Live review - Bombay Bicycle Club, Brixton Academy, 19/10/11

Written for and published by the wonderful For Folk's Sake

Bombay Bicycle Club gave the crowd at Brixton a real treat, rattling through the best of their material from the last couple of years as seamlessly as a band that has been together for decades.

They opened with ‘Shuffle’ a track from new album A Different Kind of Fix, and immediately the energy was through the roof. ‘Your Eyes’, a standout from the album, was next and heralded the entrance of Lucy Rose (onstage for the second time that night after playing as support as well as band Dry The River). If, at this point, the crowd thought they were in for a ‘new stuff only’ type of gig, they were swiftly proved wrong.  Jack Steadman and his pals then embarked on ‘Dust On The Ground’ from first album I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose. Given that this song is a quieter offering than many of the tracks on that album, the boys really rocked it on the night.

They revisited a lot of their much-loved older material throughout the set, even stopping to admit just before launching into the raucous ‘Open House’, “We haven’t played this for a couple of years.” This bit of communication was unusual in itself as the band barely stopped for breath between songs (which kept the energy rising relentlessly).  By the time we made a return to the most current album with ‘Leave It’ the crowd was well and truly warmed up. ‘Lights Out, Words Gone’ got perhaps the biggest reaction of the night, indicating that a large proportion of the crowd were recent converts.

‘Always Like This’ was a true highlight and made us wonder whether the band hadn’t taken a (small) leaf out of Beirut’s book – the addition of some brass gave the track an almost Latin vibe.

Jack took to the stage alone for the first song of the encore and sang a beautiful, more than faintly Thom Yorke-tinged, version of ‘Still’ – the last track on ‘A Different Kind of Fix’. Just Steadman’s powerful yet vulnerable voice and the piano echoed through the Academy, bringing everyone down to earth a bit before ending on a storming version of ‘What If’. The contrast between these two tracks provided a great example of what Bombay Bicycle Club can do: in one instant write beautiful music that, at its best, rivals the likes of Radiohead, and in the next make a venue full of people jump around to what has become an indie rock standard.

Album Review - The King of Limbs, Radiohead

Published originally over here by The 405.

This album, to me, is one of two halves, although the use of echo, and the decision to let Thom Yorke’s lyrics almost take a back seat, creates a relationship between each and every track.

The first half of the album is characterised by its agitated rhythms – a slightly aggressive tone even, such as on second track ‘Morning Mr Blackbird’ where Yorke asserts, "you’ve got some nerve coming here.” This section of the album seems to be where the band is really stretching the limits and experimenting with their sound.

The second half, especially the last three tracks, is easier to listen to and perhaps picks up where In Rainbows left off. ‘Codex’ is my personal favourite, cool and ethereal and including a really beautiful use of brass. This mellow vibe continues on ‘Give Up The Ghost’ and on ‘Separator’. The last song on the album, ‘Separator’s’ refrain of “wake me up” is fitting because when The King of Limbs finished you almost feel as if you’ve woken up from a deep and wonderful dream.

It was all one podcast - remembrance day

My first attempt at a podcast - and yes, I know the sound is really bad, the levels are all wrong and my speaking is too loud. But it was just an experiment really and an exercise in some in productive procrastination (paradox much?)

I mention Remembrance Day at the beginning and the truly sad fact that Harry Patch - last of the WWI veterans died earlier this year. I watched some of the services going on around the country and was struck by what a momentus thing this was - there are no soliders left who fought in that war. It has really passed into the realm of history.

Anyway, I'd really love to follow this up and make a short 10 minute podcast every week featuring some new tunes that I like to seek out on a regular basis and some general favourites of mine. I'm more trying to teach myself some new skills (and remember some old editing ones) than produce a totally groundbreaking podcast but if anyone listens to it and enjoys it along the way then hurrah! It's a bonus.

Red Hot Radiohead?

As a big fan of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Radiohead I was surprised and excited to hear about the prospect of Flea joining Thom Yorke's latest project.

So far without a name, the Guardian's Tim Jonze dubbed them "one of the scariest-sounding groups in pop history." I think that's possibly unfair - Flea may be famous for his furious thumb-slapping funk bass rhythms but he is also a contributor to composing melodies on some of the Chili's sweetest songs, (think Don't Forget Me) and he can also play a haunting blues trumpet. Therefore giving nothing away as to what sorts of sounds we can expect from the collaboration.

This meeting of great and musical minds appears to be all the rage at the moment. Johnny Marr perhaps kicked the latest phase off with his joining of the Cribs on various occasions and then the Crooked Vultures and their epic line-up comprising of Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones and Josh Homme started popping up in support of the Artic Monkeys and making guest appearences at Reading and Leeds.

None of these recent collaborations have exactly set the world on fire but the Yorke/Flea project should yield something totally new to both musicians creatively, and that should at least make for interesting listening.