Jump to content

MrSimonW

Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    64

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by MrSimonW

  3. GIGS

    in End of the Road

    Posted

    Well a good time was had by all at the Folk Festival :) Nice mix of Appalachian folk, old-time and bluegrass with a dash of gospel to round things off. Highlights for me were The Great Smoky Mountain Bluegrass Band who were a lot of fun, and Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens (labelmates of Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings amongst others) who I'd wanted to see for a long time, but rarely play outside of US, or indeed, NYC. The beer was good, and I picked up a stack of CDs from the merch table to help with my hangover.

  9. final announcement

    in End of the Road

    Posted

    Patti Smith played the very first Latitude back in 2006. One of the subsidiary benefits was her guitarist (Lenny Kaye) doing a thing in the literature tent where he talked about the famous "nuggets" album, and played some songs on an acoustic guitar. It was one of my favourite things of the festival, he's a very interesting, articulate story teller. Fingers crossed for something like that this year at EOTR!

  12. A Bella Union Thread

    in End of the Road

    Posted

    A fine label with a strong back catalogue and an equally strong current roster.

    So:

    What is your all-time favourite album that they have put out?

    and

    Have you got any tips/recommendations from the lesser known acts on their current roster?

    For me, my all time fave is The Trials of Van Occupanther by Midlake.

    For a tip, as I said on the other thread, I played the hell out of Golden Sea by Our Broken Garden on holiday. One for fans of the label boss' former band...

  13. Second Announcement

    in End of the Road

    Posted

    Was it not always the case that in hosting Bella Union's anniversary, there was going to be a large number of repeat bookings? All the big hitters on their roster have played before, most of them more than once - Bella Union have always been well represented at EOTR.

    Personally I'm very pleased with today's announcement. The Our Broken Garden album was on heavy rotation whilst I was on holiday in the autumn so looking forward to seeing them, ditto for Jonathan Wilson and I Break Horses, whilst Midlake and Dirty Three are due to have new albums out I think.

    Not sure whether I'll double up with NDH - one of the main draws there was Dirty Three and if I know I'm going to see them at EOTR I'm not sure I'll be venturing up the A1...

  14. GIGS

    in End of the Road

    Posted

    Time for a quick re-cap of January so far.

    The Wave Pictures at The Lexington

    The 3rd Fortuna Pop Winter Sprinter night opened with Rotifer who are so Stiff it hurts; apparently Wreckless Eric produced their album. Evans The Death were next up and not really my cup of tea. The Wave Pictures were very good, however, playing mostly songs from last year's very fine Beer in the Breakers LP.

    Darren Hayman at The Hideaway

    The first of 2 nights where Darren played songs from last year's January Songs project. The opening act was Ardie Collins who apparently wrote a song every day last year and it was his first ever gig. Quite good for a first time. Darren's set saw guest appearances from Elizabeth Morris and Jack Hayter but otherwise it was just Darren and his drummer (from the Secondary Modern, can't remember his name) playing songs from the first 16 days.

    Jonny Kearney and Lucy Farrell at the Slaughtered Lamb

    With a highly recommended album under their belts, it was time to see how they would get on live. And the answer is: very well indeed. The music is slight, but beautiful and as performers they bring out warmth and humour that isn't always evident on the record.

    Darren Hayman at the Hideaway

    The second night of the January Songs gigs. By his own admission, the first half had more of the "poppy" songs and the second half the more interesting songs where he tried new ideas. Personally I think I preferred the second night, not least because everybody seemed a little bit more relaxed. Guest appearances this time came from Pete Astor (who also supported) and Hannah (from Owl and Mouse) who sang No Different for Girls.

  15. GIGS

    in End of the Road

    Posted

    Hot Snakes @ The Garage

    Wrapped up this year's gigging with some hard and fast rock n roll courtesy of Hot Snakes. There's nothing particularly subtle or sophisticated about their music, but it is a hell of a lot of fun. I'm always a bit uneasy about reforming bands, but if John Reis wanted to put Rocket From the Crypt back together, I would be most happy.

  17. GIGS

    in End of the Road

    Posted

    Bella Hardy at The Slaughtered Lamb

    It was time to start feeling festive on Sunday as Bella Hardy brought her Christmas Songs tour to the Slaughtered Lamb. Opening up was Blair Dunlop who was recently among the nominees for the BBC folk young musician prize. I was struck more by his guitar work than by his singing; his guitar playing was very good and he reminded me a bit of a much younger Michael Chapman, which is no bad thing obvs.

    Bella Hardy was doing almost all Christmassy songs, moving from the traditional to the contemporary to the cheesy with ease. Backed by Anna Massie on guitar and a chap whose name I didn't catch on concertina, they opened with a folky arrangement of "Rockin around the Christmas tree" and went from there. Of most interest were the traditional carols from her Derbyshire home of Castleton. She's a talented singer and fiddle player, and the trio worked really well together. Not sure about Anna's jokes though...

  18. GIGS

    in End of the Road

    Posted

    My Brightest Diamond at St Giles Church

    Backed for the evening by a seven piece chamber ensemble, this was Shara Worden performing her recent All Things Will Unwind album in (I think) it's entirety. It was a confident, charming performance and the setting was perfect for her voice. Highlights included getting the crowd to provide the harmonies on We Added it All Up, and the duet with Chris James of Stateless on Everything is in Line. The cover of Feeling Good she played solo as her first encore was blistering too, her voice filling the church at the climax.

  20. GIGS

    in End of the Road

    Posted

    Antlers on Sunday at the Borderline. Tremendous set, mostly drawn from this year's Burst Apart album. They've expanded their sound since their 2010 EOTR appearance, and were pretty epic for much of the evening. Could easily see them headlining the Garden Stage or Big Top next year if they're in the country. So glad I got to go to this as well as it meant I could miss Koko...

  21. GIGS

    in End of the Road

    Posted

    Bird, Madam, Chelsea Crowell - The Slaughtered Lamb

    Last night I went to one of London's best venues, the Slaughtered Lamb, for a fine evening of music...

    Opening were Bird who are due to release their debut EP on Monday. They brought to mind acts like My Brightest Diamond and Lia Ices, both of whom I like, a lot (I may have mentioned this). For a new band, I was impressed with how tight they were with some strong songs. They closed with the Stooges' "I wanna be your dog" which was ....interesting. Anyway I bought an advance EP, and I'm liking it.

    Next on were Madam, another female fronted band, this time from London. I had heard a few of their songs previously, and they have a new album out. For some reason, despite seemingly having brought quite a few friends along, they seemed a little nervous. They were pretty good, good lyrics and some good melodies.

    Headlining was Chelsea Crowell. For some reason, despite the fact that I don't normally like a lot of Country singers, I've been giving her two albums a lot of time recently. On this occasion, she sang and played guitar, and was accompanied by an Irish chap (Colm) on guitar, and, apart from bringing the girl selling merch up to sing backing on one song, that was it. Her songs tended to stick to similar themes around failed romances and heartbreak, but she played them with a warmth and humour that came across very well.

    So there you go, three fine acts in a fine venue that serves some fine beers...

  22. GIGS

    in End of the Road

    Posted

    Went to Jens Lekman and Lia Ices on Monday. Jens is excellent, and although this was the fourth time I've seen him with no more than a handful of new songs, it was still a joyous, life-affirming set. Lia Ices supported (Jens has a knack of getting great support, other acts I've seen with him include Bon Iver!) and was good, but has re-arranged some of her songs and I preferred the versions she did last time I saw here which were more acoustic guitar and piano led.

    Also bumped into forummer Zahidf there.

    This coming week, I'm off to the Slaughtered Lamb for country singer Chelsea Crowell. Should be good, love her new album.

  24. So who nailed it and who stank for you?

    in End of the Road

    Posted

    The following bands brought a big ol' smile to the face of MrSimonW:

    Rue Royale

    Emanuel & The Fear

    Sarabeth Tucek

    Skinny Lister

    TuneYards

    She Keeps Bees

    Beirut

    Treefight for Sunlight

    Dan Mangan

    Bob Log III

    Mogwai

    Lightening Dust

    Megafaun

    Doug Paisley

    Nobody really stank for me. Apart from my tent which had been put away still a little damp after Latitude and smelt grim on Thursday.

×
×
  • Create New...