Random gig number 2

This time M and I visited new(ish) venue Cardiff Arts Institute for some Sunday evening entertainment. The CAI hosts quite a few free music evenings (as well as other events, curated by various promoters including the likes of Kruger). This one was a mixture of local and non-local bands but none were indie-guitar types.

First up were Fife duo Panda Su, who could I suppose be classified as 'singer-songwriter' but also kinda folk, lo fi...instruments included a glockenspiel, so far so interesting. They only played about 4 songs which is a shame as they were at the very least 'good' and worth a future look.

Next up were the locals (complete with fan club - at least half the audience!) King Louis Collective. Their site states soul/ska/tropical which is pretty spot on, this lot of multi-instrumentalists would be right at home on Craig Charles' 6Music show! A variety of tracks including a cover of Kings of Leon 'Use Somebody'. They seem to have fairly regular shows in & around Cardiff.

The last 3 piece band were the worst - Sophie's Pigeons. They may have been on 6Music but we weren't impressed, tracks relatively samey and singer Sophie's voice was a little on the shouty side. Still, 2 out of 3 is good going! Check out the CAI's website for forthcoming listings.

Comments

Angela Hewitt Week, 14th-20th May 2012

I just received information from a friend about Angela Hewitt Week in Ottawa, 14th-20th May as declared by Mayor Jim Watson. Ms Hewitt is performing with Chamber Players of Canada on Friday 18th May; there will also be An Afternoon With Angela Hewitt on 20th May at the National Arts Centre hosted by the Canadian Friends of the Trasimeno Music Festival .

Pigeon Funk

Notes on a very random purchase. Earlier today I acquired Venetian Snares 'Rossz Csillag Alatt Sz ü letett ' purely on the basis of the language and artwork. Its certainly something different - and most definitely not pop. After a bit of searching: Venetial Snares is, according to Wikipedia, the performing name of Aaron Funk, who seems to specialise in experimental tracks in odd time signatures. Article here . The sleeve notes for this album (whose title is Hungarian for 'Born under a bad star') poses the question: what if, for just a day, we could both be pigeons? Interessant. Apparently this concept (a day in the life of a Hungarian pigeon) is non-typical of Venetian Snares sound, but one could ask, does Mr Funk do 'typical'? On first listening, the sound of this CD mixes classical/traditional Hungarian sounds and breakbeats. but aside from that? Definitely a 'listen for yourself' artist; try the website , fan site or myspace .

The Venezuelan maestro comes to Cardiff

A highly anticipated evening of entertainment for M and I, we headed to St Davids Hall to see the conductor of the moment, Gustavo Dudamel , conduct the Philharmonia Orchestra . Highly entertaining, too, and the place was pretty full, though possibly not sold out. We had anticipated the first piece to be Antonio Estevez' 'Mediodia en el llano', but a last minute change meant the first work was (I believe - the posters up in the venue were rather short on info!) Berlioz' Roman Carnival. Initially we may have been a tad disappointed but the replacement work was excellently peformed, cue many smiles. Unfortunately, the smiles soon evaporated, as the second, and for us, least interesting piece, was Mozart's Piano Concert No.17 K453 with Emanuel Ax on piano. M described Ax as mellow, I described him as dull. That may be because neither of us are really into Mozart, but compared to previous visits to St Davids Hall to see pianists Noriko Ogawa and Freddy Kempf, we really...

PrettyInScarlett

Search This Blog