日志

Mon 7 Nov – Throwing Muses at Òran Mór in Glasgow.

The gig started slowly, with an excessively self-conscious set from Faroe Islander Teitur as support act. Lovely guitar and melodies, but the songwriting was often trite and made me wish for his next album.

Kristin Hersh, Bernard Georges, and David Narcizo then took the stage and set out with a ferocious barrage of sound, more 50 Foot Wave than Throwing Muses. The bass in the venue was initially loose and uncoupled, often swamping the precision drum work of Narcizo and Hersh's vocals. About half-way into the set the sound seemed to improve, allowing the intricate and energetic basslines woven by Georges to properly mesh with the rest of the sound. Hersh earlier couldn't stop giggling during Hate My Way, but after explaining "anyone can cheer up... even if it takes 25 years", she seemed to loosen up, the songs became more intricate, and the band clicked into a higher gear. …

Ola Podrida - Belly of the Lion
Loney Dear - Dear John
Silversun Pickups - Swoon
Asobi Seksu - Hush
Bob Dylan - Together Through Life
Late of the Pier - Fantasy Black Channel
Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
St. Vincent - Actor
50 Foot Wave - Power + Light
Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels
Built To Spill - There Is No Enemy
Andrew Bird - Noble Beast
Magnolia Electric Co. - Josephine
Marching Band - Spark Large
Rachel Grimes - Book of Leaves
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
Other Lives - [self-titled]
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - [self-titled]

1. Крихітка Цахес - Алло, але
2. Cansei de Ser Sexy - Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above
3. Manic Street Preachers - Door To The River
4. The Bird and The Bee - Diamond Dave
5. The Fiery Furnaces - Lost at Sea
6. Howling Bells - Wishing Stone
7. 50 Foot Wave - Power+Light
8. Keane - Let It Slide
9. Zero 7 - Pop Art Blue
10. Arctic Monkeys - 505
11. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Dragon Queen
12. Lюk - Олени
13. Tori Amos - Lady In Blue
14. Goldfrapp - Little Bird
15. Noisettes - Mind The Gap
16. Deerhoof - +81
17. On-The-Go - The White Fence
18. Би-2 - До утра
19. The Faint - Desperate Guys
20. Mellowdrone - Fashionably Uninvited

from 50 Foot Wave's Cash Music site:

“Power and Light” was something we’d seen written on the side of a van once on a 50 Foot Wave tour. Like many eloquent things we see written on the sides of vans, it turned up in a song a few months later. A song which stretched out in both directions, greedily snatching at parts of any other songs it could find and stuffing them down its throat. It seemed never to be satisfied with the beginnings and endings I handed it, always eager for more movements, until “Power and Light” was an epic, half-hour piece of piled up pieces. That poor van has no idea what it wrought just by driving down the highway.

When I played the screechy results by myself, cramming them into demo form and sending them off to my bandmates, now scattered across the U.S. (I so wished we were still an LA band so that I could have apologetically invited them to the practice space for an afternoon of gentle thrashing and warm beer), they may have blanched, but they did not let on. They are superheroes, after all.
…

(I just made this mail which i have send to various people, I simply copy/pasted that message to save some time ;-))

I just got this newsletter from Throwing Music and I just have to share this with u all. I dunno if I bothered some of u too much with these things, but I can't help it, I'm an enthousiastic ;-). And enthousiasm is what I got a lot for 50 Foot Wave, a band lead by Kristin Hersh, who also performs and records solo and with the Throwing Muses. For some years now she releases a lot as free downloads through her websites but now she releases the complete discography of 50 Foot Wave, mp3 and losless flac! :
(and if u don't want to receive mail like this from me again, let me know and I won't do it ever again ;-))
Throwing Music
to me

Hiya,

Just wanted to make sure you knew that Throwing Muses will be performing this week (with 50 Foot Wave opening)! Here...

Throwing Muses / 50FootWave
Philadelphia, PA - Mar 10, 2009
World Cafe Live
Buy Tickets

Throwing Muses
…

Tue 3 Mar – Howling Bells, The Joy Formidable, Chew Lips

More like Howling Wind... the weather seemed to be throwing its toys out of the pram last night which made the journey in town a little lively. No Brains SA in the Trow (...gah!) so I had to make do with some Butcombe before adjourning to the Seven Stars for a nice pint of Coastal Brewery's Snowdrop. (* end of obligatory alcohol-related comments and application to CAMRA for fee)

Where was I? Ah yes, music! Missed Chew Lips due to aforementioned beer-related issues so i will follow up on them another time maybe...
Still, the interval gave me time to nurse a pint and idly wonder who the support was, having lost the thread a bit since the original gig had been cancelled and rescheduled. So it was a nice surprise to recognise Ritzy from a recent Rock Sound article and twig I was about to see TJF, and boy does this gang rock. Their music is more soundscape than song and what they lack in numbers they certainly make up for in volume. …

Combined with her consistently brilliant work with Throwing Muses and (more recently, 50 Foot Wave), Kristin Hersh has been a major force for nearly 25 years now. Solo, she generally favours a more acoustic approach (strummed guitars and simple piano patterns) but without losing any of the intensity that her bands have. She’s always been honest in interviews about her tough life (run down by a car in her teens, a brain tumour at 22 and losing custody of her son in the ‘90s) but her records are not whiny self-confessions and nor do they make the listener feel like some tourist in someone else’s misery. They are startling, often scary, frequently hilarious (“this hair-do’s truly evil/I’m not sure it’s mine) and weirdly, in the end, life-affirming. There are moments when you think she’s losing it (A Loon or Spring) but she brings you back to a safe place eventually. Played live they are a succession of hairs-springing-up-on-the-back-of-your-neck moments. …

5. Appeal To Reason - Rise Against
I know this album has disappointed a few in terms of it not being as hardcore as their previous albums, but this isn't something that concerns me. There are some real standout tracks on here (Entertainment, Hero Of War and Saviour are my favourites), but also unfortunately a few which are nothing special. As always, the lyrics are top notch, and they're noticeably more political on this album, which is a bonus for me.

4. Who Killed Amanda Palmer? - Amanda Palmer
Isn't Amanda Palmer great? I found with The Dresden Dolls CDs though, that while there were a few songs that I really fell in love with, there were others which just dragged down the album as a whole (always in the second half too). This album, though, I love the whole way through.

3. Velocifero - Ladytron
I first heard these guys when I was streaming radio and Black Cat came on. Soon after an online friend of mine raved about the album, so I decided to go out and buy it. …