar with their work, I highly recommend you find yourselves a copy of their breakthrough album Citrus.



The NME stopped getting excited about the usual mountain of Indie no-hopers to tell us the album is out in Feb. Should be good.

Soul on Sunday - Heartbeat / Gloria Jones

Definitely a song to get you up on the dancefloor, this is a great slice of funky soul from Gloria Jones. She is best known for the original version of Tainted Love, still a Northern Soul classic, and for being Mrs Marc Bolan.

For me the highlight of this song is the organ, played by a 19 year old Billy Preston. It drives the song at a hectic pace, leaving Jones struggling to keep up!

Heartbeat:

Passion Pit and the Pendulum

Enough with the cheesy pop classics already Mr. Onemoredown... What's that you say, you like the poptastic stuff? OK then, here's some modern electro pop for you, courtesy of Passion Pit. According to this Pitchfork Review, it was recorded for the head pit-pony's girlfriend as a valentine's day gift. Despite that, it is officially quite good.

Here's the vid for sleepyhead.

They don't...

...write songs like this anymore.



Oh yes.

I don't...

...do karaoke. But if I did, it'd be this song.



Oh yes.

You can't beat...

...a mullet.



Oh yes.

I Want...

... a pair of hammerpants.



Oh yes.

I can...

...still do the rap from this.



Oh yes.

I'm in the mood....

...for some pop classics this evening.



Oh yes.

Soul on Sunday - Simply Beautiful / Al Green

Just a short post for this week's Soul on Sunday as I'm currently feeling slightly overwhelmed by NaNoWriMo. I will never, ever get tired of listening to Al Green, the best soul singer ever, no question.

I expect a whole lot of love out of you:


Recommended:
The Legendary Hi Albums Vol.1: Green Is Blues/Gets Next to You/Let's Stay Together/I'm Still in Love With You

Another band with a rude name...

...that obviously aren't bothered about getting radio play is Starf***er. Which is a pity as they make excellent indie-pop in a kind of Shins-if-they-invested-in-more-electro-sounds-type-way.

This is the excellent video for the new single, the pithily titled "Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second"



Buy the album here