Feature: The Best Gig of 2013

As a post-Christmas treat, here's a special feature on my favourite gig of the year: Arcade Fire at London's Roundhouse.

12th November 2013. Just ten minutes had elapsed, yet I had already bought a Pete Doherty t-shirt, my mate had done likewise with an Amy Winehouse number, and now I was in advanced negotiations to purchase a top hat. Yep, I could only be in Camden. The trendy North London suburb is home to the famous Roundhouse venue, which would be hosting Canada's finest tonight: Arcade Fire. Or, 'The Reflektors', as it had been billed. On arrival, I was actually slightly disappointed to find a genuine band called The Reflektors hadn't pulled off the greatest marketing ploy since somebody decided to price an item at 99p. Ah well, I would have to make do with seeing one of the biggest bands in the planet at the 3,000 capacity venue instead. 

I was one of the lucky few to have snagged a golden ticket to the gig, after the customary event of waking up at the crack of dawn and bashing refresh like a crazed maniac. Although, I say that, but I actually found this to be one of the easiest gigs to get tickets to - my refresh count must have been in single figures before racing through the purchase page. But judging by the Twitter reaction afterwards, I was pretty much on my own in that respect. Make no bones about it: this was a hugely in-demand gig, and I had secured a ticket to it pretty comfortably. Naturally, I immediately felt vastly superior to other people.

My innate fear of pint prices in London came to the fore in the first drinking establishment that we frequented. £4.20 a pint!! The night was threatening to be totally derailed, thanks to a crippling state of sobriety. But having turned down the opportunity of looking like a complete bellend by buying and wearing a bloody top hat, the day (night) was miraculously saved! Happy Hour 5-7pm? 50% off all drinks? We had found our Camden watering hole and all was well in the world once again.

But I should probably stop prattling on about top hats and affordable pints- I'm sure you want to know what the band were actually like. On to the gig then. Scanning the sizeable queue to the Roundhouse, you could already sense that the atmosphere here was a little different to normal...thousands of people in suits and fancy dress does that, I suppose. For a cold, wet Tuesday night in London, people were in great spirits - and with good reason, too.

On entering the plush surroundings of the Roundhouse, it was really something else. This was going to be special. People had really gone to town on their fancy dress and I especially looked absolutely fantastic in my suit. Then, I noticed that a disguised Win Butler was singing lead for the Mariachi band upstairs. There was free face painting by the bar. Arcade Fire mystifyingly seemed to get some stick for the mandatory dress code idea, but from what I experienced, it only contributed to a uniquely jovial atmosphere.

The set itself was Reflektor-heavy, as you might expect. Kicking off with the title track, each and every cut off the new record received a rapturous reception. The band really seem to have nailed these songs live already- if anything, they come across better in these surroundings. Whether they will translate as well to festival headline slots is another question, but in an intimate venue such as this, you can really start to 'get' Reflektor.

The older songs that were interspersed with the newer material - Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out), Haiti and Sprawl II - went down similarly well. Yet the best-received songs had to be the sweaty, pogoing Normal Person and Here Comes the Night Time, which was accompanied by a mass explosion of confetti. This was half disco hall, half Haitian festival.

For a band who have sometimes been accused of taking themselves too seriously - there are, after all, a heck of a lot of doomsday lyrics in their repertoire - this marked a new chapter in their career and a noticeable shift in their sound, look and attitude. Arcade Fire are back, and this time, they're going to enjoy themselves.

Feature: Five of the Best...TV Performances of the Year

I know, I know, you're sick of lists. Best albums, best tracks, best artwork, best EPs, best outfit, best guitar strings...it's been pretty exhaustive as usual. But bear with me. I've seen a helluvah lot of impressive live performances on TV this year, but no list to commemorate them. What an oversight! Luckily, I'm here to save the day with a special feature: the five best TV performances of the year. Enjoy.

1) Kanye West - Bound 2 - Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Kanye West - Bound 2 (Feat. Charlie Wilson... by BlakMusicFirst

Bound 2 is already a glorious conclusion to a pretty stunning, if divisive, album. But Kanye manages to bring it to life on this live performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Backed by a junior choir and a full live band, this track has old-school Kanye vibes, which isn't exactly in line with the sound and atmosphere of the rest of Yeezus, is made to sound like a bona fide pop classic. A rare example of a live version becoming undoubtedly better than a studio version of a song.

2) Deltron 3030 - City Rising From The Ashes - Late Show with David Letterman

Here's a pretty stunning performance. Hip-hop supergroup Deltron 3030 absolutely go to town with this live version of City Rising From The Ashes, backed by a full orchestra, choir and band. It's fast, it's frenetic, and it's pretty bloody exciting. Kid Koala tears it up on the decks and Del's flow is absolutely relentless throughout. Why can't all live hip-hop be like this?

3) Tyler, the Creator - Rusty - Late Show with David Letterman

More hip-hop now. Although this performance lacks the grandeur and panache of Kanye and Deltron, the gritty, aggressive flow of Tyler, Earl and Domo makes for an intense show. And for live TV, it's pretty rare to be so enthralled by a performance like this. No band, no live music, just three MCs at the top of their game. The build up to Tyler's explosive verse (possibly his best?) and finish is quite something.

4) Arcade Fire - Afterlife - YouTube Music Awards

OK, an admission. I wanted to put John Grant's performance of Black Books on Jools Holland here...but it's mysteriously disappeared from the internet. Grrr. Still, this is a more than capable replacement. If only for the amazing Greta Gerwin dance.


5) Arctic Monkeys - Hold On (We're Going Home) - Radio 1 Live Lounge

Is it just me who thinks this is miles better than the original sung by Drake? I doubt it. The Arctic Monkeys manage to totally bring this already-great pop tune to another level, complete with Alex Turner's embarrassing-drunken-uncle dancing and Helders' I-can't-believe-he's-from-Yorkshire backing vocals. 

Album of the Week #6

Artist: Detroit Social Club

Album: Existence

Year: 2010

Label: Polydor

Although defunct North-East bands from the late 00s aren't usually my speciality, I have to reserve special praise for this six-piece for whom I had (and still have) a lot of love for. In the midst of a pretty impressive year for album releases - Kanye West, The National and Arcade Fire all released career-defining efforts - Existence never really got the attention that it deserved. Despite support slots with the likes of Ian Brown, Primal Scream and Oasis, together with a 2010 Glastonbury appearance, the band regrettably split up in early 2011, with frontman David Burn electing to concentrate on his career as a music producer. Months after releasing their debut album they even left their record label Polydor and set up their own - the cunningly titled Fuck Pop - to release subsequent single I Am Revolution, which is also a cracker.

But where were we? Oh yeah. Existence. It hits you like a train. After a slow, brooding build-up for epic opener Kiss the Sun, it explodes into an anthemic, furious, gospel-like track which really sets the tone for the rest of the album. And anthemic has to be the buzzword here. Guitars, synths, pounding drums, strings...it's a whole cacophony of noise that has been expertly controlled and nurtured: no song here feels overblown or overdone in any way. It's OK throwing all these ideas into the ring - and clearly Detroit Social Club had loads - but managing the mixing pot and making sure all of those elements blend together well is something else entirely.

Despite the generally frenetic pace that the band set, after Kiss the Sun comes the delicate, string-laden ballad Northern Man, which you may or may not have heard gracing the interludes of Sky Sports News. Who said these guys were unknowns!? It offers a great counterpoint to the fast-paced opener, even if it doesn't exactly give an indication of things to come.

Even throughout the slower, more delicate efforts from the group, none of the anthemic soundscapes and epic atmospheres are lost, which are something of a trademark for the group. It is a remarkably assured effort for a debut album and it is even more impressive that they had managed to already carve out a trademark sound that has echoes of several influences - think 90s Brit Pop and 70s gospel and soul - yet remain pretty unique in their own right.

Although the album is packed-full of singalong anthems, punchy choruses and LOUD NOISES, the expert songwriting behind the glitz and grandeur cannot be overstated. No song feels too long, has too many verses or too many bridges, and that is symbolic of the assured sound throughout that has already been mentioned. Whilst some bands may have been overly tempted by the lure of adding a few extra minutes onto every song, Detroit Social Club resisted that and, discounting the hidden track, just one song exceeds five minutes (5:01!).

Around six songs in you start to feel a little worn out by the unrelenting pace - so it's a blessing that the final three songs take on an altogether different vibe. Jangly guitars, tribal drums and lovely vocal harmonies guide the listener through to the end, and it's quite a journey. What a shame that Detroit Social Club broke up before they really realised their potential. I Am Revolution gave an exciting glimpse of the direction that they were looking to take, but perhaps overflowing frustrations with the music industry cut short the lifespan of a once-promising group. I doubt they were the first, and I doubt they will be the last.

Check the album out on Spotify below.

FEATURE: Ultimate Tracks of 2013

With all of the end of year lists rolling in, I thought it would be a good idea to collate the best tracks of the year to find an 'ultimate' list of sorts, so you can hear for yourself what the musos out there have been loving this year. Here's what each publication reckoned was the best song released in 2013:

Consequence of Sound: Lorde - Royals
DIY: Lorde - Royals
Drowned in Sound: Justin Timberlake - Mirrors
NME: Daft Punk - Get Lucky
Paste: Janelle Monae - Q.U.E.E.N.
Pitchfork: Drake - Hold On, We're Going Home
PopMatters: Daft Punk - Get Lucky
Rolling Stone: Daft Punk - Get Lucky
The 405: Young Galaxy - New Summer
The Fly: Smith Westerns - Varsity

You can listen to their choices in a handy Spotify playlist below. Enjoy!

Album of the Week #5

Artist: Bahamas
Album: Barchords
Year: 2012
Label: Universal Republic

With all of the 'Best Of...' lists flooding in for 2013, I thought I would take the logical step and have a look back at one of my favourite albums released...released last year that is. Bahamas is a Canadian singer-songwriter who cut his teeth playing guitar for artists such as Jack Johnson and The Weather Station. Barchords is his second solo release after his 2009 effort Pink Strat. And although he's pretty well-liked in his home country, securing a Juno Award nomination this year, his music really didn't seem to get the recognition it deserved here.

Bahamas (real name Afie Jurvanen) clearly perfected his art whilst sessioning for other musicians. Although the guitar is at the heart of this album, it's never overpowering. Jurvanen balances his delicate voice with the orchestral-ness of his guitar sounds, adding a woozy, airy atmosphere to proceedings. And when he does decide to kick back and really let his guitar do the talking, it's done to stunning effect on I Got You Babe.

With elements of folk, indie and 70s California - similarly evoked by Jonathan Wilson's Fanfare this year - Barchords also has a certain vulnerability to it and Jurvanen's lyrics are strikingly honest throughout. He croons on Be My Witness (I couldn't give you, all that you wanted/I couldn't even give you half of what you wanted if I wanted to) and then bemoans on Lost in the Light (If we would try again/Just remember when/Before we were lovers, I swear we were friends)- there's seemingly no light at the end of the tunnel here.

But that dour, hopeless tone isn't the prevalent theme (fortunately!). Jurvanen tempers it with upbeat lyrics referencing the past (Every time George sings here comes the sun...Every time Sam says a change gonna come...That's okay, that's alright, I'm alive) and closes the album with the most upbeat and poppy tune on the album in Where You Go. What a riff! The album is skilfully sequenced, and his song-crafting abilities shine throughout.

Listen for yourself below.

Feature: In Defence of Spotify

The online streaming giant Spotify have recently unveiled that they pay out $0.007 per stream. The figure represents the 70% that they pay out to rights holders, although the money is presumably diluted through a series of publishers, record labels, suits and toilet cleaners before the artists themselves see anything.

Spotify have recently come under a double-pronged attack from Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich, with the Radiohead frontman commenting that 'new artists get paid fuck all with this model'. Despite this, Spotify bosses have claimed that a 'niche indie album' typically generates $3,300 in monthly income, with a 'global hit album' earning the record label $425,000 a month. 

But sidestepping the ongoing debate about the financial rewards of the music streaming service for a second, are these music industry figureheads missing the point somewhat?

Let me explain. First off: I'm a huge fan of Spotify. I pay £4.99 a month (thanks to my, ahem, expired student card) and I can access an extensive, global catalogue of music, with a few obvious exceptions (I'm looking at you Floyd, Led Zep and Beatles!). As soon as a new album is released, or even before it comes out in some cases, I can listen to it in its entirety, on a sort of try-before-you-buy basis.

"But the artists aren't getting much money for that!" I know, I know. But thanks to Spotify, I've bought albums I would never have bought before, because I've had the chance to sample them first- and I don't mean the crummy, utterly useless 30-second iTunes samples either.

But that's not all. I can listen to these new albums, then browse around the 'related artists' section and discover even more music for my listening pleasure. 'Spotify' is a blend of 'spot' and 'identify' after all. Man, I've found absolutely tons of new music this way. This blog probably wouldn't be in existence if it wasn't for Spotify- I just wouldn't know about albums that other people might not!

So do these rewards not outweigh the supposed financial imbalance that many accuse the streaming service of? I, and many others I'm sure, would never have discovered so much great music without Spotify, and these previously unknown bands might still be hiding away in a dark corner of the internet without it. It's like the Facebook of the music industry! Ok, that's slightly hyperbolic, but the point remains.

I've written before about how I feel that any way you discover new music is fine by me- and this is just another of those methods. Sure, artists might not receive their full entitlement from the streaming service, but can we not appreciate Spotify for what it is? As long as I can keep spotting and identifying new music then I'm happy.

Album of the Week #4

Artist: The Brian Jonestown Massacre
Album: Take It From The Man!
Year: 1996
Label: Bomp! Records

It's sometimes easy to forget just how bloody amazing this album actually is. Beyond the antics of Dig!, the documentary charting the Brian Jonestown Massacre and Dandy Warhols rivalry, the BJTM managed to release three, yes, THREE stunning albums over a 12 month period- and this was the pick of them.

Take It From The Man! is like the band have taken everything that was great about 60s British music: rock & roll, drugs and chaos, added their own unique brand of chaos, locked themselves in the recording studio for a couple of months and out came this. It's a mess, it's a glorious mess.

But the songs are remarkably strong. Your favourite song on the album will most likely coincide with your favourite riff - and there's riffs aplenty here. Straight Up and Down now trademarks Boardwalk Empire, whilst the 11-minute version is a rarity in that it genuinely never feels like an eleven minute song. It's a suitably epic conclusion to an album that rarely loses any momentum from the first track onwards.

The band absolutely tear through 60s numbers that recall the Stones at their riotous best, The Kinks at their delicate best and The Troggs at their, well, just The Troggs. They wear their influences on their sleeves - (David Bowie I Love You) Since I Was Six and My Man Syd are two example titles - but it never turns into a lazy pastiche of music that, lest we forget, is around 50 years old now.

Instead, the BJTM use that time period as a template and expand upon it. The sprawling Cabin Fever or the, sorry to mention it again, glorious closing track Straight Up and Down span over 7 and 11 minutes respectively- it's a snapshot of what these 60s bands might have sounded like in the modern day. Who?, B.S.A. and Mary, Please are similarly euphoric nuggets of raw, rifftastic, garage rock brilliance. There's not a studio trick in sight, and it's all the better for its simplicity.

If you've never heard of this album, check it out. If you love it, rediscover it. If you've never been convinced by it, give it another go. It's a set of 18 tracks that is pretty damned hard to dislike.

Album of the Week #3

Artist: Kamp!
Album: Kamp!
Year: 2012
Label: Brennnessel

Let's take a trip over to Eastern Europe for the album this week, for an electro-pop trio who are pretty huge in Poland but haven't made a massive impression anywhere else. Why, I'm not too sure! Kamp! (don't forget the exclamation mark) make euphoric, radio-friendly dance music, and quite frankly it's a bit of a mystery as to why they've not really made a mark outside of their native land.

Whilst the electro-pop, vocalised tunes on the LP are all well and good, the straight up housey disco music is where the real value is. Cairo combines an ambient intro with a gloriously funky drop that's just as enjoyable on the dancefloor as at home. Heats seems indebted to the funky Justice remix of MGMT's Electric Feel as the influence of the 80s remains consistent throughout.

I find electronic music sometimes takes itself too seriously. The dark, brooding atmospheric soundscapes created by the likes of Burial and Four Tet are glorious, sure, but up until a couple of years ago the genre was really threatening to start collecting its pension far too soon. It was a coffee table phase of sorts, after the initial explosion of dubstep.

Fortunately, spearheaded by Disclosure, it's renaissance has been a shameless promotion of straight-up dance music, with its influences firmly rooted in the 90s. Even Chic, the formerly out of fashion disco group, are the ultimate hipsters' choice nowadays after Nile Rodgers' hugely successful collaboration with Daft Punk. Disco is back! Although Kamp! haven't received massive amounts of attention for their releases, it's a sound that ought to be receiving far more success.

An Ode to Badfinger

What makes a good music journalist? A thoughtful and insightful style coupled with a genuine passion for music? The ability to accurately convey the strengths and weaknesses of an album? Nah. I say it's more about being the hippest guy around, revelling in utter smugness as you write about a band before anyone else has. It's about you finding the most obscure music on your own and reviewing it.

So it's a shame that I've fallen in love with a band at the same time of millions of others- now I'm just another one of Those Guys, jumping on the bandwagon. But in this case it's totally shameless. I'm a proud fan of this band and I didn't even find out about them before anyone else. Yet a proud-as-punch comment such as "The Southern Comfort Advert brought me here" often provokes a torrent of abuse from fellow YouTubers. Why is that?

As the epic Breaking Bad came to its suitably epic conclusion a few weeks back (afterwards, I slowly sunk into a deep Breaking Bad-comedown), Vince Gilligan pulled one last rabbit out the hat by choosing to play a song called Baby Blue, by a little-known band called Badfinger. WOW! I, like millions of others, were immediately struck by the 70s riff, the heartfelt lyrics, the aptness of it all. Why hadn't I heard of this band before?

Suitably, the next few days were a glorious discovery of Badfinger- their chequered back-story is quite something by the way- and a belated recognition of their fine talents. And what did it take for me, a bit of a music obsessive, to hear them? A TV show. A bloody TV show. How dare I!? With all the bile and hatred spouted towards anyone who dares discover a band through television, I thought I'd be getting a knock on the door at any moment.

I'm now a fully-fledged member of the Badfinger fanclub (well, not literally) and am telling everyone who will listen about their mercurial talents- as should you. Music can unexpectedly come to us from a lot of different places. We should be championing this internet-fuelled era of music discovery- not berating people for being turned on to great music through non-traditional sources. So cheers, Vince Gilligan.

Album of the Week #2

Artist: Pilote
Album: The Slowdown
Year: 2013
Label: Domino

An air of mystique is often something that's sometimes lacking in modern music. New bands that burst on to the scene are instantly visible to all- you know their names, where they come from and their star signs before they've even played their first gig. And usually, that's great. I for one am always finding out everything I can about a new band I've come across. In fact, I reckon a lot of my obsession with The Stone Roses is as a result of my fascination with their back story: strangely, I studied it religiously before listening to a single one of their tracks. An interest in a band tends to drive an interest in their music even more.*

So when I stumbled upon a cracking album earlier this year (thanks to the excellent taste of the 6 Music DJs), it was sort of disconcerting that I couldn't find a single piece of information on this artist. Heck, after a few Google searches I still didn't know if Pilote was an individual, a band, old or young...armed with this curiosity, I decided to listen to the full album.

Luckily, the album delivered from the promising signs that I had already heard. It's a glorious mish-mash of acoustic guitars, electronic drums, spoken word samples and plenty more beyond. Pilote, who by now I've figured out is the alias of electronic artist Stuart Cullen, showcases his deft production and compositional skills throughout The Slowdown- his sixth studio album over the course of a 15 year career that seems to have generally escaped mainstream attention.

The acoustic guitar is the prevalent sound of the album and ensures that atmopsherically, it's a far cry from the album we reviewed last week: Jackson and His Computerband's frenetic effort Blow. The elements that are added on top of the nimble guitar parts are what gives each track it's identity, whether it's the psychedelic musings of Timothy Leary in Me and Timothy Leary or the banjo in Foggy Paddock Backstep.

The Slowdown manages to achieve the rare feat of making 6 minutes+ songs fly by. Shapeshifter Blues, with it's whimsical whistled melody, and Sixth Street Ramble, which slips back in and out of a typically repetitive acoustic rhythm, are the prime examples of this.

It's a collection of songs that segue effortlessly into each other and maintain the identity and relaxed feel of the album as a whole. It's an acoustic, psychedelic and electronic exploration meant for lazy Sunday afternoons. It's a cracking album, and it's by Pilote. Maybe it's about time you started finding out some more about him now!

*See Badfinger (More on them coming up in the next week).

Album of the Week #1

Artist: Jackson and His Computerband
Album: Glow
Year: 2013
Label: Warp Records

Back in 2005, Jackson Fourgeaud, a contemporary of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (you might know them as Daft Punk), finally released his debut album Smash, having been a regular on the growing French house scene since the mid to late 90s. Eight years later, in the same year that Daft Punk made a glorious return to the charts with the wonderfully eccentric Random Access Memories, Fourgeaud finally released his second album under the pseudonym Jackson and His Computerband.

Now this isn't to say that the two acts should be compared, contrasted and used as benchmark in any case- Glow is an unpredictable, frenetic and wild collection of 12 songs that draws on influences on styles even greater than those of the aforementioned French house heavyweights and deserves plenty of praise in it's own right.

It's the sort of album you can sit at home on a Sunday evening enjoying (as I am right now) just as much as you would on the dancefloor on a Friday night. Fourgeaud calls upon the guest vocals of Natas Loves You, Planningtorock and Anna Jean on four of the songs, but generally it's a riotous, lyricless stomp through genres as eclectic as house, rave, psychedelia, pop and dubstep.

Though the album starts off with what you would consider to be fairly straightforward song structures - Blow and the curiously-titled GI Jane even verge on pop music - the album slowly gets whackier and whackier as it reaches the stunning climax of Billy: a trippy, 7-minute long journey through psychedelia and house before a euphoric ending that rivals any album closer this year.

Elsewhere, the furious rave of Blood Bust is a great counterpoint to the two slow-burners featuring Anna Jean: Memory and Vista. Dabbling in 80s funk and pop but always retaining that experimental, electronic edge, More and GTA V's Arp #1 wouldn't be quite as explosive without the mellow efforts sitting by their sides. And that's a testament to the compositional skills of the producer.

It's an album that changes it's style from one song to the next, never remaining predictable yet a natural flow is somehow retained. Clocking in at just over an hour long, it also feels like the perfect length for an album of this nature. There's enough time for things to get weird but even the 7 minute+ songs fly by- which isn't always the case for electronic albums.

Released on the legendary Warp Records, this is undoubtedly one of the top electronic albums of the year and definitely worth checking out if it slipped under your radar. You can stream it through Spotify below. Enjoy!

Welcome.

Welcome to my new blog!

As much as I've enjoyed some of the biggest releases recently, I didn't see the need in joining the thousands of other music bloggers reviewing the same albums- it's a bit of a minefield out there.

So instead, every Sunday I'll look to post up a hidden gem of an album that escaped the attention of most music lovers. Be it techno, folk, house or indie, there will be plenty to get your teeth into.

Enjoy!