I’m so glad I decided to check the Bandstand Busking website for new footage because If I hadn’t, It would have prolonged my discovery of the fantastical wonderment of…Woodpigeon.
Originating from Calgary, they’ve been around for a few years and have released two albums entitled ‘Songbook’ and ‘Treasury Library Canada’ along with a whole bunch of EP’s. They capture an equilibrium between folk, roots, indie-pop and even faint hints of classical music. On the one hand, they perfectly grasp the raw honesty that folk music is best known (and loved) for – singing about the distinct lack of peace, love and understanding in the world. Yet on the other, they still manage to convey these issues within intricately constructed, melodic and often catchy songs that indie-pop music allows.
Some songs are jampacked with different instruments, distortion pedals and tonnes of reverb (e.g. tic tac toe) which makes me imagine the band and the engineer, riddled with sheer love and musical excitement and the aspiration to make the song the best it can be, whilst still maintaining a fleeting look of dazed craziness in their eyes. And there are the more mellow songs; with the band armed only with an acoustic guitar, an oboe, a cello and a ukulele that can have just as much of an impact on the listener, if not even a stronger one. These songs are often dominated by Mark Hamilton’s sweet voice, with harmonies and delicate string arrangements coming in in just the right places.
Some of my favourites include; ‘I Live A Lot Of Places’ which is a really, really fantastic song that begins with powerful string arrangements which eventually fade into the background as soon as the song gets going. My absolute favourite though, is ‘The Hamilton Academicals’ - It sounds so achingly sad, especially with the melancholic minor notes of the violin and cello and the opening line of ‘Seventeen years gone by, Twenty one days I’ve cried’. Mark Hamilton sings in such an effortless and soft spoken way that makes you picture Hamilton merely stating his thoughts outloud. The music of Woodpigeon works as an outlet that proves how brilliant a songwriter Mark Hamilton is and how talented the musicians in the band are.
is made up of one, Michael Benjamin Lerner (but is joined by a band while on stage) who comes from Seattle, USA. Lerner really reminds me of Benjamin Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie and his music does have a slight resemblance to Death Cab too – this comes as no surprise as Chris Walla produced the album. Either way, Telekinesis shows that Lerner has heaps of talent and can write awesome and really catchy songs that could make anyone smile.
There are sweet, acoustic love songs as well as punchy, energetic indie-pop songs, all of which allow Lerner’s lovely voice to shine through. Songs such as Tokyo and Coast of Carolina are more upbeat and can really lift up your spirits whilst Rust and I Saw Lightning are more mellow and can allow you to just chill out and appreciate it’s simplicity. Another aspect that further confirms how talented this guy is, is that he recorded all of the instruments on the album himself despite not being as comfortable on some instruments as he is on drums. Impressive!
Michael Lerner approached the album with a don’t look back mindset and the belief that music shouldn’t be over-analysed and critical but more spontaneous and flawed. He believes that music shouldn’t be perfect which I think is such a nice and refreshing way of recording an album :)!
Check out their Myspace, buy their album, go see them live when they tour!
Here’s a video of my personal favourite, Rust.
From the songs I’ve heard and the videos I’ve watched, Dawes seem to be a really great band. I decided to check them out after discovering that they supported Delta Spirit on one of their US tours not too long ago and almost instantly fell in love with their music.
Their songs are made up of beautiful harmonies not unlike a modern day Crosby, Stills and Nash and The Band (they probably get that a lot) yet 
still maintaining their own sound. Even after one listen it becomes obvious that these guys are talented and passionate songwriters. You can easily kick back and relax to some of their songs whilst others can send a momentary spark of excitement through you. ‘It’s gonna be all right’ which I found on YouTube, can’t help but make you smile, let go of all your insecurities and just sing along at the top of your voice. They also have songs which embrace simplicity and allow a listener to appreciate their striking vocal harmonies and poetic lyrics in their stripped down acoustic songs such as ‘If You Let Me Be Your Anchor’ and ‘Take Me Out Of The City’. My personal favourite, ‘When My Time Comes’ starts off with an awesome yet simple guitar riff which I really like; it also has some pretty inspiring lyrics such as: ‘So I took want I wanted and put it out of my reach, I wanted to make for my successes with all my defeats’ – great lyrics like these are a regular occurence in Dawes’ songs.
Unfortunately I can’t seem to find their album anywhere (in the UK) which is a shame. However, go listen to them on their Myspace and check out their session on Daytrotter. Dawes are currently touring the US with Deer Tick but hopefully we’ll see them in the UK sometime soon!
In the meantime, watch this video – it must have been awesome to see live!
Filed under: Music | Tags: Crosby Stills and Nash, Monk, Review, Royal Albert Hall
Last night (1st July 2009) I saw Crosby, Stills & Nash perform at the Royal Albert Hall. Having been much more of a fan of Neil Young’s solo work in recent years I hadn’t been introduced to the music of Crosby, Stills & Nash until a few weeks ago. After seeing their performance coverage at Glastonbury 2009 I became more and more intrigued about their music and I was very excited (and quite sceptical) about seeing them live myself.
There was no support act which immediately made me think the night was going to end much earlier than regular gigs but It actually lasted for two and a half hours with two encores. The band came on stage promptly at 8pm and was immediately greeted with a standing ovation, which was a regular occurance throughout the night. The night was divided into two sets, with a 20 minute interval inbetween. During the first set the band, armed only with their acoustic guitars and no backing band played their more mellow, folk tunes. It took maybe the first song to warm up and adjust to the beautiful surroundings of the Royal Albert Hall but after that everything fell into place and the audience could then enjoy the aspect Crosby, Stills & Nash’s music is best known for; their stunning vocal harmonies. It’s funny how three men with only a guitar in hand can create such a powerful impact which can leave you astounded.
The second set saw the band play their heavier rock ‘n roll songs – Stephen Stills whipped out his seriously stunning electric guitars and performed incredible solo’s during nearly every song. It’s always nice to see such a talented musician that inspires you to keep practicing your own instrument just so you can be half as good as them and I definitely felt that everytime Still’s belted out a brilliant solo. At one point, Crosby said to the crowd “We all have different roles in the band; Steve writes the fantastic rock ‘n roll songs, Nash writes the anthems and I write the weird tunes” – And weird his tune definitely was! The song started out with lots of ‘oooh’s’ and ‘eeeEEEeee’s but then progressed into something truly enjoyable – around half way through the song each member of the backing band played a solo which showed how remarkable and talented these musicians really are.
As well as the band and venue, another aspect that makes a gig something special is the atmosphere and I could definitely feel the love in the Royal Albert Hall! Left, right and centre I saw people with massive grins on their faces, staring at their heroes in admiration – I even saw a woman who appeared to be wiping a tear from her eye (either that or she was wiping a bead of sweat from her face ‘cos it was pretty warm in there). It was also nice to see people from all walks of life in there – I saw children as young as 12, teenagers, bohemian clad hippies, men dressed in Hawaiien shirts and leather jackets, loyal fans dressed in Crosby, Stills and Nash t-shirts who had obviously been following the band since the 1960s and…normal people. During songs such as ‘Marakesh Express’ I saw people standing up in their seats breaking out their dance moves and during ‘Our House’ and the band’s encore ‘Teach Your Children’ the majority of the crowd were singing along themselves. After almost every song, the same old fans would jump out of their seats and wave their arms around ecstatically – It was really nice to witness such happiness and it just proved how fulfilling music can be for people.
Crosby, Stills and Nash were really wonderful live and I feel incredibly lucky to have seen such musical legends doing what they do best.
The Bigger Splash, an iconic image, and undoubtedly one of my favourites. BBC has a documentary on the man himself which is available on iplayer at the moment. It follows him over a period of three years, and though I’ve never looked into Mr Hockney himself, this was inexplicable; I didn’t expect to find it so indelibly captivating. The best part is probably that he doesn’t talk a lot of…crap that does seem to come from some artists. It is on its simplest level, him looking at the world around him and making something of it on a canvas (or many many many canvasses). Over and over again, going from the basics of sketchbook work, working towards great big paintings spanning giant walls.
Though he amasses tonnes of paintings of the Yorkshire landscape, and also states at the beginning that he doesn’t want to “look through the camera anymore”, he returns to it, and indeed his work is a kind of response to the fact that he doesn’t feel the camera can capture in the way a painting can. It is a point of constant fascination and argument for him, and very relevant to artists now.
I was so inspired by this, and not just because of the ethics of his work, but because this man can talk!! I was pausing every few minutes to write down what he was saying. I had so many quotes, but these are some of my favourite.
“Well in your head you can go anywhere, didn’t you know that? Why, you can even go to the edge, the very edge of the universe in your head! You’ll never get there on the bus or the spaceship or whatever they think of…”
Interviewer: What do you like about it?
DH: I shall paint it!
“He’s taken up painting as an extreme sport”
“… It’s ok for television to say we’re a window on the world, but you’re not connected with it, you want more than that- actually you want to be in it.”
“I’m painting landscapes of Yorkshire because you can’t photograph them. The camera can’t get the beauty of this. It just can’t get the space; the thrilling space that I’m in. We’ve simply got to a point where we think the camera can photograph anything at all well it can’t really. No it can’t compete with painting at all.”
Available for a while still! Go watch!
BBC iplayer DAVID HOCKNEY
“As Hockney approaches the age of 70, he re-invents his painting from scratch, working through the seasons and in all weathers out in the Yorkshire countryside, ending up with the largest picture ever made outdoors. It is at once the story of an unusual homecoming and also an intimate portrait of what inspires Hockney as his time runs out.”
Ketch Harbour Wolves are a wonderful band. From the great sweeping vocals chanting “My words, my words don’t fail me now, I need this communication. My words, my words come through me now, I’m channelling this thing somehow, somehow.” to the gentleness in the lines “Hallelujah, we’re out of our minds. We’re animals, we’re animals.” . Then of course there are the awesome melodies that add to the already passion filled lyrics. There is a great uplifting feeling, though the lyrics hold a kind of melancholia- credit to the terrific build ups that make you want to put your arms up high and sway like a crazy person.
You can absolutely sense the influence the band took from their time by the sea in Nova Scotia; a coastal province of Canada-Wikipedia informs me nowhere in Nova Scotia is more than 67 km (40 mi) from the ocean.
On a side note, the band apparently also have “certain preoccupations with storms, leaves, words.. and plagiarism”.
The 2008 release Dead Calm Horizon was given away FREE! which is a bit mental, but also brave since it’s a absolute whopper of a mini album containing 7 songs- all are with no doubt killer,not the other one(..filler).
The new album is underway, and with front man Jonathan’s talk of going to ”rent some gear, go into the woods and see what happens.” it seems like exciting things may be coming.
Hopefully they might have plans to join us in the UK soon. Yeahhh.
As always though, a trusty video to quench that thirst for live music. Enjoy!
Ketch Harbour Wolves- Words in Toronto
MySpace
Since it’s about a month since being at Kasabian’s mind blowing (and reaaallly sweaty) homecoming gig at De Montfort Hall, I thought I’d give a mention to one of the supports that I enjoyed immensely.
The Hours were just incredibly cool. Front man Antony Genn-who I thought looked the spitting image of Dylan Moran as Bernard in Black Books (probably the hair) had a great stage presence. He had a swagger that was compelling, and which engaged the audience to their songs, which was really impressive because I think much of the audience, like me, was hearing them for the first time.
He also had a awesome way of using, or rather flinging his arms around energetically in meaningful kind of manner that seemed so effortless but illustrated and drew the passion out of each song- kind of like a conductor! It gave so much power to their performance.
The piano player Martin Slattery deserves a big mention too, he sat properly thumping away the catchiest melodies on his upright and was equally as good as Mr Genn. When I wasn’t under the hypnotism of the arms, I was gawking at him banging away.
It’s really nice when you have that instantaneous feeling of “wow” the first time you see a band live. There’s that urge and excitement to get hold of their CD the moment you get home! It’s not often that it happens, but The Hours were definitely one of those lucky times.
The Hours, Big Black Hole.
