Xmas, Radiohead, Frightened Rabbit, Meursault, New Year

There has been a severe lack of blogging recently thanks to work and illness but a Christmas dinner last night got some musical discussions and debate on the go which I’ll come back to.

Firstly, since I was ill I haven’t been listening to too much music other than the weekend that I had a huge Radiohead binge and watched at least ten hours of live videos on YouTube, which is easier than it sounds because there’s a lot of hour long live videos of Radiohead kicking about the net. One of the best is ‘Scotch Mist’ which was made for New Year’s Eve 2007 – It’s around 52 minutes long and contains ‘In Rainbows’ being played in  what looks like a wee house in the middle of nowhere. It’s well worth watching the full thing, but, probably not a good idea to post it here so to give you an idea of what it’s like why not have a view of ‘15 step’.

Back to the discussion/debate:

So, during the xmas festivities we were discussing the recent video posted where ‘Meursault’ and FR cover ‘Withered Hand’s’ ‘Red Candle Bulb’ and I asked if anyone had seen them cover another song by Withered Hand from the album ‘Good News’ which is also a cover, but, unfortunately I couldn’t remember its name. Nobody had seen it and it isn’t very well known that there is a cover on ‘Good News’ so understandably people thought I was losing it. The video doesn’t seem to be on YouTube either, which didn’t help matters, but, I found it on a free podcast – it’s from offthebeatentracks.tv. The vocal arrangements are pretty amazing and I’m sure this is similar to how it’s sung when Meursault play with Withered Hand. Oh the song is called ‘Joy’ and it’s originally by ‘Desc’ apparently. Here:

Aye, so there’s a kind of Christmassy blog, Merry Xmas and Happy New Year.

LocationMusic.tv

http://locationmusic.tv/

This was something I was rambling about when I was out drinking on Saturday or possibly Monday, either way it’s a great little collection on video on a shittly named site.

Here’s probably my favourite, Meursault and FR covering Withered Hand, I know it says that it’s a song called ‘Red Candle Bulb’, but I’m fairly sure it was called Oldsmobile Car when Withered Hand done it.

Braw.

Also, and this is the particular video I think I was rambling about, cause we were watching Meursault at the time,

Three Gigs I’d definitely be going to if I wasn’t in Croatia and could be in two places at once.

I am leaving for Croatia for two or so weeks tomorrow so Stu will be attempting to keep the blog all up and running on his lonesome for a bit.  But, if I wasn’t going to Croatia there are a few belting gigs coming up in Edinburgh that I would definitely be going to.  Although two of them are on the same day so it would’ve made for one very difficult decision.

The choice between

Thursday 25th August – Withered Hand, eagleowl, Woodpigeon (solo) and Meursault (solo) at Queens Hall

and

Thursday 25th August – Willy Mason at Cabaret Voltaire

Decisions, decisions, decisions.  I think in the end I’d have to plump for Willy Mason as I loved his ‘So Long Baby Shoes’ ep that came out a while back and have never had the chance to catch him live.  Also, I feel like I’ll have many other chances to see Withered Hand et al at other points.  It’s all a bit moot, however, as I am going to be on a bloody megabus down to London instead.  Wish me luck.

The other gig I would’ve loved to be at this week is Retreat Festival, which has such a great line-up of bands. It’s on Saturday 27th – Sunday 28th August at Pilrig St. Paul’s.

Line-up:

Broken Records
Jesus H. Foxx
Meursault
Gummy Stumps
Lady North
The Leg
The Scottish Enlightenment
Skeleton Bob
Rob St John
The Pineapple Chunks
Two Wings
eagleowl
ballboy
Found
We Are Lady North

and it’s only 12 quid for a weekend worth of music.  Told ya it was good.  Damn you Croatia and your tempting sun and beaches…

Meursault gig review – King Tut’s – 25th July

Meursault

An intentionally slow paced and subtle introduction was rudely interrupted by me sneezing.  Singer Neil Pennycook was kind enough to bless me and move on. That’s a winning start in my opinion and things just got better.  The band looked totally comfortable on stage taking their hypnotic songs and building them up into angered climaxes with occasionally and beautifully used curse words.

It’s only recently that I have been listening to Meursault.  Gary has a habit of playing his favourite music when I’m round at his in an attempt to brainwash me, however, we have a similar taste in music so I do not object.  Recently his band of choice has been Meursault and for this I thank him.

However, going into the gig with a Meursault experience was not necessary as on first listen the new songs they played stole my attention like one of those kidnappers that you empathise with.  The Moby lookalike front man joked about the difficulty people had with their band name and how the Metro mistook them for some German band that very day, and while several of the audience probably do have trouble pronouncing their name, – I only recently realised their name was not spelt Merso – everyone came to see a wonderful Scottish rock band, and that’s what they got.

Here is a video them playing live on the BBC  Introducing stage at Glastonbury 2010:

Over The Wall

This is probably the third or fourth time I’ve seen Over The Wall play live and they never disappoint with their in between music chat almost as entertaining as the songs themselves.  They come across as an onstage couple; passing picks mid song and sharing tender glances throughout the performance.  Their set steadily increased from what was an already strong opener to the usual finale of Thurso that has everyone enthralled.  With its casual guitar licks and trumpet hook to die for, Thurso is a fitting end to a great set.

Imagine this at King Tut’s and that’s pretty much what we witnessed:

Capitals

This was my introduction to Capitals and I feel I’ve got to know them a little.  They played well and I like their style. I particularly enjoyed it when the guitarist would sometimes look to the man on the electronic drums and laugh at him; not in a bad way but in a way to say , “I love the effort you’re putting into your performance, you’re totally into those drums.”  That’s the way it should be, feel the music.

You can download ‘Hello World’ and ‘Running’ for free on their website here, all it takes is your e-mail address, or listen to ‘Hello World’ here

Miaoux Miaoux

It can’t be easy when you’re the only person on stage but Miaoux Miaoux looked at home as he took the audience on a journey of dance beats crossed with catchy funk guitar sounds.  I agreed with my companions that the vocals helped ease us into a type of music that we are not yet accustomed to, but maybe someday.

edit: (Gary) I actually think I enjoyed Miaoux Miaoux considerably more than everyone else, my music taste seems to be segueing nicely into more electronic stuff these days and so Miaoux Miaoux has arrived at a good time for me.  Definitely one to keep an eye on.