Higher than a

Hmm.  FKA Twigs.  Eh?  FKA Twigs.  I'm in two minds to be honest.  I like elements, and usually I'm a sucker for hyped electronic-y anything.  Twigs is being hyped as the reincarnation of Aaliyah crossed with Sade, the current face of 2010s British r'n'b.  And I do really like the single 'Two Weeks'.  And she's coming to the 930 Club and the show, amazingly, isn't sold out yet (I think it just went on sale Friday and hasn't been advertised yet) -- shows by artists as hyped up as this one usually sell out immediately.  So I'm wondering if I should buy tickets to see her live, but I'm just not sure.  So far, the rest of the album doesn't live up to how good I think 'Two Weeks' is, but some of the live tracks online are still pretty good. I don't really get out much, so it would be something to do, and it's pretty cheap at $20.  It'd also be nice to feel like I'm on the cutting edge of something.  And it doesn't seem like she'd be as much of a let-down live as James Blake was (to be fair, it wasn't so much that he wasn't good live, it was more that I realised I didn't really like his stuff very much).  Well, the soonest I can get up to the box office to get tickets is probably Tuesday, so I guess that's when I'll decide -- and that's assuming there are tickets left.  I'll put the 'Two Weeks' video below -- the rest of the post will seem a bit stale in comparison.  And, umm, feel free to just listen to the music and ignore the video, it's a bit much really.


My other tunes are completely different.  First up a song from a throwbacky Brooklyn band who call themselves Lucius.  It's a pleasant tune, but, to my ears, it pales when compared to something as forward-sounding as 'Two Weeks'.  That's a bit unfair though, cos taken on it's own I still think it's a good song (music starts at 45 seconds):


Next one up is a bit more interesting.  It sounds like it's also from a throwback band, something akin to The Kills, or The Dead Weather, a bit dark and dirty.  But it's actually by a Dutch band and it came out in the late 60's -- so it's an original!  I don't know too much about Shocking Blue, but this track is surprising to me in that it sounds so modern, lyrically.  And it's heavy!

What I did while I was looking after my kid (1)

I'm at home these days on paternal leave hanging out with my youngest kid.  He's two months old so doesn't really do much except eat, sleep, and occasionally make eye contact with me.  Feeding him can take over an hour on a bad day, all of which means I'm spending a lot of time just indoors with not much to do.  So I've decided to be productive and go through old episodes of 'Later... with Jools Holland' that I've recorded.  And I've decided to add to that productivity by blogging about what I'm seeing.  Basically any stand out performances will get blogged, or at least that's the idea -- we'll see if I can keep up with it.

I'm going start with Grizzly Bear, who were on in 2009.  They are an interesting looking band aren't they?  I think I saw this performance before but didn't care for it as much as I did the second time around.  I really like their harmonising and their overall sound; it's just different enough to be interesting but not annoying.  And they look cool.



Next up, the Dead Weather, also from 2009.  These guys are just interesting.  It's like they achieved exactly what they set out to do -- scuzzy rock that sounds vaguely like something from the past but in actuality probably never existed.  It's like Jack White imagined a band and a sound and then it perfectly came to fruition.  Quite amazing really, that a vision can be realised so fully.  I love the organ in this song, and I like also like how Jack White's at the back of the set-up, even though he's one of the singers -- it does seem like his voice is dropping in as some kind of sample.  Great dancing too.  One thing I've wondered about Jack White -- how does he get his skin that colour??  Is it a condition?  Make-up?  Or is just the blue lighting?  Oh yeah, another thing I like about this performance is that they really seem to go all out.  I feel like often on Jools Holland musicians play in an embarrassed or self-conscious way -- probably cos they're being watched by all the other musicians.  But not these guys.

This link's got a short interview from the same show.

Lastly, some more great dancing, this time from Dave Gahan.  It may just be me, but when I see a band like Depeche Mode, bands from the 80's who've been through all the drugs and controversy, I do feel like there's a defiance there that comes from having got through it and still being around.  It's the same with Boy George.  It's good, I'm glad they're here and doing ok.  Dave Gahan still looks cool.  Another great thing about this performance is seeing how the band produces it's sound.  I've not seen them live, or really seen them perform in any capacity, so seeing the different elements work together is pretty interesting -- for instance, seeing that Gahan and Martin Gore lay their voices over each other to produce a sound that is so familiar to me, but one I'd not really noticed the particulars of until I saw them doing it here.  For a more explicit example, check out their performance of 'Personal Jesus' (though doing so may take away from the seemingly magical alchemy of the pop song).  I really liked this performance:

The White Streets

Coupla things. First is a comment after reading this article. To summarise, Jack White runs Third Man records; Third Man releases limited edition stuff by the White Stripes and other bands Jack White is involved in; usually that stuff is a weird vinyl version of an already existing record; now instead of selling at a normal price and letting people flip the records on ebay, Third Man is selling directly through ebay itself and keeping all the extra money. Fans are moaning that it's not fair but I think it's totally legit -- musicians need to make money and White argues that by selling through ebay it's the artist getting the extra cash rather than some random flipper. The music itself is available in other formats for cheap/free, so it's not like fans can't access the actual tunes -- they just can't get the special versions without shelling out extra. And why not? Hasn't it always been that way any way -- limited and special editions cost more but you don't have to buy them. When bands are only making money now from concerts and merchandise I think a strategy like this is actually very clever -- leverage your fame to make some extra money and thus an income. It's better than having your tunes in an advert.


In other news, Mike Skinner is blogging again and this blog is the best one I've come across in a long time. It's updated pretty much every day and he's usually responding to an actual person off twitter, or he's giving us his thoughts on creativity, boredom, fame, etc. Posts are usually accompanied by music or really good imagery -- all the music is coupled to a freshly made video. The tunes are very good which makes me wonder why his last couple of albums have been a bit crap? Sadly they don't seem to be downloadable. There are podcasts which I haven't checked out yet, perhaps the songs are included in those. There's a link to a blog that's supposedly by the Streets' manager, Ted Mayhem, which is also worth a read. He's already influenced my choice of TV to purchase... Skinner only start blogging again in October so if you hurry you can catch up on all his posts without it being too much of a hassle!

This ROCKS: