Folk

Para este domingo vamos ouvir duas pérolas folk:

Em primeiro lugar Bert Jansch. Queria publicar o vídeo da Bright New Year , mas afinal não existe tudo no YouTube:)

Agora Kate e Anna McGarrigle com a grande Heart Like a wheel.

I'm a cyborg

Novo filme do realizador Park Chan-Wook; desta vez é uma comédia romântica em que a protagonista está convencida de que é um cyborg e uma vez que se alimenta apenas de baterias é internada no Hospital, onde encontra o seu futuro par romântico (e não conto mais nada eheh). Um filme muito divertido, mágico e completamente diferente do que estaríamos à espera do realizador da trilogia Vengeance!

Shannon Wright @Santiago Alquimista

Mais uma vez foi com uma enorme emoção que ouvi Shannon Wright tocar, daquela forma tão característica, algumas das músicas que me acompanharam nos piores ( e por vezes melhores) momentos da minha vida. Descobri-a quando do lançamento do álbum Maps of Tacit em 2000, longe de saber que colaborava com os Calexico e mais tarde segui-lhe as pegadas até uma das minhas bandas preferidas, Rachel's e a mais recente colaboração com o grande senhor Yann Thiersen.

Do concerto ficou um alinhamento que deixou algumas pérolas de fora (portray, the hover is ajar, ribbons of you, ou throw a blanket over the sun, you hurry wonder ou mesmo, quem sabe, a cover de I started a joke) mas que foi sólido e magnífico. Ao piano foram tocadas:

Defy this love
Idle Hands
Dirty Facade
Hinterland (numa versão soberba,muito mais rápida que a original)
Steadfast and True
Louise
Avalanche
Heavy Crown ( nem queria acreditar!)

Na guitarra a Shannon atacou, com os seu magníficos passos de dança felina:

Plea
In the Morning
When the light shone down
Don't you doubt
Birds
Black little stray
Absentee
Hem around us
Fences of pales

Uma vez mais... brilhante e avassalador.



A primeira parte, a cargo de Tiago Sousa, foi uma pequena surpresa. O som anda ali para os lados dos Rachel's ou Piano Magic com uns toques de Matt Elliot ou mesmo Max Richter devido às composições ao piano, o que me atraíu bastante, embora a tirada 'eu sei que vocês não estão aqui para me ouvir mas descansem que já não dura muito mais' foi muito triste e caíu francamente mal

There's a ghost in me

Aqui fica mais um single do brilhante novo álbum das Ladytron, desta vez este dançável 'Ghosts'. A mim parece-me um makeover do 'Destroy Everything you touch' mas mais virado para a pista de dança...uma mistura entre o som do último álbum Witching Hour e o anterior Light and Magic. Enjoy;)

I'll get to work mañana, but I need to sleep tonight!

Versão absolutamente brilhante deste hit dos anos 50 pela maravilhosa Peggy Lee:)

Tocha Pestana @ Santo António

Ontem a pequena multidão que se juntou em frente ao Bacalhoeiro teve uma surpresa (para quem não conhecia) ou uma confirmação do talento dos mui lindos, mui arranjaditos TOCHA PESTANA. Este duo 'turbo-funk e techno-pimba', palavras dos próprios (lol) encantou a populaça com uma demonstração poderosa ( mais de duas horas de concerto) e furiosa de autênticos hinos de amor burlesco e quem sabe a nossa futura vitória no Festival da Eurovisão não vá recair nos ombros musculados e com coletes brilhantes de falsa pele de cobra destes dois grandes Senhores da música Portuguesa! Hinos de uma juventude entregue à tradição popular como 'Gosto de ti' (aqui no vídeo) ou uma versão absolutamente genial da 'Taras e Manias', com uma roupagem turbo-punk fizeram as delícias de miúdos e graúdos. A entrega de outro grande hit 'Plástico' foi recebida em apoteose e com saquinhos de plástico na mão, saquinhos esses que iriam eventualmente dar lugar ao vocalista Tocha, esse sex-symbol popular, quando efectuou o seu belíssimo e sincronizado stage-diving. Lol Um dos melhores e mais divertidos concertos que alguma vez apanhei na vida. vejam o vídeo e percebam porquê:

RRRRRRRRRRRRomantiko!
RRRRRRRRRRRRobotiko!

Videos I never saw when I should have

Esta colecção de vídeos representa algumas das minhas músicas preferidas por bandas que nunca vi na televisão na altura em que as comecei a ouvir (17, 18 anos). Mais uma vez o YouTube torna-se uma poderosa ferramenta de pesquisa do passado individual eheh.

Vamos começar com os grandes Arab Strap e esta maravilhosa 'cherubs', a primeira música que eu ouvi deles e que me deu a conhecer esta depressiva mas brilhante banda.


E agora uma das minhas músicas preferidas de sempre. É uma daquelas músicas que definiu quem eu sou em termos musicais e no entanto nunca tinha visto o vídeo! Os fantásticos Sneaker Pimps ( que infelizmente só vi ao vivo uma vez) com esta remix de Spin Spin Sugar do álbum Becoming X.


E quem diria que eu adorava as Veruca Salt da grande Nina Gordon e nunca as tinha visto a tocar? lol Neste concerto tocam uma das minhas preferidas delas 'Shimmer like a girl'

Primavera Sound: the 31st of May

The day started with the antecipation of Scout Niblett's concert, but first it was time for indie-folk's darling man BON IVER show off his album 'for emma, forever ago'. His live performance, accompained by a wonderful drummer and skilled guitarist was identical to the album but had much more intensity and the vocal harmonies they conjured for the concert were haunting. They even covered Bright Eyes and sang some of the most beautiful tracks on the album.
Then it was time for the one concert i could not miss, the concert i've been dreaming about for so so long: SCOUT NIBLETT. She arrived on stage shy and she left shy, but in the meantime left me completely gobsmacked and more in love with her music, if that's possible. With the help of a great steady drummer (she even tried her luck in the drums) and her powerful guitar chords, she sweeped her entire repertoire, from the new songs ('nevada', 'kiss', 'do you wanna be buried with my people' or 'let thine heart be warmed') to some older songs like 'kidnapped by neptune' or the overwhelming 'hot to death') showing who's got the goods. Last time i've been this moved was in Shannon's Wright concert, but where Shannon is depressive and dark Scout can find a bit of dark humour; she actually did a quick cover of TLC's 'scrubs' lol which I don't think many people recognized because they didn't laugh at all. I had the goosebumps throughout the concert and it was my favourite concert of the whole festival. I want to see her again, it's a necessity:)
After Scout I was in the mood for something a bit softer, so we ran away from OKKERVIL RIVER, a band that I really admire and went on to see SILVER JEWS. Their concert was good fun and songs like 'sometimes a pony gets depressed' e 'i'm getting back into getting back into you' from their latesta album got the party going with its mix of country and rock. Their founding father was as awckward as I would have expected, throwing t-shirts at people (yes lol), and the bassist ( I think it's Cassie Berman) is fresh out of the rodeo in a pink killer dress lol. Stephen Malkmus, the other founding father or the Silver Jews was playing at the same moment an acoustic set and would eventually play later on with The Jicks.
After Silver Jews, I stayed at the ATP stage to see KINSKI, who blew me away with a sound that somehow mixes Sonic Youth and My Bloody valentine together and sounded completely fresh. Again (today was the day for girls on bass), the bassist was tremendous and their mostly intrumental songs were very well worked on and everyone was rocking hard . When the singer stepped up for the challenge it was very pleasant and so I vote this to be my favourite discovery of the festival.
After Kinski I walked around a bit and couldn't fight the urge to check my dearly beloved RUFUS WAINRIGHT for a few songs, because I used to love him right until after POSES came around. Both want one and want two albums gradually ended my fascination with Rufus and got me hooked into his much more folky and delicious father, Loudon. Anyway, I got there just in time to listen to my two favourite songs on Poses, Cigarettes and chocolate milk and California (I'd already seenhim play once and he didn't play california) and end the set with a very peculiar version of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' which I thought was a bit off. But that's just me.
DEERHUNTER was next and this time the lady was behind the guitar! Their fabulous album Cryptograms was translated into great punk attitude and the concert had enough energy to send all the people there to the moon and back. Great concert, great audience.
While my friend rocked it out to the sound of Steve Albini's SHELLAC, I found myself listening to the terrible 808 state, the founders of that terrible thing that is acid house from the 80's... really guys, you should have stayed there!
And then to end the festival, who else but ANIMAL COLLECTIVE? They did a marvellous set, with songs entertwined perfectly. The audience went bananas with songs like 'People' and although the concerts kept on going for quite some time, this was the official ending of a marvellous festival.
Now see you in FIB Madrid, for Siouxsie, Morrissey and MBV:)
Cheers*

Primavera Sound: the 30th of May

After not having that much sleep (Barcelona will do that to you), it was in total ecstasy that me and my friends headed to the architecturally astonishing Auditori (where we had already seen the magnificent Shannon Wright, Spiritualized and Kimya Dawson play last year) to see our beloved HOLLY GOLIGHTLY play. She is, blissfully, still a bit unknown, even after her duet with The white stripes, but after a marvellous and funny concert I don't think she will remain that way. She was accompained on stage by the guitarist from THE BROKEOFFS and amidst their wonderful dark humour ( 'so this is a song about domestic violence, cause we're so good at it' or 'never let your kids wear crocs' lol) Holly delivered songs from her new album with the brokeoffs as well as some older gems (didn't play 'walk a mile' though) with the charm of an english meets texan country rose. I would walk a mile in your shoes, girl! Love 'ya!

For the next hour or so I had no real plans so I just went around checking bands that might be good. First of I saw TRÄD, GRÄS och STENAR as I thought they were kraut-rocky... turned out they were elderly-rock lol. I don't know how they weren'e wearing any elderly diapers; and after that was time for the hedious RUSSIAN RED.
Then it was time for MV & EE accompained on stage by THE GOLDEN ROAD BAND, with the wonderful Samara Lubelsky doubling duties as bassist and violinist. Bursting through the folky core, MV&EE are two very interesting individuals that shed a light on good old-fashioned rock 'n' roll and country tunes. It was a great concert and the audience really enjoyed their honest and heart-felt offering. By the way, Erika is a beauty:)
Next on my list was one of my best discoveries last year: THE MARY ONETTES. With their sugary and dark hymns that bring Jesus & Mary Chain and New Order together, in songs like 'Lost' or 'explosions' they show why their considered one of the best bands of the new Swedish music invasion; not very expansive on stage, but they showed they know what they're doing.
Religious moment: BILL CALLAHAN. We went back to the Auditori to see Smog's mastermind ex-Cat Power's boyfriend and actual Joanna Newsom's sweetheart, only to confirm that it was going to be one of the best concerts of the festival. Potent, emocional and achingly beautiful. Songs like 'Sycamore', and 'diamond dancer' from his solo album and 'rock bottom riser' or 'cold blooded old times' from Smog really showed that this man, with that amazing deep voice and great guitar playing skills can make anyone cry. And I mean anyone.
After religion what comes? Fun, games and alcohol eheh And that's exactly what MAN MAN delivers. Their albums are wild and great, but their live performance is beyong anything you've ever seen in your life! They got the party started and they blew the shit out of barcelona with a concert that was both wild and furious and extremely well rehearsed and well put together. They danced, they jumped, they screamed and they made us dance, jump and scream like wild animals. At the end of the concert, the vocalist/pianist/dancer jumped not to the audience but to the ocean lol and then got back on stage for a rain of applause. Brilliant!
As the party had already started, we ran up the stairs just as DEVO were playing the hit 'Mongoloid' and in fact we did look like mongoloids dancing as we were so excited about Devo playing right there! We only listened to that one song because we wanted to see Man man from start to finish, but it was worth it:) They sounded way better than they do on album and apparently the years didn't change their crazed ways.
After Devo's wackyness I returned to Vice, this time on my own, as my friends went to check out Fuck Buttons to get my ears bleeding with the sound of A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS. The stage was completely dark and you could only see their sillhouettes ( like My bloody valentine or jesus & mary chain). Their album is amazing but i wasn't expecting that the self-procclaimed 'loudest band in NY' were really the loudest band. The audience was ecstatic and I was screaming my lungs out when they played ' to fix the gash in your head'. They rocked it out and the noise was so loud that people on other stages probably heard them.
I had the time to check two songs from FUCK BUTTONS and I really enjoyed it, although it seemed to me that their sound lost a little bit o power, compared to the recording; on my way dotn to see them I unfortunately heard CAT POWER. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of hers, but her latest offering Jukebox and they way she knows goes around playing makes me a bit sad; someone that wrote Myra Lee in one night and albums like You are Free or What would the Community think shouldn't be playing the kind of songs she's playing and even Jim White on drums didn't save her from looking and sounding ridiculous. It's as if she lost her way musically and she could be so much more now.

Primavera Sound: 29th of May

The festival started out with the Spanish band THE MARZIPAN MAN. Not a very interesting musical mix of boring pianos, harps and violins trying to be 'magical', as it is described,but failing to do so.
Anyone that ever went to primavera sound knows that choices have to be made, not according to what band you want to see (in an ideal world you could see every single one) but according to the time you have left between your favourite bands and your mood. So by the time I got to the decision to chose between Mount Eerie and MGMT I chose the latter, since I was in the mood for fun. And fun it was!! i was in a warm and sunny disposition, and their musical bliss, ending the set with the magnificent «kids» and a little outrageous boy (probably a band member's son) jumping along on stage with them was just the perfect welcome to the festival with a good fix of fun. The great songs 'electric feel' and the hymn 'time to pretend' made their way into the warm fuzzy air of Barcelona;)

Then we took a little walk out to the beautiful new stage (VICE) sponsored by Jägermeister to get kicked in the brain by ENON's amazing fast, violent but contageous punk-rock with a japanese twist. You can see in the photo, not only do they have a great sound and a wonderful new album out, but what a set of legs right? who needs Tina Turner anyway?? eheh

I proceeded to check out THE NOTWIST and I just arrived at the moment they were playing my favourite song ('Pick up the phone') but by the look on people's faces and the lack of enthusiasm by the band I thought I'd better be of with something to eat and with the company of the magnificent BRITISH SEA POWER. If I thought I liked their records I was in for a treat, because their live performance was really magical; at times I got those goosebumps (I swear I did)that say that there's something out of this world going on before our very eyes (and I'm not just talking about their god-awfull but striking wardrobe - although they dressed way better than MGMT lol)

ERIC'S TRIP was next and although I'm a big fan of Julie Doiron's solo work, I thought the concert was utterly dull, so I headed to PORTISHEAD and their first presentation of the new album in Spain. I had already seen it a few weeks ago in Lisbon so the songs came to me as no surprise ( I almost knew by heart which was going to be played next) but it's also a proviledge to see one of my all-time favourite bands play that striking new acoustic/vocoder-fueled version of Wandering Stars; on the downside, what were they thinking actually inviting this lowlife, dull as dishwater gansgta rapper to sing with them? I was ready to pack my things up and go after that one. And again, I stand my ground and state that their poster song 'Roads' should be completely banned and become their own private 'Creep'; it's worn out and out-of-date and they should focuse on some of the more obscure and powerful songs on their previous two records ('Elysium', 'It could be sweet', 'Undenied' or 'It's a fire').
There was not a hint of deception as my heart started racing on my way down to the All Tomorrow's parties stage to get acquainted with the live performance of one of my favourite post-rock bands, EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY. I am not exaggerating when I say that I almost cried like a little girl when they played 'yasmine the light' and most of the arrangements were so pristine! It's striking how that kind of intimate and intricate sound can lift the audience up in such a huge stage. Fantastic, absolutely made the trip worthwhile all by itself.
The night came to an end with MIDNIGHT JUGGERNAUTS and their presentation of their great album Dystopia. Not the best of concerts, but I was tired so maybe I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have (it was 3.30 am, come on!).