The nominations for the 2011 Barclaycard Mercury Prize – for the best album from the United Kingdom and Ireland – were announced last week at a special ceremony in London by BBC6music radio presenter Lauren Laverne. Receiving a Mercury Prize nomination (and/or winning it) generally leads to increased album sales and increased celebrity profile for a band. The winner will be announced on Tuesday, September 6 at a special event in London featuring performances from all the nominees.
Here are the 12 albums up for this year’s Mercury Prize:
One of the hottest and unique-sounding English bands of the moment, Everything Everything, played a special orchestral gig Wednesday night (December 15) at London’s Union Chapel. Called “the Man Alive Ensemble Show,” it has to be one of the first gigs of its kind, as there was a special iPhone / iPad app developed for the performance, allowing fans to interact with each other and send questions to the band before the actual show last week, and those with the app could view the show in real time from their electronic devices.
However, if you’re like me and don’t have an iPhone, the group also smartly set a website so anyone with internet access could watch the show as well. Man Alive, the band’s debut album, was released in late August in the UK on Geffen Records and I’m sure it’ll appear with an official release on this side of the Atlantic in short order. This is definitely a band you’ll want to keep your eye on.
This was the last gig of the year for the Manchester-based band – Jonathan Higgs (lead vocals / guitar), Alex Robertshaw (guitar), Jeremy Pritchard (bass), and Michael Spearman (drums) – and featured themselves playing their debut album in its entirety with a 16-piece orchestra. The show will be archived and available to stream for the next 3 months. To stream the gig and watch videos of the band answering fans’ questions, audience reactions after the show, and a special post-show interview with the band, go here. Months of work and practice into making this show a reality paid off as you can hear the great reaction from the audience at one of the most intimate, beautiful places to play in London.
If you’re interested in reading anything and everything (no pun intended) on Everything Everything, I’d like to direct you to probably the best-looking fan site for a band I’ve ever seen, Everything Everything Everything.
Set List
Schoolin’
QWERTY Finger
Come Alive Diana
Leave the Engine Room
Suffragette Suffragette
Two for Nero
My Kz Ur Bf
Final Form
Photoshop Handsome
NASA is on Your Side
Tin (the Manhole)
Weights
I knew that Two Door Cinema Club‘s May appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, a major American late-night television show on a major television network, was really going to help them break in America. What I didn’t expect was how far across the globe they actually were going to break: after playing festival dates all over the world this summer, the Northern Irish trio have over 193,000 fans on Facebook, and many of the dates on their current tour of North America this fall have sold out quickly. So it makes sense that after the initial release of their debut album Tourist History on Glassnote Records here in the U.S. on April 27 that they would release a deluxe, 2-CD version of the debut with some special features.
Disc #1 is identical to the original debut release, but for those of you who are not familiar with the album, here’s my review. A very interesting note: the tracklisting of the UK version of the album differs slightly from the American version, as the song “Undercover Martyn” appears as track 3 on the American pressing, and “Do You Want It All?” and all other tracks move forward in sequence. When I asked guitarist Sam Halliday about the change in track order, he said that it had been recommended to them that they move the more upbeat “Undercover Martyn” further up in the American tracklisting for a more immediate reaction. If you want, move the songs around on your mp3 playlist and see if it makes a difference in your personal listening experience of the band. For myself, I’m used to hearing “Undercover Martyn” as the closer in the one-two-three punch directly following “Something Good Can Work” and “I Can Talk,” so I prefer the UK tracklisting.
But let’s look at the CD as a whole. In general, Two Door Cinema Club songs have a good formula that works well every time. I’m not criticizing them or suggesting what they’ve done is simple; on the contrary, they know what each band member’s strengths are and use these strengths to build songs in the very best way they can. Red-headed lead singer/guitaristAlex Trimble has a voice that can be as gorgeously gentle: for evidence, see the softer bits of “Undercover Martyn”: “she spoke words that would melt in your hand / and she spoke words of wisdom.” I practically died the first time I heard that song. Skeptical? Watch the acoustic version of this song they did for ITN Music in January 2010 below.
But at the same time, he can also deliver sharp lyrics quickly , like the start of “I Can Talk”: “you won’t believe what I tell you / white clothes and clever minds will choose / you get a lot from this / loose tongue and arrogance / it’s not appropriate / don’t think that this is it.” My first impression of this lyric: it’s a slap in the face, in a good way. It makes you stand up and take notice. This is definitely not some frou-frou pop band. This is a band that writes songs with bite.
While you are probably most familiar with “Something Good Can Work” (played as background music on a Good Morning America photo montage) and “I Can Talk” (featured on the FIFA 11 soccer video game), there are some great non-single gems in Tourist History. “What You Know” begins with guitar chords, then beats come in, followed by Kev Baird‘s bass and Halliday’s incredibly melodic guitar, as if it’s another voice in the mix. Hands down it’s my favorite on the album. The bass is the star of “Come Back Home,” propelling the song along with Trimble’s expansive vocals. If you’re looking to fall in love, look no further than “Cigarettes in the Theatre.” If you want a bouncy number with less threatening lyrics than “I Can Talk,” go for “Eat That Up, It’s Good for You.” The only two songs that are not as engaging as the rest are “Do You Want It All?” and “This is the Life,” which break down a bit in the lyrics department. Thankfully, the guitars save the day.
Then we come to disc #2. It begins with the new track “Kids”, a song the band previewed when I saw them in Philadelphia in May. It’s classic Two Door Cinema Club: there are Trimble’s gentle vocal verses, then a fun, singalong chorus with Baird’s thudding bass and Halliday’s noodling guitar enjoying the spotlight during the instrumental bridge. It’s not as frenetic as “I Can Talk” but it’s a keeper. The rest of the disc are remixes, the most interesting one at the lucky number 7 position. This summer the band offered up the stems to “What You Know” and asked fans to submit their remixes of the song. The winning remix, as chosen by the band themselves, was by Sydney DJ and as described on a poster on his MySpace “fuuuuuuunky fresh Zulu synth warrior ” Cassian. As promised by the band, the remix was included on this deluxe edition. With the cowbell, it actually sounds like something that might have come out of the Friendly Fires studio.
The other remixes come from luminaries that you may not have heard of but you soon will. Manchester-based Everything Everything, a band who has turned everyone’s heads with their debut album Man Alive in August, remixes “Undercover Martyn.” “Come Back Home” is remixed by London’s Is Tropical, a band whose star is rising on the radio play of their forthcoming single “North Pacific” to be released in the UK in late November. The trio were recently signed to Kitsune Maison, the same French dance label that first discovered Two Door Cinema Club as well. Of all the remixes, probably the most fun is the Brazilian electronica duo the Twelves‘s take on “Something Good Can Work.” It’s what you would imagine Two Door Cinema Club would have sounded like if they had been making music during the disco era. In short, Tourist History is such a fun record, and the remixes just up the fun factor. Well done boys. We’re ready and waiting for your second album.
The deluxe edition of Tourist History, including a link to a special documentary, is available now. Two Door Cinema Club is currently on a tour of North America, ending on November 7 in Eugene, Oregon.
Tour Dates
Nov 02 – Music Box / Los Angeles
Nov 03 – Belly Up Tavern / Solana Beach
Nov 04 – Slim’s / San Francisco
Nov 05 – Hawthorne Theatre / Portland
Nov 06 – Neumo’s / Seattle
Nov 07 – EMU Ballroom / Eugene, OR
CD 1 Tracklisting
01. Cigarettes in the Theatre
02. Come Back Home
03. Do You Want It All?
04. This is The Life
05. Something Good Can Work
06. I Can Talk
07. Undercover Martyn
08. What You Know
09. Eat That Up, It’s Good for You
10. You’re Not Stubborn
CD 2 Tracklisting
01. Kids
02. Undercover Martyn (Everything Everything Remix)
03. I Can Talk (French Horn Rebellion Remix)
04. Come Back Home (Is Tropical Remix)
05. Undercover Martyn (JupiterRemix)
06. I Can Talk (Moulinex Remix)
07. What You Know (Cassian Remix)
08. Come Back Home (Myd Remix)
09. Something Good Can Work (Ted & Francis Remix)
10. Undercover Martyn (Softwar Remix)
11. Something Good Can Work (The Twelves Remix)
The exciting debut album from Manchester, England’s Delphic will for sure be in my top 2 albums of 2010. The electro / dance / rock trio is currently touring as support for the Temper Trap, and this is their first significant tour of North America to boot after just playing three gigs in America in June. It was my distinct pleasure to speak with Delphic‘s accomplished guitarist, Matt Cocksedge, before their gig at the House of Blues in Boston, the second night on a month-long tour of our continent. I have to say, he’s probably one of the most (if not the most) eloquent musician I’ve ever had the chance to interview. In part 1 of this interview, we discuss the cynical music media and why they seem intent on comparing Delphic to fellow Mancunians and hometown heroes New Order, why he thinks their tourmates the Temper Trap are actually more similar to them than you might realize, and how Radiohead is a real inspiration to them.
Mary Chang, PopWreckoning: I think every single blogger I know of wants to be different [taking a different album review approach] than Pitchfork, endeavor to not be like them. My mom doesn’t get the blogging thing, when I was explaining to her what Pitchfork was, she thought it sounded like people who were going after other people with pitchforks. That was the way she interpreted it, not knowing what it was. Matt Cocksedge, Delphic: Yeah, makes sense. PW: But when you’re talking about promoting music to the masses… MC: But it seems like an accurate description of the press, doesn’t it? Hanging them out to dry. It’s difficult really. PW: Maybe I can ask you, have you discerned a difference between the British media and the American media? Have you felt one given you a harder time than the other? Or maybe you haven’t had a lot of exposure to American media, yet. MC: That’s the thing. I don’t know too much about American media reaction to us. All I know is that Pitchfork [when Pitchfork reviewed their debut album, Acolyte, released in June on Dangerbird Records here in America], that was out ages ago. I don’t know what else has gone with the release of the album, beyond that, I haven’t really heard [anything]. PW: To be honest, I don’t think I ever read that review. I’m sometimes scared to look… MC: Yeah, I’m scared to look! Really nervous. [smiles] PW: So you said that they slagged off Everything Everything? [the fellow Manchester band's debut album, Man Alive, was released in August in the UK] MC: They did, they did. And I just can’t help but feel there’s some sort of…the Everything Everything album was critically received in the UK… PW: Yeah, I reviewed it for another site and I really liked it. MC: It’s a great album, with so many ideas. PW: And very original. MC: So original! And even it doesn’t connect with you, potentially you can still appreciate the ideas, the originality, the experimentalism. You know, they’re trying to do something new with guitar music in a band. And certainly with our review, it was more an indictment of British music than an actual review of the record.
PW: Oh you know what, I think I did read it. I think they focused on the New Order aspect… MC: Yeah. PW: Which is interesting, because in almost every single American article I’ve read about you guys, it’s always focused on New Order. Now, I was too young to appreciate New Order at their height of fame and you also, neither of us were there for the whole Joy Division / New Order thing. So I don’t come from it from that perspective. MC: That’s the thing. We know New Order‘s music a bit. What I always think about the New Order thing, if “Doubt” wasn’t on the album, if you kind of take “Doubt” out of the equation of the album, and then look at it in terms of New Order, it’s very, very different. But when “Doubt” is included, I think it’s the most New Order, most obvious New Order kind of touch point on the record. I’ve always wondered about that. But people will hear what they want to hear and say what they want to say. And we’ve made this music and put it out, and then you take what you get given. It’s certainly interesting, you know, going around the world…especially places like Japan, there’s much more positive feeling, I think. There’s a lot of cynicism in the UK especially And the UK press and the UK audience. It’s because we’ve been spoilt for choice [when it comes to music], we’re just completely spoiled.
PW: That’s the thing, I think that’s the reason why I’ve gravitated towards British music in general, because you have people like Steve Lamacq and Huw Stephenschampioning the little guys. MC: Every evening there’s a new band starting out… PW: Yeah, like clockwork every Wednesday I listen to Lammo’s “New Favourite Band” feature and while we don’t see eye to eye on every band, but it’s nice to hear different opinions. MC: Definitely. PW: It’s hard to hear about new [British] bands on American radio. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Delphic song played in Washington. Back in February, VV Brown played the same dance night you guys will play in DC next Friday, and one of the songs being spun that night was “Halcyon”. Me and a girlfriend, we’ve got our tickets and we’re coming up the stairs and it’s coming out of the speakers. And we went crazy because we knew the song! We were very excited. But we were the only ones in the club that knew it. MC: That’s great! [grins] PW: So to have you guys come to DC is really exciting. I think it’s the only date you’re doing by yourselves on this tour? MC: Yeah, I think so. I don’t know if we’ve got one in LA… PW: I know you guys are doing Club Nokia [in Los Angeles] with the Temper Trap… MC: Yeah, we’re doing that…yeah, basically we’d come over here to tour with the Temper Trap. They’re lovely guys, which makes things a lot easier. Always a pleasure when you’re on tour with a band that is just nice, and good guys. Makes it a lot easier. PW: When I saw you guys in Denmark [at Roskilde Festival], Rick [Boardman, Delphic's keyboards / synths player] already knew you were coming to America to support someone else but couldn’t tell me because he’d get in trouble. The Temper Trap never even crossed my mind…when I first saw this tour’s bill, I was kind of surprised because I think of the Temper Trap as more of a straight forward rock sound. Did you have any reservations supporting them? Not that you really had much choice as support but…did you wonder, is this going to be an issue when we play to crowds primarily there for the Temper Trap? MC: No, not at all. We were really excited about it. We respect the Temper Trap a lot. I think what we do is very similar but we put it in different clothes. We both try and write songs and yeah, we’re songwriters…we put them in different contexts. Theirs is a more guitar-based thing and ours is a more synth-based thing. At the heart, we’re quite similar and something we share with them. I think it’s good. We’re not trying to steal fans, we’re not trying to be a better Temper Trap or trying to compete with them in that way. We’re a band on a similar tangent, but doing our own thing. They’re doing their own thing. Hopefully when people come see us, they can understand the similarities but appreciate the differences. And yeah, we’re really excited and thrilled that they asked us along. And really, really happy to be out here with them. We’ve only done the one show [at Philadelphia's Trocadero on Sunday night, 3 nights earlier], so I’ll let you know how it goes! [laughs] But at the moment, it’s been good!
PW: I have to ask, what did you think, coming back to America after 3 months since your last shows here? Did you approach that with trepidation? The last “gig” you had before that was Bestival, that was a couple weeks ago? MC: Well, it’s certainly different than a festival. You can’t do so much jumping up and down and getting people to clap. You’ve gotta be a bit cooler! [smiles] Yeah, we’ve done the support band thing for a while, we know how it works, we’re just happy to be back out here. The crowd was good. It was a really stressful gig, to be honest with you, because it’s the first date of the tour. Backstage is always bit hectic. You hope everything works. It was really hectic, but I really enjoyed the gig myself. Great venue, the crowd was loud, yeah, I enjoyed it a lot. PW: I have to say, as your set progressed, I could feel the audience getting behind you. I was in second row on the floor, which I was very happy about. I was surrounded by devoted Temper Trap fans and I basically explained who you guys were, and who the Hundred in the Hands were, because they’ve just put out their debut album last week. MC: Yeah, I’ve been meaning to get it. PW: It’s really good. I’d say that along with yours and Two Door Cinema Club‘s [Tourist History] albums, it’s up there in my top 5 albums of 2010. MC: Oh wow, cool. PW: And I heard smatterings of conversation after your set. One girl said, “yeah, it was kind of a slow start but after the third song with all the synth action, I really liked it!” MC: Yeah, what was really cool were the pockets of people who were really going for it! PW: [laughs] Yeah, that was us! We were the ones jumping up and down and pumping our fists. Expect that, I’ll get people excited for you guys tonight. MC: Cool, I’ll keep a look out for it.
PW: Going back to the album, having heard what people have said about the album, one thing that I found very interesting was that people were comparing my favorite song, “Submission,” to Duran Duran. MC: Really. PW: What would say about that? MC: Uh…I’d be quite speechless! [laugh] PW: Me too, and that’s because I’m a Duranie. MC: I’d never have saw that coming! Yeah, I dunno…I’m not offended by it at all. Certainly didn’t see that one coming. I dunno, it’s one of those things, you make music to put it out there and people will read into it what they want. “So this bit is like this…” and we would’ve never even heard of that band! And then sometimes they’ll write, “so this bit is like this…” and yeah, we did just rip it off a bit. [grins] Yeah, I don’t know if it was Duran Duran influenced, but I can honestly say I didn’t think anyone would say that. PW: It reminds me of what people said about We Are Scientists‘s second album [Brain Thrust Mastery]. I liked it better than their first because it was more polished and had the synths. People said it sounded like Duran Duran because it had synths. Just because they have synths doesn’t mean they were influenced by Duran Duran. Similarly, some people think anything with synths can be classified as ’80s new wave.
PW: “Submission” has the right balance of synths, guitars, beats, and everything is so clean. The echoes are absolutely perfect to me. It’s the perfect song. I can put on my headphones and go into my own little world listening to it. Do you remember how the song came about? How do your songs usually start, does it start with someone’s lyric, “hey, I have an idea“, or “hey, I got this great guitar riff, let’s work off of this…” MC: I think with “Submission”, I really think it came about from the beat, you know? We wanted a more down-tempo number. It’s still quite quick, but it feels a lot slower than a lot of the record. We really wanted a bit darker of a tune, more of… that kind of feeling, and it came from [Matt starts tapping the table with his hands in time to the killer main rhythm of "Submission"]… PW: I think that’s why I like it, it’s so funky. MC: Yeah, we’ve got the guitar riff at the end, that came quite early as well. Yeah, all the songs, they all come from different places, there’s no set way of doing it, at least in terms of the initial idea. When we have an idea, and we’re developing it, then you kind of have your way of working on it, trying to flesh it out and make that transition from idea to song. And that’s difficult, because not all of them make it through. Sometimes you have a great idea but you can’t fit it in the right context. That can be difficult. But that came from a beat. Other tune came from a sound on the synth, or a chord sequence, and there’s no rules with this sort of thing, is there? We have strong instincts with these things. We try to work within a concept or the framework of an album for the set of songs we want to write. And once you have that framework established, it’s constrictive yet freeing because you can explore all areas in a certain kind of musical world, in a way. That definitely how it happened with the first record. We knew the kind of record we wanted to make in terms of sound and what we were talking about, and really then it was seeing what worked within it and what didn’t work, and how best make an album flow and what we needed to do to give it more depth. There is no real right or wrong, it’s whether you get that feeling. James [Cook, Delphic's lead vocalist and bassist] might play me something. So do I get it, do I feel it in my gut? Does it give me that kind of emotion? If the answer is no, let’s write another one. And if the answer is yes, okay, let’s take it to the next stage, let’s develop it and put an arrangement around it, put words to it. Are there any words that fit that we have already? You know, so you build it from there. But the initial idea is always the most important thing. It’s whether you get a buzz off of it… PW: Like a spark of inspiration. MC: Yeah, definitely. Sometimes…we’re writing ideas for the second album now, and there are some things…James played me something he’d written the other day, and sometimes you can just hear immediately, “that’s a finished song,” even if it’s just something on the piano with a bit of melody. I just know what that’s going to be. And that’s the most exciting thing. That’s when you know at the heart, there is something really special. It doesn’t happen all the time, but then it’s something you really need to grab onto and protect, in a way. You want to keep it true and make something real out of it.
PW: I think it is a gift when you’re able to create a timeless melody. A lot of music today, say hip hop, doesn’t necessarily have a great, underlying melody. It’s just not there. Or even some harder rock stuff. I saw Biffy Clyro 2 weeks ago at their first headlining gig of America, in Washington. They couldn’t even sell out DC9, and that’s a 200-capacity venue. MC: Really? That’s madness. They’re really big in the UK now. [Biffy Clyro regularly sells out stadiums there.] PW: I’m not a huge fan of theirs but I wanted to see history in the making. I consider Biffy kind of thrash metal, and my issue with thrash metal is that there isn’t a melody running through the whole thing, a melody that really grabs me. I’m not going to remember that song next week. Before or while you were in a band, were there any other bands that you looked to as idols? MC: Hmmm…Radiohead really, for me personally. They’re the bosses, aren’t they? The big kids in the class. I just think…they don’t put a foot wrong. They’re the band that I think always…I remember when we were working on parts of the first album, “what would Thom Yorke do?” kind of, that we said to each other kind of jokingly, but with a serious tone. They don’t seem to make missteps. And I think as a band they’ve always been so inspirational, because they’ve always done their own thing. Believed in what they do. Writing OK Computer and then bringing out Kid A, the most incredible movement in modern music, right? I think they’re certainly a band we have immense, immense respect for. And a band whose career path we look to and we’re like, if we have a career anywhere near that, we’d be happy. As a band who’s just released a first record, you’re very much at the whim at the reviews and the whim of word of mouth. And people are very open to speculation on things. And open to New Order comparisons! [laughs] But I think as we release more records and release more, people see what we’re actually about. I think looking at a band like Radiohead, at Pablo Honey or even The Bends, and seeing how they were labeled as, like, Pixies‘s wannabes, and all that kind of thing. Then they kind of emerged and blossomed into their own thing. I think we’re really eager to kind of move on and keep developing, and show people…we’ve still got a lot to prove, I think, and we’ve still got a long way to go, and a long way to improve. We’ve got a lot to prove to ourselves and everyone else as well. And who we are. And we’re just excited to be given the chance to do that. Some people [in bands] do that to them [finger gesture], and some people, “thanks for believing in us, we want to pay you back.” You know? I think that’s the Manchester spirit a little bit, that bit is anyway. Sorry, I hope I didn’t offend you doing that! PW: Haha, no worries. Was that a bit of anti-Southerner kind of thing? MC: [laughs] Oh, no no! It’s just that kind of gang mentality in Manchester. PW: “All for one, and one for all” kind of a thing? MC: Yeah, it’s a band thing as well, but we don’t feel like part of London. We’re a Manchester band and proudly so, but we don’t feel like we’re a part of any scene in Manchester. There are three or four of us versus the world as it were. You’ve only got your mates to rely on, they’re the ones you want to see it through with. And so to kind of prove ourselves is a massive, massive thing. And it’s something we are working on and will hopefully achieve.
Stay tuned for part 2 coming soon…
Tour Dates
Oct 05 – Phoenix / Toronto*
Oct 07 – Newport Music Hall / Columbus*
Oct 08 – DC9 / Washington, DC^
Oct 11 – St. Andrews / Detroit*
Oct 12 – Metro / Chicago*
Oct 13 – Turner Hall / Milwaukee*
Oct 14 – First Avenue / Minneapolis*
Oct 21 – Popscene / San Francisco&
Oct 22 – Fox / Pomona, CA*
Oct 23 – Club Nokia / Los Angeles*
^ Delphic only
* supporting the Temper Trap
& with the Hundred in the Hands
Northern Irish indie rock trio Two Door Cinema Club will be re-releasing their debut album, Tourist History, in an expanded, deluxe format in mid-September in the UK. The first CD will be identical in tracklisting to their UK debut album.
The second CD will be a collection of their favorite remixes, including the Cassianremix of “What You Know,” the winning entry of a remix challenge the band issued to fans in June. Also to be included is a 1-hour documentary filmed by Babysweet chronicling the band’s travels and gigs around the time of Tourist History‘s UK release in March; you can watch the trailer for the documentary below. The deluxe package will be released on 20 September in the UK by Kitsune Maison.
CD 1 Tracklisting
01. Cigarettes in the Theatre
02. Come Back Home
03. Do You Want It All?
04. This is The Life
05. Something Good Can Work
06. I Can Talk
07. Undercover Martyn
08. What You Know
09. Eat That Up, It’s Good for You
10. You’re Not Stubborn
CD 2 Tracklisting
01. Kids
02. Undercover Martyn (Everything Everything Remix)
03. I Can Talk (French Horn Rebellion Remix)
04. Come Back Home (Is Tropical Remix)
05. Undercover Martyn (JupiterRemix)
06. I Can Talk (Moulinex Remix)
07. What You Know (Cassian Remix)
08. Come Back Home (Myd Remix)
09. Something Good Can Work (Ted & Francis Remix)
10. Undercover Martyn (Softwar Remix)
11. Something Good Can Work (The Twelves Remix)
Tour Dates
Oct 07 – Warehouse Live / Houston
Oct 08 – Loft / Dallas
Oct 09 – Austin City Limits Festival / Austin
Oct 11 – Mercy Lounge / Nashville
Oct 12 – Loft / Atlanta
Oct 13 – Norva / Norfolk
Oct 14 – First Unitarian Church / Philadelphia
Oct 18 – Agganis Arena / Boston*
Oct 21 – Webster Hall / New York City
Oct 22 – Black Cat / Washington, DC
Oct 23 – Club Hell / Providence
Oct 24 – Le National / Montreal
Oct 25 – PhoenixConcert Theatre / Toronto
Oct 27 – Lincoln Hall / Chicago
Oct 28 – 7th Street Entry / Minneapolis
Oct 30 – Bluebird Theatre / Denver
Nov 02 – Henry Fonda Theatre / Los Angeles
Nov 03 – Belly Up Tavern / Solana Beach
Nov 04 – Slim’s / San Francisco
Nov 05 – Hawthorne Theatre / Portland
Nov 06 – Neumo’s / Seattle
Nov 07 – EMU Ballroom / Portland
* supporting Phoenix
Prior to Thursday night, the last time I caught a show at Merriweather Post Pavilion was back in 1998. I don’t really like the place all that much; after you’ve seen great shows in smaller, intimate clubs where you can have a connection with the band that’s performing, the lack of intimacy in an outdoor amphitheatre like Merriweather is startling. The crowds also tend to be very different than those you encounter at club shows – Columbia is quite a drive from Washington or Baltimore, so you will mostly run into older patrons and their spouses drinking beer or parents with their underage kids in tow. Pulling into the parking area, my friends and I looked at the pretty empty field and were worried that there wouldn’t be a good turnout. Thunderstorms had moved through the area earlier, making the walk around the grounds a soggy adventure. I might not go to Merriweather to see most bands, but I will make the exception for Keane.
The pavilion is pretty empty when the first opening act, Fran Healy, begins his one-man acoustic set. Frontmen are all going solo these days – Brandon Flowers of the Killers, Kele Okereke of Bloc Party, and more recently, Paul Smith of Maximo Park. Healy is better known as the frontman for legendary Scottish alt-rock group Travis. He’s putting out his first solo album, Wreckorder, in October, so touring with Keane is a good way for Healy to preview tracks from his forthcoming release. He is very funny, at one point dedicating the 1999 Travis hit “Why Does It Always Rain on Me?” to the unfortunate souls who have lawn seating, and at another point, saying that bugs were biting him and asking if Columbia had mosquitoes, saying, “back in Scotland, we call them ‘midges.‘” In his Scottish accent, it was adorable to say the least.
He also told the story about how he successfully invited Beatle bassist Paul McCartney to play on his solo song “As It Comes” and trying to come up with an appropriate way to thank the Cute Beatle, decided he and his family would go vegetarian in honor of him. (McCartney later mailed Healy three of his late wife’s vegetarian cookbooks in recognition of the gesture.) The older crowd is appreciative of the Travis numbers sprinkled in the set like “Why Does It…” and “Sing” as they are played alongside new songs like the set-ender, “Buttercup.”
The second opener was bespectacled indie pop/folk singer Ingrid Michaelson, backed by a full band. Most of the time Michaelson, dressed in a frilly, small black dress, sang while strumming a ukulele. I’m not really a fan of her music, but even I cannot escape the radio play of her songs “Maybe” and “The Way I Am.” She is obviously a talented singer/songwriter, so I think I would have been more impressed with her performance if she hadn’t played so many covers. Michaelson’s version of Radiohead‘s “Creep” – just her warbling voice and her playing ukulele – was odd to say the least. Perhaps the strangest moment of the night was her saying goodbye with her version of Britney Spears‘ “Toxic”, including a choreographed dance sequence that ended with Michaelson on the shoulders of her bandmates.
Ingrid Michaelson Set List
Soldier
Poker Face (Lady Gaga acoustic cover fragment)
Die Alone
Parachute
The Hat
Creep (Radiohead cover done as an acoustic solo)
Maybe
Locked Up
The Way I Am
The Chain
Toxic (Britney Spears cover)
Keane‘s incidental music before they came onstage was a winner, including Two Door Cinema Club, Everything Everything (the Manchester quartet who recently opened for them on their sold-out Forest Tour of the UK), and Florence and the Machine. It got me appropriately psyched up for what was a fabulously tight set of songs from the English trio. From their recently released EP Night Train, Keane rather smartly only played the best tracks from the r&b-leaning release, including “Clear Skies,” “Stop for a Minute,” and “Your Love.” The latter is now famous as the only song in Keane‘s pretty substantial back catalogue that pianist / principal songwriter Tim Rice-Oxley sings on, and it is a great showcase of Rice-Oxley’s voice. One can only hope that he will share more lead singing duties with Tom Chaplin in the future.
This is not to say Chaplin did not keep up his end of the bargain. As usual, Chaplin’s beautifully compelling voice soared on the Keane ballads we all know so well, including “Everybody’s Changing” and “Somewhere Only We Know,” while being inexhaustible for the more fun, up tempo numbers, like “You Haven’t Told Me Anything” and “Spiralling.” I am torn between Thursday night’s versions of “This is the Last Time” and “Perfect Symmetry” as to which gets my vote for best song of the show. Both are tear-inducing when you hear them live, just gorgeous pieces of piano-driven pop. Going to see Keane is an event. An event you don’t want to miss.
Keane Set List
House Lights (instrumental)
Again and Again
Bend and Break
Everybody’s Changing
Nothing in My Way
Clear Skies
This is the Last Time
Stop for a Minute
Try Again
You Haven’t Told Me Anything
Spiralling
Bad Dream
Is It Any Wonder?
Your Love
Perfect Symmetry
Somewhere Only We Know
Bedshaped
//
My Shadow
Crystal Ball
Tour Dates
Aug 07 – Mann Center / Philadelphia
Aug 10 – Riverside Theatre / Milwaukee
Aug 11 – 1st Ave. / Minneapolis
Aug 13 – Fox Theatre / Boulder
Aug 14 – Mile High Festival / Denver
Everything Everythingis one of many bands out of the burgeoning and quite exciting Manchester music scene. We previously featured this song of theirs, “My Kz, Ur Bf”, and remixes done by their peers on PopWreckoning. They have recently released a new promo video for the song – watch it in all its surrealism below. The single will be released on August 23 in the UK, followed by the album Man Alive to drop on August 30. Expect big things from these Northerners.
On their website, Manchester, England electronica / pop trioDelphic have announced that Modular Recordings will be releasing their debut EP in America in March. They have confirmed the EP will be available digitally on March 02, followed by an extremely limited 12″ vinyl run on March 16, just ahead of their appearance at this year’s Coachella on April 18. The band are already a big deal in their native England, coming in second in the BBC’s Sound of 2010 poll and having already sold out dates on their March UK tour.
The full track listings of the various packages are as follows:
12″ Vinyl
A1. Counterpoint (Original)
A2. Counterpoint (Renaissance ManRemix)
B1. This Momentary (Original)
B2. This Momentary (Nightmoves Remix)
Digital Bundle
01. Counterpoint (Original)
02. This Momentary (Original)
03. Sanctuary (Original)
04. Counterpoint (Renaissance Man Remix)
05. This Momentary (Nightmoves Remix)
Digital Bundle (iTunes Exclusive)
01. Counterpoint (Original)
02. This Momentary (Original)
03. Sanctuary (Original)
04. Counterpoint (Renaissance Man Remix)
05. This Momentary (Nightmoves Remix)
06. This Momentary (Everything EverythingRemix)
Should you need convincing, watch the band’s live performance of “Doubt” (their latest single at home, released on January 04) a couple weeks back on the UK late night music tv program “Later with Jools Holland.”
Delphic’s debut album Acolyte was released in the UK by Kitsune Maison on January 11.
Everything Everything is a British rock band that’s started to get on the scene. I don’t know too much about them, but they’ve had some good tracks out. I don’t even know if they have an album. But the BBC says they are a band to watch out for in 2010.
.Everything Everything – “My Keys, Your Boyfriend”
Love the title of this track. The song is tough to describe. It definitely feels like a pop song, though has a little more edge than typical ones. It’s softer than rock but rockier than electronic music, certainly combing the styles of both. The vocals are somewhere between being sung and rapped. It’s enjoyable and unique.
.DelphicRemix
Delphic’s remix is the reason I found out about the song. Delphic is an electronic group from England, another one hailed by the BBC a band to watch for 2010. Their stuff has been very good so far, certainly evidenced by the remix they do here. They convert the song from the fast, jumpy number it is, into a dreamy, electronic tune. The vocals are bare, focusing on the intro whispers of the original. A haunting mysticism is delivered from Delphic.
.Portmanteau Remix
The Portmanteau remix combines elements of both the original and the Delphic mix in a sense. The rapping/sung style vocals are kepy, the rock aesthetic is gone and an electronic one takes it place. But this is slightly jarring and uncomfortable. The mix here seems confused with too much. It has moments but the main riff could drive someone insane.
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Concert Calendar
Nov 23, 2011
HaHa Tonka @ Recordbar, Kansas City MO
Nov 25, 2011
Thee Oh Sees @ The Granada, Lawrence KS
I knew that Two Door Cinema Club‘s May appearance on 
The exciting debut album from 
PW: Going back to the album, having heard what people have said about the album, one thing that I found very interesting was that people were comparing my favorite song, “Submission,” to 
