Chilly the Entertainer

Gonzales, originally uploaded by jellybeanz.

In the last 18 days, I’ve been to 10 shows. This seemingly culminated at my run of 4 shows last week, from members of Low performing in a tiny venue and the joyous experience of dancing at Soulwax. At the time I didn’t expect those shows to be surpassed. But then I had not seen Gonzales before.

Since first listening to Gonzales (via his Breezeblock ‘remix’ in 2002 – which was a remix in the loosest of terms) I’ve struggled to explain what sort of performer he was. He isn’t quite a singer, though he has songs, and a rapper is a poor description of him too. And that’s not even considering his album of piano music released a few years ago. Whatever he tries, it just sounds like Gonzales, although in a completely different style.

What he is, is an entertainer. Even including the Flaming Lips show from 2002, which is among my favourite shows ever, I’ve never been to a gig this much fun. Rather than watching a bunch of musician just playing songs, this show was more like a pantomime. At one point, his band even storms off stage ‘in protest’ about his treatment of them.

Beneath the fun, there were the songs too. As he is releasing his first new album in four years, I expected this show to be more of a showcase, containing only material from the new album. How wrong was I. Although he started with his new songs, very quickly into his set he began playing all the ‘old hits’, and from then the crowd really got involved. Even his cover of ‘Easy lover’ at the end just seemed so right. Clip from another show on the current tour:

Haven’t danced so much since last summer…

Just back from the Soulwax tour movie première (we missed the film) at the Royal Festival Hall, it’s 3am, and I have work in the morning. I know I should head to bed, since I have to be up in about 5 hours’ time, but I’m not in the mood. When I bought tickets for this gig, I thought that it would be fun, but I didn’t expect too much from it. Especially since the last time I saw Soulwax was about 2 1/2 years ago, around the time that Nite Versions was released. That gig was great. But now it’s a couple of years on, the band haven’t released any new material (the remix album doesn’t count) and they’re still playing Nite versions? Don’t they get bored?

Maybe they do, because luckily the Nite Versions set this time was very different to the one I saw at Fabric. Rather than just playing the reworked version of their album all the way through, they only performed some of the key tracks, mixed in with some bits of their more well known remixes. It actually worked quite well.

In another odd arrangement, the warm up act for the night was actually their film. The band performed in the middle of the evening (well at 11pm), followed by a dj set from Tiga. It was a shame that Tiga only djed, as I was looking forward to seeing him perform live, but he kept things ticking over until 2manydjs came back. 2manydjs were almost perfect, just the right mix of 90s dance classics, as well as those electro pop tracks you expect them to play (Hot Chip (twice!), Fischerspooner, LCD Soundsystem etc). Actually I wouldn’t mind just going to watch 2manydjs again.

Youthmovies

Originally, this was going to be my night in this week, a quiet night in the middle of a week full of awesome bands. But then I realised that Youthmovies were playing in a bar only about 15minutes from my flat. So to continue my week of musical awesomeness I had to go to this show. And what a reward for dragging myself to this show…

Instead of the normal Youthmovies show, this was the party after the UK première of The Tracey Fragments, a new film starring Ellen Page. So Youthmovies played along to a video backdrop of live vj clips from the film. And rather than just playing the normal set, the band alternated between improvisations and their own songs. It was a powerful set, and reminds me why they are one of my favourite live bands.

Memories of Seattle

Streetart in Fremont, originally uploaded by jellybeanz.

It has been 8 months since I left Seattle to travel on to Vancouver, but every so often I still think back to my week in the city, which was among the highlights of my quick trip around the world. Recently my thoughts have turned to the city, because of the second album by ¡Forward, Russia! was also recorded there last summer. This photo was taken in the neighbourhood of Fremont, near where they recorded the album.

Even without the great memories that the album brings up, Life Processes is a great album. Often bands stumble at the second album, either trying too hard to recreate their first album or unsuccessfully trying out new ideas. Luckily for ¡Forward, Russia! neither is the case. The songs on this album are much grander, and that little bit more complex than on their previous album. The difference in quality and approach between these two albums really showed at their gig. The numbered songs from the first album hurtled through at pace, while the crowd went mad for the songs they were familiar with. The songs from the second album sounded even better live than on CD.

I just wonder what they’re going to do with the next album?