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ARCHIVED REVIEWS August 2009

Tuesday August 4

Mary Gauthier

Although it’s been two years since her last appearance, the New Orleans born folk-Americana songwriter’s been something of a regular on the Birmingham circuit, building a sizeable local following so her first visit to the H&H should see a decent size crowd, eager to catch up on the latest anecdotes and immerse themselves in her tales of saints and sinners, lovers, losers and lowlifes. Last time round she was focusing on material from the just released Between Daylight And Dark with the likes of Can’t Find The Way’s testimony to the courage of the  Hurricane Katrina survivors and  Thanksgiving’s story of annual family prison visits. The critical acclaim for both that and its equally outstanding predecessor, Mercy Now, did much to widen awareness, but for those who picked up on her late, the three early albums are likely to have proven increasingly yard to track down.

Good news then that, the best of the material has been gathered together for Genesis (The Early Years) (Proper), although disappointingly only two numbers have been lifted  from her Dixie Chicken debut, the John Prine styled Goddamn HIV and the bluegrassing Ways of the World. However, it was Drag Queens And Limousines and Filth And Fire that really saw her hitting her stride with their tales of actors, barflies, writers, drunks, junkies, down and outs, suicides, poets and nuns.

 Thus here's the Kristofferson-like Long Way To Fall, Burnin' Sugar Cane's snapshot of her birthplace that evokes the first Band album, Karla Faye's story of heroin junkie murderer Karla Faye Tucker,  the sinners seeking absolution at the  Camelot Motel, Our Lady Of The Shooting Stars desperate hope for salvation, the autobiographical I Drink and Christmas In Paradise's  poignant tale of the homeless Davey stealing a tree to bring a little cheer to the wreckage of his life. If she only includes just a couple of these, then the night will be one to treasure. 8pm. £14. Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath

Tuesday August 4

Glint

 An electronic art rock outfit from New York, founded by songwriter multi-instrumentalist Jase Blankfort and drummer Mateus Tebaldim their atmospheric blend of lush melodies and dynamic drumming has been likened to Eno and early Bowie. Debuting with Mode To Joy in 2006, sophomore release Sound In Silence followed twelve months later, and. now a quartet, they hit these shores ahead of the as yet untitled album number three. They do, however, have a new eponymous EP (Rely) featuring the cosmic wash of Friends and the more swirlingly Interpol meets Muse psychpop Freaks with its nagging clockwork melody lines and Blankfort’s yearningly tremulous vocals. With promises of  ‘electronic pandemonium’, it should be more than enough to tempt even the mildly curious. 7.30pm. £5.50. O2 Academy 3

Sunday August 9

The Victorian English Gentlemens Club

Their self-titled debut album saw the art school trio parading their B52s, Talking Heads, Gang of Four and Devo influences on songs like  the marvellous Under The Yews,  My Son Spells Backwards and Ban The Gin. Two years on they’re back trailing the September release of the follow up, Love On An Oil Rig (This Is Fake DIY) with new single, Parrot. Judging by its angular funk shapes, throbbing basslines, spine jerking rhythms and twitchy vocals not a lot’s changed in the interim. 8pm. £5. Flapper & Firkin

Friday August 14

Bombdog

A sort of homegrown A Hawk And A Hacksaw,  they line up as  Becky Cresswell (vocals, cornet and melodica), Andy Bird (guitars and bouzouki),  and Phil Truslove (bass) with an as yet to be confirmed new drummer.  They are, to quote the blurb on their self-titled, self-released album, “a post rock/balkan” band, though there’s also strong Mexican and French traditional flavours.

An eight tracker, unlike AH&AH it never kicks up its heels for any racing round the campfires, the moods remaining firmly sober, melancholic and often funereal. That said, they do a nice line in melodic dirge with Kittel, the Brel-tinged La Lune Et La Mer with its chanson accordion evocations of gypsy women lamenting in Paris sidestreets, and the slow march The Sicilian which could easily have been lifted from some Mafiosa epic. Musically a little samey, although each number has its own textures, and the vocals rarely rely on lyrics as such, but quietly entrancing all the same. 8pm. £4. Island Bar, Suffolk St, Queensway

Tuesday August 18

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

 Had fate not played its tragic hand, then, inspired to launch his own record label after seeing them play, this LA collective would have been the late Heathe Ledger’s first signings. Instead, they’re making their home at Rough Trade, hitting town in their converted school bus for their first UK shows and debut album, Up From Below.

Fronted by Alex Ebert (Sharpe’s his childhood alter ego), with 10 members shuffling big chorus-friendly folk rock tunes drenched in harmonies and '60s and '70s psychedelia influences, it’s difficult not to trot out Polyphonic Spree comparisons. They’re not quite as lush and there’s a lot more country and bluegrass touches to them, but they certainly seem to be pitched at the same peace and love mindset, especially with reports of  wildly euphoric live shows.

Swayalong opening track 40 Day Dream taps into classic Motown and retro pop, splashed with SoCal colours while a magical mystery tour reference points up another of their influences. Elsewhere the bouncy arms linked Janglin’ pretty much describes itself, the title track shuffles on a homespun folksy stomp, Home offers whistling and yee haw, thigh slapping with a woozy psychedelic coating, Carries On croons round the beach campfire, the Mariachi tinged, harmonica blowing Black Water offers itself up as some Western soundtrack conceived as a marriage of Nick Cave and Eddy Arnold, while Brother turns down the hum for an intimate acoustic blues and Kisses Over Babylon whacks it back up again for a horns blasting Hispanic border town freak out jam.

The album production’s a bit rough round the edges with the vocals echoey and occasionally muddy in the mix, but, assuming they can find room to get everyone on stage, it should be an interesting live aural spectacle. 8pm. £6. Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath

Wednesday August 19

Martyn Joseph

 Joseph’s first visit to the Cafe should have the crowd spilling into the courtyard for this up close and personal set by the Welsh troubadour who rarely seems to have time to unpack his flight case between tours. Indeed, this is his third set of  UK dates this year, following on from recent separate jaunts with poet Stewart Henderson and Steve Knightley. He’ll be flying solo tonight with a set guaranteed to roam far and wide over his extensive songbook, liberally punctuated with anecdotes that will likely have him recounting his recent song and discussion session with Billy Bragg at Porthcawl Pavilion where he got to sing Proud Valley Boy’s tale of Paul Robeson and the Welsh Miners in the building mentioned in the song.

Recent set lists have also been including the likes of Can’t Breathe, Vegas, This Being Woman, Please Sir, and Cardiff Bay (many of which feature on Evolved, his recent album of revisited versions of his songs) as well as new material such as Better Man, Lonely Like America and the potent and poignant Five Sisters, a song written about the five Palestinian sisters killed by an Israeli rocket. With Some Of Us and I Will Follow popping up in the encores too, it’ll be a rather splendid evening. 8pm. £15. Kitchen Garden Café

Monday August 24/Tuesday August 25

Kasabian

 Nominated for the Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize, the Leicestershire lads take their soundtrack to an imaginary movie West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (Columbia) out on the road for a midsize venue tour before the autumn’s arena dates.

Occupying the middle ground of groove rock between Oasis and Happy Mondays, it sews up its dance priorities on the opening Underdog with its jagged riff and swaggering tempo (a mood revisited for the steamrollering strobe-disco beast Vlad The Impaler) before hitting a rolling, Stonesy psychedelia with Where Did All The Love Go? with its eastern textures, slipping into krautrock territory on atmospheric pulsing instrumental Swarfiga and then conjuring the theme tune to The Persuaders on the intro to the surging garage electro-raunch and sky riding psychedelics of Fast Fuse.

Take Aim throws their eastern interests back into the mix in a shuffling hip hop slur, but then they throw all expectations to the wind when Thick of Thieves unexpectedly channels autumnal pop Ray Davies with a la la la singalong stroll, West Ryder/Silver Bullet recruits Rosario Dawson to provide the spoken introduction before slipping into a spooked folk shanty strum and Ladies And Gentlemen (Roll The Dice) adopts twangy spaghetti-western guitar for a parched, keyboard driven ballad.

Slipping over the horizon with the snaky hushed 60s psychedelic California pop of Secret Alphabets, the echoey ghost riders country Primal Screamisms of Fire and the majestic Lennonesque piano led ballad that bows out on a full single handclap and ooohing  gospel choir. Awesome stuff that encourages you to both swoon and sway and rip off the shirt and get your head into the beats, it’s hard to see how such mortal dimensions as a concert stage can contain them. 7.30pm. £22.50. W’hampton Civic Hall

Monday August 24

Dave McPherson

 Taking time out from the day job fronting InMe, McPherson’s out on some low key club dates previewing material from upcoming debut solo album, The Hardship Diaries. He’ll be throwing in some band favourites, but don't expect his solo material to reflect their nu metal/alt rock riff driven power and angst.

Favouring acoustic guitar and piano, as previous EPs with songs like Waltzing In A Supermarket, I Don’t Do Requests, The Drugs Won’t Save You Now, The Thieves and the all new chirpy busking, vocally tremulous confessional autobiographical Last Year, the influences are far more inclined to pop, folk and even music hall. With a sharp stage presence fuelled by witty banter as well as his sterling songs, you find yourself wishing he spent a little more time travelling with just his guitar case than with the InMe tour bus. 8pm. £6. The Asylum

Tuesday August 25

Katy Perry

 RESCHEDULED: Known to her pastor parents and former California church congregation as Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, Perry’s first taste of success and notoriety came in 2007 with her internet hit Ur So Gay, but, having been reduced to doing Miley Cyrus backing vocals, it was last year’s sophomore album, One Of the Boys,  (her first was the Christian music Katy Hudson back in 2001 while she also sang vocals for The Matrix’s unreleased debut) that turned her into an international name with the relentlessly catchy No 1 single I Kissed A Girl.  A UK Top 5 hit, follow up Hot ‘n’ Cold fared well too but then the recent formulaic breathy voiced acoustic ballad Thinking Of You stalled at 27 in a case of the Sandi Thom syndrome.

Essentially she’s a sort of vanilla Cyndi Lauper retread, perky, contrivedly eccentric and consciously attention grabbing controversial, her music at the poppier end of the grrrll power spectrum. That said, while I’m Still Breathing actually sounds comatose and Lost is about as dull as stadium balladry gets,  If You Can Afford Me, Fingerprints, Self-Inflicted and One Of The Boys are passable, hooks laden Lavigne lite and should have audiences bouncing along. Just don’t expect miracles. 7pm. £13.50. O2 Academy

Thursday August 27

New Found Glory

No promo of  current album Not Without A Fight (Epitaph) was made available, but basically the Florida outfit haven’t changed their stripes too much in the ten years since releasing their debut. So, lots of Blink 182/Sum 44 style bubblegum pop punk with urgent choppy guitars, bits of emo, angsty songs about getting yourself together and struggling against a repressive society that just doesn’t understand, and, obviously, a fair few about problematic relationships.

After the last album’s deferment to slower melodic moods,  Right Where We Left Off pretty much announces this as return to their earlier bouncing drive and while diversity isn’t the strongest suit, likely like crowdrousers should include single Listen To Your Friends, the chuggy 47, Truck Stop Blues, Such A Mess, Reasons and Don't Let This Be The End.

They’ll also be providing their own support in the form of their parody side project alter-ego, the hardcore punk spoofing International Superheroes of Harcore. 7.30pm. £15. O2 Academy2

 

Town, Postcode, Attraction... -- Country -- UK England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland Rep. of Ireland ---------------- Andorra Argentina Australia Austria Azerbaidjan Bahamas, The Barbados Belgium Belize Bermuda Brazil Bulgaria Cambodia Canada Chile China Colombia Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Dominican Rep. Ecuador Egypt England Estonia Fiji Finland France Germany Greece Grenada Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Israel Italy Jamaica Jordan Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malaysia Maldives Malta Martinique Mexico Monaco Morocco Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Northern Ireland Norway Panama Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Rep. of Ireland Romania Russia Saint Lucia Samoa Scotland Singapore Slovakia Slovenia South Africa South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Thailand Tunisia Turkey UAE USA Wales Zambia -- Room Sleeps -- 1 person 2 people 2 + 1 child 2 + 2 children 2 + 3 children 3 people 4 people 5 people 6 people 7 people -- No. of nights -- 1 night 2 nights 3 nights 4 nights 5 nights 6 nights 7 nights

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