PrettyInScarlett

Somewhat back to reality after Sigur Rós' extravaganza. Not in the least mundane, though! Wednesday 19th we went to Clwb Ifor Bach to see Cage The Elephant headlining (after their stint supporting The Subways earlier this year). A short word on the support (although we missed 1st band Bleached Wail so can't really comment -try their myspace ): average but pretty forgettable. Obviously friends of Cage the Elephant, Autovaughn were, all in all, pretty dull. They weren't awful, and were pretty competent musicians, but just didn't have any real variety or selling point. Not so with Cage The Elephant . I recall from their support slot with The Subways that they had a very confident prescence, and singer Matt Schulz then had a vague resemblance to a young Mick Jagger. Not any more (hair now shorter and blonde) but the confidence is, if anything, even easier. Handily, their songs (set was, bar 1 song, from current selftitled debut album) have a great combination of new and ...

Wolverhampton may not be the most exciting place to be, but it certainly gained some sparkle on 4th November as Sigur Rós came to town. M and I have been waiting for a while for this show, and it was more than worth the wait! A packed-out Civic Hall first showed their appreciation for fellow Icelandic band For a Minor Reflection , who from their chat are new to large shows. Initially I was a bit underwhelmed by this 4 piece, but they grew on me. Most of the crowd seemed to know them or had at least checked out myspace, as the short set was well received. No tardiness for Sigur Rós, they came on prompt at 9pm and played for 2hrs 45 minutes. No slouching on quality either, the sound set up was very good and there was some innovative use of two projectors and backdrops; at one point, there was a projection from various cameras set at or underneath the instruments! The lighting had been set up for maximum atmospheric effect, starting off with subdued yellow lights so the stage was very di...

An impromptu booking led M and I to a different kind of Saturday night in Cardiff. M had given me Kitty, Daisy and Lewis ' selftitled 1st LP (I'll discount the 'A-Z' compilation as an album proper, as it only has 1 song of theirs) as a birthday present, and luckily I checked my email to find an invitation from Spillers to get our glad ragged selves down to Clwb Ifor Bach for Sat 30 th August, as the band were indeed in town. Kitty, Daisy and Lewis are 3 siblings playing their own mix of old rock n roll, r'n'b , country and blues (plus parents for guitar/double bass onstage). I found a brief summary article on Wikipedia here . M thought there would be 6 people there, I thought it would be busier than than, and happily I was right! DJ Johnny Dodgem provided a very suitable set prior to the live set, but what support was meant to be there, wasn't, so we had a bit of a wait for K D and L to arrive onstage . But no matter. Obviously, most of the set was ta...

Back to small venues after the E Street Extravaganza, and a treat, really, our second Sugars experience. A quick line about the support bands -for once they were at least ok! The first up, Jodie Daniels , just him and an acoustic guitar, he wasn't bad at all for his first ever show! Next (local) band Sixty were pretty polished but fairly unoriginal (except for a cover of 1990s hit Rhythm Is A Dancer). Unfortunately, friends of both supports had made up a good section of the audience, who then left, so it was (again) a pretty small gathering for The Sugars! Pah. They missed out! I managed to get a snap of the set, which, amended for a few changes, was: Seamstress (not sure of 2nd song), Fairy Tales, Heaven Knows, Serenade, Monsters, All My Children, Mama, Everybody Yell, Gossip, W T M H, Black Friday. The changes -well, there was a problem with an amp after Heaven Knows, but nobody minded that much. Especially not us, trialling earplugs for the first time and they definitely work! N...

Taking a day out from a very busy music weekend, all sorts of new experiences! Thursday, M and I ventured to the Wales Millennium Centre for a somewhat unusual (for us, anyway) evenings entertainment from Welsh National Opera. The first half of the performance was a performance of Prokofiev’s orchestral score to Eisenstein’s 1938 Russian film Alexander Nevsky. The story of the film centres on Nevsky, the Grand Prince of Novgorod and Vladimir in the 13 th century. The film is a portrayal of Russia under and fighting Mongols in the east and Germans in the west [a very suitable accompaniment to recently released Sergei Bodrov film Mongol, then], and is apparently an impressive work, although I haven’t seen it (very tempted now, though!). Prokofiev’s work (reworked for voice and orchestra after the release of the film), is very good, although from some of the lyrics it is obvious that the film, and score, was written in 1938 –very nationalistic and, according to M, labouring the point ...

My usual moan about Barfly is that often, the really good bands have near non-existent audiences, but this last time, I was pretty much proved wrong! Again, first trip for a while and a respectable crowd to see electro-sensation Late of the Pier , plus supports, which for once weren't absolutely dire! Up first were North Wales band Mudflaps , not bad for a start, but still possibly a little too new? Some interesting tunes, available of course on myspace. Next up, a one-lady (plus assistant with laptop) rapper/mc KC, who was very different from the other 2 bands! Reminiscent of Northern State. Once again, not really my thing, but very good nontheless, but she could have done with some company? Maybe a few dancers and some more lights, and a club setting? Either way, not forgettable and you can't doubt the enthusiasm; more info on myspace site. Late of the Pier were as good as we remembered, and by then Barfly was full if not packed. Their radio play etc etc must be working as t...

Good things come to those who get the tickets, indeed. Two outings this week, first up on 26th were Long Blondes in a very crowded top room at Clwb Ifor Bach. The Steel City theme extended as far as support from Yorkshire rapper Kid Acne , who was new to us but hilariously entertaining! Quite a few similarities with Arctic Monkeys (although I'm not sure I've ever seen any Monkey wearing a flat cap). The main set started off with current single Century. The majority of the set was from forthcoming album Couples, plus some very old favourites that didn't make Someone To Take You Home (I assume so, as we didn't recognise them), with only Lust In The Movies and Giddy Stratospheres (last song of the set) making it. Excellent show, my only real criticism that it was too short and there was no encore! Although the encore problem was due to the venue and an album launch for someone else! Second outing on 27th, back to The Point to see old (or rather young) favourites The Subway...

Live at last! First trip to The Point in ages (doesn't change much) but most definitely a great start to the gig year . Sell out crowd, too, and, perhaps an indication of 'trends', a substantial part of the Tegan and Sara starved audience were teen-young (and therefore much shorter than us) and sporting a wide variety of fashion. We weren't the oldest, though... First up (picture above) were a New York based 3 piece, Northern State , who seem to tour a lot with Tegan and Sara. Its quite hard to define these 3 sassy ladies, but I'll give it a go with: articulate, sometimes political and often humourous lyrics (and banter) delivered in a style reminiscent of TLC, Beastie Boys with a touch of Bonde do Role and CSS. Hearing is believing, and whilst the band were certainly entertaining (and favourites of a good portion of the crowd). Worth a second hearing. Tegan, Sara and band arrived (and left, for that matter) to tumultuous applause and cheers. Seems we've arrive...

There is a lot of discussion at the moment about the new female face(s) of pop, dominated by the likes of (mostly) singer-songwriters Amy Winehouse, Kate Nash and newcomers such as Adele. I'm not a huge fan of this genre, although Adele has an excellent stage presence, see post Does anyone have a website anymore? . This week, though, after my latest trip to Spillers Records , there may be an alternative. I purchased Tegan and Sara's new album The Con as well as the new Goldfrapp album Seventh Tree. Both very good on first listens, although Seventh Tree has all the hallmarks of a grower. The Con has a lot of catchy tunes (and I can't wait for Sunday's gig at The Point) and comes highly recommended. It made me think, I heard quite a few similarities with Carina Round's album Slow Motion Addict, and a certain Shirley Manson vibe. Is this the new trend, female led indie-pop with an edge? Personally, I hope so, as Slow Motion Addict has quickly become a frequent favourit...

2008 already! Time flies and all that.... and lots of fun had in 2007. The best gig of the year may have to go to The Who, although lots close followers! Some of the up 'n' coming people were the best, such as Hedrons, Remi Nicole, Newton Faulkner; and of course Jeff Scott Soto and Misty's Big Adventure were both fab as ever. Great(est) atmosphere has to go to Skid Row (again) and Alabama 3's send-off gig at the Coal Exchange. Definitely not to Cardiff Calling! This year? The 'big gig' (so long to wait) is Bruce Springsteen & E Street Band at Cardiff Millennium Stadium, all the way in June. Hooray! The first 'discovery gig' booked so far is Tegan & Sara who are at the Point in March. Heard them on 6Music a while back & looking forward to more. New discoveries? A review in Observer Music Monthly led me to 17 Hippies and their latest release 'Heimlich'. Low-fi originality galore in this mix of French, German & English songs, trul...