Blank Promotions First Birthday Bash - The Cluny - 28/03/10 (Gig)

With the exception of the lovely folky songcraft of opening act Lesley Rowley, tonight’s birthday bash for Blank Promotions is heavily laden with the new wave of post-rock bands. Sona Di exemplify this, as their fantastically tight musicianship builds up to a raging, roaring crescendo. Late additions to the bill worriedaboutsatan also display post-rock tendencies, albeit mingled with their beautifully textured electronica. Tonight their set is a bit of a mixed bag. When they step away from what appears to be a fascinating game of laptop Battleships and really let go, they are excellent, but there are times when it is difficult to take them seriously as a live band. Fellow Leodensians I Concur are far more engaging, ripping through a speedy set of their well-honed Mogwai-gone-pop songs. Lanterns on the Lake provide a nice gap in the gloom with a beautiful set of elegant, twinkling pop songs. Their lightness of touch belies the plethora of musicians crammed onto the Cluny’s stage, and were it not for the scintillating form of the headliners, they would be the band of the night. If Lanterns on the Lake represented a break in the clouds, Her Name is Calla prove to be the storm which engulfs the Cluny entirely. Just when it seems they will wander off into muso noodling territory, they pull it back with waves of crashing, doomy noise. Their set is an exhibition of their creativity and virtuosity, and serves as a tantalising taster for their new album later this year.

Bear in Heaven - Beast Rest Forth Mouth (Album)

It has taken almost six months from its American release for Bear in Heaven’s second album to appear on our shores, a time period which heralded the arrival of Yeasayer’s Odd Blood, a record which would unintentionally pave the way for this release by placing it neatly into context. Beast Rest Forth Mouth occupies a similar space to Odd Blood, sharing its unbridled sense of groove and shimmering synths. In its own right, though, this is an ambitious and expansive piece of work which carves Bear in Heaven a niche that is entirely theirs.

The journey which the record takes you on is a rambling, rangy one and sometimes it might seem like it will lose you along the way, but the great skill Bear in Heaven exhibit here is to be able to keep everything together. For all its diverse elements and meandering detours, there is some common thread running through it which prevents it from becoming a messy or disjointed affair.

Underpinning it all is a sharp pop sensibility which is largely what has led to the Odd Blood comparisons. This is clear right from the start with the mesmeric tribal rhythms of opening song ‘Beast in Peace’, which bleed straight into the ridiculously danceable fizz of ‘Wholehearted Mess’. The album reaches the apex of its poppiness with ‘Lovesick Teenagers’ which is a carefree and summery little gem. The sense of fun exhibited in these moments is so exhilarating and infectious, and it makes this album a hugely likeable one, as well as being so enriching and interesting.

The funkier leanings of Beast Rest Forth Mouth tend to be more apparent in its first half, fading as the album progresses to be replaced by a more considered, dreamy feel. ‘Ultimate Satisfaction’ for example, feels like something Mew would have produced around the time of ...And the Glass-Handed Kites. In the music and vocal delivery, it shares that same wistful, wide-eyed sense which the Danes have knocked out so effortlessly for years. ‘Dust Cloud’ is a similarly gorgeous case which opens up with an unhurried and enchanting intro before eventually exploding into a crescendo of heavy distorted guitars. This is probably the highpoint of the second half of the album.

With Beast Rest Forth Mouth, Bear in Heaven have shown themselves to be a major creative force. Their invention and imagination, mingled with their astute pop nous have combined to produce an album which is fit to stand toe to toe with most that will be released this year. There is so much to enjoy here, this is a record which reveals itself more with each listen. Whether Yeasayer end up overshadowing it in the end of year lists remains to be seen, but if that does happen, then this would be an unjust reflection of a wonderful album.

9/10

Rufus Wainwright - Want One and Want Two (Album)

Part of a Rufus Wainwright career retrospective to appear on Drowned in Sound:

Spend about ten minutes in the company of Want One, and it will become abundantly clear that this this was the point at which Rufus Wainwright decided to ratchet up the ambition, where for the first time his monumental vocals found themselves consistently paired with arrangements which were sumptuously similar in scale. It was the record he had always been threatening / promising to make, depending on your point of view. The likes of opening track 'Oh, What a World', 'Go or Go Ahead' and '14th Street' in particular were logical extensions of what had gone before, soaring pop songs which precariously piled layer upon layer of instrumentation, while Wainwright's voice and wordplay rose ever more powerfully to the challenge.

However, the impact of Want One would surely have been considerably less, without the contrast provided by the sparser, gentler pieces like 'Harvester of Hearts' and 'Natasha'. Perhaps inevitably, these were shouted down by the more ostentatious songs, but as well as offering a touch of breathing space, they also provided the record with some of its most beautiful moments. 'Dinner at Eight' was the most obvious example of this, laying bare as it did Rufus' oft-discussed Daddy issues in the starkest of fashions: "In fact you were the one / long ago, actually in the drifting white snow / who left me / So put up your fists and I'll put up mine / No running away from the scene of the crime".

Part two of the saga, Want Two, turned out to be a more reflective album, which acted as both counterpart and complementary piece to Want One. As a whole it perhaps didn't hit quite the same heights as its predecessor, although it was a more diverse affair which more than stood up in its own right, probably justifying the decision to split the records rather than release them as a double as originally planned. It wandered further than usual from Wainwright's pop roots, particularly in the mournful 'Agnus Dei' and 'Little Sister' which was steeped in classical influence. This meant that the album was less immediate than most of his other work, but it was still a hugely rewarding listen.

The record's high point was probably 'The Art Teacher' a song built around a gently bubbling piano line, detailing the history of a married woman still pining for a schoolteacher from her childhood. It was sympathetic, affecting and generally gorgeous, and proved to be a fine example of how Wainwright's storytelling abilities should not be overshadowed by his penchant for grandiose musicality. There was more poignancy to be found in the Jeff Buckley tribute 'Memphis Skyline', but it was typically perverse of Rufus that this song was immediately followed by 'Gay Messiah', a mildly graphic and quite probably blasphemous exploration of the reincarnation of its titular deity. This is a contrast which quite neatly sums up the two records which would lay the groundwork for the ever more decadent flights of fancy which followed in Rufus Wainwright's career.

Wild Beasts - The Cluny, 20/03/10 (Gig)

You may or may not have noticed it in the last year or so, but we here at Muso's Guide are quite fond of Wild Beasts. After a raft of thoroughly deserved acclaim for their second album Two Dancers (including their capturing of the number one spot in our top 50 of 2009), the Kendalians' bandwagon is trundling merrily on with their current tour in support of the single release of 'We Still Got the Taste Dancin' On Our Tongues'. Ably supported by the darkly captivating work of Lone Wolf, and Erland and the Carnival, whose bouncy, mildly pyschedelic pop invokes the untethered sense of adventure shown by the early recordings of The Coral, Wild Beasts are quite clearly in the form of their lives.

So good are they, in fact, that you don't even feel all that hacked off that the Cluny is so ludicrously rammed that you aren't quite sure whose pocket you just put your hand in, or what might be causing that disconcerting trickle running down your back.

It is amost beyond debate that on record Wild Beasts are a band capable of breathtaking elegance, both in the lush structure of their music and the lunatic world portrayed by their lyrics. What makes tonight so enjoyable is that the grace of the songs is not only enhanced with a terrifyingly tight performance, but it is also infused with an extra sense of boisterousness which is massively contagious. The otherworldly quality of the songs could make it easy for the band to appear almost inhuman, but they don't just disappear into their pantomime world of Dickensian depravity, they externalise it, bringing it to life with such gusto that even the hardest of hearts would struggle not to warm to them.

The thing which jumps out at most people when they first encounter Wild Beasts is the extraordinary timbre of the vocals, both in Hayden Thorpe's insane falsetto (which has a knack of reaching such monumental peaks that even Matt Bellamy might consider it all a bit much) and in Tom Fleming's warm, rich baritone. The interplay between the two is sometimes spellbinding, and both are in fantastic fettle this evening. Their voices are wonderful foils for the music, and vice versa, a major factor in the quality of the recorded output, and even more so in a live setting, especially a tight little venue like the Cluny.

The setlist is quite heavy on Two Dancers, which is understandable really given that it is barely six months since the record saw its release. That it feels like so much longer that is a testament to the ageless quality of the record. Tonight illustrates that Wild Beasts are not a band to confine their mesmeric qualities to the recording studio, they are able to translate them in their live performance, and with every day that goes by they show themselves to be one of the most extraordinarily special bands we possess.

Blood Red Shoes - O2 Academy 2, 11/3/10 (Gig)

Sometimes as a gig-goer you can sense when a band is at the absolute peak of their powers. This evening, a group of people at a regrettably half-full Academy 2 are fortunate enough to catch Blood Red Shoes at this stage of their career. They play with the triumphant swagger of a band who know they’re touring a brilliant album, so much so that not even frequent guitar troubles, though clearly irksome to Laura-Mary, are not enough to dim their light. Having started off with a debut album which was just a little too polished, and then buffed away some of the gloss for Fire Like This, in the live setting they reduce it even further to its basic elements: thunderous drumming and brutally melodic guitar. I’ve always been astounded just how noisy two such slight people can be, but tonight they are ear-shreddingly intense. The set is heavy on the new material, which is probably as pleasing for the band as it is for the crowd, given how long they spent touring the first record, to the extent that the songs started to sound just a little tired. The break from touring has meant that when the likes of It’s Getting Boring by the Sea and Say Something, Say Anything are dropped into the set, they sound revived. Really, I could go on about this band all day, but apparently some other gigs took place this month too, so perhaps it’s only fair that they get a little page space…

Brilliant Mind, The Notebook and Mansfield Holiday - The Head of Steam, 9/3/10 (Gig)

It's fair to say that local gigs don't always feature entirely complementary line-ups, often shoe-horning a few bands together simply because they all happen to be free on a given night. Tonight's selection, however, would appear to be a little more thoughtfully assembled, rich as it is with sharp, literate guitar pop. Mansfield Holiday are our starting point. They reference any number of classic bands, but imbue it with a touch more aggression and some lovely keyboard noises. They are deceptively melodic amid the clamour, and thoroughly exhilarating. Next up we have the graceful, elegant The Notebook. Their bookish pop comes tinged with lilting Americana, with the exception of the thunderous mini post-rock epic they close the set with. They are a band who already sound fully formed, with the muddy sound of the Steamer failing to mask the quality of the songs. The same can be said of final band Brilliant Mind. The spirit of Pulp is heavy in the air tonight, particularly in the Jarvis-alike appearance of The Notebook's singer, but it is most apparent in Brilliant Mind's sharply-observed and wonderfully lean songcraft. Frontman Calum is a classic English pop star, a squirming, agitated creature whose presence enhances the band's appeal. Their set is truncated slightly by time constraints, but this just makes their playing all the more urgent. The likes of Leave Your Friends Behind and Our Osprey in particular are getting better with every show. All told, a great show. Three cracking bands for four quid - Take that economic meltdown!

Duke Special - The Stage, A Book and The Silver Screen (Album)

Duke Special has always been a curiously enigmatic prospect. His live performances are usually joyous affairs, often seeing his flouncy vaudevillian antics accompanied by maniacal cheese-grater wielding percussionist Chip Bailey. One strength he constantly displays is to make each show seem like a one-off, as opposed to the identikit sets occasionally yawned out by some other perma-touring artists. However, he has always been faced with the dillemma of how to communicate the eccentric charm of his live shows on record, a feat he has yet to fully accomplish really. His previous album I Never Thought This Day Would Come was a classic case in point. The record was so polished that the set of jaunty piano singalongs came out limper than their quality deserved. Nowadays, finding himself free of the big label constraints which presumably played a big part in this, Duke is going it alone for a laudably ambitious project. The Stage, A Book And The Silver Screen comprises two concept albums, as well as a concept EP.

The first disc, The Silent World of Hector Mann is a collection of songs inspired by Paul Auster's The Book of Illusions, which features silent film star Mann. Special sent a copy of each of each of Mann's twelve films to a different Irish artist with a brief to pen a pre-rock and roll style song about each, which he would then record himself. The result, in spite of the slightly disparate elements is surprisingly cohesive and massively enjoyable. By far the strongest piece on the record is Neil Hannon's, 'Wanda, Darling of the Jockey Club', which tells the story of a bumbling waiter's infatuation with a female pilot. Hannon's wit, a playful piano line and the cheery warmth of Special's delivery mingle perfectly to produce one of the best morsels of pop either artist has ever been attached to.

The theme of the oafish suitor pursuing a woman who is way out of his league is a common one on the record, continued more directly but no less charmingly on 'Country Weekend', this time featuring "just a chauffeur who really hopes for the honour of his passenger's hand". This would appear to be a common component of Mann's films, as was the idea of the loveable rogue, a subject covered on the Thomas Truax's ludicrously bouncy 'The Prop Man', an almost slapstick song about a thieving film staffer. The silly fun displayed here is an example of how with this record Special has gone the furthest distance yet towards capturing the merry spontanaeity of his live shows.

Disc two, the Huckleberry Finn EP, is a suite of songs written by Kurt Weill, originally intended for a musical which was left unfinished when Weill died. Where Silent World played up to Special's penchant for quirky piano pop, Huckleberry Finn adds a touch more grandeur. The songs are laced with strings and splashed with brass, but the slightly bigger sound does not make it any less playful. The record might only be a touch over a quarter of an hour, but there's still a lot to savour, from the swaying, swooning, 'Chantry River' to the flamboyantly catchy 'Apple Jack'. It is the EP's closer, 'Catfish Song' which steals the show though, a darling little duet which apes an interchange between Tom 'n' Huck.

While Huckleberry Finn sounds richer than the mischievous sounds on Silent World, it is Mother Courage and Her Children which really encapsulates the depth of ambition of Duke Special's mammoth project. The final disc is a collection of studio recordings of songs from Bertold Brecht's anti-war play of the same name, to which Special contributed music for a recent run at London's Royal National Theatre. The sizeable arrangements are probably to be expected given the context, but what you might not expect is that an artist who a mere disc or two ago was chirruping cheerfully about clumsy waiters can comfortably turn his hand to lines like "We hated the soldiers / Their army took our town / I was sixteen / The foreign occupier grinned as he loosened my nightgown". His voice is powerful and soulful enough not to be lost amid the soaring orchestral backing, something which is exhibited best in 'Mother Courage' and its reprise which closes the album.

The subject matter may be dark, but sometimes you have to listen carefully to realise this is the case. The powerful arrangements lift the tone, adding an occasional air of triumph to the grimness. So too do Special's piano melodies, particularly the driving, forceful 'The Great Capitulation', a common thread which links together all three elements of The Stage, A Book, And The Silver Screen.

With this collection, Duke Special has escaped from the confines of the conventional, and it has clearly done him the world of the good. Each of the three records are hugely enjoyable standalone pieces, but as a trio they serve to illustrate his limitless ambition, versatility and skill with a melody. Lord knows what else is lurking in that eccentric brain of his, but here's hoping his future projects are as gloriously outlandish as this.

The Silent World of Hector Mann - 8
Huckleberry Finn - 7
Mother Courage and Her Children - 8

Trouble Books - Gathered Tones (Album)

There is undoubtedly something magical about a great lost album. Even when you discount the dirty pleasure of indie snobbery, there is still something warming about a really special piece of music which you share with a small number of similarly enlightened souls. Ohio band Trouble Books' last effort, The United Colors of Trouble Books was a thing of almost impossible beauty which fell squarely into that category, missed as it was by many. Given the delicate, unhurried nature of their sound, it is perhaps fitting that the acclaim for the band is starting to swell ever so gradually, including a recent spot in The Guardian's New Band of the Day column, meaning their fanbase is starting very slowly to expand.

After The United Colors, Trouble Books had a hand in two more records in the last twelve months, firstly the Endless Pool EP and then offshoot project Talons' Songs For Babes. Both were similarly lovely, and served as excellent appetisers for the follow-up to The United Colors, Gathered Tones.

As we might have expected, it is quite simply wonderful. The record has a slightly fuller sound than its predecessor, but it sacrfices none of the delicacy Trouble Books have always exhibited. Gathered Tones feels like the soft trickle of rain against a window, while The United Colors was more like the very first sensation of drizzle in the air. Right from the outset with album opener 'Ascending Kidney', it is clear that the band have lost none of their deftness. About a minute and a half into the song, a guitar line comes in, devastatingly delicate, but all the more powerful for it, and this is the most perfect example of Trouble Books' greatest strength. They can create the strongest of emotions from the most minimal of ingredients. This is a huge part of what makes them such a special band, giving them more substance in five seconds of music than some bands manage in an entire career.

The way the band structure the album has not changed from previous releases, and really, there is no reason on Earth why it should. The songs are still constructed from sleepy ambient textures, embellished with elements of noise, drones, and all manner of miscellaneous background chirruping. This is really why Gathered Tones, like all their other work, will stand up to any number of repeated listens. The ingredients might be sparse, but it's very possible you will be too spellbound by the sheer elegance of it all to notice every minute detail, so there will undoubtedly be sounds you miss the first, second or seventieth time you listen.

More than anything else, what really elevates Gathered Tones above their previous best work is its evocativeness. Every song creates its own particular mood, one which you might instinctively associate with its subject matter without even noticing it. On 'Abandoned Monorail Station' for example, even before a glance at the song title, and before hearing the line "and debris swirls around me", you might find yourself picturing a desolate, windswept platform haunted by a forlorn solitary figure. It's a similar story on final song 'Houseplants', a wonderfully spacious piece which conjures up images of a sun-bleached room filled with blanched-leafed plant life. The lyrical content, as well as the music also helps to paint these pictures of an idyllic kind of reality, telling tales about subjects as diverse and commonplace as feeding fast food to stray cats, putting the bins out, and the downright inconvenient sense of timing death sometimes has.

With Gathered Tones, Trouble Books have raised their stock even further. Their prolific release rate would suggest that they have an inexhaustible supply of these dreamy little morsels, which is all the more lucky for us. It was difficult to imagine how they could possibly top an album as perfect as The United Colors, so it would be narrow-sighted of us to wonder how they could improve on this record. All we can do is wrap ourselves in its cosy glow and wait as patiently as we can for everything else they have in store for us.