Back In The Mainstream Again

Rilo Kiley’s 'Under The Blacklight'

I’m expecting some rather baffled reactions to this latest outing from music press darlings Rilo Kiley, at the very least from the indie mafia. A couple of years ago, John Kell and I went to see them at the Marquee in London, an enjoyable show that nevertheless prompted John to dismiss them as MOR. In a way, he had a point, and this album will certainly bolster his argument. ‘Under The Blacklight’ is a very clever and calculated attempt to catapult the band away from the indie ghetto and into the world of major league pop.

Luckily, at its best, it is indeed poptastic. The highlights here draw on a wide range of 60s and 70s black music influences, from disco to simmering Stax soul, but these influences are processed through a lush, highly polished US West Coast production. It’s a delightfully summery record, but also a notably pristine and perfected one too. The opening ‘Silver Lining’ which places some of Jenny Lewis’ more expressive vocals against some brilliant high end guitar pluckings is completely delightful. Even better is the delectably light disco groove of ‘Breakin’ Up’. ‘Smoke Detector’ is unashamedly lightweight, and works brilliantly as a result, whilst ‘15’ sets its cautionary tale of unwitting exploitation of an underage girl to a sultry soul backing, complete with lovingly arranged horn section. It’s mostly mercifully more faithful genre recreation than pastiche.

I’m even gradually learning to love the tracks I was initially uncertain about. ‘When The Angels Come Around’ is most like the Rilo Kiley of old, but has a wonderfully infectious, stomping chorus. ‘The Moneymaker’, which initially sounded rather heavy handed and lumbering, is revealing itself as a slightly off-kilter oddity and ‘Close Call’ is luscious and sensual. Blake Sennett’s ‘Dreamworld’ is a step too far into cod-ethereal blandness for me though, and doesn’t really go anywhere particularly exciting.

I’m afraid I remain unconvinced about Jenny Lewis herself though. If the great Elvis Costello admires her as a lyricist, one would be forgiven for assuming that she’s a writer of real substance. I’m not so sure. ‘Under The Blacklight’ is preoccupied with sex, and whilst it’s neither embarrassing nor laboured, I’m not sure Lewis is anywhere near as insightful as she clearly wants to be. Some of the lyrics are also either clunky or meaningless. Her voice has definitely assumed more character though and the sultriness now seems less forced.

The polished production and mainstream values suit this band so much better than the faux-indie pretentions of old. Listening to ‘Under The Blacklight’, one gets the impression that, much like The Cardigans, or Blondie before them, they have always secretly wanted to be a mega-selling pop act. With this record, they may well achieve that – and that’s no crime against humanity.

It's A Family Farce

Sly and The Family Stone?! In Boscombe?!

Well what on earth was that about? Without doubt, Sly Stone's 'appearance' at the Bournemouth Opera House last weekend was the weirdest gig I have ever seen. Brought to life admirably by some tight but generic funk-lite from local heroes The Baker Brothers, and then some spectacularly outmoded but highly enjoyable electro soul from the very promising Unklejam, we were then treated to a spectacularly long wait. There may well have been more crew members tinkering onstage (or just frequently just crashing into each other) than there were people in the audience.

The rumour is (I'm not prepared to confirm or deny this in public in case it proves incorrect) that band and crew only arrived two hours after the doors opened, with no soundcheck prior to the gig. I certainly witnessed the late arrival of the tour manager, who was briskly ushered backstage, later appearing onstage, and then bizarrely attempted to engineer the group's sound, with seemingly no knowledge whatsoever of the venue's equipment.

Arriving onstage some 45-50 minutes later than scheduled, the group then essentially attempted to soundcheck whilst performing, frequently stopping to test some horrendously malfunctioning radio mics. Their attempts to enliven the audience were not greatly appreciated ('Sly says he ain't getting on this stage until his mic is right! Fix Sly's mic! Fix Sly's mic!' etc).

This new incarnation of Sly and The Family Stone is essentially a very slick tribute band led by Sly's sister Vet and niece Lisa, and featuring two members of the original Family Stone horn section. We knew from reviews of the Lovebox Weekender and the European shows that Sly himself would only appear with the group for a maximum of four tunes, so nobody could have been expecting very much.

Truthfully, though, nobody could have expected this utter shambles either, and rarely have I seen a supposedly professional touring act hold their paying audience with such complete contempt. Beginning with about 8 bars of 'In Time', ironically played very much out of time, it was clear that this was going to be a bit of a mess. For a few minutes 'Dance To The Music' felt like it captured the collective spirit of the original Family Stone unit, but the group lost the structure and ended up repeating the lyrics several times before finally agreeing to curtail it.

'Hot Fun In The Summertime' was a blast of breezy pop joy, but the band looked visibly distressed, with no audio in their monitors onstage. The ensuing chaos made for grim and uncomfortable watching and the group then somehow managed to make the awesome 'Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey' sound bland, in spite of Lisa Stone's powerful vocal. 'Somebody's Watching You' made for an improvement, but again it all just sounded too polished - without the gritty rough edges that defined the original group.

When Sly finally emerged, looking peculiarly hunched, listless and zombified (rather like a decrepit Flavor Flav from Public Enemy), his mic was most certainly not fixed. He was virtually inaudible throughout 'If You Want Me To Stay', although very close listening revealed that the pinched, nasal quality of his voice was still very much intact, despite his 20 years in the wilderness. During 'Sing A Simple Song' though, the man came alive in the most bizarre way possible - leaping away from his keyboards, dancing awkwardly across the stage and vocalising incomprehensibly. He then decided he was 'off to take a piss' and promptly left the stage, leaving the band to gamely carry on for a few more numbers.

He returned halfway through a spirited version of 'Thank You Faletinme Be Mice Elf Again' for more of the bizarre dancing, spinning on his chair behind his keyboards, and generally prancing around with a demented, perpetual grin across his face. He returned to the keyboards for a closing medley of 'Stand!' and 'I Want To Take You Higher' in which he veered from the initially vulnerable and delicate to concluding on a note of manic glee, jumping off the stage in the most rigid posture imaginable and then having to be lifted back on again.

There have been many theories posited as to why Sly Stone refuses to perform a complete set himself. It might well be stage fright after 20 years as a reclusive figure, although his onstage antics suggest otherwise. It may have something to do with his recent freak accident, falling off a cliff near his LA home. More plausibly though, it may have much more to do with his character, which seems to be somewhat unhinged and bizarre. There was evidence here to suggest that, despite all the ravages of the intervening years, there was still some of the genius captured on those early albums left intact.

There is simply no denying that this man was once one of the great masters of contemporary pop music. Sly and The Family Stone were a multi-racial collective that recognised no boundaries, whether cultural or musical. Easily the most influential and significant of the acts that performed at Woodstock (and controversially I include Hendrix here), they epitomised better than any other group the idealism of the 60s decaying into the murk and pessimism of the 1970s - although notably Sly and his new family completely eschewed his confused and jaded masterpiece 'There's A Riot Goin' On' for these shows.

This 'comeback' tour has undoubtedly been an expensive farce, for the punters at least, and many will be unforgiving in their criticism of this once strident and iconic figure. Yet there was something so utterly odd, so grimly compelling about this whole event that maybe some will take memories of a deeply unusual value away from it.

Ingmar Bergman 1918 - 2007

With impeccable timing, the legendary Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman has died, at the grand age of 89, just as his most famous work, The Seventh Seal, is enjoying yet another retrospective.

Bergman was one of the towering masters of the cinematic art, able to elicit performances of visceral intensity and raw emotion, as well as having a genius for staging and the close up shot. Like Leonard Cohen in the world of popular music, his reputation for doom and gloom preceded him, but this not only ignores his capacity to capture real feeling, but also the equal power of some of his lighter, more approachable fims (Summer With Monika). Woody Allen described him as 'probably the greatest artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera'.

Still, some remain unconvinced, viewing even his greatest films as emphasising technical machismo above emotional substance. In my view this is wrong. His best works, particularly when at his most discomforting, match powerful, disorientating imagery with overwhelming emotional force. Many will rush to cite The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Fanny and Alexander or Persona as his ultimate masterpiece. I would opt for the extraordinary Cries and Whispers, easily one of the most painful films I can remember watching - the vivid crimson colours and the howls of torment are still imprinted on my mind. He will remain unchallenged as the filmmaker to capture most powerfully the extremes of emotional confrontation.

Journey To The Margins Part 3

Kenny Werner, The Bad Plus, Michael Brecker, Box Of Dub, Cinematic Orchestra

Kenny Werner is reasonably well known as a Pianist, mostly working with a trio, in relatively conventional post-bop style. With his latest album though (his first for Blue Note), he has thrown everyone a giant curveball. Not only has he assembled an absolute dream team for these sessions (Dave Douglas, Chris Potter, Scott Colley and Brian Blade, who plays at this swinging, subtle best here), but he has also ventured into the realms of jazz-rock and electronics. Actually, there’s probably enough refined jazz here to keep everyone happy (Werner’s playing is especially mellifluous on ‘The 13th Day’, a long piece that ends with a haunting theme), but what is most striking is the inventive use of studio resources. Luckily, Werner has achieved this without stifling his group’s energy, and Colley and Blade appear to have struck up an enervating empathy with each other. ‘New Amsterdam’ is underpinned by a quirky groove, whilst the brilliantly named ‘Lawn Chairs (and Other Foreign Policy)’ features some deliciously squelchy keyboard sounds and ‘Uncovered Heart’ is a lush ballad with hints of African melodic influence. ‘Inaugural Balls’ is superbly jagged, and features some energetic free blowing. The electronics sit comfortably alongside the group performances and this is an album of refreshing variety.

It’s always good to hear from The Bad Plus, a group who have divided opinion for as long as they have existed. Oddly, both Marsalis brothers appear to detest them, whilst others (myself included) admire them deeply for expanding the language of trio jazz and opening the music up to a whole new audience. In recent years, however, there has been a strong sense that the group have been losing commercial ground, particularly in this country, where a whole new wave of British groups have occupied the open minded jazz-rock ground they once claimed. ‘Prog’ appears to be a mostly self-financed album, released independently by the band themselves.

The album also represents a certain kind of retrenchment by increasing the quota of reworkings of popular songs. Most are played pretty straight – it’s arguable that this version of ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’ is as ponderous and meandering as the original, albeit with pretentions at serious art. ‘Life On Mars’ is carefully extrapolated and rewired, whilst by its very nature, Rush’s ‘Tom Sawyer’ is inevitably the most deconstructed. None are as exciting as their earlier interpretations of Nirvana, Blondie or Aphex Twin though, and ‘prog’ seems to confirm my suspicions that it is now their original compositions that are most rewarding.

Luckily the group excel themselves in their writing here, particularly bassist Reid Anderson, who contributes two masterful compositions in ‘Physical Cities’ and the choppy ‘Giant’. The latter allows versatile, supremely technical drummer David King to flex his muscles. Ethan Iverson’s piano playing is characteristically polyrhythmic throughout, often apparently pulling in several different directions simultaneously. They remain a superb ensemble, capable of real structural invention.

What a tragedy that Michael Brecker’s final album ‘Pilgrimage’ has had to be released posthumously, but what a miracle it is that he essentially kept himself alive in order to complete it. This would be a remarkable record from anyone in full health – as a result, it’s next to impossible to believe that Brecker was in the advanced stages of terminal cancer whilst recording this. His playing throughout is vibrant and full-bodied, and it’s clear that he remained a confident master of his instrument right to the last moment. It’s also by no means mere hyperbole to suggest that Brecker might have reached his compositional peak here. Whilst there’s nothing in this set that will challenge or reshape the musical landscape, the themes are consistently memorable and the record has an appreciably timeless sound.

It certainly helps that Brecker assembled a group of masters to accompany him. Pat Metheny is at his expressive best here, providing subtle chordal backings and frequently supporting the main melody with counter figures of his own. John Patitucci remains one of the ablest and most solid bassists in the world, and combining him with the swashbuckling drive of Jack De Johnette makes for a pretty much unbeatable rhythm section. The compositions are therefore rendered rhythmically intricate and the intensity is brilliantly sustained throughout, notably so on the magnificent opener ‘The Mean Time’ and the driving groove of ‘Tumbleweed’. The latter has a brilliantly onomatopoeic title, for it does indeed tumble and rattle – with real energy and conviction. There’s also a neat contrast between the insistent, immediate piano playing of Herbie Hancock and the more ponderous and studied style of Brad Mehldau (a musician I personally find somewhat difficult).

There’s a relentless momentum to much of this material, alongside some brilliant improvising, investing new life in what are essentially familiar modal explorations. The sound is always crisp and full of spirit, so even over the most elaborate extemporisations (the extended introduction of the title track for example), there is a curious warmth and zest. The group is equally adept at handling introspection though, and the central ballad ‘When Can I Kiss You Again?’ is moving in its unassuming grace and elegance.

‘Pilgrimage’ will inevitably be seen as a symbolic recording – a miraculous valedictory statement of real integrity and depth. In this case, though, this is not without genuine justification. Brecker appears to have imbued this material with personal warmth, compassion and humanity. As a result, it’s a record that, whilst brimming with musicality, is also purely and simply enjoyable.

The Soul Jazz record label, already established as a superb chronicler of otherwise hard to find soul and reggae rarities, has been branching out considerably in recent years. Branching into the world of arty disco, punk and post-punk, they have been instrumental in recovering a number of lost masters of their art. Perhaps their most significant release to date remains the wonderful Arthur Russell compilation, the success of which led to other companies investing in recapturing the rest of his extraordinary output, both as a composer and as a producer (although I’m still waiting for a CD reissue of the Dinosaur L album). This year, they have journeyed yet further into the contemporary pop landscape with a compilation of prime jungle and drum ‘n’ bass from the early nineties, and the truly magnificent Box Of Dub, a compilation that neatly connects the nascent dubstep movement back to its dub reggae origins.

All the genre’s prime movers and shakers are here (Burial, Kode 9, Skream, Scuba), with a generous selection of tracks not available on their respective albums. The Kode 9 and Burial tracks are particularly impressive, dark and imposing in their creative vision, and brilliantly executed.

Yet it’s the less well known moments that are most striking, in that they show clear links between this ‘future dub’ collection and the classic Lee Perry and Keith Hudson produced works which no doubt served as major sources of inspiration. ‘Dread Cowboy’ is credited to Tayo Meets The Acid Rockers Uptown, a direct reference to the King Tubby/Augustus Pablo classic, and is a deliciously laconic skank refreshed for the contemporary sonic landscape by the use of stuttering percussion and sub-bass sounds borrowed from grime. The two tracks by Sub Version feat. Paul St. Hilaire (unfortunately the sleeve notes are not informative enough to indicate whether these are direct collaborations or a producer’s reversions of pre-existing tracks) are most illuminating – Hilaire’s voice is strongly reminiscent of Horace Andy, and both tracks are majestic.

Jason Swinscoe’s Cinematic Orchestra have finally returned with yet another ‘soundtrack to an imaginary film, as yet unmade’. Fortunately, ‘Ma Fleur’ is arguably their most evocative record to date, benefiting considerably from a number of significant contributors from the jazz world and beyond, and frequently moving outside the jazz-meets-trip-hop box in which Swinscoe had been in danger of confining himself. There are hints of folk music and pop balladry (the latter mostly brought by singer-songwriter Patrick Watson), and the comparisons with Talk Talk’s ‘Spirit of Eden’ are not entirely wide of the mark, although ‘Ma Fleur’ doesn’t share that record’s extraordinary sense of space and control.

That being said, those wanting more of the same will be more than satisfied with the reappearance of legendary soul and gospel singer Fontella Bass on ‘Familiar Ground’ (aptly titled) and ‘Breathe’, the latter pulling off a neat trick in combining concerns both old and new. It’s a strikingly beautiful and poignant piece of music, brilliantly constructed. Bass has apparently been unwell – perhaps as a consequence she sounds more vulnerable and less overpowering on these tracks. ‘Child Song’ again prominently features the sinewy drum loops of Luke Flowers and rolling upright bass figures of Phil France, albeit with some neatly arranged backing vocals varying the texture. Elsewhere, guest musicians such as percussionist Milo Fell and pianist Nick Ramm leave their own indelible mark on proceedings, and the string arrangements are dependably lush, particularly on the lovely ‘All The Stars Fell’.

A number of the other tracks require some effort on behalf of the listener, particularly the gentle, deceptively simple ‘Music Box’ which sees Watson share vocal duties with former Lamb singer Lou Rhodes. The title track represents Swinscoe at his most engaging, collaborating with saxophonist Tom Chance to produce something immersing and compelling. The opening ‘To Build A Home’, somewhat oddly, most closely resembles Coldplay, were that group to have any sense of real drama beyond the merely emotionally manipulative.

‘Ma Fleur’ is a slow burning but beautiful achievement, and it seems appropriate that it needs to be ingested as a complete whole. It has a delicate ebb and flow, and at its best is as emotional as it is atmospheric.

Journey To The Margins Part 2

Stars Of The Lid, Colleen, Fennesz Sakamoto, Led Bib, James Blackshaw


Much has already been written about Kranky label artists Stars Of The Lid, with the 4AD label boss making the particularly bold assertion that they were already making the most significant music of the 21st Century. Such hyperbole surely neglects all the minimalist composers who have so clearly influenced them, but there’s little doubt that there is something strange and beautiful about this percussionless, almost anti-rhythmic music.

It’s certainly physically and mentally relaxing, and for many listeners ‘Stars Of The Lid and Their Refinement of the Decline’ may be far more effective at inducing sleep than any tranquiliser. Yet there’s also something contemplative and meditative in its very stillness – a peace and calm that is decidedly absent from most popular music and also exposes most branded ‘chill out’ music for the vacuous wallpaper that it is.

Stars Of The Lid’s music is all about the lush combination of electronically generated sounds with the intervention of acoustic instruments. There is no percussion, no beat, and only the vaguest sense of time and rhythm. This is music that, as Jason Pierce might have it, floats in space. There are also no clearly identifiable themes – instead melodic ideas (always played at the most laconic pace imaginable) drift in and out of the ether at undefined intervals. Adam Wiltzie and Brian McBride mostly avoid dissonance or uncomfortable sound clashes, but there’s still something peculiarly disquieting and odd about this music. It constantly leads the listener in expecting some form of climax that never arrives – there is never any release of tension. It also feels eerie and solipsistic. Even if it were being performed live to a stadium crowd, you’d still feel as if you were the only person listening.

There’s also something quite delicious and enticing about their dry sense of humour. This is clearly evident in their song titles, from the opening ‘Dungtitled (in A Major)’ to ‘Even If You’re Never Awake’ and ‘Another Ballad For Heavy Lids’. They’re certainly leaving an open goal for anyone who does wish to charge them with being soporific!

This is a double set, an undoubted indulgence, and I would find it quite a challenge to get through both discs in one uninterrupted sitting. This album is uniquely relentless in its adherence to one single idea, and some may even find it tyrannical as a result. Still, it’s beautiful music made with real conviction that rewards close attention.

Cecile Schott has been making tranquil, beautiful music under the name of Colleen for the Leaf label for a few years now. ‘Les Ondes Silencieuses’ may be her finest work to date. She has veered increasingly astray from her initial preoccupation with electronic loops in favour of acoustic instrumentation and cross-fertilising early music with a defiantly minimalist approach. The list of influences on her website is both fascinating and refreshing, running the gamut from Schubert to Terry Riley, Keith Jarrett and Derek Bailey. She also lists a whole range of ‘non-western’ music with which I am completely unfamiliar. It’s brilliant simply to find a contemporary musician prepared to admit to being influenced by a musical heritage (in my time in student radio I got so bored with interviewing pop musicians who claimed, absurdly, either not to listen to other music, or not to think about it). It’s therefore even better to find someone who is prepared to inform themselves from all angles.

Colleen’s last work saw her playing a number of music boxes, with impressively powerful results. On ‘Les Ondes Silencieuses’ she performs on a wider range of unusual instruments, including the viola da gamba, classical guitars and the spinet. The music is deliberately under-arranged, often revolving around repeating four note motifs. The playing is consistently delicate and restrained, and textural variety is achieved through very minimal overdubbing and the use of different playing techniques. It’s somehow both spare and elegant, and remarkably peaceful.

I’ve been an admirer of the work of laptop experimentalist Christian Fennesz for some time now, although I’m reliably informed that watching him live is much like watching paint dry. Whilst his early work tended to be abrasive and uncompromising, he has gradually steered himself towards something more accessible, but no less challenging. His greatest achievement perhaps remains the ‘Fennesz Plays’ EP, for which he radically deconstructed Brian Wilson’s ‘Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder’ and The Rolling Stones’ ‘Paint It Black’. The following ‘Endless Summer’ album, now something of an established classic, was his warmest, most inviting work, full of all manner of intriguing processed guitar sounds set against an all-enveloping fuzz. If anything, the follow-up (‘Venice’) was warmer still. His latest work is a collaboration with the legendary Yellow Magic Orchestra mainman Ryuichi Sakamoto, and it is decidedly intimate. Fennesz’s laptop processing is becoming increasingly musical – there’s much more variety in pitch and tone here than on previous outings. Sakamoto’s sustained piano chords meld with Fennesz’s backdrop with consummate ease, and, in leaving harmony hanging unresolved, Sakomoto adds elements of mystery and suspense (‘Kokoro’ sounds particularly creepy). The whole work seems to have a modern chamber feel, but also sounds vividly cinematic.

Along with Fraud, Babel labelmates Led Bib are another heavily hyped act in the new explosion of British jazz talent. Drummer/composer Mark Holub, although an American by birth, now lives in London. He has recently been heaped with all manner of acclaim and is the recipient of awards and funding galore. It’s not difficult to understand why Led Bib are incredibly hip right now – much like Acoustic Ladyland, their sound references punk and heavy rock as much as it does a jazz tradition. Their music is brash, noisy and blisteringly intense, and after several listens, I’m finally being convinced that there’s more to 'Sizewell Tea', their second album, than meets the eye. The compositional device of using two alto saxophonists (Chris Williams and Pete Grogan) to play the melodies in demonically dissonant intervals initially works brilliantly. The opening ‘Stinging Nettle’ is both fiery and nasty and ‘Battery Power’ is impressive in its willingness to embrace the tangential. Across an entire album though, the formula begins to reek somewhat of gimmickry, and the band work best when they veer away from this rather restrictive template (‘The Keeper’, for example, despite its rhythmic invention and playful quality, is really rather irritating). The improvising is mostly savage and untamed, but perhaps not especially musical. As a drummer, Holub is powerful, driving, heavy and furious, but rarely inventive or innovative. The group playing often seems more competitive than complementary, and the general dynamic seems to be simply to play hard and fast. This works well when Grogan and Williams battle against each other, but gets oppressive when overused. When other players are allowed more space, such as when keyboardist Toby McClaren blurts all over ‘Spring’, the results are emphatically more challenging. The uncharacteristically pretty ‘Shower’, the marvellously crisp ‘Manifesto For The Future’ and impressive refashioning of David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ are standout moments that may well point the way forward.

James Blackshaw is a young self-taught guitarist from London who gathered rave reviews from well informed music writers for his last work, 2006’s ‘O True Believers’. He’s now back with another spiritual-themed work, again strongly influenced by the Takoma school of guitar playing instigated by the legendary John Fahey. His latest work ‘The Cloud of Unknowing’ consists of five mostly long pieces that extemporise on basic themes. His layers of rolling guitars feel like undulating tidal waves, and the music veers between feeling meditative and overwhelming. It’s a powerful set with a very distinctive sound, suggesting that Blackshaw is not just a master instrumentalist, but also a master craftsman. This is an enriching work far removed from any underlying trends in British music.

Journey To The Margins Part 1

This is going to become a big multiple post catching up on some of the more unusual and esoteric sounds I’ve been immersing myself in this year. My musical tastes are continually expanding, particularly as I get further alienated by the focus of the mainstream music press and radio on generic guitar music that I’ve heard several hundred times before. I still value great songwriters as artists, as my previous few posts have explicitly stated, but I grew up with traditions of instrumental music, particularly jazz, and I’ve been building on these foundations with more ambitious and abstract listening habits of late.

I’ve particularly been meaning to write about David Torn’s remarkable ‘Prezens’ album for some time but have struggled to find words or even concepts that adequately capture its artistry. This is Torn’s first album as bandleader for the ECM label in twenty years, and what a remarkable group he has assembled for these sessions. With New York free improvising legend Tim Berne on saxophone, the in-demand Craig Taborn on keys and world class drummer Tom Rainey, this is a prime example of fascinating music drawn from collective improvisation. The pieces are all comprised from recordings of group sessions, to which Torn has added electronics and manipulated the structures. The resulting sound is nearly impossible to classify, although there are identifiable elements drawn from the free jazz tradition, fusion, heavy metal and electronica.

There is a striking attention to detail, and Torn’s emphasis is as much on mood, texture and sound as it is on technical virtuosity. Many guitarists these days use effects, processing and live sampling to manipulate their sound, but few have done this with as much success and originality as Torn achieves here. His own playing is frequently subsumed not just by the overall atmosphere but also by the group’s rampant and celebratory hard grooving. When he eventually comes to the foreground, it’s with a searing, excoriating force. More generally, there are times (particularly on the lengthy ‘Structural Functions Of Prezens’ and ‘Bulbs’) when the listener is hypnotically lulled into a false sense of security before the music explodes with dizzying, calamitous abandon. At its most extreme, the music is quite extraordinary in its lack of respect for classification. ‘Sink’ begins with a dirty groove that could almost be described as funky, before becoming increasingly abstract, with Berne exploiting the highest registers of his instrument. Rainey is simply superb throughout, delivering rhythms that are frequently breathtaking in their intricacy and invention.

It would be easy to overstate this record’s strangeness or ‘otherness’ but also essential to its impact is a very deep and ingrained understanding of the blues. This can be heard even in the album’s most deconstructionist moments. The opening ‘AK’ for example, is closely in touch with American blues traditions. Amidst all the clatter and clamour there is actually a very recognisable beating heart. In a year when the ECM is truly excelling itself, this may be their most significant release.

Bassist and composer Scott Colley has established himself as a major played in the New York jazz scene (he also features prominently on Kenny Werner’s rather strange ‘Lawn Chair Society’ album), but has been somewhat overlooked so far here in the UK. There’s a very peculiar review of the ‘Architect of the Silent Moment’ album over on allaboutjazz.com that I find rather baffling. It argues that this music emphasises individual virtuosity over melodic accessibility. I have to confess that I was initially most struck by this album’s accessibility – the rhythm section is subtle but compelling, and the harmonised melodies seem to me to be attractive and mostly immediate in their impact. There’s an impressive reworking of Andrew Hill’s ‘Smoke Stack’, but everything else is a Colley original, and he already seems to have established some kind of signature sound. There’s no denying the improvisational chops of the individual group members (including Craig Taborn again, outstanding trumpeter Ralph Alessi and the exquisite Jason Moran guesting on piano), but there’s also a thematic quality to all of these pieces. It might be fair to argue that the rhythm section are sometimes too content to provide backing and don’t always converse as equals with the soloists, but this isn’t a consistent problem throughout. The record is best when making full use of the talents of Moran, especially as the contrast in styles between his piano and Taborn’s unpredictable, angular keyboard interruptions is powerful and arresting. There’s more to come from Colley for sure, but this is a pretty impressive calling card.

My Mercury musings of the past few days have already indicated that I’m genuinely impressed by the much hyped self titled debut from Fraud. This is frequently odd, discomforting and original music, dominated not just by joyous and disrespectful improvising, but also by outrageously crisp rhythm playing.

The band have a particularly novel line-up, deploying two drummers. This would seem like enough for most bands, but when one of those drummers is the immensely creative, chattery and fidgety Tim Giles (one of the best drummers on the London jazz circuit at present), it’s clear that this was always going to be a highly percussive record. Luckily, Fraud achieve this in a refreshingly unconventional way – there’s little sign of tedious drum battling or aggression – the group instead prefer to seek out the full range of sounds both from drum kits and from electronic percussion. They also use a baritone guitarist, but no bassist, which imbues the music with extra space and freedom.

The compositions frequently turn the conventions of group playing upside down, frequently beginning with abstract exposition before coalescing into more conventional rhythm-directed hard riffing. Saxophonist James Allsopp plays with a tone that is defiantly gritty and harsh, sometimes even intentionally nasty. The group also make considered use of keyboard and electronic textures.

It’s a peculiar clattering noise, but it’s not all fast and furious, and frequently there’s an obvious group dynamic at work. The closing ‘Mystery Box’ is as close as the group get to a conventional ballad, resembling as it does Charles Mingus’ ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat’, but it feels otherworldly and disorientating rather than melancholy, haunting or beautiful.

This inventive, fearless but ultimately enjoyable album gives further evidence of the brilliant health of British jazz right now.

My Mercury musings also directed me towards two albums on the wonderful Type label from 2006 that had sadly passed me by at the time. ‘The Dead Sea’ by Xela is simply superb, a compelling blend of drones, abstractions, guitar pluckings and strange percussive sounds that is both mysterious and riveting. Its central image of being lost at sea is powerful and terrifying, and the closing ‘Never Going Home’ concludes the set on a palpably bleak and resigned note. The use of seamless segues between the compositions makes the work feel like a complete and carefully structured whole, with subtle variations in texture providing shape and transition. It’s strongly influenced by the techniques of sound collage, and the shifting layers of noise are both cerebrally and emotionally affecting.

‘Coins and Crosses’ by Ryan Teague is an impressive offering in an increasingly fashionable sub-genre that sees contemporary composition merge with electronic experimentation. I’m not sure there’s anything particularly audacious in the compositional techiniques that Teague deploys, and the Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra is mostly used to rather conventional effect. Teague has supposedly been strongly influenced by early sacred music, and as a result there are times when this album sounds very close to the much more successful spiritual works of Arvo Part. Still, the electronic sounds are successfully subsumed within the greater whole rather than overpowering the traditional textures, and there are some achingly beautiful melodies that flow effortlessly at the core of this music. This is more likely to offer inspiration to other electro-acoustic musicians than to establish Teague as a major composer in his own right, but it’s undoubtedly a pleasure to hear.

An Alternative Mercury Shortlist

OK, I've made some predictions and selections, now I've thought of my ideal alternative shortlist. Please note that I'm actually pleased at the nominations for Amy Winehouse and Basquiat Strings, but I didn't want this list to overlap in any way with the official one, so neither are included here. Also, I don't go for tokenism, so I haven't restricted myself to one jazz entry.

1.Broken Family Band - Hello Love (superior guitar based indie-pop - only those completely ignorant of musical history would take The View over this gem).
2.Fraud - Fraud (very impressive debut, some gritty improv and hard riffing)
3.Finn Peters - Su-Ling (deliciously swinging)
4.Cinematic Orchestra - Ma Fleur (atmospheric, subtle, evocative)
5. Dani Siciliano - Slappers (inventive production, clever songs)
6. Alasdair Roberts - The Amber Gatherers (warm and affecting Scottish folk)
7. Xela - The Dead Sea (innovative use of sound and texture, very striking, disturbing in places)
8. Jeremy Warmsley - The Art Of Fiction (independent, bedroom-produced pop)
9. Curios - Hidden (The Art of the Trio)
10.Ryan Teague - Coins and Crosses (intriguing mix of very early and very contemporary influences, passed me by last September unfortunately)
11.The Long Blondes - Someone To Drive You Home (more superior indie-pop)
12. Kode 9 and Spaceape - Memories of the Future (intoxicating, strange, disorientating, dubby)

Two Extremes: Steely Dan and Daniel Johnston In Concert

It would be difficult to watch two more different gigs consecutively than Steely Dan at the Hammersmith Apollo and Daniel Johnston at The Union Chapel. The former came with predictable musical virtuosity, as well as tremendous clarity of sound and execution astounding in its precision and accuracy. The latter was raw and untutored, unashamedly vulnerable and brilliantly moving.

Steely Dan haven’t visited the UK in a while, and this time they brought an ensemble that Walter Becker has repeatedly described as the best group they’ve yet assembled. This is without doubt a bold claim, but with the dexterous, driving drumming of the tremendous Keith Carlock and a particularly intricate horn section, there’s plenty of evidence to support this.

Certainly this was a much better show than the Wembley Arena performance I caught a few years ago. The advance publicity had lead me to expect plenty of recent material, including Donald Fagen solo tracks and some premieres of new work from Becker’s forthcoming second solo album. In fact, there was none of this, the band instead offering a shrewdly selected set of material ‘delving back into the deep 70s’.

The presentation was tremendous, with the band arriving onstage to open with a deeply swinging jazz groove to usher Becker and Fagen to the stage. Fagen played melodica for the first few tracks, which was a nice touch, and a refreshing change from his usual key-tar. ‘Time Out Of Mind’ made for a neat opener, metronomically groovy but with one of their most infectious melodies.

They only play two tracks from the past decade – an engaging, clattering ‘Two Against Nature’ and a tightly controlled rendition of ‘Godwhacker’. Much of the rest of the set focused on their golden period of transition (from 1974’s Katy Lied through to 1977’s Aja) – when they began to move from the fixed line-up and freewheeling multi-genre spirit of the early albums towards a more perfectionist adherence to strict time and jazz charts. In recent years, this perfectionism has proved stifling – with both studio and live bands forced to play rigidly composed lines with little free reign. Mercifully, this ethos has been at least partially abandoned for this tour. Becker and Fagen employed Musical Director and the horn charts particularly were meticulously arranged but they also left plenty of space for dynamic soloing and the horn players trade lines as if their lives depended on it (in fact, they probably did – Becker and Fagen are notoriously tricky taskmasters).

The show was testament to the duo’s longstanding writing talents, both as musical arrangers and as storytellers, with their surreal, hyper-literate tales of geeks, hipsters, drug dealers and outsiders. They also delivered plenty of laconic, dry humour too. Becker brings the volume right down during ‘Hey Nineteen’ to address the audience (‘it’s a lovely midsummer evening, and the last place you really want to be is at a Steely Dan show – you’d rather be on the banks of the river, with a beautiful lady…’). When Becker introduces the band towards the show’s conclusion, he introduces his partner in crime as ‘composer, pianist, songwriter, visionary and raconteur’. He may well be all these things but he still has the worst posture at an electric piano that I’ve ever seen.

Highlights included a stunning recreation of ‘Aja’, complete with Keith Carlock’s thrilling and visceral take on the infamous Steve Gadd drum solo. It’s also hard to overstate the audience’s delight when the band encored with ‘FM’, a genuinely surprising populist gesture. It sounded superbly slinky. ‘Chain Lightning’ is rendered as a particularly dirty blues, whilst ‘Bad Sneakers’ and ‘Kid Charlemagne’ made for pleasing curveball selections. The show also benefited greatly from variety, with Becker taking the lead vocal on ‘Haitian Divorce’ (with ample irony) and one of the backing vocalists taking lead vocal duties on a richly soulful, gospel-tinged version of ‘Dirty Work’ (one of the few forays into the earlier catalogue, there was no ‘Do It Again’, ‘Bodhisattva’ or ‘Reelin’ In The Years’ this time round). The closing ‘My Old School’ was particularly satisfying. The man sitting next to me simply could not resist the temptation to play air drums.

Daniel Johnston, by complete contrast, is not a musician’s musician. His vocal pitching is wavering and uncertain, his guitar and piano playing both lack any recognisable sign of technique or training, and his sense of time is so wayward as to be non-existent. His songs deploy only very limited harmony, often written in the same key and using the same three or four chords.

It’s not difficult to explain his extraordinary appeal though. His songs are among the most simple, direct and breathtakingly honest testaments in the modern pop landscape. They are frequently heartbreaking, and clearly a form of solace for the extreme emotional and mental anguish he has suffered throughout his life. He is endearingly childlike, but this also imbues him with a pithy wisdom completely absent from more self-conscious and verbose singer-songwriters. Sometimes watching him feels intensely voyeuristic – is it right to enjoy these manifestations of one man’s personal torment?

On the evidence of this outstanding show, the answer to that question is definitely a firm yes. What really shines through at the Union Chapel is Johnston’s underlying sense of hope and positivity. His songs address difficult issues, from unrequited love to his artistic and personal battles against depression (the quite brilliant ‘Story of An Artist’). Yet there is also real warmth at the heart of his work, particularly evident in the tender piano ballad ‘Love Enchanted’ and the unashamedly sentimental ‘True Love Will Find You In The End’.

There is real musicality to this performance too though, mostly due to the carefully structured nature of the show. Johnston arrives onstage to mass applause, beginning with a handful of solo performances, before inviting special guests James Yorkston and Adem to accompany him on a fascinating range of instruments (Adem plays mandolin and harmonium, whilst Yorkston gets an extraordinarily rich sound from his acoustic guitar). Johnston does his best to throw his accompanists off track, but they do an admirable job in keeping him true. They deliver spirited versions of ‘Casper The Friendly Ghost’ and ‘Walking The Cow’, amongst other songs from throughout the Johnston catalogue.

There’s then a short break before Johnston returns with another guitarist, introduced as a friend from the ‘songs of pain’ era. There’s then another short set where Johnston is backed by a full band, a surprisingly successful venture into conventional musicality.

Johnston is characteristically nervous and self effacing throughout, but there’s also a real sense of conviction underneath it all. He shakes consistently and violently, so much so that John Kell and I wondered whether he now had a physically degenerative disease to add to his other problems, but apparently the shakes are side effects from taking lithium. He sustains his extraordinary gift for communication throughout the show and he remains a prime example of how untrained musicians can break free from academic, formal preconceptions of what constitutes great art. Music shouldn’t exist purely for musicians – it should speak to everyone. Johnston achieves this with quiet dignity and integrity. In baring his soul so unreservedly, he challenges us to look more closely at ourselves.

Mercury Shortlist Announced

So here it is....

Young Knives
Bat For Lashes
Jamie T
Klaxons
The View
Amy Winehouse
Basquiat Strings feat. Seb Rochford
Dizzee Rascal
New Young Pony Club
Maps
Fionn Regan
Arctic Monkeys

First of all, I'm genuinely delighted for Ben, Emma, Seb and the rest of Basquiat Strings - the album is excellent and deserves to win, but it almost certainly won't. I'm surprised there's no space here for Cinematic Orchestra, The Long Blondes or Bloc Party (and the observational lyrics on The Long Blondes album are surely at least the equal of Alex Turner). Much as I like Dizzee Rascal, that album is not the best example of British grime/hip-hop/dubstep etc - Wiley, kode 9 and spaceape and Skream! albums all superior.

It's actually a rather strange list, inevitably skewed in favour of acts with the full benefit of the corporate and PR machines (so no Jeremy Warmsley, Twilight Sad, Fridge, Broken Family Band, Flipron, Fraud or Curios), yet with some curious choices - the likes of Maps and Fionn Regan etc have hardly made much impact on the record buying public, have they?

There used to be a handful of selections of real insight on the Mercury shortlists (even last year with Polar Bear, Hot Chip and Scritti Politti on the list) - this may be the worst shortlist to date for recognising artistic invention and innovation.

I would say it's probably between Amy Winehouse and Klaxons, with Bat For Lashes as a good outsider's bet.

More Mercury....

Thanks to DJ Martian for, as usual, being the most comprehensive person on the web and constructing this list of albums eligible for the prize (if their respective record labels have put up the cash to enter them of course).

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/djmartian/mercury_music_prize_2007_eligibility

I missed the outstanding Finn Peters and Tom Arthurs albums out of my list of jazz contenders and it also strikes me that Julie Fowlis must be an almost dead cert if there's a token folk nomination. I hadn't realised that the outstanding guitarist and composer James Blackshaw was British - that would be a wonderful selection, as would Ryan Teague's excellent Coins and Crosses which sadly passed me by last September. I'd completely forgotten Acoustic Ladyland's Skinny Grin, a real possibility given that the judges ignored the far superior Last Chance Disco last year in favour of Polar Bear's excellent but, at the time, less well known Held On The Tips Of Fingers album. If they look to recognise the achievement of Seb Rochford again - there's also Fulborn Teversham as well. They're also bound to nominate the ludicrously overrated New Young Pony Club and Simian Mobile Disco too I suspect, particularly as those albums are still so fresh in the mind.

DJ Martian also includes The Tuss, the mysterious act which may or may not actually be the Aphex Twin. Is this a full length album or an EP? I've not picked it up yet - note to self that I must do so ASAP. I also had no idea that Xela were a British act - The Dead Sea is outstanding! Looking at this list DJ Martian has so carefully compiled, it's clear that British music really is incredibly healthy at the moment - it's just that our beloved music critics, who are paid to sort the wheat from the chaff, simply have no idea where to look right now!

Anyway, within about half an hour, we'll know the shortlist.

I'm One Step Ahead Of The Game...

Oh dear, the NME has come up with a truly ghastly list of possible Mercury nominations:

Candie Payne - 'I Wish I Could Have Loved You More'
Jarvis Cocker - 'Jarvis'
Jamie T - 'Panic Prevention'
Arctic Monkeys - 'Favourite Worst Nightmare'
Amy Winehouse - 'Back To Black'
Klaxons - 'Myths Of The Near Future'
Gruff Rhys - 'Candylion'
Razorlight - 'Razorlight'
Dizzee Rascal - 'Maths & English'
Editors - 'An End Has A Start'
The Cribs - 'Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever'
Maps - 'We Can Create'
The Enemy - 'We'll Live And Die in These Towns'
The View - 'Hats Off To The Buskers'
The Twang - 'Love It When I Feel Like This'
Bat For Lashes - 'Fur And Gold'
Cherry Ghost - 'Thirst For Romance'
Kasabian - 'Empire'
Mika - 'Life In Cartoon Motion'
Patrick Wolf - 'The Magic Position'
The Chemical Brothers - 'We Are The Night'
Joss Stone - 'Introducing Joss Stone'
1990s - 'Cookies'
Kaiser Chiefs - 'Yours Truly Angry Mob'
Calvin Harris - 'I Created Disco'
Just Jack - 'Overtones'

Well, credit to them for remembering Patrick Wolf and Bat For Lashes, both of which had slipped my mind - but the rest of it? The Enemy, The View, The Twang, The Cribs - not only is there a common theme in the lack of imagination in their monikers, there's also a common thread in their complete lack of musical inspiration. British guitar music is currently in the worst state it's ever been in during my lifetime if this is the best we have to offer the world. I couldn't really resent a nomination for Jarvis, even if that album was nowhere near as good as I'd hoped. Pitiful copyists Editors can go home, as can the ludicrously overrated Joss Stone. Calvin Harris' embarrassing appropriation of electro-pop merely has novelty value - it can't possibly win a major prize, can it? I'm also wondering if the surprisingly well received Happy Mondays comeback album might sneak a nomination, even if the public don't seem to care for it.

The Usual Pointless Predicting...

According to the Mercury Music Prize website, the nominations for the 2007 award are being announced tomorrow morning. Does anyone actually care this year? The publicity campaign seems to have been almost non-existent.

I'm going to stick my neck out and predict a nomination, and probable victory for Amy Winehouse and 'Back to Black'. I just can't see the award going to yet another tedious and derivative indie record this year, but I usually get these things hopelessly wrong - and Klaxons would also be a highly predictable winner.

It's highly unlikely that Arctic Monkeys will win two years in a row, but I can't see 'Favourite Worst Nightmare' not at least scoring a nomination. I'd also suggest that Dizzee Rascal is likely to get another nomination for the patchy, but occasionally brilliant 'Maths and English'. I'd be surprised if The Long Blondes and Cinematic Orchestra's slow burning triumph 'Ma Fleur' weren't nominated too, the latter being a strong outsider's bet to win.

The real competition this year is for the token jazz nomination, British jazz being in particularly good health at the moment. John Surman, Abram Wilson, Soweto Kinch, Ingrid Laubrock and Tom Cawley's Curios must all be possible contenders. Even more plausible, however, are the superficially skronky Led Bib and the genuinely superb Fraud. I'd like to see the latter win the prize.

Other artists I'd like to see nominated - The Twilight Sad, Jeremy Warmsley, Kode 9 and Spaceape, Skream!, Wiley, Flipron, Broken Family Band (did Track and Field put up the cash for 'Hello Love' to make the longlist?), Basquiat Strings, Fridge, Dani Siciliano, Alasdair Roberts.

Bloc Party's 'A Weekend In The City' took a pretty harsh critical lambasting - will the Mercury Judges see any merit in it?

It's all pointless anyway, how often does the best British album of the year actually win this award?

High As Any Saviour: Iron and Wine's Trapeze Swinger

Back in late 2006, when I went to see Iron and Wine play with Calexico at London’s Forum, Sam Beam played a song that immediately struck me as a masterwork. It sounded unfamiliar to me then, so I assumed it was a forthcoming track, and since then I’d been unable to track it down (all I remembered was a haunting melody and a lyric about the ‘pearly gates’). Thanks largely to The Hype Machine, surely one of the web’s very best music resources, I’ve managed to identify it as ‘The Trapeze Swinger’. It’s an epic, sprawling, highly evocative song dense with surreal allusion that appeared on Iron and Wine’s ‘Such Great Heights’ EP from 2004, a release that completely passed me by at the time. The title track from the EP is a melancholic acoustic reversion of The Postal Service song, but it’s really Beam’s own song that best encapsulates his considerable talents.

‘The Trapeze Swinger’ provides further evidence that Beam may be the best lyricist currently at work in American music. His style is distinctive and he is a superb manipulator of language, mostly abandoning conventions in favour of unusual imagery and uncomfortable juxtapositions of ideas. It’s somehow fitting that Beam originally intended to pursue a career as a cinematographer. The song’s lyric is tightly structured, with each verse beginning with the line ‘Please, remember me…’, but the large number of verses and peculiar flow leave plenty of space for free-flowing expression perhaps influenced by stream of consciousness writers.

As a result, there’s also plenty of room for interpretation as to the song’s meaning, although it would appear to ostensibly be about an ageing man reflecting on a more youthful relationship that turned sour, and regretting its failure. The song’s central metaphor is that the fleeting, precarious, and razor sharp danger of a trapeze act seems to reflect the fragile nature of relationships. The trapeze swinger also perhaps symbolises the unique power a song can have – it may be over in minutes, but it can linger in the mind with clarity and conviction. It’s such a simple notion that it’s a wonder nobody seems to have really explored it before – certainly not in such a haunting and moving fashion anyway.

The words effortlessly meld descriptions of vivid dreams and ‘real’ memories, rich in particular detail (Halloween face painting, counting passing cars etc), perhaps verifying Australian writer Patrick White’s contention that ‘there can be little to chose between the reality of illusion and the illusion of reality’ (there can be little doubt that Beam is strongly influenced by great novelists, perhaps more so than by other lyricists – William Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy would also seem obvious reference points). The strange line ‘please remember me, as in the dream we had as rug-burned babies’ seems particularly extraordinary, as if this was a relationship destined to happen from birth, but also somehow doomed to fail. There’s a peculiar, powerful fatalism at the heart of Beam’s work. There’s also intelligent wordplay (the subtle reminiscing of an intimate encounter in ‘the car behind the carnival’) and striking imagery (the line that stuck in my mind about the pearly gates having ‘such eloquent graffiti’)

Beam’s protagonist in ‘The Trapeze Swinger’ seems almost crippled by regret, but the song concludes on an ambiguous ray of light. If he ever does reach the pearly gates, the protagonist will redeem himself (‘I’ll do my best to make a drawing/of God and Lucifer, a boy and girl/An angel kissin’ on a sinner….all around the frightened Trapeze Swinger’). This final line is central to the song’s impact – even the daring Trapeze Swinger is as vulnerable as any other individual human, fundamentally uncertain of how to judge difficult situations.

There’s an obvious musical criticism that can be levelled against ‘The Trapeze Swinger’. It is based on one very brief, perhaps even insubstantial, melodic theme repeated over and over again for the song’s (reasonably lengthy) duration. There is no dynamic variation whatsoever and no distinction between verse and chorus. The song simply journeys on until it has reached its final meditation. The sweet, delicate harmonised backing vocals that open the track underpin Beam’s beautifully understated performance throughout. Yet this approach is precisely how the song achieves its remarkable power – it feels like a compelling, unstoppable story, twisting and turning but never quite veering from its consistent path.

The music also rewards close attention considerably – this is a defiantly subtle and brilliantly executed arrangement, whereby different instruments and figures slip in and out in an intelligent and unobtrusive manner. Sometimes it’s slide guitar punctuations that occupy the foreground, at others it’s upright walking bass. Towards the end, the bass drops out, its role assumed by the left hand of the piano. Beam also adds some subtle electronics that fill out the texture a little. All this helps to give Beam’s musings additional power, highlighting key lines and ideas whilst sustaining a particular mood. With ‘The Trapeze Swinger’, Beam appears to have achieved something akin to an American Folk Minimalism – and in its own way, this is a strikingly original record whilst simultaneously rustic and traditional.

This is a great song about the overwhelming burden of memory that also hints at how retrospect can often stifle us. It shouldn’t be left to languish in obscurity as an additional track on a very under-promoted EP.

Winning and Losing in Love: The Broken Family Band

This year I have been very absorbed in a range of instrumental music (especially the likes of Battles, Supersilent, David Torn, John Surman, Fraud and Tord Gustavsen – much of which I still need to write about here). Some events in my life recently have given me something of an awakening, and jolted me right back to the art of songwriting, particularly the revelatory recent albums from Feist and Bjork, to which I may add some further thoughts soon. Although it’s very different musically from those two scattershot albums, The Broken Family Band’s latest seems to have come along at precisely the right time – and it’s brilliant. It’s a great big slap in the face to anyone who thinks that songwriting is somehow an inferior art form to more studied composition (actually, the two are very much complementary – I can’t listen exclusively to either). It’s harder for me to gather together thoughts and feelings about instrumental music for some reason, which might give evidence for the greater accessibility, perhaps even the greater relevance, of the song for most modern ears. Or maybe it just says that I prefer to marry my love of sound to my love of language. Who knows?

The Broken Family Band’s singer and chief songwriter Steven Adams has written a brave and interesting piece in The Guardian today, explaining his band’s modus operandi. BFB insist on maintaining their regular day jobs in addition to performing in a semi-professional touring group, turning down more opportunities than they accept as a result, and ensuring that their musical endeavours are strictly ‘for fun’. As a jobbing musician with more than one other regular job, I find this really quite inspiring and endearing. It also explains how easy it’s been to take this band for granted when they are actually something genuinely special. They just always seem to be there, quietly working really hard, but mostly somewhere in the background in terms of the more trivial preoccupations of the British music media.

Let’s look at the bare facts, though – ‘Hello Love’ is their fourth full length album, along with two mini albums, in a period of just over five years. This is a remarkably prolific flexing of songwriting muscle by today’s market determined standards – and Adams’ Guardian article is illuminating in capturing how the band’s working methods actually make this easier to achieve. They have managed to create a working environment for themselves in which there is much creative freedom and little burden of pressure. They’ve therefore been able to establish a signature sound without the interference of label budgets or A&R executives, and have carefully refined that sound at a pace that they have dictated entirely by themselves. They are surely the best possible role models for other aspiring young bands with independent spirit, with a body of work that is looking increasingly fit for some sort of longevity.

I’ve been guilty of taking them for granted myself – leaving their recent albums languishing in the lower half of my albums of the year lists because they have usually been flawed in some way. There have been problems with the sequencing, as on ‘Cold Water Songs’, or problems with the finish as with ‘Welcome Home, Loser’. The latter may still be their best collection of songs, but it was slightly spoiled by an Abbey Road gloss which sounded suitably clean but also slightly anaemic. ‘Balls’ returned them very successfully to the rawer, more untamed aspects of their established formula, whilst ‘Hello Love’ positions them somewhere in the middle ground, albeit in a wholly satisfying way.

The sound is much smoother and more polished than on ‘Balls’, but by getting down to business quickly, recording the entire album in just 12 days, the band have managed to capture an energy and enthusiasm to match the uncharacteristic attention to detail in the production. The whole group sounds fantastic, from Mickey Roman’s exuberant drumming to the textural embellishments of Jay Williams and regular guest Timothy Victor. The icing on the cake comes with the deceptively sweet layered backing vocals of Jen Macro, with which the band have liberally seasoned this very fine record.

The most infectious songs here (‘Leaps’, ‘So Many Lovers’, ‘Julian’ ‘Love Your Man, Love Your Woman’) are crisp and clear, with Adams’ voice at last assuming a little more versatility and communicative power. Elsewhere, they expand their musical remit considerably. The closing ‘Seven Sisters’ is a first for the band in that it ambles on for nearly eight minutes, neatly combining reflective country balladry with an aggressive comic punk-thrash coda. ‘Hey Captain!’ sounds slightly less surreal on record than it did live earlier in the year, but I’m still pleasantly baffled by its sudden transition from reflective folk pickings to Mogwai-esque post rock sludge. Somehow, it really works, and it’s great to see the band move beyond the constraints of verse-chorus-verse song structure. Meanwhile, ‘You Get Me’ and ‘Don’t Change Your Mind’ are far less immediate, but have a gradual, almost insidious charm. The latter also has some brilliant lyrics about not being able to sleep naked in case you need to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, not a problem normally addressed in the contemporary pop landscape.

In fact, there is an honesty and clarity throughout that may previously have been lost for some listeners amidst the group’s ersatz Americana schtik and shrouds of irony. ‘Leaps’ addresses the subject of sex with admirable candour and positivity, whilst the drumless ‘Give and Take’ (sounding more like something from Adams’ solo outing ‘Problems’) is an exquisitely nasty break-up-and-move-on-song (‘hey, enjoy her body, enjoy her mind/she will take them away from you in her own time’). Best of all is ‘So Many Lovers’, a song that dares to deal with the paradoxes at the heart of relationships (‘lady, I know you think the world of me/but I’m not sure the world agrees, that I can be with you’ – one of Adams’ cleverest lines to date) and comes with a jaunty singalong chorus to which pretty much everyone must be able to relate (‘you should be happy to be among the infinite number of people who have loved and lost/and we’ll all know better next time…’). The relentless chug of ‘Love Your Man, Love Your Woman’ sounds like a rallying cry to forget about all concerns and get on with the simple business of good hard lovin’ (‘so you need peace, security…BUT THAT STUFF’S JUST TEMPORARY!’). Slightly more oblique is ‘Little Justice’, which veers between the tender and the ferocious. Does the central demand for ‘a little justice…bring our lovers home?’ hint at current government foreign policy perhaps? It might be arguable that Adams leaves himself vulnerable to accusations of being earnest here – but his barbed wit and satirical bite are very much still lurking. They prevent lapses into sentimentality, and are more effective now for being the bedrock of his musings rather than the veneer.

It’s great to see a band I used to enjoy in local Cambridge boozers now getting plenty of national press attention and packing out venues the size of Koko, even if the reviews have inevitably been of the ‘quite good’ three-stars-out-of-five-variety. Actually, the more I listen to this record the more I feel that, on this band’s modest terms, it is some kind of masterpiece. BFB don’t aspire to breathtaking originality or breaking musical boundaries – that is simply not their purpose – but here they have produced a set of songs that is ceaselessly thought-provoking, touching and, in the end, uplifting too. Like the band say, it’s just for fun, but that’s the highest possible praise.

This Is Not A Show

If the YouTube material posted here is anything to go by, REM appear to have rediscovered their Mojo:

http://remdublin.com/blog/ethank/2007/07/01/some-videos-were-posted-murmurs

Not that they ever diminished in force as a live band - we have to hope that producer Jacknife Lee doesn't tinker with these songs too much (after all, the man has produced Snow Patrol and the rather tricksy new Bloc Party album). 'Around The Sun' had some fine songs, but had been somewhat studio-neutered.

Still - what with the harder, more attacking sound of the rock tracks here, the lilting shuffle of the ballads, and the 'road-testing' of the material - the template for this new REM album-in-progress would appear to be the quite wonderful 'New Adventures In Hi Fi'. The signs are good. I wish I could have been in Dublin!

Home Cinema!

Over the past two weeks, I’ve finally found some time to rent some DVDs and catch up with some films I had intended to see in the cinema over the last six months or so.

Notes On A Scandal is a frosty, intelligent film elevated by superb central performances from Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett and, especially, Bill Nighy, who makes far more of an underwritten role than might reasonably be expected. Dench revels in her creepy obsessions, both in dramatic, tense on-screen moments and in her manipulative and sinister overdubbed narration. The film (and presumably also its source material, Zoe Heller’s novel) has a sophisticated grasp of its central issues, and remains morally complex throughout. We are not invited to condemn naïve schoolteacher Sheba for her futile affair with an underage schoolboy (although I wonder whether the film would have been this brave had the genders been reversed), neither do we really know whether to detest or pity Judi Dench’s unloved, scheming and controlling obsessive. For me, there were two problems undermining the film though – there are a couple of plot elements that really strain credibility, and whilst certainly dramatic, the film has little in the way of visual invention – ultimately it feels better suited to TV than cinema.

Admirers of the revenge thriller may feel the genre has at last been given a new lease of life by Denis Dercourt’s superbly subtle film The Page Turner. The film is icy and brilliantly restrained. It has only one shocking moment of grizzly violence, but comes with a world of resentment, rage and frustration seething underneath. Deborah Francois, who already proved her acting mettle in the Dardennes brothers’ Palme D’Or winning ‘L’Enfant’, gives an even more sophisticated and meticulously controlled performance here, and with her steely beauty is absolutely sublime casting.

At just 80 minutes in length, here is a rare film with absolutely no excess whatsoever, and where meaning and intent are frequently communicated through glances and unuttered thoughts. I am not sure how intimate the relationship between concert pianists and their page turners generally is, but there’s something utterly convincing about the need for trust and dependence on which this film’s devastating plan hinges. There’s also something plausible in the intense emotions that accompany serious artistry, and in the bitterness that comes with Francois’ character adopting a role she perceives as beneath what was once rightfully hers. Apparently, Dercourt is himself also a musician as well as film-maker, and found how ‘similar the mechanisms of suspense’ were to those of music. He’s extrapolated these similar tensions brilliantly with this film.

Francois’ performance is matched by that of Catherine Frot, vulnerable (and therefore sympathetic in spite of her original injustice) as Ariane Fouchecourt, a renowned concert pianist struggling with confidence and anxiety following an accident. Francois’ Melanie, taking a role as live-in childminder in their stately family home, shocks her out of her hermetic shell, encouraging her to find aspects of herself perhaps previously concealed, whilst all the time scheming and engineering her downfall. Everything hinges on a tragic disappointment in Melanie’s childhood, captured during the film’s prologue, for which Ariane was ultimately responsible. The film deals with many issues surrounding prodigious musical talent – the difficulty in gaining access to formal musical training in a world which is still somewhat elitist, the casual arrogance and insouciance that serious performers sometimes carry with them and the difficulty in sustaining musical brilliance through advanced years and personal trauma. The film’s conclusion is unremittingly nasty, and brilliantly executed, the look of callous and malevolent satisfaction on Melanie’s face providing the icing on the cake.

Gabrielle, an adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s novella The Return by that wayward and unpredictable director Patrice Chereau, is another fine and well executed piece of French cinema, although there are moments when it feels self-consciously stagy. The intervention of inter-titles and loud, clamorous classical music under the dialogue are techniques borrowed from silent cinema. I’m not sure they add as much to the picture as Chereau clearly intended, but the two central performances (for the film is essentially a two-person chamber piece) are so superb as to turn these reservations into minor quibbles. Isabelle Huppert is characteristically wonderful as Gabrielle, a sophisticated woman part of a cultured bourgeois set but locked in an entirely loveless marriage with Pascal Greggory’s complacent Jean.

One evening Jean arrives home to find a letter from Gabrielle informing him she has left for another man, but she returns a mere four hours later, confused by conflicting emotions and guilt. The ensuing series of confrontations between the two reveal complex power dynamics within the marriage, suppressed frustration and resentment, considerable self-deception and loathing. Greggory is superb as Jean, who seems to regard emotion as a demeaning excess to be constrained at all costs, almost matching Huppert’s compelling iciness (she is perhaps the only woman alive who could deliver a line like ‘the thought of your sperm inside me repulses me’ and still retain her composure). The period locations are superb, and this modest but successful film appears to have been somewhat overlooked.

Guillermo Del Toro’s acclaimed and popular film Pan’s Labyrinth no doubt works much more effectively on a bigger screen, but it’s easy to see why this has been a rare foreign language film with broad appeal. The attention to detail and spectacular audacity with which Del Toro and his effects team have conjured young Ofelia’s private fantasy world is a marvel to behold. Some have questioned the film’s success in placing a fantasy landscape on an equal footing with an historical one (the film is set during the Spanish Civil War), but it’s worth noting that that the historical element of the film is very much in microcosm, focussing on one Franco-ite compound surrounded by groups of Republican Guerillas. Del Toro doesn’t really attempt to explain the wider context of the Spanish Civil War. In some ways, the private and brutal world of Sergi Lopez’s villainous Vidal is very much a parallel to Ofelia’s escape into the extraordinary underworld. I found Vidal a little caricatured as a tyrant – an evil stepfather capable of barbarous cruelty and unfailingly self-righteous. The fantasy element of the film, which is very much presented as ‘real’ rather than a dream or an illusion, can essentially be reduced to a series of episodic confrontations with bizarre and frequently threatening creatures, and these scenes resonate gloriously in the mind long after the end credits have rolled. There are problems with execution – and the film’s interweaving of alternate worlds is not always entirely successful. Still, I found the film’s conclusion surprisingly moving, and the whole film is dominated by an outstanding performance Ivana Baquero as the intrepid, imaginative Ofelia.

John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus has been somewhat patronisingly dismissed in some quarters as a ‘sex comedy’, with many feeling that it is not as profound as it thinks it is. All I can say is that these critics must be very self-satisfied and smug in their own insights into the mysteries of life (as well as being sexually satiated) as I felt this film had daring, provocative and incisive things to say about private lives. Real sex has now become quite commonplace in movies (although not, it must be conceded, in American cinema), so there’s little offensive or shocking about Shortbus’ inclusion of fellatio (some of it, staggeringly, self-administered), penetration, erections and ejaculation. The scenes could certainly be viewed as pornographic if viewed entirely out of context, but Shortbus is by no means a porn film, as it very carefully plots the tensions and interconnections between its characters’ sexual journeys and their emotional lives. It asks questions about the role of its audience. In much the same way as Michael Haneke’s ‘Funny Games’ satirised movie violence, the film suggests that ‘voyeurism is participation’. As one of the characters films an amateur film intended as a suicide note, we wonder whether this is material we should be watching. In the end, the voyeurism at the heart of the film is proved to be essential, as it is a voyeur character who jolts the movie back to celebrating life.

Whilst move movie sex exists in a world of idealised eroticism and is frequently wholly unconvincing, the sex in Shortbus (both straight and gay) is adventurous, quirky, sometimes absurd, entirely genuine but not necessarily arousing. This not only serves to distance the film from that most obnoxious of genres, the erotic thriller, but also from the pompous, indulgent sexual commentaries of Catherine Breillat. The sub-plot of a frustrated woman (herself ironically a sex therapist) in search of an orgasm may well be a direct reference to Breillat’s infinitely more pretentious ‘Romance’, but mercifully the film has none of the outrageous superiority of ‘Sex is Comedy’ or ‘Anatomy of Hell’, films with which it will inevitably be compared. The latter was particularly offensive in its casual homophobia, arguing not only that all men hate women, but that gay men inevitably hate women more, because of their innate inability to understand the mysteries of female genitalia (personally, I can’t understand anyone, gay or straight, who hates women). Mercifully, Shortbus is less preening and self-conscious in its unpicking of the psychology of sex and sexuality.

The film is certainly very funny, as any film containing such a painfully hilarious demolition of the Jackson Pollock school of painting inevitably must be. It’s the sort of film that can get away with a line like ‘I’m sorry, but I have a vibrating egg between my legs!’. What’s most impressive about the film, aside from the real demands it places on its excellent cast, is the exquisitely moving material it draws from it. Yes, the movie is full of sex, but it is characterised as much by snappy and intelligent dialogue and ingenious editing. Those who dismiss the film suggest that its chief insight is that its characters sex lives and emotional lives are not one and the same thing – but I think it actually achieves far more than this. It is a film that dares to suggest that we often struggle to find what we’re looking for in love and lust, and that when we do find it, it might actually be too heavy a burden for us to bear. The characters are all in some way unfulfilled, whether in relationships or not. The candid ‘dare’ meeting between dominatrix Severin (who hides the fact that she is actually called Jennifer Aniston!) and depressed James in a small cupboard may be the boldest and most moving scene in American cinema since River Phoenix confessed his love for Keanu Reeves in My Own Private Idaho. I’m baffled by those who have argued that the film offers no insight into its characters’ emotions or psychology and in its emphasis on honesty above deception, the film may have a moral centre that even those most offended by its explicitness could perhaps accept.

The film centres around Shortbus parties, polysexual orgiastic dens of hedonism and free love in an underground New York club. The parties revolve around the outrageously camp Master of Ceremonies Justin Bond, who brilliantly undercuts the hedonistic ideal by saying ‘just look at it – it’s like the 60s, but without the hope’. This quite brilliantly sums up the underlying sadness at the heart of the movie, although Cameron Mitchell bravely concludes everything with a ray of light (‘we all get it in the end’).

The film benefits considerably from a superb soundtrack, with incidental music from Yo La Tengo, as well as songs from Animal Collective and The Hidden Cameras (whose Lex Vaughn has a brief acting role). It has a real independent spirit, which has misled the likes of Philip French into dismissing it as ‘amateurish’. It’s actually very carefully put together, with a narrative arc that moves from humorous satire to emotional trauma, before a visually stunning cabaret finale. John Cameron Mitchell has reinvented the ensemble piece with this enjoyable and very clever film.

Would Al Green Please Explain It All?

Oh dear. Some concerts exist largely so that the word ‘disappointing’ can be deployed by anoraks like me. Al Green’s ‘performance’ at the Royal Albert Hall last night was sadly one of them. He certainly set out to entertain – distributing roses to the ladies, embracing the ladies, sinking to his knees in front of the ladies, imploring us to believe in the power of the lawwwd, namechecking great black artists from John Coltrane to Sam Cooke – in fact doing just about anything to avoid getting down to the business of singing his songs.

Opening with a finessed version of ‘I Can’t Stop’ (the title track from his comeback Willie Mitchell-helmed album of a few years ago), it initially looked like all would be well, in spite of his voice seemingly needing a good warm-up. Unfortunately, the title of that song proved thoroughly misleading, as stopping seemed to be Green’s main concern. He was off to Manchester, Birmingham, Paris and Madrid, he kindly informed us, and we were all welcome to follow him. The ladies, of course, deserved to fly. Those in the audience who had paid around £40 for a ticket might well have been more concerned with the performance he should have been delivering in London. For that kind of money, a 60 minute set, with five minutes of build-up from the band at the outset, a further ten minutes of aimless jamming at the end and no encore, is simply expecting too much grace from your audience. Tonight, Al Green took our money and ran.

He performed just one new song from his forthcoming album (featuring collaborations with ?uestlove from The Roots, Alicia Keys and Anthony Hamilton amongst others), seeming to only sing half of it before giving up. He sounded enthused but tetchy during a medley of frustratingly brief snippets of soul classics. He introduced ‘Let’s Stay Together’ as a miracle from God, but then brought out some unforgiveably lame dancers while the band blitzed through the song at twice the appropriate speed. Green’s jacket came off, went back on, came off again and went back on again – and he implored us all to sing with him, the audience and backing singers doing much of the work for the majority of the show. When he actually set his mind to singing, as on a superb ‘Here I Am (Come and Take Me)’, there was still evidence of his sublime genius in phrasing and control. Yet whilst he managed the great leaps into falsetto, he really struggled with the rest of the top end of his range, sometimes failing to complete lines altogether.

All this was made much worse by a band of tediously proficient session players with little sensitivity or spirit. The brilliance of the Hi Records band from Memphis that originally played on these songs (and indeed toured again with Green in the last few years) was that they could sit just behind the beat, and never played anything extraneous or unsubtle. This band featured solos from an unfathomably bland keyboardist, a wild guitarist who decided 80s hair metal noodling was somehow appropriate, and some remarkably unadventurous horn players. Everything was performed at upbeat disco tempos, replacing the original slinky grooves with perfunctory attempts to get people dancing. We were introduced to the Musical Director at the end of the show – a man I would sack as a matter of priority. The Hi band wouldn’t have needed one – they would just have got on with the business of making soulful, emotive sound.

Luckily, the concert was improved immeasurably by the presence of special guest Candi Staton, who in her short set managed to achieve both entertainment value and quality vocal delivery. She still sounded remarkably powerful, pleasing the crowd with extended renditions of ‘Young Hearts Run Free’ and ‘You Got The Love’. There was an uncomfortable juxtaposition between the themes of her soulful, lightly groovy version of ‘Stand By Your Man’ and ‘His Hands’, an exquisite song about her journey from abuse to the Church written for her by Will Oldham. She demonstrated herself in command of a wide range of material in what was really only a very brief slot. I regret not catching her at the Jazz Café earlier this year.

Unfortunately, the quality of her performance only threw the ultimate failure of Green’s into sharper relief. Onstage for a mere 50 minutes, tonight it was less of the Reverend and more of the Redundant Al Green.

Where Bawdy Meets Melancholy

Last night’s Beirut gig at Koko must surely rank as one of the best gigs of 2007 so far. Koko now seems to be the London venue of choice for promoters keen to gamble on aspiring independent artists, and the substantial audience for this show has surely vindicated that calculated risk. This is great to see – it’s just a shame that Koko is such an unwieldy, claustrophobic place. Like the Hotel California, you’re very welcome, but it’s damn near impossible to get out!

I hadn’t heard anything about support act Dirty Projectors before last night. Jeremy Warmsley informed us that mainman Dave Longstreth had some kind of obsession with the first Black Flag album, for which he had retained the inlay, but not the cassette, and for the first DPs album had endeavoured to recreate the sound of that seminal record as he remembered it in his head. Although I know many people for whom the whole US hardcore scene represents something close to an obsession, I’ve never really found the time for it. I therefore can’t comment on how closely Longstreth came to realising that rather bizarre ambition, but I can say that Dirty Projectors sounded like the most radical and original rock act I’ve seen in some time. The intricate and joyful interlocking guitars sounded like they were transported from Mali, and the rhythm section veered gamely between disco-inflected grooves and adroitly handled stabs and punctuations. Added to the mix were some delightful vocal harmonies, and controlled explosions of improvised noise. This should have been too many ideas for one band – but somehow it coalesced superbly. I shall be seeking out some of their recordings as a priority.

Beirut’s almost entirely acoustic live set-up was a joy to behold, with ukuleles, mandolins, various horns, baritone saxophone and accordion amongst sundry other instruments battling to be heard. Mercifully, this was a rare occasion for which Koko seem to have managed a decent sound balance, helped by the band performing with real zest and enthusiasm. The Eastern European folk music upon which Zach Condon has drawn heavily has a very bawdy heart indeed, and the band made the most of this in live performance, although the song’s melodies frequently seem more melancholy or mournful. It’s an intriguing juxtaposition, and the band capture a peculiar conflict between exuberant joy and reserved hesitancy. Zach Condon’s slurred vocals, somewhat similar to those of Rufus Wainwright, are still a slight obstacle, as its frequently difficult to grasp his lyrics and themes. Still, there’s clearly something innate and clear in this music with which audiences connect, as this is the most enthusiastic and excitable London crowd I’ve seen in a while. The new material didn’t sound quite as distinct as Condon had suggested in interviews that it would, although it offered a clear refinement of an already very successful formula. In a sense, more of the same would be more than enough.

Dispensing With Subtlety

Magnolia Electric Co. and Guests, The Scala, 25th June 2007

Having praised Immaculate Machine’s embrace of detail and intricacy yesterday, it’s amusing that my next live music outing was to a gig with little command of subtlety whatsoever. I first raised this point in a rather negative review of the ‘Trials and Errors’ live album a couple of years ago, but there really is a massive gulf between the music Jason Molina and his group commit to record and the sound of the band when performing live. Admittedly, the group has been moving gradually away from the elegiac and mysterious moods of Songs:Ohia in favour of a more conventional rock direction, but even the most recent MEC studio material benefits greatly from light textures full of space and sensitive dynamic contrasts. When on tour, they obviously just like to rock out, and Molina lets his Neil Young fetish get out of control, bursting into exuberant guitar solos far more often than is strictly necessary (can the band’s keyboard player really not improvise?).

Although there were moments when last night’s show at the Scala was hugely enjoyable, I still maintain that this difference in approach to live performance is largely to the band’s detriment. On disc, much of Molina’s best material is difficult to classify, in that it moves well beyond the confines of conventional rock or country music, despite being well versed in the language of Americana (ghosts, moons and highways all feature prominently). Seeing them live, I now find it much less surprising that the group are frequently stereotyped as ‘working class work’. The songs are all played at a similar mid-tempo trudge, everything is loud and clamorous throughout and there are guitar solos disrupting the flow of the lyrics.

For a while, this is really quite thrilling. The opening ‘I’ve Been Riding With The Ghost’ gets a thunderous and compelling treatment, and when the two guitarists duel with each other it even begins to feel like fun. ‘The Dark Don’t Hide It’ sounds more confrontational and less reflective here and even the calmer, slower songs are given pretty remorseless treatments. The quality of the playing is mostly tremendous, and it’s rare to see rock guitar solos with this much shape and spirit, although they don’t ever stray much from pentatonic conventions. The bigger problem is perhaps with the rhythm section, specifically the drums, which thud along monotonously without any variation or control. I kept finding myself thinking that the performance would be so much more effective if some of the soloists were sometimes given more space, or if the drums could follow the changes in mood implied through Molina’s inventive vocal phrasing. I’m pretty sure the same drummer features on recent studio work though, where there is

Luckily, Molina has been an amazingly consistent songwriter, and these songs are of such quality that they could withstand even the most mundane arrangements. Vocally, Molina sounds confident and assured – so much so that he is able to breathe new life into the songs without wandering too far from the original melodies. It’s rather bizarre to think that Molina was once dismissed as Will Oldham’s poorer imitator – their voices are actually rather different, Molina’s lacking the shaky pitching and vulnerability that is rather unique to Oldham.

The music finally matches the quality of the writing at the show’s breathtaking conclusion. ‘Oh, Grace’ at last instigates some rhythmic invention and is powerfully moving as a result, whilst ‘Hold On Magnolia’ is notably softer and more restrained. We could have done with more of this in the main body of the set.

It’s worth taking the time to mention the supporting line up as this was an extremely well organised and thoughtful line-up (put together by the wonderful people who organise The Local Night For Local People at the King’s Head in Crouch End). Poor David Vandervelde was made to look rather conventional in the end, but he did an admirable job of playing his pleasant, amiable songs to a mostly empty venue, and looked like he was enjoying every minute of it.

David Thomas Broughton was, by dramatic contrast, completely bonkers. Seemingly afflicted with a severe case of Attention Defecit Disorder, he simply couldn’t stay still, and certainly couldn’t focus on one idea for any length of time. With a mannered vibrato voice slightly reminiscent of Anthony Hegarty, and a clear desire to smash all singer-songwriter conventions into the ground, he delivered a madcap performance that was both bizarre and fascinating. Lots of singer-songwriters are now using multi-effects units to turn themselves into one man bands and watching people prostate on the ground fiddling with machines can be incredibly boring. Broughton, whilst edgy and aloof onstage, was clearly aware of the audience, playing his unusual ukulele unamplified from within the crowd. Delivering mostly incomprehensible lyrics, layering inappropriate parts over each other with scant regard for conventional musicality and even smashing his own head against his guitar, Broughton’s unusual schtik may have been intensely serious or intentionally hilarious – it was hard to tell. I’m not sure it mattered either way.

Adjagas were an international group unafraid to combine disparate ideas into what turned out to be a compelling and satisfying melting pot. Sometimes they appeared to be singing in another language, at others with no language at all, combining elements of avant rock with country tinged riffing and what sounded like Middle Eastern scales. It all went rather odd at the end, with some histrionic shouting, but the rest of their set was both finely judged and brilliantly executed. It also seemed genuinely original.

I've Seen Fire and I've Seen Rain

Peter Gabriel at Hyde Park, Immaculate Machine at The Windmill, Brixton

Well, Crowded House certainly brought one kind of weather with them for Hyde Park Calling, but the Biblical downpour that accompanied their set was hardly what any of us were hoping for. After an outrageously busy day (and a supporting line up so awful I couldn’t bring myself to arrive any earlier), I had hoped to make it to Hyde Park in time to catch the complete Crowded House set (as I still view them as something of a guilty pleasure). Unfortunately, an utterly abysmal Piccadilly Line service prevented that but allowed me to catch not only their last two songs but also the aforementioned freak storm. Frankly, I might as well have gone to Glastonbury after all.

Luckily the weather just about held out for the duration of Peter Gabriel’s rather marvellous set. Less stage managed than his recent tours, there were few gimmicks to this show, and a greater focus on playing a range of material covering his entire career. As the last two tours had focussed on material from ‘Up’, Gabriel and his band ignored that album entirely for this show, instead compiling a set from fan votes on the website for songs rarely performed these days. Admittedly, this made me even more gutted for missing out on the Growing Up tour, as the two performances would have complemented each other neatly.

The irritating thing about festivals is that they rarely ever run to schedule and the headline act is always restricted to a 90 minute set at max. As a result, we lost ‘Digging In The Dirt’, ‘Big Time’ and the extraordinary ‘Moribund The Burgermeister’ from the set list Gabriel had performed at the other European shows so far. This was somewhat annoying, but hardly disastrous given the supreme quality of the show.

The band were on top form. Tony Levin epitomised virtuosity (playing a variety of adapted bass guitars, sometimes with his trademark ‘funk fingers’, essentially a pair of broken drumsticks). David Rhodes played some coruscating flashes of inspired guitar and Ged Lynch was solid and extremely loud at the kit. Gabriel himself was in fine voice (although why he needed to sing into two microphones, one headset and one on a stand, is somewhat beyond me). He was clearly relishing the opportunity to update his back catalogue, much of which still sounds remarkably fresh.

The set list had a thoughtful arc to it, beginning with the exotic ‘Rhythm of the Heat’, reaching an intense peak in the middle with a powerful rendition of ‘Family Snapshot’ and ending with the more familiar (‘Solsbury Hill’, ‘Sledgehammer’ and ‘In Your Eyes’). Highlights included a mesmerising and hypnotic ‘No Self Control’, a faithful take on ‘Intruder’ which emphasised the song’s claustrophobic weirdness and some unexpected songs from the unfairly maligned second album – the band coped ably with the time singnature switches of ‘DIY’ and the peculiarly stuttering ‘On The Air’.

Gabriel, Levin and Rhodes entertained the crowd with some shamelessly hilarious formation dancing during Solsbury Hill and Sledgehammer, marching out on the ramp into the crowd during both. From the emotional vulnerability of ‘Mother of Violence’ (delivered by Gabriel’s daughter Melanie) to the poptastic exuberance of ‘Steam’, this was a shrewdly balanced and highly enjoyable show.

On Sunday, Immaculate Machine more than compensated for yet more dreary weather by putting in a fiery and slightly inebriated performance for the Brixton Windmill’s summer Sunday BBQ. After competent and engaging sets from Stagecoach and The Outside Royalty, IM proved they have that little something extra in the form of peerless energy, and some immediate and infectious melodies. It is somewhat criminal that this outstanding band has been almost entirely neglected in the British music press’ rather late-flowering obsession with the Canadian music scene. In London for five days, including some dates with The New Pornographers (for whom singer and keyboardist Kathryn Calder also plays), it’s rather depressing that they still seem to be playing to half-empty venues. At least the cognoscenti at the Windmill gave them a well-deserved ovation, forcing an encore. It was an impressive, punchy set, with a clutch of excellent new songs from new album ‘Immaculate Machine’s Fables’, due out in the UK in July, as well as judicious selections from their back catalogue (including ‘Broken Ship’ and ‘Phone No.’, two of their finest songs). Luke Kozlowski’s drummed with vigour and audacity and Brooke Gallupe and Kathryn Calder hamonised beautifully. The performance had something of a ramshackle spirit, which only served to make the band more endearing.

‘Immaculate Machine’s Fables’ may well be their most accomplished album to date. At ten tracks and only 36 minutes, it’s a mercilessly concise collection, but it’s also more ambitious than their previous work. Two tracks feature string parts from former Hidden Cameras arrangers Owen Pallett and Mike Olsen and this time round there’s as much lush balladry as punchy power pop. Calder’s voice is particularly spellbinding on ‘Roman Statues’ and ‘C’Mon Sealegs’ has some of the melodic charm of The Shins. Even the presence of Alex Kapranos and the utterly ghastly Cribs can’t ruin the energetic, brilliantly catchy ‘Jarhand’, an opener which, along with ‘Nothing Ever Happens’, refers back to their earlier work. Overall, it feels more arranged and orchestrated than either of the previous albums, with some fascinating attention to detail and more intricate guitar playing from Brooke Gallupe. Splendid.