not so much relentless as half baked

Piney Gir @ Upstairs at the Relentless Garage, 26th August

Piney Gir's MySpace biography makes a claim that her debut album fits into the ill-defined "electronica" category but in recent years she has played up to her Kansas origins by favouring a more country-based style. I wouldn't claim to be the biggest fan of this kind of music but Gir is an artist who I've warmed to on the couple of occasions I've seen her because of the pure energy and pizazz of her shows. She has jettisoned her previous incarnation as The Piney Gir Country Roadshow and is now billed--deep breath--as Piney Gir and the Age of Reason with the Reasonettes. Judging by what we hear tonight though, this doesn't seem to signify a move into yet more radically different musical territory. The songs are good enough and it's a typically bubbly performance but we get a disappointingly short selection. Maybe at £6 a ticket it's a bit churlish to complain about this. What does spoil things though is the poor quality of the sound: it's barely possible to make out the lead vocals.

For better or worse, ukuleles are big at the moment. The Leisure Society (see below) incorporate them nicely into their easy pastoral sound, but there seem to be a number of bands--most notably I suppose the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain--who are building careers as cover artists, often exploiting the supposed comic potential of an instrument most readily associated with the 1940s flat-cap filmic japes of George Formby playing the songs of the more profane modern era, like those who have their origins in the electric guitar-based posturings of heavy rock. Sure enough, the hysterically-titled Uke Attack!! Uke Attack!!--for it is they, one of tonight's support acts--plough through Judas Priest's "Breaking The Law" and Led Zep's "Whole Lotta Love" and the joke starts wearing thin in no time at all. In fact it's their kazoo-tastic version of Gerry Rafferty's MOR classic "Baker Street" which brings a reluctant smile to my face.

The small upstairs room at the newly-reopened Upstairs Garage--now the "Relentless" Garage--is a real disappointment as a venue: utterly soul-less, garishly lit with red and blue strobes, and cynically furnished with a handy ATM machine lest you run out of funds to buy more over-priced lager. Won't be hurrying back...

follow the yellow umbrella

Join me if you will for a whistle-stop tour of some groovy old music venues.

(Er, they're in New York, in case you were wondering...)

Day 1: Midtown Manhattan, Broadway, Fifth Avenue, etc etc

Radio City Music Hall

Perversely, like many of the skyscrapers in Manhattan, the Radio City Music Hall sprung up in the Depression Era and opened in 1932. Home to musicals, films, and in latter years, the Grammy and Tony Awards, the lavish annual Christmas spectacular, which has run throughout its history, is a Nativity re-enactment using real animals: sheep, donkeys, even camels. For the duration of the show's run, they're housed in special living quarters behind the stage and can apparently be spotted being given a Christmas Day constitutional around Midtown Manhattan. The theatre has a spectacular Art Deco interior and its "Mighty Wurlitzer" pipe organ is the largest pipe organ built for a movie theatre.

Day 2: Greenwich Village,
a.k.a. "The Village" (1960s vintage),
now West Village.

Cafe Wha?

One of a number of establishments now on the tourist trail by virtue of having hosted early performances by one Robert Zimmerman. The establishment's own website lists Dylan as only one in a string of famous names who've popped in over the years--"Allen Ginsberg regularly sipped his cocktails here. The Café Wha? was the original stomping ground for prodigies Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix. Bruce Springsteen, Peter, Paul & Mary, Kool and the Gang, as well as comedians, Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby..."--but a character called David Barry (??) has some interesting reminiscences.

Day 3: Walking tour of Harlem.

The Apollo Theatre

Originally opened in 1915, in 1934 the Apollo was given over exclusively to Afro-American performers as an opportunity to appear in the weekly "amateur nights" and, if well received, tour the U.S., make a name for themselves nationally, then return to the Apollo as a headlining act in their own right. Ella Fitzgerald was one of the earliest artists to do this, ditto Bessie Smith in 1935, and in 1959 James Brown, who later used the venue for his famous 1963 live album. So close was Brown's relationship with the theatre that when he died in 2006 he lay in state there, typically, "in a blue suit, white gloves and silver shoes." Harlemites queued up round the block to pay their last respects.

and finally, also in Harlem...

Minton's Playhouse

Founded in 1938 and frequented by early jazzers Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller and Earl Hines, it later played a huge part in the development of bebop. Dizzy Gillespie was a main mover, as was Thelonious Monk and, of course, Charlie Parker.

This is what they came up with...

small beer

High Llamas @ The Luminaire, 12th February

Last night I went to see the High Llamas, for something like the eighth time. I sometimes wonder what it says about me that while other people follow million-selling acts like U2, R.E.M. or Radiohead, I go along every year to see a band who's YouTube hits number no more than eight (I've just counted them) and wouldn't know a top twenty album placing if it was brought up to them on a plate by Brian Wilson himself.

Although we heard were a couple of songs which they hadn't played for a while, there weren't really any big surprises (which is good). I did discover a good new young band and a groovy new venue though:

• Soy Un Caballo are Belgian apparently. Gentle, wistful, and sounding a bit like a French language cross between Fleet Foxes and the Kings Of Convenience. Nice.


• The Luminaire, in swinging downtown Kilburn, is an "intimate" venue with a crowd capacity of a whopping 300. Bands play on a small stage in front of a red velvet curtain which put me slighltly in mind of Twin Peaks. As an indication of where they're coming from, there's also a seating area out of sight of the stage where a notice wards off noisy punters: "We're a live venue, not a pub. If you've come to chat with your friends while the bands are on, you're in the wrong place". My sentiments entirely...

One of YouTube's top eight High Llamas songs of all time then:



Mary Hansen, former member of Stereolab, sang on this track. It was recorded two or three years before her untimely death. I think she does a good job. R.I.P.

elvis reunited with downhome music in south london aircraft hangar

Festival New Orleans @ the O2, 25th October

It's understandable that, after the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina two years ago, the State of Louisiana authorities would want to take some measures to give their ailing tourist industry a shot in the arm. This two day festival, laid on free of charge and featuring some big ole New Orleans names--Dr John, Allen Toussaint and Buckwheat Zydeco--drew a huge turn-out. It was just a shame that these three great musicians were consigned to a main stage area which allowed a big crowd to see them but only a small number of people to hear them properly. Drum beats bounced off the curved roof, more than thirty yards from the stage only an echoey gloop was audible...

The O2 prioprietors had clearly not foreseen the possibility that a free festival featuring internationally-renowned musicians would draw a large crowd and consequently failed to provide adequate bar and toilet facilities. (So how did they manage with Led Zeppelin? Oh yes, that's right. They were charging £100+ a ticket for that one.)

There was a good mix of styles though reflecting the varied musical heritage of the Big Easy: I also got to see (and hear, in the more acoustically friendly Indigo2 and Matter venues): Mardi Gras "Indian" dancers (the Hardhead Hunters), a gospel group (the Anointed Jackson Sisters) and some top class New Orleans brass band music (the New Birth).

Few people who, like me, are regulars at free events on the South Bank will not have come across the East End Elvises and, sure enough, they were there too, not only bestowing their general approval on the proceedings but also, invited up on to the stage by Kermit Ruffins, giving full reign to their hip-swinging groin-thrusting moves and almost total lack of rhythmic sense...

As Buckwheat would say "How sweet it is!"

his real name's adrian you know

Tricky @ the Barbican, 6th October

What we learned tonight:

• Most of Tricky's best material appeared on his first album
• Although Tricky's name is on the tickets, it's female vocalist Veronica Coassolo who does most of the leg work
• In fact, for a lot of the time, he stands in the dark with his back to the audience
• He does raise a few eyebrows though with covers of "Love Cats" by the Cure and Kylie's "Slow"
• And he does get warmed up a bit later on and definitely breaks sweat towards the end
• This kind of music works better in venues where you can stand up
• Support band, the Wild Beasts, are not very wild
• Nor are they beasts
• They're good though
• But they've got a song that's a bit like Bohemian Rhapsody but is three times longer
• And that falsetto voice gets a bit waring
• And they would work better in a smaller venue too...

Why we like him:

Finally:

How he went down in NYC

we want more small venues (contd)

Maria Schneider Big Band @ the Barbican, 9th July

Disappointingly there are a fair few empty seats tonight but Maria Schneider--erstwhile student of Miles Davis arranger Gil Evans--is increasingly becoming recognised as a major jazz artist in her own right. Indeed, a track from her recent "Sky Blue" album bagged her a Grammy earlier this year.

Interestingly she doesn't have a record deal but instead makes all her music available via the ArtistShare website. With no predatory record company to cream off a percentage, all the money generated via her site is ploughed back into her musical activities. Under no outside pressure to act as an income generating machine, she's also able to make video footage of interviews and rehearsals available to her fanbase via her site.

You'd think a big venue like the Barbican would suit a 20-strong line-up like this but some of the sound seems to get lost. I enjoyed them more at the (smaller) Queen Elizabeth Hall a couple of years ago.

save our downstairs pub venues

Lisa Knapp, Gemma Ray, The Straw Bear Band @ The Local, Crouch End, 18th April

In view of Noel Gallagher's recent comments about the "soul destroying" nature of the O2 Arena and news of the forthcoming closure of the London Astoria, this week's Observer Music Monthly blog wonders if the death knell is sounding for smaller venues. Hats off then to the Local, a downstairs room in the King's Head pub in Crouch End. They've been has been putting music on since 2002 and recent guests include Devon Sproule and Natty, both featured in the current series of "Later...with Jools Holland".

Lisa Knapp, headlining tonight, does not disappoint. Check her out on youtube at the Shrewsbury Folk Festival. Even a Radio 1 DJ is impressed with her new album.

room with a view

Red Snapper @ Kings College, 3rd April

What we learned tonight:

• There is at least one band out there whose lead instrument is the double bass.
• ...played by a bloke who thinks he looks like Frank Lampard, but in fact looks like Phil Collins.
• Kings College student bar has a fantastic view (I'm not the only one who thinks this) from Tower Bridge to the Palace of Westminster. Wow.
• Red Snapper is mainly a blokes thing. (About 90% of those present tonight are men.)
• Their music spans many genres: "elements of jazz, funk, jungle, trip-hop, hip-hop and breakbeat, as well as references to early psychedelic and progressive rock". Their myspace category (never very helpful) is "experimental". See what you think.
• Whatever. Some of it you can have a right good dance to.
• There's a more detailed write-up of the gig--with some photos--on the eGigs.co.uk site, by someone else who liked the view of the river...

nowt as queer as folk

Circulus + Lisa Knapp + Takao Ito at the Spitz, 7th Sept.

Out of these three acts, to be honest only Lisa Knapp was worth the entrance money. Takao Ito sang earnest songs in an English/American folk style accompanied by an acoustic guitar, in Japanese. Circulus, the headliners, were a sort of novelty act very much from the Land Which Musical Taste Forgot. To be fair, their woodwind player was very adept on an impressive collection of old wind instruments (recorders, crum horns, wooden flutes), but their mix of prog folk tunes, 70s synthesizers, medieval garb and "sing coo-coo"s left me a bit cold. Particularly unnerving was the number of people present not only attempting to dance along to the music but who also knew the words to the songs.

I heard Lisa Knapp on a Kershaw show a few months ago and she didn't disappoint this evening: some great old songs and some original compositions, alternately sung unaccompanied and backed by the excellent band. Looking forward to catching her again at the Magpie's Nest nights at the Old Queen's Head in Islington if I can make it.

Sad to think that this excellent venue, along with what's left of the rest of Spitalfields Market, will soon be bulldozed. Hopefully they can find a new location before long.

Linx:
- Review of "Wild and Undaunted" by Lisa Knapp
- "Save The Spitz" pages
- The Guardian attempts to explain the Circulus Phenomenon.