Wednesday 27 February 2013

Neko Case - Washington DC, April 9 2009


Oh Neko Case how I love thee. Apparently her new album is nearly finished. If it's anything like her entire back catalogue it'll be a gem.

This is another show from a NPR podcast. Enjoy.

Maybe Sparrow
People Got a Lotta Nerve
Fever
Hold On, Hold On
The Pharoahs
Middle Cyclone
Deep Red Bells
I Wish I Was the Moon
I'm an Animal
Prison Girls
The Tigers Have Spoken
Margaret vs Pauline
Red Tide
Don't Forget Me
That Teenage Feeling
This Tornado Loves You

Vengeance is Sleeping
Vengeance [this is the title I've got on the file, but I think it must be a mistake. However, the setlist.fm setlist is wrong, so you'll have to figure this one out yourselves]
Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth
Magpie in the Morning
Knock Loud


Saturday 23 February 2013

Divine Fits - 4 February 2013, Corner Hotel


Divine Fits' album poses a bit of a problem for me, in that its a fantastic album, but obviously also means that we won't be seeing any Spoon material for a while. There's also been some mention of a follow up Divine Fits album, so Britt Daniel might end up juggling two bands for a while. As long as he keeps making great music it'll be hard to complain.

This set includes the entirety of their album (the only song they didn't play at Laneways was For Your Heart), plus covers of Tom Petty and the Rolling Stones. It would have been great if they'd played a bit longer (I know they've covered Frank Orange a couple of times, which would have been interesting to hear), but it was a great set, and with some extra time they had the chance to engage with the audience more (Dan Boeckner in particular, who seemed to be having a great time).

The show didn't seem that loud at the time, but there's a bit of occassional distortion in the recording. Other than that the sound is very good, and these guys are a really great band. For those that don't know them, my favourite quote is that "they sound like the best music ever made in 1982", which captures both the fact they have a clear early 80's sound, but that they shouldn't be associated with some of the cliches about the quality of 80's music.

Neopolitans
Baby Get Worse
Flaggin a Ride
What Gets You Alone
Would That Not Be Nice
My Love is Real
Civilian Stripes
You Got Lucky
The Salton Sea
Like Ice Cream
For Your Heart

Sway

Monday 18 February 2013

Laneways Festival - 3 February 2013, Footscray Community Arts Centre

Looking at reactions from other people I don’t think I’m the only one who didn’t think Laneway was all that great this year. Part of the problem was that, for some reason I can’t figure out, the douche:human ratio was pretty bad. Part of the problem was the Triple J success the bands have had. There were lots of people that seemed intent on running from stage to stage to catch each band's hit single (about a third of the Japandroids crowd literally ran off at the end of House that Heaven Built). Not much the festival can easily do about that (although if it lasts for another year or two they might find people staying away). But they can definitely do something about the sound quality. As you can hear from this its pretty variable, but overall not great. Japandroids were pretty badly undermined by the fact it sounded like they were playing in a wind tunnel and Poliça don’t sound good either. Divine Fits on the other hand sounded pretty good (although someone should shoot the ‘Red Bull DJ’ who just turned things down slightly but kept on playing right over the top of the band until a roadie came and told him to stop).

I only managed to record four sets (I was one of many that spent an hour and a half stuck in the ATM line).


These guys are one of my favourite bands, and one of the main reasons I went to Laneways this year. Their set was good, but undermined by poor sound and the ‘hit single’ crowd I mentioned above.

Adrenaline Nightshift
Fire’s Highway
Younger Us
The Nights of Wine and Roses
Wet Hair
Evil’s Sway
The House That Heaven Built
Young Hearts Spark Fire
For the Love of Ivy


Divine Fits’ album is one of my favourite recent releases. This was one of the few sets of the day that had decent sound. With a limited amount of time they choose to get through almost all of their album, rather than engage with the crowd a lot, but this was still a great performance. FYI: this is the band that Japandroids are talking about at the end of their set.

Neopolitans
Baby Get Worse
Flaggin a Ride
Would That Not Be Nice
My Love is Real
Civilian Stripes
The Salton Sea
Like Ice Cream
What Gets You Alone
Shivers


I’m not sure if it was that the sound was awful, or that the crowd was treating them as background music, but I found Poliça fairly uninteresting. Their wasn’t anything wrong with them, but it didn’t grab me. I suspect with a smaller, more interested crowd the vibe would have been completely different.

The Maker
I See My Mother
Leading to Death
Dark Star
Form
Fist Teeth Money
Lay Your Cards Out
Wandering Star
Happy Be Fine
Amongster


A friend has been raving about Bat for Lashes and was jealous that Melbourne got a headlining show. That was the main reason I checked out her set. There were a few good songs, but I found her generally to be pretty boring. I suspect I might be in a minority with that opinion.

Lilies
What’s a Girl to Do?
Sleep Alone
All Your Gold
Oh Yeah
Travelling Woman
Laura
The Haunted Man
Prescilla
Marilyn
Pearl’s Dream
Daniel

Saturday 16 February 2013

The Waterboys - 30 January 2013, Hamer Hall


The Waterboys are one of those unfortunate bands who have produced a range of really great music, but are associated in the public’s mind with one song (admittedly a great song). Anyone that went to this show simply to hear that song should consider themselves pretty lucky, because they stumbled into a really great performance of songs covering the entire career of the band. Going in I was a bit worried that the reformed version of the band might be a sloppy money grab, but the band was tight and there was clearly a good relationship between them. I wasn’t too familiar with a lot of the material played, but even so the majority of it was really great songs, really well played. There were a couple of moments that dragged, but the majority of the show was electric.

The recording quality of this is pretty good. Even with a not particularly good seat the acoustics of the venue are really great (except maybe in the first couple of rows based on the David Byrne and St Vincent show).

A final note – at the end of the show Mike Scott says he’s hoping to be back within a year or so. This might just be one of those things that people say, but I’m thinking they’d be a perfect act for Harvest, taking a similar slot to Mike Patton last year (fourth on the main stage). I doubt it will happen, but I think it’d be a great fit.

Don’t Bang the Drum
All the Things She Gave Me
When Ye Go Away
A Girl Called Johnny
The Girl in the Swing
White Birds
Song of Wandering Aengus
The Thrill is Gone
Mad as the Mist and Snow
The Raggle Taggle Gypsy
Glastonbury Song/Bright Lights, Big City
She Tried to Hold Me
The Whole of the Moon
Rags
The Pan Within

Purple Rain [yes, the Prince song]
Be My Enemy
At the Hop

A Man is in Love
Fisherman’s Blues

Wednesday 13 February 2013

David Byrne & St Vincent - 15 January 2013, Hamer Hall


Night two of David Byrne and St Vincent. Having listened to this I don’t think it comes across in the recording how much better the second night was to be at. The band clearly were more on top of the choreographed routines (in particular, Byrne himself didn’t look like he was lost this time), and the band were enjoying themselves a lot.  Beyond that there isn’t really a lot to say that I didn’t say in relation to the first night.

An aside: I’m going to be away for a couple of weeks, so I’ve made an effort to try and get as many shows as possible ready. They’re now all set up to auto-post while I’m away, so there should be a steady stream of at least seven or eight sets in the next two weeks.


Who
Weekend in the Dust
Save Me From What I Want
Strange Overtones
I Am an Ape
Marrow
This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody)
This Forest Awakes
Optimist
Like Humans Do
Lightning
Lazarus
Lazy
I Should Watch TV
Northern Lights
The One Who Broke Your Heart
Outside Space and Time

Cruel
Burning Down the House

The Party
Road to Nowhere

http://www.mediafire.com/?vbvbe5vbj1035

Thursday 7 February 2013

Josh Ritter - NPR Tiny Desk Concert


If you’ve visited here a few times you’ll have noticed that I’m a Josh Ritter fan, and not above regularly mentioning his greatness in the hopes of converting newcomers to the cause. Anyway, in light of his newly announced album, which seems to fit in nicely with his recorded promise for a mid-year tour with his band, here is a nice short recording from NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts series (you can download these as podcasts, and sometimes get them as videos through NPR’s site). Enjoy.

The Temptation of Adam
Lark
Rattling Locks
Kathleen

http://www.mediafire.com/?76kfuf9df81f3

Saturday 2 February 2013

Rilo Kiley - 28 September 2007, Washington DC

There was a bit of excitement recently when Rilo Kiley started tweeting about needing fans help with a new album. It looks like its going to be a rarities album. So better than nothing, but not as exciting as the band reforming for something completely new. To remind you of what a great band they were, here’s a show from the Under the Blacklights tour that was broadcast on the US’s National Public Radio (so the sound is excellent). I’ve got a couple of other NPR shows floating around, so when things are quiet (or I’m feeling lazy) I might put them up so there’s always something to check out.

It’s a Hit
Close Call
Portions for Foxes
Paints Peeling
Breakin’ Up Dreamworld
Moneymaker
Wires and Waves
Ripcord
With Arms Outstretched
A Man/Me/Jim
Silver Lining
I Never
15
Rise Up with Fists
Spectacular Views

Give a Little