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ARCHIVED REVIEWS January 2006 All Previews by Mike Davies Tuesday January 10 Kevin Montgomery & The Road Trippers
The son of Bob and Carol Montgomery, respectively Buddy Holly’s co-writer and Elvis’s back up singer, the history of rock n roll courses through Montgomery’s veins. He though has taken the more country road, his high lonesome voice also filtered through the street smart of New York and the sunny melodies of Los Angeles. Debuting in 94 with Fear Nothing and a string of collaborations with the likes of Mary Chapin Carpenter, Lee Ann Womack, and Rodney Crowell, it took six years for the follow-up, Another Long Story, to emerge, a third studio set, 2.30am, arriving three years later and featuring regular touring band Al Perkins on pedal steel and the Mavericks' Robert Reynold and Paul Deakin. He’s back now promoting last year’s Live! From Glasgow (Syren) release and a set that trawls across the back catalogue, opening up with the blue collar empty inside emotion of Cherokee City and proceeding through the jaunty line-dancing friendly Tennessee Girl, 60s jangly Melrose, slow waltzing Angel Tonight, the TexMex partying Cajun Song, blistering covers of Crossroads and an extended Ooh Las Vegas where everyone gets to rip out solos, and the Springsteenesque ballad I Wish I Were Blind. Sadly there’s no room on the album for the touchingly nostalgic memoir of teenage innocence that is Red-Blooded American Boy (insist he sings it live though!) but they do throw in Flower Of My Heart, a song written by his dad and Holly, and close out with a superb version of his aching Fear Nothing. It’s safe to assume the show will pretty much mirror the album, but whatever he chooses to wrap those dusty tones around is going to be worth hearing. 7.30pm. £13. Little Civic Friday January 13 Ok Go
The Chicago power poppers get in early to spread the word on their upcoming sophomore album Oh No (Angel Music), due for release in March. Recorded in Sweden and fuelled by a break-up, it’s a rockier affair than their debut with a strong dance edge to the likes of the swaggering Do What You Want and the opening Invincible which, it must be said, owes a large debt to EMF’s Unbelievable. They spray infectious hooks everywhere, slamming out three minute pop punk on Here It Goes Again, Crash The Party, It’s A Disaster and Television,Television, coming over bluesy with No Sing Of Life and the Franz Ferdinand meets the Stones of A Good Idea At The Time, and hitting the moodier paths for the Blur influenced Let It Rain, Oh Lately It's So Quiet and chugging smoulder A Million Ways. And my, isn’t The House Wins so very Ray Davies? Given the exposure to go with their enthusiastic live reputation, there’s every reason to think this could be the album that turns them into UK chart residents. 7.30pm. £6. Carling Academy 2 Friday January 13 Carina Round
Last year saw a low profile for the Kings Heath based Anglo-Italian songstress as she worked in America on her follow up to 2003’s The Disconnection. The silence is now broken with this low key taster of what’s in store from Slow Motion Addict, her debut release for Interscope. Even from listening to advance unfinished mixes, it’s clear this is going to figure large on the Best Of lists in 11 months time. Armed with a scorching set of musicians, it’s a major leap forward in musical terms, the PJ Harvey touches still in evidence on something like Gravity Lies but substantially less of an influence. Indeed, the brooding glacial blues The Disconnection (you get two album title tracks for the price of one here) finds her sounding like a cross between Billie Holiday and Bjork, Take The Money and Ready To Confess choppy sonic burning rockers in the Queen Adreena school and the fecund pagan moods of January Heart and Slow Motion Addict both conjuring memories of the goblinesque Pooka and suggesting what might be the result of splicing together Robert Plant and Kate Bush. She slinks like a predatory vixen too on Down Slow, a scratchy pulsing breathily sensual number that partly takes a semi-spoken cue from Madonna while Come To You has all the markings of her first hit single, a glorious slow build to soaring radio friendly chorus hook that fuses the attitude and vocal muscle of Chrissie Hynde and Charleen Spiteri. Having build a solid cult following, she’s been on the fringes of breakout discovery for a while. This is the one that turns her from star in waiting to full blown phenomenon. Get in early and witness the birth of the constellation. 8pm. £7. Flapper & Firkin Saturday January 14 Stephen Fretwell
Moving up a venue size after chart success with Emily, the corkscrew haired Scunthorpe singer-songwriter should see this year firmly consolidating the reputation he’s built through intimate gigging and the soul-folk splendour of debut album Magpie with its echoes of Van Morrison and Randy Newman. A new studio album’s likely this year so expect to hear some early showcasing tonight. 8pm. £9.50. Irish Centre, Digbeth Saturday January 14 Kirsty McGee
It feels like forever since the Mancunian folkstress released sophomore album Frost but at last the waiting for the follow-up has ended with the release of Two Birds (Park), a third collection of haunting pastoral contemporary folk delivered in her dusted and careworn very English voice. As before it embraces songs about relationships lost and found (Heart), life’s anchors and compasses (the quite beautiful Thank You), and sketches of landscapes and seasons (Brittle, Static), the lyrics filled with images of the natural word, the music conjuring summer afternoons, autumn nights and hoar-frosted winter mornings. Once again featuring Neill McColl and Roy Dodds with Ben Nichols on bass, there’s a touch of the Americanas here and there, Mat Martin’s banjo rippling through the spiritual and secular themed Fresh Water and Lazy Eye Blues’ leaving song making them sound as if they were written on some Appalachian mountainside porch, The Right Way Home a bluesy swing, while Chicory’s pledge of friendship evinces ragtime colours. Not that this suggests her English folk roots have in any way diminished. Achingly lilting break-up song India, the trad flavoured One Star (possibly a suicide song?) and flute coloured Alchemy and (even if it occasionally recalls Townes Van Zandt’s If I Needed You) the gorgeous open hearted Steady all underline her homegrown heritage to beguiling effect. Veined with a gentle melancholy and themes of reflection, loss and endurance it’s not just her best album yet, but a strong early contender for folk album of the year. 8pm. £9. Red Lion, Kings Heath Sunday January 15 Waking The Witch
Borrowing their name from a track on Kate Bush's Hounds of Love, the Leeds based quartet have been tagged a female CSN&Y. That's a bit unfortunate as it suggests they're in a West Coast Corrs stylee whereas in fact they're actually closer to the Poozies. The harmonies are certainly on a par though, well applied on current album Hands & Bridges with ten - often quite sensual - female perspective relationship songs that draw on their folk, blues and soul influences and, as the name suggests, hung with an air of leafy, pagan England. Stripped down to the acoustic guitars and voices of Patsy Matheson, Jools Parker, Becky Mills and Rachel Goodwin, each taking their turns on lead, the tumbling folk pop of Watching The Stars is the most obvious commercial catch but everything here proves intoxicating with Goodwin's turning thirty lament Change, Matheson's devotional love song Brilliant, Matheson's a capella harmony younger woman song Always One Like Her and Mills's trad sounding The List providing notable incentives to get along and catch them in action. 7.30pm. £9.25. mac. Sunday January 15 Athena A new name for a new year, Anglo-Greek singer-songwriter Athena Andreadis has actually been building a reputation for some while with sold out London shows, an appearance at last year’s Womad and exposure through Andy Kershaw’s radio programme. Classically trained in jazz and classical voice work at Trinity College of Music, her studies have also embraced folk, electronica and contemporary while her music is also heavily informed by a passion for the traditional songs and poetry of Greece. Joined by guitarist Werner Kristiansen and bassist Tom Mason, she now embarks on her first tour in support of debut CD, Snapshot (Embraceable), a 5 track EP that serves to showcase her vocal purity and the folksier side of her talents. Balancing both sides of her heritage, Green Eyes harks to traditional English folk, Circles conjures Joan Baez, and Eden brings to mind Judy Collins in her Brecht-Weill phase while the self-penned Thalassa Melania and traditional Stis Pikrodafnis Ton Antho are, obviously, both seriously Greek. There’s a sense on the record that she needs to relax a little and invest more warmth, but judging by responses to her live work this doesn’t seem to be a problem in the flesh. It’s early days yet, but she certainly looks like becoming the first female Greek singer to make the crossover to mainstream international success since Nana Mouskouri. 7.45pm. £10. Warwick Arts Centre Tuesday January 17 Nizlopi
There’s clearly going to be a lot of people here tonight simply because of the pre-Christmas chart topping JCB. Whether they return to see beatbox and double bass player John Parker and singer-guitarist Luke Concannon a second time will determine whether the Leamington duo join the list of one hit wonders. Musically, their hit’s not atypical of its accompanying album Half These Songs Are About You (FDM) with its folk-pop-hip hop-soul hybrid that straddles the ground between Ezio, Van Morrison (especially on the gospelish Freedom) and The Streets and, long before they became celebs, they’d built a dedicated live following. The problem is that, while the lads are cheerful, wholesome types, the songs shade into one another with little differentiation of musical colouring and, after a while Concannon’s whiny vocals do tend to grate. Certainly, although Girls is possessed of a lilting, strings-textured warmth, it’s hard to see an obvious follow-up hit among the 10 other tracks and the use of fat soul-band brass on Long Distance and the jazzy Love Rage (with some excruciatingly bad lyrics) really doesn’t convince that they really like to get down on the dance floor and party. There’s some nicely mellowed summery folk pop touches to Sing Around and Wash Away, but it might be advisable for the duo and their long time fans not to raise their hopes for sustained stardom too high yet awhile. 8pm. £7.50. Glee Club Friday January 20 Gretchen Peters
One of the gigs of the month, this brings the Nashville based New York singer-songwriter to town on the back of her recently released stunning live album Trio (Curb), an uncluttered, pure and achingly lovely stripped down collection of 13 songs about love, loss and leaving, the melancholy veined with a spiritual conviction that inner strength will prevail. All of her past three albums are represented here. Overlooked debut, The Secret of Life, leads the count with four songs, the affirmations of constancy that are Over Africa and When You Are Old, the heartbreaking Circus Girl with its lonely narrator, and On A Bus To St. Cloud, the classic lament for lost love that provided a hit for Trisha Yearwood but which has never sounded as exquisite as it does here. From the self-titled follow-up comes Souvenirs, her 'little travelogue across America' where she finds the promised land littered with "little tin toys that fall apart", gospel hued forgiveness plea Revival, and Patty Loveless hit the female coming of age Like Water Into Wine. And from Halcyon, arguably her best and most potent collection of songs to date, comes the set opening Museum's wistful tale of turning a broken heart into a work of art and, perhaps her most emotionally affecting work, the devastating This Used To Be My Town’s narrative about a murdered girl's ghost returning to where she once lived. For fans who've longed to have Peters' own versions of songs she's written for others but never released herself, the show also features previously unrecorded versions of Patty Loveless hit You Don't Even Know Who I Am, a tale of a broken marriage seen from both perspectives, and a playful The Secret Of Life (a 1998 Top 5 for Faith Hill) where a couple of guys in a bar agree that a decent cup of coffee and Rolling Stones records make life worth living. Which leaves Main Street, a resonant and reflective account of a town dying since the advent of an out of town shopping mall and freeway, previously only available on a bootleg, and the only cover, her superb interpretation of Paul Simon's American Tune, a song she says she rediscovered in the aftershock emptiness and search for comfort of 9/11. As an artist in her own right, her name may not be as widely known as those who have benefited from her songs, but if proof were ever needed that this other GP is one of the most gifted songwriters and performers in America then this has it in spades. Don’t miss. 8pm. £12. Glee Club Friday January 20 Robyn Hitchcock & The Minus 3
As prolific as he is erratic, there’s no guarantee that he won’t slip out a new album to tie in with this gigging jaunt in the company of Scott McCaughey, Bill Rieflin and REM’s Peter Buck but as it stands he’s more likely to be leaning on a somewhat eclectic back catalogue of such skewed psychedelia as Madonna of the Wasps, My Wife and My Dead Wife, The Man With the Lightbulb Head and Jewels For Sophia interlaced with electric versions of material from recent acoustic album Spooked with its songs televisions, hobgoblins and almond whirls. 6pm. £12. Carling Academy 2 Friday January 20/Saturday January 21 Richard Thompson
While it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that he might just slip in an instrumental from his soundtrack to Grizzly Man, it’s more likely that the two nights will be drawing on material from Front Parlour Ballads (Cooking Vinyl), his first acoustic solo album in 24 years. Maybe it’s because its stripped down to basics, but it’s also one of his most potent and immediate albums, crackling with anger, dark wit and sharp irony, the former evident on Should I Betray and socio-political metaphor sea shanty Row Boys Row. the latter neatly embodied in Let It Blow’s tale of a mismatched marriage falling apart in the tabloid pages and A Solitary Life’s ode to the joys of uncluttered singledom. Even behind the sly wit, there’s a fair degree of pessimism and gloom here on songs of failures (Miss Patsy), unfaithful lovers (For Whose Sake), and self-recrimination (Precious One, How Does Your Garden Grow?) while elsewhere he revisits the darker corners of childhood days with The Boys From Mutton Street and When We Were Boys At School. Spread across two nights, with set lists unlikely to be identical, there’ll also doubtless be plenty of room for old favourites like 1952 Vincent Black Lightning and Wall of Death to breathe not to mention ample evidence of his peerless, fluid guitar work. And, if his recent spate of releases is anything to go on, you’ll be seeing him in the full prime of an illustrious career as a pivotal force in the history of English folk rock. 7.30pm. £19.50. Warwick Arts Centre Sunday January 22 Dar Williams
I don't know, you wait ages for a cover of Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb then two come along in a row. First there was the Saturday Night Fever treatment accorded by Scissor Sisters, and now Williams’ plangently haunting measured and moody, dark and world wearied semi-acoustic interwoven harmonies version that invests it with a whole new female perspective. Nestling among current album My Better Self (Zoe) it slots perfectly within a general theme of politics and emotion and songs that address social, spiritual and environmental issues. The opening Teen For God is a wicked swipe at the smug self-righteousness of young Christians trying to suppress their sexual feelings for the sake of appearances while Empire is a potent, angry commentary on the current American administration foreign policies and, in context with the album's mood, Neil Young's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere takes on a whole new metaphorical references. There are emotional snapshots too. Calling to mind a world-weary Joan Baez, The Hudson is a love song to the New York river and, by association, a hymn to the humanity it traces in its wake, while keeping the watery connection Williams branches out into the blues for the haunting Two Sides of the River, a song about loss and separation. Over her career, she's produced a stunning catalogue of albums (favourites from which will be present and correct tonight) but she's arguably never sounded better than she does here, more assured, more relaxed, wiser and older with the year, all of which pours into the simple heart's affirmation of You Rise And Meet the Day or the moving love song to her young son, So Close To My Heart, where she rivals the very best of Janis Ian. She's long overdue discovery by a wider audience, this may just be the album that let's the rest of the world in on the secret. Better yet, she’s just part of a three pronged package of female singer-songwriters put together by Rounder Records. Anyone wary of being thoroughly depressed by Lynn Miles after hearing her last album, Unravel, should be pleased to learn that the Ottawan singer-songwriter’s latest, Love Sweet Love (Rounder), is a rather more upbeat and optimistic affair, its musical moods evocative of wide open spaces.
Try Not To Be So Sad she sings, and taking a cue from her own title the album doesn’t even let the loneliness that steeps the likes of Never Coming Back, Night Drive and its uptempo road companion 8 Hour Drive wallow in forlorn depths. The heart may be bruised, but she’s still got a musical spring in the step and voice. And, as the gospelly bluegrass title track, the exhilarating lyrical rush of Flames Of Love and even the wistfully reflective acoustic picked Sweet and Tender Heart ably show, more often than not there’s a smile on the face too. Opening proceedings is fellow Canadian and label-mate Alana Levandoski, a new name whose debut album, Unsettled Down, pulls together influences of gospel, folk and country to entrancing effect.
Like Miles, the sound evokes the widescreen Canadian panoramas while Levandoski’s twangy crystal voice is often reminiscent of both Nanci Griffith and the young Emmylou Harris. Drawing on her and her family’s lives, songs variously concern her childhood (Prairie Sun), her mother (Red Headed Girl’s heartlifting tale of 60s prairie girl’s joys and tragedies), lovers outgrown (the keening Bring Me On Home and yearning Misty Sea), childhood romances (a creek skipping Don’t You Remember), wanting back what you’ve pushed away (the hymnal Sold Your Wings) and, of course, love itself (I Ain’t No Saint)). She’s at her best at her most uncluttered and direct, but as the scorchy rocking bluegrass Jezebel’s Ringin’ shows, she can kick up a dust cloud or too when the need arises. It’s her first visit to these shores, if her live work is as strong as the album it certainly won’t be her last. 8pm. £11. Glee Club Monday January 23 Fall Out Boy
Over here for their first UK tour since the release of last year’s Under A Cork Tree, the Chicago emo punk pop hybrid will be unleashing its first single, the chunky, chorus hook friendly Sugar, We’re Going Down (Mercury) to coincide. Big on guitar cranking riffs, All American Rejects meet Wheatus lyrical wit and stage energy, they’ll doubtless also be loading up the set with reminders of the excellent Take This To Your Grave album, most hopefully the stand out Sending Postcards From a Plane Crash (Wish You Were Here). 7.30pm. £11.Carling Academy Tuesday January 24 Teddy Thompson
While guitar playing genes clearly run in the family, young Thompson’s musical roots lie less in the dark folk and rock n roll furrows of father Richard and more in the rootsy pop fields of the late 60s and early 70s, conjuring thoughts of Jackson Browne alongside The Beatles and self-confessed heroes the Everlys. He’s also got a lot lighter voice than dad, well suited to songs of romance not veined with gloom and existential angst. He’s here tonight providing further exposure for current album Separate Ways, a warm affair that moves the heart on numbers like barroom shuffling lost love lament Sorry To See Me Go where he croons like a bruised angel, the dreamy countrified pop of Everybody Move, a back porch lonesome Think Again, You Made It and the bluesy moods of the title track. He also kicks up a pair of rocking heels on That’s Just Enough For You, that offers further proof the family tradition is in safe hands. Support comes from Irish singer-songwriter Declan O’Rourke. Recently signed to V2, this’ll be the first chance most here will have encountered him although his debut album was actually released to huge success in Ireland two years ago and he’s been praised to the hilt by the likes of Eddi Reader and Paul Brady. A former member of Paddy Casey’s band, his first release in the UK seems likely to be Galileo (Someone Like You) a dreamy stars in the night sky kind of track that reveals him to have a vibrantly warm, rich voice not unlike a cross between Rufus Wainwright, Brian Kennedy and James Taylor. The album, Since Kyabram (titled from the place in Australia where a priest taught him his first guitar chords) is due later this year, so he’ll be doubtless offering plenty of tasters tonight with the likes of Sarah (Last Night in a Dream) where you might detect a touch of the peaty tones of Christy Moore, pizzicato strings flavoured romantic ballad No Place To Hide, and showing of his more uptempo side, the dust throated rootsy rock pop No Brakes. Be assured, you’ll be seeing him headlining bigger venues than this before the year’s out. 8pm. £7. Glee Club Wednesday January 25 The Kooks
Having come up short on the rather ordinary garage pop last single Sofa Song, the Brighton indie popsters take two steps forward with the release of debut album Inside In/Inside Out (Virgin and its sharply written songs of youthful frustration and screwed up relationships. With its throwback to the 60s and 70s and comparisons to everyone from The Jam and The Kinks to Dexys and The Strokes, it’s not actually going anywhere new and at 14 tracks there does tend to be rather more padding than necessary (most notably the ska punk Matchbox and a dull dubby Time Awaits) and Luke Pritchard’s determination to stress the local roots in his vocal mannerisms can get a bit wearisome. But, when they do sharpen their pop razor on something like the simple acoustic Seaside where Ray Davies meets Damon Albarn, the rollocking goodtime summery strum She Moves In Her Own Way, You Don’t Love Me’s big beat 60s r&b pop staccato jitters and the deceptively lovely Jackie Big Tits with its shades of Difford and Tilbrook’s quality song writing, then it’s clear their future looks very promising indeed. 7.30pm. £6. Bar Academy Wednesday January 25 The Far Cries
Comprising Martin Bjorck and Liz Holdforth and hailing from respectively Prague and Rainham, the duo combine snarly riffing guitar with live and programmed drums for a scuzzy amalgam of rock and beats inspired by The Breeders and The Fall. The results can be heard on debut single Stepping, a prowling dark and dirty edgy scowl of a strobe riffed number where he goes Plastic Ono Lennon and she goes PJ and they both come together for the frenetic lashing finale. Descending electro popdisco companion track The Edge mixes up Morrissey and The Cure and, if you’re wondering where Mark E Smith fits into all this, check out the abrasive art punk Cold Love. Keep an eye on them, they could well prove our answer to the White Stripes. 8.30pm. £1.50. Jug of Ale. Thursday January 26 Steve Dawson
Dawson, if you weren’t aware, is soft voiced lead singer with Americana outfit Dolly Varden but he’s temporarily taking a solo path with the release of blue-eyed country soul infused album Sweet Is The Anchor (Decor), his love of classic Al Green well in evidence on Love Is A Blessing, shades of Van Morrison bubbling through I’ll Be Right Here and Ten Thousand Pounds. With songs that treat on themes of self-doubt (the easy rolling country pop I’m The One I Despise) and thoughts of mortality spurred by the death of his mother (Temporary), there’s dark currents flowing but, as the bluesy soul I’ll Be Right Here, the Paul Simonesque Reignite and Friend Like A Wheel, and the dreamy light on its feet pop of the title track show, there’s endurance and hope too. He’s here as part of an Americana triple bill that also features Vigilantes of Love frontman Bill Mallonee who’s always worth a spare ear and Irish outfit The Amazing Pilots. Consisting brothers Phil and Paul Wilkinson, they’ll be showcasing their own debut, Hello My Captor (Decor), a rather lovely sun-kissed collection of dreamily morose songs steeped in such influences as Van, Brian Wilson and Lambchop.
Like Dawson, they dress downbeat reflections in gorgeous melodies that tend to lift rather than crush the heart, hisses of electronics and sampled sounds giving songs like I Don’t Know Where You Are, You Make Me Feel Amazing, The Way I See Things and Out Across The Bay wonderful unexpected textures. All My Wasted Days and The Price of Winter set the lollopping tone prevalent throughout the set while Stupid, I Loved You So, a keening Still Not Changed My Mind and the chiming 60s-ish pop chugger I’ve Got Wings Irene illuminate their romantic heart. Buckle your seat belts and take wing. 8pm. £8. Glee Club. Thursday January 26 Belle And Sebastian
With the much anticipated new album, The Life Pursuit (Rough Trade) finally fluttering its way into the racks, it’s time to start overhauling the superlatives for what is, unquestionably, their best collection yet. Tumbling, church bells pastoral pop peals out on Another Sunny Days (probably the only song to mention a herbaceous border), bubblegum glam swaggers on a burbling synth with White Collar Boy as Bowie, Bolan and, er Christie stride down Carnaby Street, Song For Sunshine welcomes Funkadelic to tea on the lawn, T-Rex get it on again for The Blues Are Still Blue and Dress You Up will have The Beautiful South tearing their hair out with envy. Taking his cast of characters through musings and reflections on religion and childhood, Stuart Murdoch’s lines have rarely been as wry, witty or enigmatic as they are on the likes of a quasi calypso swaying The Price of a Cup of Tea, Act of the Apostle, the art-pop Sukie In The Graveyard or the fat brass and frothy 70s flavoured quirky love song single Funny Little Frog. And, should you require further proof that he’s developed into one of the finest exponents of classic English songwriting, then look no further than Mornington Crescent. Playing live more confidently too, this is the year they take the big leap forward. Support comes from The Brakes, the ramshackle strumming indie trio comprising members of British Sea Power, Electric Soft Parade and The Tenderfoot who’ll be regaling you with their short but snappy songs from Give Blood, a debut album that cheerfully sees them bounce from Roxy Music to country bumpkins and the Velvet Underground. 7.30pm. £18.50. Carling Academy Thursday January 26 The Waterboys
Not that Mike Scott and his big music isn’t always worth a visit, especially on days when he rolls out The Whole of the Moon, but the prime reason for getting along to this is to see the return of Thea Gilmore. Having kept a low profile verging on invisibility for the past year or so, she’s resurfacing now to unveil material from her long awaited sixth album, the follow up to 2003’s Avalanche and 2004’s covers collection Loft Music. It’s being kept heavily under wraps, but it’s titled Harpo’s Ghost and, one of the reasons why she’s along for the gigs, features two tracks, We Built a Monster and Whistle and Steam, co-written with Scott. Avalanche didn’t prove the major breakthrough Gilmore richly deserves, hopefully sneak previews of new material tonight will herald her long overdue apotheosis. 8pm. £19.50/£17.50. Warwick Arts Centre Friday January 27 Test Icicles
Exponents of head exploding, wigged out noisy racket rock n riffery and moshing together everything from hardcore to hip hop, the much touted take their burgeoning reputation out for a stroll to promote What’s Your Damage?, the explosive phunked up third single from debut album For Screening Purposes Only. 7.30pm. £8. Barfly. Saturday January 28 The Academy Is...
Upgraded to the main room due to public demand following the buzz on
the myspace website, the Chicago five piece come to town in advance
of debut album Almost Here (Fueled By Ramen). Recent download only
single Slow Down’s formula mix of fast bit, slow bit punk pop flurry
didn’t give much reason to see what’s got everyone so excited, and
to be honest, despite a snappy opening Attention, the album doesn’t
do much to persaude otherwise. Firmly in the chewy Green Day/All
American Rejects/Motion City Soundtrack mode of angry youth with
buzzing guitars, while Season rings some jerky rhythm changes the
songs all tend to follow much the same pattern, offering reliablity
but few surprises. Of their kind Skeptics and True Believers, The
Phrase That Pays and and the Blink-ing Down And Out are strong
enough, but ultimately their identity just blurs in with the crowd.
They’re joined by Las Vegas dance-rock labelmate quartet Panic at the Disco, a more interesting proposition to judge by their digital release I Write Sins Not Tragedies, a song about vicious gossip at a wedding that feature pizzicato plucked strings, lifted from upcoming album A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. With titles like Nails For Breakfast, Tacks For Snacks, Build God, Then We’ll Talk 6pm. £7.50. Carling Academy. Sunday January 29 Maria McKee
Probably still best remembered for her No 1 power ballad hit Show Me Heaven, in recent years McKee has increasingly leaned towards the folkier side of the Americana spectrum. She’s back out on the road to give a renewed push to Peddlin’ Dreams (Cooking Vinyl), an album that marries the acoustic with punchier electric material, veined with a melancholic introspection that should delight those who’ve longed for a return to the mood of her first solo album. Indeed the opening Season Of The Fair turns out to be an outtake from just that, sounding like it could have come from an even earlier Joan Baez while, stained with the time spent in Ireland, the superb title track is a slouched soulful folk blues that evokes a bone weary Emmylou Harris. A cover of Neil Young’s dusty backwoods Barstool Blues and her own plaintive Appalachian Boy and the achingly autobiographical People In The Way provide icing on this particularly tasty cake while there’ll no doubt be more than a few crumbs from her past illustrious back catalogue. Who knows, if she’s feeling particularly good, she might even throw in that song too. 8pm. £13. Glee Club Monday January 30 Nick Cave
He was last here two years ago with the Bad Seeds touring Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus, a double disc set that saw him firmly back at his vintage best, the former brooding with baleful songs of misery and doom like Nature Boy and the clanking Hiding All Away, the latter a gentler and jazzier affair characterised by the Cohenesque swampy blues title track and the Brel moods of Supernaturally. This time round he’s in solo frame (albeit with Seeds Warren Ellis, Martyn Casey and Jim Sclavunos backing him) for a set likely to range far and wide over his extensive career, embracing his own material as well as an eclectic set of covers from musical heroes such as Johnny Cash. Expect the odd death ballad and tale of darkness and misery to put in an appearance. 7.30pm. £40/£30. Symphony Hall Monday January 30 Coheed And Cambria
Combining bouncy prog rock and sci fi but not sounding like
Hawkwind, fronted by high pitched singer Claudio Sanchez (who’s also a
comic book graphic artist) they’re not easy to pin down, warping as
they do from folksy acoustic (the pretty Always & Never) to metal
flurries verging on hardcore (Ten Speed), tempos and rhythms shifting
all over the place. They’re over here to spread their wings and
recruit more devotees with catchily titled new album Good Apollo, I’m
Burning Star IV, Volume 1: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness, or,
if time’s pressing, IV (Sony). 7pm. £13.50. Carling Academy Monday January 30 Idiot Pilot
Although out in the States since the middle of last year, Strange We Should Meet Here, the debut album from duo Michael Harris and Daniel Anderson, has yet to surface here. It should follow hard on the heels of the tour, but for now it’s trailed by second single A Day In The Life Of A Poolshark (Reprise), an hypnotic fusion of niggling electronics, Radiohead moods, aggressive walls of noise and burst of throat tearing nu-metal howls. Spark Plug’s a further exploration of their hybrid sound, a melding of Depeche Mode and Linkin Park that characterises the album’s general quiet-loud mucking around with computers and hardcore, Open Register juggling acoustic guitar, electro splurges and screaming with a dub sensibility while Militance Prom even slips into a dose of rap. It’s not always easy to get your head round, but it’s worth the gymnastics. 7pm. £7. Bar Academy Tuesday January 31 Katie Melua
Having gone from word of mouth sleeper to international multi-platinum sales with Call Off The Search, Melua’s sensibly opted not to mess too much with the formula for follow up Piece By Piece (Dramatico). That said, she’s written more of the material herself, and - while On The Road Again gets into a swing, the vibe throughout is more jazzy blues than her debut, including a cover of the standard Blues In The Night where she melds shades of Ella with Eva Cassidy. It’s not going to persuade those who complain of a somewhat bloodless musical personality, but it’s certainly a mature, confident and relaxed set that sees Melua stretching out her kittenish soul, even getting playful with Mike Batt’s Nine Million Bicycles, an airily oriental coloured track inspired by a trip to Beijing (and now re-recorded to get the astronomy right), and the slouchy Blossom Dearie groove of Halfway Up The Hindu Kush. Her own songs stick to a largely reflective, searching of emotions blueprint, the title track a bittersweet letting go number, I Cried For You a touching tale of grief, though perhaps a rework of the Ebony and Ivory piano keys imagery of racism themed Spider’s Web wasn’t entirely necessary. Slightly out of place in the album’s musical context perhaps, but her folk-tinged clouds and breeze cover of the Cure’s Just Like Heaven, featured on the recent Reese Witherspoon movie, is also rather lovely. There’ll be generous helpings from the album in the set list, though I daresay it’s still The Nearest Thing To Crazy that’s going to draw the biggest cheers. From Glasgow by way of London, Nashville and L.A., support act
Alex McEwan's an old school
classic pop troubadour with an acoustic guitar whose Celtic roots
shine through his music even when it's dressed in West Coast clothes.
Released on his own label, debut album Beautiful Lies (Forge) sees him
lined up against the inevitable comparisons of Messrs Rice and Gray
though closer listening would suggest his influences are more likely
Springsteen (Take The Road), Sting (Beautiful Lies), the Blue Nile
(for that easy dimming of the day soulfulness) and Del Amitri, whose
Justin Currie turns up on harmony vocals. 7.30pm. £27.50/£24.50. NIA
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