Oh my God, you go to gigs on your own and then TALK to people? I do a fair amount of the former, but never the latter... so I salute your courage!
Electroacoustic Club @ The Slaughtered Lamb 1/4/08
Tuesday night saw one of the best line-ups I've watched in a while, at the Electroacoustic Club night at The Slaughtered Lamb, just off the Clerkenwell Road. The venue was new to me, but I'll happily go back there again. Nice pub upstairs with great beer; a dedicated performance space in the basement, with black-painted brick walls and some kind of faux-dead-animal carpet. This gig had the best sound that I've heard in a venue so far this year; I'm afraid I've forgotten the sound guy's name, but at least I made sure I told him so afterwards.
First on stage was Noughts & Crosses, whose MySpace page I found last year while it still had one demo track on it. Now he's drawn a line under his 2007 work and promises that 2008 is when Noughts & Crosses starts "for real". On the basis of Tuesday's set, things are going well. He has intense, arresting lyrics ("justice is a game and now I design the board") and a plaintive, ragged voice that falls just nicely short of braying at times. It's probably fair to say that he's something of a Lupen Crook devotee, but plenty of his own personality was evident too.
Accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, he frequently sang on tiptoes with his eyes fixed on the ceiling. His music contained the occasional flamenco flourish that seems to be quite the undercurrent in English alt-folk-whatever music at present. His two best songs were the ones that he explained before playing them; whether that's a case of cause or effect, I don't know. He's still a very raw talent and I didn't find the song melodies particularly memorable, but I think he has a huge amount of potential. I'll be keeping a close watch on what he does with it.
Second up were Blue Rose Code: two guitars (one played by the vocalist) and a fiddle. They were more of a trad folk outfit with a pastoral bent and an occasionally clichéd lyric ("streets paved with gold", for example). The singer has a lovely voice and in another context I might really have enjoyed them, but here they seemed a little out of place and were neither what I was expecting nor wanting to hear. Great musicianship though and they certainly held the audience's rapt attention for the four or five songs that I watched.
The third performer was littlelostdavid (or possibly Little Lost David, if Google's listening). I hadn't made time to check out his MySpace page beforehand, so when I found myself chatting on the pavement outside the venue past his stage time, I was fairly laid back about it. Big mistake. Big, big mistake. I caught the last two songs of his set and he was utterly captivating, prefacing the final song with "we started with the devil, so we'll finish with the devil". The room was so quiet, you could almost hear his heart beating. I'll be reviewing his EP very shortly.
Lupen Crook was the headliner. This was a solo gig and an opportunity for him to play plenty of new material. The timing is good. I've been watching him do various permutations of pretty much the same set with The Murderbirds since the middle of last year and while the older songs (which on Tuesday included a rare outing for J For Julian Sleeps, plus Young Love, The Hardest Way Home, Matthew's Magpie, Lucky 6 and Here 2 B Friends) still have plenty of life left in them, it's good to see that he's not resting on his laurels.
Probably fifty per cent of the set was the new stuff, most of which - to the best of my knowledge, though I missed one of the February shows - hasn't been performed live before. Ode To Fucking Everyone sounded like vintage Crook, a throwback to the first album. Towards the end of the set, Windowpain And Terrible Weather was introduced as being "to go with my [newly-dyed] black emo hair" and was a quiet, reflective song of dependency within a relationship ("you're the only one that I can place this blame upon... I guess I'm gonna have to take my chance with you").
There were several more and I was too sucked in by the performance to take many notes, but the one that made the greatest impression was the mid-set Beauties And Beasts. It's a minor-key, yet almost jaunty song about confusion and making the best of what you've got ("not everyone falls, not everyone breaks"), even from the depths of despair. It's pretty optimistic, by his standards: "after we pass, it sure ain't the last we've seen". Having since heard it again, I'm convinced it's one of the best songs he's ever written.
I'm always a little nervous as I walk into this type of gig. I've got a long-term hang-up about going to see bands on my own, which is slowly dissipating. Nights like Tuesday make that first fifteen minutes of stomach-churning anxiety worthwhile. Fantastic music in good company; everyone I talked to was so friendly and approachable. I had a great time. The Electroacoustic Club is to be congratulated for organising this competent and engaging mix of performers, venue and sound. I'll be keeping an eye on its schedule in future.
The picture in the flyer at the top is taken by Jenny Hardcore, whose other work you should go and look at. If you're a band looking for a photographer, get in touch with her.
Posted by Hg on Saturday 05 April 2008 at 16:48.
Received 5 comments so far.
Comments
It's a recent thing, I've only started doing it within the last year since I've been going to much smaller gigs. When you're at a venue the size of Shepherds Bush Empire or Brixton Academy, it's so easy just to merge into the crowd. However, when you're at a smaller venue (say, 100 people), it's quite different.
A whole lot of things have motivated it. Boredom. Self-consciousness. Alcohol. The desire to chat to people who clearly have similar tastes to me. The fact that there's such a tightly-knit group of musicians and fans in London at the moment, so I recognise many of the same people from gig to gig.
There's a really strong grass-roots music scene going on right now and it's the most exciting thing I've seen in years. I think my enthusiasm finally overcame my shyness, because I've found that I want to talk to the people involved - both performers and audience - to get the most out of the experience while it lasts.
Morrissey was right when he sang about "a shyness that is criminally vulgar". Five minutes into a conversation with someone who I've never spoken to before, I'm always left wondering what the fuss was all about. Only one person has ever blanked me; the rest all turned out to be great company.
I need you to find out something for me, Hg - as Google isn't helping. The LC & the Ms album lists Hugh Hopper on bass - is this the same Hugh Hopper who played with the Soft Machine in the late 1960s/early 1970s?
Hmm... the name means absolutely nothing to me. You might also have spotted that at least one other person has speculated the same thing. (That's an interesting, if brief, review, by the way - Crook as young Cave is a comparison that had never occurred to me but seems marvellously apt.)
I'm guessing it must be the same guy. Quite apart from the "How many can there be?" issue, there's the geography. The band is based in Chatham and uses a recording studio in Maidstone. I see that Hopper is from Canterbury, around half an hour away from both. I'll see if I can get positive confirmation
Mike - this completely slipped my mind, but I remembered it last night and fired off a quick e-mail. I got a prompt response back this morning. Yes, it is "the" Hugh Hopper. He played the bass lines on Staghead And Monster.
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