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Music LIVE REVIEWS
D N A L E C Y R B N A C N U D
21ST CENTURY DIVA FLORENCE & THE MACHINE SECC, Glasgow, Mon 12 Mar ●●●●●
Has Florence Welch ever told you about the time she flew up to Glasgow on a whim to visit a friend who lives in a castle in the Highlands? The four- hour bus journey that followed – still in her pyjamas – took her through Lochgilphead, where her Scottish granny (cue applause) used to holiday as a girl. This journey was the last act of a very heavy weekend, of course. God, those heavy weekends. She’s just off the back of one now, as it happens . . .
All of which helps to illustrate the 24-carat crackpottery required to fully live up to that ‘new Kate Bush’ mantle, as if wafting in through what looks like an enormous Art Deco hotel lobby, wearing a brown sequinned cape, hasn’t already announced Welch as an arena act worthy of the name. Many artists graduate to a venue of this size through a combination of perseverance and marketing, but with Welch the feeling persists that she’s here because she was destined to be; that she has the songs, the style, the sheer talent and the winning level of affirmative eccentricity to be bound for superstardom and no less.
The impersonation of stony-eyed
otherworldliness she opens with lasts almost half the set, in the end, with ‘Only if for a Night’ and ‘What the Water Gave Me’ performed with a voice as crystalline as a heavenly choir and an expression as beatifically detached as Alison Goldfrapp in her pomp. Murmured hellos from the darkness seemed at odds with the woman confidently proclaiming, ‘We are all too young to die’ during ‘Between Two Lungs’, a declaration that she intends to hang around if ever there was one. But she couldn’t resist telling us about her big nights out for long, and the frost thawed as she conducted mountainous anthem ‘Shake It Out’s ‘ooh’-ing coda. A good set got better and better as it went on,
with Welch and the audience loosening their dancing feet to ‘Dog Days Are Over’, and her now- standard Candi Staton cover ‘You Got the Love’ and the dense, rich pound of ‘Spectrum’ taking her into the territory of Ibiza’s last anthemic build- up of the morning. Both Florences, the arena ice queen and the after-party princess, have surely arrived as an essential pop star for the 21st century. (Paul Little)
84 THE LIST 29 Mar–26 Apr 2012
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POP XIU XIU Captain’s Rest, Wed 14 Mar ●●●●●
Those who have seen Xiu Xiu’s past Glasgow appearances may be expecting songwriter Jamie Stewart to be accompanied by just one other musician, but the tour for latest record Always sees him flanked by a full band. Opening on the gentle ‘Fabulous Muscles’, the
band flit between more intense, almost Pavement-y guitar pop sounds, and the delicately weird and pained vocals for which Stewart is best known. The appeal of Xiu Xiu surely lies in the lyrical content, with lines from songs like ‘Sad Pony Guerrilla Girl’ and even new track ‘Smear The Queen’ picked up on by dedicated fans in attendance.
It is in his most personal, intimate moments
where Stewart’s talent shines through, his pained, idiosyncratic delivery intense throughout the set. Silent between songs, stopping methodically to gargle water, he speaks only to say goodbye before ‘I Luv The Valley OH!’ delivers one final emotional blow to Xiu Xiu’s disarmingly loyal fanbase. (Lauren Mayberry)
ELECTRONICA BLANCK MASS School of Art, Glasgow, Sun 18 Mar ●●●●●
In comparison to Fuck Buttons, his and Andrew Hung’s punishing drone-techno crucible, Benjamin John Power’s solo project Blanck Mass makes music that manages to recreate the elegia and emotional power of club-ready electronic music with none of the basslines. Twenty years ago this would have been called ambient, and in this room there was womb-like calm. For a time, at least. As the set progressed the
occasional bass note thudded as if dropped to the floor. Power’s live keys seemed strangely disembodied, but they chimed with the sweet uplift of good house music. In presumable tribute to his friend and attendee at this show Stuart Braithwaite, the churning guitar riff of Mogwai’s ‘Rano Pano’ was mixed in and reversed at one point. And then, even as the set threatened to dissipate into a fuzz of chimes and noise from the Pink Floyd playbook of designer psychedelia, a dark, minimal tribal beat kicked in. Much like Fuck Buttons, Power’s Blanck Mass does nothing new and everything with an emotional intensity that goes beyond instinct. (David Pollock)
E C N E U Q E S Y E K N O M Y K A E R F
CONFESSIONAL SINGER/SONGWRITER SINEAD O’CONNOR Oran Mor, Glasgow, Wed 14 Mar ●●●●● HIP HOP SOULS OF MISCHIEF Electric Circus, Edinburgh, Tue 13 Mar ●●●●●
One of the funniest tales in music concerns an Irish hack sent to doorstep Sinead O’Connor. The scribbler promptly vanishes then days later is tracked down to O’Connor’s Paris hotel suite: ‘Sinead and I,’ he informs his former colleagues loftily, ‘aren’t talking to the press.’ The implication is a stubborn one, that O’Connor is a man-eating flake elevated by one well-chosen Prince cover to an unearned and flouncy megastardom. A recent marriage (her fourth) and years in the wilderness appear to have galvanised her. One result has been her most recent album, How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?, a piece of work that is solid and accommodating. As is her live show, wherein O’Connor foregoes flakiness and attempts to reconnect with her audience, humbly at times. The new material, while tuneful, remains militantly autobiographical, however, the lyrical equivalent of an email written at 4am. There’s no shortage of banshee Gaelic wailing either. How long new love will sustain this rebirth remains to be seen, of course, but for the meantime it’s nice to have the old suede-headed nutter back. (Allan Brown)
As creators of a classic 90s hip hop hit (‘93 til Infinity’), it would be easy for Souls of Mischief to tour on the back of that alone. However, the California-natives did not disappoint the sold-out crowd with a dull and lazy performance, like some of their golden age hip hop peers find acceptable to do. Instead, they treated fans to an engaging and ardent show.
Souls of Mischief’s Opio, Phesto and Tajai took to the stage (A-Plus hasn’t appeared on any of the tour) and put up their Hieroglyphics collective hand sign to their followers, who signalled back.
The threesome performed material from their
five albums, plus Hieroglyphics’ numbers and tracks from Phesto’s new album Background Check.
The group spoke out, saying they ‘came a long
way to be on this stage’ because they ‘love hip hop’. They also got a few laughs when they announced they had ‘Buckfast up in the back’. Next year will be the 20th anniversary of the
track that made them famous. Souls of Mischief’s zeal and commitment proves why they are still around. When they said ‘93 til Infinity’, they meant it. (Lauren Gelling)