Simons Cat

Slipping out of Focus

Oh my goodness, direct from the NPR Blog comes a rave from my own personal grave. Focus, that slightly odd mix of 1970's Dutch rock and virtuosic performance, were if I remember rightly the second band I ever saw in their own right, at the Chatham Central Hall in 1973 (first up in 1972 were Roy Wood's Wizard.... swiftly followed by the Crystal Palace Garden Party with all sorts of hairies - Procol Harum, Gryphon (anyone remember them?), Leo Sayer (good grief) and my hero of the time Rick Wakeman)

The YouTube clip here pretty much sums up the experience... Thijs van Leer was extra-ordinary on keyboards, flute and manic vocals, and Jan Akkerman was a genuinely accomplished guitarist. How strange is it now that I have a colleague in HR who plays in band that has recently supported the still-rocking Focus at a recent gig in Bournemouth ... old rockers never die they just go to Bournemouth

Death Cab in Birmingham

Not an auspicious lead up to a show - trailing down the blocked motorway to Birmingham, arriving just late enough to hear the last support band song (no, don't know who they were), and having to go on my own like a sad lonely type, still...

Once I had extricated myself from the 30 foot concrete overhang position and its ear ripping bass levels I got to a place where I could just see then band, and more importantly hear them properly, things started to get a bit better

I must say the sound was not brilliant and the band seemed a little detached (or was that because stuck on the margins I wasn't properly engaged?) but Bixby Canyon Bridge was a good opener. After a couple of songs that seemed frankly rather dreary they got back on track with a storming version of I Will Possess Your Heart and some welcome favourites from the Plans album and quite a few from Transatlanticism.

Off quite quickly they came back for a five number encore set that finished with a moving and triumphant version of Transatlanticism itself. So all in all a bit of a mixed bag including some rather uninspiring elements that seemed to expose the rather fragile and insubstantial qualities of some of their songs that I hadn't really noticed on the recorded versions. However there equally were moments of great beauty and emotion when their fondness for building songs over long 'ish stretches can result in powerful and affecting music

Photos coutesy of DCFC Flickr

Band of Horses at Shepherd Bush Empire

Oh I have been waiting for this! First picked up on BoH via podacst on KEXP (not surprisingly given their prior residence in Seattle) where there are a number of podcasts with BoH content. I am now rather hooked, along with others of their ilke (inlcuding the wonderful Mr Tyler Ramsey guitarist of this parish)

Well the lad and I schlepped (sp?) up the M4 to London and the splendid Shepherd Bush Empire for the first of their two sold out nights - squeezed onto the first row of the balcony which was none to comfortable but got us fine views.

Support was from The Virgins (unlikey it seems to me , but there you are) a bunch of skinny chaps with a not unpleasant if not especially memorable bunch of songs (the lad thought them rather good, for the record)

Well the BoH set just blew me away - once Ben settled into his vocal the whole thing rocked along. How great to see a band obviously really enjoying themselves, the audience was absolutely up for it and the set flew by. The whole thing was brilliant, not too many stupid pyrotechnics just great music, ( including a wonderful version of No-One Goes Out Anymore from Mr Ramseys solo album) and Funeral might well have been the high spot for me. As I say they obviously had a ball and it was great to bring them back for a second unplanned encore before we all melted back into the night

Sometimes a gig seems to transcend the usual, this was one such occasion, the lad and I agreed that this was one of the top two or three gigs we have seen (and I even bought the right size T shirt for a change...)

The National in Birmingham

What a joy - The National in Birmingham. OK the Academy in Brum is not my favourite venue (and this time especially sticky underfoot) but who cares when they put on such a good show. I still find it hard to know how a band keeps up the energy when they are in the middle of what seems an interminable list of festival slots and filler gigs like this one - a few days earlier they had been at Glastonbury.

Opening for them was Caroline Martin with a collection of slightly morose looking chaps. Caroline hails from Bristol and was unknown to me. Her very lyrical and fragile songs seemed an unusual choice as support. However it became a little clearer later in the show when Matt Berninger announced that in his opinion Ms Martin had written the best love soing of the last six years or so, Without Permission, a track on the Virginia EP and part of the encore delivered alongside Ms Martin. To be fair this is a fine song and perhaps Ms Martin might be better in a more intimate and conducive environment.

Any hoo the National set was strong and joyful, rather wonderfully expanded with a small horn section that gave some welcome album-like textures. All the usual tracks were there (save About Today unfortunately, and do they ever play Thirsty?) But great to hear The Geese of Beverley Hills.

I was there with my lad as ever and this time managed to drag along my good chum Martin who, it transpires, had last been to a gig 15 years ago to see local Brum band Pop Will Eat Itself (I think that was it... mmm) - he must come out more ...

People of Water

Another introduction from the Peeblesmeister - People of Water is in fact one Ben Shillabeer who knocks together his collection of music in his personal studio (read - bedroom). Recording on Sink and Stove records from Bristol (again with some linkage to Mr P) People of Water have/has (isn't that confusing?) a first EP out with but six tracks of " of experimental, atmospheric but playful indie-rock, with electronic, lo-fi and world music influences". I first heard some of this on DJ Shannon KEXP podcast number 102 that ran the track Pink Conch - (how do people like KEXP get hold of this sort of stuff I wonder? They also got hold of stuff by Glasweigans We Were Promised Jetpacks who are worth a listened if for nothing else than their name)

Anyhow I must admit to being rather taken by Mr Shillabeers efforts (one free hi quality mp3 of Constant Spring is available from the S&S web site). I am fortunate that the Peeblemeister has given me access to rather more tracks to listen to - perhaps they will appear on the planned full length album. Constant Spring, Pink Conch, Too Much Information, Built Like Clocks and Pet Level all deserve a listen as do other tracks across this varied, lo-fi, laid back selection

Her Name is Calla

Well in pretty much a volte face from the sublime Fleet Foxes, I have stumbled upon the really rather excellent Her Name is Calla who must labour under the unhelpful Post Rock label it seems.

The blurb on Last FM says , and I quote: "Leicester based 4 piece Her Name Is Calla have recently signed a deal with Gizeh Records. The bands debut single ‘A Moment of Clarity’ is released in October 07 with a debut album to follow in mid 08. Calla’s sound brings to mind a raw, stripped back Radiohead with strong post-rock influences thrown into the mix." Well I don't know about that but the now-unavailable-save-on-download, Condor and River is a majectic 16+ minutes wash of sound, with some nice tinkly bits thown in. The single (not much airtime awarded I imagine) A Moment of Clarity, gives the same sort of stuff but at around six minutes.

Their new album (or is it a long EP - who knows) 'Heritage' is out on Gizeh Records at a mere £6 or via the inevitable iTunes. Of course tracks are on their MySpace site, and much is also listenable via Last FM.

Reviews on Drowned in Sound , The Silent Ballet and Whisperin and Hollerin to name a few

Fleeeeeeeet Foxxxxes

Well the eponymous album is here and deeply gorgeous affair it is too. It doesn't outstay its welcome at around 40 minutes but is a joy from start to finish. Laiden with achingly lovely harmonies and subtely infectious songlines - Blue Ridge Mountains and Ragged Wood being current favourites. The curious but affecting habit that Fleet Foxes have of seeming to crash two songs into one provides a two-for-the-price-of-one formula. Robin Pecknold has a wonderfully sonorous vocal which he uses in a controlled but liberated style.

Oh dear, I am getting a bit over the top with this, but I have to say this, and the equally wonderful Sun Giant EP, provide some of the most affecting and genuinely beautiful music so far this year ( and indeed for some time)

Oh and there's a neat little interview/piece about t their views on 'transcendence' on the 6 Music site to coincide with their rapturous reviews following their UK gigs (which I missed tickets for in Bristol :( )

Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust ... Sigur Ros

A new offering from the bonkers Icelanders of course is always welcome - anyone who can sing so beautifully in an entirely (?) made up language deserves a hefty wack of respect. The charmingly named Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust apparently means 'With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly'.The Sigur Ros chaps are kindly streaming the new album prior to official release off their web site ( and sundry other places it seems)

Some comments are welcoming the more up-tempo tracks which sound jolly enough, but I still prefer the more haunting episodes - still all in all another beautiful offering jauntily bouncing off the sides of the mainstream dross

Oh and full marks for a suitably dotty cover shot of naked chaps running across a road ... sure it must mean something or maybe it just took their fancy...

High Dependency Unit

I am indebted to young Hector Peebles for this stuff. A kiwi band that is hardly new - back to the late 90's at least and without a prodgious output. High Dependency Unit - HDU claim to be a bit metal, a bit psychedelic, a bit rock and twist of ambient - seems about right to me. Oddly reminiscent of Mono on ocassions they make an exillerating sound

Its a real shame that their stuff isn't available over here - big H has been trawling the web to amass his collection of which EP's Momento Mori and Higher are personal favourites. Some stuff can be bought via Smoke CD's in NZ

They have new album coming out/is out not sure which - Metamathics, a slug of which is in the vid below. Metamathics: (n) (short form of 'metamathematics')
The investigation of the properties of realities intrinsically unknowable by and from our own, but whose general principles can be hazarded at.

Guillemots at Bristol

I think that this was probably our fifth time of seeing Guillemots - including Oxford Zodiac (RIP), Cardiff Uni and Bristol Academy,(not quite sure why I feel a slight twinge of embarassment here). Been a fan since first hearing them on a snippet on a KCRW/Radio 1 podcast for new music. The early (well 2005) stuff, Made Up Lovesong #43 and I Saw Such Things in my Sleep got me hooked, and the later We're Here (see vid below) - none of which now appear on their Myspace site unfortunately

They have always had a mix of solid pop song drive with some more odd components, a satisfying mixture for me. Fyfe has a good ear for a tune and his colleagues are fine musicians (with Arista being a Stroudie adds some local colour as well - like Eamon Hamilton from Brakes and Tom Smith from Editors)

Whilst I enjoyed the show, and especially the later portions, the band seemed a little ragged on ocassions - a bit like running down a hill together, and Fyfe's vocals weren't as sharp as he has been - a new propensity to a shouty style didn't help

But some of the stuff from the latest album Red seemed better on stage than on disc (my lad reckons they'd be better off with a more live sound on recordings but then he likes stuff a little 'rockier') and a fine verison of Sao Paulo wrapped it up with fevered activtiy all around and especially from Mr Drum man

Business Time - Flight of the Conchords

Ok Ok maybe not the first time its been cited but I still find this a laugh. How come they are so big in the States and not here? Whats going wrong?