Tuesday 15 June 2010

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The Dalston Howl

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Friday 4 June 2010

Album Review: Woods - At Echo Lake

I should be freaking out about being practically unemployed. Instead I am joyfully sitting in the sunshine outside Cafe Oto in Dalston lingering over a latte and listening to Woods. It's almost impossible to freak out listening to At Echo Lake. The album is released on the Woodsist label, the same stable that brought us Real Estate, Kurt Vile and Blank Dogs. The words bandied about here are lo-fi, psychedelic and noise pop. It's all about the homespun vibe, with the label being one of the first to resurrect the cassette tape as a means of promotion and album covers embracing the 'look what I made at school mommy' aesthethic.



Unlike darker labelmate Blank Dogs, Woods eschew the more dirgeful sounds in favour of lighter, spanglier tambourine sounds. Although indisputably melancholic, it's a summer Pet Sounds kind of melancholy that we find here. Death Rattle contains the phrase 'god only knows' which I assume is a direct reference to the seminal Beach Boys album. The Brian Jonestown Massacre influence is also undeniable. The track I Was Gone commences with a count off that could have come straight off BJM album Thank God For Mental Illness.

At Echo Park really comes into its own when slides into psychedelic instrumental reminiscent of artists such as Captain Beefheart and Donovan. The track From The Horn is a perfect example of this, building slowly into sonorous psychedelic trip.

Lyrics like 'we can fuck ourselves to sleep'(if my ears serve me correctly)and 'who knows what tomorrow might bring?' set the narrative tone of the album.

Woods meld their influences to create a warm fuzzy lo-fi sound that evokes sea, picnics and sunshine. Job? Who needs a job?

Thursday 3 June 2010

Micah P. Hinson @ Union Chapel 2/06/10


A frail troubadour wanders on stage sporting a white jacket and black glasses, recalling a young (but infinitely weirder) Elvis Costello. He moves with small jerky mannerism, perhaps a product of his degenerative back condition. He carries a small acoustic guitar with a piece of paper bearing Guthrie's famous words 'this machine kills fascists' taped haphazardly to the side. Also taped to the guitar is a photograph of a woman holding a gun. This, he explains, is Kitty LaRoux. She can be found on the cover of his new album Micah P Hinson and The Pioneer Saboteurs. She has nice boobies and more pictures of her can be found inside the record sleeve, as well as other 'sultry things'. He explains all this with mischievous glee of teenage boy who has just discovered his dad's porno stash.

When he opens his mouth to sing his first song of the evening 2's and 3's the sound that comes out is totally incongruous with his delicate frame. It's the kind of sound that can only come from someone strange, troubled and totally at odds with the world. So powerful is this sound that by the second verse I notice a single tear sliding its way down my cheek.



The next song Take Off That Dress For Me serves to further highlight the dichotomy between the manly voice and desire and the boyish frame and fragility. It is this contrast that makes Micah's music so powerful.

Hinson is a consummate raconteur filling the space between songs with engaging stories about his life, peppered with equal measures of humour and sadness. He explains that it is on this very stage at the Union Chapel that he proposed to his wife three years ago. His wife is sitting in the front row and the love between them is self-evident. As a testament to it he dedicates I Keep Having These Dreams to her



Other stories include an adolescent attempt to swallow bleach followed by a visit to the mental institution. He manages to somehow make this funny with a quip about another patient stealing his bacon and eggs with his bare hands. The song Seven Horses Seen Or Through The Hours, Still Comes Another Day is about a handsome young friend with blue eyes who 'got all the chicks' but spent his adolescence in an out of prison and ended up shooting himself in the face.



I read an article questioning Hinson's authenticity. The gist of it was that the writer believes that Hinson hams up his suffering and that, in effect, he hasn't actually suffered any more than any of us. He argues that dalliances with drugs and destructive romances are standard experiences and that Hinson is just playing at the role of tortured artist. While all this maybe true, for me, the authenticity comes not from his experience, but from his whole being. Some people are fragile souls, almost too delicate for this world. Micah is one of those souls.

Wednesday 2 June 2010

Primavera - Day 3

Saturday morning found me a tad jaded. I'd missed a whole load of bands and the line up for Saturday night didn't look too hot. With Pet Shop Boys and The Charlatans headlining the main stage the festival was ostensibly over. Or so I thought...

What looked like a sparse line up on paper was actually a line up that gave us the breathing space to savour the bands who were playing. Starting with Atlas Sound, the side project of Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox, on the intimate Pitchfork stage, things were suddenly looking up. The Spanish sunshine married with his gorgeous, spangly, psychedelic sounds made for a blissful combination. Then on to Bundles who appeared to make no reference to the conspicuous absence of Kimya Dawson. The highlight was a Travelling Wilburys cover which was an optimistic allusion to the band's status as a supergroup. Credit to Jeffrey Lewis who got the weary crowd up and dancing.



Next up Grizzly Bear. I have a complicated relationship with Grizzly Bear. The first time I listened to Yellow House I was in an art gallery surrounded by strange and macabre taxidermy. I'm not exaggerating when I say the combination sent me under for about two weeks. I'm all for melancholy but I found the album a bridge too grizzly. I was in two minds about going to see them on the Ray Ban stage but decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. What I discovered was that the recorded sound, which seemed to me so heavy and oppressive, was completely transformed in a live setting. With all the space of Parc Del Forum the melodies soared above the heavier elements of the composition and created the perfect juxtaposition of light and dark. The result was that I left Grizzly Bear feeling serene and euphoric.



Owing to my tranquil state I opted for Built to Spill over No Age. Built To Spill rocked the ATP like a gentle wave.



Next came Dum Dum Girls who, in their co-ordinating sheer tights, could almost convince me to give up carbs forever. With red lipstick, scant skirts and matching fringes they were an indie boy's wet dream. Frontwoman Dee Dee Penny's moves suggested an adolescence studying Blondie tapes but I couldn't help wishing that she'd channeled some of Debbie Harry's fire. The band name is a reference to Iggy Pop's Dum Dum Boys but I could never imagine Iggy being so passive. Although I love the sound I yearn to see some feistier females at next year's Primavera.

It was a long wait until HEALTH on the Vice stage at 3am but my final gig of the festival also turned out to be one of the greatest performances. HEALTH sound like no other band. Moving deftly between metal, rock, grunge and electronica it is almost impossible to classify them. With vocals reminiscent of PJ Harvey and moves reminiscent of 80s hair metallers it was triumphant close to the festival.



After HEALTH I stumbled off to the ATP stage where I found myself dancing until sunrise to a dj playing songs from Sonic Youth Kool Thing to Judas Priest Breaking The Law. If only everyday could be like this.