Divine Fits - Radio & TV Sessions

I mentioned a while back that I was working on putting together a few sets from artists I like, but that don't seem to be as widely available as I think they should. The first one was for War on Drugs (more to come on that) and this one is for Divine Fits. It's my attempt to get every TV, radio and internet session they've done and put it all in one place. I know that at least one thing is missing (and probably more), but this is a pretty comprehensive accounting of their work, including their new single and some covers.

Would That Not Be Nice [CD102.5 Big Room]
My Love is Real [CD102.5 Big Room]
Flaggin' a Ride [CD102.5 Big Room]
Baby Get Worse [David Letterman]
My Love is Real [Sound Opinions]
Civilian Stripes [Sound Opinions]
Would That Not Be Nice [Sound Opinions]
Shivers [Sound Opinions]
Like Ice Cream [Jimmy Kimmel]
You Got Lucky [Jimmy Kimmel]
Would That Not Be Nice [The Current]
Civilian Stripes [The Current]
Civilian Strips [World Cafe]
Would That Not Be Nice [World Cafe]
For Your Heart [World Cafe]
Shivers [World Cafe]
Civilian Stripes [Moog Sound Lab]
Civilian Stripes [Bowery Presents]
Would That Not Be Nice [Like a Version]
Hungry Heart [Like a Version]
What Gets You Alone [Pitchfork TV]
My Love is Real [KEXP]
Would That Not Be Nice [KEXP]
Civilian Stripes [KEXP]
Shivers [KEXP]
Flaggin' a Ride [KCRW]
Like Ice Cream [KCRW]
My Love is Real [Studio Q]
Would That Not Be Nice [Studio Q]
Chained to Love [Conan O'Brien]
Ain't That the Way [Conan O'Brien]
Would That Not Be Nice [RJD2 Remix]
My Love is Real [Kingdom Remix]

https://mega.co.nz/#F!8BdWwALR!CN8c6CwHZx8UcigdF8TH7Q

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

Shivers


http://www.mediafire.com/?v54z9qz1e5a9h

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).

Japandroids - http://www.mediafire.com/?yne11d87o1yti

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 - http://www.mediafire.com/?3mq643ot4zh86

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

Poliça - http://www.mediafire.com/?ebv3huduajmr2

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

Bat for Lashes - http://www.mediafire.com/?si57ib9fsipbb

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

Divine Fits - Live at KEXP

Starting to get more and more excited about Laneways as I listen to some of the bands that will be there (starting to get worried about clashes though). In particular, I've been spending a lot of time listening to Divine Fits' A Thing Called Divine Fits. Being a Spoon fan I wasn't impressed on first listen because it doesn't sound a lot like them. But listening again (and again and again) and judging it on its merits, this is a really really great album. If you want to check out a handful of tracks the good folks at The Steam Engine have a four song session the band did for radio station KEXP. Obviously the quality is excellent as is the performance - Divine Fits at KEXP (via The Steam Engine).