Yo La Tengo, Roundhouse, 08/11/09

I have finally got round to writing up my recent visit to the Roundhouse to see Yo La Tengo.

I opted for seats as opposed to standing and feared the worst when I realized there was a huge column partially blocking my view of the stage. Euros Childs provided support – not solo as I had imagined but with a small band. His vocals still sound as great as ever, and seeing him behind the keyboards brought back memories of seeing Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci in the late 1990s & early 2000s. He started off with a version of Lady Fair. I haven’t really followed his solo stuff as much as I could have so the remainder of the set was fairly unfamiliar, seeming to be more ‘pop’ and upbeat, although my initial impressions were that it was sadly still some way short of the standard of the music he made with GZM.

Yo La Tengo started off in usual fashion with a long, layered guitar opener before playing tracks from their latest album, the very fine ‘Popular Songs’. A small string section accompanied the band for ‘Here To Fall’ and ‘If It’s True’. ‘Periodically, Double Or Triple’ was completely dismantled and reconstructed with brilliant keyboards and segued straight into ‘Stockholm Syndrome’.

We were treated to a beautiful version of ‘Tears Are In Your Eyes’, before possibly my new favourite from the new album was played – ‘I’m On My Way’, a very pretty little song sung by James. Another new favourite, ‘When It Gets Dark’ also made the set (although the equally brilliant ‘All Your Secrets’ missed out). They closed with ‘The Story Of Yo La Tengo’, probably my favourite of their long, feedback-infused, drone-y album closers (and slightly surprisingly the only song played from last album I’m Not Afraid Of You And Will Beat Your As$).

The encore was very enjoyable – a beautiful, tender, moving, whispered version of ‘Our Way To Fall’ (which firmly lodged itself into my mind for the next few days) and an equally pretty version of George Harrison’s ‘Behind That Locked Door’, Georgia’s vocals being heart-meltingly pretty as always.

The set list went something like this:

My Heart’s Reflection
More Stars Than There Are In Heaven
Avalon Or Someone Very Similar
Periodically, Double Or Triple
(segue)
Stockholm Syndrome
Here To Fall
If It’s True
Tom Courtenay
Tears Are In Your Eyes
I’m On My Way
When It Gets Dark
Autumn Sweater
Nothing To Hide
The Story Of Yo La Tengo

Encore

A very raucous, thrashy cover featuring Georgia on guitar
Our Way To Fall
From Behind That Locked Door

The High Llamas, The Luminaire, 07/11/09

I was at the Luminaire last night to see The High Llamas, the second time I had seen them play that venue in 2009....and, unsurprisingly I guess, they played a pretty much identical set. Obviously, very enjoyable but it would have been nice to maybe hear some more tracks from 'Hawaii' or 'Cold And Bouncy'. The highlights were Three Point Scrabble and Harper's Romo, which just continues to sound as brilliant as ever. Interestingly, they chose to play two instrumentals in their encore.



I think the set list went approximately like this: (I think it is missing a couple...)

Doo-Wop Property
Harper's Romo
Bach Ze
Triads
Go To Montecino
Nomads
Old Spring Town
The Hot Revivalist
Three Point Scrabble
Cookie Bay
Leaf & Lime
Calloway
The Track Goes By

Encore

Glide Time
Janet Jangle

Damien Jurado & John Vanderslice, The Borderline, 03/11/09

I was at The Borderline last night for a double bill of American-acoustic-indie-folk-guitar-power-pop.

After leaving work I headed down to the South Bank to enjoy a couple of hours in the Royal Festival Hall Members’ Bar. Had a very enjoyable first listen to Max Richter’s re-released ‘Memoryhouse’ album. Atmospheric, strident post-classical soundtrack music at its very best.

I pulled myself away from the beautiful views of the RFH balcony (photos to follow another time) and headed over Golden Jubilee Bridge, past St. Martins-In-The-Fields and up the Charing Cross Road before going into the Borderline with JP.

First up was John Vanderslice. I had seen him headline this venue last year. Surprisingly he only played one song from current album ‘Romanian Names’ (‘Too Much Time’), preferring to concentrate on older material. Not often you can say that. His set included ‘Trance Manual’ and ‘Angela’, the beautiful meditation on how an escaped pet can result in the questioning and reassessment of a human relationship (and incidentally, one of my top 100 tracks of all time, as recently compiled on my iPod playlist – separate blog post to follow on this). To end, JV left his position on stage and entered the crowd, getting a member of the audience to hold a small hand-held torch and playing 2 songs from the Borderline floor, the first being a rather lovely version of ‘Keep The Dream Alive’. As JP astutely observed, “very Death Cab”. Reminded me of a gig by Godspeed You Black Emperor at the Scala in 2001 (?) where during an already monumentally brilliant show, the drummer left the stage and walked through the crowd playing his drum, almost causing your correspondent to experience something close to an epiphany. Tonight maybe wasn’t quite the same in terms of the intensity of experience but it is always something I enjoy and should be encouraged in my humble opinion. Just remembered that Kurt Wagner started his gig last year at The Borderline by doing likewise.

Soon up after was Seattle singer-songwriter Damien Jurado who played a hushed, stripped down acoustic set full of trademark intimate, low key songs. The first part of his set consisted of songs from his yet to be released new album, followed by some old favourites. ‘Tether’, ‘Abilene’, ‘The Killer’. All brilliant. He seemed genuinely pleased and surprised to have a full Borderline to play for. A few self-deprecating anecdotes were interspersed between songs, including some funny observations on driving in London.

One of those great evenings that reinforce my love for The Borderline, live music and the wonderful city of London.

“This country will know us by name….”

Grizzly Bear, The Barbican, 31/10/09

I was at the Barbican on Saturday to see Grizzly Bear perform with the London Symphony Orchestra. I have been enjoying the soaring, widescreen sound of two albums ‘Yellow House’ and ‘Veckatimest’ recently, with their intricate, layered melodies so was particularly looking forward to this gig. I was quite hopeful that the meticulous construction of these recent albums could be replicated live.

Support came from St. Vincent – a two person guitar/violin act who played a nice, varied mix of tight, hard edged guitar lines to ethereal ambient pieces all underpinned by Annie Clark’s mellifluent, looped vocals. Nice.

The Grizzly Bear / LSO collaboration was promoted as being something more than your usual indie band / orchestra link up – with feted contemporary-classical composer Nico Muhly preparing a special arrangement to complement the songs but not supercede in any way. Things got off to a decidedly understated, restrained start in terms of orchestral score – opening track ‘Easier’ sounding pretty but slightly pared down compared to the fully sound on ‘Yellow House’. Next up was my favourite from ‘Veckatimest’, ‘Cheerleader’. On record it sounds brilliant, the choral backing vocals lifting the song to another level. Disappointingly, the orchestra wasn’t really able to reproduce this live, the strings struggling to make themselves heard against the fully amplified band. The rest of the gig followed in similar suit. The orchestral arrangement seemed very light – almost too respectful of the songs, strangely unable to transform them into the grander version they could have been. It was almost as if Muhly was too disciplined in trying keep the songs intact. The versions of ‘Knife’ and ‘Central And Remote’ were decent reproductions of the songs on the album but again could have been transformed into something else. One thing which came across just as brilliantly live as on record was Ed Droste’s voice – a uniquely muffled, enjoyably garbled sound unlike pretty much anything else out there.

At the start of the year I went to see Elbow record a version of ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ with the BBC Concert Orchestra and even though arguably I think ‘Veckatimest’ could just be a fractionally better album and Grizzly Bear a potentially slightly better band, but on that occasion Elbow did the guitar band / orchestra collaboration thing so much better, each song sounding notably different and vastly improved as a result of the orchestral backing. Sadly, in this respect tonight’s gig didn’t really match this, although it was an enjoyable concert, just not as spectacular as it promised to be.

Prom 16 - Casken, Tchaikovsky & Stravinsky - Birmingham Symphony Orchestra - Royal Albert Hall

I went along to the Royal Albert Hall on Tuesday to see Prom 16.

First piece was John Casken's evocative musical depiction of the Northumbrian landscape 'Orion Over Farne'.

Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 2 followed before the highlight of the evening, Stravinsky's 'Firebird'. It opened in subtle, graceful style eventually giving way to a later section punctuated by lively orchestral peaks and a moving yet triumphant ending. I was in the upper circle and despite the slightly restricted view and mobile phone interruptions it was an enjoyable concert.

The hall looked beautiful although there is something that prevents me from holding it quite in the same affection as the RFH etc. Still, it does look very impressive looking across from the beautiful Albert Memorial and it is unique I suppose in terms of its age and history/legacy etc. Maybe I will try to fit in another 2009 Prom if circumstances allow...

Yo La Tengo at QEH / Teenage Fanclub at Clapham Common

OK, I am massively behind in blogging on this but here we go.

I went along to see Yo La Tengo play last month at the QEH as part of Ornette Coleman's Meltdown festival. It was one of their 'Freewheeling' shows, featuring stripped down versions of a lot of their songs and much dialogue between band/audience. It was the sixth time I have seen them play live - previous venues have included Royal Festival Hall, Shepherd's Bush Empire x 2, Koko & the Gateshead Sage. Overall, it was a very enjoyable set, band on good form both musically and socially. I even managed to fire a question at the band in amongst the constant flow of comments from the audience. In a unsuccessful attempt to get them to play 'Moonrock Mambo' I asked who their favourite Simpsons character was. Apparently Ira has always been a fan of Disco Stu. The set also featured a nice version of 'Dreaming'. Beautiful. Nothing from 'And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out' and 'Summer Sun' but still a great gig.

Last weekend I went along to see Teenage Fanclub play as part of Ben & Jerry's Summer Sundae at Clapham Common with JP. A rare appearance at a music festival for me. These days I can just about manage a one day event which doesn't involve excessive travel & camping. Teenage Fanclub played a fairly solid set including three new songs as well as a selection of familiar favourites (Sparky's Dream, Ain't That Enough, About You, Your Place.., I Don't Want Control Of You etc). First song was Near You and they opted to finish with Everything Flows (no inclusion of The Concept sadly). Norman was on good form throughout and we managed to secure places right at the front far too easily! Add a nice helping of various free ice cream, delicious paella, pear cider and some glorious weather and overall it was a great day.

'Le Corbusier - The Art Of Architecture' at the Barbican

After seeing the Picasso exhibition I jumped on a number 23 bus and headed east towards the Barbican to see the current Le Corbusier show.

It proved to be an all-encompassing, versatile exhibition focusing on several different aspects of Le Corbusier's art. It had everything from architectural models, photographs, drawings, film, examples of his interior design as well as various objects and surrealist paintings. A true multiplicity of forms.

Throughout the exhibition the scale and breadth of his travel become apparent. He really did travel to most corners of the world in his pursuit of ideas and inspiration and examples of his architecture from Algeria, India, Argentina, Russia, USA, France & Belgium all feature prominently.

Some of his theoretical ideas come up first, specifically his utopian 'Plan Voisin' and 'Ville contemporaine de trois mille d'habitants' for Paris. These set the tone for the rest of the exhibition, immediately showing just how radically different and ambitious an architect Le Corbusier was. They could easily have come direct from some sort of dystopian science fiction novel such as '1984'.

Next up is his entirely self-prompted 'Plan Obus' for Algiers, in many ways an ostensibly crazy and impractical idea but one that demonstrated his quest to push back boundaries and come up with new, innovative, forward-thinking ideas.


His entry for the 'Palace Of Soviets' contest for an administrative complex for the centre of Moscow showed more of this ambition, the rigid structures complemented by an over-reaching arch (see below). He was not successful in winning the commission, but still a great project.


We soon start to see examples where his work was fully realised. His 'Notre Dame Du Haut' chapel in Ronchamp is a uniquely odd looking building whereas his Philips Pavilion building in Brussels is a spectacularly geometic construction. Iannis Xenakis designed the building along with Le Corbusier and Edgar Varese provided the music to the multimedia show inside with his 'Poeme Electronique'.


The highlight of the exhibition for me was the section on Le Corbusier's civic buildings in Chandigarh, India. I guess the fact that I spent a few hours in Chandigarh a few years ago sparked this particular interest. It was a fascinating project and further details can be found in the below links:

http://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/25/travel/le-corbusier-s-chandigarh.html?sec=travel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandigarh

The drawings and models shown in the exhibition really provided a superb overview, especially of the scale and ambition of the project. The short extract from the film 'Un Ville A Chandigarh' contained some interesting footage, especially of the role of Indian women in the construction of the buildings. I would love to see the film in full but it appears difficult to track down. Unfortunately I was in India recently when it was shown at the Barbican as part of the exhibition.

Le Corbusier's Saint Pierre Church in Firminy, France provided one final example of his brilliant architecture with its beautifully irregular, geometric shape.


I found it a fascinating, informative exhibition. Sure, Le Corbusier's architecture was not perfect and at times some of his ideas appear naive and impractical . With the passing of time some of his buildings can even appear to border on the ugly, especially the large residential blocks, such as those constructed in Marseilles. However, as a radical, freethinking, progressive, modernist architect he is deservedly considered one of the greats of the 20th century.

iPod Playlist

Neko Case 'Middle Cyclone'
The Belbury Poly 'From An Ancient Star'
The Advisory Circle 'Other Channels'

'Picasso - Challenging The Past' at the National Gallery

I went to the National Gallery this morning to see the current Picasso exhibition. Whilst walking down the Charing Cross Road I noticed that the recently restored St. Martin in the Fields was looking particularly beautiful in the crisp morning sunshine.

I found the Picasso exhibition a slightly mixed affair if I am honest. I enjoyed the Cubist, more abstract, angular paintings but found a lot of the still life and human forms uninspiring and in some cases without beauty.

The exhibition's emphasis is on showing how Picasso responded to the works of the great painters of the past and how he was inspired to produce his own versions of a lot of their famous works. Each room had a particular theme - self portraits, nudes, human characters, still life etc.

The final room shows his variations on artists such as Delacroix, Manet and Velazquez in detail. I enjoyed the monochrome variations on Velazquez and the bold, vibrantly colourful reinventions of Delacroix but enjoyed his variations on Manet less.


The short film which ends the exhibition goes some way to drawing all the different strands together and almost made me question some of the opinions I had formed whilst wandering through the exhibition. It certainly provided quite a helpful overview of Picasso's life with specific reference to the themes contained in this exhibition.

I left the National Gallery and walked up Haymarket before popping into Caffe Nero to get a drink and decide my plan for the remainder of the day...

London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall

I went along to the RFH on Friday to see the London Philharmonic Orchestra play pieces by Janacek, Dvorak and Rachmaninov. I had not heard any of the music previously but enjoyed all three pieces very much.

All three composers are quite well known for their incorporation of Eastern European folk music elements into their orchestral pieces. Dvorak's Violin Concerto and Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 3 both featured some melancholic, poignant episodes, reflecting the circumstances in which they were created (whilst both composers were living in the USA, away from their homelands). All were orchestrally dynamic, melodic pieces (Rachmaninov, thrillingly so).

I went home via Waterloo Bridge which as usual provided breathtaking, panoramic views looking eastwards down the Thames. The slightly ominous clouds overhead in the dark sky, the neon light projected on to the shimmering water, the looping rows of lights lining the river banks, the vivid colours of the illuminated National Theatre, the twinkling white lights in the trees on the South Bank, traffic on Blackfriars Bridge, the iconic buildings on the black horizon...

iPod Playlist

North Sea Radio Orchestra 'Birds'
Elegi 'Varde'

Peter Coffin at the Barbican

Before going to the Xenakis concert in the Barbican hall (see previous post) I checked out the latest installation in The Curve gallery by American artist Peter Coffin. It essentially is a projection of aerial views of a traditional Japanese garden, accompanied by a minimal, whistling soundtrack. Surreal, juxtapositional sculpture is positioned throughout the gallery.

I found it a gently sweeping exhibition, focusing on themes of disorientation, perspective and balance. As the text in the gallery suggests, Coffin aims to challenge spatial awareness with his work and he succeeds here with a subtle, airy exhibition. At times I thought the sculpture did not really fit in with the visual and sonic themes but overall it proved to be another rewarding, if slightly more restrained, example of participatory contemporary art.

Xenakis - BBC Symphony Orchestra - Barbican

On Saturday evening I went to the Barbican to see the BBC Symphony Orchestra play as part of the 'Total Immersion' day dedicated to the Greek composer Iannis Xenakis. The programme consisted of a selection of orchestral and choral pieces.

Opening piece 'Tracées' set the tone for the evening with its layered, structured mass of sound, all densely packed into a brief six minutes. Three movement piece 'Anastenaria' followed next. The huge, overlapping blocks of sound and combination of orchestral and choral melody came across as being more accessible than I initially expected. The influential role played by mathematics and architecture in helping to formulate Xenakis' music was at the forefront during these pieces and continued throughout the evening.



The second part of the performance featured three small pieces. 'Sea-Nymphs' was up first, a truncated, jarring sound-collage for a small vocal ensemble. Another short solo piece, 'Mists', followed, comprising irregular, cascading piano lines interspersed with flurries of sharp, erratic notes. The final piece in this section was 'Nuits'. The concert programme had described the piece as being "coruscatingly beautiful", words which are almost guaranteed to get my heart racing when applied to music. It proved to be another complex, jagged, arrythmic mass of choral sound.


The final part of the evening resulted in the full orchestra taking the stage again to play two monumental, challenging pieces - 'Troorkh' and 'Antikhthon'. 'Troorkh' was a staggeringly powerful piece. Piercing, bruising brass lines augmented by Christian Lindberg's solo trombone were pitched alongside imposing orchestral fragments. 'Antikhthon' followed a similar path, punishing brass peaks colliding with percussive orchestral shards.An amazing evening of uncompromising, intellectual music with an enormous, physical, visceral impact. On my way home I listened to 'Black Sea' by Fennesz which seemed kind of appropriate....

Walking London - Holborn to Wimpole Street

I have decided to take more interesting routes into work each morning and thought I would document them on my blog. I work in central London, on Wimpole Street. I thought it would be a good idea to take advantage of such a central location and get off at different tube stations and walk it in each morning.

My usual route would be to take the central line from Leyton to Bond Street. Recently I have been getting off two stops earlier and walking in from Tottenham Court Road, via the streets of Fitzrovia.

On Friday I got off at Holborn and walked it in. I started on High Holborn before switching on to Shaftesbury Avenue. I walked past the Curzon Soho cinema before taking a right on to Frith Street. Next I walked along Old Compton Street (passing the lovely Patisserie Valerie) before reaching Wardour Street. I then cut through on to Berwick Street past the market as the traders were setting up their stalls. I then moved on to Broadwick Street before crossing over Carnaby Street, walking through Hanover Square and eventually reaching work.

Total walking time was 25 minutes and 50.5 seconds.

Soundtrack was ‘Fordlandia’ by Johann Johannsson and ‘Luminarium’ by Tape.

The High Llamas at the Luminaire

Last week I went up to the Luminaire in Kilburn to see The High Llamas plays their annual London show.

They managed to overcome some early technical problems and were soon showcasing their brilliantly melodic, simple-yet complex, harmonic guitar pop. Time Out used the term “antique-futurists” when previewing the show, which gets their sound about right.

They opened up with ‘Sparkle Up’ from ‘Hawaii’. The rest of their set drew heavily on their ‘Snowbug’ album, although as usual they picked songs from almost every album.

Some highlights included ‘Harper’s Romo’ (still by far my favourite HL song), ‘Triads’, ‘Glide Time’, ‘The Track Goes By’, ‘Nomads’, ‘Bach Ze’, ‘The Sun Beats Down’, ‘The Old Spring Town’ etc.

I had been listening to their albums beforehand - 'Cold And Bouncy' is soon becoming my favourite HL album...

Apparently they had some dates in Japan lined up after this show.

The evening also served as a reminder of how great a venue the Luminaire is - a nice, intimate venue which has a distinct character, friendly staff and plays great music.

Catch Up

It has been a while since I posted due to other stuff happening in my life so thought I would do a quick post summarising what I have been up to in the last month.

I saw 'Of Time And The City' at the PCC at the start of January, a beautiful, absorbing film centred around the recollections of director Terence Davies of growing up in Liverpool. Almost poetic in tone, it looked great on screen and was backed by a beautiful orchestral score with Davies' acerbic commentary proving both funny and moving.

I saw the Francis Bacon exhibition at Tate Britain, shortly before it closed. Dark, bleak stuff.

I saw Elbow record a special show at the Abbey Road studios in St John's Wood. They performed 'The Seldom Seen Kid' from start to finish backed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and a choir. The songs sounded beautiful with orchestral embellishments. It was great to get the chance to go inside the iconic studios also.

We went along to the Barbican to see the BBC Symphony Orchestra in more familiar surroundings in February, this time performing four pieces by the French composer Tristan Murail.

We also managed to fit in a visit to the magnificent Soho Curzon cinema to see Woody Allen's latest movie 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona'. Very enjoyable and funny.

Tindersticks at Union Chapel

Just before Christmas I went to Union Chapel in Islington to see the Tindersticks play a low key show. It was the third time I was seeing them after previously seeing them at the Royal Albert Hall and the Barbican.

Their set was largely made up of the new album ‘The Hungry Saw’ which has some beautiful moments, especially the closer ‘The Turns We Took’. They also played a few older songs (‘Her’, ‘The Not Knowing’, ‘She’s Gone’, ‘Sleepy Song’, ‘Buried Bones’). They also threw in a cover of ‘Kathleen’ by Townes Van Zandt. Stuart mentioned how he had seen Townes play the Union Chapel some time ago. They didn’t have a string section as such, just occasional cello and violin (just as much as the new album requires). Seeing them in full orchestral mode is brilliant but tonight was suitably trimmed down for the smaller venue.

As usual Union Chapel looked great, the coloured lights being projected on to the stage, the tea lights around the balcony, the beautiful striking Gothic arches, the large stained glass window, the two Christmas trees at either side of the chapel…I could go on…

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer at the Barbican

On Sunday morning I went along to see the exhibition at the Barbican Curve gallery by Mexican artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. This is the eight site specific installation it has hosted but this was my first visit.

His work 'Frequency and Volume' is an interactive pieces featuring 48 radios, which can all be tuned to different channels simultaneously. As you begin to walk through the gallery powerful lights project your shadow on to the opposing large curved wall. By changing your position you influence the frequency that the radios are tuned to. This is then broadcast at loud volume throughout the room. The frequency is also projected on to the wall, occasionally along with the name of the station.

It was fairly quiet while I was there (sometimes I was the only person there), although I still occasionally could hear frequencies being generated from the movements of others further down the curve.

I managed to pick up the following stations/frequencies: 'Meteor Burst Data' (click here to find out what this is), 'Bus Despatch', air traffic control, emergency services, BBC Radio 1 and Classic FM.

I thought it was another great interactive exhibition overall (after seeing Cildo Meireles only days earlier). The conflicting and seemingly random frequencies can be quite funny, pirate radio stations and distorted static, occasionally being interupted by fragments of a popular song being played by some commercial radio station.

Cildo Meireles at Tate Modern

Earlier this month I went along to Tate Modern to see the exhibition by Brazilian artist Cildo Meireles.

It proved to be a wide-ranging, interactive delight, with all rooms containing large scale installations which were in turns thought-provoking, ingenious or aesthetically beautiful.

There was an emphasis on the tactile throughout, a lot of the rooms encouraging participation or requiring you to feel your way through. As you work you way through the various rooms it becomes clear that Meireles succeeds in invoking some pretty big ideas and concepts; morality, history, conscience and spirituality are some that I picked out.

The exhibition really gets going in Room 2. In particular the piece ‘Mission/Missions (How to Build Cathedrals)’ is quite striking – comprising 600,000 1 penny coins on the floor being joined to 2000 bones at the ceiling by 800 small communion papers. It is quite a unique comment on the impact of colonialism on indigenous societies. More can be found on this on the Tate’s mini-site.

His piece‘Glovetrotter’ juxtaposes everyday familiarity with an alien lunar quality, various items hiding under a silver fabric mesh.

The piece ‘Red Shift’ was one of the exhibition highlights for me – a regular domestic room with one key difference in that all items are red. There are some brilliant details – you can open the fridge or wardrobe to find a further array of red objects. A spillage of red paint leads to you a side-room, which is completely dark. Towards the back you see what appears to be a sink…as you edge towards it you see it has a tap which is running…with red coloured water.

‘Fontes’ is a disorientating thrill – a small room full of identical black and white clocks and oversized tape measures and plastic numbers scattered around the floor.

‘Babel’ was another highlight for me – a huge shrine-like installation of analogue radios, stretching from the floor to the ceiling. The dark room is lit by the small coloured lights emanating from the radios. Each radio is quietly tuned to a different wavelength. It is a beautiful experience, in some ways similar to the Rachel Whitehead piece shown earlier this year at the Hayward Gallery as part of the ‘Psycho Buildings’ exhibition.

The exhibition ends with ‘Volatile’ a ‘U’ shaped dimly-lit room which requires you to remove your footwear and walk through 8 inches of white talcum powder, inviting you on a small personal journey before you reach a small, flickering candle. I have read some mixed reviews since but I thought it was just beautiful – a simple room full of visual and sensual minimalism.

A triumphant combination of artistic beauty, humour, ambition and far-reaching ideas.

Ensemble Intercontemporain at Royal Festival Hall

I picked up a late ticket to go to see the final concert in the Messiaen festival on the South Bank last night (on the centenary of Messiaen’s birth). It featured two relatively less well known pieces by Messiaen – ‘Couleurs de la cite celeste’ & ‘Sept Haiku’ and finished with ‘Sur Incises’ a piece by the evening’s conductor, Pierre Boulez.

The Messiaen pieces were relatively short pieces, both registering at the upper end of the musical scale, full of fast, dynamic high notes and featuring the striking virtuosic piano embellishments performed by Pierre-Laurent Aimard. The first piece especially picked up on the birdsong themes present in a lot of Messiaen’s work and also touched on the issue of synthasesia. It was quite unusual to see the RFH stage with so few performers – the Ensemble Intercontemporain being a lot smaller than the kind of orchestra that usually plays the RFH.

‘Sur Incises’ resulted in the stage being even more sparsely populated – 3 pianos, 3 harps and 3 percussionists combining to create a complex, slightly minimal sounding piece – not as loud or raucous as I had expected, given what I had read online and had been mentioned in the pre-concert talk. This had taken place in the St Paul’s Pavilion room and featured Gillian Moore, the South Bank’s Head Of Contemporary Culture talking about the series and concert. Some of her comments struck a note with me – especially how educational the year-long Messiaen festival had been. I didn’t know too much about him at the start of the year, but now know a lot about his life, music and passions. A great example of how the South Bank can really inspire and educate with it’s out-reaching and ambitious programming.

I was sat up in the balcony, three rows from the back on the left hand side. The view was great, you can really appreciate the full scale of the hall from up there. It had been a while since I had been to the RFH but this concert really reminded me of what a great venue it is and made me start thinking about booking tickets for more concerts in 2009.

Mercury Rev at Shepherd's Bush Empire

My busy schedule, alongside 10 days in New York has seen me neglect my blog of late. So much so that I am only now getting round to posting about going to see the magnificent Mercury Rev at Shepherds Bush Empire on 13th November. They were supported by Howling Bells.

I always find the prospect of going to see Mercury Rev play live very exciting. I think it is fair to say they are my favourite live band. The last time I saw them was almost 2 years ago, also at this venue. Their recent album 'Snowflake Midnight' had slowly grown on me after rather my lukewarm initial feelings. I had expected the new material to dominate the set list but in the end they opted for a more balanced, career-spanning (almost) set. We managed to secure front row seats in Level 1. It was the 8th time I was seeing them live, and the 4th time I was seeing them at Shepherds Bush.

They began by projecting images of iconic albums & key influences on the back of the stage, accompanied the playing of 'Lorelei' by The Cocteau Twins at loud volume (which, incidentally, is featured on the album 'Treasure' which was included on my post listing my top 30 albums). I had thought there was a chance they might abandon this routine but thankfully it looks like it is here to stay, which is brilliant news as it is such a cool way to introduce the band on stage.

As I had kind of suspected, they opened with 'Snowflake In A Hot World', which sounded fantastic and much stronger live than on record. They segued into the ambient guitar sounds of ‘October Sunshine’ before going straight into the beautiful 'Holes', the first of 5 songs from 'Deserter's Songs'. The sound was great – very loud, with the guitars (as usual) coming across as epic and beautiful as ever. 'The Funny Bird', possibly my favourite Mercury Rev song soon followed, dropping down the set from its usual opening position. We also got the magnificent ‘Frittering’ and a beautiful acoustic, slower ‘Tonite It Shows’ (accompanied, appropriately by sepia-tinted images of a dancing ballerina on the back of the stage). The shadows of the band were projected onto the backdrop throughout, which is another brilliantly simple way of making the performance look even better.

Jonathan was as captivating as ever – enigmatic, untouchable, enraptured, conducting the band throughout and seemingly synchronising the light show. Overall, a magnificent show which captured Mercury Rev at their magical, exquisite, psychedelic best. Probably the best show I have seen them play, and live personal highlight.

I think the set list went like this.........

Snowflake In A Hot World
October Sunshine
Holes
Black Forest
The Funny Bird
You’re My Queen
People Are So Unpredictable
Frittering
Dream Of A Young Girl As A Flower
Tonite It Shows
Tides Of The Moon
Opus 40
---------------------------------
Goddess On A Hi-Way
The Dark Is Rising
---------------------------------
Senses On Fire

Gehard Richter at the Serpentine Gallery

Last weekend I managed to catch the current Gerhard Richter exhibition at The Serpentine Gallery. It was my first visit to the gallery. '4900 Colours: Version II' is 49 paintings that each contain 100 small squares of colour. The combination of colours on each painting is different so each piece is unique.

I enjoyed the paintings, with their overwhelming geometricism (is that a word?) although I could not help thinking that this was an example of the 'idea' triumphing over art.

Upon leaving I enjoyed a walk through a very autumnal Kensington Gardens.

Lambchop at Union Chapel

I guess the fact that I am only blogging about this concert now says a lot about my extremely busy schedule. Anyway, on Tuesday 4th November we went along to the beautiful Union Chapel in Islington to see Lambchop. It was the first time I was seeing Lambchop (although I did manage to catch Kurt Wagner at The Borderline a few months ago - see previous post).

We arrived in good time and managed to get excellent seats upstairs in the balcony, overlooking the stage. They played pretty much everything from their new album OH Ohio which although has some beautiful moments didn't really translate into a brilliant live show. I found myself thinking back to the Kurt Wagner solo show at The Borderline and comparing the two shows. If I am honest I think I enjoyed the solo show more.


'Popeye' remained as pretty as ever and, for me, represented the highlight of the set. They did finish off with a few older songs (including a quick run through 'Up With People') but I left the venue with the feeling that whereas I had enjoyed the show I had not been blown away by it.


I think they would be good contenders for the Don't Look Back series where bands play entire albums in full. Seeing them do 'Nixon' or 'Aw C'Mon/No You C'Mon' would be great (although maybe Kurt's voice may struggle with some of the songs).

Anyway, a visit to Union Chapel is always a great occasion and tonight was no different in that respect. As usual, the chapel was beautifully lit with candles and coloured lighting and the gothic arches were as striking as ever.

Man On Wire at Prince Charles Cinema

I went along to the PCC on Sunday to see ‘Man On Wire’, the true story of Philippe Petit, who in 1974 walked between the twin towers of the World Trade Center on one long cable.

It is an amazing story which is beautifully narrated by the key participants. Petit assembled a team of brilliant characters to help him achieve his goal (particularly the WTC ‘inside man’ with the stupendous moustache) and these all relate their individual experiences to the camera. The film also features a lot of footage filmed by the participants at the time which provides additional authenticity (if any was required).



Naturally, it features some beautiful aerial shots of New York. In the end it turns out to be a very funny and moving film.

Imli

A few days ago we visited one of my favourite restaurants in London – the rather fantastic Imli on Wardour Street.

They specialize in Indian tapas style dishes and they really are quite exquisite. We went for the Bhel Puri, Chennai Fish, Spiced Potato Cakes, Chicken Shammi, Kheema Matar & Dhal Makhani with the deliciously sweet Gulab Jamun as dessert (there were 3 of us eating!).

An enjoyable and tasty experience guaranteed in my opinion…(although, disappointingly they have dropped the sublime banana pancakes from their menu...)

Go visit!

Andy Warhol: Other Voices, Other Rooms at the Hayward Gallery

There are some exhibitions which get my attention immediately and get me thinking of when I will be able to visit and there are others that kind of register in my mind but don’t fill me with overwhelming excitement. I have to admit that when I first became aware of it, the new Andy Warhol exhibition at the Hayward Gallery kind of fell into the second category. However, my interest slowly developed and I found time in my stupidly busy schedule to go along on Sunday. I had become conscious of missing certain exhibitions recently (mainly Cezanne at the Courtauld and other smaller shows) so wanted to make full use of my Southbank membership and ensure this was not another addition to the list.

Upon entering the exhibition I was slightly taken aback by just how much stuff there is in the first room. Some of his iconic prints line 2 of the walls, a three double-sided large screens fill the centre of the room, the far wall is full of various postcards, album sleeves, photographs and in the background the Velvet Underground & Nico can be heard drifting across the gallery…it is certainly a striking start to the show. As you walk up the ramp you see various Warhol quotations alongside more iconic photographs (of the man himself). From then on however the exhibition concentrates on his films and TV programmes, as well as including a selection of audio clips.

The second room features a large area containing televisions where you can sit (on carved, star-shaped wooden seats) to watch some of Warhol’s TV programmes which he made for American TV channels during the 1980s. I watched parts of different programmes he made on fashion. I’m sure Warhol would have enjoyed the fact that people were being encouraged to sit in an art gallery and watch TV programmes. I left via the striking red, white & blue curtains before heading off to listen to some of the audio recordings (in nice comfortable booths).

The final part of the exhibition is downstairs and exclusively focuses on Warhol’s films, including his epic recording of the Empire State Building………talking of which…only 27 days to go before I go to New York!

I left unsure whether I really liked Warhol’s art. His prints and paintings certainly have iconic appeal and his influence is unquestionably wide-ranging but a lot of his film and TV programmes left me cold and didn’t really make any impression. In fact, I am struggling to remember much about them (only days later). I didn’t have time to check out the other exhibition by Robin Rhodes but will no doubt return soon……

Mark Rothko at Tate Modern

I went to see the current Mark Rothko exhibition at Tate Modern on Friday evening. It focuses on his late work and in particular his 'series' of paintings, with his Seagram murals forming the centrepiece.

Time Out's slightly puzzling review had made me approach the exhibition with caution but overall I enjoyed it thoroughly. It begins in educational fashion showing smaller works which were the basis of his larger paintings. The Seagram murals dominate as expected, with their ambiguously delineated, visceral oblongs of colour resonating in emphatic style, the dim lighting projecting a hushed reverence over the room (despite the high numbers in attendance).

We then go back to delving deeper into Rothko's paintings as the exhibition shows how he layered his work. His reflective, strangely involving 'Black Form' paintings follow soon after. I sometimes like to think what paintings would sound like if they were music and Rothko's art to me brings to mind instrumental post-rock. Labradford's Mi Media Naranja, possibly.

The exhibition finishes with Rothko's 'Black On Grey' paintings which seem to have a lunar quality, although the black does bring an oppressive characteristic to the room. The slightly barren sense of serenity that these paintings possess seems to provide a fitting contrast to the colour of the earlier works.

After leaving the exhibition I walked over Blackfriars Bridge to check out the art installation by Keith Bowler, which is part of the Drift 08 exhibition - the old railway bridge being recreated with green lasers which looked beautiful in the dark of the night.

Playlist:

Asobi Seksu 'Citrus'
The Uglysuit 'The Uglysuit'

Open House London 2008

Open House held their annual London event this weekend, where buildings that are normally closed to the general public are opened up for all to explore.

I had pre-booked tickets to visit Centrepoint on Saturday, mainly for the views from the top. We were allowed to go to the 25th floor, which provides great views overlooking east and west London.



It has an interesting history, which you can read more about on its Wikipedia page. Personally I find the building quite ugly which kind of makes it fit in rather well in the Tottenham Court Road area sadly. Thankfully there are long overdue plans to completely overhaul this area. Read about them here.

On the way back east we stopped for a brief visit to the beautifully imposing Christ Church Spitalfields.

I began Sunday with an ambitious list of buildings to visit. I started by going to Wellington Arch by Hyde Park Corner. Again, I was able to go to the top and enjoy the views across Hyde Park (see below).


Next, I caught a rare silver Routemaster number 9 bus along to Trafalgar Square and then walked down a traffic-free Whitehall to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office on King Charles Street. Arguably the highlight of my day, it is a beautiful, ornately decorated building. I loved the architecture of it's centrepiece, Durbar Court in particular (see below).


Next, I headed back up Whitehall and towards the Strand, via Embankment. Once on the Strand I headed east hoping to go to see St Mary-le-Strand but found it closed. I continued and came to the second 'island church', St. Clement Danes. After a brief stop I jumped back on a number 15 bus towards Bank. Christopher Wren's St Stephen Walbrook was the next church on my journey, with it's controversial stone altar sitting unusually in the centre of the small church. I continued back along Cheapside to see St Mary-le-Bow before going to see the beautifully restored St Lawrence Jewry, completing a trio of Wren churches. All these churches seemed to share sad histories, being rebuilt after first suffering damage in the Great Fire Of London and then being destroyed in the Blitz. I picked up some literature on The Friends Of The City Churches along the way which I will definitely be investigating further.

I finished off with a visit to the Guildhall, one of London's most historic and architecturally impressive buildings (see below) before heading back home.


See more photographs at my flickr page.

Playlist:

The Week That Was 'The Week That Was'
The Shortwave Set 'Replica Sun Machine'

Kurt Wagner at The Borderline

I went along to The Borderline last night for a Club Uncut event which featured Lambchop frontman Kurt Wagner headlining.

Any visit to The Borderline (arguably London's finest live music venue) is a great occasion but to see an established name (and personal favourite) was to prove particularly special.

The line up was pretty strong, with 12 string guitarist James Blackshaw opening the evening with his ambient, warm, acoustic panoramas and Welsh singer-songwriter (and Neon Neon collaborator) Cate Le Bon, who played an assured, folk-influenced set.

However it was Kurt Wagner who was the star of the evening, delivering a perfect set of new songs from forthcoming new Lambchop album OH (Ohio). He seemed to arrive late, wandering down the steps from the main entrance into The Borderline, carrying his guitar (I love it when artists enter venues in this way, just like any ordinary punter). It wasn't long before he started his set from the bar, walking through the crowd singing 'Give It' his recent collaboration with X-Press 2 in a cappella style, before climbing on stage to huge applause.

He then sauntered into his quietly-intoned, crepescular songs, all exquisitively expressive and seeming never to overlook even the most microscopic of details. Delicately played guitar lines provide the musical backdrop. The way he can extract emotion and meaning from almost every line he sings really is something else, even more so when his vocals can sometimes barely rise above a whisper. Naturally, his trademark baseball cap was worn all evening.


He concentrated (I think) exclusively on songs from the new album, finishing with a truly beautiful cover of 'I Believe In You' by country stalwart Don Williams. It appears to be included on the new record also which is excellent news. After the gig I spotted him at the bar talking to Allan Jones, Uncut editor. The forthcoming Lambchop gigs at the Union Chapel in November should be rather special.

Sometimes words really aren't enough when trying to describe just how brilliant gigs can be......

'Discovering Music' at the BBC Maida Vale Studios

I went along to the BBC Studios at Maida Vale on Saturday to see an episode of ‘Discovering Music’ being recorded.

‘Discovering Music’ is a programme broadcast on Radio 3 that selects a piece of classical music (or occasionally a particular musical theme) and analyses the various aspects of the work, throwing light on structure, historical context, themes, motifs etc.

The featured work on this occasion was Vaughan Williams’ 6^th Symphony, his dramatic evocation of post-war Britain. It was presented by regular host (and my namesake) Stephen Johnson, with Martyn Brabbins conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Vaughan Williams’s 6^th Symphony is a recent favourite of mine (discovered through the excellent eMusic website) and combines some powerful, dynamic playing with some of his most melodic folk-inspired lines. The opening movement in particular is excellent.

This particular episode will be broadcast on 16^th November.

Before heading up to north-west London I spent a very enjoyable hour or so in the cafe at the Curzon Soho cinema, people-watching on Shaftesbury Avenue whilst listening to 'Basket Of Light' by Pentangle on my iPod.

Big Star at Shepherd's Bush Empire

I went along to to see Big Star at Shepherd's Bush Empire on Thursday with JP & Toby. We had seats in Level 1 which is pretty much one of my favourite places to watch a band.

Before heading over to west London I paid a much overdue visit to the Fopp record store by Cambridge Circus and ended up picking up a few bargains - a couple of Ryan Adams and Pentangle albums. I then made my way to Goldhawk Road tube station and while waiting for JP had a quick listen to the beautiful 'Green Fields' by The Good, The Bad and The Queen on my iPod which includes a nice reference to the said west London street.

Once inside the venue Robyn Hitchcock opened and just about pulled off his set of slightly eccentric English acoustic psychedelia. Next up were Big Star - Alex Chilton & Jody Stephens from the original line up along with Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer from The Posies. We had seen them around 2001 at the Mean Fiddler but Shepherd's Bush is a far superior venue. I thought Alex looked in good shape, sporting a nice cream/beige suit combo (Toby thought he looked like Dirk Benedict). His voice may not be what it used to be but he still carried the songs well and seemed in positive spirits (I wasn't certain this would be the case).



Starting with 'In The Street' they quickly set about going through their back catalogue. 'The Ballad Of El Goodo' was included early in the set and followed not long later by 'Thirteen' which continues to sound as pretty and affecting as ever.

"Won't you tell me what you're thinking of
Would you be an outlaw for my love?"

'Daisy Glaze', 'Way Out West', 'September Girls' and 'Feel' were other highlights. I find some the of most memorable moments at gigs seem to come from the surprises that you did not envisage - their inclusion of their cover of 'Til The End Of The Day' by The Kinks was one of these moments for me. They also played two more from 'Sister Lovers' - 'Thank You Friends' and 'For You'. The fact that they had raced through all of their "hits" so early on led Toby to speculate on 'Holocaust' being a possible encore. I suggested maybe a medley from 'Sister Lovers' but sadly it wasn't to be. No 'Nightime' or 'Blue Moon' then - two of my favourite Big Star songs which have quite a special emotional resonance for me, going back to 2001 when I first became familiar with the album.

I thought they kind of ran out of steam towards the end of the gig, playing several songs from the last album and then finishing with a fun but slightly superfluous cover of 'Wouldn't It Be Nice'.

Afterwards we headed back to Goldhawk Road and caught the Hammersmith & City line back out east. For some reason, on the rare occasions I take the H & C line it always seems to be full of people who have spent the evening binge drinking which can result in some eventful journeys. Tonight however it wasn't too bad - maybe helped by the fact I had a very pleasant conversation with one of JP's Spanish friends. Can't remember his name but he is from Vigo in Galicia, north-west Spain. I decided if I was to ever pledge allegiance to a Spanish football team it would be Celta Vigo as it seemed quite similar to my own team (Newcastle United) in certain ways (geographical remoteness, lack of recent success etc). Overall then, a great evening.....

The Lure Of The East - British Orientalist Painting at Tate Britain

I squeezed in a trip to Tate Britain earlier this week to see this exhibition before it closes at the end of the month. It is a selection of paintings from British artists who travelled around the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East throughout the nineteenth century capturing the landscapes, religious places and local traditions of the area.

I particularly enjoyed the beautiful landscapes in there, which captured the hazy beauty of the land really well.

Radical Light at The National Gallery

The National Gallery currently is currently showing an exhibition by the name of 'Radical Light' featuring a group of Italian painters who worked in Milan towards the end of the 19^th century. I went along after work on Wednesday evening to investigate.

The exhibition apparently marks a change in direction for the NG, focusing on a smaller, lesser well know movement - Italian Divisionism - rather than opt for a big name ‘blockbuster’. Time will tell how successful this will be but my own opinion was that it is a move that should be celebrated.

It was a fairly small show - only 6 rooms. It began with a selection of landscapes showcasing the painting technique which has given rise to their name - the Divisionists. The paintings definitely have a distinct luminosity to them and the sense of light emanating from the canvas is immediately tangible. The exhibition makes quite a lot of this stylistic innovation and whereas it is undoubtedly effective the real merit for me lay in the political and social themes that were represented in the artists’ work.

The show moves on to feature images of Italy’s poor in scenes of social hardship - women working without respite in the rice fields or old men taking refuge in the church (one of highlights for me was the stark ‘The Christmas Of Those Left Behind’ by Morbelli).

Room 4 is arguably the strongest of the exhibition. It is dominated by Giuseppe Pellizza’s ‘The Living Torrent’, a powerful piece depicting a faceless, amorphous, concentrated crowd of workers in pursuit of justice. It is an imposing piece and I found it almost cinematic in certain ways. It has been called socialism’s greatest painting and it is easy to see why.

There are a few other pieces which also incorporate some of these social issues. The politicisation of these artists was what I will take from the exhibition - if you look at Italian history around the period it certainly was an eventful time - social unrest followed by government repression, assassination of the reigning monarch and eventual trade union legislation. It seems quite appropriate how the art of the Divisionists reflected these slightly turbulent times.

On a separate point while I was at the NG I took the opportunity to check out some of the paintings by Canaletto, Claude & Turner - some of the most beautiful art you will ever see!

Caramel

Just got back from seeing Caramel at the PCC. It is a movie set in Beirut and follows the lives of a number of women who work in and around a beauty salon. The events unfurl at a modest, reflective pace as the circumstances of each of the characters are slowly revealed. Throughout the film we witness moments of sadness, humour, disappointment, happiness and poignancy.



The director Nadine Labaki also features in the film as Layale, a young Lebanese woman who works in 'Si Belle', the small beauty salon. The movie shows that despite the troubled political situation of Lebanon its citizens still lead lives which contain the kind of small preoccupations and personal concerns that affect us all. The themes of love, marriage, tradition, sexuality and family all appear. The fact that no mention is made to the recent war with Israel ensures this message is carried through with quiet strength. The dedication at the end of the film adds a nice, silently moving touch.

Overall I enjoyed the film very much. It is very easy to watch, is beautifully shot and falls into the category of film that carries a message without ever overstating its case.

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis at Pure Groove Records

I have just got back from Pure Groove Records in Farringdon where the very excellent, all-singing, multi-instrumentalist, über-cool Kitty, Daisy & Lewis were playing a show to support the release of their debut album.

They play a swinging, bluesy rock'n'roll- rockabilly hybrid, taken straight from the 1950s and dragged into the 21st century. The fact that they are all teenagers (sporting the finest haircuts this side of the war, incidentally) makes their music all the more special.

Their line up changes for each song as they swap instruments and vocals - tonight we saw guitar, banjo, ukelele, pedal steel guitar, accordian, harmonica & various percussion passed around freely (and played with confidence). With Mum and Dad on double bass and guitar respectively they played a selection from their just-released eponymous album. They look like they are loving every minute and judging by the jubilant reaction of the crowd gathered in the shop they were not alone.

Photos to be added soon.

It was my first visit to Pure Groove and I have to say I was impressed - quite minimal with a different layout to your regular record store, it doubled up as a great live music venue also. They also have various music related art on display which stands out as another point of difference. If you happen to find yourself in Farringdon with time to spare go check them out.

My Top 30 Albums

OK - I have had a couple of weeks away from concerts, exhibitions etc so I decided to keep my blog going by making some kind of record of my favourite albums.

Being male and interested in music I frequently find myself compiling mental lists of favourite artists, tracks, gigs etc. Usually when lost in my iPod or stuck on a tube etc. Listening to 'I Trawl The Megahertz' a lot recently (see below post) led me to think about recording and organising these random thoughts.

I was only going to do the top 10 but this quickly progressed to 20 and then to 30. I haven't included any jazz or classical albums as that would have complicated it too much - I will list those separately on another occasion. It has to be said that a lot of these are interchangeable depending on my mood and what I have been listening to at the time (even the number one position).

So, after much deliberation, here goes:

1) ‘Pet Sounds’ The Beach Boys
2) ‘Deserter’s Songs’ Mercury Rev
3) ‘And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out’ Yo La Tengo
4) ‘The Boatman's Call’ Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
5) ‘Bandwagonesque’ Teenage Fanclub
6) ‘I Trawl The Megahertz’ Paddy McAloon
7) 'Tindersticks II’ Tindersticks
8) ‘Either/Or’ Elliott Smith
9) ‘Spirit Of Eden’ Talk Talk
10) ‘Grand Prix’ Teenage Fanclub
11) ‘Treasure’ The Cocteau Twins
12) ‘Trust’ Low
13) ‘Ocean Songs’ Dirty Three
14) ‘Union Café’ The Penguin Café Orchestra
15) ‘Judee Sill’ Judee Sill
16) ‘Hawaii’ The High Llamas
17) ‘Meat Is Murder’ The Smiths
18) ‘Aw C’mon / No You C’mon’ Lambchop
19) ‘Lazer Guided Melodies’ Spiritualized
20) ‘Barafundle’ Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci
21) ‘Bryter Layter’ Nick Drake
22) ‘True Love And High Adventure’ Grand Drive
23) ‘Emperor Tomato Ketchup’ Stereolab
24) ‘Hats’ The Blue Nile
25) ‘Music Has The Right To Children’ Boards Of Canada
26) ‘The Soft Bulletin’ The Flaming Lips
27) ‘Penguin Eggs’ Nic Jones
28) ‘Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain’ Pavement
29) ‘Piper At The Gates Of Dawn’ Pink Floyd
30) ‘Gold’ Ryan Adams

I tried to keep it one album per artists but couldn't help include two albums by Teenage Fanclub. I could have easily included two albums by Low and Elliott Smith also.

Albums by Laura Cantrell, Sigur Ros, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Vashti Bunyan, Midlake, Sufjan Stevens & Johann Johannson all closely missed out being included in the top 30.

Not a bad selection overall!

'I Trawl The Megahertz' by Paddy McAloon

I have been listening to this album quite a lot lately. It really is one of the most beautiful and emotionally-affecting albums I have heard.

The story behind how and why the album was created is obviously central to its impact.

In the early 1990s McAloon was left nearly blinded after eye surgery. This led him to listen more to radio talk show programmes and change the way he worked as a musician/writer.

The end result was 'I Trawl The Megahertz', a beautiful orchestral, largely instrumental, late-night, melancholy piece of music. It is easy to view the album as a meditation on loss, isolation, solitude and the therapeutic qualities of music.

The title track is the album's centrepiece (although it actually opens the album) and features a female voice (actress Yvonne Connors) reading a collection of lines written by McAloon alongside statements that he heard on late night radio phone-in programmes. When these are combined and set to the lush, orchestral backdrop it results in an absorbing, powerful listen. You can find the full lyrics through a search engine but below are some of my favourites:

"Hers is the wingspan of the quotidian angel"

"I am tying a shoelace, or finding the pavement fascinating while the comet thrills the sky"

"I am jangling along to some song of the moment, suffering it's sweetness, luxuriating in it's feeble approximation of starlight"

"In the chamber of my heart sits an accountant. He is frowning and waving red paper at me"

"In the subterranean world of anaesthetics sad white canoes are forever sailing downstream in the early hours of the morning"

Certain musical motifs and themes appear throughout the album which allow it to sit comfortably as a piece of work.

Highly recommended.

(It actually got me thinking - it certainly would make my top 10 favourite albums and may even sneak into the top 5 possibly. More of that to follow soon.....)

The High Llamas at Whitechapel Art Gallery

I was at the Whitechapel Art Gallery last night to see one of my favourite bands, The High Llamas.

It was my first time visiting the Whitechapel Art Gallery. I had heard the capacity was going to be 140 but didn't quite know what to expect. My initial reaction wasn't great. The room was small (which is normally a real positive for me) but stage seemed to be tucked away in the corner and a growing number of people were already sitting down on the floor, making for a slightly claustrophobic beginning. However, later in the evening, once everyone was standing I realised that it actually worked well as a gig venue and was enjoying being there.

Support band Ladywoodsman eventually come on and they were pretty good with their percussive, lo-fi, alt-blues sound.

The High Llamas were playing their annual London show (why only annual?). Last time I saw them was in 2000 at Camden Dingwalls.

They pretty much played a greatest hits set, spanning their entire career - 'Leaf And Lime', 'Harper's Romo', 'Triads', 'Bach Ze', 'The Old Spring Town', 'Nomads', 'The Sun Beats Down', 'Hi-Ball Nova Scotia', 'Campers In Control' were all played finishing with a glorious 'Checking In, Checking Out'.

See below for some photos (not great quality admittedly).

Their songs have brilliant harmonies, beautifully simple melodies, and great lyrics. I don't think it is overstating things to say that Sean O'Hagan is one of the finest songwriters of recent times.

BBC Singers at St Giles Cripplegate

I went along to St Giles Cripplegate to see the BBC Singers perform three choral works as part of the City Of London Festival.

The concert featured 'Cinq Rechants' by Olivier Messiaen sandwiched in between two new pieces by Jonathan Harvey and Param Vir. The evening tried to combine western choral music with elements of Indian spiritualism.

Messiaen's piece was quite dynamic and full of energy. The other works had more of a distinct Hindu influence. It all added up to quite a powerful experience.

Cy Twombly at Tate Modern

Earlier in the week I went to see the new Cy Twombly exhibtion at Tate Modern. They have been promoting him as one of the most significant contemporary artitsts so I was looking forward to the visit.

I thought the show got off to a fairly slow start. His early work didn't really do a great deal for me, especially the cold, minimalistic scrawling pieces. Twombly is generally categorized as post-abstract and a lot of his earlier work would confuse the casual observer.

However, as I progressed through the show I began to enjoy his paintings more. The introduction of colour seemed to bring the exhibition to life and the themes of nature, water and seasons, although never obvious, broke through the fog of earlier abstractism.

His brand of minimalism seemed to revert to a more conventional form as the exhibition progressed. The highlight for me was 'Untitled (A Painting In Nine Parts)' which provided a much needed glimpse of aesthetic beauty. This was something I could not locate in his earlier work.

So, my thoughts on leaving were that the second half of the show generally made up for the earlier disappointments.

On a separate issue the soundtrack to my visit was 'Hawaii' by The High Llamas. Has there ever been a more consistently brilliant album over 29 tracks I thought to myself as I walked back to Bank tube station??

More on the High Llamas in my next post.....

Massive Attack BUG Special at the BFI

I went along to the BFI on Thursday last week to see the Massive Attack BUG video special.

See my first post for more information on what BUG is all about. It was another excellent show with the sound problems of BUG07 a distant memory. I hadn't seen any Massive Attack videos prior to going but suspected they may be mostly dark, claustrophobic affairs. This certainly was the case with the videos for tracks from their 3rd and 4th albums. However, the videos for their earlier work reflect the lighter mood of the music. In particular the video by Bailie Walsh for 'Unfinished Sympathy' is a classic, featuring Shara Nelson walking through downtown Los Angeles.

One of the most enjoyable parts of the evening was just hearing the tracks at loud volume - especially the evocative, widescreen, layered opacity of the tracks from 1998's Mezzanine.

Host Adam Buxton was very funny as usual (and brought the usual selection of amusing youtube comments). Check out his youtube page for some of his recent stuff (including parts of 'Meebox' his pilot for the Big British Castle, which is funny - especially if you are a fan of A. Buxton).

Sadly BUG08 is sold out but I will aim to get back on board for BUG09 later in the year.