This weeks list is a little different from any previous weeks, its about the myth/man/woman/entity/spirit known as God. Now before i go any further, i’m not a practising Christian, i’m not emotionally attached to any certain religion but i’m not an Atheist either. Personally i don’t know what to believe about any higher beings, ghost or spirits etc. I’m open minded on all aspects of the whole subject. This list is just for fun, no offence is intended or anything. I suppose to a certain extent i do believe in “a God” but not in “the God”. Every religion is entitled to their own belief as is every person. Just thought i’d clear that up because i know what some of the Politically Correct brigade are like.

And without further ado here is the Top 10 God Bothering/Loving Tracks…..fortunately for all ears out there Creed are not included, dunno if you could guess by my tastes but i’m not exactly their biggest fan.

MP3’s
Gods Playlist
————————

1. Queens of the Stone Age – God Is in the Radio
2. Beach Boys – God Only Knows
3. MSTRKRFT – Fist Of God
4. Faithless – God is a DJ
5. Gutter Twins – God’s Children
6. Moby – God Moving Over The Face Of The Water
7. Alice In Chains – God Smack
8. Nine Inch Nails – God Given
9. Modeselektor – Godspeed
10. Joan Osborne – (What If God) Was One Of Us

As usual to download the tracks just click on them once to open the file then either “right click save target as” or simply left click once more for the option to save the file.

Before i go…..

This just scares me…..like, really scares me…

For those who have never seen the video before the story behind it is as follows. A deeply religious Christian woman has taken part in the American version of Wife Swap. She’s returned to her family after spending a week (2 weeks maybe? who cares) or so with another family. Apparently this family aren’t quite as Christian as her, in fact according to her they’re from the “Dork Side”, i think she means Dark………so anyways she returns to her home and lets rip on her poor family with a very strange almost psychotic outburst over religion. Weirdo.

S.I.T Wolf X

ps. God Only Knows What I’d Be Without You……you know who you are

Yeah Yeah Yeahs were rained on at Bumbershoot this past weekend

PREVIEW: DOWNLOAD Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Hysteric” MP3

Rolling Stone was in attendance as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs gave a spirited performance on Sunday at Seattle’s Bumbershoot Festival. In spite of rainy weather, the band played a diverse set that included songs from all three of their studio albums. The festival continued today with performances from, among others, Franz Ferdinand, Metric and Modest Mouse. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: Editor's Pick #168: Jay-Z Endorses Indie Rock, Where The Wild Things Are: Karen O Movie Music Madness]

If hyperactive math-punk is your thing — and really, how could it not be? — then Toronto’s DD/MM/YYYY have awesome news for you.  These heavy-hitting Canadians just signed to Brooklyn’s Impose Records, with plans to rerelease their third LP, Black Square, on cassette and digitally September 15.  Even better, they’re expanding their U.S. tour to celebrate, and will play Rochester’s Bug Jar on September 24.  Tickets are $10 for ages 18-20 and $8 if you’re over 21; These Arms Are Snakes headline. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: Real Estate Play with DD/MM/YYYY]

Stereogum reports that Entertainment Weekly, in its Sept. 11 issue, ranks both the fifty best and five worst songs recorded by The Beatles. On 09/09/09, in honor John Lennon’s favorite number, remasters of the entire song catalogue — as well as The Beatles: Rock Band — drop. EW’s commemorative ranking lists “All You Need Is Love” as both the worst Beatles song ever made and the fiftieth best. This is puzzling, considering the band recorded a lot more than fifty songs in their prolific career. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: Editor's Pick: Beatles Rooftop Performance, 20 Watts Reviews Yim Yames'Tribute To (Remembering George Harrison)]

SPIN reports that Soulsavers opened up their U.S. tour in Portland, Oregon last night, in support of their new album, Broken. Soulsavers, fronted by The Screaming Trees and Gutter Twins lead singer Mark Lanegan, will be playing 15 shows through the month of September. Unfortunately for us, the closest they’ll be coming to Syracuse is NYC’s Bowery Ballroom on the 22nd, and Toronto’s Mod Club on the 25th. Maybe it’s worth the trip though, for you diehards out there. If you were in Seattle, you might have caught them at Bumbershoot, too (see above). [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: Daniel Johnston to Play at Mod Club and Elsewhere]

The Fray struggled to garner interest and audiences at the State Fair this weekend. Competing against the likes of mainstream acts like Kid Rock, Big & Rich, Shinedown, and the legendary Mötley Crüe, they failed to play off their momentary “Grey’s Anatomy” fame. But the big break came for Syracuse-based band Soul Risin’, who was asked to replace openers Our Lady Peace at the 11th hour when a family emergency grounded the Toronto band.

– 20 Watts Staff

Interviewed for FasterLouder

“Sometimes I forget that I was in another band,” says Greg Dulli, discussing the legacy of his years as the frontman for The Afghan Whigs.

The band released a string of albums through the 90s that earned Dulli a reputation as a dark and complex character. The Ohio band successfully melded rock, soul and R’n’B at a time when grunge was king and since their breakup in 2001 Dulli has continued to explore the shadows of the soul in various guises.

A man who thrives on collaboration, Dulli’s focus of the last few years has been The Gutter Twins with fellow prince of darkness Mark Lanegan. Like his partner, Lanegan has built a post Screaming Trees career as a singer for hire, following his muse through Queens Of The Stone Age, Isobel Campbell, The Twilight Singers and his own solo records. With their drama soaked voices both men gravitate towards angst and heartache so working together seemed a logical step.

Dulli rates Lanegan’s voice as one of the best when he states with conviction, “Aside from being my friend and collaborator he truly is one of my favourite singers that I’ve ever heard.” The attraction to work together seems to be a mutual one built on respect for each others voices. “When I heard his first solo record I was like “my god”, I can’t really compare him to anyone,” says Dulli. “I can tell you as someone who has learned to sing with Mark over the years, his phrasing is utterly unique and unto himself. Its almost like learning algebra. The song will bend to Mark and thats to the songs benefit.”

After releasing their debut album Saturnalia in 2008 The Gutter Twins toured as a full band, exploring their blues and soul inflected rock at full volume. Then came phase two in January with USA and European tour dubbed ‘”An Evening With Greg Dulli & Mark Lanegan”’. Now expanded to Australia and South America, the idea was to strip away the musical layers from a variety of songs from both of their back catalogs, leaving just the duo’s voices to carry the performance.

Originally the idea was to tour the whole band but logistically the stripped down show proved to be more practical. “The full band costs a lot of money. Being asked to do this tour mean it makes more sense to do it acoustically. Plus we would have to re-rehearse the whole thing,” explains Dulli. The two singers are joined by an additional guitarist and Dulli is keen to point out the enjoyment he gets from the format. “I love playing this show, the interplay between me and Mark and Dave Rosser, I’ve never really had that in any other form so I’m totally looking forward to it.”

For the first time the Twins will also be looking back to their former bands and breathing new life into some of their favourite songs. “I’m playing a couple of Whigs songs in this show we are doing and I really hadn’t done any Whig songs in ten years so its been fun to revisit them – in a new way. People sure do like them,” Dulli says.

Rather than just singing their own songs Dulli and Lanegan mix up their roles to give the audience a different perspective. “We’re both singing all the songs, whether as the lead singer or harmony singer or a straight up duet. One of us pipes up at some point during the other one’s songs. It’s cool, I sing a couple of lines from his songs and he sings a couple of lines from my songs too, so its cool,” he enthuses.

Reinterpreting other people’s songs has always been a big part of Dulli’s live shows where he has been inspired to tackle everything from Prince to old soul classics to Fat Freddy’s Drop. “I heard them on KCRW and I was in a parking garage and they didn’t back announce the song so I got out my cellphone and had to walk outside the garage and call the radio station and was like “What’s that last song you played?” and by the time I got outside it was three songs ago so I ended up having to hum it to them. They finally told me two songs and I went and found both songs and one of them was Fat Freddy’s Drop,” he recalls.

Recently the tables have been turned with the imminent release of Summer’s Kiss,  A Tribute To The Afghan Whigs featuring the likes of Lanegan and Joseph Arthur. Dulli is flattered by the tribute and is looking forward to hearing the different versions though one key song is missing. “I used to say I wished Whitney Houston would cover one of mine just to make some money,” he jokes.

Dulli is currently recording the next Twilight Singers album and is taking time out from that for the upcoming tour. Though it interrupts that project, there is still some continuity as both his travel mates are involved with the new record. “Rosser is in the Twilight Singers so we can work on things in hotel rooms, it’ll be good. Mark is singing on the Twilight record as well.”

As for future plans, Dulli is confident that the Gutter Twins will reappear at some point. “I’m certain we’ll do another Gutter Twins record someday, there’s no reason why we won’t. I’ve been lucky to be able to do things when I want to do them and that worked for me, I’m not going to fuck with the situation.” That luxury of freedom to create seems to sit well with Dulli as he seems content with the present as well as the music of his past. Don’t go expecting happy songs any time soon though, Dulli still kind of likes the view from the gutter.

Era principios de mayo cuando me enteré de la agradable noticia de que Mark Lanegan se presentaría en Buenos Aires, inmediatamente se lo comuniqué a mi colaborador Julio N, y luego de buscar por varias semanas a las personas indicadas para tratar de realizar una entrevista, finalmente a fines de ese mes se concreta esta feliz conversación. Parte de esta nota fue publicada en una conocida revista cuyo nombre evoca una parte del cuerpo humano. Acá la publicamos completa.

Mark Lanegan - La Trastienda

El Boom Sónico: ¿En dónde te encontrás?

Mark Lanegan: Estoy en Los Angeles.

BS: ¿Has estado muy ocupado estos días?

ML: No tanto, he estado haciendo cosas por aca y por alla, pero nada realmente esta noche…

BS: Leimos que vas a estar viniendo con un formación reducida, vos, Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs, Twilight Singers) y Greg Rosser (Afghan Whigs) , ¿Es verdad?

ML: Sí, va a ser un acústico con el agregado de un piano, asi que va a ser un show muy tranquilo.

BS: ¿Cómo vas a manejar la intensidad en canciones como “Idle Hands”? Por nombrarte un ejemplo…

ML: Creo que a veces un show mas calmo y tranquilo es mas intenso que uno ruidoso, me parece que es la naturaleza en si.

BS: ¿Cómo surgió la idea de realizar un EP de covers?

ML: Bueno, a Greg Dulli y a mi nos gusta hacer covers, creo que estábamos haciendo un par de canciones para un b-side de un single y a partir de ahi continuamos con esa idea.

BS: ¿Fueron las canciones grabadas en las sesiones de “Saturnalia“?

ML: Sí, la mayoría de ellas, nos sentíamos muy libres en el estudio, haciendo cosas que nos gustan…

BS: ¿Es verdad que una vez en una entrevista le dijiste al periodista que estabas trabajando con Greg, pero él no sabía nada al respecto?

ML: Bueno, en realidad habíamos colaborado en unos temas para ese entonces, sólo que no teniamos un nombre para la banda, pero fue en esa entrevista donde mencioné que el proyecto se llamaba “The Gutter Twins“, y de eso Greg no estaba enterado…

An evening with Greg Dulli & Mark Lanegan

BS: Y uds habian colaborado en The Twilight Singers..

ML: Y con mi banda solista, Greg me acompañó en un tour tocando los teclados, y también tocó en un par de mis discos solistas. Y luego estuve en The Twilight Singers, cantando en un par de sus discos…

BL: Estuviste colaborando con varios artistas luego de la separación de Screaming Trees, con Soulsavers, Isobel Campbell, Queens Of The Stone Age, Twilight Singers, solo por nombrar algunos, ¿Sentís que obtenés algo extra trabajando con artistas tan diversos en vez de tocar con la misma gente regularmente?

ML: Las colaboraciones son lo que me han mantenido interesado en la música, es mucho más interesante, desde mi punto de vista, lo disfruto demasiado. En Screaming Trees estuve tocando con la misma gente por 15 años, no me aburría, pero estuvimos demasiado tiempo juntos.

BS: ¿Seguís en contacto con tus viejos compañeros de banda?

ML: Claro, acabo de recibir un mail de Barrett (Martin, ultimo batero de Screaming Trees) ayer, y Van Conner (guitarrista, Screaming Trees) me envio una copia de su nueva banda un par de dias atras. (Nota: Está hablando de Valis, proyecto que Van Conner se metió en lleno luego de la separación de Screaming Trees)

BS: En enero de este año, Van Conner y Barrett Martin se juntaron en el Highdive de Seattle por primera vez en 9 años, y tocaron un par de canciones de Screaming Trees… ¿Se te ha cruzado la idea de volver a juntarte con ellos y hacer un par de gigs?

ML: Bueno, no se sobre eso, pero nosotros hemos estado colaborando. Barrett y yo estuvimos de invitados en el disco de un artista Danés, yo canto en un par de temas y el toca lo suyo en otros, y Van ha estado en uno de mis discos solistas. Es buenisimo hacer música con ellos cuando la oportunidad aparece, pero no querría volver juntar a la banda, 15 años fueron suficientes.

BS: A prinicipios de este mes estuviste presente en el tributo que le hizo John Cale a Nico, esta vez en Italia, ¿Cómo surgio este colaboración con él?

ML: Él me invitó, soy un gran fan de John Cale, Nico, y The Velvet Underground, asi que fue un gran placer para mi, y muy divertido, formar parte de la banda de John Cale. Interpreté “Win a Few” y “Roses in the Snow“

Mark Lanegan with John Cale (and his band) – “Win a Few”  Teatro Comunale, Ferrara – Mayo 10, 2009

BS: ¿Colaboraste con mas voces en el último disco de Soulsavers, “Broken” no? (Nota: El disco finalmente salió la semana pasada, e incluye también colaboraciones de Jason Pierce, Mike Patton, Will Oldham y el gran Gibby Haynes de Butthole Surfers) ¿Como te juntaste con ellos?

ML: Sí, a través de un amigo que tenemos en comun ellos me pudieron contactar. Estaban interesados en hacer algo conmigo, escuché lo que venían haciendo y me gustó, me pareció algo que yo podia disfrutar. Y lo hice.

BS: ¿Qué es lo que tomás en consideración antes de colaborar con alguien?

ML: Antes que nada, me tiene que gustar lo que escucho,  y luego tengo que pensar si es algo donde yo podría sentirme cómodo, y también si va a ser un reto en alguna manera. Asi que basicamente son esas cosas que tomo a consideración.

BS: ¿Podemos esperar algunas canciones de Afghan Whigs o Screaming Trees?

ML: Absolutamente, va a haber un par de canciones de Afghan Whigs, Twilight Singers, algunas cosas de Screaming Trees, temas de mi carrera solista. Eso es lo que lo hace diferente de un show de The Gutter Twins, en el cual tocamos una o dos canciones de esas y luego nuestro disco completo. Este abarca mucho mas nuestra carrera, espero que lo disfrutes

The Gutter Twins: Greg Dulli & Mark Lanegan – The River Rise – July 7, 2009 – La Trastienda – Buenos Aires,

BS: ¿Preferís tocar shows mas íntimos?

ML: Esto es un reto para mi, disfruto hacer las dos cosas, shows íntimos y shows ruidosos, y por suerte puedo hacer los dos cosas. Disfruto tocar mucho con una banda en vivo y tambien hacer un show acustico

BS: ¿Vas a estar tocando la guitarra, o solo vas a cantar?

ML: No, le dejo los instrumentos a los muchachos, mi manera de tocar la guitarra no ha mejorado (risas)

BS: ¿Algunas expectativas por este tour en Sudamérica?

ML: Lo estoy esperando con ansias porque son lugares en donde nunca he estado anteriormente.

The Gutter Twins: Greg Dulli & Mark Lanegan – Creeping Coastline Of Lights – Martes 7 de Julio, 2009 -

entrevista: julio nusdeo/sebastián jarpa

videos: sebastián jarpa

fotos: damián j.

traducción: sebastián jarpa

Este sábado vi a Mark Lanegan y Greg Dulli en un concierto acústico en el Teatro Oriente. Eran ellos dos y un guitarrista invitado.  Estuvo increíble, escuchar a Mark Lanegan en vivo es un puto sueño.

Greg Dulli es un tipo de verdad también. Toca, tiene una voz increíble y su ex-banda Afghan Wigs era muy buena.

Empezaron con canciones de  Gutter Twins y después de eso se fueron una y una. Con canciones de ambos, de Lanegan, Screaming Trees, Afghan Wigs incluso un cover de Nick Drake.

Aunque la selección de canciones era finísima algunos estúpidos les pedían sus canciones favoritas, por hacerse notar, por ignorantes o por exigentes. Una mierda.

Gracias a Coté y Ángeles de rockaxis por la entrada, clic acá para ver el review de ellos en la revista.

Grabé dos canciones. Sworn and Broken de Screaming y Gods children de Gutter twins, veanlas acá.

Esse mês de Julho começa com grandes shows em SAMPA !!

Para a galera mais roqueira temos amanhã – THE GUTTER TWINS - projeto de Greg Dulli  (Ex.Afgan Wings) e Mark Lanegan (Ex.Screeming Trees), apresentando show do disco Saturnalia lançado em março desse ano.

Dia 01 de Julho de 2009 -Ingressos R$ 125,00 – 22:00

Já para quem gosta do som latino do grande Jorge Drexler, ainda há ingressos para pista. Confiram !!

Dia 02 de Julho de 2009 – Ingressos (PISTA) R$ 95,00 – 22:00

Soort zoekt soort. Dus ik voel me vaak aangetrokken tot mensen die een beetje Quirk zijn, raar zoals ik. Soms kom ik uit bij de overtreffende trap van Quirk: Nero.
Nero en ik hebben een tijd samengewerkt. Haar drukke luidruchtigheid vormde een onwaarschijnlijke vriendschap met mijn rustige terughoudendheid. We vonden elkaar vooral in de muziek en in de nacht. Ze maakte een mixtape voor me. Het ultieme teken van liefde. En ik moet zeggen dat dat nog steeds een van mijn favoriete cd’s is. Maar de liefde is er niet meer.

De nacht bleek al snel goed te passen bij Nero, al was het maar om haar duistere stemmingen in schaduwen te hullen. De fantastische verhalen die me hadden aangetrokken verdwenen naar de achtergrond. Ik wilde met haar mee verdwijnen, in onze eigen wereld. Maar haar wereld bleek te donker voor mij.

Haar ellende werd mijn fascinatie. Ik moest en zou voor haar zorgen, haar ‘beter’ maken. Ze zocht naar hulp, vond ik, en die wilde ik bieden. Maar wat ik kon geven wilde ze niet aannemen. De neerwaartse spiraal was in gang gezet. Het frustreerde me hoe ze haar creativiteit niet in kon zetten om haar leven een wending te geven. Hoe ze zich verloor, wílde verliezen in drank en drugs. Ik kon haar daarin niet volgen. Ik voelde me leeggezogen.

‘Je moet niet raar opkijken als ik ineens verdwijn,’ had ze gezegd. ‘Ik raak nou eenmaal snel op mensen uitgekeken. Dat moet je niet persoonlijk opvatten.’ Maar zo ging het niet. Ik liet haar in de steek. De nachtelijke telefoontjes en tirades op de wereld, het nergens heen gaan, ik kon het niet meer. Zij hoorde bij het leven dat ik juist achter me wilde laten. Maar ik voel me nog steeds schuldig. Want ze had me nodig. En ik heb haar laten gaan.

Ik vraag me nog vaak af hoe het met haar gaat. Hoe het met haar verder zal gaan. Maar er is geen weg terug. Want voor Nero is er niet ‘een beetje’. Je bent met haar, of je bent het niet. En ik moet kiezen voor niet. Maar ik kan haar nog steeds vinden. In de muziek. Die al net zo duister is als zij.

Welcome to Episode 13 of Indie Music Hour. In this episode, I play a lot of tracks that are taken from 2009 albums that have caught my attention and also sprinkle in some older tunes.

Full Tracklisting

The Gutter Twins – Idle Hands

The Subways – No Goodbyes

The Hold Steady – Your Little Hoodrat Friend

Polly Scattergood – I Am Strong

Mia Vigar – Lost Cause

Billy Bragg – A New England

The Hot Puppies – The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful

The Apples in Stereo – The Oasis

The Kills – Fried My Little Brains

The Dead Weather – Hang You From The Heavens

Envelopes – Party

Obits – Fake Kinkade

Franz Ferdinand – Bite Hard

Bombay Bicycle Club – Pedestal

Infadels – Free Things For Poor People

Eels – Mr E’s Beautiful Blues

Peter Bjorn and John – Lay It Down

Emmy The Great – First Love

The Maccabees – Can You Give It

Loney Dear – I Was Only Going Out

The Elected – Beautiful Rainbow

Esencial

Sin duda el material que nos proporciona hoy en día Greg Dulli ya sea junto a The Twilight Singers o The Gutter Twins es muy disfrutable y de alta calidad pero la verdad es que ni su proyecto con Mark Lanegan llega a las expectativas creadas, y mucho menos al nivel de su banda de toda la vida, los tristmente desaparecidos Afghan Whigs. Los 4 últimos discos de los Whigs se encuentran entre los más destacable de los 90’s. Suelen ciatrse como obras imprescindibles Gentleman y la que para muchos es su obra cumbre, Black Love. En mi opinión sería absurdo negar la calidad de Congregation y el maravilloso 1965 (su disco más infravalorado). Si todavía no sabes de que hablo quizá la descarga de hoy no te haga muy feliz… What Jail Is Like es un ep de 7 temas que fue editado en 1994.  El tema título aparece 2 veces, en estudio y en directo, y para mi se trata de la canción más inspirada del disco. Esas guitarras, el riff de piano, la entrañable voz de Dulli… todo encaja.  Now You Know y el medley de My World Is Empty Without You / I Hear A Symphony son también en directo. Mientras que el resto de temas (todo versiones) son en estudio. Más de lo mismo? Seguro. Esencial para los fans del sonido afgano.

1. What Jail Is Like
2. Mr. Superlove
3. Dark End Of The Street
4. What Jail Is Like (live)
5. Now You Know (live)
6. My World Is Empty Without You / I Hear A Symphony (live)

DESCARGA!

gutter twins

:::::

front street

i was in love with you

Ok, so a bit of an update on where I am with my London NY resolution…

I am doing pretty well so far, day 25 and one gallery and two gigs down. I went to the Annie Liebovitz exhibition at the Portrait Gallery early on in the month. I thought it was really good – a fascinating mix of professional and personal images, all mixed up together. Interesting juxtoposition of a Vogue-esque cover photo of some young bejewelled starlet alongside an extremely personal image of Susan Sontag on her deathbed.

Musically, I am really keen to see lots of bands this year. I had an interesting lunch break a couple of weeks ago – somehow won a competition to go and see Razorlight a couple of weeks ago. They were playing to about 30 of us as part of a recording for a radio show. I’m not massively into them – although I really like a couple of tracks from their new album – but it seemed like a silly thing not to go. Something different on a Friday lunchtime with less than 24 hrs notice – only in London! Johnny Borrell is tiny.

Going in quite a different direction, my sister and I went to see the Gutter Twins at the Union Chapel last week. Mark Lanegan has an incredible voice, and although clearly very rougharound the edges, he has an understated charm that has led to a mini crush on my part. We saw him play with Isobel Campbell before  Christmas, which was an amazing gig – the Union Chapel is an incredible venue.

I haven’t got anything else up my sleeve at the moment gig-wise, but the sis and I are going to see Pete Postlethwaite in King Lear at the Young Vic next month, which I am really looking forward to. Should be fab.

I wonder who respects photographers!
This is different folks, better read through it, in white the concert review, in green …well, you’ll see reading through the e-mail exchanged to get into this gig.

It used to have a name, it used to have a TV show, it was followed by millions, live CDs used to hit the top ten despite quite few recorded examples were really noteworthy. It was called: Unplugged. A format that conquered the world in the nineties and made MTV richer.
People ending up buying Neil Young since it was unplugged as if it was something special and not what Neil Young had been alternating for the previous 3 decades.
The power of marketing tags, words as “organic”, “free range” or “fair trade” (sigh) to seduce consumer’s appeal.

Trends change, new words need to freshen up the same old ideas.
Playing acoustic today is and will always be the same affair as ever but with a different name:

“An intimate evening with…”

It wasn’t easy from the beginning:

This evening was intimate with last year SubPop super-group: The Gutter Twins.
Best known for the umpteenth collaboration of Mark Lanegan, originally from SubPop’s Screaming Trees, with Greg Dulli, originally from SubPop’s Afghan Whigs.

Considering that SubPop heroes in 2008 have been Fleet Foxes, this is a totally SubPop affair.
Let’s see why.

Such a special occasion, an intimate rock concert played in a church! I want to photograph this! I insist and manage to get better news:

I hoped to start my concert photography year with an electric shock to revert the 2008 acoustic-ness. I didn’t get neither the photography nor the electricity.
I hoped these two guys would bring back 90s SubPop sound into a church.
Clearly I didn’t interprete the “intimate” bit correctly. It wasn’t about the venue, it was about the music.
So I haven’t realised that this was going to be exactly the opposite.
21st century SubPop is booming again thanks to Fleet Foxes. The wind changed and is “blowing the mind” of artists such as Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan convincing them to adventure into an unplugged, pardon me, intimate tour.

…don’t worry, I am still trying to sort it out, it is the usual boring stuff, believe me, days go, dozens of e-mails unanswered, all for the passion of 10 minutes of photography…
I got a sign, but not a breakthrough yet:

The two friends come on stage at 9pm. I know you can’t see them, trust me.
Greg Dulli alternates between the left and the right, between acoustic guitars and keyboards.
Mark Lanegan, you know, he sings.
Their producer (I missed the name, sorry) helps on acoustic guitar. Either he needed some money, some exposure or was simply bored to sit next to the mixer backstage.
To be fair, he was committed and enjoyed his role next to his heroes but his attempt to put a bit of virtuosity into the set, in the end, had the only effect to dilute the intensity of having just Dulli and Lanegan on the same stage.

Back to the concert. Musically it was a poor set.
If I follow Bob Dylan claim that a good song it is still good played just on an acoustic guitar, well, I’d conclude the Gutter Twins, in addition to a manager able to speak with their press, lack good songs.
At the end of a tune with exactly the same chord progression of All Along the Watchtower, Mark Lanegan kind of agreed with me and went: “There must be some kind of way out of here, said the joker to the thief…”.
Crowd wowed, Mark smiled then muttered something. A noticeable things to highlight here: Mark Lanegan can speak!

… if you wannabe a rock photographer remember, patience is a virtue…
I urge for a clear answer but I still get ambiguous messages:

If I flip the perspective, retaining Dylan’s concept alive, electric guitars have a saviour role in rock’n'roll.
Gutter Twins album, Saturnalia, is not a bad album. Neither as good as Gentlemen or Dust and nothing in between, but still some nice electric stuff with hints of electronic keyboards.
Greg Dulli clearly is not a master of technique, as any of his SubPop 90s mates, however he has the intensity, the capacity and the skills to transmit emotions. A plus that can be boosted with the help of some sound effects coming out of pedal and amplifiers.
Stripped to the bone in those few strums, excitement get lost. Rock music isn’t just about melody, harmonies and keys, it is about tones.

What Lanegan and Dulli haven’t lost and what saves the concert are indeed their voices.
Listening to two of the best singers of the 90s standing (well…sitting) one next to the other it is worth the price of the ticket.

The way the two harmonize their singing gives to the songs’ structure much more than the contribution of the two guitars. Lanegan voice is one of my favourites voices around. When he is left alone the church shines of his darkness. Dulli with his much higher pitch was quite amazing too.

I imagined how the two would sound a-cappella. It didn’t happen, though.
What happened, instead, was listening Mark Lanegan singing a cover of the Everly Brothers hit All I Have To Do Is Dream in the encore and to make things even more hilarious, the unnamed producer performing Tennessee Waltz.

In the end a very intimate gig, so intimate that I can’t show you.
Unfortunately it didn’t satisfy my desire of electrig guitars and I am still looking forward to putting my hand back on my cameras to take some proper concert photography shots. So far this is all you get, a colourful venue, but Live on 35mm music is still on B&W!

While you wait get a feeling of the electric Gutter Twins on their [myspace] and [website].

Photo tip

It looks a meaningless photo tip this time, but exceptions are there to confirm rules, believe me (and the proverb).

When e-mail isn’t working is time to get the phone. I call and in two minutes I am told that my name is on the list. Everything is OK on the phone. Great, but I prefer to have a written confirmation.
Few days after and two more useless e-mail I am still waiting for it, a third e-mail with the handful “give you a call threat” it usually helps a quicker answer:

Don’t give up.

…finally, over one month from my first message, I got what I wanted:

This is the e-mail you need before you leave home with your cameras.
It is your ticket to the photopass (and the gig). Print it and bring the e-mail with you.
Anytime my name was lost in some guest-list, and it happens often, it saved me.
Except this single time.

So why I have no pictures of the Gutter Twins? Because when I arrived to the venue, with my printed e-mail in hand and despite my name was down on the SubPop list with a clear tick on the “photo” field, I was denied to photograph. The band doesn’t want photographers. No exceptions. Not even from the back or the balcony. Forbidden.
2 hours and 20£ to get there, I decide to stay for the gig. Back home I wrote to the PR asking for explanations. I got this back:

Which I can only reply using some SubPop favourite lyrics:

“I wish I was like you
Easily amused
Find my nest of salt
Everything is my fault
I’ll take all the blame
I’ll proceed from shame
Sunburn with freezer burn
Choking on the ashes of her enemy”

[All Apologies - Nirvana]

It’s 2009. Let’s drank.

My picks for the Top 10 recordings of 2008 were published in the Dec. 31 issue of Metroland. It was a much better year for music than some might have you think—I didn’t see any new genres being forged, but a lot of great acts did great things within their chosen realms. My list includes some brilliantly funky, self-exploratory R&B; harmony-drenched folk; throwback hip-hop from a genre great; and the chilly return of an act that virtually redefined “chilly” back in the 1990s.

There were dozens more great records that I wasn’t able to discuss in that forum, so here’s the rest of the best, in my humble opinion:

- Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan have worked together under the banner of Dulli’s Twilight Singers for several years, but this year saw the first time their mutual debauchery society was treated as an equal venture. Saturnalia, their debut as the Gutter Twins, lived up to expectations.

- Kanye West’s 808s and Heartbreak was a bold change in direction, an emotionally cathartic album that owed more to ’80s British synth-pop and New Wave than to anything remotely hip-hop. It had its flaws—the auto-tuned vocals definitely took some getting used to—but I have a feeling that, in the grand scheme of Kanye’s career, 808s will be remembered more as his Tonight’s the Night than his Trans (though it more closely resembles the latter).

- On Narrow Stairs, Death Cab For Cutie stripped back the layers that defined much of their major-label debut, and played like the Death Cab of old. Ben Gibbard tackled darker issues here than on past releases (the self-perceived inadequacy of “You Can Do Better Than Me,” the casual stalker of “I Will Possess Your Heart”), but the songs and performances were first-rate. And for all the sulking, Ben did OK for himself.

- Elvis Costello and Nine Inch Nails both proved that sometimes the trifles are the best bits. Costello and an ad hoc Imposters band knocked out Momofuku in about a week, never intending more than a quiet vinyl release; the album is everything When I Was Cruel wanted to be. Trent Reznor was a busy boy this year, with the four-disc instrumental Ghosts set coming in the spring; this summer’s The Slip, recorded on the quick and offered to fans as a free download, was visceral and fun, the best NIN record of the new millennium. (NIN’s accompanying tour was reportedly amazing, too.)

Other greats of ’08: She and Him Volume One; Gnarls Barkley The Odd Couple; Mercury Rev Snowflake Midnight; Nada Surf Lucky; The Breeders Mountain Battles; Tim Fite Fair Ain’t Fair; Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!; Bloc Party Intimacy; Fucked Up The Chemistry of Common Life; A.C. Newman Get Guilty; Tindersticks The Hungry Saw; Musee Mecanique Hold This Ghost; Lil Wayne Tha Carter III; The Raconteurs Consolers of the Lonely; Liam Finn I’ll Be Lightning; Al Green Lay It Down.

Honorable mentions: Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy was pretty much everything it was expected to be—a good, but way overcooked, hard rock album that would have had been hailed as great had it been released 10 years ago; Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool was a crazy good rap record, but it came out in 2007; Ed Harcourt’s The Beautiful Lie was a jewel in the singer-songwriter’s already brilliant catalog, but it came out in 2006; Panic at the Disco’s Pretty. Odd. was a bold attempt to recast the group as Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Emo Band and while it was wonderfully produced, the songs were hit or miss; and Girl Talk’s Feed the Animals wasn’t a great album, it was a great mix tape—doesn’t anybody know the difference anymore?

Next up, films and live shows.

OK, I’ve been REALLY slacking off with the posting. But, I’ve been busy. New job this year, etc…

But, I was inspired to jump start this blog up again with my Top 10 album picks for 2008. 

1. Gutter Twins: Saturnalia and Adorata (EP) - 2008 was the year that I was totally immersed in the Gutter Twins. Three shows in NYC, including the tour opener – it doesn’t get any better. I’m a Greg Dulli diehard, so 2008 was quite a year.

2. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! - Also, an incredible live band who I was able to catch in NYC this year. Too bad Blixa isn’t playing guitar anymore, though.

3. TV On The Radio: Dear Science - I’ve liked some of their earlier stuff, but this album is just great start to finish.

4. Greg Dulli: Live at the Triple Door - A stellar performance. I’m just pissed that I couldn’t be in Seattle for this show.

5. MGMT: Oracular Spectacular - This technically came out in 2007, but I just found out about them this year. Really fun, love to hear more from them… 

6. Kaiser Chiefs: Off With Their Heads - Not quite as good as “Your Truly, Angry Mob”, but you can never go wrong with these angsty Brits!

7. Aimee Mann: @#$%&* Smilers - She’s even more low-key than usual on this album. But, the songwriting is great as always.

8. Replacements Reissues - The ‘Mats in their crazy, brilliant early days.

9. Nine Inch Nails: Ghosts I – IV - Trent is a genius. Although I couldn’t bring myself to go see him in some crappy arena. 

10. Passion Pit: Chunk of Change - A favorite new discovery. These guys are like MGMT lite.

More to come in 2009…

I hate compiling lists. Hate it, hate it, hate it, ugh, bleagh. But every year the mags and Internets sidle up to yers truly, wrangling rustbucket data from this weary sausage I call home, forcing me to scrape way back: Geez, was NiggyTardust! this year? (Nope.) I really dug the Erykah Badu. Gnarls Barkley’s “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul” was a playlist BFF (still my favorite lyric of ‘08: “Got some bad news this morning/which in turn made my day”). And derisive hipster snarl ‘n’ snort be damned, I identified with Beck’s Modern Guilt more than I cared to admit. (Wrestled with the matter here.) But as the months snored past and the singles disintegrated in memory, the one Guilt track that stuck with me was “Volcano,” perhaps my generation’s most astute observation on slipping beyond cultural prime into numb middle-aged spectator.

Other naught-eight loves, off the top of my head: The Gutter Twins (Mark Lanegan AND Greg Dulli? Drag my ass to the dark side pronto!) She & Him, Local H, ummm, Anthony Hamilton (reviewed), Marco Benevento, Leviathan Brothers, but rank ‘em in stone for all time? Fuck that. I can, however, announce my song of the year — drum roll, please: the Melvins’ “Savage Hippy.” Redolent in “un”s: uncontrolled, unfettered, unstoppable SCUZZ. From the album Nude With Boots. Pick it up soon, before it tracks you down and strips muscle from scrote from bone.

One of the live performances that I simply forgot to review this year was Joan as Police Woman’s visit to Cork City back in the summer. I am not quite sure how I managed to do that, as my memories of the show are positive ones! Anyway, I also quite liked the album that Joan brought out this year and she does seem to be going from strength to strength as a solo artist. In other words, dear readers, here be a worthy headliner for part six of our lookback at the music of 2008.

On the other hand, there may be a few names on the track listing below that will not jump out at you. However, please do not be put off by that, as there are some good and varied gems in there! That said, at least half of these artists have already put in an appearance on this still fledgling site, as my stalkers more obsessive readers will not need reminding!!

Moreover, both Gutter Twins and James Yorkston (with record label mate Adrian Crowley in tow!) visit Dublin next month, so more on this pair alone very soon – I hope! Not that they will need any introduction to affectionados of either genre!

Cliquez ici pour jouer ce mixtape!

(61) Grails – Reincarnation Blues

(62) Grand Archives – Miniature Birds

(63) Gregory & The Hawk – Doubtful

(64) The Gutter Twins – Idle Hands

(65) Hinterland – Somatoform

(66) Horse Feathers – Cur in the Weeds

(67) Ingrid Olava – Juliet’s Wishes

(68) Islands – Creeper

(69) J. Tillman – Firstborn

(70) Jaguar Love – Highways of Gold

(71) James Yorkston – Tortoise Regrets Hare

(72) Joan As Police Woman – To Be Lonely

The Gutter Twins – Saturnalia
Ah, the burden of expectations.  Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs, Twilight Singers) and Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age, etc.) have been working on this project for a good chunk of this decade and only now do we have an official document of the collaboration.  And how is it?  Well, pretty underwhelming.  In some ways, it’s exactly what one would expect – Moody rock songs with the soul influences that Dulli’s been incorporating since late-period Afghan Whigs with Lanegan’s rich baritone and Dulli’s emotive howl mixing pretty well.  The problem is that this stuff was all pretty much expected, and it’s not nearly enough. The songs sound underwritten and just don’t stick.

The Hold Steady – Stay Positive
The Hold Steady’s Boys and Girls in America was an instant classic, raising the stakes for any other rock band hoping to fly the flag of Springsteen-style sincerity, storytelling, and hooks and raising our expectations for future releases of the band, themselves.  The staggering quality of their last release doesn’t do Stay Positive any favors, but much to the band’s credit, Stay Positive is still far too good to be considered a real disappointment.

Starting with “Constructive Summer,” the band makes it clear that their never-deserved rep as some bar band who just rehashes classic-rock riffs is a crock.  The overt references are Iggy Pop and the Clash (and how great those references are – “Me and my friends are like the drums on “Lust for Life/We pound it out on floor toms/Our songs are sing-along songs” and “Raise a toast to St. Joe Strummer/He may have been our only decent teacher”), but the great only obliquely-acknowledged comparison point is Husker Du, from whose “Celebrated Summer” the title seems derived, and whose Flip Your Wig-era sound is the obvious musical comparison point.

But, while pre-Boys and Girls in America, the band may have occasionally outright lifted riffs, they’ve learned to incorporate their influences into a distinctive personal style that’s less and less reliant on Craig Finn’s speak-singing (which gets wonderfully singier with every album) to distinguish itself.  Backup vocals have become more prevalent and keyboardist Franz Nicolay adds everything from 80s synth to harpsichord.

At their best, though, Finn’s lyrics still provide the high points, and the prominent theme here is aging.  On the glorious title track, he distills the essence of growing older gracefully as an indie rock musician to less than three minutes of guarded optimism.  “Joke About Jamaica” takes on the issue from the local rock groupie perspective.  As Raina can tell you, hanging out with music-obsessed musicians (and trust me – that’s not redundant) has its challenges and one of them is keeping up with the near-constant barrage of trivial references – the titular Zeppelin reference is a perfect example.  If you can’t keep up (or pretend to keep up), things can get pretty baffling pretty fast.  Add to that the transitory nature of any music scene, and you’ve got the crisis of the song’s protagonist, a hanger-on who’s gotten a little too long in the tooth for hipster-dom.  But Finn, ever the humane narrator, never makes her the butt of the joke.  She’s just trying to get by like the rest of us.

So weaknesses?  Primarily the slow songs.  The band set a dangerous precedent for themselves on Boys and Girls with “First Night,” a multi-section masterpiece of a rock ballad, and the similar “Lord, I’m Discouraged” doesn’t quite measure up.  Similarly, “Both Crosses” is sort of a slog, coming between the snappy, if unsubstantial “Yeah Sapphire” and the title track.  Also, “One for the Cutters,” a weird cautionary tale about college girls hanging out with townies, kind of works, but not quite as well as anything on Boys and Girls.  It’s a little frustrating, too, because two of three songs relegated to bonus status (unlabeled and not split into separate tracks), “Ask Her for Adderall” and “Two Handed Handshake” are better than a few of the songs on the album proper.

Overall, though, the great moments win out – the chorus on “Stay Positive,” Drive-By Truckers’ Pattersoon Hood backup part on “Navy Sheets,” the songwriter-as-maverick film director motif on “Slapped Actress,” the horns on “Sequestered in Memphis.”  This is a terrific album that could only be considered disappointing in comparison with its predecessor.

Hot Chip – Made in the Dark
Know this about me – I am, generally speaking, an unwilling dancer.  As such, I’m a little more immune than most to the charms of dance-y indie rock.  I think some of this stuff gets a pass on musical quality on the basis of pure danceability, and, let’s face it, achieving danceability just ain’t that hard.  Put an appropriately thumpy beat behind something and you’ve got a dance track.  So I’ve been reluctant to check out some bands championed more for their danceability than melodic or lyrical sensibility, including Hot Chip.

So imagine my surprise to find out that Hot Chip is pretty great.  These songs aren’t mere drapery for beats at all, but constructed creatively and with an ear toward hooks.  “Ready for the Floor” is the big (relatively speaking) single and standout.  If the sound isn’t exactly New Order, the aesthetic seems to be the same.  A song with a strong lyrical and melodic center can readily be embellished with offbeat electronic noises and stretched out as needed.  Hot Chip are also versatile, not relying entirely on up-tempo tracks that might sound good in a club.  “We’re Looking for a Lot of Love” and the title track are pretty, unadorned ballads, and “Wrestlers” is a cute love-as-professional wrestling metaphor driven by spare electronic claps and piano with recurring hip-hop cadences.  While probably not a surprise to people more up on this niche of indie rock, it’s one of my more pleasant surprises of the year.

Jonas Brothers – A Little Bit Longer
Oh, yeah, I went there.

Like I said at the beginning of the marathon, I wanted to keep this interesting for myself, and I figured there are few things more out of my comfort zone than the Jonas Brothers’ brand of harmless, pre-pube girl-adored pop (incidentally, I hope this entry doesn’t result in an uncomfortable number of hits from this audience*).

Or so I thought.

As it turns out, most of it’s just power-pop and not really that different sonically from, say, Marvelous 3 (which makes sense, since Marvelous 3’s Butch Walker spends a lot of time writing radio-ready rock for pop stars these days, although not for the Jonas Brothers, who apparently write and play their own songs).  Some of the side trips into other genres, like the 80s Michael Jackson pop with guitars of “Burnin’ Up” (which would be year-end mix material minus an atrocious “rap” section) are actually pretty solid, although the further they stray from the guitar-pop, the less satisfying the results.  It’s insubstantial, fluffy stuff, but it’s nowhere near as bad as you’d probably expect.

Anyway, I’m going to digress here for a moment.  I was caught in a loop last night.  As I was listening to this (an album for which I am not the primary audience – pre-teen girls), I was reading a copy of Bitch (a magazine for which I am not the primary audience – women)**, and talking to Raina about an article in it which was, in part, about the fact that male critics felt the need, to point out the fact that Sex and the City was a movie for which they were not the primary audience.

What exactly does it mean to craft something for a specific audience?  Is it based more in the artist’s intent or in an unfair preconception on the part of the audience?  If the former, can it be considered an artistic shortcoming?  If the latter, what does it mean that the people most insecure about delving into art not produced “for us” tend to be men (one exception – men seemingly have no problem consuming entertainment intended for young boys, if it involves robots that turn into cars, etc.).  That’s not to say I don’t have a kneejerk “ew” reaction while listening to songs like “Video Girl” and “Lovebug,” but I’m not sure why.

Anyway, maybe I’ll devote a blog post to this phenomenon some other time, but listening to this basically innocuous pop album led to some pretty interesting questions about intent and taste.  In the meantime, here’s a thought experiment for you – listen to something from the new Weezer album, a release ostensibly aimed at adults; then listen to one of the more rock-oriented tracks, like “Shelf,” “One Man Show,” or “Got Me Goin’ Crazy”, from A Little Bit Longer.  Now be honest with yourself – what’s really the difference?  (I mean this only partially as a slam on the new Weezer album, which is mostly irredeemable shit, but I’ll get to that later.)

*  Speaking of hits, I’m always surprised to see the number of people who find this blog while searching for a particular 90s alternative rock singer-guitarist.  I’m not using his name (he’s the guy who wrote “Unsung” and “In the Meantime”), because I always suspect that these searchers are surprised and disappointed to discover that I made one fairly inconsequential reference to the guy months ago (and tagged him, as I do all musical figures) and don’t offer much in the way of actual content; I don’t want to further distract them with another reference, since he’s apparently much-researched.  Who knew?

** For the more pop culture-aware folks out there, male or female, you should really check out Bitch.  The slant may be feminist, but the subject matter is all over the board with a heavy emphasis on movies, music, art, and literature (this issue covered the evolution of rape-revenge cinema, the problematic abstinence-driven politics of the Twilight series, and the legacy of Jane Eyre), and the analysis is typically thought-provoking.

Als het over muziek gaat heb ik zelden of nooit een probleem om mijn favorietenlijstje te maken. Er komen elk jaar genoeg degelijke cd’s op de markt om van een geslaagd muziekjaar te spreken. Er een absolute nummer één uitpikken vind ik moeilijk. Een gewone top 20 op jullie loslaten is echter wél doenbaar.

20. Welcome to the blue house : Tim Vanhamel

19. Fantasy black channel : Late of the Pier

18. Crystal Castles : Crystal Castles

17. Dear science : TV on the radio

16. Santogold : Santogold

15. Dystopia : Midnight Juggernauts

14. Lotuk : Arsenal

13. Saturnalia : Gutter Twins

12. Glasvegas : Glasvegas

11. Oracular spectacular : MGMT

10. Antidotes : Foals

9. Sunday at devil dirt : Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan

8. Box of secrets : Blood Red Shoes

7. Vantage point : dEUS

6. Jim : Jamie Lidell

5. Made in the dark : Hot Chip

4. In ghost colours : Cut Copy

3. Partie traumatic : Black Kids

2. Set your head on fire : The Black Box Revelation

1. The age of the understatement : The Last Shadow Puppets

UPDATE

In één adem enkele van mijn ergerlijkste muzikale ervaringen van 2008 meegeven. Krezip hield er gelukkig mee op, dus dat was al één ergernis minder. Haal die kotszakjes al maar boven!

1. Weg met Milow: ze mogen hem hebben! Strontvervelend!

2. I’ll kill her: Soko (dat er nog niemand op die zalige gedachte is gekomen!)

3. I kissed a girl: Kate Perry (hier zijn de oordopjes voor uitgevonden)

4. …

Vanavond zitten we alweer op verplaatsing, meer bepaald in het Cultureel Centrum van Hasselt. Daar treden Isobel Campbell en Mark Lanegan samen op. De 2 muzikanten namen ondertussen al 2 cd’s samen op. In 2006 ‘Ballad of the broken seas’ en dit jaar ‘Sunday at Devil Dirt’. Campbell en Lanegan is een behoorlijk ongewone combinatie, want ze zijn niet écht bevriend maar eerder ’maatjes’. Ze zaten tijdens de opnames van de cd’s niet eens samen in de studio, maar namen elk apart hun zanglijnen e.d. op die daarna in de studio werden samengevoegd. Ze delen gewoon één passie: allebei ademen ze ’muziek’.

Voor de leken onder jullie wil ik beide muzikanten toch eventjes kort voorstellen met daarna een fragmentje uit hun vorig muzikaal leven, in Lanegan’s geval wordt dat zelfs kiezen want zijn parcours is iets langer. Maar beginnen doen we bij Isobel Campbell, the beauty van het gezelschap.

De uit Schotland afkomstige Isobel Campbell speelde van 1996 tot 2002 bij Belle & Sebastian, waar ze cello speelde en de achtergrondzang voor haar rekening nam. Ze verliet de band om persoonlijke redenen. In 2003 bracht ze haar eerste soloalbum uit, in 2006 het tweede. Tot ze in contact kwam met de Amerikaanse Mark Lanegan.

Mark Lanegan (‘the beast’) begon zijn carrière als voorman van The Screaming Trees, die volop bekendheid verwierf door de opkomst van de grunge scene. Na de split in 1996 gaat hij solo, maar hij werkt ook mee aan andere projecten voor Queens of the Stone Age, Soulsavers, The Twilight Singers en The Gutter Twins. Met deze laatste band stond hij afgelopen zomer nog op Pukkelpop. Een van de bandleden, Greg Dulli, kende hij al vrij aardig na de samenwerking met diens Twilight Singers. Lanegan’s levenswandel is op z’n minst turbulent te noemen. Kort gezegd komt het erop neer dat ie uitgebreid heeft genoten van drank, drugs en vrouwen (vaak in iets te grote mate). Desalniettemin blijft de man ontegensprekelijk één van de warmste stemmen hebben in de muziekbusiness.

Ik ben in ieder geval zeer benieuwd voor vanavond. The Gutter Twins waren alvast top op Pukkelpop. Benieuwd hoe zij zich staande weten te houden in een cultureel centrum. Volgens geruchten (van zogenaamde muziekkenners) is de samenwerking Campbell & Lanegan onnatuurlijk. Hiervoor baseren ze zich op het feit dat er nauwelijks interactie is tussen beide muzikanten. Alsof Lennon & MacCartney altijd bij elkaar op de koffie gingen. Nu ja, azijnpissers heb je natuurlijk in elke sector. Wij gaan in ieder geval kijken in de hoop een memorabel concert mee te maken.

UPDATE

In één woord beschreven: superconcert! Anderhalf uur prima entertainment, écht de moeite! Ik had schrik dat de rauwe, doorrookte stem van Mark de frêle breekbare stem van Isobel zou overstemmen, maar dat was absoluut niet het geval. O.a. ’Deus ibi est’, ‘Ballad of the broken seas’, ‘Seafaring song’, ‘The raven’, ‘Come on over (turn me on)’, ‘Back burner’, ‘The flame that burns’, ‘Keep me in mind sweetheart’ en ’Something to believe’ kwamen voorbij en bij de 4 bisnummers zaten o.a. ‘Revolver’ en ‘Ramblin’ man’. Ze waren allebei gekleed in stemmig zwart, er kon zelfs een grapje vanaf over hun kledingkeuze. Erg vreemde gewaarwording want de eerste 45 minuten werd er gewoon geen woord gezegd. Daarna toonde vooral Isobel interactie met haar publiek. En we weten het voor eens en voor altijd: zij is wel degelijk de baas van de groep. Vanavond voelde je het ook duidelijk: het is zeker haar muziek, maar ze is tekstueel meer op het lijf geschreven van hem. ‘t Was gewoon magisch en ideaal om in de schouwburg te beluisteren.

The Gutter Twins Hit the City on November 7th, so I took the Metro over to the Black Cat club in Northwest DC to see them. Doors opened up at 9:00, and I got there around 9:45. When I got there the scene was pretty empty. I made my way to the front of the stage and settled in for the show.

Afterhours started playing at around 10. For those who do not know of the Italian band, get to know them. They are really good. They started of the night with a cover of “My Time (Has Come)“  They hit us hard with their songs and never let up. It was truly the best opening act I have ever seen. They could headline any other venue, just not when the Gutter Twins are on the same bill.

Afterhours ended at around 1105 and the roadies started to tear down their stuff and get ready for the Gutter Twins. They laid out the setlists

After a few more minutes, the band finally came out and came out rocking with “Idle Hands”. “Seven Stories Underground” was among many highlights as Mark’s vocals seemed to be in top form. the next went to 2004’s hit single “Hit the City” and it was an awe inspiring performance. For “Hard Time Killing Floor,” “Bete Noire” and “Down the Line” Greg Dulli came over rand sat at the Rhodes Piano and the Keyboard which were about three inches from my face, so that was cool.

No zoom was used in that photo. They slowed it way down for “St. James Infirmary Blues”, and let me tell you, when Lanegan sings it, you can feel it. Here is a sampling of the kind of intensity he brings to the table.

The set was a good mix of stuff off of “Saturnalia“, covers, and stuff from their EP “Adorata“. That was really good for me because I have not heard anything off of “Adorata” because it’s an electronic only release and I don’t like not having a physical copy of the records. I enjoyed the songs so much I almost wanted to buy it. I’m not going to until I see a physical copy though.

The highlight of the night, for me, came at the end of the set. “Front Street” was the song. It was Greg Dulli’s first song as a member of “The Gutter Twins” and I know how proud of it he is. He started to sing it and the crowd quickly joined in. By the end of it, he had trouble singing over the crowd and was putting everything he had left into this song. Really amazing. Really cool to be in a place that enjoys music as opposed to the hipster LA scene.

The band went offstage and I had flashbacks to the Avalon concert when they did not come back. I knew this would be different though because we were really into the show and we wanted more. The band was happy to oblige and after no more than two minutes, came back on stage. Mark sang a chilling version of “I Was in Love With You” and we were also joined by the lead singer of Afterhours on keyboards. They continued with “Methamphetamine Blues”. That also rocked the house down. Fittingly, they finished the night with the down-trodden “Number 9″. A somber song that capped off the evening perfectly.

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