Panadola Diction

Licky Lee was in a sold-out Sugar Club last Thursday night, and so was I. I was in the audience. She was on the stage, with her band. Her third name is Timotej, a bit like the shampoo, and she has spent winters in India and Nepal, according to Wicklowpedia.

Anyway, it was good, she was good, and it sounded good, but she seemed intent on putting on a “rock concert”, as she put it. The Sugar Club is a terrible place for a rock concert. For anybody who has never been, it’s a small venue with graduated couch & table seating going from the stage to the bar at the back. So there we all were at the “rock concert”, lounging on couches, much to Licky’s dismay. “I’m not the Dalai Lama!” she said, appealing for us to be upstanding, but we just smiled and applauded politely.

For the very last song of the set, ‘Breaking It Up’, a second appeal finally got some people up to dance, and they were then treated to a second (speeded up) airing of ‘I’m Good I’m Gone’, and an encore of A Tribe Called Quest’s ‘Can You Kick It’, which was as good as it was unexpected.

Overall, a good show from a likable lady, but hopefully next time she’ll be in a different venue.

Support was from her statuesque fellow Swede, El Perro Del Mar - The Dog of the Sea, in case you didn’t know. Woof.

I’d been looking forward to this gig for quite a while, as Real Emotional Trash has been a constant on my MP3 player since it came out. Pitchfork didn’t go crazy about it, and neither did I initially, but I found myself listening to it again and again.

Usually, high expectations are bad things to bring to a gig, but for some reason I found myself telling everyone that I thought the Jicks gig was going to be great (this was partly due to one of my friends pulling out, as the gig clashed with Holland vs Italy). Thankfully, I was right, and it was (great). A solid set of Malkmus material, new and old, was played with enthusiasm by the impressive four-piece. ‘Steve’ as he called himself looked like he was enjoying himself, especially during the instrumental detours common to many of their songs, and he also kept the crowd updated with the Euro 2008 scores. Ex-Sleater Kinney drummer Janet Weiss is probably the best female drummer I’ve seen live - very impressive, and both she and bassist Joanna Bolme chip in with backing vocals. Joanna Bolme’s main weakness seems to be her bladder - it’s not big enough to last a full gig. The ensemble is completed by Mike Clark, who fills the holes with guitar and keys.

Many of Malkmus’ tracks, especially those from the new album, could be described as indulgent - with their convoluted structure and proggy guitar detours, but these seem to translate superbly to the live show, with Malkmus and Weiss playing off each other and really giving it socks*, as they say. It seems that general guitar fun is vying for Steve’s creative affections, which were previously focused on lyrical fun, though anyone who has listened to Real Emotional Trash will know that the lyrics are as Malkmus as ever.

It was an entertaining and charming set, with fine renditions of ‘Cold Son’, ‘Gardenia’ and the sprawling title-track of the new LP - ‘Real Emotional Trash’. The highlight for me was ‘Baltimore’, probably the most indulgent tune of all. It’s just a great guitar-rock song, one that convinces you (if only for an hour or two) that you should find an electric guitar, plug it in and play it until the electricity bill arrives.

A three-song encore wound things up and Steve said his goodbyes, though the rest of the band seemed reluctant to leave, but I suspect the Tripod time-keepers were turning the screw. Despite Holland vs Italy turning out to be the best game of Euro 2008 so far (apparently - trying to catch the highlights on TV is nigh-on impossible, it seems), I’m pretty sure it couldn’t have been as entertaining as this gig.

Support came from the highly amusing Jeffrey Lewis, who warmed the crowd up admirably, with, amongst other things, an illustrated history of communism in Russia (which he somehow tyre-levered into a song of sorts), and the story of the Creeping Brain. Very strange - it shouldn’t work, but it does.

*Anyone know where this phrase comes from? It makes little sense to me. Giving someone socks seems like a very mundane thing to do. Here, I got you some socks.. eh, they’re 100% cotton..

Saturday evening was my first time to see Radiohead in the flesh. I was on a Willy Foggesque ’round-the-world-in-a-hurry trip the last time they were in town, at Marlay Park with support from Beck, and before that, I don’t know, I have no good excuse. So I was eagerly looking forward to ticking one of the few currently active bands whom I have never seen, but want to see off my list (other notables still on the list include Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Morrissey, and Morrissey gets ticked next month).

It was also my first time at a gig at Malahide Castle, and it was, generally, a very agreeable experience. Easy access via the DART, nice open parkland with big old trees and a castle (unsurprisingly), plenty of space, chips, cream cake, beer, toilets, friendly staff at the gate, etc. Also, the great weather kept things (toilets, people in impractical shoes) civilized, and the crowd in good spirits. The stage setup was pretty impressive, with lights and video screens and a dangly curtain of dangly things framing the band.

And then these songs were played, in this order:

01 15 Step
02 Bodysnatchers
03 Airbag
04 Bangers + Mash
05 Nude
06 Pyramid Song
07 Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
08 The Gloaming
09 The National Anthem
10 Faust Arp
11 Videotape
12 Optimistic
13 Where I End And You Begin
14 Reckoner
15 Everything In Its Right Place
16 All I Need
17 There There

Encore 1
18 Exit Music (For A Film)
19 Jigsaw Falling Into Place
20 Climbing Up The Walls
21 Planet Telex
22 How To Disappear Completely

Encore 2
23 Super Collider
24 You And Whose Army?
25 Idioteque

So, as you can see, there was a lot of In Rainbows. For those who like numbers, here’s how that breaks down (though maths isn’t my strong point):

• In Rainbows: 9 +1
• Kid A: 5
• Hail To The Thief: 3
• OK Computer: 3
• Amnesiac: 2
• The Bends: 1
• New songs: 1

It was all very impressive, all two hours of it - they sounded huge when they needed to, and delicate they wanted to. Highlights for me included In Rainbows disc 2 tune ‘Bangers + Mash’, ‘Reckoner’, and the entire second encore, which included a brand new song, played solo by Thom on piano - ‘Super Collider’ (which got its debut the previous night apparently).

On balance, looking at the crowd I’d imagine a lot of people were hoping for a few more pre-Kid A tracks (especially when they closed the previous night with ‘Just’ and ‘Paranoid Android’), and of course I would have liked to hear a few of the classics, but maybe Radiohead were going on the assumption that the Saturday (being the quickly sold-out first show) crowd would have more… receptive fans, possibly, whereas the Friday show might attract more of a Best-Of crowd. I don’t know, I could be wrong, maybe they just play whatever they feel like playing, which is, and was, fine by me.

Bat For Lashes sounded interesting, but to be honest, I was more interested in the cream cake I was eating at the time. I couldn’t actually see the stage from my spot on the grass, but it sounded very Bjorkish. I’m usually not so lazy about support acts, but the sun and the grass seemed to demand lazing around and eating. There’s a review of it here (BFL, not the cake), which I largely agree with.

P.S. I took some photos, but haven’t had a chance to upload them yet - I’ll add one later. [done]

It’s been a while since I bought any vinyl, but I couldn’t resist a twelve 7’s for a tenner deal from Borderline Records’ stall in Temple Bar today. It’s mostly stale cheese, but there are a couple of nice finds.

Click the links for youtube videos (you really should, some are hilarious).

• Transvision Vamp - Baby I Don’t Care, mmmmmm Wendy James
  
• Supertramp - The Logical Song, if Jesus had big nose and a ginger beard…
  
• Foreigner - I Want To Know What Love Is, boosting lighter sales since 1984
  
• Chris De Burgh - High On Emotion, De Burgh’s twist on emo, awesome
  
• Baccara - Yes Sir, I Can Boogie, Euro Disco from 1977
  
• Whitesnake - Here I Go Again, more powerful balladry
• KC & The Sunshine Band - Give It Up, the first song I can ever remember remembering, 1983
  
• Jasper Carrot - Funky Moped, strange, very strange
  
• XTC - Making Plans For Nigel, one of my favourite songs
  
• XTC - Generals And Majors, another XTC classic, with video starring Dick Branson
  
• Big Trouble - Crazy World, I bought this because of its weird pop-up gatefold
  
• The 1977 Suzuki Grand Prix, interviews with Barry Sheene and other motorcyclists (video unrelated)

Joy Zipper, Long Island’s dreamy-melodic-indie-poppy couple (+ drummer) played to a sparse but enthusiastic crowd in Crawdaddy on Wednesday night. Tabitha Tindale and Vincent Cafiso seemed happy to be there, and were good humoured throughout, despite Vincent alluding to the place being a ‘rathole’.

Overall, they sounded pretty good, though Tabitha’s keyboard and vocals were sometimes a little too low in the mix. They played an interesting set, mixing up the old and the new, taking a few requests and playing their version of ‘Wave of Mutilation’, which appeared on Pixies tribute album ’Dig For Fire’ in 2007. An encore of ‘Christmas Song’ went down well, though there was no outing for ‘Baby You Should Know’ - probably their best-known song.

It was all fine and nice and unremarkable, and maybe a little harmless, which is not a word I’d like associated with me if I were a musician. The most remarkable thing, for me, was Ms Tindale. It hadn’t crossed my mind before the gig that I’d never seen Joy Zipper and had no idea what they looked like, so I wasn’t expecting her to be so aesthetically pleasing, with her head and her legs and the rest of her.  

Support was from Gavin Glass and the Holy Shakers, a crowd I’d not seen before, but apparently they’ve been rattling around for years. They were good - they have a few great tunes, and there were even peculiar spoken-word interludes from a verbose preacher. Entertaining stuff, but they weren’t as handsome as Tabitha.

I saw Tapes ‘n Tapes last year in The Village, and they were ok. Pretty good. They played the songs and left. But I liked the songs (I still really like their debut album ‘The Loon’). On Tuesday night in Tripod it was more of the same from the Minneapolitans.

I’m not entirely enamoured with their new album ‘Walk It Off’, it has it moments, but overall I think it is weaker than the first one. As a result, the set seemed somewhat diluted in terms of quality. Nevertheless, they played a decent set, with the highlight being a good rendition of ‘Insistor’, directly followed by latest single ‘Hang Them All’.

There was something missing though. It just didn’t seem big enough for me. The charm of many T’n'T songs for me is their ability to twist mellow verses into loud, epic choruses. This was exemplified by ‘10 Gallon Ascots’ on ‘The Loon’, and seems to be a recurring theme. For me, ‘10 Gallon Ascots’ was the most disappointing song of the night, as the supposed epic choruses sounded thin and lightweight. I don’t know, either a new sound engineer or new distortion pedals are needed.

I guess I’m nit-picking, but it’s always disappointing when a band doesn’t seem to do its recordings justice in a live setting. Other gripes included the lack of an encore (again) and the ridiculous Budweiser monopoly at the bar. The only beverages on draught at all these Bud-sponsored gigs are Bud, Guinness and Cashels - all served in cheap plastic glasses. (Or ‘plastics’, as they will be called when I’m in charge).

As for the support acts - Sons & Daughters were unconvincing. Poor sound again seemed to detract (the vocals were indecipherable (though that may just have been the Glasgow accents)). I saw them in around 2003, supporting Franz Ferdinand in The Ambassador, and I don’t remember exactly how that went, but they seemed like a completely different band on Tuesday - more like a band on a victory lap than a band trying to win my affection. The lead singer was wearing short shorts and a dress/top with her back hanging out. Maybe she was over for a hen night.

Port O’Brien were actually very good. They made lots of (good) noise, and mixed it up with some folkie ballads. They put in a lot of energy, and were quite amusing between songs, in a stoned, Californian kind of way - canvassing opinion on the Lisbon Treaty, and generally thinking out loud. Frontman Van Pierszalowski reminded me of a young Terry Bolea. We also bumped into some of them on Aungier St afterwards, and my exclamation of “Hey! It’s Port O’Brien!” seemed to make their evening.

The Muxtape has been changed. Here’s the new playlist:

1. Broken Social Scene - Lover’s Spit
2. Tapes ‘N Tapes - Hang Them All
3. Joy Zipper - Baby You Should Know
4. Pavement - In The Mouth A Desert
5. Siouxie and the Banshees - Israel
6. The Strokes - The Modern Age (Peel session)
7. The Young Knives - Stand And Deliver (XFM Session)
8. Radiohead - Bangers + Mash
9. Weezer - Pork And Beans
10. The Duke Spirit - The Step And The Walk
11. Operator Please - Leave It Alone

The title was inspired by a snippet of conversation last week on the way home from Broken Social Scene, where it was agreed that “He was milled by a car transporter” would be the coolest epitaph ever.

I’ve also realised that I didn’t list the songs from my first Muxtape, Jimasphixit, and now it’s gone for ever. So, for posterity, as far as I can remember it was something like:

• The Cure - Grinding Halt
• Black Lips - Katrina
• The Breeders - German Studies
• Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Cold Son
• Elbow - Grounds For Divorce
• Lykke Li - I’m Good I’m Gone
• Santogold - Lights Out
• My Bloody Valentine - Only Shallow
• Roisin Murphy - Dear Miami
• Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds- More News From Nowhere

I’m a bit slow with the review I know, but I’ve been busy managing at the frontline. I bought tickets to BSS a yonk ago, and as I had not seen them before I was looking forward to it, despite the other blogs which suggested that Sunset Rubdown or No Age might have been a better allocation of Tuesday night funds. Meh.

And it was great. The publicised no-support-act, three hour set did not materialise. BSS member, Charles Spearin opened the show with the first public performance of his ‘Happiness Project’ - an interesting piece of linguisto-musical experimentation, whereby he recorded conversations with his neighbours and subsequently chopped them up to find interesting melodies in their speech, to later be played over live. It worked quite well, was short and amusing, and seemed to lighten the mood in the slowly filling Vicar St.

I think there were eight BSS members present in total last Tuesday, including Brendan Canning, Amy Millan, Justin Peroff, Evan Cranley, a couple more whose names I didn’t catch, and of course Kevin Drew. They played a great set with plenty of crowd-pleasers and lots of amusing anecdotes in between, including details of what they had for dinner, and musings on Men At Work. A more detailed review and the setlist can be found here on this nice blog I’ve not read before.

For the last hour of the gig I had the dubious pleasure of standing behind a flailing crazy lady. She seemed determined to injure, and her repeated combo attacks of elbow-arse-stamp left me leaning backwards holding my arm in front of my face for safety. She then called me a bastard and complained that my friends were mocking her (they were merely laughing at my predicament). I told her to fuck off in a light-hearted manner, she seemed harmless enough. A few minutes later, after a wrist-elbow combo to the face, she turned around and hugged and kissed me like I was a long-lost puppy. All very confusing. Her male friend/bag-holder tried to distance himself throughout, and looked relieved when she suddenly announced that she was going home.

Anyway, yes, good gig, impressed, disgustingly talented musicians, good crowd, free tickets in exchange for fake email addresses (a choice of Tapes ‘n Tapes, Joy Zipper, Stephen Malkmus, De La Soul, etc. (already had T’n'T and Malkmus, De La Soul disappeared pretty quickly, so took Joy Zipper), not a bad Tuesday night at all.

I stumbled across a documentary about Edwyn Collins last night, and ended up watching the whole hour. I’d previously only known him as the one-hit-wonder bloke behind 1994 hit “A Girl Like You,” and I wondered why he might be the subject of an hour long documentary.

What I didn’t know was that Collins suffered a stroke as the result of a double brain hemorrage in 2005. This left him unable to speak, walk, read or write, and without the use of much of the right side of his body.

The documentary charted his progress in the years since the stroke, as he struggled to re-learn all the things he had lost, with the help of his wife and son (who now looks after his myspace). Collins has only vague memories of his life before the incident - his life as a wildlife illustrator, a member of critically acclaimed post-punk band Orange Juice in the early ’80’s, and subsequently as a successful solo artist.

The program was in equal parts heartbreaking and uplifting. Collins is not the same man, he can no longer play the guitar, except when his wife provides the strumming right hand, and he needs help with many basic daily tasks. However, the spirit and general optimism of the man, and his wife, Grace, is quite inspiring. He seems happy to just be alive and making progress.

As Collins’ speech improved in the months and years after the stroke, he began to write songs and sing again, re-learned his old songs, and eventually got to a level where he could practice with his old band again. The film culminated with an emotional comeback gig in Camden, where he and his band played a mixture of old and new material to a packed house - a remarkable achievment for a man who couldn’t even speak only two years previously. 

In late 2007 Collins completed and released the album he had been working on prior to the stroke - Home Again, a review of which can be found here. I’m not sure I’ll be rushing out to buy it, but this was, nevertheless, an excellent piece of television about a remarkable man.

I’m not ever going to try and compete with cutty edge music blogs, or laboriously listen to everything that comes out to save you the bother. No. Why would I do that? I prefer to listen to some new stuff, and lots of old stuff, and catch on to things five months after all the really advanced musotards*.

Also, having demolished my 30gb Creative Zen, and having borrowed a 2gb iPod Nano from a child, I’ve been forced to somewhat streamline my portable collection. Here be a few notes on newish stuff I’ve been listening to of late:

• The Breeders - Mountain Battles: I really like this album, it’s gone onto my ‘play all the way through’ album rotation.
• Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Real Emotional Thrash: Again, I really like this, it grew on me steadily with each listen. It’s not quite Pavement, but it’s a near as we’re going to get these days.
• Black Lips - Good Bad Not Evil: Entertaining in parts. I like the sound of ‘Bad Kids’ for some reason.
• Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid: Only put this on this week, so not sure yet. I love ‘Grounds for Divorce’, but the rest of it is of a different ilk. Possibly a grower.
• Lykke Li - Youth Novel: Likable stuff, though I generally flick after the first half of the album. Nice summery sounds though.
• Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!: Only put it on the iPod last night, but already liking the sound of it.
• Santogold - Santogold: Again, it’s very new to me, but I don’t know what to make of this. Lots of genre-hopping, and I’m strugging to listen to ‘I’m a Lady’ with a straight face.

That’s about it, there’s other stuff on there too, old reliables, digital comfort blankets, jam on toast, pints of Smithwicks, but I’m not going to list those.

Here’s a muxtape with some songs on it. It may change whenever I feel like changing it, rendering its link to the above list obsolete, or at least rendering my telling you what’s actually on it now pointless. What’s a muxtape? Go see.

2gb really isn’t enough. I don’t like not being able to select an album from an extensive collection when I’m walking somewhere, and I’m not organised enough to plan ahead and predict what albums I’ll want to listen to tomorrow. I’m glad I didn’t like music** back in the days of CD’s and tapes, I would have had to carry a rucksack around.

In other news, there’s a new branch of Real Gourmet Burger in Ballsbridge (there’s been one in Dun Laoghaire for a while). It’s great (polite staff, good burgers) and it’s jammed. Why someone didn’t open a chain like this years ago is beyond me, it seems like the most obvious idea in the history of dining.

*No offence, musotards, I’m just sulking in your shadows.

**Pre 2000ish I led a sheltered musical life, surrounded largely by people who liked dance compilations, like Best of Euphoria 4 for example. But dancing is wrong. I dabbled in bits and pieces of good stuff (the first album I ever bought was Beck’s Odelay, quite by accident, I bought it with a book token. That’s quite iron-ee.) But I generally wasn’t that fussed with music, or audio in general.