list.co.uk/music
Music LIVE REVIEWS
I I
N O S B G E N A H P E T S
: O T O H P
I W O L G N O S M R C T A D R A W D O O W X E L A
: O T O H P
MULTI-ARTIST ALBUM LAUNCH JONNIE COMMON’S: DESKJOB Captain’s Rest, Glasgow, Wed 6 Apr ●●●●● DRONE / ROCK EARTH, WITH SABBATH ASSEMBLY Stereo, Glasgow, Tue 5 Apr ●●●●●
Honing his multifarious craft as curator, producer and alt-pop svengali, tech-wizard Jonnie Common has pulled a blinder with Deskjob. It’s a compilation that showcases many of Scotland’s pre-eminent independent acts, including Panda Su, eagleowl and Conquering Animal Sound. The album launch hoopla was suitably jubilant.
Common – of Glasgow electro-folk studs Down the Tiny Steps and skewed-pop charmers Inspector Tapehead – is an ace singer-songwriter in his own right (a debut solo album is due later this year), but also a wily musical catalyst. His gentle, gadget fuelled ‘re-fixes’ of wonderful songs like The Oates Field’s ‘Nae Luck’, eagleowl’s ‘Sorry I Spoke’ and Iona Marshall’s ‘2 Hearts’ are sympathetic and excellent. Marshall and Adam P Gordon, alas, had to cancel, but the album’s remaining eight artists all played live: Conquering Animal Sound’s performance was as hypnotic as their gauzy electronica; eagleowl stole our breath, as ever. Meursault’s Neil Pennycook, meanwhile, resembles a superstar more with each passing day. A first-rate shift at the office, all said: and not a photocopied arse in sight. (Nicola Meighan)
Sabbath Assembly’s occult rock – inspired by 60s Scientology-breakaways the Process Church – is led by Wooden Wand and Jex Thoth front-woman/conjurer Jessica Toth. Their celebration of both Jesus and Satan recalled a Luciferian Jefferson Airplane. Ones to watch for those inclined to darker 60s and 70s rock revivalism, if you can stomach the kitschiness.
A leaner, trimmer Dylan Carlson followed, with his
other half Adrienne Davies, who still maintains some of the finest slow percussion physically possible. Unlike the dramatic departure in sound after unleashing Hex on the world, Earth have slowly reinvented themselves within their cleaner sounding margins with heavy use of cello on recent opus Angels of Darkness Demons of Light I – immersed into their live set-up to strong effect.
‘Old Black’ sounded majestic, whilst live favourite ‘Ouroboros is Broken’ rang in the air like a gun shot. The only obvious gripe was the lack of amplification. There’s something inherently wrong with hearing full conversations over a live Earth experience. A solid as oak performance hampered by a severe lack of fire power. (Nick Herd)
POST-PUNK KID CONGO POWERS Art School, Glasgow, Thu 14 Apr ●●●●● POP ADELE ABC, Glasgow, Fri 15 Apr ●●●●●
Although its star had just turned fifty a couple of weeks earlier, this was one of those life-affirming shows by an artist who’s resolutely refused to let age weather either him or his musical style. Kid Congo Powers – real name Brian Tristan, from California – has done plenty with those five decades, including co-founding the seminal Gun Club, playing with The Cramps (here, the off-beat instrumental ‘I’m Cramped’ was dedicated to the late Lux Interior) and spending time as a member of Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds.
His latest project The Pink Monkey Birds lives up to such heritage, a trashy surf rock meets rock‘n’roll meets post-punk outfit fronted by the red-shirted, John Waters-moustached Powers. There was a refreshing lack of polish here, a functional, primitive musical aesthetic topped off by Powers’ gruff, at times almost spoken word vocal style on tracks like ‘Black Santa’, ‘Gorilla Rose’ and ‘LSDC’: the latter dedicated to his hosts, Optimo’s Twitch & Wilkes. Almost inevitably, pounding versions of the Gun Club’s ‘Sex Beat’ and ‘For the Love of Ivy’ were standouts of a set soaked in the sound of backstreet, garage rock sleaze. (David Pollock)
It’s hard not to fall for Adele. The 22-year-old Londoner may have recently trounced Madonna in the record books – her current album, 21, is the longest-running UK No 1 album by a female artist – but she’s an entirely different kind of superstar: accessible, nervous; just getting used to wearing high heels. She’s also among the greatest pop balladeers of her generation, as became clear through her set of modern-day classics like ‘Chasing Pavements’, ‘Rolling in the Deep’ and the now-ubiquitous, but no less hair-raising, ‘Someone Like You’. Despite the ongoing success of 21 and its precursor, 19, Adele’s sold-out show was in the relatively intimate confines of the ABC. This reinforced the camaraderie as she chatted about her beloved sausage dog, backed by a simple stage set of homely standard lamps. Adele’s often-seated performance, however, was for other reasons. ‘I’d be shitting myself otherwise,’ she confessed.
Cashing in on a broken heart is nothing new in the world of pop, but few have done it as admirably as Adele: with generosity of spirit, with excellent humour – and with a voice that could raise the roof. (Nicola Meighan)
28 Apr–26 May 2011 THE LIST 73
POP KATY PERRY SECC, Glasgow, Tue 5 Apr ●●●●●
It was a big disappointment to discover in the days following this show that America’s most full-of- attitude pop princess who isn’t Lady Gaga had been using a crib sheet to get all her local references right. Of course she didn’t learn to call people from Glasgow ‘Weegies’ and about the great rivalry between ‘the Rangers’ and ‘the Celtics’ (almost got that one right, Katy) by hanging about in East End boozers before the show, but it’s at least amusing to think of her much more clued-up other half Russell Brand giving her an emergency crash course in Glaswegian. All she had to do, of course, was mention ‘my
husband’ and every girl in the room was screaming their approval. There was a lot of love for Perry too, though, who delivered an extravagant set which was bitter and sweet in equal measure, but shot through with more originality than a production of this size usually offers. Subtitled the California Dreams Tour, it featured a loose narrative of video inserts in which Perry hammed it up to the max through a cupcake- strewn, Wizard of Oz-style fantasy California. The stage set was similarly overblown, featuring
video screens fringed by pink clouds, neon keyboard stands and a troupe of dancer/acrobats springing around the singer. There were some impressive costume changes from Perry, including a massive peacock feather attached to her back for ‘Peacock’, a flapperish lime green dress and purple feather boa for an initially slowed-down version of ‘I Kissed a Girl’ (before which the first guy to take his shirt off got to come up on stage and give Perry a kiss: ‘go figure,’ she remarked cattily, ‘I picked a ginger in Scotland’) and a whole bunch of magic-effect quick changes behind screens and confetti clouds during ‘Hot N Cold’.
Not all of Perry’s songs are blessed with such effortless pop appeal, with a few sickly-sweet slower tracks including ‘Who Am I Living For?’ and ‘Not Like the Movies’ contributing to a bit of a midset lull. Yet these were more than balanced out by the convincing rock chick attitude of ‘Circle the Drain’ (chorus: ‘I wanna be your lover / not your fuckin’ mother’), the striking electro oddity ‘E.T.’, a faithful cover of Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ and the ever-reliable closer ‘California Gurls’. A midset acoustic medley of Rihanna’s ‘Only Girl (In the World)’, Jay-Z’s ‘Big Pimpin’, Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’ and Willow Smith’s ‘Whip My Hair’ was another masterful exercise in crowdpleasing, with her declaration that the Jay-Z track ‘goes out to all the neds’ providing possibly the night’s comedy highlight. (David Pollock)