25th February 2012: Matt Stevens - The Peel, Kingston-Upon-Thames

Long-term readers (both of them) will have heard me going on about Matt Stevens. His album 'Relic' made my "Best of 2011" round-up, he accompanied us to curry after the Frost* gig in December, and he pops up to hand you a flyer when you least expect it outside gigs, like a real life 'Where's Wally?' only a lot more hairy and slightly less stripey. I even raved about his slot at last year's Mattfest in my guest slot on the excellent 'Dead Nobodies' podcast last month. (That's your monthly plug, Bob.)

This, however, is the first time since starting this blog that I've actually had a chance to see him play live. What if he's gone rubbish, energy and joie de vivre sapped by his new found fatherhood? What if I've remembered wrongly and confused him with Moby or someone (they're physically quite similar, after all) and all my plugging has been a huge mistake?

Well, we can all relax because the man's still got it. 

Please sir, can I have some more... loops?

After a ridiculous week of work, there's a chance I'm not going to make it to the gig at all, and in fact I'm still sitting at my desk as the doors open at The Peel, but a canny decision two years previously to move within walking distance of the venue means that as soon as I down tools (well, mouse), Karin and I are able to hop on a bus and still arrive just as Matt strums the first note of 'Rusty' from last year's 'Relic' album.

And what a note it is, which is just as well, since we hear this note once every 2 seconds for the next 4 minutes. In case I haven't previously explained what is so cool about what Matt does, I think I will steal someone else's description of him as a "One man guitar orchestra" since I will never come up with something as apposite by myself. Building layers upon layers of guitar loops, he gradually starts from one simple riff, such as the almost flamenco-sounding theme which kicks off 'Rusty', loops it with his trusty pedal, and then adds harmonies, counterpoint, even bass lines, all with the use of one acoustic guitar. 

Last time I saw Matt, back in the summer, the venue was a lot less packed, and I was right down at the front where I could see his feet, so it was very obvious what he was doing. This time, however, the venue is rammed (no mean feat for a support slot) and as we've arrived late we're right at the back by the mixing desk and can only see him from the waist up. I can therefore see how one nameless reviewer famously came to the conclusion that he relied on backing tapes rather a lot. 

Maybe, to avoid such confusion in the future, Matt could make it more obvious what he's doing, perhaps using a laptop or a Tenori-on to do his looping, something that the whole audience can see. Of course, that might make it a bit difficult to carry on playing whilst stopping and starting the loops, something that he does with incredible skill all night tonight, rarely taking a break from hammering the strings of his instrument and yet somehow still using his pedal to bring in certain loops and take them out again, or pause everything and play solo (catching out the chatters in the crowd in the process, tsk tsk.)

Clearly my suggestion would require Matt using something other than his feet to trigger the loops, and since his hands are at full capacity, I guess the nose would be the only option. And since he suffers from a bad back, I think I will go ahead and consign this idea to the scrap bin of good intentions. It's probably just as well that I decided not to respond to Matt's call for a manager last week- I'd have him looking like a hunchback clown in no time.

This evening's set of 30 minutes goes by in an absolute flash, largely because the pieces are a lot more varied than anyone could expect from a performance based entirely on acoustic guitar. One minute he's playing furious strummed, percussive notes, the next delicate picking, then he's tapping on the body of his guitar to create what is nearly a drum beat ('Doll's House'), and then he's managed to build layers of sustained notes that almost sound like keyboards and he's playing a thunderous bassline over the top ('Scapegoat'). There's even time for one piece this evening not composed entirely by Matt, 'Part 2', a track from his post-rock band The Fierce and the Dead, which on record is a piece with distorted electric guitars, bass and drums, but is just as effective given the loop pedal treatment.

And it's not just the music that keeps us entertained, which is just as well, since staring at one guy with a guitar for 30 minutes could get a little dull, even if he is standing in front of a giant poster with some kind of centaur emerging from flames on it. Like many of the best musicians I've featured here, Matt is wonderfully self-deprecating and with a sense of humour which wins over the crowd based on likeability alone. He seems genuinely surprised and grateful for the huge applause he gets after every track, says "Cheers" humbly, and gets right back on with it.

What he lacks in stage banter, he makes up for in sheer performance. If I've given you the impression of a man standing on the spot strumming away at an acoustic guitar, I'm doing this all wrong. He announces with his face what he's about to play, hops about on the spot during the more upbeat sections, grooves along to some of the excellent riffs he creates, and grins broadly when his favourite sections come together to create something wonderful sounding.

There are some fantastic loud / soft contrast sections, which eventually lead to almost complete silence in the venue as he quietly plucks away, and also a surprised look on his face and a "wow!" at having finally shut up the chatters in the crowd, provoking loud chuckles all around. 

And then, after what is far too short a time, he announces the last track, which turns out to be 'Big Sky' from the 'Ghost' album, a track which builds up with impossible numbers of harmony lines getting ever higher and higher before breaking down again to the simplest level at the end and then exploding into a wall of backwards loops which he stands back and enjoys as he walks over to take a sip of his pint before laying into his guitar once again with gusto to finish the whole thing off in explosive fashion. A quick "Cheers, thank you", and it's all over. It's taken me three times as long to write about it as the gig itself.

Heading out for some fresh air afterwards, we find that Matt's done the same himself. Leaning against the wall outside he looks like he's been for a particularly intense gym session, and as is the only course of action after such a thing, I buy him a beer and we start chatting about everything from Helloween (okay, that was Karin) to King Crimson to Steve Davis (not such a leap when you're in the know), to why he still needs to have a day job to make ends meet even though he's had offers from several record labels, and some of the very exciting projects he's involved in which are coming up later this year.

Unfortunately he also buys me a beer and the pattern continues for the rest of the night, so the rest of the evening is a bit of a blur, which is why this blog is entitled "Matt Stevens" and not "Pallas supported by Matt Stevens" because, well, Pallas sounded great but I can't for the life of me remember much of anything. Sorry guys.

Matt Stevens Setlist:

- Rusty

- Burning Bandstands

- Doll's House

- Scapegoat

- Part 2 (The Fierce and the Dead)

- Big Sky

13th February 2012: Pain of Salvation & Cryptex, The Garage, Islington, London

And so we come to gig number 2 for 2012, and in ridiculous contrast to the last one, this evening is a veritable rawwkfest. We arrive somewhat late at the venue to find the stage occupied by some rather hairy German teenagers (oh, dear - I've done it now for misdirected Google searches, haven't I?)

I have no idea who is playing, but they're rather good fun - good old fashioned blues-type rock, with a bit of metal here and there, some hippyish folky stuff elsewhere, and then there are the digeridoo and xylophone spots (always a plus, I find.) I later discover that the band is called Cryptex and they have an album out called "Good Morning, How Did You Live?". Frankly, if I'd known the name of the band and their album, and certainly if I'd seen the cover before setting out, I might have made sure I left home even later.

Um, yeah.

But in actual fact, even though we really do only see about 15 minutes of the set, it's great fun, and on this showing they're definitely worth a look if they're playing a festival near you some time.


Onto the main event, and it seems Daniel Gildenlöw of Pain of Salvation is an avid reader of this blog, since I suggested, nay demanded back in November that a headline PoS gig in London was long overdue and within weeks one was announced. That's what 3,000 hits gets you, folks. The power to make things happen.


Anyway, seeing the band support Opeth was one thing (and frankly I enjoyed them back then much more than I enjoyed Opeth), but they're really a band who demand a full headline slot and by golly, do they make the most of it.

Their appearance on stage is heralded by the same Swedish song that was played the last time we saw them (the one almost entirely composed of swear words and insults) - and this time there's the added bonus that we've just returned from a week in Sweden where I learned some of its colourful language from a street workman having trouble erecting a new lampost. It's immediately followed by the string intro to their latest album 'Road Salt Two' which gets a huge cheer, before they come out and give us a perfect demonstration of how to rock an audience.


'Softly She Cries' is the first proper song from 'Road Salt Two' and it's the new Pain of Salvation to a T - bluesy-rock with heavy riffs and a catchy hook that stays in your head for weeks. So far, so much the same as the previous gig. But what's this- half the band appear to have changed since October? Yes, in the short space of a few months, the line-up has transformed somewhat, with bassist from last time Daniel Karlsson having moved to keyboards, to replace departing PoS veteran Fredrik Hermansson (a member since 1996), new / old boy Gustaf Hielm (bassist from 1992-1994) returning to pick up bass, and proper new boy, the Icelandic Ragnar ZSolberg looking rather like a hot chick playing guitar on stage right (or maybe it's just my eyesight, I'm a little further back than I normally prefer.)


Daniel will aways be Daniel (thank goodness), and frankly, I think I raved about him enough in the last review, so let's concentrate on the others.

If you squint... and especially if you can't see his moustache.

New boys / old boys / whatever, nobody has any cause to complain tonight as they sound like they've been playing together for years, the rhythm section is ridiculously tight and our Icelandic friend has all the solos nailed (as well I'd expect since there was quite fierce competition for this spot. Personally I was hoping that Concrete Lake / The Tangent guitarist Luke Machin might have got a look in, and I idly wonder whether he's here tonight since I know he's a massive fan.)


The set progresses much the same as last time, with the new Pain of Salvation sound of the two 'Road Salt' albums dominating - as well it should, since they're blooming fantastic, and anyone poo-poohing the lack of metal or prog on them is frankly missing out big style. But the big advantage of the extended slot is the opportunity to delve more extensively into the back catalogue, and this they do with some style. Early fan favourite 'Ashes' is the second track of the night, and goes down an absolute storm. A clutch of Road Salt tracks follow, with the new members of the band proving their worth, especially Ragnar whose harmonies are absolutely impeccable on the intense and frenetic 'The Deepest Cut'. 

Then the band are introduced and there's some amusing banter from Daniel, who is on top form tonight ("We love playing in London, I really feel we're tapping into the essence of... something essencey.") But it's all just a delaying tactic for the highlight of the night - a brace of older tracks for the long-term fans to get their teeth into, including the wonderful 'Ending Theme' from the 'Remedy Lane' album (my personal favourite, especially the growling spoken word section in the middle which marries metal and rap far better than yer Limp Bizkits and Linkin Parks  - and Daniel was doing it before them anyway.)


We then go all the way back to 1997 for a track from 'Entropia' entitled 'Stress', which is by far the most amazingly bonkers song we hear all night, although it's run close by 'Kingdom of Loss' from 2007's 'Scarsick' which begins with Daniel rap-ranting quietly about all kinds of things (mostly America) while the band build up a laid-back groove before building up to a rousing, anthemic ending which is greeted by an incredible roar from the crowd. 


This proves to be the last old song of the night, but nobody cares, it's time for the opening track from Road Salt One, "No Way", which this evening sees a special guest joining the band on stage. "Please welcome... Luke on guitar!" says Daniel, as Ragnar scuttles off to the back of the stage to sing backing vocals - and Luke (yes, Luke Machin, from The Tangent / Concrete Lake) joins them on stage. So, he is there tonight, then. 

It's an incredible moment for us and a few select prog fans in the crowd who've seen him play with the amazing Concrete Lake to about 20 people a couple of months before at the Peel. It's like one of our own has made good. Luke beams, gurns, throws his long blond locks around ("It's the same guy!", someone behind me says as he replaces Ragnar on stage), and generally behaves like he normally behaves on stage, only with about 50% more "I can't believe this is happening to me..." Well done, lad.


After a suitably rocktastic end to the main set in the epic 'Enter Rain', the encore is actually a rather more sombre affair. Two previously unplayed tracks from the 'Road Salt' albums close the evening, the 8-minute 'Physics of Gridlock' which starts in proper riffing and headbanging style before ending up as a kind of Gallic funeral march, and then the amazing ballad 'Sisters' which starts out as the evening's quietest song before building up to a furiously belted out triumphant chorus, which would have had us all with our lighters aloft if this was the 80's. But it's not, so instead there are iPhones and laptops (ok, maybe not laptops.)


It's a somewhat brave ending to the gig, but it works. There's a huge cheer and the band leave us satisfied, having taken us on a tour of their entire catalogue and proved why they're one of the most unique bands around. 

Some ghosts take a bow. Sorry, I really failed at photos
 on this occasion (you know, since all my others are amazing.)

Afterwards there's the chance to hang around a bit and chat to some friends, to congratulate a still-elated Luke on his triumph, and then finally to head home on the train. We're accompanied by a, shall we say, well-lubricated Jon Patrick (aka Twang, promoter extraordinaire at the House Of Progression / The Peel), who explains to us why the Odyssey is so great ("You see, Odysseus, he's just a fucking dude, man...") and how timeless the story is. I dare say if Twang was teaching it in schools, it definitely would be.


He also tells us several times about why "Celebr8" is going to be an amazing festival (which it definitely is, by the way, go and buy your tickets now...) - amusingly he also tells the entirety of the late night train, prompting one lady to ask him to be quiet as she's trying to process the date she's just been on. I'd say a dose of the UK's leading prog bands would be just the thing - we should have given her a flyer.

Pain of Salvation Setlist:


- Softly She Cries
- Ashes
- Linoleum
- The Deeper Cut
- 1979
- To the Shoreline
- Chain Sling
- Ending Theme
- Stress
- Kingdom of Loss
- No Way (featuring Luke Machin)
- Enter Rain
-----
- The Physics of Gridlock
- Sisters

And I have had three thousand hits, and I would like three thousand more...

I've just achieved my three thousandth hit. How terribly exciting. Well, I say it's exciting, but actually if I sit down and think about it that's only 20 hits a day since I started this blog in October. And about 5 a day are from people looking for photos of ostriches or naked men (no, I don't know how they get sent here, either...)

But still, I'm quite pleased that people are coming back and sticking with it - I know I do go on a bit (alright, a lot), but I enjoy writing and hopefully that comes across. There'll be plenty more gigs to come this year, from all kinds of artists. I might even review some new albums, if I can stop listening to M83 for long enough to play any.


In the meantime, I recorded an interview with my friend Bob for his Podcast "Dead Nobodies", in which I talk about all the gigs I went to last year before I started this blog. I've just finished listening to it and it's amazing what you can do with computers these days, I almost sound like a functioning member of society. I didn't like the way he made me sound like I was talking about David Hasselhoff though. 


Check it out below, or on iTunes.


Dead Nobodies - Gigging Forever special

22nd January 2012: M83 - Concorde 2, Brighton

A few days before this, my first gig of 2012, a photo appears on the M83 Facebook page. It's a photo that Anthony Gonzalez (who is, to all intents and purposes, M83) has taken of the front row at the Birmingham gig. What a nice gesture for your fans, I think. But other people aren't impressed - a huge row erupts on the photo comments page, with some of the so-called fans moaning about all the "hipsters" in the audience.


Quite what anyone's underwear has to do with the gig or quality thereof, I'm not quite sure, but the whole debacle worries me for two reasons. Firstly, I've never been to anything where my pants are likely to be scrutinised by my fellow gig-goers, and I'm not sure I want to. But secondly, there are an awful lot of very young, trendy looking people in the front few rows of the photo. Even more so than at the Cut Copy gig back in October.

Some hipsters. The only ones I could find without also calling up models in  minute anatomical detail.

So, it's with some trepidation that I venture down to Brighton on a cold Sunday evening, and things don't get any less concerning when I make my way on foot from the town centre (where I've been having a rather nice dinner with Karin and her friend Emina), towards the gig venue. I've rashly assumed that the Concorde will be in the town centre somewhere, but no, my phone's GPS steers me into the darkness of the promenade at the bottom of the cliffs, and as the hustle and bustle (and light) of the town disappear way above me, I start to wonder if I'm going to become one of those urban legends about how a friend of a friend blindly let his TomTom direct him into an active volcano. Plus, I grew up by the seaside, and there were only two reasons anyone went down to "those" places after dark, and neither of them had anything with music. Except maybe the sweet, sweet music of luuuurve.


Eventually I pick out some tiny lights in the distance, and a rather larger tourbus next to them, so conclude that I'm probably heading in the right direction. It's an absolute pleasure to arrive at the venue itself, with its original stained glass windows dating back to the 1800s, when it started out life as a tearoom. Again, having grown up by the sea you're rather used to seeing these places as burned out shells, or, at best, kebab shops.

And what do I find when I get there, but a queue comprised of 4 people (always an excellent result), none of whom seem to be both younger and appreciably trendier than I am. In fact, I pass a rather pleasant hour or so chatting with my fellow queue-ees (yes, it's a word), although I do find that my usual frames of reference in gig queues (old Genesis albums, last year's Roger Waters tour) are replaced by things I know less about, like Crystal Castles, and Depeche Mode gigs.


Just when we're in danger of freezing to death in the rather chilly January seaside breeze, the doors open and I head in to take up my spot right at the front - always my preferred position when there are actual musicians to watch playing real instruments. However, when I spot the rack of 5, yes 5, Macbook laptops at the back of the stage, I do wonder how much of that I'll be doing this evening. 

M83 - Probably not sponsored by Microsoft.

There's a nice selection of music to get us all going while we wait, and then eventually a couple of chaps saunter on and start fiddling with the support band's instruments. They look a bit bemused, and evidently so is the guy running the PA, since the music fades up and down a couple of times before it becomes apparent that, no, this is the support band and they might like to start playing, if it's all the same to us?

Hello, we're the support band. No, really.

Porcelain Raft are perhaps a bit like M83. Or M83 before they got all indie and dancey and were sticking to the more ethereal, shoe-gazey stuff. And they're rather good. The "couple of chaps" in question are Mauro Remiddi, an Italian who now lives in London, who creates massive walls of sound with reverby guitars and echoey vocals, and, um, another guy on drums, whose name I cannot find. He sits on a very tall drum stool looking down on his kit, as well as playing hand held bells, which he even uses to create some interesting noises on his cymbals from time to time. 

"Tall stool dude" does funky things with his bells.

The songs range from the more guitar based, like 'Tip of Your Tongue', to the more trippy, slightly Orb-influenced, to the frankly insanely electronic, when "chap number 2" leaves his drum stool and crosses the stage to use a sequencer to create the deepest and loudest bass notes I have ever heard. It's always a pleasure to feel deep bass rattling your trouser legs at a gig... except on this occasion. My entire body reverberates with the beat as it pounds away - and when it cuts out for a bit I look around and notice that everyone in the crowd is mightily relieved, so apparently I'm not just being a wimp. I wonder, as much as my brain will allow me whilst being pummelled into oblivion, whether they're attempting to create the "brown note" - and it looks like they've succeeded when the guy next to me suddenly dashes for the toilet as soon as their set is over.

"What happens if I turn this knob? Oh..."

Anyway, there's enough variety in the set to keep us all entertained and the songs are so good that I consider buying their CD after the gig, but alas, they don't seem to have brought any. Take note, support bands of the future - bring things for people to buy in case they like you! 


Variety is something we all crave after Porcelain Raft leave the stage and we're treated to what must be about 40 minutes of a particularly monotonous minimal house-type tune. Yes, the same one for 40 minutes. I'm all for minimalism sometimes (this is an absolute masterpiece in my book), but whatever this is, it doesn't appear to change throughout its entire duration and the main hook (such as it is) eventually feels like someone's performing a lobotomy on me with a jackhammer. There are actually cheers when it's faded down - only to be faded back up again to groans.


But respite is eventually at hand, and the place goes absolutely wild as the lights fade, and a very 'Close Encounters' style synth intro heralds the arrival of M83. The anticipation is pretty immense, from me at least. Their latest album, 'Hurry Up, We're Dreaming', made number 2 in my albums of 2011 list (in fact, it's probably gone up to number 1 since then, but shhh, nobody tell Cut Copy), and I've also discovered about half of the back catalogue and can't wait to see how it will all work live.

Things start incredibly promisingly when, out of the dry ice mist on stage, and under moody lighting, a figure appears and walks towards the front of the stage. Has Anthony had some kind of horrific cross breeding accident with an elk? No, it's the downright freaky dream monster thing from the front of the album, brought to life in costume. It sounds absolutely ridiculous but it's an amazing theatrical opening - setting the tone for the entire evening, and making the whole gig seem like some slightly odd but incredibly glorious dream, helped by the twinkling star-like lights of the stage backdrop, the lighting which never gets any brighter than a seedy pub at opening time, and the genuinely haunting nature of much of the music we hear tonight.

I'm going to go right ahead and presume that this dreamlike state is their intent, as 'Hurry Up, We're Dreaming' is a kind of concept album about dreams and wistful nostalgia for youth - and if it was, they have it down to a T. I'm totally lost in the gig for the next 90 minutes and get swept along on M83's rollercoaster of emotions - with the chills descending my spine as the cycling synth notes introduce 'Intro', and not letting up until the final triumphant brass chords fade away at the end. Starting with Anthony centre stage, face hidden in his hands, calling out the plaintive "Carry on, carry on" refrain, the track shifts up a gear as keyboard player Morgan Kibby enters stage right to belt out the female answering vocal lines. 

It's immediately followed by the first unfamiliar track of the night, 'Teen Angst' from the 'Before the Dawn Heals Us' album, but it's an instant hit. Anthony seems to have wisely chosen tracks from the back catalogue which fit in with the feel of the new material, and this is no exception. Pulsating synths introduce breathy vocals before the song explodes into a dreamy chorus of barely audible sighs and pounding drum beats. The crowd goes insane and I'm taken right along with them. Hit single and fan favourite 'Kim and Jessie' follows, before my personal highlight from the new album, 'Reunion', which starts out all Simple Minds but has the biggest chorus of the night and is a sure thing to get the crowd jumping up and down.


But for some reason it doesn't - I think partially we're all just getting warmed up and also I, for one, am actually dumbstruck at just how good this band are live. In fact some songs are infinitely better live than they even hinted at on CD, and the finest example of this comes up rightaway with the second track I'm not familiar with. 'Sitting' on CD is a fun little number which would make the perfect soundtrack to a Streetfighter II battle on the Amiga 500, but live it becomes some kind of incredible club anthem which gets the whole place bouncing up and down. Anthony attacks his kit, Morgan dances around her keyboard, and bass / keys player Yann Gonzalez (yes, Anthony's brother) does his shuffly, slidey dance over to the right hand side of the page to whack the hell out of a percussion pad with cowbell sounds on it. (Ok, here they lose a point to Cut Copy for not having real cowbells. Sorry, but them's the rules.)

Yann takes a break from his electronic cowbell.

And as for drummer Loic Maurin, he's onto a winner with me because I'm an absolute sucker for anything electronic or dancey with real drums on it, but he is particularly good at adding inventive fills without losing the beat. 'Sitting' is my highlight of the night, and I start wondering once again why I don't go to see electronica-based acts more often. (And also why my friend Mark hasn't bought a ticket for this gig since I think he would actually explode with excitement during this track.)


As if to demonstrate their versatility, the band follow up this electro tour de force with the jangly guitars of 'Year One, One Ufo', an odd choice for a live track since it's one of the less obvious numbers on the new album, but as it builds to a pounding, rhythmic climax and the crowd punch the air, it becomes clear that they know exactly what they're doing. Track after amazing track follows, with 'We Own the Sky' being so "electrified" that it's almost unrecognisable from the album version (which probably explains why I don't recognise it until the anthemic "It's coming... it's coming on" chant at the end). 


After this, 'Wait' (the only "quiet one" of the night) actually achieves the impressive feat of shutting up the entire place while Anthony captivates the audience with his fragile, echoey vocals barely cutting through the acoustic guitars and gradually rising in power as the rest of the band build to an amazing crescendo, as is their trademark. It's helped by Anthony, who's strapped on a guitar, getting down on the floor by the speakers creating walls of feedback and echo.

How do you follow that? Well, apparently by playing your big hit single, the one that's got you noticed this year around the globe (and apparently become the theme tune to "Made in Chelsea", but we'll gloss over that.) Yes, 'Midnight City', perhaps inevitably, gets the biggest reception of the night, but for all its ubiquity, it's still a cracking tune, marrying the best of the current 80's revival with some amazing squelchy snyth noises. It also manages the impressive feat of being an exceptionally catchy song without actually having a chorus (unless you count the 'doo doo do doo' synth riff, which I suppose is the closest thing there is.)

M83 - Reclaiming sax from Kenny G.

Once again, the live band lift the song to a whole new level, which is surpassed even further when a saxophonist joins the band on stage to play the not-at-all-Miami-Vice-ish sax solo at the end. The band hammer their instruments and Anthony dances around the stage, head in hands, as if tortured by some kind of horrible nightmare, climbing up on a box at the front of the stage and lapping up the cheers from the entirely won-over crowd.

Most bands would be happy to have this as their show ending, but M83 take it one step further, following up their best known song with classic instrumental "A Guitar and a Heart", which starts slow and broody, and looks like a misstep but gradually builds and starts toes tapping, while Anthony twiddles knobs like Jean-Michel-Jarre in the 70s and the others keep the groove going, before the whole thing inevitably explodes into sheer dance perfection and the crowd pogos in unison before roaring with approval when it comes to a close.

A quick break is followed by just the one encore this evening, "Couleurs", a fan favourite and a slow, brooding dancey track with a hypnotic beat, which (it may surprise you to learn) gradually builds up as it goes (I think pretty most of the songs this evening do this but it's such an effective technique so why the heck not?). This time it's too slow for pogoing but there's proper dancing all around, including on the stage (and some fairly improper dancing from me but nobody seems to notice, thank goodness), and at the end of the 10-minute workout, there's one of the biggest cheers I've heard at a gig in years. 

Yann and Morgan let themselves go a bit.

The band seem genuinely thankful for the reception, and as they leave the stage to a message scrolling across the sound desk in red dot matrix which says "Day off tomorrow!", it looks like they've won Brighton over in spectacular style. The crowd bay for an encore but a roadie soon comes out to start unplugging things and shrugs, roadie-style, at us, signifying that we're out of luck. Some wag shouts "put that long track back on!" to a huge laugh, but it's all over and it's time for us to disappear and reflect on what we've just experienced.


The combination of already amazing songs and the incredible musicianship and performance that the band put into them makes them one of the most engaging live bands I've seen, and they make the immediate jump from "band I've been checking out and am interested in" to "band I am properly into in a big way". You know, the universally recognised band categories.


I head off into the cold, get lost on the way back to the car, babble incoherently to Karin all the way home about why it was so amazing (hopefully this review is slightly better), order all the CDs I don't have from Amazon (some at moderate expense as they're out of print) and thank my lucky stars that I have a ticket for the sold out London gig in a few weeks. 


I have to see this band again.


M83 Setlist:


Intro
Teen Angst
Kim & Jessie
Reunion
Sitting
Year One, One UFO
We Own the Sky
Steve McQueen
Wait
This Bright Flash
Claudia Lewis
Midnight City
A Guitar and a Heart
---
Couleurs

2011: The Year in Albums (New and Old)

A sobering statistic for people who like such things: According to my account at RateYourMusic, I bought 461 CDs in 2011. Four hundred and Sixty One. That's 1.3 albums every day (or one Neal Morse album.)


It's also one hundred times as many CDs as I bought in 1991, when I got my first CD player. My thoughts about why this is and whether it was a good idea or not can wait for a separate blog, but when you buy that many CDs, how on earth do you come up with a 'Best of the Year' list? And how do you determine whether an electro-pop album is 'better' or 'worse' than an acoustic guitar album or a prog concept opus?

Don't do this with your CDs. When I was about 15, my friend Graham
and I did this with all mine to test how indestructible they were.
 I took them all out of the boxes, chucked them all on the floor and
 then rolled around in them throwing them up in the air like
 Scrooge McDuck and his piles of gold. It didn't end terribly well.

The answer, dear friends, is with more statistics. Yep, the only way I can remember what was good in 2011 and make some kind of sense of the massive splurge of new music which entered my brain this year, is by looking at my trusty iTunes library. What got played once and then languished in the deepest recesses of the Billy bookshelf? And what got listened to on loop until Karin threatened to slap me?


Here, then, is my year in Playcounts - the results may shock those who think I only listen to prog rock. In fact they shocked me slightly. They might not actually reflect the exact order of how much I like these albums - but it's a start.


New Albums of 2011

Interestingly, of those CDs I bought, only 34 were actually new releases in 2011. What does that mean? Am I officially at the age where new music is beyond me? Well, I hope not. I think it has more to do with the fact that about 400 of the CDs I bought cost me less than £2 from charity shops and Amazon Marketplace. 


Anyway, I thought it was a cracking year for new music. Some great albums from old favourites, and some new discoveries, too.


10. Metronomy - The English Riviera

The first of several Indie-ish, dance-ish albums, and a discovery via my friend Mark (the only way I make sure my finger doesn't leave the pulse for good), this was a surprise hit towards the end of the year. A sort of concept album about living by the coast in Devon (no, really), it's a great mix of moody electronic-based tracks and more upbeat, jangly guitar pop. 


Key track: The Bay




9. Matt Stevens - Relic

Matt Stevens came to my attention all by himself earlier this year by being one of the hardest self-promoting DIY musicians out there - whether he's spamming his music all over Twitter or standing outside a gig handing out flyers with his face on them, he's been hard to miss this year in certain circles. And all this would be pointless if the music was utter guff - but luckily it's not. Live, he's a one-man guitar orchestra, building up layers upon layers of acoustic guitar loops - but on record, there are drums and even a spot of violin, making his brand of instrumental rock appeal to fans of post-rock, prog and acoustic or folk music. The first two albums were good, but Relic steps it up a gear.


Key Track - Nightbus 




8. Wobbler - Rites at Dawn

Let's start with the obvious things about this album. The band name is ridiculously bad (perhaps in Norway it means something else). And yes, they sound an awful lot like vintage Yes, in instrumentation. And I have been known to disparage prog bands for deliberately trying to sound like old Yes and Genesis albums - but somehow they still manage to sound fresh and inventive in their compositions whilst absolutely nailing that sound. And there aren't any bits where I'm going 'Oh, that's "Close to the Edge", and that's "Supper's Ready"'. Unlike many other bands, who I won't name. One of the surprise hits of the year - thanks to David Elliott and the European Perspective podcast for the tip.


Key Track - All of them, really, but La Bealtaine is as good as any...




7. The Feeling - Together We Were Made

Yeah, I know, that's a horrible album cover. And The Feeling have never exactly been hip, having become ubiquitous very quickly by spearheading a kind of Soft-Rock revival with the amazing, AMAZING song 'Sewn' , then a string of jaunty, indie-ish, Supertramp/Queen-ish summery hits before being dumped over to Radio 2 territory for the second album and largely disappearing from the limelight. But I've always enjoyed their songwriting and saw them live earlier this year when they premiered tracks from this third album, which includes guest appearances from Roisin Murphy (formerly of Moloko) and Sophie Ellis-Bextor. Not every track here is up to their early standards, but it's still a very solid effort which deserved more promotion than it got.


Key Track: Dance for the Lights (featuring Roisin Murphy)




6. Elbow - Build a Rocket Boys

Ahh, Elbow. In "cool terms" this year, I suspect that they may have gone from "The Coldplay it's alright to like" to "The Coldplay it's still not alright to like", but dammit, I've been a fan since their first album came out back in '99, enjoying frontman Guy Garvey's gruff, Gabriel-esque voice, and the melancholy yet not-depressing nature of their darker songs. And then there was "One Day Like This", which catapulted them into becoming every Radio 2 listener and BBC Sport's programme viewer's new most-heard band. A couple of years on and whilst this new album doesn't seem to have made the huge impact of its predecessor, it's somehow all the better for it, containing many hidden delights, most notably opener 'The Birds', which is a strong contender for my track of the year with its slow, hypnotic, driving rhythm, gradually building up to a huge, soaring climax. Is it rock? Who cares?


Key Track - The Birds (I promise you I'm not just picking the first track from every album, honest.)




5. Yes - Fly from Here

At the start of this year, I would not have predicted a Yes album making my end of year list. Pretty much reduced to a joke of a band by firing their ill singer and replacing him with a soundalike from a tribute band last year (no, really), I'd pretty much given up on anything of relevance ever happening again under the 40-something year old brand. 


But, with legendary producer and owl lookalike Trevor Horn on hand to sort them all out, and his fellow Buggle Geoff Downes back on keys, they managed to churn out something which was far better than we had any right to expect. True, some of the material was about 30 years old, but it hadn't been released on a Yes album, so that doesn't count, okay? With a sound somewhere between a Buggles album and an Asia album, it's a fun 40 minutes of prog-pop which doesn't outstay its welcome and definitely deserves the reputation it's received as the best Yes album in at least 20 years. And the gig was good fun, too. Some of it anyway.


Key track: Into the Storm




4. Guillemots - Walk the River

Following a foray into out and out pop with 2008's 'Red', and frontman Fyfe Dangerfield's surprisingly chart-friendly solo album, eclectic alternative quartet Guillemots headed for rather more subdued territory on this third album, and they were all the better for it. With  gorgeous, spine chilling moments like 'Inside' nestling alongside the unbridled joy of the more upbeat tracks like 'The Basket', it was great to have them back.


Key Track: Walk The River




3. Steven Wilson - Grace for Drowning

A predictable choice, maybe, given that it's topped lists all over the place this year, but given the quite dark, forbidding nature of Steven's previous solo album 'Insurgentes', I hadn't quite expected this. Taking its cues from all of Steven's influences from King Crimson to jazz, to Nine Inch Nails, this double album (actually two albums in one package) manages to achieve the feat of being both challenging and accessible, with prog-jazz workouts like 'Remainder the Black Dog' rubbing shoulders with electronica-influenced tracks like 'Index'.


Key Track - 'No Part of Me' has a bit of all of the above, I reckon...




2. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

Another album making end-of year lists (although not the same ones as the Steven Wilson album, to be fair), M83's latest album is also another double CD album which would easily fit on one CD, but is much more accessible as two 10-track discs. Another one of my indie-dance-electro discoveries of this year, and recommended to me by a blog reader after my review of the Cut Copy gig, M83 are a French act which is, in the studio, largely comprised of multi-instrumentalist Anthony Gonzalez. After a series of critically well-received but not huge-selling albums featuring more ambient and electronic music, before moving to a more indie-dance sound with 2008's 'Saturdays = Youth', this year saw the 'band' finally receive some attention with this absolute masterpiece combining the best of both worlds. 


20 tracks, around a loose concept of dreams, there really is something for everyone here, from the 80's synth-pop of hit single 'Midnight City' to uplifting, stadium-esque rockers, to the touching sounds of an old French lady wistfully recalling her youth over haunting, ethereal synths. What's more, I've played this more than 20 times since November and I don't feel like I've scratched the surface - especially since I've tantalisingly read that every song on the first CD has a 'partner' song on the second disc. An album and a puzzle all in one, what's not to love about that?


Key Track - Oh, all of them. But 'Reunion' is probably my favourite at the moment, one of the most joyful tracks of the year. (Unfortunately, it seems that there is no really good Youtube video of this song, so maybe you should go and listen to it on Spotify. Or better still, buy the CD - yeah go and do that.)




1. Cut/Copy - Zonoscope

This album came out so long ago, and it's become so ingrained on my musical memory, that I could scarcely believe this was a 2011 album when I was compiling this list. But given that it is, it was always going to be number 1 - it's accompanied me to work, to the gym, in the car, out on runs, and even around the streets of Sydney. Yep, imagine how cool I felt wandering the streets of Australia's biggest city, listening to my cool Australian indie-electro meets Beach Boys album. Just like a real Australian, I thought. True, nobody I met had heard of them, but still. That wasn't the point. 


Every bit as good as 'GiggingForever-top-20-of-all-time' album 'In Ghost Colours', this album had everything I was looking for this year - beats, tunes and massive, massive choruses. That's all I'm going to say, go and read my review of this year's London gig if you want to know more about why Cut Copy were the best band of 2011 in my opinion, but then isn't everything on this page?


Key Track: I'm going to say "Where I'm Going", because you might have heard that one, and it has a decent video on Youtube. But "Take Me Over" and "Pharaohs and Pyramids" are just as good.




Old Albums of 2011:


So what of the other 420-something CDs I bought this year? Here are the ones I played the most and a couple of words about each...


10. Man on Fire - Habitat (2009)

Excellent prog-ish album with electro influences and some great modern production, featuring Adrian Belew as guest guitarist. A tip from Frost* supremo Jem Godfrey.






9. Joe Jackson - Night and Day (1982)

New-wave legend goes a bit wine-bar/jazz/salsa/punk. Massively uncool even then, I'm sure, but 'Steppin' Out' has long been one of my favourite songs so I thought it was time to check out the rest of this. And I rather like it. 'Breaking Us In Two' has to be one of the best ballads of all time.




8. Steely Dan - Aja (1977)

I don't suppose this is massively cool, either, but it's fun and it's way more funky than an album by two middle-aged white guys has any right to be. If you don't start dancing to 'Peg' then you're actually dead. Fact.



7.  Lindstrøm  - Where You Go, I Go Too (2008)

One of my very rare completely blind album purchases. Bought on the basis of a tracklist which contained only 3 tracks lasting a total of 55 minutes, and a picture of a beardy Norwegian in a jumper, I had little idea of the Orb-meets-Steve Reich minimalism which was inside. This (15 minute!) single edit of the title track is surprisingly good for running to. Described by RateYourMusic.com as 'Space Disco'. Far out.




6. Hybrid - Disappear Here (2010)

Another tip from Mr Godfrey, it was suggested that, were there a third Frost* album, then this is what it would sound like. An intruiging mixture of rock music, electronica, dance music, and film soundtracks, it was a surprise hit amongst the prog fraternity this year. Jem subsequently announced that there would be a third Frost* album, but that it wouldn't sound like this. Shame.




5. Bent - Aerials (2004)

This year really was the year of dance, electronica and chillout for me. Picked up after hearing a few of their tracks on Ministry of Sound Chillout compilations, this later album of theirs is slightly more upbeat and poppy, with reminders of Zero 7 and Lemon Jelly.




4. Aeroplane - We Can't Fly (2010)

Primarily known as a remixer, especially for his superb version of Friendly Fires' 'Paris', this is Vito DeLuca (aka Aeroplane)'s first proper album, which is almost like Air's Moon Safari for the 2010's. Upbeat, dancey tracks, chilled beats and even an introduction which sounds disturbingly like prog rock. I love it. It gets slated on Amazon and RYM though, so what do I know?




3. Losers - Beautiful Losers (2010)

It seems (from the live show I saw) that this band are heading to a whole new level in 2012, but this first album is still top notch in my opinion. Electro-clashy tracks, straight ahead dance tunes and chilled out beats. And then, there's this track, which by all rights I ought to hate - but by jove, it's one of my tracks of the year.




2. The Avalanches - Since I Left You (2000)

What a flipping genius album. Made by some Australians by jamming together as many samples as they possibly could from their record collections, it pretty much sounds like nothing on earth. Possibly the most schizophrenic album of all time, it has to be heard to be believed. The classic chillout title track is the best known, but here's an example of something that sounds nothing like it... (ooh, excellent, it has a mental video too. Jolly good!)




1. Midnight Juggernauts - The Crystal Axis (2010)

Yes, another Australian band. Yes, I also listened to this all around Sydney. Yes, I am an idiot. Anyway - having loved their first album which was the first thing I'd ever heard to sound like both ELO and Justice, I knew I had to buy this when I read reviews in which people complained that they'd made a progressive rock album. I think my prog friends might disagree - but it's a mighty fine job anyway. Songs which run into each other, electronic sounds mixing with crunchy guitars, yeah, it's all good. Try this for size- another track of the year.

In Summary


So that's it, then. That was 2011 - the year in which I could have opened my own record store. The year in which I got bitten by the electro bug in a big way and found less and less to enjoy in the current prog scene.


I wonder how many CDs I'll buy this year? So far it's none, which means I need to buy 5 and a bit tomorrow to keep up, if I'm to maintain last year's rate. Maybe I ought to slow down though. My lounge is starting to look a little bit ridiculous and there are only so many Ikea trips I can be bothered to make.