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I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my gig-going adventures this year, despite what some of them (hello, Wolf Eyes; konichiwa, Acid Mothers Temple) did to my ears. I may have met you there, I was the hairy little fella, who kept quiet during the bands, but between songs was banging on about the restaurant he ate in earlier in the evening (hmmm, maybe I should do a top 10 restaurants of the year too). Anyway, these are the ones which will probably linger longest in the memory… Read the rest of this entry »
After the crashing inevitability of last year’s chart, in which a couple of highly-paid fancy dan records toyed condescendingly with the opposition, 2007 was a much tighter affair, all solid defence, and in true cattenacio fashion, a sucker punch winner right at the death. They’ll be dancing in the streets of Stockholm after this, no doubt. Read the rest of this entry »
…was a rubbish suggestion of mine for a pub quiz team name, when we were going with a theme of inserting the names of things you would find in the kitchen into the titles of films. Others I can remember included The Collander Girls, The Italian Hob, Fridge Over The River Kwai, Sieve and Let Die, Spice Racks Like Us and, best of all, The Breville Wears Prada.
What am I getting at? Well, I just noticed that the one year anniversary of this blog residing at WordPress has just passed, and thought it was worth noting. After a nascent period tinkering about over at Livejournal, the first piece posted on this site proper was a review of the This Heat Out Of Cold Storage box set. It has all been downhill ever since, some would say. Anyway, I figure this gives me an excuse for some navel-gazing (I see no ships! Oh, wait…), and delving into a year’s worth of stats.
Top 10 most popular album reviews (by number of readers) in the last 12 months:
1. Wilco, Sky Blue Sky
2. Bjork, Volta
3. Joanna Newsom, Ys
4. Panda Bear, Person Pitch
5. Battles, Mirrored
6. Tim Hecker, Harmony In Ultraviolet
7. Caribou, Andorra
8. Stuart Staples etc, Songs For The Young At Heart
9. Animal Collective, People EP
10. Max Richter, Songs From Before
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the bigger the artist, the more readers (hmmmm, I hope all those people didn’t feel too short-changed by the Bjork review). Encouraging to see all those hits for Tim Hecker and Max Richter though; I wouldn’t have guessed at those being up there.
Onto the top 10 most popular live reviews in the last 12 months:
1. Cecil Taylor and Anthony Braxton at the RFH
2. Bonnie Prince Billy at Shepherds Bush
3. Fennesz and Philip Jeck at the Bedford Arms
4. Field Day at Victoria Park just last week
5. Keiji Haino and Chris Corsano at The Spitz
6. Matmos and Cornelius at the RFH
7. Supersilent and others at Cargo
8. Homefires 2007 day 2 (day 1 strangely unloved)
9. Tony Conrad and Islaja at St Giles
10. Tindersticks at The Barbican
I don’t really go to so many gigs by really big acts (too many people, too many queues, too far from the stage, too much security hassle), hence the list is a bit more varied. A well-attended event will of course still do pretty well - that Field Day review is only a week old (an amazing number of hits have come from people googling “field day queues”, funnily enough). At number three though…a gig in a pub in South London. That pleases me.
And if you want to see a sample of the best of 12 months worth of inappropriate search terms, they are over there at Page Not Found.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for all your comments, corrections and even insults over the last year. Keep them coming.
1. SUPERSILENT, IN THE COUNTRY AND SUSANNA AND THE MAGICAL ORCHESTRA : At this Rune Grammofon showcase, Supersilent were unforgiving, unfettered, uncontrollable, unimaginable, ungodly, unyielding, unscripted, unmetered, unfathomable, unmistakeable, unparalleled, unbeatable, and nearly unreviewable. We were undeserving. review
2. STEVE REICH : A luminous performance of Music for 18 Musicians capped off a special 70th birthday celebration, with the man himself on piano and marimba. I took someone along to this who had never heard any of his music before. My good deed for the year done, I promptly suspended all charitable donations for the remainder of 2006. review
3. FENNESZ, PHILIP JECK, ROSY PARLANE AND CM VON HAUSSWOLFF : Touch’s 25th birthday was celebrated suitably in a boozer in South London. For a label with such singular vision, the evening’s four performers took us deep into different crevices along the electronic music cliff face. And I got to buy the new Biosphere record months before release. review
4. OREN AMBARCHI/MARGARIDA GARCIA, STEPHAN MATHIEU/PAULO RAPOSO, JOHN DUNCAN/ALFREDO COSTA MONTEIRO : A night of buzz, drone and various other adjectives unrelated to bees in a most beautiful church setting. I fell into such a state of blissful reverie that I actually fell asleep, dreaming of flying with birds. My favourite dream. review
5. INDOOR EAGLE : An unexpectedly riotous evening ensued when Thurston Moore plugged in to a gig already featuring the combined talents of Chris Corsano, Six Organs Of Admittance’s Ben Chasny, and Sunburned Hand Of The Man’s John Moloney. So many Hoxtonites spontaneously wet themselves that my shoes were ruined. Well bum. review
6. THE BOOKS AND KIM HIORTHOY: Synchronicity and syncopation; The Books weaved charity shop video and audio samples to their rustic electronics with consummate skill . Every single syllable and minute of multimedia became so entwined with themusic’s rhythms that is hard to imagine how they could ever have existed separately. review
7. HOMEFIRES III: Vashti Bunyan, Grizzly Bear, Final Fantasy, The Fence Collective, Isobel Campbell, Adem, and way better than all of that, SOME PEOPLE WHITTLING TABLE LEGS OUT OF WOOD AND MAKING MUSIC OUT OF THE PROCESS. Also, the chance to sit around on the floor for two days is always greatly appreciated by this aging reviewer too. review
8. KONONO NO.1 : They nearly blew the roof off the Barbican with their loud, incessant, crazy, buzzy thumb likembe rhythms. People from the ages of three to eighty-three were witnessed dancing themselves dizzy and giving shout outs to Kinshasa. Not sure what all this had to do with Steve Reich’s birthday celebrations, but great fun nonetheless. review
9) KEIJI HAINO AND CHRIS CORSANO : This night had to make the list by virtue of the impressive feat of being probably the loudest thing I have ever heard - Haino was a demon cooking up pure malevolence from theremins, guitars, ritualistic chants, drums, and a giant wall of amps. It was all so far out it had to be given a separate postcode. review
10) TINDERSTICKS : The Barbican was almost flooded with an ocean of tears, as hundreds of grown men lost all control of themselves to the likes of “Tiny Tears” and “No More Affairs”. Tindersticks II is such an emotion-wringer; to hear it played so well - and one suspects possibly for the last time - live nearly reduced me to a dried up husk of a man. review
1. JOANNA NEWSOM YS (DRAG CITY): Listening to it still feels like opening the doors to a giant advent calendar, only to look around and find yourself in Santa’s grotto itself. I may never tire of this unique and wonderful piece of art. review listen buy
2. TIM HECKER HARMONY IN ULTRAVIOLET (KRANKY): To me, the most satisfying electronic album since Fennesz’s Endless Summer; this was a consistently dizzying Munch-like whirl of noise and colour. review listen buy
3. THE NECKS CHEMIST (RER): A monumental slab of irresistible propulsion which delivers a tantric masterclass in building unbearable tension; if they ever found that release it would be sooooooooo messy. A career best. review listen buy
4. THOMAS STRONEN POHLITZ (RUNE GRAMMOFON) : The pick of another vintage year for Rune Grammofon, and for Stronen (see his Humcrush release also), Pohlitz was a blur of percussive invention. Give the drummer some. listen buy
5. SVARTE GREINER KNIVE (TYPE): Just when we were thinking about sweeping up the post-party detritus Erik Skodvin snuck out this terrifying and unclassifiable opus. “Like someone assembling a bomb at the opera” I said. High praise, obviously. review listen buy
6. COLLEEN ET LES BOITES A MUSIQUE (LEAF) : An underhyped EP which contained some overwhelmingly powerful yet delicate music box symphonies, blown into shape like glass. She can do no wrong. review listen buy
7. SCOTT WALKER THE DRIFT (4AD) : Now 11 years since his previous release Tilt, and I still haven’t come to terms with that, never mind The Drift. Just thinking about it makes me want to hide under my duvet, eat pillow feathers and weep. listen buy
8. GREG HAINES SLUMBER TIDES (MIASMAH) : This was released so late in the year; I’ve a suspicion that if I had time to give it a few more listens it could have found itself even higher. “Debut of the year” someone said in the comments. I concur. review listen buy
9. GEIR JENSSEN CHO OYU (TOUCH/ASH) : Unexpected beauty and natural rhythms emerge from amidst the icy winds of this audio diary of a mad assault on one of the world’s highest peaks. The lengths some people will go to for our amusement… review listen buy
10. SVALASTOG WOODWORK (RUNE GRAMMOFON) : A beguiling instrumental oddity, the sounds of the zither lent this release an addictive charm; repeated plays suggested a master craftsman was behind Woodwork. review listen buy
11. ALI FARKE TOURE SAVANE (WORLD CIRCUIT) listen buy
12. JUANA MOLINA SON (DOMINO) review listen buy
13. TAYLOR DEUPREE NORTHERN (12K) review listen buy
14. CHRIS CORSANO THE YOUNG CRICKETER (CDR) review listen buy
15. ADRIAN KLUMPES BE STILL (LEAF) review listen buy
16. GRAILS BLACK TAR PROPHECIES 1, 2 & 3 (IMPORTANT) review listen buy
17. WILLIAM BASINSKI VARIATIONS FOR PIANO AND TAPE (2062) review buy
18. MATMOS THE ROSE HAS TEETH…(MATADOR) listen buy
19. JAN JELINEK TIERBEOBACHTUNGEN (~SCAPE) review listen buy
20. CARLA BOZULICH EVANGELISTA (CONSTELLATION) review listen buy
COMMENDED TO THE HOUSE : Johann Johannson IBM 1401, Paul Flaherty and Chris Corsano The Beloved Music, Broadcast The Future Crayon, The Gray Field Recordings Hypnagogia, Humcrush Hornswoggle, Ryan Teague Coins and Crosses, Glenn Kotche Mobile, Benoit Pioulard Precis, Mogwai Zidane, Triosk The Headlight Serenade, Christine Carter Electrice, Xela The Dead Sea, Chicago Underground Duo In Praise Of Shadows, Ricardo Villalobos Fizheuer Zieheuer, In The Country Losing Stones Collecting Bones, Alva Noto For, Boxhead Ensemble Nocturnes, Liars Drums Not Dead, Grizzly Bear Yellow House, Six Organs Of Admittance The Sun Awakens, Christopher Willits Surf Boundaries, Tom Waits Orphans, Burial Burial, Cat Power The Greatest, OOIOO Taiga, Max Richter Songs from Before, Volcano! Beautiful Seizure, Acid Mothers Temple Starless and Bible Black Sabbath, Huntsville For The Middle Class, Nina Nastasia On Leaving…
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