Fell in Love With a Band

I was so distracted by making sure the Xylophone player got a mention in my last entry about the American Analog Set that I forgot to even write about the support group that night! It was The Go Find, who are pretty good, very like the No Twist. Hurrah. There was absolutely no Xylophone last night at the Wilco show, so Johnathan Rice holds a very good chance of making it into this piece.

Johnathan Rice. I got lost on the way to the venue so I missed most of his set. The first song I heard the whole way through was introduced by Johnathan asking the crowd if they understood the term "passive aggressive", because this song was his passive agressive way of dealing with past heartbreak. "I sing the pain off my face", he sang. His speaking voice is soft, with a southern drawl, in contrast with the rather heavy and low vocal that he delivers. (well, actually, the passive agressive song was sung in the style of Johnny Cash, he told us.) At the end of his set he thanked everyone for coming and "being so damn polite" and the hearty applause didn`t stop til he came back onstage for an encore. "Lucky i wrote more than 7 songs. Um, what shall I play?" he said, and he actually look flummoxed for a moment or two trying to think of a good song to play. He was rubbing his chin, scratching his head saying, "this doesn`t happen often". He is scruffy and charming and reminded me a little bit of Ryan Adams.

Wilco are amazing. Their set blew me away. With 6 of them onstage their sound is just so powerful and they are such great musicians and work together so well. Their songs have so many stop-and-go moments and nobody is ever a step off beat. The musicianship and skill of Wilco serves as a perfect delivery to complement Tweedy's lyrics. "The ashtray said you were up all night", "His aim in life was to be an echo", "I got my name from rock n roll", "I look like someone I used to know". I kind of dont know what to say really, they were just wow.

Their set went something like this.

Hell is Chrome
Muzzle of Bees
I am Trying to Break Your Heart
More Like the Moon
Jesus, Etc
At Least, That's What You Said
Summerteeth
Via Chicago
Hummingbird
War on War
Spiders (Kidsmoke)
Misunderstood
Late Greats
Sunken Treasure
Airline to Heaven
Kingpin
I´m a Wheel
I Shall be Released

I was sad they didn`t play "Heavy Metal Drummer" or even "Theologians". There were 2 encores. Throughout the night, Jeff didn`t say anything to the crowd until halfway through the first encore, when he said "hey, howya doin?". Then, "for the first 45 minutes it was just pure art. Now we can do all the 'hi Berlin!´ bullshit". He said normally they don`t say this but the crowd was the best ever. Well, they were the best ever.

dear Wilco,

i <3 you.

Punk as Fuck

The American Analog set not only came to my town this week, they came to my neighbourhood! On Tuesday September 6th (which coincidentally was the release date for their new album in Europe) they played the Magnet Bar, in Prenzlauerberg, Berlin. It was hard to track down tickets to the show beforehand, and I was afraid I was going to miss out when I saw a big gang of people outside the venue when I arrived, but it was all OK and I got in.

It was really hot and sweaty, the place was packed to capacity probably. It was only the second night of the tour for the band, and they seemed very happy and energetic. Their set was like a hitlist of really dreamy psychedelic 70's sounding songs that you get totally lost in. It seemed like their songs had very abrupt endings - the getting lost in the dreamy pop bit is such a nice feeling and it seems like it should never end. Indeed, one member of the audience shouted "TOO SOON!" this one time when they finished a song. It's like you're dozing away a hot sunny afternoon in a hammock, and then someone just comes along and twists it so that all of a sudden you fall on your ass. Or something. They played an extra two songs for us in the encore.

The band played some older songs like "Kindness of Strangers" and also new stuff from their new release, "Set Free", which sounds quite lovely. The band's frontman, Andrew Kenny delivers each song in his soft and sad voice, and they have a dedicated Xylophone player/Maracas shaker which I have the utmost respect for. On their website some live downloads are available, "Punk as Fuck", "I Must Quit This Scene" etc etc.

I love the radio here in Berlin. I wake up and turn it on and it's Phoenix and the Knife, then I come home at night and there's a live set from Nada Surf. They played Munich last week, and as there was no stage in the venue, they clambered up on tables to give their performance. At the end of the show I heard on the radio, they recieved three encores! I hope I`m still here in November when they come back.

Art Brut are the cover boys+girl for the German Rolling Stone at the moment. It will be fun to see them again when they play here next week. The band are taking part in the Popkomm festival, which is an industry showdown, sort of like SXSW.

Upcoming Goodness: Wilco, tomorrow night!

Crayon Smith Reveals All in Just Got Back From Holidays Shocker!

In the happy days following Crayonsmith's great live gig at Crawdaddy, I wrote to Ciaran aka Crayonsmith and asked for a little interview via email action. Here's the goodness:

(Ok, so imagine i am serious, professional journalist from Rolling Stone magazine.)

Q1. So, what is that machine that you record all the noises on?
A.Its a drum machine that I got in America about four years ago.

Q2. Do you have time to listen to other people's music at the moment? If so, what are you listening to?
A. Yeah, I just spent a week travelling around Ireland on holiday listening to Mates of State, Cursive,The White Album,Abbey Road,Pavement and Pedro the Lion.


Q3. If i said your music reminds me a little of David Kitt, what would you think?
A.I've had those comparisons in the past, as people would mention the whole "one guy with a guitar and a mini-disc/drum machine" thing.I have his first two albums and I think there's some very good stuff there. If you're told that you sound like someone who you yourself bought and liked, I guess it's a good thing!


Q4. Do you like pineapple?
A.Yeah, especially on pizza.

Q5. Where can one obtain a copy of your EP "You Get Down Here"? How long did it take to make?
A.One can obtain it at gigs.It's like a sampler kind of thing.The songs are on my debut album which I just finished but they've been re-recorded. The album took a year to make as I had to learn so much about recording and mixing and all that.


Q6. Do you write your songs from personal experiences, or just make stuff up?
A. About 95 % from experience and 5% from fictional and imaginary situations. So I dip into both areas until I have a complete picture in each song.


Q7. What is your favourite instrument to play?
A. Guitar.With different tunings the opportunites are endless.


Q8. Are you going to Electric Picnic? If so, who are you going to go see?
A. I can't afford to go!I'd love to see Kraftwerk and Nick Cave.I've seen The Flaming Lips and LCD Soundsystem before and I loved them.Oh, and best of luck to The Chalets!


Q9. Do you ever get nervous before playing live? What helps you calm down?
A. It's more of an adrenaline rush as opposed to nerves and I don't try to go against it or calm down at all.I think you should definitely feel SOMETHING before you go on stage because you're transmitting that to the audience.


Q10. Which has been your favourite gig so far?
A. Actually, the Crawdaddy one where you saw me. I don't play with a mini-disc anymore and this was the gig where I moved closer to where I want to go using drum machines, keyboards, guitar and beats and noises in between songs .I knew very few people in the crowd and the fact that by the end of the set you can hear strangers cheering and moving closer to the stage is extremely satisfying, but at the same time humbling.


Q11. It is very impressive to see you play all the instruments onstage by yourself. If you could have anybody, ever, play in your band, who would it be?
A.Oh, thanks!My friend, Ruadhan, from Hermie in Tweed is playing keys and doing backing vocals with me now and thats all I need for the moment until I feel the urge to add more people.If I was to get someone to play bass it would be Ronan Jackson from the Coldspoon Conspiracy - he's amazing!

Wasn't that great???!!! Thanks Crayonsmith! You're the bestest. Hurrah.