Portugal. The Man at Hoxton Bar & Grill

Portugal. The Man
Hoxton Bar & Grill, 27 October 2009

So tonight I decided on the man I want to marry: Portugal. The Man. Except it's not a man, it's a band (although we could adapt the vows to say "do you take this band?"). Sadly though, aside from legal concerns, it's a one-sided romance and my newfound unrequited love for them only occurred midway during their gig at the tiny Hoxton Bar & Grill (which lived up to the grill part of its name tonight, as it was horribly, swelteringly hot inside) as admittedly before tonight I only owned a couple of their albums and didn't even know what they looked like (I even had to look up the singer's name to write this). It was probably during the middle of one of my favourite tracks of theirs, Church Mouth, a mammoth rocking beast of a number, that midway broke down and went into a tender, whispery version of the Harry Nilsson song One (Is The Loneliest Number). Rocking but sensitive, and with a sense of humour too. Does it get any better?

More barn!

A quote from Graham Nash from Jimmy McDonough's superb Neil Young biography Shakey: “I’m down at the ranch and Neil goes, ‘Hey Willy, wanna hear something?’ So we go down to the lake and row out to the middle in this rowboat and I think, ‘Jesus Christ, this guy’s been a fuckin’ mystery to me all my life - if he wants to talk to me privately, surely there’s more places to do it than in the middle of a fucking lake in a rowboat.’ What he’d done is he’d wired his house as the left speaker and his entire barn as the right speaker, and they played Harvest. And at the end of it Elliot Mazer comes down to the shore of the lake and goes, ‘Neil, how is it?’ Neil turns around and shouts, ‘More barn!’”

Sonic Youth at The Forum

Sonic Youth
Hush Arbors 
The Forum, 23 October 2009

Every time I've seen Sonic Youth (about four times in total) they've had a weird-ass support act, from Japanese noise bands to the free-form jazz band whose drummer attacked a heckling audience member. In contrast to these, Hush Arbors were pretty straight ahead and ordinary. I had seen them before doing an acoustic set supporting Vetiver earlier this year, and they were a pleasant listen, full of folky harmonies and sweet melodies. I did wonder how they would fit with Sonic Youth but it turns out that with their instruments plugged in they supplement the folky harmonies with fuzzed-up guitars and sounded more rocked up and interesting than I remembered them.

The Felice Brothers at the Empire

The Felice Brothers
A.A. Bondy
Shepherd's Bush Empire, 22 October 2009
Well, I'm glad I got to see Mr Bondy perform in a small club last night because supporting his friends The Felice Brothers, like a lot of support acts, he had to contend with an audience more interested in chatting to each other and drinking beer. Still, he was an old pro, once again backed by just a bass and drums, he sweetly sang There's A Reason and turned up the amps for a rocking Killed Myself When I Was Young and finally borrowed The Felice Brothers' violin player for a rollicking When The Devil's Loose. Those chatting audience members don't know what a good thing they missed.

A.A. Bondy at The Social

A.A. Bondy
The Social, 21 October 2009
Just got back from seeing A.A. Bondy at the tiny club The Social (sorry for the rubbish photo btw!) and I thought I'd quickly write something about it since I'm seeing him again tomorrow with The Felice Brothers.

Happy birthday Tusk!

Fleetwood Mac's legendary double album Tusk was first released on this day, October 15, back in 1979. Thirty years on it still sounds as good if not better and it's still my favourite ever album. At the time it was considered something of a flop (having only sold a few million compared with the massive selling Rumours, once the biggest selling album in the world) and Lindsey Buckingham's folly for daring to experiment with the band's signature sound. But in the years since it's become hugely influential (it was even covered in its entirety by cult band Camper Van Beethoven) and many now consider it to be their best album, me included. Over the years it's come to mean a lot to me and I love it all from Lindsey's weird and punky hillbilly stomps to Christine's soft, moody and sensual lullabies to Stevie Nicks' dreamy, spaced-out tales of lost love, I really do believe it to be a work of true genius and I wanted to recognise the day that Tusk was first unleashed onto the public. So Happy Birthday Tusk!

Watching The Planets

Pure awesome. The new album, Embryonic, is incredible.

The Pixies at Brixton Academy

 
The Pixies
Art Brut
Brixton Academy, 8 October 2009

I'm just a couple of years too young to have caught the Pixies live the first time around but I did manage to see them on their first reunion tour a few years back. Although they seemed to be on good form, played pretty much all my faves and seemed to be getting on well unfortunately it was at Alexandra Palace aka the worst venue in London.

Black Queen

Turn up loud. This is awesome.