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Music LIVE REVIEWS
INDIE POP EUX AUTRES The Flying Duck, Glasgow, Sat 5 Mar ●●●●● ELECTRO SOUL JAMIE WOON King Tut’s, Glasgow, Thu 1 Mar ●●●●●
Janglesome San Franciscans Eux Autres boast considerable pedigree by association: frontwoman and keys player Heather Larimer – one half of the band’s founding sibling duo together with her brother, guitarist and vocalist Nicholas Larimer – was a long-term squeeze of Stephen Malkmus and the backing-vocalist/cheerleader with his post-Pavement project The Jicks, while in Yoshi Nakamoto they share a drummer with indie-pop cult heroes The Aislers Set and Still Flyin’. Perilously close to the vanguard of truly breakthrough dubstep, London boy Jamie Woon is hanging on James Blake’s coattails in more ways than one. Blake got there first (just) and he’s also mastered the template of soulful singer- songwriting backed by stark, otherworldly electronic atmosphere to a far more effective degree. While Blake sounds like Antony Hegarty fronting Portishead, Woon comes across in places more like this decade’s Craig David.
While it doesn’t add up to much more than a This is, actually, a pretty enjoyable show, even as
handful of bodies in the Flying Duck as the quartet arrive in Glasgow on a European tour in support of their exquisite third album Broken Bows, they nevertheless turn in a sparkling set that position them somewhere between Beat Happening and Field Mice on the joyously ramshackle scale. From the point when the skipping Heather Larimer kicks off her heels and shoogles a pair of percussive shakey eggs during the whooping intro to ‘Queen Turner’, she has the crowd eating out of her palm, then asking for seconds. (Malcolm Jack)
Woon finds himself earnestly Jamiroquaiing his way through the plaintive, yearning soulstep of ‘Gravity’. With backing from two keyboard players and a drummer, his music sounds both richly artificial and reassuringly live when those sticks come into service. Woon variously allows himself a lengthy, electronically aided guitar solo midway through and an unashamedly corny but upbeat soul number called ‘Lady Luck’, which is dipped in the essence of (very) latterday Motown, and fair play for making neither as self-indulgent as they sound on paper. (David Pollock)
ROCK’N’ROLL MONA King Tut’s, Glasgow, Wed 9 Mar ●●●●● DEBUT GIG BEADY EYE Barrowlands, Glasgow, Thu 3 Mar ●●●●●
‘Our manager’s from Glasgow, so we knew y’all was some crazy motherfuckers,’ says Mona’s singer Nick Brown in his deadpan, stateside drawl. ‘We’re from Dayton, Ohio, which is one redneck town. But y’all are doing us proud.’ The packed crowd roar and laugh and have another drink, safe in the knowledge they are seeing the American Glasvegas – right down to the singer’s quiff. They are building towards the release of their debut self-titled and self-produced album, mixed by Rich Costey who has Glasvegas credentials of his own. Throw in a Deep South relgious upbringing (most of them learnt to play in church) and we’re set for for some charismatic fun.
Morrissey might have picked them for his tour
support, but Mona’s show is unrequited rock’n’roll anthemics all the way, with Brown, an excellent frontman, vocally impersonating Springsteen on ‘Pavement’, Robert Plant on ‘Shooting the Moon’ and Bobby Gillespie on ‘Say You Will’. By the Johnny Cash-lauding encore of ‘I Seen’,
he is swigging from a bottle of Jack: either he’s got a sponsorship deal or he’s the real deal. (David Pollock)
Here it is, then, the first ever gig by Liam Gallagher’s new post-Oasis project. We might be forgiven for feeling underwhelmed by the prospect, those of us who’ve watched the one-time sound of their generation advance through predictability to crushing monotony, and it is probably better that way. At least now we can say we are pleasantly surprised by a show which – despite Liam’s typically forthright greeting to a crowd chanting his name, a spat-out ‘try fuckin’ harder’ – displays touches of uncharacteristic humility.
Refusing to play any Oasis songs, Gallagher instead leads the typically committed crowd through an hour-long procession of Beady Eye’s limited output. A live sextet, they freshen up rather than betray their past with laidback comeback ‘The Roller’, beat group rocker ‘Beatles & Stones’, the La’s chime of ‘For Anyone’ and the epic 70s psych-rock of ‘The Beat Goes On’.
Naturally new ground remains resolutely unbroken, but the scale of the back-projected videos filling the rear wall and the creditable polish to their sound might indicate this band’s desire to climb the ranks again quickly. (David Pollock)
31 Mar–28 Apr 2011 THE LIST 81
INDIE POP THE BABIES, WITH PAWS AND SCHNAPPS Stereo, Glasgow, Sat 19 Mar ●●●●●
Imposing concrete pillars aside, Stereo continues to ‘cement’ (oh yes, we did) its position as one of Glasgow’s best basement venues, and a good place to seek musical refuge in the face of yet another cold Saturday night in the city.
First up, local four-piece Schnapps blend elements of early REM — evident mostly in frontman Jnr Crawford’s vibrant, Stipe-esque vocal delivery – with a biting rockabilly groove to great effect. Not every song is a head-turner or indeed, a foot-tapper, but when it works, it’s a lot of fun – the danceable ‘Get Back On It’ is a prime example. Next up, Paws – a trio of prominent Glasgow
punk-rock kids, who have supported just about every US indie act to come barging through the city, Wavves, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, No Age, to namedrop a few. They deliver a mixture of vigour and raucous noise that has so far served them well. Fresh off the back of launching their mermaid- themed self-released EP, ‘My Parents Said We Can’t See Each Other Any More . . .’ earlier in the month, their set is both confidently executed and immediately commands attention. Bookended by searing feedback, their collection of high-energy, brazen guitar-pop jolts a bit of life into the basement’s murky depths and has little trouble hammering a few smiles onto the crowd.
The bar is raised for The Babies then, but the headliners have a joint-ace up their sleeves, combining the songwriting talents of two of Brooklyn’s finest recent exports — being fronted by both Woods bassist, Kevin Morby, and Vivian Girls’ guitarist/vocalist, Cassie Ramone (pictured). Having recently released their self-titled debut LP, they produce a concoction of intricate pop sensibility and ramshackle, knee-slapping energy.
Mixing shades of folk and country with welcome slabs of crusty distortion and beautifully simple melody, the tunes come thick and fast and are met with near-constant waves of head-bobbing approval.
As anyone familiar with the band’s previous
endeavours will testify, the uncleansed lo-fi approach is still in effect. It means The Babies lend songs such as ‘Run Me Over’ and ‘Breaking the Law’ a rough-hewn charm and, in the case of Ramone’s lead spots, a sort of unavoidable, snotty charisma. (Ryan Drever)