While the Garage in Islington isn’t immediately the venue that you would choose to see Japan’s premier Armageddon-soundtrack-specialist musical beat combo Boris’ show at, but it’s a compliment to the venue that their sound system could deal with the sheer colossal nature of the sonic onslaught. For all intents and purposes, Boris are the only heavy band you really need. Drone, noise, ambient, Sabbath, stoner, sludge, it’s all there in one beautifully formed wall of noise.
18 May 2010
The Stooges and Suicide playing classic material together in one evening is, and rightly so, a mouth watering prospect. Two of the most wonderfully outrageous bands of all time in the spotlight to cherish their moment, which has unfortunately arrived 30 years too late. At least that’s what it’s supposed to be, until you remember that there’s a reason why both Suicide and The Stooges are seen as outrageous, and why the two albums scheduled to be played in full, Suicide’s nihilistic debut and The Stooges ‘Raw Power’ are heralded as modern classics. Whilst Iggy’s antics have been well documented over the years and are now an expected element of any of his live shows, Suicide’s ability to create shock and awe in equal measure is still incredible.
14 May 2010
When I first looked at this line-up I must admit that I was relatively overjoyed. I have certainly had a recent penchant for Kurt Vile, and Kode9 has always intrigued me, in the sense that I’m not overly familiar with his work, yet I felt I needed to see him from a research point of view. Indeed it is certainly one of the few gigs that I have attended from start to finish in a long time, as I often get relatively tired and lethargic watching 2 support acts, and often it can detract from the main event in my case. Alas, despite the strong support line-up, at least on paper anyway, this became a very real possibility as Panda Bear took the stage. Moreover the fact that I was well aware we were unlikely to hear any of the so-called ‘hits’, but rather predominantly a collection of new material made me feel all the more apprehensive about whether he could rectify the stifling support. In fact he did much more than this, as hoped and perhaps expected, Panda Bear is a unique and wonderfully engrossing live performer. It is testament to his ability and talent that he can play largely unknown tracks and yet still put on a wonderful live performance.
12 Mar 2010
Devendra Banhart’s live show is a trip into a crazy world of exquisitely executed variety. His richly diverse crowd, from a loud and lively Spanish language contingent, to the typical trendy youngsters, and some elder representatives of the music-loving crowd, all receive a little section that they will thoroughly enjoy. While new his new record ‘What Will Be Will Be’ might lack a few of the idiosyncratic elements that so many of his earlier fans fell in love with, in favour of more typical singer songwriter territory, his live show remains bizarre, wonderful and unique. I know of no other artist who could flit easily from groovy, danceable numbers to bizarre finger picked acoustic songs, to Black Sabbath styled heavy rock (and we’re talking seriously heavy now, not just heavy in comparison to previous Banhart shows) and some latin-flavoured ballroom dance tunes just for good measure.
17 Dec 2009
