Cheers. I may just go for the whole back catalogue as well as the Rapeman stuff which I also haven't got. I have Big Black stuff but, to be honest, I think they are far outclassed by Shellac
I've just been sent an e-mail telling me tickets are available to see the reformed Flesh for Lulu. In the face of pretty stiff competition they are the worst band I've ever seen.
I made this point (forcefully) to a friend of mine who was the singer in a band who were part of that scene in the mid 80’s. Turns out she was shacked up with Flesh for Lulu’s lead wailing corpse from the crypt for several years. Oops.
Mr Beast wrote: I've just been sent an e-mail telling me tickets are available to see the reformed Flesh for Lulu. In the face of pretty stiff competition they are the worst band I've ever seen.
I made this point (forcefully) to a friend of mine who was the singer in a band who were part of that scene in the mid 80’s. Turns out she was shacked up with Flesh for Lulu’s lead wailing corpse from the crypt for several years. Oops.
Not only did I love Flesh For Lulu and they were far away from the worst band I have ever seen but my mate is the bass player.
Off to see Sparks at the Union Chapel in London on Monday. :-)
I've seen them a few times, but they're always worthwhile.
Yep, i'm going too. My first Sparks gig, and i'm damn excited.
The set-up is a bit different from most gigs: (as you may well know) it's just the two of them - Ronald on Piano and Russell singing - no full band, so far as I'm aware.
Off to see Sparks at the Union Chapel in London on Monday. :-)
I've seen them a few times, but they're always worthwhile.
Yep, i'm going too. My first Sparks gig, and i'm damn excited.
The set-up is a bit different from most gigs: (as you may well know) it's just the two of them - Ronald on Piano and Russell singing - no full band, so far as I'm aware.
I was fully aware and spent the evening captivated. That was before Ron starting dancing, and left me scared shitless.
Absolute joy to behold. I love gigs that start early.
I saw Rocket from the Crypt last night in a small Newcastle venue. My ears are severely damaged and it really was too small a venue for the roaring power of their sound, which, until I moved right back to the door, left the horns (my fave part of their schtick) almost indistinguishable.
They had great mariachi-style suits on and I do love almost everything about them. But now I'm almost deaf and absolutely shagged as I had to be up at 6 for picket duty.
RobW wrote: I was fully aware and spent the evening captivated. That was before Ron starting dancing, and left me scared shitless. Absolute joy to behold. I love gigs that start early.
I've been waiting for them to come through T.O. for years now. About four weeks back, I learned on Friday that they were here Saturday...and I was going to be away for the weekend. Sigh.
RobW wrote:
I was fully aware and spent the evening captivated. That was before Ron starting dancing, and left me scared shitless.
Absolute joy to behold. I love gigs that start early.
Glad you enjoyed it, Rob!
Yeah, I loved the early start too. I was able to get home well early (i.e. before midnight) because of that.
BTW - did you hear the bloke randomly shouting things out and clapping at really inappropriate times/out of time? He was one person removed from me & my (other) mate Rob.
Well the group of people next to me, 3 middle aged guys and one of their daughters (very filthy laugh) were quite talkative, i'm not sure if they ever shouted out. I was pretty much right at the back on the left handside.
Saw King Krule at The Independent in San Francisco last night. They were supported by a suitably young band from Montreal called Tops who were a bit like Saint Etienne, just as cheesy, but less danceable. Lead singer seemed to fancy herself. Their tunes were better when she neglected her keyboard.
Archie Marshall looked quite wasted but performed impeccably. His angry, almost-croaky voice was at times a bit much for the sound-system I thought, though this probably wasn't the general consensus. Always loud in this place, saw Palma Violets here in April and they're hardly the biggest rockers on the planet but I found the feedback somewhat unpleasant, it being a small venue and whatnot, though I couldn't really complain about their performance, other than being jealous at a load of kids living the dream and acting a bit dick-ish on stage, enjoying themselves and whatnot whilst I work an unsatisfying job in an office that's slowly killing me.
Highlights of King Krule were the usual suspects off the album, Lizard State, Out Getting Ribs, and the opener Has This Hit? All excellent. Interesting sound they have, very stop-start with the good riffs, doling it out in doses, like a bloke trying hard not to come too quickly and pulling out and using his fingers for a bit before going back in. And then doing the same or something similar, over and over. Took a while for the goosebumps to manifest, but enjoyable nonetheless.
The drummer said that Out Getting Ribs was the last song, so headed off with the bird before finding out for sure, though most were hanging around for an encore. Since they didn't come out until about 10pm for an 8pm start, and the last train to Oakland leaves at 12:20pm, thought it best to get going as it was around quarter past eleven and it was a twenty or so minute walk to the station. Wish bands would come out a bit earlier, especially on a weeknight. Reckon it's a conspiracy with venues to keep people heading to the bar as often as possible, as most seem to stop buying more once bands get going, and leave straight away, obviously. The bastards. Still, a good night, and glad I got to see him. Quite interested as to how they'll sound on the next album, as a lot of the guitar-work is a bit samey and Marshall evidently has the capacity for versatility judging by his other projects and releases.
Rather than go to my works Christmas party I went to the Barbican to see the BBC SO.
I don't know how he did it but I'm convinced that Wagner cheated with the Tristan chord. There is no other explanation for how that one cluster of notes can affect people (me) in such a physical way.
I'm also becoming more and more enamoured of the Lieder genre. Is genre the right word? I wasn't really aware of them up until a year ago but both the Wesendonck lieder and Berg's seven early songs were beautiful.
All topped off by Death and Transfiguration. I don't get Strauss, what was he doing in the 20s and 30s?
Actually not topped off as the brass section gave us a rendition of christmas songs.
While I've ventured into the gigs thread I also went to see Gyorgy Kurtag on 1st December.
The bill was his Hipartita for solo violin followed by Gyorgy and Marta performing excerpts from Játékok (Games), Ligaturae and Messages interspersed with Bach works transcribed by Kurtág.
I was spellbound. To be honest I wasn't aware of Kurtag before I saw the concert advertised, but it was beautiful. I also liked the fact that Kurtag requested a Chelsea piano rather than the the normal Steinway grand, I think it was on here that I read about the significant differences between the sound from different makers.
The couple then gave an encore of a Schumann piece which I regret not noting what it was. Gyorgy was then presented with a medal from the Royal Philharmonic Society and rather than give a speach him and Marta performed a Mozart piece for 4 hands.
I really should go to more things with composers I'm not familiar with. I'll have some misses but how else will I discover more music?
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