No se si conocéis a Nick Cave, el músico Australiano frontman de Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, una de las mejores bandas de (si se puede definir) “proto-punk” de la historia. Nick Cave es un poeta espectacular seducido por la oscuridad, la violencia y lo erótico, conceptos que plasma en sus canciones con una perfección impecable. Lo que me atañe hoy es su disco “Murder Ballads”, el disco que es, al menos para mí, no solo el mejor disco de Nick Cave, si no uno de los mejores discos de la historia de la música. “Murder Ballads” es un álbum que narra asesinatos con una belleza absolutamente abrumadora, en ocasiones con una rabia conmovedora, muy propia del “ruido” de los primeros discos de Cave… en fin un disco de lo más impactante y bien creado. Intentaré hacer un recorrido breve pero explicativo de la obra, sobre todo por mis canciones favoritas.

Cuando empezamos a escuchar la obra, nos encontramos con “Song of Joy”, una canción muy lineal, oscura y extrañamente conmovedora, con momentos tremendamente sentimentales y que nos narra un asesinato a sangre fría, un primer track que nos hace abrir la boca de estupor. Continuamos por “Stagger Lee”, la historia real de un taxista proxeneta que asesinó a varias personas. Una canción dura, directa, e interpretada perfectamente por Cave con un tono irónico y genial, con frases como: “Billy Dilly se agachó y le llenó de babas la cabeza de la polla y Stag le dejó repleto de plomo”, además tiene una melodía verdaderamente espectacular muy propia de los primeros años de Cave, cuando se ponía hasta las cejas de heroína.

El video me parece excelente.

Después del caos musical de “Stagger Lee” nos encontramos con una canción que nos hace reposar la cabeza, “Henry Lee”, una balada tremenda que Cave canta con ayuda de su ex, la genial PJ Harvey. La composición habla poéticamente sobre Henry Lee Lucas, uno de los mayores asesinos en serie de la historia, acusado de matar a trescientos sesenta seres humanos con ayuda de su inseparable amigo y en ocasiones amante, el retrasado, homosexual, pirómano, transexual y caníbal, Ottis Toole.

Un video bastante bueno también.

Daremos un salto en el disco para hablar de “Where the wild Roses Grow”, quizás la canción más bella del disco. En esta balada Nick Cave también pide colaboración con una de sus tantas ex parejas, la cantante Australiana Kylie Minogue, que por lo que leí hace tiempo fue quien hizo que Cave abandonará la heroína y el alcohol. La preciosa canción habla sobre una chica, Elisa Day,  que es asesinada en un río por su amante, al que acaba de conocer. Desde que escuché el disco por primera vez, hará unos cinco años, investigué si Elisa Day existió, desgraciadamente no he encontrado ningún dato que de veracidad a la historia, pero he deducido que si existió, que fue una preciosa chica asesinada de un contundente golpe en la cabeza, posiblemente con una piedra en la orilla de un río, y fue encontrada con una camisón blanco y una rosa en sus dientes, bueno eso es al fin y al cabo lo que dice Cave en su canción, pero dejad que me explique. La muerte debió ser misteriosa y quizás Cave aquí, haga  la interpretación de que la mató un amor de la chica. Pienso que Elisa Day vivió y murió, y puedo deducirlo porque se ha convertido en una especie de icono gótico, por lo misterioso de su muerte, que en cierto modo incluso puede ser un asesinato sectario y la relación que tiene con la belleza efímera y la visión del amor que los góticos pueden llegar a tener, incluso “Living Dead Dolls”, una empresa de figuras de colección dirigidas en su gran mayoría, a esta subcultura (digo en su gran mayoría porque yo tengo una y no me siento para nada identificado con este movimiento) sacó una figura de Elisa Day, y dudo mucho que haya sido por la “fama” de la canción de un artista Australiano bastante alejado de ese mundo.

Kylie está espectacular en el video.

Ahora vamos a “The curse of Millhaven”. Canción que, desconozco su origen veraz y tampoco he podido averiguar nada, lo siento, pero habla de una niñita malvada que causa el caos en su pueblo asesinando brutalmente a quien se ponga por delante. El tema tiene un toque circense y dichoso bastante inquietante, técnicamente me parece uno de los mejores temas del disco.

Hablemos ahora de “The Kindness of  Strangers” canción que lamentablemente también desconozco su origen. La canción habla de Mary Bellows, una joven chica que quería descubrir el mundo y se la encontraron, como Cave escribió en la canción: “atravesada en la cama con un jirón de ropa en la boca y una bala en la cabeza”. Un tema triste en el que el piano narra toda la historia, una canción en la que detecto cierto toque Tom Waits, quizás a modo de inspiración u homenaje. Cave esta vez pide colaboración de la loca cantautora, Anita Lane (otra de sus ex, que le cortó la cara con un cuchillo, según dice él) para que haga los coros. Nick acaba la composición dando un mensaje inquietante, dice: “Así que madres mantened a las chicas en casa, no dejéis que viajen lejos solas, decidles que el mundo está lleno de peligros y que rehuyan la compañía de los extraños”

Casi para finalizar, comentaré “O´Malley´s Bar”, la canción más larga del disco y como no, una maravilla. Narra una historia, que vuelvo a desconocer su origen real, sobre un hombre que entra en el bar de O´Malley ha realizar una macabra matanza y al final es detenido, la canción tiene cierto tono jocoso que resulta bastante escalofriante teniendo en cuenta las barbaridades que narra Cave.

Por último “Death is not the End”, un “cover” de Bob Dylan y la única canción que no habla sobre asesinatos. Un buen tema para cerrar el álbum en el que colaboran bastantes artistas, repitiendo Anita Lane, PJ Harvey y Minogue, como novedad, canta con Cave, el que puede ser uno de los hombres más feos del planeta, Shane MacGowan, la voz de “The Pogues”.

Bueno, pues hasta aquí el comentario de “Murder Ballads”, espero que resulté efectivo e informativo. Os invito a escuchar este increíble álbum y si no tenéis ni idea de inglés para captar todos los matices de este gran disco hay páginas que te dan las letrillas traducidas al idioma de Cervantes.

1. Tender Prey
2. Your Funeral… My Trial
3. Henry’s Dream
4. The Good Son
5. The Boatman’s Call
6. Let Love In
7. Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus
8. The Firstborn Is Dead
9. Kicking Against The Pricks
10. From Her To Eternity

Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! wel nog niet gehoord.

NP: The Fall – Slates EP

Coalesce has been one of those bands that I’ve listened to for years, but all that listening has been via one album that I can’t get tired of:  Functioning On Impatience. They have a decent discography, but I just haven’t been able to move on from that album.  Same thing with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.  Let Love In is one of those albums that hit my ears at just the right time in my life (going into a serious relationship and then getting dumped fucking hard), so it held some precedence in my life for quite some time.  Not until two weeks back or so was I able to jump ship with Murder Ballads.  Holy shit… Nick Cave is a storyteller to say the least.  That man has the ability to weave words with music and it creeps under my skin.  Like telling ghost stories and giving yourself goosebumps, that’s what Murder Ballads has been doing for me.  Let’s bring this around full-circle though.

Coalesce has the OXEP streaming from lambgoat (a great news source on heavier music, but sometimes you gotta sift through garbage soda-drinker bands to find the real meat).  It’s their new EP, which is following up the recent OX full-length that I’ve only put to my ears once – earlier today – and it jammed along just fine.  I gave the EP a run through twice and it seems like I may be making the move onto a new album finally.  The stream is only up for a short while, so don’t be lazy about it because you gotta do this “thing” for a friend, when we all know you’re just gonna get high and whack-it.  It’s obvious.

I found this in a book of illustrations at my buddies place today.  Kris went and saw Where The Wild Things Are at IMAX and apparently got a lot of free swag.  Skinner Davis is the man with the skills here and the work he has up on his site gave me a decent lot of eye-boners.  I’ve always dug bright colors in art, especially neon, dayglo, blacklight bullshit (beginning of Belly is the bees-tits, not knees) so it makes sense why I’d watch Busta Rhymes video for Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See countless times in middle school.  I doubt it had anything to do with the big, busty, bouncy, Black ladies though.  Oh Pam Grier, why won’t you return any of the imaginary phone calls I make to you in my mind.  She’s such a tease.

Shit son, music and art all in one swing.  I’d call that a God damn success in culture if you ask me.  Don’t you feel better about yourself now?  You can pour out all that Tang you’ve been drinking and stop munching on partially cooked fish sticks.  Even though you say, “I don’t mind that it’s cold in the middle,” we all know you’re full of shit.  It’s kinda sad.  You needa’ head down to the corner store and pick yourself up a 40 of Steele Reserve, OJ, and peanut M&M’s.  Now that’s a meal for refined people, which you can now classify yourself into.  Just find a nice stoop to post up on and share what you learned with a stranger or two.  Hell, offer them some of your drink too.  I don’t know anyone that dislikes a good ol’ Brass Monkey.  Except maybe Canadians; they only like the band Rush.

Halloween is coming up. Although I’m not doing a Halloween show tonight the season is making me in the mood for some Misfits. These guys rock in such an awesomely ghoulish way, who wouldn’t love hearing them on or near Halloween.

Listen in tonight from 8 to 10 pm on KRUI 89.7 fm or online here.

1. The Misfits, Collection (1986), London Dungeon

2. The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Power of Negative Thinking: B-Sides and Rarities (2008), Why’d You Want Me
(This is a box set encompassing tracks from their entire career.)
3. Mission of Burma, Vs. (Bonus Track on the Remastered album), Forget
Vs. originally came out in 1982
4. Dinosaur Jr., Where You Been? (1993), Start Choppin
These guys are TOURING, and they played last thursday at the Vic in Chicago. Here’s a quote from Miles Raymour I pulled off of The Chicago Reader. (I couldn’t Summarize Lou Barlow any better, even though I do love the Smiths.)

Morrissey may be popularly perceived as the King of Sadness Feelings, but his arch melodrama has always struck me as too closely related to handful-of-Tylenol “suicide attempt” drama queen-ism, which is just another way for somebody to say “Look at me!” Serious aficionados of feeling bad know that Lou Barlow is the true master of alt-rock miserablism. His 90s discography covers all the main flavors of depression, from the heartbroken “I could break down crying at any time” prettiness of Sebadoh’s “Soul and Fire” to the abject “I haven’t left the house or showered in a week” desolation of Sentridoh’s “Choke Chain,” and his frequent detours into hardcore bong-rip punk are a fair stand-in for manic jags. (Let’s not talk about the Folk Implosion.) On his new solo album, Goodnight Unknown (Merge), he sounds more settled and less self-tortured, more expansive and less dependent on minor keys—but he can still write a tuneful, melancholy pop song, and the hushed “I’m Thinking . . . ” is as dark as anything he’s done.

5. Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville (1993 on Matador records), 6′1″
6. Secret Shine, Untouched (1993), Sun Warmed Water
7. No Age, Eraser (A single off of Sub pop, released in 2008), Eraser
8. Jona Lewie, The Best of Jona Lewie (2002), The Baby She’s on the Street
(This track came out in 1978, and its just so much fun.)
9. Spizzenergi, Where’s Captain Kirk? the Very Best of Spizz (2002), Where’s Captain Kirk (the single came out in 1979)
10. Lene Lovich, Lucky Number: The Best of (2004), Say When
11. Depeche Mode, The Best of Depeche Mode, People are People (single came out in 1984)
(as you can tell from the last three albums I’m a sucker for best of albums.)
12. Elvis Costello, This Year’s Model (1978), Radio Radio
13. Siouxsie & The Banshees, Twice upon a Time- The Singles, Cities in Dust (single was released in 1985)
14. The Gun Club, Fire of Love (1981), Ghost on the Highway
This album is brilliant. When I first heard this I never heard anything like it. Allmusic has them sited as a “tribal psychobilly blues” band. Check them out.

15. Radio Birdman, The Essential Radio Birdman (1974-1978), Aloha Steve and Danno
16. The Replacements, All Shook Down (1990), My Little Problem
17. Husker Du, New Day Rising (1985), Plans I Make
18. Polvo, In Prism (2009), D.C. Trails
19. Pixies, Come on Pilgrim (1987), The Holiday Song
20. The Magnetic Fields, 69 Love Songs (1999), I Can’t Touch You Anymore

21. Mazzy Star, So Tonight That I Might See (1993), Blue Light
22. Modest Mouse, Good News for People Who Love Bad News (2004 and also nominated for a Grammy), The World at Large
23. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Tender Prey (1988), The Mercy Seat (Johnny Cash covered this tune.)
24. Portishead, Dummy (1994), Roads
25. The Swell Maps, A Trip to Marineville (1979, and re-released in 1989), Vertical Slum

26. Tom Waits, Bone Machine (1992, and won a Grammy that year), Goin’ Out West

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds [m] [w] have been around forever.  OK, not literally forever, but they’ve been making music for the substantial majority of my life.  Over a substantial part of this time, they’ve been in my consciousness as a band that’s out there… y’know, doin’ things… playing some rock music… and stuff.  But I couldn’t really elaborate much more because I didn’t really know the second thing about them.  I could have walked up to Nick Cave himself as he wore a Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds t-shirt, singing a Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds song under a Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds neon sign and I wouldn’t have had the foggiest idea who he was.

Last year, the band released their latest album, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! to widespread critical acclaim.  Between the multitude of consistently glowing reviews and the careful punctuation of the album title, I figured that it was high time I put these guys on my radar.  Sure enough, a few weeks ago I picked up a bunch of new music, including the aforementioned album. Having listened to a fair sampling of the new stuff, I’m ready to declare Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! to be a pretty clear winner amongst the group.

After just a few listens, there are few songs on the album that don’t jump out at me… it’s just strong from start to finish.  “Today’s Lesson” is the pick for this week, mostly because it’s a rocking track with just a touch of gospel influence, but also because it seems accessible.  I mean, it sounds like it could be in a beer commercial or a football promo… we could all be chant-singing the chorus (“We’re gonna have a real good time tonight!”)… if only the song weren’t all about prostitution.  Ha!

Go get “Today’s Lesson” from Obscure Sound and enjoy!

Fremmed fyr i tjueåra. Streit. Veldig streit. Han er faktisk så streit at man knapt legger merke til han, men it’s all good. Han er ikke akkurat stygg. Jeg smiler, ser at han kikker på meg sittende på benken på andre siden av rommet, bak et par rulletrapper. Det er salg på Glasmagasinet ved siden av meg. Femti prosent og greier. Han legger merke til at jeg smiler, men han rekker ikke helt å reagere. Stirrer på meg. Litt for lenge. Ser han helt psyko ut? Jo, ja. Du gjorde det. Litt, hvertfall. Jeg smiler bredere, han løfter på øyebryna. Skeivt glis. Han ender opp med å se skikkelig ekkel ut, stakkar. Fnisende, så ser jeg tilbake på venninnene og fortsetter samtalen. Jeg ser at han kikker ned på meg fra andre etasje et par minutter seinere. Han hadde fint skjegg, i det minste.

Af Mikkel Maier Henriksen

Efteråret nærmer sig og dagene bliver koldere, vådere og kortere. Derfor bringer vi her 10 forslag til nye og gamle albums du kan lytte til, når du sidder med en kop varm kakao og regnen trommer mod ruden, mens blade og ikke-fasttøjrede småbørn i for store flyverdragter kastes gennem luften af orkanagtige vindstød.

Hvad kendetegner så efterårsmusik? Umiddelbart tænker jeg på et dystert, melankolsk og afdæmpet udtryk, ofte i retning af det akustiske og folk-inspirerede. Derfor vil jeg heller ikke i denne artikel beskæftige mig med fx metal, på trods af at man ofte her finder dystre og fortvivlede tekster.

Det følgende er mine meget subjektive forslag til albums, man skal børste de gulnede blade af, før man kan sætte dem i afspilleren. Betragt det som et diskussionsoplæg!

Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago (2008)
Bon Iver udfordrer på en af 2008s bedste udgivelser koryfæer som Dylan i kategorien bedste breakup-album. Smukt og skrøbeligt, med en markant lys vokal og rammende tekster om tabt kærlighed.

Thomas Dybdahl: That Great October Sound (2002)
Albumtitlen siger næsten det hele. Dybdahl er en lidt for overset norsk singer-songwriter med en forkærlighed for det afdæmpede og akustiske udtryk. Med sin markante stemme udtrykker han en inderlighed og dybfølthed, der næsten gør ondt.

Cat Power: Moon Pix (1998)
Chan Marshalls efter min mening bedste album. Kvindelig singer-songwriter med en både kælen og rusten stemme, og så meget nerve og kant, at man skal være forsigtig for ikke at skære sig.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: No More Shall We Part (2001)
Cave demonstrerer sin kunstneriske spændvidde på et album fyldt med ufatteligt smukke og dystre ballader, der bliver hos én længe efter den sidste tone er klinget af.

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy: I See a Darkness (1999)
Hvis ikke track-titler som ‘Another day full of dread’, ‘Death to Everyone’ og ‘Black’ formidler, hvor tungsindigt dette album er, gør det sorte cover med dødningehovedet det måske. Ikke desto mindre er det et fremragende udspil fra en produktiv herre med et højt bundniveau. Titelnummeret flår dit hjerte ud, tramper på det, og af underlige årsager er du taknemmelig for at have hørt det alligevel.

Nick Drake: Pink Moon (1972)
Drake er et uomgængeligt ikon i singer-songwriter verdenen. Han udgav tre albums med spinkle, inderlige og sjæleudkrængende guitarnumre inden han desværre begik selvmord. For mig er Pink Moon indbegrebet af et efterårsalbum – soundtracket til blade, der daler fra træerne.

Beck: Sea Change (2002)
Enmandsgenren Beck tager en pause fra de mere funky udspil og begår en fremragende samling melankolske ballader. Det burde han gøre noget oftere. Specielt ‘Lost Cause’ er uafrystelig.

Damien Rice: 9 (2006)
Undervurderet irsk singer-songwriter krænger sjælen ud på stemningsfuldt album. Stærk konkurrence fra Rices tidligere udspil O, men den hjerteskærende inderlighed på ‘9 Crimes’ og ‘Accidental Babies’ tipper balancen til 9’s fordel.

Tiny Vipers: Life on Earth (2009)
Singer-songwriter Jesy Fortino er denne listes outsider, men en personlig favorit. Ene med sin guitar og sin fantastiske stemme lyder hun uhyggeligt nærværende. Med Life on Earth har hun begået et enormt stemningsfuldt album.

Leonard Cohen: Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967)
Canadieren med den dybe stemme har skrevet og sunget et utal af fantastiske sange. Personligt foretrækker jeg hans materiale fra 60’erne og 70’erne. Dette første album er fabelagtigt, og du skylder det virkelig at læse teksterne mens du lytter.

Det var mine bud. Definitionen af, hvad et efterårsalbum er, sætter selvfølgelig visse begrænsninger for, hvad der kan inkluderes. Joy Divisions fremragende Closer eller neo-klassisk musik som Max Richter kunne også være gode bud på musik, der fanger den dystre og melankolske stemning, men falder uden for det mere akustiske fokus, jeg har valgt for denne artikel.

Kom hellere end gerne med dine bud på god efterårsmusik i kommentarerne!

Dessa vez, nomes de uma geração mais recente, que ainda prometem ser tão grandes (alguns já o são) quanto os clássicos da boa música.

Stephen Malkmus foi vocalista do Pavement, banda seminal do indie rock. Entre outros projetos paralelos, Malkmus tem uma carreira solo bem sucedida. Aqui, vamos ouvi-lo tocar um clássico de Bob Dylan, juntamente com a banda The Million Dollar Babies. A música é “Ballad of Thin Man”, lançada originalmente em 1965, no disco Highway 61 Revisited. Observação fundamental: essa versão consta na trilha sonora do filme “Eu não estava lá”, inspirado na vida e obra de Bob Dylan.

Arctic Monkeys é uma banda britânica formada em 2002. Alex Turner, vocalista do grupo, é considerado o grande nome do rock atual, com letras, melodias e sacadas inspiradas em David Bowie, Nick Cave e Scott Walker. Aqui vamos ouvir a banda tocando “Red Right Hand”, de Nick Cave. Observação fundamental: Alex Turner tem 23 anos, quatro excelentes discos lançados e ainda promete muito para o rock.

continua…

5. The One I Love. REM

4. Somebody to Love. Jefferson Airplane

3. Whole Lotta Love. Led Zeppelin

2. My Wild Love. The Doors

1. Do You Love Me. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

I was enjoying Howard Kurt’z Media Talkback page over on WaPo so much that I decided to make one of my own. So then, ask me anything. It can be on anything from gardening to politics, child rearing to astronomy or underwater basket weaving. Leave your questions in a comment, and if I like ‘em, I’ll do my best to answer ‘em.

I’ll start it out:

Dear Jason,

What are some obscure rock songs that make direct references to Homer’s Odyssey?

Thanks,

Nobody.

Thanks for writing, Nobody. In answer to your question, I can tell you that The Church and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds both have songs that refer to Homer’s Odyssey. Cave makes the most direct reference to The Odyssey with the song “Night of the Lotus-Eaters,” which is from his newest album, Dig, Lazarus, Dig! The lotus-eaters were people in or near present-day Libya who apparently ate lotus flowers (and fruits?) as their primary food, and were overcome by the plant’s powerful narcotic effect. Homer’s crew also was under the sway of these plants for a while.

The Church’s reference to The Odyssey is a little more oblique, and harder to find. The track “Ionian Blues” from the band’s 2006 EP Back With Two Beasts (considered by dedicated fans to be one of the band’s best releases) is filled with references to being trapped by the nymph Calypso for seven years, and the line “the old earth-shaker won’t be happy till I die” was made with reference to Poseidon, the Greek god of earthquakes, whom Odysseus had angered by killing his cyclops son.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds make a second reference to The Odyssey on their latest album in the song “More News From Nowhere.” One of the verses in that song is a retelling of the story of how the Odysseus blinded the cyclops after claiming his name was “Nobody,” (hmm…) which actually is how the cyclops knew who he was (it was prophesied.) But Cave makes no mention of facing punishment by Poseidon as a result.

Anything else I can help you with?

Dear Jason,

What can you tell me about the Linux virtual memory architecture on the IBM POWER 4 processor?

Thanks,

not jcarr

Linux is not my strong suit anymore, but I’d recommend looking at Linux on POWER: An overview for developers.

Anything else? Comment away, and I’ll do my best to answer.

KEXP
KEXP is excited to bring you the newest addition to the live at KEXP family: Live at KEXP Volume Five. Lovingly compiled from the best of its over 440 live in-studio performances hosted by KEXP in 2009, this CD is more than a record; it’s a testament that independent music and art is still alive and kicking. On the disc, you will find one-of-a-kind, exclusive live tracks from some of this year’s greatest artists, some well known, others just discovered, including DeVotchka, The Hold Steady, Andrew Bird, MGMT, Of Montreal, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Hey Marseilles and many more. All the bands on this compilation have donated their performances to support KEXP, a listener-powered, non-profit public radio station based in Seattle, Washington.

I interviewed Joe from Joe Gideon & The Shark ahead of their September gig in Crawdaddy, Dublin.  The band is often compared to Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and have even toured together.

“I’m a big fan of the Seeds, so is my sister, when we got asked to do that it was God damn amazing. There was one little problem area and that was I was expecting my first child, and it was gonna be 12 days before the first [tour] date so we didn’t know how that was gonna work out… but it did!”

Joe and his sister Viva have been playing music together ever since Viva’s dreams of being a gymnast were dashed as a result of a persistent knee injury.

So with an impressive ex-gymnast (Viva actually competed at the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992 as a rhythmic gymnast) should we expect back flips, handstands and theatrics from the bands performances?

We’re trying our very best just to play these songs that we’ve got and if there’s any theatricality that comes with it that’s from natural expression not predesigned. The songs are story led so you find yourself falling into the stories…

Article for Connected. For more click here.

www.myspace.com/joegideonandtheshark

Sometimes these little vignettey mixes make their way into my cerebellum and they just hang out for a little bit. A few hours, a couple days, a walk to the train and the ride home. This one is worth keeping a record of:

1. “Good Good Day,” Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
2. “Zebulon,” Einstürzende Neubauten
3. “Send His Love To Me,” PJ Harvey
4. “I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down,” Elvis Costello
5. “We Float,” PJ Harvey
6. “Straight To You,” Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
7. “Indoor Fireworks,” Elvis Costello

Nulle Part Ailleurs (aka NPA) foi un programa de entrevistas do Canal + francés que estivo en antena dende setembro de 1987 ata xuño de 2001 polo cal pasaron as maiores estrelas do cine, da música, da televisión ou da literatura entre outros. Pero ímonos centrar na parte musical porque realmente impresiona a cantidade de grupos e artistas de primeira liña que actuaron no programa: dende clásicos como Jimi Page e Robert Plant, David Bowie, Iggy Pop ou AC/DC pasando polos grupos punteiros dos 90 como Nirvana, Radiohead, Sepultura ata bandas que estaban totalmente fóra do mainstream como The Jesus Lizard ou Helmet.

Ésta é a primeira parte das deceas de vídeos existentes do programa. Irei recopilándoas porque paréceme moi interesante todo o elenco de artistas que actuaron nese plató.

Aquí en España tíñamos ó programa Lo + Plus (basado na idea do NPA) presentado por Máximo Pradera e Fernando Schwartz, un dos mellores programas da súa época e con invitados de nivel. A única pega que tiña eran as actuacións musicais: mentres en Francia levaban a Jeff Buckley aquí actuaba Rosario Flores.

Spain is different. Disfruten.

1. Jimmy Page & Robert Plant – ‘Rock’n'Roll’

2. David Bowie – ‘Scary Monsters’

3. Radiohead – ‘Karma Police’

4. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds feat. Kylie Minogue – ‘Where The Wild Roses Grow’

5. The Jesus Lizard – ‘Thumper’

6. L7 – ‘Drama’

7. Portishead – ‘Glory Box’

8. Sonic Youth – ‘Sunday’

9. The Smashing Pumpkins – ‘Bullet With Butterfly Wings’

10. Sepultura – ‘Refuse/Resist’

11. The Breeders – ‘Cannonball’

12. Deftones – ‘Change (In The House Of Flies)’

13. Depeche Mode – ‘It’s No Good’

14. The Cure – ‘Boys Don’t Cry’

15. PJ Harvey - ’Good Fortune’

16. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – ‘Weil’

17. Nirvana – ‘Rape Me’

18. Helmet – ‘Pure’

19. A Perfect Circle – ‘Judith’

20. Soulfly – ‘Tribe’

It may go against the title of this blog to write a post so full of praise as this one undoubtedly will be, but fuck it – there was a hell of a lot of good stuff on offer at Latitude this year and I made a lot of new personal discoveries. Without further ado then, the 8* best things I saw at Latitude ‘09.

(*Yes, it would’ve been 10 but there’s already about 1500 words here, and there were too many bands vying for the 9 and 10 slots. I’ll cover everything else I saw soon, promise.)

8. Wildbirds & Peacedrums

Imagine, if you will, the voices of Feist and Beth Ditto compacted into one sleek, Swedish package. That’s Mariam Wallentin, who with husband Andreas Werliin comprises Swedish duo Wildbirds & Peacedrums. The duo make music that’s almost entirely percussive, with drums, timpani and other percussion instruments forming an intense background for Mariam’s spectacular voice. The duo play and sing with an energy that makes it difficult not to be drawn in – indeed, their final song sees Mariam whacking her drums so hard that she manages to make one of her drumsticks fly off to the side of the stage. Their set was intriguing throughout, but ‘There Is No Light’ stood out for me with it’s soulful vocal delivery and incessant drumbeat. If you’re looking for something a little different from your average guitar band, then Wildbirds & Peacedrums will definitely sate your appetite.

7. The Temper Trap

Namedropped by the BBC as ones to watch at the start of the year, The Temper Trap showed that they’re not just another hype band with their impressive performance on Friday. The band have a dense, epic sound that gives the impression that they’re made for big stages already, from the swooning, blissful tones and sweetly sung vocal of ‘Sweet Disposition’ to the racy, infectious paranoia of ‘Science Of Fear’. And, true to the spirit of Latitude as a festival for everyone, a cheerful-looking grey-haired chap who must have been at least in his 50s or so bounces past me with his wife and declares to a similarly-aged couple, “This band are fucking amazing!” Broad appeal and massive tunes too? Sounds like the Temper Trap could be on to a winner.

6. Grace Jones

Having got a tad bored of Spiritualized and increasingly irritated by the collection of jeb-ends that I was stood near in the tent, I made my way to the main stage to catch the last half an hour or so of Grace Jones. And you know what? I wish I’d seen the whole damn thing, because the spectacle she put on was fantastic. Within a few minutes of me turning up, she was strutting her way through ‘Pull Up To The Bumper’, intent on getting up close and personal with the crowd. “I need a big man,” she intoned, approaching the edge of the stage and pointing to a no-doubt terrified member of stage security, before parading around the barriers on the shoulders of said ‘big man’, reaching out and touching the worked up crowd. Further show(wo)manship was came in the form of outrageous hats (including a crystal-encrusted number that reflected coloured lights across the stage) and enough flaunting of that impossibly-toned body to allure even the biggest prude. Seriously, she turned 61 in May and still has the body of a 20-something – absolutely insane. She wrapped things up by  producing a hula hoop and then casually (casually!) gyrating her way through her final number while effortlessly singing and introducing the members of her band.

As she thanks us and leaves the stage, the clamour for more is deafening, even as the lights go up. But just as it looks like the crowd’s appreciation is going to go unrecognised, Grace storms back out onto the stage. “There’s a fucking curfew!” she booms, frustrated that she can’t continue to play. The plug on the PA is quickly pulled before she can say her parting words of thanks, but the fact that the icon has reciprocated the crowd’s appreciation by simply returning to the stage is enough. I can now honestly say that I’d pay good money to see a Grace Jones show – and that’s something I’d never even considered coming into the festival.

5. Editors

I’m sure many people rolled their eyes when they heard that Editors were ‘going electro’ for their forthcoming third album In This Light And On This Evening, but within the space of an hour (or, more accurately, four new songs), the doubters may well have had to reconsider. Starting bravely with a new song that features both smooth synths and somewhat jarring staccato samples that sound like tyres skidding, the transformation is complete when classic set-closer ‘Fingers In The Factories’ segues effortlessly into the last of their new songs – and with moody, Depeche Mode synths, thumping beats and God-bothering lyrics (“If there really was a god here/he’d have raised a hand by now”), it’s absolutely amazing. And yet, it’s still unmistakably the same Editors we know and love – they’re still making upliftingly gloomy music, it’s just that they’re using different tools for the job.

4. Thom Yorke

Some of the people I was with at the festival were disappointed by Thom Yorke’s solo slot on Sunday, but to be honest I can’t understand why. It had classic Radiohead tracks (‘Everything In It’s Right Place’, ‘There There’), brilliant solo songs (‘The Eraser’, ‘Harrowdown Hill’), intriguing new songs (‘Follow Me Around’, The Present Tense’ – floating around on Youtube as we speak, a fact that was wryly acknowledged by Yorke during his set), ‘True Love Waits’ got a rare live airing, and he played an absolutely gorgeous solo version of ‘Videotape’, (my personal favourite track from In Rainbows) – what more could you want? I mean, you weren’t expecting him to play ‘Creep’ or something were you?

3. Bat For Lashes

Anybody who thought that Bat For Lashes don’t quite cut it live was surely forced to eat their words, regurgitate them, and eat them again after Natasha Khan’s utterly spellbinding performance on Friday night. There was certainly a lot of interest in her – the tent was so rammed that I could barely see anything. But what I heard confirmed my love for Khan’s work – big, echoy drums and chiming, swirling, epic instrumentation serve as a wonderful backdrop for her beautiful voice and almost fairytale lyrics. Spine-tingling highlights for me were enchanting opener ‘Glass’, ‘Siren Song’, ‘What’s A Girl To Do?’ and the bombastic, mystical brilliance of ‘Two Planets’. Although it seems that most people were sticking around to hear ‘Daniel’ – saved as a set closer of course, it was undoubtedly the song that got the biggest response. For me, Bat For Lashes stands head and shoulders above the crop of female solo artists that have cropped up this year, and performances like this just serve to confirm that.

2. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Having only listened to a small amount of his material, I didn’t feel like I knew that much about Nick Cave going into the Festival. But if there’s one thing I definitely know afterwards, it’s this: He’s bloody awesome live. The man has a spectacular way with words and a voice to match, and together with his Bad Seeds he rattled through a cross-section of tracks from their back catalogue. From the chugging, distorted riffs of ‘Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!’ to the death row theatrics of ‘The Mercy Seat’, every moment is compelling – and never more so than during set-closer ‘Stagger Lee’, with Cave delivering its menacing wild-west story with a swagger in his step and fire in his eyes. To be fair though, violinist/guitarist Warren Ellis (a “big, bearded fucker” as Cave calls him at one point) does his best to steal the show – particularly during ‘We Call Upon The Author’, which sees him sprawled on the floor, inducing an effects-pedal based freakout whilst also shouting out backing vocals. Together with Cave’s imposing presence, it makes for a performance that you’re unlikely to forget in a hurry.

1. Fever Ray

Mesmerising. Bewildering. Brilliant.

Those are some of the words I would try to use use to sum up the genius of Fever Ray, (aka Karin Dreijer Anderson from The Knife), but nothing can quite convey just how amazing it was. Karin and her band were wearing striking, elaborate costumes (and there were huge cheers when she finally removed her cape/mask combination), but that only served to accentuate the bizarre brilliance of the music. Whirring electronic noise, minimal beats, ominous synths, infectious guitar loops, tribal drumming – these are just some of the things that make up the band’s wondrous soundscapes. However, it’s Karin’s voice that’s the star of the show – at times sounding very much reminiscent of her vocals for The Knife, but at others warped to an almost demonic growl. Add into the mix her dark, often cryptic lyrics and you’ve got a package that you can’t tear your ears away from. Stirring stuff, and despite the stiff competition, the best thing I saw all festival.

Last night was Java and a movie. It’s very similar to dinner and a movie but it involves less food and more object-oriented discussion. (Inheritance, polymorphism, blahblah…) It was essentially the perfect date.

♥ Crumbs Bakeshop¹ on East 8th Street for a seasonal key lime cupcake.

♥ Java class for entertainment and education.

♥ In A Lonely Place at the Film Forum. This is such a good movie.

♥ New York and Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! at almost-midnight.

1: A brief word of reviewage. Crumbs’ cupcakes were a little on the big side — yes, it is possible to have too much of an only decent thing — and the texture of the frosting wasn’t great. I’d like to try their pistachio cupcake, though. Sugar Sweet Sunshine is still reigning cupcakery champion. Their pistachio is A++ and I have, in the past, brought dozens of their confections back with me to Vermont.