Nicolas Godin – Contrepoint

Let’s pretend for a minute that I don’t know anything about Johann Sebastian Bach, 18^th Century German composer and musician from the Baroque period. That I don’t know about how he enriched established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organisation, and that he specialised in the adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad – particularly from Italy and France. That I’m not aware of famous compositions like the Brandenburg Concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Mass in B minor, two Passions, and over three hundred cantatas – of which around two hundred have survived. And that his music has long been revered for its technical command, artistic beauty and intellectual depth. Let’s pretend I know NOTHING about all of that.

Now let’s get real. Indeed, as with anyone who has at least some level of musical knowledge, I am well aware of the name Bach and its importance within the classical genre, but that is about the extent of my knowledge – until my visit to Wikipedia prior to writing this which somewhat “inspired” my opening paragraph. I am, however, far more familiar with the work of one Nicolas Godin, as one half of French electronic duo Air with Jean-Benoit Dunckel, and co-creator of classic albums like Moon Safari and Talkie Walkie. For the first time in a musical career which now spans twenty years, Godin has decided to release a solo record, Contrepoint, which (surprise surprise) is heavily influenced by Bach, and therefore promises to be an intriguing, and potentially challenging listen, for a somewhat classically uneducated muso such as myself.

The opening track “Orca” serves as an introduction to Godin’s Bach celebration offering an array of vastly different electronic melodies with almost perplexing complexity which, masterful as it sounds, threatened to leave me out in the cold. Thankfully second track “Widerstehe doch der Sunde” (just resist sin), one of Bach’s church cantatas, is brought to life very much in the spirit of Air and made me feel at ease – particularly once the dreamy angelic female vocals and humming came in after a couple of minutes. Combining his own musical style with that of Bach – bellowing church choir vocals and all – works exceptionally well on this track, and makes for a gloriously relaxing and engrossing listening experience. The track “Clara” is another example of how successful Godin’s experiment has been, with the compelling crooning of Brazilian singer Marcelo Camelo creating another escapist musical daydream for the listener to embark on.

Other tracks on the album are pure experimental voyages, which move away from the essence of Air’s music, such as the 7 minute “Bach Off” towards the end of the album, but are a fascinating listen nonetheless as by this stage you’re well along for the ride and fully immersed in the soundscapes Godin has created. There’s just enough here to keep an Air fan interested, and even more for those who delight in the experimental. And if you’re a big fan of Bach himself then I’m certain Contrepoint will prove to be a fascinating listen, written as it is by another of the Baroque maestro’s most humble and devoted aficionados.

Tame Impala Live At Liverpool Olympia 9/9/15; Review

The Olympia is a real treasure of a venue these days, and holds something of a legendary status amongst past generations of gig goers in Liverpool. Waiting to go inside feels like you’re queuing up in the past, and your friends all appear to be in black and white, but whilst it’s true that nearly every great gig/nightclub venue this city has had eventually succumbed to a demise – even if many of them have since reopened in some capacity – the Olympia continues to stand firm. Well…sort of…if you don’t count the adjoining Grafton Rooms, another of the city’s legendary venues, the front of which collapsed in early 2013 resulting in its closure. For now at least the Olympia stands firm.

There was something fitting about seeing Tame Impala there as well – and not least because it was apparently their first ever gig in this fair city. Having seen them only once before at Glastonbury a few years back, where their middle of the day Other Stage slot was, in my opinion, quite unable to bring their music to life in the way that I’ve always imagined it could be; the small, intimate, and retro environment of the Olympia promised to be able to do that. And on the whole it did, with the only issue now being that the band, now in the midst of touring their third album, Currents, have reached a new musical plateau which, although they are still a real treat to behold in a smaller venue, made it feel at times like the music was trying to escape the confines of the space it was being contained in.

Purists may say that small venues are always the best gigs, but for me, sometimes, either through an increase in popularity or the expansion of their actual sound, bands are just ready to be playing bigger gigs. Not to say Tame Impala haven’t been doing already of course, but it is that sort of setting which seems the more ideal way in which to see them at this moment in time. In terms of their popularity, a first UK number one album rather speaks for itself, but in terms of their music the band truly arrived with their previous album Lonerism, which I would still argue is superior to Currents, and it was no surprise to see these two records make up the majority of the set.

There was no better way to kick off proceedings than with the slightly teasing intro they played before eventually tearing into the infectious “Let It Happen” – possibly the band’s best individual song to date – which immediately had the crowd in a frenzy for what was close to the next ten minutes of its duration. Kevin Parker has created a sound that I’ve probably described as perfect somewhere along the way, because it is one of those sounds that a) is definitely for me and b) is how I imagine a lot of bands really wish they sounded. The magical and mesmerising intros of songs like “Mind Mischief” and “Why Won’t They Talk To Me?”, meet their match in urgency with the likes of “Elephant” and “The Moment”, the latter two of which demanding to be heard rather than floating by as dreamy streams of consciousness like the former.

The funky “The Less I Know The Better” was another highlight of the set and, along with the track that showcases Parker at his most obvious John Lennon-impersonating best, “Cause I’m A Man” (if he’d have put a comma then “Woman” at the end when naming it then the game would well and truly be given away). It’s never bothered me that he sounds like John, or The Beatles as a whole, because at the end of the day that’s the reason I got into them in the first place and, despite being pretty much identical in sentiment and sound to the Lennon classic, “Woman”, “Cause I’m A Man” has quickly become one of their most beloved tracks and was given pride of place near the end of the set as things drew to a close.

So remember when I said I thought “Let It Happen” was their best song? Well the other contender is the sprawling masterpiece that is “Apocalypse Dreams”. Now although I thought it was performed brilliantly by the band, and I was waving my hands around in the air for its epic close out, this is the sort of thing I was talking about when I said about their music wanting to escape the confines of the venue. I’ve always held the assertion that this song should be the one blowing my mind (along with everyone else’s) when hearing it live and it just didn’t, quite, do that. No hairs on the back of my neck, no pulling my face down in disbelief of it melting, and no hands on the top of my head occasionally saying “Fucking Hell” to one or other of my friends as the song plays out. When I undoubtedly go and see them in Manchester next year, I’ll be hoping to experience one or all of these sensations whilst listening to “Apocalypse Dreams”. Or maybe I’ll be saying to people afterwards when it was just alright: “Yeah I saw them in this little old venue in Liverpool last year and it was loads better.” In reality though Tame Impala put on a great gig at the Olympia, and will undoubtedly match or top it the next time they return to play in this country because, unlike fan favourite “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” which was happily included in the encore, it feels like the only way Parker and his band will be going is onwards – and upwards!

Originally published for Liverpool Noise 15/9/15

Yo La Tengo – Stuff Like That There

To mark the 25^th anniversary of their 1990 classic covers album, Fakebook, Yo La Tengo have re-familiarised themselves with their penchant for adopting other people’s songs on their latest offering “Stuff Like That There”. Whilst their original attempt at this sort of thing attained significant plaudits a quarter of a century ago, it is a big ask for the indie rockers to churn something out that holds the same degree of importance to their identity as a band, or indeed, as with any covers record, anything more than an exercise in sheer self-indulgence. In the first instance, and perhaps unavoidably, the record doesn’t break any new ground for the band, but it is clear that, being the serial-cover artists that they are, Yo La Tengo pour a great deal of themselves into other people’s music (or pour themselves all over other people’s) with such a verve that this record could never truly be considered a failed attempt. After all, no one can fail at being themselves, can they?

From the first track, “My Heart’s Not In It”, a cover of a Darlene McCrea hit, it is safe to say that you’re now fully acquainted with the sound of this album, for its steady brushed snare drums, and pleasant acoustic guitar strumming and tender, sweet vocals, and also because its a formula that permeates every track that follows. On the one hand, if this sort of sound is your thing, then you’re going to thoroughly enjoy this record but, if it isn’t, things might begin to get a bit samey fairly on. Looking at it from another perspective however, and what is one of the achievements of the record, is that they manage to assimilate these individual originals into something new and whole – and something wholly their own. If you’d never heard of Yo La Tengo, and you’d never heard the original songs before, you could be forgiven for thinking these were their songs and this was the way they’d always sounded.

But it’s likely you will have heard some, or possibly all, of them before, and as such will measure them against their sires. Whilst its all works better on tracks like the album opener and Hank Williams’ ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry’, it is less successful on something like ‘Friday I’m In Love’. Lacking the energy and musical colour of The Cure classic, all that is really achieved by listening to it is the urge to hear the original and possibly even go and embark on another phase with their music. But that’s what Yo La Tengo have obviously done, so in a way they’re just sharing some of their favourite music with you and actively encouraging you to go and listen to it as well.

Hooton Tennis Club – Highest Point In Cliff Town

Hooton Tennis Club are a Wirral foursome comprised of Ryan Murphy (vocals/guitar), James Madden (guitar/vocals), Callum McFadden (bass) and Harry Chalmers (drums). ‘Highest Point in Cliff Town’ is an album about the finer things in life – but by finer I’m not referring to some lavish lifestyle they’re all supposed to leading with free-flowing champage and limousine rides, I mean the smaller, more minute details in their day to day lives. Like making a cup of tea. Or getting the train. Or going for a walk. But it works – in fact it works pretty damn well.

After all these Hooton lads seem like a lot of fun. Their music is just…fun, plain and simple. The mundane/magical song titles like ‘Kathleen Sat On The Arm Of Her Favourite Chair’ and ‘…And Then Camilla Drew Fourteen Dots On Her Knee’ are inspired – you hear titles like that and you just know the songs will be good. They have to be really. Their music brings these otherwise boring and bizarre scenarios to life in continuous waves of colour, with the bright and fuzzy guitar riffs and solo parts that are deceptively simplistic but give away a deep understanding of melody and how to enrich a track using sound – very much like Graham Coxon. In fact if the boys from Blur aren’t one of the band’s main influences I’d be shocked. It’s always a good thing to be influenced by Blur.

This is the sound of a group of lads in their prime, celebrating their lives up to this point and raising a pint in the air to the future as well. Which isn’t really anything to do with the lyrics as much as it is the joy and fun-loving sound they’ve created. It’s never pretentious, but its never downright silly either. OK maybe it can be downright silly, but it’s certainly never unintelligent. Hooton Tennis Club are a band who deal only in hits and probably couldn’t put out a dull song if they tried. Songs like ‘Jasper’ and ‘P.O.W.E.R.F.U.L.P.I.E.R.R.E’ are instantly catchy little numbers that will make you wish you’d been in at the ground floor for their live gigs. If you were there from the start then you’ve probably seen them in a packed out small venue in Liverpool blowing the roof off with these tunes, with a bouncing crowd who know every word. That’s how I picture it’ll be when I step off the lift at the first floor and start playing catch up anyway. After that they’re obviously just a band to follow all the way to top.

Published on Whisperin’ & Hollerin’ 07/09/15

Echo and the Bunnymen and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra at LIMF, Sefton Park; Review

Liverpol International Music Festival (LIMF) just keeps getting bigger and better – and was fittingly capped off this year on August bank holiday Monday with the merging of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and one of the city’s most beloved and legendary bands, Echo and the Bunnymen. With work and normality beckoning the following day, festival goers of Sefton Park had still hung around in large numbers to see this potentially mesmerising marriage go down, and few would have gone home that night wishing they hadn’t.

Kicking off what would be an hour long hits set, the Bunnymen immediately launched into a racy version of one of their best known and poppiest numbers, “Lips Like Sugar”, and followed it up with similarly cherished classics in “Rescue” and “Never Stop”. The crowd were treated to a nostalgic journey via the screens on either side of the stage which displayed various old photographs of the band in their heyday, and a time when Ian McCulloch’s hair was quite a bit taller than it is these days. At the centre of it all on the stage the band played amidst hazy clouds of pink and blue, furthering the mystique of their songs and given that necessary majesty by the ever-excellent orchestra behind them.

One of the undoubted highlights of any Bunnymen gig is the performance of “Nothing Lasts Forever”, a beautiful song with lyrics of sheer poetry and a rousing sing-a-long chorus which even the more passive member of the audience seemed to be able to join in with. With Monday running out the door and Tuesday only hours from running in, the band brought the set to a close with McCulloch’s own personal opinion of “the greatest song ever written” – that of course being his own atmospheric masterpiece “The Killing Moon”. Rather than engage in a futile debate on the matter, the crowd instead seemed to respond in agreement, or at least for the 5 minute duration of the song and the moments of appreciation that followed afterwards.

Returning for a brief encore with “Villier’s Terrace” that effortlessly transformed itself into a cover of one of their biggest influences The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues”, before refraining once more at the end to pay homage to another of their heroes, David Bowie, by incorporating a few verses of “The Jean Genie” into the mix. Finally the audience were treated to an incredibly moving version of “Ocean Rain” – according to McCulloch “the second best song ever written – which is arguably the most suitable of their back catalogue to be given the backing of an orchestra. It provided the crowd with one final swirling lullaby in which to send them home, and the beautiful bitter-sweet strings of the violins and the lead guitar ringing on in their ears might just have made some look at the end of this bank holiday a bit more philosophically.